#106: Charlie Rocket: The Power of Delusional Optimism

32:34so then they just feel shit every time they meet with you, which is interesting. But there's something that it symbolizes where you're shooting for the stars and people just want to be around that because they know that they're going to want to shoot for the stars when they're around it as well. I have an example that I can maybe, this will hit home for somebody who's watching. Have you ever been to Las Vegas? I've only been in the airport. You've been to the airport. have you ever been to a casino yes okay you have two friends you're going with you don't gamble you're there hanging out having a good time you're actually just being a good running buddy one of your friends is winning and it's like back to back to back to back and then like a couple people start surrounding them and then like everybody starts cheering You've seen that scene in the movie where they're like, ah, and then he's gone again.

33:36And he's gone. Now there's this crowd of people. And there's this magnetic pull to a winner. And then your other friend is losing and loses and loses and loses. People are allergic to that. Who are you hanging out with? The winner. Only. It's not even a thought. I do not want that contagious. Both are contagious. Let's be clear. Losers attract losing and winners attract winning. Let's go back to Starbucks. Winning is a choice. Winning is a choice. Let me tell you, abracadabra story about a casino. I'm in Florida. I'm with my best friend Langford and I'm with my girlfriend Neve and I woke up this morning and I said the words wheel of fortune and I like to troll my best friend and get on his nerves so much so I want him to tell me to shut the fuck up like that's how much I'm gonna try to get on his nerves and I said the words wheel of fortune 500 times that day at least now we're out helping people doing our non-profit work and the whole day i'm saying wheel of fortune and he's like shut up and i'm like wheel oh fortune and then when we were done helping all these kids i was like let's go to the casino it's right up in fort lauderdale the big guitar hard rock casino we go up there and i have this limit of 500 at every time and i want to play the Wheel of Fortune.

35:23I've been saying it all day long. And so I put in my$500. I spin and I'm losing every freaking spin. Then the delusional optimist kicks in. I have$200 left. I said, you know what? I know why I'm losing. It's because I'm playing the normal slot machine. universe doesn't want me to win the small jackpot let me take out this 200 let's go to the high stakes slot machine i had 200 i popped the little voucher in pull it will Oh, fortune. And you should have saw the look on my best friend's face. I hit for 16 ,000. And he said, what the fuck? Abracadabra, as I speak, I create. It's like I had this feeling this morning and I just kept saying it over and over and over.

36:28But notice my process having fun i'm gonna win and when i'm losing is because the universe wanted me to have something bigger let's go to the high stakes i'm gonna win if i'm on the high stakes and even if i lost i was like we just had the best time of our lives yeah and so i guess just creating no lose situations where you just win in any way shape or form because you can kind of choose the thing i want to hone in here though, which is interesting is, is you're right. Everyone gravitates towards winners, but a lot of the time there's losers that aren't trying to lose. They're really fucking trying.

37:09That's all of us. We're really trying, but we're just getting slammed on our face and nothing is working. And all we would want is just one person to tap us on the shoulder and say, keep going. You got this, mate. But there's none there because they're all over at the winners. but then when you're winning, you don't need all the support because you're fucking winning. And it's this balance between going, I'm trying to win and I'm giving it my fucking all. And I've just not yet landed on that jackpot just yet. I haven't really got any licks of the ice cream and I'm getting no attention. And it's up to you in that moment there to trust in the process and go, no one's supporting me, but that's okay.

37:53And that's the hard part. Has there been any moments in your life where, you know, things aren't winning. And as much as you might have this bulletproof mindset, you're still getting these little bits of doubt. You're not getting any support. Your mom's telling you to go back and get a degree. And you just had to have this trust in this dark tunnel. Is there any moments you can think of? When that girl group fired me and I went and talked to Bill Cook on that bucket on that horse farm. And he told me to start making other people's dreams come true. I shifted something in myself.

38:32I said, I need a new identity. And so I wanted to be a successful businessman. So I gave myself a superhero name and I named myself CEO Charlie. And I decided I am losing so much and nobody's coming to save me. So I have to literally dig in deeper. And I would renew this lease in my mind every day. And people ask me, do you write the same things in your notebook every day? I said, damn near. Like, it's my dream. Like, it's like I will sit down and close my eyes. And when I see something, I know it's already done. Time hadn't caught up yet. The present sucks for all of us. I want to live in the future because where we are at, this is life.

39:27Life sucks. And everybody always tells us, be in the present. But guess what? When you're losing, the present is not where we want to be. But the imagination of the future is a really fun place to go to. And that's where that delusion kicks in it can be a fun place to go to i would i would argue that though and say that if we can access this peace joy fulfillment in the present that's the superpower it's not about like let's be stagnant and let's do nothing that's not what we're put here to do like we need to be in motion we want to be achieving things we want to be progressing we want to build stronger relationships we want to do all of this but at the end of the day the present is the only place you can really be in like a true happy place because i think when you're like too forward thinking or you're too backward thinking and you're thinking about the past or the future you can't like truly soak in what you have right now and so i wonder if you can't fully access the present moment and be present, not anywhere else, can you truly get any enjoyment and like proper fulfillment in your life?

40:43Absolutely. You think so? I don't. Listen, I changed my present the second I find hope. And the hope is not in the present. The hope is only in the future. But if you're saying that there's hope, then that must mean that what we have right now is not good. the second i see the future is the second i have hope today right now i have to go to the end of the tunnel in my mind to believe the path i'm on is the right path yeah so so this is in the scenario in which you are in a tunnel and it's dark because sometimes we can be in so much light but we can't see it because we're too busy looking at what's next and once we climb one mountain there's another mountain to climb and when you're a high achiever type a driven person you're constantly wanting the next thing and there might even be a level of self-sabotage in there because we've achieved so much great, but we still don't like where we are right now.

41:57So we're chasing the next thing. It's not about being stagnant, but I think there's this level of peace that comes with being able to truly love where you are right now. I only love where I'm at right now when I have hope for where I'm going. I'm not an expert in the present. I'm an expert in being happy because I'm dreaming about the future. Do you think people lack dreams? Is that a big thing that you would be trying to spread to people? Do you think people don't have big enough goals and dreams? I think they have them. I think they've always had them. And if they don't, they've just taken their heart off of its ringer.

42:47I've been very, very lucky in my life to have left my heart ringer on. I'll give you an example. You're kind of young, but you grew up with a cell phone. Your first cell phone, did you have a ringtone? Yeah. Was it a song? Yeah. And then you got rid of the ringtone and it went to like a standard ringer? And at what point did you put it on silent? Yeah. And then at what point did you put it on do not disturb? Right now. It's on do not disturb. Did you ever have it on do not disturb back in the day? You wanted that thing to ring. You actually wanted to hear your ringtone. we've gotten scarred by that concept of notifications and so we have this callous and so i'll get to it and life has scarred so many of us that our heart which is what we say follow your heart you don't say follow your brain it both are organs we say follow your heart what else do you say follow your dreams oh both of those things go together right and then answer a question answer a calling answer a calling ah so i've been very lucky to leave my heart open because I am a delusional optimist.

44:19So I have never gotten scarred by the way the world has punished me. And so when I get a calling, I'm able to answer it because I heard it ring. And so I think each and every one of us has things that light us up. When I was a little boy, basketball lit me up. Why didn't baseball? I didn't choose basketball. it's just football didn't light me up baseball didn't light me up golf didn't light me up but why did basketball it was meant for me there are things that are meant for us when you are smart enough to answer callings you get the dream for example there was a gentleman who went on a spiritual journey he was lost he was an accountant a CPA, and he went on a spiritual journey, and he went to the Jordan River.

45:23He went to Greece and saw all the temples, the Temple of Nike, all the temples. And then he had a calling to learn about shoes, and he went to a place called Kobe, Japan. Now remember this, Kobe, Japan, to meet with a company called Tiger Shoes. everybody thought he was crazy because why are you on this spiritual journey and then all of a sudden you're going to a place called Kobe Japan to meet with a company called Tiger Shoes and everybody thought he was crazy but he said it was a calling he talked to that company called Tiger and he said I want to sell these shoes this gentleman ended up creating the biggest shoe company in the world.

46:11But what's so interesting about it is the biggest shoe company in the world, his three biggest artists, his three biggest athletes, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Tiger Woods. He went to the Jordan River. He went to Kobe, Japan to meet with a shoe company called Tiger Shoes. This is Phil Knight's story. It was already done that he was going to have the greatest shoe company. He just had to answer the calling. And all the signs were there. And when they found the oldest pair of shoes in the history of the world in a cave, where did they find the pair of shoes? In Oregon. That's where Phil Knight is from.

47:04and that's where Nike is headquartered. It was already done. The possibilities of every single thing that you're called to is guaranteed. It's just, are you smart enough to answer the calling? When I was a little boy, I wanted to be an athlete, but I was slow and I was chubby, but it was my destiny to be an athlete. So when I was in the music industry and I'm managing some of the biggest artists in hip hop, and I got diagnosed with a brain tumor and I was 300 pounds And I was I was closing my eyes on that beach and I would see this Nike commercial with LeBron James, Serena Williams and myself because I always was meant to be an athlete.

47:44It was my dream. But this makes no sense for me to go to my business partners and go to my artists and say, I'm leaving my music empire that I built 15 million dollars a year. And I'm going to go be in a commercial with LeBron James and Serena Williams and I'm going to be an athlete. Makes no sense. So guess what I did? I left the music industry. I started running and then I ran further and I ran further and then I biked across America. I did five marathons. I did an Ironman in New Zealand and I made a fan made Nike commercial. and Nike saw it. Nike flew me to campus. Nike said, we're going to make the biggest Nike commercial in Nike history.

48:24And when I sat down and they showed me the commercial, it had LeBron James, Serena Williams, and Charlie Rocket in that commercial. My dream as a kid was always, always guaranteed. It just took me and my delusion to be crazy enough to answer the calling. For when I closed my eyes and I saw something, I was the one who was crazy enough to dream that big. And guess what Nike called that commercial? Dream crazy. I was in a Super Bowl commercial with LeBron James and Serena Williams. And just a year and a half earlier, I was 300 pounds and I was in the music industry managing some of the biggest artists and diagnosed with a brain tumor thinking I was going to die.

49:10And when I looked at my life, I saw a kid that buried a dream, went on to make a lot of money and dies. And I said, that movie sucks. What would be a good movie? That Rotten Tomatoes score is like a 17. What would be a 100? I said, a hundred would be, what if I left the music industry and chased my original dream? That would be a good movie. So the moral of this story is, if you're crazy enough to listen to your heart, because your heart is what gets the calling. The heart is what gets the dream. The brain is going to think about logic. The brain is actually oftentimes the enemy of your heart.

49:56Your heart would say, I want to be an athlete. The brain says, you're 29 years old. You're not going to play for the Lakers. You're not going to be in the Olympics. why would you ever think you can make a living being an athlete? That's the brain's job. But what happens when you put them in coherence and you practice your delusional optimism and you start thinking of all the possibilities, your heart called the dream, if the brain gets in coherence and says, you know what, this is going to be easy. We're going to make a fan-made Nike commercial. In order to make a fan-made Nike commercial, We need a filmmaker who can make a Nike grade Nike commercial.

50:37So, okay, Charlie, I see it. You're going to make a Nike commercial. Nike's going to see it and Nike's going to sign you. It's going to be easy. I got my brain working for me. Okay, hold on. Make some phone calls. Call some of your friends who make these like high production videos. So I'm calling my friends in Hollywood and they all said the same exact thing to me. Charlie, you need to be realistic. If you're not willing to spend 80 grand, you're not getting a fan made. You're not getting a Nike commercial that's Nike grade. I said, hold on. Don't ever tell me to be realistic. I said, I'm not spending 80 grand.

51:15I'm going to find somebody who can shoot, edit, score, has the equipment for a few thousand bucks. I know they said, Charlie, that's not how it works. To make one of these types of commercials, you need at least six or seven people. and it's going to be a multi-day shoot unless you just want to make a little Instagram video. I said, no, I want to make a Nike commercial because Nike's going to watch it and Nike's going to sign me. They say, Charlie, you're talking crazy. I said, I know. There's a restaurant here on Melrose and I took this film producer out to dinner and I told him what I was looking for.

51:50And he said to me, Charlie, you need to be realistic. You're not going to find one person who can do all of that. and I got pissed and I walked out and I told my friend, I said these words, I said, I hate when people tell me to be realistic. Nothing I've done my entire life has ever been realistic. I said, I'm going to find my videographer and editor who's going to make this commercial and I'm going to find them tomorrow. I'm in Santa Monica the next morning. I'm writing in my notebook and I write these words. Today is the day I searched slash found my videographer slash editor. It's done! It's easy!

52:31Hour later, my roommate walks in the front door and my roommate should never have a cameraman following him. Ever. He's like a business development for like a goji berry company that sells goji berries to Whole Foods. But walking in behind him is this guy with this huge steadicam rig with all the accessories. And I look at him And I'm like looking at my notebook and I'm like, this guy does videos. Maybe this is like the magical abracadabra moment I was looking for. But then the second I asked him if he does videos, it was like a dark cloud was talking. And I was like, oh, God, I said, do you do videos?

53:08He said, yeah, I do videos, but nobody ever pays me. And I'm like, oh, God, this is not going to be my guy. I'm like a very like happy person. This guy's like a dark cloud. And I said, can I see some of your work? He said, yeah, I have a website, but I haven't updated in like seven years. I was like, OK, like let me open his website. Like I've lost all hope at this point. I click on like a short film and I said, who shot this? He said, I shot it. I said, who owned all the equipment? Because, you know, like a film, like that's a massive budget. And he said, well, I own all my own equipment. I'm kind of like a hoarder.

53:44Like anytime I make money, like I just like buy. I have lighting. I have dolly tracks. I have anamorphic lenses. I have this. I have that. I was like, you have all of that. I said, who edited it? Because in filmmaking, the person who shoots usually doesn't edit. He said, well, I edited it too. I said, who did the scoring on this? Because film is only about the music. If the music doesn't hit your heart and it doesn't feel right, it's a terrible film. And the person who shoots and the person who edits and the person who owns the equipment definitely doesn't do the scoring. And I said, who did the scoring?

54:22He said, well, I used to be in a rock band and we were on the Warped Tour 15 years ago and we had a record deal, but the record label dropped us. I said, hold on, hold on, hold on. So you're telling me that you made all the music? Yeah. I said, who mix and mastered the audio because it was so rich? He said, well, I have a studio in my bedroom. room. I said, you did everything on this. He said, yeah, I did everything. I said, Liz, look at my notebook. And I said, I said I was going to find you today. And you walked in my front door. And he said, what are you talking about? I said, we're going to make a fan-made Nike commercial and Nike's going to see it.

55:01And Nike's going to sign me. He said, dude, you sound crazy. I said, I know that's the whole point. Like, this is my dream. And we sat down at a restaurant called The Counter. And we were eating some vegan burgers. And I told him my ideas. And he pulled out a piece of paper. And he started sketching out these frames. And I said, how much will it cost to make this? And he said,$660. I said, why$660? He said, well, we need a 10-foot PVC pipe with two elbows. We need two belts. We need a skateboard. and if we rent this anamorphic lens on a Friday, we can keep it all weekend. I said, why a 10-foot PVC pipe?

55:48He said, because I need the camera to be the same exact distance from your feet at all times. And I'm going to have you run. And this background is going to change. And you're going to run all throughout LA and the background's going to change. And it's going to be your feet. And when you run, we're going to make a beat out of it. Your steps are going to be a beat. and your breath is going to add to the beat and it's going to build and we're going to do these Hans Zimmer type strings about three quarters the way through. And I'm like, oh my God, like I thought back to dinner the night before where the guy told me to be realistic and I told him I'm going to find the videographer.

56:26And we shot this fan-made Nike commercial and we put it out. And three days later, my phone rings and it's a guy by the name of Andy Miguel. and the caller ID said Beaverton, Oregon and there's only one company in Beaverton, Oregon and that's Nike and he said, Charlie, we don't know how you did it but you managed to get our campus in a frenzy fighting over who's going to bring you here first long story short all the dreams that I saw in my mind were real I was just crazy enough to show up and answer the calling. And the universe conspired for me. Did I make 100 phone calls to find that videographer?

57:16No. I did take about 10 meetings and phone calls before. But that videographer walked in my front door. Unsuccessful. Not decorated. Struggling himself. and i got to win an emmy in my lifetime a year and a half after winning a grammy from being in the music industry and that nike commercial became the biggest nike commercial in history let's fucking go let's go the lesson here don't ever put realistic in the same sentence as dreams Fuck that. Don't set dreams that are realistic. That's besides the point. The dreams are supposed to be non-realistic. They're supposed to be crazy. They're supposed to stand out.

58:08And guess what? You're not going to get there smooth sailing every time. You're going to have those 10 people that tell you no. You're going to get slammed on your face. But it's up to you to realize that that's all part of it. And I think if we can have this frame that you've been sharing throughout this whole episode of... good, bad, you get to choose. If we get slammed on our face, that's good. One step closer to a win. If we make that a win, even better. It's like if we can just make sure we keep these wins going and we do not make our goals and our dreams realistic, we fucking shoot for the stars, we're going to like be buckling in in this car and we're going to have a fucking awesome time.

58:49We're going to be riding towards something great. And I just think this message is profound. It's this, like, if you have a fucking dream, like, chase that thing and make sure that it's not realistic. Make sure that it is scary and make sure that people do laugh at it. Because if it's not, then, I don't know, maybe you're writing it in a book that's too small and you need to be a bit more expansive. You need to be a bit more alive and give you something that scares you enough that you want to spring out of bed in the morning to make sure you chase it. Want to know what's interesting? so far on this podcast this is kind of like theoretical conversation but there's actually a process that I've done my entire life and I can tell you a couple more stories that start connecting some dots and some patterns of how I've attracted lightning to strike more than 50 times in my life I'll give you an example after the Nike commercial came out, all my dreams came true.

59:55I was an athlete. I was in a commercial. I was on the cover of Runners World magazine. I was in New Zealand doing an Ironman. I biked across America. My athlete dream came true. And so I asked myself, well, what's next? And I was like, you know what? Now it's time to reach my hand back and help others. And so I started a nonprofit called the Dream Machine Foundation. And I'm touring all across America in my bus. I sold my houses. I moved into a bus and I started traveling all over America, helping people, mainly kids with cancer. And it got to a point where I was giving everything away and we're running out of money.

1:00:41I've already sold three of my houses and I assumed if I help enough people, there's going to be donors who call and like, we're going to fund your mission. Didn't happen. And so I kept giving my own money over and over and over. And we had one sponsor for the tour and I had a manager. His name was Dan. I get to New York and I had a falling out with my manager because I needed help. And I was out there just helping, helping, and I'm tired and I'm exhausted. And the bank account is going to zero. And it hit zero and my manager left. Dark time. It's one of those like punching the pillow moments in my life.

1:01:35on the phone with my mom screaming because I'm so freaking frustrated that like this entire thing I took a risk on is falling apart. And so I had a cameraman with me and I had an intern with me and we're on an old 2006 Winnebago that would break down every day and we called it the dream machine. It was more like a nightmare machine at the time. we go to Atlantic City to pause the tour and I'm going to just find a way for us to make phone calls to get some money so we can keep helping these kids and there was a church and they had a labyrinth and I'm walking around the labyrinth manifesting and I was I was like we need a blessing.

1:02:24We need a blessing. We need a blessing. And I actually saw something when I close my eyes. And if I close them long enough, I will see something. And I saw$500 ,000 come in. And so walking around this labyrinth, I started dancing as if it came in. And I started like telling my friends, I was like, we're about to get$500 ,000. I saw it. It's going to happen. And I have this process of speaking it to everybody as if it's already done. And so we're in an Airbnb. I'm making some phone calls, trying to raise some money. We got a couple thousand dollars. And the phone rang from a company called Hasbro.

1:03:07It's a big toy company. And they said, Charlie, we want to work with you. We want to donate. And I told my team, I was like, this is the big one. I saw 500 ,000. Hasbro just called. This is going to be the big one. They said, let's get on a Zoom call the next day. Zoom call pops up and we started off the Zoom call instead of the normal like, what's the weather like? Where are you at? No, no. We started off the Zoom call singing a million dreams from the greatest showman. And we're like having like we're like trying to create this energy. And we know this is the big one. This is a big company. and they said we want to donate to you and they said fifty thousand dollars and my heart dropped because like partly i'm so grateful like it's a huge blessing but when i was in the labyrinth i saw five hundred thousand and so like i'm in this like place of like, why aren't you grateful?

1:04:11You should be grateful. I needed the big blessing. This helps, but not that much. And it's like, ah, I thought a dream was coming true. So I came back down to earth and I told the boys, like, we got a lot more work to do. Let's work our lines today. Thousand phone calls. Next day, Hasbro calls back. They said, we passed this concept of working with you through the team and the higher-ups wanted to get involved. And it's not going to be$50 ,000 anymore. It's going to be$150 ,000. And I'm like shocked. Nobody ever calls back and says they're giving more money. And then the next day, they called back again and said, the CEO loved this idea.

1:04:59We're donating$450 ,000.

1:05:06And this moment was like such proof again that if you see something, I didn't negotiate. I was grateful for the$50 ,000, but I know a few days earlier I saw the$500 ,000. And we ended up raising$750 ,000 in two weeks. And$500 ,000 of that was from Hasbro. and in the darkest moment Santa Goss delivers the presents how do people that don't seem to access these synchronicities in their life actually get this because a lot of people would be listening and just thinking this is all a bit woo and a little bit like come on mate like you've got nothing to back this up you're sharing all these stories about all these amazing synchronicities and how it all kind of lined up perfectly.

1:05:58There's going to be a lot of people that don't feel that and it's not hitting. And so I wonder what's missing in someone's life for them to not access these things. Do you know? Delusion. They don't have delusion. That's it. There's this child, like I'm a 37 year old man. I have done almost everything I've ever dreamed of. I grew up in a family that sold vacuum cleaners. My parents did not make more than $40 ,000 a year combined. I didn't have the resources, but I believed that everything I wanted was going to be easy. What do most people, when they go into something, think? Like, what is entrepreneur culture, hustle culture say?

1:06:47You got to grind. It's going to be hard. You can literally hear the internet motivational speaker being like, you got to grind. It's going to be hard. Like you got to push through the pain. Like you've heard that a million times. I do the opposite. Every time I go into anything, I say it's going to be easy. If you're listening to this right now and you don't fully feel what I'm saying, that's okay. Is the way you're doing it working? It might not be. And here's this crazy guy talking on a podcast about how he's just lived a really fun life, doing anything he thought of. Maybe there's something there.

1:07:41Maybe it is worth waking up tomorrow and finding 10 wins and starting a winning streak and see what attracts in your life. And maybe it is time to pull out a notebook and be delusional for 10 minutes and go into the future because the future can be a really amazing place. The future can also be a really bad place if that's what you're imagining. maybe there is something to being a little delusional because it's a really fun way to live when everything in your life sucks yeah i i i probably sit in the middle of these beliefs i don't like this like you gotta work until your eyeballs bleed like nature i don't i don't resonate with that uh but they're not wrong sorry they're not wrong well what do you mean i work very hard yeah i but i also will sleep in but there are chapters in my life where i do work till my eyes bleed i just don't make that my identity yeah i think i think it i just don't think that the message of work to your eyeballs bleed is powerful like my eyes are probably blood shot right now like we've been going it's been a lot but when it's tied to passion and something that truly excites you it's not a matter of like this is fucking hard to me like building this building is fucking hard and laying the concrete is hard and right carrying this table into the thing right was the hardest part of the whole thing right right yeah this thing's heavy it's solid wood yeah you know um like that's hard i think framing things in a in a way that's hard when really maybe it's it's long hours or it's strategic work or something i just don't think that's as powerful but i think one of the things you've been talking about is is this uh identity piece of of believing it's going to happen before it happens it's already happened time is just catching up.

1:09:54And that book's from Sedona. And one of my early mentors that changed my whole mindset from being this scarce kid, grew up with not a lot of money to then having a bit more of abundance mindset. He completely switched my mindset when I was a young lad. I was driving to the gym every morning. I was going there at like 3.30 AM in the morning. It was dark. And every morning I'd put his podcast on. His name was Jim Fortin. And he had this podcast called Transform Me Life from the inside out now fast forward to now i went to his house in sedona and filmed a podcast with him it was really surreal and cool but he taught me this concept called be do have and he was like yeah most people live in the have do be it's like when i have these things i'm going to be able to do these things so then i can be this person but the problem there is like you're constantly waiting yeah you don't have those things right now so you can't start doing the things you need to do to be that person.

1:10:50But he said to flip that. He's like, you need to be, do, have. You need to be the person that you want to be and do the things that that person does. And then by doing so, you'll have the life that that person has. And when I flipped that in my mindset, things really started to change because I wasn't waiting for the dream job. I wasn't waiting for the dream partner. I didn't wait to have all these things in my life. I just started being the person that already had those things and then guess what happened the things happened how do you be because that is very difficult concept for people so explain how you be and then everybody will be able to understand how do you be first well i think here's the thing is it's all identity and so the way it is is like i want to get in shape and i want a six-pack I want to be ripped and I'm not ripped right now.

1:11:51The identity of someone that is ripped is one that trains every day. He eats good food. He says no to bad vices. So you can be him today. And he stays disciplined. Yeah. You could be all that today. You can be all of that today. Yeah. But if you want what he has, but you're not willing to be the person he is that is helping him maintain the body that you want, you may be able to get in shape through a diet, but you're not going to keep it. The reason I can stay in good shape all year round is not because of the diet that I'm on. It's because it's my life and I love it. I would prefer to eat the steak and sweet potato than the burger.

1:12:30That's why I stay in shape because my identity is reinforcing the habits of a person that is staying in shape. Yeah. And I think anything that you want in your life, the thing is not about changing your behavior. When you change the identity and the stories that you're telling yourself that are reinforcing your identity, what happens downstream from that is your behavior changes. And this is this whole idea around manifesting and doing all of the things. It's like, I truly believe when we remove the buzzwords, what it really is, is you were deciding on something and then you're doing it and you're being that person before it happens and you're showing up in that way and like people can feel that and people want to be around that you're on a winning streak internally and that gravitates all these people and opportunities and energies and things into your life that you've always wanted but don't expect to you know have a rich life if you're poor?

1:13:32I've actually done this twice in my life and I'm about to do it a third time literally right now. The first time I wanted to be somebody I'm not, I gave myself a superhero name, CEO Charlie, and I changed my outfit. I was in high school. I put on a suit. I replaced my backpack with a briefcase and I told everybody exactly what I'm going to be. I'm going to be successful, I'm going to be a businessman. I became a businessman. It started with a suit. It started with a name. Everybody at school called me CEO. That was my name. And in the music industry, like my girlfriend, she experiences it. If I call an old friend of mine from the music industry, they're like, what up, CEO?

1:14:17That was my name. But I had to give myself a name and an outfit to dress up as that superhero. And then when I wanted to become an athlete, I mean, what would you refer to me as today? Charlie... Charlie Rocket? Charlie Rocket. There we go. I wanted to be an athlete. So I gave myself a superhero name. I started wearing colorful colors. I wanted to be this bright light. And I looked at myself as a rocket because all rockets start off slow. And I'm slow, but I'm going to get fast. And so that's why I'm a rocket. The first mile is like so slow and takes a lot of force. And that was me at 300 pounds.

1:14:57And then I got to a place where I was able to do an Ironman. And so I'm actually going into a new chapter of my life right now where I'm writing a book. Now, a book is like a really big, scary thing for me because one, I've never done it. Two, I'm not exactly a great writer, but I have a dream of like writing one of the greatest books ever written. And so I start looking up other books that have sold a lot. And they're like, oh, that one sold 10 million. That one sold 30 million. That one sold 150 million. I want one of those. So I'm living there in the future. But then I'm like, okay, I need to, I need a new identity.

1:15:40And so I went online and I started looking at like style. What would be the style of an amazing author. And I identified this like Ivy League streetwear to wear like varsity jacket, which is like winning. Like to me, I like being on a winning streak. So that's like winning in sports. But like underneath like this, like Ivy League, very smart, but still streetwear look. And I'm like, I'm going to change my entire style. I'm going to change everything about the way my content looks, how I look, how I identify myself. And I'm going to take an opportunity. If I have a chance to tell a person I'm going to be one of the best selling authors in the world, and I'm writing a classic right now, I'm going to speak it.

1:16:25So this is my process. Be it. One, I need my outfit. I need my identity. Speak it. And then I go into the future and I look at all these authors that have sold so much. And I'm only putting myself in that category where in reality is this might be hard it might be like there is a possibility it falls flat on its face but no no no no let's keep going back to let's keep going back to this like very delusional fun and i started looking at houses with my girl i'm like if we sold 50 million copies like i looked up uh the alchemist the alchemist sold 150 million copies where like mel robbins let them theory sold 7 million.

1:17:09I'm like, both are amazing. I'm like, if I sold 7 million copies, it's like, okay, what house do you want? Let's go look at houses. So literally the other night, we're looking at houses, going to open houses. Like we're making plans now. Oh no, we need the house that we can grow into when we have a family. So we need the guest house for the nanny quarters. very important. We need the pool. I need a hot tub. Like I'm making plans today for something that I have no idea how to do, but I'm going through my process. Give myself a superhero name. I delusionally dream in the future. I consistently tell myself it's going to be easy.

1:17:50And then I start actually making plans for exactly what's going to happen. Like I'm going to buy that $21 million house that I want in Malibu. So I'm going to go look at that house right now, and it's on my refrigerator, and I'm making plans because I am delusional. And there's a reason why I keep getting what I want in life, because I actually practice a process. It's not, I mean, sometimes, I'm not going to lie, sometimes somebody will walk through my front door and change my life. It does happen. But there's a reason why it happens to me. The other part of it is I do show up and I actually act as if I'm going to sell 30 million copies of a book.

1:18:33And so I practice every day going to the future. When I think about that house, that's the future. And it gives me hope today. And my actions today act in a much bigger way than if I were thinking, I might only sell 10 ,000 copies. It might be really hard. How am I going to do it? Like if it's hard versus this is going to be a sensation. So I actually show up to do it. If you think about like high school, do you want to go to the hard class? The art class? No. The hard class. Oh, the hard class. No. Do you want to go to the easy class? Yeah. Yeah. It's that simple. It is a process. What I'm talking about here with the law of delusion, there's actually a process to how I get there.

1:19:17And I practice it every single day. What would you say is something that you feel like is lacking in life right now? In my life? Yeah. My health is always a constant battle. I see other people, they'll eat the steak and sweet potato and they get their goals. I eat the steak and sweet potato and I'm still challenged. Why? the delusion in me will say that my health, I'm not at a six pack yet. Do I want a six pack? Maybe not. I just want to go to Zara and wear like a size medium. Like I think medium would look good on me. I just would like a little bit of a jawline instead of the puffiness in the face.

1:20:03I don't need like a six pack, but I will find a gift in my struggle and that I'm here to teach. And maybe my struggles with health make me more human. And maybe that's what people need, because if I had a six pack and I'm telling you all these stories, people might not even believe I'm like them. I'll challenge that because you've got a comparison point. And that makes it even more powerful because you've gone from A to B and the transformation's crazy. And that gives people belief, you know, like when you look at all of the, the common denominators and people that make the most change is they've got a transformation.

1:20:53They clearly weren't what they are right now. You know, maybe, maybe the six packs hard to get. I mean, you could argue that if you reprogram your identity in shop in that way, then it becomes easy. But the six-pack might be hard to get, but I wonder if the goals impact, I wonder how much that actually unlocks. The cool thing about me is I wake up every day and I try as if I've never failed before. Because I lost 120 pounds. When I started my nonprofit, I gained back 70. And that was by eating healthy. It's just I needed that one extra meal that was maybe 300, 400 calories because I'm working 18 hours a day and food is energy.

1:21:39And my body stores a lot of fat when I'm not at 1800 calories a day. If I'm at 2400, that adds up over a couple of years for me. My metabolism was a little bit slower. I was dealt a difficult hand, but I wake up every day and I'm like, no, like it's starting to click. Like I'm still delusional in the fact that like, okay, like I've gained weight technically this year from where I started in the year. And I should probably be beating myself up. But my girlfriend, she sees me every day. Now today's the day. Like I'm going to figure this out. I'm going to find the sweet spot. I'm going to find the sweet spot.

1:22:18I'm adjusting, okay, my carbs at this amount or my protein at this amount. Every day, I'm thinking the new thing I'm going to do to find the sweet spot, that's the thing that's giving me hope. And then when it doesn't, I'm sad for a little while. And then I'm like, this isn't fun. Let's find a new sweet spot. I'm going to listen to a podcast. I'm going to try to learn something. And then I try again delusionally, like, no, this is going to be the one. And then I have friends that make fun of me. They're like, Charlie, you're Restart Rocket. You're always restarting. And I'm like, one time I'm going to be right.

1:22:53And then you're not going to be able to say that, but I don't give up. I just got to find the sweet spot. What in that book is exciting you? Is there any big goals and anything you're striving towards at the moment? I can't wait to talk about it. Abracadabra. I am going to speak of exactly what's going to happen. My book, now this is going to be a really cool life trophy for me. Like I really like love the opportunity to do something I've never done before and that I'm not good at. I'm the king of starting over because I like blank canvases. I like blank canvases. I want to paint a new picture.

1:23:33So me going into an author chapter is totally different than anything I've ever done. So I'm going to say it here, and this will be fun one day looking back at this. I'm going to write a book that really helps a lot of people understand the process of delusion. and how it's such a gift in not just chasing your dreams, but just being happy today. I have amazing stories, and I've also studied the most successful people in the world that have this same exact process, and they've done it on repeat. So I'm going to compile that together, and it's going to be this thing that changes a lot of people's lives.

1:24:18And it's going to sell a bunch of books and I'm going to release it on November 27th of next year, Black Friday. I know the day. I know what the cover looks like. It's going to look like this book from 1917. It's not going to have a paper cover on it. It's not going to have my face on it. It's this linen material, old school. I want to make a classic. So if my book's going to be a classic, it has to look like a classic. And I want it to be almost like this fashion statement to where like your girlfriend buys it just as a coffee table book. Like I know how it looks. I know how it feels. And I know what the future is going to look like because I kept getting these downloads and it's going to be one of the greatest books ever written.

1:25:04And it's going to be very unique. It's going to be the combination between a autobiography and a self-development book, but it's going to be story driven and it's going to just light people's souls on fire and it's really going to get them in a process of chasing their dreams believing that it's easy showing up and being delusional about what they want i would love to make the world delusional optimist the world would be a much better place i believe you man you got this let's go thank you thank you so much for coming on i really appreciate you dude absolutely man

1:25:45right in time thanks for having me on yeah Charlie let's go