#156: I Went To The World's "Scariest Place" (Profound Realizations)

0:00May your mind be freed from the noise blocking your ability to see the good you ought to do. And once gifted that clarity, sharing it is your duty. Only then will you access true fulfillment. I just spent a week, well, nine days in Dagestan, Russia, a place that people are so scared of a place that people fear tell you not to go to and talk badly about all around the world and i went there and don't get me wrong it was a process to get there i had to go to the other side of the world to get my visa i waited i traveled 30 hours from sydney australia where i just run a marathon the sydney marathon with my girlfriend and then i I flew 30 hours and made my way to Russia and I waited at the borders for four hours while they interrogated every aspect of my phone, everything about me, and asked me all these questions.

1:13But after that, we got through a group of 10 boys in a place that we had no idea what to expect when going. And you know what's so crazy? I had the most profound unlocks going there. Just by being there in a place that you wouldn't expect to ever go to, and most people will never go to, just by being there, I had so many profound insights. and one of the key insights was exactly the nature of us fearing something before even knowing what it's like in real life i went to dagestan and every single person that i met treated me with the utmost respect everyone literally were the kindest people ever and you know what is the craziest part?

2:18They didn't even speak a lick of English. They did not even speak my language. I did not understand them, but they treated us with so much respect. They opened us into their homes, into their restaurants, into their mosques, everything with open arms. Most of these people had never even seen Americans before, let alone Australians. is. These people invited us in and loved us, even though we didn't know them, we were nothing like them, and they had never seen anything like us. And so it started making me ask the question, what else in my life do I perceive to be bad that actually isn't? What person am I judging before I've met them?

3:19What place am I judging before I've been there? What thing am I judging before I've tried it? Most of the time, it's nowhere near as bad as you think. But we make it all up to be really bad, and the media makes it seem like it's really bad, and all of the people that are talking to us are making it out to be bad because we get driven by fear. Fear pushes us much more than pleasure does. So saying something is bad is more enticing than saying something is good. And then you go and experience the so-called bad, and it's profound.

3:58it started making me ask questions far deeper than just daghestan it started making me question my value and my worth because if i thought that daghestan was worth down here and i get there and i respect so much higher what am i valuing myself and what is the perception of myself and how can I change that to make it one that's more abundant and more valuable? You see, I'm realizing more and more that most of life is really just perceived. We don't actually know anything. At least I don't anyway. And all of the perceptions will either hold us back or slingshot us forward. and the great thing that I like to remind myself is I get to choose.

4:55I get to choose the perception. When I see something online, do I instantly get fearful and do I take it as gospel or do I challenge the norm? Do I go, hang on, no, that can't be right. Or if it is, at the very least, let me explore if this is right because most of the time it's not it's all made up don't get me wrong there's a war going on in Russia and when you're driving around the streets in Dagestan you're seeing all of these big billboards made of AI that are like saying that they'll pay you 45 ,000 a year to go to war for a year. Basically saying$45 ,000 a year, you're going to die, but at the very least, your family will have a little bit of money.

5:52Average salary is about$1 ,000 a month. So$12 ,000 a year, $50 ,000 or$45 ,000, four years, your family get four years to live. Great. Go to war, die, not be there yes that's extreme but we saw no war at all everyone was so nice there was no bombs there was no nothing and you know what's crazy is when i was in daghestan and i'll tell you a little bit of a story. When I was in Dagestan, we landed in Mashkala. We stayed there one night. The next day we drove six and a half hours into the mountains, into the furthest point you can possibly drive. And when we get there, it was late at night when we get there.

6:51We get in, pitch black. The drive was long, rocky. It'd been flooding. So like all of the rocks, It was the bumpiest road. It was the most uncomfortable drive ever. It was the most extreme travel day I've ever done in my whole life to get to the mountains of Dagestan. And we pull up to this village. And there's apparently 10 families in the village. Now, I only really saw maybe two of the families. It was like 10 families in this village. And we get welcomed in. And we walk in. We go to sleep. all on these like mattresses, these like kind of like flat things on the floor. We get a tour of the place.

7:33There's a hole in the floor as a toilet. Complete culture shock. It was dark. We didn't know anything about our surroundings. Went to sleep. I woke up as the sun was rising the next morning and I look out and it's just the most euphoric mountain range. peaceful, quiet, no one and I'm just sitting there and I just go whoa it's peaceful it's not war it's peaceful and don't get me wrong we were six hours in the middle of nowhere could not drive a car any further but there was something about the energy of the place that was so calm. And so if you look at the perception of Russia and of Dagestan, you wouldn't think that to be calm.

8:45And then the first time I woke up in the morning in the village that we were staying in, the only thing I felt was calm. So if we loop that back into life, what about your life do you perceive to be bad?

9:08I can't take anything as gospel now. I can't take anything as gospel. because after experiencing the extreme opposite of what I was expecting, I can't help but sit back and go, what else is there? What else? And when we go back to that thing I wrote in my book, I wrote that probably six months ago. may your mind be freed from the noise stopping you from your ability to see the good you ought to do i went to a place where there was no noise culturally i was shocked don't get me wrong but there was no noise and it's very rare that people in our western world ever stop and remove the noise you see everyone has a gift that they can share to the world everyone's overcame something everyone has curiosities everyone has interests everyone is childlike at nature but life goes on and we add all these layers all this noise and it stops us from our ability to see the good that we ought to do You see, through all of the noise that we've built up, we've gained experience in our life, at least I would hope so.

10:49And through that experience, we become useful to be able to help other people based on our experiences, our challenges, our things that we've overcame. And until you remove the noise, you are never going to be able to see the good that you ought to do.

11:07That's the first step. Remove the noise. In the smallest sense, when you go in the shower and you have shower thoughts, it's because for once you've just removed the noise. But that's not enough. When you remove the noise for a long period of time, magic happens because you start to actually hear, feel, and know what you need to do. and then the next pillar on top of this is once you now know and you can see the good you ought to do you need to have the courage to act on that thing

11:55let me tell you man thinking about doing something and then having the courage to act on that thing are two completely different things. I spent so long thinking without acting. And then it got to a point where it was time to change. It was time to go all in on me and what that thing that I felt called to share was. And that was this podcast.

12:37You see, when I look back at my life and I think about all of the times where it's changed the most, it's come from going through challenge. But most of the time, the challenge was self-inflicted. the challenge came from me deciding to try something and when i tried enough things i was presented with challenge from trying my advice to you is not to just go through challenge because that's not very fun my advice to you is to go and try because when you try, you are going to go through a challenge, which is the thing that actually results in you growing. It's the thing that actually results in you having a decision to make to go, I'm going to step up and I'm going to overcome this challenge.

13:40And then when you overcome the challenge, you become useful because you've overcome something that people are going through right now. and if you fill yourself with noise your life with noise all of the different things

14:00you'll never be able to see hear know the good that you ought to do and I think that leads to another thing I believe I wrote in this book I wrote this on the 22nd of May and I hadn't wrote in this book since the 8th of April. So what's that? Six weeks I didn't write in my book, which I tried to write in every single day. and I wrote haven't checked into this book in a while and maybe you haven't either creativity comes when the noise leaves and it's been noisy noisy sprints are okay noisy lives are not it's okay to have moments where you're sprinting and the noise is so loud that you can't hear the good you ought to do.

15:12Well, you can't hear your truth. It's okay to have little sprints. Sometimes we need them. Sometimes we're trying to conquer in the external world so much that it requires us to really dissolve what matters down here. I don't think that's good to stay in for a long time. In fact, I think the longer you go away from the soul and from the heart and from love and you try and operate just from up here in your head and operating in the material external world, the longer you're going to just get stripped further and further away from your soul's desires and what you truly want and fulfillment, deep down real fulfillment and love in your life.

16:02but I don't believe a noisy life is okay there's all these gurus out there that are telling you that you need to

16:18just work hard and go go go go go go grind do more optimize more have a headache that's okay keep pushing forward like extreme excessive amounts of caffeine go go go go you get all these people telling you this like you need to build and i think that there's seasons for that which is great but the moment your worth gets tied to that which is of the external world you're only doing all of that by the way and and it's just important to recognize this you're only doing all of that to feed the material world just as long as you're aware of that it's okay i'm not saying it's a bad thing but just so that you're aware of that all of the external chasing conquering all of this it's to feed the material world and it's okay to do that money is nice.

17:16Having nice things is nice. I came back here and I booked this nice Airbnb in the woods. If I didn't spend that time conquering in the material world, I wouldn't have been able to afford this or the trip to Russia or can afford investing in a coach for lots of money, like buying nice food. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but as long as you're aware of it, I think that's the most important thing. But there becomes a point where worth, value and fulfillment comes from something far deeper. You can only chase a bigger car and a bigger house and a this, this, this and this and this for so long. and there does become a point where it's time to do something more fulfilling and oftentimes it's not about working until your eyeballs bleed oftentimes that is a form of escape because you've spent so long trying to build up your worth that your worth has become something outside of yourself and you need to keep on chasing that thing and a better thing because the external thing just becomes this numbness.

18:49And I don't think that's a good game to play. I actually think that's quite a slippery slope. And so I think noisy sprints are okay. Be aware of the fact that you are feeding the material world. Nothing wrong with it, but be aware of it. And then realize that something deeper needs to tap in. In fact, I think there's a verse. I've got a Bible here. a lot of you regular listeners will know that I've been deep diving into my Christianity and my faith at the moment but I believe I wrote something down in here somewhere let me find it so this is in James chapter 2 my brothers and sisters believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man and filthy old clothes also comes in.

19:53If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, here's a good seat for you, but say to the poor man, you stand there or sit on the floor by my feet, have you not discriminating among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers and sisters, has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

20:38if you really keep the royal law found in scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right. Now, why am I reading you this right now? Well, initially when you look at it, you would say that if a man comes into a meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, you'd probably look at that and go, well, he's going to be more valuable for me. If he's got a nice jewelry, nice clothes, and he's going into the business meeting, I'm probably going to prioritize him to have a seat at the table instead of the poor man. Would you? I probably would. But just know it's okay to have double standards.

21:29But just know that you are feeding the material world. Just be aware of it. because look,

21:41objectively in the material world, the guy with fine clothes and nice jewelry has more to give. But who's there to say that that guy has more to give in the whole world, in everything, in the soul, in the connection, in the spiritual world, than the poor man?

22:07it's okay to play in the material world. I do it quite a lot. But just be aware of it. Because the moment that you have double standards and then you don't appreciate the fact that it's not that they are better, they are just better in the material world. The moment you don't have that awareness, the moment that things are going to start to just feed the material world as the default. Because look, I might know that that meeting with that person is going to unlock this ability for me to serve other people. Maybe I'm trying to raise some money for a company that's solving a really big challenge and it's my ethical responsibility to do what I can to be in the rooms of the right people to raise the money so that then I can start the company and build the business so that then I can provide for all the people around me, build financial wealth so I can do all these things, create space and help other people and serve others.

23:16Sure, I'm going to feed the material world right now by letting that man sit at the table. But just know I'm feeding the material world. It's nothing against the poor man. But I'm feeding the material world. If you don't have a greater reason as to why you're feeding the material world, what is that actually doing and unlocking for the world to make the world a better place? Frankly, I don't know how fulfilling that's going to be because you're just constantly going to be serving the material world without serving something greater. I think the material world can be great. It makes life awesome and fun.

24:03But the moment that your worth and your obsession comes down to the material world only, I feel like it's going to be hollow because it strips away the true connection that we can achieve without it. And I learned that in Russia because I was staying in a village of people that don't really have anything to do with the material world. there was a morning where i woke up early with sunny one of the other guys there and we had a two-hour google translate conversation with the wife of muhammad who muhammad is the main guy in the village we had a two-hour translate conversation she was sat there muhammad was sat at the other side of the table he wasn't really talking but we were going back and forth on google translate with her, getting to know about her whole story, her whole life, everything.

25:04Completely different to anything basically everyone listening to this would be able to comprehend. They grew up in that village. They got married in that village. They leave that village once a year in the fall. Why? Well, they leave the village to go and get some yearly supplies of basic things like flour.

25:33Flour, tea, a couple of other things. And I was like, what about money? What do you do to live? Well, they didn't buy the property. They claimed the land. They claimed the land, sorry. And then they built on it. And if anyone ever wants to come in and there's another villager that comes into the village, they will create and find some land for them to build on as well. There's 10 families in the village. She proceeded to tell me, they sell three cows and eight sheep a year and that makes them enough money to live. they have cows they milk the cows muhammad slashes the sheep and they cook lamb they have the flour down they use the flour to make all these different kinds of breads she was cooking for us the whole time they live off the land they milk the cows from the milk they make kefir they They make cottage cheese, all from raw milk.

26:50These guys are super healthy. The mum works all day, the wife. She is working nonstop, shearing the grass and cooking for everyone and making the teas and cleaning up and completely different life. They can't even comprehend what we do. so if they can be happy with nothing materially a hole in the floor to shit in and supplies they live off the land and they have a massive smile on their face and they greet you with open arms what does that say about happiness, fulfillment peace, joy Is all the things that we're chasing going to unlock that for us? No. Will it make our life better? Potentially.

27:50I think it's made my life far greater. But it's not the thing that matters. Now look, I will encourage everyone to go and achieve great things. Go and conquer in the material world. Honestly, I truly believe that if you have the opportunity, they're not even exposed to it, but if you have the opportunity to, go and do it. Because truly, the person you become along the way is amazing. The money, it unlocks so much freedoms in the Western world. It gives you the ability to provide, to not have to stress about little things and worry. they don't need to worry about certain food costs and stuff because they don't go to a grocery store they just raise a lamb a sheep and cook it up right but we don't really have that if we want to operate in this western world we need to have the ability to be able to have financial freedom we don't need it but it's it's a great gift to have but when you go to a place like that like dagestan and you go to a village in the middle of the mountains you realize that you actually don't need all of these things now don't get me wrong that week inspired me to conquer and achieve materially more than i ever have before.

29:22I'm more inspired than I kind of ever have been. But it's from a different state. It's from a different lens. It's not from a way of, I'm just going to serve the material world. It's from a way of, no, I'm going to share. I'm going to lead with my soul, with my heart. And I know that might sound spiritual and woo-woo, but trust me, the more you deep dive into spending time alone and removing the noise the more it all starts to make sense. But I'm going to lead from my heart. I'm going to share the good that I feel I ought to do.

30:02And from that operating lens and from that state, applied with strategy to conquer in the material world, I'll be able to conquer in the material world in a way that's in service of others, making the world a far greater place. It's not fueled from ego. It's not fueled all up here in my intellect. No, it's fueled from love and from truth and from my heart. And I feel really, really called with that. Now, the next thing I want to talk about, and I have no idea how long I've been rolling for, so this camera could die at any moment. Maybe I'll quickly check and see if it's died or not. The next thing I want to talk about is The closest friends and connections that you have in your life are the ones that you've experienced extreme lows and extreme highs with.

30:55The polarity between the connection is what strengthens the connection. Think about it. Think about all of the people and all of the connections that you have that are the absolute closest. You've experienced depth of experience, both low and high. Now, why am I bringing that up in the context of my trip to Dagestan and the other lessons that I've been sharing today? Well, I didn't go alone. I went with some really inspiring people that I met on the internet. And I met through my coach, who was the one that was the glue to the group and he brought everyone together. now if i went to daghestan by myself i would have had a great experience profound insights but when you tie in an extreme experience like that and we did so many other things like horse riding in the mountains hiking fasted to the highest peak summit in daghestan in russia when you do all of these challenges and you do these experiences that are quote-unquote scary you bond you connect really strongly because you're doing an experience that not many people would ever do and you're doing it together it's very very special now this is where it comes down to some of the people that you hang around.

32:32Because if I did that with people that weren't inspiring, that maybe haven't done the work on themselves, haven't conquered materially, haven't got depth to them, if I was doing it without people that have done all of that, then maybe the conversations in the moments of bonding won't have depth. and if you can tie in extreme experiences that are really inspiring challenging and hard and tie that in with people that are inspiring have overcome challenge have overcome hard and have depth to them magic happens because when you're bouncing a bunch of intelligent minds off each other and you're bonding closer so you have less filters and you can apply extreme connection to each other.

33:33The ideas and the concepts and the things that bounce off each other is life-changing. The insights and ideas that I had in the material world by being fully removed from it with people that are super inspiring will probably change my life. The things I want to implement in business from that trip are profound and will make me conquer and be able to serve far greater. And if I didn't have those people with me, I wouldn't have had those soundboards to bounce ideas back and forth on. You see, I was put into a random country with a bunch of strangers. I knew a couple of people, some of my best friends were there, Michael Smoke, but basically into a room with a bunch of strangers.

34:33We had a fully trip that was fully unknown. We did not know what our next 30 minutes looked like for the whole eight days, fully unknown. and you start bonding over that dude this is crazy wow what did you just see what they just did have you seen this guy driving he's literally driving and he's playing music on a phone while he's eating some food driving at 100 kilometers an hour in a 40 zone through the rocks and we're like like whoa wait and we feel safe while he's doing that what wait what so you experience all these things and then you get so close together so then when you're sat by a fire and you're sharing ideas the ideas are profound because you're all great minds bouncing off each other and like this is truly why i think the rich get richer frankly is because the rich hang out with rich so it's not one plus one equals two it's one plus one equals a hundred because you're applying all of these minds that have achieved great things together to bounce off each other and that is not an equal equation that is greatness that happens from that moment and I experienced that massively.

36:13And another thing that also happened was there was many moments where things got kind of emotional. There was a moment where I cried. We had this circle where we were sharing, one person would be in the spotlight and we would share everyone would go around the circle and they would stand at the front and everyone would share what they love about that person what they've observed during the week what they um have known and have seen from them and they would share what they loved about that person and it was beautiful man like everyone got so close that we were sharing all these things and it came to them people sharing stuff to me about what they love about me.