Why Your Retirement Plan Is Wasting Your Life | Bill Perkins

25:01Lewis Howes:This kind of concept, save, save, save, invest, which I'm a big fan of saving and investing so that it will pay me dividends now and in the future. And so I won't stress or have worry about money. But I think people take it to extreme sometimes. Correct. And they don't enjoy their time. And they get the bucket list and the time bucketing backwards. Correct. And so why should we be thinking about die with zero? And the idea of having nothing when you die, for some people, seems selfish. What about leaving money for my kids or for charities? Or am I going to leave my family with nothing? What does that say about me and my legacy?

25:47Lewis Howes:So what is your thoughts around these 17 questions I just asked around how we should be thinking about money for retirement? How we should be thinking about money for leaving it behind? How we should be thinking about legacy? And how does having money in the bank when you die connect to legacy? What's your thoughts on that? So I'm going to go first, which is on everybody's mind. And one of the number one questions I get is like, what about the kids? And there's a chapter called, what about the kids? And it's about charity and kids. And so the same laws of physics that govern your body govern your kid's body okay so they're gonna grow their brains are gonna eventually mature trust me parents uh their brains will eventually mature how many kids do you have i have two i have two 16 and 19 yeah um and and and and their bodies will reach physical maturity and then they will plateau and start to decline so if your body is unable to convert the money into meaningful experiences as you age, right?

26:53Like your physical ability to either enjoy them or do them goes down. The same is true for your kids. So actually giving a smaller amount to your kids at an earlier age will be more impactful and more fulfilling than waiting till you kick the bucket and they're 66 or 65 or 60, right? And two thirds or more of their life has gone by, right? so what I advocate for is that be intentional you want to give your life your kids fulfillment a fulfilling life and choices so whatever you're going to give them you know some people like I'm not giving my kids anything they got to make it I got to make it they had to make it but whatever you're going to give them give it to them at the right time timing is important and so I advocate you know somewhere between 25 and 33 right different some kids are very mentally mature and they can handle money when they're younger and and and you know it's going to be fine and some are a little bit later in life right but at a certain point it's their life right you've done your best to prepare them to navigate the world they're their own person if they want to light them on fire let them light them on fire if they want to do this you know and they're industrious etc let them do that but it's their adventure and so and that money has the most impact when you give it to them then and also your legacy you know people like i'm working hard for my kids you know they're 60 i'm working hard for your kids like well part of the legacy and the fulfillment from your kids is spending time with you moments for you not you going to work you with them memories with them so in some situations in a perverse way you're going to work to make more money to give your kids when you die is actually taking away from the fulfillment and diminishing your legacy.

28:47Lewis Howes:Interesting. Right? So we have to be really intentional and think about what are we trying to do when we're giving our kids money? And six-year-olds are not kids. You know what I mean? So I think one of the most asinine things we do or the most autopilot, not living with intention things we do is wait till we die to transfer assets to our kids. Interesting. Right. And that's the same thing with charity. Like charity is now, right? People are hurting now, dying, starving, whatever the issue is that speaks to you, it is now. Right. So, you know, I give kind of examples as like, imagine the people that donated to, you know, funds for polio They'll say, let me just go wait till I die.

29:33And then more kids have polio, right? You know, there's people, you know, and I just use that as an example. And even if it's into education, the returns on education or a human being educated right now far exceeds any market return that you can make. So if you are a charitable person and you identify capital that you're not going to use before you die, now.

29:56Lewis Howes:Right. Right. So how do you think about this in your own life then with terms of, you know, you have two teenage kids. How do you make sure that you raise kids to not rely on you for money and you're not giving them too much personally, but you also want to maximize for fulfillment and memories and you, you know, you have a. So you're going on a sub question. It's like, do you give your kids money or not? Right. And that there's books on this, like give them, there's books, like don't give them anything. And there's books, like give them everything. How do you navigate that? Because you've got an amazing lifestyle, you've got properties, you've got boats, you've got planes, you put them in the back of the plane, you've got a coach and you're in first class.

30:36Lewis Howes:They take a greyhound across. How do you do it where they're psychologically set up for success, but also rich in memories and experiences with you? So by me, quote unquote, making it, right? I've made my life easier and therefore their lives are easier. And they're in a bubble. right as much as i try and you know the exposure i try and get them outside the bubble yes but the main thing i wanted to do is bring strong independent women who are kind who can navigate the world the best i can hope for right and as far you know the way i look at it is is that i have an amount that i want to give them right that is for them to do as they please when they're mature enough to get it so it's not my money it's in a trust it's separate because if bill perkins goes out gambling in some poker game they're not going to get my it's not my money you know what i mean it's their money so i don't have to worry about the risk to me etc they're taking care of but they don't get to use it it's not like a 16 year old's running around in a ferrari or something like that it turns over to them to their control when they're between 28 and 33 i think mine is between 28 and 30 yeah and what does it unlock every month a certain amount or is it a lump sum the biggest uh there's there's you know there's all we're getting to state and and trust planning but you know there's a board that has for health support and maintenance they can trust not me other people can be like okay you're going to grad school we'll give you a little bit of whatever but all of it unlocks to them at 30.

32:09got it okay because i've lived my life so i i i say to my friends like me i live my life it's their life now if i'm gonna give it to them if it's a real gift, it's theirs. When they're able to handle it, you know, I'll give it to them. And they're like, well, what if they can't handle it? It's too late. It's not like at 40, it's going to help them anymore and their health is declining, right? So I'm just like, let them have the adventure they want to have with the resources that I'm willing to give them. So I don't tell people, hey, you have to give your kids money or not. I just tell them the when.

32:40The when, the when, the when is very, very important.

32:44Lewis Howes:Yeah. And it's your responsibility, I guess, as a parent to educate, teach, train them to be kind, thoughtful human beings. And hopefully they're able to make those decisions by then. And that's, in some way, your responsibility as well to oversee that up until 30 or whatever that time is. Well, I mean, at a certain point, your job is done. Right. And the raising, they're their own person. They're adults. They're not going to listen to you anymore. They're not going to listen to you anymore anyway, right? Like you're on the advisory committee. Yes. I think I'm already on the advisory committee.

33:12Lewis Howes:They call you when they need money. Exactly. I'm on the advisory committee. And you hopefully have done a good job. But your job, that part of trying to control your kids is done. You mold through advice from that point on. And so a gift is a gift. And my gift is set. And it's done. If I come into a windfall and I hit the lottery and I feel like, hey, I want to give more to them, I can add to it. But I'm living intentionally. Like, hey, this is when they're going to reach peak mental maturity, mental acuity. and physical maturity. This is where they're going to hit plateau, etc. This is when it's going to have the most impact on their life.

33:54It's going to have less impact on their life because it can't even convert it into experiences they were later on in their life. And so it's their adventure. Their adventure to have. I don't want to control people from the grave. Yes. Here are the rules I set forth. You must do this. I'm just like, what kind of human being does that? He tries to control another human being with money. right i i want them like you've done your training have the adventure you want to have right and so um that's how i think about that now the having the zero part is you know one of the 17 questions yes is is if i spend i have only the only thing i have is my life energy and that's the time i have it on planet right on this planet the the minutes etc so if i spend that time going to work let's say I'm just digging holes, digging holes.

34:45And they gave me this, this thing called money. It could be Chuckie shoes, token could be anything. They give you this thing called money. And then I just hold it. And then I die with it. I've essentially wasted my time digging ditches, right? I've worked for no reward, right? We can see on his face that that's asin, right? Like, no, you don't want to go do something that you normally wouldn't do with all the other activities you can do on this planet, right? Almost infinite choices, right? We don't want to go do that for no reward, right? So we're going to work for something, right? And a lot of us are going to work, you know, some of it, we enjoy it.

35:26We enjoy what we're doing. We enjoy teaching people. But that reward, when we slice up the reward part, that is for us to use as a tool in our tool bucket to maximize our for fulfillment. Nobody goes into the hardware saw, let me get some hammers and saws and then throws them away. Well, I guess there are some people who buy hammers and saws, put them in the garage and never use them. But that's what happens with a lot of people is they just save, save, save, save, never use it, die. And so I'm trying to stop them from doing that and say, hey, let's think about how we can spend and use all your assets, your wealth, your health, and your time or focusing on your wealth before you die to get maximum fulfillment and the maximum ride.

36:09Yes. Right. And so one of the axioms is spend all your money down to zero as close as you can before you die. Right.

36:18Lewis Howes:So you do not waste your life working for no reward. Right. So in your twenties, you may not have a ton of excess money. So you're not, you, you might need to save a little bit in your twenties, but also experience life and have adventures, but not be broke and in survival mode constantly right it's like there's a there's different things you're able to do right like you're you're able to go let's go hiking with my friends let's go biking there's a lot of do a lot of free things a lot of free things a lot of raging a lot of you know super saver tickets back of the bus house parties g-pop at the concert those those are some of the greatest times of my life backpacking exactly camping yeah exactly but you're also saving away for security right the the one experience we all want and you know people push back is like the experience is survival we want to be able to survive like if you're out of the game okay then there's no fulfillment right so we want to be able to survive and we need to calculate our survival number like we got to pay rent we got feeder cells we got to do these things right and we're saving for some sort of calamity where i'm unemployed for a couple weeks but a lot of times um we're saving for i want to go on this trip i want to buy this house i like this car i want to get the girl the ring i you know i mean i want to take my parents on a trip or dinner whatever it is i like to attach the money to activities so they're not just working for some abstract chuck-e-cheese token that we never cash in right you've been to chuck-e-cheese yeah so so so and and so it's like okay um great idea you know so i i first like to think about like okay when we're saving for retirement we're talking about things is like what's your survival number right because we're working for survival and then everything else is choices everything else is about the brand adventure yep right and it's like okay what adventures go where in our life what timeline where do they go right and what adventures will i really be doing in my 60s 70s 80s 90s right now they're the jackal lanes or like i'm sure you remember jackal yeah yeah the juicer the juicer or the no no there used to be a guy when i was growing up an old guy the health guy the health guy yeah no the jack juicer the yeah he would have like he would be like seven years old yeah i'm sure he was raging in clubs and spending money on fire as older but like most of us you know will be more have more uh more relaxed life later in life sedentary lives right more relaxed lives that that aren't really high in consumption and the data shows this like if you look at the data even adjusting for health care costs because i go what about health care even adjusting for healthcare costs.

38:54Seniors spend less money as they age. In aggregate. Why is that? I have, I get asked this question a lot and I'm going to speculate. They can't.

39:06Lewis Howes:They can't. They're sitting around all day. They can't spend the money. They can't. They can't travel. They don't have the energy. They don't have the attitude or the ability. Both. Right. I don't want to go flying. My mom is that way. We had to basically kidnap her to go to Scotland for her 80th birthday. She loved it. It was great, but it was a kidnapping. It takes a whole year to build up the energy. Energy, let's go. She's like, I gotta go on a plane. I gotta sit. It's cramped. I don't like it. I don't feel. Whatever. I mean, she had the best time in Scotland. Right, right. Right? But they just don't.

39:41You get comfortable with your life. Yeah. I tell a story in the book. I was like, you know, maybe an insensitive gif or a not very thoughtful gif. Remember, I'm young and I'm on autopilot. I made some money. And I was a broker and I was like, oh, my grandmother's birthday. I would want money. She's been giving me money since I was a kid, like a dollar for each age, right? I was like, I gave her, I was like, here you go. Here's 10 grand. You know, I gave her 10 grand for her birthday. And she bought me a sweater. And that was it. Oh, my daughter, a teen. Well, later on. But that was it. Like, I thought she was going to call up her friends.

40:16We're going to Vegas. We're going whatever, like with some adventure. We're like, and I was just like, I'm an idiot. I was a complete idiot. I just realized, oh, wow. The money was almost useless to her. It was useful as a tool to give me a sweater that I probably didn't need. You know what I mean? About to move to Texas, right? It's not sweater weather, right?

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41:54Wow. Well, I would say that money, you can't give it to them. It can be a tool to enhance the experience. I think what they want is senior people want these relationships, time with their kids, family, loved ones, these adventures. You know, I used to say to people, you rarely see people go to movies alone. We love shared experience. We're wired to connect, right? And so, you know, people have different tribes, different friends, different et cetera, but they love taking their whole family on an adventure. Now, it could just be a picnic, right? And a small one. Like, at all levels, you can do that.

42:32But you can make it more fun and people talking about it and having et cetera. So, I think, you know, money doesn't give them that. It's their personal connections, but you can make them better, right? You can make them more fulfilling. You can make it easier for some of your family members. Like, oh, I live so far away, I can't afford to go. Oh, it's okay. I'll fly you. Right, right, right. Or I'll pay for the bus ticket. Yes. Or I'll drive and come pick you up, right? These are the things I think that money can't particularly give them, but can enhance the experience, right?

43:02Lewis Howes:When you, you know, you were talking about this kind of generational fear of our grandparents from the Great Depression to our parents to, you know, all these different fears that were passed down generationally or conditions around money, right? Beliefs around money. Right. Save it for a rainy day, retire with money, all these different things, which seemed to make sense back then, right? When maybe it wasn't as abundant or they were in scarcity, right? Or in survival mode. So maybe that made sense for a period of time for them, but it seems like there's more money available now than ever before.

43:37Lewis Howes:There's more printed physically available than ever before. That's for sure. And there's more ways to make money than ever before. There's more side hustles, side gigs, creative endeavors that people can do to make money. What was the actual moment where you broke the generational conditioning around scarcity and unlocked it into abundance for you, where it converted into money entering your hands and your bank account. I think it's weird because I was a screen clerk. I think I was making like$16 ,000 a year, you know, and then driving a limo at night to make ends meet. And my roommate at the time was a waiter and he was making like$77 ,000 a year.

44:22And I was thinking, I can always wait tables. But I wasn't in it for the$16 ,000, right? I was in it for a career path to really make a bunch of money. And so that's a kind of weird thing. And I was just kind of like, if I lose my ego, which I had no ego back then. I was driving a limo at night. I was like, if I lose my ego, I can always get a job. I can always get a job. I'm not going to be completely busted, right? I might be poor and I've been broke before and I'm okay with that. And I've had great times, right? Like, you know, I'm good friends. We go off, do whatever. but it gave me kind of this freedom like there's this safety net of like i will be able to find something right and i remember um one of the fcms i worked for this guy named mark and he was like i used to be a garbage driver i if this they shut this place down i can i can always drive a garbage truck you know what i mean like so you know if i lose my ego about like i'm too proud to do this job right then i can always go work you know there's way more jobs and way more opportunities and i don't have the fear of like moving to another place to get the job or going to another place etc you know it's painful for a lot of people um people have the fear of going into a new environment um and moving and which i think lindes them to uh only local opportunities but for me, I was like, I'll go anywhere for the opportunity.

45:49I'll go to Siberia. You know, you know, I was one of those dumb, young and vicious people that will like, I put me on the moon. I will trade. Right. So like when I got the chance, I was in New York city, I left, didn't know anybody had a mattress and an empty room and you know, I'll be there, you know, sir. Yes, sir. Let's go. Right. And so, and if that didn't work out, so what? Right. So that adventure that I want, I want the scars like I want like a life with no mistakes to me is a uninteresting life an unfulfilling life actually yeah like you haven't touched your limits you you don't know what your limits are because you never fail yeah everything's always working out and you fail is like well you never touched your limits you never really sent this thing until you run so hard where you throw up and you're about to pass off which you know I did in college when they used to make you run you know back you don't know your limits right like you don't know when you're struggling with the weights right like physically but like also emotionally like until you've said i love you first and you've gone through the break and you've done everything you can for the relationship like you just don't know like this is as much as i can give in a relationship yeah right this is as much as i can do this is as far as i can go figuring out this business i need to bring in help or partners or whatever you know like all those things and so um wanting a fulfilling ride is the goal right literally the money the money is only a tool to get the fulfillment now i have fancy fulfillment things right and they do it but and i am learning how to use that tool to drive my fulfillment but i'm also learning hey from other professionals and other verticals in health like how do i optimize my health there's time management books how do i optimize my time and then even in the wet bucket there's like how do i get the better deal to get the same experience and the same fulfillment points when i go to greece i don't do that hotel get the airbnb it'll be nicer and you actually have more fulfillment it'll be cheaper and you have more money for the trip into japan right so i'm just saying like at the macro level you know this is how these things interact and this is how you should be thinking about the arc of your life but then you can go into each vertical and sub-optimize.

48:02Yes, absolutely.

48:04Lewis Howes:But what was that psychological moment for you where you realized, oh, I'm actually good at making money? Oh, wow. And not like, okay, I'm making 16 grand a year and I'm working a nice, driving a limo. But actually I'm breaking through the generational conditioning that I live in scarcity to now I live in abundance or have the potential to live in abundance how did you learn that you were worthy and deserving of more money how did you learn that you were capable of generating wealth oh wow i don't know if i learned it or i just believed it and it became really so i always tell people like i think one of my advantages was that i was delusional and so they were like what do you mean i was like like i believed i can do it and that drove my decisions now that didn't mean i was going to be successful i could have easily believed i was done it and and just never have done it right tried a hundred times and failed and broken yeah but the fact that i had that delusion and that belief that i can do it that i you could throw me in a desert and i'd have a fighting chance i'd figure it out i'd drink my own pee i'd do whatever you know i mean like right i'm just whatever it takes whatever it takes i'm just gonna do it like i had this delusion that I could do it.

49:24And because of that, the drink of the pee got him. Sometimes you got to drink your pee if you're in the desert and you're dying to thirst, you know, you know, rehydrate. But, you know, eat the bugs, right? That delusion sent me to the course to try and to learn. And so when I was learning, it wasn't like I couldn't learn this or I couldn't learn options trading or whatever. It was like, I can do this. I can do this because I had this delusion. And so I think the belief is powerful. It's very, very powerful.

49:58Lewis Howes:How'd you get that belief? Most people don't believe in themselves enough to believe they're deserving and worthy of money, of wealth, of abundance. How did you get to believe you are deserving? Okay, so I had a very topsy-turvy relationship with my dad. He came from a different generation, hard-boiled, right? he was pre-civil rights you know dreams were squashed it was openly squashed and legally squashed right like in this and he and in i was born post-civil rights okay and so um one of the things and i don't want to turn this into a whole racial story but one of the advantages of growing up in jersey city being black is that people in that period people talk about you you're you're accused of this why are your people like this you know you're inferior you can't do this or whatever and so what you develop okay the the good side of that is you know what people think you've been trained you know you you know what's true about you and your people and your relatives or whatever we're not bad people we're not criminals i'm not whatever i'm not this i'm not inferior i'm not whatever you just learned to brush that all off right and my dad was a badass and he was like you can you know you can do whatever you we look with all the adversity we have to deal with and we overcome right and so that not giving a what people think and only listening to your dreams is a superpower forged in adversity and so and so like I just you just so you know a lot of people walk around like I don't care what do you think or whatever and they're thinking this about whatever i'm just like i don't get i don't get and like like i don't care that's their problem right like and and everybody cares a little bit right yeah to the extent that people's thoughts will interfere with my priorities i care more right but in general on the not giving a scale i'm on the further scale because i grew up in a period where you know i was born in 69 right there's you know racial attitudes going on we're just coming out of the 60s right um you know being having that and then just having to deal with that prepares you you know for this period right like i'm not afraid to look like a fool you guys thought i was a fool you know you thought i was full at birth but on skin color you thought i was inferior at birth on skin color you thought this about me on you know on skin color so you just don't give a right and so my dad and the trainings of being a minority in a city during that time period prepared me for like who cares i'm already a fool but some people who maybe have grown up in a lot of the similar adversities or worse or a little bit less adversities they might take that adversity and say, well, I don't have the skills.

53:00Lewis Howes:I'm never going to be able to do this. Yeah. And they stay stuck in that. They don't say, because of this adversity, I don't care, and I'm going to go for it. They say, because of this adversity, this is who I am. I think the victim story is marketed to people. And if you don't take that victim story, I think they would have the same experience as me. Really? um but i you know i don't i don't want to go too deep in it but i would just say that um it wasn't conscious right you just felt it you know you just you just had a pride right you're the underdog pride and and it came and i guess some people they might have you know i was lucky i had a a father and a mother right who you know two college educated parents my dad via scholarship and my mom later on in life.

53:51And so if anybody was designed to succeed, it was me. But there were, you know, when I was led on my own and it's time for me to do it on my own or, you know, who moves from New York City to Texas to go, you know, like the things, the decisions I made were kind of this like, it can be done. You know, when I had not that much experience, but I knew I can recruit people to build in to do this solar development project in the Nevada desert, right? And then sold it to Capital Dynamics, right? And me, my friends and myself, a good chunk of change. And also putting solar on the grid. Like, it's just this belief that you can figure it out and you can do it.

54:35And so I guess that there are some people who get dealt the clouds of inferiority and it stunts them. Yes. And I would hope that somebody somewhere along the line flips it for them, you know? Flips it for them and says, this is a badge of honor, man. Like, you got nothing to lose, right? Right, right. You got nothing to lose. You got no whatever. Nobody expects anything from you. So when you - No pressure. No pressure.

55:04Lewis Howes:No pressure. This could be your greatest gift. This could be your greatest gift. And so for me, I think, you know, my greatest gift was like not giving and my willingness to look like a fool. yeah like i'm just winging life like everybody else right like i'm winging it right and so uh and i'm trying to figure things out and i i wrote this book for me and then i figured if i if i can you know save my own life like not waste my own life uh and maybe it will be useful to other people yes right but occasionally i'm i get somehow stuck on autopilot yeah and i need to go back in a book or my wife needs to remind me like hey hey hey you know let's think this through let's let's let's get off autopilot let's get off let's get off autopilot you know you're doing these things you're playing speed chess on life like how is this the most fulfilling thing to do for you to be doing in your life right now it's not i'm deleting okay you know things like that right there's there's more things that are deeper than that but i think that early experience and my dad gave me the confidence uh seeing him do it in much harder circumstances right much deeper clouds of inferiority uh much more hard knock like to look at that and then other people in life like i'm like you know i go places and i get inspired by people who make it you know a lot of people you know they oh well they had this help or were they they look for the thing that was the one piece of help but they still overcame a lot i'm like wow i'm pretty lazy like if that person could do it and look at all the advantages i have you know born in the united states of america growing economy growing population um jobs technology i just was born in such a great era like i'm like i can ride this wave i could surf this wave i can do it yeah i'm gonna surf this wave of life and and navigate it the way i want to go you know and so i just had this delusional belief and it happen to work out.

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58:51Lewis Howes:And for me, it's that extra peace of mind. Whether it's making sure a delivery arrived or just checking in on things outside, it's simple and easy. Your door, your yard, your home. With Ring, it's protected. Shop cameras, doorbells, and more right now at ring.com. you've been around a ton of wealthy individuals yeah uh billionaires mega billionaires and you've also been around a lot of broke people who are in a ton of debt or people who've lost all their money you've seen the both sides of the spectrum from your perspective at this stage what would you say are the three keys to really making more money and also being fulfilled with the money you have Wow.

59:33Lewis Howes:Okay. So three keys to making more money. I would have to say that on the earning part, there's a lot of people who speak better to making more money, but I will speak just more in terms of psychology and belief is this belief that you can and you're entitled. and so when you think you can you read the book you read the business book you read the so-and-so you make the attempt etc i you know a lot of people will just sit in the stands don't not go up to bat yeah they won't take the chance not only will you take the swing you'll strike out you'll do it again and you do it again and you do it again i was just talking with somebody on twitter and like oh yeah and i break break up isn't it great that you're bankrupt and now you can still go out and earn and take another swing lose the ego attachment let's get it get the out there and let's rip it again yeah you know and so that's that's what it is in america right like there's so many people and failure stories and like steve jobs got fired and rehired you know like things like that right like like all these learnings that you get like wow you went to school this is expensive school but you know let's go you got subject matter expertise what's the next thing what's the next dream on your plate yeah and so when you believe you can you start to take actions that actually develop your ability to do it yes and then and then so that that is one um the the the we've already been talking about it you have to you know there's a saying like never tell your dreams to your parents that you want to do it because even though they love you they saw you as a teenager and you didn't take out the garbage right so they're always like oh oh, you sure you really want to do that?

1:01:16Is this a safe job? Like, you have such a good thing going on. Like, you can just get a job at the post office or whatever. Like, they are afraid for you, right, to go on your adventure. They want to protect you. And they also seen you in your clown years, right? Not the new bad bald you, right? And then also, you know, as much as your friends and maybe some of your peer group may love you or not, a lot of people behave out of fear. They don't want to look like an idiot. They had a great idea. They had a thing they want to do and they don't do it.

1:01:55Lewis Howes:They tried it and it failed or they don't want to do it again or they didn't do it for it, yeah. So your success exposes their cowardice. Say it again. Your success exposes their cowardice. Right. So when you go out and you fail, They're like, see, I'm right not to go do that. See what he did? He went out and failed. Yeah, I told him you shouldn't have done that. That was crazy. Why did he do that, right? So they feel comfortable in their safe life and their cowardice. They didn't go live their dreams or take the risk or whatever. But if you go succeed, they're like, I'm a coward. Like I had a chance to do it.

1:02:32I could have done this. I could have been to work. I could have grinded for a year or two years with no reward living, eat ramen, and been successful, right? So I always say people like success, but they love a failure. They love a failure because it reaffirms that they're doing the right thing and they're not cowards. And so be very, very careful about your mindset that you're getting from other people. Right? And success is not just doing the thing and making it. Success is living a fulfilled life. It is about the ride, you know? A lot of people like say, oh, it's easy for you to say. Listen, I've gone like busted twice.

1:03:17Like I've been fired. I've been whatever. And it's been, that has been great. That has been great. Losing your money, getting fired. Getting fired, getting humiliated. People talking behind your back. You know what I mean? Oh, he's a clown or he can't do this. Like it's part of it. It's like, I learned who my friends were and who weren't. I know who my supporters were and who weren't. I learned about myself. like do I care or do I not care what things really upset me what mistakes did I what did I mistakes like where did I get lazy where did I get off track on vision you know um it's about that it was great and then you know here I am on this side of the coin but like still would have been great you know I did I tried to do some huge project in Central America went bustle vaporized 10 million dollars.

1:04:03Learned a lot. Gone. Like years, time, meetings, whatever, you know, and it's gone. I tried to do an importation project in California, learned all about permitting in California, the interest groups, et cetera. Gone. The ride, you know, and it wasn't like now we're having a bunch of money. It was like, that was a very significant... That was all your money. It was like oh we might have to come back on staff here you know and so i think it's like really be careful about how you speak to yourself and the people you keep around you and who you share your dreams with wow that's interesting and the third thing oh man third thing um just third thing consistency yeah take it seriously i hear a lot of people like they'll have an idea and they're about to go into the execution phase so ideas are like a dime a dozen right it there's no market for ideas that i think paul graham says right you can't just go i'm gonna sell you this idea no you can sell the business you can sell the execution so like 90 something percent of it is the execution and they go in the execution phase and they don't take it seriously you know this is your dream this is your life um you know people take video games um simple things you know party things more seriously and then they'll take their their dreams right and so if your dream is this business or this idea or like some way of making money um and it could just be like showing up for work on time right like it doesn't have to be this like i'm starting this orange renewal thing it just be like i want to be the best person being consistent and taking it seriously yeah taking it very seriously

1:05:47Lewis Howes:I think more money comes to you when you show the universe how consistent you are with what you care about. Use all your resources as if your life depends on it. And the funny thing is, these are the hours of your life. So your life does depend on it. This is your life. This is the time period. And some people don't take, you know, I'll see guys come in with pitches or things. I'm like, did you do this? Did you use this resource? Did you do whatever? It's not like they couldn't have thought of it. It's not like they couldn't have done it. They just didn't because they didn't take it seriously enough.

1:06:14You know? So use all your resources at your disposal to drive your fulfillment. If your fulfillment is this job and making money or this idea, use all your resources at your disposal to make it happen and take it seriously. And so I think a lot of people are flippant with their own dreams. I don't know why. And I think it comes down to the – I've done it before too. I've done it in school. It's one of those things where you have this fear that you can't do well so you don't try your best. you know what I mean like they like oh I'm afraid of failing so I'm just not gonna do my best and so when I when I fail but no I didn't I didn't really try that hard you know what I mean yeah I wasn't really trying to lift it you know like that much I wasn't really stretched out or whatever and so you're like you have this excuse that you didn't try hard so that's why you failed right and so it makes your ego feel good and I I've done that before and I think other people do it too I don't know these are the three keys I don't know what you could take out of that but sure I I think it's something that people can take home with and see if that applies to them.

1:07:16Lewis Howes:I love this. I'm so excited for people to read this. I've got a few final questions for you, but Die with Zero. It's a new approach to looking at your life and maximizing your wealth, your health, and your time. Getting all you can from your money and your life by Bill Perkins. Make sure you guys get a few copies of this. I think it's got over 3 ,000 five-star reviews on Amazon. So get a copy there, share it with your friends. I think there's going to be different insights in here that will give you a perspective on your money and your life that you haven't been thinking about. This is some of it we've covered, but there's a lot more in this book, so make sure to check it out.

1:07:53Lewis Howes:This is a question I ask everyone towards the end. It's called the three truths. Oh, wow. We just asked you three keys to making more money, but this is three truths. I'd like for you to go into your hypothetical future self as your last day on earth and whether there's technological advances and you live till 200 or it's whatever it's your last day in this world your spacesuit goes into outer space for the for the rest of time and you've gotten to experience your life exactly the way you want from this moment until then you have a uh excess of memory dividends right the adventures the love right you wrote it to it till it all fell off right i wrote i wrote it well okay but for whatever reason on this last day you everything you've ever created has to go with you okay so this book this conversation any creation of content in the future no one has access to it wow but you get to leave behind three final lessons and this is your last day from all the experiences you've had from the first memory to the last memory dividend you get to share three final things in this why don't you ask a softball make it easy well you're giving me a softball here yeah good so anyway i call this the three truths okay what would be those three truths for you on the final day wow um no matter what the question love is the answer in um

1:09:27wow you're just on the spot here with these three truths

1:09:34always do your best and i learned that from um there's a book called the four agreements it's my number one recommended book um but always do your best and and your best is different on different days um but if you do your best you know whenever i look back and somebody says what do you regret a lot of people say no regrets i'm like anytime i have a regret it's always related to not doing my best so if i got angry and yelled at somebody i didn't do my best i kind of you're not going to control myself if i if i got fired or whatever i didn't do my best i could have figured that out you know i could have showed up on time or whatever right you know relationships you know that once arrives like i really didn't do my best you know and so always do your best oh my gosh the last the the final last truth i'm gonna get i'm gonna get i'm gonna get technical here on this one it's gonna be a weird it's gonna come out of nowhere it's gonna come out of nowhere life is movement life is experience life is essentially processing information And the more movement and the more information you process, the more life you will have.

1:10:52Thus, the more fulfillment you can potentially have. So get out there and move.

1:11:00Lewis Howes:That's beautiful, man. I love this. Again, Die With Zero. I want you guys to get a few copies of the book. You can go to diewithzerobook.com. You can go to Amazon, all the different bookstores. You're also on Twitter. BP22, I believe. He was, yeah. So your Twitter. If you want that, my hot, crazy takes. I don't recommend it, but if you want to interact with me, you can. You've got a lot of cool stuff on there. Yeah. On Twitter, Instagram as well, Bill Perkins. Although it sounds like your social media will be deleted at some point. It's just me raging, enjoying life, you know, exploring the world.

1:11:32Lewis Howes:But if people have questions for you, they can go there and connect with you over on social media and message you. Yeah. And definitely read the book first before you have other questions. So get the book, read it, dive in, and have a conversation. with a friend of yours about this book. And just, this isn't to make anyone wrong or make you wrong in your life, but to just question, am I doing things to maximize my memories, my fulfillment, my health, my time, my relationships? Am I doing the things that my future self will be proud of me doing right now? And just to ask yourself, and this will give you some of those perspectives.

1:12:07Yeah, the book is essentially a fulfillment maximizer. That's what I'm solving for. Here's these other variables. We can optimize for those, but we're really driving net fulfillment. It's net fulfillment over net worth.

1:12:20Lewis Howes:Yeah. I love that, man. I want to acknowledge you, Bill, before the final question for your journey and where you're at currently. Because I know you've lived a pretty wild life and you've been around a lot of wild individuals and you have, it seems to me, gotten to a place where you've found a lot of peace, harmony, and fulfillment internally. And I think that's hard for people with a lot of money, even though I think a lot of people think people with a lot of money are fulfilled and find peace. Agree with you. But not all of them are. And you've been around a lot of billionaires who have more stress than when they didn't have money sometimes, right?

1:12:55Lewis Howes:Maybe some of them have figured it out, but not all of them. And I'm not saying you have it all figured out, but you're on a journey of peace and harmony, which is beautiful to watch. So I acknowledge you for being on that journey. Yeah. I mean, it's work. I'm doing my best. I'm always trying to work on myself, right i have coaches i have influences i read books and i'm here to make mistakes you know and just realize that you know you have to forgive yourself you're human absolutely yes what's your contract by the way do you remember i'm a loving forgiving uh caring man yes you are i love it man oh man you pulled out my contract

1:13:33do you remember i know i know loving forgiving caring man that's good that's good man that's

1:13:38Lewis Howes:For those at the underground who know what the contract is, fours to you guys. The final question for you. Okay. What's your definition of greatness? Wow. Oh, wow, wow. I've known. This is a – you ask the softballs, don't you? So, you know, I've looked at what you have in your book, and it's like your special mission, right, and your time, and I would kind of agree with that. I think it's a, greatness is a life lived in integrity with yourself, with your values. Right? When I see something great, it's like, you know, they may not have much, whatever, but it was a life lived in integrity with their values and their pursuits and their dreams.

1:14:32And so if, when I'm being great, I'm in integrity. All my, you know, my priority is in balance. I'm not skimming, I'm doing my best. I'm in integrity. When I'm out of integrity, I'm not so great. I'm just not so great. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? I'm just that guy. I'm like, oh, breakdown, I've had a breakdown. And we see that manifest that in different people. People, they're about forgiveness. I think about Nelson Mandela living in a prison for most of his life and coming out like, how's this guy so happy and forgiving? You know, somebody who believes in a cause and like I'm, this is a cause I fight for, you know, women who didn't get recognition in earlier times, but believed in what they were doing and diligently lived through it.

1:15:18They believed in the cause or whatever they were working on, whether it be physics or women's rights or whatever, you know, a life and integrity.

1:15:28Lewis Howes:I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you, and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward.

1:16:06Lewis Howes:And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

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