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How might the person who's listening's life change if they take to heart everything that we're about to talk about today? They'll become dramatically lighter. We are incredibly capable of making mountains out of mole hills and we focus on dumb [__] until real [__] happens and then we recalibrate. I prefer the person that's listening right now enjoy life or understand life before something bad happens in it. and uh and I'm very focused on that and that's a lot of what my content and my life is about.
Well, we're going to get into how you actually do that, but before we get into that, I want the person listening to understand a little bit about how your life has shaped you. Yep. You know what's interesting is I said before you're coming into the team, I said, "I have heard you for a decade say, I'm going to buy the Jets. I'm going to buy the Jets." And I said to my team of almost 50 people, "How many people here think he's going to do it?" Every hand went up. And what's interesting is that I don't know if you will or won't, but what is powerful is that your belief that you
might is something that other people can catch. What's even more interesting on a personal level is the joy of chasing it is dramatically more delicious than achieving it. Say more about that. You know, somewhere around my early 20s, I think I realized, oh shoot, I like the chase more than the getting it. I like the practice more than the trophy. I don't live for outside validation. I didn't use that term, but I realized very early in my life, oh, I'm different. By the time I was 25, I had gone through being an immigrant that couldn't speak English, misunderstood. Um, being a ridiculously bad student, being misunderstood by
parents of your friends and teachers, uh, innovating in my dad's liquor store, things that people told my dad would ruin his business if they if he let me do it. By the time I was 25, I was told by the world that I was wrong, wrong, wrong. And everything was right, right, right, right. And that made it very easy to live the last 25 years because I had it figured out early. And I say that from a place of gratitude, not audacity. Like I hate the word luck because I believe the world likes to weaponize it as an excuse to why they're not doing their thing. But it is not lost on me the serendipity that got me out of the Soviet Union, got me to the US, gave me the mother that I had, gave me competitive spirit, but
also just pure love in my heart. You know, I'm 50 now. I've watched many young children, nephews, children, nieces, friends, children. Like, some kids are just born with some [__] And then if they're fortunate enough that those ingredients are cooked properly in the proper restaurant, well then [__] gets crazy. But here's what I'm intoxicated by. Tell me that if the person watching right now did not have all the best ingredients DNA did not have the greatest chef and sue chef parents were not served in the best restaurant, the neighborhoods and environments they grew up in. What I'm intoxicated by, why I exist in public, is my belief is that people are obnoxiously more capable of changing than they realize. And it's actually
shockingly simple and the hardest thing in the world. There were so many things that you just said that I want to make sure as you're listening you really heard it because when you started to do the cadence of misunderstood, misunderstood, misunderstood, misunderstood, the majority of people who feel misunderstood start to withdraw. Correct. And start to say something's wrong. Yes. So for the person who's listening right now that feels like I suck at school, I just got fired from a job. I want to be I'm so different from my family. I can't find somebody to date that's interested
in me or that like I'm misunderstood, misunderstood. And it is like dragging around a lead weight. How do you flip that sense that the world doesn't get you into something that propels you? By not wanting the world to get you. Say more. You know, I'm just confused why you need your spouse to fully understand you. Why you need your mother to fully understand you? Why you need your [__] coworker to fully understand you? The answer to your question, Mel, is being comfortable with being misunderstood by realizing someone's subjective opinion of you, who is not you, can never fully know you, not even the people that are closest to you. So, how could a stranger in the
comments of an Instagram post have a prayer of knowing who the [__] you are? One of my most favorite things that I have ever seen you do or say, it is a video. You're going to know exactly which one it is as I start to speak. You are in a cab, I believe, and the window is down and you're at a stoplight and a woman runs over and is like, "Gary, Gary, oh my god, Gary, I love you. Um, you know, I need some motivation today. Give me some motivation." And you look out the window and you look at her and you say, "You're going to die." And she's kind of startled. And I don't remember the exact words, but it was, "You're going to die. we're all going to
die. What really matters is how do you want to live? And while you're here and while you're still on this side of the dirt and while people that you still love can still walk into the room, how are you going to live? Because you do not want to get to your funeral and go, "God, I wish I had." Yeah. Boy, I wish I would a better person. See, I am like you. I constantly think about that moment. I want to reflect back and go, I was a good mom. I was like a good friend. I gave it a good run. I gave a good I gave more than I took. I can I scratched the itches. You know, I'm very passionate about what I'm about to say. I think we've lost our way with the elderly.
I think the last 30, 40 years of technology advancements have made us make fun of grandparents because they don't know how to use OpenClaw or, you know, Instant Messenger or Snapchat. And I think we've really done a disservice to ourselves by misunderstanding what true wisdom is. A 100 years ago, the thought of disrespecting an elder was as foreign as you can imagine. Um, I like tactics sometimes. I got a weird one, everyone. This is a big one, actually. It's a very left field one. I'm I promise you, I've literally never heard anyone else get hot on this one. So, I like bringing it up. If you can volunteer 5 hours to a retirement home in your general area, like literally call them, email him, be like, "Hey, was
listening to Mel's podcast like super weird you might think, but like is there any way for me to like give five hours So much good will happen in that five hours. First of all, a lot of people in those places are quite lonely unfortunately and really right you like I see like even saying it like coming out of my mouth I was like m and then you're and I know a lot of people just went m right it's just the way it is. It's really tough. So that breaks my heart. And you would be doing a real mitzvah, a real gift, a real nice thing. Like talking to a 91year-old woman about her life will bring her in incredible joy of just companionship. But here's a
little secret. It's going to do a lot more for you. And let me tell you, as someone who has gone out of his way to sit with people in their 80s on planes and at airports and in random moments in my life, the number one thing everyone listening to this podcast wants to avoid is regret. If anything comes out of this podcast, if one person, if one of you, if one of decide to do something tomorrow, jump out of a plane skydiving, uh quit your job and become a dog walker and live more humbly, um get out of a toxic relationship, yeah, get out of regret. Do something tomorrow. This is probably this You're probably consuming this right as the fall, you know. The seasons change,
right everyone? In your life and in real life. We're coming out of summer. Like, we're in the go time. It's September energy. It's football season. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, do something that's been sitting in your tummy for a day, a year, and most likely a decade, Mel. And just do it. Actually, I promise you, whatever that you're scared of is far less scary than 30 years from now telling some random stranger that looks like Gary that you The worst sentence, Mel, is three words. I wish I dot. And my great joy is that I don't live that way. 400 trillion to one, Mel. Y 400 trillion to one. My friends, the current scientific I'm no scientist. I
got Fs in science. So he goes, but what I've been able to consume, modern scientists that are way above my pay grade currently have the likelihood of becoming a human being at 400 trillion to one. That you are you that you are born. Mom could have went for another glass of wine before it went down and the whole game would have been different and you would not be you. Like it is a it is for miracle is disrespectful to how impossible it is to have a life. So you're going to mope around your whole life. Let me get this straight. You've won the ultimate lottery of the universe of the actual universe. And we've decided we're going to mope and cry about dumb [__] And here's the best part. You don't like it? Go change the room.
Right? You don't like it? Change the room. You don't like a relationship, change the house. You don't like your boss, change the office. You don't like your mindset, change it. Consume [__] like this. Yeah. You don't like what's showing up on social media, change what you follow. The algorithm is exposing who you actually are. It's so true. If this were the last thing that you could share with somebody, the one message that you wanted the person who's been listening to this to remember, what would it be?
That nothing in the end. In the end, none of the [__] that you're worried about is going to actually matter. So, if that is true, and guess what? I know everyone knows I'm right, then why not start living your life that way right this second? What are your parting words? That life can be so much better than the way it is right now. I think there's a confusion in the system. I really, really love you and it's time you love yourself, Gary. I really love you. I do. and I know you don't do a lot of interviews and so the fact that you wanted to be here that you made the time to be here um the that you did that both for me as somebody who I truly when I tell you this I am where I am in my life because
of the content that you put out and the message that you put out and the way that you've changed the way that I think and I really have always felt in everything that you've done that there is this incredible combination of ambition and confidence and fun and business and go and build and chase and how [__] cool is this and at the same time this humble connected profound understanding of what is true in life and I feel like you are a twin flame and a huge bright light and I just want to thank you for truly changing my life and inspiring me. Um that is incredibly humbling and you know to me it honors what I most believe in the world that is so much bigger than me which is like this is real. There is so much right now the world is very
confused that hate is winning my friends. Hate's in trouble. love is always lurking, you know, and I'm really just in uncomfortably proud of you. And more importantly, in this moment, there's just a lot of people listening that are on the cusp. I am so proud and pumped for you, but I am here strictly because I know one person's ready to tip and I know our combination today will do that. Well, Gary Vee, I love you. I love you back.
