Why Goal Setting Fails (And What to Do Instead)

0:00We are going to do something that I

0:02actually think is a little

0:03unconventional. This is not your normal

0:06planning for 2026. We're planning for

0:09the new year is flawed. We're going to

0:11talk about installing our operating

0:13system. The first thing I want to do is

0:14I want to talk about the difference

0:16between goals and an operating system.

0:18Goals are critically important. I've

0:20seen the data. I understand I understand

0:22the point that every self-help guru has

0:24ever made. You know, if you don't know

0:25where you're going, how are you going to

0:26get there type of thing. Great. And I

0:28imagine you're probably pretty good at

0:30goal setting. The type of people that

0:32would show up to a webinar on New Year's

0:35Eve to plan 2026 have no problem with

0:38goal setting, right? Like goal setting

0:40and visioning, I imagine, are probably a

0:42superpower of yours. I think every human

0:43is born a dreamer. And maybe that's beat

0:45out of us a little bit as kids, but but

0:46goal setting isn't isn't difficult. The

0:49real issue with goal setting is we we

0:51treat it as though it's something it's

0:53not. Goal setting is the map. And a lot

0:56of people try to drive the map. Goals

0:58are the map of where you want to go, but

1:00they're not a vehicle. So goals are

1:02important, yes, but we have to make sure

1:03that we're treating them what for what

1:05they are. If you want to get from LA to

1:07New York and you buy a map of the United

1:08States and then you just sit there and

1:10stare at the damn map, you're just going

1:11to be depressed that you're not moving.

1:13Goals fail because they're not a

1:16vehicle. They compare your current

1:17reality to your ideal. Now, you want

1:20that. You want to know where you want to

1:22go. And the map is actually not

1:24extraordinarily relevant once it's

1:27defined, right? Especially when we're

1:29talking broad. It's like, "All right, I

1:30need to I need to drive east and until I

1:33get to, you know, past the highway or

1:35whatever, I don't really need to tell

1:36where my where my offroads are." We do

1:38that with with goal setting. I think we

1:40try to treat them as though they're

1:41something that they're not. So, again,

1:43I'm not bashing goals. I I hope nobody

1:45misunderstands me. I think the map is

1:46critically critically important. And I

1:48think you're already probably pretty

1:50good at it. So, don't think anything I'm

1:53going to say here takes away or

1:54diminishes or eliminates the need for

1:56goals. But what I want to do is I want

1:57to help us all build a vehicle that

1:59allows us to execute on the goals

2:01consistently and with safety nets that

2:04protect us from the beginning of year

2:06fervor cuz this motivation that

2:07everybody feels or the tension or the

2:09pressure that goes away and you know

2:11that historically that's historically

2:13been true. So, we're not going to do a

2:14goal setting session. Not that there's

2:16anything wrong with that. I actually had

2:17somebody inside of VX Freedom volunteer

2:19to do their own proprietary version of

2:21goal setting, which I'd love to see.

2:22That's coming. It will be free like all

2:23my content. But I what I want to do now

2:25is I want to I want to install an

2:27operating system. The reason we need an

2:28operating system is because when

2:30conditions change, the map doesn't save

2:32you. The map is the map is the map is

2:34the map. The goals are the goals. But

2:36life's life's going to change. The

2:38second honestly, the second most

2:40impactful thing that can happen is

2:41negative things. The first most

2:43impactful thing that can happen that you

2:45aren't prepared for are positive things.

2:48And I actually think that's what we're

2:49looking at on the horizon. We're looking

2:50at an ecosystem where so much

2:53opportunity comes so quickly. If you

2:55have a map and you're following the map

2:57and you're not paying attention to the

2:58changing landscape, you're not going to

2:59be able to seize it. So the goals are

3:02important, but the goals aren't the hard

3:03part. The goals aren't the hard part.

3:05The vehicle is. So we're going to build

3:07the vehicle. And we're going to build

3:08the vehicle right now. My hope is in the

3:10next hour and 53 minutes, y'all walk

3:11away with a vehicle to accomplish your

3:14most important goals. And that's the

3:16paradigm that I'd like you to assume

3:17incidentally is, and what's nice about

3:19this is this is a vehicle that will

3:21continue to yield results even after the

3:23goal is accomplished. So it's not myopic

3:25in scope. We're going to build our

3:26operating system. So in order to build

3:28our operating system, we have to have

3:29the proper paradigm. Everybody has to be

3:31more or less on the same page. And if

3:32you don't agree with anything I said, by

3:33the way, good. If two people agree on

3:35everything, one of them is unnecessary.

3:36So please, please, please be necessary

3:38to you. My hope is you can take some

3:40value away and if for everything else

3:42just toss it right it's like oh this

3:44works for me this works for me and that

3:45doesn't I'm not going to use that

3:47awesome love that calibrate to your

3:50needs my question for you from a cost of

3:52admission standpoint everything that you

3:54do in life has a cost of admission

3:57everything you do in life has a cost in

3:59admission really though the cost for our

4:02most important goals the cost for

4:04success is one thing so my ask and I'd

4:06love for you to participate and Pretend

4:08like you're here cuz otherwise you could

4:09just watch a recording. Drop it into the

4:11chat. What is the fuel for success? What

4:14is the fuel for success? Another way to

4:16think about this is what is the cost for

4:17your goals? What is the thing you have

4:19to pay for everything you want? Brian

4:21Nef showing up. Love that. Consistency.

4:24Here we go. Jason. Time. Matthew. Time.

4:27[ __ ] No fear. Consistency. Your mental

4:29energy. Time. Attention. Effort and

4:31grit. What you say no to. I love that

4:33answer, dude. You got You're just

4:35smarter than me, Lee. You're too

4:36philosophical. Seeing my impact

4:38discipline coffee that's true uh the

4:40cost for success is time. Time is your

4:44most important resource. Naval Rabacant

4:47says money is the store of time. And if

4:49you really think about that

4:50philosophically, it's it's true. You pay

4:53money. Excuse me. You you work for money

4:56so that you can later pay money in

4:58exchange for time. I'm going to give you

4:59money and you're going to give me the

5:00coffee that it would have otherwise

5:02taken me. And if you really think about

5:04that, by the way, it's it's it's an

5:05extraordinary trade most of the time.

5:07And so this this time encapsulation that

5:10we've discovered, let's say, as as a

5:12society is is an efficient exchange. The

5:16problem with efficiency is it cuts both

5:19ways. Efficiency cuts both ways. Now,

5:23talking to you, take your

5:24entrepreneurial hat off for just a

5:25moment. put your U hat on and realize

5:28that the exchange of time for money

5:31works against whoever's giving the time

5:35obviously, right? I wouldn't give you

5:37money to do something for me unless it

5:39benefited me and was more valuable to me

5:43than to you. That's the exchange. You're

5:45actually basically selling dollars at a

5:46discount. So, I get my $8 latte and you

5:48might be like, "God, $8 for a latte is

5:49really expensive." Not if I have to go

5:50to Guatemala for it. Imagine that within

5:53the confines of whatever it is that you

5:54do. you're a software engineer, you're a

5:56a radiologist, you're an Uber driver, it

5:58doesn't matter. If you're trading your

6:00time for money, you're losing that

6:02trade. Now, that's okay. That's a trade

6:03that you have to make sometimes in order

6:05to fill up the coffers, right? We got to

6:07pay rent. But what I'd like what I'd

6:09like you to focus on is the idea that

6:11right now, and y'all tell me if if you

6:14disagree with this, I'd actually really

6:15love to know, we are trained to sell our

6:18time to others. We're not trained to use

6:20our time on our own behalf. And at a

6:22certain point, you can earn yourself out

6:24of the gravitational pole that is the

6:25need for money. But until then, you're

6:28still selling your time. We're selling

6:29our time. We're selling our time. The

6:31issue with that, it's not that it's bad.

6:33It's the it's it's what happens with the

6:35time that we don't sell. How does

6:37everybody use their time? If you think,

6:39oh, I'm going to take me time. What is

6:40me time really? Me time is almost always

6:43watching TV, leisure, rest, relaxation,

6:45travel. But me time's not it's not

6:47working on your goals. It's not doing

6:48the things most important to you. So you

6:50have two distributions of time. You have

6:52times that you sell to somebody else

6:54which is extraordinarily efficient for

6:56them. And then you have times that you

6:58Netflix and chill. Where's the rest of

6:59the time? Where's the rest of the time?

7:02100% of your value producing time is

7:04being used to produce value on behalf of

7:07someone else. That should infuriate you,

7:10right? Pisses me off. And by the way,

7:12you can use this on the other end. You

7:14use this is what employers do. It's not

7:16evil. It's not pernicious. Or maybe it

7:17is. And it's a system we're all locked

7:18into. I pay people. Gina's on this call.

7:21She's my EA. She's brilliant. I love her

7:23to death. She's amazing. She's smart.

7:24She's thoughtful. She's conscientious.

7:26She's creative. The amount of money I

7:28pay her pales in comparison to the value

7:31I get. That's just what it is. Why would

7:33I do it otherwise, right? As an

7:35employer, you can benefit from other

7:37people's time. As somebody whose time is

7:39being sold, I'm asking you to start

7:41using your time for yourself. If you

7:43want real freedom, if you want really to

7:46accomplish your goals, we need to build

7:47an operating system that allows you

7:49access to your own time. I think I've

7:51beat that horse to death. Let's keep

7:52going. So, this is this is the beginning

7:55of what we need. Everything you have

7:57listed on your goals has a price tag in

7:59time. Everything. I want to lose weight.

8:01I want to go to Tahiti. I want to be a

8:02better spouse. I want to be a better

8:04father. I want to start my business. It

8:05all has a price tag in time. We don't

8:07think about that though, do we? We just

8:09dream, right? We just dream. But but

8:11what if we want to if we want to really

8:13accomplish the goals, I'm not telling

8:14you not to dream. I'm telling you to

8:15build an operating system that allows

8:16you to accomplish those dreams. And

8:18what's really cool is when we do this,

8:19it compounds. It compounds. And if

8:22you've ever seen, you know, those those

8:24graphics that show you the miracle that

8:25is compound interest, I think it was

8:27Einstein who says that compound interest

8:28is the eighth wonder of the world or

8:30something. There's some somebody find

8:31that quote for me. Time is the cost of

8:33admission for all your goals. All of

8:34your goals have a cost and the cost of

8:37time. So what we're going to do is we're

8:38going to build containers for success.

8:40This is the operating system by the way

8:41and this is what we're going to build

8:42right now today and we're going to do it

8:43and about y'all this is going to be

8:44uncomfortable. We're going to start to

8:46get to a point I'm going to watch the

8:47participants on the call drop because

8:49I'm going to start to ask you to do

8:50stuff you were like I don't know I know

8:52I need to do that costume but I'm not

8:54ready for it. Okay. So, so just know

8:56that this is about to be the type of

8:58thing this is tough love. You don't need

9:00more goals. You need an operating

9:01system. The operating system that we are

9:03going to use I call containers. And I

9:06call them containers for a specific

9:08reason. And it it may or may not

9:09resonate. That's okay. Like I said at

9:11the beginning, take what works, discard

9:13what doesn't. Containers are spaces.

9:16Container A container is space that you

9:20allow yourself to take up that will be

9:23used, I promise you, but is protected in

9:26a way that doesn't allow other people to

9:29infringe upon. Containers hold space.

9:31That's all container is. And I want you

9:32to think about something. Think about

9:34your garage or your storage unit or your

9:36closet. It doesn't matter. Think about a

9:38space. Think about a place where things

9:39are meant to be stored. And then think

9:41about that place with all the junk that

9:44you have in life just being smashed into

9:46it. You're just smashing a bunch of

9:48stuff into your into your closet or into

9:50storage storage container into a garage

9:51and and and and realize that that is

9:53more or less how we live with our time.

9:56If that storage unit is your calendar

9:58and all that junk is the stuff that's

10:00constantly being shoved into it, every

10:02time somebody's like, "Hey, can you help

10:03me move? Hey, I need you on this call.

10:05Hey, do you have time for a quick chat?"

10:06You know, now it's like, ah, let me just

10:08shove more things into this this storage

10:10unit. The the and we're never going to

10:12stop that, by the way. You can try if

10:13you want to. You can go live on a desert

10:14island. And I swear to God, the pelicans

10:16will find a way to occupy your time. The

10:18way to protect yourself is you you go to

10:20Costco and you get I got these these

10:22tubs cuz my garage was a mess. I go to

10:24Costco and I got and they were $8. It

10:25was phenomenal deal. I don't know how

10:27Costco makes money. They're these great

10:28big black tubs with yellow lids. A lot

10:31of you know what I'm talking about. And

10:32I bought a bunch of them and I just put

10:33them in the garage and they were empty.

10:35But then like Halloween came around and

10:36I bought my kids a whole haunted house

10:38on Craigslist. And when we were done I

10:40was like, "Oh [ __ ] I can put those in

10:41the container." Like I had a container

10:43set aside that protected this space. And

10:46suddenly it was like I know where to put

10:48this and I have I have this ready for

10:52me. These containers you can do the same

10:54thing for yourself. You can protect your

10:56time and your space using containers

10:57that we're going to predefine on this

10:59call. On this call. Here are my rules

11:01for containers. You don't have to follow

11:02my rules, by the way. These are my

11:03rules. You can create your own rules,

11:05but but I've thought about this. So

11:07maybe suspend disbelief a little bit and

11:09listen to my rules and then you can

11:10decide how it is that you might modify.

11:13Rule number one. Rule number one,

11:15containers are sacred to a degree of

11:18religious fervor. This is your time. You

11:22do not set time aside for yourself.

11:24Society has not taught you to do that.

11:25Our parents didn't teach us to do it.

11:26School didn't teach us to do it. Our

11:28employers sure as [ __ ] don't want us to

11:30do it. This is your time and this time

11:32is sacred. Sacred. I don't think there's

11:35a better word than that. It's sacred.

11:37The only way you're going to serve

11:38people is if you're at your best. So,

11:40you might think to yourself, being

11:41self-sacrificial, y'all, helps nobody.

11:44It helps nobody because if you're like,

11:46"Oh, no. I need to show up for my kids.

11:47I need to show up for my spouse. I need

11:48to show up for my employees." Great. If

11:50you're showing up at 20%. That's what

11:52they get. But if you set a little bit,

11:54that's the other thing that's really

11:55interesting about containers. A little

11:57bit of time takes you from 20 to 80.

11:59Tell me that's not true. Tell me that's

12:01not true. A little bit of time on a

12:04regular basis takes you from 20% to 80%

12:06and now you can show up for everybody.

12:08Abraham Lincoln has a great quote. It's

12:09really worth spending some time thinking

12:10about because it applies to everything.

12:12He said, "If I have four hours to cut

12:13down a tree, I spend the first 3 hours

12:15sharpening the axe." You're the axe,

12:17right? You're the axe. And I'm not even

12:18asking you for 75% of the time. I'm

12:20asking you for a little bit of time.

12:21You'll see how little coming up. Spoiler

12:24alert. Anyone who threatens your

12:26container is crossing a boundary. And

12:27these, by the way, are people that you

12:28love. I was in business with somebody

12:30like this. I loved this man to death.

12:32He's one of my best friends in the world

12:34still to this day. He's a gem of a

12:35human. He and this is what makes him so

12:38successful. If he needs something done,

12:39he's going to get it done now. And it

12:41doesn't matter what you're in the middle

12:42of. And and it it caused some tension. I

12:45actually reorganized the way that we

12:47officed in order to attend to this.

12:49Anybody who crosses your boundary,

12:50anybody who who threatens your container

12:52is crossing a boundary. That doesn't

12:53mean that we we can attend to them in

12:55ways that are that are empathic and

12:56loving. And I'll show you how to do

12:57that. I actually have some templates

12:58written for you here. Uh, rule number

13:00two, containers are empty. That's my

13:03rule for this call and I'm going to

13:04explain why. And then again, you could

13:06break whatever rules you want to break.

13:08Containers are timebased, not goal

13:10based. So your goal is I want to go to

13:12the gym. All right, great. Great.

13:16That's such a It's such an easily broke.

13:18If I were a terrorist that wanted to

13:21bring down your goals, it would be so

13:24easy for me to bring down Jim. You know

13:25what I mean? Like there's so many steps

13:28between now and gym. It's like going to

13:30bed on time, waking up on time, getting

13:32dressed, making sure the kids are okay.

13:33And I want your containers for the sake

13:35of this call to be empty. Timebased, not

13:37goal-based. Containers default to

13:39minimal viable effort. You're not asking

13:41anything of yourself other than setting

13:43this time aside. There's a reason for

13:45this, which we'll get to. There's no

13:46outcome attached to containers. That's

13:48what empty means. Again, yet we'll get

13:50to the idea that you're going to fill

13:52these containers with something that's

13:53valuable for you. But right now, this is

13:54the operating system and the operating

13:56system is light, right? These are the

13:58empty tubs from Costco. Rule number

13:59three is containers are resilient. And

14:01this is going to be one of the hardest

14:02parts. Every container will be

14:04disrupted, guaranteed. Every container

14:06needs a backup plan. If something

14:07happens to your container, it needs to

14:08be updated. And we're going to do this.

14:10We're going to define our backup plans

14:12together. So containers are what?

14:13Sacred, empty, resilient. Each of those

14:16is going to come into play as we create

14:18our containers. So we're going to create

14:20our containers on this call. I've set

14:22aside about 30 minutes to try to get

14:23through my slides and so far I'm doing

14:25pretty good. We're going to create daily

14:26containers, weekly containers, monthly

14:28containers. Now, are those the only

14:30types of containers? No, absolutely not.

14:32You can have lots of different types of

14:33containers. I think those are the most

14:35important. And I think those are the

14:37most important because to be honest with

14:39you, that's what we've seen in all the

14:41extraordinary successes in the world. If

14:43you read the success literature of of

14:45which I've read all of it, which isn't a

14:46brag, by the way. It's actually like at

14:48a certain point, just stop reading and

14:49start doing. This is this is the routine

14:52that we're offered. Remember, containers

14:53are empty by default. There's no outcome

14:55attached. They're time based, not goal

14:56based. Here's what's really fun, though,

14:58is containers don't need to be big. They

14:59can be as little as 60 seconds. I swear

15:01to God, there's no container too small.

15:03There's no container too small. But if

15:04it starts, if it's full before it

15:06starts, it's not a container, it's a

15:07task list. That's why I want your

15:08containers to be empty. Your containers

15:10need to be empty. Some quick notes, some

15:12housekeeping. And I know I'm moving

15:13fast, but I want to make sure we have

15:14enough time to actually do the work.

15:15Containers are loadbearing. They're

15:17loadbearing. Think about a building.

15:19They're a loadbearing pillar. They're

15:21not decorative. That means we can't have

15:22a billion containers. They're

15:24loadbearing. So, where I said there's no

15:25such thing as a container too small, I'm

15:27talking to the single mom who works a

15:29night shift at at a hospital, right? You

15:31can have small containers, but that

15:32doesn't mean that we necessarily need a

15:34lot of them. You can have as many as you

15:35want. I can tell you since I've achieved

15:37financial freedom, I have way more

15:39containers than most people can afford

15:40to have. I have my entire Monday is

15:43blocked off. I give myself 3 to four

15:45hours most weekdays to do deep work.

15:48That's a luxury. That's a rich person's

15:51luxury. You might not be in that

15:53position. That's okay. I still want you

15:55to find these containers and realize

15:56that they can be as as small or as big

15:58as they need to be, but they're

15:59loadbearing. This is where all your

16:00dreams live, right? This is where

16:02everything that you're going to do has a

16:04cost of time. What time? This is the

16:05time that we're defining. So our goal

16:06isn't to maximize the number of

16:08containers. It's to identify the the

16:09it's it's the Pareto distribution, the

16:1120% of the work that will do 80% of the

16:13impact. Here's a question for you that

16:15everybody's been exposed to on a regular

16:17basis since you were born. What is the

16:20ideal setup for daily containers? A

16:22Pythagoras who developed the Pythagorean

16:25theorem and incidentally was more of a

16:26religious leader than he was a scientist

16:28and also had a weird thing against

16:30beans. Two quotes from the same guy. And

16:32you might be like, "All right, that's

16:33one dead guy. Great. So did Senica. So

16:35did Marcus Aurela. So did Epictitus. So

16:37did Plutarch. So did St. Augustine. So

16:38did Benedict of Nuria. So did

16:40Confucious, Benjamin Franklin, James

16:42Clear, the Bible, Islam, Buddhism, and

16:45Mr. Rogers. This is the ubiquitous truth

16:49across religion, philosophy, science,

16:52morning and evening. Set the system.

16:54Clear the system. They don't need to be

16:56big. But I believe very strongly you

16:58need these two containers at a minimum.

17:00You need a morning container. You need

17:02an evening container. So saith everybody

17:05that's ever accomplished anything. And

17:07again, go back and read the success

17:09literature. Do me the favor of reading

17:11the success literature. Interestingly,

17:12they did a multivariant, multi-year

17:14study across thousands of of

17:16extraordinary successes. People like

17:18Nobel Prize laurates, professional

17:19athletes, authors, and what they

17:21discovered was really interesting. There

17:22weren't many common denominators. There

17:24weren't many. I think the the single

17:26biggest common denominator was exercise.

17:28But the second was morning. A morning

17:30routine. having any morning routine. So,

17:33we're going to create your containers.

17:35Now, you don't have to follow my rules,

17:38but I I I I'm just letting you know what

17:40I think what I think the ubiquitous

17:42truth is and should be. So, I believe

17:44you should have a morning and an evening

17:45container. Maybe you will, maybe you

17:47won't. Time will tell. But what we are

17:49going to do is we're going to define our

17:50containers. And I I I have four minutes

17:52to spare, by the way. I got I got

17:53through this four minutes faster than I

17:54thought I would. And we're going to work

17:57on our what I call our core containers.

17:59So, what I'm about to drop in the chat

18:01is called the core container worksheet.

18:04This is the core container worksheet.

18:06So, you've made a copy of the core

18:08container worksheet, and now we're going

18:10to go through this sheet together.

18:12[snorts]

18:13Uh, y'all, I spent more time than I care

18:15to tell you on this. So, again, throw

18:17all my rules out, but suspend this

18:19belief for just a moment if you don't

18:21mind. Uh, we're going to we're going to

18:23define containers that you would build

18:25if nothing was in the way. So, this

18:27isn't practical. This isn't a practical

18:29exercise yet. It's not what's

18:30convenient. It's not what will work.

18:31This is about ideal architecture. So I

18:33what I want you to do is I want you to

18:35pretend that you are sitting with God or

18:37spirit or source or whatever you want to

18:39call the entity that controls the world.

18:41You are sitting with God. And God's

18:42like, "Hey, what do you want your your

18:45day, your week, your month to look

18:46like?" And you're like, "Dude, if if I

18:47didn't have to worry about anything

18:49else, if I didn't worry about kids or

18:50spouse or employees or whatever, these

18:52are my core containers. There's a reason

18:53we're doing it this way." Okay? So, and

18:55remember, they're sacred, they're empty,

18:56they're resilient. So, we're going to

18:58spend reality, suspend reality, forget

19:01jobs, forget everything, and we're going

19:03to focus on what's best for you. When

19:05have you done that ever in the history

19:06of your life? When have you ever really

19:08put you first? And again, we're this is

19:10going to they're going to be flexible.

19:12But for now, let's talk ideal

19:14architecture. So, remember across

19:15biology, science, philosophy, religion,

19:17and culture, one daily architecture

19:19appears again and again and again and

19:20again and again. What's the

19:21architecture? Morning container, evening

19:24container. This is what I want from you

19:26right now. If the world were perfect,

19:28name your container. Christine Marie on

19:30this call, she calls her morning

19:31container, vertical alignment. She gets

19:33aligned with the superordinate

19:35principle. For her, that's God. It's

19:37beautiful the way that she does it. It's

19:38beautiful. Name your container. When you

19:40name something, you take ownership of

19:42it. You might go with it. You might call

19:45it taking souls. I don't know if y'all

19:46have read his books. They're amazing, by

19:48the way. And he talks about taking

19:50souls. I love it. Especially the way

19:52that he thinks about anything that gets

19:53in his way. He's like, I'm going to take

19:55that thing's soul. And it's such a it it

19:58really I'm like I'm getting fired up

19:59right now just thinking about it. You

20:00might want to be softer. You want might

20:02want to be philosophical. Whatever it

20:03is, name it. Name it. Make it yours.

20:06Make it your thing. Name your morning

20:08container. You know, you might want to

20:09finding love. Find This is what one of

20:10the reasons that asked you for your word

20:11for 2026. Maybe that's it. My word for

20:142026 is peace. I'm going through some

20:15health issues right now. I went through

20:17a divorce. It was horrible. I just want

20:182026 to be peaceful. I don't need to be

20:20more successful. I don't even need more

20:22money. I just want I just want peace.

20:24Name your morning container. Once you've

20:25named your morning container, define the

20:27location if applicable. I would

20:29encourage you to be flexible here

20:31because remember, life is going to

20:32change. You're going to travel, you're

20:33going to go on vacation, something's

20:34going to go wrong. So, locations aren't

20:36always required, but sometimes they're

20:38necessary depending on your context in

20:40your life. Name the location for your

20:41morning container. And then you're going

20:43to define again ideal, suspend belief.

20:45What's your ideal start time? If the

20:46world were perfect and kids never got

20:48sick and nobody ever called you, what

20:49would your ideal start time for this

20:51container be? And what would your ideal

20:53duration be? Joe Despensza says his

20:55ideal start time is 4 a.m. and his ideal

20:56duration is 2 hours. God, can you

20:59imagine two hours every single day at

21:014:00 a.m. And some of you are like,

21:02"Yeah, dude. I do that." Great. This is

21:04awesome. When you've defined your name,

21:06your location, your start time, and

21:07duration, what I'd really love from you,

21:09and I'm going to offer everybody a

21:10couple of minutes to do this one, cuz

21:12the morning, by the way, is the most

21:13important. I need to know why this

21:14matters. Why does it matter? And you're

21:16like, you can give yourself the reason

21:19that you're going to stick to something

21:20like this, or you can just sit there and

21:22wait for the time to be up. What's the

21:23name of your container? The location,

21:24the start time, the duration, and then

21:26most importantly, why does this matter?

21:28Why does it matter? What are the goals

21:29that you're reaching for? What happens

21:30if you don't get it? Tommy Schaefer,

21:32this matters. It reminds me to stay out

21:33of my own way and others, too. Christina

21:35Hooper, blue hour. Of course, it is. I

21:38love that so much. Christina Hooper is

21:39the girl in blue. I didn't know that

21:40about the photography term. I use this

21:42time to spend time alone before the kids

21:44are awake after the husband's gone to

21:45work. I can do whatever I want before

21:47starting my day. Um,

21:49y'all, these are amazing. I'm blown

21:51away. I really love what you said, Ron.

21:53Reminds me who I am and what I'm capable

21:55of. Jason, the energy of life and source

21:57is so much better when I do this on a

21:59regular basis. Y'all, these are

22:00stunning. All right, y'all. Is everybody

22:02more or less on board with the morning

22:04container idea? I believe very strongly

22:06your morning container is the most

22:07important container. That's not to

22:09diminish the evening container. And what

22:11I will say is your evening container is

22:12usually the first one to go. So, we

22:14created our morning container. We're

22:16going to do the exact same thing to our

22:18evening container. And where our morning

22:20container is the most important

22:22container from a productivity

22:23standpoint. That might be the mentality

22:25that you want to assume. Your evening

22:27container protects your morning

22:29container. Your evening container is the

22:31first container to go. Usually when you

22:33have a bad morning, it's because you had

22:34a bad evening. When I say usually, I

22:36mean 99% of the time. So, while it's

22:38easy to think about your evening

22:40container as, let's say, disposable,

22:42because it's not as important, quote

22:44unquote, it protects that which is most

22:46important, which by proxy kind of makes

22:48it most important, doesn't it? In this

22:50fun game of mental gymnastics that I'm

22:53playing to try to convince you that the

22:54evening container is also important.

22:55They're symbiotic in a way that's very

22:57difficult to divorce from each other.

22:59So, we're going to do the exact same

23:00thing with your evening container.

23:02You're going to name it. I love turnown

23:04for what. That's probably the most

23:05creative name I've ever heard. You're

23:06going to define the location if

23:08applicable. A location might be a little

23:10bit more applicable to evening

23:11container. You might say like, "Hey, I

23:12got to be home." If you if you're one of

23:14those folks that's just always being

23:15tempted out, you might say, "I need to

23:17be home." Or, "I need to be in my room."

23:19You can apply other rules to containers.

23:20By the way, the rule that I'd love to

23:22imply in my home is screens off. I'd

23:24love screens to be off 2 hours before we

23:26go to bed. My friend, if y'all know

23:28Dimmitri Smirnoff, he keeps talking

23:29about blue light and red light and all

23:31sorts of lights. And he finally has me

23:33convinced that light matters. But we're

23:34going to define our evening container.

23:36Name the container. Define your location

23:37if applicable. What's the ideal start

23:39time and the ideal duration? Y'all, this

23:41could be 5 minutes. My evening container

23:42is not long. It's about 10 10 15

23:44minutes. I do a little bit of

23:46journaling. I track my habits. I do some

23:47stretching. I go to bed. This isn't

23:49meant to stress you out. It's meant to

23:51to hold space. And once we have that,

23:53I'd love for you to define why it

23:54matters to you and drop it into chat. I

23:56always hate being on calls when I'm

23:57waiting for the dead space. But there's

24:00also the temptation of just filling the

24:01space as the moderator, so I'll fight

24:03that. This practice helps me sleep

24:05better, actually arrest my mind, and

24:06stops me from working on the problems

24:08from the previous day while I try to

24:09pass in pass into dreamland. Y'all,

24:11these are beautiful, y'all. These are

24:13the two most important containers that

24:14we can have. Here's the thing that I'll

24:15posit. If this is all we get done, this

24:18is the only thing we do is we define our

24:20morning and our evening container and we

24:21install them. I think we have a better

24:23operating system for 2026 than if you

24:25haven't done this than we would have

24:27otherwise. Now, we're not done. Very

24:29important to note, we're not done. These

24:31are the containers that I would I would

24:32posit we use to buttress. And

24:34interestingly, smaller containers I

24:36think for morning and evening are

24:37better. I've done the thing. You can go

24:39to my Instagram right now. In 2023, I

24:41woke up every single morning at 4 a.m. I

24:44did a 39°ree cold plunge sauna workout.

24:47I wrote a thousand words. I published

24:49all of them in a book called The Book of

24:50Threads. It was about 2 and 1 half

24:51hours. I did it every day for 365 days.

24:54And there's something about it that I

24:55swear to God it made me less successful

24:57that year because by the time I was done

24:59that that morning I was fried. I was

25:01mentally fried, physically fried,

25:03emotionally fried, psychologically

25:04fried. I had nothing left. I felt

25:07mechanized in a way and I I I attributed

25:10too much to those those mechanisms and

25:13not enough to what I wanted to do. I

25:15think smaller containers are stronger

25:17and that I think that's actually tech.

25:19I'm not a physicist, but I'm going to

25:20play physics for just a minute. I think

25:22it's technically true. Like if you have

25:23the same amount of material, the more

25:25you spread into trying to create a

25:27larger container, the easier that

25:28material is to crush, right? So, I think

25:29smaller containers can be stronger. So,

25:31it's okay to have a 20 minute morning

25:33routine and a 15-minute evening routine.

25:35As a matter of fact, I think that's

25:35going to be the easiest thing for you to

25:37protect. Now, we're going to keep going.

25:38Additional daily containers. Please,

25:40please, please be careful here. I don't

25:43have a job. So, I have a daily deep work

25:46container. I have that luxury. Not to

25:48brag, it's just a practical reality of

25:49my life. You might be like, "Dude, I

25:51can't afford any more containers than 10

25:53minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in

25:54the evening." That's okay. This is the

25:55balance of risks. Here's what I will say

25:57to you, though. For those of you who

25:59have flexibility in your life for

26:00whatever reason, or or otherwise, if you

26:04can carve a daily container of deep work

26:08of deep work into your life, and this is

26:10an empty container, by the way. When I

26:12say deep work, I'm not telling you to

26:13put anything into it. If you can carve a

26:14daily container into your life, I swear

26:17to God, you'll be the most successful

26:18person in your circle 365 days from

26:21today because nobody does this. What

26:24makes you the most amount of money? And

26:25goes around the circle. Everybody

26:26defines what makes them the most amount

26:27of money. All right, I want you to tell

26:28me how much time did you spend on that

26:30task last month? And y'all, it's every

26:32single time it's the same. Every single

26:35time it's zero to a couple of hours.

26:38I've decided if I'm not creating

26:39content, if I don't create content, what

26:41am I doing? Everything that I want to do

26:43in my life lives on top of this

26:45foundation of creating content. You

26:47probably have that thing that if you're

26:49not doing it, what are you doing? This

26:51is why you may have additional daily

26:53containers. Now, I want to be really,

26:54really, really careful with daily

26:55containers because they're breakable.

26:58So, we may reserve this for weekly, but

27:00for those of you that have the luxury,

27:02define your additional daily container.

27:04Remember that they're sacred, but you

27:05might say from noon to 2, I'm not doing

27:07anything but calls. If you're in sales,

27:09Brian, who's on this call, by the way,

27:10one of the best salesman I've ever

27:11known. If you're in sales, you don't

27:12make money unless you're calling, right?

27:14If you have one of those things, and

27:16again, containers are empty. So, we're

27:18going to talk a little bit, and I'm sort

27:19of letting some of the cat out of the

27:20bag. I'd love for you to define your

27:22additionally daily containers. And and

27:24once you're done, and this might be time

27:25that you work off hours, we're going to

27:27move into weekly. Now, I have the bad

27:29habit of hyperbolizing things, and so

27:31I'm going to try not to do that. I think

27:33that your your morning and your evening

27:35containers are your centuries. They're

27:37your bodyguards. They're the protectors

27:39that stand outside the gates of your

27:41time and they make sure the world can't

27:42encroach upon you. I think that that's

27:45they're so important in that way. I

27:47think your weekly container or

27:48container, this is your creation time

27:51and we need to create. So for for people

27:54that don't have the luxury of a daily

27:56container, which by the way is most

27:57people, this is where execution and

28:00creation is going to exist. And there's

28:02there's data to this too. By the way,

28:04the number is 4 hours. If you've read

28:06about maker time versus manager time and

28:08it's funny because the entire economic

28:10world is built around manager time. Why?

28:12Because managers build the calendars.

28:13Manager time is broken down into 30

28:15minute increments and it's like oh we're

28:17doing meetings. The the issue with that

28:19is makers need 4 hours in order to make

28:21anything. Think about anything you've

28:22ever made in your life from you know

28:24putting a puzzle together to writing a

28:26book to coding software. The 4-hour

28:28block lets you lets you steep in it. You

28:30got to get in it. You have to prime

28:31yourself intellectually and

28:32psychologically and and you have to

28:34really really really dive deep and you

28:36have to be into it for an hour or two

28:37before you really start to get

28:39performative, right? And then any

28:41interruption is just devastating because

28:43and there's data on that. I forgot what

28:44it is, but I think it's 23 minutes per

28:46interruption to get back to the the the

28:48point of efficiency that you were at. I

28:49bet you a knows that it's 23 minutes.

28:52Yeah, I thought so. It's 23 minutes

28:54every interruption, no matter what the

28:55interruption might be a notification on

28:57your phone. So this weekly container,

28:59the daily and evening containers are

29:00your centuries. They're your bodyguards.

29:02This weekly container, I need one from

29:04you. There has to be one, y'all. Where

29:06and if you can't get four hours, get

29:07two. If you can't get two hours, get

29:09one. If you can't get an hour, get 30

29:10minutes. There has to be time. Here's

29:12the other thing. And and I'm going to

29:13say something that's going to sound so

29:14so costic. If you can't do this, you

29:17don't get goals. You don't get because

29:19the price of admission is time. Where's

29:21the time for your goals? This is what I

29:24need from you. So if you're like, I want

29:25to write a book. I want to create a

29:26course. I want to start a business. I

29:27want to do whatever it is that you want

29:28to do. You need to attribute time in

29:30order to accomplish your goals. All of

29:32your goals have a cost of admission and

29:34time. I'm asking you to set that time

29:35aside. So, let's define your weekly

29:37container. I'd love to see four hours

29:38from me if you have that luxury. If you

29:40don't, I'd love to see two. If you

29:41can't, I'd love to see one. If you

29:43can't, you know what I mean? Like, come

29:45with me as far as you can go. And some

29:47people, by the way, are in tough tough

29:48spots. My mom was blind. She was blind

29:50in her right eye. She had tunnel vision

29:52in her left eye. She worked at a call

29:54center and she we would leave the house

29:56at 5:00 a.m. She'd drop us off at

29:58daycare right when they opened. There

30:00was this lady, her name was Vanie. She

30:01was a Vietnamese immigrant and and she

30:04was the cook at Kinderare and she used

30:05to let my mom drop us off early. Like

30:07Kinderare wasn't even open. And then my

30:09mom worked until 7:00 p.m. and then

30:11she'd drive home. She'd pick us up. So

30:13if I'm talking to my mom right now and

30:15I'm asking her for 4 hours a week, she's

30:16like, "I don't have it. I don't have it.

30:18I'm a blind single mother on social

30:20security disability, but maybe she's got

30:2230 minutes. My mom always wanted to

30:23write. She'd have been a she would have

30:24been an amazing amazing amazing writer.

30:26And what I would not have given if my

30:28mom carved out 30 minutes a week to sit

30:30down and just write a little. You know

30:32what I mean? Like it doesn't it doesn't

30:33matter to a to a degree how much is

30:36encroaching upon you. If you don't carve

30:38off a little time to yourself, you're

30:39going to end up with your you don't want

30:40to die with your song inside you. This

30:42weekly container is so so important

30:44because this is where you get to sing

30:45that song. Right. That was a little more

30:46poetic than I promise I'll ever get

30:48again. We need this weekly container.

30:50This is where we're going to dive deep.

30:51So, what's the name of the container?

30:53What's the name of your song? What is it

30:55that you're going to bring to the world?

30:56This weekly container is your creation

30:58block, y'all. This is This is the one.

31:00This is it. Name the container. Own it.

31:03Name the location if applicable. If

31:04you're a painter, you got to paint in

31:06your studio. Be in the freaking studio.

31:07You know what I mean? If you're a

31:08composer, you got to be in front of a

31:09piano. Like, where do you need to be

31:11potentially? What's the ideal day? Uh, I

31:14block Mondays. I don't take meetings

31:15Mondays. Period. Full stop. And every

31:17now and again, if that needs to be Well,

31:19we'll talk about that in just a little

31:20bit. What's the ideal day, the ideal

31:22time window, and the ideal duration? If

31:24you can give me 4 hours this way,

31:26imagine that. Imagine 4 hours a week was

31:3052* 4. Is that 108? Yeah, I went to

31:33public school. When was the last time

31:34anybody contributed 208 hours to that

31:36which mattered most to them? You know

31:38what I mean? Like, imagine that. Imagine

31:39how weaponized we'd be. Primary

31:41container. And I'd love for you to

31:42define what does this container give you

31:44that daily ones do not. The reason

31:45you're defining this is because it's

31:46easy to let the weekly ones go if you

31:48know you got your bodyguards set up. We

31:50don't want to do that. If you have the

31:52luxury and only if you have the luxury

31:54you can define two or more. Modify the

31:56sheet. Break my rules. As many weekly

31:58containers as you want to create. Now

32:00your monthly container. This is your

32:02reset. Interestingly the monthly

32:04containers I think can be pretty short.

32:05What I'd love from you monthly the

32:07problem with habits and I've studied

32:10habits my entire life. I'll show you my

32:11habit tracking sheet. Like y'all, I've

32:13gotten insane. I really have gotten like

32:15I've gone off the rails. As a matter of

32:18fact, I'd like to show you that just

32:19because you can see how neurotic I've

32:21been. Let me see if this is the one.

32:23This is great. So, this is from This

32:26isn't my first iteration of this, by the

32:27way. I've been doing this since I was 19

32:28years old. This is from 2019. I used to

32:31track everything in my life from how I

32:34felt physically, mentally in the

32:35morning, and evenings to you can see my

32:37gratitude journal schedule. I wanted to

32:39give something to somebody every day. I

32:41had a core habit I was cultivating. The

32:43most important thing that I would do

32:44that day, all my subsequent habits,

32:46which were scored, by the way, this is

32:48how I would calculate my daily score.

32:50Like I got obsessive with tracking

32:52habits. The problem with obsessively

32:54tracking habits is you start to you

32:57start to run the script without

32:59remembering why you run the script.

33:01Remember, there's the map and there's

33:02the vehicle. Well, the vehicle, if your

33:04foot is on the gas, the vehicle is going

33:05to go. What I like about the monthly

33:07container is it allows us to calibrate

33:09against the map. The monthly container

33:11lets us come back and be like, am I

33:12headed in the right direction? Is there

33:14anything that needs to be changed? Is

33:15there anything that needs to be updated?

33:16Is there anything that I need to modify?

33:18So, what I'd love for you to do is

33:19define your monthly container. This is

33:21where you're just going to stop and look

33:23back and look forward. It's a quick look

33:24back and it's a quick look forward. It

33:26could be an hour, you know what I mean?

33:27Honestly, it could be 30 minutes if you

33:29want it to be. It's whatever feels good

33:30to you. It's just some time aside. I

33:33like the beginning of the month

33:34personally. And I know there's a

33:35psychological difference for me. The

33:3731st of the month is, you know, ah, let

33:40me look at everything that I sucked at.

33:41The first of the month is, let me look

33:43at everything I'm going to do. And then

33:44I can look back and be like, what can I

33:45improve upon? That's my opinion. Define

33:47your monthly container. This is our

33:49monthly reset. If you want more than

33:51one, some I realize again everybody's a

33:53little bit different. That's okay. You

33:54can define more than one. Name your

33:56container, a location if applicable,

33:58day, time, and duration. And then what's

34:00your core purpose? What is the thing

34:01that you need to accomplish in this

34:03container potentially? Wow, I didn't see

34:04this. Samson, this is great. When what

34:06you do every day matches what you want

34:08for the whole week, you win. That's

34:10beautiful. Can you share that active

34:11daily SOP sheet as a template? Yeah, I

34:13would advise against it to be honest

34:14with you, but everybody can have it. Do

34:16I have a template? I kind of don't want

34:17you guys to have mine because there's

34:19some personal things. Oh, here we go. I

34:21actually made a copy for my friend.

34:23There you guys can have the copy I made

34:24for his name was Matt. You'll see that.

34:26Here's my daily SOP template. Susan

34:29monthly container Y. I identify key

34:31priorities for the next month for deep

34:32work and maker time. Love that. Love,

34:34love, love. Can you have external

34:36accountability for your containers,

34:37dude? I hope you do. So, we're going to

34:38talk about that in just a second or I've

34:40got some templates for you. As a matter

34:41of fact, they're going to they're going

34:42to help us not just put that into place,

34:44but what I'd like you to do is start

34:46enlisting allies. The hardest thing is

34:49to have a spouse who's not on board.

34:51That's been my Well, how do I say this

34:52without It's just difficult to maintain

34:54this without having somebody who

34:56supports you in this way. Uh kids are

34:58probably the second hardest and they're

35:00not trying to ruin your containers.

35:01they're just alive and they need to be

35:03kept that way. Uh enlisting allies can

35:05be really, really, really helpful. This

35:07is a new buy box for my life. I have

35:10some I have people I love

35:13who

35:15have been or are actively being removed

35:17from me because no matter what I do,

35:20they cross those boundaries. And they're

35:22not bad people. There's just certain

35:23personality types that for whatever

35:24reason, they almost look at boundaries

35:26as an invitation to test.

35:29And you know, depending on where you are

35:31in life, I'm like, I don't I love you. I

35:33hope life goes well for you, and I will

35:35not tolerate that behavior. So, we need

35:36to be careful about how we engage with

35:38some of those [ __ ] I meant to say

35:40folks, not [ __ ] Forgive my language.

35:42It's not a personality type. It's a

35:43trauma response. Yeah, I think you're

35:44exactly right, Deborah. I've actually

35:45thought a lot about this cuz I have one

35:46person who's very close to me who I

35:48really love and I'm like, "All right,

35:50now's the uncomfortable part. Are we

35:51ready for the uncomfortable part?" By

35:53the way, if you haven't defined all your

35:54containers, that's okay. You now know

35:56how to define containers. Here's what

35:57I'd really like for you to do. I'd like

35:59for you to pull up your calendars, start

36:02looking at what you can eliminate.

36:04Remember, we defined our containers as

36:05ideal. Before we even begin putting time

36:08on our calendars, I'd like you to begin

36:10defining what you can eliminate. Flash

36:12forward a couple of weeks, by the way,

36:13cuz you may have allowed yourself into a

36:15devastation of chaos that just needs to

36:18be attended to. And it is what it is.

36:20But what I'd like you to do is I'd like

36:21you to look at what your normal weeks

36:23look like, assuming that your calendar

36:25looks that way. And I'd love for you to

36:26start eliminating things before we start

36:28adding. We want to eliminate. And this

36:30isn't going to be something that we

36:32finish on this call, but it is a habit

36:34that I want you to get into is

36:35elimination. Success comes from

36:37elimination. It comes from taking away,

36:39not from adding. Um, Hermosi talks about

36:42this all the time. It's doing more of

36:44what works. It's actually doing more of

36:45less. It's the less that's important.

36:47So, we're going to pull up our calendars

36:49and we're going to eliminate everything

36:51that's unnecessary. And y'all be

36:52ruthless here. Be ruthless here. There

36:55are some things that just aren't your

36:56problem. There's some things that you

36:58just shouldn't be doing. There's some

36:59things you committed to that you

37:00shouldn't have committed to. Cut it. Cut

37:02it. You know what I mean? Like, you can

37:04still love those folks. You can explain

37:05it to them if you want to. Cut it. Kill

37:07it with fire. Just allow it. Know your

37:11time is so important. And as you look at

37:13these containers and and to be frank, if

37:15if you're looking at the containers I'm

37:17looking at, I have more time than most.

37:18I'm still pissed off at how little time

37:20I have. Anything on your calendar, baz

37:22through your calendar, and start cutting

37:23things. I love that, Deborah. Deborah

37:25says, "My calendar and my content and

37:26courses is quite minimalist already."

37:28That's great. So, once you've eliminated

37:30your calendar, take a look at, and this

37:32is my own personal drum to beat, by the

37:33way. But take a look at things and then

37:35ask yourself, what can I delegate? There

37:36are so many things that you do that you

37:38should not be doing. And by the way, if

37:39you don't have an assistant, that's

37:40okay. There's a lot that Aentic AI can

37:43do. What are the things that you're if

37:44you're doing any check-ins, any reviews,

37:47any all of that can be delegated and

37:49summarized by AI. What can you

37:51eliminate? What can you delegate? We're

37:52going to take away first before we add

37:55before we add. Lori, I love the

37:57Eisenhower box that you mentioned to the

37:59Eisenhower box. I first was exposed to

38:01it in CVY's seven habits, but it's the

38:03important, not important, urgent, not

38:05urgent. That's the grid. And box one is

38:07where we all live. It's important and

38:08it's urgent. Box two is the most

38:10important box. It's important, but it's

38:11not urgent, so it never gets done. And

38:13then box threes and four just shouldn't

38:15exist. Those are the things you're

38:16eliminating three and four, and then

38:17you're going to try to delegate as much

38:19as the ones as you possibly can. Yeah, I

38:21think I said that right. Now, the thing

38:22that I'd like you to do, and again, I

38:24don't know if we're going to get this

38:24done on this call. I'd like to see your

38:27containers added to your calendar. Your

38:28morning container. Thank you so much,

38:30Lori. This is great. Your morning

38:32container. I don't care if it's 10

38:33minutes. Put it on your calendar. Block

38:35it off. Put it on your calendar. Add a

38:36little reminder and copy and paste

38:38everything that we just defined. What's

38:40the name? What's the location, etc. Put

38:41it in the description of the calendar

38:42event. Add your morning container. Add

38:44your evening container. Set them to

38:46recur. If you're not using, you know,

38:48tool that allows you to do that, go find

38:50a tool. Google calendar, Microsoft

38:51calendar, whatever you use, Apple

38:52calendar, they all do this. Add your

38:54morning container, add the context. Add

38:55your evening container, add the context.

38:57Add your weekly containers. Set them to

38:59recur. It's the same day every week

39:00hopefully. For some people, some people

39:02have off schedules. That's okay. You'll

39:04figure it out. And we're going to talk

39:05about how to protect that in just a

39:06minute. Add your monthly container. Take

39:08just a minute to do all that. While

39:09you're doing that, if you need more

39:10time, please take more time. But while

39:12your calendar is open, what I'd like you

39:14to do is flash forward. Flash forward

39:16for the rest of the year. If your

39:18containers are already added, when you

39:20flash forward, you should actually see

39:22your containers against the rest of your

39:23schedule. And you know, some folks might

39:25not be as militant with their calendars

39:27as I am. And so, if you don't see

39:28anything, that's okay. But when you

39:29flash forward, what I'd like you to

39:31start to do is identify risks. Identify

39:34risks. Be like, I'm going on vacation.

39:36This is my kid's birthday. Whatever.

39:38What are the risks to your containers as

39:40you flash forward? What are the risks?

39:42And as you define those risks, we are

39:44going to work on container protection.

39:47And that's actually our next worksheet.

39:49So, I'm going to drop this into chat.

39:51Uh, this gets a little tedious, y'all.

39:52It's by design. I'm telling you this is

39:54important. I know this is a pain in the

39:56ass, but I'm telling you it's important.

39:57Again, go up to file, click make a copy.

40:00You'll have your own copy. We're not

40:02going to do it on this call cuz we won't

40:03have time. This is why I told you to

40:04reserve a little time after the fact for

40:06every single container you defined. I'd

40:10like you to define your protection

40:11mechanisms. Every single container,

40:14what's the name of the container? Is it

40:15daily, weekly, monthly or other? What

40:17are the disruptions? Assume disruption.

40:19Right? My son yesterday morning I woke

40:21up at 4 a.m. to him projectile vomiting.

40:24My morning was spoken for me at that

40:26point. Right? So kids are a great

40:27disruption. Work is a great disruption.

40:29What are the disruptions? I know

40:31somebody who's a caretaker. What are the

40:33disruptions that you just know and this

40:35is going to happen. And the reason we

40:36want to outline and define this, by the

40:38way, is when it happens and you don't

40:41have it defined, it's so stressful. And

40:43when you're when you're committed to

40:44these containers, it can be so

40:46disheartening. But when you've got a

40:47plan, you're like, I knew this was going

40:49to happen. It's okay. I know exactly

40:50what I'm going to do. We're going to

40:52identify our disruptions and we're going

40:54to install surrogate containers. Our

40:56surrogate containers are the containers

40:57that we are going to use in the event of

41:00a disruption. So our containers are

41:02non-negotiable, but they are flexible.

41:04Remember the container is what was the

41:05word that I used? Resilient. Containers

41:07are resilient. This is how we make our

41:09containers resilient. So, for your

41:10morning, if I can't wake up at my 4:00

41:12a.m. time and do it, then right after my

41:14kids go to school, I usually have about

41:15a half hour, right? Or whatever. I I I I

41:19can get it done at lunch. Or whatever it

41:21might be true for you. What's your

41:22surrogate A, your preferred surrogate?

41:24What's your surrogate B? Your fallback

41:27surrogate. So, for me, my surrogate A is

41:29right after I take my kids to school. My

41:30surrogate B, my fall back, is probably

41:32around lunchtime or maybe right after

41:34work. And my surrogate C, preservation.

41:36This is just the thing that you do to

41:39make sure you can check your box and

41:40say, "I still did it." This is so

41:42important psychologically. It goes back

41:44to that the Seinfeld box. It's don't

41:46break the chain. Once we've broken the

41:48chain, the likelihood that we allow the

41:50chain to be broken again increases by

41:52something like a,000x. The specific

41:53there is wrong, but the gist is right.

41:55By the way, it basically guarantees

41:56failure again. So, you're going to have

41:58a backup plan. You're going to have a

42:00backup plan A. You're going to have a

42:01backup plan B. You're going to have a

42:02backup plan C. Backup plan C could be

42:05from my phone in 60 seconds. I'm just

42:07going to make sure that all my tasks

42:09have been documented, right? I don't

42:11care what it is. You're also going to

42:14allow yourself sacrifices. Allow

42:17yourself sacrifices. If for what I said,

42:20I don't take meetings Monday, every now

42:21and again, I run into an issue where

42:23that just for whatever reason, I can't

42:25attend to that. Whatever amount of time

42:27I end up losing on my Monday, I take

42:29from another day. If if your containers,

42:31yo, I want you to be radical. For the

42:33guy I mentioned to you who doesn't make

42:34money unless he's recruiting, it doesn't

42:36matter for him what happens. He'll

42:38cancel. It doesn't matter the meeting.

42:39He cancels it. You tell me, I'm going to

42:41cancel meetings. I'm going to sacrifice

42:43intensity. I'm going to not, you know,

42:45I'm going to allow myself not to go in

42:46box zero. I'm going to allow myself to

42:47skip the gym. I'm going to allow myself

42:49to whatever, whatever, whatever,

42:50whatever, whatever. What are the

42:51sacrifices that you're willing to make

42:54in order to protect this container? And

42:56then, if you want to be real radical,

42:58print it and sign it. And you might

43:00think like, "Oh, Ken, that's really

43:01dramatic." You know what? Try me. Try

43:02me. Take the time it takes to do

43:04something like that. And see whether or

43:06not you take it more seriously. And

43:07you'll do it for every single container

43:10that you have. Have a protection

43:12mechanism for every single container you

43:14have. Know what's going to happen when

43:17failure comes. And guess what? Then it's

43:19not failure. Then it's a setback. This

43:20will weaponize you. The thing I want to

43:22say about surrogates, it's continuity

43:24over intensity. You don't need to do

43:27everything that you normally do inside

43:28of that container. You just need to make

43:29sure that something that it's touched

43:31that you're maintaining continuity.

43:33Here's what I would like you to do. And

43:35mine are not good, by the way. They're

43:36they're just I mean they're heavily GPT.

43:39I wrote a template for you and then I as

43:41chatgptt to modify that template for

43:43different roles. I'm going to give

43:44everybody this doc again. Go up file

43:47make a copy. I'd like you on this call.

43:50You're going to draft your container

43:51declaration. You don't have to use mine.

43:53draft your container declaration and and

43:55wait to modify it. I would recommend

43:57using whatever you use, claude or chat

43:59or whatever to modify it per rules. To

44:02all of your subordinates, you'll have

44:04one message. Uh I'm not telling you this

44:07is good, bad or indifferent. It depends

44:08on who works for you. This is actually

44:09pretty generic, but there's a couple of

44:11things that I think are pretty

44:12strategic. It's, you know, whoever I'm

44:14talking to, hey Martin, I'm making a

44:16shift to protect a few important time

44:18blocks that I will now be treating as

44:20sacred time on my calendar. I think

44:21that's important. that to me brokers no

44:24argument. I'm not here to talk to you

44:26about why this is important. This is

44:28sacred to me. End of story. For

44:30visibility, I will be unavailable during

44:32these windows. And you can have as many

44:33of these as you want, right? Like add

44:36and add and add. I would only add time

44:38that's relevant to the role. You may see

44:40me unavailable during these periods.

44:42That's intentional. Protecting this time

44:44helps. And then you always want to give

44:45people the why. So, I'm going to show up

44:47better. I'm going to be more present. If

44:49there's a conflict, please be proactive

44:51and let me know. and then we'll figure

44:52out that conflict together. We'll find

44:54an alternative. I'm setting the

44:56expectation that I'm not going to

44:57backpedal on my sacred time. We'll find

44:59an alternative. Thanks for helping

45:01protect this. This is where we enlist

45:03allies. It directly improves how I lead

45:05and support you. By the way, I just made

45:06this about you. I'm telling you, I'm

45:08going to be a better boss. I'm going to

45:09be better supervisor. I'm going to be

45:10better whatever you are. You're going to

45:12send this to everybody who works for

45:13you, everybody you work with, everybody

45:16you work for. If you're a consultant, by

45:19the way, send this to your clients and

45:21everybody who loves you, all of your

45:23family and friends should get some

45:25variation of this message. What I'd do

45:26if I was you, steal from Perry, is I'd

45:29write your template generically, get the

45:31words out to where you like them, and

45:32then have Chat or Claude modify it per

45:34role. So, like, all right, now write

45:36this to my husband or wife. Now, I'll

45:37write this for my kids. If you have

45:39adult kids that can be enlisted, what

45:41you're really looking for are allies. I

45:44would ask for that. I'd especially ask

45:46for that here with your family and

45:48friends. I'd ask for allies, man. I' I I

45:50could really use some help here. I could

45:52really use reinforcement. I could use

45:55somebody, you know, and you know what's

45:56really fun is you you'll see a lot of

45:58people being like, "Oh gosh, I really I

46:00want to do that, too." They'll enlist

46:01with you. You're looking for allies. The

46:04other thing you're looking for, and this

46:06is the hard part, you're going to find

46:07people that push back on this boundary

46:09right away. Like Deborah said, that

46:10might be a trauma response. Know who

46:12they are. know who they are because the

46:14other thing that I'd like you to do

46:15right now on this call is start defining

46:19your boundary enforcement. I have some

46:20written for you. Again, these aren't

46:22good. They're just they're generic. Very

46:24gentle. Here's why I like these. It's

46:27really, really, really nice to have

46:28sound bites. Copy paste. Something

46:30predefined that goes to everybody. Have

46:32gentle sound bites. Have clear sound

46:35bites. And then have like, hey, I'm not

46:37putting up with this. This is a

46:38boundary. I actually like I like the

46:41words. this is a boundary. You know

46:43what's nice about the words this is a

46:44boundary is you're you're being very

46:47clear as to how you feel in regards to

46:50their action because there's nothing to

46:51say their action is wrong, offensive, in

46:54any way negative until you say you're

46:56crossing a boundary. And the thing that

46:58I think is really important for

46:59everybody and I I learned this in Front

47:01Row Dads from John Vman who's one of the

47:02best leaders I've ever known in my

47:04entire life. Your boundaries are your

47:06responsibility. Your boundaries are your

47:08responsibility. As much as that sucks

47:10for all of us, you would you would hope

47:12and wish that your friends and family

47:13and loved ones will adopt your

47:15boundaries. It doesn't always happen.

47:17That's rule number one. Rule number two

47:18that I also learned from John. All

47:20boundaries have consequences. A boundary

47:22without a consequence is no longer a

47:25boundary. Right? How could it be? You

47:27crossed my boundary. What's the

47:28consequence? Well, nothing. Please don't

47:29do that again. That's not a boundary.

47:31That's a wish. That's wishful thinking.

47:33You know, I really wish people would be

47:34more respectful of my time. Well, go

47:37[ __ ] yourself. Nobody cares about your

47:38time. They care about their time. You're

47:39not important enough to them. And this

47:41is why you'll notice the more successful

47:43people get, the more news there is out

47:45there about them being jerks. You know,

47:47I was watching this this video. I like

47:48to watch basketball clips when I'm

47:50wasting time. I doom scroll basketball

47:52highlights. And every now and again, it

47:55won't be players playing. It'll be

47:56players doing things that are whatever,

47:58which to me is not very interesting. But

48:00I was watching this thing of LeBron

48:01James, like this guy rushes on stage and

48:03they were comparing like Shaq to Jordan

48:04to to Barkley to LeBron and how they

48:07interact with fans. And there was this

48:08moment where like this guy rushes to

48:09change and like LeBron steps back and

48:11puts his hands behind his back. And I

48:12remember thinking like what an outof

48:14context clip. I'm not going to hug every

48:16human that if I'm LeBron James, I'm not

48:18hugging every random human that runs at

48:20me, right? There has to be a boundary at

48:22some point. The more successful you get,

48:25the more people are going to encroach

48:27upon your boundaries. Y'all, I am about

48:313% famous, okay? In a very, very, very

48:33small world, usually traffic and

48:35conversion, there's probably about seven

48:37people that really want to talk to me. I

48:38rank nowhere on the fame meter. And I've

48:41had people follow me into the bathroom.

48:43I've had people find out where my kids

48:45go to school. Swear to God. I've had a

48:46guy approached me in a locker room while

48:48I was in a towel. And nobody knows who I

48:50am. So, as the fame meter rises, so too

48:54does the encroachment upon your time,

48:56your energy, your attention, etc., etc.,

48:58etc., etc., etc. You'll hear things

49:00like, "Oh, man. Aba is a real dick." You

49:02know, and it's like, "Well, maybe I have

49:03to be, dude. Maybe it's because I just

49:05wrote this book. I just did this thing."

49:07And more and more people want something

49:08from you. You have to have sound bites.

49:11You have to have protections. You have

49:12to have boundaries in place. And you

49:14have to be able to enforce them.

49:15Boundaries without consequences aren't

49:18boundaries at all. They're not

49:19boundaries at all. So, as you're

49:21building your container, you're planning

49:22for failure so that there is no such

49:24thing as failure. And you're also about

49:26to make your declaration. What I'd love

49:28from everybody is, and I've been trying

49:30to buy you time as I'm talking, I'd love

49:31your declaration to be written right

49:33now. Write your declaration right now.

49:35Write the generic version. Have chat GPT

49:37customize it for your roles. I want to

49:39send them today. I want people to know,

49:41hey, my morning container and evening

49:42container. You don't have to explain

49:43that to people at work, by the way. Your

49:45mornings and your evenings are none of

49:46their business. that goes to friends and

49:48family, right? Your workday container

49:50goes to whoever, employees, bosses,

49:52peers, clients. Explain the containers

49:54that need to be explained. You're not

49:56explaining yourself. You're explaining

49:57the new reality to them. Once you have

49:59that new reality, plan for the push

50:02back. Plan for the failure. Plan for the

50:04people that are encroach upon your

50:05boundaries. Have that conversation in

50:08your head and know what you're going to

50:09say. For some of y'all, I met some of

50:11y'all's moms. It's your mom. You know

50:13what I mean? like your mom will or

50:15whoever it ends up being. It it I've got

50:17a we're not friends anymore. God bless

50:19him. But I've got a friend who was the

50:21dude, we got to go to the bar, right?

50:23Like that buddy and if you don't go to

50:24the bar, he's got a whole slew of words

50:26for you and a bunch of reasons that you,

50:28you know, your masculinity is being

50:29questioned and whatever and he can just

50:31pressure you and he can whatever. What I

50:33would do if you've got that friend or

50:34that person in your life, I'd preempt

50:35it. I'd be like, "Hey buddy, love you,

50:37mean it, and I need you to know this is

50:39important to me. I'm not going to do

50:40these things that we normally do. If you

50:42ask me to do those things, I need to put

50:44a boundary in place and that'll probably

50:45mean spending less time together. I

50:47really don't want to do that because I

50:48love you so much. We're going to write

50:49those declarations together. So, what

50:51might be a really good use of our time

50:53is right now, this moment, write the

50:55people that need to hear this message. I

50:57think there's two columns. There's

50:59allies and there's detractors. So, write

51:01your ally column. Who are the people

51:03that you know they're going to be on

51:04board? That's, you know, that's my

51:05homie, that's my friend, that's the love

51:07of my life, that's my whoever. These are

51:08my allies. They get a different message.

51:11Sometimes allies will surprise you. If

51:13if you're an employee and you have a

51:14boss, bet money if that person isn't

51:17just an absolute imbecile. They'll be

51:20very very supportive of this type of

51:22behavior. It's like, hey, I'm going to

51:23do better at my job. I wish an employee

51:26would come to me and be like, hey, this

51:27is my this is my protected time. This is

51:29my deep work time. It's like, that's

51:30awesome. Some rules can't account for

51:32that, right? A firefighter can't go to

51:34this fire chief and say, hey, just so

51:36you know, any fires between noon and

51:37three got to wait because that's my deep

51:39work time. So adjust life according to

51:41your realities. And I I think you'll be

51:43surprised sometimes at who your allies

51:45may be. But I'd love for you to have

51:46your two columns. Who are your allies?

51:48And then who are the people that need to

51:49be contained? And these aren't bad

51:50people, by the way. Sometimes they're

51:51the people that love you the most.

51:53Sometimes it's the people that love you

51:54the most that need to be that you need

51:56to have boundaries from. Uh Julio

51:58Jabbrron is one of my favorite writers

51:59in the world. He wrote a book called The

52:01Prophet that's just there's no limit to

52:03the depth of this book. It's beautiful.

52:05And he talks about love. The analogy for

52:07love is the pillars of a temple. And

52:10what you'll notice about the pillars of

52:11a temple is the farther apart they are,

52:13the stronger the structure of the

52:14temple. Because when pillars get too

52:16close, the center of gravity is too high

52:18and that temple will will topple. So

52:21close relationships, let's say, aren't

52:24necessarily close. They actually strong

52:26relationships have have some space.

52:28Those are hard conversations to have.

52:30Let's have those ahead of time. Cheryl

52:31said, "Add this meeting to today's

52:32gratitude journal." Thank you so much

52:34for that. I really appreciate that.

52:36always said it's about honoring

52:37yourself. Yeah, I absolutely agree. We

52:39get what we tolerate, dude. That's so

52:42true. We teach people how to teach us.

52:44How do you have any best practices or

52:45frameworks you share on how to best

52:47utilize the time allocation for these

52:49containers? Yeah, I want to talk about

52:50time allocation at the end. The prophet

52:52by Khalil Jabbron Adrian. Um I don't

52:54know how to spell Khalil. He's he's

52:56interesting. He's a Lebanese Christian

52:58which has its own from an

52:59anthropological perspective. It's

53:01helpful to understand people's

53:02backstories, you know, like Soulja

53:04Nitsson, understand the backstory

53:06because it gives you so much depth as to

53:08what they where they came from and why

53:11they're writing what they're writing. I

53:13bet you I own more copies of that book

53:14than any other book. Every time I see

53:16it, I buy it. I bet you I have 12

53:18copies. Well, I've given a bunch of them

53:20away. Uh, I want to talk about time

53:22utilization at the end. So, I I'll get

53:24there. I promise. Promise, promise. How

53:25is everybody done with their

53:27declarations? Do you have your list of

53:29who needs to get it? Do you have your

53:30template? Does anybody need more time

53:32with that? What I'd love from you is a

53:34is a commitment that you're sending that

53:36today. I'm going to everybody in my life

53:38and I'm letting them know this is

53:40important to me and I'm doing this. This

53:41is important to me and I'm doing this.

53:42Let me go back to my slides and remember

53:44where I am. A note I had for myself.

53:46You're not asking for permission.

53:48There's there might be one or two like

53:50if you have a job and you have to ask

53:51your boss for a specific amount of time.

53:53That might be the the caveat. But but

53:54what I'm really trying to say is from a

53:56root perspective, the messaging and

53:58narrative is not asking for permission.

53:59It's informing people of change. The

54:01last thing I'd like to talk about and

54:02then a way that I'd like to galvanize us

54:05together is the gap in the gang. If

54:07you've not read the book, The Gap in the

54:09Gain, which is a Dan Sullivan book, I

54:11think I think Dan is just is just one of

54:13the smartest people who's ever lived. I

54:14got to have lunch with him and his wife

54:16Babs. And you know, a lot of people will

54:18let you down. He did not. God, was he

54:21just so there was so much wisdom. Just

54:24it he felt it felt like I was sitting

54:25with Yoda. Like he couldn't help it.

54:27Everything he said was so funny. And the

54:30whole lunch, I don't know if this is out

54:32of necessity or if this is just their

54:33relationship, but like Babs was like

54:35dressing his taco and like and feeding

54:37him and handing him his napkin. He was

54:39he was like being shephered through

54:40life. And I think it's just cuz he's so

54:42smart that, you know, he's like Einstein

54:43needed to be driven to work. He wrote a

54:45book called The Gap in the Game. And the

54:46thing the point that he made in the gap

54:48in the game, which is is just absolutely

54:50brilliant, is we are taught, trained,

54:52and conditioned to look at the distance

54:54between us and the goal. That's the map

54:56we talked about in the beginning. That's

54:57the goal setting. So, you know, I want

54:59$100 million net to me after taxes. I

55:00want $100 million. Post divorce. I'm

55:02worth seven million net. No business

55:05valuations included. Real money. That

55:06means I have a $93 million gap. A $93

55:10million gap for me feels insurmountable.

55:13You might be like, you talk about money

55:14a lot. Yeah, I care about money a lot. I

55:16like money because it's quantifiable.

55:17It's there's proof. There's just data.

55:19That's the gap from 7 million to 93

55:21million is effectively just from margin

55:22of error. It's all of it, right? It's a

55:24hund00 million gap basically if we're

55:26it's a rounding error. That's the gap.

55:28My gain I was raised by a blind single

55:30mother on welfare in Albuquerque, New

55:32Mexico. And I didn't just come from

55:34zero. I came from I was subterranean,

55:36y'all. I was hundreds of thousands of

55:38dollars in debt with no education, no

55:40prospects. I had nothing. That's You

55:43want to talk about a freaking gain? So,

55:44what am I going to focus on? Am I going

55:46to focus on the gap or am I going to

55:48focus on the gain? And the thing that's

55:49really interesting is as I focus on the

55:51gain, I'm like that was actually harder.

55:53Going from hundreds of thousands of

55:55dollars of debt to zero, I swear to God,

55:58was harder than going from zero to

56:00decillions. Most people I think that

56:01have done it will tell you that harder.

56:03So now I'm like, you know, if we focus

56:06on the gain, that's the way that we

56:07galvanize ourselves towards action.

56:09Here's how I think we focus on the gain

56:10for ourselves and for each other. The

56:12containers that you've set up today, if

56:14you want to follow me on this journey,

56:16this is why I wanted them to be empty.

56:17You might say, "Dude, I need to work out

56:19every single day." I know a lot of

56:20people like that. I think that's great.

56:22God bless you. I think that's great. And

56:24if 365 days, if you worked out 362 days

56:27of them, awesome. That's what you did

56:29with your morning container. What I'd

56:30rather see though, and this is the

56:31problem with habits. This is where I've

56:33kind of navigated away from being so

56:34rigid and striding with my habits. One

56:36day you're going to wake up like my

56:38buddy Atiba woke up and said, "I have to

56:39write a book." Aba wrote a book on

56:41delegation. It'll be the second best

56:42book on delegation ever written. I love

56:44you, buddy. I'm writing a book on

56:45delegation. but he beat me to the punch

56:47and it pisses me off so I like to make

56:48fun of him. You'll wake up one day and

56:49say, "I've got a book in my heart and my

56:51soul that has to come out." And maybe

56:53your morning container goes to the book.

56:55You might wake up one day and be like,

56:56"I do not feel like doing anything

56:58today." And maybe your morning container

57:00goes to watching Netflix. Maybe a kid

57:02gets sick. Maybe you decide you want to

57:04learn something. The thing about that

57:06which inspires you and the awe that you

57:08feel in life is I think you should

57:10follow it. And what I really like about

57:12containers instead of rigid, stringent,

57:15rule-based habits is containers allow

57:17for you to be flexible and transient and

57:20they allow for you to move. And so is

57:22your morning container mostly used for

57:24workout? Great. That's awesome. But if

57:26one day you decide like, god, you know

57:27what? I really want to read that book

57:28Kum talked about. I want to go read the

57:30prophet. And you don't have any other

57:31time. And you swap that out in the

57:34normal framework of goal setting. You

57:36failed. And if you fail, every failure

57:38increases the propensity for the

57:40subsequent failure by a thousand times.

57:41In the container setting, you're allowed

57:44to be like, "You know what? I'm going to

57:45spend the next week reading this book."

57:46And then if the book doesn't grab you or

57:48whatever, you go right back to whatever

57:49it is that you want to go back to. So,

57:51I'd really love for us to continue to

57:53think about the containers as empty

57:55spaces cuz it's a paradigm thing, y'all.

57:58That's all it is. You can fill it.

57:59You're going to fill up the space. I

58:01promise you. Especially you. You're on a

58:03call that started in the morning on New

58:05Year's Eve. You're that person. You know

58:07what I mean? Like, you're gonna be

58:08productive. I promise. Keep the

58:10container empty in your mind. And this

58:12is why I like morning and evening

58:13containers, by the way, because in the

58:14evening, you can define what's going to

58:16happen in the morning. Christine Marie

58:17does this really, really, really well.

58:19Her morning vertical alignments, which

58:20are which are long. They're pretty

58:22significant. Sometimes she works cuz

58:24sometimes she's like, "What I need to do

58:26to get most aligned is this tension I

58:28feel in having written this proposal, I

58:30just need to do that." And so, she gives

58:31herself. She'll still do her prayer and

58:33her meditation and those things. And

58:34then she'll work. you know what I mean?

58:35Or or or she'll she'll, you know, make

58:38an important phone call or whatever.

58:39Allowing the containers to be empty

58:41spaces in your mind that you fill. They

58:43it gives you this potency, this power.

58:45You feel the capability of every day,

58:48the capability of every day is charged

58:50by these available containers. And and I

58:53think the more that we do that, the more

58:54in control we feel of of everything that

58:56that we're trying to accomplish. This is

58:59the arithmetic I'd like for you to do.

59:00If you want to, you don't have to. I I I

59:02tried to create a worksheet out of this

59:04and it just got ugly. Take every goal on

59:06your list of goals, and all of you have

59:08goals because you're all peak

59:09performers. Take every goal on your list

59:10of goals, and figure out approximately

59:14how much time every goal takes, which by

59:16the way, every single goal is

59:17demonstrable. And if you don't know what

59:18it is, SHBT, you know, the average book

59:20is 60,000 words. You can write a,000

59:23words in 45 minutes. And then it takes,

59:25I don't know what, 90 minutes to edit

59:27a,000 words. So between writing and

59:28editing, you you can back into how long

59:31it takes to write your book or how long

59:32it takes to lose a pound or how long it

59:34takes to earn this amount of money.

59:35Every goal you have has a certain amount

59:37of time, a cost for admission. Every

59:40goal, if it doesn't, you haven't defined

59:42your goal well enough. Take every goal

59:43you have, identify the amount of time

59:45that goal is going to cost you. That's a

59:47cost you're paying in time. And then

59:50calculate all that time and ask

59:52yourself, do I have enough time reserved

59:54in 2026 to accomplish my goals? That's

59:57what's really interesting is if I look

59:58back at my life on and it was like

1:00:00clockwork towards the end of December

1:00:02every single year I I had these insanely

1:00:05lofty goals. But then I wouldn't make

1:00:07any room to accomplish them. Time is the

1:00:10cost of admission. That's why I obsessed

1:00:12over this so much when I was really

1:00:13thinking about God, how do I help

1:00:14people? How do I really help people? The

1:00:17thing to do is to help people help

1:00:18themselves by setting time aside. That's

1:00:20what the container is. When you have

1:00:21this time set aside now all of those and

1:00:23by the way as you start knocking those

1:00:25goals down the time needs to be move it

1:00:27needs to be flexible right so you know

1:00:29depending on what your goal is you might

1:00:30have a fitness goal what happens when

1:00:32you hit that fitness goal in May you

1:00:33know you just keep going to the gym it

1:00:35becomes routine you start to put

1:00:36yourself on a maintenance schedule and

1:00:37then reallocate that time to something

1:00:39else something more important that's why

1:00:40I like the container model the container

1:00:42model for me is rigid where it needs to

1:00:44be rigid and flexible where it needs to

1:00:45be flexible so and again you don't have

1:00:47to come with me on that thesis is my

1:00:49opinion this is just what I think what

1:00:51I'd love to see happen. Um, you know, I

1:00:54really feel like we need each other. I

1:00:55feel like with the humanity's lost the

1:00:57campfire. It's why everybody's so

1:00:59[ __ ] political. It really is. Jordan

1:01:01Peterson talks about this. He says that

1:01:03when you lose God, and God is what he

1:01:05would define as the superordinate

1:01:07principle, and we've lost God from a

1:01:09nichian standpoint. I'm not saying God

1:01:10doesn't exist. I'm saying like as a

1:01:12society, regardless of what you believe,

1:01:14you could be hyper religious, you could

1:01:15be hyper atheist, you you would have to,

1:01:17I think, acknowledge that society

1:01:20speaking, God is no longer the

1:01:21superordinate principle. And when you

1:01:22lose God, whatever is most whatever is

1:01:24next most important takes that place.

1:01:26And the next most important thing,

1:01:28generally speaking, is political. It's

1:01:29why everybody's so freaking political.

1:01:30We've lost the campfire. If you think

1:01:33about it on an anthropological scale,

1:01:35flash back a thousand years ago.

1:01:37Flashback. Every night in every society,

1:01:41every human did the same thing. They

1:01:43gathered around a campfire. It's built

1:01:45into us to be in community. It's built

1:01:47into us to have people. It's built into

1:01:49us to, you know what I mean? To commune.

1:01:53It's in the Bible. Wherever two or more

1:01:54are gathered like every night, every

1:01:57society did the exact same thing. Cross

1:01:59culture, religion, continent, it didn't

1:02:02matter. Every human is epigenetically

1:02:05coded to gather around a campfire every

1:02:08night. When was the last time you did

1:02:09it? When was the last time you actually

1:02:11had community? And we just had

1:02:12Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's,

1:02:13Hanukkah, Eid, whatever. Even with that,

1:02:16we we don't we don't do it. I think we

1:02:18need it. I think we really, really,

1:02:20really, really, really need community.

1:02:22And I don't think that this is an

1:02:23adequate replacement for the campfire.

1:02:25By the way, we're on Zoom. You know what

1:02:26I mean? This isn't this isn't great, but

1:02:28it's better than nothing. So, I've got a

1:02:30free community. It will be free forever.

1:02:32There's no ascension upsell or charge.

1:02:34If you want to join my community, please

1:02:35do. If you don't, there's a bunch of

1:02:36other three free communities out there.

1:02:38It's in school right now. I'm probably

1:02:39going to move it off of school. But what

1:02:41I'd love to see

1:02:43is us measuring the gains, not the gaps.

1:02:46So, what I'd like to do in my in my

1:02:48community is every week I'd like to

1:02:50create a thread. And I'm making a note

1:02:52for myself to do this right now where

1:02:54people go in and all we do is just

1:02:56report on the gain, which as far as I'm

1:02:59defining it here is maintaining your

1:03:02container. I don't care what you use

1:03:04your containers for, but it would be

1:03:05awesome if you knew from an

1:03:07accountability perspective, which is

1:03:08what somebody asked. Every week I'm

1:03:10going to go in and there's going to be a

1:03:11group of people that are rooting for me

1:03:12and I'm going to say, "Hey, y'all nailed

1:03:14it. Kept to my containers, adhered to

1:03:16Not just that, but I did this. I did

1:03:17this. I did this. I did this. Imagine if

1:03:19you had a place where you could go and

1:03:20you could report on your wins. That's

1:03:21another thing that's really interesting.

1:03:22I've always felt uncomfortable reporting

1:03:24on my wins. I think a lot of people do.

1:03:26Feels weird. Feels weird to talk about

1:03:28when you do something awesome, when you

1:03:29do something great. But if we made a

1:03:30container for that, you know what I

1:03:32mean? Like if there was a place where

1:03:33you could go and you could be like,

1:03:34"Y'all, you wouldn't believe what I just

1:03:35did." You know? And the other thing

1:03:37that's really interesting too is I think

1:03:38there's a personality type, the type of

1:03:40personality that would show up on New

1:03:41Year's Eve at a morning call and improve

1:03:43themselves that is really fired up by

1:03:46other people's wins. There are people

1:03:47that try to pull you down. I've seen

1:03:49them. I know them. They're all on

1:03:50Reddit, by the way. Mean little insults,

1:03:52all of them. And they're not going to be

1:03:54in our community, right? We're going to

1:03:55have a community where people are

1:03:57actually fired up by your successes. I'm

1:03:59inspired, man. Anytime I'm in a room of

1:04:01people that are just smarter than me and

1:04:02better than me in every way, I just walk

1:04:04away full. I walk away jazzed. I walk

1:04:06away juiced. And the thing that I found

1:04:08about those people only every time is

1:04:10they want that for you too. That's the

1:04:12type, you know, that's the type. The

1:04:14people Hermosi quotes this a lot. You're

1:04:16never ever ever ever going to get looked

1:04:19down upon by trying to accomplish

1:04:21something that somebody else has already

1:04:22accomplished by that person. It'll be

1:04:24other people. You know, if you're a

1:04:25little overweight, go to the gym and see

1:04:27who's the most supportive. It's the

1:04:28people that are ultra fit, the people

1:04:30that are actually sitting there doing it

1:04:32and want you to do it with them. That's

1:04:34what I want. I want a community of

1:04:36people that are really just supportive

1:04:37and active. And I'd love for us to

1:04:39report on our gains. So, I think that

1:04:42can happen weekly. I think that can

1:04:43happen as part of a weekly container.

1:04:44I'd love for you to be a part of it. Um,

1:04:47I'd love to recapture as much of the

1:04:48campfire as we can. I do think that

1:04:50that's really, really important,

1:04:51especially with way AI is going. I'm

1:04:54really optimistic about AI in a lot of

1:04:55ways. And, uh, I think we're all going

1:04:57to have to figure out what to do with

1:04:58our time. I think there's crisis of

1:05:00meaning will only amplify itself. Which

1:05:02is actually a beautiful segue for wait

1:05:04for it. I'd like to invite you to

1:05:06another free call. There will never be a

1:05:08sales pitch at the end of these. By the

1:05:09way, I hope you guys I just want to keep

1:05:11saying that cuz I I feel like I'm always

1:05:12going to have my guard up when I'm on a

1:05:14Zoom. There's a young lady on the call

1:05:16who I'm in love with and I've referenced

1:05:17quite a few times. She has created

1:05:19something called the knowing framework.

1:05:21Some of you have already been through

1:05:22it. It might be the most impactful thing

1:05:23I've ever done for myself personally. I

1:05:25asked her to do it for my community last

1:05:27year. I say 2025, she's going to do it

1:05:29for you on January 7th at this exact

1:05:32same time. She's going to go through the

1:05:33light version. The thing that I think

1:05:35might be most important for all of us is

1:05:36to really begin to understand who we

1:05:39are. Who are you really? You know, there

1:05:42was this really interesting exercise. It

1:05:44was it was it started with a comparison

1:05:46between Europeans and Americans. Because

1:05:48if you ask an American who we are, we're

1:05:50like, I'm a marketer, right? I'm an

1:05:51attorney. I'm a doctor. And the

1:05:52Europeans are like, well, I like to play

1:05:54soccer or I go to the ballet. You know

1:05:55what I They the work is not a defining

1:05:57mode for them. And so if you strip away

1:06:00roles, if you strip away father,

1:06:02employer, entrepreneur, author, speaker,

1:06:06what you know what am I really? Who am I

1:06:08really?

1:06:10You know what I mean? And I don't know

1:06:11how to answer that. And Christine has

1:06:13she's the best question asker I've ever

1:06:15seen in my entire life. It's a series of

1:06:17questions and she just asks you question

1:06:20after question after question and it

1:06:21helps you get clear on who you are. And

1:06:24getting clear on who you are, by the

1:06:26way, is a really important way to start

1:06:27getting clear on how to use your

1:06:29containers. It's an extraordinarily

1:06:31valuable exercise. It's not easy. I'll

1:06:33say maybe the opposite. It can be really

1:06:36hard and and not hard in terms of

1:06:37tedious, just hard in terms of looking

1:06:39in the mirror or asking yourself hard

1:06:41questions or going back and really

1:06:42reconciling, you know, why we act the

1:06:45way we act and some of our trauma

1:06:46responses. Martin, yeah, we open that.

1:06:49We have a mastermind you guys for

1:06:52entrepreneurs that want to learn how to

1:06:53delegate basically. It's called OPT

1:06:55Mastery and that is open. I'll send you

1:06:57a link. Would love to have you as a

1:06:58member. It's also free for all PTO

1:07:00clients. That's my little sales pitch.

1:07:01It's not an ascension though. Um

1:07:03Christine Marie, are you here? And do

1:07:05you want to talk about knowing it all?

1:07:07>> I I think you did such a good job

1:07:09setting the stage there. It is so easy

1:07:11when people ask who are you? It's easy

1:07:14to use those kind of defining labels.

1:07:17And so in peeling back the labels,

1:07:19there's actually it's a scary thing to

1:07:21do. And so this whole process, Kasum, I

1:07:24think you actually set the stage when we

1:07:25had our first workshop for your 3X

1:07:27freedom community. It's actually a

1:07:30really brave thing that we can do to

1:07:32enter the arena. And Theodore Roosevelt

1:07:34talks about the arena in a really

1:07:36profound way. You know, that's the place

1:07:38where you actually have the mar and the

1:07:40grime and and it's man, that's doing the

1:07:42work. Somebody asked the question in the

1:07:44chat like, "What does doing the deep

1:07:45work mean?" And this is an example of

1:07:47that. There's so many different

1:07:48manifestations of doing deep work and it

1:07:51looks different for all of us because we

1:07:52all have different stories and different

1:07:54experiences. And so Kasum, you talking

1:07:56about the container effectively is akin

1:07:59to going into the arena, but for so many

1:08:01they'll exist on the outskirts of the

1:08:04arena of the container and kind of point

1:08:06and be the critic. And so being in this

1:08:08space where we celebrate the wins, where

1:08:10we talk about doing the deep work and

1:08:13really championing each other cuz it is

1:08:15lonely, especially for all of us who are

1:08:18kind of the entrepreneurial mind being

1:08:20on this call. My all my sisters, my

1:08:22whole family's together this week.

1:08:24They're all at a coffee shop right now

1:08:25and I'm like, I'm doing this call to set

1:08:27to set goals for next year, but it's

1:08:29lonely, you know, and um I'm just Ken,

1:08:32thank you so much for creating this

1:08:34space. I know we're all so much better

1:08:36for it. And uh knowing really is the

1:08:38thing that has changed my life at a core

1:08:40level because for so long I lived in

1:08:43reaction in response to who everyone

1:08:46else said I should be. And and it was

1:08:48the narratives in childhood that were

1:08:50told to me who I should be instead of

1:08:53actually taking control of my life.

1:08:54Someone else said that of the morning.

1:08:56It's like remembering who I am. And so a

1:08:59lot of this work is shedding the layers

1:09:01like Michelangelo when he was asked how

1:09:03did you create David? It was removing

1:09:05who David was not. So we need to go

1:09:07through that process of removal and

1:09:09elimination to return and then we can

1:09:12create and build on top of that.

1:09:13>> Uh I'd love for everybody to be there

1:09:15the same day, the same time. And I'd

1:09:17like to continue to do this y'all. I'd

1:09:19like to continue to meet. That's an

1:09:21invitation. I'd like to say the words no

1:09:23motive but I don't really mean that. I

1:09:25mean no financial motive. know, there's

1:09:27a bunch of places that I make money. I

1:09:28promise you this isn't one of them. I I

1:09:30like the 3x Freedom community because

1:09:32somebody said something recently that

1:09:33really struck me. They said there's

1:09:35nowhere you can go anymore where you're

1:09:36not expected to spend money except maybe

1:09:38the library, you know, like every place

1:09:40that you walk into, it's just like, all

1:09:42right, you know, hands out and and now

1:09:44justify your existence. And I'd like to

1:09:46change that a little bit. So, if this

1:09:48feels like the right place for you, I'd

1:09:50love to see you join the community. To

1:09:52be honest with you, I'd love to see you

1:09:53participate. A lot of wall flowers.

1:09:55Bless you if you're one of them, by the

1:09:56I know it's hard to to pipe up and

1:09:58assert yourself, but you know, if you

1:10:01have something to bring to the table,

1:10:02there are some people doing it now. Drop

1:10:04value. Bring it. You know, if if if I

1:10:07feel like you're snaking from the

1:10:08community, I'll kick your ride out. I've

1:10:09been doing it non-stop. Uh we've been

1:10:10banning people who come in and get super

1:10:13salesy. But if you've got something to

1:10:14bring, something to give, if you've got

1:10:16a way, the way that I'd like to think

1:10:17about it is if you have a way to love on

1:10:18people, if you have something to bring

1:10:20to somebody's life that feels like love,

1:10:23bring that. Bring that to the community.

1:10:25Christine has knowing. We're bringing

1:10:26you to the community. What do you have?

1:10:28What do you have that you're willing to

1:10:29give? There better not be a sales pitch

1:10:30at the end of it. I don't want step one,

1:10:32step two, and for step three, join my

1:10:34[ __ ] But if you've got all step

1:10:35threes and you're willing to give it up,

1:10:37that's what we're doing. We're just

1:10:38building a place where people can go to

1:10:40give. And what the other end of give, by

1:10:42the way, is get. It's okay to show up

1:10:43and be like, "Hey, I really need help. I

1:10:45really need insert this problem here."

1:10:48That's the fun thing about the campfire

1:10:49is I think that's what the campfire was

1:10:51for. you know, the campfire was for us

1:10:53showing up and being like, I don't know

1:10:55what to do about this thing. And then

1:10:57and then you had the you had the whole

1:10:58community around you. You had a group of

1:11:00people around you that actually cared

1:11:02about you. And and the way to do that is

1:11:04iterative. You know, the way to build

1:11:06community is iterative. Cuz if I show up

1:11:08one time

1:11:10and I get a little out of it, my wall

1:11:12comes down a little. And then I show up

1:11:14again and I get a little more out of it,

1:11:15my wall comes down a little. And I show

1:11:16up again and I get a little more out of

1:11:17it, my wall comes down a little. And you

1:11:19think to yourself like, okay, that's a

1:11:20tedious way to build community. Yes. And

1:11:22that's for the first round. What you'll

1:11:24find with all I saw this with Front Row

1:11:26Dads. If you're a father and you haven't

1:11:27joined Frads, you don't love your

1:11:28children. Just kidding. But you should

1:11:30go join. I'm not a I'm not an affiliate,

1:11:31by the way. I just love the group. I

1:11:33joined Front Row Dads and I walk into

1:11:35this group that's already

1:11:38extraordinarily galvanized, loving,

1:11:40open, empathic, sharing, giving. And

1:11:43it's because the first group of 10 dads

1:11:45did that. They built it. And then

1:11:47everybody that came in adopted and

1:11:49co-opted the culture. We can build that

1:11:51culture together. We can build something

1:11:52where it's just it's give. It's give

1:11:54without intention. Give first, give

1:11:56last, give more. Give, give, give, give,

1:11:57give. And if you need to get, come get.

1:11:59And when other people join, we get to we

1:12:02get to own and control that culture. And

1:12:04the one thing I keep hearing now, which

1:12:06I actually really like it. It lets me

1:12:07know that we're on the right track. Is I

1:12:09I keep seeing and hearing people being

1:12:10like, is this for real? Like people

1:12:12jumping into the community being like,

1:12:13there's no, you know, are they for real?

1:12:15Like there's nothing where's the catch?

1:12:17And there is one. I don't want to say

1:12:19it's without motive cuz the motive is

1:12:21the community. I want it too. You know

1:12:23what I mean? Like I want to be around a

1:12:24group of people that are striving for

1:12:26something better that hold themselves

1:12:27accountable to a higher standard and

1:12:29that are willing to show up with

1:12:31something that looks and smells and

1:12:32feels like love. And that's a scary word

1:12:34to use. I used to say heart because I

1:12:36found people were a little less repelled

1:12:38by it. But that's really what we all

1:12:39want. And the thing that's struck me

1:12:41about goal setting, I was studying goal

1:12:42setting this week in preparation for

1:12:44this call. And all goals fall into four

1:12:46categories. health, wealth, joy, and

1:12:49love. Health, wealth, joy, and love.

1:12:50Find a goal on your goal sheet and prove

1:12:51me wrong. Health, wealth, joy, and love.

1:12:53You may be like, "No, no, no, no. I want

1:12:54to be fit." And it's like, "No, you

1:12:56really, what you really want is

1:12:57something between health and love." And

1:12:58what's really interesting about health,

1:12:59wealth, joy, and love is if you distill

1:13:01them further from a psychological

1:13:03perspective, they all will ultimately

1:13:05distill down into love. Every human on

1:13:07the planet just wants love. Wants to get

1:13:08it. Wants to give it. And you know, and

1:13:11maybe you disagree with me. That's fine.

1:13:12Don't join my community cuz I'm going to

1:13:13get the older I get, y'all. I am full-on

1:13:16midlife crisising. Like, I can't stop.

1:13:18It's getting really weird. And so, I'm

1:13:19just going to leave further and further

1:13:21and further and further in in this

1:13:22direction. And for anybody that that

1:13:24feels good to and for, I'd love for you

1:13:25to join me. And and if this doesn't feel

1:13:27right, by the way, that's okay.

1:13:29Thematically, this might not be aligned

1:13:30for you. I really mean this with every

1:13:33piece of me, every atom of my being. Go

1:13:35start your own. You know, go start your

1:13:38own. Go plant a flag right now. Go post

1:13:42something to your social channel of

1:13:44choice or send it to your favorite

1:13:45message thread and say, "Hey, we've lost

1:13:47the campfire. I'd love to get it back."

1:13:49Start it for whoever you want to start

1:13:50it for. You know, you might be a single

1:13:52mom. You're like, "I want to do this for

1:13:53single moms." You might be a veteran.

1:13:54You want to do it for veterans. That can

1:13:55be helpful. That thread, my thread is

1:13:57entrepreneurial. I resonate with

1:13:59entrepreneurs. That's just the way my

1:14:00heart beats. Your heart might beat for a

1:14:02group. Go do that thing for that that

1:14:05group of people. We've lost the campfire

1:14:06and we need it back. That's the thing

1:14:08that I think I think is maybe most

1:14:10important. This is the most exciting

1:14:12time to be alive and there's going to be

1:14:13some changes that I think are really

1:14:14devastating and and I think a lot of

1:14:16people are going to have a lot of time

1:14:16on their hands and people with time can

1:14:18be dangerous. I'm that way too. You give

1:14:20an entrepreneur, you know what happens

1:14:21when you give an entrepreneur time

1:14:22without productivity is addiction.

1:14:24Entrepreneurs are either addicts or

1:14:26wildly successful. And you see that when

1:14:28you're in a mastermind with some of

1:14:30these people that have just made the

1:14:31single common denominator in my

1:14:32mastermind is addiction. Joe Polish,

1:14:34Genius Network, same thing. He's one of

1:14:35my best friends. He he very open about

1:14:38his struggles with addiction. runs genus

1:14:40recovery helps a lot of people in that

1:14:42way. I think that the answer can be

1:14:44something like community and so I'm

1:14:46really excited for Christine's talk on

1:14:47Wednesday because I think that she's the

1:14:49antidote for a lot of this. I think what

1:14:51you found Christine or what you've

1:14:52created with the knowing framework is

1:14:53really helpful and really impactful as

1:14:55it pertains to addressing this crisis of

1:14:57meaning because we've been taught that

1:14:59our value is rooted in what we do. Our

1:15:01value is rooted in the verb. You know

1:15:03what do you do? That's the first

1:15:04question everybody's mouth. What do you

1:15:05do? And what happens when do is gone?

1:15:07You know what happens when the machines

1:15:09do the do? This became a soda

1:15:11commercial. Our value needs to be rooted

1:15:12in who we are and I don't know who I am

1:15:14still. You know, I'm getting there. I'm

1:15:16getting closer. Christine's helping me.

1:15:17And I'd love for her to help you guys,

1:15:18too. Thanks for sticking around. Thanks

1:15:20for showing up live. If you watch the

1:15:21recordings, love you. Mean it. Um, and

1:15:23hope you get to show up live next time.

1:15:25We're going to try to do a lot more of

1:15:26this. Again, if you want to contribute,

1:15:28if you want to host, if you want to

1:15:29give, jump into the community. It's free

1:15:30forever. And, uh, hope everybody has a

1:15:32great, great, great 2026. Please don't

1:15:35forget to install your containers, send

1:15:37out your declaration, and then let's

1:15:39jump in the community every week and

1:15:40celebrate our wins. And if you fall off,

1:15:42that's okay. You have a plan now for

1:15:44falling. Um, and uh, you have a

1:15:46community that'll catch you. Love you

1:15:47guys. by