Why you should listen –
Jay Abraham is one of the most successful executive coaches and marketing strategist in the world. He also happens to be a biohacker. Jay joins Dave on this episode of Bulletproof Radio to reveal the biohacking tips that he and his close friends, like Tony Robbins, use to help them achieve success, happiness, and superhuman mental performance.
Enjoy the show!
Watch
Listen
Follow Along with the Transcript!
Click here to download a PDF of this transcript
Dave Asprey: About a quarter of Americans don’t get enough Vitamin A in their diet. Vitamin A is essential for the human body and it’s been showing to help with inflammation, immune system, maintaining strength and integrity of your bones and it’s part of having a healthy sex life. One of the best sources of Vitamin A is the type of Cod liver oil that Daria Imports called Dropi.
Dropi is one of the purest cod liver oils in the market today. It’s made exclusively from wild cod that’s caught and processed in the oldest fishing village in Iceland and it’s cold processed which preserves it natural fatty acids including omega-3 and Vitamins A and vitamin D. It also, because it’s the way it’s processed, qualifies as a raw food instead of a processed food. The people over at Daria are really passionate about wellness and peak performance.
One of their guys Ash is now working on becoming a Bulletproof coach. They’re so passionate about being bulletproof. You might want to check out the new Cod liver oil called Dropi and just in celebration of Ash’s hardworking becoming a coach. My friends over at Daria are giving bulletproof listeners 20% off at any order. Head on over to dariaimports.com/bulletproof and check out all the cool products they’ve got in the Cod liver oil space and you’ll save 20%. Don’t wait. This is a limited time only offer. Just go to dariaimports.com/bulletproof.
Speaker 2: Bulletproof Radio. A station of high performance.
Dave Asprey: You’re listening to Bulletproof Radio with Dave Asprey. Today’s cool fact of the day is that the act of breathing is something that most of us take for granted but the truth is that breathing is a unique biological function because it’s the only one you have unless you’re really well-trained, that’s both voluntary and involuntary. That means that you don’t have to think about breathing, it will always happen automatically but you can take a deep breath, you can hold it, you can speed it up, you can slow it down.
That’s one of the things that as someone who might want to control your own performance or just hack your own biology so you have more control and you can do more of the things you want to do. Breathing is probably the easiest thing to do. It turns out you can control your temperature, you control your heartbeat, you control the electrical conductivity of your skin. All sorts of things if you learn but breathing we all know but we probably didn’t know all the different things you can do with it.
You’ll find things like this cool fact and a bunch of other ones including some specific breaths you can do for mitochondria in my brand new book called Head Strong. The Bulletproof, check out the subtitle, The Bulletproof Plan to Activate Untapped Brain Energy to Work Smarter and Think Faster In Just Two Weeks. Who names a book like that? I’ll tell you who does, big publishers name books like that. I just want to call it Head Strong like Make Your Brain Good but anyhow, it’s all good and if you go to orderheadstrong.com, I’ll send you the first chapter for free when you pre order the book which is my way of saying thanks to you. I’ll also send you a bunch of other cool stuff.
If you’re a long time listener, you’ve probably heard about my history with toxic environmental mold exposure and the countless stories I shared from friends and family and coworkers and even in the documentary moldy that I filmed. Hopefully, you had a chance to stop by the Air Oasis booth at the 2016 Bulletproof Conference. What I found is that the Air Oasis technology provides the most advanced protection that I’ve been able to find against mold and other environmental contaminants that are airborne.
Unlike a conventional air purifier, Air Oasis sanitizes the air and surfaces like doorhandles, countertops and even your iPad screen. It neutralizes mycotoxins and mold spores in air and prevents mold from replicating on your walls and services and it removes about 99% of aeroallergens, odors, bacteria and viruses. The way it does this is pretty cool. It’s based on a NASA technology that was designed for deep space missions. It’s compact, it’s really low maintenance and it’s energy efficient.
There’s about ten years of university lab and field studies backing it up and they currently sanitize a hundred million square feet of occupied space including the tallest building in the world, hospitals and professional sports teams. It’s not an ozone generation, a breathing ozone which isn’t good for you although injecting ozone might be and it’s made right here in America so you know it’s the highest quality. Head on over to airoasis.com/bulletproof20 and you get 20% off and a special offer on an indoor air quality test kit. That’s airoasis.com/bulletproof20.
Before we get into today’s interview with the guy who’s truly world-class and amazing on multiple friends, there’s something else that’s world-class and amazing on multiple friends but not as much as my buddy Jay and that is these brand-new bulletproof collagen bites. These are cookies, vanilla shortbread, fudge brownie, lemon cookie and when you eat these, they’re made with grass-fed low temperature process collagen protein, not some crab milk protein isolate stuff that causes inflammation.
They turn off hunger in a way that’s actually impossible to put words to. You eat one of these cookies and you just don’t care about food. It’s not that I’m a little satisfied, I could hold off my cravings like my cravings went away and that’s because they’re full of brain octane which is the kind of oil that we make that’s different than MCT oil that doesn’t cause the disaster pants problem and gives you way more keytone energy in your brain. Give those things a try. You’ll be amazed. If you put one of those in your purse, in your bag and you get hungry, it will get you through for hours. It’s awesome.
All right, today’s guest is none other than Jay Abraham. If you’re interested in business, you might have heard of him, Forbes calls Jay Abraham one of the top five executive coaches in the entire US. He’s been doing this for 25 plus years, he’s increased the bottom line of over 10,000 clients in 400 industries with 7.200 sub industries and this guy has solved just about every kind of sales, marketing, competitive edge question that you could think of.
He’s on stage regularly with Tony Robbins. In fact, I think he’s the only guy who spends an entire day every year with Tony Robbins Platinum Group, Tony’s platinum group spends of 675 or $100,000, a very large amount of money every year to get quality time with Jay in his inner circle but … not with Jay, with Tony and his inner circle of advisors and Jay is one of those advisors who really helps these people and speaking of Tony Robbins, I just got to say thanks. I got an invitation the other day from Tony to speak on stage for the first time in front of thousands and thousands of people at the Unleash your Power Within Conference in Los Angeles in, that’s March, April or in March of this year of 2017.
If you are in LA or you’re going to be in LA then that is an event you don’t want to miss. That’s the Tony’s new event. Jay, are you going to be there too with this event?
Jay Abraham: I am going to be there for part of it.
Dave Asprey: For part of it, okay so Jay and I will both be there. If you’re into internet marketing or marketing in general, you’ve probably seen one of Jay’s books because he’s a prolific author. He has all kinds of programs and here’s why Jay is on the show. You may be interested in business and some portion of both Bulletproof listeners are. We have a lot of people who are physicians, we have a lot of people who have careers all over the place, we have police officers, the head of the counter-terrorism unit down at the LA County Sheriff’s Department just said high in the coffee shops, people from all walks of life who do may or may not give a rat’s ass about business but Jay is a high performer on many levels.
I know Jay really well because were friends and we got to be friends starting years ago. I bought one of Jay’s $500 books. That couldn’t possibly be worth $500, it was worth more than that and I read this book, it was like I can’t believe I got scammed. I spent $500 on a book. I’m probably going to send it back. It has a money back guarantee and I read it, it was like, “Oh my God, like this guy has knowledge and it’s very distilled.” I figured there was no chance I’ll ever meet this business rockstar guy.
Low and behold, years later I got a chance to meet him and we got to be friends and Jay has spoken to every employee at Bulletproof. He actually came in and did a strategy session with us and he’s helped to advice me on how to grow a Bulletproof and how to have a service company where our mindset is as we’re having a fiduciary responsibility where our job is to do the right thing for our viewers and our customers even if it’s not the path that makes us the most money or even if it’s the path that makes us nobody.
Our responsibility ethically and morally and for the greater good of the business is to tell you, “You know what? Don’t drink Bulletproof coffee. It’s not right for you.” If that’s the case for you rather than just say, “Oh no, just drink it anyway.” Jay’s thinking there has helped to help me have a level of excellence that I’m working to spread throughout the company. Jay first, thank you for being on the show and thank you for all of your advice.
Jay Abraham: Dave, thank you for the invitation. It’s an honor.
Dave Asprey: Now, I want to ask you all sorts of things and one of things that I think everyone listening will care about is what do you do to be a super high performer? You’ve been doing this crazy life, you travel around, you’re in Japan a lot, you’re all over the planet. I think you fly maybe more than I do in terms of miles certainly frequency but you go overseas more than I do.
Jay Abraham: I do.
Dave Asprey: You’re a little older than I am. You don’t really look at too much but you got …
Jay Abraham: It’s all up inside. It’s the portrait of Dorian Gray.
Dave Asprey: Yeah, you got more than 20 years on me and you look great.
Jay Abraham: Thank you.
Dave Asprey: You’re strong and your mind is strong too.
Jay Abraham: Thank you.
Dave Asprey: Which is cool, how do you do these crazy overseas trips and still come back and look and feel good because it’s harder when you’re older. What’s your trick?
Jay Abraham: Well, the trick is not a trick. It’s an attitude. I am hopelessly and infinitely interested in truthfully all humanity it’s always fascinating to me to interact with people on a worldwide basis. Last year, I think we did Italy twice, we did London twice, we did Paris, we did Ireland, we did Vietnam, we did Bangkok, we did Tokyo. I think I did China also and what you find is that everyone thinks everyone’s different and they’re not.
There’s this core of people that want to be true value creators. There’s a core of people that want to have passion, not just about what they do but who they do it for and these need clarity to guide them and connect the dots and yet almost everybody worldwide has got the same problems, the same issues surprisingly, many of the the same businesses and they’re very fascinating human beings.
I get a big kick out of learning, out of sharing, out of borrowing and my bag going to be asked how I do it, I love to learn. I love to see all the different ways, different people, see life, all the different values, different people, really represent because that’s the totality of the marketplace we are dealing with whether it’s the people we’re selling to or the people were hiring. I love humanity and I get tired from the trips because I do very intensive and expensive very, very non-structured activities that are predicated on the real understanding of the situation.
They are very mentally exhausted but they’re very intellectually like your cerebral fitness grows because you learn and it’s just very wonderful. I don’t know if that’s a good answer.
Dave Asprey: I think I heard like three things in there. You have a sense of curiosity that and just because of your friend, you’re curious about everything, relentless curiosity, it’s a variety of something that keeps your brain going and there’s good studies about that right and I’m distilling this from there but maybe the fact that you see what you do is an act of service like you’re helping the people you go to.
Jay Abraham: I’m going to take you on the road with me anytime I do an interview and you’ll say, “What he means to say is.”
Dave Asprey: It’s a good answer but I’m looking for the pattern for people listening.
Jay Abraham: See, I think it’s probably worthy to share what accounts for my uniqueness because it’s something that anybody can avail themselves of if they’re willing and it’s quite liberating and intoxicating, animating and it’s a wonderful elevator to your performance capability. I spent a life traveling from one industry to another, to another, to another and when you get a chance to travel outside of a singular industry, you see that each industry has a precept and it’s like follow the herd.
They all have a certain way of thinking, they all have a certain way of doing, they have a certain way of selling, they have certain attitudes and distribution models and plus or minus 20%, they’re all about the better, little better or little worse but when you see that there are thousands of different ways to strategically operate, there are thousands of different distribution models, there are thousands of different competitive advantages, there are thousands of different ways to add value, there are thousands of ways to access markets.
You realize that most people accept unintentionally, unnecessarily, unknowingly a fraction of the sales the clients they could be generating a fraction of the transactional size, they could be doing, a fraction of the repeat business, referral business, ancillary business because they just don’t know how much more is possible from a day, a moment, a time and interaction, access, investment, capital, human capital and I’ve been blessed. I get to see all that. It’s a long answer but that’s really the quintessence of what drives me.
Dave Asprey: That’s how you’re driven in general. Now, what I see is that I’ll get a call from you and you’re like in God knows where right? I don’t get a lot of calls that aren’t scheduled just because my days are crazily booked but you still get through which is cool.
Jay Abraham: Which I’m honored. Thank you.
Dave Asprey: It’s not that. It’s just that most people have learned that if they call me, I never answer but the fact that I don’t answer half your calls, you still call just because you’re patient but what’s cool though is you’re all over the world but you’re always full of energy and I know that you do things to take care of yourself physically not just the sense of curiosity like how do you handle jet lag? What do you when you take a red eye and you’re going to go on stage for Tony or someone. What’s your resilience or strategy?
Jay Abraham: Well, it’s probably not going to be as sophisticated as yours but I’m very lucky because I get to fly in an airline I want and I like very indulgent ones, it usually have very nice wines experience so I enjoy a little bit of that.
Dave Asprey: You actually drink in the air?
Jay Abraham: I do but not heavily anymore.
Dave Asprey: Still, if I drink anything in the air, I get taken out by that. You’re tough.
Jay Abraham: Not a lot. I like a little bit but when I land, yes I have a regimen. They stock my room with about three cases of all kinds of water. I basically don’t eat anything for the first day. I have a contractual and this is going to sound very indulgent but I have a contractual provision that I get five hours at night with two concurrent massage therapist. I get the equivalent of ten hours of massage every night.
Dave Asprey: This is to be clear. You’re actually getting massage. People are rolling their eyes right now.
Jay Abraham: Oh yeah, no I’m not having kinky. No, no, I get really, I get the most [crpsstalk 00:16:30] services.
Dave Asprey: I know you’re a married guy and this is all above for it but the human touch and the massage is part of your recovery.
Jay Abraham: Well, I find two things. I am paid to be really elevated in my understanding, my connection, my attention, my empathic perception and I relax on a table and I can think very clearly because there’s nowhere else to go and I believe in my delusionary belief that getting all the cells, opened up in the blood vessels flowing and all the areas doing what they’re supposed to do is very healthy. Everywhere I’ve ever traveled when I’ve spoken I’ve had every night, sometimes I’m too tired and it only take three hours but I … it’s just part of my contract but I also get acupuncture.
I have a lot of regimens that I do and I don’t really eat except if it’s thrust upon me, anything fried or sweet. I don’t like anything fried and I like very little sweet unless I’m drinking red wine and then chocolate is good but I’m very … I drink a lot of water. I drink little alcohol when I’m working and I honestly get lots of body work.
Dave Asprey: Here’s the interesting question. When I get a massage, I go to some alternate state after a little. I’m not really asleep but in a really deep theta state were I’m dreaming and groggy and not really present. Are you sleeping during those five hours of massage? Or just like in the city, just laying there just getting all the body work done and fully awake the whole time and thinking?
Jay Abraham: It’s an integration of the the first two. It’s very relaxing because my mind has never learned how to turn off the most endeavors but what happens is all these thoughts you’ve commanded to the recesses of your subconscious converge and your mind works for you the way it’s supposed to. It collaborates, it combines, it integrates, it produces all these actually remarkable breakthrough concepts when you’re not trying to withhold them or suppress them. I get the best breakthrough clarity when I’m either lying. When I get acupuncture, I refuse to do an hour.
It’s too little, I do at least two hours. I used to have a guy that would come for one full day a month and I would just sit there and roll and roll and roll and roll and take notes of everything that came out of my reflection because you forced … I don’t know about you but I’m running so fast so often that some of the best things I want to remember and preserve don’t get really acted upon or even a dimensional eyes because something else happens and when you’re in an environment where it’s forced concentrated creative reflection, it’s quite … it’s very intoxicating and liberating and clarifying. I don’t know if that’s a good answer.
Dave Asprey: It’s fantastic. I think I understand what you’re saying there. You’re doing a lot of self-care in order to operate at that level. You also just work with with Dr. Barry, a guy you introduced me to. [crosstalk 00:20:01] talking about that.
Jay Abraham: Absolutely. Yeah sure, I don’t mind. I do lots of things. Now, you can get a stem cells, I used to get frozen sheep embryo blown in from from Switzerland and I would do seven, eight injections a month. I get IVs all the time for a brain and for other things but Dr. Barry is remarkable. Most people don’t understand that there are levels of … I don’t use the word power and sound mystical but levels of energy that transcend anything you could get from from a red bull or … nothing wrong if you like red bull but this man is a master but using energy to propel the capacity in your brain, your cellulars structure, your intellect, your perceptivity.
He’s done some of the most famous people in the world. He does Tony Robbins. He does very famous iconic families. He does very famous sports figures and explaining what he does is hard but the result of what he does is … I used to go to Australia 30 years ago and Australia is for some reason was a crucible of developmental of a lot of alternative issues I think before they made it here and I would get introduced to all kinds of things 20 years before they would come here. I was very open-minded because they had a positive impact.
Dave Asprey: You introduced me to Dr. Barry. His name is Barry Morguelan. He’s a UCLA surgeon from Tennessee and he’s one of 12 …
Jay Abraham: Yup, from Cincinnati I think or Kentucky.
Dave Asprey: I get Kentucky and Tennessee [crosstalk 00:21:58]
Jay Abraham: That doesn’t matter. One or two states.
Dave Asprey: Yeah, Kentucky, correct. He’s the last thing you’d imagine one of 12 living grandmasters of a very ancient Chinese lineage of energy medicine would look like but he went and trained with a group of people or a lineage that is the precursor to Shaolin and some of the shamanic practices, very ancient and these are the people who’d protect the Emperor of China. They protect them energetically and went through the training of how to melt a glacier by sitting on it, this stuff that when half does about on a mountain in China, a days hike away from anything and just these incredible stories and this humble guy who doesn’t look at all like that can do things.
People who followed me on social media, you seemed like weird cupping things. He does stuff but he’s a very credible surgeon who trains doctors over the world. How to do endoscopic GI surgery and this. I know that you get work done by having and I rolled my eyes when you introduced me to him. I said, “Well, he doesn’t really look the part and then I experienced what he could do and it was like, “Okay, there’s absolute noticeable differences that are not subtle in what he does.” He actually wrote the meditation for mitochondria for Head Strong, the new book because I don’t know anyone with his breath of power and knowledge on this stuff because it’s medical and it’s … I’ll just put the other M word is mystical. That sort of stuff but …
Jay Abraham: My belief and it’s very interesting, if you look in history at people who one would say is a force of nature, I would argue that they were not as much that as they were people who learned how to harness and command forces within nature to their directives but that’s just my perspective.
Dave Asprey: It sounds like an accurate one. He’s the kind of guy that can walk into a park and all the dogs will walk out to him if you want them to.
Jay Abraham: Or they’ll go away, he comes to my house and says, “Go upstairs” and they’ll go upstairs.
Dave Asprey: It’s powerful and the reason I’m bringing this up is you’re a very well-known business guru and someone who’s performed to level that pretty unusual for consistently decades. I’m doing okay and we both do stuff like that and were not alone even though a lot of people will go out there and talk about that stuff and I believe that when you integrate the low level stuff where our bodies are integrated with the environment around us, this mitochondrial connection to the world and this cognitive thing that you and I both also do that when you get everything working together, it seems like the system has a lot more power.
I’m blown away but it’s cool that you introduced me to him and also that you wanted to talk probably about the fact that you do things like acupuncture and massage and body work, and this [inaudible 00:25:04] energetic medicine because they help you. How do you know they help you though?
Jay Abraham: Okay well, let’s put it this way. I didn’t get ill for eight years in a row when I did one regimen. I can tell you that I’ve had Barry work on me when I was exhausted and walked out of the room so radiant that I went for 12 hours nonstop. He works on Tony every night when Tony does his programs and Tony is pretty … He’s pretty elevated in the methodology [crosstalk 00:25:45]
Dave Asprey: Closed when he walks. He’s so bouncing with energy. It’s amazing.
Jay Abraham: We try to be very precise. You are too I think. I’m very aware I think of myself. I’ve been disciplined to try to understand what’s going on in a conversation, in an action, interaction so I’m very aware when my performance, my brain power, I’ve been very blessed because I have a very broad context of understanding but I can tell when it’s been elevated to a much more stratospheric level and all these elements I’m telling you about, they have elevated my intellectual performance coupled with my energy, coupled with my concentration, coupled with my …
They’ve even helped my authenticity meaning the connection I’m able to make with others. I can’t tell other people to do it but I can tell you that if you take my work which is all about optimization highest and best use of well in the business arena, everything you do, everyone you do, with everything you spend everybody, every opportunity you have and you translate it to your work, why would you want to live a life sub optimally if you have within your reach the way to make every day more vibrant, more vital, more mentally alive, more observant more perceptive, more sensory impactful, it just makes no sense to me.
Dave Asprey: I like that answer. It comes down to awareness like I was paying attention to how I felt and how I performed and I noticed the difference.
Jay Abraham: Yeah, a sustaining difference and a compounding positive difference.
Dave Asprey: One of the problems that I had was learning to trust my own perceptions because the last thing we want to do is be fooled by some placebo effect or something like that.
Jay Abraham: I agree.
Dave Asprey: How do you know when you’re getting a placebo effect versus something that’s real?
Jay Abraham: I think the answer is twofold. If you do it once, you may not but if you do it enough repetitive times, you can tell. It’s empirical. It’s not anecdotal. You can either see or you’re going to feel like crap, you’re going to feel moot or you’re going to feel great. Don’t you think?
Dave Asprey: It’s amazing if you ask someone, “How do I feel?” Well, either you know how you feel or you don’t and if you feel really good and you didn’t before, that’s unusual data point.
Jay Abraham: Most people don’t know.
Dave Asprey: I think you’re right. They haven’t learned to cultivate the awareness of on a scale of one to a 100, where am I right now? It’s a powerful thing to just note when there’s a big fluctuation and just figure what might that have been, could it have been the acupuncture? I went in. I felt like crap. I went out and either I felt really weird or I felt much better but to say it had no effect would be probably not matching the [crosstalk 00:29:04].
Jay Abraham: Well, I would say two things. I get acupuncture three times a week for two hours when I’m home.
Dave Asprey: Wow.
Jay Abraham: I also if you’ll notice my ear, I didn’t cut myself when I leave, can you see it?
Dave Asprey: Yeah, I think we see it on the camera. You guys could look at this.
Jay Abraham: It looks like a little bandage. They have needles in them. I get it.
Dave Asprey: Go to bulletproof.com/YouTube to see this on the YouTube channel.
Jay Abraham: To see my ears but I get them … when I leave, I have them put long lasting adhesive needles on all the major impact points and it has a sustaining event. I believe because I’ve gauged my performance with and without it but I think most people … I’m going to tell you one funny story one two I could tell you, a breathing story that lost me three million dollars but you may not want to hear that but I’ll tell you a different, I’ll tell you first of all you talked about people not knowing how they feel.
There’s a patronizing I think most people are so out of touch with their lives and what’s going on. You’ll say to somebody, “How do you feel? Great.” Somebody will say it to me and I know they don’t listen and I’ll say, “Geez, my arm hurts. I’ll say a bunch of negative things just to see if they even here the show, great.
Dave Asprey: Yeah, they’re not listening.
Jay Abraham: It is a tragedy they’re not for them disrespecting me but for them disrespecting themselves because they don’t … they’re not in touch so that just a comment.
Dave Asprey: I noticed something. When I moved to Canada, that shocked me when I first came here. If you go to the convenience store here and the cashier says, “How are you doing?” At least half the time, they’re going to hear your answer and if you said, “Oh, it’s been a crappy day.” They’ll be like, “Oh wow, tell me about it.” I feel like when I’m in New York or in a big city, [inaudible 00:30:59] New York because it’s the same in LA. They’re probably going to ask and if they do, you could basically say there’s aliens invading and they wouldn’t hear what you had to say.
Jay Abraham: No.
Dave Asprey: I don’t know what it is maybe, it’s because it’s dark and cold up here so people are bored but whatever it is, I noticed that and it freaked me out at first. Wow, people are listening. I should be more aware of what I say.
Jay Abraham: But jeez, isn’t that kind of connectivity wonderful?
Dave Asprey: Oh it’s great. I appreciate it.
Jay Abraham: You feel so much closer and meaningful and it can transform me … I may have told you this, we have a regimen that and this is one more thing, it’s delightful. When I go to Asia, not as much Latin America but a lot of people in Asia have very dour non-evocative emotion and we have … Excuse me. I’m on a runway so you’ll hear planes all the time.
We have a protocol. We is if I take everybody with me, if not, it’s I. First day I hydrate, the next day I go to the bar or the lobby and I sit for four hours and smile at people till they smile back then I ride the elevator for two hours and do the same in the elevator then I get off on [crosstalk 00:32:14]
Dave Asprey: For two hours?
Jay Abraham: Yeah, it’s glorious. I’m glorious about it. Then I get off on every floor and I engage very briefly all the housekeepers and the service people because they get acknowledged. Most of us don’t acknowledge one another. Very sad but it’s great fun and that inspires me. I get great joy out of it. It’s like a recycling of energy.
Dave Asprey: When you fly to Japan or to China, you’ll go do this?
Jay Abraham: [crosstalk 00:32:43] Oh yeah, everywhere I go in Asia. I do it in China, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great fun and it brings … When you see somebody smile and you see their … Same thing, their body language changes, their eyes start going from tepid to sparkly. There’s a transformative little aura about them because they felt a little bit better about themselves. If you engage them a little bit and it’s very fun to try to engage somebody that doesn’t speak English and still be interested and empathic. It’s a wonderful exercise, it’s very tragic, more people don’t allow themselves to do it because you are the beneficiary more than the people that you give to.
Dave Asprey: Wow, I did not know that about you.
Jay Abraham: Yeah, I do it every time I go anywhere.
Dave Asprey: It’s true that you’re very giving that way. I remember the first time we met, I think you came to the coffee shop opening or but we had lunch somewhere, you and your wife and I spilled my Bulletproof coffee because my mug malfunctioned and you were just laughing. I was like, “Oh man, I can’t believe I did that.” But yeah, you’re just a very fun and open that way. Some business gurus aren’t that way like they’re …
Jay Abraham: Some?
Dave Asprey: A little bit wouldn’t.
Jay Abraham: Some?
Dave Asprey: It’s probably most. I know a bunch of really good people in the field that I wouldn’t want to disparage them inadvertently.
Jay Abraham: I think that we lose track in our lives with humility and humanity and if you can really keep yourself focused on our relevancy and irrelevancy, it’s very wonderful because everybody has value and worth and everyone has a perspective and whether you like them or not, one of the things I learned earlier in my life was to very carefully try to examine, evaluate, understand, explore, respect and appreciate how other people see life because that’s their reality. Can’t change the reality until you embrace them on their value system.
Dave Asprey: That’s a really good point Jay. Now, where did you learn all this stuff? Who taught you to be this way?
Jay Abraham: I have been blessed all my life since I got married when I was 18, the first time in most of my earlier career I have no education was predicated with crazy entrepreneurs who wouldn’t pay me anything but they would give me a chance to do anything I wanted for a percentage of whatever I created and I went through a broad array of this very diverse, in disparate industries activities and as I got a little older, I was very fascinating to people because I was curious and I would sit in people’s offices for hours just watching them do business as a fly on the wall and I got very lucky.
I was either attracted to or attracted to entrepreneurs who had as their default driver either the filling of a void that existed in an industry or a niche or the adding of value and dimension to a product or service that was already there. When we would engage in discussion because I always wanted to know, “What’s driving you? How are you doing it? Why are you doing it? What’s different about you?”
I ask a lot of questions and I listen very carefully to the answers and I think about them and a lot of times, people have never been ask those question so the first time somebody expounds or discusses or responds, it’s profound because it’s coming from the depths of their passion level and I was very blessed. I was never afraid to ask very penetrating questions that no one else would think relevant and listen and to the most part, retain and then after doing it for years and years and industries and industries, you get this outrageous composite of aggregate understanding, perspective, awareness, admiration as supposed to contempt for all the different strives and issues, our perceived issues, people will grapple with. Very interesting.
Dave Asprey: I’ll say. I remember I went to Dan Peña’s 70th birthday party at Guthrie Castle in Scotland. Dan’s been a guest on Bulletproof Radio. He spoke at I think the third conference that we had, they call him the $50 Billion Dollar Man and and Brian Rose from London Real who’s a friend and a bulletproof supporter. Brian and I went together, rented kilts and he connected me to this group and there are some really strong business lumineers like people who’ve had their entire career in marketing and this is a stereotypical castle Jay. You probably recognize it in the 80’s when I was a teenager like the success poster in your bedroom.
Thee Scottish castle with the Bentley Lamborghini helicopter except that’s where actually he lives. He literally has the row of sports cars out front and it’s classical success. [crosstalk 00:38:26] As people are giving speeches Jay, you weren’t there so probably don’t know this, four different times your name came up in people’s speeches about them.
Jay Abraham: Really?
Dave Asprey: Yeah, absolutely. People would talk about your business how many people made a difference. You’ve done this for so long. It was pretty interesting and three other times it was actually positive. They’re all positive.
Jay Abraham: I’ve been around doing this a long time in a lot of places and you look back on a career and you’re very fascinated to impact that you can make if your intention is right and if you really, really try to be more than intellectual entertainment.
Dave Asprey: What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Jay Abraham: Probably, if you want to be interesting, be interested that most people don’t know how to listen and hear that you want to put yourself into environments very uncomfortable, well above your comfort intellectual experiential or earning mode and force yourself to grow the growths and development of spirit, body, mind, knowledge, humanity is the key to all richness in life. I could go on and on but those are a few.
Dave Asprey: Who told you these things?
Jay Abraham: I’ve been so blessed. When I started I was … We started off and I had a really hilarious I would knock on people. This is a fun story. When I start off, I had nothing going for me so I had business card made that was that big and it said UC sales and I would go to all these offices in Indianapolis and they used to have this little glass window where the reception was in this little hole where they could talk and you could stick your card through and I go, “I’d want to see Mr. Asprey.” and they’d say, “Well, do you have an appointment?” And I say, “No.” and they’d say, “Who are you with?”
I’d look like that and I’d say, “No one.” and they looked bizarre and they said, “Do you have a card?” And I’d say, “Yes and I’d give this card.” Of course, it wouldn’t reach through the window.
Dave Asprey: Because it’s just too big.
Jay Abraham: They have to take it back to you and maybe one out of a hundred failed to get me an appointment. My spiel then was Jay Abraham young up and coming Jewish boy from the mid west trying to get ahead in an ever so competitive world while suffering the most acutely inflamed sinus condition of my life and everyone laughed and then I would end up and they would stay for hours telling me about their business and I asked good questions. It was very interesting because if we couldn’t do business together, I would get educated and go somewhere else in the same industry, now I could talk authoritatively.
I’ve always been outrageously and curiosity is not the right word but manipulative isn’t either. I’ve been genuinely obsessed with learning how businesses operate, their psyche, their drivers, their nuances, their … My background gave me a lot of that because I did … it’s interesting and of course, besides doing three or 400 of the top experts that didn’t come to me for help with their methodology but had to learn it in order to elevate it or dimensionalize it or monetize it but I also did the Deming organization that was the the father of optimization and process improvement.
I did CallPro that was at one time, I don’t think still are the largest multi variable testing organization in the world and I got to look at billions of dollars of variability test. I did decision quest, the largest strategic litigation consulting firm in the world and got to look at all the different issues on venue and juries you had differently with graphics you can depict suffering and pain or minimize it. I got a very interesting on an unimaginable education and possibilities and then when you look at hundreds of industries, I don’t know how I got to that point for me to get you tangential but it’s very interesting.
Dave Asprey: It’s so fantastic. I’m to the breath of experiences. This is interesting. Having done business consulting with you and having had you look at bulletproof and what we’re doing, it’s definitely clear that the cross industry knowledge is a set of information that you’ve incorporated that I’ve never come across before.
Jay Abraham: It’s an attribute, it’s being in a way because it’s a combination of experiential empirical intuitive a little bit probably psychic, a lot of the ability to integrate in a matrix in your mind but it’s not … I can teach you my basics very easily, but the experiential empirical nuance part is not so. That’s one of the reasons why I have to charge a lot and work with people at a very high level because I can’t duplicate my … I’ve trained millions of people in my basic methodology and will elevate, but if you want to go really deep and maximize and optimize and kick ass, you have to have all these nuances which are experientially based.
Dave Asprey: That’s actually cool.
Jay Abraham: Well, it is and isn’t. I’m the best person to not want to sit with that end up loving on an airplane.
Dave Asprey: Right, I can see that. I just wanted to watch Game of Thrones but instead I have this marketing consultant next to me who’s so curious. He keeps asking me to talk about myself.
Jay Abraham: I ask questions so when you have enough …
Dave Asprey: You do.
Jay Abraham: There’s a concept called universal intelligence. You know what that is. The metaphor is the hundredth monkey, you know what that is?
Dave Asprey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jay Abraham: Well, if you’ve done enough different industries worldwide and different personality types extricated people from enough Gordian knots, there’s very little, that even if you’ve never been in an industry that you can’t extrapolate but if you ask questions of somebody deeper, better, more connective and evident that you already know what’s coming next and no one’s ever done that, it blows their mind.
Dave Asprey: Yeah, that would because it’s just a different reality and that’s from my experience. What about someone who’s listening? Dave, you’re some entrepreneur guy and you’re talking to this top business consultant who’s completely inaccessible to me. Where does someone just getting going in their career, how do they get access to understand what’s going on in the world that you live in?
Jay Abraham: I started very basic and we started by trying to teach a fundamental belief system and a methodology. Over the years I’ve gotten to the point where I’m older and I’m more legacy or I still like companies that have enough assets in play that I can really leverage but we want to be the greatest benefactors to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial [inaudible 00:46:20] there are. We have something very interesting, we have a site. It’s abraham.com but on that site is a sub site it’s called 50 shades of Jay and I think it’s got a 1000, it’s got a 1000 hours and probably 20,000 pages and not only does it not sell anything but it doesn’t even ask for an opt in.
Our perspective is, if we know a lot of people will never be able to afford us, and maybe won’t want to, but we can afford to invest in every entrepreneur that wants to be preeminent, that wants to be a true value creator, that wants to multiply the performance and the quality of their team, that wants to add more connectivity so we give away, I’ll actually buy it. I don’t want to say giveaway because I think free is diminished. We give people, at my expense, programs that are frankly not being arrogant but they’re better than most people sell for thousands of dollars. They don’t sell anything, they don’t ask for … anybody can go to abraham.com and gets right-hand/50 shades and you can have a field day because there’s ideological, philosophical stuff. There is very granular stuff. There’s interviews with people like Tony and you. There’s PewDiePie. We did one set where I thought everyone should be more childlike.
We sent out I think 25 YouTube video musicals from Disney movies because I said you can’t be great if you don’t let yourself be vulnerable, and you can’t be vulnerable if you don’t let some of your childlike innocence free but we do all kinds of wild things that are very … I think worldview is something most people don’t allow themselves to constantly enrich, expand and nourish.
Dave Asprey: Number one, the name 50 shades of Jay , is this hilarious? I love that.
Jay Abraham: It is pretty funny but there’s nothing dirty on it.
Dave Asprey: No, but it’s really great. It’s completely a good market.
Jay Abraham: Oh, it’s hilarious. Every time we put them out erratically and everyone has got a little different shade of gray in it and it’s hilarious. It’s very funny.
Dave Asprey: The other thing that’s unique, I know a lot of people who sell information online that makes a thousands of dollars for my videos etc., etc., and I don’t do that. That’s not for my business. I, like you believe it’s better that people have the knowledge. I’d rather give it away and send, they’ll purchase something at the right time or they won’t, but I was pretty blown away. I found out people are copying my expensive program so I’ll sell my hard drive.
That was everything I’ve ever done on it but based on the cost of the hard drive and shipping and some blah-blah-blah.
Jay Abraham: We change our old status. We said I don’t want to compete with a bunch of interlopers or superficial, self-anointed people that are dangerous to people’s wealth. We see ourselves as massive investors in the quality of entrepreneurs and in the future of just capitalism and that we’d see what we can do, we can help people who probably don’t realize how much more is possible for themselves and we try to do it.
I still love high-paying six, seven-figure clients, and I love deals I can get involved in but most of the time most people we invest in them without any reciprocal expect. It comes back.
Dave Asprey: It sure does. Now, Jay our final question in interviews on bulletproof [crosstalk 00:50:02]
Jay Abraham: It sounds like jeopardy. Okay.
Dave Asprey: Yeah.
Jay Abraham: You’re going to put all your money up now.
Dave Asprey: Here you go. If someone came to you tomorrow and they say, “Look Jay, based on all the stuff you know, all the stuff you’ve lived, I want to be better at everything I do. What are the three most important things that I need to know?” What would you tell them? Your most important advise.
Jay Abraham: Passion, purpose, possibility.
Dave Asprey: You got to tell me a little bit more than what does each of those things mean.
Jay Abraham: You got to be passion about not just what you do but who you do it for. You got to fall in love. If you don’t like what you do, who you do it for, and that’s a duality. It can be in who you do it for as your employer, or who you do it for as your market place, you shouldn’t be doing it. A purpose means if you’re just trying to make money without … I have a very good dear friend of mine, wrote a thesis, excuse me, and said you’re either a multiplier or a diminisher, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a business leader, a manager or an employee. You’re either making people greater, you’re adding value societally, you’re improving performance, humanity, whatever, or you’re sucking oxygen out of the environment philosophically and metaphorically.
I think you’ve got to be doing something that has …You got to be on a crusade or a mission and see your role. We’ve done this with your people. You got to see that no matter what you do in a business, you don’t have to be the leader to have relevancy and have a connectivity that you make a difference in the fulfillment of a meaningful product, service and one with things I think most people are scared. I don’t want to say a bad word but they’re scared to go into another field which is tragic.
Spending a life, that quote about quiet desperation, I think that’s … You have to have passion. You have to have purpose and then when you are fortunate as I’ve been to see how much more is possible from everything, time, effort, connectivity, capital, interaction, great relationships, resources. You’ve got to question and believe that you have not come close to capitalizing, optimizing all elements of your business life, your career and your personal life. I think if you get those three in alignment you’re pretty fortunate.
Dave Asprey: I’ll say, it’s a chance to get those in alignment but I like that advise.
Jay Abraham: Okay. Now, can I ask you a question?
Dave Asprey: Oh sure.
Jay Abraham: Did I give you the kind of interview you want? Or was it all over the place and diffused?
Dave Asprey: I think you answered all the questions Jay. You’re always someone who’s willing to share what you think about it and then go where your mind takes you, which is why as soon as I felt like you’re downloading stuff, when you’re talking, it’s just coming together right as you’re saying it, which is really cool. It’s very authentic. I would say you answered all the questions and you were clear, you weren’t all over the place. Nice [crosstalk 00:53:28]
Jay Abraham: I hope I added value. One of the most important things people, your goal in life, I learned this from Fran Tarkenton who’s a friend of mine who he’s the NFL Hall of Fame quarterback who lost two times in Super Bowl in front of 50 million people which is a lot worse than losing face in front of one person. I had a business reversal that was quite profound and he came back with a renewed attitude. He’d said, “Every time you interact with any person for any reason, for any amount of time, your job, your goal, your moral responsibility, your opportunity, your privileges to make that person better off because you were in their life.”
I’m not trying to be “ra-ra” positive thinking. I just have learned that there’s a lot of integrative forces and factors and elements one has to integrate to really get the maximum out of a life for a business or a career. That’s it.
Dave Asprey: It’s very well said and it sounds almost cliché Jay where there’s a time in my life when I was more of an engineer. I would have rolled my eyes and like, “Really?” That’s not really how it works but my life experiences, that’s actually how it is.
Jay Abraham: It is.
Dave Asprey: I was just young and arrogant and angry. I am none of those things anymore.
Jay Abraham: Happy-go-lucky Dave.
Dave Asprey: Awesome. Well, Jay …
Jay Abraham: Hi ho, hi ho.
Dave Asprey: Thanks for being able to provide, and thanks for all your advise and your friendship as well and I look forward to seeing you at Tony’s event. [crosstalk 00:55:11]
Jay Abraham: Thank you for allowing me to to take up opportunity cost to your audience. I’m privileged.
Dave Asprey: I’m sure that you delivered value.
Jay Abraham: When it’s all done, did you make a difference? You don’t have to be … You’re very fortunate. You’re influencing as you say millions of people but every human being influences some people. Did you make a difference? Did you add value? Did you make lives better off because you were in them? That’s the real question.
Dave Asprey: That’s what keeps me satisfied and happy, is just knowing that I’m making that difference. Again, that sounds cliché and all that but I got to tell you, if you’re listening to this and that sounds cliché to you, it’s because whatever you’re doing isn’t making a difference because if it was, you’d know what I was talking about.
Jay Abraham: What well said and you are making a difference. At a site as an acknowledgement, I have had numerous very open discussions with you about a lot of issues and I can tell anyone watching or listening that your motives are their best interest, your commitment is their elevated performance and richness of life and that you’re a fanatic for them, not for yourself. You’re very humble and very down to earth, and very gracious, and very authentic, and it’s important that people know.
Dave Asprey: Thanks Jay. On that wonderful note, we should end the show and when you get on to your next meeting for … If you enjoy the show, you’re listening, there’s a way you can say thanks because of several ways. One is just go to iTunes and give us the five-star review. We’re past 1500 reviews and every time you do that, you’re telling other people that the show was worth and their time as well and that actually I’m not a mass murderer.
Jay Abraham: Good.
Dave Asprey: While you’re at it, you can head on over to Jay’s website, abraham.com/50shades and there is no affiliate tracking codes or any of that, that’s just the link for all of this free stuff.
Jay Abraham: Not just 50, the number of …
Dave Asprey: 50 shades.
Jay Abraham: It’s got a lot of valuable contribution without any expectation they would enjoy.
Dave Asprey: There’s no email harvest. It’s just free info that Jay’s put together of his life, and it’s a site that I’ve certainly used and something that might be of benefit to you. Hey, it’s absolutely free so you could check that out. That’s abraham.com/50shades and iTunes, give us a five-star review and if you’re still feeling in that giving spirit after this powerful interview, you can always go on over to orderheadstrong.com and pre order your copy of the new book. When you order before it comes out, it means a lot more to me. It helps me work with my publishers and with the marketing people to get the highest positive impact. If you’re going to order it anyway, please do it now. Thank you.
