 If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind pump, mind pump, with your hosts. Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. In this sentimental episode of Mind Pump, so we all brought in our high school yearbooks and read through them and had a good time. That was uncomfortable. I forgot to tease you, Sal, there was one last one on here that I never said anything about hanging out back by the trash can. What? Yeah. Let me see that one. Do you do a lot of hanging out behind the trash can? Yeah, in the 10th grade. I'm going to miss... Is that code for something? Yeah, yeah. All the funny jokes that you guys used to tell and all the good old days where you guys... Oh, that's just the place that hung out. By the trash can? No, so there was, so I had... Sal, over there, eggs up by the trash can. I had trash can, Sal, trash can, Sal. That's a good old trash can, Sal, over here, hey. How you doing? He's a trash can. Drop it off over here. I had a... Take care of it. No, I had an area. I had a little... I know it says you, it says right back in the trash can. That was mine, dude. That was what we owned. I get it, you owned that block. There happened... That was your space. They're like, yeah, yeah, kid, you can have it by the trash can. You can take that little... Hey, every piece of garbage you got in here... Apple cores, whatever, you know, you just throw them my way. Yeah, oh, you just gotta pay the tax man, pay me 50 cents for every piece of garbage. I made a lot of money back there. Anyway, we get sentimental, we talk about high school, we talk about, I mean, this was really an episode about life lessons that we learned. It was. Growing up. I think it stemmed from the yearbooks, and then we started talking about high school, and then a lot of lessons that we've learned in high school, and then we've learned now that probably stemmed from high school days. So it's... I mean, we talk about religion in this. Adam talks about the time he got arrested. Yes, he does have a record. Was it Oakdale Police Department? It was the Oakdale Police Department. He's a little bit of a rebel. We talked about just, I mean, things we learned, what things we wish we had learned when we were younger. How all this formed, you know, the way we think now, and like there is definitely, you could see pieces of us back then, even now, like in what we carried with us too. Yeah, so we hope you enjoy this episode. Also, I do want to remind everybody, MAPS Anabolic is 50% off. It's half off. Holy schnicky. For the whole month. That's our staple program. You go to mindpumpmedia.com, enroll in the foundational program, the program that started them all, MAPS Anabolic. We also have bundles on there, like our Super Bundles, where we take multiple MAPS programs and put them together and discount them. And the Super Bundle is a year of exercise programs. You can find this and everything else that we offer at mindpumpmedia.com. Dude, so yearbooks are not a thing anymore. Yeah, did you hear what Enzo was saying? No. Oh, really? Yeah, dude, he says that's not a deal anymore. Oh, there's Justin. Well, what do they do now? Like, how do they capture those impressionable years? Just go on your Instagram. All right. Oh, look at that. I remember that. I remember that. Yeah, if yearbooks were a big deal when we were kids, like you got your yearbook, everybody got all excited about it. That makes sense. And then people signed it so that you could feel cool or whatever. Like, look at all these people that signed it. Now you just comment real time on the Facebook or Instagram. Yeah, so what the audience doesn't know is that we are each holding each other's yearbooks from when we were in high school. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. I got sales right now. Yeah, dude, I'm looking at Justin's and I have, there's one multicolored several markers. Oh, God. Like three pages of a signature that you're an opus. Your ex-girlfriend. Yeah. Ro, Ro. I'm gonna read one part of it. Just one. No, I'm not gonna read the whole thing. Okay. All right. This is awkward as fuck. Just one sentence. All right, go ahead. Just one sentence. You know everything is fair game. One sentence. Yeah. I like your Elfie ears and dimples. What the fuck? I love your Elfie ears and dimples. I don't like Elfie ears. Let me see your ears. What's she talking about? Let me see your ears. They're... No, they're good. They're not Elfie. Maybe it's just full of shit. That's why I dumped her. Yeah, you stupid bitch. Yeah, take that. Take that. Dude, yeah, this is pretty good. Elfie ears. Reading sales, right? I actually read most of yours, dude. They're great. I think you did a really good job describing yourself. Like you've described yourself at like, I feel like you give a very good description of who you are. Like how? Well, you could tell like, you were definitely a nice boy. Like you were a nice kid. Yeah. You were working out. Well, I'm not gonna have people say I'm a yearbook where it wasn't nice to. Well. Like, hey, yeah, asshole. Well, I did. Yeah, I did. I did. If you look at Justin and mine, you're okay. I got a lot of assholes in there, dude. Yeah, but these are friends though. Yeah, they're friends, but they're like asshole friends. You could know, like you were a really nice kid. You could see where you were at. Like I was a nice kid, but I was also a dumb shit too at the same time. I feel like you were like, I feel like girls' parents would love, girls' parents would love to see you walk in with their daughter. Oh yeah, that's cause that's always been true. They would, yeah. Look at Justin right here. Let's see. Which one? No, that's always been true. Parents have always loved me. But you know, I was, But you can tell, so the way you can tell is by the way, you know, all these, and some of it, obviously some of the, all the writing that is in yours, half of it looks like you wrote yourself, so it looks like you had more friends. Yeah, yeah. Hey, Sal. Hey, Sal. Hey, Sal. Sal, keep going, man. Yeah, yeah. You're the smartest dude with the biggest dick I've ever met. Anyway. Next year I'm going for Cheskel. You're gonna really miss not seeing you anymore. Next summer. Next summer. K-I-T, keep it touch. Page me. Oh, J.K., J.K. I signed them all this morning. Fuck, we gotta bring these to work. I know. There's no LOLs back then. We were just talking about this. It's all like J.K.'s. So I hope you start that mind-pump idea you came with in Australia. See, I fucking came up with the idea. It's like a foreshadowing. I told you guys. I feel like you're gonna do big things with a big MP. I don't know what that means. How many people in mind though? I forgot about this. Like, a lot of people are talking about me working out. Yeah. Like writing me a work out, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's what I mean by, okay, I pictured you from the way you described the way you were as a kid, like this young kid by 15 years old so that freshman year, dude. So all your a high school career, you were obviously into lifting weights. Oh yeah, that was what I was known for. Right, which is, I didn't do any of that during that time. It wasn't until my senior year, like that summer, did I really start lifting my buddy's garage. It's funny though, like, so if I'm looking through some of the girls' comments, you know, and your year bucks and stuff, it's pretty funny because like it is accurate. They're like, you know, oh, you're sweet, you're funny, blah, blah, blah. Occasionally, they'd be like, you're sexy but you know, you need to put out more. No. I'm like, put out more. Is that what they were saying? Yeah, one of them said that. It's pretty funny. That's a, you're holding out on that one. It was, it was a virgin, bro. It was a virgin till it was 20, man. Bro, I'm correct. It wasn't because like I couldn't get any ass, you know what I'm saying? I signed a purity card as a kid. You know, I was waiting till I was married at that age. That's what I think I'm gonna do. That's terrible. You know what's funny is I'm looking through some of these pictures and remembering the styles of the late 90s, looking at the hair. Oh yeah. How about Justin to the picture, it looks exactly the same. Justin? What do you mean? Hat backwards flannel and the shirt. Oh yeah. That was dude. And then what's crazy is that picture that I posted on my Instagram was from junior high. So it was like even further back. I was like, wow, this is like, I don't know. I don't know how to feel about that. I was like, have I not changed? Your friends are funny, Justin. They call you names. I can't even read yours. I know they are. They're very explicit. And I'm like, you fucking asshole. You fucking asshole. MF or whatever. Yeah, yeah. You even have a guy in here that referenced you getting their back. It sounds like you got their back in a fight. Oh yeah, that was the other thing. They made a comment like if you were, if I were to call anybody, like I would call you to get my back. Yeah, there was. What you've talked about before. Yeah, there was a couple of times that happened where some kid was getting picked on or whatever and they come tell me and then I'd help him out. Yeah, you could. It was just, yeah, it was a thing. You know what it is. So it's in the yearbook so now I really believe it. It's real. And that's not my handwriting. You can read it. It's not my handwriting. You'll be like, what the fuck is going on? Dude, Adam, I have to, okay. So I found one from one of your friends. I think it's Raven, but like at the end he adds this little, like everything's normal. Like, hey bro, we're gonna hang out, you know, and blah, blah, fucking whatever. Sure, can turn it off. And then there's the PS. It says, if they tell you to blow, don't just act a little. It works. What? What the fuck does that mean, dude? What does that even mean? I can't, wow. I totally remember what he's talking about. So that, okay, that's my senior year right there, right? So the year before we were at the senior prom, both Raven and I, we were different people. Like Raven's a buddy of mine. And Raven was hilarious. He was a really smart guy. He was actually a stoner. He was a smoker. He actually worked with me and for me for a while when I was in the cannabis space. Oh, okay. And he still does that. He owns a club over in the valley. Shout out to Raven. I know he listens to the show. We also get good friends that we're all, but this is hilarious. So I'll never forget this because we were at the double tree was where the prom was being held. And Raven is, I'm coming in. I got, we're like, there's four of us couples. We're walking in and I see Raven has got the two cops that are on bikes, cornered him in the room. And they're telling him to blow in this, to blow in a breathalyzer. And he was fucked up. Cause I remember him doing shots with us earlier and he kept drinking. I know he was out with his buddies. So he was wasted at prom. And that's a big no-no, right? Like they cracked down on that at prom. And so it was the funniest thing ever. And the cops were laughing too, because of how funny he was being. Cause they're like telling him he had to blow and he would pretend like he was blowing, but he would hold his breath, right? And the cops were just kept trying to give, dude, he's like, I'm trying. He's getting really mad. Throwing it off. Oh yeah, it's back and forth. That's actually a smart strategy. Oh, it totally worked. These guys ended up letting him off. And that was why he wrote that in the yearbook is that was the big joke was just don't blow, dude. If they ask you to blow, don't blow. Act like it, but don't blow. I bet he's a successful dude now. Yes, yes, yes. Of course, that's a brilliant, that's a smart kid. No, he was very smart. Raven was a, you know, I don't know if your school had this, but we had the Stoner kids. And then we had the exception to the Rule Stoner kids, which are typically the ones I hung out with. And that's why Raven and I were friends, was even though he was a Stoner, he was all advanced classes. He had 4.0, like he was a smart guy. Do the same clicks exist today that used to exist? Of course. Do they really? Have to. I don't know. We need to ask Enzo, because he's the one in high school, you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, okay, let's call all the clicks out, right? There were the Stoners. Stoner. There was, did you guys have like rockers, like dudes that were into like heavy metal and shit? Goss and rockers, yeah, we had a whole... There were the Ravers. Did you guys have Ravers? No, we didn't have Ravers. What do we call them? I think we call them Ravers or Disco. I don't remember, but they were... We had more Marilyn Manson kids. I saw a couple pictures in your yearbook. No, we had kids that would wear the really big pants and then they put their hair up kind of funny and they'd wear colorful lipstick and they look like Ravers. For me, I remember Ravers from the 90s, how they would dress and shit. No, we really didn't have that in high school. You guys didn't have that? Yeah, because I mean... You guys were on the cuts. Yeah, exactly. See, we're both... You guys had cowboys. Yeah. I bet you guys had cowboys. Yeah, absolutely. We had one. We had one dude who dressed like a cowboy and he got relentlessly bullied for it. Like every fucking poor guy. I've actually been in a real cowboy fight where the dude goes, let's get him. Like, you know, like literally started like that. Did he pull out a lasso? Did he pull out a lasso? Wow. I'm gonna hogtie him. We do know who school was the most least funded, maybe, or gangster. Justin's year looks. Look at this one, bro. I know, dude. Look at this one. It looks like a third grade year. Bro. I don't know. Your books are like somebody drew a picture and they made that the... Some kid in the art class just decided, I'm gonna laminate this. It's like the picture of... I gotta post a picture of this, bro. That's the ugliest fucking cougar I've ever seen. I mean, it's cool if a kid did it and brought it to me. I'm like, yeah, that's pretty good. Come on, that one's okay, though. I can tell you practically. I can tell you from over here, it's like kind of embossed a little bit. That one's better. That one's a little bit better. Apparently, we just didn't try as hard. Why do you have a sleeve on yours? I've heard a lot going on. These are like textbooks, you know? These are all like... Well, we were the only... So professionally done. Even though I grew up in a small town, we only had one high school. So like you guys have like 20-something high schools around this area or nearby. Well, how big was your class? Was it big? Our high school was small, too. You guys had a small class, right? Very small, yeah. Do you know how many students you had in the school? I don't remember how many hundreds, but it wasn't that many. Oh, mine was huge, thousands. Oh, yeah, mine's 2,000. We were like 1,800 to 2,000 students. So you had a good three... It looks like it, too, because you could tell by the size of the yearbook. I think mine might be a little bit bigger because we had a pretty big high school. Yeah, we had a small high school, dude. Yeah, because you can tell they're kind of thinner, right? I had my junior high high. I didn't even realize that. That's why I was so impressive. We kicked the shit out of everybody. It was just like... Everybody had huge schools and we were just like this tiny group. It's interesting because most people that were in our area, too, would go to Santa Cruz. And so we were just like basically from Boulder Creek to Ben Lohman and then Fulton. That was like our picking. So it's interesting. We got any talent from that small population. One of the biggest differences between the three of us... Well, you both... Not necessarily identify, but you really remember that era as... You remember that era. It was so... Not memorable for you. Just not... All my whole school career. All the school was like that for me. Like I had cousins and stuff and those are the people I hung out with. Well, I didn't like that. I didn't care for the academic side of school. I didn't like that. I liked school. I like friends and I was... What kind of grades did you guys get? I was three... Three to three... I was at three-five and then I went down to like three-three, I think, my senior year. Really? I ended up, I think, with a three-two average, but I went as low as like two-eight, one-year. That was like my... I had a year where I fucked off and I got in a lot of trouble and grounded and a lot and stuff like that. And so, but the rest of the years, I was three-something. You always had to be an athlete, or at least my parents said I had to have a three-oh to play sports. The school required a two-oh. My parents required a three-oh. Now, here's the thing. Is it because you studied and worked really hard on something? Oh, no, no. No, I memorized. Like right before the test, that was it. That was like my formula. Kyle, what did that tell you about the state of... It was nothing. Is that hilarious? Yeah, dude. I didn't learn anything. Oh, that's so bad. Yeah, I didn't enjoy it. But I enjoyed the social aspect of school. See, school was a blast and memorable for me because I have all these crazy memories of first of everything. First kids, first experience with a female, first sport ever playing, first real level of competition, first fight, first... Yeah. I mean, there's so many firsts for me that happened. It was like proving grounds. In that era, that is forever memorable for me for those reasons. As far as school, like school itself, I couldn't tell you my teacher's names, you know what I'm saying? I maybe have one or two that were really impactful. I have one that comes to mind, the one, and I think I've shared on the show before that, was the English teacher that pushed me to go in advanced English, even though I knew grammatically I was terrible, but she pushed the way I thought. That probably projected me to be probably more of a deeper thinker than I would have thought I would have been if I had been held back normal English because of my grammar. Isn't that crazy the impact a teacher can have on someone to the point where you're in a grown man now, it's been 20 years since you've been in high school, but you remember that teacher. Well, the crazy part is that it's taken me this long in my life to connect to how impactful it was because if you would have asked me that five years out of high school, I would not make that connection. Later on of learning more about myself, strengths, weaknesses, things that, and then going like, okay, where did that come from? Why am I confident to speak my mind or do these things but that I'm not afraid of making grammatical mistakes that I don't let that hold me back because that holds a lot of people back? I don't think like that because why? Well, where does that come from? And as I go deeper and deeper and deeper, I go, oh, shit, that's crazy. I distinctly remember not thinking I belonged in an advanced class, literally having a conversation with a teacher saying like, and her asking me, like, do you think you want to do this? And me going like, no, I don't know. I wonder how different it would have been for you if you were a kid today with spell check and how it checks if you're grammars, how much different it would have been for you. Be interesting. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because you don't have to worry. Because I would assume kids today don't really worry about misspelling shit. I know. How hard, I never misspell anything ever now because that shit corrects it for you, you know what I mean? Except for the platforms where it doesn't. And then unless it corrects it and it puts it out of context, like it's in a different word, you know? That's happened a few times. That's the wrong word. Yeah, I'm like, this isn't what I wanted. Yeah, dude, that's, I was early on, you know? Early on, I was really into training. I was into fitness. I was into exercises and lifting weights. And I was studying it like I do now, but when I was a kid. Well, so when you think about that, that's something too that it's more memorable than you think than that probably at that time in your life that might've been the first thing that you ever truly have applied yourself to and did for yourself, right? If you kind of skated through school too, or you never really, really gave your heart and that was probably the first thing that you probably gave your heart to and said, man, what if I actually apply myself to it and you did? For sure. I already had that mentality where, you know, if I had a problem or I had a situation that I would work hard and figure it out, that was always my mentality. But resistance training or exercise, the thing I love most about it is, it's such a clear black and white example of sacrifice and reward, sacrifice and reward, hard work. And this is what you get. You make a mistake and this is what happens and then you figure it out. And it's very black and white because, you know, life is complex. So many different things can influence how things turn out. That sometimes it's hard to connect the dots. You tend to connect the dots backwards, right? You tend to look back and be like, oh, I can see what worked and that's kind of the problem or the challenge with life. With exercise, especially with weights, it was, it's so black and white, like, oh, I got stronger, that worked, or oh, I'm progressing, that worked. I'm working hard, I'm watching my diet. These are the things that are changing. And so it reinforced that within me and very early on, 15, 16, 17 years old, I was training people, not professionally because I couldn't, right? You had to be 18 years old to become a personal trainer, at least at the gyms that I knew. And so, but at 16, 17, I was writing workouts for people, I was training people, I was helping people out. And I was studying, you know, how the body responds. I would read these books on anatomy, I would read books on chemistry so I could figure out the best supplements and how to take them right. So when are you doing this? Obviously you're not doing it at school. So in your past time, you would be picking up books like this. I would get home from school and if I was working out with my cousin, we'd work out together. If not, I would do it myself, literally right after school, I'd come home and I would go in the backyard and I would spend two, two and a half hours training and then reading and learning shit. Or I'd go to the, then when I got a little older, I'd ride my bike to the YMCA and I'd go to the Y and I'd learn and study and ask questions and read and do all this stuff. So it was in my spare time, whenever I had time, I would just, and I would get every magazine. So I read Iron Man, Muscle Media 2000, I read Muscle Mag, I read, of course, Flex and Muscle and Fitness. I mean, every Muscle Magazine you can think of, I would get and I'd get all the books. So I'd get stuff by Mike Mencer, stuff by Arnold Schwarzenegger, stuff by Kennedy, by Vince Garanda and I would buy these books and I'd go through them and I'd read them and study them and I just found this passion for it and that really helped me when I got into fitness as a career because when you first, and I also, of course, I learned this from my family too, both my parents are very hard working so I got work ethic from them and all that but when I got my first job, part of the reason why I was so confident and assertive is because I'd been studying this shit. You know what I mean? So although looking back, I didn't know much compared to what I know now, I knew way more than most kids go to. It's interesting to think back kind of like when I first actually like started teaching people like fitness and writing programs and just helping people out in that direction and I can think back to when I was in college and I was going through this course, I think it was called Ergogenic AIDS and there was also like biomechanics but what we did was a lab where it almost like, you know, the presidential physical fitness, like they had standards, there was like a standard for like sit and reach there was a standard, yeah, for like body fat and so I was like testing basically the entire campus and it was all under my, you know, this was my assignment, my project and I just realized that like, I don't know, I did really well with it explaining, you know, what was going on and what to shoot for and all that stuff and then like, I found myself just randomly helping people when I was working out all the time, dude, because I just lived in the gym, you know, trying to build myself up for football because I was getting the shit kicked out of me. So, and then, you know, that was like my angle with girls all of a sudden. I was like, hey, you know, let me help you out. And so I started helping them out like as they were in the gym because they didn't know what to do and they'd ask me questions, what I was doing. Do you feel it here? And I was like, well, this is such a powerful, ironic, powerful weapon that I have now. Yeah, yeah, the irony of it is that I married a girl. Being a young personal trainer, I mean, I was 18, 19, you know, then 20, I was managing gyms and all that. That was such a cool thing to tell a girl, like a girl's like, hey, what do you do? And you're 19, you're talking to another 19-year-old girl. Sure. Like, oh, I'm a personal trainer. I was like, wow. Dude, you know, it sucks. Oh, you could help me. Yeah, exactly. Like, yes, I can. I was, my first client, or the first person that I ever tried to, you know, I wasn't even officially a personal trainer, but the first person I ever trained was when I was 18. And at that time I was still working at the dairy and I had purchased a national certification because I was going to move, I had decided that I was going to move to the Bay Area. And so I had already bought the certification. I was kind of reading through it over the summer and I had been working out for about a year and a half at that time and there was a guy that used to come and deliver parts at the dairy. And I got to know him and he had a kid that was in high school and he asked me to train his son for the remainder of that summer. And I trained his son for that summer. And remember, I was really mad that he didn't pay me, but what he did do, and I'm pissed that I don't still have this, is he had made me this really nice, like it was white gold or sterling silver or something, it was a nice money clip and it was custom and it had my name on it. And on the back it had certified personal trainer and it would add the year. And I had it for a while and I was changing it, Macy's or something way back when and it fucking slid out of my pants and I never got it back ever again. And I think that would be a cool piece to have right now, consider it. That's so awesome. Right, right. But that was my very, I wasn't even a real personal trainer. I don't fucking know what the hell I taught. Do you guys remember, right? I can barely remember what I taught. I'm embarrassed. I know the girl's name too, is Kristen Polda. I was like, ah. Who's that? I probably gave her horrible advice. Oh, your first client? Yeah. What's her name, first name? Kristen. Yeah, hey Kristen. Hey Kristen, shout out. Yeah. I only trained you because I thought you were hot. That was the only reason. I know. Do you guys remember the first time you stepped into something and you felt that feeling like this is what I'm supposed to be doing? You guys ever get that feeling? I know you guys were very passionate. Yeah, yeah, no, this was like that. Oh, what we're doing now? Oh, for sure. You know, it's funny. You know what it is? And I don't know if you guys can relate to the same feeling or not, but it's like this. I'm uncomfortable because it's new. So I know I'm uncomfortable, but I'm very excited to learn, you know? And I'm really enjoying the process. It's kind of like all those feelings wrapped into one when you settle into something brand new like that. And if it was right. You can see things real time work and not work. And so it's exciting because when you hit strides, it's really like, wow, this is happening. I think it's an important thing that people learn to find that because it's so unique to every individual. Or if you do find it, pay attention. Right, and this goes back to the thing that I always echo, which is the stop focusing on what you're not good at, focus on what you're good at and be great at. It's when you have these moments, like if you have this natural passion already to fuel that, feed that fire. Don't think you need to fit into a category or box or do what someone else told you you should do. I mean, I can clearly name a few times where, and I remember it was very, very distinct. Like, I mean, growing up as a kid, I wasn't shy. Definitely wasn't shy. I had a certain level of, I guess whatever you want to call it, confidence or charisma, but it wasn't, it was also combined with a feeling of a little bit of that shyness or whatever. So like, if you put me in a large crowd or a big party, not really my scene. You have me talk with a few people and then I'd kind of come into my element. So I had these little glimpse of how I'd feel when I'd feel in my element, but I never really grasped onto it until I became a personal trainer. When I first got into the gym and that very first day when I got, you know, I sold all that training that first day and then the next day and then I was, I felt like, holy shit, I belong here. Like I really belong doing this. And the next time I felt that was when I managed, when I became a general manager, when I, so when I was a trainer and then when I became a general manager, I got that feeling again of like, oh fuck, this is exactly what I'm supposed to do. I didn't get that feeling again for a long time. Even when I own my wellness facility as much as I enjoyed it and like what I did, I never got that feeling of like, oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing until the day that Doug and I filmed video for MAPS Anabolic. That, I remember it the very first time, Doug's like, okay, I want you to, you know, we're gonna make a video on this stuff and you're gonna explain to people how to do these exercises, you're gonna talk to the camera. And he turned that camera on and I felt like I was totally like, oh, I remember telling him afterwards, I was like, oh shit, I feel like this is what I'm supposed to do. Like I feel, I have that feeling that I used to get when I first became a trainer and when I first managed gyms. And it's funny because each successive time I get that feeling, it feels more and more powerful and real. And I think it's cause, and this is gonna sound very esoteric, but I feel like I'm being directed, right? Like I'm getting closer and closer. And the most I've ever felt it ever was the first time we got on a podcast, the very first time. Very first time we hit record. I mean, as bad as we were, as nervous as we were, cause I can listen and I've done it, I've listened to the old episodes and I cringe, but I also laugh. Oh god, I was listening to that one on the floor. You have? Yeah. On the floor I just posted for our 800, someone did it as a throwback. It can be hard to watch. It's very hard to watch. But it can also, I mean, it's also like, I remember what that felt like and it was like, you know, I didn't have the experience, we didn't have the talent or that we were nervous. It didn't come across, we didn't feel nervous. I didn't feel scared, but I think all of us felt that excited nerves, you know? But I know all of us felt like this is exactly what we're supposed to do. That was a discussion after the first episode was like, this is what we're supposed to do. And I've never felt it like I feel it now. And when you feel that, things feel easy. And I don't mean that they are easy. They're all hard and they're challenging, there's work. But it's like, it flows. I don't know how to explain it. It just happens. Can you think of attributes that you had as a high schooler, you know, thinking back to, right now since we get the yearbooks out and everything that are playing a role now in your role within the business right now? It's like, that's feeding into the strengths of it. Well, for sure. I mean, just saying what you're saying right now, obviously, because that's an important piece to what we do right now. Well, for sure, ever since I was young, but definitely as I got older in high school, if I felt like somebody was either being taken advantage of or didn't have a voice or couldn't have a voice or too scared to have a voice, if I felt like, you know, somebody needed help, I was very outspoken, very assertive, and fearless. I wasn't like that for myself. So something happened to me. I mean, if you really pushed me, definitely assertive, I'm not gonna let people push me around. But if I saw that shit with someone else, I would speak up. Or if there was something happening in class, or if there was a debate or a discussion, I felt very passionate about. I could echo that for sure. And so for sure, you know, through, I mean, our message and stuff we communicate, like if I communicate something, I feel it, you know what I mean? And I can see that from, you know, when I was a kid what about you guys? What about you, Justin? I don't know. It's an interesting question. I think that growing up in high school, like I tried to consider as many people as possible. So I tried not to like stay so much within my clique. I definitely moved around a lot and tried to spend time with other people, you know, and other friends. And I had like my core group. So I had like two of my friends that were like, it was like the three of us always like doing stuff. But like at school, I was always kind of floating around like talking to other people and getting their perspective. And, you know, like I was, I don't know, like as much of, I feel like I was an asshole. Like I was really like seeking out like where everybody was coming from and like trying to kind of empathize on some level. Like, you know, what everybody was up to and stuff. And so I had a really like diverse group of friends, like like loose friends, you know, not like, I had like only like two like real solid like core friends. But yeah, I was like, I knew a lot of people. But I think like for me, like I just, I've always been super creative. And if you get further in the yearbook, you can see how I vested that creativity where I was in like a talent show. And I was like behind the scenes, like helping out with like the drama. Now, what, when did you put that together that was something that you liked or that you were good at? Was that in high school or was it even before high school? So before high school, I did a little bit of like putting myself out there as far as performing. Like I did, one time I did like this lip sync competition thing. It's, I'm so glad I asked this question. Like before it was all cool. It's like LL Cool J, you know, it's on TV now. Right. That's actually a funny, cool thing now. Right. Like I'm like, oh good. I wasn't like an insane dork for doing that. You know, I did feel kind of like, like really silly, but yeah, I did, I think I did, I did a Primus song and then I did like, oh, my favorite one. This was on a stage in front of your show. Yeah. Yeah. See, I would have never done that. Yeah. And then I did one, which was hilarious that I got away with this. I always tried to press the boundaries. Like I was like that asshole that would, I would try and like make it, make a joke, but getting trouble by doing the joke. You know what I mean? Like, like I was kicked out of class a bunch of times for pulling a prank or something really funny that I thought like I was so fucking bored. Like I wanted to like cause havoc, you know? And so I mean, my friend, I'd pull my friend with me and we would say 100% Justin and I would have hung out in high school. Outside and we were just laugh about it the whole time and I didn't learn shit cause it was bored, you know? So like, so as far as like the performing thing goes, I had this one lip syncing song. It was a King Missile. Do you guys remember that song, Detachable Penis? Yes. Oh my God. So I fucking, like they didn't know I was coming out with that song. And so you're singing Detachable Penis? Yeah, yeah, lip syncing Detachable Penis and like going through like he's walking, you know, like some days I take it off and then I'm like miming the whole thing and putting it over here. And like, you just see the faces of the teachers were just like dumbfounded. How epic was it for all the students though? Oh, they're dying. Oh, I bet they were dying. You crushed that there. Yeah, that was a good one. But like the rest of them, I was like, I remember I was like the white knight in... What do you think it was? Do you think you got the thrill of the response of the crowd? Like what was it as a kid that was like, oh, this is fucking cool? I just liked, yeah, I liked the attention of like getting in trouble for really dumb reasons, you know? Like, I don't know. Like I wasn't really like malicious about like, I didn't want to like... You just heard anybody or like, you know, you weren't mean, you were a rascal. Yeah, I was like, yeah, I was like, that kid that just was like, this is all stupid. What are we doing? You know, like, I don't know. That's just how I've always been. One thing I feel like we all have in common, I don't think any of us could keep our mouth shut when we need to, when we want to say something. You know what I mean? Absolutely. I feel like all of us were like, I've always been a big mouth, always. Since day one. Teachers, like that's the thing is like, some teachers would put up with it because sometimes it was funny, but then when it'd get annoying, they'd send me the principal. Yeah. So it was like... Well, what's unique too is everybody, everyone kind of paved their own way to it and we're very, we're individuals in a time that it was not popular. Like in high school, everybody wants to really fit in and be a part of a click. And something that we do all have in common, although how different we all were in school, is I too can say that that's, you know, I was known for being one of the guys who, I had friends in all the different categories that didn't, other clicks didn't hang out. Like I, because I connected with anybody that was in a class and in high school, you go six periods where, you know, I'm with a different group of people, potentially every single period. And so I had friends in every single class. I didn't have only my friends that I had since, you know, middle school and then we only, when we saw each other in class, I had friends in every single class. And if you sat around me, I probably was your friend. So I had, it didn't matter who you came from or what click you ran with. And I think I had that personality really early on. I think you guys had that too, even though maybe we tend to, you know, people would have probably identified us with someone else, but we are individuals like that, which is what makes part of this all really unique and actually work out too. It's like, you know, we have this ability to be independent leaders, but then also cohesive enough to be able to blend with each other and not like overstep each other. I think that's even trails all the way back to like, when we share and talk about the high school stuff. Cause I think about that, like, you know, it's really tough to be doing what we do right now without personalities clashing, even being older guys, whatever like that. You would think that it would just be natural that eventually- We keep saying that shit. We're going to jinx ourselves. Really? I think we get caught. Fuck you guys! I think we get closer as we continue to go on. Well, no, you're right. I think- Cause we get to know each other even more. Well, here's the other thing too, is, I mean, we talk about shit. Like there's a lot, you know, I think a big problem with a lot of people working together is that they don't talk about stuff. And so it builds up and you build resentment and stuff piles up. Yeah, nothing is, yeah, held. We talk about it on the podcast after time. You know what I mean? I mean, that's, that's true. And it really, I tell you what, you want to dissipate pressure or you want to dissipate tension. Just fucking talk about it. Now you can't do this with people who don't want to talk about shit or don't know how to talk about stuff. If you try to talk about something with someone and they just get all angry and emotional and ridiculous, you can't have a conversation. So then it becomes very difficult. That's all the resentment comes from. Yeah, you're just holding on to that. And then it just turns, it like builds into something a lot bigger than it should have been. Do you guys remember like big evolutions in your way of thinking, you know, from as you were growing up until now, like where you just had these big shifts and the way you viewed things or looked at things. Do you remember any- Oh, of course. I mean, I remember, you know, I just shared this on the, was it on my, oh, on my Instagram. So I did a quote, faith without work is dead. And the reason why I posted that quote was that I was listening to Jay Prince's memoir and Jay Prince is kind of the guy behind Floyd Mayweather and Drake. And I've never heard anybody else use that quote before. And it's a quote that I used to use, but the reason why I used to use it is kind of unique, I forget the context that he was using it in, but I found that verse because I had this moment that you're talking about in my life because I grew up very religious. And one of the things that my mom used to always say to us is just, you know, we needed to pray and have faith and believe, pray, have faith, believe and God will provide, God will provide. Like that was a very common theme and message that was set at my house. But yet, you know, we found ourselves a lot of times having to move because we couldn't afford to be in this house or evicted or whatever or struggling to get, you know what's, you know, pay the bills and shit like that. And it just didn't make sense to me that, you know God didn't want to put some of the responsibility on ourselves to go do all the stuff. Like we're just, everything's meant to be the way it's meant to be and to pray about it and let life unfold. And I'm just like, it didn't make sense to me if he gave us free will that we're not supposed to take action somehow. So I remember like digging into the Bible because that was the only way I could communicate with my mom because she would always throw that back in my face. I was trying to argue with my mom as a kid. She would throw back Bible verses. So I knew if I was gonna bring a good debate or debate something, I'd have to find it in the Bible. And that verse comes from the Bible, faith without work is dead. And at a young age, which is around high school time I believe is when I'm reading this, I remember reading that and going like, I knew it. I knew that he didn't believe that we weren't supposed to do anything about it. There's more to it than just believing you actually have to take action. And that's what that verse was all about context. That's where that's what believing is. Believing literally is taking action and doing what's meaningful. Because otherwise why would you do anything? Why would you do anything that's meaningful? Because meaningful stuff is fucking hard. It's not expedient. It's not great right now. Yeah, but you'd be surprised how many people believe that the, you know, that they come from the place of everything has a plan and a meant to be and that I'm just going to pray about it and it will. And they're sort of just going with the whim and the momentum's gonna carry in there. Believing that they actually have free will and they have control of their life. Sure. And because there's a lot of people that mistake that they think that's an insult because God is in control. You're not in control. So for you to say that you're taking control of your actions would be going against that, right? So then instead, I... Yeah, no, that's, I feel like that's the wrong way to look at it. Right. So this was a very... I could see that. I was raised this way. So all the way up and in high school was when I really started to question it and I wanted it because I wanted more for my life. Now when you found that and that shifted Oh, then you were on fire. Switched it on. It turned me on into the beast that I am today when it comes to my work ethic. Because I just put that moment, I figured like, no. And I remember too, like I remember it, the harder I worked, the more it served me too. And the happier I was, I'm just like, that doesn't, see, this doesn't make sense to me because my parents made me feel like it was that we were to pray, hope, you know, and believe that it would happen. And if we believed strong enough, if we had enough faith, it would be provided for us versus taking the action. And once I kind of disproved that for myself, which, you know, that was that verse and why I'm expanding on this, is that was a big time for me. That was a big reading that I came across that forever shifted my paradigm. And I now went on this like, uh-uh, I'm not believing that anymore. Like I'm taking action. And that was when I started working. I started working every chance I could. If I had free time, if I wasn't playing sports or with my buddies, I was working making money. I wasn't fucking around doing anything else. You know, I didn't have, which is probably why I was also a good kid in high school. I didn't have time for drugs. If I was sure I did the occasional, like, you know, getting drunk and partying after football games and when I was a junior and senior. But for the most part, I was already ambitious and wanting to make money because we didn't have things. I can identify with that a lot. I mean, that exact story just because, like, even just going through that same sort of environment where it was definitely, you know, my dad came back from Vietnam and I understand why he's like so grips on tightly to faith and, you know, his belief system and praying and like that's gonna carry him through because like that was real. You know, like he had to have that mentality to make it, you know, through that environment. But that's what he was trying to instill in the same thing, like in the process with us. And like, you know, and I think too, but very hard worker and he was like, you know, like top of the sales and like everything he did. But that wasn't stressed as much as like the release of like, you know, the humbleness that you need to come forward with versus like, you know, being out there and going and getting it. But I definitely gravitated more towards, I'm gonna work. You know, I wanna get my own, I'm gonna pave my own path. I wanna figure this out for myself. And I always felt like I was, you know, going against what I was taught by doing that and like my brother. Well, this is what led to me getting arrested. So this led to me getting, my parents calling the cops on me and then them taking my car away. Cause once that mindset went for me at 15, like I was on the hustle from then on out, like working as much as I possibly could. And I had like, you know, we lived on the other side of the tracks and you would come in our neighborhood, not a very nice neighborhood, but then you come in my bedroom, my bedroom was nice. Because you had money. Cause I had money. Cause I mean, I had, I bought my own quilts, my own pillows, my own TV that was in there. Like anything that was in my stereo system that that was, I paid for everything. So my room looked as cool as a high schoolers room could look, right? So, you know, that was, that was me because of that moment. And I went off like that. And I don't know why I was just, I interrupted you Justin, but I was wanting to tell you, so you triggered me on something you just said about your dad. I think that you, you were two, there's two types of people that emerge from that kind of environment. One is I do all the things I'm told because I'm- Oh, the arrested story. That's what I was gonna say. Yeah, that's what I was gonna tell you. Yeah, people, save it please. People, you know, will do what they're told or what they're supposed to do because they're afraid of the consequences. So I'm just gonna do this rigid thing. And then you have people that will visit the other side to examine what should they, do I want to? And I think that's what you guys are talking about. I'm the same way. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I'm the same way. If I examine my own spiritual development or my spiritual belief, it for sure swaying in very extreme directions because I'm learning as much as I possibly can. I'm examining, I'm reading and seeing how things feel. But it's funny how, it's funny how now, now, my age now, I'm starting to realize the importance of these. When I used to see, you know, you'd see this cliche all the time, right? You'd see this all the time, mind, body, spirit, mind, body, spirit, total health and wellness. What the fuck does that mean? It's just mind and body. What do you mean by spirit? Like, what does that do? But I'm starting to understand that. Like I'm starting to understand what that means now at my age now. But it took me, it took me to go in the opposite direction for a while. Absolutely. And I think that like my whole process was trying to just define my own faith and like my own ideas and my own like opinions. And I just, it took me a long time to do that. Cause I felt like I was always trying to please, you know, my parents are like trying to, you know, do things in a direction that I thought that, you know, that was gonna, that's what everybody like almost expected of me. And so that's where I ended up really making it my own ambitious idea to graduate from college because everybody like pretty much dismissed me from going for some reason. So that was like a trigger for me, you know? And like me going through that process was everything because not only did I know that I could set myself towards something and accomplish it at a high level, but my own opinions and time away from all my friends and starting completely over and developing and understanding who I was as a person and like what I believe in and everything was like, that was super impactful. So much of that happened in high school, man. So I want to hear about your arrest. Oh, so yeah, that just, so what that set me on was this, that was my way of rebelling. So I wasn't the kid that was doing it. Now, why did you get arrested? Were you guys fighting or something? Yeah, yeah, I'll explain that. So my way of rebelling in my family was to like, I'm no longer listening to my parents and this like sit around and just pray for it. I'm gonna go take action and make things happen. And so I think that was as a young little Spitfire teenager, I was constantly working hard and buying things for myself and doing things for myself. And I remember that when I was 16 years old, I remember my parents grounded me from the car, which we had a car that was like a hand me down. It was a beater that everyone ended up using. And it was my transportation, which I was totally excited to have. But the only problem was it was another thing that my parents could hold over my head. So if I didn't do something right or I didn't do a chore or I talked back or whatever, you would do, my parents would ground that from me. And when they would ground it from me, they would actually take it to where I couldn't use it to go to work either. Well, I worked at 3.30 in the morning at the dairy before school or at four o'clock in the afternoon after school during the week. And it was seven miles away where I had to go. So they would take that away from me. So... And that's obviously, I mean, as a smart kid, you're like, well, that doesn't make any fucking sense. This is my responsibility. Of course. And the way I take that as a kid, knowing that I'm telling you right now that I'm the kid that starts, that's the way I'm rebelling. And so that's what an awful way to punish me, but just to make your point that it's like, you're grounded for not... I bet you were a mirror to them. You're probably reflecting to them what they weren't, you know what I mean? For sure, absolutely. So that, and I see all this as a kid, like I put this all together. And so I started, I would ride my bike. Dude, if I got grounded at four o'clock in the morning, I'd fucking pedal my ass to work. I'd have to get up an extra half hour early so I could be there on time. And I remember crying and shit on the way there, like angry, but I was responsible. I didn't go stay in bed. Oh, because my parents wouldn't let like, I fucking got to work. I did my job still crying and like a baby the whole way there and shit like that. Like angry at my life, hoping I'll get out of this thing one day, right? But it taught me a lot and it changed who I was for the rest of my life. And when I came home one time, or when they took the car from me one time, my chain breaks on the way to the dairy at four o'clock in the morning, right? And I fucking, I break down at that point. I call my girlfriend's mom, she comes and picks me up. And I'm like, I got to do something now. And I had saved up $1,000 at this time. And I call my grandma up because at this point, I'm only what, 16 years old. I don't have any credit to me, but I have $1,000 that I've saved up. And I ask her if she'll co-sign for me and I wanted to go get like a little Ford Ranger, old, you know, older pickup with miles on it. So they had like 10 grand, put $1,000 down and have a payment. I have a consistent job. And so my grandma, and I told my grandmother what happened, my mom had, and my grandmother had work ethic was totally different than my mom. So when she found out she was pissed and she's like, I'm coming down there tomorrow and we're gonna go take you to get a car. And I was like, cool. And of course, teenage boy, right? And I'm like, fuck yeah, grandma, grandma saves the day. So grandma comes down, we go to go shopping. And my grandmother's like, you're not gonna get some used car that's gonna break down and you're gonna have to fix and do all the stuff like that. I'm gonna take you to get a new car. And my grandma went and took me and bought me a new car. Oh, wow. And I drove at home. And when I drove at home, my parents said I can't have it. And I was like, you gotta be kidding me, right? Like we had our, I mean, we did everything. Signed paperwork, it was, I have the car, it's my car, right? I'm still, I already, before I even took it home, I took it to all my friends' houses. Like I was so excited to have this car. And when I walked through the door at my house with it, my mom looked at me and said, you take that car back. And I'm like, this is my car. So my name. I'm paying for it. Yeah, yeah, this is mine. And my mom's like, uh-oh, you take that car back. You either live here and you don't have that car or you live in your car. And I was like, that's an easy decision to live in my car. So I went and packed my bags and I took off. And I left and I was fucking living with a friend for like a week, right? And I hadn't seen my parents, I'm fucking out. Like they gave me the green light to be out, I'm out. And I'm sure I would love to hear my mom tell this story one day on her side, what it was like. Like if they were going like, fuck, what do we do? Is he really gonna take off for it? Cause I was out. That's in my mind. I was the freak them out. Right, a week later I gotta eventually re-up on clothes so I come back, right? In the afternoon time to come pick up another bag of clothes. And I walk in like straight, beeline it from my room, packing a bag and I'm walking right back out. I'm never coming back. That's the way I'm thinking. And my stepfather steps in front of the doorway and he won't get out of the way. And my mom goes straight for the phone. I'm like, hey, I'm out of here. And they're like, no, you're not, you're staying right here. And she gets on the phone right away, she calls the cops and nothing's even happened yet. So my mom calls the cops and then I'm like, I'm out of here and I started to walk by them and then my stepfather gets in my way and then grabs me and then him and I are wrestling and fighting on the ground and stuff like that. I'm headbutting them and shit. Oh, shit. Yeah, so we're getting into it. But he's, I mean, he's massive compared to me at this. I'm a little hundred, the 40 pound kid, right? So he manhandles me and he holds me down until, you know, fucking four cop cars roll up. Cause I live in a small town. So something happens, every cop car shows up to this one house, right? It sounds like we can give a fuck about this. Cop car rolls up, cops come in. They come in the living room and the cop right away just starts laying into me, chastising me. We deal with little punks like you all the time, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, cause now he's like, this is my job. I'm a teacher's kid at lesson. Totally. So he is just laying into me and I'm just, I'm crying, right? I'm bawling my eyes out, sitting on the couch, cops standing over me, sitting like this. And I look up at him and I said, you don't even know me. And he looked back at me and he stands your ass up, boy. Told me to stand up, turns me around, cuffs me, takes me to the, takes me to the police car, sits me in the back of the police car, sitting in my neighborhood with all my neighbors and people that are around me in the back of a cop car for like two hours, right? And he's eating there while he's talking to my parents. Then he comes out and then he drives me down to the police station. I go down to the police station, talks to me in the car again for another two hours, more, and this is where I find out I have no, as a 16 year old boy. Yeah, no rights. No rights. He's like all the, and I'm telling him, you don't know my family. You don't know, I'm like crying about my family or I poor me type of deal, right? That's shit to this guy. You have no idea who you're talking to, right? Like I'm a nice kid. I don't do drugs, I don't do this stuff, right? Everything in my room is mine. They can't take that's mine. He's like, no, everything that you think is yours is theirs. They can light it on fire, they can sell it tomorrow and you can't do shit about it until you're 18 years old. And I was like, fuck, dude. And so that's what happened, man. The guy, he didn't arrest me or anything like that. They had nothing to get me on. I don't know that, though you're a 16 year old boy, cops get you like. Now when that's all done and said and done, were you thinking yourself like, okay, I can't wait till I'm 18 and then you guys are never gonna. I told my parents and I stuck to this for a long time actually, I was done speaking to them. I was like, I literally, I literally said like. You're no longer talking. The silent truth has been starting now. They took the, they sent the car up to my, my grandmother had to take the car back to San Jose. So the brand new car gets parked in the garage. I don't have the car, I'm living back there. I'm told I have no rights. They took my car, had me arrested, did all this with that. And so I was like, okay, you can force me to live here until I'm 18 years old and you'll never see me again after that. And I told him that and I said, I'm not. And for dinners, bro, I just sit there fucking, just mad, bro. It took like six months before I finally broke down. And then all of a sudden, like when I got to my last six months before I graduated high school and they knew I was leaving, right? Then all of a sudden they got cool. They all of a sudden let go. When I think, when they realized when I really was gonna be gone in six months, they only had six months left with me. They became the loosest parents and started to give me my freedom. And that, because of that, that was probably the smartest thing that my parents ever did because I was on this like, I really had that. That's gotta be a tough situation to be in, to be a kid, fight with your parents like that and to know that you're the one that's right. That's gotta be a very strange situation because look, all kids fight with their parents, especially teenagers. But at some point, as a kid, you're like, well, you know. Yeah, I was being kind of like, oh shit. Yeah, or it's like, it's not fair, but it's not really not that fair, right? But something like that, you gotta be sitting there like racking your brain like, am I in the fucking Twilight Zone? What did I do wrong? What the fuck's going on? I'm actually doing everything I'm supposed to do this. I feel like I'm in the fucking other dimension. Well, it really made me question a lot of the morals and things that my family had lived by for a long time. And so I went through this phase where I went from being like, you know, hardcore kid and all the religious kid and in church three times a week to really questioning it and wondering like, you know, this can't be a good book. This can't be right, you know what I'm saying? And so then I kind of questioned it. And then it came kind of full circle later on where I realized like, it was less of the message and more of the people receiving the message. I just didn't have very mature parents at that point. It's an understandable way to decipher it, 100%. Because I mean, what better way to judge something other than the thing itself by the people who represent it. Right. So it's a very just, I mean, understandable. You completely understand how a kid could do that. Right. For sure. Right. So that was a very frustrating, confusing time for me. Like I'm reading something and I'm interpreting it one way. They are another. They're my parents. I'm wrong. Like the only way I could argue with my mom is if I threw other Bible verses at her. So, you know, like it was with the best training. Proverbs. Oh yeah. It was one of the best training grounds that I ever got for that. 169. So I mean, I appreciate a lot. I mean, much of it too. So as much as I harp on all that stuff, you know, talking about this was, these were also some of the, I was reading the Bible at the deepest time during high school for sure. Cause I was even teaching it at that point in my life. And so much of my morals and that foundation comes from that. And I was creating my own identity with it at that point in my life too. So. So would you say you had that, the things that you learned and then you saw ways to not be? Yeah. And I realized that the book itself wasn't the answer as much it was how, what you took from it and how you applied it. Because my parents were an example of how I didn't want to use it or apply it. And, but yeah. And at first I was dismissive of the book like many people are because of things like that, which I can see. And I understand, I have empathy for people who look at it like that. I'm like, that's because it's been interpreted. It can feel oppressive. Right. Like you could use it like that and really like misinterpret, you know, the entire message just by sort of like taking and paraphrasing, you know, certain passages to sort of fit this like narrative you have. It's taught by insecure people all over the world. The same thing that's happened with like all the media, like anything on the news, like you just get all these little snippets of ideas and it's not like, it's just, it never works out. Like you gotta know the backstory. You gotta know like what the entire overarching message is and then where you fit into that. Well, it's like anything else. Even like fitness, like I could definitely look at a representative who lifts weights a lot and works out and not know anything about exercise, not know anything about health and say, oh, I'm not gonna fucking lift weights. Look at that guy over there. Look at that girl over there. Look how dysfunctional they are. Look how unhealthy they are. Look at the problem. That guy hurt his back and fucking really bad doing squats. I'm not doing squats. Squats are bad for your back. Squats eat real bad now forever. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You know, the human brain sort of categorizes because we try and simplify it. Shortcuts. It is, it is shortcuts. I mean, you know, I went through that process with, I mean, my family, I mean, early, cause you know, at 19, 18, I was training, 19, I was managing and there was a point where I had to decide was I gonna go to college or was I going to pursue this career in fitness. And I remember sitting down with my parents and I sat down and now my family, I remember they were poor immigrants. My mom came here where she was four, but her dad and my grandparents were immigrants and very poor. And my dad was very poor growing up. He came here when he was 19. Neither one of them had any schooling past high school. At least my mom went to high school. My dad went up to fourth grade. That's the furthest he went in school because he had to work. They couldn't afford anything. So talking about education, my parents was very interesting in the sense that neither one of them had gone far in school. So it wasn't like they valued it like people who went to college. But at the same time, they valued hard work and they knew that that was a good path. So I remember sitting down with them and here I am, I've been, you know, now I've been working in gyms for about a year and I'm loving it and I'm off at work all the time. I must've been there 16 hours a day at least, literally. And I sit down with them and I'm like, hey, I think I wanna do this and I don't want to go to school. I don't think I wanna go to school because at the time I wanted to go to school to be a physical therapist. And my parents kind of looked at me and the thing is I had already proven to my parents that whatever I put my mind to, I would accomplish. So that was in my, that worked in my favor. Like I think my parents believed in me as a person, not necessarily in what I was doing, but more in as a, like, okay, well if Sal says he's gonna do this, then we can trust- You've seen this play out before. We can trust he's not gonna fuck around. Like he's serious about it. So that was kind of in my favor, but we had this huge debate, you know, at dinner and my mom was like, you know, you go to school, finish school, then you can always go back and work in the gym. I'm like, I don't want to, like this is what I wanna do. I'm doing good or whatever. And I remember I pulled out my pay stub and I showed, I had a $7,000 paycheck for two weeks. I had destroyed it one month and had all his commissions. And that's a lot of, 1998, right? It's a shit ton of money. And I'm 19 years old. I'm making more of my parents, all right? So I showed my parents to check and I remember my mom was looking at it. She shows my dad and they're both like, fuck, like my parents look at me and go, you're doing, you're making good money. I said, I said, yeah, I'm doing really good. And so my parents said, well, we still need to talk more about this. So I went to work and at this point, I was moving into the sales side. So I was a weekend manager or senior sales counselor is what they call it. I did that for about a month. But my manager, who was my good friend and became one of my first mentors, Dawn, I had this conversation with him. And I sat him down and said, look, here's the deal. I said, you know, if my parents aren't cool with this, then I'm probably gonna have to go to school because remember at that, my culture and my family is very much like you respect your parents. So I sat down, I talked to him. I said, but I'm having this discussion with him. So he says, can I come to dinner? So I said, okay. So Dawn actually came to dinner and he sat my parents down and the cool thing about Dawn, one of my first, again, my first mentors and now a good friend of mine, is Dawn is an extremely convincing individual. Actually, one of the best sales people and communicators you'll ever meet. If you sit down and hear him talk and we met with him, you know, he's just, he's compelling, right? So he sat down and he closed my parents. He actually sat down with my parents and told them why I need to take the next two years when he said, give him two years and watch what he can do and here's what can happen. Here's the opportunities and he brought some graphs and actually showed my parents. And my parents gave me their blessing. And they're like, okay, go ahead and do this thing and see what happens and that was it. But that was a very interesting thing to bring someone home and have them talk to my parents about it, bro. That's hilarious. I've known coaches that have done that. Really? So to win over, yeah, to win over athletes, especially to sway them to get into certain schools and stuff. But yeah, that's great that he did that for you because I mean, that's a big deal. And you know, we didn't go to, we had certain customs and things in my culture that I identified with strongly, but didn't understand why they were important. Just identified with this is who we are type of deal. And then as I got older, I thought they were ridiculous because they're just, oh, it's just a tradition. Like what's the big deal? Who cares? Like here's a good one, a good example. Like this is a big thing in my family. When you show up at a person's house, I don't care if there's 50 people, you go up to each individual person and you say hi to them. You can't just say hi. You have to kiss everybody. They're right in the face. Yeah, you gotta kiss them, shake their hand and make sure you go to the, make sure you go to the grandparents first. Right, make sure you go to the old people first. Like definitely say hi to your grandfather first. And if I didn't do this, we'd get in trouble when I was a kid. Like you gotta go say hi to your grandfather. And so I didn't identify with it. Yeah, this is what we do. And then as I got older, I was like, this is stupid. Who cares? I'm just gonna wave to everybody, whatever. And then as I got older, I started to appreciate the other side. Well, I started to appreciate that we make a big deal about how we enter into a situation and we show everybody, we acknowledge everybody. They feel that too. Like you acknowledging them is something that they'll carry with them. Well, I started realizing as I got older that these customs and things exist because they're valuable. That's why they exist. But we forget why they were valuable because then there's such a custom that you just do it. You forget why. Why does that exist? Like here's another one. Like when we sit down to have dinner, you don't eat until everybody sits down and everybody's ready to eat. Everybody's ready to eat. Everybody's ready to eat. And I always thought, oh, it gives a shit. Just eat your food. It's not a deal. But no, it's because we're sharing something that's important together. You know, we're doing that thing that we're, respect is a very big thing in my culture. And then hard work is another one. Well, imagine how epist you would be if there's five of us in a tribe and we just got a big kill and we just ripped the meat off and it's all there. And one dude's already digging in and I've just got done cutting it, cooking it and I'm bringing it back to set it all down. And you're already digging your face into something that I hunted for the last eight hours. Like be pissed. I think there's like a respect thing that that's all about too, right? There is. And hard work is another one. Daddy gets the biggest piece in my house. You know, hard work in my family was a very big thing, but it's funny that nobody talked about it. I never got lectured on it. Nobody ever sat me down and said, you need to work hard. You need to bust your ass. It was just, that's just the way we were. Like my dad worked seven days a week. Most of my life, why? Because he had the work. I remember one time I was kind of like, it never dawned on me that it was a lot, right? And I mean, he would come home and have dinner, but you know, he would be up at work at 5 a.m. and he'd become home at 4 p.m. And his work was, you know, difficult. You know, it's a very manual labor type thing. And I remember as I got a little older, I'm like, well, that's a lot. Nobody does that. I remember talking to my dad. I said, why do you work seven days a week? He's like, because there's work. And I remember, like, well, that makes sense. Like, why would you turn it down? Like, if it's there, you know, you got to do it. But at the same time, he made time for the family. We made time to do things on the times that he didn't work. We would make sure to go have quality time again. And I remember that. And I remember having dinners every single night. But it was never, it was never really discussed. This is just, yeah, and my mom was like that. My mom was never, and nobody ever complained about it. Yeah, that mentality is, yeah, it's a lost art. It is, and also the other thing too is something that I learned that I didn't realize that I learned because nobody talked about it. It's just what was expected or how we were. If you work or helped someone, you never expect something in return. No, you don't expect anything in return. I never, I worked with my dad for a long time on the weekends. And the way I understood it, as I got older, I remember when I was like probably about 16. So at this point, like I'm actually helping him. I'm actually working. Cause when he brought me when I was eight, you know, I was just fucking around. I didn't really know what I was doing. But by the time I got to like 14, 15, 16, I could actually work and help him. And I remember at the end of job, sometimes he'd hand me cash and I'd be embarrassed. Like, no, what are you doing? Like, no, I don't want your money, dad. And we have to fight over it. And then he'd force it. And sometimes he'd give it to my mom and say, give it to make sure you give this. And I'd fight with him to the point where my dad had a conversation with me. He's like, I'm going to pay you and you're going to take it. Otherwise I'm not going to take you anymore. So I was like, okay. Like that is a lost, that is a very lost thing, you know, with, with kids nowadays, you know, cause they expect something in return. And you see that a lot with like, I expect to be manager by now. Dude, you know what I mean? Or you see that with contractors and people working for you and it's like, they show up and the meeting they have with you about the job that they may have, they want to put down as a clock to hours and weird shit and is like, what are you doing? Like I would have never done that in a million years. It's an opportunity. I want to prove myself, you know, that what I'm doing is, or whatever. We just live in a different time right now, man. It is a different time. It's a very, very different time. I mean, there's a lot of hours I didn't get paid working in the gyms. That's for sure. Are you kidding me? I feel like I've worked half, you know, like of non-paid hours as I have, you know, paid. It just seems like there's just been so much that like learning that's had to happen to be able to actually get to a point where I feel like, yeah, what I'm doing like is valuable to where like, you know, I've gone and I've done all the labor that brought me to this point. Do you guys learn any like young like money lessons like early on? Like my money lessons I learned serve me and also fuck me growing up because I learned from people who grew up very poor and also generations who were so poor in Sicily, that food was an issue. So my lessons were don't spend money and save it. I never learned how to invest. I never learned how to buy investments. And so I was a 19, you know, 21 year old kid. So this is, I've been working in gyms, 18, 19, 20. 21 years old, I had over $100,000 in the bank. I drove a fucking Volkswagen. I lived at home. Which is crazy for a 20 year old boy to have that much money. Cash, I mean, in the bank, liquid. Like had I known to, cause I was scared to like buy anything or invest because there was always like, what if the value goes down? So we were very much like save it, you know what I mean? Which served me well during the recession, I guess, kind of save me there, but fuck man, had I invested that money as a kid, especially in the Bay Area, holy shit. And then the money you do decide to spend, you spend it all on something that you were passionate and loved about, right? The one investment with us, most that went into the gym, right? Oh, my business. Yeah, when I did that, it was very much cause I was just like, this is me working. This is what I'm gonna do. But even then I was a little bit like, I got flack for my, definitely for my parents. Yeah, I didn't learn any financial advice or planning or anything from my parents. That was not like something that was transferred over to me other than I knew that by working, I could get what I wanted. Do you know this is why I knew? I love what you're doing with your boys right now. That's, I was telling Katrina this the other day, like it was, and I know I've already said this a couple of times on the show. I love you talking about it because I think the reason why I love hearing it is, I wish I got that. I wish that I understand. That's like your intro to economics for these kids. You know what I'm saying? That's such a great way to give them a taste of that at an early age, so then you can develop that as they get older. So when they are in junior high, high school, they have a very good, clear understanding of how this household operates. How we pay the electric bill, how does it work? Why is daddy gone a lot of the times? There's a reason why. I remember I had a client. I was probably, I might have been 22 or 23, maybe a little older, and I had a client that asked me, like, hey man, how do you, you know, you bought this business. I think, where'd you get the money and this and that? I'm like, oh, I saved it and I left in the bank and he goes, you know when you put money in the bank, you're losing money, right? And I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about? He explained to me inflation and why saving money was actually losing money. I had no idea. It blew my mind. He's like, $10 today is gonna buy less than $10 a year from now. So what you can't do is just save the money. You gotta actually invest it so that it grows faster than the value drops. And I remember like sitting there like, I've been living a lie. I've been lied to my entire life. Oh my God. Fucking blew me away. Who was it? It was somebody, one of my clients. I don't remember actually who it was, to be honest with you. I just remember that lesson. Yeah, absolutely brilliant, blew my mind. Early 20s when that happened? Yeah, early 20s. But I was conservative, which was good because it did save me during the recession because the mortgage I had on my house, I fixed at 30 years and at that time it was not popular to fix your loan. No, no. Everybody was doing these, you know, five armor. Yeah, like you just go for it because you could just expect everything. Well, everybody thought they'd buy two, three houses. That's the path I was on. I was on this path where I was trying to buy a second and a third house. Oh yeah. I had family members who had at 1.4 houses who were not making that much money. And I remember being like, how the fuck are they? And of course now they have nothing. They lost everything. So that part saved me a little bit but it hurt me in the sense that I wasn't able to learn how to grow up. No, I didn't get any lessons like as far from my, other than to how not to, you know what I'm saying? Like I started to put it together that we weren't super responsible with finances. Like, you know, as a kid when you start, you've had enough nights where it's like, oh, we're at candlelight tonight. We forgot to pay the PG need. Like you can only forget so many times. So it's like, okay, we're probably can't afford it. You know what I'm saying? Because somebody doesn't get paid till Friday. That's the reason why we don't have the lights on. So my lessons were all like that. I wish I understood investing. I wish I... It's funny because it's some of the most valuable stuff that you could learn as a kid that you don't learn at all. Or even like built to build credit, right? So that's something that like a lot of parents don't talk to their kids, especially teenagers too, that I was scared to do it. Like my parents made me feel like we were in the position we were in because of credit cards. Like credit cards were evil. Yeah, like they were evil and bad and like stay away from them. Like that was their fucking advice. Like, okay, like thank God for me. I realized that like, you know, I had a lot of other bad advice they'd given me that this might be bad advice too. So I should look deeper in it myself. And then I find out like, I remember being a kid in my late teens and finding out that I needed four lines of credit to buy a house. How am I gonna do that without a credit card? Like I have to get at least one or two credit cards plus a car loan. And like there's no way I can buy a house if I don't do that first. So I began doing that. So I ended up buying, I was gonna buy, I bought a car and I was gonna finance it because I was like, I don't wanna pay the whole thing cash. And then the guy goes and he's like, takes my, you know, takes my driver's license and everything and he comes back and he's like, you don't have any credit. And I remember thinking like, what do you mean? It's like, do you have any credit cards? I'm like, no, never. I've never had a credit card. I had to pay cash for it because I had no credit. That's crazy. You mentioned, because like, I remember it wasn't until I got married that I financed anything like that. Everything I had was literally just like, I have money for this and this equates to this. Damn, you didn't get your first credit card till after you got married? Yeah. Holy shit. That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, it was debit card, but I never used it. Yeah, no. It's like, yeah. I literally, because my parents said that and I was already on the mission of, you know, find out for myself, right? I went on the opposite. Like, so I used to have like this leather. I was collecting them. Like how many, how many, I literally had like 30 credit cards, dude. It was crazy. And I was like, my, I turned it into a goal of like how much can I get the limit up by paying them off, running, running them up, paying them off, running them up, paying them off. So I just started to create this big ass, but I had fucking crazy. By the time I was 23 years old, I had an 800 and something FICO score. I'd never missed a payment. I think I had 30 different credit cards. Some of them were max limit at $30, $50,000. Like that stuff, like, and it was never told to me. I had loans to pay off. So I'm not like, you know, like that was a big deal. I didn't need like credit card to add on to that. So, but that's stuff that I wish someone would have communicated that to me as a kid. Economic. I totally wish all that. That's why, I think that's why I'm really trying to tackle this, you know, as early as possible is like at least just the education. Yep. Yep. Economic ignorance is one of the biggest problems with just in general. Just to empower you. Well, adults don't know, don't understand how economics work because we've never really been taught. And when you take econ in high school, it's shit. It is a terrible quality. You don't learn anything. General principles. Yeah, like you should be taught in school. You should be taught. It's definitely the parent's job, right? Because this is what I'm gonna do. Teach your kids how to navigate credit, how to understand how loans work, how investments work, how money works. Teach them economics so that they can understand this stuff because you learn that when you're young. You don't have to make these mistakes as you get older. You just understand it, you figure it out. And you start when you're young by the time you're in your mid-20s. You know, you're way ahead of the game. I mean, had I known what I know now, when I was 21 years old living at my parents' house, I had no bills. I know. Just had, you know, I was getting paid in 120 grand a year as a man. I would have been, I would have been retired right now. I bought everybody in my band's equipment. You know, I was like, I was really passionate about making it happen. Did you really? Yeah. You bought everybody's equipment? Yeah, I was making a lot of money as a bartender. Did they give it to you after you guys disbanded? Of course not, dude. They get to keep it? No, I mean, like, well, yeah, I didn't, I didn't like, like the tax man coming in and like grabbing everybody's shit, you know? At that point, I just let it go. Give me back my present. Yeah, I was doing it to like make the dream happen, you know? I was like, I didn't really look at it like, oh, well, you're gonna owe me this later, you know? But like, yeah, I mean, it would be cool if they would have, did I ever take money back? Did I ever tell you guys how I got fucked with the airline miles, the frequent flyer things? I never told you guys that? Oh, so this is during this time of like me having all this pride of having like credit cards and having good credit and everything like that. And I was making good money. And this is also during my very insecure days of feeling the need to pay for everything and do everything for all my friends, just to show them that I had money type of deal, right? And I decided, let's go to Vegas, man. And I had just got a credit card just recently that finally get miles. Like someone finally said something to me like, you have all this credit and all these credit cards for that. Why aren't you getting points? And you pay them like, you get me some good points. Yeah, right. So I got a Southwest credit card, right? So I, and so I decided that I'm gonna get, I built it up, right? So I'd been going up and down, paying it off till I had good credit with that. And I'd accumulated a bunch of miles. And the miles was, I can't remember what the exact number was, but it was a fuck ton of miles. It was like, you know, $500,000 miles or something ridiculous, something a lot. And so I was like, oh dude, I have enough miles, I'll buy everyone's flights to Las Vegas. And the way you do it on those type of credit cards is you pay for it on the, you use the credit card to buy the miles, then you call in and they just, they subtract however many miles you have from the total. That's how that works. So you gotta buy the, you gotta buy them first. You don't just get to call up and say, can you buy these things for me? Oh, I didn't know that, okay. Yeah, so that's how that works. So then, so I just go ahead and buy everyone's flights. Like seven dudes fucking round trips to Vegas. And everyone's fucking pumped. Yeah, Adam's got us, right? Type of deal. And I'm like, no big deal. I got this, you know, type of deal. Yeah, I got the points. Well, I find out later on that it's not mile to mile. Cause I did it like this. Like, oh, how far- You've got 500,000 miles, literally. Yeah, but 100,000 miles equals like, you know, like one way to Reno. You know what I'm saying? You're like, I could fly to the moon. Yes, dude, but it's a total scam. That's how they get you. And so I was somebody who got suckered like that where I ended, so I ended up having to pay for fucking seven people's round trips. I mean, it was a couple of thousand dollars that I thought I wasn't gonna have to pay for that I'd have miles that I ended up eating all that. And that was, and I don't think I ever told my friends. I think I was so embarrassed about what an asshole. So you just ate the fucking bill. That's like a money. So the way that we think this is a money lesson that I learned like, what an asshole I am doing something like that, that I just took on like a $2,500 credit card bill trying to be cool because I had the miles. Yeah, I've eaten a few things. Yeah, talking about like spending money that you shouldn't have spent, man, by fucking, and this isn't because I got divorced either, by the way, cause I could always look back and be like anything I spent was a waste. But the engagement ring, dude, I got my wife. That was a fucking idiotic move. Not because you shouldn't get a ring, but because I was managing gyms and never spent my money. I wanted to show, you know, like this is how cool. You went in big. Bro, 18 grand, how about an 18,000 dollar? Yeah, and I was 20, I was 21 years old. That's an impressive stone. Bro, I went to Tiffany's because everybody said that's where you're the best place to go. Yeah, of course. I walk in there. The brand of it. It's an embarrassing story from there. I walk in there and I'm looking at them. I'm like, oh, I like this one. And I tried to haggle with the guy working there. Nice. Yeah, and I'm like, I'll take it. This is how, this is my words, my exact words I said. I like this one. I'll take this for this price out the door. Out the door. Right now. Out the door. The guy looked at me like, what do you mean out the door? I'm like, no tax. This is the price. And he's like, yeah, we don't really do that here. He's like, we don't really run sales. He's like, I'm like, listen, I'll pay. What are you doing here? And I'm like, I'll pay cash right now. Cash right now, but you have to do this price. He's like, sir, you're making me uncomfortable. Out the door. And the guy looks at me and he must have been like, what's this fucking kid? Cause I'm a 21 year old, you know, baby face kid. And he's like, yeah, no, that's what we don't, we don't do anything. So I said, listen. All right. I'll call some friends. They're going to come down. They're going to buy something else. Yeah. Like, what are we looking at? No, I'm all, I'm all you got to take it or leave it. He's like, I'm sorry, man. I can't do anything. So I said, all right. I'm going to walk out and I was like, walking slow, expecting him to be, I was expecting him to be like, okay, okay, sir. So I'm sorry, sir. We'll take your money. You're like doing a little look back like, yeah. Yeah. I took my time. Anything, anything. I took my time. Walked all the way out the fucking front door. I turned the corner and I'm sitting there with my arms crossed and I'm like, mother fucker. He's not budging. I'm like, that's the ring I want. I'm like, I got to go back in there. So I went back in there. Oh, you still bought it? I went back in there. I went back in there. That is embarrassing. Cause I wanted it. That's the way I went. So I'm like, all right, dude. All right, you son of a bitch. Spent so much money on a fucking Vrock. Wow. God damn it. Damn, I didn't know you said that much. That's a lot for a kid. Well, I had a lot of money. It's a lot now, dude. This is a lot now. I had a lot of money. I worked. I didn't spend a lot of money. And I, I don't know, I think it was a statement. I'm pretty sure my ego stepped in for a second. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm pretty sure my ego was like, get the fucking one. Everybody. Yeah. Girls are going to talk about this one. Yeah. What a champion you are. Yeah. Bling blingo. I would have, it would have been just as cool. I could have spent like three grand and should everybody would have been happy. Yeah. Yeah. I could have taken the rest of the money and put it in a separate account for when I got divorced. Right. You know what I mean? Save that one. Same with the wedding. Yeah. That whole thing is a big hustle. Oh yeah. Anyway, if you go to mind pump free.com, we have guides that are free. That's why it's mind pump free.com. We have guides on working different body parts. We have guides on flattening your midsection. We have guides on high intensity interval training. All kinds of guides. All, get them all. Or get one of them. It doesn't matter. It's free. Mind pump free.com. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes Maps Anabolic, Maps Performance, and Maps Aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Superbundle is like having Sal Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is Mind Pump.