Marie Forleo: Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be
if you want a business and life you love.
And today we are gonna be interviewing an amazing author, multiple New York Times bestselling
author Brendon Burchard.
And he’s got a new book out called The Charge: Activating the 10 Human Drives that Make
You Feel Alive.
This is an amazing book.
It’s really a cure for many of us if we feel restless and stressed out and really
just like we don't have the energy and the drive for life.
The enthusiasm for life that we know we could have.
So let’s talk to the author and let’s learn a few things about how we can activate
our natural human drives.
Hey everybody, it is Marie Forleo.
And you just saw me dancing with his book, and I’m gonna show it to you again.
This is called The Charge, and I am so honored today to have the incredible author Brendon
Burchard.
Thank you so much for being with us on MarieTV.
Brendon Burchard: Hey Marie, I’m excited to be here.
Thanks for having me, love all your stuff.
Marie Forleo: Love all your stuff.
So we’ve been on a little bit of a crash course for a while.
I have so many people in my audience that just adore your work, they adore The Millionaire
Messenger and I’m recommending that book all the time.
But today we’re gonna talk about your new book, which is called The Charge.
And I know it’s your 4th book.
So many people in the audience, this is a little bit of an aside, you know, have dreams
of writing just their first book and you’re on your fourth.
Does it feel... is that a little surreal?
Or...
Brendon Burchard: It is, it is.
Well, it’s happened over the last 4 books in 8 years.
So it’s been a period of time in which it’s happened.
But the last 2 were the ones that really took off.
Both of those happened so fast.
I mean, 2 New York Times best sellers in the last 2 years.
And so, super fast, super surprising.
But, I tell you, fun.
I love it.
It’s, as we’ll talk about today, it’s an act of creative expression, which is what
really drives us anyway.
Marie Forleo: Yeah.
And, you know, one of the things I wanna mention right what you said there is so key.
You wrote two books, but the second two were the ones that took off.
Brendon Burchard: Yeah.
Marie Forleo: And, I think for many people whether they’re starting a business or,
gain, they’re writing a book, if they do something their first time out of the gate
if it’s not a blockbuster sometimes they can get down on themselves rather than looking
at the long term or the long term gain.
Or, “Hey, this is just the beginning of my journey.”
Brendon Burchard: Right.
Marie Forleo: Did you experience any of that disappointment with your first book?
Brendon Burchard: No, you know, because I always...
the journey to quote unquote success, you know, it’s different from what most people
think it is.
Because especially when they change genres or industries or jobs, they expect to start
at the same level they were at.
So, right, you... let’s say for me, I was a consultant before I started doing all of
this.
In corporate America I built change management and leadership programs.
Well, I spent 7 years doing that and I achieved this level of success.
And then when I came into the writing and the speaking and the teaching world, I want
to start there.
But I knew...
I said no, no, no, actually I’m gonna have to start here again.
But here’s the difference, is that first time it might take 7 to 10 years to build
something significant and kick some butt.
The second time when you start to do something, that learning curve and that growth curve
is gonna be shorter because all the knowledge, skills, and you developed over here, they’re
going to come over here.
So the key is that we always have to remind ourselves, “Hey, you know what?
Let’s take a little edge off.
Maybe it took 7 to 10 years here.
Now this one?
It might take 2, 3, 4, 5, but it’ll be faster because I have all that experience and that
knowledge and that passion now, and I’m just more worldly.”
So it will happen, but we have to give ourselves time to climb the second mountain.
You know?
You climb that first mountain if you're gonna go climb something new you gotta realize you’ve
gotta come down the first one and build yourself up.
So I’ve been, you know, all my life I’ve been a person, hopefully, who is present.
And if you have a lot of presence, you’re also willing to be pretty patient.
You know?
Marie Forleo: I heard your little iPhone I was like, “Ooh!
Is that my iPhone or your iPhone?”
Brendon Burchard: Sorry about that.
Marie Forleo: No, don’t worry.
Please, don't worry.
My iPhone’s always going off.
And I see, I don't know if you see my face frozen like it was before.
Brendon Burchard: It just did.
Marie Forleo: It just did?
Brendon Burchard: Yeah.
Marie Forleo: Ok, well we’ll let me freeze and I’m sure if we have the audio, which
I can hear the audio on my end, we’re just gonna keep rocking and rolling.
Brendon Burchard: Ok.
Marie Forleo: So I love what you shared about the whole mountain idea and, you know, taking
your skills and your abilities and your experiences for one arena and knowing that they are gonna
transfer over and just that idea of having patience.
And I think also being in it for the long term.
I think one of the things that some people can get caught up and one of the things that
may actually have people feel less charged in their life, which, you know, we’ll get
into the charge in a moment, but is those unrealistic expectations.
Right?
Of instant success or overnight fame or all of that stuff.
Where you have to really have that vision of, you know, why are you doing this in the
first place?
And one of the things I admire so much about you, Brendon, is it’s so clear how devoted
you are to serving.
Brendon Burchard: Thank you.
Marie Forleo: And making a difference.
And you can feel that in every video that I’ve ever watched from you and the words
that you put on the page.
And I think that for all of us, it’s really important to remember whether we’re writing
a book or starting a business or going on any journey in our life creating a great relationship
that we love, we gotta look at the long term and what do you really want out of this.
You know?
Why are you really doing this?
Brendon Burchard: Yeah, it’s key, and I think a lot of...
I mean, everyone’s watching this or listening to this knows for sure that, you know, they’ve
got passions and they’ve got dreams.
And I always say it’s fine to be unrealistic in your expectations for things as long as
you’re also giving yourself time to complete them.
You know?
It’s like no one would ever think that you and I could be doing what we’re doing right
now.
But we had... we did have a set of that, an unrealistic desire, a hunger, and a passion
and a drive in us.
I mean, ambition is always unrealistic.
Marie Forleo: Yes.
Brendon Burchard: Because ambition requires us to look beyond where we’re at today.
And ambition should be unrealistic, it should allow us to stretch and grow and challenge
ourselves.
The difference is, are you willing to love yourself along that process?
Are you willing to give yourself a break when you fall?
Are you willing yourself...
willing to know that there’s a reason that you're doing all of this insanity and keep
reminding yourself of those things?
And are you willing to, along the way, not get frustrated, but keep your mental, you
know, sort of...
I call it your conscious dashboard clean and clear and directed?
And if you can do that, then the journey is gonna be fantastic.
Marie Forleo: I love that.
I love that!
I love what you shared and, you know, the unrealistic ambition, I’ve found that to
be true always.
Some of my biggest dreams, they even sometimes scare myself.
But that’s what makes it exciting to go after.
Brendon Burchard: That’s right.
The drive for challenge, right?
And without that, what are we doing every day?
We’re waking up and we’re browsing on the internet.
You know?
It’s like you become very undirected if you don't have ambitious drives.
If you don't have the things that are not only...
it’s like most people, they feel like they have to sometimes push themselves out of bed.
And they have to push each day.
And it’s a struggle, because they don't have anything that’s pulling them.
And when you have that bigger desire, that bigger dream, that bigger challenge, and if
that thing is compelling to you and you love it, it’s going to pull you forward.
And so it’s important to get connected to that and excited about that and that thing
will always seem unrealistic.
It was unrealistic for us to go to the moon, but Kennedy said it anyway.
But it did take to the end of the decade to do it.
So, he understood that.
And I think we all have to give ourselves a little bit of breathing room right now because
a lot of people are being so hard on themselves right now because of the economy and where
they might be at in their business or where they’re starting.
And if you’re down on yourself, you’re never gonna be able to pick your business
up.
Marie Forleo: Love that, that could be a tweetable.
We might have that be a tweetable.
So what motivated you to write The Charge?
Again, which is an amazing book and everyone watching this right now, you guys need to
get it.
We’ll tell you where to do that below.
But what motivated you to write this particular book?
Brendon Burchard: You know, the journey began for me 16 years ago.
So, a lot of people see it as a short term thing with my books, but it began 16 years
ago as I was in a pretty dramatic car accident.
And it taught me, you know, that at the end of our life we’re going to ask 3 basic questions.
And those questions are going to be: Did I live?
As in did I live my life vibrantly and fully?
We’ll ask did I love?
Did I love openly and honestly and completely?
And did I matter?
Did I make a difference?
And I knew those were the questions that we’re gonna ask at the end, so I wanna live my life
so that I was really living and loving and mattering.
But, like anyone else, I just get blocked some days.
It’s like, no I didn't really live my life today.
I kind of, you know, bowed out.
You know?
Or, I didn't really love today because I was scared because I got hurt one time.
Or I didn't make a difference because I don't know what I’m supposed to be doing with
my life.
And so I started getting really serious in the areas of psychology, neuroscience, and
high performance studies.
And so it’s been 16 years reading a book a week in one of those areas.
So I did a lot of research.
All of it’s just been fascinating, like what is it that drives us?
And then last year, I lost my own charge.
Last year I was in another accident, apparently I shouldn't leave the country because both
of them happened...
I think Denise, my wife, is gonna pull away my passport at some point.
But, you know, I left the country, I was in an ATV accident, and I got a brain injury.
And it really rattled my life.
I got...
I had... long story short, I had post concussive syndrome where I was having a lot of trouble...
because damage to my prefrontal left cortex, my cerebellum, my hippocampus.
I was having a lot of trouble with executive control and seeing what I was supposed to
be doing.
I was having a lot of trouble with my attention span and connecting with other people.
My memory was down, my ability to make judgments was down, and it took about 8 months to really
overcome that concussion.
And in that process, I had to learn...
like, I felt so bad, I had to figure out how do I activate things that will make me feel
alive?
And I think a lot of people can relate, because there’s always something in our lives that
feel like, for me it was an injury.
For other people it’s the status of their life or the state of their business, and they
get really trapped down.
And at some point we have to say, “Ok, this is an external reality.
Maybe I can't fully control it.
But what is it that I could find in my life or create, more important, what can I generate
in my life that would make me feel alive despite all this?”
And what’s fascinating about this, Marie, I think as you read in the book is that if
you... in my situation, if you injure your brain they tell you to use your mind to fix
it.
Marie Forleo: Interesting.
Brendon Burchard: Yeah, the neuroscientist says, “Oh wow, your prefrontal cortex is
firing really low.
That’s why you can’t really see the future, you’re not being able to have a good attention
span, make good decisions, and connect with other people.
So, that part of the brain?
We know how to activate that.
So, think of these types of things, challenge your mind in these types of ways, do these
types of experiences that will light that part up.
Because as we light it up and it fires up, the neurons reconnect or they strengthen,
and it’s like rehab for your brain, but you use your mind and your life experiences
to do that.”
And I had so much fun rebuilding my brain, literally, that I thought, “Everyone needs
to know about this.”
These 10 human drives, if we activate them, and we’re strategic about it and we’re
consistent about it, we can feel more alive than we’ve ever felt.
And that’s not just, you know, self help hype.
That’s brain science.
We can actually see those parts of your brain coming back to life again.
We can release the parts of the hormones in your body, like dopamine, vasopressin, oxytocin,
in a way that you feel alive and alert and engaged and connected with other people at
levels most people never experience.
But all of that, we can self generate by the way we use our mind and live our experiences.
Marie Forleo: And that’s one of the things that I love about the book, is your focus...
and I know you, just as a person, love to focus on neuroscience and the research and
you read so much.
And that’s why I think this book is so important.
And one of the things I love about it too is how actionable you make all of the drives.
You know, at the end of each chapter it’s like there are simple questions that, you
know, you kind of prompt us to answer.
And I’m like, “God I love these.”
Because it’s making my brain think in new ways.
And they’re simple actions to take.
So out of the 10 drives, we know that there’s 5 baseline drives and then 5 forward moving
drives.
I’m curious just to know from you personally, is there one drive that you either find the
most...
I don't wanna say challenging in a bad way, but one that you find that you have to bring
more attention or consciousness to?
Or one that just you find challenges you the most?
Brendon Burchard: Yeah, that’s such a good one.
For me, at this point in my life, it’s funny because I think they change.
And, oh hi you’re back.
Marie Forleo: Yay!
Brendon Burchard: So to give context, can I give context to these real quick?
Marie Forleo: Yeah, oh of course.
Brendon Burchard: ...are for your viewers.
So the baseline human drives are the drives in our lives that... really they’re the
baseline.
They’re the ones that we have to hit to feel fully driven and alive.
And these are the ones that are usually based around self knowledge and social belonging.
So they’re things like our ability and our drive to have control in our life, and competence
and congruence in who we are.
But then there are also the drives for us to connect with other people.
So our drive for caring and connection.
And those really make us know ourselves and connect with other people.
And then the forward drives where all the bang for the buck is, which is... will frame
my answer, is... the forward drives are the ones that really, they’re the great amplification.
They’re the home runs in terms of making us feel more fully alive and expressed.
So these are the drives that are really about self actualization and social contribution.
Instead of social belonging, now it’s about contributing.
And so the forward drives are things like change and challenge and our drive for creative
expression and contributions and our higher drives for consciousness and reaching another
state of living and being.
And so for me, right now, the one that I’m working on and every, you know, every one
of these chapters breaks down, as you said, these drives.
It says here’s 3 things you can do.
For me that’s on creative expression.
Right now.
Because I think that today the better that we are at creatively expressing ourselves,
we just feel more fully alive because that’s our unique voice being shared in the world.
And most people, I realized this even when I was writing the book Marie, that there’s
parts of my life that I’m not fully creatively expressed in.
Like you walk into my office and it’s like, well.
It’s like who designed this office?
Is this really Brendon’s office?
Marie Forleo: Right.
Brendon Burchard: I’ve been in a lot of people’s houses where you look around the
house and there’s no fingerprints of them around the house.
You know?
It’s not, you know, it doesn't scream their space.
Marie Forleo: Yeah.
Brendon Burchard: And so for me right now, I’m creating spaces both in my real life
and spaces online that really I think represent me more fully.
And it’s in that challenge, challenge is one of the other drives, the challenge of
more creatively expressing ourselves.
For some people, creative expression is really just teaching them to use their voice again.
You know?
To share with the world what...
I mean, what are your ambitions and your dreams and your hopes and your desires?
What is it you’re trying to do?
Are you sharing that enough with people?
And if you’re not expressing that, then the world can’t hear that call.
Marie Forleo: Right.
Brendon Burchard: And so, for some people creative expression isn’t just how you decorate
your house or what you wear today.
It’s how consistent are you in truly expressing who you are and your desires to the world?
And the more that you are able to do that, the more you do feel more engaged with the
world, and certainly the more the world engages with you.
Marie Forleo: I love it.
You know, one of the things that we’ve been doing, and I know I’m probably frozen right
now.
And that’s really ok, as long as you guys can hear me.
Y’all see me every week, so you don't need to see my mug moving all the time.
One of the things we’ve been doing at my house and with my friends is like last night
we had a dinner party and we had some friends over.
And I always try and come up with a fun question, you know, and asking them, you know, what
are they creating?
Or what do they feel is holding them back?
Or, you know, what’s... we talked about what’s the one thing you’re so embarrassed
about that you wouldn't want anyone else to know?
And it’s such... it’s things like that where you find people rather than just, you
know, talking about Hollywood gossip or, you know, the latest movies.
You start to really dig deep inside and connect more and become more vulnerable and create
deeper relationships.
So I love hearing that for you, I think creative expression, it’s one of the things that
I’m doing in my life as well.
We’re looking around where I live both out here in Sag Harbor, which is where I’m semi
recording this from, because again you’re seeing me with a silly look on my face, which
is totally fine.
And then in New York where we’re remodeling and renovating and doing some things so our
space feels more creative.
And it allows for more creation to happen.
Building a studio, building all kinds of things like that.
So I love hearing that from you.
Brendon Burchard: Yeah, people, you know, I think out of all the funny thing about all
the forward drives, this would be the one that people don't give enough weight to.
Because they’re like, “Oh no.”
Because the other drives are so compelling.
Right?
The drive for change and the book teaches people, well if you’re not changing it’s
because of these 3 reasons.
If you are scared of change it’s because of these 3 reasons.
And it talks about challenge and this big drive to go out and connect to our ambitions
and challenge ourselves every single day to be bolder and be the best of who we are, but
also set real strong intentions for where we’re going.
The drive for contribution, of giving.
And the drive for consciousness, of better mastering our own mind and our being.
To reach our highest levels of self.
All of those things are really compelling.
Creative expression, people are like, “Ugh.”
But here’s what I tell people, right now in this economy creative expression is currency.
Marie Forleo: Yes.
Brendon Burchard: That’s like... the people who are poopooing at it like, “Oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah this is [inaudible].”
I’m like, “No, no, no.
Today creative expression is the economy.
It’s the generation of content.
It’s the generating of unique ideas that is driving the economy.”
And, you know, you read Richard Florida’s work, a great book called The Creative Class.
Or Dan Pink’s book called A Whole New Mind.
And both of those detail this turn that we’ve had in the economy by facts that illustrate
indeed we’ve come to a time and place in which the right brain and activating the right
brain will be the secret and the differentiator in all of the working world.
And so, some people say, “Well, yeah, yeah.”
And as you can see in the book, there’s some people who I’m coaching in the book
who really needed to reactivate the right brain again to feel more alive and more expressed
and more successful.
So that chapter is a critical turning point I think for a lot of people in the book.
Marie Forleo: Yeah.
It’s huge.
And I love... just to tag off of what you just said there, you know, Seth Godin has
an amazing book called Linchpin.
And one of my favorite quotes from that book is about how now more than ever, what he calls
artists, are being paid more than in any time in history.
And that word artist, he uses it in such a context where people bring that level of creativity
to their work.
And, you know, something you and I were talking about just before we started recording, we
were having fun.
Is just how much enjoyment for me I’m particularly getting out of bringing a sense of design
to the world of personal development and business advice.
And how we can use our creativity and really channel it through our businesses.
I think it’s so exciting and it can be such a differentiating point that really sets you
apart.
And sets you apart not in a way that puts anyone else down, but really just creates
this beautiful mecca of kind of what you were talking about, your own fingerprint.
You know?
That’s really...
Brendon Burchard: Yeah!
If your work is miserable, then creative expression is not there.
Marie Forleo: Yes.
Brendon Burchard: It’s one of the easiest ones when I coach people.
I’m like... and they share with me, you know, “I’m unhappy here.”
It’s like boom, I know we put creative expression back in there and they’re more fully engaged.
We just have to teach them about how to manage projects even differently in their lives so
that they can be in quote unquote more creative control.
Or, you know, beginning just the act of seeing a project from beginning to end is a needle
mover for most people.
Marie Forleo: Can I tell you, I’m gonna interrupt you for a second, when I read that
in your book I realized the people on my team, like some of the folks... because my team
has grown dramatically over the past year.
And it’s been amazing.
And I realized, one of the differentiating points and you highlighted in the book was
seeing a project from beginning, middle, to end.
And I saw two different projects, one where a key creative person on my team had to come
in in the middle and she was less satisfied.
She was frustrated not at me or at us as a company, but I couldn't articulate it and
she couldn't fully articulate it.
But then when she came in on a project where it’s like right from the beginning we all
brainstormed, you know what I mean, and she saw it through to completion.
And when I read that chapter in your book I was like, “OMG.
This is huge.
It was so awesome.”
Brendon Burchard: It’s huge.
You know what’s funny?
That’s the number one part about the book that companies have been asking me to come
and speak to them about.
That one... it’s like, what, 2 pages?
2, 3 pages?
But it’s just a game change in how we think about it, because we all got trapped in it
thinking, “Oh, you know, having all these teams and these outsourced teams and, you
know, having me master one skill and hand it off to everybody else, that’s the most
efficient way to work.”
It is, and it’s the less fulfilling.
Marie Forleo: Yes.
Brendon Burchard: And so it’s like we’ve gotta, you know, part of the reasons when
I work with a major team to help them kind of figure out what’s going on with them.
I’ll say, “Hey look, I see you and sense here that no one is really satisfied with
this because they haven't had their hands on it.”
I mean, no artist wants to come in when the painting is half done.
Marie Forleo: Yes.
Brendon Burchard: You know?
And so we’ve gotta teach each other to give our own paintings and finish our projects.
And, you know, I know you and I are both right now talking to a lot of entrepreneurs.
And I can tell you entrepreneurs, one of the reasons you’re not absolutely satisfied
with your business and where it is at a success level, a huge part of that comes from your
not completing the projects you know you need to complete.
Marie Forleo: Amen.
Brendon Burchard: You got, you know, you got a bunch of low hanging fruit.
These projects that could be completed if you just sat down and gave it another day,
another two days, and you worked it and you blocked off time and you protected your time
and you just did that.
You’d crush it.
But right now, what people do is they’ve got 5 or 6 or 7 open projects that are never
going to be complete or be close to being complete.
And that creates misery in our lives because there’s a part of us, the human drive for
control, and the human drive for congruence.
Those two combining in a way says, hey this is something that’s on your plate.
It’s not done.
You said you were gonna do it.
Why not?
And we have this internal conflict now that makes us miserable in our business.
And so I tell people all the time, one of the reasons to master productivity is not
just so that you get stuff done.
It’s so you actually get the benefit of feeling fulfilled and satisfied again.
Marie Forleo: Yes, and so let me ask you this because you’re amazing at getting things
done and you crank out so much incredible work that changes so many millions of lives.
Let me just ask you a little bit in the inside of Brendon, is your work style to go, you
know, block out a bunch of time and just go hard and get it done?
Versus chipping away at something over a long period of time?
Do you get those...
Brendon Burchard: Depends on the project.
The more important the project, the bigger the project, the more I’ll block time for
that.
Marie Forleo: Cool.
Brendon Burchard: That’s definitely a big piece of it.
But the chipping, if I am chipping, chipping happens for me in months.
So, meaning if I’m chipping away at something, it will be done in 30 days.
There’s no question.
A lot of people have been chipping...
Marie Forleo: For years!
Brendon Burchard: Or to, “I’m chipping away at that book.”
I go, “You’re never gonna write the book.”
Marie Forleo: Right.
Brendon Burchard: Because there’s just certain things you... block time is the most important
thing we teach at High Performance Academy.
This idea of when and where to block segments of time to get things done.
And it sounds so basic, but I...
I can stroll into anyone’s life and look at how it’s organized and if there’s no
block time for creative expression or creating the things that drives commerce for them.
Whether products or programs or new services, that’s why they’re not advancing as much.
They’re just not blocking the time they’re getting stuck in, you know, I call it browser
blackout.
They open the browser and 4 hours later they’re like... they’ve had a roofie or something.
They’re looking around, “What happened to me?”
Marie Forleo: I always...
something we talk about in B-School if it’s not scheduled it’s not real.
It’s like something we drive in where it’s like dude, if you’re gonna talk about it
it needs time in your calendar.
It needs a chunk of time, it needs to be respected, and just like little mantras like that.
Just knowing if it’s not scheduled it’s not real, it can really change someone’s
game.
One of the things that I remember from my days dancing and doing a lot with Nike, is
I had discovered how I liked to work best.
And we used to have 3 or 4 days where we would create choreography that we would train the
choreography, meaning we would teach it to ourselves, we’d teach it to others, and
then we would record it and create these training DVDs that would then go out to hundreds of
Nike athletes around the world.
And what I loved about that time was just I loved waking up early, you know, and digging
in and knowing that with 4 to 5, you know, sometimes 6 days, we would knock it all out.
And there was such that level of satisfaction where yes was I exhausted, my body was tired,
yes I was sore.
But the deep level of satisfaction knowing we created something excellent, we shipped
it so it’s out the door, and then there was like a little, you know, level of rest.
A couple days of just chilling out before we go into that next kind of high intensity
mode.
It’s one of the ways I like to work.
Yeah.
Brendon Burchard: Yeah, yeah it’s a huge part... and, I mean, it’s another thing
and we’re trying to give a lot of tips here in this thing here.
And for entrepreneurs it’s to realize that if someone’s in a place where they’re
not succeeding at the level they really want, it rarely has to do is are they smart or are
they competent, are the capable?
It rarely has to do with are there resources around for them to leverage or could they
network better?
It isn’t about... it comes down to distraction.
And because their energies are distracted in so many different ways and aren't being
complete, and in so many useless things, that they end up losing literally millions of dollars.
We did this study at High Performance Academy where we found out the average American watches
4 hours of television a day.
Ok? 4 hours of television a day.
Well, over the adult lifespan that ends up being 13 years.
Marie Forleo: Ooh!
Brendon Burchard: In front of the TV.
Marie Forleo: Ooh!
Brendon Burchard: Nonstop, 24/7, 24/7.
Nonstop for over a decade of your life.
Marie Forleo: Oh my god.
Brendon Burchard: Ok, if that is horrifying, check this out.
You take that same amount of time and say a person’s worth, you know, a person’s
salary could be $20 an hour.
And you pull that through their lifespan as well, with those 13 years.
That was a million dollars in lost salary.
A million.
If you invested that like a tiny percent, just 3.5%, that ends up being over 2 million
dollars of lost opportunity, 4 hours in front of the TV.
But here’s the deal, and everyone goes, “I don't watch 4 hours of television a day.”
It’s like, “Yeah, but I bet you’re distracted 4 hours a day.”
Marie Forleo: Yes.
Brendon Burchard: Unless you’re managing your life really well.
And so a lot of people, that distraction of 4 hours a day, whether it’s distraction
because of browser blackout or they get...
they don't know how to use their inbox or, you know, [inaudible] they don't know how
to use their inbox.
Because the inbox is a tool to be used.
It’s my favorite saying out of all my stuff is... in High Performance Academy, which is...
and in the book, The Courage, too we said this too is, you know, the inbox is nothing
but a convenient organizing system for other people’s agendas.
Marie Forleo: Yes.
Ooh I love that line!
Brendon Burchard: Oh when you get that and you just...
like, my inbox?
I totally know my inbox is other people’s stuff.
So I manage my day, but by the time I hit my inbox, I know exactly who I need to reach
out to.
I know exactly who I’m weighing a decision for.
And if... so when I open up, I look, have I heard from these people?
Nope.
Send an email to them.
Reach out to these people, boom.
Send it out to these people.
Close.
I’m done with the inbox until it’s time to come back into it later on in the day.
And the rest of the day?
Block time.
Creating things.
And that’s how, you know, we’ve just...
I mean, we’ve...
very humbling statement from someone in our industry recently said that we’ve created...
that my brand, we’ve created more content and more training programs with more hours
of training in the last 5 years than almost anyone in the industry in their entire career.
Marie Forleo: Ooh!
Brendon Burchard: And I would put that up against anyone.
I’d be like, “Yeah, 4 books in that amount of time.
But more importantly, you know, we’ve got 5 brands that do a million dollar plus.
Built those in 5 years.
There’s not many... and different genres.”
There’s not a lot of people who could do that, and I don't do it to brag, I do it to
go... the only reason I’ve been able to do that is by removing distraction and getting
more strategic about the day.
Marie Forleo: Yep, which I love.
I absolutely love.
And in fact that brings us perfectly to one of my other favorite parts of the book, which
is on page 226.
A little curiosity.
That’s why you have to go get the book, so you can know 226.
It’s the chapter about the drive for consciousness.
And you talk about a really powerful question that we can all ask ourselves, which is, where
shall I focus my thoughts right now?
And I love the distinction there, you said how it’s way more powerful than asking yourself
what am I currently focusing on and thinking about?
And I wanted you to talk maybe a little bit about the distinction between self awareness
and self direction.
Because I feel like this book, The Charge, is really about giving us the tools to be
self directed and to take control of our lives.
Brendon Burchard: Yeah, well I’m glad you picked up on that.
Because that’s obviously that’s a huge theme of being...
part of the reason people don't feel fully charged and alive and fulfilled in their life
is because they’ve... in so many ways they’ve checked out.
And they’re letting life happen to them and they are not directing it anymore.
And when we’re not in direction of our life, we do feel a sense of misery over a period
of time.
You can't avoid it.
And so, what will really charge it self direction.
The difference here is, you know, what happened is, especially in our personal development
industry.
We started taking a lot from psychology and... which is great.
And I study psychology, as you know, like crazy.
And I’m very passionate about that work.
If I wasn’t doing what I was doing, I’d be a therapist.
And yet therapy is a very different thing than what we have to advise people to advance
their life in our genre.
So the difference is, in therapy one of the main question is, you know, the therapist
will say, “What I want you to do is I want you to focus on what is it... what thoughts
are coming into your mind throughout the day and being very attentive to what those thoughts
are and where they’re coming from and why they’re coming from this place and whether
or not those are supporting you or not.”
And that’s really great self awareness.
But a lot of people in our culture right now are... they’re stuck at self awareness.
Like, they’re fully aware of the crap that’s...
I hate when people say, “Oh Brendon, everyone’s zombies and they’re checked out and they’re
unconscious.”
No, no.
People, if you would talk to them, they’re very conscious of what their problems are.
What their challenges are.
Where their frustrations are.
People are very conscious of what’s going on in their lives and they’re not happy
about it.
They’re self aware.
But they’re stuck there.
And so I say, “Look, there’s a better quality of question.”
Which is instead of, well what am I feeling?
Which is almost at a... it’s almost at a victim level question.
Therapists will hate that I just said that, but it kinda is.
Like, well what am I feeling, because naturally these feelings are just boiling up.
Or what am I thinking because these thoughts are just hitting me on the head and that’s
how I feel.
And I go, no, no, no.
Look, here’s a better more empowering question.
What shall I be thinking right now?
What shall I be focused on?
What shall I be feeling?
If I was backstage and I focused on what I was feeling at my events, then that would
never serve the audience.
Because half the time at my events, I mean, I’ve been speaking for 4 days standing up
for 12 hours a day.
Haven’t had any breaks.
I...
my physical body might be saying, “Man, I’m really feeling it.
I’m tired.”
But I have to say, “No, what should I be feeling right now in order to serve?”
Marie Forleo: Yup.
Brendon Burchard: If you're gonna go in and talk to your kid about math, you can't be
like, “Oh, what am I feeling right now?”
We have to be more directive and say, you know what, “What do I need to feel?
What shall I feel right now?
What shall I be thinking about so that in this situation, I can serve my child?”
And this is a quality of life that says... it comes from this metaphor, my favorite thing
to tell people about their energy and their mind.
And that is, the power plant doesn't have energy.
It generates energy.
And in our own lives, we don't have energy.
It doesn't just sit... we generate it.
And as soon as we go from that, “Oh I’m supposed to have it, but I don't.”
To, “I generate it?”
That’s the moment when you know people’s lives change forever.
Because it’s like, “Oh I don't have happiness.
I’m not happy.”
No, you don't have happiness, you generate it.”
Marie Forleo: Love it.
Brendon Burchard: You don't have confidence, you generate confidence.
And when you know that, suddenly everything shifts and I think it’s really important
for people.
So we tell them in the... and that was what was actually going on by the way on my phone
when we started.
I have this buzzer that goes off on my phone every 3 hours it says, “What shall I be
focusing on right now?”
And a lot of time I’ll be doing that and be like, “Oh my gosh, I just spent 20 minutes
focusing on something that’s totally irrelevant.
Knock that off, that’s distraction.
Focus again.
Choose where my focus goes.”
And that’s how I’ve been able to grow so fast.
Marie Forleo: I love it.
So, Brendon, first of all you’ve shared so much today, I just wanna... first of all,
I feel so inspired.
I always feel inspired whenever I read your stuff or, you know, I get an email or I look
at a video.
But this has been incredible.
And one of the things that we love to do on MarieTV is we love to challenge our readers.
Right?
Because we want everyone to take action.
So I think a really cool way to wrap up this incredible interview, why don't we challenge
everyone in the audience, everyone who’s listening and watching right now, to take
on this challenge.
What do we say?
What do you think about 7 days, do you think the 7 day timeframe is enough to see some
awareness and shifts?
Brendon Burchard: Totally.
Yeah, I mean I think people... and if they integrate what we’ve talked here, they can
have the shift.
I mean, people have a shift it’s not about the number of days, it’s about how intense
they get into the feeling and the emotion.
Marie Forleo: Absolutely, ok.
So let’s... we’ll give them some specifics just so they can have a container.
So we’re gonna challenge you guys for the next 7 days to set an alarm on your phone
with every 3 hours with a note that pops up, “Where shall I focus my thoughts right now?”
And just ave, just take a look at how that dramatically shifts your life.
I’m actually gonna do it the moment we get off the phone, and I’m so excited.
Brendon Burchard: You’re gonna be so surprised.
You’re gonna be like, “Oh my God, why do I have a bag of potato chips?”
You’ll be totally surprised where your mind goes if you just let it go there without directing
it to, you know, important and meaningful ends in your life.
Marie Forleo: Awesome.
Awesome.
I love this.
So I know below this video we’re gonna put some links.
So Brendon is amazing, obviously if you Google him you’ll find him all over the place.
But we’ll tell you exactly where you can get the book and other cool things.
Brendon is one of the best most generous people I’ve ever met in the world at giving away
incredible free training.
Obviously he has incredible paid trainings, all of which I highly, highly recommend.
He’s just fantastic.
Brendon is there anything that you wanna share before we officially wrap up?
Brendon Burchard: Yeah, I’ll isue one more challenge they can engage in and share beneath
the video as well that I like to do with this book specifically.
That our drive for challenge is so important in our lives and a lot of folks, right now
they don't have a significant challenge out there.
They’re setting...
they might have daily...
like, daily goals.
And those are important.
But goals are like a stepping ladder towards a bigger challenge.
And so I’d say, you know, if you want to relight your life right now, give yourself
a meaningful challenge that does stretch you.
It’s not a smart goal.
Smart goal being specific and measurable and attainable and realistic.
I think those have done more harm than good for people.
You know what it’s taught?
You know what it’s done Marie?
It’s taught to play small.
It’s taught the world to be more realistic.
And I don't think that...
right now we need the dreamers and the activators and the people who are gonna challenge themselves
and push themselves so hard to contribute and make a difference.
It’s gonna inspire everybody.
And I say, you know, I have a big...
I go off in the book a little bit about smart goals.
Because it’s inspired an entire culture of spreadsheets and vision statements that
inspire no heart and no drive and no courage.
And so I challenge the people watching this, what is a significant challenge you’re going
to set for yourself that is a little bold, that is a little scary, this is an ambition
that’s meaningful to you?
Not just about, you know, well I’m... today I’m gonna do this.
But where are you going?
What’s a challenge that’s gonna drive you to do something inspiring?
Like, right now Marie is building MarieTV.
And it’s engaging.
It’s a hard challenge, she’s not sure exactly how to do it.
Right?
It’s like... it’s this creative amazing thing and she is so smart with all this, but
she knows she’s engaged by it because it’s a challenge.
It’s bigger and it’s meaningful to her and she knows she can make a major difference
with millions of people’s lives.
That’s a challenge.
So what’s your challenge?
Post that below and I hope you all interact with that.
Because just setting that... setting that challenge for yourself, again, will light
your life on fire.
Marie Forleo: I love it!
I love this so much and I know you guys can't see me because I’m frozen in a weird place.
But if you could see me, you know I would be dancing my little buns off because I absolutely
adore Brendon.
Everything you shared, everything that you shared today is just... it’s that gold and
that wisdom for life that I know people are gonna love.
And so, as always, the best stuff no matter where you’re seeing this episode, the best
things always happen after the episode at MarieForleo.com under the comments.
So make sure you tell us.
Tell us about your challenge, where you’re gonna stretch yourself, how you’re gonna
make an impact, and make it big.
Make it scary.
Make it so exciting that you wanna go after it and dig into it with our heart and soul
because you wanna make a difference in the world.
If you like this episode of MarieTV, like it and share it with your friends.
Brendon, thank you so much for being with us today and thank you everyone for watching
us.
And we’ll see you next time on MarieTV.
Bye everybody.
Brendon Burchard: Bye everybody.