Today Theo and Travis will be discussing the 11 questions from the popular Tim Ferris book “Tribe of Mentors”
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TRANSCRIPTION
Theo Hicks: Hello best ever listeners and welcome to the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever show. I’m Theo Hicks. We’re back for another edition of the Actively Passive Investing show with Travis Watts.
Travis, how are you doing today?
Travis Watts: Theo, doing great. Happy to be here, as always.
Theo Hicks: Yeah, thank you for joining me yet again. Today, if you’re watching on YouTube, as you can see the book to Travis’s right is Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss… So we’re going to go through the 11 questions that Tim Ferriss asks each of these mentors and we’re going to give our answers.
But first Travis, maybe kind of give an intro on what the book’s about, why you started reading it and then if you want to say a few things about mentorship in general as well, before we dive into providing our answers.
Travis Watts: Sure. Happy to. So first of all, Tim Ferriss left us out of the book. I don’t know why he did that. He should consider us as mentors. He didn’t. So we thought, hey, we’ve got to do this anyway… So it’s like a bonus chapter of the book kind of thing.
Theo Hicks: There you go.
Travis Watts: So for those not familiar with Tim Ferriss – a big blogger, podcaster, author, speaker, all kinds of things. But I thought this book was really relevant to our show, The Actively Passive Show, because we talk a lot about self-education, a lot about the power of mentors and coaching. That seems to be a recurring theme on nearly every episode that we record. So as I’m reading this book, the basis is that Tim Ferriss has a lot of different mentors that he learns from, so he reached out to all of them and said, “Look, I have these 11 questions. You don’t have to answer all of them if you don’t want to or you don’t have the time, but please try to answer at least a couple if you can.” And he sent this basically just this Word doc out and then his mentors replied.
So the benefit to the listener is that you get hundreds of different perspectives on the same 11 questions just about life and success…. And we’re going to go through these 11 with you sharing our perspectives on them. But I thought that was a really cool concept. It’s a quick way to learn a lot from a lot of different people and to have more of an unbiased opinion or thought process on something. So that’s kind of what the book is. It’s a book that you can really flip through, you don’t have to go page by page. We’ve talked about the speed reading and things like that – this is a great book for that.
So that’s what we’re doing, we’re taking his 11 questions to his mentors, Theo and I are going to answer those from our own perspectives. I just thought this would be kind of a fun episode to record.
Theo Hicks: Yeah.
Travis Watts: So it’s not based off a blog or anything that I wrote… That’s the backstory to it.
Theo Hicks: Perfect. Yeah, it reminds me – I used to do blog posts for the lightning round questions for each of the podcasts; that’s kind of a similar thing. We ask the same questions to every guest…
Travis Watts: Yeah.
Theo Hicks: …and then I would compile them into a blog post that people could see what people’s best ever books were, best ever deals, the best ever way to give back, things like that.
So I think me and Joe may have done an episode where we went over the lightning round questions, but I can’t remember… But I think this is going to be a lot more detail. And maybe we can steal some of these and add them to the lightning round.
Do you want me to start or do you want to go first?
Travis Watts: I’ll start by asking you the first question, and then I’ll answer the same question. We’ll just go through like that, I guess.
Theo Hicks: Sure.
Travis Watts: Alright. Cool. So the first question that Tim asked all of his mentors is, what is a book or books that you’ve given the most as a gift? And what are one or more books that have greatly influenced your life? So that’s kind of a loaded question there, but take it for what that’s worth.
Theo Hicks: Sure. So for all the answers when I was answering, I looked at it from the perspective of my job, working in real estate, so most of them are things that helped me become a better employee of the Best Ever brand, except for maybe these books because I don’t read many business books.
Travis Watts:: Yeah.
Theo Hicks: So the two that I picked, the first one would be — I’ve read a lot of Plato recently.
Travis Watts: Okay.
Theo Hicks: This is like the Five Dialogues. And there’s like 20 or so books, but kind of overall, what he does, he kind of goes around and just talks to different people who are supposed to be experts… And he essentially, in a nice way, exposes them for not knowing what they’re talking about. So by reading this, it’s helped me strive to be more humble and realize I don’t know as much as I actually think that I do. And the most popular one is probably the Apology. And so you can kind of get a distillation of his philosophy and everything like that. That’s what he goes the Oracle of Delphi, and they say, “Who’s the wisest person?” And they say, “Socrates,” and he’s like, “Oh, well I don’t know anything.” And he goes around and questions people that he thinks are wise, and you realize that they don’t know anything… And he realizes that wisdom is knowing what you know and realizing what you don’t know.
And the other book, which probably no one’s ever heard of before, but it’s called Ordinary Men… I’d probably say it relates to Man’s Search for Meaning where he’s talking about the Nazis. Basically, as the title implies, it talks about a group of ordinary dudes, kind of your average middle class; think of someone who works in a factory or something and they got pulled out of the factories to go to Poland, and they start off as normal dudes and by the end of it, they were evil, psychopathic killers. And it makes you realize that anyone is capable of really doing anything in certain circumstances. And so it helps you strive to not judge people for things you disagree with them, or if you see someone doing something that’s wrong, it helps you not to judge them because it helps you see yourself in them and realize like, “Hey, if I was the, I’d be doing the exact same thing.” So those are my two books, Travis.
Travis Watts: I love that. I would not have guessed either of those for your book choices. So that’s awesome. I appreciate it.
Theo Hicks: I should mention, I don’t read a lot of business books. So these are probably the two closest ones I could relate to.
Travis Watts: No, no, they sound cool. I’m going to have to check them out. So I took this question, again, kind of from a real estate perspective. Anyone that’s listened to my background stories and podcasts, the first book I ever read that opened my mind to investing in real estate was called Rich Dad Prophecy; not Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And honestly, it wasn’t the greatest book and I haven’t given that book away… I was just using that as a stepping stone to explain my choices. So that put me on the conveyor belt of the Rich Dad company. So I ended up reading all of them, literally.
So I’d say the two that stood out the most were Cashflow Quadrant, which Theo and I made an episode on here recently. So if you haven’t seen that, go check it out. It’s the four quadrants of how we can all earn income, what the tax consequences are to that, how real estate investing fits into the quadrant… That was huge for me.
The one I’ve given out actually the most to other people has been Tax-Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright; again, a Rich Dad advisor, so kind of the same ecosystem there, and I think we also did an episode on that.
Theo Hicks: Yeah.
Travis Watts: But just very, very eye-opening to me, on how to legally reduce taxes, in a very moral way doing what the government says they want done. So those are the two that stood out the most. I read a ton of books, so there’s literally hundreds of great books that I could recommend. But those are the two that relate the most to probably this podcast and real estate investing and how I kind of got my start. So that was my answer to that one, number one.
Theo Hicks: Yeah, but as Travis said, for both of those books, we have Actively Passive Investing shows on; one was last week and the other one was a month ago or something.
Travis Watts: Yeah, so go check those out. Again, we go into a lot more depth about them, but two great books. So moving along, we’ve got to crunch this into 30 minutes… So question number two for you, Theo. What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months, or in recent memory? We’d love specifics; brand, model, where you found it, etc.
Theo Hicks: This might be goofy, but this Yeti mug right here – this will relate to other answers later on, but I drink coffee a lot, like most people do… And I used to drink it out of a mug, and after 20 minutes it was cold, and I’d be getting up all the time to heat it back up and I’d make it too hot and burn my mouth… Whereas this, when I put coffee in here, I put coffee in there yesterday at like seven and by [9:45], it was still scalding hot. So it stays hot all day So it saves time, plus it helps me enjoy the coffee while I’m drinking it… And I’m pretty sure it’s under $100. It’s just a Yeti mug and it’s 32-ouncer.
Travis Watts: That’s awesome. Yeah, my wife and I have used Yetis for a long time. We have this one now that’s a little thinner and it’s got like a glass insert to it. I don’t like it as much to be honest with you, but you throw some ice in there and it’s half a day of ice. It’s pretty incredible. It’s just unreal. I’m with you.
My answer to this – I kind of answered this in a previous blog post, where we were talking about what things bring fulfillment and happiness to your life, and what do you really value – is it really the brand new BMW or is it taking a walk on the beach? That kind of stuff. We were talking about the F.I.R.E. Movement. So Xero shoes – I didn’t actually mention the brand before, but since this says specifically the brand, make, model. So it’s Xero shoes. I bought these shoes when my wife and I went to go backpack Thailand. And they have the most incredible shoes; just super lightweight. You can roll them up, throw them in a suitcase or in a bag. They’re waterproof, breathable, comfortable… And they have like this forever sole on them, forever guarantee on the sole of them. So literally, I’ve walked hundreds of miles with these, and they look brand new on the sole. It’s incredible. So they’re probably about 99 bucks. So I put that into the hundred dollar category, but—
Theo Hicks: Without tax. Tax-free.
Travis Watts: Yeah, if you can get it tax free, then that qualifies. But anyway, they’re phenomenal shoes. So anybody who’s a runner or outdoors person, they’re great for just hiking and jogging, all kinds of stuff. So that was mine in the last no more than six months now, but recent memory.
Question number three, Theo, is how has a failure or apparent failure set you up for later success? Do you have a favorite failure of yours?
Theo Hicks: Yeah. When I was 25, I asked my now wife out and she rejected me, and I was very salty. And three years later, maybe I was 23 at the time – and then you know [unintelligible [00:13:22].13] until, obviously now we’re married. So I guess that’s my favorite failure.
Travis Watts: That’s awesome. I did not know that. I mean, I should have thought a little deeper on this one.
Theo Hicks: I actually had something different, and then that just came to my mind [unintelligible [00:13:36].07]
Travis Watts: Yeah. Okay, well, for me – I had a lot of failures leading up to my start in real estate. And for those that don’t know, real estate was the first, what I referred to back then as a small business or a hobby that actually worked. So leading up to that point, I ran about 20 small businesses, all the way from high school and all the way through college, and then post-college, all kinds of stuff; renting out audio equipment, I had a clothing line, I did a lot of these things… None of them worked. It was just failure, failure, failure, failure, left and right. All I knew was failure. And I was about to almost give up, and this concept of real estate, for those that don’t know – I started with house hacking. And it was just when a roommate basically was handing me a check for $600 for the month, and my mortgage was $640. And I thought, “Oh my God.” I didn’t even have to work for that money. I was just handed that money and I’m basically living for free.
So the whole concept of passive investing and cash flow and real estate really started to hone in and that’s really where it got my wheels turning. So I would say that those 20 failures in small business gave me a lot of perspective. So I have a lot of appreciation for real estate.
I can just imagine myself – if the first thing I ever tried was real estate and it worked, I’d probably take it for granted and say, ‘Yeah, but I could go launch all these other businesses, too… So forget real estate.” And that would have been a huge mistake. So that was mine.
Theo Hicks: Yeah, perspective and appreciation is always a good thing to take away from a failing.
Travis Watts: Yep. Exactly. Alright, Theo, question number four… If you had a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, metaphorically speaking, if you could get your message out to millions or billions of people, what would it say?
Theo Hicks: So I had a hard time with this one. It may not be the best response, but kind of harkening back to one of my books or collection of books, which would be Plato… I’d have my billboard saying, “You aren’t as smart as you think you are… And that’s okay.”
Travis Watts: I love that. I love these little short snippets. That’s so funny that you picked that, too… Because the one I picked is a quote from a guy named Neil Strauss, kind of a modern philosopher of sorts… And I’m actually wearing a bracelet, you can’t see it, because I’ve got a cuff thing here… But it says, “Learn more, know less.” And I just love that. That just encapsulates my whole philosophy on life. And I’m always trying to learn and read books and find mentors, but I’m not trying to know everything. I’m not trying to be a know-it-all, a guru of sorts. So it’s kind of a humble saying. That’s awesome though.
Theo Hicks: Yeah, so actually they’re very similar.
Travis Watts: They are. They really are. Alright, question number five. What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? It could be money, time or energy.
Theo Hicks: I won’t say this is ever, but I think, again, applying this to my job… So buying three monitors, I can’t explain how amazing it is having multiple monitors and not kind of shove every single thing onto one screen. I had so much anxiety when I just was working on a laptop… And then I got a second monitor. It was better, but it was still — I’d have to shrink things. It caused me so much frustration. And now that I have three monitors, I always am able to have everything I need to see on at least half the screen, and it’s worthwhile because it did give me a lot of anxiety and frustration. So three monitors, three big massive—I think these ones are 24 and this one is maybe like 28 inches.
Travis Watts: Wow.
Theo Hicks: They’re pretty big.
Travis Watts: Bigger than I thought. Yeah, definitely bigger than I thought. Yeah, for anybody who’s never tried it, I know it may just seem fufu, but I’m telling you, the first time I was introduced to multiple monitors was when I went to go work for a brokerage firm… And it was just two monitors, but they were very big. To your point, they were probably like 24″, side by side. And it’s funny, because the first week I was in training, trying to learn that job, I refused to use the second monitor. I thought of it as a pain point; I got worried about looking over here, and over here, and then I’m going to lose track of things, and I’m so used to one… So I rebelled against it, until I finally realized the benefit, and oh my god… I mean, it made—I can’t even imagine three. But if you’ve never tried it, you should at least try it.
Theo Hicks: Yeah.
Travis Watts: Give it a chance. For mine, it was mentors. And, again, going with the theme of our show, I can’t think of a more worthwhile investment, especially for the mentors who were willing to give me their time for free. I mean, that’s quite the investment, right? And just to be able to see somebody who is successful doing what it is you want to do and being able to pick their brain so to speak and go through scenarios with them has been the most rewarding, I think… And again, I read a ton of books. I’d say that’s a close second – investing in books, and in some ways more so. But mentors are great.
Theo Hicks: Nice.
Travis Watts: Cool. Number six, what is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?
Theo Hicks: This is another hard one, because obviously any habit that I have is not absurd or unusual to me… But something that surprises a lot of people I guess is that the only type of music I listen to is opera music and classical music.
Travis Watts: Oh really?
Theo Hicks: That’s it. I listen to some stuff for my son now that’s not that, but that’s like the only music that I like. I’m not a fan of anything else.
Travis Watts: Wow. Like some Pavarotti blogging and stuff like that?
Theo Hicks: I’m not even sure what that means. But is that a person?
Travis Watts: Luciano Pavarotti. He’s an opera—I think he’s an opera… I don’t know.
Theo Hicks: I don’t know the names of the singers. I like Bach and Handel a lot.
Travis Watts: Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, like true classic. Okay, I got you.
Theo Hicks: It’s like older stuff, because like [unintelligible [00:19:24].12] listen to any music that was made in the past 300 years, but I guess technically I do, because modern orchestras will do renditions of older songs, but I’m not sure if that counts. But yeah, opera music, classical music and nothing else.
Travis Watts: Okay. Yeah, well, that’s absurd. For mine – this one’s really goofy, man, but when I was in college, I was on such a tight budget with myself… I didn’t have to be, I just chose to be as frugal — it was like a game to me. So I did $2 per meal, three meals per day, so I couldn’t spend more than $6 on food in a 24 hour period. So I did that for a couple years, and I’m still fascinated with the game aspect of it. So I still try to not spend money on food, generally speaking. Obviously, we go to restaurants and we do our thing, but I was trying to get my wife to do this with me for years now. She won’t do it. But I said, “Let’s put $20 cash in our pocket on a Monday and let’s see if we can make it through Sunday.” And I really want to do that. That’s just a fascination. Obviously, we have the money for food, but it’s an absurd thing. I wouldn’t call it a habit. It’s just an absurd thing that I love, is saving money on food. To me there’s not much better than free food, or comped meals in some way. So—
Theo Hicks: There you go. Lots of pasta; pasta can go a long way.
Travis Watts: Oh my gosh, pasta and rice and the ramen stuff… I can do it.
Theo Hicks: 20 Kraft singles, [unintelligible [00:20:56].18]
Travis Watts: Oh God, I’ve got to share how dumb this is… The other day in the grocery store, they had the Kraft macaroni and cheese, for whatever reason, 50% off on the manager mark down, and it was 60 cents for the box. I thought, “I have to buy some boxes of these.” It’s just the idea that I could eat a meal for 60 cents just makes me smile, so… It’s absurd. I know. I know. Everybody listening, I know.
Alright, question number seven… In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life?
Theo Hicks: So I used to dip. I used to excessively drink alcohol, and then I did both those things merged together with playing video games for hours every day.
Travis Watts: Oh, wow.
Theo Hicks: So I quit all those. And obviously, that’s added a lot of time and concentration. So I’d say that. I guess it’s kind of like getting rid of a habit, it’s not really making a new habit. But that was very helpful. This is why coffee, and then I’m always chewing sunflower seeds, my mouth is always super dry, my tongue is always ripped to shreds from eating seeds all day… But I save hours per day from not having to sleep in from being hung-over, and feeling like crap in the morning, to wasting money on dip, to spending hours playing video games, so I could focus on other things.
Travis Watts: So then you switched to the hard drugs instead…
Theo Hicks: Exactly, the hard drugs – the coffee and the seeds. [laughter]
Travis Watts: Alright. Wow, that’s a great one. I love that one. That’s huge. I went with just kind of more of a high-level theme of just stoicism and self discipline. I’ve always had some elements of these. I’ve never made them a study. In the last five years, I’ve made them more of a study. I’ve really kind of doubled down on what I’ve seen work in the past and kind of implemented that. So I could say that’s the 10-year timeframe. I could say that’s most intense in the last probably 24 months, two years. But in general, stoicism and self-discipline are my answers.
Cool. Alright. Question number eight – we’ve got to run through these last ones a little quicker. What advice would you give a smart, driven college student about to enter the so-called real world, and what advice should they ignore?
Theo Hicks: Yeah, that kind of goes back to my billboard sayings, because I think, at least for me, personally, I had the biggest head when I first got out of college. I thought I knew everything. So my billboard is saying, “You aren’t as smart as you think you are, and that’s okay” would be my advice to someone that came out of college, especially to someone coming out of college. Because that’s when you truly don’t know anything about the real world, even though you have these expectations of what it’s supposed to be like, that you adamantly think are true… So just be humble.
Travis Watts: That’s so true, man. That’s a great answer. And college is such a weird phenomenon, right?
Theo Hicks: It is.
Travis Watts: You fork up that much money to go into something blind that you don’t know what’s going to be on the other side of it all… I mean, it’s a total gamble.
Theo Hicks: When you’re 18.
Travis Watts: Yeah, it’s just — oh, man, it’s crazy. So I think immediately about my oldest nephew is in college now. He just started at Texas A&M in fact… So I just had a conversation with him about investing as early as possible; that I know it’s difficult and I know there’s not a lot of money rolling around, I know this is pre-career, but I’m telling you, and I’m showing them compound interest charts and I’m showing him cash flow and how I built that up over a decade. And if he were to start earlier than I started, he could be this much further, and trying to inspire him just to get started earlier.
As you know, every decade you wait, it gets about twice as hard. As far as how much money you have to dedicate to your investing. So hey, when you’re at 18, that’s prime time. If you can grasp some of these concepts that we talked about on this show, you’re going to be light years ahead of so many people. So that was my thing and I didn’t really get into the advice you should ignore, because there’s too much of that.
Theo Hicks: Yeah, exactly. Most of it.
Travis Watts: Most of it, yeah. Just don’t listen to anybody. Nine is, what are bad recommendations that you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Theo Hicks: Not necessarily that I hear a ton, but I think people, especially those that are entering into real estate or are interested in real estate, they think that they need to be this wizard, they need know everything, they need to have a 1000 IQ, they need to read every single book on real estate in order to be successful. And when you interview people as much as I do—again, there are people that are like that. But there’s also guys that are not like that at all, that are just completely normal dudes, who have made a ton of money in real estate.
So in some cases, it actually can be harder the smarter you are, because you overthink it. You overthink every single action. But yeah, I would just say, you don’t need to be a genius to be successful in real estate, and there’s countless examples of that just on our podcast alone.
Travis Watts: Yeah. I think it’s Gary Vaynerchuk or maybe it was Grant Cardone – one of these guys claims to have never even read a book.
Theo Hicks: It’s Grant Cardone.
Travis Watts: Was it?
Theo Hicks: He’s the one who comes to mind when I think of this.
Travis Watts: Yeah, just incredible to think about… And I would argue too that a good solid mentor could replace any other type of education out there and be more effective. But again, finding the right mentor. Obviously, I’m an advocate for reading and listening to podcasts and doing these things, but to your point, I was that example of 52 books in a year. And where did that get me? Well, it was kind of useful, but it was kind of way too much. And it kept me from taking action. It was kind of an excuse for that particular year. So good one, I like that.
Mine was – I took this from a financial industry perspective, not necessarily just real estate, and I hear this advice all the time, and I listen to people talk a lot about maxing out a 401(k). And a lot of people are like “Max out your 401(k), do the maximum that you can in every year.” And there’s a great book called 401(k)aos by Andy Tanner. And again, I’m no expert on this stuff, but that book solely had me demolish all of my retirement accounts. I got rid of my Roth, my pre-tax, my 401(k)… I got rid of everything after reading that book, which is kind of extreme. But there’s no one who can really decipher it better in my opinion than Andy Tanner. So check out that book.
And it’s not to say that’s not good advice for some folks in certain circumstances… But generally speaking, and especially to real estate investors, you might think about that or at least look into why you’re doing that and what the implications are, and the tax pros and cons and all that kind of stuff. So I’ll leave it at that.
Question number 10. In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? Distractions, invitations, etc.
Theo Hicks: For me, just myself. As I mentioned, I used to have a lot of really bad habits; and I still have bad habits, but I used to have like a lot of really bad habits, that took a long time to get over. And whenever the thought comes up to maybe just do it again, maybe just [unintelligible [00:27:54].12] and play for a little bit… Maybe just buy one tin of dip, maybe just buy one bottle of booze, you’ll be fine. I just – no. Let’s not go down that road. Because once you realize how these things started, that’s exactly how they start. It’s how you got in those bad habits in the first place… So just saying no in the beginning before you start; because once you open that door, again, without even walking through it, it’s really, really hard to close it.
Travis Watts: Yeah, that’s a great one. I love that one. So maybe some people wouldn’t understand my response, but it’s meeting up for coffee. So I meet with a lot of investors, and pre-COVID, it was conferences and people would always be like “Let me get you lunch, or pick your brain, or do coffee.” Well, what I found was, number one, that’s a lot of my time that I had to dedicate to that. Just getting ready, getting dressed, commuting, parking, going somewhere. Forget about the cost of any of this stuff; most of the time that was paid for. But still, what I found is that half of the time, I was being pitched something myself. This is someone trying to meet up with me to sell me something. And I got to just calculating time value and all of this, and I thought, you know, “This is just not a wise use of my time.” I should be jumping on a podcast, writing a blog, doing anything else; doing a speaking event. Those types of engagements where I can get in front of say 300 people at a time are a far better use of my time than the one on one that 50% of the time I’m being sold. So that was mine.
I don’t do it anymore, honestly. Unless it’s like super convenient, someone’s like coming in my direction and it’s right across the street and I’m wanting to go get a drink, get a lunch anyway, and it’s like, “Sure. Let’s meet up there.” And other than that, I don’t do it.
Theo Hicks: I’ve heard that a lot too. At first, it’s “I want to get coffee with everyone, and meet all these people and pick their brains”, and eventually, people start doing that to you and then next thing you know, every day of the week, you’re driving to the coffee and then you’re there for a while, and then you get to drive back… And as you mentioned, most the time it never really comes to anything for you or for them. So that’s a good one. I agree with that one for sure.
Travis Watts: Cool. Alright, last question. Question number 11. When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused or you’ve lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?
Theo Hicks: I had a hard time answering this one, because for me more it’s just telling myself, “That’s a temptation, stop.” And then eventually, you can, most the time, get back to focus. But I’d probably say a better answer would just be more coffee, more caffeine. If I’m on caffeine, I’m hyper-focused. And again, especially because a year ago, I said, “Oh, I’ll just toss in a dip, and I can do anything.” But now, obviously, I don’t do that anymore. I mean, five years ago, [unintelligible [00:30:35].20] so I could just concentrate for 24 hours straight without even moving.” Whereas now I use caffeine and mostly just talking to myself in my head.
Travis Watts: Yeah, it’s circumstantial. It depends on what kind of focus or stress or what’s on the line or what I have going on. But it’s funny you mentioned caffeine… That was number one, which – I know, it’s so bad; we’re both advocating caffeine. Caffeine is not the best thing for you, but it is effective in the right dosage. But that can reset my brain a lot of times, especially if I’ve got brain fog.
I also do meditation, depending on how severe this unfocus is. That really helps me reset and let go of whatever’s impounding my head at that time. Sometimes working out, just that physical exhaustion is very helpful, and then sometimes just listening to music; putting on my top three or four favorite songs in that moment, whatever I’m into really helps me release and get out of that mindset. So a combination of these any one of these; it really just depends, but it’s typically one of those four things.
Theo Hicks: Yeah, working out definitely helps. It’s just usually if we’re going to do a full workout, it takes like an hour. So two things I’ve found that I’ve done in the past – I don’t do them anymore, but if you jump on the floor and do just push-ups, or you can just do a push-up, sit up, air squat, cycle, kind of whatever. It takes, like a minute and it gives you a similar feeling of caffeine. It’s a little bit different, it’s not as intense, but you still get that feeling of caffeine, especially if i you’re tired type of thing, if your eyes are heavy… Doing push-ups will wake you up. I really like the music one.
And then the other one that Joe—I’m not sure if he does this anymore, but he bought me this—I’m pretty sure he bought me; or maybe he sent me a link to a mini-trampoline. I think it’s something that Tony Robbins uses; he just bounces on the trampoline. It’s the same thing as push-ups and air squats.
Travis Watts: Yeah, full body. I do jumping jacks. A lot of times before I jump on a podcast, minus I didn’t do it this morning, but… I usually just do probably 45 seconds of jumping jacks; it gets your blood flowing all through. Push-ups are great for exhaustion, but it’s only really your upper body, right? So anyway, everybody’s different.
Theo Hicks: Or you do burpees. Do you know what a burpee is?
Travis Watts: Oh, I’m going to pretend like I don’t know what that means.
Theo Hicks: Burpees might be too depressing.
Travis Watts: Yes, it’s depressing.
Theo Hicks: That may make you actually worse off at the end. But burpees are kind of you stand up, you go down and you do a push up and then you jump in the air.
Travis Watts: Oh, God. And then you throw up on the [unintelligible [00:32:56].19]
Theo Hicks: Yeah, those are hard.
Travis Watts: Alright, cool. Well, that’s the 11 questions, everybody. So here’s the book, Tribe of Mentors, Tim Ferriss, great book for perspective and learning from different people’s points of view. Thank you, Theo, for playing along with that. And that’s all I got for today.
Theo Hicks: That was really fun. I’m glad that I answered these questions beforehand… And that I didn’t have to come up with them on the fly, because it would had been probably way longer than it was, because I would have rambled. But yeah, that was fun. And if you’re listening to this, maybe answer the questions yourself… Because it was interesting to go through that and try to figure out, “Oh, wait. What was my biggest failure, my greatest failure? What do I do if I’m not concentrating?” And maybe realize, “Oh, well, I [unintelligible [00:33:32].07] concentrate.” So maybe it could be something that adds value to you as well. And answer them from different perspectives; like for my personal life, from a fitness perspective, from a business perspective, from a relationship perspective, too…
So good stuff, Travis. Thanks again for joining me. We’ll be back next week. Until then, have a best ever day and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
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