How To BRAINWASH Yourself For Success & Destroy NEGATIVE THOUGHTS! with Robin Sharma

Alex Ferrari 2:44
I like to welcome to the show Robin Sharma. How you doin, Robin?

Robin Sharma 2:49
Great to be with you, Alex!

Alex Ferrari 2:50
Thank you so much for being on the show. Like I was telling you before we got started. I am a monster fan of your book, The monk that sold his Ferrari, arguably one of the best titles of a, a spiritual slash self help says Self Mastery book out there. And it is one of those books that kind of just changes your life. So I really am honored and humbled having you on the show, sir.

Robin Sharma 3:16
I really appreciate the invitation. And I look forward to our conversation together.

Alex Ferrari 3:21
Yes! So how did you get started on this path of helping people and getting self mastery and just helping people around the world?

Robin Sharma 3:31
Well, I think first of all, I think I've always had an instinct for it. My father was the philosopher in the family. He filled the home with books, he would always talk about great women, great men, traits of self mastery. And he just instilled this hunger and fascination with the field in me. And then as I went to university, I went to law school and then I became a lawyer. And in many ways, I was not really living the life that was meant for me I was, you know, following the success philosophies and the prescriptions that society says if you follow them, you're gonna wake up and you're gonna feel healthy and happy and you'll feel really successful. The only problem is, I, I did what I was supposed to do. And I became successful in the world. And I had a nice car and a nice place to live. And I was making excellent money. But I wake up every morning I felt very empty. And what's the point of being successful in the world if you're if you betray yourself in the process? So I started this process of learning a lot of method methodologies, whether it's meditation and prayer and journaling and experimented with acupuncture and sweat lodges, and I read so many different books. And I made a very profound transformation in my life, which in many ways I wrote about it in The monk who sold his Ferrari which started off as a self published book.

Alex Ferrari 4:56
Wow. Now, I have to ask you because from I read, you wrote one book and you self published it, then you wrote The monk who sold his Ferrari self published it. What kept you going at in those early days when success was nowhere in sight, and there was no guarantee that you were going to become a, you know, 20 million plus bestseller, Best Selling Author? How did you keep going on a daily basis?

Robin Sharma 5:22
Because I think you do it for the cause versus the applies. And I didn't, I didn't, I didn't mean for that to rhyme. And I don't want to. I don't want it to sound trite. But I think I had no choice. But to write these books, I had no choice. But to follow my path. Sometimes people say, Oh, you're brave to leave being a lawyer, and to start off as a completely anonymous author, but I had no choice I, you know, it's, it's like when you follow your call, even if you fail to the world, you succeed to yourself. And so I just followed my instinct, which I think is so much more powerful than my intellect. And I think, I don't think it's brave, I think you just have to do it.

Alex Ferrari 6:08
Was that when you say the call? Are you talking about the inner something inside of you? Whether it be in spirituality, whether it be during a meditation, whether it be? What was that instinct that said to you, I have to be an author? Because at one point, you weren't an author? Obviously, you've written a lot of papers as a lawyer, and all that, but you weren't an author. So what was the moment that you that that was the call? When did you hear it? How did you hear that call?

Robin Sharma 6:34
I don't know. I mean, that's such a great question, Alex. I don't know. It was, it was a blazing fire. It was my passion. It was just, you know, it was an instinct to do this. And I just felt, you know, I self published, you're right, there was a book before the monk was called mega living 30 Days to a perfect life, maybe not the best title I've ever come up with. And it was completely self published, I actually was going to just do my book in a three ring binder. And my dad said, you know, if you're going to write a book, you might as well make it look like a write like a book. And so I went to a self publishing course, at the Learning Annex, I write about all this in the everyday hero manifesto at the beginning, which is a very, very personal book of mine. But I self published this book in a Kinkos coffee shop. And I started just sharing the book one person at a time, I didn't know that if you take an eight and a half by 11, shrink it down to paper, trade paperback size, the type also shrink. So I ended up with, I don't know, 3000 copies of a book that was really hard to read. And one of my mentors, said, you know, maybe we should package a magnifying glass with in with the book. But you know, I am and Alex, I had a, it was just a passport picture that I put on the back of the book. But I, I had the instinct and I had the passion and I wanted to learn, it's so powerful. If you just read and learn and talk to people and do courses, how far you can go. And then to that it was not only my enthusiasm, and my love of learning about how to do it, but it was my I really wanted to help people, I really wanted to give great value to people. And I just didn't quit. So I mean, I don't think I've ever shared this or very rarely, but I went to the ABA American Book, American Booksellers Association, I think it was 1996. And I stood at the top of the elevators. And so all the agents and publishers were walking up. And I had a, I printed, I don't know, 300 copies of mega living and I put two hole, punch two holes in them. And I wore the cover around my neck. And I had and I handed out copies of the book. Everyone coming up the stairs and and there were some very heavyweight agents, I still remember their names, who laughed at me who embarrassed me, there were publishers who dismissed me security asked me to leave. I'd leave how I come back. So you know now it's easy to say, okay, look, this must have been easy, but that's just one scenario of what it took to continue and get there and I would just optimize the books and then even monk, make the cover better, make the insides better, just keep on going. And even now, I'm not saying I have the easiest process. I'm still always trying to make things better. But it's all about your cause. I think unless until your mission becomes an obsession, your cause will never become a movement.

Alex Ferrari 9:48
Very great as a great as a great quote. I mean, when, when you were writing monk, the monk who sold his Ferrari, it's such a profound book has so many deep just it's such a deep book and it does really affect people when you read it. What? How did that work come to life? How did you decide to put that out into the world after your, you know, experience with mega living, which it's a horrible name, by the way, but a monk who saves a Ferrari, so as far as a better, better, much, much better name. So how did that like? How did? How did you open yourself up to? Because there's a lot of you in it? How were you able to kind of spill all that into the book?

Robin Sharma 10:32
Well, that was a book, I didn't write with an outline. So it was like the 5am club, I wrote the 5am club in a similar way. It was just almost like free flow, let the characters evolve, see where it goes, Oh, wow, Julia mantle should do this, oh, the student should do that. Just like in the 5am. Club. Oh, maybe Mr. Reilly should go into a vineyard and dig up the letters that he wrote. And that's why I think both of those books required a lot of rewriting, you know, just a tight knit and to edit it to make the story flow. But yeah, I just the monk who sold his Ferrari, I just, it was just my imagination that led me where I wanted to go. And I knew that, you know, as human beings, we love stories, we learn so much through stories. So I wanted it to be a story. I used to be a lawyer, as I mentioned. So Julian was the mentor, and he went to the Himalayas, learn these lessons, made the transformation returned, found the student and shared his story.

Alex Ferrari 11:39
And what part in your journey from you know, having physically materialistically having everything you were quote unquote, successful? But feeling empty? Inside? What part of spirituality did that play in your in your transformation? How did you find your own spirituality and, and with meditation, and like, with all the books and things you read? What what did that mean to you on your journey?

Robin Sharma 12:09
Well, I'm not sure I understand the question, Alex. But I think if you're if you're asking, you know,

Alex Ferrari 12:19
What part did? Well, what part of spirituality? How what kind of impacted your quest for or finding spirituality in your own world? Whatever that definition is? Have on your path? This was my question.

Robin Sharma 12:34
Well, you know, I was stumbling towards freedom.

Alex Ferrari 12:39
Good answer.

Robin Sharma 12:39
And, you know, like, like, I mean, I have to be completely honest with you. It's like, the spiritual journey, the human journey, the journey towards exponential productivity, mastery. It's a messy, beautiful, gorgeous ride. I mean, the everyday hero, man of everyday hero manifesto, really, I mean, it's part handbook for productivity. And it's part instructional manual for world class life. But the new book is also very much about spirituality. And I share a lot of myself in the new book. And it's it's not a linear process is that we've got our times on the mountaintop, we've got our times in the valley of darkness, we've got our even, I talked about the seasons of productivity. In the everyday hero manifesto, I think, you know, the world talks about hustle and grind, always be working, always be pushing. I think if you are more of an artist, you're going to be an even better entrepreneur, if you just trust the seasons, where you're meant to be productive, you're full of ideas, you're full of energy in those times, harvest, get up early, be productive, have a great schedule, put out a lot of material. And then trust those times where it's a natural rhythm where you're meant to pull back, you're meant to maybe rest more, recover more, travel more. So you go from the world into the wilderness. Those are natural cycles, and it's in. Ironically, it's in those rest cycles and recovery cycles, where our next level ideas are incubated. And it's by those the balance of what I call the high excellence cycle and the deep recovery cycle, where you can actually build sustainability and you don't deplete your assets of genius. Otherwise, what happens is, you lose your focus and you deplete your inspiration, and you don't have any energy, and then you become a caricature of yourself in your business in your life. But I think the key to longevity to legendary is longevity. When you're meant to work hard, renew and refuel and recover when you're not so with the monk who sold his Ferrari. It was just, I was I was called to write the book I enjoyed I loved writing the book, and I just felt to get get out there and share the book and that was part of my My worldly process, but it was part of my spirituality sharing this sharing this message with as many people as possible. And even my, when I stumbled, that was part of my growth.

Alex Ferrari 15:11
And I love that analogy of the of the the hill, the highs and the lows, because we in the West are just told grind, hustle, grind, hustle, you got to keep going, keep going. And even if you if you use the analogy of just working out or the analogy of a tree, if you're working out, you have to recover after a workout, you can't just keep working out or you burn yourself out. A tree cannot continue to just grow leaves and not go into a winter there has to be a wrench, there has to be a winter for them to take the lead old leaves off, give time to rest, bring in the new life and grow and it takes time. But that's hard for mentality because society, especially in the entrepreneurial space, but just in life in general, with the West is constantly pounding you, you just got to keep going. You got to keep grinding, you got to keep hustling, where you do need to embrace the moments where things are slow to incubate those new ideas. I love that.

Robin Sharma 16:05
Well, rest is not a luxury, rest is not a necessity. Excuse me, rest is not a luxury. It's a necessity. And you're absolutely right, Alex, it's like when you're working out, the growth happens in the recovery stage, right? You go to the gym, you stretch, stretch the muscles, you're to look at the muscles, you actually micro tear the muscles. But then in the rest those rest days. That's where the growth is. And so you're right in the West, it is hustling grinding, we are almost meant to, we feel guilty. We feel shame if we're not producing, we don't show our workloads as badges of honor. But if you look the the wonderful work of the energy project, the science actually shows the best producers work and intense bursts of activity, they're more like, they're more like sprinters versus marathoners, the energy project will tally. And if you look at the great athletes, one of the secrets of elite performance are their work rest cycles. And so I think it's really if you want the key really is to work intelligently versus in a very linear way. In the everyday hero, man. Everyday Hero manifesto. I talked about the five great hours concept. All you need to do his battle proof yourself to do five heroic hours of work every day, five intense hours. That's not fake work. That's real work. Too many people confuse busy with productivity, five great hours every day. And then take the rest of the day off, go get a massage, go mountain biking, have dinner with lunch with your family. So it's that it's that pulse that's really important to doing your finest work and also having a great life.

Alex Ferrari 17:52
How do you silence or quiet the inner voice of the inner critic inside of you? Because that is probably one of the biggest hindrances of our productivity of our lives of our spirituality of everything is that little inner voice that's constantly the monkey, the monkey brain as they call it? In the spiritual circles, how do you quiet yours? And how what advice do you have for people?

Robin Sharma 18:18
Great, it's a really great question. Do you ever see the movie? A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe?

Alex Ferrari 18:25
Of course. Yeah. Ron Howard.

Robin Sharma 18:27
Remember at the end, he's what he's leaving. He's leaving the college. And they're still those seemingly real people that he realized were not real people. And I think someone real was walking with them. And he said, like, you still see them? Do you still hear these voices? Do you still think all these fantasy people are real? And he said, You know, I know they're not real now. They still keep on talking. But I just don't listen to them. So, Alex, I don't know if we ever have a totally quiet mind. Maybe this the saints and sages and the great monks do. But I don't know. If a human being ever gets a fully still mind and fully quiet heart, I actually would go back to the negativity bias of the human brain, you know, hundreds and hundreds and 1000s Hundreds and hundreds of years ago 1000s of years ago, actually, we live it on the savanna. I'm here in South Africa right now. You know, this, this, this part of the world is amazing. And we were on the savanna. We were fighting tigers and we were fighting warring tribes. And that negativity bias that hyper vigilance kept us alive. If we if we didn't have that chattering mind, you know, and looking out for threats, we would not survive. So we have this instinct for survival. How do I and I do don't know if it's a bad thing to have it, I think it's a bad thing if it starts to impede your creativity, performance, your peace of mind. So how do I deal with it, I just accepted. And I also spent a lot of time every morning in prayer and meditation. Which helps me tremendously. I also build a lot of time in nature into my days, which slows down my brain, on most days, also a very intense workout early in the morning. And there's a lot of science that says cortisol, the fear hormone is reduced, dopamine is released, which makes you more inspired. Serotonin, the pleasure neurotransmitter makes you feel better. So exercise also really slows down the mind journaling. You know the mind. If there's so many ideas in your mind, one way to release it is to write in a journal every morning or every night or sometime during the day, just to release all of those ideas that are ruminating in your mind.

Alex Ferrari 21:11
Now, there's one one part of our journey as a human being is change. And you kind of touched upon it when we were fighting in the savanna changes danger in the savanna, you security being in the same village not going around that corner where the tiger could be. The danger is always the unknown. The unknown is safety. Well, is there any techniques or any advice you can give people on how to be able to walk around that corner and understand that the tiger is not going to kill you? Today's Tiger could be failing, could be looking foolish in front of your peers could be losing money or whatever that might be? Do you have any advice?

Robin Sharma 21:53
When I was writing Monk who sold his Ferrari, I came across a curious story of an Indian Maha Raja. And every morning he would with music and flowers, recreate his own funeral. All the while chanting I've lived fully I have lived fully I've lived fully. And so Alex, I asked my dad one day I said, Why would this man this Maharaja recreate his own funeral every single morning. And my father said, that's easy. This man has developed a morning ritual to remind him that every day could be as last. So how do you manage change, you start to realize the shortness of life. And they realize that change is the pathway into possibility. And you start to realize that if you're not changing and embracing change, then you are dying. I mean, there is change is nothing more than growth in wolf's clothing. If you look at the titans of industry, I've mentored many billionaires, many Fortune 500 CEOs, many sports superstars, many movement makers, these, these people have a bias towards leaning into discomfort and change, and consistently doing difficult things. Our society says, If you are not having an easy life, if you don't feel a lot of pleasure, if you feel any difficulty and any fear, you're doing something wrong, and that messaging starts to wash us and heart wash us into playing very small, and living the best hours of our days watching television in a subdivision. Not that there's anything wrong with living in this subdivision at all. But if you want to live a heroic life, you've want to want to honor your promise and your gifts and your talents. You want to see how far you want to go. You want to build prosperity, you want to you want to beat be more powerful and braver human being, then the answer is to consistently go to the places that frighten you. As I say in the everyday hero manifesto. There's one chapter called hug the monster which deconstructs how the world's most successful people manage change and overcome fear. And the first thing you need to do is understand that change in discomfort is where you need to go. And as you practice micro bravery daily, you take your power back from the things that frighten you. It's a it's a practice.

Alex Ferrari 24:25
There's a quote you have that I love and I'm going to massacre so please, please help me find it. It's that you die at 21 but you truly like it's something like in your lifetime. Most people die. Most people don't live most people die at 21 But something or get buried get buried at 90 or something along those lines. What is that quote? Do you know what I'm talking about?

Robin Sharma 24:51
The I sure do. The idea is most people die at 20 and they're buried at 80.

Alex Ferrari 24:56
That's it. That's the quote. Thank you. Yeah, that's such a fat when I heard that It just rattled my spine because it's so true. There's so much truth in that concept. Because I've known so many people who died at 20. Because they didn't follow their dream. They didn't follow their bliss. They didn't follow any of that. And they're buried at 80. And they're just living life just existing, that living.

Robin Sharma 25:21
Well we, society or our culture is has taught us that heroes are cut from a different cloth, a Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, a Hetty Lumira, Beethoven, John Michel Basquiat, Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali, Elon Musk. Culture hypnotizes us into believing these people are cut from a different plot. But genius is less about genetics and more about your daily habits. So we are born with so much promise, you'll look at a little child, you'll look at us as kids, our eyes sparkle, we wanted to be astronauts and bakers and firefighters and heroes. And then the world begins to pull the wool over our eyes, as Morpheus said to matrix to Neo in the Matrix. And when you receive this messaging, the ordinary, don't dream too much. Don't be different. Don't fail. Don't laugh too loud. don't honor your authenticity. Don't be brave, don't hold your heart in your hand. Failure is a bad thing, we get all these different beliefs. And over time, we actually begin to believe those beliefs are true, then you talk to any good positive psychology, they will tell you your daily behavior represents your deepest beliefs. So we have all these beliefs that we've adopted from the world around us. And our behavior starts to represent those beliefs. And over time, we live a very restricted life in a small in a very small circle. And then we start to make excuses. So that we avoid the pain of potential unexpressed, and we recite the excuses so many times we actually believe they're true. I couldn't do that. I couldn't start a business. I can't run a marathon, I can't find true love. Money is for people who've won the lottery goes on and on. And we just begin to limit ourselves. Absolutely tremendously. And then it is that diet 20 or diet 30 or diet 40. And we're buried at 80 or 90, and I think yeah,

Alex Ferrari 27:36
But isn't. But that's just fear. It's all based around fear afraid. The fear of failing the fear of succeeding, the fear of there's so it's all fear based all those things, because it's all these people you just said, everybody who's ever done anything in this world, live to their own authenticity, they allowed the inner light to come out of the thing that's special about them. I call it the secret sauce, the secret sauce, that special in them, is what makes them shine. It's what makes them succeed. But yet, we're also afraid of showing the world who we really are. But the ones who do are the ones that succeed. Is that your experience?

Robin Sharma 28:17
Well, yes, and I think there's there's much more to it than simply we're afraid. I believe it's there's not an easy answer to why so many good people limit themselves. But I do believe that to have the results only 5% of the population has we must be willing to think do operate, like 95% of the population are unwilling to think do an outbreak. So what is it that separates the people who play it rare err, incredibly productive, incredibly soulful, or people who build great companies or do heroic things? It's their belief system and philosophy. It's their morning routine. It's their work rituals, it's their pre sleep habits. It's their weekly planning processes. It's they're their mentors. It's their talent hub, which is basically, you know, you look at people who just happen, you look at Steve Jobs and Wozniak, for example. They just happen to be born in Silicon Valley at a time where everyone was excited about the new technology. You look at a lot of the great hockey players, they just happen to be from Slovakia, a talent hub, where everyone wanted to be an NHL hockey player, you look at the great footballers from Brazil. And every little kid wants to be a footballer, and so they practice then etc. So there are a number of different ingredients from your philosophy, your beliefs, your habits, your talent hub, that come together that create greatness, but it can it's a formula.

Alex Ferrari 29:56
Now can you tell me why you decided to write the everyday hero manifesto.

Robin Sharma 30:02
Well, so I've been mentoring some many of the world's most successful people for over two decades, like, as I mentioned, billionaires, NHL players, NBA players, professional sports, superstars, etc. And so what I wanted to do was write a book that distilled the methodology that I've shared with these people that have given them the results that they've received. So one month before the pandemic started, I locked myself away in a hotel room in Tribeca, in New York. And I wrote the first draft and I thought, Wow, I'm pretty much done or whatever. But little did I know, I'd spent 16 months during the pandemic, polishing the book, rewriting the book, editing, editing the book, etc. So it was the most personal book I've ever written. So it's the most valuable book I've ever written. And so every line was the best I could possibly make it. I think we live in a world right now, Alex, where a lot of people are waiting for the heroes to show up. We're waiting for the Nelson Mandela's we're waiting for people who will take us out of the darkness and show us honor and nobility and true leadership. I wrote the everyday hero manifesto, to be an instruction manual so we could own our own heroism, versus waiting for those glorious, history changing heroes to show up. And I don't think you have to lead a nation to be hero. I mean, you look at the Baker, who gets up at 4am, every morning to do amazing pastries for their customers, you look for the single mother single father, in a very hard job, but they still come home and develop their children provide a great home for them. You look at the firefighter, or the police officer or the frontline worker, these are all everyday heroes, and every single one of us can. There's a chapter in the book called The chestnut cellars doctrine about a man who lost everything. But there he was midnight when I was walking back to my hotel, selling chestnuts on a little fire, with a smile on his face and hope in his heart. And I shared the story of how we did it. But I think we all can be an everyday hero if we install the right beliefs and philosophies and then run the right habits and protocols every day.

Alex Ferrari 32:18
It's almost kind of like a program inside of a computer.

Robin Sharma 32:21
Software, it, it's true. And yet, it's not only the two dues you're writing in, we live in a world that's telling me the tactics, right, the book, I share so many tactics, but methodology without philosophy as an empty victory, I can give you all the tactics and models and the frameworks for productivity and vitality and overcoming adversity. But if you don't have the right philosophy, then you might be climbing the wrong mountains. very skillfully, which makes no sense.

Alex Ferrari 32:56
It's kind of like I could teach you how to work out in a gym. But if you don't have a philosophy of how to actually grow muscle, or how to lose weight, or how to get into shape, it's hard to connect those too.

Robin Sharma 33:07
Sure. And even if you don't know why you're getting fit, and you're not going to sustain it, you know, but if you go, Oh, I'm going to get fit, to be more productive, I'm going to get fit to serve more people, I'm going to get fit. So I can extend my lifespan. So I can do more of what I love to do, then you've got a driving philosophy. It's almost like you know, your Mount Everest, then the methodology helps you make the climb.

Alex Ferrari 33:34
Now, can you tell me what the gold miners paradoxes?

Robin Sharma 33:40
Sure, I was in Thailand for leadership speaking speech a number of years ago, and I heard about the story of the Golden Buddha. And the Golden Buddha is basically you know, 1000s of years ago, there was this giant Buddha and in the book actually show a picture of the monument. It's just extraordinary, clearly priceless. And then it became clear that invaders were going to come in to Thailand and possibly take the Buddha. So they got together and they realized, let's come up with a plan to hide the Golden Buddha and they did it by not moving the Golden Buddha by foot by by putting layer upon layer upon layer, dirt and mud over the Golden Buddha. Sure enough, the invaders come in. The Warriors couldn't see what it was they saw just this mountain of but mud and I kept on going. Hundreds of years later, someone walked by and saw this glimmer of gold in the midst of this mountain of mud and they started chipping away layer upon layer. And as they would move through more layers of mud, they would see more gold. And eventually they removed all of the mud. And there was this priceless glorious, but a made of pure gold. And so that chapter in the everyday hero manifesto Alex is really it's a paradox which is you We want to change and we want motivation. But it's not about becoming someone that we are not. It's about remembering who we truly are. Like the fears that we are taught the messaging that we adopt from our parents and teachers in the world. The micro trauma and macro trauma that we experience, those are layers of mud that we place unconsciously over our gold over our primal genius. And so the goal is not really motivation, it's transformation. The goal is not really becoming someone that we're not it's remembering who we once were, before the world taught us to disbelieve in ourself,

Alex Ferrari 35:44
Which is what every great spiritual teacher has spoken about from Yogi's to Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is inside of you. Everything you can do, everything I can do, you can do it's about connecting with that higher self within yourself, and getting rid of all this baggage and stuff that we get thrown on top of us over the years.

Robin Sharma 36:05
We, we are the wisdom we seek this out this sounds I don't know it's it sounds metaphysical yet. So, when it's so practical, the wisdom the most valuable wisdom that we seek lies within us. instinctually we know what's right. We know the places that bring us joy. We know the pursuits that fill us with happiness. We know how we should conduct our lives. We run into trouble when we when we dishonor our instinct, we are so wise at our core. We are we have peace. That's our native state peace. In terms of bravery, we are so brave and fearless. We are so loving. We are so strong. But we don't we don't believe that. For external, exactly what you're saying the Great, the great. The wisest amongst us that have said everything you're looking for is already within you. So the path of self mastery is not to go somewhere else it's to go is to return to the place where you have your internal heroism not your egoism, mature heroism.

Alex Ferrari 37:22
Now there's a chapter in your book, which was fascinated by the life regrets of people who are on their deathbeds. Can you touch upon that? Because that's pretty powerful stuff.

Robin Sharma 37:33
Absolutely. So some of them. Number one, they regretted not being kinder. It's very easy to dismiss being a super kind and generous person. No, I am not saying let people walk all over you. Sometimes people I say be the kindest person in your neighborhood. People say well, then if I did, people would walk over. People will only walk over you if you let them walk over you. There is a different kind, is powerful. Generous, is heroic. Letting people walk over you and take advantage of you is weak. So the Wonder Gretz is we regret we were not kinder, more generous people. And if that's going to be important on the last hour for your last day, perhaps make it more important now. Number two, they regretted not taking more risks. It sounds so simple, I get it. But how many people apply your greatest life, your heroism, your happiness lies on the other side of the risks that you're avoiding? So living a safe life is dangerous. Living a dangerous life is ultimately very safe. Because yes, you get bloodied. And yes, you get knocked down. But first of all, you get a lot. You get a lot of wins. But then you get to the end and you say I did it, I did it my way. I chased by I chased my dreams. People laughed at me. Failure and tragedy that helped me grow. But I lived a colorful life. I lived a beautiful life I got in the gate. So that's the second regret they faced. They they felt they wish they'd taken more risks. And then another one of the regrets is they wish they'd enjoy life more. I mean, in in the book towards the end, I talked about someone who was in a in a convertible in front of me. And it was something like time time for joy. I mentioned in the book, his license plate was time for fun. But so many people wait until the end of their lives. The cruise to take the trip and they don't have the health. They don't have the health or energy to do it. So they wish they had not postpone doing the things that they want to do. Going to Italy to see the doctor In Florence, or taking the cruise and more or even forgiving the person that they know they should have forgiven, but it was too late to forgive them by the time they were ready to forgive them. Don't be a great post Boehner.

Alex Ferrari 40:26
Right. I just I was just watching the Oscars the other night and I saw Francis Ford Coppola, the director of The Godfather show up and he mentioned one of his greatest foes in that process, which was the producer, Robert Evans. And he thanked him at the end, because Robert Evans passed many years ago. And I was shocked when he said that I was like, I have two people to think and one was my reporter who wrote it, and he goes, and the second I'm like, it's gonna be Robert Evans. Because I know the story. Everybody in Hollywood knows the story. And I was just like, wow, he finally forgave he finally understood that that was the dynamic of that relationship. But he forgave even at his age, and I think he's at 82. I hope and I don't even know if you forgive him before or after his passing. But it's something that really I've tried to forgive as many people who've, who've harmed me in some way because why take it with you you're only hurting yourself.

Robin Sharma 41:20
Mark Twain said forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet shed some may heal that crushed it. Yes. And and I think it was, I think it was Confucius who said, before you go off to seek revenge. dig two graves. Yep. So. So for you, you know, you talk about things we regret. If there is someone like that anyone out there. I know. You have people who follow you from around the world, unbelieving, if there's anyone that you're carrying on your back because you haven't forgiven them, pick up the phone or send them the message, everyone is doing the best they can do based on where on their level of conscious right now, wasn't it Maya Angelou said, as we know better, we can do better. So forgive them. Offer them the peace, the peace, the peace offering, and you will not only help them move on, you'll actually free yourself up dramatically for better creativity, better productivity, and a much happier life.

Alex Ferrari 42:26
Now I'm going to ask you two questions to ask all my guests. What is your mission in this life?

Robin Sharma 42:33
Which is just to help people own their heroism believe in themselves and do amazing things with their life.

Alex Ferrari 42:39
And what is the ultimate purpose of life?

Robin Sharma 42:44
There's two, I think it's number one, get to know your gifts and your talents. And number two, it's to help as many people as possible on this earth walk we are blessed to have.

Alex Ferrari 42:55
And, uh, where can people find the new book and more about you.

Robin Sharma 43:01
The mothership is robinsharma.com, they can sign up to my newsletter, I send videos and messages every couple of weeks full of great content, anyone's resonated with, with what we've talked, talked about. If anyone wants the everyday hero manifesto, the audio, people are loving the audiobook, they can get it on Amazon and audible. And the everyday hero manifesto is in all good bookstores. And on Amazon and a portion of my royalties goes to a cause I'm very passionate about Alex, it's to help children suffering from leprosy. So it's people read a book that's transformational, full of incredible information. And they also help someone who's in need.

Alex Ferrari 43:42
Robin, I appreciate you not just coming on to the show, but for the work that you've been doing all these years now. And thank you for all the great energy you've been putting out into the world and helping people find that here within themselves. So I appreciate you my friend. Thank you.

Robin Sharma 43:56
Thank you, Alex. It's been a real pleasure. Appreciate it.