After some time off, Tyler talks about information overload, the hero’s journey, and Andrew Yang.
Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur, the founder of Venture for America, and a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. He worked in startups and early-stage growth companies as a founder or executive from 2000 to 2009
Transcript (Unedited)
Anyways says this year is just flying by and it just really feels like there have been just a serious amount of acceleration in my life and so many peoples it’s Tyler Brian is March, 1st, 2019 and I must say for me at least know it’s for everyone. I feel like everyone. I’m talking too. Anyways says this year is just flying by and it just relatives field like there have been just a serious amount of acceleration in my life and so many peoples lives lately. One of the Interesting things that my girlfriend and I notice that a couple of other people have actually mentioned as well, too, is that it seems like every sentence is just ending with that’s so crazy or that’s wild that no one really knows what to say anymore.
Everyone sort of aware that. Something weird is going on and obviously there’s some stuff happening. The political climate. But I just think overall. We may have hit we may have hit this level of acceleration that. At least seems in a way that. The obviously the amount of information that is being generated is just so fast. Now that I think it’s just so overwhelming for so many of us. And it’s become a little bit cliche to say almost but when we when we look back at ourselves not.
Not that long ago. We just didn’t have to. I don’t know I guess. We’ve always been absorbing so much. You know, so much information at once, but it through this completely different medium and digital this. Completely instant instant gratification, the quick feedback. There’s some you know this is a stimulation in a sense in a kind of information that we haven’t had to deal with before and now you know through through the web through social media there just been this democratization of the ability to create content.
And with that ability and with the population that we have and you know, partly I think just because of some of our individualistic drive to want to share things about ourselves.
We have a lot and a lot of information. And you know in some ways, it almost is like like garbage because. So much of that information can be completely useless. Now there are often times. Amazing gold Nuggets within that information, but Where the value of that is lost is having to find it and you know this is? What I believe in some ways I’ve been working on it for for the last several months at least is trying to Take this ridiculous amount of information. And. Try to distill it. Into just the most important parts. And by doing that, you know in my example, I guess would be here is. Professors lecture. Which many of us have experienced some of them are great some of them weren’t some of them we just had to do.
But. No one really wants to record a lecture and then go back and listen to the whole 3 hours of it and we’ve all had that experience of.
Navigating through content. Specially video and audio along time zone, YouTube clicking through trying to find a spot and where he was talking about, but it’s really difficult to actually find. And so you know what we’ve been trying to figure out is a system that allows people to quickly identify what’s in their video? What’s in their audio and then? What are no, I would say even the good parts of their tax? So that You know it were speeding up the efficiency of understanding what is basically quality content or quality communication and it’s just it’s weird because I’m coming in to do? You know just to have a chat and talk through some stuff and share with whatever who is listening and know when I’m doing this.
I don’t want to be here and talking and like basically talking about my company. Speak. And. You know, I’m not trying it’s this weird. It’s this weird thing when you merge your professional life and really your own personal interest so much and.
You know where what I’m so fascinated in is now basically what I am. Building into a platform that I am done trying to sell which is you know it’s been.
Such a such a crazy journey in such an interesting challenge and I must say you know, I’m looking in to. You know what? Where I am at my own life and interesting when I’m listening to this, this book and experts secrets by Russell Brunson and a lot of people. Maybe in marketing. I know who that guy is and he’s quite a character and he’s quite a successful marketer and really sort of like an underground known marketer, though, and we sort of made his life sort of bootstrapping and basically. New not new honest, I don’t know why I’m saying new ones. But this we like flexible. Quick website development system and they don’t even know we call the website. It’s called Click Funnels and so that’s his big pieces as Funnels and most people have done any marketing and digital marketing or sales.
There is the buyer’s journey. Some people different structures of it. But many people are aware of AIDA – attention interest desire and action and you really need to.
For a final to actually get them to want to purchase something and so Russell Brunson is I would say Teknis to the most extreme, but has done a fantastic job with that by basically building a system where you can quickly develop these funnels and really not have too much technical knowledge and actually do it and I’m really impressed with the way he’s articulated things, I’m not a user of click funnels and I don’t know if I would use it because I actually like building websites.
You know, either well, I’m building, not even a building node JS software platform right now, but WordPress. I would be much happier to use. I think anyways. But the point that I’m trying to bring this back to is is he’s talking about how you structure.
A story and the idea of the heroes journey and even within this year? Do any of this idea of. There’s 2 sides to it. There was the achievement side that the you know, there are hero is looking for externally. But there is also the transformation that is happening internally and he talks about that. It’s very, very interesting and well put out and really makes gives you a couple moments that click in your head when you’re listening to it.
But it comes down to this little 55 parts that basically you can go through to write a story really quickly, it’s really, really interesting. So that The 5 parts that story, and he was actually originally talked by apparently a fantastic screenwriter are. Is a new opportunity that seems good at first? Then there is a change of plans. And then there is third there’s the point of no return. As a major setback. That’s when there’s that they you know moment. You know, Guardians of Galaxy, where everything it looks like the world is over. Everything is done there. Just never going to never going to be able to come back from this time to do that that Hail Mary.
And in the climax and then you know at the climax. Obviously, the biggest obstacle. And you know whether they win that you’re going to going to win that obstacle are going to beat the boss or you’re not going to be the boss.
But you’re going to have the transformation on the inside and sometimes that’s actually the most important part.
And then usually what we we see at the end is always that last 10 minutes, 15 minutes in a movie where you know it’s almost sort of cloudy and. And we see our heroes new life. So I thought that was really interesting and and then you know as a person who maybe takes everything way too seriously.
It was listening to that. That story, In that structure of the story and you know, we’re leading into my own life as many people do and it’s just so interesting how our brains make meaning and how you know, even as I’m listening to him tell the structure of this story. I’m basically molding my own life into those stars. So it’s just so interesting because it almost seemed because you are obviously you’re growing up and you’re just constantly living out.
Heroes journey over and over again and so I feel like you know, I’ve had these 5 points in my own life several times and. You know looking at it, then you think, OK well. I’m probably in one story right now. So where where are you in that story? I’m worried right now, I think. I might be at point of no return working on a new company have another company, you know, investing money in it. Hiring people taking on some risk. And it’s you know it’s one of those do or Die. You have the opportunity to turn back and then you know, right now. I’m in accelerator program. And I’ve told people what I’m working on it. I’m doing this and it’s like no moment that you know, there’s no time to turn back now. And when you look at that OK so if I’m not pointing overturn what comes next major set back So what is that? It’s weird when you. In a mine in my experience anyways like a lot of launch a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners there.
Always in sort of this survival mode and always on alert and I know in my mind went everything seems to be going right or almost.
I would say a little too well. You start to get really, really suspicious of what’s coming your way. And so I don’t know what this will be. It’s just you know it’s it’s it’s power to know, though you know in some ways. And if you know at least look look at life in this way that you know, there are challenges coming. There is going to be major setbacks and there’s going to be problems and you’re going to have to solve them and you’re probably going to have to throw maybe a Hail Mary and actually make it through. They feel like a lot of people feel like that right now. You know that acceleration that were feeling has lead to an urgency of stress and anxiety.
In some ways that we are you know, we deserve to have because of the situation. We’re in and then some ways that work printing on ourselves because of this perceived. Urgency in need, and fear and a lot of that is come through, he’ll come through media log guys come through our childhoods that a lot of guys come through the current politicians and the current climate that were in right now and it was really interesting to listen to the podcast with doctor Phil and Joe Rogan, which was quite an interesting combo, not not something that people might necessarily expect. But man oh this is fascinating. And one of the things that I was just so almost grateful to hear in away from doctor Phil West.
This idea that. No, he’s talking about people have had their lives broken whether they you know they had an affair.
And they you know they cost their family broke break up and they feel guilt for that or whatever that is, you know they’ve wrecked their family life or destroyed or lost their job or gotten into present or something like that.
You know, he says you should be depressed. You should be upset if your practical. You know that you’re not in a good place and you need to do something. And, if you don’t you think you’re just fine and everything is good, then you have a problem. And I think there’s 2 sides that I see here one. A lot of people don’t think that they should feel upset or that we should be depressed there.
We should have anxiety and I know I’ve been there and I know in some ways continue to be there.
But you also realize how much control. You can have over that if you put the effort in and you get there or not if you can’t just put the effort and you have to get the right coping skills. You have to have the right support and guidance. But this idea that we should never feel upset and we should never be angry that we should never be depressed is just unrealistic as as we are human beings and part of that is that is the system that guides our life, and it’s not just going to go away, and we have to deal with the fact that we’re going to deal with some emotion.
We’re going to deal with some hard shit. We’re going to be upset. Sometimes it’s like this idea that we just want to be. But happy is not a plateau happy is not happy is. Something that can be achieved but. For. Almost anyone something is not sustained permantly. It’ll just hit this moment in your life where you hit. This beautiful. Plane of happiness and you just sit there for the rest of your life.
I have to think of the external influence after think of the. Internal fluences of in our lives that can really can come at anytime. We never know when the next emergencies. Coming when the next family member has a problem when we lose a best friend. We never know when that’s going to come. And I feel like in so many ways, we’ve been wrongly educated about how we should think about our emotions how we should think about it behavior and how we think we should be.
You know maneuvering through this life that we’re in. So now that you know that’s the one side that we see but there is also of course, the the opposite, which is. There. There’s so many people who. Don’t have. The knowledge to understand that there is a problem and you see so many people on concept that I’ve talked a lot.
About is just this. This idea of this blind spot and everyone just seems to have one you.
You have to do a lot of digging to understand what that is, and actually. Find it, I like this metaphor of the blind spot because everyone is known that that feeling of driving and just what happens with that.
Lack of awareness and not taking a look in the mirror and not looking in your blind spot, making a maneuver and seeing how quickly that damage can be done. I think people are actually quite capable of identifying those blind spots and maybe you’ve had a moment in your life when you have had.
By other yourself or someone else and I know a lot of times the blind spot is discovered by someone else will give an example and it was a horrible example. But when I was in University. A good buddy of mine, he would laugh and then he would hit his hand against someone’s leg as he did it and we just this really sort of funny.
Twitch that he did, and I don’t think he was really ever aware of it. And eventually we would we got laughing and sort of doing it behind behind his back and then one day my my body.
My was in again. This is horrible. We laughed and then we’re doing that. We were doing that to each other and he picked up on the fact that. That we were sort of teasing him. And. Really, after that point. He didn’t see him doing that anymore. And. It’s a you know it’s sad sort of example in apologies to you my good friend.
But it took someone else is you know, he almost had to see a reflection of it and understand that it was just he just hadn’t seen himself in perceived himself doing that and so we had never thought of anything of it and there’s lots of these you know, there’s lot every single person has one of these. I had example. I’ve had is that I talk, too fast and I still do it. I guess it’s not as much of a blind spot anymore, but just because you? Stand at this a blind spot, there, it doesn’t mean that you’re always active about managing it. And so I have to be really conscious and aware. That I talk, too fast and I can really, really quickly forget. That I’m doing it and I can just completely delve into just talking to quicker.
Basically, what I’m doing right now, just blabbing on and so maybe there’s things in your life that. You know you realize wow. There’s a weakness here there’s something that I’m just not thinking about or maybe someone else has identified that for you.
The point is that? So many of us. Don’t really have the ability to look inside. Ourselves and understand what’s going wrong and so many of us have either sort of. I don’t know why it would almost be like dwelled on the surface level and not dug too deep into your own conscious and Subconscious and trying to really get at the root of why you’re making decisions and behaving the way you do. Some people numb with drugs and alcohol and other people. Just don’t want to deal with that. But there needs to be this. This balance here because I think both sides are causing problems for themselves and they are also causing problems for each other.
And to bring this back to doctor Phil. He just did such a fantastic job sort of laying that out, and articulating that. That were sort of responsible in accountable for our own actions and he’s preached that for a long time.
And that both you know in so many ways freeze you but then also causes distress because you know you have to realize that your life is in your own hands and for so many people that’s a really hard thing to. To understand that I didn’t understand that because I felt so overwhelmed with external influences and in so many cases, I still do you know, especially trying to build a company and seeing monopolies and competition with companies with millions or hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in capital.
And so there is a need to be aware of the external influences and the impact it can have on you.
But there’s so much accountability that we can have an? In so many ways, I feel like we just. We don’t believe in ourselves in the right way, we don’t understand what we’re fully capable of. I hope one day that. We can all get. The confidence and the support the feedback that we need that. We do feel like we are in control of our own lives. Little bit different today because I’ve actually recorded this with audacity. And so I’ve had a couple chances to pause and listen back and it’s been. It’s been sort of odd doing it this way because. There’s these tradeoffs because I like talking all one conversation fluidly through. But maybe it’s the concussions. Whatever happened to me in my life. It stopped me from really following a really good trade. I thought as I’m going along and often times some sort of forgetting about what I’m saying and and really just talking out my butt because I’m like well II don’t even know what topic I’m actually talking about right now, so it was really sort of nice to actually be able to pause as soon as that happened and go back a second say OK.
Let’s try that again. However, I see you record a little bit longer, you sort of almost for. Point wise and then it’s not same thing happened go back through the information and try to find the original point that got you to the subpoint that brought you to this weird tangent that I am currently on right now. It’s also taken a lot more time. It’s a lot easier when you just wanna blab and talk on the whole time, and I didn’t actually stop that many times. But it definitely chops up the flow and adds more time to actually recording this and when you do any also realize how many weird noises, you actually make so I’m not sure how I feel. Probably continued to versions of both and apologize for anyone who actually does like listening to us for the delay.
It’s been it’s been it’s been quite a while since I’ve done my last one. Just been so God damn busy and that’s a horrible excuse. It really is. ’cause you just have to put in the time and effort in the mental capacity.
They do it, so well, making excuse right now, but things move pretty quick. I’ve been really diving deep into what I’m doing and have a lot of responsibilities and stuff going on and I want to make sure that I’m doing that right in this podcast is a really important part of what I’m doing and I can’t abandoned it and I don’t want to because.
I hope this is if something that I can continue to do to connect with others hope that bring people on hope to actually do an official speak podcast.
And I just think this is a core foundation of my life and so I’m a little bit sad that I’ve taken so long to do this.
I’m going to try to continue and I’ve had a lot of fun here today. So I hope you haven’t enjoyed this as much as as much as I have. Or stuff I want to talk about talking so much lately if you really realize when you.
Are you getting a meetings all the time in your meeting especially doing lots of network and talking and it showing people wouldn’t work, it out and all this stuff. It takes at all II don’t know I had a couple of people. In a way say that I’m an introvert. Which is not the thing and I think a lot of people think that there an extrovert for maybe an introvert? I think a lot of things, but a lot of people but this is one of my theories. Is it you know some people get energy from being with people? When I do? I get energy from being with people. But then there’s a certain extent, where I exhaust me as well, too. And running around and doing all these meetings also just lowers your productivity, sometimes just don’t feel like you’re getting work done. I’m really excited because I’m in a better spot now where have a great team that I’m relying on who are helping out and it doesn’t necessarily feel like you know, even though I’m in a meeting and making progress is not like you know it’s like the application isn’t being built and there’s no there’s other progress going on as well, too, which is really, really exciting. But. I know a lot of people. Just constantly have meetings and don’t necessarily get that opportunity and that would that would stress me.
So is is that continues and I feel like maybe Unfortunately, it will for. The rest of my life, I’m going to really try to explore how you can be be in meetings all day and being conversations, all day. Not suffer the consequences of being exhausted by him and still getting the work and productivity done you need.
Show me a challenge, but we’re going to work together. I’m going to share those insights along the way and hopefully you guys, maybe have some some insights for me as well, too. It’s so, so weird world we’re living in with this so much competition and a saw I.
Stark example of that today with a good friend of mine has a company and has been getting basically poor online reviews from a competitor.
And I understand what the system that were in the world way 11, there’s a competition there needs to be some competition. In the world needs to be some competitiveness, but So no time, like this really need to focus on collaboration non supporting each other and.
I’m hoping that we can all. So to continue to. To work on the small little pieces that were working on ourselves in in in this way contribute to this, this mass consciousness. That can be accessed of course at any time that when a person comes across an obstacle.
An obstacle or they have an epiphany that can search and they can find. And this is a need for collaboration this need for us to investigate those. You know investigate those questions find out. What makes some people happy and successful in other people you know what makes them great speakers? What makes other people amazing physical athletes. These things that are here for us to explore and find out and share with each other.
And so we can all benefit each other and. If we all get better together than maybe isn’t a need in in this way for so much so much competition.
So as I move forward with what I’m doing and enter a realm, where there is some competition and some people who are deeply entrenched in. In delivering value for their shareholders there big companies. Thousands and thousands of people and all relying on the success of them and you can understand why, why it gets competitive so quickly. It’s This is part of that thing that self preservation. This is survival out here for so many people in the competitor can enter the market and disrupt you.
It’s not just OK well come into the market and you can you know we can all share a little bit that could take away from you to the point that you have to fire people that you have to lose people lose jobs their lives can be.
Because of competition in some in some ways. And although you know, I see this need this need to do this in this current system that were in it seems like there’s a better.
A better structure that we can have to that an. When I bring that up 11 thing that this reminds me of is. A person who is actually running for president right now and actually pull this up some sitting by my computer.
Just to make sure I’ve got this right is Andrew Yang and very, very fascinated with with what he’s doing here. He is running for president in the United States. He’s running for a Democrat, he is focused very significantly on University universal basic income. And most people when they are speaking about an issue like that there immediately push towards being a Democrat.
Of course, but you know, even towards that Socialist label and he is not gotten the same pushback and the reason is he’s deeply knowledgeable about technology and impact that it’s having right now when the impact that it’s going to have in the next 51015 20 years, the future of our whole human brace him and what he Realized here that in these 4 swing key states down the United States elections. The correlation was between mass automation. People losing jobs and the current president being voted in and actually bring it back to Russell Brunson, an interesting thing, he said was that Donald Trump when he was doing. His campaign actually spoke out about a Grade 3 level, while he was telling his stories while a compareable candidate. Actually spoke out about a grade 9 level and so when people who want to times.
Have that may be low skill labor force and then get laid off by automation. The person who’s telling the simplest story and who emotionally appeals for you and who is making you feel better about the pain that you have.
I can be an easy choice and that’s that’s what happens happened in some of these swing states and for many people who voted and and you’re young has identified that he’s a little bit younger guy, He. Is comes from an actually a nonprofit background and so he was helping people? Who would actually had the impact of being laid off through technology or something and so it was his job.
To actually train them to help them find new opportunities with this seems down to Earth sky.
This smart, you can always be worried that you know if something else going on. But overall after watching him and where where a lot of people got a big look at him is on the actual on the JRE Rogan podcast again.
Pulling that up right now, it’s still needed about 2000000 views, but it was just really, really impressed to see a lot of people who are on the right side who were really impressed with him and don’t.
Don’t look at the fact that even that is running as a Democrat, is a bad thing. So it’s been really interesting to see the the interest on both sides alot of people donating have not donated before he is on his way to trying to raise $65,000 which then gives him access to the debates. I hope he gets it right now. I’m looking at. It says 37,000 and he’s going to get up to $65,000 in donation.
I don’t know if I can donate. A Canadian but I won’t because to me, this is the kind of people that we need to see in charge, with technical knowledge understanding of what’s going on in specially some of these large tech companies and just the infrastructure of the world.
We’re living in right now. I think that’s really important. We also need someone who is cognisant of the changes that are going to come into the in the next 10:15 years and that’s something that he’s running on very significantly. He has talked about even not really wanting to run for president in some regards is the fact that he is so desperate to get out.
This message that he he knows by doing this that. At least he can try to bring this message into the mainstream and so II wish him luck.
Is it scary and when you listen to the conversation on Joe Rogan. In Harrison chilling moments talking about what might look like when more automation if for example, automation of trucks and what you know what is the reaction of the truck driver is going to be in jail was actually a bit sceptical and saying.
No, I don’t think it’s going to be that bad and what Andrew quickly responded with was just like look at what happened in Europe, but the Uber drivers. And if you don’t remember that, it was like riots and people drop in cement blocks on cars on Uber’s just because they’re driving Uber if it got really outta control really quickly, and that’s what happens when that self preservation kicks in. When the primal survival mode kicks in. When your way of life is threatened in the way you make a living is threatened and it’s going to have to have a big effect on the world don’t know the numbers that he spent specifically but and not that long they believe. End of the workforce will not have a need for jobs will be laid off by automation and artificial intelligence.
When you look at the people who are losing these jobs a lot of fortunately that hatred and anger and resentment has been directed towards immigrants.
What is technology and one thing that Andrew Yang was very clear about in this podcast and what I’ve sistant Lee scene from business people.
I talked to him and even to myself is we’re going to. And we’re going to automate this stuff we’re going to keep building going to keep trying to get rid of these inefficient things we keep going to try to make this system better and there is going. There was going to be people who lose jobs because of it. There are things that are happening right now that are unneeded unnecessary ineffective. Resource intense when they don’t need to be costly. There’s people who organisations have 10 people doing a job that one person doesn’t even need to do and.
That’s that’s a pretty scary. Thing I’ve seen even was small small implementations that I’ve done in my own life. And for clients basically that we’ve eliminated the need for a lot of things. Whether that’s automation of accounting information. When someone orders on e-commerce or automated email games or email campaigns with personal ization based off triggers where no one needs to send these things I will manually anymore.
The difference that can be made if you integrate techno. Automation and some AI into your work flowing into your organization can be truly, truly game changing. And. I don’t know what exactly happened in my life, but I’ve been so drawn to tech for so long that I’ve paid attention and watched as this is sort of come for so long and really made steps in my life to try to be as technically savvy as I can for this can cost up brain that I have.
And so I thought I hope at least that I’m preparing for the future. And again we need people like Andrew Yang. Here, who are going to prepare us for that and bring awareness to this because it’s going to be pretty shocking when some of these changes.
Come and we don’t know when they’re going to come, we look at technology. We see many multiple things progressing at once and we don’t really know when those are going to converge at once to make a really big disruptive force and we’ve seen just how quickly things can change one year. No, I phones to the next year, having, I phones in existence look at the way that change. Look at the way that change, people, and behavior so correctly in something that we just did not expect coming So what is going to come with this stuff is well too, especially with the drive to do this driver for efficiency’s capitalist system that were into continuously innovate to make more money to grow and do that relentlessly through technology.
So if you’re interested in that take a take a look in check into his message ’cause.
There’s really, really interesting and. An important so just just something that I’ve seen it and wanted to bring up as well, too. And I’ve been talking on for quite awhile now here it is 37 minutes. Thank you probably maybe thought I was going to shut down a little earlier flipped it back and I still had some stuff to talk about.
But I’ve been doing this for quite a bit here and I know I’ve got some things on the way so.
Is there anything? I want to leave you with? I’m just I want you to be excited. I’m excited even know this world is being crazy, and chaotic. Sometimes there’s some really awesome things going on at, I hope you find something that that you feel that way about. I’m really so happy and proud that I have continuing to pressure every day. And when you find this path that these things you love take it. Do whatever you can look at that heroes journey and see that this. Maybe not that many times that you’re going to get those opportunities and even if there’s a chance.
You might fail even if there’s a chance. It’s not going to workout. That inner transformation can be completely worth? So. Dream crazy. Love yourself. Keep pushing. In Live your heroes journey.