Speakers: Sam Parr (host), Shaan Puri (host)
Introduction to Jesse Itzler [00:00:00]
Shaan Puri: That is unfreaking believable. That made me cry. This is Jesse Itzler, and he has got the craziest resume you have ever seen. He sold a private jet company to Warren Buffett. He helped build Zico Coconut Water, and he is the only guy who can say that 50 Cent was his intern.
But I don’t admire Jesse just because he is rich financially. I admire him because he leads such a rich life. He runs these crazy endurance races. He goes on adventures with his friends. I have always wondered: how does one guy do so much? As Jesse says, we don’t lack time; we lack a system. So that is why I am here at his house today to learn the exact system that he uses to plan his year.
Sam Parr: All right, we are here to do an annual planning session with the one and only Jesse. They always tell you to think like a billionaire. Well, I came to a billionaire’s house to see how he thinks about planning his year.
Jesse Itzler: There he is. Welcome to the house, man. What is going on?
Shaan Puri: Last year, you came on the podcast and you were like, “Here is how you do it. This is what you do.” I was so inspired, and I left and I did 25% of the process. So this year, my forcing function was I am coming to his house. I am going to do it with him. Because I am a procrastinator.
Jesse Itzler: So I was like, “Oh, I got the whole year to plan this.” And then come the whole year, I still didn’t do all of the steps. And so this year, I am going into the year with more momentum. A year is a long time. You are not going to sit down and be like, “Oh, here is all 365 days,” and I am going to do it in two. It doesn’t work like that. To figure out what do you want to put your energy into this year? And then once you get that, I’ll give you the whole thing. Anyway, welcome. You want a quick tour?
Cultivating Curiosity and Boredom [00:02:30]
Jesse Itzler: These are organic avocados. Have you ever seen what an avocado is supposed to look like? You can bring that home with you.
Intro Song: Fresh kicks, new tricks. Write the script. Don’t miss. It’s all in the mix. New year. I’m the architect of bliss. Every step, every twist.
Sam Parr: This is Taylor. This is Taylor. Hello, Courtney.
Jesse Itzler: Courtney, what’s in that smoothie?
Courtney: Cocoa powder, chocolate, Stevia, protein powder, bananas, flax seed.
Jesse Itzler: Courtney, how good is this avocado going to be when I try this avocado?
Courtney: The real blow your mind.
Jesse Itzler: So, this doesn’t look like it’s anything special. We’re big on family dinners. We have a ton of family dinners, but every night that we have a guest, all the kids at the table have to ask the guest at least one question. What’s great about that is it makes the kids inquisitive. It teaches them a little bit about public speaking, eye contact. We coach them through a little bit of that stuff. In today’s world, where there’s so much of this, getting them to talk and communicate and be curious—where did curiosity go?
Seriously, the best thing my parents did for me when I was a kid was they didn’t over-schedule me. They let me be bored. I used to go with my mom to her Board of Education meetings. She’d have three-hour meetings once a month and I would go there. She would give me a box of crayons and paper and I’d be so bored. But then I’d dream about being on the Knicks. I’d dream about being an astronaut. I’d think about a girl in the class. It just got my creative juices rolling and it also taught me to be patient, self-soothe, all the things that have been stripped from kids. This is a very meaningful room for us.
The Pre-Planning Ritual: Workout and Sauna [00:04:15]
Sam Parr: We’re about to walk on a sky bridge. I don’t know what to call this. This is amazing. Can I sponsor this? Can this be the My First Million Sky Bridge? We get a sticker on the bottom.
Jesse Itzler: Absolutely. Oh, I’m excited about this. I know you’re anxious to get started. I think before we start and do anything, like anything in life, we have to get into the right mind state. You just got off a plane, you’re tired. This goes for anybody, by the way. You want to plan or you want to have a meeting with your significant other or partner, even by yourself, you have to get excited about it and be in the right mind. So what I love to do is just take you through what I do in the morning, which is just a quick little workout. I do this quick little workout, maybe jump in the sauna, but then we’ll come back here. You’ll feel great.
Sam Parr: Perfect. Let’s do it.
Jesse Itzler: I don’t have a lot of time like you. I used to say, “Oh, I need an hour to work out.” I saw this thing on Instagram that’s like 10 motions that everybody should do and I put it on my wall. It’s basically 10 exercises. By the way, I don’t even know if I’m doing all this right, but I’m just doing it and it feels good and it takes me like six minutes. Every part of my body is getting work. I call this a “no excuse” because if you don’t have six minutes, you don’t have a life. The only thing is I got a bad foot. Getting an X-ray. I think I broke my foot. I’m not even kidding. Let’s go to the sauna.
Sam Parr: You good, Shaan?
Shaan Puri: I’m good.
Jesse Itzler: Oh, it’s a good sign. See the smoke? That means we’re cooking up. Come on in. So, you want to hear something crazy? This is water, but this is 50% beer and 50% water. You get a buzz, too. I’m a big believer in learning from the masters. I had a SEAL live with me, master of mindset. I lived with the monks, masters of spirituality. I lived with Wim Hof, the master of cold and breath. And I went to Finland, the masters of the sauna. I did a 10-day tour of 30 different saunas. One of the gals that was leading one of the sessions suggested that we use beer. So I was like, “All right, the master said beer.” We use beer.
Designing a Life, Not Just a Career [00:06:00]
Shaan Puri: That’s why I’m here. The master of planning your year. That’s why I wanted to come to you. The reason I wanted to come out here, because I don’t travel much. I have little kids at home. I try not to travel. But the reason this was a no-brainer for me was because I wrote this blog post a while back called, “Who is your Elon?”
I live in San Francisco. And in San Francisco, Elon is the North Star everybody chases. Do something really big, really impactful, really ambitious, really challenging. He’ll be the world’s first trillionaire. And that’s amazing. I love Elon. I love that he exists, but I don’t want to be Elon. It would be foolish for me to choose that as a North Star or a blueprint to follow because I don’t want to be divorced three times and have kids and there’s all these other parts of that picture that I don’t love.
So, I thought about that and I was like, what is the blueprint that I like? What are examples that I can model? They have success in their career, but they also have success at home and they’re healthy. You’re running marathons and whatnot. You’re super fit. And then adventure, friendships, and adventure. I don’t have all of that laid out. So, I wanted to meet somebody who’s further ahead in that game who lives that version of the good life. For me, winning is winning in all those areas. Having my cake and eating it too with my friends and family with a big fork. That’s what I wanted to do. How do I assemble this life that has all those components? Rich in all those areas, not just rich financially.
Jesse Itzler: Yeah. No, I love that. And you mentioned clues. First of all, thank you for choosing me. I’ve been picking up little clues throughout my journey by asking a lot of questions to people that I look up to. And they’re not necessarily people that have a zillion followers or zillions of dollars. There’s just something in their life that I really like, whether it’s how they take care of their kids or spend their time.
The calendar is like a blank check. You get to write whatever amount you want on that for what you want out of this year. The calendar is your most honest autobiography. It is your highlight reel. At least for me, it’s where I want to put my energy towards. When I have things on my calendar, it gives me permission to say no because if it’s on my calendar, that means I have energy for it. That means that if something doesn’t belong there, I don’t have to put as much energy. Now, I might have a wedding on my calendar. I might have other responsibilities. Those are things I can’t control. I’m talking about the things that I’m writing and that I’m excited about. How old are your kids?
Shaan Puri: 6, 4, and 1.
Jesse Itzler: So, this is the critical time. They’re all watching you. They’re watching your habits. If you’re efficient and you’re planning and you’re a doer, there’s a higher chance your kids are going to be doers. My nine-year-old son ran a marathon two years ago when he was nine. He’s 11 now. He didn’t do that because he was playing Fortnite. He did that because he watched me go out in the rain, in the snow, have goals. You don’t understand the impact even coming out here. If you can explain to your six-year-old, “Hey, Daddy wanted to get better. He took a long trip to invest in himself to get better.” That’s a powerful lesson. You’re showing them, not telling them.
Shaan Puri: Love that.
Jesse Itzler: Yeah. Let’s go do this.
Step 1: Getting Light [00:08:30]
Shaan Puri: Jesse, teach me how to plan my day.
Jesse Itzler: Yeah. Listen, this is so exciting. I don’t take years lightly. We don’t get a lot of them, and we’re all so busy. I feel like in general, most people plan their life around work. I think it’s really important to plan work around your life. In other words, we tend to play life on defense. Our calendars fill up with other people’s requests for