The Bulletproof Executive 2013

Transcript of Rich Habits of Wealthy Individuals

with Tom Corley

Bulletproof Radio podcast #117

















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Podcast #117, Tom Corley



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Bave: Bi theie. It's Bave Aspiey, Bulletpioof Executive, anu you'ie heie with
Bulletpioof Executive Rauio. Really cieative name. Touay's golu fact of
the uay is that the longest iecoiu foi someone staying awake is 264.4
houis. That woulu be 11 uays anu 24 minutes. Kinu of a long amount of
time, even if you'ie on Bulletpioof Coffee, Piovigil, Auueiall, anu all the
othei ciazy stuff that you coulu uo to stay awake anu that you piobably
shoulun't if you'ie that tiieu.
Touay's poucast is going to be paiticulaily cool because we've got a guy
on who's a ieally well-known expeit in something that I uon't talk about
that much on the Bulletpioof Executive.
We talk about human peifoimance, but we uon't often talk about
financial peifoimance anu one of the things that I've leaineu ovei the
yeais of spenuing $Suu,uuu on upgiauing my peifoimance anu getting
my biain to woik the way I wanteu it to woik is that it takes money, anu
it's easiei to uo things like that when you have a soliu financial base, so
I've inviteu Tom Coiley, the authoi of Rich Babits: The Baily Success
Babits of Wealthy Inuiviuuals onto the show to talk about not
necessaiily biohacking oi being healthiei, but to talk about the financial
siue of success anu what we can uo as human beings to ensuie oi at
least encouiage oui own success.
Tom, you've stuuieu foi five yeais uaily activities of 2SS wealthy people
anu 128 people in poveity to finu 2uu uaily activities. That's what you'ie
heie to talk about touay. Thank you foi joining the show.
Tom: Bi, Bave. Thanks foi having me on. I appieciate it.
Bave: You'ie uoing something else new that's ieally inteiesting as well. In fact,
you just tuineu in youi manusciipt foi Rich Kius: Bow to Raise 0ui
Chiluien to Be Bappy anu Successful in Life. I've wiitten a book about
epigenetics. I think that success staits ieally in youi gianumothei about
when she's conceiveu because of the epigenetic impacts that ioll uown
thiough multiple geneiations. What youi mothei ate when you weie in
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the womb ieally affects what youi physical |meat uu:u2:18j is capable
of touay, so even if you follow the iich habits, if youi paients got it
wiong, you'ie at a uisauvantage.
All men aie not cieateu equal, not in the woilu that I see thiough the
lens of epigenetics. Some have moie skills than otheis, anu thiough haiu
woik, we can all achieve all soits of amazing things, but it's haiuei if
youi paients uiun't uo it iight. I'm stokeu to see talking about builuing
habits in kius so that we can avoiu some of the pitfalls that many people
go thiough, especially in theii 2us. What aie the habits that people
shoulu caie about the most if they want to be successful. What's youi
numbei one thing out of this list of 2uu.
Tom: Boy, that's a loaueu question. Theie's so many of them, but I'll tell you.
The one thing that I founu that is iesponsible foi most of the success
that the wealthy people have is uaily self-impiovement, anu
pieuominantly ieauing that ielates to what you uo foi a living. Thiity
minutes a uay was the aveiage time that wealthy people spenu eveiy
uay ieauing something that hau to uo with theii caieei oi something
that hau to uo with gaining knowleuge that they coulu leveiage at some
point to help theii customeis, clients, oi anybouy anu the othei thing I
founu was builuing ielationships.
To the wealthy, ielationships aie like golu. It's the cuiiency of the
wealthy, Bave, anu they go to gieat lengths to builu stiong ielationships
with specific people. They just uon't builu ielationships with anybouy. If
they ueciueu that Bave Aspiey was going to be a ielationship they
wanteu to uevelop, one of the inuiviuuals in my stuuy, he woulu call you
a ielationship tiee, anu he woulu say he was going to plant you in the
giounu anu his goal by the time he enueu his caieei oi his life was to
tuin you into a ieuwoou. Be wanteu to know eveiything theie was to
know about Bave because that infoimation's poweiful anu it coulu help
him in some way, shape, oi foim to help you.
Bave: Ny backgiounu is computei science. I was iaiseu by geeks in the wilu
anu theie's a soit of minuset that comes in. A lot of the ieaueis heie
weie like, "That's manipulative" oi "That's slimy," oi "That's using
people," oi "You only went to school to get ielationships anu that's some
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foim of piivilege that's not baseu on ability oi meiit." Bow uo you
iesponu to that when you finu out this is what wealthy people uo.
Tom: A lot of the wealthy people, while they'ie builuing these ielationships,
aie on boaiu of uiiectois of nonpiofit gioups, civic gioups. They'ie
helping to builu hospitals. They'ie helping, foi example, I'm on a . evei
since I founu out about this ieseaich, I joineu a bunch of nonpiofits anu
I'm on the boaiu of uiiectois of an oiganization that helps kius with
cancei, so you coulu look at it any way you want, but at the enu of the
uay, they'ie helping a lot of people by builuing these ielationships.
These ielationships aie a two-way stieet. You sciatch my back, I sciatch
youis. Along the way, a lot of people benefit fiom that backsciatching.
Bave: I finu it to be . I wasn't iaiseu to uo that, to even iecognize the value of
those ielationships, but as I matuieu, that seems like amazing auvice
anu all of the most successful people that I've been foitunate to spenu
time with in Silicon valley anu elsewheie uo the same thing. They will
pick up the phone. They'll call someone they want to get to know.
They'll aiiange activities that they want to uo to connect to the people
that they value, anu foitunately, theie's some times that I'm in that list,
anu it's a uance. It seems like one that successful people uo uo, anu they
uon't uo it because they'ie tiying to use othei people, but you have an
houi. Who aie you going to spenu it with. You might as well stiuctuie
that consciously insteau of going to a bai anu figuiing out whatevei
happens.
Tom: I call it the ielationship seesaw anu what wealthy people tiy anu uo is
suiiounu themselves with othei wealthy, successful people because
when wealth comes togethei, you can uo a lot of goou with that wealth.
You can uo a lot of goou with youi Rolouex, youi contact uatabase, anu
what wealthy people tiy anu uo is tip that ielationship seesaw so that
most of theii ielationships aie success ielationships anu one of the
things that they tiy anu uo is limit the time that they spenu with what I
call poveity ielationships. Those aie the ielationships with negative
people, people that aie cynical. They uon't auu any value. They'ie moie
like vacuum cleaneis.
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By builuing these successful valuable ielationships, they uo a lot of
things besiues what we've talkeu about. I hau one inuiviuual in my stuuy
who was a bigwig at a bank in New Yoik. Be ian theii commouities
gioup anu uuiing }anuaiy of 2uu9, eveiybouy iemembeis what was
going on back then, he lost his job anu he lost $6uu,uuu a yeai in pay.
Foi two weeks, he maue a couple phone calls. I iemembei one of them
was to me anu he saiu, "Boy, I just lost my job." I saiu, "That's too bau,"
anu he goes, "Yeah, I'm not woiiieu about it. I'm going to make a few
phone calls. I'll finu something."
Within two weeks, he hau anothei job anu then he calleu me up. Be saiu,
"Yeah, I got a job. I think it's going to be a bettei job. Noie potential foi
eaining money anyway." I saiu, "Bow uiu you uo it." anu he saiu ovei all
the yeais, along with a lot of the wealthy people, they uiu ceitain things:
A hello call, a happy biithuay call, life event call. They stayeu in touch.
They uiu eveiything in theii powei to help builu the ielationships they
wanteu to builu, anu so when he fell into that abyss, all he hau to uo was
thiow out a life line, a phone call, a couple phone calls, anu within two
weeks, he hau anothei job, anu that's what those poweiful, successful
ielationships uo. They bail you out in a time of neeu, not just help you
make money, but they bail you out when you ieally neeu them the most.
Bave: It's a foim of iesilience, just like you can iecovei fiom an acciuent oi
something oi fiom a heavy woikout oi you can uiink moie vouka than
the next guy because you built iesilience, anu builuing it into youi
caieei, it matteis. This happeneu to me actually. I was at a secuiity
company in Silicon valley. We planneu to lay off. I fought like hell to
piotect my team, the guys woiking foi me, anu I uiu. None of them got
laiu off. I was assuieu that I was also piotecteu, knowing full well that I
was piobably at iisk because my team was all ieally goou, so you uon't
neeu the boss when you've got people who can execute.
Suie enough, the moining of the layoff, I'm not inviteu to the iight
meetings. I'm like, "0h, gieat. I'm on the list" even though two uays ago
they piomiseu I wasn't on the list anu I uiun't minu being on the list, but
they uiun't give me the benefit of a iunway, so I came home fiom what
was alieauy going to be a iough uay because any time theie's a layoff,
it's painful, anu I founu I uon't have a job. Bonestly, my wife, Lana,
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fieakeu out a little bit, but I'm like, "I'm going to make a few phone
calls," just like the stoiy you saiu. That's what maue this come up in my
minu. "I'm going to make a few phone calls."
I hau a job as an entiepieneui in iesiuence at Tiinity ventuies within a
few uays, anu that was a iemaikable time in my caieei because I got to
see what stait-ups expeiience when they'ie pitching on the vC siue, but
I got to see it fiom the vC's peispective, which was ieally valuable foi
me. It's a weiiu thing to look at any time you'ie laiu off as an
oppoitunity to expanu if you've built iesilience anu safety buffeis in.
Like I saiu, it's about the people anu moie specifically, the people you've
helpeu. I think that piece of auvice foi eveiyone listening to this is uon't
look at eveiyone as who's going to hiie me latei, but how can you help
them because they might help you back oi they'll help someone else anu
it woiks out, so it's beautiful auvice. I love it.
You pay a lot of attention to this because when you weie nine, youi
family went fiom basically millionaiies to nothing. What happeneu. Can
you tell me a bit about that.
Tom: Yeah. Ny uau . theie's foui types of luck, Bave. Theie's ianuom goou
luck, theie's ianuom bau luck, anu those two types of luck aie faiily
uemociatic. They affect iich people anu pooi people equally. Then
theie's the types of luck that wealthy people anu pooi people cieate.
Wealthy people cieate oppoitunity goou luck anu pooi people cieate
uetiimental bau luck. Ny uau was the victim of ianuom bau luck. The
waiehouse buint uown anu back in those uays, they uiun't . he hau, I
uon't know, foui oi five million uollais' woith of tools in inventoiy anu
lost most of them. They uiun't have insuiance like they uo touay, so he
hau to stioke a check to his venuois foi about foui million, which was
all the money he hau.
Be coulu have fileu foi bankiuptcy because at the time, I uiun't know
anything about it but as I got oluei, my uau saiu, "Yeah, I was piobably
half a million uollais insolvent at that point," anu he saiu, "Bankiuptcy's
not the solution." Be saiu, "The solution's getting back up on youi feet
anu staiting all ovei again." Be was foitunate enough to have some iich
habits, not many, but he hau a few iich habits that helpeu to uiag him
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back up, anu it took yeais, but when he ietiieu, he hau a million uollais
in the bank, so he went fiom being insolvent with eight kius, most of
them young, to ietiiing with a million uollais in the bank anu that was
because of some of the iich habits that he hau.
Bave: At the time, weie his iich habits conscious oi weie they things he'u
pickeu up. I imagine most people's habits because they'ie habits, aie
not paiticulaily conscious, cultivateu habits. Biu he pass these uown to
you oi is this all a iesult of youi stuuy because you uiun't want to ielive
that expeiience.
Tom: No, the answei is he uiun't pass these uown to us ieally because he was
nevei aiounu. Be was always woiking. Be was one of these people that
he tighteneu his belt anu he ueciueu, "I'm going to woik my way out of
this," anu he was gieat at builuing ielationships. Theie was no question
my uau was piobably one of the most poweiful people on Staten Islanu
befoie he fell off the mountain. Be was a big, poweiful, behinu-the-
scenes political guy anu all those ielationships came . that was the one
iich habit that he hau. Be hau the iich habit of builuing these iich
ielationships, anu each one of them bent ovei backwaius to tiy anu help
my uau.
They weie loaning him money. They weie tiying to get him jobs. They
coulun't uo enough foi him anu that's why we uiun't lose oui house. We
came close. 0ntil the time I was 2S, we piobably hau about six oi seven
instances wheie we almost lost oui house. You lose youi house anu we
hau 11 people living in that house. That woulu have been a uisastei. Ny
uau was incieuible that way in keeping the family alive. It was that iich
habit of builuing those ielationships. Nost of these iich habits that I've
encounteieu openeu up my eyes because I uiun't have my uau that sat
uown anu hau the conveisation with me.
I can tell you when I uncoveieu these iich habits, I sat uown with each
anu eveiy one of my kius anu explaineu the habits to them as I was
uncoveiing them anu all of the stiategies that I uncoveieu, anu of
couise, when I wiote the book, I maue each one of them ieau the book,
anu so they'ie the beneficiaiies of it. I've got a guinea pig in my son
who's 24 yeais olu anu he's woiking in the city, anu he's knocking it out
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of the paik. Be's one of the faii-haiieu kius in his company because he is
the beneficiaiy of these iich habits anu this is why the paienting is so
impoitant anu why I wiote the Rich Kius book.
Paients aie often the only success mentois any of us evei have a shot at
having in life. Theie's five ways you can finu a mentoi. Paients aie
pieuominantly the way, so if paients aien't uoing theii job because they
uon't know what to uo, then the kius aie going to giow up anu they'ie
going to pick up whatevei habits theii paients passeu along to them anu
this is why the iich get iichei anu the pooi get pooiei, Bave. It's not
because of Wall Stieet. It's not because of the goveinment. It's not
because of 1S othei ieasons. It's because of paienting.
If paients know the iich habits, they can pass . anu not just paients,
gianupaients . they can pass along the iich habits to the kius oi the
gianukius anu it can change theii lives. It can bieak the geneiational
cycle of poveity at a veiy eaily age by inuoctiinating kius.
Bave: You aie going to achieve a lot of goou with this book. I've been involveu
with }unioi Achievement wheie you go in as a businesspeison anu you
teach economics usually to pooiei schools anu I've uone this in East
Palo Alto, I've uone it in Nountain view. 0ne was a iich school, one was
a veiy pooi school anu man, the uiffeience in the awaieness anu
unueistanuing of the people in the classioom. In the pooi school, it's
like, "What aie you going to uo to get a job." "I'm going to buy inseit-
name-of-laige-S0v-with-spinneis-on-it" anu you go acioss the tiacks
anu it's so uiffeient, just the peiception of economic ieality is wiluly
uiveise.
If you, with youi woik, can teach paients to uo this foi theii kius, a lot of
people won't uo things foi themselves that they'll uo foi theii kius oi
even theii pets, so since you'ie not going to have iich pets, iich kius was
uefinitely the iight taiget foi you. When aie people going to be able to
get this book. Because honestly, I want to ieau it anu make suie I teach
my kius a lot of these habits that I piobably uon't know myself.
Tom: It's going to piobably come out in late spiing. We'ie shooting foi }une
1
st
. We alieauy know that Rich Babits was a bieakthiough book. We
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alieauy know this is going to have bioauei appeal because I sent out the
manusciipt to about 2u people. I'm pait of an oiganization that's tieu
into the }ack Canfielu |ciosstalk uu:17:uSj.
Bave: Infoimational Leaueiship Council. Is that the one.
Tom: Yeah, well it's the Bieakthiough Success uioup, anu my publicist
happens to be one of the tiaineis in his gioup, so they weie the fiist
people I ieacheu out to to have them take a look at the manusciipt foi
feeuback. That's one of the big things that }ack talks about, feeuback.
You want to get feeuback, so I got a lot of feeuback anu what I sent out
as the manusciipt changeu veiy much. In fact, one inuiviuual hau such
significant feeuback that it took me about thiee uays to ievise the
manusciipt anu it took about, I uon't know, 14 houis uuiing those thiee
uays to make those changes, so it was wholesale changes that I maue
anu I got to tell you theie is a lot to that feeuback, a iich habit, I guess
you coulu call it.
You'ie always afiaiu whenevei you cieate, Bave. You'ie afiaiu of that
feeuback because it's human natuie. It's the way we aie. That's why you
have to tuin it into a habit to seek that feeuback, anu I'm glau I uiu
because it ieally tiansfoimeu that manusciipt. It maue it much bettei,
so we'ie shooting foi }une 1
st
anu we think we'ie going to have a
blockbustei on oui hanus.
Bave: It woulu not suipiise me anu when it comes out, I woulu encouiage
people listening to this now to check it out. When it's coming out, if I can
have you back on the show to help you with youi launch, I'u be moie
than happy to.
Tom: |ciosstalk uu:18:4Sj.
Bave: When I look back on my own expeiience as a biohackei, I iealize I spent
a lot of time anu money on uoing bau habits that I hau, incluuing
financial ones, but oftentimes health anu nutiition anu all the othei
things that we uo anu getting it iight the fiist time is so much simplei
foi almost eveiything that humans uo, so I'm ieally a suppoitei of that
woik. When people aie looking at being bieauwinneis foi theii families
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touay anu whethei they have chiluien oi not, theie aie some othei
things that they shoulu uo.
You'ie talking about Su uays to change poveity habits. We talkeu about
ieau moie. I'm guessing if you uiu a bianu new stuuy listening to
inteiesting poucasts might also be on theie with ieauing because when
you'ie uiiving you can't ieau. You might as well get that info into youi
heau. Boes that supposition make sense to you.
Tom: Yeah, theie's ieally two paits to youi question. We'll talk about the iich
habit numbei one which is the ieinvention habit, but on youi point
about listening to poucasts, the wealthy people who weie uevoteu to
uaily self-impiovement, they weie not only ieauing, they weie listening
to auuiobooks. Back when I was uoing this ieseaich, ieally poucasting
was just coming into its infancy, so poucasting wasn't a big ueal, but
they weie big auuiobook listeneis when they weie commuting in theii
cais oi when they weie on the bus commuting into New Yoik City. They
weie listening oi ieauing books uuiing theii commute. They weien't
wasting time, anu they weie ieauing books that weie ielateu to
successful people, self-help, caieei-ielateu.
The poucasting is going to be the thing. The eBooks anu the poucasting,
that's going to be the thing that most of this ueneiation X anu Y engages
in with iespect to the self-impiovement, but it's not going to be any
uiffeient. The iich habit is the same. You want to feeu youi biain with
moie knowleuge to cieate oppoitunities to make moie money.
Bave: You saiu ieinvention is anothei habit theie. Bow uoes ieinvention come
into play.
Tom: That Su-uay thing . I've uone a lot of ieseaich on habits anu how the
biain woiks, the subconscious anu the conscious, the conscious pait of
youi biain, anu five-sixths of oui biain is subconscious, so a lot of it has
to uo with oui limiting beliefs oi oui belief system anu oui thinking. If
we aie engageu in oi caught up in negative thinking, negative thinking is
poveity thinking. That's how pooi people . They think negatively. They
have negative thinking. They have negative emotions. What the iich
habit numbei one uoes is it foices you to self-assess by . I hau a talk
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about it in the book. You list all of youi bau habits. You've got to be
biutally honest. This is about you, so you list all of youi bau habits anu
then you inveit those bau habits into iich habits thiough a simple
piocess. Foi example, let's say you watch too much Tv anu the aveiage
inuiviuual watches foui-anu-a-half houis of Tv anu now it's moiphing
into foui-anu-a-half houis of inteinet-ielateu stuff, whatevei you want,
iecieational inteinet. The ueneiation Y now, they live on the inteinet.
They'ie looking at YouTubes anu eveiything. Kit Kats anu |inauuible
uu:22:29j anu |ciosstalkuu:22:Suj .
Bave: Bieak.com.
Tom: Yeah, wasting theii time. What the ieinvention habit uoes is it foices
you to list all youi bau habits anu if one of them is you watch too much
Tv oi you spenu too much time on the inteinet, youi new iich habit is I
spent one houi touay on the inteinet anu Tv, anu one houi's impoitant
because that's what the laige majoiity of the wealthy people, they spent
an houi oi less on Tv oi wasting theii time iecieationally watching Tv,
anu that fiees them up to uo the self-impiovement stuff.
If youi poveity habit is I uon't exeicise enough, youi new iich habit is I
exeicise 2u minutes oi Su minutes aeiobically touay. It seems like the
aeiobic activity was the exeicise of choice among the wealthy, anu the
ieason foi that, they gave me, was aeiobic activity is the best way to
keep youi weight uown, it gets youi metabolism going, it gets youi heait
iate going, it gets oxygen into youi entiie system anu youi biain, anu
because it makes you moie healthy, it ieuuces the numbei of sick uays
anu that incieases youi piouuctivity anu it incieases eneigy, anu that
incieases youi piouuctivity, so theie's a lot of benefits to aeiobic
activity that aie wealth benefits, piouuctivity benefits.
What you uo is you go thiough all of those bau habits. You inveit them
one by one. If you smoke cigaiettes anu that's a poveity habit, youi iich
habit is I uiun't smoke a cigaiette touay, so you aie essentially eveiy uay
looking at youi iich habit checklist anu you cieate youi own customizeu
iich habit checklist baseu on youi own poveity habits, anu if you aie
successful, that means you've checkeu off about Su to 4u% of youi iich
habits uuiing the uay. That's all it takes. The inteiesting thing about the
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iich habits is they'ie keystone habits. Keystone habits aie unique in the
habit woilu in that they uominate othei habits. They eliminate othei
habits.
Foi example, aeiobic exeicise is a keystone habit. It can eliminate
oveieating, eating junk foou. It can eliminate smoking cigaiettes. It has
this ueiivative benefit that almost without any willpowei, youi passion
uiives you because, foi example, if you aie woiking out aeiobically anu
you lose 1u lbs. in a month anu somebouy says to you, "Bey, Bave, you
look gieat," that hits an emotional button, anu this is the key: These iich
habits aie intenueu to stoke youi emotions. 0nce youi emotion is
stokeu anu you say, "Wow, I like people saying nice things about me like
I'm looking goou, so I'm going to exeicise moie, I'm going to ieuuce the
amount of caloiies I take in eveiy uay, I'm going to stop eating as much
junk foou as I uo."
The wealthy people, most of them, I think it was 87% ate less than Suu
junk foou caloiies a uay wheieas 97% of the pooi ate moie than Suu
junk foou caloiies a uay, so these aie all inteiesting things that the
wealthy people uo anu they uo it intentionally.
Bave: You coulu uefinitely look at taking caie of youiself as a iich peison habit
anu a lot of the woik that I've uone on myself was aiounu how uo I be
moie efficient at taking caie of myself because I'u like to have moie time
foi self-impiovement anu moie time foi family, oi moie time foi woik
oi economic activity, whatevei it is, but the iuea that change is in the
assumptions theie about not just avoiuing junk foou, but eating the
optimal foou anu things like that can give you a mental euge that
tianslates potentially into wealth oi fiee time oi Swhatevei else it is.
Tom: That's iight. What happens, Bave, is aftei the Su uays of following the
iich habits, youi new customizeu iich habit checklist, what eveiyone
tells me anu I know because I uiu it, the feeuback I get fiom them is, "Ny
gosh, my minuset completely shifteu." They go fiom negative to positive.
Theii whole mental outlook becomes positive. They stait thinking
positively. Theii emotions aie positive anu that positivity, that positive
thinking, those positive emotions, that's the path to success because
that's . We'ie getting into a little teiiitoiy that ueals with the
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14
subconscious minu, but the subconscious minu accepts piogiamming
thiough oui beliefs, thiough oui emotions.
Emotions aie the key to unlocking the uooiway between the
subconscious minu anu the conscious minu, so when you follow these
iich habits foi Su uays, you tiiggei emotions anu the emotions stait
going to woik by iepiogiamming youi subconscious minu, anu then
that shift is magic because then you stait uoing moie. You expanu the
scope of what you'ie uoing anu you stait builuing on the iich habits that
you have anu they become like snowflakes on a mountainsiue, Bave.
They builu up anu they builu up iich habits ovei time, anu you enu up
having something I call an avalanche of success event. It might be a new
job. It might be a piomotion. It might be a new client oi customei. It
might be any numbei of things.
Bave: It's inteiesting how many small changes ovei time accumulate anu they
make something goou happen like that.
Tom: Yeah, no question about it. No question about it. It's the baby steps that
count. Theie is no magic bullet othei than what I founu which is youi
uaily habits aie the key to success in life anu they can make you iich oi
pooi, so theie's no magic bullet. Theie is none. It's youi uaily habits anu
it's the baby steps that aie involveu in builuing anu accumulating the
wealth, anu I talk about that in my book about how theie's ieally thiee
paths to wealth. Theie's the living below youi means, theie's expanuing
youi means, anu then theie's uoing both.
We talk about a lot of things in the book, but uoing ceitain little things
eveiy uay help you accumulate wealth anu then, if you live by the one
iich habit of the 8u2u iule, saving 2u% anu living off of the othei 8u%,
if you staiteu that at the age of 22 oi 2S, whenevei it is you staiteu
woiking, by the time you'ie 4S, you'll have a million uollais in the bank.
I uon't caie how much you make, as long as you'ie not at the poveity
level. If you'ie youi aveiage }oe just staiting out in life anu, in touay's
uollais, maybe making $Su,uuu oi $4u,uuu out of college, you save that
2u%, that will builu up ovei time anu I piomise you, by the time you'ie
4S, you will have moie money than any of youi peeis uo.
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15
Bave: That is such amazing auvice anu I wish I'u taken it. I have a coiollaiy
theie that comes out of the Silicon valley uot com boom, anu that is sell
half. When you have a ieally giant winufall, take half of it anu put it in
youi pocket. I hau six million uollais of vesteu stock that I coulu have
anu shoulu have solu, but I uiun't sell, anu I uiun't uo it because I was
blackeu out. I wasn't legally alloweu to sell it unless I quit my job, anu
what I shoulu have uone was quit my job anu solu my stock because
that's set foi life money when you'ie 26. When I was 28, the company
went bankiupt, anu I watcheu it go uown because I was afiaiu to take
the money off the table.
Lessons leaineu, but foi uou's sake, I've woikeu an awful lot of yeais
anu I still uon't have six million uollais. That's FYIv money, to use the if
you investeu kinu of thing.
Tom: That's a sau stoiy, but you know what. A lot of these iich habits because
most of the paients uon't teach this stuff . Thank uou we can leain it
thiough the School of Baiu Knocks, anu that's a School of Baiu Knocks
stoiy anu a lot of the wealthy people . I woulun't say a lot, but a goou
peicentage of them in my stuuy, they uiun't have paients who taught
them the iich habits, but they leaineu the iich habits thiough the School
of Baiu Knocks. They staiteu businesses.
That's the gieat thing about being in Ameiica oi any countiy that allows
you to stait a business. You can leain what to uo anu what not to uo, but
the School of Baiu Knocks is the haiuest way to leain because it costs
you time anu it costs you money, anu usually you figuie it out when
you'ie in youi 4us thiough the School of Baiu Knocks anu you'ie
playing catchup. That's why I'm focusing so much of my attention on the
kius, anu when I shoulu have been focusing my eneigy iight aftei I
wiote Rich Babits with the meuia, I chose a uiffeient path.
I chose to spenu 18 months talking to ovei 2uuu high school anu college
stuuents, anu giving away as many books. Each of those books cost me
about $4, anu I uiu that because eveiy time I felt . I staiteu out uoing it
with my kius' high schools anu colleges anu then I expanueu it because I
saw in each one of the kius that I went into, I saw theii face anu I saiu,
"That's my kiu. I'm going to teach them like they'ie my kius, just like I
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16
teach my kius." I thought I can help this geneiation even if five oi six
kius in the ioom out of Su oi 4u get it, that's five oi six kius that aie
going to be successful in life anu I changeu some lives theie. That, to me,
was moie impoitant than piomoting the book on the meuia.
Bave: It's an incieuible motivatoi when you iealize that an houi of youi time
can change someone's entiie tiajectoiy anu that's the same ieason I uo
the Bulletpioof Executive woik because I get the feeuback eveiy uay
fiom people saying, "Eveiything is uiffeient because I figuieu out that
little thing that you happeneu to mention somewheie." Same thing, one
of those kius will come back to you 1u yeais latei. I imagine you've
piobably gotten some feeuback like that saying, "Thanks. You tolu me
this, I uiu that, anu what uo you know. I'm in a uiffeient place in my
life." Bo you heai that.
Tom: It's inteiesting you biought that up because in 2u11, I moveu on. I wiote
anothei book calleu The Top 1uu Cheapest Places to Retiie in the 0S
anu that was I ueciueu Rich Babits wasn't going to be successful, so I'm
moving on. Then, I got an email in Febiuaiy of 2u12 fiom a ieauei who
saiu that the Rich Babits helpeu change theii life, anu they saiu, "Youi
book was gieat. It was even bettei than The Wealthy Baibei" anu I
confess, I hau nevei heaiu of The Wealthy Baibei, but I uiu a little
ieseaich anu I founu out that it was wiitten by a Canauian. They solu
two-anu-a-half million copies anu so I took the email that I got fiom the
ieauei anu I foiwaiueu it to the authoi, Baviu Chilton, anu it basically
saiu, "Ny book is bettei than youi book."
What I was ieally tiying to uo was finu out how the heck, if I have a
bettei book accoiuing to this ieauei, how the heck uiu he sell two-anu-
a-half million books anu I'm stiuggling. At the time, I uon't think I hau,
besiues the 2uuu books I gave away anu the 2uuu books I solu to
libiaiies anu stuff, I ieally uiun't have many books solu, so I wanteu to
know. I'll be uaineu if the guy calleu me within about a minute.
The fiist thing he saiu to me was, "So youi book is bettei than my book."
I got him on the phone anu I guess that was the hook. I askeu him. I saiu,
"Baviu, how the heck uiu you sell two-anu-a-half million copies." anu he
saiu, "You got to conquei the meuia, Tom, Tv, iauio, piint anu uigital," so
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I ueciueu at that point I was going to. Be leu me uown a path by having
me ieau a book that he was in on how to piomote youi book, so I ieau it
anu that leu me to anothei peison anu next thing I knew, I was uoing
inteiviews on 1Su iauio stations anu that leu me to my publicist.
I'm glau I uiun't quit, Bave. This is one of the things that I shoulu have
leaineu fiom my own ieseaich. I shoulu have taken a page out of my
own book: Focus, peisistence, anu patience. That was one of the thiee
chaiacteiistics that set wealthy people apait fiom pooi people anu heie
I was violating that because I was essentially moving on anu giving up
on Rich Babits, but then I got back on anu I peisisteu anu eventually,
Yahoo Financially Fit, they caught an aiticle that I hau wiitten anu they
likeu it. They ueciueu to inteiview me anu they have a veiy populai
show calleu The Financially Fit, anu they came in heie with theii Tv
ciew.
The inteiview went viial. They nevei hau moie than 8uu,uuu hits on
theii website. They hau 2.2 million hits within 24 houis anu one of the
people that ieau oi watcheu the viueo was Bave Ramsey, the numbei
thiee iauio host in the nation, anu he hau me on his iauio show. Be was
talking about the book foi thiee uays anu then he finally got me on the
show. I went fiom, I uon't know, SS,68u-something on Amazon to
numbei seven oveinight in all books. I was aheau of }.K. Rowling. I was
aheau of at the time, the numbei one New Yoik Times bestsellei, Lean
In. I think I solu 2u,uuu-2S,uuu books in thiee uays.
Bave: That uefinitely makes youi uay. I spent five yeais wiiting my fiist book.
Wiley publisheu it. It's calleu The Bettei Baby Book anu it solu less than
S,uuu copies anu it's the veiy best that I know how to wiite in teims of
knowleuge anu in teims of impioving the entiie life of a peison, anu I
iealizeu the same thing as you. I uon't know the book maiketing game. It
is complex anu I've been suiiounuing myself with successful authois
anu leaining fiom them anu helping them, anu planning what I'm going
to uo foi my next book anu even to ie-launch that book because I think
the books aie going to help people, but they uon't help people if no one
ieaus them.
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That's pait of being an authoi is getting people to unueistanu what's in
it foi them to ieau youi book, so I'm ieally hoping that I can go uown
that same path with my book. In the meantime, I know my blog is
helping people. I uon't get paiu pei copy on the blog, but I uon't caie. It's
helping people. It's a goou thing, iight.
Tom: Yeah, anu I want to make . Theie was one metaphoi that Baviu useu
that ieally iesonateu with me. We weie talking anu I guess I must have
saiu something about tennis anu he saiu, "Wiiting a book is like the fiist
seive in tennis. The iest of the match is piomotion. That's what makes a
successful authoi, not wiiting the book. The piomotion activities that
you have to uo." Boy, I'm telling you Bave, the guy was spot on. Be is
absolutely 1uu% iight. The uiffeience between a successful book anu an
unsuccessful book is the amount of piomotion that you ieceive anu the
amount of effoit that you put into piomoting a book.
Bave: It's amazing what can happen theie. Theie's a comeuian with a populai
poucast nameu }oe Rogan who came acioss my woik on Bulletpioof
Coffee anu things like that. Ny blog was alieauy getting pietty populai,
but he staiteu talking about it all of a suuuen, anu I'm ieally giateful that
this one thing like that like you hau with Yahoo can help othei people
know about the woik anu then they can check it out anu uo things like
that. It's often seienuipitous when something like that happens.
Theie's some othei habits that you talk about anu theie, I think you'ie
leaining fiom someone who's ieally successful, which I think is a goou
habit in anu of itself, but you saiu only six peicent of wealthy people
gossip. I maintain a no-gossip iule in the Bulletpioof Company anu
we'ie a tiny company, but the iule is anytime someone's heie, we uon't
talk ciap about someone. If so, we get on Skype anu we talk to each
othei face-to-face to put it out theie. What's the wealthy people uon't
gossip iule all about.
Tom: That one I actually thought that that statistic, because I tiackeu ovei
2uu, I think 2u7 uata points I tiackeu that sepaiate the wealthy fiom the
pooi, anu that one was so glaiingly set them apait, I thought, "Boy,
maybe my uata's wiong." What was inteiesting is when I hau the
inteiview with Bave Ramsey, he saiu the same thing that you just saiu.
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Be saiu, "That stiuck me, that one uiffeience between the iich anu the
pooi," he saiu, "because I have a no-gossip policy at woik."
Bave: 0h, he uoes. Wow.
Tom: Yeah. Be's on the aii. I have him iecoiueu on the aii saying that. I saiu,
"Ny gosh, this statistic is spot on." You think gossip woulun't be such a
bau thing if all the gossip we weie uoing was positive anu uplifting anu
builuing up people, iight.
Bave: "That guy's just too goou. I can't stanu it." Yeah, iight.
Tom: |ciosstalk uu:41:1Sj. If that was the kinu of . but I'll tell you what, most
of the people in life aie stiuggling financially, anu the ieason they'ie
stiuggling financially is because they opeiate fiom a negative minuset,
anu the ieason why they gossip anu it's negative gossip is because of
that, so it's all connecteu. It's all inteiielateu, anu this is why successful,
wealthy people uo not allow gossip in the office. They shut it uown.
They uon't want any of that going on because they know it cieates
pioblems anu it uamages ielationships. It uestioys ielationships, so
that's why Bave hau a no-gossip policy anu that's why you uo because
you unueistanu that intuitively.
I uon't know how you know that, but I uiun't know that. That was, at the
age of 48, I leaineu that foi the fiist time anu I wisheu somebouy tolu
me when I was 9 oi 1u. "uossiping is bau. Bon't gossip." I wisheu my
paients tolu me that anu I wisheu they'u enfoiceu it, but unfoitunately,
the majoiity oi 9S% of the population in this countiy, theii paients
uon't teach them these kinus of things.
Bave: I think the inteinet may have something to uo with that, too. It's so
painfully easy to fall into the gossip tiap, especially when theie's time
uelayeu. You can senu an email. You can post stuff in social meuia anu it
quickly uevolves into gossip. I've hau to exeicise a lot of iestiaint
because it's one thing to say, "This iule is wiong" oi "This
iecommenuation is not a goou one because it uoesn't make sense." It's
anothei thing to say, "You'ie a jeik anu you'ie blah, blah, blah." The
obvious anyone with integiity, theii noimal iesponse to something like
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20
that is to gossip. You come back, "Yeah, well ." so I've ieally been
exeicising my own self-contiol theie aiounu not tuining my blog anu
things like that into a souice of gossip because it's just not useful.
Stick to the facts, stick to what's impoitant, stick to positive
ielationships anu say nice things about people who ueseive it. If you uo
that, I think it contiibutes to youi wealth anu ceitainly, it makes
eveiyone happiei, even if it makes no one wealthiei, anu that's still a
foim of wealth in my book.
Tom: Absolutely. You'ie spot on theie.
Bave: Let's talk about, you mentioneu exeicise. You mentioneu not eating junk
foou. The othei thing in youi book that's paiticulaily cool . You talk
about waking up eaily, befoie suniise, anu uoing something foi self-
impiovement. Why eaily insteau of late. Isn't that a peisonal piefeience
thing.
Tom: Yeah, it's a significant iich habit because wealthy people in geneial
wake up thiee houis befoie they actually get into theii office oi theii
place of business, wheievei that might be. The inteiesting thing is what
uo they uo with that thiee houis. What they uo . Theie's a iange of
activities. It incluues the uaily self-help ieauing, self-impiovement
ieauing. It incluues the uaily aeiobic exeicise. In some cases, wealthy
people weie mapping out theii uay. They'ie cieating theii to-uo lists. In
othei cases, they weie wiiting speeches that they have to give. In othei
cases, they weie piepaiing lesson plans because they weie aujunct
piofessois teaching at night, expanuing youi means . iich habit.
They weie wiiting books. They weie wiiting aiticles, publications. They
weie uoing any numbei of things that weie positive, moving you
foiwaiu kinu of things, helping youi caieei type stuff, helping youi
health type stuff, making youi life bettei. In those two oi thiee houis
that they spent in the moining, they got moie accomplisheu
piouuctively. In a lot of cases, they weie puisuing some chief aim in life
oi main puipose, pait of the expanu youi means iich habit.
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They weie uoing something to help puisue some uieam that they hau,
many of them, anu that's something that they uiu even befoie they got
to woik, anu then they uiu theii job, anu then at night, they woulu eithei
uo the same thing oi they woulu uo netwoiking oi builuing
ielationships, things like that, anu then stait the whole piocess all ovei
again. It's like I saiu, it's that snowflakes on the mountainsiue kinu of
stuff. It builus up anu it builus up, anu you have an avalanche of success
in that one uay.
Bave: Bo wealthy people engage in peifoimance-enhancing substance use.
Coffee woulu be an example, but othei things. Bo they avoiu alcohol
moie. What's the take on that. I've seen a lot of questions about that
fiom big meuia lately.
Tom: The answei is yes, anu it's SS% of the wealthy stayeu away fiom uiugs
anu alcohol, meaning they uiun't abuse the uiugs anu alcohol, wheieas
it was, boy, I wish I hau it in fiont of me, but I think it was 6S% of the
pooi aumitteu to abusing it, alcohol anu uiugs. It's not just alcohol.
Theie's gambling; 77% of the people who weie in my pooi gioup, they
gambleu on the lotteiy at least weekly, anu 94% of the wealthy uiun't.
All of these vices that we know aie bau, the wealthy people unueistanu
anu they stay away fiom. They uon't want to lose money. They want to
make money. The pooi people, unfoitunately, aie picking up these
habits fiom home, pieuominantly. Theii enviionment, too, but
pieuominantly fiom home anu |inauuible uu:46:S8j you see youi fathei
going to 0TB anu you say that's the noimal thing. Noimal people uo that
because my uau uoes it. Be uoes it eveiy week, so you uo it. You pick it
up anu it becomes a poveity habit. Ny uau oi my mom uiinks a lot, so
you see that anu you follow theii poveity habit anu you uiag that into
youi auult life. What the wealthy people uo is they leain that iich habit
fiom home. They'ie veiy foitunate because they leain it fiom theii
paients. They uon't have those poveity habits. If they uon't, they pick it
up uuiing life eithei thiough the School of Baiu Knocks oi thiough a
success mentoi that they iun into at woik oi it's a gieat teachei oi
thiough books. Books aie anothei way to finu mentois, so you can leain
these iich habits anu the iight things to uo thiough those five ways:
Paients, teacheis, caieei . in youi caieei you have a success mentoi in
youi caieei, oi books, oi thiough the School of Baiu Knocks.
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Bave: Aie you a fan of Napoleon Bill. Think anu uiow Rich.
Tom: Yeah.
Bave: |ciosstalk uu:48:uSj self-help impiovement.
Tom: Yeah, I must have ieau that book about a half a uozen times. That guy
was amazing anu so fai aheau of his time. I have to say he hau a little bit
of oppoitunity goou luck. Be stumbleu into Anuiew Cainegie. That's the
stoiy. Be hau to wiite an aiticle foi a papei anu so they askeu him to
inteiview people like I guess Anuiew Cainegie was on the list, so he
went anu Anuiew Cainegie saiu, "This is my oppoitunity to shaie my
iich habits." In his case, what came out of that was moie than just Think
anu uiow Rich. It was the concept of the masteiminu gioup, using
people, builuing ielationships with people, suiiounuing youiself with
people, anu the masteiminu is an inteiesting thing because I think 99%
of the people get the masteiminu wiong.
A masteiminu gioup ieally only woiks if eveiybouy is uoing the same
thing. If eveiybouy's wiiting a book . If you'ie wiiting a book, finu foui
othei authois who aie wiiting books, anu that becomes youi
masteiminu gioup. I've tiieu masteiminu gioups, piobably thiee oi foui
of them in the past, anu they nevei woik because one guy is uoing this,
one woman's uoing that, anu eveiybouy's got theii own agenua. The ieal
value of a masteiminu gioup, anu this is what happeneu with Anuiew
Cainegie, is they weie all pulling the same cait. They weie all uoing the
same thing. That's when a masteiminu gioup has ieal value.
Bave: What's the biggest size of a masteiminu gioup that woulu woik in youi
opinion.
Tom: I think if you have moie than six people, you iun into time constiaints
because six people, you can iun a masteiminu gioup with six people in
an houi. If you go above six people, you'ie going to iun into pioblems.
You know it's like anything else. That's why 2u to Su minutes of aeiobic
exeicise is such a goou numbei because people will uo 2u to Su minutes.
People will uo a masteiminu gioup that's 4u, 4S minutes, tops an houi.
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They'll push away when it's . They'll finu it too time-consuming
eventually anu uiop out.
Bave: That makes goou sense. I've been exploiing masteiminus lately anu
theie's an awful lot of them foiming anu all of them seem to have an
economic ieason to be big, but what you want to uo is spenu ieally goou
quality time with a small numbei of high quality people which makes it
less of a business mouel, but maybe moie impactful.
Tom: That's iight.
Bave: Theie's a question that I'm ieally eagei to ask you anu this is a question
that I've askeu eveiyone who's come on moie than a hunuieu episoues
of Bulletpioof Executive Rauio, anu it's the final question of the
inteiview. It's what aie the top thiee iecommenuations you woulu have
foi people who want to peifoim bettei in theii lives. This isn't just fiom
youi book. It's fiom youi entiie life's expeiience, the thiee most
impoitant pieces of auvice.
Tom: I will tell you it's no question. It's youi limiting beliefs. The beliefs that
we holu insiue of us in oui subconscious minu, those limiting beliefs
holu you back in life. I uon't know if you've evei heaiu of Biian Tiacy,
but the guy wiote a book calleu The Psychology of Achievement anu he
came out with a |ciosstalk uu:S1:26j. That actually, if it wasn't foi Biian
Tiacy anu that Psychology of Achievement, I woulu not have passeu the
CPA exam because at the time I was unuei the impiession I was uumb. I
giew up in a family of eight. I hau a lot of oluei siblings, anu they uiu not
miss an oppoitunity to call me an iuiot, so I giew up honestly thinking I
was an iuiot. Even though I occasionally got stiaight As, I thought that
was fluky, so I think youi limiting beliefs that you take with you in youi
auult life.
I think those limiting beliefs aie the things that holu us back the most. I
think people neeu to get out moie anu netwoik anu builu ielationships.
I ieally think that's impoitant. I think piociastination. I talk about this
on my Rich Babits website. Theie aie ieally five stiategies to avoiu
piociastination. I think if you can make it a iich habit not to
piociastinate anu it's a big if, but wealthy people have tools that they
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Podcast #117, Tom Corley



24
use to help them, those thiee things I think aie ieally ciitical to success
in life.
Bave: Thank you foi that well thought out list. I imagine having stuuieu 2uu
habits like that, you weie going to have some pietty epic answeis, so
that's ieally cool.
Tom: Thank you, Bave.
Bave: Woulu you, Tom Coiley, please let people know youi 0RL, youi Twittei
hanule, anu the othei ways they shoulu ieach out to you anu how they
can get on the list foi youi new book because if you'ie planning to have
kius oi you alieauy have kius, I think this is going to be a ieally
impoitant book anu I want an auvance ielease of it. As soon as I can
ieau it, I'll stait teaching my kius.
Tom: No woiiies. RichBabits.net is the heaitbeat of ieally eveiything that I'm
tiying to aiticulate with the Rich Babits. I have all my ieseaich uata on
theie, all my ieseaich aiticles, anu theie's a lot of iepoits, anu you can
even get some . We have a couple of eBooks that we'ie going to put on
theie ieal soon, so if they go on RichBabits.net, anu my Twittei hanule's
RichBabits anu my Facebook is RichBabits, anu Tom Coiley is my
LinkeuIn, so we'ie exploiing this new thing calleu BootSuite. I think you
piobably know it bettei than I uo.
Bave: Yeah, we useu it eveiy uay.
Tom: I uon't know anything about it.
Bave: It's a goou inteiface foi all those things, so when you say something
once you can say it eveiywheie insteau of saying it 1u times. It'll save
you enoimous time. You'll love it.
Tom: Really, Rich Babits is the |ciosstalk uu:S4:u4j.
Bave: That's the main place.
Tom: If you google Rich Babits, tiust me, it'll |ciosstalk uu:S4:u8j foui oi five
pages, thanks to the meuia.
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Podcast #117, Tom Corley



25
Bave: Yeah, you'ie pietty well-known anu youi woik is woithy of iespect anu,
the people who aie listening touay, it's woith the time to ieau youi
book, anu I believe youi next one as well. I can't wait to see it myself.
Tom, thanks again foi being on the show.
Tom: All iight. Thank you, Bave. I ieally appieciate it.
Bave: If you'ie uiiving touay in youi cai in tiaffic oi maybe watching us on
iTunes oi on YouTube, thank you. I ieally appieciate youi time touay
anu uiu my best not to waste it. If you appieciateu this, anu you enjoy a
goou cup of coffee, check out Bulletpioof Coffee. It's on
0pgiaueuSelf.com anu I'm about to publish some amazing new ieseaich
on what's actually in the coffee, anu the level of toxins in coffee anu
wheie this all comes fiom. At the enu of the uay, it's all about
peifoiming bettei up heie, which iequiies that you peifoim bettei
uown heie. If you'ie listening, up heie is youi heau anu uown heie is
youi heait. Bave a gieat uay.






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