Hormozi and Robbins Miss This About Hustle (And Why Men Still Feel Empty)

Machine transcribed from the episode audio, lightly cleaned. Timestamps are approximate.

0:00
Knowledge is futile and it is frail. Even the best knowledge, the Tony Robbins level of knowledge that has spoken to presidents, that has spoken to dictators, that has spoken to the most successful business leaders and help them to be more successful. That knowledge pales in comparison to the wisdom that God has, the wisdom that God gives to you and I, only if we will be open enough to receive it. What will profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? As a Christian, when we typically read that verse, we often immediately go to,

0:51
what will it profit a man to gain the whole world by sinful behavior and therefore lose your soul in the process? And that is definitely one right way to read that verse, but there's more to it than that. It goes beyond just the sinful behaviors. It goes even deeper into this idea that if we pursue worldly things, if we pursue things that are not of God, or if we are pursuing things that are not fully aligned with our calling from God, at best, we're going to profit the world. And we're going to miss out not just on eternity, but on so much more that this world, by the grace of God, has to offer.

1:38
Recently, I started getting text messages, some DMs on X from guys that I respect that were like, hey, did you watch that podcast episode that Alex Hormozzi did with Tony Robbins? If you've been following me for any length of time, you will know that as soon as I hear Tony Robbins' name, I typically shut down. And that is because while I respect the work that he does, I don't love the way that he goes about doing it. And that's just my own personal preference. He has clearly made significant contributions to this world, to those less fortunate. He's used his money for a lot of really good things. He is highly sought after and respected by the most prominent people in this world. So he definitely has a lot of credibility and has due a lot of respect for that.

2:27
But for me, he's just, he's never been my vibe. To be honest, in my now 27 years of professional journeying, I have never read a Tony Robbins book, not even an excerpt from one. I've never watched more than 10 seconds of a clip he's been on because I usually just click right off of them. And so the idea of watching an hour plus of Tony Robbins talking just didn't do it for me, even though I have a lot of respect for Alex Hormozy. And I've read all three of his books, $100 million offers, $100 million leads, $100 million money models. I've learned a lot from that. I've incorporated a lot of that into business. And so I follow a lot of what Alex does, even though I don't love everything that Alex does either.

3:14
And I felt this tension in watching Alex live and operate in business and in life. I'm like, man, there's just something missing. So anyway, I was traveling this last week and I had an opportunity in the Atlanta airport. I had some downtime and I'm like, you know what? Enough people have said I'm going to check this out. I'm going to check this out. And so I jumped in and I started to watch and I was pleasantly surprised. I was encouraged. And yet I found myself inside the Gordon Beers restaurant in the Atlanta airport wanting to yell at my screen a couple of times because there were just some things that were so blatantly missing. So I want to dig into this specific conversation that Alex had with Tony and make some comment around where I feel like things were missed, where I feel like things were really great.

4:14
But ultimately how as Christians, we should be looking at things like this and learning from them to pursue God and all that he calls us to do. So let's dive in. Let's check it out. And let's see. How do you see the dichotomy between duty and enjoyment as it relates to the impact that you want to make with the business that you have? By the way, this is where I started to perk up right away because this is something that I have actually seen Alex do regularly. He grinds, which I don't love the word. He pushes. He works so hard, similar to David Goggins.

5:02
And it is from this place of duty. You can tell that he is like forcing himself to do these things. So when I heard him present this to Tony, I was like, ooh, this actually could be really good. I can't wait to hear what they say next. It's interesting. You know, words are tricky. They can produce emotions and sometimes we pick up words because the people are around. I used to play poker with a group of guys when I was in like 1920, 21, and they were older than I was. And they were all married except one. And I was surprised to see one day, well, one of the guys, I knew he loved his wife so much. Two of the other guys always were talking about their wives. Like I had to go back to the old ball and Jane, you know.

5:40
And one day, I couldn't help see it. It was like I was a witness of it because I was always sensitive to this. Here was another thing, again, you know, as a not Tony Robbins fan. And I really appreciated the fact that he picked up on a man talking negatively about his wife. And you could tell that that was a red flag for Tony. And so I'm like, oh, that's a pretty cool characteristic. I didn't know that about him. But, oh, that's something that I can respect in him. We don't have to love everything about somebody to have some respect for them. So duty could be a good word, like if you're seeing yourself like a soldier. Yeah. Right? But I don't look at it that way. I look at it as obligation. No, I don't look at obligation.

6:20
Sorry. No, it's okay. But I say this because I saw this in some of your language. And I don't know if this is helpful to you. I don't pretend to coach you in any way. But for me, at least, I can tell you, I look at it as opportunity. I don't feel a sense of duty. I feel a sense of joy and being able to contribute. To me, contribution is what we're made for. It's not hard to meet your own needs as a human being. It's not that difficult today in the world we're in today. But have a fulfilling life. You have to have something you care about more than yourself. And so if you get in a business just to make money, there's nothing wrong with that. Those people usually, even if they succeed, they hit a limit of fulfillment because the economic returns only produce so much.

6:53
So I don't look at it. I mean, again, think about this. From a Christian perspective, from a biblical lens, he is speaking to the very thing that Matthew records in Matthew 16. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? God creates us. He implants into us this desire. The first desire is to worship him. We all have been created with an inherent desire to worship God. We just try to block that, inhibit that, turn from that, deny that. So that's one. The second thing is, is each one of us was created with unique purpose, with unique calling.

7:40
And finding that, that God-aligned purpose, that's a gap I talk a lot about. Finding that gap and aligning ourselves to it becomes one of the most incredibly fulfilling and fueling things that we can possibly do in our pursuit of achieving all that we dream to pursue. I look at duty and enjoyment. I look at it as more like it's all enjoyment because contribution is the ultimate enjoyment for me. I mean, I get into business for impact and economics are second. If I have enough impact, you'll never have to worry about economics in your life. And I found that to be true in my own life. So I don't look at it quite that way. I look at it also, though, that if you think you're going to really enjoy your life and not do anything, I think you're deluded because you'll wake up one day.

8:22
Because the only thing that makes us feel alive is growth. You know, when you grow, then you have something to give. And when you give, then your life is more meaningful than just, you know, pleasure. You can give us a pleasure by, you know, money, food, alcohol, sex, whatever it is, you know. But it's never going to be the same as when you have something that's larger than you that you're called to. It's like. Tony. You're speaking God language. You're getting it. You're getting this idea. You've adopted this concept that I can do all of these things and they still will never be enough. I can make all the money, marry the beautiful woman, have the kids, the house, the cars, build the business.

9:10
And it still may not be enough. So at this point, here we are just a few minutes into this discussion. And I'm like, okay, now I can see why other people were so intrigued and excited and impacted by this conversation. Because Tony's getting to the heart of the very thing that Alex is clearly struggling with. And the thing that so many other men in this world are struggling with as well. And it's this tension between wanting to make an impact, wanting to do good, wanting to succeed, wanting to build all these things. And at the same time, doing that misaligned because we still feel this emptiness.

9:56
We still feel this hole inside of us. And you're going to see here in just a minute how Alex's entire demeanor and body language changes. So check this out. I hate the word motivation because I've never been a motivator. But people use the word. So I'll say, well, there's two types of motivation if you don't think of it that way. There's push motivation, which is, let's say, duty or I've got to do this or I have to do it or obligation, right? Or just I'm going to make this happen. And look, brother, you have a huge amount of willpower. It's pretty obvious by what you've accomplished. I have tremendous respect for you. And I do. But we'll barely go so far. That's push. Pull motivation is where there's something out there that you want to serve more than yourself.

10:30
It'll get you up early, keep you up late. And it isn't hard. It isn't duty. It is like what I'm made for. Tony, you just admitted that you were made for something. How can you attribute that to the universe, to spirituality, to some flavor of God and not realize that there is one God, there is one creator, there is one sustainer. And when we can tap into what we were made for, external motivation is unnecessary.

11:17
We will become internally motivated and driven by the very things we were created for. It's like he's getting it, but he's not getting it. And this is a guy that has been uber successful for more than 50 years. And he's still missing it. When I was 20, I got obsessed with positive psychology. I read, I had a trunk of books in every single one of them. We saw, felt things like this early on before I had a business, any of that stuff. And I got to a point where I realized I read about all the books and my life hadn't changed. And it felt very hopeless for me because my subject to well-being was the same. And so I came up with a mantra for myself, which you might laugh at, which was fuck happiness.

11:55
Because I felt so rejected by the notion because I felt so unattainable for me. And so what I replaced it with, I would be useful. That's great. A meaningful life is a very useful life, right? First of all, I'm so grateful that a guy like Alex Hormozy can say out loud what so many of us need to hear, which is self-help as a whole is garbage. It doesn't work. It doesn't create. We can't help ourselves. This is the whole point of the gospel. This is the whole point of everything that Jesus came to do and did is we couldn't help ourselves. We couldn't reconcile ourselves to God the Father. And so he had to send his son down to live the perfect life, to appease God,

12:45
to die the sinner's death again, to appease God, and then to resurrect from the dead, to overcome sin, Satan, and death, so we could live a life of eternity reconciled to God. But it's not just the eternal. It's also the temporal. It's the now. We cannot help ourselves. You cannot self-help yourself into happiness. Happiness, joy, fulfillment, the kind that sustains only comes from God. And so these guys are getting it, but they're not getting it. Basically, what I've warranted my entire life around was like,

13:32
that's why duty for me feels meaningful, because it's like, well, you know, I might not enjoy this whole ride, but like, everyone else can get stuff out of it. And so that's the story. Which, by the way, this is so crazy to me when you think about this. I may not be able to enjoy everything, so I'm going to do this out of duty and obligation, because at least everybody else is going to enjoy it. And, you know, even in the Christian circles, there's this idea, almost like this martyr's mindset, that I'm going to spend my entire life suffering so those around me can feel good, so those around me can better themselves. And I get it. I understand where that comes from, especially in a society and a culture today that is all about me,

14:19
self-pleasing me to the detriment of other people. But when we look to Jesus, and I want to be so careful about how I navigate what I'm about to say, but when we look to Jesus, his death, his life, death, and resurrection on earth was selfless. And yet, it pleased him. We see that Jesus pleased the Father. As a matter of fact, when Jesus is baptized, and God the Father speaks over Jesus and John the Baptist, God the Father says to his son,

15:06
this is my son in whom I am well pleased. And you're like, well, that was God the Father being pleased in the son. God is God. One God, three persons. So while Jesus's death was selfless, it was also pleasing to him. So he sacrificed himself and pleased, appeased himself in the process. We don't have to live our lives suffering for the sake of other people. We definitely need to sacrifice. We definitely need to look to the needs of others, and oftentimes more so than we do ourselves, because we are so self-focused. But if you are living your entire life destroying yourself and draining yourself

15:53
in order to positively impact other people, you will likely never be happy, because you will have to constantly chase the need to help more and more and more and more. It is a never-ending battle, because you still have that same hole. You still have that same emptiness inside of you that leads a guy like Alex to say F happiness. Forget it. I'm not even going to talk about being happy. I guess at least I could make other people happy. And that's just not a life that we want to live. That's not a life that we were created to live. All right, check this out. I'm not the struggle that I have, because I'm okay with that. You're okay with it, but you're torn by it, my friend. Yes. No, agreed. I will accept that.

16:39
I understand. You'll accept that. Yes. But would you accept anything else in your other businesses? Would you accept something that's mediocre compared to what you're capable of? No, of course. Yeah. Okay, so I'll give you my chance. Boom! Alex says, I will accept that. I will accept the fact that it is what it is. Tony says, will you? Will you really? Well, no. Look it. We get to these default positions because it's like, well, I guess this is just the best it's going to be. And again, there's lots of nuance here, but I want you to hear this loud and clear, because this is something that Tony Robbins is incapable of teaching you, that Alex Hormozzi is incapable of teaching you, and it is this.

17:29
You don't have to settle for less. You don't have to settle for second best. You have been created by the king of this universe to accomplish great and mighty things for his glory and your good. But you have to choose to do the hardest thing. You see, the hardest thing that these guys could do was submit to God. But that would require them to stop living the life that they want to live and instead live the life that God wants them to live. And it's not to say that they're not doing things that already mirror many of those qualities and characteristics, because they were already created in the image of God.

18:17
They were created to worship God. So they're emulating in many ways things that they have been created to do. And then also by way of seeing other worshipers of Christ, mirroring Christ in this world, and they pick up on those things. The smartest guys in the world can still be missing the most important thing in the world. You and I may never achieve what Tony's achieved, what Alex has achieved, but we still hit the wall. We still hit that point where we're like, man, I got it. I got everything that I've ever wanted. And it still doesn't feel like enough.

19:03
And in the Christian circles, oftentimes what we start to hear is, well, see, because you're pursuing the wrong things. And that may be true. But what if, what if you're actually pursuing the right things the wrong way? You're looking for the wrong outcomes. You're aligning yourselves with the wrong people. Or maybe you're just applying in the wrong way. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're doing all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons. Again, back to Matthew 16. Just because we hear this negative connotation around losing our soul, it doesn't necessarily mean that we're living in sin, and therefore we are sacrificing an opportunity to live forever with God.

19:53
It could mean that we're missing the opportunity to live in the now as God has created us to. Okay, one more thing I want to show you, and then I'm going to kind of unpack this all for you in kind of one final little narrative here. So check this out. Like, what was the moment where, like, well felt achievable? Yes. So for me, it was $100,000 in my bank account. Okay, great. That was the moment. I wrote about it in my book. Leila and I were on the kitchen counter, and I was like, look, babe, we actually did it. That's awesome. And it was to this day the richest I've ever felt, and I think it's because it's the largest relative change in wealth I've ever experienced. Because you go from $1 to $100,000, you get $100,000.

20:29
And $100,000 takes a lot longer than that. Okay, so you hear what he said there. He's going to go on to talk about the fact that Tony's going to help him try and come up with something that's more meaningful, that attaches, you know, kind of more deeply to his sense of purpose. And we're going to get to this place where Tony says, okay, so what is it? What's the thing? And Alex finally decides that he wants to help 100,000 young men put $100,000 into their bank account, which what an incredible feat. What an incredible gift. And Alex says this because of that right there. He says, the richest I ever felt was when I had $100,000 in my bank account for the first time ever.

21:17
And if you know Alex's story, you know that he was broke, made a bunch of money, broke, made a bunch of money, broke, and now he's made way more money than he could possibly ever know what to do with. Way back when, he felt his richest. And so what's the point of now? What is the actual point of adding more wealth, of adding more income? And we can all talk about those things for, you know, for the same reasons that Alex is pursuing more wealth is the reason why I'm pursuing more wealth. Like, I want to provide a nice home for my family. I want to send my youngest daughter off to college.

22:03
I want to help my oldest daughter afford her wedding. I want to take some nice vacations. I want to give more to those around me. So there's definitely reason, good, even godly reason to make more money. And this is not me trying to say to you that money doesn't matter. It does. It's important. It is a phenomenal tool. It is not evil. But the point that I'm trying to make in walking through this discussion, this interview that Alex and Tony had, is Alex already hit the point that he is now trying to continue to replicate.

22:51
And for a guy that is so smart, that has built so many incredible businesses, that has helped so many entrepreneurs like me make more money than I ever thought I could possibly make on my own. It's not enough. What's missing? Well, I've said it over and over again, and this is the thing that every single person needs to hear loud and clear. The greatest success this world has to offer will never make you happy. Not deep down at its root. Temporarily, it will. You know, throughout this discussion, and again, I actually gained a lot of respect for Tony Robbins and the way he navigated the conversation.

23:42
I didn't like everything he said and like the way he said it again. It's just me being nitpicky because I'm not a fan. But overall, I love how he drew Alex's personality out. He got Alex to see that he doesn't have to operate from this place of duty, suffering to continue just to help other people, that there needs to be a deep sense of joy in him. But these guys are still missing it. The smartest guys in the world are missing the fact that without Christ, it's all meaningless. Solomon, the wisest man in the Bible, will say it's all meaningless in the book of Ecclesiastes.

24:28
What does he mean by that? Well, he is prophesying what Matthew would say later in Matthew 16. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? You see, we, you and I, if you're watching this, if you're listening to this, you're likely a Christian. And if you're not, I am pleading with you more than ever to listen to what I say next. But if you are a Christian, I am pleading with you to consider what I'm about to say for your own life as a Christian. Listen, we were created not just to please God, but we were created to fulfill the purpose, which is actually pleasing to God. But we were created to fulfill a very specific and unique calling.

25:17
Do you realize that there is nobody else in this world? There never has been, there never will be that is exactly like you. And that was intentional on God's part, because only you could fulfill the purpose that he has created you for. Only I can fulfill the purpose that God has created me for. And by figuring out that purpose, I don't just gain eternity with God. I gain the greatest sense of joy, of fulfillment, of happiness, of success, and of wealth that is humanly possible to me.

26:02
I'm not saying that every Christian will be a billionaire. What I'm saying is, is that in order to achieve your full potential, whatever that is for you, requires you to know God and follow after him with your whole heart. This is why there is a vast difference, a chasm, a canyon, larger than any canyon you or I has ever seen between the knowledge of this world and the wisdom of God. Knowledge is futile and it is frail. Even the best knowledge, the Tony Robbins level of knowledge that has spoken to presidents, that has spoken to dictators, that has spoken to the most successful business leaders and help them to be more successful.

26:49
That knowledge pales in comparison to the wisdom that God has, the wisdom that God gives to you and I. Only if we will be open enough to receive it. We don't get to have some of God and some of other things. It's all God or no God at all. And I'm talking about the God of the Bible. I'm talking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I'm talking about Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. The Orthodox Christian God that we find in the Bible. There is no other God.

27:36
There is no other way. There is no other way to heaven. There is no other way to the most incredible life you could possibly ever live. And so the reason why I decided to record this video, which is actually the first time I've ever recorded a reaction video like this, is because I've just come to a place in my life where I cannot stand back and watch as other people are led to a life that is less than the very best for them. And I cannot stand to pursue that anymore for myself. I want to make it a point to seek godly wisdom above all else. It's not that I'm never going to listen to Alex Hormosey again. I probably still won't listen to Tony Robbins again because of what I had shared earlier.

28:23
But I will listen to Alex because there are some great things that he shares, but I will always take those with a grain of salt knowing that he is missing the thing above all things. Because if Alex had the wisdom of God and was utilizing the wisdom of God to write $100 million offers, $100 million leads, $100 million money models, he would have sold more than $3 million of his last book in 48 hours. Why? Not because God is a marketing genius, but because Alex still has more to learn, still has more to understand about who God has created him to be. And not only would Alex be a better contributor, the very thing that he actually wants to be and wants to do, Alex would actually be happy.

29:15
It's not to say that we won't struggle. Jesus said, in this world, you will have tribulation, but then he follows it by saying, but take heart because I have overcome the world. He says, you will deal with pain and suffering and struggle. We are not absent of that in the Christian life. But he says, I have a way to deal with all that. That makes far more sense. Because when you get overwhelmed, Tony, Alex, Ryan, whoever you are, when you get overwhelmed, Jesus says to cast your cares on me. Because his burden is light and that's what he's trying to do for us. When we are afraid of a diagnosis, of a circumstance, of a potential failure in our business,

30:05
to take a risk to start that business in the first place. Jesus says, I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. He says, in your weakness, I am made strong. The Bible has the answer. The Bible, because it is the word of God, is the answer. So whether or not you continue to listen to Alex Hormozzi, whether or not you continue to listen to Tony Robbins, can you please hear my plea? Give yourself over to Christ. Even if you don't 100% understand what that means in the moment, submit yourself to the belief

30:50
that God created the universe, that God sustains the universe. Give yourself over to the belief that Christ so loved the world that he gave himself up for it. That you, no matter what you've done, to what degree you've done it, to where you are at right now in this process, Jesus loves you. And he says, come to me. Turn from what the world has called you to do and follow after me. It's not about turning from all the things and all the desires of your heart. It's about fully understanding them and realizing that this world has far more to offer you

31:37
than you have allowed it to be. Jesus loves you. The wisdom of God is for you. The question is whether or not you're willing to accept him. The wisdom of God is for you. Bye.