Mark Bell's Power Project - Bodybuilders React To Iman Gadzhi's "17 Life Lessons"

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

In this reaction video, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza take a look at a video called "17 Life Lessons For Teenagers" by YouTuber Iman Gadzhi. Check out the original video: https://youtu.be/NqDO5zOqnFM Bodybuilders React To Iman Gadzhi's 17 Life Lessons  @ImanGadzhi   New Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the new Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw Special perks for our listeners below! ➢https://hostagetape.com/powerproject Free shipping and free bedside tin! ➢https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!! ➢Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM ➢https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes! ➢https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off site wide including Within You supplements! ➢https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT for 20% off! ➢https://bubsnaturals.com Use code POWERPROJECT for 20% of your next order! ➢https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori! ➢https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep! ➢https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off ALL LABS at Marek Health! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off! ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150 Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en  Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

Owen Carr, he works with us here on the media team, and he sent us this video. It's called 17 Life Lessons for Teenagers. So he watched it. He was like, actually, there's a lot of good content in here. But he sent it to us because he thinks that we'd have some good insight on some life lessons since you lived a whole ass life, and you're going to live a long more. I've lived a little bit. And Andrew has lived right between, like, I'm 30.

You're 30 what? 37. You're 62 I think all I think all three of us have been teenagers before too haven't we I think yeah I don't know and Seymour was a big teenager though it was not the whole yeah for some of it for most of it yeah I was a teenager but I was, man. Like, I remember back in my teenage years, I was, Doug, you know how I learned how to type fast? By playing this game called Maple Story. It was an MMORPG. And I played so many computer games that, like,

that's how I learned how to type super fucking fast. You know what I mean? Nah, you're not a nerd. I'm sure you had a lot of girlfriend prospects at the time. I had no girlfriend in high school. You know the funny thing? Neither did I. Dude, I had this girl that was interested in me. Actually, she ended up being my girlfriend later in life.

But at the time of high school, when I was a junior about to be a senior, she liked me. And when I came back senior year, I was like, hey, I can't do this relationship thing. I have school and soccer to focus on. That's my Africanness. I'm just like, I cannot focus on women. I have to focus on school and soccer to focus on. That's my Africanness. I'm just like, I cannot focus on women. I have to focus on school and soccer. I was not good with ladies.

Yeah. So anyway, whatever advice we give here is probably null and void because all teenagers want to do is get some pussy. Or just beat the fuck out of their meat, which I mean, we've done a lot of that. We got experience there. I saw one forearm is bigger than the other yeah i have calluses from it too that

haven't gone away anyway let's see what we got so ladies and gentlemen i grew up without a father i'm a child and the reason i'm telling you this is because i am going to tell you 17 life lessons. Why are you laughing, Andrew? That's just the way he did it. Some of our dads just went out and never came back. That's just how it be. Going to the store for cigarettes. Or just going to Africa and never coming back. All right, let's go.

As a teenager. So these are things that I had to find out the difficult way and that's why I'm sharing them with you today so that way you do not need to go through the years and years of pain struggle soul searching that I went through and you can just bypass all of that if you listen and you take heed I'm curious Mark do you think like there's so much content on the internet and so many people that are giving advice like Tom's a guy that we talked about in this dude and it's good. Right. But do you think that just by watching videos that you can bypass certain things? Like, what do you think about that? really helps a lot. So I think that there'll be some kids that listen to this, uh, that are in a strong enough position to take the information and then apply it. And there'll probably be others that, uh, maybe struggle to apply it, or maybe they don't hear it the same way. The way that we, uh, interpret stuff has a lot to do with like where we are in our lives. So there might be some

kids that listen to this and it just falls short or doesn't land on them well, or they shut it off early. Uh, but there might be some other kids where they're like, I'm going to really take that advice. And maybe some of these kids, maybe they have two parents and maybe they only have one. Maybe they're not getting like much information on kind of how they live their life at home. Maybe they've never heard any of this shit that he's about to share right now. And maybe this is going to be transformative and maybe it will lead them to going down a path of personal development. And honestly, I'm just going to spit ball these 17 lessons. Lesson number one is you need to extend your timeline. And I know that is very difficult when you watch my videos. It's very

difficult when you are on TikTok and you see these 18 year old, 21 year old millionaires. And I understand that I am even a part of that issue sitting here at the see these 18 year old, 21 year old millionaires. And I understand that I am even a part of that issue sitting here at the age of 23 years old, but tens of millions of dollars. It is so easy to see the final product and think that you need to rush when quite frankly, you don't. I can tell you that I have missed out on so many hang out with the friends, grab a beer with the friends, watch the football game. My childhood and my teenage years had none of that, which is why I want you to understand, extend the timeline. You want to become a millionaire? Great. Give yourself five years. It's an interesting thing that he mentioned

there. He himself missed out on certain things that like maybe, you know, parties or this and that. But at 23 years old, he's extremely successful because maybe potentially he bypassed some bullshit, but he also thinks that maybe you should not bypass some of those things because it might be more beneficial. Like extending your timeline and giving yourself time to do things is huge. That makes a lot of sense. But what do you think about that aspect of things? You know, our buddy, Eric, that works here at slingshot was just, uh, telling me like a dream of his, he said he wanted to like open up like an academy that has like wrestling and, and maybe some weightlifting and things like that. And I said, uh, you know, number one piece of advice I can give you is, uh, you can never start too small, you know, so start really, really small and, and literally take your time is the discussion I just had with him probably like 20 minutes ago. Oh, yeah. So I think it's important that you set your expectations really low.

If you want to be really wealthy, set your expectations low on like what your first job is. Set your expectations low on can you gather together $100? Can you gather together $200? Can you gather together a hundred bucks? Can you gather together 200 bucks? Once you start to figure those things out, then maybe you'll start to be able to figure out how to get 500 bucks and a thousand bucks and so on. So small incremental steps.

It's how we get better at anything. Lifting weights, running, doesn't matter really what it is. It's going to take a while. And to just think that you're going to go into like jujitsu and be a black belt or something is, it's a pipe dream. You're not going to all of a sudden become a black belt. It's going to take you time. And how long it's going to take you versus how long it's going to take somebody else is probably not really anything to even concern your brain with.

Just say, I got into jujitsu. I really like this. And this is where I'm at right now. And one day I'm going to be a black belt. I'm going to take my time. I'm going to learn this skill and this is where I'm at right now. And one day I'm going to be a black belt. I'm going to take my time. I'm going to learn this skill in this trade. And I can't wait for the day that I'm black belt, but I'm going to have to.

So the goal is high. The steps are low and be okay with things taking a long time, but keep the high goal. Start with low expectations. And just start. Just start. Okay. Give yourself 10 years.

You don't need to rush. Now I will say if you can get rich faster, go for it. If you can learn a high income skill, and we'll talk about it a little later down the line. If you can start a side gig that then turns into a small little business that then turns into a very large business, go for it. But just alleviate the pressure. Stop thinking you need to become a millionaire in a year, two years.

And even in my position, I understand I did not have a normal. There's also nothing wrong with making like 50 grand. 50 grand is a lot of money. People always want to talk about a million or 2 million or 10 million. They want to talk about these big numbers. But if you have like a, if you have any gig at all,

where you can make like 30 grand, 40 grand, 20 grand, it's more than you made last year. It's 10 grand. It doesn't matter what it is. 10 grand is a lot of money. There's a lot of things you can do with $10,000. Especially if you're doing something you enjoy.

And what if, right, that's huge if it's something you enjoy. And also what if it's like a side thing? What if that side thing starts to kind of catch up with the main thing that you're doing? Now you got two things coming in. You got multiple revenue streams coming in. What if you're in a relationship and the other person in a relationship is making pretty good money? You're fairly stable. That's my story. My wife was making money to where we had a decent living at home and I was working on this creation of slingshot. It took time. I was able

to take my time because my wife provided for us and then it worked out the way that it worked out and the company grew and grew and grew over a period of time. So not everyone's going to be able to get that exact setup to have a sugar mama, but figure it out whatever way you can. And don't worry about like, if, if you're thinking, man, you know, starting these YouTube videos and like selling a small amount of stuff like these eBooks and merch and just, ah, it just doesn't sound like it's ever going to really compile up to anything. Shit, if it piles up to 20 grand and you already have a regular job over time, that's going to build up. Where are you

going to be at 10 years from now, 15 years from now? You see so many of these YouTubers, their stories are all very similar. They started something eight years ago or 10 years ago, or look at like where Christian Guzman is right now. Look at where these original YouTube guys are, Bradley Martin. Yeah, the list goes, you can go on and on and on forever with these people. So take your time and don't be afraid to have that dollar amount sound way lower than maybe stuff you've heard from other people. I got to also mention real quick, it's really cool how like your and Andy's story is so unconventional. You guys were truly a team because like you were still like making some money, right? You were still training people, but you weren't making as much money as Andy until um until you she gave like there was time for you to come up with the slingshot

and then when you were able to do this boom y'all just skyrocketed but it took the two of you working together as a team and people people are like oh yeah the man is the provider and the protector and the woman is the homemaker or whatever but But it's like, that's not how y'all have been able to become so successful. And that's fucking awesome. It is not normal to amass the sort of wealth that I have amassed. And by the way, as I said, that came with a lot of drawbacks. So don't just think it's all roses and sunshine, but even me in my position, you can see videos of me in 2015, 2016, when I was just starting out my business with acne on my face, reading books, going to the gym, being an absolute loner. And I say this because please keep this in mind. Anytime you watch my

video or some TikTok, this stuff does not happen overnight. It has been nearly a decade since I started reading a book a week, since I started meditating, going to the gym and setting the building blocks and the foundation for the man that I would go on to be. So please keep your foot on the gas. Keep pressing, but extend your timeline. If you're 17, you know, eight or 10 years from now, you're just going to be like 25 or 27. You're still going to be so young. So whatever that thing is that you're thinking about starting, it'd be really great time to figure out how to get started now.

Time is your biggest asset at the moment. The next life lesson is walk with purpose. I remember even from the age of 15 or 16, I would walk down the street. You could tell I was on a mission. And I think that was really just a sign of having a clear direction, a vision for what I could become. So when you walk down the street, I'm not saying that you need to sprint, keep your shoulders back, look straight, walk with a clear direction, look like you know where you're going. That's huge. I don't know about you guys.

You probably don't go out of your way to observe teenagers, but you have a teenager in the house. And they shuffle around. Oh, yeah. They shuffle around. They got their little hoodies on. It's popular to be in kind of like comfy clothes, big oversized clothes, and they just kind of shuffle around. I agree 100 hundred percent with what he said. And you've heard Jordan Peterson talk about this before, you know, have those

shoulders back, be a little bit proud of who you are. Um, and yeah, walk with some sort of intention or purpose, like you're going somewhere. Yeah. And you hear, uh, the teenagers will kind of combine words together. It's like, how are you doing today? Oh, you know, it's like, like speak doing today oh you know it's like like speak with purpose you know jordan peterson said you know said something similar about that like like they said like but get rid of the likes the ums say what you mean say what you believe in and that sort of thing because i do see that a ton now the next thing is to focus on practicality you're this whole thing of oh i'm not starting because I just need to find my purpose. I need to find my passion. Stop it. Focus on practicality.

When you are a teenager, you will not know your purpose. You will not know your mission. And even in your twenties, even the phase I'm in, it will morph and it will change. So instead focus on practicality, focus on learning skills that are practical. Focus on starting businesses or careers that are practical. Focus on getting an apprenticeship or even a low-paying job that isn't the destination of where you want to get to, but is practical and will teach you the core foundation and the core principles to then go on and succeed in your 20s. Get the book

How to Win Friends and Influence People. Get the book Think and Grow Rich Some read some of these books is when I read those books, I wish I read them in my teenage years, but I ended up reading when I was like 21 or whatever. And that book, How to Win Friends and Influence People gave me a big jump into a bunch of other books, but it gave me a big jump into being able to deal confidently with other people. It's huge. It makes a big difference. It'll help you. That book specifically will really be able to help you create friendships, be able to influence people, and it's just massive. But learning that stuff early will give you a big move forward. It can be different for everybody, but do you feel like you know what your purpose is?

That's an interesting thing that he mentioned there. Everything morphed for me, but like he mentioned being practical. When I started lifting, it started with lifting and soccer. It turned kind of into some bodybuilding with powerlifting, but I learned a lot about that stuff and I was training people. And I always knew that I wanted to do something when it came to helping people be healthy, which is why initially I wanted to be a doctor. But I realized I don't want to do that through medicine. I want to do that through lifestyle, practicality, things that can stop people from going to the hospital. And everything that I continued to learn kind of morphed into what we do now.

It's interesting. I don't know if this is going to make it, but the self-authoring series by Jordan Peterson is something that I did in my early twenties. And on that, I was doing a podcast with a friend at the time, but I did mention there that I want the podcast that I'm on to be able to reach tons of people. So the messages that we have will be able to help as many people as possible.

I wrote that down years ago before I started doing this with you guys. And a lot of the things that I put on that self-authoring series are the things that I'm now doing with you guys now. So I wrote those things out, had an idea of what I wanted to do. I didn't know exactly how I was going to morph out, but I was taking action and it worked out. And I think your purpose is like, it's kind of made up, right? I mean, it's made up. So how are you going to make it up when you're 17 or when you're 16? You kind of can't, cause you're not like, you don't have enough life experiences yet. So as you get older and I think, you know, somebody in their seventies or eighties

would be like, I never really found my life purpose necessarily because you don't actually really need to have one. And we don't even know why we're here as humans, which is a whole other conversation. But it's just an interesting one. But you do need a North Star. You do need something to shoot for. You need an aim. Yes. And so at least feeling like you have a purpose.

I say I'm here to make the world a better place to lift. It's partially joking, having fun, but I do enjoy sharing how to lift with people. I do like to teach people about nutrition. And so like for now, that's like why I'm here. What's up, Paraproject family? It's time to stop dressing like you're a f***ing preschooler and step your game up by checking out Viore clothing. Now, I'm not one to talk. I wear a f***ing pink hat that has a dog on it,

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Links to them down in the description, as well as the podcast show notes. Let's get back to the podcast. Listen, and this is so important. And I know I'm just speaking to men here. And a lot of times in my content, I speak to men, but for reasons that I've previously mentioned, it is important for me to put out content and nurture the next generation of men. So men, listen to me when I say focus on becoming a gentleman. In this world, and especially in the West, I see some of the most disgusting behavior from men. It does not surprise me that so many women treat you with disrespect because you are not men even worthy of respect. Do not listen to all of these guys that have never

lived in the real world telling you, oh, you're a simp. If you pick up a girl, if you drop a girl home after a date, if you pay for the bill. I don't know who raised some of these kids because quite clearly they're not actual men. The way that I was raised is as a man, you pay for the bill. And if you cannot pay for the bill, if you cannot afford to, and when I was younger, I was in that position. Well, then guess what? Get to work. Don't take girls out to dinner. Put your head down and focus. If you're taking a girl to dinner, you pick her up, you drop her home, you do the gentlemanly thing. I cannot express how important these things are to learn in your teenage years. Other things, understanding a girl's alcohol tolerance. I see so many idiots

that give girls drink after drink after drink, not seeing that they are quite clearly intoxicated. As I said, I don't know how some guys were raised, but the way that I was raised, if you are with a woman, if she's your date or she's one of your friends, in that situation, you are responsible for her. So act accordingly. If you want to be a man of honor, if you want to be a man that deserves respect, then you must learn how to treat a woman properly. Never ever let her cross your boundaries. And just remember, if you are a man that is worthy of respect, then obviously never accept disrespect from another party. But I just think in this world we live in, so many men are afraid of, you know, come across and being a simp. If you pay for the bill or if

you pick her up on a way to a date, that is absolutely no way to conduct yourself as a man. So learn these principles as a teenager and they will carry through for the rest of your life, especially if you stack them up with all these other life lessons, then you are going to be a man of honor. You are going to be a man that other women respect. And I can tell you that that goes very far in life. I think, you know, he, he said that so wonderfully, there's almost like not much to add, but I would just say, um, showing people that you can be patient, showing people that you can be stoic, showing people that you can handle a murky situation, not being moody. You know, maybe in the relationship you're with, maybe the other person responds more to things that are on an emotional level. Maybe you can be solid, you know, and maybe you can practice some stoicism in that. I've always liked the quote a lot,

civilize the mind but make the body a savage. You know, you should be able to like pounce on shit like if necessary. You should be able to kind of like defend to some degree. I mean, you don't have to be like a ninja or anything, but you should be able to defend or at least get the hell out of a situation and help somebody else. But you really do like, you want to be like, well-read, you want to be able to get into deep conversations. You,

you want a woman, I think, or a significant other of any type, you want them to kind of be like, in awe of you in a way you want, like, I'm still in awe of my wife. My wife is talking sometimes. And sometimes I'm just thinking pervy thoughts, but a lot of times I'm just thinking, man, she's just fucking beautiful. Like she just, she just rocks. Like she's awesome. She's like doing something for the business or she's talking about something that she wants to do with the kids. And I'm like, man, how did I, man, I'm just, I'm super fortunate. How did I find this person? And when you're first dating somebody, like you want that even times a thousand in those first couple interactions that you have with that person. And so he nailed it so perfectly. I couldn't have said it better. I think being a gentleman is supreme. Uh, when you see a lot of the guys in this manosphere space is instead of focusing some of them, like, yeah, they'll say, oh yeah, men need to improve here. We need to improve here.

They focus on all these negative aspects of women. And I think that's honestly just a waste of time. Like the only thing that really matters is you becoming a better human being, a gentleman treating people with respect. And as you do that, then you will be able to find somebody that is worthy of that. Cause I think the big thing he mentioned there in terms of respect, you should treat somebody with respect and they treat you with disrespect. Well, you're so solid that you're not going to deal with that. Move on to somebody

else because you will be able to find a woman that is good. And that doesn't fall into what a lot of these manosphere types love to talk about, like the modern woman and all these negatives. You won't end up with that type of woman. Like that's not going to be your thing. And that's not even what you need to focus on. You just need to focus on yourself. And if that does happen, you do probably like, if you see like a couple of red flags, you probably should start to, if you're getting disrespected and you're being respectful and you're treating somebody well, and something ain't coming back the right way, you're not getting that reciprocated back to you, then you do need to move on. Cause you're going to be in a situation where you find yourself arguing

and fighting and saying words and things that you would never even imagine that you would say. Having thoughts where you're like, man, she's a real fill in the blank, right? And you don't want to think that way about any woman. I don't think that's a good way to feel about any woman, but your woman, that's a horrible place to be. Yeah. And I don't think that's a good way to feel about any woman, but your woman, like that's a horrible place to be. Yeah, and I can't think of really many attributes that are better than just being respected. And I'm not talking about just from a partner, but I mean, like you walk into a room,

let's say you walked into a jujitsu school, everybody knows Nsema's name. That's one hell of a way of getting respect that way. But if you're trying to make yourself more attractive yeah more attractive and you earn respect of your peers and stuff like a woman's gonna notice that and something that I've spent a long time when I'd meet a like an you know an elder or something and be like oh what's up you know so it's up bro now I try to hit

everybody with the sir like hello sir, hello, sir. Nice to meet you, sir. Thank you, sir. Because I'm trying to show way more respect because I know how valuable that is. And I'm not that no one's going to disrespect you because you, you know, greet somebody by saying, bro, but imagine how much better it is when you say, oh, hello, sir. Nice to meet you, sir. Thank you, sir. Can I ask you about like, I'm curious about you guys. Cause like, and I was brought up in an African household and there are aspects where like, when I talked to like, if I, if I ever addressed your dad, I'm going to call him, sir. I don't know. He's going to say, call me Sheldon, but I'll be like calling you, sir. Because I've always just been taught, Hey, you know, even though like you're an adult now,

just address these people with a level of reverence and respect. So I think that's huge. I know some people may not agree with that, but what do you think about that? I think it's important. I think in any relationship, I think if you do that at work, I think that's huge. There's only been one person to ever do it here, and that's Josh Setledge. We bring up all the time. Mr. Hustle, right?

You're not going to outwork that guy. You're not going to be able to beat him on anything because he's going to, he's immaculate. You know, he's, his hair, his clothing, like you just ain't going to catch that guy sleeping on anything. And what a wonderful young man to have be with like your daughter, right? Or be with, you you know someone that you raised you would be like yeah this is oh wow this is i i was supposed to hate the uh the boyfriend that my you know daughter is getting with but uh in that situation you would be like damn like this is a

this is i'm gonna keep my eye on this guy because there's got to be something suspicious but um josh when he worked here every time he, every time, every time you saw him in the morning, he would say good morning. He would ask if you needed anything, like, is there anything extra I can do? Or is there anything that needs to be done? And every time he left, he would make everyone aware that he was leaving. And he's like, is there anything I can do for you? Or I'm leaving for today or I'm leaving in a couple minutes is there anything and everyone always like said no even though they might have

needed something but they're just kind of polite and showing respect back they're like no it's good you're on your way out okay cool and the way he would address you wasn't what's up bro it was Mr. Bell is there anything else I can you know help you with. And he got a raise like every other week or whatever, you know, we couldn't pay him anymore. So he left. Yeah. Next thing is I want you to enjoy the journey. I want you to remember that these are your glory years. These years right now as a teenager, and especially in your early teens, even these are the years you're going to look back at with fondness because these are the years that you built, you built your character, the person that you are going to become.

I can tell you right now that my most fond years were probably the year before I started my first ever business when I was 16 and a couple years after that. The years where things were tough, they were not easy. I was making sacrifices. It was difficult at the time, but I have so much appreciation for it now. So please, if things are difficult or they're hard right now, take a moment to appreciate it because these are the years you're going to be talking about in a decade, two decades. When you're sitting outside with your boys at your beachfront property having a cigar or drinking a glass of wine and reminiscing about the good times.

I don't know if my mind hasn't totally caught. I feel like you should enjoy it, but I never really find myself reminiscing about my teenage years. I don't know if that's just me, but how about you guys? Yeah. I don't like, I don't like reminiscing. I don't like sitting in that spot. I like, I feel great about today and I feel good about yesterday too. But, um, you know, what are you saying right there? I think we kind of forget like, uh, our journey, we forget where our journey started. Um, what was it like bodybuilding and going after like a professional bodybuilding uh a pro a pro card as a natural competitor and also like you

were trying to go to school and then you were getting shade from the family because you i left school yeah yeah you left school and you know i guess to some degree to the family was worried that you were going to be a failure disappointment right bring some degree to the family was worried that you were going to be a failure disappointment right bring dishonor to the family and then there you were you're trying to get like striated triceps or whatever they don't understand what the hell and you already probably are in good shape probably look good so they don't understand anything that you're doing but when you look back at that and you remember the drive and determination that you had, it probably makes you feel happy and proud of how fired up, not that you're not fired

up today, but it probably makes you feel kind of inspired with how inspired you were back then. And I think one cool thing that teenagers have an advantage with, because on my old YouTube channel, my first videos when I was like documenting that stuff is there on the break, the bar channel. But I find it dope to be able to look back on what I was saying at 21 years old. Like I look back on it and I cringe, but I'm also like, that's,

that's really cool to see. So if you're 15, 16, whatever, whatever you're doing, just try to record some of how you're feeling at this point in time. And it doesn't need to be for anybody else. It can literally just be for you.

Like the things you're interested in, take a video and talk about it. Cause 15 years from now, if you can look back on that, like even your old videos on two, uh, on the STO six channel from 2006, how cool is that? I'm talking about like, uh, feet and all kinds of different stuff that we get into nowadays. But what was it like for you juggling all of that? Cause it probably, it probably felt difficult at times and you probably didn't know where you were going. And with family members saying like, family members being concerned about you, there's probably like a little self-doubt creeping in somewhere. Yeah, there was a ton just because like at that time, I guess the YouTube side of things and seeing people do that, it was a newer thing.

So me thinking I was going to leave college and start some type of business that way, I didn't get to see as many examples. So I didn't feel very comfortable with it. I always was like, fuck, well, shit, if this training thing and this online stuff doesn't work, I might have to go back to school soon. But as things started to progress, I felt more and more comfortable as I saw more and more people asking questions, more and more people inquiring about trying to work together. You made a lot of transitions, right? You went from training people physically at a gym and selling memberships to then I think simultaneously you were doing it online. And then you moved to just online. And I think when you were going after your pro card for bodybuilding, you hired a coach too. So that might've helped kind of you to be

like, I might be able to do something like what this guy's doing. I don't think he sees himself in that way to me, but I looked at Alberto at the time as like a mentor just because like a lot of the stuff he was doing was what I wanted to do. So I just asked him, what books are you reading? What are you learning? And that was massively helpful for me because I was able to see this natural bodybuilder who's been doing it for a long time, be able to successfully coach people towards that. So I kind of just mimicked him and also learned about it and then just continued learning. But like, that was huge. And I think that is one thing he might come to this thing where you can find a mentor. And even when I came here and was learning from you and a lot of the guys here,

like I looked at a lot of the people here as mentors, even if they didn't feel that way towards me, you, Silent Mike, Marcus, all these people here that were helping me out, I kind of looked at them as mentors and that was massively helpful towards me. That's great. Yeah.

Yeah, I know for myself working on photography, in the moment, I was like, this does kind of suck, but I know it's going to pay off. And I just felt that the days where I was the most run down from my, you know, I had a full 40 hour a week job, um, plus family, plus trying to learn photography on the side and get that business up and running. The days where I was the most run down, I felt like those were the days that were going to add up to me being able to do it full time. Yeah. Like I knew it was going to pay off eventually.

And so I appreciated the days that were the longest and the most difficult because I just knew it was going to pay off eventually. I didn't know how it was going to pay off. I would have never guessed it would have paid off the way it did like to be able to do what I'm doing now. I'm like, but in the moment, I knew it was going to lead to something. be able to do what I'm doing now. But in the moment, I knew it was going to lead to something. That's probably why you told Russell the other day that you are kind of grateful for the pain that you have with jiu-jitsu right now.

Yeah. Because you know that you kind of need that. You need to kind of sit in it. You need to have kind of a quote-unquote bad time with it for a minute just to be able to enjoy you getting over this hump. You can think of MJ, Michael Jordan back back in the day, beating the Pistons.

Like he needed to get his ass kicked for a while before he, everyone has these stories. And wherever you're at now, when you're younger, you're trying to get things started. It might seem tough to navigate, but you can look back at it with a lot of pride, as long as you figure out a way to stick to it. And your transitions might need to be like what Nsema did and what Andrew did. Act at it with a lot of pride as long as you figure out a way to stick to it.

And your transitions might need to be like what Nsema did and what Andrew did, where you have some sort of work that's kind of paying to keep the lights on. And then you make a jump, a jump, a jump. But it's not just a jump. It's not just a naked jump out of nowhere. You have a little bit of support already because you're already making money in a similar field. Yeah. I have a question for you, Mark, because like, when I'm thinking about like, you know, the, the mentor thing, right. When I was younger, I maybe thought like, okay, like, yeah, I'll, I'm learning from all these people, but there's going to come an age where like, I'm going to be helping people. And I was along the way, there were people that I was helping with certain things,

but I've never, I don't think I've still come to a point where I'm like, I still look at people who know more things as like mentors towards things. Do you feel that way? Because like you, you like you've built such a huge audience

and so many people are like, Mark Bell's helped me with this. I learned this, I learned this. So you're a mentor to literally hundreds of thousands of people probably. But do you still find that you're continuing to like, Mark Bell's helped me with this. I learned this, I learned this. So you're a mentor to literally hundreds of thousands of people probably. But do you still find that you're continuing to like, I don't know, do you feel like you have a bunch of people that are still mentors in that way for you?

Yeah, like I'm still learning from a lot of people. Learn from everybody, everybody that we're around. I mean, one of the reasons to make this team right here was for that reason. Cause like, I, I don't want to do stuff by myself and I don't, I'm not going to learn. I'm not going to, if I could just sit here on this microphone and talk and we can create all kinds of content and I can have 700,000 followers, 800,000 followers, a million followers. We just keep spitting out small little tiny things, the content or whatever, but that's not the game I want to play. I want to be inspired.

I want to be, I am inspired by you. You are someone that I get like mentorship from, even though you're younger. And even though you're in a different thing, I'm like, this guy's a beast, man. He comes with it every day. Holy shit. Like, all right, I need to step my shit up. Like, damn, he's doing that. Damn, he's doing that.

I'm not going to try to do some of the stuff that you're doing. I'm not going to mess. I know where I stand with some of the different things, and I know my physical prowess, and I know your physical prowess. I'm not going to try to mess with any of that. But, yeah, it's nice just to be able to push into stuff and be able to see the people around you pushing hard on the many different things that they're doing. I'm inspired by Andrew.

It's great that you're going to jujitsu like that. It just takes a lot, man. It takes a lot. You're not just going. You're in it. You're in it and you're not going anywhere. Like, I love that. It's inspiring.

I want you to start investing now. And I don't care if it's $10 a week or $30 a week or $50, whatever you can do, even if it's $5 a week, it's not about the money. And it's not about, you know, the eighth wonder of the world compound interest, because I'll be honest at this age, it really doesn't matter. And hopefully in a few years, you should be making a very, very good income that far exceeds anything you could ever make from investing. All it comes down to is simply good habits. I do not believe that if you won't invest $10 when you make $100 a month, that you'll invest $10,000 when you make $100,000 a month. And if those numbers sound crazy to you, I can't imagine ever making $100,000 a month, all this, just park that in your mind for now, okay? You don't need to worry about that. But I'm telling you, it's a very, very strong reality.

If you're consuming content like this and you dedicate your life to building over the next year, three years, five years, 10 years, I can tell you numbers like that almost guaranteed in your future. But I know for a lot of you that will overwhelm you. So just park that aside for right now. If you make a hundred dollars a month, just invest 10. It's simply having good financial hygiene and building those good habits early on. The next life lesson. Do it. Just do it.

My financial hygiene needs work. I have been able to save some and invest some from time to time. But do that if you're a teenager, please. You bought Tesla early, right? Yeah, actually, yeah, I did buy Tesla early. So that's cool. Like that has done well. But dude, just, yeah, I did buy Cessna early, so that's cool. Like that has done well. But dude, just, yeah.

I love what he said there just because like the dedication to take any amount of money, you should be like looking into this, right? So if you are going to take an amount of money, I hope that you like think about where you're putting your money towards. Yes. And once you start to think about where you put your money towards, you're going to go to talk to somebody and they're going to say, yeah, I think this is a great idea. This is where you should put your money. Then maybe you'll talk to someone else and be like, I can't believe you put your money towards that. That's not a great

investment. Did you ever think about this? And you start to learn more and more and more, just like anything else, fitness, nutrition, there's so much to learn. And once you start to put your money towards that, hopefully you're going to be open to learning more and more. If you're a teenager is build high income skills. A high income skill could be content creation. It could be sales. It could be copywriting. These are things that no matter what, I don't care if the year is 2023. I don't care if the year is 2040. These will always be important skills and these will always be highly paid skills. So please do not get caught up in short term fads, short term trends. Ask yourself, if I learn this skill today, will this pay dividends in five years, 10 years, 20 years? And if the answer is yes, well, then maybe you

should consider learning it. Yeah, this is huge. We have Owen, who's going to be editing this into a video, is 20 years old. He makes really good money. He knows how to edit. He does know how to copyright. He learned these skills online and he's become very good at them. But he's also doing things for his own channels. He has certain goals for himself. gone to college for any of it, just learning it. And he's able to also head towards his goals. And there are a lot of people within this industry and other industries that would be willing to pay top dollar for the skills that he's been able to build just by learning it from YouTube. So even if that's not specifically what you want to do with your life, it's good to know those skills because like you just mentioned, as you're heading towards the things that you're super interested in, you have something that you know on the side that's generating you income that people need. That's a big deal.

I think also he has a good example. He shares an office with Ryan Soper who had a gym here in Sacramento area years ago. He quit that and sold his gym and came and worked here at Slingshot. He didn't know anything about editing. It was all new to him. He's like, I'm interested enough in what Mark does to go there and film, and this interests me enough to learn this. And it took a while.

Now he's got a skill that he can go, that that skill can be utilized for anything, Owen or whoever else works here or whatever. We want them here, and we want to try to keep them for as long as we possibly can because they're all amazing at what they do. But they can take that skill and literally apply it to anywhere.

And we have some people that work remote. Like they're not even in this office. They're in other states and they're making some good money working from home just by skills learned from YouTube. This especially applies to men is focus on building muscle and your physique, especially between the ages of 16 to 21, 22.

If you can get in the gym, if you can do exercise, whether that's a standard sort of bro split routine, whether that's powerlifting, whether that's CrossFit, whatever you decide to do, building muscle at a young age, you're gonna have that mind muscle connection and you're gonna keep that on and you're gonna carry that through

for the rest of your life. You know, I started going to the gym when I was 14. Some would argue that that was even too young, but I'm very happy that I did. And I'm very happy that I built up muscle in my teenage years because now I do a lot of tennis. I do a lot of running, some boxing, and I never really worry about losing muscle or my physique or anything like that because I had more than half a decade of nurturing that. So especially for men, as our testosterone starts to decline in our mid twenties onwards, use these years to your advantage, lift heavy things, push yourself, train hard because you have this incredible advantage and will carry through for the rest of your life. Mark, how's that helped you?

It's, it's incredible and, uh, really well said and really well put, uh, the ages that he's talking about, like those are kind of like the golden years to really build some muscle. But if you missed them, you could still exercise and make a big difference, can get those kind of like newbie gains. But when you're a teenager and you're new at lifting, like that's kind of a double whammy. Your hormones are heading in the right direction. Usually your appetite is really good at that time. And hormones are heading in the right direction. Usually your appetite is really good at that time and you can recover from stuff really quickly. So you can make a lot of great gains there. And I would also add that because you, let's say you worked out for three

years and you went from the time you're 14 until the time you're like 17. And let's say in that time period you acquired, let's just say like 10 pounds of muscle. Sounds reasonable. You acquired 10 pounds of muscle. Now you have 10 more pounds of muscle. If you are active, you stay active and you continue to lift a little bit, you have that muscle now for the rest of your life. And if you want to push into it and gain more muscle mass and stuff, you can do so. But now your metabolism is going to be faster forever. So your body will work for you rather than you just becoming somebody who has to always figure out a way to burn calories.

Your body now burns more calories than ever because you got more muscle mass. And I'll say this. I'll keep it short. Exercise and the habit of the gym when I was 13 helped me not get depressed. I had an injury when I was 13 that saw me from playing soccer, which I played for seven years at that time. And I changed as a person for a small period of time. So my mom got me a gym membership. I wasn't talking to people. I was sad. It was bad. But starting exercise, literally, I never had that shade of depression I had. So not only is it going to allow you to be a

physically imposing individual that when people see you, they'll understand this person is put in work. But on this other side of things, your mind will be helped. Your mind will be better. A lot of kids don't have sports nowadays too. They don't have that much physical activity or things that make them feel really good. So some sort of gymming of some sort would be a great idea. Be confident, but acknowledge your age and your lack of wisdom. I started my first business when I was 16 years old. And by the way, this was on a business where I was hiding behind a computer. I was front facing with clients.

I was pitching multi-million dollar businesses. So I had to walk in with confidence. I had to be presentable. I had to talk. I had to communicate clearly. I had to be confident regardless of my age. And I had to do that front facing publicly to potential clearly. I had to be confident regardless of my age. And I had to do that front facing publicly to potential clients. But at home, when I was alone in solace, in peace, I understood. And even me sat here at 23, hundreds of thousands of people, even millions of people around the

world looking at me as a hero, an inspiration, a mentor. I understand that at the end of the day, I still have so much to learn. I understand that, of course, I got started so early. I had my first employee at the age of 17. I dropped out of school at the age of 17 to support me and my mom. I've experienced so much by this age, but no matter what, wisdom is solidified through decades and decades of experience. So if you are in your teenage years, be confident, walk through life with confidence. Don't let your age, especially when it comes to business and your career, don't let that weigh you down. But in moments of peace and quiet, acknowledge that no matter how well you're doing, wisdom is only truly forged through decades and decades of life experience.

Yo, that wipeout mentality is strong with him. Yeah. It takes time. It takes time to time to learn stuff takes time to practice it and i think that's what wisdom is wisdom is practice knowledge you learn something and you're like okay noted that does sound like a good idea i'm gonna put that i'm gonna put that into my own universe and then you put it in your own universe and like blows up in your face it doesn't work or sometimes it does work great and then now you can share it with somebody else. And that's how, that's to me what wisdom is. Get comfortable talking to girls.

Listen, of course, I believe that as a teenager and in your early to mid-20s, those are your years to build. But it doesn't matter if you're even 15. Get used to speaking to girls. Don't let yourself become one of these 25-year-olds that goes on to become a multimillionaire, but is just creepy around women get comfortable speaking to girls if you're in a cafe and you think a girl

is cute just talk to her what's the worst that could happen and even better just give her a compliment and that's it don't ask for her number don't ask for her instagram just give her a compliment and that is the least you can do you have to get comfortable speaking with women holding your ground keeping your chin up and Works every time. Can I smell your hair? You're going to consume your life because I do not believe that women should be your goal in your teenage years. Pause it, Andrew.

We're just talking over this dude right now. Oh, man. But it works every time. Yeah, every time. Every time I've just told a woman, your titties are huge, immediate panty dropper. No, I'm joking. I'm joking.'m joking um no you

know one thing i've always i've talked to my boys because uh sometimes i have i have this one friend he's like man i got so much game blah blah blah and i've always been like i have no game i am gameless as the youngins and say i am rizzless they call it rizz having game i'm rizzless but the thing that always worked was just talking to a woman. Just like actually just being interested in them. Like just talking to them like a normal human being. Not trying to spit game, just laughing and talking. And that has gotten me much success over the years.

So maybe just, yeah, be confident. Like you don't treat your girls like your boys maybe, but just be comfortable just talking to them and being interested in them like another human being yeah as hard as you think and your best years really are from the ages of around 26 28 all the way up until your late 30s but nonetheless just learn how to carry yourself around the opposite sex my dad had a baby at 62 actually he has he's had two babies in the past three years at like 60 something years old. So that man, that man still popping them out.

Yeah. And active. Yeah. And in case anybody like isn't too familiar with the podcast, like we don't want to like conform to what everybody else says. So right now his bell curve ended at 38. I'm going to be 38 this year. I'm not even close to slowing down. If anything,

I'm hitting like a really good spurt right now. And I'm going to, yeah, I'm excited for what 40 is going to be like. You know what I think? I think people have that bell curve there. And because like some people just don't keep good habits up, you know, the amount of people that like,

look at you, you know, people are constantly saying, damn, Mark, I didn't know you had hair. That's the first thing. Cause now you're letting your shit grow up.

But people are saying how much better you're looking than years ago. You know what I mean? Because what you, you have different habits and you're letting your shit grow up but people are saying how much better you're looking than years ago you know what i mean because what you you have different habits and you're going to talk but dude it's all about habits you know it yeah it's a it's a it's a huge part of it in jujitsu and in uh lifting and some other sports sometimes people kind of hit their peak a little bit later than some other sports so So it's not like you're necessarily going to be maybe the best jujitsu person in the world at 50, but we have seen some people be a little older in some of these sports. And in powerlifting, it's very common for someone to be in their late 30s, whereas if you're an NFL player or something like that, by the time you're about 30,

you're usually being traded and stuff like that. Yeah. Power Project family, how's it going? Now, sleep is essential for your recovery and your performance, which is why we partnered with Eight Sleep Mattresses. We call them the Tesla of beds. Changes the temperature based off how you sleep. Andrew, how can they get it? Yeah.

Head over to eightsleep.com slash powerproject. And at checkout, you guys will automatically save $150 off your entire order. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. The next lesson is keep your word. If you say that you're going to give someone a certain percentage in your business, well, then give them that percentage. If you say that you can show up to something, well, then show up to it. Your word is your reputation, and your reputation is the most important thing that you have.

So learning from a young age to show up, to keep your word, that will build trust and that will build respect, and that will carry on for the rest of your life. I think that when I was younger, cause like I had this just mind of trying to take as much opportunity as I could. So just saying, yes, yes, I'll do that. I'll do that. I'll do that. And there are many times that I could not follow through. And I look, sometimes it even happens a little bit here and there, but I catch myself. I'm like, okay, I can do that, but I got to do that later. So there's an aspect of being hungry to do more and take opportunity, but you got to make sure, just think in the back of your head, will I be able to follow through with this? Because I've made that mistake and I think that's a very big deal.

I think people, especially when you're a younger person, if you just communicate, you're really appreciative of it. And a lot of times they'll say, man, that's really mature of them to call me. And, you know, I was hoping that they were going to be able to show up today, but they let me know that they weren't able to do this thing,

you know? So just communicate no matter how weird or bad it gets. You were supposed to do something on a particular day, but it's an hour now beforehand. Just communicate, just say, yeah, something happened and I didn't plan appropriately. Apologize. Not going to be able to make it. Just be upfront with people and communicate. Something that has helped me recently is not saying necessarily yes to the task, but saying yes to the opportunity. Because sometimes you go to, I don't know, hang out with somebody or to go to the gym with somebody, and then you end up running into

somebody else. Anything can happen, right? But a lot won't happen if you're just sitting at home making up reasons why you couldn't do X, Y, or Z tasks. And once again, I know this relates specifically more to the men, is in your 20s, Doesn't matter if it's your early, mid, or late 20s. These are your years to build. If you do things correctly, your 20s will set you up for the rest of your life. So I made this video specifically for the teenagers, but it's really just to say that your 20s,

mentally prepare yourself because this truly will be your make or break period in your life. What do you think about that, man? I have so many thoughts. You know, life is, you know, you'll hear people say life is short, but it's also kind of long. So I don't know. I think most of the examples I can think of of people that I know that are really successful have kind of been on a mission for a really long time, but you can make some really drastic changes as well. So if you don't kind of get it until you're 35, I think that's kind of okay. But having those habits ingrained when

you're younger makes everything way easier. Yeah. I don't think that anybody shouldn't stop. If you're in your thirties and you're figuring something out, fucking go down that rabbit hole, even your forties. We've seen people do that. But you know, there's something where I have had friends who've been like the twenties at the time where you're supposed to enjoy yourself and and you know this is time I can go out clubbing and this and this and this and then they're 28 29 and they haven't set in any important habits they haven't spent time learning things and it's like fuck you're you're now and it's good it's better to do it late than never but and maybe they're still single and they don't want to be. Yeah. That can be tougher as you get to be 30, 32, 35, 37 and so on. You're like, I wonder, because some people do

want to have kids and a family and so forth. And things just kind of blew past them because maybe when they were younger, they didn't take a lot of stuff that seriously. Yeah. So, I mean, I, I'm like when I was in my early 20s when I was late teens I was just trying to do a lot of stuff and I didn't know how it would turn out but now being 30 I can look back on things and just see how they've helped set things up coming out and meeting people meeting you back in 2015 you guys it's like I can see how everything culminated to this so it's like yeah yeah.

Yeah, I agree. I agree getting work done, but also like scale. Don't compare to what he did in his 20s because if you're a teenager, I'm pretty sure the idea of you being 27, 28 years old seems like it's a million years from now. So in your head, you're like, oh, yeah, when I turn 21, that's when I'll start or that's when I'll start really making more money or setting up more money, which you will, but you might not be doing what he's doing or what anybody else has done. So do what, you know, scale it down or up to whatever you plan on doing and whatever you're capable of. Cause I know, especially with social media and stuff, we will compare. I know he just, he talked about it

earlier in this video. So be prepared for that, but also prepare to scale to what's appropriate for you. One thing I got to add in too is if you're a teenager, if there's a job you want to do, find a way to find somebody in that field or find a way to volunteer in that field. I'm lucky that I took the time. The reason why I found out I didn't want to be a doctor was because I volunteered at the ER for six months. I worked with doctors and patients. I interviewed and talked to a lot of doctors and realized that this was not the lifestyle I wanted, but I wouldn't have known that if I didn't put myself in the setting of where they worked and talked to them, right? So if there's

something you know you want to do, try to figure out a way that you can either get around individuals or ask people who are maybe doing aspects of what you're doing, ask them questions about what they do so you can truly see what it's like. So you can really understand that, yes, I want to do this or no, I need to veer another direction. You might have to be a little aggressive and or weird with it. You might have to like show up at a place that you think somebody frequents, know um and you might have to like be a stalker yeah you might have to ask him for i mean you got like you know people here in this town uh we have the artist david garibaldi

and if you're somebody that like is thinking of like art or photography or like that's the guy to be around i think like that would be that's where i go. I would try to figure out when he's at work or when he's trying to figure out where his place is, go see his pictures, go even like maybe, uh, I don't know, uh,

go buy something from somebody or whatever, like whatever way you can get in and maneuver your way in, come in here to the store at here at slingshot, whatever way you can like maneuver your way in, go to a seminar, just any, anything. Find out when he has an art thing, you know, go to it, watch him, can like maneuver your way in, go to a seminar, just any, anything. Find out when he has an art thing, you know, go to it, watch him, see the car he gets into, follow him home. Wait, watch when he leaves his house, maybe leave a note on the door.

Maybe just, just try it out. See what works. Jump out of the bushes and surprise him. Yeah. Get on his couch when he gets home, learn the code on his door. couch when he gets home, learn the code on this door. Is learn to say no more than you say yes. Learn to say no. When people want to go out, learn to say no to business opportunities. I know you have that friend watched a video, has a business idea and they want to go 50 50 with you. Hey man, I have a business opportunity for you. You want to come to this hotel? We're going to have a meeting. It's not one of those things, is it?

Like direct marketing, multi-level. It's different. You promised me when I get there, it's not going to be a pyramid thing. Yeah, yeah. No, okay. Just come to the hotel for our meeting. Okay, cool. Bring a credit card. Maybe bring a friend or two.

Okay, like three? That would be great, actually. Okay, cool. When I get there, are they going to have have all the fancy cars parked right in front for me to see? Just a few of us have fancy cars. Not my upline. Sorry.

Oh, careful. My mentor. Your manager? My mentor has a great car. That he got for the business. Does his title have a diamond thing next to it it or is it just his name there there are no diamonds they're only rubies in our oh okay okay okay just making sure it's not one of those things don't get roped into that

oh i did late teens i did oh yeah a couple of them i think i would learn my lesson oh fuck tells you they would be a bad business partner or why do i need a business partner in this i could just do it myself so just learn to say no learn to stand your ground i can tell you right now that yes has ruined more people's lives than no ever has people saying yes to getting in relationships they shouldn't be in people saying yes to getting in relationships they shouldn't be in, people saying yes to starting businesses that they shouldn't, people saying yes to going out when they shouldn't. As I said, learning to say no will be one of the most invaluable skills that you can learn from a young age. How do you feel about that though? Because like, I feel like I, when I was younger, I did say yes to a lot of opportunity, like true things I knew would be

opportunity. And it was helpful. It was actually very helpful. Some was bullshit, I did say yes to a lot of opportunity, like true things I knew would be opportunity. And it was helpful. It was actually very helpful. Some was bullshit, but some was very helpful. I think saying yes and no to like the things that you intrinsically know this could move me forward or this could be a total waste of my time. Yeah, I think it's, you know, I think saying no at least gives you maybe some time to kind of like think about if that's something that you want to change and maybe do in the future um and i don't think you're like kissing an opportunity goodbye forever you know that's true there also could just be situations where maybe you just feel like you're not ready for certain things like hey uh you should come on my podcast i'd love to talk to you about you know what you're doing and maybe you say no because you're like i don't feel like

i got things figured out enough yet. Whatever the thing is, maybe it's interning for somebody or having a particular job. You have to really kind of think about these things a little bit on a larger scale. And you can also just like not answer. That's an interesting thing. When you get a text, you don't have to answer them right away. You don't have to open up stuff right away. You don't have to look at it right away. If you do open it up,

then you're kind of screwed because you do need to kind of give something. Otherwise, you might forget that you opened that up in the first place. So I think that you should really think about the things that you're saying yes and no to and just give them more consideration, a little deeper consideration.

I have a question real quick. Remember when you asked if I wanted to come on the podcast with yourself and Andrew? If I said, can I think or can I have some time, what would your thought have been? Because I've told you guys before, in that moment when I was asked to do this with you guys, I didn't think I was nearly ready,

but I was like, immediately, yes. I just knee-jerked yes because like this opportunity doesn't come down often right but how what would you have thought it's helpful to see that somebody like wants to do it yeah you know it's helpful um yeah I don't know exactly how I would have reacted if you were like yeah you know give me a couple days uh I don't know maybe I would have reacted differently or whatever but um I think with most stuff you have time especially if it's a text or an email yeah like you got some time you don't have to answer stuff right away and and you can think about it a little bit it is nice to have enthusiasm

so there are things that you might miss out on but just means that you're going to be open to another opportunity that's going to be coming five seconds later yeah yeah I think if it's aligned with what you are already striving for. So we asked you about the podcast. You already knew you wanted to speak to a bigger audience and help more people. So you guys did have me on a guest before. Right. So it was, it was an immediate yes. And then, Oh no, I'm not sure if I can do that. But imagine if Mark said, Hey, we want you to be the manager of the slingshot store. You'd be like, Hmm, let me think about it. You know, it'd be a little bit different. So I think, you know, we just got done saying, say yes to opportunities. So for me, if somebody

randomly asked me about going to like a photography seminar back in the day, I would've been like, yes. But if they asked me, let's go to this, I don't know, insert anything that's not aligned with what my goal was, I would probably say no. One of those things may be going out to a bar, but no, I'm not going to do that. Like it's not aligning with my goals. So it's easy to say no to that. But like I said, yes to opportunity, as long as it's aligned with what you're striving for, I think is a definite yes. Learn how to dress well. Learn how to find good quality clothes. I know that I'm wearing a shirt with a graphic right now, but I'm in the comfort of my own home. I'm very relaxed. But when you leave the house, you should be presentable. No big labels.

And by the way, later down the line, once you found your style and what works for you, you can spruce things up. You can get a little bit more funky with it. But at first, from a young age, learn how to find clothes that fit you well, not too tight not too loose by the way most people make the mistake of finding clothes that are way too tight for them and i can tell you something that's actually quite funny over the years i've noticed especially with my jeans and my trousers the more money that i've made the looser my trousers have become why is that a thing that holds huh does that happen to you guys too because like i remember first off the dressing wall thing's real but have you noticed that i don't know i i have like a mixture of of uh pants you know of jeans i remember

back in the day though when you do like seminars or whatever like you have those like t-shirts and they'd be wrapped and you were already making hella money but you you were tight tight now like i see a lot of loose yeah i wear a little bit looser stuff, yeah. Maybe that's just the days. I don't know. I just know the shorts keep getting shorter. Other than that, I don't know. Five inches or bust.

Five inches or bust. Five inches and bust. That's a big deal, though. Dressing well will make a difference. Try to find shit that fits well. We love Viore. We love Lulu. Lemon.

Find shit that fits you well. It's true for most of the multi-millionaires that i know so learn how to find clothes that have no branding that fit you well that fit your style learn how to layer clothes and then also learn how to start getting stuff tailored you can buy trousers that are 30 or 40 and go take them to tailor they'll get them tailored for you for 15 20 30 and i know that's an additional cost but you will look far better than the people spending hundreds of dollars on all this designer this and that etc etc so I believe in your teen a lot of truth to that very important for you to learn how to dress well obviously your style will morph and it will change as the years go by but in

your teen years just learn the basics learn the classics and just learn how to dress in a classy, elegant way. And later down the line, and especially once you have more money, you can start sprinkling things up with, you know, a graphic tee and, you know, maybe some nice jewelry here and there, whatever you want. But for now, just stick to the classics and the simple things. The next thing is you need to learn how to keep strong boundaries. And this is probably one of the biggest reasons I've been able to have the success that I've had. Once again, I don't know, maybe it's because I have a Russian mother. Russian people are just very, they have no issue saying no, they have no issue keeping strong

boundaries. So maybe I was just raised a certain way, but from a young age, I knew how to have strong boundaries with my friendships, with my relationships. And I believe learning that from a young age has carried on for the rest of my life, where I can honestly say that my friendships, the people that I work with, the people at my companies, any of my romantic relationships, we have such mutual respect for each other. We have an understanding for each other's boundaries. And that was all built off the back of, from a young age, learning to say no, as I mentioned earlier on, and learning how to have strong boundaries with the people around me. I think that was well said, but is there anything you guys think to add to that? I think it just helps you be organized. You know, if you're not saying yes

to so many things and you'll have so many things to throw into your cog and to throw into your calendar and everything else, and it could really just kind of wreak havoc on your organization and you could be dropping the ball left and right and be a little overstressed. Whereas you just say no to a lot of stuff over and over again, you don't think about it. Yeah. I definitely didn't set boundaries on work early on when I started working for Slingshot. My phone, all the notifications were always on. And the second it would go off, I would check it and I would start working on it despite whatever time it was. And I mean, I would wake up with like chest pains in the middle of the night, stressed about stuff. You know, this was very early on. Thankfully I got a handle on it, but like, I just didn't say This was very early on. Thankfully, I got a handle on it.

But I just didn't say no to anything work-related. And it's not that I all of a sudden started saying no to everything, but understanding the text comes through, Mark doesn't really need it right now. It can wait till tomorrow. Learning that helped me because if I didn't, I would have ran myself into the ground. It was pretty bad. So I did not set those boundaries. And when I did, yeah, work got

better. Like my performance got better. Photos got better. Everything was better. Even if it meant it took an extra two hours to deliver. Yeah. That's huge. I think a lot of people, they want to respond to those things right away. And I got into a situation where I stopped trying to text people later. I don't know how good a job I did of it, but I was like, I'll try to text only during work hours, which then made it a little harder for me because I had to kind of like make a note of something I wanted to communicate the next day. But tough shit, right? I don't want to interrupt people's lives. tough shit, right? I don't want to interrupt people's lives. At the same time, if you do have a job, you do have a nine to five and you are kind of expected to work 24 seven via like you're, you know, being able to answer your phone and being, I think you should work on looking for

a different job. Cause I don't, I don't think that's reasonable. I don't think that's gonna, that's going to be tough to manage your time towards any of the goals that he's mentioning. It's going to take up all of your time. So when you're working and you're at work, that should be your trade for money. And when you're home, you shouldn't have to do extra work. You should only have to be able to do the X amount of hours of work that you're getting paid for. But I do got to say that is important to understand, but that does mean that when an individual, let's say that it is a nine to five, got to be actually doing the things you need to

do during that nine to five, because with the nature of work now and like the ability for people to be able to work remote, it gives a lot of opportunity of wasting the time when you actually should, you need to be doing those tasks. Right. So it could come to like, there is a freedom in that though, because maybe someone's like, okay, I'm going to do this work from nine to this time. And then I feel, I don't feel like doing anything else this evening. So I'm just going to do the rest of this work this evening, you know? So there's a, there's a win and loss there, but if you are a nine to five, you got to be doing your shit at nine to five. 100%.

I know that for some of you, I have atheists watching. So maybe you might roll your eyes. Whatever you want to believe in, go for it. Build your relationship with the creator. Whatever the creator means to you, whatever religion you follow, whatever it is, maybe you're just spiritual. But build a relationship with whatever the creator means to you. Because I can tell you, you will have some of the highest highs in your life. And you will have some of the lowest lows if you live life properly because the worst life you can have is just flatline. So if you follow all of these

life lessons, then you will have a life of incredible highs and incredible lows. And as I said, that is what makes a good life. And the only way to stay sane and not go crazy in those periods is to be humbled by the creator. As I said, whatever that means to you is to understand that there is something bigger than you. And the only way that you're going to get through this crazy, turbulent, tumultuous life is by having a strong relationship with the creator. I remember I was six or seven when I started praying to God. And the reason that I started praying to God was because I had a very,

very difficult upbringing. And it's funny. The only people that I see that don't have a relationship with the creator, whatever that means to them, is the people who have had a life like this. The people who never went out there, never took risks, never fought for the life that they wanted. For some reason, they're always the ones that seem to turn to atheism. So I can tell you from firsthand experience, life will get crazy. And the only way to stay sane when times are good and when they're bad is to have a relationship with God or the creator. That seems like a massive generalization. Yeah. You know, I think I would have to, I mean, we would have to have him on the show and have a conversation about what he

meant here. And I think he's so articulate and smart that he would be able to make a point that would, that would be like well noted by us. And we'd be like, okay, I see your point, but maybe we still disagree you know everyone has to try to figure out how to manage life and so I think he's sharing his way of managing life and for him it's been effective to believe in a creator I've found myself wavering on a lot of these things over the years, whether I believe in a creator, whether I believe in God, you know, or Jesus or some of the things that were in the Bible

or whether I believe more in science. You know, you start to hear things of science of how old the world is or the universe is and stuff like that. And you're like, that doesn't really add up to the information that's in the Bible that kind of says, or at least the Bible I'm familiar with, it says that, you know, things are only 7,000 years old or whatever, like, you know, stuff like that. And you get these kind of conflicting ideas and information. And I found that for me personally, where I'm at in my life, it just doesn't matter. Like I don't really care whether there's a creator. I don't really care too much whether there's a God. I don't feel that I need to have strong beliefs to be a good person. You know, whether we live after life and whatever,

I don't give too much time or credit to that kind of stuff. And in addition to that, I don't know why we're here, but I also don't really care, and it doesn't affect me negatively. I don't believe that there's anybody on this planet, and I don't believe there's anybody in the history of this planet that can tell us why we're here as human beings. The furthest I've ever gotten was to think that like, I'm the same as a rabbit or a tree or a grain of, or a thing, a blade of grass, you know? And so I kind of have a little bit of almost like a Buddhist mentality where I don't think there's necessarily a God. I think

that we're all God and there's divinity that kind of lives within all of us. That's kind of like where I've gotten to. But whether I believed in God, like when I was young and followed Christianity as my parents did and just kind of took their lead and followed that, or whether I've come to this new, these new concepts that are in my head, it hasn't led to any, it hasn't led to me living life in a more positive way and or a more negative way. I haven't found it to matter much because I'm not the kind of person that's going to be like, oh, well, I don't know why we're here. So I'm just going to be drunk every day and get high and act like an idiot. I don't really need that purpose to define my own purpose and to feel strong and good about my day-to-day. You know, I grew up in the church, Christian, and I really do love, I love aspects of Christianity.

And I'm the same, I grew up the same way. And I love a lot of the principles and ideas. Yes. I remember going to like Sunday school and like, I was excited by that. My mom used to lot of the principles and ideas. I remember going to Sunday school, and I was excited by that. My mom used to read me things from the Bible, and I loved that. Yeah. When I get married, my pastor is going to marry us, Pastor Rich. And I've gone through the Bible multiple times. And I think there's a, I'm happy that I understand the Bible. And I think there's even more things to understand from that book.

that I understand the Bible. And I think there's even more things to understand from that book. But there are so many religions around the world that have so many commonalities. There are flood myths in almost every single, in many mythologies and many religions. There are many stories that seem to be very similar. And what I'm trying to do is

I'm trying to actually understand other types of mythology. I'm trying to do is I'm trying to actually understand other types of mythology. I'm trying to, I have the Quran because I'm actually curious of understanding what is in that book. And the main reason I'm trying to understand it isn't because I'm trying to switch religions or anything. But the main reason I'm trying to understand this, I was talking to Andrew yesterday, is because I want to understand why people think the way they think. because I want to understand why people think the way they think. If there's a group of people that have this belief in this book, then if I can understand the book,

then I can kind of understand where some of their opinions are coming from, whether I may disagree or agree with it. But it'll give me a better understanding of being able to relate with other people. Because, for example, Christians and Catholics may say and believe certain things, and some people that were brought up atheist will be like, oh, these crazy fucking Christians or these crazy Catholics. But when you understand their book, when you understand their religion, maybe you'll be able to have a more intelligent conversation with them and they'll be able to have a more intelligent conversation with you.

So I think there's benefits, like even Buddhism, there's a lot of benefits to understanding these things. Even if you don't believe in it, even if you're a stark Christian, there's nothing wrong with that. There would probably be strength in understanding the Quran. There's probably be understanding, strength in understanding a lot of the other world religions. Cause I mentioned this when Janae was here, but like my ancestors, like my great, great, great, great grandfather and those people, they worshiped nature and they, they had ancestor worship. And that was taken away

when the British came to Nigeria and kind of spread Christianity through the continent. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I'm saying like, what was before? Because what was before might actually have some amazing benefit that maybe I don't fully understand. That's what I'd be more into. I'd be more into just praying to the earth

and like being pumped about every day and the opportunities that we have here. I think Indians may have been the same at a certain point. I don't think they, and I could be way off on some of this, but I don't think they had like a particular religion, but they did have a practice of like worship. There were gods. There are, and there still are people who have, who worship different gods within, within that part of the world. So yeah,

I think it's, I think it's beneficial to try to understand a lot of these things so that you can communicate with more people. And I really just think it, it is stuff that just helps you get through the day. Yeah. I honestly don't think much more, much more about it than,

than that. So I don't know, that's kind of my take on it. But he brought up a lot of interesting points there. Whether your life needs to be rollercoaster-y or not, I don't know. I don't believe an atheist is generally stoic. I know many atheists who have highs and lows and who are, right? But I don't know. That's an interesting take on that side of things. I don't, I don't mind also being like a little bit in the gray area on that one. You know, I don't know. I don't know either. You know, they say, they say there's no atheist in a foxhole, you know, meaning like when shit's going down and you're about to die, you're probably straight to here on your knees yeah yeah you're going for me yeah god exactly so um

it's hard to figure out you know and uh a lot of this new information about religion coming from uh psychedelics it's that's mind-boggling but that could very well be true because you think of the experiences that you could have with psychedelics and imagine if we were going to andrew and andrew was going to help us with our problems in sema and he gives us some mushrooms or whatever puts ergot in our uh wine or whatever ergot is that something is that like a mushroom it was in wine uh years and years ago um but so many of these religions seem to be, there seems to be a history of psychedelics

kind of connected to this whole thing. I'm not saying I know that as a fact, but it's an interesting thing. If he was going to heal us with these things, we might kind of think that he's a God or he's got some sort of passage to God. He knows God somehow because how else did we have that crazy experience with him?

In Nigeria, we have witch doctors still to this day, but they're people that people would go to to mix up potions or this elixirs. Yeah, they're still there, but that was a very big thing that people would consult the witch doctor. And there's some, again, people from that have a lot of modern day faith,

even myself, when I was younger, I would look at that stuff. I'd be like, what is this evil sorcery? This bush demonic thing, you know? But as I've gotten older, I've just been like, you know, I mean, people believe different things, but there's gotta be a reason. Like, I don't think it can, heck, I've just been like, you know, I mean, people believe different things, but there's, there's gotta be a reason. Like,

I don't think it can, it cannot just be pure evil because it is not this, right? So just the curiosities. And this is a, one of the steps in AA is to like kind of relinquish

to a higher power and say that there's something larger at play. And I think that most people would think that, I believe that. Yeah. And I think that most people would think that... I believe that. Yeah, I would think that most people just kind of like, whether you're thinking it's physics or like whatever the hell it is at play,

there are a lot of weird circumstances where you're like, how did the three of us meet? And how did, you know, there's a lot of weird stuff to kind of think about. And, but I think it's just easier to kind of live your life to think, yeah, I think it's just easier to kind of live your life to think, yeah, I think there is something bigger at play because there are all these coincidences,

but maybe mathematically, like coincidences would just always happen anyway. I don't know. But I do like his point that like, this is something that a young person should review and they should think about because what is your religion and why? Are you Catholic just because mom and dad were Catholic?

Maybe that's not the right religion for you. Or maybe you're like, no, no, no, we're all Catholic. My whole family's Catholic. My grandpa's Catholic. Like I'm gonna be Catholic. I love this religion or whatever it is. But make your own decision because you're not

going to always be a kid. Yeah. Last and arguably the most important life lesson for teenagers is take ownership of your life. Something great happens in your life. Great. You can take responsibility for it as well as the creator. Something bad happens in your life. Great. Take responsibility for it. Radical ownership of your life. No excuses. It is only you and you to blame. And I know sometimes it will be difficult. I know sometimes there'll be a clear thing or a person or something to point to something else to blame outside of yourself, but don't fall for that trap. As I said, take radical ownership of the things that happen in your life. So ladies and gentlemen, I genuinely believe that if you're watching this and you're in your teens or your early to mid twenties, if you follow these 17 life lessons, these 17 principles,

you will live a life of abundance. You will live a life of honor that you could never even imagine. Iman, no daddy gang, brother. I like this guy. Not dad. I love you. I know we talk on WhatsApp every now and then he's he's in nigeria love you dad uh but crushed it's great video yeah the ownership bit discipline equals freedom you know i mean that's from jaco but yeah yeah jaco has a whole book on what extreme ownership right he does seminars and all kinds of stuff over it yeah i mean i am the most recent person that worked in an office with other adults and if you want to be surrounded by a bunch of people that do not take ownership work in an office where you clock in and out and everybody is always constantly blaming someone

else for why they are unhappy oh i would you know get this raise if it wasn't for so-and-so. It's like, or were you late like 40 times in the past, like, you know, two months or whatever? Like, how many times are you going to see the dentist in a month? I mean, what's going on here? I remember I was doing that a lot. But, but no, it's just, there's always an excuse and that's really all it is i can't believe this didn't happen it's it's not my fault it's so-and-so's fault like no even if it's very blatantly obviously someone else's fault you can still somehow take ownership and be like i'm not going to put myself in a position for this to happen again and purely by that idea of taking

ownership you just will become you will always become better because it's not like this person needs to become better because it's their fault. It's like, I need to become better because of my decision-making in this process. So it's always a self-improve versus something that you cannot control, which is this other human being. That's a big one. It's huge. I love it. Andrew, take us on out of here, buddy. All right. Thank you everybody for checking this out. For you guys on the audio side, sincerely appreciate it. If you guys are watching this on the video side,

just know that we have entire podcasts discussing things like what you guys heard today. So make sure you guys check out more videos. Follow the podcast at MB Power Project on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. My Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter is at IamAndrewZ and powerproject.live for everything podcast related in SEMA. The Discord community is below. Check it out at SEMA ending on Instagram and YouTube and at SEMA yin yang on TikTok and Twitter, Mark. I love what he said about lifting, you know, and getting into the gym.

I think that's such a really awesome habit. And this is Smelly's tip of the day. A way that you can start to get into the gym, a really simple way is to just pick like one exercise or one body part that you want to work. That way you got low expectations,

you're not trying to do a lot, you're not trying to necessarily be there for an hour, but hopefully you can dedicate yourself to just hitting shoulders or just hitting triceps. Most likely once you've done that, get the body warm, you'll start to feel good, and you'll probably talk yourself into doing a little bit more. Strength is never weakness, weakness is never