#435: Kevin Hart — The Unstoppable Combination of Positivity and Relentless Improvement

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Slash Tim. Check it out. Hello, boys and girls, ladies and gents, this is Tim Ferris, and welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferris Show, where it is my job to interview and deconstruct world class performers from all different disciplines. And my guest today is Kevin Hart at Kevin Hart for Real, H A R T Number 4 Real. On Twitter and Instagram, Kevin was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he launched his career as a comedian during an amateur night at a local comedy club. Of course, he now plays to sold out arenas. Over the years, Kevin has become one of Hollywood's box office powerhouses, opening ten films. as the number one movie on opening weekend. His memoir, I Can't Make This Up, debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and remained on the top ten print hardcover bestseller list for ten weeks straight.

His latest, The Decision. Subtitle Overcoming Today's BS for Tomorrow's Success. An audible original. launching May twenty first in a follow up to his memoir. helps people to get mentally fit using the same tools and rules he's developed to elevate his own life. He really does have a toolkit.

that he applies to making decisions, sorting opportunities. saying no and so on in his life and we delve into all of that in this conversation. Kevin can next be seen in Sony's Fatherhood, a movie that he is not only starring in, but also producing through his production company, Heartbeat Productions. He most recently starred in the Sony franchise Jumanji, The Next Level. In 2019, Hart reprised his role as the white-haired rabbit snowball in Universal's The Secret Life of Pets 2. Before that, Hart starred in STX Entertainment's The Upside alongside Brian Cranston and Nicole Kidman. In twenty eighteen, Hart co-wrote, produced, and starred in Universal's night school, all under Heartbeat Productions, and Heartbeat, you might guess H A R T. His last live stand up comedy tour, The Irresponsible Tour, was released as a Netflix original stand up special in April 2019.

As mentioned, you can find him on Instagram and he has God knows how many a hundred million total followers at this point. Instagram at Kevin Hart for Real. That's K E V I N H A R T number four. real Facebook. HartKevin and on Twitter at Kevin Hart for real. Without further ado, please enjoy a wide ranging conversation with

None other than Kevin. Heart. Kevin, welcome to the show. Yes, sir. Thank you, man. Thanks for having me. And

I thought we would start with uh a quote from a mutual friend. I won't mention his name unless you want to mention it, but I asked him. about you and he said you were the person he would most like to be like And coming from him.

That is very strong praise. He knows a lot of people. And He Suggested that uh I learn more about your mother.

And I I w I th I have done a whole a lot of homework and I feel like she was a very powerful influence in your life. And I'd love to just hear you describe your mother and Your relationship with her. If we could. Cool. Cool, who's a friend? Do I do I get to know who the friend was or no? This is Neil. Oh neo, okay, yes. Uh

My mother I mean God, where do you want me to What do you want me to start about my mom? I mean that's my That's my reason for the way that I move, at the level that I move

Um How I move. You know? Um I think I can just sum it up for you in like a A nice nutshell to where it's not

It's not the longest run on sentence that you've ever heard. Just One of the most determined And strong willed individuals to ever Walk to earth and She was someone that just wanted to always improve.

Uh wasn't content. With just being complacent. In a position because this is the position that I'm giving her that I have. Uh was always searching for

The next step. So Whether it was in education, whether it was Um You know, and health.

Whether it was And family. It was always trying to figure out how. To improve when most would be okay with just being okay.

Mm-hmm. You know, we didn't live a lavish lifestyle. We didn't come from Money, you know, we uh We were We were we were we were we were poor. You know, we

We had enough to eat. And she put clothes on my back. Um but You know, that's That's about it. We didn't we didn't

We didn't live an astronomical life, you know, and the extra money that she did have, she poured into extracurricular activities for me. So Her priority was the case. And and it shows.

You know, um where some mistakes were made. Fixes were immediately Figure it out. And implement it. on the next child. So it's uh it's woman that I have so much respect for.

And in my but Um She's basically the The definition of my mindset. Can't map.

And I was Spending a lot of time exploring your mindset. I've followed you for a long time, but I wanted to dig into your books and your writing obviously a lot of what you've done in terms of interviews and in the back of your book, I can't make this up. Subtitled Life Lessons, there's a beautiful little chapter called The Blueprint.

And I wanna just read a paragraph from that and give people a taste. Yeah. Because I think it speaks to what we're discussing. It says life is like a pack of cards. There are fifty two cards in the deck, but only four of them are aces. The goal of life is to make your way through a crowded deck where the odds are stacked against you and draw an ace.

Looking back over decades covered in this book, I've picked out eight qualities that put me in a position to draw aces. These characteristics won't work alone. Like a recipe, they only create success when combined together in just the right amount. So I'm just gonna list them real quick and then I wanna dig into one. You have persistence, patience, class, commitment, learning. Passion centered competitiveness, positivity. And discomfort. I want to talk about Positivity or hear you talk about positivity.

Because for instance, uh I was I was reading a piece in Variety that seem to me to indicate that you are a master of managing energy and avoiding energy leaks. Mm-hmm. Uh for instance the decision to allow your children to get to know your uh their grandfather, your father.

the c the quote that stuck out to me was it takes too much time and energy to keep hate alive. And uh for those people who don't know, I mean your father was an addict. You ha you've you've spoken about him publicly before Uh How have you developed That positivity was that uh mostly from your mom, uh

How do you think about that? When you when you come from the bottom Yeah. And you work your way. Uh When you work your way up to the place that some people refer to as the top.

I mean Wha what do I have to be angry about? Mm-hmm. What do I have to really bitch and complain about.

And hard on. You know what I mean? Like I I I really do come from Nine. I'm uh

I'm a part of a very small percentage. So And understanding that and knowing that. The things that are supposed to act as triggers, the things that are supposed to be life changing, threatening, you know, altering.

Um Are just lessons. It's just education. It's it's Stories.

For lack of a better word. You know? You got an amazing story under your belt. Um I don't choose to

Stay in one particular Paragraph. uh of my story. It's a long story. And you know, the life is as long as

O cour We are all given the The change for it to be. Uh that's something that we have no control. We only try to Enhance the opportunity.

Uh longevity or success. We don't have no control, you Walk outside and something can happen, boom, and that's it. So I just have a realistic approach and understanding to that. I come from nothing, I got something. Mm-hmm. I'm appreciative about something.

I don't look at this something as if I'm supposed to have it. Because that's not how it works. I'm very fortunately blessed too. It could all go away. If it did and I had to start all over again.

That's life. I don't harp on it. I don't bitch and complain about the things that I can't change. And the things that you can change Why spend time bitching if you're gonna change it?

Yeah. You know what I mean? So when you when you look at For example relationship. Uh with me and my father Did my father fuck up? Yeah.

Uh my father get himself clean and straight. Yeah. Does my father feel bad about some of the stuff that he did? Yeah. Could you still be angry?

At the lack of parenting that was done or the time that was spent. Yeah. But why? It doesn't it doesn't change it. It doesn't change anything that

Happen. It doesn't It doesn't make it Right. You know what I mean? Like you don't That that anger that you're

That you're giving off into that is not going to change. These things. So that's energy that I feel like I can put into something else. That's energy that I feel like. I can get a lot more use. out of that energy that would have been negative.

I find a way to say you know what I do forgive you and I mean that. And that life now hopefully is better for us. If it's not, I know that it's not because of me. I don't like putting myself in a position to easily be affected. You know?

I think life is too short. It's it's too short. Um If you just spend time being affected all the fucking time. Those are tough days, man. If you've bothered All the time?

There's a lot of shit to be bothered about today. You can be bothered by a lot of shit. If you're the person that's really bothered Then how how pleasant are you to be around? Yeah.

And there's just So much anger and and so much Negative energy. I I just choose the opposite. Direct in approach. And I mean

That doesn't make me perfect. I'm nowhere near perfect. I done fucked up, I don't did stupid shit and I've apologized and Vack and be

Ah, you know, those apologies can be accepted, then great. It's Fantastic. If they can't Well, I can't do anything about that. I can't put any more energy into the things that I've tried to do or make right. If you choose to still feel a certain way.

God bless you. I'm gonna keep living. That's my energy. And it seems like you've practice this consistently over time and then when you run into something like the catastrophic car accident you had not terribly long ago.

Could you speak to not being able to put on your socks and what your self talk was like. I mean what are you saying to yourself in your own head when you're experiencing something like that? That's when you truly realize that you're not in control. Like right now I said that to you. That's because I really understand that. But there was a moment Where I love Side Reality, you kinda feel like you are.

You're not in control. But you kinda feel like you are. I can make this happen. I'll do this. I'll get this easy. I'll get it done. I got it. I'll do it. I'm a I'm at it. I'm working hard. I'ma do it. Aye, I. Everything's aye aye aye.

And you get lost in that. You know, you really do get lost. In that. Um For me that car incident.

Was much more than any and everybody can see. For me that car accident. It was a reason to sit down. and really process What's around me.

And by what's around me. The things that only matter. And that was my my wife and my kids. You know, all of the things that I put the significant value And tremendous

Amount of uh I'm gonna call'em You put the things that come with success on a pedestal. For a minute. The things that you feel you need.

And the things that you feel you have to have. Right. Um But when life hits you with a A real curveball.

And you're in that room with four walls. None of that stuff that you thought was important. That you thought you needed. Is ever bought up in conversation. When it comes to life, when it comes to health.

When it comes to like You know. An emotional support, none of it's materialistic. It's all Person to person and

When it was my wife and my brother and my kids and we were just in this hospital room. That gave me a different A different look. An insight. Into life.

So mainly shoulder shrug. negative shit even more. I already had no Tolerance or patience for Negativity. Already. Was a guy that never feed into

To the world of Nonsense. Something that I pride myself on. But then after this, it was even more. Oh, I don't have time to be upset.

Even if I am upset, I'm gonna figure out what I can do to make this better. I don't have time to to do that. It's not It's not valuable. Mm-hmm.

One of the things that most fascinates me about you And This has shown up over and over again in in what I've read in preparation for this also what I see. Is that you have, say, as one of the Aces, so to speak. You have discomfort.

Right. Never being complacent. Uh if you want to get far in life, you never get too comfortable, don't stop, don't rest, don't be satisfied. So you know, I've I've heard that when when you hit these various pinnacles of success in different areas that one of the first questions you ask is, Okay, what's next? Where do we go from here? And

Uh and yet, for instance, Neil told me that uh I asked him, I said, Do do you think that he is genuinely happy? And he said, He is. I go from what I can tell, he's a genuinely happy guy. And in my experience of interviewing high performers Those two don't always go together. You find people who are never able to appreciate what's in front of them or to rest for a moment because they're constantly focused on what's in the future, what's next. How do you combine those? Uh in the sense of

Appreciating what you have, but still deliberately building in discomfort or not getting too comfortable and looking forward. How do you think about that? Well you got BA and AA. Right. See you guys.

Before accident, after accident. Mm-hmm. Before accident their engine. The engine ran. That engine is still running.

I I can't sit up here and act as if it's Nah, I'm just an ambitious person. Um And I'm in love. I'm in love with understanding.

The definition of history. Right. What what fascinates me is Воні вач сам. From the past. That's attached to an individual or a person and a monumental moment.

In history. That's fascinating. This man What? On the moon.

On his date. Such is such. Regular guy who wouldn't be an astronaut was the first man to ever walk on a moon and for years after his life is over. It's a discussion. It's discussion, it's information that people need to know.

That's fascinating to me. Right now we're in a pandemic. Our world has been hit with a catastrophic Stomach punch. that's put us all in a position where the economy is dropped.

And we've Been Put on quarantine? Huh? And we're home for how long? And now it's gonna be this long. This is history.

This moment In time. We talked about in thirty to forty years. as one of the worst things to hit the globe. When COVID and X, Y, and Z and Ch it's history.

So My hard work. In my craft, in my hard work. Um From me playing the game in my head of

Are you going to be a conversation attached to history? How long will the work That you put in Be a discussion. Are people wanna one day look back and say things about

The things that you did. And if they do What would it be? I like not knowing it. But I like knowing that I put a lot of shit in that conversation.

I like knowing that You're gonna have a lot of shit to talk about, whether you like it or not, because I'm in love with just doing that. I'm in love. With the resume. I'm in love. With the boxes that can be checked off.

I'm in love. With The The thought of success. And more importantly

The benefit that comes from hard work. I'm in love with being A testament to the conversation as preach to so many. That son don't necessarily know if it's true. I'm a product of truth.

I'm a product of hard work pays off. I like that. I like the fact that that was instilled in me. And I didn't get it, but now I do get it.

And it's thank you, Mom, at the highest level. I like the fact that my kids get to see me operate. And then I get to talk and communicate with them and whether they do it like I do or not. It's embedded in them. It'll kick in somewhere. In something it'll kick in.

Whether they like it or not. It's embedded in you. So My joy definitely comes From being

Able to see the benefits. Um my work. And being able to create a story. that can possibly be talked about. Years after I'm here.

That's a that's for me. That's a happy place. And If and when I decide to To not do it anymore.

I'm happy with that decision. After my accident it did make me say Let's be conscious. of your family. Let's make sure that we put the time and energy into this. That matches the time and energy that I'm putting into that.

This should never outweigh that. And there was a moment where I was guilty of that and the accident made me realize that. So Kevin, you make sure That if you go on at it a thousand percent over here. You don't come back at nine hundred. You better match that thousand on both sides.

And that's what I'm much more conscious of. I've always been. Uh you know, a great Family got a great dad. Minus my fucking bumps in the road of just Stupidly.

But I'm a good dad. That's never gonna be compromise. No. Never gonna fucking be kind of ass. It seems like you have

done a an excellent, consistent job of cultivating your physical vehicle for giving a hundred percent and many areas of your life. Has that always been the case? When did that start for you? Uh I would say I would say for me

I don't understand how you do something halfway. I did that through High school And doing that. I saw the

I saw the instant consequence. You know, there was a moment where after high school Where My friends went on and they started going to college. And I was a guy that didn't even know that we applied.

I didn't know I was applying to college with a job. I thought we was playing all this time. Where where where y'all going? Well was a joke to me. Was never a joke to anybody else. I was the only one. That the joke was being played on.

So when I thought we were hooking or cutting class Well, I thought we all weren't doing work. I thought we all were Or getting buying. Just fucking off opportunity. Oh, it's just me.

Oh, y'all been doing your work this whole time. Oh, fuck. Hm. Wow. University of, university up, university up. I was the only jackass.

that's going to community college. That's not to take a shot at anybody that's going to community college. 'Cause those colleges are available for a reason. I was the only jackass that didn't have a plan because I thought that was a cool thing to do. And take my SAT. I did abacadab going down guessing at it.

Because I thought that's what we all were doing, because we were hooky in class to go. I was the only dickhead. And did it the other way. So that joke was on me. So I saw it not working hard, got me.

And then take my SAT. That to me That was an eye opener, man. Well, if I'm gonna do something, I should never do it halfway. And that means that if I do wanna do it halfway, I just shouldn't do it. I'm not gonna do it to show

What I can do at the best of my business, then why am I doing it? If you ask me to come work out, but you can I come work out and I bullshit to work out, why did I go work out? If you ask me to come see a movie and I go to sleep. As soon as I get in there, well, why don't I go to the movie? Why don't I just say I wanna stay home? If you ask me to go and get up early with you, so we can go look these these apartments or or housing complexes and I get down there and I just got a negative attitude, why the fuck did I go?

What I've learned and how I operate is that you're in so much control. Of yourself. Then it's ridiculous. And sometimes it's easy to put out excuses. for yourself that makes sense to you.

We all know the fucking truth. We all know. If we're giving a hundred percent, if we're not, we all know. You tell me to go outside and pick the dog shit. My wife tell me every morning, I don't wanna go out there and pick the dog shit. Gotta get up and do it.

If I go out there and I take two steps I'm like man, it's too early, I'll do this shit later. Then that means that I'm fucking, I'm, I'm already. Compromising an action that I said I was going to do that I'm not. If I say I wanna do something, I'm gonna do it.

If I don't say it, don't expect it from me. I never put my foot in my mouth. Well why do you expect me to go do that? I never said I would do that. That's the one power. That I have.

That's the one thing. That can never be taken from me. What I say I'm going to do. I do. And if I do do something That puts me in a position

To be scolded because my actions weren't correct, then I gotta stand up and I gotta say that too. Hey. I said I was gonna do X Y Z. I didn't do it. I gotta wear that hat.

Hit me with the stupid stick or the dummy hat, scold me, whatever you gotta do. I fucked up. I out loud said that I would do and I did it. That I'm wrong. That's the difference.

That's what I'm okay with. I'm okay with standing in this shit and smelling it if I have to. I try my best to avoid it, but I'm not perfect. So there's ever a moment where that happens and it has to happen though? I'm own it.

But as I've gotten older. My words become more my blind. Hey Catman, I want you to come talk to these kids. Man, look, it's a group of kids. Hey, I can't do that. Uh not because of the kids. I'm tired. Let's find another time where I can.

There was a time back in the day Captain talking to me, yeah, I figure out that you can't get me on the phone. Or why do I say I can do it? I've learned from that. I don't I don't play those games. So if I say you're gonna get me, you're gonna get a hundred percent of me. If I don't feel like I can, then I'm not gonna say it.

Do you have do you have other ways? Of saying no. That you uses language or anything like that because people see what you do, right? I mean you have so much

in the air and you're you're getting so much done, but they they don't see the thousands of things that you say no to. Well I just love this hate. I can say right now. I I am I am so

Honest right now. I'm so honest. The It is It's so it's ridiculous.

Right. Like right now I am I am no. Can you use it? Absolutely not, no. Four years old? What I got time to be around bush for no.

Why? I just don't want to do that. I don't wanna do that. I shouldn't have to explain. Why I wanna do something I shouldn't have to explain. That's a that's a thing that people have to overcome. There's a portion

of life that you go through where you feel guilty for saying that you don't wanna do certain things. That's not fair. Because when you do wanna do things it's celebrations and it's happy times. Jul. To not want to do.

You're allowed the option to say no. You say no for things that work for you, then good for you. You can be saying no to opportunity, for all I know. You're Allow the option.

to say no and to not want to participate or not want to do. That's your choice. In anything. I don't know that. And I make sure that I use my nose wisely.

There's a lot of yeses. So when it is a no. Understand that. For example, I love my fans. I love my fans. Take pictures with fans all the time. Go back and forth with fans all the time. Make myself available before red carpets, after carpets, movie premieres, not movie premieres. I'm out and about, seeing, stop, talk, pictures, videos.

But if I'm with my kids. No. Kevin K I said no. I shouldn't have to explain to you I'm with my family. I shouldn't have to do that.

I'm entitled to know. That's why you got two Options you got yes and no. You throw maybe in there, that's your choice. I'm Is it yes or no?

So As you get older you start to see that a little more clear and I joke around about it. But it's so true. You ever notice how direct and honest old people are. Yeah, for sure.

Have you ever noticed The old person does not waste time. No Yeah. No, get your ass up out of here. Whatever it is, it's it's

It's direct. Because they don't have the time. They don't have the time to To play those games. I don't either. I don't I don't play those games. Any more.

Just a quick thanks to our sponsors, and then we're right back to the show. First up. There gun. TheraGun is my go-to solution for recovery and restoration. It's a famous handheld percussive therapy device that releases your deepest muscle tension. I own two Theraguns, and my girlfriend and I use them every day after workouts and before bed. Check it out. Go to Theragun.com/slash Tim and check out the Gen 4.

Theragun. It is just amazing. They also have some great videos. That's theragun.com slash Tim. Second and last, I get asked all the time, if you could only use one supplement, what would it be? My answer is usually Athletic Greens, my all in one nutritional insurance. I've used it for more than a decade, hard to believe. As a listener of the Tim Ferriss show, you'll get a free twenty count travel pack. Valued at seventy nine dollars, with your first order at atleticgreens.com slash Tim. That's athleticgreens.com slash Tim. One thing that you seem very good at is long term

investments and thinking. And what I I'll give a few examples of that. So if you if you look at the path of Kevin which which I've done to get ready for this conversation. And I noticed these seemingly little things like for instance you go from community college to as I understand it selling shoes Open mics. eventually you're you're hitting the road in touring, gathering email addresses, right? You have people putting Cards on tables. You're sowing the seeds.

Uh Tremendous things later. And What I'd love to hear you maybe discuss a little bit is

How do you choose your opportunities so that they're steps up and not steps sideways or steps backwards because you have a lot thrown at you. How do you think about that strategically, or how do you think about it at all? Well, I think When you're talking about opportunities in general The

The best part about opportunities Uh figuring out what makes them An amazing opportunity for you. Right.

Um You know, I think You're extremely lucky if you're doing something you love. You know, if you're doing something that may not necessarily be your passion, but it's a job, the trick is to find out. How to make this thing.

become a bigger thing for you. So that you're able to go and do what you want to do. How do we use the things In life. There are tone as stepstones or Baby pathways.

To the to the ultimate role. Right? Um So for me Have a great My tunnel vision is ridiculous.

So If life was like If you could compare it to Let's call it Let's call it like an MD five hundred.

You know, when these guys in in race cars When they're racing in cars They're never looking. Right in front of them. They're they're way up in the road.

Before they make a time, they're looking at the time after that time. to decide how to handle this turn. So that when it come out that turn, they're on a straight away already. That's how they're gonna come out. You have to have vision. That's in front. That's at least said.

as a goal, as a destination of where you're trying to get. And once you get there, you can reassess. The opportunities that Uh were ones that were wanted. Back when?

Mm-hmm. I wanna be a theta comedian. Now that I'm a standard comedian. I wanna make sure that I'm telling jokes. that can allow me to travel the globe one day.

I wanna make everybody laugh. If I can make everybody laugh. I would travel the globe. If I get the opportunity to travel the globe. That gives me the opportunity to start on that journey of making the world laugh.

Opportunity one is getting To position to perform outside of the US. That would be massive. Let me get what's my first opportunity. Doing something.

That's considered International Where is it? Where do where does this exist? My first time going to Canada, I didn't know what to expect,'cause I'm a guy from North Philadelphia. What language do they speak? What's gonna happen? Jesus Christ. What's gonna happen when I'm here? I just landed in fucking Canada. Oh my god.

Hi. How are you? I'm looking for this hotel. Why are you yelling, sir? Right. Okay.

Whoa! I perform the can and people laugh. Is it like this everywhere? I go to London. Holy fuck, I'm in London for the first time. Oh my God, people speak English. What if I can make I'm making people laugh in London? Oh my God, the opportunity. That I was talking about is now happening. It's a reality. Man, what doors can comedy open up? What if comedy got me to act in? Eddie Murphy was a comedian. He started acting. How did he do it? What if I got in there? Oh my God, it got me

The opportunity to act. Oh my god, now that I'm acting, what if I can figure out an opportunity? To create. Oh my God created and show me that you can write. Oh my God, what if writing? creates more opportunities. Holy fuck, that's how you produce. Now I'm producing. Oh my God, what if I can direct? Ooh shit. Then you look all the way back behind you.

It all started off with the goal. Do a comedy. Mm-hmm. But the opportunities kept getting bigger because you kept Looking past The first opportunity at what the what if was.

That doesn't mean that you're not respecting the things you're doing. It just means that you're realizing why you should do this well. That's what I do. So my my title vision is It's ridiculous. Yeah.

I'm always down the street no matter what. Have you ever played Monopoly? And there's a a person that you play with And it'll get Like

You know. They'll they'll get the worst property on the game. And people go, why the fuck you buying that? Uh. Yeah, Baltic Evan. Mediterranean?

Yeah, I did. It's the cheapest one, but I'm gonna put All my houses and then put those in the hotels. And it's cheaper, I now have money left and hopefully if I'm making money on this. I can go and get some of the nicer stuff. I can go and get the

Maybe the board walks, or maybe the Gentures or You know, maybe Maybe some of the other more expensive, but I want to get my money right first. I don't have enough. Then you got the people that go right and go buy Boarwalk and then they're stuck with two hundred dollars or three hundred dollars after.

And try to figure out how to get houses, but they can't really afford the thing that they bought. There's other people that put a plan together. that they're trying to execute that can get them to the place that they wanna be. I'm the guy.

With a plan. And whether I get there or not. I'm executing something that I'm vetting out. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's it's it's

I'm vetting it out and I'm trying my best. To get there by checking all these boxes in Building an amazing team around me. A people that are more than qualified to help me on this journey. So it doesn't become a Kevin did it thing, it becomes a we did it thing. And then before you know it, you change lives. And now you're able to have a major impact.

Not just with laughter, not just by providing content. But now you're providing jobs, opportunities, now you're providing You know. Man providing dreams, hope. There's a it's a bigger story to it. Mm-hmm.

So so I definitely want to talk about stories and storytelling, but before we get there, we're we were talking you were talking about this macro planning, vetting, and looking at opportunities. I'd love to look at the micro for a second. What d what does say the first ninety minutes of your day look like? Are there any components or routines that are particularly important to you in the first hour or two of your day? If there's anything that's uh is a constant for you. There's no I mean the the one thing that never changes is my my work out. Six? I mean well since we've been in court, I'm working on seven AM every day.

Um, but before this, if I'm like out and I'm working I'm up it. Five. You know, in the gym. And very consistent about that. I don't I don't

I'm a sway with that. You know, it's how I start any and every day. Uh and I'm just heavily into taking care of me. Um

I got a lot of people that depend on me. I got a lot of people that The that I feel need me and also that I need in return. Um But I can't be

The best version of myself if I'm not taking care of myself. What are what are some of the in your mind, because you've exercised a long time and very consistently, so you've had a chance to test a lot. What are some of them the best bang for the buck exercises if you could only kind of take a handful with you? Are there are do any come to mind? Nothing beats push ups. That's it.

I don't I don't care. Whether you got a gym or not. Push upset ups can't beat that. That's the core. That's the core. It can't be that.

With stories and storytelling, I mean what what strikes me is you're a student of history. you're looking at what can become stories that are told decades, maybe a hundred years after they happen. And you are In some respects it strikes me making your mark with an incredible Gift and

hone's talent of storytelling when I when I watch you perform Mm-hmm. Uh What makes a good storyteller? Are there any particular people you consider good storytellers? I mean, whether it's the the i I've I've I know you've cited the Bible, the there is there's certain stories that are more compelling than others and certain storytellers. Are there any storytellers who stand out to you? I mean Minus what what's going on uh in the personal life of this individual. Um

You know Cosby is one of the uh Thank you. Probably one of the best Storytellers within a profession of comedy.

And like I said, make sure that it's separate from the I know this stuff. Uh Eddie Murphy. Amazing storyteller. Dave Champelle. An amazing storyteller. I mean you're looking at people that have

Uh very unique styles. and approaches. To the craft of storytelling. Um Those are my favourite and I'm gonna tell you who else

One of the best I was one of the best at at storytelling. Murney Mac. Bernie Mac. Burning man.

Could tell a story. I mean that you know I I I love it. I love the idea of telling a story. I love the idea Um You know, grabbing someone's attention. And holding that attention.

And a person going On levels with you. Until the end. And at the end of it. Getting an amazing payoff to where it's like Oh my god, I didn't even

See that coming, that's crazy. Like I There's something special about it. I've always Been a fan of it. Um You know, and it and it's uh

It's a it's a craft And a talent that I that I try my best to hone and work on. I want to talk about the the decision. So this is an Audible original. The decision and the subtitles Overcoming Today's BS for Tomorrow's Success. It seems like this had been in the works for a very long time and then the launch got accelerated because There's certain things that you can't do right now with Covid and quarantine. Uh but there are things that you can do, like utilize audio. Could you

Speak to Why you decided to push this forward now and why you did it in the first place? Well I said I said basically you know Right now I think the crazy thing

Within the times that you're you're realizing The m behind content. You know, like you You see what people gravitate towards

When Times are tough. Like you know, you There's an escape that comes With good content. You're able to get lost in

Something good. Like I remember when it's first hit. An Ozark. It came on and the the season was available and I was like I'm gonna watch Ozark. And I sat and I watched Ozark and

For that time I just enjoyed a good show. A good show. was enough. It was it was enough for me. And it motivated me after watching it. I was like, I gotta get up and I gotta write.

I gotta write. Create, I gotta write. And watching that show made me do that. Now of course This is my profession, this is what I do. So it's where I can grab energy from.

But There's content all around Vekarin. Amplify a person's mood.

There's different types of content. That's Good for whomever, you know I mean it's it's it's a lot. That you can go out and Grab or read or see. It's just a lie.

So I told My team I was like this is This is a perfect time. Just for me to release the decision. Um

The reason why is because It's not just informative, but it's mental fitness. And and when when our mental is getting tugged on Just having information can be key. Mm-hmm.

She's information. My way of thinking isn't the right way for everybody. I don't I don't Claim that, I don't stand on that. It's not my way or the highway. I'm just giving you an option. I'm just

Sharing Wholeheartedly. What has helped me? And life and what is helped get me to this place. Um

How my thinking and thought process had played a major part. And I want to give you guys this information. You may gravitate towards it, you may not, but I'm gonna give it to you in a way that nobody else can. I'm giving it to you with personality.

I'm giving it to you with real life Situations attached. That you can look up and see. And I'm giving it to you. From a guy's perspective that has results.

Mm-hmm. So it's not as if there aren't any results. In my way of thinking and in my way of Decision making. You see what the results are.

Which is why I feel like the information is valuable. You know guys, I Like there's there's Chapters on positivity, there's chapters on negativity, there's Chapters on cowboying up. There's chapters on shoulder shrugging. There's

Chapters. On Things that we overlook that are so small Pra mim, big.

You know, shoulder shrug. Shoulder shrug of the motherfucker, man. The ability to shrug your shoulders It can mean so many things. Shrugging your shoulders can mean I don't care. I mean, I don't know.

What can mean oh well It is what it is. That ability to shoulder shrug That's a major That's a major thing.

Because that's also the ability to move on. That's also the ability to go, all right, well, I guess I gotta keep going. Shoulder shrug, that's what it is. It can be taken as nonchalant, it can be taken as passive, it can be taken as so many different things. But nine times out of a ten after a shoulder shrug.

You're gonna keep going. Yeah. And these are the things that I've broken down. In this audible original. It's me giving you just a different way of seeing things.

A different insight. And your memoir, I mean, if we describe it as a as that I I can't make this up was Extremely popular on audio. And uh is is the way to think about this new Audible original I mean I think the subtitle describes it well, overcoming today's BS for tomorrow's success a more prescriptive description of your kind of tools and principles. It's sort of a distilled collection of your

tools and tactics, is that one way to think about it? If there if people are wondering how it contrasts to I can't make this up. I can say for me what I what I really, really love Is When you look at my my first Uh book Life Lessons, right?

I really broke down my life. In great detail and I I just gave the stories of Where I've come from and and How I got to Here.

Right. Um Major success. People loved it. They love the honesty that came with it. Uh and they just love the story. They love hearing about My father, my mother, my brother, they just love the overall story.

Um And this one. I wanna go a step further because What I What I realized was

I'm privy to a lot of information. And I'm privy to a lot of different environments. And I've been a sponge and I've soaked up so much information. Outside of my wife and kids. Some of my closest friends.

Am I am I just taking this information with me? What I found is For me right now. If I were just to go and take all the information that I had. And just keep it and put it in my pocket. What That's selfish.

That's extremely fucking selfish. To not share. To not share any of this. I look at it as very selfish on my part. So I said I wanna share, I wanna give information.

But this information It's really help you understand how to maneuver. And the BS that we all go through. And there's people that really struggle. With a lot of the BS that we go through.

You know, there's a there's a real struggle. There comes With thought process. With Decision making with

Do I make it right? Do I make it left? There's a real Struggle. That goes with that. And it just comes from lack of knowledge. Or From taking a journe.

And then nobody else's The way you are, things like you think. Um, I mean I can go down a list of things. When you're able to open up And talk about

Things that most people don't. In such an honest way. It acts as a bonus. You know, there's a there's a piece in there where I'm talking about Social media

And How social media has been such a gift and a curse. I've been on the side of the gif. I've been on the side of the gate. It allowed me to connect and Touch base with my fans in one way that I never thought that I would be able to.

And then there's this dark side to it that's where you're just head. And a dark side. Just seems like it's negative. But it only seems that way because there's something in us as people. To be attracted.

To the negative, we're attracted to bullshit for some reason. If there's a story About a man that saved a kid. And at the same time. A story gets posted.

About a woman that cut her husband's dick off. You're gonna forget about the man that saved the kid. Everybody's run into the story about the woman that cut a Husband's Dick O. Nobody can answer that question of why. You can't tell me why, but it's true. It's what we gravitate towards is people. So that's why the internet seems like a hub.

For negativity. The news is on every night. There's always a good story on the news, but you can't tell me what it is. But you can tell me about all the people that got shot. You can tell me about the story that got robbed. You can't tell me the good story.

You can't highlight the things of good. It's because the volume is turned down. And that's because we choose not to turn it up. So it's not until you realize that, hey, you know what? I'm looking at this thing, man. There's a lot of negative comments on here. Well how many of the positive ones did you actually see?

Right. Did you give that the same attention? These are things that I'm given. And it all go back to the decision. There's a decision that I'm making. To speak on or to amplify what can be Perceived as bullshit or negativity.

I'm making the decision not to give the same energy and effort. To the thing of positive. There. But I'm making a decision to not realize it or see it. I have tons

Tons of this. And it's audible original. Mm-hmm. Cowboy ain't up. You make the decision to sit and bitch.

About what you can't change. We talked about it earlier. That's a decision. Or you can make the decision. To say you know what, I'm a cowboy up. Cowboy Up is a Tom. It's a term that anybody can use and cowboy up just means I'm a strap on my boots.

I'ma get back to work. That's it. That work can mean anything. It can mean life. It can mean family. It can mean You know, humanitarian work whatever that thing is. I'm not gonna let the problems weigh me down to where I stopped doing.

What I'm supposed to do. I'm gonna make the decision to continue and keep going. The decision. As you mentioned Audible original. Yes. Releasing May twenty first.

I've been fascinated in the process of getting to know you through research for this conversation. And I'm excited to see you come out and listen to it, I suppose, more accurately. And people can find you, of course, you're not hard to find on Instagram at Kevin Hart for Real, the number four On Facebook. That's Heart Kevin, and then on Twitter same as Instagram at KevinHart for real.

Uh, Kevin, is there anything else you would like to share before we Before we wrap up, any uh any words of wisdom, favorite quotes, things you live your life by, anything else? Um You know what? I'll say right now I think the the biggest and best thing is just to

Get people to understand that, you know, look, these times are Extremely tough. For for us all. Um, but there's always sunshine behind a cloud. This is just a very dark cloud. We'll get through it. We'll get out of it.

And you know, when we do Uh let's be better than we were. Well we went in then. You know? And what uh what I think is really dope The

I was able to see and that I was able to hold on to and gravitate towards is How So much money's been raised. uh to solve and help for world hunger. But it took a pandemic.

And it shouldn't have to be Uh because of a pandemic. That we're all conscious. Of the needs. Of others.

is something that should be more of a priority and when you see these hundreds of millions of dollars And I've been raised Um you know within the two month Period of time. You know, it just kind of raises the question of

Why why is this so far few and in between? Yeah. Shouldn't take a pandemic to make us all aware. Let's open our eyes and start to just Once again.

Look beneath The debris. And let's let's get to these other real things that come out of this. That we can hold on to. And make other people be responsible for in the future.

You know, think about so you know what somebody said that really made me go, wow. We're solving world hunger and you know, raising hundreds of millions of dollars. But for f Megican. Clean water has been a problem. For how many years?

Yeah. And that's a how many million dollar fix. Time to cowboy up, it seems like. Time to cowboy up. Great conversation. Yeah, thanks so much. And I'll uh I'll s I'll certainly Uh put all these links also in the show notes for people, uh Tim.blog forward slash podcast. And uh Kevin, real pleasure to connect. Thanks for taking the time. Hey man, thank you. I appreciate you. Anytime. You too, my man. All right, be safe.

Bye bye. Hey guys, this is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one, this is Five Bullet Friday. Do you want to get a short email from me? Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little morsel of fun before the weekend? And Five Bullet Friday is a very short email where I share the coolest things I've found or that I've been pondering over the week. That could include favorite new albums that I've discovered. It could include gizmos and gadgets and all sorts of weird shit that I've somehow dug up. in the uh the world of the esoteric as I do, it could include favorite articles that I've read and that I've shared with my close friends, for instance. And it's very short. It's just a little tiny bite. of goodness before you head off for the weekend. So if you want to receive that, check it out, just go to fourhourworkweek.com, that's fourhourworkweek.com all spelled out, and just drop in your email and you will get the very next one. And if you sign up, I hope you enjoy it.

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