Jon Andersen (00:00):
What’s that brother?
Sevan Matossian (00:01):
I, I said that bam. We’re live. I wish I would’ve captured that. I love that.
Jon Andersen (00:05):
What was that? What was cleaning my glasses? <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (00:07):
Yeah. I loved it. I loved it.
Jon Andersen (00:12):
Early morning workout, man. I’m fogging up my glasses.
Sevan Matossian (00:15):
Oh yeah. Wow. Trials and tribulation of the fit. You’re right. Some, sometimes I’ll come in here. Yeah. And that’s an amazing phenomenon, right?
Jon Andersen (00:27):
It’s, you know, that’s, that’s, you know, when, think of it like this, when, when you’re generating enough body heat to fog up a pair of glasses, you know, your metabol is moving, you know, you’re doing your, you know, you’re on your shit when your, when your body heats, fogging up glasses.
Sevan Matossian (00:41):
Yeah. Hey, do you work out with your glasses, John?
Jon Andersen (00:45):
You know, pretty rarely. I mean, it depends if, it just depends. Like if I’m in a place where, uh, I’m outside, guaranteed for sure. You know, it’s if I’m in my own space, very possibly not. Uh, it just depends. Like I, I’m unfortunately Right, I’m blind as a goddamn damn bat now. So, you know, 10 years ago, close
Sevan Matossian (01:06):
And far, close and far,
Jon Andersen (01:08):
I can like, perfect example, I could, if you held my phone 10 feet away from me, I could read it. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (01:14):
Okay. Hey, do you, do you have the letters on your I on the iPhone? Like really big? Like, do you know where the setting is to make your shit bigger?
Jon Andersen (01:21):
Yeah, I get ’em a, I get it big enough that it actually, cuz otherwise it turns into too many lines. It’s hard to read. You know, my dyslexia goes bananas if I gotta change lines too much, you know, <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (01:33):
I, um, what, what? You’re in New Mexico?
Jon Andersen (01:36):
Uh, no, I’m actually in, uh, in California.
Sevan Matossian (01:40):
Oh, you are? Okay.
Jon Andersen (01:41):
Yeah, we, because we were originally, I mean, I’ve been a California boy forever. Um, we were actually up in the Bay Area for, you know, Jesus Christ when I graduated. Oh yeah.
Sevan Matossian (01:49):
You’re a four 15. You’re a four 15.
Jon Andersen (01:52):
Yeah. Yeah. So, so based, I think cuz you’re thinking four 14. That’s New Mexico.
Sevan Matossian (01:58):
I, I just, as I was digging through your Instagram, I was looking at some of the pictures of where your, of your home and it
Jon Andersen (02:03):
Ah, yeah, yeah. And I
Sevan Matossian (02:04):
Just thought it looked like it was the desert,
Jon Andersen (02:07):
So it totally is. And so here’s this is here, check this out. So, God, it was right before Corona, about a year before Corona, we bought this house down in Baja, Mexico. And, uh, loved it down there. And it’s in the desert, you know. And, uh, so when, when Corona hit, you know, the Bay Area just went to hell in a handbag real quick. So, so many peoples just kinda like the New York area. So many people so tight. It just was re it turned. It was, I used to love it there. Anyway, so,
Sevan Matossian (02:36):
Uh, me too. Where were you born? Where were you born?
Jon Andersen (02:39):
I was actually born in California, up in Marin County. That’s
Sevan Matossian (02:42):
My, okay. I was born in Oakland, so I was
Jon Andersen (02:44):
Oh, right across the bay. Yeah. So basically from the time I was born until I was about seven, I was in Marin County, then my mom remarried. We went up into Portland, Oregon, where I went through all of my school and graduated from University of Portland with a major in theology, minor in philosophy. Came back to California, moved to Marine County because at that time, I think it was the second most expensive county in the country to live. I figured, okay, if I can come right outta college and keep my head above water here, I’m gonna be good anywhere. And so that’s, that was the plan. Go to the fastest moving current I could find, which was great because I knew that, I knew that environment. I grew up there when I was, uh, you know, younger. So anyway, long and short of it. So when Corona hit, um, everything went to Hill in a handbag and I was like, I told my wife, I’m like, let’s, let’s, let’s get outta here.
(03:38):
Both of our, we had at the time, we had two girls that were still in the house that, uh, now are in college. So we said as soon as they got in college said, let’s, let’s get outta here. So we basically sold our place in, up in Northern Cal and came down into Southern Cal. So we are in, it’s like dead in between Vegas and la like the town is called Ymo, but we’re 20 minutes outside this little town of like 400 people. Wow. And so it’s, yeah. So it’s a there and we’re here because of this little community. It’s like 50 houses, forgive me, 50 or 60 on a private lake. And everybody here has two homes. So very like-minded people, you know, nobody’s ever here full-time. And so, but like on holiday weekends, everybody’s out here rocking, having a good time, but nobody wants trouble because we’re all, we’re all in a place where, you know, we’ve done well for ourselves. Nobody wants, it’s not like, you know, a bunch of hood hoodlums creating that type of trouble, you know. So guys
Sevan Matossian (04:38):
Spell Ymo for me. I’m looking at, I’m looking for it on the map.
Jon Andersen (04:41):
Y E R M O. Yeah. And if you, basically it’s, there’s a lake, uh, not too far. Another reason we moved out here is because it’s, you know, people say, why’d you move to Yerman? I’ve never heard of it. Exactly. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (04:57):
Gotcha, gotcha.
Jon Andersen (04:59):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (05:01):
I’m J Oh oh, okay. Outside of Barstow. Okay.
Jon Andersen (05:04):
Yeah. We’re, trust me, we’re not here for any reason other than the fact that we’re out in the middle of nowhere
Sevan Matossian (05:10):
And, and, and, and do you still have your home in Baja?
Jon Andersen (05:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Getting ready to, to getting ready to actually get a pick up a place in Vegas so that we can call that our primary, uh, primary residence to get rid of some of the state taxes. It’s brutal.
Sevan Matossian (05:25):
Yeah, I get that. John, were your parents? Um, uh, wealthy hippies? When I think of Marin County, I think of wealthy hippies,
Jon Andersen (05:32):
<laugh>, um, you know, I wouldn’t say wealthy hippies, but we were, you know, we were pretty well off when my mom remarried up in, we went up to Oregon. She actually ma married a chemical engineer. Okay. Uh, he was actually, he was kind of, you know, he was a stepdad. He’s the one who raised me, uh, really, really smart dude. Graduated from m i t in three years. Wow. Three years. Wow. So, you know. Yeah. Real smart dude. He was, he was the one who kind of tempered me. He, he really, really like when I’m, I was seven when I met him, and realistically he was my dad. You know, my blood dad was more like a friend. Um, but, uh, you know, he told me right when I met him, he says, you’re gonna see me mad about as many thumbs as you can count on your hands. And I don’t think he ever, I don’t think I ever saw him raise his voice once. And he actually, he passed away when I was, uh, 21. So 14 years. Never saw him raise his voice.
Sevan Matossian (06:29):
You, you know, my wife. And, uh, I’m 50 and I’ve known my wife for a long time since I’ve been 23. And when we had kids one time, I was getting angry at the kids and she said to me, Hey, you know, I don’t have a problem with you, um, getting mad. I don’t have a problem with you getting angry. I don’t have a problem with you yelling, you know, uh, I don’t have a problem with any of that stuff. What I have a problem with is though, is that when shit hits the fan that you ever show our kids that getting out of control is an option. And I remember when she said that, I was like, yeah, getting outta control is fucking it. It’s the least cool thing that any man can do when he is just outta control. Like when a lion roars, he’s not out of control. He’s roaring cuz he fucking wants to fucking roar. And I, when you say that, you’re gonna see me get mad as many times as I have thumbs, when you have get mad, it should be because you wanna get mad. Not because shit is the fan and it’s some sort of just
Jon Andersen (07:20):
Thing and you’ve lost control.
Sevan Matossian (07:21):
Exactly. Yeah. And you’ve lost control. Yeah, yeah.
Jon Andersen (07:23):
Yeah. A lion, a lion roars to take control. Not cuz he’s lost control. Right. You know what I mean? Right. Very, very big difference between losing it and getting upset and having to be firm to, to basically enforce the boundaries. <laugh>. Yeah. Very different, very different type of, of raising a voice, if you will. You know?
Sevan Matossian (07:46):
Uh, is that the kind of man you are, you think too? Are you pretty in control
Jon Andersen (07:50):
Yeah. Of you? Of John? I’m, I’m the, I’m the same way. I, I, I don’t, my wife will say the same thing, you know, that, uh, we’ve been together for God almost 20 years and she’s, she’ll tell, she’ll be the first one to tell you. He’s, you know, I raised my voice at her one time, and we look back at him, we kind of giggle. It was one of those scenarios that was kind of like a weird misunderstanding. But for the most part, for me, I, I don’t feel good about myself when I raise my voice. Yeah. Because, yeah, because for me, when, like, if, if someone’s gonna be, if someone’s gonna be aggressive like that, I’ll, I’ll actually do the polar opposite. I’ll get more quiet.
Sevan Matossian (08:30):
Right.
Jon Andersen (08:31):
You know, I don’t like the, the, the whole idea of, I guess it’s, especially when I’m in my life right now, 51 years old, and I’ve done, it’s crazy. As you get older, you just get so much fucking smarter. It’s unbelievable. It’s like, well, I shouldn’t say that. You realize how little you knew. That’s a better way to say getting smarter. You know, you actually realize you’re, you didn’t know shit. That’s what makes you so much smarter. <laugh>, you know, I’m,
Sevan Matossian (08:55):
I’m gonna turn 51 in March too, by the way. I was born in 72 where you graduated high school in 90.
Jon Andersen (09:01):
90. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (09:02):
Yeah. Me and you are the same. The same, yeah. Same, same.
Jon Andersen (09:05):
Yeah. But it’s, it’s crazy in the fact that, you know, I, I realize now that, you know, keeping friction out of your life is actually something that is, people don’t understand how good that is for the actual your spirit. And you know, they’ve, of course, we talk about, everybody talks about how, you know, being spiritual, this the other, but what I think what people don’t realize is when you’re an angry person, when you’re not centered, your brain is constantly releasing these negative chemicals, which beats your body down. This is why, you know, people get sick from worrying too much. It’s proven fact now. And so, where in my life right now, man, I just, if something brings friction into my life, I’m gonna, it’s either gonna be a system or a person to smooth that out, or I’ll eliminate whatever that problem, whatever that friction is. It’s, is that,
Sevan Matossian (09:57):
Why is that why you left the Bay Area?
Jon Andersen (10:00):
I mean, it’s at that point, I mean, I think it was, I mean, I guess you could say kind of yes. But I mean, I just stayed aw away. I just, I just didn’t really go out amongst everybody. That was all pissed off, you know? But I guess from a standpoint of, of like, if you take the root of why we left, yeah. We decided to, we wanted to, that’s why we’re out here in the middle of nowhere because we wanted to get into a place where we weren’t affected by all of the negativity that was going on around us. You know? Yeah, yeah,
Sevan Matossian (10:29):
Yeah. Uh, Alan Kestenbaum says, uh, Savon, fix your posture. You look bored. <laugh>, listen, jackass, listen. I’m, I’m as erected as I can be. It’s just my chair leans back really far. That’s it. That’s it. Bored. How could I be bored with John Anderson in front of me?
Jon Andersen (10:47):
<laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (10:48):
John, um, John, j o n uh, Jewish spelling of the name. John, you John you, you’re, you’re Jewish.
Jon Andersen (10:54):
No, it’s actually Nordic. That’s the first time I’ve ever been called Jewish. You know? That’s interesting. Yeah. So it’s, it’s,
Sevan Matossian (11:00):
I see you smart overachiever and j o n and I think Jew.
Jon Andersen (11:05):
You, and you call me a smart overachiever. Is that what you call
Sevan Matossian (11:08):
Me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jon Andersen (11:09):
Oh, that’s, that’s beautiful. Because most people look at me and think big dummy <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (11:13):
I I know, I know who you are. I, I’ve listened to you talk. I know you’re a, a smart overachiever and you’ve already said a bunch of smart stuff, uh, on this show. Um, um, what, what didn’t you like, um, what, what, what didn’t you like about the Bay Area? Was it the masking and the forced injections, or was it, did your whole politics get turned upside down the last couple years?
Jon Andersen (11:35):
Well, I guess it was, you know, it was kind of more of the, uh, we li in Marin County, you know, we lived on the water. It’s a beautiful place and there’s a lot of money there. Yeah. And so it just turned into like, uh, I mean, I, I honestly, I don’t leave the house much, you know? Uh, even when we were in the Bay Area, you know, I would, I would leave the house to go to the gym. That’s it. You know? Um, but like per example, my wife would be, you know, she’d be shopping or something like that and she would park, you know, she’d park like way out in the back of the parking lot. Um, and just so she could kind of keep away from people. Cuz that’s what you’re supposed to be doing at these times. And she’d not have a mask off. Not have a mask on. No. Nope. Nobody be 150 feet close to her. I mean, total, total social distancing. And you get people that are like, you know, she said there’d be people like looking at her and tapping their foot, like, put your mask on. It’s like,
Sevan Matossian (12:31):
Yeah. Yeah. In the Bay Area.
Jon Andersen (12:33):
And it’s like, it’s so, it’s, I love the whole being liberated, you know? I love the, I I mean that’s, I think being, you know, having, being in a place where it’s okay to be where you want, be who you want. I love that. That’s where, that’s what we need, you know. But at the same time, leave fucking people alone. Jesus Christ. Worry about yourself, you know? Yeah. Stop worrying about everybody else. If you worry about yourself, this whole thing will be over a lot faster, <laugh>. So anyway, so it’s kind of, and then the thing that bummed me too was, you know, you start seeing like, homeless camps building up
Sevan Matossian (13:11):
Drug camp. I call them drug camps.
Jon Andersen (13:13):
Dude, crazy. I was driving, so they, and, and like in, over in the East Bay, like in, uh, Berkeley got real bad. I was over there one day, this is crazy. Check this out. Pull up to a stop light, right? And I have my window kind of partway down, and there was a guy on the, the street corner and he was homeless. He whips out a syringe, shoots himself up standing on the street corner, throws the fucking syringe on the ground and says, this city is dirty. I’m like, dude, you just define dirty and you’re complaining about the city. And I was like, oh my lord. You know? And so, you know, stuff like that. And then it was really sad to just see like, you know, the under overpasses, you’ve got just tense people. And it was just like, whoa, man, this is like really getting heavy.
(14:05):
And it was just, I don’t know. I’m mean myself. I like to, I’m a believer in creating my own universe. You know? I create, you know, it’s like my space is my world, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m at practice gratefulness. I meditate, I do all sorts of things to put me into a position where, yeah, I mean, that’s, you look at that and how can that not send a negative signal in, you know, how can your brain not, you know, put negativity into your, into your mind? Like, it’s brutal. I mean, it’s like, you see that stuff. It’s like, just look
Sevan Matossian (14:38):
At all the stolen objects too, dude. All of that shit is stolen. Those shopping carts, those bicycles, that trash can, those trash cans, everything there is stolen. Those tarps, those umbrellas, those are all stolen from people.
Jon Andersen (14:51):
It, so I look at that and you can hear, even hear me like start to talk. Like, I don’t even know really what to say to it. It’s like, whoa, I, I don’t even, I don’t want that. What that is, that’s negative input going into my uniform. Interesting.
(15:05):
I don’t want that. I don’t want that. Yeah. That’s why we moved out here. You know, people say, why did you move, you know, when we first moved here, you know, because like I said, the biggest city is, or shouldn’t say city, it’s Barstow, which is kind of an armpit of a town. Even the people that live there will say that. Um, but, you know, YMO is our address. Why’d you move? You know, you came from Marin County here, why? And I was like, because we wanted to get away, you know? What are we looking at there?
Sevan Matossian (15:32):
That’s Oakland. That’s, that’s the Oakland, um, uh, oh my
Jon Andersen (15:35):
God. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (15:37):
Hey, and that’s, no, just so people know, this isn’t like, um, rare. Like if you go to the Bay Area, you’ll see these. It’s all over the place. Yeah. You’ll think you’re in India. Yeah,
Jon Andersen (15:45):
It’s everywhere. It’s everywhere.
Sevan Matossian (15:46):
Look at Allison. It’s everywhere. Yeah, it’s everywhere. Yeah.
Jon Andersen (15:50):
Yeah. And it’s, it’s just, it’s really sad. Like I said, it’s negative input coming into my mind. So, you know, out here, I mean, literally, we, we, it’s like I said, we’re 50 homes on a private lake. It’s a gated community. You can’t get in unless you got the code. Uh,
Sevan Matossian (16:06):
How’s the lake? You, did you swim in the lake?
Jon Andersen (16:08):
Oh yeah. It’s, you can, you could fish. It’s stocked with fish. You could swim, you can boat, you can jet ski. Yeah. I mean, it’s a, it’s a beautiful, it’s, it’s, uh, the environment out here is, is exactly what I want it to be. Does that make sense? I got my gym right on premises. So it’s like, it’s, it’s, uh, yeah, it’s perfect. What is, uh, what is Trish saying?
Sevan Matossian (16:31):
John, my grandson Artemis ran your deep water beginner routine. And I had to buy ’em all new shirts. He blew up in size overnight. Great programming. <laugh>.
Jon Andersen (16:39):
Right on. I’m glad that he enjoyed it. Tell him to keep kicking ass. That’s beautiful.
Sevan Matossian (16:45):
Suza. Um, uh, meet John, John Suza. Hey John. Is Trish fucking with us? Is Trish fucking with us? A hundred percent, yeah.
Jon Andersen (16:53):
Oh, that’s, that’s, that’s brutal.
Sevan Matossian (16:55):
That’s true. You’re ahoe, you’re ahoe, Trish, Jesus
Jon Andersen (16:57):
Christ. You know, I don’t know. You know, the, the funny part is I get shit like that all the time. So that’s not, that’s not abnormal at all.
Sevan Matossian (17:04):
Right? Absolutely. Hey, you, you don’t just blow people up. You got a bunch of a hundred pound weight loss stories on your Instagram account.
Jon Andersen (17:11):
Oh, yeah. No, I mean, it’s, here’s
Sevan Matossian (17:13):
The thing. Oh, she says she’s not. I am not. Okay. You can, you can never tell it tr you can. Okay, there we go. There we go. Okay. Okay.
Jon Andersen (17:20):
See here, here’s, here’s the thing that I look at is that really, when it comes down to it, I’m in the business. And, and this is not what, you know, when you look at my account, you don’t see this. But this is really what’s going on. I’m in the business of changing lives and obviously helping somebody reach their goals, it’s really, it’s a little deeper than that. It’s helping them do something they didn’t think was possible. Whether it’s losing a hundred pounds or benching four or five, whatever that goal is, because I’m a big believer, and yes, you can’t, obviously, you gotta have the proper guidance. You gotta have the proper information. There’s a formula to get there. And another thing that I promote is, you know, you people are so afraid of failure. Failure is, uh, I mean, you can’t be successful without failure. I mean, you, you fail, you learn, you innovate, you repeat, you fail, you learn, you innovate. You repeat, like in my own personal discovery of, of failure, like when I was really learning to, to use it to the fullest advantage, I would get in a squat rack. I used to do this all the time, 700 pounds. Cuz 700 pounds was kind of that, that roughly 10 ish. So I’d pull out 700 pounds
Sevan Matossian (18:32):
Tenish, 10 reps at 700.
Jon Andersen (18:35):
Yeah. Sometimes it’d be nine, sometimes it’d be 11. But that, that double digit was a nut, you know? Anyway, I’d pull it out. No spotter, no intention of putting it away. And so you’re basically going into this realizing I’m gonna go until I fail. Do you know how helpful that is in getting your mind to register that failure is necessary? I mean, Michael Jordan had the most gi and forgive me if this state’s been, been taken away from him, but he had the most game-winning shots ever. While he also had to have the most game losing shots to achieve the most game-winning shot stats. So it is like, if, if you, if you can beat down your perception of failure and, and get rid of the negative connotation and, and make it positive. And like when I’m helping people in their programs say, look, I need you to make mistakes.
(19:31):
Those mistakes is gonna, that’s gonna tell me how, how I need to help you. Don’t think it’s gonna be perfect. It’s okay. Just move forward. Let the mistakes happen. Those mistakes is how I’m gonna help you. Those failures is how I’m gonna recognize where you need help. And so to answer your question about my page and the people I help, as long as the, the number one thing I want is open-mindedness. If someone’s not open-minded, I can’t help you. Because if you’re gonna go back to what you think you know, well clearly that shit wasn’t working <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (20:05):
You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I, I, I can’t remember the exact line, but Greg Glassman, the creator of CrossFit was saying, always talked about, Hey, you need to hang out past, out, past the margins of your failure. Yes. And then I’ve heard, I’ve heard Serena Williams or, uh, not Serena Williams. I heard someone talk about Serena Williams in this way, that in practice she should be failing at at least 51% of the time. Yes. Trying stuff that causes her failure or else you are not getting better unless you are failing.
Jon Andersen (20:30):
Well,
Sevan Matossian (20:31):
Here’s, it’s an interesting idea, but it’s, it’s, it’s impossible to refute, right?
Jon Andersen (20:35):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, anybody who’s been very successful will, will completely endorse failing cuz that’s how they get there. And, you know, and to put it a little bit, sometimes people have a hard time swallowing failure like that. So kind of what I’ll say, look, you need to learn to get uncomfortable because when you’re uncomfortable, you, you, you’re, you’re flirting with failure at very least. Uh, some people don’t have the, the guts just to dive in and say, okay, here we go. I, I’m gonna do the best I can and if I fail, it’s okay. You’ll get there through working with it. But a lot of times people don’t have, they just don’t have the mental strength or the, just the, the heart or the guts to do it. So the next thing is, okay, let’s, let’s just get you uncomfortable. Cause when you’re uncomfortable, you’re willing to do the things you wouldn’t do when you’re comfortable.
(21:21):
And that’s, I mean, for me, that’s been one of my mottos. I, I, I’ve, if I’m comfortable, I start getting nervous because that means I’m not progressing. And the whole idea of like, I have a rigid schedule for myself, because that schedule keeps me on, you know, basically keeps me uncomfortable. When I’m off my schedule, that’s when I tend to be, uh, you know, I, I become a little more comfortable. And there are times when I wanna be comfortable, but I plan those times <laugh>, you know. What do you mean your schedule keeps you uncomfortable? Um, because I make sure every night before I go to bed, I plan the next day. And it’s playing with detail. It’s not just get up and do this and do that. It’s playing with detail. So I know what I’m gonna be doing. I know how I’m gonna be challenging myself and I need to register that some of the shit that I’m doing gives me.
(22:16):
I don’t, I, a I may not want to do it. B it might scare me. C there’s just a whole series of, of things that I look for when I plan my day that tell me it’s gonna push me outside my comfort zone. It’s gonna push me into new space because to grow, we, we can’t just repeat the same shit we did yesterday or today. You, you have to, you just like, uh, whoever you quoted, you have to constantly be stepping outside your boundaries. That’s what keeps you growing. And what people tend to not understand is people get too connected to physical, tangible things. Those don’t really make you happy. They’re fun to fuck around with, with other people. But what really keeps a person happy is that growth and that achievement that daily stepping forward. You know, when when I go to bed at night and I’m ready to go to sleep, because the day was, you know, I know that I pushed myself.
(23:10):
I know that I broke some new ground. It’s like my spirit, it, it’s like that part deep inside me is ready to go to sleep. It’s ready to rest and recharge to do it again the next day. If I didn’t find a way to progress, then I feel very, uh, I guess I’m uneasy. It’s like I, my spirit is waiting for that. It’s like, it’s kind of like, uh, you know, spirit food, you know, getting outside your comfort zone, progressing, growing as a person. That’s what you, that’s, that’s what need to feel whole, you know, to get up and want to do it again the next day. It’s, it’s like happiness is like a, a reaction from something. You know? If you’re always searching for happiness, it comes and goes. What people need to understand is there’s daily joy. Do you enjoy what you’re doing?
(24:02):
And if you enjoy what you’re doing every day, that’s fulfilling. That’s what makes a person happy. Not just working for the next moment of happiness. Moments of happiness are great that they, they’re definitely a part of the equation. But are you challenging yourself enough every day to feel like you’re fulfilled? I mean, it can be as simple as pushing yourself physically further than you did the today before. Pushing yourself physically will, will bring a person. A lot of fulfillment. And, and I’m not talking about just lifting weights, I’m talking about any level of pushing yourself. Any type about pushing yourself.
Sevan Matossian (24:40):
John, as you say this, I’m thinking like, um, bear with me. This is, uh, j just off the, off the cuff. But, um, you could have a, um, uh, 50,000 followers on Instagram. You could have a hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube. You could get up to a million subscribers on YouTube. You could get to up to 10 million on Instagram, and they’ll never be, they’ll never, they’ll never be, uh, fulfillment there because it, it’s, it’s all outside of you. Then you could do something like get strong and work out and there is significantly more fulfillment there. But, but that shit’s going to, uh, go away, right? Like, you’re not, you’re not gonna be able to bench 700 forever. Well, let me,
Jon Andersen (25:19):
Lemme
Sevan Matossian (25:19):
Lemme say one more thing and then I’ll, and then I’ll relinquish the floor to you. But if you learned how to juggle, let’s say you just learn one new joke every day, or you learn one new magic trick every day, or you learn how to speak another language. Or if you, I mean, because I, I one time saw the statistics of the difference, the number of people who can dribble three balls versus four balls. It’s like a fucking crazy
(25:42):
<laugh>. It’s gotta be, it’s a crazy drop off. And then you get up to like 13 or 14 balls and there’s like one or two guys in the world that can do it. It starts, it starts getting like this. Yeah. Even like at 10 balls, right? And I, as I was hearing you talk, I was like, yeah. Um, maybe that’s one of the things that comes with age too, that like you, you sort, those are the things you gotta kind of put in the bank, right? More jokes, more magic tricks. Being able to juggle more balls, maybe speak a foreign language. Just shit you can keep forever that will add to fulfillment.
Jon Andersen (26:15):
Well, and, and the thing about, like for me, a big part of fulfillment now is, is like I’m reading, I’m always studying, I’m always learning something. The learning is a huge part of fulfillment for me. But what you were saying about, you know, training and benching this or whatever, those statistics, yeah. So what people miss about that is that’s just a gauge. The pounds, the reps, that’s just a gauge for your progression. So as long as you find another gauge for progression, you’re still progressing. And that’s what people tend to not realize is that, okay, we’re, we’re talking pounds, we’re talking reps, we’re talking weightlifting, statistical, you know, progression language. Well, there’s a thousand ways to progress. Um, you know, in terms of whether it be you change your style of training, uh, maybe, maybe you’re not worried about weight, you’re worried about reps. Maybe you just lose interest in lifting weights all together and, and you decide to start June Jujitsu.
(27:11):
Maybe you start to run. Does it doesn’t matter. The difference is con continue that progression. All you gotta do with life is you’re just constantly pivoting. You know? It’s like, I mean, at 51, I’m not concerned with, like, I was telling that story about how I became one with failure that was in my thirties. I have no interest in putting 700 pounds in my back. Right. And squat until failure at 51. Because that’s, that’s something I did. And I, I learned what I needed to learn from that. I’m onto different types of, of, uh, you know, I’m onto, I hate to say bigger, better fish, but to, you know, frying up bigger, better, you know, fish. But, so it’s kind of the truth because as you grow, you’re always onto something a little bigger and better. That’s the beautiful thing about the progression. And I think that’s where so many people just kind of miss it.
(28:02):
They, they find themselves in this trap of life where they’re, they’re waking up, they’re commuting to work, they’re doing something they really don’t enjoy. Then they gotta drive home. By the time they get home, they’re tired. Hopefully they can go to the gym cuz that’s the one piece of their day that’s gonna allow them to feel like they’ve progressed. But a lot of people come home, they watch tv, they’re just, they’re involved in this just kind of mindless day in, day out ritual. And they, they live for Saturday only because it’s the day they don’t have to do the shit they don’t want to do Monday through Friday. Right. And Right. No, no one, I mean, I gotta be honest, if that’s the life I live, I’d be mad as hell. Right. No wonder people are pissed off. They’re, I mean, living in this life of being completely unfulfilled, whether they know it or not, that’s gotta be really fucking Madden <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (28:53):
You know what, what, have you ever been on a cruise?
Jon Andersen (28:56):
Yeah. You know, I’m actually, uh, taking, my, two of my daughters are in college. We’re going on a cruise, uh, a few weeks from now. But yeah, I’ve been in a, a few of them,
Sevan Matossian (29:05):
Whenever I go on those, I, and I’ve only been on one, but I see this group of pe I see the, that group of, I saw that group of people you’re talking about. I saw a group of people that I feel like, holy shit, they worked five years so that they could save the money to sit on this boat and eat as much sugar as they
Jon Andersen (29:23):
Oh, two
Sevan Matossian (29:24):
Weeks. And I felt sorry for them kind of, I dunno, felt, sorry is the right word, but I was like, holy shit, this is a fucked up existence.
Jon Andersen (29:32): Well, you mean because that, that’s what it is. Very unenlightened existence. They’ve been, see the thing about it is most people are programmed this way and they don’t even know who or what program. It’s, it’s like they just watched and they learned all these people around them do the same shit. So they just fall right in line with doing it as well. It’s like we’re all kind of bred to, you know, shit, the sun’s coming and hit me. Does that bother? Is that No, no, you look good. You look good. Okay. Looks like a movie set.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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