[laughs]

And he starts going through it.

And as he starts teaching me the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean, I'm like, man, that is an incredible story.

And so we decided to write a book based on that.

I called up Damon.

I said, "Hey, this needs to be a book." I had a vision for it immediately as Dabo was telling me about it, and it's really simple.

When you put a carrot into boiling hot water, what happens to the carrot? It gets softened.

[laughs] Right.

How concerned should we be for the reliability of PJM's system moving forward? And what are some of the recent things that FERC and PJM are doing about it?

Well, thanks, Paul.

It's great to be here.

You did an awesome job teeing all this up.

We have a lot to cover in an hour.

There is just an incredible amount of activity in PJM.

And I think folks who watch PJM closely, like all of us and others, are concerned.

How does that really work? And how does that fit into the larger planning that PJM is conducting to try to make sure its system stays reliable?

What do you believe separates the great ones from everybody else, especially when it comes to the habits that they practice?

Man.

Let's go right into it.

We're getting right into it.

So I have noticed that great leaders are always looking for that edge.

Like I had a training camp event.

This is my second year doing it, and we bring in the best coaches on the planet.

One habit that I think goes across the board between personal and professional that I definitely want our listeners to hear about is being able to forgive fast.

Like to me, I saw these qualities and I thought, "I don't think grades matter quite so much anymore."

They don't.

They really don't matter, because as we know, kids and AI, all the information that you need will be given to you, so tests are relevant.

We, we want kids to think critically, which is important, and teach them how to think.

And how to think positively i- is really key.

Like, optimism is everything.

Belief is everything.

Years later, it's the same thing, 'cause they're like, "Daddy, Daddy, I wanna go on that trip with you." [laughs]

Yeah.

The busiest people on earth actually get back to you.

And then I'll have some coaches who don't get back to me for a while.

It's like one of my tests, actually.

I can tell how great that coach is, their state of mind, by how they respond to their texts and how much they can actually handle.

They can handle so much.

So they have the habit of, one, connecting with their people, which is essential.

What, what, what role do you play? Why do they need you?

Yeah.

But I got goosebumps.

Like, he, his spirit is with us right now as we're talking.

It's wild.

Happens all the time when I talk about George.

I get these goosebumps, and that's what propelled me to write this book.

I was getting these goosebumps every time I thought of him.

What does that look like? Does a team call you and say, "Come in, speak to the team"? Are you speaking to a small group? W- and what, what's your goal? To get them to do what?

when you're walking, not just internal dialogue?

No, I'm saying it out loud, like, "I'm, I'm thankful that I can walk.

I'm thankful that I can talk.

I'm thankful for my kids, even though they're, they're driving me nuts right now.

I'm thankful for my life, even though it's not going well.

I'm just thankful." I would just say what I was thankful for, maybe 10 minutes, 15 minutes, but I noticed a shift, and my wife noticed a shift.

And right then and there began a, a quest to get better myself that led to a mission to help others get better.

Yeah.

Talk about that habit, if you would.

Yep.

Well, years ago, when I was a year old actually, my biological father left, and I hold, I held onto a lot of resentment, a lot of, um, a lot of anger, a lot of, a lot of bitterness over the years.

And at 31 years old, I started to think about forgiveness.

Then when I became a believer, I went to go forgive him.

I flew up to New York, took my daughter with me, and I forgave him.

Now, before that, I wanted to write, but I couldn't write.

Um, just a quick statement, because I know you gotta run out of here, of just hope, encouragement, and motivation you want to leave them with today.

Mm-hmm

...

in his work that he does.

So it's funny we both have that knack to, to do that.

And so in many ways, um, I think life prepares you for the work that you're meant to do, but also spending time with leaders.

Also, I have done a lot of research, and as I'm working and d- writing books, I'll get new ideas and I'll get new thoughts.

And then sometimes I'll be walking and an idea will come to me.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that

I've been doing myself, but also been sharing with my readers, with my clients, sports teams and businesses and school districts and CEOs and high performers, sharing with them these habits that really have exponentially grown them.

And so I said, I'm going to put this into a book now.

all these years later and just share what i've been doing it's like my greatest hits of my best ideas but also i also researched a bunch recently as i was writing it to add some new habits to it things that i didn't know about physical habits that would help someone have longevity increase alertness more energy so i put those in the book as well and that's what made me want to do it i wanted to share this collection of habits that can really help someone grow, but also so they can grow others, so they can make a bigger impact on the people that they're leading, that they're parenting, that they're helping.

Because as you know, when a leader grows, they're able to grow others.

And that was the purpose of the book.

I had like a leader in mind.

Tell us what that looks like from a neuroscience point of view and why habits are so important.

And somewhere in between those two things is... is the truth so why why do you think it is that we're more i think it's like that one negative comment you get on a post you know you'll get a you might get a hundred things and i'm sure you've experienced a lot of this too and in you know you're out there spreading the gospel of like come on let's go let's see the good but why is it you think that our mind turns towards the negative first like that one comment can take us down okay so

people will tell you that the reason why we have all these experts that say it's because we were running from tigers and we were trying to survive back in caveman times and we learned to focus on the negative to for survival and they would tell you that and i'm tired of that misperception and misconception out there because it's just not true the reason why is because the negative attacks our identity we attack our identity of who we are and you always be attacked in the place of your identity and identity is not evolutionary identity is who you are as a person it's actually spiritual because you're here for a reason you're here to be on a mission and a purpose and to make a difference and to to live a great life and to help others and accomplish something extraordinary and on this path to greatness, to doing something amazing and something great, you will be attacked by negative thoughts and negative forces that try to hold you back from your destiny.

So when that negative comment comes in, it says something about you and your identity.

Maybe I'm not enough.

Maybe that accusation is true.

Maybe I'm not as good as I think.

So it goes to who you are in the core of your person.

Now, how do I get the team aligned with this or to buy into it?

[laughs]

"You, you don't have it.

Yeah, it's hopeless." You wouldn't say that to your kids.

No, you would encourage them.

You would speak life into them.

You would say, "You know, I know you're stronger than you think.

I've seen you overcome so much.

Mm-hmm.

It's

too much.

Yeah.

It's too much.

It's too complex.

There's too much stress around it.

I love what you said earlier where you got to your car and instead of getting in your car, you walked around your car.

Who chooses the negativity?

Yeah

... five times in a row within a couple days.

I kept seeing these signs.

I'm meditating, Greg, and in my meditation, I close my eyes and I'm meditating, I start seeing a glowing cross, and I'm like, "What is going on here?" So then I go to a Buddhist energy healer.

His name is Don Van Vliet, here in Jacksonville Beach.

He's passed away since.

But I go see Don, and I was having issues with my stomach, a lot of, a lot, a lot of food allergies and issues.

It's telling us, "Did you do that? Did you do this?" What's the difference between building the habit and becoming a different person?

And John, for the people that don't know your story, for so many people just know you as Mr. Positivity, you know, out spreading the good word and writing these incredible books and giving these great keynotes, can you take us back a little bit, um, through your journey and, and if you were always this positive, if you always had this calling, or how you ended up here today?

Well, my journey really ties into this book, Heather, because it's the power of positive habits, and I am not naturally positive.

I grew up in Long Island, New York, Jewish Italian family, so I like to joke a lot of food, a lot of guilt.

And my dad was a New York City police officer, undercover narcotics.

So he was fighting the drug cartels in the streets of New York, and he wasn't very positive.

Loving man, but, but very negative.

When I started speaking, you'll get a kick out of this, he said, "I can't believe people actually pay you to speak." He said, "When you were a kid, we paid you to shut up," is what he said.

But how, how can people find ways to make it a habit to get back out to real life when it's so easy just to scroll on a feed at night and, and watch Netflix?

[laughs] So I look back and think I could have been the ice cream man, but I understand you were the burrito man when you were late 20s, early 30s.

Yep.

I was in the restaurant business in my 20s, then I went to go work for a .com at 29 years old.

Thought I was gonna get rich, thought I was gonna make my fortune, had 100,000 shares, and then the .com company I worked for crashed.

The bubble burst in the market.

The company went under.

I was one of the last people let go, but I'll never forget the w- day I was let go.

Why is reading books so important?

They

think it's weak.

They think that it's almost being too vulnerable, right? And when you're vulnerable, as you know, your team trusts you more.

When you're authentic and you're real, your team knows that, okay, what he's saying is true.

This person is someone I can follow.

This person is someone I can trust.

They're not trying to say one thing and doing another.

If this were your final opportunity to speak to every leader listening, what would you want them to remember?

Can you explain what that is, what it looks like and feels like?

Yeah, absolutely.

And Bitcoin is peer-to-peer cash, right, in the white paper.

And you can transact with anyone else around the world and that's settled.

Every block on average comes in in 10 minutes and that transactions are mined into the block and that eventually gets set in stone and that can't be changed.

Right.

And so for everyday commerce for a long time, people were like, well, we need faster transactions.

How are you getting those more aligned than they are in the current system with what you're building at Sound, HSA, and some of the other projects you've been involved in?

And then we just sort of move further away from our purpose and who we really are.

Yeah, I am is such a great way to affirm who you are.

I have a funny story about that.

My wife, a few years ago, was being really negative.

And she's like, I'm getting old.

She goes, my body's breaking down.

She said, I'm sore all the time.

For me, it's more I meditate and empty, but also center because there's so many thoughts that we need to, and then I feel more connected and then I, then I pray, right? And I tried to shift away from how I used to pray years ago, always asking for things versus praying to just, you know, really connect, have a personal relationship with the divine.

For young athletes, when they kind of get that itch or they get a push to become that leader, what is one of those skills that they can start developing in youth sports to become better leaders on their teams?

I believe that we're all called to be a positive leader.

We're supposed to be a positive leader, which means we influence the people around us in a more positive way.

We believe in others more than they believe in themselves.

We encourage them.

The word encourage means to put courage into.

So when you're encouraging someone, you're putting courage into them.

you're beating yourself up, but are you being the best self? Are there self-talk kind of tips and tricks that you might have for phrases, lengths for some of these athletes?

Mm.

"You need both." I wanted to offer a series of positive habits that people could choose from and use and implement in your life that would exponentially grow them.

And you know what's funny, Hal? Years ago, when I started writing, I was writing a weekly positive tip, and I began writing that positive tip because I was working on becoming more positive myself, and I began sharing what I was doing.

Well, that's how I got my start, sharing a positive tip of the week, and people started reading my tips, and then it led me to write 32 books.

Well, this is my 33rd book, so I've come full circle now, writing a book of positive tips, of habits that you can use that will exponentially grow you.

We're talking about leadership habits, mindset habits, 'cause as you know, thinking is a habit.

And let's talk about the Miracle Morning.

So any last thoughts before we wrap up, buddy?

What does that mean?

Generosity is an essential habit.

Like, be a giver.

Give to others.

Make the pie bigger, which is another habit.

But just really see the opportunity, see the person, see the situation, and say, "How can I give to this situation?" Go into relationships saying, "How can I give?" instead of looking to see, "What can I take from this relationship?" And the more we give, we do make things better, we make things bigger, and I believe we live a bigger life when we become a giver.

Looking to always give.

So what have you learned about all your work with these elite people and your, your exploration into all of these habits with that relationship between identity and action?

So for leaders listening, what are a couple of your favorite recommended habits that you think leaders should consider adopting?

First, I wanna say that creativity is also a habit.

As the more you create space to be creative, you'll actually be more creative.

If you're always busy and you're not taking the time to think and reflect, and you're not taking moments of solitude or walks or even in your showers, if you're too busy overthinking, you're not gonna allow the space for creativity to happen.

So being creative is actually a habit.

You become your habits.

Your habits become your life.

Mm

Mm.

And the goal is habits that help you build a better life.

Like the thank you walk.

If you get up in the morning and you go take a walk in the morning and you practice gratitude, the research shows you'll be flooding your brain and body with these positive emotions that uplift you rather than the stress hormones that slowly drain you and over time slowly kill you.

And that creates a fertile mind that's, like, ready for great things to happen, and you become more resilient when you do a practice like this.

So just that thank you walk is essential.

Or how about the connect before you correct? Okay, I'm leading a team.

Would you say that is probably the key habit to, to kind of calming that week-to-week reaction?

32 books now that you- This is my

33rd book.

I have 18 books.

18 bestsellers, probably sold over six and a half million copies out there in the world.

You know, for me, it's the thank you walk.

I begin the book with a thank you walk.

And the idea is that you take a walk and you practice gratitude.

Was there Were there any habits that you have not personally tried or adopted in your life, but that you point to to say that like this is there's actually a surprising volume of data behind this particular habit for a positive purpose?