Rick Rubin Reveals His Secret to UNLOCK Your Creativity!

I came to realize recently what great means but I didn't know most of my life I was aiming for great but I didn't know what that was and I've come to realize that great means it's a devotional kind of greatness it's a gift to the universe it's a gift to god wow when we're starting a new project I always have anxiety always always because I don't know what's going to happen I'm not interested in having a playbook in advance I'm interested in seeing where it's going to go there's a vulnerability required for the artist that if you're confident to the point that it disguises your vulnerability that doesn't work and it's not about perfection that's the thing it's like Humanity breathes in the mistakes what's your thoughts on manifesting do you believe in manifesting do you believe artists should be thinking in that way or what's your thoughts on it I believe in it a million per it's something I think you got to have a dream the school of greatness really yeah please welcome leis welcome back everyone to the school of greatness very excited about our guest we have the inspiring Rick Ruben in the house good to see you sir and thank you for being here you have um an incredible journey incredible story and uh you've done some amazing things you're a nine-time grany winning producer named one of of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world you've got a number one your time bestselling book which has just taken over the world uh in a powerful way and I've got some questions I want to ask you about this but you've also worked with some of the most influential artists of Our Generation which is really cool just to sit and be with you to talk about some of this some of the people like Red Hot Chili Peppers Johnny Cash Jay-Z uh Tom Petty uh anadel Reay so many Adele Uh the chicks Kanye West Lady Gaga so many incredible influential artists of our time I watch part of your documentary series and I just am fascinated by the way you think and by the way you move throughout space and time I love that you're an avid meditator and that you walk around Barefoot pretty much every single day I think you had to wear shoes here today just to enter the building but otherwise 99% of your life is Barefoot and um something that I feel like a lot of people struggle with is tapping into their creativity and I think a lot of people are born with an artistic expression inside of them but then it gets diminished over time a lot of people not everyone and I'm curious do you feel like have you when have you felt like you've been most insecure in your creative Endeavors because you seem so confident you have hit after hit Everything You Touch turns into gold seemingly but I'm also assuming that not everything works out the way you envision do you ever feel insecure with your artistic expression or are you always confident I'm confident with artistic expression um because the my only goal is to make something that I like and I know that I can keep working on it until I like it so in some ways there there's no pressure because I'm the goal is to make the thing that I like I know what I like if I don't like it I keep working and eventually we get to a place where we like it yeah do you ever face the inner critic of well what if other people don't like this no I don't consider them at all really yeah I something I say in the book is that the audience comes last and I believe that I I I'm not um I'm not making it for them I'm making it for me and it turns out that when you make something truly for yourself you're doing the best thing you possibly can for the audience so so much of why um if you go to the movies so many big movies just not good it's because they're they're not being made by a person who cares about it they're being made by people who are trying to make something that they think someone else is going to like and that's not how art Works art doesn't that's something else that's not art that's Commerce so if we're making art we're making it's it's almost like it's almost like a diary entry so it can some could I be concerned that someone else might not like my diary entry doesn't make sense you know it has nothing to do with them my my diary entry has nothing to do with anyone else so everything we make as artists are essentially diary entries that's interesting and it's also most people never want the world to see their diary right it's like you kind of keep it closed off you keep it to yourself you almost feel embarrassed if someone found your diary if it's really personal intimate you know fears or concerns or hopes and dreams so how does someone write or create something for themsel in their own personal diary but also want to share with the world and not allow the criticisms to affect them that's where the um the courage of the artist comes in which is this is who I am and in my case I'm less concerned with the result so I think it that's a lot of it is like I'm not making it for someone else to get their reaction I'm making it to have my experience and as soon as I decide to share it in my mind it's success because I care about it enough I like it enough for other people to see it if other people they can like it or not that's up to them and that's that's their thing you know that's it's about them that's not about me why do you think so many people struggle with the opinions of others when they're sharing their art to the world I think it's a natural human thought I I don't know if it was always the case because you don't have that at all it sounds I don't have that at all I don't have that at all but it seems like 99% of people have that it seems like it maybe I'm wrong yeah I think the best artists tend not to have that or find a way to turn it off really and and a big part of my job with artist is helping them turn it off it's like we're not we're not thinking about singles we're not thinking about chart position we're not thinking about anything but making the most beautiful honest true thing we can and when I say honest and true it could be fiction do you know do you know what I'm saying it's not uh it's the thing that's touches us and excites us and surprises us which is also interesting the fact that we can make make something that surprises us happens every day yeah you talk about magic a lot you know I've seen that in your book but also in the documentary series about uh you know the work you've done and how does someone tap into their own magic when they have such a critical mind self-criticism but also family critics managers all that other stuff criticizing what's good and what's not good how do how do how do you coach someone to actually eliminate or diminish Decades of conditioning within a week or two yeah to make their art I would say the um it it comes down to a like a personal reaction to something if I if I gave you two different foods and I asked you to taste them you wouldn't have a hard time telling me which one you you liked if you really liked one and didn't like the other so if you had people around you saying no but this other one that you don't like that's the good one that no one could convince you that the thing that tastes bad to you tastes good to you so it's it's a very simple it's such a simple idea getting to what do I actually like no second guessing no it doesn't go past and and it doesn't have to stand for anything it doesn't have to represent you it's just this is the thing that tastes good to me what do you think that's that's our whole job is this tastes good to me what do you think when an artist is you you mentioned Commerce and you mentioned art when an artist is struggling financially and they're like I want to make things that I enjoy that taste really good for me but I've been doing that for five seven 10 years and it doesn't taste good for anyone else how can I make a living around my art or should I not think about my art as making a living but I should be thinking about Commerce separate from the art I I think dividing them is a really healthy idea and having a job that supports you so that you can be free in your art is ultimately what's best for the art really yeah now you can get a job related you know you can get a job in the industry you're interested in you can get a job if you're a painter you can get a job in a gallery you can be a found it um and then also when you do something like that if you were to work in a recording studio you may decide this is not for me you know we don't really know we we have ideas of what we want to try but then when you try them sometimes yes that works sometimes you don't so many people get on a track when they're young I have a a cousin who um went school to become a dentist and he was a dentist for years and after 15 or 20 years just like I can't do this this is I don't want to do this it was a wrong choice so many people live a an unhappy life sticking to a program from when they were younger and we have to find like you you are speaking to people now versus playing sports it's a big change yeah but it seems like a really positive change for you but it wasn't what you set out to do originally yeah you've been doing this for how long now producing music for 40 years 40 years rough 4 years close to 40 years have there ever been a time where you felt like it was stagnant for you or you weren't creatively inspired or you felt like it was dull it wasn't this awe or magic that you were wanting it was it's always magic really it's always exciting um I can't say that every moment of every project has been that but there are always these glimps of wonder that come through the through the creative process that are staggering and um they're very addictive you know being in a room where something's not happening and all of a sudden it's happening and you don't know why and you don't know what changed it's a very exciting feeling how often do you experience that feeling all the time really all the time now when I say all the time we may start a project that maybe doesn't happen for a few days but then it starts happening what is that moment and and what is the feeling that you have and what is it that you notice either in your mind or in the environment that is Shifting for that feeling to occur it's an inner excitement it's like a leaning forward it's a cur a curiosity of like can we hear that again what was that what was that I've not heard that before that's interesting to me really absolutely so after four Decades of doing this you still get surprised by hearing new things all the time really all the time why does this work with this who knows and if I were to tell you the idea or if someone were to tell me the idea I would listen to their words and think that's a terrible idea and then we try it and it's remarkable wow can you give me an example of something that stands out for you from maybe uh a well-known artist that people know about or maybe someone completely unknown I can say something happened the other day where we recorded a song in a particular way with a particular instrument and it sounded really beautiful and then the artist said well let's try it uh I'm imagining it and they described uh something so different and in the description it sounded terrible the way they explained it the way they explained it or or the references they gave me references of well if we do it like this band with this kind of a beat and the and I tried to imagine the same song that we just recorded this different way that way and in my imagination it did not sound good and then I said let's try it and then they played it and at first it didn't sound good but very quickly it got great and there's no way to know there's no way to know you can't that's that's a big part of it is um I see artists who get into arguments like a band who gets into an argument let's do it this way no let's do it this way and I'll always say let's just play it both ways and listen see let's see let's see what actually happens right and that might spark something completely new absolutely they both might suck absolutely might try another way or they both might be great and sometimes when they're both great it's like oh maybe this is better for the chorus than this other thing actually can work as a bridge we weren't even looking for a bridge yeah that's f fascinating in this uh documentary series about you and your facility and kind of your life the Shang yeah powerful I'm I'm not all the way through it I've done the first episode and a half someone in the first episode says Rick helps people be the best version of you and I'm curious who helps you become the best version of yourself probably I would say now my family you know having a family but also I'm I have some some really um hard driving friends like you know you met lar Hamilton someone like if you have someone like lar in your your life being around people like him make you better at being a human being what's the biggest thing you struggle with today I think that there are a lot of fun things to try and finding time to do all of the things possible to the exciting things that I'm I want to try right because how do you pick and choose the projects you work on and the artists you work with is it a is it a feeling is it relationships you have with their managers is it yeah I want to try this new thing and let's bring them in is it it usually starts with meeting the artist and um just if there's a connection with the the human and that's usually how it starts how often has that happen then because I'm assuming a lot of people want to work with you so is it you know every Monday people will you managers will send their artist to you and they'll have an interview process with you for an hour or two and then you'll get a Vibe and see if you want to work with them is there a waiting list how does that work uh it honestly doesn't happen that often because I'm always in different parts of the world and I'm not really part of the system so if you were to go to if you got signed to a record company and they showed you a list of all the producers to work with I'm not on anybody's list interesting so someone would have to seek me out outside of the normal system to find me and then it either would or wouldn't happen interesting what do you see is the thing that holds people back the most from being their most creative and best self I think it's being concerned what other people will think and a feeling of that the people who make great things are somehow special and that they're not special and that's just not true we're all everyone has the capability to make great things and none of us are special it seems like a lot of people they're focused on what other people think like you said and it almost it blocks them into this kind of rut feeling I guess that they feel like they're stuck in a rut I don't know if you've heard this before with a lot of your artists but with with me as a writer and an author I've heard so many people come to me say I want to write a book and and I asked them how long have you been had this idea that you wanted to write this book about this thing and some people will say 5 7 10 years but they've been worried about what people think or they feel creatively stuck in a rut do you ever feel stuck in a rut and so how do you personally get out of that I think taking action is a really great thing and not not setting up barriers of Entry like um I can imagine a musician saying I can't play this song cuz I don't have the right guitar or don't have the right equipment to do it and there are no um barriers to entry there's always a way I come from a punk rock background so in punk rock it was a do-it-yourself mentality and um you know I started my first record company not knowing not knowing that was something you can do it just really happened automatically I wanted to start making records I wanted people to hear them I never knew that you could get signed to a label I just thought well if you want to make a record you make a record so I made records and you know print up 500 copies of a 7in single for example so I think there's always a way you don't have to wait for permission from someone else um I think that's a big part people are waiting for permission to actually make their art to make their art someone has to say you know I'll hire you to do this or I'll publish your book if you write a book or set the stage to to allow you to do it but I don't think that's the way great things are made when you did those when you printed those first 500 singles what was your dream or your vision was it okay now I'm G to how do I sell these how am I going to give them away for free what was the process for you combination of giving them away for free and selling enough to be able to make another one that was always any of the things I've made it's always been about sustainability as long as I can make another one it's a success but at this point you know you're sustainable probably for life I'm assuming with the success you've had so you don't have to make something to try to make your money back you know or get your time back or whatever so what is the vision now with it's still I still think in those terms I want I I feel like I want to make it where it's sustainable by itself there's something that feels good about that that you make something that can live on not because of an endowment yeah that's interesting I know you're I don't know why I don't know why that is but that's just my and maybe it's just the way I was brought up may just be what does an artist need to be thinking and feeling at the same time to create great art I would say thinking is the least part of it it's much more about feeling and um being true to themselves whatever that is feeling feeling their truth and how do you know when an artist is being truthful in front of you it's a it's just a feeling I feel it yeah I think something you said was I have no skill set it's all intuitive it's not what's in my head it comes through me yes so you're not analyzing or thinking about it you're saying huh something doesn't feel right it starts with a feeling always I it starts with a feeling that and analysis comes in later to try to understand either the feeling if there's a reason like if I'm just feeling something I can experience it and be fine if we have to act on the feeling then it's like okay this feels like this can can I is there a way to figure out why sometimes you can sometimes you can't and if you can figure out why or if you think you know why then you can say hm could it be this this or this let's try those things see what happens do you have a process when you're starting the first session with an artist after you've been introduced and you say okay let's do this we're going to work together do you have a process where you set a personal intention that you don't tell them but then also you tell them what the intention is for your time working together um I'll say when we're starting a new project I always have anxiety always always because I don't know what's going to happen you know there's a real question mark when we walk in start and I know that it could go a lot of different ways and I don't have I'm not interested in having a playbook in advance I'm interested in seeing where it's going to go and it's scary because it could not go good and sometimes there's an you know some artists have an expectation that I'm going to do something I can't do anything you know right it's like it's either going to happen or it's not going to happen so but then us usually within sometimes it's the first day sometimes it's a third day sometimes it's the second week where something happens like whoo What was that how did that happen and then that might give us a clue it's like oh this is this is what it wants to be and that may change also it may that may be the first inclination it could start that way and then it makes a left turn turns into something completely different the the work itself tells us where it wants to go so because we have the reason it's so scary is because we have so little control over it that's what's scar there's no control none and if an artist has a big expectation I need to put out a record that's going to do well I need to make money I need to make the label happy whatever it is my my fans need to love this then that could feel like a lot of pressure but do you allow that pressure to affect you no because that I know it's not in the interest of the work it's like we're all on the same page even the even the people were ignoring the you know the record companies the managers the agents the people who were yelling I need this I need this now ultimately for everyone involved if the artist makes the best possible work that they can everybody wins it's just that no one involved in the process understands what it takes for that thing to happen I had a conversation with a basketball player a member of the Golden State Warriors who told me um there's all this pressure now to do a lot of stuff on social media mhm and he said and it's getting in the way of our planing interesting and I said well if you tell the people who are asking you to do the Social Media stuff don't you want us to win it's like if you want us to win let us focus on winning and he said they don't seem to care they want us to do the Social Media stuff they they want us to distract ourselves from the work of the game from the flow from the practice putting in the Reps yeah showing up I say well if then it's up to you what's more important to please them or to win man this is fascinating was there um was there what was the experience for you where the artist or the band came in and it was the fastest best flowing process you've ever experienced where just like everything was lining up authenticity truth you know raw realness was happening every every day and it was also it was a great success for them personally to have the art be real and honest but it also landed commercially and took off the first thing that comes to mind would be Johnny Cash because he had gone you know 25 years of not having success and he had been dropped from two labels and when I signed him he didn't he didn't even know why I was interested that really was the conversation like what why what do you th why do you think working with you is going to be any different than working with anyone else like he had given up um and to for him to get into it we recorded in my living room and he would just play me songs on an acoustic guitar and there was an honesty in what was happening there we didn't know that we were making a record at that time we were just looking for songs so he was playing these songs it was almost like a way for us to to musically meet each other he would play me the songs he loved either from childhood or songs that he thinks he'd like to sing um or song he wrote and it was just a very honest experience and then we went into the studio we picked some of those songs we went through hundreds of songs and then picked a handful to try to record and we went when we went into the studio with the band it didn't sound found it didn't have what the living room recordings had there was some intimate honesty and we'd never heard Johnny Cash that way before um so that led to the first album which was a solo acoustic album again we didn't set out to make a solo acoustic album but it revealed itself as that's the most interesting thing to do and that ended up being very successful and very successful with young people which he had not experienced since the 1950s wow um so that was a and after that after the success of that album we made five more albums together and he had confidence right based on the experience of the first one which he expected nobody to care about really uh took took hold with people and then on I think it was on our four fourth or fifth album um he did a cover of hurt the 9in nails song and that ended up being probably the biggest you know maybe the biggest hit of his life certainly of his later life Wow and um and that was a real Revelation how important is confidence for an artist in your mind to have because I've I've been around some of the greatest athletes that are freaks of nature athletically that are gifted beyond anything physically who can do anything in practice but then they lacked the confidence in a game and they looked like an average player yeah does that is that the same thing with with artists singers guitar players you know musicians where they're they could be so gifted but if there's a time when the pressure is on to record they don't have the confidence does that hold people back have you seen that I'll say it's it's not as simple as that because there's a there's a vulnerability required for the artist that if you're confident to the point that it disguises your vulnerability that doesn't work so it's a it's like a dance between being wildly open and vulnerable and commitment to do whatever it takes to get your work through that combination which is a difficult combination it's almost like what I'm hearing you this is really interesting point it's almost like like you just have to have courage to be vulnerable which is not really confidence it's more of like you just got to if you're unwilling to be courageous with your vulnerability you just won't be able to share your art that's true there's I'll say though to get up in front of people and sing takes a certain amount of confidence yes it's just part of the it's a hard thing to do I couldn't imagine doing it that's true my a friend of mine uh just uh Rachel platen she just um she wrote a a song called Fight song that was you know really popular over the last six or seven years but she had uh you know she started a family over the last five years so she's got two two young kids and she just played at the the trador a couple nights ago and um I'd seen her play in the past where she was Uber confident but she hadn't played in a while and so she came out and she was like guys I'm actually really nervous and this is my first time playing you know kind of with a man with these new songs in a while and I'm revealing myself of these new songs you know you could sense this you know vulnerability which was actually beautiful yes it was like we're rooting for her you know she she messed up a few times but she kept going and she's like hey I'm going to restart this and thank you guys you know but it was like wow it it made moments of like awe and Magic happen yes it was so cool yes and and it's not about perfection that's the thing it's like Humanity breathes in the mistakes you know in the it's what it's what's not ordinary if it was if it was machine likee perfect it's not so interesting it's cookie cutter right it's all the same so it's the it's the edges it's The Fray edges that make it interesting talk about Transcendence you talk about manifestation um in the universe I know you're a big meditator how long have you been meditating for I learned when I was 14 and um It's been a a big part of my life the whole time I can't say I've done it continually uh but I go through phases of Five Years on two years off or or something might replace it that's another kind of a meditation like I may go from uh TM sitting meditation to learning taii and taii will be will fill the slot of my TM time right Transcendental Meditation yeah um and I also read that you really never been into drugs or alcohol is that correct I've never been drunk or high in my life Wow and um you know as an athlete playing football college football and professional football it was kind of shocking when people would hear that from me because the stereotype is you know the dumb jock that just drinks and does cake stands but I learned early on I was telling you before that my brother went to prison when I was eight and when you go to a prison visiting room every single weekend um and you realize quickly you don't want to go there there and a lot of a lot of guys were in there for drugs or you know doing bad things and for me I was just like oh I I don't even want to try some of this stuff because I don't know where this might lead so let me just eliminate this from my life now I've had sips here and there but I've never been drunk how has cleansing your mind of drugs and alcohol of not really diving into it supported you as an artist and do you think drugs and alcohol alcohol can make artists be great um I can tell you that when I was going to high school most of the kids that I knew would come home from school and get high and the main reason was out of boredom I'm just trying to fill time and I never I always feel like there's not enough time like there's so much I want to learn there's so much I want to read there's so much I want to try that I'm not trying to turn off time I'm interested in something different now the idea of a hallucinatory experience sounds interesting to me but I've not done it you've never done psychedelics or anything like I've never done that either I've always been you know I have a lot of friends that do it I'm sure you do as well uh and I don't know for whatever reason it's never excited me to try yeah maybe in the future yeah same I feel like someday I I will probably do it right um so have you been drunk or high I got drunk one time as part of a school assignment School assignment well what school is this um I went to Harvard for a summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school to start getting college credits and I took a logic class and a design class and they had a Harvard bartending class and I thought that's really funny even as someone who doesn't drink the idea of like having a degree in bartending from Harvard was funny so I did it and I thought of it like chemistry the idea of mixing things is interesting interesting so only one time yeah we the final exam was you had to mix like 30 different drinks and then taste them to know what they taste like and I got really drunk and it was terrible experience so you never been drunk since then no you been high or no I I went on my 40th birthday in Kawai um I prayed all day and I did a ceremon where I smoked some marijuana the only time in my life and um and I would say it had almost no no effect almost no so you might have felt a little buzz or something but nothing I didn't feel a buzz I would say that when I looked out into uh the landscape there was more clarity between the foreground and background that was one and I remember we drove to dinner and I drove and driving felt more fun than usual like playing video sure sure sure but you weren't really high or whatever that's fascinating so never really drunk or high except for a social experiment or you know a one-time trial thing um I don't think I've met many people who's never been drunk or high like me so that's pretty interesting maybe that's the Pisces in us you know maybe that's maybe and you know Pisces have a tendency to go the other way of we are addictive people yes historically yes I that's why one of the things is I don't think if I would have gotten into alcohol or or some type of drug I think I would have become addict I would have been extreme with it yeah so I've tried to be extreme in more healthier ways I think for myself now The Stereotype is or the generalization is that a lot of artists smoke weed or do drugs or experiment with alcohol or do these different things and they talk you know maybe this is my own perception of it they talk about it in their creative process right I was high when I did this and it gave me all these creative ideas uh um how do you view that of when artists are working with you are they smoking are they drinking you know when they're with you or do you try to help them eliminate that to clear their mind um I want people to do what they want to do I have no um no op if if I see someone doing something that's interfering with their work I'll talk about it but if it's not interfering with their work that's their business have you ever seen an artist that you knew had a history of alcohol or smoking marijuana or some type of drug that when they worked with you they weren't they were clear of all drugs and substances and they were actually able to create something beautiful and magical well I saw the Chili Peppers go from a band that were very dysfunctional um on a lot of drugs which I didn't really know I just knew that when I met them the feeling in the room was one I didn't want to be around um and then I met them years later and they had gotten clean um and I felt like it was a different group of people and then we ended up making uh blood sugar Sex Magic which would ended up being a very successful album for them and then I produced most of their albums since when they were clean and you know that's interesting do you think that people overall make better work as artists when they are clear minded without substances I think over the long term that's probably the case but there are many great artists who use uh something like marijuana as a some people have told me that they can hear music in a different way again I haven't experienced it so I can't say but some people have told me that they hear music in a different way when they smoke and they can access their creativity um so I I think you have to do your own right right do you think it's better to make I don't know about better is the right word but do you think it's more impactful to make your art from a place of pain anger or sadness or from a place of love peace and Harmony I I don't think it matters I think I think it's true to your experience so if you're feeling anger and sadness a sad angry song will probably be good and if you're feeling love and peace then you're in the right frequency to create that kind of song you can also sometimes if you're in a real pain you can write a yearning song for love that can have be very deep but one of the things about when you're in pain um you tap into uh you tap into things to you're looking for you're not satisfied in your condition so you're yearning for Change and sometimes the energy of Yearning For Change can lead to really beautiful music right wow is there someone that you're able to talk about or share that spoke and created from a place of Yearning when they worked with you that later said it was extremely healing process for them working with you for a few weeks on an album and and and expressing their diary in that way and allowed them to heal and have lightness on the other side uh the most recent one was um I made an album the last album of Kesha and her she had gone through very difficult experience yeah and she told me that it was a very healing experience working on the album and different than any experience she' had previously where it was much more about Commerce before what's the most painful thing you've been through that you've had to heal and overcome probably the biggest one was um you know I was overweight most of my life and it was it just it was I was not comfortable in my body and I always felt like an outsider and felt like it limited what I could do really yeah so I think probably weight was my biggest issue what was the the roote behind that you think I think it was mostly bad information um although my mom was obese so I thought it's just genetic and I tried everything I tried every uh every type of diet nothing worked and then eventually I found the the correct balance and you know I was a vegan for 23 years and I weighed 318 pounds as a vegan wow yeah you can be a sick vegan or you can be I was I was very sick as a vegan and I wasn't uh getting one I needed right and it's a car it's basically a carbohydrate diet yeah and you can have all the sugar you want being a vegan but that doesn't mean it's healthy for you you goes well so it's like um what do you think was you know it sounded like you tried a lot of different things for 20 years but it didn't work but you found the right combination but was there something you needed to mend or heal emotionally that allowed you to shift internally it was just information I was always I was always um willing to do it I would say probably the biggest maybe there is an aspect which is I thought I knew what was best so there was a sense of turning over controll someone else that was a surrender wow um I saw uh a doctor at UCLA who a friend of mine recommended I go to I knew it wasn't going to work cuz I had done everything and nothing worked and um he put me on a particular diet and I remember thinking sounds terrible but I and it's not going to work but you know I'll do what you say they had no belief and uh but I put my faith in him or I I gave up fa I gave up but listened and uh and committed to the process and committed to the process and the weight fell off really yeah how long did it take was it like a six Monon year process 14 months and I lost 135 lbs man that's awesome congrats on that thank you for your mind wow and when was this 12 years ago something like that 12 years ago you look really healthy right now that uh that suntan you know wherever you're at spend a lot of time in the sun I'm I'm uh Sun worshipper now do you feel like um when you were able to I guess get that support see the changes physically to something transform inside of you spiritually to be a better artist once that transformation started to happen or did you think you were still making great art you know when you were 100 pounds overweight would you say I think we were making great art the whole time the differences between losing weight and then meeting lir and starting to train and get into my body because I was sedentary my whole life and just sitting all day sitting all day or laying down all day I like laying down more than sitting this is the longest I've been in a chair that I since I've been on an airplane um with lir when I showed up to L's the first time I couldn't do one push-up come on swear to you could not do one push-up and with his support I worked up to being able to do a 100 consecutive push-ups which was mindblowing um so what changed between the weight loss and meeting lar was I now see anything is possible and that you could train for anything there's nothing you can't do you can't be the best in the world at something but you can be a lot better than you are at anything you want to put the time into learning whatever it is you could do anything and that's a great inspiring feeling and I feel like I bring that into the art where I already had great confidence but even more so I now know anything is possible at any time wow just if you you have to do the work so this was 12 years ago when the started to happen right and so if I'm get my wrath right are you 60 right now yeah I just turned 60 just turned 60 in March I just turned 40 if you could go back to your 40-year-old self what would the the number one piece of advice be for you at 40 if you can think about where you were then who you were working with the projects you were working on people in your life knowing what you went through the last 20 years what would you tell yourself then I would always say just have as much fun as possible because we um I I'm a workaholic by nature and I love making things and I love making good things and a great deal of time and effort goes into that and um and I'm hard on myself in that way in that I I have high expectations um and I think we can have fun too yeah of course yeah what brings you the most Joy I think probably quality time and nature with my family that's probably the best being in a beautiful place being close to my family breathing fresh air walking on the beach um laughing together reading together watching movies together you know watching wrestling you I like per wrestling of course pro wrestling with my son it's fun that's great are you more of a wrestling fan or UFC now always been pro wrestling UFC feels like they might hurt each other they do hurt each other that's why I like wrestling it's like it's more uh everybody's on the same side right for it to be the best show to be a win-win yeah it's a win-win yeah you talked about that in you know this documentary series about you know I love the video of you being like the ultimate promoter with the BC boys and a commercial like just just being this hype man promoter like you know um how much has I guess pro wrestling influenced you as an artist a lot a lot because it's uh it's a world where you never really know what's true it's a world of mystery and great skill is involved in what they're doing and there's a story and and it's a story sometimes of people who seem to hate each other do they hate each other they might be best friends you know it's like we don't know but sometimes they really do hate each other and then the matches are different when they really hate each other but you never know when it is so there's this there's a sense of a and I think it's more honest than any other form of any other sport or any other form of entertainment see it's funny I say it's the only legitimate sport is pro wrestling because it's the most like the world huh in the world we don't really know what's true everybody has a facade people put on a you know a airs or a performance a mask yeah or the politician talks and we don't really know who they are they say these things that are often written for them we don't know um so there's this like performative aspect of the world that wrestling that's what the world's really like we say that the you know wrestling is fake it's like the world is fake and wrestling is real that's what it is I want to go back into what you talked about with you know you mentioned Transcendence and I think you mentioned you know the universe having your back when you asked for an answer uh with this you know particular song with system of them down what's your thoughts on manifesting and manifesting something you want and alchemizing it into the world do you believe in manifesting do you believe in a uh you know artist should be thinking in that way or what's your thoughts on it uh I believe in it uh a million percent it's something that I've experienced before I knew what it was so so when I say it's like uh I feel like it has to do with in the purity of the intention behind what you're doing if your intention is pure and you're doing it for the right reasons it seems like things tend to work out and that ends up being um a manifestation mindset but it didn't start for me that way it just was like I really believe in what I'm doing I really care about it I want to be the best it could be for me and I'm excited to share it and the results have shown me that you can manifest things it happens it's it but I'll say when I do it it's never based on the outcome oo what do you mean I'm never asking for a result what are you asking for I'm asking for to to rise to the occasion to make the best thing that I can for the thing that I make to be great great is a vague word I don't know what great means I came to realize recently what great means but I didn't know most of my life I was aiming for great but I didn't know what that was and I've come to realize that great means it's it's a devotional it's a devotional kind of greatness it's a gift to the universe it's a gift to god wow if you're making if you're making a gift to God there's no greater uh you can't put more into it than that uhhuh you know you can't what about the single what about what about what someone's going to say who has anything to say if we're making a gift for God that there's you're putting all of your purest intention into this thing for the universe wow that's where it's at I didn't know that that I came to realize that recently I again my word was greatness greatness that was the word of what I was shooting for but I've come to realize what it is wow you you have a whole you know kind of section about greatness and success in the creative act a way of being which is which I loved your explanation in there um that is fascinating so greatness for you what I'm hearing you say is a is a is a pure gift of yours to God yes and it's a it's a gift of yourself to God it's like this is the best I can do this is my offering this is what I have to offer if you think of a formula for manifesting as an artist what would that formula be I don't think there's a formula is there an art to manifesting I don't know I don't I think um it sounds like a shortcut and I don't think there're shortcuts I think it's always a a a a version of doing the work of finding your way into what it is that the Universe wants you to do and then really dedicating yourself how do you know what the universe wants you to do and when to do it the right timing because you could be like I have this idea for this thing maybe it's the right time now maybe it's 5 10 years away from now how do how do we really tap into that knowing I think it's it's it's situational and I think the again if you're tapped into the universe it tells you it it it directs you an example I may have three different ideas that I'm I'm excited about and I kind of get them all going and then one of them just seems to take off on its own and one of them no matter how hard I work on it it never seems to come together can't find the right collaborators imposs some obstacles in the way when that happens I feel like it's the universe saying now's not the time interesting because you know I I love this and I also hear the other side of the I guess the coin where you know I don't know if you know Ryan holiday the obstacle is the way is his kind of stoic philosophy of like when the obstacle is there and presents itself and you also feel like this is something you want to do like you've got to kind of go through that pain and that you know overcome it that is part of it I'm not saying to turn away from the obstacle but I'm saying when the obstacles become insurmountable consistently and there's another path right that's going smoothly and you feel the same about both of them you know go for the effortless way yeah well pay attention see when when is the universe giving you a push when is the when is the wind hitting your Sals the right way there's something to it I I'm I'm I would never suggest not fighting through the work it's it's it's grueling no matter what it's grueling no matter what but that said sometimes it feels like now's not the time uh yeah it's like all everything you throw at it gets deflected right but this other thing is guiding you taking its own taking on its own life earlier you you asked about um what I perceived to be a shortcut and a shortcut is how little can I get away with doing and I think that the real question is how much more can I give to the thing I'm making right what else can I give to it and and thinking in terms of how much more can we do not how much less can we do it's not about shortcuts it's not about getting it done you know it's not about a 4H hour work week I love to right you know I love to but that stop it's like whatever it takes for it to be all it could be um commitment and total commitment and dedicating your life to making the best things you can whatever it is yeah that's beautiful man um and so you so you think that as an artists we should be thinking about manifesting but not in the terms of doing less but putting the maximum into making it great doing anything that's within our power if it it doesn't have to make sense nothing has to make sense you know could be when I wear these purple socks I can write a better song great doesn't matter don't question it just do whatever works do it is it really art if you're making money off of it absolutely doesn't doesn't matter the the out it's not about the outcome that's what I'm saying like you if you don't make money or if you do make money that has nothing to do with the art art is the art and then whatever happens after happens after if you make something that you love I know if I make something I love if more people like it that's only a good thing now I wouldn't change a word of it for someone else to like it m do you know what I'm saying it's like I make the thing I love and then present it to the world and then if the world likes it great and if more people like it than less better why not we're sharing something we love something we think is beautiful so the more people who embrace it but again I would never change it for anyone else because that's not what it's about it's not about that all right with the artists you've worked with that you knew before they were Global successes or their art their music or you know was known by many what did you see became their biggest challenge once they became extremely successful because a lot of artists I would think want their art to be light and listened to by people they want to make a living and more people like it typically that's a good thing typically but sometimes we see artists who have this incredible ride of success and then seem to struggle with whether whatever depression anxiety maybe the pressure can I do this again will I be able to have these many hits again what is the biggest challenge you see with artists becoming successful probably the biggest one is um nobody prepares you for success and you may have a dream of what it's like and you may think the success is going to fill some hole you have in your soul and then the Su and you work your whole life for this success that's going to fill the hole and finally you get the success and the hole is the same and it's it creates hopelessness wow because you always you're working towards this goal that's going to fix the problem but it's the goal doesn't fix the problem it I would say I can't I can't I can't say never but I would say almost never fixes the problem what fixes the problem for people if it's something else it's it's something inside themselves it's something inside themselves so do you think success can almost hurt someone more than before they have it after they have it it it just it depends on the person's temperament you know for some people being famous is the greatest thing so all they ever wanted and for some people they become famous and it's the worst nightmare that's not what they wanted they miss their privacy they miss their anonymity they miss being able to go and do whatever they want and not be singled out or pointed to or uh talk to or even if people are nice like it's a different it's different um and no one teaches you how to do that or you want to you know go do something with your family and then there are photographers there and it's it's very uh awkward what a what advice do you have for people that want to be famous you know success is one thing but Fame is another thing and they don't always happen together for someone that wants to be famous what advice would you have for them I don't know I would say I would look at why that is I would maybe see you know consider therapy right have you ever done therapy yourself I've done yeah I've done all kinds of therapy what has been the biggest lesson you learned through therapy for you um I learned how to express my feelings clearly like um when I the first time I went to therapy I didn't even know how to talk I didn't know how I felt about anything how old were you then maybe 26 so you learned how to express your feelings then yes and to not only yes Express them but also to act actually you know feel them in myself to understand not just feel like blocked off or frustrated or like what's beneath it what's actually going on and what is the biggest lessons that meditation or meditation practices has provided for you it it provides a quiet space where the chatter you realize that your your thoughts are not you and that left your own devices there'll be a lot of voices in your head just going all the time and they're not you and they don't mean anything and they're really repetitious and they're not uh working in your best interest so if your thoughts aren't you then what are you I suppose you are the unchanging Part of Yourself that's always there from I probably from the time you're born till the time you die and maybe before and after it's the it's what's really inside it's not um it's not changeable it's what you came with it's not the it's not the uh the thinking mind it's almost being The Observer of the thoughts the one who sees the thoughts that sounds right yeah observing thought thank you yeah that's what I was hearing you say um when do you feel the most loved Rick I would say in general I feel loved it's it's a good feeling like I feel um I feel spiritually connected and that's a that gives me a great feeling of Peace where do you think you'd be in your life if you weren't a meditator and where do you think you'd be if you allowed yourself to play with drugs and alcohol yeah I can't I can't really predict I would say meditation without meditation I don't know who I would be it's such a big part of who I am uh informed so many everything my my understanding of the world is based on learning to meditate when I was young so I don't know who I would be without that do you think you would have as much internal Harmony and peace and external success without meditation no certainly not internal peace I don't know about success point I want to ask you a question about comparison uh you know you mentioned the the NBA basketball player needing to post more on social media based on what their their team or the coaches or maybe not the coaches but maybe the general managers wanted them to do uh with with artists I see a lot of people competing and compar uh being in comparison versus just sharing their truth in an authentic way and sometimes on social media people are vulnerable because it gets attention and then they're over vulnerable and then that becomes a game uh in itself but in a world where everything is oversaturated seeming uh and there is a lot of competition for attention how can an artist stay true to their inner voice and not be in comparison but be willing to collaborate and also see success in others and be okay with it yeah I think I think stay staying out of it you know like not participating in that game that's it's someone else's game that's someone else's game I would suggest play your own game I can remember having a conversation with a a the big one of the biggest artists in the world who described an album that they were going to make and uh and I had just seen them play in a stadium full of people screaming and crying um and it was not Paul McCartney uh and the album that they were describing was one that none of those 70,000 people screaming and crying wanted to hear it was clear to it was clear to me and and I remember saying that's not your hand like you play when you're playing poker it's not you can't just play any cards you play the you play your hand based on the cards you've been dealt so depending on the artist you are like um it'd be like there was a a time I think when Metallica felt like we don't really want to be a heavy metal band we want to be a pop band cuz pop bands were what's popular and we've reached a ceiling being a heavy metal band that did not go well that was a bad idea they weren't playing their hand they weren't they weren't embracing Metallica oh and I think if you embrace your part it's your best chance being true to yourself not saying oh well those people over there are get being popular doing this other thing I don't really like it but it's really working for them maybe I could try that recipe for disaster so don't chase something that's not your hand no but it sounds like correct me if I'm wrong you know the the example I'm thinking of is like Lady Gaga came onto the scene doing I guess pop music and became very popular but then said hey I want to do this more kind of Jazzy bluesy like Tony B thing she was being true to herself and that's what I want to do do and I don't care if anyone likes it perfect but it's what I want to do at this season of My Life True to herself and it may lose money but she was not doing it because I think people like this this is working over here so I'm going to try to catch their heat she was not doing that she probably knew people wouldn't like it only a small audience she didn't care yeah she didn't care she didn't care she was true to herself this is what she wanted to do and she did it wow were you uh in touch with her all during that that season or I can't remember if we talked about that yeah I'm curious but that's I'm curious if she's just said hey I'm going to do this and this is my thing and for sure that's pretty cool yeah yeah no I love it when an artist does something unexpected whether it works or not you know it's like it's they're being true to themselves they get to be a better artist doing that whereas the other example is someone you know whether it's Metallica or whoever is like chasing a bigger audience or something now if that's true to them that music then cool there's an audience absolutely yeah there's also something about staying true to yourself in terms of [Music] um if you come up making a certain kind of music and you get popular making that music a feeling of well this is all anybody wants from me so even though I don't care about it anymore I have to keep doing it that's a disaster as well right it that doesn't work who has been the most most musically gifted artist that you've been able to work with or maybe a few people that you're just like they were so musically like talented and gifted it was just there have been a lot you know there' have been a lot I I can say the first time I was in the studio with Carlos Santana and he started playing guitar it felt like this is coming from another planet or John fanti when he plays from the guitar in the Red Hot Chili Peppers when he plays guitar it's a Transcendent experience um spiritual yeah and then there's a drummer named Chris Dave who's best drummer I've ever heard and no matter what he plays anything he plays is the greatest thing you've ever heard the simplest thing he can make anything interesting just the way he plays it not the parts doesn't have to be complicated doesn't have to be look at me just the touch the feel the tone is um miraculous something you said before is the only go goal is to be the best version of ourselves is there anything blocking you from becoming the best version of your yourself moving forward I don't think so yeah I I'm wouldn't say I'm there right but I'm always striving always uh anything I can do to get closer I'll do yeah you're you're willing to learn something new you're willing to try something on change anything right what do you think is the uh the best habits that an artist can have that maybe you have individually but also that you see in other artists I would say dedication to the craft whatever whatever their craft is dedicating themselves to it taking it very seriously and being free to play in it you know like taking it seriously at the time you at the time when it warrants being taken seriously and having fun and being free in a play way to allow the thing that's worthy of being taken seriously to appear right right taking it seriously and also allowing yourself to play in it as well yeah you well the Play Always is where it starts it starts in this playful way where nothing is serious and there are no stakes and then through that something appears and then in order to get that into condition to share there's a grueling effort take that seriously and sometimes it's sometimes you do a grueling effort and then you realize oh that thing that happened the first day that's the best version of it but you don't know that until you've maybe banged your head against the wall for six months working on it and then you real you know what that first five minutes was the best that was it you can't know that until you go past you know you have to work past it to see this was the one this is the best version how often is it the first version is usually the best for you um I'll say the first version is often if it's not the best it's very instructive and holes of magic in it that is to be retained no matter what else changes you know a big part of it is just not screwing up what's good not messing it up no there are all these stories of you know the demos being better than the album it's easy to not know why something is good you know you make a demo and you think okay now when I get the professional musicians to play it it's going to be great it's going to be that much better maybe yes maybe no we don't know we never know we never know what's going to happen when we do anything yeah so to stay neutral and to keep every iteration along the way and be willing to look back after you just spent months refining something to then say you know what it was better three months ago throw that all away wow the creative act a way of being this is a a powerful book I think it's been on the New York Times best S L for 42 plus weeks in a row I believe right now um this has been a game for so many different creatives artists and also people that don't think they're artists who have been buying this and tapping into their creativity allowing themselves to express themselves more fully more openly more freely more honestly and vulnerably and uh I want to I want to recommend this to anyone watching or listening to get a copy or two and give one to a friend really think about who in your life do you know has great talent great Artistry or unta talent that they should be expressing that more uh and giving that gift to God and the universe as you say so so beautifully uh again think about who in your life needs this book there's so many great the thing I love about it is it's you know it's a bigger book but every chapter is short you know and for me I like short uh bits of wisdom that I can just open up at any time and read a few paragraphs and I've got something open it randomly and read something see what comes up this was the uh this is the first thing here I don't even have this earmarked but I've got a lot of it ear marked this says in the end the sum total of of the essence of our individual Works may serve as a reflection the closer we get to the true essence of each work the sooner they will somehow at some point in time provide clues as to our own that was the first thing that opened up for me that's cool this is Page 24 24 so make sure you guys check that out but there's I love the whole section on uh you got sections on greatness you got a success you got about listening you know inspiration you talk about inspiration it appears in a moment um and what what defines inspiration is the quality and quantity of the download at a speed so instantaneous It seems impossible to process inspiration is the rocket fuel powering our work it is a universal conversation we yearn to be a part of and I think that's really cool because so many of us are chasing inspiration but a lot of times it comes to us right it comes and it and it's almost like getting out of the way and allowing for it to come in that's why I love in the docu series that you're a part of shangry lads like you you have an intentional energy of your environment you create a space for it to come and I think that's really cool and a lot of people aren't I think thinking about their environment of spatial surroundings their environment of people surroundings their environment of what they consume of music or visual content or what they're reading they're not intentional with it as much as I think they could be which you're extremely intentional to allow for inspiration to come isn't that right yeah we're we're all um all we are is made up of everything we take in so the places we're in the people were around the the media we consume that's all we are so really curate what comes in for your highest um for your highest good yeah and in the uh the shanga the the docu series you know in your recording studio and in your facility it's all white you know there's no TVs there's no clocks the floor is white the walls are white you have this space that is kind of like this void you know when I think of meditation I really try to think about being no one no thing nowhere no time uh so that inspiration can come to me as opposed to having the noise constantly distracting me or influencing me to think something and so you create a white blank canvas for people to express uh and develop their art and I think it's really beautiful I mean you guys paint the floors like after someone comes in does their work you repaint the floor so it's not dirty from the last artists of the past you create a blank canvas every time an artist comes in which is just so cool to think about and um I love the intentionality behind how you allow for space to be evolved for people to draw inspiration it's really really cool I want people to watch that docu series called the shangry law but also again get a copy of this book the creative act a way of being I've got uh three three final questions for you Rick and again I'm so grateful for your time here and for showing up and uh just being being an inspiration to so many people and it's specifically in this interview right now this is a question I ask everyone towards the end of our conversations it's called the three truths so it's a hypothetical question and scenario imagine you get to uh you know lar and Gabby continue to keep you fit and healthy and you get to extend your life as long as you want to be um but eventually it's the last day you can live as long as you want but it's the last day for you in the future and you get to create and learn and experience all the things you want to experience from now at 60 to till that moment um but for whatever reason it's your last day and you have to take everything with you everything you've created everything you've worked on everything you've written everything you've spoken we don't have access to it in this world anymore hypothetical scenario but you get to leave behind three lessons and this this is all we would have to remember your information by and I call it the three truths what would be those three truths for you that you would leave behind I think it might just be one it it might just be be true to yourself know know yourself as best as you can to be true to who you are and allow that person to evolve and change um as the conditions change you to not be inflexible I love that I want to acknowledge you Rick for I mean putting this out there I heard you talk about being kind of like a grueling process and some challenges here and there some friction some obstacles to get it out there it wasn't like this effortless thing um and I'm I'm assuming it might have been harder than an album putting an album out there um I want to acknowledge you for sharing your gift with the universe and with all of us sharing your greatness with so many people because you have you know a lifetime of wisdom and information and lessons and to put it together in this way so that we can understand it um is really powerful so I acknowledge you for creating this work of art for coming on the show and and talking so openly and honestly the way you have been and you I've seen you on a lot of my friends shows as well and um for being in it's spiration to so many people uh people value you they appreciate you they respect you and U I hope you feel the love from so many people and I just want to acknowledge you personally for that this question you you kind of answered it already but I'm going to ask you again and see what comes up for you um what is your definition of greatness greatness is what you make in a devotional act for a higher power beyond any worldly ideas of success you can do anything in the world with discipline and if you don't have it the world can do anything to you you know discipline is key um the second one I was thinking would be it's problem solving like it can be chaotic I'm the calmest person in the role and in my head I'm already putting together

Channel: Lewis Howes

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Keywords: Lewis Howes, Lewis Howes interview, school of greatness, self help, self improvement, self development, personal development, success habits, success, wealth, motivation, inspiration, inspirational video, motivational video, success principles, millionaire success habits, how to become successful, success motivation

Id: brPHcAJn7ZU

Length: 79min 20sec (4760 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 27 2023