Emmanuel Acho, ILLOGICAL: Saying Yes to a Life Without Limits
[0:01]Hi, this is Vivi Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast.
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[0:41]Emmanuel Acho is the author of illogical, saying yes to a life without limits.
[0:46]Emmanuel, the son of Nigerian immigrant parents, grew up in Dallas with his three siblings.
[0:51]He is a number one, New York Times best-selling author, and the host producer of the Emmy
[0:56]award-winning, uncomfortable conversations with the black man.
[0:59]His groundbreaking online series intended to drive meaningful dialogue around racial
[1:03]and sensitivity and ignorance launched in June 2020, with more than 90 million views to date.
[1:09]Emmanuel is 2021 Sports Emmy winner, Fox Sports analyst, co-host, FS1, speak for yourself
[1:14]and television personality.
[1:16]He is a former NFL linebacker and has a master's degree in sports psychology from the University
[1:20]of Texas.
[1:22]And by the way, he has won two Emmys, which we will talk about in the episode.
[1:26]Welcome, Emmanuel.
[1:27]Welcome back on mom's time to read bugs to discuss illogical, saying yes to a life without
[1:32]limits.
[1:33]Amazing.
[1:34]I can't believe you have another book out already.
[1:35]That was so fast.
[1:36]You and me both.
[1:37]But what's so interesting, I was actually writing this book before my New York Times
[1:43]bestseller and comfortable conversations ever was a thought.
[1:46]So a logical I have started writing back in March of 2020, and uncomfortable conversations.
[1:54]I didn't even begin until June of 2020.
[1:57]So a logical has always been my destination.
[2:00]Uncomfortable conversations was a detour.
[2:03]Got it.
[2:04]Still fast.
[2:05]So it's still a lot of publicity to do and events and emails and all the rest, right?
[2:10]Exactly right.
[2:11]Oh my gosh.
[2:12]And I feel like the Emmys, did you have those last time?
[2:14]I don't think it's that.
[2:16]I don't think I had either of them and we have two more Emmys and two more books since
[2:22]we last spoke.
[2:23]Yeah.
[2:24]That's pretty impressive.
[2:25]Yeah.
[2:26]The young children's version.
[2:27]Young readers version as well.
[2:28]Yeah.
[2:29]I love how they're just casually placed behind you for people listening to this podcast.
[2:32]They're just like casually on little stands behind his bookshelf as if they're lamps and
[2:36]you have to look closely and realize, oh no, the two matching things are not lamps.
[2:40]They're actually Emmys.
[2:41]So I love it.
[2:42]Very subtle.
[2:44]He's laughing.
[2:46]He's laughing.
[2:47]Anyway.
[2:48]Okay.
[2:49]Well, I found this book fascinating because you really let us in to your early life,
[2:53]the things that shaped you during your career, your family, your injuries, your, even
[2:59]your success with uncomfortable conversations with the black man.
[3:02]It was so interesting.
[3:03]But one thing I wanted to start with while we're talking is the voice injury you had
[3:08]because I've literally never heard of that happening before.
[3:12]Anyway, tell me about that.
[3:14]So I say on your journey towards being a logical, you're going to make some mistakes and things
[3:19]are going to go wrong along the way.
[3:21]For me, when I was doing uncomfortable conversations with the black man, I burst a blood vessel
[3:26]in my vocal court.
[3:28]Like true story.
[3:29]Even right before this call, I have to do vocal warm ups where I'm like, for those that
[3:38]keep here, the specifics, and since all my voices revving up and down and engine, I have to
[3:43]do things where I take a towel and I stretch my tongue.
[3:47]So anyway, true story, I burst blood vessels in my vocal cords and before I sat down
[3:52]with the commissioner of the National Football League, Roger Goodell, I could not talk for
[3:56]a week.
[3:57]And so my team were taught to me on calls and I would text them back in order to navigate
[4:03]how I was going to have my conversation with the commissioner of the NFL where we were
[4:07]going to discuss the hot rod topic of Colin Kaepernick, I literally had to communicate that
[4:14]entire week simply by text and email all that to say, I believe when people on their journey
[4:20]of being a logical, bad things are going to happen and you're going to have to overcome
[4:25]them.
[4:26]That was my bad thing.
[4:27]Wow.
[4:28]So was it too much talking?
[4:29]Was it talking too loudly?
[4:30]How do I avoid this happening to me?
[4:32]It's what I mean.
[4:33]Well, the issue is all about me.
[4:36]One of my daily sports shows, maybe I have to project.
[4:40]And so I don't just get to talk like this during my daily sports show.
[4:43]I got to sit here and argue where the LeBron James are supposed to be the greatest.
[4:48]And that really was the dilemma is I wasn't speaking enough with my dire friend.
[4:53]And instead, I was speaking too much like with my throat and pop goes the blood vessel.
[4:58]Oh my gosh.
[4:59]Well, I'm really sorry.
[5:00]That happened.
[5:01]I know.
[5:02]Like bubble better now.
[5:03]We are better now.
[5:04]I feel like I should ask you what you think about Russell Wilson going to the Broncos just
[5:08]so I can impress you that I even knew that that happened today.
[5:11]I impress you.
[5:12]That is incredibly impressive, particularly as I look at you with no sports posters behind
[5:17]you, but roughly a thousand books.
[5:18]I'm none of them.
[5:19]Thank you, Russell Wilson.
[5:21]If we were one flight down in my husband's lair, he has a football helmet from every
[5:27]single team lined up in shelves just like this.
[5:30]There we go.
[5:31]I would be more comfortable there.
[5:34]I just said that Russell Wilson, the second greatest thing in his career, is going to
[5:39]Denver to the Broncos.
[5:40]First greatest being drafted by Seattle.
[5:42]I think it is a huge win for both.
[5:45]Okay.
[5:46]Yeah.
[5:47]Don't even really talk about it.
[5:48]I don't even know.
[5:49]Okay.
[5:50]Back to the book.
[5:51]You talked about your experience not getting the draft pick that you wanted and how disappointing
[5:55]that was and going through the experience and your brother and his experience and managing
[6:00]the setbacks and getting over it and then even when you got there or finding out that
[6:05]you were listed on the board as about to be cut, which sounded terrible.
[6:09]Tell me more about that.
[6:10]We don't tell me loudly.
[6:13]Tell me in a room.
[6:15]The most trying story of my adult professional career, I was in Philadelphia.
[6:25]I had just been traded and what people don't realize when you get traded, you leave
[6:30]a city and you never go back.
[6:32]I got called into the Cleveland Browns office.
[6:35]I was playing for the Cleveland Browns at the time to like, hey, Emmanuel, just want to
[6:38]let you know you're going to Philadelphia.
[6:40]We've traded you to the Eagles.
[6:41]I'm like, okay.
[6:42]Cool.
[6:43]When am I leaving next week?
[6:44]No.
[6:45]You have a flight in three hours.
[6:46]We'll pack your bags for you.
[6:47]We'll order a moving company.
[6:48]We'll get you there.
[6:49]I go to Philly.
[6:50]Months later, I am in one of our coaches offices.
[6:54]Now, Zibi, I'm trying to brown nose, right?
[6:56]I'm sitting in the coach's office, kind of trying to suck up.
[6:59]It's like a student who knows they need to get a good grade in the class.
[7:02]You always go to after hours and office hours.
[7:06]That's the equivalent of what I was doing.
[7:08]While sitting in the coach's office, I looked at his wall and his wall had a depth chart.
[7:14]For those that don't know, a depth chart simply says, what order you fall on the team.
[7:19]It has the first, second, and third of every position.
[7:23]So this is our starter.
[7:25]This is our backup, and this is our bench warmer.
[7:28]I looked at linebacker.
[7:30]That was the position I played, but I couldn't find my name.
[7:32]So Zibi, I'm thinking, surely they just misplaced it.
[7:35]Let me check, I don't know, defensive lineman, another position and football.
[7:39]No name there.
[7:40]Maybe they accidentally put my name under like quarterbacks.
[7:44]No name there, running backs.
[7:45]No name there.
[7:46]I perused to the very bottom of the depth chart, and I see these words and big letters
[7:52]cut.
[7:54]And football vernacular and football terms cut means you are going to be fired.
[8:00]They just haven't gotten around to firing you yet.
[8:03]There were four names under the word cut.
[8:06]My name being one of the four, one of the names had already been cut earlier that day.
[8:11]So I am freaking out.
[8:13]I instantly lose my appetite, my heart sinks to the bottom of my stomach.
[8:16]I exit the coach's office.
[8:18]I go to the bathroom.
[8:19]I lock myself in a stall.
[8:22]I get down on my knees and I literally just start praying because I'm like, why?
[8:27]I didn't ask to come to Philly, but now I'm in Philly and I'm about to be cut for those
[8:32]that don't know.
[8:33]In the NFL, when you are cut, you go on what is called a waiver wire.
[8:38]Very simply, any of the other 31 teams in the NFL can claim you.
[8:43]So you can go from Philadelphia to Denver, from Philadelphia to Green Bay, from Philadelphia
[8:48]to Dallas with the Cowboys, from Philadelphia to Los Angeles against your will.
[8:54]You have no choice or no input when you get cut.
[8:58]Any team can claim you and you must instantly go there.
[9:02]So remember, I'm a 22 year old man who's been drafted from Austin, Texas where I played
[9:07]in college to Cleveland.
[9:09]I've now been traded and I now see my name under these huge letters that say cut.
[9:15]At that moment in my life, I thought to myself, as I'm praying in the bathroom stall
[9:19]and I now realize there's somebody next to me on the toilet, true school, at that point
[9:24]in my life, I said, I might be crazy.
[9:28]And when I mentioned this story in a logical, this is one of my favorite stories because
[9:31]I overcame it.
[9:32]But when I mentioned this story in a logical, I say that everybody's going to have
[9:36]and I might be crazy moment on their journey to being a logical.
[9:40]Whether you have to quit your six figure job to go start a new business, whether you
[9:46]have to empty your young 401k account so that you can afford this home, whether you have
[9:52]to sell all your possessions to move to a foreign city overseas because you want to do
[9:57]some sort of refugee work.
[10:00]you break up with somebody you've dated for eight years and you were engaged to, but you know,
[10:04]it's just not the right person for you. Everybody is going to have a, I might be crazy moment,
[10:10]but the operative word there is might because you're perfectly sane and you're wildly logical.
[10:16]And I just believe that our roles and our destiny to maximizing our life's calling in a life
[10:23]without limits is the checkpoint of the, I might be crazy moment.
[10:28]And your whole theory of your calling is your calling. Right. Like this whole thing became your
[10:33]calling and you were like, this is all on the road to being who I was meant to be. Yeah. Yeah.
[10:38]I well, people get so lost trying to figure out their calling. And I say, you're calling is what
[10:44]you're made for your career is what you're paid for. Every now and then those two things
[10:49]enter twine, but not always the other beautiful thing I say in the book. And I hope it's
[10:54]beautiful, but beauties in the eye of the beholder or the listener, your calling is your calling.
[10:59]It's not a conference call. Yes. I love that line. That would thank you.
[11:03]Sorry. If you read, if you read the acknowledgements of my first book and comfortable
[11:08]conversations with the black man, I say Meredith, one of my book agents, I love it.
[11:13]A death. I say, I'm going to tell the story of you in another book. The other book happens
[11:17]to be illogical. When I wanted to write uncomfortable conversations with the black man,
[11:22]I was called to do so, no, you're going to name her the person who told you not to do it.
[11:26]I and Meredith wasn't actually who told me not to do it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
[11:30]Yeah. And then I'm married. Meredith is my person. Meredith is my my right. Okay.
[11:33]Yeah. When I got called to do uncomfortable conversation with the black man, there was a,
[11:37]I was a calling. I had to do it. But people on my team and my friends were like, hey, the market is
[11:45]too saturated for a book like that. And I was like, what do you mean is too saturated for a book
[11:51]like that? I have to do it. It's a calling of mine. And it took me a years if you didn't realize
[11:57]my calling is my calling. It wasn't a conference call, meaning nobody told the people on my team of
[12:04]my calling. So while it looked reckless to other people and while they realized they're already
[12:10]books out how to be an anti racist, they're already books out. So you want to talk about race.
[12:16]There are already books out. I have to realize my calling is my calling. Meredith stood behind me
[12:22]actually important with me and wrapping me is is executing it. And again on my bulletin boards.
[12:29]But it's genuinely a secret. And I hope everybody listening really takes a moment,
[12:33]pauses and digest this in their mind, heart and soul. Because when we do things in life that are
[12:39]illogical, people are going to think it's just that. It's crazy. Why would you ever do it? But you
[12:44]you have to realize it wasn't their calling. I talked about the story, which is also a movie,
[12:50]the story of Noah. And if those didn't see the movie or don't know the religious story,
[12:54]Noah was called by God to build a boat. Roughly, I think three quarters of size of the Titanic,
[13:00]it took 60 to 80 years, theologian submit and put animals on it two by two. Imagine how ludicrous
[13:08]that is, because theologians also submit that the earth had never seen rain. And so you're
[13:14]building a boat. But the earth had never seen rain. That is the dumbest thing ever until what I
[13:21]write about in the book. And I believe a chapter title, the first drop of rain until after Noah
[13:27]finishes building that arc. And he gets on it with his loved ones and all the animals are on it.
[13:31]And he looks out the window. He looks up into the sky and smack. He gets hit in the middle of
[13:36]his brow. And it's the first drop of rain, which lets him know if blood is coming. When you're
[13:41]on your journey of being a logical, you're going to have that first drop of brain moment
[13:45]and personalizing it for me, taking it from a movie and a religious story to my life,
[13:51]uncomfortable conversations with a black man where I sit down in front of a camera for
[13:55]nine minutes and it gets 25 million views in five days. I got a first drop of rain. It was a call
[14:01]from a no-caller ID number, which I picked up. And it said, the call person on the other lines
[14:06]at acho, McConaughey speaking, I want to have a conversation. If you have told you this story before.
[14:12]And saying that was that was my first drop of rain. Because once McConaughey called me,
[14:17]I didn't realize, but now I know the flood is coming. Oprah called five days later,
[14:22]the commissioner of the NFL called five days later. And the Emmys followed and the best
[14:26]selling books follow that to say, we just have to build our boat. We just have to take that
[14:33]a logical step of doing what other people might chastise us for, but we're called to do it.
[14:39]And with me writing and comfortable conversations, I was called to do it. To those listening,
[14:43]I promise you are called to do something. Now you might be asked, what the heck am I called to do?
[14:49]I also say this, your calling will call you. Just pick it up.
[14:56]Your calling is going to call you. And so many people are sitting here trying to search for
[15:00]their calling in life when they're calling is already called. And they're just letting the phone
[15:04]ring. Not calling literally called me. McConaughey, Oprah, Roger Goodell, three no caller ID calls
[15:11]to change my life and change the trajectory of my life. But to those listening, your calling will
[15:16]likely be a figurative calling. It might be that internal yearning to start that business,
[15:23]that internal yearning to start that family, that internal yearning to quit your job.
[15:28]Your calling is calling you. You just have to pick it up. We spend so much time ignoring our
[15:33]calling, searching for our calling, not realizing it's already calling us.
[15:38]It's so true. I feel like some people are quick to put it aside, because they think it's like
[15:43]not important enough or this couldn't possibly be it. I have a friend who's like amazing at
[15:48]gift giving and calligraphy and whatever. She's like, that's just something I enjoy. That's not
[15:53]and I'm like, no, that's it. That's your thing. That is. Oh, okay. You rebut me to such a phenomenal
[15:59]point. That's your thing. I believe it was June 9th, 2020. I just finished doing a show with Oprah.
[16:07]It was Oprah conversation on Apple TV meets uncomfortable conversations. And I gotta, well, I missed
[16:12]the call piece of advice. If Oprah calls you, don't miss the call. And Oprah's right hand woman,
[16:17]she rushes into the room. Hey, a manual. Great job. But Oprah just called you. I checked my phone.
[16:22]I'm exhausted. I just finished a two hour show electronically and y'all know how much that takes out of
[16:26]you. So I look, I call Oprah back. This is all she says. You have the thing to my friend. You have
[16:32]the thing. And coming from someone who has the thing and had the thing, you, my friend, you have
[16:37]the thing. My world changed that day. Because I was like, wait a second, this woman who's the greatest
[16:43]TV person in the history of television is telling me I have the thing. I said, Oprah, what is the
[16:48]thing? She said, you have the ability to deliver hard truths to people and they still want to hear
[16:52]it. With that being said, Zibi, I fully cosine what you told your friend, that calligraphy, that's
[16:58]your thing. Like everyone, everyone listening has the thing. They just have to find the thing,
[17:05]develop the thing and utilize the thing. But everyone has the thing. And in a logical, I'm simply
[17:11]talking about, you know, find your thing. And it might be a logical. And when I say a logical,
[17:18]logic is simply conventional wisdom. So being illogical is just going against conventional wisdom.
[17:25]Everybody has the thing. We just have to find our things and use our things. What we all have.
[17:32]It's so true. I think if people, if a group, if everyone is saying, maybe you shouldn't do that
[17:37]or they don't understand, that's a cue that it's either a really good idea or maybe not a good
[17:40]idea at all. But it's probably one of the two things because people like to feel safe. They like to
[17:46]recommend safe ideas or they base it on what they know. And nothing will ever change if you just
[17:52]keep facing every improvement on something that was there before it. That's so good. I'm one of
[17:56]my favorite quotes I recently heard. The most dangerous phrase we can ever utter is that's the way
[18:02]it's always been done. The most dangerous rate we can ever utter. And that's what so many of us do.
[18:08]Like, well, that's the way it's always been done. Well, my family's never left this small city
[18:13]outside of Pennsylvania. So why would I leave? My family's been in Austin, Texas for three generations
[18:20]now. That's just the way it's always been done. And I'll say this one other quote,
[18:24]Will Smith's new book. He says, people's advice is exactly that it's theirs. They're giving
[18:31]it to you based upon their limited experience and life experience. He says, you and now are a
[18:39]unique combination that has never existed before of which you are the most reliable source for the
[18:46]outcome. You and now are a unique combination that's never existed before of which you are the most
[18:51]reliable source of the outcome. So when talking about being the logical, you're the most reliable
[18:56]source for the outcome. Because you would now have literally never existed. So we have to stop
[19:01]depending upon what other people have to say. Maybe I recently said, well, you might leave me there,
[19:07]but go for it. We're still afraid of other people's failures and not other people's failures.
[19:13]We're more afraid of other people's fears. I just posted more. Chewest Q is phobia. You know what
[19:20]that is? I don't. I'm sorry. I'm looking for your post before this more. Chewest Q is phobia. It
[19:25]is the fear of ketchup. It is a real thing. Okay. And sixth grade, I was at my friend's house,
[19:31]and my friend, him and I were eating a burger, his older brother walks in and throws something
[19:36]at the table. My friend scurries behind the couch and gets in a fetal position screaming,
[19:41]I'm like, what the heck did his brother just throw at this table that sent my friend behind the
[19:47]couch? I look at it. And it was a ketchup pack. After checking on my friend, I literally
[19:54]bust the ketchup pack at open and I started eating my fries. I realized the lesson that day,
[20:00]can't be afraid of other people's fears.
[20:03]And we are so often afraid of other people's fears.
[20:08]Not even our own.
[20:09]Generally it's like somebody else
[20:11]doesn't wanna get in a relationship.
[20:12]So we're like, oh, no, we gotta stay single.
[20:14]Somebody else is afraid of being single.
[20:16]So like, oh, man, we gotta stay in this toxic relationship.
[20:19]Somebody doesn't wanna quit this job
[20:21]because they don't know what life
[20:22]was like as an entrepreneur.
[20:24]So they're like, oh, I gotta stay in this job too.
[20:26]Zippy, we're not even afraid of our own fears.
[20:28]Like, we're not afraid of other people's fears.
[20:31]And it's the most wild concept to me.
[20:34]So I also just expand on that notion of,
[20:38]let's stop being afraid of other people's fears.
[20:40]It's so true.
[20:41]And by the way, since we last spoke,
[20:43]I started my own publishing company precisely
[20:45]because I wanted to do things differently
[20:47]and that was the answer I kept hearing.
[20:49]And so now I started this company
[20:51]and my co-founder has been in publishing forever
[20:54]and our consulting publisher
[20:55]and they keep saying things and I'm like,
[20:57]but why do we have to do it that way?
[21:00]Okay, I get it.
[21:01]But what if we did this, like why?
[21:03]And then we start going in a whole new direction.
[21:05]But if you don't ask, right,
[21:06]nothing's ever going to change.
[21:08]Oh my God, that's so brilliant.
[21:10]And it's not only asking if you don't act,
[21:12]nothing else is going to change.
[21:14]Why love what you did and congrats
[21:15]on that publishing company that you started.
[21:17]I'm incredibly proud of you because you have to ask
[21:21]and you have to act may 5th, 1952.
[21:27]Nobody had ever run a mile in under four minutes.
[21:29]Nearly 2000, nobody had run a mile in under four minutes.
[21:33]And Roger Banister, he asked himself, is it possible?
[21:37]Because scientists said it was physically impossible
[21:40]to run a mile in under four minutes.
[21:43]Or after Roger Banister asked himself as possible,
[21:46]he then acted and on May 6th, the 1952
[21:49]for the first time in the history of the world,
[21:52]a man ran a mile, an under four minutes,
[21:54]three minutes, 59 seconds.
[21:56]Within the next two years, 10 people ran a mile
[22:00]and under four minutes.
[22:01]Why? Because one person asked
[22:04]and then one person acted and Roger Banister
[22:07]and everybody else then realized it was possible.
[22:10]See, Roger Banister broke that mental dam, if you will,
[22:14]and once the dam breaks, the floodgates are open.
[22:18]And so I write, I have a chapter when the dam breaks,
[22:21]but it perfectly segues to your point of,
[22:23]you got to ask and then you got to act
[22:26]and then you got to break the dam.
[22:28]Because what's so interesting, I think 1800 people now
[22:31]have run a mile in under four minutes
[22:33]and the world record for the mile is three minutes,
[22:34]43 seconds now, so it's dropped by 17 seconds
[22:38]and Roger Banister.
[22:39]But nobody talks about anybody, but Roger Banister,
[22:42]because he was the first.
[22:43]And so it's all the matter of I just want to encourage
[22:46]and implore people, just go be the first of whatever it is
[22:50]that you want to do and when you want to do great.
[22:53]I don't think I could even walk to the kitchen
[22:54]in less than three minutes, 43 seconds.
[22:57]You know, I mean, that's like no time, that's like nothing.
[23:00]That's like, you know, an email, I don't know,
[23:03]that's really fast, that's really fast.
[23:05]Yeah, for the business, I was just sort of like,
[23:07]well, why not me, right?
[23:09]If it could be anybody doing these things, right?
[23:11]And I think that's the whole thing, like why not me?
[23:14]If everybody said it shouldn't be me,
[23:15]nothing ever would get done, right?
[23:18]If you said that to yourself,
[23:20]it's not like somebody else would have stepped in
[23:21]and done your conversation series
[23:23]and ended up with all this success.
[23:24]It just wouldn't have happened.
[23:25]So why not you, like?
[23:27]And there's so many voids in our society
[23:30]because people don't often ask themselves that question,
[23:33]why not me?
[23:34]And the true answer is it is you.
[23:37]Like why not me is a rhetorical question,
[23:39]but the answer is no, it absolutely is you.
[23:41]Like Zippy, you were the one to start that publishing company.
[23:44]Emmanuel, you were the one to have conversations
[23:47]about race and racial reconciliation.
[23:49]There is no why not me, the answer is it absolutely is you.
[23:53]So it's like to everyone listening who's saying,
[23:56]well, I can't or it's not me, you're up.
[23:58]No, no, no, I promise it is you.
[24:01]Yeah.
[24:02]And I don't know about you.
[24:03]I was like, well, this might be a total failure,
[24:05]but it won't be a failure if I know I've tried
[24:07]and I've tried to do everything,
[24:09]then that's not a personal failure.
[24:11]Like it might fail as a company,
[24:13]I don't think it will, but you know,
[24:14]if I tried, that's all I can do.
[24:16]Yeah.
[24:17]Yeah.
[24:19]No, I love that.
[24:21]I failed so many times as you have,
[24:23]as we all have, and we will continue to.
[24:26]But then I finally had to realize I didn't fail,
[24:29]I fell and as long as I hit up, I win.
[24:32]You have so many of these great little nuggets.
[24:35]I can't, like, when are you coming out
[24:38]with a t-shirt line?
[24:39]Like this is perfect.
[24:40]I live by clothes and things that come to me.
[24:42]And one day I realized I was like, wait a second,
[24:45]I didn't fail, I fell.
[24:47]Yeah, I love that.
[24:49]I get up, I win.
[24:50]And to your point, it's like,
[24:52]even when you don't succeed,
[24:54]you didn't fail guys and gals,
[24:56]like you just fell.
[24:57]And the beauty of falling is we can always get up
[25:00]and keep moving forward.
[25:02]Okay, so what is the next thing coming from you?
[25:05]Like Oscar, like where we headed here,
[25:08]what's coming?
[25:09]My objective, because I do not believe in goals,
[25:11]and that is the hottest topic I write about
[25:14]in the book, Elijah, why don't believe in goals?
[25:16]I believe in having an objective without limitations.
[25:19]I just want to be considered one of the most creative
[25:21]people the industry has ever seen.
[25:23]Just, you, that's all I want.
[25:25]I just want that.
[25:28]It's interesting, right?
[25:30]Like, if you have an objective,
[25:33]an objective is subjective,
[25:34]because an objective is subject to people's opinion,
[25:37]people say, oh, what the heck,
[25:38]what's the difference between goals and an objective?
[25:40]A goal by dictionary definition is the end
[25:43]towards which energy is directed.
[25:45]A goal literally starts with an end.
[25:47]An objective is just simply energy directed towards something.
[25:51]So when I say I want an objective,
[25:53]I have an objective with no limitations.
[25:55]I'm directing my energy towards being
[25:57]one of the most creative people the industry has ever seen,
[26:00]but because there is no end, I cannot fail.
[26:02]That's why I start the book,
[26:04]very simply with its own dedicated page.
[26:06]Imagine a life without failure.
[26:09]Because I currently live Zibi in a life where I can't fail.
[26:12]And I can't fail because I don't set goals.
[26:15]I just simply set objectives.
[26:16]I don't work with an end in mind.
[26:18]I just worked with an infinite number of possibilities ahead of me.
[26:21]Okay. Well, I will keep my eyes peeled
[26:24]and follow every second,
[26:27]because I never know what's coming next to you,
[26:29]but I'm very excited to see.
[26:31]And I think having an objective
[26:32]to be the most creative person in the industry,
[26:34]that's just pretty awesome.
[26:35]You just can't top that as an objective, not a goal.
[26:38]So good.
[26:39]Good luck.
[26:40]So much.
[26:41]Get all those postcards, turn them into t-shirts,
[26:44]and I'll partner with you on the business.
[26:45]We can start it like in publishing company.
[26:47]Done. I'm in.
[26:48]I'm in.
[26:49]I'm not even kidding.
[26:52]Thanks so much.
[26:53]All right, bye.
[26:54]All right.
[26:56]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time
[26:58]to Read Books.
[26:59]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram,
[27:01]at Zibi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[27:04]Also sign up for my newsletter at Zibi Owens.com
[27:07]and sign up for my virtual book club
[27:08]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[27:11]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound
[27:14]for the Sound Editing.
[27:15]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[27:17]for providing this fantastic intro and outro music.