Joe Rogan Experience #1127 - Jesse Itzler

Joe Rogan 0:00 (door closes) Four, three, two, one. Boom. So what -- um, Hundred Mile Man or Hundred Man- (glasses clink) What is it?

Jesse Itzler 0:09 The 100 Mile Man.

Joe Rogan 0:11 What is that?

Jesse Itzler 0:12 Uh, I ran a 100-mile race-

Joe Rogan 0:13 Oh.

Jesse Itzler 0:13 ... uh, years ago, and that's like-

Joe Rogan 0:14 You're like, "I'm the fucking man." (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 0:16 Let me, let me grab it if it's available. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:18 (laughs) That's cool that you got it, man, 'cause that's a very popular thing now.

Jesse Itzler 0:22 (smacks lips) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:22 Did you run this before or after you did the book with David Goggins?

Jesse Itzler 0:26 I ran it before.

Joe Rogan 0:28 Oh, okay.

Jesse Itzler 0:28 Yeah. I think at the time when I did it, there were like 400 Americans that ran 100 miles or something.

Joe Rogan 0:33 Oh, really?

Jesse Itzler 0:34 It wasn't a lot, so that's why it was available.

Joe Rogan 0:36 Isn't it crazy how many people do it now?

Jesse Itzler 0:39 (smacks lips) Yeah, I think... I was trying to figure out in my head how many do it a year and like how many races, 100-mile races there are there a month and then multiply it out. So probably 5,000 or 6,000 I'm guessing.

Joe Rogan 0:50 5,000 or 6,000 people who have done it?

Jesse Itzler 0:52 I think probably, I think so.

Joe Rogan 0:54 Wow.

Jesse Itzler 0:54 Americans, yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:57 (sighs)

Jesse Itzler 0:57 It's a long way.

Joe Rogan 0:58 It's a long fucking way. We were just about talking right before the podcast about how Miss America yanked off, uh, all of... Uh, there's, they're no longer judged by their beauty. And I post this 'cause I thought it was silly.

Jesse Itzler 1:11 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:12 And there's just these fights online, man. There's fucking fights in the comments and fights and... People are tense.

Jesse Itzler 1:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:21 People need to go out and run those 100 miles, man. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 1:23 Yeah, they'd loosen up fast. Fast.

Joe Rogan 1:27 I know. What the fuck is going... Miss America is scrapping the swimsuit competition, will no longer be judged on physical appearance. It's literally a beauty contest. That is what it is.

Jesse Itzler 1:37 What are they replacing it with?

Joe Rogan 1:38 (sputters) I mean, I gotta think it's like when Playboy decided to not have people nude.

Jesse Itzler 1:44 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:44 That like, and but they... Here's the thing. But no longer judging them on their physical appearance, well, what does that mean?

Jesse Itzler 1:52 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:52 Like how... What does that mean?

Jesse Itzler 1:54 Yeah, that's a twist.

Joe Rogan 1:54 "We are no longer a pageant," Gretchen Carlson says. (mouth farts) Competition. We're a competition. Okay. (smacks lips) I give up.

Jesse Itzler 2:05 (laughs) I don't know. I think that's, might have be a, be a, you know, hurt the ratings a little bit.

Joe Rogan 2:10 I think a little bit or not.

Jesse Itzler 2:12 A little bit.

Joe Rogan 2:12 Maybe people will get very excited about it. Maybe it'll ramp up.

Jesse Itzler 2:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:16 You know?

Jesse Itzler 2:16 It's getting a lot of talk.

Joe Rogan 2:17 Yeah. Maybe people will be pissed off and so they'll tune in. It's just, I don't know.

Jesse Itzler 2:21 Where do you stand on it?

Joe Rogan 2:22 (smacks lips) I don't give a fuck.

Jesse Itzler 2:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:23 It's so stupid. Miss America... I mean, this is what's really fascinating to me is that, uh, it was... I read in the comments a lot of feminists were angry at me that I was mocking it. I saw a few of them. I don't get it. Like, why would you even want a who I'd most like to fuck contest?

Jesse Itzler 2:41 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:41 'Cause that's what it is. I mean, that's really what it is. You're having these gals parade around in their bikini... It's a beauty contest. Do we have a Mr. America contest? Like, is that just the president? Is that what the Mr. America contest is?

Jesse Itzler 2:53 I don't know.

Joe Rogan 2:54 (smacks lips)

Jesse Itzler 2:54 I don't know.

Joe Rogan 2:55 I don't know. I mean, I was, I was trying to ask you as someone who's deeply-

Jesse Itzler 2:59 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:59 ... connected to competition and mindsets.

Jesse Itzler 3:02 Yeah. I don't know. I'm not following it that closely.

Joe Rogan 3:05 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 3:06 But I am gonna miss that part of the competition, to be honest with you.

Joe Rogan 3:08 Are you though, really?

Jesse Itzler 3:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:09 I just... There's so many opportunities to see people naked today.

Jesse Itzler 3:13 They... Yeah. But, you know, as a kid watching the Amer- Miss America Pageant-

Joe Rogan 3:16 Right.

Jesse Itzler 3:16 ... I was like, you know, there weren't a lot of options.

Joe Rogan 3:18 Back then.

Jesse Itzler 3:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:20 Yeah. Yeah. Kids today are broken.

Jesse Itzler 3:22 Sports Illustrated and-

Joe Rogan 3:23 That's right.

Jesse Itzler 3:23 ... the pageant.

Joe Rogan 3:24 Swimsuit issue. I wonder if they're gonna continue the swimsuit issue? (smacks lips)

Jesse Itzler 3:30 Mm.

Joe Rogan 3:30 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 3:31 Mm.

Joe Rogan 3:31 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 3:31 Mm.

Joe Rogan 3:31 Mm. Maybe they'll just see their faces and just have to assume they're in their swimsuit.

Jesse Itzler 3:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:36 And then, you know, there'll be like a bubble, a thought bubble, and it'll be filled with an amazing quote that they say. That'll be the new swimsuit issue 'cause we're just judging them on their minds.

Jesse Itzler 3:46 Right. And the content.

Joe Rogan 3:48 Yes, the content. The content. Speaking of content, Living with Monks.

Jesse Itzler 3:53 Yes.

Joe Rogan 3:54 What is it called?

Jesse Itzler 3:54 Living with the Monks.

Joe Rogan 3:55 Living with the Monks. Um, this is your new book.

Jesse Itzler 3:58 Yes.

Joe Rogan 3:59 Why'd you decide to do that and how long did you do it for?

Jesse Itzler 4:02 I did it for 15 days. I was-

Joe Rogan 4:04 That's enough.

Jesse Itzler 4:04 That's more than enough, man.

Joe Rogan 4:05 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 4:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:07 Where'd you go?

Jesse Itzler 4:08 Go, go like this for an hour, your finger will fall off, you know.

Joe Rogan 4:10 What are you doing with your finger? Up and down.

Jesse Itzler 4:12 Uh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:12 Up and to the side.

Jesse Itzler 4:12 Just the repetition.

Joe Rogan 4:14 What did you have to do?

Jesse Itzler 4:15 I, uh... Well, I lived with... There were, there were eight monks, four of which have been there for 50 years.

Joe Rogan 4:20 50?

Jesse Itzler 4:21 50.

Joe Rogan 4:22 Wow.

Jesse Itzler 4:22 On a monastery, 800, 800... Uh, 500 acres, kind of in the middle of nowhere. And, um, I went for 15 days. So I figured, you know, I'd, I'd invested so much of my life on the physical side and ran 100 miles and just always active and this and that and have really invested very little on my own inner work. And I just felt like, man, I, I just felt overwhelmed a little bit. And I said to my wife, you know, "Who are the masters?" And everything pointed to monks.

Joe Rogan 4:52 Monks.

Jesse Itzler 4:52 And I said, "I want to go live in a monastery."

Joe Rogan 4:54 There's something romantic about that, right? It's almost like the guy who goes off into the woods to write a book. Like, being with a, with a monk, like, and just being, you know, in a monastery with monks. There's something very romantic about that, right? Uh, that you've shed all your worldly belongings, and you no longer care about the day-to-day nonsense that everybody is fixated on. You just decide to just, "Ohm."

Jesse Itzler 5:19 Yes.

Joe Rogan 5:20 Ohm all day.

Jesse Itzler 5:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:23 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 5:23 You could do it, man. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:25 I don't wanna do it, man.

Jesse Itzler 5:26 You should do it. You should do it.

Joe Rogan 5:27 I don't wanna do it. I've lived the opposite of a monk's life. I've... My life is filled with bullshit. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 5:34 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:35 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 5:35 I get it.

Joe Rogan 5:36 Yeah. So where'd you go?

Jesse Itzler 5:38 So I went, I went to, uh, a monastery just south of Canada in the States.

Joe Rogan 5:42 Ah.

Jesse Itzler 5:43 Yeah. But no-

Joe Rogan 5:43 What state is it?

Jesse Itzler 5:44 It was in Upstate New York.

Joe Rogan 5:46 Oh, okay.

Jesse Itzler 5:46 Yeah, like on the Vermont border. And it was, um, you know, no phone, total kind of separation from my family. I have four kids, my wife. And just got to, uh, get to know myself a little bit.

Joe Rogan 5:57 Wow. Now, when you were up there, was there any time where you're like, "What the fuck am I doing?"

Jesse Itzler 6:03 ... like, one minute into it.

Joe Rogan 6:04 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 6:07 I got -- when I first got up there, the main monk, like, my go-to monk-

Joe Rogan 6:10 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 6:11 ... Brother, Brother Christopher took me to my room. They call the rooms th- a cell, which is about the size of this table. And I had a bed. I walked in, there was a bed, there was a little desk with a night lamp on it, and nothing on the walls. And he said, "Tomorrow we're gonna start prayer, reflection, and meditation at 7:15 AM." And I looked at my watch and it was 6:00 PM and I asked him, "Well, what do we do between now and 7:15 AM?" And he looked at me dead in the eye and he said, "You think." And I said to myself, "I'm fucked."

Joe Rogan 6:46 (sighs)

Jesse Itzler 6:46 (laughs) Because-

Joe Rogan 6:49 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 6:49 ... like, I'm like... I don't really, like, spend a lot of time-

Joe Rogan 6:54 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 6:54 ... in thought.

Joe Rogan 6:55 Mmm.

Jesse Itzler 6:55 So I went and I said, "Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna meditate." You know, like, "I'm here, let me start this journey with meditation." I had taken a little, a course in transcendental meditation. I'm not a big meditation guy, uh, other than running. And so I set my timer for 20 minutes and I sat down in my chair and I started, like, focusing on my mantra. And like, immediately I'm bombarded with how is my wife, how are the kids, the Hawks, like all this, you know-

Joe Rogan 7:20 Hawks?

Jesse Itzler 7:21 The Atlanta Hawks.

Joe Rogan 7:22 Oh. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 7:22 I live in Atlanta, like, you know, not your kinda hawk. Everything's coming at me and I'm, you know, time is going by and I'm just getting bombarded with thought and I'm like, "Why hasn't my timer buzzed? Like, it's been, I've been here forever." So, I was gonna look and reset my thing and I'm like, "That would be cheating. Let me keep going," and I'm going and all the time's going by and finally I'm like, "The fuck is going on with my timer," you know? So I open my eyes and I look to reset my timer and it's three minutes and 27 seconds.

Joe Rogan 7:48 No.

Jesse Itzler 7:49 And I said to my, I started-

Joe Rogan 7:50 You really thought it was 20 minutes?

Jesse Itzler 7:52 I thought it was, like, hours, man. I mean, like, I'd never really sat in a room, like, with nothing going on and just closed my eyes alone and thought, and time just stopped. And I calculated how much time I had left, like, 15 days times 24 hours or 60 minutes and I said to myself, like, "Man, I'm in trouble. This isn't like, like, this isn't what... I'm on Gilligan's Island. This is a real... Like, I can't get outta here." And I, I had a really hard time with it.

Joe Rogan 8:20 What was the commitment?

Jesse Itzler 8:21 The commitment was 15 days.

Joe Rogan 8:23 So the only... Y- you did-

Jesse Itzler 8:25 It was a personal commitment.

Joe Rogan 8:26 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 8:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:26 You did it up to you, like, there was no... Y- n- nothing in writing and... Did you have a way to escape?

Jesse Itzler 8:33 (laughs) I mean, I was thinking of escape plans, but, um, on the monastery, and this is a little crazy, the, the way the monks keep the lights on is they breed German Shepherds. That's how they make money. They breed German Shepherds. It's the largest-

Joe Rogan 8:47 Oh, I've seen this. They wrote a book.

Jesse Itzler 8:49 Yeah, they wrote a book.

Joe Rogan 8:50 I have the book. It's a book about raising puppies.

Jesse Itzler 8:52 Correct.

Joe Rogan 8:52 The same guys?

Jesse Itzler 8:53 Same guys.

Joe Rogan 8:54 Ah.

Jesse Itzler 8:55 So they weren't Buddhist, they were Russian Orthodox, and they raise German Shepherds. So they live on this property and there are these 11 German Shepherds. And at the end of the property, the only way off the property were two mobile homes, unconnected to the monastery, at the end of this road that leads up to the monastery. And both of those homes had German Shepherds as well that were a little territorial. So there really was no way for me to escape.

Joe Rogan 9:21 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 9:21 Like, I couldn't... I ran 120 miles up and down the driveway while I was there because I couldn't leave the property.

Joe Rogan 9:29 So you just timed yourself or paced yourself with... Using an app or something like that?

Jesse Itzler 9:33 No, I said, like, "2000 steps equals a mile," you know?

Joe Rogan 9:36 So you counted your steps?

Jesse Itzler 9:37 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 9:38 Oh, Jesus Christ, dude.

Jesse Itzler 9:40 Yeah. I counted it and I marked it.

Joe Rogan 9:42 What did they think about you running back and forth like that?

Jesse Itzler 9:44 Thought I was a fucking psychopath.

Joe Rogan 9:46 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 9:47 (laughs) I'm like, "You guys have been here for 50 years, man."

Joe Rogan 9:50 50 years.

Jesse Itzler 9:50 "I'm just trying to get some exercise."

Joe Rogan 9:51 Now, what are the, the guys like that have been there for 50 years?

Jesse Itzler 9:56 Uh, quiet. (laughs) No, they were, they were, you know, extremely... Listen, they, they were doing what they wanted to do with their life, so they were super happy.

Joe Rogan 10:06 Really?

Jesse Itzler 10:07 Yeah. Super present. I mean, very present. And I mean, I live in a world of to-do lists, man, and like, you know-

Joe Rogan 10:14 Right, right.

Jesse Itzler 10:14 They were very present, very happy, and really, really nice to me and, and everybody.

Joe Rogan 10:20 Whew. Did you talk to them?

Jesse Itzler 10:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 10:22 They speak English?

Jesse Itzler 10:23 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:24 What was the conversation like? Like, what, what, what do you say to a guy who's been in a monastery for 50 years just staring at the walls?

Jesse Itzler 10:30 Well, I wondered if I could've talked to them about the pageant, that would've been interesting conversation. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:35 (laughs) They probably would've been super confused.

Jesse Itzler 10:36 How would I know? (laughs) Uh, when I first got up there and they were asking me a little bit about my background, and I told them, you know, I was in the private jet business, they didn't understand private jets really. And then I said I, I had a coconut water company. They'd never heard of coconut water. I told them I was involved with the Atlanta Hawks and one of the monks said, "Ah, I've been to a, an, an Expos game." And I'm like, "That's a different sport and they don't play... They don't exist anymore." (laughs) And it was just this very, like, time warped at first.

Joe Rogan 11:05 Wow.

Jesse Itzler 11:05 It was really interesting. Really interesting.

Joe Rogan 11:07 Jesus. Now what led these g- these guys that are 50 years, 50 years on the monastery, how old were they?

Jesse Itzler 11:14 Uh, so some of... The, the, their age ranged from I think the youngest monk was probably 35, up until late 70s.

Joe Rogan 11:23 So late 70s were the guys that had been there for 50 years?

Jesse Itzler 11:26 Yeah. Yeah. So they, they checked in when they were 20? Yeah, in their young 20s.

Joe Rogan 11:29 In the same spot?

Jesse Itzler 11:31 They actually built this monastery by hand. They bought 500 acres for very, you know, I think it was, like, $50,000 or something. I mean, something crazy. And then they built the monastery by hand.

Joe Rogan 11:43 Wow.

Jesse Itzler 11:43 And so it's been a passion of love and labor and, and they've been there since.

Joe Rogan 11:49 And so they vow celibacy, the whole deal?

Jesse Itzler 11:52 Mm-hmm. Celibacy, poverty.

Joe Rogan 11:54 Poverty and celibacy at 20?

Jesse Itzler 11:57 Yeah. They, they take a vow of four things, of, um... Celibacy, poverty, they pledge all their personal belongings to the monastery, so really their only possession is a driver's license. Uh-... obedience and stability, meaning we're not leaving, like, this is what we're gonna do. So, I mean, talk about discipline, just off the charts.

Joe Rogan 12:17 This is what we're gonna do forever?

Jesse Itzler 12:18 Forever.

Joe Rogan 12:19 And where do they get funding?

Jesse Itzler 12:20 They're self-sufficient, so they s- they breed German Shepherds, they sell them.

Joe Rogan 12:25 Right. Okay.

Jesse Itzler 12:25 That's kind of one income stream. And then they are masters, world masters, of dog train- training. So every two weeks, they have 10 dogs that come in and they ... And I've, I watched this. I mean, they literally ... Dogs come in like Spuds Mackenzie and leave like they just left etiquette school.

Joe Rogan 12:44 Really?

Jesse Itzler 12:44 Like it's, it's f- ... It was ... You know, like, any time you're in the presence of the people that are the best in the world at what they do, it's fucking fascinating. And these guys were masters. They are the masters of ... I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people that are great, but in their space of dog training and breeding.

Joe Rogan 13:05 What was so special about the way they trained dogs?

Jesse Itzler 13:07 Just the command, like, like, they had a, an energy that the dogs responded to. I mean, like, I would walk in, the dogs would go crazy. They'd sniff my nuts, they'd ju-

Joe Rogan 13:16 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 13:16 Like, they'd go nuts.

Joe Rogan 13:17 Right.

Jesse Itzler 13:17 These guys would walk in and, like, they could just sense-

Joe Rogan 13:20 That they were in control.

Jesse Itzler 13:21 ... that they were in control.

Joe Rogan 13:22 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 13:22 And, like, the eye contact that they ... E- everything. The way that they talk, their tone, their hand mannerisms. They just have mastered this. And they have a deep connection with the dogs.

Joe Rogan 13:35 Dogs are weird in that way. Like, I have a one-year-old golden retriever, and he has different rules for different people. And he knows who he can get away with what with. Like, um, my wife's mom has zero shot at controlling this dog. Like, it's, it's like-

Jesse Itzler 13:50 Right.

Joe Rogan 13:50 He's like, "Uh, no, no, no. I'm the boss. I think I'm gonna jump up on ya and kiss ya." You know? "No, I'm gonna just run around, I'm gonna put my paws on you-

Jesse Itzler 13:57 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 13:57 ... when you sit in the chair."

Jesse Itzler 13:58 Right.

Joe Rogan 13:58 And, you know, we're like, "Marshall, come on, man. What the fuck? What is this? You don't do this." And it doesn't matter. When she's here, he just decides, "Nah, new set of rules with this lady."

Jesse Itzler 14:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:08 "She doesn't seem to know what the fuck to do with me." (laughs) But when, uh ... Y- I had a trainer that I worked with him for in, um, the beginning when I first got him. And when, uh, Ryan, the trainer, comes over, he just, like, sits down, he's super chill, he listens. He's like, "Oh, this guy knows what the fuck to do."

Jesse Itzler 14:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:25 "He knows how to control me."

Jesse Itzler 14:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 14:27 You know? It's, it's, it's very interesting. He's even different with me than he is with my friends. Like, my friends will come over, he's like, "Let me try you out, motherfucker."

Jesse Itzler 14:34 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 14:34 "Put my paws on you and see what's up." And I wish he would be, like, across the board with everybody. But he's just ... It's all love, so it's not bad. You know? He's just a lovey dog.

Jesse Itzler 14:45 Yeah. Well-

Joe Rogan 14:45 But it's just, like, paws on you and shit, you know?

Jesse Itzler 14:48 And I'm not really a dog person. I like dogs. But we don't-

Joe Rogan 14:51 Do you have one? No?

Jesse Itzler 14:52 No. But we don't really connect, you know?

Joe Rogan 14:54 You don't connect with dogs?

Jesse Itzler 14:54 I mean, I'm, I'm not, like, instant love when they see me the way that they are with other people.

Joe Rogan 14:59 Oh.

Jesse Itzler 14:59 You know? But the monks were using the ... Were teaching me various lessons, almost like Karate Kid style-

Joe Rogan 15:05 Oh.

Jesse Itzler 15:06 ... through the dogs. So, like, the first day I got there, every day I was assigned a different role with m- ... I would shadow one of the monks. And there were eight, and they had different responsibilities around the monastery. The first day, I was in the training center with one of the monks that was training the dog. And my job was to be the distractor. So Rainbow, this dog, would walk around, and I would fucking go at him and jump and run and, like, try to, you know, whatever, get him to break f- his goal of going ... They were kind of simulating a park scene or a city scene-

Joe Rogan 15:38 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 15:38 ... and making this dog not get distracted.

Joe Rogan 15:40 Oh.

Jesse Itzler 15:41 So I would go nuts with a pork chop and this, and throw ... Whatever. The dog would just go, unwavering, from point A to point B. And the monk said to me at the end, he was like, "It's just like life, man." He's like, "If you have a goal, just like Rainbow's goal is to get from A to B, you can't be distracted in your goal." And I was like, "That makes sense. Some Karate Kid stuff." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 16:01 Yeah. (laughs) And I got like-

Jesse Itzler 16:02 Like, wax on.

Joe Rogan 16:03 Yeah, like wax on. And, but all these different lessons started to emerge, and it was pretty interesting.

Jesse Itzler 16:10 Wow. So, that, that is inter- it's, it's interesting, too, that they're doing it with German Shepherds, who are really, really smart dogs. I wonder-

Joe Rogan 16:18 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 16:18 Like, what's a dumb dog? Uh ...

Joe Rogan 16:21 What's like generally thought of as a dumb dog?

Jesse Itzler 16:25 (laughs) Let's-

Joe Rogan 16:25 I'm trying to think. Some mutt. Yeah. I'm trying to think. Like, what would generally be thought of as a dumb dog? There's no, like, prejudices for dogs, right?

Jesse Itzler 16:37 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 16:37 Is there? Is there, like, like one breed where you're like, "This dumb fucking breed." I don't think of ... Like, when, if you say like a dumb dog, there's dumb individual dogs. But I don't ever think of like, oh, that ... There's some dogs that are, like, spastic, right? Like, Jack Russell Terriers are kind of spastic. But that's 'cause they were raised to kill rats and they just, like, they have high kill drive and they're super hyper.

Jesse Itzler 17:01 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 17:01 But, like, I can't think of a dog that's supposed to be stupid. But German Shepherds are generally supposed to be smart. This list says, uh, English Bulldogs, but I don't know if that's necessarily true. Really? I think they're just lazy, man. Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 17:13 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 17:13 My dog, um, Brutus is half English Bulldog and half Shibu Inu. He just has bad joints and he's just lazy. He's just ... I don't think he's stupid.

Jesse Itzler 17:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:23 He's, he's kind of a dick.

Jesse Itzler 17:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 17:24 He's a dick to other dogs. But I just think that's 'cause he's in pain a lot.

Jesse Itzler 17:29 These dogs are super smart. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:30 They're so smart, man. Those dogs look at you and they're l- they're sizing you up, checking you out, seeing what the fuck you're up to, making sure you're cool. But there's like this feeling like they know they could kill you. Like, they're looking at you like, "I could kill you, but I'm just checking you out."

Jesse Itzler 17:45 I had that feeling that they could kill me, too.

Joe Rogan 17:47 Yeah, it's a real feeling.

Jesse Itzler 17:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:49 Yeah, they can. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 17:50 And they were like ... I was scared they were sensing that. (laughs) Just trying to, like, down- downplay my fear.

Joe Rogan 17:56 Yeah, my friend who trains them has, uh, a dog that's, like, he does police work, and it's, like, a serious fucking dog. And he'll attack, like, a thing, if you're holding, like, a stick, like on command. And he jumps. And one of the things that he does, he bites the stick and then two paws go right into your nuts.

Jesse Itzler 18:16 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 18:16 And I don't think it's on purpose, but damn, it's an effective strategy. Like, it's like, bite and then nut stomp, all in one maneuver.

Jesse Itzler 18:23 Right.

Joe Rogan 18:24 Yeah, but those dogs are, you know, they're, uh, they're a dog that's sort of bred and designed for protection work and police work and stuff.

Jesse Itzler 18:32 Yeah. They are, and they, they train their dogs for, as pets, so they didn't do any kind of, you know, police work or anything like that. So, the, the, the 11 German Shepherds that were on the property were super well-behaved. I mean, like, ridiculously well-behaved.

Joe Rogan 18:46 Mm. So when they p- train them, are they just training them to make sure that they're obedient, you know, they just listen, watch the house, bark at strangers, that kinda shit?

Jesse Itzler 18:54 Yeah. Hand signals, obedient, you know, not jumping, but really that, you know, they know who's in control.

Joe Rogan 19:01 So did these guys do that before they started running the monastery or was it something that they decided to do while they had the monastery?

Jesse Itzler 19:08 No, so they, uh, they fell into it. They didn't go up there. They ... None of them had any experience in dog training. Uh, they, that wasn't the intent. They just said, "We gotta keep the lights on here." And they had a dog, they had a dog that ... as a pet, and fell in love with the dog. And ultimately, they ... when the dog passed away, the dog got killed, uh, they wanted another dog and they went to a breeder and they got two dogs. And they actually just, they realized that they, you know, once they bred a- an amazing puppy, a lit- their first litter, that ... and train these dogs, that there was demand, and they just scaled it like any other business, you know? And they learned along the way, trial and error, just like any entrepreneur. I mean-

Joe Rogan 19:50 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 19:51 These guys were like ... First of all, they were monks, and they're, they're super spiritual, they're religious. They were Russian Orthodox. They weren't ... they're not Buddhist. And, um, but they're amazing entrepreneurs. I mean, like they ran this thing super efficiently.

Joe Rogan 20:05 But the ... So, but the point would only be to make enough money to keep the lights on.

Jesse Itzler 20:10 Correct.

Joe Rogan 20:10 So as an entrepreneur, it's almost like they're, they're, they're limited in their ambition.

Jesse Itzler 20:16 I think excess ... You know, it's not like they're ... If they have excess money and revenue, it's not going to material things, but it's for the life and the extension of the m- of the-

Joe Rogan 20:26 Monastery.

Jesse Itzler 20:27 ... monastery, yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:27 Hm, so they would save it and put it away for taxes or what have you.

Jesse Itzler 20:30 Yeah, or they have ... You know, they're in the hands of God. They have ... They don't have a lot of litters or they don't have a lot of puppies or ... They have no income.

Joe Rogan 20:36 Right, right. That's fascinating. Now, these guys, what do they do for recreation?

Jesse Itzler 20:43 Uh, they pray.

Joe Rogan 20:44 Jesus.

Jesse Itzler 20:45 They think, they read.

Joe Rogan 20:47 (sighs) What do they read?

Jesse Itzler 20:48 (laughs) And they had like an amazing collection of books.

Joe Rogan 20:52 Fiction?

Jesse Itzler 20:53 Everything.

Joe Rogan 20:53 Really?

Jesse Itzler 20:54 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 20:54 Oh, okay. So they-

Jesse Itzler 20:55 Super well-read.

Joe Rogan 20:55 So they do have some entertainment in terms-

Jesse Itzler 20:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:58 ... of like fiction.

Jesse Itzler 20:59 Yeah. And, you know, periods of it ... And I went up there with no expectation. The only, like ... I'd heard of monks. I watched, I've seen monks in movies and-

Joe Rogan 21:07 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 21:07 ... read articles and blogs, but I never ... I didn't know much about it.

Joe Rogan 21:11 Right.

Jesse Itzler 21:12 About the culture, certainly about Russian Orthodox and the different factions and this and that. Uh, so I went up there eyes wide open and, um, but I, I went up there really just to detach and get away from feeling overloaded and feeling distracted, and ... Man, I'm a father of four and I have a business and my wife has an entrepreneur, et cetera, and I just wanted to see like, you know ... This has kinda my, been my journey. I learned best by diving into the unknown, just like I did with David and just as I, I've done in businesses and other things. It's just like, I learn best by going into the unknown.

Joe Rogan 21:45 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 21:45 So I didn't do a lot of research around them or how they made money or this or that. I just kinda showed up.

Joe Rogan 21:51 Wow. That's a ... It's a crazy undertaking, but I guess if you knew you only had 15 days, at least you have like some light at the end of the rainbow. When that 15th day came and ... What, did you get in a car and drive away from that place?

Jesse Itzler 22:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:07 How fucking good did it feel? Did you check your phone?

Jesse Itzler 22:08 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:09 Did you check your text messages and-

Jesse Itzler 22:10 Felt really g- ... On day-

Joe Rogan 22:12 See what's going on on Twitter?

Jesse Itzler 22:13 (laughs) On, on day four and five, I was already kinda making excu- ... I was rationalizing in my head that seven days would be enough. So like, in my head I was going home day seven.

Joe Rogan 22:22 Oh, really?

Jesse Itzler 22:22 Well, I mean, I was like, "No one's gonna know the difference or care if I went 15 days or seven days or-"

Joe Rogan 22:27 Is that like if you're at mile 50 and you're like, "That's enough."

Jesse Itzler 22:30 It is.

Joe Rogan 22:31 Same kinda thing?

Jesse Itzler 22:32 Same kinda thing until you wake up the next day and you're like, "I dropped out."

Joe Rogan 22:36 Right.

Jesse Itzler 22:36 And you feel like, you know. So, um, anyway, I decided like, you know, I'm gonna stick this out, and then when I left, it was, uh, it was a good feeling. And the feeling was proud. I felt proud of myself-

Joe Rogan 22:49 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 22:49 ... for sticking through it, you know? I-

Joe Rogan 22:51 Isn't that funny? These guys have been there for 50 years.

Jesse Itzler 22:53 50 years, man.

Joe Rogan 22:54 And you're like, "I did it in two weeks, man." (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 22:56 Yeah. It felt good.

Joe Rogan 22:59 (coughs) I bet it did. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 23:00 It also felt good to go into a bed.

Joe Rogan 23:02 Well, it's cr- ... The 50 years, when you're describing that, that seems so insane to me that I can't even relate, but when you're talking about your 15 days, I'm like, "Man, you poor bastard."

Jesse Itzler 23:11 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:11 Like, I feel bad for you. The guy, the 50, 50 years, he might as well be living in another dimension-

Jesse Itzler 23:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:17 ... as far as I'm concerned.

Jesse Itzler 23:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:19 The guy, I mean, went in there in his 20s? That is just ... So nothing? No sex, no family, no, no neighborhood.

Jesse Itzler 23:29 Nope.

Joe Rogan 23:30 No fucking hobbies, no drive to work.

Jesse Itzler 23:33 Nope.

Joe Rogan 23:34 Fuck.

Jesse Itzler 23:35 And, you know, their, their impression of it is like, "We made this decision." So it's not ... We didn't sacrifice it. Like, we decided this is the life we wanna live.

Joe Rogan 23:42 But when he made this decision, it was 19- what? 1965 or some shit? (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 23:47 Yeah. Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:47 That's just some-

Jesse Itzler 23:48 Black and white TVs.

Joe Rogan 23:49 Oh my God, that's a crazy decision. That's crazy to, to decide back then like, "I, I, I see what's coming and I've had enough."

Jesse Itzler 23:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:58 "I've had enough. These daily newspapers, it's just too much information." (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 24:02 Right. Exactly.

Joe Rogan 24:04 That's a crazy time to check out. So they don't know what the fuck's going on in the world? Did you quiz them on shit?

Jesse Itzler 24:10 (laughs) I didn't really quiz them, I, I mean, they, they ... Every Sunday night, they have one ... There's one TV in one back room and they watch the news so they get a sense of just like, you know, ex- kinda where we are, state of the union.

Joe Rogan 24:22 If we're at war.

Jesse Itzler 24:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:23 If there's a nuclear meltdown.

Jesse Itzler 24:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:26 One hour?

Jesse Itzler 24:27 Uh, yeah, they watch about an hour on Sunday night.

Joe Rogan 24:30 One night a week, and that's how they tune in. Who do they- who do they trust?

Jesse Itzler 24:33 But I was going crazy. I was immediately like, my head went to like-

Joe Rogan 24:37 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 24:37 ... I'm sure we're being attacked right now and I'm stuck at the monastery.

Joe Rogan 24:40 Right, right. Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 24:41 I'm sure the airlines aren't flying and I'm stuck here for another 30 days.

Joe Rogan 24:45 Right.

Jesse Itzler 24:46 And my mind went to a place where I was thinking just the worst of everything, you know.

Joe Rogan 24:51 What news do they trust?

Jesse Itzler 24:54 Uh, I think they trust it all.

Joe Rogan 24:57 But like what, which channel do they go to?

Jesse Itzler 24:59 Oh, they would just watch like, you know, uh, the local ABC ch- the local network.

Joe Rogan 25:03 So whatever's local in-

Jesse Itzler 25:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:05 ... upstate New York. Okay. Whew.

Jesse Itzler 25:07 There weren't Netflix options.

Joe Rogan 25:09 Do they have internet?

Jesse Itzler 25:11 Uh, I had no access to the internet. I think they have access.

Joe Rogan 25:15 Probably for their job?

Jesse Itzler 25:16 Yeah, but I had no access to it.

Joe Rogan 25:17 For the dog training? Jesus Christ. But-

Jesse Itzler 25:21 It was wild.

Joe Rogan 25:22 But why is that so romantic to people? Because it is, it's very romantic, right? There's something about this idea of checking out. Just, I had a buddy who did it. I mean, for all I know he still does it, I lost touch with him 25 plus years ago. But he was a Taekwondo guy, and he started to meditate 'cause he was always very nervous about sparring and very nervous about competition. So (coughs) excuse me. He was trying to figure out what was going on. So, he said, "Let me just take some meditation classes." He took some meditation classes and really enjoyed it and got really, really into it. And then one day decided to give up all the worldly possessions and all of the trappings of civilization and move into the monastery. And I remember we went, we met him for lunch one day. He'd also become a vegetarian, so he only ate vegetables. And we were all just hanging around and he, he seemed oddly at peace. And it was so confusing to me because at the time I was like probably 20 and I was just, didn't know what the fuck is going on in the world. He was maybe 10 years older than me. (coughs) And this guy just decided, "I'm, I'm, I've had enough." Which is weird to me though. He made me nervous, like, you know, like he made me nervous that like he was onto something. It made me nervous that he was wiser than me. That... And it highlighted how fucked up I am. And, you know, especially at 20 you're s- it's so, life is so chaotic.

Jesse Itzler 26:52 Right.

Joe Rogan 26:53 No idea what the future holds for you, if it's gonna be success or failure, if you're gonna slip on every fucking banana peel you run across. But he seemed to have it figured out, sitting there eating vegetables all calm and shit. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 27:07 Where is he now?

Joe Rogan 27:08 I have no idea. I lost touch with him. I lost touch with him, you know, probably like 30 years ago. But, uh...

Jesse Itzler 27:15 When I was 20 those guys freaked me out too.

Joe Rogan 27:17 (laughs) Yeah. They must have freaked you out just when you did this book. I mean-

Jesse Itzler 27:21 I freaked them out.

Joe Rogan 27:23 Really?

Jesse Itzler 27:23 I was an alien, and I came in there high energy, you know, rah-rah and like...

Joe Rogan 27:27 Were you the only guy who's ever done that?

Jesse Itzler 27:29 Uh, probably. Probably, at this particular place, I think, for an extended period of time like that. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:37 Wow. What, why'd they let you do it?

Jesse Itzler 27:41 Well, I'd written a book prior, Living with a Seal, and they knew I was coming up there to write a book.

Joe Rogan 27:48 Ah.

Jesse Itzler 27:48 And, uh, I guess they liked the first book.

Joe Rogan 27:52 Well, I'm sure it'll be good for the dog business too.

Jesse Itzler 27:54 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:55 Yeah. So they read your book?

Jesse Itzler 27:57 They read my book.

Joe Rogan 27:58 Were you allowed to read books while you were there?

Jesse Itzler 28:00 I was allowed to. I brought, I brought, uh... I'm not like a big reader, so I figured two books would carry me.

Joe Rogan 28:07 For 15 days?

Jesse Itzler 28:09 For 15 days, but I read them, like, you know, I read both in like the first...

Joe Rogan 28:11 Two days?

Jesse Itzler 28:11 Yeah, like the first two days 'cause-

Joe Rogan 28:13 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 28:13 ... so then I was like, uh...

Joe Rogan 28:15 Do you check whatever they have? Oh, look, Mary Poppins.

Jesse Itzler 28:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:18 I can read this stupid shit.

Jesse Itzler 28:19 Yeah. I said, "I'm good just thinking."

Joe Rogan 28:22 Wow. So was there any point at like day 13 when you're like, "I actually kind of like this"?

Jesse Itzler 28:28 Yes. I think around day seven. Once I realized like, you know, I got the excuses out of my head that I'm staying, I'm not, I'm not leaving, I'm in this, this is what I'm doing, and I settled into it, I got tremendously energized because like at the monastery you don't make any decisions. You eat when they tell you to eat, you eat what they tell you to eat. You go to service when the church bell rings, you go. You, you... I wore one outfit, I showered once. So all these-

Joe Rogan 28:56 Ugh!

Jesse Itzler 28:57 All the decisions were taken away from you. But when all the decisions are taken away from you, it frees up so much energy.

Joe Rogan 29:03 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 29:04 So I was getting like super clear and I was like, "I like this." This is like no one can get to me, I'm not getting bombarded, no one can schedule appointments with me.

Joe Rogan 29:12 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 29:13 This isn't so bad.

Joe Rogan 29:15 Have you ever, uh, done sensory deprivation tank?

Jesse Itzler 29:17 Mm-mm.

Joe Rogan 29:19 There's... The thing about the sensory deprivation, you know what it is, right?

Jesse Itzler 29:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 29:23 The thing that's most interesting about it is that in the absence of input, your brain is freer and you can make decisions better and think about things better because there's no input coming in. You don't think about it, but as we're sitting here, (coughs) just touching this table is input. You and I looking at each other across the lights, all this is input. And in that tank there's no input. And in the absence of input, it frees up more resources for your brain. So, in a sense what these monks you're saying are doing by having everything on a schedule, you don't have to think about anything, and there's nothing coming in, there's no Twitter, Facebook, all that jazz, you're, you have more resources.

Jesse Itzler 30:04 Correct.

Joe Rogan 30:04 And you feel better.

Jesse Itzler 30:05 That's ex- I feel, that's exactly right. And I experienced that. You know, I think the average American makes like 35,000 to 50,000 decisions a day. And there's a real thing called decision defeat- fatigue.

Joe Rogan 30:16 Really?

Jesse Itzler 30:16 Yeah. And when you eliminate all... Like I remember when I came home, I came home and the day I got home my wife is like, "Sweetie, I'm gonna take the kids to, you know, school and I'm gonna take the blue car."I was like, "Cool, take the blue car." And she came back a minute later, she's like, "You know what? I think I'm gonna take the other car because I wanna park and the blue car's too big." And I was like, "All right, cool. Take the other car." And then she came back in and she goes, "You know what? I'm gonna take the blue car bec-" I'm like, "Sarah, you're using so much energy already, it's 7:45 AM, on what car to drive?" And I realized, like, that happens all the time. You know, it's like exhausting, man.

Joe Rogan 30:53 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 30:54 And-

Joe Rogan 30:54 Did you... I'm sorry, go on.

Jesse Itzler 30:56 No, no, I'm just saying, like, when, you know, I didn't have any of that. So it freed up all this energy. I was making, like, massive life lists, what I wanna do. I became very aware of my relationship with time. I mean, when we think of relationships, we think of our relationships with our mom or our dad or our kids or this and that. But like, no one thinks of a relationship with time. And I'm turning 50. The average American lives to be 78 years old. So if I'm average, I hope I'm not, but that means I got 28 years of life left. If you reverse engineer that, if you reverse engineer it, and like, I just climbed Mount Washington, there were no 70-year-olds climbing Mount Washington. The act- the actual years that you have left to be active and do the shit that we wanna do, they shrink significantly as a percentage as you get older. So once you get aware of your relationship with time, everything shifts. And I had a fundamental shift when I came home with- as it relates to my relationship with time, and who I want to spend it with and w- and what I want to do. And I want to put more on my plate of the stuff that I love to do, with the people I love to do it with. And I started getting, like, a lot of clarity around that when I wasn't getting bombarded with everything else. Like, I don't spend any time alone. The only time I spend alone is if I go for a run. Everything else is I'm getting influenced by everybody else and everything else. So I'm losing my main superpower, my instinct-

Joe Rogan 32:20 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 32:20 ... which I survive. I got a 980 on my SAT, man. I survive on instinct and gut. And I was losing that because I was so distracted. So once I started to get that alone time, you don't have to go to a monastery to do it. You just gotta, you know, carving out a little bit of time for myself every day, I just started to think a lot clearer on like, you know, how do I wanna live, reverse engineer the rest of my life?

Joe Rogan 32:42 Wow. Do you think this is something you would do on a regular basis?

Jesse Itzler 32:47 No, but I'm, it's something that I have, and I feel like, you know, like I said, like, going into the unknown, it gives you an edge, you know? It gives you, you come out of it a little bit different than you go in it. Doesn't have to be a monastery. It could be a race, it could be business experience, it could be whatever.

Joe Rogan 33:02 Right. But just doing something different.

Jesse Itzler 33:04 Doing it different because, you know, um, so yeah, I feel like i- it's, I want, I don't think I would do it again, but I don't think I have to. Because I already have, I can tap into that when I need it.

Joe Rogan 33:15 Do you think that'll wear off, though? 'Cause l- a lot of times inspiration for people, it's, it, it's fleeting.

Jesse Itzler 33:22 The takeaways won't, won't wear off. Like I'm already back on my phone, I'm back in modern day life, I'm, you know, I'm all fucked up again. But the main things, like my relationship with time and certain things of, you know, who I wanna spend it with and what I wanna do and continuing to build what I call my life resume, doing these things that build up my, not my business resume, but my life resume. That's things that I know I wanna do more of, and that will never go away. So, you know, um, there's, there's things that came out of it that will last forever.

Joe Rogan 33:55 Like what kind of adjustments did you make when you came back?

Jesse Itzler 33:58 Started saying no, started prio- like I just, I reversed engineered my life. So let me give you an example.

Joe Rogan 34:03 Okay.

Jesse Itzler 34:03 My parents are (clears throat) 88, okay?

Joe Rogan 34:08 (clears throat)

Jesse Itzler 34:08 I have a good relationship with my parents. My parents are 88, they live in Florida. I see my parent... Let's say my parents live to be 92. I hope they live longer, but let's say they live, let's say they live five years.

Joe Rogan 34:19 Right.

Jesse Itzler 34:21 I don't have five years left with my parents. I see my parents twice a year. That means I have 10 visits with my parents.

Joe Rogan 34:28 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 34:29 So when I started to look at shit like that, I made significant changes. Like, okay, I'm gonna get on a plane to see my parents. And when I'm in those moments, my feet are on the ground. That's where I am. Because I only have a limited amount of time with them. You understand?

Joe Rogan 34:44 Right.

Jesse Itzler 34:44 It's like, it's not five years. People are like, "Oh, I got five more." No, you don't. How many times do you see 'em, man? You see 'em two times a year. You got 10 visits. So I re- I just started looking at stuff like that and became really aware when I'm in moments that are big moments, to take it in and take note of it so it has an impact on me and I appreciate it.

Joe Rogan 35:05 Wow. Did you, did you shift anything else in your life? Like as far as like what you do with your time during the days?

Jesse Itzler 35:11 I did. So, you know, I started putting parameters around simple things like my phone. So like, I was the guy at the movie theater, I'd be checking my, you know, I forgot to, bing, I'd like look under my shirt so the light doesn't light up and know what... You know.

Joe Rogan 35:22 Well, I'm glad- at least you did that.

Jesse Itzler 35:24 (laughs) No, but I-

Joe Rogan 35:25 At least you're courteous.

Jesse Itzler 35:25 (laughs) Yeah, that's true. But I put parameters, you know, nothing at, I'm not keeping my phone in at, at, at, at nighttime and you know, seeing anything come in at 5:00 in the morning.

Joe Rogan 35:34 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 35:35 Nothing at the dinner table with my kids. And so like basic obvious things like that. But as far as my time, I, I made two really big changes. One change is, and I'd kind of always been doing this, so I wouldn't necessarily say it was a change, but I take three hours a day for myself, religiously every day. And I got literally-

Joe Rogan 35:54 And this is new just since the monastery?

Jesse Itzler 35:56 It's, it's, it's kind of like, um, it's unwavering since the monastery.

Joe Rogan 36:02 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 36:02 It's kind of been in my life and outta my life, but I just made a pie chart of time. It's 24 hours in a day. We all have the same pie chart.

Joe Rogan 36:10 Right.

Jesse Itzler 36:10 Starts the same.

Joe Rogan 36:11 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 36:11 Like, and I said, all right, I sleep seven hours. I mean, sometimes I'm out of balance if I'm doing something big and, but right now, six or seven hours. I take three for myself and it's cumulative. So like, I'll take, could be, I'm gonna go for an hour run. I'm gonna sit in the sauna for 20 minutes. I'm gonna do fucking nothing. But when I'm in my time, I'm not mad that I'm not with my kids or my wife or, or I'm not mad that I'm not at my office. Like, that's my time. And when I'm with my kids, I'm not mad that I'm not at work or whatever, 'cause I don't wanna resent-... my wife, or my boss, or anybody for taking away the shit that I love to do. Like, if they said, "You can't run, you can't go in the sauna," I'd be really pissed off. I'd be pissed-

Joe Rogan 36:53 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 36:53 ... at my wife, I'd be pissed at everybody.

Joe Rogan 36:55 Right.

Jesse Itzler 36:55 So I take three hours for myself. The average American works 40 hours a week, that's eight hours a day. You still have six hours left in the day. Now, of course, you have to eat, you have to commute, you got family, and this and that. But my point is, even take... 24 hours is a long day. I learned that running. You can get a lot of shit done if you keep moving for 24 hours. Even if you take three hours for yourself, if you get rid of the stuff that doesn't move the needle in the buckets that are most important to you, you can get a lot done. So I take three hours for myself and that's been a, you know... And I'm not mad about it. I'm not, like, guilty about it, at all.

Joe Rogan 37:34 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 37:34 I feel like m- I'm way out of balance. And then the second thing actually didn't come from the monastery, but it was, like, kind of an offshoot of the monastery. I was mentioned to you that I climb Mount Washington. Mount Washington's, um, in the winter, is one of the 10 most dangerous mountains, I think, to climb, certainly in the States. It has the highest death rate because the winds are... go up to about anywhere from, on any given day, 50 to 100 miles an hour, -35 degrees, no visibility. It's fucking... It's just-

Joe Rogan 38:04 100 miles an hour?

Jesse Itzler 38:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:07 What the fuck is that like?

Jesse Itzler 38:08 It's... I mean, I didn't experience 100, but I experienced super high winds. Like, when-

Joe Rogan 38:13 Like, what did you experience, 50?

Jesse Itzler 38:15 I think even more, 50, 60, yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:17 What is that like?

Jesse Itzler 38:18 Well, the first t-... I went twice. The first time I went to do it, um, I didn't make it to the summit because it was too dangerous. I t- I actually timed out. Like, I didn't have enough time to get back to make it.

Joe Rogan 38:29 In altitude?

Jesse Itzler 38:30 Uh, no, just in-

Joe Rogan 38:31 Was it, uh, the amount of darkness, or-

Jesse Itzler 38:32 Yeah, darkness.

Joe Rogan 38:33 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 38:33 It would've just gotten too, too, too tough to get back down.

Joe Rogan 38:36 Right.

Jesse Itzler 38:36 I was with five friends, no tour guide. I mean, did everything wrong.

Joe Rogan 38:40 Right.

Jesse Itzler 38:41 And I actually came home after that attempt, which was a year ago, and I was talking to my wife about it and I was getting... I posted it on Facebook so everybody was blasting, "Did you make it?" You know, Mount Washington's only about four or five, five miles to the top, 4.6 miles. It's just the elements and the weather that make it so hard. And I said to my wife, "I failed," you know, like, "I didn't make it. I feel like an ass. I'm so disappointed." You know, "I wanna go back." And she said, "Well, get a tour guide, break in your boots, properly train for this, and go back next winter and check it off your list." And I was like, "Next winter? I'm going back on Saturday."

Joe Rogan 39:19 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 39:20 Next winter. Like, "Who knows if I'm gonna be healthy enough next winter?"

Joe Rogan 39:24 Right.

Jesse Itzler 39:25 So I went back next winter, I mean, next w-... that Saturday with the same guys and we did it. And then recently, this year, I took my son, who's eight, not to the top, but we're like, "We're gonna go camp out. I want you to experience this." Got him a -40 sleeping bag and all this stuff and we went out there with my friend who's a police officer in Suffolk County, and he brought his daughter. And we're sitting on, uh, out there sleeping outside and fucking freezing, fucking freezing, and I'm all bundled up and I turned to him and I'm like, "Kevin, how often do you do shit like this?" You know, he's a police officer. He's the happiest guy, rockstar shape. And he goes... I call it the Kevin Rule. He goes, "Every year, I go on one trip a year with my college roommates. I've been doing it since I'm 21. And then once every two months, I take a weekend and I do something. I go camping, I run a marathon, I go hiking, I go do..." whatever with my family or friends. And I said to myself, "If I can't..." going back to your question about time, "If I can't take a weekend every eight weeks, once every two months, if I can't carve out a day or two to take some kind of adventure to put on my life resume or to have... collect a moment for me, then my life is out of balance." And I call it the Kevin Rule. And I said, "If I live 30 more years, if I live to 80, and I do that, you know, for 30 years, that's 150 or 100... basically 150 more fucking amazing memories that I'm gonna create." And that became another one of these time-related, monastery-related urgency rules. So I just... again, it just became a real big clarity around like, "Man, I wanna live with urgency, and I wanna do as much shit as I can, and put as much on my plate of the stuff I love to do, with the people I love in my life, and have it on my resume." And that's how I wanna live my life forward.

Joe Rogan 41:22 That's very inspiring. So when you decided to cut out or carve out three hours a day for yourself, what was the first shit that you eliminated?

Jesse Itzler 41:31 Literally just saying no to the requests for my time.

Joe Rogan 41:34 Like, what kind of shit?

Jesse Itzler 41:34 "Hey. Hey, Jus-... Could you take... Can you, um... Do you think you could meet me for lunch? I wanna talk to you about a, a business idea that I have, uh, in the beverage space. I know that you had your coconut water, I want, I wanna talk to you about that." Um, "No."

Joe Rogan 41:48 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 41:50 "I'm going for a run."

Joe Rogan 41:51 (clears throat) Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 41:52 "Oh, no, I don't want any money. I don't want any money. I just wanna talk to you for 15 minutes, a friend of mine..." "No." "You think on Friday night you can come down for 15... and see this bu-" "No." 'Cause it's cumulative.

Joe Rogan 42:04 Right.

Jesse Itzler 42:04 It's not one-off. I mean, I... Listen, I made my-

Joe Rogan 42:06 It's not one person ever.

Jesse Itzler 42:08 No.

Joe Rogan 42:08 No, it's gonna be one person every day or so with some new request.

Jesse Itzler 42:13 So that was the first shift. And the second thing is for the... and I put myself first, you know. And, and a lot of times I, I don't, but in certain times I do. And, um, I realized that I was... This is kinda... may-... might be a little bit more specific, but I realized I love football. I watch a lot of football, man. I realized that I was watching two games, the college game on Saturday, fantasy football Sunday I'm locked in, Sunday night game, Monday night, Thursday night. And I realized that if a- at this point, if I live to be 85, 80, whatever-That would be 36,000 hours of football, 36,000 hours of-

Joe Rogan 42:55 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 42:55 ... football that I'd be watching. Now, throw in some of the fights, throw in some of the other stuff, it's like I pull- I just took the- the f- the- the plug out and I freed up these 36,000 hours. My wife said, "You don't want... What do you mean you're gonna go live in the monastery?" I'm like, "It's 15 days, sweetie. I just freed up 36,000 hours. You get the benefit of that. I'm going for 15 days."

Joe Rogan 43:16 Wow.

Jesse Itzler 43:16 So I freed up the time by eliminating stuff that, like, fucking didn't move the needle.

Joe Rogan 43:21 So you stopped watching football, totally?

Jesse Itzler 43:23 I still watch it, but I- I mean, I- I became very aware of it. And I'll just, like, I still watch it, but I check in. I'm not sitting around the f- the... you know, on Sunday. Nothing wrong with it, it's just it wasn't moving the needle in my family, my finances or my wellness.

Joe Rogan 43:38 Mm. But what about recreation time? Like, does recreation time, is that valuable? Like, enjoying things, like sitting back and watching a good movie, enjoying it?

Jesse Itzler 43:49 Absolutely. And I do.

Joe Rogan 43:50 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 43:51 I do. But I'm not, I'm not, you know-

Joe Rogan 43:53 I'm asking for myself as much-

Jesse Itzler 43:55 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 43:55 ... as I'm asking for you.

Jesse Itzler 43:56 Uh, yeah. I mean, I think, look, you gotta be happy and do the things you like to do. But, you know, again, for me, I look at it, I look at it very simply. I got three or four buckets. I got my family, my wellness, my- my finances and causes that are important to me. And, you know, if it's not moving the needle in those four buckets, it's really just a distraction, honestly. Now, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna go to a movie. That's family, that's well-... it's part of my wellness.

Joe Rogan 44:21 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 44:22 Relaxing is part of my wellness. You wanna go... but, you know, um, those are kind of... everything else kind of gets a no. Like, going to lunch to- to- to look at someone else's idea in a category I don't really know much about because they wanna maybe get to me or they want my wife or... no.

Joe Rogan 44:39 No.

Jesse Itzler 44:41 No.

Joe Rogan 44:41 Just no.

Jesse Itzler 44:43 No.

Joe Rogan 44:43 (laughs) You should make a T-shirt.

Jesse Itzler 44:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:46 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 44:46 I've said... yeah, listen.

Joe Rogan 44:47 I get it.

Jesse Itzler 44:48 When I was starting out as an entrepreneur when I was 20 years old, you know, and I was cleaning kiddie pools and du-... in the music business, I was doing all this stuff, I'd laugh at a lot of jokes that weren't funny.

Joe Rogan 45:00 Mm, I know what you mean.

Jesse Itzler 45:01 You know what I mean.

Joe Rogan 45:01 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 45:02 To get deals, to get stuff, I had to la- laugh, and I'm sick of laughing at jokes that aren't funny.

Joe Rogan 45:08 (laughs) That's actually very funny. Like, you saying that is very funny. It's a smart thing to do. But in the beginning, it's very hard, right, because you're trying to get momentum, you're trying-

Jesse Itzler 45:17 Right.

Joe Rogan 45:17 ... to establish relationships. You're... you want people to like you, you don't wanna dead face a stupid joke-

Jesse Itzler 45:23 Exactly.

Joe Rogan 45:24 ... and then have people go, "Fuck that Jesse guy. That guy's a dick."

Jesse Itzler 45:26 Yeah, "I'm not doing anything with him."

Joe Rogan 45:27 Yeah. Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 45:28 So, you laugh.

Joe Rogan 45:29 Yeah. Hmm. So do you organize your time, like very specifically now, and did you do that in the past?

Jesse Itzler 45:39 I do now. I didn't in the past 'cause, uh, you know, in the past, I do... I'ma do anything... I say yes to- to action things-

Joe Rogan 45:47 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 45:47 ... without really thinking them through very often.

Joe Rogan 45:49 Right.

Jesse Itzler 45:49 Um, now what I do is I have a third grade... a- a three-year-old system. I have two notebooks. I'm o- kind of old school, I- I don't really operate well keeping stuff in phones. I just take everything that comes into my head and I put it in a... I dump it outta my head to free up space in my head. So I have one journal that has everything I need to do. And I just do that to get it outta my head, so I don't have to remember that I have to get my son's friend's eight-year-old birthday present for Saturday.

Joe Rogan 46:18 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 46:18 I just write it down.

Joe Rogan 46:19 Right.

Jesse Itzler 46:19 It doesn't mean it goes away, but it's outta my head.

Joe Rogan 46:22 Right.

Jesse Itzler 46:23 And then I have my daily... from that list, I pick the most important things that have to get done, and then, uh, you know, the night before, I write them down or- or the beginning of the week, and I just knock them out, man.

Joe Rogan 46:35 And how long ago was it that you went to this monastery and did this 15-day-

Jesse Itzler 46:39 A year, a year ago.

Joe Rogan 46:39 ... one year ago? And has this enthusiasm or this feeling waned at all?

Jesse Itzler 46:44 No.

Joe Rogan 46:45 Wow. That's really interesting. Do you think... do you convey that in the book?

Jesse Itzler 46:50 I do. I mean, I- I- I've been living... I feel like I've been living my life like this even before the monastery, it just reinforced-

Joe Rogan 46:58 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 46:58 ... a lot of things, I think combined with the fact that for some reason, you know, I'm turning 50, it's had... it's fucking with me in a way that I didn't think it would. And I don't know how you... how old are you?

Joe Rogan 47:09 50.

Jesse Itzler 47:10 Yeah. So I don't know if you... it's had the same impact on you, but like, you know, there's not a day that goes by where I don't say to myself, "Man, in 30 years, you're turning 80."

Joe Rogan 47:18 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 47:20 Like you wanna live with ur-

Joe Rogan 47:21 That's a way to look at it.

Jesse Itzler 47:21 ... you wanna look at... live with urgency.

Joe Rogan 47:23 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 47:23 And, you know, all those... my enemy is the clock. I feel like my enemy is the clock. And there's a lot of stuff I wanna do in my life, and my enemy is the clock.

Joe Rogan 47:35 Do you feel like you live in the moment enough? 'Cause-

Jesse Itzler 47:38 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 47:39 You do?

Jesse Itzler 47:39 I do.

Joe Rogan 47:40 'Cause that would be the worry, right? Like if you're constantly worrying about, "Damn, in 20 years, I'm gonna be 70, 30 years, I'm gonna be 80." If you keep doing that, like there- there are people that look ahead too much and don't just... 'cause I've- I've talked to people that are 20, like, "Fuck, I can't believe I'm 20." I'm like, "Listen, motherfucker, you just turned 20, dude. Relax." (laughs) You know, like just 20.

Jesse Itzler 48:01 Right.

Joe Rogan 48:01 You're a baby. "No, man, I'm gonna be fucking 30 in 10 years." Like, will you shut the fuck up? You're 20 now.

Jesse Itzler 48:08 I use it as a motivator. And I remember, I remember when I was, when I was starting out, I was 21 years old, this is a crazy story. Uh, I just got dropped from a record label. I was signed to a record label called Delicious Vinyl, I didn't-

Joe Rogan 48:20 What did you do?

Jesse Itzler 48:21 I was a... I'm a... I had a rap record on Delicious.

Joe Rogan 48:23 You were a rapper?

Jesse Itzler 48:24 I was a rapper signed to Delicious with Tone Loc and Young MC.

Joe Rogan 48:28 Oh, get the fuck outta here.

Jesse Itzler 48:29 So, my album doesn't get picked... I don't get picked up for a second album, and I move to New York City. I have two things on my resume, kiddie pool attendant, 'cause I was a kiddie pool attendant, and rapper. So I'm staying on my friend's couch, living on his couch with his roommate, and he tells me on Monday, "I gotta get outta the apartment." So instead of going to look for a new apartment over the weekend, I go to my friend's bachelor party on the Jersey shore.I'm at the bachelor party, I'm getting a drink at the bar and I see this girl. I start chatting with her, she asks me where I live. I told her, "Actually, as of Monday, I have nowhere to go." She takes out a napkin, she writes her address on the napkin, I'm 21 years old, and she says, "If it's an emergency on Monday and you're stuck, you can come live with me." Monday comes, I get kicked out of my friend's apartment. I have nowhere to go, I'm like, "This is an emergency." (laughs) I take out the napkin and I live with this girl and her roommate for six months.

Joe Rogan 49:23 Whoa.

Jesse Itzler 49:23 It turns out that her father is a big entrepreneur, business mo- he owns a piece of the Yankees, just like monster mogul. I write this song for the New York Knicks called Go New York Go, and it becomes a big success. You remember that song?

Joe Rogan 49:40 No.

Jesse Itzler 49:40 No, no? Okay. That's- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:41 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 49:41 ... okay. That's okay. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:42 I'm not a sports fan, though.

Jesse Itzler 49:43 No, that's fine. It becomes a big hit and I just realize that there's an opportunity to write theme songs for all these professional sports teams, but I don't have a penny to go in the studio to do the demos to shop them to the teams.

Joe Rogan 49:56 Right.

Jesse Itzler 49:56 So I need money. So I go to this music m- guy and he says, "I'll give you $10,000 to go and do these songs for 10% of everything you make for the rest of your life." He wants to buy me like a stock.

Joe Rogan 50:07 For the rest of your life?

Jesse Itzler 50:08 I'm 21, he's like-

Joe Rogan 50:09 For the rest of your life?

Jesse Itzler 50:09 For the rest of your life.

Joe Rogan 50:11 Everything you do?

Jesse Itzler 50:12 I will invest in you-

Joe Rogan 50:12 You own an airplane business, he owns 10%.

Jesse Itzler 50:15 Yes.

Joe Rogan 50:15 Forever?

Jesse Itzler 50:16 Yes.

Joe Rogan 50:16 You have to kill him then.

Jesse Itzler 50:18 Yes.

Joe Rogan 50:18 Yeah. You have to kill that guy.

Jesse Itzler 50:20 But I needed 10 grand, so I say, "I'll take it." So before I take it-

Joe Rogan 50:24 (sighs) .

Jesse Itzler 50:24 ... I go to this girl's father for advice, this business mogul that I'm living with-

Joe Rogan 50:28 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 50:29 ... and her... And I sit down, I go to this guy's apartment, again, I'm 21. He's got, in his apartment, he's got a swimming pool, artwork, like fancy fuck-

Joe Rogan 50:38 A swimming pool?

Jesse Itzler 50:39 He's macked out, man. It's like, I've never seen anything like this.

Joe Rogan 50:43 Dude has a swimming... In Manhattan?

Jesse Itzler 50:45 In Manhattan. I'm just setting the stage of this conversation.

Joe Rogan 50:48 That's some pimp shit.

Jesse Itzler 50:48 And I go in and I tell him the story about-

Joe Rogan 50:52 The 10%.

Jesse Itzler 50:52 ... the 10 grand. And he says to me, "I would trade..." This is exactly what he said to me, "I will trade everything that I have."

Joe Rogan 51:01 For you to get out of my daughter's life. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 51:06 (laughs) He said... Exactly. "I'll trade everything I have for the one thing that you have." And I'm like, "Man, I'm fucking broke. What are you talk- (laughs) Me?" I go, "What's that?" And he said, "Youth." Because he had already gone through the journey, even though he had everything. He already had gone through the process. He wasn't that 20 year old that you're talking-

Joe Rogan 51:26 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 51:26 ... about that whatever. He had gone through it, he had it all. He l- he wa- he missed the process, the journey-

Joe Rogan 51:34 Right.

Jesse Itzler 51:34 ... of being... You coming up at 20 and not know like-

Joe Rogan 51:37 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 51:38 ... here you are, but it was the... Th- those were the years, man.

Joe Rogan 51:40 Right, right.

Jesse Itzler 51:41 The first fight, the first this, like that, that's what, that's what makes you like...

Joe Rogan 51:46 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 51:46 So, and that stuck with me, man. At 21 years old, it stuck with me and realized that like, man, I gotta enjoy the process. And it's really never rubbed off on me, from me.

Joe Rogan 51:57 Wow. Well, why didn't that guy... How old was this guy at the time? The old rich dude?

Jesse Itzler 52:02 He was, let's see, he must've been in his 60s.

Joe Rogan 52:04 Why didn't he just do shit? Do a bunch of shit?

Jesse Itzler 52:06 He did.

Joe Rogan 52:06 Instead of lounging around his fucking swimming pool-

Jesse Itzler 52:08 He did, he did.

Joe Rogan 52:09 ... in his house.

Jesse Itzler 52:09 He had an amazing-

Joe Rogan 52:09 Wishing he was 20. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 52:10 He had an amazing life. He had an amazing life.

Joe Rogan 52:13 So what did you wind up doing?

Jesse Itzler 52:15 Uh, he said... The sec- the second part of that conversation he said, "Do you, um... Will you make this work on your own?" I said, "I think I can." He said, "I didn't ask if you can." He said e- I said... He said, "Will you make it work?" I said, "I will." He said, "Then go tell the guy to fuck off and make it..." And he goes, "And go make it work." And I did.

Joe Rogan 52:37 So how'd you get it funded then?

Jesse Itzler 52:39 Uh, I, I somehow got... I went to the, uh, Dallas Mavericks after the Knicks, and told them that... I convinced them to give me a $2500... The Knicks paid me f- this is just a crazy part of my life, but they gave me $2500 to do the demo, and then they bought the song for like $20,000 and that funded the rest of the business that I ultimately sold to a public company.

Joe Rogan 53:02 Wow, that's crazy. And you almost gave away 10% of your whole life. That guy who wanted 10% is a piece of shit.

Jesse Itzler 53:09 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:09 What a motherfucker. Like, that's a sn- like people, "Oh, nope, it's just business. Just business." But you didn't-

Jesse Itzler 53:15 And I had no one to go to.

Joe Rogan 53:16 I know, he's taking advantage of a 21 year old kid who's just got some dreams and needs some cash, and 10 grand to him is probably nothing.

Jesse Itzler 53:25 I called my father, and my father owned the Plumbing Supply House in Mineola, Long Island, and I... during this time in my thing. And my father said, you know... and I love him to death, but he's like, "You know, do what, do what you think is best."

Joe Rogan 53:38 Don't-

Jesse Itzler 53:39 He just didn't-

Joe Rogan 53:39 Don't-

Jesse Itzler 53:39 You know, I didn't know when to turn to.

Joe Rogan 53:41 Yeah. It was-

Jesse Itzler 53:41 I had no one to turn to.

Joe Rogan 53:42 Yeah. Don't, don't give up 10% of your life, ever.

Jesse Itzler 53:45 Right.

Joe Rogan 53:46 That is just crazy that someone would ask for that. But you hear things like, I mean, this is similar to what they do in the music business, like how the music business treats artists. They essentially sign you to these contracts and then take a piece of everything. They take a piece of if you do a movie, they take a piece of your live performances, your merchandise sales, everything. They just say, "Look, we'll, we'll help you out a little bit, but, you know, we want you."

Jesse Itzler 54:12 Right.

Joe Rogan 54:13 Yeah. I mean, at least you're on a contract though, but there's some creepy contracts that they used to do in the old days of Hollywood that were similar to that, right? They just take a piece of you forever.

Jesse Itzler 54:23 Yeah. When I, you know, when I signed my music deal, I didn't care.

Joe Rogan 54:27 Right.

Jesse Itzler 54:27 I was like, "You can take whatever you want, man. Get me on MTV."

Joe Rogan 54:29 Right, of course, yeah, 'cause here we are.

Jesse Itzler 54:30 Take it all.

Joe Rogan 54:31 Well, that's the whole idea. The re- the reason why these exploitation contracts work is because in the beginning, you're just so desperate and what you have is what they don't have. You have talent, right? What you have is you're creative, you're young and full of energy and you've got something exciting that people wanna look at. And so what they do is they go, "Oh, you... Look, we got a fucking... We gotta way through the door, but we want 75% of the profits. We want a little bit of this and, and you don't get any money back until we recoup our money that we spent on-... executives and parking and car leases. And they, they calculate all that shit, how much the fucking building costs, how much electricity, all that stuff they cal- It's cr- You've s- you've seen those, I'm sure.

Jesse Itzler 55:12 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:12 Those contracts. They're fucking scary.

Jesse Itzler 55:14 I sign them. (laughs) I've signed them in my own way.

Joe Rogan 55:17 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 55:18 But, um, you know, it's part of the process and no leverage.

Joe Rogan 55:23 No leverage, that's the thing. They've got the leverage. But now, and now they don't have the leverage but they still figure out a way to pull it off. It's really weird because who the fuck is buying an albums now?

Jesse Itzler 55:33 No one.

Joe Rogan 55:34 No one.

Jesse Itzler 55:35 Right.

Joe Rogan 55:35 And yet these record companies are still figuring out how to cling onto you like a lamprey and suck blood out. (sucking sound)

Jesse Itzler 55:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 55:42 They're still staying alive and their fat fingers driving their fat Mercedes-Benz. They know how to do it. They just figure out a way to grab people that are just, just getting popping. You know, and just signing to s- And then figured out a way to get in with these fucking streaming companies. Have you paid attention to any of that shit?

Jesse Itzler 56:02 A little bit, yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:03 Oof. That's the darkest. It's even darker than the music distribution-

Jesse Itzler 56:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:08 ... because the artists get, like, no money.

Jesse Itzler 56:10 Like .00001.

Joe Rogan 56:12 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 56:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:12 Steven Tyler was talking about it with me. It's just, he was explaining it and there's a, there's a, it's the company's actually g- or the organization's actually called MMA. What is something, what did, what did it stand for? He had a- Musicians for- Musician's Act. ... uh, some, some sort of an act where they're, you know, trying to stop these streaming companies from ripping off these artists. Music Modernization Act. Yeah. It's dark.

Jesse Itzler 56:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:40 But it's along the same lines. It's like people figuring out a way to just take something from somebody because you need it. You know, you're broke, you're d- desperate. Your song- you signed a contract. "Oh, we got it by contract." And as soon as they, and then music that was invented, like how'd they put Led Zeppelin on a streaming service? You know, they, they, they, that, what they... There was no streaming when that j- This should be a whole new contract, right? I don't know.

Jesse Itzler 57:09 It's true with audiobooks too, you know. I mean, even books now and all these old publications, they never envisioned that there would be, you know, uh, i- eBooks and audiobooks-

Joe Rogan 57:20 Mm-hmm, yeah.

Jesse Itzler 57:20 ... and all these different distribution areas.

Joe Rogan 57:23 I would imagine that audiobooks probably mirror the sales of regular books now. I know so- I mean, at least in my circle, I know so many people who just use audiobooks and they hardly ever-

Jesse Itzler 57:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:35 ... they hardly ever read. And what they've essentially done is taken that commuter time that was just dead air and filled it up with books.

Jesse Itzler 57:42 I can't, when, when i, when Seal c- when I put out the Seal book, I couldn't believe how many people hit me about the audio.

Joe Rogan 57:48 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 57:49 'Cause I did my own audiobook and I just couldn't, I didn't even, it was-

Joe Rogan 57:51 What year was that?

Jesse Itzler 57:53 It came out two years ago.

Joe Rogan 57:55 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 57:55 And it just never dawned on me that people even listened to audiobooks.

Joe Rogan 57:59 Right.

Jesse Itzler 58:00 You know, I, when, it made me angry that I did the read so quickly.

Joe Rogan 58:03 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 58:03 I was like, "I should've invested a little bit more time and, like, gotten a coach or something."

Joe Rogan 58:07 Right.

Jesse Itzler 58:08 You know, I just, like, read it.

Joe Rogan 58:10 What percentage of your books were audio versus paper?

Jesse Itzler 58:14 That's a good question. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna guess about 30%.

Joe Rogan 58:20 30% audio.

Jesse Itzler 58:20 30, 40, maybe 40, 30%, 40%.

Joe Rogan 58:22 So it's closing in, closing in on-

Jesse Itzler 58:23 It is.

Joe Rogan 58:23 ... 50/50. Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 58:25 Because, you know, people can now speed it up a little bit so they can get through it quicker and they can do it when they're-

Joe Rogan 58:29 Yeah, it's so weird.

Jesse Itzler 58:29 You know, when they're, when they're-

Joe Rogan 58:30 People do that with podcasts.

Jesse Itzler 58:31 Right.

Joe Rogan 58:31 So their listeners are going, la-la-la-la.

Jesse Itzler 58:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 58:34 They're listening to us right now like we're on speed.

Jesse Itzler 58:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:37 Yeah. Now, when you're done with this book and, you know, you, you get back from this m- monk thing and you, you realize that this has made, like some sort of a fundamental shift in the way you live your life, and you, you put this book out, is there a real sense that people who read this book are gonna get that from you? And, I mean, are you aware that you're probably gonna change the way a lot of people live their lives?

Jesse Itzler 59:02 I hope so. I mean, I just, I don't know if they'll change their lives but I think it, I hope, I hope that it helps them look through things through a different lens.

Joe Rogan 59:11 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 59:11 And, you know, make their own decisions. You know, and one of the takeaways from the book isn't so much, uh, specific around the monastery. It's around this notion of building your life resume.

Joe Rogan 59:21 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 59:21 You know, and just stepping into the unknown. Because to me that's, for me, that's where I learned the best. I mean, you could, I could get a traditional coach or go to seminars or experts, but I just don't learn, I learn by going into the unknown. And I hope it just, it just motivates people to have a little bit more urgency and do stuff like that.

Joe Rogan 59:39 Hmm, yeah.

Jesse Itzler 59:39 You don't have to go to a monastery.

Joe Rogan 59:41 Right.

Jesse Itzler 59:42 But, you know, there's an old Japanese ritual, you might be familiar with it, I don't know, called the Misogi. And the thought around the Misogi is it was introduced me, to me by Kyle Korver who played at the Hawks, for the Atlanta Hawks. And the, uh, the notion around the Misogi is you do something so hard one time a year that it has an impact the other 364 days of the year on you.

Joe Rogan 1:00:06 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 1:00:06 That you go so far beyond. You know, for me, that was my 100 mile run. I mean, I, I can look back since 2008, I've had moments like that every year. But, um, the, and I believe in that. I believe in that. And, um, I don't know why I just brought that up, but, but it's true. And, um, so I, it's just kind of one of the themes around this urgency and, and, you know, creating memories, et cetera.

Joe Rogan 1:00:34 Yeah, I think there's things like that sort of highlight that urgency, that if you just live your life, like at the same steady static pace, may- maybe sometimes you don't feel it as much. Like, like I'm sure after you did your 100 mile run, like when it was over, you probably, it probably felt so good to relax.

Jesse Itzler 1:00:55 Oh. Well, first of all, for me, the, the pressure...... around completing the run. When I did the run, I, I raised millions of dollars for charity. And everyone in my world knew I was doing it. I gave myself 90 days to train for it. 'Cause-

Joe Rogan 1:01:13 How ... What's normal?

Jesse Itzler 1:01:14 I would say, like, for the people in the shape that I was in going into it, probably a year, eight months, six months. I mean-

Joe Rogan 1:01:20 Whoa.

Jesse Itzler 1:01:21 I mean, I gave myself 90 days. I started in August and the, the race was 90 days later. And, uh, everyone in my world was donating or involved or knew about it. So, if I didn't finish it, so much can go wrong in 100-mile run. You know? Like, if something goes wrong in a marathon at mile 19, you gut it out, you got seven more miles left.

Joe Rogan 1:01:42 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:01:42 You know? If something goes wrong at mile 19, you have 81 miles left. You can't gut... Most people can't gut that out. I don't think I could. I felt so relieved when it was done 'cause I was just like, "Man, I did it and no one can take it away from me."

Joe Rogan 1:01:58 What was the longest you had writ- ro- not ridden ... uh, ran before that?

Jesse Itzler 1:02:02 I ran two 50s.

Joe Rogan 1:02:04 Two 50s?

Jesse Itzler 1:02:05 Two 50-milers. I mean-

Joe Rogan 1:02:06 H-

Jesse Itzler 1:02:06 ... I never did miles, I did time. So I did two 10-hour ... about 10-hour runs twice.

Joe Rogan 1:02:11 And 50 miles in those 10 hours?

Jesse Itzler 1:02:12 P- probably around there. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:14 Somewhere around there? So, but you knew that you were at the halfway mark roughly and you could push through the rest?

Jesse Itzler 1:02:20 I knew that if I got to 50-mile ... if I could get to, um, 50 miles in 10 hours, I could basically, even injured, walk the rest-

Joe Rogan 1:02:29 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:02:29 ... in the allocated time.

Joe Rogan 1:02:31 Now, after that was over and after you did do that 100 miles, how much of a shift did that make in the way you thought about time and effort?

Jesse Itzler 1:02:40 Totally changed my life. Completely, completely ... Talking about this Misogi.

Joe Rogan 1:02:47 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:02:47 It completely changed my life. That was in 2006, I think, that I did the run. And it's completely changed my life because when I started running, my goal was to run two miles. If I could run two miles in 18 minutes, nine-minute pace, I considered myself a runner. And I worked towards that goal. Like, outta college, I was like ... Just got outta college, I'm like, "I'm gonna try to run two miles." You know? Like, it took me a little to get there-

Joe Rogan 1:03:13 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:03:13 ... in, in, in nine-minute pace. You know? And, um, fast-forward, I ran this ... Nothing in my body changed. This is the same legs God gave me, same lugs God gave me. I'm not very strong. Nothing's changed. But I took that two-mile body and ran a hundred miles. And I bet almost ... a lot of people that are listening to this could run two miles and ... with a gun to their head. They could run two miles if they had to. And the only thing that changed was the way I perceived what I thought I could do in this run. And I realized after the race that, holy shit, I did 50X what my initial goal was. Like, I was under-indexing 50X in this category of my life.

Joe Rogan 1:03:59 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:00 What are the areas of my life, Jesse, what other areas of your life, man, are you under-indexing in? Like, okay, if your sales quota at Marquis Jet, my company, was 20 jet cards, is that 'cause I knew I could get it and it was comfortable? Or should I be like, "Man, put me on the board for 40, fellas, this month. Let me see what the fuck I can do."

Joe Rogan 1:04:18 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:19 I was living in this, like, comfor- ... I was going through life like this. Routine.

Joe Rogan 1:04:24 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:24 And routines are great, but routines can also be a rut. You can't get better in a routine. And if you get so c- ... When you're in a routine, time goes fast. When you're outta your routine, time goes slow. So, I was so comfortable in my routine, I was like, "Man, fuck it. I don't wanna go through life like this. I wanna go through life like this." You know? And I was just-

Joe Rogan 1:04:43 The people who are listening, you're going up.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:44 I'm going up.

Joe Rogan 1:04:45 Most people are listening.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:46 Yeah, I'm sorry. So I'm-

Joe Rogan 1:04:47 That's all right. (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 1:04:47 ... I'm, I'm just going flum-

Joe Rogan 1:04:48 People do this all the time.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:50 I'm just locked ... I didn't even know where-

Joe Rogan 1:04:51 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:51 People are listening?

Joe Rogan 1:04:52 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:52 I'm locked into you.

Joe Rogan 1:04:53 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:53 I was going flat. You know?

Joe Rogan 1:04:54 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:54 I was just doing the same shit. And, um-

Joe Rogan 1:04:56 And you want a nice 45-degree upward angle.

Jesse Itzler 1:04:59 Yeah. So this, this run showed me, man, I was under-indexing so much what I thought I was capable of.

Joe Rogan 1:05:04 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 1:05:05 And it made me think, like, "What else am I capable of?"

Joe Rogan 1:05:08 What about recovery? Like, what was it like when you were done?

Jesse Itzler 1:05:12 Well, at mile 94, I realized I had six toenails in my shoe. So, uh, that was an uncomfortable feeling. And when I-

Joe Rogan 1:05:22 So you felt them rattling around? Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 1:05:23 Felt them rattling around. And when I took my shoes off, my feet were so fucked up.

Joe Rogan 1:05:29 Is it because your feet swell while you're running? And you ... If you have, like, a size 10, you're supposed to swap out to a size 11 later? Is that how it works?

Jesse Itzler 1:05:37 That's ... Yep. I swapped. I went a size up.

Joe Rogan 1:05:40 Yeah.

Jesse Itzler 1:05:40 But I had blisters. I had bad blisters.

Joe Rogan 1:05:42 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:05:42 My blisters were really bad. And, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:05:44 Were they bla- bad before you ran or did you get 'em?

Jesse Itzler 1:05:46 No. I got 'em as I was going. And, uh, they looked like I ... It literally looked like I had swallowed red grapes and they went to the bottom of each of my toe. I mean, it was just... So, I was in a wheelchair for four days after the race.

Joe Rogan 1:05:58 Four days?

Jesse Itzler 1:05:59 Just 'cause of the bottom ... The, the blisters. And, um, you know. But ... So for me, for me, just like a regular guy, um, it was a, it was a very powerful moment for me. You know? And, uh, it was worth, it was worth it. It was all well, well, well worth it. Once I was done and I realized, like, I'm, I'm okay. I'm not in shock. I'm not dehydrated. I'm just in super pain. Um, that was a great moment. And I have a regret from that race, like one of the biggest regrets in my life. Like, I don't like the way I finished the race. I ran 99 miles. The last mile took me 48 minutes. And literally had to, like, grab my sho- my brother's shoulders. And, like, I just ... If I could do it all over, I wanted to really finish that like a champion. You know?

Joe Rogan 1:06:45 Mm.

Jesse Itzler 1:06:45 And I was just very disappointed. I'm very happy about it, but I also have one of my biggest regrets from the race. It's just that, you know, I got to that moment whe- and I just didn't finish it the way I wanted to finish it.

Joe Rogan 1:06:57 What was wrong?

Jesse Itzler 1:06:59 Oh, man, my fucking joints. Like, my hips and my knees were just-... like, swollen, just so much-- from just so much pain. They were just s- a- it was just so... At 75, I felt, I just kinda like was running and then all of a sudden I was on the ground because, like, I just buckled 'cause the, my j- it was, it was my joints, not my muscles, just like my... You know, like I said, if you, if you roll your thumb around for 24 hours, your thumb's gonna thr- fall off.

Joe Rogan 1:07:27 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:07:27 You know? It's just this, that motion and pounding and, and, and I didn't know what I... I was wearing cotton. I was like, "I did everything wrong," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:07:35 (laughs)

Jesse Itzler 1:07:35 But I did it.

Joe Rogan 1:07:37 And when you did get done with that in the wheelchair for four days, how long did it take before your body felt normal? Like, your joints normalized, your hips and your knees? And-

Jesse Itzler 1:07:47 Took about two, over, a little over two weeks.

Joe Rogan 1:07:51 Wow.

Jesse Itzler 1:07:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:53 So you're just hobbling around for two weeks thinking about it?

Jesse Itzler 1:07:56 I'm still impacted by it.

Joe Rogan 1:07:57 Really?

Jesse Itzler 1:07:57 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:07:58 How so?

Jesse Itzler 1:07:59 I had, like, a huge cyst, like, from all the stress on my f- on my foot that, um, I've had-

Joe Rogan 1:08:05 You're making a, like a ham-sized... When you say huge-

Jesse Itzler 1:08:09 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:08:09 ... like fuck you.

Jesse Itzler 1:08:09 You're holding your hands (laughs) like you have a skull on your desk.

Joe Rogan 1:08:12 Like a watermelon.

Jesse Itzler 1:08:12 Yeah, like a, like a-

Joe Rogan 1:08:13 How big was it?

Jesse Itzler 1:08:14 Like, big enough I couldn't wear shoes.

Joe Rogan 1:08:16 What?

Jesse Itzler 1:08:16 I had to wear sneakers that, like... Yeah. It was... I'll show you a picture when we're done.

Joe Rogan 1:08:20 Did you get it removed?

Jesse Itzler 1:08:21 I got it drained twice and then I went to, like, a real, like a almost fruitarian diet and it went away.

Joe Rogan 1:08:27 Fruitarian, just all fruit? Why did that do it?

Jesse Itzler 1:08:30 (smacks lips) I, uh, I don't know. I-

Joe Rogan 1:08:33 Huh.

Jesse Itzler 1:08:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:34 Did you try fruits with vegetables or fruits with anything else?

Jesse Itzler 1:08:37 So I, I've, for 27 years, I've only had fruit till 12:00 noon. That's all I eat in the morning, but I extended that out further, and it went away on its own.

Joe Rogan 1:08:48 From fruit?

Jesse Itzler 1:08:49 I don't know if that's the reason.

Joe Rogan 1:08:50 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:08:50 Maybe over-

Joe Rogan 1:08:51 It might've just went away.

Jesse Itzler 1:08:52 It just w- gone away.

Joe Rogan 1:08:52 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:08:53 Um, but I, I made some significant changes in my diet. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:58 So what, but what led you to be the fruitarian idea?

Jesse Itzler 1:09:02 (smacks lips) Uh, I read a book called Fit For Life when I was, uh, 20... Right before my first marathon. I was 21 or 22 years old, like, looking for an edge.

Joe Rogan 1:09:09 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:09:10 And in the book, it challenges the reader to, uh, try to eat... One of the f- principles of the book is to only eat fruit until noon. We can talk about it, but, uh, it challenges the reader to try it for 10 days and then day 11, go back to your regular breakfast and see how you feel. So I did. Like, "I can invest 10 days to try this." And on day 11, I went back to oatmeal and toast or whatever, and I was like, "Oh my God, man." I felt so sluggish.

Joe Rogan 1:09:35 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:09:35 And, like, bloated.

Joe Rogan 1:09:36 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:09:37 And I was like... I never went back. And it's-

Joe Rogan 1:09:40 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:09:40 And that, that's unwavering. I'm unwavering on that. I've run marathon... N- never changes. Fruit till noon. And, um, so that's why.

Joe Rogan 1:09:51 Now, what do these people eat in the monastery?

Jesse Itzler 1:09:54 (smacks lips) So they have a very light breakfast that suited me well. They have fruit in the morning. And then their lunch they call dinner. That's their big meal. So the afternoon meal is s- up, is, is, like, dinner. And then at night, it was super light, like soup and salad or whatever. So it's really, like, almost one meal a day.

Joe Rogan 1:10:11 Are they vegetarian?

Jesse Itzler 1:10:12 Uh, some were, but others weren't.

Joe Rogan 1:10:15 That's interesting.

Jesse Itzler 1:10:15 Not all of them were.

Joe Rogan 1:10:16 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:10:16 Which was, which was interesting.

Joe Rogan 1:10:18 Did you expect them to be?

Jesse Itzler 1:10:19 I did. I lost a lot of weight there. I lost like 17 pounds.

Joe Rogan 1:10:23 Really?

Jesse Itzler 1:10:24 15, 17 pounds. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:25 In two weeks?

Jesse Itzler 1:10:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:26 Why so? What, do you think it's lack of sugar? Lack of-

Jesse Itzler 1:10:28 Yeah. No carbs.

Joe Rogan 1:10:29 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:10:29 Lack of sugar. Uh, one meal a day.

Joe Rogan 1:10:32 So they don't eat, they don't eat any bread or-

Jesse Itzler 1:10:34 They did. I didn't.

Joe Rogan 1:10:35 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:10:36 I, you know, I wanted to put a little asterisk next to my thing. I want, I went in there s- saying to myself I didn't wanna have... I wanted to come back clean.

Joe Rogan 1:10:43 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:10:43 So I, I really tried not to have any grains. Uh, and I did have some grains, but not, not a lot. And I walked a lot. I walked 120 miles over the, over the time I was there, up and down their driveway.

Joe Rogan 1:10:54 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:10:55 And, uh, so I lost a lot of, I lost a lot of weight.

Joe Rogan 1:10:57 Wow.

Jesse Itzler 1:10:58 I gained it all (laughs) back, but at the time, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:11:01 Now, these people that l- live this life, do they have something they're working towards? Do they have an idea that they're working towards? I mean, when you, when you press them on it and ask them, like, "Why are you here? Do you ever plan on leaving? Do you ever see yourself going somewhere else?"

Jesse Itzler 1:11:15 It's a really good question. I asked them all those questions. So, uh, no. They, they felt like that was their calling.

Joe Rogan 1:11:21 Their calling?

Jesse Itzler 1:11:22 They were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

Joe Rogan 1:11:24 Hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:11:25 (smacks lips) And, um, that they were committed to that lifestyle. So, no, they weren't, uh... There was no thought of going back. There have been monks that have left the monastery. Just wasn't the right lifestyle for them.

Joe Rogan 1:11:39 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:11:40 But the monks that were there when I was there, you know, 50 years, they, they, they were committed and they're not going anywhere.

Joe Rogan 1:11:47 Well, and say, 'cause that's what's confusing to me. Like, I understand that they're enjoying it, I understand that they're, they, they like that life, but th- that, that it's a calling. Like, the calling to do nothing or just think. Maybe it's just-

Jesse Itzler 1:12:01 Sac- sacrifice.

Joe Rogan 1:12:02 Mm-hmm.

Jesse Itzler 1:12:03 Serve God. Um, live a life of purity. This is not-

Joe Rogan 1:12:08 Right. I understand.

Jesse Itzler 1:12:09 I couldn't do it, but-

Joe Rogan 1:12:10 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:12:10 ... I think that's kind of the mindset around it. And, um, step away from the regular life that they were living. What's interesting is that th- they weren't born into the monastery.

Joe Rogan 1:12:24 Right.

Jesse Itzler 1:12:25 A lot