Mike Tyson: The Mind and Journey of A Champion Fighter with Lewis Howes

Lewis Howes 0:00 Before you became the champ the first time, were you visualizing and imagining-

Mike Tyson 0:03 Oh, yeah. Since I was 14. This is who I am. This is who I'm gonna be. I'm gonna talk, this is the guy. You have to be the champ before you be the champ. You understand? Does that make sense?

Lewis Howes 0:12 Yeah. [upbeat music] Welcome everyone back to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got the legendary Mike Tyson in the house. My man, good to see you. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 0:35 Thank you, brother.

Lewis Howes 0:36 Thank you. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 0:36 And you have these cameras in my face. I don't know where to look.

Lewis Howes 0:39 Everywhere, but yeah, you're here.

Mike Tyson 0:41 Do I look here?

Lewis Howes 0:41 This is good. Yeah, you're good.

Mike Tyson 0:42 Okay, I'm here.

Lewis Howes 0:42 You're here, you're me. Yeah.

Mike Tyson 0:43 [laughs]

Lewis Howes 0:44 We're doing this, man. I'm excited that you're here. We, uh, I came on your show, um, a little while back. I'm excited for that to come out. I wanna make sure everyone watches that. Hotboxin' is a-

Mike Tyson 0:53 Thank you. Thank you

Lewis Howes 0:53 ... it's a great show. You've got so many big names on there.

Mike Tyson 0:56 Thank you.

Lewis Howes 0:56 You've been inspiring people with your message.

Mike Tyson 0:58 You really think so?

Lewis Howes 0:59 Of course, man.

Mike Tyson 0:59 My message is really crazy. I think it's having fun and being plastic.

Lewis Howes 1:03 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 1:03 Oh, fuck.

Lewis Howes 1:05 You're doing good, man.

Mike Tyson 1:05 But-

Lewis Howes 1:05 You're doing good. And, uh, I'm really inspired by you, Mike, because you've gone through a lot of darkness. You've gone through a lot of darkness in your past, you've, uh, and we talked about this on your show, which is why I was so excited to have you here.

Mike Tyson 1:18 Mm-hmm.

Lewis Howes 1:18 That, you know, you went to prison for a few years. You did a lot of things that you said you weren't proud of.

Mike Tyson 1:24 Mm-hmm.

Lewis Howes 1:24 But now you've gone through this spiritual journey that you're really looking to inspire as many people as you can and, and heal yourself, and I think it's really cool what you've been able to do, um, by overcoming all that. So I just wanted to acknowledge you to start-

Mike Tyson 1:39 Thank you

Lewis Howes 1:39 ... by, by, by everything. And, and you were talking on, on the show that we did about some of the lessons you've learned from your past, and I wanted to see if we could start with that.

Mike Tyson 1:48 Go for it.

Lewis Howes 1:48 And hear what you think are some of the, the

Lewis Howes 1:51 biggest lessons you learned about who you were 20 years ago compared to who you are now.

Mike Tyson 1:56 Oh, sometimes, I don't know, sometimes it's hard to accept who you are. You know, sometimes I see young kids out here and, um, they commit suicide and they don't like who they are and they're in prison, and it's, it's really difficult, you know, to accept who you are in this world. 'Cause really we don't know, but then in order to have friends you be- you have to be put in this particular kinda, I don't know, you have to be labeled, so to speak, you know? So we don't know who we are-

Lewis Howes 2:22 Right

Mike Tyson 2:22 ... till we get, I guess, to a certain degree of evolution.

Lewis Howes 2:27 Mm-hmm. Do you feel like you, you knew who you were when you were 20, 25?

Mike Tyson 2:31 Had no idea.

Lewis Howes 2:33 Yeah. I mean, you were the world champ at 20.

Mike Tyson 2:35 I had no idea what was going on outside of that, know what the world was really about, and we had to really, um, be account- hold yourself accountable.

Lewis Howes 2:46 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 2:46 So I had no, I had no idea what that was all about.

Lewis Howes 2:49 You-

Mike Tyson 2:49 Living in another world.

Lewis Howes 2:50 Did you feel like you held yourself accountable to anything except for your training and, and, and dominating in the sport?

Mike Tyson 2:56 Yeah. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 2:57 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 2:58 That's what I held myself accountable for.

Lewis Howes 3:00 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 3:00 When I was young. Yeah.

Lewis Howes 3:02 When did you feel like you started to realize who you were?

Mike Tyson 3:06 Um, when I got married for a third time, my wife Kiki, we really had to... What can I, can I establish by saying we had to really make a choice what we wanted to do in our life right there. We were, we were really, we were really at, um, a really bad no-win situation and we had to establish, um, some kind of foundation for our life.

Lewis Howes 3:32 Sure.

Mike Tyson 3:33 So that's really when I had to see what I was made out of.

Lewis Howes 3:36 How old were you then?

Mike Tyson 3:37 Well, probably in my 40s.

Lewis Howes 3:39 40s?

Mike Tyson 3:40 42.

Lewis Howes 3:40 And so during the marriage, was it not working at some point where-

Mike Tyson 3:45 Oh, it was never working.

Lewis Howes 3:46 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 3:48 It was never working and, um-

Lewis Howes 3:50 Why was it never working?

Mike Tyson 3:51 Because marriage, marriage in itself is, um, is an interesting dynamic because, um, it's nothing you can prepare for.

Lewis Howes 4:01 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 4:02 It's something you have to grow into. You can't prepare yourself for this. I don't care how many girlfriends you had, I don't care how many ro- ro- Romeo relationships you had, you cannot prepare yourself for this if you've never had been involved in this kind of, um, matrimony. Is that the word?

Lewis Howes 4:18 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 4:18 Matrimony before. And so it didn't work for a while and, um, then we realized we didn't kill each other.

Lewis Howes 4:25 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 4:25 Since we didn't kill each other, let's see what ha- let's see if we can make this work. We still love each other. We're not dead. All the stuff we went through, we're not dead, so let's just see if we can make this work. And some bizarre reason it worked. It just works and stuff. And sometimes every now and then we get our, um, I guess our buttons-

Lewis Howes 4:46 Pushed off. Yeah

Mike Tyson 4:46 ... show up pushed, everything, and some, um, something, um, has a reminiscence of the past and which wasn't good in our memories. You may respond in a certain way, but it's just triggers and our head fucking with us.

Lewis Howes 5:01 Yeah. How do you learn to overcome the triggers today still from the triggers of your past? I think I read that you were in, you know, got arrested 30-something times-

Mike Tyson 5:11 Yeah, when we was a kid

Lewis Howes 5:11 ... before you were a teenager.

Mike Tyson 5:12 Yeah, um-

Lewis Howes 5:14 So it seemed like everything triggered you then, right?

Mike Tyson 5:16 But from that perspective, everything changes when my classes change. You know, I never understood, um, my struggle. You know, I had everything I wanted, but still I was, I was fighting the light.

Lewis Howes 5:28 Mm.

Mike Tyson 5:29 My dark spirit

Mike Tyson 5:30 was still fighting the light. That was my struggle. You couldn't, I couldn't get anything done, you know?

Lewis Howes 5:36 You were winning everything, you were on the top of the world, but what was the big struggle internally for you during those highest moments where everyone wanted to, uh, you know?

Mike Tyson 5:45 Well, it didn't, it didn't appear real because at that time I lost my mentor. Everybody was dying and, um, because when I, I met them when they were pretty old and I was very young.

Lewis Howes 5:54 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 5:55 And everybody started dying and I didn't understand that. I started thinking that, duh, they were old when they met you. They were 57 or close to 60 when they met you, Mike. So of course they were gonna die-

Lewis Howes 6:06 Right

Mike Tyson 6:06 ... eventually.

Lewis Howes 6:07 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 6:07 When you become a man, these guys are gonna die. And, um, I don't know, I couldn't deal with that for a minute. And then the world just came in on me, and it's just, it was overwhelming. I just had to learn from life experiences-

Lewis Howes 6:20 Yeah. What was-

Mike Tyson 6:21 ... how to conduct myself.

Lewis Howes 6:22 Yeah. What was your biggest fear in your early 20s?

Mike Tyson 6:27 No one loving me. Not being accepted, being a nobody. Yeah.

Lewis Howes 6:37 Wow. Did you not feel like anyone loved you or accepted you, even though you were the champ?

Mike Tyson 6:44 Well, that was the funny dynamics in itself because, um, I come from a eat dog eat dog kind of world and stuff, and, um, I met somebody and he, and, um, he showed me the basics of life. You know what I mean? Be kind to people the way you want people to be kind to you. You know? Just the basic of life, but our main objective was to be the best in the world in this particular discipline.

Lewis Howes 7:10 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 7:10 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 7:10 It's hard to be kind when you're trying to be the best at the same time, too, huh?

Mike Tyson 7:13 Yeah, but that's the part of discipline. Discipline is separating

Mike Tyson 7:16 the two. You know, you have to do what you hate to do, but do it like you absolutely love it with vigor and do the-

Lewis Howes 7:22 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 7:23 Um-

Lewis Howes 7:23 What did you hate doing and practicing in your early 20s or late teens?

Mike Tyson 7:32 I hate the whole aspect of, um, the, um, the warrior mentality and the, the duration of it. That's probably the main part, the length of how long you have to go through that, um, that psychological warfare.

Lewis Howes 7:52 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 7:53 And it takes, it takes tolls on people.

Lewis Howes 7:55 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 7:55 That kind of stuff. It's just, it, it's just really rigid. If you become the best, you, you have to almost become fanatical. You know, "This is my life. This is all I live for. This is my air. This is everything."

Lewis Howes 8:09 Wow.

Mike Tyson 8:10 Yeah, we, I guess most athletes feel that way.

Lewis Howes 8:12 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 8:12 Or they have one of those old time trainers and they have that particular type of method of training.

Lewis Howes 8:18 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 8:19 It just becomes your life, so you could do this in your sleep 'cause it's so reg- regimented.

Lewis Howes 8:23 Right. When do you feel-

Mike Tyson 8:25 It's almost like we're zombies.

Lewis Howes 8:26 I know.

Mike Tyson 8:27 Just like robots. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 8:29 Like militants.

Mike Tyson 8:29 Robots, yeah.

Lewis Howes 8:30 Yeah, very, like army. When, uh, when do you feel the most loved today?

Mike Tyson 8:36 Oh, when I'm, when I'm harassing my kids and stuff.

Lewis Howes 8:38 You're harassing your kids?

Mike Tyson 8:39 Even though they don't like it, I harass my kids. And sometimes, um, it's, it might be torture to them, 'cause sometimes they have to grow up. They live in this, um, make believe world, and I say, "Hey, listen, you can't... Sometimes, you know, you have, we bought this house for you. You can't have a little, a slumber party over here. This is not the real world."

Lewis Howes 9:00 Right.

Mike Tyson 9:00 "These people didn't pay any rent. Are they paying rent to live in your apartment or anything that we pay for?"

Lewis Howes 9:05 Uh-huh.

Mike Tyson 9:06 Um, we need to learn responsible. We have to be responsible and we have to, um, also, um, be, um, uh, reliable, you know, whatever it is that we do,

Mike Tyson 9:21 we have to be accounted for.

Lewis Howes 9:22 Yeah. What do you think is the biggest, uh, regret you have from, from everything that's, you've been through?

Mike Tyson 9:28 Many regrets. Many regrets. Fuck, what do I say? I have many regrets, but they say these regrets, um, are something we shouldn't worry about, but yeah, I have many regrets. You know, I wish I would've spent more time with my kids in my youth.

Lewis Howes 9:46 Spend more time with your kids and yeah.

Mike Tyson 9:47 Yeah. I wish I did. 'Cause now I'm trying to catch up now, and it doesn't work. It really doesn't work.

Lewis Howes 9:51 Right. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 9:52 It doesn't work.

Lewis Howes 9:53 They're getting older now, huh?

Mike Tyson 9:54 Yeah, they're getting older. They having their own lives.

Lewis Howes 9:55 Having their own lives. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 9:55 Yeah. And they don't relate to my path. They just, "Dad, you're a fucking alien."

Lewis Howes 10:00 Yeah. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 10:01 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 10:01 You don't know what we're up to. Yeah.

Mike Tyson 10:03 No.

Lewis Howes 10:04 Um, what's the message you would say to yourself now that you've gone through, 'cause you've gone through a lot of, uh, transformation.

Mike Tyson 10:10 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 10:10 You've gone through different, uh, experiences, transformation. You've done a lot of work on yourself. You're wiser now. Uh, if your 20-year-old or 25-year-old self was sitting right here where I'm at, and you could sit down and have a conversation with him, what would you wanna say to him?

Mike Tyson 10:27 You know, that he should prepare on, um, developing what makes him happy in life. And strive on, um, developing that and cultivating that, what makes you happy. And have that strong alliance of, within yourself of what makes you happy, and never break that. Because that's, that's all of our really tr- We would get $100 million, be a billionaire, we would be like, "What is happening?" Not only, "Ha, ha, ha. Hoo, hoo, hoo. Ha, ha, ha. He's funny." What is the essence of happening? What does that mean? Everybody has a different definition. Well, we got seven billion people, I'm sure there's seven billion different definitions. You know, some people may have dark happiness. They like-

Lewis Howes 11:08 Mm-hmm

Mike Tyson 11:08 ... to do dark stuff, and that makes them happy, but it's still happy. So what makes necessarily happy a good thing?

Lewis Howes 11:15 Mm-hmm. What makes you happy?

Mike Tyson 11:19 Simple stuff, and I don't know if that's hap... I take it for granted sometimes, like everyone else, with my kids and stuff.

Lewis Howes 11:25 Yeah, yeah.

Mike Tyson 11:25 Not have to, you know, not worried about going to prison, not worried about paying my bills and having my lights on, and my lights being cut off or my water being cut off. Yeah. It's being stable in my life.

Lewis Howes 11:39 Yeah. So you would tell him to, to start pursuing happiness more?

Mike Tyson 11:43 You know, not the word I would use, but, uh-

Lewis Howes 11:46 Yeah

Mike Tyson 11:46 ... but that's the only thing that's gonna stimulate us.

Lewis Howes 11:49 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 11:50 You know? We drive, I don't know if it's happiness. We call it happiness.

Lewis Howes 11:53 Sure.

Mike Tyson 11:54 Why is it the word happiness that makes us think this is something that we, we should, you know what I mean, fucking ascend to?

Lewis Howes 12:01 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 12:01 Why happiness? Because it, we look at the res-

Lewis Howes 12:06 Makes it feel good

Mike Tyson 12:06 ... yeah, we look at the response of happiness, what it looks like.

Lewis Howes 12:09 Yeah, yeah.

Mike Tyson 12:09 That we should always, um, ascend to happiness.

Lewis Howes 12:12 Yeah. I'm curious, uh, you've been on both sides of the spectrum. I would say that- Some people might consider your behavior, you know, 20 years ago was very toxic, right?

Mike Tyson 12:23 Mm-hmm.

Lewis Howes 12:23 This, uh, image of toxic masculinity. I feel like I've been there in a lot of ways. I know Evan's been there, and a lot of people. [clears throat] I think a lot of men have gone through this phase. [smacks lips] What would you say to the women listening who maybe wanna support the men in their lives? Maybe it's their father, it's their brother, it's their boyfriend or husband who maybe are experiencing toxic tendencies, types of behaviors. What would you say to the women on how they can best connect with

Lewis Howes 12:52 men in their life who might be hurting them?

Mike Tyson 12:55 I can't give a woman any perception of any aspect of a man because, uh, there's so many men. I don't know how-

Lewis Howes 13:03 Yeah

Mike Tyson 13:03 ... every man in the world conducts himself-

Lewis Howes 13:05 Yeah

Mike Tyson 13:05 ... or act on the pain or suffering. We're all so totally different.

Lewis Howes 13:10 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 13:10 So my, my opinion on anything can only be the men that I'm accustomed to, which is myself.

Lewis Howes 13:18 Right, right.

Mike Tyson 13:18 You know? I could never just say how the, how we gonna understand men.

Lewis Howes 13:23 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 13:23 We all think differently.

Lewis Howes 13:25 What do you think women could have done to, to understand you better back in the day when you were going through different challenges? How could women have shown up differently in, in your mind? Or is there nothing they could have done to change the way you thought about yourself or you thought about the world?

Mike Tyson 13:40 No, women, uh, women have no part- I don't know. They, they may have, but I, I don't know. I don't have no particular, um, aspect of how I think about them individually.

Lewis Howes 13:51 Yeah, yeah.

Mike Tyson 13:52 You know? Like, this, this, and that. I don't know all the women in the world-

Lewis Howes 13:55 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 13:55 ... to have a opinion about how they think about me or anything.

Lewis Howes 13:59 Sure. How do you think men should be raised in this time of, in the world right now? Um, because I think there's a lot of conversation about toxic masculinity. How, you know, what advice would you give to men who are maybe hurting or angry or living, uh, in a toxic way? What would you say to just the men of the world?

Mike Tyson 14:17 Hey, listen, um, there's truly nothing to say to anyone that's living in a toxic unless he come for help, you know what I mean? Some people realize, "Hey, I just can't stop this lifestyle. I can't stop this conduct in my life. I wanted to change, but I can't stop, so what do I do?"

Lewis Howes 14:34 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 14:35 You know? But some people love, most of the people that have this conduct, this mas- this, this is their identity.

Lewis Howes 14:40 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 14:40 This is their ego. "I don't wanna get... Fuck you, Mike. I want my toxicity. Fuck you."

Lewis Howes 14:46 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 14:47 The girls love it.

Lewis Howes 14:48 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 14:48 That's what they think.

Lewis Howes 14:51 But it never makes you feel fulfilled deeply inside when you live that way, right?

Mike Tyson 14:54 Nobody feels fulfilled. You know what I mean? We all fulfilled at different stages of our life. At 18, I'm fulfilled from this particularly difficult or fun fulfillment, and at 28, I, I like this. I don't like that no more. I like doing this.

Lewis Howes 15:12 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 15:12 You know, people are fick- Very few of us are really constant in, in what we continue to do and stay with it for a long period of time.

Lewis Howes 15:24 Yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Howes 15:25 What does it take to be a true champion, to be the best in the world at something? You lived it for a long time. What does the mindset have to be like if someone wants to be the best at what they do?

Mike Tyson 15:36 It's just that dedicating and sacrificing your life to being a particular way you wanna be of. Like, you wanna conduct... Say you wanna be like Tony Robbins. You, you get all the information you can about Tony Robbins, and you conduct your, "This is how I wanna live my life." This is almost like, um, uh, what do, what do we call these days? Um, this is your manuscript.

Lewis Howes 15:57 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 15:58 You know what I mean?

Lewis Howes 15:58 Your blueprint, yeah.

Mike Tyson 15:59 Yeah, this is what I'm gonna do.

Lewis Howes 16:01 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 16:01 And, um, I'm gonna live like Tony. I'm, I'm not gonna be Tony Robbins, but I'm gonna live his... I'ma, I'ma conduct myself like Tony Robbins.

Lewis Howes 16:09 Yeah, yeah. So you gotta live it, you gotta breathe it, you gotta be it.

Mike Tyson 16:11 Yes, you, and you have to be that before you actually become the person.

Lewis Howes 16:14 Interesting.

Mike Tyson 16:14 You're not gonna become the person overnight. Like, "You think you pr- you're prepared to be Tony Robbins right now?" Right then, tomorrow you're Tony Robbins.

Lewis Howes 16:20 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 16:20 You didn't know. It's gonna take time, so I'm gonna become this guy. You know, I'm gonna be this guy before, 'cause you're not ready. But when the time comes, you're gonna be ready. You're gonna be Tony Robbins. This is my life. I'm accustomed to this. Of course I got this role. Of course I got this job. Of course I got this rate. I prepared for it. You wouldn't even be surprised.

Lewis Howes 16:38 Mm-hmm. Before

Lewis Howes 16:39 you became the champ the first time, were you visualizing and imagining it?

Mike Tyson 16:42 Yeah, ever since I was 14. This is who I am. This is who I'm gonna be. I'ma conduct... This is the guy. You have to be the champ before you be the champ. You understand? Does that make sense?

Lewis Howes 16:51 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 16:52 Does that really? 'Cause it sound like this.

Lewis Howes 16:53 It does.

Mike Tyson 16:53 You have to be him before you can be him. You can't just pop just by training and doing pushups and knocking people out. This is, I'm the champ. No, you have to be the actual champ. Your conduct, your lifestyle have to be the champ before you actually wear the belt. Maybe that's better.

Lewis Howes 17:08 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 17:09 You have to be the champ before you can even wear a belt.

Lewis Howes 17:12 Wow. So you were saying, "I'm gonna be the champ." You were living like the champ. You were-

Mike Tyson 17:15 All my life, that's what I did. I would read books about them. That's all I did, read books about them, watch them fight. That's my life. If I wasn't in school and I wasn't training, I was watching them or reading about them.

Lewis Howes 17:26 Watching the greats.

Mike Tyson 17:27 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 17:27 Yeah. Wow. What's the best advice you ever got from a, a champion before you?

Mike Tyson 17:36 I don't know. Most of them, it's, the advice they used to give me about life. In a sense they said you have to live your own life.

Lewis Howes 17:41 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 17:41 'Cause y- you can't live your life like me. I can't live my life like you, you know? And, um, we just all different. And, um, some of them say, "Take care of your money." You know?

Lewis Howes 17:55 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 17:56 They regret about that.

Lewis Howes 17:58 Right.

Mike Tyson 17:59 But, um, yeah, I used to learn from afar. So a lot of these guys, I used to watch the way they conduct themselves.

Lewis Howes 18:04 Yeah, yeah.

Mike Tyson 18:04 They're always dignified, most of them, unless some of them have some mental issues or they had damage from boxing. They're a little bit outrageous, but other than that, most of them are very dignified and classy men.

Lewis Howes 18:15 Yeah, yeah. What was your biggest weakness when you were the champ for so long? As you were knocking guys out in the first round, first few seconds, what was the biggest weakness in your game and also in your life?

Mike Tyson 18:29 I don't know. I think I was a glutton. I just wanted everything.

Lewis Howes 18:33 Material things, to win, women, this, everything.

Mike Tyson 18:36 Yeah, everything. Just wanted everything, yeah.

Lewis Howes 18:37 You wanted the world.

Mike Tyson 18:38 Oh, right now, though. That's the only ... I want it now. I didn't want it yesterday, tomorrow. I want it right now. This instant.

Lewis Howes 18:46 Wow.

Mike Tyson 18:47 And if you can't give it to me, I don't want it no fucking more.

Lewis Howes 18:50 If I can't get it right now-

Mike Tyson 18:51 Yeah, I don't want it no fucking more.

Lewis Howes 18:52 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 18:52 Yeah, anything, anything I couldn't have, anything I couldn't have, I despised and hated.

Lewis Howes 18:56 Wow.

Mike Tyson 18:57 Yeah, if I couldn't have that girl, I hate her fucking guts.

Lewis Howes 19:00 Wow.

Mike Tyson 19:00 Couldn't have that car, fuck those cars. Anybody can drive that car.

Lewis Howes 19:03 [laughs] Why do you think that was? If you couldn't have it right now, you didn't like it anymore.

Mike Tyson 19:08 'Cause I didn't need no distractions.

Lewis Howes 19:10 Oh, wow.

Mike Tyson 19:11 That make me feel anything that I'm less than immortal.

Lewis Howes 19:14 Wow.

Mike Tyson 19:15 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 19:15 So if you couldn't get it right now, it made you feel less than immortal.

Mike Tyson 19:18 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 19:19 So you were like, "Get it out of my life."

Mike Tyson 19:20 Exactly.

Lewis Howes 19:21 Wow.

Mike Tyson 19:24 It-

Lewis Howes 19:24 What's the craziest thing you wanted that you got right now? That you were, like, demanding everything, and what did you ... Someone ... [laughs] I mean, what was-

Mike Tyson 19:32 I don't know, bro

Lewis Howes 19:33 ... something flew in from Dubai overnight, and you got, like, a steak dinner

Lewis Howes 19:36 from somewhere or?

Mike Tyson 19:37 I never thought about that, but I'm sure it was bizarre or something.

Lewis Howes 19:42 Yeah. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 19:43 Yeah, that's just-

Lewis Howes 19:43 I want a tiger right now. Give me a tiger

Mike Tyson 19:45 ... that's just the mentality.

Lewis Howes 19:46 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 19:46 That's just the way I was raised as a fighter to think. If, if ... 'Cause it would, um ... If you couldn't get it, it would distract you.

Lewis Howes 19:54 Wow.

Mike Tyson 19:54 Why can't I possess that? If I'm so great, why can't I possess that?

Lewis Howes 19:58 Wow.

Mike Tyson 19:59 That'll distract you from your goals in life.

Lewis Howes 20:02 What do you think is your greatest weakness right now, this time of your life?

Mike Tyson 20:06 I don't know. My friends and my kids and stuff, family.

Lewis Howes 20:09 It's a weakness?

Mike Tyson 20:10 Yeah, 'cause people are ... We're losing so many people. Everybody saying that he's dead, she's sick. My friend mother just died yesterday. Everybody start dying. Everybody so sad, and then wow, you know.

Lewis Howes 20:21 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 20:21 It's ... Instead of, you know, we should always look at, um, death as something glorious, you know, because listen, life is very interesting. Listen, we got it for nothing. Look at all we received. We have kids. We have grandkids, all that stuff. But it's nothing. It's mom, your mother a- and father, and they saw each other and they, "Hey, we in love. We made love." Now look, we're here. Look what we got. Look what you're doing. Look at your show. It's because two people were in love. You know what I mean? This is glorious.

Lewis Howes 20:52 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 20:53 For free.

Lewis Howes 20:54 Free.

Mike Tyson 20:54 They appreciate the time.

Lewis Howes 20:55 We didn't have to pay anything to be here.

Mike Tyson 20:56 Nothing. We can't get mad when it's our time to go. It was free.

Lewis Howes 21:01 What do you think about with death?

Mike Tyson 21:03 Death is beautiful. You know, how could life be beautiful and death is not beautiful? 'Cause there wouldn't be, there wouldn't be life if there wasn't death.

Lewis Howes 21:11 Mm. Wow. Is death, so death isn't something you're afraid of?

Mike Tyson 21:16 At one stage in my life, you know.

Lewis Howes 21:17 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 21:18 And then you reach 52, and you say, "Well, I'm not gonna get another 52."

Lewis Howes 21:22 Wow.

Mike Tyson 21:23 And

Mike Tyson 21:24 then you realize, wow, what happened to that time? My whole perspective on life is different. My whole perspective is what I need and what I wanted. Now it's all about what I need and what is, what I needed for someone else that I love. What am I leaving when I'm gone? It's really bizarre, right? When you have the actual confrontation, the aspect of your mortality is no longer existing.

Lewis Howes 21:48 Huh. What do you think is your biggest superpower right now? Like, your biggest strength.

Mike Tyson 21:56 I think it's me, who I am, my essence, my existence. When I'm no longer here, it doesn't no longer exist.

Lewis Howes 22:06 Mm-hmm. How do you wanna be remembered now?

Mike Tyson 22:11 Just remembered. That's ... It doesn't matter how.

Lewis Howes 22:14 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 22:15 You know how many thousands of years are gonna go by once I die? It's no longer, it no longer matter.

Lewis Howes 22:21 No one's gonna remember then.

Mike Tyson 22:22 No.

Lewis Howes 22:23 Yeah, a couple thousand years, yeah. So what is the biggest fear for you right now?

Mike Tyson 22:30 Nothing.

Lewis Howes 22:31 You don't have any big fears right now?

Mike Tyson 22:34 Nah. Besides, um, you know, eventually I worry about my kids getting sick. I want them to have a life like I had-

Lewis Howes 22:41 Yeah

Mike Tyson 22:42 ... and see the world like I've seen.

Lewis Howes 22:43 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 22:45 Other than that, no, I'm, I'm prepared to meet God, yeah.

Lewis Howes 22:49 Wow. What was the biggest, um, mentor you had when you were in jail? Was there anyone in jail that-

Mike Tyson 22:58 No, no

Lewis Howes 22:58 ... that taught you anything or-

Mike Tyson 23:00 No.

Lewis Howes 23:00 No one?

Mike Tyson 23:02 I was just, um, oh, yes, I was just radical in jail and my mentor, I need to run it all. It all need to be my fucking-

Lewis Howes 23:08 Really?

Mike Tyson 23:08 ... concern, and it's like, yeah.

Lewis Howes 23:09 You were like, "I'm gonna run this whole place"?

Mike Tyson 23:11 Yeah. I wanted to be in control. I wanted to do this. I want to have my food brought to me.

Lewis Howes 23:15 Wow.

Mike Tyson 23:15 It's just stupid. It's, it's a mindset you get once you get put in that situation. Go a regular maniac then.

Lewis Howes 23:23 Wow. What was the biggest thing you learned about yourself during that time?

Mike Tyson 23:34 I don't know. Back then, I learned that, um, I didn't wanna be there.

Lewis Howes 23:41 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 23:43 I was afraid.

Lewis Howes 23:45 To be there?

Mike Tyson 23:45 No, I was afraid that I lost everything that I had once.

Lewis Howes 23:50 You lost all your, you lost a lot of your money at one point, right,

Lewis Howes 23:52 when-

Mike Tyson 23:52 Yeah, but no. Well, no, no, not that time. It wasn't that. That time I still had money. When I was in prison, I, I still had money. I wasn't no bankrupt and stuff, but, um, I couldn't do nothing, so I would just-

Lewis Howes 24:01 [laughs] You couldn't do anything

Mike Tyson 24:01 ... I would just call, I would call my accounts to send money to her. If somebody need some money, I would still take care of my friends and their bills and stuff. But, um ...

Lewis Howes 24:12 But you were afraid you lost everything else.

Mike Tyson 24:13 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 24:13 Like, the titles.

Mike Tyson 24:15 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 24:15 Like, the respect or-

Mike Tyson 24:16 No, no, just, um, things you could've done if you didn't have this fucking, um, what do you call this shit? Garbage on you. What is it? It's garbage, yeah.

Lewis Howes 24:28 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 24:29 If you didn't have this garbage, what you could have accomplished. Oh, fuck. It's a lot of things. A lot of people just fucked it up. [laughs] Oh, man.

Lewis Howes 24:39 What do you think, what do you think you could've accomplished had you not gone to jail?

Mike Tyson 24:44 Really good stuff, but, um, I've accomplished it when I came out.

Lewis Howes 24:49 Right.

Mike Tyson 24:49 And I still wasn't happy. It was just all in my mind. All the things I thought I could accomplish, and only if I didn't went to jail, was just a hallucination in my mind. I went to jail, and I still accomplished everything, if not more than I thought I would accomplish.

Lewis Howes 25:05 'Cause, 'cause you came out and you still won the title.

Mike Tyson 25:07 Yeah, that, it just, um-

Lewis Howes 25:08 You made a bunch of money

Mike Tyson 25:09 ... it was just an illusion. You know? I was chasing an illusion. It was just, it never existed, but it was in my head.

Lewis Howes 25:17 Wow.

Mike Tyson 25:17 It was in my head. I was getting revenge. For who? I'm the one, no one got you in jail but you. Who am I getting revenge on? It's just my head was fucked, you know?

Lewis Howes 25:27 What happened to your life

Lewis Howes 25:28 when you started studying spirituality more?

Mike Tyson 25:32 I don't know. Spirituality's pretty tricky, you know? It's pretty much just letting it wing. It's a, it's imagine if it was like this.

Lewis Howes 25:42 Uh-huh.

Mike Tyson 25:43 And then you realize I can make it like this.

Lewis Howes 25:46 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 25:47 You know, spirituality, I don't know. It wipes everything ... This is what spirituality did. It wipes everything that I ever believed and makes it a lie.

Lewis Howes 25:56 Hm.

Mike Tyson 25:57 You know?

Lewis Howes 25:58 Hm. What did, I mean, what did you used to believe that makes it a lie now?

Mike Tyson 26:03 I believed just what everybody else. I had a belief, motherfucker.

Lewis Howes 26:06 Hm.

Mike Tyson 26:06 [laughs] Yeah. I believed every, yeah, that's what I believed, you know? I believed all that crap.

Lewis Howes 26:13 Wow.

Mike Tyson 26:14 And everything ... And so that's the, um, para- a paradigm shift. When everything you've been taught your whole life and then it comes the time you realize was a lie.

Lewis Howes 26:24 Hm.

Mike Tyson 26:25 Now, how do we start from there? You know?

Lewis Howes 26:28 Wow.

Mike Tyson 26:29 We living a lie. [laughs]

Lewis Howes 26:31 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 26:31 We have to make up our own lie and live in this lie.

Lewis Howes 26:34 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 26:35 You know, it's gonna take a, till you finally, you checked and try to figure out to the day you die, you will never figure it out. It's based thousands and thousands and how many millions of lives and years of lives and, you know, and some people just dedicated their whole lives to try to figure out the lies and what's this world about and they found out nothing.

Lewis Howes 26:56 Wow.

Mike Tyson 26:57 They got, they had, you know, they have this big encyclopedia mind about wonderful things in the history of the world and stuff, but we don't have the answers still.

Lewis Howes 27:06 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 27:08 You know? It just is a beautiful ride.

Lewis Howes 27:10 Just enjoy the ride.

Mike Tyson 27:11 Yeah. It's a beautiful ride.

Lewis Howes 27:12 Don't try to figure everything out. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 27:13 No way. It's a beautiful ride. We don't do that. There's too many things we don't do that. We don't enjoy the ride.

Lewis Howes 27:19 I know.

Mike Tyson 27:19 This shit, this shit is not right. We gotta figure this out. Well, this is not right. This is not ... It's, that's how we are.

Lewis Howes 27:26 Do you think if you had-

Mike Tyson 27:27 We will spoil something.

Lewis Howes 27:28 Yeah, I know. Do you think if you had more peace in your heart, more love in your heart

Lewis Howes 27:33 in your 20s, uh, 30s, do you think you would've en- enjoyed the ride more? And do you think you would've been as successful, uh, in the boxing world if you had peace and love in your heart?

Mike Tyson 27:46 I didn't know. I just, all my life I read about the conqueror, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Charlemagne, all, all these crazy guys, Clovis. I would read about these guys, you know what I mean? They had declared themselves gods. You know, depend on ... Just think our great prophets. You think of Jesus or, um, Prophet Muhammad. That's when it's, probably was in the time of Alexander the Great, he would eliminate them. They wouldn't exist anymore.

Lewis Howes 28:14 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 28:15 Everything is proper timing, you know? In certain worlds and certain times, they would've never existed.

Lewis Howes 28:22 Wow. When do you think was the moment you started to feel more peace in your heart, like inner peace?

Mike Tyson 28:29 I don't know. When I had the responsibility of just taking care of my family.

Lewis Howes 28:34 That's when it shifted more?

Mike Tyson 28:35 Yeah, after I tried to destroy it, it didn't work.

Lewis Howes 28:38 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 28:39 And I said, "Well, I have to take care of this stuff, or I have to, I have to really confront what am I gonna do here," you know? And then I said, "This is what I'm gonna do."

Lewis Howes 28:47 Hm.

Mike Tyson 28:47 And I'm gonna dedicate my life. And that was a mess, too.

Lewis Howes 28:50 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 28:51 And then eventually, um, we have 10 years. You know, it worked out.

Lewis Howes 28:56 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 28:56 You know, we have a great deal of respect for one another.

Lewis Howes 28:59 Where do you think you'd be if you had no kids right now?

Mike Tyson 29:02 I wouldn't exist.

Lewis Howes 29:03 Really?

Mike Tyson 29:04 No way.

Lewis Howes 29:05 Where would you be?

Mike Tyson 29:06 I don't know. Probably, probably dead with AIDS or something.

Lewis Howes 29:10 Really?

Mike Tyson 29:10 Yeah, I wouldn't exist. Or maybe somebody would kill me for fucking with their wife or girlfriend. You never know. Also, I'd be a junkie.

Lewis Howes 29:19 Wow.

Mike Tyson 29:19 Without kids, that's the only thing that stabled me.

Lewis Howes 29:22 Wow.

Mike Tyson 29:22 That's the only thing that gave me any kind of meaning. When I had kids, fuck the world, I don't give a fuck.

Lewis Howes 29:31 Wow.

Mike Tyson 29:32 Yeah, man, talk.

Lewis Howes 29:34 Do you wish you would've had kids, uh, younger then, or?

Mike Tyson 29:37 No, I wanted to accomplish my goals then.

Lewis Howes 29:39 Uh-huh.

Mike Tyson 29:40 'Cause everything's proper timing.

Lewis Howes 29:41 Proper timing, yeah.

Mike Tyson 29:42 And this, you think you're playing checkers, and you think you're, you, you fucking navigating your life, but you're not.

Lewis Howes 29:48 [laughs] Yeah.

Mike Tyson 29:49 You know, you think you ... I know you say, "Well, I just go out here and do some drugs and just fuck my life up then, Mike. Don't think I'm navigating my life and just ..." You're just not. You're not programmed to do that then.

Lewis Howes 29:57 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 29:58 And if you were programmed to do that, you were programmed to come back and rebound.

Lewis Howes 30:02 Right.

Mike Tyson 30:02 You know, your life is not meant to go there. It's just not meant to be.

Lewis Howes 30:05 Wow.

Lewis Howes 30:07 What do you think is the lesson you still wanna learn for yourself? Like the, the challenge you wanna overcome still to make you a better person?

Mike Tyson 30:13 I can't. I can't and never find that.

Lewis Howes 30:16 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 30:16 You know, because that lesson, that, that's the thing I wanna realize is, why me? Why is this happening? I'm never gonna figure it out.

Lewis Howes 30:25 What's the question you wish you could have answered?

Mike Tyson 30:29 Why is this, who am I? And why is my purpose here?

Lewis Howes 30:32 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 30:33 You know? But I can make something. I can say my purpose is to be the best person I can possibly be before I die.

Lewis Howes 30:38 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 30:39 You know what I mean? That could be my purpose in life. See how far we can go in life before we die.

Lewis Howes 30:45 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 30:46 You know? But for so, but suppose, um, people don't think in that perspective.

Lewis Howes 30:53 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 30:53 That's what I love Cool J told me, 'cause I'm talking some ... I think I'm talking some glamorous [censored] . I'm talking some fly [censored] .

Lewis Howes 30:59 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 30:59 And he was telling me, "Oh, Mike, you know, um, there's some people that live in the outskirts of [censored] Ohio or somewhere and they have to live simple lives and that's what they wanna do, Mike."

Lewis Howes 31:08 Enjoy their life.

Mike Tyson 31:09 This [censored] we talking about don't mean nothing, Mike.

Lewis Howes 31:10 Nothing.

Mike Tyson 31:11 They's afraid of dying, waiting to meet God, taking care of their kids, the people they love, or may go on a vacation. May never go on a vacation or leave the town, but this is just a simple life. This is what makes them happy.

Lewis Howes 31:23 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 31:24 And they're really con- You know me. I come from the place, if you're nothing, if you ain't something, you're nothing.

Lewis Howes 31:29 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 31:32 You know, and isn't that so [censored] shallow? If you're not something, you're nothing. What's my definition of something?

Lewis Howes 31:36 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 31:37 Somebody with [censored] wad of money in their pocket have no [censored] concept of, uh, humanity, is what life is. Does that mean they have a wad, I should be able to violate that person that doesn't?

Lewis Howes 31:50 Wow.

Mike Tyson 31:50 I don't know.

Lewis Howes 31:52 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 31:52 I'm lost again.

Lewis Howes 31:54 Wow.

Mike Tyson 31:56 I shouldn't try to figure [censored] out. You have to go with the flow.

Lewis Howes 31:58 Mm-hmm. Wow. Um,

Lewis Howes 32:06 how did you learn to finally start forgiving yourself for stuff?

Mike Tyson 32:09 Oh, that [censored] . [censored] that, man. That happened, um, excuse my language. That must've happened yesterday or something. Yeah, that stuff, um, you just don't do that stuff overnight. It doesn't work like... At least with me, it doesn't work like that.

Lewis Howes 32:23 Took a long time to forgive yourself?

Mike Tyson 32:24 Yeah, because only that take, because I only, um, I know my demons, and I realize in life everybody's gonna really find them out eventually. You think you gotta hide that [censored] . It doesn't work that way.

Lewis Howes 32:37 Mm. So you just started to forgive yourself on things, or-

Mike Tyson 32:41 Pretty much, yeah

Lewis Howes 32:41 ... it's happening every day, or?

Mike Tyson 32:43 Yeah, you know, it comes around, yeah.

Lewis Howes 32:45 Wow.

Mike Tyson 32:47 I'm not gonna hate Mike. [censored] all the [censored] you did. It's cool, man. God love you.

Lewis Howes 32:50 Right.

Mike Tyson 32:50 That's [censored] . I don't function. I don't think that. I don't think God leaves you to figure it out. He leaves it on yourself. If it cool, it's cool. If it's not, it's not. You figure it out.

Lewis Howes 33:01 Yeah. And what are you most proud of in your life that you've done?

Mike Tyson 33:06 Wow. I'm proud that I'm existing.

Lewis Howes 33:19 Yeah?

Mike Tyson 33:19 I love to be alive. I know that's may sound bizarre, but I'm proud to be alive and existing, yeah.

Lewis Howes 33:26 Do you feel like you should've been dead many times?

Mike Tyson 33:28 That could've happened, yeah. That coulda happened.

Mike Tyson 33:32 I don't know. I used to look at this, say, "Wow, what am I proud of?" You know, I say I'm proud of my children and stuff, but they have their own lives to live.

Lewis Howes 33:37 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 33:38 I'm only proud of them because, um, they're kind. They make me happy. Some of them do things I don't like, but it's just that, um, my kids are my kids, and that, that's my personal life, and I-

Lewis Howes 33:49 Mm.

Mike Tyson 33:49 When I think of something that I'm proud of, I, I don't know. I don't think about my fighting. I don't know. It's just weird that you say that.

Lewis Howes 33:55 Mm.

Mike Tyson 33:55 You know? I'm ended up doing things now that I'm proud of. I'm building a company. Uh, we, we're making people awareness of health-

Lewis Howes 34:05 Mm-hmm

Mike Tyson 34:06 ... and cannabis. So I, I'm really proud of my company that I'm building.

Lewis Howes 34:10 That's great. That's great.

Mike Tyson 34:11 Highfinence, yeah.

Lewis Howes 34:13 And what are you most grateful for about your wife?

Mike Tyson 34:18 Yeah, I'm just, um... Well, that's interesting you say that, 'cause, um, we, we have fought a long fight together, you know?

Lewis Howes 34:26 You've fought a long fight together?

Mike Tyson 34:27 Yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Howes 34:29 How many years has it been now?

Mike Tyson 34:30 10 years, but we, but we've been with each other longer than that.

Lewis Howes 34:34 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 34:34 And yes, um, it was really great growing up with her. This is my third marriage. This is her first. But it's really been, um, this marriage and the struggle that we endured together was really gonna tell if this was gonna, if we were gonna make it in life or not. You know, our existence in life. We're gonna do this stuff, and if we're gonna fail, it's gonna be over and stuff.

Lewis Howes 34:55 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 34:55 And so when we had our kid, we just dedicated

Mike Tyson 34:58 our life to make sure our kid wouldn't have the life that we had.

Lewis Howes 35:00 Wow.

Mike Tyson 35:00 And so really, a, a really kind and pleasant, pleasant life.

Lewis Howes 35:05 Yeah. What do you love about her the most?

Mike Tyson 35:07 That she's just an awesome kid, and she, yes, um, she's very competitive in life.

Lewis Howes 35:13 Is, is it your daughter, or are you-

Mike Tyson 35:14 Yes.

Lewis Howes 35:15 Oh.

Mike Tyson 35:15 My daughter. And, um, besides, um, having two crazy parents, she really conducts herself like a champion, yeah.

Lewis Howes 35:21 She's, she's the adult in the family, yeah. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 35:23 Oh, she's really awesome. Yeah. She's only 10 years old.

Lewis Howes 35:25 That's great. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 35:27 [laughs]

Lewis Howes 35:27 And what do you-

Mike Tyson 35:28 She's our life. And we have another son named Morocco. He's eight years old.

Lewis Howes 35:31 Oh, that's great.

Mike Tyson 35:32 Yeah, but we, yes, um, she's, she's our, she's our glue that keeps us together and stuff.

Lewis Howes 35:38 That's cool. What do you admire and love about your wife the most?

Mike Tyson 35:41 The most? Oh, man, that she kept our family together.

Lewis Howes 35:45 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 35:45 That was her main objective, was keeping our family together.

Lewis Howes 35:48 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 35:48 And being one.

Lewis Howes 35:50 That's great.

Mike Tyson 35:50 The most.

Lewis Howes 35:51 That's great.

Mike Tyson 35:52 She didn't give up when, you know, most people can easily give up and just move on. It's just so easy.

Lewis Howes 35:56 Yeah, yeah.

Mike Tyson 35:56 Just get up and move on.

Lewis Howes 35:58 Lots of options out there.

Mike Tyson 35:59 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 35:59 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 35:59 So many. Just get up and move on. It's so, um, it's so pervasive that this is what people do. If it doesn't go well, you just get away and you just gonna move on. They don't try to make this-

Lewis Howes 36:10 Right

Mike Tyson 36:10 ... work.

Lewis Howes 36:11 Well, you did that in your previous marriages. You know, you guys ended them.

Mike Tyson 36:13 Yeah, well I-

Lewis Howes 36:14 Yeah

Mike Tyson 36:14 ... yeah, I just kept going, my previous mar- I, 'cause I, I always throw money at my problems. I had my money then, but I didn't have money then, so I can't pay.

Lewis Howes 36:21 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 36:21 I have to give and take that.

Lewis Howes 36:22 Right.

Mike Tyson 36:23 You know? So we had to make this stuff work.

Lewis Howes 36:25 Wow. You had to learn. You had to grow.

Mike Tyson 36:27 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 36:27 That's good. Uh, I've got a couple of final questions for you. This one is called the three truths.

Mike Tyson 36:32 Okay.

Lewis Howes 36:33 So I want you to imagine that you are, uh, it's your last day.

Mike Tyson 36:37 Mm-hmm. Let me tell you.

Lewis Howes 36:38 It's, it's many years away.

Mike Tyson 36:40 Okay.

Lewis Howes 36:40 Right? It's your last day

Mike Tyson 36:42 I'm, I'm always prepared though for it.

Lewis Howes 36:43 You're prepared any day.

Mike Tyson 36:44 I'm always, yeah, I'm done. Let's do it, man.

Lewis Howes 36:46 But let's imagine it's 50 more years.

Mike Tyson 36:47 [laughs]

Lewis Howes 36:47 You've got 52 to go, right? [laughs]

Mike Tyson 36:50 No, it's not that many years.

Lewis Howes 36:52 Let's say you got as many as you want.

Mike Tyson 36:53 Okay.

Lewis Howes 36:53 And then there's the last day you've gotta, you've gotta-

Mike Tyson 36:56 Okay

Lewis Howes 36:56 ... turn the lights off.

Mike Tyson 36:56 Okay.

Lewis Howes 36:57 You got your family there. It's a good setting.

Mike Tyson 36:59 Okay, okay, okay.

Lewis Howes 37:00 You've accomplished what you want. Your, your ranch is blown up, your company.

Mike Tyson 37:04 This is not-

Lewis Howes 37:04 Everything you're doing is amazing

Mike Tyson 37:05 ... this is not, this is not a reality. This is not necessarily how I'm gonna end.

Lewis Howes 37:08 Let's imagine.

Mike Tyson 37:08 All right, good.

Lewis Howes 37:08 Let's imagine.

Mike Tyson 37:09 [laughs] This is-

Lewis Howes 37:10 Visualize

Mike Tyson 37:10 ... yeah, this is beautiful.

Lewis Howes 37:12 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 37:12 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 37:14 This is beautiful.

Lewis Howes 37:14 And, um-

Mike Tyson 37:15 Beautiful, beautiful

Lewis Howes 37:15 ... you have a moment where you've got, uh, you get to share your final three truths with the world.

Mike Tyson 37:21 Mm-hmm.

Lewis Howes 37:21 You get to, to announce it on your podcast, or you get to write this down.

Mike Tyson 37:26 Mm-hmm.

Lewis Howes 37:26 And these would be three lessons, the only three things people would be able to remember you by are these three final lessons that you would share with the world, what I like to call the three truths. What would you say are your three truths?

Mike Tyson 37:40 I don't know, that, um, if I had more time, I could be even better-

Lewis Howes 37:48 Mm

Mike Tyson 37:49 ... than what I am.

Lewis Howes 37:52 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 37:52 And if, um, if I had more time, I could probably, um, right all the wrongs that I did.

Lewis Howes 38:03 Mm.

Mike Tyson 38:07 And if I had more time, I could l- love spending time with my kids, my grandkids.

Lewis Howes 38:12 Yeah. Oh, those are great.

Mike Tyson 38:14 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 38:14 And what, what lessons would you share with the world that you would want them to have for their, their lesson from you?

Mike Tyson 38:22 That we all have to live our lives to the fullest and fulfill our lives.

Lewis Howes 38:26 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 38:26 Our life fulfillment. Whatever your life is, and, you know, this, this is what most people's, um, problems are in life. They didn't fulfill their life fulfillment.

Lewis Howes 38:37 Who they're supposed to be.

Mike Tyson 38:38 Yeah, who they wanted to be.

Lewis Howes 38:41 What were they to, uh, what were they focused on?

Mike Tyson 38:43 Hey, it just never happened. They don't believe it happened to them.

Lewis Howes 38:46 Mm.

Mike Tyson 38:48 They, I guess they believe it was supposed to be ordained for them. I, I don't know, but-

Lewis Howes 38:52 Yeah

Mike Tyson 38:52 ... and then there's some people that works hard and

Mike Tyson 38:54 do, use all the, the secrets of life, and they still never get it. What do you say about that? How does that work?

Lewis Howes 38:59 Mm.

Mike Tyson 38:59 And then there's people that work, but don't work as hard as these guys, and they get it. It's just a luck thing. Somebody liked them. They had the right look. They had the right personality. Something with that was, they, that got them on. How do people look at that in life? Do they give up, and they say, "Fuck it. I just keep working in the way that's been failing all my life until something happens"?

Lewis Howes 39:20 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 39:21 How, how do they, how do they look like? How does somebody think outside of the box and say, "We're not gonna do it that way no more and just wait for somebody to like us. We're gonna make our own life. We're gonna make our own future."

Lewis Howes 39:32 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 39:32 "We're gonna create our own jobs."

Lewis Howes 39:34 Mm-hmm.

Mike Tyson 39:36 That's how it s- that's how it happens.

Lewis Howes 39:38 Yeah.

Mike Tyson 39:39 Happens from watching failures.

Lewis Howes 39:41 Sure.

Mike Tyson 39:42 Watching people just try, try and fail, and then somebody said, "This is the way."

Lewis Howes 39:47 Mm.

Mike Tyson 39:48 And that's how dynasty been made.

Lewis Howes 39:50 Absolutely. How can we support you? What's, uh, you know, you got your show. You got your company.

Mike Tyson 39:55 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 39:56 You got the ranch. Tell us where we can connect with you, how we can support you.

Mike Tyson 39:59 Hey, listen. Hotboxin is just, um-

Lewis Howes 40:02 It's amazing

Mike Tyson 40:02 ... my podcast. You guys can-

Lewis Howes 40:04 It's amazing

Mike Tyson 40:04 ... check in, subscribe there, and just hang out with us.

Lewis Howes 40:08 [laughs] It's incredible.

Mike Tyson 40:08 And it's gonna be really interesting.

Lewis Howes 40:10 Hot ... It's, it's on, uh, YouTube. It's on iTunes.

Mike Tyson 40:12 Yes.

Lewis Howes 40:12 It's on-

Mike Tyson 40:12 It's all over the world.

Lewis Howes 40:13 Hotboxin.

Mike Tyson 40:14 Hotboxin with Mike Tyson. Yes.

Lewis Howes 40:16 And, uh-

Mike Tyson 40:17 And Evan Britton.

Lewis Howes 40:18 Yeah, Evan's amazing on there. I went on there-

Mike Tyson 40:19 And there's an old boxer. So you guys, there's an old boxer named Jack Britton. Look up Jack Britton.

Lewis Howes 40:23 Okay. Is that a-

Mike Tyson 40:25 New York fighter

Lewis Howes 40:26 I'll look-

Mike Tyson 40:26 Irish man, Jack Britton

Lewis Howes 40:27 ... I'll look him up later. Who's that?

Mike Tyson 40:28 Jack Britton.

Lewis Howes 40:29 I know that's his fucking dad. [laughs]

Mike Tyson 40:30 Great fighter. Had like three, had like three Welterweight champ, probably two-time Welterweight champion. Had around 350 fights.

Lewis Howes 40:36 Wow.

Mike Tyson 40:38 Jack Britton.

Lewis Howes 40:38 Related,

Lewis Howes 40:39 no? Maybe. [laughs] That's cool. I don't know much about my dad's side, so. You, you've had some incredible people on there. You had Snoop. You had LL Cool J recently.

Mike Tyson 40:46 Yes, yeah.

Lewis Howes 40:47 You had Lewis Howes on there.

Mike Tyson 40:48 Yeah.

Lewis Howes 40:48 So make sure you check that episode out as well.

Mike Tyson 40:50 There's some really, um, interesting stories on there.

Lewis Howes 40:53 That, I, I mean, you got, you share some crazy stuff.

Mike Tyson 40:56 But it is what it is.

Lewis Howes 40:56 It's amazing. So you guys gotta check this out 'cause the stories you've been through are amazing.

Mike Tyson 40:59 Thank you.

Lewis Howes 41:00 So check that out. Where else? They can follow you on Instagram, Twitter.

Mike Tyson 41:02 Yes.

Lewis Howes 41:02 Mike Tyson everywhere.

Mike Tyson 41:03 All of them.

Lewis Howes 41:04 Freaking everywhere.

Mike Tyson 41:05 [laughs]

Lewis Howes 41:05 You're worldwide, baby.

Mike Tyson 41:06 [laughs] Hey, this guy's got the energy to play, but I don't even feel comfortable cursing.

Lewis Howes 41:10 [laughs]

Mike Tyson 41:11 I said a few curse words. I feel like I got stuck with a hot coal.

Lewis Howes 41:14 It's all good.

Mike Tyson 41:14 Oh, he said this, that, and the third.

Lewis Howes 41:15 It's all good.

Mike Tyson 41:15 [laughs]

Lewis Howes 41:16 Um, I got one final question for you, Mike.

Mike Tyson 41:18 Tell me.

Lewis Howes 41:19 But before I do-

Mike Tyson 41:19 Tell me

Lewis Howes 41:20 ... I wanna, I wanna acknowledge you one more time for-

Mike Tyson 41:22 All right

Lewis Howes 41:22 ... for all the growth because you could've easily tapped out. You could've easily gone back to jail.

Mike Tyson 41:27 I'm never gonna tap out. I'm never gonna do that. I'm just gonna always, um, try hard and see what's gonna happen.

Lewis Howes 41:32 Yeah, yeah.

Mike Tyson 41:32 'Cause I, 'cause listen, I've been worse than this. I've been in a worse situation than I ever been, and why ... Yes, and I didn't give up then. Why am I gonna give up now?

Lewis Howes 41:40 I like it.

Mike Tyson 41:40 When I'm at the height of my life now, why would I give up?

Lewis Howes 41:42 I love it, man.

Mike Tyson 41:43 What the hell am I doing?

Lewis Howes 41:44 I love it, man.

Mike Tyson 41:44 This is a dream right now.

Lewis Howes 41:46 Living the dream, baby.

Mike Tyson 41:47 Yeah, no doubt about it.

Lewis Howes 41:49 Um, final question then is what's your definition of greatness?

Mike Tyson 41:53 Um, my definition of greatness is, um, someone or something that, um, that can do the most difficult thing in the world with the most simple of ease.

Lewis Howes 42:09 Mm.

Mike Tyson 42:09 That's greatness.

Lewis Howes 42:10 Ooh. [upbeat music] Mike Tyson, the man. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you, bro.

Mike Tyson 42:15 Thank you, man.

Lewis Howes 42:16 That was powerful. [upbeat music]