Whoa, the idea, the big one is the stoned ape theory
Terence McKenna’s theory was the reason why the human brain size doubled over a period of 2 million years
And he equates it to the time where the climate changed
And rainforest receded into grasslands, and these monkeys climbed down from trees
They started experimenting with new food sources, and they would flip over cow patties to find like bugs and beetles and shit
When they saw mushrooms growing in the cow patties
Certain groups of these monkeys started eating these mushrooms
Two things happened
One, it increased their visual acuity and made them be able to see much better
And then the other thing that happened is it made them horny
So here you have these better hunters, they can see things better, they probably can throw things and they're more accurate, and then they're horny, so they're gonna fuck
And then of course, as they're eating plates of these fucking things
They're gonna have psychedelic experiences
And if you're a monkey maybe and if you have psychedelic experiences every day
It's like a forced-fed evolution thing
It's like a forced-fed evolution thing
[Pre-Chorus]
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
If we figure out eventually we are all one thing
These spores are all like they can go in a vacuum in space
They can travel in extreme cold, extreme heat
They can absorb radiation and not get damaged
And they can travel from other planets
Like if a meteor hits, a chunk of this planet can get knocked off
It gets sent flying into space and it lands on another planet
And those spores get to give birth on this planet
And just communicate with all the animals that are here
When you have a DMT trip, it feels like communication with intent, but with no words
I understand exactly what you're saying, but I understand it more as like a wave
It's like a very clear and obvious wave of information
One of the times I had this DMT trip, the DMT things
They would say a bunch of the same things
Relax and don't give into astonishment, but they're not using words
That's the next shit, man
[Chorus]
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
They start to look at this, they're starting to back off, starting to look up at the sky
And they're starting to look to the left and look to the right and go
"Whoa, what the fuck is this? What is this thing we're doing here?"
'Cause this isn't just we're living life
In the beginning, Bob was a baby. Bob went to high school, then college
He played a bit of football before settling down with his…
No, no, no, no, no, no, that's some of that shit we made up to make ourselves feel more comfortable
Those events are actually taking place
Bob is going to school, but that doesn't mean shit, okay?
What really means something is we're flying through the fucking universe
Flying through the fucking universe
We're in space. We are in a ship, it's an organic ship
We're not on the ground. We're not on the ground, we're flying
“I'm afraid to be in space in a spaceship”
You're on a spaceship right now
It's just fucking huge
It’s a 24,000 mile across spaceship
Okay, it's a spaceship, that's what it is. Okay, it's a spaceship
We're not grounded. It's not like the universe is a solid mass and we're sitting on it
We're flying, we are right now hurling and we're spinning 1,000 miles an hour around massive nuclear explosions
[Chorus]
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
Terence McKenna’s theory was the reason why the human brain size doubled over a period of 2 million years
And he equates it to the time where the climate changed
And rainforest receded into grasslands, and these monkeys climbed down from trees
They started experimenting with new food sources, and they would flip over cow patties to find like bugs and beetles and shit
When they saw mushrooms growing in the cow patties
Certain groups of these monkeys started eating these mushrooms
Two things happened
One, it increased their visual acuity and made them be able to see much better
And then the other thing that happened is it made them horny
So here you have these better hunters, they can see things better, they probably can throw things and they're more accurate, and then they're horny, so they're gonna fuck
And then of course, as they're eating plates of these fucking things
They're gonna have psychedelic experiences
And if you're a monkey maybe and if you have psychedelic experiences every day
It's like a forced-fed evolution thing
It's like a forced-fed evolution thing
[Pre-Chorus]
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
If we figure out eventually we are all one thing
These spores are all like they can go in a vacuum in space
They can travel in extreme cold, extreme heat
They can absorb radiation and not get damaged
And they can travel from other planets
Like if a meteor hits, a chunk of this planet can get knocked off
It gets sent flying into space and it lands on another planet
And those spores get to give birth on this planet
And just communicate with all the animals that are here
When you have a DMT trip, it feels like communication with intent, but with no words
I understand exactly what you're saying, but I understand it more as like a wave
It's like a very clear and obvious wave of information
One of the times I had this DMT trip, the DMT things
They would say a bunch of the same things
Relax and don't give into astonishment, but they're not using words
That's the next shit, man
[Chorus]
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
They start to look at this, they're starting to back off, starting to look up at the sky
And they're starting to look to the left and look to the right and go
"Whoa, what the fuck is this? What is this thing we're doing here?"
'Cause this isn't just we're living life
In the beginning, Bob was a baby. Bob went to high school, then college
He played a bit of football before settling down with his…
No, no, no, no, no, no, that's some of that shit we made up to make ourselves feel more comfortable
Those events are actually taking place
Bob is going to school, but that doesn't mean shit, okay?
What really means something is we're flying through the fucking universe
Flying through the fucking universe
We're in space. We are in a ship, it's an organic ship
We're not on the ground. We're not on the ground, we're flying
“I'm afraid to be in space in a spaceship”
You're on a spaceship right now
It's just fucking huge
It’s a 24,000 mile across spaceship
Okay, it's a spaceship, that's what it is. Okay, it's a spaceship
We're not grounded. It's not like the universe is a solid mass and we're sitting on it
We're flying, we are right now hurling and we're spinning 1,000 miles an hour around massive nuclear explosions
[Chorus]
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Psychedelic experiences every day, every day, every day
Monkeys in space
Monkeys in space
It's this fear of discomfort
People have this extreme feeling in their mind when it comes to their associations with exercise
They want to avoid discomfort
They feel like any type of exercise is just like something to be avoided, that's not for me, fuck that
I don't wanna sweat, I don't wanna strain
I don't wanna sweat, I don't wanna strain
A lot of times this association that they have is about the beginnings of getting in shape
It's not about once you're actually fit
'Cause once you're actually fit, then you look forward to, it feels great
If I can't get a workout in, I look at my schedule and go
Oh shit, I don't have any time for workout, which means I'm not going to get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling
And so instead of looking at it like, “Oh, I've gotta go grunt and sweat.”
I'm thinking I'm not gonna feel good, I'm not gonna feel relaxed, I'm not going to feel carefree
Even appreciative, like my appreciation of things, it gets enhanced greatly after exercise
I just feel better
[Chorus]
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
It feels great
To most people, their associations are to avoid anything that's uncomfortable
It's so illogical
Discomfort is your friend, it really is
Discomfort, not being happy and content with certain situations in life, they are massive, massive motivators
They're amazing at facilitating change
Yet our instinct is to avoid those and just sit on the couch
And watch some fucking reality show
It's bizarre
When I would get really disciplined and really consistent with my workouts
I almost feel momentum
I feel like there's push behind me, like, all right, yeah, now I'm doing it
[Chorus]
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
Yeah, now I'm doing it
Yeah, now I'm doing it
I'm doing it all the time now
I'm looking forward to the next time, and it makes that resistance much weaker and it makes my motivation and my discipline much stronger
I think a lot of it is based on just the consistency
Blowing something off is not just bad for you physically, it's also bad mentally
Because then that option is now available, the option to fuck off
You did it before and you're probably gonna do it again, and you'll get mediocre results, not just in that aspect of your life, maybe in all aspects of your life
That option to fuck off, when you embrace it
That is a pathway that you might choose when it comes to dealing with conflict in your personal life
Business, business decisions, career decisions, like an uncomfortable decision that you might be faced with
What your pathway is in life, but you don't do it
Instead, you fuck off
And that inclination to fuck off, that gathers momentum as well
The inclination to be disciplined, that comes with momentum
I think both things, you take a path
[Chorus]
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
It feels great
It feels great
You take a path
Or the path of the fuck off
Your body is like a race car that you can juice up yourself
You can add the fat car, you can add, improve suspension
You can beef up the horsepower in the engine
You can do all that yourself
Or you can just choose to have this shitty body
No one's under the illusion that you're gonna live forever, but you are enhancing the experience that you're currently involved in right now
You are alive, you do experience this life, but do you experience this life optimally?
Is it as enjoyable as it can be?
And we all know that there's a spectrum for that enjoyability
We've all had times in our life where it's not been so great
And then times in our life where everything came together
Like what a fucking great day, woo!
Great day, woo!
Great day, woo!
Great day, woo!
Make more of those
Make more of those
Make more of those
You can make more of those
And then the whole thing is better
And then the whole thing is better
And I think when that whole thing is better, it affects everybody you touch
Everybody that's around you, everybody you come in contact with
That in turn, I mean, it sounds so grandiose, but in turn can affect the entire race of human beings
People have this extreme feeling in their mind when it comes to their associations with exercise
They want to avoid discomfort
They feel like any type of exercise is just like something to be avoided, that's not for me, fuck that
I don't wanna sweat, I don't wanna strain
I don't wanna sweat, I don't wanna strain
A lot of times this association that they have is about the beginnings of getting in shape
It's not about once you're actually fit
'Cause once you're actually fit, then you look forward to, it feels great
If I can't get a workout in, I look at my schedule and go
Oh shit, I don't have any time for workout, which means I'm not going to get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling
And so instead of looking at it like, “Oh, I've gotta go grunt and sweat.”
I'm thinking I'm not gonna feel good, I'm not gonna feel relaxed, I'm not going to feel carefree
Even appreciative, like my appreciation of things, it gets enhanced greatly after exercise
I just feel better
[Chorus]
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
It feels great
To most people, their associations are to avoid anything that's uncomfortable
It's so illogical
Discomfort is your friend, it really is
Discomfort, not being happy and content with certain situations in life, they are massive, massive motivators
They're amazing at facilitating change
Yet our instinct is to avoid those and just sit on the couch
And watch some fucking reality show
It's bizarre
When I would get really disciplined and really consistent with my workouts
I almost feel momentum
I feel like there's push behind me, like, all right, yeah, now I'm doing it
[Chorus]
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
Yeah, now I'm doing it
Yeah, now I'm doing it
I'm doing it all the time now
I'm looking forward to the next time, and it makes that resistance much weaker and it makes my motivation and my discipline much stronger
I think a lot of it is based on just the consistency
Blowing something off is not just bad for you physically, it's also bad mentally
Because then that option is now available, the option to fuck off
You did it before and you're probably gonna do it again, and you'll get mediocre results, not just in that aspect of your life, maybe in all aspects of your life
That option to fuck off, when you embrace it
That is a pathway that you might choose when it comes to dealing with conflict in your personal life
Business, business decisions, career decisions, like an uncomfortable decision that you might be faced with
What your pathway is in life, but you don't do it
Instead, you fuck off
And that inclination to fuck off, that gathers momentum as well
The inclination to be disciplined, that comes with momentum
I think both things, you take a path
[Chorus]
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
I wanna sweat, I wanna strain
Get that good feeling, get, get that good feeling, get that good feeling
It feels great
It feels great
You take a path
Or the path of the fuck off
Your body is like a race car that you can juice up yourself
You can add the fat car, you can add, improve suspension
You can beef up the horsepower in the engine
You can do all that yourself
Or you can just choose to have this shitty body
No one's under the illusion that you're gonna live forever, but you are enhancing the experience that you're currently involved in right now
You are alive, you do experience this life, but do you experience this life optimally?
Is it as enjoyable as it can be?
And we all know that there's a spectrum for that enjoyability
We've all had times in our life where it's not been so great
And then times in our life where everything came together
Like what a fucking great day, woo!
Great day, woo!
Great day, woo!
Great day, woo!
Make more of those
Make more of those
Make more of those
You can make more of those
And then the whole thing is better
And then the whole thing is better
And I think when that whole thing is better, it affects everybody you touch
Everybody that's around you, everybody you come in contact with
That in turn, I mean, it sounds so grandiose, but in turn can affect the entire race of human beings
I fought from the time I was 15, and I think I had my last fight, it was either I was 21 or 22
The last three fights were kickboxing fights, and I had those while I was doing standup comedy
I was spreading myself too thin
I was working a bunch of different jobs, I was working delivering newspapers, I was working as a private investigator's assistant, I did some construction, I did a bunch of different odd jobs to make a living
I had three kickboxing fights, and I was entertaining the idea of fighting professionally
But I was also starting to get really worried about brain damage
I did a lot of boxing, sparring and a lot of what you would call gym wars
Where guys would just, we would beat the shit out of each other
And you'd get hurt and come home with headaches
You would basically be fighting in the gym
The gyms that I came up in were real hard nose, really you know, tough gyms
If you weren't tough
You did not survive, and they weren't interested in anybody that couldn't take a shot or anybody that wasn't willing to go to war
So you would put on a mouthpiece and put on a cup, you put your shin pads on, and you'd beat the fuck out of each other
And that was a big part of learning how to fight
[Pre-Chorus]
You would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight, all the time
I would make some of the people laugh in training
'Cause we were always nervous
Everytime, when we would go to tournament's, we were nervous, because, you know
I'd seen many of my friends get knocked unconscious in these tournaments, get kicked in the head, taken to hospitals
And you know, I'd seen it in the gym too, a lot of guys getting beat up and knocked down
It was constant
It had happened to me a couple of times. I'd been hurt
So we had this gallows humor
We would go to these events
The tension would be so thick
Everybody taking deep breaths and trying to relax and just stay loose before you fight
And I would be the class clown
It was a charged environment
So anything that I said that was actually funny would get a giant reaction, and that became addictive
[Chorus]
You would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight, all the time
You would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight, all the time
My take on it was, you think I'm funny because you're my friend
But other people are gonna think I'm an asshole
Like the things that I think are funny are fucked up
I have a fucked up sense of humor
I mean, here I am devoting most of my time trying to get really good at knocking people unconscious
Trying to separate people and their consciousness
So I was doing my best every day to get good at that
I was trying to hurt people. That's what I was trying to get good at
I was trying to get good at hurting the human body. I was such a weirdo
No one would think that the things that I was making fun of were funny
But I knew from martial arts that if I worked really hard at something, I could get good at it
And I had this thought that maybe I could do that with comedy 'cause I didn't wanna fight anymore
I mean, for a person who's been through what I've done with my body, my body works remarkably well
But the brain damage thing, I don't know, I really don't know
I really step back and think about some of those wars that I was in
In my last fight, I got TKO'd, I got stopped
I got hit with a left hook and dropped, and my legs went out from under me, and then I got up and I get hit again, fell down again and they stopped the fight
That was when I decided I'm going to stop
I know where this is going. I saw guys at the gym, who were punchdrunk
Slurring their words, they would forget things, and I had seen some people progress towards that, and it was very, very disturbing
And I'd be lying in bed at night after a hard sparring session and my head would be pounding
I would think, "What am I doing to my fucking brain? Like, what am I doing to myself?"
I got real lucky that I found standup comedy
[Chorus]
You would fight all the time
You would fight all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight all the time
Basically, you're having fights all the time, you would fight all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight all the time
I mean if the UFC was around back then, I most certainly would've started fighting
And you know to not be training intelligently, because I wasn't training intelligent
I was training like a meathead
And that was just all we knew back then
I probably would have sustained some pretty significant damage before I ever even got into the Octagon
I probably would've already had massive brain damage before I ever had a fight
The last three fights were kickboxing fights, and I had those while I was doing standup comedy
I was spreading myself too thin
I was working a bunch of different jobs, I was working delivering newspapers, I was working as a private investigator's assistant, I did some construction, I did a bunch of different odd jobs to make a living
I had three kickboxing fights, and I was entertaining the idea of fighting professionally
But I was also starting to get really worried about brain damage
I did a lot of boxing, sparring and a lot of what you would call gym wars
Where guys would just, we would beat the shit out of each other
And you'd get hurt and come home with headaches
You would basically be fighting in the gym
The gyms that I came up in were real hard nose, really you know, tough gyms
If you weren't tough
You did not survive, and they weren't interested in anybody that couldn't take a shot or anybody that wasn't willing to go to war
So you would put on a mouthpiece and put on a cup, you put your shin pads on, and you'd beat the fuck out of each other
And that was a big part of learning how to fight
[Pre-Chorus]
You would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight, all the time
I would make some of the people laugh in training
'Cause we were always nervous
Everytime, when we would go to tournament's, we were nervous, because, you know
I'd seen many of my friends get knocked unconscious in these tournaments, get kicked in the head, taken to hospitals
And you know, I'd seen it in the gym too, a lot of guys getting beat up and knocked down
It was constant
It had happened to me a couple of times. I'd been hurt
So we had this gallows humor
We would go to these events
The tension would be so thick
Everybody taking deep breaths and trying to relax and just stay loose before you fight
And I would be the class clown
It was a charged environment
So anything that I said that was actually funny would get a giant reaction, and that became addictive
[Chorus]
You would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight, all the time
You would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight, all the time
My take on it was, you think I'm funny because you're my friend
But other people are gonna think I'm an asshole
Like the things that I think are funny are fucked up
I have a fucked up sense of humor
I mean, here I am devoting most of my time trying to get really good at knocking people unconscious
Trying to separate people and their consciousness
So I was doing my best every day to get good at that
I was trying to hurt people. That's what I was trying to get good at
I was trying to get good at hurting the human body. I was such a weirdo
No one would think that the things that I was making fun of were funny
But I knew from martial arts that if I worked really hard at something, I could get good at it
And I had this thought that maybe I could do that with comedy 'cause I didn't wanna fight anymore
I mean, for a person who's been through what I've done with my body, my body works remarkably well
But the brain damage thing, I don't know, I really don't know
I really step back and think about some of those wars that I was in
In my last fight, I got TKO'd, I got stopped
I got hit with a left hook and dropped, and my legs went out from under me, and then I got up and I get hit again, fell down again and they stopped the fight
That was when I decided I'm going to stop
I know where this is going. I saw guys at the gym, who were punchdrunk
Slurring their words, they would forget things, and I had seen some people progress towards that, and it was very, very disturbing
And I'd be lying in bed at night after a hard sparring session and my head would be pounding
I would think, "What am I doing to my fucking brain? Like, what am I doing to myself?"
I got real lucky that I found standup comedy
[Chorus]
You would fight all the time
You would fight all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight, all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight all the time
Basically, you're having fights all the time, you would fight all the time
I'd have fights several days a week
You would fight, you would fight all the time
Fight, fight all the time
You would fight, you would fight, you would fight all the time
I mean if the UFC was around back then, I most certainly would've started fighting
And you know to not be training intelligently, because I wasn't training intelligent
I was training like a meathead
And that was just all we knew back then
I probably would have sustained some pretty significant damage before I ever even got into the Octagon
I probably would've already had massive brain damage before I ever had a fight
[Jordan Peterson]: We're gonna go back to Boston
Okay
[Jordan Peterson]: Okay. So you said that's really where things started for you. So you moved there when you were 13. First of all, like what kind of kid were you in school?
If ADD is real, I certainly had it
And I was very, very interested in what I was interested in
I was very uninterested in people telling me what to do
Essentially couldn't wait to get out of school
But I would excel at things that I had interest in
Initially, it was art. I wanted to be a comic book illustrator, until I really got into martial arts
Then martial arts became the focus of my life
Around 14, 15 years old, that's when I really became massively obsessed
And it was really the first thing that I ever did where I really didn't feel like a loser
Like I really felt like, “Oh, I actually have some talent. I actually can be exceptional.” It's like something
Because you know I grew up constantly moving, didn't really have a lot of friends, I would be new in this town, I'd get picked on, I wasn't a big kid
And there was a lot of issues with that psychologically
I didn't like being afraid of other kids. I didn't like not knowing what to do if I ran into a kid, and they were gonna bully me and pick on me
You know, martial arts changed that 180 degrees
[Chorus]
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
So what I was, was someone who was terrified of conflict, didn't know what to do
And what I became was a Taekwondo champion
I became a martial arts champion
I knew how to fight
[Jordan Peterson]: How did it come about?
It was very fortunate
I'd done a little bit of martial arts training
Then one day I was in Boston for a Red Sox game, and as I was walking home to the train station, I decided to go check out the Jae Hun Kim Taekwondo Institute
It was right there
So I went up the stairs and as I was walking up the stairs a guy named John Lee was training
I heard this crazy sound, what it turned out to be this man kicking this bag and slamming his heel into this bag and having the chain snap and rattle and the thud of his heel slamming into this leather bag
I got up there and I watched this guy workout
I couldn't believe a person could do that
I'd never seen anybody kick something so hard in real life
Anybody that had such incredible martial arts skill like this guy did, John Lee, who became a mentor of mine
That changed everything
I was there the next day
I talked to them, they gave me a brochure and a pamphlet
I was probably there every day of my life until I was 22 years old
Just completely by luck, wandered into one of the best schools in the world for taekwondo
I just got lucky
I got really, really, really lucky
[Chorus]
I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
I had keys pretty quickly
Right away, my instructor recognized that I was pretty obsessed and I was physically pretty talented
So he had me teaching classes instead of paying
One of the best ways for someone to get good at martial arts is actually to teach
It actually refines your technique
You think about it more. I was 14 or 15 by the time I got to that school
I had my black belt by the time I was 17, and I was competing in the adult division by then
I won the state championship when I was 18, and I won it every year from then until I stopped
Luckily with high school, kids heard about it right away
One of the kids you go to school with is flying all over the country, kicking people in the head
They just avoided me
People avoided me, junior and senior year
I'd already become this weird kid that was obsessed with martial arts
I spent most of my life from the time I was 15, till I was 21 training and competing
I've probably fought over a hundred times, a 100% singular, uniquely singular, but I avoided most of the pitfalls, high school partying and all that stuff
I didn't do that because I was scared of getting hurt
I was scared if I showed up for training hungover that I'd get beat up
I was scared of anything that would take even a tiny bit away from my performance as a fighter
'Cause I was obsessed with it
[Chorus]
I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
Okay
[Jordan Peterson]: Okay. So you said that's really where things started for you. So you moved there when you were 13. First of all, like what kind of kid were you in school?
If ADD is real, I certainly had it
And I was very, very interested in what I was interested in
I was very uninterested in people telling me what to do
Essentially couldn't wait to get out of school
But I would excel at things that I had interest in
Initially, it was art. I wanted to be a comic book illustrator, until I really got into martial arts
Then martial arts became the focus of my life
Around 14, 15 years old, that's when I really became massively obsessed
And it was really the first thing that I ever did where I really didn't feel like a loser
Like I really felt like, “Oh, I actually have some talent. I actually can be exceptional.” It's like something
Because you know I grew up constantly moving, didn't really have a lot of friends, I would be new in this town, I'd get picked on, I wasn't a big kid
And there was a lot of issues with that psychologically
I didn't like being afraid of other kids. I didn't like not knowing what to do if I ran into a kid, and they were gonna bully me and pick on me
You know, martial arts changed that 180 degrees
[Chorus]
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
So what I was, was someone who was terrified of conflict, didn't know what to do
And what I became was a Taekwondo champion
I became a martial arts champion
I knew how to fight
[Jordan Peterson]: How did it come about?
It was very fortunate
I'd done a little bit of martial arts training
Then one day I was in Boston for a Red Sox game, and as I was walking home to the train station, I decided to go check out the Jae Hun Kim Taekwondo Institute
It was right there
So I went up the stairs and as I was walking up the stairs a guy named John Lee was training
I heard this crazy sound, what it turned out to be this man kicking this bag and slamming his heel into this bag and having the chain snap and rattle and the thud of his heel slamming into this leather bag
I got up there and I watched this guy workout
I couldn't believe a person could do that
I'd never seen anybody kick something so hard in real life
Anybody that had such incredible martial arts skill like this guy did, John Lee, who became a mentor of mine
That changed everything
I was there the next day
I talked to them, they gave me a brochure and a pamphlet
I was probably there every day of my life until I was 22 years old
Just completely by luck, wandered into one of the best schools in the world for taekwondo
I just got lucky
I got really, really, really lucky
[Chorus]
I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
I had keys pretty quickly
Right away, my instructor recognized that I was pretty obsessed and I was physically pretty talented
So he had me teaching classes instead of paying
One of the best ways for someone to get good at martial arts is actually to teach
It actually refines your technique
You think about it more. I was 14 or 15 by the time I got to that school
I had my black belt by the time I was 17, and I was competing in the adult division by then
I won the state championship when I was 18, and I won it every year from then until I stopped
Luckily with high school, kids heard about it right away
One of the kids you go to school with is flying all over the country, kicking people in the head
They just avoided me
People avoided me, junior and senior year
I'd already become this weird kid that was obsessed with martial arts
I spent most of my life from the time I was 15, till I was 21 training and competing
I've probably fought over a hundred times, a 100% singular, uniquely singular, but I avoided most of the pitfalls, high school partying and all that stuff
I didn't do that because I was scared of getting hurt
I was scared if I showed up for training hungover that I'd get beat up
I was scared of anything that would take even a tiny bit away from my performance as a fighter
'Cause I was obsessed with it
[Chorus]
I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
And then I became someone
Who I would be afraid of
You know, I became the opposite of what I was
I don’t know about that
Some of ‘em maybe
But I think some of ‘em just don’t have discipline
There's also an issue of momentum
You're not used to doing it, it's not a part of your life
It's not something that you're accustomed to pushing yourself
There's been many, many, many, many, many, many, many days where I didn't wanna work out
I just didn't feel like I had the energy and I just forced myself
And I think there's very few people out there that know how to force themselves That's a learned skill
You have to have real rigid requirements of yourself
Where you don't allow yourself to back out of things
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Excuses are a giant part of the problem
It's not simply a physical health issue
There's also mental aspects of it and discipline's a big one
I just know way too many people who are weak mentally
I can't just chalk it off to only the way they physically feel
'Cause I've felt like shit a hundred times, and then I worked out and then I felt way better
It's just a fact of life, that's real
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
(People don't know how to do that)
Do something
And if you're used to doing this
Get in your car, sit down
Drive to the office, sit down
Go to lunch, sit down
Go to the board meeting, sit down
Get in your car, sit down
Get home, sit down
Then go to the gym? Fuck off
It's one thing if someone has good legit physical issues
But there's a lot of people who do not
They just have poor diet choices, they have a sedentary lifestyle, and they have the momentum of this sedentary lifestyle that's holding them back
They're accustomed to being lazy
You don't have to do a lot. You just have to do something
You walk up hills, you jump a little rope, you take a little tiny kettle bell, you do a couple cleans and presses, you do a few pushups, you do a few sit ups to get your blood pumping
You're moving, you're alive
To say you don't have enough energy to exercise, that is crazy to say
Can you walk to the fucking refrigerator? Yes
Well, you can exercise
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
You don't have to do anything crazy
Just walk around the block
There's 80-year-old ladies who take yoga with me
They're fucking really old and they're in there
They're going after it. They could easily say, "I don't have the energy to do that."
But they don't. It's a mental attitude
They make a decision
Besides you don’t have to kill yourself, you don’t have to go to a CrossFit class and try to do the workout of the day
You don't have to go nuts
You don't have to do that
But you got to do something
Just get-get your blood moving
Your body has requirements
It wants to move
It wants to move
And when it does, you feel better
But people like to give themselves this excuse, "I do not have the energy to do this." Whatever
If you decide that, that's true
But if you watch a motivational video, there's a hundred of them on YouTube thousands even
You go watch one, you get fired up. You're like, "Fuck it, I'm gonna jump some rope." You jump some rope, you do something
Do some pushups, do something, you'll feel better
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
(Pull that shit up, Jamie)
We have fucked up lifestyles
The human body is not designed to sit down all day
And certainly not designed to be stuck in traffic
And be in the office and just be in front of a fucking computer monitor watching your soul get sucked through the LCD screen
It's crazy. You gotta be really careful with just the way you describe things
Just like, say, "I don't have the energy to do something."
Fuck off, stop
Some of ‘em maybe
But I think some of ‘em just don’t have discipline
There's also an issue of momentum
You're not used to doing it, it's not a part of your life
It's not something that you're accustomed to pushing yourself
There's been many, many, many, many, many, many, many days where I didn't wanna work out
I just didn't feel like I had the energy and I just forced myself
And I think there's very few people out there that know how to force themselves That's a learned skill
You have to have real rigid requirements of yourself
Where you don't allow yourself to back out of things
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Excuses are a giant part of the problem
It's not simply a physical health issue
There's also mental aspects of it and discipline's a big one
I just know way too many people who are weak mentally
I can't just chalk it off to only the way they physically feel
'Cause I've felt like shit a hundred times, and then I worked out and then I felt way better
It's just a fact of life, that's real
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
(People don't know how to do that)
Do something
And if you're used to doing this
Get in your car, sit down
Drive to the office, sit down
Go to lunch, sit down
Go to the board meeting, sit down
Get in your car, sit down
Get home, sit down
Then go to the gym? Fuck off
It's one thing if someone has good legit physical issues
But there's a lot of people who do not
They just have poor diet choices, they have a sedentary lifestyle, and they have the momentum of this sedentary lifestyle that's holding them back
They're accustomed to being lazy
You don't have to do a lot. You just have to do something
You walk up hills, you jump a little rope, you take a little tiny kettle bell, you do a couple cleans and presses, you do a few pushups, you do a few sit ups to get your blood pumping
You're moving, you're alive
To say you don't have enough energy to exercise, that is crazy to say
Can you walk to the fucking refrigerator? Yes
Well, you can exercise
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
You don't have to do anything crazy
Just walk around the block
There's 80-year-old ladies who take yoga with me
They're fucking really old and they're in there
They're going after it. They could easily say, "I don't have the energy to do that."
But they don't. It's a mental attitude
They make a decision
Besides you don’t have to kill yourself, you don’t have to go to a CrossFit class and try to do the workout of the day
You don't have to go nuts
You don't have to do that
But you got to do something
Just get-get your blood moving
Your body has requirements
It wants to move
It wants to move
And when it does, you feel better
But people like to give themselves this excuse, "I do not have the energy to do this." Whatever
If you decide that, that's true
But if you watch a motivational video, there's a hundred of them on YouTube thousands even
You go watch one, you get fired up. You're like, "Fuck it, I'm gonna jump some rope." You jump some rope, you do something
Do some pushups, do something, you'll feel better
[Chorus]
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
Do something
(Pull that shit up, Jamie)
We have fucked up lifestyles
The human body is not designed to sit down all day
And certainly not designed to be stuck in traffic
And be in the office and just be in front of a fucking computer monitor watching your soul get sucked through the LCD screen
It's crazy. You gotta be really careful with just the way you describe things
Just like, say, "I don't have the energy to do something."
Fuck off, stop