Plant a Forest You’ll Never See

you can think big and then it's no longer about you, you probably make more intelligent decisions. Exactly. That's a key thing, right? It should not be about you.

Well, at least in what I'm doing, it shouldn't be about me. The thing that where I came up with the 300 plan is that we have a property, a 16-acre property in Costa Rica,

and there's a land-next-doll that has a beautiful tree on it. Gigantic, gigantic tree. I mean, it's literally about 15 feet wide. When you stand underneath this big tree and you look up at

this massive trunk, you go like, wow, what an experience. It's been here for hundreds of years. It's seen everything, you know? And you're like, this is such an amazing experience.

And most across the area has been deforested. So I'm thinking to myself, how can someone have this experience? The only way someone can have this experience,

300 years ago, some guy said, I'm gonna create a forest of these trees, protect it. Not for me, because I'm not going to be alive to experience it. I'll be dead by the time this tree gets big.

But 300 years from now, someone's going to have this amazing experience. And I need to create this for someone down the road, for your children, your great-grandchildren,

and their great-grandchildren. And they're going to have it. I'll never enjoy it, but they will. And that whole idea came out of that.

How do I create something that's not about me, but it's about the future? And a lot of people talk about creating a legacy, but it's always surrounding themselves.

This is what I'm leaving behind. I want the world to remember me for this. My guru was, I loved my guru. He had a thousand year plan, you know.

He's building a temple in the monastery that would last a thousand years because it was built out of solid granite. But one of the things I loved about him

when he was dying, he said, get rid of all my stuff. Just burn it, get rid of everything. He said, I don't want people to remember me. I don't want a shrine built to me

where people come and go like, here's the guy that built all of this. He wanted people to remember the teachings and the tools. He said, that's what needs to live on.

This is what will change the world. I was just a guy in between that was just carrying all these teachings and tools. And I think when you think that way,

that's when you have people's best interests in mind. When it's not about me, when I die, I'm gonna tell whoever is there to burn all my stuff and get rid of everything.

I mean, I don't want my picture on the wall. I don't because it can't be about me, it has to be about something greater. Because as soon as I want my picture on the wall,

And it's just about my motives and I will have my own personal wants and needs. And then I'm not thinking selflessly about the big picture. Just get rid of all my stuff. Throw me through my ashes in the room and call it good.

Yeah. When I hear people talk about legacy, sometimes I wonder, yeah, if you're kind of missing the point, because it's maybe not about, it's not about you in the moment, but it's about you later.

So it is ultimately about what you did and left behind. And I always question are those going to be the most well-intentioned goals? They're not because I meet a lot of successful entrepreneurs and a lot of them talk about their legacy. It's all surrounding them and their name and what they're leaving behind and their impact.

But then it ties to them always. So then are you really making a difference when you can truly think selflessly and go on? What does the world need and what do people need? And how can I best serve?

As a monk, we were trained in selfless service that's, you know, being humble and so like we serve with no intention of reward, no intention of name, anything associated with it. It is a gift for the sake of giving because you want to make a difference. And when you approach with that attitude, then you can genuinely see what's best for everyone and do the right thing. Do you have people in your mind that you consider successful when you're like, okay, that person was successful?

Is your guru in that nature or does that word itself? My guru, I would say, probably is in that nature of... But he was a monk, right? So he wouldn't apply to a lot of people.

For me, he would be my ideal. I don't see... I see people being successful in different categories of life. And what I've done for myself is I've created a small group of...

8 to 10 people around the world that are successful in different categories of life that I value. And I surround myself with these people so I can learn from them. One person I feel that I know that lives in Southern California is very successful family-wise. He's also an amazing entrepreneur, but I admire him for the way he lives his family life.

He has five children. He said to me a year or so ago that his 17-year-old son is his best friend. And I said, teach me about that. How do you make your 17-year-old son your best friend?

How do you go surfing with your 17-year-old son three times a week and still ground him when he misbehaves? and still have that, you know, friendship with him. I want to learn that. So if I have children, I want my son to be my best friend, not a stranger. So he's my mentor when it comes to family. Then there's another person that's a mentor when it comes to marketing, another person that comes to

business, and another person when it comes to this. Because there's no one person that can be everything, right? It doesn't mean you're good in one area, you're supposed to be good in every areas. So I have different, a few individuals, men and women, that mentor me in different aspects of life who I feel have achieved success in my mind in that particular area relative

to what I think success is. And then I keep them in my life and I use them as role models upon which I can develop my life into.