Video summary
Alex Hormozi challenges the conventional belief that achieving goals leads to happiness, noting a recurring existential realization where he found himself disappointed after reaching milestones like giving presentations or launching books because the anticipation of those events was often more enjoyable than their execution. He identifies this pattern as evidence against his own "happiness formula," realizing that true joy lies in the pursuit itself rather than the destination. This insight led him to reframe his approach, understanding that he is happiest when engaged in the struggle and toil required to build character traits like being "bulletproof" in marriage, business, and health. Consequently, instead of viewing success as a finish line, Hormozi now sets ambitious goals specifically to extend the period where he can remain in a state of pursuit, effectively turning the journey into the primary source of dopamine and satisfaction rather than waiting for serotonin hits from external validation or easy wins. To maintain this mindset during his "golden years"—a time defined by full health, mental capacity, and financial stability—Hormozi employs powerful gratitude frames that shift perspective away from mundane routines toward appreciation for current capabilities. One such technique involves imagining himself at age 85 waking up as a thirty-year-old again; visualizing the future self's envy over his present energy, clear mind, and lack of physical pain allows him to cherish even small moments like not having brain fog or hurting knees. He also draws inspiration from Sam Harris regarding mindfulness, suggesting that one does not need grand achievements to be present but can instead aim for five specific instances daily where they are fully grounded with their feet underneath them. By treating presence as a trainable skill rather than an all-or-nothing state of meditation, Hormozi finds it possible to capture moments of deep enjoyment independent of his surroundings or the pressure of upcoming deadlines. A key mechanism for sustaining this present-moment awareness is focusing on sensory details that force the mind out of future-oriented planning and into immediate experience. Hormozi cites a specific cue from an embodiment coach involving peripheral vision: when one notices something outside their direct line of sight, they are naturally forced to be in the present moment because it becomes impossible to ignore what exists beyond the narrow tunnel of focused attention. He illustrates this with examples like feeling the texture of perforations on his BMW steering wheel or holding a leaf and truly sensing its sensation; these actions occupy only one megabyte of RAM in the brain, preventing multitasking that leads to mental fog. Even when recalling intense experiences from movies like *Gladiator*, where beauty is found in small details amidst chaos, he applies this logic to real life by looking for corners or textures during difficult times, allowing suffering and struggle to fade away while remaining fully immersed in the immediate reality of the moment.
Read the full video transcript
this is probably one of the heaviest
Hammer blows I think for today this next
one this is a real anger tweeting no
it's not it's an existential one you've
already achieved goals you said would
make you happy
you've already achieved goals you said
would make you happy
Alex's notes to self right
[Laughter]
um
because we all know the happiness
formula which is
um when this happens I'll be happy right
when X I'll be happy or if x I'll be
happy
um
and so we you know I've set up that
equation I'm sure I know you've never
set up this equation for yourself in
your life but you know I've set that up
and I think that just serves as as my my
biggest reminder
um but it's also why I probably am a
pretty existential nihilist overall
um because I I've had so much evidence
that none of those things quote brought
me joy but the things that we were
talking earlier about anticipation being
kind of the hot button on Pleasure yep I
feel like the hot button on Joy for me
is what I'm doing right now so like I
haven't done the event yet right I
haven't I haven't given the presentation
but when I'm in the Rocky cut scene of
like of beating I'm not gonna say
beating the cow carcass I'll say that
was like
um
I was trying to avoid certain words
anyways
um that when I'm when I'm when I'm
putting that work in and doing the Reps
like that's when I'm actually my most in
flow and enjoying myself the most and so
it's actually a lie that I've been
telling myself that like once the
presentation goes well I'll feel good
because in some ways now I feel like
when the presentation happens I'll be
disappointed because I won't get to do
this anymore I'll have to find something
else to pick as a Target so that I can
get back into my Rocky cutscene and so I
think that that that has taken some time
and I've gotten better at it I really do
think I've gotten a lot better at it
um at least recognizing because the more
the more times I've I've had W's
and then realize that right afterwards I
felt nothing
I had to think back of like what are the
things that I enjoyed most in my life
and it's always in Pursuit and I'm like
well then
why don't I set something really big
really far so I can be in Pursuit for
the longest period of time possible and
that's where I think a lot of people
from the outside you know they cast
their expectations of Life onto me and
say I wouldn't live my life that way
you're always you're always working
you're always doing these things but
it's like I'm actually always spending
my time in Pursuit because in Pursuit is
my button for enjoyment well what about
if
it wasn't
achieving the thing at the end if the
reason that you set yourself goals is
exclusively to motivate yourself to
enjoy the route toward those goals and I
know that it's not the destination it's
the journey it's kind of cliche and I
think this is is slightly subtly
different which is that
it's actually about setting the
destination without the destination you
wouldn't do the journey yeah like the
way that you set goals and then achieve
them and the dopamine and the trigger
that you get
um I often think about the balance
between like serotonin Chris and
dopamine Chris and I don't even know the
difference between that well it's like
am I feeling sort of lovey and present
and and and wanting to connect with
people or am I driving toward a thing
because I have a goal that's in front of
me and I'm very sort of dopamine Chris
yeah a lot of the time
um but I genuinely think that if you
remind yourself these are the golden
years yeah like this right now yeah this
when you look back
these will be the golden years right
when I had my health I had my full
mental capacity I had control of my
bladder I had all of the money that I
needed to do the things that I wanted to
crush it with my friends to fly around
America and film these podcasts or to
launch this book that I spend all of
this time on and you can even see it in
the micro you can even see it when you
look back on
stuff that you've done in your
day-to-day business or when you what you
did at University
what were the times that you enjoyed was
it when success success came to you
easily or was it when you stayed up and
ordered dominoes because you had that
project that needed to be in at six in
the morning and you ran an all-nighter
and John slept under the the table and
and everybody ordered monsters and then
the next morning we got it done what was
good about that was it when you
submitted it or was it the dominoes and
the 3am sleep under the table because
I'm pretty sure it's that
I love this as a side note
um
but one of the things that really
motivates me or one of my most powerful
motivational frames is thinking about
the person that I want to become as the
destination
and thinking like I want to be
Bulletproof
I want to be bulletproof in these ways I
want to be bulletproof in my marriage I
want to be bulletproof in my business
Etc
and I think about that man whoever I
want him to be like we said hell is when
you look at who you could have been
and realize that you're not that person
and then I think if I were to make that
man
what would I put that man through to
make him who he is
like it wouldn't be easy times it
wouldn't be quick wins it wouldn't even
be easy wins
it would be the the toil and the
struggle of achieving and reaching for
things
that are right out of grasp that are
right above my threshold and continuing
to do that to like lift the weight to
build the muscle to break it down and do
it over and over again because like
that's what creates the character traits
that are the man that I want to be and
so when I'm going through those like
really harder times I like to think of
like looking in my mental mirror of like
I'm making you I'm not there yet but I'm
making you
and that has helped me get through some
of the harder times
and from a gratitude perspective
my my most powerful frame for gratitude
has been thinking about my 85 year old
self
waking up as my 30 year old self
and all of a sudden looking at Layla and
be like man I remember when we were this
young and then looking out the window
and being like man you know Vegas wasn't
even developed like there's no flying
cars yet like man they were still used
gas like this is so cool and I get out
of bed and I'm like and my elbows don't
hurt my knees don't hurt right because
I'm thinking about my 85 year old self
would think and you know we're talking
about whatever but it it it allows me to
enjoy the mundane in a way that I know
that I would give everything that I had
when I was 85 to enjoy again and it's
just it's a it's a Trippy frame but like
if you can think like what would 85 year
old me would be like I'm just not my
body doesn't hurt you know what I mean
like I actually have energy like I can
think clearly I don't have brain fog
because I'm 85 right and that has been
probably my single most powerful frame
on feeling grateful and allowed me to
feel more present at times when I start
like when I start to feel like I'm going
through the motions and just like
clicking in the routine and just like
day after day after day and they feel
the same that's been my biggest slowdown
where I can pull the reins and be like
just an in my mind you it lasts a few
minutes but when I think back on the
days where I when I use that frame the
part of the day that I remember was just
a few minutes that I use it so I did
this episode did Sam Harris a lot of
people have problems with Sam Harris I
found the time that I spend with him
unbelievably enjoyable I sat opposite
him and a couple of times caught myself
thinking I am having so much fun doing
this and he said this thing and I really
wish that I'd ask them another question
I should email him about it um
I was talking about presence and and the
importance of presence and you could use
it as a proxy for gratitude and he said
that really what you're aiming to do
is find small moments in the day when
you just
open up and realize what's happening
yeah right like Conor McGregor won the
featherweight title twice because he won
the interim because Aldo was injured
right and then he won against Aldo and
somebody asked him
what are you going to do differently
this time again before the Aldo fight
that you didn't do against the in the
Mendes fight he says this time I'm going
to be present and there's this photo of
him and he stood yeah like this at the
weigh-in and you've got this entire yeah
stadium in front of him and he stood
like that he said the first time he did
it he couldn't remember it because he
was just yeah drowning in the in in what
was next yeah and
what I really loved that Sam said and I
think that
you know you look at somebody that's a
master meditator or you set yourself
High bars for what it means to be
mindful and you realize that you can be
present with a sip of a coffee okay I
can be present with this one sip of a
coffee and then it like sand in your
hands or like trying to remember a dream
it just evaporates yeah right okay well
what if your goal was just to try and
get five of those a day yeah what if
that was it what if being mindful was
just five moments when
you allow yourself to be where your feet
are where your feet are underneath you
and then what if you tried to just
string like two of those together five
times a day like just this first Sip and
then as I put it down the view out of
the window oh my God like that's two
things in one and then I can do that
five times and it it if I'd asked him I
would have said
really is the path to just increase the
frequency of the times that you are
where your feet are underneath you
uh and one other cue that I love that I
got from an embodiment coach is the
times when you see in your peripheral
vision you're looking and the way that
our vision actually works your focused
so heavily on what's directly in front
of you if there's ever a Time
when you see what's out here
you realize that it's impossible to see
all of that and not be in the present
moment because you've naturally just
opened yourself up and I love that cue
so during the times when I'm doing
things like that same episode I'm like
the next question and there's millions
of people watching and all this stuff
and there's this guy in front of me and
he's super smart or whatever
ah
this is [ __ ] cool just that one
moment and that when I look back on that
episode that's what I enjoyed
that's what I enjoyed about it so I
think that being where your feet are
underneath you and allowing yourself to
open up and stringing those together
largely allows you to
enjoy being whilst you're in the process
of becoming
it's also interesting
those moments
you can capture a moment independent
from your surroundings because a lot of
times those moments you're not thinking
about the goal that you have the meeting
that you have the the prep that you have
to do for some talk or some podcast or
whatever it is and
a camera where I heard this but they
were talking about Gladiator the movie
and the film opens with this like little
bird on a bow right with like the the
leaves and whatnot and then they zoom
out from that little bird on the on the
on the bow and it's this disgusting war
scene right and so it's kind of like
micro macro micro
um of how no matter how tough whatever
the moment that you're going through is
if you can just take a picture of the
corner of the room and look at the
beauty in that right of being present in
that moment even if it's the suffering
right like you get punched and you're
spitting blood out but it's like this
moment that you capture then all of a
sudden like everything Fades away and
you are present and so it can take this
what would be a brutal war scene of
death and dismemberment and the thing
that makes it memorable is the zooming
in on a detail yeah and so it's like if
we're going if you feel like you're
going through life too fast it's like
just look for a detail
whenever I wanted to try and get myself
back into the present I used to have
brain fog a lot in my 20s oh really and
maybe not brain fog maybe just the
clarity of my thoughts now is so much
better than it used to but I don't
[ __ ] know maybe yeah that was a big
maybe it was just the drugs I don't know
um but one of the things I used to I
used to have this I still have this BMW
sat on my drive
with the perforated steering wheel and I
remember that if I ran my thumbs across
the steering wheel and I really felt the
perforation really felt it or I do it
with a leaf I'd pick a leaf up yeah and
I'd really feel the sensation of the
leaf I couldn't think about anything
else you can only have one thought at
one time you cannot think two things
right yeah you have a super computer
inside of your head and it's got one
megabyte of ram yeah so just think the
one thought well get back to talking to
Alex in one minute but first I need to
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