Thirty Minute Mentors Podcast Transcript: Poker Legend Phil Hellmuth

I recently interviewed Phil Hellmuth on my podcast, Thirty Minute Mentors. Here is a transcript of our interview:

Adam: Our guest today has won a record 16 World Series of Poker bracelets. Phil Hellmuth is one of the greatest poker players of all time, is a New York Times bestselling author, and he's an advisor to 10 different companies, including Equity. Phil, thank you for joining us.

Phil: My pleasure. It's nice to be here. I've been doing interviews lately and my big concern is my own ego. And I start talking about my week. And I'm like, oh my god, it just sounds like I'm bragging. So I'll do the best I can. But to those people out there listening, I don't think my ego is currently out of control, but it's very capable of being out of control by tomorrow. Let's continue. 

Adam: Well, Phil, we're gonna talk about that. And you're reading my mind a bit. You grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and had anything but a charmed life. You're talking about your ego now. But as a kid, you struggled. You struggled academically, you struggled socially, you struggled with self-esteem. You are by no means an egomaniac as a young Phil Hellmuth. And then you discover poker. Can you take listeners back to your early days? How did you discover that you had the capacity to be a superstar poker player? And how did you develop the confidence required to excel in poker and to excel in life?

Phil: I think a lot of people struggle when they're young. And I think the fact that I had ADD, ADHD, whatever the heck you want to call it these days, there's a lot of letters after my name. And I'm the oldest of five. And I think my father expected he has letters after his name, PhD, JD MBA, those are actual letters that he has. And so his expectations for me were to at least do well in school. But with my letters ADD, he struggled, that also led to social struggles for me. So that was really hard growing up. And I think people don't talk about how you can struggle socially also with ADD and ADHD, just talking about yourself too much. And maybe there's something there whether you have too much energy. And we all know that that's the case with people with ADD and ADHD. But I think we don't talk about the social aspect of it. So yeah, not enough friends, not enough close friends, oldest to five, tremendous amount of pressure from my father to do well. When I was getting about a 2.7, which was like 3.7, would have been acceptable, it was a lot of pressure. All my brothers and sisters were good at instruments. I couldn't play an instrument. They were all great at sports. I was great at sports when I was eight years old, maybe, but from then on, no. And so by all the traditional measures of success in society, I basically had none of those. And so then you start to think, oh, my God. And so yeah, your self-esteem then becomes lower. And then the people that struggle with ego the most are the ones that have low self-esteem, growing up, and then superstars. And we see with athletes all the time, you see with actors and actresses all the time, kind of nerdy and not that popular or struggling financially or whatever, and then boom, superstardom. And it's a very tough thing to reconcile in your mind, this low self-esteem, not feeling great about yourself. And then everything, everybody tells you how great you are. So as I kind of moved along in life, I found poker, and maybe when I was 19 years old, 20. And I was just really good at that. And the game just made sense to me. And I started playing with a group of like students, and then that kind of led to a bigger group. And then next thing you know, I was playing with professors, doctors and lawyers. Here's a 20-year-old Phil playing with these, no one in the group was less than 40. But it was kind of a high-stakes game at the time. You could win or lose $1,000 back and what was that about? 1982 or so ‘83 and ‘84 in Madison, Wisconsin. And I just started crushing those guys and looked at all the inherent advantages I had in that game. They certainly had the intelligence and experience, but I would wake up at one one in the afternoon. So when I was a freshman, we played at night. I would, all I do is think about poker, think about poker, think about poker, poker was my life. And so that created an inherent huge advantage for me against those guys. And then you start to go to Vegas because you're like, alright, and quickly discover that when you hit Vegas, it's filled with hometown champions. Back in those days, you could always say that Vegas was filled with poker players that were hometown champions, state champions, whatever. And they all come out there and play. And so the competition's tough, we still see a ton of tourists. But the competition's a lot tougher. And I think of it back then I developed a theory where there's a pyramid that developed at 19, probably 87, where there's a pyramid where all of the champions at the bottom, they take a shot at the next level. So they scooped the money, they brought it to the next level, to the next level, to the next level to the next level. And it's very rare that a player climbs all the way up the ladder, but the money climbs all the way up the ladder. So I realized, if I wanted to make real money at poker, then I would have to do it by hitting the top.

Adam: You discover this incredible skill, you polish the skill, you kept playing, you keep taking the next step, the next step gets better and better and better until you become one of the very best poker players in the world. But now you realize you're at a place where you're still this raw human being full of raw emotions. Anyone who knows you knows that you're a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve. It's a big part of your persona. As a poker player, you're constantly making decisions, and decisions, ideally, are made with the most level-headed judgment possible. How have you been able to learn how to manage your emotions, as a poker player? And in making important decisions?

Phil: Well, it's a good question. Usually what happens is another very calm place. I'm on day three of a tournament, and I'm making a great decision when I decided to get my money in, say ace, queen, and my opponent has ace-jack, just like I thought he did. And that combination of two, 10-hour days, and another four hours, that final table and me making this great call, just knowing that ace-queen is good. In my mind, I deserve to win the event. And when I lose it, I feel like, let down by the cards. Number two, I feel like the world is watching. And I'm supposed to win in front of the world. Because I deserve it. Because I played so great, what you really have to watch out for to come back to your question, this the decisions you make right after that. So say I lost half my chips in that spot. Now I'm capable of being very emotional, and making some really bad decisions, we call that tilt. And so it's easy then to tilt, make a bad decision, bluff off your money, call off your money light, or just kind of give it away. Now, usually on those spots, I will vent too much which led to my nickname Poker Brat. And it's very entertaining for people. It's John McEnroe. Like, it's like, he hits the perfect shot, that catches the line and the ref calls it out. He knows that it hit the line. So he starts going crazy. But back then they didn't have video cameras. And so they don't overturn it. And so in his mind, he's tilted and he's done that mother, the mother of a baby going a little bit crazy, is very similar to me, where I know I'm supposed to win that hand and the deck saves the other guy. And so that emotion is a combination of two and a half days. It's not like some random hand that just occurred. So there's two interesting aspects. One, can I control the Poker Brat emotion? Apparently not. Number two, can I control that going forward to the next time the next hand? And generally speaking, one of the final table, I know that I can't afford to be on tilt. So I'll really do everything I can to rein it in.

Adam: What are some methods that you recommend for anyone who might be trying to figure out how I can best manage my emotions?

Phil: Well, these are more poker-specific techniques. You can do it in the real world too. But for the poker-specific technique, alright, how many chips exactly do I have left? And I forced myself to count it down to the dollar. Okay, what are the blinds? What's the optimal strategy once I start asking myself three, four, or five questions, then kind of the bad beat gets in the rearview mirror. And I might start that process off by saying yeah, you deserve to win that and, and yeah, it sucks. But let's see if we can win anyway. And that just gets that so turn the resolve towards you deserve to win. Yes. Let's just see if you can figure out a way to win anyway. You can take that bait and still win the tournament. That's the next level. And so immediately I start focusing alright, I'll spin it towards I'm gonna win anyway. And then how many chips did I have at the start? Asking strategic questions to yourself. And pretty soon it's in the rearview mirror. And if you're lingering thinking about it. Thinking about that is a bad thing. And so you try to clear your mind.

Adam: And I think for anyone who's not a poker player, or anyone who's trying to figure out how to succeed off of the poker table, it's really about pivoting. Pivoting from being emotional, pivoting from looking backwards to looking forward, focusing on what really matters, which is the next big decision.

Phil: Correct, we really have to be in tune and focused on the next big decision, to the extent that you can, you're talking to the Poker Brat. But generally speaking, I haven't won all these tournaments, because I fall apart and give my chips away every time I take a bad beat.

Adam: At the heart of being a great poker player is being able to make great decisions, being able to understand when to bluff, when to raise, when to fold, how to read other players at the table, how to stay calm under pressure. And those are also skills that are imperative to being a great negotiator. Whether you're playing poker or whether you're trying to negotiate a deal in business, how do you know when to bluff, when to raise, when to fold? And how to read those around you?

Phil: Yeah, I would have loved to, you know, my friends told me that, hey, listen, Phil, if you're in the boardroom when the sale is about to close, you can save a company $100 million or $200 million, just by observing how the other team is reacting. I was told this in ‘03-’04. And hey, you should start your own business along those lines. And I believe I could have saved a lot of companies a lot of money because it's about the way they're talking. And it's about, okay, is there a pattern there? Is there a picture that starts to form that starts to develop, this starts to become clear that, hey, they're willing to pay $550 million for this company. And right now, we're at $450 million. And do you know, this extra $100 million, and from there, you can figure that out? Then you can at least, maybe someone's closing at $450, and the other side, super happy. But they're also super happy. But they shouldn't be happy because they left $100 million on the table. And so, to me, that's about pattern recognition. And understanding the way people think the way they're talking. Do they seem super happy? They seem super happy. Wow, you're a little bit low. And so it's interpreting all those signals to make the best possible decision for you and your company.

Adam: High-level takeaway could not agree with you more. Any tips for anyone trying to understand how to be more effective as a negotiator, when to bluff, when to raise, when to fold? How to be more successful?

Phil: It's about listening and seeing the interactions between the people across the table. It's about listening and saying, whoa, they seem happy with this. This guy glared at this guy. What does that mean? And it's about understanding them. And then I think asking one key question at the right time, like all of a sudden, you know, you have them. And so you kind of have to shape a question that exposes the fact you have them. You know, all of a sudden, you might say, well, you know, I'm just not sure we could ever sell for less than $600,000,000. Two people on your side of the table, like we want to sell for $450. Don't scare them away. Well, because I said that, because I brought that up, then that may be at the key time, that may force him to look at each other. And then all of a sudden they come back with and maybe half an hour later, no one's gonna rush it. Maybe they come back with like $500 million, well, you've already made your company $50 million, because they want it for $50. But you're not done yet. And now they offer $500. Now you're like, okay, I think I get this to $550. So great negotiations just do so much. But I think you have to read the room.

Adam: Yeah. And all too often people go into a negotiation, intent on stating their terms. This is what I want, this is what I'm going to get. Whereas in reality, the most successful negotiators, just like the most successful leaders, are the best listeners.

Phil: Yes, listen, listen, listen. But also when you have tough negotiators, no one's really going to say much. And then it's a matter of trying to figure out conversationally what's going on. I had a friend who was basically ready to sell his business for $60 million. But he's a very good negotiator. And the other guy came in and offered $90 million. And he was just blown away happy, but he couldn't show it. And he said, “Well, let me consider that offer on the inside”. He's doing loops. He's so happy. But he's like, well, if you offered 90, that means I'll go higher. And I think he ended up getting the deal done at $98 million, but he would have been thrilled if you would have told them at the beginning of the day, he could have sold his business for $60 million. Yeah. And so that's I mean, a lot of times when you're talking about two parties negotiating a deal, if the buyer is willing to pay this much, and the seller is willing to sell for this much. The deal is always going to get done. But then a good negotiator might save $100 million, $200 million by figuring out and coming up to the seller, coming up to the buyer's price. A great buyer might be able to save his company a bunch of money by coming down to the seller's price. And so it's about expectations and figuring out what your opponents, or in this case, potential business partners and the future buyers of your company. What expectations do they actually have? And by listening to all the conversations, sometimes they let word slip, or sometimes the team, let's word slip, you might have the greatest negotiator, but he might have to really pour negotiators next to him. We were talking too much. And he knows it. And it's driving him crazy. But he's hired a negotiator who doesn't have as much power as they do. And he's psycho Moncada. In his mind, he's thinking, oh, my God, they just cost us an extra $100 million. But anyway, you see what I'm getting at there. 

Adam: Pressure, it's a constant when you're playing poker, and it's a constant in business, it's a constant in life. And the most successful poker players, the most successful leaders in business, the most successful people in life are those who are able to perform under pressure. Can you share some of the most high-pressure moments that you face at the poker table? How were you able to navigate them and what advice do you have for anyone on how to stay calm and perform at their very best and the highest pressure moments?

Phil: The most high-pressure moments for me were probably in the past when I remember playing in a world series of poker tournament and not having enough money in the bank. At that point, I wasn't the money manager I was. Now today I feel I'm great at it. I was not great at it in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Not that I was super reckless. But I was too reckless, for sure. And so I remember playing a World Series event, maybe ‘97 or something and just thinking to myself, oh my god first place is $120,000, 2nd place is $60,000, 3rd place is $30,000. And those days, we had 50% for first 25% for a second and maybe 12 and a half for third, it was very top-heavy in poker. And you really had to like if you're making a living playing poker, especially in tournaments, you had to find a way to get to the top three. And I remember it was a lot of pressure on me because I'm thinking to myself, oh my god, we have $10,000 left in cash to our names. And I'm sure my house was paid for and probably can take a couple $100,000 there. And so I had some other things in my favor, cars were paid for, bills weren't as expensive. But you're still spending $7-8000 a month even in the ‘90s. And you're like, oh my god, maybe I've a month or two bills left, I need to get there. And that's the pressure. And then I remember folding some hands that no one in history has folded because I just wanted to make sure that I moved up a couple spots. And then I remember, they would say it's ridiculous. I had nine-tenths who I raised and the guy reraised. And I was like, oh my god, my instinct is going crazy. I'm not going to call because if it comes at seven, eight, I'm going to have to keep coming after nine. I'm gonna get myself in trouble. So I folded the sand that no one would really fold. And it was a limited game. No one ever folds the limit, they always just call and call and call and call. And I just thought to myself, I need to preserve these chips. And I'm pretty sure I won the tournament that day. And then but the whole time, I'm like, alright, there's five left, there's no money for fifth, I need this money. And then you get down to the final three. And you're really tracking what's happening, tracking what's happening, tracking what's happening. If you have a lot of chips, you want to avoid making a deal to the last possible minute to where you actually think you could finish in third place. And so you're in the final three, but now I have so many chips, I don't have to make a deal. And then I take out the next guy and now it's like oh my god, okay, $120 for the first 62nd I'm gonna get somewhere in there. But I better lock up. Now your heads up, and maybe you're even on chips. And then maybe at that point, we'd save another $20,000 each. So now it's 80 and 100. Instead of 61-20, you save 20. And so now we just kind of change it to 180. You're still playing for $20,000 but now I'm locked up at $80,000, which is great. That's going to pay whatever, you know, a year's worth of bills. So in my mind, you have to just when the pressures are the most, you just have to be the most focused on the game and not thinking about the other stuff. But it doesn't hurt to have a wider perspective than the pressure that I'm under. When I'm playing like these heads-up matches. It's just all about playing great poker. It's like a mantra: play great poker, play great poker, play great poker. You really have to be focused on the game itself. And then afterwards, if you win, it's amazing. 

Adam: Yeah, it sounds like from your experience it is really just focusing, zoning out the noise. Understanding that there's a reason why you're here. And you're here because you've made it, you're great at this. But focusing on anything but the hand you're dealt at the poker table, or the hand you're dealt in life isn't gonna do you any good. Focus on what it is in front of you, and hit it out of the park.

Phil: Right in front of you, I like to say if my eyes are down, if my head is down, I like this concept. If my head is down, paying attention to the game, paying attention to playing great, then I'm really, really, really tough. But the minute that my head raises up, someone tells me I'm great, this person tells me I'm great, that person tells me I'm great. Then your head is up, you're listening to compliments. You're listening to all this stuff. You just can't let that stuff get to you. And so I mean, there's this thing about some kind of anti-praise. And the one story I tell. When I was in Miami, I hosted an event for A-Rod. And then afterwards like, alright, we're gonna go out to the clubs. Mansion is probably the hottest club in Miami and I show up there. But in A-Rod's tournament, there were just a ton of celebrities. But I take a limo by myself over there, I pop out of the limo, I start to walk towards the door, and they're like Phil, MJ is in the back, like it's just crazy. And now, Michael Jordan and I are standing next to each other. We're both kind of looking.  There's a hall of field dance. And we're dancing a little bit. I like to joke about if you feel like you're an alpha male, you dance. And a lot of people are afraid to dance in a club. But if you feel like I have nothing to lose, my joke is alpha males dance. And so MJ and I are kind of dancing next to each other, but we're looking this way. Here's the drink, I look over and I say, “Yo, MJ, you are the greatest”. And he stops me, he does not want the praise. Because this is a good example of praise is corrosive. When you put your head up and you're listening to praise, praise is corrosive. And then you just get sloppy, you don't pay attention. There's 1000 examples of this, the best boxer in the world takes all the praise, doesn't pay enough attention to what got him there, doesn't work as hard. What happens in athletics all the time. And so I said, “No, no, I'm Jay, let me finish.” And I said, “You're the greatest basketball player of all time, you have six World Championships, but I have 14, bitch”. Dazed, he gives me a high five. You want to be teased, he doesn't want the praise. And so it's a very difficult thing, the ego stuff that you have to battle. Then I think that something nobody ever talks about is the ego cycle. I never hear anybody talk about that. But there's a cycle of ego. And when you're younger, the cycle of, oh my god, I just won three World Championships in 1993, I'm the greatest of all time. And a second, I'm going to be the greatest of all time, by far that is uh, and they just don't kind of like you. You become so cocky that you're hard to talk to. It's hard to have a conversation with you, you want to talk about yourself too much. You're not paying attention to the details that you should pay attention to, you're taking chances to play in bigger games, and maybe you're not as good as the rest of the guys. And so that ego is very destructive. And then the cycle lessons as you get older and wiser and understand it. And I remember when Sheryl Sandberg hosted a book launch party for me, for Poker Brat. But I remember Elon Musk showing up to her book launch party, and I'm just thinking to myself, Sheryl Sandberg is hosting a book launch party. Elon Musk is there. Elizabeth Holmes, I believe, was there too, before she got in a little legal trouble. Yeah. But it's just crazy. I'm just like, oh my God, these people flew in from London for my one-day book launch party. They flew in from the east coast. This is one day I told them not to come, don't come. You're gonna have a four-hour long party, but it's a sheroes. And then what happens is, then your mind is blown for a while. I call it the mind-blowing process. And then your ego gets out of control. And it's a matter of how long is the process. 

Adam: Yeah, well, Phil, what's interesting is I've interviewed hundreds of the most successful leaders in America. And one of my biggest takeaways is that the most successful people have that growth mindset. And the growth mindset stems from humility, stems from understanding that even though you might be someone who has achieved more than anyone else, you might not be the smartest person in the room. You don't view yourself that way. You view yourself as someone who wants to learn as much as possible and wants to grow as much as possible. Every day is an opportunity to improve every experience and an opportunity to get better, to take that next step. And it's the people who think they know it all. It's the people who think that they've made it to the top and are happy being at the top, who are going to get lapped. And it's the people who might be at the top, but don't feel satisfied by it. And I love your story about MJ, the greatest basketball player of all time, doesn't want to hear it, doesn't want to be praised, doesn't want someone coming up to him telling him you are the greatest. He wants to hear, you know what? You're good at basketball, but you're kind of crappy at poker. Or, you know what? MJ, your golf, I don't know about that actually, had James Worthy on Thirty Minute Mentors, and we were joking about the fact that MJ is a great basketball player, but I might be able to take him down in a game of backgammon. So that's ultimately something that whether you're a poker player, whether you're a basketball player, whether you're a business leader, you can take your life and take it to the bank.

Phil: To come back to your point about continuing to learn. I think I have the best results in poker tournament security and history by far. But in 2000, at the World Series of Poker, in 2021, and it was late that year, we had it in October, November, I learned, I'm always learning. And I learned, I improved. I took my worst game and brought it to a world-class level. And I took my second worst game and brought a very high up to near world-class level. And so you know, we play eight different games in poker. So if you're not learning, you are going to get lapped. And so now I feel like the knowledge I have at poker, all the different games, all the eight different games, I have the best results over the last 10 years. And those eight different games, I have the best results in the last year in those eight games. But it's constant work. It's constant, getting better, working, learning. Because no one has solved any of these games, I still have work and improvement to do. And that's important to recognize because people are going to get better at all these games. And if you're not, just like you said, they're going to catch up and beat you.

Adam: What are your best tips for anyone interested in getting better at poker? Best tips for novice poker players and best tips for self-proclaimed expert poker players?

Phil: I think you have to talk to the best players in the world. If you want to get to the world level on that, you have to talk to the best in the world and each specific game. And they'll all talk to me because they've all asked me for advice about Hold'em. So that's nice, right? I mean, they're willing to talk to me about this stuff. And so Mike the Mouth, Mattis has helped me a lot. They're novice poker players. I really recommend my book, Play Poker Like the Pros, it was a New York Times bestseller, which was pretty cool. Play Poker Like the Pros is filled with a lot of truth. And that's really good for novice players, and it's really good for intermediate players, and even some expert players, because I talked about every game there. I think it also helps to form study groups. I think it also helps if you can get access to the best players in the world, to listen to what they have to say about particular hands. And then I want to say also that it's not just about poker, it's also about whatever you do at home. Let's listen to this. How do you become better? And you become better if you're a salesman, or whatever you do, if you're running a company, if you have aspirations to run a company, you better constantly be learning and getting better. Maybe a lot of the people listening to this need to improve their interpersonal communication skills. Maybe they need to get better at dealing with the people around them. The people below them at the company, the people above them at the company, positionally wise, could be just about improving interpersonal relationships. That goes a long way. We both know that if the boss is thinking about promoting someone, it doesn't always go to the most deserving person, it might go to the one that they liked the most. And so that's kind of sad. It's not a pure meritocracy. But what does that mean? You better improve your interpersonal skills. And so everybody out there listening to this, there's a lot of stuff that you can do in your profession to get better, read the best salesman in the world's book about how to improve your sales, whatever it is you're doing. If you're an accountant, read the techniques that the best accountants in the world have to offer, including time management, how do they finish all that work and still have a life? So when it came to writing books, I listened to a very famous author Tim Ferriss. Tim Ferriss and I were partying with Elon Musk, and it was a lot of fun. We spent a couple days together and he told me that he writes in the morning and the night. And so I was a morning writing guy. And I said, “You know what? This is a great idea”. So I would write get up in the morning. And that's when I really write a lot. So I could write for two hours because I've written five or six books. And then the autobiography was 145,000 words, it's a lot of words you'd have to write. And then I'm like, alright, well screw it, you know, it's late at night, maybe I've had a few drinks and like, alright, I'm just gonna write. Or maybe I'm just like, alright, I have a burst of energy. I'm just gonna go right. So Tim Ferriss told me to write morning and night, and I use that tip. And so I think if you listen to this, you can use tips from people that you respect, or for whoever the greatest is in your profession.

Adam: I could not agree with you more. And a really good point that you brought up, Phil is, at the end of the day, we each have different styles of learning. So you recommended your book, you recommended reading the books of experts, and whatever field you're in. And for some of us, the best way to learn is by picking up a book and reading. For others of us, it could be talking to experts, like you've done over the course of your career. It could be listening to podcasts. It could be watching videos. We each have different ways we learn best. Understand how you learn best, and go all in. You also mentioned something which is really important. We all have different ways in which we work. Sometimes, you can work really well by getting up early, and going hard. That might not work for everyone, some people are night owls. Phil, you're telling me that you enjoy sleeping during the day when some of us don't have that luxury, some of us do have that luxury, and work the night shift. So whatever works best for you, understand it, don't try to force yourself to fit the mold of what you think is expected of you, or what someone else expects of you. Lean into what is best for you and what will allow you to perform to the best of your ability.

Phil: I'm a shining example of that, in that I play what they would say. So all the pros today would say you have to do exactly all this stuff. And I don't do all that stuff. And it drives them crazy because I keep winning and winning and winning. I'm a shining example of not having to do it like everybody else, to your point. We all do things differently. It doesn't mean we all can't be super successful.

Adam: Lean into your uniqueness. To that end, when you're talking about when you're battling high-pressure moments, high-pressure decisions, in the course of your career, there was one that you brought up that I thought was particularly interesting. And you were essentially battling between, do I go with my gut? Do I go with what the numbers are telling me to do? And it's something that is a hot topic, not only in poker but in just about every business today. And I want to know if you could share with listeners, how do you know how to effectively manage all the information you have in front of you? And when faced with the ultimate decision, do I go with my gut? Do I go with the numbers? What should I do? What's the right call?

Phil: I always go with my gut. But sometimes the numbers are overwhelming, then you have to go with the numbers. There's certain hands that I'm like, you know what? It's just too hard to play. It's too hard to win with this hand. The math is too overwhelming. But in a lot of close positions, I trust my gut. I trust it for a lot of reasons. But one is there's a lot of scientific data that suggests that we see more than we think we see. And if you're seeing more than you think you see and you assume that's the case, then I always trust my gut. And if I trust my gut and I'm wrong, I'm never mad at myself. I'm like, okay, you went with your gut. You were wrong, okay, I'm not going to beat myself up. Now, if you go against your gut, and you're wrong, you're going to be like, god dammit, I knew it. To come back to an interesting thing when I'm at final tables, part of when I'm there, in some ways, I've already won the tournament. Because I've envisioned myself winning. It has come back to this positivity, you're always in the right place at the right time. Let's spend 70 minutes reading this thing. And it's just eight life tips. I am proud of the fact that these eight life tips have helped so many people from one tip of writing down your yearly goals, taping them on your bathroom mirror, and everybody that does that tells me they hit their first goal. It's crazy. Because just having it on your bathroom mirror, you see it every day, your unconscious, your subconscious, all of you sees that. All of the abilities that we have that are undefined and sees that number one goal when you leave the house in the morning, that's somewhere in your mind.

Adam: The importance of manifesting what you want. If you really want something and you believe it's going to happen, it's going to be a lot more likely that it's going to happen. If you have a negative attitude and you say, well, I don't know, I don't think this is going to happen for me. Am I really going to do this? Am I really going to make it happen? It's not going to happen for you. The power of positivity. The power of having a winning mindset. It starts with positivity, manifesting what you want.

Phil: That's my hashtag on Twitter, positivity. So it's been pretty cool. I heard that hashtag for a long time now.

Adam: Phil, I love it. Before we go, I want to ask you about one last topic. When you were a kid, you were best friends with your elementary school classmate, Chris Farley. 

Phil: True. 

Adam: What is your favorite memory involving Chris Farley? And what was the single best lesson you learned from your time spent with Chris Farley?

Phil: Chris and I were both ADD. We were both a little bit awkward. And his grandmother lived one block from me. So our relationship ended by the fifth grade. But in kindergarten, we were best friends. So we'd be on the playground together, we just hit it off. And I would go to his grandmother's place because he lived way across town in Maple Bluff, which was probably 10 miles away or something. But I was a block or two from the school, Edgewood Grade School, and his grandmother was a block away. And so we go over there and hang out. And I just remember him as being funny, but also sweet. When I think of Chris Farley, I think of just a sweet guy. Who could have predicted that he would have so much success? And I have so much success looking back at a couple of kids on the playground with ADD. And so you'd never know who's going to get there. And then that applies to Kevin Hart. I first met him 15 years ago and introduced myself to him. And I'm just super nice to everybody. But I'm moving through a casino and everybody's coming up to me, but I remember being nice to him and talking to him for a minute or two. But who could have predicted that this guy would then become one of the biggest on the planet? We don't know how successful a person can end up being and that could be you listening. And that's kind of a cool concept to imagine. Wow, I can do great things.

Adam: Phil, thank you for all the great advice and thank you for being a part of Thirty Minute Mentors. 

Phil: Okay, it was fun. I wasn't too cocky.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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