Aubrey Marcus Podcast #200 Choose Your Struggle with Joe Rogan
When Joe realized the scale of his podcast: About 5 years ago I was in Chicago and I was doing the Chicago Theatre. I asked how many of you listen to the podcast and the place erupted. That was 3700 people. I was like maybe I should pay attention to the numbers. How many people are listening to this thing?
That was nothing compared to the transition that happens about 2 years ago. It caught fire. Now it’s taken over my life. I feel like an antenna. The podcast runs itself. It really feels like I’m just the person chosen by the podcast to get it out there.
Joe’s podcast gets 190,000,000 downloads a month.
Part of me is like how much longer are you going to do this thing? What are you going to do with this thing? Are you going to do this forever?
Luckily I don’t work for anyone. I don’t have a network that is telling me who to book. Everyone I have on I find interesting.
There has never been a thing like this before. This is all uncharted territory. In the human world, there has never been a thing like a podcast before.
There have been shows before but nothing like podcasts.
There’s no big machine behind it. I have 3 people that work with me. That’s it. Just 3 people.
Listeners actually know you. You can’t hide. They’ve heard you talk for hundreds of hours.
There is a kid that reviews toys on YouTube and makes $25 million a year. That job wasn’t available before. It is very very weird.
If you try to watch late-night television after podcasts it seems so corny. So dumb. It’s phony. The host doesn’t give a shit about what they are talking about. The people have been prepped.
Instagram is the least accurate window into a person. Podcasts are the most accurate window into a person. When you don’t have scripts and no idea where the conversation is going to go you find out who people are.
The more you concentrate on your image the more people think it’s gross. The more you concentrate on how you want people to view you the more it seems disgusting. Authenticity is key.
Too many people are trying to curate a life of total passivity and calmness. That shit is nonsense. You are going to die.
Challenges are minimized by work. The more effort I put in the more benefit I get. I’m creating my own struggle. I feel there is a lot of benefits creating your own struggle. People need a certain amount of struggle.
I spend a lot of time with my family. I orchestrate it. I go to the comedy store after they go to bed. I do podcasts during the day while they are at school. I have to spend time with them. If I don’t do that I feel like a shitty dad.
Nike’s slogan of Just Do It is one of the best slogans ever. It is so much better than live your truth or any of these stupid ones that people keep saying. Get out there and go fucking do something. Just go!