DAVID LAROCHE: Hello Achievers! Today, we are with a new, awesome guest. He is Gregory Scott Reid. He’s an awesome filmmaker, author of bestselling books, and speaker. And he is with me to answer my questions. It will be an awesome interview.

GREGORY S. REID: No pressure there, right?

DAVID LAROCHE: You are an award winning…

GREGORY S. REID: What’s that? That’s going to make a sound. See, we didn’t think of that—air conditioner. We will sweat.

DAVID LAROCHE: Perfect.

GREGORY S. REID: I’m always making sure all this stuff goes perfect. Go ahead.

DAVID LAROCHE: I would like to know more about your story because I would like to help people to see that successful people like you have struggles. Can you share with me your story and especially your struggles and how you overcame them?

GREGORY S. REID: Actually, I’m known best as the “millionaire mentor.” That’s what people think because I mentor millionaires or big corporations. But I actually work with inner city kids in my hometown of San Diego. I happen to be kind of successful so as I drive up in a brand new car and the kids would say, “Here comes the millionaire mentor.”
I realized that most people hang out with the people that don’t inspire, uplift, and take them to that next level; and I realized that it’s the same thing with the youth as with adults today.
So when I had my biggest challenges, my biggest setbacks, what I understood was the power of reaching up and reaching out to those who could actually get me out of the situation that I found myself in.
One of the greatest quotes says, “When you find yourself digging a hole, the best thing to do is stop digging.”
So right then and there, I sort of applied that same counsel for myself; and I realized that if I put myself in that situation, I can get myself out.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great! Where do you come from and how did you make your success? According to you, for what reason are you successful today?

GREGORY S. REID: I think success is deemed, you know, not by money, by the way. I think that success is deemed by living a purpose-filled life. It’s about feeling like you’re leaving a contribution and doing something while you’re on this big spinning rock called “earth.”
I was in advertising for many years and that for my first million-dollar triumph. However, I don’t think that made me very successful. I think being into this line of industry of personal development, writing books, making film, reaching out, and inspiring, that gives me the greatest sense of…

DAVID LAROCHE: Purpose.

GREGORY S. REID: Like I’m doing something. Yes, purpose! And for me, that’s the most uplifting thing I can do. And it’s not necessarily that all the wealth and prosperity will come pouring in overnight, but I realized that if you’re willing to pay your dues and sacrifice, eventually, great things come.

DAVID LAROCHE: Because the difference now is that you inspire people and you share a message, right?

GREGORY S. REID: Correct. And that message is about not quitting. I’ve been working with the Napoleon Hill Foundation for the last five years. The first book we did was called “Three Feet from Gold.” It’s about not giving up…

DAVID LAROCHE: Can I take it?

GREGORY S. REID: Absolutely! It’s about not giving up just three feet away from the largest strike in U.S. history. It seems like so many people quit one clash short from the degree or sales or marketing or anything that’s hard. But it’s the people who truly triumph and keep going that extra step, that extra mile that come out on top.
Napoleon Hill has a great quote. He says, “Our greatest success will always come just one step beyond our greatest setback and failure.” The secret is to just keep digging just one more thing, one more step, just three feet away till you hit your own vein.
DAVID LAROCHE: One millimeter…

GREGORY S. REID: Yes, I know. That’s it.

DAVID LAROCHE: How can people develop the ability to keep moving forward?

GREGORY S. REID: They know what they’re doing rather than just believe, hope, and wish. I think believing, hoping, and wishing is just a fantasy.
But when you find your “knowing,” what you know in your heart to be true, you go all in. You don’t let other people, including yourself, talk you out of what you know to be true.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great. You work a lot with the Napoleon Hill Foundation. Napoleon Hill had inspired millions of people. What did you learn from Napoleon Hill? What best advice can you share about what you’ve learned from him?

GREGORY S. REID: Enthusiasm is a huge key element as well as mastermind. Surround yourself with people who can help you get what you want.
When I wanted to become a bestselling author, I went to the bookstore and bought all the bestselling books. I called those people up and said, “Teach me.” They did and I became pretty well successful in that.
And then, when I wanted to become a speaker, I went to Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, and Les Brown. I said, “Teach me.” They did. And, thank goodness, here we are again today.
The secret of success is to surround yourself with people who are already getting the accomplishments that you want for yourself.

DAVID LAROCHE: It’s very interesting what you are saying because a lot of people would like to reach these kinds of people. You did it. Do you have advice on how to reach people who inspire?

GREGORY S. REID: Understand that the most successful people are also the most available people. It seems strange because you think they’d be the busiest and hard to reach, but they’re not. The most successful people are also the easiest to get a hold of.
If you’re brand new at something, you’re happy go lucky; you’re fresh; you’re excited. If you’re at the top, the pinnacle of your field, you’re happy go lucky. You’ve got nothing to prove.
If you’re in the middle, you’re a pain in the neck because you’re filled with ego. You’re “Edging God Out.” You’re finding your own voice.
So the secret for me was just to catapult and take that quantum leap to the front of the line, and success is just waiting for you to get there.

DAVID LAROCHE: And do you try to give back to them?

GREGORY S. REID: Do I try to give back to them? I don’t know what that means.

DAVID LAROCHE: They’ve helped you to become…

GREGORY S. REID: Absolutely! People would ask, “Why in the world would a great legend like Les Brown teach you about being a better speaker?”
And I’d do something absolutely crazy. I’ll tell you. When I first met him, I said, “Mr. Brown, I want to be a great speaker like you. Just give me one nugget, one little bit of counsel that I can do for myself.”
I would leave and do something wild and actually apply that counsel. I’d go back a month later and say, “Mr. Brown, I met you a month ago. I asked for one tip. You gave it to me. I did it. Here’s the response I got. What should I do next?”
Now, what’s the chance of him giving me the next nugget? One hundred percent!
And that’s all I’ve done with all the mentors that I’ve had about my life, and I realized the greatest success we can do is show them by actually taking action with their counsel and applying that. That’s the greatest way we can honor them.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes. You give a gift when you listen to their advice. Apply…

GREGORY S. REID: And you apply their advice.

DAVID LAROCHE: And take actions.

GREGORY S. REID: Correct.

DAVID LAROCHE: Right.

GREGORY S. REID: Listening is one thing but actually doing it—few and far between.

DAVID LAROCHE: Very interesting! How do we turn obstacles into opportunities?

GREGORY S. REID: How to turn obstacles into opportunities is one of the greatest topics and it’s the subtitle of our book, as a matter of fact. The whole concept is, again, I believe for myself, is having something called the “knowing.” Let me explain.
I interviewed a famous music conductor named Jahja Ling. I asked him something. I said, “Did you want to quit?” and he said, “All the time.”
I go, “Why didn’t you?” and he says, “I knew.”
“What does that mean?”
He says, “Well, as a kid, when someone would give me a basketball, I knew that wasn’t for me so I’d set it down and I’d play the piano.” And he goes, “I knew I was destined to do something different. If you think you’ll find love, one day, and hope and wish, that’s nice.
Compare that to someone who knows. They’re on Match.com. They go in a local church or ask their family and friends. They’ve got a vision board of exactly the characteristics they’re looking for.
Well, they know. They’ve got a laser-beam focus of what they want, and the chances of them finding that thing is a hundred percent because they’re fixated on it.”
And Jahja said to me, “If you could find your ‘knowing’ in business, in life, and in success, your life would change in that moment.”

DAVID LAROCHE: How can we find this “knowing” because a lot of people are lost: “I don’t know the way. I don’t how to find my way.”
Do have some advice on how to do that?

GREGORY S. REID: Absolutely! Did Sharon talk about the success equation? Yes. She already did that one. So that would be my counsel to you; we’d go to that one. That’s a great interview.

DAVID LAROCHE: You are the millionaire mentor. If you have someone to mentor, what advice will you give him to earn more money?

GREGORY S. REID: For more money, again, it starts from the very beginning of knowing you deserve that money. You see, if you don’t have the confidence that you deserve that wealth, it will just be fleeting; and it will leave as quickly as it comes.
How many people do we know have gotten a great windfall and, all of a sudden, they end up right back where they started? Lottery winners win the money and go back where they started.
The reason is they didn’t have that “knowing.” They didn’t have the confidence that they deserved that prosperity.
So before we even get to that…

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, my earliest mentor, had a great quote. He says that we are the same today as we will be in five years except for two things: the people we meet and the books we read.
It’s who we hang out with and it’s what we put in our heads that determine our character as a person.
You’ve heard Denis Waitley and all these incredible people say that we are a reflection of the five people we hang around. Our attitude, income, lifestyles is the average of that group.
Well, that’s all true. And these are the great legends. I think we should, again, apply that counsel and be sure that we pay close attention to who we’re hanging out with because, in high school, if we hang around the smoking section, you’re a smoker. If you’re around the jocks, you’re a jock.
If we hang around people that complain, gripe, and moan, and they look at all the negative, then, chances are, that’s the dialogue that plays in our head.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great, to become a loser.

GREGORY S. REID: Exactly! They’re wonderful losers. They’re champions. But if they hang around positive, like-minded, solution-searching people, then, chances are, that’s the dialogue that plays in their head and they become a champion, too.

DAVID LAROCHE: You were talking about reading books. There are two ways. Do you think it’s better to read a lot of books or maybe the same one a lot of times?

GREGORY S. REID: I believe that’s an individual thing. I would never tell people what they do.

DAVID LAROCHE: What do you do?

GREGORY S. REID: I read a lot of different books slowly. I don’t just read. I kind of consume. I absorb.
So I read like one page a day but I read it really intensely, and I highlight, and I mark, and I’m really into what I read.
The idea is this slow, gradual growth. It’s steady, consecutive. Actions lead to amazing results.
So many people just want to digest and take it all in. But, for me, the things I’m interested in, I really want to know. I want to absorb it.

DAVID LAROCHE: Like what you did with Les Brown—just one thing, and you applied that.
We are also talking about books. You’re a filmmaker, and with all this advice we were sharing, the movie didn’t exist. Do you think we can feed our minds and brains without books and only with movies?

GREGORY S. REID: I’d say absolutely, especially because a lot of books are being transformed into movies and the new medium. I’m sure this will upset a lot of people but it’s just reality that over 60 percent of all books are now being read on a mobile device, on a reading device; and they’re being implanted with a lot of video clips and things of that nature because, in our ADD society, we want to be entertained and it’s getting more and more and more.
I believe that a lot of people who would not read The Great Gatsby (as a child) are going out to watch the movie and learn about this incredible piece of literature. One way or the other, they’re still absorbing it. That film is a great source of literature in its own way.

DAVID LAROCHE: According to you, what is the future of teaching to people?

GREGORY S. REID: I hope it goes back to having a little bit of one on one. Unfortunately, it seems like so many people are trying to do one thing and reach the masses dramatically with it. For me, the greatest response that I’m getting from people is when we go back and go knees to knees.
I’ll give you an example. If I gave a coaching program on a little thumb drive and I gave it to a hundred people, I don’t know if I’d have as much results as if I’d done that with ten people one on one and I’d worked through that same information.
Personally, I’m a real big fan of kind of going knees and knees with people and giving them the content that they want.
And so very interesting is that I’ve got this little philosophy. It’s real simple. I believe it’s called “roots.” David Corbett, someone that you’ve interviewed, taught me this.
I said, “A lot of people I’ve coached and mentored don’t get the results I want. What am I missing?” and he goes, “Roots.”
“What’s that?”
He goes, “You see someone who’s down and out. They’re in the gutter. You want to pick them up, clean them up, dust them off, and fix them.”
And I go, “Yeah!”
And he goes, “That’s why you fail.”
I go, “What?”
He said, “The secret is roots.”
I go, “What does that mean?”
He goes, “Look for people who are down in that situation. We’ve all been there, but they’re bleeding from the back of their hands.”
I go, “What are they bleeding from?”
He goes, “Roots!”
I go, “What do you mean?”
He says, “They don’t like being in that situation so they’re reaching out and grabbing a handful of roots trying to pull themselves out of that gutter. If you can find that select group, get behind them. Yell encouraging words and teach them where to grab the next set. Eventually, they’ll pull themselves out and be able to teach others to do the same.”
So, for me, when it comes to teaching, coaching, and mentoring, I look for the few and far between people who are willing to bleed a little bit, willing to sacrifice, take some action; and those are the people I work with.

DAVID LAROCHE: Wow, great! Do you have some advice to overcome fears?

GREGORY S. REID: Yes. Embrace it. Go into it.
It’s so funny. We’re right here on the coastal area of San Diego, and there are a lot of surfers out there. People understand that when a wave comes in, it could be scary and consuming. It can crash you to the bottom.
But the great surfers do something called a “duck dive.” And what a duck dive is, is you get on that surfboard and you go into the wave underneath it; and you pop out the other side.
I think fear is the same thing. Most people see a big wave coming up, fear, and they hide and they try to duck away. And if you do that, it’s just going to crush you.
But the smart people, they sit and go, “Here it comes,” and they duck dive right into that fear. And more than likely, they’ll realize that that fear was man-made. It was self-induced, anyway. And you pop right on the other side and forget what you were afraid about, in the first place.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes. Your example is amazing because I believe that I was the first to use that in my speeches as a metaphor for the wave. That’s great.

GREGORY S. REID: Well, I took it from you.
DAVID LAROCHE: Maybe. How do you use a video to share powerful messages?

GREGORY S. REID: Video is a wonderful medium. Again, I believe that it’s like casting a big net. What’s nice is it gives you the opportunity to reach many different people in different walks of life all over the world.
Again, though, what I’m looking for is … that net and pull the few people that are willing to bleed a little bit. Those are the people that actually go one on one, knees and knees, and work with on an intimate level.

DAVID LAROCHE: Can you imagine that in the future movies in cinema and theatre will inspire people?

GREGORY S. REID: I hope so. And we have inspired people. If you go back and look at some of the greatest movies of inspiration such as Rocky or Rudy and you talk about some of these sports iconic things, the reality is that there are a lot of uplifting, inspirational… Life of Pi.
There are so many of them that are out there that leave a great positive message. We’ve just got to see through it.
If you’re asking for a personal development movie to make, I’d love it and so would everybody in our industry. However, the timing hasn’t just been right. The closest thing we’ve come to is The Secret, as with know; but even that hasn’t gone mainstream to all the major theaters yet.

DAVID LAROCHE: I have a short question for you. What is your favorite book?

GREGORY S. REID: Of all times?

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes.

GREGORY S. REID: I’ll have to say Think and Grow Rich, obviously, because it’s impacted my life and given me a wonderful opportunity to impact the lives of a lot of people across the globe.
My favorite short read is from Jim Stovall called (are you ready for this one?) The Ultimate Gift.
If you ever have a chance to read it, I’d recommend you do just that. It’s one of the first books I read from beginning to end; at the end, I was crying like a school girl. It was so emotion-filled.
It’s about mentorship, about a gentleman taking someone under his wing and not telling them what they want to hear but telling them what they need to hear and put them through the ring or making them bleed real hard.
And, at the end of it, he comes out and realizes that he was just taught the most powerful lessons of life. I recommend if you ever get a chance to put it in your success library, you get a copy.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great! I believe a lot about that because I was shy and my mother said to me at the age of 15, “Stop complaining. Change your life. I don’t want to listen to you.”
I hated her for many days for that, but she helped me in making me bleed.

GREGORY S. REID: You have to understand. There’s an old cliché: Don’t complain about your problems because 80 percent don’t care and the other 20 percent are glad it happened to you. So, the bottom line is it doesn’t help anybody.
And the funny thing is when I was writing Three Feet from Gold, I was going through some struggles and challenges and John Assaraf pulled me aside one time and said, “You can’t complain about what you’re going through because it looked like you’re just whining. But when you come through it and you get over it and you tell people what you just went through, you’re going to look like a king because you’ve actually overcome challenges that most people would only dream about.
But when you’re in a middle of it, you can’t complain because you’ll ultimately look like a whiner.”

DAVID LAROCHE: Wow, great! I would like to know, what did you learn for maybe 20 years now about how to succeed in your field?

GREGORY S. REID: What do you mean 20 years?

DAVID LAROCHE: You ask people like Les Brown how to become something. What’s the best advice that you’ve learned from all these people, the five best?

GREGORY S. REID: I’ll start with the one and that’s, again, association. It’s surrounding yourself with people who are getting the results you want.
My wife and I went to Africa and we climbed and summited Mt. Kilimanjaro. In fact, my wife is the first Filipino woman in history to actually summit the mountain.
I live here on the beach of California and people say, “How did you go to the roof of Africa?”
It was easy. I went on the Internet and I found the porters, the Sherpa, who have climbed four, five hundred times. I hired them. Wherever they put their boot print, I put my boot print the same way because I knew they’d make it to the top of the mountain. If I made up my own direction, chances are, I’d still be up there.
When I went to write books, I surrounded myself with the people who were getting that results I wanted; when I wanted to become a speaker, the same thing; when I became an entrepreneur, the same thing.
Understand this. We can have multiple mentors in our life. People get so caught up and they say, “I’m looking for a mentor.”
That’s great. Or are you looking for a therapist?
I mean, the realities are…

DAVID LAROCHE: You can have a specific mentor.

GREGORY S. REID: Exactly. I’m not going to ask my tennis instructor about my love life or I’m not going to ask my accountant about my golf game. The realities are, I’ve got different mentors for different parts of my life who are the very best in their avenue; and by doing so, as a whole, I do quite well.

DAVID LAROCHE: What is the best thing you’ve learned for public speaking?

GREGORY S. REID: Oh, boy! Be yourself. The greatest interview I ever did was with Brian Tracy. I went right to him. I went to Brian Tracy. I said, “Brian, what’s it like being you?”
He goes, “Great question! More importantly, what’s it like being you? When you’re up on stage, don’t be me. Don’t be Tony Robbins. Don’t be Les Brown. Be yourself.
When you’re a kid, your mom always said, ‘Just be the best form of yourself because people like you for that person.’”
That moment changed my life. I stopped doing silly PowerPoints and ridiculous things. I just started being myself. I’m the same on screen as off screen, on stage as off stage. Just be myself. And by doing that, you never have to worry about what people see you as because you’re always the same individual.
I realized that just by talking and having conversation like this, people can relate to it because you’re not putting up a façade; you’re just being you.

DAVID LAROCHE: So the people love you for who you are and not for something you’re trained to spread.

GREGORY S. REID: There have been people in different avenues in this field who, up on stage, have one characteristic. And then, they come off and they’re kind of a different person and you kind of go, “There’s a disconnect.”
So the whole idea is to just be you.

DAVID LAROCHE: What is the favorite advice you’ve learned on how to write a bestseller book?

GREGORY S. REID: Oh, boy! One, you don’t have to be the greatest writer in the world. You just have to have the greatest team.
You’ve got to understand this. There’s a big difference between being a writer and being an author. An author is a person whose name goes on the book; and a writer is the one who helps you write the book. Sometimes, they are two different people.
For me, when we did Three Feet from Gold, I wrote a pretty good book until Sharon Lechter got a hold of it, and she wrote a great book. She took and actually breathed life into it.
I’m a pretty good writer but I’ve got wonderful ghost writers and copy editors and people who can help transform my words to make them the best form of themselves.
And I understand the power of “work your strengths and you hire your weaknesses.”
So anything that I have a struggle in, I make sure I surround myself with the very best so that I can get the results I want.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great! Do you think a book has to be marketed?

GREGORY S. REID: I don’t understand the question.

DAVID LAROCHE: Do you think we have to do marketing to sell a book.

GREGORY S. REID: Okay, let’s be clear on this one. A publisher’s job is only to print a book, and they give you the opportunity for distribution. It’s up to us, as the authors, to go out and sell that book.
The realities are so many people think it’s their job, but it’s not. It’s ours to individually get out and get our words to the marketplace.
When my books come out, I’m beating my chest from every topic that I can get a hold of because I want that message to be spread worldwide.
So, yes, a hundred percent, it’s the opportunity, the responsibility, and the privilege as being the author to be our best sales person.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes, and what’s the best thing you’ve learned to do marketing of a bestseller book?

GREGORY S. REID: One of the greatest interviews I did was with a guy named Jack Mates who was the President and CEO of Velcro Corporation. I said, “How did you sell to five billion people Velcro?” because I never did. I just sold to five people.
He goes, “I sold to the head of automotive, the head of aerospace, and the head of fashion. They found the application and brought it to the world. The secret is the corner market and let them do all the legwork.”
So when Three Feet from Gold came out, Sharon Lechter closed the first deal, and Barnes & Noble bookstores here in America actually did a joint venture on it. So when you go into the bookstores, you’ll always see our books on the shelf because we’re partners.
It’s the same thing when we did the last audio program through Napoleon Hill Foundation called “Napoleon Hill’s Road to Riches.” We teamed up with Brilliance Audio which is a part of Amazon.com. They would go ahead and put it on their database and promote it to their people.
So, for me, it’s the same way. If I want to sell a book to a hundred people, that’s a lot of work. But if I get to one person who’s got a book club and they’ve got a hundred members, well, that’s a hundred sales in just one time.
I want to find those people and get to them as quickly as possible.

DAVID LAROCHE: That’s great advice.

GREGORY S. REID: Thank you.

DAVID LAROCHE: You do a lot of things. I see that. How do you manage your life? Do you have children? Yes, between business, your wife… what do you do? How do you do that?

GREGORY S. REID: The main thing is I only do what I love. It’s an old cliché but it’s true. Right now, I’m not working but, technically, some person could say I am. When I’m doing other things and writing, I’m not working; I’m doing what I love. When I’m speaking, I’m not working; I’m doing what I love.
So the whole thing is that I don’t do what I don’t like.

DAVID LAROCHE: You delegate what you don’t like.

GREGORY S. REID: Exactly. Work your strengths; hire your weaknesses. So I don’t do my accounting. I don’t do the things that are a challenge to me. I do the things that I do best and by doing that, I can do a lot of it.

DAVID LAROCHE: So the first advice is do what you love. And how do you manage when there are two things you love? You love your wife and you love your company. How do you manage that?

GREGORY S. REID: I don’t think I manage it at all. I just live.
You know, so many people talk about balance and all this good stuff. You just find time for what’s important to you and what you love.
For me, I come in to this office quite early every day, about seven o’clock. But I leave at two o’clock and I go home to my house. You’ve been there. It’s a pretty nice place. And I get to hang out with my wife and my kid and be a father and be a husband. It’s really nice when I understand the delicate balance of that stuff.
And then, when I have to speak and be on the road for a few days, that’s okay because I’ve spent a lot of time with my family and I make sure I make time. So I’m not missing out on anything. I feel like I’m getting a little bit of everything.
To me, that’s the real definition of success.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes, it’s great. How do you make your priorities in your business? You have a lot of projects. You have a lot of dreams, I imagine. How do you put your energy?

GREGORY S. REID: I start them and I get the ball rolling, and then I’m willing to delegate and turn some of these things over to other people, again, who have expertise outside my own.
So the whole idea is that it’s the epitome of being a … guy and getting that ball rolling and getting it started. But I will make sure that I’ll … until it comes to fruition.
I don’t quit on anything. I make sure if I start something, I finish it.
That’s a big challenge so I’m very careful what I promise and to what I commit myself to because it has to come to the end.

DAVID LAROCHE: And do you think there is a limit to the projects you can handle?

GREGORY S. REID: Absolutely! There is a limit. However, I keep finding that whenever I think I’m at my maximum, there’s always room for a little bit more. And I will not sacrifice one thing for the other. So as long as I can fit it in the same amount of time, then, the bottom line, I’ll take it on.
Right now, I’m doing this interview, as you see, in the middle of doing 18 different things. But I’m going to make sure I make time for this because not only do I want to get to know you but if we can impact a couple of people around the globe, that’s awesome.
On the same note, it gives me the opportunity to sit here in front of you, guys, and make new friends. That’s the best part.

DAVID LAROCHE: What is your favorite movie that has inspired you the most?

GREGORY S. REID: All time, it’s got to be Rudy. Now, Rudy is one of the greatest stories: America, Notre Dame football, the scrawny little kid gets picked last for P.E. Finally, at the last game at the last down, they put him in that, snapped the ball. He runs around and tackles the quarterback.
People pick him up, put him on the shoulders and carry him off the field with a hundred thousand people chanting his name, “Rudy, Rudy.”
Now, people think that that was the end of the story. But the guy Rudy Ruettiger thinks, no, this is just the beginning. That should become a motion picture.
Everyone says he’s crazy because he only made one tackle.
He saves all those nickels together and goes out to Hollywood to meet this famous film producer. Well, an hour goes by and he doesn’t show up. Another hour, he doesn’t show up. Three hours, the guy doesn’t show up.
Rudy, not giving up, walks outside to get a breath of fresh air and he sees a mailman standing there, smiling. He goes, “What are you smiling at?”
He goes, “Well, I just moved here from Wisconsin where it’s two degrees; and, now, I’m delivering mail to movie stars in my shorts. What a great life!”
He asks Rudy, “What are you here for?” and Rudy tells him. And that mailman gets upset and goes, “Who are you supposed to meet? I can’t believe the guy would stand you up!”
Rudy tells him and the mailman laughs. He goes, “You’re not going to believe it. I just delivered mail to that guy thirty minutes ago. And if you don’t tell him I told you, I’ll tell you where he lives.”
Rudy goes over.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Rudy and you’re late for lunch.”
The guy comes down. They have their meeting and if you watch the film and the credits, he’s the one who wrote that screenplay.

DAVID LAROCHE: I will. It will be a very inspiring movie. What is your favorite commitment to yourself?

GREGORY S. REID: To be the best form of myself. You know, Les Brown has a great quote. He says, “Fill your own cup full, and then feed the world with what flows over.”
And I’m doing my very best to create the best foundation so that I can be the best form of who I believe I’m destined for, so that I can be of the greatest service to mankind.

DAVID LAROCHE: Maybe it’s the same answer, but what is your favorite quote?

GREGORY S. REID: About time.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes.

GREGORY S. REID: Quite frankly, I’m going to have to pull out one of my own quotes because it’s something that I kind of heard along the way. It says, “In the end, the extent of our own success will be measured by the accomplishments that we help in others.”
It has nothing to do with us. We’re just part of this journey. It’s what we can do to help mankind and other people that truly matters most.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great! Julie has two questions for you and I’ll come back for my two last questions.

GREGORY S. REID: I told you this was going to be easy.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes. You are quick. It’s amazing.

JULIE: Quick, precise…

DAVID LAROCHE: Quick, precise… huge content in a few seconds.

JULIE: I’m doing a panel on education. I ask the same question to hundreds of people.

GREGORY S. REID: Did you say “ballet”?

JULIE: Panel.

GREGORY S. REID: Panel.

JULIE: My first question is about education. According to you, how could we improve education?

GREGORY S. REID: That’s a great question. I bet you’re getting answers all across the board on that one.
I think it goes back down to letting the teachers teach from the heart and what they know best rather than from only a textbook. It seems that so many times we’re taught from the same bit of literature that is outdated or they’re told what to teach rather than teaching what they’re an expert in.
I believe that if we could take the governor off the reins a little bit and let the teachers do what they’re best at, the world would change accordingly.

JULIE: Yes
My second question is about your vision of the world. According to you, what are the three actions human beings can do to make this world a better place to live in?

GREGORY S. REID: It’s been one of the greatest quotes of all time, that when two percent of the world’s population all come into consensus, that’s where a shift happens.
You started seeing that in the global warming community all the way down to different things that inspire. So the best thing we can do is unify ourselves.
I think we’re seeing it now with the medium of Facebook and Twitter and so many of these different things. We’re seeing places in Iran coming up. We’re seeing the outcry of people where normally we would never have access to and we would only get a snippet in the newspaper.
Now, we’re able to interact and reach out. And I believe that form, in itself, is going to see a big shift in the next ten years where people are going to want the same thing for themselves that they’re seeing worldwide.

JULIE: Thank you very much.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great!

GREGORY S. REID: Last question. I bet you’re getting all kinds of answers for that.

JULIE: Yes.

DAVID LAROCHE: This is not my last question. I have a few questions because we are on time.
One of my projects is to build a school for eighteen year olds, one year of schooling for the youth. According to you, what do I have to include in the program to help the youth succeed in life, the success in your vision—happiness and everything?
If you build this program with me, what will you include in the program to help the youth build the foundation of their lives?

GREGORY S. REID: It’s interesting. I’ve got a brand new baby, only one year old, and he just got permitted to come to a very fancy school here in California. He had to get interviewed at one year old to get in; so he starts at one and a half.
The thing I like about this school is that they’re teaching these kids to allow them to be themselves. So they’re finding what’s important to them, what they enjoy doing, and then they’re encouraging them to do more of that while teaching the math and sciences and the things that they need to know.
They’re also encouraging them to be creative. They’re encouraging them to find what their calling is, and then really pursuing that with everything they have.
I think, in the future school, that’s what we’re going to see more of. For example, I spent so much time trying to avoid … school because I didn’t want to go to math class.
Around the end of the day, I was thriving in drama and architecture and things that were entertaining to me. And if people would have catered a little bit more to that, I would have paid more attention to school. And I think I would have done a lot better.
For me, I hope… I can only dream that, one day, the world will come to a consensus and start allowing people to be themselves.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great! Do you think I have to use movie in this kind of school for one year?

GREGORY S. REID: That we be awesome. Absolutely, especially because, again, it’s looking into a prism, to a box, and to a catalyst so they can see things completely differently.
Talk about a paradigm shift. You know, if you’re in one place in society and you have access to eavesdrop and to be a voyeur to all these different parts of the world and different ethnic backgrounds and cultures and things of that nature, it would be outstanding. So absolutely!
DAVID LAROCHE: Great! How old is your child?

GREGORY S. REID: One year old.

DAVID LAROCHE: One year old. Imagine that we will do a video for him when he’s 17 years old. He will see the video. What do you want to share to the youth and to your son? What life lessons would you like to share to your son when he’s 17 years old?

GREGORY S. REID: I’m just going to keep going back down that same example answer that we’ve been saying.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes, but it will be a separate video.

GREGORY S. REID: At the end of the day, we are the direct reflection of the people we associate with the most. Our attitude, our income and lifestyles is the exact average of that group. So when we choose our friends wisely, our lives would change at that moment.
This is one of the greatest things that I’ve learned along my life’s journey. There’s a big difference between counsel and opinion.
Opinion is based on ignorance, lack of knowledge and experience. They haven’t done it.
Counsel is based on wisdom, knowledge, mentorship. They’ve already paved the way.
So many people listen to other people’s opinions and they don’t even know what they’re talking about. So if I write a book and say, “I’m going to write one,” and they’ve never done it themselves, they might say, “You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. You just can’t.”
Well, that’s their opinion and they might steal your dream.
If I go to Mark Victor Hansen who wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul and say, “I’m going to write a book,” he’s going to say, “Great! But before you get started, here’s what you need to know” and give me counsel based on wisdom, knowledge, and experience.
Here’s the bottom line: If we would spend our daily activities surrounding ourselves with the very best people we can get a hold of and listening and seeking counsel rather than listening to opinion, that will be the life that we’re destined for.

DAVID LAROCHE: Great! I love that. These are my two last questions. It is a weird question and a funny video. It is a separate video also.
My question is how do you become unhappy in this life and how do you become a loser?
I will make a video with the best advice of each interviewee on how to become a loser. Are you ready?

GREGORY S. REID: Sure

DAVID LAROCHE: You have just to …

GREGORY S. REID: What?

DAVID LAROCHE: The goal is to…

GREGORY S. REID: Ask what makes you happy and what makes you a loser.
DAVID LAROCHE: Just say seriously how you become a loser, okay, because I believe a lot that if people are listening, they’ll say, “Oh, I am doing that and I don’t want to become a loser.” They will remember that, maybe, they don’t have to do that.

GREGORY S. REID: I got it. Here we go.

DAVID LAROCHE: So I have a serious question for you.

GREGORY S. REID: Absolutely!

DAVID LAROCHE: How can I become a loser and how can I help people to become losers?

GREGORY S. REID: Hang around the greatest losers you can get a hold off.

DAVID LAROCHE: Wow! Is that the first step?

GREGORY S. REID: Exactly, because if you hang around other losers, you’ll become one, too. If we’re a reflection of the people we hang around with, hang around the most complaining, griping, moaning, pain-filled people; then, chances are, that will be the dialogue we can have and we’ll be the greatest complaining, griping, moping boneheads just like them.

DAVID LAROCHE: It’s inspiring. How can I do it quicker? Do you have any key?

GREGORY S. REID: Have a what?
DAVID LAROCHE: Another step or advice.

GREGORY S. REID: One of the greatest quotes of all times says if you want people to follow in your footsteps, you shouldn’t step in poop. So the bottom line is to avoid the rough tracks.

DAVID LAROCHE: Do you have a third one?

GREGORY S. REID: Yes. If we want to be the greatest loser, we can. All we have to do is really focus on all the amazing great challenges that we have in our lives because, just like a reticular activator, as soon as we focus on it, you can see that they’re all over the place.
So start focusing on them. Start looking for all the things that are going on in our lives and you’ll be amazed and inspired by how horrible things truly are.

DAVID LAROCHE: And I will become the best loser ever.

GREGORY S. REID: Ever!

DAVID LAROCHE: Thank you very much. I would love to have testimonial from you. Can I let you speak or do you prefer I ask you something?

GREGORY S. REID: No, I got it.

DAVID LAROCHE: My name is David Laroche and you say what you want.

GREGORY S. REID: I’ll tie the same relationship thing. So I’m ready to go.
You know, it’s been said that we are reflection of the people we hang around with; and our attitude, income, and lifestyle is the average of that group.
Do you want to be a winner? You hang around with winners. I just had a moment to spend with David. I’ve got to tell you. I feel more inspired than ever before. And if you have the opportunity to get to know this young man, I highly recommend you do just that.

DAVID LAROCHE: It’s great. It’s so amazing the way you organize your ideas. It’s quick.

DAVID LAROCHE: Yes. Maybe the quickest…