Just as the news burned out of Elon Musk smoking a joint on my favorite podcast, it was announced that Space X would send someone to the moon.
Elon Musk is a man among us literally shooting for the moon.
You have to admire the ability to chase what he wants to do. It was clear for me only minutes into the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. When Rogan asked Musk where he got the idea to sell a flamethrower, Musk did not fail to deliver:
“I’m a big fan of Spaceballs the movie and in Spaceballs, Yogurt goes through the merchandising section and they have a flamethrower in the merchandising section of Spaceballs and “the kids love that one”. That’s the line when he pulls out the flamethrower.”
When Rogan pushes him on liability and what kind of maniacs would want to buy a flamethrower, Musk joked, "Yeah, its a terrible idea."
But this terrible idea netted 10 million dollars in 4 days - selling 20,000 at $500 each.
Another terrible idea? Digging tunnels in Los Angeles. Musk said it might be one of the worst places to dig tunnels simply because of the paperwork. So why there? Because he lives there and because no one else is doing anything to solve the problem of L.A. traffic.
It's invigorating to watch someone unabashedly chase down their dreams. After all, the big question remains: why are we here?
I don't know if we can know the answer, but Rogan had another guest get close about five years earlier. - Jersey-born filmmaker Kevin Smith. It's still one of Rogan's longest podcasts to date at more than 4 hours. But a single eight-minute bit still continues to stick with me. Smith shares the uncomfortable truth that his father "died screaming" and what that means for his life philosophy.
I typed it here but it's worth hearing the whole story from the man himself:
“And the notion of my father dying screaming changed my life cause I was like, even a good man in this world - you play the game, you play it straight, you play it by the rules, you do everything you’re supposed to - you’re gonna die screaming.
And at that point I was like there is no point in not trying to accomplish every stupid fuckin’ dream I’ve got, even if it’s dumb shit, like, “Oh my god, I’ve always wanted to collect this many Wayne Gretzky cards in one fuckin’ binder” or if it’s like “I want to make a movie” or if it’s like “I want to put on a podcast” or “I wanna do a TV show now” or “I want to write a book”. Chase it all down. Chasing whimsies is what I’ve been doing for the last few years. Just smoking weed and chasing whimsies.
Any time I’m like back in the day I’d have a good idea, something I really wanted to follow through on, and all of a sudden you get scared you start thinking about what some motherfucker’s gonna say and be like, “Oh its stupid.” “Why would you fuckin’ do that, fuckin’ why why?” Lot of why people in this world. I try to surround myself with the Why Nots, motherfuckers who you’re like “I want to try this” and they’re like “Why not? Lets go. Lets give it a shot.”
You got to be game. People help you achieve your dreams and shit, so for me the last few years Ive just been trying accomplish every dopey dream. The big shit, the little shit, you gotta do ‘em all. You cant just do the climb every mountain shit. Sometimes lay the bar down and step over it and be like ta-da, so you feel accomplished. But chase it all and do it all cause we’re all gonna die screamin’.”