Today, I am talking to Kevin Hart. Kevin is an actor, comedian, author, investor, and CEO. Over the years he has become Hollywood’s box office powerhouse, opening ten films at number one at the box office with $4.23 billion revenue at the global box office. In 2020 Hart starred in “Die Hart,” the first production of its kind, created through his digital network, Laugh Out Loud, and Executive Produced through his production company, Hartbeat Productions. Kevin’s memoir, I Can’t Make This Up, debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Sellers List and remained on the Top 10 Nonfiction Hardcover Bestsellers List for ten weeks straight. Kevin’s digital network, the Laugh Out Loud Network, serves as a platform for emerging comedians and is home to two premium series which both feature Kevin – “What the Fit?” and “Cold as Balls.” 
  
We get to see Kevin’s serious side as he talks about self love and team effort. He places emphasis on the importance of focusing our energy on finding a solution rather than wasting time on the problem, how team effort is the foundation to all forms of success, why we should always consider both sides of the story, the beauty of cheering for others success and celebrating it with them, and how self love and self appreciation must start with you and not come from someone else.  

Truly, there is no shortcut to success. It is earned through hard work, clear purpose, surrounding yourself with the right people, and a multitude of self love.      

What We Discuss:
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:19 Looking in the mirror and being okay with yourself
00:07:38 Having parents that opens opportunities for you
00:13:06 Don’t focus on the problem, focus on the solution
00:20:45 It’s hard to see the good if you’re only seeing the bad 
00:25:20 The simplest things came from an idea
00:35:12 Team effort is the foundation of success 
00:43:19 Celebrate each other’s success
00:58:24 Talk to yourself
01:06:47 Looking at things with both lenses
01:10:16 You gotta learn it
01:15:12 Would you wish pain and suffering for anyone? 
01:20:50 Critical thinking
01:25:27 There is no handbook to fame
01:29:56 Kevin on Final Five

The biggest drug, it's not cocaine, it's not heroin, it's fame.

Anything you want, everything you want, it's a thing.

And if you can't handle this thing, the consequences attached are severe.

Do you know you and are you okay with you?

The number 1 health and wellness podcast.

Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number 1 health podcast in the world, thanks to each and every 1 of you that come back every week to become happier, healthier, and more healed.

And I'm so grateful for this community that we have here because I get to sit down with some of the most incredible minds in the world, people that I find fascinating, not just personally and professionally, but because of the potential and the purpose that they have.

Today's guest is someone who has been on my list to interview from day 1.

I'm speaking about someone, the 1 and only Kevin Hart, Hollywood's box office powerhouse, opening 11 films at number 1 at the box office and grossing more than

Kevin has also become a successful entrepreneur, is a chairman of Heartbeat, a global multimedia platform company creating entertainment at the intersection of comedy and culture with a mission to keep the world laughing together.

Kevin is also the founder of Heartbeat Ventures.

Kevin is a New York Times bestselling author twice over and his first Audible original, The Decision, was nominated for an Audi Award for best original audio book.

And I spent my last 5 hikes listening to his new audio book, Monsters, and how to tame them.

And I have to tell you, and I'm gonna tell Kevin right now because he's sitting in front of me, dude, I have not been that into something for a long, long time.

I have not stopped talking about the different monsters, the different personalities, to my wife, to my team, to my colleagues.

You've made it so relevant and accessible to talk about your flaws in a way that I've never seen before.

So thank you so much for being here, man.

And you know, when flowers are thrown out, I believe that they should sometimes be returned.

And in this case, man, I'm here for a reason.

The work that you've done, the success that you've had is groundbreaking.

I just want to say there's an equal level of appreciation and excitement for the moment, man.

You've done some groundbreaking podcasts, your guests to how you've gotten people to open up the conversations that you've had.

More importantly, you know, the lives that you're saving by just being transparent, authentic, and true to who you are.

So, it's an honor to sit across from you.

And it's 1 that's been on my list as well.

So I'm glad that we finally got it worked out to where we can make this happen.

And it's really beautiful hearing that from you, honestly.

So let's dive in before we keep going back and forth with roses.

1 of the things I want to start off, and this is going to take us anywhere and everywhere, is how does it feel when you're winning and then you discover you got monsters?

Because that's kind of the journey you've been on, and I want to go back and forth in this journey, but I want to start there.

Like, what does it feel like when you're winning, you're succeeding, but then you all of a sudden go, I've still got monsters in me?

You know, when you say and use the word monsters just for clarity, so people can understand, of course, we're talking about the different levels to you.

And within the levels that I've discovered in myself, of myself, you know, you got your good versions and your bad versions.

And the bad versions I refer to as monsters, but just because they're bad doesn't mean they don't have good quality.

And when you're winning and you're succeeding, there's this idea that everything is right.

There's this idea that perfection is now presenting itself, and life moving forward is going to be just an easy road.

And it's not until you're in that position where you expect perfection and you think that, that you start to see the true problems and flaws really present themselves.

And you know, my monsters have been masked and disguised in various different ways, but I've been able to pinpoint them throughout the years because some of those monsters grew, got stronger, developed.

You're talking about the world of an ego, the idea of who you think you are versus what you are, or the idea of expectations and needs as to what you feel you need and what you have to have.

That's a monster that's feeding that, right?

That engine of, well, now that I'm making money, this is what I should have, this is how I should look, this is how I'm supposed to be.

That's a monster that you're feeding because ultimately you're buying in to something that you're creating.

And it's not till you sit down and you take a breather and you start to really kind of, you start to really figure out the true definition of happiness for you.

You start to really understand the adult that you have grown into and the level of maturity that has now, I guess you can say, have been banked inside the human that you are.

You're banking so much over the years And ultimately you're shaping and molding yourself into this grounded, hopefully, this grounded individual that you're proud to look at in the mirror at the end of the day.

I had to start to, I had to get to a place to where I was looking in the mirror and I was proud of what I was looking at and I was okay with Checking myself.

I was okay with knowing what I do well and what I do wrong And at the end of the day, there's no consequence to always improving, there's no consequence to growing.

You're in a time now where people almost frown upon the world of growth.

So The monsters and the world of how to tame them came from me understanding the different levels of monsters that have presented themselves to me over the years and me getting them to a point to where I put them in a place where I can control them.

They're still there, they can rear their heads, but I can say sit down.

And I can tell when 1 is trying to take me back to a place of old, but at the age 43, it's exciting to know that I've grown from so much and the world of want is significantly different than what it once was.

It's really interesting, you use the analogy of like looking in the mirror and being okay with yourself.

And when you said that, I was thinking, yeah, when you look in the mirror, there's no trophies.

The reflection doesn't show the trophies, the wins, the money, whatever else.

And the fact that you've had the courage to look at that, where do you think, when you track back, I've always been fascinated by memories that we hold from our childhood that have left an imprint that's really strong in our lives, whether it be positive, challenging, whatever it may be.

What's a difficult memory from childhood do you think that has been the catalyst for so many things in your life?

Is there anything that you go back to do like I can see how that and I had to turn that into a positive

I think the biggest memory for me is the the 1 of being complacent.

You know as a child I I wasn't really a kid that embraced the world of challenge, right?

I was very complacent I was okay with being a subpar to low average student, right?

And I was kind of okay with getting over, right?

So The biggest memory that I have in my childhood is like when I got to that early teen years, at 12, at 13, at 14, being sneaky and thinking that you're constantly one-upping someone was the, that's what I was embracing at the highest level.

And you taking my word for it and not checking my homework, oh, I didn't do it, but you think I did, I got over.

Ultimately, you're slowly cheating yourself over the course of years, and it's not until you get a reality check as to why that work was necessary that you realize you're just not doing what you're supposed to do with your life, right?

I had a lot of different examples of that.

I truly had a mom that made sure that I had and I didn't take advantage or embrace the real work that she put in until I got to an older age of true understanding.

But to be honest, I really threw a lot of those things to the side.

The extracurricular activities, the swim teams, the football teams, the basketball teams, the track and field, the baseball.

All of these things as a kid, you don't understand what your parents are doing to try to provide you with a world of opportunity.

They're trying to embrace this idea of hard work, effort, activity, engage.

They're doing all of these things to their kids or hopefully, right, for their kids to put their kids in a position to just want, right?

Want the best, compete, study, learn, be excited about their future.

Thankfully when it went off, it went off at the right time and I was able to identify a lot of stuff that I couldn't then.

And also thankfully that a lot of the lessons that my mom constantly embedded in me about, you don't start things that you're not gonna finish, you don't quit, apply your all, do this or don't do it.

You're not cheating anybody but yourself.

All of these things that I heard over the course of time, there was a moment when I got older, it all hit at the same time.

But the real memory for me now, looking back, is I'm glad that I do see that, that I am aware of that, because not being aware of that is the hugest loss.

Thinking that I took full advantage, thinking that I really applied or tried myself, thinking that that was a hundred percent would be the real loss.

So 1 of my best memories is knowing that at 1 point I was a slacker.

You know, I was the guy that wanted to look like he was doing but never truly was, unless it was something that I loved and embraced.

And you know, that was basketball, but the chances of me making that were very slim.

But you know, that's, to answer your question, it's a ballpark of those memories that I now look back on that I appreciate, but that also act as the fuel for the hard work and the 100% that you see that I put into everything I do today.

Yeah, that's such a great reframe around what you saw as a bigger loss.

I think that's so powerful for you to sit here and say, actually I'm really happy that I can see that I wasn't putting my best foot forward because that helps me be grateful to my mom.

It helps me understand it from a different perspective.

And the 1 thing that came to mind for me when I'm listening to you say that is there's this quote that says, the day you realize your parents were right, your kids are telling you that you're wrong.

And that's always been 1 of those statements that I think about that in my own self.

I thought my parents were wrong my entire teenage life and I think most teenagers do.

And then all of a sudden I hit my mid-20s and I'm like, oh, wait a minute, my mom's been through a lot.

I mean, 1 of the reasons we pushed this show back was you lost your father recently.

And when I heard the news, obviously, you know, my love and condolences to your family and I was looking at what you were sharing and commenting about and there was this 1 thing that you said that really stuck with me.

And you said that, my kids actually think I'm the coolest dad on the planet.

The mistakes that my dad made, you know, the decisions to do drugs, being in and out of jail, in and out of your lives.

I saw firsthand what not being present did because of that.

I know what effect it can have on your child coming up.

But it sounded like obviously when you lost your father recently, it sounds like you'd reconciled, like you'd built somewhat of a connection.

we weren't the closest, but we weren't not close.

My dad, at the end of the day, I'm gonna love my dad for simply being my dad.

Now my dad's life, you know, had several different versions of drastic downs, right?

A small amount of ups, but a lot of downs.

I can easily sit here and ridicule or judge my dad for the mistakes that he made or for his past, but that does nothing.

I don't like to focus on problem, I focus on solution.

So with me and my dad and our relationship, it was always 1 of solution.

Like you can't go back and fix the years that you weren't present.

There's, there was nothing that we can do about that time.

And then me and my dad talking, my biggest thing was you don't have to focus on what you can't change.

The fact that you're here now and that you made a decision to get clean, to turn your life around, it's never too late.

My dad was, you know, 50 plus at the time when he said, I'm gonna go ahead and figure it out, and I'm gonna close that door, and I'm gonna work on this other door.

This door over here was, like I said, jail, drugs, in and out of his kid's life, to the point where, you know, there was a time when we didn't know where my dad was and I bumped into my dad on the train I tell a story I bumped into my dad on a public transportation in Philadelphia like not seeing him in years I randomly saw my dad and my dad was so embarrassed he got on the train and ran.

But it's like, that's where that world and that relationship was.

And what I do very well, I don't hold on to grudges or gripes.

It takes too much time, it takes too much energy.

Like it's about the grandkids and our relationship got better as he embraced the opportunity to be a great grandpa and seeing him try to do that right was his way of saying, I wish I could have done this right for you.

I can't, like I know what you're saying without saying it.

Although some people do need them, sometimes your actions are a little better.

And my dad's actions in trying his best to be an unbelievable grandfather made our father-son relationship that much better.

And you know, there was a lot of conflict between my brother and my dad, and seeing that mend over the time.

And just saying, look, I'm not supposed to be here.

Being that I can, I want to make sure that you get to see some dope things in life here?

Let's do this and take that and live like this and do.

His reward for giving his energy to something positive and life-changing was his son becoming successful and his son saying, Dad, huh?

You got a great piece of light at the end of that dark tunnel that you didn't expect, that I didn't expect, because I didn't expect to be here.

So everything kind of, it works itself out.

And you know, and losing my dad is when you look back And you go, yo, he was all right, right?

Like my reflection, my conversation, my words, when I speak on behalf of my father, they're so positive and dope because he did good.

Like, whatever you did to put whatever recipe in this pot, the food came out all right.

Ultimately, I want the most that I can possibly get out of life.

I got some of them imperfections over there.

I got some of the ones from over here, from my man dead, okay, that's life.

I'm gonna figure it out, but I figure it out without the want or need for problem.

I mean, listening to you say that, what I appreciate so much is about how you're changing our perspective again that often we feel to heal what was broken needs to be fixed.

And actually what you've just said is seeing him try with the grandkids, that's not even the area that needed fixing or was broken, but seeing that starts to create some healing.

That's the best example that I can ask for.

Like me and my ex-wife got to a point of realization, you know, after having a significant amount of ups and downs, you know, after our divorce, we got to a point where you realize it's not about us.

We had our opportunity and we're now adults.

Well, that's the choice that we make, but we're trying to make the best choices so that they have a better life.

When I see somebody making the efforts to make life for them better, well then we're on the same page.

It's not about us as a generation at this point.

It's about us trying our best to do things, to create change, to move ground, shift the gears so that they have a much better opportunity than what we did.

That's the world of the baton being passed correctly.

And if you understand that and you have that mindset, you approach your day to day differently.

And it's 1 thing that I'm very thankful for and through the things that should be problems or were supposed to be problems I've never held on to them long enough and by the way just bringing it back full circle that's a monster.

I'm gonna hold on to that and I'm gonna prove to you or I'm gonna show you or I'm not talking to nobody over here.

So you can fuel that monster or that monster doesn't have to have an existence in me.

It's really, really interesting hearing that perspective again because 1 of my favorite lessons that I've learned is that often the thing that's holding you back is something you're holding onto.

The idea that something that's holding you back is you're holding on to it.

So whether it's a grudge, like you're saying, the grudge monster, or a feeling, or an emotion, or an idea that you're not allowing it to let go when it no longer serves you.

And being able to walk away from that requires real strength and courage.

But 1 of the things that you said about you and your partner, your ex-wife, that I think is really powerful is that when it's just about us, whoever that may be, you're either looking at each other or you're looking past each other.

And what you just said is now we're looking in the same direction when it's the kids.

And so that switch, if you think about any relationship in our life, when we think it's just about us, when it's not about anyone else, you're always going to be against each other.

But as soon as there's a higher purpose or there's a commitment or there's a value that supersedes that.

And understanding that comes with the world of communication and great dialogue.

I can, you know, and having this conversation, I can point to so many examples of how it's so hard to see the good if you're only seeing the bad.

Like there's so many people that struggle with their version of successes because they're looking at someone else's.

There's so many people that struggle with their world of relationship because they're judging theirs based off of someone else's, right?

And when you're constantly in the space of not realizing or noticing your world, your reality, because you're living in what appears to be someone else's, well your shit is never gonna be right.

Like if I'm looking at everybody's relationship with their father and I'm going, I want that.

Well, I'm not embracing the world of good that came from my dad.

I could have went down the road that my dad did.

I could have easily been wrapped into the same world of, you know, drugs, gangs, violence, stick up boys, right?

Like the embracing the hood at the highest level.

Not that I don't because I do, that's where I'm from, but I could have embraced it at a much higher level and followed in the footsteps of my father because that's what he did.

But I was able to realize the mistakes he made, I was able to go, I don't want to go down that street, because I see the consequences of it.

By the way, no disrespect to those that haven't.

You do what you want based off of who you've seen or what you want to be true to.

Live it to the best space and place that you feel you can win at.

I'm not here to tell you right from wrong.

I'm saying I identify things differently and I make decisions based off of examples that I can look at as not bad, but ones that if I didn't have, I could have made that mistake.

So without a lesson that was intentional, my dad's giving me lessons.

My dad never said, I went to jail so you didn't have to.

But hey man, seeing you in jail, dad, that just made me realize I don't want to go there.

Hearing how you talk about it, hearing how many times you went.

Well, I don't want to go there seeing what drugs did to you and you talking and telling the stories.

What you lost, what you had, what you don't.

Okay, you know, I'm going to embrace my father.

I'm going to embrace this imperfect human being because I'd be damned if he's not, if he's not positioning me for personal success in just understanding what I should and shouldn't do.

And it seems so logical, it seems like common sense, but sometimes it's not that easy.

Yeah, and sometimes what I'm hearing is sometimes the greatest wisdom is unsaid and unintentional.

Right, like sometimes the greatest wisdom is not what someone said to you, and sometimes the greatest wisdom is knowing what not to do.

I think we think of it as like knowledge or learning means someone's telling me what to do and they told me the right thing.

Sometimes it's looking and saying, well, I know what not to do now.

And what I'm fascinated though, and I think you're gonna give people a lot of hope listening to you today, because when you say that you were complacent growing up, and I consider you today to probably be 1 of the hardest working people in entertainment from what I see and observe, and when I've watched your interviews or listened to you, you work super hard, you give it your all, you're invested from a mission, purpose, point of view, but hey, wait a minute, this person says, I was complacent growing up, And it's never 1 moment, it's never 1 thing, so I don't even want to simplify it with that kind of a question.

What were the shifts that needed to take place in order for you to go from being complacent to being 1 of the hardest working people who's committed to something?

And there's this moment that I had where I just kept saying, why not?

And Russell Westbrook is a good friend of mine.

I tease him all the time because the 1 scene that he has that I wish I would have had or I wish I got to first is why not, right?

And working any job and whether that job is a 9 or 5 or whether it's a, you know, half a day, full day, whatever it is, you don't just have to do 1 thing.

But there's this weird, this is weird mindset that a lot of people have that you can only do 1 thing.

And when I realized I don't have to just do 1 thing, I can do a lot of different things.

You can be good at a lot of different things, but you don't know that you're good at a lot of different things unless you try a lot of different things.

And when I looked around and I kind of just realized how the world goes around, it's all based off of creativity.

It's all based off of thought-provoking, then groundbreaking opportunities.

But the simplest things have come from an idea.

From your chair, to your table, to your wheel, to your light bulb, to your car, to your plane, to your helicopter, to the idea of a hotel, from hotels going to a place of people renting out houses and Airbnbs to taxis to then people driving their own cars.

And the groundbreaking thought that I had in realizing all these ideas is that these ideas had the potential to touch the sky if a person believes that they can.

If a person believes that they can, well, your world of idea changes.

Your reason for getting up, your reason for putting your feet on the ground every morning, it can change if you believe that the purpose that you now have and that you're working towards, based off of an idea, is something that you can succeed in.

I grasped that understanding and I attached it to everything that I tried to do.

I did not set out to be the actor, the director, the writer, the producer, the CEO, the chairman, the advisor.

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Kevin Hart ON: The SECRET To Success & Happiness NOBODY TALKS ABOUT (Do This In 2023) | Jay Shetty