Rick:
Adam's been on two retreats actually. So he came on one retreat about three years ago and then came back the next year. And I asked him, I said - yeah, do you want to come up here?
And when he was coming back the second time, I was like, "I might have to change some stuff, throw some new stuff at him." You know? What if he does the same old thing?
And so I called him beforehand. I said, "Why are you coming back? What do you want to get?"
And he said, "I just had such an amazing change in my life this last year I want to see what happens this year."
So can you tell us what was your life like before you did the VysionQuest? What was your process like when you were there? And what is your life like now that you've done it?
Adam:
Hey guys. This book is so good for you, Ricky. "Made with Love".
Firstly, thank you for having me.
When I found Rick, I was in a messy place. Like I was in a very, very dark spot. I was living in Los Angeles. I had an animation company and I was there because... RIck said tonight that, you know, when death creeps a little closer you get clarity really quickly.
And I wouldn't say that death crept closer, but I had debilitating anxiety. Panic attacks that were horrible. And vertigo. So I literally couldn't walk in a straight line without my body just... I lost my middle ear. And all from stress.
And a friend of mine, a girl friend of mine in Maui, said, "Go and do Rick's retreat."
So I went over there and I was in such a dark space that when I got there I really couldn't find joy in anything.
And the night before the retreat we were having dinner and Rick got me into gratitude, which was a really big thing. Like for me, I was such a miserable bastard at the time, that he started with, "Well, let's talk about your dinner that's about to arrive here."
And we were sitting there on the Indian Ocean, waiting for this, and he explained the architecture that went into the stones that built the rotunda that we were sitting in on this cliff. And how the food that we were about to eat that was going to be carried out to us and served to us, where the food came from. And who tended to it and how it arrived to be on our table, presented by these lovely Balinese people.
And he got me straight into gratitude. Which was something I was so out of touch with living in Los Angeles, in this metropolis.
And I had the most extraordinary week.
I sold my animation company. I had no idea I was going to do that. I sold that while I was on the island, literally.
Because I thought, "F*ck this. I'm 39 years old. I'm supposed to be successful and I'm not. I'm miserable. I'm not loving life."
I was in a very dark, unhappy place.
And so I was in my board shorts. I sold my animation company.
Because I discovered that what I truly loved was teaching people and talking to people.
But I had some stuff that went on in my life, in my early thirties, that completely undermined my confidence. I had no confidence to teach people anymore. I had real issues around self-worth around that whole area.
But this quiet little whisper from my soul said, "That's what you should be doing, Adam. That was there to test you and to make you better."
And so I wrote down that I want to teach people.
And my gift was teaching... At the same time, I'd built an Amazon business in the U.S. And I loved teaching people how to do it because it was the only business I'd ever seen that I could literally believe that most people could learn to do it. And I was already teaching my friends and family and I was good at it.
And so I decided to do it and I said, "I'm going to start this course. And I'm not going to bullshit people. I'm going to tell them it's hard. I'm going to tell them it's tough. I'm so sick of the hype and crap in this industry. And I want to do it this way."
And all the people in the industry said, "It'll never work. We're not going to promote you because you can't tell people it's hard. You can't tell people it's going to take you a year before you'll making any money. And then if you're successful, you won't make any money in the second year because you'll put all that money into growing the business."
So nobody would promote it.
We struggled for a little bit. And then it took off.
But I said, "I also wanted to have cause. I wanted to give."
Because Rick got me so jazzed up about how many blessings I'd had in my life.
And I became famous in my area. When I got home people thought I was crazy because people would ask how I am and I would look them in the eye and say, "I am amazing!"
And they'd say, "What the hell is with this guy? Mr. Amazing over here."
I was like, "No, seriously, I am fricken amazing."
And I said, "Do you know what it takes to... I mean... I woke up this morning. I can see, I can breathe."
I'd forgotten all this basic shit. I was taking everything for granted.
And so I started to inspire people to remember that they're amazing, just one-on-one. And I just started to spread Rick's love really.
And my business just took off. And, um, I mean, not only did the business take off, but we wanted to give, so we wanted to do micro loans through Kiva. For every course we sold we do a microloan. We've done nearly 3000 microloans in two years.
We started to give to people in Bali who are ... there's 4 million Indonesians that are needlessly blind with cataract, you know, that they can be healed... So we decided to start sponsoring villages.
And now this year there's probably 500, nearly 500, Indonesians walking around that were blind in January because of the direct giving that we gave through our business. We took 60 or 70 of our students up there with us.
And the business just flourished beyond my... I mean... insane. It's become probably one of the most successful courses of its kind in the history of Australia. In two years.
And I get to do what I love. And we get to do good. And none of that's mutually exclusive.
You know, I was shitting myself when I first realized... when this little voice said, "Adam, you need to go teach, you need to hold a selfie stick and talk to people. And, uh, you need to get your voice out."
And Rick... one of the things on that list in my eulogy was I wanted to be the guy that said, "I believe in you," at that moment in someone's life when nobody else did.
And I think that was a really powerful thing. If you can speak into somebody's life at the right time, as he did into mine, such a beautiful gift. And we all have one.
It's pretty serious work that we're doing here.
So we don't take the time to breathe. We don't take the time to remember how freaking buried in abundance we are before we even start.
And the minute you reconnect with that abundance is the minute you just, you won't believe what comes into your life. You just won't believe it, on all fronts.
And you just got to get out of the fucken way. Just get out of the fucken way and shine.
Because everything will, I mean, I'm buried in every kind of success you can imagine.
But most importantly, heart success. For the first time in my life.
The best thing I ever did in my life was start giving to other people. In a real way. And, um, it's just so fulfilling and now I'm humbled by the success on every level.
And this guy is the one that, um... I call him my happiness mentor.
And that's why I came down here tonight. Because whenever I can support Rick I will.
Because he changed my life.
So if you can give yourself the gift of getting to the retreat, it is the best way to do it, because you get away from everything, you don't have any distractions and you can deep dive into taking back control of your life, and tapping into that inner voice.
We have so much potential. We just need somebody who can create the space and guide us.
And this guy here and his humility and everything, he's one of the best guides you could ever possibly find.
And what's at stake is your life, the best life that you could imagine.
I mean I could tell you so many stories if we had time tonight of stuff that's happened since that event that just would blow you away.
If you just say, "That's it, I'm surrendering. I'm getting out of the way. I'm going to follow the little voice and take my hands off the handlebars."
If you can do that, you'll scare the shit out of yourself where you'll go.
