April 1, 2024 • 57min
Why CEOs Need This 1 Japanese Ritual
My First Million
Key Takeaways
- Musogji is a Japanese term referring to a huge annual physical challenge that you spend the year preparing for, which changes your perspective on life
- Dr. Marcus Elliot has his athletes do extreme physical challenges like carrying an 80-pound rock underwater for 3 miles or paddleboarding 25 miles to an island
- The two rules for a musogji challenge are: 1) You can only have a 50% chance of completing it, 2) Don't die
- These types of challenges help you appreciate life more, be more disciplined, and avoid sleepwalking through life
- Other extreme challenges discussed: the Speed Project (underground race from Santa Monica to Las Vegas), the Monkey Run (riding mini motorcycles across Africa), and the Barkley Marathons (infamous 100-mile race in the Tennessee mountains)
- The definition of a luxury brand is dominating your customer (e.g. having people jump through hoops to buy your products)
- Top universities like Harvard are part luxury brand - Chinese stores sell university swag as status symbols even to people with no affiliation to the schools
Introduction
In this episode, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri discuss the concept of "musogji" - an annual extreme physical challenge that helps change your perspective on life. They cover examples from Dr. Marcus Elliot who has his pro athlete clients do things like carry heavy rocks underwater for miles or paddle vast distances.
The conversation then turns to what makes a true luxury brand, the power of universities as status symbols worldwide, delegating effectively as a manager, and an inspiring founder story. It's a typically wide-ranging discussion between the two hosts, peppered with interesting insights and amusing tangents throughout.
Hosts: Sam Parr (@theSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP)
Musogji Challenges & Physical Endurance Races
The Concept of Musogji (2:39)
Musogji stems from a Japanese myth about a man who descends to the underworld to save his wife, then cleanses himself in a waterfall upon returning, signifying rebirth. People have adapted the term to mean an annual extreme physical challenge that you spend 364 days preparing for, which ends up changing your perspective on life and how you live the rest of the year.
Dr. Marcus Elliot's Extreme Challenges (4:21)
Dr. Marcus Elliot is a data-driven sports scientist who has pro athlete clients do crazy musogji-style challenges. Two examples:
- Carrying an 80-pound rock underwater for 3 miles (grabbing it, carrying for 10 seconds, dropping it, and repeating for 10 hours)
- Stand-up paddleboarding 25 miles from Santa Barbara to an island (takes 15+ hours)
He only has two rules: 1) You can only have a 50% chance of completing the challenge, and 2) Don't die. The point is to do things that make you appreciate life, be disciplined, and avoid sleepwalking through life.
The Speed Project (14:22)
The Speed Project is an underground race from Santa Monica to Las Vegas. You get 4 friends together and have to run the whole way (no highways) - first group to Vegas wins. Very secretive, no website, have to be invited to join.
The Monkey Run (15:19)
Put on by a group called The Adventurists - it's a 1000 mile journey across Africa on mini motorcycles that takes 8 days. Their website copy is hilarious. Turns over millions per year in revenue.
"There's nothing like the sensation of a monkey bike between your thighs as you thunder slowly along dirt roads with absolutely no idea where you are." - The Adventurists website
The Barkley Marathons (17:33)
Created by a guy named Lazarus Lake. It's a 100-mile race through the mountains of Tennessee, inspired by the escape route of Martin Luther King Jr's assassin James Earl Ray. Limited to 40 runners per year out of thousands of applicants.
Many quirky rules, like a $1.60 application fee, bringing a license plate as your entry fee, and the race beginning when Lazarus lights a cigarette. Brutally difficult - only 15 people have ever finished. A woman completed it for the first time recently after Lazarus made a baiting video claiming women couldn't do it.
Luxury Brands, Status & Merch
Luxury = Dominating Your Customer (21:16)
Sam shares a quote that the definition of a luxury brand is "dominating your customer" - e.g. making people jump through hoops to buy your products. Some examples:
- Having to get on a waitlist to be allowed to purchase a Ferrari
- Needing an appointment to buy an expensive Louis Vuitton bag
Making customers do extra work to acquire your goods makes them seem much more valuable and exclusive. It's difficult to pull off but very powerful for building a brand cult when done well.
Top Universities as Luxury Brands (22:30)
Shaan makes the point that elite universities are kind of like luxury brands. An average Louis Vuitton bag might cost $5K while 4 years at Harvard is more like $200-250K.
He shares an anecdote about a college merch store in China that only sells swag from top American schools like Harvard, Yale, Stanford to Chinese customers who mostly have no affiliation to the universities. It's a huge business because those brand names carry so much weight and status internationally.
"In America, you could sell these licensed college gears, by the way. These are not dupes. These are, like, officially licensed, I guess. And so you could sell officially licensed college gear, and it does. Okay. It's not, like, the best niche to be in, but it's just a great example of, like, finding a niche where the market is actually bigger." - Shaan Puri
Flipping Casual Brands to Luxury Status (29:52)
Shaan proposes the idea of taking a traditionally "casual" or lowbrow brand (like McDonald's) and remixing it into a luxury designer version. He saw a limited edition McDonald's jacket that looked very upscale and exclusive.
Sam shares a tangentially related story about how a Japanese designer in the 1950s started an Ivy League prep fashion trend in Japan based only on photos, without ever visiting the American schools. When he finally did, he was shocked that the students mostly dressed casually, not like his exaggerated preppy runway looks. But it became a huge style in Asia.
Delegating Effectively as a Manager
Don't Let Employees Pass Off Their Monkeys (39:11)
Shaan relays advice about delegating from his Shepherd cofounder. Most rookie managers assume that once they hire people under them, they'll have less work. But this isn't true if you allow employees to pass their problems (metaphorical monkeys) onto you.
"You hire somebody, that person comes in, they're trying to do a good job, and they do. He has this analogy of the monkey. So the monkey is like a problem...And you're like, okay, it's not an easy answer, so I'm not sure. Let me think about it. I'll get back to you. Let me think about it. Or send me the info. I'll read it, and then I'll get back to you. And this guy points out is that. That sounds very reasonable, but what's happened is they took a monkey. That was their problem, that they were responsible for. And now you've said, let me think about it. I'll come back to you with an answer. Or let me send me the materials I want to read them, and then I'll come up with a decision. They've given you the monkey." - Shaan Puri
Make it Clear Who Owns the Monkey (43:24)
As a manager, you need to put the onus back on your reports and make it unambiguous that they own the problem and solution, not you. Some tips:
- Schedule specific times to provide input and guidance, don't let them interrupt you anytime
- Clarify they are responsible for making the ultimate decision and the results, not you
- Don't worry if they fail at first, it's the only way they'll learn - the alternative is you being overloaded with all the monkeys
"If they can't handle the monkey when you give it to them, they're not the right person for the job. And you can give them feedback one time of how you think they should have handled the monkey. And if they don't do it, the second time, you kind of know, well, this is not the right fit, and it filters them out. And so over time, you only have competent people who can take care of the monkeys themselves." - Shaan Puri
Founding Stories & Rapid Fire
Cubby Beds Founder Proves Sam Wrong (50:59)
In 2017, an acquaintance of Sam's named Caleb pitched him on his nights-and-weekends project: Cubby Beds, customized sensory beds for special needs children. Sam was skeptical it would work. But Caleb recently reached back out - Cubby Beds has now done $60-70M in revenue.
The beds have features like vibration, dimmable lights synced to sunset/sunrise, speakers for meditation, etc. They cost $5-10K but are often covered by insurance. And it's been entirely bootstrapped, started by hand-assembling parts in Caleb's garage when no factory would work with them.
"This is just proof that a, I don't know if this guy actually looked up to me, maybe he did a little bit because we had a little bit of hype. And I told them it was stupid. So, a, don't listen to me or don't listen to anyone. Just do the damn thing." - Sam Parr
Other Rapid Fire Topics (52:17)
- Marissa Mayer's questionable new app launch with outdated 2012-era UX design
- The potential of selling bespoke high fashion corporate swag and retro tech company merch
- Japanese nap pods for power napping and combatting sleep deprivation fads
Conclusion
The key themes and takeaways from this wide-ranging episode:
- Setting extreme challenges for yourself, with a high risk of failure, is a powerful way to jolt yourself out of complacency and motivate hard work and discipline
- Scarcity, exclusivity and making customers "jump through hoops" is the essence of luxury branding
- As a manager, you have to force employees to keep ownership of their problems, or else you'll become overloaded cleaning up messes
- Sometimes the most unlikely-sounding business ideas are the ones that end up succeeding, so don't be too quick to dismiss them
Overall, another characteristically dense and insight-packed conversation between Sam and Shaan, covering everything from mythical Japanese physical trials to university-branded streetwear. The Cubby Beds story in particular stands out as an inspiring example of an entrepreneur who stuck to his vision in the face of skepticism.