00:00:56 · John Coogan, Alex Hormozi
[00:00:56] S0: Okay. But do you imagine that continuing for your entire career? [00:01:01] S1: Every book I write, say is the last book I'm going to write. And then I have, like, a six month refractory period. Mhmm. And I'm like, yeah. You know, I could I could write a book about something, then I just start writing again. [00:01:11] S0: What's the process like? [00:01:13] S1: I have a bunch of notes on my phone of a topic. Because right now I've have, like, probably, like, 10 books that are at different stages of so I just mind them wherever. And then once there's enough stuff that I think this isn't like, this is interesting, I'll then start the book writing process. But I'm a big believer in surface area of thought. Okay. Like if you were to sit down and say like, I'm gonna write a book about this and then you have two weeks, it's like, don't have enough experiences that are diverse in a two week period while you're writing to like let the paint dry. [00:01:39] S0: Sure. [00:01:39] S1: So I kinda wanna like have I wanna be in, you know, a totally different state, talk to somebody and be like, I didn't think about that. And then I add it to the book. And so then all of sudden, it's like the the the density of of thought and ideas per word is much higher. But I think you just have to do it by, like, spreading out the time that so, like, the time I'm thinking about a book is much longer than the time I'm writing the
00:01:39 · Alex Hormozi, John Coogan
[00:01:39] S1: So I kinda wanna like have I wanna be in, you know, a totally different state, talk to somebody and be like, I didn't think about that. And then I add it to the book. And so then all of sudden, it's like the the the density of of thought and ideas per word is much higher. But I think you just have to do it by, like, spreading out the time that so, like, the time I'm thinking about a book is much longer than the time I'm writing the [00:01:56] S0: book. Is it purely thinking and you want a lot of thought to go into the different sections of the book? Or over the course of eighteen months, is there actually a benefit to going out and having real world experience? [00:02:07] S1: Oh, that's I mean, that's [00:02:08] S0: And anecdotes. Right? [00:02:09] S1: It's a 100% that. Because I'll have a working theory of, like, I think this is how I think people are missing this part of it. Yeah. And then I'll kind of start battle testing it functionally. And then when I realize that I'm using the same framework over and over again and successfully overcoming some issue Yeah. I'm like, this is it. Yeah. And then that's what the book becomes. [00:02:24] S0: How narrow do you want to stay? How narrow have you been in the surface area of thought around mainly the last three books?
00:02:24 · John Coogan, Alex Hormozi
[00:02:24] S0: How narrow do you want to stay? How narrow have you been in the surface area of thought around mainly the last three books? [00:02:34] S1: It's a really good question. Problem definition for the book, think, is the hardest part of any book. Like, the leads book, which is the second book Yeah. Was the hardest book I've ever written. I'll never write a book that hard. Yeah. Because I was like, I'm gonna write a book on advertising. It's like, Jesus Christ. There's so many ways to get leads. Yes. And I put it all in one book. It took 19 versions to get there. Yeah. The money models book was the fastest book because it was really just about rappers for promotions. Super valuable, but really easy to consume and use. Yep. And so I was like, okay. This is the lesson for me. Like and offers, super narrow. Super narrow. And that book too is like, all three of those books started as one kind of gigantic thing, and I gave it to somebody and they're like, dude, you cannot. [00:03:08] S0: Yeah. [00:03:08] S1: It was, like, you know, like this. And they're like because I was like, I'm gonna have a tome. And then I decided to want people actually read it.
00:03:08 · Alex Hormozi, John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[00:03:08] S1: It was, like, you know, like this. And they're like because I was like, I'm gonna have a tome. And then I decided to want people actually read it. [00:03:14] S0: Is there a itch in the back of your mind where you wanna do sort of the Tim Ferriss thing where you go from four hour workweek, a business book to chef, body, lifestyle, money management, personal finance. Like, there's so many topics that you talk about, and people are interested. Yeah. And I'm sure you could sell those books, and they might be edifying at a certain point because you're like, I've I've scratched this itch three times, four times, 10 times. But is there a level of focus that you have to discipline yourself, or does it come naturally? [00:03:51] S1: I only write about stuff that I feel like I have some unique take on. I think rewriting a book that already exists, other people already know, there's no point. Yeah. Especially if, like, you're in the thick of it and you're thinking, oh, this has already been written before. It doesn't really motivate you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I think it like, I want to write something that only exists because I made it. Mhmm. [00:04:09] S2: Same thing with Yeah. Businesses. Like, there's Oh, yeah. I've had the experience of building a company or or just, like, starting to work on a company and being like, I can stop working on this and it will not matter at [00:04:20] S1: all. Yeah. The world will be fine. There's a bunch of alternatives, you know, and
00:04:20 · Alex Hormozi, Jordi Hays, John Coogan
[00:04:20] S1: all. Yeah. The world will be fine. There's a bunch of alternatives, you know, and [00:04:23] S2: and and that you can make that case for, like, most businesses. Yeah. But there are some where you're like, if I don't build this, no one's gonna build it, at least in the right way. [00:04:31] S1: Yeah. No. Have a 100% the perspective when it comes to book writing. Yeah. [00:04:34] S2: It's funny. As as we talk about this, Jeremy Gaffan, I know, is a good good friend of yours, good friend of ours. And every time he talks, people just listen. Yeah. And he's somebody who I would love to write a book, almost because I just want him to go on another podcast. I got proper podcast to where he just kinda pops up, does invest like the best, and then Yeah. [00:04:54] S0: I just [00:04:55] S2: goes goes dark for, like, eighteen months. But like it's somewhat of a tragedy that he'll probably write a book someday, but it'll be in like forty years. So in the meantime, will. You have to like in the in the meantime, you have to just like, you know, take notes and and, try to pick stuff up from from the podcast. But there's so many people that like, many people that should be writing books just don't have the time, and they'll eventually come and take like a victory lap at the end of their career. Yeah. But I think it's like, you could just do a lot of stuff other than write books. But it's but it's it's it's very valuable to be like writing in real time versus like saving up a bunch of lessons and then kinda summarizing it at the end.
00:04:55 · Jordi Hays, Alex Hormozi
[00:04:55] S2: goes goes dark for, like, eighteen months. But like it's somewhat of a tragedy that he'll probably write a book someday, but it'll be in like forty years. So in the meantime, will. You have to like in the in the meantime, you have to just like, you know, take notes and and, try to pick stuff up from from the podcast. But there's so many people that like, many people that should be writing books just don't have the time, and they'll eventually come and take like a victory lap at the end of their career. Yeah. But I think it's like, you could just do a lot of stuff other than write books. But it's but it's it's it's very valuable to be like writing in real time versus like saving up a bunch of lessons and then kinda summarizing it at the end. [00:05:30] S1: I think you miss out on the the the wrinkles, like the tiny little details that like, if you if you think about like the story of how you met your wife and you go back, like, you've told it a bunch of times, but if you told it the day after you did it Sure. You'd have so much richer memory of all the tiny little things that happened. Yeah. And so I'm a big believer of, like, while it's wet, like, paint it, and then let it dry over time. But that's why, like, I always want documentation to be as real [00:05:51] S2: Yeah. The the it's funny. The final book will actually be the easiest to write because you have all the books, and you're like, okay. What what was actually, like, worth kind