Moment 26 - Eddie Hearn: Don’t Forget What REALLY Matters

00:02you talked a little bit about that about being 80 years old and looking back on your life i'm gonna just play a little uh a little game with you so we've got to imagine um imagine that what day of the week was i think it's tuesday today tuesday so friday you find out that friday's your last day on earth my question is and really put yourself there right so friday's your last day on earth all the fights coming up aj furious all falls away what do you immediately regret that's actually something that I've thought about quite a lot and the reason was is about four months ago my granddad passed away, he was 93, great life and when I went to see him in his last couple of days and he obviously didn't look great and I looked at him and I thought wow life's crazy isn't it, I said everything that you've done in your life and now you're lying here, about to leave so when you get experiences like that just you have to be reminded sometimes that this is a game life is a game we're only on borrowed time right and you can never take yourself too seriously i think that's one thing i do well is i love to have a laugh and i don't take myself too seriously um in answer to your question since that moment i've been thinking a lot about if i you know if

01:21i went now do you look back and say i couldn't have done anymore i had a great time and i think the answer is yes i mean we could all do we can all do better but my dad is an inspiration in that respect because he's the kind of person that couldn't have squeezed one more drop out of his life right so i'm quite envious of that he's 73 and who knows how long he's gonna last but i do feel like it's very important that when you get to whatever stage when god says that's enough for you that you are able to look back and say i couldn't have done anymore and that scares me a little bit I want to know exactly what, when you think about more, you're saying I could have done more.

02:03You find out that this Friday is your last day. What are the things where you think, do you know what? Because I think that the, that moment, like the, the deathbed moment puts everything in perspective. It does. But I think in that moment, your emotions are very different to when you're well and fit and on the hustle and just, you know, so you don't get a chance to reflect on that kind of moment until you're there. And the obvious reflection at that point is, I wish I would have spent more time with my family.

02:31You know, I wish I would have been less focused, probably, on work. But I'm not a believer in, you know, the thoughts then are not the thoughts now. And you have to act on the moment. You can't live your life saying, well, blimey, when I'm on my deathbed, you might look back in, because I don't think you can plan like that. You have to do what's in your heart. You have to do what feels right. And what feels right for me right now is this. what might feel right then is do you know what should have probably missed a few trips really and just done the school run a little bit more and I know that you know you have to you really have to understand where you are in life this is great for your mental health as well and your sanity you've got to be honest with yourself and you've got to understand the situation I know exactly where I'm at what I'm thinking what I'm doing the sacrifices I'm making what I could do better at what I'd you know but I'm okay with it you know i'm you you can't get the perfect balance but as long as you understand what is going on and you're not deluded you're not stubborn don't worry about i'm not that yeah i know i know i need to do more at home i know i need to do more school runs i know i need to be less short with the wife

03:43sometimes but can you there's a couple of points here that i think are super interesting so um that deathbed moment what i think it's doing and i've never been there you've not been there but what i think it's doing is it's telling you what actually mattered because to some degree i think that it's it's like with that hindsight you can say fuck that person criticizing my hair or my cut or this none of that fucking ever mattered all of that was trivial the things that mattered were as you say like my niece or my you know so i think that's what that moment but that comes over time how old are you now 27 okay you're a baby yeah right when i was 27 what what people thought of me really mad you know i mean listen i've been working out for 35 years just to stay fat you know like the barn it's going a little bit i could not give a monkeys now at your age oh mate i was you know i might have been jack the lad i might have been turning up that but deep down you know it'd only take one of the boys to say you know tell you what ed you're putting on a bit of timber there oh look look your barn it's creeping back what what do you mean what do you mean now okay yeah mate i know this is a sign of the times isn't it so being comfortable with

04:51yourself is the best feeling in life you know it's the best feeling in life and i think when i was growing up at school i wasn't subconsciously i think i had a massive chip on my shoulder and that's why i was a bit of a bit of a knob to be to be quite honest but when you get comfortable with yourself it's a beautiful thing in life it really is you know when you wake up in the morning and you've always got to try for me and look good and feel good and be the best version of yourself you can be but you do get to a stage and that's actually when you become really powerful and effective you know it's the same kind of thing you know when you're young and you're courting or you're looking for a young lady to show you some interest you know when you try really hard and you're sort of on edge and you're a bit oh don't don't really like my hair or oh god you know you know the ones that walk into the bar and just go oh my you know i know i'm not the best but i'll you know they're the ones that everybody gravitates to anyone with a smile on their face is always create so much more energy and flow than the people that don't.

05:50And that's about being comfortable in yourself. So I think that it's very difficult with everything you've achieved at your age to just know where you're going or what you're doing. I'm done. Do you know what I mean? I'm married. I've got two kids. I've got busy. I'm struggling to balance everything, you know, but I'm here. You know, I'm not going to roll back the years and do this and do that. And I know exactly what I'm doing. I know exactly where I'm at.

06:13I know exactly what I'm focusing on. And life starts to become a lot easier then. At your age, I left college after my E-levels. I went to work for five years in sports management companies and event management companies. I was a sports agent on a PGA Tour in America. I had no idea where I was going. I mean, I just wanted to be successful. I wanted to earn money. But the mindset or the changing mindset over the years is unbelievable. I always say to people, what matters to you now, you will look back on when you get to my age and go, I can't believe I even used to worry about stuff like that.

06:52And that's important because I feel like people that are very successful, you know, you did it at a very young age, very impressive because I think it takes time. Now, when I did the Cambridge talk the other day, you know, you're sitting down with all these young, I mean, I'm street smart and I can sell. Right. These people are like. Buffins. Yeah. But I'm jealous of boffins. I used to take the mickey out of boffins. I'm jealous of boffins now. I find intellectual people fascinating.

07:21I love talking to them and just trying to learn and absorb. And I'm sitting in this room of people and they're listening to me and I'm thinking, you know, firstly, you must be listening to me thinking, this bloke, who is he? What is he, a used car dealer or something like that? And then, but I'm talking around, I'm saying to you, what do you want to do? well uh you know what what is success to you they've not got a clue and it's not because they're at oxford and they're deluded it's because that's just it's very difficult that age to understand i don't believe anyone at 40 looks back at what they were thinking at 20 and said yeah i had this plan i'm there now and this is what i always wanted to do so it takes time to develop a passion for something and that that is the that's a key word passion because when we talk about being relentless and we talk about this work ethic, you can only have it if you love what you do.