Grant Cardone does not do gentle. Ask him whether smoking weed is a problem and you will get a straight answer, delivered at full volume, with a business case attached.
In this short clip from his 2018 London Real interview, Brian Rose asks the question he puts to many guests: if you could phone your 20-year-old self, what would you say? For Cardone, who has spoken often about his own battle with drugs in his early twenties, the answer is not what most people expect. From there the conversation turns to the young men who ask him whether a bit of cannabis is really holding them back.
▶ Watch the full episode: Grant Cardone – The 10X Rule
Why he would save the phone call
Cardone says he would not bother making the call at all. At 20, in his view, he was in the middle of it and could not hear anything. You could pound him over the forehead with good advice and it would not matter. “He’s got to hit bottom on his own,” he says. The younger Grant would simply have to take some time and work the deal out himself.
When Brian presses him, he imagines what he might say if he did pick up the phone. It is not a pep talk. He describes hammering his younger self with disappointment and daring him to carry on, on the basis that blunt shame might be the only thing that cuts through. It is a hard-edged answer, and it says a lot about how seriously he takes addiction.
“Do you think that’s a problem?”
These days, Cardone says, people do not really bring him their addictions. The most he hears from young men is a version of the same question: I smoke weed, is that a problem? His answer is yes, but not for the reason Brian expects.
Brian suggests he warns them it will get worse. Cardone says no. His argument is about competition. If you are competing with him and you smoke, and he does not, he believes he will beat you “in every deal.” He waves away the idea that cannabis makes people more creative.
The hidden costs, as he sees them
What follows is a list of small costs that, in his view, add up. The time it takes to go and smoke. Washing it off your hands so nobody can smell it. Putting on cologne to cover it up. “I don’t have to cover anything up,” he says.
He also makes a point about doubt. The fact that someone is asking the question at all, he argues, means they already have doubts about it. That is one more thing to think about every day, in a world he describes as hard enough already. “This planet is already overly competitive,” he says, and smoking only makes it harder on yourself.
80 kilometres an hour
He finishes with a driving image. He is cruising at 80 kilometres per hour. You are doing 80 too, then you smoke a little, and before you know it you are doing 47 without realising it. He is still doing 80. For Cardone, that gap is the whole story.
What to take from it
You do not have to share his style to see the point underneath it. Cardone treats focus and energy as resources, and he looks hard at anything that drains them, from the hours a habit takes to the mental energy spent hiding it.
This is Grant Cardone sharing his own experience and opinions, not medical advice. If you are worried about your own or someone else’s drug use, speak to your doctor or a local support service.
Who is Grant Cardone?
Grant Cardone is an American entrepreneur, sales trainer, real estate investor and author, originally from Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is best known for his books The 10X Rule, Sell or Be Sold and If You’re Not First, You’re Last, and for building a large real estate business alongside his sales training companies.
This clip comes from his 2018 London Real interview, The 10X Rule. He returned to the show in 2019 for 10X Your Business And Life.
See everything Grant Cardone has done with London Real on his guest page: Grant Cardone on London Real.
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Transcript
Transcript: Grant Cardone – Why Smoking Weed Holds You Back
0:00 Brian Rose: Grant, I always ask people a few questions. I ask if you could make a phone call to that 20-year-old Grant and give that young man a bit of advice.
0:07 Grant Cardone: I guess he’s right in the middle of it.
0:09 Brian Rose: Now, I always say 20. I’m not picking that on you, but I guess you’re in the addiction.
0:13 Grant Cardone: [unclear]. It doesn’t matter. He can’t hear anything. So I’m going to save that call. Save that dime. He can’t hear anything. You pound him over the forehead, it won’t matter. He’s got to hit bottom on his own.
0:29 Grant Cardone: Yeah. I mean, he’s just got to take some time. He’s going to have to work the deal out.
0:32 Brian Rose: You see people like that?
0:33 Grant Cardone: I mean, if I told him anything, it would be like: dude, I’m so disappointed in you. I’d f*cking hammer him with that.
0:37 Brian Rose: Yeah.
0:38 Grant Cardone: I’d be like: so disappointed in you. What a f*cking shame you are. That’s what he really needs. You should be disgusted with you. Go use some more drugs. Just tell him: go for it, bro. You want to f*cking die? You want to die with a needle in your arm? Go get it. Why are you taking so long?
1:02 Brian Rose: You see people like that now? Ever? And you’re just like…
1:05 Grant Cardone: Well, people don’t talk to me. I mean, the most I get from guys right now is: hey, man, I’m smoking weed. Do you think that’s a problem?
1:14 Brian Rose: And you say yes, because it’s going to get worse.
1:17 Grant Cardone: No, no. I say: yeah, dude, it’s a problem. Because if you compete with me and you’re smoking weed, and I’m not, I’m going to f*cking kill you, dude. In every deal, I’ll kill you. “Well, how do you know that, man? It makes me creative.” Well, the fact that you had to take the time to go smoke the weed, I already got to f*cking jump on you.
1:36 Grant Cardone: OK, the fact that you’re asking means you’re in doubt. I don’t ask that question. The fact that you’ve got to go to the washroom and wash it off your hands, because I can smell it. That you’ve got to put cologne on. I don’t have to put cologne on. I don’t have to cover anything up. You do.
1:49 Grant Cardone: That’s one less question I have to ask myself every day. I already got enough questions to ask, dude. This planet is already overly competitive, right? It’s already hard, and then you just made it harder on yourself.
2:01 Grant Cardone: The fact that you’re driving: I’m at 80 clicks, I’m at 80 kilometres per hour, and you’re driving 80, and you smoke a little of the kushy kush, right? And the next thing you know, you’re going 47 kilometres and you don’t even know it. I’m still going 80, bro. So those are my reasons for not smoking weed.
