Episode 481: Mark Cuban's 5:30 AM Success Formula: How a Billionaire Structures His Day for Maximum Impact

Hi, guys.

It's Tony Robbins.

You're listening to Habits and Hustle, Greg.

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It's like you're scheduled between the Shark Tank, Shark Tank, all those companies doing like these things.

I mean, like, what time are you waking up in the morning?

6, 5.36.

Like, what's the day?

Like, give me a day in the life of you.

You probably should admit this, but like, I'll get up at 5.36, particularly during the school year when my kids are going to school.

You have three kids.

Yeah, 12, 15, and 18.

Yeah.

Are you involved?

Do you see these kids?

Because

how are you able to do all of this?

I don't travel that much unless they're out doing stuff.

So right now, my middle daughter, Alyssa, is at camp.

My wife and my youngest son, Jake, who's 12, are in Iceland right now.

They went on a trip because while I'm shooting shark tanks, that's when they all know to go do their trips.

That's a good idea.

Yeah, and then my oldest is on a trip as well, so with her class.

And so all, you know, so while we're shooting, they're gone.

And so that's when I pack everything in.

And then you do everything.

Yeah.

But otherwise, you know, I can do one-day trips here or one-day trips there because, you know, I'd rather spend time with my family.

So you are like, you spend a lot of time with your

kids.

Yeah,

that's the best part of my life.

Okay, so tell me the day.

Give me your day.

Like you wake up at, you said six o'clock.

Yeah, I wake up, yeah, 5:36,

do, you know, say hi to everybody, kiss everybody going to school if that's what's up.

And

then do my email and typically get back in bed, do my email, get through any emergencies, go back, take a nap.

Really?

Yeah, hell yeah.

So you did the emails first before you do anything else, right?

I saw that you'd said that a bunch of times.

You know, I've got an eye watch like you, right?

So I look at my sleep, right?

So I wear it wide steep.

Do you wear an aura ring or anything like that?

No, that I didn't, yeah, I didn't get the.

I'm surprised because you love all the technology.

I love all the technology and stuff.

Yeah, but I just didn't get the feedback the way you know I tried to do a whoop and just the data yeah I didn't like that either it was so it was also like cumbersome yeah it was a pain in the ass right terrible yeah and so I get good data with this and yeah whoop wasn't awful but I already had this right so you don't exactly like then you're just constantly like looking at all these different things right and it's not just exercise stuff I can get stock prices and all that other shit right absolutely um and so I'll See how much sleep I got, you know, because you don't really, you might feel okay and you don't, you know, when you didn't sleep, but sometimes you don't know how much sleep you got 100 exactly and so like if i got my 200 deep deepest sleep right my two my two hours rather then i'm usually pretty good right right so wait what time do you go to bed at night typically anywhere from midnight to 1 30.

Okay.

And then you wake up around.

Okay.

So you get like you're in bed for five, six hours.

Yeah.

And then if like, if I didn't really get good sleep, then I can get my email done.

And go back to bed.

Go back to sleep.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

I am

shocked.

Yeah.

So I get an hour.

Like, I'm not one of these people that's just like, oh, I just got to slug it out, whatever.

Yeah.

Cause remember, everybody's got to kiss my ass.

Yeah.

Right.

I love you so much.

Yes.

They do.

You know, they might say not, right?

And I might not like it because I hate that.

But everybody works to my schedule.

Yes.

You know, it's like, I love you.

Tomorrow.

Yeah, sure.

Okay.

Can you come over now?

Sure.

Now, and I don't really do meetings or calls.

I really, really don't because.

Wasted time.

Yeah.

And plus, like, there's no record of it.

I can't.

It's not searchable because I have so much shit going on that I want to be able to go back and look and say, okay, when did Jen hit me up last?

And, you know, what were we talking about?

What was the topic?

So you like to have it in writing.

Yeah, I like to have it so it's searchable, which is different than that dust thing that you're involved in.

Yeah, dust is like a real-time version of a face-to-face conversation.

So with dust, it's important because there's certain business things that I want to talk about that we're not going to be face-to-face, but I don't want it to be an email.

And I don't want there to be a record of a phone call.

Exactly.

You know, because let's say we're getting ready to fire somebody or, you know, there's a lawsuit, you know, that I get sued a lot, no, hardly ever, really, yeah, hardly ever your level, yeah, less than 10 times my entire life, and you know, half of them were garbage, yeah.

That is, that's incredible, by the way.

Yeah, never heard of such a thing, yeah.

I mean, you're kind of like wealth, yeah, and I never sue people either, it's just not worth a hassle.

I know, that's probably like it's worth it, it's like the time and energy and the money that it actually takes.

It's not worth it, um, but yeah, so I use dust all the time.

You can hit me up on their blog, Maverick.

Um, and you know, I answer questions

just because I want to support the platform.

But

it's just because I want some things to be private.

Yeah.

And with Dust, when you send a message, it auto, you can delete it when you want it or it auto deletes, but it's never stored on a hard drive anywhere.

And so there's just no way to retrieve it, period, end of story.

So I never even heard of this before I started like digging deep into your life.

Like, I mean, I didn't realize like this is like a thing.

Like people are using it.

And it's Amir, did you even know it existed?

Of course.

Oh, sorry.

Well, you know, it's been around like eight years.

Yeah.

That's why you know, but like, but it sounded like Snapchat to me.

In some respects, but Snapchat still keeps everything, right?

It might disappear, but it's on their server somewhere.

That's right.

Right.

Same with Instagram and vanish mode or whatever or the other ones, right?

Telegram.

You can set it to delete so the other people don't see it.

But you know, if there's a subpoena because you were doing some business deal and somebody wants to get those records, it's still possible to get them.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

So what about your schedule?

So you wake up at six o'clock, you do your email.

Take a nap if I'm tired.

How long is the email part?

Like a half an hour, an hour?

No, an hour and a half, two hours.

Oh, my gosh.

Okay.

So, that's from like six to eight p.m., right?

But when I'm glad you're doing that, yeah, just laying in bed, whatever.

Okay.

And then go get my list of cookies.

Yes.

Some water.

How about coffee?

Do you drink coffee?

No, I'm not a coffee drinker.

No.

Tea?

Sometimes I'll drink tea, but usually just water.

And then if I have anything to do, then I'll just go do it.

If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I try to set time to go play basketball.

Then back about 2 p.m.

and back to my email.

And no matter where I'm at, if I'm eating, whatever, I'm always doing my email.

Always.

Yeah.

I cannot believe how accessible and easy.

It's unbelievable.

Like, if I email you, I will get it.

If I don't get a response in like the five, ten minutes, I would think, I think, oh, he's just going to like, he doesn't care.

Yeah.

That's probably true.

Typically, that's true.

I was going to say either he just deleted my email or like something was actually wrong with you because you were so accessible.

Like unbelievable.

Yeah, I take pride in it because you know know,

unless someone's just like being annoying or pitching me or whatever, well, then I just block them,

which is a great feature that you email added.

You just hit block.

It's a great one.

So you're right.

But yeah, then I'll try to respond.

So then, okay, so you go back to bed.

If not, then you have basketball.

When did you work out?

Because I thought like well, so I set my move points to try to get a thousand move points a day.

Okay.

And that typically gets me to 3,000 calories a day.

And then I really, yeah.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Well, you eat besides the Alyssa cookies that I know you're obsessed with.

You know, I've got a woman who makes me natural foods, right?

So.

But you're a vegan, right?

Just vegetarian.

Vegetarian.

Yeah.

So I like eggplants.

I'll put cheese on eggplant.

Oh, okay.

So my little version of eggplant Parmesan, but I use MyFitnessPal to track all of my everything that I eat.

So I try to keep it to 2,000 to 2,200 calories.

Okay.

And so you can never get the calories exactly right.

And, you know, and the tracking is never exactly right.

So it's a round.

Yeah.

So it's a close-up

approximation that it works for me.

Right.

And it makes me, you know, keeps me good.

I try to to make sure that

I get enough iron because I'm vegetarian.

So, you know, I'll typically at lunch or maybe after the cookies, I'll get one of these little cups of rice krispies and that is one serving plus a little bit, 140 calories, but it's got like 70% of the iron.

Right.

And then iron is absorbed better if you drink it, if you have it with vitamin C.

So I'll drink a glass of orange juice with it.

Oh, so you're doing all.

So basically, when did you become a vegetarian?

About four years ago.

Is it because of a health?

No, not an issue, just because I wanted to feel feel better you know supposedly it reduced inflammation i've had both my hips replaced you know i'm still playing basketball so i'm going to be sore and you know so it makes me feel better do you feel better oh yeah it's night and day really yeah yeah you know i don't eat meat or you know sometimes i'll eat fish um like if i'm starving i have no choice yeah but typically i won't um

and then You know, I won't eat fried foods and I try to avoid sweets, which is almost impossible.

So my strategy is to always have a thing of Alyssa's cookies out.

So when my kids have all the garbage on the

counter, then I can grab an Alyssa's.

So you really are like that obsessed with these cookies because I've heard you talk about them too.

Like that's how I was for like a good year about these cookies.

They are that good, though.

That good, yeah.

Do you eat mush, mush, whatever you have?

Mush, mush in the fridge, too.

You have that too.

And then, okay, so let's get back to the exercise.

So do you do, you're an investor maybe in Rise Nation or you're not?

An investor in Rise Nation.

I love Rise Nation.

Yes, it's a hard workout.

Yeah, well, you get to go your own speed, right?

So the VersaClimber is like, it's also like.

But, you know, the beauty of of it, one, it's low impact.

Yeah.

You know, so you're not going to feel your joints.

You're not going to hurt that at all.

It's full body, too.

Yeah, and it's full body, right?

Cause you're moving legs and arms.

But, you know, when you first start, you know, in a 30-minute class, you might get a thousand steps.

Yeah.

And then you build it to 1,500, then you build it to 2,000, then 3,500, then 4,000, right?

Yeah.

And then the superstars can do more.

But your cardio, like, I don't get tired when I play basketball anymore.

Right.

Cause cranked.

I can go in a Peloton bike and just crank through 30-minute class or 45-minute class.

Do you do Peloton then too?

Yeah.

Okay.

So you do everything.

You're very, like, you're very versatile.

It's just accessibility, right?

So if I'm on the road, sometimes there's not going to be a versatile, you know, there's not going to be a rise nation there.

So I'll do Peloton, either the treadmill or

the bike.

And lots of times when I'm doing the bike, you know, I try to go, if I'm just cruising, I try to hit the 180 average output or 190.

And if I'm really pushing, I'll try to do 200, 210.

Wow.

And then, you know, just, you know, but, you know, it's great.

It's a great workout.

I want to show you something.

There's like a thing.

Have you seen the hit axle before?

Uh-uh.

I'm going to show this to you.

You're going to love it.

A lot of the athletes are using it and sports teams use it.

I'll show it to you.

It's like a side thing.

But so you're doing, how many times a week would you say you work out besides the basketball?

Six.

You know, well, basketball is a workout.

It's a huge workout.

Yeah, yeah, it's a workout.

But so one or the other, six times a week, sometimes seven.

Do you still work out at Lifetime Fitness?

Yeah.

That's what I play basketball.

Yeah.

That is so funny.

We don't have any here in LA.

Really?

No, and they should bring it because it's the best gym.

It's nice as long as they have a basketball court.

It's a huge basketball and they have every piece of equipment.

Yeah, they got everything.

They don't.

I'm telling you, the West Coast.

Then I take Zumba classes on Saturday.

Do you agree?

Hell yeah.

Oh, my God.

That is so fun.

And, you know, because way back when, when I started, it was like three guys and 80 women.

And so

it's just the ultimate, yeah, just the ultimate distraction.

That's actually a great, that's a great place for guys to go and meet girls.

That's where I met my wife.

At a Zumba class?

No, no, no.

Playing basketball.

Yeah.

Zumba class.

that is how you've been married for what 20 years 20 years yeah wow and so okay so let's get back to the since this is with entrepreneur let's ask some more entrepreneurial questions since we should probably do that what do you so would you say the number one not to pivot that hard but like would you say the number one reason why people are failing then is because their lack of ability to work hard and to kind of dig in what would be no i i'd say they're misguided and they sell themselves they lie to themselves when they start right?

Oh, I think this business is good.

Everybody goes through that same process with a new business.

You know, hey, what do you think about this idea?

Right.

Then you go on Google and you look up, oh, I don't see it.

It's great.

Of course, no one tells you that it's not there because 50 companies have failed doing the same thing and there's nothing left to show that they died.

But, you know, then you get excited, you check with your friends, and then they try to raise money.

Yeah.

That's what screws them up, right?

Raising money is not an accomplishment.

It's an obligation.

Yeah.

You know, if at all possible, you want to start just organically with sweat equity.

Those are the best businesses because you get to retain 100% of it.

Right.

You know, and there's no rush.

And then the second mistake people make is they push the top line instead of the bottom line or gross margin dollars.

Yeah.

You know, it's like, oh, I'm a million in sales.

Like that's an accomplishment or 10 million.

Where like if you've raised funding, you have your quote unquote KPIs, right?

Yeah.

Right.

Or what's the new one?

QOKs or something.

There's something.

ridiculous that QKP.

I don't know.

They always come up with these acronyms.

What is it?

QKP.

I don't don't know.

Just the one I started seeing.

And so everybody's like, oh yeah, you know, and they think it's an accomplishment if you're doing, I went from 1 million to 5 million in sales.

Okay, that's somewhat great.

But what matters is what's your gross margin?

Right.

Because if you're in that hamster wheel where you're growing, but you need to keep on raising money to grow.

Right.

That's not good.

No, you see what's happening now when people can't raise money.

You're done.

You know, and while others have said, well, you know, I've, you know, raised 30 million or 50 or 100 million dollars, unless you have a really good reason, you know, that you're relativity space and you need to raise money because you're building, you know, 80 foot tall 3D printers.

Yeah.

Right.

You're not going to do that out of your basement.

But for most entrepreneurs, it's something where they're, it's an arbitrage on their time.

Yeah.

Right.

Here's, I can do this more efficiently than Jen or Mark can.

So it's worth it for Jen or Mark to buy this product or service from me so that they can use their time more efficiently.

So you'll pay.

So, you know, effectively, I'm so efficient that my cost to do this is $10.

You value it at 25.

I sell it at 18.

We're both happy.

Yeah.

Right.

Most people sell an arbitrage on their time.

And, and, but they don't, that's basically what their product or service is, but they don't look at it that way.

They look at it and say, okay, I'm creating this, you know.

I'm going to open up my own training facility, right?

Because I'm a personal trainer and I have 40 clients and I need a place to take them.

Why not open my own?

I'll get six others or I have a beauty salon and I'll get, you know, I'll have

slots for eight other

stylists to come in and rent a spot.

Right.

Right.

They don't think it through that you've got to make money at this stuff, right?

It's not just about top line, it's bottom line.

And I think that's where most entrepreneurs make their mistake.

And, you know, you get caught.

And if you get caught up in growth, you can grow yourself out of business.

Yeah.

And most people don't realize that.

That's true i also do you think that people like i feel like it's become like the sexy thing to do now the word entrepreneurs like i hope it's not sexy i hope so right because of you actually shark tank has made up much no but shark tank it has definitely but you know if 90 fail 10 could change the world yes and look like the cost plus it's going to probably change the world yeah you know i always tell entrepreneurs you know or when i talk to kids i always tell them you know just ask yourself a question why not me

Why can't I be the one that just changes everything?

Because one of them is going to.

And

even though, you know, some might feel entitled, some might not do the work, some may be lazy and not realize how much work is involved to be an entrepreneur, that happens.

You're going to find the same thing if you're a carpenter, a videographer, you know, an editor, where some people don't do the work and the great ones do.

Yeah.

And, you know, and, but, you know, this is cliche now, but I say it all the time, it doesn't matter how many times you fail, you only got to be right one time.

That's 100.

You have a lot of these.

Yeah, I know.

I know.

I love them.

I just love them.

Like, well, how you do anything is how you do everything.

Yeah, yeah that one i stole yeah

i was gonna say that one really wasn't yours there's one hold on i have one here that i really liked uh hold on a minute which one was it because you have so many good ones um most people don't put the one

which one was it practice until you can't well that one i'm not i stole that one yeah was that nick saban actually practice until you can't get it wrong yeah that's been around a long time oh which one's selling that one on selling oh sales cures all yes yeah that one's mine that's yours so basically what you mean is like as long as you can if you can sell then that's all that really matters right then you're gold yeah you're good right because no company has ever succeeded without sales right you need sales no matter what otherwise you're out of business before you start exactly sales gears off so does that mean that like you have to be a good salesperson though as well yeah yes because if it's your baby and you don't love it enough to be able to sell it or figure out how to sell it it's awful tough.

Well, look at you, right?

Like you're already established and you're going on all these things promoting these companies that you're involved with.

Like most people don't have that kind of ethic to do that work ethic.

They get bored.

They think they're too good for it now they don't want to do it i don't do a lot of these but not podcasts but you're out there like you know talking about whatever whatever yeah i mean look i've got a platform that most people don't have well yeah but but it brings for sure yeah but it brings up

more dollars than most people yeah right that's a whole other but i wasn't always in that position right and so even you know back in the day when i had micro solutions my first company after i got fired like One of the things I learned, I learned a lot from companies I got fired from.

Most of them, it was like what not to do.

You know, I had a boss that my boss had fired me, a guy named Michael Humecki at the software store.

And H-U-M.

Yeah, exactly.

At the software store.

I love it.

Yeah.

Anyways, that went out of business three months later.

You fucked up, Michael.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you for doing it.

Yeah.

But like, he would never go on sales calls.

He would never, did he?

He probably thought he was too good for it.

He was the CEO.

Yeah.

And I had another job, same thing.

Guy named David, I forget his last name though but um

he told me where to buy a suit when i was buying my suits too for 99 that's great you know yeah and i was my shirts i would wear um button-down shirts but i bought them at this place called the clothes horse which is all resale so like i went five years before i i bought my first business shirt that someone hadn't worn before oh really wow i like but i i learned you know you got to sell yeah because the in my experiences the the ceos the owners the founders that didn't sell, they all failed.

With no exceptions, 100% of them failed.

And, you know, when you're just starting and it's just you, who else is going to sell?

Nobody.

And that's the other, you know, and that leads to another mistake entrepreneurs make.

They, they try to hit hiring home runs, right?

So when the minute they hit a roadblock, I'll just hire a, you know, I'll hire a new marketing person, right?

Or I'll hire a new head of sales.

Hope thinking that, oh, this person's amazing.

No one's ever hired somebody and said they suck really bad.

Of course, right.

Oh, I found the most amazing person.

Why did they leave the last five jobs?

Oh, they were amazing, but right.

That's such a good point.

See, that's what I love how your brain works.

It's like exactly, it's so true.

It's so practical and common sense.

It's pragmatic, yeah, right?

Common sense, but common sense isn't so common.