Matt Higgins
👤 PersonAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
The difference between success or failure is the mere refusal to die.
The difference between success or failure is the mere refusal to die.
There was a lot of dysfunction, a cycle of abuse that I was born into. I started selling flowers on street corners when I was nine. Little boy taking care of his mom. By virtue of me dropping out at 16, I started using whatever assets I had to move quickly with jobs. And I got the offer of a lifetime.
There was a lot of dysfunction, a cycle of abuse that I was born into. I started selling flowers on street corners when I was nine. Little boy taking care of his mom. By virtue of me dropping out at 16, I started using whatever assets I had to move quickly with jobs. And I got the offer of a lifetime.
As I'm sitting in the office at around 10 o'clock, Angela, who worked in the office, said, your mom's on the phone. By the time I had gotten to the hospital, she had died five minutes beforehand. Every bad thing that happens to me is an opportunity for exceptionalism. When I see really successful people, they do have the ability to absorb the wins and repel the losses.
As I'm sitting in the office at around 10 o'clock, Angela, who worked in the office, said, your mom's on the phone. By the time I had gotten to the hospital, she had died five minutes beforehand. Every bad thing that happens to me is an opportunity for exceptionalism. When I see really successful people, they do have the ability to absorb the wins and repel the losses.
And when I had testicular cancer and it didn't kill me, I thought.
And when I had testicular cancer and it didn't kill me, I thought.
Well, first of all, it's great to be with you. Great to be with your audience. And I know your audience is dedicated to just transcendence and how to go to the next level. So that's a topic I love talking about in all its gritty detail. The most important thing to know about me, and I always start here, is just my framework of growing up in abject poverty.
Well, first of all, it's great to be with you. Great to be with your audience. And I know your audience is dedicated to just transcendence and how to go to the next level. So that's a topic I love talking about in all its gritty detail. The most important thing to know about me, and I always start here, is just my framework of growing up in abject poverty.
And those words lose their meaning when you say it, but what does that mean? Grew up wondering what's for dinner, where dinner is coming from. Like a lot of people grow up in poverty, there was a lot of dysfunction, cycle of abuse that I was born into. My poor mom had a horrendous childhood, which only became clear later on in life. You don't understand these issues as a little kid.
And those words lose their meaning when you say it, but what does that mean? Grew up wondering what's for dinner, where dinner is coming from. Like a lot of people grow up in poverty, there was a lot of dysfunction, cycle of abuse that I was born into. My poor mom had a horrendous childhood, which only became clear later on in life. You don't understand these issues as a little kid.
So everything about me was, how do I get dinner? How do I get out of poverty? feeling like I don't belong here and where I grew up in. I grew up in Queens, New York, in a little garden apartment, little shoebox. And it was a roach motel. I mean, just true squalor.
So everything about me was, how do I get dinner? How do I get out of poverty? feeling like I don't belong here and where I grew up in. I grew up in Queens, New York, in a little garden apartment, little shoebox. And it was a roach motel. I mean, just true squalor.
And so I started selling flowers on street corners when I was nine, little boy taking care of his mom, kid knocking on your window at the street corner on Mother's Day and Easter, trying to sell you something. And just all these hardscrabble odd jobs, shoveling snow, whatever it would take. And at the same time, trying to take care of my mother, who, because we were so poor, had no services.
And so I started selling flowers on street corners when I was nine, little boy taking care of his mom, kid knocking on your window at the street corner on Mother's Day and Easter, trying to sell you something. And just all these hardscrabble odd jobs, shoveling snow, whatever it would take. And at the same time, trying to take care of my mother, who, because we were so poor, had no services.
She suffered with morbid obesity. She had a thyroid gland disorder. So she would get heavier and heavier. And then at the same time, she was trying to make something of her life. She had a ferocious mind. And a couple of things intersected. My desperation of truly hating my life and hating being the hero child of having to take care of your parents while trying to do the right thing.
She suffered with morbid obesity. She had a thyroid gland disorder. So she would get heavier and heavier. And then at the same time, she was trying to make something of her life. She had a ferocious mind. And a couple of things intersected. My desperation of truly hating my life and hating being the hero child of having to take care of your parents while trying to do the right thing.
And then knowing that if I don't do something and take matters in my own hands, my mother was going to succumb to depression and to her illnesses.
And then knowing that if I don't do something and take matters in my own hands, my mother was going to succumb to depression and to her illnesses.