Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / #17 - Investment Banking to Bali and Bringing Positive Energy With Trevor Thomas

Transcript

#17 - Investment Banking to Bali and Bringing Positive Energy With Trevor Thomas · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: What's up y'all?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Seeking Authenticity.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Flint Mitchell, and I get absolutely psyched by having conversations with authentic people that I admire about the things they value.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Their stories and perspectives don't just make me smile, laugh, and think.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: They inspire me to wake up earlier, listen better, focus, and work harder, and help make me a better version of myself.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's my hope that sharing these conversations through this podcast might do the same thing for you.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: In this episode, I talk with a friend that I really look up to, Trevor Thomas.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor worked for the first couple years out of college in investment banking in New York before leaving to backpack around Southeast Asia.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Along the trip, he worked in hostels, fell in love with scuba diving, and realized one of his greatest passions comes from the joy he receives by building connections.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about where he was at before making the decision to leave a hard-earned, intense, and rewarding career.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: About his return back to the States and what the adventure taught him.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: About overcoming and even chasing after fears, getting hooked on scuba diving and building communities.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor has a strong message on work ethic and taking risks that I enjoyed listening to and learning from.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I know you will too.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Enjoy.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Chase fear.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for doing this with me, Trevor.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be here, Fuan.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Anything for you.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, man.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: You've always been the one to grind, especially through college and the first couple years afterwards.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it was pretty exciting to see you take a switch up and do some traveling in Southeast Asia.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about where you were at in life when you started to think about taking some time to travel.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, I was doing I was doing investment banking in New York.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So as I was saying, it's like a very structured lifestyle.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, during the week, you don't really, you're not really doing anything but working or in the office uh like 24-7.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um but thankfully, like with investment banking, I was able to, you know, get like a very decent salary to where sometimes on the weekends I'd be able to like jet out to somewhere cool.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I I went to Puerto Rico one weekend and then Colombia another weekend, and um, and yeah, like those those instances um really like gave me um like fulfillment more than kind of what I was doing in the office and um really and and even in the office um like Wall Street, it's very diverse, like people from all over the world, and that's just like something that I really loved about the job is like you know, working with someone from India or China or Turkey or Greece, like Switzerland, everywhere.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that like I found I was really able to connect with the people I work with just asking them questions about their culture, and I kind of wanted to see it real time.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I wasn't getting the full uh fulfill fulfillment from from the job.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So um I knew um I knew you know traveling was a way that I could get that and learn more about the world and and volunteer and give back to underserved communities, which is something I did and I loved.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and uh yeah, that was that was kind of the how far into uh work were you when you started to think about it?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh probably about a year in.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was it was a long year.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was a long year.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um something I didn't mention also is my best friend who went with me, grew up with him.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, his family really close to mine, like helped raise me.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: He um uh pretty much um like his family took me um to Cancun, no, not Cancun, sorry, the Caribbeans, and that was my first time leaving the country.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So uh his his dad and his brother actually were um killed in the terrorist attack, and they were really close to me.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we the troop was really heavily inspired by them and their life.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: They live lives that like they're very adventure-seeking and like very loving and and love the travel.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's another incentive that that kind of like sparked our like our yearn for travel and adventure.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of stuff did they do?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um just like so for instance, his dad kept um a bucket list of all of like the things that he wanted to do, and they were just awesome things.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like one of one of them was uh one of them was like um start a food fight of like over a hundred people or something like that, and like swimming with sharks and stuff like that.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um uh that's something that me and Austin, my my best friend, we like we said to accomplish during our life, it's just like fill that bucket list and and and travel.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's so heavy.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's cool to have a kind of an inspiration like that.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's heavy to have them taken away though.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, yeah.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, they lived very like positive lives, and uh, and you know, it's just cool that like they really inspired us to to go out and kind of change the world and make impacts on people and stuff.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: So, how'd you choose uh Southeast Asia?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's a good question.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um I guess I guess you know we knew it was like always pretty much good weather there.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh it's a very like it's a very traveled path, you know, like a lot of people do Southeast Asia.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's like backpackers heaven, you know, and um we knew we could see a lot of like nature, and that's something that I was deprived of in New York.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you had Central Park, man.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I had Central Park, yeah.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: The man-made park, yeah.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Central Park's cool, you know.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I like the park, but it's not I'm just kidding, it's not anything, yeah.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a cool, it is Central Park is very cool, but yeah.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I had nature, yeah.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then just like we knew it was pretty it's relatively safe, and we pushed it a few times, but it was relatively safe all the way through Southeast Asia.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um people from from everywhere, uh people our age, which was which was cool, and yeah, we really wanted to go to Thailand, really wanted to do Bali.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh how's your boss respond when you told him I'm going to Indonesia, I'm going to Southeast Asia?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely some weird, definitely some weird conversations.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely uh, definitely some, you know, like, yeah, what are you doing?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: But um I would say um everyone was pretty positive.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: There was no one, I was looking through my journal and and I wrote like there was no one who like who like actually like freaked out.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: I honestly think everyone deep down inside like urge or wants like to do this, you know, they want to travel the world and make these connections with people and explore and adventure, but nobody, nobody like is bold enough.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say bold enough, nobody is, you know, everyone feels like they're not in the right place to do it, and and it's just not true.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, we're only promised like today.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think I think uh all all the conversations were pretty positive.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I told the head of my group at um at UBS in the IB division, like super like guy has like I don't know, like 40 years of experience in investment banking.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's funny, he doesn't really say much, like everyone's a little afraid of him.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I told him, and he's like, I think this is the best idea ever.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like he was he was super hyped.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: In the first place I was going, he'd actually been, and this place like is hardly ever touched by by many travelers, and he was super excited for me.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that that just that just gave me um that's like pretty strong encouragement.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: How nervous were you before you told him?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh actually, I wasn't that nervous, it was more like it's more like I'm out, you know.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Excitement, yeah, yeah.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that interesting though how common I think that is, that experience where people making any of those kind of decisions expect an adverse reaction?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes they get it for sure, but most of the time all the people around them go, yeah, that's sick.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: You should do that.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: No way, let's go.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's wild.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, were there any things holding you back then?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Or were you just full throttle?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, let me think, holding me back.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say, like, obviously, like I'm I'm leaving behind like a six-figure job, like um, and a great, like, great friend group in New York and like a lot of a lot of great people that I've met while out there, and um definitely some lifelong friends.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and you know, I've I've traveled Southeast Asia, I've been a few other places, and I will always say that New York is like my favorite city of all time.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I missed I miss the city.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: You don't think so?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're like I I've only been there for a weekend or two.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't have a big opinion on it.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've I've I really love New York.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: So uh leaving leaving that behind was definitely pretty scary, but um no regrets, best best time of my life.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, but what I mean is when you were making the call, like the week before you decided to quit, though the the things that were holding you back were the potentially losing out on the place you were living and the people, yeah, pretty much just like leaving the city and uh and like not having not having a salary, uh but I was able financial security.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I had a week before I I had planned this out for like a few months.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like oh yeah, yeah.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I was pretty I was pretty all in at that point, and I guess the excitement was more than than the fear at that point.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a pretty solid statement.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's that's like um it's a pretty good way to put it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is the excitement is overcome the fear.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's crazy finding those moments in life because they don't come too, because there's always like some sort of fear um about whatever you're doing.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: And when you can find things that like the fear never necessarily goes away, but when you find shit that the fear just doesn't matter because you're too excited, you're too amped.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I've I've had this thing always about you know, it's pretty cliche, but like the biggest fear like my biggest fear is fear itself.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: So things that I'm afraid of, like I usually try to tackle.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, you know, going to SMU, getting in, like getting an investment banking gig was was like something that kind of scared me.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like that's you know, that's the top of the top.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how could I ever do that?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it kind of scared me to get on the phone with people and talk to people, but I'm like, you know, I'm I'm I'm gonna go do it.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that it scares me is part of the reason that I did it, and the same thing with traveling.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: At that point I was I was secure, and my biggest fear was like not being secure, and getting outside of that comfort zone is huge, and it's like one of the most you know joyful, uh euphoric uh you know feelings you can have.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I mean I completely agree.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's cool to hear you say it because it's true, it's the the ability to do the things you're afraid of is terrifying and also inherently or usually a great experience because it's like the overcoming, right?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever have you ever been skydiving?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: I have not yet, no.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that I really want to do.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone talks about apparently it's good skydiving technology.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I really want to do that soon, but apparently everyone is like that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is the that is like skydiving is like always the metaphor or the symbol for like conquering your fears, and that's something that I really want to do pretty soon.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you get up in like a really shaky plane, and it's just everything about it is just sketch, apparently.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: The people that work there sketch the plane and sketch, and but like once you once you like up there, you're like, I don't know if I can do it, and then finally you jump and like you're falling and you're doing what you were actually afraid of the whole time, and it's not even scary at all because it's just so like euphoric.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's probab and it's such a good, it's probably the reason it is one of the like symbols of challenging your fear is because it's so tangible.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if someone, you know, like if someone's talking to you and you're overcoming your fear of of chasing after investment banking, it's not that visible.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like, yeah, on the inside you're a little nervous, but when you're free-falling at 10,000 feet, it's pretty fucking obvious.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's very true.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh are there other any other things in your life where that you've been pretty proud of that you've tackled?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, I'm sometimes like afraid to I would say sometimes I'm afraid to be in different social settings, and that's something that I really try to strive for.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like really get out of my comfort zone and be with people who you know who are kind of like different than me.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that like I feel like my life has been kind of a testament.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's like my life has kind of been a testament for like getting outside of your comfort zone.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Cause, you know, I mean, how many six foot-seven black dudes did you see in fraternities at SMU?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same situation with investment banking, it's the same situation in Southeast Asia.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: So um uh, I mean, that's that's something that um I've really tried to um shoot for is is just like getting outside of my comfort zone and doing things that um you know, doing things that are unexpected of me pretty much.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Were there any any experiences like that while you were in Southeast Asia?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, should you woke up and you're like, I don't know if I should do this?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, every single, every single second I was questioning what I was doing.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I think I mentioned to you scuba diving.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Scuba diving changed my life.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um like I so you know, like you have to get certified and all this stuff for scuba diving.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we were staying with this family, and one of the brothers was like a scuba, uh, he was a dive master.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I'll take you, I'll take you diving.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, Don't we have to get certified?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, and he brought us in the water, like he took us out of the boat, we got all geared up and everything.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: We went in the water and we're sitting on the water, and we thought we're gonna be training for like 45 minutes.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he goes, he goes, Okay, you know, up, down, like if your goggles get, you know, have water in them, you he showed us how to do that, yeah.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then clear your mask, and what else did he tell us?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, he's just like, here's here's the extra like respirator thing, and and he's like, All right, let's go down.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that was one of the times where I was like, you know, I heard I heard scuba diving was dangerous.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I should be doing this.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And um ended up being like, yeah, apparently it is, yeah.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it was one of the best experiences ever.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: What do you like so much about it?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would say the fact that like it's almost like an alien planet.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had a realization that it's really not just like the humans planet.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Heavy, they have their own world down there, and it is trippy.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: It is a trippy place, yeah.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um I don't know, it's just it's just like it kind of like took me, it was a very like high feeling, like it took me away from like the planet.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I stopped thinking about a lot of things, and yeah, um, I mean, it's so fascinating down there.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: You've been you've been a few times, right?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've been diving for a little while, yeah.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah takes you, it's not even out of your comfort zone, it's just like out of your zone, like it puts you in a deep element.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it really like you see stuff that you honestly don't believe should exist.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Not that far under the surface.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to dive 100 feet to see crazy stuff.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um even in uh in Monterey, so it's like cold water, relatively cold water, and you get like the snails can be all neon colors, and so you'll look into a hole and it'll be like a little snail rave of purples and oranges and greens, like a black light.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just like, why is this here?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is this?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: What are these things?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um did um did you ever go night diving?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't yet.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, actually, I've I've done like certification night dives, but I haven't done exciting night dives yet.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: The the the first place we went to, um, Raj and Pot, uh coolest place I've ever been and probably will ever be in my life.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: But the the locals there, the people that we were living with, they like grow up in the water, they live in the water, like they're one-year-olds in the water by themselves, parents not looking after them at all because they just they just know the water.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably faster swimmers than me.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but a lot of the nights they'll take these little boats and they will have a flashlight and goggles and like a spear, and they will they'll go and they'll like go underwater and they'll take out like huge fishes at night.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one thing that I really, really regret is not going out and doing that.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually afraid of that.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, it's um being in the water at night is pretty gnarly, or I I guess it's even similar, just once you go deeper down, like past 100 feet, it's pretty dark regardless.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: But being in the water at night is wild.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like you and especially if there aren't the moment when the fish would leave, it's really just like you and your partner just like looking at each other and you're floating in space, and it's just pitch black, except for maybe like the glow of your flashlight.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not and you're thinking, like, what is around me?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, or you're not because you're afraid of it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there are some crazy night dives.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: The craziest one I've heard of is it's like a manta dive in Kona, and everyone goes down to the I I think it's 60 or 70 feet, and you just lie down.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: In a circle on the ocean floor, and everyone has a flashlight and they point it up.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so all the flashlights kind of join, right?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And create this light, and that's all the plankton.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and like small creatures come and collect in the light, and then these mantas come through to collect to eat that.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so these mantas could be 10, 15 feet wide, probably probably greater.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so you're literally you're sitting on the ocean floor underwater in this other world at night, it's pitch black.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's joining their lights in the water, and these 20-foot-long creatures are coming and swooping through.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I've heard from people it's like a religious experience.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they come out.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like it.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is so sick.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've never I was so upset that I never got to see manas.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone talks about them.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: I went diving and everyone's like, Did you see him?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Did you see him?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And like Rajampad is the number one place for like diving in the world, maybe outside of Great Barrier Reef, but it's debatable.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: But everyone's like, Did you see manas?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, I didn't.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's definitely on on the list.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'll uh I'll let you in on a secret is that they're uh not going anywhere.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, you got hung up there.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's a pretty dope experience.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you got to experience diving.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm stoked to see how you uh adventure with it in the future.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Were you planning on stopping, or did coronavirus uh so um I was planning on going for maybe another month.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I really didn't have many plans.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like my my trip ended in Ko Tao, Thailand, which is um one like a really good place to to dive, and that's where I was gonna get certified and and spend a few weeks diving.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I really had no concrete plan, so it kind of worked out well.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um got to save a lot of money for when I got back here.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm yeah, so I'm not just completely out.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's a good thing.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good thing.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so like my timing was really well, and uh it's kind of cool.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can tell my kids I got pulled out of Thailand because of the coronavirus.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Trump literally said, Trump literally said, you better come back or you better get ready to be hunkered down there for a minute.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually kind of a funny way of putting it.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was in Australia and I came back because of the coronavirus too, but I never thought of it in the context of like historically speaking, I had to get evacuated because of this event.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm gonna tell people like uh, you know, the authorities called me, they got a whole month, they said they sent planes to come and get me.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna completely lie about the situation.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was underwater at the time.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: They were searching for me.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's funny.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: So you came back then.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: What was what was the feeling of landing?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Where you where was your head at when you came back?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um it was weird.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like I kind of was I kind of was uh really anxious, and I felt at some point I I was having like breathing issues actually, and I don't know.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: I always say it could have been it could have been COVID, you know.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I I honestly don't know, but I was having breathing issues, and it could have been, you know, me being anxious and like really focusing on the breath and like kind of like uh you know hurting my lungs because of that.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: But psychosomatic.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: But um definitely like some negative feelings coming back, um but like within within a few days of being back home, I was like completely good.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually really I was actually really excited to come back home too.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, after six months of you know living and living in like shared shared beds and hostels, man.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hostels, man, yeah, it's a dirty life.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: And coming back home, I had to quarantine for 14 days at in a hotel, which is really nice.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I got I got some American food.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: So after a little bit, I was I was pretty good, and I'm glad to be back.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's another good point.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh kind of when both of us were coming back.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: I was in Brisbane, I think, and I was talking to someone, they're like, Yeah, they're shutting everything down in the United States uh for coronavirus.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I was looking around and I was like, and I'm sleeping in a room with 14 people.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: That changes every night.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Easily the worst place to be in the pandemic.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um hostels are definitely hot spots.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, dude, tell me about that.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you're up for it, that because I I felt this too, that kind of anxiety when you come back from traveling.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it it kind of occurs after any sort of maybe life shift or honestly, even I think sometimes if you have like a crazy weekend, like I went to homecoming last weekend, and so I'm surrounded by all these people that I love that I haven't seen in a year for a weekend, just going group to group, seeing everyone.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then I when I came back, I had that same kind of at least for maybe a day or two, it's just kind of that negative, like, shit, where am I?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I understand, and it's like, I don't know, I guess, yeah, it's just like falling into like kind of highs and lows, and you know, it's all relative, so you have like a really good time, and you come back and you have like expectations of what what it's gonna be like back, and it's just not it's just not accurate.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're just painting a negative picture, and that's why you're getting the negative feeling.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So coming back, I at points I was like, oh, I'm gonna be like just hanging at like moms and dads, and like you know, in in in like a very suburban city, like not much to do, bars are closed, a lot of my friends are in New York or Austin, like you know, I won't have much to do.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I found like my time in Plano or Dallas was very good, like very productive, and I learned a lot.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I got into reading and um I kind of like took steps to like um like work on ventures and stuff.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I you know what I expected from from coming back was not nearly what I got.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I think the anxiety and and um the sadness was was unnecessary.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well maybe I don't know.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: I because it's kind of I think that's an interesting perspective.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's your anxiety was kind of formed by your expectations.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the the mind is the mind is very powerful, and it like it can also affect the physical, which could have happened to me because I couldn't breathe.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, I mean the mind the mind's powerful and it it plays games a lot of the time, but not all of it is real.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, absolutely.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's also I think important to know, because I think this is a pretty common theme, that not only was it that the expectations weren't what it turned out to be, but it was as you said, you started to do things, you read and you acted, you made an opportunity of what you were given.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's pretty much the greatest way anyone gets out of any sort of slump or negative experience of any sort is just like doing things that that you think will help.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it doesn't even have to work or succeed, it's just like the act of doing something kind of brings people out of those.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: With that said though, what did you then or how did you shift your perspective?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Or did you reflect on your travels at all and think about how they change what you want in the future?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like what kind of career you want, or what kind of companies you want to work for?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um I kind of realized that you know my favorite thing and and one of my biggest passions is just connecting with people.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I know whatever I do next, it it has to incorporate that.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that I didn't get enough of really um at UBS in investment banking.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of just kind of solo work me on the computer, people telling me what to do.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's you know, I mean, if I'm able to, if I'm able to, you know, um get a job for investment banking and and do and do the job and it's not really it's not really incorporating too much connecting with people and like my my like love of people skills, then if I were to do that and and incorporate that in what I do next, I know I'll do very well.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: And while while traveling, like um we worked in hostels, and that's that's something we did.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we felt like we did a really good job, and it's just like bringing communities of people together and and pretty much just like keeping energy very high, and that's uh you know, that's what I love to do, is just like kind of be very uh hospitable to to people and and you know, hospitality and yeah, um it sounds like bringing people together.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that's exactly kind of the thing.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think that gets you so so psyched, like the feeling of of bringing people together or or bringing up the energy of a group that already exists?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: I just I just love a good time.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love the party.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, that um that's a totally acceptable answer, man.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's something about that energy, right?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: When you even just maybe it doesn't have to be bringing people together, but like being a part of an energetic group or being a part of a community.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: There's something really powerful about that.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say it's like contagious, you know.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you're you know around a whole bunch of people and you see someone, you know, dancing or talking really loud or laughing and stuff, it it just sheds off, you know what I mean, and makes you want to dance, it makes you want to like be loud and and laugh and stuff.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just contagious and you know, it just pays forward all the time.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's it's a good way to put it.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Energy like that is contagious.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting because it is kind of like you pointed out, it's kind of starting from one person.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like you have a group of five or six people, or a hundred people, or whatever, all it really takes is one of those.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's like coronavirus, man.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: It just takes one, and then everyone, everyone's got it.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everyone's got it.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's doing it.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And while we were on the road, um, like me and Austin, my friend, we were a really good combo because you know, it's so hard working in hostels all the time, it's so hard to just stay 100% like upbeat, sure, positive, and like going after you do it so many times, so many times, so many times.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever one of us, you know, kind of fell into a slump, the other one would like pick it up, and like with that, the other one would would pick up.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you feel like that was a responsibility, or was it just kind of natural?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, I I felt like it it was a responsibility kind of, but it was also natural, like, because that's just what I've always loved to do.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love to, you know, you see voice, yeah, exactly.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's in the you know, the Simakai house or in the middle of Vietnam, you know.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: I just I just love bringing positive energy.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Are is there are like are there specific areas that you're looking at working in?
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are you do you wanna how do you mix investment banking with hospitality or even just the idea of building a community?
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um I'm really not so like mixing investment banking with with anything else, or what I decide to do next.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'd say I'd say what I want to do next.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I definitely want the end goals to like have something of my own and like start something of my own.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um investment banking really has paved a good foundation for me to to start something just one because everyone I talk with, you know, they're like, oh, investment banking, and it like has it has a good name, but other than that, um, you know, I've learned a lot from a work stream standpoint to where like I'm able to work on something, work on things for long periods of times and like get really into the details and yeah, and you know, outside of like the financial and technical um, you know, skills that I've acquired, it's just more of kind of like um a grind type of type of like mindset that that'll forever be pretty much scarred in my in my brain.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Could you tell me a bit about that?
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm actually kind of interested in because I have a bunch of friends that went into IB and similar fields um where you're just grinding.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: Could you tell me a bit about not necessarily the perspective, but the the practice of of working that hard for that long?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like what ways did you use to get through it or to do it efficiently?
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd say music, definitely.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was always listening to music, and you know, um, if I needed to pick it up a notch, I'd like I don't know, switch over to some like heavy electronic.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, I'd I'd switch over to like some zoo and just like go ham on some spreadsheets.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um also I'd say it was good to take like short breaks and like maybe just walk around for like 15 minutes and then get back to it after you know two hours or so of working.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, I mean I've always kind of been a pretty dedicated person.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can really dedicate myself to something and and give it a hundred percent.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you are I I vividly remember walking in the library and you were always there at like 2 a.m.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, also I've been a great procrastinator, so I can be a part of it too.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not to say that that our house was you were in what do you mean?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: You were you were in there at 2 a.m.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would come in and you were there at 2 a.m.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: We were there together, man.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um yeah, so it's uh that gets me pretty amped then for you, bro, because it's like you've got this, it's a it's an interesting one.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you saw this while you were in the hostels and while you were traveling, is that there are a lot of people who I'd say the vast majority just feels like they're running away from whatever's going on.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: But there were the select few with kind of your mindset, which is, or at least perspective, which is like I know how to work hard, and I enjoy it for the result it gets me.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like I enjoy putting in work for creating a change or for creating a product or something, and then that paired with kind of your mindset of of enjoying the create communities or bring energy up, just bring positive energy.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then having a foundation to start something.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's like a pretty cool combination for someone trying to build a company or or any sort of product, right?
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm still I'm still like thinking of ideas and um you know different ventures that I want to tackle, but um they'll definitely like I'll definitely use everything I learned from you know investment banking and traveling.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: So um does that scare you?
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Is that the next fear?
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: What building uh company or building or something?
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Building something, uh it's more exciting than anything.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm afraid of how big it'll be.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: I just know it it will it will take some work, and everyone who I talk to, you know, who you know, founders and everything, um they they like pretty much they're just putting out fires all the time.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's what I felt like you know, I was doing in investment banking.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's like this comes across like oh you gotta fix this in like this amount of time, like oh crap, you know, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then something else comes by, same thing from another person.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a lot of putting out fires, and and I'm I'm used to that.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm a fireman, exactly.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: My snap, my Snapchat Bitmoji is is a fireman.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: No way, yeah.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but but now you know, from traveling, I've uh traveling was like, you know, I wanted to like kind of align my my passion.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: So so now I'm just gonna be able to apply that in like more of a healthy, um, like motivated path.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was interested to see if there was anything that became more important to you from your travels.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't necessarily say it wasn't important beforehand, but that it really was brought to the forefront of your mind.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like it's this idea of creation, it's not even just creating communities, it's just building something, creating something with your own energy.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'd say definitely like the world.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm I'm I'm a vegetarian now.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that started like it started from kind of like a pride standpoint, you know.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: I can do this, I can be vegetarian.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone on the road's vegetarian, it's not that hard.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I got into it, and um, and then you know, I kind of like fell into like the ethics of it.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's the number one thing any given person can do to help the planet.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: So and it's not hard, it's it's really not hard.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't it's fun to listen to you talk, man.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love I love bacon.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I love bacon, but um I think I think it's pretty, it's it's pretty simple.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm not really wanting or or like yearning for any meat right now.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, yeah.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I I guess that's pretty much that's usually the most common, is from traveling, people just say that they have a new appreciation for how much is out there, right?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: How much more they not necessarily even know, just how much more people have experienced and how much more they kind of have a respect for.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then also I think uh it's important to know like how much the US plays a part in like everything.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like I feel like other countries or the people that I met from other countries know more about the US than I do.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like we are always like I mean, we're the you know, we're the head people in like the free world, and everything we do and say like has an effect on everyone else.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: So from something from large scale stuff to very small scale stuff.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, from like the politics all the way to the type of music people it was music, exactly, yeah.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they got like the three songs on repeat that were hot in the United States like three months ago, yeah, in every hostel.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um exactly, yeah.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's it's a it's a good point, and it's true.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, we're we're really fortunate.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a big one, very fortunate.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm excited for you, man.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited for uh to see where you where you're headed the next couple months and how you do it, the work you put in.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: If people could take away one thing from this conversation, you know, I think we talked about a bunch of stuff, a bunch of things that were important to you, whether it was overcoming fear or the excitement that overcomes fear, the energy you like to put in to build communities and relationships and friendships, um, kind of your perspective shift through traveling.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think is one thing you would want people to take away from your experience and from this conversation?
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um chase fear.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're afraid of something and you feel like it's something positive, then it's like the universe telling you that it's yours like for the taking.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: You just you just gotta go for it and things will be alright.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that's that's what I've taken away.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great lesson.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: A fantastic lesson.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, dude.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, guys.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: This has been sick.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: And while he was rewarded for that hard work in college by getting a great job, I loved seeing his priorities start to shift afterwards because of his travels.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's something I think we can all relate to.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Putting our heads down and working hard and then ending up in a place or time where we feel like what was important to us has changed.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not to say that you have to travel to find that out, nor does it disqualify his prior job in any way.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Every pivot is part of the journey.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: I have no doubt in my mind that Trevor will work just as hard in whatever opportunity he takes next.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's just to say that it's okay.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: Your priorities can change.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: The type of work you can do can change.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: Your hobbies, the time you wake up in the morning, your habits, your friends, the way you look at the world, it can all change.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that's fantastic.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's part of what makes the entirety of life one big adventure.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hearing that Trevor has started to prioritize the joy he gets from connecting with others and providing energy to his community makes me wonder a bit about what is important to me and if my goals and actions align with that.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe it makes you wonder the same thing.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you liked this episode of Seeking Authenticity, that's freaking awesome.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: All I want to ask of you, the listener, in return for the time and effort I put into making it, is that you take a deep breath.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean really breathe.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Breathe so that it stretches out your shoulders and your back and your chest and pushes out your stomach.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: No more of these shallow, bullshit breaths.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're barely keeping you alive, my friend.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: And after you exhale, go out and soak up today.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the end, your actions and the way they interact with the world and the people around you right now are all you have in this life.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: So be authentic with them.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: Peace.