The Drive Podcast With Ric Elias: Earning the Gift of Life
"In our civilization, we seek for wealth first, but find any really rich person that is old or sick, and they’ll trade it all for more time." - Ric Elias
Imagine this: you’re on a plane that’s headed to crash in the river below you. You’re so close to the land below you that you can see cars with a level of detail that shouldn’t be seen from a plane.
Both engines have failed, the plane’s going down, it’s dead silent, and the Captain just announced “brace for impact.”
You are 100% certain that you’ll die in the next 90 seconds.
But you live. And your whole life changes because of it.
This week, I decided to relisten to Episode #79 of The Drive Podcast, where Dr. Peter Attia interviews Ric Elias, a passenger of US Airways Flight 1549. It was this flight that Captain Sully crash-landed an airbus on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people on board.
This is an incredible interview, and I hope that you can take some time to listen to it and maybe gain a new perspective. Ric also spoke at a short TED Talk, which you can watch below. Here are some of my favorite quotes and topics discussed from the podcast.
🕰️ Time is Our Only Currency
Time is our only currency. It’s the only thing that matters. In our civilization, we seek for wealth first, but find any really rich person that is old or sick, and they’ll trade it all for more time.
Now, you could say, “sure, sure, sure, that’s easy to say,” but Peter has asked the following question to many of his patients and hundreds of people:
Would you trade places with someone who’s 90 years old, in exchange for a trillion dollars?
This is telling you how valuable time is! You value time more than making billions of dollars every year
Ric has a similar example for kids, who can sometimes be caught up in material things:
I’m gonna give you a million dollars, but you have to give me your arms. The kids, of course, say, “No!” I’m gonna give you 5 million dollars, and you’re gonna give me your arms and your legs. “Nooo!” I’m gonna give you 10 million dollars, and you’re gonna give me your arms, legs, and eyes. “No way!”
The moral of the story:
You’re already rich because you have your health. Money really can’t buy that.
🍷 Collect Bad Wines: Don’t Postpone Anything
Ric came up with this idea of collecting bad wines: if the wine is ready and the person is there, he’s going to open it
Here’s what he said in his TED Talk:
I learned that it all changes in an instant. We have this bucket list, we have these things we want to do in life, and I thought about all the people I wanted to reach out to that I didn't, all the fences I wanted to mend, all the experiences I wanted to have and I never did. As I thought about that later on, I came up with a saying, which is, "I collect bad wines." Because if the wine is ready and the person is there, I'm opening it. I no longer want to postpone anything in life. And that urgency, that purpose, has really changed my life.
In other words, he doesn’t want to leave life with a bunch of good wine that he never drank, and it’s a way of living, living in everything
It means taking the trip, making the call, taking the risk, having the courage, forcing yourself to things that you know you need to do.
😞 Some of Ric’s Regrets
He had lots of regrets about the things that he didn’t get to: experiences he wanted to check off, people he needed to ask forgiveness from, people to say I love you to once more, and people to hug one more time
The most important thing I realized was, wow, this all changed in an instant. I thought I had years, and now it’s all over.
He was a righteous person and spent so much time choosing to be right instead of choosing to be happy
I realized that I lived my life in a wasteful way, because so much of my energy has been spent on things that did not matter with people that did.
Because of this, he decided to eliminate negative energy from his life, and while it’s not perfect, he feels so much better
🔲 3 Sides of an Argument
Think about it. There’s always three sides to an argument. Yours, theirs, and the truth. And if you start every argument understanding that you don’t have the truth—you have your truth—it’s really easy to surrender to that. Most things in life are a shade of grey.
This really helps us understand our biases and allows us to be more accepting of other opinions
When we believe we’re right, we have made something black and white.
👤 Treating Strangers with Kindness
The best thing that you can do to teach your kids how to live is to treat strangers with kindness. They’re watching your every action.
You are a teacher, all the time, with your actions, not words
So, whenever you find yourself getting upset with a waitress or bad driver, which we all do, you’re teaching the opposite, a behavior that won’t help them
Model hard work, good energy, giving, kindness, and treating everybody the same
A leakage of negative energy consumes time, our only currency—there's a very good chance you won't even remember what you got mad about in 6 months
❌ Saying No
Saying no is more about protecting time than anything else
Rick Wastes no time—he only does things that align with what he’s prioritizing, what he enjoy, or put him on a path forward
As a result, he’s comfortable in saying no, he has “demoted” friends, and he travels light through life
When you’re saying yes, you’re saying no to something else. So, everything in life has a price.
Peter mentions a similar quote from his interview with Jason Fried:
Every time you’re saying yes, you’re saying no to a number of things that you can’t anticipate between now and then.
❓My Takeaways and Questions for You
What are you putting off on your “bucket list” that you could do this month?
Do you choose to be right or happy?
How much of a premium do you put on your own time? For example, do you spread yourself too thin by keeping up with people you hardly know on Snapchat?
To view this on my website, click here.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Peter Attia for your incredible podcast and Ric Elias for this interview.