If you’ve ever seen the matrix, then you know the scene where Keanu is offered the choice between the blue pill (the world he knows) and the red pill (the gateway to reality). Sure it’s just a movie, but we all face decisions like this throughout our lives. The problem is, a lot of times we don’t really know what we want. Or we’re afraid what will happen if we actually get what we truly want.

Robbie Richman (@robberichman), being the life hacker that he is, wanted to give people the option to wake up and get some clarity about their world - whatever that means for them. He wanted to make the movie real. So in 2010 at the big burning man festival he did an experiment. He grabbed as many red tic-tacs as he could find and handed them out to burners who wanted to know their reality. The pills were a hit, so much so that a psychologist he met started giving them to her patients, and they actually started having breakthroughs! It didn’t matter that there was nothing in the tic-tacs, science shows that with the right setting and intentions people can program themselves to experience anything they desire. And things were happening.

What started out as a playful gesture turned into a whole new venture. A few years later the XPill was born, a purple pill filled with nothing but rice protein. It has no affect on your physiology, but has tremendous effects on the mind. Take the pill with a purpose, and if it’s in alignment magical things happen. Robbe used it to find his house, others have used it to find love, build businesses, and transform their health.

I wanted to sit down with Robbe to learn more about his story, his background building a business for the famous Zappos culture, and why he started the XPill. Robbe wanted me to try the pill myself and I couldn’t have been more stoked. Towards the end of the show Robbe guides me through the pill popping process, like a sort of modern shaman.. it was actually very confronting, emotional, and powerful, I can honestly say I’m still processing everything that’s happened. But on top of the pill, we also hit a few other fascinating topics like

Some of Robbe’s productivity hacks
How becoming a spin instructor got him out of depression and landed him a job working with the CEO of Zappos
Why culture is a system, just like a computer, and how to hack it
The science behind placebos and why they actually work on the human brain
The importance of play in leading a happy and fulfilling life

This said, I had an absolute blast hanging out and laughing with Robbe. But I don’t want to give everything away, you’ve got to hear it for yourself…

SHOW NOTES:

· Robbe used the XPill to find his house

· He’s currently working on the 48 hour day productivity course

· When in a place like Encinitas, there are less distractions from the city but more distractions from within his own head

· Dave Buck told Robbe – 95% of change happens in the body and in the environment, so Robbe is working out of a cool incubator space, and doing things like cycling and surfing, hot yoga, surfing

· What is culture hacking – culture is a network like any other network, like a computer network

· Systems theory – the purpose of a system is not its design but its use… a system is a set of relationships

· The way to hack a system is to look for vulnerabilities, so Robbe looks for vulnerabilities in company cultures – dives deep into the hearts of people to understand what people really enjoy doing

· The Xpill is all about invitations and deciding to take it or not based on your values

· John Demartini has a great system for understanding your values based on data – where are you actually investing your time, energy, and money

· How the XPill started – Robbe wanted to make the Matrix real, so he took the red pill (red tic tacs) to burning man to see how people would respond

· One of the big reasons Robbe takes the Xpill is for letting go and surrendering – this idea that we have control and understand reality is hard to believe

· There are two key uses for the pill – if you’re clear you can take it and it will help you grind out and get things done, or if you’re not clear or open to something bigger, this can help you surrender

· Robbe’s low point in his journey was going $60,000 in debt, but he didn’t declare bankruptcy he wanted to pay people back. He learned rock bottom is where everything is defined

· Robbe’s high was going with his feelings – the only thing he knew he enjoyed was being a spin instructor, so while instructing he got a consulting gig and connected the authors of Tribal leadership with Zappos, then he became an intrapraneur at Zappos

· Robbe wanted to be an instructor because it was working out, being a DJ, and inspiring people/being a coach

· One of the key parts of the pill process, and culture in general, is opt in… not forcing anybody to do anything

· Robbe takes Charlie through an XPill taking activation - he sets the intention to build a studio space in 1 year

· People using alter egos to step into their higher selves (Alter Ego by Todd Herman) – Black Mamba, Sasha Fierce, Bo Jackson

· Robbe’s alter egos are Hunter Thompson, Joe Rogan, and Steve Jobs

· Robbe values play in his life, and is a huge fan of muppets

· The alter ego of the XPill is the light saber… it’s huge in the story of Star Wars but it’s not the story itself… he wants people to use it in their stories… the alter ego brand for XPill is Red Bull

· Robbe is coming out with the ‘Culture MBA’ program, to help small business owners build great cultures