0:00 Yeah, we ended up taking on a writing class from one of the main writers on Key & Peele. I remember that. >> And he's just about like the mini pots thing. You know, like if you make a lot of pots, one of them are going to be dope, but if you try to make the perfect pot, you're going to freeze. >> Mhm. And even in our classes, he's just writing sketches in 30 seconds and they all seem like hitters to me. Yeah, and he throws it away. Hello and welcome back to another uh heartfelt episode of Bart from the Heart. Which is a segment that was created by Bart Kwan where uh he he made all these questions that kind of force you to go into a much deeper way of thinking. Uh not as jokey. Very thinky. And uh because of that >> I feel yeah, very feely. And uh because of that, it's only fair
0:50 that whoever's answering gets to take the entire episode to flesh those thoughts out. Today, we're going to ask Bart himself one of his own questions. And I like this question for you because you actually have a son. But um the question that you wrote here is if you can only pass one lesson to your child, >> One lesson, ████ >> what would that lesson be? >> [laughter] >> And as the second parter, how did you learn that lesson? Damn. But like let's say like out of everything that you could possibly teach Taika. Yeah, you can only pick one that you know will guarantee >> One. reach his mind and he'll adopt it. >> Yeah. 100%. What would that lesson be? What did Nick say? Nick says self-awareness. Nick was about self-awareness. >> That's a bad one, though. >> Self-awareness is really good. >> such a good one. Say something bravery, like bravery or something. Bravery.
1:40 >> Say Say like discipline. >> Perseverance. You schedule everything. >> Squatting, squatting. Schedule. Proper deadlift form. >> Deadlift form. Save his lower back. >> I guess yeah, you can I mean at least you're already at a head start. There's lessons he's already learned. But like if there was one that you could solidify for the rest of his life, this will be part of his career. >> lessons are like don't dump the full shampoo into the bathtub. That's what his current lessons are. But that's going to that's going to go with them for a very long time. Cuz you'll like just I go he's tell me to go take a shower and then he's in there for like 30 minutes. I'm like, "What the ████ going on?" I go in there and I pull the curtain and he rubbed ████ shampoo all over the ████ wall. It's like foaming everywhere. And I'm like, "What the ████ are you doing? Have you showered yet?" No. I'm like, "God damn it." He's having a party in there. He was a nut. That is very much your son, sir. >> shampoo use. I know. I'm like, "Dude,
2:30 did you use the whole thing?" Yeah. I'm like, "What the hell?" It's really funny to imagine you getting a genie's wish and you just were like just make him not dump the whole shampoo. >> [laughter] >> Like any trait your kid could have. >> first wish. I guess I guess you'd have to pick one that would make sense and that it was like applied through his entire life, all phases, right? >> Okay. Self-awareness. So, I think the one that I really want the lesson I would want to pass on it it sounds cliche and I think because it's so cliche most people don't believe in it. Oh. >> I think it's uh your life is in your control. That's a good one. That's a good one. Cuz like so for example, right now he finally had his like I've never heard him say it, but he's actually said like, "This is what I want to be when I grow up." You know when people say that? And then I think a
3:21 lot of kids his age, when I was his age, you just say like not something based off passion, but just what you have an interest in. So, I was like, "I want to be army man." or whatever, right? Yeah, astronaut. He told me he wants to be a stand-up comedian. That's hilarious. So, I was like, "Oh, s███." I'm like, "That's ████ sick." And I think there's a lot of people out there that have like uh those type of dreams that not necessarily have that like ladder laid out. >> Right. And so when they don't see the ladder, they're just like, "Uh let me go somewhere else where I see the ladder cuz it's much easier." But, whether or not you see the ladder, there is one for everything. So, I want him to know that um or the lesson I want to pass on to him is that everything that you want, there is a ladder. Some of them are preset, and
4:12 some of them you have to make yourself, but it's not one is better or even easier than the other. >> Uh-huh. And um and so, he's already starting to ask questions, which is kind of cool. He's like, like how how old do I have to be to do stand-up comedy? And I was like, "You have to be old enough to hold and captivate an adult audience." I was like, "Right now, you might say poo poo pee pee and your friends are laughing, but I'm like, but if you have a 50-year-old guy that paid like 20 bucks to get in, poo poo pee pee don't going to cut it. >> going to cut it. >> minimum, come on. I'm like, "You need to be able to hold like adult concepts, you know?" And I told him like my favorite comedian, Dave Chappelle, he started doing comedy when he was 15, but he was able to captivate an audience, an adult audience. Yeah. And um I hope So, I never also don't want to be the Asian tiger parent where I'm like I'm like dragging him to do whatever.
5:04 So, I always want to be like side by side with him, but if he ever gets there, I hope I'm the parent that like drives him to the comedy clubs and he gets to do it and come out and I can and I'm just side by side with him as he's going through his own journey. But, that's like the main lesson and like being able to take any big goal, reverse engineer everything to smaller steps, and then just taking every small step. And then every small step reassessing did this small step throw me to the side or did it launch me forward? And then constantly do that. And I think you can do that with anything, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What Elon Musk is doing, going to space. I think the idea that that you said were like your life is in your control. I think that key thought does lend itself to lots of assets and how you live, especially blaming others for your
5:55 shortcomings. Mhm. >> When you look at your life that it's in your control, you're not going to be like, oh, I failed because of him or because of that or because of this. >> Yeah, accountability is a big part. >> Yeah. I think accountability at an early age is such good growth because then they know that they can control their outcomes by solving problems. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not helpless. They're not like, well, it is what it is, bro. >> against me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're like, oh, the man is holding me down. Like, you're the man, actually. >> Yeah. Right. >> You're the man. >> And even if they are, it's like, well, figure out how to get out of it. >> Figure out how to be the man. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Hold him down. Yeah, that's I think that's a very versatile lesson to teach him. >> Cuz I feel like a lot >> anything if you understand the ladder to that goal.
6:45 It's not like an impossible feat. >> remember how you were able to have that lesson for yourself? Like, at what point did you learn that and was convinced that like, oh, that's valuable to have? I think I had to learn that through JK, and I think it was an accident. >> Oh. And I think it was it's it's a happy accident paired with the ignorance of like a 20-year-old person, and I think that was the perfect recipe. Cuz I if I think about like like I try to start JK now or even in my 30s, I think you're just too realistic, too cynical, and like even now when people go like they come to me and they go like, oh, I want to start social media, whatever, you know, in my mind, my first go-to like, dude, it's ████ saturated. If you don't have a unique voice, you're done. Yeah, yeah. You know, when me and Joe started, there was like, I don't know, maybe a hundred of us. So, it's
7:35 easier to make a lot of noise, >> that's crazy. >> Now you got ████ millions. >> Yeah. So, like, I think it was like the the ignorance part, the act the act the happy accident, and and also the passion cuz I think without passion you don't really have like gasoline in your vehicle Mhm. to keep pushing and pushing and pushing. And then you kind of like we were kind of almost doing a path with no ladder cuz no one even knew what a like successful YouTuber was like. And There's no blueprint. Yeah, and the ignorance part was like I don't even know if that mattered. You know? Like I don't even cuz I don't even know what to compare it to. Now you go, oh, Logan Paul or like Mr. Beast. I get it. But back then it was just like I don't even know what what that meant. I remember a time though when when that realization
8:26 happened to Bart. He was um going to go to medical school at the time and then when he decided not to, this actually gave me a mental like breakthrough like, oh, that's true. It's when um he's you said, hey, like, what if I just apply the same type of intensity and work ethic that I that everyone does for medical school, but for entertainment or like YouTube? And he goes like He goes like, to be honest, like cuz we were like, yeah, like a lot of creatives, they're ████ lazy. And a lot of people we saw like that were you know, at the time kind of our superior like like they've been in the game. They're like Asian film festival doing all this stuff. Yeah. We saw how they worked, they barely did ████ Like literally. And then I was like, no wonder you're not making it. Like, how
9:17 many auditions are you doing? How many like Some people they like they were well deserved, they made it, and some people they didn't, right? But a lot of people that were complaining in entertainment, what we what the clear observation was you're not ████ doing anything to practice. You're not doing ████ So then it's like, yeah, when you're like, let's apply that same energy as if we're going to medical school. Look at how hard they work for medical school, you know? And then so I was like, "Yeah." So then we hit JK ████ hard. Every Sunday there's a skit. So I think that was one of the the things is like it you even if you're an idiot, you're going to get somewhere with that work ethic. >> Apply the effort you would have put somewhere else. In a medical like he's like, "Yeah, the medical school's hard, but apply your entertainment you know, stand-up comedy, whatever it is with that work ethic." And I don't know
10:08 if you ever remember, but that's >> even remember saying that, but I'm glad Joe remembered. >> [laughter] >> That's why we did it. No, but that was that >> That was kind of like next level for me cuz I think creatives we work on inspiration. >> Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> when you when it feels like it. So inspiration might not hit for like 3 months. But then you're like, "Nah, no matter what, we're writing every week, we're taking classes, we're doing We're going to approach it like like it's medical school." Yeah, our schedule was So Joe's working full-time, I was working part-time. Yeah. So Monday through Friday we met, I think, from 7:00 till 11:00 at night cuz that's the only time we had. And then on the weekends we filmed both days, whether we're sick or not. We're just filming, we're going to have to film. Damn. And we did that for a whole year to get the channel like up and running where both me and Joe could quit our jobs. And that whole year was a low-paying year, right? Super low-paying. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, no no paying for us. But we
10:59 started paying for video and like you know, to like get the team going, but yeah, that was like um we didn't pay ourselves for like a whole year and then wrote 5 days a week and then filmed Saturday, Sunday. But Bart designed like a schedule work style >> [laughter] >> for us to approach it like we were going to be doctors. So I was like, "Damn, like yeah, that's that's true." But then when you think of a creative back then, you go, "Oh, but that's not the lifestyle, though. You got to wait for inspiration. You can't manufacture inspiration." But like, yeah. It was And then when you when we met professionals, remember? The like Rich Chigga Rico, the writers for SNL, all that. They actually work like that. They write scripts, five scripts a day. And we're just like Damn. You know, and then musicians,
11:49 like, you know, like they're cranking out music. Yeah, it's volume. >> Yeah, we ended up taking a writing class from one of the main writers on Key and Peele. I remember that. And he's just about like the mini pots thing. You know, like if you make a lot of pots, one of them going to be dope. But, if you're trying to make the perfect pot, you're going to freeze. And even in our classes, he's just writing sketches in 30 seconds, and they all seem like hitters to me. Yeah, and he throws it away. He's like, "Nah, that was not good." And I'm like, "What the ████ They're all masterpieces." I'm like, "No wonder like I think he wrote the like I said, like all the heavy hitters, he wrote all of them." I'm like, "No wonder he ████ wrote all these sick ass ones cuz he's just volume." And then the ones he don't even like, he throws them to the side. He's only picking That adds to experience, too. Hell yeah. Yeah. [clears throat] So, when you when this when it comes to that that uh that trait, how have you visualized teaching it to
12:39 him? Yeah, that would resonate with Taika, that he would get it and go like, "Oh, yeah, my life is under my control." I tried to do everything uh in a way, even as super small right now, in a way where what does the final product look like? And then where do you think we should start? So, like, he he likes to watch all kind Like, one of the guys he likes to watch What's that guy's name? Uh Mark Rober. Do you know him? >> yeah. >> Like a science guy. >> The glitter bomb guy. >> Yeah, yeah. So, he does like science YouTube, but he got big enough where he has his own Netflix show. Yeah. So, Taika >> Really cool. Taika likes a bunch of like science ████ and he's just seeing like fire or whatever. And he's like, "Oh, I want to know how to make a fire from without matches." So, I was like, "Okay." I'm like, "What do you think we need?" And I always try to like not just shove it down his throat. Asian parents are like, "I already know how to do it. This is how
13:30 you do it. Oh, you ████ idiot. You ████ idiot. You ████ idiot. How come you don't know what I have been knowing for 40 years? Like [clears throat] I try not to do that and I try to like go with them every step of the way. What what do you think? And like what do you And try to help them always uh give come up with the answers. It gives you time to Google it yourself. >> [laughter] >> No, no, there was cuz like I asked ChatGPT cuz I do remember tinder and kindling. I remember those two terms and I was like, but which one is the start first? I forgot. The flint? Well, like there's tinder and kindling like one's like the super small stuff that lights and then >> Oh, right. The stuff that looks like cotton? >> Yeah, yeah, and then it gets the kindling and then it gets to like your big pieces. And then so like everything I try to do, I try to do in question format so that he can Yeah. come up with the answer himself. >> Fill those bridges in his mind to get to the answer. Yeah. >> Yeah, and I also trying to never say no. Oh. Yeah, I think like the stuff I would say no to, like when my mom would say no
14:21 to me, I almost like never say no to him. Like he like he'll be like, "Can I Can I uh duct tape my Nerf gun to my to my bike?" Yeah, let's go do it. Like what do you think would be the best way to do it? >> [laughter] >> You know, like stuff that my parents would just be like, "That just sounds like a mess. No, no, no, no, I don't even want to deal with it." >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like the stuff that he wants to do, >> Right. >> "Yeah, that'd be cool. Let's go do it. Like what do you think we should do?" So I try to help let him know that like you can create your own future or vision. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's always steps to do it. Okay, that is a good way to play that. >> of the biggest factors of success in children is they did a study of like how parents communicate with their kids. Yeah. Poor kids, their parents are authoritative and then they just say [clears throat] shut up. No. One words. Rich parents shuts the door. >> They explain things and they actually have a conversation. So the kid grows up not fearing,
15:13 questioning, and being curiosity, like whatever, and then working out things in discussion. Yeah, like one time Geo comes out cuz me and Tyga were in the kitchen for hell long. He's like, "What are you guys doing there?" I'm like, "Oh, we're boiling ice cubes." She's like, "Wait, what?" And then Tiger just had an idea you want to see how fast ice cubes would melt if it was hot water, right? >> He's a scientist. >> And our our parents would be like, "Waste of water, Yeah. waste of propane or gas whatever." >> it to you. >> Like, "You just shut the ████ up." Yeah, sit down. >> dangerous place. What are you doing?" Yeah. And I was like, "F███, let's do it." So, we go there, we turn on the stove, and I'm like, he's like, "Oh, water takes like a long time to boil, huh?" I'm like, "Yeah, that's why it's >> [laughter] >> instant noodles don't come like that." And then he gets ice and he throws it in there and HE'S LIKE, "WHOA! WHOA!" CUZ IT'S ALL LIKE POPPING. WHOA! YEAH, it was fun. >> It's all learning moments. It's cool, man. It really is a a true difference
16:03 when you have parents that have problems of their own and they're just like, "I'm not going to deal with that ████ Just sit down and read a book or some s███." >> Yeah, dude. Let's figure out how to deal with property taxes. Get the ████ OUT OF HERE. >> [laughter] >> HOPE YOU GUYS [snorts] LIKED this episode of Bart from the Heart. If you have any other questions that are similar to this that you would like us to answer, put it down in the comments below or also in the Discord if you're a member of our Patreon. Um thank you and uh hope to see you next episode.
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