Quote Me…“Say It, Believe It, Live It”

Hey, how you doing.

This is Freddie Rodriguez and I'm Wiman about drama.

Welcome to those amigos here on the Beautiful iHeart platform.

That's right, and today Wilmer, we're going to talk about quotes we live by, Quotes that inspire us. It could be from a person, It could be something you read in the stall in the bathroom, could be I.

Don't want to read that one so inappropriate.

You know, you have a if I may share this, you have a wonderful neon sign upstairs. And I remember when I first came to your house, I thought, oh wow, look at that. I just thought it looked pretty and it worked really well with the aesthetic of your home. But then today you took me up there and you really had me look at it and read it and really sort of meditate on it. But tell tell everybody what the sign is and what it says and what it means.

Yeah, for sure.

So there's a neon sign that's in my kind of like my breakfast area, my kitchen area. It's kind of the area that you know, I kind of filter through before I go to work in the morning or before I go to the gym in the morning. And it reads and it says, if you woke up this morning, you're already winning. And some of you who have been listening from the beginning you probably have heard me kind of softly say it in between conversations and all that

Yeah, so as.

You know, so for me waking up in the morning, it's like it's like a win. Yeah, you know, you were given another day, you know. So it was my way of kind of reminding myself to not take for granted, you know, the day that I've been given, to make a difference, to work hard, to make memories, to you know, to live the fullest, you know, and to laugh and to enjoy as much to you know, to kind of to really reflect on all those things. So if you

Without having to dwell.

Too much about what tomorrow looks like, or what next week looks like or in the next two years, even though we always have these plans.

Yeah, yeah, it's really important to not forget that.

If you woke up this morning and you took dig breath and you've been giving life today, what are you going to do with the life you were given this morning?

So so that's where it took me.

Why was it so important for you to have it made in a neon sign?

I never want to forget it. Yeah, I don't want to forget it. I don't want to take for granted. I don't want to just wake up in two weeks went by and I can't even remember what.

Last Tuesday was right.

That's why when we went back to the beginning with the you know the podcast and we talked.

About my hour a Day.

My hour a day was a way of saying, how do I remember Tuesday? So if every day feels like this routine. You wake up in the morning, you go to work, then you go to lunch, then you you know, you come home and you watch the one episode of the one thing, you go to sleep, you do it all over again. If in twenty four hours you don't have one one hour for yourself, Yeah, how do you remember Tuesday? How do you remember Friday? How do you remember Sunday?

Right? You know, so.

My hour a day, it's like, how do I define what do I do for myself for that hour?

Do I meditate? Do I work out or go for a run?

Do I you know, do I read my chapter my favorite book? Do I do I listen to those Amigos, my favorite podcast, the best podcast in the universe of podcasting, and everything that's every released in the universe podcasting agreed, definitely so much better than most of the podcasting, Like many actors I've had out there, So it's like, you know, so so listen to at least two or three or four, though sometimes one episode is an hour, right, sometimes an.

Episode is two hours because these guys won't stop talking. But those guys are great. I love them.

They're like, I'm a huge fan, huge freaking fan. So when you think about that, you know, it's like, what do you do in that one hour?

What are you doing that one hour?

I hear it shot in the cool speak easy too.

It isn't a really cool speople kind of like this one maybe different because I don't know. It's like, you know, I think they color corrected differently like this.

It looks it looks different. But my point is is.

That that's one of the reasons why do't forget that I was giving the gift of breathing again that when your eyes open up you look to your left, you might be able to see your four year old daughter sleeping in the room with you.

Guys.

Right, you know, you open your eyes, your dog is at the end of the bed looking at you, waiting for you to let them out.

You know, like there's little things.

That you wake up and you get to do again, but there's also opportunities to do something for the first time. So you know, if you woke up this morning, you're already winning. How much more winning you want to do?

And it's rooted in gratitude, Yes, it is the foundation of that of that quote.

Yeah, which also keeps it keeps pushing you to do the uncomfortable, not the complacent. You know, routines that make you feel safe.

You know, in order to grow.

You have to push yourself beyond the uncomfortable, right, you have to kind of deal with the uncomfortable as well.

So you know, if you're.

Already winning, you know you're not gonna gain an l by and by doing the uncomfort do you do you think it also makes you go.

Besides that, right, you know, there's sometimes as we as we talk about gratitude, you know, because it's so easy, I feel like for us to go, oh man, the thing I was trying to get off the ground didn't happen, or like that part I wanted didn't happen, or like, you know, the thing in the last decade that I've really been focusing on real heavy is like it's like, wow, man, my.

You know I have this.

I have a house, man, you know, I have food on the table, Like my kids are good, My kids are healthy, my bills are paid. My as we talk about rooted in gratitude, like I've really been focusing on that lately a lot.

What drives you that? When what what brings you to that point of gratitude.

It's it's I guess. I guess for me is you know, seeing seeing how other people don't have it as good as we do, man, And a lot of time when I in my prayers, you know, I always try to pray for people who don't have it as as good as me, man, and just ask God to kind of bless them as well. And it makes you grateful for what you have, man, You know what you have? Would I prefer to, like, you know, be Tom Cruise.

Yeah, I think we all would, right, But like.

I'm grateful for what I have, Man, I'm grateful for the for the work that I have. I'm grateful that the income that I've made to pay my bills, or the car that i have, or the house that I have, you know, like I'm grateful for what I have, you know, And so so gratitude has most definitely been at the root of it all. But when I when I for me, it's not necessarily like a quote like for me, like it's more of a Bible verse that that I I like a lot, and it's uh, it's it's Isaiah, Yeah, I have.

It right here.

I want to just make sure I got it, get it right. Isaiah sixty twenty two says, when the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen. And and the reason why that resonates with me like every single day is because I feel like, in our profession, we're always in this pursuit right right, in the pursuit of like, like I said, getting something off the ground or getting this thing or whatever, and I gotta you

Yeah, and and not everyone's timing is the same, right, And then you, you know, sometimes you fall in the trap of, you know, of of creating this imaginary parallel tracks to other individuals or entities or or you know, evolutions that you're like, well, I'm not part of that evolution.

Why I'm not keeping up with that? You know?

And the truth is you're gonna carve it at the moment where you're the strongest to hold it and keep it and like hell it, you know.

And and I.

Think that's the the interesting thing to think about what you're saying, Like the timing is everything. But you know, you also think about the different times in your life where you've had certain levels of wisdom. Would you have been able to hold the opportunity if we will come to you ten years ago, twenty years ago, or is this the time where you're old enough and young enough to actually lead it into a completely different level.

And I believe you, Freddy.

You know, you write, you direct, you produce, and you are an incredible performer. Tons of people are like, this guy is a real deal. So you think about all those skills that you gathered through near like, right now is the time for you to make the uncomfortable funkle? Like what is the thing? How do you push beyond what you know? Most people feel comfortable boxing you in? Right, And like, you know, you brought up Tom Cruise and it's an interesting example because he continues to define to

You believe him kicking ass and taking it, you know.

So like I feel like that there's an interesting kind of paradigm shifting and opening it up.

A little bit.

But you just said something interesting a minute ago. You said about being in a position in your life where you're able to receive those blessings, right, because sometimes people do get blessed in the way that they dream and the way that they want, and they're not ready to receive those blessings.

It goes away.

It goes away, or it ruins you, right or you or you waste it right you you, it drives you crazy, you know whatever, fall into drugs. You you know, like, look at you right, You're you're you're doing wonderfully. Your company's thriving, You're producing some such awesome heial Like, do you think that twenty years ago you would have been able to handle that responsibility or that success, not on the.

Level that is happening now.

But I would say that I, at the very least had the foresight to be hungry in the field.

Yeah, because I created your Mama when I was like.

Twenty twenty four something like that, twenty four to twenty five. Yeah, created your Mama on MTV. But I didn't know where it was going to lead. I was like, you know, it'd be cool, Yes, I started cool.

It's not like I'm building an empire.

No, it's like, yeah, cool, if I produce a show on MTV, you know, yeah, and it started like that.

But those are the seeds for why.

But I agree, I wouldn't to have the foresight to be able to hand to speak the language I speak now on the executive level, on the CEO level, like ive.

Not had you kidding me? English is my second language.

I have barely a high school education, so I had to take myself into like a bachelor degree of the industry by wearing everyone's shoes, understand what it's like to walk in them, to then find the the find the wisdom that turned into the efficient opinion and point of view. Uh, that made you intentionally thrive to grow into the thing that you are right now.

Right, So, so you went through this evolution and this growing period in order to be able to get to where so you you you work towards it. I'm saying, do you think that if and this is something that you always aspire to, right and then and then and then you were you were blessed with it, and here you are and you're and you're emotionally prepared to handle that stuff, right, I'm saying, like, imagine you Wimer seventy show straight out and all of a sudden, you have

You know. I think it's a recipe. I think it's also like a perfect storm of things. You know.

You you also have to look at your environment. Yeah, you have to look at the people you surround yourself with. You still, you also have to kind of take an inventory of you know, what are the resources available to you in that moment to build your small everese you know, and like you know, when you're starting the beginning, how you're just trying to get the next audition, how do you even have the foresight to you like I'm going

I just emotionally growing.

Did you have a kind of a very conscious shedding period of shedding the knuckleheads, shedding the.

Well, it was very fortunate because you know, as an immigrant, you know, you come in here knowing you got to get it right from the beginning. But of course throughout the process you get introduced to the clicks and the you know, the posse's and the thing whatever.

And I always thought, oh, I'm as strong as my possey, you know.

But you know, the idea is like, you know, you know, an amount of posse or friends.

Or you know group or you know or you know, your your.

Surroundings either could propelled you into your next thing, or it can slow down the arrival of the opportunity, or it could hold you in the play in the same place, so you're so you're never gonna get to the right

You know?

Yeah, what do you think? What do you think that barometer inside of you? Like, what does it say to you when when you feel like maybe I should I should shed this person, or maybe I should shed this bad habit that I have, right like even us as human beings, you know, Like I've been really focusing on that lately too, Like you know habits, right, Like.

I think it's always manifest. I mean, I tell me what.

You know, what it's like for you too, or what it was like for you too, But I know that it manifested itself in like I'm exhausted to give.

Yeah, what made me exhausted to give?

Oh, this is taking this much emotional uh you know, investment.

This is taking so much more equity from me.

Like there's things around you that you know are there, but they're so comfortable and you don't like change and it's uncomfortable let go of either the bad friendships or you just just keep it around. And like so you put out the fires and the name of harmony as opposed to like getting rid of the fire starters, you know. So like so I think that's when you start really realizing, Oh man, I got to start choosing myself right now.

But most people don't you know, you know how it is.

Yeah, So so it's like you either you have to walk alone sometimes, you know, or you have to just really do an inventory and really walk with those But what what about for you?

When do you know the same same life for you?

How do I think for me? Like, as as we grow older and we evolve in life and in our and in the industry. In life, I feel like, you know, you're mature, and your moral compass changes, and like you know, when you're young, you're a knucklehead and like that stuff is fun and being rebellious is cool, and like you know, and you get older and you're mature, right, and then sometimes there are people around you who are not maturing

Uh.

And I think that in our business as you as you also mature in av ARV in our industry, I think that there's a lot of things that you that

You know. It's great.

When we had Lewis Howe here and he was talking, he gave that analogy about like squeezing an orange, right, Remember that he was talking about if you squeeze an orange, what comes out orange juice? Right, So it's like when you get squeezed, like what's inside it? You you know, like evaluate what's society you so that when you do get squeezed, the right juice comes.

Out right, right, you know.

So I think I'm constantly on that quest. And we're all human, right, so like we're not perfect by no means, but I'm constantly just trying to evaluate what that juice is so that so that when the juice duck does come out, it's it's.

Right, bro, No, that's great, thank you for ever and that for me, it's like you get up in the morning and take it to breath look around. I'm like, that's awesome, that's awesome. That's awesome. That's awesome.

I'm going to the gym and I'm just like gonna break a sweat.

That's awesome. And then you know, and then you just start your day and try to like whatever challenge just comes, you're gonna solve it.

But what about So no coffee before the gym, no food.

No coffee before the gym. No, but sometimes when I'm doing the four to thirty eight yms, yeah, yeah, give me some of that caffeine.

Yeah.

So bad an empty stomach and you work out on an empty stomach.

I do work on an empty stomach.

And so all the ash it doesn't come out.

I'm like, really, no, no, no, no, I chose to not have assets.

Well, I'm gonna choose not to have cancer.

Yeah, well that's good that.

I'm never I'm never gonna have it.

That's good. It's good. I highly recommend that I did. That's what I hear. Highly recommend.

H Yeah, what.

Is your morning routine? I said, before we get.

My morning routine. The second. I mean sometimes even when I'm in bed, I just pray that's that's really because I know that if if I if I get out of bed and I go downstairs and it's like, oh, let me look at my phone.

You have a base in your house or you just do it wherever you're at it.

Yeah, you know, even in my room, there's a there's a you know, I just get on my knees, or sometimes I get on a bench and I just sit. Yeah, yeah, there's a I have a small little gym like with a with a with a mat. Sometimes I'll just go there. But I have to do it first thing because otherwise I get you know, that add kicks in, man, and my brain.

Starts to go boo.

Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, it starts to spend man. So before that spinding starts to happen, I have to do it. That And like I've been practicing TM transcendental meditation for a good decade or so, I got to get better at it. I got to be better about it because sometimes I just get so distracted. But like it's helped me in so many ways.

It's helped me.

Regulate mood and anxiety. I feel like it's made me a better actor.

Because because you're more centered, more open.

Yeah, yeah, because you know, you get in front of that camera and you have thirty people behind you, and it's so easy to get like and I feel like boom, it gives me, like I get so focused and I feel like it connects the sort of penal gland with like you know, with all your everything, your gut and your heart and right, because acting is just all about like finding the truth and so like if you're connected with all this stuff, it's just about this sending the signal down here to like.

And you have to be aligned with your instrument.

Yeah, yeah, your.

Instrument is all of this.

For all those young actors out there, Yeah, instrument is like your entire bodies how you tell the story. And if your mind is somewhere else, the body is not going to tell the story, right, So.

Yeah align Yeah, and you're and you're constantly I feel that those actors were constantly fighting. It's really easy to like read a script and go okay, and then here I'm gonna do this face, and then here I'm gonna you know, here I'm gonna say it like.

This that hey listen.

For some people works, you know, I find for me, it's easier for me to to to know what the emotion is, and in order to get that emotion. Uh, truthfully, I have to be sort of aligned and internally it takes a lot of work, and you know, I just feel like that's what works for me.

Right, It's weird for me when I'm reading a script, I cannot help but to start performing it. Yeah, of course, of course I'm reading the other characters lines. Yeah, it turns into it turns into me making choices based on what I'm hearing back from the script.

So will you do the other characters lines?

Yeah, So, like I'm playing the other characters, and I'm playing my character, right, So I look at my character, and then as they respond to me, I'm making choices as them, and so then I respond to the choices of those characters as the character.

When I'm called reading it.

Wow, that's the only and that's why it takes me a while to read a script, because I take the dramatic process and everything like, yeah, I take, I internalize it, I do the whole thing. Like so, so my first take, my first honest take of what my character is going through in that scene is informed by how I'm reading the other characters.

Wow, hey man, everybody has their way of getting there. You got every you know, every everybody there is to me, there's no right way as well.

It's this yeah, yeah, you know, you know how you're lucky in but but like this was this was a really great reminder to to have those routines to wake up in the morning, you know, practice gratitude, take that deep breath, and then also being one with like the audacity of making the phone call for yourself.

We kept talking about.

This earlier, like, you know, if you have this gratitude where you're at, how much farther can you go only realize on how bold you're gonna be with your self worth. Your self worth is going to inform what you're gonna call to.

To get to get next. You know.

So are we going down this list of like quotes here, Yeah, that's.

Why we do not need to do it, but we're gonna do it now.

Everything happens for reasons.

Do you believe that it is what it is?

It is what it is?

It is? What? Do you believe that is what it is? I don't believe in that. I think it is what it is.

It's like a coma because something has to happen after that it is what it is.

It is what it is.

Okay, then the guy's a prink.

It is what it is. Okay. Well right, well there's there's no older alternative. That's just what it is. That's okay, what it is. Okay, yolo, yolo. Oh you only live once, live once? Man? Okay? Cool?

All right, so let's bet it all on black. Let's lose everything. All right, that's great, that's that's freaking great. Time heels old wounds?

Does it though? Does it? Are you still time? Are you really? Does it really? Time? Are you still holding a grudge? This is this? Is it already thirty years? Is it obvious from thirty years ago? All right, that's the next one.

Dance like no one's watching, Oh my dance, like nobody's watching Wilmer?

Who wrote these?

Uh leo clin it's interesting, it's interesting them?

Is it? I wrote them for this exact reason? Oh, because it creates a vicious debate. Yeah, they're polarizing, they're polarizing. It is what it.

Gets under my skin.

When yeah, yeah, no, there's no. It is always a reason for everything. There's always a reason, But we're dexcided to ignore it because we want to end the conversation. It is what it is, and here.

Fake it till you make it?

Is it? Fake it till you make it? Wow? What happens when you make it?

Is?

You really have to do it?

Right?

I guess what happens? Then, smarty pants? When I fake it till I make it? And then when you make it? What happens? Now you really have to do it? What happens now?

Now? Now I could wear the real role action, not the one I got from the alley town. Is that kind of way?

It does work?

But the fake it too it make it is such an interesting one because because okay, you faked it into uh into a career, and then now.

You have to practice it right When are you gonna learn it?

I don't know, dude, I guess I guess you're faking and you're unfortunately you're making it right now. Look, but but you know what, everything happens for a reason. Okay, it's also it is what it is.

It helps for me. It is what it is.

It is what it is, you know, And to be honest Leo from two night's episode, Uh, you know, I just know the time is gonna heal everything.

All right?

And uh and I know that after this is done, you're gonna go home. You're gonna dance like nobody's watching.

If the tree falls in the forest doesn't make it sound right, right, Yeah? Yeah, yeah. If I didn't see you dance, you didn't do it.

Yeah, everything happens for a reason.

I get it. I get it. And I guess that you yolo when you dance where nobody's watching.

But you get home and you dance by yourself and you're just like dancing like nobody's watching.

What does that mean that you're gonna just be silly?

I guess, I guess it's it's a it's a it's a quote on confidence, right like like saying be confident.

So that means like dancing front of people, like they're not there to watch you dance, or be as bold.

As you would when you're dancing at home by yourself, right Like, there's a form of confidence that that you exude when you're dancing for yourself.

That's it. That's it?

Yeah, is it?

Well? Listen for those of you who use this on your daily basis, please don't get I know, yeah, you better cut this off.

The episode you're talking to really annoying optimistic people in here, so don't stop.

No, I'll want yours for you, whatever worse for you. I'm Wilmer bother Rama, I'm Freddie Rodriguez.

Thank you for listening to Those Amigos. This is find your quote, Find you quite, find your quote, find out.

Those words that get you through it.

We love you guys so much, and remember it. If you woke up this morning, you're already winning.

Thank you so much. It's you on the next episode of Those Amingos.

Those Amigos is a production from WV Sound and I Heart Media's Michael Tuda podcast network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez, and Wilmer Valdorama.

Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlson and Sophie Spencer Zabos.

Our executive producers are Wilmrivalderama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson, and Leo Klem at WV Sound.

This episode was shot and edited by Ryan Posts and mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by Madison Devenport and Hello Boy.

Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed by Deny.

Holtzklaw and thank you for being at Third Amigo Today. Appreciate you guys, always listening to those amigos.

For more podcasts from My Heart, visit the R Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

See you next week.