#587: Terry Crews on Masculinity, True Power, Therapy, and Resisting Cynicism

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Terry Crews (@terrycrews) can do it all:
author, action-movie hero, sitcom star, children’s book
illustrator, advertising pitchman, playable video game character,
talent show host, high-end furniture designer, and human rights
activist. The list goes on and on. 


Terry’s new memoir is Tough: My Journey to True
Power. In it, he chronicles the story of how he went
from being a six-year-old boy with a goofy, toothless smile to
being utterly selfish and angry to being a man who can finally
acknowledge his own weaknesses and vulnerabilities and use his
experiences to help motivate those around him. 


Terry has starred as a series regular in three consecutive TV
series that have surpassed the coveted 100-episode
mark: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Are We There
Yet? and Everybody Hates Chris. Terry is set to star
in Tales of the Walking Dead and hosts NBC’s top-rated
alternative series America’s Got Talent and its
spin-offs, AGT Champions and AGT Extreme.


He recently added yet another title, children’s book illustrator,
to his resume for his first-of-its-kind augmented reality
book, Come Find Me. Terry’s Crew is Terry’s latest
children’s lit entry, a graphic novel set to be released in
November 2022. Terry’s Crew provides insight into his
childhood in Michigan and what it was like trying to find his
place. In 2021, Terry and his wife, Rebecca King Crews, released
an exclusive Audible audiobook, Stronger Together, sharing
the staggering ups and downs of their relationship and how they
have weathered the myriad crises that have rocked their
marriage. 


Terry, a lifelong artist, released his furniture
collection with Bernhardt Designs in 2017, which premiered
at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New
York and was awarded the prestigious “Best of NeoCon 2017.”


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*


Hollywood life isn’t all glamorous red carpets and spotlights.
What does an average working day look like for Terry, and what
supplemental duty has he had to push back against? [07:43]


A lot of busy people don’t get around to reading one or two books
a week, but for Terry, it makes being busy all the more possible.
[13:36]


What are some realizations about success that have come to Terry
while reading Walter Isaacson’s The Code Breaker and watching the
Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance? [15:04]


What’s the biggest mistake a lot of people make — in every walk
of life — that causes the most amount of unnecessary suffering?
[19:29]


How did Terry break himself of the habit of “victimology?” What
initiated the event his family now refers to as “the D-Day
moment,” and why did he carry a lifelong aversion to therapy that
could have possibly helped him sooner? [23:32]


What you should be prepared to do without if you’re intent on
living life as if you’re in a revenge movie, and what Terry did
to regain control of his own actions instead of defaulting to
chaos. [33:52]


Terry shares real-life examples that demonstrated — to his family
as well as himself — that he could break destructive, impulsive
patterns of behavior in favor of positive, responsible ones.
[42:35]


How endurance plays into the way Terry demonstrates strength
these days compared to how he expressed it in his earlier, more
bombastic iteration. [53:35]


Why Terry believes the world determines winners way too early —
and what we should be doing instead. [56:35]


How can competition be the opposite of creativity if resistance
is crucial to growth? Terry explains. [58:58]


Terry’s thoughts on protest movements that don’t begin with the
aim of reconciliation. [1:02:44]


Terry illustrates why he really is a category of one — even when
he sometimes lapses in the midst of trying to live his most
teachable life. [1:05:04]


Genius words from a (Thelonius) Monk, Terry’s war with cynicism,
and other parting thoughts. [1:12:43]


*


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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss
Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh
Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin
Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew
McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth
Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah
Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine
Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary
Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael
Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria
Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de
Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly
Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard
Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael
Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan
Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit
Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim
Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval
Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth
Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard
Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid
Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick
Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many
more.


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