Aspire with Emma Grede
Aspire with Jay Shetty: How to Succeed in Business Without Losing Your Soul
Tue, 27 May 2025
Emma sits down with Jay Shetty—a global media force, a spiritual leader, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and someone who's building a career with no blueprint — all while staying rooted in purpose and inner peace. In this episode, Jay opens up about what it really takes to create a life no one else has modeled — and how he's maintained his well-being in the face of massive ambition. Emma and Jay go deep on everything from meditation and mindfulness to business and betrayal, asking questions we rarely hear answered honestly: How do you protect your peace when the world keeps pulling at you?Can you chase success without burning out?Can you be ruthless in business without losing your center? This isn’t just a conversation — it’s a masterclass in building a purpose-driven personal and professional life. Whether you’re launching a new venture, redefining success, or simply trying to keep it together while aiming higher, this episode will leave you ready to tackle your goals, all while staying grounded. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Jay Shetty and what is his background?
Welcome to the Aspire podcast. My guest today is someone I knew I wanted to have on the minute I decided to start a podcast. He's a number one New York Times bestselling author, the chief purpose officer at Calm, a purpose-driven entrepreneur, and the award-winning host of the On Purpose podcast, which currently tops the charts with over 35 million monthly downloads. Welcome to Aspire, Jay Sherry.
Emma, it's so good to see you.
I am so happy to see you. I cannot tell you.
Congratulations, first of all. I can't believe we're in this beautiful studio. It's amazing. And when you came on the show, honestly, I want you to know my community and audience
loved you I love you for saying everything you shared like everyone is so addicted to everything you have to say oh well do you know what I honestly when we did that show it was a real moment for me because I said to you before like I don't really think I'd ever spoken like that in public I always speak about the businesses and so it was definitely a moment I'm glad everyone got to fall in love with you and you're as lovable in person too so it was great well here's hoping
We're going to get to find out if I'm that lovable. Honestly, I say it in all seriousness. When I decided to do this podcast, you were one of the first people to come into my mind. Not only because we had that lovely experience, we've since become friends. I see you kind of all over the world. Do you know what I mean? It's like a random conference. Then we'll be in an event together.
And every time I see you, everything about you is so you. You're just one of the people that like fills me up with like warmth and happiness every single time I see you. And honestly, the whole point and the purpose of me doing this podcast was really to talk to people that I aspire to, that I think the world aspires to.
And I'm really obsessed with this idea that in life, you can't be what you don't see. And when I look at you as an author, as a podcast host, as a businessman, as a coach, you've kind of crafted this career for yourself, which is literally a one of one experience. And you've done it all while remaining so true to your purpose and your vision. And I just wonder how you've done that.
Like, how did you do or create that kind of career when there's clearly like no model for it?
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Chapter 2: How can you protect your peace amidst ambition?
So I remember when you came on, we talked about first jobs. My first job was I delivered newspapers and I used to go around pulling my little trolley around the streets in my area and putting newspapers through. It wasn't as glamorous as it is in America where they're like riding on a bike and throwing it. It's raining in London.
You got to go put it through and you're fighting with the dog on the other side. But I learned a lot from that job. All the other kids in my area, they used to go chuck the newspapers on the train track. And so they lost their streets and they got given to me. So I learned, oh, if you work hard, you get a bonus. So I got more streets. I then worked at Morrison's, Walmart.
Like I worked at a grocery store. I was stacking shelves, pulling in inventory, putting pallets around in the warehouse. What did I learn there? I learned how merchandise was sold, how it was stacked, how it was put together. Then I was lucky enough to work in retail. I sold denim at River Island and I learned all about- Really like seeing this parallel path for us right now.
And so it's like all you're doing your whole life, I think you think you've got to find this one job that solves everything. It isn't. My job today is a collection and a connection of so many different jobs and roles I've played. And that way, even if you hate your job right now, all you have to say is, what am I collecting here? What's the experience? What's the skill?
100%.
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Chapter 3: What are the two key aspects of life according to Jay?
I'm all of those things.
You're all of those things. I talk a lot about like leverage in my own career, right? Doing one thing, learning that, mastering that, becoming excellent, and then being able to move that onto the next thing. But did you have a grand plan? Did you sit there and be like, I want to be Jay Shetty, the Jay Shetty that can do this, this, this, this, and this? Or did that happen to you?
Like at what point was there a decision where you were like, I see an opportunity here and I'm going to put that all together?
Yeah. Yeah, I'd say it's lots of mini steps. And I think I like saying that because I think it also gives people confidence that they can do it. Because I think sometimes we're told, dream big, do big, think big. And I'm like, well, where I grew up, I didn't have anyone thinking big around me. I wasn't surrounded by people who were achieving incredible things.
Everyone was just trying to do their best to get by, including my parents. My parents' annual income together was like 50,000 pounds.
Totally, totally.
And I'm not saying that's not a lot or a little, it's just, that's what it was. And so for me, what it was, was seeing things progress. So at 11 years old, my parents forced me to go to public speaking school because they were so scared I was going to be a shy kid.
Was there such a thing? What is public speaking school?
It's called the London Academy of Music, Drama and Arts, Lambda. It's brilliant. And I got four, so I would go three hours a day, three days a week for seven years of my life. And so I learned this skill, but I didn't have any use for it. Yeah. But it was interesting. Then obviously I went and lived as a monk for three years. I learned so much Eastern wisdom. I learned meditation.
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Chapter 4: How do you find your purpose in business?
So I started to share what I'd learned. Then as I started to share what I'd learned, I was doing talks in rooms, probably quarter of the size of this. Zero people turned up, five people turned up. And I started to think, well, maybe I need to do something online because maybe 50 people will show up.
So for me, it was this incremental process of following my heart, following my passion and skill in that tiny moment. And then more becomes unfolded. And I think that's what life's like. Like when you look up a mountain, if you've ever gone on a long hike, I was in Bhutan last year and we're hiking up to this place called the Tiger's Nest. It feels like something out of Black Panther.
There's a monastery on the edge of a cliff. Totally. And when you look up and they tell you it's three hours to get up there, did I know every twist and turn? Did I know every peak and trough and valley? No. All I knew is I was trying to get there. This time I'd say I didn't even know three steps in front of me.
Really?
And it just unfolded. Yeah. That's my reality. That's real for me.
And do you think that that's true so much now? Like if that is the way that your career has unfolded, there must be an element of you going, you know what? I've always been led in the right path and therefore it's just going to happen. Or do you think nowadays you have more like of a formula and you're like, do you know what? I know exactly where I'm going.
Yeah, it changed. So it switched. As soon as my life gained momentum and momentum, something I think you can't manufacture.
A thousand percent.
And when you get momentum, ever since I got that, which was nine years ago now, I promised myself I would never take my foot off the gas.
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Chapter 5: What are the five non-negotiable habits for wellness?
It doesn't work that way. But I think it's really important that you say that because I think about that all the time, that you can be two things. You can be super ambitious and you can go at it throughout the entire week and then get to the weekend. and completely decompress and walk away from that.
And I think people or humans have a really hard time with that idea of like, I can do this, but I can also do that. And you just don't seem to have that problem. Like it's just, it just comes natural to you. Who taught you that?
I think a big part of that was the monk training because the point of monk training is you are where your feet are. So you're actually present. So if I'm actually where my feet are right now, that means I'm right here. That means I'm listening. It means I'm present. It means I'm conscious, which allows me to be effective in the moment. You can't be attentive when you want.
and then not be attentive on the other side. So if people say, I want to be present on my vacation, but I want to be absent at work. It doesn't work because it bleeds. Inattention bleeds into everything. So you can't choose when to be present and absent. So I've got to be present. So if I'm present with you, I'll be present on the weekend.
I'll be present on holiday and I'll be present in my workplace. If I'm absent with you, that's what leaks and that's what bleeds. And so you have to practice presence or absence.
And you practice that through meditation, right? You really do meditate 90 minutes a day. When do you get the time? I knew you were going to say this to me today. I took a class. I went and did like a transcendental meditation class. I did it with my husband who somehow magically as a man, I didn't say that, manages to get his 40 minutes in a day. If I do 20 minutes a day, it is a miracle.
I'm so happy with myself. That's amazing. But like, tell me, tell me how, how do you get to 90? Like, I want to be able to do that.
First of all, being a mom is harder than being a meditator. So I'm just going to put that out there. Let's just be really realistic about that first of all, right? So I don't have that. But first of all, I think it's a practice that starts at 10 minutes. And I've been meditating now for nearly two decades. Wow. For 90 minutes. But I've started very, very early in my life at 10 minutes.
It's not something you get to. The second thing I'll say is 90 minutes is a commitment in my path where if I want to teach, I have to meditate that much. because I want to be a teacher. So I always say, you want your personal trainer to have six pack abs, right? So you want your trainer to work out more than you do. I'm a trainer. I've got to work out more than the person.
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Chapter 6: How do you link purpose with your profession?
And Emma, I'd say every exec, every leader, every aspiring leader is an athlete. We have to start treating our body and minds like athlete because you're demanding things from your body and mind.
I couldn't agree more.
Yeah. The first is thankfulness. And the reason why I say that one is the first one is because if you're not thankful for where you're at, it doesn't matter how much you'll achieve, you'll never be thankful. Yeah.
If you're insecure about where you're at, if you're envious about where you're at, if you're jealous, judgmental of where you're at, that's what you're going to be like when you're at the top of the mountain or when you're at the bottom of the mountain. So the way I'd say to be grateful is not a journal. Don't write about it. You have to share it.
If you want gratitude to work, it has to be three things. Expressed. specific and personal. So if I'm going to be grateful to you, Emma, like you were kindly to me at the start of this, you expressed it. You said, Jay, I love coming on your show. You were specific. You were like, Jay, when I came on your show, I got to talk about things that I don't really talk about. And you were personal.
You said, you made me feel really comfortable. You did all of those three things. If you think about most gratitude, it's generic. I'm grateful for life. I'm grateful for the air. I'm grateful for the cloud. And you'll be grateful in your journal. You never share it. It's just writing it down. That doesn't work.
Studies show that if you share gratitude, if you express it, it's specific and it's personal, you can't be worried or anxious at the same time. It's not possible.
This is like a light bulb moment for me because one of the things, I mean, I have been keeping a gratitude journal since like the Oprah days, right? As a kid, I learned that that was something and I don't think I understood it so much like, you know, back then, but I really knew this makes me feel good.
And for me, it was about redirecting what was going on in my head at the time and having something else to think about. But what I do do all the time is write to people. I constantly send emails saying, this thing that you did was really seen, was really appreciated and made me feel like this. And thank you for doing that.
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Chapter 7: Can your purpose be separate from your job?
honestly, I love, well, I love that you say that first of all, but this is one of my biggest single things. And, you know, I feel like I didn't take very much away from school at all, but there's this great quote that I love. And I think about it every day is that the more you learn, the more you earn, which is a very Emma quote. It wasn't me.
It was Warren Buffett, but it's one that, you know, I'm a lifelong learner and I have been like that since I was a kid, but I think I've connected it to this idea of like just growth, right? Personal growth in my life. If I can learn something every day, learn something about someone. That is me expanding my horizons, expanding what I know. I love the way you contextualize it.
It's like insights, right? And that is so important for people. Like if you can make that a habit every single day, I'm just going to learn the smallest little thing. How do you practice that? Like, what do you do? What do you learn?
I think you can literally go, okay, I'm going to learn a new word every day. I'm just going to get ChatGPD to give me a new word every day. Like something unique, something I've never heard before, a word in another language. It can be that simple. For me, I like to just, I mean, I'm lucky. I get to sit down and interview people. So I'm learning stuff all the time.
And I think anyone who's listening is learning all the time. But it's like, at one point in my life, I listened to Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech every day for nine months. And not only did, what a speech. What a speech. One of the best speeches of all time.
What a speech. The one where he talks about dogma.
Yeah.
Are you, it's, it's so insane. First of all, I've taken so many parts of that speech. I keep like post-its on the inside of my bathroom mirror. So many parts of that. I've posted that speech in parts in so many ways. It's, it really is. Cause what does he say? There's a part in there where he talks about.
Don't be trapped by dogma of other people's thinking.
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Chapter 8: What role do hobbies play in finding purpose?
It's so crazy, that speech.
It's so good.
So you listen to that every day as a way of learning, like feeding yourself.
At one point in my life, I listened to it every day for nine months. And I promise you, not only did I know the words off by heart, the words started to change my heart and my life. Because you start to live them. Repetition. We're also living at a time where we always want new and fresh. I think there's a power in repetitive insights.
Sometimes learning the same thing again and again every day lets it drop into your consciousness and all of a sudden you're acting differently.
Yeah, it changes you.
It changes you.
Oh my goodness, these habits are changing me. All right, number three.
I'm feeling good. We talked about number three, so I won't talk about it too much, but mindfulness or meditation. Yes. Having a check-in with yourself. I always say to people, you schedule meetings with your family, your friends. You never cancel things for your kids. You never ever cancel a meeting with someone else, but you'll never schedule one with yourself. You just don't do it.
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