Getting to the Heart of what Matters, with Bridget Hilton

BRIDGET HILTON (00:00.182) 

And at the end of that rainbow for me was a methamphetamine den because I couldn’t figure out why there was no pot of gold there for me.   

JUDD SHAW 

you beautiful people. And thanks for tuning in today. I’m excited to welcome the incredible Bridget Hilton to the show from growing up in Flint, Michigan, to breaking into the music industry as a teenager. Bridget has always been a pioneer. She later founded LSTN sound company. 

 

a social good electronics company that partnered with major brands like Google and Amazon and helped over 50,000 people here for the first time. Now a keynote speaker, co-author of experiential billionaire and creator of treasure maps, card deck. Bridget has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to pursue their dreams and live a life rich in experiences. 

 

Get ready to be inspired as we dive behind the armor with Bridget. Welcome to the show.  

 

BRIDGET HILTON 

Thanks for having me. 

 

JUDD SHAW 

 You know, it was really important that you were here with me today and I really appreciate it. I love that. And I say that because today, this is what matters to me. It mattered that we got here and, and I thought about it this morning and I was jazzed up to get here and here we are. 

 

 

JUDD SHAW 

And I have a question is, how do you know what matters?  

 

 

BRIDGET HILTON 

think that’s a very big question. And I think it takes a lot of time to figure out for a lot of people. You know, some people are very lucky and they just know right away. But for most people, just as an example. So for my book, we did a big study of 20,000 people. And one of the questions that we asked was what have been the most valuable things in your life? 

 

And, you know, they would tell us things after a while of thinking, they’d be like, it was, you know, when I took my grandchildren on a cross country road trip or when I wrote my book or when I, you got married and started a family. But then they would always say after that, I’ve never actually thought about what matters to me. So I think the answer to your question is kind of the question is like, you have to actually sit down and think about what matters to you. And there’s a lot of ways to get there. 

 

But like the first step is just thinking about it, which sounds so simple, but like we’re so busy maintaining our lives that we don’t sit down and actually think about what’s valuable.  

 

 

JUDD SHAW 

So for you, you grew up in Michigan, music background. 

 

And I want to talk about the moment prior to starting, listen, take me to, take me to that moment. What was going on? Sure.  

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

So yeah, I grew up, in right around Flint, Michigan. And, I don’t know if you know anything about that town, but it’s not exactly Hollywood. It’s not, I didn’t know anyone that was in the entertainment industry or anything like that. So I had this big dream of being in the music industry, but I didn’t know how to get there. Right. So I started doing all of these. 

 

jobs when I was a kid, like, you know, picking up trash at like music venues and like getting coffee at radio stations and selling band t-shirts and stuff like that. So I did that for a long time. And then, um, pretty much from like 14 to 19. And then when I was 19, I got a job in the mail room at a local record label. And, um, that really changed my entire life. Cause then I started seeing all these people that were like, you know, 

 

superstars or like on their way to becoming superstars and it really like opened my mind to like what was possible. Like I didn’t have a lot of expectations on like what I would have been, you know, like I didn’t know anyone that had been super successful in like a financial or in like a philanthropic or any type of way, right? Everyone was just like really normal where I grew up. 

 

So being in the music industry changed everything for me and it made me see what I could be and that I could be something bigger than Fair to say though, at this moment… 

 

You’re not quite sure what exactly mattered in your life. Yeah. I I really thought that when I was growing up, I thought that, you know, music was the only thing that mattered. I was obsessed. Like my email address was literally rockstarwannabe at aol.com. Like that’s all I cared about. Like it was actually kind of scary. I didn’t have any other interests. 

 

So like for me growing up, was like, all I want to do is be a rock star. Like that’s the number one most important thing to my obsession. Yeah. Like an obsession. And like, I knew everything about every band, every, like I would go to every show. would like, you know, I don’t even like, there’s some ridiculous memories I have. Like, do you remember that band Hanson? would like go to the mall and like pretend to be them. Like this is like before. 

 

You know, there was like good internet and stuff. like people didn’t know and I looked just like them. So it’s hilarious. So yeah, I thought that the only thing that matters was that. then, it’s funny cause like at first I’m attracted by like this allure of like fame and fortune and like having people like scream my name or whatever. If I was going to be like a musician. And then once I started working with these, like bigger like superstars, I realized that it wasn’t that it was that. 

 

I was watching them become bigger than themselves and they were making an impact on people’s lives. You know, like people would come up to them and they would say things like, like your music saved my life. And like, you know, I walked on the aisle to your song or I named my child after your album. And I thought like, I want to make an impact too. Like it’s not about fame or fortune. It’s about like creating something that like you can leave behind. 

 

 

JUDD SHAW 

A legacy, but for the right reasons. Yeah. You know, for so long, I wanted to build a law firm that would last long after my name, but it was only like an ego pride kind of thing. Not because I was really interested in wanting to long continue our service for the community after I pass. And so for you, what rattles that in which you 

 

changed on how you received music is what was the only thing that mattered.  

 

BRIDGET SHAW 

So it’s kind of funny it kind of all changed with seeing a YouTube video which sounds very basic but I was at work one day and just like sitting in my cubicle or whatever and like looking at YouTube and I saw this viral video of a woman that was 29 years old and I was like 27 at the time or 26 and 

 

She was hearing for the first time, thanks to like a special hearing aid. And it got me thinking about how important music was to me and why it was important and that it changed my whole trajectory of my life. Like from where I was from, I moved out to LA, like I had all these great friends, like there was really cool experiences that I was having. Like I got to travel, I got to like meet all my idols, like all of these things happened because I was passionate about music. So like what would have happened if I didn’t have that? And like, that’s what I thought about when I saw that video. 

 

And then I thought like, that would be such a job or maybe not even the word job is like the wrong word, but like a cool pursuit to like help other people here for the first time. like, that’s kind of like what kicked off the idea of like starting listen and like trying to become like bigger than myself in that way. Like just like the artists that I had seen before. How’s the little bot lesson? Sure. 

 

Listen is a headphone and speaker company. We started in 2012 and then we give the proceeds to giving people hearing around the world. So we sell like regular consumer products and then we give hearing aids and then we are on the road and we like actually get to do the work, which is like the best job ever. We’ve given around 50,000 people hearing for the first time, which is pretty crazy to say that number. 

 

cause it really just all started with like seeing a video on YouTube. and we’ve been to 40 countries and all 50 states and we’ve had really crazy adventures along the way. but it’s been quite a journey. It’s been, 12 years. me about what it’s like.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

You know, I, have a mutual friend, Justin Wren, when I spoke to Justin, explained the feeling. 

 

of what it was like when these tribal people in Africa had first tasted or even seen fresh water come out from the ground. I love Justin. Shout out to Justin Ren. Right. And what’s that like? What was your experience? Take me there. When you first heard someone hear. 

 

The first time I remember like it was yesterday, like, so Joe, my business partner and I were in Peru and this was like my first time ever like in South America and like, was all kind of a new experience, right? It was all like very overwhelming, but in a good way. And, the first person that we helped just so happened to be like, like I remember it so clearly. her name was Maria. She was this young girl and, 

 

she had come from probably a couple hundred miles away. Like her parents had told us that it was her biggest dream in life to be able to hear, right? So she could like connect and fit in with the other kids. And so they told us like, you know, we were going to do anything to make this happen. And like we’ve tried for years and like nothing works and we can’t, you know, they couldn’t afford hearing aids are so expensive. Like they couldn’t afford that, which is pretty normal. Unfortunately. And 

 

So they came from hundreds of miles away and she sits down in this chair and she was like, so nervous and so like full of anxiety, but like everyone was like hopeful. And I was in charge of fitting her hearing aids and I like pushed them into her ear and she just like lit up like, you know, like a Christmas tree. Right. Because you could tell she now, my God. was like the different, was like going from black and white to color. You know, it was, like she just lit up and she like, 

 

She was like, I wish I could show you the picture. I’ll show you later. But that was the first person we saw here for the first time. And so like her parents just collapsed on the floor and they were like so relieved and so overjoyed and like they were crying. then Joe and I started crying. Then everyone’s crying. And it was like this whole scene. And it was not only was it like so amazing for her and so amazing to see that it was like. 

 

the realization of this dream that like a year prior to that, like I’d seen a video on YouTube and then we were there and seeing someone here for the first time, like because of like a business that we started. So it was like a full circle moment of, of realizing like somebody else’s dreams, also like our dreams at the same time. But I just think it’s, it’s like the closest thing to a miracle that you can see. And it’s so fast. 

 

And I think that’s one of the things that I like about it is a lot of like philanthropic pursuits are, they’re all amazing, obviously, but some of them take years and years and years. Whereas this can be like, you can change someone’s life in 10 seconds, which is crazy.  

 

 

JUDD SHAW  

That’s incredible. That’s really incredible. That’s awesome. You know, our other friends, Sebastian, Terry, we just saw, right? loved how he talked about. 

 

the collaboration that happens, right? With service to others is that service to yourself. And so here, I’m wondering now at this very moment where you’ve changed this person’s life, literally, right? You could now hear music the way you could hear music and enjoy it. What was the moment when now for you, like personally, you’re like, wow, right? Here you are thinking that the… 

 

being on stage, singing a rock concert to an audience. Like, and then you’re like, wow, what was that moment like for you?  

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

It really just like put things in focus for me and like what is important and what is interesting and valuable to me. Like that’s, you know, that moment just changed everything. And then it was kind of just. 

 

from there, we were addicted to it. We were like, we want to do this all the time. We want to travel, we want to see new places, we want to help people. it was never about, like Listen never became a billion dollar company, but we always say that we were experiential billionaires because we were doing all these things and having all these experiences and maybe we’re not super wealthy, but I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. 

 

Like at the end of my life, like, am I going to care about how much I made or if I, you know, changed 50,000 people’s lives? Like that’s way more important. So like that moment kind of changed everything from then on.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

want to talk about that moment. I want to get really deeply under there for a moment because I think it’s so critically important for our teenagers and young twenties to hear that message because for me, I threw away a big part of my life. 

 

Pursuing the idea that if I collected a certain number of material things As the world had promised me with exotic cars and flashy things that I would find that happiness And at the end of that rainbow for me was a methamphetamine den. Yep Because I couldn’t figure out why There was no pot of gold there for me. She were filling a hole that 

 

with money or with possessions and that you should have been filling it with experiences, with relationships. And I think that’s very common, unfortunately. Exactly. And so I also think that there’s a big fear here that I find that particularly young men, let’s say for instance, who are struggling to find out what does it mean to be a man today. And you’re 18 years old or you’re 19 years old and you go online and you find these Andrew Tates of the world or these very dangerous 

 

and they convert masculinity to toxic masculinity and create these wolf pack mentalities. And it’s really dangerous. And for a young guy who wants the Mr. Beast kind of lifestyle, says, I’ll pass on the experience. If I can get these things, I’m promised. How do we undo this belief, this narrative? I think, I mean, 

 

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

I feel like our whole book is about this specific question, which is funny. I think you really have to like take wisdom from people. Like one thing that I’ve done with the book is take wisdom from older people that, you know, are at the end of their life and they’re looking back and they’re saying, what has mattered to me? Right. And it’s never like, you know, you don’t go to hospitals and see people asked to see their wallet one last time. 

 

Right. You don’t see like, you’re not at the cemetery. You don’t see tombstones that say died with 10 million in the bank. Like that’s just, that would be crazy if that was the case. So we only get a certain amount of time. Like the average lifespan for a man in the U S is 72 and the average lifespan for a woman is 76. So at 35, 36, you’re already middle-aged, right? And that’s something that a lot of young people don’t think about. 

 

And I really didn’t even think about it until like a few years ago. But, so it’s a very powerful thing to just kind of, good tool actually for that is like a memento mori chart that has like 72 boxes and just look at it you’re like, okay, if I care about only making money for, you know, 60, 70 % of this, then I have like only like what 10 years left to like retire and use my money to do experiences. Like that’s. 

 

Insane. And so you have to think about like, right now is all you have tomorrow is not promised. So do the things that you want to do now and don’t wait. And that’s like really the message of our book. And that can include, you know, philanthropy that can include relationships that can include whatever is important to you. But it doesn’t necessarily mean just make a lot of money and then that’s it. 

 

And I also think it doesn’t mean just create a bucket list. Yeah. Of things you want to do and be so focused on checking those boxes off that you forget to live every day. Yeah, that’s true. mean, I think bucket lists are great in some ways, but we… So one exercise you can do to figure out what matters to you is that it’s sort of like a bucket list, but not really. 

 

It’s like, okay, imagine your doctor called and they told you that you have one year left to live. What would you do? Write down all those things that you would do. And it’s probably not going to be the same things that are on your bucket list, right? Because those are like, I want to go to the Eiffel tower. I want to go to like, like a lot of travel things or a lot of, you know, adventures, which is great. And I love all those things, but it might be things that are more important to you. Like I’m going to tell the people around me that I love them or I’m going to 

 

spend more time in nature, you know, or like, I’m going to mend relationships that I broke. I’m going to forgive myself for doing something really bad. Or like, maybe if you’re spiritual, like get closer to that, you know, stuff like that. It’s like, if you have like a year or six months or a day left to live, you’re going to think about that stuff. You’re not going to think about, want to go, you know, to the Eiffel Tower, for example. 

 

But I’ve never until you just said that, so thank you, thought about experiences can mean is very simple. Telling someone I love you is an experience. It’s as much as you can embody that moment and capture that is just as can be just as cool as being at the Eiffel Tower. think bucket lists are cool because then it gives you like a big view of like, 

 

maybe when I’m, you know, this age, I want to do this or there’s, there’s certain things you want to do, but really like what’s really important to you will become clear if you give yourself a very limited timeline. It’s like, like we, we ask that every time we do an event or a keynote or anything, like what would you do with one day left to live? And the answers are always like, I would forgive myself or I would 

 

You know, do something I can do today. And then we say, why don’t you do that today? Because you don’t know.  

 

 

JUDD SHAW  

Let’s assume that I want to start making a paradigm shift in how I show up tomorrow. I want to go from chasing to feeling. I want to go from having to being. To being. that. How, how, how can a listener do that? 

 

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

Ooh, might need a moment on this one. think it all comes back to like being your authentic self. And I know that that word gets a lot of play right now and it’s kind of over said, but doing things that you want to do, not what society wants you to do, not what maybe, you if you’re younger, maybe necessarily what your parents want you to do. 

 

You know, you have to go be a doctor. You have to go be a lawyer or whatever it is, you know, that they’re telling you like chase your own dreams and do your own path. Cause that’s like, at the end of the day, you’re the one that has to live with those choices. Like nobody else does.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

I think it’s surprising of how many people don’t actually know the answer to that question. Yeah. Right. It’s like, how many of us have, have stopped to say like, what is it exactly? Judd wants to do today. 

 

Like what would really be? That’s a big problem. Like that’s so common. I mean, like I said, it’s like in our survey, like that was the number one, like we basically go through like three steps of like how to live a rich life. And that’s the number one thing is to figure out what’s valuable to you because nobody, not nobody, but most people don’t know. And there’s so many reasons for that, right? I would imagine. 

 

You grow up with a set of beliefs and narratives. You’re in a community or you’re being told what kind of matters. yes, authenticity is this big buzzword today, but underneath that is, just showing up as your real raw, your true self. for me, that was actually a process of having to find out what that looked like for Judd. who is Judd and what is important to Judd? 

 

And for me, that actually started where I had to go and think about my core values because I always thought that that was a poster on a wall at a company. And I was like, my company, core value, you asked me my core values, I would have given you my four law firm core values. But I had never thought about what would be my core values. love that. And I also think something, you know, that sounds simple, but maybe isn’t for a lot of people is 

 

just trying new things because you don’t know what you don’t know. Right? Like, like I didn’t know I would want to speak at companies. Like I never even thought about that before. But I tried it and I was like, this is really cool. I want to do this more because it’s impacting people. Or I didn’t know that I would want to, you know, just simple things like make homemade pasta or pizza or make like, you know, make art or 

 

Do anything like that. You don’t know what you’re going to like. You don’t know what you’re going to be good at. Even if you’re not good at it, does it really matter at the end of the day? I love to go surfing, but am I good at surfing? No. But it’s still fun and it’s authentic to who I am. So I think young people, like you were saying, how do they figure it out?  

 

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

think just trying as many new things as you can. And that also gets you these 

 

relationships, which relationships are definitely the key to life and definitely the most important thing in life. as basic as that sounds, think just trying new things will get you there.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

That really applies for the an organization setting as well, right? Because what I’m hearing is healthy risk taking. Yeah. 

 

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

And I love to take a risk. I’m very much a risk taker, but I think we, like as a society, we, lot of the time hear things like we can’t be a beginner. Like we can’t, especially as we get older, right? It’s like, if I want to paint a picture or sing a song when I’m six, people are like, great, do it. But if I’m like 60, they’re like, that’s lame. You know, and they don’t think that’s 

 

That’s like the cool thing to do is to like start, you know, maybe I want to do a standup comedy set or play a song on guitar and, like, I’m older. We’re told that that’s not like acceptable and cool because beginners are like, you know, losers in a lot of ways, but I think that society needs to like encourage beginners and like encourage like at any age to learn new things. And like, that’s what makes us grow as people. 

 

The exponential billionaire tries new things. Part of the experience alone, right? Yeah.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

You know, I gave that example earlier is that even starting a podcast, you know, for me at first it was like, I don’t even know anything about audio. You’re musician. I don’t know what audio, don’t know boom mics, mics, I didn’t know anything, but I like storytelling and I love human connection. And so… 

 

How can I apply those skills to this experience and let it roll? Maybe it’ll work out. Podcast doesn’t. It’s okay because this was just one of those experiences that accumulate a good life. And you’re not afraid of failure because it doesn’t matter, right? Like literally, even if it failed quote unquote, which it’s not going to, but 

 

You had all these deep conversations with people. You learned something new. Like you have another thing that you accomplished in your life. Like I think it’s awesome to do new things. And like, even if, you know, there is a failure, then it doesn’t matter. Like people are way too afraid of failing and like the more you fail, like the more you’re going to succeed in general. If you just never try, you’re never going to really get anywhere. You know, you’re just going to stay on one path your whole life, but then there’s all these other paths that you can go on. And to your 

 

To your point, it’s the experience. That’s the thing that matters. It wasn’t how many downloads, it’s not how many views that I’m getting, it’s not how many engagements. It can be if you’re really trying to make that thing. But for me, it was the experience. So whether it has a hundred episodes or it ends after this one, it’s the experience of having to say, 

 

I hosted and launched a podcast that really matters. that really applies to businesses and entrepreneurs as well. Say that you built a big company and then you sold it. It’s like, you can only sell it like once, right? That happens one day. But what about the 10, 20 years you spent building it? Like that’s way more valuable than the one day that you get money because like that’s time that you can never get back. 

 

BRIDGET SHAW  

And that’s what we always say about listening is like, we just don’t really, like it would have been amazing if we were like the next like Dr. Dre beats, whatever, of course. But we also had 10 plus years of traveling the world and helping people and like doing all of these crazy experiences that like no one else that we know has like ever done. And that was worth way more than any number in a bank account. 

 

like for one day to be like, okay, I sold a company, check the check mark off, you know? So I think people need to think about like the journey is the destination is like so over said sometimes, but it really is the truth. Cause you’re only going to be this young like today, right? Like I’m never going to be this young again.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

That’s so good. Right. Which is where Momento Mori, the stoic principle of live your life, like, you know, wake up and say, 

 

I am so grateful I woke up.  

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

for sure. mean, if 72 is the average, that means there’s a lot of people that don’t make it to that. Like you just don’t know. That’s a good point. The experience behind it. It’s funny because as I’m thinking about it, was for so long, how many clients I helped, but it was really about me and 

 

how I helped, you know, the helping part of it was the step for me as opposed to that I just did. And when I think about how your impact makes on humans and the planet, at the end of it, that impact alone can be legacy. That impact alone lasts 

 

far longer than you will be here. for sure. And it’s not even like at the end of, you know, this ripple effect or whatever. It’s not even about giving hearing. It’s not about, it’s definitely not about me. That’s for sure. It’s about, you know, say one kid can hear for the first time and then their whole community is impacted, right? Like now they can go to school. Now they can go to work. Now they can like… 

 

you know, maybe they meet someone and have a family together and like it all, you know, it like ripples throughout things. Like we helped 50,000 people here, but there’s been millions of people that have been impacted by that. And then there’s also been like this really cool ripple effect that happened that all of these companies started coming to us saying that we inspired them to add like social good into their own business model. 

 

And then those people like planted millions of trees and like funded cancer charities and, you know, saved animals from shelters and like all of these things happen because of like one little thing. Like what, like seeing a video and being inspired by that and like that ended up with all of these other things. And that’s something that literally anyone can do. Like I’m not special. My business partner is like amazing, but we’re not special. 

 

We’re just normal people. We didn’t come from anything. um, and I think the lesson is that like really anyone can start a ripple effect. And the ripple effect can be very difficult to measure, but it is very real. Very real.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

I remember when I was getting into keynote speaking, someone had shared with me that as a speaker, when you’re on the stage, sometimes you’re not getting that immediate feedback. 

 

You have to be in embodied in, in yourself, right? But someone in that room may leave and do XYZ framework, take whatever your, your idea thing. And, know, and so you, it’s real. Oh yeah. You just may not directly know about it. mean, I’m pretty sure you don’t know 99 % of the time. Right. People are very shy. don’t necessarily all come up to you at the end and say something. It’s true. They might, you know, 

 

message you on LinkedIn like two years later and be like, I did this. And that’s amazing. I I love the people that do come up and say something immediately, but I hope that there’s more than that. Right.  

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

And I didn’t even realize that hearing loss was the number one disability in the world. How much is hearing aid, average hearing aid? I don’t know. 

 

So it’s a really interesting space in business actually right now, specifically. There’s just been these laws that were passed that I think will be so tremendously helpful to like the whole world, which is where you can sell hearing aids over the counter. So you could go to like CVS or Rite Aid and like buy a hearing device where before it was very guarded and like you could only go through like these big companies that were charging like $10,000 or something. So now 

 

Apple actually just added like hearing aids to like their AirPods. it’s like the ability to get something that might be like a hundred, $200 is so drastically different from like $10,000. So I actually think the whole space and the whole like disability part of it is going to change drastically, which is super exciting. Wow. Yeah. I mean, it’s crazy that like it was just a law that needed to be passed to be able to. 

 

do these things and have more access to it because the reality is that most people can’t afford it. And that’s why it’s such a problem. It is easily fixable. Nine out of 10 people can be helped with just a hearing aid. And then there’s other methods for the one out of 10 people, which can get really expensive as well. But if 90 % of that can be helped with something that’s a couple hundred dollars, it’s much more. 

 

realistic to say that that will like shrink the population of people that need it. you’re seeing technology, access, affordability is really game changing in this space right now. yeah. I mean, if, if a company that’s as big as Apple or Bose or whoever can change that, then that will be so helpful for the whole world. And it’s crazy. It’s not like, you know, water or education or something where it takes like years, like 

 

If someone can help, you know, in 10 seconds with like a little device, like that’s going to change so many people’s lives. Me, 

 

JUDD SHAW  

 is there something about your journeys in 40 countries that stands out?  

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

I think there’s different things like as terms of like, like I love nature. So I’ll go there first. Seeing the Northern lights blew my mind. Seeing like going on safari. 

 

blew my mind like completely. Like that was probably my favorite thing I’ve ever done in my life.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

Where did you go on a safari? I’ve been a couple times in Kenya, is fantastic in the Masai Mara. Masai Mara, Mombasa.  

 

BRIDGET SHAW  

Yeah, nice. Nairobi. Blew my mind. Just unbelievable. Masai Mara is lion country. yeah, we saw a lot of lions. I had a very close call with a lion. I almost got hunted. 

 

yeah, there’s a story in the book about that. It’s really funny about how, I mean, this lion, like literally like stared into my soul. And it was like, I never had felt hunted by like an animal before. And wow, it was a very intense experience and I was freaking out. then afterward, like we were hanging out with the Messiah, like tribesmen and they were telling us like, don’t worry about the lions, the hippo that you need to worry about. Right. 

 

And so we that story in our chapter about fear because sometimes you think it’s going to be one thing and then it’s another thing that’s actually the dangerous part. where did you see the Northern Lights? In Iceland. It was just one of the most amazing experiences in my life. But I would say anywhere that I can like get out and do those things that aren’t that are just very real and very like, you know, 

 

have been around for millions of years, like animals and nature is like my favorite. I also like the experience. It’s funny, I’ve been to 40 some countries, but the United States, like I love the US and I’ve been to all 50 states. And I think that was one of the best experiences of my life is, is seeing every state because, and you know, we’re in a very divisive time right now, obviously with the election and everything. 

 

But after the last, after 2016 election, I made it my goal to like finish all the states and talk to people in every state and like kind of get their story. And that was one of the best experiences in my life because I now feel like I understand like way more, like why people think the way that they think. Like they’re not crazy or terrible people. It’s just that like, 

 

they grew up differently than me or they had different experiences. And now I have like way more empathy for like people that have different views or different, you know, ways of thinking. And, and yeah, the U S is really beautiful as well. So I encourage everyone to try to hit that. many of us live in the United States and 

 

have visited other countries before seeing all the states. So many people. I remember the stat. I’m at fault there. one of them. I most people have seen less than, I think the average is like seven to nine states. Wow.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

Yeah. And so I’m, you know, I’m curious because at one point I had this idea that I was going to go around to all the states and then I was going to look for a pattern of what states or 

 

particularly communities like the native in Alaska to the Cuban community in Miami, all the different sense of subset communities across America, and look at which ones are thriving in connection and which ones were struggling in connection. And then I wanted to think about, could I understand why these communities are stronger or weaker in that particular area? 

 

And I was thinking, because I haven’t done it, but I’d like the experience, that there was a sense of belonging to the communities that had strong connection, either that’s nickly, passion-wise, culture. What’s your experience on that?  

 

BRIDGET SHAW  

think that sounds like a great idea. And I think that you should write a book about it, honestly. 

 

and maybe do a Netflix show. I would watch that for sure. It’s kind of like taking the Blue Zones or something like that, but making about connection. Yeah.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

And the Blue Zones to me, I’m like, I don’t know if I believe it that much, but I think that connection wise, it would be more interesting to make it about your theory? If I went around and I’m going to tell you, here’s the results, what’s your theory? I don’t think everyone would agree with me on this, but I think that 

 

And I’m not a very religious person, but I think that religion really does bring people together and like have community, especially when people get older or especially when they have children. So I think a good example of that is like, you know, I’ve had grandparents pass away, like, you know, semi recently. And if you go to the funeral and they 

 

have all of these people like from the church there. It’s all these people that they have like connection with. They saw every Sunday. What other opportunity does someone that’s elderly have to have that community if they’re not like in a home with a lot of other people or whatever? And then the same for kids a lot of times, say like in a city or something where there’s like, it’s harder to gather. Like if you have kids and you take them to church every 

 

you know, Sunday, or maybe that could even be like a soccer team or whatever. But there has to be like a place to gather where you’re like, you are seeing these people consistently and maybe it’s not church, maybe it’s something completely different. But I think that you’ll find like where there’s communities like that, that people are more strongly together. Like where I live, like honestly, like I don’t even know my neighbors. don’t like, I might’ve met them a couple times. 

 

Right. But, I’ve felt that way in a lot of different places that I’ve lived, but maybe if I, you know, was a part of something like a team in my community or like a church in my community, my community, like I would know those people and they would show up for me and I would show up for them.  

 

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

That’s so interesting. I think you’re right. You know, because when you’re saying that, I think about when I was living in, particularly the city, New York city or Miami. 

 

There was a, I had a group of people, I was overall less connected to a community. didn’t know any of my neighbors in the hallway. I tried not to see anybody in the elevator, you know, it’s almost like you’re avoiding as opposed to attracting or connecting. But to your point, it’s, it’s anchoring. It’s like anchoring in a common thing. Religion is 

 

perhaps probably the easiest one. oldest one. Yeah, so it’s the easiest one to reference, but there’s other, but there are right things. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s, and where I think you’re onto it is because my, my theory would be that the strongest connected communities are one that drive the lowest loneliness rate. Yes. And I think cities in general are lonelier in a way. 

 

I don’t come from a big city and when I go home, I can go to the grocery store and I see people that I went to high school with or whatever. Not saying that that’s necessarily what I even want, but they are closer than the people in the cities. Yeah. And also I could be running into many people at work and yet your grandparents who may have been deeply invested in their 

 

in the church on a weekend are less lonely than I am. Right? It’s not how many people you’re interacting with because I think, think the stat shows something like we all will run into 50 or 70,000 people in our, in our course of our life. Yeah. 50 to 70,000 people, the average person will connect with or meaning even in an Uber count that as one person running into new people. 

 

50 to 70,000 people in the course of an average lifetime. Wow. But how many of those are we really connected with? Not many. Yeah, not many. And so it’s like, it seems like the most or the more connected communities are the less lonely because they’re anchoring in a common purpose or passion. Yeah, I think you have to have a common purpose or passion. That’s exactly right. So what does that mean in different states or different countries?  

 

JUDD SHAW  

Different things. Yeah. 

 

You know, it could be family-based, could be religion-based, it could be interest-based, but there has to be something. Like I don’t feel, you know, I love LA. Like I’ve been here since I was 21. It’s like my home, but definitely don’t feel like there’s like a big community aspect to it. Yeah. Right. The same with New York or, you know, Chicago or Seattle or whatever. How often do we have to take out what matters? 

 

survey, right? Because I mean, if I think about it, if I stopped and really did the questions that you’re asking, those hard questions, I think the answer to my question today with, I had a day left would be different than even a year ago. I agree because you’re growing every day. You know, you’re experiencing new things and like, I know that you, you know, you love like self growth and all of that stuff. So I, I think it’s really good if it changes. 

 

Like what I wanted when I was younger, like, no, like I’m so much more simple in a lot of ways. Like I would love to just like hang out and eat my favorite thing with the people that I love or do something. You know what I mean? Like I don’t need anything crazy. don’t need it like a big. Totally. Totally. Totally. And it’s, it’s just like a litmus test. It’s like almost like I’m hearing intention, be intentional about 

 

thinking about how you want to spend your time, your most valuable resource, right? Yeah. That’s depletes every day. No matter who you are, no one’s like living to be a thousand years old. And so how it’s, it’s waking up. Thank you for waking up. And then now how do I want to spend this time intentionally? 

 

So that at the end of the day, I could draw it up as another experience, good or bad. Being very intentional is kind of my whole thing right now. Like I want to be intentional about what I’m spending my time on. There’s nothing more important than time. Money is not important in relativity to time. And speaking of, I cannot thank you enough. 

 

for spending your time with me today. It has been incredible. have a question for you. Beyond the million people that I believe you have helped, from the 40 to 50, 50,000 that now can hear the music you played in that piano in that mall in Michigan, you really changed lives. Thank you. You’re doing so much for… 

 

organizations and companies speaking, how do you most authentically connect with yourself? 

 

BRIDGET HILTON  

 I would say nature. I’m very big on spending a lot of time in nature. live basically on the beach. I mean, I live in an apartment. I don’t live on the sand, but I spend a lot of time outside by the ocean. 

 

Anytime I can, you know, take the chance to be in the mountains or in the trees or anything like that, I feel most at peace and most at home and like the most authentic version of myself. And another way I feel that way is to not like, I know everything that I said today is very serious, but I’m really actually not a super serious person because I do realize that we’re, all so short on time. 

 

and to not take everything so seriously and to have a good time is the most important thing to me. Like I love to laugh, I love to smile and I love to like just kind of be silly and ridiculous and that’s how I feel like most authentic to me. I love my time that I spent with you today.  

 

JUDD SHAW  

I love this. Let’s do it again. Thanks so much for coming on. Of course. Now I’m a hugger. So that’s a wrap. 

 

extend my deepest gratitude to you. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please follow us on your favorite platform or share this episode with a friend. You can also follow me on Instagram at JudgshawOfficial. A special thank you to personal injury law firm Judgshaw Injury Law for their support in helping us bring this podcast to life. Remember friends, authenticity isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being real. 

 

It’s about embracing our vulnerabilities, celebrating our strengths, and owning our stories. Until next time.