Interview with Anthony ‘Dream’Johnson

I attended this year’s European version of The 21 Convention when I was in London last week. After the convention which is now already in its fourth year running,I met up with Anthony ‘Dream’Johnson to talk about the convention and himself. He is the Founder/CEO/architect of The 21 Convention and definitely one of the most accomplished 22 year olds I’ve met so far!

The 21 Convention

How did you come up with the idea for The 21 Convention?

Originally it started as a convention for young men and was called the ‘Under 21 Convention’. It was more a meetup group for young men centered around dating and success with women,but the idea picked up steam and I expanded it into a convention. It took place for the first time in 2007 and around eighty people showed up. We also filmed all of the speeches and the footage turned out pretty well.

What does The 21 Convention stand for?

It was only the ‘Under 21 Convention’ for the first two years. This was very limiting and in 2009 it became The 21 Convention. Today it has become more encompassing and my ambition is to make it the men’s conference of the century – a panorama event for life on earth as a man. Across the board,I want to find and incorporate and if necessary invent the topics relevant to men today. We started out with dating and relationships. That is the center and the root of the conference and success in that area really affects you in all areas as a man.

From there we expanded into exercise and nutrition. We brought Mark Sisson and Doug McGuff to Orlando. Today,we focus on two new topics:entrepreneurship and self-defense. Examples are Matt Hussey who speaks at both events this year on the psychology of entrepreneurship or a military law enforcement officer who will speak in Florida.

What was the most difficult thing you ran into when you set up the convention?

In the beginning the biggest challenge was the fear and uncertainty that came with not knowing whether anyone would show up. Since the tickets were only sold at the door I had literally no idea what would happen.

In the end about 80 guys showed up that year and each paid forty bucks. I made a profit of 100 USD that year. But even the day of the event I had no idea if I would break even and I was a college kid without any money.

At this point,the main challenge is in the complexity of the event and the organizational challenges that come with it. In particular,with around forty speakers,organizing all the speeches is very challenging. Titles,flights,accommodation:Everything has to be organized. And as the CEO and event architect this all comes back to me.

Next year I want to do a third event in Australia. I’m also going to build out my team and will have someone assist me fulltime. He’s going to be the event’s engineer.

Who do you want to see at The 21 Convention in the future?

Number one would have to be Tim Ferriss. He knows about the convention and also referred to me in his new book. I had just left a comment on his blog when I had come back from my first time backpacking in South America. Later I found out that I was mentioned in the new book. That was pretty cool.

I also want to get Mark Sisson back.

Tucker Max. I talked to him and met him. I think he would be a really interesting speaker to have.

Also Charlie Hoehn. He wrote ‘The Recession Proof Graduate’ and is also Tim Ferriss’ personal assistant.

Where do you see The 21 Convention in 5 years?

It will be a tri-annual,tri-continental conference. Three different events on three continents. I would like to see at the minimum 500 attendees per event. The line-up will be pretty similar to today. But I would like the speeches to be somewhat shorter. At the maximum 60 minutes. This will make them more powerful too.

While we grow the convention,I still want to retain some of the elements from now. For example,Thursday night when everyone goes out together or the dinner with the speakers. This will look very different when it becomes bigger but I want to retain it.

I also want to make the footage available on iTunes. It want to make the footage really popular. It should become the primary and ultimate resource for men and it will continue to be available for free on Youtube.

Will The 21 Convention ever have mainstream appeal?

Tough call. Let’s put it this way. The guys who are into The 21 Convention realize that it is very much against the grain,against the status-quo. It will only ever have mainstream appeal if it succeeds in changing the mainstream. Mainstream wisdom is now more along the lines of what is wrong. But if we succeed at making conventional wisdom great then the convention would have reached its full potential.

Productivity

What motivates you?

To be my own hero. To be my own source of inspiration. I take pride in what I do. I accept the stakes and I am proud of them. I also admire men who have the same work ethic that I have. And I see myself reflected in these guys. They can be alive or dead,real or fictional. Examples would be Howard Roark from The Fountainhead,Tim Ferriss,Doug McGuff,Ron Paul,Mark Sisson. Mark Sisson especially is extremely hard working. You don’t read about it on his blog but I see it in his site and from talking to him. His blog is doing tens of millions of pageviews per month and is really making an impact. And he is making the impact he wants to be making.

So I inspire myself but part of that entails finding other people to mirror yourself in.

In the end,it is about maximizing your own full potential. You should strive to be your best and highest possible self. This is also really related to sleep,nutrition and exercise. I think when you really push yourself and when it hurts the most is when you grow. When you work for a day straight and don’t sleep nor eat not because you’re fasting but just because you have no time for it.

Do you have a productivity routine?

I get up pretty early. Usually around 8 or 8.30am. Since I also go to bed quite late,around 12am to 1 am,that means I’m not getting enough sleep. But when I get up later I end up wasting my days.

Then I work and every hour or two I go outside into the sun and stare in the sky for 15 minutes. Or I take a swim in my pool in Florida. I may eat something small too. Once I get back I’m going to be very strict about this. Really take a break outside every two hours. You can do anything as long as it is outside. If I stay inside all day,it drives me nuts. I think Tim Ferriss and Richard Branson also talk about this.

So often I will swim for a bit and really push myself and get my blood flowing. Then I use that same energy when I get back to work and really hammer it. A lot of people plod more when they work. If you go slow and you’re not productive,you’re just wasting time.

My most creative times are when I’m only half-awake. In the morning or especially late at night. This helps me access a more creative part of my brain.

In the future,I want to shift to a weekly schedule and work on just one thing per day. So far I have been thinking on a day-to-day basis. In the future I want to block out days to completely focus on just one thing.

You talk a lot about exercise and nutrition. What do you do in those areas that helps your productivity? How important is it?

It is massively important. One example of what I do is to drink coffee. I use grass-fed,heavy cream. I generally use a lot of heavy dairy.

Beyond that,I eat what I judge to be the best diet possible. I avoid things that are pure poison like wheat. Sleep and adequate Vitamin D levels,which is actually a hormone,are also massively important. You should sleep in a completely dark room. Everybody needs a lot of sleep,like nine hours a day and we’re not getting it. There is a great book on sleep called Lights Out:Sleep,Sugar,and Survival. Robb Wolf also talks about this in The Paleo Solution:The Original Human Diet.

Which three books have influenced you the most?

As far as productivity goes:The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.

He has sometimes been criticized for just compiling other people’s information,but I don’t agree with that. I think what he has done is extremely valuable. Just now,I met a guy at the convention whom I introduced to ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’by mentioning it on some forum and he said that book really changed his life.

Beyond that I’m not too big on productivity books. A lot of them are not very good. The one other book I would mention is The Entrepreneurial Imperative.

It talks about entrepreneurship in the USA and about the schools left that really teach that. I studied entrepreneurship at UCF and it was a massive waste of time.

On to my three favorite books of all time:

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

People told me to read that book for a long time. I didn’t get around to it. When I did I found Howard Roark model of the ideal man incredibly inspiring to me. On the face of it,it is the depiction of an architect but regardless of what you want to do it is an exceptional book for going your own path and generally being a complete badass.

Body by Science by Doug McGouff

I was aware of Paleo nutrition,but until I read Doug’s book I never thought about it with such depth and clarity. It has amazing information on nutrition and exercise and these are crucial for living a lean and healthy life. And,of course,if you’re body is falling apart and you have aches and pains there is not much else you can do.

The Psychology of Romantic Love by Nathaniel Branden

A lot of the stuff in PUA community is rubbish. But this is an absolutely incredible book and dispels so much of the irrational nonsense around romantic love and shows how that applies to your own life.

Nathaniel Branden was an associate of Ayn Rand’s and they also had an affair together. She said two things about him:That he was her intellectual heir and her greatest reward for writing The Fountainhead.

There is another interesting thing about his book:The vast majority of it stands in diametric opposition to The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida. There is really a contrast between the ideal man versus Deida’s superior man. Sueprior to whom anyway? Of course,The Way of the Superior Man is a huge book in the PUA community and I used to love that book too. But I think in the future Branden’s book will spark a lot of change in the community in the right direction.

What personal mentors were important to you?

I’ve had a number of mentors in my life that have come and gone. Some I’ve met I person some I haven’t. Tim Ferriss is someone I never met but I read everything he’s written,seen all his videos. So to me he is a mentor even though he is only like ten years older. Others like Anthony Robbins and Jim Rohn too.

In real life my biggest mentor was my friend Curtis Noll who died in 2008. He was the greatest friend I ever had and the greatest hero I’ve ever known. He was an absolute badass in every regard. He was a little bit older than me and a lot wiser. I’ve talked about him a lot on my blog,mentioned him at the convention and I also set up a memorial blog for him. There are stories there about him,things his family put up there too.

Looking forward:Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Running the convention.

And in your personal development as a man?

I view life as a developmental process that doesn’t stop. So I would be more of myself then. It’s a big difference. Being more of yourself and growing. That is very different than trying to be someone else. Being more of myself in my own standards is what I strive for. It is also important to remember that our time is finite. My friend being dead is a reminder of that and something I think about every morning.

In what areas in your own personal development are you most eager to explore?

First of all,the 21 Convention is a men’s conference because life on earth as a man is very specific and has very specific challenges. As a man your only view of life is your own introspective view through yourself. So as a man you will always understand best what it means to be a man. Just like a woman will always understand better what it means to be a woman.

One area I really want to explore more is self-defense. I’m licensed to carry a firearm,but apart from that I know very little. In five years,I would like to be fluent in some martial art. This is not just about learning how to defend yourself when the time comes. It is about avoiding dangerous situations in the first place or disarming them when they arise so that no one get’s hurt.

But basically for the convention the same thing is true that is true for me. To become more of itself. To really maximize its full potential. It will take a lot of hard work but it can and will be done.

You can also learn more about Anthony on his personal blog.