Rob Dyrdek's life is mapped out to unfold at its most efficient. Called “rhythm of existence,” he wants other people to have access to this life framework.
It’ll just be a few years before the public will have it in their hands.
“The book that I'm creating around the philosophy, I've been working on it for two years already,” Dyrdek tells Modern Luxury. “Now that I've gotten far enough along to where I can build the software to support the tactical side, I'll build that over the next few years.”
The rhythm of existence (ROE) is not meant to make you a burnt out workaholic. In fact, it does the very opposite.
“It's a life of super intention,” Dyrdek explains. “The rhythm of existence was created off of this idea that your entire life operates in this flow. And the more that you can control your time and energy in that flow and optimize it for doing things that you enjoy, that's where you're going to find happiness in your life.”
In implementing ROE in his own life, Dyrdek sees himself as a machine made up of systems, which are optimized to full potential by tracking all of his time. The “system” automation in turn leads to being able to do more, but with less effort. He plans his days, weeks, months and years all at once, but is flexible as the world (and his life) changes.
“I like to say I never tried to find work-life balance,” Dyrdek says. “I was able to truly find extraordinary success once I started operating from a harmonious state.”
In 2006, Dyrdek kicked off his MTV domination with Rob & Big, followed by Fantasy Factory, which ended in 2015. The unscripted series chronicled the antics, fun and business endeavors of Dyrdek and friends. But it was hard work. “I would just do more and more and more hoping that one of these was going to be so big that then I could finally figure out how to take time for myself and be more happy and enjoy life and I just finally realized that was not going to work.”
He continues, “Then when I designed the life that I believed was my ideal life and began to live it in this more balanced harmonious way, that's truly when my life began nearly seven years ago.”
If you’ve ever flipped on MTV, you know Dyrdek is still going strong at MTV. Ridiculousness— his show that features, categorizes and critiques viral videos— is now in season 31 after being on television for more than a decade. In a recent Instagram post, Dyrdek highlighted that he and the team have upped their shoots from 252 to 336 episodes per year.
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Alternatively, shooting Fantasy Factory felt like crawling. Ten episodes would take six months. Now with Ridiculousness, it's like flying— all thanks to ROE.
“The crazy thing is we are shooting it in the same amount of days and in less time,” his Instagram post says. “We shoot 4 days a month for 5 hours, 10 months a year. We have an incredible team of people that operate this show at such an efficient level. Every producer, editor, director, camera operator, stage manager… I couldn’t begin to name all the people that make this show flow. Over the years all aspects of the show has been relentlessly automated and optimized. I recently started timing how long it takes for me to prep the show and shoot the show along with rating the show scripts. This has just vastly improved the quality of each show and the overall efficiency of shooting.”
As fans of any of Dyrdek’s TV series know, he never has just one thing going on. Outside of Ridiculousness, the former pro skater’s primary endeavor is Dyrdek Machine. The venture creation studio’s history includes incubation of Jolie, Outstanding Foods and Lusso Cloud, among others.
Dyrdek Machine provides the capital, expertise and amplification. Meanwhile, the brand makes its way through the Machine Method, its incubation process (Discovery, Diligence, Build, Launch and Scale) that sculpts and prepares a brand to hit the market.
For a brand to be accepted by Dyrdek Machine, Dyrdek must see that an entrepreneur understands their business holistically. You can have a great idea, but having knowledge of product marketing, sales, operations and finance is also a must.
“A lot of entrepreneurs love their idea, but don't love their business.” He adds, “Most business ideas, you're looking for something that's somewhat innovative or sitting in some white space, but not so innovative that [there is] too much the consumer will need to learn. And you're just looking for these nuanced things to give a better probability of its success.”
Dyrdek can’t stress enough how important it is to be an entrepreneurial Swiss Army knife to be successful.
“You have to understand you have to absolutely love your finance, love the operations of your business and the supply chain and how this whole thing integrates together,” he says. “You must be able to see all of that [and] learn all of that multi dimensionally because all of those different components need to be aligned in a way the company can grow and become successful.”
Another essential component of the process is time, as Dyrdek demonstrates with Dyrdek Machine. Development began in 2013, followed by the official launch in 2016. Then came press rounds in 2021. He needed the time to build, launch and sell a few companies before he could unpack Dyrdek Machine with the media.
Similarly, Dyrdek is giving his rhythm of existence tool the time and space to grow before launch.
“I am always four or five years into the future [from] what is being seen present,” he says.”I look at that similar where everything that I'm building with the philosophy will roll out in two to three years and then be part of the next transition and evolution, if you will, of the brand.”
Dyrdek doesn’t see himself as a driven person, so much as that he loves creating. There’s no end game really except to make an impact, which is perhaps best evidenced by the Do-or-Dier Visionary Foundation. The nonprofit leg of Dyrdek Machine was launched in 2021 and works to empower and fund underestimated entrepreneurs and underrepresented communities.
Dyrdek also started thinking more about impact because of his family, which was in part made possible by ROE. He says he used to not have the energy to attract a soulmate, nor was he “the person that the person I want to be with for the rest of my life would want to be with.” So he got clear about his life’s purpose and built a plan.
“When I met my wife, it changed my view from what's next to what's forever,” Dyrdek says. The couple now has two kids, which prompted Dyrdek to shift his definition of “forever” from a personal lens to a generational perspective.
“I keep getting clearer [with] the visions and ideas and new challenges I want to do, but I'm always doing it from a place of balance and harmony. So I pick my kids up and take them to school every single day and have date nights, movie nights and sushi nights and pasta nights and breakfasts like I did this morning with my wife. I'm in this continuous, balanced, amazing, joyful state of life. I just love living this life. It's not like I need fuel or I'm being driven. It's just the way that my life actually operates.”
See also: How 'Global Child' Host Augusto Valverde Inspires Travel That Can Change The World
Photography by: Courtesy of Rob Dyrdek, Dyrdek Machine
