Order of Man - FFN 105： Leaders are Readers

00:00:00.000 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart

00:00:05.000 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.

00:00:10.460 You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong. This is your life. This is who

00:00:17.220 you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,

00:00:22.800 you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,

00:00:28.020 and I am the host and founder of this podcast and this movement, The Order of Man. Guys,

00:00:33.580 my job is to find the most interesting, the most successful men that I can find.

00:00:37.860 I interview these guys. I extract their wisdom, their lessons, their experiences,

00:00:42.020 and then I'm delivering them straight to you. Now, if you've been with us for any amount of time,

00:00:45.980 you probably already knew that, but if not, welcome to what I consider, and I think millions of other

00:00:50.920 men will probably consider this as well, the best podcast available for men today. Now,

00:00:56.240 I know I'm a bit biased, but that's why we have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of men all

00:01:00.400 over the country, all over the planet, tuning in, listening in, applying what they're learning,

00:01:04.200 and I get messages from you guys every single day. I'm motivated. I'm humbled. I'm inspired by

00:01:09.900 the messages that I'm receiving and how you guys are improving your lives. It's certainly helped me

00:01:14.900 improve my life, so I want to thank you for that. Guys, I don't have a whole lot of announcements today.

00:01:20.120 I will say that we've got a father-son event. This is called The Order of Man Legacy Event.

00:01:25.380 It's going to be held on September 20th through the 23rd. We're securing right now the venue,

00:01:31.960 and we're getting some websites set up where you can go ahead and register for that. We're going to

00:01:37.200 have very, very limited spots, 20 spots available, but as this becomes available for you guys, I will

00:01:42.560 let you know, which should be next week sometime. So stay tuned, get on the radar so you know if you

00:01:48.280 are interested in this very first father and son event that we're going to be doing for Order of Man.

00:01:53.240 Again, that's going to be called Legacy, and go ahead and mark your calendars right now for September

00:01:57.600 20th through the 23rd, 2018. And outside of that, you may be interested in checking out our brotherhood,

00:02:05.320 The Iron Council. This is a band of brothers. It's 380 other men who have banded together who have said,

00:02:11.760 I want to become a better man. I want to lose weight. I want to make more money. I want to start a

00:02:16.380 business. I want to lead my family. I want to lead my community. I want to be a better father or a

00:02:20.940 husband or whatever. I don't know what your thing is. I don't know what your goal is,

00:02:24.640 but whatever that goal is, we've got some frameworks, some foundations, some blueprints,

00:02:28.640 and of course the platform and accountability to help you take your life to the next level,

00:02:33.500 to help you achieve whatever it is that you're after. And if you don't know what you're after,

00:02:37.380 we can help you there too. If you know, there's more out of life, you just don't know what it is.

00:02:41.860 We can help you identify what that is for you specifically, and then help you achieve it.

00:02:46.780 Again, that's called The Iron Council, and you can learn more at orderofman.com

00:02:50.900 slash ironcouncil. So that's it guys. Order of Man Legacy, The Iron Council. Those are the only

00:02:56.920 announcements I had today. With that said, this is our Friday Field Notes. I told you a minute ago,

00:03:02.240 we interview very, very successful men, but on Friday, you listen to me, whether you like to or

00:03:07.980 not. All right. So what I'm going to talk with you about today is very, very important.

00:03:11.500 Something that I haven't done for most of my life, but over the past five years, I have become

00:03:18.140 a avid reader. Now, today I want to talk with you about the power of reading and a little bit of the

00:03:25.280 challenge that I'm going to be issuing you a couple of days on Instagram. I issued a challenge. This is

00:03:30.260 our Order of Man Readathon. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about it, but if you go to my

00:03:33.960 Instagram profile, instagram.com slash Ryan Mickler, or just at Ryan Mickler, and my last name

00:03:41.360 is spelled M-I-C-H-L-E-R, you can learn a little bit more about what we're doing, but I will tell

00:03:46.500 you more about it towards the end of the podcast. Now, look guys, some of the greatest men the world

00:03:51.100 has ever known are voracious readers. Teddy Roosevelt, for example, was said to have read a

00:03:56.960 book every single morning. General James Mattis is said to have a library of over 600 books.

00:04:02.880 Bill Gates reads a book a week. Mark Cuban reads for three hours every single day. Elon Musk,

00:04:09.880 I like this. Elon Musk was once asked how he learned to build rockets, to which he replied,

00:04:14.940 I read books. Now, I'm not suggesting that by simply consuming this information by reading books that

00:04:21.040 you will achieve the type of results that these men have achieved, but reading and acquiring new

00:04:27.480 knowledge through the written word is something that, from my perspective, seems to be very

00:04:32.460 common throughout most, if not all successful people. So today I want to share with you why

00:04:38.740 I think that is. And then again, I'm also going to be issuing you a challenge that we're going to

00:04:42.480 be holding over the next 30 days. So let's break this down. Number one, readers are rational.

00:04:48.300 Now, you guys know as well as I do that more and more people are completely irrational when it comes

00:04:54.460 to their ideas about how the world works and how they view the world. Uh, we base our beliefs and

00:05:02.420 our decisions on how we feel, uh, and our opinions rather than objective truth. And I know there's a

00:05:09.000 place in time for that, but there's also a place in time for rational behavior and objective truth

00:05:14.320 and readers by the very action of them reading, they expose themselves to new thoughts and new ideas,

00:05:20.500 which naturally triggers the ability to think differently about your previously held beliefs

00:05:27.040 rather than spending so much time and energy trying to defend their current ideas. They are in constant

00:05:33.400 search of new ideas. And through the nature of exploring those ideas, they do one of two things.

00:05:38.720 They either solidify their current beliefs or they find new, more effective ones to replace them.

00:05:45.280 So number one, readers are rational. Uh, number two, readers have a very wide perspective.

00:05:50.500 Cause let's face it, we all live in a box and that box is the box that you create that I create

00:05:56.040 that each man individually creates for himself. And I know that I'm more guilty of this than just

00:06:00.900 about anybody else. Uh, I see the world through my lens. I typically jumped to the conclusion that

00:06:06.360 it must be the only way in which people quote unquote should operate. I understand this about

00:06:13.040 myself. Uh, and I am in a constant journey towards expanding my horizons. And I really want to

00:06:20.160 strive to see the world from a new perspective. And in that idea, that thought in turn, it allows me

00:06:25.540 to be more empathetic to others, uh, and see the world I had previously closed myself off to.

00:06:31.140 This does a couple of things. First, I feel like I'm much more capable of connecting with other people

00:06:35.920 when I see that they may actually look at the world differently than I do. And connection is a huge

00:06:40.960 part of being a man. It makes us more influential, which allows us to lead. And that's part of what it

00:06:47.240 means to be a man to lead more effectively. Uh, second, it allows me to hold more conviction

00:06:52.740 in my own way of looking at things. Think about a defense attorney, for example, sure. His job is

00:06:59.460 to come up with an effective defense strategy, but a large part of that is putting himself in the

00:07:04.640 position, giving himself a new perspective of the prosecution so that he can adequately prepare

00:07:10.160 himself for the opposition for what he might face. And that's why having this wide perspective

00:07:16.540 is so critical. Just part of the reason is so critical. Uh, next readers are creative and

00:07:22.060 creativity is one of the most powerful forces for success. I'm sure you guys have heard this.

00:07:26.820 I've heard this over and over again. It's been said that there are no new ideas, only old ideas,

00:07:32.280 repackaged, repurposed, uh, they're connected differently. And if that's true, the best way to

00:07:38.300 create different results is to expose yourself to new information, information that you had not

00:07:43.120 previously been privy to or been aware of. And I'll admit that I don't read a lot of fiction,

00:07:48.980 but I'm always surprised that when I do, I find parallels to my life and the problems,

00:07:55.260 the problems that I see that I have not previously seen or previously thought of as men guys, we are

00:08:02.540 problem solving machines and our ability to think creatively about the problems that we see the

00:08:09.920 problems we identify. And of course the solutions to those problems literally spells the difference

00:08:14.640 between failure and success in a lot of aspects of our lives. Next readers have the ability to focus.

00:08:21.240 This is a fast paced world we live in. We have technology and we have so many different things

00:08:26.320 on a daily basis. We would all do well to learn how to focus on one thing at a time and do this

00:08:34.080 focus thing just a little bit more effectively. Uh, most of us have heard what has been dubbed

00:08:38.520 that bright, shiny object syndrome. Uh, it's a little bit like a dog when he sees a squirrel,

00:08:44.120 right? He sees a squirrel and whatever he was doing doesn't matter anymore because now he's after that

00:08:47.620 squirrel. Uh, we get excited about something. Uh, then we see something more appealing,

00:08:52.400 temporarily more appealing. And we forget all about the thing that we were excited about.

00:08:55.780 Just 24 hours ago, the skill of focus is it's a very translatable skill. It's going to help you

00:09:02.860 be a more successful husband, a father, business owner, coach, friend, neighbor, employee, whatever

00:09:08.520 it is that you're after and whatever role that you participate in an undaily basis. And the only way

00:09:13.360 to become more focused is to practice focus. That's the only way to do it. This it's, it's like

00:09:19.260 strength. The only way to become stronger is to build your strength through lifting heavy things

00:09:24.120 and lifting weights and doing those sorts of things. And so this is why I like to read physical

00:09:28.460 books. Now I know some guys out there might prefer digital books. Uh, and other people say that

00:09:33.440 listening to books is just as good. I disagree with that. I know there's a time and a place for

00:09:37.520 that. If you have to get through information quickly, I think reading books is great. You can

00:09:41.760 get through a lot of information. Uh, it may be effective in acquiring that information,

00:09:45.580 but that's not the only reason that you want to read. To me, reading is in a way, a form

00:09:53.300 of meditation. It forces me to sit still for longer periods of time and focus on just one

00:09:59.980 thing, the message, whatever that message is of the book, just one thing at a time. The

00:10:04.500 more that I read, the more focused I can be for long and sustained periods of time. All right,

00:10:10.780 guys. Next readers communicate ideas. Well, uh, our ability to communicate and to articulate

00:10:17.500 our ideas is it's paramount to the success of those ideas. I've met people with incredible,

00:10:23.860 incredible ideas and absolutely no ability to share those ideas successfully. And on the

00:10:28.460 other hand, I've heard some incredibly horrible ideas and seen the men who present them have

00:10:34.480 such an ability to communicate well that those horrible ideas take off at least

00:10:40.340 temporarily. So having a good idea is important, but without the ability to communicate those

00:10:45.840 ideas, well, you're dead in the water. And as with anything, if you want to be successful

00:10:50.580 at something, just find somebody who is succeeding in that area and, and replicate that, do what

00:10:56.580 they do. You know, we have the ability through books to tap into the minds of the most successful

00:11:01.680 communicators the world has ever known guys like Winston Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt, um,

00:11:07.800 Martin Luther King Jr. Socrates, uh, Billy Graham, who recently passed away, Ronald Reagan, Abe Lincoln.

00:11:14.000 I mean, these are just to name a few guys, read their works, pour over their words, learn and study

00:11:20.160 and ponder on how they articulated those ideas and then put that into practice. And you too will become

00:11:25.960 a great communicator. Next guys, readers recover through the practice of reading. Reading is relaxing

00:11:33.220 guys. Bottom line. It's relaxing. We live in a world where it's constantly go, go, go, go, go. I know

00:11:39.100 this because I pride myself on being a high achieving man. And I'm sure you do as well. Otherwise you

00:11:44.600 wouldn't be here trying to learn how to be a better man. So if you're anything like me, you have the

00:11:49.820 desire and feel the need to be doing something constantly, but reading is something there's value

00:11:57.060 and stopping. Uh, there's value in slowing down from time to time. If you're constantly redlining,

00:12:03.000 you are going to burn out. And I've been there. I've burned up my engine. You have to relax from

00:12:08.800 time to time. You have to recharge and refuel. You have to be able to shut it down now and again.

00:12:15.360 And reading has been a great way for me to do just that. So at a minimum, I'm trying to get anywhere

00:12:21.420 from 30 minutes to an hour of reading every single day. And the last point that I wanted to share with

00:12:27.980 you is that readers are informed. There is so much information out there in the world, uh, through

00:12:33.100 the use of social media, magazines, books, movies, TV, whatever we have access to information. Unlike

00:12:40.020 we have ever known. It is amazing how much information we can consume. And I think that it's

00:12:46.440 critical that we do. We need to be careful not to over consume and never put into practice what we've

00:12:52.060 discovered, but how much more powerful could we be if we could discuss ideas from a position of

00:12:58.620 understanding rather than ignorance? I can't tell you how many conversations I've got into with people

00:13:04.560 who just don't know what they're talking about. If you don't know something, Google it, read about it,

00:13:11.920 get some information on the subject, being informed, I think is one of the most powerful

00:13:16.540 ways to build influence. One of the people, for example, that I admire most when it comes to being

00:13:21.380 informed is Joe Rogan. I mean, it is amazing to me how much he knows about the huge, just a huge range

00:13:29.100 of topics. And when I listened to him talk with a guest on his podcast, I'm always blown away with

00:13:34.020 his understanding of topics that I know nothing about and things that I would think he would know

00:13:39.180 nothing about, but he does. And that's just one example of someone who is obviously well-researched

00:13:45.540 and it's no wonder guys that his podcast is one of the largest podcasts in the world.

00:13:50.240 So there you have it. Readers are rational, have a wide perspective. They're creative,

00:13:55.220 have the ability to focus. They communicate their ideas. Well, they recover efficiently. And lastly,

00:14:00.960 they are informed. Of course, there's so much more to it than that. But if that doesn't convince you to

00:14:06.280 read more, I don't know what will. So that said, guys, I mentioned this earlier in the podcast,

00:14:11.800 we are in the middle of our order of man read-a-thon right now. If you head to my Instagram

00:14:17.080 profile, again, it's at Ryan Mickler. So it's R-Y-A-N. And my last name is M-I-C-H-L-E-R. So

00:14:24.700 at Ryan Mickler, you can see what we're up to until May 24th, May 24th, 2018. What I'd like you to do

00:14:32.100 is post a book that you've completed between now and then, and use the hashtag O-O-M read-a-thon.

00:14:40.320 O-O-M read-a-thon is an order of man read-a-thon. Make sure you tag me too. Again, at Ryan Mickler,

00:14:45.500 and you will be automatically entered in to receive a book bundle that I'm going to be giving away at

00:14:51.480 the end of May, 2018. And the more people you tag during our read-a-thon, the more chances you'll

00:14:56.740 have to win the book bundle that I'm going to be giving away. Again, go to at Ryan Mickler. Last

00:15:02.740 name is spelled M-I-C-H-L-E-R. Post a book as you finish it for the next 30 days. Use the hashtag

00:15:09.200 O-O-M read-a-thon, and then tag your friends for our book giveaway. So gentlemen, there you have it.

00:15:15.760 That's all I've got for you today. Make sure you get reading, post the books that you're reading,

00:15:20.000 tag me, use the hashtag, and let's see how many books that we can compile. And as a movement,

00:15:26.340 as the order complete for the next 30 days. Until next week, guys, read those books,

00:15:31.540 take action, and become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the Order of Man

00:15:36.780 podcast. If you're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be,

00:15:41.900 we invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.

Order of Man - April 27, 2018

FFN 105： Leaders are Readers

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