Order of Man - August 09, 2023


Getting Married Too Young?, When do You Become a Man, and Building Muscle Mass | ASK ME ANYTHING


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 5 minutes

Words per minute

197.2796

Word count

13,005

Sentence count

903

Harmful content

Misogyny

8

sentences flagged

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode of the Ask Me Anything podcast, I sit down with my good friend and long-time business partner, Kip, to talk about a variety of topics. We talk about how Kip and I met, how we met, and what it's like being a business man. We also talk about Kip's background in the jeans industry and how he got into the jeans business.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart
00:00:04.900 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
00:00:10.240 You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who
00:00:16.900 you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
00:00:22.340 you can call yourself a man. Kip, what's up, man? So great to see you today. Glad to be doing
00:00:27.140 another Ask Me Anything. Obviously, we had some technical difficulties, but new camera
00:00:31.320 setup. I'm always like messing with things, which is good, but also it creates problems
00:00:36.080 at times. But here we are. Backfires a little bit. Yeah. It doesn't backfire. It just takes
00:00:40.800 a minute to dial in. I've got some other pieces of technology that are going to help us improve
00:00:44.980 as well. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. How was your weekend? Good times. Yeah, good. Just did a
00:00:51.640 little spending and clothes shopping with the kids. Did a little swimming, and that was
00:00:56.160 about it. What about you? Little the back to school days. Getting the back to school
00:01:00.020 stuff taken care of. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I don't even know my kids. I don't
00:01:05.980 know. I don't think they have. I don't think back to school shopping was what it was when
00:01:11.960 we were kids. I remember back to school shopping was like the one time during the year that you
00:01:17.840 would get clothes. And it was like this, it was kind of a special thing, you know? And
00:01:24.880 we kind of don't even do that with our kids for the most part. But I remember being excited.
00:01:30.260 Thinking. You know what I think changed that is Amazon. Yeah. And well, Amazon and just online
00:01:36.060 ordering in general, you don't need to. You just get whenever you need it. Yeah. You get it
00:01:40.140 whenever you need it. Go to Kmart or whatever. Yeah. It comes within, you know, 24 hours to get
00:01:45.820 it. And it's usually cheaper. You can go into a store and pull something up and see that it's,
00:01:52.340 you know, $40. And you can just jump online real quick and like, oh, it's 25 right there. Same
00:01:56.180 brand, same product, same everything. It's like, cool. I'll buy it there. So you have these companies
00:02:00.120 that are like, shop local, shop local. It's like, I would love to, but if I can get something
00:02:04.940 tomorrow for $25 instead of 40, I'm going to do it. So you better come up with a different value
00:02:10.500 proposition than money. Cause that, that scenario has ruined things for my kids because my kids will
00:02:18.140 see, you know, we just got back from Europe and my kids will see this thing, right. That they want
00:02:23.080 from this special place. And I'm like, I check Amazon. I'm like, yeah, I can order the half the
00:02:28.300 price, have it delivered. It'll be home by the time we, and we don't even have to pack it.
00:02:32.320 Right. Right. Which totally ruins the specialness of it. Right. But it's kind of funny.
00:02:38.400 Yeah. I think there's a lesson in there that if you're going to add services or products or
00:02:42.620 an offer those to people, like it's got to be based on something different than price. You got to build
00:02:47.060 a culture around your, your, your company. That's one of the things that origin I think does really
00:02:51.540 well is that they're not the cheapest. Like you can buy jeans somewhere else. You can buy a gi
00:02:58.040 somewhere else. You can buy hunting gear somewhere else. You can buy boots somewhere else.
00:03:01.560 It's not that it's the cheapest it's, and it's, I hesitate to say story because it sounds
00:03:06.900 manufactured for marketing. It is the story, but it's actually the underlying culture of what
00:03:15.360 they've created, which is 100% made and sourced in America. Uh, you know, from, from dirt to denim,
00:03:20.820 I think is one of the taglines they have. And you know, you can follow, I think even on their jeans,
00:03:25.080 if you scan the little QR code, it'll show you the path that that particular pair of jeans traveled
00:03:30.520 from where the cotton was grown in the United States to how it migrated up to Maine, where they
00:03:34.900 started doing the stitching and which, uh, facility actually created the denim. And then they stitched
00:03:41.620 it together to make the pants. Like that's the story. And so we're willing to invest in that. Not
00:03:46.880 everybody is and that's okay. Yeah. But those who are interested in it can invest, uh, in something
00:03:52.300 above and beyond, Hey, that was just a cheap pair of jeans. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. It's such a,
00:03:57.640 such a strong, uh, movement from that perspective. Yeah. Super cool. Let's get into some questions
00:04:03.900 today, man. Yeah. Sounds good. So we're going to fill the questions from the iron council, uh, to learn
00:04:08.800 more about the iron council, go to order of man.com slash iron council, max, uh, Stuckel. Every time I
00:04:15.360 mentioned marriage and children to those that I'm around on a daily basis. And even once here in the
00:04:20.640 iron council, I'm told that I should wait a little while and live my life. I understand that I should
00:04:25.700 be a better version of me before taking that step. But how do I know when the right time is to look
00:04:31.180 for someone I want to marry and have children with right now? I'm only 23, but I have, uh, but I have a
00:04:39.560 more than likely irrational fear of dying alone and childless. Well, okay. So those are conflicting
00:04:46.980 thoughts. If I have an irrational fear of dying alone, you said yourself it's irrational. So
00:04:53.460 are you, here's what I, here's my question, because you have an irrational fear and you're
00:04:57.660 acknowledging this of dying alone without a wife and kids. Is that the reason you want to go get
00:05:03.120 married? Yeah. Because if that's the reason, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. If that's the reason that
00:05:08.320 you're going and you're thinking, I gotta go get married, you're probably going to settle for
00:05:11.580 somebody who isn't going to be somebody that you want to be married to for the long haul.
00:05:16.520 And you might even look, I think there's, there's nobility in, in virtue and sticking through a
00:05:23.140 marriage like that. I I'm not saying that it should or shouldn't. I'm saying that there's virtue in
00:05:26.940 sticking with it and trying to make it work. But is that the foot that you want to start on?
00:05:32.260 So here's what I would say. I don't think 23 is too young to look for a long-term partner. I mean,
00:05:37.520 I was married at 23. How old were you when you got married Kip? The first time 19, you know,
00:05:43.360 so granted neither one of our first marriages worked out. So take that for what it's worth.
00:05:49.620 I'm just saying, I don't think, I don't think it's too young to look. If you're interested in
00:05:54.460 developing a long-term relationship, I I'm not into the whole hookup culture. Let's date to date
00:05:59.740 or let's date to, uh, you know, sleep together hookups. Like, no, you're, if you're trying to find
00:06:05.520 a lifelong partner, then that's fine. But I wouldn't rush it just because you're afraid
00:06:11.360 of being alone or dying alone. And that might be some deeper psychological issues going on there
00:06:16.720 that I would recommend working through. I think having a therapist, somebody who's trained to
00:06:21.460 help you navigate where those feelings are coming from. Maybe it's a fear of abandonment,
00:06:26.540 uh, like whatever that fear might be at the underlying of it. You need to work that out
00:06:31.860 because if you don't work that out, you're going to make a poor decision. You're going
00:06:34.920 to make a compromised decision. And I certainly don't want you to do that. And you don't want
00:06:37.860 to do that. Yeah. In the spirit of his question, Ryan, what, you know, let's just assume that the
00:06:44.820 irrational fear part was just kind of joking around and we get back to the question of, of,
00:06:50.580 of, you know, when, when, when should I start being serious about finding a wife and building
00:06:58.400 a family, maybe, maybe recommendations of things that you would recommend that he have
00:07:03.460 in place, whether mentally and or physically to perhaps set himself up for better success
00:07:11.600 when getting married, like you should have these things together, right. In, in your head or,
00:07:16.500 you know, I think it's more in your head than it is physically. I look, I, I agree at 23 years old,
00:07:22.700 you know, I'm, I'm 42. My financial situation is going to be different than yours on the average.
00:07:28.960 I'm not saying this always exists. There's exceptions to the rule, but generally I'm going
00:07:32.480 to be wealthier than a 23 year old, you know, and there's exceptions to that, but that doesn't
00:07:37.260 mean you shouldn't get married because you're not independently wealthy. You know, I know plenty
00:07:40.320 of young people who have gotten married and been together for 50 plus years, uh, their, their
00:07:46.060 maturity isn't quite there. Their finances aren't quite there. Like that. I think that's less
00:07:50.320 relevant than a couple of things, knowing what you want in a made in a partner and being very clear
00:07:57.820 about what you're looking for. Number one, uh, number two, knowing what your boundaries are of
00:08:02.080 how you'll be treated and how you'd be communicated with and how you'd be talked to. Uh, and then,
00:08:06.460 and then number three, the maturity to be able to hold those boundaries. Uh, and, and if you can't do
00:08:10.840 that, I think you're in for a wild ride. So if you can get clear on what you want, you know,
00:08:16.020 what your boundaries are, you know, what you value, you know, what kind of life you want to
00:08:18.500 create and you know, what your values are as far as let's say spirituality or political values.
00:08:24.320 If those things aren't aligned, you're going to have a harder time. So really get clear on who you
00:08:29.960 are, what you're about, what your boundaries are, what you value. And then you can date while you're
00:08:36.040 actively looking for a long-term partner, but somebody who aligns with those values for the
00:08:40.980 most part, I'm not saying everything has to be aligned, but for the most part, those alignments
00:08:44.980 should be there because marriage is tough as it is if everything's aligned, but yeah.
00:08:51.260 I like the one thing, the one thing that you said that really resonated for me is like,
00:08:55.260 know who you are. I think the more that we can ensure that we understand our quirks, right? Our,
00:09:02.280 our triggers and you know, what you know, things that we're carrying kind of baggage that we're
00:09:08.880 carrying into the marriage from our upbringing and, and understand, you know, those are kind of
00:09:13.820 tougher areas for us, the better, right? Because otherwise those are blind spots to you. And then
00:09:18.440 all of a sudden you're going to be hopping in marriage and you'd be like, oh, she's, she's this,
00:09:21.660 she's that. And you're not even taking ownership for how you're emotionally responding to things
00:09:25.660 because your emotional intelligence is low. So I think a focus around emotional
00:09:31.900 intelligence and who you are as a person and, and whether they're good and whether they're bad,
00:09:36.980 what triggers you have and what kind of things are in place. So then that way you can make a
00:09:41.640 conscious choice on finding the right partner. Well, one thing that I, that, and this is years and
00:09:47.540 years ago, uh, Asia and I were, we're talking to our psychiatrist and, and it was funny because,
00:09:53.800 you know, we're working through kind of our unique issues, like individually. And I'm like,
00:10:00.040 this is, this is a shit show. And he's like, what do you mean? I'm like, what's the probability
00:10:05.460 that I go marry someone that, that falls exactly in line with the very thing that causes my triggers
00:10:13.880 and vice versa. Right. And, and he's like, and that's often what we do because we want to validate
00:10:20.480 our, our emotional state. And so a lot of the time we kind of end up marrying someone that, that,
00:10:26.720 that is almost kind of negatively promotes those struggles in our lives. And so I, and not that I
00:10:35.420 may have any regret whatsoever marrying Asia, but I'm like, Oh, that's interesting. How valuable that
00:10:41.420 would have, that have been during the dating process, knowing that, Oh man, these certain
00:10:45.860 type of personalities or whatever are going to benefit me. And other ones may not, and may make
00:10:51.700 life even more difficult. So just that self-awareness I think is so critical. Yeah,
00:10:57.240 definitely. Definitely. Cool. What's next. All right. All right. Steven Hooper. When does a man 0.96
00:11:02.640 truly know that he is a man being a lone wolf is more trouble than it's worth. So he must be willing
00:11:08.800 to understand this before he ascends. It's a, it's a hard thing to answer. Like, you know,
00:11:15.320 you're a man when you check off these things or when you feel a certain way. Um, so that's a tough
00:11:22.520 one to answer. I mean, I've answered the question about what does it mean to be a man, but that's
00:11:25.940 different than when do you feel like you're a man? And what I would say is that the best thing that we
00:11:30.980 can do is actively be on the path of manliness. Uh, that that's all I can say. And when you're
00:11:35.580 actively working towards becoming a better man, then you're going to feel like that. If you got up and
00:11:41.080 worked out, you're going to feel like more like a man. If you had assertive communication today,
00:11:45.060 you're going to feel more like a man. If you resisted temptation, you're going to feel up more
00:11:48.980 like a man. Um, if you ate clean and, uh, move your body and built your business and added value
00:11:56.500 to people's lives, you're going to feel like a man. So I don't know if there's this day where it's
00:12:02.520 like, now I feel like a man. I think it's a struggle every single day. I think there's threats to your
00:12:07.880 manliness. I think that there's behaviors that we as men engage in that would, that would threaten
00:12:14.380 our own perception of our own manliness. I'm not talking about the perception of others.
00:12:18.180 I'm talking about our own perception. And when you do that, when you engage in what those behaviors
00:12:22.700 are, and I don't even need to get into what they are, they're different for everybody. And you know
00:12:27.140 what they are for you. When you engage in that behavior, you feel less of a man. When you resist
00:12:32.420 that behavior and move towards behaviors that are more conducive to your growth and development as a
00:12:37.060 man, you feel more manly. So every day it's a battle. That's why I often talk about the battles
00:12:42.680 that we have the bat, the battle to reclaim and restore masculinity, the battle for manliness. I
00:12:46.900 talk about this because every day there is a, there's a war that we need to fight to ensure that
00:12:52.680 we're being the type of men that we have a desire to be. So did you win today? That's what I would
00:12:57.860 ask you. Did you win today? Even better. Did you win this morning? You know, we're recording this
00:13:02.320 at nine 30 mountain time on Monday morning. Did you win the last three or four hours, however long
00:13:08.480 you've been up. And if the answer is yes, I can pretty well bet that you feel more manly than you
00:13:13.760 did when you went to bed. If you didn't, then you feel less of a man. Yeah. I like that. Actually. I
00:13:19.640 like that a lot. Like, did I win this morning? Okay. Or even evaluating what does winning look like
00:13:25.840 today, Steven at work? What does winning look like between now and the end of the day? Right. And
00:13:31.880 then being able to assess and go, yeah, you know what? I won that. I like that a lot. Yeah. Matt
00:13:38.540 Hadfield. What does it look like for you to rest? Well, currently on holiday with the family and been
00:13:44.040 pondering this, do you find it easy to rest? How do you rest? What do you feel men need to be aware
00:13:50.120 of as the approach rest in their lives throughout the week, as well as during occasions like holidays?
00:13:55.700 So this is, this is a hard one for a lot of guys. Kip, you and I have talked about this concept of
00:14:02.600 resting, quote unquote, resting. What we mean wasting time. Yep. Yep. That's what I was going
00:14:09.260 to say being unproductive. That's what I was going to say. And when you frame rest like that, it's no
00:14:15.400 wonder that high achievers reject the concept of rest. When you frame it in a negative light, like,
00:14:21.540 I can't do this. I shouldn't do this. Um, I'm wasting time. I'm not being productive. I have
00:14:28.360 shit to do. Of course, you're not going to want to rest. And so we all know, and every study out
00:14:34.480 there suggests that the way to a healthy life, or at least a key component of it is to rest well,
00:14:40.160 to recover, to be able to recharge your batteries. I mean, you could even take it on an isolated
00:14:44.600 factor of life, which is working out. Like we all know that your muscles grow when you're resting
00:14:51.120 and recovering, not when you're actually in the gym, pumping iron. So that resting is a crucial
00:14:57.380 part of developing physical strength. It's also a crucial part of developing mental and emotional
00:15:02.140 strength, because there's also studies that suggest that for example, willpower, something we would
00:15:07.500 equate with strength is fleeting throughout the day. And so we need to be able to rest and recharge
00:15:13.600 and not have to make these types of decisions so that we can make important decisions when we're
00:15:19.000 called to make those important decisions. So here's what I would say about rest. I think most
00:15:24.060 men, myself included, and Kip, you can correct me if I'm wrong for you. I don't want to speak for you
00:15:28.060 is that most men would do better recognizing and acknowledging it as intentional rest so that it's
00:15:35.320 not just, Hey, I'm just taking the weekend off. No, it's not that it's, Hey, this is an integral part
00:15:41.280 of my week. And on Saturday and Sunday, I S I still work. I'm still active. I still engage with my kids
00:15:48.060 or do projects around the house. I still go to the gym, or maybe I don't go to the gym like I do
00:15:52.340 Monday through Friday, but I still wake up on time. I still go move my body and my weekends aren't
00:15:57.980 really that much different than my week other than my pace and my tempo changes. And so you're actively
00:16:03.280 deciding and implementing rest, not as a necessary break, but a strategic component of your personal
00:16:12.240 development and growth. And the same can be true about a vacation. When you're on vacation,
00:16:17.300 instead of looking at as wasting time, we ought to look at it as a way to reconnect with your wife
00:16:23.660 or re-engage with your kids or see a new part of the country or the world that you've never seen
00:16:30.660 before that you would like to learn. So you can experience the culture or the history or learn
00:16:35.520 new information and absorb that information in a way that you wouldn't have gotten in your normal
00:16:40.380 nine to five. So yeah, I don't like sitting around being lazy. One small, silly example that I would
00:16:47.140 use is at the beach. I hate going to the beach. I don't like going to the beach. I don't like sitting
00:16:51.640 on the beach. I don't mind going to play in the waves with my kids, but I don't want to sit on the
00:16:55.520 beach. I don't want to sunbake. I don't want to sit there for two hours and look at people. I'm not
00:16:59.800 interested in that. The best hack that I have for going to the beach is to bring a shovel.
00:17:04.400 If you bring a shovel, the beach changes because now you can dig a big pit and a big hole. And we
00:17:09.920 always play king of the hole and I get in or the kids get in. And our goal is to get into the hole
00:17:15.560 and kick everybody else out. So I'm connecting with my kids. I'm roughhousing. I'm being productive.
00:17:20.020 I'm playing. It's still rest because it's different than my day to day, but it's done in a way
00:17:25.480 that's intentional, deliberate and focused on something else. Not what I normally am.
00:17:31.380 Yeah. I like to think of this as like, even on the side of energy and what you're saying, Ryan is,
00:17:37.260 is a little bit of mindset, right? If I, if my mentality is, Hey, I'm going to rest. I'm going
00:17:43.340 to, I'm going to sit around and this is a waste of time. Well, you're not even present
00:17:49.160 and you're not resting. Instead of what you're doing is you're spending cycles of energy, focusing
00:17:55.460 on all the stuff that you should be doing. And your, your mind is elsewhere and you're not really
00:17:59.960 resting. Right. I think rest is actually found in our, where we put our energy mentally. And that
00:18:07.300 is being present in what you're doing. That is rest. Right. But if, if I go home, I sit on, let's say
00:18:13.400 I sit on the couch and I'm just sulking and on how horrible things are going at work or whatever,
00:18:19.300 then I'm not resting. Right. Resting is actually playing Legos and not worried about anything in
00:18:24.700 the world other than Legos, or it's about throwing the ball and not worrying about anything other than
00:18:31.300 throwing the ball. And so I think it's really found in a disconnect and being fully present in the other
00:18:38.640 thing, whether it's sitting on the beach, whether it's digging holes, playing Legos or anything
00:18:43.160 else. And a lot of that comes down to the mentality. If we're dragging things into where we're, you
00:18:49.360 know, focused on all the other things and there's anxiety and frustration that comes with it, that's
00:18:53.620 not rest. Yep. Agree. Agree. Cool. All right. Brandon Dewey, long story, but my wife and I have had the
00:19:02.340 history of a turbulent marriage for the past 10 years. She moved out two years ago only to find out that she
00:19:08.240 was pregnant. Yes, I'm the father. She moved back in before we resolved any of our core issues. We
00:19:14.280 have tried marriage counseling over a year with no success. I'd like to pursue a divorce with 50-50
00:19:19.900 custody at this point, but I'm scared to death of the possible effects on my one and a half year old
00:19:25.920 daughter. How can I minimize the negative consequences on her? How can I minimize any future male parental
00:19:32.900 influence that she might have as a result of the separation? I mean, come on. I'm going to address
00:19:39.580 the other stuff, but let's not be silly about it. Let's be logical about it. You said, how can I
00:19:46.140 reduce the influence of a male person in her life beyond you? That's impossible. Just get that out of
00:19:54.460 your head right now because I think what happens is we get these unrealistic expectations and then we
00:20:02.260 get all frustrated and flustered about it because it's based on unrealistic expectations. You've got
00:20:07.060 to accept the reality of the situation. Here's what I would say to address all of this. I'm kind of in
00:20:13.280 the midst of this right now, so I feel like I can give you not the definitive guide of what you should
00:20:18.020 do, but some things that I've done right and some things that I haven't done right. Here's what I
00:20:22.600 would say first and foremost. Are you really sure you want to do this? I'm not saying it is or isn't.
00:20:28.020 I don't know. I don't know your situation. I don't know what's going on. You shared a couple of sentences
00:20:32.000 here. That's not enough information for me to say you should or should not. It's not my place anyways,
00:20:36.300 even if I had all the information. But I just want to advise you that my ex-wife asked for a divorce 0.80
00:20:46.420 divorce in July of last year. We finalized that divorce in, I believe it was February of this
00:20:53.880 year. So I'm on the other side of this to some degree. I'm not far past it, but I am on the other
00:20:59.760 side of it. And I have a clean conscience knowing that I tried everything I could to make the marriage
00:21:05.900 work. And if I didn't have that, I think I'd be struggling a whole lot more. And there's a lot
00:21:12.540 of things I have guilt and shame and remorse over specifically regarding my children, but I don't
00:21:17.200 have a guilty conscience about my efforts and the work that I put in to try to make the marriage work.
00:21:22.540 My conscious is clear on that one. And I want to make sure that if you go through with this,
00:21:27.600 that your conscious is clear too, because if it's not, I think it's going to be significantly harder
00:21:32.260 than it has to be. Okay. Now, with that said, if you decide that this is the route you're going to go,
00:21:39.340 then make sure that you fight for your rights as a father. Make sure that you're amicable to
00:21:45.620 whatever degree that you can be amicable with your ex-wife. And make sure that you pour into that
00:21:52.300 little girl, I believe. Was it a one and a half year old little girl? Yes. Pour into her. Now,
00:21:57.900 here's the thing that I notice is my younger kids are having a significantly easier time
00:22:03.260 through all of this than my older kids. And your daughter is one and a half. So that's actually
00:22:11.720 a good thing. If she was 12 or 13 or 15 or 16, I think it would be significantly harder because
00:22:19.700 she's not really going to know any different. So if you decide that this is the route you're going to
00:22:24.480 go, take some comfort in knowing that you have a small daughter. Hopefully you can be amicable and
00:22:30.620 work with your ex-wife for 50, 50 custody. I would suggest as best you can not to make it messy,
00:22:37.900 but also I would say if you do decide to do this, there needs to be clear, clear lines, like clear cut
00:22:43.440 lines. Like I think sometimes in a divorce, especially if it's been for any significant amount of time,
00:22:50.280 people tend to want to muddy the lines. Like, and I, and I don't think you should do that. I think
00:22:58.160 there should be a clear cut separated. Here's my household. Here's what we're doing. Here's how we're
00:23:03.340 running it. Here's your household. Here's what you're doing. Here's how you're running it. And not
00:23:08.000 to get too involved unless there's something drastic that needs to be communicated regarding
00:23:12.340 the children. But if you're making the decision, make that decision and make it with that separation
00:23:19.620 in mind. And I think that's going to help you. I think that's going to help you heal. It's going to
00:23:24.620 help your ex-wife heal. And it's going to help make sure that there's boundaries in place so that 0.99
00:23:28.780 your child gets what they need in the midst of this really difficult and unfortunate, tragic,
00:23:35.040 even circumstance and situation. What would you add Kip? I don't know. I don't know if I'd add
00:23:41.260 anything. I, he wrote, we have tried marriage counseling over the, over the, over the year with
00:23:48.140 no success. And when I, when I read that, I read that she hasn't changed and thus it didn't work.
00:23:58.000 And, and I just want to be careful, Brandon, like what, and maybe this is the case, but did that
00:24:04.900 marriage counseling work for you? Like, were you a different person? Did you show up? Were you happy
00:24:12.660 that you went to marriage because your eyes have been opened in regards to how you show up in the
00:24:17.260 relationship and you're now like a better person for it? If, if that's not the case, then it didn't
00:24:23.700 work because you guys are probably both sitting in marriage counseling, looking for the other person
00:24:28.900 to change. And that is the very problem. So I know it's like a different rooted in the question.
00:24:35.020 You probably don't want to hear that kind of stuff, but like, I don't know, be one back to what you
00:24:40.440 said, Ryan, be sure that this is even what you want. And, and, and because you're like, well,
00:24:46.300 I'm concerned about the effects. Well, yeah, you should be concerned actually. Cause the,
00:24:50.980 because the effects on your daughter, like I use this analogy all the time, like, oh, you know,
00:24:55.140 cause I hate the, you know, kids are overly resilient. They'll be fine. But it's like,
00:24:59.440 yeah, until my son's 24 and he has commitment issues and he doesn't know where that comes from.
00:25:04.960 Oh, maybe it has to do with us. Right. And our choice to, to get divorced and, and unable as a
00:25:11.880 couple to pull it off. Right. Like, are the effects going to be there on your kids? Hell yeah,
00:25:16.220 they are. And, and you may not even know what they are until some other time. You know what I mean?
00:25:21.760 And, and, and I'm going to project a little bit and judge you a little bit here, Brandon, but like
00:25:25.800 minimize any future male influence. Really? You're going to go that petty route. I don't want any,
00:25:32.360 any male influence in my daughter's life. You know what? You should be praying that there's good,
00:25:37.600 positive male influence in your daughter's life. In fact, what we should be doing is you should be
00:25:42.680 grateful and you should hope that your ex-wife, if she becomes your ex-wife, finds an amazing man
00:25:48.560 that's actually better than you. That's a better person than you are. So he can actually be there
00:25:53.760 for your daughter. That's what you should be hoping for. Now that's a hard pill to swallow,
00:25:57.760 but you should want those things because that's, what's better for her. And it's better for your ex. 0.83
00:26:02.780 And it's not just about you and your male influence in her life. You should want amazing
00:26:09.660 men in her life. And so there's a little bit of, I don't know if it's ego in here or whatever that
00:26:14.760 I'm reading, but just be careful that your heads, your heads correct here and that you're truly
00:26:20.500 owning the circumstance, but also like making sure that you're, you don't fall into the pit that I
00:26:27.040 think so many people fall into when it comes to divorce is that like, that she's the problem. 1.00
00:26:33.540 You need to walk away from this with the idea. And I really honestly believe this with the idea of
00:26:39.220 what did you do wrong when you did not do wrong and how do you need to change as a man to ensure
00:26:44.860 success in the future? If you don't, this will just be divorce number one. 1.00
00:26:48.280 Yeah. I think that's, that, that is well said. I, I, it's hard. It's hard. It's hard. I mean,
00:26:58.020 look, I, I, I'm going to give a little bit of benefit of the doubt on the male influence in,
00:27:03.760 in her life thing. I think probably if you're thinking about it logically and look, I've, I'm,
00:27:10.500 I'm here too. I think logically, emotionally, it's exactly what you said. Logically. I think
00:27:17.560 what we probably mean is I don't want any negative male role model influence in my life. And the
00:27:24.640 problem with that is that's beyond your control. Yeah. And it's not even a problem. It's just a
00:27:30.740 reality you need to come to. And it's not easy. And there's been a lot of realities I've had to
00:27:34.740 come to over the past year of going through this that haven't been easy, that have been hard to
00:27:39.000 swallow, that I've like kicked and screamed and cried and done everything in between to resist the
00:27:43.440 reality of the situation. But I'm telling you, man, once you realize the reality of the
00:27:47.200 situation and you embrace it, it's so much easier to move on. So if you're thinking about it
00:27:52.740 irrationally, I understand. If you're thinking about it rationally and saying, I don't want any
00:27:56.840 negative or hurtful male role model in her life, then all you can do is be the most important male
00:28:03.800 role model in her life. So that if she is, and she will be, whether it's a new man as a stepfather
00:28:09.640 or her first boyfriend or a bad boss or any number of things, it's going to happen. So you need to be
00:28:16.720 the most prevalent, vocal, present male role model in her life. That way, when those things happen and
00:28:25.880 they will, she's going to continue to lean on you and work with you. 1.00
00:28:29.600 Totally. So this one thought that I had is, and I'm trying to be, have some humility here
00:28:37.620 because I fill out a bunch of stuff, right? It's really easy for us to sit here and pretend that
00:28:44.000 we have our shit together. But one thing that really, when I got divorced, that really kind of
00:28:51.820 set me straight, at least in my head, because I realized you can't change stuff, right? Eventually,
00:28:58.200 it's like, okay, that's outside my realm of control. Now I'm dealing in the reality of a
00:29:04.780 split home. Like that's just, that's, that's my new, my new life. And, and the one thing that
00:29:11.460 really allowed me to like, not like get stuck in how it shouldn't be that way. And the judgments of
00:29:17.840 it and deal in reality was, okay, what kind of dad do I need to be even more now to overcome
00:29:27.420 the, the, the, the, the trials and difficulties that come with being a part-time father? And,
00:29:35.800 and that was that my focus is like, okay, well, I, I can't just be like a good dad. I got to be
00:29:42.540 like super dad now. Right. And because now my time's influenced, I only have, you know,
00:29:48.600 half of the amount of time with them. And so when I do, I got to be extra attentional, right.
00:29:53.000 And use it as, as fuel to say, man, okay, now I just need to rise up to the, to the
00:30:00.820 circumstance that I'm in. I'm going to deal in reality and I'm just going to be more powerful
00:30:04.880 as, as a, as a husband, future husband, and most importantly, as a father. And that's how you deal
00:30:10.400 with it. But at least that mindset for me, like gave me hope that like, Hey, I can, I can overcome
00:30:16.520 this. I can show up even more powerfully and, and, and I need to, and I must. Yeah. Well said, man.
00:30:23.040 Well said. Cool. What's next? Tough, tough one. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I look, I'm, I'm just a little
00:30:29.440 bit further if there was a race and it's not, so I'm not saying that, but if it was a foot race,
00:30:34.620 I'm just a little bit further ahead of, of who this is. What was his name? Brandon. I'm just a little
00:30:40.920 further ahead of Brandon. So I think that's good because I can see how it gets better, but also I
00:30:48.500 still have a lot of the same feelings that Brandon's having right now. So yeah, I hope what we shared
00:30:54.100 with you was relatable, but hopefully gives you some future vision on what's going on. Yeah.
00:31:01.180 Gabriel Garcia, how important is weightlifting, AKA weightlifting to your health compared to other
00:31:07.400 forms of exercise. If you don't grow muscles, will you lose them? I know that I believe it's a 4 AM
00:31:12.680 and I'm on my way to hit the weights, but since I didn't always understand the benefits,
00:31:17.920 members of the IC should hear your perspective as men age over 30, over 50, I should say. Do you agree
00:31:24.300 with lifting is even more important while having strong bodies with muscle help maintain your
00:31:29.680 independence as you age? I mean, I think this is kind of a rhetorical question. Yeah. I mean,
00:31:36.260 of course, yeah, but, but I do feel like, well, I mean, I can't, I can't state the stuff,
00:31:43.100 but I've scientific benefits of it. Yeah. I've been reading a lot lately that like one of the
00:31:49.640 biggest issues that we have in modern day is actually not fat. It's actually muscle mass and
00:31:57.040 that there's a lot of health benefit to the mass of muscle that we have more than it is about just
00:32:03.960 like being skinny and not having fat, but I can't state things and, you know, sources and all that
00:32:09.980 kind of jazz. And this is outside. Well, I mean, there's so much information we've had people on to
00:32:14.160 talk about it. Johnny Loretty is a great example of that. And there's other podcasts that are
00:32:17.840 available, but I think the old school way of thinking is in order to be healthy, you want to
00:32:22.600 burn fat. And so people would run, they'd be on the treadmill, they would do cardio. And it is all
00:32:28.640 based on elevating the heart rate for sustained periods of time and burning max calories through
00:32:34.340 just physical exertion. That was aerobic in nature. Um, yeah. And I think the new data suggests
00:32:42.320 that when, especially, I don't know if it's, I shouldn't say, especially for men, cause I don't
00:32:46.560 know, again, we're speaking out of ignorance here, but there's new data that suggests that one of the
00:32:51.860 best ways to burn fat is to build muscle. Yeah. So there's some other old school way of thinking
00:32:57.080 with regards to nutrition that in order to lose fat, you have to not eat fat. Well, that's not
00:33:02.400 true either. That the mo one of the most effective ways based on what I've heard, seen in the people
00:33:07.520 I've talked with to lose fat is to eat correctly. And I, and I just say, eat clean. And, and people say,
00:33:15.220 what do you mean? It's very simple. You eat protein, you eat a good array of vegetables and you get
00:33:22.700 some starches in there, sweet potatoes, rice, that sort of thing in there. It's very simple.
00:33:27.960 Like you, and you drink a lot of water. It's not sexy. It's not the latest fad diet. I don't stick
00:33:34.780 to that a hundred percent or even 60 to 70% most of my, most of the time, but we all know what it is.
00:33:40.740 But if you eat good, healthy protein, you eat a wide array of vegetables and you get your starches in
00:33:46.640 there. I mean, that's real. And some carbs, you know, don't, we, we don't want to overdo on the
00:33:50.880 carbs, which I can tend to do with the chips and the breads and the pastas and the, this and the
00:33:54.820 that. And so we don't, cause that just turns to sugar. So we got to be careful of that. I'm not
00:33:58.800 saying we shouldn't have it in our diet, but we got to be careful of it. And then yeah, go lift really
00:34:04.160 heavy. I mean, that's what the science suggests specifically regarding losing fat to your, to your
00:34:09.320 point Kip. But plus also if you get in a car accident today, just because you have a little bit bigger
00:34:14.640 muscle, you might be able to open that door that you wouldn't advise open that door and get your
00:34:18.500 wife out of a burning vehicle. We should be strong, you know? And I look, I see guys who are flaily and
00:34:25.900 weak and like, you need to be stronger. Like on an anecdotal level, even like, yes, physicality,
00:34:33.860 the ability to defend yourself, but even on an anecdotal level, people are just going to respect
00:34:39.920 you more. If you have some weight on you, like if the proportions are right, the dimensions are right.
00:34:44.140 You've got big, thick, broad shoulders. You've got large biceps. You've got veins popping out of
00:34:48.400 your forearms. You carry yourself well because you're not slunched over, or you're not kind of
00:34:53.000 walking around like a beanpole. People are going to look at you differently. Women are going to look 1.00
00:34:56.420 at you differently. Men, future employers, future clients, everybody's going to look at you different.
00:35:01.280 Forget about the actual tangible health benefits of it. Think about the psyche that comes with that.
00:35:07.120 Like take two guys, everything else being equal. One's a little doughy around the midsection. He's got
00:35:11.720 beanpole arms. The other one's tight and he's got, you know, four pack or six pack abs and he's got
00:35:17.080 broad shoulders and he's lean and he's jacked. Who's going to be more confident at all things
00:35:21.680 being equal? That guy, of course. And he's going to carry himself different and people are going to
00:35:26.520 notice that. And he's going to create more opportunities for himself. So the evidence is
00:35:31.680 there both data-wise and anecdotally that it's better that men are stronger.
00:35:36.360 Yeah, totally. I will say this too about this though, because here's one thing I often hear
00:35:42.280 people say, well, muscles aren't everything. I'm not saying that. This is a false dichotomy. I'm not
00:35:47.840 saying that because a guy is strong, that he has to be this quintessential meathead jock kind of guy
00:35:53.200 where he's dumb and can't do anything else. John Lovell talked about it. Warrior poet. I'm not saying
00:35:59.000 that your strength and physicality should come at the expense of your empathy and kindness,
00:36:03.500 ability to communicate, ability to read others, ability to cast vision. Guys, multiple things can
00:36:09.780 exist at once and we want to be well-rounded men. So I'm not saying go be strong and then you're
00:36:14.200 going to be a loser in all the other areas of masculinity. I'm saying, no, go be strong and
00:36:18.120 let's work on being better in the other areas of masculinity. Yeah. Can we just say that the person
00:36:22.880 that goes, well, muscles aren't everything is just make an excuse for their lack of discipline to
00:36:28.760 actually like make that a priority in their life? I think so. I mean, you're right. You're right.
00:36:33.680 I mean, come on. It's a no brainer. We know that. Yeah. I just hear it so often and maybe it's just
00:36:38.220 not worth mentioning, but because of the rate at which I hear comments like that, I feel like we've
00:36:44.760 got to throw it out, which is kind of pathetic and sad, quite honestly. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
00:36:50.040 What's Caleb have to say? All right. Caleb DeLong. What is the Iron Council's five-year vision?
00:36:55.660 What does the future look like? What ideas do you have cooking as an organization as a whole?
00:37:00.620 I ask because I see the Iron Council as the movement it is and where it could go. I think it
00:37:07.140 could be great. Well, I appreciate that. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm glad you're here
00:37:11.980 with us, Caleb. I've appreciated your insight and I've seen you comment and communicate and add value
00:37:16.440 on the calls and in the foundry. I don't have a five-year vision. I have a direction and I think
00:37:22.080 that's different than the vision is the direction. Here's the direction that we're going. Here's
00:37:25.620 our mission. Here's our purpose and here's how we're going to do it. But my, I mean, we've talked
00:37:29.840 about it, Caleb, and you know this. I operate in 12-week battle plans. My vision, it could be a
00:37:34.480 five-year vision. It could be a one-year vision. I'm willing to flex on what that vision looks like
00:37:40.400 over the next 12 weeks or over the next 12 months. It might change based on my own personal
00:37:45.080 preferences or desires or external circumstances. And so I'm able to pivot and adjust that vision as I
00:37:51.060 see fit and necessary. But yeah, I have things that I'm going to implement. One of the things
00:37:56.540 that we just implemented just last week, in fact, I did this this morning, is I started posting the
00:38:03.420 raw, uncut, unedited versions of my interview podcast. So when guys are in the Iron Council,
00:38:10.280 they're going to get the unedited version of the podcast, video and audio before anybody else.
00:38:16.660 But the value in that is they're also going to get the pre-conversation podcast and the post-conversation
00:38:24.320 podcast. And over eight and a half years now of doing this, a lot of the value, there's a lot,
00:38:30.440 I wish I would have done this all along, comes before I actually hit record or after I end it and
00:38:36.320 stop recording. My guests will say something. I'm like, man, why didn't you say that 10 minutes ago?
00:38:42.080 You know? And so now what I, what I'm doing is that when I get somebody on the podcast, I hit
00:38:48.020 record immediately. And then it's just us catching up, shooting the crap, you know, just, just doing
00:38:53.760 that. Then hit record, then the podcast, formal podcast, then I don't stop recording. I just keep
00:39:00.220 having a natural, like, Hey, that's a wrap. And then I just keep having a natural conversation
00:39:03.460 so that I can extract more of those valuable insights and share it with Iron Council members.
00:39:09.420 Another thing that we're wanting to do in the Iron Council is introduce courses. So we have a course
00:39:13.340 on overcoming pornography addiction right now from one of my former guests, Athea Sam. We've got
00:39:18.700 Johnny Loretty. We talked about him earlier with fitness and nutrition. He just put together a
00:39:22.820 nutrition course. I've got a good friend of mine, Keith Yackey, who put together a marriage course and how
00:39:28.420 to work through and create a thriving marriage. I've got Tanner Guzzi, another good personal friend and
00:39:36.280 former podcast guest who wants to do a course on style. So these are courses that will be available
00:39:41.060 for members of the Iron Council as just part of their membership. So we're always adding new things,
00:39:46.840 adjusting new things, tweaking things, using the feedback that we receive from our brothers and
00:39:51.620 our members and making the changes that we need to. All right, Matt Jenkins, how do you both stay
00:39:57.920 accountable to your own visions and tactics in your battle plans where neither of you are part of a
00:40:02.880 battle team? I struggle with keeping myself professionally accountable to my business
00:40:07.360 vision and tactics, and I'm trying to create more voluntary accountability with those who oversee my
00:40:12.720 overall success of my agency. What would you recommend? I think there's two tiers of accountability.
00:40:19.360 There's accountability to others and there's accountability to yourself. And I think accountability
00:40:23.000 to yourself is the more mature, but I'm not saying you should only exclusively rely on that,
00:40:27.680 but it's a good position when you get to the point where you do only have to rely on yourself
00:40:32.500 and the word that you've kept. I'm not saying I'm there. Sometimes I get there or I tiptoe into
00:40:37.480 that territory with certain factors of my life, and then I mess up or stop doing it or revert back
00:40:42.920 to old patterns and old ways. But those are the two tiers of accountability. Yeah, I'm not on a battle
00:40:48.500 team. And part of the reason is, is because the dynamic would change if I'm on a battle team.
00:40:55.060 If I, the founder of Order of Man and the Iron Council were on a battle team,
00:40:59.580 then that battle team is no longer about the members. It's about me. And it would, it would,
00:41:05.460 it would be overrun for me, guys that want to give me advice, guys that want to help all coming from
00:41:10.340 a great place, but it wouldn't allow the guys to get what they need by being members of the battle
00:41:14.860 team. But you're right, Matt. And I think in a lot of ways with the struggles I've had over the past
00:41:19.520 year or so, as a result of not having a close band of brothers in my life that I speak openly and
00:41:27.980 honestly to. And Kip, I actually wanted to ask you some personal questions at the end of this podcast
00:41:33.980 that I'm not going to record or make available to Iron Council members. Because I recognize that I have
00:41:41.880 a really tremendous asset. And I'm not trying to dehumanize you when I say that, but a tremendous
00:41:47.500 asset in you with your friendship and your knowledge and your experience that I haven't quite fully
00:41:52.600 leaned into. And a lot of that has been fear. A lot of that has been ego driven. I want you and other
00:41:59.020 people, people I respect to think highly of me. And I'm trying to learn to make myself more open to
00:42:05.700 people who are credible and people who care about me. And if they don't have either one of those, I can't
00:42:11.660 disclose some of these things. But if they care about me and they're credible, then I know that even if
00:42:17.300 they aren't as graceful as maybe I would like or forgiving as I would like in their delivery, I know they
00:42:22.800 care about me and I know they're a credible source of information for me. So I'm actually actively right
00:42:28.900 now currently working on identifying who those people are. And the best way I found to do that is by
00:42:35.100 dipping my toe into the water. So Kip, I know you'd be that for me because we've had those conversations, but
00:42:42.000 there's other people I'm like, I wonder what this relationship could look like if I were to ask
00:42:47.100 this person some questions that I haven't felt comfortable asking before. And if it's received
00:42:52.720 well, okay, look, maybe this is something I ought to take another step into. If it's received poorly,
00:42:57.720 then I know, okay, maybe this isn't the type of relationship where this is going to be somebody
00:43:03.680 for accountability. This is going to be, you know, more of a surface level conversation,
00:43:08.520 relationship, which is fine, but I want to know what it is.
00:43:12.640 Yeah. And, and, and to your, your second question, Matt, right. Just to reiterate it,
00:43:18.380 trying to create a more voluntary accountability with those who oversee my overall success of the
00:43:23.160 agency. So I'd be careful. Like sometimes we'll put cadences of accountability in place for the sake
00:43:30.460 of accountability. And, and you want to be mindful that like, okay, well, these are people that overall
00:43:36.320 see the success of your agency. So I'm assuming they're also in a position to provide guidance
00:43:42.740 and direction and recommendation to you. Right. So I would create cadences with them. So what,
00:43:49.240 what is the cadence? Is it a weekly cadence or is it every two weeks? Is it monthly? But I would get
00:43:55.560 really clear on what is your agency, what is required for your agency to win? What do you need to be
00:44:01.320 doing? Communicate that strategy and do report backs in regards to you executing in those areas
00:44:08.520 for, for one, so you're reporting it to them, but so they can provide guidance and direction in regards
00:44:14.760 to where you're going as well. Right. The last thing you want is take up people's time and like,
00:44:19.580 oh, Ryan, let's be accountable to each other. And we'll have a call every day. And we're both rolling
00:44:23.360 our eyes going, why are we even doing this? Right. Like, so you want to make sure that it's aligned
00:44:28.200 and it makes sense and that they're clear what their role is. And, but, but there's power in
00:44:34.700 that, Matt, in, in you creating a cadence by which you're asking these people to provide guidance and
00:44:40.940 direction and you're reporting back what you're doing and what you're not doing. And, and I would
00:44:44.800 take it really, really serious, like very serious, um, around you doing the work that you said you would
00:44:53.120 do and create an environment where they call you out if you didn't do it. And, and what do we do
00:44:59.560 when we're out of integrity? And I, I always love this. And now, and I don't know if I've ever shared
00:45:04.160 this before, but you know, it's really funny. The, the process, I'm getting a little religious here,
00:45:09.540 the process of repentance and the process of restoring your integrity and the process of
00:45:15.240 taking ownership are all exactly the same. And there, and maybe translated another way,
00:45:22.260 the process of learning, the process of learning is accepting accountability, realizing what you've
00:45:28.540 failed, getting clear on the impact, pivoting and recommitting that you're not going to do it again.
00:45:34.680 So that's how you learn. That's how you grow, follow those processes and follow the process to
00:45:39.700 restore your integrity and ensure that you're, you're reporting back when we, when we don't
00:45:45.020 execute on what we said we would do. It's also that process you're talking about makes people
00:45:50.180 want to build accountability relationships with you. Because if you're not doing that,
00:45:55.040 people are not going to be interested in that for the long haul. They might do it in the short term
00:45:59.080 because they do care about you or in the case of higher ups, you're being accountable to,
00:46:03.940 they have a vested interest in you improving, right? But they're not going to do that over the long
00:46:07.360 haul. The other, one of the thing I would add on this Kip is I'm going to be very careful in the 0.59
00:46:12.040 way I say this, cause I don't want it to come out incorrectly, but I told you the two criteria,
00:46:16.680 the two criteria are care and credibility. That's the criteria for me. Yeah. To enlist someone to
00:46:25.520 right. Hold you accountable. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I would also maybe throw in there that,
00:46:31.440 that we have some alignment in our purpose or, and or values. There's gotta be some alignment in
00:46:35.980 there, but I think that's a given. Um, I think accountability gets thrown around the word
00:46:41.220 accountability gets thrown around a lot, like the word vulnerability. And I don't actually have a
00:46:46.140 problem with the concept of vulnerability when used correctly. So for example, when I told you,
00:46:53.280 I wanted to ask you a couple of questions, you could say that that's me being vulnerable,
00:46:56.660 but I'm not doing it to virtue signal. I'm doing it because I have some things I'd like to figure out
00:47:01.380 and I value your opinion and would like to hear it as I make decisions moving forward.
00:47:05.680 So I am being vulnerable, but it's with a purpose. Accountability is other than the purpose being
00:47:11.700 just to be vulnerable. Yeah. Which is what a lot of people do. Cause it's such, you know,
00:47:15.680 a buzzword these days, but accountability is the same. It's like, well, let's be accountable.
00:47:19.600 What does that mean? I don't know. We need to be accountable because that's what we're supposed to do.
00:47:23.020 Is it, or like, do we really want to do this? And, and what I would say is because people think
00:47:31.380 accountable and because of the position I'm in, I get a lot of emails and messages from men who
00:47:36.420 are, want to be accountable to me. And here's where I want to be careful on what I'm saying.
00:47:42.080 What are the criteria? The criteria are credible, which I think I have some credibility in certain
00:47:48.960 aspects. You you've, if you reach out to me and you want some level of accountability from me,
00:47:53.180 then you've, you've already said that yes, that he has some credibility. Otherwise you would not
00:47:57.140 have reached out and care. And here's what I want you to know. I do care about you, but I'm not close
00:48:04.360 enough to you to have the kind of care that you need in an accountability relationship. So you need
00:48:11.320 to make sure that the other party is actually interested in that relationship. Because if
00:48:15.980 somebody reaches out to me and they're like, Hey Ryan, I did a thousand pushups today. I'm like,
00:48:20.080 cool, way to go. Good work. If they do it two or three or five days in a row, I'm like, bro,
00:48:25.420 like you don't need to report that to me. Like if you're telling me, cause you're excited about it
00:48:28.800 or because something inspired you, man, I will cheer you on. I will root you on, but I'm not
00:48:33.280 your accountability partner. And I'm not saying that like from an ego place. I'm saying, I can't be
00:48:38.120 what you need in accountability partner. I'm not close enough to you. You need to find other people
00:48:43.800 who are close, more closely connected with you. And by the way, that's why the iron council is so
00:48:49.360 valuable. I saw a message or a, an email or something the other day that I think it was a comment on
00:48:54.640 YouTube. And he said, the problem is finding guys in my area who aren't lazy and who don't,
00:49:00.540 you know, who actually care about self-development. Right. I understand that. That's why we have the
00:49:04.500 iron council and you can band with us in the iron council and have 10, 11, 12 other brothers who
00:49:09.200 have credibility and care for you and a closeness connection where it will actually serve you well.
00:49:15.820 And it's not just accountability for accountability sake. So this is a two-way street. You can't just
00:49:20.640 bombard people and say, Hey Ryan, I did a thousand pushups and you, I'm going to send you every day
00:49:25.820 for 30 days. I'm like, don't do that. You're wasting your time. And I don't have time. Go find
00:49:31.040 somebody who you can do that with together in close proximity. That's, and then it's going to be that
00:49:36.780 much more powerful. Yeah. That's a really good point because like you reporting back, that's not
00:49:41.840 accountability, right? Accountability takes effort, right? Like, like if, if you ask me to help hold you
00:49:47.720 accountable, that's an investment on my time, right? Because to do that, well, it's not me
00:49:53.420 listening to what you did or did not do for me to do that. Well, is to have the conversation
00:49:57.820 around, Hey Ryan, what's going on, right? Where are you blocked on that commitment or regards to
00:50:04.560 executing and, and having the conversation to get through things, right? It's not just, okay, good job.
00:50:11.500 Hey, bring up those numbers. That's not, that's not even in the realm of accountability. And that's where,
00:50:16.840 I mean, that's why this is one of the things we've talked about. And we talked about,
00:50:20.700 it seems a lot with, with battle team leaders is like our misunderstanding of accountability is a
00:50:25.720 whole other thing, right? Where I think accountability we often look at as like, you know,
00:50:31.460 giving out tickets and telling people to do burpees or whatever. It's like, no, more of it's about
00:50:36.440 facilitating things and conversations that help people get unblocked to honor their commitments.
00:50:42.320 And that takes effort. Like that, that there's an investment on my part to,
00:50:47.320 to hold you accountable. It's not just me listening.
00:50:50.420 Right. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. It's a good point. A couple more questions. We have those two from
00:50:55.580 Facebook. If you want to. Yeah, we can do rapid fire on those. If we can hit all of them,
00:50:59.740 I'd rather hit all of them. So do what we can.
00:51:01.680 Okay. Sounds good. Let's do Caleb's first, just in case we run out of time. I actually really
00:51:05.440 like this question. So Caleb Oliver, how do you get in the mindset of accepting where you are
00:51:13.300 in life, knowing it is part of a bigger plan you have, even though you struggle with being happy in
00:51:19.480 the current chapter of the larger plan? For example, I'm home watching our baby while during our,
00:51:25.940 while building our company as, as slow as it's going while my wife makes really good money that 1.00
00:51:32.240 is investing in our three-year plan. I would rather be out there getting after it for 12 hours a day
00:51:37.420 and she wants to be home with the baby, but we know what, uh, where we're going and it will pay
00:51:43.480 off. But what is it worth the disconnect, but is it worth the disconnect? Yeah. Well, Caleb,
00:51:50.760 appreciate you. Caleb's a good friend and man, he's, he's, he's, he's actually pretty incredible
00:51:55.700 the way that we connected. Like when I, when I moved to Maine, uh, he called me up and he said,
00:52:00.820 Hey, I've been listening to your, to your podcast and I'm a, I'm an electrician. If you need any
00:52:05.180 electrical work, let me know. And that's how we got connected. I said, actually, I do need some
00:52:09.280 electrical work in the barn. Come over. And he did some work with me. Uh, he did some pro bono work
00:52:13.720 and I appreciated that. And then I ended up hiring him and his brother for other work and we become
00:52:18.220 good friends and they use the barn to get married. So great relationship with case built,
00:52:23.020 rebuilding my scout right now. So Caleb's awesome. Um, an analogy that came to mind as you were talking,
00:52:28.440 Caleb is I was thinking about, um, uh, uh, like a track star, like somebody who's going to run a race
00:52:34.980 and they've done everything that they can. Like they they've worked out and they've trained and
00:52:40.620 they're eating right. And they're feeling their body correctly. And they've grown their mind.
00:52:43.580 Like they've done everything that their mental space is right. Like they've done everything they
00:52:46.860 can. And then they get to race day and I, I'm not a track person, but whatever their event is,
00:52:53.340 it's probably not first, right? Cause there's only one first. And the odds are that your event is
00:52:57.560 later in the day. Yeah. Okay. And it always seems like those anxious events. You're like the last
00:53:02.760 of the day and you're like now tired and yeah. Right. And so it could be frustrating because
00:53:08.500 you're like, I'm ready. Like I'm ready to go and I can't race. So I get that it's frustrating.
00:53:14.400 And then what happens is it's finally time for your event and you go out onto the track and you get
00:53:20.520 warmed up and you do everything you need to do to prepare for this race. And you go to your starting
00:53:25.260 position and depending on the race, what do you do? You get in a starting block and here you are on
00:53:30.120 the starting block and you're looking up and you're like, I want to get there. I know the finish line
00:53:35.140 is there. I got to run around this track once or half or eight times or whatever it is. Like I,
00:53:39.560 that's the finish line. I just want to go, but you're not frustrated that you're at the starting
00:53:43.600 block. It's an integral part of the process. And what you get to do at the starting block is to push
00:53:49.200 off of the starting block. When the time comes, when that gun sounds, it's a part of the process.
00:53:54.900 It's not a hindrance. It's part of what needs to happen for you to have a, if we're using that
00:54:00.860 analogy, a competitive race. The point that I'm making is that right now is you're at the starting
00:54:06.400 block and it's just an integral part of the process. It's frustrating when you're a high achiever,
00:54:12.740 but also when you're young, because you don't feel like you're getting as much traction as you can.
00:54:17.900 But that's like saying that a runner is not getting traction because he's stuck in the
00:54:22.400 starting block, waiting for the gun to go off. He's not frustrated. It's just a part of the
00:54:27.060 process. So what I would say is while you're in this quote unquote starting block is use your time
00:54:33.420 correctly. If you're home with a baby, because that's what works out with a relationship with
00:54:36.920 you and your wife, and she's making more money than you currently do. What can you be doing to listen
00:54:41.900 to podcasts, to read books, to develop and build friendships, to have conversations with people who
00:54:47.320 matter to fuel your mind, fuel your body, keep working out, keep exercising so that when the
00:54:52.380 gun does go off and it will go off, that you are in the best possible position to move forward.
00:54:58.800 So let's not look at this as like, Oh, I'm just stuck in this pattern. No, you're at the starting
00:55:03.920 block. Get in the right. And that's what runners do, right? They get their cleats in there and they dig
00:55:09.260 in the way they want and they've got their stance. Again, I'm not a runner, but so you guys will
00:55:14.320 correct me if I butcher this, but they're, you know, whatever their position is, they're getting
00:55:18.780 their butt up or their knees down. I don't know what it is, but they're getting ready and they're
00:55:22.300 doing the work so that when the gun sounds, they put themselves in the best possible position to win
00:55:27.400 the race. And that's what you're doing right now. You're in the starting block, use the time to be in
00:55:31.620 the best possible position so that when the dynamic changes and shifts and it will, you're going to
00:55:37.100 give yourself the best possible chance. And then also you're not going to feel like you're wasting
00:55:42.300 time. You're actually maximizing time right now while you're in the starting block.
00:55:46.720 Yeah. I love that. I'm going to, I'm going to dive into a section of, of that Caleb said that just kind
00:55:52.500 of raised its head at me. And it was in the statement that, that even though you struggle
00:55:58.920 with being happy in the current chapter of the larger plan, um, and that might be just semantics
00:56:06.180 here. Um, but Caleb, this, I struggle in here. And I think a lot of people struggle here. We,
00:56:12.800 we think happiness will come when, you know, and we, we do it all the time, right? We, we, we were
00:56:20.200 constantly trying to do what create convenience, get past circumstances and make life easy.
00:56:26.000 But where is growth? It's in the struggle, right? Fulfillment is in the struggle, but yet we try to
00:56:33.560 avoid it. And when we're in it, we don't embrace it. And so just try to be present. And, and, and
00:56:42.380 like I said, it might just be semantics here, but like when you say struggle with being happy in the
00:56:46.520 current chapter, dude, you get happy in the current chapter because the current chapter is all that you
00:56:52.560 have. Yep. Tomorrow, tomorrow's a word that represents something that doesn't exist right now is
00:56:59.260 all you got. And you, and your daughter, you got a baby and to show up powerfully means that you need
00:57:05.540 to be happy now, not tomorrow, not when a business is created, not when the house is finished, not when
00:57:10.640 life is going smooth. And then I'll, I'll enjoy life. Cause I don't know about you, Ryan, but I, I,
00:57:15.860 in my younger years, I was raised, I was raised on a farm and I, I remember I saw my dad's check once
00:57:22.800 and he worked at the coal mine. So this was his coal mine check, not his elusive money that he made
00:57:30.880 as a farmer, which I don't think he ever made any money doing farming, but, but nonetheless, I saw his
00:57:35.540 check once and I did the math and I thought this guy makes 40 K a year. And, and I, and at the time I
00:57:42.900 was probably, let's see, I was high school. So, so my dad's, you know, late forties. Is that right?
00:57:50.320 No, no, no. He would have been like in his fifties. Right. And, and I remember thinking,
00:57:56.960 man, if I could just make that much money, then life would be good. And that was my focus.
00:58:03.220 And so got out of college, made 40 and guess what, man, I wasn't any more happier. I felt just as
00:58:10.300 pressured or whatever. And then I thought, oh man, when I make 60, when I make 60, then life will be
00:58:16.780 easy. 60 came and gone. It was no easier than 40. Same with 80. You know what I mean? And
00:58:23.540 eventually you realize you're like, Holy crap. It has nothing to do with how much money you make
00:58:27.540 has nothing to do with the company being built. And now don't get me wrong. Will that give you
00:58:32.880 fulfillment? And, and the process will be great for you and your wife. And it'll give you a sense
00:58:38.260 of accomplishment without a doubt. But I would probably suggest that as you look back,
00:58:43.260 the moment you're in right now is probably the most memorable time. So embrace the struggle,
00:58:50.880 embrace what you're experiencing right now, because this is beautiful.
00:58:54.500 Yeah. Yeah. Well, so don't get wrapped up into the future, you know?
00:58:58.300 Yeah, I agree. Okay. What's the last question?
00:59:01.360 All right. Last question. Austin Chamberlain, love what you guys are doing with the show,
00:59:06.680 especially Kip. He is amazing. I'm just joking. I added that part. Okay.
00:59:09.900 I love the show. We all know you added that, of course. Like you didn't need to say that.
00:59:16.140 It really is great to help and assess. It's a really great asset for us men to refer back to
00:59:22.760 as we, as we use it for motivation. As a man, one year out of college and into engineering role
00:59:28.980 at a high end, 1911 manufacturer. I don't know what that means. What are some good marketing skills
00:59:35.260 outside of engineering that I could learn to increase my value to the company? I'm already
00:59:40.940 reading books about business and I'm starting to firearms instruction business as well to learn and
00:59:46.400 grow. Thanks again, Ryan. You guys rock. Yeah. I think he's talking about, because he's,
00:59:51.580 especially since he said it, firearms, like 1911, he's talking about a firearm manufacturing company,
00:59:55.560 I think. Got it. Got it.
00:59:57.380 Um, so here's what I would suggest skills outside of engineering. Yeah. Here's what I would suggest.
01:00:03.300 Your ability to communicate effectively is going to be important. And, uh, the other thing that
01:00:08.080 would, I think would be really, really beneficial is sometimes you engineering types or accounting
01:00:14.860 types, you can see it so clearly in your head and it works really well for you, but it doesn't work
01:00:20.220 for the layman. Uh, and the odds are that a lot of your upper management, they might not even be
01:00:26.600 engineers, that they might be business people. And so all of a sudden now there's a disconnect.
01:00:31.760 You've got the engineering department, smart, intelligent, capable people like yourself
01:00:36.120 who have these great ideas. And you have these, these upper management people who are smart,
01:00:43.040 intelligent, you know, hardworking people, but you guys are speaking a different language.
01:00:47.700 You're not like, it would be if Kip, if I had a conversation with you today where I'm speaking
01:00:52.320 English and you're speaking Spanish, how productive is that conversation going to be?
01:00:56.600 It's not. So I think one of the most marketable skills as an engineer that you can learn,
01:01:00.840 this goes for accountants, this goes for attorneys, this goes for anybody who's technical in nature,
01:01:06.160 STEM type, uh, businesses and careers is learn the other side of it so that you can communicate
01:01:14.200 effectively with management. And if you are the only one who can communicate complex, difficult,
01:01:20.840 challenging engineering scenarios to a leadership team who doesn't speak engineering, you're going to
01:01:28.800 make yourself indispensable. And every time they have a question or have a project they want to do,
01:01:34.640 or need to get some clarity on, guess who they're coming to? The one that speaks their language
01:01:39.420 because it's easier to communicate. So look, I don't know in theory necessarily how you do that
01:01:44.240 other than immerse yourself in the world of business, immerse yourself in trying to be empathetic
01:01:49.280 to what they're doing. I think too often when we have contention like this, we're like, well,
01:01:53.220 they're idiots. They're just being dumb. They don't want to get it. Really? The guy who's leading the
01:01:57.400 organization that wants to grow the organization, the guy whose career is based on whether or not he
01:02:02.260 produces better than you guys did last year. Really? You don't think he cares about growth.
01:02:07.180 You don't think he cares about innovation. You don't think he cares about what we're delivering
01:02:11.700 to the customer. Of course he cares. He just doesn't speak your language. So use some empathy
01:02:18.240 in how you approach them. Try to see it from their side. And in fact, ask really good questions.
01:02:23.560 Maybe there's businessmen who are already in your circle who would be willing to sit down with you
01:02:27.640 and talk about what their biggest struggles are with their manufacturing teams or their R&D teams or
01:02:33.940 their engineering teams. And then that gives you a little bit of a glimpse into what they're dealing
01:02:37.820 with so you can adequately approach your leadership team. Yeah. That's spot on, man. I say that to all
01:02:44.620 the time in the IT realm, like you can be technical, but man, if you, if you can, if you have the, the
01:02:51.140 social intelligence to be able to explain the complex in a very simple way and understand business
01:02:59.180 requirements, and then relate that to the technical man, you can write your own ticket anywhere. And I
01:03:05.360 don't think it's any different with engineering, you know, and, and disrupt that too, man. I can't
01:03:09.680 count how many times I've heard that, that crap. Well, engineers, it's like, dude, like it's a,
01:03:14.920 it's a cop-out, right? It's like, no, don't be that type of engineer. Yeah. You know, don't,
01:03:19.720 don't accept this fact that, you know, you're a different breed and that's just the way we are.
01:03:22.980 It's like, no, be great at sales, actually be an amazing sales rep, pre-sales engineer that can
01:03:29.180 sell just as good as an accountant or a, as a sales rep, but also can do all the engineering work at the
01:03:35.000 same time. Right. Like, yeah. When you were saying that, I was thinking like, don't, you said,
01:03:39.820 don't be that type of engineer. Don't be that type of engineers. Like, oh, we're just different,
01:03:43.120 but also don't be the guy who thinks you're better than everybody just because you know,
01:03:46.860 the technical side of it, like, okay. Yeah. So you can drop a really cool schematic or you can
01:03:52.120 build the machines that builds the thing, the 1911s. Cool. Go sell me a 1911. Go, you know,
01:03:58.540 convince me why I need to have one. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well I, I don't do that. Right.
01:04:02.900 Right. Cause you're not an expert in everything. And so just because you're good, what is it? The
01:04:07.800 tribute, the quote that's often attributed, I think to Albert Einstein, if you judge a fish's
01:04:13.220 ability to climb a tree, he'll spend his whole life thinking he's an idiot. Yeah. Okay. You might
01:04:17.880 not be able to climb a tree, but you can swim and I might not be able to swim, but I can climb a tree.
01:04:23.200 So who's better? Well, it's better to the degree that the market needs it. So if we need something out
01:04:29.020 of a tree, then the one who's better today is the guy who climbed the tree, not the person who can swim
01:04:32.320 and vice versa on days that we need something out of the water. Totally. Totally. No, it's a good
01:04:37.560 call. Let's wrap it up, man. All right. Yeah. So a couple of calls to action. Um, we'd mentioned
01:04:43.440 this, I think the week before last, but for those guys that are interested in the iron council, uh,
01:04:48.540 get connected with Mr. Mickler on, on Twitter and Instagram at Ryan Mickler. And in the meantime,
01:04:54.220 sign up for battle ready. That's order of man.com slash battle ready. That is a, a self-paced process.
01:04:59.300 So you can get your battle plan flushed out and then be able to join us in the iron council
01:05:04.280 next quarter, uh, to look into the iron council, learn more, go to order of man.com slash iron
01:05:10.380 council. Anything on the storefront? No, we've got a new design, a whole fast shirt coming out
01:05:16.860 very quickly. So that should be here. I would hope this week. Um, and then we'll get that in the store
01:05:21.180 as quickly as we can. And we're trying to reorder all the shirts battle planners are in stock right now.
01:05:25.860 We're getting some new hats and shirts and everything else. So the store is slowly,
01:05:28.980 but surely ramping up. And I know that's important to you guys. Cause you get a lot of emails about
01:05:31.860 that. So we are working on that. Good, good. All right. Right on. Thanks. Kip. Appreciate you guys.
01:05:36.920 Great questions today. Hopefully we gave you some good answers and we will be back next week until
01:05:41.440 then go out there, take action and let's all become a man. We are meant to be. Thank you for
01:05:45.960 listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man
01:05:50.980 you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.