Order of Man - How to Become More Mindful and Present

00:00:00.000 With as much as we're inundated with in our daily lives, it's becoming increasingly difficult to be

00:00:04.960 completely present and mindful to the people and things that really matter. In fact, and in fairness,

00:00:11.620 today's conversation, this podcast could actually be distracting you from what it is you should be

00:00:16.400 doing. Today, I'm joined by my friend, Donnie Vincent. Many of you know him as an avid outdoorsman,

00:00:22.120 hunter, and conservationist, but we tackle a different but equally important conversation

00:00:26.740 today, being present and mindful to who you are and what you're after. We cover social media,

00:00:32.960 finding work you love, dealing with a lack of confidence, taking care of yourself first,

00:00:37.420 and ensuring you're focused on just the right things. You're a man of action. You live life to

00:00:42.960 the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart your own path. When life knocks you down, you get

00:00:48.380 back up one more time, every time. You are not easily deterred, defeated, rugged, resilient, strong.

00:00:55.720 This is your life. This is who you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day,

00:01:01.660 and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.

00:01:05.780 Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler, and I am the host and the founder

00:01:09.960 of this podcast and the movement that is Order of Man. As I do every single week, I want to welcome

00:01:15.100 you here or back. We're glad to have you tuned in. If you're just tuning in for the very first time,

00:01:19.700 this is a podcast dedicated to giving you the tools and the conversations and the resources

00:01:25.380 that you need to step up more fully in your life. We've got an incredible, incredible lineup of

00:01:31.040 featured guests, including Jocko Willink, David Goggins, Grant Cardone, Andy Frisilla, Tom Bilyeu,

00:01:38.700 Dakota Meyer, Tim Kennedy. The list of men that we've had on this podcast is absolutely incredible

00:01:44.100 and a testament to the power of the work that we're doing in reclaiming and restoring masculinity.

00:01:48.400 I had the honor and the fortune to be able to sit down with my guest, Donnie Vincent,

00:01:54.360 a couple of weeks ago at SHOT Show. I think I did, oh man, I must've done six or seven podcasts

00:01:58.480 while I was down there and absolutely phenomenal opportunity to sit down with some of these

00:02:02.740 incredible people. And I'm going to introduce you to Donnie for those of you who may not know him

00:02:06.920 in just a minute and get to the conversation. But before I do, I want to tell you about another

00:02:11.840 conversation I had. And that is a conversation I had with the founder and owner of origin over lunch.

00:02:20.200 Just yesterday, we talked a lot about his plans and what he's doing with the company. If you're not

00:02:25.760 familiar with what they're doing, they do. Well, I should say they started with rash guards and geese

00:02:30.280 and lifestyle apparel specifically for the Brazilian jujitsu community. But since then they branched out to

00:02:36.040 lifestyle apparel, specifically denim and boots and everything they make is 100% sourced and made

00:02:43.320 in America. And in addition to that, if that's not enough, they've also got their supplemental

00:02:48.700 lineup, which is partnered up with Jocko. It's called Jocko fuel. You can get their pre-workout

00:02:53.460 called discipline, their milk, which is their protein and a whole lot of other supplements to

00:02:59.360 supplement your lifestyles. So if you're interested, check it out, they're doing big things and they've

00:03:04.480 got big plans. According to Pete and our conversation, you can go to origin, Maine as

00:03:09.080 in the state, Maine.com and check out what they have to offer. And if you end up picking anything

00:03:14.260 up, whether that's the boots, the denim, the lifestyle apparel, geese, rash guards, Jocko fuel,

00:03:19.040 whatever it may be, then use the code order O R D E R at checkout. And you'll get a discount there

00:03:24.560 again, origin, Maine.com use the code order. All right, guys, my guest today, Donnie Vincent.

00:03:30.200 I think a lot of you guys probably already know Donnie, but I think you'll also hear and see

00:03:35.240 a side of him that maybe you haven't before. He's an explorer, a biologist, a conservationist

00:03:41.040 and a sportsman. And I think again, after listening to our conversation and you'll hear how thoughtful

00:03:45.820 and intentional he is about exactly how he lives his life. He's an incredible storyteller. And through

00:03:52.900 his media company, Sigmanta, he has a powerful gift in bringing people into his outdoor adventures

00:03:59.700 and then connecting them with his passion for the wild. And after hearing from him today,

00:04:04.860 you're definitely going to understand what I mean. And hopefully you'll walk away inspired to

00:04:08.100 lean more fully into your life. Donnie, what's up, brother? How are you doing? Glad to be doing

00:04:14.320 this. Yeah, it's good to finally meet you. I know it's, it's, uh, it's pretty interesting.

00:04:17.760 My chair's being weird here. Uh, social media is really powerful because you connect with all

00:04:21.580 these people. And then when you finally meet them in person, it's, uh, it just forges that

00:04:25.380 connection even more. Yeah. Social is, it's, uh, yeah, it's a conundrum, man. You know, it's,

00:04:31.960 it's, it's, it's, everyone knows the negativities around it. Everyone knows that

00:04:36.220 we live on our phones now, which is, yes, but it's, it's nice to see you face to face and hear

00:04:42.580 your voice. And I know we've talked about me coming to your home in Maine and visiting and doing one of

00:04:47.060 these live and we still need to do that. But yeah, it's, it's, I'm happy we met on social,

00:04:51.780 but I, I hate that there is a social channel for all of us, but it is really powerful, man.

00:04:57.960 It is powerful. It bridges worlds. Yeah. It's, it's as powerful as you use it. Cause I know

00:05:03.100 there's a lot of people who use it and we were talking about this earlier for negativity and

00:05:06.980 destructive behavior and toxic patterns. Yeah. You know, it's, and so they think it's the tool

00:05:12.160 that's the bad thing. No, no, it's the way you're using the tool because there's a lot of people who

00:05:16.420 have forged good connections who have created a powerful business opportunities, other

00:05:21.340 opportunities in their life through digital technology. It's wonderful. I don't even know

00:05:25.200 if I'd have, you know, there's, I don't even know. I suppose I would still be creating films

00:05:31.140 that you would have to find through a channel of stores and I would still be, you know, I'd

00:05:35.120 write books and shoot photos. And so you'd find them in that particular manner. But yeah,

00:05:39.200 it's, it's, it's really cool. It's very cool. And selfishly, it's funny. You always think,

00:05:46.040 maybe people always think that what you're doing is okay. And what others are doing is their jam.

00:05:51.120 And maybe you agree, maybe you disagree. But for me, for us at Sigmanta and myself,

00:05:55.980 sharing the work that we do with others and being able to write about it and give our thoughts and

00:06:02.820 give our ideas is really important and really rewarding to me. But, um, it's always kept at a

00:06:08.420 certain level. That's what it's always so important to me. So, uh, what do you mean by that? Just,

00:06:12.700 just, uh, the writing, like, because I'm hunting, because I'm fishing, because I'm spending time

00:06:18.400 outdoors that when I'm there, when I'm, when I'm in, in the wild, I have a tremendous mindfulness,

00:06:26.240 a tremendous presence. And so I just, it's, I really enjoy sharing the photos. You know,

00:06:31.860 if I go on a caribou hunt in the Arctic circle, I can't show, no one's going to see that work

00:06:36.940 unless they buy a book that I write or they buy a movie that is sitting on a shelf someplace. But

00:06:42.020 having the social allows imagery from that place to come, to come forth and people to download it.

00:06:49.000 And then it allows me an opportunity to write my thoughts and, and, um, and having something like

00:06:53.580 hunting is so difficult to wrap your head around. Oh yeah. I mean, killing. And so it's, it's just a,

00:07:00.400 it's just a good outlet for me to, to share with people far and wide and others have used it for

00:07:05.060 different things, like we just said, and to each of their own, but yeah, it's, it's enjoyable and

00:07:10.420 distracting as hell. Yeah. Well, that's actually one of the things I appreciate about you because,

00:07:14.800 and there's other people in the, you know, the industry or hunting in general who I think are

00:07:19.140 like you in that your, your lifestyle, that's your way of life. Right. And then there's other

00:07:25.240 people that I see who are, who seem to be gaming it. Yeah. Right. And so there's a lot, there's a lot

00:07:30.060 of that. And so, and, and it's easy to hide behind social media and it's easy to, to show what you

00:07:35.100 want to show and paint a story that maybe not based entirely in reality. Yeah. Um, but that's

00:07:41.480 one thing I admire about you is it looks like, okay, this is my life. And then this is a small

00:07:47.220 part of it for me, for me to show it to people. Yeah. And it's a small part. Like people, I'm not,

00:07:51.920 I'm not a guy and there are guys out there. I'm not a guy or a girl, um, that, you know,

00:07:57.260 there's the perception maybe if you look at my Instagram pages or perception that I live in the

00:08:02.400 wilderness or that I'm in the wilderness full time or that I'm a mountain man or that I'm a

00:08:07.280 trapper or that. And none of that is true. Um, you know, I'm going on small expeditions,

00:08:13.140 things that our ancestors would think are a weekend vacation. I'm going for two weeks, three weeks,

00:08:19.200 four weeks to the Arctic. This year I did eight weeks in Alaska, but these are little snippets in

00:08:23.560 my life that I'm going, enjoying hitting the reset button for me. It's also become work, which is.

00:08:30.180 It's an amazing thing. It's amazing. Yeah. And I was just reading a book on, on what really

00:08:36.520 designates happiness in one's life and finding a job that you really fills you as full as you fill

00:08:42.900 it and pushing you forward every day is a, is a great, uh, in line with being, with being truly

00:08:49.720 happy, falling in love, having, having work that, that you intrinsically loves. And so I feel very

00:08:55.340 fortunate in that regard, but, um, yeah, I don't, I don't, this is what I do. This is what I think

00:09:02.320 about. This is what I live for, but it's not that I live in the wilderness, right? I'm not a mountain

00:09:06.820 man. And so I'd, I don't want that misperception there, but yeah, people, yeah, it's, it's a,

00:09:11.540 it's a representation that, um, people look at social pages and they think that's how these people's

00:09:17.900 lives are all the time when the majority of us capture really magical moments, share just those.

00:09:23.900 And I don't know, it's, I go back and forth, I go back and forth, honestly. And so, um,

00:09:29.180 I think when you share that more, and I tend to share a lot on social media and when I share more,

00:09:35.880 not just the victories, but also the setbacks, I think that's better in a lot of ways because

00:09:41.100 people, people see themselves in you when you mess up, right? But if, but if all they see is

00:09:47.600 wins, they can't make the connection and you don't inspire people that way because they think,

00:09:52.100 Oh, this guy's got to figure it out. And what the hell's wrong with me? Because I've,

00:09:55.020 I'm going through a divorce or going through financial issues, or I don't have a hobby or a

00:09:58.520 job that I enjoy and find meaningful. So like there's something wrong with me versus, you know,

00:10:03.980 you see a guy like yourself or other people that I've had on podcast and yeah, you're sharing your

00:10:07.800 wins, but you're also sharing the humanity of it, right? And the mistakes and then there's so many

00:10:12.520 mistakes and it's so hard. And there are so many, I mean, it's not, I'm not laying concrete negative

00:10:17.900 30 temperature, like, like some guys have to do, but it's, it's, it's a lot of hard work and it's

00:10:22.760 very difficult to, um, you want to be there without cameras. You want to be there with people that you

00:10:30.640 want to share the time with or by yourself. And you want to just be present in the, you know,

00:10:34.940 and so involving cameras and involving microphones and things like that are really take from the

00:10:40.480 experience, but it also really lifts the experience. Cause when we come home, we're able to share it

00:10:44.640 with people. And so, yeah, we definitely celebrate our, our suck as well. Cause we make so many

00:10:51.100 mistakes. It's not even funny. So many missteps. I can't even fathom. We, we talk about all the time,

00:10:57.680 my crew and I, I don't have a massive, and this is something that I think we've talked about,

00:11:02.460 but I don't have a, a, a high self-confidence, something I've suffered with my entire life.

00:11:08.040 Like I see people all around me. I'm like, that guy's super talented. That guy's super talented.

00:11:11.020 Like, why am I not super talented? Interesting. Um, yeah. Because people look at you and probably

00:11:17.020 think the same thing that you think about others. Maybe, maybe this guy's super talented. He's

00:11:21.760 passionate. He's so good at this. And so they're probably thinking the same thing you do.

00:11:24.860 So I like, I like talking about the suffering and the, in the missteps and the difficult,

00:11:29.100 um, days because I think other people are having them too. I don't care how much money's in your

00:11:34.720 bank account or like you said, going through divorce or, um, losing a loved one or something

00:11:38.800 like that are really dark days in our lives, really dark days. And I'm, I'm of above all else. I'm of

00:11:45.860 the, the idea that being mindful and being present is above all else. I don't care that we're at

00:11:53.460 shot show. I, I just want to be sitting here right now with you. We're having a conversation there.

00:11:58.860 It's, this is nothing more than that. And I just want to enjoy this for every second that it is,

00:12:02.460 because this is truly a once in a lifetime experience for me. We might do this interview

00:12:06.020 next year, but it won't be the same as it is right now. Absolutely. This is an interesting way

00:12:10.140 to look at it once in a lifetime. And for my life, it might not be a long one. Yeah. Well,

00:12:15.620 that's the thing. You know, I was thinking about it. My, uh, my oldest son, he had an advancement

00:12:20.280 in our church just recently. And I thought to myself, man, I remember bringing this kid home

00:12:23.840 from the hospital and now here we are almost 12 years later. I'm like, gosh, I can't imagine being

00:12:29.040 to go to your earlier point in a job that you hate or that you're miserable. Uh, it's just,

00:12:34.140 and I'm, I've been fortunate enough, like you to find something that's really driving me that I find

00:12:38.480 a lot of passion for and enthusiasm in. So it's, uh, did it, did it find you or do you find it?

00:12:43.780 Cause mine found me, um, kind of, that's interesting. Yeah. I hadn't considered that. I don't like

00:12:50.060 necessarily the word found, like I found it because it almost sounds passive as in I just

00:12:55.160 stumbled upon it. I don't look at it like that. I feel like I articulated it. I developed it. I

00:13:01.160 created it, but I didn't fully realize to your point about finding it. I didn't fully realize

00:13:07.380 what I had developed until I went down that path. And now to your point is I really feel like,

00:13:15.380 and I don't share this a whole lot, but I really feel like what I'm doing now is the reason for the

00:13:21.560 last 38 years of my life. Yeah. And, and so I do think to your point that it, it pulled me right.

00:13:28.480 It pulled me in and I had to uncover and discover through those steps. Same with me. People ask me

00:13:32.540 all the time, Hey, how do you, um, how did you do this? What steps did you take? Every day I get

00:13:37.600 asked, what degree do I need to get in college to do what you're doing? What? And I just think

00:13:41.780 there, there, there isn't one, you know, I was just hunting. I was going places and hunting because

00:13:46.780 I wanted to go there and hunt. And then I'd see things I'd go without a camera and then I'd see

00:13:51.880 things on that hunt that I think, Oh, I want to share this with people. I want to share this with

00:13:56.900 my family, with friends. So I'm going to, okay. So I'm coming back next year. I'm going to bring a

00:14:00.440 handy cam, um, you know, and then, and then you bring a handy cam and you, you know, you're sitting

00:14:05.620 there on the film at a grizzly bear and then you go home. Yeah. You watch it and you're like, okay, next year I'm

00:14:10.020 bringing a tripod. Next year I'm going to bring a tripod. And then you start doing all these things.

00:14:13.620 And then, um, I'd be at shows like this. Just, I'd get invites from friends and I'd just come walk

00:14:19.000 around, look at the guns and bows, just like everyone else. And then people would say, you

00:14:22.400 know, Hey, what do you do? And so I tell them my story. I'm a biologist. I work in Alaska and then I

00:14:27.340 hunt. Oh, what do you hunt? Oh, I hunt here. Oh, that's really cool. Hey, tell my buddy over here.

00:14:31.260 And then pretty soon you have a company that's like, Hey, can we send you some backpacks to,

00:14:35.460 you know, for you to use? Or Hey, can we use some of your footage on a, on a TV show that we're producing?

00:14:39.620 And yeah, sure. Okay. And then all of a sudden, next thing you know, I meet some really talented

00:14:43.820 gentlemen and everyone kind of puts their hand in the center and, and we say on three and here we

00:14:49.760 are 10, 12 years later. Yeah. Isn't that interesting? I think people are looking for the path, like,

00:14:54.000 okay, what's step one, what's step two, what's step three, or, or what's the overall plan? Man,

00:14:58.420 I didn't have a plan when I started this. You didn't have a plan. You're like, I want to share this.

00:15:02.800 Here's a camera, like the cheapest camera I can find, you know? Not only did I not have a plan,

00:15:06.680 I brought my plan, my perception to a few friends that are in this industry. And they said, this is

00:15:13.680 really cool, but it will never work. Really? Just so you know, like, so this is the model. And I

00:15:19.280 listened to him. This is the model. You produce a TV show. Okay. Then you sell commercial spaces for

00:15:25.640 $60,000, $100,000. You know, if you're, if you're one of the big TV shows, you sell a commercial spot

00:15:32.780 for $150,000, whatever it is I'm making this up. If you're a smaller TV show, you sell the spot for

00:15:38.780 $25,000. So you go and collect all this money. Then you go around the country and you try to get

00:15:43.600 your hunts for as cheap as possible. Try to build a persona and a personality for yourself. And this

00:15:48.140 is how you make money. You get some free products and, and you're hunting for a lifestyle. And so I

00:15:52.780 brought him, I said, well, I don't want to do any of that. I don't want to be sponsored. I don't want

00:15:56.920 to go, you know, beg and borrow and steal to do this. I'd rather just do it, produce really great

00:16:03.840 work. Like as, as though we're writing a book and let the work sell, and then we'll go do it off of

00:16:09.340 things. And so, and, and they just said, oh, okay, that, well, you can, but it's not going to work.

00:16:14.460 Good luck. No one's going to buy your films. And no one, and so we gave a shot. We said, well,

00:16:18.700 let's just do one film. Right. We did it and it kind of took off and then people, you know,

00:16:25.080 and then the next one took off and then people started asking us to do commercial work. And,

00:16:28.740 and then like, like I said, like it was who I was naturally, but the job found me. Sure.

00:16:36.060 Yeah. Just by people saying, you know, it's just like, um, people say, well, how do you make the

00:16:40.080 next viral video? None of us know, because who knows what people are going to glom onto people.

00:16:45.340 People see that kid that opens up toys and makes $30 million a year on YouTube. And people say,

00:16:51.600 well, my kid opens up toys. You know, it's like, yeah, awesome. But he's, but for some reason,

00:16:58.340 right. There's some other variable phonetically, how his voice sounds, how he behaves, the color of

00:17:03.400 his eyes. For some reason we've put our hooks into this kid. So, and so that's what I think it is.

00:17:08.080 It's you find something like your podcast and your writings and, and, um, the people you've

00:17:12.820 surrounded yourself with. People want to set their hooks into that. It's enjoyable. It's entertaining.

00:17:17.000 They're learning things about the world and are probably with you because you're, you say some

00:17:22.560 kind of, I'm not going to say controversial things, but things that make, the things that

00:17:26.340 make people go, Oh man, I'm really maybe not that good of a man or man. I'm really not that

00:17:30.840 good of a human being. Well, I'm just mostly talking about myself. No, I know. But that's

00:17:34.120 what I mean. But people see that. Like, you're like, Hey, this is where I had a misstep.

00:17:37.540 People are like, yeah, I've done that. Yeah. And I did it twice in fact. So yeah.

00:17:42.000 Yeah. Yeah. It is interesting. I wish there was, I w well, I don't know. I was going to

00:17:46.260 say, I wish there was a path, but I don't know if I wish there was like, you have to

00:17:49.740 uncover that you have to develop, you have to articulate it. How do you find the balance

00:17:53.400 when you, when you're on a hunt and engaged this way with being present in, in the hunt

00:17:58.460 and the activity of what you're doing in nature and enjoying all of that. And then also wanting

00:18:03.260 to share it with the world through technology, cameras, production, et cetera.

00:18:07.000 Um, two ways really. One is that we just try to film all the time, which is very difficult,

00:18:12.920 but if you're filming all the time, it doesn't feel like there's a setup, right? Like you

00:18:16.500 and I doing this this morning, we physically had to set this up, but if for in some manner,

00:18:22.140 let's just say this camera was rolling all the time or often, and let's just say we lived

00:18:26.520 with these headsets on and we stopped and had a conversation right here. It would be, dare

00:18:30.740 I say a lot more of a fluid conversation and a lot less intrusive than it is you and I

00:18:36.620 sit down on these chairs. It's awkward, like stage. Yeah. Like we sit down and we're like,

00:18:40.440 okay, three, two, you know? So the more we film, the more natural the presence is. It's

00:18:48.980 also way more difficult, right? Cause the cameras are heavy. They're out all the time. They're

00:18:52.540 in the weather. We're going through a lot of media cards. We're having to download this

00:18:56.500 stuff, but that is one of the ways it's just trying to capture everything. And then it's

00:19:02.500 two other ways. We're looking through the lens and we're chasing that imagery of, so when

00:19:08.940 you see a doll sheep, when you see a ptarmigan, a moose, wolf, grizzly bear, if you were just

00:19:14.860 there on your own and just watching it, you're almost as though you are trying to catalog that

00:19:20.620 imagery, that experience as fast as possible while it's happening. You're just watching

00:19:24.480 that bear. You're seeing his fur ripple in the wind and you're seeing his big massive

00:19:28.920 forearms as he like pushes down all their bushes to eat blueberries. And you just, you're trying

00:19:33.380 to take it all in as fast as possible because you're like, I'm going to remember this rest

00:19:36.600 of my life. This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Well, when you have

00:19:40.900 a camera, you can still pour that into the camera and just get the focus right and get

00:19:47.540 the colors right and get the shot lined up right and watch that bear. And sometimes we're

00:19:52.380 very close, which is really rewarding because then you're just watching it. And then when the

00:19:55.560 whole thing's over with, you know, we all look at each other. Sometimes we're hugging

00:19:58.860 and like, Oh my word. But now we've got it. Right. So it did. The camera actually didn't

00:20:03.720 take from our experience. The camera almost enhanced our experience because it gave us

00:20:08.080 a job to take in during the experience. And then now we get to share it with others.

00:20:12.900 So not only did we, we, we were no longer passive in the engagement. We're now active

00:20:18.040 in capturing. And, and then as far as communicating into the camera, um, it's as though having a buddy

00:20:25.880 there and, and something to say. And oftentimes, um, I learned this recently through a book called,

00:20:31.700 um, uh, no, I'm not going to think of the name, but, uh, it's a book by, uh, Ray Dalio, uh,

00:20:37.740 Evan Hafer of, of a black rifle, uh, recommended it to me. Okay. Um, but anyway,

00:20:42.340 Is it principles?

00:20:43.540 Principles.

00:20:44.180 Principles. Thank you. So in the book, he talks about how our creativity just flourishes when

00:20:48.800 we're busy with another activity. You know, if we sit down with a computer, we sit down with

00:20:53.120 a blank page and we're going to write a story. We just sit there and, you know, in that cursor

00:20:56.620 just sits there bouncing in front of us, blinking, looking at you, just, you know, what are we going

00:21:00.540 to do? What are we going to do? But all of a sudden you'll be walking your dog. I'm, I'll

00:21:04.260 guarantee you run into this. You're doing jujitsu. You're walking your dog, you're fly fishing,

00:21:08.320 you're climbing a tree, whatever it is. And ideas are popping in your head.

00:21:12.100 Of course.

00:21:12.420 Yeah. So you're busy with another task. Things are able to flood into your mind. So as I'm hunting

00:21:17.140 ideas and things that I want to communicate and talk about flood into my mind, and then I'm able

00:21:21.760 to just, Hey, turn the camera on. And I wish I could, I wish I could do it without saying,

00:21:26.580 Hey, turn the camera on because that right there, that's a little snap back to reality.

00:21:31.900 So when we can capture things just absolutely fluid, it's the most rewarding, but you know,

00:21:38.380 sometimes you have to say, Hey, I have something to say, turn the camera on or whatever, you know,

00:21:41.300 but yeah, but yeah, so that's how we do it. That's how we maintain that presence is

00:21:45.060 having the job of capturing that really beautiful imagery. Cause we get excited

00:21:50.500 to, to share with people. One time we were filming in the Arctic and it was pouring rain

00:21:56.520 and we had some big grizzly bears around us and me and our director of photography,

00:22:01.200 William Altman, who lives in Maine, him and I are just belly crawling all the way across this tundra.

00:22:06.020 And the guy we're hunting with, his name's Lance Kronberger. He's watching us. We're a couple

00:22:10.540 hundred yards away from he, him. And we, we, we saw this ptarmigan walking through the tundra.

00:22:16.160 So we're, I mean, we're belly crawling, it's pouring rain. We're getting so miserable.

00:22:19.980 Yeah. We film it and we come back and he, you know, he's sitting there glass like,

00:22:26.060 what were you two doing? We go, we're filming a ptarmigan. He said, what,

00:22:31.020 why would you work so hard to film a ptarmigan? He says, dumbest thing in the world I've ever heard

00:22:35.260 of. So then we showed him the footage and we're actually filming this. Uh, he's,

00:22:40.520 he's eating tundra berries and they're literally, we're watching him go down his, um, into his

00:22:45.260 crop, like through his throat. Yeah. We got so close and we showed him, he's like, ah,

00:22:49.560 that's so amazing. Yeah. He's like, that's really cool to see. So doing that task is allowing us to

00:22:55.260 engage with that bird, film the imagery and then take it to people.

00:22:59.400 I like that. I had an experience. I was telling you, I was hunting, um, in Arizona with Brandon

00:23:03.780 and some other mutual friends. And, uh, I stalked into this mule deer at 30 yards and I had to get

00:23:09.740 that close because he was over the crest of the hill. They always are. Muleys always are. Yeah.

00:23:13.520 So he's bedded down under a tree. I got to the crest and saw him. He didn't see me. I'm sitting

00:23:17.180 there at 30 yards. I'm thinking, I'm thinking, okay, well, I'm just going to hang out here when

00:23:20.940 he's ready to get up. He'll get up and walk one way or the other and I'll make my shot and I'll be

00:23:24.780 well. Pops up, not real much, much of a warning pops up, walks straight at me. Oh. And he stops at 19

00:23:31.520 yards and I'm sat down and maybe some bushes that are, I don't know, a foot and a half or so tall,

00:23:36.160 if that. Yeah. And he stops at 19 yards and no joke for two minutes, just stared him and I just

00:23:41.940 stared at each other for two minutes. And then he turned. And when he turned, I tried to draw as low

00:23:48.380 as I could. I drew and he bolted, but that is the coolest experience, animal encounter that I've had

00:23:55.560 without completing my objective without a successful hunt, but it was still incredible. And I immediately,

00:24:03.440 I got done. I'm kind of disappointed, you know, it worked out the way it did, but still excited

00:24:07.200 about it. And I'm, I'm walking down and I, I get on the phone with my wife because I just wanted to

00:24:11.080 share it. Yeah. Like I just wanted to share that story. And the guy who was spotting for me, we

00:24:14.640 were talking about it. And it was so cool to be able to have that experience and then want to share it

00:24:19.360 with other people who you feel would, would appreciate and respect what it's all about.

00:24:23.920 So that's exactly it. We'd film that deer doing that, you know, and I would be sitting there with my

00:24:28.940 bow and he'd run off and I would just turn to the camera, you know, and did you get, yeah,

00:24:33.680 that's incredible. And then we just talked about seeing his eyes and the stare down and seeing his

00:24:37.960 breath come out of his nose. And then the decision of, that's funny that he did that. I've never

00:24:42.180 actually experienced. I've had them bolt out of their beds. I've had them get up and stand there

00:24:47.060 and then turn around, bed back down. I've had them do basically everything other than stand up and

00:24:51.180 walk straight at me. I was like, no. So I'm assuming you weren't looking at him when he started to

00:24:57.080 stir. I was, but he, the way he was, there wasn't anything that I could see that he was going to get

00:25:04.000 up. Like there wasn't much of a warning for me the way that I was, because really all that I was

00:25:08.200 able to see was the back of his head and his, his rack. So then all of a sudden he just stood up.

00:25:12.820 All of a sudden he gets up and I'm like, oh man, because if he would have stirred, I would have been

00:25:16.320 able to draw. But yeah, unfortunately I didn't have that advanced warning and I felt like I was a

00:25:21.200 little too close, but in my mind I'm thinking to myself, because that's what I do. I'm like, okay,

00:25:25.880 what did I do wrong? How can I fix it? I'm like, I wouldn't have played that any different.

00:25:29.700 No, no, no. That's, that's just mule deer hunting. I can't even tell you. One time William and I got

00:25:35.820 on to a mule deer that was really, really big, heavy mule deer, really, really big. And we got

00:25:40.180 to 19 yards and he was bedded. Same thing. He, he would, this, this deer, he would dig out of bed

00:25:46.440 every day underneath this big red osier dogwood bush. So you could just see the tips of his antlers.

00:25:51.100 He was a massive deer. And so we got to 19 yards from him. He's right there. All he has to do is

00:25:56.300 stand up. The wind's in our face, cranking. Long story short, we sat there for five and a half

00:26:00.720 hours in t-shirts and socks, freezing. This is in Alberta. And he finally, finally the wind is just

00:26:07.420 blowing, blowing, blowing, blowing. It gets lower and lower and lower and lower and lower, stops.

00:26:11.680 And then our thermals drop and he explodes from his bed. And, um, the guy we were hunting with,

00:26:18.760 he was very upset. He was basically having a temper tantrum that we didn't. He really wanted

00:26:24.260 to kill this deer. Was that a guide that you were with? It was a guide. Yeah. So he really wanted to

00:26:28.660 kill this deer. Yeah. And you know, we were like you, of course we wanted to be successful, but we

00:26:34.880 very, very much appreciated. It seems like this day and age, we celebrate even our shortcomings as

00:26:42.540 wins. And I don't want to do that, but it is basically a win when you can win in your life.

00:26:47.780 When you are taking the time to sit 30 yards from a mule deer that, and that's how you're spending

00:26:52.480 your time away from your family. You're winning. Yeah. Whether you shoot that deer or not, you're

00:26:57.440 winning. And if you think our ancestors or native Americans got it done every time, you're absolutely

00:27:01.860 nuts. I cannot imagine. I mean, I can't do it with the technology. Yeah. Let alone the technology

00:27:07.800 they did. Yeah. And carving arrows, breaking rocks apart to be arrowheads. I mean, why do you think

00:27:13.880 they would steer Buffalo towards a giant cliff? Because it was efficient to push these things

00:27:19.080 off and kill them with rocks at the bottom. Yeah. You know, and yeah, yeah. It's no, you're

00:27:23.200 definitely, it's super rewarding whether it works or not. Right. Yeah. It's interesting. You were

00:27:27.840 talking about sitting there for five hours. Last year, I was at the same hunt and we, uh, we stalked

00:27:32.860 this mule deer under, he, similar situation. He was bedded up under a tree. And I, I got down in a

00:27:38.000 ravine that led right to him and I got about 50 yards away from him. And I just sat there and I

00:27:42.340 waited for him to get up and I was going to draw and then walk out of the ravine and, and, and take my

00:27:46.460 shot. Sitting there for three and a half hours. And I had prior to the, me making that initial stock,

00:27:54.640 I had dropped my bag and, and it was the middle of the day. So I dropped my bag and dropped my gear

00:27:59.240 and I had my jacket on and I'm sitting in that ravine just like, Oh boy, like in the shade. I'm

00:28:03.720 like, it is so cold. But at the same time, you're just sitting here and thinking, this is awesome.

00:28:08.640 This is so cool. I'm just sitting here and there's a deer right up over that ridge and he has no idea

00:28:13.900 I'm here right now. And how cool is that? Yeah. You get to watch him kind of go through a piece of his

00:28:18.360 day. Yes. And when you mess up, they get to continue being deer. Right. Right. You know, you have to,

00:28:23.080 there has to be a little bit of a win in there as well. Like that contest. Yeah. He's, he's,

00:28:27.960 he gets another night under the stars and that has to be celebrated as well. Well, I think the

00:28:32.800 stakes at which hunting is right. Life and death quite literally is what is part of what makes it

00:28:37.960 so rewarding is that there are stakes to it. You know, we play a lot of times we play in, in,

00:28:44.080 in an environment, in a world where there's not a whole lot of consequences in modern society for

00:28:49.000 even our missteps, you know, somebody's always quick to swoop us in or, or, or, you know, fix the

00:28:54.260 situation. And so when you're having that immediate feedback of losing an animal or, or taking a

00:29:00.760 misstep, the reality, or even succeeding and taking the animal's life, the reality of the consequences

00:29:07.520 of what you just did is what makes it significant and meaningful and purpose-driven.

00:29:12.240 Yeah. I mean, like that's life for us. People think that

00:29:16.120 I think oftentimes people think that there's a lot more to life than there is. I think there's a lot

00:29:25.380 more simple wins in life. There's a lot more simple appreciations and engagements in our lives than,

00:29:32.440 than we think. Like we're in this giant room right now. There's massive companies sitting around us,

00:29:37.800 billions of dollars of commerce here, but really, really doesn't mean anything.

00:29:44.140 Yeah. Does this matter?

00:29:45.040 It doesn't.

00:29:45.680 Right.

00:29:45.980 I assure you, not, nothing in here matters.

00:29:48.140 No, you're exactly right.

00:29:48.440 The, the, the people in this room matter to themselves and to their families. They don't

00:29:53.120 even matter that much to us. I mean, we'll, we would do something probably, um, fantastic to go,

00:29:58.980 we would go through a fantastic event to save someone's life. And, and I, I believe most of us

00:30:04.800 would do that, um, without giving it a half a second thought, but really we are important to

00:30:10.520 ourselves. We're important to our family. We're important to our children, to our girlfriends,

00:30:14.220 our wives, um, our parents, brothers and sisters, but the simplicity of what you find in your life,

00:30:23.480 the happiness that you find, it's really, really important. If you think that owning a massive

00:30:29.440 company or, or being here and, and being the one that's good enough to get a badge to get in the

00:30:36.220 shot show or, or good enough to meet somebody that you might perceive as a celebrity. And you

00:30:40.960 think that they have a candy coated life. Like all of that stuff is smoke and mirrors every last bit

00:30:46.340 of it. I'm not telling you that money doesn't help life a little bit or, or being able to buy

00:30:51.120 clean, healthy food is better or grow clean, healthy food is better than the alternative, but

00:30:55.440 there are so many things in our own backyards that we can do that we can celebrate and enjoy that

00:31:03.100 will make our lives measurably better. But yet we look right past all of this stuff and try to find

00:31:09.580 something shiny in the future. We try to tell each other that, Oh, I'm more fit than you. I'm stronger

00:31:14.540 than you. I'm tougher than you. I can shoot further than you. I have more money than you. Yeah. My,

00:31:18.380 my wife is hotter than your wife. Um, our bank is better than your bank. Look at my car. And it's,

00:31:23.620 it's literally an empty, uh, an empty closet of boxes. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it's funny. I was,

00:31:29.780 it's funny. We're on this because I was talking about this just the other day on Instagram. In

00:31:33.020 fact, and I thought to myself, I don't know why I got thinking about this, but I thought,

00:31:35.900 you know, if I died today, the people who listen to this podcast would miss me for like two weeks.

00:31:42.440 Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. And I don't say that to like, to, to make myself feel bad or to put

00:31:47.980 down people who are lit. That's not what I'm saying, but it's funny because they would be on the next

00:31:52.960 podcast in a moment. Easily. They would, they would, some would, some would be affected by the

00:31:59.140 tragedy, um, in a sad way. Some would, some would say, Hey, you know, he lived his life. Right. If

00:32:05.180 I die in an airplane crash next year, I hope there's not a tear shed at whatever my funeral or

00:32:11.960 celebration of life, whatever people do these days. I hope they're like, you know, I hope when

00:32:16.420 people find out that I died in an airplane crash, they go, yeah, of course you died in an airplane

00:32:19.920 crash. Makes sense. I spend a lot of time in small airplanes, you know, and, and, uh, yeah,

00:32:24.020 it's not, not everything's a tragedy. And just like you said, like a much of us dies with us.

00:32:28.180 Yeah. Right. You know, and sometimes, sometimes we live on a legacies, the greats live on, but,

00:32:33.740 um, yeah, I agree with you entirely. What, uh, why do you think that is? Why do you think we're,

00:32:38.580 we, we pursue these things that ultimately just don't have a whole lot of meaning and significance?

00:32:43.280 Um, you know, that's a good question. I don't know. Cause we're selfish. We, we want to,

00:32:49.260 you know, I think probably for an age old, um, for a lifetime, for ages, we've probably collected

00:32:56.200 shiny things to appear like we have maybe more than the next guy, or maybe we have this perception

00:33:01.560 of value that these things are finally going to make us happy. Right. Um, I was just reading in a

00:33:07.480 book too, and I'm terrible at remembering titles of books, but the hypothesis of happiness, I think I

00:33:12.200 was reading and he was talking about, is that right? Uh, or the happiness equation, maybe,

00:33:17.000 maybe the happiness equation. I've seen a couple, I've seen a couple titled like that.

00:33:20.340 Something like that. But the guy was saying, I can prove to you that the quadriplegic or a

00:33:25.980 paraplegic, I can prove to you that a paraplegic is happier than a person that wins the lottery.

00:33:30.240 I can prove it to you. And basically he was saying that if you win the lottery, it's really euphoric.

00:33:36.060 It's really exciting for a year or two, right? You buy the fancy house, you buy the fancy car,

00:33:42.940 um, if, if you're single, you might find love with a, with a model that's looking for a wealthy

00:33:49.080 love. Right. Um, so, so, so I wouldn't say love, but yeah, yeah. Some fun. Yeah. Yeah. So things stack

00:33:54.840 up in your favor and you're just, you're on cloud nine, you know, I'm trying a Ferrari or whatever

00:33:58.800 it is that you choose. You're living in a fancy house. You got a big piece of land, whatever.

00:34:02.540 But that happiness starts to diminish immediately, immediately because you have everything at your

00:34:08.280 fingertips that you need. And, and really your appreciation for your big fancy house dies a

00:34:15.060 little bit every day for all of us. Like you, because it's so abundant. Yeah. And like you

00:34:18.720 bought your house in Maine, it's a beautiful, it's an old, I'm assuming it's like an old dairy farm or

00:34:22.540 something. It's a, it's, it's a, it's a hay farm. And they had, uh, what they do, it was a wagon

00:34:28.060 stop essentially is what it was. People would come and they would stop for the night and then

00:34:31.940 they would go on about their way. Okay. So I'll guarantee you that you like your house less than

00:34:36.980 the day you closed on it. I like it less than, you know, the, I remember the first time I saw it,

00:34:41.560 I was thinking about this the other day. I'm like, why don't I like this house as much as the day that

00:34:45.340 we drove down that hill and saw it? Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And so that happens with all of us,

00:34:49.520 right? You can buy a brand new pickup truck. You're like, this is the greatest truck in the

00:34:53.100 world. Ask me a year from now and it'll just be a pickup truck. It does its job. And so that's what

00:34:58.700 he was identifying. And he said, conversely, the paraplegic, everything that he or she does in their

00:35:05.880 life takes a monumental effort. Let's just, I'll just break it down, but brushing their teeth,

00:35:12.240 putting their shoes on, putting pants on, transferring from the bed to their wheelchair,

00:35:16.100 having sex, cooking for themselves, getting to their job is massive every day. And so every day

00:35:23.520 they do these little wins and they're like, yeah, I got on the, I got from the bed into my wheelchair

00:35:28.780 finally on my own. Now it might not mean the same to them once they do it for years, but there will

00:35:36.140 be things in their lives always because they're challenged with how their life has turned out

00:35:40.740 either in a tragedy or a disease or, or, or a birth defect, whatever it may be. Yeah. But they are

00:35:46.460 able to celebrate wins a lot more and their lives tend to get richer as it grows rather than the lottery

00:35:55.940 winner who diminishes as it grows. And so I read them. Absolutely. Yeah. With, without pause, I completely

00:36:01.860 agree. All right, gentlemen, quick break for just a second. I want to introduce you to one of our events

00:36:09.280 that we have coming up. It's called the legacy experience. Now legacy is something that's very

00:36:13.500 important to me. And I'm sure it is for you too. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend

00:36:18.220 four or five days with my two oldest boys. And as we laughed and joked and shared stories and

00:36:25.200 basically had a mini adventure, I couldn't help, but wonder if I am doing enough in my life as their

00:36:30.600 father to prepare them for their lives and growing up. In fact, it's probably the thing that keeps me up

00:36:36.800 at night more than anything else. And I'm sure that as a father, you probably feel very much the same

00:36:41.420 way. And for this reason, I launched the legacy experience three years ago as a three and a half

00:36:48.300 day event to bring together fathers and sons around a group of strong and competitive, competent men.

00:36:54.480 So we could learn the lessons and experiences and have resources and conversations about what it means

00:37:01.460 to be a man and how a boy transitions from boy or young man into adulthood. And I want to invite you

00:37:07.840 to claim one of the last two remaining spots. We only have two. This is our third installment.

00:37:12.740 It's going to be in Maine on my property here on June 11th through the 14th, 2020. So if you're even

00:37:18.380 remotely interested in what this legacy event is all about, please head to order of man.com slash legacy.

00:37:25.220 You can learn more. You're going to watch a quick two to three minute video about what we do.

00:37:29.560 And you can claim one of those last spots again, it's order of man.com slash legacy. If you're

00:37:35.840 interested to do it very, very quickly, cause we will sell those last two spots and hopefully you

00:37:39.960 will be the holder of one of those, uh, those spots. All right. And then we'll see you in June

00:37:45.200 again, order of man.com slash legacy. Do that after the show for now, we'll get back to my conversation

00:37:50.100 with Donnie. That's an interesting, I imagine to the scarcity of that as well, right? When,

00:37:56.240 when resources or whatever it is that you're after is scarce and you achieve it, there's

00:38:01.200 a lot of, uh, excitement and gratitude and just, just, you're just excited about it, right?

00:38:07.540 That you achieved it, that you did something. Imagine sourcing food, right? Like, um, I think

00:38:14.460 about things all the time. Like we have, and I'm not picking on them. I don't, I don't like

00:38:18.640 to pick on these groups. Like a lot of hunters do, but vegetarians and vegans, right? A lot less

00:38:22.820 vegetarians than, than vegans, vegan, veganism. I don't understand them in at all zero, but

00:38:28.900 you get rid of our infrastructure of stores of, of us being provided for. And none of

00:38:36.800 those people are vegans for a minute. No, as soon as you're hungry and I whack this animal

00:38:41.500 on the head over here, uh, you're the first one on the table. Absolutely. You're 100% in

00:38:47.500 your, uh, the, the blanket of comfort and, and, um, and ease that we have provided for

00:38:53.980 ourselves. Right. That's allowed you to say, yeah, I'm a vegan. I'm cool. Yeah. I'm good.

00:38:58.500 I, yes, I am just going to do, and, and it, it, it doesn't exist and it's not real. It's

00:39:04.620 not real if you, if you break it down. And so, um, that aspect of it. And then if you think

00:39:10.180 about, so I've eaten and I'm sure you have too, I've eaten at some very fancy restaurants

00:39:15.880 in my life, either been brought out to dinners or I've found little cafes or things like this

00:39:20.400 that I, you know, a piece of pie or somebody makes you something or you make it yourself.

00:39:24.240 It's amazing. But if I sit back and think about things that I've eaten or drank in my

00:39:30.420 life that really have moved me, I, if people ask me if all, if I'm in a restaurant, somebody

00:39:37.540 said, Hey, what's the, what's the greatest steak you've ever eaten? I have no idea other

00:39:41.960 than I'll guarantee you, I killed it. Right. However, I remember a day that I was severely

00:39:47.200 dehydrated on a backpacking hunt, severely, severely dehydrated. Um, and I found a cold, uh, spring

00:39:54.500 of water at the end of the day, at the bottom of the mountain, before I got back to camp and

00:39:59.780 drinking that cold water was one of the most euphoric experiences I've ever had in my entire

00:40:04.720 life. And sometimes if I can't sleep at night, I will sit back and think about finding that

00:40:09.480 water. I'll literally sit back because I didn't know where my next drink was going to come

00:40:13.300 from and truth be told. Right. And so it was, um, finding it and I'll just literally take

00:40:19.340 some time and think about that. And so I, exactly what you just said, when we have a lot provided

00:40:23.400 for us, it's easy for us to say, yeah, I'll have some more or in excess and not appreciate

00:40:31.140 the things that have happened. But when those things go away, then you truly find out who

00:40:38.320 you are, what you're looking for, sharing with somebody, being, being in that element.

00:40:43.240 Yeah. I think this is the value of even just being outside hunting, just exploring is,

00:40:48.840 is you're voluntarily placing yourself in that hardship because it's not, it's not going to

00:40:55.180 come to you by default, right? Just being comfortable is default, right? You're a little

00:41:00.020 cold. You turn up the heater, right? You need some food. I mean, you could call in food. You

00:41:04.900 want some little stupid random thing that you don't really need. You jump on Amazon, it's

00:41:08.920 delivered in 24 hours. And so we have all the luxury of, of modern times and it's so convenient

00:41:14.900 and easy and we don't push, push ourselves or put ourselves under any stress. Man, the more

00:41:19.780 that we do that, the more we appreciate how valuable the things that we have are. I remember

00:41:24.520 that first deer that I shot, it was in December of 2017. And where was it? It was in Texas.

00:41:32.120 Oh, yeah. It was a rifle hunt and it was a rifle and a bow hunt. The first day I was out

00:41:35.800 there, I shot a deer with a rifle. It's funny because the first day I was out there, I shot

00:41:38.560 a deer with a rifle. I think the third day I was out there, I shot one with my bow and I'm

00:41:42.260 like, just hunting things easy. Yeah. And then it all went downhill from there. Yeah.

00:41:46.920 That's how like the hunting gods get you roped into it. Right. And they give you a wind just

00:41:51.100 enough for you to keep coming back. Suck it away for life. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. But

00:41:55.460 man, I remember walking up to that animal and just thinking like how, it's somber for

00:42:01.320 sure. Right. Cause you took that animal's life. Yeah. But at the same time, like how powerful

00:42:06.360 it was, I mean, sitting down with my friends and family and consuming that deer was very rewarding,

00:42:12.440 much more rewarding than having a burger that I got at, you know, Walmart or whatever and

00:42:17.780 threw it on the grill, much more rewarding and a whole lot better too. Yeah. Yeah. And

00:42:21.440 that's, and that's the thing is when we, and we're tricking ourselves, like when we go on

00:42:25.640 hunts, that's what I said in the beginning, the trips that I go on are a baby length compared

00:42:30.760 to what our ancestors did. Right. And as they were, and certainly as we've evolved from, um,

00:42:36.380 into the people that we are today, like our, our ancestors had to work very, very hard to

00:42:41.220 get, to get their resources and, and only the strong survive, right? We all come from

00:42:46.020 hunters. That's just the nature of the beast. So, but when we, we put ourselves on these

00:42:51.460 elements of going back outside, whether it be a week long hunt in Maine or, or eight

00:42:55.500 weeks in Alaska, we are rewarding ourselves or we're seeing that sliver of being a little

00:43:00.600 bit hungry and, and having to have a chore for literally everything that we do, whether

00:43:04.640 you're getting water, whether you're getting firewood or trying to, uh, procure meat on the

00:43:09.180 hunt, you're, you know, and, and still we bring our, our comforts, right? We have modern

00:43:13.600 tents, we have modern weapons. And even if you have some guys say, well, you know, bring

00:43:18.600 a trad bow, even that, you know, the trad bows are really amazing right now. Yeah. The broad

00:43:23.980 heads are really amazing and techniques are even learned a lot, a lot more. You're not

00:43:28.060 learning from another tribe. You're not sitting there trying to figure it out yourself in the

00:43:31.020 woods. You're, you're, you're have the ability to go to an instructor or go to a buddy

00:43:35.280 that knows his craft and he's teaching you. And so there's, the walls have come way, way

00:43:39.780 down, but we can go into the woods and trick ourselves and see backwards a little tiny bit

00:43:46.900 and appreciate those things. And we can push our bodies into the, to a true brink. I mean,

00:43:51.420 there's, there's people that lose their lives every year hunting. And so it's a very real

00:43:55.180 deal. Uh, bears and wolves and small airplanes and drowning and hypothermia and, and boats capsizing

00:44:02.060 like this is falling through the ice. This, this is, these are realities of being a hunter

00:44:05.840 or fisherman. And, and the more you put yourself in these harsh climates, the more risk you're

00:44:10.160 taking, the more opportunity it is for death to snatch you away. But that is also so rewarding

00:44:15.860 for us to fill us full, to fill our souls, to test our bodies. And, and the more we can

00:44:21.400 do that, the more we can trick ourselves that I just think the healthier that we're going

00:44:25.860 to be. And really, if you can, you should try to incorporate into every day.

00:44:32.060 Oh yeah. You know, hitting the gym, running outside, riding bike, you know, I was about

00:44:39.640 to say, take your clothes off, but sure. Yeah. Throw that in there. Get, get rid of your jackets

00:44:44.880 and run outside and in a light base layer and feel the cold test yourself, you know, do some

00:44:50.120 of these things that are going to invigorate your, your body and you as a human being. And

00:44:53.900 I think you'll live a lot more positive of a life. Well, you will. You just appreciate more.

00:44:58.920 You'll feel, you'll feel better about yourself because you did something difficult. The other

00:45:01.980 day, uh, it started to snow the night before. And I was thinking, Oh, this is good. You

00:45:06.120 know, I'm not going to go outside. I'm just going to hunker down inside. Start a fire.

00:45:09.560 Yeah, exactly. And, uh, I thought to myself, I'm like, no, I'm going to go take advantage

00:45:14.420 of this. So I put some layers on. My son came out with me, put the snowshoes on and we, we

00:45:19.840 walked laps. We, we have some property. We did about three miles in the snow. Absolutely.

00:45:24.820 It was coming down and you know, it was cold and her legs were tired. It wasn't like pleasurable

00:45:30.760 necessarily. But at the same time, it's like, man, even out there, you're like, this is

00:45:33.860 so fulfilling, so rewarding. Then you get done and you're like, yeah, I feel good about

00:45:37.440 myself. Cause I did something today. Yeah. That was better than hunkering in and hunkering

00:45:40.960 in is fun. Right. There's a place for that. Yeah. There's hunkering is fun and baking a

00:45:44.840 pie and starting a fire and either watching a movie or reading a book with your family,

00:45:48.580 whatever it is. But yeah, it's, I agree with you. I, I literally snowshoe at home every day.

00:45:53.800 I'll snowshoe five to seven miles every day. Is that right? Yep. And I'm just walking

00:45:57.820 my dogs, but it's something that I, and I live on a, uh, I live on a river that has really

00:46:01.820 tall bluffs. So I just go up and down the bluffs, up and down the ravines. I'll walk

00:46:05.860 down the ice of the river. I'm checking things out. I'm looking at the swans and the geese,

00:46:09.440 deer, turkeys, and it's just super. And I literally can, you know, people always want to go to far

00:46:15.160 off places, but I literally can, can trick myself into feeling like I'm in the middle of the

00:46:19.820 wilderness and I'm in my backyard. I'm walking down the St. Croix river and I'm just enjoying

00:46:24.360 the cold. And, and, uh, sometimes I'll go out and walk my dogs. It's 30 below zero. And I see

00:46:28.780 them. They're all, they're all hunkered up, you know, and they're walking on the trail too. And I,

00:46:32.260 I literally just bought, um, I just bought a fat tire bike the other day. Oh, really? Yeah. Cause

00:46:37.040 I'm, I'm, I'm not going to drive my truck to the office anymore. I I'm just going to ride my bike

00:46:42.400 to the office. I got the tires studded up and yeah. And, uh, yeah. And I'm just gonna, I want to

00:46:47.280 ride in the snow and the sleet and the ice and, and yeah, I just want to, I want to get to work

00:46:52.840 and feel alive and not sit in my truck and, and just do a little bit, little wins throughout the

00:46:58.720 day just to keep testing myself. Yeah. That's powerful. How do you, how do you strike the

00:47:03.260 balance between you wanting to be outdoors and hunting and doing your thing? And then your other

00:47:07.420 obligations, family obligations, business, et cetera, et cetera. Uh, it's, it's, it's wicked. Like,

00:47:13.460 you know, yeah, people think I hunt for a living. Nothing could be further from the truth. You know,

00:47:17.660 I own a, I own a production company, Sigmanta. We do work for Shields. We do work for Benelli. We do

00:47:24.480 work for, uh, a number of different companies and companies that we, healthcare groups, we do work

00:47:30.680 for, you know, we might be filming a, a doctor sitting on the corner of a desk. Really? Yeah,

00:47:35.580 absolutely. And so, yeah, we'll do work for it. If somebody calls us to hire us to do commercial work,

00:47:42.280 to shoot photographs, whatever it is, tell a story. That's what we're really hired for is to

00:47:45.740 tell a story. Yeah. We're storytellers. And so even when we do 30 second spots, that's what we're

00:47:50.620 hired to do, right? We work for PSC. We work for a number of different companies. And so

00:47:54.660 the, the work-life balance is always, you know, more days than not, my alarm goes off at 4am.

00:48:04.380 Mm-hmm. And it's not that I'm tougher than you. I'm, you know, there's a lot of guys that

00:48:09.780 sleep in till nine and, and still live extremely fulfilled lives. Yeah. I don't think you have to

00:48:14.600 wake up at 4am. Yeah. No, no. But I mean, if that's your thing, great. Yeah. For me, 4am allows

00:48:19.740 me to get my workout in and then to get to the office and get X, Y, and Z done and still be able

00:48:25.400 to shoot my bow and sit down and write a little bit and read a little bit. And, but it's, it is

00:48:30.100 balancing, it is balancing being gone because I need to be gone to fill my mind, fill my soul

00:48:37.900 and to have something to talk about and write about. I need to be gone. I need to chase these

00:48:42.060 things, whether it be in my backyard or the Arctic circle. And so it's, it's a constant

00:48:46.540 yin and yang. Right. And the more work that comes in, the busier we are, the more stressed

00:48:52.340 we are. Stressed. I hate that word. I say it all the time, but that's the reality of it.

00:48:56.920 Why do you hate that word?

00:48:57.740 Um, because I think even just saying it, you know, it kind of brings it in. Yeah. Like

00:49:02.680 invites it, binds you up, you know, like, Hey, I'm stressed. Oh, I wish I didn't say that.

00:49:06.740 I wish I could say, I'm, you know, I'm really happy. I'm just challenged today. Oh yeah.

00:49:10.460 Which is good. That's a positive, right? Yeah. Yeah. Just being challenged. Yeah. And so, um,

00:49:15.860 yeah, cause stress makes me feel like we're, I'm crumbling to the pressure and really I want to face it.

00:49:21.900 I want to face the pressure. Right. And so, um, but yeah, having that balance is difficult. I try to make

00:49:26.820 sure. I want to make sure that I get my workouts in every day or whatever I'm doing. And even if I'm

00:49:32.840 going to miss my workouts, okay, well then I'm going to get my snowshoeing in and maybe I'll stop

00:49:37.940 and do, um, pushups every, every so often along the trip. And funny, I've, I've had guides and

00:49:44.960 outfitters that I've hunted with. They also like, you know, I'm on a sheep hunt. We're on the top of a

00:49:49.540 mountain and I'm doing pushups, you know, and they're like, what are you doing? Why are you

00:49:54.040 burning more calories? I'm sure. I just want to feel, you know, I just want to move my body and

00:49:58.660 do this and, and, um, and increase my strength throughout the hunt rather than wither throughout

00:50:04.520 the hunt, you know, and use my calories for things to actually build my body. And so, but yeah,

00:50:09.120 it's difficult, man. I mean, how do you do it? How do you balance it?

00:50:11.760 I actually try to stay home a lot. Like I try to be very present. See, I do too. When I'm home,

00:50:17.880 I try to be home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I turned down a lot of things. I've really throttled back

00:50:22.860 in the business. You know, my, my father-in-law just, uh, this last week, he was, him and his

00:50:27.080 wife were, were in town and we stayed with us and, and he was asking me about what's next. You know,

00:50:31.460 what are you like springboarding into with your business? And I said, you know, I'm not,

00:50:35.780 yeah, not right now. Yeah. Cause I've got four kids at home and I'm, I'm not looking to do that

00:50:41.740 right now. I'm looking in my business and organization and this movement to create

00:50:45.940 something that allows me to leverage my time so that I can be fully present for the next 15 to

00:50:52.200 16 years until the kids are gone. And then, you know, we'll see where it goes from there, but

00:50:56.560 yeah, very similar time management has always been something that's worked well for me.

00:51:00.700 And that's tricky, isn't it? Oh man. Well, especially as you become more in demand, if that's

00:51:06.160 the right term, you know, people, people want your attention. They, they, they want to present

00:51:11.160 opportunities and you have to get good at saying no and, and understanding, okay, does this fit into

00:51:18.080 what it is I'm trying to accomplish or does this detract me from it? And I feel like I've gotten

00:51:23.000 fairly good at acknowledging and recognizing what is something that's moving me towards my goals and

00:51:29.040 ambitions and something that would pull me away from it. Same. I'm the same. You know, we get,

00:51:32.760 we get, uh, contacted often from different companies that want to do this and this. And,

00:51:37.360 and, uh, it's, it either, either on the commercial side of things, either the budgets aren't there

00:51:42.880 and we just need to say, Oh, thank you. We're not the, we're not the company for you, but no,

00:51:46.980 thank you. And, um, or opportunities through me as a hunter are, are far and wide. And I just have

00:51:53.420 to, and for me with like, you know, guys are like, Hey, have you ever hunted New Zealand? And I haven't,

00:51:57.880 and I've been invited a million times to go hunt New Zealand. And they say, I just met a young man

00:52:02.840 just now. He invited me to go to Africa and, and, uh, I get a couple of guys you were talking with

00:52:07.600 earlier. Yes. Yeah. And so, and so he's, he, you know, he's like, yeah, you got to come to South

00:52:11.820 Africa. And I'm, I would love to go to South Africa, but I need to focus on the things that

00:52:15.960 I need to focus on. And I really thrive in, in North America. And so, um, that's where I really,

00:52:22.980 so I think if I want to hunt for 12 weeks this year or 16 weeks this year, whatever it is that I'm

00:52:29.240 going to hunt this year, I really want to pick the places that I really want to spend time.

00:52:32.840 Right. And so, um, but yeah, that's a, when you're gone and working, be gone and working when you're

00:52:38.260 home and present, be home and present. But I still, even when I'm home, I try to, I try to get

00:52:43.420 outside, try to try to do things for myself because no matter what, being a, being a husband,

00:52:49.380 father, or even if you're not those things, whether you are, you're not take care of yourself

00:52:55.340 first. Yes. And then you will be a better father or a better individual, a better boyfriend,

00:53:00.660 better husband, whatever it is. Um, you have, you have to look yourself in the mirror first.

00:53:06.020 You have to move your body first, eat the best you can first and, and, um, and challenge yourself.

00:53:11.840 And then you'll be able to give so much more to those around you, which is funny because that's

00:53:16.860 a little counterintuitive, right? A lot of guys will think, and we've been conditioned this way

00:53:22.040 and it's not all bad. It's noble to want to serve others, to want to place your family first,

00:53:27.500 to, to want to help other people that you may not even know to a degree. Uh, but if you take that

00:53:34.440 time for yourself at the expense of a little bit more time with your family and other people that

00:53:38.900 you care about, that, that time that you do have, that, that smaller amount of time you do have with

00:53:43.200 your family is going to be much more effective. It's going to be much more enjoyable and significant

00:53:48.360 and meaningful because, and the other thing too, is let's say you invest all of your time in pouring

00:53:54.000 into others. Again, noble, wonderful. You're going to burn out if you don't ever place yourself as a

00:54:00.060 priority. That's right. And so it's cool. You're going to be doing that for a year and then you're

00:54:03.280 done. Yeah. Right. And you're going to lose, that's probably going to lose some of its value,

00:54:07.180 just like we talked before, you know, and, and spreading your time out and doing, doing the

00:54:12.620 things that you enjoy, but also doing the things that are going to move you. Uh, I just think it's,

00:54:18.260 I just, I just think it's literally the most important thing. Yeah. Yeah. Working out and I'm

00:54:25.200 not talking about being a muscle head. I'm not talking about the supplements. I'm not talking

00:54:29.040 about all the photos and the, this perception of fitness these days, but I'm talking about moving

00:54:36.660 your body, whether it be snowshooting or riding a bike, shooting your bow, pushing weights,

00:54:41.680 kettlebells, running, mountain climbing, mountain climbers in your living room, burpees, whatever

00:54:47.560 it is, like it, it's just, it's going to push you so much further. And it really is that to me,

00:54:53.080 that's my number one food and food and exercise. Yeah. It's the number one. Yeah. I mean, those are

00:54:58.340 such great investments to make in yourself. You know, it is an investment, meaning you have to give

00:55:02.260 up something to get that return. 4am. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I want to be in bed too. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

00:55:08.000 What do your workouts consist of when you're not moving, snowshoeing, being outside?

00:55:11.360 Yep. For the last several years, I've used a friend of mine who's a trainer. His name's Sam

00:55:17.440 topping. I've met Sam in the morning at a, I drive to a gym in, in a downtown Minneapolis. It's an

00:55:23.340 inner city gym. And, uh, it's just been really rewarding place to work out. You know, you're kind

00:55:28.000 of amongst lack of a better term. This will paint the picture. This is not what I mean, but basically

00:55:34.360 I'm working out amongst thugs every morning, right? Like these guys are former gang members or maybe even

00:55:40.080 current gang members. I don't know. And, um, but really good people like these guys that I'm

00:55:44.600 working out with are really good people. And it's just nice to see a little bit of, um, and I mean,

00:55:48.900 this is a loosely fit term, but to see a little bit of color in your life. Like these are not people

00:55:52.560 that I've run into and on sheep hunts. These are not people I run into at the whitetail woods or,

00:55:56.580 um, and so it's just nice to have a little diversity in life. And, and, um, and so I've done that,

00:56:01.760 but, um, I'm moving towards right now, I'm moving towards a home gym. And so our friend that

00:56:06.740 Soren X, I've been buying stuff from Bert from, yeah. And so they've sent me good. They gifted

00:56:11.600 me. It was very, very nice of them. They gifted me some, um, kettlebells, right. Some center mass

00:56:16.440 bells and, uh, and, uh, battle rope and, uh, you know, pole sled, things like that. So they've given

00:56:21.860 me some stuff to start building my home, uh, gym. And, and, and in fact, I just talked to Brandon

00:56:26.340 yesterday. He sent me a weighted vest because I'm going to start, I want to start wearing 50 pounds

00:56:30.920 of weight when I do my snowshoeing at night. Oh yeah. That's what I did the other day. I had a,

00:56:33.900 I've got a 40 pound vest, I think it is. And I threw that vest in and then through the,

00:56:37.560 And how was it? It was awesome. Yeah. So that's, I mean, I, I used to weigh 235 pounds. Okay. So,

00:56:43.460 you know, it's 50 pounds more than I weigh today. And so it's, you know, you, when you think about

00:56:47.260 having like a 45 pound plate, like you pick that up, it's not insignificant. No. And I'm like,

00:56:52.180 well, no wonder I was always so tired. I was carrying this thing around where I couldn't sleep or,

00:56:57.100 you know, I had sleep apnea because there's a roll of fat around my neck trying to

00:57:00.740 suffocate me at night. Like, no wonder nothing's working correctly. That's what I mean. Yeah. And

00:57:05.480 so I've been, so I'm building that home gym right now and I'm going to try to do more movements

00:57:12.300 than, and I was just talking about Brandon about this yesterday and I'm really excited because he

00:57:17.280 was showing me some of the movements that he's doing because he used to be, Oh, he's, I mean,

00:57:21.400 he's a huge guy anyways, literally lift a car ox. And so when I first met him, which was not that long

00:57:27.860 ago, he was massive. Yes. He's leaned out a lot. He seems to be half the size to me in the best way.

00:57:35.500 A great way. And he's still big, but he's just, he looks healthy. Absolutely. And so it seemed like

00:57:41.020 all of his movements were at a 90 degree angle. Like most of us are in the gym with squats or this

00:57:46.220 and that. And then now he's using kettlebells and he's using all, you know, movements that almost

00:57:50.440 replicate like a strand of DNA, right? He's doing these twists. He's doing these lifts and everything.

00:57:54.840 He's moving his entire body now. So I'm going to start incorporating that into my workouts and

00:58:00.680 doing a little bit more of a movement based that will tie in better to who I am, my lifestyle.

00:58:06.800 What's going to stop me from falling off a cliff, you know, really being able to use the muscles that

00:58:11.660 extend from the outside of my foot, all the way up my leg, all the way up my rib cage, to my pecs,

00:58:15.900 to my back, my shoulders. Should I canter my weight on a cliff with my backpack and I need to use all of

00:58:21.820 those muscles to stop that weight from moving and bring it back to center or against the cliff

00:58:26.300 wall. And so those are things that I want to do. And, uh, yeah, I like that you're talking about

00:58:31.440 that. Cause a lot of the times what we do is we see what, um, what other people are doing and we're

00:58:36.320 like, Oh, we're supposed to do it like that. Yeah. And yet the way that that individual is doing it

00:58:40.280 works for them based on their lifestyle and their goals and ambitions, but it doesn't necessarily fit

00:58:45.720 into what you're trying to do. Yeah. And, and we run into that a lot. You know, you start living for

00:58:49.700 somebody else's life or you start living their goals and you wake up and you're like, I'm not

00:58:53.700 happy. Yeah. Well, you're living somebody else's life. Oh, and then you start doing this over here

00:58:56.820 and then you go over here and do this. And that's, that ties back to our, um, and I'm not patting us

00:59:02.940 on the back because, um, I'm sure you suck at plenty of things and I know that I do, but this is,

00:59:09.040 that's where our jobs have come from, right? You find something like I was just talking to this

00:59:14.080 young man that works for Eagle. I don't recall his name, but he fell in love with a sewing machine.

00:59:18.880 Um, so a lot of people would say you design backpacks, dude, you design military backpacks

00:59:24.060 and you worked for a military company and you get to come to the shot show. And that's so bad-ass.

00:59:29.040 How did you do that? What do I, what do I, and he's, and he fell in love with an old sewing machine.

00:59:33.460 So he fell in love with an industrial old sewing machine. So he started sewing because it was more

00:59:38.880 important for him to fix his old tattered backpack than to go buy a new one. He couldn't afford a new one.

00:59:45.180 I'm making up his story a little bit because we talked a little bit about this. So he fixed his

00:59:49.480 backpack and now he's sewing for a major brand in the, in the military complex. And so I, that,

00:59:55.760 that's how these things happen, right? He's, and so it, it falls back to exactly what we were talking

01:00:00.540 about. And then, you know, we're focused on those things and we know we love these things. So that

01:00:04.040 has become our jobs. And so that's what, don't chase what others are doing. Learn from others.

01:00:08.460 Certainly. Like I learned, I was at Sorenex headquarters with Bert and Brandon and Brandon

01:00:12.940 was running us through workouts in our blue jeans in the lobby, you know? Right. Yeah. And,

01:00:18.100 and it's not an incredible gym they've got right there. I honestly, I was, I told Bert,

01:00:23.120 I was like so impressed with, uh, you know, we flew down there to meet with those guys and

01:00:27.120 we walked in and I was just like, this is 1 million percent better and more interesting

01:00:34.220 than I thought it was going to be. Oh, no doubt. I see muscle heads at my gym. Yes. And

01:00:38.580 I just think you guys are, they're all very nice guys because I don't want them to rip my

01:00:43.000 head off tomorrow, but they are all morons. They are giants. They are taking so many drugs

01:00:49.280 and it's, I think it's just all vanity. I mean, these guys are massive, but they can do literally

01:00:56.240 nothing. Right. They can, they can, there's a, there's a, um, there's a black guy at my gym.

01:01:01.680 He's super awesome guy. If you watch him try to take his t-shirt off, he has to, he has

01:01:07.720 to get help. He has that no mobility. His lats are, and he's a giant man anyway, but his

01:01:13.860 lats are so big. He can't physically pull a t-shirt off. Either his wife has to help

01:01:18.220 him or somebody at the gym has to help him get dressed and undressed. Yeah. Talk about

01:01:22.040 a, a subpar standard of living, but he's a, yeah, but that's, that's the route that those

01:01:27.860 guys chose. But I urge you, you know, you're a human being. We all have various beliefs

01:01:33.920 of where we've come from, but we have evolved into the bodies that we're in now. And now

01:01:40.000 we're, this is not really entirely true, but this is what I mean. We're now we're de-evolving

01:01:46.560 to me. We're, we're deconstructing ourselves. We were building muscles for certain reasons.

01:01:51.340 We developed the brain for certain reasons. We have these thumbs for certain reasons. We don't

01:01:55.740 have fur. We don't have fangs. We don't run particularly fast. We don't see particularly

01:01:59.880 good. We can't fly. We can't breathe underwater. We're basically in all practical purposes food

01:02:04.880 for another animal. However, we figured out a way to start a fire. We figured out a way

01:02:10.700 to design tools. We figured out a way to communicate with you. And you say, you go around this side

01:02:15.040 of the rock. I'm going to go around this side of the rock. And should we work together, we

01:02:18.660 can take down this animal that is far superior to us and how he is, let's call it quote unquote

01:02:24.480 design, how he has evolved into the being that he is. And so we've developed these big

01:02:29.980 brains and these thumbs that allow us to do things and sit in buildings like this and,

01:02:33.420 and organize our thoughts and have feelings and compassion and, and, uh, and, and have

01:02:38.080 these complexities. But really you need to, we need to back off of the trend where we're

01:02:46.060 going and we need to take a step back, take a deep breath and realize that, okay, what do

01:02:50.840 I need to do to my quadriceps, my biceps, my pecs, my abs, my back, my lats? What do

01:02:56.860 I need to do to my brain? What do I need to do to my heart, to my lungs? How do I

01:03:02.820 become smarter? You know, people say like your, your mom or dad will say, you can do

01:03:08.720 anything you want. They're lying to you. You can't, you literally can't. I could apply

01:03:13.680 to Harvard medical school for the next 900 years. And my, my letter of, of, uh, redirection

01:03:20.460 will come in a week and say, this is, thank you for applying. Absolutely not. Um, and so,

01:03:27.800 but what we can do is if we push as hard as we freaking can, if we fight like hell, if we

01:03:34.680 realize that we are absolutely warriors, we'll get way further than if we didn't. Yeah. And

01:03:41.600 that's really when your parents say you can do anything you put your mind to, that's what

01:03:45.740 they mean. Sure. Like if you want to go to Harvard medical school, but you're not very

01:03:51.240 good at time management, you don't have the IQ, you don't have the chops to not throw up

01:03:57.360 when you see a bunch of blood. If you don't have that stuff, but you still want to go to

01:04:01.600 Harvard medical school and you bust your ass in school to get that far, you're still very

01:04:07.560 likely to fall short of Harvard medical school. And that's where everyone in this world goes,

01:04:11.060 I'm a failure. Right. I failed, you know, I, but really you're way further. Oh yeah.

01:04:18.160 The books you've read, the things you've done, the, you trying to set up your schedule throughout

01:04:22.480 the day to get through your studies, you're way further than you would have been otherwise.

01:04:27.000 And the job that you procure because of it will be three times the job that you would

01:04:31.680 have got. Otherwise, if you were just like, you know what? I can't get into Harvard medical

01:04:35.320 school. Not even try. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's what most people do. And, and,

01:04:39.520 and they make excuses and people make excuses for them. Yes. Right. That's the hard thing

01:04:43.680 is we want to protect each other. We do. And, and, and really consumed with the way people

01:04:49.040 feel. Right. And you should be aware of how people feel. I'm not talking about running around

01:04:54.040 offending people everywhere you go just for the sake of doing it. But you know, feelings is

01:04:58.120 just one factor. Right. We need to take other consideration. You know, for example, with my

01:05:02.960 children, it's like, yeah, I have to be aware of how they feel, but I also need to tell them

01:05:06.580 the truth so that they have that foundation of truth so that they can grow. And sometimes

01:05:10.340 that is at odds with their feelings because they might be upset or, uh, down because I

01:05:17.200 may have said something or gave them a little bit of a critique, but that, that, that is

01:05:21.300 more important than worrying about their feelings in all circumstances. It really is because it'll

01:05:26.120 get them to be a little bit tougher. Right. You know? Right. And that's, uh, yeah, it's,

01:05:30.700 it's, it's, it's the, it's the right way. I'm convinced I'm positive. I'm positive.

01:05:34.220 It's the right way. It's how, it's how we've evolved as human beings and it's how other

01:05:37.820 animals have evolved. And it's the, the harder life is the better your, and, and how you respond,

01:05:44.820 the better your life is going to be. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, what, uh, what projects

01:05:49.060 do you have coming up? I know you've got a couple of things coming up and, and, and you've

01:05:51.960 got a couple of films and things you're working on. I'd love to hear about those things.

01:05:54.900 Yup. So we have, um, our next big film will come out. We actually did a project for the

01:06:00.080 first time ever. Um, we are hired by Benelli, um, USA to do a full scale film. Uh, they released

01:06:08.820 three new, I think it's the first time that they've ever released three new products in

01:06:14.100 a single year. And so, um, new to their line, they've launched a bolt action rifle, which

01:06:19.200 they've never built before. It's called the Lupo, uh, which is Italian for wolf. Um, and

01:06:23.820 then they've, they make an over under, uh, in a 12 gauge format this year, they're making

01:06:28.240 a 20 gauge format and then they have a new coating for their, for their waterfall guns.

01:06:31.820 Anyway, they hired Sigmanta, our production company to do a full scale film to help them

01:06:37.320 introduce those products to consumers, which is incredibly rewarding because they didn't

01:06:43.260 want any information about the guns to be in the film. No infomercial, no call out to

01:06:49.260 Benelli. They literally said, Donnie crew, we want you guys to go to Alaska for several weeks,

01:06:54.240 use the products, abuse the products, tell the story as you would, as though Benelli has

01:07:00.120 no part in it whatsoever. And we did. And it came out really bad, really bad ass.

01:07:06.320 The, the, the teasers playing in the Benelli booth while we're here at shot. That's why I'm

01:07:10.060 here at shot. Yeah. And the film will come out in August and it will be somewhere around

01:07:14.060 an hour in length. Awesome. And we spent, um, we spent two weeks out on the Aleutian chain,

01:07:19.160 namely Adak Island, but in the Aleutian chain hunting and filming and fishing and, and, uh,

01:07:25.040 just kind of celebrating what is the bolt action rifle, the 30 odd six, that's the caliber that

01:07:29.640 I was using. And then the animals in the wilderness areas in that, in that place. So it's, it's going

01:07:34.460 to be, that's a wild, wild place. One of the more dangerous places I've ever spent time just

01:07:40.520 because of the wind in the water. Oh yeah. Massive swells, massive, massive swells. I,

01:07:47.040 a couple of times we, we spent time with very, very capable captains, um, Aleutian Outfitters

01:07:53.720 is their company, I believe. Um, but we spent time with very, very capable, uh, sea captains,

01:07:59.360 but there were a few times that I thought, this is it, this is what it looks like. Really?

01:08:05.940 This is what it looks like. Yeah. Around the Island, around the North side of the Island. It

01:08:09.860 is, and I might get these numbers wrong, but it's 24,500 feet deep, right? It's the second

01:08:15.540 deepest trench in the world. Okay. That comes up to, I think, 200 feet deep. Very, very

01:08:21.640 quickly. Holy cow. Over, over like a half a mile. And so the waves are incredibly disorganized

01:08:27.480 and they're sharp at the top. They don't have a true crest like normally. Yep. So normally

01:08:31.940 you get a big swell and you just put the bow of the boat into it and you just ride the

01:08:35.300 swell out. Yeah. This is as though you would take something in your bathtub and just kind

01:08:39.280 of plunge it around. So all the waves are broad head sharp. And while we're, we're facing this

01:08:45.100 wave in front of us, another wave, literally a 20 footer is crashing over the boat or rolling the

01:08:50.740 boat. And we're skidding down this one. It was very, this is dramatic to say, but it was very,

01:08:58.620 uh, the perfect storm ask from that movie. Like literally the vessel we're in skidding down the

01:09:04.580 waves, other waves crashing into us. Our, I can't even tell you, dozens of times I watched our

01:09:09.460 cameras fly across the cabin of the boat. Dozens of times I watched the captain of the boat fly out

01:09:16.340 of his captain's chair and land on the other side of the cabin. We lost engines in it. He is a very

01:09:24.180 capable man. He'd have to be. But he said this was, you know, we were in the top five of the worst

01:09:30.400 nights he has spent in the, in, in the Bering sea. Yeah. And it was very, um, as a friend of

01:09:36.740 mine called it, it was very sporty, very sporty. When we got, when we, when we, when we would get

01:09:42.740 back at night, you know, is you were thankful. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I have my buddy just

01:09:48.600 bought, uh, a boat. He bought it. He bought an outfit, I guess, in Alaska fishing and he bought a

01:09:54.160 boat and he's like, yeah, I'm going this summer to, to learn from the guy I bought it from. And he's

01:09:59.060 going to teach me how to ride through this stuff or whatever. And I'm just thinking, he's like,

01:10:03.120 do you want to come? I'm like, you don't, why don't you get your feet under your, your fins or

01:10:08.440 whatever under you first. And, and then I'll come out. But yeah, I don't want to go learn with you.

01:10:12.180 No, no, I'm good. It was, this was gnarly. It was, and you're, and you're helpless too, right?

01:10:17.280 Yeah. What can you do? When we even asked him, um, you know, the, the gunnels of the boat were rather

01:10:23.780 low. So they're probably like mid thigh and we're, you know, we're stumbling back and forth and,

01:10:28.380 and he would tell us literally the boat, he would warn us. He's like, we might capsize and go all

01:10:34.580 the way underneath. And then we have to wait for the next wave and it's going to write us. Yeah.

01:10:39.160 So you're like, hold on to something. Yeah. So he's like, you got to get inside. You got to be

01:10:42.400 inside because if you're outside, we'll never find your body. And then he's even saying, so I asked him

01:10:46.680 later that day or that night, late that night, I said, you know, a couple of times we would stumble

01:10:51.740 and catch each other. But I was like, I asked him, so what if somebody would have went over? And he said,

01:10:56.860 basically, he's like, we call the Coast Guard because it'd be very difficult for us to even turn

01:11:02.560 the boat around in this swell to even find their bodies. Like they're not going to live. So we'd

01:11:06.800 literally just be looking for their body. That's crazy. It was gnarly, but the film is going to be

01:11:11.740 beautiful. I'm sure it is. Yeah. It's going to be, it'll be really nice. And then we have, we have

01:11:15.340 several other films, as they say in the can, we have probably four or five that are ready to be

01:11:20.080 produced. Yeah. But our commercial work, our client work comes first over our own personal work.

01:11:24.860 However, we're trying to create work, work balance, right? Because people ask us all the

01:11:31.780 times, when's the next film? When's the next art coming out? You know, that we can, we consider

01:11:35.880 our films to be our art form. So when's the next art coming out? So we, you know, we're trying to

01:11:40.920 create this balance of where, okay, we'll sign up for X amount of commercial work. And then we will.

01:11:47.820 So this guy, these guys, they're listening to audio. There's a guy who, who's literally standing

01:11:54.060 in front of our camera right now. Anyways, proceed. That was amazing. That was really good.

01:11:58.500 Um, and so, um, uh, and so we, we will, you know, we want to create this balance where we have,

01:12:05.420 we're taking on so many commercial projects, but we're still able to create at least a film

01:12:10.440 in a year. And then we have a bunch of shorts that we want to come out with. So we have a lot

01:12:14.180 of stuff that I think is very pretty. And once we put music to it, edit it, color it right to it,

01:12:20.880 I think it's going to be really moving work. And so we just want to keep that work coming out every

01:12:25.200 year. Cause that it's, it's, it's important for us to share that with our audience. And it's also

01:12:28.820 important for our, uh, commercial clients to see new work in that realm, because it inspires them

01:12:34.640 to then do things with their companies like Benelli and things like that. So it opens up more doors

01:12:39.180 for all of us and, and super rewarding to share with people. Oh man. I can't tell you, cause I watched

01:12:43.920 the other side and some of the other work that you guys have done and it's absolutely incredible.

01:12:47.460 So yeah, no, we'll make sure everybody knows where to go so they can sync it up and check it out.

01:12:51.600 Um, let me ask you, I asked you this the first time we had a conversation, but what does it

01:12:55.040 mean to be a man? You know, I answered it. I remember how I answered it, um, the first time.

01:13:01.080 And I think it's, it's, uh, you know, I said that we were designed to be warriors and we need to,

01:13:06.680 we need to be mindful of that. And, and, um, and to extend on that, I think people would do very well

01:13:13.100 to, um, as a man would do very well to be more mindful, just to understand who they are,

01:13:21.740 understand what is very, very close to them. People. We, as we discussed things that are far

01:13:27.940 away from us seem really interesting. A woman, a new job, a fancy car, a bigger house, a long away

01:13:38.100 vacation. When in reality, the mindfulness of, I think what is entirely close to you,

01:13:43.700 your family, your very, very close friends, the home you live in now, the yard that your house

01:13:49.860 resides in wherever it is that you are immediately start appreciating those things that are very,

01:13:55.660 very close to you. And, and that you can see very, very near that you can get very,

01:14:00.900 very close to and see detail of. And I just thinking, being really mindful that every second

01:14:05.840 that clicks off, we are trending towards, you know, this term of entropy, this continued state

01:14:12.240 of disorder, right? We are dying right now. Right. We want to say we're living, but the reality

01:14:17.680 is we're dying. This table is rotting. This carpet is breaking down these lights. Everything here is

01:14:23.920 in a state of decay very, very slowly. But all of this is in a state of decay. Realize that be mindful

01:14:30.900 of that as a man and understand that you, you are a fighter. I don't care who you are. You can do more

01:14:38.040 than you're doing now and you will be better, better for it. It's powerful, man. That's unique

01:14:43.580 too. I don't know if we've ever heard anything quite like that, but that makes sense. It's like

01:14:48.060 appreciate what's there, what's in front of you, what's right here. What's closer to you is more

01:14:52.140 important than what's far away. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Just where you place that emphasis. Absolutely.

01:14:56.680 Excellent. Well, how do we connect with you?

01:14:59.000 You can find our stuff on Instagram, Donnie underscore Vincent, D-O-N-N-I-E underscore V-I-N-C-N-T.

01:15:04.260 And then DonnieBenson.com is where we sell our films. We are getting all of our films and I can't

01:15:08.680 wait. They're all going to get on iTunes. Awesome. Starting in like March or April,

01:15:14.500 something like that. So they'll all, right now we have a horrible, we have a great platform to buy

01:15:19.080 DVDs. We have a horrible platform to buy mobile downloads, but once it's on iTunes, it'll be easy.

01:15:25.380 Seamless. Yes. Yeah. Good. So that's where I'll be. Well, I'd encourage the guys to go check out the

01:15:29.040 films. They won't be disappointed. I appreciate it, man. I really do. Donnie, appreciate our friendship.

01:15:32.080 Appreciate all the insight. It's always fun to talk with you and get some new insight from you.

01:15:36.080 And man, I really value our conversation. Thanks, man. Thanks. Let's go hunting and let's get me to

01:15:40.980 Maine. Let's do it. Open invite to Maine. I'll be there anyway. I have to go up there to see William

01:15:45.340 Altman and we're going to go duck hunting, fishing, diving, whatever. So do it all. Awesome. Let me know

01:15:49.760 when you're there and we'll schedule it. You can come stay with us. Thanks, man. Thanks, brother.

01:15:52.880 Appreciate it. Gentlemen, there you go. The one and only Donnie Vincent. I hope you enjoyed that one as much as I

01:15:59.760 did. That was a little bit of a different conversation than I had with him the first time.

01:16:03.440 So round two was, was very impactful for me. I learned a lot about him and some insight into

01:16:08.820 his life. And then I, I, I really feel like just getting to know him and how down to earth he is

01:16:15.260 and how connected he is and present that it's really been helpful for me in connecting with

01:16:21.020 not only nature and the outdoors, like he talks so much about, but being present for you as the

01:16:25.880 listeners of this podcast and the movement, uh, being present for my wife and kids and just be

01:16:29.980 more fully engaged in my life. So, uh, if you've got any value of this, please reach out to Donnie

01:16:34.780 on Instagram or Twitter, Facebook, wherever you're doing the social media thing. Also connect with me

01:16:39.420 at Ryan Mickler, wherever you are on social media and let me know what you thought about the show.

01:16:44.380 Let Donnie know what you thought about the show as well. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you.

01:16:47.840 And he's very active and a man, what a powerful conversation. It's my hope and goal that you're

01:16:52.220 walking away with some information that'll serve you and help you be a more competent man. And if

01:16:57.060 that's the case, please let us know. Also leave a rating review. Cause that goes a long way. So if

01:17:00.740 you got anything out of this conversation or any of the hundreds and hundreds of conversations that

01:17:05.760 we've had, please leave us a rating review, wherever you're listening right now, uh, outside of that,

01:17:09.640 make sure you check out the legacy event, order of man.com slash legacy. We've got two remaining spots

01:17:14.440 and I'd love to see you and your son there at that event. It's going to be a crazy, incredible,

01:17:18.820 powerful, powerful experience. Order of man.com slash legacy. Right. I think that's it. That's all

01:17:24.600 I've got. We'll be back tomorrow for the ask me anything with Kip Sorensen, but until then go out

01:17:29.140 there, take action and become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the order of

01:17:33.600 man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.

01:17:38.640 We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.

Order of Man - February 18, 2020

How to Become More Mindful and Present ｜ DONNIE VINCENT

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