In the Trenches 001 ｜ Bubba Downs
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Summary
In the first episode of In the Trenches, we introduce our host, Mr. Bubba Downs. In this episode, we talk about his journey to becoming a part of the Order of Men and how he has transformed his life over the past year.
Transcript
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Gentlemen, welcome to In the Trenches, an Order of Man podcast dedicated to interviewing
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ordinary, everyday men like you and me who are currently in the battle of becoming better
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You'll hear the good, the bad, and the ugly from guys who are striving to become stronger
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husbands, fathers, business owners, and community leaders.
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It's our mission to deliver the stories that will inspire you to become the man you are
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Your host for this podcast is a man who is not only in the trenches, but has drastically
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changed his life for the better over the past two years.
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This is going to be a little different now that we're kicking off In the Trenches.
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So the guys are listening to this for the first time and you are actually going to be our
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host of the new series, if you will, within the podcast, In the Trenches.
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It's, you know, this whole thing has been just a step outside of my comfort zone and
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How has it been a step outside of your comfort zone?
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You know, my, as I'm stumbling over words again, I'm feeling like that guy that left
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So things that have changed for me, man, it's, I am more apt to take risks now.
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Well, let's talk about this a little bit because I want to let the guys know.
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And the goal of today is to tell these guys what In the Trenches is all about.
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I've gotten a lot of feedback from the men who listen to the podcast, who love the interviews
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They love the Friday field notes that I do, but the feedback I've been getting is they
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You know, guys who have had, whether that's a failing marriage or some, some health problems
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or financial problems, and they're on the current path or on the current journey.
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So they may not have arrived, but they're going through the process.
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If you will, I'd like to hear from your perspective, how you see this podcast working in the information
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That's I, yeah, the way that I see it working is we're going to just be, be talking to guys
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You know, you get to, you get the joy of talking to the Jockos and the Andes and all those guys
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You know, this show is going to be more about talking to the guys that are, that are working
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This, this is about the guys that are, that are just constantly struggling to get through
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How has this changed for you over the past year?
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Because I know when we initially met, which was it a year ago?
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So a little over a year, where were you coming from at that point?
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Because you joined the iron council in December.
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Did you know about order of men prior to joining the iron council or you just, how did you come
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I actually, uh, probably around July, I, somebody shared a meme from your business page and that
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led me to finding the podcast, which led me to the order of man, Facebook group, about three
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If it sucks, at least he got, I've got my money's worth out of it already.
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And then you can always leave if you didn't, if you didn't enjoy it.
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If it sucked here, here's $67 because you provided me more than that much value already,
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And then more importantly, how have you transformed your life over the past year?
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So in being part of the iron council, the way that I've transformed my life personally
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I was a bit of a follower, you know, I, I did what I was told.
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So that way I could impress the people that I thought needed to be impressed.
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You know, I, I really started my whole self-help journey when I was about 32.
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So about eight years ago, but I thought I was making progress, but it wasn't until I
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had that band of brothers to really push me that I actually saw the progress that I just
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How did you, is, is the band of brothers just through what we're doing here or do you have
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guys locally that you're banding with as well that have been advantageous in helping you
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Um, not until I actually moved recently and now I'm actually meeting up with local iron
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council guys instead of, I mean, the majority of my friends, they didn't understand what I
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They didn't understand where I was trying to go.
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You know, they just wanted that redneck dude that drank beer with them.
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That's, that wasn't who I was trying to be anymore.
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I know for me specifically, I, I tried to really grow and develop with other men in my
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area and the guys that I found, frankly, were more interested in the parties and the, and
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whatever else was going on rather than growing myself.
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And so I actually had to create something to, to make this work because it just wasn't there
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So I realized how big of a struggle this must've been for you.
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And of course the guys that are listening, they know, they know having a band of brothers
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And yet for whatever reason they can't do it or don't have the time.
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How do you feel having a band of brothers locally, digitally, whatever that looks like,
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Where, where, and what areas have that improved your life?
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So since I've been with the iron council specifically, you know, I've completed a Spartan beast.
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I led some of the brotherhood to Houston to do a relief effort after the hurricane.
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It's having that, having people that are looking to you and expecting you to be better than what
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you think you are makes you think that you can do it yourself.
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You know, before I had, you know, like my, my battle team, those guys constantly pushed
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They, they wouldn't settle for my bullshit excuses.
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They wouldn't settle for me saying, well, I'm just not good enough to do that.
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Like it's, it's, it's, it really truly is as simple as that.
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I know, for example, when I went and did the Spartan Agogi, that's a 60 hour endurance event.
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And I actually, I've talked about that a little bit here in the podcast is I told at the
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time, I think we were probably at 15 or so, maybe 20,000 members of the Facebook group.
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And I told 20,000 guys that I was going to go compete in this obstacle course race that was 60
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hours. And there was no way that I was going to not complete that because I told so many guys that
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I was going to do it. And so that accountability has been such a huge part of my life. It sounds
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like it is for you as well, that accountability component. Absolutely, man. Um, you know,
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like the beast, I, I think that I was trying to, to winning my way out of it and I was going to
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sign up for a sprint and two of the iron council guys were like, no, we're not doing that. Let's
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do the beast. So yeah, I trained for about six, seven months for that. We completed it together
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and, and it was a, it was an amazing experience actually.
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So tell me what you're working on now, specifically, what are some of the goals,
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the objectives that you have? Obviously we do a lot of our planning in 90 day segments.
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I'm assuming that you do that as well, because that's kind of what we've, we've done, but maybe
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you're doing it different. I'd like to hear what goals you have.
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So you, not only do I really kind of focus on the 12 week deal, but I, I, I really break it down
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into the minutia of the weekly, you know, that that's really where I find a lot of my value in
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the planning. But as far as what I'm working on now, I've actually got a half a million dollar
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contract. I'm trying to get signed for sales at work, trying to get my kid to get his,
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get his little act together in school. And, you know, I'll be real honest with you. That's been
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more difficult than just about anything that I've done, but it's with the knowing that I have guys
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that I can turn to and be like, Hey man, what, what do you guys think about this? That is,
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Yeah. The, the beauty of what we're doing too, is these focused conversations, because I think
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it's really easy to have conversations with people anywhere and everywhere about whatever
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may be. And what I found on social media or just, just in general is these very surface level
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conversations that at the end of the day, do not move the needle forward. And that's one of the most
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valuable things, even for me as the founder of what we're doing has been so advantageous for me is
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to have hyper, hyper focused conversations on things that are actually relevant and will push
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and move the needle in the right direction based on what I've identified as being important.
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Absolutely, man. And that's, that, that's really huge whenever you can go and, you know,
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another thing about the iron council, I say it a lot, but it's not the power of your beard that
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makes it something, you know, you got 350 plus guys that have a wide range of experience that you
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can turn to, you know, there is someone in there that is an expert on something.
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What are the, uh, so you've talked a little bit about the objectives, the things that you're
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trying to work on now, what are some of the challenges that you've run across? And as a
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team leader that you're seeing the challenges in other guys that they're running across as well?
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Man, the biggest thing that I've had to overcome since I started this whole thing was doubting myself.
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I've had a hard time believing that I was worth the success that I was achieving.
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It's still there sometimes, you know, I do have to, I got to kick it in the ass every now and then,
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but it's still there. I think the thing that, that really helps push me past it though,
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is whenever I tell these guys, I'm going to do something. Once I tell them I'm going to do
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something, I don't have a choice. You know, you know me well enough in the iron council that if
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somebody doesn't do what they tell me they're going to do, they're doing burpees. They're doing
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something. Right. You're calling them out, right?
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Right. So how, how can I expect that level of accountability from somebody else yet not give
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it myself? Hmm. Yeah. I think that's so true of leadership as well. You know, I, I see these
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guys, whether it's a bad boss or whatever it may be asking other people to do things. And yet,
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if you look at their life, they're not really willing to do it themselves. And it's no wonder that
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people don't follow people like that and they will not follow people like that. And if they do,
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it's only for a very short period of time, it's not lasting leadership. It's more like
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management as opposed to leading men effectively.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. And I have learned so much about leadership just from being a part of this.
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So let's, let's pivot here a little bit, because obviously this is the first of
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in the trenches and what we're going to be doing here. And it's actually really,
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it's really interesting to, to listen to you and to have this conversation and to know how far you've
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come. And then also to know how far you will go. I remember the very first time I did a
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podcast for order of man. And I've gone back and I've listened to some of this stuff and I'm like,
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Oh my goodness. Like look, listen to what I actually sound like compared to what I'm doing
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now. So I'm actually really excited to see your journey and your progress as well. But I would
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like to ask how you see this format working out. What questions are you going to be asking the guys?
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What details can we expect to hear? And then of course, what is, what is the purpose? What is the
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outcome that we're trying to accomplish here with, with in the trenches?
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Well, what, you know, I've got a couple of questions that I'm going to be asking,
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you know, basically just kind of getting them to give us their side of the story of where they've
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been, where they're going and what they're planning on doing. And anything, anything that you can gain
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from listening to these guys, talk about what they've been through and what they're doing and
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what their, what their win was, man, that's, that's something that, that you just can't buy. You just need to
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hear it. Hear it. And I think experience it as well. So one area that I think would be really
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fascinating is to even have our guests challenge the guys that are listening to do something in
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their life, right? Whether that's go run a Spartan race, like you're talking about, or one of the
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challenges that we had just in the iron council last week was to ask somebody close to you, whether
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that was a spouse or your children or friend, whoever it may be closest to you, where they feel like
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you need some improvement with regards to masculinity. And I know a lot of guys had a
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real struggle in doing that, but it was actually really interesting to hear their experiences as
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they pushed outside of their comfort zone and took on some of those challenges.
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And if you'll notice a lot of those guys that took that challenge, whatever they got that,
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you know, quote unquote, negative feedback. The first thing that they did was came up with a,
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Yeah. And that's, what's so powerful is, is when we started order of man, I mean, my goal was to
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bridge the gap between what men know they should be doing and what they're actually doing. And you
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hear that adage that knowledge is power. It's not really the whole story. Knowledge is power when it's
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applied. And so I think this will be a great opportunity for you to extract some information
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and application from the men who are again, in the trenches, doing the work, how they're actually
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doing it, the steps they're actually taking, the pitfalls they're, they're stepping into and what
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they can do to avoid that moving forward. I think it's such a good opportunity to learn from these,
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these guys who are, who are doing the work, frankly.
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Absolutely, man. I'll guarantee you that if I'd have been listening to something like this
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back before I joined, it wouldn't have taken me too much to pull the trigger.
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Yeah. And that's the thing. I think a lot of the times we see these, these,
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these courses or these programs or these books or whatever it may be. And we think,
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oh, it's not for me. And the timing's not right. I don't want to do this. And maybe it's discomfort.
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Maybe it's just not knowing if it's worth the investment, but I think this will really shed
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some light into what we're doing. And even if it doesn't, even if you feel like, you know what,
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I'm not ready to pull the trigger. At least you're going to get some very actionable steps from
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the guys that are walking shoulder to shoulder with you. And I've seen studies that suggest that
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men operate better when we're shoulder to shoulder, as opposed to face-to-face women,
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generally speaking, operate better face-to-face, which is why they can go out on their, their,
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their dates and hang out with their girlfriends and talk about conversations versus men who I think
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need to stand shoulder to shoulder against something right against a common enemy or a common
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battle that they're choosing to fight. And that's what I found most advantageous being,
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being here and being part of this with you guys. Well, man, these are action-packed. These are tight.
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We're keeping them short by design, but I want to ask, as we close things out today,
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what, uh, do you want to share? Is there any other information that we need to be aware of,
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uh, that the guys can expect and look forward to each and every week with regards to in the
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trenches? Just be ready to hear the story of, of guys that are actually doing it. You know,
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these aren't guys that are going to give you tips on how to be a millionaire or, you know,
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that have written a bestselling novel. Well, except for this one, cause you know,
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Ryan's doing the interview outside of this, right? The rest of these guys are just normal guys that
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are doing the work. Right on, man. I love it. And that's your, that's your saying too,
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within the iron council. I think somebody actually said it the other day where you were supposed to
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say it, do work, get results. And I noticed that you were a little bit upset about that.
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No, that was actually Chris Gatchko. He came back on where you welcomed us to the iron council,
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me stand. Oh, is that what that was? Okay. I didn't put that together. That's interesting.
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Cool. So that was about a year ago then. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool, man. It's really,
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it's really amazing to see your progress and that's a testament to you. I do have to ask you,
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I didn't prepare you for this, but I do have to ask you because there's not been an interview that
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I've done where I haven't asked my guests, what does it mean to be a man? To be a man?
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Well, it means doing what's right when nobody's watching. It means doing the work when you don't want
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to. It means being that example to those that count on you to where they know what they need
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to be whenever they grow up. I love it, man. That's powerful. Very, very powerful and something
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I'm striving to live towards as well. Well, Bubba, I appreciate you, man. I'm looking forward to kicking
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this thing off. We're going to start with 12 episodes. We're going to see how it goes. I imagine
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the feedback will be fantastic. I couldn't be more excited about having you as a host.
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And so this is the only guys in the trenches that you're going to hear from me. I will not be on
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them. Bubba's going to be hosting these things with other members of the iron council and other
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guys who are actually doing the work that all of us are striving to do. So Bubba, I'm excited for
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you, man. I appreciate you. Whether you know it or not, you inspire me every day. I've seen,
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literally seen the transformation physically, mentally, emotionally that you have made over the
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past year. And I got to say, I'm blown away and I'm looking forward to being more involved in this
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process with you, man. Humble, brother. I can't thank you enough, man.
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If you've been inspired by this conversation, we encourage you to learn more about the steps,
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tools, strategy, and resources these men are using inside of our exclusive brotherhood,
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the iron council. The iron council is a band of brothers dedicated to leveling up their lives
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and committed to helping you do the same. You can learn more at order of man.com slash in the
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trenches until next week, take action and become the man you are meant to be.