Is Capitalism Manly?, Conquer Your Biases, and Skepticism vs. Pessimism | ASK ME ANYTHING
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 10 minutes
Words per Minute
187.13773
Summary
In this episode, Brandy talks about his trip to Texas to meet with Tim Kennedy and Cam Haynes. He also talks about how he messed up recording a podcast with Nolan Ryan and how he dealt with it. Brandy also gives away a signed copy of his new book, "Unbearable: A Man of Action."
Transcript
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path.
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When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong.
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This is your life. This is who you are. This is who you will become.
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At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.
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Mr. Kip Sorensen, good to see you, brother. I hope all's going well.
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Yeah. Things are awesome. And you just had an awesome trip coming back from Texas last week.
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Yeah. Yeah. I was down there. I met with Cam Haynes. So that podcast came out yesterday as of
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the release of this podcast. And then I also sat down with Tim Kennedy. I totally messed up.
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I'm a human too. People don't think that sometimes. They just think I'm almost godlike.
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And then I mess up. And I know it's really shocking to people when I do, but occasionally
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it does happen. So I'm on East Coast time. Texas is central time. So when I switch over,
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my phone automatically switches over the time. And then it adjusts my meetings. But on my computer,
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it doesn't do that. Yeah. So I thought I was meeting with Tim at two o'clock
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and him and his team had it down for one o'clock. So I got there at about one 30 because I'm like,
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okay, I'll be early. That'll give us time to just get set up, get a feel for what we're going to do,
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get settled in. And then at two o'clock when Tim rolls in, we'll be able to record. So I'm thinking
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I'm a half an hour early. They're thinking I'm a half an hour late. And unfortunately the meeting
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got cut off because he was, well, I want to disclose, but he would, you had a hard stop.
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He was leaving out of country and he's like, Hey, I got to be done at two 30. So we had like 35
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minutes to do the podcast. I was so, and that was, they were really good about it. Very gracious,
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very cool and understanding. I just felt like a total dick though. Cause I just botched it,
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man. I just messed up. So it does happen from time to time. We did cram a lot and had a really
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cool conversation in 35 minutes. And then of course did the one with cam. Um, so it was cool.
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Yeah, that sucks. I was supposed to record with, uh, Nolan Ryan too. We, uh, we were able to land a
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podcast interview with him and I was supposed to go a couple of days earlier than I did to meet with
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him, but unfortunately, uh, they had a scheduling conflict or something come up last minute and we
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couldn't do it. So we're still in talks with them. So guys, keep your fingers crossed. Cause Nolan Ryan
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is arguably the greatest pitcher of all time. Like he's definitely in the conversation, if not the
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entire conversation. Uh, and just a general hero of mine when I was a kid, like he was with the angels
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and astros and, um, or, uh, yeah, astros, just a hero of mine. So I was hoping we could have that
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too. And it didn't pan out. So, you know, things don't always work out according to plan, but we
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adjust and we adapt and we get through it and we make it work. Yeah. And, and cam cam Haynes, he has
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a new book out, right? He does. In fact, I got it right here. Actually. So this is his new book.
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This is a signed copy. I have three signed copies. I'm actually giving these away. So guys,
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if you want a signed copy of endure by cam Haynes, uh, then what you need to do is you need to leave
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a rating and review on iTunes, take a screenshot of that rating and review, uh, and then email
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brandy at order of man.com with that screenshot. And then you'll be entered in for the drawing that
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we're doing on Friday of this week. So what is that? That's Friday, the 27th.
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Excellent. And you're going to announce that on Friday field notes or
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how do they know they won or just, we'll just, we'll email back whoever won. That's the best
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way to do it. So, and if you don't get an email, you didn't win. Um, better luck next time. Yeah.
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Copy. It's easy. You got to do it. Cool, brother. All right. Should we get into it?
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It was good. It was productive. Like I, yeah, it was, um, it was just busy. So I have a son graduating,
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um, high school. So we have a big, you know, typical Hawaiian giant Luau, my backyard. So
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I'm trying to be presentable. And of course it's like, Oh, we've always wanted to do that. Let's do
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it in the next, you know, three days. I'm like, okay, that's great. So, uh, and then we're down at,
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uh, at, uh, at the lake, uh, trying to clean up that property that looks like maybe, uh, uh, looks
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like, uh, a camp of homeless people showed up and just destroyed the place. So your property.
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Yeah. We had a trailer on it. We're tearing that trailer down the build. And, and actually this is
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a good lesson. So check this out. So we have a single wide trailer and we don't want to just
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demolish it. Right. So Asia posts online says, Hey, free trailer. Anyone who wants it. Guess how
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many times someone has said, I will take it. And then once they look at it and get in the details,
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they back out. And I was really contemplating over the weekend. I'm like, how much of this
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is because we listed it as free and there's zero meat in the game. And everyone's always about like,
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Oh, it's free. And so we constantly get all these people all interested. And I wonder,
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I just wonder if we said trailer thousand dollars. Yep. If it would already be gone by now,
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I guarantee it would, you should do it. I was, I was going to say, throw it up for 500 bucks,
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but whatever it is, is just some means not even about the money. It's just about them
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having some skin in the game, you know, and $500 is going to turn off people who are just tire kickers
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or want free stuff. And there's nothing wrong with wanting free stuff. That's not the problem.
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The problem is you want to get rid of it and you need somebody who's actually going to take it. So
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just having some value there, I think goes a long way and it kind of filters some of that other
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stuff out of it. Yeah. So we might be a, we might do a social experiment. If this last guy's not
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going to take it, I think we're going to put it up for, maybe we'll just do $500 and just see
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if, uh, if that's enough to make it happen. So I would, it's also, there's another thing I,
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I ran across, this was years and years ago. Uh, the, one of the guys that I hired as a,
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as a coaching firm for my financial planning practice had a big event and he goes all out
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when he does events. Yeah. And I think for the first hundred people that registered,
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he gave away free computers to these people and I couldn't go, I couldn't make it for one reason
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or the other. So I, I just heard about this through, through the grapevine a little bit.
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And so he gave, they know that they were getting computers. No, they didn't know they were getting
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computers. He just, he just decided like, Hey, you for, he had the computer there. As far as I
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understand it on the table with their name on it, when they got there and like, Hey, you were one of
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the first to sign up, here's a free computer. And he had said how astonished he was at how many people
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who got the computer complained that it wasn't a Mac or that it wasn't a PC or it was, or it was just
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the lower end version, or it didn't have this one particular feature they wanted. And he's like,
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what, what more do you want from me? You know, it's, it's, it's the same thing. Like with, um,
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Elon Musk is a great example of this too. You know, Elon could, could probably spend,
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I don't know, a million dollars, 2 million, 10 million, a hundred million, a billion dollars,
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and just give it away to charities of his choice. And those charities and other people would be like,
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well, how come he only gave away a million? He could probably give away 10 million.
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Well, how come he only gave a billion? He should do 2 billion. Well, how come he gave to this charity?
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That charity needs help too. It's like, what do you expect from people? You know, it's just,
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it's so wild to me. It's just a really, really telling sign of the, the entitlement. I think
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that we have as a culture, um, the, the, how right we think we are, or, or how much easier we are to
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put ourselves on, on our, on a pedestal than other people. Judgment, quick to judge. Yeah, sure.
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Yeah. Very interesting, man. It's, it's kind of disheartening when you have stuff like that happen.
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Weird. Yeah. Anyways. Cool. Well, let's talk about some questions today.
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Yeah. Sounds good. So we're building questions from Facebook, uh, to join us there,
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go to facebook.com slash group slash order of man, Leonardo Diaz. How can we conquer our own biases
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and other people's at the same time? So I, I, I saw this question and I like the question because
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yes, we do all have our own biases and other people have their own biases. I don't, I don't
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know that you need to worry about conquering other people's biases. That really isn't your
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responsibility or job. Like if you have a bias towards something Kip, it's not really my job
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to quote unquote conquer it. Now, if we're working together in some capacity, yeah, I think I would
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need to explain some things that maybe you're not seeing so that we can work together in a
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constructive way, but I don't really consider it my job to go out and help people get over
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their biases. You either have them or you don't. And here's what I'm going to share. And if you
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like it, great. And if you don't great now, if we're working together, there's one solution to
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this, I think. And this also covers the first part of that question, which is your own biases.
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And it's one word it's curiosity. Yeah. If you go out and you try to prove people right or wrong,
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or, or try to dismantle their argument or poke holes in what they're saying, like very rarely,
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is it going to be met with any sort of, uh, comfort, you know, like people aren't really
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too excited about that. People push back. Yeah. Yeah. Rarely. Are you going to ever convince
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someone or even have a good conversation if you approach it from the perspective of proving someone
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wrong? Yeah. Right. And I, in, in the new book, it's called the masculinity manifesto that's coming
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out later this fall. I actually talk, I talk a lot about building influence, credibility,
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and authority and how a man can do that. And one of the pitfalls that I warn against is offering
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unsolicited advice and feedback, but you're not going to build influence by offering, even if you're
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right, like unequivocally right, you're not going to build influence, credibility, and authority with
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other people. If you're offering unsolicited feedback. Okay. But if you walk into a conversation
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with a curious mindset, not to get them, not to poke holes, but genuinely, Hey, I'm curious
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about why you think that if you let people talk about their own stuff long enough, they're going
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to start working towards some answers. And I've had that myself. You know, I had a, I had an interesting
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disagreement with something that Jordan Peterson said on Instagram the other day. And I was like,
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no, I don't agree with that. Here's what I agree with. And I made my point. And I heard a lot of
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people were like, well, it doesn't mean this. He means that. And I've spent some time thinking
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about it. And I'm like, Oh, like in that context, yes, that actually makes sense. And I think I'm
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closer to his perception or his statement. I don't agree with his word choice, but I'm closer than maybe
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I thought initially, but that comes from two things. Number one, curiosity in his position.
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Like I am genuinely curious about it. I'm not just blowing it up. Like I'm curious about it.
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And number two, curiosity in my own position. Am I right? Am I wrong? What flaws do I have in my
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position? What, in what ways could I expand my thought process or think about it on a greater
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level? And so curiosity is really how you overcome your own biases and overcome the biases of others by
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letting them work through their own issues through a series and a line of powerful questioning.
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Yeah. So Ryan, let me ask you this though. Cause I do feel like there's a little bit of a pendulum
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here where one could show up in the world, whether in the workplace or when our families and constantly
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be all over the place, a chameleon, like, well, you know what? I don't know. I mean, I'm really
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curious and maybe I'm right. And maybe I'm wrong versus like being a little bit more effective in
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stern. And I could almost see that level of curiosity affecting your ability to be productive
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and to lead to some extent as well. Well, I don't, I don't know that you can take curiosity
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too far. Okay. I mean, we hear the adage of like curiosity killed the cat, right? But that's,
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I think that's different. I don't, I don't think you can be too curious, but your curiosity should
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lead you to something. To a conclusion of some sort. That's the point, right? Isn't that the
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reason we question things and people? And isn't that the basis of science even is like, Hey,
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here's what I think. Here's my hypothesis. And here's the scientific method and we're going to
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prove it or disprove it. And then you come to a conclusion. And then now you have a new theory
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that you can test and has been proven or disproven. It's the same with curiosity. Like,
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yeah, I mean, there's, there's value in just being curious for the sake of curiosity,
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because you're going to learn a lot of things, but if you're never implementing what you learn,
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then what's the point? I used to feel the same way about philosophy. I'd see these guys, you know,
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ponder just stuff that's just seemed nonsensical. I'm like, why are we even talking about this?
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It really didn't click for me until I realized, Oh, the reason we pontificate on ideas and theories
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is so that we can live a better life. That's where it becomes productive, but yeah, you could
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just spin in this perpetual cycle of learning and being curious. Yeah. And it's disingenuous at some
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point, you know, it's like asking a person a question you already know the answer to.
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And you know, when people are doing that to you, right. Or I remember going to have a conversation
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with somebody, at least I thought it was going to be a conversation and it felt more like an
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interrogation. And I didn't feel like that person was genuinely curious. I felt like they were trying
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to get me. Yeah. That's a problem. And that's definitely not what I'm talking about. Yeah.
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I like that. I remember, I'm going to slaughter the quote, but there's some quote I really love is
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like thought without conclusion is just wasted energy to some extent. So to paraphrase what you're
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saying, be creative or be curious, question yourself, question your biases, but follow it to a
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conclusion versus just leave it in the ether of, well, you never know. And, you know, never,
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never identifying ultimately what that means. So you can take action on it.
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Yeah. One thing I've said in the past is thought without action is worthless action without thought
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is reckless. Yeah. And that's very much along the same lines. Like you shouldn't just act like you
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should think about what you're going to do ahead of time, because if you don't, it might actually work,
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but it's still reckless. And you shouldn't just think without any action because why waste your
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time? That's just worthless. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yehuda Samuel, what are the most important
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Hmm. Uh, well, I, I, I would say lifestyle would be important. So if being out in, in the wilderness,
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or you like the mountains or you like the lake or you like the beach or, uh, whatever, then, then I
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think the environment that way is important because you're going to be able to enjoy that place
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more. Um, I think having other value driven organizations would be important. So that might
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be church. Uh, it might be access to community clubs and a community center. I think about, um,
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some of these, uh, adult living communities, you know, 55, 65 plus communities that makes sense to
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me because there's golf. Usually it's on a golf course, right? Um, they have activities at the,
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at the main meeting place, wherever they do that, a community center, they've got a pool. There's
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other people that are age. And so value-based organizations, maybe it's a charity that you want
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to belong to. Um, crime rates for me is definitely important. Uh, that that's a, that's a big deal.
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Politics is an important thing. I don't want to, I really don't want to live in a very liberal area
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because I don't agree with those politics. And so I'm going to look for a more conservative area to
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live because that's the way that I want to live my life. And that's the way that I would like the
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people who are representing me and other people to, to, to govern. Uh, so that's important. If you
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have young kids, obviously school is, is an important factor. If, if you are putting them in the
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public school system, even if you're not, I think the schooling district is a pretty crucial
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component because that's who your friend, your kids are going to hang out with. So, I mean,
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there's five or six right offhand that I think would be important metrics for where you live.
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Yeah. And on the schooling side, all that data is available. You know, when we moved to New York for
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a few years, it was like, where do we live in New York? It was almost a hundred percent determined on
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where would Kiavi go to kindergarten. Yeah. And we literally chose where we lived based upon where
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kindergarten was located and how good the school was and how it was rated nationally and stay on
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the state level. So yeah. Um, some of that stuff's available. So there's another, uh, a couple of
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factors that I would look at too, is if you go to a house in a community that you like, and it seems
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like it's a great place and you feel comfortable with it, but you go at two o'clock in the afternoon,
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go back at eight o'clock in the evening. Cause it could change or maybe it doesn't, but it's going
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to be different at eight. If you went on Tuesday morning, then you probably should go back on
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Saturday afternoon. Right? So the times of the day, uh, days of the week, those are different
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depending on the weekend and time. Um, I would also drive around the community. It isn't just about
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your house. It's about the community. So I've seen some places where there's these big, beautiful
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homes. And then you go three houses down or a block or two down. And all of a sudden it's like
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you're in the slums. Yeah. Is that, are you okay with that? Because that's really close. So, uh, uh,
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crime rates will probably increase in, in that instance, property values will be lower in that
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case. So there's some other considerations there that you need to be aware of.
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Soil. There's actually like reports that you can actually get soil, uh, breakdowns of
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where your neighborhood is located. If it's like close to fault lines or the quality of the soil,
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if it's at risk for other things. And there's lots of stuff we can come up with. You know,
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one thing that crosses my mind is like, well, I mean, New York, I'll, I'll use two examples of
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two places. I lived Phoenix in New York from a disaster perspective, horrible places to live,
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right? New York, you lose power in New York. That city is a shit show like within a couple of days,
00:19:11.380
right. If there's zero power, the other thing that crosses my mind around Phoenix is there's
00:19:15.940
natural resources. Where did they get all their water? What happens when that water can't get to
00:19:22.800
Phoenix anymore? Right. So, I mean, not to be like a doomsdayer, but I would be thinking about
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your ability to provide in the event of difficult circumstances as well.
00:19:31.840
Yeah, no, definitely. I feel, I feel a little bit bad about that response. Cause it's like,
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you should look at everything. Yeah, you should, but you're asking what are the most important
00:19:42.580
factors? Here's what I would say if I had to sum it up. No, it's, it's, they're important
00:19:46.540
considerations, but like we went off, right? Yeah. Here's what, here's what I would say. Climate
00:19:52.400
that would, that would be really important for me. And that also includes geography. So outdoors,
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lake, that sort of thing. So environment, top five, are we doing five here? No, three, three,
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three. Okay. Yep. So climate, geography, number two, politics, that's important. And then number
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three is the community. That's the three things I would say. There you go. All right. I, we could
00:20:16.520
have shortened that quite up with just the three. All right. They're important considerations though.
00:20:21.420
We should, we should talk about them. Yeah. Is your idea of masculinity dictated by capitalism
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or should it, and should it, I'm sorry. No, no. Masculinity is not determined by capitalism or any
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other societal construct. You know, I know people like to throw the socially constructed thing out
00:20:42.260
there, but in this case, capitalism is a societal construct. We've constructed it in order to hopefully
00:20:48.280
serve everybody as effectively as possible. Transfer of goods. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So it is a society,
00:20:52.820
it's a, it's a construction made up by members of society. Like that's the definition of a societal
00:21:00.000
construct. Agnostic of masculinity. Yeah. Yeah. But masculinity is not, is not, that's not what
00:21:06.700
masculinity is. Masculinity is a set of characteristics, patterns, behaviors, beliefs
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based on your biological makeup. Period. That's it. It's not good. It's not bad. It's not influenced by
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society. It's not, it's no, that's all it is. And I know this because there's been research from
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tribes and cultures and organizations and people who have men who have not even been introduced to
00:21:31.520
each other, who have striking similarities between what it means to be a man. The propensity for
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violence is a masculine characteristic. Okay. The, the desire to dominate is a masculine characteristic.
00:21:44.300
The desire to be tribal, to be protective, uh, to, to compete. These are masculine characteristics
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and culture doesn't dictate it. And capitalism or socialism or communism doesn't dictate it. It
00:22:00.120
just is because we've been biologically hardwired to operate that way. Now that said, there is another
00:22:08.100
element here that can be constructed or can be refined or honed based on society's acceptance or
00:22:19.080
massaging of the way that we behave as men. So if I was a Viking warrior a thousand years ago,
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I would be defined as being manly based on how many people I killed and how many women I was with.
00:22:31.520
That's a loose interpretation, right? Yeah. But I think you guys all get the point
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is about conquering, raping, pillaging, taking, dominating. And the tribe would consider me a man
00:22:44.820
if I was successful in those endeavors. Right. Yeah. Totally. Okay. Now I think generally not
00:22:51.300
exclusively, but generally we would say a man is somebody who, uh, has a family has children is
00:22:59.660
leading them effectively can have an, has an income takes care of other people serves as community.
00:23:07.260
Again, generally this, this is, I think what most people would say is manly behavior. Okay. Well,
00:23:12.500
that's different than it was a thousand years ago because society has changed. Yeah. Right. So my
00:23:18.760
definition of manliness, not masculinity, there's the difference. And it's not just semantics. It's very
00:23:24.000
important. We understand the distinction because my sons can be masculine, but they're not men.
00:23:28.440
We don't even expect them to be men. Like my, my, my youngest, he's feisty to put it mildly.
00:23:36.080
And when he doesn't get what he wants, what does he do? He punches or he scratches or he bites.
00:23:41.640
That's masculine. Okay. He's got, he's like, if I don't get what I want, I'm going to assert myself
00:23:47.420
and take it. That's masculine, but it isn't manly because it's not refined. Yeah. Like I appreciate
00:23:54.580
that he wants to vehemently go after what he wants, but there's a better way to do it. And I got to
00:23:58.960
teach him how to be manly. So this is not a insignificant distinction between the two now
00:24:04.900
to answer the question. So I had to give the backstory there. Yeah. Capitalism is rooted in
00:24:11.100
manliness. It's rooted in manliness because what does it mean? It means that you have a good or a skill
00:24:19.740
or, or, or a, or a possession that you've acquired, that you've earned, that you've developed,
00:24:25.580
it's marketable. You're going to go out and serve other people. You're going to trade with other men
00:24:30.520
of goods and services. You believe in the power of individualism. You believe in personal property
00:24:38.520
rights, that you have a right to own things and other people have a right to own things. And you don't
00:24:44.060
get to infringe upon those things. But if I want something Kip that you have, then we need to come
00:24:49.160
to an agreement. Like if I want that, that microphone that you have, and you want that,
00:24:54.540
that skull that I have, then we have to mutually agree upon it. And until that happens, no trade takes
00:25:01.000
place. Yeah. So socialism is not rooted in masculine or in manliness at all. It says that there's
00:25:10.900
one person or party that gets to dictate the price of everything that gets to be the, uh, the,
00:25:17.980
the sole source of production control manipulation, lack of sovereignty, giving it to other,
00:25:28.020
no individual rights. Socialism is not rooted in manliness, but capitalism is rooted in manliness.
00:25:35.160
Now I will say this because I know our already people are thinking this, but
00:25:40.900
capitalism can be taken advantage of, and that's not manly, right? So when I, as a, as a, uh,
00:25:48.500
a provider of goods and services rip clients off, you could say that's capitalism. No, that's not what
00:25:55.500
capitalism is. That's a misuse of the capitalistic system, but it isn't capitalism. And it isn't
00:26:01.340
manly because now you're stealing from somebody else. And I don't consider that to be a manly quality
00:26:05.960
or characteristic masculine, maybe because you want what I have and I'm going to take it,
00:26:09.940
but certainly not manly. Yeah. Totally. Cause I, I, there is crony capitalism. There is manipulation.
00:26:17.460
There is greed. I'm not, I'm not so oblivious to not acknowledge those things exist, but that's not
00:26:25.140
a by-product of the capitalistic system. That's a by-product of humans, humans. Exactly. Yeah.
00:26:31.400
Screw things up. So yes, there are faults and problems, but you can't show me another system
00:26:38.720
as effective in lifting people out of poverty, in innovation, in competition that drives innovation
00:26:45.900
and lowers prices and makes things more efficient and effective that leads to, uh, more wealth and
00:26:51.600
abundance that leads to medical care that leads to advancements in technology. There's not a better
00:26:56.820
system out there than capitalism driven by, and at its foundation, an element of manliness.
00:27:05.340
Love it. Austin King in his book, Jordan Peterson has his ninth rule, which is to assume the person
00:27:12.340
you're listening to might know something you don't with that. How do you find the balance and being
00:27:17.420
open-minded enough to listen to people who may know more than you on certain topics while also staying
00:27:23.000
convicted enough to vehemently defend your beliefs? Essentially, how do you stay humble enough to
00:27:32.360
change your mind while also being convicted enough to what, you know, to defend what you believe is
00:27:38.160
true? I really don't think those two, two positions are at odds with each other. Yeah. And, and just
00:27:45.360
because you listen to somebody or hear another opinion doesn't mean like, if you're threatened by that,
00:27:50.080
then I would say you need more work and being convicted in, in your beliefs. Like I'm, I'm never
00:27:56.100
threatened by anything else that I hear. I may not agree with it. I actually might think it's dangerous
00:28:02.680
even. Yeah. I mean, there's certain ideology, uh, transgenderism, critical race theory. Like there's
00:28:08.480
certain ideology that I think is very dangerous. Socialism, communism, those are dangerous ideas
00:28:13.240
that doesn't threaten my own worldview. I actually, I want to hear what you have to say because it's so
00:28:19.640
far out of the realm of my own thought process that I, in a lot of cases, I can't even believe
00:28:25.160
that certain people would think the way they do, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to hear them
00:28:29.260
out. And, and if you're curious, like we talked about earlier, then what you're going to do is you're
00:28:34.200
going to ponder on a statement that's made and you're going to ask yourself, is that true?
00:28:39.020
Here's the two questions I would ask. Is that true? And does that serve me? Yeah. And if the answer
00:28:47.940
is no to either one of those, I really don't have to go any further and move on. Yeah. If the answer
00:28:54.500
is yes, there isn't, even if the entirety is not true, but yes, there is an element of truth to that
00:29:00.400
thing that's being said, that opinion, that perspective, that ideology. And yes, I can see how,
00:29:06.400
if I incorporate that into my life, that I will be served better through dot, dot, dot. Then I think
00:29:13.100
probably ought to entertain that thought. I think that would be a good idea. I also look to the
00:29:19.000
credibility of people as well. And uncredible, is that what it, uncredible? That doesn't sound right.
00:29:26.320
Uncredible. People who are not credible can actually get things right. They can, they can get lucky and they
00:29:35.620
can get things right, but just be cautious. So when people are sharing ideas, like Jordan Peterson's
00:29:41.800
a great example. Well, he's pretty credible. Yeah. He's got degrees in psychology. He was
00:29:47.260
clinically trained. He's, he's been in practice. He's had thousands, I'm sure of patients. He's
00:29:54.080
talked with people. That's, that's pretty credible. I think I'm going to listen, but if I'm going to
00:29:59.340
listen to the guy who picks up my garbage, talk about a clinical depression, I'm like, okay,
00:30:05.020
well, I don't, that's not a credible information from somewhere else. Yeah, exactly. And so could
00:30:10.740
he be right? Yeah. He could get something right. But again, there's a little litmus test there
00:30:14.680
to know whether or not this is somebody worth listening to. Yeah, for sure. Who's who wrote
00:30:20.400
fifth agreement? Is it Miguel Luis, right? Yeah. Don. Yeah. Is it Don, Don Miguel Ruiz? Don, Don
00:30:27.700
Luis. Yeah. Ruiz. Look it up. Holy cow. So yes, he has two books, the fourth agreement and the fifth
00:30:33.820
agreement and the fifth agreement, he adds a fifth agreement and it's to be, oh shoot, what is it?
00:30:43.560
Really to question everything. But, and, and I'm going to add my definition to it. Question from the
00:30:49.480
perspective that everyone has a story and it's their perception. And what you're sharing with me,
00:30:56.060
Ryan is often a combination of maybe knowledge that you have, but your experiences as well as how it
00:31:03.720
relates to you and what it means about you as an individual with what you're sharing. Like, and when
00:31:10.040
you package that up and we listen, man, that's so powerful, right? Because now someone's sharing from
00:31:15.920
what perspective to validate their own options. Are they sharing because they want to make sure that
00:31:21.480
they feel good about the decision they made? Like what's the real motive of the share? And, and I
00:31:28.980
think in that, not only can we possibly consider someone else's point of view, but we can actually
00:31:35.040
learn from them, right? Like even the LBGQ or like the gender discussion, it's actually very interesting
00:31:43.280
to even still hear the debate because now you can start listening from, from a, from a place of
00:31:50.940
humanity and understand like, why, what is the human behavior? Why is this so critical? Why are you
00:31:57.460
losing your emotions in this debate? And you're not willing to look at this logically. What does it mean
00:32:03.400
about you? If you're wrong, man, there's just so much to learn about humans and about why they're
00:32:11.340
taking a stand or why they're willing to debate about something. If you go beyond just what they're
00:32:16.120
saying, you consider what it means about them. And, and I would also say, you don't have to care
00:32:21.360
about everything. Yeah. That's, that's one thing people need to be aware of is like, it seems like
00:32:26.640
everybody wants to have an opinion about everything. And the fact of the matter is like, there's just
00:32:30.380
certain things I just don't care about. Yeah. That's okay. Like you don't need to have an opinion.
00:32:35.040
Sometimes not having a response is the response. Like that isn't important to me. I'm not going to
00:32:39.100
waste brain cells on that. Yeah. But if it is important, then you should learn. You should. So I,
00:32:43.960
I pulled this up kit just to give you some support here on this one. It is Don Miguel Ruiz that,
00:32:50.260
so we had that right. Miguel Ruiz. Okay. Yeah. Ruiz. R-U-I-Z. Ruiz. Ruiz. Ruiz.
00:32:54.860
And the fifth agreement is, I'm just pulling it up here. Be skeptical, but learn to listen.
00:33:00.860
That's the fifth. Yeah. There you go. And, and I like that word choice of skeptical versus
00:33:06.200
pessimistic. Yeah. Because it is easy to become a pessimist and a pessimist to me is somebody who's
00:33:12.920
just always negative. They're looking to poke holes and arguments to fight, to be contentious
00:33:17.060
because they don't agree with it or they don't like it. And they're looking for it to be wrong.
00:33:21.280
And that's not, that's not what we should be doing. You know, if we go back to the scientific
00:33:25.840
method, you shouldn't have an opinion about your, your data. Like you should have a hypothesis and
00:33:35.000
then you should try to get to the root of it without an opinion about it because the opinion
00:33:40.060
is going to cloud it. So if you're like, Hey, I really want this to work, then it's going to cloud
00:33:43.980
your experiment and you're going to come up with a faulty conclusion. And it's the same thing when
00:33:49.080
you're trying to have discussions. If you have this like really heavy opinion about the way it
00:33:54.120
should be, and you're not trying to set that aside, even momentarily to give somebody an honest
00:33:59.440
shake with, with the discussion that's important to you, then I think you're doing yourself a
00:34:04.300
disservice. So let it, let it go and just try to look at it as objectively as possible. Yes. Be
00:34:10.080
skeptical, meaning you ask questions and you try to figure out where the flaws are and what's right
00:34:14.560
and what's wrong, but not to make it wrong to really get to the root of the matter. Yeah. Which,
00:34:20.720
which to his point and listen requires an attempt to understand, which is perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
00:34:28.420
Jason Fortreed, should the church do more to promote and support home education over public
00:34:33.620
schooling? If so, what would that look like? I, I'm, I would be careful with should, I don't,
00:34:40.740
I don't really know. I mean, if, if a congregation, if I would say if a church congregation or certain
00:34:46.540
denomination decided that that was going to help move people closer to God, then I would say, yes,
00:34:51.280
the church has a obligation and responsibility to do that. I do believe that family, the family unit
00:34:57.560
is a divine structure as a divine setup. And so to me, I'm just kind of thinking out loud that anything
00:35:05.400
that brings the family closer together, that turns, as they say, the hearts of the fathers to their
00:35:10.360
children and the children or the hearts of the fathers to their children and vice versa is probably
00:35:15.320
a good thing. Like that's probably what we should be doing. So I, I guess, I guess I would say, yes,
00:35:22.880
I would, I would hope that the church would encourage family learning, family growth, family
00:35:28.320
development, the parents stepping into the role fully by educating their children, maybe not exclusively,
00:35:33.360
but certainly being more involved in it. Yeah. And, and what does that look like? Well, I think it looks
00:35:39.680
like providing guidance and direction and even training and resources and bringing in specialists
00:35:47.560
and offering support and having nights and getting the children together who maybe aren't going to a
00:35:55.240
public school together in the chapel to do, you know, homeschool learning and, and being together and
00:36:01.240
learning how to play basketball or, or read the gospel together and interact in a social environment.
00:36:07.480
There's a lot of things the church can do. So I haven't heard that question. It's a very
00:36:11.920
interesting question. So I'm kind of rambling, I think a little bit, but I, but I'm also just
00:36:15.680
thinking out loud. I would say, yeah, anything that will move families closer together is, I would say
00:36:23.360
is, is a divine directive. We've, we've been called to operate as family units. So yes, I would say,
00:36:32.820
yes. Manish Thakrar, how to figure out your path when you feel like you've lost your way.
00:36:40.520
Don't figure out the path, just figure out the next step.
00:36:45.820
Look, don't look too far ahead. Don't look too far. I know there's a lot of like goal setting
00:36:50.940
and vision and, and we talk a lot about that. Yeah. But when you've lost your way and I've lost my
00:36:56.440
way, Kip, I know you've lost your way. Like we've all been in dark places. It's overwhelming.
00:37:01.520
You know, if you're in a dark tunnel, like you just stepped in this tunnel, it's dark and you,
00:37:07.200
you don't even see any light anywhere. It's really overwhelming to think that you're going to get out
00:37:13.860
of this tunnel. Yeah. But you're certainly capable of taking one step. You can, you can definitely do
00:37:19.980
that. And when you're done with that and you have your footing under you, you can take another one.
00:37:25.600
Like you can do that. And then a hundredth and then a thousandth and then a 10,000 step.
00:37:31.620
And then maybe on that 10,000 first step, you see a little, a little pinprick of light in front of
00:37:39.440
you, in the center of you. And you're like, Oh, what is that? And you take another step and it
00:37:43.360
gradually grows and it gets bigger and bigger. And then, then you start to have hope. Now you're
00:37:49.420
visualizing the future. You're like, Oh, that's where I want to go. I didn't know,
00:37:52.280
but I want to go there. And so now you pick up the pace, right? And you have hope and optimism.
00:37:58.700
And let's say you might see it. And then you step on a rock. You didn't see, and you roll your ankle
00:38:03.040
and you fall down. Well, you look and you're like, okay, that hurts, but there's a light. I
00:38:08.140
got to get back up, but you don't get to see the light until you take the first step. That's the
00:38:11.920
point I'm making. Yeah. So really, I don't want guys who are in the pit of despair right now to be
00:38:16.560
like, what vision planning and goal setting? And should I go climb Mount Everest? I mean, if,
00:38:21.460
if you have enough hope and you think you can do that, then I'm not going to say don't do it,
00:38:25.080
but if you don't feel like you can, don't be disheartened about it. Don't think you're,
00:38:30.320
you're a bad person or you're an idiot or a fool, or you should kill yourself. People think that
00:38:35.380
they're depressed. Just get up and just take a step. Like if you went through a divorce,
00:38:42.920
the first thing you can do is get up and brush your teeth. Like you can do that. Yeah. I know you
00:38:50.720
don't want to, but you can do that. And then when you're done with that, you can take a shower
00:38:55.900
and you could go downstairs and cook yourself some eggs and you could call a friend and say,
00:39:01.900
Hey, I'd like to go to the gym. Will you come with me? And, and then you can go back into work.
00:39:07.220
Like these are small steps that you can do. And we shouldn't overlook how important those things are
00:39:12.280
when you're in the pit of despair. And then one day, maybe it's six months, maybe it's a year,
00:39:16.980
maybe it's less, maybe it's more, you know, you won't really even think about that. It'll be
00:39:21.560
a distant memory that sucked. You remember it sucked, but you're not dwelling in it. You're not
00:39:27.700
in it. You're out of it. And you can move forward the way that you want to move forward.
00:39:33.080
Ryan, would you add any recommendations on those steps? Right? Like I know you gave an example,
00:39:39.540
like just, you know, keep moving, brush your teeth, go to work. You know what I mean?
00:39:42.960
Cook some breakfast, but let's say they're doing just those bare minimums. They're still in that
00:39:49.000
dark place. What is the step, right? Do you, do you have some recommendations? Is it a minor step
00:39:56.040
in a direction that, you know, you should be, is it at least a step in the areas of your physical
00:40:01.880
wellbeing at a, at a minimum with maybe some steps from a, from a spiritual side? Like what would you
00:40:08.840
recommend those steps be? So there's, there's a few realms that I would say. So I'll talk about
00:40:15.880
broadly and then I'll give you some specifics in each of those realms. So it's the realms that you
00:40:20.940
need to improve are mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Those are, those are the realms
00:40:27.460
balance, mental, emotional, physical, spiritual. So as long as what you're doing is moving you in the
00:40:34.320
right direction and each of, or all of those four realms, you're, you're going in the right
00:40:39.460
direction. So if it's mental, then you need to stimulate your mind because here's what happens
00:40:46.360
for guys that are dealing with depression or divorce or bankruptcy, a lawsuit, like any number
00:40:51.860
of things that could happen, a medical issue is they don't stimulate their mind. And then what happens?
00:40:57.960
The mind starts stimulating itself. It's like, okay, well, you know, this is going wrong. This is why
00:41:03.460
you're a loser. You're an idiot. And here's, you should kill yourself and nobody loves you and
00:41:08.480
everything's going wrong. And it's going to be like this forever. That's your mind trying to
00:41:12.940
stimulate itself. We have these things called cognitive distortions. You guys should look it up.
00:41:18.760
I dealt with this. I don't deal with it as much anymore. I still do. But when something goes wrong,
00:41:24.160
our minds automatically jump to the worst possible scenario. It's a defense mechanism. It's a survival
00:41:30.480
survival technique. Yeah. That's, that's all it is. And, but you need to be aware of it because
00:41:34.860
what you're going through likely isn't going to kill you. Okay. Now, if you see you're out walking
00:41:41.540
the street at 10 o'clock at night and you see a shady person and they have a gun or a knife,
00:41:46.480
you should probably jump to the worst case scenario in that. Like, Hey, that person's going to try to
00:41:51.380
kill me. They're going to try to stab me or shoot me and steal my money. And you should probably
00:41:57.040
jump to the worst case scenario and get yourself out of that environment. But the overwhelming
00:42:02.600
majority of what we deal with is, is not the end of the world. I promise you. Okay. Like let's say
00:42:08.240
here's one, your wife calls you in the middle of the day and she's like, hon, I really need to talk
00:42:12.360
with you tonight. Can we talk this evening when you get home? What's your mind doing right now?
00:42:18.140
Already? Yeah. She's leaving me. She's cheating on me. She caught me doing something I know I
00:42:24.020
should have been doing. Uh, we're going to get an argument. The world's going to end. Um, my kids,
00:42:29.680
she's going to take my kids and we're going to, and then she actually just wants to talk with you
00:42:33.320
about the summer vacation plans that you have. Yeah. Yeah. So like we do some, our minds do some
00:42:40.100
crazy stuff. So stimulate your mind. So that's mental. Emotional is developing some emotional
00:42:45.940
resilience and building in some strategies that are going to help you overcome when you are feeling
00:42:51.820
emotional. And you are, when you're going through difficult times, you're sad, you're mad, you're
00:42:56.360
angry, you're guilty, this whole range of emotions. And so you can act out on those things, or you can
00:43:03.940
realize that, yes, I'm angry right now and I feel betrayed. And so here's what I'm going to do to
00:43:09.940
overcome these thoughts. I'm going to make myself better. I'm going to surround myself with better
00:43:13.660
people. Um, I'm not going to allow these emotions to dictate my behavior. I'm going to consider my
00:43:19.800
emotions, but then I'm going to make rational decisions. And here's my, my decision-making
00:43:24.960
process. And you start working through what that is. And then putting some defense mechanisms in
00:43:30.020
for yourself. Like when I get angry about something or stressed, cool. I'm going to put everything down,
00:43:35.580
push myself out from the desk, put my phone down, and I'm just going to go walk around for an hour.
00:43:41.120
And I tell my wife, hon, I'm going to go for a walk or I'm going to go for a drive. And that's
00:43:44.980
some emotional tools that I use. Um, physical, that's pretty easy. Just go to the gym. Maybe
00:43:52.700
it's not even the gym. Maybe it's just, Hey, you know what? Just get up and do 20 push-ups right
00:43:56.560
now. Or I've got weights all over. I've got Indian clubs and kettlebells and different weights. And
00:44:02.680
so like, I'll pick them up. I've got like a hatchet right there. And I'll like, and I'll like just
00:44:06.640
hold it at the wall. Yeah. Just smash it with it. Emotional, hold it in the air, or I'll put it,
00:44:13.440
I'll put it behind my back and like stretch out my tries and shoulders and do extensions and
00:44:17.960
do push-ups. Like I might stand at my desk. This is a desk that goes up and down. I might stand and
00:44:24.740
just like, you know, just try to move or you go to the gym or go to jujitsu. Okay. So that's physical
00:44:30.360
and then spiritual, just read, read, read the Bible, read, read, um, uh, Don Miguel Ruiz. You could read,
00:44:40.100
you could read that like anything spiritually related. And when I say that I'm talking about
00:44:43.740
higher purpose, that's what I'm talking about. So it could be something with God, something
00:44:48.880
religious. It could be something that, that calls you to, to be a better person, to serve in some
00:44:55.720
charitable capacity, to maybe get inspiration from other people who are spiritual that you want to
00:45:01.700
learn from that you're inspired by. Uh, it could be go to, go to church. Uh, it could go,
00:45:06.800
go to a charity or like a food bank and serve. These are all spiritual components that you can,
00:45:13.860
you can be doing, but those, those are the realms. And there's a few ideas on what you could do.
00:45:17.740
Cool. I think, but don't dismiss it because it's small. Like, that's what I would say.
00:45:21.780
Yeah. Like, like imagine that you're 50 pounds overweight and some of you guys are and more right
00:45:27.080
now. And you're thinking to yourself, man, I just want to get in shape, but I'm 50 pounds overweight.
00:45:33.820
Like I'll never take forever. Can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is not going to be
00:45:39.360
possible. And then you, you think to yourself, well, maybe I'll go to the gym and then, and then
00:45:44.800
the next breath you're like, yeah, but I don't have anything to wear to the gym. Like people are
00:45:49.040
going to stare at me. It's hard. That's not going to do anything. Like go to the gym once is not going
00:45:55.440
to do anything. It's something, you know, or, or maybe you just decide, Hey, I'm going to stop
00:46:00.400
drinking Coke. That's something, there's something to be said for that. And then when you get a handle
00:46:05.940
on that, then it's, I'm going to cut out all processed sugars. And then when you get on a
00:46:10.160
handle on that, you're like, you know what? I'm going to do food prep. Now I'm going to prepare
00:46:13.820
my meals ahead of time. And when you get a handle on that, you're like, you know, I'm losing weight.
00:46:17.920
Like I feel pretty good, but I'd like to build some muscle. And so I'm going to pick up some heavy
00:46:21.820
things. And so you do that, you know, you just build upon it. That's all I'm saying. Go back and
00:46:28.120
listen to, uh, the Friday field notes. I think it's called, I think I titled it the power of
00:46:32.320
incremental improvement. And that will actually talk a lot about what we're talking about right
00:46:36.440
now. Okay. I think we did Manisha a solid there. All right. Christian, uh, Maldonado,
00:46:43.440
Maldonado, how do you feel with an unsupportive mother-in-law as a man? How do you deal with it?
00:46:50.000
How do you deal with an unsupported mother-in-law?
00:46:52.180
Um, I I'm not really too wrapped up in what my mother-in-law thinks of me. I mean, it is,
00:46:59.520
I'm not going to say it's not important because she's got a lot of weight with your wife.
00:47:02.940
Yeah. It will affect you whether you like it or not. Yeah, totally. So I'm not really going to try
00:47:09.320
to win her, her over. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to be the best damn husband for my
00:47:13.240
wife. And when mother-in-law makes snippy comments or says something rude or whatever,
00:47:18.400
my wife's going to be like, what are you talking about? Like he's home every night. He's putting
00:47:24.720
food on the table. We are connected. He's asking about me. He cares for our kids. He,
00:47:30.320
he goes out of his way. He makes sacrifices for us, but then he also makes sacrifices to be with us.
00:47:36.400
Like, and that anything that she would say is just at complete odds with the way that your wife feels
00:47:43.400
about you. And that, I don't, I wouldn't do that for my mother-in-law. I would do that for myself
00:47:49.380
first, not actually my wife first. I do that for myself first and also for my wife. And the by-product
00:47:57.580
is, you know, something that better, better relationship potentially with your mother-in-law.
00:48:03.940
Now I know there's vindictive people out there. And in that case, what I would say is you and your
00:48:08.980
wife, you need to be able to establish that influence with your wife, but then you also
00:48:13.280
need to talk about the boundaries that you have in place. Because if you have that level of influence
00:48:19.560
with your wife and you have those concerns, she's going to hear those concerns. And then you're
00:48:24.900
going to have to say, Hey hon, we really need to put some boundaries in place because your mom is
00:48:29.560
a toxic factor in our relationship and the relationship with our kids. And I'm not going to
00:48:35.900
have that come between you and me or between us and our children. And if you're doing what you should
00:48:42.760
be doing and all the things that you committed to, she's going to respect that. And she's going to
00:48:48.580
work with you on that. There's tactful ways you have to do it, but she will work with you on that.
00:48:52.540
But if you're not doing it and then you say, Hey, let's set a boundary. She's like, screw you.
00:48:56.640
Who are you? Yeah. Right. Yeah. You're the asshole that my mom warns me about. Right.
00:49:01.080
And she's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kevin Anderson. How can I maintain a positive environment for my
00:49:09.100
daughter age seven and my son age one and a half when mom acts as though she prefers to be a part-time
00:49:16.320
parent? It angers me, but I don't want my kids to feel my emotions about the situation. Obviously
00:49:23.060
we are separated. So I have no choice, but to control my end of the situation. Yeah. I mean,
00:49:28.880
that's it. I mean, you really just said it. And you know what? I would, I would actually,
00:49:35.080
people are going to say things like, Oh, you're being a beta. You're being a cuck. This is what
00:49:39.160
people are going to say when I say this, but I don't think it is, is like, appreciate your ex
00:49:44.000
when she's doing things right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Maybe she doesn't want to be there all the time.
00:49:50.040
Maybe she hates her kids. The majority of the time, maybe she hates you. Maybe she's an evil person.
00:49:55.040
Maybe she's into drugs. Like maybe she cheated on you. I mean, there's a thousand things it could
00:50:00.040
be, but there's also some things that she might've got right. You know, like she picked up the kids
00:50:05.980
and she showed up on time and they went to the park and they had a great day and the kids were
00:50:09.160
excited and it was only for two hours, but like, okay, cool. That's what she can give. Like maybe
00:50:15.760
drop the expectations. It sounds like the kids are, it sounds like to me that the kids are with,
00:50:20.600
with him full-time. That's kind of what I'm gathering. Yeah. Cause she only wants to be a
00:50:25.420
part-time mom. That's kind of, and I'm wondering, or she's just checked out whenever the kids are with
00:50:30.320
her. Right. Yeah. And that's unfortunate, you know? So I would definitely say, you know, fight for your
00:50:37.080
rights too. I don't know if you have custody, but if, if you don't, then maybe that's a battle you want
00:50:43.200
to consider, but you know, there's probably some things she's getting right and acknowledge those
00:50:47.300
because you could dwell on the negatives, but what's that going to change? It's not nothing.
00:50:51.620
It's only going to get worse. So, Hey, you know what? Yeah. Maybe she's not a great mom,
00:50:57.040
but you know, they had a good day today and I'll take it. Yeah. And there's one thing he wrote here
00:51:03.700
that kind of raised up a red flag for me. He says, but I don't want my kids to fill my emotions about
00:51:10.920
the situation. And the answer is they will. So change your emotions about the situation,
00:51:18.180
right? There is no, there is no, like, I feel this way, but I'm going to hide it. No, no, no,
00:51:23.820
no. You need to change the way you feel about it, which to your point, Ryan, change your,
00:51:29.220
have some empathy, understand where mom's at, try to deal with your emotions because they're going to
00:51:34.040
pick it up. If you're pissed off at mom all the time and you think she's worthless, that's going to
00:51:38.460
come across. And guess what? That's their mom. And that their identity is tied to mom. So,
00:51:45.480
and it sounds a little extreme, but if you're bitching about mom, you're bitching about them.
00:51:51.120
Oh, totally. It's not extreme at all. That's how the kids are going to see it. So you better change
00:51:55.840
your mindset or you're attacking your kids. I agree. I wholeheartedly agree with that. I was
00:52:01.500
thinking about it. Like when you talk negative, think about this. How do you feel when people talk
00:52:07.680
negatively about people that you like? Yeah. It offends you. Yeah. I'm like, screw you buddy.
00:52:15.240
Like, I don't want to be around you. Like I like that person. I care about that person and you're
00:52:20.260
going to talk poorly about them. So basically you're not only you're talking poorly about somebody I love,
00:52:26.460
but you're actually, that's an indictment against me too. Yeah. Like you're insulting me for even being
00:52:32.420
in that relationship or feeling the way that I feel about that person. So think about what your kids
00:52:36.480
are experiencing. Now think about on the other hand, Hey, you know what? Your mom really cares
00:52:41.240
about you, man. She took you to the park today. That's awesome. You guys must've had a great time
00:52:47.840
where when the kids say something great about mom, like, Oh, she cooked us dinner. Like you don't have
00:52:53.860
to love the woman to say, well, that was, that's awesome. How was it? Oh, she, it was delicious. Good.
00:52:58.700
She, she was always a great cook. Yeah. You don't have to love the woman to say that.
00:53:03.920
Yeah. And they'll feel more loved by you expressing that reaction against their mom. Yeah. And then I
00:53:10.500
hear guys will say, well, but my wife's talking poorly about me. Well, yeah, they're going to have
00:53:15.220
that. The kids are going to have that feeling towards their mother. So as they get older, what's
00:53:20.540
going to happen? They're going to naturally want to be around you and not around her because they feel
00:53:28.560
good and encouraged and edified and uplifted and special when they're with you. And they may not
00:53:34.600
feel that way when they're with their, their mother. So that's fine. Let the, let it play out. It's good.
00:53:40.820
Trust me. Trust me. Okay. There's nothing she could say or do that would undermine their own experience
00:53:47.500
with you. Yeah. And she might, she actually might try to make you out as a villain, but when the kids
00:53:53.800
come and see you, if you play the part, then you just made her right. Yep. But if they come and see
00:54:00.960
you and you're not the villain, you're the hero, they're like, dad's awesome. When we spend time with
00:54:06.860
us and we watch, you know, funny movies together, we go to the movies and he gets us popcorn and too
00:54:12.280
many candies. And then we do like, we made a tent and we had a sleepover and we did all the
00:54:17.480
cool stuff. And then they go home and she's like, yeah, he's evil. They're like, what,
00:54:21.980
what are you talking about? They might not vocalize it, but they know, they know the truth
00:54:26.800
of it. Totally. And it's hard, Kevin, like we all know this, right? If you know that your
00:54:33.980
ex is speaking ill about you to your kids, when you go pick them up, the natural instinct will be
00:54:40.440
my kids don't care. My kids don't want to hang out with me. They think this about me because
00:54:46.280
they're mom. So you actually start like almost like self-fulfilling prophecy show up as though
00:54:52.060
you're already the demon and they don't want to be around you. And it just perpetuates the narrative
00:54:58.680
even more. Right. Yeah. One more thought really quick. I, one of my favorite books,
00:55:03.400
outward mindset, Harberger Institute, they have the pyramid. And at the top of the pyramid is
00:55:08.340
ultimately when we have influence. And I always thought this was really interesting. The bottom and
00:55:12.860
the base of the pyramid is establishing relationship. That's number two. Guess what's
00:55:18.060
below that? Establishing a relationship with people of influence. So you want to be in a
00:55:25.420
position to affect your kids in a positive way. Guess what? Guess who has great influence over them?
00:55:30.780
Their mom. You need to have a relationship with her because it then puts you in a better area of
00:55:37.200
authority to be able to be, to be in a position to coach your children. So if, if not for yourself,
00:55:44.760
if not for them, do it from a perspective of what do I need to do or how do I need to show up to be
00:55:50.900
able to influence my kids in a positive way? And it is a relationship with their mom, whether you like
00:55:54.900
it or not. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Cool. Any more questions or we get through them all?
00:55:59.180
Um, no, we didn't get through them all. Oh, I go for one more or yeah, let's take one more. No
00:56:04.220
problem. Okay. Michael, uh, Volkenberg two-part question related to sports. What's a good tactic
00:56:10.900
for teaching your young boys to be aggressive when it's needed. And number two, how do you teach kids
00:56:16.320
not to be afraid of the ball? I like that. The ball's easy. You just hit them in the face with it a
00:56:22.660
bunch of times until they get over it. You hit them with the bat and then they're like, Oh, I prefer the
00:56:27.880
ball at me. Dodge a wrench. Um, yeah. I don't know. I, I guess when I was, my kids were younger,
00:56:36.020
if they were afraid, I'd be like, throw that ball at me. Like, just throw it at me.
00:56:41.660
Yeah. And like hit me in the back with it or something or in the chest, like as hard as you
00:56:46.120
can throw it at me and they'd throw it. And I'm like, yeah, that's hurt, but I'm still here. Okay.
00:56:52.300
Yeah. And it's all right. Like it hurts. Like sometimes you're going to get hit with a ball and that's
00:56:55.860
just part of the deal. And so can I throw this ball at you now? I won't do it hard, but can I
00:57:00.300
throw this at you? And they're like, yeah. And so you throw the ball at them. Like you don't beat
00:57:04.500
them with the ball. You just throw it at them. And you're like, did that hurt? And they say, yeah,
00:57:08.160
that hurt. And you're like, okay. And well, I'm okay. Right. That's just part of life. And so it
00:57:16.200
actually is a psychological principle of introducing people to the things they're scared of. You introduce
00:57:21.680
gradually and controlled environments. And then over time, they become less and less scared of it.
00:57:25.480
This is a psychological principle. And I think it's the same with, yeah, of course they're going
00:57:30.440
to be scared. Like whether it's a baseball or a football whizzing at their face, like any human's
00:57:35.680
going to be scared of that. Yeah. Right. So you just teach them to deal with it that, yeah, it hurts,
00:57:41.040
but pain isn't like the end, end all be all. It's just, it is what it is. And when do you get hurt by
00:57:46.800
the ball when you're afraid of it? Right. Like those are the times that you're going to end up taking the
00:57:51.540
baseball to the face, right. Is when you're, you're timid from it. I remember when Kyavi was
00:57:56.440
younger, I told him, if you, if you don't aggressively go to the ball, the ball will hurt
00:58:02.540
you. Yeah, totally. And so, so when we played catch, it was you go to the ball. Don't like
00:58:08.520
let the ball come to you and then end up having it pop out of your mitt and hit you in the face.
00:58:12.920
Right. Like you have to go to the ball and you show the ball who's boss, then the ball won't hurt
00:58:18.240
you, you know? Yeah. So, um, yeah, anyhow, those, there's your ball tactics, but, uh, I was going
00:58:24.960
to say, I also, yeah, I think this will answer that question too, is I reward good behavior
00:58:31.420
just through, just through, uh, enforcement of, of that good behavior. So if, if, for example, um,
00:58:41.380
one of your kids, like my son, my second son, he scraped his knee, his skateboarding the other
00:58:45.680
day, he fell off and scraped his knee. I didn't say, Oh, that hurts. And I'm sorry. I'm like,
00:58:49.780
that's awesome. Good job. Yeah. That scar is awesome. Like, look how cool that thing looks.
00:58:56.120
I'm like, does it hurt? And he's like, yeah. I'm like, can I touch it? And he's like, no,
00:58:59.900
I'm like, no, I want to touch it. Like, I want to feel it. Like, so I'll go touch it. And I'm like,
00:59:03.580
I know that hurts, but like, that's awesome. Look at mine. Look at this scar. Look at that. Look at this.
00:59:08.280
Oh, I don't know if you knew this, but when I was a kid, here's, I was doing a tricycle race
00:59:12.420
and I got cut by a palm. I've ran into a palm tree and I got this scar. Look how cool that was.
00:59:18.440
And it's cool. And all of a sudden it's like, yeah, it hurts, but that's minimal compared to
00:59:23.920
the fact that dad thinks I'm cool. Cause I have this scrape or this cutter, this bruised or black
00:59:28.080
eye or broken finger or whatever, you know, like cast are cool. When a kid gets a cash, you're like,
00:59:34.000
dude, that's rad. Yeah. Like not everybody gets to wear a cast. Yeah. You broke your arm.
00:59:38.560
That was awesome. Awesome job. Way to get back up. Yeah. Yeah. It was awesome. But it's the same
00:59:44.400
thing with aggression too, right? When your kid shows that moment of aggression, it's like, Hey,
00:59:48.960
you know what? Awesome. I don't, you missed the play or whatever, or missed the tackle or,
00:59:53.900
or didn't hit the base or whatever. But like, what I'm proud about is how aggressive you were.
00:59:58.040
That was really cool. The other thing I would say is that your young children, a lot of the times
01:00:04.220
are going to learn more from their peers and that are going to learn from you. So you can't really
01:00:09.160
teach them some of these things. They have to be around other boys specifically, and they have to
01:00:15.800
get dirty and fight and get mad at each other, arguments, punch and argue and push. Like they have
01:00:24.960
to do that. Okay. With reason. And we, I think too often we interject, like you remember, you see
01:00:32.200
a fight at school and like all the teachers rush. And I'm like, well, hold on. Like maybe actually
01:00:36.900
we should let them fight this out a little bit. Yeah. Like we don't want anybody to get hurt. Of
01:00:42.160
course, you know, but like maybe the best thing that can happen is those two men or young men at
01:00:48.100
school can punch each other a little bit and they'll come to some understanding. I don't know if that's
01:00:53.920
right. I'm just kind of curious if maybe we ought to let that happen a little more. Totally. Right.
01:00:58.380
So I think that's something you could do is get them involved around other boys. And the other
01:01:03.100
thing that you need to be aware of is that, well, my oldest son, and a lot of you guys know him,
01:01:09.240
Brecken, was never a really aggressive kid. Like I sounded very much similar to what you're asking.
01:01:15.660
Like, how do I get him to be more aggressive? I saw something in one time when he was little
01:01:20.800
and he just wasn't aggressive. He wasn't a go getter. He likes sports, but just wasn't real
01:01:24.580
aggressive compared to the other kids. And then we did a Spartan race and I saw something in him
01:01:30.080
that I like never saw before. Like the light just like clicked. And then we started doing other
01:01:36.360
things, jujitsu and things like this. And he got into powerlifting and I see something in him in that,
01:01:42.440
that he just never had any other sport. Never. And he's got this friend that he really,
01:01:48.180
really likes and respects and they're good friends. And he had his friend come to lifting
01:01:52.100
with him. And his coach sent me a text. He's like, Hey, send, send his friend with him. Every
01:01:58.720
time I saw something in Brecken, I've never seen before because he's competing with his friend.
01:02:03.580
He wants to beat his friend. Yeah. So that's the peer thing. And then also it's finding the right
01:02:09.740
avenues. Like what he's doing, he may not be super aggressive in also, he may just never be an
01:02:16.480
aggressive kid on the, on the, on the field. He may never, and that's okay, but you better get
01:02:22.680
comfortable with it. Cause some kids just aren't going to be that. My daughter's not. Yeah. Like
01:02:27.440
she kind of is like little pokey just kind of runs. I'm like, what are you doing? Like I get so
01:02:31.400
frustrated, but I'm like, Oh no, she's not like, it's different. And that's okay. That's fine.
01:02:35.800
It's not a big deal. Yeah. That's really interesting. I remember the first time I took Kika
01:02:40.160
to jujitsu and they were preparing for a tournament. It was really bad time to start her
01:02:46.640
off because the kids are like matched up and they're doing like tournament style. And we
01:02:52.140
left them like, Hey, you know, how was it, honey? You know, did you have a good time? She's
01:02:56.120
like, I felt like those kids were trying to hurt me. And I was like, yes, they were.
01:03:02.620
Well, she's like, I don't like that feeling, you know? I'm like, yeah. Okay. You know, but
01:03:11.000
then she does gymnastics and no joke. They had a class party and it was a challenge. Whoever
01:03:20.100
could do practice the most back handsprings in a class. I saw it. This was this weekend.
01:03:26.200
No, that was her showcase, but that was her. Oh, got it. Yeah. Her looking all over the mat.
01:03:30.580
Yeah. This girl came home and did thousands of back handsprings by herself. She won the party.
01:03:41.480
If none of her classmates even participated, she outdid the other classes all on her own.
01:03:47.920
That's awesome. Make it aggressive and just, you know what I mean? But to your point,
01:03:53.320
there was just a spark and she was just willing to grind out some serious reps for that sport.
01:04:00.580
Yeah. But jujitsu, she's kind of like, Hey, you know what? I kind of don't like someone trying
01:04:04.840
to choke me. Right. Yeah. Brecken's the same way. You're like, he doesn't really, Brecken doesn't
01:04:10.400
even really like to wrestle or with me. Like, I'm like, what's your problem? Like, let's fight.
01:04:15.120
He's like, I don't want to like, he just doesn't like that. And my second and my fourth, Oh, all day long.
01:04:24.080
My, my lap, my fourth, he'll, he'll come up and just kick me just for no reason. And be like,
01:04:29.480
let's fight. Okay. Um, you know, but then on the, on, in the gym, my oldest is like, Hey,
01:04:37.880
I bet I can deadlift more than you. I'm like, cool, let's do it. And I still can beat him right
01:04:42.780
now, but he's way more aggressive there. He just doesn't want to wrestle. He doesn't want to do
01:04:48.140
jiu-jitsu, but he's just as aggressive in that vein. So maybe you're, maybe you look for another
01:04:52.300
vein. Yeah. So celebrate the behavior consistently, right? Second, figure out what areas they can find
01:05:02.480
aggression in, or they might be aggressive interests, whether they be hobbies or different
01:05:07.220
sports. Yep. And hit them more with the ball. I think. Yeah. Yeah. And if they're afraid of the
01:05:12.460
ball, throw them the bat and see what happens. I, I don't know. I, I don't, I don't have this
01:05:19.820
stuff figured out at all. It's, it's so interesting raising kids. And it is, I would say this with the
01:05:26.700
consistency of taught of, of celebrating is we, we always celebrate winning, right? Like that's what
01:05:34.100
we celebrate, but that's what we used to celebrate. Now we just celebrate participation. Yeah. I don't
01:05:39.440
think we should celebrate participation. I think we should celebrate excellence, whether we win or
01:05:44.660
lose the behavior. Yeah. The behavior. So if, if that baseball, you know, your kid steals second and
01:05:53.380
he goes as hard as he can and he gets thrown out, it's like, yeah, well, that didn't work, but you know
01:06:00.320
what? I saw you run as hard as you could. And that's going to be more important, the younger they are,
01:06:05.580
I think. But if you start building up that way, the winds will come, the winds will take care of
01:06:09.620
themselves. But if you start building up young, celebrating the effort, celebrating the behavior,
01:06:16.400
the winds will stack. Yeah. I love this conversation. I was having this conversation with
01:06:22.240
the wife a few weeks ago about if you really think your kids are, are thriving to identify themselves.
01:06:30.280
It's like identity crisis. And it's interesting. Just, you know, consider the thought process.
01:06:37.940
What's the drawback of you going to Brecken saying, Brecken, you're so talented. Brecken,
01:06:42.980
you're such a great athlete. Brecken, you're so this Brecken. So that, and then what happens when he's
01:06:47.140
not, what, what happens if he gets injured and he's not an athlete anymore,
01:06:54.420
or the other kids all sudden catch up with him and they're, they're better athletes than he is.
01:07:01.140
Then what? His world comes crushing down. Like I even think about this from my daughter's
01:07:05.580
perspective. You're so beautiful. You're so beautiful. You're so beautiful. Maybe I shouldn't
01:07:10.480
be pitching this idea that their identity is tied in being beautiful. Maybe there's some drawback to
01:07:18.920
that. Maybe it's better that I go, Hey, I love the way that you didn't give up. I love the way that you
01:07:26.380
drive through and do difficult things. I love the way that you're dedicated in your discipline to do
01:07:32.000
what is right. Maybe those are the things that we should be steering their identities into not
01:07:38.020
necessarily these elusive, you know, winning to your point, looking good, you know what I mean? Or these,
01:07:44.760
or, or these, um, intrinsic or really extrinsic values that they could maybe lose someday. And
01:07:50.900
we see this, you know, we've used this analogy with, with guys leaving the military and going to
01:07:55.780
civilian life. They lose their mission. Why? Because their identity was a warrior and now it's been taken
01:08:01.580
from them. And I don't know, it's an interesting thought process. And it really makes me nervous
01:08:07.600
about what I'm saying to my kids on a regular basis thinking, geez, is that really what I should be
01:08:12.820
promoting. Yeah, no, it's a good point. I would only, the only other thing I would add to is that
01:08:18.200
you do, you do want to be honest with your kids. Like, I don't, I don't lie to my kids. Like falsely.
01:08:24.360
Yeah. Yeah. Like for example, if Brecken didn't perform very well at his meet and he's like, Hey dad,
01:08:30.500
what did you think? I wouldn't lie to him about it. Yeah. Well, he knows too, right? Like what's the
01:08:35.940
damage of that when you're like, Oh, I love that you did so hard. Right. He goes, I didn't, I didn't push hard.
01:08:41.080
Right. Yeah. So I'm always honest. I would have said, I would say to him straight up, Hey man,
01:08:46.260
like you didn't have it today. Like it seemed like you were distracted or seemed like you didn't have
01:08:52.820
the fire or I'm not to beat him up, but to like figure it out. So like, what, what was up? Oh man,
01:08:59.000
I had a bad, bad couple of days or I didn't sleep very well last night. Oh, well it showed. So what do
01:09:05.060
we need to do next time when you get better sleep? Right. So what, how can we set that up? Right. So it's
01:09:09.740
always leading to a productive outcome, but yeah, don't lie to your kids. Like, like you said,
01:09:14.180
they know you, everybody knows and it just sets them up for failure. Yeah. Cool. All right,
01:09:21.480
brother. I think we're good with questions today. We'll save some for next week. You want to take us
01:09:25.660
home? Yep. Sounds good. So connect with us on Facebook. That's where we filled it. Our questions
01:09:30.700
today. Facebook.com slash group slash order, man. I see opens up in a little over 15 days.
01:09:38.780
Yeah. About two or three weeks. Yeah. So be prepared. Get ready. If you're on the fence,
01:09:45.860
you need to act quickly. Those spots fill up fairly quick and we'll have it open for a limited time.
01:09:52.300
And then as a reminder, Ryan's going to be giving away a book autograph book by Mr. Haynes,
01:10:00.620
Cam Haynes. And really what was it? Leave a rating review iTunes and then email Brandy
01:10:07.580
B-R-A-N-D-Y at orderofman.com. And you'll be entered in for the giveaway signed copy of
01:10:14.540
Endure by Cameron Haynes. Yeah. And we'll announce that on Friday. So act quickly over the next couple
01:10:19.920
of days. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you, Kip. Guys, thank you. Great questions today. Really enjoyed
01:10:24.560
that one. Keep the questions coming. We'll, we'll do our best to answer them and we'll be back on Friday
01:10:29.580
until then go out there, take action and become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening
01:10:34.200
to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you
01:10:39.220
were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.