The Right Kind of Crazy | CLINT EMERSON
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 11 minutes
Words per Minute
210.07133
Summary
We all know the world can be a dangerous place, and if a man hasn t prepared himself for all that may come up, frankly, he s just shirking his role and responsibility as a man. It s in our nature to protect and provide and preside, and yet so many men seem completely and utterly incapable of doing so. Today, I m joined by my friend, repeat guest and former Navy SEAL, Clint Emerson, we talk about our nature as men, how society has seemed to go soft, why hazing is good for men in culture, keeping ourselves and others safe in dangerous environments, and ultimately our need to evolve as men.
Transcript
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We all know the world can be a dangerous place, and if a man hasn't prepared himself for all
00:00:04.700
that may come up, frankly, he's just shirking his role and responsibility as a man. It's
00:00:09.560
in our nature, after all, to protect and provide and preside, and yet so many men seem completely
00:00:15.360
and utterly incapable of doing so. Today, I'm joined by my friend, repeat guest and
00:00:20.980
former Navy SEAL, Clint Emerson. We talk about our nature as men, how society has seemed
00:00:26.340
to go soft, why hazing, of course, in the right context, is good for men in culture, keeping
00:00:31.920
ourselves and others safe in dangerous environments, and ultimately our need to evolve as men.
00:00:37.460
You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time. You
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are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This
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is who you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said
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and done, you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name
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is Ryan Michler, and I am the host and the founder of this podcast and the movement that
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is Order of Man. I want to welcome you today. I've got a very good one lined up for you today.
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I interviewed and had a conversation with my friend, Clint Emerson, a couple of weeks ago
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at SHOT Show, and you're going to hear that in just a minute. If you're new and you're joining
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us, welcome. This is a show designed to give you the tools and the resources and guidance,
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direction, and conversations to be in this podcast to help you become a more capable and
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effective man. January marked our highest download month ever. So I want to thank you for that.
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It means a lot to me. It means a lot to this movement. Frankly, it means a lot to this society
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because we need this. We need men. Men want to be men. Women want to be with men. And it's my job
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to give you everything you need to become that kind of man. Now, speaking of conversations,
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I want to talk with you very briefly. And then we're going to get into the conversation here
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with Clint about our exclusive brotherhood, the iron council. I'm sure a lot of you are familiar.
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We've got 500 and I want to say 50 or 60 members at this point in the iron council. And for the month
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of February, you're going to be working with your band of brothers in the iron council and your battle
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teams on how to have more powerful conversations with the people that you need to have those
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conversations with. So this could be your spouse, your children, your boss, your clients, your friends,
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your colleagues, your coworkers, but how to be truthful with people. Of course, how to do it with tact,
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how to speak the truth, how to be more assertive and not be so passive, maybe even not be so
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aggressive and learn how to be more tactful in the way that you approach people with critical
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and important conversations that need to be had. And you need to be the one having them because if
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you're not having them, then people aren't looking at you as the leader and the influence that you have
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the power to be. But in order to do that, you need to be able to communicate true, true ideas,
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maybe not uncomfortable or excuse me, uncomfortable ideas. You need to be able to share those truthfully
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with people. And we're going to teach you how to do that inside the iron council. So check it out,
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order a man.com slash iron council. You can learn more about what we're doing. And of course,
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join us in the conversation about conversations for the month of February. All right, guys,
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let's get into the conversation today. I am joined again by Clint Emerson. As I mentioned before,
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he's a former Navy seal. He's also a New York times bestselling author with 100 deadly skills.
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And then he's got his new book, the right kind of crazy. He's also a security specialist. His name,
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of course, is Clint Emerson. He has a combined more than 20 years of military service. He provides
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personal and corporate safety and security services. He owns a couple of different organizations,
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escape the wolf. There are corporate safety solutions and training organization. And in fact,
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they ran security for the president Trump's inauguration, which I'm sure he'll get another invite for
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another potential inauguration here in coming up next year. Also owns violent nomad, which is
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focused on, I don't know if this is right, but the darker side of keeping yourself and other safe
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using the ideas and tactics of the bad guys, violence in order to keep yourself safe. So
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pretty powerful stuff. Of course, he's the author of 100 deadly skills. And then his newest book,
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the right kind of crazy, which I like the subtitle. You got to know the subtitle. My life is a Navy
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seal covert operative and boy scout from hell, which I think is a pretty good description for
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Mr. Clint Emerson. So I hope you enjoy the conversation.
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Clint, what's up, brother? How you doing? Glad to make this work. It's been what? A couple of years
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since we did the last podcast. Has it been? I think so. I don't think we did this. Did we do one for
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Survival Edition? I think we did. Oh, did we? I believe we did. Well, I can't remember. But I
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don't remember. It all blurs together, doesn't it? It does. It's crazy. You're doing interviews all
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the time, doesn't it? Just kind of all intertwine? It all just seems like one long, long ass interview.
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But it's been good, man. I really enjoy it because I get to have conversations with guys like yourself
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and other team guys and everybody else who's doing something wonderful in the world. That's awesome.
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Well, are you still learning? Yeah. I mean, that's... With the number of them that come through,
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or do you start to hear kind of the same thing? That actually proves to be somewhat of a challenge
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is making sure that the people I'm talking with do actually have a unique story, something that isn't
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just regurgitated as what other people have been doing. But as I've gone, I've really tried to be
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as curious as possible, and that helps me get those valuable lessons out from people.
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Yeah. I'm guessing as an interviewer, you start getting better and better to try and extract
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Well, the issue that I had initially was I, in a way, wanted to please the person that
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I was interviewing, so I wouldn't ask tough questions. Or I wouldn't object or throw any
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sort of red flag against anything they said. And now I'm like, whoa, whoa, hold on. You
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said this. I don't know if everybody believes that. And so we've got guys walking in front
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Yeah, you know. It'll make the video portion of this entertaining.
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It's doing good. I've got to say, though, it's... There it goes. There's another one.
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For those of you watching, you should start counting to check your situational awareness
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Yeah. For a book that has not gotten any national attention yet, it's actually doing really
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well. And the national side has been lined up several times. But not just me, many authors
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are kind of getting hacked by media, right? They focus on impeachment. They'll focus on Iran.
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And it's very hard to get a little bit of bandwidth when you need it. Right. Compared to like the
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last books, you know, I had all kinds of great national spots to push it. So considering with
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none of that yet, it's still out. It's only been out, what, two months?
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Right. Yeah. Not very long at all. Do you think it has to do with the type of book it is?
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Because it's different than your previous... Because you have two other books, right?
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100 Deadly Skills and then 100 Deadly Skills Survival Edition.
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So it's obviously the right kind of crazy. It's a different book.
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Yeah. It's a memoir. It still has illustrations in it for all the, you know...
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Well, I'm not a crayon eater, but guys like me nonetheless.
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Yeah. Yeah. But it's just to keep, you know, it's basically you've got to do things different.
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You've got to be unique. You've got to have something to offer that's not like all the others.
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And so, as you and I were discussing, when you've got a lot of seals writing books, well, then
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I had to put illustrations in mine by a DC Marvel illustrator. I mean, so...
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Right. I had a storyboard. I had Ted in the first couple of books.
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And he storyboarded things like Breaking Bad and Walking Dead. And so it's very much more sketch-oriented.
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Where this... I almost said no easy day. What the hell is it? The right kind of crazy...
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I was like, whoa, now there's so many seals writing books that you guys are starting to
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The right kind of crazy has a Marvel kind of vibe to it.
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And Tom is the guy, Tom Mandrake, and I've got to give him all the credit. I mean, that
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guy is a master of his craft and really good at what he does. He did Superman versus Batman
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series for DC. You know, he's got his main bad guy he invented 35 years ago is going
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to be in the next Harley Quinn movie that's coming out.
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I think it's Black Mask, I think, is the villain in that movie. But anyway...
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So right kind of crazy, you're reading it, and you're getting the illustrations. And then
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the third piece to set it apart from all your books is the footnotes.
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You're reading along, and it's almost like thought bubbles down at the bottom.
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I like that you put... That you left all of the... I think it was the DOD who came in
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and said, you can say this, you can't say this, right?
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Yeah. You send it to the Pentagon, and that process is completely fucked up.
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Yeah. They take your book, and then they send it to all the agencies that you've ever served
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And in some cases, agencies you've never even worked with.
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Right. Yeah. They send it to the FBI, which you work with them. You know, when you're in
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the JSOC world, you end up touching a lot of inner agency, right?
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It's kind of part of the deal. But they don't... I never got a paycheck from them. So it kind
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of makes you go like, well, why are you reviewing my shit?
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You never paid me. So it's like, the only people that should be reviewing the book is
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the people you truly worked for to ensure that there isn't any classified. But even
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though I did a good job, my goal wasn't to tell operations. It was to more humanize, you
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know, my time in the military. That's the goal of the book.
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What's the reasoning and the thought behind that idea?
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Yeah. Well, as you know, and as most people know, the SEAL brand, if you will, is got,
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you know, it's got a lot of attention. And there's a certain mystique that comes with
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Yeah. And I just kind of wanted to point out that, hey, you know, it's not about... we're
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not all knight in shining armor. We're more like pirates. I mean, if you had to compare
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Yes. And it's funny because I talk with people and I'll let you get back to your thought
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here. Don't want to interrupt you. But yeah, you know, a lot of people do think that it's
00:10:50.160
these great guys. It's the superhero. All of them are noble, no bad intentions. And I'm
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like, man, these guys are operating on a line of like right and wrong, life and death. But
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this is not something I think a lot of people see or even consider.
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Yeah, no, I don't think they're used to it. It's one thing I've noticed is I've been out
00:11:13.200
for what, five years now. And when you get out of that bubble and you start to see, you
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know, what other team guys are doing and everything and everyone's doing great. But you hear the
00:11:24.040
mystique constantly. And to me, I was like, you know what, I'm just going to be me in this
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book. It's truly sinner versus saint. It's seal versus husband. It's, you know, it has
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every theme you can think of built into it that I hope resonates and anchors back to the
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reader in some form or fashion that, yeah, we're all human. We all fuck up. We make mistakes
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and you either learn from them or you don't like me. I didn't always learn from my mistakes.
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I just keep on making the same mistake. And, uh, and then you just keep plowing through
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life. I mean, and, and so it's not to break anything up that everybody thinks it's just
00:12:05.380
to shed a little bit of light on the human side to an occupation in my 20 years. And it's
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all my personal experience. It has nothing to do with any other team guy that's out. My
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integrity is not always the greatest. My moral and ethical compass is not always pointing
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north, you know? So, and those were, you know, those were my choices and, um, and probably
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the best way to characterize a lot of the stuff in the book is that, you know, bad decisions
00:12:31.060
make for great stories, you know, who tells stories about good decisions, you know what
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I mean? Like it might be a job you take. That was the best decision I ever made because I'm
00:12:40.940
making a ton of money. Or, you know, I took a left instead of a right and, you know, there
00:12:44.860
was a big accident. That was the best decision I ever made. But when you really think about
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great stories, it's all based on bad decisions.
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Well, and I, I think the reason it is, is because nobody resonates with getting everything
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right. You know, like if they look at somebody and, and, and that person, and it's so easy
00:13:01.680
to do on social media, right? To portray the perfect life and all the right lighting and
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doing all the right things and you flexing just the right way.
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Yeah. I got to do that a lot. So, so you see, uh, you see these types of individuals and
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you think, Oh, well, what the hell's wrong with me? Like this guy's doing this and I'm
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a, I can't get out of bed on time and I can't be a man of my word. So I think the reason we
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resonate with truth, real stories, mess ups and all is because we begin to see ourselves
00:13:32.200
Right. Yeah. It's like, you know, I, you read it, right?
00:13:35.720
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you, I lay it out there. I mean, we're talking people by the time you
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get done reading this book, you know, which way my penis curves, you know what I mean?
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So, uh, and that wasn't my wife telling that story, by the way, or ex-wife now because of
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Well, it's interesting. You talk about, well, you, and you said seal and husband, right?
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So, which, which I think in a lot of, in a lot of ways that those do conflict with each
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I, I, once again, you know, cause guys will be like, what the fuck is he talking about?
00:14:06.480
But, you know, my time in, I was raised by guys that were far more barbarian than I think
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I think a lot has changed. You know, when I was in, if you're not cheating, you're not
00:14:22.760
trying mentality was said more often than, uh, the only easy day is yesterday. Right.
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I mean, now you're not even, buds instructors aren't even allowed to say those words anymore.
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Is that, do you think that's a, well, there's probably, there's probably two sides to that,
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But, but generally, would you say that's a good thing or not a good thing?
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I think the culture is what it is and, uh, it's what, it's what sets us apart, right?
00:14:50.900
I mean, um, when we go hang out with Marines or we go hang out with army, you notice a distinct
00:15:03.960
We're bearing, we're not the guys that are going to be blousing our boots or worried
00:15:10.260
And that's what sets the culture apart from all the other branches of the military.
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It used to be, we're very rogue, very maverick.
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Um, you know, we're not, we don't get hung up on the little things.
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And I think now because of a lot of what's been going on, whether it's because of guys
00:15:27.300
like me writing books or because of disciplinary issues or whatever it is, now they're trying
00:15:33.460
And, uh, I certainly feel like the culture is very important to how you end up inevitably
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When you want guys that'll truly go just drop the hammer, it's, it's really that culture
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I think it's like that culture is makes you successful, but it also lends to some of the
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trouble we get into too, you know, and that's, but it's like throwing out the baby with the
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bathwater, you know, it was like, I look at it from the outside looking in and I was
00:16:01.540
in the military, specifically the national guard and then the army during my deployment.
00:16:05.400
And, but then I look at a guy like you and, and, and other guys that I know.
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And I think, okay, well, these, these are, these are individuals who aren't entirely
00:16:18.100
Like we need individuals who aren't like that because like you said, you can go drop
00:16:23.280
You can do some, some things that need to be done that most people aren't even comfortable
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with, with acknowledging, let alone doing themselves.
00:16:30.100
And, and it's, it's always really interesting to have somebody complain about that who isn't
00:16:33.600
willing to do the same things you are to maintain some of our, uh, our, our luxuries
00:16:38.580
It's kind of like that adage of, is it a few good men where, where, uh, Jack Nicholson
00:16:46.320
And, and then you have other people criticizing that who aren't willing to do it themselves.
00:16:50.580
There is a little bit of truth of that because like that movie, it's attorneys that kind of
00:16:58.940
Um, um, if you look at current news, whether it's guys turning on each other or it's team
00:17:04.480
guys getting in trouble in other parts of the world and, you know, we've heard a lot over
00:17:10.000
Um, you know, it's the attorneys that come in and say, you know, ultimately it's time to
00:17:17.100
And, uh, I think it's funny because it goes directly back to that movie because that movie
00:17:21.920
is all about attorneys getting involved in, in culture, in culture.
00:17:25.960
That's that's, and that's the perfect word for it.
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Cause I know you're friends with, uh, with Mike Ritland and where he talks about, I think
00:17:31.760
at the beginning of his podcast, he always asked about your favorite hazing story, you
00:17:35.700
know, and we look at that and I can't remember what you talked about, but, you know, we look
00:17:39.540
at that and most people think, Oh, how could they do that?
00:17:44.080
And yet that just, that's one, one way for you to become part of the team.
00:17:50.840
It's like, you have to prove yourself through yes, your capability, but also your willingness
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to toe the line with the rest of the team guys.
00:18:05.400
You know, you don't want to threaten anybody's life or cause injuries.
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Number two is you're going to do it for two reasons.
00:18:12.220
It's either going to be a corrective measure or for celebration.
00:18:16.280
And so if someone has a safety violation or they're not performing the standard, you haze
00:18:21.180
Uh, and if they're going to get married or it's their birthday or they're a new guy,
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If you went through an entire career and never got hazed, you know what that really means?
00:18:37.500
You, they, some, you gave them a feeling that you're the guy that's going to go run to the
00:18:42.540
You're the guy that's going to go run and tell the chain of command.
00:18:44.900
You're the one that's probably going to go and just create drama.
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So there are plenty of guys who went their entire career and never got hazed.
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And then sometimes I hope they hear me say that because then it'll dawn on them that, you
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know what, you didn't get hazed because people thought something.
00:19:01.280
You know, I actually think that's a, that's another component of, of the hazing idea is
00:19:04.800
that you need to find out as a team, who's going to be the bitch.
00:19:09.100
Cause, cause when it comes down to life and death situation.
00:19:12.500
You don't want that, you don't want that to be the time finding out who's going to punk
00:19:18.300
I tell people regularly and it's in the book is, you know, I, I, I made it loud and clear
00:19:23.720
in the book that, Hey, I'm not going to sit here and tell you all about buds.
00:19:26.000
You can go read all the other books about that, but I will tell you this.
00:19:28.740
It's not about doing a hundred pushups in a minute.
00:19:31.220
It's not about the four mile time swims and the two, two mile ocean swims and this, this
00:19:36.660
It's about figuring out which guy is going to just man up and do what needs to be done and
00:19:42.480
not sitting in a corner, you know, crying, shitting himself, whatever it is, you know,
00:19:49.800
Of course, you're going to have to have a level of human performance in order to keep
00:20:00.840
And obviously the competition that comes with it, that extends for the rest of your career
00:20:08.800
And I think the community does a good job is that you always feel like you're the new
00:20:12.880
guy, you know, and as long as you maintain the feeling of being the new guy,
00:20:16.640
uh, then it, it, it, it holistically keeps all of those, you know, who's got the bigger
00:20:24.520
dick moments in check because there's always somebody smarter.
00:20:29.280
Uh, there's always somebody who's going to outdo you.
00:20:32.280
And, uh, and it's always a good reminder that, yep, I'm the new guy.
00:20:35.800
And even when I, you know, whether I went from coast to coast where I show up to a new
00:20:46.740
If you had to define what that is, what would that look like or, or feel like or, or behave
00:20:52.300
It's, it's knowing that you're never as good as you think you are, you know, you, you show
00:21:01.240
up and it's also a respect, uh, to those who have gone before you.
00:21:06.020
So, you know, it doesn't matter if it's a guy who's retired and is salty and been out
00:21:12.120
forever, um, that buds class are in order for a reason.
00:21:17.340
And so if mine is, you know, way behind someone else's, then I'm the new guy in that guy's
00:21:26.500
We still got some cocky and arrogant kind of guys that come through and, but for the most
00:21:31.860
part, I have to say that culture breeds that new guy mentality.
00:21:36.520
Even when I was at the 15 year mark, I was like, I'm still feel like a new guy around
00:21:41.680
Which is interesting because it's uncomfortable to be in that position, but that's the only
00:21:48.980
Like if you, if you feel like you're no longer the new guy, then you feel like you know it
00:21:56.060
And therefore you're closed minded to learning anything new.
00:22:02.240
You're, you feel like you're always kind of on eggshells a little bit here and there.
00:22:08.680
And, and, and related to exactly what you said, we have another saying, when you start
00:22:13.400
believing what's written in your evals, it's time for you to go.
00:22:17.220
And so, cause evals are written like superb leader and you got all this flowery vocabulary
00:22:22.820
and, and nomenclature that's like, what does that even mean?
00:22:29.000
And, and there are guys that start to actually believe what's written on those things.
00:22:34.160
And those are the guys and you go, oh yeah, you need to get the fuck out of here.
00:22:36.920
Do you think that there's some level of, I don't know if it's ego or there's a better
00:22:40.980
word to describe, but it seems to me that guys in your position within the teams would
00:22:46.540
need some sort of ego to go do the things that they do.
00:22:52.420
Well, I think it's ego is confidence can transition into ego.
00:23:00.640
Based on how well you take praise or, or if you're just one of those guys who looks in
00:23:05.000
the mirror every day, you know, to make sure you look cool or whatever it is.
00:23:07.760
But yeah, I think, I think confidence is certainly necessary, not necessarily an ego.
00:23:14.220
But how do you have confidence in something, you know, whether it's a mission or, or some
00:23:18.620
skillset you're working on that you've never done, let alone excelled at?
00:23:25.560
So you're going to build up that confidence over time.
00:23:27.860
You know, it's very rare that you get thrown into something that you've never actually kind
00:23:31.300
of experienced in one form or fashion, you know?
00:23:33.160
So, you know, you've heard enough SEALs tell you our workups are long.
00:23:37.920
They are, every stage of the workout or workup is back to back to back to back.
00:23:44.140
I mean, you're gone, you know, throughout the workout, work up as much as you are deployed.
00:23:51.300
You know, so the six month deployment or, um, is matched to an 18 month workup where
00:23:59.540
you're traveling the globe, mostly around the United States, and you're basically keeping
00:24:04.400
your skills as, as good as possible so that when you go do your six months, you're, you
00:24:08.720
know, you're at the, you're performing at your best.
00:24:11.540
And this isn't some new situation that you're like, okay, now we turn it on.
00:24:16.740
You're at that point, you're just itching to use it.
00:24:22.500
When we first went into Iraq, nobody really knew how to use Navy SEALs, but we were there
00:24:29.240
And at the end of it all, we're like, Hey, you know, the first year or two, it's like,
00:24:33.140
you know, this is the pinnacle, you know, of any soldier's career is war.
00:24:46.560
So if you, you want to pull the trigger, you want to do real world operations, you want
00:24:52.240
And that's what you've been training for your entire career.
00:24:54.840
So, um, at the beginning, believe it or not, you hear all these great stories, um, especially
00:25:00.940
task force bruiser and Jocko and all those guys, you know, when they, it took a while for
00:25:06.260
leadership to finally get to the point where you could have a Jocko.
00:25:10.200
It, it, at the beginning, it was people that had no experience and there was a little bit
00:25:16.300
of fear factor there on what the hell are we doing?
00:25:19.260
Where, where is special operations role in all this?
00:25:22.060
When the last time it was really, really leveraged was Vietnam and you didn't have any of that
00:25:27.760
So that first year or two was rough for the seal community because everyone's itching.
00:25:34.580
Everyone's take that confidence and, you know, drive it into the face of the enemy.
00:25:37.760
But, you know, nobody knew how to really use it.
00:25:42.240
And then once we figured it out, obviously once that train left the station, you know,
00:25:45.980
it was, it was barreling down the road of war for, you know, 15 now hell, you know, we're
00:25:54.020
You know, the term you use is that pull the trigger in anger.
00:26:01.120
I mean, not everyone's, it's not an emotional thing, but it's kind of a, it's definitely a term,
00:26:11.120
I'm just wondering if it, like how much you really believe it, you know, that's the,
00:26:16.200
I think, or, or, or even better yet is does it accurately describe what's happening?
00:26:21.340
No, I think you could probably take that word anger, subtract the definition of emotion
00:26:27.560
out of it and actually just mean like it's just meaningful, right?
00:26:37.640
Just with, I don't know, maybe like intensity or, or, or, you know, like, like, like the
00:26:42.400
focus that you have, the purpose, you're fulfilling your, your purpose, your priority, your mission.
00:26:47.900
Anger just represents the level of, the level of violence in it.
00:26:54.140
Which is interesting because anytime you talk about the word violence, you know, that,
00:27:00.580
I'm like, well, sometimes violence is the correct answer and the correct response.
00:27:04.100
I think the difference comes when you're letting anger control the reaction, potentially
00:27:10.560
violence versus being trained, being disciplined, being, having clarity and being focused and
00:27:17.080
then using violence through those means as opposed to an emotional reaction to something.
00:27:23.780
I am constantly preaching, as you know, violent nomad and I get questioned all the time.
00:27:31.720
Violence is usually associated with bad people or bad events.
00:27:35.760
Very, never, no one ever in their mind associates it to a good person using it to get themselves
00:27:42.660
So violence of action, meaning you are going to commit and you're going to execute and you're
00:27:47.200
going to, you're going to get out of that situation in a violent manner because
00:27:51.640
it has a time, violence has a time requirement almost, you know?
00:27:57.900
And, uh, and it, and it has no hesitation in it.
00:28:03.260
Um, and it's okay for good people, you know, to be violent.
00:28:07.320
It's not a bad word, but sometimes it's looked at that way.
00:28:10.340
And so I'm trying to desensitize how violent is perceived with violent nomad and kind of
00:28:15.940
saying, Hey, this is just good people that get out there and do the right thing in a
00:28:20.620
And usually it's because they have figured out that you have to pull the trigger quick.
00:28:25.900
You've got to get time on your side because it's time can become an enemy just as, just
00:28:31.020
as, just as fast as it can be your, your, your ally.
00:28:36.720
That is ultimately our goal is how do you get time on your side?
00:28:40.280
Um, cause time equals, you know, options, option, obviously if you have time to make
00:28:45.220
good decisions, then the odds are it's going to increase your odds of survivability or winning
00:28:54.340
Like I was saying, all the interviews kind of blend into one at this point, but somebody
00:28:57.900
was talking about, um, as, as you're reacting to a situation, when you talk about getting
00:29:05.300
time, for example, back on your side, you're trying to slow everything down so you can pocket
00:29:12.840
But if you take a, uh, uh, a violent encounter, uh, whether that's an active shooter or some
00:29:19.520
other disaster that you're dealing with, that it's going to happen quick and catch you by
00:29:24.480
surprise, you got to try to slow that down a little bit so you can react properly.
00:29:30.260
There's, there's actually, um, an old air force fighter pilot.
00:29:41.980
And so Boyd put the OODA together, uh, so that you could get inside your adversary's
00:29:57.020
But, uh, so, and I, even to this day, I've talked about the OODA loop so much.
00:30:01.740
And when you talk about awareness situation, you can't do situational awareness for a living
00:30:05.660
and not talk about it, but orientate yourself, you know, obviously first you're observing the
00:30:10.900
environment, then orientating yourself based on what your adversary is doing.
00:30:15.300
Then now you can make a decision and act on it.
00:30:17.900
And that's the OODA loop in, in short, but it is exactly that is trying, how do I, if
00:30:24.080
I can get inside my adversary's head, know what they're probably going to do next, then
00:30:33.740
And I've been telling people with, especially as you brought up active shooter, um, with
00:30:37.940
these current Buzzfeed videos and wired and the things I've been doing specific to that
00:30:42.300
is, uh, you, you don't want to just leverage the mammalian reflex or that fight or flight
00:30:50.000
You want to take a moment, look, listen, and feel to what's going on.
00:30:54.060
Around you, trust your eyes, question your ears, especially as it relates to gunfire
00:31:00.220
and make sure you're not running the wrong direction.
00:31:04.120
Make sure you're not hiding in the wrong place.
00:31:07.880
Identifying the dead ends and, uh, all of those bad locations is just, if not more important
00:31:22.640
So because you're pinning yourself in that hole, you're putting yourself in a dead end.
00:31:30.500
We're talking about active shooter situation, but this even works at the most basic level.
00:31:34.200
Uh, the other day, my son had fallen off his bike or something and he fell off and he
00:31:38.700
scraped his knee and I could tell he wasn't hurt, you know?
00:31:40.840
But he, the way that he responded, you'd think he would have, you know, he like, he would
00:31:44.220
have lost his leg or something and he's screaming and I'm like, stop.
00:32:06.840
But like the first reaction doesn't need to be freak out.
00:32:10.180
But we need to be conditioned to do that though.
00:32:12.380
Because I think the, I think the first response without being conditioned is flip out and
00:32:18.200
potentially put yourself in a, in a bad situation.
00:32:20.860
You end up in that, in, in, in the, in the active shooter situation, you end up inadvertently
00:32:25.140
running towards gunfire because if everyone who's listening now know, will know that
00:32:30.720
sound, how it propagates inside is much different than how it is outside.
00:32:35.940
Gunshots fired indoors becomes omnidirectional.
00:32:38.780
You can't tell exactly where it's coming from and it's very deceiving.
00:32:49.240
And it's really important that you take that moment.
00:32:54.800
Now, you know, in a situation, the environment, in your own personal capability, always dictate
00:33:01.740
Because people like to sit there and argue about it.
00:33:05.140
It's just the situation, your capability, and the environment make all those decisions
00:33:13.100
But once again, it's, you know, you, you hear a gunshot, just know that sometimes it's
00:33:19.760
not going to be in the direction you think it is.
00:33:24.440
Man, let me hit the pause button really quickly.
00:33:26.700
You've heard me talking about the legacy experience over the past several months.
00:33:29.380
If you haven't gone and watched the video, at least just do me a favor and go watch the
00:33:33.280
Cause you need to see what this thing's about, whether you have kids or not, or whether you're
00:33:37.740
I think you're going to believe after watching that video, that what we're doing is good and
00:33:45.740
But if you are interested and you're a father or a father figure, and you have a son between
00:33:50.840
the ages of eight to 15, you definitely need to check this out.
00:33:53.720
Um, you know, I've had quite a few people ask me, uh, if I'm scared to raise boys in
00:33:59.640
And yeah, I typically respond with something like, you know, what the type of boys that
00:34:03.780
this society is raising, my sons are going to be Kings, right?
00:34:07.660
And I know you feel the same way, although you may not feel if you're like me, that you
00:34:11.720
have everything that you need to ensure that that is actually the case.
00:34:14.400
Uh, but when you join us on June 11th through the 14th, 2020, so coming up very quickly
00:34:19.380
here, uh, we're going to equip you and your son with the tools and the framework and instruction
00:34:25.620
and tests and rite of passage, if you will, to ensure that your son becomes the man that
00:34:31.200
you have a desire for him to become as his father, you're raising a King.
00:34:34.640
We want to help you do that so you can learn more and join us at order of man.com slash
00:34:40.220
If you are going to join us, you need to make the decision very quickly.
00:34:46.180
You're going to stay with me on my property here in Maine, uh, in the barn.
00:34:52.060
We're going to christen it while you guys are out here.
00:34:54.140
Uh, but anyways, uh, come, come out, spend some time with us.
00:34:59.480
We're going to push you and your son physically, mentally, emotionally, and you're going to
00:35:02.720
walk away with a stronger bond and the ability to usher him into manhood.
00:35:09.920
Do that after the show for now, we'll get back to my conversation with
00:35:14.240
Well, and I imagine too, as many senses as you, as you can involve the better off.
00:35:17.600
Like if you're just auditory, you're just hearing something that, that could, that alone
00:35:23.400
But you start getting smell, you start getting sight, you start getting these other senses
00:35:26.760
involved and you, the, the compilation of those senses, what's helps you make the correct
00:35:32.480
You, you, you feel people are like, well, why would you slow down?
00:35:38.660
And you're not walking when you should be running, but you're right.
00:35:45.000
You see a herd of people go running by, it is human nature to want to run with them.
00:35:49.600
You'll have a feeling like, should I go with them?
00:35:52.280
But you don't know if they're running in the right direction.
00:35:56.060
Because that, you, you want to know how this is so ingrained into us.
00:36:02.200
And you're, and you're going in the, in the parking structure and you can clearly see that
00:36:06.420
there's two lines to go get your ticket to go into the parking structure.
00:36:14.400
Like most people go on the line that already, I'm like, there's no empty line right there.
00:36:17.920
It's because you're, you're, it's, it's hardwired into you to do what other people are doing.
00:36:29.340
Cause they're like, well, I guess that's the one.
00:36:33.620
You know where I noticed it is this airport is unique in the fact that in the terminal I
00:36:38.340
got off in, there are signs that say baggage and everything and ground transportation this
00:36:43.380
So you take that arrow and then on the other side of a, of a, of a like shopping area that
00:36:50.640
you have to cut between, there's another sign that says, you know, ground transportation
00:36:59.020
So you have all these people that are following each other, following the herd, going back and
00:37:03.100
When right there in the center is the stairs that go down.
00:37:05.120
You just don't notice it because you're just following arrows and you're following people
00:37:08.380
because, well, we all got off the plane together.
00:37:10.940
We're all going to go to the same place together.
00:37:13.380
But it would actually be a funny social experiment if in an airport or, or a mall or even a place
00:37:18.240
like this, you just had arrows that zigzagged you through, but brought you back to the same
00:37:23.220
place to see how many laps people would do before they realized, oh, this isn't right.
00:37:32.440
How do you know when to follow the herd and when not to though?
00:37:38.280
I mean, obviously fire and the smell of fire and, you know, um, all those, every situation
00:37:45.560
But when you hear the gunshots, that's where it's specific, right?
00:37:48.420
You just don't want to go in the, go the wrong way without knowing what's there.
00:37:53.900
You know, and so, um, and it even applied, you know, in Nice when, you know, they decided
00:38:00.740
to go rent a van and start to run a big, you know, utility truck and start running people
00:38:06.960
Um, you know, at first you don't know where it's coming from.
00:38:10.540
You just see people piling out of the way and they don't even see the truck, you know,
00:38:14.900
that tunnel vision and that adrenaline sometimes can blind you.
00:38:19.540
And that's another reason why you got sometimes just got to take a moment and really force
00:38:24.700
yourself to open up your aperture and pay attention to that environment.
00:38:28.300
And obviously you can't take it all in, you know, when you're just walking down the street
00:38:32.160
and you hear guys talking about situational awareness.
00:38:34.600
And the reality is, is if you try to pay attention to everything, you'll see nothing.
00:38:39.100
You know, so you've got to narrow it down based on what are the possible threats I could run
00:38:47.040
It's much easier than just trying to look at everything.
00:38:50.040
Well, and I imagine too, is doing that prior to a situation happening, right?
00:38:54.800
So if you walk into an event center like this, or you walk into a mall or you walk into a
00:38:58.620
restaurant, evaluating those things prior to something going down, it's going to put you
00:39:03.280
in a much better position than if the first time you consider it is when the gun goes off.
00:39:08.800
So I tell people to calibrate it, sensitize it to what you're going to do, you know, and
00:39:13.560
the environments you're in, the routes you're going to take.
00:39:15.580
I mean, it's really simple stuff you hear all the time, but there is a kind of a more
00:39:18.840
of a, you know, systematic way of doing it so that you're not overwhelmed and that you
00:39:25.400
Well, and then you see these guys that are just so paranoid on everything, you know, and
00:39:28.460
it's like they can't even function because they're overly paranoid about the slightest
00:39:34.100
You're protected to some degree, but are you even living life at this point?
00:39:39.060
Like I have got, I have friends, in fact, I have a friend who got so heavy into the
00:39:42.680
prepping thing that he lost his family, he lost his job, and he just went nuts.
00:39:47.940
Because he was trying to do a good thing, he just took it too far.
00:39:51.640
Yeah, I tell people, it's not, it's not about being paranoid or being a prepper.
00:40:02.340
You still kind of got to do and carry the right things to be ready for whatever that is.
00:40:10.040
Everything else, I tell people, keep it simple because crisis will complicate the rest.
00:40:14.360
You don't need to have these complicated ways of doing things because once adrenaline starts
00:40:19.340
going, stress, you start running out of time, the simple things is what you're going to leverage.
00:40:25.160
Gross motor skills versus fine motor skills, you know.
00:40:28.600
If it's a fight, and you don't do it all the time, you're not a person who is, you know,
00:40:34.240
like you've gotten into, you're on the mat all the time or, you know, you're going to
00:40:37.700
be comfortable maybe trying out some things that require fine motor skills, which all
00:40:41.720
goes to grip and, you know, the things that, I always compare, it's not, fine motor skills
00:40:47.500
is the Jason Bourne fight scenes in a bathroom stall with pencils and books and everything
00:40:53.840
Um, what I'm talking about is big macro movements where it's a tackle, it's a grab, it's whatever
00:41:01.020
it takes to, you know, do what needs to be done so that you can then create pain, then
00:41:07.440
create distance and get away from the threat as quickly as possible.
00:41:13.500
I imagine with the macro, like you're talking about here is that's the, that's the biggest
00:41:19.820
Like I even think about a physical altercation, obviously distance yourself, get away from
00:41:25.540
But if it ever got down to a fight, like I've thought to myself, I got to bring this to the
00:41:33.260
I'm not a striking guy, but I have a little bit of wrestling and a little bit of jujitsu.
00:41:37.280
I'm like, okay, my best bet is to take it to the ground and do whatever I can on the
00:41:42.840
It's those macro skills that are going to be advantageous for you.
00:41:45.760
And well, it goes back to that saying too, you know, a hundred.
00:41:51.440
You never want, you know, a hundred percent of the time you do not want to go to the ground,
00:42:01.480
And someone for you getting strikes under your belt, always a great idea.
00:42:06.460
Mainly because once you go to the ground, you don't know.
00:42:17.200
They think, okay, well, I've got jujitsu under my belt.
00:42:20.000
It's like, well, you can handle yourself if another guy's grabbing you.
00:42:23.080
But if he's got a knife and you're going to arm bar him, all he has to do is grab his
00:42:30.020
So yeah, his arm's going to hurt a little while, but you're going to be dead.
00:42:33.100
So you got to be careful on that stuff as well.
00:42:34.780
That badass triangle is going away here in a second.
00:42:39.940
It's a dangerous kind of world, and you take your risk going to the ground, especially
00:42:43.720
these days, whether it's weapons or there's more people in the crowd than you think, which
00:42:47.720
usually was the case when SEALs go to a bar, right?
00:42:55.580
He has no idea that there's 15 of his buddies standing there, too.
00:43:03.320
But, you know, that's actually good, that's self-regulatory as well.
00:43:07.820
Because you think to yourself, like, what's the saying is the reason, you know, things
00:43:12.500
are so difficult is because, you know, we can't drink from the skulls of our enemy or
00:43:18.500
And that's the thing is, like, man, if you're in a room full, like this.
00:43:23.080
I don't know how many guns, I mean, obviously there's the displays, but how many people
00:43:32.620
It's like, I'm not going to mess with that guy because he can defend.
00:43:37.220
Well, so me, I'm a concealed carry guy, and I think in terms of what you were just bringing
00:43:41.800
up with grappling, it's like, I go, if I did go to the ground, what if he got a hold
00:43:48.020
Because, you know, as you know, there's aspects of being on the ground that you can't always
00:43:56.220
And so I'm always like, I don't want to go to the ground, even though I'm the one with
00:44:02.480
You got all this stuff, and then it's the ultimate equalizer when you know you've got
00:44:07.580
all this stuff on you, but you also know that someone can take it away from you.
00:44:12.780
I guess, yeah, you opened my eye to that perspective of, like, well, I mean, obviously the first
00:44:25.280
I don't need to be in an altercation with this individual.
00:44:29.740
It's like, you guys are both driving to work to support your family.
00:44:33.680
And now you're going to get out of the car, and you're going to pull a gun on somebody,
00:44:36.320
or try to run somebody off the road and jeopardize not only your job, but your livelihood
00:44:40.260
and your ability to take care of your family over this guy cut you off.
00:44:50.700
Well, not only that, but it's a humility thing, too, because you've been humbled and kicked
00:44:54.660
in the balls enough by life that you realize this is not one of the things I'm willing to
00:45:02.260
Now, all of a sudden, it's like, oh, wait a minute.
00:45:09.020
Number two is, like, you don't want to do anything stupid that can take that gift away
00:45:26.020
Well, let me go back to the book, because one of the things that we talked about prior
00:45:29.480
to Hit and Record on the podcast is you were talking about the fact that everybody,
00:45:34.300
every SEAL writes a book, it seems like, right?
00:45:38.540
Like, you go through your career, you get some experience under your belt, and then you
00:45:47.920
Because usually, I mean, it used to be like, you don't write a book, right?
00:45:55.400
I mean, I was one of those guys who sat in the squadron space, Fox News is playing across
00:46:01.400
the military, and then you've got some SEAL talking head, and that's either pushing a book,
00:46:13.940
Sellout, cocksucker, whatever you can throw at the screen.
00:46:18.220
And you think to yourself, I will never be like that.
00:46:22.040
But then as you get closer and closer to retirement, and then as you start to kind of put yourself
00:46:29.700
out there on, hey, what are the next things I'm going to do in life, it's funny how many
00:46:33.820
things present themselves that you would typically say no to, that you end up going, well, all
00:46:41.260
So, you know, a lot of guys will never admit it, but the price tag on some of that stuff
00:46:49.060
And I tried to do it, you know, with 100 daily skills in a very respectful way where, hey,
00:46:56.740
I'm not putting a trident on the front of the book, which none of my books have tridents
00:47:01.300
And then I was like, you know, the inside will contain information that could potentially,
00:47:12.500
I'm still a SEAL writing a book, but, you know.
00:47:16.120
Well, at least you can be honest about it, right?
00:47:18.080
Like if you can't laugh at yourself and mock yourself a little bit, like, come on, you
00:47:23.620
But here's the reality that a lot of SEALs and other guys don't see until they get out.
00:47:30.160
New York and LA make a metric fuck ton off of us, and none of them are SEALs, right?
00:47:42.660
SEALs should be making money off the brand that the commercial industry has certainly
00:47:50.940
SEALs that listen to this, you know, 10 years from now, whatever, you know, it's okay
00:47:54.960
that you make money off of who you are and what you did.
00:48:00.360
And it's not a lot of money, I'll tell you that, but it's something.
00:48:03.720
The second piece to books is that it's the best marketing platform on the planet that
00:48:09.960
I mean, 100 Daily Skills is in a dozen languages.
00:48:16.520
For me, I'm a subject matter expert in a lot of this crisis management stuff.
00:48:20.500
And so, you get a lot of stuff that benefits from that, you know?
00:48:24.300
It's how do you market yourself effectively when you've got everybody marketing themselves
00:48:33.280
It's almost like if you don't, then you're really not exploiting all of those forms of
00:48:39.000
Like, it's like having an IG account, an Instagram account, and nothing else.
00:48:48.620
And when you go back in history of business, it used to be just word of mouth and a business
00:48:54.780
Now, I mean, we hand out business cards, but how often do you really?
00:48:58.960
I mean, you can look each other up in a heartbeat now, you know?
00:49:01.480
Yeah, somebody asked me for a business card today.
00:49:12.120
You know, you put a lot of work into these things.
00:49:14.740
It doesn't equate to a ton of money, but it's not a bad...
00:49:18.800
If you're going to go pay $7,000 a month for a billboard or you're going to get paid to
00:49:25.680
Well, and how effective is a billboard anyways?
00:49:28.140
I mean, you might get some eyes on, but you're not going to get the engagement that you would
00:49:31.520
if somebody reads or listens to your book and gets inside of your mind through those
00:49:39.140
And especially with Amazon, now anybody in any country can buy your book.
00:49:48.760
It's just the best way to go for people that are first, you know, if you're just trying
00:49:54.400
Well, you know, the other thing, too, is, you know, you say, for example, like, I'm
00:49:59.080
trying to justify it by saying that I help people.
00:50:06.680
And if people gain something from the experience and they learn something new and it serves them
00:50:12.600
in their life, then I think not only should you, I think you almost have an obligation
00:50:18.300
to share your experience, whether it's in the SEALs or experience with whatever facet
00:50:27.060
No, when you put an idea together, you know, and what we're talking about is a book, and
00:50:31.960
then you put it out to the world, it's, you're really doing that because, well, I got paid.
00:50:36.000
But it's not until the testimonials come in where I had a freelance journalist in Columbia
00:50:41.940
who used some of the skills out of 100 deadly skills, and it saved her life.
00:50:46.640
And then you get a couple of business guys that travel abroad, go to a meeting, and, you
00:50:52.320
know, that meeting was, had, you know, some suspect eavesdropping capabilities built into
00:50:58.260
And they're like, yeah, if it wasn't for your book, the awareness that it gave me to that
00:51:02.440
kind of stuff, I would have never known to actually kind of look for it.
00:51:06.260
So the testimonials is what transitions, you know, an idea that was for money into, oh,
00:51:13.180
now it's like, now I'm back to doing things for the greater good again.
00:51:18.540
Well, the other thing too, though, is they're not mutually exclusive.
00:51:22.440
And there's a lot of people who can't wrap their heads around that.
00:51:24.900
They think if they're making good money, then they're not being a helpful human being.
00:51:28.560
Or that if they want to be helpful, then they can't make any money.
00:51:31.480
It's like, no, we live in a very cool society, capitalistic society that says you can help
00:51:37.220
a ton of people and make really good money doing it.
00:51:45.220
Because then you can buy things and have experiences and put your kids through college and pay off
00:51:51.240
your debt and all these other things that, you know, we do with money.
00:51:55.600
I think people are kind of scared to admit to the money piece of all of it.
00:52:00.520
I mean, you get paid for your time and your skills and what you bring to the table.
00:52:05.480
And for me, the books are all about just a creative outlet.
00:52:11.740
I mean, to put the skills out there or to do a memoir, each one of them, I've learned so
00:52:19.140
I'm not the greatest storyteller in the world, but I kind of enjoy that piece of it, the
00:52:24.660
I'm obviously not an illustrator, but going through the process with some of the best
00:52:32.620
But yeah, it's not until later, like I said, when people tell you how much they like the
00:52:36.860
books, how much it's helped them, that you start to get that greater feeling of like,
00:52:45.840
Because you don't know if it's going to work or not from the get-go.
00:52:47.140
You don't know if it's going to help or if anybody's going to listen other than your
00:52:50.760
I tell people all the time, when you join the military, most of the time, they'll never
00:52:56.520
They don't have anything else better going on in their life.
00:53:01.860
But the true sense of patriotism doesn't kick in until you're really in it.
00:53:05.900
Until you go out, you go on a deployment, and you're like, holy shit, the USS Cole has
00:53:12.840
And it's something that comes over you like, I am part of something bigger.
00:53:16.340
I am going to help with whatever this is that we face, and all of a sudden, the fact
00:53:22.800
that you went in for a job or paycheck, the health insurance, whatever it is that you went
00:53:33.680
I would never take that away from anybody that serves, but you really didn't have it.
00:53:39.620
And it's kind of the same with business or any of these projects.
00:53:46.340
And then once you get it out there, then all of a sudden, that feeling comes back like,
00:53:51.640
It is something that is bigger than just a paycheck.
00:54:05.340
And so I think that's where people get hung up is they think, oh, well, for example, I
00:54:09.120
have guys who every once in a while, they'll reach out and say, they'll calculate, this
00:54:14.640
They'll calculate how much money I make on a monthly basis based on how much they know
00:54:19.120
it costs to join the Iron Council or some other program that I have available.
00:54:22.760
And then they'll multiply it by the number of members I have.
00:54:25.100
And they're like, well, you make this much money a month and you say you're just trying
00:54:29.040
I'm like, dude, I'm trying to help people and make a living.
00:54:36.120
I'm like, let me ask you, where do you go to work?
00:54:49.120
And I think people, it's real easy to do math like what you're talking about, but they really
00:54:54.460
don't understand how that math equates at the end of the year.
00:54:58.840
And what expenses you have and how long you worked without getting paid or losing money.
00:55:05.720
I lost money for a couple of years doing this thing.
00:55:09.360
And then you're putting money in and maybe you accumulate debt.
00:55:13.580
But yeah, I think it's, for me, it's the IRS, right?
00:55:16.920
You end up giving a third of your money away every year anyway.
00:55:21.560
So we're at an interesting time, and I wanted to talk about this because I think I saw it
00:55:26.180
on Instagram that you had made a post that it was roughly three years ago that you were
00:55:37.320
My company, Escape the Wolf, his primary job is crisis management for Fortune 500s and stuff.
00:55:42.480
But every now and then we get hit up for very unique stuff that I always go, yeah, especially
00:55:51.400
You know, it's a really cool event to go to if you've never been.
00:55:55.400
It should be a bucket list item for every American.
00:55:58.760
I don't care if it's, you know, I don't care what party you should go to one.
00:56:04.680
Because it's really an interesting ceremony that, you know, that's been going on for quite
00:56:12.440
And there's only so many presidents, and there's only been so many.
00:56:21.340
It was actually, I was here three years ago, shot show, got a call from the Secret Service.
00:56:25.320
Because, I'm paraphrasing, but basically they said, yeah, the incoming president thinks
00:56:30.440
that Secret Service, you know, is supposed to be used for all of his friends.
00:56:38.560
So, it was like this kind of unofficial tasking of like, let's just find some other folks that
00:56:43.980
can do it, you know, and we'll get him read into how all this works once he's the president.
00:56:49.660
We just got to get, we got to put a bandaid on this right now.
00:57:04.720
I've heard that acronym, or those initials being defined in several different ways.
00:57:24.500
Like, as soon as, if you listen to that video, turn the audio up, and they're reading, you'll
00:57:33.340
Then, when he's, you know, right hand's ready, done with the Bible and all that part, then
00:57:41.240
It's half the crowd's cheering, half the crowd's booing.
00:57:47.180
Like, I mean, they put us, like, I mean, just behind the Marie Corps band, but in front
00:57:54.240
I'm like, he's close to the podium or stage or whatever it is right there.
00:58:02.700
And so, you were just scanning for threats, just kind of checking it out.
00:58:09.280
We kind of put in a more of a low-vis front where there were seats and stuff that were
00:58:15.900
kind of designated for security, but you look like you were just a guest kind of thing.
00:58:22.220
It was, we worked it hand-in-hand with the Secret Service, and it was very impromptu, fast.
00:58:26.700
Like I said, I was here, and then before you know it, I'm on a plane, head to D.C.
00:58:31.260
And word is, we'll be helping out with the next one.
00:58:36.580
And so, is that because you developed a relationship with Secret Service?
00:58:39.760
And you have the security clearances at this point, that it makes it easier, or?
00:58:43.420
The security clearances really don't play a role.
00:58:46.940
And so, I had a lot of friends that have now moved into senior levels within the Secret
00:58:56.020
Just relationships you develop in the military, they've, you know, definitely, I've carried
00:59:02.660
And in that case, it really, it was a pretty cool deal, you know?
00:59:07.780
I mean, again, regardless of political party, just an opportunity to be part of that.
00:59:12.200
I remember several years ago, my wife and I went to New York, and we were at our hotel,
00:59:17.020
and we came down, we were walking around, we walk around the corner, and we see where
00:59:24.060
Just right on those steps, you know, to have that cool part of history and to actually
00:59:29.040
I've never been to an inauguration, but I think that would be really cool.
00:59:34.040
And for me, Escape the Wolf does policy and workforce training and all this stuff that's,
00:59:41.180
Yeah, I was like, okay, this is time to kind of get something sexy under our belt that
00:59:46.600
I've had opportunities to do some other cool stuff, all the red teaming, which is us playing
00:59:50.360
adversary and breaking into Fortune 500 and defense contracting companies.
00:59:54.920
When you do that, are you, as the red team, are you just, well, let me stop right there.
01:00:01.840
For those who don't know what red teaming is, explain that, and then I'll work into some
01:00:05.760
The simple definition is you are playing, you're role playing an adversarial group or
01:00:12.300
person against a organization based on what they perceive as their most likely threat,
01:00:20.480
So companies that deal in a lot of intellectual property, then the IT side of the house is
01:00:28.360
the vulnerability because nobody, you know, trade secrets.
01:00:33.780
And that's when we'll pretend to be a foreign intel threat.
01:00:36.740
So we're bringing to bear technology against them physically, but we're also attacking
01:00:42.380
them on the red hat side of things where we're running algorithms through black boxes that look
01:00:48.520
like China, look like Russia, using the same bots against their systems and truly testing
01:00:55.320
them holistically, both the physical infrastructure and their network.
01:01:01.140
But some companies will be like, hey, you know, we just want to see if anybody can actually
01:01:05.600
And so that's more of just red hat, that's just being an adversarial criminal force, you
01:01:12.780
know, and trying to get in any means necessary.
01:01:21.560
You are basically letting the workforce open the door for you in a myriad of ways.
01:01:27.860
And it can be something as simple as dressing up like your favorite Subway kind of, or your
01:01:33.560
favorite sandwich shop that's going to deliver a dozen sandwiches.
01:01:37.700
And you just go, hey, I'm heading easy, I'm taking, you know, you basically bum rush the
01:01:45.640
You mumble something and then you just head on upstairs to the CEO's office.
01:01:54.500
I didn't have my tag initially and the guy that was getting me my tag, he wasn't here.
01:02:01.700
I mean, I just, I waited by the exit doors and when somebody opened the exit doors, I
01:02:05.640
walked in there because there's no guards there.
01:02:07.620
And then there's a booth here that I set my bag down and I said, hey, I'm going to
01:02:15.460
And a couple hours later, I came in, I walked in, I walked past seven different people and
01:02:23.640
I walked into the thing, I grabbed the bag, I walked straight out and nobody said a thing.
01:02:30.320
So I always say it, you know, you can have the best fence lines and firewalls in the world,
01:02:34.740
but the humans that work for you will fuck you every time.
01:02:38.140
And that is ultimately what happens to these big corporations.
01:02:41.080
It's not, they spend a lot of money on infrastructure, whether it's on the cyber side or the physical.
01:02:47.700
It's always the people within that's your biggest threat.
01:02:50.420
When you're doing this stuff, do the people that you're trying to infiltrate, whatever,
01:02:59.080
No, because you'll get false positives on security that way.
01:03:05.160
They'll all of a sudden be the best security force ever.
01:03:09.240
And so what we do is the only thing we give them is the 30 days.
01:03:13.320
So you give them a window on what you can operate.
01:03:15.440
And then we're usually working only with one or two people in the corporation.
01:03:20.900
And then we get to pick our 96-hour window in that 30 days.
01:03:25.620
So even if they know, the whole company can know, okay, within the next 30 days,
01:03:30.020
something, we're going to be tested two weeks into it.
01:03:35.840
They're still doing, they've still got bad habits, yeah.
01:03:39.300
Is it pretty easy then to infiltrate a lot of this stuff?
01:03:42.760
We had, you know, I tell a story in the book you read where it was an incredible amount
01:03:50.060
of discipline on both the guard force, the workforce, the physical infrastructure of what's
01:03:59.160
And we had to get really creative to get in that one.
01:04:03.140
And sometimes it's, you know, it's the cleaning crew that comes at 9 o'clock at night and they're
01:04:11.900
And we know that, all right, we pull surveillance.
01:04:15.760
Then we're going to follow one of the cleaning crew's home.
01:04:18.540
They're going to inevitably leave their badge in the cup holder.
01:04:24.560
Now we have access to the whole building anytime we want.
01:04:27.720
So we get really creative on the tactics side just so that, you know, it basically wakes
01:04:33.920
the company up that, hey, even though you've got, you know, you've got a cleaning crew coming
01:04:37.940
in every night, they may be your vulnerability.
01:04:45.900
It definitely kind of balances out sometimes the boring OSHA-compliant stuff.
01:04:53.440
How did you determine, because you were talking about that story, how did you determine what
01:04:59.120
Because, I mean, I know how many experiences you have and how much information you could
01:05:03.600
Like, how did you distill the lessons that you were actually going to apply in the stories
01:05:10.460
When I got done writing everything down and taking all the notes that I knew I wanted to,
01:05:14.340
you know, just a data dump, it was 800 pages, right?
01:05:19.180
So then you go through and you start going, all right, it's not necessarily the best stories.
01:05:28.760
That tell the most compelling story or book as opposed to individual stories.
01:05:35.480
You know, I knew my goal was, hey, you know, I'm not perfect, neither are you, but it doesn't
01:05:48.740
Or, hey, you know, yeah, maybe you cheated on your wife.
01:05:53.840
But just because someone does that doesn't necessarily mean they're just bad.
01:05:58.260
I mean, so I kind of just knew that I wanted to hit certain pieces that I hope would relate
01:06:07.160
And frankly, I also thought in my mind I wanted more women to read this book than men.
01:06:10.920
And that's hence the reason why I had a female ghostwriter.
01:06:15.180
And I really leveraged her a lot to make sure that, hey, you know, how can we make this book
01:06:30.300
So this book, when you read it, you'll see it's like, or you already read it, but women
01:06:35.220
Women can get inside the, you know, I consider myself the average guy.
01:06:39.120
If you want to get inside the average guy's head, read the book.
01:06:44.300
So that's kind of what dictated your theming and the message you want people to walk away
01:06:51.380
with decides how you weave those stories together and the stories you tell.
01:06:56.520
You kind of, you got to work from the end state backwards.
01:07:11.040
I figure I can get as much as, I mean, you can't get it all, but I can get as much as
01:07:17.080
I think we've got six or seven podcasts lined out.
01:07:25.660
We've got the audio equipment and the video stuff and it's just, it makes so much sense.
01:07:30.560
Let me ask you a couple of questions and I'll let you get to your flight.
01:07:42.020
I can tell you from military life to the civilian world, having the ability to evolve is what
01:07:54.020
Be flexible, not just with, you know, how you think about things.
01:07:58.240
Be flexible with even, you know, the tactics you use with people each day.
01:08:21.160
They said, would you put together a book that has the answer to, I think it's 280 or so times
01:08:32.680
I think statistics with that question would be kind of cool.
01:08:37.240
Like put all the answers down and then how many of those, which answer is given the most?
01:09:00.060
It's got the whole ecosystem of stuff I got going on.
01:09:02.300
Most of it falls in the lane of crisis management.
01:09:04.300
If you don't like that kind of thing, then, you know, you don't have to go.
01:09:08.180
All books are on Amazon at your local Barnes & Noble or where you buy books.
01:09:12.840
And then, of course, Violent Nomad gear and apparel and all that good EDC type stuff is at violentnomad.com.
01:09:22.280
I actually meant to have it out and I got distracted.
01:09:33.900
It's been good to get to know you over the past several years.
01:09:35.720
I've enjoyed our friendship and, of course, the lessons that you've taught.
01:09:38.360
Hey, and likewise, I mean, like I said, man, I'm proud of you.
01:09:42.060
I think we started in this world, you know, roughly the same year.
01:09:46.360
When I was getting out, you were starting this and it's cool to see people grow.
01:09:58.460
My conversation with the one and only, as it said in the subtitle, Navy SEAL, covert operative
01:10:07.200
Him and I always have a great time when we get together, very down to earth, very real human
01:10:11.060
being and we have some good conversations and he always opens my eyes to some perspectives
01:10:18.280
And isn't that the power of finding people who are good at what they do is they can teach
01:10:22.200
you and educate you on things that you didn't know so that you can make yourself more capable
01:10:27.080
And Clint is certainly one of those guys for me.
01:10:30.360
He gave you all the social media hashtags and handles and all that stuff.
01:10:34.000
So connect with him on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, go buy a copy of the right kind of
01:10:42.180
I actually, my sons and I look at 100 deadly skills cause he's got some good graphics in
01:10:47.520
We talked about that in the podcast and I think you'll have a lot of fun sitting down with
01:10:51.200
your, with your little ones and going through some of that stuff as well.
01:10:55.440
Anyways, guys, I hope you enjoyed the conversation.
01:11:01.760
I would ask as we part, stick with me on this guys, leave us a rating and review.
01:11:06.380
We've put out, I think like 580 episodes now and not once have you had to pay for any of
01:11:13.000
That's probably close to a thousand hours of information from me and, and other guests that
01:11:20.140
So all I ask in exchange and in return is you go leave a rating and review.
01:11:24.160
It'll literally take you like three minutes, go leave your rating review, let people know
01:11:27.820
what you thought, click five stars, let them know why this show is the best show for men.
01:11:32.300
And that goes a long way in promoting the visibility of what we're doing here in order, man.
01:11:38.060
Kip and I will anyways for our ask me anything.
01:11:40.520
But until then go out there, take action, become the man you are meant to be.
01:11:44.520
Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast.
01:11:47.680
You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.
01:11:51.700
We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.