TIM KENNEDY ｜ Earn Your Stripes
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Summary
Tim Kennedy is a former US Army Ranger, a former UFC fighter, a serial entrepreneur, a TV personality, a mentor, and an author. He s made a career by running towards danger when most people run away, and has lived by his personal mantra, protect and preserve human life. Tim also just released his latest book, Scars and Stripes, an unapologetically American story of fighting the Taliban.
Transcript
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What does it mean to earn your stripes? Well, it means that you have to go through the fire of
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challenge and adversity to thrive and win. And that's exactly what my guest Tim Kennedy
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has done all of his life from serving as an army ranger to fighting in the UFC and running
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multiple incredibly successful businesses. It's fair to say that Tim Kennedy has officially earned
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his stripes, but also the scars that come with it. Today, Tim and I talk about a broad array
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of topics in a very short amount of time. We didn't have very much time. That's on me.
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We talk about time management, identifying and living out your priorities, dealing with fall-ups,
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comparing yourself to other people, and also his latest book, Scars and Stripes.
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart your
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own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time you are not easily
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deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who you are. This is
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who you will become at the end of the day. And after all is said and done, you can call yourself
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a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler. I'm the host and the founder of the
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Order of Man movement and podcast. Welcome here today. I've got a good one lined up with my friend,
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Tim Kennedy. If you are just joining us for the first time, it's my job to bring successful men
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onto the podcast, break down their strategies and the way they run their life and their mindsets
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and everything they use in their lives so that we can improve our lives as fathers and husbands,
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business owners, community leaders. We've had Tim on before. We've had guys like Jocko,
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Terry Cruz, Tim Tebow has been on the podcast, David Goggins, Ben Shapiro. We've got a broad array
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of men who have joined us all banding together in this fight to reclaim and restore masculinity.
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So again, glad you're here. Before we get into it, please, if you would just leave a rating and
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review that goes a long way in promoting the visibility of the show. And also if you are
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interested in some of our new shirts, in fact, I've got one on right now called hoist the black flag.
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You can go check out our merchandise and that will support us and you'll look good in the process.
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And you'll also get potentially a battle planner there that's going to help you
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improve your life and stay on task and schedule and get a lot done. So you can check that out at
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store.orderofman.com store.orderofman.com. All right, let me get into it with Tim. As I said before,
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an incredibly talented and dangerous human being. He is an army ranger, a former UFC fighter.
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He's a serial entrepreneur, a TV personality coach, mentor, author, you name it. It's on his resume.
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Uh, and he's made a career by running towards danger when most people run away and has lived
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by his personal mantra, protect and preserve human life. And, uh, Tim also just released his latest
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book, scars and stripes, an unapologetically American story of fighting the Taliban UFC warriors
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and myself. Enjoy this one guys. How are you on bud? Oh man, I'm good. How about you? Amazing. I
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know we're a little rushed for time. You're always, I was thinking about that. You are probably
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always rushed for time. Yeah. I'm a little flustered and you're like, this is life.
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Yeah. There's a, it's by design. I, man, the, uh, idle, idle hands are tools. The devil,
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like devil's mischief type thing. Yeah. Yeah. You do not want to leave me with free time. So,
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uh, my wife says I can bend time because I, I put things into a day that are seemingly impossible.
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And, uh, like if I recounted my day from 5 30 AM to right now, you'd be like, that's madness.
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I'd be dead. Yeah. And then, you know, it's going to happen for the next, like,
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you know what's going to happen for the next 12 hours. So like, there's like, this is impossible.
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And I was like, wait, or is it, or do you just do that? So how does that, how, how do you do that?
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I mean, I, I'm sure that's attributed to a lot of your life and just practice and becoming efficient
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and proficient in certain things. But how, how does somebody who, you know, doesn't feel like they
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have enough time in the day, start cramming other things in? My favorite thing when somebody looks at
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me and they're like, man, I don't have time. And I was like, you cannot say that to me. Like,
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that's just, you have to say something else. It's that, or like you are the problem and time
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is not the problem. So obviously, you know, there, there's time sucks. There's things that
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just, you don't need in your life. And, uh, you know, we have, we have really cool devices now
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that tell us where we're wasting time. You know, this device can also be a total waste of time,
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you know, but that, um, you know, your efficiency tracker and, uh, you're like on my, every week,
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my phone tells me how long I'm on social media. Yeah. I don't like looking at that number.
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Well, you need to though. I need to tell you something. And like, do you like, are we in a
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place where I can delegate those things that I don't need to be doing? Like, do I need to create?
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Absolutely. Like, do I need to figure out ways to, to like have a brand and a message that's
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magnified and reach as many people? Yeah, of course. But, um, do I need to be scrolling and swiping
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and TikToking and refreshing and Snapchatting? Like, absolutely not. You know, like my day needs to be
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filled with productive moments and, um, like, do I have to be creative? Yeah. Can I plan times
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where I could go do things where I am creative? Yeah. So it's just a little bit about being
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disciplined. So one thing, a lot of people I know will say is, well, you know, it must be easy for
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you. You have a team of people to help you and you do, you've got a team here that helps you and
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you're talking about delegation. How did that start for you when it came to trying to build your
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personal brand, trying to get a good message out into the world where you actually felt like you
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needed help and what did you do first? Yeah. I mean, the, um, I still run circles around my team.
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I bet. I mean, like two degree where they're like, where did he go? I was like, well, I, I told you
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last night, minute by minute in a line chart of what's happening today. And like the fact that
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you're not keeping up with me, like, again, that's a you problem that that is you not doing task
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management, right. Or time management, right. Um, and, uh, it's like pull the team out. Like
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you get rid of everybody. I still know exactly in time management where I need to be effectively
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using my time. Like what, what is important in my day? Am I getting my fitness in there? Am I
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getting an intimate time with my spouse? You know, am I spending an appropriate time with my children?
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So there's intentionality and they know that I want to be there. Am I being a good teammate? Am I
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being a good contributing member to my special forces regimen? Like all of these things like
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check, check, check, check. No. Okay. There's a problem. What do I need to reorganize? What do
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I need to get rid of? And, um, and like, if you know what's important and what you're supposed to
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be doing, it's really easy just to get rid of the other stuff. That's a good point. You've got,
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you've got, it sounds like a pretty good litmus test by which to measure all of your activity again.
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So I don't think a lot of people do. So they just do whatever's in front of them.
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That's so, that's so lame. I mean, it is like, even with like your email,
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you know, like flagging, keeping things unread, um, moving things to draft, starting to write
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something and doing it later. Like you can just waste so much. Yeah. You have to reply
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to business questions. You know, like I have a bunch of businesses and I have a president that's
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asking, Hey, can we do this? Cause this purchase appropriate, is it purchase appropriate? Like,
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is this going to be funded? And, um, and I can lose a ton of time there, but there's,
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I need to be really effective and both in decision making and leading and figuring out like,
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what do I need to be doing in the right order? Uh, I mean, even something as simple as an email,
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like unsubscribing to things, doing that, you know, like blocking and, uh, my tree, I call it,
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I call it triaging my email. I, uh, I, I star things that I have to do that day. I keep things
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I eventually need to get to unread and then everything else gone. Just get rid of it. Yeah.
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If it doesn't meet that, like I have to do, because it is, it is like required for my business
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or like a leadership thing that that is might be so simple as me forwarding to somebody or a quick
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reply or, Hey, my answers are in red. Um, but then if it's like my wife's birthday is coming up and I
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needed, I knew I've been waiting to figure out what she wanted and I've been waiting it. So I had
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a few, I think presents that I wanted to get her and I kept those as unread. And as we got closer,
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I just kept on trying to glean from her and her friends, what's the appropriate present.
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And then, you know, like we're, we're two weeks out and got confirmation exactly what it was. So
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it was like, got rid of all the unread things, didn't need them and then replied and then clicked
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on and sent, you know, like Yahtzee and it'll be delivered on Monday. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just
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effective. You've got those systems in place. How, how do you manage that schedule since you bring
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up your wife and children? Uh, your, your schedule is so much different than mine. And, uh, I would,
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I would say more, more busy than mine is. And yet I don't feel like I even sometimes give my wife and
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kids enough attention. I'm curious about your thoughts with how much time you devote to them.
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Obviously she's probably a very strong, independent person. She is. She wouldn't be able to handle you
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if that weren't the case, but I'm very curious about that dichotomy between the two, your work and
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activity and time of the family. So I'm here. They're everything like they're like, you know,
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the hard stop for us today is, is so I can beat them home. So when they get home, I'm there. So I
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can like spend time with them before they're, they're going to go off to their activities.
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And then like, like all, like a fart in the wind kind of just disappear from it. So like when I'm here,
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like I got up, I worked out before they were woke up when they woke up, I'm sitting there making them
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breakfast. So they got French toast. They got some, uh, I made some fresh cream of wheat. Um,
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they got some fresh scrambled eggs and then Rolo got some fresh bacon. You know, so that was,
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that was breakfast this morning at seven 15 drove, like personally drove them to school,
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dropped them off. And then I went and met with my, my school staff, you know, talk to them,
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gave them an update of things coming in, connected with the playscape builder that's coming in.
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And then in between the drives of everything, I was, I was on calls. So they get done with school
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today and I'll sit at, be sitting there waiting for them to get there. So it gets all about
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intentionality. You know, it's like, if, if they are not your number one priority when they're,
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they should be your center of your world. And if they're not, then like, they're just kids for
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such a short period of time. Yeah. Like it's such a finite time. Yeah. I've thought about that even
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with my business and, and there's things I can do where I can really ramp up a lot of what we're
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doing. And then I've thought to myself, okay, well, what, at what expense? Yeah. You know,
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my oldest is 14. My youngest is six. I really have 12 years of parenting left. Yeah. Like
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hardcore parenting. And after that, I can do some of these other things, but I got 12 years
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of hardcore. We can do this forever. Right. Exactly. Right. Yeah. And, uh, but like every day
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you lose, I, I, you know, you can't put an exact percentage on it, but you lose a certain amount
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of influence. You know, when, when they're born, the day that they're born, they literally can't
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exist without you. Right. They would starve to death and they'd be malnourished into not existing.
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Right. In a matter of hours. Sure. And, um, and then emotionally, like they can't
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develop intellectually, spiritually without that constant feeding from you. So both physically
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and emotionally, that, that, that nurturing has to happen. But then from about six, every day you
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lose a little bit of influence, you know, and by the time, you know, they're 18, yeah, you matter,
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you know, but their boyfriend matters more, you know, and their friends matter more and they are
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more influential. I mean, in, in, in some poor homes, like their phones matter more. And so like from
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that window from birth until 13, 14, or you start losing that influence, like that's your window.
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Yeah. I remember this was probably two years ago. I was my two oldest boys. They, they were probably
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eight and 10 or nine and 11, somewhere right in there. And we went to the high school basketball
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game. They're like, dad, can we go to the game? I'm like, yeah, sure. Well, I thought when they said,
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dad, can we go to the game? Like they wanted me to go to the game with them. And I realized,
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oh no, they just needed me to drive them to the game. Cause we sat down at half court about five
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rows up and I got them some popcorn or whatever. And we're sitting there watching the game. And
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within 30 seconds, dad, my friends are up there. Can I go hang out? I'm like, yeah, sure.
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Gone. The whole rest. I felt like such a loser. I'm just sitting there by myself. I mean,
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I enjoyed the basketball game cause I do, but, uh, every once in a while I'd look up on the top deck
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where the track was and I'd see him chasing around girls or doing whatever they did. And it's,
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it was like a bittersweet moment for me. I'm like, oh, got it. Check. Yeah. I know what's
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happening here. Yeah. It's important. It is. It's, it's, it's good. It's natural. It's the
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right thing, but it's still, it's hard to deal with. And everything from birth to those moments,
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your influence is getting determined who are those friends, you know, and what are they doing with
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those friends? You know, like, are they going behind the school and smoking weed or are they
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going up and playing on the track? Like those are, both those things are happening that same night
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that you're sitting there at half court, you know, like at half court, but like.
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Like what's their level of involvement with that? Yeah. Sure. And that spectrum of is really
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determined by your involvement. Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. I see a lot of kids who are,
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that are just families in general that are so broken, whether it's physically separated or
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emotionally and mentally separated. And I really feel bad for, I mean, I feel bad for the parents.
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Sure. Cause they're in that situation, but what it does to their children is horrible.
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What is that part of the reason that you felt like with your acting Academy, with your, with
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Apogee and your mentoring program, is that a big part of the driving force behind that? Or what are
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your thoughts there? And so I w I was, um, I was with Jocko Willink and I, we were like
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philosophizing where you're, you're talking philosophically about the future pontificating.
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Yeah. And, uh, there's a clear trajectory of man, school boards are messed up. Weird things are being
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put into school curriculum. And I was like, this, this isn't sustainable. You know, like we, we already
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see the product of what is happening and coming from schools as an entrepreneur, as a business owner,
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like the applications that I'm getting and the people that are applying that aren't doing a volume
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or quality of work that is useful. You know, is I always take a step back and being in the military
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and being my, pretty much my whole entire life. I've been training young men and watching a shift
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and seeing what happened from my generation coming into special operations to what is going to the
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military right now, you know, and special operations has to pick from this population, from this pool
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of regular people going into the military. Then we pick, you know, the top 1%, that 1% comes and tries
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out. And then of that 1% that came and tried out, we pick about eight out of a hundred.
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So if you're, if your initial population, that initial pool is getting like weaker and softer
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and less capable, like you have to take a pause and be like, what is, what is going on?
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And, uh, so it was, it was five, six years ago when I was with Jocko and I mean, I, like some,
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we have to do something like we can't keep doing this because if this is what keeps happening,
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then we're going to be like to a level where the United States have to, has to recognize we're in
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a state of emergency because we can't even protect ourselves. We can't defend ourselves. We can't
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build anything. We can't engineer anything. We can't create anything like there's nobody to build
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because nobody knows how to build. Right. And, uh, so that was the genesis of it. And then
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like, thank God, cause here we are, you know, five years later and it's not gotten better. It's gotten
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worse. Yeah. Matt, Matt told me something interesting. He said, and I can't remember
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the exact numbers, but it gave me hope. He said, how many people have applied to open their own
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academy? Yeah. And then I can't, I don't, I don't think he talked enrollment numbers, students with
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me. I don't think he did. If it did, I can't remember. Thousands. I'm sure. And that gave me
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a ton of hope. I'm like, good. Maybe people are waking up to what's going on. Yeah. So just with,
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you know, you have lots of, you have Montessori's, you have private Christian Catholic
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Jewish, like tons of different private types of school, just acting alone, you know, Jeff
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and Laura Sandefur right here out of Austin. Um, they had thousands and thousands of people
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apply to open micro schools under them. Yeah. And, um, you know, they're, they're saying
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yes to as many as they can that really understand how to do it. And, um, it, it, it is a wild
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ride. You know, if, if school choice happens and I, I golly, I pray that it does not, not
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as a private school owner, but it's a father where we now have the authority to walk into
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school board and be like, you guys are so messed up. This is why capitalism is proven to work
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is because you are failing at your job to be able to prepare our children to be critical
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thinkers. We're not just pulling our child, but with my child comes the money that pays
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for you. Sure. That's going to change everything. That changes the game. Schools are going to
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crumble. Do you think something like that could happen though? Yes. I am at, I could, I think
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it could, but those people want to cling onto that. They're, they're fighting those, those
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unions, those, those school board teacher unions and those school board positions. Like
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they want power, they want control. They want to be able to put whatever influence they
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want. And they're so proud to have it. And they're holding on by their fingernails. But
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then you look into like Northeast where one governor calls a bunch of parents terrorists
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because they started showing up to, to school board meetings and be like, no, you can't do
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that. You can't teach our children this. I'm not accepting that. They're like, no, you
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guys, you guys are the best terrorists in the whole entire state flipped just completely
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one sentence out of his mouth, calling parents change the game. And, uh, and I hope every
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state does it. I hope every, every, every dumb power hungry politician that thinks that
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they can control our children will have to reap the wrath of parents. I've been talking
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about the benefits of homeschooling for years. We homeschool our kids. We have for about
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three years, a year or two before you were. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. Oh, I don't
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know if that's a case for or against homeschooling. Yeah, I know. Tough, tough call. Um, anyways,
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I've been a big guy advocate for three or four years now. And the, the trend of feedback I
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get, it's always very polarizing when I talk about homeschooling, but the trend is shifting
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more towards acceptance and viability of homeschool. Then those are all the weird kids. And I know
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that's stupid. It's shifting. I can see it. Well, I mean, when I grew up, my, my mom was
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considered like a militant radical, you know, she's homeschooling her kids. Like she has
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to be this crazy off the reservation, you know? And, um, and now I think universally people
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are like, man, I wish I could do that. Yes. Like the only people that aren't are the ones
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that can't. Right. Financially jobs. Mom has to work. Dad has to work. You know, they need
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to report prioritize what's important because like if their level of living, like their status
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of being upper middle class or whatever house that their mortgage, they're trying to pay
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maybe downsize, you know, cause like you're, you're going to have to deal with this next
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generation when you're not going to be able to afford to live in that, um, retirement home
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because your children are useless because they were raised to be lemming consumers instead
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of free thinkers and builders and contributors and good citizens. Like you're going to, you're
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going to have to reap the consequences of you being selfish. Man, just putting a pause on the
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conversation very briefly. Uh, many of you have asked me on the back of the event that we did with
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fathers and sons last weekend, uh, when we're going to do another one. And I've got some good
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news for you. We do have another father son event called legacy taking place on September 22nd
00:19:35.400
through the 25th, 2022. So later this year in about four months, three, four months, uh, this one's
00:19:41.140
a bit longer than our previous event. And you and your son between the ages of eight to 15 are going
00:19:45.620
to spend three days with me and our team on my property here in Maine, uh, for a rite of passage
00:19:51.500
event. In fact, you guys are going to stay in the barn. We've done a lot of work on the barn to get
00:19:55.680
it ready for you guys. We did one before last year and it is ready to go. Uh, and this is designed to
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help you usher your young man into manhood. We have a series of physically and mentally and emotionally
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challenging activities planned. And all of them are designed to make him stronger in all ways,
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and also forge a tighter bond between both of you. So we're already halfway sold out on this thing.
00:20:16.700
So make sure you get registered as quickly as you possibly can at order of man.com slash legacy.
00:20:23.240
Again, that's September 22nd through the 25th for boys between the ages of eight to 15. And that is
00:20:29.360
that order of man.com slash legacy. Hope to see you there. Let's get back to it with Tim.
00:20:33.760
Well, I was thinking about it because I was talking with a good friend of mine, Kip, uh,
00:20:39.240
Sorenson the other day, and I asked him how many cars he has. And I think he said he had,
00:20:43.320
uh, four or five cars between him and his wife. And then I was thinking about how many I have.
00:20:47.820
I'm like, well, I've got five operating vehicles. That's 50 or 60 grand worth of vehicles that I
00:20:54.640
could, if I needed to sell right now, that could help fund a year of me or my wife staying at home and
00:21:00.660
not having to work and having a parent fully present and available in the home.
00:21:05.400
Yeah. I mean, that's, um, I mean, for most schools, that's like three years of private education.
00:21:10.220
Right. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's, it's a, it is definitely a priority thing. I try not to
00:21:16.380
be too harsh on my judgment because I've been there at times where, yeah, you got to put food on the
00:21:22.000
table. And, and we've, my wife and I have lived off of a food storage that we've set aside.
00:21:27.180
I'm talking green beans and rice. Cause that's like, sorry, hon. Like we can either make the
00:21:32.440
mortgage payment or, you know, or go out, like we don't have any money. So this is what we have to
00:21:36.460
do. So I try not to judge too harshly, but it is definitely a priority issue.
00:21:41.140
Don't, um, don't Google or search on Instagram or Snapchat canning or pickling stuff because you
00:21:50.660
Yes. I got a warning from Instagram when I was searching Mike, uh, Mike Glover from
00:21:57.120
Fieldcraft Survival. Like love that dude. Yeah. He posted this thing about, um, one of his
00:22:02.260
accounts got flagged and they suggested that maybe you need to seek some help because he
00:22:09.960
Yeah. So he screen captured it and posted it and he, and I was like, no way.
00:22:19.060
It's like, don't touch the fire. I'm like, I want to touch the fire.
00:22:21.300
I know. I want to, don't, don't press the red button.
00:22:27.080
But what's the, so, but why? I don't understand. Is it because I can't even fathom why that's
00:22:44.220
Yeah, exactly. Does the government want independent people?
00:22:49.660
No, they want everybody dependent on them for everything, for food, for medicine, for
00:22:58.200
But how much, so you're saying this is on Instagram.
00:23:00.740
Yeah, it was a Instagram and, um, what, what, what all the wives use? Um, like Pinterest,
00:23:09.260
So, but how much of, of big tech is really in bed with the government?
00:23:19.420
I think a hundred percent. No. Like every, every year the White House brings in, like,
00:23:25.760
just look at the last election. You know, like how, like Google straight up said that they
00:23:33.460
But what's in it for a tech company, like a Google or a Pinterest or an Instagram or a Facebook?
00:23:38.420
It aligns with, it aligns with them philosophically.
00:23:40.580
So it's just a philosophical preference and they get to pull the strings based on their-
00:23:46.820
You know, like, um, when, when, in Colonel Cooper's color coding, you know, like white,
00:23:52.920
yellow, orange, red, black, um, he didn't have black in there. We added black as black is real.
00:23:59.140
When do people can, when, when, when are consumers consuming in what level?
00:24:05.260
Uh, I guess I would say as the intensity of that color system goes up, that's when people
00:24:14.000
The more comfortable you are, like when you go to Amazon and buy.
00:24:16.780
Oh, I get, okay, I hear, okay, that makes sense.
00:24:17.960
You know, when, when do you go and watch Netflix? When do you, as a consumer, when are you spending
00:24:24.320
I mean, I thought you were talking more about like the toilet paper shortage or, or baby
00:24:29.960
It's like, well, you're not buying either of those.
00:24:33.940
So people buy when they're in white and yellow, like when they're chillaxed, when they're
00:24:38.280
comfortable and, and they want them. These are, these phones are designed
00:24:42.860
for you to swipe, for you to refresh, for you to just sit there and be like, oh, shop
00:24:47.880
now. Yeah. I'll click on that. That's cool. Well, how did that just end up on your news
00:24:53.680
So they make more money when everybody's embedded and everybody has a shared.
00:24:58.960
Yeah. But okay. So how does that then juxtapose with, let's take media. They, they want everybody
00:25:07.740
all riled up and all bothered and at each other.
00:25:11.740
There's no doubt how these algorithms work, right? On my, on your Twitter feed, they feed
00:25:18.640
you in your echo chamber, in the vacuum that you're existing. They curate and editorialize.
00:25:23.840
Yep. Everything that reinforces your belief system, who you follow, it's mostly people
00:25:29.960
that align with you. And those things that they, that you follow will be populated on
00:25:35.340
your timeline most often. And they, and so that in the echo chamber, your idea is reinforced
00:25:40.640
over and over and over again. So that belief system is, I mean, like you're, you're committed
00:25:47.560
Then they put in something that's totally divisive and you're like, wow, outrage.
00:25:52.420
Yeah. You're going to drop a bunch of comments. You're going to argue with some people online
00:25:56.140
back to echo chamber of your belief system, another infuriating thing. And then you're just
00:26:02.920
All the time. Just nonstop. And it's so easy for them because they know how the brain works.
00:26:08.340
You know, the, the, in the, in that confirmation bias, we're like, you have this belief system
00:26:13.120
and you believe it. And then they feed you something in, in that, in that biased mind,
00:26:17.260
that prejudicial mind of yours, like so easy to grab onto something and that negative reinforcement.
00:26:22.320
Like if you have a salad and there's one bad thing, like there's one mildewy leaf in that
00:26:28.700
salad, that whole salad is kind of gross, right?
00:26:31.800
Right. Um, in, in, in inverted, if there's a bunch of bad stuff and there's just one good
00:26:36.580
thing put on top of it, still bad, it's all bad still. Right. So that's how the, our brains
00:26:41.800
work. And when we're being fed these things, like, um, I'm just going to use, we'll just
00:26:47.080
use Clinton or Trump. I don't know. We use Trump right now. If you, during the election
00:26:52.200
search one of the two of them and naturally a bad thing is going to be published and populated
00:26:59.640
at the top against Trump. And then on the opposite side, Clinton is all going to be
00:27:04.860
positive. We are going to very quickly see the one bad thing. Like Trump is a racist.
00:27:10.580
And our brain is like, Ooh, this is all yucky. And they don't need to look at like the mega
00:27:16.180
Trumpers because like they're already mega Trumpers. They're just looking for that 15%
00:27:22.820
And then they just feed them the things that they need to see for it to be a gross salad.
00:27:28.500
How much of this can you, I mean, I know obviously you have your rights to be able to talk about
00:27:33.520
all this stuff, but you're in an interesting position within the government. And so is there
00:27:41.260
This is like playbook one-on-one of psychological warfare, by the way.
00:27:45.040
Yeah. I got books in our library right out here that I can just, I'm not regurgitating thoughts
00:27:50.300
They're giving you playbooks from like Russia and from China.
00:27:53.220
I'm going to get some from you and I'll, I'll let the guys know what they are.
00:27:55.080
Yeah. Right. Right. Our library, bang out that door, bang a right, library's on the
00:27:58.280
right. And you'll be like, this is Tim's library.
00:28:00.600
But how much of it can you, I'm trying to think about how to word this.
00:28:08.620
You know, I can have my political belief system.
00:28:10.980
I can have my, my spiritual belief system. Like I, I mean, written in stone in Arlington,
00:28:15.980
it's carved, it's etched into stone that this, um, you don't have the soldier by forgoing
00:28:22.360
the citizen. Like the human is still the human. Right. And, and the citizen is the important
00:28:27.160
thing. The soldier is a, is exists because of who he is as a human, as a citizen.
00:28:32.940
And, uh, you know, but that, which is way different than me saying that, like my commander in
00:28:38.540
chief who is president Biden right now, and then disparaging him or saying like, you know,
00:28:43.480
the things that he says, that's where it becomes an issue.
00:28:45.520
That's a really clear line. Right. Or me supporting a specific, specific political
00:28:49.000
candidate, like any of that stuff, like in uniform, me standing next to him and be like,
00:28:53.360
I'm going to vote for so-and-so like now I'm using my military status to support a politician,
00:28:59.380
which is way different than Tim Kennedy, the citizen supporting somebody that I believe in.
00:29:05.020
For you, it seems like those lines are not you personally, but from the outside looking in,
00:29:09.200
it seems like the lines are a little bit blurred between Tim Kennedy, the soldier and Tim Kennedy,
00:29:14.040
the personality. Yeah. So it's, have you ever got any sort of pressure?
00:29:19.920
Yeah. Yeah. I get pressure to command like, Hey, you need to back off on this issue.
00:29:23.300
I mean, they, they tell me very clearly, like, this is something that I can't talk about or like
00:29:29.460
in this status, it is, it is blurry. So don't talk about these things because it's unclear as,
00:29:36.780
are you Tim, the soldier or Tim, like the TV personality. And if you kind of go back under
00:29:44.500
that lens of when was Tim as a soldier doing something, it'd be really difficult for you to
00:29:49.760
be like, okay, Tim as a soldier was promoting this product. Never happened. Right. You know,
00:29:54.440
Tim as a soldier was promoting this person. Never happened. I don't even think, I don't even think
00:30:00.680
I can really recall a time where I've seen you in uniform, even on online. Yep. Yeah. And if,
00:30:07.460
if I am in uniform, it's like, I'm so proud to be in the military. I'm best job in the world. I love
00:30:13.540
my brothers and sisters. Like that, that doesn't stop me from being able to have like real conversations,
00:30:18.860
but I'm not going to put on my uniform and be like, what just happened in the Supreme court is
00:30:22.680
wrong. Me as a, as a special forces soldier is going to march down to Washington, DC and stand
00:30:28.200
in front of the Supreme court. Like we have crossed the line. Yeah. You know, that is not freedom of
00:30:32.540
speech. Yeah. Interesting. I know we're short for time and that's on me. Definitely not. As we talk
00:30:38.360
about time management a little bit of time in the first part of this, this is for me, this is what I
00:30:44.140
need, but you wrote a new book and I read, I read part of it because I didn't get to all,
00:30:49.960
it's not out yet, but it is hilarious to hear your stories, to, to learn about some of the things that
00:30:56.520
you've gone through. What, what, what, what's the biggest reasoning for, for putting the book out
00:31:01.220
there? Like, why did you want to write the book and share some of these stories that you have?
00:31:04.660
I think right now people have been marketed to, they've been lied to every device that you pick up,
00:31:12.400
it's curated and every person editorializes everything about themselves that they put out.
00:31:18.740
And, uh, and I think that's created a really dangerous time where we don't really know
00:31:22.780
what is propaganda, what is real, what is somebody's brand? What is somebody as a person,
00:31:28.280
you know, it's like, Oh, cool. I got a cut on my nose right now. Thanks for Rory McDonald.
00:31:32.240
Um, and so I'm going to use a filter to cover that, or actually I'm going to take some makeup and I'm
00:31:36.560
going to cover that up. Then I'm going to use a filter that's going to get rid of these lines and
00:31:39.200
these scars. Right. And then I'm only going to post the best one where I looked the right,
00:31:42.960
my butt looks the best. My waist is the rightest, you know, like an insert every single thing that
00:31:47.660
we do that dehumanizes us. So this book is the, it is the antithesis of all of that.
00:31:52.760
It is like every failure, every struggle, every moment that like every human, if they're real,
00:31:59.920
is going to acknowledge and relate to this moment in that, in that choice. Like, man,
00:32:04.260
I remember feeling like that. And, uh, and I wrote it in first person and present tense.
00:32:08.660
So it is immersive. So you were going to think back to when you were 15 and you got in your first
00:32:13.820
fist fight and you're going to be like how sick you were afterwards when then the first time that
00:32:19.120
you've ever experienced real adrenaline, you know, and like everybody has lost somebody like
00:32:23.240
whether it was a grandpa dying or, you know, somebody in their church, a close family, family
00:32:27.980
friend. And what does that morning feel like? And, um, nobody talks about that. Everybody just,
00:32:34.080
you see the moment where they're on top of Mount Everest, but you don't see them have crotch rot
00:32:38.620
and like skin falling off their under their armpits as they're walking so much in training.
00:32:44.980
Right. They didn't see the trench foot. Um, you know, they saw, they saw my fights,
00:32:49.060
you know, in the octagon, getting my hand raised, you know, this momentous moment against Michael
00:32:54.480
Bisping, but like, did you, did you smell my boxing gloves as I was doing three workouts
00:32:59.460
a day? No, you missed that. Didn't you? Right. But like, those are real moments. So I think
00:33:04.460
it is more important now than ever before because people have, they're starving for real, they're
00:33:10.820
starving for truth. They're starving for real experts. And, um, you know, one of the many
00:33:17.100
reasons like why your podcast and Joe Rogan's podcast and Jocko's and, you know, people like
00:33:21.740
Cameron Haynes and like why they're so influential as suddeners because people are starving for real.
00:33:27.740
They're so done with all of, all of this other fakeness.
00:33:30.720
I don't, I don't think I've ever told this with you, told this to you. We've, I think this is our
00:33:34.320
third podcast we've done and we did one years ago, uh, and we scheduled it and you had a fight.
00:33:40.320
And I think it was with Gastelum. I think it was who it was.
00:33:50.760
We can talk about that. But, um, as soon as that fight was over, I'm like, oh, well,
00:33:55.060
there goes the interview. And I didn't think we're going to do the interview. And then I
00:33:58.820
reached out later that next week or week or two, you know, yeah, of course. Yeah. We're
00:34:01.800
doing it. What are you talking about? Of course.
00:34:02.640
My face looks gross, but like, are we, and to me when that happened, I was like, okay, this,
00:34:08.840
this is like, this is a real person who can take, take his beating, take his lumps and then learn
00:34:14.580
from it and grow and still move forward and share those stories and those lessons that are
00:34:24.380
And a lot of unflattering type looks. It's not always perfect. Right.
00:34:28.020
Yeah. I was reading, uh, Todd, uh, one of the excerpts from it about, what did it say?
00:34:33.580
Something like, um, gosh, I can't even remember. It was on the, what was it? Yeah. Fire department,
00:34:40.000
police department, EMT, two gals pregnant in four days. I was like, Todd's like, what? Yeah. And,
00:34:48.260
but that's what people need to see. Cause this is the stuff people go through in real life.
00:34:52.020
Yeah. And then don't talk about, right. Exactly.
00:34:54.180
You know, they, whether they're like competing with the Joneses or they're trying to look
00:34:57.940
good for their gym partner or their gym crush, you know, I'm like, that's not who you are.
00:35:03.020
Yeah. You know, like you, you wear deodorant for reasons cause you stink sometimes, you know? And,
00:35:09.180
um, and do I need to smell that you stink? No, but like we can acknowledge and know that it's real.
00:35:14.220
That doesn't make you less of a person. And every one of us is beautifully imperfect.
00:35:18.220
And, uh, and, and we can at least relate on as humans, all of the struggles that we share
00:35:25.140
so we can like get better collectively. Yeah. You know?
00:35:29.940
Well, one of the things you do talk a lot about as well is just, is just embracing the hardship,
00:35:34.760
embracing that challenge. You were talking about idle hands earlier. Um, and I think when you do
00:35:39.160
put yourself in those environments, you see your own inadequacies of course, but then you also see
00:35:44.380
other people's inadequacies in very intimate environments. You're like, oh, that person who
00:35:48.540
I thought so highly of is going through the same shit that I go through every single day as I'm
00:35:54.640
thinking about my life and what I want to accomplish. Yeah. And that's fine. Yeah.
00:36:00.540
It's needed. Yeah. Cause we do fall into that comparison trap of like, oh, well, you know,
00:36:04.940
Tim Kennedy's doing this and this, and I'm just whatever, you know, and you start beating
00:36:08.840
yourself up without realizing people go through some of the same struggles, even more so in a
00:36:12.680
lot of ways. Yeah. Right on Tim. I appreciate you, brother. I appreciate you. I know you're a
00:36:17.840
busy man. I wish we could talk more. We'll get more time to talk next time. If you ever come back to
00:36:21.980
Texas and we don't do like some rad Texas stuff when you come here, um, you're going to have to
00:36:26.160
change your podcast name. What's a, so what would be the raddest Texas stuff to do? What,
00:36:30.780
what do we need to do? Well, we need to train jujitsu. Yeah. That's one thing. There's like
00:36:34.060
a jujitsu gym. We need to go 40 feet that way. Um, we could like go on a horseback and try to spear
00:36:41.240
some feral invasive pigs. I'm all about that. That sounds fun, right? That sounds
00:36:46.080
like a blast. Hop in a helicopter, go to the range, shoot for a little bit, go grab some good
00:36:50.080
barbecue. You know, it sounds like another good day. That sounds like I'm coming back down to
00:36:54.140
Texas pretty quickly. Yeah. Do some fitness that we feel like we're going to die. Go grab some good
00:36:58.360
coffee and tacos and then, uh, go down to town, uh, down to the lake and a paddleboard, you know,
00:37:04.680
like try to keep turtles off us, maybe some nutria. I'm in, man. Lots to do. Let's make it happen.
00:37:10.260
For sure. Thanks brother. Appreciate you excited for your book. We'll make sure we
00:37:13.040
share it around. Yeah, that's fun. All right, gentlemen, there you go. My conversation with
00:37:18.320
Mr. Tim Kennedy. I hope that you enjoyed that one. Like I said, uh, that's a little shorter
00:37:22.980
than we normally do about half of the time. And that's on me. I messed up on the, on the time,
00:37:28.420
on the scheduling and Tim had to, uh, get going at a hard stop. So unfortunately we could not record
00:37:34.580
longer, but that is my fault. I will take that upon my shoulders where it belongs. Uh, I do hope
00:37:39.960
you enjoyed it. Make sure you pick up a copy of his book, scars and stripes. And then also just
00:37:44.640
take a screenshot real quick right now, blast it up on social media, on Twitter, Facebook,
00:37:49.340
Instagram, tag me, tag Tim, let Tim know that you heard him and what you enjoyed about the podcast
00:37:55.380
in particular. And, uh, we'll keep going. Remember, leave a rating review. And also if you have a son
00:38:01.280
or a nephew or a young man that you're mentoring in some capacity between the ages of eight and 15,
00:38:07.060
and you want to bring them to this right of passage event in Maine on September 22nd through
00:38:12.420
the 25th, uh, you can do that and get signed up at order of man.com slash legacy, order of man.com
00:38:19.780
slash legacy. All right, guys, we'll be back tomorrow until then go out there, take action
00:38:23.960
and become a man. You are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast.
00:38:29.160
You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.
00:38:32.980
We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.