Who's Got Your Six? | FRIDAY FIELD NOTES
Episode Stats
Summary
In this episode, Ryan talks about the idea of who has your back, and why you should turn to your friends and family when things get tough. He also talks about a recent message he received from a man who said, "I can't turn to my friends or I don't have anyone else" and why it's important that you do the same.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart
00:00:05.000
your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
00:00:10.440
You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who
00:00:17.240
you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
00:00:22.800
you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,
00:00:27.420
and I am the host and the founder of this podcast and the movement that is Order of Man. I want to
00:00:32.360
welcome you to this podcast, to the movement, to the mission to reclaim and restore masculinity in
00:00:38.660
a society that seems to be increasingly dismissive of it. We're on a mission here, guys. That's to
00:00:44.580
give you the tools and the conversations, guidance, resource, direction, insight, whatever you need
00:00:49.540
to help you become a more capable father, husband, business owner, community leader, you name it.
00:00:55.240
So, like I said before, I'm glad you're here. Got a good one lined up for you today on the concept
00:01:01.720
or the idea of who has your back because this is increasingly important, I think, for men and
00:01:07.440
something that we have seemed to have forgotten. So, we're going to get into that here in a minute.
00:01:12.340
Before I do, I want to let you know a little bit about our, not only our show sponsors, I was going
00:01:17.740
to say that, but that doesn't quite do it justice. I want to talk with you about my friends,
00:01:22.100
my friends over at Origin Maine. Now, these guys do rash guards, they do geese, they do Brazilian
00:01:28.540
jiu-jitsu apparel, but they also do lifestyle apparel. And they're coming up with a denim line
00:01:34.320
and also a boot line. And then, of course, they've got their supplements. It's the Jocko supplements,
00:01:39.540
it's the Joint Warfare, the Super Krill, the Malk, the Discipline, which is the pre-workout,
00:01:44.980
and then their Discipline Go, which is a cognitive enhancer. And I think they just released that
00:01:50.440
this week, I want to say. If it's not this week, it's next week. And I've tasted it and
00:01:55.540
used it, and it's pretty powerful stuff. So, I'm excited about that as well. Make sure you check
00:02:01.120
them out, originmain.com, originmain.com, and use the code ORDER, O-R-D-E-R, at checkout for a discount
00:02:08.660
on your entire purchase. Again, originmain.com, use the code ORDER. Now, part of the reason I wanted
00:02:15.340
to bring that up is not only because I believe in what they're doing and their story, and of course,
00:02:19.740
use their products personally, but because these are guys in a way that I look at as having my six,
00:02:25.740
having my back. And that's what I wanted to talk with you about today because I seem to be getting
00:02:32.140
a lot more text and direct messages and emails from members who listen to this podcast and who are part
00:02:39.640
of this organization with questions that, frankly, they... Let me say it this way. I'm glad that they're
00:02:46.120
asking me these questions, but I shouldn't be the one that they have to turn to. And as I get these
00:02:51.720
emails and these texts and these direct messages, it seems to me like a lot of these guys have no
00:02:56.620
other place to turn. So, they're asking me questions about their relationship or their career status or
00:03:02.700
how they're doing in their finances. And maybe they're facing a difficult circumstance like a
00:03:08.180
medical condition or illness or potential bankruptcy or a divorce or separation in their marriage or
00:03:16.260
their relationship. And although I'm honored, these guys would reach out to me and humbled that they
00:03:22.520
would ask me questions and think highly enough of me that they feel like they can turn to me. I mean,
00:03:27.860
that's what I want to do is be a resource. I can't help but think it's a little disheartening
00:03:32.820
and a little sad, frankly, that these guys don't have anywhere else to turn. And that's what they
00:03:38.160
tell me. In fact, I got a message, I believe it was earlier this week. And the guy said,
00:03:41.880
I can't turn anywhere else. I can't turn to my friends or I don't have friends. It was something
00:03:45.560
along those lines. And I thought, man, that's actually pretty rough. And I think it's a detriment
00:03:50.380
to how we show up as men. As men, we've been operating for tens of thousands of years in tribes
00:03:59.300
and packs and gangs and teams and groups. And it seems to me that as we gain more technological
00:04:08.560
advancements and we isolate ourselves even more, that it's become a problem of banding together with
00:04:14.400
other men. Now you couple this with the idea and the notion that's been perpetuated, I think probably
00:04:19.300
started around industrial revolution, where we now leave our communities and we leave our farms and
00:04:26.500
our families and we go out into the workforce and we focus on specialization or one little thing that
00:04:31.240
we're good at in the assembly line. And we continue to see why this is a problem, this idea of isolation.
00:04:39.340
Then you get into pop culture and you get into James Bond and Jason Bourne. And these guys are the
00:04:45.780
lone wolf, right? They're doing everything on their own and they don't want any help. They don't want any
00:04:51.480
outside interference. And so what we do as young boys who have been conditioned and indoctrinated
00:04:57.460
in a way to look at this is we think that that's how we're supposed to do it. That we're supposed to
00:05:02.800
go at it alone. And that if we need any sort of assistance or help along the way, then we're
00:05:06.900
perceived as being less masculine or weak. Now, I don't think it's weakness to reach out to a band of
00:05:13.240
brothers, to reach out to somebody who's going to have your back, who has proven time in and time out
00:05:18.500
that they are going to support you. They're going to uplift you and edify you and help you overcome
00:05:24.000
these challenges and obstacles. And yet so many of us don't have a band of brothers. We don't have
00:05:29.660
men, other men that we can rely on that will help us get through these difficult life circumstances.
00:05:37.020
And that we help get them through difficult life circumstances and challenges as well. And that's
00:05:44.060
what I'm going to talk with you about today is I want you to ask yourself, seriously consider and
00:05:49.940
ask yourself, who has your six? Who is it that you can call in the middle of the night that if you've
00:05:56.180
got a problem, whatever that problem looks like, and we'll get specific about that, that you know
00:06:01.100
without a doubt that that individual is going to get his ass out of bed or he's going to put down
00:06:05.560
whatever it is he's doing and he's going to come and he's going to serve you and he's going to help
00:06:09.480
you overcome the challenging situation that you may have found yourself in. If the answer is,
00:06:15.500
or there is no answer, or I don't know who that would be, you've got a problem. You've got a serious,
00:06:21.100
serious problem. And the reason that you may not have addressed it is because you haven't had to
00:06:27.000
call on that individual yet. But mark my words, you will. Something bad will happen. You'll have a
00:06:32.420
medical diagnosis. You'll lose a loved one, potentially your spouse or a child. You'll go
00:06:41.180
through bankruptcy or you'll lose your job. Any number of things that could happen. You'll become
00:06:46.900
disabled and you can't work. If that day comes and when it comes, we don't know specifically what
00:06:53.040
it's going to be, but when that day comes, if you haven't prepared yourself by rallying around you
00:06:58.720
a band of brothers who are motivated and inspired and positive and encouraging and uplifting and
00:07:05.400
loyal to you, you're going to find yourself in a bad situation. I know I did. I've talked about it
00:07:10.420
at length. When I went through the separation, now there's other stories as well, and I'll maybe get
00:07:15.060
to some of these either on this podcast or a future one. But when I went through my separation with my
00:07:20.120
wife, what I had done for the previous four or five years leading up to our separation is I had
00:07:26.040
ostracized all my friends. I spent all my time and my attention and my energy on her,
00:07:32.160
which kind of makes sense. I wanted to be around her. I love her. And also gave that attention to
00:07:38.680
my one-year-old son at the time. So my band of brothers was non-existent. They were out doing
00:07:43.920
their thing and hanging out and having fun and lifting each other up and competing and rising
00:07:49.060
together. And I wasn't part of that club because, not because they wouldn't invite me, but because
00:07:54.280
I bowed out of the organization because I was busy with life and marriage and raising a kid and
00:08:02.400
business and everything else. And so when this difficult time in my life happened, my wife and
00:08:06.740
I going through our separation, I had nobody. I had nobody to turn to because I hadn't built up the
00:08:14.340
relationship capital that I needed in order to call upon men who would help me come through these
00:08:22.220
difficult situations. And granted, I was able to develop that over a course of months and ended
00:08:28.780
up building out a band of brothers and that helped me. But I can't think that that would have gone a
00:08:32.520
whole lot quicker and a whole lot smoother for me. And I would have been mentally in a completely
00:08:37.660
different place, a much better place had I had men who rallied behind me in my time of need.
00:08:43.340
Guys, we can't operate in life alone. We have these little terms, the lone wolf. And the one I heard
00:08:50.440
not too long ago was, it's no longer about an alpha or a beta. It's something like an omega now,
00:08:57.280
which is that he doesn't need anybody else. I don't know. It's weird. Anytime I hear alpha or beta or
00:09:02.940
omega, apparently, I kind of tune out a little bit because I don't think we can be boxed down or
00:09:08.000
pigeonholed into these simple frameworks or categories. So the point that I'm making,
00:09:15.540
if you don't get it by now, is that you need to build a band of brothers. You need to find men
00:09:20.620
in your life who care about you, who want to see you thrive, who want to see you succeed. These are
00:09:25.860
not bobbleheads that are going to bob up and down and say, yes, yes, yes, everything you're doing is
00:09:29.540
wonderful, but they might actually call you on some of your bullshit when you need to be called on
00:09:34.160
those things. That's what you need in your life. You need competition. You need brotherhood. You
00:09:39.440
need camaraderie. You need support. And it's on you to build that. A lot of times it seems to me
00:09:44.940
that guys are waiting around for something wonderful to happen to them. That, oh, if I find the right
00:09:50.180
guy to include in my circle, that everything will just work out. No, it takes time and it takes an
00:09:55.260
investment. It takes energy and resources into those individuals so that you can build the type of
00:10:01.080
brotherhood I'm talking about. And I'll tell you what, it's powerful. It's powerful. When men band
00:10:06.220
together towards a common enemy or towards a common purpose, I think that creates a very unstoppable
00:10:14.260
force for good and for overcoming hardship and tragedy that you may inevitably face and experience
00:10:21.060
in your life. So what I wanted to do with you today, as I was thinking about over this past three or
00:10:25.560
four days on what I wanted to talk with you on the Friday field notes, is I thought I'd share with you
00:10:29.760
a couple of strategies, a couple of tips that you can use in order to build this band of brothers,
00:10:36.840
in order to build a brotherhood of guys who have your six, who have your back when things go south
00:10:42.060
and things go wrong and you aren't relying upon reaching out to me, somebody, frankly, you don't
00:10:49.020
know because you have nobody else to turn to. Now, I'll do the best that I can. I can't say that I'll get
00:10:54.620
to everybody or I can't answer every question or dilemma or problem that every man has ever
00:10:58.480
experienced. I'll do what I can. I try to do a lot on this podcast and that's why I want you to have
00:11:02.960
somebody locally, somebody near you, at least somebody digitally that you can connect with
00:11:08.560
and band with who will have your back in these difficult situations. So the first thing I would
00:11:13.000
say, guys, is you've got to invest now. I talked about this not being a passive strategy. It's going
00:11:18.680
to be very active. You've got to be assertive in this. You've got to put yourself in the situation
00:11:23.820
to build a band of brothers, to have men who have your back. And it takes an investment of resources,
00:11:29.200
time, energy, money. These are the types of things that are required on your part to build this out,
00:11:34.080
but you've got to invest in that now. Because if you wait until there's a problem or a divorce or a
00:11:40.300
bankruptcy or a medical condition or a job layoff or a death in the family, if you wait, you've waited
00:11:46.100
too long. You've got to be proactive about this and you've got to invest now. And I say investing in
00:11:52.640
other men because it truly is an investment. If you look at what an investment is, it's a
00:11:59.360
voluntary giving of resources in order to yield more resources down the road. Now, those resources can be
00:12:11.340
financial resources. If we're talking about financial planning, it could be time, it could be
00:12:15.960
energy and focus. It could be attention. When you give those resources to other men who you want to
00:12:22.340
include in your circle, that will be returned to you. Now, you're not going to do it because it's
00:12:26.740
going to be returned to you, but this has to be a mutually beneficial relationship. You have to be
00:12:32.000
able to serve other men in your circle, your brothers, just as much as they serve you. And if you're in
00:12:39.560
relationships, whether it's a romantic relationship or some sort of fraternity, a brotherhood, and all
00:12:46.020
you're trying to do is get and take and take and take, you might get some things initially, but this
00:12:51.340
is not a long-term strategy. This is going to be a very short-lived relationship and it's not going to
00:12:57.180
value those other men. And it's certainly not going to value you. So we're playing a long game,
00:13:02.340
the long investment strategy here. How can I pour into other men who I admire, who I respect,
00:13:09.560
who I want to see win, who I value? How can I serve them knowing that ultimately there may come
00:13:17.120
a point in time where they can serve me and help me in a way that I need to be helped? So number one,
00:13:22.860
invest right now. It's like that old adage or proverb that says, when's the best time to plant a tree?
00:13:28.700
Well, before you need the shade. When's the second best time? Right now. Because I'm telling you,
00:13:33.960
the shade's coming and I hope you're prepared in that day. I really do. It's up to you to prepare
00:13:38.920
right now. Invest now. Number two, I alluded to it. Lead with value. Lead with value. I can't tell
00:13:45.300
you how many times people reach out to me. And these are the guys I'm talking about who don't
00:13:48.860
have anybody who has their back and has their six. And they'll reach out to me and they'll want me to
00:13:54.060
solve their problems. Which I get when you're desperate at times for solutions to life's dilemmas.
00:14:03.520
You're kind of in take mode. You're kind of in, I need to consume mode. I need somebody to help me
00:14:10.420
or to give me a couple ideas. But look, that's not leading with value. That's the antithesis of
00:14:17.040
leading with value. You're taking. So if you want to invest now in a band of brothers, in a fraternity,
00:14:22.900
men who are going to help you thrive and succeed in the best of times and the worst of times,
00:14:26.360
then you've got to lead with value. How are you going to serve these other individuals?
00:14:29.780
How are you going to ensure that they win? What resources do they need? What connections can you
00:14:35.000
make for these individuals? When you start leading with value because you care about people and you
00:14:39.780
care about individuals and you want these men to win, you inevitably will win. A rising tide lifts
00:14:45.820
all boats. There's another proverb or a quote, and I don't know who said that, but a rising tide lifts
00:14:50.360
all boats. So it might not be your time right now to get, but you can certainly give. You may be in
00:14:57.840
a position where you have the resources or the capacity to serve other individuals, other peers,
00:15:04.000
brothers. Make sure you do that. Lead with value. And then when there comes a point in time where
00:15:10.500
you're going to need to extract from the group, there's not going to be any question as to whether
00:15:14.580
or not they will serve you. Now, some might because they might be gaming it or they might be keeping
00:15:19.340
score, but those are guys you're going to weed out of your inner circle anyways. I'm talking about
00:15:23.520
loyal, committed brothers who will do anything for you. Most of us don't have it. Maybe we had it in
00:15:33.360
school a little bit. Maybe we had it in some sort of organization, a church organization or scouts
00:15:38.120
when we were younger. Maybe if you play any sports and you were on a club that way, you had some of
00:15:44.020
this. Military certainly has that element of brotherhood, but outside of that, very few men have
00:15:49.660
this. You've got to invest. Number one, you've got to lead with value. Number two, number three,
00:15:55.180
rally around a cause, a common cause, something that's meaningful and significant to you and the
00:16:00.860
other men in your life or against a common enemy. It's been shown that physically women do best when
00:16:10.320
they're face-to-face, right? They're interacting, they're having conversations, they're face-to-face and
00:16:15.400
they're discussing thoughts and ideas and beliefs and everything else they discuss. But it's been shown
00:16:20.640
alternatively for men that they operate best when they're standing shoulder-to-shoulder, hip-to-hip,
00:16:28.000
facing a common obstacle, facing a common objective, and then working collectively and in tandem to
00:16:34.960
achieve the ultimate result. So the best way to find men who are going to be in your circle, guys who are
00:16:40.900
going to have your back in the best and worst of times is to rally around a cause, a meaningful cause
00:16:45.880
or against a common enemy. So a couple of examples, hunting has been a big part of my life and a part
00:16:54.700
of my life where I've builded, builded, that's not a word, where I've built, excuse me, where I've built
00:17:00.360
some solid friendships and connections because we have a common purpose and there's meaning and
00:17:08.540
significance in us being on the hunt together. Brazilian jiu-jitsu, another thing that's
00:17:12.640
relatively new in my life. But not only are we against a common enemy and sometimes it's each
00:17:18.100
other, there's a lot of cooperation in that that improves ourselves. You know, I'll roll with a guy
00:17:24.220
for 10 minutes and he'll kick my butt for 10 minutes, I mean hard, where I'm in physical pain
00:17:29.620
and then at the end of it, we shake hands and slap each other on the butt and say, hey, good job, man.
00:17:34.480
That's, that's what I'm talking about here. So not quite literally, we're going against each other,
00:17:39.480
but it's also cooperation. So Brazilian jiu-jitsu has been a big part of that. And then, and the other
00:17:46.780
component I can think of is, is exercise. That's been a big part of my life for the past, I would say
00:17:53.940
five, six, seven years. And I'm always amazed, specifically one that comes off to off mind is
00:18:00.480
Soren X, Bert Soren. He's the president and CEO. He's a close personal friend of mine.
00:18:05.640
And I'm amazed at what I've seen him create within his culture, within his organization. I was
00:18:12.200
fortunate enough to go to their annual event called Summer Strong just a few months ago and to see the
00:18:18.720
camaraderie and the friendships and the brotherhood and the care that they had built around getting
00:18:24.920
strong and being physically cultured and becoming legendary is their tagline. It was pretty inspiring
00:18:31.220
to see. These are men who are rallied around a very common purpose, a very common objective.
00:18:37.860
They're helping each other out. They're calling each other out. They're competing in a way that
00:18:41.740
pushes them and drives them to succeed and excel and do better. So find something that's meaningful
00:18:47.320
to you. Find a hobby, an interest in activity, something that, that you're excited about.
00:18:52.580
And I guarantee there's other men who are excited about that. And when you find this common purpose
00:18:57.760
or the common enemy, you will be that much more bound together. But if you're just hanging out,
00:19:04.640
that's, that's, that's not significant. That's not meaningful. And it's likely that you're not going
00:19:09.220
to find the type of men of which I'm referring, or they might be, but you're going to have to
00:19:13.080
figure that out in a different capacity. So rally around a very, very specific cause.
00:19:17.680
Uh, number four, include other men in activities. Don't do things alone. It's that simple. I know
00:19:24.660
sometimes it's weird if, for example, you've identified somebody that you want to have in
00:19:29.280
your inner circle. And like, it's almost like you're asking this individual on a date. And
00:19:33.620
obviously that's awkward and weird. And that's why I think a lot of guys don't do this is because
00:19:38.020
they feel stupid. And you probably ought to, if you're asking a guy to like go to a movie or
00:19:43.560
something, it's, it's weird, right? So how do you overcome this? You, you throw gatherings,
00:19:50.620
activities, again, jujitsu, uh, lifting, going into the gym, uh, hunting. That's a great way to do it.
00:19:57.780
Even fight night. One of the things that I do quite often is I do a fight night. So we'll,
00:20:02.660
we'll, uh, watch UFC. I'll invite a bunch of guys over, not one. So it's not like a date. I'm like,
00:20:07.660
Hey, we're having a bunch of people over to the house. Why don't you come on over,
00:20:10.260
bring another friend with you and let's just hang out. We'll have some good food. We'll watch
00:20:14.660
the fights. We'll have a good time. And, and that'll be the end of it. That's not as weird.
00:20:20.400
Other things that I've done is if I'm going golfing, which I haven't golfed in years now,
00:20:25.080
seems, seems kind of like a silly thing now that I haven't done it for a while, but it is fun.
00:20:30.300
Anyways, uh, if I'm going golfing, what I'll do is let's say I've got two of us that are going
00:20:35.300
golfing is that I'll deliberately and intentionally invest and reach out to two other guys who maybe I
00:20:40.160
don't know all that well, but I'd like to get to know because I see some value in who they are and
00:20:43.880
how they're showing up is I'll reach out to those guys and I'll say, Hey, you know, I'm, I'm going
00:20:47.540
golfing. Uh, I've got a foursome lined up. Love to have you out. Uh, come, come hang out with us
00:20:52.460
on Thursday at seven. That's our tea time. And then it's not awkward. It's not weird. It pulls down
00:20:57.260
the barriers. It's not like a date. Like I talked about, it's just four guys going golfing,
00:21:01.700
having a good time, hitting the ball around. So think about group settings, group environments,
00:21:07.200
invite other individuals, other men, encourage those guys to bring their, their, their brothers
00:21:11.800
or their buddies or their fathers and get the men together. Uh, number five guys, this is really,
00:21:17.740
really, really important. Did I say that enough? Really important. Keep your word, keep your word.
00:21:27.400
When I'm looking for somebody to include in my inner circle or to let even further into my inner
00:21:31.860
circle, I need to know that this is an individual who will honor their word, who will follow through
00:21:38.160
on their commitments. And I need to be that kind of individual because every time I say something and
00:21:43.620
I don't follow through on it, I diminish my credibility. I undermine my authority and my
00:21:50.600
ultimate purpose of building out a band of brothers who has my back. You cannot say things
00:21:58.280
that you don't intend on doing. You cannot continually come up with excuses for not upholding
00:22:07.040
your word. Now, do things happen? Of course, but just like a physical bank account, if you are
00:22:14.920
withdrawing from the relationship, the relationship capital by taking or not honoring your word, it's only
00:22:25.420
a matter of time before you're overdrawn and it's going to happen sooner rather than later. You have
00:22:29.320
to deposit relationship capital into the account in order to withdraw. You do that by investing. You
00:22:35.100
do that by leading with value. You do that by inviting other people to activities, all the things
00:22:39.840
that we've talked about. And you also do that by keeping your word. When you tell your buddy, Hey,
00:22:45.900
you know what? I'll come on Saturday and I'll help you move because I've got a truck and I can help you
00:22:51.060
do that. And then Friday night you call them up and you say, Hey man, I had something come up. I can't
00:22:55.260
really make it. Well, you just withdrew. You just withdrew from the relationship capital and now he
00:23:01.680
trusts you less. So next time he needs you to help move or needs some help in some other manner,
00:23:09.280
he's not going to call you. He's not going to reach out to you. And why would he? And then when
00:23:14.500
you reach out to him because you need something, guess what? He's not going to answer the phone
00:23:18.500
because he knows every time you call or every time you reach out or every time you say something,
00:23:23.760
you're full of shit and he doesn't believe you. And why should he believe you? You don't follow
00:23:29.760
through on your word. You don't keep your promises and you're probably not somebody worth having in
00:23:34.200
his inner circle. So you want to have men in your inner circle, be worthy of being in their inner
00:23:38.760
circle. When you say things, commit to them. Commit is not a word, by the way. It's not a promise.
00:23:46.700
A commitment is not a promise. A commitment is action. Because I can promise you and I can say
00:23:52.540
everything I can to make you think that I'm going to do the thing. But commitment is actually acting
00:23:56.440
and following through on the thing that you promised to do. So when you say something, commit,
00:24:02.600
be there. Don't come up with excuses. Don't mess up your schedule. Keep a schedule, right?
00:24:08.260
Because if you have to call the guy up and say, hey man, I'm sorry, I forgot I had little Timmy's
00:24:11.260
baseball game at nine o'clock on Saturday morning. I can't come help you move. Your excuse doesn't mean
00:24:15.820
anything. It doesn't mean anything. All right. You may feel like it justifies your decision and
00:24:22.680
you know what? It probably does because I think you should put little Timmy's baseball game ahead
00:24:26.420
of priority in some of these things. But you should have thought of that. You should have
00:24:31.500
thought of that. You should have had it scheduled. You shouldn't have committed to going to help move
00:24:36.480
in this example when you had a game. So manage your schedule. Manage your time. Be a good steward
00:24:41.660
over the things you have, including your schedule and your resources and your time, attention,
00:24:45.320
and energy. So when you say something, it's worth its weight in gold because you've done it time and
00:24:50.720
time and time and time again. And when you need to withdraw from that relationship bank account,
00:24:56.560
you have the capital to do it. And there's no question. I've got two dozen friends who I could
00:25:01.840
call right now if I needed something and I needed help and every single one of them would rush to help.
00:25:08.640
Why? Because I've invested in them. Because I care about them. I make connections for them. I lead
00:25:15.500
with value. I help them where I can. Not because I'm going to get something out of it, but because
00:25:21.260
I believe in goodwill. I like these individuals. They like me. I support them. I edify them. I uplift
00:25:27.560
them. And if and when the day comes that I need them to do the same thing for me, I know that these men
00:25:33.160
will be there for me. So that's number, what is that? Number five. And the last one, and I know this
00:25:39.380
one's going to be a little controversial, but it is what it is. Number six, don't be a bitch. Don't be a
00:25:46.560
bitch. And what I mean by that is don't be a punk. Keep things between you and your confidants
00:25:54.460
confidential. That's where that word comes from. Keep it confidential. Keep it between you and him.
00:26:00.520
Don't be a whiner. Don't be a complainer. Don't withdraw more than you invest and put in. Don't be
00:26:07.160
an a-hole or a dick. Don't make this a difficult thing. Don't make it hard to be your friend.
00:26:16.960
And I'm not sure how much more specific I can get than that. It's sad that I may even need to get more
00:26:21.980
specific than that. But don't make it hard to be your friend. We all have friends like that.
00:26:28.340
There's all people running in our circles who are like that. And you know exactly who I'm talking
00:26:32.200
about. It's the guy who you like, but he's really, really difficult to be a friend for. Don't be that
00:26:38.400
guy. When you make a commitment, make a commitment. Don't withdraw more than you put in. Don't whine and
00:26:45.860
complain and be a dick and be an a-hole and undeliver on your promises. And don't be weak.
00:26:54.080
Don't be weak. I have this theory that the reason that men push each other physically, mentally,
00:27:01.240
emotionally, the reason we even bust each other's balls with jokes, the reason we do this is because
00:27:06.740
I need to know who's going to punk out when things get hard. And if you're so emotionally weak
00:27:12.320
that you can't stand me giving you a little bit of a hard time or busting your balls when you do
00:27:16.320
something stupid or getting after you a little bit when you don't uphold your commitments. If you
00:27:21.720
punk out during that time, then I know you're weak and I can't have you in my battle. Because if I'm
00:27:29.120
going up against something that is difficult and challenging and potentially life-threatening,
00:27:33.620
I don't want you by my side. I want the guy that can stand the beating. I want the guy who's
00:27:39.420
emotionally and physically and mentally resilient and tough and gritty. And how do I find that out?
00:27:45.880
By pushing. It's what men do. We push on each other. Not because we don't like each other,
00:27:51.340
but because I need to know who's going to have my back. I need to know who's going to stand shoulder
00:27:58.520
to shoulder with me and face down that dragon together. I don't want to look left and look right
00:28:05.160
and see a bunch of dudes run and tuck tail because they can't handle the difficult six
00:28:09.120
situation that we all may have found ourselves in. I'm not talking about guys who are fearless.
00:28:15.520
I'm talking about guys who are bold and courageous and assertive and are willing to do this thing
00:28:19.640
called life with me. That I can support them, that I can help them, motivate them, push them,
00:28:26.840
and that I can take a little pushing. We let our egos get in the way. It's like we don't want people
00:28:32.940
around us who are going to push hard because it's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable when somebody
00:28:37.900
calls you out on your bullshit, but that's the path to growth. Comfort's great. It's great until
00:28:44.740
you want to succeed or strive for success. And at that point, you're going to need to get
00:28:50.300
uncomfortable and you're going to need to do the hard things. And you're going to need other men
00:28:55.500
around you who push you to do those hard things and are willing to do the hard things themselves.
00:28:59.360
So that's why I say number six, don't be a bitch. Guys, that's it for you today. I feel like maybe this
00:29:04.860
came across as a little bit of a lecture and maybe it is that. Maybe that's exactly what it is.
00:29:10.160
For those of you who have reached out to me, and look, I'm not telling you not to reach out to me.
00:29:13.700
All right? If you have something to share, share it. I'll do my best to get with you. But I don't
00:29:19.320
want to be your last resort. I don't want to be your only resort. That's kind of sad, actually.
00:29:24.160
It's kind of pathetic, frankly. And I get it. I've been there. I've been in situations where I
00:29:29.160
haven't poured any sort of relationship capital into other men who I can support, who can support
00:29:34.420
me. And I found myself in a bad situation, but I'm not doing that anymore. I'm investing. I'm
00:29:40.780
leading with value. I'm rallying around a cause and a purpose. I'm including other men in my
00:29:46.540
activities and things I'm doing. I keep my word. I honor my commitments. And I really try to be
00:29:52.700
somebody who is mentally, physically, unemotionally tough, gritty, and resilient. And because I'm those
00:29:59.980
things, I never have to worry like I did before about who will be here standing with me when shit
00:30:07.240
hits the fan. And it will, guys. It will. I'm not praying or hoping any of that stuff happens to you.
00:30:12.960
I just know that it will. And we got to be realistic about that. Who's going to be standing with you in
00:30:17.960
that day? And that's largely determined by the type of man you are, the type of things that you do,
00:30:25.040
how you invest in other men, and how you ultimately behave in this thing that we call life.
00:30:32.320
So, guys, that's my thing for you today, my message for you today. A couple of things as we part here
00:30:39.560
today. If you are interested in building out this kind of band of brothers that I'm talking about,
00:30:47.100
we have a digital band of brothers. It's called the Iron Council. And these are guys who are going
00:30:53.100
to push you, motivate you, inspire you, hold you accountable, hold your feet to the fire.
00:30:58.000
Most of it, 80% to 90% is done digitally. But a lot more of these guys are getting together face-to-face,
00:31:03.040
shoulder-to-shoulder, knee-to-knee, engaging in conversations and activities that are going to
00:31:06.960
push and inspire and motivate them. It's a great resource if you're looking for somebody who will have
00:31:11.200
your back. And I've got guys who have been with me in the Iron Council for almost four years now.
00:31:16.120
And I know that if I needed something, I could pick up the phone and they would be there in
00:31:21.240
support of me. And whatever that looks like, at any time, any night, any day, they'd be there for me
00:31:27.300
because I've implemented this stuff. And these guys have implemented that stuff as well.
00:31:31.260
Check it out, orderofman.com slash Iron Council. And then the last thing I'll tell you is if you
00:31:35.160
want to get face-to-face with some other men who believe like you do and who espouse the virtues and
00:31:40.620
the thoughts that we're talking about here in the Order of Man and on the Order of Man podcast,
00:31:44.620
then I think we have a few extra spots for the event. Head to orderofman.com slash main event,
00:31:53.740
orderofman.com slash main event. That's coming up August 10th and 11th. So what? 10, 8, 8, 9 days.
00:32:01.420
So it's very, very quickly approaching, but we'd love to have you there. And we have a few more spots.
00:32:05.500
We'll have another 75 guys there who are going through the same things we're talking about here
00:32:09.940
today. Anyways, guys, that's all I've got for you. Just ask yourself the question, who's got your six?
00:32:13.800
And if the answer is no one, but you can't thank anybody, you got some work to do. So get out
00:32:17.920
there, go do it, take action, become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the
00:32:23.000
Order of Man podcast. If you're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you
00:32:27.700
were meant to be, we invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.