Ep 37 - I’m Not Overweight, I’m Fat

0:07 Welcome back to the Head, Heart & Boots podcast. I'm Chris. And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead. I don't know. What'd you think? I don't know. It's kind of serious. Should we laugh? Hey, bro. So I've got an idea. We're going to step out of maybe out of bounds a little bit on what we would probably normally... chew on? I don't know. I don't know if that's even accurate. But you've been pressing on me for quite some time just to pay more attention to my personal level of physical fitness.

0:49 Have I? I didn't know that. Yeah, you have. Mainly indirectly, just because I don't want to be coated in guilt and shame when I stand next to you. Oh, goodness. So it's more self-induced. But you have mirrored for me a commitment. to physical fitness. And what I'm realizing, we can, we'll unpack all sorts of aspects, I think of this, is just one of the things that I'm realizing is I'm just now starting to cross this threshold that we've talked about this before, where the result is becoming its own fuel. So like I've, I've done the disciplines, if you will, long enough now that I've, I'm starting to experience gains or things that it's like, oh, I like that enough that it actually counters some of my lack of personal discipline that I would normally have.

1:37 So that's exciting. But here's where I want to go with this a little bit. A couple of things. One is, I think I want to unpack a little bit the actual... blue collar in the real world experience of what the value and the benefit has been to promoting and getting more intentional about physical fitness. I think the other thing that I want to talk about is just kind of maybe the thought process of how it's impacted me as a 45 year old guy. And really almost what fueled the commitment to it. Like this analyzation of my own energy levels, my own ability, to perform and keep up with some of the vision, I think, that we had for our business, some of the vision that we've had as individuals.

2:23 Anyway, so I just want to talk about some of the things that actually motivated me personally to take physical fitness seriously. And then being just a normal Joe that's incorporated physical fitness into a busy schedule. And I'm not some crazy fitness guru. I don't have 5 hours a day to give to this pinnacle of... chiseled abs or whatever. Anyways, I just wanted to have a realistic dialogue about the thought process that promotes the willingness to strive for it and really dive into how does that really look in a normal life? Maybe, especially if you're coming from zero to something or whatever. So anyway, that's where I wanted to go today.

3:05 Obviously, disclaimer, you and I are not fitness or wellness coaches. This is not our space. Don't try to hire us to help you lose weight or get abs or something like that. We're not the executive abs workout team or anything like that. But I can't laugh very much right now, dude. I know. I've been wanting to poke you in your rib pretty much since you told me. Yeah. For those of you that haven't heard me whine and complain about it already, I cracked a couple of ribs snowboarding and it's really messing with my mojo. Potentially, we'll get to that during the show. There's so much crying and gnashing of teeth. Yeah. Only when people make me laugh. Oh, anyways.

3:45 All right, dude. So that's where we're at. And actually, here's how I want to start. Okay. I want to start with you. How long have you... And I kind of know. I'm pretty sure I was actually sharing a journey with you about the time that you kind of you know, pushed your trigger, if you will, to commitment. Talk me through that a little bit. Like for you, what started that? What were some of the things that made you go, I want to do this? Yeah. And about how long ago was that? And kind of what is that path looked like over the last probably eight years or something? Totally. Yeah. You know, it's like a lot of my friends who are real fitness nuts. Many of them were like athletes in high school or college or whatever.

4:27 Yeah. And that's where they learned the disciplines. I didn't. So I was a dabbler in sports, junior high, high school. Didn't do sports in college. Did intramural stuff. But I did like to lift weights. I think it's just ego. Yeah. I wanted the beach muscle. I wanted to have biceps and all that, whatever. The things. So I started in high school just weight training class, PE. And And then I just saw the results of it enough that it was just motivating. I'm a guy who works out. So I did that through college. In college, my freshman year, I worked out probably 3-4 times a week just doing your typical machines and bench press and concentration curls.

5:13 And again, it was all just about beach muscle. And I used to eat. It's funny. I'd go into the cafeteria and I would order from the cafeteria lady a dozen hard-boiled eggs every day. And that created a real tension in my relationship with my roommate that year, who was my best friend, was my best man at my wedding. Anyway, we finally had a knockdown, drag out, wrestling slash roommate fighting session where it's like, stop putting your eggshells and your spent egg yolks in the trash. Our place smells like a giant fart. And anyway, so... I thought you were going to go right into the protein parts. I didn't know that you were going to...

5:54 I'm just giving you the beginning of the journey. Anyway, so I wasn't really committed. I was just trying to build muscle. I was doing protein shakes and eating hard-boiled eggs, but I wasn't really serious about my... I wasn't very mindful of how do I feel or how am I functioning or my flexibility or my performance or anything like that. Well... Then I became a State Farm agent. So this was several years later. And State Farm is part of your training to be an agent. You go off to... In this case, it was just south of Seattle, Washington. And I would go for a two-week period of training. And then we'd go home and we'd do home training, so to speak. Then we'd come back up for two weeks.

6:35 Well, every time I'd go up to Seattle for these trainings, I'm staying in a hotel across the street from a Red Lobster and There's like 12 of us or 15 of us in our cohort. And so we get done with class at like four o'clock. We had like, I don't know, $40 a day per diem or something for our meals for that dinner. And we're eating at the training during the day. So then we would all just literally go change and then walk across the street to Red Lobster. And we'd have basket after basket of those awesome and terrible cheese puff biscuit things. Oh boy. And then we'd have a full meal. Yeah. So I mean, in one fell swoop, I'm having probably 3,000 calories of a meal. And I'm loving every second of it.

7:16 And sometimes we're getting dessert. It's just ridiculous. But in the moment, I was only 20. How old was I then? I don't know, 25, 26. So I still had all my metabolism going for me. But at the end of a two and a half month period... I weighed myself. Now, mind you, I'm lucky in the sense my genetics. My dad's a fairly slender guy. My mom's just kind of a normal build. And so I'm a fairly slender guy by my genetics. I've always struggled to gain weight and put muscle on until then. Them cheesy bread. Yeah, I'm a 190-pound, six-foot guy. Just slender, whatever.

7:59 And then all of a sudden, I weighed myself after a couple of months of this training, and I was 220 pounds. I literally gained somewhere between 20 and 25 pounds-ish. And that was a huge wake-up call. Because I could see it in the mirror. That's what prompted it. I could see it in the mirror. It was just like a chubby layer over my normal build. And my clothes weren't fitting as well. So now all of a sudden, instead of being like a 33 waist, I'm like a 35, 36 as I'm trying stuff on. I'm like, okay, I don't like this. And again, I was only 25, 26 years old at that time. I'm too young for this. And so I just started to get serious about it. I rejoined my gym. I rededicated myself to going in three, four times a week, kind of the same old program.

8:43 And eventually took me probably four or five months. I'm kind of back down to normal and I keep that going. But then I just sort of played it by ear until I started to get older. My kids grew up. I mean, I'm 42 now. So over the last like 15, 20 years, I've just been kind of steady Eddie, just kind of maintaining. Mm-hmm. What was your original question? What's my journey been? Yeah, because it was about since I met you, there was this timing. Yeah. Where it became far more than I'm just aware of working out from time to time to a much more front of mind thing for you. Yeah. And I think for me, I don't know when I'm continuing to feel it more and more.

9:24 I feel like I'm kind of approaching this midlife point where I'm just realizing I have a lot of friends who are starting to get sick. I have friends who are starting to get injured. I have a lot of friends now at this age that I want to go. Hey, you want to go snow camping? Oh, dude, I got bad knees. There's all kinds of I can'ts showing up in my friend circle because of I got a bad back. I've got this thing going on. I'm sick and whatever. Yeah. And it's just, I've started to become really aware of it probably five, six, seven years ago. So it was around the time that we first started working together. I just started to notice people around me just kind of dropping like flies, getting a belly, more tired, drinking more, more depressed, not having as much sex with their spouse.

10:05 Like all the things. I'm like, I don't know. I'm too young. I got a lot of life in front of me. I want to get in front of this. Yeah. And so I just started to take it more and more seriously. I started to up my cardio. I started to challenge myself more in the gym. I was really just kind of phoning in my workouts. It was very typical. We'd have a leg day and then we'd have a push-pull upper body day. But was I really challenging myself in the gym? No. No. I was just doing my three sets of 10 and just kind of doing my thing. And then, I don't know, it was... Maybe around the time that we started, I got a workout partner. And we would work out together three, four times a week.

10:48 And so then we'd start to compete with one another. And that was really helpful. Mm-hmm. Then I started up the intensity. Then it became, how hard can I make this for my workout partner? I'd start masterminding our workout plan. And that really helped me a lot to take it more seriously. Like, I want to get stronger. We started doing... Anyway, I mean, we could get into the details, but that was kind of my first exposure to more of a CrossFit intensity. Yeah. Where we were trying to burn each other out three, four times a week. Yeah. Yeah. And my fitness benefited from that. You know, my physique, I started to just feel, I get more muscular. I was leaning down. And I think what I really loved is I just started to feel more confident in short-sleeved shirts.

11:32 And like, I just noticed, like not in a... Well, yeah. My ego just loved it. I liked being able to not worry about my clothes anymore. Things just fit better. I like how this feels. And that motivated me to stay in the gym. Yeah. It motivated me to even become more serious when I started to see how my shirts fit. And my wife would make a compliment and stuff like that. And it just perpetuated me pushing myself a little bit further into, a little bit further, a little more intensity until almost three years ago, I started CrossFit. And that was the answer for me.

12:12 My biggest thing that was holding me back was trying to do a workout on my own. Mm-hmm. It forced me to... I had to always be thinking of what workout I'm going to do. And inevitably, I'd end up doing the same thing, the same batch of exercises. It was boring to me. And then I remember the first CrossFit class I went to, I was pretty intimidated by it because I've seen the WODs. They call them the workout of the day and they post them on a website. I'm like, this is... Torture. Way different level. Yeah. Like number of reps, different exercises every single day. I was worried about it. And honestly, for the first probably 60 days, it was overwhelming how hard it was.

12:57 But at the same time, I felt like every workout was an accomplishment. Like I felt... I felt really good about myself. Like I made it. Yeah. And one of the commitments I made to myself when I started CrossFit was, I'm going to go at a minimum four times a week. I just drew that line in the sand. And I'm like, if I'm in town and I'm not traveling... I'm going to be at a CrossFit workout four times a week. And I gave myself that room, like that flexibility because, you know, I mean, stuff happens. And I started this when we were still operating in the field. And I'm like, stuff happens. But if I'm serious about this, they have Saturday classes.

13:38 They have open gym outside of the class schedule. Like there's no excuse why I can't do four times. It's four hours a week. How many hours do we have in a week? Plenty to get four in in the gym. And for the first, I even still feel this way sometimes. Here's the other commitment I made to myself. Is I'm not going to push myself to do extra. I'm not even going to push myself to be the strongest guy or be competitive. My only commitment is I'm going to do four times a week and I'm going to do exactly what they tell me to do. You're going to complete it. Like, okay. So in a wad, I'm just, for those of you who haven't been exposed to CrossFit, this may be a long episode. I don't know how long this will go. It's okay. Okay. Just feel free to punch out whenever you're ready.

14:20 But in CrossFit, so a typical workout looks something like this. You've got your warm-up and it includes like dynamic stretching and some things. We do like a runner's lunge. There's some things we do every time, just get warm. Then there's a movement segment where it's kind of furthermore, we might start using some weights, do a kettlebell warm-up to get our legs and our hips kind of moving with some under load. And then you have your strength workout. Yeah. And usually in a CrossFit gym, you have a strength day. And then the next day is a conditioning day. And we think conditioning, you can think cardio. It's not that simple because a lot of times CrossFit conditioning workouts will have... You're slinging weights, but they're lighter and you're doing more reps.

15:01 I mean, it's basically gassing you out, fatiguing the heart, right? And so I'd go through... What was my point about this? So we go through these things and it's intense. Like it might be... It is. 15 med ball slams and you're like med ball slams. Imagine a 15 pound medicine ball that you're putting overhead as tall as you can be, like as high up overhead and then throwing it down at your feet as hard as you possibly can doing that 15 times in a row. I mean, the exertion, I mean, you're sweating, your heart's pounding and you might have five rounds of that or 10 rounds or you're alternating that then with strict form pushups or like, you know, And so that was one of the commitments I made is, I'm going to do exactly what I'm told.

15:49 If it says 5 sets of 15, I don't care if it takes me... If I'm there 15 minutes after everyone else leaves, I'm going to do it. Yeah. For those of you that haven't had any exposure to CrossFit, it would be the equivalent of committing to a 13-mile run and not stopping until it's over. I don't think people... fully comprehend. These workouts, when you look at the numbers and then when you get gassed and you're a third of the way through, the mental commitment of you saying, my number one goal is, I'm just going to do it all the way. It's bigger than probably what a lot of people understand. It is a mind screw. I am so passionate about this because I've had...

16:31 I know it in my guts now. what it feels like to explore your own edges and to figure out, I can do more than I think I can. That is such a confidence building, empowering thing to discover. Yeah. And I think probably most of us have tasted that in different ways. We've had a project and we had a deadline. And maybe you're the business owner. Nobody's necessarily giving you... But you had a deadline for yourself. Yeah. And it was really hard, really challenging to meet that deadline, but you did. And maybe all along, you question, am I going to be able to get it done? And then you have that moment where it's like, man, I did it.

17:13 And I maybe shouldn't have even been able to do it, but somehow I pulled it out. I figured out. So I've had so many of those moments with CrossFit. And just to see how that self-knowledge... I'm capable, generally... I'm capable more than I think I am. Yeah. Certainly more capable than where your mind's initial mind is. Oh man, it's spilled over in so many other areas of my life to where I can be a bit of an evangelist about this stuff, as you know. Yeah. But anyway, so I've had those moments and I think back to a simple story. This was two... I was probably six months into CrossFit. Yeah. And I came in and I'm pretty sure it was a conditioning day because those are the hardest for me all the time and still are. And so we had a finisher.

17:54 So sometimes you've got your strength or your conditioning set. And then there's a finisher on top of that at the very end, a single movement that everybody does a bunch of reps of. Yeah. Oh, no, it's like abs or something. It's usually core, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And so I'm at the end and we're doing V-ups. And of course, everything in CrossFit is modifiable, right? So the V-ups are really hard. You know, it's where you're basically touching your toes. You're bringing your legs up straight. It's just a form of a crunch, essentially a really hard version. So we're supposed to do 15 V-ups. Well, I can't even do V-ups. So I'm doing tuck-ups. That's where my legs aren't straight. Bring my knees to my chest, basically. I do the first... There's three sets of 15.

18:35 And I've already done all the other things. I'm exhausted. Everybody else is done when I start my finisher. So everybody's packing up to leave and they're chit-chatting. And I'm on the ground. I've sweat through all my clothes. I'm already exhausted, but I promised myself I'm not... So I've already had enough workout. Most people would be like, Hey, dude, right on. You did all these other things. You did great. And it doesn't matter to me because I said, I'm always going to do what I was told. Yeah. So I got to do 45 more of these things. And I get nine in and I'm just collapsing back to the floor. And I finally get my first set of 15. And anyway, I had this moment on my very last set where I was at like 10 and I'm just mentally done.

19:19 And I lay there for probably 30 seconds. Almost everybody's cleared out of the gym at this point. And I just gathered everything inside myself and I finished the 15 and something, some kind of switch flipped inside me. And I don't know if it's a combination of just the endorphins and all the things that happen when you're working out really hard. But I was just all of a sudden had this rush of emotion. Like, I think I'm going to start bawling my eyes out and I'm in a CrossFit gym and And I'm trying my darndest. My eyes are welling up with tears. I just have this overwhelming thing of emotion.

20:00 I'm like, what in the hell is going on with me? And so I managed to hold myself together to grab my things, grab a drink of water. I go out to my car. And the moment I get in my car, I'm almost embarrassed saying this out loud still. But I just bawled my eyes out for probably 10 minutes sitting in the car. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to grasp the emotional context of this, man. It's like, I can kind of get it, but I'm just like... And I don't even remember what the specific thing was, but I was dealing with something at work. I was encountering a challenge. I was feeling small, imposter syndrome. I don't know if I can get over this next hurdle. I don't know what it was. It was challenging me in the workplace.

20:40 Yeah. But I think I was really asking myself the question is, do I have what it takes? Yeah. And then there was this moment in the gym. It seems funny, right? That something like that would be so impactful. But it was one of those moments where I showed myself, man, I have what it takes. Yeah. You know what I mean? I do. And it is exactly... And it was real. Like it was real to me. I think that's where the emotion came from is I have what it takes to double down on when I have to. Yeah. And nobody else knew that. So it's like, we have these moments where we prove something to ourself and nothing else. It doesn't matter. We're the only person in the room.

21:21 And it's like I built some trust in myself in that moment. Yeah. I want to hang there. Because I'd say that that is... If we wanted to break this topic up into sections. this idea of why we would want to prioritize physical fitness. And we're going to talk about physical fitness in this particular episode. But the same why and the same, I think, results that I want to continue to throw back and forth can show up in other disciplines. They can show up in other things that we choose to do and prioritize. But this why, and I think the why that you're hitting on is the richest. I think there's others.

22:02 We can talk about the way that it affects our self-esteem. We can talk about the way that it just makes us feel when we go out in public. Or let's say our jobs ask us to be in front of people or in front of clients. There is really something special when you're more confident in your own skin. But what you're talking about is this really deep sub-layer that affects so much of what we're challenged by, whether it be ego issues, whether it be imposter syndrome, whether it be just the belief that we can keep going or that we can succeed or that we can overcome our current obstacle that we're facing. Yeah.

22:43 There's something beautifully powerful about being committed to physical fitness to the point where you begin to see those results, where you're pushing through those moments. Yeah. That, man, you said it perfectly. It teaches yourself to trust yourself. So I think the reason that I wanted to even talk about it is really that. I would like to do it, but I don't have the time. Or I don't have the ability. Or this minor injury or ache or pain that I have has actually become an excuse now where I'll never work out.

23:25 And I've experienced all of the above. But there is the reason that you'd want to prioritize this. The reason why it's important to talk about and for you to consider as a leader, as a business owner, is because I truly believe it's one of the few things that you can actually fully control. Yeah. And when you have an opportunity to actually proactively control something and use that as a tool or a resource to boast up your belief in yourself and your belief in what you've got. Yeah. Right? Like, it's really powerful.

24:05 And I think, unfortunately, for most of us... We don't commit to it. The gap between knowing and experiencing is so vast that many of us don't hang long enough to get to the experience part where then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oh, yeah. Right? And that was one of the things I was so thankful for in my relationship with you is make jokes about it. It's not like you ever guilted me into anything, but there was a constant communication of like, Hey, you said, how's that going? Have you started? What's your plan? What are you doing? And I needed that. I was also really open with my spouse.

24:47 Like, Hey, I'm going to start down this path. I'm going to need... I'm going to need the bowling lane things pulled out because I don't have all the disciplines back in place again like I did when I was in the military. Anyways, long and short of that is I'm so thankful because it really, in a similar way, I'm learning things like that myself. And here's where I like the next notch was for me. As you talked about, I started with, I'm just going to commit to making it to the end. Yeah. Right? And that in and of itself is a massive commitment, especially in CrossFit. Mm-hmm. But I think then there's this next here. And I know you do this now because I've worked out with you is... it's where you're kicking your own ass.

25:29 Yeah. Right? Where it's like... And it's not a David Goggins way because that's a whole other layer of wacky. But it's just this like, Hey, remember how you showed me you could do this last time? What can we do today? Yeah. Right? And then it's like... So think about it from this perspective. This is how I imagined my growth in this was. First was, I needed environmental things to help me. Hmm. It's okay. It's like, I didn't have the context. I didn't have the muscles yet. I didn't have the ability yet. So I was dependent on an outside resource to help me make that commitment. Okay. Then there's like this next phase where you begin to make your own mental commitment.

26:09 Like, okay, like my own motivation is enough. Meaning there's just my commitment to my promises to myself is enough. And then there's this next tier where it's like this, it's almost a joyful Yeah. Where you almost get off on, yeah, what are we going to do today? Yeah. Like just making it, that was cool. But now it's what's next. So I don't know. I don't know how that's affected you or where you're at in that journey. Yeah. Well, you know, I think a lot of the positive effects of working out, I never experienced until I started CrossFit. And again, it's a combination of... It's a great environment to cultivate discipline. And I talked about just my two commitments.

26:50 That has been such an incredible principle, I guess, for me over the last several years in a variety of ways. I mean, just cultivating discipline in my life has literally extended to every aspect of my life. It's like the more I cultivate discipline in one area, it spills over into another. But I've learned enough about myself that I have to make very simple commitments and choices. Yeah. They need to be realistic. But they need to be simple enough that they can fit in my world regardless of what's going on. And so that concept of when I show up to the shop, which is the name of this CrossFit box I go to, I don't have to think about what's going to take place when I get there.

27:30 Yeah. I don't have to think about how good I feel, how crappy I feel, because I feel both of them regularly. Yeah. I woke up this morning. Right now, I have a couple of cracked ribs. So my normal gym experience is... Anyway, maybe we'll get back to that. But it's on hiatus at the moment. But I don't have to mastermind anything. I just show up and follow through on my commitment, which is whatever's up on that big screen in the gym, I'm going to do that. And then I'm going to go home. Yeah. And all I have to dedicate myself to is moving through that thing. And sometimes I do feel motivated. I've gotten to know people in the gym. We get a little competitive. It's like, I'm the chin-up guy in the gym.

28:12 And that's part of my identity. I'm one of the stronger guys. And so I got to maintain my position there. So there's a little bit of competition that comes up in some of these workouts. But at the end of the day, if I'm feeling it or not... the rule is what guides me. I'm going to show up here four times a week and I'm going to do what I'm told at a minimum. And I've just found that level of discipline is created. It's like if I'm kicking my ass more than anybody else who's going to kick my ass, there's a certain kind of... confidence. And I don't mean that in a bravado kind of manly way. I think that applies to men, women, children, all of it. It's like if we can cultivate a discipline of challenging and pushing ourselves at a very high level, well, then the challenge that we encounter with all the other areas of our life, it just seems a little bit more doable.

29:02 Yeah. You know what I mean? No, I totally do. I've really felt that inside myself that as I've dialed up the level of intensity and exertion I have in my own self-discipline, which part of that is going to the gym and what I eat and all that kind of stuff, I just feel more buoyant. Things don't get me down quite as long because I've just proven to myself and I reprove it to myself. on a routine basis that I've got what it takes to get through this thing in front of me. Yeah. I wish somehow I had picked that up when my, my teens. Yeah. And I have been trying, I've been trying to find creative and direct and practical ways to sort of infuse that into my kids.

29:46 But I think we all just have... We figure that out when we figure that out. Yeah. And I'm so thankful. I really started this journey five, six years ago was when I started to really take this seriously. And food is a whole other component to all this conversation, obviously. But I just... That whole thing about discipline, what is it? I think it's Marcus Aurelius or maybe it was Seneca, one of the great Stoics. said to be strict with oneself and lenient with others. This idea of the healthiest place for us to move from, and I think it's true of all of us, but certainly leaders too, is maintaining a strictness and accountability for ourselves that's greater than the standard we hold others to.

30:28 And to me, there's an integrity component there that also drives me. It's like, if I say, for me, now I'm not judging other people because not everybody holds the same view of things, but I do more and more. And that is, I can't say I'm a top performer. I can't say I'm a high achiever, a top performer and stuff if I'm not taking care of my body. There's an incongruency there. Yeah. It feels out of alignment. There's a lot of things I can't say about myself if I'm not disciplined with my health and nutrition and stuff. That's just where I've arrived. Yeah. I haven't always felt that way. Yeah. But I just realized it's kind of an essential component for me to be an effective leader is to also be for that piece to be congruent and accounted for.

31:16 Yeah. I can relate to that. That makes a lot of sense to me. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's funny. Here's what I've been experiencing. So initially, what really started motivating me in terms of... Besides your coaching, if you will, but in conjunction with that, it was just this. Man, we got a big thing we're trying to do. Building this company and wanting to have the kind of impact that we want to have and really living out kind of this missional perspective of we have a real opportunity to spend the next couple of decades, few decades, hopefully really impacting people in such a way that they in turn are having this really robust and impactful or positive impact on their own sphere.

31:56 Right. We talked about like you plant this light out here, then the hope is that you would watch the rest of those lights fire up around it. Yeah. And I'm big into podcasts and self-help and personal growth and all the things. And I just realized I was having this epiphany of, man, I've got a big lift in front of me. And I do not feel physically, mentally, or emotionally prepared for the work that's in front of me. And at best, it was questionable whether or not I had what it would take to do what we needed to do. And that's just looking at our business. And I think a lot of the people listening are either key leaders or they own their business. And they have either been feeling this way or they've spent years feeling behind the power curve like I did and like I have with, Oh my God, I got to keep pushing.

32:47 But I don't know if I got any juice left to do it. The other thing that struck me is I'm 45, midlife, big time. I am... really aware currently that I may not have as many years left as I've put in. And that's weird and kind of freaks the shit out of me. But then the other thing was, I was trying to evaluate myself as a leader, myself as a husband, as a parent. And I was just seeing all these areas in my life that I wanted to give more energy to in a positive way. Because I felt like when I get to my end of days and look backwards, I already know all the things I'm not going to give a shit about.

33:27 And most of it's the stuff I've been prioritizing. So it's like I'm looking at it and saying, okay, when I get to the end of my days, I want to be able to look backwards and be really proud. Right. of where my energy went. And there's this reality that all of us face where your work requires an extensive amount of time for you. It doesn't matter if you want to be the world's best dad or mom or if you want to be the best spouse or partner. There's these realities that we work with that take from you. Yeah. And so what I was running into was this space of, I wanted to be more, But I was running out of bandwidth or energy to be able to execute on it. And I wasn't going to be able to not work.

34:09 That's not the option. And so I was really just trying to look at some of the different experiences I had, some of the different training and teaching and life experiences to say, where can I start? And of course, I've watched you. I've paralleled you as you've become more confident, more filled with energy. There was plenty of days, especially when we first turned... away from employment into self-employment and where it was like, God, I felt like Chris could keep going and I was done. I was burnt. So anyways, long and short of it, I think what I slowly decided to do was to prioritize my eating, my habits around alcohol. physical fitness because I felt like okay this is one starting place that I can give maybe an hour of time to and just reel in the discipline say no a few more times and it may change what I have to give to these other categories in my life that are really important to me it's like I couldn't do the shotgun blast all at once I had to find one finite place that I could start and And so that for me started last year, January.

35:18 Last year, I was 217 on the scale. I'm only 5'10". That is not good for those of you that are listening. Well, now I know I was approaching 40-something pounds overweight, 45 pounds overweight. And... And my mom's Facebook account sent a picture out that she had posted. Bro. Holy motivator. So I'm looking at this picture of me standing in the kitchen with my mom at our home and... I'm fat, not overweight. I was freaking fat, dude. And anyway, so this all came crashing down. So last year, I got really serious in January.

35:58 Everything from the apps to monitor what I was doing to a scale that measured my body fat, blase, blase. So I'm down like 30-something pounds. And I'm headed for another... I'm looking at about 10 more or so. Yeah. And at this point, I'm more concerned with body fat percent than I am body weight. Anyways, here's what's been happening in that timeframe. My day starts at five. It's probably been that way since the military. It just is what it is. I'm definitely done by 9.30. I'm just spent. I'm going to bed. But the time between 5 a.m. and 9.30 now... is so much more special to me. So it was like productivity as far as real creativity, all those things.

36:40 I probably start petering out about 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the afternoon. But I can go home and still be invested in my family and in my relationships. I can engage still. And that has been an enormous benefit to me trying to prioritize those simple areas. What I choose to do in regards to alcohol... how I'm eating, and what kind of exercise I'm getting. Here's the other thing that weren't so obvious at the beginning that have really, I think, compounded for me. And that was, for instance, where confidence went. Like what happened... as I began to get a little bit more comfortable in my own skin.

37:24 And really what it turned into was that self-confidence gave me the ability to pour more into those around me. Here's kind of an example. As you start to identify the ability, and you hit on this really well, when you start to identify one thing in your life that you can take control of, complete control of, and that you can exercise a discipline and prove to yourself in microwaves over and over and over, you will do what you say you will do. All of a sudden, the confidence that came from that, the confidence from being more comfortable in my own skin just physically, gave me all this momentum to start looking at other areas of my life that I could be a little more disciplined in.

38:11 And then I would do it long enough that I would yield a result. And then it was like, oh my gosh, now I have two areas in my life that I feel like I'm performing at or performing well at. And that has translated into... We're going all over. But that has moved into some really interesting things. An example is, my wife and I now are on about day four of a morning commitment where we get up together, the alarms go off, sometimes I'm up first, whatever, we get up together. We share coffee together. We read together. We spend time talking about what is happening in our minds. Sometimes based on the reading. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's just a hard thing that her and I need to address together about our family, about finances, about whatever.

38:57 Mm-hmm. And had I not spent the last 14 months, 15 months being diligent about saying no to cake, saying yes to the workout, right? That's a sticker right there. No to cake. But if I hadn't done that, this would just be yet one more thing that I felt guilt around doing more of or being better at, but myself not believing I could actually do it. So now, and I know some people are going, but dude, it's been four days. But here's what my point, here's what's changed. A year and a half ago, had I done something for four days, I would have no confidence that I will continue to do it. Now, when I do something for four days, and I've already told myself that's a priority for me, I fucking know I'm going to do it.

39:42 All right, let's take a minute to recognize and thank our MitResto Mastery sponsor, Accelerate Restoration Software. And I'm fully aware by the way, that when I say those last two words, restoration software, that that instantly creates heartburn for some of you out there, right? Because we probably all fall into one of two camps when it comes to software. We've either cobbled together kind of a version of free website tools and spreadsheets just to make our business work Or we're in the camp where we've adopted one of these existing restoration platforms, you know, one that has all the bells and whistles and supposedly does it all. But we can't get our team to consistently adopt it and input information to it.

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42:02 For this reason, we recommend actual insights to all of our clients. Yeah, three of the kind of big things that stuck out to me when being introduced to AI and their team. First off is this consistently updated training. I mean, at the end of the day, these guys are the experts. They're out front all the time. They're constantly learning new trade secrets and ensuring that your team's got access to those things. A 3,700 plus page database of Xactimate templates. I don't know what else to say here other than don't reinvent the wheel. It's already available. Download it, copy it, use it, bam. database of commonly missed items. I think this is huge. So many of us can change the numbers by just moving the needle a couple points and those commonly missed items can make all the difference in the world.

42:48 So go check them out at value.getinsights.org backslash fcg. You've got a baseline discipline that you've seen results from that has internally created more motivation, like its own motivation for. So it's like the eating and exercising thing. You're kind of to that point where you don't have to make a decision anymore. You're just a person. that takes fitness and nutrition seriously. So it's like, you don't have to keep pulling that lever. Like you're just, you're in that mode. Yeah. It's the whole flywheel concept, right? It's like, man, that was that one thing that got it cranking for me.

43:29 And now there's new things that I get to explore from that discipline that will just continue to build in mass momentum. Yeah. And I think that's why I wanted to even talk about it is that I think so many of us look at physical fitness and it's from this perspective of, well, I know. I know I should be better. I know. Yeah. But we don't know. Yeah. You don't know because you haven't done it long enough to experience what it actually gives you because the difference between head knowledge and experiential knowledge is... is very vast. They just are not the same beast. Here's another thing that has struck me about this piece around the physical fitness component is, in a lot of ways, it changes what I can give my partner, my wife.

44:14 I know many of us just got sexual with that, which I forgive you for thinking about me that way. But it's bigger than that. It's bigger than that. It's more... It's more this idea of I'm no longer, and yes, this applies to everything from marital opportunities to other, but I'm less caught up in my own freaking head about how I feel, how I look, how I appear, how I whatever, that I have more focus on caring about where my partner is. Here's where this is also showing up for me. employees, sphere of influence, my children.

44:56 Like how? What do you mean? Like I'm just less... Two things. I've got more energy to give. Yeah. And I'm just... It's like I'm more emboldened by me committing to and following through to promises I've made to myself. Obviously, this is happening in the physical fitness element. Yeah. But because of that, it just gives me the strength, the mindfulness, the awareness to care more and put more energy on other people. It's hard to explain except for the more confident I get because of discipline and follow through, the less time I spend thinking about and trying to commit and promote in myself, I can do it.

45:39 I can do it. I just don't think about that stuff as much anymore. Yeah. Which gives me more time and energy to really care about other people. Yeah. And here's kind of what I was thinking about this. We had a conversation this morning. Yes. Right. With some individuals, leaders working through diversity on their team and some challenges and reshaping kind of the culture that they've created in their company. I was just thinking to myself, leadership is so hard, right? It's so worthy. It's this beautiful responsibility that we have that really can create such amazing experiences in your lifetime. I love leadership.

46:20 I cherish it. It's hard. It requires just an absolute boatload of work physically, mentally, and emotionally because of how much we need to continue to pour into people that, to help them maintain traction, stay on track, to continue to take care of our people, to continue to take care of each other. Humans love the path of least resistance and they require constant coaching, promoting, atta boys and girls. It just takes so much energy. And what I caught myself thinking about this morning was, I almost for a moment was not very...

47:04 Oh, shoot. What is the term? I almost was short on grace a little bit for someone that didn't have the energy, or at least it appeared in the moment. It didn't look as if they had the energy that their team requires. And this sounds so freaking judgmental and that is not my intent. Right? But it's just like leaders, stop what you're doing and look in the mirror right now. This is not meant to guilt or shame you because God knows we got plenty of that and it doesn't do shit for any of us. But awareness, look in the mirror, ask yourself this question. Do you have the energy and do you have the confidence in yourself that you have what it takes to lead your team in such a way that it will yield the results that you want in your business?

47:56 Because there's a strong chance you don't. And if you don't, one of the simplest... most mechanical, most get a plan, follow the order way that you can begin to have significant change and impact on whether or not you do have the energy or the self-confidence to do what's required by your team is physical fitness. Yeah, it's true. This made me think of a global leadership summit thing we went to. Multiple times, actually. Multiple times, yeah. Somebody was talking about this, but I think it's... Oh, they said one of the things they looked for when they were hiring senior executives was an integrated personality.

48:37 This might have been Patrick Lencioni or Ed Catmule from Pixar. I don't remember who it was, but he was saying that one of their priorities... is identifying an integrated personality. And this particular leader, they would actually... Part of their interview process for executive leaders was that they would take the person and their spouse out to dinner. Oh, yeah. So they could get a picture of, what is this person like with their spouse? I'd take them out of the work setting. Are they the same person that they conveyed in the boardroom in interview number one with department heads Are they the same person there as they are when they're out in a restaurant having a scotch with their wife and the spouse of the other colleague?

49:21 Or is there a different presentation? Yeah. Right? Yeah. And I think that integrated... I've been disintegrated for parts of my career. And I think for me... It's impossible for me to separate my physical fitness and my wellness with my leadership and my role as a professional. That's where I've kind of landed. Yeah. And one of the things that Ed Catmuller, whoever said this, was talking about is just how... how much energy is lost by disintegrity of like talking a certain game here in our professional setting, living out something different at home. There's just, there's so much energy lost when we're living a disintegrated life.

50:05 Mm-hmm. When we've compartmentalized our role as an owner or a senior leader, a manager, whatever, from our role in our own personal community, our friendships, our marriage, and just our own relationship to ourselves. Yeah. You know, it's how are we treating ourselves? Yeah. And I think the reality is there's been times in my career, in my life, where I have not treated myself very well. Hmm. I've, in a way, because of work or whatever, I've abused myself in a way. Yeah. In exchange for short-term performance at work or what have you. And so I just, I feel like it's not so much a shame component, but it's just a coming to terms with each of us has our own definition of kind of what integrity looks like for us.

50:51 And what I found is the more I ratchet up my discipline, the higher my expectation becomes of myself in other areas. Just in terms of that congruency. Like if I say this about myself, what are all the things that that impacts? Yeah. Yeah. If I'm going to say I'm this kind of person, shouldn't that also touch how I'm taking care of my body and how I'm feeding myself? Yeah. Right? And also, am I taking time? Like you were talking about reading with your wife in the morning. It's right. If I'm saying these things about myself as a leader, as a business professional, all these things, shouldn't I be prioritizing some quiet time to just think, to get outside of the frenzy? I say I'm a thoughtful leader.

51:32 I'm a lifelong learner. We have these things we say about ourselves as leaders. Yeah. But are we allowing that to touch all the other areas of our life? Or are we just compartmentalizing that to how we run a meeting? Right. Or how we do our one-on-ones with our people? Are we just compartmentalizing that to our work life or are we allowing that to extend in all areas? You bring up a good point. And that is important, I think, for us to draw some recognition to. I think this topic is less about just physical fitness and it's more about what are you doing to ensure that the tank is continuously getting new fuel in it. because the system's going to need everything that you have. Your business is going to need everything you have.

52:13 Your spouse, your relationships, your children. It's going to draw from you and there's going to be a constant draw, meaning that it will always be there, ready to take more from you. And I think it's interesting. And again, it's so easy to say it's so much more difficult to do. But there's no way you'd look at a generator, for instance, that it's going to provide power to whatever you've got plugged in to that generator. Right. But somehow we look at ourselves as a being, as a person, and we think to ourselves, well, I should stop and put more fuel in because inevitably I'm going to run out.

52:54 I just don't have time. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we're doing. Yeah. Right? And I think you really, you drew some connectivity to these bigger things. It's, listen, being a CrossFit person is not the point. Being whatever, you know, weightlifter, I don't care. It's not the point. The point is, I think here is, There's something really powerful that happens when we learn to build trust with ourselves by following through on commitments. And then there's something very powerful that comes from when we begin to recognize that it is our responsibility, not only to ourselves, but to these other things that we remain so committed to giving all our resources to, to have the resources to provide.

53:37 And leaders on empty tanks, on alcohol-abused bodies, on cheeseburger and French-fied fueled bodies. Monsters. Monsters and cigarettes are often not going to be what is required by their team. You're going to keep trying to pour from an empty cup and your team is going to get nothing of value from you. Yeah. They're not going to get full. They're not going to get the energy that you need to provide them. They're not going to make gains because you're giving them tired, out of shape, and an abused leader. Yeah, it's true, man. Right? Yeah. And it's a painful... I think it's painful for us to come to terms with.

54:18 But again, I'm trying to reframe so much more now in my life. that it's, again, not guilt or shame, awareness. Just be honest about what you're assessing. And that in and of itself has got a ton of power. It doesn't need to be good, bad. Just be honest. Should we talk about just like on a day-to-day basis, what this is looking like for you and I? I think we should. Yeah, I think that's relevant. And then we can maybe stop preaching. I think we're in the disaster restoration business, right? So even though Brandon and I aren't operating anymore, I'm supposed to be talking to you. I'm telling the audience. For those of you listening... For those of you just listening, we're facing each other. We're supposed to be just having a conversation, but sometimes I get like talking to you, the listeners.

55:02 Anyway, this industry is tough to have regularity of any kind, but it's not impossible. No. Right? So I think back when I first started CrossFit, here's my kind of my schedule. How do I get in an hour long workout four plus times a week? Yeah. Yeah. Well, most CrossFit boxes open very early for this reason. Because frankly, most CrossFit people are high achieving business professionals. It skews that direction. So you have a lot of very busy, busy, productive people, lots of business owners in CrossFit and so forth. And so I went to the 530 class. I do not like getting up at 5.30. I'm not as much for morning guys as you. Yeah. But I just, first of all, I made the commitment four days a week.

55:45 Yeah. And I'm going to do what I'm told. Yeah. I don't have to mentally prepare. I just get up at 5 a.m., put my shoes on, put my shorts on and a t-shirt and... And I just go. So by 6.30am, I have been thoroughly worked out. Yeah. Actually, I say it externally. They have thoroughly worked me out because all I did was did what I told. So I didn't have to think about exercise. I don't have to get romantic about fitness. I just show up. It's on the board. I'm like, oh, shit. And then I just do. I'm like, oh, I don't want to do, but this is what I'm here to do. Yeah. And so I get through it. My clothes are soaked through. And then I go home.

56:25 I stuff my gullet. I go to the office and I keep moving. Yeah. And it just worked. So the question I would have to people that aren't currently in a rhythm like that, can you? Like... 5.30am to 6.30am and then go on with your day. Can you? If so, yeah. Then just start, pay the money. Yeah. When I talk to other clients or just people about this, I've started in the last couple of years, just tell them, look, just stop thinking about it and go join a CrossFit gym. Yeah. Yeah. Or an equivalent. So orange theory is another thing. It's a little bit different. It's not as much weights. It's like cardio. So whatever. But go join a class format where you show up. Yeah. It's like you don't join a planet fitness where it's like, I can go do the machines whenever I have times 24.

57:10 No. Create some guardrails for yourself. Join a class oriented fitness box. whether it's Orange Theory or CrossFit or some other local boutique thing, it's expensive. That's another reason why I suggest CrossFit. It's a financial commitment. If I just go join a Planet Fitness for $14.99 a month... Yeah. There's very little skin in the game. And so I'm depending fully on my own physical discipline and accountability. Not a good place to start. Yeah. I need to be paying a lot because that'll motivate me to get the most out of it. Right. I mean, literally my wife and I, it's 250 bucks a month for our membership. It's a commitment. It's not small beans. And so, so I tell people to do that because it's the fastest way to get yourself in a situation that you're going to create change.

57:56 Yeah. Food wise, let's talk about what we're doing, dude. So Brandon started the carnivore thing. Yeah. Yeah. And regardless of what you think about carnivore, I've been a naysayer on carnivore. I've tried keto. I think what I've tried to cultivate over the last few years, and I feel really good about it, like it's been really healthy for me, is periodically I'll just kind of change up my diet a little bit. I'll just try to introduce some new discipline. You know? Yeah. So I've done keto for a while. Yeah. I thought of kind of a version of keto. Yeah. Just low carbs, lots of avocados, lots of bacon. Yes. That sort of thing. And I found it helpful. Yeah. I've used that. I've trimmed off a few pounds here and whatever. Yeah. But then I've been... I'm probably the heaviest I've ever been right now.

58:36 I'm 215. I like to think most of it's muscle, but I've just noticed it's a little heavier than I want to be. I'm not as... I don't know. I just feel a little more tired on conditioning days and stuff. I'm like, I'd probably be better at 205. And so I saw you doing carnivore. And I've recently, in the last couple of days, jumped on that bandwagon. I got to say, here's what I like about it. And here's what I like about these very simple... lifestyle diets. There's a lot of different ways to do carnivore. Then there's a lot of resources out there. Some carnivore is like, Hey, it's meat and salt. Yeah. And that's it. Pepper. And like salt and pepper and meat of various kinds. And some people will allow eggs. It's an animal-based diet. And then the one I've latched onto is animal products and fruit.

59:17 Yeah. And it kind of revolves around this idea that plants, this is very unconventional, but we found a lot of things that we thought were true not to be nutritionally here over the last 20 years. But the idea is that there's a fair number of research that plants have phytochemicals, right? That they've evolved to have to ward off animals and other people picking them and eating them. And our body doesn't digest those phytochemicals very well. So it creates inflammation anyway. Here's what I like about it over the last couple of days is it's very binary, right? Meaning I don't have to think about what I'm going to eat a lot. It requires a lot more effort. It requires a little more discipline. Like on the prep side. Yeah, on the prep side. But I didn't realize how much I've been depending on bars, protein shakes, snacks, chips and crackers.

1:00:05 And I try to buy the healthier stuff like low-carb. Almond cracker, just like stuff, whatever. Just how much extra things I shove in my face throughout the day. Yeah. Beef sticks and just all kinds of processed packaged goods and all that. And now it's like, okay, I don't have any of that. So it's created a very, very simple... And I think in the process, I've trimmed back my calories a little bit. Not by counting calories, but I've just noticed I feel a little lighter. I actually feel like I have more energy, but it's only two days in. So who the hell knows, right? But I have found that principle of simplifying... It isn't so much about carnivore or isn't so much about keto or paleo or low carb.

1:00:48 But I found that when I can make these very simple... lifestyle changes that are broad sweeping. Yeah. That's been really helpful for me. Like my first start with that was about the time I was going to summit. I, um, I cut sugar out. Yeah. Remember that? Yeah, I did. I think I talked to you. That was the first thing that I did. Yeah. Like, cause it's been tears. Yeah. Like it was no sugar and reducing alcohol. Yeah. Basically as part of that. Then it went no alcohol and keto and, And then most recently, I've gone carnivore. I would actually say this too, man. As an encouragement to people, again, on the self-discipline thing, this is a journey. It really... Yeah. All we're looking for is a win.

1:01:28 However you get there, who cares? Yeah. And I would say that... So without appropriate diet, I don't mean dieting, but I just mean without it, you're going to get really pissed off with yourself if you go to the gym four or five days a week and you don't see any results. And the reality of it is that can happen more frequently than people give credit. So it's like, I would even encourage people. And this is what I did. I didn't even step foot into the gym until I had four or five months under my belt of completely reshaping my eating habits. Because once I started working out, because I had already had my eating habits in check, I saw results very fast.

1:02:08 Yeah. which makes the thing that none of us really want to do. Some of you may be weirdos. Most of us don't pre-workout get totally pumped. You're talking yourself into it. You're making sure your shoes are out, all the things. And so you don't want to waste that time. The last thing you want to do is spend six months busting your ass in a gym and realize you're going nowhere and realize you're going nowhere. Because you get done and that night, it was only going to be one night, but it was five nights. You had the bread, the burgers, the things. So I would even actually encourage people, just start with the food. Start with sugar. Start with reducing how much alcohol you're putting into your system.

1:02:48 Alcohol is a killer. on your internal workings. Yeah. Just, and I was, and left to my own demise, I'm a three IPA O'Day guy. I love drinking beer. I love it. Yeah. Okay. I just can't though. Yeah. It screws up my system. It makes me feel like shit. It totally poisons me. And it totally takes away from what I need to give other people and my family. Yeah. So anyways, don't even go to the gym yet. Like if you're at zero and you're listening and you care. Step one. Start with sugar, get it out of your building, reduce the amount of alcohol that you're taking in and then get crazy and actually start eating intentionally.

1:03:28 Yeah. If you start there, it will start giving you, again, it's like the incremental momentum. That's going to start giving you some momentum. And then if you can move into the gym and start doing some things physically, you're going to see the results fast enough that you're like, ooh, I might come back tomorrow. Yeah. Like I could probably do this again. Yeah. We've talked about atomic habits a lot. Yeah. And it fits in this conversation, right? One of the things that James Clear talks about in Atomic Habits is this idea that action is what creates new habits, right? It's like every time we take an action to not have sugar, right, or to get into the gym... we're building this stack of affirmations that I am a person who eats healthfully, or I am a person who trains and holds physical fitness is an important thing.

1:04:18 I am that kind of person. It's like we're stacking up proof to ourselves that I'm that kind of person. And I recently was watching a goal cast or something. Have you seen those on Facebook? They're like the... Anyway, you're not a fan of Facebook. On Facebook, there's this page called Goalcast and they do these inspirational videos. And they had one with Arnold Schwarzenegger and somebody was interviewing him. It must have been a clip from a long form interview. But they said, so why do you keep... I mean, you're totally crazy rich. Why do you keep training so hard? Which I thought was kind of a dumb question. I mean, he's Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Arnold had a great... Because it's kind of part of his brand, right? He's being buff and whatever. And he still is. He's 70-something. Huge. muscular. It's still got abs. And he just said, I think he said something like, I don't even know how to answer that question.

1:05:02 He said, training and keeping my body in the best condition I possibly can is just part of my life. I will never stop training until I die because it's just part of who I am. I don't even think about it as an option. I don't think about do I want to work out. And I enjoy the process of challenging myself and doing hard things. And I will be doing it until I die. I don't even think of it as an optional thing. Yeah. It's just built into his lifestyle. Yeah. And I think I'm there. I'm not Schwarzenegger.

1:05:42 Yeah. Real close though. Yeah. God, I'd love to. A couple more weeks. Yeah. Something to aspire to, right? Being 70 and having abs and biceps and whatever. But I do feel that way now. letting go of that. But that... I think that was also a big change for me too, is that separating fitness and eating from like, I need to lose 10 pounds to this is just the kind of person I want to be. You know what I mean? It's good. Like they talk about the atomic habits. It's like, create... Decide what persona you want to be. Who do you want to be as a person? And I'm like, well, if possible, I want to be a person that can see my abs.

1:06:22 Yeah. That might be vain. It is. It's totally ego. But I want to be one of those 50-something guys that can have a shirt off and be confident. I want to be like Arnold. Yeah. And to be able to show up and have my shirt off and be okay. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And so for me, that's just a different mindset. That's the kind of person I want to be. And so it causes me to make all these other choices to support that. Yeah. I think that's part of the natural evolution that happens. And it's start simple and just start building momentum one decision at a time. And then you're right. You cross certain thresholds and then it's like, that's just who I am. I'm fit. I am whatever. Is there any other books you're like...

1:07:03 podcasts you feel like have inspired you along the way? For physical fitness? Or just health? Or I don't know. Yeah, I think health in general. I feel like in general, there's been a broader conversation that's more consistently looking at what I think a lot of people deem biohacking and just this really getting in touch with the engineering of our systems and saying, there's proactive ways for us to influence that for the best to get the best result. So I think all the big players do it. I think Ed Milet, his show has had plenty of people. Tim Ferriss' show has tons of stuff that you could refer to. Of course, Rogan, with his fighting background and real commitment to physical fitness.

1:07:45 He's constantly getting guests on to reshape. But I think in general, it's like one of the things that you could do, just talking about little starters, is I'm a confession time here. Dude, the thing that kills me is YouTube. on my phone. I mean, it is like... Thank God for the little thing that tells you how much time you've got in. Otherwise, I might spin out of control. And what I've attempted to do with that is more and more of my search more and more... Because the algorithm will begin to populate results for you automatically when you open the app. And one of the things I've just gotten more diligent in is clicking on things that have something to do about explaining deeper, let's say the carnivore diet or the way that muscle growth affects our cardio system and how it affects... Anyways.

1:08:31 So I've been trying to do more of that so that just the stuff that's populating my entertainment... Is more value added. Is more value added. Yeah. And because you can just take in little 10 to 15 minute increments of information, and let's say 99% of it goes in one ear and out the other, there's still 1%. There might be one thing that sticks that you go, I could try that. Yeah. It's not building a pyramid overnight. Yeah. But I can do that. I know this whole episode has probably been a little weird just talking about physical fitness. But I think at the end of the day, I just have taken for granted. Yeah. how really, really vital. I don't even know that I could consider it a negotiable anymore.

1:09:14 I think the reality of it is that Americans in general have allowed physical fitness and how we eat and what we consume to be a choice versus a necessity in terms of understanding how to get healthy. I think we joke about it too much too. We do. We make light of it. Yeah. It's okay to be completely obese and overweight and... And not pay attention to yourself. Yeah. Haha. Busy with work. Yeah. You know, life with kids. You know, we, we give ourselves like socially, we just, we just kind of, we make fun of it. We do. You know, like, because it's uncomfortable. And I think it's, it just points to the fact that it's something we all feel is important, but sometimes we struggle to, to find the motivation. I think you're right on right there.

1:09:54 You know, I think that was the piece is, is that we all know inside it's important. But we're not taking action. Yeah. It's like we know, but we're not doing anything with it. Yeah. And again, guys, please don't walk away from the show. Those of you that actually hung the whole time, don't walk away. I'm not fat shaming. Yeah. I've got my own stuff. I'm still working through myself. And tomorrow morning when I wake up to my alarm, I'm still going to have to tell myself to put my shoes on and go into the gym. Yeah. But I'm going to feel really good when I get there. And I'm going to feel really, really good when I'm done. Yeah. And it's worth it. Your people need it. You need it. Your partners need it. Your kids need it. It's worth prioritizing.

1:10:35 Yeah, for sure. All right, dude. Later, guys. Okay. All right, everybody. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart & Boots. And if you're enjoying the show, but you love this episode, please hit follow, formerly known as subscribe, write us a review, or share this episode with a friend. Share it on LinkedIn, share it via text, whatever. It all helps. Thanks for listening.