The White Tiger Podcast
Embark on a transformative journey with "The White Tiger Podcast," where change becomes the catalyst for new beginnings. Hosted by retired NFL Tight End Asante Cleveland and former police detective Craig Casaletto, this podcast delves into personal growth, resilience, and the pursuit of excellence.
Drawing from their diverse experiences, Asante and Craig share insights from both on and off the field, offering guidance to help you navigate life's transitions and challenges.
Whether you're seeking to overcome personal struggles or aiming to become the best version of yourself, "The White Tiger Podcast" provides the tools and inspiration to propel you forward. Join the conversation and prepare to embrace your season with confidence and purpose.
The White Tiger Podcast
From Game Plans to Growth Plans
Why would anyone skip the Super Bowl for Disneyland? That's what I'm doing this year while Asante immerses himself in the game. We chat about our personal Super Bowl plans and examine why America tunes in—be it for the love of the game, the halftime show, or those infamous commercials. We also break down the potential Chiefs-Eagles matchup, sharing both insights and some good-natured fatigue over the Chiefs’ long-standing dominance.
Ever wondered how to turn a passion into a profit? Our conversation takes a turn towards entrepreneurship, with a focus on starting side hustles. From the highs and lows of sports betting to brainstorming a card investing business, we discuss the thrill of documenting journeys on social media. By embracing challenges and building a community, we explore how leveraging relationships can be key to achieving both personal and professional goals.
Tough times don’t last, but resilient people do. Asante and I delve into building resilience through life's hurdles, sharing anecdotes on grit from childhood to adulthood. We touch on the balance of shielding vs. challenging kids to foster growth, and I recount rediscovering my mental toughness through fitness. Wrapping up, we share stress management strategies—like meditation and mindful morning routines—to keep calm amidst chaos. For those on a journey of personal transformation, we offer practical tips on setting goals and using a "big ass calendar" to stay on track. Join us for this inspiring mix of stories and wisdom designed to motivate and empower.
what's up everybody? Welcome back to the white tiger podcast. I'm I'm here with asante. Another fantastic episode post. Oh god, I guess I'm not watching the super bowl this year, asante, no, you're, you're gonna skip it.
Speaker 2:I hear a lot of people talking tough like oh, I'm not gonna watch the super bowl. Well then, what are you gonna do that sunday? Everybody else is watching the. No, you're going to skip it. I hear a lot of people talking tough like oh, I'm not going to watch a Super Bowl. Well then, what are you going to do that Sunday, everybody else is watching the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm going to do. I'm going to do what champions do. Asante, I'm going to Disneyland, are you? Yes, yeah, I will be at Disneyland on Super Bowl Sunday.
Speaker 2:So if anybody wants to join me, feel free to reach out, send me a dm or something like. I will be more than happy to uh ride, uh. Any of the cool rides probably be in california adventure that park. So come see me. That's probably the best day, one of the best days of the year to go to disneyland. Hell yes, I imagine you'll be able to get on a lot of rides with very minimal wait time hell, yeah, I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of it.
Speaker 1:So. So I already had a plan. This was a plan that started from the beginning. I'm like so best case scenario for me is have the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles two teams? I just would not. I wouldn't watch forever. I'm obviously not watching it for free. I was going to say I wouldn't pay to watch, but I definitely wouldn't do that and I wouldn't even watch it for free. Lined up perfectly. Now I have no guilty conscience for not watching the Super Bowl. The only reason maybe I would consider maybe not watching but be in the presence of the TV being on broadcasting the Super Bowl, is if I was invited to like a party, Like if someone said hey, listen, I got this killer party going on for Super Bowl. We really want you to be there. I would seriously think about it.
Speaker 2:But as of today and I booked- the reservation already, because you have to do that now. I am going to be one of the people that will be riding endlessly at disneyland someone.
Speaker 1:Please invite craig to a super bowl. Yeah, no, I don't invite me because I really there is a part of me that really wants to go to disneyland and, to be honest, dude, I can't bear to watch this, this episode, this episode. It really feels like an episode I can't watch. Bear to watch this episode. It really feels like an episode I can't bear to watch the Super Bowl again when we were in Miami right, we went down to the Super Bowl in Miami to do podcasting, wasn't that the Chiefs and Eagles?
Speaker 2:No, I think that was Chiefs-Niners. That was the first one. Oh, that's right yeah that was with Jimmy and quarterback for the Niners.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm yeah, that was with Jimmy and quarterback for the Niners. Mm-hmm yeah, so you have plans for the Super Bowl. Are you going to watch it?
Speaker 2:I think I'm going to go over a friend's house and watch the game. Obviously, I was rooting for the Bills in the AFC Championship, but I think that if there's any team that could beat the Chiefs in this iteration, it wouldn't be the Eagles. They have an incredible roster. The defensive line is really good. Their linebacker is good. They got Saquon going crazy on offense. So I am looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Speaker 2:But with the Chiefs you see the total package of having an elite quarterback, having a solid go-to receiver in Travis Kelsey, but then the importance of having really great coaches. Every important game they talk about Spags drawing up some blitz at the right time. They don't make a lot of penalties. So I hear a lot of people talk about the conspiracy stuff. There were some questionable calls. I felt like Dalton Kincaid got the first down before they even had to do that. Josh Allen tush push. First down before they even had to do that. Josh Allen tush push. But I think this will be a great matchup between the Eagles, who might be the most talented team collectively in the NFL, versus the Chiefs, who arguably have the best quarterback in the league and the best coaching staff yeah, agreed, I think on paper it's it's a good matchup.
Speaker 1:I think in the end it's probably the best side, for I really would like to see that. I would have liked to see detroit in there. I felt like detroit had a really great opportunity to be there, but they had some injuries right on defense, so that was tough. But you know, in the end, I guess on paper for the teams that were there it's probably the best matchup football wise. But to be honest, honest with you, dude, listen, I'm tired of I said this before like I'm tired of the Chiefs, I'm just tired of the Chiefs, and you know what this is really kind of. You think about it.
Speaker 1:The reason why I think a lot of people will watch is because you have people that are on two sides of the coin. They're going to love it. They're Chiefs fans or diehards. They want to see their team win. They wanted.
Speaker 1:Then you have the people that are casual football fans and want to see the, the cut to taylor swift in the suite, hugging, you know, kelsey's mom, and all that jazz you're gonna did. Then they're gonna have the other people who just want to see all the antics that surround the super bowl super bowl commercials, the, the eli uh peyton kick, for you know, fanduel with all that jazz, and then you're gonna have the people that watch it because they just want to see something bad happen, or they just, like you know, like, screw this because they got to see something bad happen to mahomes or see mahomes lose, or or whatever, or the, the chiefs, lose. So everyone, when, when you're hated like because I felt like the patriots were like this I think when you're hated, people who hate you will watch to see you fail and people who like you will watch to see you succeed oh yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:And people who, like you, will watch to see you succeed. Oh yeah, that's. All aspects of life, especially in this situation. I think most of the country is rooting against the Chiefs, which I'm sure gives them a different kind of an edge and a chip on their shoulder where it's us against the world Really. But I mean it'll be a good, it'll be a good event. I'm excited to see the halftime show. Kendrick is going to perform and sounds like the NFL is not going to block him from performing Not like us. So I'm excited to see that. How's that spectacle?
Speaker 1:plays out. Yeah, let me know, maybe I'll tune in for that.
Speaker 2:Just pull us up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no, no, no, I don't know. We'll see. I don't think so. I made a promise. I got to stick to my promise, but I'm interested. There were some over-under odds on what the first song Kendrick Lamar would play at halftime. So I believe you could pretty much bet on anything in the Super over the odds with me, because I'm a. I just hopefully doesn't become a future degenerate. I'm going to make sure that it does not happen. But he's big into the gambling. Uh, he likes, he likes sports, so he likes to think that there's money in sports intrigues him, which just could be sad if like stats too, and he likes, he loves stats.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I am totally screwed, like I really need to be very careful with what I do around him. Regarding sports, thank God I reside in a state that, technically, it's illegal to gamble.
Speaker 2:Well, I saw that Prize Picks commercial where they explicitly call out like yeah, you can do it in California too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, you can't do anything in California. Well, actually it depends on what you want to do.
Speaker 2:Not to gamble, at least I'm lucky that I've never really caught that itch to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not, I think for, like the sports fan, there's there's levels to it, right, I think there's. If you want to make some. I know guys that go and gamble a dollar a game. Like there's there's no, like there's really low, low, low stakes, and they just do it because it creates a little interest and makes watching the games bearable. Like if I I had a big bet on the Super Bowl, I may watch it, even though I'm like I'm totally against watching any being part of any of it. But I don't know, dude, like it's fun, I enjoy it. Unfortunately, I really can't do it, so I look forward when I could travel and then jump on like one of the betting apps yeah, I think the most I've done.
Speaker 2:I'm like if I've been in vegas I've put like a 20 bet on a team or something like that, but that is, that's it for me. I I would much rather spend money than gamble it away makes sense.
Speaker 1:I get it and you know I get it. So I got a question for you. I need some advice. Um, so anyone looking maybe to start a side hustle? I I talked about this about how I'm starting a card investing business side hustle right and see where it goes from there.
Speaker 1:So what I want to do is, a lot of times when you speak to people and they're going through a change professionally right, they start from the bottom and then you work way up and the people who do have success. I always feel like you see the end product. You don't see the process right, because the process is actually kind of what you have to fall in love with and what you have to get really good at and consistent with, just like anything else. So I'm thinking of starting a some type of social media channel page, whatever, just documenting the process, keeping it super, cash, super, just saying hey, listen, this is what I'm doing, this is my goal, this is where I'm at, and just documenting the process to show people maybe the not so glamorous side when things go sideways, kind of showing people hey, listen, it's just like anything else. This is not all like hey, here's big cash in the card space, owning these big cards and selling these big cards for big money and all that jazz.
Speaker 2:But showing the gruntunt work, the dirty work, all right. I think people get a lot of value in that and just seeing the day-to-day consistency that you have to put in to put yourself in a position to succeed. And then, even if you do all those things right, some things still fall through the cracks and some things don't go right and you have to navigate and find out how to make it successful. That's important, I think. With starting a side hustle like that or whatever you're interested in, you have to find other people that are also already doing it, so that you can build a community and then lean on other people for resources and information, because maybe you're running into something that they have already dealt with or maybe you experience a problem that they haven't dealt at all. So you guys can collaborate and work through together and then your experience helps them. But yeah, I, it's all about finding the right people to support where you're trying to go. You've already done that right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've already done it. I have a friend of mine that's been doing it that I just happened to find out through. Like I just reached out to him and I'm like, hey, dude, do you have any? He's like, oh, dude, I've been doing this for like three years. I'm lot. So it just kind of like, you know, signs present themselves. It just worked out really well, uh, and it's boss me as an amazing resource and dude, so it's, I really appreciate them.
Speaker 1:But you know, yeah, that's the important part about community, right, super important, uh, and you really can't go at it alone because there's so much more. I think you know you're learning one, learning from other people's mistakes and highs and lows, of what worked, what didn't work, and then also to just kind of taking the journey together, because there's also an accountability component, right, and that's huge. Like I find that there's more people that crave accountability and less that are self-accountable. But like that's also important that you stay consistent. And again, with anything else, like you gotta be consistent.
Speaker 1:Like I've been doing this thing in the morning where I get up at like four, 30, like quarter to five and I take my dog out for a walk but I put on a weighted vest and I walk for like 40 minutes. So yeah, but here's the deal. So I do it because my, because I'm normally get up early, so it's not like I'm forcing myself to get up early. I'm normally a morning person, so I typically get up early. Everyone's typically sleeping, right, so I have the time right and I'm not getting distracted. So I get and there's nobody out. There's nobody out and it's dark, right. So I get up, I walk the dog for 45 minutes, like with a weighted vest on, and I've been doing it every single day since probably at least the beginning of the year. So all I'm saying is like there's times I don't want to freaking do it, dude. Like I don't want to do it, there's times I don't want to go up, and it's just like there's so many things I'm like I don't want. It's cold out. It's been cold, colder everywhere, but it's cold. It's like whatever, I'm like I just want to quit.
Speaker 1:And getting back to the side hustle. You got to work through that because it's going to happen, whether it's walking your dog for whatever, getting body moving or trying to earn some cash, and that's why you got to find something that you really enjoy. Like if you're doing something just to make money, I would say that the majority of time it's going to fail, because you have to enjoy the actual getting up in the grind. If you don't enjoy the grind, it's tough. And, yeah, getting back to community. That is not a break glass in case of emergency type of thing, but it's definitely a massive resource for success. And you did hit it on the head when you said finding the right capital R-I-G-H-T people, because there's a lot of people that are doing. It doesn't mean that they're the right people and it doesn't mean that they're the right people for you. So I think you got to be able to trust the people that you're working with and that they have, and that the rising tide will raise all ships and not just theirs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's 100% right. And also kudos for your dog getting up at 445. My dog he. Once I get up, I go out to the living room and he gets up and I just move his bed out there and he just goes back to sleep. So I am amazed that your dog is up that early.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, he's, and I don't know if it's just because he's been getting up that early, but he gets up. It's the same routine. Like he gets up, he, you know he. Then he starts to. I get the whimper once in a while so he wants to go out there. Oh, he wants to go out. Yeah, oh yeah, it's like fun time and for me I'm like a morning person, so I get, I have a lot of energy in the morning, so it's like kind of I that's so. It's kind of like a. It's a match made in heaven, so to speak. But I have to if. But here's the key like the one thing I have to do to make sure that it happens. So it's about setting up your structure and process. Like you, I have to go to sleep late. If something happens where I go to sleep late, it's it just. Then I find that it's just harder for me to get up early and it doesn't happen, naturally, like it does if I just get to bed on time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I get that. But yeah, back to community. I felt this. This past week I went up to a live speaking group event. So I joined this coaching group last year and the guy who created it, anthony Trucks, is a great speaker. He also played in the NFL, so I joined because we both have a similar background and he's been doing it at a high level so I wanted to learn from him.
Speaker 2:So there's this in-person event where there are probably 50 people there who were also speakers at various levels. Some people had already given Ted talks, some people were already getting high fees to speak, and then there were some people who were really early in their journey. Sometime some of the people were getting on stage for the first time ever. But at the end of the event, uh, he mentioned something where right now, we all have this fuzzy feeling about all the things we learn, like we have all this motivation but it's eventually going to dissipate. And it's so important to have made connections and network with people during this time so that you have other resources to lean on when you get stuck or when you may not feel motivated. You'll have somebody to hold you accountable.
Speaker 2:And then, as he shared more of his story. You saw different points in time where he was successful because he had a community of people who were also speakers, who helped him find his message, give him different tips at different points in life, at his life, and it's just that constant reminder of like you have to have the right people around you that are also doing what you want to do at a high level, that have integrity, that they are looking to be abundant with their information so that you can also see success. So it all comes back to the right people will help you get to where you want to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a hundred percent. And it's so important because the resources especially when things, when that motivation doesn't exist anymore, uh is super important and that's and it kind of I goes hand in hand with the accountability part, like having somebody check in on you and just saying, hey, listen, you know what, how are you doing, how are you making out, did you do this, did you do that? And like it's not just a, here's the thing there has to be some type of at least with the accountability. There has to be some type of skin in the game monetary. It could be something you have to do. Whatever it is, there's got to be something that's going to motivate you enough to want to continue to do it, even when you don't want to. The penalty has got to be so great that you just don't want to do it, or it would make things really uncomfortable for you if you didn't follow through on what your accountability component was. And I think that is just super important. And here's the deal I don't think you need to have a side hustle. I don't think you need to have a side hustle. I don't think you need to have. I think you just need to have something, a goal that you want to get to Like, if you are in whatever it is, whatever that goal is, be like be the person that says and you know who the right people are, or at least find the right people to say hey, listen, can you do me a solid?
Speaker 1:Can you help me out? I really want to achieve this. Can you hold me accountable, like can you check in with me every Tuesday at 8 am and just make sure that I've completed A, b, c and D or whatever you set up, like set it up. It could be a text message, it could be an email, it could be a phone call, it could be whatever. It is Like something to set it up and also, too, which I've or starting to implement, is like a habit tracker.
Speaker 1:Like just making sure that I'm actually like checking boxes, because it makes me feel good to check the boxes and see that I completed it, and then, when I start to see a string of walking with the vest and whatever, like it seems good, I'm like, holy shit, like I did it for how many days in a row? Like that feels pretty good. Like I feel like there's some consistency there and I feel like there's a dopamine hit that I get when I check off a box or when I get something done. So there's various ways that you can create a habit tracker or do that. I would definitely do it, and it doesn't have to start off with a million things. Make it easy but make it a little bit challenging if that makes sense, and start to incorporate something that's going to give you it's going to scratch the, it's going to get you more close to your goal and also give you a little bit of like a reward for for completing it.
Speaker 2:Is there an app you use to track your habit, or is it something that you write down in a journal? How are you tracking? How?
Speaker 1:consistent. So I've been using um because, for whatever, whatever reason, I have this thing with excel spreadsheets, like I'm pretty good with like, making stuff, like whatever. So I created one where you just have these check boxes. You list your uh habits that you want to track. You know, for me it's the walking to taking my supplements that I take, you know, drinking enough water, all those things, just to name a few and I just check the box, check the box, check the box. And and here's another thing too it's like I don't give myself a guilt trip if I don't check the box, right, but as long as there's in the beginning, for me it was as long as there's more boxes that are filled as opposed to not filled, it's a win, right? So it's like.
Speaker 1:I know we live in the age of like. You know the 75 hard mentality, which is a great program, by the way, like. But it's like if you don. We live in the age of like. You know the 75 hard mentality, which is a great program, by the way but it's like if you don't do A, b, c and D, you failed. It's very black and white and we talked about this very rigid black and white society that we live in. But like it's like, if you don't do, what happens? If I do 45 minutes of walking instead of 44 minutes instead of 45? Well, you got to start from the beginning again. Like so it's just. I think that gets most people to just either start and just not finish or just not do it period. So you got to set yourself up for some type of success.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is. It's like the argument of like, well, if you do do it, then you're just your mindset is off the charts. I think too that Kobe story when you were sharing of, he was in, I think he was in China and he was hosting a camp for a lot of high school basketball players out there and he had them run some sort of conditioning drill and it was like if everybody touches the line every time, then everybody gets shoes, but if one person does it time, then everybody gets shoes, but if one person does it, then nobody gets shoes. And then turns out there's one dude who was like that far away from touching the line and nobody got shoes, and he was talking about the lesson of like you come up short one place, you'll come up short another. It is, it is true. I think we all aspire to have that kind of mindset, but the reality is not everybody does so. You do the best you can and work to get as close to you can as that perfection, and if you come up short, you don't beat yourself up, but like, okay, what can I do next time to put myself in a situation where I follow through? How can I create a system to help me follow, because I'm kind of going through that right now.
Speaker 2:I signed up for that fitness race, so it's now officially like three months away away, but last week I didn't really get the exercise I wanted in because, like, my week was different, with me being away at this event. And today, before we did this, I went and ran a mile and I did a little workout and I felt every bit of it. You know, I just felt like I was trying to stretch and I felt so much tighter and it was just you fall off that consistency for five days and it feels like your backups wear one. So it's like kudos to you for maintaining it and it just shows you how important it is. Like, once you start and you build that momentum, you got to keep it because it easily goes away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and another thing too. I was, as you were saying, that I'm like, if I miss a day, it's, it's, it's okay, cause I get another opportunity tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So it's like. So it's like. No, it's not a failure, right, it's not a failure. But but what I will say is the people that like, I think we are hands down. I think as human beings, we're just our worst critic, like we often complain about, like and a lot of it. I don't, you know, you, we could, we could go down that rabbit hole another time of why maybe we become that way or have that that predominant thought of being our worst critic or being very critical of ourselves. But I do believe, like we are our worst critic, like if we miss a day or we do this like, oh, we failed, you're not going to be able to achieve it, so we just quit, as opposed to being encouraging. You know it's interesting. Um, so I got. I have to mention this.
Speaker 1:My wife is unbelievably positive, unbelievably positive. She's very, very, very optimistic and positive. Positively. She's very, very, very optimistic and positive. She is a uh, an executive business coach. She coaches like business owners, executives and stuff like that right to achieve success both in the professional and personal in their lives. She grew up in a family that was very, very positive, went through a lot of negative stuff, especially her dad, but, like, but but turned it around and said listen, I'm doing it differently, I'm growing up, I'm teaching my kids just to focus on the positive instead of the negative. And it produced really big dividends for my wife, right. She's just super, super, super positive, right, and we got to talk about it, that like how being growing up in positive environment could be hands down.
Speaker 1:One of the worst things that could ever happen to you because what happens is is is that you become very. You don't have that edge or that grit or maybe the grit's the wrong word but the edge or that darkness that people have, because I think everybody in the world, like we all, some of us or most of us, have a darkness within us and it's how we use that darkness. We either can have that darkness within us and it's how we use that darkness. We either can have that darkness take us to a place that we don't want to be all the time, or we could use that darkness as motivation to want to really succeed and do and achieve our goal right. That darkness is an important part of us. She necessarily didn't have it. What happens is she finds herself being more so overgiving, maybe feeling like aligning herself up with people who could potentially take advantage of her kindness, just more so forgiving and not really holding people accountable and responsible for their actions, and more so finding excuses for that, and I love her for it and it's amazing.
Speaker 1:But we were talking about this and it's a good point to make, because it just because you grew up in a positive environment doesn't mean that everything is going to be positive and you're going to have this amazing successful. You're always going to have to work through stuff, and in this case, it's kind of like the inverse right Instead of working through the darkness, I'm working through, like always looking at things through these rose colored glasses. But we all have most of us have this darkness and it's a choice that we have to make on how to use it. And I think there's a lot of people that are successful and everyone that we've interviewed who's been super successful whether it be a pro athlete, a professional, whether it be a serial entrepreneur or whatever has some type of darkness or had some type of darkness within their life that they used and turned around, found motivation and a lesson through it and used it to help them achieve their success.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and no matter how positive you view things, you're going to run into some dark situations and you feel like, a lot of times, people who grew up maybe in those harsher environments, who had to learn tougher lessons earlier, when they're faced with those obstacles later in life, they're more calloused and able to deal with it, whereas, as you mentioned, you view everything through rose-colored glasses.
Speaker 2:When something dark comes, that's off-putting and you may have a tough time trying to navigate it. I think that's where it's important to, at some point, for kids growing up to not put them through a tough situation on purpose, to calcine, manufacture a, a challenge for them, something that's difficult for them, something that forces them to have to go to a dark place mentally to push through whatever struggle that they're going through. One of my on my buddies he has his. He's having his son wake up super early with him, go work out and do an ice bath. I think it was at first like two minutes in the ice bath and he said his son he's like 15 was crying in the beginning just putting him through it and over time he's gotten used to it. He's starting to be able to handle it much easier. I think it's been like six months. He feels like he's a different person from six months ago. So doing something like that to manufacture some grit within our youth is helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially with young kids. Because, hey, listen, you know, as, as parents, like inherently we're looking to protect our kids, like we're always looking to be that source of protection and support, and we want to. And how many times have you heard parents talk about like, I just want to make things a lot different for my kids than it was for me. I want to make their life better than mine, you know. So sometimes we swing the pendulum way further than it needs to be, swung and overgive and overprotect, right and over. You know, overbear, and you know it turns out that we do a disservice to our kids as opposed to a service. Because there's something to be. They have to learn these lessons. They have to go through the uncomfortable quote, unquote, unquote ice baths of life. Right, like, you have to go through those uncomfortable times and to learn from them and try to work your way out of them, because at some point there's a transition. There's a transition of the parents driving to where the kids start driving. And I'm saying metaphorically right, so like we're all parent, we're doing everything, we're taking them places when they're young. We're doing things. We're always making sure at some point there's a switch, right? I don't know if that's like around the high school age, where they become more like okay, now it's going to be more of me providing for me, as opposed to my parents, always parent driven in the beginning, and then as they get into that teenage age, it switches and you want to prepare them really for that teenage age so they know what the hell to do when they have to start doing it for themselves, especially when kids are involved in sports.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of people and coaches want to see kids communicate with them directly. They want to see them become individuals. They want to be seen that not everything's to the parents. That really stops. That really stops, especially when they get to high school. That stops, it's just all to the parents. That really stops. That really stops, especially when they get to high school. Like that stops, it's just all about the kids. And I think right now, if you could start, you know, doing those things, especially with kids and getting them to communicate and to do things on their own, you're going to really set them up for success.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. And if you're someone who now feels like you haven't really developed that callous to push through when things get tough, find a challenge for yourself. That's kind of what I'm doing right now with this whole fitness challenge. I feel like I haven't really pushed myself mentally, like I haven't pushed myself physically to have to go to that dark place mentally in a long time. So that's what I feel is going to help me regain that callous I've developed earlier in life as I was going through football. And I feel like challenges really help reveal who we are and if we don't like the position we're at, we can do something to improve that. And by pushing yourself and seeing what your actual limit is, show reveals who you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a hundred percent. It's so true and you really have to. It's a, it's a battle for a lot of people. I had a conversation with a friend and we got on the subject of meditation. We're talking about meditation and it's not something I typically, you know, do that often and it's something I want to do, but I haven't had the discipline or the motivation or whatever you want to call it. Maybe more so discipline do it on a daily basis, because I've always thought of it, maybe in a different way. Maybe I just got to, I needed to change my perspective on it. But it was interesting.
Speaker 1:Because he works in the financial advising space and deals with a lot of people, right, talks to a lot of people and sometimes a lot of his potential clients or clients aren't the greatest to talk to Like you know what I mean Like it's a. It's a tough industry to work in because you get a lot of rejection, right. So, anyway, he was saying that, um, he does meditation, like in the past he's never done it, but he does it as a way to prime himself, to get ready for the conversations he's going to have. And I was thinking about this the other day cause I had, like you know, when you go out there in the world and you're just like you feel like you're frustrated at everybody and people are on edge and there's a lot of like high emotions going on out there, like if you feel like you're coming in contact with a lot of people who are pissed off or whatever it is like, it's a really great tool to help you prepare for going outside and doing your thing and talking to people and dealing with people right, because there are going to be those people that are maybe outside your community that you have to interact with and they may not necessarily look at things the same way you do and we have the same values as you do and you have to kind of really put yourself in a situation where you're not flying off the handle.
Speaker 1:Where you're being, you know, honestly, I think the people that that hold the most confident, the the biggest leaders and the ones that are just like in a face of emotions. They're the ones that are emotionless or show no emotion and they're just more so like action takers and they're not based interactions on emotions. But listen, every single day you can get on any type of social media platform and see the worst of the worst and you can condition yourself to believe that, like when you see something going on, the first thing you should be doing is taking out your phone and recording it, or that you should be arguing and fighting with people, because that's what people do and you take it personally and let your emotions get. You know. Take control of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there have been so many people when they talk about their morning routines is don't touch your phone for the first two hours of the morning, so that the first things that are coming to your mind as you're fresh out of sleep aren't every crazy thing that's going on on social media. And meditation is really helpful. I need to get better at my meditation practice, but a while ago I learned transcendental meditation and it's really helpful for what you're talking about kind of centering yourself, calming your mind and kind of emptying the stress that you're dealing with for a limited amount of time and just being able to go to your day fresh. But yeah, if you take on the burden of everything that's going on in the world, the first thing in the morning, it's hard to not be high strung as you're going throughout the day and maybe somebody cuts you off and you start to fly off the handle.
Speaker 2:Taking time in your morning to ground yourself. Start with a walk with your dog at 4.30 in the morning. Get a little workout in. Get a sweat in. Meditate a little bit Journal about how you want your dog at 4.30 in the morning. Get a little workout in. Get a sweat in. Meditate a little bit Journal about how you want your day to go, and then you feel like you're ready to take on whatever craziness comes your way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know what's interesting about the walking with the dog thing. So the thing about it is I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where your mind is just like constantly, constantly working. And for me, sometimes, when I get up in the morning, I'm thinking about the things that I have to do for that day. I start to hold on to things that I was thinking about yesterday, like there's just some things I just need to work through. Right now I'm not doing the meditation part to kind of just like work through those. You know, in that type of state. But when I go out for my walk with a dog, I think a lot of negative thoughts and I know this is kind of contradictory, because a lot of people would say, like listen to a podcast, which I do, you know, listen to a podcast from your walk or some music or whatever, but really more so just to fill yourself with positivity. But I take that 45 minutes or whatever it is, I take that 40 minutes and I think in negative thoughts, like I just I'm like, just I'm thinking about, just like the stuff that is, just I'm purging it all out of my head, like there's a lot of stuff that I wake up with. I give myself grace. I'm like, listen for the 40 minutes that I'm going to walk. I'm just going to sort through all of this stuff. So think about it this way I'm sorting it through, but at the same time I'm active. So I'm like I'm building up like this positive energy right behind me, just getting my body moving and my you know, my, my heart rate is up. I'm sweating, like there's there's some like positive stuff that's coming out of it and there's some exertion that's taking place. And I'm doing it just kind of like. I feel like and this is just mentally how I do it, cause it helps me kind of like purge my head. I just think it was like, as I'm pushing or walking or walking up hills with the weighted vest and just like really moving myself and building up a sweat, I'm working it all out of me, like I'm exercising the demons, like while I'm actually working. So I'm like physically working towards mentally getting rid of something and in a way it's worked for me because when I come back home and I'm done, I feel like there's a sense of like a reset, like a recharge. So it's like I feel like okay, and if I find myself waking up with thoughts like I allow myself to do that in the morning. It's not all the time, but there are times I wake up and I'm like you know what, all right, so I'm going to go out there.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do something that's pretty uncomfortable for me right now getting up at 445 and walking for 45 minutes and doing hills and whatnot with a weighted vest on, but at the same time, I'm going to be like you know what, screw it. Then I'm just going to get rid of all this shit that I was thinking about, and the best part is there's nobody out. There's nobody out so you can say what you want, you can do what you want. For me, there's nobody out at that time and it just gives you your alone space. You almost feel like you are alone and you have this you space. You almost feel like you're all. You are alone and you have this. You have the environment, and it's dark. You really can't see much. So there's really not a ton of distractions like externally. So it's just something that worked for me, uh, and I allowed myself to do it and it's. I feel like it's contrary to what you probably hear from everyone else, but it just seems to work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's almost like an active meditation for you, because with the transcendental, the way they teach it is all you're supposed to do is focus on a single mantra in your mind, over and, over and over again, and whatever thought comes to your mind, it's essentially stress and you're supposed to view it as just a car going by. So as that thought comes up, it's like, okay, this is something that's stressful. All right, just kind of let it go and then just return to your mantra, go again and again, and again, and then something else may come up and it's like, all right, let that go Again, go back to the mantra, that's all it is.
Speaker 1:And over time you feel yourself just really get calm, feel like your heart rate goes down significantly and it's like 20 minutes and then you come back out of it but what you're doing it sounds more like yeah, because I had to do something like so it's harder for me to do that and not to say that I want to do it. It's just hard for me to get myself to do it, which I need to change, I need to work towards, but I need to do something right. And I've created this vision in my mind. I have a visual picture of myself in 2024 and I do not want to be that person anymore. Like not that it was terrible, but I'm just like okay, 2024 was this version of me. I need to do something different.
Speaker 1:Like I I there's so many times that I've gone into a, let's say, a new year or transition I'm like I need things to be different and for maybe for the first 60 days, 30 days things are and then all of a sudden, it just goes back to default settings and I don't want to go back to default settings anymore. Like I'm really fighting against default settings, like I don't want that stuff no more. Like so when I look back and I'm taking my metaphorically, I take my walk down the block. I look back, I'm like I'm still at the house 2024 guy is still at the house and I'm walking far away from 2024 guy and then when I return, that guy's not at the house anymore, right. So I look back and be like, okay, dude, like old 2024 guy is still standing on the porch. I'm not on the porch anymore, I'm moving forward, I'm moving far away from you. And then when I come back I come back to just an empty porch. And this is all obviously me how I'm mentally trying to work through it. But I don't want that anymore.
Speaker 1:So I have to consistently try to do something. And if I miss it a day, old default settings would be like stop. Then you know, all right, you failed and I'm hard on myself and I don't continue. But now it's like stop. Then you know you failed and I'm hard on myself and it just I don't continue. But now it's like okay, you missed the day, so what? Like you're going to have another day to do it and keep doing it. Like you know what I mean and that's it, and that's what's going to be different.
Speaker 1:And the longer you can string that pattern together, the longer and longer and more consistent you'll be. You know, and for me too, it's like when I go through that negative self-talk or I'm working mentally or actively meditating. I feel better, believe it or not. It makes that 40 minutes pretty short because my mind's preoccupied. I don't really get caught up in how tough it may be or how long I feel like the walk is and be like, oh man, I just want to go back. Before you know it. I'm like, oh shit, I'm done. That's kind of cool too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really resonated with you saying, like the default settings. I think that's how I was feeling coming into the year is just feeling like not bad, but things haven't changed enough and I hadn't put enough concerted effort into making the change. So I like that you are actively thinking about. I am not trying to be the same Craig. I was in 2024, 2025. Craig doesn't do the same things and I think a lot of us feel that way at different points of just wanting to make a change.
Speaker 2:But it's about putting in that action as consistently as possible and not and giving yourself enough grace to know that if you do miss a day on that thing that you're trying to change that thing you're trying to improve startup, it's new chippy, just like phil used to say new chippy. It's now we begin. It's another day, it's another opportunity. It's not I messed up once. Now it's over forever. Now time to give up? No, no, it's okay to start over. You can always do a reset and every day could be new years in your mind, because we all it's always that first day of the year. We feel that new wave of energy, like okay, I could finally do a reset.
Speaker 1:Like no, everything yeah, and another thing, too is I really wanted to try so, like we talked about this, about like developing a plan before the new year so you can get you know, build up some momentum and and know what you're doing, like not start january 1st to figure out what you're doing for the rest of the year. So one of my plans for in 2024, for this year, was I wanted to do one thing per month that I've never done before, something different, and then I could walk away with some new experiences, a dozen new experiences over the course of the year. And I've heard this. This is not something I came up with, this is something I've heard and it sense this way I could walk away from this year going. I was a lot different than I was the year before. I did A, b, c and D and I created experiences and I did things.
Speaker 1:You're going to find every reason not to do any of those things, but you have to schedule it. You have to put it on a calendar. I bought one of those. Did you ever see those big ass calendars that Jesse Eitzer has? Not that he has. Yeah, he created this thing called the big ass calendar and it's a big calendar and it has every day of the year on it and you schedule not schedule every day, but you schedule like your life first, like the things that you're going to do for yourself. First Put it on the schedule, like with like post-it marks or like you write it down with one of those dry erase markers and you plan out all the things you got going on that year and then you work around those things so those are automatically locked into your schedules. Those are your non-negotiable things that are happening for you, whatever you got going on, and then you work around those.
Speaker 1:It forces you to do a couple things. It forces you to kind of audit what you have going on, or like what you, what your plans are, and seeing it visually in front of you pays a bunch of dividends. One for me it's like I got things to look forward to. Right, I got things. And it also gives you a sense of like okay, like these are the things this year that I'm doing different than last year. These are the things that I'm looking forward to. These are like I have stuff planned, like I feel like there's a sense of like empowerment, knowing that I'm actively taking a step in producing things or creating things in my life that I can look forward to, that are going to be different than last year, that are going to be moving me forward.
Speaker 1:You know, could be like, hey, I'm going into the speaking engagement in July and you map it out for the whole week or I'm doing this and doing that and it's just like dude, I got stuff going on, like man I'm excited about this year. It gets you excited about like what you got going on, as opposed to you just trying to figure things out on a daily basis. You know, it's just kind of like why do most people kind of fail when it comes to like their eating right? It's because there's not. You're not preparing for it, you're not planning for it, and then you just kind of let the day decide what it's going to happen and it usually winds up with bad choices. So it's the same thing. It's like if you plan for it ahead, you're going to wind up doing a lot of things and see it visually that's going to make a massive difference in your life and get you a lot to a different spot than you were the year before and not go back to default settings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. I really like the idea of having everything planned out so you could visually see. One of the speakers this week mentioned something called a power list, that the night before, every night, you just write down three things that you want to accomplish the next day Never anything more than three but you make a plan for tomorrow, today, so that you're not just going into the next day like, okay, what should I do? So you already have these three things that you already deemed important to accomplish, and that is something that I had heard before. But hearing it again was a great reminder of like, okay, that's something that I can consistently do, that will help me as I'm training for this event, as I'm doing more speaking engagements, like things that I can do to set myself up for success by planning it out the night before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's huge and that's a really big thing that I've just recently started to do really more. So, towards the end of this year, planning for 2025 was planning your day out. Like I think if you plan your day out to take, it doesn't have to be long, if you take a couple things and like those three things are great because it's just, it's digestible, it's doable, like, hey, these are the things that I need to get done and want to get done. And, however, if you write it on a whiteboard, if you write it on a piece of paper, like I like the whiteboard idea just because it's in your face and you see it, you know what I mean. Or having something up on a wall where you just like you're reminded of it constantly because a piece of paper could get covered or something could get lost or push the side. But like just three things, like today's accomplishments or today's whatever to do and boom, boom, boom and put them down and then just like cross them off as you get them done. And there's something about like just like the checking boxes thing I spoke about.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's huge. That um, finding the right people that support your values and your goals in the community component of it Huge. Um, yeah, I think that's super important. Uh, just make sure, like, if you're going to do anything, don't push your, don't go back to default settings. You deserve better than that, unless you're unless last year was super good and you just want to continue the mode, the momentum from last year and your new default settings are getting you to wherever you want to get to, then that's. Then that's awesome, but I feel it's the minority.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, man, that that the lasting message you want to leave for people.
Speaker 1:That's all I got.
Speaker 2:I'm exhausted to leave, for that's all. That's all I got. I'm exhausted, yeah, I mean, I echo a lot of what you're saying. One of the other messages I heard this week was increase your speed and whatever you're working on, it is uncomfortable. If you're start going fast in a car, it gets uncomfortable. Like start going like 80, 90, 100 miles an hour, it's like it's uncomfortable. But Like start going like 80, 90, 100 miles an hour, it's like it's uncomfortable. But learn to get comfortable at that speed in whatever you're doing in your life. I'm not advising people to just go out and start driving 100 miles an hour. I'm talking about metaphorically hitting your line to increase the pace and the speed at which you're operating at.
Speaker 1:Yes, the White Tiger podcast will not be held responsible for any careless driving, reckless driving, on behalf of yeah. So we don't recommend that. But yeah, metaphorically, find that comfort level at a higher speed. You're going to wind up really getting a lot more bang for your buck. You're not going to worry about, hopefully, going back to old habits and patterns that haven't been serving you. With that being said, hey, have a great week. Follow us. Share, please, with your friends, your families, your coworkers, your whoever someone you care about, hopefully they can get something away from our podcast and the messages we deliver. If there's anything that you'd like to see us cover or anyone you'd like to see us talk to, please let us know. Or anyone you'd like to see us talk to, please let us know.
Speaker 2:And Asante, do you have any parting words? No, don't go back to default settings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with that note, we'll see you guys next week Later. Peace.
