The Bamboo Lab Podcast
"Ordinary people doing extraordinary things!"
The Bamboo Lab Podcast
"Just Get Started": Practicing Voluntary Adversity with Brandon Mulnix
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Brandon Mulnix returns to share his extraordinary journey through voluntary adversity – a concept that transformed his life after a devastating car accident left him with 12 facial fractures and his jaw wired shut. Rather than retreating into self-pity, Brandon chose to embrace this challenge head-on, even managing to complete a 50-mile ultramarathon while still unable to eat solid foods.
The conversation explores what happens when we purposely seek difficult challenges that benefit ourselves or others. Brandon's story exemplifies this approach, from his healing journey after the accident to his viral fame when his jaw-wired-shut ultramarathon made headlines worldwide and landed him in Runner's World magazine. Most powerfully, Brandon reveals how what seemed like the worst day of his life ultimately became "the best event of my life" – launching him toward deeper relationships, a healed marriage, and the adoption of his son from Ethiopia.
Brian and Brandon dive into practical wisdom about choosing hardship over comfort, battling the "resistance" that prevents growth, and the transformative power of helping others during your own struggles. They explore how starting small – even just refusing to hit the snooze button – can build the resilience muscle that transforms our response to life's inevitable challenges.
This conversation will leave you questioning your relationship with comfort and inspired to embrace voluntary adversity as a path to becoming your best self. As Brandon reminds us, "We don't grow by having happy things happen to us. We grow through our trials." What difficult but positive challenge might you voluntarily take on today?
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Welcome and Introduction to Brandon
Speaker 1Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your host, peak Performance Coach, brian Bosley. Are you stuck on the hamster wheel of life, spinning and spinning but not really moving forward? Are you ready to jump off and soar? Are you finally ready to sculpt your life? If so, you've landed in the right place. This podcast is created and broadcast just for you, all of you strivers, thrivers and survivors out there. If you'd like to learn more about Brian and the Bamboo Lab, feel free to reach out to explore your true peak level at wwwbamboolab3.com.
Speaker 2August 23rd of 2020, or August 7th, I'm sorry, of 2023. So I'd like to go back to that episode. That episode is titled Living Life Head First with Brandon Molnix, and I look back at that podcast episode a couple of weeks ago and out of 137 shows we have aired, it's ranked number 12. So it's in the top 9% of all the shows we've aired as far as downloads. So I had to have him back on.
Speaker 2Over the past two years, brandon has become a dear friend of mine, someone that I actually consider my brother. We've shared some incredible conversations. We've had some great times together in person, a lot on the phone, a lot through text. So I want to welcome him back because he has an amazing story and he's one of those guys. As we're talking now about voluntary adversity, over the next several months, we're going to bring in special guests and have a conversation on that. He's a guy to me that exemplifies that voluntary adversity, purposely doing difficult things that are good for you or for other people, and he does it, and you're going to hear it through his story. So, my friend Brandon, my brother Brandon, welcome to the Bamboo Lab podcast for the second time.
Speaker 3Hey, Brian, thanks for having me back. Look forward to this episode.
Speaker 2Well, the last time you and I talked you were not even accustomed to being on that side of the microphone. Now you're actually pretty good at my side of the microphone because of. Can you tell everybody a little bit about what you've done over the past year or so? Yeah, Brian.
Speaker 3Brian, you gave me my shot back in August of 2023. The first time I was ever on a podcast was the Bamboo Lab podcast, shared the story and from there it kind, kind of let's say kind of got me curious. So I started looking into podcasting and then that November I started the poultry leadership podcast and yeah, it's taken off from there where I've 26 episodes in and and I've just talked to farmers and industry professionals and great people from the outside that have great stories that help farmers and people that work on farms continue to grow. So I was able to kind of spur that passion on. And I've been on a couple other podcasts since that aren't the Bad Boob Lab or the Poultry Leadership Podcast podcast.
Speaker 2So I'm kind of excited and I think you're selling a little bit short. I'd like to talk a little bit about the poultry leadership podcast, because I don't follow. I'm I'm a podcast junkie, but I only have about three or four podcasts that I follow. Uh, joe rogan, obviously, is one, um, ed mylett number two, and the poultry leadership podcast um, I've listened to and you've had some amazing guests on, and what I like about your style, brandon, it's very open, very vulnerable, very authentic, and you get a conversation out of somebody in 30 minutes, like you do a really good job of getting their story, getting their wisdom and getting them to talk about things that are meaningful to them themselves as well as to the other people listening in the course of a relatively short period of time. You've come a long way in that podcast and I love listening to it. I mean, you've had some guests on there that are pretty worldwide too let's call it what it is. So everybody get on there and go to Spotify, go to wherever, google the Poultry Leadership Podcast with Brandon Moldix.
Speaker 3Thank you, Brian.
Defining Voluntary Adversity
Speaker 2Thank you, I appreciate that, of course. Okay, so, folks, as I mentioned a few moments ago, we are talking a lot or we're going to be, I should say, over the next several months on this concept of voluntary adversity. So let me give you the definition of it. Voluntary adversity is anything you do that takes you out of your comfort zone. That's the first part of the definition. Number two is it has to be something positive for you or for other people. And number three, it has to be voluntary. It's something that you do on a daily basis or a consistent basis in your life that scares you but is good for you or it helps someone else. So Brandon is that guy. So Brandon is that guy. When I started looking at this content and creating material and content for the Voluntary Adversity Concept and Theory, I immediately thought of Brandon. So I reached out right away and he said, yeah, I'd love to come back on. So, brandon, just start off a little bit and tell everybody a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3For those who may, not have yet tuned in, to the episode back in August of 23. Yeah, brian, I'm from middle Michiganigan little town called saranac. Grew up, you know, very small town, didn't know much of the world outside of my town until, you know, got 18, um, and then, yeah, just started hitting, as your episode said, life head first. A lot of my story comes from challenge you, from kind of proving people wrong and to kind of dive right into it.
Speaker 3Back in high school I was a cross-country runner, absolutely loved running, but I didn't know really where that would take me. And of course, you get out of high school and I didn't really run much right off the bat. But I had a coach that said, you know, I just kind of told her one day hey, I'm going to make runners world and I'm going to do marathons. And she's like, yeah, you know how hard it is to make runners world and you know she kind of shrugged it off. But to me I just, you know, must've planted a seed that day because you know, later in life, you know, as we get to the story, I made Runner's World.
Speaker 3So I'll give you the summary. But to get to that point, you know, really took a lot of adversity and it was not the normal route. I wasn't a winner of a race, I wasn't, you know, running for too much and I wasn't Forrest Gump or anything like that in for for too much and I wasn't forrest gump or anything like that, but I definitely, um, you know, was worthy enough of a story because I kind of had that adversity. But before we get into that, you know I'm married, got two kids, adult daughter and a junior in high school, son and yeah, I get to help farmers out, help farmers by providing technology to them and, you know, also hosting a poultry leadership podcast.
Speaker 2And I've told a lot of people. When you gave me a tour of your facility five gosh, two months now it was ago I was so impressed with that place Cause I, you know, you and I talk on the phone every week and we talk about work and we talk about the workplace, your workplace specifically and getting a tour of Prism Controls that day was really, really interesting. I was so impressed with you know, the people I met, but also just the organization of the place. It felt like I could eat off the floor in every room I walked into and tell me. That tells me a lot about our culture. So I've got to give a shout-out to your workplace.
Speaker 3That's not bad for a company that provides technology for chicken barns. So I do carefully eat off the floor. We do have return product from time to time and I'm assuming some of that chicken dust gets on the floor from time to time, so I'm careful about eating.
Brandon's Journey and Runner's World Feature
Speaker 2I caught you on a good day then. So for those who don't understand, before we get into this, runner's World magazine for those who aren't into running is the premier magazine for runners. I think there's another magazine called Runner or Running Runner, I think, was another one. When I was in seventh and eighth grade, I was big into running. I ran road races and I wanted to be an Olympic gold medalist and I subscribed to all the magazines, read Dr Sheehan's book on running, and runner's world was the. When that came every month, it was like the highest highlight of my month. So that is the premier magazine for runners around the world. So so let's talk a little bit. Can you tell that story in more depth? Because I want to, I want to. I want them to hear the, the kind of the, the grit and the passion that you've used in your life, and this is just one example of how you've overcome and you've proved people wrong. This is a really good sampling.
Speaker 3Yeah, the story starts in the February of 2020, 2011. I was just finished my first 50 mile trail race in Florida and, like any runner, I was. You know, okay, what's what's the next, what's the next race? And my friends, the community around me had talked about, you know, other races out there and I decided you know what, I'm going to sign up for a 100-mile race. And this is end of February. So I've got the races in July.
Speaker 3I've got some time and thinking, okay, I've got to get in shape and get in better shape. You know, running 50 miles in 12 hours. You know, I consider myself not in that great of shape to then turn around and do a 100-mile race. I consider myself not in that great of shape to then turn around and do a hundred mile race. But in the training of that race, um, just a few days later, just signed the you know, just paid the deposit to get in that race, all this, all that to say, um, I was on my way home from work and I was hit head on by a? Um, another car which you know, when you're in a little Ford Escort and you get hit head-on, you find out very quickly how big you are, because I literally, you know, busted the airbag, the steering wheel, took it all into my face. And you know, looking back, I don't know how I was alive, my face. And you know, looking back, I don't. I don't know how I was. I was alive. I had 12 fractures in my face and I, you know, was basically, you know I could, should have been airlifted. It was that kind of a day on the weather, it was snowy, so I wasn't airlifted, but it's taken by ground, um, and my world was changed. One of the best events in my life had just happened and I didn't realize it yet.
Speaker 3So, you know, at the hospital, you know, my face is broken. Doctors are like, hey, you know, we're going to have to wire you shut. And I just had to make the decision. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. I can bring joy to those around me or I can literally be, you know, basically, know, basically, depressed. And and why'd this have to happen to me? And you know, my inner self has always been make the best of every situation. And in that moment I decided you know what I'm going to make. I'm going to be joyful for those around me because when you talk with your mouth wired shut. It sounds really really bad. But people, you know, I got really good at being a ventriloquist, so to speak. I could talk with my mouth wired shut and I still didn't leave sight of my goals.
Speaker 3I still had a race to run and a matter of months, and so it was, you know, let my body heal. I found out a few days later I had some broken ribs from your bag. Um, I had some other, you know, little injuries here or there, including a head injury that I ended up hiding for a number of months with caffeine and didn't realize just how much trauma I had been through, until later on when I realized that, hey, you know, I was hiding um, a pretty bad concussion and didn't even know. So, yeah, that's kind of the start of the story. And from there, after I was cleared, I started running. My jaw got unwired, everything's good. Um, you know, did a hundred kilometer race in new york. Um, we talk about mental toughness running around a half mile loop, around a pond for 12 hours to see how many miles you could run. It was exciting because I got done with it and ended up with 100 kilometers in the books, over 62 miles.
Speaker 2Folks, we lost Brandon. So Brandon's going to finish his story about his situation with the accident and ran a 100-kilometer race and we'll go from there. Brandon, take it away brother.
Speaker 3Yeah, so my jaw was unwired, so sorry, brian. You mentioned 100 kilometers. Have I already talked about the New York race?
Speaker 2I would say it again, just in case it didn't catch. I think it did, though, no problem.
Speaker 3So my jaw got unwired shut and I had to get started training. So one of my first races back was I signed up for a race in New York. It was a half-mile loop around a pond, it was called Mind the Ducks and it was how many miles can you race in New York? It was a half mile loop around a pond, it was called mind the ducks and it was how many miles can run in 12 hours. And it was a good little event, enjoyed it. We're out of pair of shoes and I was able to accomplish a hundred kilometer race. It's crazy to think that. You know just, I think it was two months after I was cleared to run after my accident. You know I was. I was already back running a hundred kilometers.
Speaker 2And your job was not wired at this time, it was the wire Nope.
Speaker 3Nope, I was wired for about six to seven weeks right after the accident happened and then they, you know, freed it up and I was able to start taking nutrition again normally. So, um, yeah, so once I got cleared, you know, you know I had that hundred mile race signed up for, um, you know, july burning river, and that race was from cleveland to akron, ohio, on the buckeye trail. That trail is beautiful. It's part of the north country trail that goes from north dakota to the appalachian mountains. I like that trail, that's a beautiful trail.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's just on the far East side of of of Ohio. But the race in itself it was just another accomplishment for me. I really kind of took for granted, even though the temps that day hit the high nineties. Um. But what's why I say it just took for granted? Because you know most people, you know they say just a small percentage of people will ever run a marathon. A few, much less percentage will ever run an ultra marathon or 50 miles. And then here I just run 100 miles and I was looking for the next adventure. But what really struck me was during that race, probably about I don't know, 50, 55 miles into that race, I had this sharp pain in my jaw and I had no idea what was going on. And when you're in a race like that, your body hurts. I mean, your knees hurt, your ankles hurt, you get blisters, you're. You know you chafe, it's just a. You know you put your body through living hell, voluntarily, mind you. And but I had this pain in my jaw and I'm like there's no way this pain is going to keep me from finishing this race. And, you know, took some ibuprofen, tylenol, whatever, and the pain kind of relieved, but what I wasn't expecting was.
Speaker 3A week later I'm sitting in the um oral surgeon's office. The guy who had repaired my face, a guy who had um, figured you know, kind of you know, kept me, put me back together, so to speak, and he was scheduled to pull a tooth that was broken in the accident but they wanted to leave in for healing purposes because it wasn't causing me any problems. But it was just there to kind of bridge the gap in my jaw to, you know, get everything back in line. And so I wake up from sedation to Dr Kintz and he's like, uh, uh, um, yeah, we kind of have a problem here. And I'm like, well, what do you mean? He goes I pulled that tooth and basically your jaw hadn't healed in that section and the plate that I put in under in that section of jaw actually was broken in half. I'm like, how is a plate, titanium plate broken in half? And of course my wife probably chuckles and says, well, you talk too much and you wore it out already. Um, but dr kins basically said, you know, I had to go schedule for a surgery in the next few days, um, to basically wear me back shut. And that was not what I wanted to hear, because in the consultation I'm like okay, what are my options, doc? He goes. Well, you can be on bed rest and soft foods for two months, or I can wear you shut and you can go back to your. You know your, your normal life and do whatever you want. I'm like you mean, I can run, he goes. I don't see why not. And of course I didn't really fill him in on the details because I'd signed up for two more ultras that fall, as well as a number of other races. But what really got me was he's like well, if it doesn't hurt, do it.
Running 50 Miles with Jaw Wired Shut
Speaker 3So I set out to run an ultra marathon, 50 miles, specifically with my jaw wired shut, and if you've never been wired shut, it's hard to appreciate the value of hard foods, foods that in a race, a normal race like um, oranges and soup with noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and all the treats that they give us runners as we try to compete, um, none of that was applicable to me. I couldn't eat any of it, and so, as I prepared for that race, I was eating boost, I'm sure v8, and putting salt tablets, grinding them up in the space that was left by that opening in my mouth and shoving salt tablets in which are the nastiest things when they don't have their protective coating on them anymore just to get myself through the 50-mile race. Um, and in the process of all that, I started looking how I could help others. Just because I couldn't eat didn't mean I couldn't do something, use this race for somebody else. And so, in that preparation for the race, I contacted a local food bank and said, hey, how can I help? And they said just race food. So I got a bunch of sponsorships, um, in terms of, you know, just put it out on social media, hey, I'm doing this crazy thing. If you want to help, um, please. You know, sponsor per mile. You know one food item per mile. And next thing, I know I've got thousands of items of food, you know, being donated to. You know this cause and you know, okay, so I'm going to run this race. You know, if I get 25 miles in the great, you know no big deal.
Speaker 3Well, I finished that race and even during that race, when I was absolutely just, oh, I was so drained I had the nutrition was way off and an ultra Americans all about it's an eating game, it's all about nutrition, if you. You know, to keep your sugars up and keep your body and your mind focused. Well, the interesting part was, even during that race I was at my lowest I found somebody that I could help. I came upon a lady that we would later become pretty good social media friends and kind of follow each other through our running careers. But I just remember her just having a really bad day. She was so hurting, so bad, and I think we were probably about I don't know 15, 20 miles before the finish, and that's that's a lot when you're hurting in a 50 mile race. And so I just walked with her, I just encouraged her. She couldn't tell right away what was going on, she just knew that there was a funny talking guy behind her. But I was able to just encourage her, help her get her through, and I think it was about the time we got to the first aid station together, as she's, like you know, eating oranges and Oreo cookies and all this. And I reached into a bag that my buddy had dropped off where there was some boost and insurer this. And I reached into a bag that my buddy had dropped off where there was some boost and ensure and she's like oh, oh, that's healthy, that's good. And then she realized that I was not able to partake in the normal food of the event and so, thankfully, my buddy helped me out, dropped me off food and together I was able to finish that race with Lisa.
Speaker 3Well, didn't think anything of it until local newspaper picked up a story that you can still find today about a man you know runs 50 miles with his jaw where shut for, you know, to raise food for local charity, and didn't even really think much of it. You know, okay, my name's in the local paper. Great, you know I happen to share that. You know how I hurt my jaw back when my car accident. I was a supervisor for a local county, so this was local local paper for that county. Well, it wasn't until I started getting calls from people outside of michigan saying, hey, um, I just heard your name in houston, I just heard your name in Houston, I just heard your name in California and I'm like what? This is crazy. So I Googled my name and it got picked.
Speaker 3The story got picked up on the AP press and to this day you can find articles with my name all over the globe. You know Japan and Australia and all these different. You know news. You know different news sites that have that pulled that story about a 50 guy running 50 miles in his jaw where it's shut, and so, again, not thinking much of it, thought the claim to fame was over, and a few months later I get a call from runners world saying, hey, we do this article called what it takes. In january 2012, they did a story about a guy running 50 miles with his jaw wired shut to run to raise food for a local organization, and I couldn't believe it. When I opened up that and and then was that opened up, reviewed the article and just just smiled from ear to ear because I remembered exactly what I'd said to that cross country coach that I was going to make runners world one day. So that's, that's a wonderful story.
Speaker 2You know it's funny as you were saying that, I just Googled it and yep, we got San Diego, cbs, boston, cbs, detroit, los Angeles. There is daily mate, wait, yeah, yeah, daily mail.
Speaker 3wow, dude, I didn't even know that I think what's interesting about the whole thing was the con, the conversations around it, like espn even did a little clip on it. I can't find that one to this day, but they did a little clip on it. I can't find that one to this day, but they did a little video clip on, like you know how crazy. You know one of those just funny stories. I must've hit the news cycle just right, Cause it was definitely one of those humorous stories. You don't want to read the comments on most of the websites because they're definitely inappropriate about what would it take to to become famous. This idiot just ran 50 miles. And what an idiot.
Speaker 2Never. This idiot just ran 50 miles and what did he get? Never read the negative comments anyway. So that I didn't realize. So I knew you had helped a lady through a race. I didn't realize now, until now that was the same race. Your jaw was wired shut, yeah. So have you kept in contact with her.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, oh yeah. She moved out West and I get to follow her ski adventures and everything else, and from time to time we check in with each other and, yeah, it's been, it's been cool just to kind of support each other.
Speaker 2So, when you look at back at that, so I think this, brandon, I think there are moments in our lives that are kind of an impetus to other things we do or don't do, that are kind of an impetus to other things we do or don't do.
Speaker 2I think when you have an opportunity to give up on something that's important to you because, again, you don't want to practice voluntary adversity, you want to stay in your comfort zone, that affects us the rest of our lives and most of us aren't even aware. But when you do something that makes you a better, higher version of your spiritual self and I think that your character, your values were all tested at that time and you primarily took complete control and you exemplified who you are as a man has that been an impetus to other things you've done since then, whether it's in your personal life or professional life, when you can do that and not only just do it with your jaw wired shut and do that grilling race but at the same time, during that, taking a moment and inspiring and supporting a fellow runner on the trail have you looked back at that and thought, well, I guess, have you ever looked back at that, consciously or unconsciously, and used that as a fulcrum for something else that you go through. That's challenging.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, it's when you've done something that takes that much endurance, that much, you know, go through that much pain, that much struggle and and just physically, emotionally during that time, I mean everything I was going through you know to to get there Um, it's something that it's a foundation that I can go back and rely on. I mean I'm not going to say that I've had the best running career since then. I took 10 years off, but when I even got started again after a 10 year break of running, it was you know what I've done a hundred miles before. Why can't I? You know, why can't I do this three miles in front of me right now, and the adversity that we and that's in the running side of it and the other part of the world is.
Speaker 3I mean, I've traveled with friends on mission trips just because I know it's going to be hard. I've traveled, you know, to Ethiopia where we eventually adopted my son, because I knew it was going to be hard. So you lay a foundation of adversity in your life, voluntarily, that allows you to have enough faith in yourself that you can do just about anything, and that foundation is what's got me through business, it's got me through personal, you know, trials and struggles outside of physical activity. But it also, you know, it's what gets me up in the morning to go work out at the gym. It's what gets me up in the morning to sign up for a hard race.
Speaker 2Well, I think today you said to me that after your hard workout at the gym you actually just went for a short four mile run. Now a four mile run is a torturous sorry, I've got a little dog here barking is a torturous even workout for most people to do, the average person. So I want to ask you a question. So I'm a listener on the podcast and I'm sitting here thinking, okay, I'm never going to run a hundred mile, 50 mile marathon, even a half marathon. I just don't have any desire to do that and they sure in the hell I'm not going to do with my jaw wired shut. But I understand the premise of what Brandon's saying. What advice would you give to somebody so they can get up in the morning and practice some level of voluntary adversity?
Speaker 3I guess it's. What do you want? To be? A better version of yourself today than you, than you were last night when you went to bed? Um, we don't. We don't grow by having happy things and good things happen to us. We always grow through our trials. We always grow through anything that's adverse. I mean, I always look at the. You know the scripture verse as iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. You know that that means iron hitting each other, iron in the fire, iron being tested. It's not through, um, just happy stories, I mean. And so you know, if you're getting up in the morning and you're trying to, you know, get off to the gym, it's, or you have a, a vision to make change in your life that either makes you healthier or better in some way it's. You know what's more important, that extra little sleep or making yourself better, and and and it comes to a point where you have to want help more than you want the comfort. And I've just chosen in life where I really want to get better than I want comfort.
Speaker 2And you and I spoke this morning. You and I had a short conversation. I'm a firm believer of this. I don't think our goal in life is to seek comfort, and I think a lot of people will disagree with that. They think life should be comfortable, we should seek happiness and we should seek happiness, but comfort is not the route to happiness.
Transforming Trauma into Purpose
Speaker 2I don't believe that, because when we seek comfort, we could seek comfort and find comfort every day, or at least we could appear that we found comfort by sitting around and watching TV, eating bad foods, putting bad things into our bodies alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, whatever it might be that is seeking comfort. But is it really comfort? I think when we seek comfort we don't ever really find it. But when we seek voluntary adversity, when we do the things like you said get up in the morning a little bit earlier and do the things that are harder to become a better version of yourself each day then at the end of that day we can reward ourselves with some comfort, and it's earned comfort. And I think earned comfort is what we really do all seek in society. But what we're trying to do is we're trying to bypass the earned part and just get the comfort. But there's no comfort unless you work to get it, unless you work to earn it, unless you do the extra miles you write a little extra on your book, you spend more time with your family, you do the things that make you a little uncomfortable, potentially, or you don't feel you have time to do, and you do those to better yourself or others, and then the comfort is earned. And I think that's where, when you and I talk we've met face-to-face a few times you do have a. You know you're a big guy, you're I don't know, six, three, I don't know what the hell. You're taller than I am. I have a couple like two, three inches. You have a fairly strong presence. You've got the big, long, flowing beard, but you come across as calm and there's this calm demeanor about you in the way you talk, the way you present yourself, the way you carry yourself, and I think that is earned comfort because you've worked, not just that morning by running, how many miles you've run, or going to the gym, but it's also the years of difficulty you put yourself through, the times you've taken yourself out of your comfort zone voluntarily, whether it's through running or through work or through your family. That brings a calm, confident demeanor to a person.
Speaker 2I firmly believe that you can tell a person who's anxious a lot and nervous a lot and they never seem comfortable in their own skin. They never seem comfortable in their own skin Almost, not always, but a good amount of the time. You can probably guess that person probably doesn't practice a lot of voluntary adversity. You know, they're up in the morning. They're getting up when the alarm goes off, pushing snooze two or three times. They're grumbling on their way to the office. They're grumbling through work. They come home, they eat, they watch a little TV, they go to bed. And they watch a little TV. They go to bed and they just don't stop and say wait a minute.
Speaker 2How can I be a better version of myself today? Well, the first thing is you can just get up when your alarm goes off. That's the first thing every single day that you can do to practice volunteer adversity is don't hit the snooze button. That's 101. And if you can't do that, just do that tomorrow. You know, just get up when the alarm goes off.
Speaker 2Three, two, one, get up and get out of bed. That's something. Make your bed right away. Maybe do five sit-ups, maybe take a 15-second cold shower after you've taken your regular shower. It's just doing anything, and that's the thing is start, little folks, don't start by doing 50-mile races. If you're 99.99% of the same population, you're not going to do a 50 mile or a hundred mile race. But you can do those things to get started. There's something you know and I'm going to kind of promote the um, the uh poultry leadership podcast, right now Cause you. One of the guests you had on recently that I listened to was Aaron Ralston and for those who don't know, aaron Ralston is the um, has the book, was copied between a rock and a hard place and he was played by James Franco in the movie 127 Hours and I'm assuming most of you have seen it or heard of it where he was a mountaineer who got trapped between a rock and he had to unfortunately take a I think it was a Swiss Army knife, wasn't it, brandon?
Speaker 3Yeah, a really cheap knockoff version of a Swiss Army knife.
Speaker 2Yeah, so the kind you get at you find at a gas station for $3.99. And so the kind you get at you find at a gas station for $3.99. And he had to saw his own arm off to get away and to save his life, and I don't remember his quote. Do you remember what he said about that moment?
Speaker 3It was a defining moment in his life of some sort. Well, what's interesting is, you know, he's not just the guy who cut his arm off, he's the guy who cut off, he's the guy smiling while cutting his arm off. And that's the defining moment of his life, when he could look back and see all the joy and the gratefulness of all the people that had affected him, that gave him the motivation to, you know, survive a hundred and some hours before he hiked six miles out of the canyon after he cut his arm off. But you know, that's the moving message that really Aaron shares as well, as sometimes you have to amputate the things in life that are killing you. And so those are the two main messages that Aaron shares in the story. But life doesn't get any easier for Aaron. He's got to continue with healing and more adversity from there.
Speaker 2Well, that correlated to what you said and you came across it. You went across it real quickly when you talked about, you know, when you were in the car accident and you said it was one of the best events of my life, but I didn't know it yet. Can you share what that means?
Speaker 3Well, at that time in my life, I was very, very selfishly focused on one thing, and that was becoming an ultra marathon runner that people would recognize. And in terms of running, running, running if you met me on the street, you'd know me, I would talk Within 30 seconds I was bringing up a marathon or an ultra marathon or something like that, where today I don't really hardly talk about it much, but what I found was I was struggling with my identity, I was struggling with purpose, I was destroying my marriage, because when you train as hard as you have to train for an ultra marathon and you do it basically without considering your wife and child, at the time it becomes, you know, very unhealthy and so, um, the night of my accident, I you know one of the things that I recall was just 30 minutes before my accident happened I'm eating donuts, something I shouldn't be eating. You know, as I trained, you know I just got done running this race I shouldn't be eating. I just prayed God, help me become healthy, and I was thinking, you know, okay, if God's going to answer this prayer, it's a very selfish prayer, but it's going to be about helping me find something to eat other than donuts. Well, he answered that 30 minutes later, when I'm not able to eat donuts unless they're juiced and mushed and put in through a straw into the opening in my face. And so I thought initially that the best part of this was the fact that I was going to lose weight. I did. I lost a lot of weight, which makes ultra running a lot easier.
Speaker 3But again, my focus is back on ultra running, and what ended up happening with this is that accident caused me to rely on my wife a lot more. She had to navigate the whole home side of things. When I wasn't working and when I'm not active, I'm not a very happy person. I was trying to be joyful to everybody, but I wasn't necessarily, and when I'm not active, I'm not a very happy person. I was trying to be joyful to everybody, but I wasn't necessarily always joyful to her.
Speaker 3But in the end, if I fast forward a couple of years, I became a lot healthier, and why I say it was the best part of my life is the best event that could have happened was it was shocking.
Seeking Growth Over Comfort
Speaker 3It was able to make me rely on others, rely on my wife, which, in turn, helped heal our marriage, which, financially, you know when you're involved in a car accident, um, and there's, you know, the other person's fault. There's there's legal things, and I was able to get a settlement, and the timing of that settlement is what led me to Ethiopia, which allowed me to me to Ethiopia, which allowed me, to me and my wife, to adopt our son from Ethiopia, and and there's so many other moments that occurred that I can look back on that event being the the defining event in my adult life. That is a foundational moment for why it was the best day of my life. Had I had that, not that not happened, I don't know. You know I couldn't rewrite the story. I don't know what God had planned for me outside of that event, but I'm very thankful for that event and, you know, breaking my face and nearly, you know, being killed was what it took to rock my world and become healthy. Then it was the best day of my life.
Speaker 2I think that's one of those messages that so many people can benefit from. I know for me, listening to that, I look back at myself, and you and I talked about this this morning a little bit too. I think. When you go through a difficulty we all go through them. It may not be a car accident that causes your jaw to be wired shut with concussions and broken ribs. It may be a divorce or a bankruptcy, or a financial scare, or a health scare, or problems with a teenage child. It could be a number of things that we go through and we do wish that pain away. We do. When we're going through it, we wish we didn't have to go through it, or if a loved one is experiencing it, we wish they didn't have to. But you don't go through any moment in life, especially those defining moments, and come out the same person, because you either become stronger or you become weaker. Because it does affect you and so many people I think far too many people allow those incidents in life, those moments, to conquer them, to defeat them, and they, they come out withered and and and and feeling less of a person, a man or a woman. But it's those people and it's you, it's the the many of the bamboo pack audience right now who have been able to say wait a minute, this is either the best or the worst moment of my life and it's up to me to choose. I mean, I look back in the things that happened to me when I was a young boy and I, you know, I I wouldn't wish that on anybody and I but I'm just say I'm glad I went through it. I don't know if that's what I can say, but I'll tell you it's afforded me to be the person I am today, and I know I wouldn't be. Maybe I'd be a better person, maybe I'd be a worse person, I don't know, but I like who I am and to go back and change it. I was talking to a gentleman the other day and we were talking about if you were given the opportunity, if somebody said, go back and fix the three biggest three things in your past, or take a million dollars. What would you take those? Because if you're happy with the person you are today and you're forging every day to get better and better, you're still not the man or woman you want to be, but you're becoming that person by day. If you go back and change one thing. You're not that person today. Take the million dollars and just keep becoming a better person. But I just think that that's so inspiring for those person out there.
Speaker 2So I'm going to talk directly to that one audience member right now who is right now going through something difficult or has in the past and is still wallowing in that disappointment or that self-pity or that pain, is to take that moment, that experience you had or maybe are going through right now, and ask how can I make this an impetus, how can this be the solid rocket booster to my launch, to get me to the next level of life? Because it's in there and every single thing we go through in life, every difficulty, every difficulty has an incredible lesson and an incredible benefit. But when we're stuck in it, at that moment, we oftentimes don't see it. But it's at that moment or shortly thereafter where we have to look and say what is it? What was I trying to be taught? What was the universe? What was God trying to teach me? What value did I get out of this? How does this make me a better person? How can I turn around and make sure nobody else experiences this again? How can I use my story, my experience, to inspire others, the next generation, my family, my children, my friends.
Speaker 2And I think that's exactly what you've done, brandon, and I think the most impressive thing I've heard so far is that story of you walking alongside that woman. That boggles my mind. I mean to think that you had to be uncomfortable. I mean number one you're running 50 miles. Number two your jaw's wired shut. You're not getting the same nutritional value that other people are getting at the pit star, at the whatever stations are called the food stations or the rest stations, and yet you took them a moment to inspire a woman and I'll guarantee I would guess if I were to talk to her today she'd say that was a defining moment in her life is having a strange man who talked funny, who couldn't eat oranges, actually walking alongside me and keeping me going. I mean, that's how you spread love right there, man. That's how you spread inspiration and love around the world, and you did it and you still do it.
Speaker 3Well, brian, one of the things that you know, you, you, you hit on a lot of great things through there is when you're down and you're struggling and you're in the fire it's sometimes to get out of that fire is to look left, look right and say, is there somebody I can help? Because what it does is it totally changes your perspective of what you're going through to say, okay, maybe I'm in this valley because there's somebody else in the valley with me, and it stops taking the focus on you and you get to now put that focus on somebody else. And that is the key question that you know, because when you're down, it hurts. When you're broken, it hurts. When you're lost somebody, it hurts. When you look back at your childhood trauma, it hurts and you can't. None of that's not real. That's all real.
Speaker 3And to say that you know, magically, you have this ability, that you know that I have an ability to look at things differently, um, you know, I did have hope in it and I was very quick to self-evaluate and ask the questions how can I make this, how can I help somebody else through this instead of me just being suffering in it? It's like, how can I make, you know, help somebody else in this, and that's the thing that changed my life in it, because it could have been the worst thing that happened to me. It could have destroyed my marriage, it could have destroyed so many things, but it didn't. And that's the key. That is, when you're in it. Sometimes you just have to go. Okay, I'm in it. Now, look beside me, is there somebody else I can help?
Speaker 2Because I'm here for a reason and sometimes we overlook that and I don't think there's anything more powerful when you're in pain. If you're in a painful moment in your life and you can serve another person, it is one of the greatest venues for getting out of that almost self-pity that we fear. Because I think when you are in pain and I can speak from practice on this, my own experience when I'm in pain in the past, that's when I became the most self-centered, because self-pity and self-centeredness they go hand in hand. And I wish I had learned at a younger age that when I wasn't going through painful moments, that if I could look around and see who I can assist, who can I inspire, who can I? I can assist, who can I inspire? Who can I just walk alongside? You know, I know that would have pulled me out of those depth, those dark moments that I should, that I've had in my life. Thankfully I get to hang around with people like you and you can teach me these things. So now I don't have that self-pity as much and I'm a lot more selfless when I'm going through dark moments.
Resistance and Overcoming Mental Barriers
Speaker 2And it does, it pulls you out. And dark moments and it does, it pulls you out and it could be even literally. It can be. If you're going through a dark moment right now, go serve in a soup kitchen, go adopt a family at Christmas, go walk down to a homeless shelter and pass out some pieces of pizza. It could be anything. Volunteer somewhere, talk to somebody who give a shoulder or an ear to somebody who's going through something, and ear to somebody who is going through something, and maybe even what they're going through may not be as dark and deep as yours, but by just assisting another human being, wow, it just gives you a sense of hey, you know what. We're all in this battle together Because none of us are going to get through life unscathed and unharmed. We're all going to come back. We're all going to end with battle scars, and just at different times. You know, your battle scars came at this time, mine come at this time. But when you can help somebody to heal those scars a little bit, it helps your own heal much more effectively, that's for sure.
Speaker 2I have a question. You've heard me since yesterday as I texted you this book and I'm really getting to this book, the War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I share with you, brandon. I've read this in audience. I would recommend this book to anybody If you're going through anything in life, if you're trying to accomplish some things in life and you find yourself stuck.
Speaker 2The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I read it several years ago when it came out, liked it but put it back on my shelf. And then this book. I've been hearing about others talking about this book in different avenues in my life, and so I thought, well, maybe I'll reorder it. And I did. It came Sunday night and I've been devouring this book, and he talks in there about resistance.
Speaker 2And resistance is that thing that we feel. It is self-imposed, it's almost like an internal demon that is there to stop us from reaching our higher selves. It can become the form of many things. Procrastination is a prime one. It can become in the form of addictions. It can become a form of hollow sex. It can become in the form of watching needless TV. Anything that stops you or hinders you or distracts you from doing the things that you need to do to become a better version of yourself is a resistance. So, brandon, I'm asking you you've obviously, as you've, run the 50s and the 100s and the marathons and all the things you've done what type of resistance have you faced, or maybe you still face and how do you deal with that?
Speaker 3That's a great question, brian. It's. You know the resistance comes in to me comfort when I mean you mentioned all the different things you know eating, bad drinking, all these things. I've gone back to a lot of it and it it was sort of kind of comfortable, but I got complacent. I got to the fact that I wasn't comfortable in that in those moments anymore. Being comfortable, um, I'm not a good person to sit, I'm not a good person to just chill, I'm not a good person to just chill, and so you know being in that moment of comfort, so the resistance is there.
Speaker 3I mean, there's so many different things, the voices in our heads that say, you know, for example, with the podcast, you know why you, you know what good do you have to bring to the industry and just getting over it, getting through it and being able to push through, which is tough. But once you're aware that there's an enemy sitting at your table, putting these thoughts in your head, trying to keep you from being the most successful version of yourself, you start to, you know, kind of pick back up where you left off and you say, hey, you know what I identified. That was the enemy sitting there. You know the resistance because probably, if the enemy's causing resistance or something greater, there's something greater that's about to happen or something. If I obey and get things done, then you know, then things are gonna, you know, be where I need to be and not listening to the resistance in my head.
Speaker 2And so? So the point is, everybody, Brandon Molnix, who's run all these races one with his jaw and wired shut has been on runner's world magazine, has been quoted and and cap his story been captured throughout the nation and across across the across the globe as well. He, just like you, just like me, faces resistance, and sometimes we give into resistance, even at a high level, like Brandon's. We give into resistance. I give into resistance more often than I want to. But the idea is to recognize what is your resistance and to keep fighting it. Because the problem with it? It only gets stronger If you let it go, if you let it win. It gets stronger If you keep battling it. It gets weaker, and weaker, and weaker. But then at a moment it finds the second wind. Resistance does, and it shines up and it fights you with more power and might than it ever has. And that is almost always when you're near the end of where your goal is. You're just about to cross over that precipice and hit your goals and achieve your marks. That's when resistance comes even stronger. So you battle it down, you think it's gone and then all of a sudden, as soon as it comes back, you get close to your goal. It becomes stronger because now it knows you're literally killing it. So it gets a second wind. And unfortunately that's when a lot of people quit and they don't realize that final push from resistance, that final battle it had in it is only a sign that you're right on the cusp of achieving your goals and hitting that mark.
Speaker 2And the thing about I like about in this book Brandon he talks about resistance. Obviously, resistance is self-imposed. We create it in our minds. But there's also, once we begin to battle our own resistance and become a better version of ourselves whether it's you're making more money, you're happier in your marriage, you're in better physical condition, you're in better financial shape than you've ever been to then oftentimes resistance comes from the outward, from the external.
Speaker 2It comes from family and friends and people around us who start to judge us and judge you because you are becoming a better version of yourselves. They almost have this how dare you change? Who do you think you are? They start to impose different battles externally that aren't yours to fight, and those are the ones that can be very dangerous, especially when they come from ones we love and cherish in our lives. And it's not that they're trying to tear us down. It's just that their resistance is kicking in. Their internal resistance is kicking in and they're projecting it onto you, because when they look at you at a higher level of life, they're not looking at you and judging you because they don't want you to be a better version of yourself, but when they look at you, what they see is reflection back on themselves and they see the person they're not becoming.
Morning Routines and Final Wisdom
Speaker 2And so we have to be able to fight our own resistances but then also be able to deal with other people's resistances projected onto us down the road. So it's a battle, man, and you can see why so many people stay in their comfort zones because it is a battle out there. It's a wild, wild west jungle book kind of battle. When you're out there trying to become a better version of yourself, it's not easy. It's the hardest thing any man or woman or child can go through, and, Brandon, you're an example of that. You fight it every day. Thanks, brian. I always thought you were past resistances. I never thought you had any more Every day. So I know you talked recently about you became complacent, kind of. In the recent past. You said you became a little complacent, you weren't running as much and things like that. I know we've talked about it on our Tuesday phone calls. How did you feel when you felt you were just kind of kind of maybe losing that edge a little bit?
Speaker 3Well it it. It's disheartening for sure. When you go from you know, just a few years ago, getting back into running races and doing the things and challenging myself physically and mentally, and then all of a sudden, just out of the blue, an injury pops up and you know, you start right back over. I mean, I can run 50 miles, 50 miles and my jaw wears shut, but a stretching calf injury that all I had to do was stretch and it went away, kept me off the off the trails for six months and then just to get back, um, back to that.
Speaker 3But what I learned about myself through this last period of time is sometimes it's okay to shift focuses enough where you're, you're changing your body.
Speaker 3So I just jumped into classes and and started having somebody else plan my physical training instead of me just hitting the treadmill or hitting the trail, just getting, you know, having somebody else, just you do the thinking and I'm just going to do the exercising.
Speaker 3And what that did is allowed me to um, I don't know, build a new community um with some other guys that are in the same class that I am and also just kind of, you know, refresh the other muscles in my life, which goes on to say is you? You know, if I'm solely focused on running, all I'm doing is using the same muscles, um, in business. So if I'm only focused on the same problem, you know I might be running into, you know, being disheartened and trying to try to get that done. But what about the other muscles in my body that are weak because I'm solely focused on that particular goal? And so throughout the you know whether it's a car accident caused me to? You know, stretch some extra muscles, build, rebuild relationships. You need to make my other muscles healthy and then maybe my running muscles will, you know, hopefully keep me from, you know, getting it back into that board dark place of, of complacency, or is to say, comfort, because getting up at four, 30 every morning is not comfortable for me.
Speaker 2No, it's not. Well, it goes back to something that we, you know, we've talked a lot about on the show here is the choosing your pain in life, the pain of the work or the pain of regret. And you can't escape pain in life. I mean, you just can't. Life is pain, let's call it what it is, and we have to choose the pain we're going to experience.
Speaker 2And getting up at 430 in the morning is choosing the pain of work, especially in Michigan, you know, when it's 10 below zero in the wintertime and the wind is whipping and you're underneath a down comforter, sleeping next to someone you love and the bed is warm, and man, staying in bed an extra hour, that's comfort, that is a lot of comfort. But and that's the problem, when you choose the pain of work and hard work, when you do it, you are instantly punished because you're up, feeling discomfort, you're running, you're in the gym, you're drawing, you're running, you're in the gym, you're drawing, you're writing, you're doing whatever you do early in the morning, and so you're instantly punished for it. But then, when you're done, you have an eternal reward where, when you stay in bed, you were instantly rewarded for it, because you get that extra hour of comfort and warmth, snuggling up to someone you care about, or even if you're alone, you snuggle up to your dog, your cat, whatever. But then when you finally do get out of bed, you feel the pain of regret, and that's eternal too, because you never get that moment back. You never get that hour back. And that's a tough one, man. And that's why I say people start small. Just get up when your alarm goes off, just do that. And if that's the first thing, maybe do five crunches, five pushups, whatever. Just start small, doing a couple things every day that take you out of your comfort zone. Maybe start with one thing a day and then add to that every week.
Speaker 2Over time you will be practicing on a consistent basis voluntary adversity. You might never run a 100-mile race with your jaw wired shut. You might never make Runner's World magazine and hopefully you'll never have to saw your arm off in a, caught in a in a, in a crevice in a rock. But you will become a better version of yourself. And one of the things, brandon, I don't you. I know you work out early in the morning, so you practice your, your voluntary adversity early in the morning, which I think there's a benefit to that. But whether you practice in the morning, night, afternoon, it's going to work.
Speaker 2But what I like about doing difficult things in the morning is it gives you a little confidence for the rest of the adversity you face during the day, because life is nothing but a bunch of involuntary adversity. We're throwing adversity at us from external sources throughout the day. Things come up, pop up. We can't control those external sources. Throughout the day, things come up, pop up. We can't control those. But the way we can minimize their impact on us is by doing something in the morning that's challenging to us, because then we can say, hey, I got through that, I can get through this. It gives you a little boost of confidence and that's really sometimes. All we need to get through the day is a little extra boost. What do you think? Do you agree with that?
Speaker 3I definitely agree with that You's. You're in a good mental space when you know, for me, getting up that early in the morning and I've already done a lot got my heart rate going. Um, a lot of my best ideas for work come in that hour of working out and solving problems differently, and so, yeah, get a good jumpstart on the day, and if you work out later at night, um, more power to you.
Speaker 2At least you're doing something and yeah, I think there's no better hour in the day between between 5am and 6am. It's you know they. There's a book out there called the 5am club by Robin Sharma that I read. I've read it a couple of times and I've had clients read it and it's all about the power of the things we do in the morning dictate our days and therefore they dictate our lives. And that 5 to 6 am, it's a witching hour, man. There's nobody else up at that time, there's no text, there's no emails, there's no phone calls. It's just you against yourself, it's you versus the person you were yesterday at 5 am. And that's the time we grow and become that man Roman we want to become. And that's the time we grow and become that man Roman we want to become. So, hey, any final word or message? You want to leave with the bamboo pack, my friend.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean to go along with what you've been saying is just get started. I mean, I've heard that you know the first step is to work it out, is just to drive to the gym. The next step is to walk through the door. Take it one step at a time. Don't take any fitness advice from me. The next step is to walk through the door. Take it one step at a time. Don't take any fitness advice from me, only the fact that I've always done everything, not by the book.
Speaker 3So find your own journey if it comes to fitness, find your own journey when it comes to life, but always strive to make yourself a little bit better every day and by the end of the year you're a much better person and you can look back um. But the key is is with everything you do, even voluntary adversity, make sure you're giving back um. Last thing I wanted you know on my tombstone was wow, I worked hard, or while I was a runner, man. I hope my tombstone says man, he gave everything to everybody else. And that's what's most important to me is just to make sure that you're serving others more than yourself and find your purpose through that.
Speaker 2I can't imagine a better way to end today's podcast. Brother, you are more than a friend to me and I hope you know that I'm so blessed over the past couple of years of how you and I can talk incredibly serious on some subjects but at the same time give each other shit through text the next day, and that's the kind of friendship I value very much. So thank you so much for being my brother, my friend and being such an amazing guest on the Bamboo Lab podcast.
Speaker 3Thank you, Brian. Appreciate the brotherhood as well You're a good man.
Speaker 2All right, everyone. Thank you for tuning in this week. We'll see you next week, same time, same place, and please get out there and strive to give and be your best. Show love and respect to yourself and, like Brandon said, give it back, share it with others and just live purposely, live with intention and whatever you're doing we talk about voluntary adversity. The best advice, brandon said it already whatever it is, just get started. Until next time, know that I appreciate each and every single one of you. Bye-bye.
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