The Bamboo Lab Podcast
"Ordinary people doing extraordinary things!"
The Bamboo Lab Podcast
"Stronger Circles, Stronger Self" with Anthony Johnson
What if one hard thing a day could change your life? Not a grand gesture—just a cold shower, a 45-minute walk in the sleet, or a two-minute meditation before opening your inbox. That simple shift became the turning point for our guest, Anthony Johnson, who opens up about anxiety, loss, and how a season of discipline rebuilt his confidence from the ground up.
We dig into the power of the right people—those who celebrate your wins, support you when it’s heavy, and challenge you when you drift. Anthony shares how he traded energy drainers for a tribe of “illuminators,” the men and women who keep him honest and inspired. You’ll hear the “food vs. poison” framework for relationships, a three-part litmus test for your inner circle, and a reminder that fit matters more than labels. When your environment lifts you, consistency becomes natural.
Identity gets practical here. We walk through daily “I am” statements tied to your key roles and core values, a simple power list to win the day, and breathwork plus meditation to quiet the noise before it gets loud. Stoicism threads through the conversation—Marcus Aurelius, The Obstacle Is The Way, and the timeless nudge to return to the present. We also swap book recommendations that sharpen judgment and courage, from The War of Art to Man’s Search for Meaning.
At the heart of this episode is love: loving your people, loving the work of becoming, and protecting the “golden goose” that lays the eggs you care about most—purpose, respect, freedom, and real connection. If you’re ready to tighten your circle, speak to your future self with conviction, and stack small, hard wins, this is your blueprint. Listen, try one hard thing today, and tell us what you chose. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with three friends who are ready to level up.
https://bamboolab3.com/
Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your host, Peak Performance Coach Brian Posley. Are you stuck on the hamster wheel of life, spinning and spinning, but not really moving forward? Are you ready to jump off and store? 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 www.bamboolab3.com.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome everyone to this week's episode of the Bamboo Lab Podcast. I I'm really excited for this guest we have on today. Uh three, four months ago, I was introduced to him by a mutual friend of ours, and um right away we we spent like an hour on the phone and had this amazing conversation, and it was really uncanny the the amount of coincidences we have in our life, the similarities between our lives, the way we live our lives, our past um, you know, our younger selves, the way we, you know, work on body, mind, spirit, soul, whatever. And it was right away we connected. It was like one of those things where you're like, okay, I feel like I've known this guy for 10 years. So without further ado, I'm not going to go a big introduction. Anthony Johnson, my friend, I'm honored, I'm honored to welcome you to the Bamboo Lab Podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Ryan, thank you so much for the introduction. I am very, very excited to be here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you're welcome, brother. Um okay, so I've gotten to know you really well over the last uh, you know, three or four months, but can you please share with the audience members out there a little bit about yourself, your family, your childhood, uh, whatever you want to share?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, figure let's start from the beginning. So I am native to the Twin Cities, Minneapolis, St. Paul area. I was actually born and raised in Minneapolis, and I'm the middle child. So I have an older sister and a younger brother. And in my younger years, my father was a city cop. So he was the police officer on the north side of Minneapolis, which is a pretty rough and tumble part of town. So therefore, he was a pretty rough and rugged individual. And at that time, my mother was stay at home due to some unfortunate events. My dad left the house when I was about seven years old. So I was raised by my mom, which um I had to grow up pretty quick in a pretty tough environment as well. Um, so happy to expand more on my childhood and some of the trials and tribulations and what that entailed. But uh fast forward, I also became a father at a very young age as well. I was 22 years old when Isaac was brought into the world, and he is uh he is one of my shining stars. And he is now, again, 19 years old. He is at Minnesota State Mankato, studying his first year at college to be in construction management, and he's he's doing quite well. So I love it. Uh that's a brief little bit of my background.
SPEAKER_01:Those are just two more things we have in common. Both lost their fathers to in one way, shape, or form at a young age, raised by moth single mothers, strong single mothers, and both were parents' fathers at a young age. It just a lot of grown up. Yeah, a lot of grown up. But man, just the similarities, it's so strange. I'm I've got to give a shout-out to Dave Dick for re for introducing us as friends. Absolutely. Okay, can you tell us a little bit? I you know, I'm so impressed by the man that you are and just the way you live life. And and you know, I'll share with the audience when you listen to Anthony's story today and his journey and his wisdom. I I'm just gonna ask you, who is your Anthony in your life? Because he is the kind of person that you want to surround yourself with. He's the man that you want in your corner, he's the man you want to be able to call at two in the morning, he's the man whose phone you uh call you need to answer every day. Um, so think about who is your Anthony. Um, so without that, I'm gonna find out what who or what event or book or person inspired you growing up.
SPEAKER_02:Growing up, I would uh I would put that uh number one would be Mr. Strand. He was my teacher in elementary school, and he was my teacher in fourth and fifth grade, and that is shortly after uh my father left the home. So I was in a a pretty tough situation. I had a pretty supreme lack of confidence. Um, I was struggling a lot with school, with uh anger and resentment. And he kind of served as a father figure type of role. He would hold me after class, he would teach me things, he would um really help me understand how to maneuver through some of the pitfalls that I was going through. So he was just a very, very, very much a focal point in my younger years and kind of a fun story is uh fifth grade at the end of fifth grade is when I moved away from the cities out to the suburbs, but he actually canceled all of class for that last day, and it was just uh an Anthony day. So it was pretty special. But after class, he pulled me aside and he said, Anthony, I believe in you. You need to believe in yourself, and when you do, you will accomplish great things. And that's I'll never forget that and getting chills, even just talking about it. But that carried throughout my life, and I'd um I always remember back to the to Mr. Strand and what he meant for me. Kind of an interesting story, and I'd encourage any listeners to do this as well is if you have a teacher, whether it was an elementary school, high school, college, whatever, that was near and dear to your growth, to reach back out to them and thank them. So through the powers of the Google machine, I somehow found Mr. Strand, and who had long since been retired, and I threw a Hail Mary out there. I found an email address. I said, Hey, is this Mr. Strand? He used to teach at this elementary school. He rolled back, he said, Yes, this is. Who is this? I said, It's Anthony Johnson. Do you remember me? And he ended up, we ended up chatting over the telephone and brought tears to his eyes that you know the this young child that he took some extra attention to reached back out to him after about 30 years. And we stay connected to this day as well, and it was just really special. So he, while I had a father figure absent in the household, you know, a teacher came into my situation and helped foster a lot of my growth, and that was pretty special. So he was a major, major inspiration person.
SPEAKER_01:Mr. Strand is still with us today.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:I hope he listens to this.
SPEAKER_02:He'll get a copy of it.
SPEAKER_01:I'd love to make sure of that. We need a you know, we not only do we need Mr. Strands in our lives, we also all have to be a Mr. Strand. Yeah, to be that person who down the road somebody looks back 30 years later and says, Here's the man who inspired me. Here's the woman who inspired me. Um, I had a Mr. Frank Alec. Mr. Alec was my second, third, or first and second degree. I think a second and third grade teacher. I had him two years in a row at Grow Cap Elementary School, and he was mine. So five or six years ago, I got I called him and I think my mother gave me his phone number. He's still in my hometown. He's retired now. I didn't get a chance to talk with him. I spoke with his wife, and I told her to just tell Mr. Alec, you know, who I am, what grade I had. You know, I was his first he was right out of college, so I was one of his first students ever. I was in the first classroom ever had. And um I just said I wanted to let him know that he changed my life. And uh I and I think I heard back from him. I don't know. It seemed like there was a voicemail or a text or something back from him after that saying how much it meant to him. So it's good for us to do that. Reach out to tell people who made a big difference in your life because you know it's just sending out those good vibes to the universe and they come back to you, you know. Yes, they do. It shows a it's a way of showing appreciation. Um, I had an interesting story. I was out, I was watching football with Dawson, obviously my son on Saturday, and over the course of the day, friends just kind of join, you know. And I was talking to this couple, and I'm gonna shout out to uh uh Patsy and Alex. I'm gonna embarrass them a little bit, but nobody knows who they are on this podcast. And I want I'm gonna send them a copy. Uh they were talking about the podcast and how they like to listen to it when they're going to bed at night when they can't sleep. Like, you know, when we can't sleep, we put on your podcast. I'm like, you realize that that's not exactly the greatest endorsement for my podcast. It's like it's so basically to some people, this podcast is just a cure for insomnia. But I I I I did mention I did I make made a mark in my brain said I'm gonna make a shout out to them on on uh on the next show. And uh hopefully when they're listening to this, they're they won't be asleep yet because we're only 20 minutes. I had to say it real early into the in the interview.
SPEAKER_00:I love it.
SPEAKER_01:So, brother, let me ask you, in you know, in the last 12 months or 20, whatever, in the last in the recent past, um what would you say is your greatest learning, or at least one of your greatest learnings?
SPEAKER_02:The past uh 12 months or a couple years, so I um candidly I struggle, I've always struggled a lot with anxiety and depression and falling in and out of routine. So I'm either running a million miles a minute, like I'm on fire, or I'm on the polar opposite end of that, where I'm I'm struggling mightily. So it's just a battle of anxiety, depression, etc. And uh happy to get deeper into this, but I had a life-changing event a couple years ago where I had a very ex-pressed friend that passed away. And I was in a pretty low moment um moving into uh about this time last year. And I, you know, it's true what they say that you are a direct reflection of the the five people you the five closest people you surround yourself with. So throughout my life, I've been able to shed a lot of leaves or friends or acquaintances that weren't helping push me in the right direction. And there's a couple individuals in particular that asked me to participate with them in the 75 Hard program, which I think you're familiar with, Brian. Yeah. Right. Okay. So the 75 Hard program, it's it's uh it is discipline 101, but basically the program is 75 straight days where you are committed to um adhering to a set of rules, six rules in particular. So it's working out two times a day for 45 minutes, one inside, one outside, uh, each of those 45 minutes, reading a book at least 10 pages a day, drinking a gallon of water, taking a daily progress picture, uh following a specific diet, no cheat meals, no sugar, no alcohol, et cetera. And say you're 45 days into that and you have a beer or miss a workout. And keep in mind I live in Minnesota and it was around this time last year, moving into December. So there were a couple days where it was negative temperatures, and I'm outside jumping rope or jogging, etc. But I accomplished that program, and that sets a trajectory into this year where I have gained so much confidence and understanding of myself, what my abilities are, how to that I thrive in a routine, and to, and I'd say bigger than that too, how when you are paying attention to your physical well-being, your mental well-being, your emotional well-being, that everything starts to fall into place. Because again, coming into this, it was um, there was a lot of heavy moments after after my best friend passed away, and I was floundering, to be extremely honest. Um, so I learned a lot about grit, a lot about discipline, a lot about trusting myself, um, and the the power of having influential individuals in your friend circle to continue pushing you towards your dreams or your goals. I think that was extremely pivotal, and I I've learned a lot in the last 12 months. And it really started with with that program, believe it or not.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's I I really want to talk for a minute on this, who you associate with, how much how important that is. I think that's a message we can't get out enough. Um, I will tell you right now, I'm on day 39 with no with no beer.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, guy.
SPEAKER_01:I don't miss it at all. I have no I have don't I don't even I don't even think about it. I don't miss it. I I went out with Dawson to watch football all day Saturday. We are we are out for 11 hours on Saturday, and I had, I think I counted, well, I I I I stopped counting at 12, but I know I had a couple more, so 14, 15 non-alcoholic beers.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:Just to stay social. And I'll tell you what, I I'll probably never have another one again. No, I think I've I've OD'd on non-alcoholic beers, man. Yeah. But um I well, you know, I just I just don't have the desire. I've just I what one of the things I look at, like the 75 Hard program or any type of because you know, very, very structured, routine, consistent program that we either you know follow somebody else's or we create ourselves. When you get into it, like you just don't want to break it. Like there's there's no point because there's so much more dopamine release and so much more pleasure out of doing the things that are hard, doing the things that that that uh challenge you than there is getting drinking beer. You know, I you know, that you going back on that, um you know, the question uh I'll I'd like everybody to ponder for a minute is is something that Anthony and I and I talked about, I think the last couple of weeks is ask yourself a question every day. And I recommend doing this at 10 a.m. and having your alarm set on your phone um to go off at 10 o'clock. That and uh the alarm should read, what is one thing you've done that's hard already today? Well, I should I should I should say intentionally done. If you're forced to do it, it doesn't really count. Uh that you've intentionally done. And uh I've got a friend of mine that um that uh that we've I've known for my goodness, 32 years or so, and she texted me this morning, how you doing? I said, Doing well. And I texted her, yeah, I think yesterday, uh, the question, you know, what is the thing that you've done hard today? And and uh she asked me, and I told her, I said, Well, you know, I got up at five and I stretched for 15 minutes and I took a ice cold shower and and she says, Yeah, but you do those every day. And are those and so it made me ponder the question. Does it count if you do them and they're already habit? And then I realized, yeah, they do, because everything that that I do, whether it's habit or not, that's hard, I'm still afraid to death of doing it before I do it. Jumping in a cold shower, I I'm I'm afraid of it. Lifting weights, I'm afraid of getting up and doing an ab workout at five, I'm afraid of it. Like I it scares me and it terrifies me, actually. And so I I want people to think about that as if you're doing something hard and you're doing it intentionally to improve yourself or others, it doesn't matter if you if you just do it out of habit, it doesn't really, it doesn't matter as long as it's hard for you and it scares you to do it, your brain, your comfort zone is gonna stretch out of fucking control. And it's you're gonna be and you will be in 12 months. If you do one hard thing a day in 12 months, you will be unrecognizable. And the thing is, we talked about this, you and I, brother, last week. It doesn't have to be getting up and doing six minutes of planks or or taking a nice cold shower. All it can be is instead of getting up at seven, get up at 6.59 that day. Set your alarm one minute early. Instead of strolling on on YouTube or Facebook or TikTok at 7 o'clock, set your alarm for 7.05 and read from 7.07 to 7.05. Just read. Just do something. Break the paradigm, break the break the pattern um that you're in right now a little bit. That's something scary. It's something different. And you do that for a year every single day. Don't miss a day, mark it on the calendar. 365 things that terrify you, scare you, or or take you out of your comfort zone a little bit, you will be unrecognizable in one year. I believe that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I know you do. Oh, yeah, absolutely. One of my one of my life mantras is confidence is built by doing hard things. And if you're doing a hard thing a day, your confidence is continuing to grow. And again, with um a lot of my life struggle has been lack of confidence. And as I'm sure you're familiar with Brian, that the 75 Hard program, there's different levels to it. Well, there's phase number two, which is a cold shower, which used to scare the hell out of me. Like, why would anyone want to take a cold shower now? And I think we have this in common as well. But the very first thing that I do when my alarm clock goes off in the morning is I march my way into the shower, and I look at that shower head and I count down three, two, one, squeeze my cheeks, turn it on, ice blast cold right in the face. Yeah, and that is probably the worst part of my day. But everything else seems like cake afterwards, it's just easier. And of course, the health benefits associated with that, but just to get something difficult out of the way right away sets the tone for the rest of the day.
SPEAKER_01:100%. And I and I have talked to hundreds of people on this cold shower thing, and I have I don't know that I've convinced one person to do it. That's the one thing that Brian, I'll do about anything you you recommend in the coaching process, but I'd am not doing that. I'm like, it's after three to five seconds, I don't I don't notice it. I really don't. Yeah, it's that first when it first hits you, it is a oh man, it's a bucket of ice. You're basically waterboarding yourself with ice water every day. That's what it is. I've never heard of like that, but I think that's accurate. Yes. It is. Or if you know, if you have a cold plunge, do that. If you have a live by a cold river or lake, jump in there. And and the thing is, again, for those people out there who are thinking, I am not doing that. Well, then take your regular shower and then at the last five seconds, turn it on cold and then turn it back to morning. Then go to five six seconds and seven, and over the course of weeks, just go up to the point where your whole shower is just ice cold water. And it's because it really is only it's really the first, it's like anything else. It's the first few seconds of it that are bad. After that, you're clicking along, man. So all right. So I I do want to touch on a topic that you brought up a minute ago, but I do want to ask you this question because I don't like to miss this question in case we go off on a tangent, Anthony. Um, what would you say is one of the most difficult things you've ever gone through in your life? And maybe you've already talked about it with your father. Um, I don't know. And then what caused you to scale that wall and overcome it or get through it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So I I've I've made reference that my best friend passed away um a couple years ago and he died uh from uh alcohol abuse. And that was hopefully for a very long period of time. The last um close friend of mine that has passed away. But from the time I was 21 until, or there was a period of time from the time I was 21 years old, so I was in my mid-30s, where I had 12 very close friends, including two of my best friends pass away. So there's been a lot of tragedy and just uh premature death in my circle here. And that has rocked my boats because you know, each situation was different, but I'd always try to be the strong person out of the group for their families, for the friend circles, for whatever the case is, and you know, really just hold the emotion in and again just kind of be the strong individual. So therefore, I never really got to mourn the losses or have a deeper understanding of how that has impacted me and the way that I carry that weight. And this ties back into the comment that I made earlier about your direct reflection of the individuals that you keep closest. Um for the majority of my life, I was running with the wrong circles. You know, the the friends or the acquaintances that I'd surround myself with were more energy suckers as opposed to illuminators. And I never felt like I could completely be myself, be vulnerable, be Anthony Johnson, just raw. And otherwise I'd get judged or whatever the case is. So um it's kind of an interesting story, and it revolves around my dog, but this is around COVID time coming out of COVID when things were opening back up. And there was this doggy daycare center in uh in Twin Cities here that opened, and there was a gentleman that owns this, that owns the place, and he came out, gave me a warm handshake. We developed into more of a more or less acquaintances. And there was one, I guess, day in particular where I was just in a really rough spot. I brought uh our dog Jackson into doggy daycare, and Ryan comes around the corner and greets me, and then I get a text message from him uh later that evening saying, Hey, what are you doing on Monday morning at 5 o'clock a.m. I was like, I'm probably sleeping. What's going on? And at that time I was struggling with uh chemical dependency issues myself. And he says, Well, why don't you come hang out with a group of uh go-getters, illuminators? We meet every Monday morning, we do hot tub, cold tub, sauna, butter coffee, et cetera, and we just we talk about life and bring each other up. So I got integrated with this community, and now this community serves as my friend circle, and it has allowed me to be, again, just the authentic Anthony that I've always either ran away from, hid from, whatever the case is, or maybe just didn't even really understand who I was internally. And throughout the years, I've been able to peel back those layers. And there was one period in time, and again, this was about last summer, shortly after my friend passed away, where we were, they were holding space for me. So we were in my friend's basement. There's about 15 of us or so, and we were just hanging out talking, and it was the first time in my life where I just let it go. I'm talking like wept, where I just felt into the anger, resentment, sadness of a lot of trials and tribulations of my life, but specifically a lot of my friends that have passed away too soon from unfortunate circumstances, and it felt like a cleansing, like just this typhoon, I don't know, wiped over me. And coming out of that, I was at peace. And that was the first, I can honestly say that was the first time in my life where I just felt free of uh a lot of the angst and struggles that I've been going through. And since then I've I've carried that momentum moving forward to be the most authentic person of myself in every situation, whether it's podcasts, when I'm meeting with clients, friends, family, I'm fiercely loyal. I love to love, but I felt like for the longest portion of my life, I was just stunted in that growth or the ability to be authentic, as authentic as I could possibly be. That's a long-winded answer to your question. Hopefully, I addressed that appropriately, but that has been um that's been huge.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you hit a nail in the head. Uh, you really did, Anthony. And this is one of the things that I struggle with a lot, uh, obviously myself and and um my clients is uh tightening your circle, you know, circling the wagons with the right people. I mean, you think about we have what eight, nine billion people on the planet, seven billion, I don't know. Why do we choose the people we choose? What you know, you know, who do we so who do we marry, who do we date, who do we hang out with, um, who do we work with, who do we employ, whatever that is. Um why? When we have such an unlimited pool of people on this planet, now I'm not saying that people around you are people around the anybody are necessarily bad people, but if you want to live a life of homeostasis, you stay with the friends that you're with right now because they that's where you will be. You will be where you in 10 years you'll be exactly where you are now, maybe with a little bit of incremental growth. But if you want to go to the next level, you have to really give a strong internal audit to yourself and your own behaviors, as well as the behaviors of the people you associate with. Because we do think that we only have a small group of people, and these people are, you know what I've learned? Yeah, losing friends is it sucks. It really does. Well, I mean, and I'm not talking about I'm talking about losing uh friends through um through uh self-selection. You know, you choose to kind of start a new group of friends, it does hurt, it really does, but the reward is amazing. I I listened to this yesterday while I was in the middle of I was rucking, and it was uh one of those stoic podcasts I always send you, you know, on stoicism. And it was talking about you don't it's not like you lose friends. He said this the author was talking, you you do lose particular friends, but as soon as you start to uh separate yourself from certain people, all of there's other people right there waiting, and they've been waiting for you. They just didn't know it, and you've been waiting for them. And I believe this, and this is people say, Well, how do you know if you have the right people? It there's a lot of gut to that. You you can feel when you're with somebody or you're talking with somebody or you're just thinking of somebody, does it make you feel like a better, stronger person, or do you kind of feel like a weaker, lesser person in their presence? And I but I think if you want to be more pragmatic about it, you could say, Okay, let's follow three rules. Does this person celebrate my successes with me? Yes or no? And then do I do the same for them? So it's back and forth. Number two, did this does this person support me when I need support? And do I support this person when they need it? The third one is the key, I think, and it's the most difficult one. But does this person challenge me when I'm being an idiot? And do I challenge them? So it's support, celebrate, challenge or celebrate, support, challenge. CSC is what I call it. And that when you put people through that litmus test, you can kind of and it isn't like you have to call people, hey, you're out of my friend group. It's not that, it's just a matter of, and maybe there are some people you have to do that to, I don't know, but it's a matter of opening your mind and your heart to people who will do those things, those people who are going to celebrate, support, and challenge you, and who people will call you out because they love you and they expect more from you. When you start associating with those people, you naturally don't have the time or the energy or the resources to associate with people who don't provide that for you, and you don't provide that for them. And in all fairness to that person you're kind of cutting out of your life, they need somebody different than you, you know, too. So, um I so so that learning that you've had, how have you used that now? Of okay, I know the importance of associating with the right people. How have you used that so people can go, all right? Uh now maybe I can try that or a portion of what Anthony does.
SPEAKER_02:How have I used that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like how have you been able to kind of upgrade your associations?
SPEAKER_02:That's a good question. I have to honor that one, Brian.
SPEAKER_01:You gonna get back with us? Yeah. Well, one of the things I did last year, or well, it'll be two years now. No, it'd be well, maybe it was, I don't know it was either a year ago or two years. I made a commitment. It was probably when I not long after I started the podcast, so maybe it was even three years ago now. I made a commitment to myself, um, um um not subjectly, we call it um um objectively, I guess. Uh consciously is the word I'm looking for consciously, that I said, I'm going to upgrade, I'm gonna begin to surround myself with really high quality people. And and that you know, doing the podcast helps because you get to you get to meet a lot of people. And um, that was probably the impetus to it when I look back on it two, three, four years ago, whatever it was. And I look at now, and what is it, October 25th, 2025. Things have dramatically changed for me in that respect. Like I get I'm obviously I'm talking to you right now. I didn't even know your name five months ago. You didn't know my name five months ago. Um and yet now we have this great relationship. We get to talk every week. We're, you know, we challenge each other, we support each other, we celebrate together, you know, we can text each other. There is such that is the key to everything. It's who you who you partner with in life, who who you date or marry, and who you associate with. And that is the secret to all success. That will determine a person's direction every single time. Do you agree?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, 100%. I think it's it's just keeping yourself open for something new. Um, a lot of when we're thinking about the the old acquaintances or friends, we do so out of comfort. You know, you you and I are avid readers, so I'm thinking about like the comfort crisis and just a lot of the perils that being comfortable has to do with life, and I think that associates with friend circles as well. So if you always say greatness happens when you step outside of your comfort zone, and I look back in hindsight, if I said no, thank you, Ryan, I am going to continue sleeping in on a Monday morning at five o'clock, thanks for the invite, but I'll pass, I would have lost that opportunity. So it's keeping yourself open and accepting new things into your life. And also, too, as you're integrating with new individuals, I always love to have a deeper understanding of what are their core values, what are their motivations, is their alignment. And if there's a decent alignment between the value sets between myself and other individuals, that's typically a recipe for a budding and terrific friendship, similar to what you and I have, where we were almost from the jump talking about our values, what's our common, um, what's our common uh denominators, and we've we're continuing to grow and it's it's special, it's great.
SPEAKER_01:It really is. I was talking to a really good friend of mine, Gino, out of uh Denver this morning, right before you and I started talking. He reminds me a lot of you. I'm gonna connect the two of you. Um actually, and I we were talking about certain how certain people's behavior is just shitty. You know, you have there are people and you're like, how do you I don't get it? And I told him, I said, I think our if you really think about it, you simplify life. Our job is to do really, it's very simple. It's find your place in the circle and give it your best. I think that key is it's the finding your place in the circle. Because if you're in the wrong circle, your best is going to be subpar. But if you're in the right circle with people who are like minded, who want to get better, who want to help other people, who you know uh are always every day striving to grow a little bit, then you're better because your best. Becomes a lot better and it just raises you and you raise them. Um the interesting story, I don't know if you ever heard the story of um back in the I would I would assume this would be the late 1800s in in Detroit, Michigan. You know, you had Henry Ford, Harvey Fire, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs, who was a world-renowned naturalist at the time. It's a crew. It's a crew. And there's a picture I always used to, when I used to do talks on this subject of I used I call it respecting the laws of food and poison. And I actually did a podcast like three years ago on this, on two or it was a two or three apart episode or episode podcast on on this of how you have to separate food people and associate with food nourishing people, and you have to get rid of the toxic poisonous people. And you can't compromise the two because if you do, poison always wins. If you allow one poisonous person in your group, they're gonna poison everybody because poison doesn't play fairly. But anyway, I always had I would always put on the back in the projector days, you know, I'd always had this picture projected, this is 25, 30 years ago, on the wall of these four people, Ford Firestone, or uh Firestone, Edison, and Burroughs, sitting on this kind of water wheel, old wooden water wheel. And they these it wasn't a it wasn't a propaganda picture. It was they used to go out every couple of weeks, they would go, they would take uh a cut one of Henry Ford's cars and they'd go to the, I think it was like the Dearborn Michigan, um, when it was still farms, they'd go out and have a picnic, the four of them, and the four of them would just sit and talk. And one day a reporter came and took a picture of them. And uh, it's an iconic picture, man. It's really cool. And it made me realize if that kind of association with these four world changers, I mean, you look at Time Life did a study 25 years ago, and the most influential person in the history of the planet at that time was Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford was number 13. I mean, they're talking guys who are the best of the best, and they would go out and associate with each other, they would learn from each other, they would challenge each other, you know, they would share ideas and thoughts. And I remember thinking at that time, if that's good enough for them, it's sure in the hell good enough for me. Hey, okay, you know, so so I I I couldn't I'm sorry, I don't have my phone on. I don't have my phone on. Do not disturb. Folks, this is the first time we uh Anthony and I are a little we're guinea pigging a little bit today, just to improve the audio. This is the first time I've ever done a call through um um a different source. So hopefully the audible audio is better. Next year we're gonna be going through, we're gonna be doing video podcasting, so the audio should be will be fixed, but I've gotten some feedback from listeners saying sometimes your pot your audio is not good on the guest side, so and I understand that I don't I won't listen to a podcast that has bad audio, and I know I'm hypocritical. I throw some of those out there more often than I should, but um, I I think this one's pretty clear. So hey, I want to tell you, I don't think I I know this is our second go round today because folks we uh we started the interview process, went about seven minutes in, and it just didn't sound right, so we started over again. So I don't know if I've already brought this up or if this is the first go round, but Anthony, I did finish the book of Five Rings. Yes, yes, I give it a three out of five stars. I think it's good. It's not for me, it wasn't great. Um, but I finished it this morning, and um I think I'll listen to it on Audible now because I maybe there I've heard so many great things about this book, and I want somebody else to tell me what they got out of it, so I want you to read it soon, um, if you would, Anthony, and uh so we can discuss it. Because I think I missed a lot, but I think I'll listen to it on audible and uh and just pick up anything I might have missed. Because so, folks, the book is Book of the Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, who was a samurai uh warrior, I think 300 and some years ago, uh, you know, killed like 60 some men in one-on-one combat, has the record for it. I mean, maybe not a great claim to fame, but back then that was this that was a sign of a hero. And um, it was just his book, and you can use it not just on fighting and and uh martial arts, but it's a good there is some good lessons in there on life. I just didn't get what I was hoping out of it.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I've heard mixed reviews. I've heard people say it's terrific. You have to you have to check this out. I've heard people say don't waste your time. So you're kind of middle ground with the three out of five, but I will give it a read. That's actually I think number number three on my my to read list. Oh a couple in front.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, good. I'm I actually am reading, oh it comes tomorrow in the mail is uh the miracle morning. I've been wanting to read that book for a while, and I'm again I I talk to my obviously myself, I and my clients so much on on how to structure your mornings, but I've never read that book, and it's pretty, I guess it's pretty good. But I am when I don't have anything to read, I I'm I'm following your advice, your lead. I'm reading meditations by Marcus Earlius. I'm on page, I just read this morning, I'm on chapter two, so page like 17. That's what I'm on right now. But absolutely I love that. I I love what his writing. I just love the trend this book, this specific translation is amazing.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, it's terrific. I I pick that up every couple years. Yeah, I always get something new out of it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's a good question, too. Is yeah, I and I started writing down in my journal yesterday. Sorry, gotta reach for my journal here. Um at the the last page of my journal, because I'll wrap that up in December. I'll be done with this journal. Like the books to read, read every single year. And the first one was The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. That's a book about Jonathan Livingston Siegel. I read that every single year. I put on here Who Moved My Cheese?
SPEAKER_02:This one's new to this one's new to me.
SPEAKER_01:You've never read that?
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, dude, man. Read that book. It'll take you 45 minutes. Oh, you gotta read it. It's all about change. Um, yeah, it's uh it was a New York Times bestseller for quite a while, maybe 15, 20, 25 years ago. Um, real easy book to read. The other one is Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Um, the other one I didn't put on here was um The Obstacle is the Way. I don't know why I didn't put that here.
SPEAKER_02:The Obstacle is the way. I was just gonna say yeah, I was just gonna say that that's that's uh and there's two others I like to throw out there too. One is The Alchemist. That was a great quick read. And the other one is The Four Agreements.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, Ruiz.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_01:That's a good book.
SPEAKER_02:I'm just gonna write that Temple but enlightening.
SPEAKER_01:That's a great book. Another one I'm gonna throw out there for people to consider is the um Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel. Yeah, oh that is Holocaust Survivor. Oh that book will reach you. That'll touch some deep parts of your soul. To put it mildly, yes. So, right now, when you look at your life uh October 25th, 2025, what advantages do you see and benefits have you noticed overall, like specific stuff if you can, or whatever, regarding this kind of uh I'll call it upgrade of association with newer people introducing, being open to new ideas and new people in your life. What are you seeing and how that's transforming your life, Anthony?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I a couple that's a good question. So to trust the process, I think that's that's a big piece of this here, because uh I'm sure a lot of the listeners were you know busy professionals or whatever walk of life you're in, but life comes at you hot and heavy, and some days you're riding high, some days you're riding low, but as long as you're working towards your north star and to clearly identify what that north star is or you know, uh abiding by your value set, but to trust the process, you're gonna you're gonna strike out, you're gonna hit home runs, but to just keep grinding and keep your momentum going uh every day as best as you possibly can. Um in addition to that, I've referenced this several times where we actually just did a deep dive into this, but you're a direct reflection of the top five or ten people you surround yourself with. And in addition to that, it's it's okay to be vulnerable. Um for me throughout my life, having to have this perceived sense of uh supreme confidence or um just just not the ability or to not have the ability to really express myself, my emotions, my feelings, thoughts, etc. to trusted individuals. That is so freeing when I'm able to do that, whether it's with my left, with my wife, with my son, with my friends, with my family, etc. But it's just it's a consistent weight off my shoulders. And then in addition to that, what I've really been working hard on too um is equal parts meditation and breath work. That's another big one, too. That's how I set the trajectory for my day. So I have a very uh disciplined morning and evening routine. But in the morning time before I crack the computer or really just kickstart my day, I am going through a specific set of breath work techniques followed by meditations just to ground myself. Uh happy to expand on that more if you would like. But that in itself just makes the day the day flow so much easier. I'm just more in my body and more in my mind. And things are just, they just happen. It's easier. It's just a it's a great way to set the trajectory or the tone of the day. So for those that maybe have been, which I have to struggle with meditation, I'm two minutes in and my mind's going a million miles a minute, just like working a muscle. You just got to keep keep working out, keep working out. I am now to the point to where I am able to kind of release and just be one with myself. And that is it's beautiful when you're able to hit that moment. It's it's I'm just baby steps on this, but I I am able to see the light and to start achieving that. And breath work too, breathwork has been absolutely terrific. Uh, there's many different techniques. Um, I'm gonna throw a name out there, Wim Hof, that's W-I-M, first name, last name Hoff, H-O-F. He's got a very specific breathwork technique um that is terrific, absolutely terrific. And that's helped me a lot with my stress, my anxiety. When I'm feeling overwhelmed, I'll just do a couple minutes of that. And it's like magic. You're just kind of back in the respective moment uh with harmony. Um, so those are a lot of the different techniques.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I I have and I've told this, I've said this many times on the on the podcast. I am for some reason, I'm very I will I'll call it afraid of of meditation and breath work for some reason. I mean, I do I meditate twice a week. Um, I don't like it. I I don't know why. Um I have no idea. I have no idea why it intimidates me. And so I know because it does, it's something I have to do because the fear, my fear is calling me to, you know. Um, but I'm gonna I I I follow Wim Hoff on Facebook, you know, and I see his stuff on YouTube, I follow, but I never really watch it. I'll start watching it because that guy is he's a specimen. He's a character. He's a character.
SPEAKER_02:He's a character.
SPEAKER_01:He does some really weird shit. I mean, you can't believe the stuff he can do with his body and his mind. It's crazy. He's a specimen. Um, going back to that though, uh I this idea of association with people. Um I remember uh hearing um somebody said one time, and I I wrote it down, and it talked about the concept of I put it in the concept of food and poison. So food being nourishing people, poison being toxic people in your life. That you it's a battle that you don't have a choice whether you fight or not. Because if you allow poisonous behavior and people into your life, that that poison has already determined that you are going to have to battle it. You're gonna have to battle it or you're gonna have to or it's gonna kill you, one of the two. It's uh and it's ready for battle. The choice is whether you choose to um accept it in your life or to say no, get the fuck out. Um and when that happens, uh what I found is it's hard to it's hard to separate from poisonous, toxic people. And I don't mean bad people, let's clarify that. Because um we're all poisonous at times. That's called situational poison. But some people are are are character-based and they're to they're like that most of the time. They just they're negative, they're gossipy, they bring people down. There's actually 10 different qualifications to help a person determine whether they or other people are toxic or or nourishing. Um but uh when you so they're not bad people, but they just might be toxic to you and what you're trying to accomplish. So I think that when you when you with a battle is already made. If you allow poison into your life, it's it's the battle is there. You either you succumb to the battle and you lose, or you fight and you win. One of the two. Because the difference though is that it's hard when you start accepting people in your life who are toxic, in my opinion, simply because a toxic poison, a good, like a good nourishing, honest person, if if life was a battlefield, you would call them a tank. And even when they're disagreeing with you, they're a tank. So you see them, you they they come like you said, Anthony, they're authentic. They're whoever they are, like, hey, I'm a tank. I'm gonna battle you, I'm gonna challenge you right now. Um, but that's okay because then I know how to fight back because I can see it. So a disagreement of people who disagree with me, people who who want to argue with me or who want to challenge me, as long as they're authentic and honest, I'm I respect that. That's not poison, even if I just drastically different disagree with them. But a true poisonous person doesn't fight like a tank, they fight like a corrosive gas. And they come in your in your life, and sometimes that corrosive gas has a really good scent to it. So it smells flowery, you know, and you, oh, this person's really awesome. And pretty soon, just like any corrosive gas, before you realize that they've got you, it's too late. It really is. Because you think about it this way is I think that if you look at our lives, you know, you take care of your body, you're a guy who loves to work out, loves to take care of your mind, you know, you're all about just growth, growth, growth on a consistent basis. If I were, if you were, if you were at the apex of your of your life perfect or uh physically right now, perfect health, perfect health you are, and I offered you a thimble full of poison, just a little shot of poison, and you took it, what would happen? You die. Or you get gravely ill. We know that as it re uh uh as it pertains to the physical body. What we forget is it also pertains to our emotional and mental and cultural body. So if you allow one poisonous person out of a thousand nourishing people into a group, into your life, they are going to win eventually. They'll wear you down because they don't fight fair. They fight like that corrosive gas and they just seek in there and they kind of weave in and out and they kind of and they don't do it intentionally 99% of the time, but it just happens. And pretty soon you realize your behavior starts to slip, your thought starts to slip, your consistency, you're getting up later, you're you're drinking more, you're doing less positive things for your body and your mind, you know, your work is slipping, your relationships with other people are starting to fall apart. That's the sign that you have something, somebody who's toxic in your life. It's a really good sign. So how many people would you say, Anthony, you currently have in your circle of life that you would say is some they're the kind of people you'd want to replicate and have more of? They these are your nourishing food style people.
SPEAKER_02:15.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. And and and and that that's a I I shot that direct number out there because when I think about this community, this brotherhood, this tribe that I'm a part of, who all have significant others as well. So my wife is uh a part of this tribe as well. But just speaking specifically to the other men in in this community, it's it's 15 individuals that I know are have pure intentions um in both ways. You know, they're looking out for my best interest, I'm looking out for their best interests. We're all about growth and and as you said earlier, challenging me too, which is which I believe is paramount. Um, you know, I have very rigorous goals set throughout the rest of this year here, and I have my accountability team, thanks in large part to you, Brian. But um, and and I think that we have we had chat about this with your other the other individuals that you partner with, is that I had to kind of trim it down a little bit because my accountability team was large, and you're like, okay, that's great, but let's trim that down a little bit. Um, so I'm extremely blessed to have a strong amount of individuals that are uh what I like to call illuminators as opposed to those toxic type of individuals because they're all about pumping the right energy and brightening my light, and and then vice versa, I'm brightening their lights.
SPEAKER_01:That's a good number, 15. I wonder if there is a number that is most effective. I don't know. I have no idea.
SPEAKER_02:I think it's different for everybody.
SPEAKER_01:I think it is too. And I noticed last week on your accountability team, you uh you crushed every one of them.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, it's a great I'm on fire. I love it. I'm riding the momentum. It's not all rainbows and unicorns, but it's trusting that process, right? Every day, just having my and that's another for any listeners out there that want to take heed to this little nugget, too, is I have what's called a power list where every night before I go to bed, I'm listing out three to five things that I know I need to accomplish in the next day, and therefore my head is less um or I'm I'm falling asleep a lot easier. It's just because I don't have these thoughts racing through on what do I gotta do? What do I gotta do? So I put that in my journal as my daily power list, and it's three to five things I know I need to accomplish the next day to win the day. So those tasks that I've been putting off or the errand or whatever it is, but then when I wake up in the morning, that's uh one of the first things I do is I take a look at that power list, I schedule it out, or I do it right out of the gate, the one thing that I've been procrastinating on, and I just get it done. Just GSD, get shit done.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. I like that. I I don't do that. I do like I have my three to five things for the week that I I put together on Sundays, but I don't do that for three to five. And I'm looking for an evening routine, so that might be something I add to my evening routine. Okay, can you talk a little bit about I know you call it the I am statements because I the TPI and tell me what that's done for you because I folks, uh for those who don't know who newer listeners or or more recent listeners, we did a show I I don't know, two, three years ago on uh developing your true peak identity, which is an exercise I take all my clients through and friends and things like that, and myself, obviously. And um, Anthony, I know you've done it, you've been doing it. So I just wanted, can you talk on that? Because I that's something that I really wish the world would really grab onto, internalize, and practice on a consistent basis.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I'd love to talk about this. So uh specifically the I am statements. I think I made a comment earlier that identifying your true north and having that align with your core values. Well, how to marry those two together, you have to have a deep understanding of yourself. So, what Brian, what what Brian had asked me to do was list out all of the roles that I play in life, all of them. And there was many. I think there were maybe 20 plus. So, you know, father, athlete, uh financial advisor, um uh husband, husband, yeah, husband. My wife definitely listens podcast, so husband, uh shout out to Katie. Okay, lay those out, but then trim it down to the 10 most important roles that you play in life, and then walk through a process of developing I am statements where it is in the perfect world with in your perfect self, who are you hoping to be in the moment and who are you hoping to become in the future? So I'm a loving, devoted, and respectful husband to Katie. We're building a legacy together, we're changing our community, the world, etc. And to get into the practice of what Brian says, what, five or six times a week to do this, I've been doing it every day and being very strategic with timing of this, so whether it's the first thing in the morning or whether it's before night, etc. But and I do that every day, and I typically do it in the mornings. One of the very first things I do after my cold shower, I'm in the sauna and I'm looking at and reading through my I am statements, but to be active when you're doing it, Brian. I'm sure you can articulate more on the left side, right side of the brain. But what this has allowed me to do is to continue to tap into who I am as a human being, as a man, as a father, husband, et cetera, as a friend, and what I am looking to become. And there is no question marks, these are direct statements of this is who I am, that this is what I will become, etc. And that is every day, that's just positive reinforcement that I am a good human being, that I do have a good value set, that I have good traits, that I have pure intentions, and to keep just implementing that, repeating that, repeating that, because if you continue to repeat it, then you'll believe it, and then you'll continue to maneuver through life with those, uh, with those understandings. And I found it interesting too. There was um, Brent, I think I told you this, but there was a couple weeks back where I had a very heavy workload, a lot of stress, um, big meetings, etc. I think this was on a Thursday, and I was a stress ball. Just all those thoughts running through my mind. And I read the IAM statements before I went to bed and fell asleep pretty quickly. And then I woke up the next morning and I don't know what it was, but I was charged up, ready to go. I don't know if it was a direct reflection of the action that I took the night before with reading through these IM statements, but I got up, said, I'm built for this, I'm ready, I'm excited, I'm grateful, let's go get it. And it ended up being just an absolutely terrific day front to back. And that's that tool, that one tool, the I am statements, that is that is now a cornerstone of my life and my day-to-day activities. So thank you, Brian, for instilling that in me. But it's for the listeners, it is it's paramount, it's terrific.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it goes back to and it's just you know, they they talk about manifestation and you know, prayer is a form of manifestation as well, directly to God. This is a way I think of TPI, your IM statements are almost a prayer to your highest self. You are telling yourself that you are amazingly perfect in all of these areas. Um, now we all know that that's not possible and that's not true, but when you can convince, when your left brain can convince your right brain or your your conscious brain can convince your subconscious brain that you are this person, you begin to act like that person. You act exactly how you feel when you wake up in the morning. If you feel like a loser, you're going to act like a loser all day long. If you feel like you feel energetic, I feel like a good, productive, energetic person, you're gonna act energetic and productive throughout the day. And this is a way to, and that's all happens in your subconscious brain, your right brain. So however you feel about yourself, you're completely unaware of for most of the time. It's gonna determine everything you think, feel, say, and do throughout the day. So if you can convince over time, from your left brain to your right brain, you convince that right brain that you are this person, you begin to act that person. And it just becomes natural. And it it's a process, it doesn't happen overnight, but it's a process of consistency. And you know, yeah, you were one of the people who really engulf that. And I'm so I'm glad you were able to uh you know talk on that subject for a little bit, Anthony, because and I have had I told you before I had it just one time. I I always do mine in the morning. So mine I do mine while I'm doing my my ab workout uh typically, and I did it one time, I must have forgotten during the morning or something, and I did it at night and then didn't think anything of it. Then I go to bed and I woke up the next morning and I had this amazing day, and I I'm like, why do I feel so different today? I feel so much more energetic, more positive, more confident. Well, it was I thought, oh, you know, I I wonder if because they'd studies show that if you do it at night, your brain processes it while you're sleeping. And so there's a benefit to doing it in the morning, there's a benefit to doing it at night. I typically do mine in the morning because I just have a lot of energy in the morning. At night I don't have a lot. Um, and you want to throw some energy with it. Um, but I had that same experience just that one time, and I probably should start doing it a couple of times a week in the in the evening just to test it out and get a bigger sample size. Um, so folks, go ahead. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02:I was just gonna say I'd like to see what you're like with low energy.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, you call me up, you come over around four o'clock in the afternoon. I've got no energy, trust me. I'm I'm on I'm laying in my bed, usually reading or just doing some scrolling. Um four o'clock on, I I lose my steam, and I'm in bed at like 7:30 at night. I literally am in bed at 7:30. I mean, my son will be dead, I'm just going to class, or you know, he's halfway through his night class, and or he's and last night he said, Yeah, I he called me on his way to class at like two eight class, I'm like two to eight or something in a project in a class. He said, I said, All right, well, I'll I'll text you like when I go to bed. He goes, Yeah, I'll be in the middle of class, then I'm going home to lift weights. I'm like, dude, lifting, I'm in the middle of my REM sleep by the time you get home and lift weights. But so people think you get up early, like, oh, you're a uh you're you know, you have a superhuman ability. No, you just go to bed early. Go to be in bed be asleep by nine, you'll be up by five. It's that simple. It really is. But uh yeah, I have I I I have a lot of moments of low energy. But um, anyway, um right now, Anthony, when you look at your life, what would you consider to be a win?
SPEAKER_02:I feel like I'm living my win right now. And uh and here's here's what I mean by that. It's um it's to have what I never thought I would have before. Um I'm married to the woman of my dreams. I have a loving and respectful son in Isaac. I have a the most amazing dog who's sitting right next to me snoring away, so I'm boring him to death right now. But uh a career that I'm extremely passionate about, where I get to give back to our clients and and um provide significant value to to the firm and our clients. Um just an incredible family set now, our family strong, uh terrific friend circle, and good health too. I'm blessed to be in good health. These are all things that I never dreamed of having at a younger age. I mean, I this you know it sounds super cliche, but in my younger years, teens and even early 20s, it was the old, you know, I'm gonna either be dead or in prison type of approach, right? So I just uh I didn't have this this um these visions of becoming remotely successful, let alone to be at a place that I'm at today. So I'm living it each and every moment, and I I am very, very committed to cascading this message to the masses as well. So thank you for the platform on this podcast. But uh it and also, too, another major win of mine is I've been blessed throughout my life to have very particular individuals, almost like mentees, uh, like like talk about Mr. Strand earlier, and then early in my career, or how I got into my career with a specific individual who mentored me. So I've carried mentors throughout my life. Uh Brian is my coach, etc. But now the shoe is on uh or the shoe's on the other foot, meaning that I do a lot of mentoring for young college students that are struggling finding their way. They kind of have a want to get into the financial services industries, but I do mentor over 10 individuals across the country, and that I love it. I absolutely love it to just partner with the younger generation. So that to me is a win to see this blossoming community and to promote growth uh across many different channels.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. You're the you're their Mr. Strand. I love it. That's exactly what I I I think the first part of that answer as you were as you were talking and I was jotting down some ideas and notes. I think that's the best answer I've ever gotten on that question. I really do. You know, I I I heard a quote the other day because you you you said I'm I'm living it right now. And I think so many of us are living our dream at the moment. But you know, talking to Dave uh Dick this morning, we were talking about how our past is our prison and our future is our is our um is our thief. You know, we're stuck to our prison, but the the worry of good the good or the bad of the future steals from our present. And um I heard this quote, I'm gonna I'm gonna paraphrase it because it said something to the effect of yesterday I heard this. If you were 95 years old with uh 20 million dollars in an in your bank account, whatever age you are right now, you would give up all that money to go back to the age in the person you are today. 99.9% of people would trade that life of a 95 or 100-year-old person with a lot of money. You would say, if you could go back to being 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or even 80, you would make that trade every single day because you realize that that time, that moment, whatever it was, was the good old days. And you had all that time ahead of you. I love that way to look at life. I I don't even know where I read that. I probably saved it, it was probably a meme. I'm a gutton for memes, man.
SPEAKER_02:I love it. But you know, it's it's it's it's kind of interesting, just real quick. So there's uh have a uh a calendar with different every morning. I wake up, and that's actually the very first thing that I do. It's not the culture hour, but it's I flip a calendar, and there's typically like a stoic phrase, so like Marcus Aurelius, um, or whomever. But uh the one the other day, and it just stuck with me. This was Aurelius, and it says, When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, and to love. And that's something I that's that to me, that's what anxiety is. It's the what's gonna happen, what could happen, what if it goes wrong? What if this, what if this, what if this? So that's the thief of joy, you know, when you're thinking about the future, but to be locked into the moment and enjoy the successes and the wins and the you know, the individuals that you surround yourself with each and every moment, that is, you know, just the that's life. That's the beauty of life, is right now, not back then, not in the future.
SPEAKER_01:And I I want to quote something that you said last week. Or last couple of weeks with me when you talked about you know having these worries of what if it goes wrong? What if this happens? What if that you know, what if this fails? And then you turn it around and said, What if it all works out? Yeah, what if it all works out? And I just I love that mentality, man. That's why I've been sending you all those memes and videos. I love it. I'm bum, I'm I'm I'm bombarding your uh text mess, your text with uh a bunch of what if it all works out quotes.
SPEAKER_02:Like I said, keep them coming.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. Yeah, man, of course I will. Um I this is my favorite question to ask. Um it's a time machine question. Now, all the audience probably knows it already, but if I were to take my time machine from Marquette, Michigan to come over to Minneapolis, boom, and I'm pulling it behind my Jeep, and you and I were to get in it, you can go back to any time frame of your life, a younger Anthony, and you sit down on the park bench and you just talk with him, words of wisdom, piece of advice, recipe for success, whatever you would share with that younger Anthony, what would it be?
SPEAKER_02:That's a good question. Time machine question. I like that. Um I got a couple. I got a couple here. So I um in my younger years, and even even to a lesser degree today, but I I've grown, hence the hence the the question, but to it's okay to make mistakes. I've always been kind of cut from the per perfectionist perfectionist off on having to do just the the the fear of failure. And so I would just warp myself into a tizzy about how to do things perfectly. And obviously, you know, you should be in the pursuit of excellence and to do the very best that you can, but I would just hammer myself if a mistake was made and it would paralyze me to the point that I wasn't able to get out of that that rut that moment. And then that's where the toxicity would come in with a lot of different things, whether it was chemicals, friends, groups, et cetera. But that it's okay to make mistakes. And in addition to that, to try new things. I think a lot of our conversation today has been centered around stepping outside of your comfort zone, allowing new ideas to come into your life, allowing for new friends to come into your life, etc. So to really be cognizant of trying new things and expanding your horizon, because I I kind of stay in 10 and 2 in my younger years. I was it was the comfort crisis. I knew what I knew, so therefore I stayed in my lane. Life was passing me by, and if I can go back in time and change some things and take on more calculated risks, I mean, who knows? I don't like to play that hindsight game, but you know, to to challenge yourself to try new things. Um, in addition to that, it's not all about me. Uh, a lot of us are maybe selfish isn't the right word, maybe it is, but that I was just so engrossed with self, so yeah, selfish, but um that I I failed to see what a lot of my actions would were doing to other individuals, again, whether that was friends, family, uh, business, co-workers, etc. So to to um yeah, to to make sure that you are that it's not all about me. Um a couple other items here is to never, ever, ever give up. There were points in my life to where when I tried something and I did not succeed, I gave up. And it's taken a long time for me to work that on that grit muscle. Grit is one of, if not my top, one of my top values. It's if you get knocked down, get up again and keep trying and keep trying, and eventually you'll get it. So I I many times in my younger years, I gave up. And that sucks to say, but it's it's the fact. Um and and another piece too is reading. So I thought reading wasn't cool for many, many years, and it's been probably the last decade that I've just been soaking up books left and right. So to the younger generation, that you know, the the the wealth of knowledge is at your fingertips in the library or whatever your jam is, Kindle, etc. But to can to to always be growing, uh nourishing your mind with books is another big one.
SPEAKER_01:I I that last one, I mean, they're all amazing, every one of those. So I want everybody to go back to this and I would rewind and listen to that again. I would write those thoughts and ideas down. I want to comment on the last one, um, reading, because that's one thing that I was talking to someone last week about, and I said to a client, I said, I whether it's through coaching or a friendship or the podcast, every highly successful person I know is busier than uh just about anybody else in the world. They're busy, but yet they all read. Every one of them reads. If you know, there can be the CEO of a large company, they can be an entrepreneur, they can be a top salesperson, they can be an athlete, whatever it is, um, incredibly stay-at-home mom or dad that's busy all the time. If they are at the top of their game, they are you're going to hear that they read a lot of books, or at least read consistently. They might not read 50 books a year, but they read consistently and they're selective about what they read. You know, I think there's nothing I liked reading fiction. I read fiction all the time. I like horror movies, I love historical fiction, I love Stephen King novels. And those are good, they're very good for your brain. But also pick up books on self-help, leadership, philosophy, physics. I don't care. A book that will stretch you a little more than just a fiction, which I think is awesome too. Um, don't no, I think they're really good for the brain. Um, okay. Is there any question, Anthony, that I didn't ask that you wish I would have, or is there any final message that you would like to leave with the bamboo pack out there?
SPEAKER_02:Um, what is my biggest fear? Like that one, and the answer is spiders. No, no, I yeah, I I can't stand spiders. I probably borderline arachophobic, but my biggest fear is living a life without love. Um, I I love to love. It's just it nourishes me and I love to I like to get loved and I love to love as well. So I mean I love uh family, friends, music, food, books, just living in the moment. And it it it scares me to the point to where if I get to a point where I am unable to to have love in my life, then that's not a life that I want to live. And that scares me.
SPEAKER_01:That's a powerful one. And I wonder how many people out there really resonate. I'm sure a lot of people resonate with a spider one too. Um, but you know how to kill their fear of spiders? Kill them with your bare hands. Every time you'll realize how powerless they really are, unless it's something that can bite you, unless it's a venomous or poisonous spider. But um, but that last one is a lot of people, I think, if you broke down their fear, all their fears, they probably a lot of them come down to fear of lack of love. You know, it's loving, being loved, understood, respected, and appreciated are four common needs, human needs. And most of the things we do in life, we're doing because we want more of those things. And love is at the top of that list for sure. That's an interesting because I started thinking, you know, about uh when I was rocking I don't maybe it was last week or the week before, about the goose and the golden egg story. I think you and I talked about this last week. About how we all love the golden eggs that the goose lays, you know, we and you have to identify what your golden eggs are because everybody's striving for something, but when in the process of doing that, we don't take care of the goose, which provides the golden eggs. And I dissected my golden eggs to be love, success, um, money, and respect. Those are the four things. And it that came to me again in the middle of a run. It wasn't even like I had thought about that. I'm like, oh, those that's clearly my golden eggs. And it made me really realize am I taking care of the goose? Because in the story of Aesop's Fable, the farmer ends up, you know, gutting the goose to get more golden eggs out of the goose because he's he's greedy, all he wants is the golden eggs, and he realizes now with the goose dead, he doesn't get any more golden eggs. And I think it's good to dissect what your golden eggs are. What are those things that you're so afraid of not having or not keeping, and you're always striving for more of. And in the process, are you dissecting? Are you killing and disemboweling the golden goose that provides those things? Love or and I would think everybody's golden egg would have love in it. If you have four or five things you're striving for in life, love is going to be that one for everyone. That's powerful, brother.
SPEAKER_02:It is, and I I I take that a step further too. So uh you asked the qu the last question that you asked was is there a question that you didn't ask me, or or uh maybe a mantra or something that I live by. But I I just recommend to anybody listening that ask yourself what are your top five or so core values? Um that's a lot of what we do with our clients. I do that with Isaac, family, friends, etc. But if you don't have if you don't have a uh a general understanding of your value set, I would highly encourage that you do so. And there's many different ways to do that, but even if you just do a Google search with uh, I should do a Google search called a values cards exercise. Takes all but you know 20 minutes or 30 minutes where it's able to help you articulate and understand what your core values are, and then tattoo that somewhere on a piece of paper, your computer, read it every day, etc. Because again, if you're not living within the if you're not living within your your set of values, then that's where you're open for to be compromised. So have a deep understanding of your respective values.
SPEAKER_01:That's a great one. I mean, I I mean I mine are part of my TPI, so I read them off every morning out loud, you know what mine are. Um and go, I'm just gonna give it a shout out to Doug Linnick, the creator of the values cards. I mean, think to perform Doug Linick, he was on the podcast three and a half years ago. I'm gonna get him back on here shortly. Um, his exercise for coming up with your top five values is I think ingenious. So, guys, if you want to go to thinktoperform.com or just put in Doug Linnick values cards, Google it and do the exercise and uh come up with and base your life on it. I mean, you know, family, body, mind, spirit, wealth, and impact. Well, I have impact and wealth as kind of slash, so it's my fifth. I don't want to put a sixth one in there, so I put them together, the impact I make and the wealth that comes from it. So family, body, mind, and um find family, body, mind, spirit, and wealth slash income impact are my top five. And you know, when you really when you memorize those and you put them as part of your I am statements every day, you do start to really realize they become your northern, they become your northern star, they become your compass in life that point you north. And it's a powerful exercise. Um last question. What is one thing, Anthony, that you've done so far today intentionally that is hard?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, one thing intentionally that is hard. Well, let me run you through this morning. So I don't want to cop out and do my usual, which is the the cold shower. So here's one is that I'm working a fitness program right now where I'm half to hit at least 10,000 steps a day. And this morning here in the Twin Cities, it's blustery, it's cold, it was like 25, 25 degrees, and it was uh like sleeting this morning. And uh I did not want to go out there because I got a pretty busy day and pretty busy evening as well. So I threw on my weighted vest, uh, popped on the headphones, listened to a good podcast, and I went for about a what was about 45 minutes to an hour, yeah, 45 minutes to an hour walk in inclement weather. It was not fun, but I know in order to win the day I have to hit that certain metric. So I was out there uh this is probably at what 5 30 this morning, which I love to do because everyone else is sleeping and I'm out there working. So that was uh that was difficult, but uh mission accomplished.
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, I'm proud of you, brother. That's hey, do you have an Apple Watch? I do. We gotta share each other's, you know, what do you can how you can sync with somebody? I've only done that one time. Yeah, I did it one time with uh a lady I was dating years ago, and it was really good because I'm always like, oh no, she because her goal was to burn 500 active calories. Mine was a thousand active calories every day. And I was always looking at that, and she was at like 350 during the day, and I'd be at like 700, like, I gotta go do something. I gotta get it. It does challenge you. Um, I think that's and that's a good one. I want to point out everybody, you don't have to go for a 45-minute ruck with in increment increment inclement weather to make your hard thing. It literally can be get down and do a five-second plank. Anthony's at a point where he can do that. He's challenged his body and his mind where that's his hard thing. Everybody's hard thing is different. Don't let mine or Anthony's or anybody else's scare you. Just do something. Because Anthony is living proof that when you start those things at a small level and continue that consistency over time, you one day are talking like Anthony's talking. You're living that life where you can say, you know, um uh, you know, the uh what was the question I asked? What's a win for you? And you can say, I'm living it right now. And that's the ultimate goal in life. So, brother, I'm so happy that you can honestly say that. I truly believe you, and a lot of people are striving for that, brother.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you, Brian. I really appreciate the conversation.
SPEAKER_01:I appreciate it too. Um, I'm gonna have you back on. I know we we just we nicked the iceberg on this one. We got a lot more to go down. So we'll have you back on in the next six months if that's good with you.
SPEAKER_02:I would love it. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Well, my brother, my friend, I love you, man, and I thank you for being such an amazing guest on the Bamboo Lab Podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. Thanks, Brian. Love you too, brother. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Everyone, thank you for tuning in this week. We'll tune in, uh we'll see you again next week, same time, same place. Um, I appreciate all of you. Please hit that like button, smash that like button actually. Please rate and review us, subscribe, and share us share this episode with three people. Just send it off, text it out, email it out, share it, however you can. Um, and I'll talk to you soon. In the meantime, please get out there and strive to give and be your best. Show love and respect to others and back at yourself. And please, by all means, live with purpose and intentionality. I appreciate each and every one of you listeners right now.
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