EP 22: Brooks Meadows | Self Mastery Through Play And Community

Brooks Meadows is a mentor and friend. He is the co founder of Chop Club for Men, an adventurer, men's health and development coach, scholar, master story teller, and more. The man is captivating in his voice, charisma and how he offers his mystical gifts to the world! Was an absolute treat getting to sit down and jam out with Brooks on this segment of the show. Enjoy!



Website:
https://www.chopclubformen.com/?r_done=1

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/chopclubformen/

https://www.instagram.com/brooksmeadows/

Transcript

Bill 0:00

We're here with Brooks Meadows, the enlisted lake house overlooking. Incredibly powerful lake with a bunch of amazing people. And we've been here throughout the weekend and the first podcast I recorded took a shit well, I was recording on Descript through, uh, which is the program and software I normally record in. And it requires that you are connected to wifi. And I've had this problem once before and I was connected to the wifi. So we started, you know, Nate shares his whole story, uh, his process. Getting into his coaching business and some of the psychedelic journeys and realizations that led up to that. You know, we're like an hour 40. I'm like, Oh, great. Excellent. You know, thank you so much. Close out the show. I look and stop recording it and now we're 23 and then I stop again and the audio files aren't downloading, whatever that means. So I emailed the company to see what's up and hopefully they can pull it together. Otherwise, I do have it on video, so I may be able to doctor up the audio from that and, you know, still bring it to life. But let this

brooks 1:07

be the first lesson, folks. If you're a podcaster and you, and you do stuff on the road, things are gonna happen. Yeah. You know how many podcasts I freaking filmed or record it with somebody and it just absolutely took a shit just right into the toilet. Might as well have just flushed it right away. I've been there, man. It's.

Bill 1:23

Casualties of the podcasting world. That took a lot from it. So regardless, like personally, you know, getting to experience, uh, you know, everything Nate has been through in his journey and all the things that had come to him throughout it and how he's become the man he is today, you know, that's, that's gold in itself. So I don't even look as a, at it as a loss if it is gone. And we'll just redo it and do it twice as good. So there we

brooks 1:45

go. And, and he's gonna be here. You're gonna be here. You still got time. You, you can get him on for

Bill 1:50

round two. Exactly. We'll likely do Zoom just so we can relax. And I know he is got some work and stuff like that. But to kick things off, I would just like to welcome you and say thank you and this is Brooke's Meadows, everyone. Hey everybody. Chop Club Mastery Men's Health Mastery Coach, uh, coaching program. E hosts with a really great group, group of guys that I've personally been participating in. He's a master storyteller, which I'd love to dive into, you know, what that looks like and what, what that means to you and you know, how that manifested in your life, where that emerged, um, and, uh, many other things. So first and foremost, welcome you and yeah, let's, let's kick it off by getting a brief synopsis of what Brooks Meadows is bringing to the world currently. What's most present with your practice and what you're offering creatively?

brooks 2:40

Right now, I'm in a position, uh, that is very. It's new to me, which is I now get to tell people what to do, and they want me to tell them what to do. There's one thing they tell people what to do and they have no interest and it's not, you know, there's no consent. I'm just telling people what to do now. They want me to tell them what to do, and that's exciting. Mm-hmm. Um, what that is allowing me to do is shift some of my focus from managing businesses and managing all the roles of my businesses to then doing what I like to do a little more often, which is simply telling great stories and using stories to teach lessons that people will take forward and take action around. Um, Professional background really started, I was more like an academic. I studied economics, I like thinking about big macro issues and trying to explain them to people in really simple language. So in a sense, um, I've been doing that my adult career. It's just something that I was naturally inclined to be able to do, organize complex, multifaceted systems and ideas and then just deliver them in a simple way. So that was the, that was the start. Uh, I studied strategy, management strategy in graduate school. Mostly I went to graduate school right outta the gate cuz uh, the economy tanked. So it was more of a tactical decision to continue my education while the economy of the world was sorting itself out. Um, but what that allowed me to do is it put me in a super high pressure, high threshold for quality. Uh, environment where day in and day out, I needed to state my ideas clearly and be willing to, in a sense, defend my ideas with facts and figures in, in a way that I had never, that that was the type of standard I'd never been held to before. So it really forced me to sharpen the delivery that I give, but also making sure that if I'm gonna say something, I have it built on research data and facts. So then I decided I wanted to get into coaching. This is in 2012. I decided I wanted to move full-time in, into being a coach. I'd worked as a strategist in tourism, but I was coaching people at night for free. And I started to get some great feedback. Hey, uh, you know, how to make this simple. It makes sense. You, you teach me the why behind everything that you do. So, uh, I just want you to know if this is something that you're considering doing full-time, this is a person that was a professional athlete, consider it. And so I did. Mm-hmm. and I moved back to South Korea. I lived there for about five years. I went back, uh, for the last year and I ended up getting a coaching position at a head, uh, at a CrossFit gym there that was affiliated with Reebok. And that's, I used to think of it only as coaching. What I realized is I've given now over 10,000 presentations in the form of one hour fitness classes. Mm-hmm. I get. I give people information, I get them motivated to take action, and I guide them once they start taking action. I was like, Oh, I tell st. I've been telling stories professionally, but I've been mostly telling fitness stories. Mm-hmm. this is the story of health. This is the story of what it means to be a well person, to feel well and to be fit. If you'd like to step into that, this is what you can do to take action towards that, that version of the story. Um, I moved into physical education with a middle school. I got an opportunity while owning the cross, while owning a CrossFit gym back in my hometown. And that was where I had my first real, like fracture of my fitness matrix, which was learning about this thing called play. The way that the language that I had is like somebody talked about play, it was, they were talking about what kids do. Mm-hmm. But in this sense, it's a whole academic field and research. It's a very particular thing. So you can study, play in animals, how animals interact and engage, and if you, you know, follow that chain up, you see human beings in a very similar light play plays a ver a vital role in our development, socially, physically, emotionally, spiritually. That, uh, I started learning about it in the academic sense, and I realized, oh man, nobody's teaching this stuff to adults. Mm-hmm. nobody's using this. I say nobody, but very few people were using this in the fitness industry and contextualizing what may be a complex idea to make it super simple. And so I decided to open a new type of gym Bill. Mm-hmm. do you know, do you know this story? I do

Bill 7:37

not. All right. Well

brooks 7:39

then take us through it. Perfect. What I, then, what we're gonna do instead, I'm gonna facilitate some discovery. I want you to put yourself back in primary school. Did you go to a regular school? Did you go to like a school, You know, you, you get dropped off and, and you get picked up at three. I did, I did. All right, perfect. So if you've, if this is you, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I want you to tell me who is your favorite teacher.

Bill 8:05

Yeah, uh, this guy named Doc, and he implemented, played the most, uh, he stepped outside the box and he definitely was someone that was there for quite some time, so he had more opportunity to do so being someone that was solidified in the, uh, school that I went to. But yeah, he had a huge impact on me because he was just so silly and always having fun and, you know, and in a way calling us up and getting us to express ourselves and be ourselves. And, uh, it was pretty loose and open. And so, yeah, I really enjoyed what you brought to the table. What great. Junior year

brooks 8:42

of high school. All right. I want you to go back further. I wanna go primary school K

Bill 8:47

through six. That's primary school. I was thinking like more broadly. Sorry.

brooks 8:50

Primary school, K through six. Who was your favorite teacher?

Bill 8:53

Uh, man. That's a good question. K through sixth grade. So, let's see. Middle school. Um,

brooks 9:03

before middle school. Before middle school. Gotta go back, man. Your little kid. Okay. Okay.

Bill 9:09

Sometimes people have a hard time imagining school through mm-hmm. through sixth grade. Through sixth grade

brooks 9:14

Premi school. Yeah. See, for me it was Ms. Polk. I had Ms. Polk, she was first grade. Mm-hmm. She had a tub in her, in her classroom. Mm-hmm. And if you're really good, you did something cool. You got to have some like alone time in the tub. And when you're a kid in a big bathtub, you might as well have just entered into an entirely new galaxy. Yeah. Okay. So that's mine. Who's yours?

Bill 9:34

You know what? I don't have any too many solidified memories from this period in my life. So let's just take a minute, Not a minute. Couple seconds here to rediscover. You could also choose your favorite grade. Explore the recesses of my mind. Your favorite grade. Mm. Mm-hmm. Fourth and fifth grade were great. Beautiful.

brooks 10:01

So you're back in fourth grade, you're in your classroom. Can you see your classroom, man? It's a typically a chalkboard. Mm-hmm. whiteboard. If you grew up in a different generation, I'm the analog. We didn't have white dry erase boards, we had classic chalkboards and you had to sit in your desk. It's about one 30 in the afternoon. You've been doing all the work all day. I want you to try to remember what it felt like when your teacher told you that you were about to go outside.

Bill 10:30

Yes. That's exactly what came to mind when I was, uh, reflecting on my grade school experience, was playing outside with my friends, playing lightning, playing tag, playing soccer, getting way too competitive about it, ending up crying when I lost and or, you know, just in shambles, emotionally. Um, yeah, playing on the playground, all sorts of fun things. The teacher tells you about

brooks 10:52

to go outside and it's like, Yes, but you still gotta keep it inside though. Mm-hmm. because you know, you're not, you're still at school and they gotta keep you in lines. They gotta keep you organized. And so you're walking down your hall bill and you can feel yourself inching closer and closer to the double doors. It was always double doors. Yep. One door is not enough. First school, you gotta have two lanes of traffic. Yes sir. And you bust open those double doors and you get that burst of fresh sunlight. Mm-hmm. that feeling. And all of the activities that you just described perfectly and capture this time that there was a name for. What was that? What was that time called?

Bill 11:41

Freedom Play. Uh, you were,

brooks 11:44

you weren't going to freedom. I was. They're taking you outside of Go to recess. Nailed it. Recess, baby recess. Yeah. Which is why in 2018 mm-hmm. I opened recess in Memphis,

Bill 11:56

Tennessee. That's perfect. That's perfect. It encapsulates, you know what, play in unstructured time outside with your friends. Following energetically what you wanna do, explore four square wall ball, chasing after girls, you know, the whole nine. But yeah, most people

brooks 12:12

would reflect on that time in their life and say that that was when they were the most physically capable, while also being willing to take risks. Mm-hmm. you could be more physically capable as you get older, but most of the time people become more risk averse. So I thought what a perfect way to describe the type of culture that could exist in the fitness industry. One that avoids turning to your left and pointing at another modality in saying you're weird or wrong. Mm-hmm. Cuz that circle just continues until the person to your right is pointing at you. Mm-hmm. and saying You're weird. CrossFitters to power lifters. Power lifters to strong man. Strong man to gymnast. Gymnast to interpretive dance. You know, there were all these. Different methodologies that were pointing to the left and saying You're weird and wrong. And I realized, no, they're not weird and wrong. They just play differently. Yep. And after reading a book called Play by Dr. Stewart Brown, who is mostly the uh, uh, academic authority on play and play in humans, so I learned that there were eight different play archetypes. And these are again, simply ways to view your own, uh, play nature. And then you can find activities that remind you of that fun, exhilarating time that you used to have on the playground because you didn't need to follow a fitness program to be fit out on the playground. Yeah, you played a lot cuz it was fun. And when you played more, you got better. Mm-hmm And if I could recreate that in a gym space, then we had an opportunity to invite more people into the culture that we call fitness. Because the fitness mainstream culture typically goes after competitors. People that love to win, or someone like a chemist lead, someone who really likes to move. They don't necessarily need to win, but they like to play the game. They like to dance. Mm-hmm. people that are inclined to be physically active find their way into mainstream fitness culture. And for everyone else, for 80% likely of the population, it's an uphill battle to convince themselves to practice things that would make them fit because they don't like it. And the thing the, what I realized is that if you could connect them back to the thing that they loved to do as a kid and invited them into just more general physical activity around that thing, it would be so much easier to get what people wanted in the first place, which sometimes is the loss of a few pounds. But oftentimes it's simply to feel good and like a kid again, to feel the magic of the world. and to feel yourself navigating the magic of the world in a way that feels free. Mm-hmm. and playful and exciting. And so, uh, while I was very innovative on the culture side and in a way innovative on the training side, and even though I had had, I have a master's degree at the in business, uh, from a wonderful university, there were still things in application and in practice about being a business owner that I had yet to learn. And I, you know, personally, I made all the mistakes, all the beginner mistakes, even though I thought I had a lot of experience and I had co-owned a gym and I had managed a gym. When you're sitting in the seat and it's your ass on the line and it's your money on the line. Yeah. And it's your reputation on the line. I tried to explain people, it's like, If you think you, you might have a 359 degree view on someone's life. I know Bill in and out. I know all of his shortcomings, all of his successes. I know all the circumstances that involve where Bill is in his seat, but I don't have the, the last degree, which is the personal experience. Mm-hmm. And the difference between 3 59 and 360 is the difference between two 11 and two 12 when it comes to boiling water. Mm-hmm. at two 11, you got really hot water At two 12 you got boiling water. And finally, all those times that I'd made judgments about my business partners or the managers at other gyms that I had worked for, it's because I had a 359 degree view of the seat that they were sitting in. And that last degree is the biggest one of all. Yeah. So I made a lot of the beginner mistakes. I, uh, could say like, I've lost a lot of relationships that I valued and cherished in an attempt to protect myself, which I look back on and, oh man, I wasn't playing as much as I might have. Mm-hmm. had other people believing, believing pandemic hits financial uncertainty and the uncertainty of the globe combined. It was an easy decision to work out something with my landlord, make an exit, uh, liquidate the business and move whatever business I was gonna keep online. And that, that, that took me into the pandemic for a little while, but then it just got to the point where I, I was running my head against the wall. I had lost a lot of confidence and had mostly given up on coaching. Mm-hmm. And then in, uh, July of 2020, got an invitation to visit a lake house in Manita, Virginia on Smith Mountain Lake. I got the call from Leo Savage. He said, You go into the lake house, man. And I was like, What are you talking about? Leo Savage And he was like, We're going to a lake house. It's Mark England's family lake house. I want you to be there. Meet me in Charlotte and we'll ride in together. I was like, Sweet. So I showed up and I met Mark England. I met Dave, I had met him before, but we were connecting for the first time. And about 20 gentlemen descended and two women descended upon Manita, Virginia, where we're sitting right now. Mm-hmm. And that was a big turning point because a month later I was invited to Colorado to a men's retreat put on by a guy named Chris. Very, uh, well known in our community. Wonderful human. And so when he put out the bat signal, we showed up. There was another attendee who was also present at this lake house right now named Kyle Gray. Mm-hmm. I knew Kyle as a storyteller and as someone who taught people the mechanics of storytelling to improve sales, to improve marketing and brand image. And as I've mentioned before, I like to take really complex ideas, take'em down to simplicity. So I have a couple of key questions that I can disseminate a lot of information in very potent information very quickly. Use this if you like, Hey Kyle, what's the one thing you teach all your clients? If I can get to the one thing that everybody needs, I'm gonna be 80% of the way there. And the last is just figuring out what the 20% of my unique needs are. And he said, If you're gonna tell a story, make sure you're delivering a good lesson. Mm-hmm. And in the moment, I had a story come to mind and I knew the lesson right away. And so I wrote it down on a piece of paper, five acts. I was like, I'm gonna tell this story, but I'm gonna tell it like a performance. I'm gonna throw some music in there, get some lights, and let's just see what happens. I volunteered to do it for the guys as an energy exchange for my contribution. Everybody seemed to have their superpowers on, figured I'd try to bring something to the table and what proceeded was nothing short of a miracle and magic. Mm-hmm. one of our friends, Danny Rios, he had volunteered to do some lighting for me, but then it came time to tell the story and Danny was upstairs asleep, and I felt bad, you know, I didn't want to go wake Danny up. Mm-hmm. let Danny sleep. Tell your story. We'll just dim the lights. It'll be great. So I'll start into what became the opening mono. As I'm getting to the first like real punch of the story, I noticed Danny walk downstairs as if a spirit had come and woken him up and said, You got somewhere to be buddy So he walks downstairs, the moment's cresting, the moment's cresting. I say the magic line, Danny, right on time flicks the light out. There's a spark of a lighter music hits, Danny turns on the swirling lights and everybody loses their freaking mind. cuz they realized we were taken off. Mm-hmm. And so I told at the time, the story of my life, it became known as the king says Yes. Mm-hmm And when I was done, two things happened. The right group and the right person. Affirmed me in a very vulnerable moment where I needed it. I didn't know I needed it, but as soon it was as it was affirmed, it, it took me to the next thing that happened, which I just broke into tears. I burst into tears because I realized that I had never had that much fun doing anything in my whole life. And to have realized that that level of fun had been available to me this whole time. But I wasn't brave enough or courageous enough to go out and get it before man. It broke me wide open. Mm-hmm. And the affirmation was not only do the guys just be like, Dude, that was incredible. I felt like you teleported us to another dimension. How did you do that? One person in particular, his name has Ben. He's known as Ben Joy, Ben Walker. For those that don't know, Ben Walker was a professional thespian. Mm-hmm. which means he traveled on national tours as leads in some of the biggest shows on the planet. One of them was Beauty in the Beast. So he played guest on and he also played the Beast. To say, Ben knows what he's doing is an understatement. He's a fucking pro.

Bill 23:02

Yes he is.

brooks 23:03

And so when he said, Have you ever done that before? And I say, No. And he looked me dead in my eyes and he said, Dude, you got it You got it. The thing, you got it. Please promise me you'll keep telling that story. And I made Ben a promise. I made those guys a promise. I'm gonna keep doing this. Mm-hmm. And from that point it was like, okay, like I know what I, I know how to build a business. I'm gonna build more, but this is what I really want to do and how can I harmonize my work and my passion? I think just as a quick tangent, one of the things that's sold to us often is we need to make our passions, our profession. And, and for so many people, man, that is just really hard to do. Yeah. Because in business you need to be able to exchange a certain level of value for money and not everyone's passion is gonna have value in the marketplace for, for money. Mm-hmm. And so telling someone that they have to make their passion, their profession is a lot of pressure, man. So much so that I tried to even quit making my passion, my profession. I tried to go get another profession so it could fuel my passion. If you're getting income and you got some free time and you have a great family, like, you know, your profession can fuel your passion. Doesn't have to be the center of your identity. Indeed. But I figured, well, Kyle Gray has made it his profession, Mm-hmm. So maybe there's something more to the equation here. So, uh, to bring everybody like, you know, full circle up to speed. I end up moving to Richmond, Virginia. Uh, I had a job that allowed me to, I changed professions, got a job, moved to Richmond, Virginia, got fired 90 days later. And then it was just like, Oh shit, what do I do? Mm-hmm. And then Dave Robinson comes back on the scene. He's the one that got me to move to Richmond. The first place. He asked me, Dude, uh, do you wanna start a coaching company together? And I said, Absolutely. We already were gonna create an executive coaching program and might as well just do it. And you and me. And it became Chop Club for men. Yes, sir. Yes. And Dave was the original chopper. His chopper Dave. Ready? Dave. He and a guy named Kay Jungle were the original, original choppers and, uh, We under thought it man, we on the branding, we under thought it Dave, you're the choppers. We're just gonna call it chop club. We interviewed 50 men. These 50 men shared three things in common that they said that they would be willing to trade money for, uh, mentorship for. We made sure to include those three things in the program and we asked them that they'd like to buy it and that's where it started. It was that easy. We asked what problems they had. We asked if they, if we solved those problems, if they'd be willing to buy. And when we made it, they said yes. And uh, it's been first six months cuz we're only six months into the launch of Chop Club, which is like, hey, we needed to attract the right guys first. And then we got to this point where it was like, okay, we have gotten now inquiries to go into the corporate world, so we're gonna put a pause on trying to grow chop and we just wanna like, nurture the guys that we have and make sure that what we're doing is working for these guys. Cause it's one thing to get sales, uh, but it's another to get results. Yeah. And so we wanna make sure the results were there and, uh, That's when we started inquiring with the people that were following our audience. Like, what about what we're doing is resonating with you. And then I met Bill. Yes, sir. Bill, I'm gonna turn the tables on you for a second. Let's go. What happened? You even speak. What happened? Oh, yeah. I'll fucking get, You're gonna be hard to get a word in edgewise with me, buddy. Um, what about what I was saying? What we were doing started resonating with you? Um,

Bill 26:55

I loved the structure that you offered and I've always found a ton of value in connecting with community of like-minded, free thinking individuals on similar paths. You know, creating freedom within their lives, through the things they love to do, building businesses, all these different things. And. Recognizing by putting myself in groups like this, that if I want to be the man that I'm setting out to be, I need to put myself around black belts and people that, uh, have, you know, cultivated themselves in a way that I'm also looking to embody and incorporate into my life. So, you know, is the community, it was the, the structure. The accountability and I was just captivate, captivated by your charisma and your energy on the call. I had no intentions of joining the CHOP Club, uh, Mastery Coaching Program. As we hopped on the call, I figured it would lead to that, you know, But we connected, we just had fun. You know, you brought me in to a song and we were dancing and instantly I became comfortable and felt energized and felt creative and just like we were having a conversation, just connecting man to man and, uh, you know, sharing who we are and, uh, just exploring that. So, uh, those are the key points of what drew me towards Chop Club Mastery Program.

brooks 28:14

What values, virtues, or qualities were Dave and I emoting or emitting that were like, those are the things, black belt level that I wanna, I want

Bill 28:25

to get to. Yeah. Charisma, uh, level of clarity in terms of, you know, who you want to be and. Being a clear example of that, you know, it's very clear in the way you guys present yourselves and show up and you know, the level of confidence you bring to the table. And yeah, one thing that really landed with me was the level of play. And I found that I assimilate information and knowledge and, um, you know, wisdom much more effectively with that being incorporated into the experience because I am allowed to relax into myself. And it's not just like clear cut, dry, so information, which is also great and I take a lot from that as well. But, uh, yeah, that, that those were the things that were, you know, very apparent to me that you guys had to offer. And just getting the results that you, you preach about, you know, and that, and, and living in alignment with your teachings. Uh, you know, just observing your guys work from afar and seeing the commitment and dedication to the craft, to the chop. And yeah, that's what drew me in specifically.

brooks 29:30

What did you think you were gonna get out of it when you signed on, and what have you gotten out of it so

Bill 29:36

far? Yeah, I love the master classes, so, um, you know, I like to have a structure for educating myself and, you know, I listen to tons of podcasts and always informing myself in different ways and exploring different realms of knowledge. But what I thought I was gonna get out of it was, you know, having that structure, you know, we have the, the, um, the Excel spreadsheets that allow us to check our boxes and the realm of meditation, movement, breath, hydration, advancement, all these different things. And, you know, definitely found a lot of value in that. And uh, as far as what I, what I have gotten and what, well, what I'm realizing specifically is that you get in what you put out. So, uh, right off the bat, you know, I made the decision to join the, the program and I didn't really think it through very much, but, you know, everything you shared just made sense to me in terms of like getting myself oriented in the direction I wanted to go and excelling the rate at which I can grow. And, um, but yeah, so in terms of, I realized as I was joining it, I was like, Maybe I'm not getting as much outta this as I thought, but then I was recognizing that it was purely in my own hands and that I wasn't investing myself the way I wanted to. Uh, in terms of the accountability worksheet and engaging with the dudes and really just getting to share and actively integrate and get a secondary interpretation of my experiences with it and getting to converse and connect on a monthly basis with you guys has been really helpful for me. And especially being someone that can face resistance to showing up in groups like that and just expressing freely and sharing my experience authentically. So I'm just continuing on the path of continuing to open up and I definitely want to reach out to more of the guys to develop more personal relationships. Mm-hmm. cuz you never know what can emerge and, you know, result of that. So, um, yeah, what I, what I thought I would receive, I am receiving. And what I am getting is recognizing that. You know, I need to double down on my input in terms of, uh, you know, how I, um, engage myself in the program and with you guys personally and just sit down, personally connect and, uh, really be open in terms of how I'm showing up so I can, uh, be honest and, and, uh, you know, get the benefits of what

brooks 32:12

that can bring. Once you decided that you were gonna get out, what you put in, once you realized you'd get out, what you put in, what did you start changing and how did it go?

Bill 32:25

Uh, yeah, so really just utilizing the accountability worksheet the best I could. Um, you know, meditation specifically being one of the things that I'm on and off consistent with. So the structure being implemented, knowing I had the worksheet, knowing I was gonna show up on the accountability call, knowing I was gonna show up to ask for more things, to be accountable for the, actually following through on doing the things which we're doing right now because the podcast. Uh, recording and releasing for this month. Yep. Was on the list of things to accomplish. Mm-hmm. Um, another one being, you know, uh, putting my relationship with caffeine in check. Uh, and there was a few other things, but I bit off more than I could chew on one of the first accountability calls. Yeah. Basically,

brooks 33:10

Bill one, I'm gonna change it all by next month.

Bill 33:14

Yeah. Which is everything. I'm gonna

brooks 33:15

check all my habits. I'm, they're gonna, they're gonna, Yeah. It's like, forget the year I'm gonna do in a month. Uh, and then we got to the end. You're like, Oh, I had a hard time. Uh, I did okay on this one, not so good on this one. And I said, What would it be like if you focused on one at a time? Yeah. And once you were like, Oh yeah, I could, I could focus on one at a time. Uh, next accountability call. You killed it. Yep. It was just like, Oh, I took care of it. I was like, Oh, cool. Do you feel comfortable? Like you could do that again? You said, Yeah. I said, Cool. Uh, what's the next thing? Then you can start to put in this place. You picked another thing. A month goes by, Hey, how'd it go? Oh, that's in its rightful place. Like, Oh, cool. What do you wanna do next? And then he picked one that wasn't related to his health. Mm-hmm. I think is all, uh, potent to it. It can be valuable to recognize Yeah, wellness and health stem from more than just our physical inputs, more than just the food and the exercise. Yeah. That's

Bill 34:07

what I'm, that's what I'm recognizing right now is like Right. What we're creating together, with this podcast. This is the single handedly most scary thing to do with the stories and ways of viewing myself and, these previous I identities that I've solidified within myself. Being someone that, compares himself to others in a way that diminishes his self worth. So what the podcasting has allowed me to do, and it's, you know, it's outside of just the movement and eating well and all these different things, it's allowed me a sense of freedom and confidence in myself and more self love because, uh, yeah, I just, I'm unwinding so much about myself in terms of. Where I haven't been standing in my self worth. And it's really an ongoing process and I still face a lot of resistance to this, but as the enlisted community preaches, marry the reps, and I'm doing my best to do that. Uh, while, understanding that there is a point of pushing too much, but knowing that, uh, doing things like this are what allow me to feel best within myself, showing up in these communities that there's just a lot for me to face and, and a lot that, shows up within myself as I place myself in environments like this. And talk with people like you. you're a scholar, a world traveler, a savant, storyteller, just essentially a renaissance man. And it can be easy to like place individuals such as yourself on pedestals and, and then, there's all these challenges of getting it in my own way in terms of just connecting authentically as myself. So, doing the podcast and sitting down and carving out that time to sharpen the sword of just genuine expression and connection and doing something that I previously deemed myself incapable of is really what's contributed to my health the most. And just feeling my best, as you were saying, outside of just the fundamental wellness principles. And that's

brooks 36:04

what guys typically will learn when they join our community in that way is that, listen, uh, Bill said earlier he, the things that he liked the most, he said the education, the structure or the accountability tool. You said accountability was the last word. Tools or structure and then the education piece. And that was the three things that every fucking guy that we interviewed said. Yep. 50 outta 50. Mm-hmm. said that in their top five. So we built a program and our outward marketing language is that we solved that problem cuz it's accurate. Well, we don't say, Which is also accurate, but if we say it, then it creates a cloud of, I don't know. What this is for is that if you, when you start down this path, you're gonna start noticing other areas of your life where you're not holding yourself accountable. You're gonna start, hon, learning other areas of your life that you're avoiding looking at or tracking. And so, yeah, it doesn't surprise me that you got to a place rather quickly where you started reaching for goals outside of the immediate health and wellness benefits. Mm-hmm. that you will get with time no matter what. If you follow the seven things, if you take care of those seven things that we have, you track on a daily basis and you do them well, 80% or better, like you're gonna make progress. We know this. I don't have to think about whether or not I can get you results. I know that we can get you those results. Yeah. But when you're inside and you hear what other people are aspiring to do or other areas of their life that they're asking for accountability, I also have received the benefit of having. Things mirrored back to me. Yeah. Through the community that I was playing short or where I, When you said coffee, I was like, Oh yeah, I gotta get the caffeine in check. Yeah. Totally need to do it. So that's, uh, tremendously, tremendously valuable to be in community with people. Yeah.

Bill 37:57

How has, diving into this new project with Dave, what are some of the most, impactful aspects of growth you've personally experienced through it all?

brooks 38:08

The enlisted method has gotta be towards the top because, just because I knew what the enlisted method was and knew the four steps, didn't mean I was practicing them. This is the year where I've applied the enlisted method as frequently as anything else. I mentioned getting fired earlier in the story, you know, I, that the way that I worked through that immediate, uh, emergency situation as it felt was to title it and write it down. This is what happened. And these are the facts. And I wrote it down like a story. Step two, read it out loud. I read it with Dave. Step three, read it out loud again, 70% speed. Step four, read it out loud again and take a big deep breath at every major punctuation and just watch the energy move. And when you clear the energetic space, it allows your body to go into a like being at ease. And if you're at ease, then the creation can happen. If you're tense and you're stuck in fight or flight, the creative or play side of your brain turns off. One of the critical components for play or flow state is safety. It's one of the key pillars. Mm-hmm. So I needed to learn to use the en lifted method to create the safety within my own self. Oh, I can handle this, I can do this. Move the energy first, and then I get to take some creative space. So, I mean, honestly, like my biggest personal development year has been this year. Mm-hmm. because I've been able to clear that space. I'm now able to invite other people in to the new space that I have access to. Mm-hmm. Uh, so that's been huge for me. The second is starting and keeping going, getting married to the reps. Uh, I've had in between recess and now I've had multiple false starts. I'll try this thing, put a little effort. Doesn't go how I want falls apart. Mm-hmm. start up another, I'm doing another thing. Doesn't really go how it falls apart. The problem is that you do that enough. People learn to stop trusting the integrity of your word. because they see you stopping and starting, stopping and starting, and then you invite people into an opportunity. Oh, is this gonna be one of those things that you stop and start? Yeah. So I'll wait and see how this one plays out. Mm-hmm. And so there was that, but it was, I was also waiting to see how it played out. I was half in, half out, you know, I was waiting for somebody to come save me, and that is not gonna happen. So save yourself by doing the work. Just keep doing it. Mm-hmm. So I made the decision just like I decided when I was getting, gonna get married, like marriage. For anybody that's wondering about marriage, if it's right for you, I'm not gonna tell you whether it's right for you. I'll tell you, marriage in a, in its most simple form is a decision. Mm-hmm. it's a decision that once made. You can just take all of the weight of it off the table, like, is this going to work or not? Doesn't matter. Made the decision. Rodney, I'm going to the end, man. Don't have to worry about it. I don't have to worry about, like, I know my wife has made the decision. There's no half in, half out on being married. Like, if you want a happy, healthy marriage, the first thing you need to decide is that you personally aren't leaving. Mm-hmm. you personally

Bill 41:49

are going to support

brooks 41:50

this other human being to the edge of the earth and more if you can. So similar in this business sense, I was gonna get married to this pursuit, and in another sense, Dave and I engaged in a committed partnership where there was no I, I'll, I'll, I'll explore other options. It was like, this is what we're doing and the decision has been made. So all of my energy and effort has been in complete faith and trust this year that the action will yield, I will be cared for and everything will be fine. Okay, but here's the thing about, here's the thing about faith Bill, is that faith can only be faith when the outcome is uncertain. Mm-hmm. there is you, like structurally must have uncertainty for there to be faith. Oftentimes we want to say we're keeping the faith, but in reality we want certainty. Yes. Security. Security. Yeah. And so I opted this year to allow myself to exist in uncertainty and, and remind myself over and over again that you can be uncertain and be happy. Mm-hmm. true. You can be uncertain and experience joy. You can experience. And experience bliss and happiness and thankfulness that things are working out the way that they are. Uh, I took a bank, I took a picture of my bank account this year. I had$2 and 12 cents in cash. I had$2 and 12 cents in cash. I think I was scared. Hell yeah, I was afraid, but I had to have faith this time. Mm-hmm. the faith was, I have faith in my partner, Dave. You know, I have faith in myself and I have faith that other people see our value and are willing to, uh, exchange money for that value because we are helping guys. Uh, and now by extension, other types of, uh, business profiles. We have a corporate division now called Serious Fund, and we are helping solve the culture of work by helping people get healthy while they work. And that was our promise to the guys. Hey, we're gonna teach you how to get healthy while you work. And it's like, Oh, if we can do that for one guy, we can do that for an entire company. We know that we can. Mm-hmm. we know that we can. So, uh, to answer very pointedly working it, taking action on my stories, like actually applying the enlisted method to understanding faith and, and acting in faith that things will work out. And by doing so, this has been the best year of my

44:41

life.

Bill 44:42

Righteous. It's very clear. Um, and yeah, thank you for taking us through that. I would love to dip back into your relationship with your queen. Cool. And one thing that was impactful for me that you shared was a cognitive reframe around, you know, how you perceived this life unfolding with your lady Hallie. And, uh, you mentioned growing old to Mark and he reframed it as being young, growing young. Mm-hmm. And I would, I would love. Personally to hear and for the listeners to hear. How have you practiced that with, within your relationship? How has that showed up and how has that impacted your trajectory moving forward with her? Perfect.

brooks 45:22

Let's start with this. Um, it is common, more common now than it's ever been. It's blessing to hear, but it's very common for us to hear now. We want what y'all have. We want what y'all have. I just, we love the way that y'all look at each other and the way that you embrace each other. We want what you have, and as I say, are you willing to go through what we went through to have what we have? Because what we went through was gut-wrenching and it was yeah, the hardest emotional ride I've ever been on. which was the ungluing of our individual selves. Men, just pulling out all the roots, you know, Or at least going into the deepest part of the deepest part of your closet and pulling it all out to take a look at it together. Mm-hmm. sharing your deep, dark, Don't want to tell anyone. Secrets not easy. No, we did that long before we got married. We lived together. Uh, uh, uh, went here. Here. Here's the synopsis. Uh, Brooks gets overwhelmed and tries to, and try does break up with her two months in contextually. I just moved back from living a very international lifestyle in Korea. I was 27 years old and we met June of 2014 and she had just graduated high school. Mm-hmm. And so we were both the last person on earth. We thought we'd get with, for the most part. and then everybody saw an attraction. They invited us to, you know, explore it in a safe way. We did. Brook's panics breaks up with her, decides he wants to go back on it. He's really sorry. One year later, Brooks does it again. Right around my birthday, I was suffering from seasonal depression. Had no idea. Gotcha. I break up with her again this time it's like, Hey dude, like I don't know who you think I am, but if you think that you're ever going to like tease off on relationship with me, this is Hallie. Like you got another thing coming In October of 2015, I understood unconditional love for the first. I had traveled back to Korea and gone to a friend's, uh, sister's wedding. And when I came back, Hallie had food. She, you know, she was excited to pick me up from the airport. She had meal waiting, She had a joint rolled. This woman got me. And I had spent all of my adult life believing that the way to receive love was by having a really good resume. And I saw it after people who reinforced that having a good resume was the right way to have a relationship. And for the first time it hit me that I could fall flat on my face tomorrow and lose everything that I have, and this woman would be here to help. That's, and, and just hearing her heartbeat in my ear, it's just like I step through the veil, as I've learned to call it now, which, uh, well, we'll call it a moment of clarity. A deep, deep moment of clarity and understanding unconditional love, therefore, the universe for the first time. So then I was like committed. I made the decision right then and there that I was gonna be with her until she decided she wanted to be with me anymore, And, uh, what that also needed to include was telling her that, you know, as a young kid, I had experienced sexual trauma and had been hurt. And the way that that manifested into my behavior is that I learned it was okay to have a secret as long as it protected me and people that I loved. Until one day I realized in hindsight that I had been unfaithful to every woman that I had that had granted me the grace of their love and, and commitment. And I was grappling with the fact that maybe I wasn't such a good man. And that was hard. I cried for an hour while she held me. after I had just told her that I had been unfaithful to her as well. Mm-hmm. that it in, that this included her. She was 20 and she held me and she left. And as far as I knew, that was, that was a wrap on the relationship. Yeah. And it wasn't. She came back and once I had let all of my demons out of the closet, I felt ready and prepared to be a pillar in a rock in her life. And because she, her development needed to know that no matter what, she could never scare me away. And she likely will roll her eyes if she knows I'm telling this story again, but I'm doing it for a lesson, babe. She tried to break up with me 20 months in a row, 20 months in a row. That's almost two years, man. It's damn near. That's, that's

Bill 50:39

five sixths. 5, 6, 5

brooks 50:42

sixths of two years. She tried to break up with me and I didn't, I, I said, Hall, you can leave. I will support you and you leaving to take care of what you need to, but I'm never going to leave you. Mm-hmm. So take the space if you need it, Go explore life if you need it. But like, I've made my decision, This all crested into like a last desperate act of whatever part of her felt unworthy of love. And we had an argument and, and as I was walking by, I was like, You know what? I'm leaving. She, the, the closest thing she had was a, a about, uh, half of a 30 pound bag of dog food. And she just hit me over the, back when I was walking by dog food went every. It was awful And I had to like, you know, reckon with the fact that this girl

Bill 51:34

just hit me

brooks 51:35

with a bag of dog food.

Bill 51:37

It's a heavy

brooks 51:38

bag. 15 pounds can cause some damage. And it was like, all right, well I, I get to hold a boundary here. And that's when me holding the boundary held the standard for the relationship. It wouldn't compromise. Like, this is something we don't do. I don't do, you don't do, we don't do this. She came back couple of days later and was like, you know, it was a hard moment, man. Her family was involved, her brother was there, you know? Yeah. It was like a real life moment. Mm-hmm. And as far as we thought at the moment, we were not gonna be together. Days go by, there's some reconciliation and some hard conversations about who we are individually, what we want, what our shared values are. And a couple of months go by of, of reconciliation. And man, it just started clicking because then she made the decision that she was worthy of receiving that love and support and that it was okay to allow her guard to go down. And, uh, we took a trip to South Korea. I've said that Korea so many times. I, I love it. I've lived there. It's like my second home. I took her there. I wanted to show her that part of my life. And, uh, two months later, February 15th, 2018, I asked her to marry me. And she said yes. We were in little restaurant, nice restaurant called Restaurant Iris in Memphis, and I asked her to be my wife. Shortly after that, I opened the gym, our love blossom. It was challenging. We were engaged for 18 months. We told ourselves we were gonna let the gym ride for a year before you were gonna think about planning a wedding. Mm-hmm. planning the wedding was tough because the gym was in a financial hardship, so it was also a very challenging period. October 19th, 2019, we got married in the backyard of our family property in Memphis at the Howard Manor. My family's property, and, uh, we're gonna celebrate our anniversary in just a few days here. Three years. And, uh, the first year marriage, we were in fucking lockdown so, you know, go ahead and get used to being around each other. Mm-hmm. And it's actually been a wonderful thing for our relationship to deepen our trust, to deepen our connection, to take this opportunity to be in reflection of what we want and to decide that we want to clear. A path for ourselves that we get to define and we get to lead our marriage and have the marriage that we want. And, uh, so again, if you're out there saying, you know, I, I want what that person has, ask yourself, am I willing to go through what they went through? Um, because it's likely, if you're gonna have the love of your life, it's going to be the hardest thing you've ever done. And it's because it's the hardest thing you've ever done that will allow for it to be the greatest thing you've ever done. Mm-hmm. if you so choose.

Bill 54:46

Yes. Uh, as you were growing up as a young man, you know, we all have our different familial dynamics and different situations and environments and traumas and experience. Did you have any mentors that planted these seeds to allow you to become this man? Because for me personally, I grew up without a father, so I never had a, you know, solid. Masculine role model to, form my path after any real living examples, at least directly in my life. So, you know, quick side, tangent, that's why I find the work that you guys are doing here and specifically with, you know, chop Club for men so important to me is because I didn't have that. So I feel like it's critical for me to immerse myself around men that are actually pursuing and, fully living out their values and, um, living in a way where they're a man holding it down in a loving way. You know, So I would be curious to hear, you know, some of those early mentors that planted these seeds and, uh, allowed you to flourish into the person that you are doing all these different things that you love and living in alignment and, just living the life of your dreams. I've

brooks 56:02

had a lot of mentors. The first one that comes to mind for relationships, uh, was my childhood best friend's father. My best friend growing up, his name is Phil. He was the youngest of three brothers and his parents were Tim and Linda. The old Tim and Linda. Tim was, is uh, a business owner. He owns a family business. It's a steel fabrication business, so they turn steel into parts for other companies and he's a hard worker and he basically has three things that he cares about. He's got his family, he's got his work, and he's got, God. Those are his three pillars. He keeps it very simple. Tim's one thing he does, he makes very few requests for himself, but the one thing that's Tim's thing is Tim goes hunting and he goes to get in the tree stand and he has that time. Tim was always a very steady hand. So as a man, he was very steady. He was very fair, is very steady, is very fair, and he was very detail oriented. So he's married to Linda, who is very

Bill 57:25

opposite of this. She's very

brooks 57:28

quick thoughts popping off saying things left and right. Details are more for other people she just excited and wants to share. So one day I got to witness an event between Tim and Linda when I was 15 years old. That has been the seed that has grown into the, I guess you could say, core philosophy of my marriage, And it goes like this. I hear Linda called Tim up. Hey Tim, I got a grocery list. Can you pick it up on the way home from work? Tim said, Absolutely. And Tim, I hear her calling out the things that she needs, and I know Tim Tim's writing it down. Mm-hmm. pinn to paper, sitting at his desk, pinned to paper on Texas Street in South Memphis. He's writing it down. And so Tim goes to the grocery store and he gets everything on the list, and he comes home and he presents all the groceries. And Linda says, Tim, where's the milk? And I hear him go, Well, you didn't, you didn't say it, Get any milk? And she said, No, no, no. I said, I said, I said the thing and the, and the thing. He's like, Oh, nope. No, no problem. I'll go back and get it. She's like, Nope, nope. You don't have to use that. Nope, it's fine. I'm already out the door, calm, and he walks out. 30 minutes later, Tim comes back with the milk and nothing else happened. That was a shocking part to me because while I have two very wonderful parents, I had two very supportive parents. It wasn't the model that I had in my home for conflict, not to continue with some blame and shame, but I knew she didn't ask for the milk. You see, cuz I was present when I heard her say the list, she didn't say milk. And so I'm curious as a young guy about this. Mm-hmm. Tim, come here man. I see. The thing is, Tim is, I know you wrote that down and I know she didn't tell you to get the milk. What gifts man? Why'd you just walk out the door? He said Brooksy. When she asked me about the milk, I knew that the next half hour of my life was sunk And I was gonna gonna spend it one of two ways. First way is I was gonna order, I was gonna argue about how she didn't say to get the milk. And guess what? We don't have milk. And now she's mad at me or. I go get in the car and I go get the milk. He put his hand on my shoulder. gives you that dad eyes, like, I hope what I'm about to say is gonna sink in, but it might take 15 years. He said, Always go get the milk. And boy has that not been the best freaking li you know, piece of advice I've ever gotten on relationships. Mm-hmm. because there were so many times, man, dude, when I owned a CrossFit gym, I had the 6:00 AM classes. I had a PE program in another school, and I was studying to go to grad school. Wonder why I was stressed out another grad school. And I'd get in bed at like 11:37 PM knowing that that alarm was gonna go off at five 30, you know? And I'm just like, Can't wait to go to bed. And then I would hear Hallie like reach for her nighttime medicine and the bottom would be empty, bro. Oh my God. It's my worst nightmare. you tell me, I gotta get outta this comfortable on the edge of sleep bed to accompany you to go get this medicine. Mm-hmm. is not what I wanted to do. And I tried many times to blame and shame her and to be like, You gotta do this and you gotta do that. And then one time I thought I was gonna tell her no and I thought, creeped over me. What if you didn't go and something happened to her? Yeah. What if you didn't go because you just didn't wanna fool with it and you let the love of your life have an accident and you could've been there. Right? It's like, oh, always go get the milk It doesn't mean acquiesce your values, it doesn't mean not have boundaries. It just means that in these moments that are inevitable in a relationship, moments of miscommunication, moments of tension, you can, Another Tim Irwin phrase right here said Brooksy, when it comes to your wife, you can either be right or you can be happy. You don't always get to choose to be both. I've heard it said, you can be right or you can be in love. You don't always get to choose both. Mm-hmm. huge mentor. He was the efficient at our wedding. Epic. Epic. I, it's like I want him to be my efficient, I learned the most about relationships from him. Another mentor was a man named Joe Wilson. Joe was my first martial arts instructor, uh, when I was in college. And he was the first person I ever heard to use the term joint mobility. This is like 2005. He taught me how to swing a kettle bell. He taught me how to swing a club. He taught me how to kick some ass and he taught me to be a kind human being. And it turns out Joe was very in deep with the international fitness community in a way that I'm like 12, what, what is it? 17 years into the future. I'm only starting to realize now how deep Joe was, cuz I learn all the time that he was. Oh, I knew him and I knew him. Oh man, that's great. Joe Wilson was huge for me because he taught me that it was possible to be an entrepreneur in wellness. Seeing Joe be able to do that and have his own Dojo was like, I can do that too. And Joe believes in me, so I believe in me. A mentor that I didn't really know, in fact didn't know, I mean, I had less than 10 minutes of personal conversation with him, is a man named Chris Moore. Chris Moore is affectionately known as the Barbell Buddha, and he co-founded Barbell Shrugged in 2012 with the guys from Memphis 2011, and they became the number one fitness podcast in the world on iTunes. They were like the led Zeppelin of fitness podcasting ever. Everybody knew who they were, they were Epic, and Chris suddenly died one day at the age of 36, and it was very shocking. And they had a memorial for him in Memphis. And just seeing the reverence of people that came to pay tribute to him, you could just tell that he touched many lives. And, uh, I was having a tough go in that point in my life. And so I decided to have a morning practice that would include making a fresh French press cup of coffee and sitting down and picking a podcast or something, just center myself before immersing in the day. And that day, Chris was on my heart, Chris was on my mind. So I said, Let's just listen to the first episode of Barb Buddha. And I had a great day. Chris was funny. He said, hilarious human being. He's got a great, great voice. I've, I've learned to cultivate and craft my voice that you hear on the microphone now because I've studied this guy very closely. So day two, day three, day four, day five, Monday through Friday, I get up every day, make French, press coffee and hang out with Chris. And then Saturday when I might break a routine, allow myself to sleep in or do whatever, nope. I got up and I valued it. I made that cup of coffee and I sat down with Chris and that momentum carried me for a 100 straight days. And I sat down and listened to the entire catalog of Barbell Buddha from start to finish. And it was exactly a hundred episodes. It captured about four and a half years of this guy's life. And not only was I a huge fan of barbell Shrug, so I knew what part of the journey he was in. In retrospect, you also got to keep in context that he die. So when you're hearing him talk about the urgency of expressing yourself or start in that business or saying yes to that opportunity or, or being vulnerable and telling somebody you love them, it's urgent because you never know when you're gonna check off of this mortal coil. I remember that phrase, You never know when you're gonna check off of this mortal coil and shuffle off back into the cosmos. And just like that, Chris was gone and he was awake to some real truths. Mm-hmm. And he felt a si sincere, desperate urgency. You could hear it in his voice, desperate urgency to state what he needed to say on this earth. The last episode of the catalog is called About My Dream Come true. Chris had put in so much energy, time, and effort. into this thing that he called art that now all of a sudden he was a full-time writer and podcaster and had achieved his dream on earth, and then all of a sudden he was gone. Mm-hmm. And I was just moved by this intimately, moved by this human being, and I've had the pleasure and fortune of getting to know his friends, getting to know his family, and he's somebody that I must, uh, give tribute to here on this show. And if you'll allow me the space for one more please. One of my gurus and, and teachers is my close friends Sam. Sam would hate that I call him my teacher. He doesn't want to be my teacher, but he. I met Sam at Christian Brothers University where I went to college and he stuck out. He was ambiguous in his, in his look. He was ethnically, he's ethnically Korean, but just something about his style, just like I was curious about the guy. He played soccer and, uh, we shared a, we did a trip, a class trip together that was facilitated by the university and we got to go to Spain. And on this trip I get to know Sam very, very well and this experience and what happens one year later, which is I wanna hang out with Sam for spring break again, but this time he's going to Jamaica and I'm like, I want to go to Jamaica. Something crazy with this guy because he's, he, I can tell he's got access to a part of the world that I don't fully get yet. He's native Langu, he's native level in four languages. He's lived all over the world. He's got friends all over the world. Were 19, 20 years old. I didn't, I just, something about this guy really stuck out to me. We go on the Jamaica trip changes my life, becomes the centerpiece of the one man performance. The king says yes. And Sam very shortly after, uh, this story in my real life, he invites me to move to Korea. Hey man, economy, shit, you can move to Korea, teach English, make some money, pay back any debts you have travel. It's like, yeah, sounds awesome. And that one decision changes again, another decision. The trajectory in my life moving to South Korea for the first time. And he and I have traveled to, I don't know, eight or nine countries together. And, um, he has allowed me access to parts of the world that I didn't think I'd ever see. He's given, granted me in away access to the echelon of people that I never knew I could be around. And he taught me that I belong. He taught me that I'm capable of changing the trajectory of the world with my effort and with my energy. And he's given me a model for what it's like to live into a more, uh, powerful, internationally focused global impact and living in doing the things that you love. Sam works in soccer. He now owns a soccer sports agency. He's a partner in a sports agency and he manages the soccer division. Mm-hmm. And it's like he helps facilitate some of the largest transfers and deals in soccer on the planet. Mm-hmm. And so he is just been a, a peer mentor for me. I've had like the relationship mentor I've had like the, the, the who I can be one day mentor and I've had the man, this is who my friends are right now. I better step my game up friends. Mm-hmm. and he's, those are my biggest gurus.

Bill 1:10:13

Excellent brother. Yeah. Thank you for painting that picture. And uh, you know, just beautifully put in the way that the direct experience of. How that can impact an individual and the importance of mentorship, whether they, you know, just show up in your life randomly or you seek them out. Which many of us around that journey, were all looking for help and looking for ways to, uh, find more guidance and clarity and who we are and what we want to do. So thank you so much for being on the show today and, uh, just sharing everything about your experience up to this point. And I really respect everything that you've created. It's very inspiring to me to witness it all and to get to sit down and carve out this space with you and, uh, do the thing. So thank you so much, my brother. And one last thing. We'd love for you to plug your, your stuff, you know, your, your social medias, any programs you'd like to share with the people, any creative projects.

brooks 1:11:11

Thank you. Thank you for the space. Thank you for the invitation. Uh, I'm gonna make an invitation. This is not a sales plug, this is an invitation if you need support in your health. You need support in your life, You need mentorship for men. Come get in on the chops, man. Like we will teach you how to take the daily actions that you want to succeed, and you're gonna do it in camaraderie with other awesome humans. It's so great if you hear this and you have a company, it could be a five person company, it could be a 500 person company, and you want to improve the culture of your work environment and create a healthy, happy, and well workforce, you can reach out Serious fun.io. We got chop club for men.com individual looking for support companies, Sirius fund.io. Please follow me on Instagram, Brooks Meadows, and if you. A need or a desire to be an incredible, captivating, motivating public speaker, storyteller, podcaster, Or you wanna learn how to make some high ticket sales? You can. Uh, I, I have mentorships, uh, available. It's called Get Your Story Straight. Mm-hmm. And that's my personal gift, is to mentor men or women that want to enhance, cultivate, and enhance their personality and tell the story of their life. Mm-hmm. come get your story straight with me, man. Brooks Meadows. Uh, and if you like TikTok, dude, I just started at TikTok. I got like four at Get your story straight on TikTok. Yes, sir. Thank you Bill so much, man. It's a real honor and a pleasure. Thank you for your testimony. Always. I greatly appreciate it. Yep. And, uh, I'm grateful to serve you, man.

Bill 1:13:08

Likewise. That is a wrap and we'll see y'all next time. Ochs build a jeweler. Hey Brook's. Out out.