Do Hard Things Podcast: Forge Your Mind & Body

Pacing the Run: Embracing Negative Splits and Nurturing Personal Growth

Jay Tiegs & Angi Betran Season 3 Episode 23

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Join Jay and Angi in this enlightening episode as they unravel the world of running splits, a crucial concept for runners of all levels seeking to improve their performance and understanding of pacing. Whether you're eyeing a personal best or just aiming to finish strong, knowing how to effectively use running splits can be your game-changer. From breaking down what splits are and their types—like even and negative splits—to guiding you on how to track and use them to your advantage, this episode covers it all. Plus, we dive deep into the mindset that fuels consistent training and improvement. By exploring the metaphor of "the grass is greener where you water it," we emphasize the importance of self-growth through mindset and movement. Whether you're a seasoned runner or lacing up for the first time, learn how to leverage splits to enhance your running strategy, and discover how nurturing your own 'grass' with the right mindset and physical activity can lead to personal bests both on and off the track.

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Speaker 1

All right. Welcome, friends, citizens of the Do Our Things Nation, to another episode of the Do Our Things Podcast. I'm JT certified high performance coach, founder of the Do Our Things Nation. Our mission here is to empower you to upgrade your life through mindset and movement, and yet it's another Monday. We get to be here. We were just talking about gratitude right before we hit the live button. Angie, how are you doing this morning?

Speaker 2

I'm tired, but I'm happy to be here Awesome.

Speaker 2

Yeah we got a late start at work today for the Super Bowl and so I'm like, hmm, yeah, I could sleep in, but nope, I'm here. What would you think of the game? I liked it. I'm not a football like. I like football, but I'm not a diehard sports fan, and so I literally was there for the halftime show, for sure, and for the commercials. I love the commercials. You know, rudy and I were talking about this last night. If they would only create a second show off of the Super Bowl show every year, of just the commercials in the first half the Super Bowl, the halftime show, and then the commercials in the second half and just make it its own little production, like after the Super Bowl, I'm pretty sure that would get a lot, of a lot of watches, because I would go back and watch it.

Speaker 1

Yeah, they could do like an extended concert, you know, and yeah, it'd be kind of cool.

Speaker 2

That would be great actually.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I'd stick around and watch that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I'd rewatch it, Like today. I'm going to have to go to YouTube now and look for all the Super Bowl commercials. If they would just package it all together in one show, for me that'd be great.

Speaker 1

Yeah, no, that's pretty cool. Well, we're here in Chief's country, so our beloved Chief's one. There's a lot of people out there that are angry about that. I guess it was kind of a boring game up until the end. I'll be honest, I didn't watch it. I know I'm weird like that, but I kept up with the scores, but I didn't watch the Play by the Boy, but it seemed like an exciting game. I got to go to a couple of Chief's games this year, so super cool. I'm not a huge football fan, but this I'll actually go into Arrowhead Stadium. It's pretty, pretty awesome. Definitely, definitely made me appreciate a little bit more. That's cool. But go Chief's, though. Hopefully, hopefully, your team won, and if you didn't, well, oh well, I guess there's an extra year or so. Yeah, all right. Well, hey, before we get into today's topic, we're going to talk about running splits today and how you can best use them to improve your running. But before we get into that, make sure you smash that subscribe button so you're notified of future episodes. Leave us a review. They go a long way to helping us expand the Do Our Things Nation algorithm and empire so people can find us and share it with a friend. If you got something, a nugget, that came out of this, it could be useful, feel free to share it.

Speaker 1

We're sponsored by the Do Our Things Nation, doourthingsnationcom. We're a community committed to living a life on offense, united by a focus so on continuous self-improvement, upgrading our lives through mindset and movement. It's a great place to work, teach frameworks and challenges and have a space for accountability so you can upgrade your life. And upcoming events. We have the Do Our Things 28. We're going to be running that again. That's going to be monthly. We're in the middle of the Tajee 100 right now. We've got the Do Our Things 9-11 run coming up in September and if you for any other events, just go to doourthingsnationcom. You'll see what we've got going on. So that's it for the business end of things. But this morning we're going to talk about splits, running splits and this is a why did you know we were? We always collaborate and why did you feel that this would be a good topic to talk about this morning?

Speaker 2

Well, it's not something that I learned about and when, after I started running, until I was pretty deep into it, I didn't. I heard the term but I didn't really know what it was and how to use it and how it affected me. And so one of my friends texted me and was like, hey, I ran five miles for the first time and we became friends on Strava. We hadn't been previously been friends on Strava. And I looked at his time and I was like, dude, you had negative splits. That's awesome. And he was like, oh, okay, what's that? What does negative splits mean?

Understanding Running Splits and Improving Pace

Speaker 2

And so we were talking about it and I was just, you know, super pumped for him because we, we are running the Army 10-Miler together this year and so he's training now. He is an avid cyclist and he I got, we went to school together at the end of last year and we ran a couple times together and just, you know, super great person, super he's super excited about it. And yeah, I just was like, wow, yeah, let's, let's, let's remind people and educate people what splits are and how they can use them.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's great. When we brought that up, I was thinking, well, it is a great topic because I have, just when I learned how to run through cross country and track, that was just a common thing and I just kind of forgot that. You know, a lot of people aren't aware of that and it's a great way. It's a great tool to help you improve your running and you know, our mission here is to get people to enjoy running to run faster I think it's a goal for most runners and to enjoy it Right. So this is a great tool that you can use. Kind of goes along with the the topics from the last couple of weeks. We're talking about pace training and things like that. Being able to measure your paces via splits is is is how you can improve. So, if you haven't heard us, if you want to go back and review, like a episode or two back and go back and check out the different paces, but this morning we'll talk about split.

Speaker 1

So what is a split? Well, it's a. It's a running and racing term that that ultimately means the time it takes to complete a specific distance as part of your run. So, for example, if you're running five miles, your time at each mile marker would be your mile split. So you can even break them down, like if you're running, like intervals on a track, you know the every lap that you take around the track, whether you're running 400s or 800s, those individual repetitions that you're doing around the track would be your split. So you want to, you want to check those to see where you're at with in regards to your pacing, or you're keeping up with your, with the pace that you've set. So tracking your mile splits is crucial.

Speaker 1

If you're racing and you're trying to PR Say you're trying to qualify for the Boston marathon or train for or run the Boston marathon, you know you can estimate your finish time and that's of it. So, ultimately, what we're doing is we're taking our run and we're dividing it into smaller sections and intervals and measuring how long it takes to achieve that. There are two types of splits. There's even splits and negative splits. Well, I guess there's three, because there's positive splits.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I was like no, there's three.

Speaker 1

We don't want to talk about positive splits because we don't want that to be in your entry or vocabulary, right?

Speaker 2

We want to be running negative splits. That's not always not always, but yeah, but these.

Speaker 1

So running a negative split means ultimately, you know, finishing the race faster than you started even is keeping the same pace the whole way. Positive is the opposite. It's where you kind of get slower as the run progresses. When I'm training runners, you know it's it's not uncommon for runners to kind of you know, because they haven't done this before, you get slower as the run goes on right Because you're getting more tired. But we train so we can actually do the opposite, where we actually run faster and finish the race. So am I missing anything on the splits there? For the explanation.

Speaker 2

No, I tell you, I know you're not, you're not missing anything. And I, a lot of times, if I'm not training for something, I use the splits as a gauge after my run. So if I don't have a specific time in mind, I'm not trying to hit a specific pace I'll go back and look at my splits and that just tells me. You know, because when I'm running I'm like, oh you know, am I feeling tired today, am I feeling fast today, am I feeling energetic today? And I'll just go back and it kind of reinforces. I've been running long enough now to where I'll go back and look at my splits and be like, yeah, I was tired and it shows I can see that that positive split or that negative split where I was, you know, not tired and super jazz and really into it.

Speaker 1

So yeah, yeah, it's great information on your run because you can see where did you hit the wall, where did you have? Maybe you know you can, you can, especially for these longer runs where you, where you've depleted all your glycogen short stores and you've kind of hit that wall, or maybe you know this elevation and a lot of people. This is where a lot of people kind of struggle is they're looking at their splits. Well, obviously, if you have elevation, you're going to get slower. They're like man, I ran like a minute slower that mile but you climbed, you know, a few hundred feet in elevation. Give yourself some grace on that. But tracking your splits and measuring, and when I, as I train runners, you know, using the V dot app, you know it gives splits of all of their runs, so I can analyze that and give feedback when needed. So it's pretty cool. So, all right.

Speaker 1

So how do you track your splits? How are, what are some practices to do that? Well, most of your running watches are equipped to do that. You know, even on the old Timex there's a little split track you just when you run that lap around the track or you hit that mile mark or kilometer, you know, you just, you can just click it, you know, on your watch. Most of these running devices are automatically doing that. If you're using Strava or what not, they're already kind of breaking that down.

Speaker 1

I, you know old school, especially if I'm doing track workouts I still do this to the stale. I'll pull out a Sharpie and I'll write on my hand my pace and my splits and I just use the watch and I know exactly. That's why I love running on the track. I know exactly where I'm at by a hundred meter, you know. And I can just look at my watch and I just do it the old fashioned way with timing. I just break it down by time and that's a way to just kind of to break it down and track it. So if you're new to this, I would just encourage you to, as you're on your run, to kind of, you know, set your pace and just kind of practice doing it, just practice being aware of what your paces are and average them out. I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty straightforward, I think. But if you're doing a 5k, you know you break it down by kilometer every point, six miles. That's going to be your split and ultimately, what we want to do to improve and get better is we want to be shooting for that negative split. You want to be finishing the race faster than you started.

Speaker 1

When I do even my novice runners when we're doing, we're doing our longer runs. Once we've got some good base down, I will have them. They might be doing a long run, like a 10 mile run. It might be seven miles easy, and then the last three miles are going to be faster than they started, so more like that marathon pace or threshold pace. If they have more base of fitness, they might be running some of their marathon pace and then they're going to finish the last three miles even faster. And that's the goal. It's just we want to train the body and the mind that at the end of the race we can push and finish it faster. And I've certainly had races early where I've blown up at the end. It's been the opposite. So you've got to like, modulate your, your energy to be able to do that. So it's great training.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and you got to stay aware. You know, because especially when you're on race day and you're at a race and you're with a bunch of people or even in a group run, it's so easy to take off too fast and burn yourself out in the beginning, and so I think it helps you stay aware. And I think another thing to point out is if you haven't run a large organized race, a lot of times they'll have your pace bracelet which has got that on there. So, like Bass Pro does it I know United Airlines half did it, the Brooklyn half they provide these wristbands and, depending on what your goal is for that race, it breaks down every mile it breaks down your pace and you can keep track of it manually, like Jay said, yeah, absolutely, it's pretty good, Pretty good tool.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

So yeah, and you get these larger events. They have the Pacers that are holding the sign and you can run with them and determine your pace, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 1

So, and those, yeah, those, those, those bracelets are great because you don't have to try to memorize. You know your numbers. It just makes it easier. So, yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 1

But ultimately, what we're trying to strive to do is a negative split and what I, you know if someone is new to running, you know and they're, whether it be a 5k, a half marathon or a marathon, that first run, just don't even worry about paces, just go for the sake of enjoyment. Like Lacey and I, we're gonna do the rock and roll. I'm gonna encourage her not even to bring her watch, if I can get away with it. Just let's just go and just finish the race. Then the second one. Now let's start looking at our paces and and kind of start to dial it in. Let's see if we can run an even split, start to finish the Whole way.

Speaker 1

That's what the best marathoners do is they run that, they run that same pace till the very end. They do the negative split and let. But it takes a lot of discipline to be able to do that, but it's, it's. But it really gets you good at conserving your energy. Knowing where you're at, you really get in tune with your body, like on a longer event. I can sense it when I eat and drink stuff, like I can just feel the, the surge of energy or I know that I'm hitting the wall. It's like I can kind of tell how long this is gonna take and what I would need to do to kind of pull out of it.

Speaker 2

I think it just makes you more aware, yeah, so well, and I've been running intervals so long that I that helps me maintain a really steady pace. Just I Just do it out of habit and and honestly I've gotten so comfortable doing that that I'm having to now force myself to speed up there at the end. You know those last few miles because I'm just so comfortable like I can pretty just run the same thing every single mile, you know, and Just something to have to be aware of and train.

Speaker 1

Yeah, train, for you can train yourself to kind of get into the groove, which is great. But if you want to get faster, you know you can use the train splits to start, pick up the pace a little bit and Reset there. So, but, yeah, interval, the Galloway method, you know that's pretty much what you're doing there. Oh, so it's great, it is, it is Oops. So how do new runners can start using splits? Well, if you're new, you know the idea of tracking. It might seem a bit daunting. Don't, don't put a lot of pressure on it, but just just start to track it, to take your, take your run, break it down by kilometers or miles and just start to become Familiar with it. We just start to analyze it and start looking for distances. Take, take a, take a look at your route that you're running and Just spend a little bit of time of just analyzing the, the data.

Speaker 1

I now the pitfall of this some people get so data driven that when they go out to run, it's like they got to try to beat it the very next time and Once again go back to a couple episodes we're talking about. Every run has a purpose. We're not trying to beat ourselves every single day you will, you're gonna fall apart, you it? You're gonna, you're gonna suck the fun out of running and and I don't know, wait, that's how you get end up in that, the yo-yo thing. So some runs just no, no data right, but it's. It is good to analyze it. I just say that with a great assault, cuz I say there's a lot of people get so data driven that they suck the fun. Yeah, runs so, but they're, they're a powerful tool for sure. What else? What else when you hit on on splits or anything?

Speaker 2

I liked how you were talking about just to main, just to make sure you're aware of your elevation when you're looking at your splits. We have a trail here near where I live and it's got some pretty steep elevation on it and when I was a new runner, I remember running it and my pace was probably Two minutes slower because of how steep it was and I remember going back and looking at my numbers you know you're talking about data and I was just like so I was kind of beating myself up for feeling like I was going too slow, but then I really had to take into account that elevation and you know you really do. I Didn't want to burn myself out. I think it's a two and a half mile loop, is what it is, and I don't want to burn myself out on the first loop. I did several loops that day.

Speaker 2

But yeah, you just just keep it. Maintain awareness when you, when you're tracking your splits, when you're tracking your pace and your training for something. Maintain awareness of the route that you're running, take into consideration the elevation and taking into consideration how you're feeling that day. And, and just you know, make it one, one package. Wait, you know, make it a package. Don't forget the things that that really go into.

Speaker 1

All, all of the everything really and that's why I, when you're, when you're looking, that's why perceived effort is really important. So when you have that elevation, if you're still in that perceived effort, you're still doing what's prescribed in the workout. So you got to give yourself some level of grace. Lacey says she's gonna wear a watch.

Speaker 2

I'm gonna yeah, I saw that she's like oh, I'm where I'm wearing.

Changing the Mindset of Running

Speaker 1

She was looking at the watch.

Speaker 2

Yeah, me too. I love. I love looking at my watch too, like I keep it set to the pace that I'm going at the moment and Because I do intervals, you know it changes, it goes, you know it speeds up, slows down, speeds up, but but I enjoy being able to look down and have that data. I'm a dad and nerd. I like it.

Speaker 1

I like it. Dad, a junkie. Hey, what's going on? It's good morning, good morning everyone out there. We got, we got a live stream in here. So you guys, people saying good morning, yeah, good morning, so yeah, so yeah, bottom line use, use, use your splits. Yeah, let's see here.

Speaker 1

Well, I don't know if you, I'm pretty sure you saw this, but late last night we had some bad news in the running world Kelvin Kiptum, who just recently had his Chicago marathon codified two hours and 35 seconds. Unfortunately, him and his coach were killed a car accident last night. Oh, and so people are mourning around the world because he was Actually, I mean, he, his heart was set on breaking the two hour mark. So it's been pretty tragic To hear that news and see that. But man, I don't know when I take that news in, it's like man, I just grateful for another day and just goes to show that you just never know. You know when what one's gonna be our last. But I, it was really Incredible to see his effort and really sad news for him and his family and this, the family of the running coach. So, but yeah, so that's tough, that's just tough news that is.

Speaker 1

All right, well, we still have Tim mince love. Are we done? Is there anything more? You want to hit on with the splits?

Speaker 2

No, I think we covered it. Yeah, it's not really. I mean, you know, it just ties into pace Know what they are, know how to use them, don't let it affect your mood and, yeah, just you know, chunk it down.

Speaker 1

Don't let it affect your mood. I love that, don't, because some people man, they get so beat up. We'll be like on a group run. You just see some people that are just so upset. Like what are you upset about? Like someone you know what happened to you? Oh, I just didn't hit my times or whatever. Well, let's analyze that. Well, you know, you look at the splits and once again they hit a hill or something like that. Yeah, don't beat yourself up over. Give yourself some grace. Enjoy running for the sake of running. Every run should have a purpose and just a few minor tweaks in your training can really revolutionize how you view your running. But if you're getting beat up, like running should be enjoyable and you should be walking away from a run enjoying that runner's high and not getting so pissed off about your times. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Yeah, train hard, but yeah, don't put so much pressure on it.

Joy and Experiences of Running

Speaker 2

Yeah, I really think the and it's only because we're in a military community. I think the military sucks the fun out of running, because most of the military people that I know, unless they just love it, inherently love it, they hate it. Or before they went into military maybe they loved it and now they hate it, but it's just. I wish there were a better way.

Speaker 2

And what made me think about this is, again, I'm running the Army 10-miler this year and I've got a group of friends that we're all running together, and one of them we were texting yesterday when my one friend, dave, shared that he ran five miles for the first time. Our other friend was like, yeah, I still hate running. I'm only running it just so I can run it with you guys, but I still hate it, and he's trained into past his PT test and so you know, just I wish there were a way, there were a way for me to figure out how to, how to change that mindset of for people that just hate running, how to? I don't know what the magic word is. I don't know what the magic cure is. I don't know.

Speaker 1

Well, I can definitely empathize being in the military for so long like the apprehension to it. I learned to run and track and cross country, so I already had running background coming into the military. But I can understand why. Because for some people their first exposure to running is some dude screaming at them, sleep deprived, and you know you have a test assigned to this activity. Anytime you got a testing assigned to it like it's just pressure. So and then once you graduate, again every run all out or really long. There's no, as much as I love the military from a coaching perspective, there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to how they train. They're not training properly and so, yeah, you have a lot of apprehension. Every run is all out. Every run comes with stress of this test that you have to pass. And so people like you got the military, like I'm done with this, I'm done with it, it's out of my life, right, because they just associate the stress with it. And, to your point, I love helping people run for the sake of running and fall in love with the joy of running, because it really is, if you just take the pressure off and you, you know you train.

Speaker 1

And Lacey said something recently that really kind of dawned. I mean, I really thought about it. But every run, whether it be training or a race, it's its own unique experience and event. Like I ran this Saturday morning and I knew there was going to be a group meetup. I had no idea who was going to be there, but it was great. I got to see my friends that I didn't expect to see you there. I didn't expect to see some other people there. We ran a little bit. I got to see a new route because someone, one of my friends, was like hey, let's go down and touch this gate, and that was super cool.

Speaker 2

Oh, that was the first time you went down Pimpin Road, oh yeah.

Speaker 1

And then I got to, I got to experience five miles by myself and I was just, you know, I found a cool podcast and I was like it was awesome, it was great.

Speaker 1

And it was its own unique, you know, and it's buttoned up and it's done, and you know it's going to be a run today and it's going to be its own unique experience. And so every run is unique and every run has a purpose. And, if you can, some runs are just to get out there and just move the body and be in my head, and then other runs are for time and you know we're training for something and I don't know it's all, there's nothing like it. I mean, I cycle, I do you know weight training and there's, but running is different when it comes to my mindset.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I think for me it's especially when I'm running with other people. I don't, I mean, when you work out with people, I have to focus on my reps. I have to focus, I have to count. You know what I mean. I gotta I have to really pay attention, but when I'm running, I can just have a conversation and learn about the people I'm running with and share my life with the people I'm running with, and I don't know, it's just like where we, we solve the world's problems, or at least we attempt to. And I haven't run Superior Road in a really long time and we for those of you tuning in we have a beautiful creek, the Ruby Dew. That is along a running path that we have group runs on, and it's just so beautiful and there's fields and there's bluffs and it's just cows and horses and you know, I don't know, it's just, it's great, it's great, it's beautiful and it's yeah, Like you said, every, every run is its own unique experience, Absolutely.

Speaker 1

It is. Yeah, I'm having a computer issue here. I'm trying to tee up our weekly winner here and I'm having an issue. I had like three photos and now they're all done. My computer's been acting weird all morning. I think I'll be honest. I think I'm getting close on memory. It's what's actually happening. Time to defrag. You know you gotta defrag. I've learned that sometimes you get too much stuff on the dashboard. This happens in your life too. Like you get too much stuff on your mental dashboard. It doesn't quite operate quite correctly. Yeah, that's what we're having here, so you gotta clear your mind. Well, we got one photo up here. I was hoping to get the other photos up here. Shoot the one. I'm clicking on things. It's not quite working. It's a Monday. Y'all Happy, are you getting?

Speaker 2

clicked happy. Are you giving it time to think?

Speaker 1

I am. No, I know I need to dump a cup of coffee on my computer here.

Speaker 2

You say that, jane, it's gonna happen.

Speaker 1

I'm gonna hit it.

Speaker 2

It's really gonna happen, yeah, so don't, even, don't, even, don't do yourself like that.

Speaker 1

Oh yeah, because I got these photos here and they won't. I got one open, the other, I had them all teed up. Two of them went down and I can't get the other ones to open. It's weird, uh-oh, what's going on, I don't know. Well, shoot, all right, give me a second here. I'm going to have to stall, I'm going to have to stall. I'm going to have to stall you got to sing a song I am not singing.

Speaker 2

Nobody wants to hear me sing Karaoke. Nobody wants to hear me sing. I will see where I am on my Tajimiles. I'm interested to know what are we at the? I don't even know what today's date is.

Speaker 1

Today is the 12th, so we're almost at the halfway point.

Speaker 2

Halfway point. All right, let's see where I'm at for Tajie, tajie, where are you?

Speaker 1

I know the team is kicking ass. Yeah, we're on the Durethings RW team RWB team and I'm on the Durethings Nation team and between both of our teams we have some of the biggest teams in Tajie, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 2

I didn't even realize it.

Speaker 1

So can you see that when you go look at other teams, when you click at the leaderboard and you look at the teams and the team sizes. Yep, hmm, okay, we got two photos up here, so we're going to make that work. But yeah, teams crush it. We were going to oh, 42.7.

Speaker 2

I'm at 42.7 right now. That's awesome.

Speaker 1

Yes, all right, now I there, you go Okay.

Speaker 2

Good morning, russ. Good morning. Thanks for tuning in, all right.

Watering Yourself

Speaker 1

Here we go. I think we can, we can make it, we can do this now, I think. All right, here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, our weekly winner this week is Clint Smith. So I sat the photos with. I had another photo. We're just, we're just going to do it this way. So, anyway, there's Clint Smith getting after it. So he is.

Speaker 1

I met him through Nadine. He is from Lebanon, missouri. He's a wrestling coach. He's always after getting after. He was the first one on our team that did the the first two runs to a hundred percent on the Tajie. Larry Laws, though, was right behind him, but he finished up over the weekend and that's. And I got to meet him last year up in Columbia. We're doing a 5K together. He's like are you JTgs on the gun? Like I'm Clint Smith. Oh, that's cool, cause we met on Facebook. Didn't quite know the first time we met in person. So really, really good dude doing a lot of great work in the community teaching other wrestlers how to wrestle, which I think is a fantastic anytime that we can roll, model the way and give back outstanding. And he's a gritty dude always out getting after it. So, clint, we appreciate you. Fantastic effort for the Tajji 100. We're going to send you a shirt for doing hard things and being a great role model for others, so I appreciate you. Awesome, awesome, so keep getting after it.

Speaker 1

Yes, yeah, absolutely. So all right, so let's see here. All right. So one I want to do like a, so I think the format, we've been doing a lot of like movement stuff and but I want to leave a mindset nugget before we bounce out for the day. So this is what was on my mind the other day and I kind of kind of wrote this down.

Speaker 1

But I've been thinking about the grasses and always here on the other side, I've been thinking a lot about that with my transition from the military and a lot of people are like man, we're always looking at what that other person has and when you get there, it's like not enough, like what is that about? And when I think about the grass isn't greener on the other side, what I've learned in my own life is that the grass is greener where you water it. So where is this green grass at? Well, it's not the patch of grass that's over there that someone else has, it's your own grass, it's you know, it's where you water it and you're the grass. So when you think of like we're, if I want, if you're thinking about being somewhere else in the grass being greener on the other side, I want you to think that you are the grass and that you need to water yourself. And in a world that's constantly chasing the next big thing and distraction, it's easy to overlook the fence and see what other people have People constantly doing this on social media. But the real growth, the real green, vibrant life and grass happens where you're planted. This is something that you've said in the past that's really resonated with me grow where you're planted and that's in the you know how do you water yourself? What's the daily grind? It's the small actions and the consistency of care that you give yourself each and every day. And so how do you water yourself?

Speaker 1

Well, that's with mindset and movement. Mindset because your thoughts shape your feelings and your feelings align with your actions. If you have negative thoughts, well, your actions aren't going to be supportive and your outcomes aren't going to be great. And your thoughts are really the seeds of your reality and you know your mind will bear fruit. I love this from as a man thinketh. Whether you can call, if you have a garden out in your backyard, it's going to bear something. It'll be full of weeds or it can be like abundant fruit, but you have to cultivate intent to that garden. But either way it's going to bear something, cultivating positivity and resilience and gratitude on a daily, you know, is an important thing.

Speaker 1

And then movement, because our bodies are designed to move. Movement is an inherent part of our life and it's every step that we take. And it's about having energy and feeling alive, and I'm a firm believer. I love the book Born to Run. You know, humans are the ultimate endurance athlete. That's what we're designed to do, and I know that I am infinitely happier and better when I am moving. My body and my mindset is better. So I think they go hand in hand. So how do you water yourself? Well, you grow where you're planted. You flourish in your own way. You don't need to look at anyone else's fence or another patch of grass, because you are the grass. You're the grass and do hard things every day, and the framework for that hard is health and wellness, affluence and wealth, relationships and then development. How you're upskilling every day. That's how you water yourself. You do something intentional each and every day, with consistency in those areas, and you will water yourself and your grass will be greener. That's what I learned.

Speaker 2

Absolutely. It's funny to that, even though this is related. But I mill prep almost every week. And it's just funny because this week when I was mill prepping, I just kept thinking, yeah, this is how I show myself love, you know, by putting in the hard work. It takes time, it's not always the easiest thing, but I was like, yeah, this is. You know, when I open my fridge and I see everything ready for the week, I'm like, yeah, this is 100% how I show myself love. And then, on top of all the other things, you know, movement and getting out there and getting after it.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, focus on self. This weekend I started reading a book called Goodbye Things. I have a tendency to kind of just hold on to things and I'm like I need to get rid of this stuff. I started reading this book and, like man, my life would be so much more peaceful than to have this stuff. So I feel like I'm pulling weeds out of my garden right now by just getting rid of the stuff, and then I've got bags of stuff I'm going to take over and donate today and it feels really frickin good, and so it doesn't have to be anything transformational. It's just the little things in life. Just tense your garden every day, whatever that is for you, whether it be mill prepping by giving yourself some nourishment, working out a gesture of kindness all of these things have a compounding interest. Whatever that is for you, but do something for yourself. I realized by decluttering it seems like it wasn't really on my radar, but I feel so much better. Oh yeah, I think we're the shit that's in my life. Yeah.

Speaker 2

Absolutely, absolutely, 100 million percent. I feel you there.

Speaker 1

I feel you I gotta declutter my hard drive because it's acting stupid today.

Speaker 2

Yeah, let us know how that goes next week. Yeah, and hey, don't forget to smile. Don't forget to make yourself smile, don't forget to make someone else smile today. You just never know what someone else is going through and just you know. Kindness is easy and free, absolutely.

Speaker 1

So, easy.

Speaker 2

Look at somebody, give them a smile, if you want kindness in the world, sprinkle that shit everywhere.

Speaker 1

You got to put it there yourself. That's right. It's contagious. Yes, absolutely All right. Y'all Keep doing hard things. We'll see you guys in the next episode.