The Way of Excellence with Stanley Bronstein

Host Tom Butler continues to be real about his own fitness journey and just how common his experience really is. He also dives into the most concrete expression yet of an idea at the heart of the show: the bicycle as a medical device, spotlighting the Exercise is Medicine® initiative from the American College of Sports Medicine, which is working to make physical activity a standard part of clinical care.

Then Tom sits down with Stanley Bronstein, who shares a remarkable personal story of transformation through fitness and the hard-won philosophy he calls The Way of Excellence, his distillation of the principles that lead to lasting success. Stanley's story is one of consistency in a world that doesn't always make it easy to stay committed to an active life.

LINK

Stanley's Philosophy: thewayofexcellence.com

Here is your invitation to join a great launch party for the summer cycling season.  Join the Cycling Over Sixty Tour de Cure PNW team.  Whether you are local or come out to experience cycling in the great Northwest, I would love to have you help make this a ride with a purpose.  And to send a message that the joy of cycling is here for everyone, regardless of age. Go to tour.diabetes.org/teams/CO60

I know it is early but we are looking to get the Cycling Over Sixty Tour de Cure team together as soon as possible. You can find all the info at tour.diabetes.org/teams/CO60

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NOTE: I share information about my journey. From time to time that means sharing what I do to stay healthy.  None of what I share is meant to be medical advice. Always consult with your physician or other health professionals before making changes. 

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Show music is "Come On Out" by Dan Lebowitz.  Find him here : lebomusic.com

Transcript

Update

Tom Butler 0:04

This is the Cycling Over 60 Podcast, season 4, episode 11, The Way of Excellence with Stanley Bronstein, and I'm your host, Tom Butler. I got a wake-up call doing the chili hilly this year. I learned if I'm going to do longer rides, longer than an hour, then I need to prepare for it. I can't do hour rides or shorter and be okay for longer rides. When I did my 38 mile training ride to prepare for the chili hilly, it had been a long time since I'd been out for more than an hour. My legs were wrecked by that ride. I ended up doing only the 20-mile route on the chili hilly. I don't think I could have finished the 33 mile route, especially with the additional climbing, that would have been close to 2,900 feet total. To do any long rides, I need to keep it up during the week. I need to ride for two hours, at least once, maybe twice a week. I see my current situation as being a good point for purposes of the podcast, but not so good for me. If I got on each week and talked about how easy it is for me to stay active, it wouldn't match the struggle that most people have. The truth is I'm struggling to get rides in and to work out right now. I've gotten busy with three projects and it's making it harder carve out time to ride. Nothing about the importance to my health has changed, but I'm just getting pulled in by projects that have me sitting in front of the computer all day. Something has to change. I'm way behind on my cycling goals. I believe I'm gonna need Strava policing. I'm the kind of person that responds to knowing that someone is going to question that I haven't been out for a ride in a couple days. In fact, just saying this now is motivating. I happen to have a good observer. My daughter said that she would look at my Strava report each Sunday and give me a grade. I think that will work. She also said she'd post something in the Strava group itself that's a little intimidating, but I know she truly cares about me, and she will also be very honest, and that means I will usually do what she says. The biggest issue is that I have this huge project to do. I've been working on grant funding for something called CAN, the Cycling for Active Aging Network. It is a group of organizations in Pierce County, Washington that will work together to get sedentary people over the age of 50 out on bikes. I put a bunch of time into completing a grant application for the program. On the day of the application deadline, I pulled it. It just wasn't good enough in time. But then another funding opportunity emerged immediately, and now I'm putting that application together. The CAN program is ambitious, but if successful, it'll be something that I've been talking about for over a year. It will be a model for what can be done in communities to get inactive people over 55 out on bikes. In Pierce County, Washington, there are something like 250,000 people over the age of 55. It's really possible that more than half of these people are managing prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. This alone means that it is a worthwhile thing to introduce the bike as a device to use to be active. And that is just one disease state of many that can be impacted by activity. I'm inviting everybody that listens to this podcast to be a part of CAN. I will share more information online about the program soon. If you happen to be in the Pierce County area, help by doing a few hours of volunteer work with the program. We just need people who will go out on rides. If you aren't close enough for that, then you can provide occasional feedback to help develop the program. If anybody wants to be a part of an advisory group for CAN, email me. I want to continue to push the bicycle as a medical device. And CAN is the most concrete manifestation of this so far. My guest this episode is Stanley Bronstein. I was interested in sharing Stanley's story because it is a unique perspective on getting active. I believe you'll find that his journey and his desire to help others is very inspiring. Here is our conversation. It's great to welcome my guest today, Stanley Bronstein, to the podcast. Thanks for joining me, Stanley. Thank you for having me, Tom. It's good to be here. Yeah. When I got connected to your story, Stanley, what I found most compelling are your concepts of achieving long-lasting success. And that focus led you to create the way of excellence, which I'm sure you'll talk about here. And I'm get excited to get in your personal story and your thoughts on mindset, a mindset that can help people achieve their fitness goals.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Well, do you go ahead? Now the way of excellence grew out of my experience. We'll talk about that as we get there.

Tom Butler 4:53

Perfect. So first talk about how you got to the point where you wanted to make a change in your own life.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Well, first of all, let's talk about what my change was. My change was somewhere along the way, I maxed out at 367 pounds, 58-inch waist. I'm only five foot seven. Today I'm about 145, 31-inch waist, no drugs, no surgeries. So that's where I was, and that's where I am. So that's my journey. Now, my battle with obesity started when I was eight years old. Like many people, I had a trauma. My mother died. And needless to say, that messed with my head. And I was living with my massively obese father who had no clue how to eat healthy. And he certainly didn't teach me how to eat healthy, and we both ate ourselves in an oblivion. And then, like so many yo-yo dieters, I had ups and downs, ups and downs, ups and downs. I even lost 100 pounds one or two times and then put it all back on, you know, or most of it back on, you know, so you know, back and forth. As I was approaching 50, four months before my 50th birthday, I know you're cycling over 60, but mine turned at 50. And just so you know, I'm 66 today. So February 1st, 2009, a little over 17 years ago, I call that day my rebirth day. Today's February 7th, 2026. So it was, you know, 17 years and 17 days ago. I woke up and I said, Where am I going to be in five years if I keep going the way I'm going? I didn't like the answer. Would you care to guess what it was?

Tom Butler 6:40

I'm thinking you would uh say you wouldn't be around.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Dead. Dead, and guess what? I didn't want to be dead. Plain and simple. I was not at rock bottom. I hadn't had a stroke yet. I hadn't had a heart attack yet. You know, my knees didn't give out yet. But all those things were probably coming. I was 320 at the time. I wasn't at my max of 367, but I was still 320. I was still a pretty big boy. And so I said, I need to make some changes. And first thing I did is I turned to my wife and I said, I'm done. I'm cooked. I mean, I was disgusted with myself, to be quite frank with you. I said, I have all this massive potential, I'm wasting it. I've got a successful career, I'm an attorney and a CPA. I'm sitting on my butt committing slow side, slowly eating myself to death. And I said, this is ridiculous. So I'm so I'm gonna make some changes. Now you notice it was February 1st, not January 1st. I had made New Year's resolutions, like so many people do, and I broke it. I didn't keep it. But February 1st rolled around and I said, you know, there's no reason I can't start now. Start today, not next week, not next month, not next year. Right now. So I said, When I need to make dietary changes, that's the first thing I said. And mind you, I didn't know then what I know now. It actually amazes me how smart my choices were back then based upon comparing it to what I knew then as to what I know now. I actually made some good choices. But some of them were kind of intuitive. First thing I did was I said, I'm gonna stop drinking alcohol. Was I, you know, an alcoholic? I don't know. But I was drinking scotch every day, and it was not serving me, I was serving it, and I was definitely drinking too much. So I believe in symbolism here. So I took my last bottle of scotch, poured it down the toilet, hit flush, gone. Haven't had a drink in 17 years, and I do not miss it. Nor would I do it now. Okay, two-liter bottles of soda pop. I was drinking three of those a day, but they were diet caffeine-free, so surely they were healthy, right? No, you know, the soda companies, the marketing companies, the food companies, they lie to us all the time. All the time. That's why we need to educate ourselves. So I took my last bottle of soda pop down the toilet, flush. Then I said, I'm gonna make a food change. I said, I'm gonna quit eating beef and pork. So I gave up red meat, and I like chicken and turkey, so that was no big deal for me to give up beef and pork. And the funny thing is though, my father was a butcher, and I grew up in a home with unlimited free meat. And so for me to give up beef and pork, that was more of an accomplishment than I think. Now, let's talk about addiction for a minute. First of all, I don't really like the term addiction because I think it's a dirty word, and I think it things people and it makes people feel like crap, and it makes them feel less than human, and it's not good. So I don't particularly like that crap. That's why I choose to say, I don't know if I was an alcoholic or not, but I know I I was drinking too much. That I know for sure. So I didn't have trouble quitting. Believe it or not, it was very easy to quit drinking, and it was very easy to quit drinking soda pop. It really was. And I like to say that's because I was not physically addicted to those things. There were no detox symptoms. You know, if you're addicted to heroin, you're addicted to coffee, you're addicted to cigarettes, there's withdrawal symptoms when you start doing that. I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms, none. I like to say I was emotionally addicted to those things. They were my lover, they were my friends, they were my comfort. But I threw them away because they were not serving me. Now, I did that for and and I then I said I'm gonna start walking, and I'm gonna do the best I can. I chose and I I used to cycle, believe it or not, but where I live now, it's not as easy. I figured I'd gonna pick walking because it's easier. You know, I I mean I had a great trek bike and everything at the time. I wound up selling it. I said, I'm gonna pick walking because I think it's easier. You don't need a lot of special equipment. You can do it almost anywhere, almost anytime. And I figured it would beat my body up less than other exercises. So that's why I chose walking. Nothing against cycling, but that's why I chose walking. And when I started out, I had trouble walking two or three blocks. Seriously. That's how out of shape I was. And and I live at the top of a steep street, so I'd huff and puff on my way up the street. Now, so I started how do I said, how do I do this without beating my knees up? I found a gym that 24 hours that had a pool, and I would go there in the middle of the night, which started my routine of exercising in the middle of the night, which I still do to this day. So I would go to the gym early in the morning when there was no one in the pool, and I would walk laps. First, I did it for an hour, then two hours, then three hours. I set a goal. By my 50th birthday, I wanted to do a five-hour pool walk. You know, I I'm a believer, that's why I'm different than a lot of people. I'm a believer in slow, steady, diligent exercise, not high intensity. And my whole routine, there is very little high intensity in it. It is all slow, steady, slow, steady, slow, steady, slow, steady for long, long, long periods of time. If I were a runner, I'd be an excellent marathoner, you know, because slow and steady, slow and steady. The problem is I'm too slow. But so I got going, did my five-hour pull walk on my 50th birthday. I had lost about 50 pounds by that time. So I was down to about 265, 270, somewhere around there. Kept going. Then after about four or five years into that process, I had, you know, lost more weight. I by that time I was walking about 10 miles a day, believe it or not. You know, went from couldn't, you know, walk two or three blocks to 10 miles a day. And I said, I'm gonna make another push in my eating habits because I I've become very big on nutrition, and we're gonna talk about that as we get along. And I am so I gave up chicken and turkey. And essentially I went vegetarian. And that was that's been a little over 12 years ago. Since the day I went vegetarian, I have been sick one time, and that was for a three-day period about eight years ago. Wow. I and I'm I'll tell you how I define sickness. I define sickness as I'm too sick. If I if I'm too sick to walk two hours or more in a given day, that means I'm sick. So that means in the last 12 years, I have had three days, and they were in a row where I did not walk two hours or more. And if you would have told me those three days would have interrupted a 12-year streak, I would have gotten out of bed and walked anyway. You know, that's how committed I became. So I did that, and lo and behold, I started getting stronger, better, could walk more, feeling better, losing more weight. But then I got to a point where oh, about eight years ago, almost eight years ago, where I couldn't get below 180 pounds. I was stuck, I was plateaued, and my weight wasn't stable. I'd go 180, 190, 200, 190, 180, all while I was walking 10 to 15 miles every day. And I couldn't get below 180. So there's so I learned something from there. I didn't figure it out at the time, but I know it now. You cannot exercise your way out of a poor diet. I don't care how much cycling you do, how much walking you do, how much going to the gym you do, if you eat like crap, you're not gonna reach your, you're not gonna optimize yourself. That's just all there is to it. And so I said, What do I need to change my diet? Well, I gave up cheese, butter, and ice cream. I didn't give up processed food at the time, but I gave up cheese, butter, and ice cream. Care to guess what happened?

Tom Butler 15:52

You lost weight.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

I lost 50 pounds in like five minutes. Wow. I mean, I would I would get up every morning, lost a pound, lost a pound, lost a pound, lost a pound. Actually, I even got too skinny. I got down to 128. Wow. And I'm five foot seven, but I got down to 128. And considering I used to be through 67 with a 58-inch waist, that's something else. But so I got down there and I was too skinny. So what I did was I changed my dietary habits and I was going to the gym and I slowly put on, you know, 15 to 20 pounds of muscle. But I needed to get that low to get the fat off, you know, believe it or not. And the funny thing is because I did it so slowly, and because I exercised along the way, my skin tightened up. I I have very little flabby skin. You know, you usually see somebody who's lost that much weight. You picture they're just nothing but skin.

Tom Butler 16:48

Right.

Making Time And Believing Power

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Well, that didn't happen with me. So that's a lesson right there. Do it slowly, exercise while you're doing it.

Tom Butler 16:57

Let's let's pause there a second because you mentioned that you had these periods where you would lose 100 pounds and it would come back on. And I'm wondering, did you feel at this point that you were going to get the dramatic results that you got? I mean, going from I can't remember what you said, 320 or 320 at the time. 320 down to I mean, that's 200 pounds of okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Okay, let me tell you. Did I feel like I was gonna get those results? I didn't know. I didn't question it. I just knew I needed to do something. And to be quite frank with you, the experience of going from a person who used to weigh 367 and could barely walk two or three blocks to a person who weighs about 145 now. And over the last 14 months, I have walked a half marathon or more every day. No days off, every day, half marathon. The experience blew my mind, to be quite frank with you. And I'm a pretty confident guy, but the experience blew my mind. You know what it taught me? Taught me two things. It taught me that I'm more powerful than I ever imagined. Way more powerful. Way more powerful. You know, one of the reasons I walk as much as I do is I'm still looking for my limits. I haven't found them yet. I mean, you know how much walking I did last year? Imagine I started in Los Angeles, I made it within 300 miles of London. Nice. And I ended up in the middle of the Atlantic, so it's a good thing I can swim. I should have been a triathlete. If you go since that date 17 years ago, I have walked 30% of the way to the moon. That's 73,000 miles. Or if you want to take it the earth around the equator, I have done 2.92 times around the earth at the equator. I'm shooting, I'm on pace to hit three times for my birthday in June. That's what my goal is.

Tom Butler 19:07

No, I think this is I think this is an important question here, and that's our I don't believe that our society is really structured to encourage people to take time being physically active. I think it's not. And so how how did you carve out the time to do that that amount of walking?

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Okay. I restructure my lifestyle. First of all, I'm fortunate. I work from home and I work for myself. You know, I can do that with my profession. If you're a doctor and you got to go see your patients in the office, you know, if you work outdoors in your landscaper or something, you know, you gotta leave the house. But me, I did that. I put a treadmill in my house and I hooked up a computer to my treadmill. And I can sit there and I can walk at two and a quarter miles an hour and type away and do whatever work I need to do. So I was able to multitask. And I still but I do a lot of walking outside too. But and and now at this stage, I have a little bit more time because I'm I'm not retired, but I'm 66. I only work on things that I want to work on. You know, I still, you know, if somebody sends me a legal matter and it's something that's good, yeah, I want to take it. If it's something that's garbage, I'm not interested in doing it anymore. You know, that kind of thing. I'm doing a lot of these podcasts, you know, like yours. That's taking up a lot of time, but it's good because it's on purpose and it's consistent with my mission, which we're gonna talk about. So that's how I did that. I wanted to, that's how I found time. Intentionally restructuring my life. And we're gonna talk about that when we go through the system a little bit, but I want to backtrack there's one point I didn't quite make get to make. Not only did I figure out that I was more powerful than I ever imagined, it taught me something else. So is everybody else? We are all more powerful than we ever imagined. If you're listening, you hear that, you're more powerful than you ever imagined. Start believing it, start dreaming big. You know, you want to ramp up your cycling, do it. You want to do something else, do it. You know, so that's a good thing. Now, continue.

Tom Butler 21:41

And you've had the opportunity, I'm sure, to see that in action, you know, by saying, Here's what I learned I'm more powerful, but what I also know is that you're more powerful than you imagine. And I I I'm sure that you've had opportunity to see that and the impact of that message when. someone buys into it.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Yeah, I I have. But and it's wonderful when they do buy into it. But the problem is, expanding upon what you talked about a minute ago, our mess, our the environment we live in, our country, our world, doesn't teach us that. It really doesn't. It teaches us to be limited thinkers. It teaches us to be sheep who fit within the mold to follow in and you know to be just like everybody else. And part of what I had to do when I embarked upon this path was I had to become what I call a healthy form of selfishness. Give you some examples. On that day February 1st 2009, I told my wife, and I'm going to give you a spoiler alert we're still married, but I'm going to but I'm but I'm going to tell you what I told her. I told her I'm going to make some changes in my life and you might not like some of them. And if you don't I don't care I have to make these changes or I'm going to be dead if you don't like something I'm I'm going on a journey. I'm inviting you to come along on the journey with me. And I hope you do. But if you don't there's the door you can walk out right now. I told her that those are the words that's pretty nasty if you think about it. But I had to do that. I was healthy and selfish. You know one of the one of the things I did right and she stuck with me. Now thank you now one of the things example I set a rigid rule for myself you know we're going to talk about rigid flexibility a little bit later but this is one area where I became rigid. I set a rule that I'm not going to eat past five o'clock period because I figured out that I don't want to go to bed with my food. I wanted my body to have time to process my food. So no pay not past five my mother-in-law used to like to take the family out to dinner to fancy restaurants 6 30 7 o'clock at night and I would sit there and I would go and I would sit next to her and I would not eat and she thought I was nuts absolutely nuts. And I told her I the first thing I told her I said don't let my craziness be your craziness this this is me. You know this is what I'm going to do and this is why I'm doing it. And I said just think of me as a cheap day look how much money I'm saving you. So and I'd sit there and I'd talk with everybody but I wouldn't eat I didn't care. People don't like it too damn bad. You know I was on a podcast the other day somebody said you know they're talking about women when they go to the gym you know being self-conscious and when they're starting out in the beginning I'm waiting on said you got to go in there with the attitude to hell with what anybody else thinks. I don't care what anybody else thinks I'm not hurting anybody. I'm looking out for myself I'm taking care of myself and if you don't like it too damn bad. So that's the attitude I tell people to go into it with and the funny thing is literally after four or five years my mother-in-law finally said to me one day she finally said you know you're nuts but you look really good and I'm proud of you you've done a good job yeah but it it literally took four or five years for her to say that and that's fine that's fine.

Tom Butler 26:51

I think this kind of leads into something you know I talk about the concept that exercise is medicine and you know I actually say if you buy into that concept then the bike is a medical device you know if I'm saying I'm gonna go have I I need to go have chemotherapy. Yes you know people allow that kind of selfishness right it's like I can't do that with you because I've got to go do chemotherapy. Yeah and so they're they're fine with that you know and so I think it gives that kind of construct gives us permission to be selfish a bit with exercise.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Yes but if you tell them I can't go with you because I need to go do my bike ride they think you're an ass.

Tom Butler 27:38

Yeah yeah yeah what do you think about that concept exercise is medicine I mean it just it seems like that has such a you are such a powerful example of that.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

It is it's it's part but it's not the only part of the medicine like I said you can't exercise your way out of a poor diet it is part of an entire thing it's all about balance you know healthy nutrition healthy you know lifestyle healthy exercise healthy healthy movement healthy mindset all those things it's all about balance and let me define balance for you before I go any further I learned this in a Tai Chi class. Balance is identifying anything that's deficient and increasing it identifying anything that's excessive and decreasing it.

The Way Of Excellence Principles

Tom Butler 28:33

That's balance think about that that's a beautiful definition of that I like it okay I went to Chinese buffets too many times got rid of it drank alcohol too much got rid of it sat on my butt too much got rid of that didn't exercise enough started exercising didn't eat enough healthy food started eating healthy eating healthy food and you find a balance and and there are different parts in your body you know I like to say body mind spirit to parts you see that little stick figure in the middle that's where you want to be I call that the still point you want to be in between you want to be where everything is even you know you have something me when I started out I was all mind yeah sorry over here I was I was the red part I was all mind I you know sat at the desk all day did my legal work did my accounting you know mess then the funny thing is I got so into my exercising I became all body and I didn't want to do my work and then over time I said I need to start doing my work I need to adjust and I figured out you know how to balance myself because when you're you're at your you are at your optimum state when everything is in balance you know exercise cycling walking running whatever it is definitely medicine it is part of what it is to be a healthy human being no doubt about it but you have to adopt an attitude a devil make care attitude you do and it's tough you know it really is yeah I just I just want to make a quick note that what you held up there for people that are just listening you can go to stanleybronstein.com and I'll put a link to that in the show notes actually it's better it's bet it's actually better if they go to my main website the wayofexcellence okay perfect so thewayxcellence dot com and I'll again I'll I'll put a uh link to that in the show notes and you you can see that diagram that shows spirit body mind and the human figure that is the intersection of all these things.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Yes and it's all in the system see see what I'm gonna do when people go to my website the entire system is there for free it's all everything there is free. I do not charge on the website that's not it's not that I don't like money it's not that people people can hire me if they want to work with me privately. I'm me happy to do that but I give this away for free because it's my way of giving back my way of helping and because I can so the system's there I recommend you start out there's the on the front page it'll link you to videos and there's 20 videos do one a day they're eight to 12 minutes each they're not that long you do one a day in less than a month you'll have gone through the whole system you will have learned the whole system and what the system is it's a human operating system. Think of it as Windows 11 Mac OS Android Linux for what it is to be an excellent human being and these are all things that I learned out of my experience and I put it into a system because I wanted other people to be able to apply this system to that to their life in whatever way works for them to help make their lives better. You know it's not people ask me all the time do I have to do what I what I what you do Stanley and I go no you don't the world already has one Stanley it doesn't need another but what the world does need is for you for all of us to be the best human beings we can be that's what the world needs.

Tom Butler 32:39

Well I want to get into this you know your concepts that fill the way of excellence I want to set the stage with a couple things one is that you spent a lot of time with yourself out walking. Yes and when you're you know walking by yourself like late at night I even imagine in a pool you know late at night you've got an opportunity to think a lot and as I can I elaborate yes please do as I like to say when you walk as much as I do or you cycle as much as some people do you meet some very interesting people would you care to guess who the most interesting person you meet is I would say yourself. Yes yourself you do a lot of thinking and it's not stinking thinking is exactly what I used to call it it's good thinking now so yeah if you do a lot of thinking go ahead keep continue other things that I I would like to bring into the conversation is just the concept of mindset. I mean that's a mindset is a massive element and what do you mean when you say mindset okay I break it down to four things it's it's more than four things the whole system is 20 parts but I tie it into four things and I'm gonna start with a question for you what in your mind if you had to say what are the three most important words in the English language what would you say?

SPEAKER_02 34:16

That's a tough question.

Tom Butler 34:18

I would answer that I love you that is the way that I would answer that that that's what I used to say.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

That's exactly what I used to say not anymore.

Tom Butler 34:28

To me the three most important words in the English language are are you willing because if you are not willing to do what it takes for the rest of your hopefully very long hopefully very healthy hopefully very happy life you're not going to get what you want and you know you want love so the question becomes are you willing to love a lot of people aren't you know you know some people are so are you willing that's the first thing you gotta have willingness I would like you to illustrate that a bit and sharpen that a bit you became willing yep you know February 1st 17 years ago you became willing and we talk a lot about this concept of willingness to change being at the foundation being at the start of any any good effort and I wonder if you can kind of encapsulate like the feeling the thinking you talked a little bit about it but that you would you say you were a hundred percent willing to change at that point probably not but you know because I had had like everybody else I had many failures you know over the years the difference was you know I became more desperate because you know I said I'm gonna be dead and that wasn't the first time I told myself that but you know I said it's time to stop messing around I was wasting time you know because I'm a believer that it's never too late to change until one day boom all of a sudden it's too late to change and you're dead you know so it's not too late to change.

Perspective Story That Sparks Action

SPEAKER_02 36:20

So did did did I was I 100% willing at the time probably not but the these are things this system all grew out of my experience Tom and and the the it was an evolution and a lot of these systems the whole system came from me looking back at what I did in retrospect I mean I didn't even look up the exact date I designed the core of the system it was back I want to say it was like 2017 you know 2016 2017 I actually need to go back and look that up I did it in a 20 the core of it in a 20 day period it was in October I basically more or less locked myself in the house and 20 days in a row in October I did 20 marathons on the treadmill 20 days in a row of marathon every day for 20 days straight on the treadmill and and a marathon for me at the pace I walked takes me 12 to 13 hours and I did that every day and I actually felt pretty good and pretty strong by the end of day 20 I was like do I want to do 21 and I'm like no you know I kind of puppied out a little bit but I was creating I was in the flow so to speak and the system you ever heard of automatic writing it was like the system poured out of me and then I started refining it from there and adding to it and changing it moving things around putting them in order because the concepts are all in a specific order for a specific reason they build on each other you know but there can I go through what a few of the concepts are please do yeah let's get into it first one number one and anybody who's been to 12 step program meeting which I have not but if you've been to a 12 step program meeting you'll recognize this one tell it like it is stop BSing yourself and you know trust you know Alcoholics Anonymous says admit you have a problem you know in essence that's what I did on February 1st 2009 but there's a second step to it that is different from anything I had done previously I acted upon what I told myself and then I did not quit acting but we'll get to that that's number 11 when we get there. But that's number one admitting telling you like it is and then acting on it getting started that's what I mean by acting getting started. Number two this is a long-term game you were playing life is a long term game I did not get to be as big as I was overnight and I did not get to be as small as I am now overnight either it takes time it is an evolutionary process it is not a straight line you have ups downs zigs zags backwards forwards left right it is an evolutionary process and that's okay the problem is we live in a short-term world uber uber Alexa Siri Amazon Prime Deliveries please I'm on it in the next hour thank you very much and you know every instant streaming you want to see something on TV stream it right now you know everything is there on demand and the problem is we're filling ourselves with crap stuff and crap fed to us by people who want to make money off of us it's all about money now I want to point something out here so far Tom has not asked you for any money and I don't think he's going to before the end of the podcast I have not asked you for any money and I know I'm not going to ask you for any money before the end of the podcast you go to my website I'm not asking you for any money if you want to work with me privately and you want to pay me I'll take it but I'm not asking you for it and you don't have to everything is there for free. So who should you listen to a little bit more the person who's trying to make money off of you who may not give a rat's ass about you except for the green money you got in your pocket or somebody like Tom and I who are talking out of the goodness of our heart and our passion who want to help people you know so pay attention to that and and there's a lot of marketing stuff I was just I was walking in Walmart just yesterday and I noticed they have a new brand in there it's called Better Goods I said hmm better goods let's take a look at the label on the back and see what it says I want to see how much better these goods are pizza 3000 milligrams sodium frozen skillet dish 3500 milligrams sodium and look at all this stuff and I'm like uh by my standards I don't think this is better but they call it better and they put a pretty picture on the front and people buy it you know and I'm not gonna say shame on these companies or anything the companies are selling us what we want the solution is not to tell the companies to sell us better stuff the solution is to stop this to educate ourselves stop buying that crap and only buy the good stuff and then they'll figure it out and they'll start selling us good stuff when they see that they're losing money. That's the solution third thing I took personal responsibility it was not my mother's fault that she died when I was eight years old it was not my father's fault that he had no clue about proper nutrition and he didn't teach me how to eat properly it was and matter of fact it's not even my fault. You know why? Because blame is irrelevant blame does not fix problems. And if you're a politician in Washington hear me loud and clear blame does not fix problems and we got some problems that need to be fixed. So stop blaming. Okay there's my political message I like it then you what fixes problems is identifying what needs to be done and then doing it. That's all that matters that's one reason I'm not a big fan of a lot of psychotherapy because psychotherapy focuses on why are you the way you are why are you the way you are well why why am the way I am is my mother died when I was eight and it messed with my head and I live with my massively obese father and I didn't deal with it well. Didn't deal with it well. That's why but that's irrelevant to the process and it's good to know that those things there's nothing wrong with knowing those things but if you want to get started figuring out the why doesn't matter all that matters is what do you want to do and are you going to do it get started and then you'll figure out the why you'll figure out the backstory along the way you know that's what I like to say. Get started now. Okay then I started becoming positive focusing on the positive positive positive positive positive stinking thinking gone start using the word can stop using the word can't you know start focusing on the positive stop focusing on the negative start focusing on the good stop focusing on the bad you know okay engage in positive self-talk eliminate negative self-talk you know that that's just the way it is if you say you can't do something say I have not been able to do it in the past. Repeat that if you say you can't do something change that to I have not been able to do it in the past but this is the now I can learn to do it now. You know I just um I had a podcast interview earlier today it was with a guy financial program and I said how does that go with the financial investment the past is the past is not necessarily indicative of the future you know same thing you know only we're talking about health here you know in the past the past is what you learn from not where you live look when I change my past if I could yes when I do some things differently if I could absolutely Do I have any regrets for what I've put myself through? No, I do not. Because everything I went through was necessary to teach me what I know now and to turn me into the person I am today. And I happen to like the person I am today. And I happen to like the mission I am on today. And I would not be that person had I not gone through what I went through. So, you know, that's like it. You know, that's the way it rolls. Then here's a big one right here. Six perspective. Okay. You're gonna like this. Your cycling people are gonna love this. Have you ever had a morning or a day? I don't know. You must some people ride in the morning, some people ride in the afternoon. You ever had a day where you were ready to go out riding and you didn't feel like it?

Tom Butler 46:01

Yes. I can answer that.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

Happens all the time.

Tom Butler 46:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

You don't feel like it. Well, two years before I started on my journey, I was writing a book where I drove around the United States and I interviewed 50 people for a book I was writing, 50 successful people writing about these people in the book. At the very beginning of the journey, I started out in Hawaii, Honolulu. And I think it was the first or second person I interviewed was a lady named Peggy Chun. Peggy was an artist. She had Luke Gehrig's disease. By the time I met her, she was completely bedridden. She could not move. She was on a ventilator. The only way she could communicate was trained people would hold up an eye chart and they would read her eye movements and she could spell out words.

Tom Butler 46:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

That's it. And it did took me like 20 two hours to do a 20-minute interview with her. When I saw her, the thought that went through my mind was if I ever get like this, put a pillow over my head and take me out. Well, guess what? That was not Peggy's attitude. Peggy's attitude was, My grandkids are coming over later today. We're going to go out to the park. It's a beautiful sunny day in Hawaii, and we're going to have a good time. You're getting ready to go on this journey where you're going to drive around the country and interview 50 people. That sounds so exciting. Would you tell me about those 50 people? I want to hear all about them. I wished I could go with you. You know, that's what she told me. This woman who was in a state where I would want to die had the most joy for life out of any person I've ever met.

Tom Butler 47:54

So And that was that was a choice she was making.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Yes, it was a conscious choice. Because and that was and that was from a woman who had unlimited time to think, because she couldn't do anything but think. That was what I named her chapter. What would you do if you had unlimited time to think? So when I started on my walking journey, I had mornings when I didn't feel like walking. So instead of saying, you know, you know, they say, What would Jesus do? I sat there and I said, What would Peggy Chun do if she could? And I said, Peggy Chung would get her lazy ass out of bed and she'd go for that walk, and she might not ever come back because she was having such a good time. So every time I didn't want to walk, I got out of bed and I didn't anyway, and I said, This is for you, Peggy.

Tom Butler 48:48

Well, I want to I want to sidetrack the conversation just slightly right here. Go ahead. Because I you're talking about something that's so important, and also I think for a lot of people there's this element when you when you start out, you're seeing like all these issues, and you're seeing if I don't make a change, I'm gonna be dead in five years.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

Yep.

Tom Butler 49:13

As you start having success, it seems like we all have a tendency to then be less motivated.

SPEAKER_02 49:24

Rest on our laurels to rest on our laurels to see.

Tom Butler 49:27

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Okay, so yeah. Okay, you're I'm that's I'm actually coming to that. Nice. You you you jump the gun. You I'm coming to that. That's called discipline. Okay, see motivation fades, discipline doesn't. Okay. Motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going. So, anyway, let's let's jump to number 10. Discipline's number 18, but I'm I'm gonna get there real quickly. Jump to number 10, taking consistent action, actions that's consistent with your goals. Oh, I want to lose weight and get healthy. I'm gonna go to this Chinese buffet and pig out, and then I'm gonna go home and sit on my ass and drink scotch. Think that's gonna get me healthy? Probably not. No, those actions were inconsistent with my stated goals. But when I started saying, I want to be healthy, so I'm gonna bring healthy food to the office, I'm gonna eat healthy food, and I'm not gonna drink scotch, and I'm gonna go for a walk. What happened? I started achieving my goals. You know, your actions need to be consistent with your goals. Then 11, persistence. You ever seen the movie Galaxy Quest? Never give up, never surrender. You know, get started and keep going, keep going, keep going. You fall down seven times, get up eight. Keep going. You fall off the wagon, hop back on, keep going, keep going, keep going. You know who my favorite totem animal is who represents me? The snail.

Tom Butler 51:07

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

I am steady, diligent, persistent. I get where I'm going no matter how long it takes. Keep going, keep going, keep going. That's the key to success. Get started and never stop. Okay, now 13, respect. I used to complain people didn't respect me as much as I wanted. All while I was walking around at 367 pounds, I was showing them an outward manifestation that on some level I didn't respect myself enough to take care of myself. Is it any wonder they didn't respect me? Duh. You know, so when I started getting in shape, guess what? They started respecting me. And now people in my neighborhood, they see me walking every day. They see what I'm doing, they see the truth the people, the long-term people who've been here. There's some people who've been here during the whole journey. And they've seen what I've done, and it blows their mind. You know, and good, it should. And it's got them out there walking and got them started. So respect. Then balance. I already told you about that. That's 15. If something's deficient, increase it. Something's excessive, decrease it. That's balance. You create a balanced life. Okay. 16 willingness. We talked about that. If you're not willing, you're not going to get anywhere. Okay. Now belief. We touched on that. I said that I learned that I'm more powerful than I ever imagined, and so is everyone else. The question is, are you going to believe that? Because if you believe you can't or you believe you can't, either way you're going to be right. So I'm telling you, start believing you're more powerful than you ever imagined. And then once you believe that, the question becomes, what are you going to do with that power? What positive, constructive, ass-kicking, incredible, wonderful thing are you going to do with that power? How are you going to help yourself? How are you going to help other people? And let me tell you, when you get on an airplane, what do they tell you? Put your oxygen mask on first. That's what I did when I told my wife I got to take care of myself. I put my oxygen mask on first. And by doing that, it makes me better able to now help other people. Because if you if you don't take care of yourself, you're not going to be here to help other people. You're not going to be able to help other people, your family, your friends, whoever. You're not going to be able to help them. Okay.

Tom Butler 53:39

Can I ask you something here about that concept of you're more powerful? It seems like that is not being taught to our children. If you get to adulthood and you don't have that concept, then you're you've not that's not been developed in you as you're growing.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Okay. And you know, my answer to that, first of all, you're you're correct. And you know what my answer to that is? My answer is if you have kids or you have grandkids who are not hearing that, who need to hear that message, watch the videos on my website with them. They are all kids safe. There's no dirty words in there, there's nothing in there you're gonna object to. Watch them with your kids and your grandkids and teach them the system. See, that's one of my goals. I would love for households to have this chart that you see on my back wall. That's a five-foot chart of my whole system. I would love parents to have that on the wall. And anytime their kids run into a problem, say, let's go take a look at the chart and see what it has to say about that. I'd love for that.

Tom Butler 54:53

Nice.

Commitment Plus A Simple Start Plan

SPEAKER_02 54:53

I mean, there's there's part of me I would love, I don't have the stomach to run for political office. I don't. But if I were in a high political office, I would be teaching this system from my bloody pulpit every day. I would teach it over and over and over and over, and I would apply this system to every single thing I do and my community does, and my country does. Because I think it would make the world a better place. Now we get to the one you were talking about, discipline. To me, I don't punishment, I mean self-discipline. That's where the power comes, baby. It to me, discipline is identifying every single negative habit you have and eliminating them. Drink too much scotch, gone. Drink too much soda pop, gone. Eat too much crappy food, gone. Set on my butt too much, gone. And then intentionally, consciously, intentionally creating new positive habits to replace those negative habits. Need to eat better, start eating better. That's my habit. Okay. Need to exercise every day, I start eating, I start exercising every day. My clothes go on the nightstand next to my bed every night before I go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning, first thing I do is put those clothes on, and then I either, and then I go stretch, and then I either go out the door to walk, or I hop on the treadmill, or I go to the gym and do it. But every day it's a habit, it is a routine. I've been doing that for years. It happens automatically. You know, that's one of the things I talk about in one of my books, The Way of You, that's on my website that's free. I talk about the concept of autopilot. You know, the problem is we are programmed to run on autopilot, and we go through our days without consciously thinking, and we do the same crap over and over and over and over, and we waste our time, we waste our energy, we waste our resources. What I have done is I have eliminated, you know, identified those things and eliminated as much of them as I can and replaced them with new habits, new autopilot. I've reprogrammed my autopilot to where I automatically do things that are positive for me, that are constructive for me. You know, that's what's all but that's what discipline is. Motivation wears off. This is February 17th. How many people joined the gym or made New Year's resolutions who've dropped them by now? Half 75%? I don't know, a lot. Too many. I did it myself. I made a news resolution on January 1st that I was gonna get it together and I didn't do it. February 1st, I said, okay, now I'm gonna do it. It's not too late. You know, so if you missed your news resolution, start now, baby. It's not too late. But mark down the day you start and call that your rebirthday and celebrate it every year. And just so you know, I don't celebrate my rebirthday with a pizza. Yeah, I celebrate my rebirthday by walking a marathon every day. And my goal, you're gonna laugh at this one. My goal is to walk a marathon every rebirthday. I'm 66 now. Walk a marathon every rebirthday, every year, and on my hundredth, and on my hundredth birthday, when I'm 100 years old, on my rebirthday, I want to walk marathon still. I want I want to write that's doing it.

Tom Butler 58:49

Yeah, I think that's an absolutely reasonable goal. I think that's an absolutely perfect goal.

SPEAKER_02 58:56

It's not a stretch goal, but I stretch is fine, you know, and yeah, it I dream big. I mean, my goal is for thousands or millions of people to get it together all at the same time. Can you imagine what would happen in our world if we all got our shit together at the same time? Yeah, oh my, oh my.

Tom Butler 59:21

I think that's an important concept in this way. If we went from 80% of people not being active to 80% people active, it would make such a transformational change in so many ways.

SPEAKER_02 59:41

As my grand as my mother-in-law used to say, from your mouth to God's ear, bring it on, baby. I'm ready for it. Yeah, yes, it would make a change. Absolutely. Okay, let me tell you, let me I'm I want to tell you one more concept about how to make this easier, and then I'm gonna tell you how to get started making that transformational change. Nice. I close out, okay. 19 is commitment. When you become 100% committed to something, it becomes easy. You know why it becomes easy? Because you stop asking asking questions. I am 100% committed that only healthy food is going to enter my mouth. No ifs, ands, or buts. Okay. A week ago, my wife and I were out walking in the community. One of our neighbors had made some key lime pie, and she brought it out and said, Do you want some key lime pie? And she said, I know you're probably not going to eat it, Stanley. But my wife took it and I said, and she's skinny. I said, Let me smell it. And I smelled it. I could smell the limes, I could smell the sugar. I knew it was in there. I said, that tasted good, and I didn't eat it. Because I was you you can taste food without putting it in your mouth, you can smoke a cigarette without lighting it, you can drink alcohol without it going down your throat. You can get the experiences through your mind. That's that's part of mindset right there. So I before Christmas, week week before Christmas, somebody dropped off gourmet cupcakes and cookies. Could I eat a cupcake? Yes, I could eat a cupcake, it would not kill me. I wouldn't eat a cupcake and suddenly gain 100 pounds. I'm confident that I have this under control. But the reality is I have no business eating cupcakes and cookies. I've already had my lifetime share of cupcakes and cookies, and I've had your lifetime share and probably 20 other people's lifetime share. I have no business eating that stuff. Can I can I drink a can I drink a shot of scotch right now? Yes, I could, but I have no business touching it. Can I drink a soda right now? Yes, but I have no business touching it. I am 100% committed that I'm not gonna do those things. When you're 100% committed, see, when people gave me the the cupcakes and cookies, I didn't ask, could I eat this? Would it be okay to eat this? Should I eat this? I just said I'm not gonna eat this because I am a person who does not eat cupcakes and cookies, just like I am a person who cycles every day or five days a week or whatever it is you want to do, you know, whatever your routine is. I am a person who does that, you know, and that's it. You do that when I do my walking. I don't ask myself, do I want to walk? I go, I am a person who walks, and I get up and I go walk. It's just it's all there is to it. I'm 100% committed. It makes it easier, much easier. Now let's talk about what I advocate to someone who's just starting out. Okay. I'm gonna gear this toward cyclers, cyclists who want to really get going. You know, you go 2026 is gonna be the year I really get it together. Or I take what I have and make it better. You know, you might already be active, but you want to make it better. You want to ramp it up a notch. Here's what I recommend to people. Okay. Number one, eat less processed food and more natural whole food. Nuts, grains, seeds, vegetables, fruits, stuff that's not been processed. You look over here in the corner right now, there is my hydroponic garden that I have growing, growing stuff. It's just really getting going. So far, I've had about 10 salads out of it. And considering what it cost me, they've been about a hundred dollars a salad. But yeah, but it's growing, it's growing like weeds, it's really getting better. Nice, and it's delicious. You know, I mean, I got it every I have the best, most beautiful bok choy you've ever seen in your life. You know, other other things like that. So it you know really helps. Proper nutrition. And I'm not saying never go to Burger King, never go to McDonald's, never go to Kentucky Fried Chicken, never eat a pizza. I'm not saying do those things. Personally, I don't do those things. I don't recommend you start doing those things. I think the less of those things you do, the better. But I'm not telling you to deprive yourself. I'm just telling you to get started down the right road. And you know why I say get started? Because I know that if you get started and never stop, you'll figure out what works for you along the way. That's what I did. You know, I didn't stop eating, I didn't stop eating processed food until probably about five years ago. You know, I it was all vegan stuff, but it was still processed crap. You know, Trader Joe's has these sausages. I loved them, they were delicious, but they're processed crab full of sodium. You know, not good. So I stopped eating. So that's one thing. Number two, quit eating four to five hours before you go to bed. That was something I stumbled on. My grandfather used to say, Don't eat before you go to sleep, don't take your food to bed with you. My father and I used to laugh at them and then go pig out at night. You see where that got us. So you and the reason why I say quit four or five hours before you go to sleep is if you don't eat four or five hours before you go to sleep, and then you sleep six, seven, eight hours, you will have gone 12, 13, 14 hours maybe without eating. You ever heard of a process called autophagy?

Tom Butler 1:05:46

I have, but talk about it, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:48

Okay. Your body has the ability to cleanse itself. When you go that long, your body chemistry starts changing. Your body has time to process the food you eat and eliminate it in a healthy manner to cleanse yourselves, to rejuvenate you. That's why at the age of 66, I feel like I'm 30 or 35. Except I wasn't in this good a shape when I'm 30 or 35. And you really want to laugh. I'm smaller than I was when I was 13. I found pictures to prove it. But I just had my physical three, four weeks ago. I had my blood work done. I will put my blood work numbers up against any 30-year-old. Bet you I'll beat most of them. You know, it's all about taking care of yourself. So, and I and I do that religiously. I go through that process, you know, to where my body has time to cleanse itself. And one of the things you want to do along the way is you want to eat more fiber. Because everybody focuses on am I getting enough protein, enough protein, enough protein. The reality is we tend to get plenty of protein. You need more fiber. Most people do not get enough fiber and you're constipated. And you know, you and you know, if you're Eating enough fiber, you should be pooping two, three times a day, baby. You should be cleansing your body. And when you cleanse out your colon, that's how you keep from getting stomach cancer, you know, and lots of other things. Cleanse your body out, okay? Three, walk at least 20 minutes a day. 20 minutes. And if you can't do 20, do 10, do five, but start. Do something. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you get 150 minutes minimum of aerobic exercise a week. If you walk 20 minutes a day, that's 140 minutes. I think that's close enough. You know, do that, and you will see amazing benefits. And the funny thing is, when I started out on my 50th birthday, when I walked that five-hour pool walk that I told you about, I actually went to a health spa. I spent the whole week there before then wrapping up for you. You ever heard of Canyon Ranch down in Tucson?

Tom Butler 1:08:05

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:06

Okay, it's a health spa down in Tucson, Arizona, two and a half hours away from me. I went down there, and when their exercise gurus down there heard what I was doing, they all told me the same thing. You're doing it wrong. You're not getting your heart rate up, you're not getting your intensity up. You don't need to do it for five hours. You can do it in 20 minutes, 30 minutes. You're doing it wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Well, guess what? You know what my blood pressure is? 95 over 55. You know what my weight is? 145. Do I take any medications? No. I walk a half marathon or more every day. So everybody who said I was doing it wrong, guess what? I must have done something right. You know, that that's the way I feel about that. And you can tell I'm a little passionate about that. So don't listen to your body. Listen to what it's telling you. You know, anytime I exercise really, really, really hard, I'd beat my body up and tear myself up. I hurt myself. When I do it now, I don't tear myself up. I can keep going. Then set aside 15 minutes or more every day to meditate or relax. Quiet time, private time. If you like to pray, go ahead and pray. If you know how to meditate, go meditate. You know, whatever, quiet time. Turn the TV off, put your phone down, go in the room by yourself, turn out the lights. If you want to turn out the lights, do whatever. In my house, I have I have a spirit room where it's full of all these, you know, spiritual things that are important to me. And tons of plants in there and everything else. And I shut the door and I relax. And if you're looking for something to do during that 15 minutes, go to my website at the webexcellence.com. I've got videos on every part of the system. They're eight to 12 minutes each. Watch one a day. Within less than a month, you'll have learned the whole system and you'll be on your way. And if you will take 15 minutes a day and do that for the course of a year, you will have spent more than 90 hours of quiet time thinking to yourself. And if you do that walking, you will have done more than a hundred, you you sorry, more you will have done, you know, a lot of time with the walking. You know, so 120-something hours, you know, walking. That's three work weeks of walking. You know, what you can do in that stuff, spend time for yourself. See, the problem is we live in a world that spins really fast. You got to slow it down. And it's not gonna slow down on it. You have to consciously and intentionally slow it down for yourself. And that's how you do it. And it I see such a possibility for this world that we live in. I see it's crazy, it is mixed up, it's got a long way to go, but I also think it is incredible. And the things we have, oh my, just the things I've seen in my lifetime. The internet. Oh my, oh my. You know, anytime somebody tells tells, anytime I'm bitching that my internet's a little bit slow, I go, it's faster than Thomas Jefferson's was. You know, he wanted to he wanted to communicate with Europe. He had to send a letter by boat, wait a month or two to get a response, and hope nobody opened it up and read it along the way.

Tom Butler 1:11:50

Right. You know, well, this conversation that we're having is an example of that. Yeah. Well, I wanna I want to wrap up with this. You know, talked about mindset, and you know, there's mindsets out there that just keep us stuck. There's messages out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:13

Have kept us stuck in the past.

Tom Butler 1:12:16

I love it. Have kept us stuck in the past. I'm thinking someone could say to you, Well, Stanley, this works for you, but I could never do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

What what I would say you've not been able to do it in the past. Starts with that one statement right there.

Tom Butler 1:12:34

Is there something that you would point them to? Is there is there like one specific thing? Is that the first video that you have out there is to try to keep people out of that place? Well, where would you point people to that say that?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:48

They start with the first video. The first video is an introduction, shows you how the system is, what it is, how it's laid out, and then if you want to go, do number one, tell it like it is. I purposely put that one first because that's the whole key. You know, you have to admit you got a problem. You have to admit you want to do something. But I'm telling you right now, if you were stuck, you want to know what my real response is? I can't do it. My response is bullshit.

Tom Butler 1:13:23

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:24

That's my response. You have not been able to do it in the past.

Quiet Time Tools And Closing

Tom Butler 1:13:29

Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:30

Now is a different time. Let's go do it. And if you can help, let's do it together.

Tom Butler 1:13:35

I love that. Well, Stanley, I'm so thankful that you took the time to spend with me and to have this conversation. I just think uh what shows to me is a couple things. One, your desire to help other people achieve awesome things in their life, and also that you've had time to really process these things, to think about these things, put them together in a form that will help other people grasp them. And I thank you for that contribution and and thank you for being here with me today.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:14

You're welcome. It's why I'm here, Tom.

Tom Butler 1:14:17

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:18

It's my purpose in life.

Tom Butler 1:14:20

Well, I hope that we get an opportunity to talk some more again someday. Works for me. Thank you very much. Awesome. Take care now.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:28

Thank you.

Tom Butler 1:14:39

The first thing that comes to mind is that Stanley's story is extreme. But then I have to ask extreme how. It is certainly an extraordinary journey, but I don't see it as physically extreme. I think the commitment and the time requires makes it unusual, but the truth is that business as usual doesn't really cut it. What Stanley lays out with The Way of Excellence is not specific to exercise, and I encourage you to check it out more at thewayofexcellence.com. I like having these last two episodes back to back, because the perspectives on healthy eating were very different. I think it makes the content more interesting. I hope you have been spending more time on the saddle than me recently, but I'm committed to getting back to where I need to be. And remember, age is just a gear change.