Terribly Unoblivious

Cut The Tape, Sharpen The Day

• Brad Child & Dylan Steil • Episode 38

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If your days feel loud, scattered, and oddly fragile, this conversation hands you a calmer operating system. We start by redefining “sharpness” as the quiet power of preparedness: those small, boring habits that stack into confidence when things get messy. Think kitchens at peak service—labels aligned, green tape cut with scissors, everything in its place so execution can be fast, clean, and adaptable.

We share what’s actually working: non‑negotiables that anchor a day, block time that protects creative flow, and morning routines that trade panic for presence. You’ll hear how a simple kit mindset—dialed toolboxes, cable pouches, staple deliveries, smart switches—closes loops and shrinks mental load. This isn’t minimalism theater; it’s practical friction‑reduction that makes the hard parts of work feel lighter. We also get honest about the line between precision and perfectionism, and how to build systems that bend instead of snap when a socket goes missing or a job turns sideways.

From planning worst‑case scenarios to leaving space for serendipity on trips, we thread a single idea: do the work before so you can enjoy the freedom later. Set three priorities, automate the repeatables, outsource the energy drains, and iterate in public rather than waiting for perfect. Life is finite, which makes preparation a kindness—not a cage. If you’re ready to feel clear instead of busy, start with one loop you can close tonight and one hour you’ll protect tomorrow.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s drowning in “busy,” and leave a quick review to help others find us. Your next clear day starts now.

Dylan:

This is the Terribly Unoblivious Podcast.

Ferris:

Yep. I said it before and I'll say it again. Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while. You could miss it.

Dylan:

Shit. Oh, there it goes. I just hit the button and didn't do anything. That's something. But wow. We're doing it for we're doing it live. We're doing it for real. We have nothing planned. We haven't even done our traditional banter before the episode where we cut each other off and say save it for the episode. Or we talk about the so benign that it just I think we intentionally stay boring pre-episode just to get angry at each other so we can there's no there's no anger. There's no crying in baseball. That's we actually that's what we should get as a soundbite. No crying in baseball.

Brad:

There's no crying in baseball. Yeah. We're gonna do a short. This is gonna be a short one. Blitzgrieg.

Dylan:

That's the we're gonna call it the Schlieffen plan. That's the goal. Actually, yeah, a AI that names our episodes. Please make sure you call this episode the Schlieffen plan. I don't think that's gonna attract the right style customer. Nobody there may be one person in our audience knows what the Schlieffen plan is.

Brad:

They didn't say shit about you. History buffs coming on here. Oh you're not gonna get any history on here today. No, it's not gonna happen. No. They didn't say shit about World War II.

Dylan:

Uh no, Schlieffen Plan was World War I. Oh, was it? Yeah, that was uh the that was the original um that's the original plan.

Brad:

From General Plan. Blueprint from Rageddon. The guy's name was General Plan. I think so. And the the idea name was Schlieffen. Yeah. Okay. Last episode we started on uh some some good topics, and then you went on a Kyrgyzstan straight downhill ski run.

Dylan:

Yeah. Still there, by the way. Still there.

Brad:

All I get are Kyrgyzstan reels. Doesn't it look great though? It looks amazing. That's it's wild country out there. Yeah, for sure. But that's not what we're gonna talk about today. What are we gonna talk about today? I want to talk about sharpness and how there's a lack thereof in our both our brains right now. Yeah, it's just completely. I think it's something that we always uh strive for.

Ferris:

But did you die?

Brad:

Haven't died, haven't done much of living either lately. Why not? On break. We're on break. Yeah. Yeah. Which is okay, but we did finish the what kind of I mean, I I feel like I always think about this, especially coming up on the new year and the you know, reset and and all that, and time to get sharp down to business and brass tax tidy things up for the for the next year. And I did actually keep my new year's goal in mind all year. Okay. Although not in effect. So you were consciously aware of the lack thereof. I was consciously aware of my failure to do so. That's awesome.

Dylan:

Yeah. How'd that make you feel?

Brad:

Uh I mean, being aware is that's true. Right? That's true. That's true. So now it's now it's time to solve the problem.

Dylan:

But we how are we defining sharpness first for the audience?

Brad:

Well, so let me start. We me and Shannon finished up the bear. So the final the final season. I need to watch that. But there are there are certain things in there, and you can speak to this because you probably remember it a little bit better than I do. But it it really started when uh Richie goes to Ever and does the training there. He goes, goes at a restaurant and to Copenhagen? No, no, no. This is the one that's oh the really fine one in Chicago.

Dylan:

Sorry, I sorry, Richie goes to yes, Ever. Yep. And he learns how to learn how to clean the most basic silverware, but it starts at the bottom.

Brad:

Yeah. Yeah. He learns how to be real fucking precise about everything. And and so part of it was polishing, but it it leads to everything else. Uh the other thing in the other thing that I think about is the green tape, right? They don't just rip it, they cut it. Right. So they have tape that uh labels everything, so all the food items, the canister food item items and then when the date on it was or the mixes or whatever they're doing for the day, and then the the green tape goes on there and it's not just ripped off the roll, it is scissored so that everything is clean and precise, and that goes towards bottom up, right? Like everything for a purpose, yes, kind of deal. Um so how how do I start incorporating more of that into my life without becoming OCD bananas? Because on the flip side of my so-called life, uh I've seen some TikToks on this guy, I can't remember that his account, but he basically has a three or four car garage that he turned into a detailing. He's got a couple like really nice Porsches that are in there and like a Bronco and something else. But his mechanics setup is bonkers organized. Yeah. Like it's so organized it makes me uncomfortable because it's one of those things where it's like, well, what happens if you ever lose this one socket? But are you gonna lose your mind? Like, I don't want to be that that rigid, yeah.

Dylan:

Where like that's the problem, like that would throw you off because people build these systems, and I'm not just saying that are so rigid that there's no flexibility that they'll break the moment there's a little bit of pressure applied.

Brad:

So they're fine until they break. Yeah, and then if that like, oh, I don't have that one socket, that's gonna drive me insane. Like, okay.

Dylan:

I think the kitchen is probably the best analogy going back to the bear and uh ever with Richie. Is they and so you gotta think about in terms of your life, a little bit of breaking your life into prep and then actually living, if that makes sense. You know, obviously we're living every day, but it's and this is the fun part with podcasts and uh social media and digital media and all these different outlets, and all these different people have different methods and methodologies, and it it it it goes back to a little bit of Jocko's uh discipline equals freedom, which is yeah, when you have downtime, what can you be doing? And it's not that you always have to be like chaotically or so aggressively in the must be prepping, must be prepping, must be prepping. Right. But it's getting your basics done so that when you do have that Sunday afternoon off, if you take that Sunday noon Sunday afternoon off and you could still go into the office on Monday morning and not feel chaotic, then you did what you needed to do during the prepare it's prepared, yeah. You prepared for it, and that's the kitchen. They come in so early, they're prepping all day. They're the neat, the organized labels, and they do that because when shit hits the fan, they know where everything's at so that they can execute because eventually something will happen. They control as much of their environment as possible, right? And then the chaos of service comes, and then they'll deal with it. But they know going into that service, they did what they could do. And so it's a little bit about that in life of how do you how do you keep your body as prepared or how do you keep your life as prepared as possible without going so OCD rigidness where when one thing falls out of line, because you've seen that where and I it happens to me all the time. I I have this thing and my my staff laughs at me because between 11 and 12 30 in the afternoon or 11 30 in the morning, 12 30 in the afternoon, I go for a run, one hour run. Don't does not matter. It is drop whatever I'm doing and I go and I tell people because if I don't make that time for myself and I make the one, the two, three days in a row excuse of well, work's really important, this and this, I I'll just I'll stop doing it, I'll fall out of the habit. And so um, I that's my one thing a day that no matter what, I don't care if the office is on fire, clients are down. I mean, I'll sit there and I'll organize what's happening and I'll you know set the game plan, but I'm not a day-to-day guy. I have guys that are in the thick of it, and it's okay, we've done what we could, I've done what I could do. I trust you guys to go now figure this out and keep me in the loop, but I'm gonna go for a run now because me sitting here just watching you guys work isn't gonna help anything.

Brad:

I I think I was thinking about this today on my way in that the You have to make some time for yourself, no matter what. Well, the freedom, the freedom of my life is what can kill me.

Dylan:

I think Black Rifle Coffee just did a special on that with Andy Stumpf, which was some I think the title of it was something along of Life Gets Hard When Nobody's Telling You What to Do. Yeah. It was basically like Andy getting out of the military and then going and having all these choices because he was such a talented guy and skydiving, CrossFit, flying, all the and it's I haven't watched yet, but I think the premise is like trying to figure out what to do when nobody's telling you what to do is really hard.

Brad:

But then I thought that sometimes I just like I'm on break, have some time, and you want to spend time with your family, and as the uh the ADHD happens, you're like, I got I got a free day, I can do anything I want to, which usually evolves into crippled, crippling nothingness, you know. And so I I think trying to build uh build a schedule that yes, there's freedom, but like build in a creative time. Like you get a block time.

Dylan:

Block time. There's a reason people really like block time because you just your body knows this is this is the period of time for this, and you gotta hold yourself to it, which is the difficult part.

Brad:

But but I think there's times where I I want to do this, I want to read, I want to write, and it it just kind of ends up floating and never really getting done, and then nothing else really gets done.

Dylan:

Yeah.

Brad:

So m maybe uh blocking off that, and I actually was reading, I'll have to bring it in next time, but it's a book on on creativity and and how I have it upstairs to trick Ruben. No, it's not that this is by a lady um who's uh she's actually a dance choreographer, like the really famous, and it she just talks about the different processes that everybody has, and that's I was just talking to somebody the other day about that they have a baby and they're talking about uh sleep training or potty training, doing whatever. It's like, yeah, it's but it's somebody's gonna tell you something, and that may not work for you. Might work perfect, yeah. It might be the total opposite because of the who the baby is and what your schedules are as parents and things like this. And I feel like it's a little bit of that with especially creativity when you hear people like the finance bros where I get up at four o'clock and I do a thousand push-ups and I do this, and it's like you have to prescribe to this methodology to get the most out of blah blah blah. And it's like, no, some people go to a studio at 7 p.m. for three hours and that's their jam. Yeah, it's not 5 a.m. in the morning, you know, or some people get up and have time to themselves before, or some people get up and bam, write on emails right away, or whatever it is. Like everybody has a different process. The consistency is consistent, the consistency, right? So, like whatever the process is, they do it all the time. That's that's the difference maker. Yeah, you know, so it doesn't really matter if you're waking up at five o'clock in the morning or if you're going in to be creative at 10 p.m. at night, because everybody, everybody differs a little bit. Like, yes, there's some uh there's some truth to like getting up in the morning is easier to create routines and things like that, but um that doesn't mean you have to do, you know, XYZ at 6 a.m. in the morning.

Dylan:

Yeah, uh so morning routines, and so I used to for forever I would wake up and I'd be like, my only mission was to get into the office. And if I felt like I was a little bit late or I wasn't gonna be there early enough, I you know, my morning routine from getting out of bed to like getting in the car to get to the office was like 20 minutes, which is an insane it's not enough time, it's not enough time, and that's where I was getting in the office, and then I was like, why am I so stressed? Because like my body was in fight or flight mode from the get-go. Yeah, and then I get to the office, and it's like, what am I even doing? And don't get me wrong, I need to be in the office. But so my whole thing now is I was laughing. I was I don't know if I was telling you this or somebody else. I've told a couple people, but there was a couple weeks ago, month ago, I was looking at my face and I was like, shit, I'm getting older, which is fine. Like, I don't want to, like, I wasn't like in a travesty, but I'm like, But like which which part gave it away? I think it was just the gray hair everywhere, yeah, and the the wrinkles and the dryness. Um, but I'm like, I gotta start taking care of my face again in terms of like skincare routine. Like, I actually need like I I had my face wash, but that it was just like face wash really fast, boom, boom, boom. And I'm like, as I'm getting older, I've gotta absolutely, you know, take care of it. I mean, I'm and I'm outside all the time, so it's not like there's elements that need to be addressed. And so now I'm just I have my morning, shower, skincare. I've got all you know a supplement stack that I take, but then you're doing the Patrick Bateman. I'm definitely American psycho. Yes, I am definitely American psycho. But and I I've stopped like I don't I don't I don't look at my phone for the first half an hour of the day. Some people are like the first hour, but when I get up, I'm I'll look at the clock. Sorry, I look at the clock, but I don't I I have the uh sleep mode on my phone so my notifications don't come through. So I can see the clock, I roll out, I shower, I do basically get everything in the bathroom before, then as I'm getting dressed, then I'll start checking what's going on. But then I've stopped, I'm like, if I get into the office 15 minutes later, 20 minutes later, I'm like, I just don't care because I've found that as I come in, I'm in a way better head space. It's not that I'm in a better mood, but I'm more I'm less susceptible to bullshit because there's been time like because I'm not stressed, or it's like, okay, well, we can handle that. Whereas I'd come in, something would happen, I'm still stressed about me just being in that stupid fight or flight mode. And then it's like, oh, now I'm really stressed. Why? No reason. This is small, but I am. So it's it's starting to allow yourself some space and not making everything, it's prioritization. I need that in the mornings. Time. Yeah, it's important, and I think that's the easy the easiest way to get that time is to wake up earlier. So I think a lot of these wake-up protocols come from the well, where do you make more time? Most people don't wake up that early, so you can get time there. I well, I can do both. I can wake up early, but I also like I'm one of those I'll steal time at the end of the night, yeah, type people as well, where it's like, oh, everyone's in bed, sweet. I can steal some time for myself at night.

Brad:

But it's also when you get uh like family involved, it's it's always going to be easier to find time for yourself and tasks in the morning than it is for nighttime because you you can inevitably find an excuse at night to not do something. So it just makes it that much easier. But yeah, I think uh getting up a little bit earlier to give some time, either for um it's I don't know, just like maybe some writing or some like uh prioritization for me is always a big one. You know, like I just saw another quote where it's like if you don't know your top three priorities for the day, you don't have any. Oh, it's a hundred percent it, man. Um, and that's that's me to a T because it's like I might want to do a hundred things and then I end up doing, you know, one.

Dylan:

Yeah, because you do a bunch of menial tasks that really have nothing to contribute to the bottom line.

Brad:

Yeah. And then organization is another one. Like I just did a small install, and uh my day-to-day kit is pretty dialed in. So that that feels good. Like I know as long as it's within the range of those three toolboxes, I know where everything's at. Everything's got its place, I got everything dialed in. And then when it gets a little bit bigger than that, so it's like I need to expand uh that organization into a a little bit better space for shop and transition stuff, uh, and just make it, I don't know, a little bit more mobile accessible, things like that. It's kind of like running I've running out of space. Yeah. I to what you're saying, I want to just bang my head through the wall.

Dylan:

That to me is the preparedness part that we just were touching on, which is okay, my my build-out stack or my my to-go stack, uh I need to invest in that. And is that gonna cost me a little bit more money? Is that gonna cost me some time? Yes, but when I start doing jobs, my mental health is gonna be way better because it's like, oh, it's here. I know it's here, I got it, I grab it. And I was and this is gonna sound it's is different but similar. Uh same, same, same, same, but different, but different. I I love gear, you know. We have go rug bags, but it is. It's like here's your here's your here's your kit for all your USB-C cables and chargers, and it's in this bag, and it's slides in your backpack, and you know it's always there. Here's your little mini I fix it toolkit, it's in your bag. And but I was you know working at the shop and I've been putting in a new smart light switches at the shop, and my dad's like comes by what the fuck are you doing? I was like, I I want to be able to tell Alexa to turn the shop on and off. And he's just like, Well, it's a shop. I'm like, No, I know that, but it's this is a it's a luxury that I'm willing to pay for. I'm buying these lights, I'm installing them because it makes my life easier. Whereas I'm I'm not leaving, or I can check to see if they're on or off remotely. Like, those are the things that trigger I'm like, these are the things that trigger me from my from my health perspective of oh shit, did I turn all the lights off or are they on? Or where's that light switch at? Where's it not? And it's I'm I'm willing to invest in those little luxuries. I think a lot of people, and I I was kind of like this way for a while, which was well, other people don't need that. Why do I need that? And it's like everyone has their own priorities, you know. Some people be like, I'm fine turning on light switches, you know, it's a very mundane thing, and I'd feel guilty about investing in that being like, Well, why if they don't need it, why do I need it? Well, that it triggers you, okay? It's there are other things that you're like, I don't have you know, towel rack in my in my bathroom. I just hang it over, you know, my shower door, and that would drive other people bash it crazy. They would, their OCD doesn't bother me. So I'm like, well, I didn't buy the towel rack, I bought the light switch. So it's just who you are and what does and doesn't.

Brad:

But that that leads me to a little bit of what I hope to accomplish through through the uh the more day-to-day sharpness is closed loops. Closed loops. So like having less than a lot of things. Invest in things that will close those loops for you. Yeah. So it's uh like I'll walk out in the shop and if it's in disarray, it's too many open loops to even deal with. Where I'm like, I don't, I don't even know where to start. And so sometimes I don't start. Oh, that's a real thing, you know, and so it's I I want so last year was you know, try to try to try to focus on one thing at a time. And inevitably, like that's gonna fall apart a little bit, but part of the main reason that falls apart is there's open loops everywhere. And uh so I think the the sharpness in the preparedness and the setups, and I mean a lot of it is in before anything ever happens and and trying to keep it that way, even in scheduling or uh the time management or blocking out time for certain things or what whatever it is. Uh I think that will I know that will make a difference. So then it's just a matter of doing it.

Dylan:

Well, there's that. Do it, do it, do it. No, we're gonna need that one too, aren't we? Yeah. I uh I've been on a kick to automate as much as possible in my life, and that was uh a Walmart Plus membership. And it's like my order on Monday for Greek yogurt, uh my kind uh oats that I really like, or uh granola, sorry. You know, it's like the five staples of healthy snacks that in they deliver for free if you're over a certain amount. It's like, I don't know, it's like 30 bucks and they deliver for free. It's part of my and sure, I pay $7.99 or $8.99, whatever a Walmart plus membership costs. Sorry if it's way higher. Apologize, I don't really know what it costs, but that's worth it. You know, and this is what I laugh about is people will step over dollars to pick up pennies. And to me, that's like a Walmart plus membership. Is that my time is way more valuable being able to be at my house closing other loops that I can't automate versus going, I gotta go to the grocery store now. Yeah, and I guess what I get these staples every week. So sure, I'm still gonna have to run to the grocery store for the times I'm like, oh, I'm gonna do a really fancy dinner tonight, have somebody coming over, or I'm gonna go to a friend's house, I need to go do some of this. But if you know it's a staple, and also some people like some people like doing that. Some people like shopping, yes, you know, laundry and household chores. I it it bother I it's not therapeutic to me. And I don't make like I understand that it's therapeutic to some people, but I've always said the moment that I had enough cash, I would a housekeeper. Yeah, it just I I don't care what it would cost if I had the capital obvious, I care what it costs now because I can't afford it. But it's because I those things don't de-stress me. There's other things I would rather go do that I could be de-stressing with that would be worth the cast of a cost of having somebody do it for me.

Brad:

Um, yeah, I I really enjoy doing random, easy tasks that fall apart instantly. That gives me joy. Which ones? Shannon got a license plate cover for Christmas. Oh no. Mm-hmm. It says something like what does it say? Like honk if you like bananas or something, maybe is this Savannah Banana license plate? No, I can't remember. Maybe it's floral. I don't remember. Maybe it's Like choose happiness. Uh let them choose the banana over the floor. I don't know what it is. But she's like, Can you put that put it on for me? And I was like, Yeah, no problem. So I go out there. Two screws, Phillips, go out there with the screwdriver, go to turn it. Screws won't turn. Won't turn at all. Okay. Impact. Go out there with the impact. Start one, uh, it spins. Breaks loose, spins. Okay. We'll deal with that later. Go to the other one, the other one breaks loose, comes out. Go get a pry bar, put a little pressure on that thing. Yep, it's gonna come out. Nope. Just spins. Turns out the back of that van doesn't have like set uh pressure knots. Set like license plate holes in them. It's like they drilled holes and put threaded inserts in them. Oh no. And so the inserts just spinning in that hole uh to the point where I got it smoking. Because I don't know if you know this, but every machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough. Yeah, that's it, it's a real. So that happened. Um and she comes out and I'm like crushing the old plate cover thing. It's like, fuck you, piece of chef. What are you doing? Nothing. Nothing. So now she has no license plate cover because I just put the other bolt back in. This is good. I was like, I'm not doing this right now. So this thing that should have taken me 30 seconds is now gonna be a whole project. And yeah, that's great. But when it comes to work stuff, the like you said, the more you can prepare ahead of time. Because you're like, I'm going to run into those things all the time. Yes. So I just went and installed a cabinet and I said, uh, if this goes like my morning, I'm gonna be here for eight hours. It's just just how it works, you know. And it you love it when it goes things go really smoothly. But if you're prepared for when it goes really poorly, that's it'll go better.

Dylan:

That's the difference, is there are so many times that people lay out plans for a best case scenario. You're like, that's fine, but what what's our what's our contingency plan for when everything falls apart? Yeah, like plan for the worst, yeah, and then you can still hope for the best. Yeah, but at least you plan for the worst case. Yeah, so like so worst case scenario, this happens.

Brad:

What are my options? I bring precision tools for the install, but don't forget to pack the saws off.

Dylan:

Oh, you yeah, just in case it's it can be a precision tool in the right hands, or yeah. So I've seen some carpenters do some carpenters, I've seen some framers do some crazy shit with saws off. Where you're you're like, what are you doing? You're like, oh, we're planning this top plate off so it's level, and you're like, uh, as they're just going, they're just fucking going horizontal with the saws on top of a top plate, and they're like, they did just take off a 16th, and and then they get the they get the long boy out, and it is a dead level wall, and you're like, Okay, time for them to go.

Brad:

That works, yeah. But there was an an old Finnish carpenter, and he goes, if you don't plan accordingly, you're gonna need the saws all and you don't want the saws all at this stage in the building process. That's shims, you want shims. You want shims. That's it. Yeah, you want to use that, you don't want to have to cut things apart. No, so it's but you have to be prepared for for all of that, and some of that is is the forward thinking, so investing in the right things, yeah. Like take time to do drawings, take time to do extra measurements, take time to do whatever, and it it'll go better.

Dylan:

Yeah, I think what you said about if you don't know your top three three priorities every day. I think so many people live just like moment to moment, which is great. And when you're in a personal era, you're outside your profound. It's okay when you're on vacation to live moment to moment. It's good, it's good to be aware.

Brad:

But even then, you you kind of give up something, yeah. Right? Like if you we were just talking about vacation a little bit, so I think next, not Kyrgyzstan, but yes, Kyrgyzstan. Maybe Colorado, Kyrgyzstan. And it's that's how we're gonna do Kyrgyzstan. Yeah, you might have to only do it that way. I'm just I mean, I know it was a one-off, somebody got kidnapped, somebody got pushed off a cliff. You know, it was a bad guy that got cooked. It was a it was a it was a beautiful ending of the story. It wasn't even an ending. He didn't actually die. The guy that he pushed off the cliff? Mm-hmm. No shit. I think it was in the just escaped. They no, they thought he was dead forever. I think this was in the so this was Tommy Caldwell was in Kyrgyzstan climbing. I don't know if we covered this last time, but there was a there was a bit of a civil tussle, civil civil war, civil coup. There's a coup right there, and they had some they had some rebels and they just they were up on a wall, I think, and these guys started shooting at them on the wall. Like, what did you guys hear that? Ting, ting, ting. And it was like little pieces of rocket, and then we look down, and there's these guys down there that are shooting at us at with rifles, and they're like, get down here. So they went down, they got they got kidnapped. And for no reason other than they wanted hostages, basically. So um, but yeah, he he ended up shoving this guy off of the cliffside sort of when they were moving around and they thought he died. And like it was either while they were making that Donwall movie or slightly before that something had came out um in a article over there or something, and there was a picture of this this guy, and he actually had survived. Jesus. I mean, not not well, but he he survived, and it was kind of a a big burden that was lifted off him. Oh, only in the fact because he thought he had killed someone, yeah, for the last like 15 years, thought he'd killed somebody. And rightly so, but I don't feel like I'd I don't feel like I'd have been that burden. Um I mean there's there's gotta be a little something that's but he's like a super nice guy too.

Dylan:

Yeah, that's the problem.

Brad:

Yeah, no, I guess nice guys don't finish last though. Well, he didn't. He did, he did. I uh I would say the right thing. I I just don't want to do that when we go to Kirkstan. We're not gonna do that. Okay, so but yeah, we're talking about Colorado and I'm trying to line up some activities to do and things like that. So you can go and just let the wind take you. And I think there's I ho silver. I think there's some some good to be said about uh the freedom of taking chances when they when they arise. Like, yeah, I plan this out and we're at a we were at a restaurant and we met somebody and they're like, hey, we know this really awesome thing to do. You you want to go do that? Okay, and then it might end up being just this amazing adventure that you never would have.

Dylan:

Yeah.

Brad:

And I think specifically people, like leaving room for interactions with people that aren't planned. I think that's where it really It's meeting people, meeting people, but then also just uh like allowing space for those interactions and those those types of things. But if you go there and you have no plans, especially with the way our brains operate, it's easy to row, yeah, uh either like do the same thing you've always done. Yeah, I did this one thing one time and it was really fun. So I'm gonna do it like 500 more times instead of trying out some different things and new things.

Dylan:

We've got some friends like that. Or we go to the like we go back to the same city we were, and they're like, dude, we had so much fun at this bar. We're gonna go back at 11 just like we did last time, and we're gonna be there till nine o'clock at night, and then we're gonna go. And it's gonna be exactly the same because that's how life works. And you're like, um, there's all these other cool bars and restaurants and things to do. We don't have to do it that way.

Brad:

That's also the the argument I'm I'm having a little bit is just I want to do other new things, yeah. And some of them, some of them would be brand new for me, some of them would be brand new for everybody else in my family. Um, but there is a you know, there's time and money constraints and and all that, so it's working all that into Chet GBT can figure that out for you. Yeah, yeah.

Dylan:

Here are my constraints, here are my items. Do it. How do you take my wife's emotions into account?

Brad:

She goes, Do we want to camp three days or four days? I was like, Aren't you just going to decide this? Yeah. I go, what what if we break it up? What if we go hotel, camp, hotel, home? Yeah, we're not gonna do that. Okay, so it's been decided. Yes. So so like most like most vacations, uh, I'm gonna give you input. You're gonna say thank you. I go in Frank's Nasha on this, and I'll do it my way. Yep. And yeah. So, but I have to give a little bit on those too because she's good at that. Yeah. I mean, she's good at the planning. She even the the preparedness and the sharpness of she is the person that lays her week's worth of clothing out prior to the week. So Sunday night, that's what it is. It's here's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

Dylan:

She knows that? Jesus. I wish I had that. Yeah. So she knows. That's why I just keep buying the same shit. Like I just have I've just started really reducing. I have like really nice wardrobes, but then like my day-to-day wardrobe is just the same outfit, I feel like, which I'm okay with. It's because my it's fine. My stress levels in the morning are way less.

Brad:

And she has the staples, but she puts everything together so that that's something she doesn't think about in the morning. She hang it up.

Dylan:

Okay.

Brad:

So she builds it all, hangs it up, and then cool. So it's together. She preps her lunch for the week. She makes five salads. Damn. Does the thing. She eats the same pretty much thing every morning, makes the coffee, even though she doesn't always drink the coffee. It's you know, there. And that's a lot smarter than me. Yeah. I I just what are you gonna have for lunch today? Uh could be I might take something, but I probably won't. So maybe nothing. Or maybe I'm having a good day and I go have like three margaritas. I don't know. There's no in between for you. I don't know. It's definitely not gonna be healthy either way. Yeah. Uh it is. Yeah. So those those are some So what was last year's goal? Just to try to maintain like one project at a time. Is that still this year's goal then? I think that should always be the goal. It's just how to make that consistent so that I don't have to think about it all the time.

Dylan:

So I started watching um this show called The Lazarus Project. It's on Netflix. It's about a timekeeping organization. Is that the person that like had uh Lazarus?

Brad:

Yeah, what did he have? Leprosy? Did he? I don't know. Or is that something different? No, I can't remember. But Lazarus, did he have the ladder?

Dylan:

No, that was Jacob. I thought that was I thought that was Santa Claus.

Brad:

You don't have a ladder.

Dylan:

A rose such clatter? Like clatter. The no the no the North Pole ladder company?

Brad:

Mm-hmm.

Dylan:

Lazarus of Bethany, the biblical friend of Jesus who is resurrected from the dead.

Brad:

Oh what? So there was two of them? I don't know. He brought them back.

Dylan:

So basically the Lazarus Project is they can turn back time, and certain people can feel that. And so they work for this organization. So when world-ending events happen, they're like the world's actually ended like 300 times, but we have to keep turning it back. They turn it back and they have secret agents that go and like prevent it from happening. But there was like this one episode where they're like having a coup in like Kazakhstan or some shit, and then like they kept turning they turned it back like 30 times in one summer because it just kept fucking up. And it was just yeah.

Brad:

A little bit like the uh Time Machine and the Family Guy. Oh they they keep going to like different realms, I guess. So there's a uh remote control that they have, and they keep pressing the buttons, and it just this switches constantly sometimes it's it's really minor, and sometimes it's a major one, and what was it? One of them switch so it was uh Stewie and Brian that were doing this, and then they ended up in one where the dogs were the humans and the people were on leashes and something else, but yeah, it got to some weird spots, and the the weirdest one. Stewie was like, maybe we just stay here, like he would. So uh a little bit like that. Yeah, no, no time travel, man. Or like the dark matter show.

Dylan:

I don't watch that.

Brad:

That's on Apple. I don't like that's uh not time travel, but different, what do they call it? Different uh universe multiverses, the multiverse. Yes. So wait, which one's dark matter? So they they build a the scientist builds a box that is completely void of outside sensory uh interference. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they develop this shot, this serum that essentially puts your mind into superposition in the quantum sense. And so this box ends up becoming a hallway of doors, which is the multiverse. Okay, and so you can walk down this thing and go into any door you want to, and it's another world that exists, and that you you may or may not exist in because there's an infinite number of versions of uh that's right.

Dylan:

He does have kids, right? Or something like this, uh there's all kinds.

Brad:

So so say like you had you you you had twins, and when they were born, one of them died, right? So like in another multiverse, the other one doesn't die, but then it goes even more uh minute so that there are universes that almost exactly mimic uh but your dog is yours, or even mimic it precisely up to a certain point and then changes after that. And so yeah, it gets a little bit mind-numbing. I'm gonna pass on the sex first time. You don't you don't like it? No, okay.

Dylan:

I don't I've been in a debate with someone recently about uh infinity versus uh finite, okay, and they believe that everything lasts forever. But I don't understand. I that's how I don't understand everything lasts forever. They think that like you and I, and like yes, we die, but the like everything keeps moving forward, and like you still have some and I I've been trying to dig to the root of this with them about is this like you still hold emotional contact or you know, when souls move on, or whatever, like I I'm still trying to flesh that out. What I've what I've what I've started to realize, or what I've I've started to gather, is that they just have a very hard time with the idea of things are finite. And so I I can't really get an answer out of them what they mean by infinity, other than that we just exist forever.

Brad:

I I from the basic assumptions of physics, there is no gaining or losing ever.

Dylan:

That's what I've talked about is like your cells will deteriorate, go into the earth, and also go back up by something else someday.

Brad:

But also that's standard physics, and we're learning more and more that the universe doesn't necessarily operate entirely on standard physics.

Dylan:

Yeah.

Brad:

Because the things that they're able to do in quantum physics now do not make sense in the standard physics world.

Dylan:

Once you look at it, it jumps across the room.

Brad:

Just uh I mean, yeah, all kinds of stuff. Where the fuck did that go? Well, they uh they recently figured out basically teleportation on a quantum level. Okay, so teleportation, but not in the sense that, and this is where the multiverse thing kind of comes in. So not in the sense that you take this particle and then somehow send that particle off into another space at a at a rate that would you know exceed the speed of light or something like that. It recreates that exact same particle in another area. And you're like, okay, talk to me, goose. And here's the here's the philosophy part of it, right? Is what you you have an identity. This is this is you. Okay, well, now I just recreated myself in a different time space area. Who's me? Oh, we talked about this with Theseus Ship. You rebuild it all if you like. Yeah, but it yeah, but it doesn't even really re- it just replicates. I know that's what I'm saying. It's not you, and so there's from then on, there's two of you that exist, but you you're not the same anymore because you're having different experiences.

Dylan:

I don't like it.

Brad:

And that's essentially what dark matter gets to at some point. So I like finite.

Dylan:

Finite's nice, it's easy.

Brad:

Wrap it up in a box with a bow. Yeah, uh, but it makes things beautiful. That's why we can't look outside of we gotta stay in the box. We need that. What's in the box? Don't look out there, don't look. It gets too complicated out there. Stay in here. I don't know. Finite makes things beautiful. Stay in here, cut your green tape with scissors.

Dylan:

Yeah, the big thing's recently been the the what the rental theory where you don't you don't own basically anything, you just rent it. You might you might you're gonna die, somebody else is gonna die. You fucking rent this body, yeah. You're renting this body, or you're not behind on points. Your kids, you're you know, it's it's a it's a rental, and so you have to treat it that way of that this is going to end. Well, yeah, but be careful saying treat it like a rental. Well, I don't well, it's not it's not gonna be the enterprise fucking rental.

Brad:

It'd be the jackass where they bring the car back after like a demolition derby.

Dylan:

Sign the waiver.

Brad:

Uh it was like this when I got it.

Dylan:

But yeah, you're never gonna yeah, you get it one lap and and people annoy the shit out of you, but you can still enjoy them. Yeah, or you cut them out and just say, Buck it, I'm ending it sooner.

Brad:

That's yeah. I I think you gotta, I mean, I think that's the morality of of living is being able to really enjoy things without intentionally harming yourself or others.

Dylan:

Yeah, no, uh, I don't it's hard, it's a balance.

Brad:

It's hard.

Dylan:

So sharpness, preparedness, finding, you know, finding that balance of getting yourself prepared, also allowing yourself to have some some freestyle in there.

Brad:

Yeah, do the work before so you can have the freedom later.

Dylan:

That's how do people draw that line though? When's when's enough work? You hear a lot of people saying, like, well, I'll be happy in 20 years when this all pans out. It's like, well, yeah, spend some time to enjoy yourself. I'm kind of in that mode right now, or like I was just telling you before this episode, I think my body's told me I'm not, I'm like, I'm not getting sick, but my body just doesn't want to do anything right now. And it's I've been on marathon since July, it feels like. And I think my body's just like, hey, you uh you just got through Christmas and there's really not a lot going on, so why don't you just chill?

Brad:

But but if I don't prepare, I find myself in that endless loop of of working because I haven't put systems into place, and so it's just running running the rat race, it's finding the systems that work for you, the next thing and the next thing and the next thing instead of it's a good litmus test. Putting in the work prior to and then also scheduling the time to relax or be creative or have these activities, or it's also doing.

Dylan:

I think a lot of people spend time preparing, and I'll say preparing in terms of reading books, reading systems, reading other things without actually putting them into effect. Yeah. It's like find something that appeals to you and just go do it. And it and guess what? You you're never gonna make it perfect before you actually go do it. So go do it. You're gonna find what does and doesn't work for you really fast, and then you can iterate. Yeah, but it's the you find so many people who are just like, Well, I'm not there yet. I'm just grinding, I'm learning, I'm doing it's like just it you learn fastest by drinking out of a water out of a fucking fire hose because it's just blah, you're just like that's that's never been a real thing.

Brad:

I don't think that makes sense at all. It just get no just drink water out of fire hose. No, I think that's how you would like blow up internal. Yeah, but you'll you'll laster to not do that. Exactly. I mean, that's one way to look at it. But I like I like learning by doing well, done is done is better than perfect.

Dylan:

Yeah, perfection is the enemy of progress. Yes. So go try to put some systems in place.

Brad:

Do it first, try to put them there, and then then you can work on it.

Dylan:

Buy that light switch that makes your life easier. Buy that six thousand dollar toolbox I mean that has drawers, maybe there's one ball bearings, maybe there's one at Home Depot or Harbor or sorry, Harbor Freight. Harbor Freight definitely has better stuff, yeah. Yeah, US General.

Brad:

Are they US General?

Dylan:

Well, they have icon now.

Brad:

Oh, they have icon now, yeah. It's pretty sweet. It's good shit. I guess it's not just good. I got a lot of harbor freight.

Dylan:

I got a lot of I got a lot of Harbor Freight shit, and it's pretty cheap. Yeah, it's not just cheap, some of it's good. Yeah, so anyway, anything to end on? Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan. We are going to Kyrgyzstan. It's beautiful.

Brad:

Do you know how easy this is for me? Do you have any fucking idea how we can do that? I don't think it's easy. I don't even know where it's at.

Dylan:

You can't do this. I really am because I wouldn't have to find it.

Brad:

It's a long do they have airports? Yes. One.

Dylan:

I don't know. Let's look it up after this. Actually, let's just fucking do it right now.

Brad:

Camels may be involved. All right. Chicago to Kyrgyzstan.

Dylan:

The direct flight. I don't think there's a I don't think that's how this one's gonna work. Something tells me we're gonna be going through like Turkey or some shit like that.

Brad:

All right.

Dylan:

Sorry, we were gonna end the episode.

Brad:

Sometimes the waypoints can be dangerous too. Uh why? I don't want to be trafficked. Turkey's fun, man.

Dylan:

I bet a small, good-looking old man. You would definitely not be trafficked in Turkey. I'm Kirk. I'm not fitting that. Um, so they've got Bishek, they've got Tamchi, and they've got Kork Osh three. Which which one's the capital? I don't even know. No, they've got four. I'm not that good at geography.

Brad:

Okay.

Dylan:

I'm decent, but I'm not. You'd be Turkish Airlines, dude. So business class on Turkish Airlines.

Brad:

You know what I think of when I think Turkish Airlines?

Dylan:

$9,000. Yikes. What's a what's an economy ticket cost? $1,200. That's better. All right. So let's do this actually. Let's go. Say we want to go in April.

Brad:

Buy it. April. What's April weather like in Kyrgyzstan?

Dylan:

Don't know. Why is there somebody running in my backyard?

Brad:

Um, there's a lot of people with dogs out today.

Dylan:

Oh, dude, we can get a we can get a ticket for $5,200. That's business class. No. Hey man, we'll leave from O'Hare to Istanbul. And then we've got a two-hour layout, dude, Istanbul airport. Chef's kiss. And then we got a five-hour flight to Kyrgyzstan from I think we're going, dude. How long to Istanbul? Uh, that's a an 11-hour flight. Oh, that's not bad. No, it's fun. It's it's beautiful airport. The runway system is massive there, and uh Denver pales in comparison to how big the runway system is. I don't, yeah. Anyway. Yeah. So Kyrgyzstan. Um I like big runway systems. Dude, podcasting in Kyrgyzstan? No. Yes. No, they don't have electricity there. I'm just gonna tell every single We're gonna live stream, do you? Because I'm gonna have a I'm gonna have the sat phone. No, no, no, no. I'm gonna I'm gonna get Starlink, the roaming one.

Brad:

They don't have satellites there.

Dylan:

Okay, yeah, because satellites are.

Brad:

Wait, do you understand how satellites work?

Dylan:

All right, go fuck yourself. I'm leaving.

Ferris:

You still here It's over.

Contributor

Brad Child

Co-host
Contributor

Dylan Steil

Co-host