E57: From 367 lbs to Disciplined Life: The Truth About Success with Stanley Bronstein

Stanley Bronstein—attorney, CPA, and life coach—shares how he lost 220+ pounds without surgery and rebuilt his life through discipline, not motivation. We dive into his “rigid flexibility” mindset, why most people fail to change, and how small daily habits can completely transform your health, work, and purpose.

Connect with Stanley:

thewayofexcellence.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Imagine getting to a point in your life where you get to choose the work you do, where life feels simple, just focused on having a good day. Today our guest indicates work might suck, but he actually likes it. And the reason why is powerful. He's not letting life happen to him, he's creating the structure. So the real question becomes who's organizing your life? Is it something being forced on you, or are you designing it? In this conversation, we zoom out because life isn't a short-term role, it's a long-term game. Stanley challenged us to think in decades, but act daily. Let's roll right in. All right, welcome to the Work Sucks But I Like It podcast. Today we have Stanley Bronstein. He's an attorney, CPA, life coach, and multibook author. But what really makes his story powerful is the transformation he's lived. Losing over 220 pounds has rebuilt his health, mindset, and purpose without surgery or gimmicks. Stanley, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thank you for having me, Tony. Good to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah, awesome. So, Stanley, first question for the guest. What how do you define work today? How do you define it?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Hmm. Well, I've had a couple of um ways of looking at it. You know, one of my goals in life was always to be able to get to the point where I could wake up every morning and only do what I wanted to do, not what I had to do. And it took me a long time to get there, but I finally can say I can say I'm to the point where I don't have to do anything. Everything I do is because I choose to do it or because I want to do it. And the funny thing is, when I reach that point, I probably work even harder.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

No, I like that. So, Stanley, walk us through a typical day for you where you, you know, you get to do these things now. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Well, for example, you are the second podcast I've been on today, and I've got another one two hours after you. So there'll be three of those today, sharing my thoughts, my stories, my ideas, my beliefs, the things I've learned. Went to the gym for two and a half hours earlier today. Um, took the dogs for a walk, ate a healthy breakfast, ate a healthy meal a couple hours later, because I only eat healthy now, and it's been a good day. For the most part. Not totally stress-free, not perfect, just a good day, which is what I can say most of my days are like.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

No, I love that, Stanley. So just out of curiosity, so typically when guests come on, I find that there's sort of these two categories, and I want you to kind of explain what you think of them. We have one type of guest that's the nine to fiver. We have that has a job that works nine to five. Then we have the other type of guest that's an entrepreneur. Where would you place yourself if you were to place yourself in one of these categories?

SPEAKER_01 3:17

I'm I would place myself in a 25-hour-a-day entrepreneur. Okay. Nice. Uh, you know, I'm always on. You know, in one form or another, because I never know when an idea will hit me or somebody might want something. I do a lot of things internationally all over the world. And so I'm adjusting other people's time zones. I mean, like, you know, the night last night I had a call with the Philippines because I needed to talk to my web developer in the Philippines. So it's um I'm always creating. And I think the reason I can get away with doing that is work sucks, but I like it. No, it's I do. I I I like I like what I'm doing. I like that I'm helping people. I feel very positive about what I'm doing and very good about what I'm doing, and that gives you more energy.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

So, what actually sucks about your work, Stanley, and what are you doing to make it not suck?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Well, at present, I don't have any employees, and I don't have any trained assistants. So I get to do everything the fun stuff, the grunt stuff, you know, everything, you know, all along the way. And fortunately, I'm very organized. Plus, I'm still doing um still doing some of my legal work and accounting work. I also run the HOA that I live in. So, you know, and I do a lot of volunteer work and help people. So I'm constantly switching hats all the time. And what I have found is it helps to be tremendously organized. I mean, I have just about every aspect of my life, work, everything, extremely organized.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

I feel very similar, Stanley. I the engineer in me is like, oh, I love this, this structure. Why do you think structure is so important today in the society we live in? It's because sometimes we feel like bound by that structure. Why do you think that structure is a good thing? Okay. First of all, it depends whose structure it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Ah, I love that. Is it structure that was thrust upon you? Or is it structure that you intentionally and purposely created for yourself? Because if you create, if you're able to intentionally and consciously create structure for yourself, it gives you tremendous power. I mean, because I'm structured, because I have routines, because I'm organized, I mean, the average person will be blown away by what I get done in a single day. I mean, I shared my daily routine with a with a Marine one time, and he liked it.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

He said, this is great. He said, You never he said, you've never been a Marine? I said, nope. But but it's that kind of, it's that intense. I mean, I have not, and I I have this thing, I call it rigid flexibility. And one of the books on my website is called The Way of Rigid Flexibility. What it is, I'm rigid in my standards. I do this every day, I do that every day, I only eat healthy every day, I walk every day, I spend some time on my work every day, rigid in my standards, but I'm flexible in the way I get things done. I love that. Like, for example, okay, I walk every day. If I'm going on a trip and I've got to get to the airport two, three hours early. I get to the airport two, three hours two, three hours early, check all my bags and everything. And then what do I do? I walk in the airport for an hour or two. That's flexible. You know, I, you know, I might have a, you know, I've got three podcasts today. Tomorrow I've got one. The next day I have none. You know, so that gives me, you know, I shift around it, I do this, I do that, and you get things done. I've I'm rigid in my standards. These are the things I do. This is who I am. But then I cut myself slack and how I get it done as long as I get it done.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Walk us through, Stanley. I really like this kind of the rigid in your standards, but flexible in the way you do it. So let's go to the scenario of someone working a nine-to-five job, right? What kind of advice would you give that person in terms of being rigid in their standards and yet flexible in the way they do it with a nine to five job? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Nine to five job. First thing, analyze how much time is yours. Okay, in a typical nine-to-five job, you might have 15 minutes to eat lunch, you might have 30 minutes to eat lunch, you might have an hour to eat lunch, you might have no time to eat lunch.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Whatever you have. Say you've got 15, 20, 30 minutes to eat lunch. Bring your lunch with you. Go outside and go for a walk while you're eating your lunch.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Getting some fresh air, and I mean, unless you live in New York City or something. You're you're or LA, you, you, you're you're getting fresh air. You're getting some sun, unless it's bad weather, but you know that happens. Stepping away from the computer for a little bit, you're moving a little bit, you're getting a little exercise, you know, that kind of thing. Do what you can when you can. At a minimum, stand up from your desk. Or if you can't even do that, just close your eyes. You know, close your eyes for five minutes. Uh, you know, I have a thing, uh, I have um various timers set on my phone. I have one for eight minutes because I think that's a nice optimal time. I'll sit there in the middle of the day. I'll I've got a recliner in the other room. I'll go sit in the recliner.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

I sit up for eight minutes, close my eyes, relax, meditate.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

When it's over at the eight minutes, you get up. Even if you don't want to sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah, right, right, right. I take a nap every day at lunch, so I love what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

You you'll you'll be surprised. You'll be surprised how deeply you can fall asleep in eight minutes. I mean. I'm surprised sometimes. But you do this, okay. So that's during your work day.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Now, after your work day, how much time is yours? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

You probably unless you work remotely, you probably have to commute to and from work. So is that 30 minutes each way? Is that an hour each way? Is it more than that? I mean, so what, so how much time do you have for yourself? And if you're driving and you're commuting, they have these wonderful things called CD players, if you still have one in your car. If not, you have streaming services like Audible or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Podcast too.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, podcasts like this one. You know, you know any good podcasts, Tony? Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. Sit there and put that on. Listen to it when you're in the car. Do something while you're driving. Don't just sit there and get stuck in traffic and go, this sucks. And then I hate this.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

You know, sit there and do something positive with that time. Um then you get home. Okay. You may have a wife and kids, you may have a partner, maybe by yourself. You might have kids pets, you might have kids, you might not. But whatever it is, there is time to be found where you can do things by yourself.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Uh I tell everyone you need a minimum of 15 minutes a day to yourself.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

Minimum.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

And you need to walk a minimum of 20 minutes a day if you can. And if you can't do 20, do 10. Do whatever. But every day. Every day, every day, every day, every day. Time to yourself and go walking every day. And you figure out where you have time gaps, and you might need to adjust some things, change some things. Watch less TV. I okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

I'm not saying no TV. For example, I do not watch TV during the day.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

You know, unless, you know, something happened, you know, big time that you need to watch. I don't watch TV during the day. When I go to bed, I get in bed, I will turn on the TV, I watch TV for 20 minutes, and then I go to sleep. It's it. If I want to watch an hour TV show, it'll take me three days to watch it.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

Love that.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

And then generally the only exception to that is, you know, if there's a new Star Trek, I gotta watch my Star Trek.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

There you go. I'm a Star Wars guy, but yeah, I hear you.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

We can't all be discriminating like Star Trek. Uh anyway.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Um, so you find time. It's all about intention, conscious intention.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

How are you going to use your time?

SPEAKER_00 13:37

So, one of the things we like to say on the show, Stanley, is that success is not a matter of good luck. It's good skills. Sounds like the skill that you're kind of saying is intention. How do we build this intention into our day? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

First of all, it helps to have good luck too. I've had luck over the years. You know, no doubt about it. I've been luckier than most people. No doubt about it. But how do you build intention?

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Well, I'll give people a structured way to do it.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

My system that I have on my website is the same system I use to lose 220 pounds and keep it off, which by, you know, which I use to lose a bunch of weight, and that I use every day. It's called the Way of Excellence. And the website's thewayoflexcellence.com. Now, if you go there, the main page you go on, it's got a nice picture of the chart for the system, and and it sits there and you scroll down. The system has 20 parts to it. I don't know if you can see this or not, but if they can, they can. But it's got it's got 20 parts to it. Watch one a day. There's a video on each one. Eight to 12 minutes. One video a day. In less than a month, you will learn my whole system. And the system will teach you things like improving your awareness, becoming a long-term thinker. See, that's one of the things I think people neglect. We live in a short-term world. Everything is now, now, now, now, now, now, now. But life is a long-term game. We need to learn to think in decades, but then act daily. When you learn to think in decades, you start eating healthier because you realize what you eat today is going to affect you 20, 30, 40 years from now. When you learn to think in decades, you start walking every day or get some kind of exercise every day because you realize that's going to affect you 10, 20, 30, 40 years down the line. So the problem is when you're young, you think you're invincible. You think you can do anything and you can get away with it. And the answer is you can get away with it until you can't. And but you can. It is also possible to reverse where you're at. I'm 66. I just had my physical a month ago. I will put my blood work numbers up against any 30-year-old. And I think I'll beat most 30-year-olds. I feel better than I did when I was 30. I'm in better. I was in nowhere near this good a shape when I was 30. Or anything. So am I 66 or am I 30? I don't know. I think a lot of it's what's in your head.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Absolutely. Age is just a number, right? So I really want to dive into this transformation, Stanley, because I think it's remarkable. Walk us through the feelings and your thoughts you had leading up to this point where you stood on the scale and said, I really need to make a shift here. What was that like?

SPEAKER_01 16:57

First of all, I didn't say I need to do this. I said I get to do this. I'm going on a journey and I get to do this. That's one of the principles of my system. It's called perspective. And I'll tell you in a minute how I who taught me that perspective. It came from a very unexpected place. Okay. Four months before my 50th birthday, February 1st, 2009, a little over 17 years ago, I woke up and I said, where am I going to be in five years if I keep doing what I'm doing? I didn't like the answer. Care to guess what the answer was? Not good. Dead. Yeah. And I decided I didn't want to be dead. Now, you notice it was February 1st, not January 1st. You know why it was February 1st?

SPEAKER_04 17:48

No. Why?

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Because I had previously said it was going to be January 1st and I blew it.

unknown 17:53

No.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

I blew my New Year's resolution, as many people have no doubt done by now. Today's March 9th. Many people have no doubt done that. But this time was different. I picked myself back up and I got going.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

So I said, I need to make some changes in my life. So first thing I did was I said, I'm going to stop drinking alcohol. Was I an alcoholic? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

But I was drinking scotch every day. I was drinking more than I should. And it was not serving me. I was serving it. So I believe in symbolism. I took my last bottle of scotch, poured it down the toilet, hit flush. Haven't had a drink in 17 years. And let's talk about addiction for a second. I know many people have struggled with alcohol, and I get that. For me, it actually was easy. I called turkey and it was not a problem to quit. And I think the reason why was I was not physically addicted to it. If anything, I was emotionally addicted to it. I wanted it. It was my friend. It was my comfort. It was my lover. But I, but my body didn't detox from it when I quit. So I didn't have the detox symptoms. So that was easy for me. And then I said, soda pop, two-liter bottles of soda pop. I was drinking three of those a day. Oh, wow. But they were, but they were diet caffeine-free. So surely they were healthy. That's what they tell us, right? Yeah, yeah. No. Yeah, right. Um poured the last one down the toilet, hit flush, gone. Then I made a few dietary changes. I quit, I decided to quit eating red meat. I was gonna eat just chicken and turkey. So that was how I started. And then I said I'm gonna start walking every day. And in the beginning, I had trouble walking more than two or three blocks because my knees hurt. I was out of breath. Wasn't easy. I found a gym that was open 24 hours a day. I'd go there and that had a pool, and I went there in the middle of the night, and I would, when it was empty, and I would walk laps up and down the pool. 30 minutes, then an hour, then two hours, then three hours, building up, building up, building up. Going there in the middle of the night. That started a habit that I still continue to this day. I get up at midnight every night and I exercise until 5 p.m. and then I go back to sleep for two hours. And that second sleep is unbelievable. It's really deep. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

But um but I do that every day. So started doing that. Now, I had days where I didn't want to do it.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

The motivation wore off. See, that's the problem with motivation. Everybody wants to be motivated, motivated. Well, motivation wears off. You're gonna have, you're a human being. You're gonna have a day where you feel like crap and you don't want to do it.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

How'd you make it stick? Huh? How'd you make motivation stick?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Okay, here comes the story. Two years earlier, I met a, first of all, I didn't make motivation stick. I created discipline. Motivation wears off, discipline doesn't. Motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going. So now, two years earlier, 2007, I was writing a book, and the deal was I was gonna drive around the whole United States and interview 50 amazing people and put their stories in a book that I was writing. Well, I started the trip in Hawaii. I mean, if you're gonna start a nationwide trip, start it in Hawaii, right? So I started in Honolulu, and first person I talked to said, are you gonna be talking to Peggy Chun? I said, Who's Peggy Chun? They said, uh, you gotta go talk to her. Said, okay. I found a phone number for Peggy's daughter. I called her daughter and I said, can I come over? I told her what I was doing. She said, yes, come on over. So I went over to Peggy's house. When I met her, Peggy was in terminal stages of ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, completely bedridden, could not move, could not speak. She was on a ventilator. The only way she could communicate was trained people, could hold up an eye chart and they could read her eye movements and she could spell words. So to interview her, it took me like two hours to do a 20-minute interview with her. But that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

When I saw her, the thought that went through my mind was if I ever get like this, I want to be dead. Big time. I don't want to lose.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

But that was not Peggy's attitude. Peggy's attitude was: my grandkids are coming over later today. I can see out the window that it's a beautiful, pretty, sunny day. They're going to take me outside and we're going to play and we're going to paint. We're going to have so much fun. Now, now tell me, you're getting ready to drive around the whole United States and you're going to interview 50 amazing people? Tell me about all these people. I want to hear their stories. Sounds like fun. I wish I could go with you. So this woman who was in a state where I would want to be dead had more joy for life than anyone I've met in my entire 66 years.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

So any morning, I didn't feel like getting out of bed. You know the old saying, what would Jesus do?

SPEAKER_01 23:45

I started saying, what would Peggy Chun do if? And the answer is Peggy Chun would have gotten her lazy ass out of bed and she'd have gone for a walk and she might not ever come back because she was having such a good time. So anytime I don't feel like walking or something, I go, this one's for you, Peggy. Peggy couldn't do it. I can. You know, I've got one of my older brothers, he died at the age of 60 from heart issues. He can't do these things. I still can. I'm healthy. I'm alive. I can do these things.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

What makes discipline so hard, Stanley? What I mean, this is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

This woman is stinking thinking in our heads.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

To quote Zig Ziggler.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

To quote Zig Ziggler, stinking thinking. It everybody tells us it's hard. Everybody lost us hard. So take these drugs. It makes it easy. You know why they're telling us that? Because they want to sell us the drugs and make money off of us. Yep. You know, this is hard. They want to make money off of us. This is hard. Buy our solution. It'll make it easier. It's all BS. Things are easier than we think it is. You know, one of the things I've learned is diet is not just the food you put in your mouth. It's all the inputs in your life. It's the thoughts you put in your head. Gandhi said, never let anyone walk through your mind with their dirty feet.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

You know, um, you know, it's the people you hang around.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

It's the way you spend your time, it's the things you do. Okay, right now it's 227 in the afternoon. Do I have something better to do than talk to you? Probably. But this is a quality conversation I am having with a quality individual about a quality subject that will hopefully help people. That is a worthwhile use of my time. It is a worthwhile thing for me to be doing. So that gives you the energy to do it. I mean, would I like to go take a nap right now? Sure. Why not?

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Well, I appreciate you taking the call and skipping on your nap for today.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

No, yeah. It's fine. Um, I'm perfectly fine. As the old saying goes, there'll be plenty of time to rest when I'm dead.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Yep. There you go, right? So, Stanley, why I love all this, right? The, you know, what you feed your thoughts. For people, we live in this sort of like paradox of choice, right? There's so many things that we can choose. How do you navigate and know which things are worthwhile to like bring into your life? How do you just say, kind of do a check on it and say, this is the thing I need to be focusing on? That versus aware starts with awareness. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

That's the first step in the system.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Telling it like it is, paying attention to what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

And then once you tell it like it is, acting on it. See, that was not the first time I told myself I need to lose weight. But it was the first, and it wasn't the first time I actually acted on it. But it was the first time I permanently acted on it. Permanent action is going to give you permanent results. Temporary action is going to give you temporary results. That's the way it works, baby. You know, permanent. Let me ask you a question. What are the three most important words in the English language? A phrase. I'm looking for a phrase here. What are the three most important words?

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Three most important words in the English language. I don't even know how I'd answer that. Okay. I I used to say they were I love you. Okay, all right. I could see that. Yeah. Not anymore. What is it?

SPEAKER_01 27:51

I say I say there, are you willing? Are you willing? Okay. Because unless and until you become willing to permanently and positively make changes in your life for the rest of your hopefully very long, hopefully very happy, hopefully very healthy life, you're not going to permanently get what you want.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

It's that simple. You have to become willing.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

But as Peggy taught us, you don't have to do anything. There's only one thing you have to do, and that's die. You don't even have to pay your taxes. You might go to jail, but you don't have to pay your taxes. True. All you have to do is die.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

So I get to make these changes.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

It is my privilege to make these changes.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

And then learn to think long-term, like we briefly talked about. So how do you hold yourself accountable, Stanley, with this? I really like this from the individual side. In terms of accountability, it sounds like obviously you're working on holding yourself accountable. Do you have others helping you as well, cheering you on? Can you talk about accountability with sticking to this discipline?

SPEAKER_01 29:11

At this stage, it's not hard because I've changed my identity to who I am. At this stage, in the beginning it was harder. And that's one thing I want to emphasize. Changing your life is an evolutionary process. You are a human being. Just as I am, I can guarantee you with 100% certainty that you are going to make mistakes.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

You are going to screw up along the way.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

The question is, when you make a mistake, do you beat yourself up beside the head, tell yourself that you're worthless, say I'm a failure and quit?

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Or do you say, mistakes are proof that I'm trying?

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Learn from those mistakes, pick yourself back up and start again. There's an old saying, fall down seven times, get up eight. Well, you want to know something? I've probably fallen down a thousand times and got up a thousand and one.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Why are people so afraid of falling, I guess? There's such a fear of like being perfect and they don't even try it. Why is there this big fear of taught it's okay? As kids, we're not taught it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

See, wise parents let their kids fail.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Instead, we live in a society where the only thing good is, you know, you know, that ribbon, that nice purple ribbon.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Getting the A plus, the hundred, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Getting the A plus, getting whatever. It's teaching them it's okay to fail because you're gonna fail. There are no perfect people. There never have been any perfect people. See, I learned to adopt a different standard for myself. I used to be a 367-pound perfectionist. And I used to complain that the people around me weren't as perfect as I was. Tell me there's not a little irony and you know, in in that.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Anyway, instead, I've come to realize that good enough is good enough. I have become what I call a good enoughist.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Good enough's good enough. However, just because you're good enough doesn't mean you can't get better.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

It doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get better. It just means you shouldn't beat yourself upside the head and label yourself a failure anytime you mess up. And working toward getting better, that's what excellence is.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

How do you define success today now, right? You're saying good enoughist. What does success look like for you now?

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Follow a simple rule. Beat yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

I don't know if they can say that, but beat yesterday. My goal is to be better today than I was yesterday. Better tomorrow than I am today.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

I am in year 18 of beating yesterday. But now, let me talk about that for a minute. You're gonna have days where you screw up.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

It's gonna happen. But now for me, I'm so far along the game, those days don't happen very often. I mean, it's been years since I ate something crappy that I shouldn't eat. It's been years. It's been eight years since I skipped today walking. You know, and and that was because I was sick for three days, and if you don't count those three days, it's been twelve years. So it gets easier.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

But the point is you if you fail, then pick yourself back up and get started again.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Whereas in the past, when you failed, you beat yourself upside the head, said I'm a loser and quit. That is beating yesterday. Because you did better than what you used to do. And and you just keep doing it every day. It's a consistency, it's long-term thinking. You know, let time work for you. Time is your friend if you use it wisely and properly. That that that's how I do that. And it becomes easier.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Um, you know, I mean, how do how do I hold myself accountable? I don't have to anymore.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Because this is what I do, it's who I am. So, how do you set goals? I'm always curious on how you know, goals with what I guess first, what are your goals? Let's start with that. Do you have goals? Do you believe in goals?

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Sure, absolutely I have goals. You want to know what my long-term goal is? It's the long-term.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Change billions of lives and in doing so change the world. That's my long-term goal. Think that's gonna happen tomorrow?

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Take time to do that. One person at a time, though, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:27

Yeah. That's my long-term goal. That is, that is my goal.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Am I gonna get there?

SPEAKER_01 34:34

I don't know. You know, my my goal, another one of my goals, live to see the 22nd century. I'll be 140. Wow, nice. Am I gonna make it? Don't know. But I'm gonna die trying. You know, and that's one of the reasons I eat healthy every day. That's one of the reasons I live a healthy lifestyle. You know, but but also realize, you know, I've had it explained to me. Your health. First of all, health is everything to me. I I would like to see everyone in the world be healthier. Now, I've had doctors tell me, and I believe this, your health is 10% genetics. I mean, you can be born with something bad, and that's it happens. You know, it's 10% genetics. Me, I'm fortunate. I think I come from a pretty good set of genes. When we must have all been MUTs, you know, with lots of diversity in our background. Good, strong set of genes. It's also, and then it's 10% what happens to you. I mean, I can do all these things I talk about, and then, you know, I can walk across the street and get hit by a bus and takes me out. You know, that can happen. But you can do things to minimize the likelihood of that happening. Try not to be stupid, you know, try to be wise where you go, what you do. Try to do things that are safer, but but you know, but some things in life are a little more daring. You know, you know, you want to skydive, you know, hey, there's a little risk factor to that. And that's not necessarily bad. So 10% what happens to you, and then it's 80% what you do to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Yeah, I want to dive into Stanley a little bit about your diet. What are your thoughts on caffeine, right? Most people wake up today, I have no coffee.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Why? Well, about 30 years ago before I got married, I dated a girl, super nice girl. When she didn't have caffeine, she was the sweetest girl you ever wanted to see.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

When she had caffeine, she turned into a monster.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

Not the good kind, I take it.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Yeah. And I said, there's something to this stuff. So I quit drinking caffeine all the way 30 years ago, way back when, before I did any of this other stuff, I just I quit and I stayed away from it. And now I'm so caffeine free, I accidentally drank a caffeinated beverage. Oh, this has been like 15 years ago, or something, my heart started racing. Thump, thump, thump, thump, thumb, thumb, thump. You know, if I drank a caffeinated tea, my heart would race because my body's so cleaned out. So I do not like caffeine. However, there are doctors who will say a little bit is okay. I I personally don't agree with it. I'm not a doctor, but I think I have a lot of experience with healthy eating. And personally, I don't agree with it. I put caffeine in the same category, you know, as alcohol, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

You know, cigarettes. I don't need it.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

I mean, when you eat the way I eat, I'm wired already. I mean, I have incredibly abundant energy.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

I don't need, I hate to see what I'd be like if I had caffeine.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

No, I love that. So I'm gonna kind of pivot here. So what's number what's the number one mistake people make in trying to transform their life? The number one mistake.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

They believe they can't do it.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

Go back to that. Are you willing?

SPEAKER_01 38:29

They believe, they believe it's too hard. Actually, this is part 16 of the system. Belief is part 17. Okay, let me tell you something. What do you think I learned from the experience of losing 220 pounds and permanently keeping it off? And going from a person who can only walk two or three blocks and turning into a walking machine who walks a half marathon or more every day. What do you think I learned from that?

SPEAKER_00 38:59

I mean, you kind of mentioned it's the discipline, sort of mindset revolving around discipline.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

That's number 18. That's the next step. I learned, I learned that I am more powerful than I ever imagined. Way more powerful. That's why I walk so much. Because I can. I tell people you only need to walk 20 minutes a day to be healthy. You really do. If you can do more, great. But you only need to walk 20 minutes a day to be healthy. You don't have to do what I do. But I do it because I'm searching for my limits. I'm in year 18 of searching for my limits and I haven't found them yet. How's that for a scary thought? I'm more powerful than I ever imagined.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

So now, what does that mean for the person listening to the program?

SPEAKER_01 39:45

I believe it means that if I'm more powerful than I ever imagined, so is everyone else. I am no more special than you. You are no more special than me. We are all special, each and every one of us. If you are listening, I'm telling you right now with 100% certainty, you are more powerful than you ever imagined. Start to believe it. Because when you believe it, that's when you become really powerful. And when you start to believe that you're that powerful, it leads you to asking yourself questions. And the question I asked myself was: if I could do all of this, what else is out there waiting for me to do that I haven't done yet that I should be doing? And that was when I said I should be teaching other people what I've learned. See, it took me 49 and a half years to change my life in an instant. Now I teach people how to change their life in an instant without waiting 49 and a half years. You don't have to hit rock bottom. All you have to do is make up your mind and become willing and then get started and never stop. See, that's the other thing. Persistence. That's number 11 in the system. Okay, you like science fiction movies? Galaxy Quest. Galaxy Quest, never give up, never surrender.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

That's what it is. Get started, never stop.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

You fall down, get back up. Keep going, keep going, keep going. See, that's what I've done. Because you're gonna screw up, promise.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Guarantee you.

SPEAKER_04 41:31

Part of it all.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

Yeah. You're gonna. But if you're prepared and you're determined, can't stop you.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

And you just keep doing it over time. See, like I said, I've been doing this for 18 years. You're uh going on 18 years. You, I didn't start out this way. This is what I have evolved into. It is what I have become, and I'm continuing to evolve. I mean, my mouth waters when I ask myself, where am I gonna be? Where am I gonna be in 18 years? And the answer is I'm gonna be 84. We'll see. But I plan on being healthy. And you know what I plan on doing on my 84th birthday?

SPEAKER_03 42:14

Not at all.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

I plan on walking a marathon just like I do every year on my birthday.

SPEAKER_04 42:18

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

You know what I plan on doing on my 100th birthday? Walking a marathon. Walking a marathon, just like I do every day on my birthday.

SPEAKER_04 42:26

Yeah. That's amazing goals.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

No, you plan and you do what you can, and you set goals for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Stanley, if listeners want to reach out to you and learn more about transforming their lives, what's a good place for them to land?

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Go to my website, thewayoflexcellence.com.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

Beautiful. Is that where they'll see the short the 20 videos? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

They'll see it's just scroll down on the page. There's a link for each one. Watch video one, watch them in order because they build on each other. You know, and I put them in a logical order for a logical reason. And let them build. Watch them in less than a month. You'll learn the whole system. Then go to tab number two. I have free guidebooks on there. These are full-length digital books. And because they're digital, I'm making them available for free.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Awesome. Thank you. We'll put that in the uh the show description. Stanley, it's been a pleasure having you on the show.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Thank you for having me, Tony.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Do what you can when you can. Not perfectly, not all at once, but consistently. Stanley reminds us that motivation fades, but discipline stays. And the real skill, being rigid in your standards, but flexible in how you get there. 15 minutes a day. That's what he says. That's it. A small conscious investment in yourself every single day. Because success isn't about luck, it's about the skills you build over time. Today's skill is about intentional action. Start small. Whether it be those 15 minutes a day, stay consistent, play the long game. I'm gonna quote here from Lao Tzu, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. See you next time.