Episode 15 - Part 2: Success → Self-Sabotage → Rebuild | Chasing Passion | Greg’s Story

This is part two of our conversation with Greg Johnstone.

In part one, we talked about the cycle, finding success, losing control, and repeating the same patterns over and over again. We left off at the moment things started to shift, but the story doesn’t end there.

In this episode, we dive into what it actually looked like for Greg to start breaking that cycle, the struggles that still showed up, and what finally helped him move forward for good.

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:01

Welcome back to the Prime Parent Podcast. Here is the conclusion of episode 15 with special guest, Greg Johnstone. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Now it's 2020, you know, something. We're past COVID a little bit, and now you're you're gaining some followers on Instagram, TikTok. Did it was it mainly TikTok that you started with?

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Yeah, so it was it was TikTok first. Um, and you know, I actually started off my first like 45 consecutive videos where a series of videos called This Is What It's Like Being Married to Farah. I remember that.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

I remember it kind of.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

And I was just every video was just me mocking something stupid my wife had done that. Whether it was she loved it, and it actually got to the point where she was like, honey, what could I possibly have done today? And I'd be like, I don't know. Where do the keys go? Here's the key jar. They're in your bag. Done. Done. And that's what and that, but the good thing about that, and and obviously not, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I didn't understand algorithms. I didn't understand anything. But what that content and the way algorithms that made me find adults. It made me find married people. Whereas the rest of the app is kids and nobody knows what's going on. That sort of that allowed me to, you know, find adults and everything. And then, you know, I I remember when I first started, man, I nobody really said it to my face, but I people were like mocking me. I could tell. They were like, what the fuck are you doing, man? Everyone does it to everybody on social media and all that.

SPEAKER_06 1:25

That's awesome. Like the thing. Because some people will never like just keep pushing through. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

But I knew it felt different. I I had a couple videos early that got 100,000 views, then a video that got a million views, and I, and every single one was hitting at least 10,000 views every time. And so I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, this can't be normal. I'm looking at other people's views and they're getting like 250. So I'm like, I've got to have something here which kept me going. And then after about three months was when I had the one that that set me off. And I I had a video and I had just started doing more comedy sketches, doing some editing where I'm like one guy looking this way, one person looking this way, blah, blah. And I had a video that got 36 million views in two days. Two days is crazy. Yeah. Wow. And I still had no idea what was going on. I'm just looking at this number going up and up and up. Yeah. Um, and then that video in itself got me, I think, 300,000 followers just because of that one video. And then I was like, oh, wait, like, no, you really, you're right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

And then and then it's just took it from there. And you know, and then with the pandemic and everything.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

That's so now my question for you is like, when you're doing all this stuff, and I know you've always had a passion for this, like, what did you always envision yourself as this? Like the final, I'm I don't want to get to the end here, obviously, but I'm saying, like, in your head at those moments, what is your thing? Like, how do I take advantage of this? What is your main goal was for the comedy, for the social media? Like, what did you always think that would be a bridge to in the future? Like, not obviously, I don't know, getting away from the tennis, but what is your to be a little cheesy with the answer? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Happiness. Okay. Yeah. That nothing, nothing gets me out of bed in the morning more than making people laugh. See, and and and my dream, honestly, is to be able to make people laugh and provide a good quality of life for my wife and son. And and that, and and and when I when I figured that out, that was when it, that was when I really like went into it more and was like, I'm gonna do this every day, rain or shine, I don't care how tired I am, I don't care what this is, and I and it's still it still never feels like work. Yeah, and I'm now my videos take me three plus hours every day on top of the full-time jobs I have and everything else. But it's still like I'll it never feels like a problem. I'm like, I love doing this and I love the thought, I love the idea of somebody sitting there. You know, I've done some stand-up, and and that's such a great feeling of seeing people in an audience, making people, you know, see them laughing. Yeah, but knowing, and then I see the comments, and people are just like cracking up. They're like, this is so good, thank you for doing this. And that that was the switch when when I really but but you know, my mum obviously was who's passed away since then, but she was even then at the time, like she could see that I was not my old self. She could see that I was struggling. And even she would be like, right, you you have to be happy. You can't, you're not good for anybody if you're not happy. And and it doesn't matter how much money you're bringing in, but if you're inherently not happy, and I don't even mean just like for me personally, it's not even just like be serviceable. My brain is like, I need to be the happiest guy in the world. And when I'm that, I'm great for everybody. Yeah. Making good content, I'm a great husband, I'm a great dad. And and without that, and even if I was making no money out of it at this point, without doing that and seeing people laugh. That's that's what I've got, that's what I'm there for. Shout out to your mom. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_06 4:50

Wisdom. But let's let's pull this back a little bit. I feel like we got uh a little far ahead of us. But in two uh 2022, Jack was born, right? Like I want to get into the the what moment, right? We played tennis, we we built some academies, we we broke down some academies, we realized that you know we weren't fulfilled, we're starting to, you know, enjoy making content. My your son was born. Like, what was it? What was the moment, bro, that like said, yo, I gotta wake up.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Well, I'll tell you what, the it wasn't the moment he was born. Because I remember looking at that kid and just thinking, looking up to the sky and being like, God, not like this. I've done even a score like this, man. Like what I've never seen a newborn baby before. And I was like, they don't make them like this. I mean, it's hideous. What are we doing here? I was just like, please don't even. I've been a bad guy, but don't take it out on the board. Don't take it out on the board. Please spare it. Oh, but no, like, so you know, I I had I figured out that that in in that moment, like I'd figured out that drinking was a, and again, addiction is in my family. Dad was an alcoholic. I had figured out that that drinking was was a problem, even though I'd never had like, I would call it alcoholism. I didn't drink like multiple days in a row. But but even leading up to my son being born, I realized that it was really detrimental to like my seven days a week. If I'm getting hammered on a Saturday, I noticed that you're in the fetal position on a Sunday, you're not good for really anybody on a Monday, you're not that creative on a Tuesday, Wednesday you start being there, and then Thursday, you know, you're back and you're like, all right, here we go. And so when my son was born, that was an eye-opening moment where I was like, you know, hang on a sec. Who am I who am I trying to be for this kid? And then and am I about to start showing him the same patterns that fuck me up for so long as if like this is supposed to be the way? And so initially when he was born, I made I made huge cutbacks. Like I was like almost completely quit drinking, but it went to like maybe once every three months. And then it was okay, now now who do I need to be at home to show him like to to give him the best possible chance to have an understanding of if you fall back down, how do you get up? And I knew I always wanted a kid. Um and so I was fully prepared to try and become like the best dad that I could possibly be. And it took me some time to figure out well, what does that mean, what does that mean? And and realizing that I need to become the best version of myself for him was a really big switch. Um initially it sort of felt like, hang on, if I find time to go to the gym or if I keep making my videos, or if I do this, I like that's away from him. That's me being selfish. I actually realized that without that stuff, I'm not happy.

SPEAKER_06 7:50

I just I want to pause you there because that's a big thing we talk about. We talk about it all the time. And it's something I dealt with. Like the gym is me, dude. If I'm not, if I'm not doing that, I'm not me. And then if I'm not me, I'm not I'm not, I'm not serving my my children. I'm not there for my wife. I'm not uh showing up for the people that need me in life, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Yeah. And that was and that was one big thing too. And and when it comes to going to the gym, like I was thinking about because I, you know, I knew we were gonna get to that a little bit and be like, well, what why do I go to the gym?

SPEAKER_05 8:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

What's why do I do that? A, it's for my mental health. Also, it's because I know how the wives talk, and I don't want to give my wife any ammo. I want I don't want to be in the one sitting there like that fat fuck Greg. I want to, I want to, I don't want to have anything. I want her to be like, at least he's got a six. Yeah, he's looking good.

SPEAKER_05 8:40

He's looking good. He's jacked.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah, but uh, but no, all that stuff in terms of like when you figure out how important it is to be the best version of yourself for other people, that's a huge motivator to know that you, of course, there are the selfish benefits. And I think if anyone says I'm doing this just for other people, that they're probably lying. Like, I need the mental clarity, I need that sort of physical struggle to get the demons out, whatever's going through my head in that moment. Um, but I also know that like if I go home and I've got the gym endorphins and now I'm the dad that's running around and I'm and I'm that guy, that's who my son, that's who he needs to have around in the house.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

So, Mike, the other thing for you is because I know for myself, if if I'm not in the gym and I'm not doing my thing or I'm not consistent, I've had a little bit of momentum going on social media lately. I feel like I've been getting more creative, but I feel like I cannot tap into that creative side of me if I do not have all those things going. So I'm sorry for you, because you have to be a little more creative, I feel like, because you're trying to be funny, you're bringing the skits in, you're bringing real world stuff involved into it. So there's a lot of planning. Like you said, you spend three and a half hours on a video. So I'm sure if you're not hitting that, you're not, you don't probably don't have that creative feel, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Absolutely. And and again, and it all feeds on each other because then if I'm not, if I'm not making good quality content and the out and the algorithm and the views will pretty much tell you for the most part, is it good or not?

SPEAKER_05 10:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

If it's really funny, people will find it. If you put a video out that's that's not that good, be you know, it won't. The algorithm will will bury it. It's that good these days. And and that that is a big motivator for me too, knowing that I need to have energy, I need to look presentable because you can't look like a bag of shit while you're trying to make content. People turn it off. Yeah. And so I have the feeling good from going to the gym, knowing that that's helping my content, and knowing that all of those things allow me to be a really happy version of myself, which means I'm home and now I'm dancing around with this four-year-old and I'm making him happy.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_06 10:35

I want I want to pull this back a second, right? My my my scatter brain just thought of something, and I think it's very important to add into this little piece here. Rewind a little, we talked about fulfillment, right? You realized from a young age that you like making people happy, right? I'm gonna bring in, I'm gonna flip it, and I know we're we're about to obviously we're here for you discussing Gregory Johnson's path, but like I think it's important that everybody knows, like, like for myself here, something that I ran away from my whole life, right? And I don't share this all the time. And I think I get this from my mother. My mother was like a lover. I got a heart of gold. And I always, as I was growing up, like I always I didn't know it, but like I knew there was something that I liked about helping people and making people feel good. And there were a lot of ups and downs through the years, and then it got finally got to a point, right? Enough's enough. Like, what is this? And I had to do a lot of soul searching to figure this out, but like, you know, what moves me every day, what fulfills me and fills my cup up every day is knowing that I can help people, right? Where I thought for so many years of my life that was a weakness. Like, dude, uh you stop being a softie, dude. Right. So, like, you know, like for for people tapping in and listening, I think, you know, pulling it back there, that's that's so important that we like take time to reflect and pause, like what moves us? Because if we don't know what moves us, like what are we, why are we doing what we do every day? You know?

SPEAKER_03 12:10

It's very true.

SPEAKER_06 12:11

You know, so the the scatter brain had to pull that back. And uh, I'm sorry to pull us off a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

I'll just you know, I'll I'll add to it. I for me, what it was was I I knew how passionate I was about making people laugh. And I knew that there was just something in me that that it's just a different type of fire than than anything. When I when I leave a a comedy club or or when I have a viral video, but for the longest time, I was like, that's not a career. That's you're just a funny guy that makes his buddies laugh.

SPEAKER_06 12:48

That that was probably just what that was fueled into your head. Sure. Right? There's so much opportunity in today's world, there's opportunity everywhere, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Right. And and I think you know that's a that's where the world is a little bit different now. And and I think also, you know, coming from no money at all, you you don't have the opportunity to be a struggling comedian when you've got nothing. Yeah, yeah. You you need a job. That's true. And and I think I was, again, fortunate in the way that the world shifted to where I could monetize eventually online content. And that allowed me as the as the accounts grew to monetize it more and more and more and more. So then you could slowly be like, oh, actually, there is a career in in here.

SPEAKER_06 13:28

Um, where there's a will, there's a way, Greg. And where you where there was no money in this for you, like you knew, look how easy it is for you to show up and wake up every day. And and like I know you mentioned, you know, we I don't think we talked about it just now, but we talked about, all right, well, and I think we should talk about you doing both right now. You're still doing tennis and you're making content. Well, bro, those those days are long, right? Those are those are 12, 14 hour days, and you got a family farer, your son. Like, it's easy for you to still go downstairs for three hours and and do that stuff because that's what fill fuels you, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yeah, and and I think that's so that's my daily schedule now. Is so now my alarm goes off at 4:30. I'm on the tennis court at 5 30 in the morning, uh, teaching tennis most days till noon or or 1 30, occasionally till three. And then it's find an hour, hour and a half of gym time, probably five days a week. Um and then it's get home, my son is there, and it's how do I try and write these comedy sketches while I'm trying to be a dad at the same time. Sometimes I need to just be like, hang on, I need quiet, I need to go shut it off. Um, but it's I'm fortunate in that with the with the content is I can still be at home and and not sacrifice additional time with my my son. Yeah. And so you know, if it was two full-time jobs or if I was out of the house 14 hours a day, I think I would have had to have made a switch at this point. And I'd be like, listen, my kid just turned four, I wouldn't have seen him.

SPEAKER_05 15:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Um so the fact that I could be at home and be around him while doing the the content was is why I'm able to do both right now. Um look, I don't think there's any fool in anyone that that in order to live in Westchester, New York and have a wife and a son, you you need to make a pretty good living.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Um, and we're getting close with the with the comedy stuff, but certainly, you know, not enough yet to be able to leave the tennis behind. Um but that uh you know that that's that's kind of I think the one good thing that tennis taught me growing up is you just gotta outwork everybody. It doesn't and it doesn't matter what you're doing, if you're training, if you're building tennis academies, if you're trying to build an online platform, like as you said, if there's a will, there's a way, and you just gotta get it done.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

This is the piece that I I just hit on because it it just hits for me so hard because I'm trying to push through the same thing, like on social media, trying to do this stuff. We're both trying to do this, we're trying to do that with this podcast, right? And like I hear from you like you've had some struggles, even when you started, okay, we're not even talking about the alcohol, but when you started getting into content, it's not like there was something that came back to you so fast. It's not like you monetized this right away. There were years of no monetization, like nothing giving back. Yes, you had the views, yes, you had that stuff to drive you, but like that's the thing that people don't realize that you know, you really had to push through a lot of time to get through. And that hits with me because so many people, we've talked about this on the podcast before. Like, a couple people asked him, a couple of his friends, someone asked me, like even my mom randomly, oh, you have a podcast like are you making money from it? You know, like how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

All right, like we just were 12 episodes in, we didn't even know what we're doing half the time. So not that I don't want to scare anybody, but I was probably 1,200 videos in before I started making what I would call real money.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

1200.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah, that's so I'd made I'd made at least 300 videos a year for four years before, you know. And again, that in part that's because the apps changed. The apps started paying you for longer form content over a minute, and and and reads came in and YouTube shorts and stuff like that. Um but yeah, so I I did it for free thousands and thousands of hours. Think about that. You know, I there's a great line again, something my mother always used to say. She said it it takes a really long time to become an overnight success.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

And you know, most people don't see the work. You know, most people, you know, they'll they'll see I get a sponsorship post with a brand and then they pay me X number of dollars. They're like, oh man, you know, you you just made that amount of money in an hour. And I'm like, no, no, I just made that amount of money in six years of making videos every single day that has gotten to this point. Yep. And I and I don't think if you don't have the real passion for it like that, like you just said, about like, I made it for four years because my currency was the laughter.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah, my currency was the attention. Like people recognize me in the street sometimes, and I'm like, that's awesome. I'd keep doing it for free forever if that was what I could do. Um but with that passion and and then you don't, I didn't need the money, which that's what lets me know that I would do this for free if that was an option. Yeah. Unfortunately, this is Earth and this is earth, and you have to mail money. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

So well, that's the other piece now that you touched on before, right? That we wanted to obviously dive into you current moment doing both, right? Like, so you're at that point, like you said, you're doing your tennis, you're doing um your content and comedy. And now, like, my question is from where you're at now, I know we talked about this before we even did the podcast, but where is your point where you're like that tipping point of how can I take maybe a few more hours away from tennis, add more to this? Do you see that coming in the future? Do you see where you're at? You know, like where do you measure that tipping point of when you can maybe make a more of a transition to that?

SPEAKER_01 18:51

So it it really just comes down to the numbers of it, the finances, like you know, once once the comedy and the content starts making enough money, I don't think I would ever leave tennis.

SPEAKER_05 19:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

It's a big part of who I am, and it's something I've always done.

SPEAKER_05 19:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Um, the the entertainment world is is strange in terms of how you make money. There's no steady stream of income. Yeah, you know, you'll see people like actors, they'll they'll get a gig and it'll make them X number of dollars for three months, and they might be out of work for two months, three months. So it's an interesting way to make a living. It's a strange way to make a living. Um, it the number would need to be pretty substantial, obviously, because you know, you've got house, wife, cars, yeah, all that stuff. Um but you know, opportunities start opening up. You know, if there's if there's acting gigs that open up, like I'm gonna be doing way more stand-up now that I can stand up again. So I broke my leg in December. Um so that's you know, and and if the opportunities arise, there may be a time where tennis is is in the way. Um but the one thing I'm you know, like I talking about you know, the the drinking and why I would do that to such an extent and why I did tennis to such an extent, like I figured out probably within the last few years or so, that I I have 100% what I would call addict brain. I have to go. I've now figured out how to channel all of that stuff just in positive directions. If I'm waking up at 4:30 every every morning and working and then getting home and going to the gym and then doing the social media content and then being a dad and then going to sleep, I can do that all day, every day. I know that's not for everybody. Some people need a little bit more of a balance, some people need time off. Not for me. I just got to I go.

SPEAKER_06 20:38

But Greg, that's that's what we call, and I say it all the time. One of my favorite words is awareness and reflection. You know what moves you, you know who you are. Yeah, right. And like you might not have known that for many years, and you clearly did it. And there were a lot of things, you know, that myself that I didn't under understand about my personality and whatnot. But the awareness piece, and I think when we bring it back to this prime parent podcast, we're so stimulated in today's world that we're so fast and whatnot, that so many people are not aware. And what they who they are sabotages them.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Well, and I and and again, what I grew up with was what was drinking is who you are. And it took me until I was probably 37 years old to realize that actually that's not who I am. That's who my dad was, right? It's who a lot of people in my family, that my a lot of my family drink. It's not who I am. And and as soon as I cut that out of my life, and and two years ago I I cut it out completely, everything has seemed to have changed since then. How I view everything, how much motivation I have, how much energy I have, um, my mental health. So hard.

SPEAKER_06 21:54

Yeah, but like we all we everybody they are who they are because of. Of their experiences as a child. Right. And it's so hard. 30 something years of doing something that you identified in as that you you along the way felt wasn't you, but you had no idea how. Right. No idea how to figure out the way out.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Well, and and also with that, it was well, it can't be the problem. There's other things that are problem. It's not the drinking because uh I'm Greg Johnson and I drink. Yeah. And I do agree. And I'm good at it. Right. And so that can't be the problem because I'm good at it, and everybody tells me I'm good at it. And everybody loves the funny stories and they love to call me the next day and find out what stupid shit I just did the night before.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

And but that's I think there's so much more to that as well. And for me, you know, the one example I've given is is just drinking. But but there's so many other things that you figure out that that just because you grew up with a certain environment, that doesn't mean it has to be you. Like you can figure how to do things differently. You know, the I I always tell people this the worst advice I ever got was when somebody told me I needed more of a work-life balance. That I'm sure for a huge amount of people that's really important. For me, that was the worst advice I ever got. Because I my work life balance meant I don't do stuff. That's that's the balance, that's the life, is to not be working. And that was terrible for me. Not doing things would meant, well, what is it to not I sit on the couch? I'll watch sports, I'll be a degenerate and do nothing and gamble.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Like that's and and sure that fuels the drinking and and it's all bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

And and so you know what what I would like to hopefully do as a parent for my son and and maybe more kids, who who knows, is give them the tools to figure that stuff out before they're 37 years old. Got it. Right.

SPEAKER_06 23:48

But a lot of a lot of that, I mean, I don't want to say a lot all of it, but most of that comes from your actions.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:54

Right? Yeah. You know, just what they see. And subconsciously, they're always paying attention, dude.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:00

So they will emulate you.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Oh, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_06 24:03

You know? Um, I just, again, Scott Abrain kicked in, and this is the teacher in me. There's something you said a few minutes ago, you know, and one of the lessons is your habits don't disappear. They follow you until you face them. Right. And like we all, we all go through that. Like, whatever it is that you identify as your bad habits, they're not going nowhere until you actually get silent and say, all right, now's the time. Right. You know, so like I think that's super important here as well. And it's like you, you went through the these things for a long time, 30 something years, and you didn't change. Cool. Right. And it's like we don't change always the first time, the second time. You will change, and this is what I say to a lot of my clients when you're fed up, right? I got a lot of people, ah, can you help me? And can you give me this program? And can you tell me what the well, and my answer is this if you don't really want to change, if you're not that unhappy, like where you are right now, you're not. It's just gonna be a lot of wasted energy, right?

SPEAKER_03 25:11

Um, you know, so and and piggybacking on that, like I know we talked about your points and like when things really changed for you, but I know you said at the point of your son being born really wasn't that point. Like at what point was it for you where you're like, holy shit, like no, this is the moment. It woke you up. It woke you up. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

At the point when I think we talked about it, that Boston trip, right? Uh yes, yeah, so so yeah, so the the the last time I I drank, and I think the for there was two things that happened this weekend. So I so I did a trip to Boston where where I was up there helping out Red Bull and great opportunity to meet some people, great opportunity to network, and I took that opportunity to drink Red Bull margaritas at 10 o'clock in the morning with the other with the 22-year-old influencers and just be a degenerate all day, every day, Friday, Saturday. Woke up in the hotel room with my wife and son on on Sunday, and and that was the straw that broke the camel's back, where I was like, what are you doing? Like, not only did you just destroy this whole weekend and the opportunity, and I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything well. No. I was the drinking guy, it was fun, I was blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_06 26:21

And probably made a lot of people laugh.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Made a lot of people, a ton of people laugh, right? I was up there, I was making social media videos, it was good. Yeah. And and of course, who, other than the fact that I was like 14 years older than the next nearest person I was drinking with, which upon reflection, I was like, man, I'm the creepy old guy in the middle. You're at that point now. Yeah. Um, but also it was it was like then in Otto the next day, and I'm and I'm like, hang on a sec. Like my son is now getting to the point, I think he was maybe like one and a half. And I'm like, he is now gonna start seeing this. Yeah. And Daddy, Daddy weren't so cool this weekend. Like daddy wasn't around. Daddy didn't come home in time to say goodnight to him. Like he was up with mommy for the weekend. And what's dad doing? And in the moment, it didn't feel like a big deal. It was just I probably hadn't drank for a few weeks leading up to that. So I just got hammered on the weekend, no big deal.

SPEAKER_05 27:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

And it was like, you know, just one of those, like, man, like you never want to be the last guy, like the last guy when the lights go on in the bar and you're like, man, why am I the last dude here? Like, go home. I I got that awful feeling of like, man, I'm the last. And I know I'm not, but the feeling was like, you're the last guy doing this. Yeah. Like, figure your shit out. This is not the type of person you want to be anymore. This is not good for your career. And I think uh along with that, and I and I mentioned it a little bit before, was like, what I really noticed was how different of a human being I was three or four days after those big nights out. I'm not a good dad because I'm not particularly energized, I'm not funny, you've got anxiety and everything else. The quality of my content for two or three days is poor. My brain is not firing on all cylinders, I'm not feeling that creative. And and that was the straw that broke the camel's back, where I was like, I've now got a kid who's gonna be looking at me and really seeing and understanding what's going on. It's not like when he was a newborn where they they don't know anything. Yeah, exactly. The sponges now, they see it. Right, and and I just went, you know what? Like I don't, you know, as much for me as for him, I don't want him to look at his dad and grow up one day and be like, wow, you you know, that guy, like you were the drinker. Yeah, like why weren't you the fit dad, the dad running around? Yeah, why weren't you the successful dad?

SPEAKER_03 28:44

But that's amazing that you had that again, we talked a little touched on it a little bit, that realization of before it got to a point of maybe like you kept going down, like in the past, like you kind of blew a couple, like you said, a couple of opportunities in college, or even with your tennis coaching career, like things got blown off because of that, because it got to such a level, you were able to kind of see that, stop it, put it in his tracks. Like, props to you. Like that's fucking awesome, you know?

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Well, and look, I think again, as you get older, you realize that I don't, I mean, I don't I think it's something that I should have done. I don't necessarily think it's something I should get props for and say, well done. I think it's something that everybody should do. Yeah. But you know, you look at a lot of people that don't. Yeah. I know a lot of people that don't change. A lot of people that that are that that person they were at age 25, now they're that person at 45 just with children money.

SPEAKER_06 29:32

Yeah. So um but but but you know, I talk about this, Greg, and you know, I I know, I know you you need to celebrate that, dude. Right? We don't celebrate, you know, the victories along the way. We we downplay, you know, things to prime example. Today at school, I was given the teacher of the month for my middle school. And I'm like, me, the kids asked me how I felt. And I my response typically would be like, I know what I do. Like, yeah, you know, like this is the old aunt, it don't mean nothing to me. I I said, you know what? It makes me feel pretty good. That's great. It was hard for me to say that, yeah. But like, I think it's important that we celebrate, you know, those steps, dude.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Yeah, so that that's something that I talk a lot with with my tennis.

SPEAKER_06 30:24

Teacher the month, kid. That's big, that's big, that's big.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

And it's not even February. They didn't give you the short money, they gave you a real money. Yeah. Um, but I talk a lot with my students about that. Like, the problem I found, and I think it there's a few things it could be. It could be because of my upbringing where don't show off too much. It could be because tennis, and especially if you get good at tennis, like if you work really, really hard, you're supposed to win. Winning is just what happens. Wow. Um, I kind of feel that way with my comedy stuff too. Like, yeah, I'm gonna put in a lot of work to make sure that I deliver these jokes in a way that is gonna make you laugh. And so when you are laughing, that's what's supposed to happen. Like winning is that's what a kind of like, that's what's expected. And it's interesting to hear you say, like, hang on, but you won. Now enjoy that. That's something I'm still terrible at. Like, I expect to win. I mean, I don't mean that in an arrogant way.

SPEAKER_06 31:21

I expect the outcome to be positive. Very successful.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Yeah, that makes sense with the tennis thing. I never realized that in the tennis world, you know, like you're expected to be that guy. Right. You win. You put in all the work, you win the man. We'll start celebrating, right?

SPEAKER_06 31:32

Because I'll tell you one thing that's gonna, you know, that that that will, if you don't learn how to celebrate, that will subconsciously wear on your little boy, and he's gonna have that same mindset when he grows up that nothing is good enough.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Right, that's a good point. Yeah, so let's fix that as of 30 seconds ago. We don't do that. There you go. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 31:53

But listen, that's you know, I I feel like this conversation can go on for days, and I'm not, you know, like I I think it's a great place to kind of segue and stop and and and leave with this. If you are listening, right, or let's put it this way, what would what is one piece of advice that you would give to any parent or anyone listening, you know, uh to just navigate the things, the challenges, the obstacles and things that they're going through in our life, what would you leave them?

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Oof. Um sorry to put you on the spot. No, I would no, there's there's a there's a couple thoughts. I'm trying to think about which one would I say is the most important. Like I I I believe in hard work over anything. I think you can fix anything with hard work, any problems you've got, you know, if it's a financial problem and you need to do it temporarily, you can take a second job. You there's more hours, you can always find a way. That that would be that would be number one. I would say probably a little bit more philosophical would be really, really dive into what is going to make you the best version of yourself because that allows you to be the best that person for the people that really matter. And then you've got to put in the work to be that person. You can't just wake up one day and say, you know who I'm gonna be today? I'm gonna be this happier, in shape, more motivated person. It and it takes hard work and hard decisions. And and sometimes it's things like quitting alcohol, sometimes it's gonna be making sure that you get up earlier, sometimes it's gonna be making sure that your routines are set or that you make sure you go to the kids' games on a Friday night after a long day of work when you're tired. But but figure out what is going to make you the happiest and best version of yourself, and then commit to that.

SPEAKER_06 33:41

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

I think you can couldn't have said that better, right? That's amazing. So hey, there you go, Greg.

SPEAKER_06 33:49

Yeah. I think that wraps us up here. Um, and we'll close like we always close, you know, like the Prime Parent Podcast. We're doing this to provide value. Um, we love doing this, you know. It's really about serving and and providing value in your lives. Um, and the only way that we can do this and grow this um podcast and platform is with everybody out there. If there's something that you've taken away, you know, from our previous episodes or today's episode, please share. Uh, we love you. And, you know, that's all I got for today.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

And Greg, what's your what's your uh name? So shout it out on your it's it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

It took me a long time to think of. It's at johnstone.gregory. It's my name. Look at that easy as that. If I could go back six years in time, I'd think of something way more creative than my name. Maybe even put my name the right way. Backwards. Maybe there we go. Johnstone.gregory. Look me up. Thanks for being on, Gregory. That was fun.

SPEAKER_06 34:49

Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

The Prime Parent Podcast mission is for parents who refuse to just survive parenthood. They're here to lead it. We deliver the tools, systems, and strategies to help you stay ready, stay strong, and stay locked in for what matters most.