003: Your Excuses And Your Success Can’t Live Together

What if the simplest daily habits could rewrite your next decade? We explore how accountability—delivered with truth and grace—beats motivation every time, and we coach two brave guests live as they swap perfectionism for consistency. Karen opens up about hitting a milestone age, grieving siblings gone too soon, and wanting the strength and energy to show up for her grandchild. Her plan is refreshingly doable: 6,800 steps a day, 64 ounces of water, and a quick text check‑in to make the habit social. We reframe consistency as returning to baseline after slip‑ups, not chasing flawless streaks, and show how leaving a little in the tank builds anticipation for tomorrow.

Mitch brings gratitude and raw honesty about being “consistently inconsistent.” He wants to keep pace on family walks, get back on the bike, hike with confidence, and dust off his golf game. We introduce the GPS theory for setbacks—no judgment, just recalculating—and set the same simple targets: daily steps and hydration. From there, we nudge awareness around nutrition and macros without overwhelming him, focusing on protein for muscle maintenance and small swaps that upgrade meals. He’s already proved he can do more than he thinks; our aim is to make those wins routine.

Along the way we talk identity shift, community, and why water is the quiet macro that powers energy, recovery, and satiety. This isn’t a quick fix or a crash plan. It’s a practical path to lasting health in the fourth quarter—where small commitments compound into a lifestyle you don’t have to negotiate with every morning. Ready to write your next chapter with us? Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs a gentle nudge, and leave a review telling us the one habit you’ll commit to this week.

Transcript

Welcome And Mission

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Wake up, wake up, and listen up. Welcome to the Fourth Quarter Podcast with your hosts Doug Talmich and Ted Ania. Tune in as we dive into living your best life in the fourth quarter of your life. Hear from health and lifestyle experts, inspirational stories, learn simple steps to keep you motivated or to help get you started. Finally, join us as we coach others live on air who want to begin a healthy lifestyle or just might be stuck and need a breakthrough. Remember, it's never too late to decide to be great. Momentum keeps you motivated, so take a deep breath. Lean in and let's go. Welcome back to the fourth quarter podcast with your hosts Doug and Ted. We are excited this week. We get to coach people. We get to lead people. We get to listen and love on other human beings who have decided to take their health to a next level, another level. We have two guests, two guests that we're going to coach today and guide today. And I'll let you introduce them when that time comes. But before we do, like I said, I'd love to just talk about accountability and excuses. Because when we start off with people, one of the things that we uncover is how much accountability are they willing to embrace, to take on, and what does accountability mean to them? I think we got to get clear on that with our guests today. And then also excuses. You know, I think a lot of times people use excuses, you know, my like my dog ate the homework, right? And and they use that as an excuse. And sometimes they want you to join the pity party and say, oh, you poor thing, your poor your dog ate the homework. And you and I are going to show a different approach where we say, well, why was your homework out for the dog to eat? You knew you had a dog. And we're going to do that with grace and love and kindness. We're not going to judge anybody. We're not going to condemn or belittle anyone. We just want to help people awaken so that they can start using excuses as a season or or a moment to pause, reflect, to grow, to learn, and to move through that instead of excuses being a reason to not do something anymore.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Does that make sense, Ted? Absolutely. And uh this is this is the part of the podcast I've been looking forward to is getting a couple people on here and coaching them and and helping them take those first steps. You know, to your point, I I saw a quote the other day, and it's your excuses and your success can't live in the same house. Come on, man. Mutually exclusive. Hey, that says it all, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Man, that's the tedisms. When we first started this podcast, I said you're gonna hear all these little tetisms that are they're quotes from other people, but you find the perfect moment to capture them.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

If you're if you're committed to that process, you're going to make it happen. If you're not, you're gonna make excuses. It's as simple as that. Yes, you know, if if you want want to be successful in whatever it is you're doing and you're committed to that, then you're going to get it done. Yes. Excuses are the easiest thing to come up with. Everybody's got them.

Defining Accountability With Grace

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Exactly. Everybody's got them. And and and again, I want to make sure that our guests and people listening, because we want other people to reach out and be willing to be coached. I think this is going to be a powerful platform to bring about transformation, to bring about change, to bring to help people get through a place they've been stuck before in the past. And so we will address those excuses with great kindness, understanding, with the with the mindset of seeking understanding, like, okay, well, what's really going on here? Because you said you wanted X, but now these excuses are coming up. So let's let's unpack that excuse. What's really happening? And I'll tell you, Ted, with people I've worked with in the past who have said they want to get healthy, it a lot of times, Ted, it turns out that it wasn't really healthy they wanted to get. They wanted to be seen or they wanted to be heard, or they just wanted to feel a part of something. And so there's a lot of times there's these deeper layers of emotions that go on. We discover and explore and unpack. But when we do, what's really interesting is once they get that connection and that realization, man, they start moving through those excuses at a much stronger rate and faster rate. So there's a lot to it, and it's a process. It takes time, it takes time, it takes time. So I want to speak to the guests real quick. And I know you guys are listening in the background. Be patient, but be persistent. Be patient, be persistent. And Ted and I will continue to just lovingly and graciously show up, meet you where you're at, and help you unpack whatever's going on. So, what about accountability, Ted? Let's talk about accountability. How does that look to you?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Saying what you want to do and doing what you say. Basically, it's having that vision of where you want to be in the future and then working towards that.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Right. And so if I if I wanted to you to hold me accountable to that, what would that look like? What was what are some things you might do for me?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Not listen to the excuses is the biggest thing, right? Just coming back to you and digging deeper as to why you're having those those issues and those those stumbling blocks. Like you said, about about the dog eating your homework, it's an excuse, but if you allow that to happen, if we allow that to happen, if that teacher allows you to get a free pass because the dog ate your homework, they're not holding you accountable to that. So the next time it comes up, you're just going to do it again because you know you can get away with it. Yes. And so, like you said, we're we're going to do this with patience, with love, but we are going to hold them accountable.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Love that. Love that. Yes. And and accountability to me is is it's not really pointing out where you messed up or what you did wrong or what you could do better. It's really holding you up to a place that is light and truth so that you can see the truth. You know, just holding you up in a place of truth. Because I think once people are confronted with the truth, a few things happen. We shudder inside, like, oh my gosh, because the truth sometimes is scary. You know, sometimes the truth makes us tremble a little bit. And that's okay. That's okay. But when you have people alongside you who care about you enough to show you the truth and hold your hand while you're looking at the truth, it you can see that there is a way through the other side to step into that truth and and really own it and embrace it. And sometimes accountability can look like we're doing here. This is going to be aired out nationally, globally. And so these people are willing to come out and you know, share some things. Again, we're not going to reveal anything. They had they both of these people have submitted to us a health assessment that shares some details about their personal lives. And those details are for Ted and myself to watch or to look at and look and review and and and use moving them forward. But we are going to ask some questions here, not necessarily related to the health assessment, but maybe a little bit in a different angle, but just to help the audience connect and understand a little bit about the process of how we're going to help people move forward. Also, we're going to be sharing this on social media, you know, this episode on social media. We're going to ask our guests to do the same with their friends and family. And you're going to be surprised at how many people clap for you and cheer for you. You know, it's so many people get scared to share these things on social media because it's what are they going to think? And I don't want people to know. And but we we're we're encouraging you guys and challenging you guys to be open, be transparent, to trust the process, and you'll be amazed at how much support, love, and encouragement is around you already. Go ahead, Ted. I'm sorry I cut you off. You were going to say something.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Especially because everybody's dealing with the same thing or has dealt with it at some point. Yes. It's no one's no one's perfect, no one's followed the process and and done it flawlessly. Everybody's had their stumbles, and so they can relate to that. One of the things I wanted to mention was in regards to accountability, is as we mentioned in our first episode, we'll we'll have these guests come back later on in future episodes and give us updates on how they're doing, what they've been successful with, possibly some of the struggles they've had. But we're also going to be reaching out to them and holding them accountable off air. Yes. So that they can they can send us, even if it's a text message saying, I did, I did what you said or done, you know, whatever steps we give them, we're we're going to have them come back to that and respond so that we're holding them accountable along the way, so that when they come on the air, we we've had contact with them, other than just during the podcast.

Invitation To Be Coached On And Off Air

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Thank you for mentioning that because this isn't just on the air, you know, once in a while. We are going to be behind the scenes, uh, supporting and encouraging and holding people accountable, you know, when when it's not on air. So good good call, Ted. Good call.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

And you know, that goes for, you know, we encourage people to come on, reach out. We've had someone reach out to us who's going to come on in a few weeks just from hearing the podcast. We're also open to you getting in touch with us. If you don't feel comfortable coming on the podcast, we're more than willing to help you off air with whatever you need to do with your health if if that's what you want. If you don't want to put it out there for everyone else to hear, we're just we're just here to help others get healthier. And whether it's on air, off air, it doesn't matter. Just reach out to us. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

And let's make it very clear because I'm sure some people will have a thought of, like, okay, well, what are these guys charging? Like, how much does this cost? We're not charging anything. You know, this is a passion of ours. We love doing it. We're doing a podcast. We want to fill this time with purpose, with clarity, with focus, with passion. And this is what we love doing is helping other people. So, what better way to pass the time than helping people on air live or behind the scenes with what we love to do? We're not, let me let's make it clear also, we're not doctors or have degrees in this. We just have a passion to help people by breaking down things to its simplest form, having you commit to the process and having you understand that this is gonna require lots of patience. It's not an overnight quick fix. This is we're trying to help you build a new lifestyle or an enhanced lifestyle on what you're already living, something that's gonna last. It's not gonna fade. It's not gonna, it's not, it doesn't require motivation, even though this is a motivation topic for us right now. Um, this is just gonna be who you become and who you are. And you'll one day, if you trust the process, you'll just be waking up, drinking the water you're supposed to be drinking, taking the steps you're supposed to be taking, working out as much as you're supposed to work, whatever, or making the healthy choices you're supposed to be making because it's who you've become. But that takes time. That takes time. Trust me, after I've focused on my health for 10 years diligently for the last 10 plus years, and it's taken every bit of that to get to where I am today, and I am still working on it. I am still working on it. So just want to let you know that because it is a process. Don't beat yourself up along the way, give yourself grace and love, and let us hold you accountable along the way as well. So, Ted, let's move right into our first guest. Who do you have for us? And let's let's get started.

Cost, Credentials, And The Long Game

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Yeah, yeah. Our first guest is Karen. She's been a friend of ours for 30 years, somewhere around there. My oldest daughter and her son went to grammar school together all through high school. So, first grade, they're what 35 now, so somewhere around 30 years. And it's interesting that we actually were on vacation with them a couple of months ago, and I was telling telling her about the podcast, and she said, I want to do it. Nice. I said, Really? And she said, Yeah, yeah, I want to be held accountable were her exact words. Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

Yeah, I'm wondering about that now.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Hey, welcome to the show, Karen. Welcome to the show, and and thank you. Thank you so much for saying yes and and being inspired in an inspired moment, saying, Hey, I want to do that. That's that's very courageous, and you're here. So, welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. So, tell us a little bit about yourself, Karen. Where do you live? What do you do? All that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 13:07

I live in Walnut Creek. I would say that my primary occupation in life has been caring for others. I was working, and then when our children were little, my husband was traveling a lot, and my family origin needed a lot of help. So I decided to stay home. And as I say, I got a degree in social work, but never got paid for it because I did it all my life. But anyway, so for me, you know, known Ted a long time, watched him do his challenges and participated in a few, even though I had some time challenges. Yeah, when he was talking about this, I just thought this is this is time. I have had ups and downs through my journey. I think for me, the biggest issue is consistency.

SPEAKER_06 14:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

I go along and I'm doing okay and I'm all fired up. I'm gonna do this, and then something happens and it gets me off track, even just for a couple of days. Then it becomes, oh, well, I'll do it later, I'll do it later, and then later never comes. And I'm talking mostly about exercise, but then you know, certainly eating can my my eating plan could use some help as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Doug and I were talking earlier just about the health assessment you filled out, and you said that when you were at your healthiest in recent years was during COVID.

SPEAKER_06 14:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

And, you know, I mentioned to him that one of the reasons is you know, we were kind of locked down, but all the noise was gone. You know, you were there, you could you could focus on that. How do we get the noise out of your life now that's that's hindering you? You know, and I think that's one of the biggest issues. It seems like there's a correlation between that. We talked on an early episode about all the information out there, and sometimes you you get get stuck because there is so much information. And this seems like the same thing with you is that maybe there's just noise out there that that slows you down and prevents you from doing what you want to do.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

You're yeah, you're absolutely right. And then also about the accountability that you guys were talking about during COVID. It was me and my husband and our adult daughter who came back to stay with us because her roommates weren't really abiding by COVID rules, I guess, or just felt safer. My daughter is a fitness instructor, and she couldn't go into her studio, and so she started teaching from our home, from our garage. And she said it felt weird to be teaching. It was a different format than what she was used to in her career. But I said, Well, do you want me to be there to help? You know, going back to my health thing, right? And so we would do classes together and it was fun, and we would laugh, and I would make my snide comments here and there, and it was all recorded, and we were a community. That was the strongest I have felt in years, and it was great, but again, it was the accountability. She was here, you know. If I was just gonna be sitting on the couch while she's working in the garage or in the backyard, that was a little embarrassing.

Guest Karen: Consistency And Community

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Yeah, that's good to know that so community's big, community is huge, and that's something we'll work on down the road to help you establish and and build more with uh focus and intention uh around health and and health span. But you brought up another word I want to just kind of pick your brain a little bit about and what you think it is, and that that is consistency. What does consistency mean to you when I ask you?

SPEAKER_04 17:08

I think consistency. You know what? I think I'm hard on myself on this. I think consistency has to be every single day. And so if I miss a day, I beat myself up. And I could tell everybody else, oh no, you don't just keep going. Miss a day, go back. But I'm harder on myself, I think.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yes, yes. And and thank you. That's the that's a very common answer. Most people think consistency means every day. In some areas, sure. Like if we're talking about brushing teeth, that's twice a day, you might get it done. You want to be consistent. And but sometimes we go camping and we don't, you know, for some of us. But so if you miss a day here and there, you just pick up again when you get your toothbrush back in your hand or you're back at home and you're back into your routine. It's all good. It has sank in, and you know that this is a non-negotiable, so much so that you don't even think about it. It's automatic behavior. And that's what we want to create with you is the things you desire in life become automatic behavior. If there is some force and pressure we have to go through to get to that point, if you look at any most toddlers, they don't want to brush teeth. They want to keep playing, they want to stay outside and stay dirty, they don't want to take a bath. But with some a little bit of love, force, and pressure, eventually it becomes a habit, a non-negotiable. And most adults grow up wanting to take, you brush their teeth, hopefully, and get cleaned up every day. So, but consistence, too many people get consistency confused with perfection. And so I want to I want to help you. Ted wants to help you unpack that and get rid of that. It's not that's we're never going to do anything perfectly. We're always gonna have missed days, we're always gonna have setbacks, we're always gonna feel those emotions. And so, what do we do in those moments? And and we want to help you learn what to do in those moments to give yourself grace so that they don't even show up anymore and that you just say, Okay, well, I missed today, so tomorrow's a new day. You get up and you go after it. And what does that look like? How does that feel? So, consistency is not perfection, people. And I love that you you're just honest with yourself when you said your daughter was working out in the in the garage and you know, you went in there and you know, it wouldn't feel good sitting there, and then the the caretaker in you, you honored that person, you got in and helped, and that that's awesome. So, you have some strengths and some gifts in you that if you used with a little more focus and intention, I think can really help you continue to get to where you want to be. And then community, building community along the way, which I mentioned earlier, will be very important along the way. But Karen, let me ask you a kind of a broad stroke question. What do you hope to get connecting with myself and Ted on on this time around? Adding this to because I know you're you're a fairly healthy person. I mean, I've seen you, you've come come out to challenges, you know, you do things, and so you've done great. So let me just celebrate you there that whatever you're doing has got you to this point. But obviously, there's something inside of you that says, hey, I want to take it to a next step or another level, and so you're here. So, what do you hope to accomplish your gain by doing this?

SPEAKER_04 20:16

Well, I'm on the cusp a new decade in a year. Well, I'll just say it. Going to be 69 years old. I come from a large family, had seven kids in my family. My dad had nine in his. A lot of the his family members died young. My parents, due to medical intervention and miracles of modern science, lived into their 90s. I had three siblings who did not make it to 68. And so when I hit 68, it was a a tough time. And so I've I'm facing mortality more than I probably would if I had my older siblings here. I do have one older sibling remaining and two younger ones, but I just want to be healthy. I don't want to I don't want to let the gift of years be squandered by ill health. Have a grandchild, hopefully, more on the way. I want to be able to be there for them and see them grow and see my children grow as parents. I just want to live a full and healthy life.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Wow. Man, you brought me in on that one, sister. I tell you that much. Thank you for your vulnerability and your transparency. And I'm sorry for your loss with your other siblings. And I can see why hitting that age, you you have this big like, oh my gosh, like I'm a little, you know, this is another whole nother step for your family. And so to be able to carry that on for them. You know, as well. That's powerful. Powerful. I am you've motivated you've given me a new why on, you know, holding you accountable and unpacking excuses, you know, and it's important that we have a strong why. Your why is very strong, but you've given me a new why in working with you as well. Ted, you want to add anything?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

I mean, that that is powerful, and we thank you for sharing. Just going back to what you said about COVID and working with your daughter, one of the words that jumped out to me was fun. You mentioned that it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yes.

Redefining Consistency Without Perfection

SPEAKER_00 22:35

And we've talked about that on previous episodes. You know, that's what it's all about is you you can't do anything unless you're enjoying it. And we we want to get healthy. We all want to be healthy. We want to help you get healthy, but we want to enjoy it as we go. We want to make it long term. Hearing that about your your siblings, you know, it it hits home. I haven't fortunately been, you know, experienced that, but I can imagine how how tough that would be.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

Well, and you were there with me during it, you know, you were at their services, and you know, it was incredible support system. And, you know, even before doing this podcast, you would at times after we'd go out for our Taco Tuesdays and we'd be talking and you'd text me and say, Hey, I see that you're you you hit 10,000 steps today, way to go. And that was just really a good feeling, knowing that that somebody was there with my back.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yep. Always. That's awesome. You know, and that that being said, we you know, we have some goals for you moving forward. We we know you're there's a couple things going on that we found out through your health assessment. You've had some back issues, and I think you're you're working on that with a physical therapist and some some things with the trainer at the gym as well. So we're gonna let them do their thing. And we also know that you're you're going on vacation here in a couple days. So we we want to be respectful of that and have you be able to enjoy yourself on there. So we've come up with just a couple of of simple things for you to do while you're gone.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

Okay, let me have them.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 24:25

Let me have them.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

She's ready to go. Yeah. Well, one of them is in honor of your age, we want you to walk 6,800 steps a day. Oh, okay, no problem. I know that is no problem, but we want you to do it every day. We don't want you to average 6,800 steps a day. All right, we we want to see those.

SPEAKER_04 24:46

You know what happened when you said that the overachiever in me wanted to say, oh, I'll double that. And I think that's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Well, we always say a minimum of 6,800 steps, so you can do whatever you want, but don't don't burn yourself out on the first day. Okay. And we also want you to drink 64 ounces of water a day. Okay, that's good.

SPEAKER_06 25:16

It's huge, it's huge.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

There are so many people, especially in the wintertime, it's it's that much tougher to get that water in. Doug on his other podcast had a guest on that. They were talking about macros in their diet, you know, fats, carbs, and proteins. And she said, I feel that the fourth macro should be water, it's that important. Those are the things we want to hold you accountable to for the next few weeks. And we also want you to text, we'll send you a group text, the the three of us, and when you finish them, we just want you to text us and just say done or okay, whatever you want to say. And we don't necessarily have to respond, but you'll know we're we're seeing it, knowing that you've you've gotten it done. And then when you get back, we'll we'll work on some other things to build up on on those because you know, by the time you're back, that'll be a couple weeks and you'll be in those habits.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

Sounds good. I have a question for you though. You were you were using the term macros, and I know everybody kind of throws that around. Will you just kind of define that so I know what it is?

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Doug, do you want to do that?

Karen’s Why: Longevity, Family, Legacy

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Or sure, sure, sure. So so macros is a common term used out in with nutrition nowadays, and it's it's you know, it's a big buzzword, macros. What are your macros? And macros really speak specifically of how much you're intaking in regards to carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, but most importantly, protein. And as Ted said, the the fourth macro could be water because a lot of people don't measure that, and they should, because they want to make sure they're getting a minimum of 64 ounces of water a day. I personally like to tell people to go for 80 ounces of water a day, but 64 is going to be your minimum as we start, because we want to we want you to trust the process. Also, I loved how you said, well, did I answer your question as far as macros?

SPEAKER_04 27:23

Yes, you did. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Yes. Okay, good, good. And and also, I I loved how you said the overachiever in you rose up and said, I'm gonna double that. And and man, that is, I could relate to that so well. How often we go out and then we go do it. I'm gonna triple it or double it. And then the next day, guess what? We can't go do it again. You know, it's like, oh man. And so I want you to, when you feel that notion of like, oh, that that was too easy. I want you to sit with that and just take a few breaths and be with that and let that be part of the process to hold yourself to that many steps, or maybe just maybe a few steps over, maybe a thousand steps over, or 500 steps over. But don't go crazy and hold yourself to that because I'll tell you, there's such a power in ending an activity and desiring so much to do more and holding off. It that builds resilience, that builds anticipation and delight for the next time. But if we go out and crush it on day one, we don't have that same anticipation and delight. We're like, oh, I gotta go get this done. You know, it becomes a chore. So let it let it just ruminate in you and keep that hunger and desire to want to do more, knowing you could do more. There's nothing wrong with that. That's fuel. You want to keep that fuel coming. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_04 28:45

All right, thank you so much. Yes, absolutely. I look forward to doing it.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Okay, and getting back to the whole macro word in a in a different term, a different sense is these are things we know you can accomplish, but we want to build that consistency, have those micro become micro habits for you, and those micro habits will become macro habits as you go, and they just become a part of what you do. You know, one of the things when I was doing my steps and and trying to do it was when you you change your mindset, it's not if I'm going to get those steps done today, it's when am I going to get them done. Sometimes you have to plan, but it's a foregone conclusion. They're going to get done one way or the other. I'm going to get those steps in. And no excuses, just get it done. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Yes. These are and these are daily, daily commitments, Karen, that you're going to take on the walk, the 6,800 steps and the water, the 64 ounces minimum of water. And part of that is texting Ted and I daily saying I'm done. Just because we believe you knowing that there's eyeballs on your journey, whether we respond to your text or not, you just you're going to know there's eyeballs on your journey on you holding you accountable, not to belittle you or or to you know make fun of you or anything like that, but to just hold you accountable with love. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_04 30:13

It does. Thank you very much. It feels great.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Good.

SPEAKER_04 30:16

I'm ready to get started.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

All right. Good, good, good. And did we miss anything with Karen before we move on to Mitch?

SPEAKER_00 30:25

I don't believe so. I think that's you know, we're once she's back and we can we can talk to her a little bit more off air. We'll see what she's doing with her trainer and the uh physical therapist, and you know, work within those limits to maybe set some more goals for her to move forward with. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

And and Karen and Mitch, listen up to this as well. This might sound real easy, like you said, the overachiever says, Oh, well, I can do that. Well, that's good. Well, number one, we're gonna find out how easy it is by the end of by the time you get back from vacation. Because it's amazing how we can commit to small things that seem effortless to us, but then all of all of a sudden the excuses come in. Well, I had to go this to this party, or I, you know, I ran, I forgot, and it was 11 o'clock at night. And we're, you know, we're gonna say, okay, you know, this we're gonna find out. A lot will be revealed about what how you think and how you process, which is gonna be very important to Ted and I, based on how you respond through these next couple weeks while you're on vacation and commit to that process. All right.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

Yep, thank you.

Karen’s Plan: Steps, Water, Text Check‑Ins

SPEAKER_01 31:37

You're welcome, you're welcome. All right, Ted, you want to introduce our next guest? Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Uh this is a buddy of mine for 45, 50 years. 55, Teddy. 55. Yeah, it's been a long time and a long journey. A lot of a lot of ups and downs. We were actually roommates in college for a year, had a lot of good times, had a lot of rough times as well. We're still here doing it. Looking forward to helping him along on his health journey as well. This is Mitch, and he can elaborate on who he is and what his story is. Love that.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Come on, Mitch, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you live, and and what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

My math was off. You were right, 50 years, man. Well, first of all, Karen, that was beautiful. And thank you very much for sharing. And and boys, I'm just thrilled to be part of the fourth quarter. You know, I think about that every day, excited going forward. Again, as Ted mentioned, I've known Teddy for 50 plus years. He's been there for me through thick and thick. Doug, I've known you for five plus years. You're always there for me. I want to reach out. I I don't necessarily do a good job of that. And that's something that, you know, I'm looking forward to with both of you guys about being accountable. I'm 68 years old. You know, I look in the mirror, I don't think I look 68. I don't, and I think when you look in the mirror, how do you how do you feel? I feel younger. You know, every day I wake up and I think of the things I'm grateful for. I listen to the song that Teddy shared, Thankful for, by Forrest Frank. And I make my bed and I get busy. I've been retired now for uh two and a half years. First six months were a struggle, staying busy. I'm divorced after 35 years of marriage, and I'm I'm accountable for that, and I recognize that. That was all me. But I'm blessed that Mary is my best friend, and we talk every day. And I have two terrific children. They're my angels, and a terrific son-in-law and future daughter-in-law with my son. You know, I'm just excited about moving forward, and I want to be the better me than I am today. So I'll pause now and let you guys fire away.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

All right. Ted, do you want to start off? Or or how do you want to do this?

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Go ahead, Doug. I talk to him too much as it is. Well, me too.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

One more comment. One more comment. I'm sorry, I'm chatting, Kathy, is uh, you know, I just know guys, I can't do it alone. Karen stole my line about and you guys about consistency. I am consistently inconsistent. And that's something that you know I'm aware of, but I still suck at it. And that's where I need help. And looking forward to the coaching, put me in, coach. I'm ready to play.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

All right, here you go, man. Here you go. So let me ask you, Mitch, just again, a big broad stroke question. Five, 10 years down the road, working with fourth quarter, what do you what do you hope to achieve? What do you want to gain? What do you where do you see yourself in five to ten years?

SPEAKER_02 34:58

I want to be there for my family. I mean, I've had a rough time, candidly, for the last five years. You know, today's a good day, and it's great to be alive today, and I'm doing the right things, but all I've got is today. I want to stay healthy. Mary teases me in a good way that you're like a cockroach. You're gonna live forever. But you know, if I don't do the right sort of things, then then I won't be. I realize how blessed I am to have everybody in my life. And so, you know, I just want to I want to be here. I want to, I want to be for a be here for you know a long time because I, you know, there's a reason why I'm still here. Absolutely. And it's not just luck, it's you know, it's just coincidence. I'll pause again. Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

So I want to help you get laser, I want to help you get a little more laser focused on the question. And so let's make it specific. Where do you see yourself in five years in your health?

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Less weight, exercising every day, again, sharp, staying busy, being of service. Right. And so uh, yeah, I I want to be in five years where I am today from you know just being sharp and being focused and continuing to eat the right things and just be there for people and be and starting with me.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

What activities would you like to see yourself doing in five years that you can't do today?

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Well, I walk with the family, you know, at least once a week, uh, but I'm always like 50 yards behind them. So I want to keep up with them. I want to get back on the bike. Uh right now, you know, my balance is probably off because being out of shape. I want to want to hike with the family. I want to golf again. I haven't played golf in like three to five years.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

Yeah, I love that. Thank you. That was very specific, and we can work with that. And now we have some specific goals to kind of help you get towards, and we can use that to measure your progress along the way. So that's going to be important. Again, what Ted is really good at is taking that long-term vision and then reverse engineering it into steps for today. Steps for today. Right. But so Ted, I want to kind of just transition over to you. Anything you want to comment back to Mitch before you, you know, set him up and knock him out.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Bring it on, boys.

Guest Mitch: Gratitude And Getting Unstuck

SPEAKER_00 37:10

No, I mean, I just I just appreciate the openness and both of you for sharing and and being as open as you are, and that's critical in getting to your ultimate goal. You know, I've been with Mitch those five years, and it it has been a struggle. One of the things I've heard from both of you is that you've kind of veered off off track at times, and I had seen something that I had never heard before, but it's called the GPS theory. I don't know if you've heard of that or not. But but basically, you put in your destination and it gives you directions on how to get there. And if you make a wrong turn, doesn't judge you, doesn't yell at you, it just recalculates, right? Just gets you headed back to that destination. And you know, you may make lots of lots of turns, wrong turns along the way, but it's the same way with life, with exercise, with nutrition. As long as you know where you want to be and have that health insight, we we never say the end because it is a a lifetime journey, but where you're headed, that direction you're headed, and just stay on track with that. So with Mitch, very similar to what the goals we set for Karen. One of the things we we did do the health assessments, and one of the things that was amazing, and I will share this piece of Mitch's, was when we asked how much water he drank, and he said 16 ounces.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

I mean, I'm up to 24, Jenny.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

But I mean, you you think about that 16 ounces. Say you sleep eight hours a day, you're awake 16 hours, you're drinking one ounce of water an hour. That is next to nothing. It's just so critical. If you if you take that and and stretch that out into baby steps, if you drink five ounces of water an hour, which still isn't very much, but you do that for 12 hours out of your day, you've hit your 60 ounces. Right. And so, you know, again, that's going to be one of one of the challenges for you, as well as the steps. And I have to tell you, Mitch is the king of excuses when it comes to that.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

Hey, man.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

He told me he couldn't walk the other day because the weather wasn't warm enough and he had to wear long pants. He doesn't like wearing long pants, so he couldn't go out and walk.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

You're still in my line, too, Teddy. I was gonna go there.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

You know, just yeah, go ahead, man. So, so I mean, we we gotta cut this out. We gotta get you for the next the next two weeks. You can do anything for two weeks. Yep, 6,800 steps a day, every day. And I do have a question for you because I don't think I've ever asked you this. Is how do you track your steps? On the phone.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

So on your health app on yeah, on my health app on the on the phone. And I listen to music when I walk. I don't talk on the phone like you do.

Mitch’s Vision: Walk, Bike, Hike, Golf

SPEAKER_00 40:27

No, no, no. I I'm not asking that. But so you if your phone is with you most of the day or in your pocket, when you're even when you're walking around the house or something, those steps are tracked. Because when you say you're just you're just tracking your exercise, yeah, you're kind of short-selling yourself because you could you could walk 4,000 steps on exercise, you could walk 2,000 steps around the house just doing what you normally do. So, you know, that's what we're looking at is 6,800 steps for the day, not necessarily 6,800 steps on exercise. Yeah, so just kind of keep that in mind and and check it. You know, you can go and check it at the end of the day, and it'll I think that I don't use that one, but I've seen it, I think it breaks down an average of what you're averaging every day. Yep, yep. So if that's what you're using, you know, use it, but but look at it over the course of the day, not necessarily just for exercise.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Well, just a good comment on that. And you know, I shared this with you. You know, I was fortunate, blessed to go on to Europe on vacation with the family. And we were walking 23 to 25,000 steps a day. And you called me out on that. He says, You know what? You know, you know, you just didn't think you could do it, but you can. And I think about that often. I'm not there, you know. Right now, 68 sounds pretty good. I'm about three to four thousand that I track. My goal is to get there.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

Yeah. Well, and I I remember that conversation. Yeah, it was leading up to it. You said, I'm I'm trying to walk because I'm gonna be in Europe with the family and this and that, but I can only do you know a thousand steps at a time, or I can only do a half mile, then I gotta sit and rest. And I and then I'm getting texts from you in Europe, walk 24,000 steps today, walk 16,000 steps. And when you came back and shared that, and I don't know that I necessarily called you out, but I pointed out that right, you were you were allowing your mind to limit your body. Yes, because you kept saying, I can't do it, and when you got there, you did it. You did it. That was the the disconnect there, and you know, you're you're capable of doing it physically. That's why you know we're starting out on on things that we know you can accomplish, but again, those micro habits, getting the consistency is what we're looking for.

unknown 42:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:56

No, I'm all in. Same thing as Karen right now, water and walking, correct, Ted?

GPS Theory: Recalculate Without Judgment

SPEAKER_00 43:01

I've got one extra one for Mitch. Okay. I'll work with him off off air on this one, but we want you to download an app that will track your macros, track your your food, track your calories that you're you're taking in. We're not we're not saying you have to start tracking those right away, but we want you to look around on the app and just kind of see what's there. Because what things you may think you're doing that are healthy that you're you're eating and your nutrition might not be. You know, Doug and I talked about it. Uh a cucumber slice is healthy, dipped in a ton of ranch dressing becomes unhealthy. Dipped in hummus becomes healthy. So there's all kinds of, and you again you can you can look online for this, all kinds of Google searches that look for healthy protein snacks, protein heavy snacks, which is something we're we're focused on especially at our age is it's tough to get that protein in. You know, we're we're not even l necessarily looking to build muscle as much as maintain it because we we lose it as we get older. Yes. And there's different things you can do. You can, you know, you can take collagen powder, mix it in with the drink, amino acids, uh creatine, all of those help and and get that protein and help in in muscle building. So those are things we can look at, but but what we want you to do is is get an app, start looking at it. And what's great is I I I downloaded one the other day because I use I use my Fitbit and it's got it in there. But I I just went on and Googled it and downloaded one and they're using AI now and it's just amazing what they can do. You can take a picture of your food and it'll break it down just by looking at the food. But there's also a number of ways you can do it. You can scan labels the UPC on a label and it'll break that down for you. But then it it breaks down the macros. Once you start using that then you can start balancing the macros which I I believe are is it 30% fat 40% carbs 40% protein if I got that right yeah well everybody's a little different.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

So based on age weight height and and on and activity level so we could we could look at that and find out what what would be specific for mid as well because we want you to we want you to potentially lower your calorie count but make it high quality calories so you're sustaining additional exercise.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

But but let me let me just jump in here real quick because Ted just gave you a bunch of information about macros and it could sound overwhelming and we want to be very clear right now. Your primary things for the next couple weeks is water and walking downloading the app is something for you to play with over the next two weeks to get comfortable with the app to we're not expecting you to use it 100% but we are expecting you to explore it, have fun with it, see what you like about it if you have questions about it so that when it time when it's time for that to come, we're ready to engage and then execute and and then take your health to that next level when you're ready. But right now we need to unpack what's going on with consistency with you through these two simple challenges with water and walking does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 46:31

Yeah yeah that's good stuff boys I'm with you Doug and Teddy I mean it starts with the walking and and the water and you know and I'm I'm sure I'm gonna be amazed at the the progress we make in two weeks and then and then going forward.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

It does and like Doug said I may have gotten you know a little into the weeds on that but there's a saying in that you you cannot you cannot can't out exercise bad nutrition.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

So getting getting consistent in your in your exercise is great but the the two go together so you know we'll get you started get you moving drinking water and then start digging a little bit deeper into what your what your nutrition looks like.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

All right you guys again just want to make it clear for everyone that yes to some many of you listening right now you may say well gosh that's easy that's not going to help them and trust me it is going to help them and Ted and I our purpose is to not just help people lose weight or start exercising. It's to help them transform and become that optimal version of themselves so that they are no longer struggling to get steps in. They're no longer struggling to make healthy choices it's who they've become and it's just a natural process for them that they choose the cucumber without the ranch on their own because it's who they are. And that takes time that's going to take a minimum of a year to three years to get to really feel grounded in that and for it to be your permanent lifestyle. So this is a process it does take patience and and persistence but when you do it with community the right community around you it's absolutely possible absolutely possible so we want to thank you both for agreeing to allow us to step into this part of your lives with you. We are going to move to the part of our show where Ted shares a song bite and he never tells me what it's going to be until we get on here and I'll comment on it. But this since we have guests on here we want to hear your feedback and your thoughts on what spoke to you about the song Ted chose for this episode.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

Yeah well real real quick before we do that we just want to mention again that next week's episode we have a guest on Jonathan Pascual who is just phenomenal great story very inspirational and we we hope you all tune in to hear that we think you'll you'll really enjoy hearing what he has to say.

Mitch’s Plan: Steps, Water, Macro App

SPEAKER_05 49:05

As far as the song goes we appreciate you guys coming on you know we call the podcast the fourth quarter could be the next chapter what whatever you want to call it but it's so powerful because it's up to you and it's actually still unwritten you guys get to write that next chapter so it's just there you go wow that was absolutely awesome that Ted I'm telling you man you have a gift picking these songs that just fit the theme that fit the theme you we're bringing on people that don't even realize that the next part of their story is unwritten and you know we can get to a certain age and think well that's you know what else am I gonna write?

SPEAKER_01 51:05

But they get to write the pen has been put back in their hand the paper has put in front of them and they get to write what this next chapter this next segment of life is going to look like that is so awesome. Mitch real quick we just heard from you what do you when you heard the song what came to mind brother what stirred in your heart?

SPEAKER_02 51:24

Love that song thank you Teddy and it's just I've got chapters that going forward to be written and I'm excited about writing the next chapter of my life and I feel very positive about that. And I've shared this before because I was thinking uh you know it's a good day today it's gonna be a better day today and when you laugh love think and pray that's a that's an excellent day so I'm excited about the next chapter in my life and you guys being part of it for sure.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

Awesome awesome and Karen you heard the song you saw me dancing in the background what was going on through your mind girl come on talk to me.

SPEAKER_04 51:58

I love this song too and Mitch everything you said is what I think I I I look at it as just starting a new book starting a new chapter and really looking for just see what I want to write and making it about being the best we can be so thank you guys for for setting this up and letting us be a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 52:19

It was great having you guys and Doug before you sign off like you always do I found one that I kind of like that I'm gonna sign off with okay and that's if you don't make time for your wellness you'll have to make time for your illness.

SPEAKER_01 52:35

Woo that's a good one another well there's not much more I can say after that so I'm gonna sign off like I always do and say God bless and peace out. If you like what you heard be sure to subscribe follow share an episode if you want to leave a comment go to the show notes there's a text link there we will receive an anonymous text from you with any comments or suggestions. Thanks again for tuning in and most importantly keep on coming back