The Quarterback DadCast
I’m Casey Jacox, the host of the Quarterback Dadcast. As fathers, we want to help prepare our kids—not only to enter the professional world but to thrive in each stage of their lives. Guests of this show include teachers, coaches, professional athletes, consultants, business owners, authors—and stay-at-home dads. Just like you! They share openly about failure, success, laughter, and even sadness so that we can all learn from each other—as we strive to become the best leaders of our homes! You will learn each week, and I am confident you will leave each episode with actionable tasks that you can apply to your life to become that ultimate Quarterback and leader of your household. Together, we will learn from the successes and failures of dads who are doing their best every day. So, sit back, relax and subscribe now to receive each episode weekly on The Quarterback Dadcast.
The Quarterback DadCast
Balancing Music and Fatherhood: Insights from Adam Hood on Authentic Parenting and Personal Growth
Thank you to Jeff Bowling and the American Staffing Association for introducing me to our next talented guest, Mr. Adam Hood!
Country music enthusiasts and parents alike will find inspiration in our latest episode featuring the acclaimed singer-songwriter Adam Hood. Known for his collaborations with country legends like Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Whiskey Myers, Cody Jinks, and Travis Tritt, Adam joins us to share his reflections on music, family, and the art of balancing both worlds. We uncover the wisdom in embracing gratitude and authenticity as a father and delve into the unique challenges and joys of parenting, including plenty of light-hearted anecdotes about family dynamics and sibling relationships, seen through the lens of both his musical journey and my own experiences as a dad.
Throughout our discussion, we emphasize the significance of authentic parenting, allowing children to forge their own paths while learning from their experiences. From avoiding the pitfalls of "snowplow parenting" to the benefits of listening and vulnerability, Adam and I share insights into fostering confidence and resilience in the next generation. With reflections on personal growth, mindset, and the liberating nature of music, this episode promises to enrich your perspective on what it means to lead with heart and wisdom, both on stage and at home.
Here is a link to one of my favorite Adam Hood songs - "Way Too Long."
Lastly, I wanted to wish my father a heavenly birthday today. If he were still with us, he would be 83.
To learn more about Adam and his music you can visit him here.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder, and this is my dad show.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast. Welcome to season six, and I could not be more excited to have you join me for another year of fantastic episodes and conversations really unscripted and raw and authentic conversations with dads. If you're new to this podcast, really it's simple. It's a podcast where we interview dads, we learn about how they were raised, we learn about the life lessons that were important to them, we learn about the values that are important to them and really we learn about how we can work hard to become a better quarterback or leader of our home. So let's sit back, relax and listen to today's episode on the Quarterback Dadcast. Hi everybody, hey, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast. This is Casey Jaycox. We're in season six, which feels so fantastic to say, and we are on YouTube now.
Speaker 2:So Spotify, apple, wherever you consume these podcasts, and the power of flexibility was needed today. Sometimes technology likes to throw us curveballs and usually our normal recording platform didn't work, but who cares? So we're using Zoom. But I couldn't be more excited for our next guest because I met this gentleman. Actually, I didn't meet him. I saw him sing in Nashville at a conference I was at where I was lucky to speak. Shout out to you Lenore Convery. And then I got connected to a gentleman by the name of Jeff Bowling, and I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Jeff Bowling is friends with our next guest, which is Adam Hood, who is a fantastic, fantastic country music singer-songwriter. Everybody, we want to make sure that you learn more about his music. He's written songs for folks like Miranda Lambert, little Big Town, whiskey Myers, cody Jenks, travis Tritt. You might have heard of those folks, but how this dude has not made it like big, big time, I don't know. So he's going to educate me. But as much as all that said, to learn more about the singer, we're here to learn about Adam the dad, how he works hard to become the ultimate quarterback or leader of his household. So, without further ado, mr Hood, welcome to the quarterback, dad cast.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. Mr Hood, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, casey. I appreciate it, man, that's nice, thank you. Yeah, you bet, man. Well, when you did some of the covers with your buddies up there that even sing some of those songs, I was like, oh my God, your voice, bro, is so powerful. Thanks, man, so powerful. So I don't want to make you blush, but a guy who's a closet guitar player, uh enough to play like five, six chords and I, I, I like all like, if I can hear the music, I can like strum and figure it out. Yeah, like I don't know how to read music.
Speaker 1:Well, it only takes three to be a professional three chords or get you a job. So you're in the top, the top upper, echelon.
Speaker 2:Sweet. Yeah, I mean enough to play like campfire stuff or like throwing and like it's fun when you play songs and feel like, damn, you can play guitar, I'm like actually I really am not that good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, oh, I lived a lot of my life doing that. Man, trust me, I know how that. I know how it is for sure, faking, faking it till you make it. Well, before we dive into some of your background, we always start out each episode gratitude. So tell me, what are you most grateful for as a dad today? Man, you know I'm learning to be really appreciative of the day in itself. You know what I mean. Like, like the perspective is, is, is is invaluable and, and you know you kind of have to. I mean it really is. You know you wake up in the morning and it's completely, 100% your choice. You know what I mean. You can, you can live your life.
Speaker 1:You know, kind of aggravated about the things you don't have, which is a in the music industry, is is a, it's a, it's a tough obstacle, just because it's become, with social media and everything, it's become a total game of comparison. You know what I mean and I was even talking to my wife about this yesterday. I have friends that are really having that. I've seen. I mean I've been doing this for 30 years and so I've seen my friends have some success and it's interesting to sort of learn how to have a genuine sort of appreciation for, for their, their successes. You know what I mean. Without and learn how to not, you know, to not let it apply to you, because you know my race is not their race and so it takes. You know you can really let yourself get swamped, and the go to for me is just is just realizing that you know nobody's promised tomorrow, and so so if I, if I've got today, I got a lot to be thankful for you know, but I love that.
Speaker 2:You know, I think, what I love about gratitude, it keeps us present in the day, yeah, and it keeps us present in. We all got issues, we all got flaws, we all got shenanigans. We all got, but we all have today. And if you really choose, like I think, life's about perspective, life's about mindset, life's about like, just when you're not your best, own it. When you're not your best on it and you're like you're not your best, okay, we'll shoot, maybe ask for help. But like for me, man, what I'm grateful for, I've usually, I'm always grateful for my family, but I'm grateful for Jeff bowling, who I don't know that well I think I'm going to get to know him a little bit better but just for him to say you know, I don, and I'm grateful for you for saying what you want to talk about, dad stuff. Okay, sure, I'm grateful for our time together today. I forgot to show you the script, which is a blank piece of paper. These episodes are all about curiosity and letting me practice my listening skills. I love learning about people and love people's stories. Um, because I think stories sell. I would say stories sell, slides don't. But I'm um, but you, you. You said something that's so true because social media today, I think, as dads, these are great things for us to talk about. Hey, we're running our kids.
Speaker 2:That comparison is is going is this life of poison and life of danger? And there's nothing good comes from it. And I can say as a speaker, because I didn't mean to get into speaking, I didn't get in mean to go get into this. I was a corporate guy for 20 years. But I see I have friends that are been on TED, ted talks. I have friends that are like traveling all over the place and they'll sometimes will post these things on like LinkedIn or Instagram saying I'm going, I'm in these 17 cities straight.
Speaker 2:I'm like early I found myself like oh, my God, I want to do that, but I'm like you know what I don't want to do that and I remind myself I'm grateful for I traveled my ass off Adam in corporate, and now I'm like I want to travel when I can, when I want, and I I value to me my own bed at times, I value being with my kids and like I had a kid in college, junior high school, and like valuing that. So the comparison thing speaks to me, dude, because like I could. I could get wrapped up in that too, with like I'm not on that stage and I'm on that stage, but but I just I'm happy for them. Go, go, go, ride it as long as you can. I hope you crush it.
Speaker 1:It really, you know it. I don't. I don't feel like the comparison game discriminates, you know. I mean it really is. Like I mean everybody from a seamstress to you know, ceos can, can you know understand the comparison game because, and like I said, you know it's just we're all spending a lot of our time sort of looking at other people's lives and and trying to insert your own life into other people's lives and say, you know, just give yourself some relevance and and you know, that's the interesting thing about it, and I agree with you, like for my children, there's no need in trying to remove the inevitable. You know what I mean. Like they are.
Speaker 1:I mean you know we come from a generation that remembers when these things didn't exist. So, like the adjustment period has been our cross to bear. My kids won't have, they don't, you know, they don't know life without the internet or cell phones or social media and things like that. And granted, you know I have a, I have an older, I have a 26 year old and then I have an eight year old and a six year old. So I mean I got a pretty vast span of of. You know fatherhood, but you know the, the girls, my younger girls. They don't really, I mean, social media is not. They don't even have phones, you know. But at the same time, it's, I mean, it's right around the corner, you know. And so the I feel like that, the it's more of a challenge to me and I feel like it's more of my responsibility to not really show them how not to do it, but to sort of navigate through this thing and be a part of this stuff and still keep your integrity. You know what I mean, because that's the thing I can't. It's part of my job. Like, like, social media is is priceless to me. It's, it's invaluable, it's how I, it's how I get my music out there, it's how I promote my shows. It's, it's probably, it's probably, you know, for someone like me who's independent, completely independent, owns everything that I have, it's, you know, it's my main vehicle really to just, you know, expose myself and so. But I have to be able to learn how to do that and still be able to be me and be comfortable in my own skin, and it's, it's not easy and it really is. I mean, it's a, it's a daily practice and you're right, you know it, it really takes, it takes presence, it takes.
Speaker 1:I mean, like the, the, the looking forward really creates a pretty magnified anxiety, whereas the back. You know the and you know, I think, the trust me, you know, you're not the first person that has said you know why. Why doesn't? Why are you not more famous? You know what I mean and and you know I've had that question enough to where, like, I can't tell you the answer, but I can't concern myself with it anymore, right? You know what I mean. Like I can't. You know I can't look at it like that. I can't look at it like that any more than I can live on my accolades. You know what I mean. Like, like you know, I'm proud of my resume, but my resume is not who I am anymore. Like you know, I'm only as good as the song I'm writing.
Speaker 1:Now, you know, I mean, the songs that I've written are past songs and you know, there there are things that I look at, even in the, even in the most popular ones, that I look at, even in the most popular ones, that I wouldn't have written it that way.
Speaker 1:Now, you know. So it's always an evolution and it really takes a lot of just I mean for lack of a better term self-awareness. Really, you know, I have to really kind of concentrate on who I am and you know I have people that I trust. I have a good manager. My wife is super duper supportive and really kind of. She has a more of a, she kind of has a marketing background, and so she understands these things and has helped me to sort of take the personal aspect off of it and treat it like a tool, like a marketing tool, and that's really been helpful, you know, because it just, you know, it kind of becomes something to where it's like I don't take it personally, I just take it as kind of a daily discipline. It's just something that you have to do, you know.
Speaker 2:Totally Well. I, I, um, I want to apologize of that question. Uh, I meant I hope that question came across as like just pure gratitude for you and trust me it's no offense taken, I promise.
Speaker 1:I promise Good it's. It's an interesting question, you know, and I mean it really is one of those things to where, like you, know you, I, I, I do ask myself that question a lot, and you know, and not from there's there's no ill will about it at all, because I don't think anybody that asked me that question is it means it has any ill intent. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:honestly, it's a real high compliment you know, yeah, that's what I want. That minute by well didn't? I find my memory is correct, when you were at at the op where I saw you at the Opry, didn't you mention, or you were one of your colleagues or singers that night you said a stat about like the chances of becoming a country music singer, songwriter, versus a major league pitcher.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember that was okay, that was kendall marvel and okay, okay. So so that night, uh it was, there were three of us it was myself, kendall marvel and channing wilson. And channing has written. Uh, he wrote a pretty, pretty big luke combs song and then some songs for some other country artists, ashland craft, and I think he's written with miranda and stuff like that too and but, kendall, you know, you heard him say the first song he ever wrote.
Speaker 1:He moved to Nashville and the first song he ever wrote was was like one of Gary Allen's biggest hits and he just started rolling them out after that, you know, and he's a super guy and really down to earth and probably like I mean Kendall's. You know I'm 49. So Kendall's about four years older than me. So you know we're kind of in in the same general area, you know, in being late 40s, early 50s in a world of 20 year olds, you know, and having to, and sometimes that's not very easy. But yeah, I mean that's the thing you know he said. I think he said when he moved to town there were a couple of thousand published songwriters and now they're like 250 published songwriters in Nashville and the place in the place where where songwriters exist, like it's a songwriter's town, and there's 250 of them.
Speaker 2:You know it's a, it's a staggering statistic wow, well, um, I always like um going inside. I'll call you from theme of quarterback. So I played quarterback in college. This is me and you. Uncle rico is from napoleon dynamite. Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Whenever I mentioned my quarterback days, I gotta give love to uncle rico. I could throw the ball over that mountain, adam, if you want me to, but yeah, you know, I, I want to see that.
Speaker 1:I want to see you throw that steak over that mountain.
Speaker 2:Well, funny about the steak. So when I speak because I'm just a random weird dude the third slide usually is I have a picture of my family and I'll show pictures. And then I have a picture of me playing quarterback back in the day. And I said quarterback back in the day and I said if I asked people who el carico is and sometimes like who, who the hell is that? Well, then I go to the clip of napoleon on the bike with um pedro, yeah, and then el carico hits him with the stake and that, like that's like kicks off, like what in the hell have we brought this dude in for? That is so funny, dude, you gotta have fun. So, um, so, anyway. So the theme of quarterback uh, we're gonna call you quarterback. Maybe your wife's a general manager, but tell us a little bit about each member of the team inside the Hood huddle.
Speaker 1:So as far as like in the home, yeah, just like who's on the squad. So there's four of us living in the Hood nucleus right now. So it's me, my wife and we have two daughters. We have an eight-year-old and a six-year-old, and then my oldest. She's like I said, she's 26 and and has moved out. She, she lives. My mother lives about three hours away from us and and lives on a piece of property she grew up in and so Ashlyn lives down there with her and kind of is a little bit more, kind of tends to my mother a little bit and keeps her company and has a job down there and stuff like that. So so, yeah, but but that's the family nucleus is the, is the four of us and then the one that has moved on.
Speaker 2:Okay, and what are your? What are your girls into? What? What gets them out of bed, makes them excited about life?
Speaker 1:Man, they are so interesting, you know, and and I'm an only child, so this whole sister, sister thing, my wife has a sister, a younger sister, and so like the things that, like the fights and things like that, like those are just the, you know, things that give me incredible anxiety, are things that just are common occurrence for her, like she grew up like this.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. She grew up with this whole stealing my clothes and she's touching me and all these things and I never grew up like that and so, but it's been, it's been interesting to have to learn to let go of that kind of stuff. You know what I mean. Like you know, it was something to where you know Brittany. For a little while she was like you're getting involved, you don't need to get involved, you have to figure out how to let them, let them develop their own relationship, and and that was it was really interesting to kind of start applying that, because in letting them develop their own relationships together, it sort of gives them well, it gives me, you know an opportunity to kind of let them develop it themselves. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And so Drew, my oldest, she's, or the eight year old she's, she's the overachiever, she's the, the big sister, she's into cheerleading, she's a competitive cheerleader in the second grade and and and she's. But she also, like she's the one that's playing guitar now and is really starting to, she's getting interested in those kinds of things. You know she's a real big Dolly Parton fan, which I think is spectacular, and and so you know it's kind of starting to pick up guitar and and starting to do. I can remember that's the cool thing about, you know, being a musician. I can remember these stages in my life. You know what I mean. I can remember when. I can remember when I made certain musical connections but didn't have the ability to connect the two, you know. And so it's just, it's fundamentals.
Speaker 1:Basically, I mean, she's in that fundamental phase, that initial first year of learning how music works, and it's really challenging. It takes a lot of patience and even though I can remember that, it's hard for me because in my head I just think to myself all you gotta do is do this, all you gotta do is just do like this, you know. And to her, but she can't do that, like her muscles and her mind, the coordination's not there. And so I have. It takes a lot of patience with me and which is not something that I didn't learn conventionally. And so, because I didn't learn conventionally, I kind of can't teach conventionally. And so, because I didn't learn conventionally, I kind of can't teach conventionally. And which is it which is difficult? And and there's a part of me that says, okay, maybe you should let her take guitar lessons, but then you go. Well, why do you?
Speaker 1:I mean, what did you get out of guitar lessons? Not much, you know, and and so you know my I always knew. You know, you leave enough instruments laying around the house and you have children around instruments and they're eventually going to pick them up, you know. And so that's been kind of the deal, and it was the same thing with me. Like, my father was a forester and my mother she retired from a flower shop. I mean, they're they. They don't have either one of them have a musical bone in their body, and so this was all mine to discover and it was all mine to learn.
Speaker 1:And the one thing my parents did was they left me alone for all those hours, all those days, all those years, to just sit back in my room and learn. And then they, then, when I got out of my room and decided to start playing, they supported me. They just they didn't understand it any more than me, but they made sure they came to every show and they, you know they just, if I needed a guitar, they bought it until I was, until I was making enough money to buy my own. If I needed a PA system, they bought it until I was making enough money to buy my own. And so I'm trying to take that perspective, to not be such a helicopter parent, but just to be available and have an expert opinion, if I do say so myself, I mean that's the thing I have.
Speaker 1:I have instruments around this house that are, that are masterful instruments, you know. I mean I've got some, some spectacular guitars that I would have killed, I would have killed to have had when I was their age. I mean killed to have had them. So, uh, which is, I think? I think that's an advantage. I also think the other advantage to them is the fact that, like the things that that I got starstruck by are things that are kind of common. They do, they've been backstage. They've been backstage at Miranda Lambert shows. They've been backstage, you know, I mean everywhere they've been. They just you know the stage is not a terrifying place to them and that's good, because it it was. It was a terrifying place to me for a long time.
Speaker 2:How about your youngest? What does she like to do?
Speaker 1:She's the free spirit man and she's the one that, like she's the one with glasses and curly hair, and you know I mean she really has her attitude, is genuinely positive, like you can see pictures of her. She never takes a picture without a genuine smile on her face. She's funny. She never, she never takes a picture without a genuine smile on her face. She's funny, she's really intelligent. But but you know, she's one of those kids that like yeah, so what. You know what I mean. Like okay, that's the answer. Who cares? You know what I mean. She's going to be one of those kids that doesn't have to study. You know what I mean and and you know as much as you, love those kids everybody's like yeah you
Speaker 1:know those kids, you know it's like, oh god, you don't even have to work at this, but but because of that, uh, you know she's, she's a, she's a bit of a chameleon. You know she's really into, really into anything and everything. You know she. She loves her dolls, she loves music too, but like it's not really gonna, she's not gonna be the kid that practices, but she's gonna be the kid that picks it up and learns it quicker than her sister does. So same thing. You know, like even you know they're, they're. You know they've been through this whole learning to read thing in the past three years and my, you know, the younger one reads way better than the older one because she listened when we were, when we were learning the reading part with the older one. You know what I mean. So she's it. It is, it's a, it's a bit of an unfair advantage now does your wife?
Speaker 2:is she into music?
Speaker 1:no, she's not, it's not in music, but but she has an appreciation for it and uh, like I said, you know she has, she has a pretty significant awareness of how business operates and so she can be the more analytical one and the more business minded one, and that that kind of frees me up to be the more creative one. You know what I mean. Like I can stay, I can stay creative and, and you know, and that's a that's something that I feel like has really become a gray area in the music world, because with with things being at, you know everything music resource is, it is at the disposal of any artist that wants it. You know, if you, if you want to write your own songs, you can, and if you want to record your own songs, you, you can do it on your phone. And then you know, like these dsp, spotify, itunes and stuff, like it's a very simple process to just take those songs that you record on your phone and put them out there and I mean like that's out there to the world.
Speaker 1:Like you know, when I was getting started, you know you had to go find a dude that had a recording studio and, and trust me, in Opelika Alabama, those studios. Sucked, man. I mean that sucked. And so you know, I mean you, you, you go in there and you give that dude $200 and you come out and you're like this sounds like crap, you know, but I've got to put it out. You know I don't have a choice. And so then you have to find someone that can make a master copy of a CD. Then you have to learn how to like do the CD duplicators and stamp your name on it and all that stuff and like that's not even they don't have to do that anymore.
Speaker 1:You know, again, like I said, it's all at your fingertips, but but in doing that, that's a, that's a freedom, but it's also, again, it's a responsibility. And so you have to learn how to navigate through the nuts and bolts of that. You have to learn how to sort of figure. You know, just in the the same way, the creation of it, um, is, is that way, the marketing of it is is at your fingertips too. And and the, you know, trying to find a way to make yourself stand out and be a little bit different from everyone else. That's at your fingertips too, and that's not something that creative people have, naturally, um and so and so it. You see a lot more people that are more business-minded and then less creative, and then the people that are more creative sort of have to really struggle a little bit harder. You know what I mean? They have to work a little bit harder just because of the fact that it just doesn't come easy for them. So you know, there's that.
Speaker 2:What was life like growing up for you and talk about the impact mom and dad had on you.
Speaker 1:Man, I had a good childhood and again, like I said, I was an only child and so you know I learned to play by myself, and by playing by myself it really stimulated my imagination. I was really I was a very imaginative kid. I did a lot of stuff you know my mom always talks about you know, one year my grandmother gave me like a roll of aluminum foil and like some scotch tape and stuff like that, because I was, I would make guitars. You know what I mean. Just because you know I see bruce springsteen videos on tv and stuff and I'd see like stevie van zant's left, you know, zebra stripe guitar, and I thought, oh, wow, that thing's cool, and so I'd try to make this version of it out of cardboard and stuff. And my parents got so sick of it that they finally just bought me one, and so I took a few lessons.
Speaker 1:And when I was in seventh grade we moved into a new house and the guy that lived behind me had a guitar too, and so we both took lessons from the same guy. I would take lessons on. Like this was summer going into seventh grade, I would take lessons on Monday and he would take lessons on Tuesday, and we would kind of go, we would get together and show each other what we learned from the guy that was teaching us, giving us lessons, and so we both kind of got real good real fast and, like I said, I found that pretty quick. I started, you know, if I started playing um consistently and learning songs like from start to finish learning songs in seventh grade, like by 10th grade, I think um, I had a job.
Speaker 1:There was a place called the breezeway in my hometown and I mean I was, I was 16, playing one friday and saturday night a month and I mean they gave me 150 dollars and I quit the football team, you know, and I so Opelika is right next to Auburn, which is a college town, and so you know about six months of playing the breezeway. You know you would these, you would get these offers to play these. You know fraternity parties and sorority socials and things like that. You know what I mean. I would go in there and play Vince Gill songs and Jimmy Buffett songs and they'd pay me, like you know what I mean. And so I was off to the races after that.
Speaker 2:So I mean music was, was, was was the nucleus behind what I did for the majority of my life you know what um what were the values mom and dad taught you that now you'll use um raising your girls?
Speaker 1:good question. Um, my dad was one of those people that that really kind of uh, helped me understand the value of humility. You know, and and and sort of. You know it's, it's better, it's better to to just know how to do it and not have to say it. You know what I mean and and so, if you can, if you can do it, you don't have to tell everybody. You know how to do it, just get out there and do it.
Speaker 1:You know, and, uh, and man, you know they were just, they were, they were loving and and they were supportive. You know, and, and they, they did their best and you could. I mean, like, like I said, you know, man, these were, you know, my mom and dad. They didn't have college education, so they just you know they, they they got married and they had a kid and then they're just like, well, you know, let's, let's try not to screw this up for him. You know, and and so I mean, and that's the thing that I've really, I realized that that just, you know, when your children, when your children, have an understanding that you love them unconditionally and can support them in anything that they do and you know what I mean like just give them, give them enough room to kind of trip up a little bit, but keep them safe, you know, and I mean that's about the best that you can do, you know. But but that really, man, I heard this guy talking about it and I wish I could remember his name because I bet you've heard him talk about it. He said that his dad would wake him up every day and just say you know, you're the best. And so I just tried to. I thought that's a really interesting thing to just adopt, just to say man, you're the smartest kid in the first grade. I mean, speak truth into them. Who cares? Yeah, exactly, it doesn't matter if they are, if they aren't, as long as they think they are, if they think, if there's.
Speaker 1:Because that's the one thing with me and you know, and this is the thing with my parents that if there was a, if there was a difficulty for them, um, that learning, that humility sort of it, kept me from having a confidence. You know what I mean. And they didn't know they, you know they, they didn't know. My parents have never set foot on a stage, they have no idea, and so I kind of had to learn that on my own and it took a lot of years of kind of messing up and I went through a couple of decades of just kind of drinking my way through it and things like that.
Speaker 1:You know, and and then you know sobriety has been a big help, but but even now, you know, just just a confidence is is something that you know will really really make or break you. You know, and that's the one thing that I want for my daughter, is the thing that I had to, that I really still struggle with, and the thing that I've had to learn on my own that I hope that they just will always have, is confidence, just the confidence to know that if they don't succeed, that they're still valuable and if they do succeed, then they earned it.
Speaker 2:Well, you mentioned humility. So there's three, I say three core um pillars that drive me adam, which is humility, vulnerability and curiosity. I think they're like superpowers. I think many people leave these skills dormant. I work on them all the time. I'm not I wish I would say I'm well, I'm really good at those. I'm far from it, but those are like constant things I think about. And your dad, when you're saying what your dad said, it triggered me with my um gonna go uncle, going to go Uncle Rico. Here again, everybody Sorry about that, but my court, my college coach, the guy named Bo Baldwin, said who's now he coaches up in Canada and CFL. He said if you ever have to tell me how good you are, casey, you're not that good, but when you're great I'll tell you. You know, and I think that mindset always stuck to me. And then my quarterback, my high school football coach, kind of Marty Osborne.
Speaker 2:I went through a really bad injury in high school that kind of prevented me from going like higher division one or, you know, division one, to blade. I was ended up being a D two guy One of the best things ever happened to me and uh, that that feeling of it got taken away from me really quick. I had an injury that, like I had to watch another guy succeed, do all the things I was supposed to do, and it taught me about Hmm, maybe there are people better than you out there, and so like just that mindset of it can be gone. Um, but vulnerable enough to ask questions and carry it. And vulnerable, vulnerable enough to say I don't know, but curious enough to always keep asking questions. And so when I think about confidence, there's a sign behind me.
Speaker 2:For people who can see on YouTube, it's believe which is and I got asked this at age 41, we're we're about the same age and I had a guy said do you believe? What you do matters? And I never had someone asked me that before but made me think I was like well, it kind of he's like no, do you really believe? So that's kind of like part of my thing Now. When I go speak to people, I just I try to instill belief in them, no matter ego, says man, I kid man, he really thinks I'm the shit. I wrote a book and and I got a podcast and I my my kids, they don't listen to these things. Right, they don't read the book. I mean, your kids maybe they know your music, they probably do, but they don't. They're not like listening to your songs every single day, that's right.
Speaker 2:We as our dads. I think is so cool is they? Let you live your journey. Yeah, you know, they're not singers. They're not songwriters. Your dad was a forester and your mom worked in a floor shop, right, um, and I think so. I've done so many episodes with dads where we literally have talked about it's not our journey. Stop trying to put your goals on them and if they don't want to work hard and they're going to get cut from team, let them get cut. Yeah, it's hard to do, but I mean everybody in this day and age, we think our kids going to be on the voice, are they going to be on the division one lacrosse team? And not everybody's going to do that right, it's funny.
Speaker 1:You say that because you know, we, we, we see it a lot with us, my wife and I. I see it in the little things. You know what I mean, because, like, it's little things, like grades and stuff like that. You know because, and you know, our default is always like, you know well, you know there's a certain expectation. Why is that? You know, and our kids are allowed to not understand things. You know, and we have to. Really, you know, I mean, I think it's something that my wife and I have started to learn how to make conscious effort about is to say, ok, we'll help them with their homework and we'll help them learn these things, but at the end of the day, like, we can't take the tests for them. We can't, they have to be the ones that learn how to read. And so, if that's the thing, if you know, they have to be the ones to learn how to read. They have to be the ones to learn how to navigate heartbreak, they have to be the ones to learn how to navigate positive and negative friendships, so that they can, they can figure out how relationships work. It's that's priceless, man, and you know like I said, you, man, and you know, like I said, you know my parents did it, but they, they, they did not do it because that was the plan. They did it because they, they didn't know how to do anything else. You know, they just kind of they, they, they couldn't, I mean, I was, I was unfigureoutable, you know. And so they just kind of said, well, we're just going to have to let him go and see, you know, just make sure good thing about it.
Speaker 1:When I made bad decisions, my dad was really quick to say, ok, this is a, this is a terrible decision here, you know, and here's and he was, he was an, an over explainer, you know what I mean. He was one of those people that would really sit down and just run his mouth for hours about. This is why you don't need to do this. You know, tell me what, tell me where your mind is, so that I can kind of understand what on earth you think, what are you're thinking that makes this a good decision to you. And that was. That was really kind of nerve-wracking, but also kind of it's something that I've adopted for better or worse. You know what I mean because you know, I, I saw it in uh, this I can't remember what book it was, but it was a parenting book, and that was one of the first things that they said.
Speaker 1:They said don't, don't over, explain it to your kids. You know, you just set the rule. Make sure that it's not set out of any kind of emotion. It's just. You know, this is a rule, this is a regulation, this is what you do. It needs no explaining, you know, because the explanation and the understanding of it's really up to them. You know and I realize this the hard way too with all my kids, the more you try to explain it to them, the less they really get it anyway, you know. So why bother? You know what I mean? Like why try to? Because, and that's, and also the same way, the more you try to, the more I try to make them understand, the less they want to understand it.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm Betsy Robinson, ceo of Tier 4 Group, a women owned and diversity certified technology recruiting and executive search firm that connects exceptional talent with extraordinary companies in 43 states across the US talent with extraordinary companies in 43 states across the US. At Tier 4 Group, relationships are at the heart of everything we do, whether it's with our clients, our candidates, our vendor partners or with each other. Our mission is to go beyond transactions and create long-lasting partnerships. We don't just help companies find talent, we help them find the right talent, and that starts with truly understanding our clients and candidates. It's not just about filling roles. It's about fostering success for the long-term. This is the recipe for success that's landed us on the Inc 5,000 six consecutive years and has us outpacing our competition across the country, and I'm thrilled to support Casey Jay Cox's podcast.
Speaker 3:Casey's philosophy aligns perfectly with ours, prioritizing relationships over transactions. His insights on building trust, empathy and connection resonate deeply with the way we do business at Tier 4 Group. We were honored to have Casey as our keynote at our 2024 kickoff, and all of our new hires read his book Win the Relationship, not the Deal, when they start here with us. So if you're looking for a partner who values relationships as much as results, visit us at tier4groupcom or connect with me, betsy Robinson, directly on LinkedIn and, while you're at it, keep tuning into Casey's podcast. You'll walk away inspired to strengthen your own relationships, both personally and professionally, and, as Casey always says, stay curious.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the thing I've learned. So have you heard about the like Socratic method of leadership, about power asking questions, mm-mm. So I think like. So COVID, uh, that shenanigans we all went through. Like one of the best things for me about COVID was it made me realize I was doing way too much for my kids. Yeah, interesting, and we had so much time in our hands. I'm like, why the hell am I making breakfast all the time Fricking? Why don't you make me eggs? Why don't you make me pink, like, like. And then all of a sudden we created short order cooks. It was awesome and I read it.
Speaker 2:I read a book called um. So I had a guy in my podcast by the name of swen nader who he uh, played in the nba for years. Um, he wrote a book called you have not taught until they have learned, which I it hit. It taught me a lot about like, dude, stop doing stuff for your kids. Yeah, you're not gonna keep them in this. Um. And I think a lot of that was happened because my unfortunately my son had a. He had some unexplained seizures when he was young. He had some it's kind of scary ER trips. So I think that kind of turned us into ultra protective mode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, understandable yeah.
Speaker 2:Exactly Right, or. But then we had to kind of like rewire ourselves and you know. So going through that Swen, it just made me realize, like, if to your point, like we keep telling our kids, hey, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, they're gonna resist us, they're gonna hear us not listen to us. But I think if we ask questions and create space for silence and just awkwardly stare at them and help build their critical thinking skills, then our job actually becomes easier. It's counterintuitive to most parents these days. We will, we try to like fix and get ahead of it, and I think there's a new phrase I've heard called the snowplow parent. Where you're, you know you're getting ahead of everything, which no one wants, the drama, no one wants the ER trips, but sometimes you got to go through that stuff to learn your lessons, for them to realize you can't do that again, you know, or or just anything.
Speaker 1:And you're right, it's. I realized that because, you know, my, my oldest and I, you know we have. You know, like the 30 minutes before bedtime is really, is really kind of our. That's when, that's when I learn everything, you know what I mean. Like that's for some strange reason, and I'm sure it's just her, her, you know, trying not to go to sleep, but that's when she really kind of starts divulging all the things that happen in the day and that, what she learns and what she's taken away and stuff. And those are the moments that, like you know, I could, I could really be forcing her to get in bed, you know as, but I, I, it's just as valuable for me to kind of I. That's how I get to know her number one, that's how I get to see what she's struggling with, that's how I get to know her Number one. That's how I get to see what she's struggling with, that's how I get to see what her likes and dislikes are. And it's also, like you know, those are the times when she's the most articulate, those are the times when she really kind of when communication becomes easy to her.
Speaker 1:And, man, it's hard when you're a kid to talk to grownups. It's hard to talk to grown-ups now. I mean, you know, a conversation is, especially when it's like small talks. It is very difficult and I stumble through it a lot, a lot, and you know, and everybody's socially awkward, and when I'm socially awkward and everybody else is, it's just this, it's just really weird. You know what I mean and so, and so you know, the the more you kind of get used to those kind of things and you know you don't want to.
Speaker 1:It's, you know you can just accept that kind of stuff and just say, well, you know, ok, this is a weird, awkward conversation, but it's OK. I mean, I can understand what she's saying and where she's coming from, she can understand what I'm saying and at least she knows. Like you know, there these are moments when I'm listening and you're right, man, it's, it's so, it's so important to listen to your kids, because that that's another one of those things in their arsenal that creates the confidence If they, if they, if you listen to them, then then then it allows them to have a voice, you know, and that man, that voice is they'll, they really will. They'll carry that stuff with them, you know Well, shameless plug here.
Speaker 2:So when I left corporate, I wrote a book called win the relationship, not the deal, and chapter three is about the difference between hearing and listening. Yeah, we hear so many things, we, and a lot of times it's funny. I I've like become almost obsessed with like how people ask questions and how people communicate. Just in the journey I've had, and even now as a podcaster, which is just like a fun project, that's still like fun. I get free therapy out of every episode.
Speaker 2:But yeah, me too, when people ask, when people ask questions, watch how many people adam will ask like two or three questions in one. Like, for example, like, hey, I'm so, how's life, how's the family, what have you been up to? And well, jesus, which one do you want me to answer? And then most people answer the last one and they forget the other two questions they had. And now they're thinking about I want to talk about this. Versus most people don't say they ask one question, shut the F up and then say, wow, tell me more about that. Yeah, right, describe why you feel that way, tell me what would happen if that went away, and don't ever talk about themselves.
Speaker 2:And so, like what I do for my, my kids. I try to like just remind them that this is where again back to vulnerability remind them often where I suck, either in my current life or as a kid, when I got fired from a job, when I made a bad decision, when I did this or did that. I feel like when we as dads can do that and I work on it often it removes the fear and kind of helps the confidence go up. Because when fear is present then our ego gets in the way, that habits get involved and we're afraid to be our best version of ourselves. But if we're, if we believe that we do matters, we're, it's kind of like um, oh, I have a great guitar story for you. You might appreciate this. Oh, great. So, um, sorry to ramble, but I just thought about it.
Speaker 2:Okay, so again, I can play like five chords. I can play like you know most. I can play like you know most. I can play most songs to my version of it, not like the real version. Like wagon wheel, I can play it, but he'd probably daryl's be like he ain't playing like that come on right right but so we're on this.
Speaker 2:we go to the east coast and every summer and um, this place called cuddy hunk island, magical place, and uh, we my friend's daughter struggled with confidence like eighth grade and then she picked up guitar, started playing a little bit, and one night we're on their deck and maybe there's a few soda pops around the campfire a little bit, and I said, hey, anna, let's go play guitar. She's like no, I'm not gonna play. I'm like why not you play? I'm like so do I? I'm not that good. And she's like I know, but I don't want to play, I don't want to mess up I go. How many people out there play guitar? She's like I don't know, I go, none, me and you. So if you mess up, who's gonna know that you mess up me?
Speaker 3:but I won't, I'm not gonna tell them right.
Speaker 2:and so we get out there and I go now, listen, you got a way better song voice than I do, but all you play one and I'll sing and I'll embarrass myself. First she's like, uh, and I found like, come on, just go, I go, we get them to come out. And then we went out there. Everyone's like so excited to go. Hey, everybody, you know I'm going to, I'm going to sing, and and next, just by me going first being you know, I think that's leadership, like you go first, be the vulnerability of that. All of a sudden she starts loosening up. We played for two hours that night. That's awesome. And uh, she's like really good.
Speaker 2:And her friend, all of a sudden, two friends like the voice that you know had, they're singing, we're doing, they're doing like Fleetwood Mac, they're doing crazy, I'm like. And then my buddy comes up to me. He's like dude, you're like the Ted Lasso of Cuddy Hunt, what just happened? But like to the power of like, that's what, like as dad, like that's like. My ever goal is how do you, how do you unleash that in a kid to like to do what kind of what your parents did like got you the PA, they got you the guitar. They supported you. And then you're, you know, and I think it's the thing you know, you're just.
Speaker 1:you're basically just kind of just kind of helping them ease into a platform. You know what I mean. Like you know, cause, cause, if you can make it, if you can make it comfortable for them, they'll go with you, you know, and, and if they go with you, they'll surpass you pretty quickly, and that's all I want. You know what I mean. Like that's really all I want. I just, and no matter what it is, you know and I don't again, you know, I have had no expectations for my children when it comes to music.
Speaker 1:However, music is a very vital part of our life and it's also. Music is a really interesting language. It's a universal language, it's a spiritual language, it's really kind of the only form of spiritual communication that we have, and it's a very important one. You know what I mean. Like you know, music emotes, it creates emotion that you couldn't, it just doesn't, doesn't exist any other way, and so you know it's really, it's really, it's really important. That's why it's also kind of scary. You know what I mean, that's why you know, you, you sort of, that's why you feel this vulnerability. You know, and and and rightfully so. But at the same time, if you can harness that vulnerability and that's, it's easier to do it with your children, it's easier to do it with your friends, it's easier to do it Like. It's easier to do it like it's easier for me to do it.
Speaker 1:I don't get nearly as nervous when I'm playing with, playing band shows, you know. And go back to what you're saying about you know making mistakes and stuff like that. I mean I. So where I have a three guys, it's me, I play guitar, and then I have a guitar player, bass and drums every night after we get off stage. You know, we always have great shows and and I mean and honestly I mean we have, we can, and I told a buddy of mine this yesterday we can kick ass in front of nobody, and so if we can kick ass in front of nobody, we can kick ass in front of anybody, you know.
Speaker 1:And so that's kind of how, how we kind of approach this. You know, we say, well, there's four people out there, so what? At least we get to play and we like playing together and these songs are cool and we have fun doing it. So you know, that's the thing. But we all are guilty of walking off stage and going man, I really screwed that part up. And every time the drummer says, oh man, I just blew through that part, I think to myself I never noticed it. And if I say, oh gosh, I blew that note, I'm sorry, I missed that course I don't know what you're talking about. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And so if the four of us who are like-minded and again you're talking about I mean I've been doing this for 30 years and the other guys that I'm with that we have this level of of experience and we can go up there and and and and explain our mistakes to each other and we go. Well, I didn't ever notice that the audience is completely unaware of these kinds of things. You know what I mean. They don't know, they don't even care. If it stops in the same place and starts in the same place and you don't act like a fool in the middle of it, then you've succeeded, you know, and so just just kind of come into an understanding about.
Speaker 1:That is really liberating. You know what I mean. It's really one of those things to where you kind of can. That's when you learn to let yourself go, and that's kind of on stage, like that's our job. I realize that more and more now that, like man, these people are here to feel good. Let's more and more, now that, like man, these people are here to feel good. Let's, you know, and so am I, honestly, you know, I mean, hey, thanks for coming, but, like man, I'm trying to get, I'm trying to get life off my chest too, you know. And so so, let's, let's, let's do this together. And, uh, and you know, it's, it's, it's priceless man.
Speaker 2:It's priceless. I want to make sure I heard that quote right. We can kick ass in front of nobody, but then we can kick ass in front of everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if we can kick ass in front of nobody, we can kick ass in front of anybody.
Speaker 2:That should be a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, a tattoo Deal. I mean, that is why that's gold. It speaks to me in many levels, brother. So I teach the power of practice to sales teams and people in business. Because people, when they get in the business world, they just they wing it, but, like as an athlete, I had to go to practice in college.
Speaker 2:I didn't, I couldn't just tell my coach hey, do you mind if I just show up on Saturdays and give it a go? I mean he'd be like no bro, get out of here. Yet in, like sales teams, we have to. Just we show up and we practice on the client, which I'm like man. Should we tell the customer that we're actually going to wing it and practice on them? How would they feel? They'd be like what? No, but by practicing in front of ourselves or our team. And if you can get good at practicing in front of yourself, I'm going to take that. I'll give you love or give you team love. But that is such a good mantra that we I think I don't know if you've shared that with your kids, but like I'm gonna share that with my kids tonight, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's valuable and and you know it kind of goes back to the same thing. Like you know, you can practice all you want to, but there's there's no, there's, there's no, uh, no other way to to get better than doing it on game day, man, because that's when the pressure's on. You know, and like I've seen that a million times and I did it really kind of in my more formative years as a songwriter. I used to. You know, I have an apartment in Nashville, I go up there a lot, but you know, my first publishing deal I was, I mean, god, I wrote a lot of songs and so you know what I would do was I would. This was before I got married, so I had the standing gig every Thursday night at this place in my hometown and I would, I would go up to Nashville, I would write Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, and then then Thursday night I would go home and play every song that I wrote that week in front of people and and you just you watch how they react, you know, and you can see not just like that song sucked, like you I can, I got, I got to the point where I could see the parts of the song that were, uh, responded to. You know what I mean. Like I could, you know if, if the second verse was the thing that turned ahead, then keep the second verse, but if you lost them in the chorus, then you might ought to go back and change that chorus. You know what I mean and and that's that's the thing you know. You, you can think to yourself that a song is great, all you want to, but until you play it for somebody, there's no way to know. There's just no way to know. And and they're, and you know, in a way like they all are gonna suck to somebody and they're all gonna be great to others. You know, art is completely subjective and life is too. You know, I mean, and that's that's the cool thing about it, like, and so that's why you know, I get I get a lot of messages, in fact.
Speaker 1:I mean I've got people right now that have said, hey, what do you think about this song? And and I really do my best to to give it a listen and find the things that I like about it and not not necessarily find the things that I don't like about it. Because who am I? Who am I to like it or or don't like it? You know, you know it's. And so I say, okay, well, structurally, here's what makes sense. Okay, you, you nailed it on this part.
Speaker 1:This gets a little out of like I, you, you kind of lost me in the storyline here, and and so, you know, I kind of explained sort of a mechanical explanation of of why you know where the song works and where it doesn't. And then the next thing I ask is like well, what do you think? Do you like it? If you like it, it doesn't matter what I think. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But but that's really the thing that, man, honestly, the only thing that people you know come to me about that kind of stuff, is they just want me to say, man, this is a good song, you know, and they're all good songs. If you can finish, if you can start one and finish it, you created a song. And if you created a song, you created a good one. You know, speak to somebody Absolutely, absolutely, and the person that you know that you really wanted to speak to more than anything is you, because it's really a spectacular form of expression. I can say things in songs that I could never say out loud, because you just what might?
Speaker 1:be an example, you think of something, I mean good question, kind of anything. Okay, that's a good, a good. So I have this song on my Bad Days Better record. Well, let's go with Bad Days Better. You know there's, so there's.
Speaker 1:I mean that song in itself is strictly a practice and positive thinking, and so I mean it's. You know, like the chorus is I'm a man on a mission. I'm the only one I can change, because this mean old world ain't always going to stay the same. So even in the bad times, the sun's going to shine on me. So I'm going to make the bad days better than the good days used to be, you know. And so, like, that's the song that, like when we start out with different songs in our band show, that's a, that's a pretty acoustically driven song. It was meant to, it was meant to be an opening song for acoustic shows, and so therefore I opened my acoustic sets for that. But I also, you know, I kind of. It's how you learn to practice what you preach, you know, and, and it's and you also kind of learn to make those things. It becomes your subconscious, it's the, it's the repetition of, of the saying, those, and that's kind of what I learned? I learned that this is an easy way to be repetitive about things that I'm trying to change in my life, and so use this as an opportunity to do so.
Speaker 1:And at the time when I wrote that song, I was a pretty dramatically negative thinker. You know it was everything was a worst case scenario. I was always looking over my shoulder, waiting on, waiting on the bad thing that was right around the corner from the good thing, always, always, and it really created an anxiety and just this, this sort of just you know, just, unhappiness. It was just an unhappiness and still, you know, I sort of you know, happiness is a very difficult thing to sort of abide. You know, like you, everyone strives to be that way, but it's not really trying to be that way, it's trying to allow yourself to be that way. Because you are you, you have just like goes back to what we started with Like man, you got plenty to be happy about. If you stood up this morning and you breathe this morning, you got a whole lot of stuff to be happy about. Up this morning and you breathe this morning, you got a whole lot of stuff to be happy about.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, in doing that, you know, I had, I had this opportunity to sort of let these, let these lyrics be the voice that that speaks to my subconscious and teaches me how to live like a more positive person. And so, you know, that's that's kind of what I. That's why I don't write about beer drinking songs, because they don't. You know, I, I don't get anything from it. You know, that's that's kind of what I. That's why I don't write about beer drinking songs, because they don't. You know, I don't get anything from it. You know, and I mean, you know, maybe some people do and that's fine. But like I got, I got some. I got some important things I need to be doing right now and this is the best way for me to do it.
Speaker 2:I got some with you. That's helped me, Sure. So when I left corporate, I got into, I didn't know what I was going to do. So I wrote a book, started this podcast fully for fun, and now it's like I can't believe I'm still doing this thing. It still blows me away.
Speaker 1:Six seasons Pretty impressive man.
Speaker 2:It doesn't really, and I never once, Adam, meant to have it drive like speaking opportunities or coaching opportunities, and that was never the goal. The goal was, hey, how can I get some? How can I talk to dads and help just create better dads out there and I'm going to get some free therapy out of it? That was so we did this. And so the next thing, you know, like kind of the, I met some people and I met a company shout out to Limitless Minds got in, short, little quarterback a guy named Russell Wilson, his brother Harry Wilson, who I became friends with, and a guy named DJ Eidson and there was other. So then Russell's mindset coach was a guy named Trevor Mollat who unfortunately passed away. So in this journey when I met them, I worked them for about a year before it kind of like just timing was. Maybe we all kind of like just kind of went our separate ways and but still, you know, wish those guys the best great terms.
Speaker 2:But I learned about a couple things. I learned about the number of thoughts we have a day as humans. Which science? There's different science says it, but normal science says we have close like 80 to 90 000 thoughts a day. Wow, and of those thoughts, any idea what uh percent or negative, I'll take a guess. I'm in an overwhelming majority.
Speaker 1:I would say yeah, 75 to 85 percent yeah I figured I would say 80.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the story we keep telling ourselves is just a story, yeah, and so, um, how I like try to help myself, I like visualization stories and so like, when I work with teams or like my, my kids, I say imagine that negative thought comes into our head. Okay, take, think about now. And all of a sudden, imagine what you and I are on a bridge and we're going across, like you know, from one Island to another and on that bridge, all of a sudden, it's like dead stop traffic. Now, I would tell people now, if, if the bridge operator comes on the microphone which imagine there was that one and he or she says all right, everybody, we're going to be stopped for like five seconds, no worry, uh, we'll be, we'll be going before we know it, okay, so like, what's the chances that in five seconds you're going to roll the window down? Talk to the person next to you.
Speaker 2:Probably low, right seven to nine yeah, exactly, I got five seconds, but I do that, I go. So imagine that person next to you in that car is that negative thought, extend your middle finger and say, f off, bro, I ain't talking, because it does no nothing good for us. So and then I learned this, this four minute meditation. So I, I, I've tried to meditate. Sometimes I'm like, am I doing it? Is it? Yeah, am I doing the meditation? I didn't know right, but this I could get down with and this helped me a lot during covid um, and I actually shared it with my son's um really best friends who was going through some confidence, uh things with, uh with a sport, and I he's like, dude, it worked. I'm like, I know I don't know why it works, but it works. And so it's literally you take four minutes and I learned this from a guy named Colin Henderson Shout out Seahen. And you literally take your phone for four minutes.
Speaker 2:You set a timer, and the first minute you're just going to breathe, I'm just taking deep breaths. Second minute, and these are things I'm going to say out loud. Second minute, I'm going to say I have statements, things you have, I have. I have a great guitar, I have three great girls, I have an amazing wife, I got a great t-shirt, I have my health. Whatever you're saying, you're going to say something. Boom, timer goes off. You're going to reset it.
Speaker 2:The third minute is I am statements, and I like to attack my negatives that I know are not my best burdens to meet. I am patient, I am present, I am organized, all the things that you think maybe you aren't reverse it. And then the last minute is I will put it into action, I will be present, I will be positive, I will connect with people, I will have patience, all these things. And I don't know why it works, and but when I get done doing it, it's like. It's almost like I went to the gas station and they put gas in my body and all of a sudden I'm a. I feel just different.
Speaker 1:So give it a try. That is spectacular, man. That is spectacular because that's the thing, and you know, and you read, you, you read it in so many books, you read it in or you hear it on so many podcasts, so many editorials. It is all mindset and it is just, I mean, the most think about it like the most difficult human problems that we all have are are solved. That simply.
Speaker 1:It really is just as simple as that. It is just as easy to say I love you as it is to say I hate you. It just takes it, it takes initiative, you know just. It just takes that it takes to want to be able to say just you have to want to say it and and and just. Sometimes you have to say it, whether you want to or not. But if you, it's interesting like when you, when you can sort of discipline yourself, and that's why it's a discipline, you can discipline yourself to do things you don't want to. You kind of learn how to want them pretty quickly. You know, and it's, and it's other than that. It's all habit, you know, and and it's, it's, it's just it.
Speaker 1:It's so ironic to me that it really is like that to think about how, how difficult the human condition is and all the things we go through and everything that's happening in our world just constantly. And current events have always been current events, man, the stuff that happened in the 60s, happened in the 70s, happened in the 80s, 90s and the 70s happened in the 80s, 90s. And now you know, I mean everybody has always been afraid of stuff. It's always been this, that and the other. You know, but it's just as simple as a mindset. It's as simple as you taking the responsibility in your own self to change your own way of thought, to say this is what I'm, I want, I want this. Therefore, I'm going to think this, therefore, I'm going to be this and I've never. It's.
Speaker 1:It's just like you know, like like people, I I'm pretty pretty religious guy and you know, I, I love this stuff. That, like, I've never met or never heard of a person that had a testimony that said everyone that said I was a skeptic and I started reading the Bible to debunk it. They're all ministers, 100%, every one of them. They go into this and they say, okay, fine, let's see if this is real and it becomes. Those are the people that have, they are the ones that make it real for others. You know what I mean. And it's the same thing with your mind, with your soul and stuff like that. It's just, it's all. It's all. You are responsible for this stuff. It's fascinating to me, but it's the most difficult thing in the world to do. The easiest thing is the hardest thing to do, so weird thing to do.
Speaker 2:So weird humans, this, this is weird. We're flawed, brother, we're all flawed, um, but I, I tell them, I tell my kids this like I say imagine this is a muscle, but it's, it's, it's the. It's the most untapped muscle in the in the body we don't ever work on yeah and uh. So why don't we like to exercise, but why don't we work on our brain, our mind, or how we should and like when we do that? That's why I think emotional intelligence is such an it's becoming more of a sought after skill versus. You know, I think I take EQ over IQ any day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, and it's nice. It is nice to live in a day and age that, like you know, I'm sure you can vouch for the fact that our parents and I don't think they were, I don't think they were, you know, intentionally ignorant of it, but like I don't think they were intentionally ignorant of it, but it wasn't the reality for them that it is for us, and we're pretty fortunate to at least be able to say okay, this is important. Your mind is really where the whole thing operates.
Speaker 2:I am what I am excited about, though, that there are. In today's age, I feel like there's some kids getting back into the trades and I joke with my son and his buddies buddies. I'm like we don't need any more people who can talk and type for a living. We need people who can fix some shit. Like, yeah, I, I don't, I don't, I am, my buddies give me such a hard time. Like my wife makes fun of me, I, I just that's, that's my.
Speaker 1:I wish I could fix stuff, not much yeah I know me, me too, my, my wife is more the man of the house than I am for sure.
Speaker 2:She's Mr Fix-It. Yeah, yeah, okay, as it was, we wrap up here. If you had to summarize, we talked about a lot. We talked about some dad stuff, talked music, I mean mindset. But if you had to like kind of summarize, call it two or three actionable themes that dads can take from our episode or conversation today to say, man, I learned this, this and this from Adam and Casey and I'm going to use this to apply my own life to be a better quarterback or leader in my home. Tell me what comes to mind.
Speaker 1:I think that probably, too, I think it would be our first one and our last one the fact that, like that, that every single day there is more to be thankful for than there is tonight, every day you have more's more stuff than than you realize to be thankful for. And, uh, the other one is, is the fact that that that happiness is, is or not necessarily happiness, but your, your entire existence, like, like your life in general, is, is all. It's all dependent on, on how you choose to to uh navigate your thoughts and how you choose to control your thoughts, the only thing that you can control.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, just like, like you said, you get to say I hate you, I love you. I mean, forgiveness takes one, there's a reconciliation takes two. Yeah, but when I forgive, it gets that negative energy out of my body and I actually feel better now. I don't mean to, I don't have to spend time with that person and I think once you kind of give yourself grace and understanding that I'm not going to be best friends with every human on earth, that's not going to happen.
Speaker 2:And surround yourself with people that make you better, I think, make you uncomfortable in a good way, like, wow, that person, I want to be like her or I want to be like him. I wonder how they did it. Go ask them questions, compliment that person, you know. Um, okay, you're, you're, you're, I want, I want to make sure, and if there's a way I can figure out how to do it, I would love to like play a song in the beginning of this episode and play a song at the end, but I want to make sure that we send people uh to wherever they can consume your music. Um, I'm a huge fan. I actually worked out this morning. I want to familiarize myself. Uh, bills in alab.
Speaker 2:Love that song. Thank you, man, but like, way too long dude is, it's in my head and it just it's. It has such that catchy it's. It's a song that needs to be heard more often. I'm going to help, do everything I can to kind of get it out there. I'm one dude, but if we can find one person that's like, oh my God, where's that? But how can P? How can we get people to learn more about you and your music and maybe even attend a show that might be coming up.
Speaker 1:Adam hoodcom will get you anywhere. You need to go, adam hood like. You can go to adam hoodcom and you can go to the homepage. There's like all the links to all my social media is is on adam hoodcom. Uh, our tour dates are we? We update them as soon as they come. That's on adamhoodcom. Ticket links. Um, all the merchandise is on there, uh, you know. Uh, again, video content, links to the dsps, links to spotify and itunes, everything is available through adamhoodcom. So so I would say, start there and then go wherever you choose. So, okay, and that's kind of the most simple form of doing it. You know what I mean. Like, like, that's the one thing that, like, if you can, if you can remember my name, that'll get you to the website. And once, once you're at the website, that'll get you anywhere you want to go.
Speaker 2:Cool. Well, we will make sure that's linked in the lightning round, okay, where I just completely go random on you, I'm going to show the negative hits. I've taken too many hits, not bong hits, but football hits in college. Your job is to answer these questions quickly. My job is to try to get a giggle out of you. Okay, okay, true or false? Your very first song you learned to play in the guitar was gin and juice false okay, true or false.
Speaker 2:I once got on a karaoke contest on a cruise ship and the song I took me to the finals was way down yonder on the Chattahoochee it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie it wasn't a cruise ship, I would.
Speaker 1:I would say karaoke, but not, not cruise ships. So so very, very accurate. It's false, but like sort of gray area. True, we're going. True.
Speaker 2:Okay, fine, all right, I didn't. It's a hilarious story. I didn't know I was in a karaoke contest I might've had a soda pop and I went up and I was like, oh, I'll go, I'll do something random, I'll do. You know Chattahoochee and we, and we did that and all of a sudden, next thing you know, like my friend goes, she does a song and then next thing you know, they call our names up. I'm like what do they call her name? And like, oh my god, we're in the finals and I end up losing to like an 80 year old who did a sinatra song that just brought the house down of course you did that's right.
Speaker 1:That's how you get schooled, young man tip my cap to him.
Speaker 2:Tip my cap. Um yeah, if you were to play an any other instrument besides guitar, what would you play? Piano favorite song to play on the piano is uh, almond brothers tunes.
Speaker 1:Can you play piano, man? No, no, that's billy joe's. It's complicated man. I, because I tried, like I bought sheet music, to learn like new york of mind and stuff, but like chord structure, piano chord structure is not chord structure.
Speaker 2:If you were to go on vacation right now, just you and your wife? Where are we going? Uh, the islands, okay, like.
Speaker 1:Caribbean, key West, yeah, or somewhere down in that area. Yeah, yeah, we're going to go. We'd go somewhere warm.
Speaker 2:Okay, love, tell me the your favorite uh comedy movie ever lives, okay, um you know that one, eddie murphy, and martin martin.
Speaker 1:What's his name? But martin martin?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah. What about um favorite song that's impacted your life?
Speaker 1:oh, uh, john hyatt, um, uh, there's a song he called stood up. That that's really been. That was it, it, it. Life tends to imitate art.
Speaker 2:I feel like I'd learned that song young and lived it for a number of decades if you were to um put a band together of people that are no longer here on earth with us, who would? Who would be in the band?
Speaker 1:I'd say greg allman would certainly be the keyboard player. Um, let's see. Oh, I mean, everybody would say that you want bonham to play drums. I think that would probably be accurate. I mean, everybody would want bonham to be the drummer. Uh, I don't know that hendrix would would be the guitar player because, you know, he was little, he was a little richard's guitar player because he was Little Richard's guitar player. Little Richard kicked him out because he was too showy. I would do bottom and then I'm going to have to come back to me on that. That's a lot. There's a lot to unpack there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, all good. If there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title Bad Days, better. That's a song, right, exactly. Bad Days Better. Now, bad days. But that's a song, right, right, exactly. Bad days better. Okay, now, adam, bad days better. Um, I can't find it on amazon, I can't find it in barnes noble, I can't find it in the airport. I've tried everywhere, because it's sold out and these copies are flying at the shelf. So now, uh, netflix has found out about it and they're going to create a movie. You are now the casting director. I need to know who's going to star adam hood in bad days better. Bradley cooper, let's go. Uh, how good was he. And when he's saying, uh, that song, tell me something, what's that called?
Speaker 2:um, tell me something, girl, that's oh, yeah, yeah, stars born that's right, that's right, I can play that one really yep I'm gonna come back, I'm gonna learn how to play way too long. I might even like figure out, if I get your cell, that I'll send you a clip. I'm like bro I this hopefully it's a compliment I learned how to play way too long yeah, please, please remember.
Speaker 1:Minor e minor in the verse e major in the chorus okay, that'll get you there.
Speaker 2:Um, and then last question tell me two words that would describe your wife uh, intelligent and stubborn, love it well, lightning rounds over.
Speaker 1:I giggled more of my own jokes.
Speaker 2:But, um, this has been intelligent and stubborn. Love it Well. Lightning round's over, I giggled more of my own jokes, but this has been an absolute, absolute blessing, Honor to talk to you. I'm so grateful that you decided to join us and I hope that many dads and moms or grandmas whoever else listened took a lot from our conversation and realized the power of the mind is an untapped gift that many of us don't slow down to think about and realize. The power of the mind is an untapped gift that many of us don't slow down to think about. We let life happen to us versus trying to figure out a way to impact it. I hope that we can send a lot of people your way and get people book all those shows on the current tour. I'll make sure those are linked in the show notes, but I am so grateful for our time together today and you got a new fan. Man, I'll be spreading the gospel your way, Thank you again.
Speaker 1:Likewise, casey, thank you so much for having me. I've enjoyed this conversation as much as I have in one I've done in a long time, so it means a lot. I appreciate you letting this be your platform, because it's not just your average interview. I mean, this is very important stuff to talk about and most men, like you and I, we need the iron, sharpening iron to sort of be men and dads and have these conversations, love it. Thank you man, thank you buddy.