HI 157 - The Warrior and the Monk with Greg Amundson

Welcome to the Heroic Investing Show. As first responders, we risk our lives every day. Our financial security is under attack, our pensions are in a state of emergency. A single on duty incident can alter or erase our earning potential instantly and forever. We are the heroes of society. We are self reliant and we need to take care of our own financial future. The Heroic Investing show is our toolkit of business and investing tactics on our mission to financial freedom.

Hello and welcome to episode 157 of the Heroic Investing Show. This is a podcast for first responders, members of the military, veterans and anyone looking to improve their financial future and gain some freedom with their time. We teach America's heroes how to build passive income, build their startup business and safely grow wealth through real estate and other alternative investments. We help first responders, members of the military put protections and systems in place to enable them to build a life where they can focus on their passion, that service or product that they know they are uniquely gifted to share with the world and gain compensation from it, have a better life, better income, more time to spend with their families. So they got a better family life. This is a varied audience, right? We are trying to add value to members who are, as I said, first responders, you know, firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and then also to active duty members of the military serving abroad. Well, this gentleman, and I have to know my hat is off to Naresh, the gentleman who very amazingly puts together an incredible list of people who would like to be guests on our show. Well, in this guest, he found all of them. So we have the distinct pleasure of talking today with Greg Amundsen. And Greg has been DEA Drug Enforcement Administration special agent. He has been a SWAT team member out in California. He's also been a sniper with that unit and he's been a captain in the United States Navy. Greg, though also, and really what he focuses on nowadays is helping people kind of connect spiritually, athletically and business wise. So he's helping people put together that concept that we're all, you know, it's really becoming well known out there in the self improvement world that you have to be able to not necessarily be a balanced individual. I mean, I don't know that any entrepreneur who's successful is really very balanced, but they do have to focus on all aspects of life. Like you can't be extremely successful unless you have a family life that works, that you spiritually have things that are working for you, that your fitness is there. So how did Greg get there? Well, Greg was one of the, while he was Still a member, a police officer. He started working out at this new thing called CrossFit in 2001 and he worked directly with Greg Gassman, creator of CrossFit, and became a student of his. And then he became a world renowned leader, educator, trainer in the world of CrossFit and really is one of those individuals that helped bring that to be a household name. I mean, I've used CrossFit, you know, back since 2008. I love the ability to get an incredible workout and have others hold me accountable and do it in a very short period of time, safely, very effectively. So certainly in a great organization. And he's for a long time spent a majority of his focus doing that. And he's still a fitness coach out there, but he spends a lot more time helping people spiritually now and writing books. He's a prolific author. We spend quite a bit of time talking about one of his newest books called the Warrior and the Monk. And the reason we talk about that is because the purpose and the focus of that book is a fable about fulfilling your potential and finding true happiness. So, as you know, that is absolutely my inspiration for this podcast and for what I do in trying to help people set up a financial foundation and financial cash flow life so that they can turn and focus on finding true happiness and fulfilling their potential. That's what this is all about. And actually it's what I'm all about. So as you can imagine, I connected very quickly with Greg. Greg is a spiritual individual and some people that may not resonate with. I ask you to have, you know, a little bit of openness. I have found things through starting with meditation and then going to what my coach refers to as a chief spiritual officer. She does that for some, I think, individuals who aren't ready to say that they're religious. It has really brought me on quite a substantial journey and I talk about that here with Greg. So maybe a little bit off topic here, but I don't think so because he's a military man, he's a first responder, and he's someone who is really, really helping with self improvement. All of which I believe members of this audience are very much excited to participate in and learn from. So without further ado, please listen in with this great interview and guest of ours, Greg Amundsen.

And as I mentioned to you in the introduction to this one, Greg has an incredible storied history here that really checks off all the boxes. Right? So this is for first responders and for veterans and active duty members of the military. You know, so I think I mentioned a little more detail for Greg at the beginning, but as a SWAT officer, dea, you know, special agent, an army captain, and then an incredible CrossFit leader and coach starting his own business, that's the part we really want to dig into. But first and foremost, thanks for joining our team. And please give us a little bit of background about when you were in, you know, in service and how you transition.

You got it. Well, thank you for bringing me on the show. I appreciate it, and I see the value in what you're teaching and encouraging officers and veterans to start to consider, hopefully sooner than later. So I'm grateful to be on the show and hopefully make a contribution. You know, I was at the right place at the right time. And so at the inception of my law enforcement career, I was at the inception of the world's first CrossFit gym. No kidding.

The very first.

The very first. And so I was mentored by the founder of CrossFit. And I immediately saw the relevance to the types of physical fitness I was being exposed to in the gym and the demands placed upon me physically and psychologically on the street. And so for me, the adoption of the CrossFit program was no brainer, so to speak. I saw the relevance, the application. I knew it would just be a matter of time before the program saved my life. And I felt so strongly about it that after my first workout, when I went to roll call, I told everyone else about the program. And nearly 20 years later, nothing's changed. I still tell officers that want to hear about the program, and even officers sometimes that don't want to hear about the program, I tell them about CrossFit.

This was like, what, 2008?

Is that right? 2001, brother.

Okay, okay. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

2001. So there was no CrossFit. CrossFit.com. there was no awareness other than people that, like me, were blessed with the opportunity to physically find the location where these workouts were taking place.

What was the gentleman's name again?

Greg Glassman. Coach Greg Glassman.

So crazy chain of events. Last night, I was watching a video called the Power of Zero Video, which is really, really powerful about coming taxation and things like that. But he's on that video, and he has some amazing words to say about politics, but really about how to. I call it adjusting the course of America to get us back on, you know, back on course, where our founding fathers had us going. So it was awesome seeing him on there, but I'd never seen. Never been introduced to him before, but it's just crazy. That was a couple days, you know, it was within two days.

Yeah. I love the synchronicity. That's awesome.

So at the time you said at roll call, so was this as a DEA agent, or what were you doing at the time?

At the time, I was working as a deputy sheriff for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.

Okay.

And my workout was that morning at 6am and roll call was at 2pm and I'm a rookie. I'm only on the job a few months, but nevertheless, I realized the greater implications of the program and wanted to share it with the deputies who were on my squad. And so one of the skills that I naturally started to develop was the ability to enthusiastically share something that I was really passionate about with other people. And there's this great quote that I've heard reinforced over the years, and it says, light yourself on fire with enthusiasm, and the world will come to watch you burn.

And when you find something that your heart leaps at, when you find something that you are enthusiastic about, I believe that's the Holy Spirit directing you and revealing to you a gift that you've been given. And when you have that passion for something, you innately begin to develop the skill and the ability to share that passion with someone else. And we all have passions in life. We all have things that we're enthusiastic about. And oftentimes those things may or may not have anything to do with the profession that we're already in, or we can find a nexus or a connection. And that's something that God helped me achieve in my career. He helped me see the relevance and the application between CrossFit and law enforcement. And that wasn't by accident. That was by a divine design. And I found with people that I mentor and work with that we can find a nexus back to a career they're already in. When they find something they're really passionate about, oftentimes there's a way to bring that passion into an environment they're already in. And at other times, it's a clear sign that the profession they're already in is not what they were born for. And this new passion that's developing in time begins to transition from more of a hobby and passion to remaining a passion, but now being a source of increase financially for that person as well.

Yeah, gosh, Greg, you are preaching to the choir here, which I realize is a really cheesy way to say that, given that you are in the religious field.

But if you were to read my story in the one thing that changes everything. It's a book that I participated in in April. The whole story was about my passion, my purpose for helping people adjust their personal financial lives is to free them up so that they can pursue their unique genius. You know, that thing that they would do without any pay, that inspires them so much that they do bring that enthusiasm and energy, and, you know, it improves their lives and the lives of others. And I really see that as the thing that made America great a couple centuries ago. It's the thing that will keep us great and hopefully will, you know, make us really, really strong in the future if we can just adjust things a little bit. You know, kind of move people away from entitlement, move people towards spending lives, their days doing stuff that they're really inspired to do, you know, enable them to do it and then reward them for doing it, you know, and so, gosh, I'm totally on board with your approach there. Oh, my gosh. Tell us about your books. You know, the one that I'm really interested in is the Warrior and the Monk. Can you tell us a little about that?

Sure, yeah. That was such a fun book to write. One of the creative outlets I have is writing. I'm passionate about sharing my ideas in the written format. And as a side note, I encourage law enforcement officers to develop that skill. During the academy. We're all trained in report writing, and oftentimes officers are very gifted in narrative writing because they have to create a narrative to describe to someone who wasn't there the totality of the events that transpired. And with a little bit of creative freedom, when an officer takes that same skill set and applies it to a narrative in a book, I found that, wow. The skills that we develop in the academy and utilize on a daily basis can be transformed in a radical new way. As an author, I really believe everyone's got at least one book in them. They just have to have the discipline to start to write.

Oh, I totally agree with that.

Yeah. So with the Warrior and the Monk, that. That was a fun creative process because it's written as a fable. And from a very young age, growing up in my family, we didn't have television. Instead, as a family, we would gather and share stories. And so storytelling has always been a big part of my life, and that's what I do. In the Warrior and the Monk, I tell a series of stories or within a story, which is really fun. Whenever you layer the depth of a story, it engages parts of the imagination that can be without that format, they can be rather blunted. And so the reader gets drawn into stories within stories. And the principles I'm teaching are potentially very complex. I'm talking about metaphysics and a new way of developing spirituality and faith and an understanding of God. Yet I'm doing it in simple parables and fables and stories that are fun to read and even more fun to apply in someone's life. And it's all presented in a format that many of my friends have read to their children. And the children are able to gather insight and perspective, and so are the parents. And so, in other words, the book meets the reader at any level of spiritual development. They're at.

That sounds incredible. How big is this book?

I think it's a hundred and some odd pages, but some. Yeah, so it's 150 pages, but some pages only have one or two sentences.

How many fables then, would you say?

It's one fable, one big fable about a warrior who is seeking happiness out there in the world. And he is certain that the next accolade, physical accomplishment, material object, will bring him happiness. And as he's seeking happiness in the world in the form of treasure, simultaneously he has to defend all his treasure against dragons. And dragons are. Anything that he perceives is trying to take away his treasure. And this constant battle that he's struggling with is ultimately causing him more and more suffering, not happiness. And finally he meets this monk. And the monk helps him realize the real treasure he's looking for isn't out in the world. He already possesses it. It's within his heart. And the real dragons that he's facing are likewise not out there in the world. They're within his mind. His own limited beliefs about himself and what he's capable of. So the monk completely turns the warrior's world upside down. And ultimately the warrior is able to find fulfillment, meaning, purpose, passion, happiness, success, prosperity. He's able to find all that. And the real joy of the story is that he's had everything that he's been looking for. He's had it all along.

That's cool. It reminds me of one of my favorites, my all time favorites, the Peaceful Warrior. Yeah, yeah, that's a great book too.

That book as well as a book called the Monk who Sold His Ferrari.

That one, I don't know.

Yeah, both of those books helped influence this manuscript as well. So there's a lot of. In addition to scripture in the book, there's eastern philosophy, there's modern spiritual thinkers, Deepak Chopra's work, Wayne Dyer's work, Marianne Williamson's work, Napoleon Hill's work. Yeah. I mean, it brings together a lot of really bright thinkers in the book.

Wow, great. I'm getting a copy of that one. And I have a great friend and follower. He's probably my number one podcast follower. He always gives me awesome feedback. Craig Horton, a buddy of mine, and he's a very spiritual guy, and he's probably already ordered the book by the time he got to this point in the podcast.

I'll have a study buddy. The tagline on the Warrior and the Monk is a fable about fulfilling your potential and finding true happiness, which is audience why I asked about it, because it certainly is preaching to the choir to say that same silly thing I said before, but it speaks to me, is really what I meant to say there. Okay, so your other book is more. So Fire Breather Fitness is more about working out your body, mind, spirit, best shape of your life. So that concept of having a healthy body, that keeps your mind sharp and it keeps your spirit alive, I guess. Yes.

It's the interconnectedness of the journey that I've been on. So the first several years of CrossFit, I was convinced that everything I was learning inside the gym was in the realm of physical adaptation. And then one day, Coach Glassman said something to me that really changed the trajectory of my life. And he said that the greatest adaptation to CrossFit takes place between the ears. And he said that around 2004. And that was a game changer, because what I realized is that if I was only focusing on the physical adaptation, and according to the founder of CrossFit, the greatest adaptation would be within my mind. Then I needed to refocus and reprioritize what I was in fact training where the adaptation was taking place. And as I shifted my focus to the mental adaptation, the quality of my thinking and beliefs and habitual thoughts, I opened up a whole new world of opportunity. And then I took it one step further, and I started to contemplate the possibility that everything I'm doing in the gym, as it's influencing my body and my mind, could also be increasing my spirituality, increasing my faith and intimacy with God. And Fire Breather Fitness. Is that proposal that fitness and spirituality and a mindfulness practice, they don't need to be disconnected. In fact, they could all be interconnected, interrelated, and ultimately trained at the exact same time. And the book teaches the student or the reader how to walk that path of holistic integrated training.

Wow, that's awesome. That is great. So a little transition here because I haven't read those books quite yet, but I'm certainly looking excited and looking forward to it. So we go back to 2001, 2002, and you're inspired about CrossFit. You're still in government service, and you're thinking, man, I got to make a transition, because the inspiration is telling me to become the. The fitness expert and help use that to center mind, body, and spirit and then help other law enforcement people as a coach. Right. Or was that all visible to you back then?

In 2001 and two, there's this great scripture that says we're knit together in our mother's womb. So Scripture teaches that each one of us is innately gifted with certain qualities, certain talents that you and I and the listener can do in such a unique fashion that no one else in the world can do what we can do the way that we do it.

Yeah. And sadly, most of us discount it because we don't recognize. Because it's so easy for us, we don't recognize. It's a gift.

Right. And so when I reflect on my childhood, I see these qualities within me. From a very young age, I felt drawn to protection and service. And from a very young age, I was drawn to the benefits of physical fitness. And I saw the relationship between being physically strong, having a sound mind, being of faith in God, and how that could help me protect and serve other people. They were connected. And so when I found CrossFit, I was using CrossFit to enhance my capability as a deputy, and then as a special agent, and then as a soldier in the army. And naturally, I was compelled to teach other deputies, officers, and soldiers about the greater implications of the CrossFit program. And I was so enthusiastic and I believe so strongly in what I was doing, that on the weekends, I would work Monday through Friday, either as a deputy or as a special agent. And then, because of a conflict of interest in particular with the dea, there was a mandate that I could have no outside employment. Monday through Friday, I'm serving as an agent. Friday afternoon, I would pay out of my own pocket to travel around the country teaching courses on CrossFit, and I couldn't be compensated. And so for about five years, I was essentially paying people to let me teach them about CrossFit. But what I realized is that, energetically, I was building momentum. And if we think about currency, the way that currency flows from one person to another, I was projecting a huge current into the universe, and it would just be a matter of time before that flow of currency had to make its way back to its source. It had to make its way back to me. And that's what started to happen. As I was projecting this love and this passion and enthusiasm and this current of energy, I was building up a bank, so to speak, an account. And there came a tipping point where I was able to step out of full time government work into an account, so to speak, of opportunity that I had created over time. And I've used that principle with officers that have felt stuck in the career and they know that there's something else that God wants them to do and it doesn't have to be an overnight transition. I always recommend taking something that they're passionate about and just starting to bring a little bit of currency to it, Just start to redirect some energy and some focus into that. And what I found is it's a win win for the officer because when I was traveling on the weekends, I was giving myself the gift of joy and stress relief because the danger of the job, the location that I was working was all stressful. And so when I left on the weekend to teach and to share and to connect with people, that was a stress release. And so it was therapy for me. It was helping other people and it was preparing me for the future. And so when officers have something they're passionate about, they can use that passion when they redirect their energy to it as a form of stress relief. And it's much better, for example, if someone has a passion or a hobby for we'll use surfing. It's much better to redirect some energy towards surfing on their time off than going to the local bar and drinking.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

You know what I mean? One is robbing the officer of financial resources, life energy, ultimate happiness, and one is fulfilling them. And we all have these innate passions and interests that we have. And the key is just to spend time doing those things, trusting that this universal law of ebb and flow, give and take, that has to manifest itself in our life. It's a spiritual law. It's a reality of the universe.

Wow. It takes me back. That statement you just made there takes me back to the quote that you made earlier about lighting yourself on fire with passion. The world will come to watch you burn. I, you know, anyone who obviously Steve Jobs was pretty passionate about putting all the world songs in your pocket and it made a huge difference and the whole world came to watch it burn.

Yeah, that's what Coach Glassman did. Coach Glassman was enthusiastic. He was fired up about this new methodology and he shared it he believed in it. He was so certain of its validity that you believed him and you followed.

Him, and that's spread around the world like wildfire.

Exactly. And we all have that within us. And the other really amazing quality of this level of personal belief and enthusiasm is that it's very magnetic and it attracts people to you who believe in you and want to help you and support you. And over my life, that's been one of the keys to my success, is I attract people into my life who believe in me and who want to support me and who are invested in my success. And the reason is they can trust me. They believe in me because they see my level of commitment and they want to be part of it.

Yeah. What advice do you have for people who don't know? They can't see the unique genius that is within, you know, that thing that will inspire them? You know, I've worked with a coach, Tammy, who's a dear friend of mine and runs a company called Instinctive Life. And I don't know exactly what your coaching, what you do with your coaching. Is it. Is it physical fitness? Is it a combination? Is it work only? Are you working only with officers? Or is it anyone who's looking to improve in that area or to find those kind of breadcrumbs back to their spiritual center?

I offer a mentorship coaching program that over the years is becoming more and more mental, spiritual adaptation. So for many years, people were seeking me out for physical training, and I still do a great deal of that. Yet more and more, in particular with my online mentorship coaching programs, people are seeking me out because they want to go to that next level. And achieving that next level has nothing to do with getting one more pull up.

Achieving that next level has to do with breaking down what the scripture calls strongholds in our mind. A stronghold is a position in our mind we've taken that is no longer serving us. And we need to break down those strongholds and replace them with an elevated level of thinking. An elevated thought, an elevated belief that can accelerate the trajectory of our life to levels that we would never even dream or imagine possible.

And so they find that@gregoryadmonson.com or gregoryalmanson.com.

Okay, but if they don't, if your calendar gets full, or they don't have the ability to go to that path. So one of the things, for example, that my coach Tammy has had helped me work with that was helpful in my life was asking family members, asking my wife, asking my kids, asking friends that I went to College with, you know, what did you see me do that I clearly was better at than everyone else? And you marveled at it a little bit, you know, and also, like, writing down my own list of things that I just love doing, and I lose time doing them. Like, do you have things like that for the. For the listeners that may help them kind of start to see the path?

I recommend exactly what your friend, mentor told you. I think asking loved ones is a great idea. I would just propose that we ask God. Yes. Ask our. Ask our Creator.

Yes. Yes.

I think he knows better than anyone else. And so there's two ways that we could do that. One, depending on the listener's ability to be still. If we can be still in a meditative state and propose.

What am I born to do? What are my unique talents? Propose that question to ourselves in a state of stillness, peacefulness, then the Holy Spirit can begin to reveal to us those innate qualities that are already within us. They might just need to be sharpened. The other proposition is we can go to the Scripture. And the Apostle Paul talks a great deal about what's called spiritual gifting. And the scripture teaches that each one of us has certain spiritual gifts. And we can read about these in many of Paul's letters. And so all the listener would need to do, even if they didn't have access to the scripture, is they could just Google spiritual gifting. And there are several scriptures that would immediately pop up or, I'm sure, commentaries or articles on the spiritual gifts. And they're in the realm of leadership education. Teacher. They're general, broad gifts that we have. Then within that broad topic, for example, teacher, within the realm of teaching, then we would focus and hone in on what we're able to teach. Well, in my case, I'm teaching physical fitness. Someone else might teach firearms. Someone else may be able to teach another skill set. But the idea is that we're all children of the same father and we all have these gifts. They're all innately part of who we are, Our DNA, our makeup, so to speak. Sure.

So that's interesting. That's a great recommendation. I have meditation time that I try to do every morning, but there are times, and Tammy has really helped me through this process. I'll reach out and say, I'm super stressed about some meeting or something that's coming up, and it's really distracting. And so she has helped me just take time out, take a half hour out, block it off on the calendar. Go spend some time in a meditative state like that. Oh, My gosh, does it to change things for me, it's really, really good advice. I appreciate it.

So sound. Yeah. Especially, you know, if the listener is a law enforcement officer, firefighter, soldier, when we're on duty, then there's no question about our duty to respond. We have to respond when someone's calling for help. Now, the tendency of the mind in particular for that type A personality that is accustomed to immediately responding is we take that home with us and our mind functions the same way. We're always fighting the next battle. Our mind is always projected into the future in a state of worry because we're worried about fighting some battle that hasn't yet occurred yet. And what's so interesting is throughout the totality of the Scripture, what we see is this principle of God wants to fight our battles for us, but before he can step in, we have to be still. And what I found is that when I'm off duty, when I'm not in uniform, mandated to report when someone's calling for help, I spend more and more time in a meditative still state, allowing a power much greater than me to work on my behalf. And I use this in a variety of ways. For example, if I'm writing a new chapter in a book and I'm feeling a little bit frustrated by the writing process, rather than try to grind it out, I'll just be still and I'll allow the Holy Spirit to inspire the next thought in my mind. And I used that principle over and over again. And what I found is that when I really trust that God can work for me and fight for me and create for me, it takes the burden off of myself. And I don't realize and I don't feel like I have to do it all myself.

Yeah, yeah, I have gone through that same path. I think that's really, really awesome advice. Oh, my gosh. So, Greg, I've chewed up your time for 30 minutes. This has flown by. I believe that the value added here is tremendous. I think everyone's really going to get a lot out of this. We talked about one of your websites. Any other thoughts or advice you want to give or things that pointing people in a location to help them out?

Well, one of the pieces of advice I would leave the listener with is a principle. And I'll speak to the principle first, right from scripture so that people know I'm not making this up. And the scripture says, seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added to you. And so the principle is developing the ability to prioritize what is more important over what is least important.

Yeah.

And when we develop that ability to be able to look at our day, our week, our month, our life and to prioritize and to bring our awareness, our focus, our energy to what is most important, the principle always holds true. When we prioritize what's most important, everything else falls perfectly into place. And I would encourage the officer and the listener to really contemplate where they're focusing the majority of their attention. What's most important. And when we dial that in, every other matter of life almost takes care of itself.

Wow, Greg, I can't thank you enough for what you've contributed to this audience. Everybody. You know, hopefully this has been really impactful for you. It has been. For me. It's really reinforced a journey I've been through for the past almost a year now, kind of reinventing myself and focusing in getting closer spiritually to my God and everything I've done. So I so much appreciate this, Greg. It's hard to explain that, but everybody, I hope you got a lot out of having Greg with us today. Greg, pass your website and your contact information one more time for everyone.

You got it. My website is gregoryomundson.com, right?

So that's a M U N-S-O-N.com and we'll have that on the show. Notes, Greg. Thank you, sir, and best of luck to you.

Thank you for having me on the show, brother. I appreciate it.

Bye bye.

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