Lead By Example With TJ LaFaver - POF130

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Guys, my name is Bob. You are listening to the Power of Fitness podcast. If today's your first day, want to say welcome? On today's episode, we are host yet again to one of my favorite people on the planet, one of the best dudes out there, and you know that's a fact. We are host to one of my coaches and the best. My man, TJ LeFre. TJ is currently a trainer and coach for the best company in the world, first form, which y' all have seen me repping and talking about all the time, because they're that awesome. They're located in St. Louis for. So for all of you out there in St. Louis, you better check them out if you don't know them already. Also, TJ was already on this episode. Not this episode, his podcast.

So go.

Go back and check out episode 80, Life and Fitness, so you can get an idea of who he is. And then today, we're going to break it down into a little bit more. How you doing, man?

I'm doing. Doing well, man. I'm happy to be on here with you again.

Happy to have you.

Heck, yeah, man. It's. It's crazy times we're living in.

Yeah, it is.

And I think a lot of the stuff that we talked about on the last episode definitely applies, and it's very important to what's going on right now.

Yeah, it is, man. We talked last couple episodes about it a little bit, but it's one of them things, like, it's in front of you, but it's like, all right, let's not talk about it. You know, but it's hard not to.

No, I mean, I think that, you know, I. I talk with a lot of people throughout the week, and, you know, it's definitely something that we have all spoken about, because the thing is, man, is it's. We're living in unprecedented times. You know, this is. I was talking to somebody the other day. I was like, you know, anytime really, anything major happens in. In the United States, I can usually, you know, call my uncle, call my mom, call my dad, be like, hey, what.

What happened?

Or what did you guys do when this happened? When you were growing up, when this happened before? And they. This time, they're like, listen, brother, this ain't. This hasn't happened before. You know, and so I think, that being said, there's a lot of people that don't know what to do right now, and there's. Honestly, a lot of people you're struggling mentally with what is going on just because they don't know, don't know what to do, you know, And I think that's when you get overwhelmed. You got to go back to simple and you just got to do the simple things every single day, you know, to keep yourself moving forward.

I agree completely with you there. One thing I tell people is you gotta like, stop going on Facebook and looking for the negative because it's gonna find you.

I don't, I don't. I literally will not allow myself to find information from anywhere but the cdc. That is the only place that I get my information from. I will not look on fox, I will not look on cnn. It's not a political left or right thing. Like, I won't look on either one of them because, dude, and like, Yahoo. Is one of the worst.

They called this whole situation apocalyptic. I saw that and I'm like, man, that is literally the definition of fear mongering, you know, and, you know, if that's especially. I know that's how a lot of people start their day, you know, and if that's the, the thought and the energy you're putting into your mind when you start your day, oh, your day's over, it's over with, you know.

Yeah, I agree.

That's where I, I will only look at the CDC. They update at 9pm Central Standard Time. So I look at that every night. And that's the only thing that I look at. And you know, if I see anybody that's on my social media, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, that posts anything negative, I don't follow them around, friend them or block them or whatever because I don't have, I don't have time for, for people that are spending, you know, in that negative mindset.

Yeah, I agree with you, man. We gotta stay positive and we gotta stay active however we can. That's what we gotta do, you know, for sure.

Yeah.

Who knows when it's over? But when it's over, I try to tell all my clients, all my people, you know, you gotta do something now that's gonna stick with you when we get done. Because even if you're negative, that negativity is not gonna go away.

You know, this is what people, whether it be my fitness clients or, you know, people that I, I guess you could say mentor, whatever it is, like, and I've been telling them this is, you have to understand that this is, this is a huge opportunity to move yourself forward and to gain a lot of ground. Because there's going to be good that comes from this. There's going to be somewhere. It's a terrible situation and it's a terrible, you know, thing that it's a pandemic, you know what I mean? But personally, like, you have a huge opportunity, like you said, to gain one or two things, one or two habits, that you're making up ground and you're taking a step forward. And it's also more than what you were doing before this started. And then you have, you know, all these people that are taking plays off for six, eight weeks, you've been gaining momentum and then everything goes back to normal and you're going to hit the ground running. And it's a really big opportunity to gain years worth of personal development growth right now because you can operate in this setting of chaos and stress and all that. Like, if you can operate and do what you need to do every day right now, there's no telling what you can do when you know things are normal.

Yeah, dude, I completely agree with you. But anyway, enough of that stuff. We're gonna have another. Who knows how long to talk about that. Let's dive into what I want to ask you today. First thing I want to talk about is, I guess it was this year, but because of last year, you won an award at first form, man. First off, I want to say congratulations, and it was well earned, for real. Like, you deserve the award, but for those of you people that don't know out there, it was called the Core Values Award. Now, I know what the award is. That's why I say you 100% earn it, because you embody what it means, man, 100% every day. But give a little explanation of everyone that's listening right now what that award actually is. And then, you know, tell me what it feels like to actually win that award.

So, I mean, one, to be 100% honest, it's not something that I felt deserving of. Okay? And that's really what it comes down to is.

I am very blessed to be with, be under some of the best leaders I believe, in the world, you know, and they give us very good direction and, you know, things to do and all I have to do is run the play, you know, that's where I don't feel, in a sense, I didn't feel like I did anything extra, you know? What I mean is I just was doing what I was told to execute. And so that's where it definitely came as a surprise. Now I was very honored and very thankful and very, very, very grateful to be, you know, given that award, because.

That'S the award Our core values are everything to us. Leading by example, being humble, taking initiative, building positive, fun relationships, all that stuff is very, very crucial to who we are as a company, and they're the backbone of our company. So to be recognized as somebody that exemplifies that, I was. I was very grateful and humbled. But more than anything, like I said, I was just grateful for, you know, being able to. To learn from Andy, you know, and Sal and, you know, Aaron's even another one that all I do is what they tell me to do. You know, it's not, it's not anything special. And that's where I think a lot of people think sometimes that it's a bunch of extra stuff that you. You do to, to win an award or win an award like that. It's just like, no, it's just simple execution and just do and run the play, you know, every single day.

I like it, man. You know, but you're being humble right there. That's one reason why you got, you know. No, but for real, man, like you, you. The thing you said earlier off camera is about like 75 hard. What you're wearing, the shirt. But what you said is like, you got to execute the things that you have to execute, and that's, that's how you win. So, like, for you to execute all the core values of first form every day, that's why you won, man. Because there's a lot of people that slip some days, like me and you were just talking and I was saying, I'm doing phase one. And you're. And then I'm like, well, I'm eating a cheat meal. Then you're like, well, you're not doing it. I'm like, you're right. I'm like, well, that's the difference between someone who actually is doing it fully and then me, who I said I'm doing it when we both know I'm not, you know, so that's the difference. Because there's a lot of people that try to act like they're doing them core values every day, but they're actually not. So you're doing it.

This is one thing. And I wrote a, I wrote a post about this the other day.

A lot of people. And now I, I'm preface this by saying I'm far from successful. Like, I don't believe that, you know, in any way, shape or form. I have a long way to go. But the difference between progressing and getting where to where you want to go, a lot of people think it's these large Actions, right. That these, like, these monumental tasks that, you know you have to do in order to move yourself forward. And the truth is, is like you said, it's the simple things done day to day. And if you have five critical tasks and you do those, the difference between you getting to where you want to go is not allowing yourself to have days where you only do three or four, because compromising on those couple, like, if you're. If you've done your five critical tasks for five days in a row, and then on the sixth day, you allow yourself to only do four, well, then the next day, the standard has been set at four. And so then you just continue to knock down four, and you almost forget about that fifth critical task. So now you're already slowing yourself down. And then five days later, you let yourself. The fourth one doesn't matter. I'm gonna get these three done. So now you've lowered the standard again, and you've also pulled the throttle back, so you're slowing down even more. And then eventually you just stop doing any of the critical tasks, and you just go through your day to day doing it right. And the only reason I know that. Okay. Is because that's been me time and time again, you know, and I, fortunately, because of 75 hard last year, and then honestly, coming off of 75 hard taught me a lot as well. You just realize that it's. It can literally take two and a half months to completely transform your mindset by doing five simple things every single day.

Man. I went through it, too. So I completely understand what you're saying, and it's true. And it's cool, because a lot of people do only four critical tasks where they're missing that five. So, like, a lot of people relate to that, you know?

So, dude, it's honestly, like.

It took me a long time, you know, because I didn't grow up. Y' all grow up around success. You know, I grew up in a little Podunk town, and, you know, 98% of people that are, you know, grow up there live there their entire life, you know, they don't get out of that town. And I always thought, hey, there's something. There's just. There's just people that have it different or have it easier or have it better, you know, but once I've been around.

Very, very successful people, you realize that it's not anything different. Well, there. There is a difference, but there's not anything they've been given. There's nothing they have that is different. It's just. They Execute simple things, not complicated things. They're not, you know, freaking Steve Jobs. Right. They're not these like highly intellectual people. They just won't quit and they will execute every single day no matter what. And that's the difference, honestly, between anybody achieving what they want and not. Yeah. Are there some people that are 7 foot tall and have 40 inch vertical and are just going to go to the NBA? Yeah, there are, but that's not the, that's not the majority of people that have been gifted with this. But the other thing is too, with that seven footer with a 40 inch vertical, still had to be able to shoot and he had to practice to be able to do that, you know, and so it's like even that person worked. And so nothing, nothing is given. Everything is earned.

Yeah, Absolutely. No. One thing I got out of 75, 4, which is like, I know you can relate to this. It's. We were both hard workers. Like, I'll never quit. I'll work my tail off till I die. You know, that's just how my mentality is. But when you actually focus your hard work on the right task and the right, like, assignments, man, the things you achieve is endless.

Well, there's, there's a difference between hard work and hard work and execution.

Yeah, absolutely.

Like, you can, you can work really hard and not, trust me, I've been here.

Okay. Yeah.

You have no direction and you're just spinning your wheels, working 12, 14 hours a day, you know, and I know there's, there's people that can relate to that. You don't feel like you're making any progress was because you are working hard, but you're doing a bunch of different things every day. And so that's where you have to come back to the five critical tasks and make sure that you're executing at least those every day. Because then when I can, you know, look back through this book, right, and see all these days after day after day after day that I've knocked those things down, then I feel accomplished and I create. That creates momentum and that momentum creates positive emotions. And those positive emotions just, you know, keep the train rolling.

Absolutely, man. That's so true. So on top of that, man, you know the core values, Great. I know you still do them now. So what actually inspires you to like train people and coach people every day? Because I know you do a lot of people and you do amazing job. And what Andy always says is, always treat your last client like your first client. And I think you do that with everyone. So how do you. What inspires you to do that?

The people that I get the opportunity to work with, you know, it's like, I feel that I have an obligation. I've been very fortunate with the people that I have been around from growing up to right now, and I feel like I have an obligation to pay that forward to other people, you know, but what really motivates me is the. The success. You know, I'm. When I see, you know, a client, you know, send me a before and after picture of, you know, 12 weeks, and, you know, like, my most recent one is Christian Hayek. You know, he's. He's up almost 13 pounds and maintain the same body count. Never been able to do that before in his life, you know, and, like, that's. Dude, there's nothing like that. Or, you know, whenever I help somebody, you know, I. I guess you could say I personally develop coach some people, you know, and there's people that, over the course of the last three or four months, you know, triple their income, you know, because we were able to devise a plan for them, and they started executing it, and they struggled, they struggled, they struggle. And I'm like, hey, just stick to the plan, Stick to the plan, stick to the plan. And then all of a sudden, you know, the switch turns and they've. They've tripled that for themselves and completely transformed their life, you know. And so that's the type of stuff is I want to be able to give that and teach that to as many people as I possibly can. And ultimately, at the day. At the end of the day, it just comes down to helping people, man. Like, that. That's just. Like I said, I've been very fortunate, and I want to be able to. Whether that be with my ability to understand nutrition and training and supplementation, whether that be with my ability to. Or not really my ability, but my fortunate situation with the people that I'm around and the lessons that I get to learn and I get taught, like, passing those on to people for personal success, whether that be, you know, financial or, you know, just personal development, mental, emotional, whatever. Like, I just. I feel a very strong obligation, you know, to pay everything that I have forward, you know, because I think that we were. There's. There's nothing more fulfilling than helping somebody, man. Like, you think about just something as simple as giving a homeless man a few bucks, like, it makes you feel good, right? Well, that's where that. Just feeling that sense of helping people, and I just love interacting with people, man. Like, it just. It fires Me up, you know, when I get to do my zoom calls and different things like that, I got just feed off of the energy of other people. So.

Yeah, no, that's great, man. You know, there's not a lot of people out there like that because some people are just too selfish. And then helping more people, it's just like, I'm done.

So no one. So I can. I can tell you, man, I used. I mean, and I mean, I can still be, you know, fairly selfish, my. You know, myself, but I used to be really, really bad. But once you've. Once you help a couple people, then you're like, all right, it's like, it's addicting, man. And you want to do everything you can to invest into yourself, to learn more, and so you can help more because that feel. Feeling of helping people is. Is undeniable.

Yeah. No, I. I mean, I can only imagine. I know how my life has changed just from listening to, like, Andy, you know, just from being part of the. The calls when I can so being actually, like, in that live, man. I can only imagine. I mean, I see what it does, which is amazing. But, I mean, it's. It's amazing. The environment's unreal. You know, we talk about it a lot in the last couple episodes, but how, like, your environment really creates the actions you do, which then the actions create the results. So I like, you're. You're literally showing, like, that environment is literally improving you every day and then helping you improve other people, which is great.

No, Dan, if I wasn't, you know, I'm fully aware that I'm very, very fortunate to be surrounded around, you know, the people that I get to do or get to work with, you know, and just, you know, talk about Sal or Aaron or Will or any of these guys, like, that are very, very highly functioning people, you know, and executors, if you will. They. They definitely. They hold the line, too. That's the other thing that's good.

It's great to be surrounded by that. It's one thing I'm working on since 75 hard and all that type of stuff. Now I'm like, all right, we need to. You know, I realized, like, 75 hard wasn't like, people always like, oh, it's always about the workout and looking better. I'm like, it's all mental, you know? So one thing it also helped me do is learn, like, what's the negative things in your life, they aren't helping you grow and slowly knocking them out. You know, we can't knock everything out at once to get it out of your life, but slowly cutting it down. And then each time I get something out of my life, I feel so much better. And I'm allowed to, you know, use that to help people more. So.

Right.

It's amazing. Yeah. You know, so when you're winning that award, I already know. Do you think winning the awards are going to actually help you, you know, have more motivation to help more people or same.

I wouldn't necessarily say it was more motivation, but if anything, you know, just more confidence. You know, it has. It's more kind of like, dude, I know the people that have won this award before me, and now the bar has been raised and I have to, you know, act as if, you know, that I am deserving of this award and of being one of those people that is held in that regard. So I don't think it was necessarily any more motivation, I guess a little bit of validation that, like, hey, you're doing the right things, you know, and so that is what then really provided the confidence to then just kind of double down on those efforts.

Yeah, I understand it. All right. Now let me ask you this question. I don't even know if you have an answer for it. It was just something else popped in my head when we were talking. When it comes to training people, like, you know, coaching them, what do you like helping better with the workouts or the nutrition?

Nutrition. Yeah, I really. I mean, because, dude, I. I was a. I was a certified or I'm a cscs. I was a collegiate strength conditioning coach. Like, workouts are. Workouts are workouts. Okay? Like, here's the deal. You need to resistance train and you need to do cardio. All right? However you go about doing that, lift.

A little faster, whatever it is.

Like, however you go about doing that, that's what you need to do. It's not overly complicated. And nutrition, however, now nutrition is very simple as well. You hit your calories, hit your protein, and how you adjust those calories within there, you're going to see success. But what I. I really, really enjoy is when some, like my favorite thing, dude, is when somebody's stuck or plateaued and I make an adjustment to their nutrition. And if you want to add a layer to that, a. A adjustment that they don't necessarily believe in, but because I said, hey, this is what we're going to do, they wouldn't follow through. And it's like a light switch that their body turns. Like, that's. I get fired up about that because you Know, like, just taking Christian, for example, he had his stuff all over the place, and I nailed him in, and I dialed him in, and he's gained literally 0.25 to half a pound a week since we've been working together, which is a perfect weight of gaining weight, you know? And it's just like. I know that. Okay, then he only gained 0.25. I'm like, all right, 25 cars, 5 grams of that. Like, we're gonna bump it up a little bit. And then he's back to gaining half a pound a week. Half pound a week. And then he flattens off a little bit. And this last time, I told him to go up. He goes, I'm gonna hold it. I'm like, no, you're not. You're gonna take it up, like. And so then he took it up, and he's back again. Half pound a week. Half pound a week. And then he tried to buck again, and he's like, all right, I'm not gonna take it up again. I was like, okay. He came back, and he was maintained. All he did was maintain. I was like, sir, are you gonna listen to me now? And so that's where if there's a touch of arrogance, it's adjusting nutrition and macros that I have a lot. I take a lot of pride in, and I get fired up helping people with it, because I think a lot of people know how to go to the gym. They know how to throw some weight around. They know how to hop on the elliptical. But a lot of people have no idea what type of adjustments they need to make for their nutrition. You know, I've been fortunate enough to be around, like, Jeremy, you know, who's a registered dietitian, and see him work with thousands of people and just kind of develop my own little. My own little idea.

Yeah, now you're completely right, man. I always tell people, you can work out as much as you want, but if you don't eat right for your goals, you'll never see them. You know it's true. Trust me.

I've been there.

Oh, yeah, dude. I used to. I'm not even gonna lie. Before you started doing, like, the nutrition calls where you started talking about how to actually count your macros and your calories and stuff.

I would kind of quote, unquote, say I knew what I was eating. But until the app came out where I actually tracked it, I was eating way less than what I was. I was still eating a lot, but I wasn't eating enough because of. Of what I Actually wanted to hit. And then I always used to be like, the guy, I'm skinny. I can't gain weight. And I wouldn't gain weight because I was burning off what I was eating. And then once I started tracking it.

How much you're eating.

Yeah. You know, then I. Yeah, I wasn't eating enough and. Or I wasn't eating enough of the right stuff, you know, I was vice versa. Yeah. And I'm like, dude, yeah. Last. Last winter, I actually went from. From October to. No, actually long. From, like, September to January. Actually gained about 15 pounds. And it was, like, pretty much solid. Like, I didn't barely put on any fat, maybe like 2% max. I felt great. I was like, holy shit. I got up to above 200 for the first time, and it felt good. It felt good.

The big boy. You finally get up in the grown man club.

Yeah. I was finally a grown man. The highest I ever weighed was 198, and I was not feeling good because I was just eating a bunch of shit food and I wasn't feeling good. And then I tore my acl and then I never made it back up. But this time around, man, I was putting on the right weight. My legs were growing, you know, everything. I felt good, you know, but it's, like, weird. Like, 200 pounds on me looks completely different. It's weird. I think it's. Yeah. I don't know that well.

I mean, you look at me, you don't think that I'm. 213.

Yeah, no.

You know, but. Because I'm not a big dude. But I mean, it's definitely. It's different how it looks on different people.

Absolutely.

Because then you look at, like, Jared Bond, and Jared Bond's like, 190 pounds, but he looks like he's about 240.

Yeah. I remember when I saw him, I thought he was like, 240. And I was like, wait, you're like, my size? The hell? I was like, damn. But, you know, but everybody's frame, everybody's body is different. That's what people, you know, need to adjust. Need to adjust to. Because someone they're asking me, and they're like, they would see my upper body. And, you know, I do a lot of my. My work, my volumes in my workouts. A little insane. But, you know, that's just what I do. It is. It's my type of workouts. But people would see, like, my upper body would look like it's getting ripped, and I look like I'm losing weight, and I'm like, nah, I'm actually put on eight pounds. They're like, what? And I'm like, ed, you do know quarter inch on your legs is, like, 10 pounds. So, like, my legs were gaining weight because I was adjusting, like, how I was eating during, like, different days. And it. Man, it felt good because, like, to see the strength go up and the weight go up and then have someone tell you, hey, you look like you're losing. You're getting cut. I'm like, damn.

All right.

I felt good. It felt good. And that was all from, like, your help and literally, like, tracking and having, like, proper nutrition. It's a huge difference, man. Like, it's phenomenal, you know, like, this time around on 75 forward compared to the last time, I wasn't. The nutrition was different. You know, my. It was. I was eating pretty much. I was eating everything clean, but, like, the way I was eating, it was a little different. My workouts were different. So, like, the results I got were a little different, but I was trying to get them different. So people like, oh, you didn't get as good of results. I was like, no, I was actually focusing on gaining size this time around, where last time I was focused on cutting. And it was like, you know, like you said, the adjustments where you're like, you got to teach yourself. It's like, man, you got to cut down your cards by 50. And you're like, man, I can't. I'm gonna be hungry. You're like, you want. What do you want? And when you do it, that your body adjusts to it when you let your mind do it. So I understand what you're saying. You know, I get a lot of clients like that, too, and they're. They don't. I'm like, all right, see what you do? And then they come back to you in a week. They're like, all right, what are we doing? And, like, it's not the fact that, you know, you're right, but that they finally understood what you were doing. Like, Right. That's how you're helping them, you know?

Yeah. It's not like, hey, I was right. Well, with some people, if they're like, my close friends, I make them say that. Yeah, I don't. I don't. You know, that's not what it.

Yeah, no, absolutely. You know, that's a good thing about, like, first form and what I love about it, because, you guys, even if, like, I say I'm gonna do it my way and then it's wrong, you're not going to Be like, hey, see, I told you what I was, right? Yours was like, all right, what'd you learn from it? It's all about teaching them to do it themselves.

That's all. Yeah, man. I mean, that's where again, it's like, you know, Jocko talks about just like, giving people, you know, as far as, like, a leadership tool is, you know, if somebody really is very strong willed, right? Such as yourself, right? And they have something that they really want to go after. And I know for a fact that it's not going to work because I've done it before. I can try to say, hey, listen, I've been here, I've done this, I tried that. It didn't work. However, if you want to go execute it, if you want to go do it, go do it. And then you allow them to go do that. And, you know, let's say since, you know, it doesn't work, they end up failing, right? But when they come back, the how you handle that is the difference in being a leader and a boss, right? And there's a boss says, well, I told you that that wasn't going to work. A leader says, all right, like, okay, why do you think it didn't work? And then teaching somebody, okay, so what do you think you should execute on? Like, what do you think you should change? All right, let's go do that, right? And the dad could say, oh, well, you know, in my experience, I would do this too, right? But you have to give those people. You have to give people the power to do it on their own, man. Because it. I mean, I think a lot of the things, you know, and this is unfortunate enough to be in the work environment that I am, you know, I think a lot of the people dreading their jobs and doing all this different stuff is they're only ever doing what other people are telling them to do, right? Versus having the, you know, like, one of our core values being take initiative. Like, dude, we're. We're always, you know, being pushed to find new ways to do something or whatever, you know, and that's where I find a lot of joy and, you know, being able to have the freedom to go try things on my own. And then if they work out, they work out, you know, and if they don't, then I learned from that, you know, because I've had a million things that have failed. But, like, why? Let's just say with this whole quarantine deal, I've decided, hey, we're gonna do a bunch of Zoom family workouts, right? And that wasn't. I wasn't told that, but I've been given, you know, the freedom to go do right and just try to figure things out and then. And I feel okay doing that because every time when I do fail or when I have failed, I wasn't shot down because of it. You know what I mean? I was just like, hey, all right, well, why didn't it work? And why did you think that that was a good idea? It's just a. It's a huge learning lesson.

Absolutely. That's the difference right there between, like you said, being a leader and a boss is. I think I had to come to grips with that last year. I think when I saw y', all, I realized I was, you know, I was leading from not within the pack. I was trying to, you know, it's. It's a difference, like, between, like. Like you said, being the boss, where you're just telling people what to do. It's like that little wording. I, Like, I had to adjust my wording to kind of correlate with what I was actually trying to do. A lot of people don't understand that.

No, man, it's. It's like Jocko with the book, the Dichotomy of Leadership. And, yeah, there. It's a pendulum that you can be like. It's very. You want to be right in the middle, you know, one way you could be too harsh, one way you can be too soft, you know, one way you can be too close to your people, and one way you can be too far away. So it's like trying to find that. That balance, you know, And I, like. I mean, I've said it a million times, but I'm just very fortunate to be around the people that I am because of how well they do that.

Yeah.

You know, like, Sal is really good at, you know, being able to get in the trenches with us and, you know, grind it out and then also at the same time, pull it back and, like, do the high level stuff of, like, all right, where are we going to go next? He's not so far in the trenches that he can't see, you know, out on the battlefield, you know, so he takes a step back and he can see that and he can guide and, you know, he always talks about directing a ship. You know, he's not down there rowing all the time because he's got to take a step back. He's got to steer the ship, you know, but he's. He's really fluid with how he can bounce back and Forth. And I think that's one of the biggest things I've learned from him is, you know, being able to be in the trenches with my people, but then also being able to take a step back and, you know, maintain that authority and guide the ship where it needs to go.

Yeah, man, I think you do a great job with that. It gets people listening to you. I, I learned from you a lot, which is amazing. It's hard for me to learn from people because, you know, not, not, not necessarily a bad thing, but, you know.

You got, you gotta audit where you're getting your information.

Yeah. You know, I'm a very trustworthy person. You know, I don't believe that I should have any, you know, ill untrustworthiness against anyone unless they prove otherwise. So it's like, you have to really filter out and get to know the people that to listen to, because there's a lot of people that are trying to tell you what to do, but there's only a few people that are actually giving it to you for the right reasons.

I'll just give an example. You know, there, there are certain people that, you know, will remain nameless, but that are within, not my direct family, but within my family that every time I've done 75 hard, they're like, man, that's not healthy. And I'm looking at you and you are.

We'll just go with not in shape. And I'm not trying to make fun of them.

Yeah.

But like, that's what we're talking about, right? Like, he's trying to, you know, tell me what I should do.

Right.

For my fitness from a position of zero fitness, you know, and that's where a lot of people will try to tell you what you should do with your finances. Right. Or, you know, hey, you need to come out to the bar with us. You need to come out and do this. Like, listen, man, I'm tightening down. I'll put some more money away. Oh, dude, you gotta live a little. Live a little for what? Because. And why would I take that, you know, why would I take that advice from you? Because last time I checked, like, you weren't living. You weren't rolling up in no Bentley. Like, so why am I taking financial advice from you when the people that do have those things are telling me to cut back and, you know, hey, make sure you do live a little bit, but don't have too much frivolous spending. Like, so you're, you're right as far as, like, you can't learn from everybody and you, you. Well, let me take that.

Yeah, I know.

You mean you can absolutely learn from everybody, right? Everybody is better than you at something. And I think that's one thing that I've always, you know, tried to remind myself of is even people that, you know, you would be very easy to view as unsuccessful or unintelligent, they would still kick the out of you in something.

Yeah.

You don't know what it is.

Right.

But if you treat every person that you come across as far as, like, they're better, like maybe that, that person is better with kids. Right. Like something very, very, very small, or they're better artists than you are, whatever it is, but they're, they're better than you in some way, shape or form and you can learn something from them. However, you can't learn something from them in every aspect of life. So that's kind of how I kind of divvy that up is because when it comes to my finances and when it comes to, you know, my nutrition or, you know, whatever it is or my relationships, well, I'm not going to listen to relationship advice from the dude that's been divorced six times. No, nothing against people that have, you know, nothing against anybody that has been divorced at many times. But like, I'm not going to take advice from you. I'm going to take advice from the person that's been married for 40 years.

Yeah, absolutely.

Situation. Because there I've been in those situations where I've been taking advice from people from, from relationship standpoint that aren't in a happy relationship themselves. This is how you should do that. And then what I did with those people did, my relationship just got worse. And then if I do what people that have a good relationship do, what do, you know, my relationship gets better, you know, and so I think that's, you know, really good. That's kind of a better example of, you know, to your point of, you know, not being able to learn, you know, from everyone. You can, but you just have to be selective and.

Absolutely.

Where, like where you're learning what area of your life you're learning from them.

Yeah, absolutely. Because like, if we try to attack our goals and hit them, achieve them, and we listen to people like you said that, you know, they're not actually even close to where we want to go and we listen to them. It's like, get out of here. You're going to be just like them. So you're right, man. That's one thing I. That's what, like working with you and first form to Everyone. It gets me to, you know, I don't. I don't filter what I say. I don't bullshit what I say. I'm not right about everything, but I just give off of what has worked for me. But if I don't know, if it hasn't worked for me, if I failed at it, I'm the, hey, talk to this guy, you know, it's because it's true. It's one thing I used to do, though. I used to try and act like I knew everything, and then people were getting bad results because I was getting bad results off it. But then you try to act like you're not. So switching that up and being like, hey, I'm not the guy to talk to you about this. It is like my relationship has grown and my results personally and my, like, clients results have been great, you know. So, yeah, like, even being from PA and being part of the family has helped tremendously, man. I'm blessed to be a part of it.

Heck, yeah, man. I mean, I think what you said is just the difference between arrogance and confidence.

Absolutely.

You know, and arrogance is, you know, and I understand people don't know what they don't know, but, like, you don't know everything. And I. That's one thing I'm speaking directly of myself. Like, I'm not speaking that directly to you, but, like.

Yeah, no, you're absolutely right, though.

And when, as soon as you think you know everything is the second that you lose. And that was like my point of saying, like, every single person that you come into contact with can teach you something.

Yeah. One thing that really stuck with me with, like, first form is when Andy does that one call for the legionnaires. He's talking about how the guy called in, was talking about the car, and he's like, we're not a car shop. And he's like, you call that guy back and you figure it out. So they did. You got, like, basically gave me the idea that it's like, if you don't know how to do something, don't tell someone you know how to, but go out and find out how. Yeah.

Say, listen, I don't know that answer. And you've. You've seen me do that on calls.

Yeah.

People ask me, and that's where, again, I'm. I'm confident in the information that I do know. And if I don't know the answer, I'm pretty confident saying that I don't know.

Yeah, right. That's what helped me do that, too.

Listen, I don't know, and generally what it is, is I have an idea of what I think, but I don't have a straightforward enough answer to feel confident in giving that somebody else. And so what I will say is, all right, I think I have an idea. However, okay. Not 100% sure that it is the correct answer. And I would not want to lead you astray just because of an idea that I have. And so I'll say, well, I'll get back to you on that. Yeah. And usually I do that yesterday.

Yeah. Not. That's a great quality to have, though. And being part of you guys helped me do that as well because, you know, I've actually learned a lot more than I thought I didn't know. You know, it helps you broaden your horizon of, you know, people you associate with and stuff like that, which is great. But. Yeah, man, I just want to say thank you for hopping on. I truly appreciate you. For real, like, you're the man. Everything you do on my end and from other people that you teach when I tell you all the time. But we greatly appreciate you, everything you do. So don't you stop doing it. Keep growing. Keep helping everyone grow because.

Yeah, man. Because, you know, for real, like, you're helping people like me and I'm helping other people. So the more people we can help, the more people we all do together, man. It's. It's great. So keep doing what you do and I hope you stay safe out there. And thanks for hopping on, man.

Yeah. Hey, I appreciate you, brother. Keep doing what you do. Helping a lot of people lead by example, you know, and that's. We need just. We need more. More of that. And the only way we create more of that is by doing it ourselves. So I always.

All the first form in you, man. For real.

It.

And all it is, is it's guidance. Absolutely nothing. No, listen, listen.

That's all in the dark.

You gotta go though. Like, you can't give it all to us because if you didn't execute, you wouldn't be there. So there is a choice of you making execution. So you have to be able to. You have to understand that you. It is okay to have a little bit of that earned confidence of. Okay, yes, I was given the Game Clan, but I executed it. So I can feel good about that. So not a hundred percent.

Well, no. Well, no, it's a hundred percent because I always had it there. If you have it there and you don't know how to use it, direct it, it's like throwing darts blind. Don't matter. Like, you know, so you guys actually gave me the piece to actually realize how to throw the darts correctly and attack what matters to me. And then it's helped me grow a lot. It's helped me help, like, exactly like you said, man. I've helped so many people. It feels great. There's nothing better. Like, people think getting your own results are great, which they are, but getting, like, someone else results is the best.

Trumps everything else.

Absolutely. So I want to say thank you again, man. We appreciate you and look forward to talk to you again. Peace out, bro.

Have a good day.

All right, man. Later.

See ya.