What kind of world are YOU living in? | 2024 Vision Binders | Ep. 14

When you get out there, you're still going to have all these questions that you didn't think of. There's still going to be problems that you did not prepare for. That is just how it goes. So you might as well just get out there and just see what happens and then figure it out along the way. Welcome to the Rising Tribe. I'm Jared.

And I'm Austin.

And our goal is to inspire young men to build strong families and discover their potential as men, husbands, and fathers.

And we'll do this by having authentic conversations about faith, family, health, and business as we strive to level up our lives and the lives around us. Welcome to January's podcast, and today is actually a re-recording of our January podcast going over our binders, but Jared and I are determined to overcome technical difficulties. Our episode basically filmed but out of nowhere my audio dropped. So we switched podcasting, uh, you know, apps. We're on this thing called— it's called Squadcast, Jeremy, uh, Jared.

Yeah. And, uh, so I mean, so far so good. There's a whole bunch of different, uh, podcast recording softwares out there. Um, like people use Zoom and Riverside, Squadcast, StreamYard, uh, a whole bunch of them. Um, and we and we've had several issues across a whole bunch of them. So starting to wonder if maybe we're the issue, but, but that is okay because we are determined to, to, to, you know, to meet our goal. And it was interesting, we were talking earlier about, um, you know, uh, do we, like, we, we record our episode and we also want to do our, uh, like we record our, our duo episode, just the two of us. And then we also want to have, uh, guests onto the show. Um, and I think there's, uh, I think there's something important about setting goals and then trying to overcome the obstacles to achieve those goals. And I'm also a firm believer that when you set goals, that obstacles magically appear. It's like they can sniff you. They can sniff out someone who's trying to improve their lives and they just come. They come like a shark that smells blood in the water. They come from miles away, dude, because they— the universe does not want you to succeed, you know, or rather the underworld doesn't want you to succeed, but the universe does, you know. And so here we are. You know, take 2, it's the 30th of January, and we're determined to get this out before the end of the month, which means we're recording today, editing tomorrow, and publishing tomorrow. So I'm pretty excited.

Love it. We did— if you guys haven't listened to our podcast for our podcast guest for January, go and listen to Jeremy Davis's podcast that we had. And it was such a great interview. You'll learn a lot about Jeremy's success in the sales world and his new career in real estate., and you'll also learn about how he prioritizes being a husband and a father. And he's been a huge inspiration to me. So that's the type of podcast where you could go back and sit down and like take notes because the information there is tested. I mean, he's, he, he lives it. And so it's given him like amazing results in his family life and just as a dad. So one of my biggest examples in my life right now is Jeremy., and it was really cool for Jared and I to talk to him. So go listen to that if you haven't so far. And then if you haven't made your binders, it's January 30th, so make sure to get on that. And it'll— it just makes life so exciting. I have my binder here and I've already completed like a ton of stuff in it, and it just— it makes you excited. It makes you excited to be able to look at the trips that you have planned and the projects you have planned and the goals I told Jared before we hopped on this call today, and this was a goal that I set in the beginning of December as I was building my binder. But today I just closed on my first real estate investment property. That was super exciting.

So yeah, dude. So we— which is crazy because we first recorded this episode 2 weeks ago, or just over 2 weeks ago, and we were talking about it and you had mentioned that you were— you wanted to close on your first real estate property by the end of the year. And I didn't know, I didn't ask how far along you were in the process. And you said that you'd been eyeballing a duplex, but then you called before as we were prepping for this episode, and you said, hey dude, I just closed on the duplex. And I'm like, holy crap, like you've already done it. You're like, you're already, you're already making huge headway. So that's freaking awesome.

I'm kind of thinking, oh my gosh, right now too, because I've got to figure out all the rest. Like, biggest thing that holds people back is paralysis by analysis. And I'm like, no, like, this sounds irresponsible. But I'm like, let's buy it. And then let's figure it out from there. Because I'm sure that if I knew all of the issues and all the problems that were going to come with this, I probably wouldn't do it. So I'm like, no, let's, let's get it. Let's figure it out. I'm calling the old property manager tomorrow to figure out a couple things. But in my mind, like oversimplifying it, I've got to collect rent and fix anything that goes wrong. That's my job. Yeah, I think it's not that bad. So we'll see how it goes. I'm sure I'll have some good stories over the course of the year.

Oh yeah. And I mean, the way, the way that it works and this is, I think this is so important because we, we, we, we, the longer that we wait, the bigger the, the, the scary monster seems. It just seems like it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And that makes us want to wait and wait and prepare and wait and prepare and get all the answers, all the possible answers you can of all the questions you could possibly think of. And then you're gonna go out and do the thing. And then when you get out there, you're still going to have all these questions that you didn't think of. There's still gonna be problems that you did not prepare for. That is just how it goes. So you might as well just get out there and just see what happens and then figure it out along the way. You know, there's, uh, Alan Donegan from the Rebel Entrepreneur. Uh, he's a super awesome guy. I actually got to meet him in person. Um, just super wonderful guy and he's British, so I love listening to him talk. But, uh, he, one of the things he talks about is how, um, often we're kind of like, we're standing between two mountains and we're trying to decide which mountain to climb. And, uh, we were looking at the map and we're starting to do some calculations and we're, you know, we wait till nighttime, we'll look at the stars. We're looking at that. Oh, okay. Which one do you want to go up? That one? Do you want to go that one? Which one's the right one? And he says that you could spend all this time analyzing the two different, the two different mountains, or you could just start running up one of them and probably about halfway up you'll realize you're on the wrong mountain if you are. And so if that's the case, then you just run down, you start running up the other one. Like you can put all this effort into the preparation or you can put maybe 5 minutes of preparation in and then just go out and start doing the thing. And no, does that mean you should just, you know, go take out a loan and buy the first property you see on the market? No, the obvious, like, Obviously not, but I think people, people understand that we spend way too much time thinking and, and sorting out all the different options and, and trying to protect ourselves against every single possible negative thing that could happen, when in reality the negative things are going to happen anyway. The problems are going to show up, so you might as well get your foot in the door and just start doing things and figure it out along the way, because you will learn so much faster.

Funny enough, the duplex was like the first one Kaya found online. She was just You know how wives go through Zillow and they just scroll through it and she found this duplex. It was on Martin Luther King Drive. And at the time I was reading MLK's autobiography in preparation for Martin Luther King Day.

That was right.

I was prepping for it. So I was like, this is a sign. This must be the one. And the numbers, like when I made a real estate investment decision, the numbers panned out well. I'm like, cool. Like the first, the first month, like month one, I'll cash flow like $300 a month off of it. And that's without raising rents or without making improvements. So it was actually really is harder to find deals right now that cash flow. And so the fact that it was a duplex, I'm like, cool, pull the trigger, go. And we put an offer in on it without ever having gone inside. I mean, I drove by it one day. I'm like, that looks perfect. But I think you're right. Like, we do crack things up to be really, really complicated. I mean, I just had this happen earlier today. I had to open up an LLC for that property. And I have— I've had it on my calendar for like 2 weeks to do on my agenda. And I did it today. And it took me— I was scared of it. It took me literally 4 minutes. I had to put in some information, my name, my address, the name of the business, and then I paid a $100 registration fee and I was done. So it's like the 2-minute rule. If something's going to take you 2 minutes and it's so easy, or like just starting something is the hardest part. And then once you take your first step, The rest falls into place. And that's why you said, well, before we got on the phone call, you're like, it's cool because the investment property is a first step for me, kind of outside of the pest control world. It's starting my own kind of wealth for my own family. And it's not dependent upon like my pest control income. It's like a separate income now where the tenants are buying down a mortgage. And that's, it's something that I want to do for our long-term wealth for our family. But you're right, that was like the first step today was going to sign for that. So it's exciting, man. Dude, I think awesome. In other, in other news, I told you before we got on the call, we are pregnant and it's like official now. It's public. But I told you that we had a test come back as a boy. And then this morning as I'm showering, I find out Kaya walks in and she says, hey, The test came in from the hospital and I'm like, no, it's not. Because just because the way she looked at me, she was smirking. And she goes, it's a girl. And I was like, no. So I just throw my soap at the mirror, kind of jokingly, right? But anyways, I'm having another girl, which is super exciting because you too.

I'm also having another girl. So like, not gonna lie, when you said that you were having a boy, I was like, dang it, we were supposed to both have girls because like our wives got pregnant at the same time and we got married at the same time. And now we're having— I mean, the second baby will be a couple of months apart, but now they're both going to be girls, dude.

Well, we'll be— we'll be girl dads. I did put on my Instagram story, I'm like, I'm confused, please help. And then I did a survey today that says, will my baby have nuts? So we'll see. We'll see. Half and half. But Yeah, dude, that's super exciting. I think, you know, I just kind of was joking with Kaya, you know, we're excited no matter what. Obviously, last episode where we were— oh, it was with Jeremy when we're like, hey, we do a podcast on being dads and we didn't tell each other that our wives were pregnant.

Yeah, seriously, it was. And it was by— it was actually related to the binders. So Austin, like, you created this You created the binder, you shared it with me, and I was like, oh, like, I kind of need something to follow, so show me your binder. You showed it, you shared with me, I looked at it, and as you kind of were flipping through the pages, I saw in there that you kept mentioning like something about, uh, something about like baby number 2, you want to be home, uh, more time, uh, in preparation for the next baby. And I was like, dude, is she pregnant? So I texted you, I said, hey, is Kaya pregnant? And you were like, yeah, dude. And I was like Crap, I didn't tell you my wife is pregnant. And here we are talking about being husbands and fathers.

So it's so exciting. I think the binder thing, you know, and we already did go over our goals, but the thing is, I review my goals on a daily basis. So this is kind of fun to kind of go over it with you again. And it's funny because like since we filmed it, like some stuff has already gotten done, which is cool. It's a testament that these binders really do work. I think, um, the, the overall invitation that we have, because I think the biggest thing with this podcast is that we give you guys like a call to action, right? And so the call to action this week is to make your binder and then to start reviewing it on a daily basis. And to give you guys an idea of how we have the binder set up, and Jared's might be different, the point is to look at your goals on a daily basis. But I have my goals set out, like my vision set up in an order of the first thing I look at on a daily basis is just my daily routine. And I've kind of like, I built this in a way that reflects everything I'm about to talk about. So this daily routine just gives me a roadmap for, hey, this is what's going to happen in the day. And not every day is perfect. You know, we both have 2-year-olds, so It's— life happens, and sometimes that schedule doesn't happen. But in every single section of my binder, I've divided it. I've divided all my sections up with as my relationship with God, my relationship with myself, and those things include like affirmations, physical fitness, nutrition, how I'm taking care of myself and showing love to myself. And then I have my relationship with my wife, my relationship with my kids, And then lastly is my relationship with my job, which I think we talked about it briefly. Like, it's a complete flip, like a complete 180 from last year when I was, you know, doing a Golden Door, because that's all I cared about was Golden Door, Golden Door, Golden Door. And it was great. You know, I got a Golden Door 2 summers ago. But this is super cool, Jared. I didn't tell you about this yet. While I was at Door to Door Con, there was a kid that just walked up to me. He's like, dude, you're Austin Maser. And I'm like, yeah, that's me.

What's up? And he—

and it kind of was cool this year because I was kind of under the radar at Door to Door Con, you know, like I just got to go and learn. Right. But apparently he remembered me from the year previous and he said, dude, you made a post this summer about how you decided to start going to the temple. And it totally changed my summer. He was like, yeah, I went to the temple one day and then I didn't get to start work until 4 o'clock. And I was like, dude, I've heard this story before. You had one of your best days, didn't you? And he goes, yeah, it was amazing. Like, I went out and sold afterwards. I'm like, yeah, that's how it works. You go to the temple, you put God in, you know, you make him a priority and everything falls out into place. But it was cool to see that like a little tiny post I'd made on Instagram. About putting God first actually inspired like another door-to-door rep to do that. Because at Door-to-Door Con, you don't hear about guys saying like, you know, you don't hear guys saying, hey, when you go out to market, get a calling, get active in church, go to the temple. You don't hear that stuff. And so as a result, within my industry, a lot of guys actually kind of forget to put God first. And, you know, yeah, I'm not talking down on them, it's just if you lose sight of what's important, it can be a really lonely place. And that's why I think you hear some sad stories of like door to door where people really struggle.

Yeah.

So, but it's cool. I mean, overall, like it, it was cool to see how like one little post on Instagram about just being vulnerable about sharing when I went to the temple, because at that time I hadn't gone to the temple for like 8 months. So it felt like I was just held underwater for that long, that time period. And then finally I got to breathe a breath of fresh air. It was so refreshing. So now we, I've been going every 2 weeks. So I've been, I hit my goal for January, right? Go twice in January. One time we went and we were trying to go in December and it was our anniversary and Kaya threw up and Georgia threw up, but I got Kaya to the temple. So that's great. So like you said before we started, there will be things that come up when you try to do good stuff. I totally believe that. And I kind of look at it as a good sign now. I'm like, bring it on, let's go.

Well, dude, I— well, and I think, well, because there's two ways you can look at it, right? Something can happen and you can say, uh, or like some obstacle can come in your way and you could say, well, this is a sign, we're not supposed to do this, I'm not supposed to do this thing, and then leave it and stop doing it. Or you can take it as a sign of I'm moving in the right direction and Satan knows it. So he's getting in front of me. Like, they're two completely opposite decisions or choices that you, that you could make. But that's just, that's the great thing about life, right? That's a great thing about like our past. Our past is a bunch of stories of things that happened that we did or that happened to us. But it's up to us to decide whether we're going to look at those things as these are obstacles that are forever gonna weigh me down. They're shackles, they're weights, and this is who I am because of all the past, like, and I can't change it. This is what happened to me and I'm the victim. Or you can look at it and say, all this stuff happened to me, but it happened to me for, you know, either for a reason or I'm gonna give those things a reason. I'm gonna give those things purpose and I'm gonna let it change me and I'm gonna go out and do and become so much more. And like, it's a matter of the headspace we're in and the the decisions that like, because it's an active decision, it's a decision that you're making to, to overcome the obstacle or to say that this story is actually going to work for you instead of against you.

It's huge. You talk a lot about like the, the perspective that you have and this last weekend, Jeremy Davis invited me to speak at their mastermind for new door-to-door agents. So these guys, it's really cool what they do. They teach guys how to go door to door and sell real estate, which I'll get back to the story, but I'm going to share something really funny here. In pest control, it's kind of cutthroat or like very straight to the point. You don't waste a lot of time and you go straight to your value build. Like you introduce yourself and you start the hook. I mean, you get— you start pitching pretty quick so that you can give some value. Well, these real estate guys, they spend like 10 or 15 minutes asking questions and their whole thing is question-based selling.. And it gets the prospect like sold, sold them by themselves without the salesman having to like pitch them a ton. So I'm sitting there like watching these guys role play and I'm like, okay, like, when are you going to like dive in for the pitch? And it's totally different than my style with pest control. But all of these guys are brand new. And Jeremy's been coaching them. Jeremy did like 70-some-odd deals. He said door to door, which is insane. And then the other guy, Dwayne, has done a lot. But I went to go speak at their mastermind about— it was an overnight thing, super fun. They did dinner and there was just a workshop. But I spoke with the reps about starting something, learning it, shared them my story about how I quit in door-to-door and eventually had to get back into door-to-door. But the reason I share that is because Jeremy's message that night was about What are the glasses that you're wearing? And sometimes if we're looking at a situation in a poor way, we just have to change our glasses. Like we just have to change our perspective and how we're looking at it. So just resonated what you said. And, you know, literally we spent a good while talking about that with the agents and helping them look at things from a good lens. That actually serves them when they're starting to learn. Because door-to-door can be tough, man. Just rejection or just the fear of failure holds people back for the same reason that I was scared to register my business. You're just like, the fear of the unknown. And then come to find out it's really not as bad as we crack it up to be.

Yeah. So, and that kind of, that kind of goes in line. I was telling you just before we hopped on. Um, that I was talking with some friends of mine about goals for, for the year. Uh, and we got talking about fitness goals and one of my buddies said, I have a goal to do a Murph this year. And I, I feel kind of bad cause I don't, I don't know if I did it in the best, uh, uh, or responded in the most, uh, you know, compassionate and loving way. But I was like, dude, you just go do it. Like you don't have to set, that's not, you don't have to set that as a goal for the end of the year. Like you just do it. You just go out and do it, you know? And it's funny cuz this friend had, he had run a marathon last year and I was like, dude, you trained for a marathon. Like that's something you don't, you, well, a lot, a lot of people can't actually just go out and do a marathon. Like a lot of people can't, you did it to go get a burrito at Chipotle. Uh, I did it because I thought, uh, my friend needed someone to run with and I thought maybe I could learn something by running. Right. So like, like you can actually go out and do that. Maybe not everybody, like, you know, it almost sounds—

and he trained for it.

Yeah. Yeah. But he trained for it. Right. So, um, so awesome. But a Murph, like, you can just go do that. Now, you know, if you're going to do it with a weight vest, okay, maybe you can't just go and do that, right? Depending on how many pull-ups you can do. But like, you can use a band, you can use a step, like, you can— there are ways to kind of incrementally do it, but like, you can just go out and do it still. And he was like, what? And I was like, yeah, you can. Like, you just go and do it, you know? And it's not a timed thing, right? Because that's different. You can't just— go out and run a 5-minute mile. But, but like, if it's just go run a mile or walk a mile, like, anyway, you can just go do that. And so I just, I found it interesting that he had set such a long goal. And so we started talking about it and they short, you know, he and my other buddy, they started shortening that time span. So now the new goal is that they're going to do it by, by my birthday, which is like in 2 weeks. And I was like, awesome. Like, okay, everyone's going to do it. We're going to find out where we stand. And then we can set goals based on where we, like, you know, how we did. Now, if you want to set goals to change the sets and reps, or you want to change goals to, uh, to set a time, like a specific time, now that, that is a different goal. But like, just go and do it. You just go and do it. That's it. You go and do it. It's over. And then you move on.

I think that's why it's important to set a deadline for some of these goals that we have. And then also the reason why I like the binder is because it has the goals for the year. Because I think the danger with a vision board sometimes is that we just say, oh, I want to do this in the course of my life. Whereas if you put it in a binder and you're like, these are the things I want to do this year, it actually forces you to attack them. And within that, you can— you should probably set some dates for when you're going to do certain things. Otherwise, you'll wait to the very end of the year. But you're right. I mean, there's so many things that we think are so complicated, but just like I shared with you today, you just have to sit down and kind of, you know, eat the frog is a phrase that Brian Tracy uses. But like, attack, eat the frog, just get the thing done.

Yeah.

That you don't want to get done. And then a lot of times, like you said, you look back, you're like, this is so easy. So I think, I mean, I want to kind of go through some of our goals.

Yeah, let's go through the binder.

And, and, you know, and we can kind of go through them spiritually, like however order you have, but I mean, we can kind of just ping pong so it's not just going straight through. And, and hopefully what we hope is sharing some of our goals might kind of get your think, you know, thought process going so that you can think about some that you want to set. You know, steal some of ours if you want to, but make sure you care about your own goals. And I mean, this year, man, I started with God first because I'm like, hey, like last year I naturally started to realize that that's all I really cared about was God and family. And this year I've just put it in the forefront because that's what makes me happy, that's what makes me the most excited, right? And the rest of things fall into place. But for, for my spiritual goals this year, dude, I'm super excited because I set a goal to go to the temple at least twice a month. Yeah. And it's, it's on my week— it's like I have daily, weekly, and monthly plan, like goals for my, my relationship with God. And, um, one of the, one of the goals I have is a 20-minute scripture study done daily. And I've been like probably 90% consistent in that. I, I mentioned last podcast that I joined a an accountability group where if I'm not 80% consistent, I pay $1,000. And so, um, the, the cool thing with that— and I'll just share this, it was one of our tidbits from last podcast— is a lot of times when we set goals, we get— we get an adrenaline boost from setting the goal, and we feel really, really good about the, the goal because it's super grandiose. And then if you really sit down and think to yourself, there's a lot of times people set goals that they have zero intentions of actually doing. I had a buddy of mine that was like, I'm going to go to the temple every single week. And I'm like, dude, you're going to go to the temple 52 times this year. And he goes, nah, man, I'm probably not. I'm like, stop doing that goal then. Write a different goal that you're actually going to commit to.

Yeah. So, well, because there's, there's like a, there's like a dopamine hit that we get. When we tell someone about the goal that we have and they respond because it's actually the response that you're looking for. And so if— well, that's it. If you're looking for that response, you know, subconsciously, then when you get the response, you get almost as much dopamine as if you had actually done the goal and then told people about it. And that's, that's where you kind of—

right.

But like, that's where it cuts across the accountability lines, right? Because you want, you want to tell people to hold you accountable. But you got to tell people who will actually hold you accountable, not just, you know, someone you see at work or whatever. Like, like, no, like it's got to be someone who's going to hold you accountable to it. Otherwise you could be shortchanging yourself and getting the dopamine hit without doing the work.

It's why it's important to have friends. Like, I feel like you're the same way. Me and you are what? It's January 30th. That's midnight out here. We just are making our goal happen. We want to make sure we get this podcast filmed. This month and we're making it happen despite a technical difficulty. It's like, whatever, it'll make it work. But the only reason I share that before we go into goals is like, as you set your goals, think about it. Is this, is this a goal that I'm just getting a dopamine hit from setting? And I do, I, and do I actually intend to do it? And let me just clarify, there's really not any shame in setting a small goal that you can be consistent with over the course of a year. Something that you can be consistent with over the course of a year is way, way cooler. It might not be as sexy as, but it's way cooler than doing something grandiose for, you know, 60 days straight. Consistency is what breeds success. Okay, so, um, my thing was like daily a 20-minute scripture study and, um, personal prayers and then family prayers, which we've been killing it recently with, um, and then weekly, I plan weekly to go to the temple, but I, I, I know that I'll always fail to at least twice a week, at least twice a month. So the average, just twice a month. And dude, the cool thing for me this year, I don't know if I shared it from my spiritual goals, was like, dude, I, even when we were in Chile for our missions, like, I didn't freaking fast as a missionary for our church. Like, I rarely have fasted because I love food. So this was the first month that I did like a full fast. It was hard, but it actually was good. And the purpose of my fast was to develop a testimony of fasting and to learn the importance of it. I spent the whole week like reading scriptures about fasting, studying conference talks about fasting, and I'm actually looking forward to fasting. For February. It's kind of exciting. So that's something that—

dude, that's awesome—

my goal for the year on that.

So that's really awesome.

I don't know, what about, what about you?

Um, yeah, so I, uh, I'll, I'll move over into— I'll talk about, I'll talk about my skills. That my, my binder's not in the same order that yours is, um, but that— but I, I think that's fine. Um, and I guess it doesn't totally matter. Uh, I have mine I have mine laid out, uh, first by some identity statements, um, because a huge part of what I want to do this year is add on to what I truly believe about myself, um, because there are so many things that we implicitly, or pick up, that other people teach us, you know. They're, they're not, they're not in most cases not literally like they're explicitly teaching you like, you know, with textbooks and whatnot who you are about yourself, but, but the, the comments that people make, the things that we start to tell ourselves like we develop these beliefs about ourselves. And a few years ago, I realized that you could teach, or you could train yourself to believe new things about yourself, you know, and that you don't have to be the same person you were 10 years ago, 15 years ago. And so I, one of the statements that I set for myself really was that I believe I'm the type of person that can learn anything. And so I made that the background, you know, just, uh, I made it the background of my computer, my iPad, my phone, everything. Like it's just, just white. I pulled up a Word doc, typed in the words, I'm the type of person that can learn anything. And I, you know, took a screenshot of it and then put that as my background on everything. And it's been like that for like 3 years now. And multiple times since then, people had asked me about it. Um, and it wasn't, I I don't say this because they asked me about it, but it was just something I had up so that every time I opened my computer, I saw it. Every time I opened my phone, I saw it. Every time I opened my iPad, I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it everywhere. And they're tiny, but daily consistent reminders that I believe that I'm the type of person that can learn anything. And a few times, yeah, people had stopped me, whether it was in class or, you know, at school or at work or something. So someone would see my computer screen and they're, hey, I like that. I really like that. Where did you get that? And I was like, I wrote it. I typed it, took a picture of it. Like, you know, this is, it's something I believe about myself and it's something I'd always kind of believed about myself, but today I believe firmly that I can learn anything. And it's a, it starts as a belief, um, or a mantra that then leads to action. Right? Because if you, if you start to tell yourself, you know, I'm, I think I can learn anything. I can learn anything. Then when new problems arise, you might say, yeah, it might be difficult, but I can learn anything. So like, I can learn this. I can, I can figure it out. I can figure it out. And then that, that those actions become evidence after the fact evidence that no, I was able to learn that thing. I was able to learn that thing too. So maybe I really can learn anything and it's a reinforcing positive feedback loop. And so there are some other statements that I want, that I kind of believe, that I think there's a little bit of seed of truth in there, and I want to nurture it and let that grow. So one of those is that I believe that I am one of the audacious few, one of the few who's willing to put themselves on the line, to go out there, to be vulnerable, to take the risks, to shoot the shots, and to to see what might happen, because I don't want to live a life of fear. I want to live a life out of imagination and possibility and what could be. And so that's, you know, that's one of the first things here in my identity statement and statements, as well as, uh, that I'm part of the 1%. Um, you know, I believe that if I work hard enough, that I can be and I am one of the top performers, one of I'm not, uh, you know, one of the, the brightest or smartest or hardest working or, um, you know, well-rounded, whatever it is. I, I think I can be there. Um, and if I'm not there now, I think I could get there, um, with work, with effort, with energy, with time. Um, and so then, and there's a whole bunch of them. Um, but the last one, which is one that we've talked about a few times, is something that Ed Mylett talks about a lot. And that is that, um, that the power of one person in one family can change it forever. And in my family, I believe that I am the one. And he, when he says it, he says it with this conviction, like, that, you know, that like shakes the ground that you stand on, you know. And, and I, I don't have that kind of conviction, but I want to. And so I, and I think there's enough truth here that I can write it down and that I can, you know, take the actions and build the evidence and make it, make it become truth. That, you know, that, that's really what I, what I think about it. I don't know, what are your thoughts?

I, I think it's— I think that in order to be the one, you don't have to have already accomplished, you know, all of the things. I think being the one is just deciding to do all of that. And so, you know, you don't have to wait until you've accomplished in order to decide that's part of your identity. I, I think there's— you made a really good point there. You're not writing things down that aren't true. Like, you're not writing down that, for example, like, I'm not doing affirmations in the morning that I have long, curly, beautiful hair because I'll never have long, curly, beautiful hair. Or, yeah, I'm not saying that I'm 6'5" because there's literally no chance that I'll be 6'5". Right. But the thing is, you, you have things that you desire to become. And, you know, you're starting in that direction and no one is 100% anything, you know, no one's perfect. But I think with affirmation, sometimes we can get kind of out of hand with stuff like that. Like, oh, I'm a billionaire. It's like, no, dude, you have zero intention to even become a billionaire. It's like, what do you want to become? And who are you? At your core, like who are the things that nobody can take away from you? And you deciding to be the one, no one can take that away from you. But do you know what I'm saying? Like, I think it's important with what you said, like, hey, there's gotta be some degree of truth, otherwise you're just lying to yourself. Affirmations can get that rep sometimes where people just say things to say things. And I like the direction you're heading into. Like I have some things written down where I say like, I'm patient, I'm resilient, I'm intense. That's one of the things I love about myself as well. But, you know, I'm not always that way, but I love to be that way.

But wouldn't you want to be more confident in your ability to say that you are patient and that you are resilient, right? Like, wouldn't you want to be able to say that more frequently, more often, and with— Totally. With a more firmness in your voice and to live accordingly, right?

Yeah. We— it's so cool to review this in the morning because right off the get-go, you have a compass as to how you act. Because if you wake up in the morning and you think that you are one of the audacious few and you are the one and you can learn anything, there'll be decisions presented to you throughout the day that you'll act in accordance to those beliefs. So like reviewing this is, I think it really just moves the needle and helps you just make those little tiny decisions or just remind you of what you want, right? When you review your goals on a daily basis.

Right.

I love that you do that, man.

Yeah. Well, thanks. Um, and I'll quickly catch up because I, I started talking about my binder to talk about spiritual goals, but, uh, I have, I have my routine in here. Um, or I say routines, uh, to clarify, because a lot of people, um, fall into the trap of Okay, this year this is going to be my routine for 365 days this year, and they write it down if they write it down, right? Um, but how often is, uh, are you in your— at home doing the same thing you do every single day all year long? Like, you're not, right? And especially in, you know, in our scenario, in a similar scenario for you, like, I'm traveling. Like, I've been in Vegas for the last month, I'm gonna be here for another couple weeks, then I'm in Utah and Colorado and California and I'm gonna go back to Italy for a couple months. We're probably gonna deploy and then that'll be a few months. Then probably go back and then come back to California. I mean, we're gonna be all over the place and sometimes I'm traveling for work. Sometimes I'm traveling for vacation and, um, and there's, there are just so many different variations of life. And if we set one singular, uh, routine that is going to dictate the rest of the year, the moment that all the other anchors and of our life and the environment around us, as soon as that all changes, then we have no backup. We have no alternative. And so then we, we just, we usually just fall off. That's usually what happens. And we just start making it up and we say it's because we're not at home or because we're out of our routine. Um, but that's where, like, that's where the planning should have happened. Now, does it mean that you need to plan every possible scenario for the 365 days this year? Obviously not. But what I did was I said, okay, when I'm, when I'm at home, when I'm in Italy, I'm just going to work, right? Just regular kind of normal, uh, standard operating procedures. Like, this is what my routine is going to look like because I know what time I'm going to work. I know what time this happens. I know what time that happens. So I can plan accordingly. But then I have a separate one for like Saturdays and holidays because that's different because of where we live from, from base, like the gym. I can't go to the gym in the same way because of X, Y, and Z, whatever. So I have a slightly alternate, uh, or yeah, a slightly different schedule for Saturdays and weekends and then Sundays because there are a lot of activities we don't do on Sunday., that we would do the rest of the week. So my Sunday's gonna look different. So I should probably have an idea of what I want my Sundays to look like. And then there's also when I'm gone, when I'm, you know, when I'm TDY, when I'm like out here in Vegas and I have routines, but then my shift changes. So then I'm working nights instead of days, or I'm working like evenings into early morning and like all of that, all of that changes. So I have plans and sometimes it means I'm gonna, I show up and I just know, hey, when I get there, I'm gonna have to come up with a new plan. And that's fine. You get there, you come up with a new plan. That's how it works. And so, uh, I, I think when, when we talk about goals, it's not just the routine, but there's so many other things that we kind of have to start pre-gaming in our head. Like if you're gonna travel and you, you exercise a lot, but you're gonna travel, have an idea of what you want your exercise to look like while you're traveling. Are you gonna be doing the same marathon training that you're doing home while you're traveling? Probably not. Maybe, maybe you are and maybe you set a plan to do that, but If you're not, well, then you've got it. You got to put something in place that you're still moving, so you're still achieving your goals, and you've got to be content with this is what I— this is how I'm going to succeed. This is how I'm going to be able to check the box saying that I'm still moving towards my goals when I'm in that scenario. And that is going to be my new criteria for success for the short term for that period of time.

Yeah, I love it. So many different things can happen, and I experienced that last summer in particular. I traveled a ton. And really, some days didn't look perfect, but my morning routine would just be as simple as going for a walk or, you know, reading for 5 minutes instead of 30. That stuff happens. You've gotta, you've gotta make adjustments and, you know, with your job and you have, sometimes you're in hotels and some days you're in Italy and some days you're on, you know, last year there were days when I was in Dubai and you were in a different state in the US. Kansas. Yeah, we traveled a lot, but. Point is there's, there's systems that you put in place to just get those important things done. And I mean, that was like more, that's more of a micro scale, but one of the things I like to bring up is like on a macro scale for the year, like I've got in this binder, I've got most importantly like trips with my family planned out already and I'll book flights pretty soon. Um, but I've got like events planned out, races planned out. That's like my new adrenaline rush now is mud races. Um, we've got one trip planned to go to Greece. I think we mentioned this last podcast before the audio went out, but we're going to do a Spartan race in Greece, which is a bucket list thing that I never knew I had.

Dude.

Okay.

So I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure you told this story on the last podcast and it got lost in the audio.

So.

In the few minutes that we have left, you're going to have to tell us how this happened and how we are— we both of us possibly are both going to be running this race in Sparta, Greece.

We'll get you in it. We'll get you in it. I'll just— all it's going to take is a little email and pull some strings. It might make you do a ton of burpees to earn it, but I think we'll get you in.

Dude, I will send them burpee videos from wherever I am. I will do it.

So what happened was like a week before the New Year, I saw Joe DeSena post something on the Spartan page about a Finish Strong Spartan Challenge. And I'm like totally hooked on Spartans. Like I've been watching Gladiator, Braveheart, 300. That's just what I do now. Just fun, right? Especially because I thought I was having a son.

Right. You wanted to name him Maximus.

And yeah, I want to name him freaking Maximus or Leonidas. Okay. And Kaya shot it down, but can't imagine why. I accepted this guy's challenge and the challenge was to either do 300 burpees a day, 20 miles on the fan bike, or 10-mile run every single day. One of those 3 things for 7 days straight into the new year. And the prize was kind of like left, you know, they didn't say what the prize was. And that's okay. I didn't want to find out. Later that the prize was something super cool. And in my mind, what's funny is I thought it was going to be like some hoodie from that had a Spartan on it. And that would have been— I would have been stoked.

Right.

Instead, I find out after the week's up and I interview and I, and I send in an email. It's On Your Honor. I sent an email saying that I finished. I got an email back and they said, congrats. Your prizes are— there are 3 things. Number 1, we get to go— I get to choose any Spartan or Tough Mudder event anywhere, and anybody I know gets free admission into the event. So Anthem Pest Control is required, and I'm not telling anybody it's a choice. They're like, if you work for us, you're required to come do a Tough Mudder. Just because it's going to be great team bonding and team suffering. For sure. For real. Like, team suffering is great. Like, forget team bonding. Team bonding is team suffering. Um, so we're going to do that. It's going to be great. It's going to be a great way for the guys to like bond together. And, uh, cause we, we bond when we suffer together. That's why guys in gravel get really close. Yeah. So that's amazing. Like, I was so stoked about that. The second thing that we get to do is a retreat at Joe DeSena's house at— I think it's an end of June or something like that, where I found out later there's, there's an event. It's a 24-hour ultra marathon that's happening. So I have a feeling that I'm doing 24-hour ultra marathon. We will see what happens, but that's going to be brutal.

Oh my God.

But I get, I get to go hang out with the CEO of Spartan. And hang out at his, at his place. All food and food and, you know, living spaces are taken care of. I just got to get myself there. And the last thing is a free ticket to race in Sparta for the World Championship Spartan. So I don't have to be that great. I already qualified for it, but I'm stoked for it, man. I'll, I'll, like I said, I'll email them. They're chill company, man. They're cool people. They just want to change lives. Yeah. So we're going to build a whole trip around that and hopefully get to see Jared and hopefully get to see you and your wife and kid during that time. Will you have your next baby by then?

Yeah, you probably do. Baby's due in May, so baby will be like 6 months old, dude. Yeah, it's coming up way quick. So that's terrifying. But yeah, dude, so I will, I will probably I've just gotten back from my deployment right around then. And so then we can, uh, we could just fly, we can fly over to Greece and we can race this thing and then turn around and come back to Italy and we can all hang out for like a week or two.

And so excited. We're gonna, we're gonna hire somebody to not hire. We're gonna find somebody that will go and help us with, if it's a girl, her name's gonna be Francesca. Francesca is going to— Francesca Scott Maser, um, in honor of my dad. But, um, somebody to help with Frankie, because we're going to end up calling her Frankie. But somebody to help with Frankie in Georgia.

Yeah.

So it'll be fun. Uh, but we'll, we'll have them come with us and they'll help out with the babies, but then they'll also take pictures and their payment is a free flight and hotel.

Free ticket. Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's fair. Yeah. Um, so yeah, we'll make that work, man. I'm, I mean, that's, that's like my big event that I'm stoked for, for the year. Yeah. Yeah. Because Kai and I travel internationally once a year. That's just been a trend in our marriage so far from door to door.

Yeah.

That's kind of how I'm wired now. Work hard, go to a different country. So, dude.

Well, I'm really excited. I think it'll be fun. It's funny. I told my wife, I was like, Austin did this thing and I explained the whole thing and she's laughing her head off. And then I was like, yeah. And so to the last thing that he gets is he gets to get a free ticket into the world championship in Sparta for the Spartan Race. She's like, what? And I was like, and he says he thinks he can get me a ticket. And she was like, what? What? You, you never want to do— what are you talking— why would you want to go? And I was like, why, why wouldn't I want to go? This sounds fantastic. She's like, but that doesn't— like, she, she like did not understand at all. And I was like, I know I've actually never talked about ever doing Spartan Race. I did a, a mud run, you know, like a 5K mud run when I was like 14 or something like that. Um, but I've always thought they're awesome and I've just like never gotten around to doing them. So we definitely need to figure out a way to make it happen. And if they need to call me, I will happily hop on the phone and explain the situation. But yeah, I do. I'm really excited. It's like one of the top things on my, on my travel list this year.

It's going to be so fun. I'm excited for that. But it's like, it's cool because every morning I look at that, I'm like, I'm going to Greece in November. And I get excited. It's— and that's kind of how it's fun. That's a fun way to live life, is you have something to look forward to on a daily basis, and the work that you put in on a daily basis, it actually is going towards something. And I think a lot of times, um, even before I started doing this binder, I just was working for the sake of like, oh, I'm gonna, you know, change my family's life. I was like, no, I'm going to start changing my family's life now by having things and experiences to, to look forward to. And so that's the whole concept of living life by design, in my opinion. And through these binders, you know, just really all it is, man, is just looking at your goals on a daily basis to get you fired up for the day. But that's what I think living life by design is. Like, I have a goal, I even drew it out, like in pencil of like all the different properties that I'm going to get over the course of the next year and a half. And every time I get one, I'm going to put a little checkmark and, you know, soon enough I'll have all these properties paying me and that'll pay for this crazy barn dominion that Kaya wants to have one day. So we're going to get a barn dominion.

Yeah.

And half of it's going to be a gym. And then the other half is going to be where we live.

So I love it. I absolutely love it. And, you know, people might— people might say like that, like, you guys are talking about life like it's some sort of game, you know, like you totally— you wrote down a bunch of properties that you want to and you're just going to check them off when you get them. Like, what kind of a world are you living in? And that's just it, dude. What kind of world are you living in, man? Like, don't you realize that life is full of opportunities and excitement. And yeah, we are blessed to live in the greatest country that ever existed with more opportunities than anywhere else in the world. Like, anything that you could want to do, you could do. The only thing is it's up to you to do it. That's it.

I have— I've had people like almost challenge, like, exactly what you just said. I've had people in my life challenge what you just said. And they're like family members and they're like, oh, but you don't get it. You don't get how hard life is for me. And I'm like, okay, pause. Like, you need to look at your problems differently and you need to look at, like, you need to think outside the box a little bit. And I don't want to come across as a typical sales bro, but I mean, you can learn other skills that make you way more money to do things that you want to do. And I think one of them is sales. Um, you know, you're starting your business right now with credit cards. Like, if you think outside the box a little bit, like, there's ways to get things done. And I don't want to be disconnected from reality. I know people have problems. Yeah, but I also know that if you, if you ask different questions, like, the quality of life, our quality of life is is a reflection of the types of questions we ask ourselves. Right, right. Where if we're struggling, we're like, oh man, I don't know how I'm gonna get $50 to do this one thing. It's like, dude, you're— you need to think different questions. It's like you need to ask yourself different questions to think outside the box.

Yeah.

Um, does that make sense? I don't want to come across as—

no, no, no, but it's totally true.

But I'm thinking exactly what you said. I think people disagree with me.

Yeah, well, and, and I've been thinking about this lately in terms of like flex, flex, physical flexibility, like of your muscles, because it's something that I've been working with, with my— with some flexibility, with some back issues I have. And so you talk to some people, you're like, okay, sit on the ground cross-legged. There are a bunch of people who can't do that, and a lot of dudes who can't do that because they're not flexible, especially in their hips and in their lower back. And they sit and they're like, dude, I can't sit cross-legged. Cross-legged. And then you like watch them try to sit on the ground. We're like, yeah, no wonder you can't sit cross-legged. Like, you're, you're tighter than— like, I don't— like, dude, like, of course you can't. Like, you actually can't right now. But that's just it. It's just right now. Like, right now you can't do that thing. Right now you can't sit cross-legged on the floor for more than 5 minutes because you're so tight, you're so inflexible that your body doesn't bend. And if you forced it, you'd probably tear something. Like that is the current state. But that's not the problem. Like that's, and that's not, it's not forever. Like that's just right now. Like if you, and if you looked at yourself, you asked the questions, why can't I sit cross-legged? Why can't I sit here? Why can't I sit on the floor? Why can't I lay on the floor? Well, maybe actually it's because all my muscles hurt because my muscles are too tight because I don't do any sort of stretching because I don't, do any physical activity, or all I do is lift the weights and I don't do any warmups. I don't even cool down. I don't do any stretching. Like you have to ask yourself these different questions and realize that it's, you've gotta, you've gotta look at the timeframe that you're dealing in. And if you can't do it right now, maybe that's because there's an underlying issue that needs to be addressed. It's gonna actually take more time, more effort, but it can be addressed and it can be overcome.

Yeah. I think, yeah, it just, when, when you think about like problems that you have in your life, um, just it's better— there are ways to address them. Like sometimes people think that there's only one way, and I've fallen into this before. Like one of the best examples was when I was in college and I was like, man, like there's nowhere else that's gonna work with me as good as Chipotle works with my schedule. They're the only option I have right now. I'm like, what a crazy way to think about my life. Like that Chipotle was like my savior. Now, amazing food, but, you know, but I— you run into that a lot, like where you'll say, hey, look, like, look into a different option because it's okay to make changes in your life. Like, it really is. If you don't have the results that you want, then you might need to make some changes. And that's why these binders are nice, because you can kind of map out, kind of like what Jared said there, was you can like analyze what your issues are and you can decide like, hey, I need to prescribe myself this change. Um, but if nothing changes, nothing changes. Like, you, you're gonna have the same result if you just do the same thing. And so I think ultimately in life we want to have growth. So the binder can help you think differently. It's okay to put a big Hairy— what is it? Big Hairy Audacious Goal?

BHAG? Yeah, BHAGs.

It's okay to put one of those in your binder. Like, I— my, my goal for real estate this year is to buy 2 more properties before the end of the year. And that scares me. I don't know how I'm going to do that. But if I put it down there, I start to think differently. So it's okay to set a big goal. It really is. And I think, you know, if you're looking at it on a daily basis, you will force yourself to think differently. I shared with the real estate guys that I spoke with last weekend, I just said, hey guys, there's gonna be forks in the road where you're gonna decide like, hey, if I continue to do what I'm still doing right now, and I've shared this on our podcast before, if I continue to do what I'm doing now, will I ever get what I really want? And if the answer is no, you need to take a fork in the road and go a different direction.

Yeah.

And I've done that multiple times in my life. I'm really grateful I chose the other side of the road, you know? And, you know, really grateful where we're at right now and just excited to have more goals ahead of us. But you're right, I kind of think life is a game. I don't, I don't, I don't fuss too much. I don't. I don't take it too seriously because of that sometimes. I understand how fragile it is and how, you know, we don't have a whole lot of days left from my dad dying. But I also don't get too worked up about little stuff, you know, kind of enjoy it, dude.

Well, because in the end, like, we're all just going, like, we're all just going. And if you stop learning, if you stop growing, like, what's the point? Like, what's the point of it all? So it's up to us to decide what kind of a life we want to live and then work towards that, probably forever, because our wants and our desires are all going to change. And it's not that we're going to be living this never-ending, like, I can't, I can't ever be happy, but like, it's actually just the process of building and growing and learning that is the joy and the fun and what brings the flavor and color to your life.

So Yeah, and, and to young men listening to this, like, your life is so much more than a house and cars. Like, I feel like that's like the thing that's painted out as like the success is like the wife, the house, the cars. Like, that's not— that doesn't mean you're successful. Like, there's got— there's a lot that's gonna happen where you just like work on yourself. And, you know, there's happiness that, that you want to have along the way as well. And there's goals that you can create, and there's, you know, different things you can do in life. It's not just You know, we're not just born to get a house, to have cars and have kids. Like, those are what those are like. Having a family is what makes me happy. But like, for some reason, we have this idea that it's like buy house, buy cars, happily ever after. It's like, no, like, who said that that was success?

Right?

I personally find the most fulfillment in being a dad. You know, they don't talk about that as much as you know, the house and the cars and the white picket fence. Right.

All right.

Well, hey, we're—

oh, sorry, go ahead.

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We're going up to the end of this. Yeah.

And it's going to cut us off here in a second. So, Austin, thanks. Thanks again for sharing, for sharing your binder and for inspiring me to put a binder in here.

We didn't—

and what's crazy is the first time we spent a lot of time talking about like the financial goals that we set for this year. And in this recording, we we didn't even touch on them yet. So, uh, but there's, there are so many, there are so many powerful, uh, lessons to be learned just by sitting and thinking about what you want your life to look like and reviewing it on a regular basis. And you can make changes and edits and updates and add new pictures, cut things off, add things on. Like, because it's your life, it's yours, it's no one else's. And you're the only person who's going to take care, or no one's going to take care of your life more better than you are, uh, except for God.

Nobody else cares as much as you do.

So Yeah, man. All right, Austin. Well, hey, uh, this was awesome. Thanks again for hopping on, brother, and, uh, and I'll talk to you soon. Can't wait.

Take care. Get those binders done.