May 1, 2025 • 36 mins
Welcome back to the Getting After It podcast.
In this episode, I take you into the heart of one of history’s most disciplined warrior codes: Bushido, the code of the Samurai. But I don’t just talk about it—I bring it to life through the story of Miyamoto Musashi, Japan’s most legendary swordsman, a man who won 60 duels and once killed his opponent with a wooden oar.
At the end, I give you five practical exercises based on the Book of Five Rings to help you reflect, refine, and reforge yourself—just like Musashi did.
You don’t need to be a Samurai to live like one.
All you need is discipline, courage… and a willingness to face your fears head-on.
Key Learnings & Takeaways:
1. Declare Before You’re Ready - Musashi issued his first duel challenge at 13—with zero experience—and won. Declare your goal publicly, then schedule your first rep within 7 days. Courage follows commitment.
2. Honor the Two-Sword Method - He carried a long sword and a short one. You should too. Set one long-term goal and pair it with a daily micro habit. Ask yourself each morning: “How will today’s action defend my long-term mission?”
3. Use the Oar - Musashi beat one of the best swordsmen in Japan with a carved boat paddle. Find your unconventional asset. A story, a unique strength, or your voice. Rehearse it. Deploy it. Make the room flinch.
4. Lead With Service - Later in life, Musashi stopped chasing power and began teaching others. Strength shared is strength multiplied. Take one hour to teach someone who’s two steps behind you—no fee, no brag, just impact.
5. Reflect in the Void - Musashi ended his life meditating in silence, armor on, eyes east. Try the Five Rings Reflection: Spend 30 minutes every Sunday for 5 weeks focusing on:
- Earth (Foundations)
- Water (Adaptability)
- Fire (Controlled Aggression)
- Wind (Learning from Rivals)
- Void (Stillness)
7 Bushido Virtue Challenges:
Gi (Rectitude) | Revisit yesterday. Rewrite one decision you'd proudly read aloud.
Yu (Courage) | Do the hard thing you’ve been dodging. Send the email. Make the call. Take the step.
Jin (Benevolence) | Send a sincere thank you to someone who changed your life.
Rei (Respect) | Greet people by name. See them. Treat them like they matter—because they do.
Makoto (Honesty) | Record yourself naming your biggest flaw. Listen twice. Build a fix.
Meiyo (Honor) | Ask 3 trusted people for the first word they associate with your name. Adjust to earn the one you want.
Chugi (Loyalty) | Block out 3 hours for your mission this week. No phones. No multitasking. Just work.
If Musashi can face down demons with driftwood, you can face your fear with discipline.
–––––––––––––––––-
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I hope today’s episode sparked something within you to pursue your dreams and unlock your true potential. If you found value in it, consider sharing it with someone who might need that same push.
This podcast is built for you—the dreamers and the doers. My goal is to provide a space where you can find inspiration, learn from others, and feel empowered to chase what matters most to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brett (00:00):
dawn cracks over genruijima, a skiff scrapes the
sand and a single ronin stepsoff.
He's tall, his hair is wild andhis clothes are dusty.
And what's he holding?
He's holding a wooden ore thathe's turned into a crude sword.
His rival is sasaki koro, thedemon of the western provinces,
(00:27):
and he's waited for hours andhe's just baking in the sun.
Minutes later, kojiro's legendlies bleeding in the tide While
the ronin turns away, eyes calmas stone.
What kind of code fuels a manwho wins a battle with a piece
of driftwood?
One word Bushido, and that'swhat we're talking about today.
(00:51):
Let's get after it.
Welcome back to the podcast.
Everybody, I am happy that youhave decided to sit here with
your friend again, brett.
Today's episode is going to bereal exciting.
(01:12):
I am pumped for this onebecause we're talking about
Bushido.
So going into episode two ofthe code series that we're
discussing.
Last episode was my ownpersonal code that I follow, and
now we're going to be studyingone of the most famous codes out
there, and it's the samurai'sBushido code.
But now it's taken in.
A lot of people who practicemartial arts.
(01:33):
They follow this code and as Iwas thinking about what's the
best way that I can portray thisin a story format, I think it's
through talking about japan'smost famous samurai, miyamoto
musashi, and his story is insane.
Like I read some of it when Iwas doing this research and I
(01:55):
was like this sounds like it'smade up.
And I first heard the story ofmiyamoto musashi in um in jaco's
podcast I think it was episodea hundred with Tim Ferris but
great, great story.
It sounds like a movie.
Honestly, this guy, miyamotoMusashi, is the best samurai
Japan has ever fought.
He um, he packed on 60 duelswith all these other people
(02:19):
Cause he was what's known as aRonin, and a Ronin is a samurai
who is masterless and kind ofjust travels wherever he pleases
.
So it's super interesting.
But what drives someone likethat?
And it's this code that theyfollow, called Bushido.
Now I'm going to talk about thecode real quickly, just give you
(02:42):
an idea of what it is, and thenwe'll talk about it further as
we explore this legend ofMusashi.
So, starting with number one,it's rectitude, or gi, as what
they say, and what that means isdoing what's right.
Number two is courage, or yu,and that is acting in spite of
fear.
Benevolence is next, or jinn,and that is the power that
(03:04):
protects, and we'll talk moreabout that in a second.
Four is respect, or re, andit's the manner that masters the
ego.
Five is honesty, or makato, andthat's basically your word, is
your deed, so own up to what yousay which, by the way, if you
remember last podcast, that'sone of mine, and honor is
another one or miyo, and yourreputation that mirrors your own
(03:28):
personal soul.
And then, finally, loyalty, orchugi, which is a devotion to
something bigger.
And after I go into each story,I'll take a pause and explain
the principle that's focused inthat one, specifically in that.
But let's go back to early daysof Miyamoto Musashi, where he
wasn't even called Musashi.
(03:49):
His name was actually ShinmenTakizo and he is 13 years old.
At this point it's 1596 andJapan is still recovering from a
civil war, so there's smoke inthe air like just picture
post-war Japan back in thosedays.
Now word spreads in this townthat there's a traveling samurai
whose name is Arima Kihi and,by the way, I'm going to butcher
(04:14):
a lot of these names.
I don't speak Japanese, so I'mgoing to do my best.
Flame me up in the comments ifyou want, but I don't care
Anyways.
So he hears about this travelingsamurai and this guy's walking
around the town he's talkingabout, like hey, who is in this
town and wants to challenge me,and Takizo or Musashi.
(04:34):
He writes down a notice for achallenge and he puts it at the
temple gates saying hey, I'mready to fight you.
My name's Takizo, and he showsup at sunrise Carrying a six
foot staff.
This guy doesn't even show upwith a sword.
He has no experience.
And so when Musashi rolls upand sees that it's a kid, he
(04:57):
laughs or not?
He laughs.
Kihi laughs and he's like whatthe heck?
I'm going to be fighting a kidwith a wooden stick, okay?
Seconds later, the staffshatters Kihei's skull.
That's insane.
Musashi doesn't have experienceat this point fighting, you
(05:18):
know, fatal battles with otherpeople, and yet he takes on this
samurai who's much older, muchmore trained, and kills him with
a wooden stick.
Now, even at 13, musashi followsthe letter of dual etiquette,
which means there's a publicchallenge, the terms are
(05:38):
accepted, and that's rectitudeat the beginning.
So he's following the justicelike he's doing everything as he
should.
And that's rectitude at thebeginning.
So he's following the justiceLike he's doing everything as he
should.
And then he steps into thelethal combat with little
experience, which takes a lot ofcourage.
I don't know if you've everconsidered fighting someone or
challenging someone who's waybigger than you, more trained
(05:59):
than you, more skilled than you.
And Miyamoto Musashi is likewell, I want to follow the way
of the samurai, so might as wellstart now.
He's 13 years old.
Kills the guy with the woodenstaff.
Miyamoto Musashi also wrote abook called the Book of Five
Rings, and this is at the end ofhis life, where he's
contemplating all the thingsthat he's learned and he talks
(06:20):
about how there's earth, fire,water, wind and the void.
Those are the five rings thathe talks about, but I'm going to
put some quotes through thisduring each topic that we cover.
So the first one is today isvictory over yourself of
yesterday.
Tomorrow is your victory overlesser men, and what he's saying
(06:40):
there is that if you can havethe discipline to control
yourself and train yourself tobe better, and if we think
nowadays that's fitness, that'syour jobs, that's our
relationships, that's showing upwhen we need to, and if you can
do all those things and betteryourself, you're going to have
more power.
Power might not be the rightword, but you'll be able to do a
(07:01):
lot better than lesser men whodon't have that strength to be
able to be disciplined.
And if we think about MiyamotoMusashi's first act there we'll
call this his first act wherehe's 13 years old and he kills
this samurai, it takes onerectitude or justice, you can
call it and two a lot of courage.
How can we reflect that now?
(07:22):
Well, I think the best way todo it is do what Musashi did.
Do something that scared you orscares you.
And if you listen to the lastpodcast with my wife, we
actually talked about that alittle bit, how her dad pushed
her to do things that scaredscared her when she was younger,
in terms of like they would seta goal that's a harder to
achieve, and I'm going to askyou to do the same thing today.
(07:44):
So name one task that you'vedodged and you might have came
up with excuses like I'm notready for this or I'm not the
person that's going to be bestat this, and you just make up
all these excuses, right, callit out and put it out there.
Say, hey, listen, I know thatI've been dodging this Decl.
(08:09):
Declare it publicly that'swhat's important, just like
Musashi wrote it on a sign anddeclare that he's going to fight
this traveling samurai.
You need to do the same withwhatever you're putting off.
So declare it publicly and thenschedule the first rep within
seven days, because skillfollows declaration, not the
other way around.
If you say you're going to dosomething, follow it and, like
the Bushido code, honor yourword, because your word is what
you say.
And that's all about beingtruthful, right?
So be honest with yourself andstart tackling these things.
(08:31):
Okay Now, I think that's animportant thing for you to do
and for all of us.
Honestly, I I try and findthings that scare me all the
time, and most recently for me,I don't know why, but I've been
scared to run the trails again.
I think it's because I haven'tdone it in a long time.
(08:52):
It was winter up in Utah.
The trails are finally startingto open up and I know that I
need to get out there and runbecause I love it.
And two, it strengthens myheart more than really anything
else.
Running up the mountains,running far distances like.
It's a hard thing to do and ittakes a lot of discipline, but I
need to overcome that.
So I'm declaring it publiclythat that's what I'm going to do
, and within seven days.
(09:14):
I'm going to make sure that ithappens and I want you to do
something like that, similar toyourself.
What is something that you'vebeen putting off that you need
courage to hold on to and moveforward with it?
Now I want to talk about anotherstory with Musashi.
So he's a teenager at thispoint and Musashi leaves as a
Ronin.
(09:34):
So he's masterless, he's hungryand doesn't really have a place
to live, and over three decadeshe accepts 60-plus duels and he
loses none of them.
This guy's undefeated.
So if you think of people likein the UFC who are undefeated, I
think the only person I canthink of right now is who's the
(09:56):
guy that fought Conor McGregorand beat him?
Oh man, what's his name?
I'm blanking.
Anyways, there's a guy thatbeat Conor McGregor.
He's a really good grappler.
Anyways, there's people likethat out there.
Musashi never lost a samuraibattle.
He never lost a duel.
And there's this crazy storywhere he goes up to the Yoshioka
(10:18):
clan in Kyoto and Musashihumiliates the heir of the
entire sword school.
He arrives hours late and thenflattens this dude in one strike
of his samurai, of his katanais what it's called, and his
brother, of his katana is whatit's called and his brother, the
(10:42):
heir's brother.
He demands retribution.
Musashi kills that guy too.
This one's a little dark, butmusashi also cuts down the uh,
the 12 year old who's the lastheir of the school, and then he
just vanishes into the bamboo.
Meanwhile, this clan is getting70 people ready to fight this
guy, but he just leaves leaves.
He's like.
I did my job, which, by the way,samurai back then were wild.
They lived by a code where theyjust challenged each other, and
(11:04):
if you were challenged you hadto accept it, and if you didn't
accept it you were considereddishonorable.
So one thing to note aboutbefore he did all this stuff
where he just destroys thisentire sword school he is
respectful, he's like, honestand he honors his word.
(11:24):
So, for example, he bows beforeevery duel, showing that he has
manners, and even when he'sabout to break bones and kill
people in half, he shows respect, can kill people in half, he
shows respect.
He refuses staged exhibitionsand every fight is real stakes,
which is honest.
You're not getting out alive.
One of you is not getting outalive and his reputation blooms
(11:48):
because he's the man that neverloses and his honor becomes his
currency, and he says this inthe Book of Five Rings where he
says do nothing, which is of nouse.
Think about Musashi's life as asamurai.
He trims everything to the mostbasic things.
So he's focusing on sleep, food, even his arrival time to
(12:10):
whatever serves his victory.
Because that's all he'sthinking about is how can I win,
how can I go to this next fightand win?
And one thing that's cool aboutMusashi is he developed this
two-sword technique method wherehe had one long katana and one
short katana, so he's, like youknow, doing dual blades like a
beast.
So he's one long and one shortand he called it the two-sword
(12:34):
method.
And I was thinking about how canwe tie that into getting after
it nowadays.
And I think it's simple.
I think we can take a longsword approach and a short sword
approach.
And long sword meaning that youwrite down a strategic
year-long goal and your shortsword is you pick a daily micro
(12:54):
habit that protects it and everymorning you wake up you say how
will the short sword defend thelong sword?
Write down your progress for 30days just to see what you can
do.
I'm sure that you'll besurprised at the results that
come from it.
Think about that have onelong-term goal.
That's your strategic thingthat you're focusing on.
(13:15):
How can I get my book written?
How can I start a podcast?
How can I get a promotion atwork?
And day by day, you make thesemicro habits that help you get
to that position right.
So think about those things inyour life that you want to
achieve, that you want to getbetter at, and that's your
long-term goal.
(13:35):
What daily actions can you taketo get there?
I think it's important for allof us to think about.
Now I want to go back to thestory I mentioned at the
beginning, where he just walksup in the introduction at least,
he walks up to this guy who letme actually just talk about
(13:56):
this story for a second.
So it's April 13th in 1612.
And his rival is Sasaki Kojiro,and he's the master of the
shallow cut, which I looked thisup, and it's a sword strike
that was said to be incrediblyquick and precise.
So this guy's fast with a swordand he summons Musashi to a
small island and all theseofficials show up, these
(14:18):
onlookers and eager nobles, theyall gather together to watch
this battle.
Musashi, he oversleeps onpurpose, so he's like I'll show
up, but it's not going to bewhen that guy wanted me to.
I'm just going to roll up on myown time.
And by the time that his boatdrifts to shore, kojiro is
boiling in the sun and he'spissed Like.
(14:41):
He's like why is this guy solate?
He's so late.
I'm hot.
I'm out here waiting for thisdude.
Where is he?
And then Musashi, he jumps offthe boat and he's carrying an
oar that he carved, that's threeinches longer than Kojiro's.
Bear with me, nodachi.
It's a sword.
And so he's walking up to thisguy.
(15:03):
Kojiro draws and he swings andhe misses, but Musashi cracks
his skull with one overhead blowand the legend says that the
tide sweeps Kojiro's sword awayas Musashi steps back into his
boat, already eyeing the nexthorizon.
So this guy shows up late andhe's carrying a wooden oar and
(15:25):
then he just cracks this guy inthe head.
He's done, drops to the ground,boom.
What can we learn from that?
Well, again, I think it'scourage and strategic deception,
because he's facing japan'ssharpest blade and arguably one
of the best samurais in the land, with a piece of wood.
(15:47):
That's courage again, and Idon't know if, like musashi, was
thinking, yeah, this guy'spretty good, if I go in with
swords like, I'll definitelyhave an upper hand, but if I go,
go in with a wooden oar, maybehe'll have a chance.
I don't know if he's thinkingabout that thing and he just
wants to challenge himself.
Either way, I think it'scourage.
But him showing up late, it's alittle bit of a gray area with
(16:09):
the samurai Bushido code,because Gi debates Yu, so
rectitude debates Yu, which isacting in spite of fear.
And so the first rule of war iswin.
And bushido isn't naive at all.
It balances principle withoutcome and, like I said,
musashi's entire goal was to winthese battles.
(16:32):
And here's this quote that isfrom the book of five rings that
fits in here perfectly.
It's so good.
He says if you make theopponent flinch, you've already
won.
And so him sleeping in onpurpose, showing up late and
bringing a wooden oar I thinkwe're all strategic to get this
guy throwing off his game andit's just a crazy story.
(16:56):
That is a crazy story.
That is a crazy story and itshows how good Musashi was at
mastering the samurai skills,being a great swordsman and
ultimately getting after it.
He got after it.
What's a modern-day drill thatwe can do?
Let's call it use the oar,because Musashi shows up with
(17:18):
something that's unpredictablein this fight.
He doesn't necessarily knowwhat the outcome is going to be,
but it's something that's goingto be an advantage to him
because it's a little bit longerthan the other guy's sword.
And so before your next duel,you can call it, and that could
be a sales pitch, a race, anegotiation, a conversation,
whatever it is.
Whatever your next duel is,identify one unconventional
(17:40):
asset.
It could be a strange stat thatyou have.
It could be a story, a slidedeck that everyone else might
ignore, but have something thatis unconventional that you can
use.
With this podcast, I think agreat example is like I'm
different than other podcasters.
I bring my own voice to thetable and that's unique.
And so that is myunconventional asset, is my own
(18:02):
uniqueness.
But then I want you to rehearseit until it feels like part of
your hand, like it's so naturalfor you, and then deploy it.
First, force the room to flinchand surprise, surprise is
leverage.
You can use that in your dailylife.
Like, again, musashi would showup late to other places.
(18:23):
Sometimes he would dictatewhere they wanted to fight, like
a samurai might be like, hey,let's go fight at the temple
grounds and Musashi would belike, okay, and then like an
hour later he would be like,actually, let's go fight in the
woods, and they'd be like whoa,I was ready for the temple
grounds but just like trying tothrow them off a little bit.
So think about that.
What is somethingunconventional that you have
(18:45):
that you can use to youradvantage?
Because all of us do.
All of us are unique, kind oflike I mentioned with this
podcast, everyone has somethingthat can benefit them in a way
that they are unique withEveryone, benefit them in a way
that they are unique withEveryone's unique.
Now, kind of shifting focus alittle bit.
I want to talk about his focuson service and teaching others,
(19:08):
because that's another piece ofthe Bushido Code and getting
after it in general.
So, going back to a couplestories here.
But power was no longer hisfocus at this time.
His entire focus was shieldingapprentices and teaching them
(19:30):
and really helping them alongtheir way, which is Jin
benevolence.
He's trying to help other peopleduring this time and, after a
lifetime where he's masterless,musashi ties himself to the
Hosokawa family, and not out ofa paycheck but out of a purpose,
which is, again, chugi.
He's loyal to this family nowand he wants to teach them all
(19:51):
the things that he's learned,and he has this quote from the
book Five Rings where he saysStudy strategy over the years
and achieve the spirit of thewarrior which to me says that he
was a lifelong learner Over theyears doesn't mean that he goes
to college for four years andhe's done Over the years, in my
opinion, is a lifelong journey,just like how getting after it
(20:11):
is.
And he was a learner and he hada lot that he could teach, and
so part of getting after it evenMusashi knew it was teaching
other people how to do the samething, which is probably the
number one reason why I have apodcast is so I can hopefully
help others understand and learnprinciples that I follow that
they might be able to use intheir own life to help them
(20:33):
accelerate their own growth inwhatever capacity they're trying
.
But it's so important to giveback Like service teaching.
Anything that you might havethat's an asset to you can also
be an asset to others.
So get creative in the way thatyou think about it and get
creative in the way that youshare those things, and I would
(20:54):
say, if you want to try this,you can block out one hour this
week or next to teach a skill tosomeone who might be like two
steps behind you.
Don't ask for a fee, don't bragabout it.
Do it out of pure love.
Teach them something that youwish that you would have known
(21:17):
Strength shared is strengthmultiplied.
I don't like all thisconversation like, oh man, he's
a podcaster, I'm competing withthat guy.
Or man, that guy's in sales too.
I don't want to teach him mytechniques.
If he's going to be better thanme, yeah, they might be better
than you.
Sure, there's podcasters outthere that have a huge following
(21:38):
compared to me, but you knowwhat strength helps.
Or strength shared is strengthmultiplied.
And if there's someone whosepodcast I really enjoy, that's
way bigger than me.
I'll rattle off a few nick bear,cameron haynes, joe rogan,
jocko, um, siblings of.
That's my wife's podcast and Ilove it, but she's doing better
than me.
(21:58):
There's no point in holdingthat up.
That just makes you.
That's icky, that's gross.
If you're thinking, oh man, I'mthe only one that should be
successful, no, hell, no, that'sthe wrong way to look at it.
And Musashi even knew that thisguy who destroyed 60 people in
(22:18):
his battles never won or neverlost any of them.
He knows the value that he cangive to others and he's not
holding it back.
And you shouldn't do the sameif you have something that could
be valuable to someone in need,because think about the times
when you were in need andsomeone stepped in and helped
you.
How good did you feel?
Now, go do that for someoneelse.
Think about what that might be,and I want you to take action
(22:44):
towards it this week, becausebut life isn't a competition.
We're meant to learn from eachother.
We're meant to grow together.
It's not a perfect thing, andthat's another reason why I love
this podcast is because I haveabout seven guests scheduled
that are coming on and I'm soexcited to talk to all of them
(23:04):
because they've all done things,they've all experienced certain
things that I haven't, and so Ican learn from them, and
they're gracious enough to comeon this podcast and actually
talk to me about them.
But I don't know everything.
I understand that, even whenI'm talking about Bushido, I'm
not an expert in it.
I just understand theprinciples and I really like
(23:25):
what they talk about, and Ithink that there's things that
you can listen to with this codethat can also help you in your
own life and help you improve.
So let's talk about the void,because during the 1630s to 1645
, around those areas, musashi isgetting old and he retreats to
(23:47):
what he calls the Spirit RockCave, which is on a hill outside
of one of the villages, and hewrites the book of five rings,
so five short scrolls titledearth, water, fire, wind and
void, kind of like we talkedabout, and he hammers one idea
home that strategy is life andlife is strategy and swordplay
(24:08):
is only a metaphor.
So I talk about that withrunning.
I say running is a great lifemetaphor.
Musashi says swordplay is agreat life metaphor.
I don't fight people withswords, but I believe him.
One thing that I think is veryimportant for this topic
specifically is he says thinklightly of yourself and deeply
of the world Meaning, throw theego aside and contemplate the
(24:34):
world, think about what otherpeople are feeling, trying and
piece together what nature istelling you, like there's so
much out there that we don'tunderstand, but don't let your
ego make the decisions in yourlife for you.
He talks about the void, andthe void is where nothing exists
.
It is the place whereeverything begins.
(24:54):
Let's pause there for a secondbecause he's talking about
reflection, taking a momentevery single day to be with
yourself, to have completesilence and to figure out what
ways that you can improve.
And this is something that'srare to have nowadays and I
think it's rare because it'sjust the way that our culture
runs.
We are bombarded on socialmedia.
(25:16):
It's calling and craving ourattention, our jobs.
They take a lot out of us.
Our families requires.
It requires a lot, of a lot oftime to build up your families,
to make sure everyone in yourfamily is taken care of.
Like I always want to make surethat my wife has everything
(25:36):
that she needs, that she's goodto go, and that requires time.
It's not a bad thing, but itrequires time.
And so having specific timecarved out where you can just be
quiet and think it is hard andit is rare, but it is powerful.
And, like he says, it is theplace where everything begins.
(25:58):
When you're sitting therethinking, that's where you can
understand how your thoughtprocess works.
It's how you can understandyour own life, where you want to
improve, and I think it's justimportant to be quiet.
Some of the best we can callthem revelations for myself have
come from moments of silence,and I would push you to do that
(26:23):
Because, like I said, we don'tget it a lot and it is a
powerful tool to have in yourbelt.
So sit with silence and we'llget into some of my challenges
that I have here for you alittle bit later on.
But Musashi, he lays down hisbrush and he senses that his
(26:45):
death is approaching when he'sin this cave.
So what does he do?
He dresses in full armor, hekneels facing east and dies in
Cezanne meditation at sunrise.
That's like the most gloriousdeath for a samurai.
I feel like he just puts on hisarmor and he goes and he sits
outside.
He's like, yeah, I feel like myage is getting old.
(27:08):
I'm getting old up here, mybody's creaking.
I'm getting old up here, mybody's creaking, I'm going to
call it, and then he just passesaway.
That sounds amazing.
I want to go that way, in afull, pseudo armor, looking out
at the sunrise.
Good night, if I had my way,that's how I would do it.
That would be pretty cool.
But he meets his death the wayhe met life, with his eyes open
(27:34):
and his mind clear like water.
Okay, so here's the biggestchallenge I have for you.
We're going to call this, thefive rings reflection For the
next five Sundays.
Spend 30 minutes in silencefocusing on each of these
following elements.
So earth, that's the firstscroll.
What are your foundations?
(27:59):
What is your sleep, your diet,your schedule?
Look like those are yourfoundations.
Water is adaptability.
Where are you rigid?
Where can you be more flexible?
Excuse me, fire is controlledaggression, and if you remember
what, if you know Jocko, hetalks about being default
aggressive.
That's kind of the gist thatI'm getting from controlled
aggression or the fire.
(28:24):
And the question I want you toask yourself is what deserves a
push?
Where can you be moreaggressive in your life, your
job, whatever?
Think about that.
And then the wind.
That means study your rivals,study the competition.
What can you learn from them?
What is something that they'redoing that maybe might help you
in your own process?
Because, like I said, rivals doa couple things they help you
(28:47):
understand where you can improve.
And two, they push you to bebetter.
It's competition, andcompetition is good if it's used
properly.
So think about that.
What can you learn from yourrivals?
And then, finally, the voidReal stillness.
Turn your phone off, go into adark room and just sit with your
thoughts for 30 minutes.
(29:08):
This is going to be a two and ahalf hour exercise.
You can split it up throughoutthe day, but I really think it's
important that you reflect onthese things your foundations,
your adaptability, yourcontrolled aggression, your
rivals and stillness withyourself.
Think about those things, thefive rings.
Now you can journal about thesethings, you can share something
(29:30):
with a friend to anchoraccountability.
But the first step, I wouldargue, is just do it for
yourself and see how you feelyou can practice this over time.
But I would say for the nextfive Sundays, you do this two
and a half hour exercise.
You're going to be a differentperson in five weeks, I
guarantee you that.
(29:51):
And if you're not, write in thecomments, brett, you suck.
Write that in the comments,exactly that Brett, you suck.
Now I want to reflect again oneach of the seven principles of
Bushido and then just give you afive-minute challenge for each
of them, or just kind of explainthem a little bit better.
(30:12):
So now we'll talk about each ofthe virtues.
The first one is gi, whichagain is rectitude.
And think about yesterday'schoices.
Rewrite one you'd proudly readaloud, be proud of your choices
and if you're not, make somechanges.
You courage.
Do the hard call, send theemail, have the difficult
(30:35):
conversation you've been puttingoff within 24 hours.
Jin benevolence Send one sincerethank you note to a person who
helped you.
It could be a voice note, itcould be an email, it could be a
handwritten one, it doesn'tmatter, but show someone that
you appreciate their time,respect or ray, learn and greet
every barista, janitor, peopleat work.
(30:58):
Call them by name, look them inthe face and respect them
because they're a person justlike how you are.
And then makato honesty.
Record yourself stating yourbiggest weakness and listen
twice.
Plan a fix.
That's going to be hard, butI've done it.
It's really interesting and itat least just allows you to
(31:20):
understand that you're beinghonest with yourself.
So start with honesty withyourself and then focus on how
you can be honest with otherpeople.
Don't hide yourself behindclosed doors.
Be the person that you arebehind closed doors as you are
in public.
Marcus Aurelius also talksabout that.
Mio is honor.
Ask three people that you knowand love and respect for the
first adjective they think ofwhen they hear your name and
(31:43):
adjust your actions to earn theone that you want.
If they say that you'refearless, maybe you want to be
courageous and be brave in spiteof the danger that's ahead of
you and change your actions soyou can be.
Or maybe they say you're a hardworker but you want to be
disciplined, then becomedisciplined.
(32:03):
Chugi is loyalty and block athree-hourfocus Sunday for your
life's main mission nomultitasking, no phones.
And again, I would argue andactually recommend you do the
five rings reflection that wetalked about, that
two-and-a-half-hour exercise.
Centuries ago, a wild ronin heforged victory with with
(32:28):
driftwood and he wrote the bookof five rings and he had
relentless self-interrogation.
He was always thinking abouthow he could get better.
Bushido is not cosplay, it's anoperating system to follow.
Decide with justice, act withcourage, serve with compassion,
(32:49):
greet with respect, respect,speak with honesty, guard your
honor and stay loyal to yourpurpose.
I promise you that there istruth behind these virtues.
It's clear to me why so manysamurai followed these Because
(33:09):
if you live a life of justice,courage, compassion, respect,
honesty, honor and purpose,you're going to have a greater
life.
But you have to do it allinternal first.
It's a lot of internal work.
It will pay off.
It's going to be hard.
It might feel like homework,but that homework is what gets
you the grade that gets you topass, and it's a lifelong
(33:33):
journey.
These samurais they allpracticed this code over
centuries not them personally,like samurais in general
practice this for centuries and,like I said in the beginning, a
lot of martial artists nowstill practice the same code.
They still follow theseprinciples with exactness.
I want you to succeed and Ihope that some of these
(33:57):
principles, these virtues, canhelp you get to where you want
to go.
And the biggest thing I wouldsay to learn from this whole
episode is challenge your fears,do what it takes.
Yes, it's scary that's why it'scalled fear but you're not
going to die.
You're not going to die if youstep into that fear a little bit
(34:19):
, and it doesn't have to beanything crazy.
For me, starting a podcast camewith a lot of fear.
Running a sub three came with alot of fear.
Marrying my wife it came with alot of fear because I wanted to
be the best husband for her andI wanted to live up to that.
But everything has come to meand all those experiences have
been for my own personal benefit.
(34:41):
And looking back now, I wouldtake those steps way sooner than
I could have and the only thingI was doing was delaying those
lessons because I was scared.
And I don't want you to fallinto that same pit.
I don't want you to fall intothat same loop where you just
continually talk yourself out ofthe things that you want to do
(35:04):
because you're scared.
Take that wooden oar, go fightthe devil of the Western
provinces, like Musashi did, andknock him on the head, do it.
Do it today, get after it.
And it's a little bit of ashorter one, but I figured.
(35:28):
I am not an expert on Bushido,but I know enough to talk about
it and I wanted to teach some ofthese principles to you all.
I'll put all the principles inthe show notes so you can do a
screenshot, put it on your phoneand keep it there.
But I would love it if yourated the show, shared it with
(35:48):
someone else that was maybegoing through something where
they're looking to grow andlooking to get after it
themselves.
Until next episode, everyone,draw your sort of habit steady
your heart like water and keepgetting after it.
Thanks guys.
dawn cracks over genruijima, a skiff scrapes the
sand and a single ronin stepsoff.
He's tall, his hair is wild andhis clothes are dusty.
And what's he holding?
He's holding a wooden ore thathe's turned into a crude sword.
His rival is sasaki koro, thedemon of the western provinces,
(00:27):
and he's waited for hours andhe's just baking in the sun.
Minutes later, kojiro's legendlies bleeding in the tide While
the ronin turns away, eyes calmas stone.
What kind of code fuels a manwho wins a battle with a piece
of driftwood?
One word Bushido, and that'swhat we're talking about today.
(00:51):
Let's get after it.
Welcome back to the podcast.
Everybody, I am happy that youhave decided to sit here with
your friend again, brett.
Today's episode is going to bereal exciting.
(01:12):
I am pumped for this onebecause we're talking about
Bushido.
So going into episode two ofthe code series that we're
discussing.
Last episode was my ownpersonal code that I follow, and
now we're going to be studyingone of the most famous codes out
there, and it's the samurai'sBushido code.
But now it's taken in.
A lot of people who practicemartial arts.
(01:33):
They follow this code and as Iwas thinking about what's the
best way that I can portray thisin a story format, I think it's
through talking about japan'smost famous samurai, miyamoto
musashi, and his story is insane.
Like I read some of it when Iwas doing this research and I
(01:55):
was like this sounds like it'smade up.
And I first heard the story ofmiyamoto musashi in um in jaco's
podcast I think it was episodea hundred with Tim Ferris but
great, great story.
It sounds like a movie.
Honestly, this guy, miyamotoMusashi, is the best samurai
Japan has ever fought.
He um, he packed on 60 duelswith all these other people
(02:19):
Cause he was what's known as aRonin, and a Ronin is a samurai
who is masterless and kind ofjust travels wherever he pleases
.
So it's super interesting.
But what drives someone likethat?
And it's this code that theyfollow, called Bushido.
Now I'm going to talk about thecode real quickly, just give you
(02:42):
an idea of what it is, and thenwe'll talk about it further as
we explore this legend ofMusashi.
So, starting with number one,it's rectitude, or gi, as what
they say, and what that means isdoing what's right.
Number two is courage, or yu,and that is acting in spite of
fear.
Benevolence is next, or jinn,and that is the power that
(03:04):
protects, and we'll talk moreabout that in a second.
Four is respect, or re, andit's the manner that masters the
ego.
Five is honesty, or makato, andthat's basically your word, is
your deed, so own up to what yousay which, by the way, if you
remember last podcast, that'sone of mine, and honor is
another one or miyo, and yourreputation that mirrors your own
(03:28):
personal soul.
And then, finally, loyalty, orchugi, which is a devotion to
something bigger.
And after I go into each story,I'll take a pause and explain
the principle that's focused inthat one, specifically in that.
But let's go back to early daysof Miyamoto Musashi, where he
wasn't even called Musashi.
(03:49):
His name was actually ShinmenTakizo and he is 13 years old.
At this point it's 1596 andJapan is still recovering from a
civil war, so there's smoke inthe air like just picture
post-war Japan back in thosedays.
Now word spreads in this townthat there's a traveling samurai
whose name is Arima Kihi and,by the way, I'm going to butcher
(04:14):
a lot of these names.
I don't speak Japanese, so I'mgoing to do my best.
Flame me up in the comments ifyou want, but I don't care
Anyways.
So he hears about this travelingsamurai and this guy's walking
around the town he's talkingabout, like hey, who is in this
town and wants to challenge me,and Takizo or Musashi.
(04:34):
He writes down a notice for achallenge and he puts it at the
temple gates saying hey, I'mready to fight you.
My name's Takizo, and he showsup at sunrise Carrying a six
foot staff.
This guy doesn't even show upwith a sword.
He has no experience.
And so when Musashi rolls upand sees that it's a kid, he
(04:57):
laughs or not?
He laughs.
Kihi laughs and he's like whatthe heck?
I'm going to be fighting a kidwith a wooden stick, okay?
Seconds later, the staffshatters Kihei's skull.
That's insane.
Musashi doesn't have experienceat this point fighting, you
(05:18):
know, fatal battles with otherpeople, and yet he takes on this
samurai who's much older, muchmore trained, and kills him with
a wooden stick.
Now, even at 13, musashi followsthe letter of dual etiquette,
which means there's a publicchallenge, the terms are
(05:38):
accepted, and that's rectitudeat the beginning.
So he's following the justicelike he's doing everything as he
should.
And that's rectitude at thebeginning.
So he's following the justiceLike he's doing everything as he
should.
And then he steps into thelethal combat with little
experience, which takes a lot ofcourage.
I don't know if you've everconsidered fighting someone or
challenging someone who's waybigger than you, more trained
(05:59):
than you, more skilled than you.
And Miyamoto Musashi is likewell, I want to follow the way
of the samurai, so might as wellstart now.
He's 13 years old.
Kills the guy with the woodenstaff.
Miyamoto Musashi also wrote abook called the Book of Five
Rings, and this is at the end ofhis life, where he's
contemplating all the thingsthat he's learned and he talks
(06:20):
about how there's earth, fire,water, wind and the void.
Those are the five rings thathe talks about, but I'm going to
put some quotes through thisduring each topic that we cover.
So the first one is today isvictory over yourself of
yesterday.
Tomorrow is your victory overlesser men, and what he's saying
(06:40):
there is that if you can havethe discipline to control
yourself and train yourself tobe better, and if we think
nowadays that's fitness, that'syour jobs, that's our
relationships, that's showing upwhen we need to, and if you can
do all those things and betteryourself, you're going to have
more power.
Power might not be the rightword, but you'll be able to do a
(07:01):
lot better than lesser men whodon't have that strength to be
able to be disciplined.
And if we think about MiyamotoMusashi's first act there we'll
call this his first act wherehe's 13 years old and he kills
this samurai, it takes onerectitude or justice, you can
call it and two a lot of courage.
How can we reflect that now?
(07:22):
Well, I think the best way todo it is do what Musashi did.
Do something that scared you orscares you.
And if you listen to the lastpodcast with my wife, we
actually talked about that alittle bit, how her dad pushed
her to do things that scaredscared her when she was younger,
in terms of like they would seta goal that's a harder to
achieve, and I'm going to askyou to do the same thing today.
(07:44):
So name one task that you'vedodged and you might have came
up with excuses like I'm notready for this or I'm not the
person that's going to be bestat this, and you just make up
all these excuses, right, callit out and put it out there.
Say, hey, listen, I know thatI've been dodging this Decl.
(08:09):
Declare it publicly that'swhat's important, just like
Musashi wrote it on a sign anddeclare that he's going to fight
this traveling samurai.
You need to do the same withwhatever you're putting off.
So declare it publicly and thenschedule the first rep within
seven days, because skillfollows declaration, not the
other way around.
If you say you're going to dosomething, follow it and, like
the Bushido code, honor yourword, because your word is what
you say.
And that's all about beingtruthful, right?
So be honest with yourself andstart tackling these things.
(08:31):
Okay Now, I think that's animportant thing for you to do
and for all of us.
Honestly, I I try and findthings that scare me all the
time, and most recently for me,I don't know why, but I've been
scared to run the trails again.
I think it's because I haven'tdone it in a long time.
(08:52):
It was winter up in Utah.
The trails are finally startingto open up and I know that I
need to get out there and runbecause I love it.
And two, it strengthens myheart more than really anything
else.
Running up the mountains,running far distances like.
It's a hard thing to do and ittakes a lot of discipline, but I
need to overcome that.
So I'm declaring it publiclythat that's what I'm going to do
, and within seven days.
(09:14):
I'm going to make sure that ithappens and I want you to do
something like that, similar toyourself.
What is something that you'vebeen putting off that you need
courage to hold on to and moveforward with it?
Now I want to talk about anotherstory with Musashi.
So he's a teenager at thispoint and Musashi leaves as a
Ronin.
(09:34):
So he's masterless, he's hungryand doesn't really have a place
to live, and over three decadeshe accepts 60-plus duels and he
loses none of them.
This guy's undefeated.
So if you think of people likein the UFC who are undefeated, I
think the only person I canthink of right now is who's the
(09:56):
guy that fought Conor McGregorand beat him?
Oh man, what's his name?
I'm blanking.
Anyways, there's a guy thatbeat Conor McGregor.
He's a really good grappler.
Anyways, there's people likethat out there.
Musashi never lost a samuraibattle.
He never lost a duel.
And there's this crazy storywhere he goes up to the Yoshioka
(10:18):
clan in Kyoto and Musashihumiliates the heir of the
entire sword school.
He arrives hours late and thenflattens this dude in one strike
of his samurai, of his katanais what it's called, and his
brother, of his katana is whatit's called and his brother, the
(10:42):
heir's brother.
He demands retribution.
Musashi kills that guy too.
This one's a little dark, butmusashi also cuts down the uh,
the 12 year old who's the lastheir of the school, and then he
just vanishes into the bamboo.
Meanwhile, this clan is getting70 people ready to fight this
guy, but he just leaves leaves.
He's like.
I did my job, which, by the way,samurai back then were wild.
They lived by a code where theyjust challenged each other, and
(11:04):
if you were challenged you hadto accept it, and if you didn't
accept it you were considereddishonorable.
So one thing to note aboutbefore he did all this stuff
where he just destroys thisentire sword school he is
respectful, he's like, honestand he honors his word.
(11:24):
So, for example, he bows beforeevery duel, showing that he has
manners, and even when he'sabout to break bones and kill
people in half, he shows respect, can kill people in half, he
shows respect.
He refuses staged exhibitionsand every fight is real stakes,
which is honest.
You're not getting out alive.
One of you is not getting outalive and his reputation blooms
(11:48):
because he's the man that neverloses and his honor becomes his
currency, and he says this inthe Book of Five Rings where he
says do nothing, which is of nouse.
Think about Musashi's life as asamurai.
He trims everything to the mostbasic things.
So he's focusing on sleep, food, even his arrival time to
(12:10):
whatever serves his victory.
Because that's all he'sthinking about is how can I win,
how can I go to this next fightand win?
And one thing that's cool aboutMusashi is he developed this
two-sword technique method wherehe had one long katana and one
short katana, so he's, like youknow, doing dual blades like a
beast.
So he's one long and one shortand he called it the two-sword
(12:34):
method.
And I was thinking about how canwe tie that into getting after
it nowadays.
And I think it's simple.
I think we can take a longsword approach and a short sword
approach.
And long sword meaning that youwrite down a strategic
year-long goal and your shortsword is you pick a daily micro
(12:54):
habit that protects it and everymorning you wake up you say how
will the short sword defend thelong sword?
Write down your progress for 30days just to see what you can
do.
I'm sure that you'll besurprised at the results that
come from it.
Think about that have onelong-term goal.
That's your strategic thingthat you're focusing on.
(13:15):
How can I get my book written?
How can I start a podcast?
How can I get a promotion atwork?
And day by day, you make thesemicro habits that help you get
to that position right.
So think about those things inyour life that you want to
achieve, that you want to getbetter at, and that's your
long-term goal.
(13:35):
What daily actions can you taketo get there?
I think it's important for allof us to think about.
Now I want to go back to thestory I mentioned at the
beginning, where he just walksup in the introduction at least,
he walks up to this guy who letme actually just talk about
(13:56):
this story for a second.
So it's April 13th in 1612.
And his rival is Sasaki Kojiro,and he's the master of the
shallow cut, which I looked thisup, and it's a sword strike
that was said to be incrediblyquick and precise.
So this guy's fast with a swordand he summons Musashi to a
small island and all theseofficials show up, these
(14:18):
onlookers and eager nobles, theyall gather together to watch
this battle.
Musashi, he oversleeps onpurpose, so he's like I'll show
up, but it's not going to bewhen that guy wanted me to.
I'm just going to roll up on myown time.
And by the time that his boatdrifts to shore, kojiro is
boiling in the sun and he'spissed Like.
(14:41):
He's like why is this guy solate?
He's so late.
I'm hot.
I'm out here waiting for thisdude.
Where is he?
And then Musashi, he jumps offthe boat and he's carrying an
oar that he carved, that's threeinches longer than Kojiro's.
Bear with me, nodachi.
It's a sword.
And so he's walking up to thisguy.
(15:03):
Kojiro draws and he swings andhe misses, but Musashi cracks
his skull with one overhead blowand the legend says that the
tide sweeps Kojiro's sword awayas Musashi steps back into his
boat, already eyeing the nexthorizon.
So this guy shows up late andhe's carrying a wooden oar and
(15:25):
then he just cracks this guy inthe head.
He's done, drops to the ground,boom.
What can we learn from that?
Well, again, I think it'scourage and strategic deception,
because he's facing japan'ssharpest blade and arguably one
of the best samurais in the land, with a piece of wood.
(15:47):
That's courage again, and Idon't know if, like musashi, was
thinking, yeah, this guy'spretty good, if I go in with
swords like, I'll definitelyhave an upper hand, but if I go,
go in with a wooden oar, maybehe'll have a chance.
I don't know if he's thinkingabout that thing and he just
wants to challenge himself.
Either way, I think it'scourage.
But him showing up late, it's alittle bit of a gray area with
(16:09):
the samurai Bushido code,because Gi debates Yu, so
rectitude debates Yu, which isacting in spite of fear.
And so the first rule of war iswin.
And bushido isn't naive at all.
It balances principle withoutcome and, like I said,
musashi's entire goal was to winthese battles.
(16:32):
And here's this quote that isfrom the book of five rings that
fits in here perfectly.
It's so good.
He says if you make theopponent flinch, you've already
won.
And so him sleeping in onpurpose, showing up late and
bringing a wooden oar I thinkwe're all strategic to get this
guy throwing off his game andit's just a crazy story.
(16:56):
That is a crazy story.
That is a crazy story and itshows how good Musashi was at
mastering the samurai skills,being a great swordsman and
ultimately getting after it.
He got after it.
What's a modern-day drill thatwe can do?
Let's call it use the oar,because Musashi shows up with
(17:18):
something that's unpredictablein this fight.
He doesn't necessarily knowwhat the outcome is going to be,
but it's something that's goingto be an advantage to him
because it's a little bit longerthan the other guy's sword.
And so before your next duel,you can call it, and that could
be a sales pitch, a race, anegotiation, a conversation,
whatever it is.
Whatever your next duel is,identify one unconventional
(17:40):
asset.
It could be a strange stat thatyou have.
It could be a story, a slidedeck that everyone else might
ignore, but have something thatis unconventional that you can
use.
With this podcast, I think agreat example is like I'm
different than other podcasters.
I bring my own voice to thetable and that's unique.
And so that is myunconventional asset, is my own
(18:02):
uniqueness.
But then I want you to rehearseit until it feels like part of
your hand, like it's so naturalfor you, and then deploy it.
First, force the room to flinchand surprise, surprise is
leverage.
You can use that in your dailylife.
Like, again, musashi would showup late to other places.
(18:23):
Sometimes he would dictatewhere they wanted to fight, like
a samurai might be like, hey,let's go fight at the temple
grounds and Musashi would belike, okay, and then like an
hour later he would be like,actually, let's go fight in the
woods, and they'd be like whoa,I was ready for the temple
grounds but just like trying tothrow them off a little bit.
So think about that.
What is somethingunconventional that you have
(18:45):
that you can use to youradvantage?
Because all of us do.
All of us are unique, kind oflike I mentioned with this
podcast, everyone has somethingthat can benefit them in a way
that they are unique withEveryone, benefit them in a way
that they are unique withEveryone's unique.
Now, kind of shifting focus alittle bit.
I want to talk about his focuson service and teaching others,
(19:08):
because that's another piece ofthe Bushido Code and getting
after it in general.
So, going back to a couplestories here.
But power was no longer hisfocus at this time.
His entire focus was shieldingapprentices and teaching them
(19:30):
and really helping them alongtheir way, which is Jin
benevolence.
He's trying to help other peopleduring this time and, after a
lifetime where he's masterless,musashi ties himself to the
Hosokawa family, and not out ofa paycheck but out of a purpose,
which is, again, chugi.
He's loyal to this family nowand he wants to teach them all
(19:51):
the things that he's learned,and he has this quote from the
book Five Rings where he saysStudy strategy over the years
and achieve the spirit of thewarrior which to me says that he
was a lifelong learner Over theyears doesn't mean that he goes
to college for four years andhe's done Over the years, in my
opinion, is a lifelong journey,just like how getting after it
(20:11):
is.
And he was a learner and he hada lot that he could teach, and
so part of getting after it evenMusashi knew it was teaching
other people how to do the samething, which is probably the
number one reason why I have apodcast is so I can hopefully
help others understand and learnprinciples that I follow that
they might be able to use intheir own life to help them
(20:33):
accelerate their own growth inwhatever capacity they're trying
.
But it's so important to giveback Like service teaching.
Anything that you might havethat's an asset to you can also
be an asset to others.
So get creative in the way thatyou think about it and get
creative in the way that youshare those things, and I would
(20:54):
say, if you want to try this,you can block out one hour this
week or next to teach a skill tosomeone who might be like two
steps behind you.
Don't ask for a fee, don't bragabout it.
Do it out of pure love.
Teach them something that youwish that you would have known
(21:17):
Strength shared is strengthmultiplied.
I don't like all thisconversation like, oh man, he's
a podcaster, I'm competing withthat guy.
Or man, that guy's in sales too.
I don't want to teach him mytechniques.
If he's going to be better thanme, yeah, they might be better
than you.
Sure, there's podcasters outthere that have a huge following
(21:38):
compared to me, but you knowwhat strength helps.
Or strength shared is strengthmultiplied.
And if there's someone whosepodcast I really enjoy, that's
way bigger than me.
I'll rattle off a few nick bear,cameron haynes, joe rogan,
jocko, um, siblings of.
That's my wife's podcast and Ilove it, but she's doing better
than me.
(21:58):
There's no point in holdingthat up.
That just makes you.
That's icky, that's gross.
If you're thinking, oh man, I'mthe only one that should be
successful, no, hell, no, that'sthe wrong way to look at it.
And Musashi even knew that thisguy who destroyed 60 people in
(22:18):
his battles never won or neverlost any of them.
He knows the value that he cangive to others and he's not
holding it back.
And you shouldn't do the sameif you have something that could
be valuable to someone in need,because think about the times
when you were in need andsomeone stepped in and helped
you.
How good did you feel?
Now, go do that for someoneelse.
Think about what that might be,and I want you to take action
(22:44):
towards it this week, becausebut life isn't a competition.
We're meant to learn from eachother.
We're meant to grow together.
It's not a perfect thing, andthat's another reason why I love
this podcast is because I haveabout seven guests scheduled
that are coming on and I'm soexcited to talk to all of them
(23:04):
because they've all done things,they've all experienced certain
things that I haven't, and so Ican learn from them, and
they're gracious enough to comeon this podcast and actually
talk to me about them.
But I don't know everything.
I understand that, even whenI'm talking about Bushido, I'm
not an expert in it.
I just understand theprinciples and I really like
(23:25):
what they talk about, and Ithink that there's things that
you can listen to with this codethat can also help you in your
own life and help you improve.
So let's talk about the void,because during the 1630s to 1645
, around those areas, musashi isgetting old and he retreats to
(23:47):
what he calls the Spirit RockCave, which is on a hill outside
of one of the villages, and hewrites the book of five rings,
so five short scrolls titledearth, water, fire, wind and
void, kind of like we talkedabout, and he hammers one idea
home that strategy is life andlife is strategy and swordplay
(24:08):
is only a metaphor.
So I talk about that withrunning.
I say running is a great lifemetaphor.
Musashi says swordplay is agreat life metaphor.
I don't fight people withswords, but I believe him.
One thing that I think is veryimportant for this topic
specifically is he says thinklightly of yourself and deeply
of the world Meaning, throw theego aside and contemplate the
(24:34):
world, think about what otherpeople are feeling, trying and
piece together what nature istelling you, like there's so
much out there that we don'tunderstand, but don't let your
ego make the decisions in yourlife for you.
He talks about the void, andthe void is where nothing exists
.
It is the place whereeverything begins.
(24:54):
Let's pause there for a secondbecause he's talking about
reflection, taking a momentevery single day to be with
yourself, to have completesilence and to figure out what
ways that you can improve.
And this is something that'srare to have nowadays and I
think it's rare because it'sjust the way that our culture
runs.
We are bombarded on socialmedia.
(25:16):
It's calling and craving ourattention, our jobs.
They take a lot out of us.
Our families requires.
It requires a lot, of a lot oftime to build up your families,
to make sure everyone in yourfamily is taken care of.
Like I always want to make surethat my wife has everything
(25:36):
that she needs, that she's goodto go, and that requires time.
It's not a bad thing, but itrequires time.
And so having specific timecarved out where you can just be
quiet and think it is hard andit is rare, but it is powerful.
And, like he says, it is theplace where everything begins.
(25:58):
When you're sitting therethinking, that's where you can
understand how your thoughtprocess works.
It's how you can understandyour own life, where you want to
improve, and I think it's justimportant to be quiet.
Some of the best we can callthem revelations for myself have
come from moments of silence,and I would push you to do that
(26:23):
Because, like I said, we don'tget it a lot and it is a
powerful tool to have in yourbelt.
So sit with silence and we'llget into some of my challenges
that I have here for you alittle bit later on.
But Musashi, he lays down hisbrush and he senses that his
(26:45):
death is approaching when he'sin this cave.
So what does he do?
He dresses in full armor, hekneels facing east and dies in
Cezanne meditation at sunrise.
That's like the most gloriousdeath for a samurai.
I feel like he just puts on hisarmor and he goes and he sits
outside.
He's like, yeah, I feel like myage is getting old.
(27:08):
I'm getting old up here, mybody's creaking.
I'm getting old up here, mybody's creaking, I'm going to
call it, and then he just passesaway.
That sounds amazing.
I want to go that way, in afull, pseudo armor, looking out
at the sunrise.
Good night, if I had my way,that's how I would do it.
That would be pretty cool.
But he meets his death the wayhe met life, with his eyes open
(27:34):
and his mind clear like water.
Okay, so here's the biggestchallenge I have for you.
We're going to call this, thefive rings reflection For the
next five Sundays.
Spend 30 minutes in silencefocusing on each of these
following elements.
So earth, that's the firstscroll.
What are your foundations?
(27:59):
What is your sleep, your diet,your schedule?
Look like those are yourfoundations.
Water is adaptability.
Where are you rigid?
Where can you be more flexible?
Excuse me, fire is controlledaggression, and if you remember
what, if you know Jocko, hetalks about being default
aggressive.
That's kind of the gist thatI'm getting from controlled
aggression or the fire.
(28:24):
And the question I want you toask yourself is what deserves a
push?
Where can you be moreaggressive in your life, your
job, whatever?
Think about that.
And then the wind.
That means study your rivals,study the competition.
What can you learn from them?
What is something that they'redoing that maybe might help you
in your own process?
Because, like I said, rivals doa couple things they help you
(28:47):
understand where you can improve.
And two, they push you to bebetter.
It's competition, andcompetition is good if it's used
properly.
So think about that.
What can you learn from yourrivals?
And then, finally, the voidReal stillness.
Turn your phone off, go into adark room and just sit with your
thoughts for 30 minutes.
(29:08):
This is going to be a two and ahalf hour exercise.
You can split it up throughoutthe day, but I really think it's
important that you reflect onthese things your foundations,
your adaptability, yourcontrolled aggression, your
rivals and stillness withyourself.
Think about those things, thefive rings.
Now you can journal about thesethings, you can share something
(29:30):
with a friend to anchoraccountability.
But the first step, I wouldargue, is just do it for
yourself and see how you feelyou can practice this over time.
But I would say for the nextfive Sundays, you do this two
and a half hour exercise.
You're going to be a differentperson in five weeks, I
guarantee you that.
(29:51):
And if you're not, write in thecomments, brett, you suck.
Write that in the comments,exactly that Brett, you suck.
Now I want to reflect again oneach of the seven principles of
Bushido and then just give you afive-minute challenge for each
of them, or just kind of explainthem a little bit better.
(30:12):
So now we'll talk about each ofthe virtues.
The first one is gi, whichagain is rectitude.
And think about yesterday'schoices.
Rewrite one you'd proudly readaloud, be proud of your choices
and if you're not, make somechanges.
You courage.
Do the hard call, send theemail, have the difficult
(30:35):
conversation you've been puttingoff within 24 hours.
Jin benevolence Send one sincerethank you note to a person who
helped you.
It could be a voice note, itcould be an email, it could be a
handwritten one, it doesn'tmatter, but show someone that
you appreciate their time,respect or ray, learn and greet
every barista, janitor, peopleat work.
(30:58):
Call them by name, look them inthe face and respect them
because they're a person justlike how you are.
And then makato honesty.
Record yourself stating yourbiggest weakness and listen
twice.
Plan a fix.
That's going to be hard, butI've done it.
It's really interesting and itat least just allows you to
(31:20):
understand that you're beinghonest with yourself.
So start with honesty withyourself and then focus on how
you can be honest with otherpeople.
Don't hide yourself behindclosed doors.
Be the person that you arebehind closed doors as you are
in public.
Marcus Aurelius also talksabout that.
Mio is honor.
Ask three people that you knowand love and respect for the
first adjective they think ofwhen they hear your name and
(31:43):
adjust your actions to earn theone that you want.
If they say that you'refearless, maybe you want to be
courageous and be brave in spiteof the danger that's ahead of
you and change your actions soyou can be.
Or maybe they say you're a hardworker but you want to be
disciplined, then becomedisciplined.
(32:03):
Chugi is loyalty and block athree-hourfocus Sunday for your
life's main mission nomultitasking, no phones.
And again, I would argue andactually recommend you do the
five rings reflection that wetalked about, that
two-and-a-half-hour exercise.
Centuries ago, a wild ronin heforged victory with with
(32:28):
driftwood and he wrote the bookof five rings and he had
relentless self-interrogation.
He was always thinking abouthow he could get better.
Bushido is not cosplay, it's anoperating system to follow.
Decide with justice, act withcourage, serve with compassion,
(32:49):
greet with respect, respect,speak with honesty, guard your
honor and stay loyal to yourpurpose.
I promise you that there istruth behind these virtues.
It's clear to me why so manysamurai followed these Because
(33:09):
if you live a life of justice,courage, compassion, respect,
honesty, honor and purpose,you're going to have a greater
life.
But you have to do it allinternal first.
It's a lot of internal work.
It will pay off.
It's going to be hard.
It might feel like homework,but that homework is what gets
you the grade that gets you topass, and it's a lifelong
(33:33):
journey.
These samurais they allpracticed this code over
centuries not them personally,like samurais in general
practice this for centuries and,like I said in the beginning, a
lot of martial artists nowstill practice the same code.
They still follow theseprinciples with exactness.
I want you to succeed and Ihope that some of these
(33:57):
principles, these virtues, canhelp you get to where you want
to go.
And the biggest thing I wouldsay to learn from this whole
episode is challenge your fears,do what it takes.
Yes, it's scary that's why it'scalled fear but you're not
going to die.
You're not going to die if youstep into that fear a little bit
(34:19):
, and it doesn't have to beanything crazy.
For me, starting a podcast camewith a lot of fear.
Running a sub three came with alot of fear.
Marrying my wife it came with alot of fear because I wanted to
be the best husband for her andI wanted to live up to that.
But everything has come to meand all those experiences have
been for my own personal benefit.
(34:41):
And looking back now, I wouldtake those steps way sooner than
I could have and the only thingI was doing was delaying those
lessons because I was scared.
And I don't want you to fallinto that same pit.
I don't want you to fall intothat same loop where you just
continually talk yourself out ofthe things that you want to do
(35:04):
because you're scared.
Take that wooden oar, go fightthe devil of the Western
provinces, like Musashi did, andknock him on the head, do it.
Do it today, get after it.
And it's a little bit of ashorter one, but I figured.
(35:28):
I am not an expert on Bushido,but I know enough to talk about
it and I wanted to teach some ofthese principles to you all.
I'll put all the principles inthe show notes so you can do a
screenshot, put it on your phoneand keep it there.
But I would love it if yourated the show, shared it with
(35:48):
someone else that was maybegoing through something where
they're looking to grow andlooking to get after it
themselves.
Until next episode, everyone,draw your sort of habit steady
your heart like water and keepgetting after it.
Thanks guys.
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