October 6, 2025 • 22 mins
Everyone hits a wall. This episode is about what to do when you do.
When your mind feels heavy. When motivation fades. When you’re not sure what the next step is, or if you’re even on the right path.
I talk about the difference between a bad day and a full-on rut. I share what’s helped me in the past, from movement to mindset to faith. And I walk through a time I almost gave up on this podcast.
If you’ve felt stuck lately, this one’s for you.
No fluff. Just tools, real stories, and a reminder:
You’re not broken.
You’re just stuck.
And you can get unstuck.
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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.
Getting After It is for those who. want to silence their self-doubt. Refuse to be owned by comfort. Understand their limits are man-made and breakable. We live in a time of constant comparison. Social media drowns us in highlight reels and overnight success stories. But what most people don’t see is the grit behind it all. The reps. The quiet mornings. The sacrifices. The failures.
You are just getting started. Keep Getting After It.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Getting After It Podcast, my
friends.
Thank you for tuning in.
I always appreciate you guyslistening.
It's the reason that uh I keepdoing this thing.
So it means a lot.
And I was thinking about today'sepisode.
As you know, I talk about howthis podcast, I wish it was um,
(00:23):
in a sense, it's a compilationof lessons I wish I would have
learned when I was younger, so Icould pass them on to my younger
self.
Or really, it's just like nowlessons I'm learning that help
me make progress in my life,that help me keep getting after
it.
And one thing that I have faced,and I believe many others face,
(00:45):
that's one interesting thingabout us being human beings, is
that we all share some similarexperiences in our lives.
And one thing I know many of usgo through are ruts, mental ruts
that we get ourselves into.
You know, it's it's not a badday, it's a very different
feeling.
And what I mean by that is a badday passes.
(01:06):
Like you'll wake up the nextday, maybe you'll feel like you
got over whatever was keepingyou in a bad mood the day
before.
But a rut is somethingcompletely different.
The fog stays on those types ofdays.
Um, you know, it's it's almostlike you're in a car, you're
stuck in the mud, and you'reflooring the gas pedal, but
(01:26):
you're stuck in the mud.
The tires aren't they're notgetting you anywhere, they're
just spinning in the mud,getting you further and further
down into this hole.
That's how a mental rut actssometimes is it feels like an
inescapable pit.
But it's not.
It's there are things that wecan do to get ourselves ahead of
that.
And I'm I'm not gonna say thingslike a quick walk out in nature
(01:50):
will get you out of it, but um,you know, it's important to
recognize when motivation dips,to use that consistency that
you've built or the habits thatyou've built to get back onto
the horse, so to speak.
Like you want to try again.
That's a whole part of gettingafter.
If you listen to last week'sepisode, that's basically what I
(02:10):
said is getting after is arefusal to quit.
And mental ruts are gonna happento us all the time.
Like they they happened,happened to me when I was on a
cruise and I came off, and I'mlike, okay, I gotta start
training again.
Getting back into training afternine days of cruising is pretty
tough.
I trained on the boat, but it'snowhere near where I wanted it
(02:30):
to be.
So it was pretty difficult.
But I'm but I got through it.
And I want to talk about somethings that I've done to kind of
help get you out of thosethings.
Um, but you know, if you'refeeling physically stuck,
mentally, spiritually stuck,let's break the rut.
And let's let's keep gettingafter it.
(02:51):
So let's jump into it.
Um, I want to talk about theanatomy of a rut.
What does that mean?
Well, let's define what it is inthe first place.
And like I said, it's not just abad day, it's when that bad day
lingers and you lose yourclarity, your energy drops, your
motivation is close to gone, andyou start questioning things
(03:13):
that you never really used toquestion about yourself, about
your abilities, uh, or justabout like, is this even
working?
Like, is this even worth my timeif I'm trying so hard to
accomplish a goal, but I can'tmove the needle in any
direction?
Like, it doesn't feel like I'mmaking any progress.
Definitely doesn't feel like I'mum, you know, getting one step
(03:35):
closer to the goal, which islike, to be fair, that's what I
talk about all the time, right?
It's like you just never stop,you never quit.
But it's in those moments whereyou feel like you're stuck,
where it's like those are theeasiest times to quit.
And um, it can show upunexpectedly.
Like, a quick story from me whenI started this podcast, I don't
(03:59):
know why, but I was under theimpression that when I got to a
year, my podcast would haveblown up.
And it's because like I fellinto the idea of like, oh yeah,
well, you know, most people quitafter 10 episodes, 20 episodes.
Podcasts will quit, but I'mgonna keep going.
The thing is, is that you haveto reach an audience, right?
And I was nowhere near blowingup, and I still am not, which is
(04:23):
fine.
Like, I don't do it for fame, Idon't do it for recognition or
anything like that.
I do it basically for myself,it's selfish.
But I'm always trying to learn,I'm always trying to improve,
and that helps me in myday-to-day life, but I have to
attribute it to the podcast insome degree.
But I wanted to quit because Iwas like, man, I had these high
expectations for myself, and itwas really disheartening when I
(04:46):
got to a year and didn't feellike I really got the results I
was looking for or hoping andexpecting.
And maybe, yes, you could say myexpectations were too high, but
looking back now, like I at thetime I felt like I was stuck.
Like I was like, well, should Ichange my content?
Should I change the name?
Is it the name?
(05:06):
Um, listen to the last episode,you'll know I'm not gonna change
the name.
And I questioned like if I waseven a good podcaster, which I I
have a lot of room to improvestill, but I'm better now than I
was then, and so maybe thatcould have been something.
I wasn't great at at speaking infront of a camera.
It was kind of awkward for me inthe first few episodes.
(05:30):
Like, why would I want to sharemy thoughts?
Does anyone even want to listento Brett's thoughts?
Probably not, but I'm doing itanyway.
I enjoy doing this.
And I just had to remember why Istarted in the first place.
When I was in that that momentwhere it's like I was doing it
for a year, I didn't getanything I expected out of the
results I wanted.
(05:50):
And I had an honest conversationwith myself.
I was like, do should I keepthis going or should I quit?
Should I throw in the towel?
And I remember when I initiallystarted this podcast, I told
myself that one, these arelessons that I wish I would have
known when I was younger.
And so because of that, I hopethat it helps at least one
person.
And if only, you know, if ahandful of my episodes actually
(06:12):
help someone, I will considerthat a win.
I'll consider it a success.
The other reason I started thiswas also fairly simple, but I
told myself, hey, I'm not gonnastop for 10 years, I'm gonna do
this for at least 10 years andsee what happens because of it.
That's a long commitment, but Iremembered those two things when
(06:34):
I started.
I said, Well, I I want to helppeople, I want them to take some
of the advice that I've learnedand I've heard from other
people, and I want to give it toyou.
And I hope that it helps in somedegree, but again, I'm also
committed to seeing this out, toplaying it out.
And if after 10 years, if Idon't see the results that I
(06:56):
want and I'm nowhere near whereI think I should be, or I'm not
helping as many people as Iwould hope, then maybe I can
throw in the towel and say Igave it a good run.
That's 10 years of my life, andmaybe I'll have different
priorities at the time.
But the way that I see it isafter 10 years, I will have
fully refined my voice.
I will have figured out exactlywhat I need to do to have a
(07:19):
successful podcast episode, tohelp people, to give you guys
better content, um, and to buildthe business of getting after it
in the in the process of doingit.
And I imagine at the end, notthe end, because I don't see an
ending after 10 years, but Iimagine in 10 years, there's a
full-on community built ofpeople who are looking to
(07:40):
improve, to help one anotherimprove, who are bettering
themselves every day and helpingothers along the way.
That's the goal for this thing.
But it only happens if I'mconsistent, if I get through
those ruts when they they comeup.
Because now I see it as ablessing that it didn't blow up.
(08:00):
Because at the time my mycontent was not as in-depth as
it is now, and uh I didn'treally know what I was doing,
and I'm I'm starting to figureout my flow, my my cadence, the
things that I I do there.
But a lot of the times um theseruts can happen, and it can feel
like you have 12 tabs open inyour brain and you don't know
(08:24):
which one to choose, right?
You have so many things that youcould be doing, but you feel
paralyzed by the decision-makingprocess.
The decision fatigue is a realthing, which is also something
that I've had to deal with in mylife, not just with the podcast,
but with other things.
Like uh when I decided to moveto Arizona to start swallow with
my brothers, that was a bigdecision.
(08:45):
I could have stayed in Idaho,could have gone to school there
and did all these things, butum, it's in those moments where
like I feel like there's a lotthat's being asked of me to make
these big decisions, and so Ibecome a little bit paralyzed by
that.
I've gotten better um as time'sgone on, but like it's been
crippling at times in my life,and that can lead to a rut where
(09:08):
you don't know what decision tomake, so you're just kind of in
a limbo phase where you'retrying to decide, but you don't
have the mental capacity to doit for for some reason, and that
could just be because you'restressed in other other wow,
you're stressed in other areasof your life, and that's fine,
that's that's what happens.
Like the life is busy, it isstressful, but we are in control
(09:29):
of what we decide to focus on.
We are in control of our nextstep, our next action, which is
what I want to talk about next,because a bad day passes, but a
rut lingers, and that's how youknow you're in it.
But when you identify thatyou're in one, how do you get
out of it?
And honestly, when I'm stuck,the best thing for me to do is
(09:53):
to move.
And that doesn't just meanfitness, that means literally
get up, do something.
Like it doesn't matter if it'sperfect, it doesn't matter if
it's it's fast, I just need toget going.
Um, that means I might go on arun, I might go to the gym and
lift, I might clean my room orclean the kitchen or go on a
walk, like do push-ups,something.
(10:15):
I don't care what it is, butmovement breaks that mental
freeze.
And I think fitness is a big um,it's a large contributor to me
being able to focus on what thenext step for me should be.
And I haven't really uh talkedabout this too much on the
(10:36):
podcast, but it is it's relevantand I think it's important.
But when I go to the gym or whenI go on a run, I am so focused
on the movements I'm doing.
I'm so focused on sometimes thepain that my legs are feeling,
or focused on my technique,whatever it is.
I am so present in those momentsthat I'm not thinking about
(10:59):
whatever the rut I might gethave gotten myself into is.
I'm not thinking about the rut.
I'm thinking about the momentI'm in.
And that produces almost like acushion for me to not think
about what's bothering me, whatis is plaguing my mind with all
these different thoughts, or um,you know, what could go wrong,
(11:20):
what could be bad.
All those thoughts go away,right?
I'm focused on where I'm at.
And when I have thatopportunity, and when I'm able
to reach that level of justbeing present, I'm able to go
back to whatever the thing isthat's bothering me and think of
like look at it through adifferent lens.
(11:41):
And the lens is now like alittle bit fresher of a mind
because I haven't been thinkingabout this thing for the past
hour and a half or so.
Um, and so it gives me adifferent lens to look at the
problem through, just through afresh set of eyes.
I feel like it's always a goodreset for me, and I I know it
can do the same for you.
Like, movement is one of thebest things that you can do to
(12:01):
help you feel unstuck now.
Give it a shot.
I'm telling you, it works.
But I also want to talk aboutsomething else that helps me get
out of ruts.
It's God.
And God literally, I felt himmany times in my life be there
in my hardest moments.
And sometimes a rut is a verydifficult moment when you're not
(12:25):
making progress, when you feellike you're stagnant stagnant,
and that's a hard thing on itsown.
But I want to make somethingvery clear.
God is always going to listen towhat I ask.
And I I know that that's true.
I've felt that before.
(12:45):
Prayer works.
And when I get on my knees and Ipray to my heavenly father, and
I ask him for strength, and Iask him to support me during
whatever this is, to help guidemy mind on what I should be
doing, to get out of whateverrut I'm in, or whatever
situation I might be in, or Imight even just be asking him to
(13:08):
help me, like just to be therewith me and let me feel of the
spirit.
A lot of the times, praying toGod, he will give you answers on
what you should do next.
If you haven't done it, youmight not believe me, but if
you've prayed, if you've reallyasked God for help and you've
(13:30):
received that, then youunderstand what I'm talking
about.
He will listen to anyone.
That's the the great thing abouta loving God is he loves his
children and he wants to listento them.
And not to put Ali on the spothere, but the way she talks
about her dad.
(13:51):
Um her dad, obviously.
God does strengthen you.
He strengthened me many times inmy darkest parts of my life.
(14:12):
Like when I was sick, he wasthere along the entire way.
And one thing that praying toGod does for me is give me hope.
Hope that I'll get out ofwhatever situation I'm in, that
I will become better, that Iwill feel strengthened, that I
can rely on other people, andthat's the thing too.
(14:33):
Other people might be answers toyour prayers.
You have to let them in, though.
People want to help you, justlike God does.
But sometimes God can only do somuch, and you have to accept his
help in whatever way that mightbe.
Could be another person, andjust because it's not some grand
gesture doesn't mean it's notfrom God.
So just remember that.
(14:54):
But I think of a rut as somesort of a you could say like a
spiritual flu, if you want tocall it that.
Like you need to rest, you needto feed your body well, you need
to have nutrients, and you needconnection to others, and you
need connection to God.
(15:15):
And so that will get you out ofa rut.
Taking care of yourself, beingwith other people, and praying.
Try that.
I I know it works.
I've had too many experiences tobe able to write that off and
say, nope, it doesn't work.
But a little square a littlescripture and sweat, that'll get
you a long way.
Scripture and sweat.
(15:35):
Get it done.
I like that.
Maybe I'll put that on theshirt.
Scripture and sweat, gettingafter it.
God sustains, but you got to dothe work.
Now, one thing I also want tonote with ruts is that you
shouldn't let your mind get todecide what shots are called.
Uh, one of the biggest thingsI've learned is your mind will
(15:56):
lie to you.
Like it's really good at it.
Um, it'll tell you to skip aworkout because, oh man, you're
tired.
Your body needs rest.
You should rest.
And then you skip a workout, youlisten to your mind.
Or you're at work and uh yourboss says, Hey, I need this done
by five, and it's three o'clock,and your body or your mind says,
Well, he should have told it meearlier uh to get it done, but
(16:19):
now I don't have the time, so Iguess I'll do my best.
No, like you can get it done.
You can you can tell your mindum that you don't have to listen
to it.
Like when you move in spite ofhow you feel, you take back
(16:40):
control of your own life.
And one thing that you can do isjust start small.
Like, wake up in the morning,make your bed, uh, go out the
door with a good attitude, butdo something tiny that reminds
your brain that you you havecontrol, it's not gonna tell you
things to do, and you have tolisten to it all the time.
(17:03):
Sometimes you should listenbecause your brain should give
you some good ideas every nowand then, but I'm telling you,
one of the best things that youcould do is just focus on what
you can control.
That's that's a stoic principle,that is a stoic teaching, but
it's also talked about by somany others, like my own faith.
(17:23):
There's there's leaders in mychurch who talk about focusing
on what you can control, whatyou can respond to, and trying
not to worry about what happens,right?
Like that is such a powerfulthing that we can all take into
our lives and we can all applyit, we can all live by those
principles.
It's very important.
Um, but that's the thing, isthere will come times, there's
(17:47):
been times in my life,ultra-marathoning is a great
example, I think, of this, butwhere your brain tells you
you're done, you want to quit.
And I think that's why I enjoyultra marathoning as much as I
do, is because multiple timesduring a race or multiple times
during a long run, my brain willalways tell me that I'm done.
(18:08):
It'll always say, Hey, this istoo much.
You've done good work today.
Let's wrap things up.
You're tired.
And I don't listen to thatvoice.
I try not to, especially if itif I'm in a race, I will give
that voice little to noattention.
Unless I am in pain or I likesomething is wrong, I will
(18:30):
listen.
But for the most part, it isjust comfort asking me to stop.
It doesn't want my body to gothrough all these difficult
pursuits.
It doesn't want me to go and tryand run a 50-mile race with my
brother in April.
But there's times when you haveto tell your mind, hey, this is
what we're doing.
I don't care how you feel, thisis what we're doing, this is
(18:52):
what we said we're gonna do.
And you hold that promise toyourself.
That's another great way to getout of ruts, is keep yourself
accountable.
Make a promise to yourself andkeep yourself accountable.
Write it down.
I think journaling is a greatexercise where you can write
down your thoughts and go backto them, think about how you
were uh viewing whateversituation you're in, and have
(19:16):
that reminder of okay, yes, likethis is the plan.
This is what I'm supposed to bedoing.
Write down your goals, holdyourself accountable to them,
and set deadlines for when youwant to reach them.
And if you don't reach it by acertain deadline, but you gave
it your all, readjust.
That's fine.
Just don't quit.
That's not allowed.
You're getting after it, you'renot a quitter.
(19:38):
And if you feel stuck right now,this next part's kind of for
you, but I want you to picturesomeone walking uphill with a
weighted vest.
Okay, every single step feelshard.
Just like how you right nowmight be feeling like every
(20:01):
single step is difficult.
But that person hiking up a hillis still going.
Even if it's slow, it does notmatter how fast it takes you to
get out of a rut.
That person is still moving, butthey're making small incremental
progress.
And that could be you in a rut.
(20:24):
That hill, it might be steep, itmight look like there's no way
that you can get to the top,especially when you feel that
weight on you.
Each step is a chore on its own.
But when you get to the top,you'll recognize that that was
just a rut.
I can get through it.
And no matter what, even ifyou're just taking a step every
(20:45):
minute, you're still climbing.
It might be slow.
People might not consider thatclimbing, they might consider it
bird watching, but you stillmove, you still get after it.
You push yourself.
You cannot quit.
Life is too short to quit onthings that you know could
(21:06):
benefit you.
Life's too quit, or wow.
Having a hard time with wordstoday, guys.
I guess that's what a cruisedoes to you.
But life is too short to quit onyour goals.
Life is too short to quit onyour aspirations, on the things
that you want to try.
Don't give up.
It's not worth it.
(21:27):
The price of giving up is notworth the pain of enduring.
Ruts are real, but they do nothave to define us.
And you're allowed to feelstuck.
That's part of life, but you'renot allowed to stay there.
And like I've mentioned before,the point of getting after it is
not to be perfect.
(21:48):
It's to keep going.
It's to keep showing up.
It's to keep learning and tokeep trying, even if it's messy.
That's the point of gettingafter it.
So you're in a challenge rightnow.
You're in a rut.
Here's what I want you to do.
Identify it.
Give it a name.
(22:09):
And then act.
Small, simple.
But now, like start today.
Run a mile, clean out your car,do whatever you gotta do to get
something moving, to get yourbody moving, pray.
Whatever it is, do it.
I appreciate you guys listeningto this episode.
(22:29):
Uh it's coming out Monday, so ifyou're in a little Monday rut,
hopefully this gets you out ofit.
But as always, I reallyappreciate you guys listening.
I appreciate you guys rating theshow on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts.
Um, that goes a long way.
So thank you so much.
Uh and until next episode,everybody.
Keep getting after it.
(22:49):
Thanks, guys.
Welcome back to the Getting After It Podcast, my
friends.
Thank you for tuning in.
I always appreciate you guyslistening.
It's the reason that uh I keepdoing this thing.
So it means a lot.
And I was thinking about today'sepisode.
As you know, I talk about howthis podcast, I wish it was um,
(00:23):
in a sense, it's a compilationof lessons I wish I would have
learned when I was younger, so Icould pass them on to my younger
self.
Or really, it's just like nowlessons I'm learning that help
me make progress in my life,that help me keep getting after
it.
And one thing that I have faced,and I believe many others face,
(00:45):
that's one interesting thingabout us being human beings, is
that we all share some similarexperiences in our lives.
And one thing I know many of usgo through are ruts, mental ruts
that we get ourselves into.
You know, it's it's not a badday, it's a very different
feeling.
And what I mean by that is a badday passes.
(01:06):
Like you'll wake up the nextday, maybe you'll feel like you
got over whatever was keepingyou in a bad mood the day
before.
But a rut is somethingcompletely different.
The fog stays on those types ofdays.
Um, you know, it's it's almostlike you're in a car, you're
stuck in the mud, and you'reflooring the gas pedal, but
(01:26):
you're stuck in the mud.
The tires aren't they're notgetting you anywhere, they're
just spinning in the mud,getting you further and further
down into this hole.
That's how a mental rut actssometimes is it feels like an
inescapable pit.
But it's not.
It's there are things that wecan do to get ourselves ahead of
that.
And I'm I'm not gonna say thingslike a quick walk out in nature
(01:50):
will get you out of it, but um,you know, it's important to
recognize when motivation dips,to use that consistency that
you've built or the habits thatyou've built to get back onto
the horse, so to speak.
Like you want to try again.
That's a whole part of gettingafter.
If you listen to last week'sepisode, that's basically what I
(02:10):
said is getting after is arefusal to quit.
And mental ruts are gonna happento us all the time.
Like they they happened,happened to me when I was on a
cruise and I came off, and I'mlike, okay, I gotta start
training again.
Getting back into training afternine days of cruising is pretty
tough.
I trained on the boat, but it'snowhere near where I wanted it
(02:30):
to be.
So it was pretty difficult.
But I'm but I got through it.
And I want to talk about somethings that I've done to kind of
help get you out of thosethings.
Um, but you know, if you'refeeling physically stuck,
mentally, spiritually stuck,let's break the rut.
And let's let's keep gettingafter it.
(02:51):
So let's jump into it.
Um, I want to talk about theanatomy of a rut.
What does that mean?
Well, let's define what it is inthe first place.
And like I said, it's not just abad day, it's when that bad day
lingers and you lose yourclarity, your energy drops, your
motivation is close to gone, andyou start questioning things
(03:13):
that you never really used toquestion about yourself, about
your abilities, uh, or justabout like, is this even
working?
Like, is this even worth my timeif I'm trying so hard to
accomplish a goal, but I can'tmove the needle in any
direction?
Like, it doesn't feel like I'mmaking any progress.
Definitely doesn't feel like I'mum, you know, getting one step
(03:35):
closer to the goal, which islike, to be fair, that's what I
talk about all the time, right?
It's like you just never stop,you never quit.
But it's in those moments whereyou feel like you're stuck,
where it's like those are theeasiest times to quit.
And um, it can show upunexpectedly.
Like, a quick story from me whenI started this podcast, I don't
(03:59):
know why, but I was under theimpression that when I got to a
year, my podcast would haveblown up.
And it's because like I fellinto the idea of like, oh yeah,
well, you know, most people quitafter 10 episodes, 20 episodes.
Podcasts will quit, but I'mgonna keep going.
The thing is, is that you haveto reach an audience, right?
And I was nowhere near blowingup, and I still am not, which is
(04:23):
fine.
Like, I don't do it for fame, Idon't do it for recognition or
anything like that.
I do it basically for myself,it's selfish.
But I'm always trying to learn,I'm always trying to improve,
and that helps me in myday-to-day life, but I have to
attribute it to the podcast insome degree.
But I wanted to quit because Iwas like, man, I had these high
expectations for myself, and itwas really disheartening when I
(04:46):
got to a year and didn't feellike I really got the results I
was looking for or hoping andexpecting.
And maybe, yes, you could say myexpectations were too high, but
looking back now, like I at thetime I felt like I was stuck.
Like I was like, well, should Ichange my content?
Should I change the name?
Is it the name?
(05:06):
Um, listen to the last episode,you'll know I'm not gonna change
the name.
And I questioned like if I waseven a good podcaster, which I I
have a lot of room to improvestill, but I'm better now than I
was then, and so maybe thatcould have been something.
I wasn't great at at speaking infront of a camera.
It was kind of awkward for me inthe first few episodes.
(05:30):
Like, why would I want to sharemy thoughts?
Does anyone even want to listento Brett's thoughts?
Probably not, but I'm doing itanyway.
I enjoy doing this.
And I just had to remember why Istarted in the first place.
When I was in that that momentwhere it's like I was doing it
for a year, I didn't getanything I expected out of the
results I wanted.
(05:50):
And I had an honest conversationwith myself.
I was like, do should I keepthis going or should I quit?
Should I throw in the towel?
And I remember when I initiallystarted this podcast, I told
myself that one, these arelessons that I wish I would have
known when I was younger.
And so because of that, I hopethat it helps at least one
person.
And if only, you know, if ahandful of my episodes actually
(06:12):
help someone, I will considerthat a win.
I'll consider it a success.
The other reason I started thiswas also fairly simple, but I
told myself, hey, I'm not gonnastop for 10 years, I'm gonna do
this for at least 10 years andsee what happens because of it.
That's a long commitment, but Iremembered those two things when
(06:34):
I started.
I said, Well, I I want to helppeople, I want them to take some
of the advice that I've learnedand I've heard from other
people, and I want to give it toyou.
And I hope that it helps in somedegree, but again, I'm also
committed to seeing this out, toplaying it out.
And if after 10 years, if Idon't see the results that I
(06:56):
want and I'm nowhere near whereI think I should be, or I'm not
helping as many people as Iwould hope, then maybe I can
throw in the towel and say Igave it a good run.
That's 10 years of my life, andmaybe I'll have different
priorities at the time.
But the way that I see it isafter 10 years, I will have
fully refined my voice.
I will have figured out exactlywhat I need to do to have a
(07:19):
successful podcast episode, tohelp people, to give you guys
better content, um, and to buildthe business of getting after it
in the in the process of doingit.
And I imagine at the end, notthe end, because I don't see an
ending after 10 years, but Iimagine in 10 years, there's a
full-on community built ofpeople who are looking to
(07:40):
improve, to help one anotherimprove, who are bettering
themselves every day and helpingothers along the way.
That's the goal for this thing.
But it only happens if I'mconsistent, if I get through
those ruts when they they comeup.
Because now I see it as ablessing that it didn't blow up.
(08:00):
Because at the time my mycontent was not as in-depth as
it is now, and uh I didn'treally know what I was doing,
and I'm I'm starting to figureout my flow, my my cadence, the
things that I I do there.
But a lot of the times um theseruts can happen, and it can feel
like you have 12 tabs open inyour brain and you don't know
(08:24):
which one to choose, right?
You have so many things that youcould be doing, but you feel
paralyzed by the decision-makingprocess.
The decision fatigue is a realthing, which is also something
that I've had to deal with in mylife, not just with the podcast,
but with other things.
Like uh when I decided to moveto Arizona to start swallow with
my brothers, that was a bigdecision.
(08:45):
I could have stayed in Idaho,could have gone to school there
and did all these things, butum, it's in those moments where
like I feel like there's a lotthat's being asked of me to make
these big decisions, and so Ibecome a little bit paralyzed by
that.
I've gotten better um as time'sgone on, but like it's been
crippling at times in my life,and that can lead to a rut where
(09:08):
you don't know what decision tomake, so you're just kind of in
a limbo phase where you'retrying to decide, but you don't
have the mental capacity to doit for for some reason, and that
could just be because you'restressed in other other wow,
you're stressed in other areasof your life, and that's fine,
that's that's what happens.
Like the life is busy, it isstressful, but we are in control
(09:29):
of what we decide to focus on.
We are in control of our nextstep, our next action, which is
what I want to talk about next,because a bad day passes, but a
rut lingers, and that's how youknow you're in it.
But when you identify thatyou're in one, how do you get
out of it?
And honestly, when I'm stuck,the best thing for me to do is
(09:53):
to move.
And that doesn't just meanfitness, that means literally
get up, do something.
Like it doesn't matter if it'sperfect, it doesn't matter if
it's it's fast, I just need toget going.
Um, that means I might go on arun, I might go to the gym and
lift, I might clean my room orclean the kitchen or go on a
walk, like do push-ups,something.
(10:15):
I don't care what it is, butmovement breaks that mental
freeze.
And I think fitness is a big um,it's a large contributor to me
being able to focus on what thenext step for me should be.
And I haven't really uh talkedabout this too much on the
(10:36):
podcast, but it is it's relevantand I think it's important.
But when I go to the gym or whenI go on a run, I am so focused
on the movements I'm doing.
I'm so focused on sometimes thepain that my legs are feeling,
or focused on my technique,whatever it is.
I am so present in those momentsthat I'm not thinking about
(10:59):
whatever the rut I might gethave gotten myself into is.
I'm not thinking about the rut.
I'm thinking about the momentI'm in.
And that produces almost like acushion for me to not think
about what's bothering me, whatis is plaguing my mind with all
these different thoughts, or um,you know, what could go wrong,
(11:20):
what could be bad.
All those thoughts go away,right?
I'm focused on where I'm at.
And when I have thatopportunity, and when I'm able
to reach that level of justbeing present, I'm able to go
back to whatever the thing isthat's bothering me and think of
like look at it through adifferent lens.
(11:41):
And the lens is now like alittle bit fresher of a mind
because I haven't been thinkingabout this thing for the past
hour and a half or so.
Um, and so it gives me adifferent lens to look at the
problem through, just through afresh set of eyes.
I feel like it's always a goodreset for me, and I I know it
can do the same for you.
Like, movement is one of thebest things that you can do to
(12:01):
help you feel unstuck now.
Give it a shot.
I'm telling you, it works.
But I also want to talk aboutsomething else that helps me get
out of ruts.
It's God.
And God literally, I felt himmany times in my life be there
in my hardest moments.
And sometimes a rut is a verydifficult moment when you're not
(12:25):
making progress, when you feellike you're stagnant stagnant,
and that's a hard thing on itsown.
But I want to make somethingvery clear.
God is always going to listen towhat I ask.
And I I know that that's true.
I've felt that before.
(12:45):
Prayer works.
And when I get on my knees and Ipray to my heavenly father, and
I ask him for strength, and Iask him to support me during
whatever this is, to help guidemy mind on what I should be
doing, to get out of whateverrut I'm in, or whatever
situation I might be in, or Imight even just be asking him to
(13:08):
help me, like just to be therewith me and let me feel of the
spirit.
A lot of the times, praying toGod, he will give you answers on
what you should do next.
If you haven't done it, youmight not believe me, but if
you've prayed, if you've reallyasked God for help and you've
(13:30):
received that, then youunderstand what I'm talking
about.
He will listen to anyone.
That's the the great thing abouta loving God is he loves his
children and he wants to listento them.
And not to put Ali on the spothere, but the way she talks
about her dad.
(13:51):
Um her dad, obviously.
God does strengthen you.
He strengthened me many times inmy darkest parts of my life.
(14:12):
Like when I was sick, he wasthere along the entire way.
And one thing that praying toGod does for me is give me hope.
Hope that I'll get out ofwhatever situation I'm in, that
I will become better, that Iwill feel strengthened, that I
can rely on other people, andthat's the thing too.
(14:33):
Other people might be answers toyour prayers.
You have to let them in, though.
People want to help you, justlike God does.
But sometimes God can only do somuch, and you have to accept his
help in whatever way that mightbe.
Could be another person, andjust because it's not some grand
gesture doesn't mean it's notfrom God.
So just remember that.
(14:54):
But I think of a rut as somesort of a you could say like a
spiritual flu, if you want tocall it that.
Like you need to rest, you needto feed your body well, you need
to have nutrients, and you needconnection to others, and you
need connection to God.
(15:15):
And so that will get you out ofa rut.
Taking care of yourself, beingwith other people, and praying.
Try that.
I I know it works.
I've had too many experiences tobe able to write that off and
say, nope, it doesn't work.
But a little square a littlescripture and sweat, that'll get
you a long way.
Scripture and sweat.
(15:35):
Get it done.
I like that.
Maybe I'll put that on theshirt.
Scripture and sweat, gettingafter it.
God sustains, but you got to dothe work.
Now, one thing I also want tonote with ruts is that you
shouldn't let your mind get todecide what shots are called.
Uh, one of the biggest thingsI've learned is your mind will
(15:56):
lie to you.
Like it's really good at it.
Um, it'll tell you to skip aworkout because, oh man, you're
tired.
Your body needs rest.
You should rest.
And then you skip a workout, youlisten to your mind.
Or you're at work and uh yourboss says, Hey, I need this done
by five, and it's three o'clock,and your body or your mind says,
Well, he should have told it meearlier uh to get it done, but
(16:19):
now I don't have the time, so Iguess I'll do my best.
No, like you can get it done.
You can you can tell your mindum that you don't have to listen
to it.
Like when you move in spite ofhow you feel, you take back
(16:40):
control of your own life.
And one thing that you can do isjust start small.
Like, wake up in the morning,make your bed, uh, go out the
door with a good attitude, butdo something tiny that reminds
your brain that you you havecontrol, it's not gonna tell you
things to do, and you have tolisten to it all the time.
(17:03):
Sometimes you should listenbecause your brain should give
you some good ideas every nowand then, but I'm telling you,
one of the best things that youcould do is just focus on what
you can control.
That's that's a stoic principle,that is a stoic teaching, but
it's also talked about by somany others, like my own faith.
(17:23):
There's there's leaders in mychurch who talk about focusing
on what you can control, whatyou can respond to, and trying
not to worry about what happens,right?
Like that is such a powerfulthing that we can all take into
our lives and we can all applyit, we can all live by those
principles.
It's very important.
Um, but that's the thing, isthere will come times, there's
(17:47):
been times in my life,ultra-marathoning is a great
example, I think, of this, butwhere your brain tells you
you're done, you want to quit.
And I think that's why I enjoyultra marathoning as much as I
do, is because multiple timesduring a race or multiple times
during a long run, my brain willalways tell me that I'm done.
(18:08):
It'll always say, Hey, this istoo much.
You've done good work today.
Let's wrap things up.
You're tired.
And I don't listen to thatvoice.
I try not to, especially if itif I'm in a race, I will give
that voice little to noattention.
Unless I am in pain or I likesomething is wrong, I will
(18:30):
listen.
But for the most part, it isjust comfort asking me to stop.
It doesn't want my body to gothrough all these difficult
pursuits.
It doesn't want me to go and tryand run a 50-mile race with my
brother in April.
But there's times when you haveto tell your mind, hey, this is
what we're doing.
I don't care how you feel, thisis what we're doing, this is
(18:52):
what we said we're gonna do.
And you hold that promise toyourself.
That's another great way to getout of ruts, is keep yourself
accountable.
Make a promise to yourself andkeep yourself accountable.
Write it down.
I think journaling is a greatexercise where you can write
down your thoughts and go backto them, think about how you
were uh viewing whateversituation you're in, and have
(19:16):
that reminder of okay, yes, likethis is the plan.
This is what I'm supposed to bedoing.
Write down your goals, holdyourself accountable to them,
and set deadlines for when youwant to reach them.
And if you don't reach it by acertain deadline, but you gave
it your all, readjust.
That's fine.
Just don't quit.
That's not allowed.
You're getting after it, you'renot a quitter.
(19:38):
And if you feel stuck right now,this next part's kind of for
you, but I want you to picturesomeone walking uphill with a
weighted vest.
Okay, every single step feelshard.
Just like how you right nowmight be feeling like every
(20:01):
single step is difficult.
But that person hiking up a hillis still going.
Even if it's slow, it does notmatter how fast it takes you to
get out of a rut.
That person is still moving, butthey're making small incremental
progress.
And that could be you in a rut.
(20:24):
That hill, it might be steep, itmight look like there's no way
that you can get to the top,especially when you feel that
weight on you.
Each step is a chore on its own.
But when you get to the top,you'll recognize that that was
just a rut.
I can get through it.
And no matter what, even ifyou're just taking a step every
(20:45):
minute, you're still climbing.
It might be slow.
People might not consider thatclimbing, they might consider it
bird watching, but you stillmove, you still get after it.
You push yourself.
You cannot quit.
Life is too short to quit onthings that you know could
(21:06):
benefit you.
Life's too quit, or wow.
Having a hard time with wordstoday, guys.
I guess that's what a cruisedoes to you.
But life is too short to quit onyour goals.
Life is too short to quit onyour aspirations, on the things
that you want to try.
Don't give up.
It's not worth it.
(21:27):
The price of giving up is notworth the pain of enduring.
Ruts are real, but they do nothave to define us.
And you're allowed to feelstuck.
That's part of life, but you'renot allowed to stay there.
And like I've mentioned before,the point of getting after it is
not to be perfect.
(21:48):
It's to keep going.
It's to keep showing up.
It's to keep learning and tokeep trying, even if it's messy.
That's the point of gettingafter it.
So you're in a challenge rightnow.
You're in a rut.
Here's what I want you to do.
Identify it.
Give it a name.
(22:09):
And then act.
Small, simple.
But now, like start today.
Run a mile, clean out your car,do whatever you gotta do to get
something moving, to get yourbody moving, pray.
Whatever it is, do it.
I appreciate you guys listeningto this episode.
(22:29):
Uh it's coming out Monday, so ifyou're in a little Monday rut,
hopefully this gets you out ofit.
But as always, I reallyappreciate you guys listening.
I appreciate you guys rating theshow on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts.
Um, that goes a long way.
So thank you so much.
Uh and until next episode,everybody.
Keep getting after it.
(22:49):
Thanks, guys.
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