The Hunt for Meaning

Ep.82  The Hunt for Meaning

What drives men to true fulfillment? In this thought-provoking exploration of masculine purpose, Jake Fine and Braxston Cave challenge the cultural narrative that happiness comes from relaxation and comfort. They reveal why men feel most alive when actively pursuing goals, taking on responsibilities, and making progress.

The hosts share powerful insights about the relationship between movement and meaning. "Happiness isn't found in a hammock, it's found in the hunt," Braxston observes, questioning the retirement fantasy of endless beach days. Through personal stories, including Braxston's difficult transition after retiring from professional football, they illustrate how extended periods without purpose can trigger depression and diminish self-worth. "Stagnation isn't rest, it's decay," Braxton emphasizes, highlighting how a man standing still for too long begins to fade.

For those searching for direction, the episode offers practical guidance on discovering personal passion by identifying what comes naturally to you that others find difficult. The hosts advocate for setting balanced challenges across physical, mental, and spiritual domains to maintain wholeness and prevent excelling in one area while neglecting others. Their message culminates in a compelling call to action: "If you're not moving, you're not growing, and if you're not growing, you're not happy." Ready to find where your joy lives? Listen now and discover how to hunt for meaning in your own life by taking the next step forward, regardless of how small it might be.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey guys, welcome back to the Go All In podcast.
I'm Jake Fine and I'm Braxton.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Cave, and today's episode is titled Men have to
Hunt, and it's really this ideathat happiness and fulfillment
are more than a feeling.
So here's today's power fivefrom my point of view.
Number one men are happiestwhen they're progressing and
chasing goals, not when they'recoasting.

(00:47):
You know, fulfillment comesfrom momentum and I believe
purpose dies in stagnation.
We were put on this earth tobuild, not just exist.
Number two true happiness istied to responsibility, not
relaxation, and I think that itcan get twisted pretty quick

(01:08):
with culture telling men tochase comfort.
But I know, at least personallymyself, the most fulfilled men
carry weight, carry a burden fortheir families, their health,
their mission, whatever that maybe, and I believe that
responsibility brings identityand passivity kills it.

(01:29):
Number three motion createsmeaning, even when you don't
feel motivated.
Right, I do that in air quotes.
Motivated taking action sparksclarity and confidence.
Right Again, we talk about thisover and over and over again.
It's take the next step,whatever that is.
And I believe that you know,happiness isn't found in a

(01:50):
hammock, it's found in the hunt.
You know and I'll elaborate onthis you know people talk all
the time about like man, I justcan't wait till I retire and can
sit on a beach somewhere, likewhat, like that's.
I think that, yeah, sitting onthe beach drinking cocktails
would be fun for like a day, acouple days, yeah, and then what

(02:13):
right?
I just can't imagine my lifewithout something to chase and
for, for good or for bad right,like constantly having that
thing that you're going afteryou.
You may not get it, you maypivot there's different, but
like having something there,like is to me, as a man, like

(02:34):
the true meaning of life.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
I want to jump in with you with what you were just
saying, cause I heard recentlyon Andy's Andy for sales podcast
what you were just saying.
Because I heard recently onandy's andy frisella's podcast,
someone asked a question and heum was basically talking about
he's only been on one vacationon top of his honeymoon.

(02:58):
Because, just that mindset,because you always are just
wanting to build, build, build,build, build and it's he says,
it's so hard to be away fromhome not doing, you know, not
building something.
It's also that mindset too, ontop of that.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, I mean.
I don't know that I agree withthat.
Yeah, Like.
To me, part of the chase is inconquering things so that I have
those moments of vacation withmy family.
But again that's part of whyAndy's built what he's built.

(03:35):
So again it goes back to what'syour purpose, what's your
passion, what are you chasing?
I hope it's different foreverybody.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah chasing.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Uh, it's going to be.
I hope it's different foreverybody.
Yeah, um, like you, nor Ishould want to build a a multi,
whatever million dollarsupplement company because Andy
did it.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Like that's silly, Like chase your own dreams run
your own race, mm you good.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, all right, number four.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Good.
God designed men to conquer,protect and provide.
And when you're aligned withthat purpose in your faith,
fitness, family and business,you feel alive.
There's something there and joyflows from walking in the role
you were created for.
And people will often ask meyou know you hear this cliche

(04:23):
like find your passion Right,find your passion.
People always ask, like well,how, how do I find my passion?
And I heard someone say likegive a little bit of a
definition the other day and itresonated with me and maybe it
resonate with others.
But they said you know, takewhat comes easy and natural to
you that doesn't for otherpeople, and then take it and

(04:47):
flex on that and run with it.
And again, that's going to bedifferent for everyone.
Yeah Right, Whether it'sbuilding business coaching,
building Legos, it doesn'tmatter, right.
Whatever your thing is, how bigor small it may be, you can
turn it into whatever you wantit to be.

(05:08):
But if you want to find yourpassion like, that may take you
three days of going away andlocking yourself in a hotel room
and figuring it out, havinglots of conversation with
yourself of what gets me out ofbed every morning yep and once
you find it like then you go allin it.

(05:29):
And then number five isstillness.
Without vision becomesdepression, and if you're
standing still for too long youstart to doubt your value.
But I also believe you knowthere's power in moments of
stillness.
You know, for planning, forstrategy, for reset, recover,
right, but not for too long.

(05:54):
You know I've.
I can give you guys a personalstory here of when I, when I
retired from football, you knowI had about a three month period
where I didn't really know whatI was going to do next.
I had some options but wasn'tin love with all of them, and
you know so Natalie and I hadsome options but wasn't in love
with all of them, and you knowso Natalie and I had moved back
home and bought a house, and youknow I'm accustomed to it.

(06:19):
It was leading up into thesummer.
I was accustomed to preppingfor training camp.
You know, people that havenever been through, you know, in
a college or an NFL trainingcamp, like you're preparing for
war, right, different type ofwar than than real war, but it

(06:40):
is, it's truly physical combat.
And so, like I just didn't knowwhat to do with myself, it was
three months of stillness.
And so I found myself for dayson end of just being in the
backyard cutting down trees andchopping wood with an axe, like
that's, I didn't know what.
That's what I found myself doing, what caveman did to get

(07:05):
through time and um, and I waslike going stir crazy until
finally the point where Nataliewas like you got to get the hell
out of the house and likefigure it out.
And so, like that's where Iwill say, like there you should
take moments of stillness andquiet and strategize and figure

(07:25):
out your next steps.
But when you do it for too longit can start to create problems
.
And I just believe that, like,every man needs a challenge to
chase physically, mentally andspiritually, cause I think that
that's when you're chasing.
Whatever your core values are,you should have a challenge in

(07:47):
each category that keeps youwell-rounded, it keeps you
focused on the right things,because you very easily can
focus on one and drop the ballcompletely in those other areas.
So, setting targets foryourself, whether that's
quarterly or annually, like yougot to put those down on paper
and you got, you got to to chasethem.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
And I think that's how you at the end of the day
chasing those goals,accomplishing those goals like
that's fulfillment.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, that's my five Um.
To piggyback on top of those umI have.
Progress equals happiness.
Um.
Movement equals meaning.
Um, you know, with you talkingabout how you were trying to
figure out what you're going todo after football.
You know, being in thatstagnant position is uh, gets
you mentally.
You know um.

(08:39):
I've heard I forget where Iread this at it said stagnation
is isn't rest, it's decay.
Um, a man who's standing stillfor too long feels, feels like
he's fading, you know, and, likeI said, it messes with you
mentally.
Um, depression creeps in, yourself-worth drops.
You get those voices in yourhead.

(09:00):
You know you're not enough orwhat's the point.
But I feel like you know, sincewhat you said you were doing,
that you were moving.
You're getting movement in too.
So that kind of helps you getthe ball rolling where you're
doing today.
But I mean's times you're gonnafeel off, you know um.
But I think when men are happy,the happiest is when they're

(09:22):
growing and, like we've saidbefore, you know, keep moving.
You know one foot in front ofthe other yeah and um.
That's a couple things I want toadd on top of what your Fab
Five, your Power Five that youhad Power Five.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah so yeah.
So leave you guys with this one.
You know, it's the idea here ifyou're not moving, you're not
growing, and if you're notgrowing, you're not happy.
So you have to get in motionand step toward the man you were
made to be.
That's where joy lives.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, just find that target and aim at it.
You know, you just got tofigure out what that target is.
That's right.
All right, we're out of hereTill next time, thank you.