July 9, 2025 • 39 mins
Ever feel like you're drowning in challenges while trying to stay positive? That tension between acknowledging reality and maintaining hope is exactly what this episode explores through the lens of resilient optimism.
We dive deep into the entrepreneurial journey — not the glamorized social media version, but the raw reality of sitting in 95-degree heat for hours to make $40, losing $1,200 worth of merchandise before a major event, and somehow maintaining belief that better days are ahead. These aren't just business lessons but life lessons about how we face adversity.
The distinction between blind optimism (naively ignoring problems) and resilient optimism (acknowledging challenges while maintaining confidence in your ability to overcome them) frames our conversation. As Winston Churchill wisely noted, "Success is moving from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" — a perfect description of the entrepreneurial mindset required for long-term success.
What makes this approach so powerful isn't just feeling good — research shows resilient optimism leads to improved performance, greater satisfaction, better health outcomes, and enhanced wellbeing. It's a mental framework that allows you to navigate difficulty while maintaining forward momentum.
The beautiful thing? Resilient optimism isn't something you're born with — it's a choice and a muscle you can strengthen. Even the most pessimistic person can make a decision to approach challenges differently starting tomorrow. What we focus on expands; what we appreciate appreciates. Are you ready to transform your relationship with obstacles by viewing pressure as a privilege and problems as opportunities? Listen now to discover how.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Resilient optimism is a mindset that combines a
positive outlook with theability to bounce back from
setbacks.
It's not about ignoringdifficulties, but rather facing
them with a belief in one'sability to overcome challenges
and find a path forward.
Today, on Share the StrugglePodcast, we dive headfirst into
(00:25):
resilient optimism.
Let me tell you somethingEverybody struggles.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
The difference is some people choose to go through
it and some choose to growthrough it.
The choice is completely yours.
Which one you choose will havea very profound effect on the
way you live your life.
Will have a very profoundeffect on the way you live your
life.
If you find strength in thestruggle, then this podcast is
(00:54):
for you.
If you have a relationship thatis comfortable with
uncomfortable conversations.
Uncomfortable conversationschallenge you, humble you, and
they, they build you.
When you sprinkle a little timeand distance on it, it all
makes sense.
Most disagreements, they stemfrom our own insecurities.
(01:14):
You are right where you need tobe Black on time.
We're eating flatbreads thewhole day gone.
We're living our lives what it,do what it hot.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Do-do-do-do get loud.
Oh my, am I so excited to beback with you.
Oh, it's true, girl.
You know it's true.
I miss you, boo.
Hope all is well.
I hope your week is going swell.
Okay, welcome to another winningWednesday, episode 261.
(02:00):
And I hope you're ready to havea little fun on today's episode
of Share the Struggle Podcast261.
Y'all already knows what thatmeans.
That means we've been doingthis week after week after week
for over five hard years baby261 consecutive episodes.
It all lives atwwwsharethestrugglepodcastcom
and available on all majorpodcasting platforms.
(02:23):
I appreciate y'all.
I thank y'all.
Happy 4th of July to y'all.
I hope everybody had a terrific4th of July.
A few weeks ago we discussedall them folk out there trying
to cancel our independence, outthere trying to deny us a
celebration.
So I trust all you beautiful,loud, proud Americans out there,
(02:44):
y'all celebrated your asses offfor the 4th of July.
It was a special one for methis year because this was the
first 4th of July with my littlebaby girl.
So we went to the fireworks, asmall local fireworks show that
does a great job.
She wasn't too excited about it.
The ear muffs, head muffs,headphone scenario uh, she was
(03:10):
kind of fighting that, nottrying to keep that on her
little squash.
So big daddy cradled her andgot her out of the chaos and she
watched some of it from adistance and all that good stuff
.
But uh, it was just.
It was just fun and fulfillingto do those things with my
little girl and my wife and mymom.
So that was something off thebucket list, right there y'all.
(03:31):
So I hope you guys found a wayto have a bucket list.
4th of July Things are gettingsuper crazy over here at Loud
Proud American because I amproud to announce to you it's
fair season.
Baby, oh my goodness, do I lovea good fair.
Now here's another confessionalfor you.
(03:52):
I'll grab that Cabela's catalog, I'll place my left hand on the
catalog, beat your little eyesto the sky and give a full
frontal confessional from thesky.
When I first started the brand,I took every single fair that I
could take because I just lovedoing fairs and I just traveled
around doing as many as Ipossibly could.
But over the years, over thefive years or so that we've been
(04:15):
on the road doing these things,we've adapted and molded and
changed our schedule quite a bit.
It's changed a lot this yearand I do feel it's going to
change even more next year.
So currently we only have threefairs on the schedule, but
we're excited that the firstfair of the season is this week.
On the day that this episodedrops, on a winning Wednesday,
(04:39):
I'll actually be headed to thefair to start the setup.
It's always a ton of movingparts when it comes to fair
season, so I'm just going togive you a little screenshot of
this, and this is going toreally roll into a question that
I get all the time hey man,what's it like owning your own
apparel brand?
So, small business owners outthere, entrepreneurs, you often
(05:03):
get those questions like what'sit like to own your own business
?
What's it like to work foryourself?
And specifically for us, it iswhat's it like to own your own
apparel brand?
And for us, there's a lot ofhard work and sacrifice.
There's a lot of give and give,we should say, because there's
not a lot of give and take,right, there's a lot of give,
(05:25):
give, and that trickle downeffect happens not only for me
but for my entire family.
So just to give you a littlesynopsis as to how things are
going and what we're up toaround here my wifey.
I don't know if we had theopportunity to announce this on
the podcast or not, but shebought a brand new camper Well,
not brand new, brand new to us,I think it's a 2018.
(05:46):
And last week we were gettingset up for the 4th of July at
Bentley Saloon and we I had ashowing with a couple and showed
these folks our old camper andthey ended up buying our old
camper.
Allie agreed to deliver it.
So last week just to kind ofmake this connection here, let's
(06:13):
start on Thursday On ThursdayI'm up at five in the morning,
bring my mom to work, I go tothe saloon and I start building
the tent by myself in themorning, setting everything up
before it gets super hot.
Allie wakes up, takes the baby,brings her to a friend's house
where she spends time with Allieand Joe and their family, which
she absolutely loves, which isfantastic and a blessing.
So I'm working on the tentuntil about noontime.
(06:35):
Pick up the baby, run to HomeDepot, come home, show the
camper to these folks.
They agree they want to buy it.
Allie takes a lunch break, goesto the bank, does the bill of
sale, sells the camper.
I end up going to pick my momup from work, come home, do a
couple things, try to work.
Allie gets out of work, we hookon to the camper and we deliver
(06:58):
it 45 minutes away.
Come home, get back to work.
That's a scenario for one day,okay.
Friday morning get up, getcoffee with my mom, get the baby
settled in, go to the saloon,finish my setup for my display,
open and sell all day.
This year 4th of July was aFriday, right, so that was a
(07:20):
pretty successful day for us.
Friday get done, meet thefamily, go do some fireworks.
That whole deal.
Saturday another day at thesaloon, trying to do all I can
to make as much money aspossible.
Allie's running around gettingthings for the new camper,
getting ready for fair season.
Fast forward to Sunday morning.
(07:40):
Now I'm just going to let y'allknow it's been a hot ass week
around here.
We're talking 90 plus degreeson Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday morning I get up.
A really good friend of mine, abrother of mine, a loyal one, a
great one, jay Lemery, decidedto volunteer his time to help me
and my mama over here.
(08:02):
My mom's deck that my dad builtis falling apart.
It's no good.
So we're trying to do a littledeck demo.
So here we are first thing inthe morning on Sunday trying to
get some demolition done beforeat 9 in the morning.
We get as much work as we canget done on that and then we
transition over to doing somework on the camper before the
(08:23):
wife has to haul it off to thefair.
Ali um has um to take off andgo to the saloon and open up our
vendor display.
My mom has to take the baby, meand jay do a few things on the
camper and then roll over to thesaloon and we switch places.
Ali takes off, comes home, herand my mom hook onto the camper,
(08:45):
they drive up to thefairgrounds, drop the camper and
get everything settled in thereand I sit in the parking lot of
the saloon with Jay trying tosell stuff.
And as we start talking aboutwhat's it like man owning your
own apparel brand, you thinkabout all those sacrifices, all
those things we're talking about, different families making
(09:07):
commitments to help us right.
So Allie's, our friend of oursnamed Allie, is watching the
baby.
Her and her family are takingtime and one of these days Jay's
taking time, allie's dad'staking time.
My mom is my wife is.
You understand what I'm saying?
That's what I mean by sacrifice, and not all sacrifices come
just from you.
(09:29):
So you get to spending Sunday atthe saloon, me and Jay hanging
out, and it's 90, 95 degrees,super freaking hot, and I sat
there all day.
We opened the saloon vendorspot at 11.
And it was about 4 o'clock whenI decided I have an opportunity
(09:52):
to close this thing and startpacking.
So just put this in itsperspective, folks.
We're talking 95 degrees.
Okay, I just wanted to pause onthat.
So you think about it.
I'm not built for this kind ofheat.
Okay, I'm built more for theArctic.
Let's be honest Five hours, 95degrees, in a tent you know what
(10:14):
I mean.
Or shall I say, sold 40 bucks,$40.
We had $40 in sales.
And by the art of bus math here, folks, there's also a cost
involved with this right.
That's $40 gross.
That's not profit.
(10:35):
Let's just say, on a veryfortunate scenario, you made 20
bucks profit.
So, 95 degrees, sitting around.
What did we say?
It was five hours for 20 bucks.
Here is your business owner,this glorious entrepreneur
(10:55):
lifestyle, owning an apparelbrand, making $4 an hour,
selling t-shirts in 95 degreeheat.
But if that doesn't make youwant to quit your day job and
start a small business, man, Idon't know what does.
Here's the thing, folks.
(11:16):
It gets worse.
Okay, it gets worse becauseit's the last day of the event.
You know what I got to do.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I got to pack baby.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I got to pack.
My wife and my mama and my babyare at the fairgrounds dropping
the camper.
Here I am having to pack allright, 20 by 20.
Tent, display loader withapparel, all the good stuff,
tent screwed into the pavement,electrical run, all the stuff,
right, all the things.
I gotta tear all that down bymyself, 90 plus degrees in the
(11:49):
heat and um, that's just thecost of doing business, baby,
that's just the price of livingL-I-V-I-N.
That takes me about two hours,two hours to pack the bus.
So you do the math here, folks,right?
What are we at?
Like seven hours, $40 grows,maybe $20 profit Somewhere
(12:10):
around $3 an hour, pay to ownyour own business.
It's a glorious lifestyle, Imust say myself.
But the great Winston Churchillsaid Success is moving from
failure to failure without aloss of enthusiasm.
Because here's the thing I'msitting in this tent sweating my
(12:32):
ass off, not making any money,then having to pack, and I'm
feeling optimistic.
I am full of optimism Because,as I just said to y'all, fair
season starts.
It's a new place, it's new face.
Fair season starts, it's a newplace, it's new face, it's new
things, new opportunities, newgoals, the whole nine.
(13:04):
It's a dose of optimism.
Things are changing, things arehappening.
When I think about being asmall business owner, it's
probably one of the biggestqualities that you have to have
is optimism.
You have to remain optimistic,you have to have this positive
outlook.
You have to see obstacles asopportunities.
And I got to say, over the pastfew weeks I caught myself doing
(13:26):
something and we've talked aboutit on here week after week.
I allowed myself to let toomuch negativity enter my circle.
I allowed myself to shed alittle self-confidence and
listen to the doubters.
I allowed myself to listen tothe naysayers, to be affected by
the gossip about the nonsenserunaway negative train.
(13:51):
You know what I mean.
We've talked about that overthe past few weeks.
When people are saying thingsbehind your back, you're hearing
things, you're not feelingwelcome, those things start to
have a trickle-down effect onyou and your positive outlook.
And if you go into an event, ifyou go into a scenario not
feeling positive, you're notgoing to have positive results.
(14:12):
Now I'm going to say I wentinto the 4th of July stoked.
So it's not like I went inthere thinking like, hey, I'm
not going to make money and woeis me.
That's not the case.
But over the course of timeI've realized I've let too much
negativity enter into my mindand change my mindset, and
that's not something that weneed to sign up here.
(14:35):
For folks Okay, that goes forall of you it doesn't matter
what it is.
You don't need to be a businessowner, you just need to live,
to be affected by negativity.
To allow that negativity, someof that doubt, some of the trash
talk, to enter your mind andcreate self-doubt, to create
self-sabotage.
(14:55):
It doesn't matter what area ofthe life it is.
It could be your work, it couldbe your family life, your close
personal relationships, itcould be your marriage, your
relationship with your children,it doesn't matter.
You let your mind createself-doubt and self-sabotage.
It will derail you.
But the thing is, folks, yourmind is working against you, not
(15:17):
because it hates you butbecause it wants to protect you.
Your mind is wired forprotection.
It is wired for safety.
It is fight or flight.
Our mind is worried about allthe negative.
It's worried about all thenonsense that's going around so
that we can identify it,acknowledge it, protect
ourselves.
But the thing is that's whatour brains focus on.
(15:40):
That's some of the shit that,like news channels and you know,
clickbait articles and socialmedia ridiculousness focuses on.
It's that shock and aweheadline that's going to grab
your attention.
That's going to make you read.
It's the crazy ads and photosthat you just need to look at.
It's rubbernecking an accidenton the interstate, because you
(16:04):
have to see what's going on.
Those things that grab ourmind's attention.
That's what happens when youlet doubt in.
That's what happens when youlet naysayers in.
I do the best I can to not letanybody else in, because I am a
resilient optimistic.
You like that, right?
(16:25):
You like resilient optimism?
I believe you do, because Iknow that I do, because I was
sitting around in the tentsweating.
You could say sweating andregretting, and the only thing I
mean about regretting is I'm sodamn busy right now.
If I knew ahead of time I wasgoing to make $40,.
I would have got up at five inthe morning, packed my tent
(16:46):
before the sun got real crazy.
I would have done all the workI needed to do at home and then
I would have locked myself inthe air conditioned office and
worked my ass off to get readyfor fair season.
But you don't know that.
That's the scratch ticket.
That's the chance you got totake.
So I got to go set up.
I got to meet the people, I gotto try to sell, I got to try to
do the best I can to providefor my family.
(17:08):
So I have to open.
So, not knowing what you don'tknow, you got to show.
If you don't know how it'sgoing to go, you don't know the
outcome.
So you got to show up and yougot to put up the fight and you
got to make it work.
So as I'm sitting there sweatingand regretting because if I
knew that I wasn't going to makeany money, I would have been a
lot more productive as I'msitting there, I'm thinking
(17:31):
about how optimistic I am.
I'm thinking about how excitedI am for a familiar event on the
schedule and a brand new eventto soon to be part of the
schedule, all those things hasme feeling pretty damn
optimistic.
And I started thinking about it.
And you guys are going to thinkthis is funny because I'm
(17:52):
sitting there thinking aboutmyself and my outlook and I said
, man, blind optimism, that's meright now, blind optimism.
I don't have eyes for anythingbut positivity.
I'm focused on making thingshappen.
If you guys have been listeningover the past few weeks, you
know some of the struggles, youknow some of the the mistakes,
(18:13):
you know what we're up against.
I'm not going to beat my chestall over being in the red and
missing payments, like we talkedabout last week.
We already know that storyright.
But here I am saying, man,you're blind to it, you're
immune to it, you're just anoptimistic son of a bitch.
You need an optimism SOBt-shirt, just thought about that
(18:34):
.
So I'm getting all jacked upthinking, man, this is pretty
cool.
I don't think anybody has everused the words blind and
optimism.
This is going to be so cool.
Okay, you are onto something,joe, cool.
Well, I looked it up.
It's not the best quality, okay.
(18:59):
Blind optimism is an excessivelypositive outlook that ignores
potential problems or risks,often leading to inadequate
planning and negativeconsequences.
It's characterized by a refusalto acknowledge negative
realities and a tendency tooverestimate one's abilities and
underestimate potentialobstacles.
You, son of a bitch, get out ofhere iPhone.
(19:21):
I don't need to.
No, I don't.
That's not me.
I don't need to read that.
But I got all jacked upthinking I was onto something,
and then I started reading thisbecause I convinced myself this
is you, this is you.
And then I found out well, thisactually is a thing that exists.
And then I peacocked my chestout and go get my feathers up
and say, hey, you're preparingto read the greatest definition
(19:44):
of you ever.
And then I start readingExcessively positive outlook
that ignores potential problemsor risks.
That could be me, but it makesme angry.
If it is, that's not me.
Okay, often leading toinadequate planning.
Okay, my wife would say.
I'm not always organized.
(20:04):
Is this me?
No, no, no, this better not beme.
Why did you have to look intothis?
This is what happens in mylittle mind.
So I said to myself.
I said self, it's going to be adifferent version of optimism.
That's me.
So I let that stew, I let thatsimmer in my noggin, I pack up.
(20:25):
I come home, lay down on thefreaking floor in the living
room, playing with the baby andtalking to the wife and asking
her how her day was and how onthe camper was.
And and I said to her do youknow how hard it is to remain
positive in the face of failure?
(20:46):
I just made 40 bucks.
I worked my ever-loving ass offtoday.
I inconvenienced the wholefamily today.
I asked friends for help todayand I made 40 bucks.
That's just one day.
In the words of WinstonChurchill, as we said, success
is moving from failure tofailure without the loss of
(21:06):
enthusiasm.
But I haven't found the success.
I just keep finding thefailures and the failures.
But I continue to share myenthusiasm.
Daily effing challenges.
Let's roll into Monday.
Here I am, monday morning I'mstarting to print.
(21:27):
I've got cases of stuff to do.
I've got so many things to make, getting ready for this, fair,
restocking things.
As you guys know, I repeat itweek after week.
I go to an event.
I come home, I take some ofthat cash and I reorder
something else and I start torestock and reload because I
need it, the business needs theproduct or we ain't going to
(21:48):
make the money.
So that leaves long hours,early mornings and late nights
of making stuff.
That's just part of the deal.
So I get in here and I juststart working and I get ready to
work on a design and I saidwhere, where the heck is this
box of apparel?
And then that leads into arabbit hole of me doing research
(22:09):
and tracking things down toonly identify that the UPS has
lost a package.
I try to find answers onlinecan't get anywhere.
Call, get a call back, place onhold this whole nonsense.
Fly up the chain of command torealize that UPS has lost a
(22:32):
$1,200 box of apparel.
So that's fun, that's a lot offun.
Stuff that I need for the fair,stuff that I want to bring to
the fair lost, it is nowhere.
Well, I should say, not all ofit is lost.
There was two boxes in thisorder On July 3rd.
They were both in MassachusettsOn July 5th.
(22:54):
One of them arrived at mydoorstep as of today.
The other one still says it'sin Massachusetts, but they can't
find it in Massachusetts.
That's just one more thing,that's just one more obstacle,
that's just one more challenge.
As I plan my week and I getready for the fair week that's
(23:15):
ahead of me, you open your phoneand you look at the weather on
your iPhone and it says rain forseven days and you say no,
that's not the case, that's notgoing to happen.
And that's me.
No, that's not going to happen.
We're going to figure it out.
That's way too early to tell.
The weatherman can't tell mewhat's going to happen.
We're going to figure it out.
That's way too early to tell.
The weatherman can't tell mewhat's going to happen in a half
hour?
He certainly isn't going totell me what's going to happen
(23:36):
in six days.
When you realize that you'regiving too much consideration to
failure and you begin toreframe your mind to optimism,
when you start to look atobstacles as opportunities and
you realize that, in the wordsof one of my favorites, dak
Prescott, pressure is aprivilege.
(23:59):
It's a privilege for me to berunning around doing the things
that I'm doing, tracking downpackages and trying to make
things, because that means thatI'm doing things, that means
that I'm creating things, thatmeans that I'm providing things.
I am a business owner.
I have an apparel brand, I havean American business, I have
(24:19):
the opportunity to grow Americanmanufacturing.
I am working on the opportunityto create a legacy and a
lifestyle and something to giveto my daughter.
Pressure is a privilege.
I know my back's against it, Iknow I'm up against it, but I
know this too shall pass and Iknow I too shall overcome.
(24:42):
You see, what we focus on iswhat we get, what we appreciate
appreciates.
If you appreciate theopportunities, if you appreciate
the little things, you givecredit and credence to those
things and they grow and theymultiply.
That's my optimism.
(25:03):
So, as I'm working in the officeand I'm finishing a book, I
listened to the Compound Effectyesterday because my wife
recommended it and that was agreat book and we can get into
more of the subjects from thatbook in the future.
I actually just dropped a coupleof lines from that book as
we're talking.
So I'm doing that and that hasmy mind rolling about this
(25:28):
replacement for blind optimism,because that's not the
description that I'm thinkingabout.
So I start YouTubing optimismand I stumbled onto this
interview with a lady that sayswhen I think of optimism, I'm
not thinking about everything'sgoing to be all right.
I'm not thinking about theglasses always have fall.
(25:48):
I'm thinking about beingresilient.
I think about the resilience ittakes to be optimistic.
So for me, I instantly startresearching resilient optimism.
It is a mindset that combines apositive outlook with the
ability to bounce back fromsetbacks.
(26:10):
It's not about ignoringdifficulties, but rather facing
them with a belief in one'sability to overcome challenges
and find a path forward.
The combination of optimism andresilience is a powerful force
for success and well-being.
Resilient optimism is me.
(26:31):
Resilient optimism is loud,proud American.
It is the philosophy of us.
Luck, boys and girls, is anequal opportunity distributor.
It, too, shall fall on me.
I understand the obstacles.
I know the challenges.
I know the pressure that's beenput on.
(26:53):
I know the decisions and thechoices.
I'm not ignoring them.
I acknowledge them, Iunderstand them and I'm working
towards overcoming them.
That's me, that's how I'm wired.
That is what I'm going to do.
I understand that.
I can see a light, I can see anopportunity.
I can see a solution.
I know there's bigger andbetter and bolder and more
(27:15):
beautiful for me in the future.
I know we're working too hardfor all the right reasons for it
to not come true.
You understand, I believe in it, I have faith in it.
I'm committed to it.
I know it will all work out.
Now here's the cool thing as Ido my research on resilient
(27:37):
optimism, it begins to explainand we're going to go through
some of the stuff that I foundon Das Google and it also
compares against a blindoptimism.
So this is all coming together.
Man, I don't know if maybeGoogle's just in my head.
Okay, maybe Google heard theconversations I had with myself
(28:02):
in a parking lot, in a rondel in95 degrees, bacon frying like
an egg.
I don't know.
Anyways, maybe this is a commonresearch project.
But what is resilient optimism?
Courtesy of the fine people ofGoogle, realistic and hopeful.
It is not blind optimism ornaive positivity.
(28:25):
It acknowledges challenges andsetbacks, but maintains a belief
that things can improve andthat one can adapt and preserve.
This too shall pass, baby.
We know all things come to pass.
We will improve.
Core of resilience will improve.
(28:47):
Core of resilience.
Optimism is a key component ofresilience, providing the
psychological resources to copewith adversity and maintain a
sense of hope.
Baby, I have been diagnosedwith a full dose of hopium.
All right, I wake up full ofhope.
I ride the hopium train.
Listen, you want to find adefinition of hope.
I'm a Cowboys fan.
(29:07):
We ain't won shit in 30 years.
But if you ask me today, I feelgood about this year.
You understand, I got a realdose of hopium.
Focus on effort.
Resilient optimists often focuson putting in their best effort
, even when outcomes areuncertain.
Man, I didn't even read throughall of this, to be honest.
(29:28):
We're doing this exercisetogether, and this is completely
me, because I'm in the officeright now.
It is just past six in themorning.
I dropped my mom off to workalready and I'm surrounded by
(29:51):
stacks of apparel, because lastnight I was in here making stuff
, where I made stuff all day andnight and ordering designs and
all these things.
I'm surrounded by apparel.
I have my notebook on the stackof a new design t-shirt right
now, and this is me just sayingthat I can outwork it.
(30:11):
I just got to focus on theeffort and if I put the effort
in, I'll get the results out.
So this is pretty remarkablehere Not just a feeling, but a
choice.
It's a mindset that can becultivated and strengthened
through practice and by focusingon positive coping strategies.
(30:32):
Man, I think I've got alifetime of experience in
focusing and practicing on howto cope with things, whether
it's, you know, the loss ofloved ones, failed
decision-making, mistakes made,whatever it is Benefit.
(30:52):
In many areas, resilientoptimism has been linked to
improved performance in work,greater job satisfaction, better
health and overall well-being.
I thank you.
I mean, I do think that thisbody is a temple, right?
Let's be honest.
How is it different from blindoptimism?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Blind optimism ignores reality.
It's naive belief thateverything will be okay, without
acknowledging potentialproblems or challenges.
Resilient optimism acknowledgeschallenges.
It recognizes difficulties butmaintains a positive outlook and
a belief in one's ability toovercome them.
Why is it important?
Effective coping mechanism, itprovides a framework for
(31:32):
navigating difficult situationsand bouncing back from adversity
.
Increased motivation andperseverance.
A belief in a positive futurecan fuel determination and
encourage continued effort andimprove mental health.
It can lead to a greater senseof control, reduced stress and
increased overall well-being.
As I read this and I realizethis, I can confirm this I
(31:57):
wouldn't be here, we wouldn't bein business.
Be in business, I wouldn't beas calm, cool and collective and
focused and confident if Iwasn't full of resilient
optimism.
Because I just outlined fory'all just a few days in the
(32:17):
life and times of me.
This is one of the reasons whyour podcast remains interesting.
Week after week, when we labelit share the struggle, we talk
about the fact that everybodystruggles and week to week, you
guys come here not knowing whatmy struggle is going to be, but
you know, at the end of thatjourney, at the end of that
episode, you're going to find anoptimistic outlook for me.
(32:38):
There's an optimistic synopsisfor me on how I overcame or how
I plan to overcome.
Please understand that Weekafter week, there's another
freaking challenge.
Whether you're broke down onthe side of the road, whether
you made $40 in the heat or UPSloses a package you need,
(32:59):
there's always something, butyou will always overcome that
something.
I am resilient, optimistic.
I don't think about everythingin life, as you know, through
rose-colored glasses and glasseshalf full.
I understand the risks and Ilive the sacrifices, but I'm
(33:24):
confident in the ability.
But I'm confident in theability and I'm confident in the
mission and when I add thosethings together, I know what
will come true for me and myfamily and my business and my
brand.
As difficult as all of this is,I wouldn't give it up and I
(33:47):
wouldn't change it, because Iknow where I'm going to end up
and I thank each and every oneof you for continuing to support
me, to help me, to pull methrough, to drag me through.
I truly can't thank you allenough.
When I start thinking you letthat self-doubt comes in.
(34:09):
When you start to self-sabotageyour life and you think about
all the things that are goingwrong, you have those moments in
time where you're standing in aparking lot announcing a pinout
contest and two of your bestfriends show up with matching
tattoos of one of your designson their arm.
It's things like that.
(34:30):
It's people that come into thetent and say, man, I bought from
you three years ago at bikeweek and I had to come back
because I still wear the shirts,I still love them, they're
comfortable, they're the bestever and I got to come in here
and get more.
It's little things like that,man.
It's the conversations aboutthe missions and the messages.
(34:53):
All those things come together.
I know I'm just at a time andplace where I'm having to take
bigger chances and bigger risks.
I'm having to take biggerchances and bigger risks not
because I have to, but because Iwant to, because I could
continue to do things the wayI've always done them and I
(35:14):
could continue to get theresults that I've always gotten.
But that is not the level for me.
That is not the plateau for me.
Things feel tight, Things feelrough because I'm taking big
chances and bold risks, but Iknow what's on the other side of
chances and risk.
(35:35):
It's going to be reward andvictory.
I believe it.
I am so excited to start fairseason this week.
I'm so excited to get on theroad next week heading to New
York, out to Syracuse man.
There's so many amazing thingshappening for us right now.
(35:57):
I'm excited by each and everyone of them.
But, with that said, I boys andgirls have to get to work.
I got so much shit to do today.
I got the baby today.
It's baby daddy day today and Igot to pick my mama up and work
my ass off until the wee hoursof the morning so I can head on
(36:18):
out and set up again.
So, with all that said, folks, Itruly want you to focus on
resilient optimism, a mindsetthat combines a positive outlook
with the ability to bounce backfrom setbacks.
I don't know what it is todaythat's going to come to you
today that's going to set youback, that's going to push you
around, that's going to try toget you down.
(36:39):
Focus on the mindset that notonly looks at that positive
outlook that you shall overcome,that this too shall pass, but
also focus on the ability tobounce back.
Resilient optimism.
That is a quality that is alsoa choice.
That is not something that youhave to be born with.
(37:01):
It is a muscle that you cantrain.
It is a choice and a mindset.
It's a decision that we make.
Even the most pessimisticperson today can make a choice
to be a resilient, optimisticson of a bitch tomorrow.
I appreciate each and every oneof you and I encourage you to
(37:22):
focus on the positives, and Igive all y'all the ability to
kick the negative in the ass andovercome all obstacles.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Thank you for supporting my family's American
dream.
That's it, and that's allBiggie Smalls.
(37:58):
If you're a Loud Proud Americanand you find yourself just
wanting more, find me on YouTubeand Facebook at Loud Proud
American.
And you find yourself justwanting more, find me on YouTube
and Facebook at Loud ProudAmerican, or the face page as my
mama calls it.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
If you're a fan of the Graham Cracker, you want to
find me on Instagram, or all thekids by tickety-talking on the
TikTok.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You can find me on both of those at Loud underscore
Pr, proud underscore American.
A big old thank you to the boysfrom the Gut Truckers for the
background beats and the themesong to this year's podcast.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
If you are enjoying what you're hearing, you can
track down the Gut.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Truckers on Facebook.
Just search Gut Truckers.
Give them motherfuckers a liketoo.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
I truly thank you for supporting my American dream.
Now go wash your fucking hands,you filthy savage.
Resilient optimism is a mindset that combines a
positive outlook with theability to bounce back from
setbacks.
It's not about ignoringdifficulties, but rather facing
them with a belief in one'sability to overcome challenges
and find a path forward.
Today, on Share the StrugglePodcast, we dive headfirst into
(00:25):
resilient optimism.
Let me tell you somethingEverybody struggles.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
The difference is some people choose to go through
it and some choose to growthrough it.
The choice is completely yours.
Which one you choose will havea very profound effect on the
way you live your life.
Will have a very profoundeffect on the way you live your
life.
If you find strength in thestruggle, then this podcast is
(00:54):
for you.
If you have a relationship thatis comfortable with
uncomfortable conversations.
Uncomfortable conversationschallenge you, humble you, and
they, they build you.
When you sprinkle a little timeand distance on it, it all
makes sense.
Most disagreements, they stemfrom our own insecurities.
(01:14):
You are right where you need tobe Black on time.
We're eating flatbreads thewhole day gone.
We're living our lives what it,do what it hot.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Do-do-do-do get loud.
Oh my, am I so excited to beback with you.
Oh, it's true, girl.
You know it's true.
I miss you, boo.
Hope all is well.
I hope your week is going swell.
Okay, welcome to another winningWednesday, episode 261.
(02:00):
And I hope you're ready to havea little fun on today's episode
of Share the Struggle Podcast261.
Y'all already knows what thatmeans.
That means we've been doingthis week after week after week
for over five hard years baby261 consecutive episodes.
It all lives atwwwsharethestrugglepodcastcom
and available on all majorpodcasting platforms.
(02:23):
I appreciate y'all.
I thank y'all.
Happy 4th of July to y'all.
I hope everybody had a terrific4th of July.
A few weeks ago we discussedall them folk out there trying
to cancel our independence, outthere trying to deny us a
celebration.
So I trust all you beautiful,loud, proud Americans out there,
(02:44):
y'all celebrated your asses offfor the 4th of July.
It was a special one for methis year because this was the
first 4th of July with my littlebaby girl.
So we went to the fireworks, asmall local fireworks show that
does a great job.
She wasn't too excited about it.
The ear muffs, head muffs,headphone scenario uh, she was
(03:10):
kind of fighting that, nottrying to keep that on her
little squash.
So big daddy cradled her andgot her out of the chaos and she
watched some of it from adistance and all that good stuff
.
But uh, it was just.
It was just fun and fulfillingto do those things with my
little girl and my wife and mymom.
So that was something off thebucket list, right there y'all.
(03:31):
So I hope you guys found a wayto have a bucket list.
4th of July Things are gettingsuper crazy over here at Loud
Proud American because I amproud to announce to you it's
fair season.
Baby, oh my goodness, do I lovea good fair.
Now here's another confessionalfor you.
(03:52):
I'll grab that Cabela's catalog, I'll place my left hand on the
catalog, beat your little eyesto the sky and give a full
frontal confessional from thesky.
When I first started the brand,I took every single fair that I
could take because I just lovedoing fairs and I just traveled
around doing as many as Ipossibly could.
But over the years, over thefive years or so that we've been
(04:15):
on the road doing these things,we've adapted and molded and
changed our schedule quite a bit.
It's changed a lot this yearand I do feel it's going to
change even more next year.
So currently we only have threefairs on the schedule, but
we're excited that the firstfair of the season is this week.
On the day that this episodedrops, on a winning Wednesday,
(04:39):
I'll actually be headed to thefair to start the setup.
It's always a ton of movingparts when it comes to fair
season, so I'm just going togive you a little screenshot of
this, and this is going toreally roll into a question that
I get all the time hey man,what's it like owning your own
apparel brand?
So, small business owners outthere, entrepreneurs, you often
(05:03):
get those questions like what'sit like to own your own business
?
What's it like to work foryourself?
And specifically for us, it iswhat's it like to own your own
apparel brand?
And for us, there's a lot ofhard work and sacrifice.
There's a lot of give and give,we should say, because there's
not a lot of give and take,right, there's a lot of give,
(05:25):
give, and that trickle downeffect happens not only for me
but for my entire family.
So just to give you a littlesynopsis as to how things are
going and what we're up toaround here my wifey.
I don't know if we had theopportunity to announce this on
the podcast or not, but shebought a brand new camper Well,
not brand new, brand new to us,I think it's a 2018.
(05:46):
And last week we were gettingset up for the 4th of July at
Bentley Saloon and we I had ashowing with a couple and showed
these folks our old camper andthey ended up buying our old
camper.
Allie agreed to deliver it.
So last week just to kind ofmake this connection here, let's
(06:13):
start on Thursday On ThursdayI'm up at five in the morning,
bring my mom to work, I go tothe saloon and I start building
the tent by myself in themorning, setting everything up
before it gets super hot.
Allie wakes up, takes the baby,brings her to a friend's house
where she spends time with Allieand Joe and their family, which
she absolutely loves, which isfantastic and a blessing.
So I'm working on the tentuntil about noontime.
(06:35):
Pick up the baby, run to HomeDepot, come home, show the
camper to these folks.
They agree they want to buy it.
Allie takes a lunch break, goesto the bank, does the bill of
sale, sells the camper.
I end up going to pick my momup from work, come home, do a
couple things, try to work.
Allie gets out of work, we hookon to the camper and we deliver
(06:58):
it 45 minutes away.
Come home, get back to work.
That's a scenario for one day,okay.
Friday morning get up, getcoffee with my mom, get the baby
settled in, go to the saloon,finish my setup for my display,
open and sell all day.
This year 4th of July was aFriday, right, so that was a
(07:20):
pretty successful day for us.
Friday get done, meet thefamily, go do some fireworks.
That whole deal.
Saturday another day at thesaloon, trying to do all I can
to make as much money aspossible.
Allie's running around gettingthings for the new camper,
getting ready for fair season.
Fast forward to Sunday morning.
(07:40):
Now I'm just going to let y'allknow it's been a hot ass week
around here.
We're talking 90 plus degreeson Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday morning I get up.
A really good friend of mine, abrother of mine, a loyal one, a
great one, jay Lemery, decidedto volunteer his time to help me
and my mama over here.
(08:02):
My mom's deck that my dad builtis falling apart.
It's no good.
So we're trying to do a littledeck demo.
So here we are first thing inthe morning on Sunday trying to
get some demolition done beforeat 9 in the morning.
We get as much work as we canget done on that and then we
transition over to doing somework on the camper before the
(08:23):
wife has to haul it off to thefair.
Ali um has um to take off andgo to the saloon and open up our
vendor display.
My mom has to take the baby, meand jay do a few things on the
camper and then roll over to thesaloon and we switch places.
Ali takes off, comes home, herand my mom hook onto the camper,
(08:45):
they drive up to thefairgrounds, drop the camper and
get everything settled in thereand I sit in the parking lot of
the saloon with Jay trying tosell stuff.
And as we start talking aboutwhat's it like man owning your
own apparel brand, you thinkabout all those sacrifices, all
those things we're talking about, different families making
(09:07):
commitments to help us right.
So Allie's, our friend of oursnamed Allie, is watching the
baby.
Her and her family are takingtime and one of these days Jay's
taking time, allie's dad'staking time.
My mom is my wife is.
You understand what I'm saying?
That's what I mean by sacrifice, and not all sacrifices come
just from you.
(09:29):
So you get to spending Sunday atthe saloon, me and Jay hanging
out, and it's 90, 95 degrees,super freaking hot, and I sat
there all day.
We opened the saloon vendorspot at 11.
And it was about 4 o'clock whenI decided I have an opportunity
(09:52):
to close this thing and startpacking.
So just put this in itsperspective, folks.
We're talking 95 degrees.
Okay, I just wanted to pause onthat.
So you think about it.
I'm not built for this kind ofheat.
Okay, I'm built more for theArctic.
Let's be honest Five hours, 95degrees, in a tent you know what
(10:14):
I mean.
Or shall I say, sold 40 bucks,$40.
We had $40 in sales.
And by the art of bus math here, folks, there's also a cost
involved with this right.
That's $40 gross.
That's not profit.
(10:35):
Let's just say, on a veryfortunate scenario, you made 20
bucks profit.
So, 95 degrees, sitting around.
What did we say?
It was five hours for 20 bucks.
Here is your business owner,this glorious entrepreneur
(10:55):
lifestyle, owning an apparelbrand, making $4 an hour,
selling t-shirts in 95 degreeheat.
But if that doesn't make youwant to quit your day job and
start a small business, man, Idon't know what does.
Here's the thing, folks.
(11:16):
It gets worse.
Okay, it gets worse becauseit's the last day of the event.
You know what I got to do.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I got to pack baby.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I got to pack.
My wife and my mama and my babyare at the fairgrounds dropping
the camper.
Here I am having to pack allright, 20 by 20.
Tent, display loader withapparel, all the good stuff,
tent screwed into the pavement,electrical run, all the stuff,
right, all the things.
I gotta tear all that down bymyself, 90 plus degrees in the
(11:49):
heat and um, that's just thecost of doing business, baby,
that's just the price of livingL-I-V-I-N.
That takes me about two hours,two hours to pack the bus.
So you do the math here, folks,right?
What are we at?
Like seven hours, $40 grows,maybe $20 profit Somewhere
(12:10):
around $3 an hour, pay to ownyour own business.
It's a glorious lifestyle, Imust say myself.
But the great Winston Churchillsaid Success is moving from
failure to failure without aloss of enthusiasm.
Because here's the thing I'msitting in this tent sweating my
(12:32):
ass off, not making any money,then having to pack, and I'm
feeling optimistic.
I am full of optimism Because,as I just said to y'all, fair
season starts.
It's a new place, it's new face.
Fair season starts, it's a newplace, it's new face, it's new
things, new opportunities, newgoals, the whole nine.
(13:04):
It's a dose of optimism.
Things are changing, things arehappening.
When I think about being asmall business owner, it's
probably one of the biggestqualities that you have to have
is optimism.
You have to remain optimistic,you have to have this positive
outlook.
You have to see obstacles asopportunities.
And I got to say, over the pastfew weeks I caught myself doing
(13:26):
something and we've talked aboutit on here week after week.
I allowed myself to let toomuch negativity enter my circle.
I allowed myself to shed alittle self-confidence and
listen to the doubters.
I allowed myself to listen tothe naysayers, to be affected by
the gossip about the nonsenserunaway negative train.
(13:51):
You know what I mean.
We've talked about that overthe past few weeks.
When people are saying thingsbehind your back, you're hearing
things, you're not feelingwelcome, those things start to
have a trickle-down effect onyou and your positive outlook.
And if you go into an event, ifyou go into a scenario not
feeling positive, you're notgoing to have positive results.
(14:12):
Now I'm going to say I wentinto the 4th of July stoked.
So it's not like I went inthere thinking like, hey, I'm
not going to make money and woeis me.
That's not the case.
But over the course of timeI've realized I've let too much
negativity enter into my mindand change my mindset, and
that's not something that weneed to sign up here.
(14:35):
For folks Okay, that goes forall of you it doesn't matter
what it is.
You don't need to be a businessowner, you just need to live,
to be affected by negativity.
To allow that negativity, someof that doubt, some of the trash
talk, to enter your mind andcreate self-doubt, to create
self-sabotage.
(14:55):
It doesn't matter what area ofthe life it is.
It could be your work, it couldbe your family life, your close
personal relationships, itcould be your marriage, your
relationship with your children,it doesn't matter.
You let your mind createself-doubt and self-sabotage.
It will derail you.
But the thing is, folks, yourmind is working against you, not
(15:17):
because it hates you butbecause it wants to protect you.
Your mind is wired forprotection.
It is wired for safety.
It is fight or flight.
Our mind is worried about allthe negative.
It's worried about all thenonsense that's going around so
that we can identify it,acknowledge it, protect
ourselves.
But the thing is that's whatour brains focus on.
(15:40):
That's some of the shit that,like news channels and you know,
clickbait articles and socialmedia ridiculousness focuses on.
It's that shock and aweheadline that's going to grab
your attention.
That's going to make you read.
It's the crazy ads and photosthat you just need to look at.
It's rubbernecking an accidenton the interstate, because you
(16:04):
have to see what's going on.
Those things that grab ourmind's attention.
That's what happens when youlet doubt in.
That's what happens when youlet naysayers in.
I do the best I can to not letanybody else in, because I am a
resilient optimistic.
You like that, right?
(16:25):
You like resilient optimism?
I believe you do, because Iknow that I do, because I was
sitting around in the tentsweating.
You could say sweating andregretting, and the only thing I
mean about regretting is I'm sodamn busy right now.
If I knew ahead of time I wasgoing to make $40,.
I would have got up at five inthe morning, packed my tent
(16:46):
before the sun got real crazy.
I would have done all the workI needed to do at home and then
I would have locked myself inthe air conditioned office and
worked my ass off to get readyfor fair season.
But you don't know that.
That's the scratch ticket.
That's the chance you got totake.
So I got to go set up.
I got to meet the people, I gotto try to sell, I got to try to
do the best I can to providefor my family.
(17:08):
So I have to open.
So, not knowing what you don'tknow, you got to show.
If you don't know how it'sgoing to go, you don't know the
outcome.
So you got to show up and yougot to put up the fight and you
got to make it work.
So as I'm sitting there sweatingand regretting because if I
knew that I wasn't going to makeany money, I would have been a
lot more productive as I'msitting there, I'm thinking
(17:31):
about how optimistic I am.
I'm thinking about how excitedI am for a familiar event on the
schedule and a brand new eventto soon to be part of the
schedule, all those things hasme feeling pretty damn
optimistic.
And I started thinking about it.
And you guys are going to thinkthis is funny because I'm
(17:52):
sitting there thinking aboutmyself and my outlook and I said
, man, blind optimism, that's meright now, blind optimism.
I don't have eyes for anythingbut positivity.
I'm focused on making thingshappen.
If you guys have been listeningover the past few weeks, you
know some of the struggles, youknow some of the the mistakes,
(18:13):
you know what we're up against.
I'm not going to beat my chestall over being in the red and
missing payments, like we talkedabout last week.
We already know that storyright.
But here I am saying, man,you're blind to it, you're
immune to it, you're just anoptimistic son of a bitch.
You need an optimism SOBt-shirt, just thought about that
(18:34):
.
So I'm getting all jacked upthinking, man, this is pretty
cool.
I don't think anybody has everused the words blind and
optimism.
This is going to be so cool.
Okay, you are onto something,joe, cool.
Well, I looked it up.
It's not the best quality, okay.
(18:59):
Blind optimism is an excessivelypositive outlook that ignores
potential problems or risks,often leading to inadequate
planning and negativeconsequences.
It's characterized by a refusalto acknowledge negative
realities and a tendency tooverestimate one's abilities and
underestimate potentialobstacles.
You, son of a bitch, get out ofhere iPhone.
(19:21):
I don't need to.
No, I don't.
That's not me.
I don't need to read that.
But I got all jacked upthinking I was onto something,
and then I started reading thisbecause I convinced myself this
is you, this is you.
And then I found out well, thisactually is a thing that exists.
And then I peacocked my chestout and go get my feathers up
and say, hey, you're preparingto read the greatest definition
(19:44):
of you ever.
And then I start readingExcessively positive outlook
that ignores potential problemsor risks.
That could be me, but it makesme angry.
If it is, that's not me.
Okay, often leading toinadequate planning.
Okay, my wife would say.
I'm not always organized.
(20:04):
Is this me?
No, no, no, this better not beme.
Why did you have to look intothis?
This is what happens in mylittle mind.
So I said to myself.
I said self, it's going to be adifferent version of optimism.
That's me.
So I let that stew, I let thatsimmer in my noggin, I pack up.
(20:25):
I come home, lay down on thefreaking floor in the living
room, playing with the baby andtalking to the wife and asking
her how her day was and how onthe camper was.
And and I said to her do youknow how hard it is to remain
positive in the face of failure?
(20:46):
I just made 40 bucks.
I worked my ever-loving ass offtoday.
I inconvenienced the wholefamily today.
I asked friends for help todayand I made 40 bucks.
That's just one day.
In the words of WinstonChurchill, as we said, success
is moving from failure tofailure without the loss of
(21:06):
enthusiasm.
But I haven't found the success.
I just keep finding thefailures and the failures.
But I continue to share myenthusiasm.
Daily effing challenges.
Let's roll into Monday.
Here I am, monday morning I'mstarting to print.
(21:27):
I've got cases of stuff to do.
I've got so many things to make, getting ready for this, fair,
restocking things.
As you guys know, I repeat itweek after week.
I go to an event.
I come home, I take some ofthat cash and I reorder
something else and I start torestock and reload because I
need it, the business needs theproduct or we ain't going to
(21:48):
make the money.
So that leaves long hours,early mornings and late nights
of making stuff.
That's just part of the deal.
So I get in here and I juststart working and I get ready to
work on a design and I saidwhere, where the heck is this
box of apparel?
And then that leads into arabbit hole of me doing research
(22:09):
and tracking things down toonly identify that the UPS has
lost a package.
I try to find answers onlinecan't get anywhere.
Call, get a call back, place onhold this whole nonsense.
Fly up the chain of command torealize that UPS has lost a
(22:32):
$1,200 box of apparel.
So that's fun, that's a lot offun.
Stuff that I need for the fair,stuff that I want to bring to
the fair lost, it is nowhere.
Well, I should say, not all ofit is lost.
There was two boxes in thisorder On July 3rd.
They were both in MassachusettsOn July 5th.
(22:54):
One of them arrived at mydoorstep as of today.
The other one still says it'sin Massachusetts, but they can't
find it in Massachusetts.
That's just one more thing,that's just one more obstacle,
that's just one more challenge.
As I plan my week and I getready for the fair week that's
(23:15):
ahead of me, you open your phoneand you look at the weather on
your iPhone and it says rain forseven days and you say no,
that's not the case, that's notgoing to happen.
And that's me.
No, that's not going to happen.
We're going to figure it out.
That's way too early to tell.
The weatherman can't tell mewhat's going to happen.
We're going to figure it out.
That's way too early to tell.
The weatherman can't tell mewhat's going to happen in a half
hour?
He certainly isn't going totell me what's going to happen
(23:36):
in six days.
When you realize that you'regiving too much consideration to
failure and you begin toreframe your mind to optimism,
when you start to look atobstacles as opportunities and
you realize that, in the wordsof one of my favorites, dak
Prescott, pressure is aprivilege.
(23:59):
It's a privilege for me to berunning around doing the things
that I'm doing, tracking downpackages and trying to make
things, because that means thatI'm doing things, that means
that I'm creating things, thatmeans that I'm providing things.
I am a business owner.
I have an apparel brand, I havean American business, I have
(24:19):
the opportunity to grow Americanmanufacturing.
I am working on the opportunityto create a legacy and a
lifestyle and something to giveto my daughter.
Pressure is a privilege.
I know my back's against it, Iknow I'm up against it, but I
know this too shall pass and Iknow I too shall overcome.
(24:42):
You see, what we focus on iswhat we get, what we appreciate
appreciates.
If you appreciate theopportunities, if you appreciate
the little things, you givecredit and credence to those
things and they grow and theymultiply.
That's my optimism.
(25:03):
So, as I'm working in the officeand I'm finishing a book, I
listened to the Compound Effectyesterday because my wife
recommended it and that was agreat book and we can get into
more of the subjects from thatbook in the future.
I actually just dropped a coupleof lines from that book as
we're talking.
So I'm doing that and that hasmy mind rolling about this
(25:28):
replacement for blind optimism,because that's not the
description that I'm thinkingabout.
So I start YouTubing optimismand I stumbled onto this
interview with a lady that sayswhen I think of optimism, I'm
not thinking about everything'sgoing to be all right.
I'm not thinking about theglasses always have fall.
(25:48):
I'm thinking about beingresilient.
I think about the resilience ittakes to be optimistic.
So for me, I instantly startresearching resilient optimism.
It is a mindset that combines apositive outlook with the
ability to bounce back fromsetbacks.
(26:10):
It's not about ignoringdifficulties, but rather facing
them with a belief in one'sability to overcome challenges
and find a path forward.
The combination of optimism andresilience is a powerful force
for success and well-being.
Resilient optimism is me.
(26:31):
Resilient optimism is loud,proud American.
It is the philosophy of us.
Luck, boys and girls, is anequal opportunity distributor.
It, too, shall fall on me.
I understand the obstacles.
I know the challenges.
I know the pressure that's beenput on.
(26:53):
I know the decisions and thechoices.
I'm not ignoring them.
I acknowledge them, Iunderstand them and I'm working
towards overcoming them.
That's me, that's how I'm wired.
That is what I'm going to do.
I understand that.
I can see a light, I can see anopportunity.
I can see a solution.
I know there's bigger andbetter and bolder and more
(27:15):
beautiful for me in the future.
I know we're working too hardfor all the right reasons for it
to not come true.
You understand, I believe in it, I have faith in it.
I'm committed to it.
I know it will all work out.
Now here's the cool thing as Ido my research on resilient
(27:37):
optimism, it begins to explainand we're going to go through
some of the stuff that I foundon Das Google and it also
compares against a blindoptimism.
So this is all coming together.
Man, I don't know if maybeGoogle's just in my head.
Okay, maybe Google heard theconversations I had with myself
(28:02):
in a parking lot, in a rondel in95 degrees, bacon frying like
an egg.
I don't know.
Anyways, maybe this is a commonresearch project.
But what is resilient optimism?
Courtesy of the fine people ofGoogle, realistic and hopeful.
It is not blind optimism ornaive positivity.
(28:25):
It acknowledges challenges andsetbacks, but maintains a belief
that things can improve andthat one can adapt and preserve.
This too shall pass, baby.
We know all things come to pass.
We will improve.
Core of resilience will improve.
(28:47):
Core of resilience.
Optimism is a key component ofresilience, providing the
psychological resources to copewith adversity and maintain a
sense of hope.
Baby, I have been diagnosedwith a full dose of hopium.
All right, I wake up full ofhope.
I ride the hopium train.
Listen, you want to find adefinition of hope.
I'm a Cowboys fan.
(29:07):
We ain't won shit in 30 years.
But if you ask me today, I feelgood about this year.
You understand, I got a realdose of hopium.
Focus on effort.
Resilient optimists often focuson putting in their best effort
, even when outcomes areuncertain.
Man, I didn't even read throughall of this, to be honest.
(29:28):
We're doing this exercisetogether, and this is completely
me, because I'm in the officeright now.
It is just past six in themorning.
I dropped my mom off to workalready and I'm surrounded by
(29:51):
stacks of apparel, because lastnight I was in here making stuff
, where I made stuff all day andnight and ordering designs and
all these things.
I'm surrounded by apparel.
I have my notebook on the stackof a new design t-shirt right
now, and this is me just sayingthat I can outwork it.
(30:11):
I just got to focus on theeffort and if I put the effort
in, I'll get the results out.
So this is pretty remarkablehere Not just a feeling, but a
choice.
It's a mindset that can becultivated and strengthened
through practice and by focusingon positive coping strategies.
(30:32):
Man, I think I've got alifetime of experience in
focusing and practicing on howto cope with things, whether
it's, you know, the loss ofloved ones, failed
decision-making, mistakes made,whatever it is Benefit.
(30:52):
In many areas, resilientoptimism has been linked to
improved performance in work,greater job satisfaction, better
health and overall well-being.
I thank you.
I mean, I do think that thisbody is a temple, right?
Let's be honest.
How is it different from blindoptimism?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Blind optimism ignores reality.
It's naive belief thateverything will be okay, without
acknowledging potentialproblems or challenges.
Resilient optimism acknowledgeschallenges.
It recognizes difficulties butmaintains a positive outlook and
a belief in one's ability toovercome them.
Why is it important?
Effective coping mechanism, itprovides a framework for
(31:32):
navigating difficult situationsand bouncing back from adversity
.
Increased motivation andperseverance.
A belief in a positive futurecan fuel determination and
encourage continued effort andimprove mental health.
It can lead to a greater senseof control, reduced stress and
increased overall well-being.
As I read this and I realizethis, I can confirm this I
(31:57):
wouldn't be here, we wouldn't bein business.
Be in business, I wouldn't beas calm, cool and collective and
focused and confident if Iwasn't full of resilient
optimism.
Because I just outlined fory'all just a few days in the
(32:17):
life and times of me.
This is one of the reasons whyour podcast remains interesting.
Week after week, when we labelit share the struggle, we talk
about the fact that everybodystruggles and week to week, you
guys come here not knowing whatmy struggle is going to be, but
you know, at the end of thatjourney, at the end of that
episode, you're going to find anoptimistic outlook for me.
(32:38):
There's an optimistic synopsisfor me on how I overcame or how
I plan to overcome.
Please understand that Weekafter week, there's another
freaking challenge.
Whether you're broke down onthe side of the road, whether
you made $40 in the heat or UPSloses a package you need,
(32:59):
there's always something, butyou will always overcome that
something.
I am resilient, optimistic.
I don't think about everythingin life, as you know, through
rose-colored glasses and glasseshalf full.
I understand the risks and Ilive the sacrifices, but I'm
(33:24):
confident in the ability.
But I'm confident in theability and I'm confident in the
mission and when I add thosethings together, I know what
will come true for me and myfamily and my business and my
brand.
As difficult as all of this is,I wouldn't give it up and I
(33:47):
wouldn't change it, because Iknow where I'm going to end up
and I thank each and every oneof you for continuing to support
me, to help me, to pull methrough, to drag me through.
I truly can't thank you allenough.
When I start thinking you letthat self-doubt comes in.
(34:09):
When you start to self-sabotageyour life and you think about
all the things that are goingwrong, you have those moments in
time where you're standing in aparking lot announcing a pinout
contest and two of your bestfriends show up with matching
tattoos of one of your designson their arm.
It's things like that.
(34:30):
It's people that come into thetent and say, man, I bought from
you three years ago at bikeweek and I had to come back
because I still wear the shirts,I still love them, they're
comfortable, they're the bestever and I got to come in here
and get more.
It's little things like that,man.
It's the conversations aboutthe missions and the messages.
(34:53):
All those things come together.
I know I'm just at a time andplace where I'm having to take
bigger chances and bigger risks.
I'm having to take biggerchances and bigger risks not
because I have to, but because Iwant to, because I could
continue to do things the wayI've always done them and I
(35:14):
could continue to get theresults that I've always gotten.
But that is not the level for me.
That is not the plateau for me.
Things feel tight, Things feelrough because I'm taking big
chances and bold risks, but Iknow what's on the other side of
chances and risk.
(35:35):
It's going to be reward andvictory.
I believe it.
I am so excited to start fairseason this week.
I'm so excited to get on theroad next week heading to New
York, out to Syracuse man.
There's so many amazing thingshappening for us right now.
(35:57):
I'm excited by each and everyone of them.
But, with that said, I boys andgirls have to get to work.
I got so much shit to do today.
I got the baby today.
It's baby daddy day today and Igot to pick my mama up and work
my ass off until the wee hoursof the morning so I can head on
(36:18):
out and set up again.
So, with all that said, folks, Itruly want you to focus on
resilient optimism, a mindsetthat combines a positive outlook
with the ability to bounce backfrom setbacks.
I don't know what it is todaythat's going to come to you
today that's going to set youback, that's going to push you
around, that's going to try toget you down.
(36:39):
Focus on the mindset that notonly looks at that positive
outlook that you shall overcome,that this too shall pass, but
also focus on the ability tobounce back.
Resilient optimism.
That is a quality that is alsoa choice.
That is not something that youhave to be born with.
(37:01):
It is a muscle that you cantrain.
It is a choice and a mindset.
It's a decision that we make.
Even the most pessimisticperson today can make a choice
to be a resilient, optimisticson of a bitch tomorrow.
I appreciate each and every oneof you and I encourage you to
(37:22):
focus on the positives, and Igive all y'all the ability to
kick the negative in the ass andovercome all obstacles.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Thank you for supporting my family's American
dream.
That's it, and that's allBiggie Smalls.
(37:58):
If you're a Loud Proud Americanand you find yourself just
wanting more, find me on YouTubeand Facebook at Loud Proud
American.
And you find yourself justwanting more, find me on YouTube
and Facebook at Loud ProudAmerican, or the face page as my
mama calls it.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
If you're a fan of the Graham Cracker, you want to
find me on Instagram, or all thekids by tickety-talking on the
TikTok.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You can find me on both of those at Loud underscore
Pr, proud underscore American.
A big old thank you to the boysfrom the Gut Truckers for the
background beats and the themesong to this year's podcast.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
If you are enjoying what you're hearing, you can
track down the Gut.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Truckers on Facebook.
Just search Gut Truckers.
Give them motherfuckers a liketoo.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
I truly thank you for supporting my American dream.
Now go wash your fucking hands,you filthy savage.
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