"Stronger Circles, Stronger Self" with Anthony Johnson

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your
host, Peak Performance CoachBrian Posley.
Are you stuck on the hamsterwheel of life, spinning and
spinning, but not really movingforward?
Are you ready to jump off andstore?
Are you finally ready to sculptyour life?
If so, you've landed in theright place.

(00:21):
This podcast is created andbroadcast just for you.
All of you strivers, thrivers,and survivors out there.
If you'd like to learn moreabout Brian and the Bamboo Lab,
feel free to reach out toexplore your true peak level at
www.bamboolab3.com.

SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
Welcome everyone to this week's episode of the
Bamboo Lab Podcast.
I I'm really excited for thisguest we have on today.
Uh three, four months ago, I wasintroduced to him by a mutual
friend of ours, and um rightaway we we spent like an hour on
the phone and had this amazingconversation, and it was really

(01:01):
uncanny the the amount ofcoincidences we have in our
life, the similarities betweenour lives, the way we live our
lives, our past um, you know,our younger selves, the way we,
you know, work on body, mind,spirit, soul, whatever.
And it was right away weconnected.
It was like one of those thingswhere you're like, okay, I feel

(01:21):
like I've known this guy for 10years.
So without further ado, I'm notgoing to go a big introduction.
Anthony Johnson, my friend, I'mhonored, I'm honored to welcome
you to the Bamboo Lab Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 (01:31):
Ryan, thank you so much for the introduction.
I am very, very excited to behere.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Oh, you're welcome, brother.
Um okay, so I've gotten to knowyou really well over the last
uh, you know, three or fourmonths, but can you please share
with the audience members outthere a little bit about
yourself, your family, yourchildhood, uh, whatever you want
to share?

SPEAKER_02 (01:48):
Yeah, figure let's start from the beginning.
So I am native to the TwinCities, Minneapolis, St.
Paul area.
I was actually born and raisedin Minneapolis, and I'm the
middle child.
So I have an older sister and ayounger brother.
And in my younger years, myfather was a city cop.
So he was the police officer onthe north side of Minneapolis,
which is a pretty rough andtumble part of town.

(02:10):
So therefore, he was a prettyrough and rugged individual.
And at that time, my mother wasstay at home due to some
unfortunate events.
My dad left the house when I wasabout seven years old.
So I was raised by my mom, whichum I had to grow up pretty quick
in a pretty tough environment aswell.

(02:31):
Um, so happy to expand more onmy childhood and some of the
trials and tribulations and whatthat entailed.
But uh fast forward, I alsobecame a father at a very young
age as well.
I was 22 years old when Isaacwas brought into the world, and
he is uh he is one of my shiningstars.
And he is now, again, 19 yearsold.
He is at Minnesota StateMankato, studying his first year

(02:54):
at college to be in constructionmanagement, and he's he's doing
quite well.
So I love it.
Uh that's a brief little bit ofmy background.

SPEAKER_01 (03:01):
Those are just two more things we have in common.
Both lost their fathers to inone way, shape, or form at a
young age, raised by moth singlemothers, strong single mothers,
and both were parents' fathersat a young age.
It just a lot of grown up.
Yeah, a lot of grown up.
But man, just the similarities,it's so strange.
I'm I've got to give a shout-outto Dave Dick for re for
introducing us as friends.
Absolutely.

(03:22):
Okay, can you tell us a littlebit?
I you know, I'm so impressed bythe man that you are and just
the way you live life.
And and you know, I'll sharewith the audience when you
listen to Anthony's story todayand his journey and his wisdom.
I I'm just gonna ask you, who isyour Anthony in your life?
Because he is the kind of personthat you want to surround
yourself with.

(03:42):
He's the man that you want inyour corner, he's the man you
want to be able to call at twoin the morning, he's the man
whose phone you uh call you needto answer every day.
Um, so think about who is yourAnthony.
Um, so without that, I'm gonnafind out what who or what event
or book or person inspired yougrowing up.

SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
Growing up, I would uh I would put that uh number
one would be Mr.
Strand.
He was my teacher in elementaryschool, and he was my teacher in
fourth and fifth grade, and thatis shortly after uh my father
left the home.
So I was in a a pretty toughsituation.
I had a pretty supreme lack ofconfidence.

(04:23):
Um, I was struggling a lot withschool, with uh anger and
resentment.
And he kind of served as afather figure type of role.
He would hold me after class, hewould teach me things, he would
um really help me understand howto maneuver through some of the
pitfalls that I was goingthrough.
So he was just a very, very,very much a focal point in my

(04:44):
younger years and kind of a funstory is uh fifth grade at the
end of fifth grade is when Imoved away from the cities out
to the suburbs, but he actuallycanceled all of class for that
last day, and it was just uh anAnthony day.
So it was pretty special.
But after class, he pulled measide and he said, Anthony, I
believe in you.

(05:05):
You need to believe in yourself,and when you do, you will
accomplish great things.
And that's I'll never forgetthat and getting chills, even
just talking about it.
But that carried throughout mylife, and I'd um I always
remember back to the to Mr.
Strand and what he meant for me.
Kind of an interesting story,and I'd encourage any listeners

(05:26):
to do this as well is if youhave a teacher, whether it was
an elementary school, highschool, college, whatever, that
was near and dear to yourgrowth, to reach back out to
them and thank them.
So through the powers of theGoogle machine, I somehow found
Mr.
Strand, and who had long sincebeen retired, and I threw a Hail
Mary out there.
I found an email address.

(05:46):
I said, Hey, is this Mr.
Strand?
He used to teach at thiselementary school.
He rolled back, he said, Yes,this is.
Who is this?
I said, It's Anthony Johnson.
Do you remember me?
And he ended up, we ended upchatting over the telephone and
brought tears to his eyes thatyou know the this young child
that he took some extraattention to reached back out to

(06:09):
him after about 30 years.
And we stay connected to thisday as well, and it was just
really special.
So he, while I had a fatherfigure absent in the household,
you know, a teacher came into mysituation and helped foster a
lot of my growth, and that waspretty special.
So he was a major, majorinspiration person.

SPEAKER_01 (06:25):
Mr.
Strand is still with us today.

SPEAKER_02 (06:27):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (06:27):
I hope he listens to this.

SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
He'll get a copy of it.

SPEAKER_01 (06:32):
I'd love to make sure of that.
We need a you know, we not onlydo we need Mr.
Strands in our lives, we alsoall have to be a Mr.
Strand.
Yeah, to be that person who downthe road somebody looks back 30
years later and says, Here's theman who inspired me.
Here's the woman who inspiredme.
Um, I had a Mr.
Frank Alec.
Mr.
Alec was my second, third, orfirst and second degree.

(06:53):
I think a second and third gradeteacher.
I had him two years in a row atGrow Cap Elementary School, and
he was mine.
So five or six years ago, I gotI called him and I think my
mother gave me his phone number.
He's still in my hometown.
He's retired now.
I didn't get a chance to talkwith him.
I spoke with his wife, and Itold her to just tell Mr.
Alec, you know, who I am, whatgrade I had.
You know, I was his first he wasright out of college, so I was

(07:14):
one of his first students ever.
I was in the first classroomever had.
And um I just said I wanted tolet him know that he changed my
life.
And uh I and I think I heardback from him.
I don't know.
It seemed like there was avoicemail or a text or something
back from him after that sayinghow much it meant to him.
So it's good for us to do that.
Reach out to tell people whomade a big difference in your

(07:35):
life because you know it's justsending out those good vibes to
the universe and they come backto you, you know.
Yes, they do.
It shows a it's a way of showingappreciation.
Um, I had an interesting story.
I was out, I was watchingfootball with Dawson, obviously
my son on Saturday, and over thecourse of the day, friends just
kind of join, you know.
And I was talking to thiscouple, and I'm gonna shout out

(07:57):
to uh uh Patsy and Alex.
I'm gonna embarrass them alittle bit, but nobody knows who
they are on this podcast.
And I want I'm gonna send them acopy.
Uh they were talking about thepodcast and how they like to
listen to it when they're goingto bed at night when they can't
sleep.
Like, you know, when we can'tsleep, we put on your podcast.
I'm like, you realize thatthat's not exactly the greatest
endorsement for my podcast.

(08:19):
It's like it's so basically tosome people, this podcast is
just a cure for insomnia.
But I I I I did mention I did Imake made a mark in my brain
said I'm gonna make a shout outto them on on uh on the next
show.
And uh hopefully when they'relistening to this, they're they
won't be asleep yet becausewe're only 20 minutes.
I had to say it real early intothe in the interview.

SPEAKER_00 (08:40):
I love it.

SPEAKER_01 (08:41):
So, brother, let me ask you, in you know, in the
last 12 months or 20, whatever,in the last in the recent past,
um what would you say is yourgreatest learning, or at least
one of your greatest learnings?

SPEAKER_02 (08:56):
The past uh 12 months or a couple years, so I
um candidly I struggle, I'vealways struggled a lot with
anxiety and depression andfalling in and out of routine.
So I'm either running a millionmiles a minute, like I'm on
fire, or I'm on the polaropposite end of that, where I'm
I'm struggling mightily.
So it's just a battle ofanxiety, depression, etc.

(09:18):
And uh happy to get deeper intothis, but I had a life-changing
event a couple years ago where Ihad a very ex-pressed friend
that passed away.
And I was in a pretty low momentum moving into uh about this
time last year.
And I, you know, it's true whatthey say that you are a direct
reflection of the the fivepeople you the five closest

(09:39):
people you surround yourselfwith.
So throughout my life, I've beenable to shed a lot of leaves or
friends or acquaintances thatweren't helping push me in the
right direction.
And there's a couple individualsin particular that asked me to
participate with them in the 75Hard program, which I think
you're familiar with, Brian.

(10:00):
Yeah.
Right.
Okay.
So the 75 Hard program, it'sit's uh it is discipline 101,
but basically the program is 75straight days where you are
committed to um adhering to aset of rules, six rules in
particular.
So it's working out two times aday for 45 minutes, one inside,
one outside, uh, each of those45 minutes, reading a book at

(10:23):
least 10 pages a day, drinking agallon of water, taking a daily
progress picture, uh following aspecific diet, no cheat meals,
no sugar, no alcohol, et cetera.
And say you're 45 days into thatand you have a beer or miss a
workout.
And keep in mind I live inMinnesota and it was around this
time last year, moving intoDecember.
So there were a couple dayswhere it was negative

(10:44):
temperatures, and I'm outsidejumping rope or jogging, etc.
But I accomplished that program,and that sets a trajectory into
this year where I have gained somuch confidence and
understanding of myself, what myabilities are, how to that I
thrive in a routine, and to, andI'd say bigger than that too,

(11:06):
how when you are payingattention to your physical
well-being, your mentalwell-being, your emotional
well-being, that everythingstarts to fall into place.
Because again, coming into this,it was um, there was a lot of
heavy moments after after mybest friend passed away, and I
was floundering, to be extremelyhonest.

(11:28):
Um, so I learned a lot aboutgrit, a lot about discipline, a
lot about trusting myself, um,and the the power of having
influential individuals in yourfriend circle to continue
pushing you towards your dreamsor your goals.
I think that was extremelypivotal, and I I've learned a
lot in the last 12 months.
And it really started with withthat program, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
Yeah, that's I I really want to talk for a minute
on this, who you associate with,how much how important that is.
I think that's a message wecan't get out enough.
Um, I will tell you right now,I'm on day 39 with no with no
beer.

SPEAKER_02 (12:04):
Yeah, guy.

SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
I don't miss it at all.
I have no I have don't I don'teven I don't even think about
it.
I don't miss it.
I I went out with Dawson towatch football all day Saturday.
We are we are out for 11 hourson Saturday, and I had, I think
I counted, well, I I I I stoppedcounting at 12, but I know I had
a couple more, so 14, 15non-alcoholic beers.

unknown (12:25):
Wow.

SPEAKER_01 (12:26):
Just to stay social.
And I'll tell you what, I I'llprobably never have another one
again.
No, I think I've I've OD'd onnon-alcoholic beers, man.
Yeah.
But um I well, you know, I justI just don't have the desire.
I've just I what one of thethings I look at, like the 75
Hard program or any type ofbecause you know, very, very

(12:46):
structured, routine, consistentprogram that we either you know
follow somebody else's or wecreate ourselves.
When you get into it, like youjust don't want to break it.
Like there's there's no pointbecause there's so much more
dopamine release and so muchmore pleasure out of doing the
things that are hard, doing thethings that that that uh
challenge you than there isgetting drinking beer.

(13:08):
You know, I you know, that yougoing back on that, um you know,
the question uh I'll I'd likeeverybody to ponder for a minute
is is something that Anthony andI and I talked about, I think
the last couple of weeks is askyourself a question every day.
And I recommend doing this at 10a.m.
and having your alarm set onyour phone um to go off at 10
o'clock.
That and uh the alarm shouldread, what is one thing you've

(13:30):
done that's hard already today?
Well, I should I should I shouldsay intentionally done.
If you're forced to do it, itdoesn't really count.
Uh that you've intentionallydone.
And uh I've got a friend of minethat um that uh that we've I've
known for my goodness, 32 yearsor so, and she texted me this
morning, how you doing?
I said, Doing well.
And I texted her, yeah, I thinkyesterday, uh, the question, you

(13:52):
know, what is the thing thatyou've done hard today?
And and uh she asked me, and Itold her, I said, Well, you
know, I got up at five and Istretched for 15 minutes and I
took a ice cold shower and andshe says, Yeah, but you do those
every day.
And are those and so it made meponder the question.
Does it count if you do them andthey're already habit?
And then I realized, yeah, theydo, because everything that that

(14:13):
I do, whether it's habit or not,that's hard, I'm still afraid to
death of doing it before I doit.
Jumping in a cold shower, I I'mI'm afraid of it.
Lifting weights, I'm afraid ofgetting up and doing an ab
workout at five, I'm afraid ofit.
Like I it scares me and itterrifies me, actually.
And so I I want people to thinkabout that as if you're doing
something hard and you're doingit intentionally to improve

(14:33):
yourself or others, it doesn'tmatter if you if you just do it
out of habit, it doesn't really,it doesn't matter as long as
it's hard for you and it scaresyou to do it, your brain, your
comfort zone is gonna stretchout of fucking control.
And it's you're gonna be and youwill be in 12 months.
If you do one hard thing a dayin 12 months, you will be
unrecognizable.

(14:54):
And the thing is, we talkedabout this, you and I, brother,
last week.
It doesn't have to be getting upand doing six minutes of planks
or or taking a nice cold shower.
All it can be is instead ofgetting up at seven, get up at
6.59 that day.
Set your alarm one minute early.
Instead of strolling on onYouTube or Facebook or TikTok at
7 o'clock, set your alarm for7.05 and read from 7.07 to 7.05.

(15:15):
Just read.
Just do something.
Break the paradigm, break thebreak the pattern um that you're
in right now a little bit.
That's something scary.
It's something different.
And you do that for a year everysingle day.
Don't miss a day, mark it on thecalendar.
365 things that terrify you,scare you, or or take you out of
your comfort zone a little bit,you will be unrecognizable in
one year.
I believe that.

SPEAKER_02 (15:35):
Yeah, I know you do.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
One of my one of my life mantrasis confidence is built by doing
hard things.
And if you're doing a hard thinga day, your confidence is
continuing to grow.
And again, with um a lot of mylife struggle has been lack of
confidence.
And as I'm sure you're familiarwith Brian, that the 75 Hard

(15:55):
program, there's differentlevels to it.
Well, there's phase number two,which is a cold shower, which
used to scare the hell out ofme.
Like, why would anyone want totake a cold shower now?
And I think we have this incommon as well.
But the very first thing that Ido when my alarm clock goes off
in the morning is I march my wayinto the shower, and I look at
that shower head and I countdown three, two, one, squeeze my

(16:17):
cheeks, turn it on, ice blastcold right in the face.
Yeah, and that is probably theworst part of my day.
But everything else seems likecake afterwards, it's just
easier.
And of course, the healthbenefits associated with that,
but just to get somethingdifficult out of the way right
away sets the tone for the restof the day.

SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
100%.
And I and I have talked tohundreds of people on this cold
shower thing, and I have I don'tknow that I've convinced one
person to do it.
That's the one thing that Brian,I'll do about anything you you
recommend in the coachingprocess, but I'd am not doing
that.
I'm like, it's after three tofive seconds, I don't I don't
notice it.

(16:58):
I really don't.
Yeah, it's that first when itfirst hits you, it is a oh man,
it's a bucket of ice.
You're basically waterboardingyourself with ice water every
day.
That's what it is.
I've never heard of like that,but I think that's accurate.
Yes.
It is.
Or if you know, if you have acold plunge, do that.
If you have a live by a coldriver or lake, jump in there.
And and the thing is, again, forthose people out there who are

(17:19):
thinking, I am not doing that.
Well, then take your regularshower and then at the last five
seconds, turn it on cold andthen turn it back to morning.
Then go to five six seconds andseven, and over the course of
weeks, just go up to the pointwhere your whole shower is just
ice cold water.
And it's because it really isonly it's really the first, it's
like anything else.
It's the first few seconds of itthat are bad.
After that, you're clickingalong, man.

(17:40):
So all right.
So I I do want to touch on atopic that you brought up a
minute ago, but I do want to askyou this question because I
don't like to miss this questionin case we go off on a tangent,
Anthony.
Um, what would you say is one ofthe most difficult things you've
ever gone through in your life?
And maybe you've already talkedabout it with your father.
Um, I don't know.
And then what caused you toscale that wall and overcome it

(18:03):
or get through it?

SPEAKER_02 (18:05):
Yeah.
So I I've I've made referencethat my best friend passed away
um a couple years ago and hedied uh from uh alcohol abuse.
And that was hopefully for avery long period of time.
The last um close friend of minethat has passed away.
But from the time I was 21until, or there was a period of

(18:28):
time from the time I was 21years old, so I was in my
mid-30s, where I had 12 veryclose friends, including two of
my best friends pass away.
So there's been a lot of tragedyand just uh premature death in
my circle here.
And that has rocked my boatsbecause you know, each situation
was different, but I'd alwaystry to be the strong person out

(18:51):
of the group for their families,for the friend circles, for
whatever the case is, and youknow, really just hold the
emotion in and again just kindof be the strong individual.
So therefore, I never really gotto mourn the losses or have a
deeper understanding of how thathas impacted me and the way that
I carry that weight.

(19:12):
And this ties back into thecomment that I made earlier
about your direct reflection ofthe individuals that you keep
closest.
Um for the majority of my life,I was running with the wrong
circles.
You know, the the friends or theacquaintances that I'd surround
myself with were more energysuckers as opposed to
illuminators.
And I never felt like I couldcompletely be myself, be

(19:35):
vulnerable, be Anthony Johnson,just raw.
And otherwise I'd get judged orwhatever the case is.
So um it's kind of aninteresting story, and it
revolves around my dog, but thisis around COVID time coming out
of COVID when things wereopening back up.
And there was this doggy daycarecenter in uh in Twin Cities here

(19:58):
that opened, and there was agentleman that owns this, that
owns the place, and he came out,gave me a warm handshake.
We developed into more of a moreor less acquaintances.
And there was one, I guess, dayin particular where I was just
in a really rough spot.
I brought uh our dog Jacksoninto doggy daycare, and Ryan
comes around the corner andgreets me, and then I get a text

(20:19):
message from him uh later thatevening saying, Hey, what are
you doing on Monday morning at 5o'clock a.m.
I was like, I'm probablysleeping.
What's going on?
And at that time I wasstruggling with uh chemical
dependency issues myself.
And he says, Well, why don't youcome hang out with a group of uh
go-getters, illuminators?
We meet every Monday morning, wedo hot tub, cold tub, sauna,

(20:41):
butter coffee, et cetera, and wejust we talk about life and
bring each other up.
So I got integrated with thiscommunity, and now this
community serves as my friendcircle, and it has allowed me to
be, again, just the authenticAnthony that I've always either
ran away from, hid from,whatever the case is, or maybe
just didn't even reallyunderstand who I was internally.

(21:04):
And throughout the years, I'vebeen able to peel back those
layers.
And there was one period intime, and again, this was about
last summer, shortly after myfriend passed away, where we
were, they were holding spacefor me.
So we were in my friend'sbasement.
There's about 15 of us or so,and we were just hanging out
talking, and it was the firsttime in my life where I just let

(21:26):
it go.
I'm talking like wept, where Ijust felt into the anger,
resentment, sadness of a lot oftrials and tribulations of my
life, but specifically a lot ofmy friends that have passed away
too soon from unfortunatecircumstances, and it felt like
a cleansing, like just thistyphoon, I don't know, wiped

(21:47):
over me.
And coming out of that, I was atpeace.
And that was the first, I canhonestly say that was the first
time in my life where I justfelt free of uh a lot of the
angst and struggles that I'vebeen going through.
And since then I've I've carriedthat momentum moving forward to
be the most authentic person ofmyself in every situation,

(22:08):
whether it's podcasts, when I'mmeeting with clients, friends,
family, I'm fiercely loyal.
I love to love, but I felt likefor the longest portion of my
life, I was just stunted in thatgrowth or the ability to be
authentic, as authentic as Icould possibly be.
That's a long-winded answer toyour question.

(22:28):
Hopefully, I addressed thatappropriately, but that has been
um that's been huge.

SPEAKER_01 (22:33):
Well, you hit a nail in the head.
Uh, you really did, Anthony.
And this is one of the thingsthat I struggle with a lot, uh,
obviously myself and and um myclients is uh tightening your
circle, you know, circling thewagons with the right people.
I mean, you think about we havewhat eight, nine billion people
on the planet, seven billion, Idon't know.
Why do we choose the people wechoose?

(22:57):
What you know, you know, who dowe so who do we marry, who do we
date, who do we hang out with,um, who do we work with, who do
we employ, whatever that is.
Um why?
When we have such an unlimitedpool of people on this planet,
now I'm not saying that peoplearound you are people around the
anybody are necessarily badpeople, but if you want to live

(23:20):
a life of homeostasis, you staywith the friends that you're
with right now because theythat's where you will be.
You will be where you in 10years you'll be exactly where
you are now, maybe with a littlebit of incremental growth.
But if you want to go to thenext level, you have to really
give a strong internal audit toyourself and your own behaviors,
as well as the behaviors of thepeople you associate with.

(23:42):
Because we do think that we onlyhave a small group of people,
and these people are, you knowwhat I've learned?
Yeah, losing friends is itsucks.
It really does.
Well, I mean, and I'm nottalking about I'm talking about
losing uh friends through umthrough uh self-selection.
You know, you choose to kind ofstart a new group of friends, it
does hurt, it really does, butthe reward is amazing.
I I listened to this yesterdaywhile I was in the middle of I

(24:03):
was rucking, and it was uh oneof those stoic podcasts I always
send you, you know, on stoicism.
And it was talking about youdon't it's not like you lose
friends.
He said this the author wastalking, you you do lose
particular friends, but as soonas you start to uh separate
yourself from certain people,all of there's other people
right there waiting, and they'vebeen waiting for you.
They just didn't know it, andyou've been waiting for them.

(24:25):
And I believe this, and this ispeople say, Well, how do you
know if you have the rightpeople?
It there's a lot of gut to that.
You you can feel when you'rewith somebody or you're talking
with somebody or you're justthinking of somebody, does it
make you feel like a better,stronger person, or do you kind
of feel like a weaker, lesserperson in their presence?
And I but I think if you want tobe more pragmatic about it, you

(24:46):
could say, Okay, let's followthree rules.
Does this person celebrate mysuccesses with me?
Yes or no?
And then do I do the same forthem?
So it's back and forth.
Number two, did this does thisperson support me when I need
support?
And do I support this personwhen they need it?
The third one is the key, Ithink, and it's the most
difficult one.

(25:07):
But does this person challengeme when I'm being an idiot?
And do I challenge them?
So it's support, celebrate,challenge or celebrate, support,
challenge.
CSC is what I call it.
And that when you put peoplethrough that litmus test, you
can kind of and it isn't likeyou have to call people, hey,
you're out of my friend group.
It's not that, it's just amatter of, and maybe there are

(25:28):
some people you have to do thatto, I don't know, but it's a
matter of opening your mind andyour heart to people who will do
those things, those people whoare going to celebrate, support,
and challenge you, and whopeople will call you out because
they love you and they expectmore from you.
When you start associating withthose people, you naturally
don't have the time or theenergy or the resources to

(25:49):
associate with people who don'tprovide that for you, and you
don't provide that for them.
And in all fairness to thatperson you're kind of cutting
out of your life, they needsomebody different than you, you
know, too.
So, um I so so that learningthat you've had, how have you
used that now?
Of okay, I know the importanceof associating with the right

(26:09):
people.
How have you used that so peoplecan go, all right?
Uh now maybe I can try that or aportion of what Anthony does.

SPEAKER_02 (26:18):
How have I used that?

SPEAKER_01 (26:19):
Yeah, like how have you been able to kind of upgrade
your associations?

SPEAKER_02 (26:25):
That's a good question.
I have to honor that one, Brian.

SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
You gonna get back with us?
Yeah.
Well, one of the things I didlast year, or well, it'll be two
years now.
No, it'd be well, maybe it was,I don't know it was either a
year ago or two years.
I made a commitment.
It was probably when I not longafter I started the podcast, so
maybe it was even three yearsago now.
I made a commitment to myself,um, um um not subjectly, we call

(26:51):
it um um objectively, I guess.
Uh consciously is the word I'mlooking for consciously, that I
said, I'm going to upgrade, I'mgonna begin to surround myself
with really high quality people.
And and that you know, doing thepodcast helps because you get to
you get to meet a lot of people.
And um, that was probably theimpetus to it when I look back

(27:12):
on it two, three, four yearsago, whatever it was.
And I look at now, and what isit, October 25th, 2025.
Things have dramatically changedfor me in that respect.
Like I get I'm obviously I'mtalking to you right now.
I didn't even know your namefive months ago.
You didn't know my name fivemonths ago.
Um and yet now we have thisgreat relationship.

(27:32):
We get to talk every week.
We're, you know, we challengeeach other, we support each
other, we celebrate together,you know, we can text each
other.
There is such that is the key toeverything.
It's who you who you partnerwith in life, who who you date
or marry, and who you associatewith.
And that is the secret to allsuccess.
That will determine a person'sdirection every single time.
Do you agree?

SPEAKER_02 (27:53):
Yeah, 100%.
I think it's it's just keepingyourself open for something new.
Um, a lot of when we're thinkingabout the the old acquaintances
or friends, we do so out ofcomfort.
You know, you you and I are avidreaders, so I'm thinking about
like the comfort crisis and justa lot of the perils that being
comfortable has to do with life,and I think that associates with

(28:14):
friend circles as well.
So if you always say greatnesshappens when you step outside of
your comfort zone, and I lookback in hindsight, if I said no,
thank you, Ryan, I am going tocontinue sleeping in on a Monday
morning at five o'clock, thanksfor the invite, but I'll pass, I
would have lost thatopportunity.
So it's keeping yourself openand accepting new things into

(28:38):
your life.
And also, too, as you'reintegrating with new
individuals, I always love tohave a deeper understanding of
what are their core values, whatare their motivations, is their
alignment.
And if there's a decentalignment between the value sets
between myself and otherindividuals, that's typically a
recipe for a budding andterrific friendship, similar to

(29:00):
what you and I have, where wewere almost from the jump
talking about our values, what'sour common, um, what's our
common uh denominators, andwe've we're continuing to grow
and it's it's special, it'sgreat.

SPEAKER_01 (29:11):
It really is.
I was talking to a really goodfriend of mine, Gino, out of uh
Denver this morning, rightbefore you and I started
talking.
He reminds me a lot of you.
I'm gonna connect the two ofyou.
Um actually, and I we weretalking about certain how
certain people's behavior isjust shitty.
You know, you have there arepeople and you're like, how do
you I don't get it?
And I told him, I said, I thinkour if you really think about

(29:32):
it, you simplify life.
Our job is to do really, it'svery simple.
It's find your place in thecircle and give it your best.
I think that key is it's thefinding your place in the
circle.
Because if you're in the wrongcircle, your best is going to be
subpar.
But if you're in the rightcircle with people who are like
minded, who want to get better,who want to help other people,

(29:53):
who you know uh are always everyday striving to grow a little
bit, then you're better becauseyour best.
Becomes a lot better and it justraises you and you raise them.
Um the interesting story, Idon't know if you ever heard the
story of um back in the I wouldI would assume this would be the
late 1800s in in Detroit,Michigan.

(30:15):
You know, you had Henry Ford,Harvey Fire, Harvey Firestone,
Thomas Edison, and JohnBurroughs, who was a
world-renowned naturalist at thetime.
It's a crew.
It's a crew.
And there's a picture I alwaysused to, when I used to do talks
on this subject of I used I callit respecting the laws of food
and poison.
And I actually did a podcastlike three years ago on this, on
two or it was a two or threeapart episode or episode podcast

(30:38):
on on this of how you have toseparate food people and
associate with food nourishingpeople, and you have to get rid
of the toxic poisonous people.
And you can't compromise the twobecause if you do, poison always
wins.
If you allow one poisonousperson in your group, they're
gonna poison everybody becausepoison doesn't play fairly.
But anyway, I always had I wouldalways put on the back in the
projector days, you know, I'dalways had this picture

(31:00):
projected, this is 25, 30 yearsago, on the wall of these four
people, Ford Firestone, or uhFirestone, Edison, and
Burroughs, sitting on this kindof water wheel, old wooden water
wheel.
And they these it wasn't a itwasn't a propaganda picture.
It was they used to go out everycouple of weeks, they would go,
they would take uh a cut one ofHenry Ford's cars and they'd go
to the, I think it was like theDearborn Michigan, um, when it

(31:23):
was still farms, they'd go outand have a picnic, the four of
them, and the four of them wouldjust sit and talk.
And one day a reporter came andtook a picture of them.
And uh, it's an iconic picture,man.
It's really cool.
And it made me realize if thatkind of association with these
four world changers, I mean, youlook at Time Life did a study 25
years ago, and the mostinfluential person in the
history of the planet at thattime was Thomas Edison, and

(31:45):
Henry Ford was number 13.
I mean, they're talking guys whoare the best of the best, and
they would go out and associatewith each other, they would
learn from each other, theywould challenge each other, you
know, they would share ideas andthoughts.
And I remember thinking at thattime, if that's good enough for
them, it's sure in the hell goodenough for me.
Hey, okay, you know, so so I I Icouldn't I'm sorry, I don't have
my phone on.

(32:08):
I don't have my phone on.
Do not disturb.
Folks, this is the first time weuh Anthony and I are a little
we're guinea pigging a littlebit today, just to improve the
audio.
This is the first time I've everdone a call through um um a
different source.
So hopefully the audible audiois better.
Next year we're gonna be goingthrough, we're gonna be doing
video podcasting, so the audioshould be will be fixed, but

(32:29):
I've gotten some feedback fromlisteners saying sometimes your
pot your audio is not good onthe guest side, so and I
understand that I don't I won'tlisten to a podcast that has bad
audio, and I know I'mhypocritical.
I throw some of those out theremore often than I should, but
um, I I think this one's prettyclear.
So hey, I want to tell you, Idon't think I I know this is our
second go round today becausefolks we uh we started the
interview process, went aboutseven minutes in, and it just

(32:51):
didn't sound right, so westarted over again.
So I don't know if I've alreadybrought this up or if this is
the first go round, but Anthony,I did finish the book of Five
Rings.
Yes, yes, I give it a three outof five stars.
I think it's good.
It's not for me, it wasn'tgreat.
Um, but I finished it thismorning, and um I think I'll
listen to it on Audible nowbecause I maybe there I've heard

(33:12):
so many great things about thisbook, and I want somebody else
to tell me what they got out ofit, so I want you to read it
soon, um, if you would, Anthony,and uh so we can discuss it.
Because I think I missed a lot,but I think I'll listen to it on
audible and uh and just pick upanything I might have missed.
Because so, folks, the book isBook of the Five Rings by
Miyamoto Musashi, who was asamurai uh warrior, I think 300

(33:33):
and some years ago, uh, youknow, killed like 60 some men in
one-on-one combat, has therecord for it.
I mean, maybe not a great claimto fame, but back then that was
this that was a sign of a hero.
And um, it was just his book,and you can use it not just on
fighting and and uh martialarts, but it's a good there is
some good lessons in there onlife.
I just didn't get what I washoping out of it.

SPEAKER_02 (33:54):
So yeah, I've heard mixed reviews.
I've heard people say it'sterrific.
You have to you have to checkthis out.
I've heard people say don'twaste your time.
So you're kind of middle groundwith the three out of five, but
I will give it a read.
That's actually I think numbernumber three on my my to read
list.
Oh a couple in front.

SPEAKER_01 (34:10):
Okay, good.
I'm I actually am reading, oh itcomes tomorrow in the mail is uh
the miracle morning.
I've been wanting to read thatbook for a while, and I'm again
I I talk to my obviously myself,I and my clients so much on on
how to structure your mornings,but I've never read that book,
and it's pretty, I guess it'spretty good.
But I am when I don't haveanything to read, I I'm I'm
following your advice, yourlead.
I'm reading meditations byMarcus Earlius.

(34:31):
I'm on page, I just read thismorning, I'm on chapter two, so
page like 17.
That's what I'm on right now.
But absolutely I love that.
I I love what his writing.
I just love the trend this book,this specific translation is
amazing.

SPEAKER_02 (34:46):
Yes, it's terrific.
I I pick that up every coupleyears.
Yeah, I always get something newout of it.

SPEAKER_01 (34:51):
Well, that's a good question, too.
Is yeah, I and I started writingdown in my journal yesterday.
Sorry, gotta reach for myjournal here.
Um at the the last page of myjournal, because I'll wrap that
up in December.
I'll be done with this journal.
Like the books to read, readevery single year.
And the first one was The War ofArt by Stephen Pressfield.
That's a book about JonathanLivingston Siegel.
I read that every single year.

(35:12):
I put on here Who Moved MyCheese?

SPEAKER_02 (35:17):
This one's new to this one's new to me.

SPEAKER_01 (35:19):
You've never read that?

unknown (35:20):
No.

SPEAKER_01 (35:20):
Oh, dude, man.
Read that book.
It'll take you 45 minutes.
Oh, you gotta read it.
It's all about change.
Um, yeah, it's uh it was a NewYork Times bestseller for quite
a while, maybe 15, 20, 25 yearsago.
Um, real easy book to read.
The other one is Seven Habits ofHighly Effective People.
Um, the other one I didn't puton here was um The Obstacle is
the Way.

(35:41):
I don't know why I didn't putthat here.

SPEAKER_02 (35:42):
The Obstacle is the way.
I was just gonna say yeah, I wasjust gonna say that that's
that's uh and there's two othersI like to throw out there too.
One is The Alchemist.
That was a great quick read.
And the other one is The FourAgreements.

SPEAKER_01 (35:54):
Oh, yeah, Ruiz.

SPEAKER_02 (35:56):
Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 (35:57):
That's a good book.

SPEAKER_02 (35:58):
I'm just gonna write that Temple but enlightening.

SPEAKER_01 (36:02):
That's a great book.
Another one I'm gonna throw outthere for people to consider is
the um Man's Search for Meaningby Victor Frankel.
Yeah, oh that is HolocaustSurvivor.
Oh that book will reach you.
That'll touch some deep parts ofyour soul.
To put it mildly, yes.
So, right now, when you look atyour life uh October 25th, 2025,

(36:23):
what advantages do you see andbenefits have you noticed
overall, like specific stuff ifyou can, or whatever, regarding
this kind of uh I'll call itupgrade of association with
newer people introducing, beingopen to new ideas and new people
in your life.
What are you seeing and howthat's transforming your life,
Anthony?

SPEAKER_02 (36:41):
Yeah, I a couple that's a good question.
So to trust the process, I thinkthat's that's a big piece of
this here, because uh I'm sure alot of the listeners were you
know busy professionals orwhatever walk of life you're in,
but life comes at you hot andheavy, and some days you're
riding high, some days you'reriding low, but as long as
you're working towards yournorth star and to clearly

(37:01):
identify what that north star isor you know, uh abiding by your
value set, but to trust theprocess, you're gonna you're
gonna strike out, you're gonnahit home runs, but to just keep
grinding and keep your momentumgoing uh every day as best as
you possibly can.
Um in addition to that, I'vereferenced this several times
where we actually just did adeep dive into this, but you're

(37:22):
a direct reflection of the topfive or ten people you surround
yourself with.
And in addition to that, it'sit's okay to be vulnerable.
Um for me throughout my life,having to have this perceived
sense of uh supreme confidenceor um just just not the ability

(37:43):
or to not have the ability toreally express myself, my
emotions, my feelings, thoughts,etc.
to trusted individuals.
That is so freeing when I'm ableto do that, whether it's with my
left, with my wife, with my son,with my friends, with my family,
etc.
But it's just it's a consistentweight off my shoulders.
And then in addition to that,what I've really been working

(38:04):
hard on too um is equal partsmeditation and breath work.
That's another big one, too.
That's how I set the trajectoryfor my day.
So I have a very uh disciplinedmorning and evening routine.
But in the morning time before Icrack the computer or really
just kickstart my day, I amgoing through a specific set of

(38:26):
breath work techniques followedby meditations just to ground
myself.
Uh happy to expand on that moreif you would like.
But that in itself just makesthe day the day flow so much
easier.
I'm just more in my body andmore in my mind.
And things are just, they justhappen.

(38:46):
It's easier.
It's just a it's a great way toset the trajectory or the tone
of the day.
So for those that maybe havebeen, which I have to struggle
with meditation, I'm two minutesin and my mind's going a million
miles a minute, just likeworking a muscle.
You just got to keep keepworking out, keep working out.
I am now to the point to where Iam able to kind of release and

(39:07):
just be one with myself.
And that is it's beautiful whenyou're able to hit that moment.
It's it's I'm just baby steps onthis, but I I am able to see the
light and to start achievingthat.
And breath work too, breathworkhas been absolutely terrific.
Uh, there's many differenttechniques.
Um, I'm gonna throw a name outthere, Wim Hof, that's W-I-M,

(39:30):
first name, last name Hoff,H-O-F.
He's got a very specificbreathwork technique um that is
terrific, absolutely terrific.
And that's helped me a lot withmy stress, my anxiety.
When I'm feeling overwhelmed,I'll just do a couple minutes of
that.
And it's like magic.
You're just kind of back in therespective moment uh with
harmony.
Um, so those are a lot of thedifferent techniques.

SPEAKER_01 (39:51):
I love it.
I I have and I've told this,I've said this many times on the
on the podcast.
I am for some reason, I'm very Iwill I'll call it afraid of of
meditation and breath work forsome reason.
I mean, I do I meditate twice aweek.
Um, I don't like it.
I I don't know why.
Um I have no idea.
I have no idea why itintimidates me.

(40:13):
And so I know because it does,it's something I have to do
because the fear, my fear iscalling me to, you know.
Um, but I'm gonna I I I followWim Hoff on Facebook, you know,
and I see his stuff on YouTube,I follow, but I never really
watch it.
I'll start watching it becausethat guy is he's a specimen.
He's a character.
He's a character.

SPEAKER_02 (40:29):
He's a character.

SPEAKER_01 (40:30):
He does some really weird shit.
I mean, you can't believe thestuff he can do with his body
and his mind.
It's crazy.
He's a specimen.
Um, going back to that though,uh I this idea of association
with people.
Um I remember uh hearing umsomebody said one time, and I I

(40:52):
wrote it down, and it talkedabout the concept of I put it in
the concept of food and poison.
So food being nourishing people,poison being toxic people in
your life.
That you it's a battle that youdon't have a choice whether you
fight or not.
Because if you allow poisonousbehavior and people into your
life, that that poison hasalready determined that you are

(41:14):
going to have to battle it.
You're gonna have to battle itor you're gonna have to or it's
gonna kill you, one of the two.
It's uh and it's ready forbattle.
The choice is whether you chooseto um accept it in your life or
to say no, get the fuck out.
Um and when that happens, uhwhat I found is it's hard to

(41:35):
it's hard to separate frompoisonous, toxic people.
And I don't mean bad people,let's clarify that.
Because um we're all poisonousat times.
That's called situationalpoison.
But some people are are arecharacter-based and they're to
they're like that most of thetime.
They just they're negative,they're gossipy, they bring
people down.
There's actually 10 differentqualifications to help a person

(41:56):
determine whether they or otherpeople are toxic or or
nourishing.
Um but uh when you so they'renot bad people, but they just
might be toxic to you and whatyou're trying to accomplish.
So I think that when you whenyou with a battle is already
made.
If you allow poison into yourlife, it's it's the battle is
there.
You either you succumb to thebattle and you lose, or you

(42:17):
fight and you win.
One of the two.
Because the difference though isthat it's hard when you start
accepting people in your lifewho are toxic, in my opinion,
simply because a toxic poison, agood, like a good nourishing,
honest person, if if life was abattlefield, you would call them
a tank.
And even when they'redisagreeing with you, they're a

(42:37):
tank.
So you see them, you they theycome like you said, Anthony,
they're authentic.
They're whoever they are, like,hey, I'm a tank.
I'm gonna battle you, I'm gonnachallenge you right now.
Um, but that's okay because thenI know how to fight back because
I can see it.
So a disagreement of people whodisagree with me, people who who
want to argue with me or whowant to challenge me, as long as
they're authentic and honest,I'm I respect that.

(42:57):
That's not poison, even if Ijust drastically different
disagree with them.
But a true poisonous persondoesn't fight like a tank, they
fight like a corrosive gas.
And they come in your in yourlife, and sometimes that
corrosive gas has a really goodscent to it.
So it smells flowery, you know,and you, oh, this person's
really awesome.
And pretty soon, just like anycorrosive gas, before you
realize that they've got you,it's too late.

(43:20):
It really is.
Because you think about it thisway is I think that if you look
at our lives, you know, you takecare of your body, you're a guy
who loves to work out, loves totake care of your mind, you
know, you're all about justgrowth, growth, growth on a
consistent basis.
If I were, if you were, if youwere at the apex of your of your
life perfect or uh physicallyright now, perfect health,

(43:41):
perfect health you are, and Ioffered you a thimble full of
poison, just a little shot ofpoison, and you took it, what
would happen?
You die.
Or you get gravely ill.
We know that as it re uh uh asit pertains to the physical
body.
What we forget is it alsopertains to our emotional and
mental and cultural body.
So if you allow one poisonousperson out of a thousand

(44:04):
nourishing people into a group,into your life, they are going
to win eventually.
They'll wear you down becausethey don't fight fair.
They fight like that corrosivegas and they just seek in there
and they kind of weave in andout and they kind of and they
don't do it intentionally 99% ofthe time, but it just happens.
And pretty soon you realize yourbehavior starts to slip, your

(44:24):
thought starts to slip, yourconsistency, you're getting up
later, you're you're drinkingmore, you're doing less positive
things for your body and yourmind, you know, your work is
slipping, your relationshipswith other people are starting
to fall apart.
That's the sign that you havesomething, somebody who's toxic
in your life.
It's a really good sign.
So how many people would yousay, Anthony, you currently have

(44:45):
in your circle of life that youwould say is some they're the
kind of people you'd want toreplicate and have more of?
They these are your nourishingfood style people.

SPEAKER_02 (45:00):
15.

SPEAKER_01 (45:01):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (45:02):
Yep.
And and and and that that's a II shot that direct number out
there because when I think aboutthis community, this
brotherhood, this tribe that I'ma part of, who all have
significant others as well.
So my wife is uh a part of thistribe as well.
But just speaking specificallyto the other men in in this
community, it's it's 15individuals that I know are have

(45:26):
pure intentions um in both ways.
You know, they're looking outfor my best interest, I'm
looking out for their bestinterests.
We're all about growth and andas you said earlier, challenging
me too, which is which I believeis paramount.
Um, you know, I have veryrigorous goals set throughout
the rest of this year here, andI have my accountability team,
thanks in large part to you,Brian.

(45:48):
But um, and and I think that wehave we had chat about this with
your other the other individualsthat you partner with, is that I
had to kind of trim it down alittle bit because my
accountability team was large,and you're like, okay, that's
great, but let's trim that downa little bit.
Um, so I'm extremely blessed tohave a strong amount of
individuals that are uh what Ilike to call illuminators as

(46:09):
opposed to those toxic type ofindividuals because they're all
about pumping the right energyand brightening my light, and
and then vice versa, I'mbrightening their lights.

SPEAKER_01 (46:18):
That's a good number, 15.
I wonder if there is a numberthat is most effective.
I don't know.
I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 (46:24):
I think it's different for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 (46:26):
I think it is too.
And I noticed last week on youraccountability team, you uh you
crushed every one of them.

SPEAKER_02 (46:30):
Yes, it's a great I'm on fire.
I love it.
I'm riding the momentum.
It's not all rainbows andunicorns, but it's trusting that
process, right?
Every day, just having my andthat's another for any listeners
out there that want to take heedto this little nugget, too, is I
have what's called a power listwhere every night before I go to

(46:51):
bed, I'm listing out three tofive things that I know I need
to accomplish in the next day,and therefore my head is less um
or I'm I'm falling asleep a loteasier.
It's just because I don't havethese thoughts racing through on
what do I gotta do?
What do I gotta do?
So I put that in my journal asmy daily power list, and it's
three to five things I know Ineed to accomplish the next day
to win the day.
So those tasks that I've beenputting off or the errand or

(47:14):
whatever it is, but then when Iwake up in the morning, that's
uh one of the first things I dois I take a look at that power
list, I schedule it out, or I doit right out of the gate, the
one thing that I've beenprocrastinating on, and I just
get it done.
Just GSD, get shit done.

SPEAKER_01 (47:28):
Yep.
I like that.
I I don't do that.
I do like I have my three tofive things for the week that I
I put together on Sundays, but Idon't do that for three to five.
And I'm looking for an eveningroutine, so that might be
something I add to my eveningroutine.
Okay, can you talk a little bitabout I know you call it the I
am statements because I the TPIand tell me what that's done for

(47:49):
you because I folks, uh forthose who don't know who newer
listeners or or more recentlisteners, we did a show I I
don't know, two, three years agoon uh developing your true peak
identity, which is an exercise Itake all my clients through and
friends and things like that,and myself, obviously.
And um, Anthony, I know you'vedone it, you've been doing it.
So I just wanted, can you talkon that?

(48:09):
Because I that's something thatI really wish the world would
really grab onto, internalize,and practice on a consistent
basis.

SPEAKER_02 (48:17):
Yeah, I'd love to talk about this.
So uh specifically the I amstatements.
I think I made a comment earlierthat identifying your true north
and having that align with yourcore values.
Well, how to marry those twotogether, you have to have a
deep understanding of yourself.
So, what Brian, what what Brianhad asked me to do was list out

(48:38):
all of the roles that I play inlife, all of them.
And there was many.
I think there were maybe 20plus.
So, you know, father, athlete,uh financial advisor, um uh
husband, husband, yeah, husband.
My wife definitely listenspodcast, so husband, uh shout

(48:58):
out to Katie.
Okay, lay those out, but thentrim it down to the 10 most
important roles that you play inlife, and then walk through a
process of developing I amstatements where it is in the
perfect world with in yourperfect self, who are you hoping

(49:23):
to be in the moment and who areyou hoping to become in the
future?
So I'm a loving, devoted, andrespectful husband to Katie.
We're building a legacytogether, we're changing our
community, the world, etc.
And to get into the practice ofwhat Brian says, what, five or
six times a week to do this,I've been doing it every day and
being very strategic with timingof this, so whether it's the

(49:44):
first thing in the morning orwhether it's before night, etc.
But and I do that every day, andI typically do it in the
mornings.
One of the very first things Ido after my cold shower, I'm in
the sauna and I'm looking at andreading through my I am
statements, but to be activewhen you're doing it, Brian.
I'm sure you can articulate moreon the left side, right side of
the brain.

(50:05):
But what this has allowed me todo is to continue to tap into
who I am as a human being, as aman, as a father, husband, et
cetera, as a friend, and what Iam looking to become.
And there is no question marks,these are direct statements of
this is who I am, that this iswhat I will become, etc.
And that is every day, that'sjust positive reinforcement that

(50:27):
I am a good human being, that Ido have a good value set, that I
have good traits, that I havepure intentions, and to keep
just implementing that,repeating that, repeating that,
because if you continue torepeat it, then you'll believe
it, and then you'll continue tomaneuver through life with
those, uh, with thoseunderstandings.
And I found it interesting too.
There was um, Brent, I think Itold you this, but there was a

(50:50):
couple weeks back where I had avery heavy workload, a lot of
stress, um, big meetings, etc.
I think this was on a Thursday,and I was a stress ball.
Just all those thoughts runningthrough my mind.
And I read the IAM statementsbefore I went to bed and fell
asleep pretty quickly.

(51:11):
And then I woke up the nextmorning and I don't know what it
was, but I was charged up, readyto go.
I don't know if it was a directreflection of the action that I
took the night before withreading through these IM
statements, but I got up, said,I'm built for this, I'm ready,
I'm excited, I'm grateful, let'sgo get it.
And it ended up being just anabsolutely terrific day front to

(51:32):
back.
And that's that tool, that onetool, the I am statements, that
is that is now a cornerstone ofmy life and my day-to-day
activities.
So thank you, Brian, forinstilling that in me.
But it's for the listeners, itis it's paramount, it's
terrific.

SPEAKER_01 (51:48):
Well, it goes back to and it's just you know, they
they talk about manifestationand you know, prayer is a form
of manifestation as well,directly to God.
This is a way I think of TPI,your IM statements are almost a
prayer to your highest self.
You are telling yourself thatyou are amazingly perfect in all
of these areas.
Um, now we all know that that'snot possible and that's not

(52:11):
true, but when you can convince,when your left brain can
convince your right brain oryour your conscious brain can
convince your subconscious brainthat you are this person, you
begin to act like that person.
You act exactly how you feelwhen you wake up in the morning.
If you feel like a loser, you'regoing to act like a loser all
day long.
If you feel like you feelenergetic, I feel like a good,
productive, energetic person,you're gonna act energetic and

(52:33):
productive throughout the day.
And this is a way to, and that'sall happens in your subconscious
brain, your right brain.
So however you feel aboutyourself, you're completely
unaware of for most of the time.
It's gonna determine everythingyou think, feel, say, and do
throughout the day.
So if you can convince overtime, from your left brain to
your right brain, you convincethat right brain that you are
this person, you begin to actthat person.

(52:54):
And it just becomes natural.
And it it's a process, itdoesn't happen overnight, but
it's a process of consistency.
And you know, yeah, you were oneof the people who really engulf
that.
And I'm so I'm glad you wereable to uh you know talk on that
subject for a little bit,Anthony, because and I have had
I told you before I had it justone time.
I I always do mine in themorning.
So mine I do mine while I'mdoing my my ab workout uh

(53:16):
typically, and I did it onetime, I must have forgotten
during the morning or something,and I did it at night and then
didn't think anything of it.
Then I go to bed and I woke upthe next morning and I had this
amazing day, and I I'm like, whydo I feel so different today?
I feel so much more energetic,more positive, more confident.
Well, it was I thought, oh, youknow, I I wonder if because

(53:38):
they'd studies show that if youdo it at night, your brain
processes it while you'resleeping.
And so there's a benefit todoing it in the morning, there's
a benefit to doing it at night.
I typically do mine in themorning because I just have a
lot of energy in the morning.
At night I don't have a lot.
Um, and you want to throw someenergy with it.
Um, but I had that sameexperience just that one time,
and I probably should startdoing it a couple of times a
week in the in the evening justto test it out and get a bigger

(54:00):
sample size.
Um, so folks, go ahead.
I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 (54:04):
I was just gonna say I'd like to see what you're like
with low energy.

SPEAKER_01 (54:07):
Oh yeah, you call me up, you come over around four
o'clock in the afternoon.
I've got no energy, trust me.
I'm I'm on I'm laying in my bed,usually reading or just doing
some scrolling.
Um four o'clock on, I I lose mysteam, and I'm in bed at like
7:30 at night.
I literally am in bed at 7:30.
I mean, my son will be dead, I'mjust going to class, or you

(54:28):
know, he's halfway through hisnight class, and or he's and
last night he said, Yeah, I hecalled me on his way to class at
like two eight class, I'm liketwo to eight or something in a
project in a class.
He said, I said, All right,well, I'll I'll text you like
when I go to bed.
He goes, Yeah, I'll be in themiddle of class, then I'm going
home to lift weights.
I'm like, dude, lifting, I'm inthe middle of my REM sleep by
the time you get home and liftweights.

(54:48):
But so people think you get upearly, like, oh, you're a uh
you're you know, you have asuperhuman ability.
No, you just go to bed early.
Go to be in bed be asleep bynine, you'll be up by five.
It's that simple.
It really is.
But uh yeah, I have I I I have alot of moments of low energy.
But um, anyway, um right now,Anthony, when you look at your
life, what would you consider tobe a win?

SPEAKER_02 (55:13):
I feel like I'm living my win right now.
And uh and here's here's what Imean by that.
It's um it's to have what Inever thought I would have
before.
Um I'm married to the woman ofmy dreams.
I have a loving and respectfulson in Isaac.
I have a the most amazing dogwho's sitting right next to me

(55:34):
snoring away, so I'm boring himto death right now.
But uh a career that I'mextremely passionate about,
where I get to give back to ourclients and and um provide
significant value to to the firmand our clients.
Um just an incredible family setnow, our family strong, uh
terrific friend circle, and goodhealth too.

(55:55):
I'm blessed to be in goodhealth.
These are all things that Inever dreamed of having at a
younger age.
I mean, I this you know itsounds super cliche, but in my
younger years, teens and evenearly 20s, it was the old, you
know, I'm gonna either be deador in prison type of approach,
right?
So I just uh I didn't have thisthis um these visions of

(56:19):
becoming remotely successful,let alone to be at a place that
I'm at today.
So I'm living it each and everymoment, and I I am very, very
committed to cascading thismessage to the masses as well.
So thank you for the platform onthis podcast.
But uh it and also, too, anothermajor win of mine is I've been

(56:42):
blessed throughout my life tohave very particular
individuals, almost likementees, uh, like like talk
about Mr.
Strand earlier, and then earlyin my career, or how I got into
my career with a specificindividual who mentored me.
So I've carried mentorsthroughout my life.
Uh Brian is my coach, etc.
But now the shoe is on uh or theshoe's on the other foot,

(57:06):
meaning that I do a lot ofmentoring for young college
students that are strugglingfinding their way.
They kind of have a want to getinto the financial services
industries, but I do mentor over10 individuals across the
country, and that I love it.
I absolutely love it to justpartner with the younger
generation.
So that to me is a win to seethis blossoming community and to

(57:26):
promote growth uh across manydifferent channels.

SPEAKER_01 (57:29):
I love it.
You're the you're their Mr.
Strand.
I love it.
That's exactly what I I I thinkthe first part of that answer as
you were as you were talking andI was jotting down some ideas
and notes.
I think that's the best answerI've ever gotten on that
question.
I really do.
You know, I I I heard a quotethe other day because you you
you said I'm I'm living it rightnow.

(57:49):
And I think so many of us areliving our dream at the moment.
But you know, talking to Dave uhDick this morning, we were
talking about how our past isour prison and our future is our
is our um is our thief.
You know, we're stuck to ourprison, but the the worry of
good the good or the bad of thefuture steals from our present.

(58:10):
And um I heard this quote, I'mgonna I'm gonna paraphrase it
because it said something to theeffect of yesterday I heard
this.
If you were 95 years old with uh20 million dollars in an in your
bank account, whatever age youare right now, you would give up
all that money to go back to theage in the person you are today.
99.9% of people would trade thatlife of a 95 or 100-year-old

(58:34):
person with a lot of money.
You would say, if you could goback to being 30, 40, 50, 60,
70, or even 80, you would makethat trade every single day
because you realize that thattime, that moment, whatever it
was, was the good old days.
And you had all that time aheadof you.
I love that way to look at life.
I I don't even know where I readthat.
I probably saved it, it wasprobably a meme.

(58:56):
I'm a gutton for memes, man.

SPEAKER_02 (58:59):
I love it.
But you know, it's it's it'sit's kind of interesting, just
real quick.
So there's uh have a uh acalendar with different every
morning.
I wake up, and that's actuallythe very first thing that I do.
It's not the culture hour, butit's I flip a calendar, and
there's typically like a stoicphrase, so like Marcus Aurelius,
um, or whomever.

(59:19):
But uh the one the other day,and it just stuck with me.
This was Aurelius, and it says,When you arise in the morning,
think of what a preciousprivilege it is to be alive, to
breathe, to think, to enjoy, andto love.
And that's something I that'sthat to me, that's what anxiety
is.
It's the what's gonna happen,what could happen, what if it
goes wrong?
What if this, what if this, whatif this?

(59:39):
So that's the thief of joy, youknow, when you're thinking about
the future, but to be lockedinto the moment and enjoy the
successes and the wins and theyou know, the individuals that
you surround yourself with eachand every moment, that is, you
know, just the that's life.
That's the beauty of life, isright now, not back then, not in
the future.

SPEAKER_01 (59:57):
And I I want to quote something that you said
last week.
Or last couple of weeks with mewhen you talked about you know
having these worries of what ifit goes wrong?
What if this happens?
What if that you know, what ifthis fails?
And then you turn it around andsaid, What if it all works out?
Yeah, what if it all works out?
And I just I love thatmentality, man.
That's why I've been sending youall those memes and videos.
I love it.

(01:00:18):
I'm bum, I'm I'm I'm bombardingyour uh text mess, your text
with uh a bunch of what if itall works out quotes.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:24):
Like I said, keep them coming.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:25):
I love it.
Yeah, man, of course I will.
Um I this is my favoritequestion to ask.
Um it's a time machine question.
Now, all the audience probablyknows it already, but if I were
to take my time machine fromMarquette, Michigan to come over
to Minneapolis, boom, and I'mpulling it behind my Jeep, and
you and I were to get in it, youcan go back to any time frame of

(01:00:46):
your life, a younger Anthony,and you sit down on the park
bench and you just talk withhim, words of wisdom, piece of
advice, recipe for success,whatever you would share with
that younger Anthony, what wouldit be?

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:00):
That's a good question.
Time machine question.
I like that.
Um I got a couple.
I got a couple here.
So I um in my younger years, andeven even to a lesser degree
today, but I I've grown, hencethe hence the the question, but
to it's okay to make mistakes.

(01:01:20):
I've always been kind of cutfrom the per perfectionist
perfectionist off on having todo just the the the fear of
failure.
And so I would just warp myselfinto a tizzy about how to do
things perfectly.
And obviously, you know, youshould be in the pursuit of
excellence and to do the verybest that you can, but I would

(01:01:41):
just hammer myself if a mistakewas made and it would paralyze
me to the point that I wasn'table to get out of that that rut
that moment.
And then that's where thetoxicity would come in with a
lot of different things, whetherit was chemicals, friends,
groups, et cetera.
But that it's okay to makemistakes.
And in addition to that, to trynew things.

(01:02:01):
I think a lot of ourconversation today has been
centered around stepping outsideof your comfort zone, allowing
new ideas to come into yourlife, allowing for new friends
to come into your life, etc.
So to really be cognizant oftrying new things and expanding
your horizon, because I I kindof stay in 10 and 2 in my
younger years.
I was it was the comfort crisis.

(01:02:23):
I knew what I knew, so thereforeI stayed in my lane.
Life was passing me by, and if Ican go back in time and change
some things and take on morecalculated risks, I mean, who
knows?
I don't like to play thathindsight game, but you know, to
to challenge yourself to try newthings.
Um, in addition to that, it'snot all about me.

(01:02:45):
Uh, a lot of us are maybeselfish isn't the right word,
maybe it is, but that I was justso engrossed with self, so yeah,
selfish, but um that I I failedto see what a lot of my actions
would were doing to otherindividuals, again, whether that
was friends, family, uh,business, co-workers, etc.

(01:03:07):
So to to um yeah, to to makesure that you are that it's not
all about me.
Um a couple other items here isto never, ever, ever give up.
There were points in my life towhere when I tried something and

(01:03:27):
I did not succeed, I gave up.
And it's taken a long time forme to work that on that grit
muscle.
Grit is one of, if not my top,one of my top values.
It's if you get knocked down,get up again and keep trying and
keep trying, and eventuallyyou'll get it.
So I I many times in my youngeryears, I gave up.

(01:03:48):
And that sucks to say, but it'sit's the fact.
Um and and another piece too isreading.
So I thought reading wasn't coolfor many, many years, and it's
been probably the last decadethat I've just been soaking up
books left and right.
So to the younger generation,that you know, the the the

(01:04:08):
wealth of knowledge is at yourfingertips in the library or
whatever your jam is, Kindle,etc.
But to can to to always begrowing, uh nourishing your mind
with books is another big one.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:20):
I I that last one, I mean, they're all amazing, every
one of those.
So I want everybody to go backto this and I would rewind and
listen to that again.
I would write those thoughts andideas down.
I want to comment on the lastone, um, reading, because that's
one thing that I was talking tosomeone last week about, and I
said to a client, I said, Iwhether it's through coaching or
a friendship or the podcast,every highly successful person I

(01:04:44):
know is busier than uh justabout anybody else in the world.
They're busy, but yet they allread.
Every one of them reads.
If you know, there can be theCEO of a large company, they can
be an entrepreneur, they can bea top salesperson, they can be
an athlete, whatever it is, um,incredibly stay-at-home mom or

(01:05:05):
dad that's busy all the time.
If they are at the top of theirgame, they are you're going to
hear that they read a lot ofbooks, or at least read
consistently.
They might not read 50 books ayear, but they read consistently
and they're selective about whatthey read.
You know, I think there'snothing I liked reading fiction.
I read fiction all the time.
I like horror movies, I lovehistorical fiction, I love
Stephen King novels.

(01:05:26):
And those are good, they're verygood for your brain.
But also pick up books onself-help, leadership,
philosophy, physics.
I don't care.
A book that will stretch you alittle more than just a fiction,
which I think is awesome too.
Um, don't no, I think they'rereally good for the brain.
Um, okay.
Is there any question, Anthony,that I didn't ask that you wish

(01:05:46):
I would have, or is there anyfinal message that you would
like to leave with the bamboopack out there?

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:54):
Um, what is my biggest fear?
Like that one, and the answer isspiders.
No, no, I yeah, I I can't standspiders.
I probably borderlinearachophobic, but my biggest
fear is living a life withoutlove.

(01:06:17):
Um, I I love to love.
It's just it nourishes me and Ilove to I like to get loved and
I love to love as well.
So I mean I love uh family,friends, music, food, books,
just living in the moment.
And it it it scares me to thepoint to where if I get to a
point where I am unable to tohave love in my life, then

(01:06:45):
that's not a life that I want tolive.
And that scares me.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:48):
That's a powerful one.
And I wonder how many people outthere really resonate.
I'm sure a lot of peopleresonate with a spider one too.
Um, but you know how to killtheir fear of spiders?
Kill them with your bare hands.
Every time you'll realize howpowerless they really are,
unless it's something that canbite you, unless it's a venomous
or poisonous spider.
But um, but that last one is alot of people, I think, if you

(01:07:09):
broke down their fear, all theirfears, they probably a lot of
them come down to fear of lackof love.
You know, it's loving, beingloved, understood, respected,
and appreciated are four commonneeds, human needs.
And most of the things we do inlife, we're doing because we
want more of those things.
And love is at the top of thatlist for sure.
That's an interesting because Istarted thinking, you know,

(01:07:32):
about uh when I was rocking Idon't maybe it was last week or
the week before, about the gooseand the golden egg story.
I think you and I talked aboutthis last week.
About how we all love the goldeneggs that the goose lays, you
know, we and you have toidentify what your golden eggs
are because everybody's strivingfor something, but when in the
process of doing that, we don'ttake care of the goose, which
provides the golden eggs.

(01:07:53):
And I dissected my golden eggsto be love, success, um, money,
and respect.
Those are the four things.
And it that came to me again inthe middle of a run.
It wasn't even like I hadthought about that.
I'm like, oh, those that'sclearly my golden eggs.
And it made me really realize amI taking care of the goose?
Because in the story of Aesop'sFable, the farmer ends up, you

(01:08:14):
know, gutting the goose to getmore golden eggs out of the
goose because he's he's greedy,all he wants is the golden eggs,
and he realizes now with thegoose dead, he doesn't get any
more golden eggs.
And I think it's good to dissectwhat your golden eggs are.
What are those things thatyou're so afraid of not having
or not keeping, and you'realways striving for more of.
And in the process, are youdissecting?

(01:08:34):
Are you killing anddisemboweling the golden goose
that provides those things?
Love or and I would thinkeverybody's golden egg would
have love in it.
If you have four or five thingsyou're striving for in life,
love is going to be that one foreveryone.
That's powerful, brother.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08:47):
It is, and I I I take that a step further too.
So uh you asked the qu the lastquestion that you asked was is
there a question that you didn'task me, or or uh maybe a mantra
or something that I live by.
But I I just recommend toanybody listening that ask
yourself what are your top fiveor so core values?

(01:09:08):
Um that's a lot of what we dowith our clients.
I do that with Isaac, family,friends, etc.
But if you don't have if youdon't have a uh a general
understanding of your value set,I would highly encourage that
you do so.
And there's many different waysto do that, but even if you just
do a Google search with uh, Ishould do a Google search called
a values cards exercise.

(01:09:28):
Takes all but you know 20minutes or 30 minutes where it's
able to help you articulate andunderstand what your core values
are, and then tattoo thatsomewhere on a piece of paper,
your computer, read it everyday, etc.
Because again, if you're notliving within the if you're not
living within your your set ofvalues, then that's where you're
open for to be compromised.

(01:09:50):
So have a deep understanding ofyour respective values.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:52):
That's a great one.
I mean, I I mean I mine are partof my TPI, so I read them off
every morning out loud, you knowwhat mine are.
Um and go, I'm just gonna giveit a shout out to Doug Linnick,
the creator of the values cards.
I mean, think to perform DougLinick, he was on the podcast
three and a half years ago.
I'm gonna get him back on hereshortly.
Um, his exercise for coming upwith your top five values is I
think ingenious.

(01:10:13):
So, guys, if you want to go tothinktoperform.com or just put
in Doug Linnick values cards,Google it and do the exercise
and uh come up with and baseyour life on it.
I mean, you know, family, body,mind, spirit, wealth, and
impact.
Well, I have impact and wealthas kind of slash, so it's my
fifth.
I don't want to put a sixth onein there, so I put them
together, the impact I make andthe wealth that comes from it.

(01:10:36):
So family, body, mind, and umfind family, body, mind, spirit,
and wealth slash income impactare my top five.
And you know, when you reallywhen you memorize those and you
put them as part of your I amstatements every day, you do
start to really realize theybecome your northern, they
become your northern star, theybecome your compass in life that
point you north.
And it's a powerful exercise.

(01:10:56):
Um last question.
What is one thing, Anthony, thatyou've done so far today
intentionally that is hard?

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:06):
Oh, one thing intentionally that is hard.
Well, let me run you throughthis morning.
So I don't want to cop out anddo my usual, which is the the
cold shower.
So here's one is that I'mworking a fitness program right
now where I'm half to hit atleast 10,000 steps a day.
And this morning here in theTwin Cities, it's blustery, it's
cold, it was like 25, 25degrees, and it was uh like

(01:11:29):
sleeting this morning.
And uh I did not want to go outthere because I got a pretty
busy day and pretty busy eveningas well.
So I threw on my weighted vest,uh, popped on the headphones,
listened to a good podcast, andI went for about a what was
about 45 minutes to an hour,yeah, 45 minutes to an hour walk
in inclement weather.

(01:11:49):
It was not fun, but I know inorder to win the day I have to
hit that certain metric.
So I was out there uh this isprobably at what 5 30 this
morning, which I love to dobecause everyone else is
sleeping and I'm out thereworking.
So that was uh that wasdifficult, but uh mission
accomplished.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:07):
Oh man, I'm proud of you, brother.
That's hey, do you have an AppleWatch?
I do.
We gotta share each other's, youknow, what do you can how you
can sync with somebody?
I've only done that one time.
Yeah, I did it one time with uha lady I was dating years ago,
and it was really good becauseI'm always like, oh no, she
because her goal was to burn 500active calories.
Mine was a thousand activecalories every day.
And I was always looking atthat, and she was at like 350

(01:12:30):
during the day, and I'd be atlike 700, like, I gotta go do
something.
I gotta get it.
It does challenge you.
Um, I think that's and that's agood one.
I want to point out everybody,you don't have to go for a
45-minute ruck with in incrementincrement inclement weather to
make your hard thing.
It literally can be get down anddo a five-second plank.
Anthony's at a point where hecan do that.

(01:12:51):
He's challenged his body and hismind where that's his hard
thing.
Everybody's hard thing isdifferent.
Don't let mine or Anthony's oranybody else's scare you.
Just do something.
Because Anthony is living proofthat when you start those things
at a small level and continuethat consistency over time, you
one day are talking likeAnthony's talking.
You're living that life whereyou can say, you know, um uh,

(01:13:13):
you know, the uh what was thequestion I asked?
What's a win for you?
And you can say, I'm living itright now.
And that's the ultimate goal inlife.
So, brother, I'm so happy thatyou can honestly say that.
I truly believe you, and a lotof people are striving for that,
brother.

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:26):
Thank you, Brian.
I really appreciate theconversation.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:28):
I appreciate it too.
Um, I'm gonna have you back on.
I know we we just we nicked theiceberg on this one.
We got a lot more to go down.
So we'll have you back on in thenext six months if that's good
with you.

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:38):
I would love it.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:39):
Well, my brother, my friend, I love you, man, and I
thank you for being such anamazing guest on the Bamboo Lab
Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:46):
Awesome.
Thanks, Brian.
Love you too, brother.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:48):
Thank you.
Everyone, thank you for tuningin this week.
We'll tune in, uh we'll see youagain next week, same time, same
place.
Um, I appreciate all of you.
Please hit that like button,smash that like button actually.
Please rate and review us,subscribe, and share us share
this episode with three people.
Just send it off, text it out,email it out, share it, however
you can.
Um, and I'll talk to you soon.
In the meantime, please get outthere and strive to give and be

(01:14:10):
your best.
Show love and respect to othersand back at yourself.
And please, by all means, livewith purpose and intentionality.
I appreciate each and every oneof you listeners right now.

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