Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Being a mom, a business owner, and an athlete, I was so rigid in my perspective, like, they couldn't coexist, and now they can.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: I have a lot of stuff I want to do. I'm not going to be able to get them done if I'm not physically or mentally capable.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Either out of safety, to protect ourselves, or because at one point in our life, it did contribute to so much success. We hold on to things that don't serve us any longer.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: What is it done?
I could do it.
Welcome to Rob Talks for the Superstars tonight. Tonight, in this episode, we discuss 2024, its life changes, personal accomplishments, and, of course, all the amazing people that were along for the ride. Join us.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Well, it's hard to start this episode without starting with the biggest change in our lives in 2024, that being the birth of our daughter, fourth one Moxie Arnold, who is now eight months old.
And I've learned more in these. I'm gonna call it seven to 18 months, because that's from pregnancy through today than I probably have in my entire life, and I truly mean that. So I could parse out so many lessons learned, But I really want to focus on one that I continue to reflect on, but also, I think, wrestle with, like, continually a bit, and that is the concept of identity.
And when we first found out we were pregnant, I was overjoyed. No fear. But as we got closer to Moxie's birth, and I talked to you about this as we got a little closer, there were definitely some fears that were. That were popping up for me. And obviously, if anybody's going through a big life transformation, you're going to be a little fearful. It's just the unknowns. But it was so much more than that for me. And I was really struggling with my identity in, like, who I was about to become and it being so far from what was familiar to me.
And as someone who has bootstrapped their business eight years ago, you know, built a multimillion dollar business, and then prior to that, played Division 1 soccer. My entire identity has been tied to being driven, ambitious, relentless pursuit. All of those words, right? Type a person.
And then I was faced with this reality of, like, I'm about to step into a role or a life position that could potentially be in direct conflict with all of those things.
And that was, like, more than an identity. I leaned into it so hard, and I attributed any success I had in life to that identity. So that's where like, that fear was, was popping up for me.
And despite. As pregnancy continued, despite Having a very good pregnancy and not, not from the outside looking in, I think missing a beat. As I was getting deeper, my body was changing and my energy stores were changing and I was questioning like, am I going to be able to lead my business from the front? Am I dropping any balls? I could no longer like I wasn't physically as fit and powerful. So then I started questioning like my discipline. And so it was like all of these questions about who I was. And to put it bluntly, I thought my identity was like slippery slipping through my fingers and that's where I was and that was so unfamiliar and scary to me.
So fast forward to where we are now. And although I think those fears were really justified in the moment, I also know that now they are so irrational, illogical, maybe even immature. Just didn't know. What I didn't know and what I did confirm is I no longer have that former identity that I had. And while it's not completely different, I've shed a lot of that identity and I've also built upon it and it's evolved so much and I'm actually become someone who I'm much prouder of than I was then.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Right. Well, I want to interject here before because I just don't want to go on before we get on that. I think, you know, the two things that you mentioned, building a business and being an athlete, flip the, you know, the chronology around it. But being an athlete, athlete, building a business, there's so much of that that is embedded in self. And yes, you play on a team and yes, you want to be financially successful for the people that work with you and, or for you and you want to be able to give back to your family all the things that are very important to you. But if you strip it down, those are both very self generated and one could even put the extra piece of selfish on it. And it doesn't mean mean, but you know, if you're making choice about self, then it is just selfish by, by definition. And, and I, and I'll tell you where I was or you know, my observations of you through the process wasn't that, I mean a lot of that was very internal that you finally shared with me along the way where I was even floored at some of it. It just never occurred to me. I don't know, maybe you've just been so adaptable to so many things. I was just over there assuming that you were just adapting real time. Like, look at that, she's just going to adapt again. That's exactly who she is and exactly how she shows up. But I think that departure from control, which you didn't actually learn how little control you had until after she was born. Exactly. But I imagine you felt like that was slipping on the way. Oh yeah. But, but that, that transition out of self and into selfless and on and then act huge fear of the unknown. I had a little bit less than that. Obviously having had daughters along the way, probably I, I would err on the side of too casual. Right. Like don't stick the knife in the electrical socket and, and try not to eat batteries. Like that's where my. I would be. So that was, that's what I was watching go on. And I was just assumed that you were over there adapting real time. Meanwhile you were really struggling in spots. I think is a fair word.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: I think. Yeah, I think I did adapt pretty well. I mean just total 180. But yeah, those, those fears were really real. And what I really want to focus on is the lesson, like the lesson retrospectively now. And a couple of things that I didn't realize then that I now know is that being a mom, a business owner and an athlete can all coexist. I was so rigid in my perspective. Like I am a business owner and I am an athlete and that like they couldn't coexist and now they can, they can. And I've really just built layers upon like my former identity. That's how I like to look at it. It was almost like a rebirth of that identity and having moxie, like it didn't take away anything it added to. I still have all very similar ambitions and inspirations and motivations. But a couple of the differences are there's so much more meaning behind them. There's so much more intention behind them. The level of prioritization is so much clearer.
I can look at everything I've taken away from being a mom and I can look at, write down the list. Patience, flexibility, selflessness, empathy, and like this. So I feel so much more of like this feminine energy that I just never leaned into before. And all of these things like have added to who I am as a person. And I just feel like so proud, like a much more well rounded person.
And that's just not something that I, I saw coming. And like such a big lesson learned on the other side. And it's super relevant because I was listening to Rick Rolls podcast and he had Mark Manson on who wrote the book. Subtle. What is it? The subtle art of not giving a fuck. And he got into talking about identity, flexibility, and that for me was like, wait, that's even a, that's even a thing? Like people are flexible in their identity.
I knew as I was listening to it that I was so rigid that the concept of even like having a flexible identity is so flexible to me. I mean, foreign to me. I was thinking that's what I would love moving forward, is to adapt more of that. I don't know why I was gripping so tightly onto that identity. I have. It was for nothing in my, I was forced. It was like an almost a forced change in my identity. But it has been incredible. I also feel like it's, it's taken a lot of pressure off of me also. And I'm building something that's better than it was. And this idea of your identity is not static even when you want to believe it is. It's not going to change and it should evolve and it's okay. And you can loosen those grips a little bit and still hold onto your core. And what you know, you're still gonna have things you always identify with, but then you're gonna have like different layers as you go. And that's been one of the most meaningful lessons learned in this entire experience that I only hope to continue to build off of. And it's like this narrative that I wanna share with everyone because I know there are a lot of people going through crossroads and they're unsure of how life's changes are gonna shape them. And, and in the end, like you might, you will probably come out as someone better than where you started. So that is like my biggest lesson learned.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Yeah. And listen, I think it's not unreasonable if, you know, if you were clinging on to those two things. Look at, look at the absolute, you know, lifelong demonstration of success that you had with those. It wasn't accidental. They really, really worked. So the idea that you would depart from those is not that foreign. Right. They would be, oh my gosh, I have to. I possibly leave or even abandon these two things. What is going to happen to me? Because this is exactly what I know. Maybe not all, you know, but in spots it is.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: I mean, there's a huge comfort level with that. We're like, oh my gosh, that's terrifying. What happens to me if I, if there's any departure from these two time tested identities, you know, to these massive parts of your identity that are so time tested and so successful. So that makes sense.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: Yeah. And I really think I hit on exactly what I wanted to say there. And there are so. But there are so Many things to add on around that. And I think, like, I'm not sure if abandoned is the right word. Like, there are so many things I'm still doing. But for instance, if I'm. If I'm chasing a goal, it might be like I'm chasing a different way, perhaps because my life is so different.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Well, you know, now that you didn't have to abandon. I think in the moments up to it, it might have felt like you were. You were going to be abandoning it, but you didn't have to. You learn to meld it all together such that one plus one plus one equaled ten.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: And the other thing, too, I will add on to this huge lesson learned in this identity concept is that I think we hold on to either out of safety, to protect ourselves, or because at one point in our life it did contribute to so much success. We hold onto things that don't serve us any longer. And I mean, obviously the same things are not gonna serve us through every chapter of our life, but we hold onto them. And. And there's a saying that Tim Ferriss always says, and I wish I meant to write it down, and I didn't, but it's something along the lines of, like, how are we complicit to the things we say we don't want? Or something like that. And it's so true. Like, you know, we talk about these things we want to change in our life, but then it's basically doing. Holding onto actions and behaviors that are not in line with trying to change that particular thing. That's. And I think that's exactly what we hold on to, these things that don't serve us. So I AM Going into 2025, I think, with such a bigger lens and perspective on this, and I, I will continue to remind myself that, like, it's okay to have aesthetic identity. You don't want to be a meba. Someone that just changes based on who you're with. But hold on to the things that serve you. Get rid of the rest and recognize, like, you're going to build on new identities. And that's a good thing.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Right? I think. And as long as you are aware of not. You can't. I don't think you can be aware of authenticity. Like, that's one of those words where you are or you aren't. Right? You don't get to. To create authenticity. You show up that way. And other people. I think authenticity is something that other people give you. You don't get to claim yourself authentic. Other people have to give you the term authentic or authenticity. So when you were telling that I had, like, chameleon, you said amoeba. I'm think I got chameleon shooting through my head. We all know those people that' and, and. But in every situation, if you make a face when you say that, it's because there's total lack or absence of authenticity when you do it that way. Mine's easy too. It's. And I'll just build on to. My lessons learned were very different than yours, I imagine, as we say a lot. You know, we. We're. We're heading towards the same spot almost always, but we get there in different ways. So my biggest one was that some of these are gonna be tough.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Yeah, that's good.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: We're going to a different one. Just kidding. No, no. Just mine is that I could do it.
You don't come at it.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Okay.
And you talked about this to me recently. You mentioned it. You never as. As I was telling you how I was feeling through pregnancy. You never explained any of these feelings you're about to talk about to me. And maybe you didn't have them or maybe you did, I don't know. But they were never. It's something we never talked about until recently. And I told you that I think this was only like a few weeks ago. I said to you, and you mentioned it in passing. It wasn't like a conversation. I said to you. You have never once even mentioned that. Nor did I question your capability of having the energy. You know, if you're looking at your age, you're older first for someone to have, like, a child. And I'm sure you questioned your. Your energy. I don't want to speak for you, but trying to fill the gap in here. And it's something I never thought about or ever question or ever knew you were questioning.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that's, you know, you were going down the road where I was as shocked as you were about identity in that part. I. I was. And I was fine all the way through. Right. I mean, but what was I doing? I was watching you grow a child and generally living my own life. And. And I was able to continue being selfish much longer than you were, just by virtue of not having. Right, right.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: I know what you mean.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: I didn't make some changes. Sure, sure.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: I know what you mean.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: And my support was different of you and I. And I certainly would. But I was not doing the lion's share of the work in those nine months. I mean, I was going to some appointments and doing what you know, expecting fathers do, but certainly right up towards the end, there was some moments that I had, was like, holy shit, can I, can I actually do this?
[00:15:32] Speaker A: And you mean physically?
[00:15:33] Speaker B: No, no, I don't, I don't know if it was exclusively physical. It hadn't really gotten real. You say, well, how did you not know, Mick, you have, you know, three daughters. You went through the process. It was quite some time ago. So I certainly had some poor memory, maybe even selective memory in spots. I also was very busy building a business at that time. So there were certain experiences I just missed. You know, I mean, certainly I was there when they were born, but fast forward, it became more demanding, you know, Brooke, I was there and doing whatever, maybe grace a little less, maybe live a little less, depending on the trajectory of what was going on around here. So some of that I, I had forgotten. But definitely some moments, you know, as we were approaching May 7, where I was like, holy hell, like, she's really coming. But I don't, I don't think the, the physical side, do I? Are there times that I feel tired? Sure, but that's.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: That.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's not new. I mean, there's just a different demand because in, you know, in making sure that available for mocks, I've parked or, or not done other things, right? I've conserved energy elsewhere by stopping certain practices, things that were, I don't know, unnecessary. I say frivolous only because I don't have that disposable time anymore. So that would seem frivolous by today's standards, right? Spending your time doing something like that, the luxury is not there to do it because there's other demands. But that was something that, that hit me hard. But, but at the same time, a lot of the things that I struggled with when, you know, Brooke and Grayson live were little, were not an issue to me at all. You know, the, the fear, you know, the carrying this little thing around. I mean, some of the things that I imagine you experienced as, as a first time were not an issue. I wasn't kidding when I said, you know, don't, don't stick the knife in the electrical socket. I, I somewhat mean that, you know, in that I, I had, I had an understanding of how durable humans are, especially little humans. I mean, they're, they're obviously you're not. They hurt, they are breakable, but not nearly to the level I thought before I had any children along the way. And it's definitely changed or it's had me more comfortable. Not cavalier But. But bumping up against Cavalier in spots, she'll be fine, you know, and that's versus over responding in spots versus she'll be fine. So. So that was one of the biggest things for me was to, you know, to. To. To pull that suit back on of newborn fatherhood. And it had a different and a unique feel versus my first time around.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: Would you say that the wisdom and experience you had from the three girls was almost over able to compensate or. I don't know what the right word is, Combat your fears over here of maybe not having the same energy or what you had when you were 30 and having the child. Like, was that able to almost like, counteract that? No.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: I think to me, what I say a lot, just as you get older and you have more life experiences, is that I see the angles a lot better. But I think maybe in those early moments I was concerned, did I lose a step? You know, was I still going to be able to make the tackle despite seeing the angles? Because I had lost a step.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: And I think that's the lesson.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Part of the. That was part of the. The fear for me is, did I lose the step? Because, you know, I remember. If you've heard talk on this a lot on our podcast, my dad was 50 years older than I was. And I just remember, you know, after I. After I learned how much older he was than me, I was like, how did he do that?
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, hold on.
I'm not going to speak for you.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: No, I was like, h. How did he do that? And I think that might have something that. That hit me along the way, where here I am, we're going into delivering mocks, and I'm 53 years old. I was like, holy. I was like, how did my dad do this? I've got three years more on him. How am I going to do this? So I think that was part of the, you know, maybe fear, consternation, whatever word you want to pick that, that hit me along the way is like, how am I going to be able to still make the tackle even if I see the. The angles?
[00:19:47] Speaker A: If I lose a step, are your fears allayed?
[00:19:52] Speaker B: Yes. But I will tell you that, for example, I had gotten off of the fitness level that I was for a period of time. You know, I had some. Some injuries along the way when I was younger. Blew an Achilles, tore up a shoulder, and I got committed to getting fit because the doctor said, hey, man, you know, if you want to be. Hang out with your kids and. And do anything useful, stop being such a Fat is. It's basically said, thank you, Dr. Brown.
And I did and I took that. But I got away from that in spots. You know, I mean, going through ebbs and flows, that was something that I had to recommit myself to. To say, well, you know, not losing a step is an accidental. You have to do the work to not lose the step. To have the endurance to, you know, do whatever that is. To be able to, you know, sling a kid around that starts at 6 pounds and is now 21 pounds. Like there's physical demands when you live in a house that has four flights of steps. You know, there's a physical demands that, that you have to pay attention to. So being more intentional, I think the intentionality around just doing exactly the way I would do anything else to say, well, wait a minute, what does right look like and what is the commitments that's necessary to get there? So for me, it was the opposite. When I was younger, I wasn't worried about losing the step because I had youth on my side. In this case, I wasn't worried about seeing the angles. I was worried about losing the step. And that's the investment that I had to make to take care of mox.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And a great message, I think, is you worry about parenthood or being a new mom or being a dad, being in conflict with your other things over here, whether it's business, your other personal goals. But so much of that can be used as fuel or motivation or inspiration to become a better version like you're talking about now. You're getting fit again and moxie has been a big drive of that. So it's utilizing that. Like how are you going to utilize. Are you going to use that as a source of motivation or something that is going to. Or as a limitation? Yeah, that same motivation versus limitation.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: Yeah, that same inspiration that you talked about is you got yours through running and whatever. I got mine through just simply being stronger.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I love it. Thank you for sharing that.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: Okay, moving on.
Let's get into business.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: I wish I had more Hershey's Kisses over here. I'm not gonna lie.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: As you're talking about getting f.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: It's not exactly a temple, folks.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: You want. Let's. Let's have you kick off business.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So tough. Tough 24, to be honest. And, and from a, a people perspective.
The whole world's about people. Business is about people. Personal is about people. It's in the word.
We had some, some, some turnover and I lost two of my five direct reports in 2024. And the takeaway for me was that everyone is replaceable. And I. And I don't mean that in a mean way. I mean that there are times when someone that's a very trusted in your organization or in your life, this doesn't have to just be a business event, but someone is leaving your life in some fashion. For me, this is a business comment, but let's say your best friend moves across the country and. And not nearly as stressful as it is in the past without tools like FaceTime and whatever, but I lost two of my five directs, and in the moment, it almost feels. It. It feels dire, it feels personal.
In. In spots, yes. Because as invested in those relationships as you are, despite you coming together under the work umbrella, they're. They become personal. I mean, those relationships are definitely personal. And it almost feels insurmountable. I think that's one of the words where it's like, oh, my gosh. You know, in those moments, you know, if someone, if someone below you in the organizational chart leaves, then you have responsibility for their job getting done. And the higher up the organizational chart you go, the more difficult it is when someone leaves. So it felt insurmountable at times. But in retrospect, you know, I followed a process, you know, I wrote some notes about, you know, that you have to be prepared ahead of time. You know, you don't want to start understanding how to overcome a situation like that. And by the way, in every situation, I wished my directs that were going on to different opportunities. All the best in the world. I mean, I want the best for them. And simultaneously I'm going, well, boy, this is going to suck for us for the foreseeable future until we get through this. So. But like everything we talk about here, I had a good process to follow, fall back on.
I immediately went to my trusted advisors as part of the process. And then understanding too, that you just have to have a network and an ecosphere that you're constantly investing in and building out where. When these opportunities came alive and I started to make the world aware of them, the response from my ecosphere was significant. It was, let me think of who I know I want to come and join the company. It was anything you can think of. Rob, our CFO who joined, said, I was in your old building seven years ago, and I was super intrigued by what you were doing. So when this popped up, I had to answer. And part of that is just putting out, you know, great vibes and energy into that ecosphere and investing in your network because you Truly can't do it by yourself. And while it's pain and it's painful in the short term, as you're getting through the nuts and bolts of running the business, if you do it correctly, you'll look back and the changes that you made or the people that you were able to attract, you're. You're actually better off for it. And the reason is. And here's why, and here's the lesson learned, is that when you do an accounting of what the prior person had been doing and contributing, it gives you an opportunity to say, what did we love about that? What do we think we could have improved on? And then you bundle that together and you go look for the person that has all of that right. I'll say looking for the right horse for the next leg of the race. My hope is the leg is 25 or 30 years. You don't know. You never know. And in today's world, those legs seem to be shorter and shorter based on tenure. But the takeaway is, is that, you know, if you. If you pull it together and it takes some time and there's some agony and it. And. And there's three words, right? There's destabilizing, there's disrupting, and there's distracting. And those are each of the levels. What you're trying to do is keep it from becoming disruptive. I'm sorry, destabilizing is the most dire. And then behind that is. Is disruptive and then distracting. And that. Right, so destabilizing being the worst. You're trying to fight those D words the entire time, where in a perfect world, it would be distracting, it could slip into disruptive. But my goodness, how do we keep this from ever becoming destabilizing? So that idea that, yes, everybody is replaceable, and we've also talked about here, if we're doing our jobs, we should be making ourselves replaceable as fast as humanly possible so that. That at any moment, if we had to go away for a month, what would happen? What would it look like? And if the answer isn't the place would go on as if. On as if unknown, then you have work to do. Maybe a lot, maybe a little, but everyone is replaceable. And, and really, it's about how you show up to that challenge. When someone that. That's a trusted advisor, part of your team, something you have a personal relationship with, has decided that they're going to move on.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: Love it. Great lesson. Tough lesson. Great lesson.
And I think we were. We were talking about this yesterday as we Were collaborating on building out this.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: Snorting in the microphone today.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: I know as we were talking. Sniffles as we were talking about building out this episode and you said you weren't going to look at this, you were rephrasing the challenges as. What did you call them? Opportunities for growth or.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Yes, yes, I had. I think I had. I had. Favorable was my one. Right. So what were some favorable things that had happened and. And yeah, trying to keep the positive spin on it because that's. It's important. I mean, one of our values is positivity and it can carry you through some pretty tough spots where you just refuse to get stuck in the shitty quagmire and you just pound through it.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: I will say not to pet ourselves on the back, but I think that is something you and I, it's a natural inclination for us to almost immediately, it might be a day that we're like, holy shit, what just happened? We're sad, we're angry, we're all these things. We flip that switch pretty and find the positive, like I think. And maybe we feed off of each other, but I do. And then, and then all of a sudden we get excited at the opportunity of like, what's ahead?
[00:28:37] Speaker B: Well, I learned at a young age this. It was keep personal pity parties to a minimum. That's a great lesson.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. On. On our side, Tigler Construction and Supply.
It was an interesting year for us in that.
For so long as a younger company. We turned 8 years old this year in August and. Or no, September. Excuse me. And for so long since we are a younger company, you know, we are. We're growing at lightning speed in every way, in every facet. And this was the first year I felt like we were.
Had reached some stabilization like I didn't feel in years past. It was like, let's just run, run, run, run as fast as we can. Wheels spinning with. We had some guardrails, but not like a ton. This year I felt like we actually established some more of those guardrails. Things were a little bit more, dare I say, calm and consistent. We had refined our processes a little bit.
One of the things I'm most proud of is I think we have a team now that's going to be here for a while that is very solid, that we can really build an incredible foundation. Like I. This year was a year of developing a very strong, solid team.
But we were. It was more about for me, like, stabilization. And while we did grow from a profit standpoint for sure, I felt we were in a different position it wasn't like we were this young underdog, despite being still young, where we had, we were bullied into, like, everything. It's like, oh, the GC tells us we've got to do this. Well, we're just gonna do that. I felt like we grew some confidence. Now we're a little bit more mature. We were showing up differently. Like, we would be given. Put in positions where we would push back and we would say, like, no, we deserve more than that on this contract or no, we're simply not going to do that. You don't like it? Okay, then we're not, we're not for you.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Right. Or one. You mentioned to me a lot, I believe along the way is I'm not comfortable with that term and condition. You know, one of these stacks of papers that you get as that's contractual or whatever.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: Is pushing back in spots.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Absolutely. Like redlining. And you don't like that. And like, you, you can't negotiate with us, then we're just not going to do the job. And it's just, we had some more leverage and that just comes with earning it. We've, we've now had some years behind us and we have a team with some experience. Even the new members on our team that came in the last couple of years are coming with loads of experience.
So we've just reached like, instead of being in this, like, rookie, very green stage. We haven't, I wouldn't say we've crossed over to like, very mature and experienced.
[00:31:22] Speaker B: You're not a wise old, wise old sage quite yet.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: No. But, you know, we're, we're finding some stabilization. We're finding our way and we're finding some maturity and confidence. And that was just a completely new feel for, for me. And I think everybody on my team would agree with that.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Is the word traction working there?
[00:31:40] Speaker A: I think it is. I think it is traction. And then like, personally couldn't have come at a better time in my life as I'm having a child and, and I need to have some of that. And I, because I'm, and I was able to delegate. More and more people on my team are taking ownership and incapable of owning bigger things that impact the business more.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Dramatically and delivering great outcomes.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: And delivering great outcomes. And I'm less on my end. So I, I, I love it. And it's almost like it's just a little bit more of peace of mind. And I can confirm that in, because in the early days, I mean, I did, I don't really feel like I missed A beat as far as work is concerned with having, you know, moxie. But what I proved to myself is I didn't necessarily need to grind out and put like these. Some of these hours in that were just so necessary. I was able to stay on target despite in the beginning at least I think we're back to our old schedule. Ish. But despite in the beginning not having as many hours simply because she had so many demands, still being able to get everything done and be as. Just as productive and efficient. Which I think just confirms everything I'm saying right here.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: I totally agree. Yeah, I'm going to keep. And we're not trying to bat this back in personal and business, but I'd like to just continue to build out. I'd mentioned as. As far as having the, having the. The speed.
Big lesson learned too as part of re engaging in the fitness side which there was a time you and I were obviously not together then, but there was a time when I was working out with this group and doing these boot camp workouts and, and literally running through the streets of Baltimore City at 6:00 in the morning and doing box jumps on, on park benches and just crazy. You know, doing push ups on broken glass and syringes. Things like. Because Baltimore. But. And I had let that level that was probably even a little insane. I mean I was definitely going through a tough part of my life and put all of it into that. You know, there. That was an outlet that I, that I needed. But I then I went completely back the other way in and again, not, not at one point I weighed 252 pounds along the way and that was completely unacceptable.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Like just a bunch of perspective. 60 more pounds.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: 60 pounds more than I weigh right now. That's right. That was, you know, in my. I just completely quit. You know, I was, I was, I was playing a lot of golf and, and, and just to set the stage a little bit here and drinking, you know, 36 beers on a good Saturday. Every hole that I played there was a beer involved. So I played 36 holes. There's probably a case of beer tied to it. I think Bud Light probably took big hit when I stopped all that but. But through some injuries again got it back in and, and the biggest takeaway again was just really recommitting to the, the physical side. You know, the, the physical performance. We don't, you know, tend to stay away from the word fitness but in performance instead. And there's just such great benefits when you commit to the physical side. You say well Mick, all you do is think and work. How would there be mental benefits that I would consider myself a mental performance beast? Like, if that's arrogant, I'm sorry, but that's how I go at it. And that's where I put the vast majority of my time and effort. We said, well, what, what would be left or what stones would be left unturned there for you because you focus. So it. I'm telling you, and I listen to you talk a lot about this. Some of that time away or the number of times I will pause a workout for a second to go send myself a text about an idea that I had. You know, I have this, I put in the subject line to do and then I send it to myself and there's three or four by the time I re. Engage in my inbox. And anytime I can sort by subject on to do and I can go back and make sure I got all of those. But that the, you know, the freeing nature. And again, while I'm working out, my brain is drawn back to the ideas. I mean, the ideation for me that happens when I'm, when I'm doing that type of, of activity or committed back to that has been huge. And then before we just get to the idea of just living longer, you know, I mean, I have a lot of stuff I want to do and I'm not going to be able to get them done if I'm not physically or mentally capable. And I didn't. I don't know that I laid the best building blocks for that in my 20s and 30s. So I have some catching up to do. And you can. And can. And that's right. And, and you can. You absolutely can. So it's going to take a little, it may take a little more effort to undo some of that stuff, but it's there and it's never too late to start and it, and it all counts. So that was the other big thing is I needed to do it. I was concerned I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted to do. But then as I got into, it's like, wait a minute. This isn't just about being able to. It's not about being able to do just enough. I can do whatever I want regardless of the year in which I was born.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: This is really interesting because I remember and maybe this could have been, you tell me, a defense mechanism because you weren't doing it. But I kept telling you because you would be like, well, you're spending, I would say, gosh, not enough time to work. But I would still dedicate 90 minutes to working out. And I said, but what you have to understand is even though that's time away from work, my creativity spikes and I'm so much more productive in work. My output is so much greater. You would always. You kept pushing back, pushing back, pushing back on me with that. And I think you're realizing that now that you've added the workout I did.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: I mean, some of that pushback was just in situations, like for me, if in. I would skip a workout and, and not risks, not something getting done or being squeezed where. I mean, that is holy grail. It's definitely more holy grail for you than, than me. I'd be like, ah, you know, I was planning on working out today, but I have to get this thing out. And I, and I would miss. That's. I think our. I don't know that my dedication level will ever be to yours, but I am trying to get into it four days or five days a week. I mean, four I've hit since I started very consistently, even sneak in a fifth. But I do. One thing I do recognize is I do need to let my machine recover. The, the older machines need a little bit more recovery and definitely more oil, but more oil.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: As you said, like, without the health, you have nothing else. That's right. You literally have nothing.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: It's. It's all, it's all worthless.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: It's really meaningless, which is, we all know that. But you got to put that into action.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I look, you know, I obviously, you know, the pharmaceutical world is doing. I just look at and, and some notes I made here, like, do the work. We talk about doing the work all the time. And science is just going to give us opportunities to not do the work. And that part for me, I think is terrifying for us as, as a, as a, as a, as a population. As a species. That's the right word. As a species. GLP wants. Why would I do the work when I can take a shot, right?
I look at wegovy, I look at Ozempic, I look at any of those that I sit on CNBC all day, every day watching this, this family of GLP1s make people lazier. And it's like, well, a side effect is all of your muscle tone goes away. So you're going to be a what, a skinny blob? I mean, is that a smaller, weak blob?
I don't know that that part pisses me off because it's going to be more about not doing the work. And, and I don't know. I'll stop that.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Well, no doctor pisses me off though. As a segue to that. In Chris Williamson's podcast Modern wisdom in his 2024 wrap up, I think one of the things he focused on was Ozempic and all these jailp. And there was a study done and it talked about the focus was who is most irritated, frustrated by Ozempic. And it was the people. It was very fit people. And because everybody that's fit like that has the mindset like we'll just do the work and it's going to take away from like, are the advantages that we've built from doing the work.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Right.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: So it's, it's people like yourself who are putting in the work that are most.
[00:39:33] Speaker B: Right. Annoying, are pissed about the short circuit of the work. And it's, and I'm not trying to be, you know, callous or have no empathy whatsoever. I think there's some people that benefit from the kickstart. You know, it's hard to get started if you get too far down a certain path of lack of health. I think that, you know, there's some, some. But at some point you've got, yeah, you've got, you've gotta, you've got to throw the crutches aside and start to walk and run on your own.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: I like it from a kickstart perspective as well.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: I think that's fair.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: I'm gonna stay along this same trajectory and get into something we've talked about a lot on here, but it's the, the ultra marathon because that, that was a big event for me and this year because it's, it's, it's a goal I've had for a long time and just to finally realize that, and the reason I want to talk about it too, is just because there were so many lessons derived from that when I actually had time to think about it. And I have four or five that I want to run through and a couple I think you and I can get into just a little bit deeper, run through a couple just quickly and I might read word for word a couple of them. So one says I spent a lot of time navigating the pain cave. The pain cave tested every ounce of my mental and physical boundaries. But I learned to get comfortable in the exploration. I think Courtney Dewalter, the one of the greatest ultramarathon runners, actually coined that, that pain cave. And I wrote, if you conquer the pain cave, you will change your life. And in ultramarathon training, to be good at it, you need to get comfortable being in that pain cave. So I won't get into it any further, but that was like an incredible lesson learned. And I know a couple people said they never want to enter the pain cave, but I think it's, I think it's important to enter that discomfort in your life if you want to achieve things that are extraordinary. Agree 2 setting a seemingly unfathomable goal, sticking to the plan and seeing it through to the finish line is the most powerful thing you can do for yourself. The motivation and confidence carry over are real. This goes back into what we have been laser focused on for a long time. And it's the consistency, consistency and commitment to consistency. The boring, mundane work, the mundanity of excellence.
Every day, every single day that I live another day on this earth that is re and reconfirmed. Like there is nothing as powerful as just being consistently good and showing up no matter the circumstances, every single day. And there will be nothing that will be that can compete with that in your life. And that every day I learn that with running I just need to show up one foot in front of the other. It's not about the contrast therapy or the nutrition or the new training program or the new gear, all of which could supplement the running. It is about doing the thing right.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: Or it could also be viewed as a shortcut. Yeah, you still got to do the work right?
[00:42:26] Speaker A: I mean, and it's just showing up every day that's the success. Formula third one. The beauty was in the training, not the final outcome. It was about laying the bricks every day, working through the challenges and watching the foundation build. I built an endurance house I was really proud of and that's what lasts. And it's cheesy, but it's same, the same that saying we hear all the time, like enjoy the journey and not the final destination. This year I can actually say that I have truly taking the time to relish in the journey and relish in and be present in the moment. And I can say that with moxie, I don't take a single moment for granted. I really don't. And with running, I took the time to say like, hey, I couldn't run three miles outside after pregnancy. And when I ran those three miles, I was, I took some time to recognize that. And I kept reminding myself, even if I don't finish that 32 mile race because at the time I wasn't sure. I was like, look at all these milestones I reached along the way. And I was reminding myself that so it just encourages me to continue to set these big goals because truly if you're committed to achieving them, you will better yourself, you will progress, you will hit so many of these small milestones, even if you don't achieve that big one, you will become better. So that journey really is what builds us as people.
Huge, huge lesson just confirmed me. A lot of this is just like what I already already knew, but just like confirming it, solidifying it in my mind.
Next one. The human mind and body are unbelievably resilient. I was able to run 32 miles just five months after enduring one of the most physically taxing events a human can experience. That's giving birth, being pregnant for 10 months prior, and racing while being under, slept and under recovered the entire time. The lesson there is your mind will go no, your body will go where your mind tells it to. And this goes back to your point about when you're working out, so much of it is building that mental fortitude. Your mind, your mind is the most powerful thing in your entire body and it will dictate what the rest of your, your body is able to physically do. And when I was in moments, I've told everybody this. Like in moments of the ultramarathon, I, I legitimately like, like I blacked out. I listened to pac. I couldn't even tell you. I had my headphones on until they died. I don't even know what I listened to. It was like just my mind went into this particular place and I wasn't, I was out. It was like an out of body experience and my body followed and it was all the power of the mind. So I think the more we can train our mind, the further we're going to be able to go, even physically.
And then the last one, which I'm not sure if you have any more here, but might be the best one to end on because it's relevant in every single, the most relevant thing across business, parenthood, motherhood, family, ultramarathon, is that the only thing that matters along the way is the people. That achievement of the ultramarathon, if I had done that by myself, it wouldn't have mattered at all. Like it would not have had the impact. But doing it like with moxie as the motivation, having you guys at the finish line, so much of everything, it's only as good and as like, I'm only happy, it's only as rewarding. Of the people you share it with in the business, the biggest thing is like the team, the team is so incredible. And parenthood, motherhood. One of the best things that has come out of it is how close our families have gotten. Like our connection with, you know, spending more time with the girls and trying to, you know, like, enhance that relationship with our family and moxie the time spent with my parents, seeing them become grandparents, my sister become an aunt. That has been the best part by far. And it always comes down to those relationships.
And we all, we always knew that. But when you go through these big life changes and evolutions, it becomes so much more evident that it's all that really matters.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: Yep, agree. And I think I started off by saying that 2024 was a tough year. I don't think I've ever had a bad year. And maybe that's just my protect, you know, maybe me protecting. But I. I mean, over what a great year, certainly. And I think what makes it a great year is all of the great of the learnings and the teachings that come out of it that you then go back to battle and apply again and again and again and then tweak and learn. We'll be sitting here 365 days from now. Who knows what we'll be saying, but I know we'll be excited about saying it.
[00:47:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And every year is. It has its ebbs and flows and ups and downs, but this year was definitely incredibly transformational. One of the most transformational years of my entire life. And I think with those really big, really big transformations, you have even more dramatic ups and downs, which is really, I think, how we grow the most.
[00:47:34] Speaker B: Well, it certainly reminds you that you're alive. Right.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: And it feels great to be alive.
[00:47:38] Speaker B: Yep. Cheers.
[00:47:39] Speaker A: Cheers.
[00:47:46] Speaker B: Welcome to H. Romney talks for the superstars tonight.
[00:47:49] Speaker A: Tonight.
