The Dailey Edge Podcast
Join hosts Trent, TJ, and Todd Dailey as they explore the intersections of technology, culture, fitness, and personal growth. Through engaging discussions and personal anecdotes, the trio dives into topics ranging from childhood gaming nostalgia and cutting-edge fitness tech to the pursuit of happiness and lifestyle choices. Whether reminiscing about epic gaming marathons, sharing tips for staying on the forefront of fitness trends, or unraveling the complexities of modern life, The Dailey Edge delivers thoughtful insights, lively debates, and relatable stories for listeners of all walks of life.
The Dailey Edge Podcast
Episode 20: The 1% That Actually Matters: Redefining Success and Fulfillment
The search for life's meaning goes beyond financial success to focus on growth, contribution, and finding contentment without becoming complacent.
• Suffering can be a strategic pathway to growth rather than something to avoid
• True purpose comes from developing your gifts and leaving the world better than you found it
• Community and connection form the foundation of a fulfilling life
• Financial success often fails to deliver the happiness and contentment we expect
• The real "1%" might be those who have peace of mind, not financial wealth
• Parenting involves difficult choices between protecting children and letting them experience necessary challenges
• Finding balance between contentment and complacency is key to meaningful living
• A life well-lived might ultimately be measured by effort, contribution, and the positive impact on others
Welcome to the Daily Edge, where we bring you the latest insights, opinions and thought-provoking conversations to give you that competitive edge in life, business and beyond. Let's go, welcome back to the Daily Edge. I'm here with my brothers, todd and TJ Daly, and today we're going to talk about the meaning of life. What a broad topic that is. We all take a slightly probably different approach to this and have some different context here. We're going to go a lot of different ways, but I'm going to throw it over to TJ and let him kick us off.
Speaker 2:Fair enough. So I've thought a lot about this and, again, my perspective is probably different than a lot of people, but I've been doing some research and just listening to some people as it relates to what potentially we're here to do from a human perspective, and my perspective is centered around looking into the future as it relates to humankind and our existence go forward and what types of behaviors, from an individualistic perspective, contribute to the greater good and contribute to driving us forward as a people, as a race, as an existence. And so listening to different perspectives and boiling it all down, what's come to, I guess what's bubbled to the top for me is life is about suffering and we've said in prior podcasts that there's like a negative connotation. This is from my perspective and I'd love to hear from you guys, but from my perspective, it's about suffering because what I think I've realized and again my own opinion is that it takes some type of suffering and it doesn't, again, it doesn't have to be negatively connotated to improve yourself. I think about how the human physiology works and it improves. We talk a lot about athletics and we talk about running, and the way that your body improves is through suffering. Right, so you go out and you do something hard and your body says I don't want that to be that hard next time. I need to make some adaptations so that I'm more adequately prepared to tackle this thing. And then you continue to do that and you level up, and you level up, and you level up.
Speaker 2:And I see that we've spoken a prior podcast about areas that we failed, that we feel inefficient or insufficient for, and again inefficient or insufficient for, and again, like Trent had talked about not wanting to sew a pocket back onto a sweatshirt. Well, you know what? It might not be this existential crazy like hung on the cross, suffering, but it's like I don't want to do this. It's kind of a little bit inconvenient, so it's a little bit of suffering, but it's going to take that to improve yourself. And then again you learn how to sew a pocket, and then it's a little bit of suffering, but it's going to take that to improve yourself.
Speaker 2:And then again, you know, you learn how to sew a pocket, and then it's something your kids see, and then they, they're like that's a skill that I want to have. And then the next thing, you know you have, you've, you've helped create a member of society that can do one more thing and contribute to the greater good, and and so, from my perspective, that's what it's all about, and I think once we stop doing that, once we stop suffering and improving ourselves and then inspiring others by setting the bar in a particular level or by showcasing a skill set that we've curated or presenting an idea that we've thought a lot about, once we stop doing that, I think everything implodes.
Speaker 3:I like a lot of what you said there. I would say I wouldn't necessarily call suffering the meaning of life. From my angle, I would say it's the primary mechanism to achieve what we were put on here to achieve. I think, irrespective of your spiritual disposition, I think it's safe to say we've all been given a certain set of gifts and talents and we're put on here to leave this place better off than we found it. That's kind of how I have characterized that in the past and that can mean a lot of different things. It's not a real hot take per se because it's so vague and that could be spiritually, that could be otherwise. But I think what you said that's important is inspiring others in some form or fashion, by exemplifying or demonstrating or and I think in your case a lot of it comes through suffering, as you mentioned right, not in your case, but to your point, a lot of it comes from suffering because that's how you grow, that's you know you grind and you know. So for me it's developing those gifts and talents or shortcomings, to amplify those gifts and talents in certain ways so that you're positioned to inspire people in certain ways. That again leaves this world better off than you found it, and I think that also leaves open to a spiritual disposition, because I think a lot of people from a spiritual perspective would say the point is to kind of more substantially contribute to the existence and or the practicing of a particular religion, potentially right, like you've heard the concept grow the kingdom on earth, right, and so being a driver for more people, exhibiting the characteristics that are supported by that particular religion, or driving a particular belief system, I mean again, if you're a Christian, bringing more Christians into the fold, evangelizing, spreading the word, spreading the truth, whatever that happens to be, I think there are a variety of ways, again, through directly doing or through setting an example. So to me, when I think about that, and that's what kind of keeps me going on a daily basis, is that grind to capitalize. And you know, sometimes I'll tell the boys the same thing like honor God by giving your absolute best effort, by really going out there and doing what you can to inspire others.
Speaker 3:Now, I think one could argue that in the athletic realm is that a trivial way to inspire others? Right, by being a great golfer, a great runner or great otherwise. But I think there's fruits in all of that. Like you know, if, for some reason you are, you've found a way to inspire others from a fitness perspective, think about the collective benefit of even one person that you've inspired to. You know, I think about Faust all the time. I think about the journey that he's been on with MTC and how that's helped him personally and how many interactions that he's had that have benefited from that source of inspiration. I think you know we talk at IMG about paying it forward and pouring into our employees so they can take care of our customers, and our mission statement is protect and inspire. And when you take positive energy and you pour that into hundreds of thousands of interactions and change people's dispositions, you can change a community, and so that's certainly how I lean into it, but I think you see this a little bit differently. So challenge us.
Speaker 1:Well, as you guys are talking, my mind's going a thousand different ways of what I could say and what actually resonates with me, because I've seen this from so many different areas. I don't really know what the meaning of life is. I can tell you what it's not. Success, financially and worldly, was ingrained into me from some place or somewhere as the goal, as the kind of the holy grail of things and stuff, which definitely has not been the case the further I get down that pipe. I don't. That's definitely not it.
Speaker 1:I just wonder from a growth perspective, there's a part of an individual that needs fulfillment, right. So we're placed on this earth and I believe we're placed here for community and for each other. But there's group needs and individual needs to make us feel a certain way. But, to your point, feeling like suffering is a short-term feeling that may provide a greater long-term feeling, right? Or maybe it's suffering the whole way. But we're trying to juggle back and forth to feel a certain way, whether that's feeling accomplished or whether that's feeling like I'm making progress or whether that's so individually. We're all pursuing something, and I can't tell you if those are out of vanity or not, right, but we're pursuing something. Then, collectively. As a group, we're pursuing something and we need, I know, part of that gratification or part of that individual fulfilling need is to be part of a larger group and give to the larger group. Um, but yeah, but yeah. It's a really fascinating question because I struggle with the societal constructs that we've built around and we were talking about this in a prior episode of where, like, if you're in a community, that, or an area where it's all about the work, it's work, work, work, work, work and the harder you work and the grind and the hustle and all that, but maybe that's not it, like, maybe that isn't what we're.
Speaker 1:I I got a buddy we talk about. Like he used to go home every single night and he used to pick weeds, had this big flower bed and he'd pick weeds every night and I'm like, why do you keep doing that? And he just loves to be busy, he loves to pick weeds. I'm like, why don't you stop picking weeds and like, change the flower bed or do something different and not actually pick weeds every night? Like, do something else with your time. But sometimes those other things aren't fulfilling or don't feel like it, or feel like because he was raised in an environment where it was hard work, where you had to, like, put the work in, so he was getting fulfillment out of picking weeds, although the weeds just grew right back and he wasn't really making any progress in anything, and so it was a kind of a mind shift to actually do something different. And I wonder how many areas in our life are like that, to where we don't actually make any progress. We're doing things because of the environment we're in and they kind of lead to nowhere.
Speaker 3:I think what you're saying is make sure the suffering is strategic in nature and that you're not. You know there's a value proposition there. You're suffering for the right reasons, which I can agree with. There are reasons where you can suffer and spin your wheels and create no inspiration or value at all out of that. But I want to challenge you a little bit because I think in past conversations I think you would say you're more oriented towards happiness, enjoying the journey, making memories, those sorts of things Speak into that a little bit, because I feel like that's maybe more of your orientation on it.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, I think there is a part of life that is enjoyment. I mean, when you talk about suffering, what are we suffering for? I mean it could be a question that would come to mind. I think it is about community and if you're doing things that you love and you're enjoying the journey, maybe you aren't suffering. Maybe you're a fisherman and you fish and you catch food and you give it to people and you actually enjoy that because you're feeding other people. Like, maybe that is the journey you're on and your band of brothers that you fish with are part of that journey. And like if you weren't focused on how much money I made so I can buy more things and do things, if you're singularly focused on, like I love the fish and on the people I love, the brotherhood that I'm around and I'm having fun doing it, like can that not be an enjoyable life where you're adding meaning and value to yourself and others and not suffering at all?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's the beauty of it, I think that's what's so cool, I think that's the rare I wouldn't call it rare and I would be interested to hear what your perspective is on how often you think that happens, cause I think that's like Michael Jordan finding basketball. You know, I think when you talked about sports and how those may be trivial in the grand scheme of things when it comes to suffering for whatever reason. But I think sports provide a framework to test your resolve and to find out how far you can go from a resolve perspective. And then you can apply that to different areas of life, whether that be fishing, whether that be you know, some other type of hobby or endeavor to figure out. You know, if you put, there is more than likely going to be something, if you try 30 different things. So you sit, so you play sports and you develop a level of resolve and you figure out how far you can push it. And then you start to apply that to different areas throughout life. One of those areas you're going to apply that resolve and it's going to go here You're going to have the skill set, whether that be physical or mental, that's going to allow you to push further than you've ever pushed in any other area of life. Hopefully you also align with the enjoyment that you get out of that. And so I think if you go through some of these trials and tribulations and you're lucky enough to find that and I think maybe where I'm talking about suffering is going through those things to get there and then, once you get there, you're now a contributing member to society, you're pushing things forward, you're feeding people through we continue to use that example. Through that there may be some perceived suffering in what you do.
Speaker 2:When people look at you Because if I'm not a fisherman and I don't enjoy that, I'm looking at what you do as a sacrifice. I'm looking at what you do as suffering because from my perspective it is. You have to go out there and we'll take this back to what fishing was like 2,000 years ago and sit in a boat and cast a reel and just sit there all day long. Well, maybe I look at that as boring and suffering for the benefit of other people, and so then I'm inspired to go figure that out for myself. So I do think I would say that.
Speaker 2:Wouldn't it be nice if that was the grand design, if we were all put here for a reason. We just need to suffer enough to figure out what that is. And that's the perfect culmination. That's all of these puzzle pieces fitting together, and it's getting more and more difficult day to day to do that because we have all of these distractions and easy buttons in our way. So we never get to that.
Speaker 2:Because you know I just what feels so desperate to me and the reason I use the word suffer so much is because I struggle with hitting the easy button. I'll sit there and watch Raffle Light for an hour and a half and be like just laying on the couch and like what am I doing? Yeah, it feels great, but if the only emotion that I felt for the rest of my life was the emotion that I got from watching videos, I don't know if I'd want to be here, because it just doesn't. In the moment it's great and it's fulfilling in that split second, but after it's done it's like man and I think people find themselves again included but yet we we pursue that for not only ourself but for our kids.
Speaker 1:Let's make stuff easier, let's make it more convenient, let's create more leisure time. I'm not saying we all do that, but I I fall victim to that. It's like I just want to be sitting there and just like just looking at the water and like, oh, I just. And so we do all. We have all these things I was thinking about at the lake. I was mowing the lawn this weekend. I thought this is as dumb.
Speaker 1:You said one episode like you buy back your time. Why shouldn't I have someone mow the lawn? Like why am I spending my time out here? Kids are over playing pickleball and I'm over here mowing the lawn and bagging it, and it got long. And then I'm thinking to myself, well, what about my kids? Like why am I not engaging them into? Do some of these tasks of helping to keep a place up? Versus us? You outsource the cleaning, you outsource the.
Speaker 1:So then you create all this free time. So then everyone gets this free time so they can spend more time being leisure right, which gets to your point, gets boring, right, and then boring gets to. How do I distract? So there's this vicious circle with not having purpose or doing something, or and I don't know if it all has to be suffering. I know that's just how you classify it, but there is, and you've talked a lot about structure. I know you're big on structure, but I feel like I try to pursue this like, oh, we just need to be able to relax, we need to just relax the kids, we need free time. And it's like, man, we've got a lot of free time and what are we doing with it? I don't think free time is bad, but what are we doing with it?
Speaker 3:yeah, I'm just naturally oriented on the opposite end of the spectrum of I feel like I'm maximizing. So even a fisher like my mindset is maximizing even a fisher who's going out there in a boat, you don't go out and just throw a reel and you're just a good fisherman, right. Like you've got to work at that craft, you've got to know where to go, what bait to use, what fish you're trying to catch, how much of each fish you want to catch. Like having the right equipment and like that is something that you have to suffer to excel in. Now you can have somebody who goes out and catches you know they found how to catch fish this big and that's. They're satisfied in that and they go out and just have fun and catch fish this big and they can feed two instead of 200 because they're not willing to suffer and maximize Like this is. I mean, I think about this a lot and I think we probably covered this in prior episodes, but we have, due to some life skill limitations.
Speaker 3:I talked about our oldest who had a real at a young age. He had a real fear of failure. Academics came super easy to him and he struggled to engage in things that he was not going to be great at because he had no proximity to failure. He would just, I mean, eight hours a day. He was in school, it was very easy, and so we ended up putting him in an environment that is much more challenging Him, puts proximity of failure in his face on a daily basis, and that has developed some life skills but also allowed him to advance academically.
Speaker 3:And there have been times where I've looked at the tuition for the school and wondered what am I doing?
Speaker 3:Like it is a very substantial expense and part of me comes back to the reason we haven't necessarily pulled the plug on that is, I feel like a part of me is investing in them, maximizing their potential, like at the end of the day, like I would come back to that and say, okay, and I don't know if that's the case or not, but certainly he he's, he is getting more proximity to failure, which I think is teaching good life skills, and certainly they're challenging him academically, which is accelerating his growth. Now, to what extent that will be leveraged on later in life, I have no idea, maybe it may not be, but I continue to tell myself that there are maybe worse places to spend resources, available resources than trying to maximize potential. And that may be completely misinformed, I don't know, but my orientation has led me down that path and it's something that I think about a lot. And why, again I think. Why I'm continuing to entertain it is under the hope or you might call it an illusion that it's maybe helping to maximize his gifts.
Speaker 2:Isn't it interesting that the things that probably generate maybe it's not interesting, but the things that generate the most tangible life skills for the people that are facilitating those experiences are the most painful? It was a comment that was made, it was a Jordan Peterson thing and it just sticks with me because he was talking about us helping our children identify monsters. Metaphorically speaking, for a parent it's probably less painful. Well, no, we can all align. It's less painful to helicopter your kids and to not let them get exposed to anything and to keep them safe than it is to not to let them venture out. To let them venture out. And when he's saying that metaphorically, he's meaning like our kids need to think of it this way. Think of we'll call them bad people, think of child molestation, serial killers, whatever Right. And he's saying it is our duty as parents to put our children in a position to recognize that, whether that's teaching them and it doesn't need to be that in a literal sense, but even that in a figurative sense. You know we at this age, and there was a point in time in our lives where you and maybe it's an extra sense where you can, where you engage with somebody and something turns on where you're approaching it with a little bit more care, because you know, we, when we were younger again, we've said this numerous times on podcasts we were lucky to be exposed to all different walks of life and to understand how to translate that and engage in that in a way that um kept us. You know, we let's just say we were never placed in a position where we were naive about things. We kind of understood. Our parents weren't like exposing us, you know, to the deepest, darkest depths, but we were exposed enough to understand.
Speaker 2:The first time I may have mentioned this to you guys I remember I was a sophomore in high school and there was a house party and I was hanging out with a particular group of people at the time and I remember going to use the restroom and there was a girl in there who's tied off and nodded out and like it didn't freak me out, like I knew what that was and like that's not for me, but like I wasn't curious because we'd had some of those conversations. So I know I went kind of down a path there, but it's like from a parent, parental perspective. You talked about mowing the lawn and so an area that we find ourselves struggling is it's just easier to clean the damn house yourself than it is to like beat in your kids. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, and again. I hate to say this, but it's true, our mom cleaned the house for us. They never made us do it, and I am.
Speaker 1:She did teach us how to clean a toilet and we did have to go collect trash on Wednesdays. Those were the two things I remember, but she you know she taught us.
Speaker 2:But again for her, especially because she was home when we were kids, like really young, especially you and I she did it. And so fast forward 40 years. I still struggle with that. I still struggle with that and I see Tara doing it for our kids as well Because, like you said, we want to make it easier for them.
Speaker 2:So instead of suffering and going through the pain of and some parents and I'm sure people listening are really really good at that Like their kids, are just dialed from a young age because they're willing to go through that heartache and that suffering and that pain to get them to that particular area in life. And then I think if you do and we've done some of this in sports with our kids you start to see you're building a member of society, you're contributing to a member of society in a way that helps them build confidence, it makes them a better community contributor, go forward. But it's just, it's tough to get there sometimes. So I know, again going off on that tangent a little bit, but when I talk about suffering I want to say that you know there are those instances where the easier thing to do would be to do it yourself or to protect the person, and it just, in my opinion, doesn't contribute to the greater good.
Speaker 3:What's a life well lived? You know what I mean Like think about, I'd like to do these postmortems. Where you're, you're 85, 90, 95. Heck, by the time we get there, maybe we'll be in the hundreds. They say that health advancements are accelerating at a rapid pace, but when you're looking back on your life, you're on your deathbed and you can say, man, that was a really good life, that was a life well-lived. I and then you fill in the blank I just wonder what that would be. What would give us the most fulfillment, satisfaction at the end of our lives, that we whatever, whether it's accomplishments, whether it's certain ways of parenting, whether it's certain ways of parenting, whether it's some amount of inspiration or kind of what we left. I just wonder what that would be.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 2:I would say that, being able to look back and say that for the majority of your life you gave your all. One of the things I was thinking about the other day that I thought was unique was thinking about collectors. Right, you think about basketball cards and or whatever memorabilia in general, and there is a particular type of person that is a collector Like. I've known a couple in my life that just are meticulous about collecting things and having all these pieces to the puzzle. And I'm like at the outset to a lot of people that seems frivolous, like what are you doing? But then I'm like you know, that's kind of cool.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like a librarian for pop culture, essentially organizing and meticulously cataloging things that are representations of and or items that were involved in inspiring events throughout history.
Speaker 2:You know, so somebody could have Babe Ruth's signed bat. To some people that may look like. But when you as a consumer, you as another collector, you as a fan of that sport, get to hear the story around said item that's been cataloged similar to a book in a library that may contain a wealth of information or insights into a specific approach to life. The way you've cataloged that item tells a particular story that may inspire somebody to go forward. So when I say a life well lived is like putting all of your effort into something that you believe drives forward humanity, it can be something like that, like I love to collect stuff and I was meticulous and I did this and this was the result of that. I just can't imagine and again this is a massive fear of mine laying in bed and saying, dang dude, I watched a hundred hours of this youtuber and I think for me it'd be kind of two things.
Speaker 1:One is that my kids embody the same values that I feel are important, that my kids are and and that my kids want to spend time with me. Right, so that me and Angel raise those kids to where they have purpose and meaning and they still enjoy and want to spend time.
Speaker 3:Talk about that one more, yeah.
Speaker 1:Why is that important to you? I just think it's a reflection of where I guess, for me, spending time there and seeing my kids reach a level of fulfillment or passion that, um, I've been able to experience in my life and to know what that feels like, I think, for them and that's not a sense of accomplishment as much as it just really is finding kind of their way. To see your kids find their way, whatever that way is, and to grow and mature and figure that out, I think would bring me great joy. And if I look back on that when I'm 85, to see my kids find their own path and confidently live into who God's called them to be would be meaningful for me.
Speaker 3:Do you think anything around your own contributions that you feel like would be more or less fulfilling outside of parenting?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's part two.
Speaker 1:Part two for me would just be that I'm not sure how to frame it that I'm just known for continuing to give back and to help other people, that I've created with what I've been given. I've created unique experiences and given people opportunities to better themselves, their situations, just through time, energy and effort. Experiences and giving people opportunities to better themselves, their situations, just through time, energy and effort. Because, at the end of the day, I think we have to give our talents and our treasures back to help other people. So that I was part of a community and I played the role that I was supposed to play in that community and it doesn't have to be a global or national community, but the community that God puts us all in community and within my community that I brought the resources and the time and the treasures that he wanted me to bring to those people at that time and that looked back on and that changed lives for people generationally and maybe in the moment you said something about, like in the first part, about your kids finding their way.
Speaker 2:Are there specific elements like are there any qualifications to that? Meaning that, like you know, are yeah, when I you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's tough because I have the oldest of all the kids and it's like they don't just get it.
Speaker 1:I mean they get some things, but you can tell I mean we're super critical on ourselves, right, like we're super critical.
Speaker 1:One of the best skills you could ever have is to be at least be self-aware, know where your faults are, know when to shut up and to see your kids start to learn and figure things out. And it just comes with their experience and so there's no roadmap for it. There's experiences I think you can give them, but wanting to see them gain confidence or purpose or meaning in what they're doing and figure things out, I just don't know if there's a roadmap. You continue to and then, when they level up and they have those moments, you're just grateful to see that kind of growth and to see how they develop and again, not into anything that you want them to be, but there's just growth and maturity and I think one of the biggest things for me has always been confidence. When you have confidence in who you are and what you do, I think that is one of the most important things, from attracting a mate to leaning into what it is you're called to do at that time, and that may change over time as well.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:How would you guys approach that Todd? How would you approach your 85? You're sitting in the rocking chair and you're looking back on life, and where would you reflect on?
Speaker 3:I think, similar to what TJ said, I think it would be effort-based that I left it all out in the field, in the sense, and I did my best to not just blindly pick weeds to your point earlier, but to discern where I could best be utilized and deploy myself in that fashion to the best of my ability and you know, I know I'm not going to get it right a hundred percent if there is a specific, exact path I was to follow. But I think it's the effort that gives me the peace of mind I think I think about, even just in general, like you know, operating on a daily basis. Some of this is peace of mind I think I think about, even just in general, like you know, operating on a daily basis. Some of this is peace of mind on your deathbed. But I think, you know, from a mental health perspective, some of the times where I have the best peace of mind is right after I've put forth a substantial amount of effort into something, even in cases where it's trivial and it's like sporting events, like after a hard marathon or after the hundred miler, or after I have accomplished something that I have been grinding on, you know, for a longer period of time over duration. I find that's where I kind of am mentally settled, more than any other time or pattern that I can identify, and I think we're all wired psychologically in different ways for different reasons, and for me that is a signal that there is something to be said for continuing to put forth that effort, however it may be deployed, and I I think it's important to figure out how to do that, not just blindly Right, because I think some you can deploy significant amounts of effort and more trivial ways than others.
Speaker 3:I'll, I think I'm not sure if this came up in a podcast, I think it did, maybe very early on, when I had a. I had an iPod touch and I downloaded. I was playing some games and I got to number one in the world in this game on this iPod touch and I played it probably give or take eight hours a day, like during. It was one of those where, like you waited for the things to like kind of grow and then you harvested them, so it was like every 30 minutes I would pop it up, play it for two minutes, you know, during the workday, and then when I got home I would just play it and you could argue that I've deployed a significant amount of effort and achieved a certain level. But I would say that that's one of those things maybe more, at least in my current disposition is more trivial in nature.
Speaker 3:Now, maybe for some, achieving high levels of success in video games, there can be positives associated that can be inspirational, that inspire others to jump in and develop their hand-eye coordination or find different ways to build community. You never know what's going to come out of certain things, so I try not to define it. That's a really good point. I try not to define it or put myself in a box, but it's like be opportunistic, be thoughtful, discern and put forth the effort and, you know, depending on your disposition, again spiritually, let God do with that what he may Two things First shout out Marion Giant's esports team won a state championship in Smash Brothers.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's cool Really.
Speaker 1:Wow, To your point doesn't you never know where it's going to go? But something interesting you talk about the one percenters. Right, and society will tell you that's the dream, and they're defining the one percenters as a financial 1%. I haven't heard anybody, either of you and myself included, talk about that as defining us or defining the meaning of life. Why do you think as a society, we have it so wrong? Why is there so much emphasis and focus on the one percent and why do we look at it just through the lens of finances? What are we missing?
Speaker 3:I mean, I think, finances. I would say. If we've talked in this podcast prior about status, I think for me this is a combination of how we're very deeply wired in our evolutionary wiring and in today's society there is probably no other resource that can gain you status like money can, and so I think that's why people probably seek it and part of it. I'm not just talking about status in terms of how much you make or how much you have, but you can deploy that capital in infinite ways to gain status in infinite communities, whether that's pay to play on video games, whether that's investing in lessons, private lessons for yourself or kids to develop in a particular sport or fitness area, or have the latest gadgets or carbon footplate shoes that make you run 30 seconds a mile faster. I think people realize that those financial resources can get you status better than probably anything else out there, at least as it pertains to what our society values today.
Speaker 2:But I think that's a very interesting point, because you said it about money and worldly things, and I think people that have done well catch heat for making those comments. But I think this boils it right back down. The reason you say that is because we just spent however long talking about the lack of fulfillment you get from not working hard and pressing the easy button. So great, you can buy this, this, this and this, and that's why money for people is this endless pit, because all you're doing is pressing the easy. You know, you've had success in one particular arena of life. Now you're just pressing the easy button in every other arena of life I'm going to get private lessons, I'm going to get faster shoes, I'm going to get this, I'm going to get that and you're never scratching that itch. You're never, you know. And so I think it's sad, frankly, that that's the one area that we choose to use to define the 1% and the 99%, because I think if you used it in areas of life that, or if we recognized it in areas of life that required more of an effort to achieve that level, I think we'd see a lot happier people, I think from a mental health perspective. I mean you look at some of these train wrecks and I'm speaking from a very disconnected perspective on generational wealth families and you see, towards the end of that generational wealth, things get really, really ugly because you have three or four generations who have never done anything and they're so unfulfilled and then drugs seep into the. And you know, I'm not judging anybody, I just think you see this at a high level. You know, when you see elite schools, a lot of times you'll see problems with mental health because again there's you said it, man, and I don't know when you guys recognize this. I know I probably did over the last couple of years Whenever I feel anxiety, I'm like I got to get up and do some kind of work, like that's how I deal with it, like I got to get up and work on reports for work, I've got to send this email, I've got to do these things and that's what alleviates it is putting forth the effort in those.
Speaker 2:I cannot imagine being in a situation where you don't even know how in your 20s or 30s, where you can't even begin to know how to start that process because you've never been exposed to it.
Speaker 2:So you know, I think as a society it would behoove us to start identifying, you know, in rewarding the top 1% in certain things Because, like you said, you never know where it's going to go, like with the esports team. You know, I know you have a son who plays a lot of Destiny 2. Somebody with no self-confidence could come over to the house and they could see what he's accomplished in destiny two and that could, and they could be just getting into video games and that could be like oh, wow, like that's something to shoot for, and they could see that and that would inspire them to start a video games and then that builds their self-confidence and then that opens them up to the world. So you know, playing video games and being in the top 1% of destiny two doesn't necessarily make you a futile, make your efforts futile, and I think it's something to recognize and celebrate. So you know, that would be my perspective on that.
Speaker 1:Yay, it's just. It's really fascinating because I don't. I think you talked about generational wealth and one of the things is hard times make hard men, right? You guys heard this quote. And easy times make weak men and say you worked hard your whole life to achieve, to achieve, and you grinded and then, so-called, made it right. You said, oh, I'm going to sell my company for $50 million and now I'm just playing drums with the easy buttons, right?
Speaker 1:I think one of the hardest things for people that do find financial success is still living like you don't have it, because now you're saying so. If you hit financial success and now you can do whatever. You can fly private, you can do those things. You're setting expectations for your kids versus well, I've, I've been successful in the world, but we're going to live a certain way because, which requires the parents sacrifice of like, oh man, I've, this is the way I wanted, this is what I've been dreaming for, which we know you don't always dream, for there's some leisure in there, but that's not really the dream you think it is. That's got to be hard for people to navigate that have been successful. What are your guys' thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:I mean, I think it's very hard, for I think if you were the one to earn that money, it's a lot easier because those habits are instilled in you. I think those that sell their company generally go on to do something else, either philanthropically, or they start another business or they do something else that adds a meaningful amount of value. I think it does get harder. The second, the third generations that actually did not develop the habits in earning that money, that's where I think it gets.
Speaker 1:It gets much more difficult. But that starts with the parents. The first generations changes their lifestyle. Sure, absolutely, I think that's that sets the tone for second.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, I mean like, Because one of these days we're going to do an entire episode on expectations. One of these days we're going to do an entire episode on expectations. But it is, the expectations are the thief of joy and happiness. Because if you think about someone who's growing up in a family that's done particularly well, they are experiencing things let's just say the 1% financially. They're experiencing things that 1% of people get to experience and outside of, at some point, the general point, the generational wealth, runs out, right. So then it's back to it's probably a dice throw of whether or not they're going to end up in the 1%. Their chances of ending up in the 1% are 1 in 100, right, that's going to come, you know, cyclically. It's going to come back around to them having a one in a hundred shot of getting to that point.
Speaker 3:And if they have been living in a world of the convenience and resources that is only afforded to the 1% and then they don't land in that 1%, that makes for a pretty dark experience, at least for an extended period of time, if you're used to a certain standard of living and you have to unwind that. I think that's the disservice that I worry that I'm doing to my kids and we all. I mean. And that's not like when I say that it's not that we're like lavishly spending money, but it's like you know even the the where you live and the conveniences that are afforded to you, even for the average American, relative to and I think obviously it's safer here in America that you're going to land somewhere in a decent standard of living relative to third world countries or what life was like a couple hundred years ago. But I think, yeah, you're rolling the dice and if they don't achieve that level or you don't have enough money for them to continue to live at that higher echelon man, it gets ugly quick.
Speaker 2:I think you hit the nail on the head the difficulty of that. I mean, you see people say it and I wonder how many do it. Warren Buffett, great example, just retired at 94 years old.
Speaker 1:Lives in the same house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he has famously always said my kids are getting nothing and I think Bill Gates at one point had said something similar their foundation was Nothing, by the way.
Speaker 1:Well, what is 50 million? What does?
Speaker 2:that mean, how real is that? Is it? Is it like, look, here's the deal, I'll buy your first house? And you're because you're right like talk about a slippery slope. If your dad's worth 150 billion dollars, you know, obviously, again, not all liquid, right, but whatever, and you know he can give you 500 million. It is easy button for life.
Speaker 2:And it's it's again this lack of fulfillment. If, if he is able to and I cannot imagine having infinite resources I struggle today just because of how we're raised. I was talking to dad, uh, two days ago, and you know he'll talk to us about oh well, you know, I had friends that did this and we didn't do this. And I'm like like, yeah, well, it's always the case. We know people who are worth tens of millions of dollars, who have friends that are worth hundreds of so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:We were raised in a way and you can't fault them because you want everything great for your kids. That has perpetuated. You know, I'm not, I don't travel to the level that some of our friends do or whatever, but our kids aren't wanting for really any. My kids aren't running for really anything. They get sufficient, you know. And so the difficulty that it that it may get back to kind of suffering, right, like how hard it must be to continually deny and how much you have to consistently remind yourself to deny because you are, you're setting them up for failure because if they don't land there and I think it's getting with the disparity of wealth, it's getting harder and harder to land there. You know it. It.
Speaker 3:I think the only thing we have working for us is that, as we go forward with technology, we continue to, as a society, live better and better. And you've heard Warren Buffett you bring up his name famously talk about this. There are people below the poverty line that are living way better than John D Rockefeller did in, who was the richest person in the world for a long time, a couple hundred years ago, right. And so you know, there was no like sewage system, there was no electricity, there was no like TV, there was no like I mean like, and again, not to diminish, um, not to diminish the challenges at all of people in uh kind of below, uh poverty or at the poverty line, because I think that's real, because everything's relative, right, like we're looking, we determine sometimes our level of success based on and this isn't just financial, but in anything status, right On those around us.
Speaker 3:So it was. I mean, it would have been easy to be John D Rockefeller at that point in time, because he was living way better than everyone else was at that point in time. So that's where it becomes. There's this psychological aspect of how well you're doing, and then there's this absolute reality of how well you're doing and it gets to be a really interesting conversation as things continue to advance technologically. Because I've always thought that was an interesting point. He's always been very pro progress in America. Just to say that we are living in the best time in the history of the world and it's tough to dispute.
Speaker 2:I mean, what's the real 1%? Like if you had to look at it from an absolute perspective? Is it the person not waking up with anxiety every morning? Is it somebody who's content, when you look at it all and you look inside yourself and what you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis as a human existing to contribute to the great, the greater good of your community? Like what if you had to pick a one percent that you would say is the one you strive for? What is it?
Speaker 1:it's interesting because I saw a picture the other day. I was on social media and it had the same guy sleeping in a bed and the guy on this side had a suit on holding the sheets, going like this and be like I have the car, I have the, and he just like shaking. Then the other same guy was laying on the other side of the bed. He was turned on his side, his son was curled up next to him and there was a fishing pole and there was this, this image to me of like to wake up with the right kinds of problems. What is how? I would answer that it's like sometimes you wake up and you're like, oh, so-and-so, quit today. And it's like you know, like there's stuff to, there's real stuff to deal with, and then there is I'm waking up and I can have my focus on things that are really, really important, and I'm not saying that that's always not not work, but I think the quality of your problems and where your problems lie could be a really good, a really good indicator of that.
Speaker 3:I've heard the saying the quality of your life is not what you have but how you feel. So I would agree that I think there's some element of those people with the best quality of life are those who have a peace of mind, who can maintain a peace of mind towards whatever disposition or profile they're seeking, that they have a level of comfort and calmness, that they are pursuing their desires to the extent that they feel is right deep down. I think that's a very unique place to be. I mean, the grass is always greener on the other side. So I think for me, just kind of being able to walk through life with that peace of mind and that methodicalness of kind of attacking whatever I wanted to accomplish or become, would be awesome.
Speaker 1:Picture this save a million dollars in the bank. Does that change your, your peace of mind and the way you approach your day to day Expenses? Don't change. Nothing else changes. Are you doing what you're doing? Are you going to bed? Waking up? No one matter. Is there freedom in that? What do you guys think?
Speaker 2:Yes to a point, but again, I don't think it solves the main problem, which is, for me, fulfillment. Is that another mechanism to help potentially reduce the anxiety that one would have if they do? Yes, I don't think that's. I don't think you can deny that, and that's always the, that's always. The point of contention is that it's like oh, it's, we've said, I've said it a hundred times. Oh, it's easy to point fingers or say that when you have money, of course. So, does it contribute to less anxiety? Yes, but should it?
Speaker 2:I'm not so sure because I guess it would depend on where you're at in so many other aspects of life.
Speaker 2:If you have a million dollars and you live in a third world country, you may not even be able to spend that.
Speaker 2:I don't know Right, like in terms of, and my point being is, if it, unless it greatly affects your day to day, um, like where we live and what it costs to live in America and in the County we live in, in Indiana, which is you know, I mean, if I had a, the county we live in in Indiana, which is you know, I mean if I had a million dollars and I was living in Manhattan, wouldn't do a thing for me, because you know it would help me pay the bills for six months or for a year or two.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean again, if I were doing things the right way which I've admitted I'm not if I was not giving my kids everything or close to 80% of what they wanted, if I was focused on a different type of 1% versus the 1% that I tend to get caught up in too, if I was doing things the right way, I don't think it would make as much of a difference as it is. I think we choose. I don't think it would make as much of a difference as it is. I think we choose. I've chosen to give power to money in certain circumstances, so that's kind of where I'm at on that.
Speaker 3:I think it would short term, I think it would for about a month, and then I feel like for me personally it would go back to purpose, Because I don't to GH's point. I don't know that it's fulfilling. It might take the edge off and I may not run so hard in the rat race, right, but I don't know that it would give me that peace of mind.
Speaker 2:It may be more difficult Because, you know, I don't know if you guys I think we all are I thrive when I'm on the edge. Oh, for sure, back against the wall right, and so if the million was there, you probably just have a you'd spend it, and then you'd spend it and you'd have a three-year period of like ineffectiveness, because you were just cruising, because you're like I don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or you likely buy something else and double down and put pressure on that. You know as well To your point. There's a odd thing about having an immense amount of pressure with some upside and some downside and putting it up against the wall. But I was just curious because I think there can be a mental shift, because I think there are. I was just curious because I think there can be a mental shift because I do believe finances put stress on people and families, especially even if you're in the 1%. I mean there's a level of income over I don't know what the millions is to, where it probably doesn't shift much. But most people live up to their means In most families. Even people making up to half a million dollars a year, I see them live right up to their means. And so there is a level of pressure there and you get more and then you either get the bigger house or the nicer car or the second house and you continue to parlay this life of convenience.
Speaker 1:But those who can sit in and invest and do this, like you're Warren Buffett's, and make better decisions. I think ultimately the thing is contentment. Really, at the end of the day, it's finding contentment where you're at, and, as you, I think, succeed or have success is being able to stay content in where you're at, with what you have. I think that I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here, but I believe that will give you more fulfillment and less anxiousness. But the other side, if you get back on that edge and you're successful there, there's that you're fulfilling that progress chart and that growth chart, and so I think they provide different things, but um I think it's you gotta got to find a way, and this is what we were just talking about.
Speaker 3:This virtual impossible line to walk is being content without complacent. It's like, yes, you have a peace of mind, that you're content with what you have and you've done your best. Essentially, that was part of it. I told TJ, with that Kickstarter campaign, we, we ran um on each and i's. It's like everyone put their best foot forward and we, like, did everything we could. And there's a level of contentment that comes with whatever we put forward, whether or not it worked out, because you can't control the outcomes um, always you could control the effort you put in.
Speaker 1:But being content without again being complacent, where it's like, oh, now I can just sit back and not put forth the effort anymore, I think for me is and I think the complacency side of that is what, after a month where, if money puts you in a complacent state where you'll snap out of that pretty quick, the contentment side's another game.
Speaker 2:We talked you mentioned earlier expectation being the thief of joy and we talk about contentment here. You know, I know we've all said at some point in time I know I've said I'll say that for myself that and I pat myself on the back for the first time in however many podcasts, but, like I've said this before that I would have no problem living in a tiny house in the woods for the for however long, like I know. I say that maybe it would be different if I was. But my point being is, like we are faced with you said you've, you've seen people you know making half a million dollars live up to their means.
Speaker 2:Because we're constantly faced with comparison and I wonder just, I'd love your perspectives on if, you know, you're at a point where you feel like if everything was stripped from you, or most things were stripped from you and you were left with a more basic lifestyle or refined lifestyle, if you'd be cool with that and what exposure or what triggered in your life to get you to a point?
Speaker 2:Because I know you're kind of like this a little bit, because I think we see people around us that they look at Instagram, they look at Facebook and they see these things and know this would be nicer and this would be nicer and so on and so forth, and the next thing, you know, you've got 20,000 square feet and seven bathrooms and a private jet and all of these things. And you know, what do you think has contributed to you being in a position, if you feel like you're there, where those things you see just wash over you, like you don't look at an Instagram post and be like I need that or that would make my life better, but where you're just like. You know that's not what it's about.
Speaker 3:I think for me it's being comfortable in my own skin and having confidence in who I am as a person. I honestly think this kind of started way back in high school when, I mean, you kind of took a pretty hard stance on alcohol. Yeah, you were anti-alcohol and I leaned into that and I thought that was great. So I exhibited it. And I remember in high school I had to go through that phase where everyone else was drinking and I observed that from the sideline and had to develop a level of comfort with that, that I didn't need to seek what others were seeking.
Speaker 3:I took pride in kind of who I was and to me and I remember answering that question I had I think it was maybe from National Honor Society I had to do an interview or something and they talked about that like what's one of the, you know, the most important things you've learned in high school, and I said to be able to identify and connect with people that may not always have the same extracurricular hobbies or habits, and so coming out of that I never felt like I had to.
Speaker 3:It gave me such a comfort in who I was that I never felt like I had to chase what other people were doing and I think that's kind of just bled into all areas of my life. I don't feel like I've ever had to keep up with the Joneses or identify myself in a way through financial resources, and that may seem really bizarre in a sense for some that are more distant to me, but I don't know. That is probably where my level of comfort came from, and I think the other thing I would probably draw on is probably through the running journey especially. There's been enough suffering and challenge and I have learned to not, I guess, fear what that would look like. It just doesn't give me any pause. I guess fear what that would look like.
Speaker 1:It just doesn't give me any pause. I had to learn the hard way. I grew up with friends, close friends, that came from families that all had more and did more than what I did. I mean they all had lake houses. They were always going to do things and I probably developed a little bit of an inferiority of like, wanting and desiring those things, similar to dad with the country club not being able to be a part of one when he was younger and I always wanted I mean middle child and sales. I was always trying to fit in, I was trying to do the things that would fit me into groups and I wanted to be liked and I would do whatever it took to be liked.
Speaker 1:And I think even as an adult it took me having to go through the pain of having those things and doing those things for the wrong reasons to come out and realize that that's not what I want. And some people figure it out without having to experience it. And I chased the tail for a long time searching for that acceptance or man, if I just have that, then people will like me better or then people will want to spend time with me. And I think through a good part of my career, I was still trying to identify the more I had, the more people would want to hang out with me and they would like me better. It's only been the last couple of years where I realized that that isn't the case, and almost the contrary.
Speaker 1:The things and the stuff creates so much more headaches in your life and there's always something broken in my life if you have enough toys. So, yeah, I didn't learn the easy way. I've gone down the path of having to buy the things and the stuff and thinking that that was going to bring me more joy and fulfillment, and time and time and time again, it definitely hasn't. Now what I will say is, when I repurpose that and shift that and I do some of those things, but I do it with a different purpose it does change it for me. So where, like the lake house, was a family focused, memory based thing, that has been a different approach. That that wasn't out of, you know, keeping up with anybody. That was like a family dream and goal and as we're settling into our second season there, man, are we excited Like just that we are all playing pickleball weekend, and so there's a different meaning behind that which has really shaped it, but I spent my whole life chasing stuff.
Speaker 2:It'd be interesting to unpack a little bit, because that kind of hits where, as you acquired things prior to your shift in perspective, I can only imagine that you know, with the way you're viewing the lake house now and the foundation of that being the family experiences and utilizing it to bring joy to others in the extended family or whatever, probably leaves you feeling more satisfied than then.
Speaker 2:I'd be interested. You know, you see this at the celebrity level even, and we've all maybe experienced this at some point in time because we've held different positions in different businesses. But do you ever find yourself questioning relationships, you know, because you knew you had things Like I think back to I'm sorry, but I think back to when we were kids and I think of, like Anthony, you're like, you know, or you think of the kid whose parents built the pool because the kid didn't have any friends and now all the friends are so like. I'd be interested if you ever found yourself as an adult, like, wondering, like would I be getting the feedback that I'm getting or the input I'm getting, or would I have some of these people with some? Or maybe you've seen these relationships fizzle as you've shifted, you know, away from certain things.
Speaker 1:Like I think relationships fizzle. Anyways, I will tell you that there is a level of relationship that sees your success and wants to emulate it and wants to be around it and that some of it's a genuine want to be around and just to learn and to ask questions, and from a which I love like a mentorship, and some is it's like the fascination and I'm like someone asked me the other day is like how do you continue to have so much success but still remain humble? And I said just depends what you value. Like if I value what everyone thinks in the world says I'm great and everything, like I'm valuing the wrong stuff. It's like if you're centered in, you know your faith in Jesus Christ and who he called you to be, it's just what do you look at.
Speaker 1:If you look at yourself as a one percenter and you say, well, that's, that's what success looks like, then you're going to start thinking a lot of yourself. If you don't really care about that, then you don't. So I will say that over time I do believe your career and you start to choose your friends, but more of mine has been just based on my my, obviously, family. We have a tight knit family, which is great, but my brotherhood where we're doing praying on offense and just the people. I've gotten fewer friends and really deeper relationships but. But there is some of the noise there like, oh, I want to be associated because of this and that, but I don't deal with. I don't deal with a ton of that now, just cause I've kind of honed my circle into those around to.
Speaker 3:I don't know. I mean, there are times that I find myself wondering how to get out of it right, Like how to unwind it, how to go from a place like we all graduated, you were making $40,000 a year coming out of school, I was making 50.
Speaker 2:I made 65 with no college.
Speaker 3:You made 65. But my point is like, at that point in time we had everything we wanted. And there've been actually some studies now I think it was back around that time they did some studies in the UK that your happiness tapers off at like 60,000. I'm sure now it's maybe 120 or something that your happiness beyond that doesn't necessarily continue to correlate once you have your basic needs met. But I find myself thinking about what I lived on. Of course you have family and some of that multiplies, but it's still, it's not proportional at all, like, to what the standard of living is now. And I find myself like, are there ways to chip away backwards at this Like, and how do you even start that process? And there's is there a way to go back to a place where you're setting better expectations for your kids, you're embracing a little more of the suffering, like, is there a way to reverse the trend?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I think in some instances, but that just made me think of like. I feel like society has gotten creative as it relates on how to monetize the things that make our children better people. You spoke of tuition earlier. We talk all the time about sports and at a particular level, you know, if my kid goes and he plays rec soccer and he's scoring 10 goals a game that doesn't do anything for him, that gives him false confidence, that puts him in a position where there could be a tremendous fall off and you know, something that could do tremendous harm from a mental health perspective at some point in time.
Speaker 2:You know, you see that a lot with Savant athletes when they're younger, all of a sudden they get to a level of competition where they they've dominated their whole lives and they don't know how to act and they don't know how to react and it's their career, albeit if they're 13 or 14 years old, is over with because they never learned how to lose.
Speaker 2:And so you see a lot of these instances where somebody or some entity has captured this level of competition or this particular scenario that is going to lend to building self-confidence and lend to somebody realizing the value of hard work, and I guess you could do a little bit of that as a parent if you're willing to dedicate the time and effort necessary to it. But it's like when you talk about chipping away, it's like, man, I would love to pull all my kids out of competitive sports, but that's a really easy way with, again, a level foundation to help them understand all of these values. And so it's like you know, I don't want to pull back from something like that and I feel like maybe there are a lot of instances in society where those things have been captured and you have to. You don't have to, right, but you get kind of where I'm going.
Speaker 3:You know what's interesting about that? What you said is I've had that realization too. I think there's part of me that's been like okay, you know you're making this amount of money and you're living near your means, Certainly there's got to be a ton of waste there. You've got to be blowing it on cars or clothes or some sort of materialistic kind of thing, and money just doesn't go as far as it did before or some I don't know kind of what is is going on. But to your point, I think, when you go to to like the chopping block and what cuts, to your point, I mean with with the sports, you're teaching your kids that pattern of effort and growth and developing that ability to maximize their gifts and talents.
Speaker 1:um, it is, it's trickier, but at the same time, yeah, I, I don't know well, we're trying to help them survive in society, right, and we're playing by their rules and we're trying to teach really good habits and a good moral foundation and put them through the right experiences, which we're being fed from all different angles, right, like social media. You want to be, you need to be this, you need to be engaged in this, you need to do this training, you need to have that training, and we're getting fed of what's the best, what's going to get the best outcomes, the best school, the best well-rounded, and so I think we all genuinely want what's best for us and for our kids. I don't know anyone that said less is better, but I think you might be onto something like where I think there is and I mean there are people out there that are like, yeah, I'm tiny, home, less, I don't want to have things, and they're very focused on that, but it's generally adding something to and not subtracting. At least that's what I found.
Speaker 2:When it's like you know I thought about, when you think about the sports. I remember talking to dad and he's like, yeah, the most expensive thing I ever did for any of you guys was Trent's AAU team and the whole team cost $600. You know, I mean, and for where we live, that's what it costs one kid in a month or maybe two months to play, and so it's ridiculous. And so you know they're probably and there are so many people out there I am sure it's probably hilarious to listen to us talk about this that you know kids right now are playing rec, soccer or playing at the boys club or playing at the YMCA or whatever, and they're getting a fantastic exposure. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think maybe it's when I said it's monetized and marketed in a way, so good at marketing as a, as a just a collective, and now there's so many ways to do it. So maybe I was saying earlier I you know I don't get caught up necessarily in the home thing or get caught up in some of these other aspects of life, but maybe I have gotten caught up in the sports thing because, for whatever reason, I believe this is the only path it's going to and it's probably not true. It's more than likely not true. So again, back to less is more. Then it becomes, I don't know, this never ending puzzle where you're trying to develop, deliver more brain time towards developing a plan to help the people around you build that self-confidence and better themselves. Like you know I think you know I look at some of these sports experiences and the one of the negatives is there's not a lot of exposure to just a diverse group of people from different walks of life. They're all from the same walks of life and again we talk about identifying monsters earlier. Like that doesn't and I want to talk to this in a different sense but like this doesn't help you appreciate other lifestyles or values that other people have, and I think that's important is getting exposed to enough sets of values and having enough experiences. I know you've been big on experiences over the years that you can develop a good moral compass and you can put value into it. Like I'm so sad for people.
Speaker 2:Buddy of mine you guys know Eric Riddle. I remember when we were working together. This has been 10 or 12 years ago. One thing that he does with his family is he goes and visits national parks and I think at the time I probably felt like that was.
Speaker 2:I remember a guy that I used to work with bought me a yearly pass to the national parks, a free admission to all the national parks for a year, and I used it once. And it's like looking back, man, I would love, and now looking forward, I'd love for my kids to experience some of that stuff, Like you guys have done Zion and you guys have done Yellowstone. I would love for them to see that so they can appreciate that and they can work that into their greater sense of value versus. You know, we can go so deep nowadays with certain areas of life that you could have just this sliver and you could spend your whole life focused on just this thing and never get to the bottom of it, and all of your values and morals will be centered around that one thing. And I think you know making sure that they're exposed to as much as possible is really important.
Speaker 3:Well, I think it's just going to be interesting. What I was going to kind of say as we wrap this up is this is going to be really important as we go forward. This is going to be a really challenge. It's going to be a huge challenge as AI and robots and things play more of a role in society. It is going to be really interesting if there is a universal basic income and people are just paid to sit because there's robots doing the work and they're you know. It's going to be really interesting to maintain perspective on meaning of life and orientation, because I think, in the absence of some of that strategic thought, there are going to be a lot of deep wells that people can fall into and you're going to have a hard time getting out of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is a tough one to balance. I don't like when we look at the summer. To your point, summer has become especially when you get to high school. You're playing sports all summer long, training. You better be. That's one of the challenges. We go to the lake to create experiences, so the lake would be leisurely most of the time, which is just as bad, to be honest, or no, you got to stay in town because we have practices Monday through Thursday and you're here training all the time. And those are decisions that you have to make. And what do you value more and how do you kind of lean into it? And I know that's been a problem for us because, well, we want them to have those trainings and those experiences and not fall behind. But, to your point, are they getting to go to different places and experience different things? And what do you value? And then, what's really the outcome and how do they? So I think there's a lot that goes into how we've trained ourselves and how we're training our kids to what, what to value most.
Speaker 2:I mean what's really important? Right, you do talk about community and it's tough once you engage in in some some of these things. Like hadley's been playing with her soccer team for a number of years now and of all in five years.
Speaker 2:And this is her family, these are her friends, these are the people she's around. And then all of a sudden, if it's like, oh well, you know we want to focus on family memories, uh, we're going to spend all summer at the lakes and we're not going to train which I know you're not going to do but like, then all of a sudden you become that person who's just a little on the outside. And then if eventually that completely fades, then there could be some real soul searching, because you've lost your entire community.
Speaker 1:And now you know, or if the child feels like they've lost. People are catching up or they're not as good now because they weren't doing that. I mean it. There's some psychological barriers, which may or may not be the case, but they'll attribute it to that it's dicey.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Well, we're probably no closer to giving you an answer of what the meaning of life is. As you can see, a lot of great discussion around purpose and just why we're here and what we're doing and how to live into who God's called us to be. But I appreciate the insight and we'll see you guys next week. Thanks,