Army Vet Adam Peters | The Recalibrated Podcast | S01E06

Welcome to The Recalibrated. I'm your

host, Meade Kincke, and

I'm here to take us through

the journey of being in the service,

transitioning out, and

what today looks like.

Our guest, Adam Peters, served over 13

years in the United

States Army as an infantryman

and has seen more than his fair share

with four combat

deployments to the Middle East.

Today, he is the founder of the Strategic

Veteran, a platform and

podcast focused on helping

service members and veterans navigate the

realities of life

after the military.

Adam, welcome to the show.

Meade, thanks for having me,

man. I'm excited to be here.

Absolutely lovely, sir. So, let's begin with

"The Why." So, what drew you to the Army,

especially given that you

hold a CPL or commercial pilot?

Well, one would think it would be driven

towards the Air Force in that.

Well, you know what's funny about that is I

actually was driven towards

the Air Force and the Navy,

so the commercial pilot's license

wouldn't come until after the

Army. So, I joined right out of

high school. And the truth is, it's

somewhere in the middle of all of this. I

had a buddy that was

a class ahead of me in high school. His

name's Alex Burkle. He is a

bigwig in the Air Force now,

but he went to basic training the summer

between our junior and

senior year. And I saw the changes

as a young man that that made in him. And

I actually kind of

wanted to do that. And then

you couple that with some stuff that was

going on at home. And the

fact that I grew up in kind of

small town Indiana, I just wanted out,

man. I didn't want to be

a farmer. I didn't want to

work for the farmers. The business, the

industry in Southern

Indiana, you could just tie it all

the way back to, I mean, it's just legacy

generational land and

businesses. And so, I just

kind of knew that there was more to the

world and I wanted out. So,

self-improvement, being mad at my

parents, and wanting out of small town

America, I ended up in

the Army as an infantry guy.

I love that. You're like, anywhere but

here. The smell of corn makes me

nauseated. I can't do this

anymore. And it's funny, man, because it

will always be home.

There's a certain way that I

feel when I go back and I'll even take

this a step further. I've

been back twice in 22 years.

It's not like I go back often, but it

will always be some element of home.

There will always be some

kind of grounding, energetic feeling in

my body when I go back to

my hometown. But there's just

nothing there for me anymore. You know,

if that makes sense. No, it

does. And, that's one of those

things where when you chat to people who

are worldly and you chat to

people that are definitely

not, there's a difference between the

two. You can kind of go like, well, the

Kathleen Madigan,

the comedian, has said it really well of

like, well, where would I go? And you go

like, there's a map.

You can throw a dart at it. You can go

anywhere you like. But not

everyone have the wanderlust.

And, it seems like you may have taken

their share as well.

Probably, man, because one of my favourite

things to do, I do this

frequently when I go to Peru,

and I go to Peru once a year. I love to

just go to a place with no plan and get

lost. Like, obviously,

there's like a process. You know what I

mean? Like, I know where

the hotel or the Airbnb is at.

Sure.

I know what direction I've walked. I also

have, you know, kind of,

it's 2026, so you should have

some kind of electronic map in your

pocket. You know what I mean?

But like, that's fun for me.

Like, I don't speak the language. I'm

terrible at learning

languages. I think that I have the

capacity to do it. But, I think the only

way I'm going to do that is

through immersion and being

in places like that. But it is true. It's

one of my absolute favourite

things is to just start walking

a direction and explore a foreign place.

I'm much the same. I love

that. And that's the thing is

that you end up like three o'clock in

someone's, you know, back

garden going like, "What do you

mean we're doing drunk ring toss?" And

you go like, "What do you mean you're

not? I'm over here living

life. Come on now. Let's do the thing."

Right. Yes. Yes. Yes. Just, I mean,

there's so much to see.

There's so much to experience. And,

I know the United States is a big place.

You could spend your whole

life here and not explore

everything, but also like, there's a

whole world out there, you know?

Definitely that.

So, let's get into the beginnings of it.

As far as, you know,

humble beginnings for you as an

infantryman, what did that

look like? How did that begin?

It was rough, man. It was rough. So, I

joined the Army. Technically, I joined

the Army July 3rd of

2002. So, I spent a year on the delayed

entry program, which is

nothing more than a year of

indoctrination before you go get

indoctrinated formally. Right? And look,

man, I did the things

to get the extra rank that you can get.

So, instead of, you know, being an E1

that came in as an E3

and would do that thing, right? Like,

just kind of just did the thing,

whatever. Originally, I joined

as an 11 X-Ray airborne ranger. So, I had

the whole contract. That

got screwed up. But back in

the day, there was like the way you would

get things was recruiters

had to do certain things

to make quotas. And then you could only

get certain contracts by

being... Anyway, long story short,

they paired me with a guy. My contract

was contingent on that guy

shipping to basic training.

That guy never shipped to basic training.

So, I lost my contract. I

just got to become an 11 X-ray,

lose the airborne, lose the ranger. So, I

get to family day at basic

training, and I didn't have

like a duty station to go to. And this is

kind of the first time in

my life where hindsight's 20/20.

I should have stayed as permanent

party at Fort Benning after

I graduated basic training.

This was the options that they gave me.

Okay. I should have

stayed because I would have got

all the schools and I would have

eventually kind of gotten to

go where I wanted to go in the

beginning. But I didn't know that. What I

knew is there was a

permanent party guy during my cycle

of basic training and they treated him

like shit. And I didn't want any part of

that. So, I opted to

just go to Fort Stewart. And I got to

Fort Stewart somewhere

between two weeks and a month after

those guys had come home from the

invasion. So, that should tell you enough

about what my life as

a private was like. Sure. And, now a

combat seasoned, if you will, infantry

unit. So, life sucked for me

as a private man. No combat patch, no

CIB. At the time, we were still in the

BDU and the DCU uniform.

So, the only way you would wear- This was

at the day, when they were introducing

Digitals, yeah? Yeah. So, this was about

four years before we

would go into the ACUs. Yeah.

Yeah. So, at the time, the way you wore

your flag on your shoulder

was you had to have a combat

patch. So, I literally had nothing, man.

Wow. And they were quick

to let you know about it.

You were ostracised. I wouldn't call it

hazing. I would just

call it paying your dues.

Looked down upon, I

think is a fair way to say it.

Absolutely. Yeah. But I think, look, man,

I participated in that

stuff throughout my career.

I would have been guilty of what they

call hazing now. I think it's all for a

reason. I think it all

makes sense. And I think it's just part

of it. It's the fucking

army. You know what I mean? Like,

deal with it. So, do I think it was

wrong? No. Did it suck?

Yeah, absolutely. Did I feel like

I was abused? No. Did I feel like I was

paying my dues and earning

my right to be there? Yeah,

kind of. Can I say all of that because I

lived through it and kind

of that was my experience?

Yeah, that probably has an effect on it.

But would I change any of

it? No. And I think it's-

Fair enough.

I wouldn't. I wouldn't change any of it

because it made me

the man that I am today.

So, basically, you're just saying

drink the Kool-Aid, go to the

frat with guns is the big-

That's it, man. Shut up and colour, dude.

You got yourself into this.

What did you think? You were

going to change a machine

that has been running since 1775?

It only has a few hands in

the cookie jar. Just a few.

Right. So-

Oh, goodness.

So, we kind of answered what it looks

like. Oh, pardon. I'm speaking of you.

No, I was just going to say that's what

it was like for me,

man. If you could dream it,

I was probably treated that way. I understand.

I also... There's a caveat

to that too. Yeah, they treated

me and ostracised me differently because

I didn't have all of those

things. But also, after work,

I was still invited to go to Savannah and

to drink and to party and

to go to the strip clubs.

Okay.

And to be a... Right, so, it was, I guess

for a young man, that can be kind of

confusing, but also,

I think as an older man now, I understand

what was going on. There was,

You kind of had to earn your place and

prove yourself during the

day and when you're working

into field problems and all of that. But

also, you are a part of this team,

whether we like it or not.

So, we are going to include you and we

are going to look out for

you and treat you the right way

after hours. You know what I mean?

Well, and see, that's where you really get

to know men anyway. I've said this a

thousand times over,

if you go to a conference, you go to this

and you go, "Yeah, do

you know where you actually

meet people, make really lifelong

friends, do business?"

Hotel lobby bar, three o'clock.

That's where you do it. You're like, "Oh,

let's go to the

conference." No one to go into the

conference. Right. Dude, I totally agree

with you. I've got a

four-day event coming up over in

Orlando next week. Three o'clock lobby

bar. That's the time.

It will be. And look, I'm intentionally

staying in the hotel when I

could drive home every night

because of what you just said, because of

the networking opportunity.

Bring your business cards. That's one of

those things where you go like, "Listen,

have you met John?" You're

like, "No, but I'm about to."

Yeah, for sure. I love that.

So, we've kind of touched on should have

been special forces, and

then because of, we can

only say bureaucracy and paperwork, that

fell by the wayside,

because as the army, well,

anything government is known to do, it

wouldn't be a good party

unless someone mucked up the

paperwork.

But. That's so true. That's so true.

Just saying. Let's say, through your

tenure, what's

something that you were just

absolutely delighted that smartphones

were not around to record?

Oh, man. Probably 20 stories.

That's a loaded question.

That's what I'm here to do.

Yeah. So... Probably, so, my roommate was a cook

when I lived in the barracks.

Danny Cassidy, one of my favorite

humans on the planet. I wish that I would

have stayed in better

touch with him after he got out

of the army. But as young, still teenage

men, he was older, so

he could buy the beer.

I was just a youngster. We played a game

where we would ride to

Savannah with everybody because

Savannah is about an hour drive away from

Fort Stewart, but that's

where you go for the night life.

But, we would play a game and we

would race. We would see who could get

back to the barracks

first. So we would go out, we would leave

the crowd, and then the

goal was to get women to

bring us back to the barracks. And man,

there's one night that I

remember very distinctly. We did

get women to bring us back to the

barracks. They were drinking and driving.

I'm not advocating for

drinking and driving, but at least we

weren't drinking and driving and

jeopardising our careers.

The one that he was sniffing after was

the one that was driving,

the one that I was sniffing

after, I ended up having to hold her hair

to puke behind an

electrical box somewhere. Really,

really close to the gate. And so, they get

us to the gate and they

don't want to drive on post

and honestly, I can't

blame them because they were...

Yeah, no.

You know?

It's like there's a guard post, there's a

man with a carbine, I

don't think this is for me.

This isn't where I'm supposed to be.

And so, Danny and I, we had to walk

through the front gate of Fort Stewart

right there. I forget

the name of the main road, but luckily

there's a class six just

inside the front gate. So, he stops

and he buys beer and now we walk. Our

barracks was the complete

opposite end of post. It's like a

four or five mile walk and we're

hammered. And so, I'm pretty

glad there was no smartphones

because there's no telling what we did on

that walk. But those

videos probably would have got

us in a lot of trouble.

You made it home though,

so at least that's that.

And we did. And I think it's funny

because in all the... It was probably a

good 10 or 11 months

that we would do this pretty much every

weekend. We never got stranded ever. We

never had not a ride

home. That was the only time that

somebody didn't drop us back off or stay

the night in our barracks.

You know what I mean?

So yeah. And like four miles is a decent

hump from the gate. Like that's...

Especially when you've

been drinking all night.

Yeah. You're like navigating by the North

Star going, "Where are we?"

There's another one would be probably...

So, St. Patrick's Day is

huge in Savannah. It's a giant

thing. Over a million people on River

Street. It's really cool.

They turn the whole river green.

So, my first year there, shortly after I

showed up to the unit, we all went to

party for St. Patrick's

Day. And there was a 12-mile ruck march

that started at four in

the morning the next morning.

But, we didn't get back from drinking

until three in the morning.

So we didn't even go to bed. We

just show up drunk on duty, just hammered

everybody. Everybody from... I mean from

at least the platoons

sarge down. They were all there. So

we're all hammered. And we

do the 12-mile ruck march.

And just, dude, if you would have had a

smartphone to film this, you'd be like,

"This is America's

fighting force. This is the cut."

All I can see is it's the beginning scene

of "Shaun Of The Dead" where

you go like, "Who died and made

you King Zombie?" Oooaaahhh. It was bad, man. It was

bad. That's the definition

of dead on the feet. Come on, now.

Yeah. And so, thank God we had just like a

DONSA after the ruck march

finished. And I think, dude,

that was truly... That was one of the

fastest times I ever had. I

finished it sub three hours,

which is kind of the standard, but I

don't know how. I don't

know how I finished it. And,

dude, as we're all finishing, we're all

throwing up. You can smell

the alcohol coming out of our

pores. Of course.

You know, it's just... It's in the bones.

I really am glad that there was no

smartphones for that stuff, man. And

you're right, probably

a hundred other stories that I

just can't think of right now.

No worries.

They should probably live in my memory

and never be talked about again.

And in puddles in Savannah.

Yes. Very much, yes.

I think those two will cover. So, nearing

the end of your service, what

drove your decision to retire?

It wasn't me, man. My body quit. Four

deployments, almost 50

months of combat time.

I had one, two, three, four, five

surgeries while I was still in. So I had

two shoulder surgeries.

I had a hernia repair and then I had my

entire left foot put back

together, which took three

surgeries. The decision, I guess you're

putting me on the spot. I have to be

honest, the decision

actually was mine. They gave me the

option to MMRB, which is a medical

reclass. So I would change

MOSs and then kind of finish my career in

a different job. I said no to that.

It was like a desk job

kind of thing at that point.

Oh yeah. A hundred percent would have

been probably a

non-deployable or kind of like a

FOBbit role, whatever. Obviously not

going to work for me

because I was never a fobbit.

That was not the role that I played. I

was an infantry guy. I

was in the fight always.

Some was more boring than others. I'm not

here to evangelise and make

it something that it wasn't.

I've seen it all. I've seen heavy combat

and firefights that last

a long time to an entire

deployment where I didn't fire a single

round because it was so

boring and ROE was that lame.

But for me, the fact that I was a senior

staff sergeant, so I'm about to be an E7,

that's a leadership issue. I cannot as a

senior non-commissioned

officer go to another MOS where

I'm supposed to be the subject matter

expert to mentor, to

lead, and to train these young

soldiers that are coming up. I just knew

that I wasn't going to fit

that mould. How am I going to

be a leader in an MOS that I don't know?

You know what I mean? I'm

only going to have as an E6 or an

E7, I'm only going to have whatever the

length of reclass training is.

I gonna go to... That's the other part of it.

I'm going to go to their AIT. I'm going

to be treated like shit as

a senior non-commissioned

officer with more combat time than most.

I don't know. I think, I think, if I

really think about it too,

I was just bitter. I was angry that my

career is over. I

can't do what I do anymore.

So I just kind of took the angry way out

and said, "Okay, well,

I guess I'm going to get

medically retired. Screw you guys."

Fair enough. There's a lot to be

said about when the body says

no, the body is done. It's a thing. But,

you go back and you can

play the, we've already kind of

touched on it, the hindsight being 20/20.

You go like, "Oh, well,

maybe I could have talked about

being an officer. Maybe I could have

talked about this. Maybe I

could have been a spaceship."

But it's done now. It's okay.

And honestly, it was probably the right

decision because I've had another five

surgeries since I've

been out, just putting myself back

together after destroying my body from

the age of 18 to 30.

So, what you're trying to tell the

audience is that you're just

very clumsy. Is that what I'm

understanding

correctly? Yeah, I think so.

That's fine.

I fucked around and found out.

He keeps talking about combat. All he

does is fall downstairs

all day long. It's just like,

"Come on now." I do

do that. I do do that.

Let's not have that be

true. That was a joke.

I actually trip over my own feet quite a

bit, which is, I just did it this

morning. I was walking

out of the bathroom at the gym on the way

to the leg press and

just my feet get in the way sometimes.

And then, it's one of those stumble, fall,

run forward. Did anybody

see that embarrassing

moments? Yeah. That happens to me more

often than I'd like to admit.

So, are you just trying to exhibit your

inner newly born gazelle

or something where they just

have to figure out the legs? Yeah. Maybe

that's what it is. It

was leg day today too,

so maybe I can blame

it on that. Fair enough.

Okay. So, at this point, you're out. What,

What was the moment you

realised civilian life was

going to be different? Probably the day I

got out, man. I think for me,

I may not have the same kind of vision of

what it was like that

other people do in that I was

medically retired, so I got a hundred

percent total and permanent.

So I know that I'm going to

get a significant amount of money into my

bank account and I'm not

really going to be pressured

to have to go and find that super

lucrative job. I don't have a family. I

was living in a really

cheap apartment at the time. So, it was

basically a lateral move for

me. I was making less money,

of course. However, it didn't really

affect me because I wasn't spending a

whole bunch of money.

So for me, just knowing that the day that

I got out, and I actually

am writing a book about my

transition story because that's what I

do. My brand is advocating

for a better veteran transition.

And now, obviously, some veteran policy

issues that we're dealing

with. But, in my transition,

as I'm writing this book, I realise that

first day I got out, it's like

one o'clock. I'm supposed to

be back at work call formation after

lunch and it's just deathly

silent. And I'm 30 years old.

I have, all my friends have jobs. All of my army

friends have to be back at

work. So, I'm just in this

between. What do I do now? And that's

when I realised the

phone's not ringing anymore. I'm

not putting out fires. I'm not a leader

anymore because I'm not in

the army anymore. And that's

when I realised it was going to be very

different, man. Very, very different.

How... I've spent 13 years of

somebody telling me where to be, when to

be there, what uniform

to... All day every day.

All day, multiple times a day. And I

don't think that's a bad

thing. I think that's why the army

works. Yeah. Being extremely regimented

to, and I've said this and

I'll repeat it for your benefit,

transitioning more often than not is like

a miniature death. You

just kind of go like,

well, what happened? You're on your own

big boy. Have fun. That's it.

Yeah. A thousand percent, man. And you're

absolutely right. It's just a complete...

You don't know how to create that

structure for yourself

because from the minute you join,

I mean, for me, my delayed entry, a year

of indoctrination before

the real indoctrination,

that is drilled into you from day one,

minute one. And so, what

they don't teach you is how do

you build that regimen for yourself?

Yeah. Of course, you go

to some leadership schools,

you learn about the five paragraphs of an

op-word and how to put

these things together. You learn

what WARNOs and FRAGOs and OPORDs

are. And that's largely what

drives the structure of the

military, but you don't understand how to

build that for yourself

when it's been given to you for

13 years. Yeah. Again, echoing that, when

you go, you know who you're reporting to,

you know who reports to you, you know

what time you're eating, you

know what time you do this,

and you go like, wait, hold on, I'm

supposed to do my... What? Hold on a

tick. This isn't the same.

What are you talking about? No, man. It's

strange. It's a very, very

uncomfortable, strange feeling.

Sure. So what did not translate well,

let's say it that way?

So much, man. I'm just going to poke the

bear. That's all I need to do.

Yeah, honestly, first of all, the

attitude, right? Like the... particularly

as a combat arms guy,

like as an infantry guy, I hate saying it

like this because it sounds so

egotistical. It's just

true. The infantry inside of the military

is a miniature military

inside of the military.

It's completely different than the rest

of the MOSs, the rest of

the regular army, the rest of

the Marine Corps. And I've got all the

conversations of infantry

guys who feel the exact same way.

Sure. I've got some soft skill MOS guys

who agree with me because they've been

attached to infantry

units. So it's very different. This

attitude, you know, we've had

professional athletes come and

train with us and they're like, dude, you

do more than we do. You

train as hard as we do. It's

incredible, right? So, none of it

translates, man. The civilian world is

all about mediocrity and

just showing up, doing the bare minimum

and going home at five

o'clock. So none of it translates

because in my role and what I was doing

for my career, it's very

much like I'm responsible for,

as a team leader, three other dudes'

lives. Sure. As a squad leader, nine

other people's lives. As

a platoon sergeant, 40 people's lives.

I'm responsible. The

decisions that I make, my

leadership is directly responsible for

whether they live or

die. Right? So that level of

responsibility, how could that translate

to the civilian world? You mean that doesn't

translate into who's getting

submarine sandwiches for lunch and why is

it a half hour late? That

doesn't translate. Come on,

I think you're having us on. You know,

to your point, like something

as stupid as in the civilian

world, they say that we're having a

meeting at nine o'clock. My experience is

like all the military

people are going to be there at 8:45

because that's what we're

taught. We're going to sit there

till 9:30 before the meeting starts. And Timeliness is not a thing.

then we're already

pissed off because we're

30 fucking minutes, man. What is going on

here, dude? It's hard to

say, dude. And it's been so long

since I got out to. So for me to

actually recall what all of

this feels like. No worries.

No worries at all. Particularly with

disqualifying myself from the corporate

world. I want nothing

to do with the corporate world because of

how much none of it

translates. I'm so much

better off just doing what I do now. I'm

way happier for

sure. I understand. So let's say it this way,

who or what, kind of, helped you adjust? Oh

yeah. I love that you're

asking this question because

I actually can articulate this is I've

had some time to sit

back and look at my journey.

When I first got out, I didn't have a

clue what I was going to do. I had no

idea. Like seriously,

and I mean this because flying has always

been a dream. Right. So,

aviation was a dream. I told

you, I tried to join the Navy and the Air

Force. I got laughed out of

the foyer at my high school

by them. They told me there was not a

shot, a snowball's chance

in hell that I would ever fly

for the military. I even put in two

warrant packets while I

was in the army to fly. And

And, hoping that the technology would get

better to fix my eyes. Well, spoiler

alert, the technology

is never going to get good enough to fix

my eyes because I'm

very, very, very far sided,

which means they need to build the curve

of my eye. My eye is flat.

Well, we can't really build

our eyes anymore than what we've already

been able to establish. So, I

digress on that. But I found

out that I could go to flight school. I

went to an orientation at Clover Park

Technical College in

Puyallup, Washington. It was like a win.

I went through the whole

two hour briefing that they

give the tour, all of that. And I went

straight to the assistant

chief and I was like, man,

what are the odds that I can actually

come to this school and

learn how to fly? And he's like,

what do you mean? I was like, I wear

glasses. I've been told no my

whole life. He's like, dude,

like this is civilian aviation. As long

as you can get corrected to

20/20, you can fly. And I was

like, I'm a pilot as well. And when you

talk about people and you go

like, well, hold on a moment.

Are you flying humans? Cargo? Are you

doing this as a

charter? There are different

questions to answer here. Yes. Yes.

My main concern was, are my eyes going to

disqualify me from flying?

Sure. The answer was no. And so, I

immediately started the process. While

all of that was going

on, I didn't, I'm like a guy that needs

to have something to do

always. It is not good for me to

sit around and do nothing. It's just

really bad for my physical,

my mental, my emotional health.

It's just not good for me. So I always

need to have something to

do. I didn't need a job when

I got out, but I was blessed enough to

meet Larry and Margo Perini

who owned or owned several vape

shops. Actually, they owned one at the

time in Olympia, Washington. They

eventually expanded to

three and a bar and really blessed to

know these people. And I'll

save you all the details on how

we met and why they're special to me and all No worries.

that. But Larry saw that

it's not good for me to sit

around and he called me out of the blue

one day and said, Hey, I

need an employee and I think you

should come do this. And I was like,

okay, cool. So, I started working at the

vape shop retail. And,

I started learning about how all of it

works and how things are ordered and

customer service and

how that makes a difference and point of

sale systems. And I

really started learning the

business. They weren't trying to teach me

the business. I wasn't

a manager. I just, I just

observe it. I see I pay attention to it all.

Learn by doing. So, while I was

going through flight school,

that's what it did. And I learned a tonne

and had a lot of fun and, of

course, made a little extra

spending cash. As I finished up flight

school, I wanted to go get

my bachelor's and I kind of

couldn't work out a schedule at the vape

shop. So, long story short,

I got an opportunity to go

manage a gun store. And that's where I

really learned about

business because former veteran

owned the gun store, needed a lot of

help. Didn't realise that he was a

terrible business owner.

Long story short, I turned his entire

business around and he

stopped showing up seven days a

week. So it was like my gun store. I was

doing literally everything

from ordering to background

checks, to NFA items, to taking in all of

the repair stuff, to

payroll, to you name it. I was,

I was the guy. I was doing all of it. So I

really, for about a year, I just learned

how to run a business

and I made a shit tonne of money for him. And,

that's when I had finished my

bachelor's. The reason I went

to go get the bachelor's is because in

the aviation world, I wanted to fly

internationally. That would

have made me more competitive. That's

neither here nor there

because I don't do any of that

shit anymore. But part of the voc-rehab

thing is when you graduate,

they give you three or four

months of extra money and it's a

significant chunk of change. As long as

you're looking for a new

career and you can show that you're

applying to jobs and the caveat is you

cannot refuse interviews.

So, I ended up applying to jobs just to get

the extra money. I had no idea what I

actually wanted to do.

COVID was going on. So everything in

Washington state was shut

down. So I knew I was going to be

a pilot for a while. Plus, you as a pilot,

know, there's like 1200

extra hours you got to go get.

Well, in the States, yeah. And that's one of those things

that people don't want to talk about either.

It's like that's only

in the States when you talk about the 12

and you talk about Europe

and you go, that doesn't exist.

And you get like, hold on a minute. What?

Yeah, well, it's a wild bunch.

That's Congress and their

infinite wisdom thinking that it's safer.

Well, let me tell you this.

The guy who sits in the left

seat of a jet, he's got like 20 years,

probably 10 at least. He's the one in

charge. So you don't

really need 1200 extra hours really

tooling around in a small airplane

because that's how most people

get their hours anyway. Yeah. Your

aerodynamics and your

stall knowledge is great. If you're getting

typed on something like, oh, how does

that, how does, how does, you know,

747 translate

to a 172 and you go, um, they

both have wings. They both

have wings. I think there's the

similarity. Like you do a spin in

one of those and you tell me how it

feels. Yeah, for sure,

man. And, and look, look, I'll digress on

all that because flying is

still to me, one of the greatest

things I've ever accomplished being a

pilot. I just realised that

the dream was to be a pilot

and fly for myself, not to do it for

somebody else. And I think

that's a really important

distinction because for me, that is now a

goal. Like my goal with

business is to make enough

money that I can buy a Cirrus Vision Jet

and just fly myself

wherever I want. And I, I don't

think that that's an unrealistic goal

because you can get one used for like

1.1, you know, that's really not much

Yeah, no, I will say we can, we can get

into, um, not a debate, but a suggestion

session, uh, as far as

thrust and everything else, the

Vision Jet, like they do a really good job of

saying like, this is

sexy and this is, it's one of the slowest

birds that exists, but this

is something we can, we can

discuss later. Meade, you know, I, like I'd be

okay even with like an SR 22 or a

HondaJet, you know, like... Sure.

HondaJet make a beautiful one. They really do. Dude, they are beautiful.

Have you had the opportunity

to like get in one? Uh, no,

I've been in, uh, uh, things like CJ's

and otherwise I haven't

actually been in a, uh,

a HondaJet though, but I've done Oh, they're awesome.

research on them. They really are cool.

Yeah, and, anyway, like, like the point is,

is I want to own my own airplane at some

point when it makes sense

and just, just enjoy aviation

for what it is. Like so, so freeing and

just so amazing to, you

know, I have a thing for like

doing things that like only one percent of

people can do, I guess. So, you know, so...

I understand. That is flying, right? And I

forget where I was

going with all of this. Oh, no worries.

When I learned, yeah, so, so working the

gun store, I... long story

short, I got a knack for business. I

ended up getting an opportunity to move

across the country and really start my

own insurance agency.

I didn't know that's what it was at the

time, but I got sold hook

line and sinker on selling

final expense insurance, uh, and, and

really kind of working for myself 1099,

like eat what you kill,

really lucrative. Um, and so that's how

it went for me. I moved all

the way across the country,

left Washington, uh, in November of 2020,

went out to South Carolina, started

selling final expense

to the poorest one third of Americans and

very quickly went broke

and learned that I had a lot

to learn from there. Uh, I pivoted to,

uh, health insurance sales, which was

work from home. That was

not a bad gig, not nearly as lucrative as

life insurance. However,

what I sold there would

actually stay on the books. I left that

because they turned my leads

off for 10 days. And anybody

who knows a sales cycle, like that's just

suicide. Um, from there I worked, uh,

property and casualty

insurance at an all state agency. I left

that after six months

because I got stiffed on $6,000

worth of commission. And also because,

um, I was the only agent in

the office doing anything,

including the owner. The owner wouldn't

talk to his book of

business. And so I just was like,

this is, I'm never going to be successful

here. Um, from there I went

to Medicare, Medicaid sales.

Um, that is, that is just as demoralising

as knocking doors,

selling final expenses to the

poorest one third of Americans. It's

really sad. And it made me

feel like a terrible human.

So, I actually left all of that. I let my

licenses and all that

expire. I went and decided I was

going to go back to flying. Um, so

finished CFI. Uh, that's when I tore my

bicep tendon and hit rock

bottom, and then found ayahuasca. And so

that's ayahuasca is truly

what freed me and allowed me to

take a journey. Like, and I'll pause you

for a moment, and then

you kind of answered this,

but, uh, just to poke the bear a little

bit more, were there any

things that you needed to unlearn?

I think you've said so. This is wild. So

bicep tendon, we went from that

to ayahuasca. Now quick question as far

as the medical did, did

the tendon pop off the bone?

Yeah. Yeah. So I actually had, so this is

how it went. So, um, I'm a pretty

miserable human being at this point,

right? Like I just given

you this long. So from,

I got out November of 2015, it is now,

um, when I tore my

bicep tendon, it's 2022.

So it's like November, December of 2022.

Okay. And so that, that was

my journey, right? So college,

uh, you know, managing other people's

businesses and making them a lot of

money, um, failing in

the insurance industry, because I was, I

was, I was just given the

sales pitch. I wasn't actually

educated on how to sell insurance, how to

get, uh, what chargebacks

are, how to get business to stay

on the books, et cetera, et cetera, et

cetera. Um, and so I just resigned

myself. Like I'm just

going to go back to flight school. I'll

finish CFI. I'll, I didn't

want to be a CFI at all. I don't

want to be dependent on a student for

paycheck. I don't know many

pilots that really want to be a

CFI. Usually it's always a CFI so they

can get to the airlines. And

that's it. I just, I fought it

and fought it. Didn't want to do it.

Resign myself to, you know, at least I'm

flying, right? At least

it's something that I do enjoy, even

though it's going to be miserable. Cause

I'm going to do five

of the same lesson with this, you know,

five different students

every single day for each

18 months to get these hours. Um, and long

story short, my log book,

when I finished commercial,

got stolen by a tweaker out of my garage

in my house in

Washington, uh, right before COVID

happened. I've completely forgot about

that. Needed those numbers, had to

petition the FAA to,

and send them a paper check for $2 and

then wait six months to get

those numbers so that I could

take the check ride for CFI. So to this

day, I'm about three days

worth of work away from the check

ride for CFI. I haven't, I just haven't

finished. Um, sure. Um, also

there was a bear that came and

clawed your leg and that woman started

shrieking. Are there any other weird

obstacles that you'd

like to throw into the mix, good sir?

I mean, we're here to entertain them. I spent, I spent

$10,000 to get my medical to even

go to flight school in the first place.

Sure. Because I'm

guessing none of the, the logbook

was digitised. This was all just paper.

No, what was funny

Meade, you'll appreciate this.

In IACRA. Sure. I go to, I go to the

IACRA website to do all

the paperwork for, you know,

the, the 8710 to take the check ride. And

my private pilot check

ride is, is digitally on

IACRA's website, but my commercial one

isn't. How would my private pilot one

from three years ago,

not be archived, but my commercial one

is. And it was only a

year ago. As it turns out,

one of those require a little bit more

flight knowledge, just

saying. As it turns out,

you know, so like why, so that, that was

actually why I had to write

the FAA. I did everything.

I went to the FSDO. I liked, I was

like, you guys are really

going to make me wait six months

to get this. And they said, yes. So

paperwork, we're finding a common thread

with your particular

stories, paperwork. That's why we don't

invite paperwork to

play. Yeah, we don't. We did

paperwork, the bane of my existence, but

yeah. So, so yeah, I

did. I tore the bicep tendon

down at the bend in your elbow, which is

kind of the most rare place to tear it.

Yeah. Usually it's up at

the top of the humerus.

I also tore it there.

Well done you. Well done you.

Yeah, that, that was fixed before I got

out of the army with the two

shoulder surgeries I had. So

that was part of the two shoulder

surgeries down here at the

bottom. Man, look, I was,

I'm telling you, I was at rock bottom. I

weighed 321 pounds. I was at

the fastest I had ever been.

I was just disgustingly out of shape.

It's a wonder that, you

know, it didn't happen sooner.

And the way I tore it is I had gone to my

Dad's, we were working on

my Harley and I was putting

the front sharing back on my Harley. And

as I pushed, it just

popped. It just snapped.

Literally, Dad heard it. He said, what the

fuck was that? I said, I

just took my bicep tendon.

I walked out the garage door. I threw up

in his landscape

because it hurt that bad.

Oh yeah.

And, and, and then walk back in the

garage and he's like, are

you serious? I was like, Dad,

I don't know how to tell you, like, I

know I'm not a doctor,

but I know I just tore this

completely, just completely tore it. So

this is where it gets really interesting.

Then why I had two surgeries. So I go

through the VA immediately,

like the next day, because I know

a bicep tendon, you got to get it

repaired quickly. Cause it's like leaving

a rubber band in the sun.

It just, it gets brittle and eventually

you can't fix it. So they

send me to community care

because they can't do it. I go to this

doctor. This doctor cuts me

open. He wakes me up to tell

me, oh, your MRI is wrong. Your bicep

tendon is not torn. I couldn't find it.

Couldn't find it. Oh, pardon. I left it

in the carpark. What do

you mean you couldn't find it?

So, now this is where I learn, I go back

to the VA. I'm like, Hey,

this isn't right. Like it's

definitely fucking torn. Like you can

visibly see that it's

torn. This surgeon, like it's,

it's an elective surgery. Like you don't

have to fix a bicep tendon.

Yeah, no, you don't need to be able to

bend the arm. Adam,

listen, listen, you and your

highfalutin ways in your

arms. Yeah, right. What do you want from me?!?

Yeah. So, so I, I get with the VA, I

fight back and forth

for like three weeks.

Goodness.

Turns out I have to go over to Orlando

because all the surgeons

in the network over here,

they have a hard and fast rule. They

won't see you if you've been cut on

within the last 90 days.

So it's like a, it's an insurance thing,

right? Like I, I respect

it. I understand it. Thank God

they sent me over to Orlando Health Jewett

Orthopedic Institute. And I

get with Dr. Zumsteg and, what an

amazing human being, because my first

appointment with him, he

agrees to see me. He walks in,

he says, I'm Dr. Zumsteg. First things

first, I don't think your

MRI was wrong. And I was like,

okay, we're in business now. Right? So

long story short, he agrees

to fix it. He does fix it. He

found the tendon, uh, have a really cool

scar. It's kind of like a,

it's like a 90, 90 degree

angle where he had to like peel the skin

back to actually get to

the tendon. It's really cool.

Kind of, I don't know. I like my scars, I

guess, but, but long

story, he, he fixed it. I have a

donor tendon in there. Um, and, uh, you

honestly can't even tell

that I actually tore it. I don't

have like the double peaks, like some

people do. I'm kind of blessed in that.

Um, but that actually

set my recovery back about nine months.

So I was in a cast for a lot

longer, uh, more scar tissue,

uh, just the whole left arm atrophies.

And you go like, great.

I have one, one big arm,

one small arm. Like, great. This is,

that's not natural at all.

Yeah. So the big kicker there is

the day I tore the bicep tendon is the

same day that I had

received the numbers from the FAA

in the mail. Oh, wow. So I was literally

scheduled to go back and

finish CFI that following week.

And, um, you know, I, that's, that's when

I, I mean, torn bicep

tendon, your left arm, right

seat is where you're taking the check

ride. Can't work a throttle pretty

important to be able to

work the throttle. Had I been doing any

other check ride from the

left seat, I still think

I could have flown and been fine. Um, but

let's just say, uh, I'm

glad you didn't, uh, you know,

if you can't move the arm up to the yoke,

uh, maybe, maybe let it ride for a bit.

So, so that was it, man. Um, that was

rock bottom for me. I, um, while I was

working a, a menial is

actually a really great job. I worked in

the sod farm, uh, while I was

waiting for those numbers to

come from the FAA, uh, really cool. No

responsibility show up,

mow grass from 7 to

5:30 every day. Listen to books,

podcasts, all of that good stuff, like

completely left alone,

like honestly, like and made a thousand

dollars a week after taxes, which is

really, that's really

good money. Um, and for not a lot of

work, dude, like I sat on my

ass in the hot Floriday sun, and I

mowed grass and listened to books. I

bettered myself for money.

That's a pretty cool. Um,

and that's, that's where I really, I

found The Shawn Ryan Show.

It's how I got introduced to,

to plant medicine. Ibogaine

and 5-MeO-DMT was his

story and his guest stories.

Then his wife interviewed him on her pod

on his podcast about his

journey. Then I started seeking

it out because you know, the bicep tendon

thing was pretty much rock

bottom for me. I was pretty

suicidal. I wanted to kill myself.

I didn't think that I

belonged anywhere in the world. Um,

got really even more discouraged as I

started looking for a

nonprofit that would pay for me

to go and have a plant medicine

experience because 95% of

them at the time were all,

they would all cater to special

operations. They didn't cater and still

don't really cater to

conventional guys like me. And then by

the grace of God, I got picked up by

Heroic Hearts Project

and July 2nd through the 7th of 2023 is

when my entire life changed

and, uh, it turned me into

the person that I am now. And I've built

literally everything, uh,

from, from the heels of that first

retreat. Well, I'm glad that you got

involved the way that you

did. I'll say it that way.

I think, uh, we all have a journey,

right? And mine, I'm learning that mine

is really interesting

and fascinating to people and can serve

as a really good example

for, you know, things that,

that we as vets getting out don't have to

go through. Sure.

Definitely that. Well, to all

of you listening at home, uh, if you love

what you're hearing as much

as we love what we're doing,

smash that subscribe button and, you

know, getting into the now,

what, what is your mission now?

I have several, um, the, the mission with

the brand, uh, is to, to

just be the guy I didn't have

when I transitioned out to, to be, you

know, that, that example of like, Hey,

um, you don't have to

make the same mistakes that I did. You

don't have to go through

eight and a half years of struggle

before you figure out, um, what, what,

what you should be doing or what's going to resonate

with you. And moreover, it's to push you into,

um, ignoring all of those

people who are telling you

when you get out, you should do this, you

should do that. It's to

encourage you to sit with yourself

in front of the mirror and truly ask

yourself what you want to be doing and

then help you find a way

to pursue that. Um, whether that's to

earn a living, um, or, I mean, obviously everybody needs

to earn a living. I'm of the belief that

everybody can earn a living doing

something that truly

resonates with them and makes them happy.

We don't need as much money

as we think that we do. Um,

we, we can live incredible lives, uh,

doing things that resonate

with us. And, um, that's kind of

the mission with, with TSV and the brand.

Um, then, you know, in business, my mission is to

obviously create generational wealth that

I don't come from. But the thing that

drives me is, is, uh,

I want to retire my Dad. My Dad is

constantly, it's in every year it goes

up. He, he says he'll be 72

years old before he can truly retire. My

Dad is one of the hardest

working people that I've ever

met in my entire life. And he does it at

such a level that, you

know, it's, it's no wonder I am

the way that I am. It's just, it's

always professional. It's always done the

right way. He doesn't cut

corners. And I would like to

see him enjoy his, his later years in

life and not have to work, you know, 40

hours a week till he's

72 years old. So, that's the mission

there. And then the mission with the

plant medicine stuff is to

obviously provide people the opportunity

to have a

transformational experience. Like I did.

I love that. Well, that actually rolls

into the kind of another

query. How do you feel your

identity has evolved

since leaving service?

Um, I don't know that it has, man. I

think a huge part of my

identity was, was being a leader. I

loved being a leader. I loved mentoring

soldiers and I was, look, I

have not been the nicest to

myself about this. I had a mediocre

career. I could have had

such a much better career. I

truly did have a mediocre career and I

carried over into, I

thought I was a shitty leader. I

really did think I was, I wasn't a great

leader. Um, hindsight is

20/20. I can see now that I was

actually kind of a phenomenal leader.

And, there've been guests on

my podcast that have said as

much that were my subordinates. I still

mentor several kids that

are, you know, at the end of

their careers now, but I still get to

mentor them and look now

because I built this platform and

I'm advocating for people to not make the

same mistakes. And not only

do I get to lead the army,

I get to lead all of the military again.

So, I don't think my

identity has changed that much at

all, man. I get to be a leader in

entrepreneurship and encouraging these

guys and girls that are

getting out, women, whatever, to, to, to

think outside the box, to,

to consider an avenue that

nobody turned me on to when I was getting

out, right? Like, like,

and it's, it's also 2026,

like the barrier to entry to becoming an

entrepreneur is it's

non-existent right now.

You have so many tools at your disposal

to shortcut so many

things. Um, so I get to be a

leader in that. And then in the plant

medicine space, I get to be

a leader in, in making sure

that it's done the right way, making sure

intentions are set

and, and, you know, um,

integration is, is pre and post and it's

being done. And, and, uh,

so I, I really don't think

that it's changed at all. It just looks

very different. Fair

enough. Fair enough. So what do

you think, let's say, um, strengths from

service that serve you

well, like things that you, you

wouldn't have had otherwise that, that

really are who you are now.

Oh, hands down discipline, um, uh, hands

down adaptability,

problem solving, leadership, um,

the same skills that do translate well to

the civilian world. If you

know how to translate them,

uh, they're the high leverage skills that

I talk about that the

military gives us. I mean, from day

one, whether you realise it or not,

they're grooming us to be the best

leaders that we can be.

Leadership, it is second to none

anywhere on the planet

than, you know, in the military,

like, like that is the standard of

leadership, I think. Right.

Um, so, so yeah, all of those

things I carry with me, but the biggest

one for sure is

discipline. Discipline for me is,

is my number one core value. Uh,

discipline is something that will never

abandon you. Discipline

is always there to show you the way. If

you just remain disciplined, you will

accomplish literally

everything that you set out to accomplish

in your life period, end of story. It's

all around discipline.

I love that. I absolutely adore that. Oh goodness.

So, this is something that you

probably won't have a whole

lot to offer on, but I'll ask it anyway.

What, what do you have to

offer veterans that are in

transition? Oh man. What advice can you

give them? What's something

they need to hear from you?

Stop listening to everybody else, and

start listening to yourself.

I'm serious, man. I see this all the

time. It's, it's, it's signal versus

noise. I know that's

cliché, but it's so true. Oh, you're

quoting me. I say that constantly. And

it's, but it's true,

man. The only signal that should be

coming in as you're getting out is from

yourself. And, you know,

to go more in depth on that, what does

that look like? How do I listen to

myself, Adam? I don't,

I don't know what that means. And well,

aren't you being kind of a

hypocrite? Because you're,

you're, you're, you're giving me this

advice and you're telling me not to

listen to you. Yeah.

That's, that is kind of hypocritical, I

guess, or catch 22 ish or

whatever that is. But you,

you have to sit in the mirror and have

the tough conversation with

yourself. You have to analyse

what are my core beliefs, my core values,

my passions, and, and

how can I live a life that

is in alignment with those? What does

that look like career wise?

Where can I spend less money?

Where can I sacrifice in the short term

to, you know, to, to reap

the rewards in the long term?

Like all of those questions have to be

answered. And the only way

to do that is to turn off the

noise that's coming from the outside and

to listen to the signals

that you're giving yourself.

I love that. Yeah. The, the Japanese have

a, a wonderful word that

kind of wraps all of that

up in one. It's, have you

heard the term "Ikigai" before?

Ikigai. Yes, of course. I

designed my life around it. There we go.

And look, man, you could take the

Ikigai even further. If you look at it,

there's a really good

Netflix documentary because like part of

my new obsession is, is the

Bible says we can live to 120.

I'm healthier. I've completely turned my,

my entire life around

from, from the first ayahuasca

ceremony. My new goal is to live to 120.

So I'm obsessed with

blue zones. And if you look,

Japan is a blue zone and the reason they

attribute the biggest reason those

centenarians, I think is what they call

them. Yeah. They attribute

it to the Ikigai. If they

didn't have the Ikigai, they wouldn't

have purpose and they

wouldn't live as long.

Well, I think it's also a big thing, like

something that I've

said a tonne of, especially

when you talk, you know, say agency or

military, otherwise, not everyone that

want you to do work

for them are kind hearted individuals.

Some of them are definitely

individuals that you should

not be involved in. And the concept in

the middle of like the four

square Ikigai where you say

like, well, these are the things I'm, I'm

great at. These are the

things society need. And then the

big one that no one really talk about for

me is the, and these are

the things I'm willing to be

paid for, because just because you can do

something, does not mean you should.

Exactly, man. I just so

good. I just did this last night with,

with another guy, he runs a community and

asked me to come speak

about networking to his community. And we

actually talked about kind

of along the same lines, but,

but as you join, you begin your

entrepreneurial journey, you're going to

experiment with a lot

of different things, right? And you're

going to start to understand

the things that you're good

at and the things that you're not good

at. And you should not ever

focus on the things that you're

not good at. You're never going to go

forward. If you're focusing

on it, you're not going to get

better at the things that you're not good

at. It's just, it just

really is like, yes, you in theory

could get better if you practice them.

However, you're wasting

time. Go, go focus on the things

that you are good at and practice those.

Yeah. The thing that I say

constantly and like any time I

ask anyone, they always go, I'd never

been asked this before. This happens

constantly with veterans.

And I go, what makes you happy? And they

go, Oh, don't ask big

questions like that. Like

instantaneously, like no one have ever

asked me like what I like.

And I'm like, well, I'm here

to do it. So, and then like all of a

sudden it just goes, I'm allowed to do

something that brings me

joy. And I go, well, not only allowed,

but required to. And to your point,

man, particularly in

veterans, because we're taught mission,

soldiers, then self, right?

So my whole life, I still am

guilty of this, Meade. I am not, I'm not

perfect at this. I still put a lot of

things that's, that's my,

in fact, that is, that is my 2026 that

I'm not a big goal setter. I

know that the self-help gurus

are going to fucking chastise me for

that. I just, I just don't believe in it.

I think it's bullshit.

Don't set a bunch of goals. Find like a

theme, a thing that you

want to change about yourself,

like something very deep seated. So for

me this year, that is the

letting go of the "I have to" and

the "I should", those feelings are

detrimental to my life. I'm not even

joking here and I'll cut you

off because I need you to hear from, like

I was on, like Reddit,

literally yesterday giving advice

to those in transition and things like

that. And they said, like, how do you

take care of you? And

I said, well, here's the thing. Guilt,

guilt is a poison pill. And if you feel

like you owe someone

something, if you feel like, oh, well, I

need to do this, then you're

not living like a pilot. And

you go, well, what's that mean? I'm like,

okay, what's the rule on a

jetliner? You're a pilot,

you know, we put your oxygen mask on

first. If you can't take care

of you, you can take care of no

one else. That's it. Yeah. No, it is

true. So that's, you know, I'm still

guilty of not putting

myself first, the carrying the guilt of I

have to do this because if

I don't do this, then I ruin

my reputation with the brand that I've

built or I kill the momentum in the

business or, you know,

insert whatever fucking excuse you want.

Nonsense reason. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Absolutely. So, you know,

saying all of that to say like, like,

you're absolutely right.

Like, nobody, we don't know

how to articulate what actually makes us

happy because we're so

focused on making other people

happy at the expense of our own

happiness. And I'm still wrestling with

that question. If you were to

point blank, ask me that question right

now, I wouldn't have an

answer for you because I still

don't know. It's some combination of

this, what we're doing right

now. This makes me genuinely

very happy. I enjoy podcasting a lot.

I love it. I enjoy the work

that I do. So, you know,

the plant medicine stuff, the AI stuff,

but that's not true

happiness. And I don't know

what my version of like true happiness is

outside of kind of work,

if you will. You know what I

mean? Maybe that's yet to be revealed,

but I think it'll show itself soon.

Oh yeah, I'm with you.

I really, I know a big part of it will be

travel. So, I think, you

know, this work has given me a

platform that now is allowing me to

travel. So, maybe like you're

saying that that's happiness

starting to reveal itself. I do know I am

very happy enjoying the

journey. I will say that.

Then there you go. I've said this a tonne.

If you're playing the

game, you're still winning.

That's the only way to really see it at

all. And I'm telling you,

this is such a fun game, man.

It's such a fun game because when you

win, oh man, do you

win. Yeah, no, that's true.

Well, let's do this. We've talked about

you. We've talked about that.

So, we've talked about this.

What about people? What about civilians?

What do you, if you can like

just like drop a thought in

something that they need to

know. What do they need to hear?

It's the same shit, man. It's the same

stuff. Like what I am,

everything that I talk about, all of my

philosophies, all of

the things that I preach

on LinkedIn, because that's really the

only place I'm at, and my podcast. I've

been blessed enough to

see this grow. My audience is 50-50,

veterans and civilian. It's

not, I mean, these are universal

things that civilians and military alike

can adopt and do these.

The things that I talk about

that have helped me, the mindfulness, the

breath work, the

grounding practices, the yoga, the

meditation, all of that stuff applies to

all of the things, to

sitting down in front of the mirror

having the conversation with yourself, to

cancelling out the noise, to

learning how to determine what

is noise. Yes, noise comes from your

kids. It comes from your spouse. It comes

from your parents. It

comes from your brother and your sister.

It comes from all of

those places. I do not care

what you think about that. When you tune

out the noise of what all

those other people want you to

be doing, and you start listening to

yourself and focusing on that, all of

those other things fall

into place where they're supposed to. I

promise you, it's not

bullshit. It's not made up. It's

very true. When I started focusing on

taking care of myself, all the other

piddly little bullshit

from the outside noise started to fall

into place. Everything. I've said this a

tonne, and you've nailed

it on the head of people can wait. It's

one of those things where

you go like, "Oh, this needs

to get done last week." My wife says this

constantly of, "Well, if

everything's important,

then nothing is important." So true.

You'll appreciate this

and I wish I could remember

where I heard it. I heard it on a

podcast. I know that for

sure, but they talk about the word

priority. It should never be plural. How

can you have more than one priority?

We have 13 things that are paramount.

By definition, you have one.

Yeah. I love it.

Obviously, the podcast I heard that on,

there was a lot longer explanation.

Sure.

It was way more articulated. However,

simplifying it still

carries a lot of weight. Priority

should not be plural. There's no such

thing as priorities

because by definition,

you cannot have more than one.

Well said. No, I love it.

So what is your priority and

it should be yourself always?

Yeah. Well, see, that's another thing

that people, I literally

said this yesterday as well,

is that people start feeling the whole

guilty thing when they

say, "Oh, I'm going to take

care of me, but isn't that selfish?" No.

And this is where people get it twisted.

Selfish means doing something at the

detriment of someone else. It's

benefiting you and taking away

from them. If you're doing something

great, that's not taking something away

from this guy or her

or this or whatever. That's just you

making yourself as big as

you should be. But, that's

the difference is that people think of it

like it gets conflated with being

parasitic where you go,

"Well, I'm doing this," but it's at the

pulling away from someone

else. That's not the case.

And if anything, you being bigger makes

everyone else bigger.

That's the only thing to live by.

Yeah. And with my goal for 2026, with

letting go of "I have to", "I'm supposed to",

the guilt that comes with that,

I actually think it will allow me to be

more productive and help

more people. It absolutely will. Because

again, you're not focused

on, "Oh, this little thread

and this thing," and you go like, "No,

we're making a tapestry. I don't care.

Let's just do the thing."

And I'll be honest, it is so hard. It is

so hard when I get that DM

like, "Hey, man, I'd love to

get 30 minutes of your time." And it's

like, "Okay, but now I have

to gatekeep my time because

I feel like I have to when somebody

reaches out to me." And it's

like, No, I need to know why

you want 30 minutes of my time. And I

will decide if that moves the needle

forward or if it's just

wasting. I hate saying it like this, but

wasting my time. And, I say

that because I've talked to so

many people over the last two years,

particularly last year. And

I actually pay attention and

analyse what I'm doing, how I'm spending

my time. And I go back and

look at a lot of those meetings

and I'm like, "What did this actually

help me do? It didn't help me do

anything." So then it becomes

a waste of my time. Well, why did I do

that? Because I felt like I

had to. Because I felt like

that's what got me this far. And if I

abandon that now, I'm going to lose

everything. And that's

simply not fucking true. It's just not

true. And so now I get to

protect my time and you can think

whatever you want of me because I tell

you, "No, you're not worthy

to be on my calendar." But in

the long run, it's going to make the

brand that much bigger, that

much more powerful and allow

me to help more people like you. You know?

No, I get it. So, let's get into

something a little bit more

lighthearted. And you can play it however

you like to, but what's

like a film or a telly show,

Something that is just so funny that you

can't even believe it or

it's so accurate that it's

just like, "Wow, they really nailed

this." Something like

that. What do you have that

relates to military life?

That relates to military life.

And again, this can be ridiculous. It can

be something funny. It can be something

that's heartbreaking. It's dealer's

choice. Man, that's tough.

What comes to mind? Just straight away?

Straight away when you

talk about a TV show,

there's a Cinemax TV show called,

"Strike Back". It's one of my

favourites. I don't know why.

I love the dynamic between the two

operators in that show.

And they're super secret,

super special forces, whatever guys.

Like, Delta this, blah.

Yeah. Wildly inaccurate. Lots of... I've

watched, I think there's

four seasons, three or four

seasons. I've watched that all the way

through three or four

times. And I don't know why I'm

drawn to it. I just really like it. I

like Sullivan Stapleton

and I forget the other guy.

They're both British guys that are in it.

And, it's just really

well done and I enjoyed it.

I thought it was great. I can relate to a

lot of it, the situations

they find themselves in or

whatever. Because, I don't know.

It's just, it's silly, and I like it.

Beyond that, I'm not sure I can

articulate what it is about it.

No worries. That's one of those

things where a lot of times

it's... I find it's the chemistry. Where

you go and you're like, "I just..."

Listening to them speak,

you go like there's something... It just

It has that flavour to it. It has

that like, "I could have

a whole bowl of this. This is wonderful."

Yeah. A thousand

percent. And thinking about it,

it's like from the very first episode,

the way Sullivan Stapleton's character