We're giving up. Admit defeat.

inspired to play music? Or how did you get your big break? Or two or three or four, because it takes multiple layers, where do you come from? Tell me about your face? Those are kind of the stories that I told the story of who I was, the Diary of who I am, And it took about nineteen episodes plus a little, you know, little shaking bake here and

there throughout those episodes, different things. Right now, where I am with this podcast is giving you, hopefully some quality content, something that could answer some questions that you might need

to know about me. And ultimately my goal is give you some things to make your life a little bit better, Things that I've maybe learned along the way that are not secrets of me, that are moreover things that I have read or learned from people in my travels, or witnessed myself, or applied to something that's going on in

my life, and they are ideas worth sharing. And that makes me motivated to do this because I feel like if I could, if I could see something, and there's not many philosophical original ideas, right, I mean, everything has been thought out over thousands of years of human learning.

So if I could take a little piece of something I learned and share it with you guys, and someone else grabs onto it and then expands on it and learns more and then flips it and tells it to someone else, I mean, that's the way we evolve mentally as a species. That's the way we improve, that's the way the earth gets better. And so that's what I'm doing, and that's the main motivation. It inspires me. It helps me,

helps me to know that I'm doing something good. I'm making the world a bit better than the way I found it, knowing that some life has breathed easier because you lived. Ralph Waldo Emerson and I read that point It's called success, and I read it a couple episodes ago. One of my favorite poems. We found it in my dad's belongings. He had handwritten it from wherever he originally saw it, and it was in a cabinet with all of his things after he died. We found it and

we read that point. We're just blown away and then that that's that's the kind of man my dad was. Really. I want to I want to talk about answering your questions and this is this is something not only is it endless, it could never end there there's always another

question and I and I don't mind answering them. And I'm going I go into this stuff completely unprepared, like I have zero notes on the desk here, and so I think this is a way for me to not continually have a guest or a content or you know, a planned content. And I will do those and I will have guests, but in the in the meantime so that I can give you guys a pod tic cast every single Monday, which is the plan. Drop these about

two am on Monday morning. That way, when you wake up on Monday morning, you'll be able to have something to listen to, going to work, going to school, sitting in the tractor, sitting in the semi truck, sitting in your headphones, ignoring your boss at your office. You know that's the goal. And I'll start this. I mentioned Ralph Waldo Emerson. I'll also mention the quote that is above me here at my desk, and that is Theodore Roosevelt.

Far better is it, the dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. And I have that tattooed on my left arm. Deare mighty things. It's such an such an important quote, and to me, well you know what that means is well, first of all, let me tell you where we found this. Where I originally found this Teddy

Roosevelt quote was on the back of a tombstone. And you could see that exact tombstone on my music video Bury Me in Blue Jeans. But we found that quote on the back of a tombstone of two parents. It was like the dual tombstone when when two folks eventually die, and that was on the back of their tombstone to their children, knowing that when their children go in their old age or whenever to grieve their parents at the grave site, they would see far better. Is it to

dare Mighty Things? By Teddy Roosevelt? That just give me chills and that awesome, What an awesome message to tell your kids. And it doesn't to me. That just means that obstacles are okay. Failure's okay as long as you're in the arena, as long as you're fighting, as long as you're willing to sacrifice, you're willing to throw a punch, you're willing to take that chance, then it's okay to lose because you will. Inevitably you will lose in life.

That's what happens. But eventually you'll win too, right, It's just an odds game. I love that. I always do these giveaways. Now and I'm gonna give away right now, where's my pen there it is. I'm gonna give away a black Ee Apparel cap. This is what we call American buck and it's an American flag with a black silhouette of a buck on top of the American flag and all of our Ee Apparel hats which I got

this one on in my closet. This is mine, but all of our hats are If you look on the inside, you're not going to see some brand recognize from Walmart. These are EEE Apparel, official merchandise. It says ye yee is actual maker all inside the hat. So we design these custom for our people. I'm gonna sign this one right now, live on the air on the microphone. I'm

gonna give this away. So go to social media and make a post, start a new post, and say hashtag in any order, hashtag granger Smith Podcast episode twenty two hat, or I want the hat in episode twenty two, or give me the daggum hat in episode twenty two. Make

sure you mention episode twenty two. So when I go back, what I'll do is I'll literally just go to socials type in hashtag Grangersmith podcast and I'll look for that and that way, when I see hat, i'll know when it says episode twenty two which hat it is, because I've got them wind up in my closet right now for the when these podcasts launch. All right, we're good, were good. Sometimes I check the camera to make sure it's rolling, so I don't sit here and talk for

twenty minutes and then go, oh, it wasn't recording. I'm sourcing these questions from social media, and I asked one time, like two weeks ago, and I got hundreds and hundreds of questions. So I haven't asked since then because I've just I've been going through those same questions, going through rolling through those comments. If you have a question, or if you asked, then please ask again. If I don't

answer your question, just ask again. Say hashtag Granger Smith podcast so I could find it and then ask you know how many dogs you got? You know whatever, it doesn't matter. I like the shallow ones because I could answer those. I also like going deep, so if you want to go deep on these questions, we could do that too. First up, this is this is sourced from Facebook. Question is how do you keep yourself so well grounded, humble and focused with all that you do and have going?

What drives you and what's your biggest motivation? Well, there's there's several layers to that question that I think. The first thing right off the bat is I choose to not live in a massive music city, So I don't live in Nashville or New York or LA. I live in Georgetown, Texas. I have lived in Nashville before. I have sat in a restaurant booth where the waiter was

a singer songwriter, the hostess was a singer songwriter. The booth next to me was two singer songwriters talking about how jaded they were and how much they hate the music business. The tale over that was a you know, across the way. It was a singer trying to get a record deal. That drove me absolutely insane, It really did. I could not stand it. I couldn't stand how it became such a business and something that we love so

much turned into a business. I couldn't stand it. So for twenty years since then, I've moved back to my home state of Texas, and I've been here for twenty years. And so along with that, maybe to Julie to answer your question directly, because I doubt you're a singer songwriter.

So I keep myself surrounded by people that have earned my trust through friendship or family, blood or longevity and a relationship with me that I trust them enough to keep me straight, Meaning if I say something out of line, if I'm starting to act a little crazy and they say, bro, get in line. That's not you, that's not right. I believe them right because they have earned the trust for

me to believe them. Now, some random critic, if they say, bro, you're out of line, and I don't know them, I dismiss it because you're not in the arena with me, like Teddy Roosevelt. Don't you don't know me well enough. You haven't spent the years of investment of my trust for me to listen to that. That a personal attack. But if a buddy from high school that we grew up together, we know all the same joint places together

that we used to hang out. If that guy comes up and goes, man, I got to tell you're acting a little different lately, and I'm not in a good way. I'm listening. You know that's called being grounded. Literally, they will take you to the ground and you got to listen. Same with your mama. You know your mama starts telling you you're out of line, you got to listen because she knows you better than anybody else, or your spouse or you know, God forbid your kids tell you something

like that. Going back to that question, humble, humble is first of all, I love I love hearing that because because I strive so hard to be humble, and that is getting rid of ego. Ego is the Enemy, which is a great book by Ryan Holliday called Ego is the Enemy, and there has been many books written about this subject. But Ego gets in the way so many

times in our life. Ego gets gets gets its little gritty hands in the middle of conversations, in the middle of us in social media comments and on our walk to work. It's it is crippling. You have to get rid of it. You have to know when that that's the voice speaking to you is ego. You got to shut your ears off. What drives you and what's your biggest motivation? That's a questions within the question that are

massive questions. But when I have then surrounded myself with those friends and family and mama and hometowns and and i've and i've I put the circle of trust around me, then that that's what drives me, is to make them proud and to be the best version of myself. Does that make sense? I can go on and on on this question, the great question, Julie, I'm gonna move on here. Mike Marshall says, I own a restaurant and Phil, there

is not enough time in a day. How the heck do you balance yours so well with your music career, yeee apparel, family, et cetera, et cetera. Thank you, Mike. First of all, that's probably just your impression. You Maybe you just think I'm handling this well or that I'm balancing this well, and I like to think that I am, but it is there's many times in the day when I pulled my hair out and think I can't do this. I've got too many things going on. So brother, I

feel you. I've known a lot of people in my life that have owned restaurants, and I've had aspirations myself to start a restaurant or or be involved with a restaurant. And I understand, Mike. I don't. I don't understand exactly what you're going through, but I could see how that is a lot of work and a lot of investment.

So that that is a that is something that is you have to work on, that you have to First of all, if it's actually becoming a problem, then I would suggest actually time, first time, blocking your day, journaling your day, and when you journal your day, you don't have to do this very long. Do it for seven days, right,

So good old fashioned pen and paper. Okay, you got an iPhone, pull out your notes and go Monday all the way down to Sunday and go and write down exactly what you're doing, and then examine and then go back and study what you're doing, study that time, the journal of your time. And typically we're shocked when we're actually focusing in on what we're actually doing when we see it written down and you see all the moments

of your day. When I like to call your unconscious right conscious meaning I'm present, I'm in the moment, I'm on task, I'm in some deep work right now, I'm focused on what I need to be doing to make the most of this minute, which, by the way, sometimes the most that you could make in a minute is by not thinking about anything and relaxing. That's doing something. Really relaxing and clearing the mind is doing something right.

It's not nothing versus unconsciousness. Flipping through Instagram, sitting on the couch, flipping through TV, not really wanting to watch anything, but you're just kind of seen and maybe something catches your eye. Daydreaming, thinking about the future, dreaming about what you could be doing, thinking about the past, things you should have done, or things that you are really proud of,

just lost in any other time besides the present. Those are being unconscious times, right, That's that's unconscious and we're all guilty of it. So if you could make a time block, make a journal of your day, and you'll you'll realize quickly, Man, I was unconscious for forty three minutes from noon to twelve forty five. I was just sitting there doing you know, lost. And I have to say again, I'm not talking about getting away from relaxation.

That's different. But a true relaxation is something where you're actually in the present and you're you're recharging your batteries. That's not boom boom, going through the the remote control on the TV and the old the old Apple TV or whatever you're watching or YouTube, unless you're watching you know, like the Smiths or a Granger Smith music video or this podcast. That's great, that's a great thing to be doing.

That's definitely conscious. But so Mike, after you do that, go through this this list of your day and see and see exactly you're You're not gonna know how busy you are until you write it down and study that. Once you do that, then you could actually time block and you can go, Okay, this is when I wake up. From this to this is when I do this. From

this to this, this is when I do this. Right then I get to the restaurant, and for the first forty five minutes of at the restaurant, I'm gonna do this. And then from I'm just throwing this out there, from nine am to ten thirty, I'm gonna be free for questions, for my employees to ask me questions, to mingle with customers, to take some sales calls, you know, take a new linen company wants to come in and take over our uniforms, I'll see. As long as it's between nine and ten thirty,

that's my time to listen. But if it's if it's one o'clock, I'm sorry, I'm busy during one o'clock. But you can come back on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, anytime between nine and ten thirty, that's my time to talk to you. And it's not rude, it's really not. That's just being honest, and that's time blocking and making the most of your day. And so then when you time block, you've got to make sure you have time for you. You got to make sure you've got time for your family. So for instance,

five pm, the seven pm, that's family dinner time. I don't have my phone, don't call me, don't text me. I'm not gonna watch TV. I'm not listening to the Grandersmith podcast. There should be a time when you do that, but not five to seven. And once again throwing this time out there, but you're focused on your family, and you're giving the most of yourself to that time in

your family. You're conscious, you're present in that moment. And then from seven to eight, you're gonna go back in and you're gonna finish up some emails and you're not gonna do anything else. You're not gonna do anything besides what is in your time block. And then after eight, maybe that's your wifetime. You are one hundred percent focused on her from eight till nine p thirty or whatever. You don't tell her this because then it kind of sounds like it's you know, she's part of your schedule.

It's not true. But but this is only this is only the beginning to help you and then set a time. This is this is important for everyone too. Set a time to go to bed and make that the same time every night. Then set set a time to wake up and make that the same time every morning. That's so important to get on that rhythm of the earth right to have the same time you go to bed the same time you wake up. And by the way, this is another side note. This is it's probably important.

We could talk about this later. It's it's important to limit your screen time before you go to bed and right when you wake up. So there's I would say about an hour you should you should mark off where so you go to bed at ten thirty pm. After nine thirty, no more screens that just messes with your brain, you know. Make that the time you take a shower, brush your teeth, hang out with your wife, you know, relax but not not mindfully go through your phone. And

so I hope that helps, buddy. And it's not easy. Everything I said kind of on paper it sounds easy, but once you kind of dig into it, it's a lot more difficult. But writing it down helps tremendously. Let me go to this question. This is a little bit lighter. My buddy, Keith Tarrell, Keith has been coming to shows for a long time and always been. I mean, you've been a supporter of me for fifteen years. Probably I

love seeing common names pop back up here. But the question is when do you expect new album to drop? New Yeee Energy? When will that be released? I can answer both of those. So new album, I've been working on a lot of music. There is a lot of music. There is some songs that were complete, mixed, mastered, done in the box, ready to go, and then we had a family tragedy last June, so a lot of that, I mean, all of it just got put on hold.

I wasn't excited about putting out new music when that happened, so everything just kind of, you know, got shelved by my purpose. But the thing is now, the good news is a lot of that is ready, So it hasn't it's not going to take me any more work. You know. Any work I'm putting in now is new stuff, new songs, and I probably have like eight to ten of them ready to go or at least written. And the demos are done and I need to go record the band.

And so that's exciting because I'll start releasing these singles again and music videos again. And then I think that the original plan that I had in twenty nineteen was when I kind of get to a point where I've released enough of them, I'll released like one more and we'll wrap it up and call it an album. So that'll be the new album. Most likely we could we could say twenty twenty, you'll see that new album. If not anything, you'll see several more new songs. And then

let me get to EEE Energy. Those of you that have followed me, those of you that have listened to this podcast since day one, I've been relentless about talking about ee Energy, so passionate about it. It's an energy drink me and my brothers created from ground zero, from the recipe to the packaging and the can and everything. And we've been just so so proud of that drink. And guess what, we discontinued it. And you will not see EEE Energy for sure in twenty twenty and maybe

maybe not ever. And you know, it goes back to it goes back to a couple of things. One of them is it goes back to Teddy Roosevelt. It goes back to far better is that to dare mighty things to win glorious, even though checkered by a failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in a great twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. And there's a I think we were defeated eee energy Tyler. My brother will argue

and say, no, it was a learning experience. It's about that perspective. But needless to say, Red Bull and Monster kicked our butt. And it was so much work going out and recruiting these distribution companies and convenience stores and grocery stores, convincing them to put our drink on their shelves when Red Bull was paying them fifteen thousand dollars a year to put it on their shelf, you know.

And that's literally what's happening. And they're doing that at every store and every big distribution company, and here we are just trying to sell one can at a time. And so I can understand we're a mom and pop company. And it was ultimately came down to the eighty twenty rule. And this is such a valuable thing for me in my life and my career, and Mike, this could go back to the question about your restaurant too. But the eighty twenty rule is it's that old percentage that applies

to anything in your life. It applies to your closet. For example, you wear twenty percent of your closet eighty percent of the time you spend at work, you spend twenty percent of your time doing or excuse me, you spend eighty percent of your time doing work. That's twenty percent of your company. And that is what we realized with EE Energy, that we were spending eighty percent of our time working on something that was contributing back twenty

percent of what we needed it to do. And if we looked at my work as a whole, I should have been spending that more of that percentage in writing new songungs or working on this podcast. And you know, the Smiths came out our family vog last year and really took off and really took a lot of my time. And so as I started dumping my time into the Smiths, I realized I cannot put effort into E Energy just to be beaten by Red Bull and Monster, just for the chance that we could have that sliver of success

in the energy drink market. So it it became for me kind of an admitted defeat, but not in a shameful way, not like not like we failed, you know, it was we were defeated, and it was a valiant effort. And the reason I say that is because I'm very I'm still very proud of that drink and the way

that it tasted. And we were getting ready to come out with a sugar free version, and we found out it was going to cost like one hundred and sixty thousand dollars to basically start new with a sugar free version, and it was like, oh my god, you know we got We're not gonna this is not it's not smart business. So I hope that answers your question, Keith, And to all you that has supported Ee Energy with me, thank you for that. That was such a fun run and all part of the Gee brand, you know. To me,

it's all kind of all part of that umbrella. And I'm gonna end it with that because I'm running out of time here on the computer and I'm going to put these out every Monday. So thank you guys, thank you for listening. This podcast is brought to you in part by the men and women that are serving overseas, the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, all the men and women in uniform, that the first responders, that all protect us and protect the First Amendment rights so that I could

say whatever I want on this podcast. Love you guys. We'll see you down the road on tour gradorsmith dot com Forward Flash Tour. Peace, ye yee,