Resilience and Growth for the Modern Man #530

Do you find yourself living a mediocre life because you're afraid to do the hard things ? I was at a coffee shop just before I moved over here and I was having a conversation with two mates and one of them had just completed a marathon . The other dude who was sitting with us is that man , I could never do that .

Now I remember saying and responding to this guy I was like , why not ? I think he probably could and his response was I've never been able to run over five K . And then we started this whole conversation around . If you train for something , you're going to continue pushing what the limitations are .

Now , when you have a whether it's a mental block or a mental limitation on your ability to achieve an outcome , or it's a physical limitation , meaning you're not fit enough then you're probably not going to test that because most people feel uncomfortable doing the hard things .

The truth is , if you want to live an exceptional life , you need to continue challenging yourself . It's something that we do a lot within our academy . We always find ways to challenge not only myself but other members , mentally and also physically , and what I want to run through today .

I'm going to give you three key reasons why you can do this and also how you can do this , because all of us have different thresholds in what we're capable of maintaining and achieving and what we're comfortable with doing . So I want you to think about that as we dive into this and , if you are driving , make sure you say this one to listen to later .

If you're there , grab out a pen and paper , because I'm going to give you some , I guess , two point steps that you can take today and also implement to start making changes , because , as we always say , there's no point just continuing to listen to this information and getting excited and getting motivated and getting inspired if you're not going to be implementing

it into your life . There's no point doing that . It's just like sitting around in a bloody mental masturbation it feels good , but it's not productive .

So what I want you to think about and this will go for about 15 minutes , I will be more probably be time is , if you do these three keys , you will rise to the top , I promise you , because they're things that I've done , and the first one is going to be controlled adversity .

The second thing we'll talk about at the echo chamber is winning the battle in your mind . Thirdly is doing it for tomorrow . That is 1% better than how they add up over time . So what I'll share with you controlled adversity how to prepare and conquer the hardest challenges . So one thing I love doing , as I mentioned , is those physical challenges .

Last year alone , I did the 30 marathons in 30 days . We did a 12 hour overnight war which , finally enough , was the most challenging one we did last year . We also did the govins challenge , which is running four miles every four hours for 48 hours . So the most frightening part of that for me was lacking sleep . I want to focus on the walk .

So when we did this walk , it was 12 hours . We didn't really have any guidelines . Apart from this was the rough map . We wanted to walk around Brisbane and we're going to do it overnight . Okay , it was 12 hours . Doesn't sound too hard , does it ?

What I knew , not only for myself and for the 20 other blokes that were joining us . We're all going to have completely different experiences . As I said , for me , I was most worried about the lack of sleep , so going overnight . Some other blokes were worried about the distance , some other blokes , you know , worried about injuries that they were carrying .

Other blokes were worried about being in their head because it was a slight walk right . So we all had our challenges . We all had our adversity . The cool thing about this event was we had it controlled . We were in control of the outcomes because it was something that we set out and we purposely and intentionally wanted to do .

We had the intent to push ourselves and to go through the experience , so we understood how we felt during adversity .

The benefit of being able to do this and getting comfortable with this is , when uncontrolled adversity and let's just call that life happens , many of us respond in certain ways and sometimes how we respond to adversity isn't how we choose to , if we have that time again , and I'd call that a reaction .

So when you go through controlled adversity , you then put yourself in a position that when you go through life's adversities you've been here before . You know you don't want to react to the situation , you want to respond in a way that's going to deliver a better outcome .

So , as this walk was happening , you know people were dropping out at certain different parts . We had 20 start and 5 finish and the experience was different for all of us , and I remember just the pain that I felt going through that . I was worried about the sleep , but I experienced something completely different the hip pain , the knee pain .

My mind was telling me dude , this is going to mess you up , this is going to hurt in the morning , but I'd committed to doing it and , because we'd rallied the troops together , I couldn't bail . I guess accepted that responsibility that , regardless of what happened , I had to go through this .

This experience is going to happen for me , regardless of how it felt , and the cool thing about , I guess , being in that leadership position , or wanting to lead by example even , was that there was no way the world was going to quit . Too many people quit and they don't keep shifting what they think is possible .

I guarantee you , as you're listening to this , there are things in your own life that are holding you back . There are limitations , mental or physical , that you've accepted . The reason why you can't do X , it's because of why , as opposed to going . Okay . Well , currently I can't do X , but let's test that out . Let's put that to the challenge .

Let's see how I respond in the face of adversity . Let's see what I'm capable of . It's much like weight training Now . When you go to the gym , it's adversity really . It's a challenge that's strained on the body . If you're doing bench press , let's say you're capable of doing 60 kilos . That's your one rep max .

You're not just gonna go all right , I've achieved it , gym's done . No , you're going all right Next week 62.5 . The week after that 65 . Or you're gonna increase the reps . There's gonna be some way that you're gonna keep building resilience .

You're gonna keep increasing the resistance , because you know on the other side of the resistance is the growth , is the outcome that you want . So I believe that if you can find a way to , I guess , set up some controlled adversity , you're gonna have some huge wins . Okay , and what that looks like for every individual is different .

Your threshold to certain challenges is different to mine and sometimes you may be stronger . But it's not about comparison here . It's about moving the needle for yourself to get a desired outcome . At the moment , currently , I'm doing 365 days of what I'd call my daily hard and some of them are mental challenges , some of them are physical .

You know I'm doing a lot of running . We're doing cold plungers which at the moment it's like minus one . It's horrible . But then the other day I did a 30 minute meditation , which was a mental challenge . I'm also learning in the guitar Once again a mental challenge and I'm filming that .

It's embarrassing , but I'm finding ways to challenge myself and continue moving the needle , continue increasing the limit on what I think I'm capable of . Why ? Because I wanna live an exceptional life and the things that I'm choosing to do , I believe , are setting me up for when life is gonna throw those challenges at me .

I believe I can problem solve by learning the guitar . I believe I can learn new things by jumping in the cold or I can deal with stress and overwhelm pretty well . But you know , doing the runs I feel strong , fit and confident . I'm getting stronger , fit and more confident every day . So think about that . Control to adversity . That's key number one .

Okay , control to adversity . Think about it Once again , if you consider joining the academy , you'll get a lot of experience with that , because it's something we talk about and it's something that we practice regularly . Key number two , the echo chamber how to take control of the negative voice in your head . We all experience it . All of us experience it .

And going back to the walk , the 12 hour walk , one thing that I witnessed was men who , you know , not everyone had met at this point in time .

My dad came along even as the pain started kicking in , as the mental chatter started kicking in , men started talking and they started discussing what they were thinking , what they were feeling , and it was almost like there's awesome soundboard , because then they were about able to unpack it .

And I think , a big challenge for a lot of people and a challenge that I experienced . We don't unpack what's going on in our head . We just accept it as truth . And what I mean by that is you can't control your first thought , but you can choose what your second one is .

So if your first thought is , don't do that or , you know , don't take that risk because you're not good enough , if you don't ever challenge that and if you don't ever attempt to change that , your life is going to remain mediocre .

You're watching this , you're listening to this , you're considering joining the academy because you know you want to live an exceptional life , which means you now will accept that that first thought you're not always in control of and sometimes it sucks .

For me , the same experience A lot of my first thoughts are not good , but it's the second thought , the one that I followed up with , that matters most . So a little , I guess exercise .

There you can do is one Be aware of your first thought in certain situations , whether it is the controlled adversity that we were speaking about before or other situations in life . Then start thinking about what would follow up or what would be your ideal second thought to follow up that first thought . That's going to help you achieve a better outcome .

And the third point there is just continue flexing that I don't try and change all of your first thoughts at once . Just do one at a time .

If you notice your first thought towards gym or exercising is , no , don't like that , but you know that you need to start exercising to achieve a better quality of life , let's just dive in and focus on changing that first thought rather than on I hate the gym or the gym is not for me .

I love the gym , I'm excited to work out , I look forward to working out . That's the follow up thoughts that we need to have in order to start shifting the belief there .

So that is what we're talking about there with that echo chamber , because once again , all of us have some crazy stuff going on up there , where all of it , I'd say , probably a little bit insane in some way .

So that is a great little exercise that you can do there to improve that echo chamber and start having an echo chamber of positive and empowering thoughts .

And , as I said , the men really experienced that on that walk and , once again , this is why controlled adversity is awesome , because to avoid some of the pain , you start talking about it , you start building better relationships and after that 12 hours , a lot of the blokes felt like they had more meaningful connections with these men that they just met than most

of the people in their life , because they'd suffered together . As weird as that sounds , there is something to it that I guess builds and forges strong relationships and if you want to be around those people , the influence of those individuals is going to rub off on you and you're going to live a better quality of life . I can promise you that .

Now let's move on to key three Do it for tomorrow . The shirt that I'm always wearing is the do it for tomorrow shirt . There will be some more available soon . You can check out on the website . But ultimately it's about winning for you . Do something today to be better for tomorrow . The things that you're doing today .

You may not notice the influence of that tomorrow , but you'll notice in a few years time . So if you know , even if you reflect on the last five to 10 years now , the quality of your life if it's still mediocre the things that you can do , you'll notice in a few years time . The things that you've been doing on a daily basis have led you here .

And it can be very hard to accept that because by now , if you've listened to enough of my episodes , you recognize that you're responsible for that , and the hardest thing I ever did was accept responsibility for the results that I had in my life and a lot of the results and the actions that I take it I was not proud of .

Okay , but don't allow that to be the reason why you don't start changing things . The best thing you can do right now is accept responsibility for the quality of your life and then start looking at what things you do consistently , because they're going to be the things that are creating the quality of your life .

So if you were to look through and notice that you're not quite as healthy or as energetic or as comfortable in your skin or body as you would like to be , probably guarantee over the last five to 10 years you haven't been eating well , you haven't been exercising enough Okay and you haven't been taking care of your appearance All things that are very simple to

change . But once you change them , don't expect a different result tomorrow . That will come probably in another five to ten years , and this is the challenge . People get really bummed out If they don't see a result in 30 days .

It didn't take 30 days to get to the poor position you're in , so don't expect it to do , I guess , a 360 in the same amount of time . Be patient and trust the process , but think about those actions and what they're delivering to . And one thing that I think about is we have major actions in our life and we have minors .

The major actions would be from a macro level . So work , family health the minors are the things that get the job done there . What do you do on a daily basis at work that delivers an outcome that , I guess , either keeps your employment or allows your business to grow ? The second one relationships . You want to be a great partner cool .

What are the daily actions that you take that Allow you to build a great relationship ? Is it the date nights ? Is it the coffee in the morning ? What is it right , you know what that is ? Or , if you don't , probably time to start thinking about that . Right , this is how we do this 1% betters that do something today to be better for tomorrow .

Right , building the best . You Doesn't need to be complicated . Genoma , it does not need to be complicated at all , and one thing that I hear a lot from people is I don't have time , my life's already busy enough . Then you'll hear this cliche phrase come straight back at you . We all have the same 24 hours . It's what we do with it that matters .

So , once again , something that you can do , a little exercise that you can do get out a piece of paper , go through how you've spent each hour for the last week . Okay , monday , what did you do ? Tuesday , what did you do Wednesday , what did you do in follow-up ?

And if you one of the people who got I'm not doing that , that takes too much time , well , I can't help you .

Sorry , but if you're one of the individuals who does want to get on top of this , then trust me , you'll really benefit from , because when you look at where your time is going , I guarantee I could tell you the quality of certain areas of your life based off what we're looking at with your time .

The cool thing is , once we now know where your time's been spent , we can then go Okay , is that the best use of my time to deliver x outcome ? If not , what could I change that to ? This is what we need to start thinking about . This is how you really build an exceptional life .

It's something that we prioritise in the academy with our weekly courses Like what are you doing with your time ? Is your relationship going well or is it going poorly ? Is your finances where you want them to be or are they shit ? Is your health you're killing it ? You're feeling confident ?

You're feeling energetic , or are you fat and overweight and not happy with yourself ? These are all things that everyone experiences , but we need to keep it front of mind in order to be able to get the outcomes that we want .

So that is key number three , and I realised just now that I did not give you the framework for key one , which is , with that controlled adversity around , how you're reacting and responding . So the first thing is is think about how you respond in the face of adversity .

Is it the way that you would choose to respond if you had your time again , as I mentioned ? Then think about how you would like to respond to adversity Okay , and then train it , find ways to train it , find what's adverse . And I guess , a quick side story before we wrap up there Today we had two new gentlemen jump .

I joined us in the pool , never done it before and one of them was like cool , yeah , I'm keen to jump in . The other bloke was a bit more hesitant , right . He was like what if I jump in and have a heart attack or what if I can't breathe and all the things that fear does .

And that's completely okay , because when it's controlled adversity , you get to choose the rate at which you step forward into it . But taking that first step , regardless of how big the step is , is going to help you improve , it's going to build your confidence .

It's going to still put you in that face of adversity where you get to experience it and you get to strengthen that muscle . So we had one other gentleman jump in right . We had the other one walking through the steps at his own pace , which was fine . We all achieved the same outcome . We all got in the water for 90 seconds .

Okay , how we got there was different , but how we got there was exactly how it needed to be for the individual . So I want you to think about that as well and consider that there .

So my name's Lachlan Stewart and once again , we're kicking off the Academy , or a brand new year , in January , on the 7th of January , and if you feel like you're getting value from these podcasts , if you feel like you want to be part of one of the most incredible communities that are going to hold you accountable , going to give you the insights and tools and

strategies to have a better life from wherever in the world . You are definitely head over to themanatcamprojectcom . Okay , and apply to be part of the Academy . I look forward to meeting you . I look forward to going on this journey with you , and it's time to do something today to be better for tomorrow .

Another cool thing next year we're going to have three episodes . One episode is literally just going to be the audio ripped from a vlog that I'm doing Now . The vlog is going to be based on me achieving three goals , three important goals to me . I'm not going to share them just yet .

I'll share them later on but it's going to be a health-related one , a wealth-related one and a relationship-related one , and I'm very excited to document that because I'm going to be sharing , I guess , throughout the 12 months , trying to achieve something that I've never achieved before

. In those areas , I'm going to share day-to-day life , how I'm planning about going them , how I deal with adversity , all of that sort of process , so that you'll be able to watch firsthand as I achieve something great Next year .

I feel that it's going to add so much value to you guys because , once again , it's going to be like you're walking side by side with me as we achieve something great , and I think the things that you'll learn you'll be able to implement into your own life . So thank you for listening Once again . Take a moment to leave a rating and review .

My name is Lachlan Stewart and we'll see you on Monday's episode .