Attention all business owners. Are you tired of managing your finances and taxes on your own? Let the experts at 1800 TaxMasters help our team of experienced professionals offer is a range of services to help you keep your finances in order, from personal and business tax returns to monthly accounting, quarterly and annual tax planning and virtual controller and CFO services. With our Virtue services, you can get the support you need without ever having to leave your office. Don't let
taxes and finances stress you out any longer. Visit www 1800 Taxmasters.com today and let us handle the numbers so you can focus on growing your business. And welcome to another episode. I am your host, W-I-Z-E-I have a cool guest on today. He's a construction worker volunteer firefighter podcaster. I'll let him tell you his story. Welcome to the show, Sean Robinson. Thanks wise, I appreciate it. Excited to be here. Thanks for being on the show, man. Greatly appreciate it. All
right, let's get into this. All right, so what inspired you to become an electrician and a volunteer firefighter? And how does the industry shape your views on Masculinity? I can say now. And self improvement? Well, so my dad was a volunteer firefighter growing up, so I had it around my life. And my two younger brothers, we grew up in that environment. We were helping out with different training nights, pretending to be victims and
stuff while they carried us out of different things. So I kind of had eyes for it from quite a young age. And my dad's also a mechanic, so I knew I didn't want to be a mechanic and I thought, what else hands on could I do? That kept me in the trades and electrical was always interesting to me, so I kind of headed down that path and I thought if I wanted to do full time fire someday, the electrical sector would be a good place to get me there.
So I guess where that ties into Masculinity and kind of where my upbringing was. There's a lot of pressure in those industries, amongst others, of course, but a lot of pressure to carry your life a certain way to do certain things on the weekends and you have that story on Monday and everybody's kind of not everybody, but most people seem to be living along the same
line. So where I found I was stuck, we'll call it was maintaining that lifestyle, maintaining drinking every weekend, nights, partying, you're making overtime, you're spending more money than you should, and then the overtime goes away and
you're left getting caught up. There's a whole range of topics around that sector, but my experience 20 years plus between each electrical and firefighting, it's very dominant masculine environment and there's a lot more women getting involved and that's great, but it's still very dominant masculine and there's a very macho man mentality there. A lot of long time for me was, you just had to suck it up, right? It follows us everywhere, but you suck it up, you get it
done. If you have any issues mentally, physically, it's on you to fix it. Your support system, some places are better than others. It's not there like it probably should be. And I felt for so long that if I was going to fix anything, if I was going to not live the lifestyle or do something contrary, once I got over everybody, all the ribbing that I might have gotten, it was a lot tougher to get away from that and be different. So the pressure was pretty hard.
Okay, so you answered a few second question I was going to ask you, but what were some of the examples of toxic masculinity within the construction business and firefighting? And it's getting better, right? And I think society is getting a lot better dealing with mental health, but you had to maintain this strong, tough person
physically, mentally there. And what that meant was if you were dealing with something that was affecting your performance or that was contrary to that, you were going to take a certain amount of abuse from the people around you. You couldn't weep up or you couldn't do something. So getting away from the group and deciding to not do that anymore, it was like bringing a lot more attention. So if I was deciding and I guess where this comes in is I had decided at the end of 2020
that I needed to make a few changes. I was 320 pounds. I wasn't happy with where I was at, feeling pretty down, and I had to fix it on my own. I felt I had to fix it on my own. I couldn't reach out for help. You have to maintain that tough person. You're not a tough guy. You're not in that environment if you have to ask for help and if you can't fix it yourself. So I just decided I was going to take a break from drinking. I wasn't going
to have any alcohol. I didn't know how I was going to do it. But every time that I got into that work environment on either of those sectors and I wasn't going to do that, it was a whole new set of challenges. How was I going to hang out with and live with this lifestyle and not do probably one of the biggest leisure things that people do? Okay, you written a book about your journey to sobriety and overcoming habitual drinking, right. How has this journey impacted your views on being
masculine and self help? So in the beginning when I was not asking for help, for some reason I got it in my brain that I couldn't listen to talk radios and podcasts and self help. Not that there isn't people reading in construction, but I think a lot less people are reading, especially the self help genre. So the commute that I have to work 45 minutes or so. I started wanting to make
better use of that time. I thought, if I'm going to do this, there's got to be something else I can do than listening to the same songs to make better use. So I started looking into it. I wanted to make this lifestyle change. I wanted to be different than I was before and the only way to do that was to start doing different things. So whether I felt it was for me or not, I started looking into different podcasts, I started looking into
different content that kind of spoke to me. I was finding myself on the school of greatness and different podcasts like that. And in the beginning I was listening to people. He's got actors and celebrities and different people and other podcasts do the same, right? I was finding someone that I felt I could relate to that brought me into the content because I didn't feel that I was ready for that expert opinion or the doctor's opinion or their professional literature. It wasn't for where I was at
mentally at that time. I've come to appreciate that and we can get into that more. But in that moment I didn't need any of that because it felt like so much more pressure to be a lot more different than I was ready for at the time. So when I started listening to the inspirational content and podcasts audiobooks, making better use of this commute time that I had, it really opened up such a huge world for me that I didn't see before and I couldn't
have seen it. And it's perfect. With the theme of your show stuck in my mind. That's where I was at. I was so bought into this old identity that I carried that I couldn't listen to this stuff, I couldn't read this stuff because it showed a weakness that I felt I wasn't allowed to show, I wasn't allowed to be vulnerable because these tough sectors that I'm so used to being in didn't allow for that. We weren't talking about stuck in my mind
podcast. We weren't talking about the kind of information and content that you're putting out there. And it needs part of me deciding to write this book was and we can get into that, but it was showing that someone from my background and with that mental identity, we can do this right. You don't have to stay in that world that you're used to. There's nobody keeping you there but yourself. And that's where I was at. The two fields that we're talking about are two of the most manly man fields
you can think of. Construction and firefighter. And when you think of anybody who works those jobs, you think of them being tough guys. And again, tough guys aren't supposed to be showing emotions, showing vulnerability, showing that they're not perfect, they can make mistakes, they're not capable of doing everything. But of course, in those industries. You're going to have guys rib you and joke and clown you because, oh, you're a sissy, you're not a man, you're
not strong enough. And that's crazy because that's how it's always been for men. It's always been that we're not allowed to be vulnerable. We're not allowed to show our emotions. It's a sign of weakness. And it's the complete opposite to be able to show that you're vulnerable and to show that you don't know the answer to everything and that you are willing to ask for help. That's what makes you a strong individual. Absolutely. Unfortunately, my parents had a decent upbringing, but
there was definitely some trauma there. There was some things that I was a part of growing up. It's nothing too bad, but it definitely affected me certain ways. So being tough and being I'm the oldest of my other two brothers, so there was an expectation for me to carry it probably a little bit more than them because I was the next thing to a parent for a long time when my parents were at work or babysitting or whatever.
And then my dad being mechanic and him having firefighting and his father, I never knew him, but he passed quite young. So while my dad figured to do it on his own, essentially he only knew what he knew. So then I only knew what I knew through him. And the examples that are set for us aren't always the best example. Right? We kind of have to use what we learn from our parents and from people around us and then take that and
develop from it. Fix the things we can fix. And being very toxic, masculine, I had that upbringing that I had to be tough. You're a mechanic, you fix your car, you're a firefighter. Firefighters don't show this emotion. You have to be tough all the time. And then I have three kids. And you start to get into that mindset where you've got to pay this forward to some degree. You want my kids to be tough. Two boys and a girl. The boys are older. So you get to a point where the boys have to be
tough, you have to do these things that men do. And then you start to realize, as I did my daughter was born two and a half years ago as I kind of started this journey and was part of the reason I wanted to be different. But you see the world so much differently when you allow that bit of change, when you realize I don't have to maintain the way that I'm used to or the way the example that I had. I can be who I need to be in that moment. I can be who my kids need in
that moment. I can be who I want to be, not who I think that I need to be. Absolutely. So how have you incorporated self help resources like books, podcasts, journaling into your daily routine and what benefits have you experienced and what kind of results. So when I started listening and did so in such a small dose and did so with people that I felt I could relate to, I didn't realize at the time, but I was doing one of the best forms of
habit forming, right? I was starting small, developing on it and being consistent. I was doing all the things, I just didn't know that that was the way I was supposed to be doing it. So it was very lucky for me the way I did it. So listening to these podcasts, I started branching out from the people I thought I could relate to. And then I started looking into some stuff that interested me. I was looking into forming new habits, I was looking for this lifestyle change. So
let's do some research on habits. So a lot of the people that are on these shows, they've got some resources behind them that they're speaking from, whether it's their own experience or whether they've written something, read something, believe something. So as I started to appreciate more and more of the people that I was listening to, I started looking into more and more of their content. So, habit forming. James Clear and Charles Duhig.
There's some authors that have written some higher profile stuff, there's some lower profile. So starting small with these podcasts, getting into audiobooks, because of my commute, I can finish a decent length book each week. So those started to pile up and then learning more about the quality sleep and different lifestyle things and dieting, I started to realize my phone at bed. They recommend you
shouldn't have certain amount of phone blue light before bed. So I thought, I'm not going to look at my phone and look at Facebook when I'm in bed. I'm going to start to read. So I still have it in there because the fire department pager goes off. I got to go. But it's across the room, right? So I don't have that near me to use it. I started reading at night. So the more and more I was reading at night, the more I was finishing these
books, I was finishing audiobooks, more podcasts. The content that I was absorbing from these areas was just massive and it just became so life changing that I wanted to share it more. And all the while I'm not drinking. So where this started for me was deciding to take this break from drinking. So as I'm learning about habits, I'm learning about changing lifestyles and the 28 days, 40, 6100 days, I started keeping track on the calendar. So everything that I did, including not drinking,
was not just a circle, a square box on my calendar. And I could see all these things pile up. So an example, I wasn't happy with brushing my teeth. I didn't feel I was doing it enough. So every morning I'd brush the teeth. My teeth. I'd check morning top of the calendar. Every night, same thing. So I'd have two check marks a day. I'm looking to do that for 100 days. And then I did that drinking more water, not drinking. So as I got to 100
days, I shut it off. I stopped keeping track of it because I wanted to test and see if this was something I was going to maintain. And at that 100 day mark, it was like I'd made it. I didn't go to bed or I didn't wake up without brushing my teeth. As that example, I didn't want to drink at that moment. And as I was working through that another thing that men don't do like we do, but we don't journal, right? It's not very tough to be a journal type, especially.
You think of it as a diary. You think of it as a woman's diary. It's a diary. Exactly. It's not. It's you just expressing your thoughts, putting down whatever you have in your mind on paper. And we don't look at it as that. We look at it as a girl saying, oh, you got a diary. That's something that somebody would make fun. Or you have a diary. But I have journals all over my room, all over my office. Absolutely. And in construction
firefighting, it's a diary. And you got your crushes in there, and you've got all these things that are and aren't true in some degree, but you don't journal. And I wasn't going to talk about it. I didn't want the shit and abuse I was going to get from having this journal. But it became a huge place for me. When I was down at the end of 2020, overweight feeling terrible, I started keeping track of it, but it became a place. I
was just beating myself up, right? Why can't you figure this out? You know better. Don't let the people get to you. But without the tools, without being open to the content that I became months later, into 2021, I wasn't going to get there, right? I wasn't going to get there on my own. I needed the help. I just didn't know how to get there without it. So into the beginning of the journey and going through dry January, February, not drinking and listening to all this
content, I started to learn more and more about it. So I started adding those things to what I was doing. Like I said, I didn't realize in the moment I was doing the proper forming for habit and lifestyle change. But this journal became a place
for me to document what I was doing. It became a place for me to put down the ideas, put down what did and didn't work, and put down the pressures I felt from the people around me family, friends, whoever that were in my life that didn't understand the transition I was trying to make as much as I didn't understand. But as I started to learn, they weren't yet. So this journal about nine or ten months into the year that became I wanted to be off drinking for a year at that
point. So I was getting through the year, and a friend asked me, how's the not drinking going? And I said, oh, I could write a book. And I got thinking about it. I've been doing this journal all year. It's October. There's been a whirlwind of information from where I was at mentally to that moment, how much I've accepted, how much content I've
gone through. And when I was in the beginning and I wasn't ready for the professional opinion and the professional literature, my version was what I needed when I got started, someone that was just a normal person just going through something that a lot of people deal with. I decided to start in
the last couple of months leading up to the year. Mark putting it more into a book format, maintaining my journal, but putting it into a format where it wasn't me writing to myself, it was me presenting it in a way that my former self would have been able to understand it, follow along and know what I was talking about. Okay. All right, cool. All right. As an entrepreneur, how have you applied the principles of self improvement and the personal growth to your business?
And I know you're big for this because I've been listening to your show, but you just never stop learning. I'm taking as many courses. I'm talking to as many conversations. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can from everyone around me, because as much as I didn't get into the content before, that's where we are going to pick this stuff up. Right? That's us helping each other. The
information exists already. We just have to know where to find it, and what better way to find it than from people that may have found it already, that have already been there. So as an entrepreneur, what I'm trying to do is just learn as much as I can and absorb from everyone I can and give what I can to people. Yeah. I'm very big on finding yourself a coach, finding yourself a mentor, someone who has done what you want to do.
Some of the best in the world have coaches, some of the best actors, basketball players, they have coaches. So for us to think that we're above coaching, that's where we already fail. That's where a lot of people fail at, where they think, I know everything. No, you don't. Especially in business, there's things you're not going to know the answer to. So that's why you build these
relationships. That's why networking to me is very important, being able to build these relationships, to make these connections with people like yourself. So I can learn and hear their story and have them share. And even the audience, if they have a story to share, they'll share it in the chat. Or if they have something on their mind, they'll let it in the chat. And that's why I transition to live.
I'm not doing the same numbers I'm doing Live as I was pre recorded, but I'm enjoying it so much more because of the interaction with the people, because now it's their show as well because they're a part of it. That's right. Yeah. It definitely gets more people involved. You make it more interactive. Maybe there's something that you're not thinking about that you haven't asked me or I'm not speaking
to yet. And it gives everybody that's listening a chance to maybe put that in there and remind you to get it out there. So can you discuss the challenges and opportunities of promoting change and evolution in these male dominated industries and what advice would you have for others seeking to make a difference in these fields? I think right off the bat, there's a lot of people out there that are just afraid to talk about it and want to make those kind of
changes. I think being a person that's coming from that background is maybe a strength that I have that will encourage others that are working in those fields to
say, you know what, I can be different. So along that line, being someone that's going to stand out and do the YouTube videos, put my content out there, be vulnerable more than anything, and use that pressure that I felt and that call it negativity for a minute and different experience to show to people that there's more than just me, there's more than just whoever going through these things. So it encourages that person that's in the same environment to want to say, you know what? There is
people that work construction that can change. There is firefighters that are listening to these inspirational content and are sharing their stories with someone else to try and make things better. So for me, what I can do or what I'm trying to do is just be that face from that background that shows that you can get rid of an old mindset. For the longest time, my excuse was this is just who I am. Right? How many times have we heard this? I come from this background. This was the
upbringing that I had. So this is just me. I was 36, 37 when I started into this. And if you'd asked me a couple of years ago, I'd have told you that I was just not coasting, but this is who I was. I couldn't change certain things. But that's such an untrue statement and it's not fair for our development when we hide behind that because it is just an excuse, because it's easy, right? We don't have to challenge or face a challenge if
this is just who I am. So showing that I'm not going to hide behind that anymore and encourage someone like me that is thinking the same thing. It's just an excuse. It's an excuse to be complacent. It's an excuse for you not to make yourself uncomfortable and not to make yourself because I started my self development journey in my twenty s. And after I lost my wife, I kind of just
didn't care about anything anymore. And so when I resolved the issues that I was having and everything I was going through and finally came to my senses and realized that I needed to change my life for the better, I got back into self development. I got it back into reading, audiobooks, everything you're doing. And I knew a lot of things, I just wasn't applying them because I was just going through whatever I was in the
dark space. And that's just the path I had to go through to get to where I'm at now. And now it's just me focusing on trying to get better every day, learning something new every day, having these conversations with these great guests like yourself and being able to share this message with other people. It's a great feeling. It's giving me purpose. And when you find your purpose, there's nothing greater than that. No, it's true. There is
an enlightenment to it. And one thing I found extremely difficult, not everybody is in the zone, right? Not everybody appreciates this yet. And I'll be honest, I was there, right? I was there. And there was such a whirlwind of social media content, videos, people just having a better life than what I thought I needed. And I was miserable about it. I was negative all the time.
It translated everywhere. And Ed Milette talks about I don't know if it's his quote, but I've heard it from him a few times, but he says, you're the most qualified to help your former self. So it seems everything I'm doing now is not because I'm any better than anyone else. It's to give my former self more help and anyone that can relate to what I came from and have gone through.
But that struggle with people listening to the hour and a half or so of content every day plus what I read and everything else, I want to talk about those things, right? And there's a certain amount of people that I've learned and met and have developed relationships with that are in that space and that's great. But then I come back to other people, family, friends, whoever. They're not there
yet. So I have to talk gingerly because I don't want to be in their face too much because I didn't want that when I was there. Right? You kind of just sorry, go ahead. They're not ready to receive the message. They're not at that point in their life where they're ready to receive that message from you. Because they'll look at it as because they'll continue to see the old you. They don't see the new you. They don't see the you where you've made
these changes where you've become more positive. You've been focusing more on your development. They keep thinking and seeing you as the past you. So why would they want to listen to the past you? Because they know who you were. But that's how it is sometimes you think that your family would be the first ones to fall in line and be like, oh, really? This is how we go. It'd be the people that you least
suspected. Yeah. An example. So not drinking the fire department, it was never that I mixed the two, but we have a social life outside, right. When we're not responding. Those are some of my closest friends and basically family. So we would spend some nights and weekends and stuff when we're not working or doing the firefighting, and we would spend a lot of time together. My brother is on the department with me, and we'd go out after training and just unwind a bit, right. Have a
couple of drinks. And I wasn't doing that anymore. And that was one of my pressures, was this habit. And that's where I speak to the habitual. Part of it was this lifestyle that I had and the habit of being this way in certain environments. Well, my brother was like, oh, you're not drinking? Well, have you got your union guy for Coin yet? Like, asking me about whether or not I have a Coin. And I'm like, this is my brother and we have a good relationship.
I think he's come around because he understands that, yes, I'm not the old me, that the new person I'm trying to be is a legitimate transition. And him, we have to give the people around us a bit of credit because they don't see it the way we are feeling it. So maybe it takes them a little bit to realize that we mean it this time. And by asking me, you don't have your coin yet. How terrible can that be? If I didn't have enough
behind me at that point already to be like, you know what? He just doesn't know where I'm at yet. But yeah, everybody that around us, we have to learn when we're in that zone and we're in this space that not everybody's going to be there. Not everybody's on this level yet. Absolutely. So we've discussed that. But has it been your brothers in the fire department? Have they come now to the point where they're supportive of more of what you're doing? They definitely have.
One of my best friends, and this is in my book, but he was in my wedding. I work with him electrically, and we're on the fire department together, so he's someone that I've shared a lot of the same experiences with in both sectors. So he was in my wedding, I was in his wedding. His wedding was just a year or two ago, and it was about two years ago in the beginning of this. Journey for me. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know how long I was not going to
drink for, and I'm still not drinking. But in that moment, I didn't know how long I was going to go for. But we drank quite a bit at my wedding and over the years. So every function that we had, the Jack and Jills, the celebrations, the bachelor parties, everything, you better fucking drink at my wedding. Every function was, okay, well, you better drink at my wedding. And it just hung over me everywhere we went because I didn't know
what I was doing. I wasn't telling a lot of people about it because I was still in that space that I didn't feel I could talk about it without getting the hazel ridicule. So it was even to him, I was like, oh, yeah, probably fine. And I kept brushing it off. But it was huge for me. In my mind, it was such an anxious topic for
me. I had so nervous everywhere I went, because he was not everywhere I went, but everywhere I went in that drinking environment when he was there, because there was a lot of pressure and there was others on the fire department worked with that were along the same. It was a lot of pressure to maintain the same lifestyle. And as this wedding approached and I had to figured out how that I wasn't going to do it, there was moments where I had to talk about it
and say, I'm just not going to do this. I'm not going to not show up. I'm not going to not be there for you, I'm not going to not have a good time. I'm just not going to drink. And it took a little more than a year before people started coming around. And they have, right? They get it now, where I was so worried about what was in my cup or what I was holding in my hand as we stood around talking or hanging out. I was more worried about it than they
were. But they didn't know how to handle me because, like you said, we were so used to that old version of me. I didn't trust my friends, so I never went to bed early. I was always the last one up because people get messed with when you go to sleep first at a party or somewhere. So I was just always one of the last ones up. And it became a point where I just didn't care. I'm going to hang out, but I'm going to go to bed now or I'm going to go home. Thanks, guys. We'll see you tomorrow.
So how have you measured success in your personal and business life and what motivates you to keep going? I think once I realized that all of this content, everything that we can do for ourselves, it translates everywhere we go. It translates in every relationship. It translates to our kids, to our parents, to our coworkers. I've always been a motivated person, even in my
and call it the darkest moments. But using where I'm at and using the content and the things I'm learning, I can't stop listening to this content. I can't stop reading the books. It seems everything I listen to, I'm always writing down new books people recommend on these shows, different audiobooks, speak to and quote other books. And I'm constantly just looking into it. I'm constantly reading and evolving and everything
translates everywhere else, like I said. So once I realized that the way we carry ourselves in this moment to at work, to with my kids, it keeps me going. And honestly, it keeps me accountable. I'm not in a position to just run back and start the lifestyle that I left, but it is a common place for me mentally. And like any habit, it's easy for us to go back to where
we're used to being. So by putting myself out there continuously and speaking and doing shows and I've started some YouTube videos and I'm evolving my content, it keeps me accountable and it keeps me learning in a new way, right? And I'll be honest, not everybody, like we said, wants to listen to this stuff. But the people that do will look for it, right? The people that do want to see it are going to find it. They may not always engage with it, but the message will get out there. Absolutely.
Sean, this has been great. It's been my pleasure having you on the show. Now is the time of the show where you get the solo layout and you get to plug away and let everybody know where they can find you. Everything okay. My website, Seanrobinson CA, I've got my book, the contents direct right from there, but it's through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. All the bookstores, they have it available. They don't think they all stock it, but it's there. It's called going dry my path to Overcoming Habitual
drinking. I'm on Facebook. Instagram going dry. YouTube. Sean Robinson going dry. I've got about a dozen short videos that I'm posting weekly on there. So check it out, engage and I'd love to hear any feedback. I appreciate it all. Thank you for definitely being on the show. But don't leave just yet. I'm actually going to play a quick promo for my brother Poppy Jay's book out on Amazon as well. And I actually cut the promo myself and edited the video and all that. So I'm proud of that.
But let me run this promo and then I close out the show. But don't leave yet because we're going to chat a little bit off the air. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. Everyone has a story, but few have the power to change lives. Introducing the plus life from prison to peace by Anthony J. Gonzalez with Pepper Chambers. A journey of redemption and transformation. Follow Anthony's royal story as he finds new purpose in life,
turning his darkest moments into a guiding life for others. This inspiring story will take you through Anthony's journey, showing you that it's never too late to change your path and embrace your true potential. Don't miss the life changing tale of redemption and the power of the human spirit. Get your copy today of the plus life from prison to peace on Amazon and Ibook. And witness the incredible power of transformation.
Yes. So, yeah, that's the promo. So everybody get it. You can find it on Amazon or Ibooks everywhere. So now it's time to close out the show. Hold on a second. Let me do my shout outs. All right, big shout out to everybody in the chat. Ben Snowman anthony jay Gonzalez hawk TV. Thank you guys for coming through. I greatly appreciate it. Big shout out to my real Wise fan, poppy J. Brandy J. Love you guys. Big shout out to the boss lady, FINA. Love
you and appreciate you, babe. Big shout out to Sean Robinson for coming through and sharing his story and his journey, man. Greatly appreciate it. And as always, a big, big shout out to all the essential workers out there. God bless y'all. Be safe. You know your boy Wise does it. Peace out.