| 00:00.00 | mikebledsoe | All right welcome to Monday morning with Mike and max Today we're gonna be talking about education and you know what this is a bit of a taboo subject because when I get in the conversations with the average. Person and I make certain comments about the education system a lot of people get very protective of it and they they get a little little scared around it and they want to reject things and and 1 of the things that I have to remember in those conversations is that. I am standing from a perspective that's very different than the perspective that they're holding and when that's the case we really need to stare step people into the conversation versus just saying well that's stupid so max and I are going to take a ah. |
| 00:47.90 | Max Shank | KA. |
| 00:54.75 | mikebledsoe | Stab at the conversation of Education. Hopefully we can help ah expand people's ideas about this and maybe change perspectives and maybe you're listening and you share the same perspective and we're able to help you put it into words more clearly so that you can share with others. As well and this was this conversation was inspired by the show we did last week where max was talking about how he would do things different with Education. So We decided to go deeper with it. Good to have you max. |
| 01:32.76 | Max Shank | It's great to be here Mike I think what I'd like to start off by saying is that there is a monumental difference between school and education education is the process of learning. Which is essentially like cheating. That's how humans have been able to become so dominant because we've been able to ah compound our acquired knowledge intergenerationally over long term I think schooling. Especially public schooling and even university has been a colossal failure in almost every way does more harm than good and I think the reason that people get so triggered and defensive when you make a comment like that is because they don't want to feel. Silly for having wasted their time having gone through that system themselves and especially if they have kids that they have put through that system. They don't want to feel like they have abused their children which they probably have so those are the 2 main reasons that people get charged up. When you make a comment like school is probably 5% efficient use of time. There are a few things that are useful about school but most of it is done in such a destructive manner for both the body and mind of a child. So those are the reasons that people get triggered schooling itself is a colossal failure education is the most powerful tool you have to increase your leverage which is going to allow you to have a greater impact in life with lower effort or less work There's a great. Mark Twain quote that says I never let schooling interfere with my education and I think that describes perfectly what we're talking about so there's a big big distinction big difference between school and education. So. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to educate yourself. It is your responsibility to educate your kids and then it is their responsibility to educate themselves beyond that and I think tying into our concept of freedom and personal responsibility. That's. 1 of the biggest errors is when you outsource your education you are priming yourself for propaganda and brainwashing and just essentially you end up in obedience school is what it becomes rather than an actual education that allows you to be more. |
| 04:19.91 | Max Shank | Self-reliant and contribute in a constructive way. |
| 04:24.29 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, when I think about I mean there's a few other distinctions to make here. So the distinction between education schooling you've made well another one that um stands out to me is Dr Andy Galpin he he always says that. Know the difference between education and training and the what he witnesses is the average student walking through the door at cal state is expecting training from a college university whose job is to educate. |
| 05:00.43 | Max Shank | A. |
| 05:01.88 | mikebledsoe | And and the point of education especially like a liberal Arts education is to is this is this is the way it was set up is that the wealthy would send their kids here so they could broaden their horizons. They could broaden their their scope of knowledge into many different areas. And then after they attended University They then entered the workplace and they were able able to enter the workplace being more cultured having more total information but not necessarily going to school unless you're going to become a doctor or lawyer or or something like that. Ah. |
| 05:37.18 | Max Shank | No. |
| 05:39.13 | mikebledsoe | A lot of so a lot of people have basically ah in in regard to college. They've confused education with training and it's not training and so some of these expectations around. Oh I'm going to go to college and then I'm going to get a job that's paying me close to 6 figures. |
| 05:46.42 | Max Shank | H. |
| 05:58.46 | mikebledsoe | You have 0 training All you have is education and so it's ah the the learning is going to happen when you start training or when you start actually doing so I like to have that as a distinction. As well. The just because so many people think they should should have that job and yeah, you're gonna have to get your training after college and which also brings me to ah a. A phrase. That's really stuck with me for a long time which is learning is behavior change and there is ah there are so many the education system the way that people have been educated have been really rewarded for memorizing and regurgitating. And they've mislabeled that as learning. So What I notice is a lot of people. They'll you'll start talking to them. They go I know I know I know we know this because max and I are both Educators. We tell somebody and they go I know I was like why aren't you doing it if you know it. And it's because they read it and they know it and so they almost get they the problem with education system is it rewards you with good grades a pat on the back like you did something good by memorizing it and then you go Oh I should get a reward for memorization. |
| 07:27.81 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 07:29.45 | mikebledsoe | And so people are very confused about why they're not getting a reward in the real world for just knowing shit and you be if you really live your life which I've really taken this on for myself that learning is behavior change if your behavior didn't Change. You don't get to say that you learned it. |
| 07:47.70 | Max Shank | Um, yeah I Really like that a lot I think the collapse distinction between training ah and education was that what you said between education and training. |
| 08:01.19 | mikebledsoe | Education and training. Yeah. |
| 08:05.32 | Max Shank | That's huge. That's huge um because you can go to welding school and you will learn a craft and you are now trained as a welder but the concept of broadening your horizons or as Charlie Munger calls it. The mental lattice work which I really like so you can borrow. Different ideas from a variety of topics and subjects and sources is really beneficial to your overall knowledge. But I also like the concept there of if the behavior doesn't change. You didn't really learn and it. Kind of makes me think of bf skinner classical conditioning right? If you if the behavior changes then learning has taken place. But if the behavior doesn't change then it has not ah that's. |
| 08:55.64 | mikebledsoe | Right? And and going to your point in the beginning is the school has become Ah, it's ah it's obedient school because what's the primary thing that people are learning. And they're learning to follow directions. They're learning to be at a specific. Yeah, be here at this Time. Don't do all these things do all these other things. Ah yeah, there are like you. So. Also said there's 5% of it is useful information. |
| 09:14.86 | Max Shank | Repeat What I say when I say it to you. |
| 09:33.78 | mikebledsoe | And I think that people tend to focus on the 5% because they want to protect I mean their identity right? because if you come out and say hey you you got screwed over by this education system which you believe so strongly in. |
| 09:41.13 | Max Shank | Exactly. |
| 09:52.00 | mikebledsoe | Because it's the only thing you know? Ah yeah, it could be. It's It's a blow to the identity Ego does not like to have that conversation and I'm curious max. What was what was your education. What was ah what was your education experience like. |
| 10:02.62 | Max Shank | Yeah, and. |
| 10:11.12 | mikebledsoe | Growing up. |
| 10:11.25 | Max Shank | Oh hellacious of of or pertaining to hell. Ah it. It was awful. Um, you know when you're a child the last thing in the world you want to do is sit in a desk and listen to someone who you don't like. Try to teach you something you don't care about for long long periods of time so it was horrible I almost got held back for bad bad handwriting ah made me think I was stupid and I mean once again I don't remember. 95% of the stuff I learned because that's not how that's not how memory works you know, even if you read a book and enjoy the book. You're not going to remember most of it unless you start using it and applying it in your everyday life and it is a tough pill to swallow. To recognize that you may be wasted 12 years of your life having your creativity and critical thinking skills essentially beaten out of you on some level but conversely. If. You don't accept that then you won't change your behavior so you have to sort of accept that before you can move on in a new and more constructive way. That's like that sunk cost fallacy. Oh well I did this for so long. Let me just do it a little bit more. So. Elementary school. Ah really traumatizing high school all the way up I did go to college before dropping out and it was it was really smart I didn't even have much left. To finish my spanish and economics degree. But I'm really glad I dropped out because it just proved ah how true that sunk cost fallacy is and it was almost better in terms of my actual learning and belief in that reality like. Am I going to spend another semester and a half to finish this degree when I have no intention of using it and I realized no so I went full hog into the career that I did enjoy that I was enthusiastic about and the gym that I had opened up. |
| 12:28.50 | mikebledsoe | Beautiful. Oh we boat dropped out of college to run a gym and. |
| 12:30.89 | Max Shank | Yeah, yeah, yeah, well and I I you know I I bought my house Thanks to book sales but I also failed English in high school. |
| 12:46.90 | mikebledsoe | You know? yeah I think that um. |
| 12:48.60 | Max Shank | So clearly I don't know how to write. |
| 12:52.71 | Max Shank | And the incentives the incentives are backwards right? So we've established that it's obedient school but there's no incentive for the teacher to do anything other than get you to behave yourself while in class and repeat back through rote Memory. Wrote memorization what she taught you. There's no advantage.. There's no incentive there for her to teach you. How to think critically because of the way that we measure is kind of like ah yeah, whatever, whatever way that you measure is. Going to affect the tactics that you employ. So if you're measuring Memorization. You're not really going to be incentivized to build critical thinking skills or expansive questioning. Um same as the incentive for college. You know there's no incentive for them to ensure that you get a good paying job and actually the only incentive there is to continue to increase the price of college because student loans for college are one of the only things you can. Get a person that young with that bad of credit to engage into a contract in I mean they're essentially like raping kids of their future by getting them to take out huge student loans that they can never default on due to bankruptcy So The incentive structures are. Um, completely backwards through the entire schooling process. |
| 14:31.67 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, by the way if if it sounds like we're just doing a lot of bashing we we do have solutions for each one of these things that we're gonna discuss we want to. We want to get all the problems out there first and one of the things that struck me is you know. The the rope memorization regurgitation is a really strong focus on what to think and as you were saying you know critical thinking skills. That's more about how to think and how to work your way through problems and we have an entire society that. Is easy to control because they're just told what to think if you if you log into Google Apple Facebook watch television listen to radio. They're repeating to you what to think about, but they're. Not telling you how to think about it. It's usually ah telling you what to think and then why you should worry about it and why you should be afraid of it and so this is it's a very fear drivenve experience in our culture right now and recognize this with. |
| 15:34.92 | Max Shank | 11 |
| 15:47.32 | mikebledsoe | My girlfriend especially she. She's got a master's in psychology and she's a certified you know, Psychotherapist and she did all the education racked up the student loan debt and she's very good at what she does like there. There's there's a lot of benefit out of it. But she's also since since her and I met and she's been swimming around the world of coaches who may not necessarily have finished their degrees which I know some coaches that were psychology majors but then just decide not to you know, go all the way or whatever it is and so. |
| 16:14.74 | Max Shank | And. |
| 16:25.44 | mikebledsoe | Um, now we get into this realm where people don't have you know certifications that fall under a board of ethics run by a bunch of academics and there was so much she I've heard this from her and many other people who have ah. Ah, ah, not certifications. But they have these credentials that could be taken away by a board. You know like a medical board or this or that and so what she shared with me is being in college. There was so much emphasis on. |
| 16:52.30 | Max Shank | Right? well. |
| 17:02.73 | mikebledsoe | You could lose your license for this. It's license not certification. You could lose your license for this lose your license for that like all the she said there was just so much fear and there was like if you don't follow these very specific rules then you're gonna lose your license and then you won't be able to work ever again and then she starts meeting everybody who. |
| 17:04.23 | Max Shank | Small cut. |
| 17:20.96 | mikebledsoe | Nobody has a license and they make good money and they get great results for their clients and she experienced ah ah quite a bit of frustration around that and ah, you know and there's so many things that she has because she went through. Like it was the perfect way for her to go she needed to go through that for many reasons part of it is you know, no one in her family had gone to college and her finishing at College made a big impact on the family you know and and there's there's all these. There's all these. |
| 17:42.67 | Max Shank | No. |
| 18:00.30 | mikebledsoe | Cultural narratives that really drive that but what I'd like for her to get to and I think she's getting there which is being really appreciative for the education she received but also recognizing it that its limitations and and going beyond. Ah. |
| 18:09.42 | Max Shank | And. |
| 18:17.97 | mikebledsoe | Where those limitations were at which which I've witnessed her due and I I hope that most people can do that? Um, yeah. |
| 18:24.12 | Max Shank | That's a tricky thing is changing resentment into gratitude when you know, full well with the benefit of hindsight that there was a much better way. But if you're not feeling that way your whole life. You're probably not paying attention. Like if you can never think back and go like there was a better way I could have done that than I want whatever you're having this can you imagine. |
| 18:46.70 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. Yeah, yeah, and one of the things that I also see missing in school that that really occurred to me after I got out of college was I remember taking a counting class in my first semester back to school after I was in the Navy and. I got a quarter away of the way through and the and the drop date was approaching and and I dropped the accounting clause because I was gonna get like a d in it or something and I had never gotten such a poor grade on anything and then um I go and i. |
| 19:16.44 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 19:25.56 | mikebledsoe | Go on to physics you know a couple semesters later and do just fine which if you talk to most people accounting is way easier than physics for for most people. What I recognize when I look back? Ah what I really enjoyed about physics was the there was so much Context. This is why we're doing this. This is the practical application of this This is why we're learning this and when I sat down in the accounting class I was like all right. These are credits and these were debits. There was no and this this this teacher was so this accounting teacher was so. |
| 19:55.71 | Max Shank | Context. |
| 20:02.48 | mikebledsoe | Ah, popular for having it being a difficult class or you he was like pride prided himself on weeding people out of business school and I look back I was like it's just a bad teacher like come on you So proud of you Idiot like. |
| 20:11.72 | Max Shank | What an asshole. |
| 20:20.93 | mikebledsoe | A good teacher would be educating their students really well and giving them the tools to succeed but this is I think this is one of the dangers of you know I met a lot of ah I'm not saying that they're all like this but I met a lot of people who were. In the education department so they went to school specifically to become a teacher so we have to remember that the education system. It's not one of those things where we could just introduce new curriculum into the system and it would solve it because part of the problem is the teachers grew up in a. Memorize and regurgitate environment. They don't have the critical thinking skills in order to pass them down and I think that's at the core is really the problem. Um, you know there's a lot of problems but like. You can't expect the teacher that doesn't have critical thinking to be able to teach critical thinking. |
| 21:20.83 | Max Shank | Right? And unfortunately because the system is so entrenched and there's 10 year and there's um teachers who do really well actually become ostracized by the rest of the teachers. And I think the core problem with schooling the absolute core problem is the lack of incentive because if we talk about what the purpose of education is which is what the purpose of schooling should be It should be that you are. Self-reliant able to contribute understand value and values and because there's no connection. There. There's no incentive for the teacher to be able to do that. There's no incentive for the college to. Do a good job. Once they've gotten your tuition money. That's the biggest problem is there's ah, no incentive or sometimes there's actually a backwards incentive so you need to allow competition to happen with education. And there was actually a really good um thing that John Stossel did about education with regard to letting the free market help elevate the best teachers to the chop and I guess there's this. I want to say he's like a south korean guy. Um, who is a multi multi-millionaire I think like tens of millions of dollars because his lectures are so well attended both in person and online and actual learning is happening and. So that's part of it. But also if there was some correlation to how well the students do afterward. Um, just like if you offer coaching I'm sure you've offered coaching with a guarantee before hey I guarantee and yeah I mean that like like ah right. |
| 23:20.33 | mikebledsoe | Oh yeah, yeah, it's a conditional guarantee so you have to show us the work you did that we prescribed. Otherwise you're not getting your money back. |
| 23:28.54 | Max Shank | Yeah, right? But imagine though like that is that's an insanely good deal like if you pay me five k for coaching I guarantee that if you do what we say that you will get 10 k back like whoa. Are you kidding me. You have all the incentive to do a great job. They're bought in so they have all the incentive to do a great job I mean talk about a win-win and so that's my core point is the incentives are backwards and people respond to incentives more than anything else and that's why I like the. The ancient ah Roman ah bridge builder having to stand underneath the bridge when the first guys drive over it and they're like ah carriages I think that's that's essentially. |
| 24:16.42 | mikebledsoe | Seeing him. |
| 24:22.94 | Max Shank | How everything should be done. Is there needs to be an incentive for the people who are doing the work and the reward needs to also go to those who are incentivized to do so that's the core problem across the board. |
| 24:34.20 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, on your point 1 more out which is cost and the cost is soared and the quality has diminished over time I think it's at least in the the college university experience. The the government came in and basically subsidized through grants and they ah they stood behind loans. They guaranteed loans so that these banks would start lending money to people that have poor credit scores or have no credit. |
| 25:10.34 | Max Shank | Their children their children. |
| 25:10.60 | mikebledsoe | Or just too young to even know what they're getting themselves into yeah and so the education loans are predatory in nature for one they predatory loans I everyone I know that's got over $ $100000 in debt when I talk to them about. Experience of going into the financial aid office. It's always the same They're just always trying to max them out and the people in the financial aid office. They don't know any fucking better either. They're just doing what they're told they're not thinking they didn't they weren't taught to critically think they don't understand what's going on. They think they're doing a good thing. |
| 25:41.83 | Max Shank | It was just following orders. |
| 25:46.66 | mikebledsoe | Um, and and the the ah the cost as skyrocketed because these are guaranteed by the government. You can't be Bankrupt. You can't bankrupt your way out of these. So It has incentivized the schools to raise their rates because more people can get loans so simultaneously. Yeah, so the schools have raised their rates without actually making improvements to the education at all I Imagine it's just made the administrative. |
| 26:12.73 | Max Shank | Guaranteed. |
| 26:22.73 | mikebledsoe | Portion of the school much fluffier. Um, there's tenured professors that are in ah in a fluffy environment and in some way due to these things. So The football teams are probably getting you know, really great stadiums built who the fuck knows but um. Yeah, the the cost is to me is really disgusting in how much people are spending on education with what they get out of it and that is just long term debt. So it's. Pretty sickening. |
| 27:00.87 | Max Shank | Predatory is the correct word I think use the word predatory I think that's exactly what it is I think the guy Mike Roe who hosted dirty jobs and now has a foundation called micro works. Really has done a good job in illuminating the destructive cultural expectation that says oh going to university means you're good and if you're a welder and electrician that makes you bad and I'm falling back to the same examples. But. You know plumber there's nothing wrong with being a tradesman shoot I knew a guy who became a truck driver when he was 18 by the time he was 27 he owned like 3 or 5 semi trucks and he was basically retired you know so this whole idea that you need to be part of the intelligentsia is. Such a fallacy and it's very destructive because of course children they just want to be loved they want they want to get positive attention. So um, kids will do whatever gets them positive attention I mean the more interviews you listen to the the great people. In their fields. It's usually that they got positive attention for whatever it is they were doing. |
| 28:19.63 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and another part of um, you know the the grants and the guaranting of the loans has basically made it possible for people who would not normally go to college to go to college and. With that has been the lowering of standards for accepting people to schools and so college education hasn't become special and it used to be special and now because everybody's going and the standards are lower. It's just kind of. It lowers the overall experience of what colleges it no longer stands out like the batch but the Bachelorsard's degree is what the high school diploma used to be.. It's It's not. It's not anything that's gonna make you stand apart and so we end up with just people that are in school into their mid 20 s or. Early 30 s just putting off actually getting their life started. |
| 29:19.15 | Max Shank | And with the exception of a few careers. It's totally worthless. It's for most careers, you'd be better off working and earning money when you're like 1412 1416 you know you can you can become an apprentice. For something when you're in your teens and by the time you're 18 have lots of money saved up and have a valuable skill and if you have a good mentor a valuable skill that you know how to sell and there's no better security than that. Ah, valuable skill that you know how to sell. |
| 29:59.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah,, let's let's get into that So What are the now. What I want to do is I Want to talk about the important things that are that we should be learning So What should exist and. Education and then after we talk about the different things that are important. We can roll into how we would design an education system that included these things and excluded all the bullshit. So. What do you got Max. What are the important things for us to learn. |
| 30:30.96 | Max Shank | First off I just want to reiterate why? what? What were you trying to learn. Why is it important we have self reliance and contribution. We have value and values and we have physical and mental health. I think that pretty much covers what you would hope to learn right? Is there anything else. You can think of I think that's basically it. |
| 30:56.42 | mikebledsoe | Um I like that as ah as a context I started thinking about the things that like specifically when I think about what's commonly thought of being created in school is reading writing arithmetic. Ah. |
| 31:10.90 | Max Shank | O. |
| 31:14.38 | mikebledsoe | If you can if you can read and write you can you're going to be able to and if you can comprehend what you read at a high level you become more literate so that the more you can comprehend the better. You can comprehend the more literate you become which allows you to grasp information at much faster speed. But also be able to produce it and share it. So um, the reading and writing are super important there if you can I Really think I mean this this trumps math if you can read, you can learn anything. You can go anywhere if you can read really? well. Um, that's. |
| 31:46.49 | Max Shank | Agreed agreed. |
| 31:52.67 | mikebledsoe | To me is the primary thing I'm a little biased I'm sure because like I I have ah a super high reading comprehension but I look at my life and I see how beneficial that has been It's probably because I was homeschooled. And basically around seventh or eighth grade I was learning everything on my own so it was was kind of like forced into reading comprehension. Um. |
| 32:15.72 | Max Shank | Whole words usually make or break your life your ability to communicate with other people and cooperate with other people is totally dependent on your ability to express and interpret both. Ah. |
| 32:20.81 | mikebledsoe | You know. |
| 32:35.49 | Max Shank | Actual language and body language. So it it is the ultimate skill and we are the ultimate social emotional creature. So there's no question that word is important I have it split up into word number and movement basically and. |
| 32:49.63 | mikebledsoe | E. |
| 32:54.10 | Max Shank | That will give you the mental and physical health that will also allow you to understand the concept of value and if you understand the concept of value. You know that value is relative to the individual like you know, bottled water at Coachella. Is very valuable but bottled water on you know, an iceberg is is next to a ah pure stream is not that valuable at all. In fact, it might even be detrimental. You'd pay nothing for it. So that's really the the crux of it. So. With number I have it split up into economics engineering and music is how I would teach numbers econ so you can learn about risk reward cost and benefit. There's some accounting in there of course and then engineering. Would be where like physics and geometry and structures would come into play. So I think that covers most of the practical uses for numbers and I'm sure that our listeners would have other ideas of how that work I think music is. Ah, really good thing to ah teach people because it's actually pretty easy and the amount of effort required versus the benefit you get both ah psychologically and physically is very high so that would be number and then for words. You would want logic and rhetoric history to know what worked and what should be done differently Ww and Dd and then ah learning about programming. Learning about how humans are programmed learning how to program yourself using language learning about the power of stories and storytelling and maybe most importantly, learning how to craft an offer and sell that offer. And I think that really covers a lot of the word skills that a person might need. And lastly we have under movement I have meditation under movement because it's sort of the um I think stillness is actually a pretty useful. Exercise and then we have wrestling striking gymnastics and Ballgames and I think that would cover like 95% |
| 35:41.39 | Max Shank | Of what you need in order to be able to deliver value which allows you to be self-reliant and contribute and it would also enhance your mental and physical health and still leave lots of time left over for. Recreation and leisure and rest and play which I think are also non-negotiables. |
| 36:06.61 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, one thing I would add to that be law I think there's yeah, no manmade laws. The um, those. |
| 36:13.36 | Max Shank | Law like physical laws or so so crime crime and punishment. |
| 36:25.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, really I mean people people be don't understand how law works They don't understand I mean going back to because that falls under the the word category for you because law is just an opinion. |
| 36:38.94 | Max Shank | Yeah. |
| 36:44.32 | mikebledsoe | By a certain group of people that they then Hire Policy. You know they create a policy Hire Policy enforcers to make sure that everybody complies. Um. And most people are very confused about the law so it leaves it leaves law in the hands of very few people people people get involved politically in ways that they don't understand. |
| 37:11.36 | Max Shank | O. |
| 37:18.77 | mikebledsoe | Don't understand the implications of what's going On. Ah and they don't know how to make a change. They don't know how to how to change the law or take advantage of the law or to interpret the law and I think this is something I started learning some of that when I was in high school. I was I was blessed enough to have been exposed to constitutional law and take that high school and I was homeschooled so I got to study a bunch of shit that other people never I talked to anyone who went to public school. No one talked about constitutional law. Even though that's the entire basis of our culture So culture is made up of language in the most concrete version of culture is the laws that are written down and people are going around enforcing those laws I mean it doesn't get more concrete than that outside of. |
| 38:12.54 | Max Shank | Or else That's a strong incentive. |
| 38:15.79 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, or else. So I think that I think that law is is really powerful to to learn and another thing is most of the things that people avoid in this world that keeps them from being wealthy I had this conversation with one of my friends this weekend. Is people are scared to learn anything administrative in nature people due to avoiding administrative load ah remain poor They they don't engage with what's happening financially with and with their taxes. They don't know how to. |
| 38:49.31 | Max Shank | So. |
| 38:52.36 | mikebledsoe | They're afraid of it and they just you know whatever the accountant says I don't really know how to how to engage in that administratively and a lot of people confuse law with Administrative. There's a lot of administrative stuff going on if you just do these things that you're not going to be subject to certain laws because you went through these. Certain administrative Processes. So this happens with real estate this happens with what what we're seeing in the the crypto markets right now there's a lot of there's a lot of really complex and sophisticated administrative things that are built in a society right now that. |
| 39:11.40 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 39:28.85 | mikebledsoe | The only people who really get the benefit of it are the people who are willing to engage in that administrative load and are willing to learn the complexity of it and so I see the administration falls under government and governance and law. Whether it's coming from a government or the governance is coming from a smaller institution. These things are all important to know about if you want to participate in society and make a difference in it. |
| 39:50.27 | Max Shank | The. |
| 39:58.98 | Max Shank | It's like how you want to? It's like how to manage your life. Basically right? because you know don't hate the player hate the game better yet. Just ah, don't hate anything just ah play the cards you're dealt. But you're right I mean law is so deliberately complex to obscure the truth accounting rules are so deliberately complex to obscure the truth tax rules, etc. But you can complain about how it's unfair. Which it is or you can learn the language of those pursuits and I think the fact that we don't teach kids about accounting and taxes and law in high school is a frigging crime. |
| 40:50.69 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well be too many people learn it. They might get they they might start thinking for themselves. That's a problem so we won't go. |
| 40:59.71 | Max Shank | Well, they might realize how bad everyone's being screwed I mean that's why we also that's why we also don't get ah a transparent pie chart with a list of how tax dollars are being spent because we would all go like are you fricking kidding me. Like you couldn't you couldn't imagine a more egregious misappropriation of funds. But once again that is taboo because people are under the fantasy. That it's being spent well if their tax dollars are going to a good cause and so in order to come to the realization that they're being catastrophically mismanaged wasted or maybe even ah used for ah sinister acts. |
| 41:51.57 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah. |
| 41:53.53 | Max Shank | Right is horrifying. |
| 42:00.63 | mikebledsoe | So horrifying. Alright, so we know we know what we want to learn so I don't have children yet. But I'm planning on it. Um I was homeschooled I feel very blessed for that I think. 1 of the things that people are mostly concerned about and it comes homeschooling is you know the social interaction piece and I said this last week is you know the 3 big things we want to learn that the reason we want to learn things is so we can benefit our health our wealth and our relationships. And ah, you know a lot of times people think about you know, homeschoolers being isolated and and I had plenty of opportunity I my parents hired tutors along with some other parents. So I would go to a latin teacher with 3 other guys once a week we would study latin. Um I had an algebra tutor I had a spanish tutor and I was getting little social engagement in these small groups throughout the week so I wasn't without a social structure. It was just different and I think I actually developed very well because of that because I actually spent more time. Amongst adults that I did with kids who are my own age who probably weren't as mature and had I been in that environment I would have behaved less maturely as well. So I had ah I was able to mature pretty quickly due to that. Um. And I know one thing that's really emerged. That's really exciting is this past couple of years. The kids weren't allowed to go to school and they all had to sit at home and and ah, they're basically being homeschooled. |
| 43:46.12 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 43:54.49 | mikebledsoe | By parents who may not even be interested in it or they're having to work a job and can't give them the attention and it just created this this whiplash in a way and you know they they started letting kids go back to school here in Texas and Florida you know the kids. Everything's pretty much back to normal when it comes to going to school sometimes I have mass sometimes they don't depends on the school here in in Texas and ah, but my friends in California who have children what they've done because California laws are so insane. Ah. Is ah a lot of these teachers have left these these really great teachers have left these amazing schools because they're tired of all the mandates as well and these parents have gotten together and they go oh there's 6 families. Getting together. We're all going to contribute $20000 to this teacher for the year the teacher gets paid more the kids get more attention that the ratio of parent a teacher is just right? The parents are in a constant conversation with the teachers. And there's not just one teacher to 1 group of kids. There's multiple teachers that have specialties and different things and so these kids are are and it's and it's very it's become very communal and what we're gonna what we're gonna be witnessing over the years is there's a ah decentralization of. Everything everything's being decentralized and so a lot of people are not going to like that because it's so different than the way it's been but education is becoming decentralized and it's gonna be very community oriented and when things decentralized things tend to become tribal and what I mean by that is. There are small cultures. There's these subcultures that start forming these bubbles I'm part of a subculture where I live we all have you know we we all share the same beliefs and all that kind of stuff and when you know we have kids and bring them up through that culture that's going to be that way. And we need to be good with other people having their own bubbles and their own beliefs and their own cultures. That's perfectly fine. That's what makes this world such a beautiful place. Um, but what I I see in the future is the reason this teacher can get paid much more. You know it could be making 6 figures and. Not working for the school. So the teacher makes more money it costs the parents less money to send their kids to school because're not paying for all this administrative bullshit and the administrative bullshit basically gets in the way of having a direct relationship with the teacher and it gets in the way of community because it's sets a centralized humane and control. |
| 46:35.28 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 46:42.61 | Max Shank | And no direct incentive either yet, you need to have um, correlated incentives. Otherwise you're always going to get a worse result. You're always going to get corruption. You're always going to get. Ah. |
| 46:47.34 | mikebledsoe | And the incentives are yeah are broken. |
| 47:02.44 | Max Shank | Like lobbying. For example, we're we're going to. We're going to convince the rule breakers to give us better rules I mean that's just that's just crazy. |
| 47:05.19 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 47:13.45 | mikebledsoe | so so I started throwing out a solution. that's that's 1 big broad solution. We didn't talk about how kids should be school choice. |
| 47:19.84 | Max Shank | School choice. Yeah school choice is the ultimate solution because if you want to send your kid to public school and you have what you consider a good public school and you're well-informed then hey you know more power to you but you have to have that choice. Which allows for competition so that the let's just say like the destructive schools don't have a monopoly on the hearts and minds of kids. It's ridiculous. |
| 47:49.98 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah, how would you handle the 8 hours of sitting in 1 spot as a child. |
| 47:57.10 | Max Shank | You you don't I mean what could possibly be worse than sitting in a chair that is horizontal with a desk that is horizontal. It's catastrophically bad. You're looking straight down all the time. Or you're looking at the teacher talk. Ah I think for the body. It's awful. You know you could you could do you could do 100% of schooling outside if the weather was good. You could do most schooling outside depending on the weather just with like a. A notebook or a tablet of some kind I mean it doesn't have to be a fancy ipad or anything like that. You know we forget that you pay a premium for a luxury brand like that. But you could go to Walmart today and for like eighty bucks get a tablet that can connect to the internet. And write notes and has a little pen on there. So. |
| 48:55.83 | mikebledsoe | For all my friends kids were the school gave them Macbooks once covid hit like all the kids got macbooks I know well you're welcome kid. |
| 49:05.43 | Max Shank | Wow you and I paid for those. Ah, yeah, and obviously someone won big on securing that contract too. So that that's that sort of ah backwards incentive is par for the course and a lot of it has to do with transparency. |
| 49:18.51 | mikebledsoe | Oh yeah, for sure. |
| 49:29.19 | Max Shank | I think that's the main attraction of cryptocurrency. For example, especially like blockchain technology is that it's so transparent. Ah there isn't anyway, we don't want to get on that topic too much but when it's transparent and you know where everything's going. It's really difficult for there to be those. Dirty dealings behind the scenes and those backwards incentive structures. So I think that sitting in a desk, especially ah a single desk most of the day is. 1 of the worst things you could do to a kit to their posture to their eyesight to their skin to their body I mean it's horrible. You know if you don't see it as child if you don't see it as child abuse then you like don't understand physiology. |
| 50:12.84 | mikebledsoe | Well, the other thing is is. |
| 50:21.37 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and the other thing that I've done a lot of work in the emotional realm and one of the things that I recognize is the emotional body and the physical body are so intertwined These are not different these are and. |
| 50:21.90 | Max Shank | At all. |
| 50:41.36 | mikebledsoe | And if you put kids in an environment where they cannot move and they're experiencing anything emotional that they're not allowed to express because you're not allowed to express yourself emotionally in class you gotta be quiet. You can't you know if you're crying. We're gonna. |
| 50:53.91 | Max Shank | And right? yeah. |
| 50:59.33 | mikebledsoe | You You know, get rid of you somehow or get you to settle down if you're if you want to be happy and Laughing. You can't do that either. So Not only is there this retardation of physical movement but ah of being in touch with the emotional body. So What I see. Problem with the desk is it's yeah, it's the the emotional body also gets stunted in this so you get the the physical body and the emotional body are suffering by being in this and while the physical body and the emotional body are being minimized. |
| 51:17.99 | Max Shank | Eq goes down. |
| 51:35.57 | mikebledsoe | We are then putting most of our attention on the memorization and regurgitation and so we end up in honoring and really I guess holding on a pedestal. The. The intellectual part of being human as being the most valuable so we've got 20 years of education telling us that what's in our mind is what's truly important and that our body and our emotional body are not as important you won't be valued in Society. If you have that So what we have is a bunch of people who have very poor development physically poor development Emotionally who have an overdeveloped psyche in a lot of ways that is that they identify as who they are and that that. Creates a very controllable population. It's a very,. It's very easy to create sheep in that in that case. |
| 52:41.60 | Max Shank | All being taught by an obedience teacher who has no skin in the game for how well they do in life. |
| 52:51.11 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah. |
| 52:52.80 | Max Shank | Even even with the best of intentions I've I've met teachers who are amazing I've also met teachers who couldn't be worse and even if you have really good intentions. It doesn't mean that the action is good I Think that's. |
| 52:57.84 | mikebledsoe | I. |
| 53:11.00 | Max Shank | Something that I've really come to think about a lot as I study history as I Observe what's going on in our culture Good intentions doesn't doesn't make the action good if your intentions are good. It doesn't mean what you're doing is good. So Even with the best of intentions you can like horribly abuse a lot of people. |
| 53:29.65 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 53:35.33 | mikebledsoe | The the truth is in the results I talk to people about this which is somebody wants to start getting defensive of you know I speak frequently about the the medical system being fucked up and you know what people refer to as the health care system. Being fucked up and they're like well you know and they want to defend it I'm like all we have to do is look at the results I don't want to hear about why you think this is a good idea or not or people want to defend very specific actions when I go look I don't I'm not look. That action. You know was a good theory and it was put in place and all that but it didn't work out the way we wanted to work out. You know the american healthcare system is failing. How do we know? record breaking diabetes cancer mental health the heart disease people. That ah number one killer in the United States right now. Fentanyl overdose. So ah, prescription drugs. |
| 54:37.86 | Max Shank | Number 1 even above and beyond like heart disease that would surprise me. |
| 54:44.30 | mikebledsoe | I I Saw a new thing I think it became number one definitely beats Covid but um. |
| 54:50.44 | Max Shank | Maybe number one? No well, there's ah, there's a lot of iffy numbers around testing and things like that and the amount of deaths and cases there but we don't want to get ourselves censored. |
| 55:01.35 | mikebledsoe | Everything? Ah yeah, all arms. Ah yeah, if you're getting censored. |
| 55:09.50 | Max Shank | That's always a good sign by the way if ah if someone's trying to censor certain topics. They're probably doing it with good intentions. |
| 55:16.98 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, so so we really got to look at the results and so anyone who still is hesitant to agree with us. Ah just look at the results you know or the results of the education system. What kind of what kind of people are going out into the world. Seems pretty chaotic to me at this point. Um, what I mean I too many too many kids to one teacher these classrooms with 30 kids 1 teacher. What? What's the number you'd like to see. |
| 55:46.28 | Max Shank | I well here's the thing I think if the structure were different that would be fine that'd be fine if if kids worked with each other in groups and they were learning things that were useful. Things that were important and interesting to them. Um, then you wouldn't need to have that teacher giving one thirtieth of her attention to everyone all the time it could be done in more of like a ah circuit style. |
| 56:20.70 | mikebledsoe | Um. |
| 56:22.54 | Max Shank | So I think the number of students to the teacher is relevant but it can work a lot of different ways. Ah no question, no question if you have ah a 1 on 1 relationship you're you're gonna get more. |
| 56:29.36 | mikebledsoe | You. |
| 56:41.19 | Max Shank | Information transmitted there you're going to get more direct and immediate feedback which can be very beneficial. Um, ah so I think 1 to 30 is not necessarily a problem but it is a problem especially with the structure that we have it in. You know everybody in an individual desk. We got 95% fluff. The rest of it is not really um, taught in a way that is principles based It's more rote memorization based so um, yeah, part of the reason that's no good is. Because of the structure we have in place ah school school choice though is the solution and unfortunately the worse we like dumb down the. |
| 57:20.81 | mikebledsoe | Got it? yeah. |
| 57:38.17 | Max Shank | School system the more ah like pork belt barreling the more like fluff we throw in there due to lobbying and teachers unions and stuff like that and the less incentive at play you just create are ah wider wider and wider chasm between the haves and the have-nots because if then. You know going to public school is actually worse and worse and worse for a child that makes the gap between that and a private school or a free choice school bigger and bigger. |
| 58:09.43 | mikebledsoe | yeah yeah I think about how I teach and we break you know Um I'm teaching adults so they learn the information on their own. They they try to apply it. Um, but then they also meet with a pod I put people in groups of a pod of 6 and that pod of 6 is led by 1 of my coaches and you know they're usually got more than no more than 25 or 30 people they're managing at a time but only 6 at a time. |
| 58:32.57 | Max Shank | This. |
| 58:48.20 | mikebledsoe | Is what they're managing and so I really like that that group of 6 I I grew up learning in in groups of 6 or or less I see a lot of value in that I do like what you were saying you know one teacher could be handling 30 kids if there was a certain rotation going on. But I think most teachers are managing like 150 kids and 30 at a time. So I think that and and the other thing we have to also think about is you know the age if you're if you're 3 4 5 6 7 eight years old you probably need that constant supervision. There needs to be a teacher all the time present or most of the time present you know I think it's really silly for thirteen fourteen Fifteen year olds to be under constant supervision of a teacher for 8 hours a day. It's I'm a big believer in. |
| 59:31.71 | Max Shank | A. |
| 59:45.69 | Max Shank | But. |
| 59:46.61 | mikebledsoe | Like let's sit down for 60 to 90 minutes to focus on a topic as a group and then go go fuck off for an hour. You know, go go ah go to recess. Go move your body go play. Do something you enjoy. If you want to study more if you want to learn more about it and continue to have the conversation. Great. But I'd like to see an environment where like as kids get older that they get more autonomy over their time and how they spend it and. Giving them the space to research and learn about things that they're curious about instead of having this need to cram all this useless information in your head so that you know the teacher can meet their quota the way to pause it real quick. |
| 01:00:31.50 | Max Shank | Um, yeah, sure. Yeah, so what we need is interest and incentive. Basically. |
| 01:00:40.12 | mikebledsoe | Hear the door knocking go. |
| 01:00:49.19 | Max Shank | Like if if you're interested in something and you're incentivized. You'll do it. That's that's what I've noticed with coaching adults as well is if you're interested and incentivized. There's no limit to the energy and enthusiasm that you'll have and if you. Reinforce that sense of ah contribution that good feeling you get when you share with others. It allows you to have this abundance of psychic energy which I think you and I agree you and I would agree is 1 of the main roadblocks. For adults in success in their business. It's not because they don't know how to do arithmetic. It's because there are personal blocks. Ah psychologically and emotionally right. |
| 01:01:42.64 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, absolutely absolutely. Um, how how do you approach teaching children to we. We talked a lot about memorizing and regurgitating as as not learning, but just as it is what it is. |
| 01:01:54.65 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 01:02:00.54 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 01:02:02.19 | mikebledsoe | How do we teach like what would be your idea of how to teach kids. How to think for themselves. |
| 01:02:07.31 | Max Shank | So I have ah I have a very controversial method. What I do is I have a pocket full of marshmallows and then I carry a long stick and if they do something I like then they get a marshmallow and if they do something I don't like then I hit them with the stick and I'll. I'll trick them. Ah, into just blindly believing what I say and if they do blindly believe what I say then I hit him with the stick and if they ask for context then they get a marshmallow I'm a little bit old school. Ah no I mean I. |
| 01:02:45.13 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| 01:02:49.75 | Max Shank | I Think ah, encouraging curiosity and question asking is very valuable. Um I think relating everything back to how you're going to be able to liberate yourself and contribute. Is very important there needs to be context with the content. You can't have just content. You want to reinforce how learning to read will allow you to learn anything Else. You have to reinforce how ah economics and accounting are. Going to help you become wealthy so you don't have to worry about living paycheck to Paycheck. So I think having context with content and encouraging curiosity are probably the most important things when it comes to teaching kids. Um. The other thing is trying to have something physical in the world rather than just ah, verbal or visual something that they can hold in their hands I think is really valuable and making it a little bit more kinesthetic. |
| 01:03:58.40 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, there's ah ah well the the interesting there is um I read I read this book last year called Metaphors that we live by and it Yeah, do you. |
| 01:04:11.60 | Max Shank | I have that book. Yeah. |
| 01:04:15.61 | mikebledsoe | And it does a really good job of mapping out how the the mind works in Metaphor. So ah, the when we when we talk about if we talk about inflation the way that it's structured in a sentence. Makes it out to where we're creating inflation as a person you know inflation is bad and it's gonna come get you and all these types of things just as an example and so we tend to take Concepts and we we say the mind is a. Is an engine or a machine.. It's like that's not actually True. You know we we could think about it as a process but most people don't That's too conceptual So Most Concepts are made that we make sense of those concepts by ah, assigning Them. Ah. |
| 01:04:58.40 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 01:05:13.25 | mikebledsoe | It's a metaphor to something we can physically see and touch and and feel and all that kind of stuff and so to your point if there is a lack of of 3 D experience if there's a lack of what's going on then. I Think these when you when you're learning Concepts and you don't have the metaphors locked in well enough you you are going to you. You run the risk of just living in the conceptual world which I call the fifth dimension and. |
| 01:05:49.10 | Max Shank | Yes. |
| 01:05:51.19 | mikebledsoe | World of concepts the fourth dimension being our 3 dimensions that we exist in in this particular moment and then add time and for the fourth dimension fit dimension being concepts and so what we end up with is a bunch of people who are lost in their heads. |
| 01:06:10.34 | Max Shank | And. |
| 01:06:10.71 | mikebledsoe | And just doing you know mental masturbation that never know how to to practically apply these things and I have suffered from that a bit myself. So I I get it. But that's something that I think you're spot on I think the solution to that is a lot of hands On. Learning like I learned geometry and trigonometry in my high school years but the real application which was way simpler than what I was learning in the books by the way was going on the job site with my dad and renovating houses and having to cut pieces of wood that were going to fit. |
| 01:06:45.50 | Max Shank | Okay. |
| 01:06:49.79 | mikebledsoe | This angle over here and this angle over there and we were doing the math it Trigg made so much sense to me being on the job site. You get me in a book and all of a sudden. It's stop it. It doesn't it doesn't mean as much but again because I have the I have the carpentry background. |
| 01:07:05.69 | Max Shank | It's not rich. |
| 01:07:09.11 | mikebledsoe | I do understand trick really well I was able to get into physics really well because I I so I can take the conception when I and I've had practice making it practical. |
| 01:07:19.84 | Max Shank | Well and you know you bring up a really good point like pract I'm one of the most practical people I've ever met because I tend to think that if something is superfluous. You can do it for fun but otherwise it should be. Cut out like there's no reason for any of that unless you're specifically like trying to just have fun. So when I have the 3 categories of you know, word move and number there's a lot. You actually still have a lot of time left over so you could have part of schooling be woodworking and plumbing and learning a little bit about electric circuits and having these very practical schools like how about cooking and once again, we don't want to. Rely 100% on the state to teach your kid because they will ah do the worst job possible because there's no incentive for them to do a good job so having practical skills acquired that are not only. Ah. Applied in that moment but also applied for the rest of your life is hugely valuable. So I think um, that idea of no content without context would be. Like 1 of the most important things because you need someone to emotionally and intellectually buy in and apply that knowledge once they've realized that it's valuable. |
| 01:08:59.99 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, that also solves the problem of the fluff. The the useless information that is made important when you have context I think about history and how much history is taught and it's like. |
| 01:09:10.34 | Max Shank | A. So much fluff. |
| 01:09:17.62 | mikebledsoe | This battle happened at this point and whatever and you know on the test you got to make sure that you got the right battle in the right year and all that kind of shit and it just makes no sense and um. |
| 01:09:24.18 | Max Shank | Right? It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's rote memorization with no idea for like why are we learning this. It's so we don't repeat the mistakes of history and history is all about how human beings clump together and cooperate or. |
| 01:09:35.26 | mikebledsoe | Right. |
| 01:09:43.56 | Max Shank | Or don't cooperate how they resolve their differences How you know that that kind of thing I agree. |
| 01:09:47.79 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and so we could study the the purpose of studying history. The the grand context there which isn't taught school is yeah, don't repeat the mistakes and what's made us better. How do we do more of that and how does this. Why are we learning what we're learning today. How does that apply to today's environment and where we're going and what what are the pitfalls and and I I would you know when I have kids that conversation is gonna it's gonna be a conversation. You know what do you think about how that applies to what's going on in our world right now. |
| 01:10:10.44 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 01:10:23.52 | Max Shank | Hello text. |
| 01:10:24.85 | mikebledsoe | This and that and and talk it through. |
| 01:10:29.89 | mikebledsoe | Um, how would you incentivize creativity. What do you? What are you laughing about. |
| 01:10:42.50 | Max Shank | I'm just thinking about ah the the teachers who hear this who are going to hate my fucking guts and yours too probably, but but they'll hate me more after I say this next thing is it doesn't seem hard. It actually doesn't seem difficult at all. Once you add context to every piece of content and once you cut away all the fluff. There's not that much. You need to know to understand value and values and when I say value and values I Basically just mean understanding that value is relative understanding that you have to deliver value. To be able to exist within this societal framework and values to me essentially means like volunteerism like non-coercion Morality like we talked about before like if you if you don't like someone that's fine but don't punch them in the face. |
| 01:11:28.89 | mikebledsoe | Oh. |
| 01:11:39.20 | Max Shank | Ah, however, if they attack you then ah go ahead and make sure you win that battle in some way, don't steal. Don't lie like it's very simple stuff. But. |
| 01:11:46.10 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 01:11:53.29 | Max Shank | It's not a lot of stuff. It's more important to reinforce those things with practical application and context. That's what I was laughing about. |
| 01:11:58.12 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I on that I want to make sure that we have ah some type of solution for each thing we we named as a problem we we're talking about ah the the school system is stifling creativity. So. |
| 01:12:06.54 | Max Shank | Yeah, can you repeat it I I was off in my own little world. There. Those are the. |
| 01:12:17.28 | mikebledsoe | What? Ah how would you enhance? what would you do to help enhance creativity in children you were teaching. |
| 01:12:22.66 | Max Shank | I Suppose asking leading questions to how you could apply something. You know that seems unrelated to something that we're learning right now would be a good way to do it. |
| 01:12:38.70 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 01:12:42.10 | Max Shank | Um, asking what other ways could you try to solve this problem. Um I think music and art would be Useful. Creativity is a tricky thing because. If we try to nail down a definition. What does creativity really mean um, like an unexpected solution like if you say in sport someone came up with a really creative play. It would be something that you haven't really seen before it would be. Something that maybe you've seen elsewhere applied in a new way right? So I I think encouraging knowing what that means and then encouraging that behavior and recognizing that's what innovation is would be useful. |
| 01:13:24.90 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, one one of the ways I like her. |
| 01:13:35.59 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, I like the idea of well you know I train entrepreneurs I train people to be entrepreneurs basically and an entrepreneur is just a problem solver at the end of the day is. |
| 01:13:44.50 | Max Shank | Right. Yeah. |
| 01:13:53.49 | mikebledsoe | A problem in the world and you're gonna create a solution. So I really like the idea like creating an environment where creativity is enhanced by putting problems in front of them without the without saying solve it inside of this context but obviously. |
| 01:14:10.74 | Max Shank | 2 |
| 01:14:13.24 | mikebledsoe | This problem solving this problem it. The problem itself creates its own boundaries and so if I'm solving a very specific problem then I have to take all this creative energy that might be going in random directions and then focus it down into this one solution and I think that. |
| 01:14:25.85 | Max Shank | The. |
| 01:14:32.62 | mikebledsoe | Being able to approach different types of problems and then apply all this other knowledge that that exists in other Contexts and then see the the principles overlap and the relationship of those principles into this New. Ah. New context if you can do that then you're you're gonna be really well Off. So It's I think putting a I think putting problems in front of kids and letting them work it out in their own way and just see what happens also allowing them to be. |
| 01:14:57.69 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 01:15:08.12 | Max Shank | That's that's a great point. |
| 01:15:10.69 | mikebledsoe | Kids just allowing kids to be curious and study what they want I mean ah the way I've thought about approaching is like you know what? I'm gonna make sure that my kids do math for like twenty thirty minutes a day I'm gonna make sure they read and write for twenty thirty minutes a day. It's like reading writing arithmetic. |
| 01:15:12.84 | Max Shank | Right? okay. |
| 01:15:20.39 | Max Shank | The. |
| 01:15:28.18 | mikebledsoe | And we'll cover some other stuff along the way. But you know what do they want to do you know? Let's ah, spend the first couple hours studying and on the stuff that I want them to learn they they may not want to but after that is like oh there's a piano right here. There's there's some guns over there. There's. Ah, you know we could build something over there. But there's a whole library of books like is there a topic that interests you and I think letting the kids explore get a lot of reward while learning for themselves is. |
| 01:15:50.60 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 01:16:04.67 | mikebledsoe | Is going to help improve creativity as well. |
| 01:16:05.71 | Max Shank | Just giving them the space and less coaching with these things I thought of ah you know how would you encourage creativity. You give them a problem. They solve it and you say okay could you solve it in a different way. |
| 01:16:09.54 | mikebledsoe | Okay. |
| 01:16:21.65 | mikebledsoe | Um, on her name. |
| 01:16:22.89 | Max Shank | Like that's one way you could do it? Okay, could you solve it in a different way and then also just giving them a task with no coaching whatsoever like I just had this vision of giving each group of like 2 or 3 kids like a huge rock and like asking them to move it to the other side of a field or something like that. |
| 01:16:39.18 | mikebledsoe | Man. |
| 01:16:42.37 | Max Shank | And you know just trying to figure out like how they could do that like what tools could you use? what? how could you get that to happen if you were teaching like a physics class and you wanted to learn about ah force and mass and friction and work. |
| 01:17:00.10 | mikebledsoe | Beautiful. Sounds like the school we would design be a lot of fun for a kid to attend So what's easier than a job teaching kid. Oh yeah. |
| 01:17:07.54 | Max Shank | I would kind of want to go there. It's way easier than a job if you do it right? going to the school that we're inventing. |
| 01:17:19.57 | mikebledsoe | You know to my point last week you know I think there's I was hanging out with some ah crypto entrepreneurs this weekend and a handful of guys who ah who understand blockchain way better than I do And yeah, the. I Mentioned the dow last week and I still like it's still hot on my mind. There's there is a way to create a decentralized education system that ah where we get to learn best practices. Best practices are kept and shared. And worst practices are just removed from the system altogether but there's always choice. So for me the bottom line for education is it's It's much more than Schooling. Ah. Kids who tend to be pretty bright. This isn't always the case. Some kids come from from pretty rough backgrounds all the way around. But you know the education's happening in the home. It's not very little education is happening in school aside from the obedience training which kids are also just getting at home. And ah so it's to me. It's about what's happening in the family unit. What's happening communally I know that when I have kids they will have a lot of aunts and Uncles not not blood aunts and Uncles but they will they will go hunting with my buddy manzel who who is a. |
| 01:18:47.42 | Max Shank | A. |
| 01:18:54.29 | mikebledsoe | Who is the best hunter I know and they will go. You know wherever with who like there's gonna be a It'll be a community thing and I imagine some people will. It'll be an official role for them and for other people it'll just be like oh yeah, he's really good with plumbing over there. So. Make sure to go to spend a few days with him and really putting putting them in the the world of of really amazing men and women to me is the the future and the big win got a last. |
| 01:19:27.37 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 01:19:29.64 | mikebledsoe | Last thoughts on this max. |
| 01:19:34.46 | Max Shank | Incentives drive behavior. It's it's not that complicated actually and when you have the incentives in the wrong place things go really bad. Ah, you don't need to know that many things to live well you don't need to know that many things to be self-reliant and contribute. So ah, lastly accept the reality that school is. Mostly a waste of time mostly obedient school but don't be resentful of it be appreciative of the experience and recognize that education is an ongoing process recognize that if you're learning about something that you are truly interested in. And incentivized to learn. You will never feel a lack of energy I mean unless you're deeply sick. But even people who are deeply sick if they are enthusiastic about what they're learning and enthusiastic about the prospect of getting better better. Getting better and sharing that information then then you will create a surplus of enthusiasm which is essentially psychic energy. You know when you're interested in a project you work on it all day. And suddenly it's 10 pm and you're like oh I forgot to eat today and if you're doing stuff that you don't want to do you will jump at any opportunity to go mindlessly eat some snacks and I'm I'm the same way by the way this is not like a. |
| 01:21:17.10 | mikebledsoe | Right. |
| 01:21:18.59 | Max Shank | Pointing the finger I'm pointing the finger at at myself because I know that within my own self I'm a collection of stories and sensations and I have that 3 hree-tiered mind the lizard the mammal and the wizard and I am I'm part. Neocortex wizard able to imagine different probabilities for the future and I'm also a half retarded monkey who just wants boobs and snacks. So I respect. That reality and try to engage with things that I'm both emotionally invested in intellectually interested in and also incentivized by it. So if you care about something then you will do whatever it takes to learn it. I mean just an example I was reading a eo wilson textbook on genetics and it was fascinating I spent like 2 hours yesterday morning reading and watching this interactive textbook and it it was fascinating. Because I was interested in it because I'm incentivized within the context of my career. So ah, develop a love of education enhance and nourish that love of education. But um, bring it back to. Context so content and context go together interest and incentive go together and everything should help you live better and be able to contribute more That's it. |
| 01:23:04.56 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well said well said where can people find you. |
| 01:23:10.48 | Max Shank | You can find me at http://mashank.com or at Macank where can they find you. |
| 01:23:16.73 | mikebledsoe | They can find me at Mike Underscore bloodso on Instagram and http://thestrongcoach.com I also want to remind everyone that I have the strong coach summit coming up March third through Seventh. So if you want to go check that out. Go to http://thestrongcoach.com/summit and you can get your tickets there. Thanks y'all. Love you max. |
| 01:23:38.97 | Max Shank | Thanks! Love you buddy. |
| 00:00.00 | Max Shank | Welcome back folks to Monday mornings with max and mike hope you are kicking your week off the right way I'm excited to have you here I'm excited to have my buddy mike here with me today. We're gonna talk about something which I think is a pretty cool thought experiment which. Will lead to your greater action. It's what would you do with a billion dollars and 1 of the things that's useful about this is that it gets you to think about mission instead of business it lets you think a little bit bigger and then. Ideally, what you'll do is once you have a clear set up for how you're going to use that billion. You redo the thought experiment on a new sheet of paper with what would you do with 1 million. What would you do with 1 hundred thousand. And you work your way down into what the core importance overall is and then what the core important thing for you to work on right now is so thank you for joining me mike what's up. |
| 01:07.55 | mikebledsoe | Yo? Yeah, ah this is a fun is a fun thought experiment. It reminds me of a similar thought experiments I've done in the past and usually it's at a conference where there's some speaker on stage that's trying to inspire you to to. Higher action and it works um another couple other questions I've heard is it that are in the same vein but are different so we're gonna run with this but a couple I'll throw out there is what would you do? if you couldn't fail and then what. |
| 01:41.22 | Max Shank | The. |
| 01:45.39 | mikebledsoe | On the flip side of that. What would you do? if you were going to fail no matter what? So if you were going to fail no matter what? what would? what would you do? and so I think a combination of these questions really can fill in a lot of gaps around. |
| 01:50.66 | Max Shank | Well. |
| 02:03.70 | mikebledsoe | You know what you stand for and what you're excited about and I especially like the 1 you know what would you do? if you were to a billion dollar question is really fun because I think as kids we we all thought about you know what? if I won the lottery. What would you do with the lottery winnings you know I remember doing that as a kid. |
| 02:18.22 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 02:21.99 | mikebledsoe | And ah, but the if you're going to fail no matter what is like well now you really have to go after what? what? you just truly enjoy So Not as dark of a. It's not.. It's much darker than the billion-dollar question. |
| 02:40.72 | Max Shank | I Mean what would you do? if you couldn't fail I mean I suppose I would appoint myself God King of the earth and then ah everything else would just boil down from that pretty naturally. |
| 02:55.13 | mikebledsoe | It's it's kind of like the you know if you had 3 wishes first wishes and limited wishes. Ah problem solved. Ah yeah, so what would you do with a billion dollars max. |
| 03:00.94 | Max Shank | Right? That is kind of like a top out. |
| 03:08.40 | Max Shank | Well, ah you know of course you have to set aside some of that for filling your yacht with the venezuelan gymnastics team. But then there's still plenty of money left over to. Ah. To invest into Steady. So this is where the practical mind comes in right? Is you you put you got to put some of it away and you figure out what percentage you're comfortable with ah in my case I would say you got to I would probably take 1 hundred million of that. So ten percent and I would invest it into. Um you know power companies food water maybe some sort of technology as well and probably I would have that managed by someone else. So I would have like that investment professionally managed and then beyond that the question really gets me thinking about what I can give to the world and usually what you think you would like to give to the world stems from what you think is wrong. The world and so the things that come to mind are sustainable communities and also schooling because if anyone has listened to any of our shows so far I think it's pretty clear which side my bread is buttered on. When it comes to schooling especially public schooling especially K through 12 or specifically K through 12 because I think it is such a colossal failure and such a waste of 12 years of your life. So I start thinking about how I could. Implement a different system of schooling that would be based on using simple language and learning about values and creating value and I would really have to rebuild it from the ground up so that kind of goes. The reason I don't do that now is it's a tremendous amount of work that requires a huge amount of capital. But I think as a kid you probably need to do more playing you need to do more wrestling you need to do more basic movement and gymnastics I hand coordination. I'll tell you what you would not be sitting in a desk for long periods of time. No chance you would learn history only within the context of why history is important. You know I think that history is done so badly because it's just a bunch of. |
| 05:59.89 | Max Shank | Random facts to remember with no reason why we're remembering them because history horrifically bad right? It's not practical. You know, ah a pie Chart fractions percentages. Ah you know eat That's like ah. |
| 06:03.44 | mikebledsoe | Well mathematics is taught the same way. Yeah. |
| 06:19.32 | Max Shank | Even with how you would invest. You know? what's the yield on what you put in versus what you get out and that should be applied to how you use your time how you use your money all of these different resources. Um, how to interact with other people. The difference between. Voluntary action and coercion. These are things that are like really really important and of course the purpose of turning a child into an adult or the difference is that an adult can take care of themselves and a child is dependent. Essentially so. |
| 06:51.80 | mikebledsoe | I Like to say it as it. Ah, you're not an adult until you can parent yourself and that's that's who's parenting you. |
| 06:57.30 | Max Shank | Ah, well then I guess I'm not really an adult. Ah anyone ah I'll take anybody. Ah no, 1 ne's been able to do it yet. Um. |
| 07:12.90 | mikebledsoe | Well the the education thing is interesting because the there's 3 categories in all of ah, the capitalist world that are the most that people spend the most money on as Health wealth and relationships And. Ah, So if you're for instance. Ah a coach. There are coaches for those categories and and the reason is is because well the fastest way to learn anything in my opinion is to hire a coach to teach you and the a good Coach. Ah. And the reason these categories are so popular if you're if you're a health a wealth or relationships Coach. You can charge premium dollar and the reason is is because no 1 was taught that shit in school and if they had that edge. Yeah. |
| 08:02.30 | Max Shank | And those are the only important categories like what else is really important. |
| 08:08.64 | mikebledsoe | Everything that you learn in school should be in should ah be ah the context should be set by Health welfare relationships I don't think there's much else in that context is missing. |
| 08:18.81 | Max Shank | It should be yet. It should be clear what the value is of what you're learning like we're learning this because blank blank blank in your life is going to improve your life in this specific way. So just to. Wrap up what I was saying about history is history is the story about how humans clump together pretty much how they group together and then they divide apart so with regard to history like most of it is a waste of time. The specific examples should be given. To reinforce principles and I think principle based learning is what's actually important because then you'll have a framework for where to put all of these examples the difference between anarchy and totalitarianism and the pros and cons of both of those things. So it would really I would want to prepare more for this conversation to specifically lay out how I would change schooling but that would be how I think I could make the biggest. Improvement because I think that the only the only like true war or the only true battle is within the hearts and minds of people. You know everything else is a result. Of that lost battle. The fact that a person can't sit quietly for ten minutes means they're going to be easily um, distracted by something else. The fact that a person can't think critically is the reason they're going to get easily swindled and the more you look to an authority. To compensate for the fact that the individuals are let's say stupid or gullible or whatever instead of buy or beware and a fool in his money are soon parted now. You have this gargantuan bureaucracy who. Only will grow in size and that's where that's where like all of the evil stuff actually happens. It's not jeffrey dahmer it's the stalins and the mao's and the things like that like no no serial killer even though it sounds like viscerally bad has. Even come close to the damage that authoritarian governments have done to people. |
| 10:52.90 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, they're responsible for the murder of the the most amount of people homicide outside of War is minuscule. |
| 10:57.76 | Max Shank | Um, and not just murder not just murder like huge amounts of suffering like a lot of people survived, but it was horrific suffering. |
| 11:07.33 | mikebledsoe | Right? right? Yeah things that people should learn. You would you would improve the education system come. |
| 11:11.78 | Max Shank | So that's what I would do to 1000 million hundred I would create a new 1 I wouldn't try to repair the old 1 I I don't think there's a chance to repair the old 1 There's so much. |
| 11:22.11 | mikebledsoe | That's ah, that's a good idea Buckminster fuller would agree with you. |
| 11:29.63 | Max Shank | Ah, special interests at play and so many Palms being greased through Nepotism I don't think Prussian you told me this. |
| 11:35.42 | mikebledsoe | Well you know school was I think the the the modern school was ah russian. Yeah yeah, and yeah, the the yeah the King at the time was. |
| 11:45.48 | Max Shank | Convince the troops to go to war. |
| 11:51.15 | mikebledsoe | Was trying to figure out how do we get these peasants to fight for us because every time we try to recruit them to fight for us. They kind of just run away. They don't really care. Um, and yeah, if you can indoctrinate somebody from as early as the age of five I mean I know I know parents that put their kids in school 3 or 4 years old |
| 12:08.74 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 12:10.29 | mikebledsoe | Just the you know I'm ah I'm a patriotic guy I love I love american values and principles I believe that the you know the the founding documents and philosophy that the United states was founded on are extremely sound I don't think we're really. Anywhere near what was intended. Um, but when I look at schools and I see people you know pledge allegiance to the flag. You know it's very very interesting because you can go all over the world and find them doing that in every school to their flag and. If you do that every day you're programming the mind to be in agreement with whatever the government says so it doesn't I think I think the education system you know, ah people always say that. Ah you know the the. Children are the future and we need to invest in them. Ah, but I don't think really people people don't actually understand what that means they usually just think that they need to throw more money at the situation but the reality is is yeah something completely new needs to be built because yeah, there's a. It's a system of memorization and regurgitation versus the actual understanding of of principles and the beautiful thing about principles. Yeah yeah, well how would you incentivize better learning. |
| 13:29.31 | Max Shank | Well the incentives are in the wrong place. |
| 13:38.32 | Max Shank | Um, there has to be some correlation with the performance of the students to be able to take care of themselves after the fact. So if you focus on those important skills and then you demonstrate like let's say you know. |
| 13:48.99 | mikebledsoe | So but. |
| 13:57.48 | Max Shank | Ninety percent of our graduates are self-sufficient by age 18 ah, that's that's really something because there are a lot of ways to make a dollar I don't understand why it's set up so you you just enter the workforce at eighteen rather than. Like you could become an electrician in like six months if that's how you want to go about it and right now there's such a bougie ah disdain for crafts and trades not everybody has to be like a ah. Professor of some kind you know what I mean so I think the the idea should be helping kids become valuable teach them about it's it's really value and values and so that would probably be the best way is if. There was some sort of and incentive structure based on the ability of the students to be able to be self-sufficient and something like that I'm just riffing here. But um, you need you need incentives. In the place of those who are responsible for the actions. |
| 15:13.83 | mikebledsoe | Beautiful. That's how you do with a billion dollars. |
| 15:19.30 | Max Shank | Um, yeah, ah a yacht with the venezuelan gymnastics team ten percent professionally managed put in safe investments and then the rest of it to develop ah sustainable communities and better schooling and that could all kind of. Work together. But I think it so the reason I think that way is I think most adults are too far gone to like really change. Um, they're like a little bit too stuck in their existing beliefs and it's it's just a harder battle. You know, um. I think Dr. Seuss realized that he started out with political cartoons and then switched over to children's books he has a lot of funny political cartoons about world war 2 that are worth checking up if you haven't seen him. Ah yeah, oh yeah. |
| 16:02.19 | mikebledsoe | Um. |
| 16:09.39 | mikebledsoe | Interesting. There's there's a there's a company called tuttle twins that you can check them out on Instagram I invested in 1 of their movies at or it's a tv series. Ah yeah, yeah, ah they they teach. Ah. |
| 16:17.39 | Max Shank | Very cool. Yeah. How cool. |
| 16:29.21 | mikebledsoe | Kids the value of capitalism and how to thrive in this world and and and and ah educates them on the dangers of communism socialism and things like that. Ah, anyways, anyone should go listen. Go follow their Instagram account they put out really good stuff. Yeah, but I saw that and I go this is this is something I believe in I don't know if I'll get my money back them being capitalist I bet I will but the I find it really cool that they're there. Breaking these concepts down into picture books and cartoons and things like that that kids can can digest because I mean I'm fortunate enough that I was I was raised by a father who had he understood principles and so ah. |
| 17:06.73 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 17:18.81 | Max Shank | H. |
| 17:22.78 | mikebledsoe | Didn't matter the topic that came across my plate I understood what rights were and what rights were not and I was able to smell bullshit from pretty far away because of that. |
| 17:33.75 | Max Shank | Yeah,, that's pretty cool I think there are so many lies told all the time and you need to understand that every interaction between 2 people is either going to be a win win a win lose or a lose lose. And when you have voluntary action. It's always a win-win. Otherwise the person doesn't make the choice like if you get to say no, That's essentially what freedom is dependent on the freedom to say no or yes. |
| 17:59.63 | mikebledsoe | Right? but. |
| 18:07.80 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, if everyone has that power then the world's a much better place but most people don't even know they have it. |
| 18:13.42 | Max Shank | And and you get a lot more variety too. I mean think of all the wonderful different types of cuisine. There are think of all of the different types of exercise that you can do you can dance you can do Pellotis you can do Crossfit you can do Kettle belt I Mean. You have just a much wider range of choices and and you also have more um agency you know like the locus of control is something that's closely correlated with ah happiness and meaning and things like that and if you are. |
| 18:36.40 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 18:51.93 | Max Shank | In control over your resources which are both um, energetic time financial. Um, you'll feel a lot more empowered and you'll feel a lot less hopeless. So. |
| 19:03.92 | mikebledsoe | Um, you know. |
| 19:08.45 | Max Shank | Yeah, it's kind of like teaching someone anything you know if someone tries to learn a language as an adult. It's a little harder. It's possible. But if you learned it as a kid. It becomes a bigger part of you. Yeah. |
| 19:18.73 | mikebledsoe | Absolutely less less deprogramming needing needed. You got to unlearn a lot of stuff start a religion. |
| 19:24.75 | Max Shank | Maybe your religion would be better. Maybe your religion would be better. Maybe I'm like ah yeah, maybe school is not the right word for it. |
| 19:34.50 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, it's got to be a whole new. You know, just create a new word I Think that's the way to go? Yeah, new word for a new system. Yeah yeah. |
| 19:38.72 | Max Shank | Yeah, and a new word. Not a school or religion. Okay I like that off to think about that a little bit anyway. So That's my my billion dollars is about safe investments a splash of hedonism and then the lion's share to. Writing what I believe are the wrongs which seem obviously wrong and pretty easily Solvable. You know, physically mentally spiritually things like that. So anyway, what about you? mike. |
| 20:04.00 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 20:11.54 | mikebledsoe | Oh mean I we're aligned quite a bit but um you and I are aligned on a lot of things. My approach would be a little bit different and ah so I would take ninety percent and put into to save investment so 900 million dollars. |
| 20:15.66 | Max Shank | You and I think. |
| 20:30.63 | mikebledsoe | And a safe investment something that would guarantee at least a ten percent return |
| 20:31.29 | Max Shank | Um, you greedy bastard are. |
| 20:37.47 | mikebledsoe | Ah, well I've got a good explanation. Why so. |
| 20:43.10 | Max Shank | Ah, explain to the folks at home. Why you're such a greedy bastard. |
| 20:48.94 | mikebledsoe | Ah, well because if I invest ninety percent with a guaranteed ten percent or greater return. That means that I'll have a Hundred million dollars deposited to me each year is is what's possible. So ah and I doubt I would need. |
| 21:00.70 | Max Shank | To the. |
| 21:05.45 | mikebledsoe | All hundred million dollars every year so some of that would compound and so um I would well the thing is is I think I would have a hard time even knowing what to do with 100 million dollars. So billion dollars seems a little outrageous ah but i. |
| 21:22.16 | Max Shank | That's the whole point. That's the whole point is it's supposed to be. You can't just be like I would invest nine hundred and ninety million and I would spend 10 million on a ranch where I teach kids how to raise cattle. |
| 21:26.46 | mikebledsoe | Me. |
| 21:31.96 | mikebledsoe | No, no, no, but this there's there's a strategy here. So the strategy is I may I may dip into that money. But here's the thing is 1 thing I've learned in business is if you can't manage a business that's doing a hundred thousand dollars a year well |
| 21:38.46 | Max Shank | Um, like. |
| 21:49.44 | mikebledsoe | You're not going to manage a business that's doing a million dollars a year will and it's better to make the mistakes and learn things with a small amount of money and and have all the it's a less expensive expensive lesson if you do it that way. So I would want to do a lot of innovative things. And so tying the money up and something ninety percent of the money and up in something that's going to guarantee me a Hundred million dollars. A year is very very attractive because with 100 million dollars I could do a lot of things 1 of the things that I would would do that 1 hundred million dollars with the if I if I achieve. Massive success and having more money helps us move faster I'll start sweeping that money that's invested and is something that is so I have more direct control over. But yeah billion dollars in my account I would I wouldn't do anything but I would I would start. Interviewing the the best financial consultants and and create some type of accountability with those things because people get shady sometimes um and have it invested safely but take the other 1 hundred million would buy a home I'd get like fancy. Fucking penthouse here in austin texas just overlooking the City. So I'd be 1 um, and then I would get a ranch outside of town about forty five minutes away then I would get a home in the mountains maybe flagstaff arizona get a home in the mountains. And then get a beach house in in Florida and probably some type of property down mexico probably somewhere like wahaca or something like that. So ah I would get I would have my four new homes and then and some some rovers at each 1 and pools and indoor pools and all that stuff we just go into I mean I get I could talk for hours about what I would put in my home but we'll leave that alone and. |
| 23:56.31 | Max Shank | Full of all the adult toys. You could possibly want. |
| 24:00.63 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, that So that's my that's my hedonistic desire is is multiple homes different locations being able to fly private to from 1 place to another seems like the way to go. Ah. Yeah, just like basically like Swedish spas set up at every single 1 of them and and then I would I would invest in Community I would buy properties for the purpose of of putting ah people that I that I hold dear and in the same location. Ah, and ah be self-sustaining. |
| 24:35.70 | Max Shank | So a concentration camp for friends and family. You group them all together. Ah. |
| 24:40.84 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, whether they want to or not, they're coming. Yeah so I would I would do that and and for the purpose of um, what I'm really interested in is I as I look at the world is how do we decentralize. Food distribution. So 1 of the things that have become very apparent to me in the last couple years and and I've gotten on the phone and discussed this with you before max which is there's a there's a lack of high quality food distribution and so we have a. Ah system set up where due to subsidies. It makes it more difficult for someone who's doing good farming work to get their food to market and it makes it easier for shittier product to get to market and so it it makes some food. Ah, artificially. Inexpensive and cheap and it makes other food artificially expensive and so what I would really like to see is to empower people who want to get into sustainable farming and sustainable regenerative farming practices. Creating land for that giving them a place to do that I would love to invest in Blockchain technologies for the purpose of removing a lot of the administrative load that that comes with food distribution and yeah would I would. Like to create some type of crypto token that people could use to buy their food and and fund the farms and things like that. So I imagine to kickstart a project like that you really need. Farmers and some land and distribution channels set up first. So that's that's 1 of the things I would like to tackle when I look at when I look at the world I'm 1 hundred percent with you on the education front like when I have kids they're gonna be homeschooled and they're gonna be learning from a very principal. Perspective and always having context and they're gonna be my kids will probably be adults by the time they're 12 so ah, the that's the plan who knows until you have kids I don't think you can really tell. But. Education's important, but like you were noting trying to get adults to change behaviors via education extremely difficult. They're they're very entrenched in what they want and 1 way that I've seen to make both adults and children move but especially adults. |
| 27:27.27 | mikebledsoe | Is just economics. There people are driven by this exterior environment of economics where things are incentivized and certain things aren't incentivized so I would really like to go to work on how to create an economic structure. That is that will Improve. People's ability to make good decisions. So Good decisions around food would become easier and more convenient because the the reason a lot of people choose what they choose is because simply convenience so that would be. |
| 28:03.90 | Max Shank | Oh really I don't know if I agree with that I know that people choose based on convenience but I would argue that it's maybe even more convenient to buy in bulk and eat healthy. |
| 28:06.33 | mikebledsoe | That would be that would be my main. You don't think people choose based on convenience. |
| 28:22.54 | Max Shank | Than it is to eat crap at the drive-through. no no no no no I think both like I think um, if you if you put like 6 or 8 cups of rice in an instapot with some. |
| 28:24.80 | mikebledsoe | Well I mean short term convenience. Not. |
| 28:41.55 | Max Shank | Bulk chicken. It requires no effort but you have you know, maybe 10 meals available for the average person and requires no extra dishes or anything like that I think it's kind of a fallacy that eating healthy is more expensive. It's just that you have to learn the skill of cooking and back to the economics point I think that's where seeing the difference. Like cost per meal and cost per calorie.. There's actually a funny website I can't remember the name of it off the top my head but this ah this really? um, Clever nerd. Put together this whole website that was like cost per calorie cost per gram of protein and he took like all these different foods and put them in like a big old ah spreadsheet and it it was really illuminating to see how you could. Eat the cheapest and then there are different levels in terms of how much you want to spend so I I think food is ah crazy important because we need food and in fact, we are food so it's it's 6 what?? What's a more important lesson. |
| 29:59.57 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well I think the drive throughugh is more convenient I mean if you have to cook either the the energy cost of of cooking people don't have the foresight. |
| 29:59.71 | Max Shank | Than that. |
| 30:08.95 | Max Shank | But it will require you less time it will require you less time and less money like you just have to show the math to someone you buy an instapot at 60 bucks. 1 time you buy 25 pounds of rice you buy twenty pounds of chicken at a time and you throw it in the pot. And you slather it in spices and maybe cheese and it's delicious and it's much cheaper per meal and it's less time investment per meal but it does require? Yeah, but I mean it's still going to be a better result. It's just like a savings account. It's the same idea. |
| 30:35.59 | mikebledsoe | Big guy playing ahead. |
| 30:46.68 | Max Shank | As a savings account. Are you going to save the money. Are you going to spend the money on bullshit. |
| 30:49.24 | mikebledsoe | Are you definitely going to get a better result and and I remember. |
| 30:53.13 | Max Shank | But is all I Just want to be clear that it is cheaper timewise and it is cheaper moneywise to eat healthy if you buy in bulk than it is to do the allegedly cheap convenient thing. |
| 31:07.33 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I was at a nutrition seminar once where 2 people left the ah the the venue at the same time 1 went to go get a fast food item another 1 popped in the grocery store the closest grocery store picked up strawberries almonds and. And some meat some deli meat because they were they were going for. You know the convenience and not having to cook and they show back up and ah the woman who was getting healthy food showed up just a couple minutes before you know it was a little bit faster and the price was the price was about the same. |
| 31:40.46 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 31:46.00 | mikebledsoe | And because you so I bring that up because I mean you're not wrong, but the idea that I think the the thing that's expensive to people is that they have to think in order to to make their own food. Get their stuff so education has to be a component to that. |
| 32:00.40 | Max Shank | Earth. |
| 32:05.42 | mikebledsoe | Because if you do just get people healthy food at ah at a better price then you know they still don't know what to do with it I mean they put I remember I was studying in school I was taking like ah 1 of those health classes like Health For. Um, what they called like health administrators people who who try to impact the health of entire populations cities and stuff like that. There was an experiment done where they put a lot of really healthy produce into the poor part of town. They go Wow. All these all these. |
| 32:32.46 | Max Shank | Yes. |
| 32:43.86 | mikebledsoe | Poor people are in this food desert and you know when you go into the convenience store where they're doing their grocery shopping. There's no produce. There's nothing healthy, no hot healthy options available and they put a bunch of produce in there and it went rotten and. People just chose not to buy it and I think a large part of it has to do with a lot of people just don't know what to do with food. They don't know how to prepare it. They don't know um and the idea of having to learn how to do that or the fear of screwing it up. Is is really huge. |
| 33:20.27 | Max Shank | Well and of course that's not 1 of the subjects that's taught in school and you know if you blame there's no end to the blaming. But if somebody has a problem ninety nine percent of the time. It's the parent or whatever authority figure taught them beforehand right? so. |
| 33:36.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 33:40.90 | Max Shank | If You don't have the understanding of food like look you can eat garbage food and as long as you don't eat too much. You won't be obese you might not be healthy, but you you can eat the worst possible. You could eat big Macs every day. And not be obese as long as you don't eat too many of them like there's there's a it's like I say all the time you know 99 percent of people's problems come from having bad security at their lips. The words that get out and the food that gets in. |
| 34:00.87 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, what. |
| 34:14.63 | mikebledsoe | I yeah, that's very true. It's very true. Yeah, so I think that yeah you say you bring up that good point. Lot of it's education is not necessarily not cheaper or less convenient. Um, and I think that some people are just Goingnna be That's just where they're gonna be they're they're never going to change. Yeah and and. |
| 34:41.42 | Max Shank | And I don't think it's wrong to let them choose that be obese eat fritos and big macs all day like you you die in a blaze of glory like chris farley on cocaine with a couple of horse like there's no shame in that game. |
| 34:56.78 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, so I think that. Ah yeah, I'm not here to save the world but I do think that there's there could be ah I look at the landscape of what's happening in the food industry and I see you know. These really big corporations that make really port food and do a lot of gmo and they're they're robbing the soil of minerals and and they're doing a lot of mono cultural crops and it's just not good for the soil. Um and some people suspect. That you know we're just creating deserts here in the United states and a lot of deserts around the world. There's been um, stories of there was a huge agricultural boom that preceded it being a desert. So. |
| 35:53.77 | Max Shank | Huh. |
| 35:55.59 | mikebledsoe | Places in like egypt and where there was a massive amount of people a lot of monocultural farming going on so I don't know here's the thing is we don't know if that's actually true or not but it's ah it's a compelling story. And I can tell the difference when I eat food in other countries versus the Us. So I really? Ah what I see is we're going into a dangerous zone of having too much monocultural farming happening too many pesticides being used all these things. |
| 36:18.82 | Max Shank | E. |
| 36:33.71 | mikebledsoe | That are harmful to the the soil and the environment at large which we live in that environment so we're going to poison ourselves. So I think that systematically creating 1 being decentralized is important because you want. |
| 36:38.46 | Max Shank | Ah, right. |
| 36:52.42 | mikebledsoe | You don't want a single point of failure with your food system and decentralization will allow people to have more to be more empowered to make the food choices that are good for them instead of being given the limited food choices that are delivered to them I think it also put people more in touch with their food. Um. People people who who tend to shop local when it comes to food and other other items too tend to be more they care more about the product that they're getting and so I think that there's a really cool incentive there in and making it decentralized and local. Ah, and I would really like to proliferate the regenerative farming movement as a whole to offset some of the the bullshit that that I see as bullshit going on and I think also a lot of young people want to get into. |
| 37:38.23 | Max Shank | The. |
| 37:49.73 | mikebledsoe | They they feel the same way they want to get into regenerative farming and want to be closer to nature and things like that. But they don't have the money to buy the real estate and the way that the economic system set up right now is about to get very difficult to come by real estate because the big boys are. Buying it up as the interest rates will be going up next year |
| 38:10.79 | Max Shank | Oh we'll see how that goes. Yeah I got a friend in Montana actually who's working on some of that regenerative farming including like a little power plant. That's the centerpiece. It's like a biological power plant centerpiece. |
| 38:22.40 | mikebledsoe | I Know a guy is doing it wyoming I don't know no Evan. Ah yeah. |
| 38:28.42 | Max Shank | His name Eric Oh well, we should link him up then ah yeah I agree with you I mean look I think ah farm subsidies are bad just like ah most things with good intentions. Ah, end up being destructive I think having lots of options is always better. Um, some of the best meat some of the best produce we get now is from Walmart so just being attached to a big corporation. Doesn't mean the quality has to go down In fact,, um, yeah. You know, certified organic Grass-fed Beef grass-fed bison at Walmart That's organic I mean that's um, pretty cool I think um I think food is such a big part about the health of these society So I'm definitely with you on that and it does. Come back to education I Like the idea of like I I guess crowdsourcing or crowd investing ah with with the sustainable agriculture would be a really cool idea. I Could totally get behind something like that. |
| 39:43.48 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, 1 of the things I've been looking at closely are Das daos decentralized autonomous organizations and um, when I first learned about ethereum the cryptocurrency and I started understanding what smart. Smart contracts were I started imagining what may be possible that now that that I didn't there's no way that I with my knowledge base I and going to go in there and be able to create something off the backbone of Ethereum I'm not that level of engineer I'm not sure I'm any level of engineer. |
| 40:18.19 | Max Shank | Um, doesn't seem like it. |
| 40:22.38 | mikebledsoe | But the ah no I you know I'm an audio engineer I can engineer audio and that's about that's where that that ends I'm a relationships engineer like that. |
| 40:32.11 | Max Shank | Um I can make noise is that the same thing audio Audio engineer. |
| 40:40.73 | mikebledsoe | Ah, ah so ah like I can play with audio and postproduction that's about it that would be an audio engineer. So. |
| 40:48.81 | Max Shank | But you could find an engineer to help you with that if you if you so desired. |
| 40:52.80 | mikebledsoe | Totally but 1 of the things that's happened with these daos that have come out is there's a platform called aragon where you can start your own decentralized autonomous organization and then now what they have is like oh do you want it to be a membership. Oh. Do you want it to be. Ah, ah to build your reputation in the market. Are you doing fundraising so they've got about 6 different categories of really popular tas that you can start and then basically um, it works with Nfts so I'm sure. Everybody's heard about and nfts at this point and the a lot a lot of how these das work is you have to buy an nftt in order to say it to membership because that's what I've been looking into the most is how do you create a membership dao. And people would purchase. There would be a limited amount of tickets to be a part of the dawo and say I'm looking at starting 1 with 100 and fifty members. There'll never be another once these 1 hundred and fifty nftts are Meanted. There's no more. And nfts that will be created and if you want to be a part of this club or whatever it is you buy this nft. It might cost 25000 dollars but it's a lifetime membership if you ever want to sell it in the future you can sell it on the market and the idea is that you could purchase a membership to be a part of a club. |
| 42:16.40 | Max Shank | P. |
| 42:22.92 | mikebledsoe | And you can also and an investment You can also sell that later so you own a part of the ideas you own a part of the organization. You're not just you're not just purchasing membership. You're you're purchasing ownership in a way. So yeah. |
| 42:35.87 | Max Shank | So it's kind of like a corporation selling shares a little bit. Yeah. |
| 42:42.42 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and so what it what it allows for is things that would if if done by a business by with with typical technology would be a really heavy administrative load there would to account for everything. So. |
| 42:56.75 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 43:00.88 | mikebledsoe | The the cool thing about the blockchain and smart contracts is you can create a lot of if then rules in the real world and and as these things are met things like accounting like the modern accounting like what we're using in like the conventional accounting and baking when you look at what's possible with blockchain seems very ridiculous. |
| 43:05.74 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 43:19.79 | mikebledsoe | Like Wow this is really antiquated by Comparison. So when when I think about accounting and well when most people think about Accounting. It's like Okay, what's the what are the financials and that's usually what's being accounted for but true Accounting. Um, a more global accounting is are you accounting for everything. Are you accounting for things that may not necessarily be monetary in nature even though you know. |
| 43:42.33 | Max Shank | Well like a farm for example, right? like the whole idea of let's say having 1 hundred and fifty shares of a farm and having a bunch of if then rules so conditional rules for if this then do this? um. |
| 43:55.88 | mikebledsoe | Me. |
| 44:01.70 | Max Shank | You know that it it probably does get pretty tricky like you have to be very clever to figure out how to run that organization. Um, autonomously and you probably can't account for everything which is funny like you can't account for all of the um potentials. Well and that's um. |
| 44:09.39 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and I Think. Now we can try. |
| 44:21.37 | Max Shank | You know it kind of shows the evolution of computer science in the beginning there was if then and ah, it's very similar to the way that law has developed from the code of Hammurabi which was if you blind a man's eye then. |
| 44:26.84 | mikebledsoe | And. |
| 44:41.18 | Max Shank | Then your eye shall be blinded as well and I don't know hardly anything about computer programming. But I know that if you relied only on if then it's kind of like a caveman style programming where it's going to be so many conditional statements. Rather than the more elegant and sophisticated rules and algorithms and operations that they have available Now. So um. |
| 45:07.81 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, Well yeah, and that's the 1 thing I see about the dao is like I'm I'm watching and I'm not hot to get in right now because I think that a lot of people 1 of the the really big mistakes that I'm seeing being made in the. Consciousness of a lot of people who are excited about this and taking action on it as they go decentralized autonomous Organization. We don't need hierarchy anymore. There's just gonna be. We're gonna be able to vote on everything and I'm going. Oh you guys are go for it and you know watch us watch this go? um. And I had ah I had a woman that was wanting to do ah a dow that was wanting to do community and all this I'm like cool I'm interested and then she was like all right and we don't need any hierarchy and I was like whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa. Ah, you're defying nature. |
| 45:55.25 | Max Shank | Impossible. |
| 46:01.22 | mikebledsoe | By by saying that we're not gonna have a hierarchy. You trust me, you don't want to define nature she will slap you like a bitch you got to ride what is right? So yeah, there's somebody needs. |
| 46:13.11 | Max Shank | Someone needs to have the call someone needs to be able to make the call. |
| 46:20.32 | mikebledsoe | There needs to be response and and um. |
| 46:23.31 | Max Shank | Roles and responsibilities operating agreement. You know a lot of the things from more traditional. Yeah more a lot of these things from right? but a lot of these things from traditional organizations still ring true. Um. |
| 46:25.73 | mikebledsoe | Well they think they can have a lot of that without without the hierarchy. |
| 46:40.69 | Max Shank | For something that is as autonomous as possible like I think you might agree that a lot of the role of a leader or manager is to delegate and automate and. The more you automate the less you have to delegate but it still has to be somebody's Responsibility. You know, even when you're putting together a phone call script or something like that. It's going to be if this then this if this then this and the more you can automate that process. |
| 46:57.84 | mikebledsoe | Most. |
| 47:12.95 | Max Shank | The more you can multiply that process that you've created and that's why computer software ah has such a huge premium because the exponential val the exponential return is so high just the same as um. You know selling ah a program. You know it's it's no coincidence that it's called a fitness training program when I write 1 I think about I am literally um, uploading a program and you are installing it into your brain. And you are executing that file. And for example, if you execute the ultimate athleticism program you're going to get better at handstands deadlifts airborne lunges front levers that sort of thing if you execute the primal athleticism daily practice. You're going to get better at bouncing rolling. Um, carrying things crawling climbing these you know wider array of things. So it's no surprise that it's called a program because that's literally what you're doing is you're implanting a program and that's also why it's so Scalable. You know I can sell. Um, a million copies of simple shoulder solution and there's no extra administrative cost to doing that. It's still just a few percent for the the credit card fee essentially so that's why software so is so powerful and. |
| 48:44.38 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 48:50.69 | Max Shank | It can be code or it can be like a written program. You know even religion you can think of as a program. |
| 48:54.55 | mikebledsoe | Now. |
| 49:01.62 | mikebledsoe | You're gonna freak some people out. Ah so totally it is. |
| 49:02.18 | Max Shank | I mean it. It is a program is it not I mean some of them are some of them are effective like I think mormonism is an effective program. It even has like a built in um generator which is the mission that they go on. I mean look mormonism is what like a hundred ish years old more less, not sure 200 can we get a fact check around this. Okay, so let's call it 2 hundred. Let's call it 1 hundred and 50 years right yeah please |
| 49:27.30 | mikebledsoe | I'm not sure I think it's the late Eighteen hundreds. No I'm not yeah, there's a mormon listening please let us know. |
| 49:41.19 | Max Shank | Yeah, we can't google right now. Ah that religion has more members than judaism and judaism is like 10 times longer. Okay, and it's because that that program is more geared toward. |
| 49:52.68 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, like twenty or 30 times longer. Yeah yeah. |
| 50:00.84 | Max Shank | Toward Growth. You know what? I'm saying So Um I think both of those religions are yeah are typically like pretty effective at making people wealthy so that program is effective from that standpoint it. I'm not saying it will necessarily make you the happiest because Mormons seem a lot happier than Jews but I Also don't think they're as funny and this is these are just my ah, ah blind observations right? Jews seem funnier Mormons seem happier. They both seem pretty Wealthy. So I just look At. Whether the program is constructive or destructive right? So Religion Fitness training program. Ah actual code or a dao or something like that. It's all it's all programming humans school. Programming humans and if you're able you said that an adult is able to parent themself. Maybe that's also a good analogy for the master slave if you are the administrator of yourself then you can program yourself as well and that's. Really high level. Um adaptability. |
| 51:16.57 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and you can't program yourself. You can program your own subconscious mind these are there's countless techniques for doing that I think it's the most effective way of making progress towards what you want is if you're not if you're not doing something. |
| 51:24.12 | Max Shank | Tap. |
| 51:32.65 | mikebledsoe | To program your subconscious mind. You're really missing out. Ah oh I brought I brought the dow up because I brought the dow because we're talking about what would we do with a billion dollars and the. |
| 51:38.39 | Max Shank | Absolutely. |
| 51:47.14 | Max Shank | Is that what we were talking about I forgot. |
| 51:51.40 | mikebledsoe | Something like ah so so it got me if this takes me back to a conversation you and I were having a year ago or or more and how do we have a a community and and. Decentralized communities that can interact with each other so they're all, there's these sovereign little cities and they can interact with each other and do trade with specific cryptocurrencies and all that and what I what I'm seeing with the dao is the real possibility because before I was thinking. I would need a billion dollars or I would need a hundred million dollars in order to start this project but now with the these fundraising dows and and all what I'm seeing emerge I don't know if it's quite ready for what I want to do with it yet. What I'm seeing emerges. Maybe if you have a solid enough vision and you have a good enough program then you can get your investors and now you can make it you can make it happen so it's very exciting times a little bit different than a business. |
| 52:55.76 | Max Shank | Oh yeah. |
| 53:02.92 | mikebledsoe | Ah, typical business that gets investors I think that there's a lot of excitement around right? This is just like it's the future. It's how things will be managed in the future will primarily be through blockchain and so I think if you do something in blockchain people are more likely get on board. The other thing is. Ah, you're less likely to have ah, it's a lot easier to have visibility of what's going on and there's a lot less opportunities for Fuckery. So I think it it makes it for an easier thing for people to invest in because ah. Things are so transparent with a lot of the blockchain technologies so you can set things up where everything's just very visible. So I think that raising money for those types of ventures are a lot easier, especially when you look at some of the you know what's happened in the last couple decades with. |
| 53:46.79 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 53:58.83 | mikebledsoe | You know enron and that guy who was it that did that ah Bernie madoff and he had that dude that the fire the fire festival guy. Ah, who actually did some time but all all those things had had it existed in. You know a dow instead. |
| 53:59.91 | Max Shank | Bernie made off made off with all their money. |
| 54:18.83 | mikebledsoe | Would not. It would probably just wouldn't have even happened because people would have been able to spot it and I think that there's gonna be a lot of people and people have done this with cryptocurrencies they they write a white paper and they launch it they get investors and then disappear. So I'm not saying that that there's no fraud. |
| 54:35.71 | Max Shank | Oh yeah. |
| 54:38.63 | mikebledsoe | There's no fraud in these things but over time what I see happening is the fraud will will become minimized because people will know what to look for and there's also the the ability to create transparency where it's necessary is also going to be there. |
| 54:54.23 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 54:59.73 | mikebledsoe | So yep, crowd crowdsourcing that's the way to go. |
| 55:03.87 | Max Shank | Yeah, if you have a good enough idea and a clear plan. Um I don't think it's difficult to get investors. Um. |
| 55:12.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, all right? Well it sounds like it. We don't need a billion dollars for ideas. So we just need to create it now you get? yeah, get you start working on yours I'll start working on mine. |
| 55:18.33 | Max Shank | Now you just need other people to have a billion. |
| 55:32.61 | Max Shank | It's interesting. How a lot of it comes back to education a lot of it comes back to it doesn't necessarily need to happen in a school but a lot of it comes back to educating people. And a lot of similarities with food I think we both realized just how important food quality is not having a single point of failure having um you know that decentralized decentralize is a way better word than. Not having a single point of Failure. It's much more exciting right? now is decentralized. Ah. |
| 56:10.30 | mikebledsoe | Um, but decentralized means a lot of different thing like it. It encapsulates that plus many other things yeah increase in choice. |
| 56:14.95 | Max Shank | Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, um, so as far as how to execute this strategy for our listeners. Um, what's a good way to go about it. |
| 56:37.28 | mikebledsoe | Ah, you know I think I think write write down what you would do with the billion dollars and I would also there you go. |
| 56:44.99 | Max Shank | And then maybe write down what you do with a million after afterward I think that's the way to do It is start out with a billion so you're like in the blue sky version and then you snap back to a little bit closer to reality with the million unless there are any ah billionaires. Listening in which case ah get in touch with us. We have plenty of ideas for your money. |
| 57:07.69 | mikebledsoe | My mike at the strongcoach dot com is my email. Yeah, yeah, and I think it's also worth you know do the I like doing the pie in the sky first billion dollar million dollar and then what would you do? if you were guaranteed to fail no matter what you did you were gonna fail. What would you do so. |
| 57:31.44 | Max Shank | Ah, what I don't understand the question but I do like it I I don't even know how to if I was guaranteed to fail Fail Why would I do it at all I Would if if I knew I was going to fail. |
| 57:38.67 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 57:45.26 | mikebledsoe | Ah, well a lot of things you wouldn't do Well I think that gives insight into what you enjoy not necessarily what your purpose or mission is but what what you like is like all right if I was gonna fail I might as well just set myself up in baha on the beach and surf you know, like if I'm guaranteed to fail. |
| 57:50.40 | Max Shank | I Would do nothing. |
| 57:53.97 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 58:04.63 | Max Shank | So so what? what would I do if I'm guaranteed to fail is more like what it. What would I do if I could do like nothing ah professional is that is that what it is like how would I fuck off. |
| 58:04.91 | mikebledsoe | Least I'll you know live life like that. |
| 58:17.97 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, yeah, that's where my mind goes when I hear that question. Well yeah, what would I do if I was guaranteed to fill. |
| 58:26.67 | Max Shank | I've never heard that question before um, maybe it what it really is what would you do? if you could never work again. Does that sound like ah the spirit of the question. |
| 58:33.75 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah, doesn't sound as exciting. Yeah, same spirit but the other 1 seems a little more jarring. |
| 58:43.33 | Max Shank | Well, the first 1 I would do nothing the first 1 I don't understand it makes no sense to me. What would I what would I do if I knew I would fail if I knew I would fail I would not do the thing like the only reason you would do something is if you thought it had a percentage chance of success and that's. |
| 58:59.70 | mikebledsoe | That. |
| 59:02.15 | Max Shank | That's human nature that's desire. That's hunger. That's that's hope that's the only reason anyone ever does anything is because they think that there is at least a chance that it will be better if they do that thing. So if you know you're going to fail. You would never do it to. Non -question as far as I'm concerned. However I'd be happy to replace it for it. I think everyone will agree with me on this 1 um I think I think what would you do? if you could never work again. |
| 59:22.99 | mikebledsoe | Ah, it hit me up. Let me know let's see if everyone else receives it that way. |
| 59:39.56 | Max Shank | Is a good way to identify how you like to spend your time though. Um, and and do it detached from the result as much as Possible. You know, maybe you would sing. Maybe you would do some woodworking. Maybe you would do. Ah you know you would just surf all day. Maybe you would play music something like that I think that's a really good. Um I Think that's a good way of looking at it is like what would you do? if you couldn't work and what would you do. If ah, you could only pick 1 career and do that those ah those extremes feel like a good way to sort of surround your your truth. You know what? I mean. |
| 01:00:16.12 | mikebledsoe | Um, like that. |
| 01:00:29.80 | mikebledsoe | Ah I don't have a truth. No. |
| 01:00:30.94 | Max Shank | You don't have a truth I mean I think the truth is that we're the most adaptable creatures so you can change any time. It's just scary. It's just scary. That's that's the truth that I live by. |
| 01:00:41.93 | mikebledsoe | Our graph. |
| 01:00:48.71 | Max Shank | You know I see people do it when they're under huge amounts of strain they change dramatically and unless provoked that way they often don't people just ride the momentum and that kind of goes back to that programming thing because what we're doing is we're talking about programming ourselves for. Ambition essentially with this question and we're setting that ambitious intention and if you are able to program yourself every single day but you choose not to then you are relegated to. |
| 01:01:09.69 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 01:01:27.51 | Max Shank | The momentum of whatever the stories and stimuli that you've had and believed up to now. Yeah, anything you'd like to ah yeah, anything you'd like to add. |
| 01:01:34.70 | mikebledsoe | Well said wrap this bad boy up. |
| 01:01:47.28 | mikebledsoe | Ah I Love this exercise. What would you do with a billion dollars, get this dream. Big can be fun, especially if you're looking at the hedonistic aspects of what you can do with it. But when you get into the purpose and mission of Things. Ah. And like what max said going from a billion dollars to what we do with a million dollars and then looking at Wow is is this something that enough you know it being 20 coming into 2022 ah it being something that. You might be able to fundraise through a dao. Ah you know, maybe it's possible. So Hopefully this inspires you to do something that that ah excites you and and helps other people. All got how about you any final thoughts we good in. |
| 01:02:40.90 | Max Shank | Cool. Um, program yourself or pick a good program I think the exercise will help you discover where your ah truest desires really are and yeah, that's about it. You can find me at maxshank dot com at Maxshank. Mike you work and they find you. |
| 01:03:05.11 | mikebledsoe | Ah, mike underscore Bletzo on Instagram and the strongcoach dot com. Ah yeah, and you can jump in my program if you want if you want to program your business there. You go all right brother. Love you. |
| 01:03:18.00 | Max Shank | There you go Awesome! Thanks brother. Love you Bye everybody. |
| 01:03:24.39 | mikebledsoe | Enjoyed the talk. |
| 00:00.00 | Max Shank | Hey, everybody welcome back to Monday mornings with max and mike hope you guys had a lovely weekend today we are going to talk about the greatest invention in the history of mankind which. Is the written word. It allows us for intergenerational communication that compounds over time that sentence is insane when you think about it that is the reason that we were able to jump out of the food chain. Entirely it is because of the compound effect of our acquired knowledge and the fact that we were clever enough to write it down. Ah orcas for example, have their own language but they have to teach it from scratch every generation and. Are limited by what they can store in their brain and of course they have the second largest brain in the animal kingdom as I understand it and their brains actually are more wrinkly they have more folds ah than ours which is an indicator of ah more. Neurological connection. So imagine if they had thumbs and pen and paper they would probably have overcome us at some point so today we're going to talk about books why you should read how to read a book what you should read and maybe maybe even when to read so. Mikey. Thanks for joining me again. I'm looking forward to this as always. |
| 01:27.65 | mikebledsoe | Oh yeah, I'm excited about this topic I I was actually I suggested this topic and 1 of the things that inspired me was the my marketing team wanted the the top 10 books I read in the last year and ah that I that I'd be willing to talk about in an email or or something like that and so I go to make the list and I go I don't know if I read 10 books I ended up reading 14 books and I was actually surprised because I didn't feel like I was reading that much. And I think that happens when you and you're enjoying yourself. So ah yeah, I've not always been somebody who is an avid reader I used to go months without reading books I would read a chapter out of a book and then forget that I was reading it and it was. It was something that I stayed away from when I got out of school so coming from a place where you know in school we have to do a lot of reading if you're if you're actually doing the work which I'm 1 of those crazy people who who is a good student. And I was so sick and tired of reading and I my experience of reading was that I did not enjoy it and what I realized is a few months after I got out of college so I had I had done high school went in the Navy for 4 years |
| 02:45.69 | Max Shank | A. |
| 03:00.10 | mikebledsoe | Then started college so I got into reading a bunch of stuff I didn't want to read and I had this experience both times where I got to read some stuff I enjoyed and then when I started reading things that I had to read I stopped reading so much so I I did realize at 1 point I go oh. |
| 03:10.80 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 03:18.57 | mikebledsoe | I I love reading when I'm reading what I want to read I don't like reading when I have to read it because it's signed so having been out of college for shit 13 years now I've i. Learn to really enjoy the process and sometimes I like to listen and sometimes I like to to read with my eyes depending on the topic usually. And yeah, it's it's been 1 of the biggest I mean you you hit the nail right in the head. It's a great way to gather information. And knowing which information to keep and which to throw out and being able to apply it to different contexts that is that is the skill in a time where information is at an all time high. So I imagine as we go through this. This conversation today. Some of what we'll be talking about is ah you know when we talk about how to read a book. It's how do you apply? it? How do you consume it? How do you digest it and how do you make sense of it because it's the it's the sense making. |
| 04:31.61 | Max Shank | No doubt I liked what you said about how many books because when I first came onto the scene as a fitness entrepreneur. |
| 04:31.87 | mikebledsoe | That is such a big challenge these days. |
| 04:44.82 | Max Shank | I Wanted to hang out with that cool crowd of people who are also fitness entrepreneurs and they were like hey I own a gym and I was like hey me too hey I wrote a book hey me too and we would like you you know that whole thing where everyone's like comparing what's going on. Oh I've been doing this many seminars. Ah I've been. I Read this many books I Just remember a conversation I was a part of where it it was like um it was like a dick measuring contest for how many books we had read and I just remember that it it struck me that I was like right right in there with that game. Um. |
| 05:09.82 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 05:19.51 | Max Shank | And it's interesting because that idea of more books is better is totally ridiculous because in order to succeed You don't need to know that many things and in fact, you're probably going to make more forward progress if you. Use what you know rather than getting more information I think almost anybody listening to this would agree that they know enough to be probably twice as successful or maybe even 3 to 10 times as successful as they are now. It's just that they don't. Ply those things So I remember when I was I Just remember when I was speaking at a seminar ah over the course of a weekend and it was a bunch of really smart guys and at the end there was a panel and we're up on stage and they're like what. |
| 05:56.86 | mikebledsoe | Got go ahead. |
| 06:14.65 | Max Shank | What book would you recommend we read and everybody's got their book recommendation and I'm listening to these recommendations and I was like oh hey us? Yeah I like that book too. That's pretty nice and then it got to me and they're like well max what book would you recommend I was like I would recommend that anyone who attended this seminar not read anything. For between thirty to ninety days because the whole reason you came here was to listen to our summary or our synthesis of everything we know so the last thing you want to do is deviate from applying what you've most recently learned and I like. Reading for entertainment as well. But it's important to realize that when you're reading something you're not living your own life either. So the amount that you read is certainly a good shortcut and I have read ah a ton because I'm naturally a curious person and I like. When things are synthesized and summarized in a very cohesive way. It's 1 of the reasons I don't listen to a lot of podcasts actually because it's very meandering and I would rather have the nice concise block that is the let's say summary. Of you know a 50 year career in psychology or training or something like that and that's where you get the huge leverage from a book. |
| 07:41.78 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I think it's a great point I remember hitting a point myself where I I had a I was in a meditation and there were no substances involved I know everyone's wondering. Ah, and I was in this. |
| 07:47.58 | Max Shank | What. |
| 07:58.98 | mikebledsoe | Meditation I was doing a bunch of ah Joe dispensive meditations actually and I was weeks into it and I had this meditation where I where I got a peek inside of my own mind and my own mind was a library with really high ceilings and just rows and rows of books. And it was dusty and there were cobwebs and it was hard to get around and it it was ah it was a movie that I was watching inside of my own mind it was I was in this observer state and I kick over 1 of the shelves and it hits another shelf and. It clears out the entire room the entire library just collapses and the dust settles and I have this incredible sense of relief that I I don't need to know anymore I don't need. |
| 08:49.16 | Max Shank | And. |
| 08:57.66 | mikebledsoe | There's nothing else I need to learn and I realized that the majority of the knowledge I had accumulated at that point I'm a very curious person as well. But there was also something else driving that. Um, which was I wanted to appear smart from when I was a little kid I. Wanted to avoid appearing to be dumb so because I because I felt like I was an idiot and I was homeschooled on top of that So I didn't have anyone actually compare myself to there was no reality check it was ah it gave me an opportunity to. |
| 09:18.26 | Max Shank | Same oh. |
| 09:34.32 | mikebledsoe | To really go deep into feeling like an idiot because I didn't know if I was smart or not and I I overcompensated and I read a lot and I think that that I already had some curiosity built in because that was my compensation. You know some people feel like an idiot and they. |
| 09:37.29 | Max Shank | Hit the. |
| 09:53.20 | mikebledsoe | Just go all in on being an idiot and decide not to learn anything. So what I what I realized in that moment was oh Wow A lot of what I've been studying is stuff that I don't actually enjoy learning about because I. |
| 09:54.14 | Max Shank | The. |
| 10:11.38 | mikebledsoe | I Think it's something that would be really good for me to know just in case. So I can appear to be smart. So I ended up studying a bunch of subjects that actually didn't matter to me at all and after that moment. Um, well I'd gone deeper into a lot of. |
| 10:19.68 | Max Shank | What were they? what were they. |
| 10:30.56 | mikebledsoe | Ah say exercise physiology I had gone deeper in a certain subjects where like I was I was pounding the same subject even though I already had what I needed to know to be able to operate the you know I needed I knew way more than I needed to know to do the thing like it'd be like ah. |
| 10:31.76 | Max Shank | Ah, yeah, right. |
| 10:45.74 | Max Shank | Totally yeah. |
| 10:48.68 | mikebledsoe | Being an astronaut and learning not an astronaut being ah being ah, a fucking you know single prop pilot and you know going and learning about what it's like to fly in space cause yeah, it's like it's like you don't need that I'm just flying around you know from City to City not to the moon. |
| 10:59.54 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 11:06.27 | Max Shank | Yeah I totally relate with you because it's almost as if in my experience the male ego maybe female ego also being stupid or not knowing feels vulnerable. |
| 11:07.52 | mikebledsoe | Or Mars or whatever. So. |
| 11:20.10 | mikebledsoe | M. |
| 11:22.61 | Max Shank | So it's like you're you're suddenly in the dark you're like in deep water and you're like oh my God I I don't know what I don't know what they're talking about I'm going to look so stupid and then I won't have any respect and then no woman will ever love me. Whatever it is right. |
| 11:35.18 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well in the and the result the result after that was I didn't read anything for about a week and then I started I go oh I want to read this book on. It's a spiritual book I want to read this. |
| 11:43.97 | Max Shank | May. |
| 11:50.76 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 11:53.60 | mikebledsoe | And before I wouldn't let myself do it because I didn't you know I was like ah had a lot of practical applications should I really spend the first hour of my day reading this thing that like's not going to make me more money when you know that's where I was focused at the time. |
| 12:03.20 | Max Shank | How dare you how dare you read something. That's not going to make you more money. How dare you but. |
| 12:09.34 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, and at the time I was studying you know it was all about business and strategy and all the shit. So I um the result was I ended up reading after that and books I enjoyed I just went with whatever I enjoyed and what I what I. |
| 12:16.40 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 12:28.42 | mikebledsoe | What I noticed is I did end up coming back and reading some business books I did come back and end up reading some books that ah were scientific and and around exercise and round things I already knew a lot about but it it my approach to the reading shifted. Ah. Tremendously and so I enjoyed it more and then I look back and I go you know what? I probably read more since that moment than before that moment and and before it was work in order to read and afterwards it became pure enjoyment to read. |
| 12:55.25 | Max Shank | And. |
| 13:06.11 | Max Shank | Um, it sounds like it was curiosity driven instead of fear driven. Yeah I I relate. |
| 13:07.68 | mikebledsoe | And ah, yeah, just yeah, yeah, exactly yeah in this past weekend I was um I was in some training I took a gun fighter training course and which is basically. Ah, training with nine millimeter pistols and carbines for you know worst case scenarios you know inside a house getting out of your house in your car and we actually did some some shooting as a team it was it was a lot of fun and 1 of the things that. Ah, 1 of the guys afterwards 1 of the older guys. He pulls me aside and he goes he goes you really? I'm really impressed by how you learn and I go oh well, how is that like how are you perceiving you know how I learn. And he was like yeah you just you ask lots of questions you don't care about looking dumb and and you're incredibly focused on what you're doing and and I I go yeah and it got me thinking about oh I when I look at the people I was training with. I I do think I was probably learning a little bit faster than than a lot of them. Although everyone advanced from wherever they were at they advanced tremendously the the coaches we had over the weekend were amazing. But I I definitely ah had more energy at the end of the day. Everything seemed a bit easier for me and and it's not because I already knew what I was doing it had everything to do with you know I was only concerned about learning what was right in front of me and I didn't care about how I looked if I made them. You know the only mistake you don't want to make in those situations is shooting somebody. Like as long as I'm not shooting somebody or making making you know making it. You know you don't want to flag somebody. You don't want to point your gun at anybody whether you you don't want to do that either. That's a safety violation. So inside these boundaries of. |
| 15:17.19 | Max Shank | There's a more sinister mistake too though. There's a more sinister mistake of being afraid to ask questions. That's it I Think that's a mistake for sure. |
| 15:21.62 | mikebledsoe | There There is that 1 that that is a mistake and so yeah I was I was in high communication with the instructors the whole time I didn't care how I was perceived by the group is whether I was smart or not and. I I could actually see that in some of the other people you know they would shoot their guns and then they would look over their shoulder for validation and I actually coached the guy the next morning afterwards because him looking over his shoulder for validation was causing him to flag people with his pistol and I and I go I go look. |
| 15:45.44 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 15:54.23 | Max Shank | Oh my god. |
| 15:59.00 | mikebledsoe | Like because I mean it's 1 of those things where like he might have been get asked to leave the range and I was like I was like hey man, let's talk through this and I give him some coaching tips and after that he he improved tremendously. Um, but yeah, that was 1 of the things too I noticed is like this. It was very loud in that experience of of this guy's seeking validation as he turns around to look for it His fucking weapon is being drawn across 5 people and everyone's going Whoa I Go Wow that that seeking validation thing. |
| 16:33.33 | Max Shank | Yeah, that his insecurity. |
| 16:33.44 | mikebledsoe | Could kill somebody in this scenario. So yeah, his insecurity. So um, that's another thing. Yeah I think we've been dancing around that topic basically is yeah, there's Insecurity Driven education is. Is going to be really slow and difficult. It's It's just yeah. |
| 16:51.97 | Max Shank | It's fear based and it's fear based rather than curiosity based I think part of the reason you're so jazzed up and energized after the fact is you're legitimately interested. You're engaged. You're interested. You're not going to fatigue in that state. But if someone were trying to teach you something you don't want to learn in the first place it made you sit in a chair all day. Of course you're gonna feel fatigued I mean I'm I'm very similar in learning except I actually think I learned a little bit slower. Um, but I usually get. |
| 17:13.74 | mikebledsoe | Move. |
| 17:26.83 | Max Shank | Private lessons for stuff and I shy away from group classes because I don't want to hold up the flow of the class too long but I I hear this phrase a lot when I'm taking lessons. Wow I've never heard that question before because I'll just keep digging. |
| 17:28.69 | mikebledsoe | Ah, so. |
| 17:43.71 | Max Shank | To really figure out like why am I actually doing this and sometimes even a very experienced teacher it it kind of goes back to well that was what the other guy said so learning like if I don't know why I'm doing it just it's hard for me to buy in the same way. |
| 17:55.46 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 18:03.39 | Max Shank | So I think that's 1 of the huge advantages of learning in person is you can't ask those questions unlike a book. |
| 18:11.27 | mikebledsoe | But yeah, well I think this next point will get to the book as well. Which is ah I had fantastic instructors. 1 of the things they were saying the whole time was ask me why I will never get mad at you for asking me why we're doing something and. |
| 18:23.65 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 18:29.82 | mikebledsoe | They were more interested in teaching us how to think about situations and in a tactical sense than to just teach us how to do these maneuvers so 1 of the things that I think is really the thing we need to look at first when you're selecting. What you're going to read is who wrote the book. So for me over the past weekend my instructor I go who is going to train me oh a 20 year command master chief navy seal who's done you know a dozen deployments and had a pretty long kill list like oh. If I ask that guy why we're doing this maneuver or whatever it is. We're doing. He's going to give me a really good answer and he was also open to being challenged. so I think but when when I so when I choose to read a book I like to think about who that person is what their life is like. And what it is that they're actually an expert in and what they're not an expert in because I've watched authors ah be an expert in 1 field and then stray outside of that and I go more into maybe something I know a lot about I go ah, you know what you were right? when you were over here. But when you got over here, you kind of. And it's good to be aware of who this person is. |
| 19:44.54 | Max Shank | It's tricky though too because then you also can fall into the appeal to authority or the ad homineym fallacies right? because a lot of the time. In fact, 1 of the books that I'm going to recommend today is an author. But he's also very intelligent in a lot of other areas and so it's kind of like in ancient egypt they would hold trials in the dark because they didn't want the um arbiters to be swayed by what the person looked like which I have this little phrase. Ah. How can you take something at face value if it's attached to a face. So I think really good ideas can stand alone regardless of who wrote the idea. |
| 20:22.62 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 20:30.73 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well when we're when I agree that and when we're swimming in in an infinite amount of books to read I'm gonna I'm gonna choose based on you know, well 1 1 of the things is who who are we learning from? yeah. |
| 20:39.81 | Max Shank | Um, yeah, totally you want to learn from the best right. |
| 20:49.50 | mikebledsoe | And 1 thing I Want to mention before we dig in because I want to dig in but I I wish I remember who there was a story being told recently and I heard this and there was somebody was sitting in this really intelligent guy's office and looking around his library Ph D type thing. And they go Wow. Your library is vast I've never seen a personal library So Big. You must have a lot of knowledge and then the guy responds This is not a sick. This does not signify my knowledge it signifies my desire and. |
| 21:23.53 | Max Shank | Peace Boom again. |
| 21:24.44 | mikebledsoe | A library is a signifier of desire not of knowledge and when I heard that story I said I said to myself. That's that's spot on. You know youre if you got a I've got quite a few books haven't read half of them. But. Maybe I will at some point. |
| 21:44.23 | Max Shank | It kind of makes me want to point out the tool Belt knowledge analogy again versus the toolbox knowledge tool beltt knowledge is something you can whip out anytime anywhere you know it forwards and backwards left and right. |
| 21:52.47 | mikebledsoe | And. |
| 22:04.13 | Max Shank | If something comes up in conversation. You're like Boom I know this bit of information and then there's toolbox knowledge where if someone jogs your memory about it. You have a familiarity with it and when it comes to reading books you have to accept the fact that even if you're. You know some sort of insane memory What do you What are you gonna retain 1015 percent especially if you only read it once. So as for myself I'm reading a lot of books multiple times I will often read a book and then. Go right back to page 1 and read through it again without going to a different book I'll read book 1 and then I'll finish the book and I'll be like huh that was really good I'm going to read it again right now while it's still fresh and see if I can get this information to concreize. But the truth is. If. You don't apply the knowledge. It goes away and you can't you can't remember a whole bookshelf. It's impossible. |
| 23:04.82 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well quote I like to use frequently too is learning is behavior change. So if you don't put it to use. You didn't actually learn it. You just you may remember the words. |
| 23:15.81 | Max Shank | Hello. |
| 23:24.58 | mikebledsoe | Because that's all your that's all you unless you've applied it. That's all you have is you remember the words you remember the order of these words. Other than that, you really don't know shit so ah in order for to be in your tool belt like you're talking about it. It's something that has to be implemented. |
| 23:30.33 | Max Shank | First. |
| 23:41.14 | Max Shank | Well and you can never step in the same river twice because it's not the same river and you're not the same man. So I'm sure you felt the same way you read a book 5 years later you read the same book and it feels completely different. You're picking up totally different things. You're like whoa. Where was I when I read this last time I don't remember any of this this didn't resonate with me at all and now it's like like blowing my mind. |
| 24:09.57 | mikebledsoe | Oh yeah, yeah, there's a several books I've I've read a couple times that that I will probably keep reading every 2 to 3 years for for couple more decades who know all right? So let's dig into what? ah. Let's just go book by Book. Let's have you share a book and then we'll ah love to basically like do a mini interview with you about. |
| 24:34.33 | Max Shank | Should we do a why why? Why read? you should read to change your behavior or for entertainment and if and if you're reading a book that doesn't change your behavior then it was just entertainment and why are you bothering. |
| 24:43.11 | mikebledsoe | Love it. |
| 24:52.33 | Max Shank | That's that's why it's difficult for me to recommend books to people because I think the whole point is either to be entertained or to actually yield some behavior change. Ah otherwise like you know why are you reading 1 hundred business books shouldn't like. 2 be sufficient or or 1 good 1. |
| 25:10.16 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I like reading for entertainment I'm gonna I'm gonna list some books off I read for entertainment but got massive practical ah practical advice from the book. Basically and I noticed that I thought about things differently when it's an autobiography. So was autobiography for enjoyment. This is Mark twain's yeah autobiography um, you know and he wrote it I guess I'll fucking jump I was gonna I was gonna ask you first year book but I'm gonna start. So um, the the book. |
| 25:30.49 | Max Shank | So nonfiction. Oh Mark twain's okay, cool. |
| 25:39.16 | Max Shank | Ah, you start you start. |
| 25:48.22 | mikebledsoe | Ah, my favorite book that I read this year for pure entertainment was mark twain's autobiography. Ah, it's called roughing it and the story of his life is hilarious. There's just there's just tons up. You know we think back to Mark twain and 1 of the. Greatest literary artist american literary artists right? He was like the first american writer is is how he's commonly referred to and and I think a lot of times people think about huck finn and and all this in the Mississippi river and all this stuff when they think about Mark twain. But I'm reading his autobiography and he he's he goes to the west coast to mine for gold like he goes to Nevada he goes to california and he has the worst of luck just there's a story after story of him getting shit on and it's hilarious because the way that Mark twain writes is he can. Use very few words and you can picture the scene in your head and he says it in a way that you've never heard it before and it and it immediately causes visions to come so super super enjoyable and 1 of the benefits I got out of that book is just. |
| 26:54.42 | Max Shank | The. |
| 27:01.31 | mikebledsoe | Listening to his hardship and how much failure he had was a good reminder that. Ah, even if we experienced a lot of failure early on there's nothing to say you can't beat end up being like 1 of the greatest writers of all time or the greatest of anything of all time and you know the the thing that stuck out to me is. Even when he was mining and stuff like that he was picking up reporting jobs. He was always writing he was always. He would always go back to that and do some writing and he might he had this dream that he was always going to fucking strike it big and he was going to be. You know he talks about his ego in the book and how like when he had a lot of money. Cause there were times where he had a lot of money and he would blow it. He would just be like yeah I bought these fancy suits I would go to these these operas that I didn't really enjoy but I acted like I enjoyed them and and he's like I don't understand what the fuck is going on he eats all this fancy food and then like a month later he can't even afford a piece of bread. You know and that was it was that was Mark twain's life and this was during a time where like there wasn't homeless shelters. You know if if you fucked up in carson city Nevada ah you you know someone might take some pity on you but like you're out there in the. It was the wild wild west so I really enjoyed his book. In fact, there's about fifteen percent of the book I've I've yet to finish I've just been consuming it chapter here chapter there and whenever I need to relax the mind and get some chuckles in but it's it's. For me. The practical application has been just having a lot more ease in my life because sometimes something comes up and I go I just think about the story I read last night about Mark twain and how he almost died out in the cold because they got lost 10 feet from you know the hotel and it's just. Anyways, so that that 1 I highly recommend is just a lot of fun. |
| 28:58.43 | Max Shank | Ah, to check that out. You do it on audio or reading it. Yeah. |
| 29:01.72 | mikebledsoe | I got I my I'm I'm reading it? Yeah ah things I want to read slowly I Just ah I read that? Um, but yeah. |
| 29:10.80 | Max Shank | I like being told a story on Audiobook but if it's something that I'm going to reference a lot I like to read it with my eyeballs. Um, cool. Yeah, it kind of goes to show how much stories shape our reality i. |
| 29:16.19 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 29:29.76 | Max Shank | Sure I sound like a broken record but stories and stimuli are what shape us simple is that forces on our body. The things that we remember how we frame those experiences. That's what shapes our reality and a lot of writing if it. I Hate say only if it only eases your suffering That's huge actually because when you are in a state of fight or flight. You're not healing yourself So you're You're not going to be able to get into that you know wizard level Cerebral. Or Neocortex ah thinking and planning and conscious action rather than ah instinctive reflex out of Fear. So That's huge so those stories can permeate our being Or. Just be an easing of our suffering for a short time. |
| 30:30.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, how about you? What's what's ah but but you want to start with. |
| 30:36.90 | Max Shank | Um, well actually the first 1 is ah by a comedian named norm mcdonald and it's his book. Ah based on a true story a memoir and what's really interesting is. He was a huge fan of Mark twain. He talked about Mark twain a lot and he will he in the book or I should say in an interview he said it's not facts, but it's truth which I thought was really funny so he didn't. Just write a story of his life. He wrote about the truths of life that he had experienced that weren't necessarily factual. Um, because as he said you know most of my life has just been finding and consuming food. And it doesn't make for a riveting read and um, he's my favorite comedian I think he's so Funny. He's so Smart. He always pretended to be really dumb and would you know get interviewed and say yeah I've read like about 6 books in my life. Meanwhile he's like. You know, dostoyevsky and reading like all of these like gargantuan tombs about life and death and religion and philosophy and just total genius but you never knew it because he didn't want it to take away from the comedy anyway, his book. Based on a true story is hilarious I've listened to it a few times. It's 1 of those that's actually read by the author and it's it's so funny. It just makes me laugh and it makes me think about. 1 of the things I like about comedy is it lets you think about the most horrible things in a lighthearted way and it sounds like that's what twain does also like he makes ah being like totally poverty stricken or on the ropes essentially. |
| 32:36.71 | mikebledsoe | E. |
| 32:47.16 | Max Shank | Ah seem kind of okay and I think that's 1 yeah, it's it's 1 of the things that um gives us the power to carry on. You know that that hope and. |
| 32:50.80 | mikebledsoe | Comical. |
| 33:01.67 | Max Shank | Taking things with a light heart when you said the first american writer I kind of thought maybe that's what the essence of that is um and I'm I'm not well read enough with other. Ah. International authors to really understand the difference but it seems like there's more of like a sardonic and ah comical and quiplike kind of american irreverence that goes along with that to me. So. |
| 33:31.76 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, well I mean the the west Love it. Love it And yeah, he's ah well he spent a lot of time on the West Coast and the West coast is known for being irreverent. |
| 33:36.45 | Max Shank | Anyway, nor Mcdonald based on a true story hilarious I've listened to it several times. |
| 33:49.50 | Max Shank | All right? My key book to. |
| 33:51.60 | mikebledsoe | That's ah, that's 1 of the benefits of it. Ah, all, let me all right book 2 I'm gonna go with the Sovereign individual. So the first 1 is entertainment I've got my my book list and in. 2021 in the 3 categories is philosophy business or enjoyment and the sovereign individual falls under philosophy which for me is entertainment but again a lot of practical application there because with philosophy what I like about these philosophical books is. They're taking a generally take a macro view of of how the world works and a lot gives us space to know how to position ourselves. Well I'll say this for myself reading the Sovereign individual. It really informed me how to position myself as time goes on in this book. What they do is they wrote it in the they was published in the year 2000 it with the intention of predicting what was going to happen between the year 2000 and 2025 and as I was reading this book I got chills I got hairs were standing up on my neck. It was incredible. How spot on they were and they opened up the book because what's funny is if they knew that people were going to be reading this in 2021 they wouldn't have to give as much explanation as they did at and the beginning of the book first half of the book is really dedicated to the previous 2000 years and it looks at 500 year cycles and looks at big shifts in. Ah, power being centralized and decentralized and they they really look at the when the berlin wall fell. Ah, it was really the falling of the nation state. So this idea that these governments are in charge and so on and so forth they made the comparison to. |
| 35:40.49 | Max Shank | And. |
| 35:57.87 | mikebledsoe | Well you when you ask somebody ah world history and you go you know when did the roman empire fall that was a lot of people say you know four 1080 but it really it really when we look back on it. We could say it really lost. Steam around 500 a but but people were acting like it was still. You know in full force an 800 a d even though it was just kind of very surface level. It was still going but it didn't hold the same power and so they really painted a picture of. Nation state losing power due to technology decentralizing ah safety the protection of assets especially when assets become digital There's just this whole There's this whole um era coming and is we're we're in the the. Infancy stage of this decentralization and ah they they talk about in the book they call it cyber currencies so you know year two thousand bitcoin didn't arrive in what oh 8 till eight zero nine I think maybe oh 7 is when it. You know the founder started figuring it out. But ah, you know they they call it cyber currencies in the book. But the way they describe how these currencies will behave and how they'll be autonomous in some way ah was very predictive and in fact. what they described and what is reality the reality of cryptocurrencies at this point is is way more sophisticated than they were predicting because of course it didn't exist so how could they be? How could they comment too far on it but they did. They did note the results of there being ah cryptocurrencies. Ah, they predicted um, ah that there would be a bacterial or viral pandemic and that the media would behave the way it did they predicted race riots and wars. Um. And the context in which they talk about these things is what gives you chills. It's like yeah anyone can predict these things like there's gonna be pandemics. There's gonna be riots. That's that's part of human history. You don't have to be a genius to say. Yeah that's probably gonna happen. But the way in which it happened and the way they described why these things will. |
| 38:10.47 | Max Shank | And. |
| 38:26.92 | mikebledsoe | Happen the way they happen is pretty incredible and 1 of the things that they talk about in the book is ah governments because they're losing power and they lose control over the currency will you know government rules by 1 mean 1 method and that is violence right. Do as I say or else I'll put you in a cage or kill you and so ah, yeah, that's how it enforces there's There's no other like that when when it gets down to it. They have a monopoly on you know that that entity has a monopoly on violence and so be. |
| 38:49.60 | Max Shank | Um, well, that's how it enforces. |
| 39:05.17 | mikebledsoe | When you have an organization that that's always the last resort well as as it as it gets closer to losing more and more power. It's just going to become more violent so 1 of the things they talked about was you know there'll be a lot of smaller communities and h oas will include security and they they basically. Also noted that since the 80 s the amount of private security being employed is way up. Private security is a huge industry and you know if someone goes oh when are we going to start having to have private security. It's you know the reality is you already have it and um and. Or you may not have it personally. But it's probably you you it you get the it's prevalent and you're you're probably enjoying it I mean when I went to a store last night. There wasn't 2 cops sitting in front of the grocery store with guns. It's 2 security guards you know, ah the the the local government is supposed to hire police in order to. |
| 39:47.12 | Max Shank | It's prevalent. |
| 40:03.40 | mikebledsoe | Keep crime down but you know they can't do that well enough so they got to hire private security. So no, so um, anyways, they basically outline that they talked about the steps ahead and and that book was actually very. |
| 40:07.75 | Max Shank | A can't be everywhere all at once. |
| 40:22.70 | mikebledsoe | Relaxing for me to read in a lot of ways because it was I'm watching the world go through this chaotic thing and then it really did a good job of saying look look back 2000 years we're looking forward 25 years and maybe a little beyond that you know this is really just ah ah a frame. In history. It's not It's not the rest of your life. It's not this and that and and also it really instilled. You know we're not going back. We're we're definitely just progressing forward towards something and these are all the things that are going to happen as we we go there and. It may not necessarily be an easy path forward. But the thing you really have to because of the way what technology is an impacting culture the necessity for personal responsibility is at an all time high I mean that's what the the book is called the Sovereign individual is because if you if you don't want to be a slave. And the future you have to be sovereign and in order to be sovereign means that you have to educate yourself on technology. You have to educate yourself on protection and security physical protection and security. You have to educate yourself on these things or else. You're subject to like the government's not going to protect you anymore is basically what they're saying like you're gonna you're gonna have to create your own little tribe and you're gonna have to use technology and all this stuff to take charge of your own protection. So um, 1 of the things that motivated me to do the training I did last weekend this past weekend is I go. |
| 41:56.60 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 41:58.86 | mikebledsoe | I'm looking at the book and I go yeah it could ah you know ah America in this time is actually a very safe place. Still um, it's relatively if you look at human history lot less murder a lot less a lot of things. Um I think in the last couple years |
| 42:07.71 | Max Shank | Relatively? yeah. |
| 42:16.45 | Max Shank | Yeah, super rare still well and what's funny about that? Well what's interesting about that I guess it's not funny about that is the dramatic difference. |
| 42:18.60 | mikebledsoe | Um, homicides are way up, especially where awesome tax is up 1 hundred and seventy five percent homicides this year |
| 42:33.67 | Max Shank | Between how many people kill themselves versus each other I mean whenever whenever anyone wants to talk to me about how like a place is dangerous I'm like dude like what people kill themselves with fritos people kill themselves with a toaster in the tub like it. |
| 42:35.51 | mikebledsoe | Right. |
| 42:51.80 | Max Shank | And you know like I said sometimes fast sometimes slow but people kill themselves like way way more. So if anything we should be like more afraid of ourselves than we should be of other people If if we're going to like follow the statistics right. |
| 43:02.41 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well well well a good example of this. Yeah, you're right is yeah I like to go down to columbia and columbia is not necessarily the safest country in the world. Um I've encountered a couple things down there I mean I've been down there maybe a total of. |
| 43:11.47 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 43:20.56 | Max Shank | A. |
| 43:20.56 | mikebledsoe | 3 or four months at this point I've made 3 different trips and yeah I've run into a riot I've had some people follow me I have you know there's there's been a few times where I thought I was gonna end up in a fight um and it was really just cause I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and you know after you're there for a bit you learn how to you know. |
| 43:33.12 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 43:40.15 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 43:40.70 | mikebledsoe | Navigate yourself to avoid those things but um, you know there people at home are going. Oh you gotta be careful and's like it's like this is the same person who is overweight eating ice cream before bed watching Jeopardy or something like that. It's just they're not like yeah but you're not living like you're. |
| 43:54.65 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 44:00.30 | mikebledsoe | Like to your point probably killing yourself slowly whereas I'm just taking a little bit of a risk over here. |
| 44:02.89 | Max Shank | Yeah, right? And who's who's to say that it's It's better to live like a really really long time sadly than a short time Happily you know that's it's hard to quantify. |
| 44:14.53 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah I think Ellenlan Watts Alan Watts has a tough thing about that and if aen said it then it's it's true. |
| 44:21.55 | Max Shank | I mean he was a hardcore alcoholic but I like a lot of his ideas I mean that's why you you got to take everything with a grain of salt and that's why um a certain book. Might be the opposite of what you need to hear like a certain book could be fantastic for you. It could bring you to better action and I could read the same book and it could be devastatingly bad if I believe it because you and I are different people So to your point earlier. So. |
| 44:54.82 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, context matters. |
| 44:59.47 | Max Shank | Sovereign individual read it so you can defend yourself and when I think about um situations like that I think there are really only a couple important things you need to be able to defend yourself physically. Um, you need a community. Of people you know, love and trust and you need to be able to create value and that and that's a big 1 because no matter what the economy does if you are valuable then you'll basically always be okay. |
| 45:28.50 | mikebledsoe | Many. |
| 45:34.47 | mikebledsoe | Absolutely absolutely. Ah, um, by the way just on the on the notion of value just so this book out there the last safe investment I didn't read this this past year but to max's point the last safe investments all about how to it. |
| 45:38.70 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 45:53.83 | mikebledsoe | It talks about 21 I think 21 or 22 different types of labor that you could develop yourself in that would be valuable and they they basically steer you away from the ones that are not that valuable and steer you towards the ones that are super valuable for example, copywriting is in there as 1 of the most valuable. So. Max you write and to that book's point ah the most valuable thing that you can have and when it comes to financial. It doesn't matter what the currency is or what's going on in the world if you can produce value for other people. Yeah, you should never go hungry. |
| 46:27.75 | Max Shank | Yeah I mean bitcoin and gold could both go to zero bullets probably won't though I don't think Bullets ever go to zero. Um all right shall I do 1 you did 2 books in a row by the way. |
| 46:30.95 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 46:36.73 | mikebledsoe | Um, Bulletin seeds. Yeah yeah, what's your next book. Yeah, let's go now I just do 1 in that wasn't when I read this year it doesn't count. |
| 46:46.23 | Max Shank | It's not fair. Ah I just threw an extra 1 in guess your opinion is more important than mine trouble in Paradise over here folks. We made it nineteen episodes. |
| 46:54.69 | mikebledsoe | I I look I'm older than you I'm allowed to do these things I. |
| 47:02.37 | Max Shank | Oh nice appeal to age authority very good I think you might be losing it though time is ticking. My friend time is on my side. Um, okay well I'm gonna do 2 books then also and I'm gonna really. |
| 47:10.56 | mikebledsoe | Of course I'm losing it. |
| 47:20.66 | Max Shank | And I'm going to relate them together because they're similar but ah, monumentally different in the same way. So I read a book this year that is actually out this year called how to live and it is 27 conflicting answers. And 1 weird conclusion I really like the format of this book because each chapter says you know this is how to live and then the whole chapter is about that and it's by a guy named derek sivers who started a cdbaby. He also wrote a book called anything you want. I really like the way he writes and his his chapters for how how to live are do nothing think long term master something pursue pain do whatever you want now. So they're all conflicting ideas. But that's how life is. |
| 48:15.50 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 48:18.73 | Max Shank | It's a bunch of paradoxes but he spent 4 years working on the book and it's it's a short read, but it's beautifully done. It's very concise. It's exactly what I am looking for in a book I get to essentially consume his suffering to make it concise. So I can get these ideas in their most purest form fully refined. Um, no wasted words. So I loved it. I think it speaks to me personally because the question of how to live is very conflicting. And it depends on the individual. some people are so over the top arrogant that they're going to burn themselves and some people are so um insecure and lacking confidence that they're never going to take that step forward. There's going to prepare prepare forever. So. Everybody needs to hear something a little bit different I thought these chapters were fantastic I'm interested in juxtaposing that book with another book that I re reread which is tools of titans which is a gargantuan book. Full of some of the top performers in the world in different areas, physical feats business feeds technology. Um, and there's a lot of differences. In their advice and I think that's what makes it good and that's what made me think of that book in relation to this book how to live because it's stories that you can relate to and be like oh that's how that guy did it and it's just little bites and books. As I mentioned should inspire some sort of action. So whenever I'm writing something it should inspire action I don't really like writing if it's not going to inspire action. Frankly I find writing kind of painful sometimes anyway so if it's not going to. Inspire action in somebody I'm not going to bother I'm going to go take a walk essentially so I think the the stories um the chapters in how to live by Derek sivers are fantastic I think it will make you think differently and. |
| 50:35.40 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 50:49.98 | Max Shank | It's each chapter is its own little book and it's really beautifully done So how to live by Derek sivers and that's ah with an s s I V E R S That's a great book. Very easy read to. |
| 51:04.74 | mikebledsoe | Beautiful. |
| 51:09.92 | Max Shank | Now we're even 3 each now we're even I'm keeping score by the way I'm also keeping score of how many minutes each of each of us talks. So we get equal time because we believe in equality here folks. |
| 51:11.47 | mikebledsoe | Now We're even all right I'll go Okay, good. Well I'm um, um, I'm curious. Are you taking notes about are you taking the time down when I say something brilliant so we can cut it out for a video. Ah yeah, that was a softball all right? ah. |
| 51:28.15 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 51:33.76 | Max Shank | I'm still waiting for you to say something brilliant I do have my pen here though. |
| 51:42.33 | mikebledsoe | We've got my my um, my favorite business book of the year was incredibly practical and that is 1 hundred million dollars offers by alex hermosi now I want to I want to say this alex hormosey also wrote a book called jim launch secrets. He comes from the fitness industry and you know I learned about how he did his his tactics and I'm not really a big fan of the tactics he used and growing gym memberships and things like that I think that? yeah. That's all I'm gonna say about that I just want to I want to throw that out and to max's point early in the show if I were only going off of what I had already prejudged the author on I wouldn't have picked his book up because I already had a judgment about how he does things and then and and. Ah, 2 people 2 really intelligent friends of mine in one week they suggested to read his book so I pick it up and this is the beauty of having a kindle is I can usually get books at you know, half the price or maybe even a quarter of the price and I don't have to wait for it and I can. Lot of times I can read the preview ahead of time and that's what sold me on this I I got to read the first chapter and I go. Okay, this is going to go somewhere that book 1 hundred million dollar offers I have never seen anyone after reading it I realized that I never consumed a resource on offers by themselves. I'd study a lot of marketing I'd study a lot of business and offers usually fits inside of this marketing chat. So. It's like a chapter in a marketing book or it's a it's a module or a week during a marketing course and alex where Mosey is the guy's ah a fucking genius and he's built. I think over five companies at this point over 100 million dollars and and different industries at that and so um, it's 1 thing for someone. Um, you know, build a business that makes 1 hundred million dollars. But it's another thing to do it to do 5 and I think he's with 32 or 33 years old so really young guy. Um. Super sharp and 1 thing I really liked about his book as well is he had a an online course. Companion. So if you if you get the book. It's got little link at the he does a little lead magnet type thing. Um technically not lead magnet because he doesn't even collect your email address. So um, anyways I read that book and it really helped me and it was just perfectly packaged in the right order it. It's you just follow from chapter to chapter and by the end you're going to have a solid offer and you're going to understand what it is you offer your customers and your customers are going to understand. |
| 54:28.64 | mikebledsoe | But you're offering them and they're going to feel as though you're solving their problem which is exactly why they're going to hire you or they buy a product anyway. So hundred million dollar offers by alex or Mosey favorite business book of the year |
| 54:41.27 | Max Shank | That is 1 hell of testimonial and it's also a testament to how information is still valuable even though it's ubiquitous or even though it is everywhere information is free. It's everywhere. But you can still make information extremely valuable if you put it together in a format that is really easy to digest. Nice. |
| 55:06.19 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, the beauties and the packaging. All right, You're up. What do we got? He's looking around. Yeah. |
| 55:15.95 | Max Shank | I'm up. Ah another book I read this year was I have ah I have like a little list here but I also have a couple of books I'm trying to decide because I don't want to? um I want to do too many because I know we're getting close to the wire. But um. |
| 55:30.54 | mikebledsoe | Why you probably just running out of books you read this year |
| 55:35.80 | Max Shank | You know what. |
| 55:38.99 | Max Shank | I can only I can't read actually I only listen to audiobooks ah now I'll recommend um I have 2 more that I really want to recommend so the travels by Michael crichton. |
| 55:50.28 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 55:55.67 | Max Shank | And I reread it every year since I had a recommended to me by a good friend of mine and it's amazing travels by Michael creton. He's a um, super prolific author he covers it all. Travels he talks about um, you know going to medical school and seeing like the psychiatric wards and traveling to all these different places and nearly dying several times and um, he's. Just a fascinating individual. He goes into the ah physics and metaphysical plane and he just dives right in it kind of reminded me of richard feynman's book a little bit surely. You must be joking Mr. Feynman but travels by Michael crichton. Is absolutely fantastic. He talks about the travels externally and travels internally and relationships and science and I know I've recommended some of his stuff in the podcast before especially his. A little lecture called the state of fear which talk about prophetic for for what's happening right now. But michael crichton travels excellent book worth reading worth rereading. He's awesome. |
| 57:20.91 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, you recommended a video for me to watch of his a lecture. He gave an hour long presentation that was just not only was it enjoyable but it was it was kind of kind of like the sovereign individual is relieving in some way in some ways and. |
| 57:37.47 | Max Shank | Earth. |
| 57:39.89 | mikebledsoe | Really pointing out really where a lot of bullshit exists in the world and the media and and how he really explains how things get out of control. Um, and so as far as how narratives get out of control and yeah. |
| 57:43.87 | Max Shank | Oh yeah. |
| 57:56.53 | Max Shank | Yeah, he goes over it in such a calm way too. There's like humor in it and he's like yeah of course then this happens and you know he's just talking about like horrible things. Ah that are happening but he's doing it in a very lighthearted manner which I like. |
| 57:59.43 | mikebledsoe | Super cool. Yeah, he's chuckling the whole time. |
| 58:12.91 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's It's really nice to have someone who's ah like an M D Ph D That's confirming some of ah your biases. But. |
| 58:15.51 | Max Shank | It makes you feel a little bit less alone doesn't it. |
| 58:27.45 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 58:31.62 | mikebledsoe | Um, let's see we'll do a couple more books and then I'll ah we'll put the rest on the blog that doesn't exist yet. So but I may if it if it does exist and you're listening to this I'll put it here at the end. |
| 58:44.94 | Max Shank | It after. |
| 58:50.58 | mikebledsoe | I haven't bought the domain yet I don't think. |
| 58:51.48 | Max Shank | You don't want to read too many books either. You want to read a few good ones and then reread them and take good notes about them and write in the margins I mean here's a quick intermission you got to rewrite these ideas in your own words if you want to remember them. |
| 58:58.79 | mikebledsoe | That's true. |
| 59:07.93 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 59:10.61 | Max Shank | Go ahead and and make notes inside of the book too. That's what those little margins are for it might not be what they're for, but that use the margins to highlight things and yeah exactly I used to try to keep them really pristine now I just write all over them because it makes you. |
| 59:19.20 | mikebledsoe | It's your book. You can do whatever you want. |
| 59:27.52 | Max Shank | Ah, helps you remember the information a lot better. |
| 59:28.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, um, yeah let's do 1 more each and then we'll call it a day ah and outwitting the devil was would be ah another 1 at top of my list and outwitting the devil. Is by Napoleon hill he wrote how to think and grow rich. Ah rich. You know that's what he's most known for because that book was published maybe in what the thirty s or forty s and it's been commonly referenced if I go to a business networking. |
| 59:57.97 | Max Shank | Something like that long time ago. |
| 01:00:06.27 | Max Shank | It's still a good buck. It's still a good book. |
| 01:00:06.83 | mikebledsoe | Event. It's people are referencing it all the time and it's practically a hundred years old. And yeah, so that's thing and grow rich is what he's known for. There's a book called outwitting the devil that he wrote back in the thirty s |
| 01:00:11.94 | Max Shank | Hundred years later almost amazing. |
| 01:00:26.60 | mikebledsoe | Early forty s and never was published until 2009 and when you read the book. You'll understand why it wasn't published and in fact, it required him passing and I think 1 of his children passing before it could. |
| 01:00:26.70 | Max Shank | Um, ah, whoa. |
| 01:00:45.85 | mikebledsoe | See the light of day and so the book is called outwitting the devil and it is quite the commentary on human nature and on culture as a whole and how ah groups of people. Um. Behave and how the majority of people are just drifting through life and if you're just drifting the devil has got yeah and talks about how to think for yourself and has warnings about different things to come and. Which there's some. There's a lot of really insightful and interesting things in that book I enjoyed reading it every book I've mentioned so far I smiled I giggled I I I got excited as I read these books so I hope you do too all right? come by. But your last 1 max. |
| 01:01:45.14 | Max Shank | Outwitting the devil out outwitting the devil itself sounds kind of like outwitting yourself was the first thing I thought when you even said the title. Um, so I read ah I read a comic book. It was ah I think it was the the the prehistory of the far side by Gary larson. The guy who did the far side comics. Um, it was just funny is hilarious I thought those comics were really good. |
| 01:02:12.15 | mikebledsoe | E. |
| 01:02:21.31 | Max Shank | I Think that the fact that he frequently switches the roles between humans and animals is really funny like when you have animals doing human-like things. It seems very absurd and quite macabre. Also and I thought that was really funny. Um another but an actual book I liked was guns germs and steel which I doubled down I doubled down ah guns germs and steel because it gives you. |
| 01:02:47.53 | mikebledsoe | Oh now you're now you're now you've got 1 up on me. |
| 01:02:58.77 | Max Shank | A little I mean I don't know if it's more honest like where I'm at as far as history is concerned is it's just his story like whoever wins the War writes the history books So I don't really believe too much of. |
| 01:03:08.78 | mikebledsoe | Are. |
| 01:03:16.22 | Max Shank | What is told about what happened but I liked guns germs and steel because it gives a reasonable explanation for why things are the way they are now. And why some places advanced and why some places didn't I didn't agree with everything in the book. Um, but it was a really good. Ah it was a good follow up to another book I liked which was called Power Sex Suicide Mitochondria and the meaning of life so it kind of just goes. |
| 01:03:48.26 | mikebledsoe | Me. |
| 01:03:52.10 | Max Shank | Along that logical pathway and I think that sort of stuff is is just fun. It Also I don't know about you but it makes me a little more compassionate toward others especially with what we're talking about with. Outwitting the devil and there's so much pressure to fit into the group and I used to be I'm still pretty hard on myself which is fine I Guess Ah, but I used to also just think everybody was a malicious idiot and now I realize that it. It's just very uncomfortable to have this unique existence and try to fit into a group and that there's usually a reason why people are the way they are. You know if you get really good positive feedback for doing well at School. You're probably going to get good at school if you get really good positive feedback. Playing Basketball you're probably going to keep getting really good at basketball and so on and so forth so seeing things from more of a historical thing which is guns germs and steel and then seeing things from a cellular and biological standpoint power sex Suicide I think is ah. I Guess it's comforting for me to know this backstory but at the very least it's entertaining. |
| 01:05:10.22 | mikebledsoe | Love it. Yeah, 1 things that you said ah brought up for me is everybody is suffering and it's it's just something to remember your your suffering is actually not unique and people tend to to think it is. |
| 01:05:25.79 | Max Shank | Would you write a book if you weren't suffering. Why would you write a book if you weren't suffering. Yeah, that's what I'm saying like that that. |
| 01:05:29.63 | mikebledsoe | Once you realize that it's. |
| 01:05:34.35 | mikebledsoe | If you're not suffering. Why would you do anything. |
| 01:05:44.95 | Max Shank | You hear me I'm like a broken record I'm talking about hunger pain and desire all being synonymous with each other. So um, every book I've written was to ease the suffering of others because the suffering of others. Ah, is quite irksome to me I don't I don't like it when other people suffer it it hurts I'm a very empathetic person I'm like oh man, there's no reason you should be suffering like this like you don't even know why you're doing this exercise you're doing this exercise because he saw it in a magazine you haven't even considered what a human body. |
| 01:06:04.54 | mikebledsoe | Here. |
| 01:06:12.75 | mikebledsoe | Right. |
| 01:06:23.24 | Max Shank | Can and maybe even should be able to do as you as you age, you're just like copying the dance moves that you saw it's ridiculous. So That's ah, that's kind of where I come at I mean everything I've written was to. Ultimately ease suffering and I think that's why people write stuff at All. It's a very compassionate thing that we do and I think that compassion is what um ties us together intergenerationally and that's what allows us to write these things and have. Have a hope that they will ah be useful to our our family right. |
| 01:07:05.69 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah let's let's wrap it up. Um I'll go first and you know what make sure you're reading things that you enjoy because you probably already know enough of what you need, um, and. Ah, don't worry about how many books you're reading enjoy the process digest it learning as behavior change implement before going and consuming a bunch of new information. Um, understand why you're reading the book. Why are you picking it up understanding that intention is. Is ah very necessary to get the most out of it even if it's enjoyment. So yeah, that's all I go to say about that what reading contest which want. |
| 01:07:51.15 | Max Shank | Well there goes our reading contest we were gonna do I joking we were gonna see who could read the most books next year it's not that funny. Okay, minus 1 that just. |
| 01:07:59.89 | mikebledsoe | oh oh oh oh yeah I mean ah I would just pick up a bunch of Seth godin books whop your ass eighty pages tiny 10 words per page. |
| 01:08:10.32 | Max Shank | Super short super short books I just read every Dr. Seuss books on you um fiction fiction books can help you make better decisions. That's that's a big 1 it doesn't have to be nonfiction. It doesn't have to be boring. It doesn't have to be a business book to understand. Value and scarcity and desire and human nature fiction. Books can tell a lot about that sort of thing as well. Um, read a book more than once if you like it read a chapter of a Book. Doesn't have you don't have to read the whole thing. You can just open up to a random page and you might get a spark of insight. You don't have to read the whole damn thing if you're reading a book and it sucks stop reading it? ah. |
| 01:08:59.46 | mikebledsoe | That's a big 1 I probably started more books than I finished this year |
| 01:09:03.41 | Max Shank | Yeah, it's good. Why not I mean why? why should you have to? um, rewrite the ideas in your own words. Don't don't just copy verbatim unless you're copywriting then it can be really useful and then you can ingest later from there. But. Rewrite the ideas in your own words and it's like the difference between um, just Mimicry and learning the principles. So yeah, don't get don't get caught up in how many books reread books over and over that really that you really like. Um, consider the source of course but really good ideas should be able to stand alone and. |
| 01:09:57.85 | Max Shank | That's it. Yeah, you don't you don't need to read a lot of books probably most of us have enough information. It's better for us to spend time synthesizing um and organizing the information that we have already consumed as it pertains to your own life and. Um, maybe it's time to write your own book. Even if you don't think you should. |
| 01:10:19.18 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, all right up if you can find me on Instagram mike underscore blood. So and you can go over to I have a summit coming up in March here in austin texas you can find out more information about that at where they go. Destrongcoach dot com slash summit max. |
| 01:10:41.39 | Max Shank | I am max you can find me in maxshank dot com or at Maank sometimes I hope you guys have a lovely rest of your week see you later. Love you bro. |
| 01:10:52.70 | mikebledsoe | Later. Love you bro. |
| 00:00.00 | Max Shank | Hello everybody welcome back to the max and mike Monday morning podcast today I'm pretty excited because we're going to talk about choices. We're going to talk about the difference between a mistake and an error and we're going to talk about the difference between a good choice. And a good outcome and you might think those are the same thing but actually they are not. You can make a good choice and have a bad outcome. You can make a bad choice and have a good outcome and if you want learning to really take place. It's very important to understand the difference between those. So. If you listen up today I'm confident that we're all going to make better choices that give us the result that we're looking for so thanks for tuning in mikey good to see you. |
| 00:48.15 | mikebledsoe | Good to see you? Yeah 1 of the reasons we chose this topic and by the way we usually choose the topic about 5 to ten minutes before we hit the record button and um, yeah I did a a mushroom ceremony a few days ago where. I was basically shown all the mistakes that I'm still paying for in my life right now. So as max had ah guessed accurately was I had my own personal hell for about 3 hours and it was. |
| 01:06.73 | Max Shank | Um, now. |
| 01:23.48 | mikebledsoe | Even though it was my own person at hell for a few hours it was really enlightening and and getting very ah getting to be at peace with what I had was witnessing as mistakes I'd made that I was currently paying for and also ah. Experiencing a lot of sadness around it and then by the next morning feeling a little better about it by the next the morning after that feeling even better and having an action plan on how I can more methodically pay off those. Mistakes or errors more quickly so I can get on with my life because yeah, as much as we would like to for me, it's it's as if I I've learned the lesson that came with oh that was i. |
| 02:03.19 | Max Shank | A. |
| 02:20.38 | mikebledsoe | Did not get the outcome I was looking for there that was not what I wanted to happen and I learned that years ago, but my bank account is still having to you know is money's being siphoned off for those mistakes. Even years later even though the lessons been learned so it's ah. It's an interesting life process that we're all in where we usually pay for those mistakes a little longer than we'd like to. |
| 02:48.17 | Max Shank | Always longer than we like to ah personally I want no negative consequences for any of my actions. But I think you bring up a good point because making choices is actually the only thing that we do. Everything is outsourced from choice making right? So. The only thing that we personally do is make choices even if that choice is to raise your arm up in the air you are making the choice but then your body It's getting outsourced to your body and then your body does that little task and. You know I'm pretty critical of all forms of media including podcasts because I think most media is a colossal waste of time now. That being said I think you can basically split up content. Into 2 categories better choice making which would be learning and entertainment and that's all if what you're consuming informationally content wise is not helping you better make better choices. Then it better be entertaining at least Otherwise what the hell are you doing and since that's entertainment.. That's that's 1 hundred percent ah mental masturbation like I don't like to watch horror movies but tons of people do so. |
| 04:07.71 | mikebledsoe | So I just want to be scared. Yeah, that's true. |
| 04:19.24 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 04:22.32 | Max Shank | Once again I'm not really into Kink shaming So like whatever you want to do to get your rocks off. But I think it's important to not pretend. It's something different and there's a lot of time invested into mental masturbation and if you think about. Differentiating between. Okay I'm going to consume this information so that I make better choices or I'm just going to flat out entertain myself. So It's important I think to not confuse those 2 things and for me. It's actually quite liberating because that itself is a valuable decision that enables me to be more mindful with what I'm doing.. There's no pretension for me when I'm consuming information I'm either consuming this because I think it's going to help me make better choices in the Future. Going to give me more of the results that I'm after or I'm just entertaining myself and it doesn't matter. Ah what your flavor is, but it's entertainment and then you also don't feel like oh I'm always I'm always trying to. |
| 05:29.24 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 05:35.82 | Max Shank | Learn new things. It's like yeah you know some of the stuff I learn. It's not really practical right now. But of course you never know. |
| 05:43.21 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I mean what you're getting at there is ah your you're intentional. You're intentional about oh I'm going to sit down and be entertained. Um, yeah. |
| 05:55.57 | Max Shank | And there's no shame there. There's no shame there. Whatever you like. |
| 05:59.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, my my intention a lot of times is to is to play. My intention is to let loose have a good time and play you know sometimes you know in the the plant Medicine Psychedelic World Community There's always this. |
| 06:06.25 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 06:18.99 | mikebledsoe | There's this heavy emphasis on setting an intention before you you take your get into take your substance and get into your experience and for years my intention was always to learn something and to get something out of it and then over time I go oh my intention. |
| 06:31.44 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 06:38.85 | mikebledsoe | 1 of the things I learned during during a ceremony is I go oh I can ah my intention could to be to enjoy myself and to play and that is just as valuable as anything else. |
| 06:45.70 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 06:51.76 | Max Shank | That in itself is a very valuable decision. Um I was mentioning to you before we hit record that I've been really getting into tennis a lot lately. I actually have a lesson on Wednesday with a guy who trains at my gym. Juan. And he's awesome and 1 of the most valuable pieces of information I learned about tennis is that there's a very important decision before you hit every ball and so we played we did this drill. And it was called offense defense and before you start your swing that is the first choice you have to make am I going to hit this ball offensively or am I gonna hit this ball defensively. And now when I'm playing matches I notice if I make a mistake with that choice right away I'll be like ah that should have been a defensive shot where I'll go oh I had time for that to be an offensive shot so that has been a huge improvement. |
| 07:57.29 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 08:06.53 | Max Shank | In my overall game because now there's no confusion as to the first choice that needs to be made I need to quickly decide. Okay do I have the opportunity to attack this ball offensively or is it important to. Hit a defensive shot so I can keep the rally going so I have time to maybe get an offensive opportunity later because tennis is 1 of the few. Yes, definitely tennis is 1 of those few sports where if you make an error. Ah your opponent gets a point. |
| 08:29.47 | mikebledsoe | Or a better 1 |
| 08:41.14 | Max Shank | You know in a lot of other sports if you make an error you don't necessarily get punished with a point loss immediately. But if you miss a shot in tennis your opponent actually gets a point so you speaking of paying for mistakes you pay for every error that you make. |
| 08:56.77 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well 1 of the things you said before we hopped on as well was ah we don't make mistakes we only make choices and a mistake is something that we can only look back on and notice and go oh and then which which. Occurs to me as you're just judging the choice because you didn't get the outcome. You're looking for and then that yeah, it's labeled retroactively and then ah going and then you continue to say something else, but this ties into what we. |
| 09:19.90 | Max Shank | Yeah, it's labeled retroactively. |
| 09:32.97 | mikebledsoe | 1 of the things we were talking about last show and that is making the right choice. None of is the last show or 1 of the previous shows making the right choice may not result in the desired outcome and so so. |
| 09:46.68 | Max Shank | Exactly. |
| 09:51.49 | mikebledsoe | You know, ah putting all the weight of a single choice for a specific outcome is is probably it experience. You're probably experiencing a little bit of tunnel vision because there's so many things that contribute to the outcome where outcomes. Ah and it's ah yeah, just. Got me thinking more and more about okay I've made choices which didn't give me the outcomes I desired and now I'm paying for them and and my judgment of those is to call it a mistake but it's also good for me to look back and go yeah that was I won't make a choice. Ah, all all. When I'm making choices that are like this I'm going to have to consider all these things that it becomes more obvious the things I didn't consider as I made those choices. |
| 10:38.80 | Max Shank | Absolutely and it also speaks to the heart of where I've been able to actually find some compassion because I used to think most people were just Evil Idiots. Ah, which is not like the most positive way to view the world. But I realize that everybody is always doing their best based on how they think and feel at the time. So based on the information they have available to them and based on their current state of mind. They're always making the best choice they can think of now a lot of times people make. Choices with their lizard brain only So they're not maybe using their full faculties but based on the tools that were available to them in that Moment. We're always making the best choice we have available and it's easy to. Judge other people because we don't really know their experience. So I think that I think that's really huge like you will be able to live a more comfortable life If You realize that people are doing the best with the faculties that are available to them. |
| 11:54.32 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 11:54.53 | Max Shank | In that moment and then you'll also be a lot more forgiving of yourself because um I can certainly speak from my own experience. But I think a lot of people who try to be high. Achievers are often very hard on themselves. And really, um, relive every mistake lots and lots of times because you're like oh I Just don't want to make that mistake again. I don't want to make that wrong choice again. So You'll be more forgiving of yourself. You'll be more compassionate of other people. And if you do that then you're going to be more in ah a love vibration instead of a fear and maybe even loathing vibration and of course then you also get to make better choices because as I said people always make the best choice based on how they think and feel. At the time. So if you feel afraid if you feel hateful if you feel judgmental you're not going to make as good a choices you're going to make Lizard brain choices. |
| 13:00.92 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 13:07.63 | Max Shank | Um, as far as the right choice but wrong outcome. Um I'll use tennis as another example so you have 2 things you have deployment and execution deployment is. What you choose to do and when you choose to do it. Execution is how you did it. So if I try to deploy an offensive shot at the right time. But I Miss. That would just be a problem with my execution. So the the way I did it wasn't very good. How I executed that decision was wrong and if you break up these choices into deployment and execution. Then you know where to correct it for next time. Because it's a totally different thing to make an error in deployment which is making the wrong choice versus an error in execution which is the skill that you used was inadequate to capitalize on the on the correct choice. |
| 14:15.50 | mikebledsoe | Go when I hear when they hear you say deployment I think strategy that it's the Ah how am I going to accomplish this this goal. |
| 14:28.48 | Max Shank | It's what you choose to do and when and the execution is the how you do it. So if you if if you deploy ah a punch at the right time if you choose a? ah. |
| 14:32.55 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 14:44.17 | Max Shank | You know the correct punch and you deploy it at the right time but you you do it too weekly or something like that or you do it too slowly or you're just off Target that would be an error. And the execution even though the choice that you made was correct. So I think of it as deployment is what and when and execution is how yeah. |
| 15:01.29 | mikebledsoe | Ah e. |
| 15:09.43 | mikebledsoe | I like that I like that well going back to that thinking about the high performers I imagine there's quite a few high performers that listen to this and going back in and dwelling on Mistakes. Ah. I I think ah so it can be a gift because that that can create a hyper performer and you just hyper analyze things. The drawback to that is all the emotional experience that comes with that or usually the emotional experience that drives that it's this It's this dwelling or this addiction to feeling that guilt and I know that's something that I dealt with at 1 point where I overindulged in feelings of guilt and ah which is really strange because if you were to ask you know people on. And a quick survey. You know, do you dwell on guilt or happiness more like wow it makes sense to dwell on being happy. But that's not necessarily the case and so there was a time in my life where I I dwelt on guilt and that. That was what was driving a lot of the the dwelling on the mistakes from the past and making sure I didn't make those same mistakes twice. So it's 1 of those things where it really was had a negative impact on the quality of my life in the moment but for but it did. Turn into a productive ah exercise now. The trick is and 1 of the things that I've learned over time is yeah, there's a lot of gifts that were given from these emotional states that cause a lot of stress or maybe aren't really that useful in in them in a. And themselves. But the product is good and so what I've learned to do better now I wouldn't say out I'm really great at it. But what I've learned to do better now is let's go okay, that was a mistake I can feel sad about making that mistake if I haven't felt it all the way through yet. But instead of instead of dwelling on it because I feel like shit but going back and being analytical and and feeling happy and feeling really excited. So 1 of the experiences I've had over the weekend is I'm really excited to put some changes in my life in order to avoid. Ah, you know making those mistakes in the future and it's you know you're doing it well because if you can get out of that lizard brain and go into the wizard wizard brain then you can come out with very ah, let's say. |
| 17:57.28 | mikebledsoe | Ah, practical things that you can do. They're going to ensure that you don't have to experience that again and then you can skip that and enjoy the success that you're looking for. |
| 18:07.94 | Max Shank | I Think you said a phrase that really speaks volumes which is you are indulging in feelings of guilt which it sounds like a ridiculous phrase. But but if you have ah. |
| 18:16.25 | mikebledsoe | Oh. |
| 18:25.46 | Max Shank | Ego self-image that thinks of yourself a certain Way. You're going to reinforce those currently held Beliefs. So I think that's extremely common, especially if you think of yourself as someone who does make good choices. And if you think of yourself as someone who is smart and conscientious and aware of things. It's going to hurt twice as bad if you make an incorrect choice. |
| 18:57.70 | mikebledsoe | Oh yeah, well yeah, because now you know you make yourself pay for it in ways that you don't They're completely unnecessary. |
| 19:05.73 | Max Shank | And it kind of comes back to the emotion side of things I think of enthusiasm as social energy enthusiasm is a power in and of itself. You know there are you have force equals mass times acceleration you have work ah force times distance powers ah work over time you have all these different physics equations but enthusiasm which comes from being possessed by Spirit. Is an energy that is completely unique and it's the catalyst for a higher level of action because Hunger is the ultimate motivator right. And pain is a form of hunger so you can be operating from a place of deep hunger or even fear perhaps but when you're enthusiastic It's almost the same sort of desire which is another synonym for pain. But it's got to love. Vibration to it. So when you're operating from an enthusiastic place. You're look I don't know maybe you're gonna triple your output. You're gonna light a fire in other people like you wouldn't otherwise um. You're definitely 1 of those people who gets people excited about things like you're ah you're definitely an idea machine and you know you've called me several times over the years and I'll be like god damn that's a dumb idea and but but but even so. And you've also come to me with like a lot of brilliant ideas too. Don't give me ah, don't get me wrong here. But um, what I notice is the level of enthusiasm is contagious like I feel myself getting excited. |
| 21:14.35 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 21:15.33 | Max Shank | You know what I'm saying so that enthusiasm comes from being in a good place emotionally and as far as you know reliving the hell of your bad choices. Um, it is kind of like how we said. Depression is a luxury too being sad is a luxury like all these things are luxuries that are only available to you if you actually have all your physical needs. Met so ah. |
| 21:33.94 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 21:46.56 | Max Shank | You know the same thing if you can get to that place where you're enthusiastic. Which means that you're not punishing yourself for the past and letting your past ruin your present and future and if you find something where you can be enthusiastic about. You know sharing what you have with others you're going to make better choices and even if the choices um maybe aren't as good now I I still think. Ah, Overall you're going to make better choices if you're enthusiastic about it. You know you don't want to act too rashly I guess that would maybe be the only consideration ah with hyper enthusiasm. |
| 22:29.32 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I think there's yeah well I'll speak of my own personal experience. Ah I am I'm a very enthusiastic person I I do get excited about a lot of different. Things and I get excited about my own ideas I get excited about other people's ideas or projects and um because of that I I attract a lot of people coming to me with their ideas and and looking for help and 1 of the things that I've noticed over the years is the majority of my. Some of my ideas are bad. Some of them are good and some of them are bad just because they're not for me to do I think I think a lot of my idea probably most of them are good just not for me. They're good for somebody to do ah and. |
| 23:14.32 | Max Shank | Right? um. |
| 23:20.58 | mikebledsoe | 1 things I've had to learn is that because it's easy for me to influence other people's enthusiasm and their behavior and getting them involved is there's been times where I have people on my team I get enthused about something I start talking about it. And I'm not telling anyone to do anything about it I'm just sharing the idea and then a few days goes by and I have a check in with the team and they've taken action on whatever it is I was I was discussing an idea with them and I and I was like fuck. We just wasted a few days of work because I actually didn't want. |
| 23:51.15 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 23:58.54 | mikebledsoe | Um, never even intended for you to take action on this was even my intention and now we are here we are going down this track and so I've I've had to learn how to um, be enthusiastic find specific people in my life I can share those ideas with that are not. Working for me or with me ah and to flesh them out and then I've also gotten a lot better about having ideas come in and go yeah, we'll just let that 1 I'll write it down the book write down the journal and then ah maybe I'll come back to it. You know, 2 or 3 days go by and I go. |
| 24:31.66 | Max Shank | And. |
| 24:37.50 | mikebledsoe | Yeah,, don't really want to do that. But it was cool to to dream about it. So That's just ah, yeah, little little little things that I Found. It's also good to remember for people who may not share the same trade I have but do get enthused by other people. Somebody who has a lot of Charisma comes by and gets people all hyped up and for something for an idea. It's also good to check in with yourself is like is this is this the idea that I'm supposed to be involved with right now or am I just getting caught up in the enthusiasm and in The. Charisma of this person. |
| 25:17.20 | Max Shank | Yeah, and I'm almost the opposite like 1 of the services I offer is dream killing because I think that you can spend you can waste a lot of time going for something that isn't really a good fit for you or a really good. Ah, overall idea if you're overenthusiastic. However I come back to enthusiasm being social energy and who better to use and as as an example than Richard simmons sweating to the oldies like. When I was in my early twenty s I would like make fun of that sort of thing but dude richard simmons has helped more people get up off the couch than I have probably by a factor of a thousand or more. |
| 25:53.68 | mikebledsoe | Me. |
| 26:08.10 | Max Shank | And it's because he's just so Enthused. He's so excited about them dancing around in their living room and sweating to the oldies and so you can have what I would argue is a suboptimal product. But if you have that charismatic enthusiastic. Um, leader It doesn't even matter. In fact I would rather be invested into that business than someone who's got all of their kinesiology doctorates in order. Doing the perfect exercise. |
| 26:45.77 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I've I've witnessed that I ah ah traveled to travel the world finding the best of the best and kind of really figuring out that a lot of the people who have the best product or service. |
| 26:50.31 | Max Shank | Oh yeah, yeah, I've seen it tons of times. |
| 27:05.60 | mikebledsoe | Get very little attention and people who get the most attention you know will have a mediocre product or service. |
| 27:05.98 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 27:12.37 | Max Shank | They're in the basement pouring over the research papers while the ah dumb guys giving out high fives. Ah, after every set of burpees. You know it's like people people are like that people are like that. |
| 27:27.50 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well this why I like them I like to partner with people who are on the other side of the spectrum because if you is where partnership comes in really really handy is if you have if you have 1 person who's ah. |
| 27:37.56 | Max Shank | Huge. |
| 27:44.82 | mikebledsoe | The Enthusiast and the other person who is the what what would you? How would we want to categorize this other person. |
| 27:50.00 | Max Shank | Well I think I'm the other person so it's like how would I want to categorize myself. |
| 27:54.65 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, that sound like you were calling yourself the dream Killer but. |
| 27:58.48 | Max Shank | The other guy the Dream Killer Sometimes Dream killing can be the absolute best thing a person needs like I will happily support a dream where I can see the benefit from it. But I think you you want both you want someone? you know my 1 of my friends used to say I was a sharpshooter That's what he would call me like I would just look at every potential flaw or weakness in the idea and do that with myself too. So It's not like I'm just a sadistic. Dude like trying to do it to I'm not just kill I'm killing most of my own dreams too mind you? Yeah yeah I Guess it's just. |
| 28:39.90 | mikebledsoe | He's also a masochist. |
| 28:48.49 | Max Shank | Yeah, it's It's the same way that I train myself and my clients like a lot of it is looking for weak points and not just reinforcing strengths. |
| 29:01.69 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I mean that goes would use so talk about deployment versus defense. Are you some is that right? not defense. Ah no, no, no I'm thinking about ah offense versus defense otherwise mixing those up. Ah. |
| 29:13.20 | Max Shank | Deployment versus execution offense defense. |
| 29:20.95 | mikebledsoe | So offense versus defense would you would you consider yourself somebody who is more naturally geared towards thinking of defense before offense sort of sounds like to me. |
| 29:31.31 | Max Shank | Yeah, 100 percent um 1 of the axioms I kind of live by is why risk what you need for what you don't need and I am 1 of those people who will be I can be really patient. |
| 29:39.71 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 29:50.50 | Max Shank | Um, so I'll just wait for the right opportunity now when the right opportunity comes up I will attack it so aggressively that it's kind of startling in fact, but I don't feel a need to be. Dynamic all the time or attacking all the time because I've recognized that if you are patient enough just like in jujitsu position before a submission like I'll just wait and wait and wait and when the opportunity comes then I'll go for the submission. But unless I'm just messing around with a friend I'm not going to be trying for any type of fancy aggressive Stuff. It's going to be slow methodical control control control don't risk losing position. Wait wait wait. Okay there's the position. Now boom super super offense all of the sudden. |
| 30:50.13 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I'm more naturally geared towards being on the offense I look back on my sporting career and yeah in sport and life way more on the offense ah lot of lot of swing for the fences. |
| 30:57.19 | Max Shank | No doubt. |
| 31:09.48 | mikebledsoe | A lot of failure but but also some success and I've I've noticed over the years ah is the thing that helps me out the most is to slow down and go on defense and it's it's ah it's a difficult choice for me to make to go in defense. |
| 31:19.75 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 31:27.62 | Max Shank | Not the. |
| 31:28.40 | mikebledsoe | It's not what I want to do but when I do it I So That's when I usually see really great progress or and I've learned to wait for that that moment to Strike. Ah, but when when it is time for that moment to strike there's you're saying that it's startling. How how aggressive it may come out as because I've got a lot of practice being aggressive. |
| 31:51.96 | Max Shank | Right? And there's kind of another thing to consider here too which is um I've heard it described as the strategy paradox where what works for another person would be like the worst thing you could do for yourself. |
| 32:08.76 | mikebledsoe | E. |
| 32:11.50 | Max Shank | So you could be 1 of those people who wants to value invest and just purchase um shares of companies where the financials are strong. There's steady growth and you don't really go outside of your comfort zone. You're probably not going to lose all your money doing that on the other hand, you're probably not going to become very wealthy very fast because risk and reward are usually proportional to 1 another. However, if you are you know. Buying options on penny stocks with borrowed money you have a chance to maybe 10000 x your money. But you also have a chance to lose all of your money times 10 so so ah and that kind of goes along with another bias which is survivorship bias and the best example I have of that is Richard branson if you've ever read his autobiography to a more defensive minded person like myself and methodical. Just gave me like heart palpitations because every every other chapter he's like mortgaging his life away and borrowing another millions from the bank and shit's going wrong and you know he's got a music company and everything's finally going well for him. Everything's finally going well like he never had like a lot. It was always just reinvest reinvest and then things finally go well and he's on the board at virgin music. They got a ton of artists and he's like yeah so I'm gonna I'm gonna start an airline I got to buy a. An airplane and I need another 1 hundred million dollars. So I'm going to start selling stock and borrowing and his partners in the music company wanted to kill him they they hated him they hated him. He's like they hated me and. |
| 34:16.78 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah. |
| 34:21.28 | Max Shank | The first test flight ah he like hit a goose or a duck so he needed another fifty million dollars to fix this plane like a 7 forty 7 or something like that. So now he's he's. You know he owes 1 hundred million or something to the bank of England or whatever it was I think it was like the Royal bank of england and he's just like begging them to give him more time and it worked out for him. But anyway, that's the survivorship bias just because it worked out for him. There. Ah, 110000 guys who made similar choices who lost everything so you can't necessarily mimic that and think that you're going to get a better result, especially if it doesn't match your personality type either. |
| 35:05.49 | mikebledsoe | Well you you got to consider you know Richard branson he he likely thrives in chaos and so having that that stress is something that that causes him to to get shit done that needs to get done whereas. A lot of people would collapse. Um, there's ah, there's there's 2 other personality types. This makes me think about and 1 is ah when when if 1 personality is which is which is me if you're really far ahead. |
| 35:25.42 | Max Shank | And. |
| 35:44.16 | mikebledsoe | Plenty of money's coming in. Everything's going great all that I have this tendency to want to take my foot off the gas I celebrate the victory. It's like okay life is good. Let's let's do something with this money. Let's let's you know, chill out and. The other personality is somebody who who is ahead and that's motivating like oh we're ahead. Let's get more ahead and more ahead and more ahead. But the flip side of that is it. This is probably where Richard brenson and I have something in common which is if you're behind the 8 ball That's when shit's getting done. That's what I'm making moves highly motivated logging the hours I need to be hyper focused on the things that actually matter not all this other bullshit in the business that that may be just a waste of time. |
| 36:25.60 | Max Shank | Further. |
| 36:38.56 | mikebledsoe | Um, really gets hyper focusedcused and then that person that really enjoys being ahead and is really motivated when when things are going well a lot of times that personal collapse in that space and they they're just kind of like give up and so I've been in situations where um. Been on teams where ah things are going when things are going well people are unhappy with me like why isn't mike doing more to help us keep getting ahead and and then when she hits the fan. They're like mike what do we do and I'm like okay I'm taking over everything. |
| 37:01.96 | Max Shank | That. |
| 37:13.95 | mikebledsoe | Um, now it's like command and control. There's a military operation. We're gonna We're gonna make these moves and so in in the funny thing is is part of me hates putting myself in those positions but the other part of me loves it. It's exhilarating. |
| 37:16.49 | Max Shank | The. |
| 37:31.90 | mikebledsoe | It's like ah this is what life is about like let's fuck shit up. You know so it's it's a very interesting thing to keep in mind and also know who you are in those situations because 1 of once I got hit to that knowledge I started saying oh I don't need to put my. |
| 37:33.49 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 37:48.81 | mikebledsoe | Business partners and loved ones through this stress I may find it exhilarating but they don't fucking like it and it's not good for them and it's probably not good for the business either. So really learning to honor both types and use both types when necessary and not needing to get. |
| 37:55.50 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 38:07.96 | mikebledsoe | Really far into the extreme of 1 or the other um and that's probably what leads to getting into an extreme or 1 or the others you go too far to the extreme of 1 and then the pendulum will swing so going right back to doo de jing right? like the middle way. |
| 38:18.72 | Max Shank | You know you know it makes me think of something I believe is very important which. I think is hard for people to understand and if you are locked into a mission. You're trying to figure out how much you can do. And if you're looking for a retirement business or an income. You're trying to look for for financial Freedom You're trying to find out how little you can do and that is a huge difference and. Tying it back to choices. Maybe it's not that hard to understand. Actually maybe it's simple to understand if you have a clear Mission. You're gonna be trying to do as much as possible with that mission. If you are just looking to free yourself Financially, you're going to be looking to do as little as possible and if you have a clear mission choices will come much more easily because they should all be pointing in the same direction and that's where that. Ah, enthusiasm which is possessed by spirit comes in even more handy is now everything every decision you make is pointed toward that singular point of focus and it goes back to what we were saying about having your focus be dissipated. Into more of a lantern versus a laser beam where you're hyper focused on 1 thing. So I think that's a huge distinction is um, mission versus ah, let's say a financial goal because with that you're going to be trying to do as little as you can. Um. |
| 40:19.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, but. |
| 40:25.33 | Max Shank | Like that's my goal for investing of course like I'm not trying to do as much as possible I'm trying to do as little work as possible but have as clear and consistent a reward as possible versus our mission here to enable people to free themselves and make better choices. Which has a network effect. That's more about seeing how much we can do right? It's totally different. |
| 40:48.69 | mikebledsoe | yeah yeah yeah I um spend the majority of my life on the mission side and it it was interesting. It's been interesting because hearing you say that. How many times I set financial goals because I just felt like we're supposed to set financial goals and the financial goals revolved more around if we do this much then we can make this much impact in the way that we want and in the last few years it's become much more become much more on the. |
| 41:09.49 | Max Shank | The. |
| 41:17.40 | Max Shank | And. |
| 41:24.10 | mikebledsoe | How can I do less and ah make as much money as possible doing as little as possible and so I think the the balance there's a balance on those 2 as well is can can you be conducting and. |
| 41:24.35 | Max Shank | Okay, the. |
| 41:30.60 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 41:42.87 | mikebledsoe | And activities conducting activities with as little effort as possible that have a meaningful outcome and that way you can check both boxes which is the financial freedom box as well as the mission box and I see that a lot of people have ah. Don't see how they can do both and a lot of people walk away from a lot of money because they want to be more purpose driven and they actually associate the the making of money as something that's taking away from their purpose which you know. |
| 42:03.10 | Max Shank | A. |
| 42:19.54 | mikebledsoe | Their attraction to it might be the thing that is but but I'm a firm believer and what I've been experiencing is high high mission orientation but also holding at the same time. These things could be. Ah, paradoxical to some people which is ah you know, being on mission and how do I create financial freedom for myself. My family and work as little as possible. |
| 42:48.90 | Max Shank | I think the best way to get to the heart of that discrepancy is to focus on even trades like a win-win situation because if you put yourself into a position where you're just sacrificing. There's not going to be It's not a 2 way street. Basically so if you are dedicated to a mission but you're also selling that service for a price that you believe is worth it to you and makes it worth it to them. That's where you can have mission and financial goals kind of coincide I think. |
| 43:32.39 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, you got it I mean I've been in the place where I invested reinvested all my money into the business and wasn't looking out for myself at all and and turned into a lot of sacrifice which just turned into ah an unsustainable way of living because. Moment The business didn't do well I wasn't doing well and it's hard to make good business decisions when you're experiencing financial scarcity and yeah, yeah, so. |
| 44:02.85 | Max Shank | And gambling they say you're on Tilt so you make bad choices I always take half my chips off the table before I move on to the next thing I never but but also I'm I'm limiting how much I could earn so. |
| 44:10.44 | mikebledsoe | So I That's a good idea. |
| 44:18.66 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 44:22.33 | Max Shank | It's just you got to figure out your appetite for risk and that's a whole that's a whole other thing. |
| 44:25.44 | mikebledsoe | Well 1 thing I noticed is when I started looking out in taking care of my own position better I made so much better decisions for the business or businesses if I'm comfortable I can make good decisions if I'm not then then I may make. You know something that makes more money in the month this month but doesn't set us up for success in 1 2 3 years |
| 44:47.85 | Max Shank | I Only ever wanted freedom from the time I was very young kid I didn't realize I also wanted love but I didn't really just I didn't see that path So I want love and freedom and money is really just a means to buy freedom. |
| 45:04.39 | mikebledsoe | Is. |
| 45:06.97 | Max Shank | And I think you you can have ah the most important thing is is fuck you money where you just have the freedom to say no to anything you have the freedom to say no to opportunities to requests to threats to. To whatever you're just like ah no and you don't even have to be ah like smarter once you get to that point you just it's like playing home run derby at that point. But there's no penalty for not taking a swing like you are just doing everything from that position of fuck you. So you don't have to um, be blinded by the lizard brain. You can really just let the wizard take charge there when you're in that fuck you money type of position now. There's another level which is fuck me money which is where you can like Torpedo. Yourself your street credibility. You can literally just say whatever you want, you can get excommunicated from society and then you'll like still be okay, um, and that's that's a whole other thing where people where people have so much. They're just like yeah I'll I'll totally destroy. Ah. Myself full on character assassination because I just don't care. |
| 46:25.72 | mikebledsoe | Who was it Um, the guy who did all the virus software. Ah, ah, the kaffy I think I think he experienced that fuck me. Ah I mean I mean he did end up in he then and end up in jail. |
| 46:34.33 | Max Shank | Mccaffy. Yeah yeah, guy was an animal that was a scary thing. |
| 46:45.34 | mikebledsoe | But ah as a very interesting and anyone wants to go look up his story I don't know where to look it up because I've I've been following it from many different perspectives. But ah yeah, he's 1 of those guys that made fuck me money was living abroad and was. Pulling all sorts of shenanigans and even after his death. It looks like he's pulled some shenanigans. There's been things are being released in the wake of his death. So It's a. |
| 47:05.00 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 47:12.45 | Max Shank | Yeah, apparently he had like a lot of information that was very incriminating about certain things within the United states and the the powers that be. |
| 47:16.99 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 47:30.79 | Max Shank | As they say yeah. |
| 47:32.89 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, so yeah I like that. Well I think um, you know, maybe that should be that could be a course fuck you money is ah it's a. |
| 47:42.89 | Max Shank | Fuck you money I'm surprised. That's not already a thing because if you think about it. There is no other reason to get it like you people want security. Yeah, but freedom is the ability to say no, That's all. That's what freedom to me. That's how you could boil it down Freedom is the ability to say no because if you're addicted to something it means you're enslaved by it means you can't say no to it anymore whether it's a substance a person which is like a different type of codependency. Um, whatever. If You can't say no, you're enslaved and we're enslaved by all sorts of things and it's okay to be enslaved by you know I'm a slave to Oxygen and water and food. But I Really think the. Core of freedom is the ability to say no. |
| 48:41.43 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I think that's that's a spot on I mean there's. |
| 48:46.55 | Max Shank | We could call it. No thank you money if we wanted to have it be like a little bit kinder. |
| 48:51.24 | mikebledsoe | If we can if we if we want to run ads to it on facebook. |
| 48:55.58 | Max Shank | How to how to get? No thank you money. |
| 48:59.74 | mikebledsoe | Ah, doesn't have the right ring man I'm not sure that's going to stick. Yeah, that's ah, that's an important thing and ah that freedom is the ability to say no, it's that's that's an extremely powerful comment. |
| 49:03.59 | Max Shank | It's not the same as fuck you money. |
| 49:18.91 | mikebledsoe | That's because it's not just about money having enough money to say no to anybody. That's that's definitely a lot of Freedom. The the freedom to say no somebody you know is wanting to do something to you or asking you to do anything the ability to say no is freedom if if you're being. If you if that the ability to say no is is removed then yeah, you're a slave makes perfect sense. Yeah. |
| 49:47.16 | Max Shank | Substances and peep substances relationships too right? You know you get a you get a craving for the demon rum and you can't say no then you're not really free of it. |
| 49:59.16 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well, this also makes me think about boundaries and and ah and you know the word sovereignty comes up and it used to be that the only sovereign beings that existed on the planet were royalty and so there was. |
| 50:15.11 | Max Shank | Center up. |
| 50:18.20 | mikebledsoe | There's a couple of you know there's a family that were all sovereign which meant the rules didn't really apply to them and then there was everybody else that that was underneath them like that like the Queen of england still doesn't follow doesn't the rules don't apply to her to even to this day. So. Ah. |
| 50:37.16 | Max Shank | Wouldn't it be amazing if she just started like a Jack the ripper like serial killing spree in England or something like that. She just went out and started murdering. |
| 50:45.16 | mikebledsoe | I think she's on her last leg I don't know if that's gonna be possible, but ah, the well the idea of like I mean that was the the idea of the founding in the United states was more of bringing sovereignty to the individual and. When I think about. So yeah, it's all about saying no. |
| 51:05.18 | Max Shank | It's all about saying no, it's all about resolving. It's all it's all about resolving conflict on an individual basis like the free speech is basically the right to say no firearms is basically the right to force the issue. No. |
| 51:15.58 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah, yeah, and well I think about Sovereignty I think about royalty and 1 of the things that that kings and. |
| 51:26.38 | Max Shank | Even the third amendment even the third amendment is no. You troops can't stay at my fucking house. The fourth is no. You can't search my shit. The fifth is no I don't have to say a god damn thing like it's all about. |
| 51:32.63 | mikebledsoe | Right? right? yeah. |
| 51:43.28 | Max Shank | Freedom is all about no. |
| 51:43.36 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right beautifully said so I think about Sovereignty I think about kings and queens and what do kings and queens have is they have a territory and they have boundaries and and those boundaries is. |
| 51:56.79 | Max Shank | M. |
| 52:02.55 | mikebledsoe | Are set and if you cross those boundaries you're going to suffer a consequence whether those boundaries be physical boundaries as in a physical wall around a kingdom or the boundaries of of we do this and we don't do though that you know if you break this rule if you pat cross this. Conceptual Boundary then you're going to experience some type of punishment and so ah I incur that I think a lot of people don't experience freedom or the degree of freedom that they could have simply because they don't know how to they don't even recognize their own boundaries. Ah, usually they don't recognize that their boundaries been crossed until after it's been crossed and it was crossed because they didn't know it was a boundary and so they never communicated it So It's it's your duty if you want to be free. It is your duty to. Communicate those boundaries in a way that people can hear them and then if they cross them after you tell them don't cross this boundary and that is impeding on your own on your shit then you know the use of force is is what may be necessary and is. |
| 53:12.13 | Max Shank | Where do you think we got the phrase draw a line in the sand That's literally drawing a boundary as an actual line that you are drawing. |
| 53:16.89 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, is there? Yeah yeah, you've crossed this line I'm gonna punch you in the throat. So. |
| 53:29.14 | Max Shank | And what you said there is key to because it's not just for physical. It's for energetic stuff too and I'm I'm sure I've talked about this a few times most of the stuff you hear me say that sounds. Really wise or something I've probably written down like a Hundred times. So. It's not like I'm just coming up with this stuff off the cuff be like oh wow that guys. no no I just write down a lot of stuff. Ah energy vampireism. You know where people are trying to get free psychic energy from you from. Unloading all their problems on you trying to get sympathy or complaining or whatever. Ah, just like the mythology of um, actual vampires. They cannot come inside your house unless you invite them in same thing with energy vampires. Unless you invite it in they can't get any of that free psychic energy from you I'm notoriously bad at listening to complaining because I don't tolerate it I draw a boundary to it because on the 1 hand. Yes. Every complaint is a request. But if you actually have a request then it's not complaining anymore. You're asking for help. You're asking for advice I'm 1 hundred percent down to get with that. But I'm not going to be the I'm not going to be the victim of. |
| 54:59.19 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 54:59.44 | Max Shank | Energy Vampurism and I think a lot of people don't draw those boundaries because they're afraid to they're afraid to just say stop. You know like I don't want you to keep talking at me like this because they're afraid like oh they won't like them anymore or whatever. |
| 55:15.91 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, a lot of people I've had to learn how to draw boundaries people don't complain to me either. Um I've had family members start to complain to me. Ah, and I remember a few years ago I got very. Strict around the boundaries around that and there' was a couple of my my family members had reached out or I was having dinner with somebody and I was like I'm just not gonna talk about this? Ah, ah, yeah, I'm not gonna sit here and listen to um, gossip and and they go. You know of course and like I'm not gossiping I'm like it's gossip and I'm not gonna I don't participate in it and ah it it was jarring for them. Especially if you start setting boundaries that you did not previously set. |
| 56:08.61 | Max Shank | That's gonna be a shock to the system. Whoa Whoa Whoa Man What changed I did I'm not sorry, but. |
| 56:13.65 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, it's people will people have have cast you as a character in their movie and they expect that character to behave a certain way and when that character does something that's out of character it it ah causes a little. Little rift is it's like the glitch in the matrix. It's like they they start to see oh this is my movie just got fucking ah just jumped the frame I don't know what's going on and I feel threatened. You know a lot of people feel threatened by it because. |
| 56:50.73 | Max Shank | They're totally hooked expectation exactly they're hooked on predictability. It's like that quote the only reasonable man I ever met was my tailor because he took my measurements anew every time he saw me. |
| 56:51.38 | mikebledsoe | Their expectations aren't being met. |
| 57:03.86 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 57:06.50 | Max Shank | Versus everyone else. They just have their memory like oh Mike acts like this and then you're like hey I don't act like that anymore and I'm like oh my God My illusion is shattered like I don't because your brain is such a prediction machine. |
| 57:08.91 | mikebledsoe | And. |
| 57:18.36 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, it makes me think about ah the time I saw I every once in a while I'll spend some time with my ah buddies from high school I'm in ah I'm in a text message thread. But with these guys and the lives that we're living are. Very different I won't I won't say they're as different as they as they could possibly be but they're incredibly different I've I've grown a lot in a different direction and sometimes I hang out with them and I can and they want to hang out and I go hang out with them and it's it's ah it's awkward. For them. Ah a lot of because I'm comfortable with me but they start treating me and talking to me about things that I used to care about or um, they they expected me to relate to them and in an agreement on things and then I don't agree. Ah. And I want to have ah a different com. You know I take the conversation in a surprising direction and I can just watch the discomfort seeping in it's like now that they they want to hang out but now they're looking forward to me leaving. |
| 58:29.47 | Max Shank | I mean it sounds an awful lot like Gossip mike um I'm sure that I'm sure that. |
| 58:35.95 | mikebledsoe | I bring it I bring it up I bring it up to like these are these are things to expect when you set new boundaries or when you experience growth and. |
| 58:44.63 | Max Shank | Um, well when the tribe says yes and you say no, they're gonna go huh and so that's it's just another layer of freedom am I Free to say what I want am I free to do what I want and people are actually. |
| 58:50.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| 59:04.56 | Max Shank | Shockingly free we are we are part time enslaved because we got to work for the man ah percentage of the year but overall historically speaking we're like crazy free. |
| 59:18.44 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, more more free than than ever before. Yeah, and then there's the yeah, the the ability to choose your freedom is extremely high. The amount of people that even understand how to choose that. That's. |
| 59:20.15 | Max Shank | As free as you choose to be really. |
| 59:37.56 | mikebledsoe | Seems to be pretty low. |
| 59:37.91 | Max Shank | Well people enslave themselves with destructive behaviors way more than other people enslave them I mean I'm I don't I guess I'm not a hardcore libertarian I'm really more of an objectivist. I guess but I do believe in free choice being a better result than centralized control. Ah 99 percent of the time just because the risk reward's not good. Um, and where was I going with that saying that we're Better. Ah. Yeah, we are way more enslaved by our own choices within our own lives than we are by some external authority like we're slaves to food. We're slaves to media. We're slaves to a dopamine loop. Within our own mind. We're slaves to a cultural norm that probably sucks. It's like oh I've been conditioned to believe this is good. So now I'm going to sacrifice a lot. To get this result that I've been told is really good. Ah college student loans. Ah the concept of ah traditional marriage has positive and Negative. Um. It there. It just goes on and on and on and on and on and so it's tricky because drugs or addictions are a type of enslavement and it's where your choice gives you a result that you. Intellectually don't want but practically you can't avoid that whether it's um, scrolling Instagram or pornography or actual like heroin or crack or something like that. Never tried crack but I've heard It's really good people sacrifice a lot so they can keep doing crack ah food. |
| 01:01:48.43 | mikebledsoe | I've heard. It's really good too I told I had someone once tell me, you should try a crack sometime just don't know where to get it more of it. You want to make sure that you only have 1 dose because if you know where to get more than you're fucked. |
| 01:02:02.63 | Max Shank | Yeah, you and I are certainly not clever enough to find crack. Are you kidding me. |
| 01:02:17.85 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 01:02:17.93 | Max Shank | I would have like a I would have like a boulder full of crack within 2 hours if it was like really the best thing ever a crack boulder but with food food and choice. That's why look I have this video. Ah. Does fasting solve everything and it's all about what we're talking about because food is the most interesting of all the drugs because it's the only thing you cannot completely abstain from like you cannot quit cold Turkey Cold Turkey It is impossible to have. |
| 01:02:48.90 | mikebledsoe | Well. |
| 01:02:56.49 | Max Shank | No food whatsoever. So you're always having some food imagine if you were like trying to quit heroin but you had to have like 1 hit a day just to survive that would be insane. So. |
| 01:03:09.54 | mikebledsoe | I Think that's how it works after you get addicted. You can't go cold turkey with it. You have physical withdraws. Yeah yeah. |
| 01:03:15.98 | Max Shank | Ah, heroin you mean I mean you can. It's just painful but like you could quit heroin cold turkey and never do it Again. Same thing with opiates same thing with ah like booze and stuff like that I mean it depends how far I'm not a doctor. So. If You're currently a heroin addict and looking for my medical advice then I would say look elsewhere. But. |
| 01:03:37.30 | mikebledsoe | I Think there are other things you can do to win yourself off other than just stopping I think that's there's a safer. |
| 01:03:42.44 | Max Shank | Yeah, oh totally. But it's possible to stop doing heroin completely once and for all like once you get to zero but you can't do that with food and that's why I have this video called does fasting solve everything because. |
| 01:03:50.26 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, right. |
| 01:04:01.14 | Max Shank | It's the core of hunger and it's the core of decision making and as I mentioned Hunger is synonymous with desire.. It's synonymous with pain right? So if you can get that choice under control I think it. Gives you the foundation to get all your other choices under control because it changes your relationship with hunger with pain with desire with motivation. |
| 01:04:32.76 | mikebledsoe | Got it makes perfect sense. Go watch that video folks where is that video ton you? What do people search for does. |
| 01:04:43.98 | Max Shank | It's on Youtube does fasting solve everything. It's on my youtube channel. |
| 01:04:51.17 | mikebledsoe | This fasting solve everything anything else. You want to mention before we go. |
| 01:04:54.64 | Max Shank | Um. I Mean we talked about a lot of stuff I I think I think we kept it pretty close to choices. Um, what are some of the big important things that we talked about we talked about. |
| 01:05:01.60 | mikebledsoe | We did. There was a broad subject day. |
| 01:05:18.87 | Max Shank | Ah, the difference between a good choice and a good outcome. We talked about the difference between deployment which is what you choose and when you choose it versus execution which is how you do it. We talked about offense and defense. We talked about being in. |
| 01:05:33.25 | mikebledsoe | Offense and defense. |
| 01:05:38.50 | Max Shank | Lizard Brain versus the Wizard Brain. We talked about how compassion is best found when you understand that everyone's doing the best they can based on how they think and feel at the time including yourself so you can forgive and accept yourself including all of your past decisions that. Retroactively you might label as mistakes I Just think ah. |
| 01:05:59.40 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, we call ah and and the courses I teach I call that honoring self and honoring other honor yourself and and give yourself some grace and give yourself what you need in the moment so that you can show up the best you can possibly be honoring other is ah. |
| 01:06:05.77 | Max Shank | Oh that's nice. |
| 01:06:19.90 | mikebledsoe | Not assuming that you know what's actually happening in their experience and and and understanding they are doing. You know that they're probably doing their best and so you've got to give them the benefit of a doubt and when that happens it opens up communication to find out. Ah, to get to get more accuracy about what is their experience and usually once that door opens the understanding is a lot easier to come by. |
| 01:06:47.64 | Max Shank | Man That's good. It kind of reminds me of something else which is wisdom is knowing yourself and acting accordingly and arrogance is thinking. You know what's best for other people. |
| 01:07:01.74 | mikebledsoe | Simple, very simple. Ah and I like that like that a lot anything else I'm feeling I'm feeling complete this is ah. |
| 01:07:04.10 | Max Shank | Simple. |
| 01:07:12.52 | Max Shank | This was a lot of fun I'm feeling complete you complete me. Ah. |
| 01:07:21.45 | mikebledsoe | Ah, ah, feeling complete. Yeah, we didn't have a we didn't have like a target to hit at the end of the show so going going off a feeling here. |
| 01:07:28.19 | Max Shank | I I What are you talking about? what are you talking about? we spent an hour. We hit so many valuable points for how to make better choices. Are you kidding me. |
| 01:07:36.19 | mikebledsoe | I agree I agree but I usually have in my head this this final target. We're gonna land on. He's like where well it's we. |
| 01:07:44.43 | Max Shank | What do you want me to say what do you want me to say. |
| 01:07:49.28 | mikebledsoe | We didn't plan it so there's no way to know it's that's I'm saying I have to go off a feeling at this point, there's no predetermined target. |
| 01:07:54.73 | Max Shank | Um, I don't even I don't even know how we would come up with a target for the choice making podcast. |
| 01:08:03.26 | mikebledsoe | I Know that's that's that's why we're here we we have to just choose in the moment. |
| 01:08:08.82 | Max Shank | All right? Well you got so I'm I'm really noticing our mistake in our pre-show planning here so in order for you to feel fulfilled in order for me to satisfy you I need to know what you hope to achieve at the end of each podcast. So next week be sure to let me know exactly what you would like me to do for you by the end. |
| 01:08:29.35 | mikebledsoe | Ah, he ah perfect. |
| 01:08:35.10 | Max Shank | Um, ah ah you can find me at mashank dot com. How can they find you. |
| 01:08:39.39 | mikebledsoe | All right? Where yeah we're besides that Youtube video where can people find you. |
| 01:08:48.60 | mikebledsoe | Ah, on Instagram mike underscore bletzo and a reminder that I have the strong coach summit coming up in March the strongcoach dot com slash summit will get you more information. |
| 01:09:01.58 | Max Shank | Boom. Thank you guys for listening. Love you. Mikey. |
| 01:09:05.42 | mikebledsoe | Let me max. |
| 00:00.00 | Max Shank | Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to Monday morning with max and mike today I'm very excited because we are going to talk about how to be your own scientist. This is a subject very near and dear to my heart because unfortunately there are. No shortcuts. It would be so nice if we could just all be told what exercises to do and what foods to eat at what time but we are unique individuals and there's no way that you're going to put a broad. General piece of advice that works for everybody. You cannot apply the same solution to everyone so that is why you must take responsibility to be your own scientist and today we're going to talk about that mike nice to see you again. |
| 00:53.66 | mikebledsoe | Good to see you max. And yeah, I'm excited about this topic because um, I'm somebody who's very comfortable experimenting on myself I know you are as well and so. A lot of times when I look around at the world and people are confused about something. It's it's hard for me to understand why they're confused I go well why don't you just try it out and then find out if it works for you or not in the way you want it to work and yet people are still waiting for there to be. A mountain of evidence or their favorite journalist to make an article about a single study that's going to convince them that this is the way to move forward and 1 thing I want to mention is you know we we're doing this because we. Well I'm doing this because I want to warn people of the dangers of going with the flow of the rest of society and if we're going to take a really broad view of ah science I mean science is really about discovery. Um, people are looking for things that are true. Ah and truth hides in plain sight as results and so ah, most scientific inquiry isolates and really goes deep into a single thing. But if you want to zoom out and you want to use the scientific lens to just say what are the results that exist in the world today then you would get that you may not find out everything that contributed to creating those results but you could at least be present with the results and that's 1 of the things that i. I see is missing in our society is just this this lack of acknowledgement of what is so ah I won't say science is failing because science is just a tool It's what we use but I I think as a society we're failing. Because even though we supposedly have the most advanced advanced science on the planet. At this point we have the most widespread obesity diabetes mental health challenges everything that science claims to have answers for and ah. Science doesn't claim anything because it's not a person but people like to claim that they represent science and then and then make bold claims for everybody. It's a really sad state because what we see is the the general result is mainstream understanding. |
| 03:38.60 | mikebledsoe | Ah, and you don't want to go with that if you want to be average look at the average they're they're sick and almost dead. Ah then go for it. But if you don't want to be average. You have to be your own scientist. |
| 03:51.90 | Max Shank | Well I generally agree with what you're saying I think it's important to define our terminology a little bit and there are 2 things that really stuck out to me there number 1 is you either mean science as a field. Like there are the sciences. There are physical sciences, social sciences and actually that's the main problem that we're in. So if you remember anything about this first bit. It's that our physical sciences have advanced astronomically literally astronomically. But our social sciences are retarded in in the most literal sense of the word, our social science progress is in the basement that progress has been slowed down or retarded when. You think of science what you probably are referring to is the scientific method which involves number 1 observing what's going on around you to a hypothesis which is basically a guess so all science starts with paying attention. And then guessing and then you run an experiment and you record the results and that's the scientific Method. It's supposed to inform you based on a repeatable experiment when unfortunately right now right. The word science is used more like a political tool or a persuasive tool just the same way if some guy is in a long white lab coat. You are maybe more likely to believe what he's going to say so it's important that we don't conflate or. As mike says the collapse distinction between the science and the scientific method. And yeah. |
| 05:43.87 | mikebledsoe | Well I think yeah Science I think using the word scientific field is good because that refers to a group of people who may identify as scientists and then they they collaborate in some way but because it's a organization or or ah, a. There's a large large organization. There's subsets of organizations and some are recognized more widely than others but the scientific field is wrought with ah policy so inside there there is um. Policy is driving so much of what what research is being conducted. What research is published. There's There's all these things ah science that there is not a there is a governor that is being put on science by policy and So. Ah, the the it's fueled by dollars. But but the reason we have an I R B We have a ah ah review board is to make sure that we're not inhumanely experimenting on people or or something like that. But that same review board. |
| 06:40.72 | Max Shank | Well, it's fueled by dollars right? I mean just like anything else. There's an incentive. |
| 06:55.26 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 07:00.27 | mikebledsoe | On The flip side may also limit ah research that a lot of times limits new research because if you want to if you want to jump into something that's too far of a gap between what's already being studied. Then a lot of times that won't get moved forward. |
| 07:18.81 | Max Shank | Yeah, and you don't have to only think of what are traditionally scientific fields like physics and chemistry and computer technology. In fact, 1 of the. Best books I've ever read is called scientific advertising and he approaches advertising in a very methodical and scientific way using the scientific method hence the name. So I think 1 of the things that we're talking about today is applying that scientific method. To as many parts of your own life as possible and it doesn't need to be such a heavy word either. It really comes down to paying attention and reviewing what the results actually were for you right. |
| 08:06.79 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I I was at a talk this past weekend I went to and a conference and first conference I've been to in a couple years it was it was a lot of fun. Ah, but what we got talking about was the well. What. 1 woman. She gave a presentation about how to how women need to be experimenting on themselves because the majority of research that's been conducted has been on men and then not only that ah the fda up until ninety ninety 3 made it they they. Made it where there was going to be no clinical studies on women who ah were pregnant or had who had gotten pregnant during any of the research trials and so it's basically illegal to conduct clinical research on pregnant women and then. Because women could get pregnant. No 1 wanted to do research on women because they could just lose all their subjects and I've been a part of of studies before research studies and just getting the subjects for your study are is difficult enough. So the majority of that's been done for men and so. |
| 09:21.12 | Max Shank | 1 with women. The hormone fluctuations can be so dramatic throughout a month due to the natural cycle that they have to throw that data out anyway. |
| 09:23.20 | mikebledsoe | Um. |
| 09:32.15 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, it's a 28 day cycle whereas men have a 24 hour cycle. Um, and there there is variation over I think a seventy 2 hour day period for men but it's so small by comparison. Um, so man, why was I getting into that. |
| 09:46.59 | Max Shank | Um, for me. |
| 09:52.30 | mikebledsoe | Um. |
| 09:52.31 | Max Shank | How how they make the measurements how they do the scientific studies difference between men and women. |
| 09:58.41 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah, there was somewhere I was going with that and I I lost it. It'll come back. |
| 10:06.70 | Max Shank | I think we can kind of segue though into the ability to decipher. What's going on in these scientific studies I think the number 1 thing with any new piece of information. Absolutely number 1 thing doesn't matter if it's an article, a new story scientific study. You got to look at the incentive is who is to gain the most from this bit of information and unfortunately. You can prove almost anything with statistics. In fact, 1 of my favorite quotes is a mark twain quote you have lies damn lies and statistics and oftentimes you can set up the study itself. To prove exactly what you want to prove like I could easily prove that leg presses are better than squats or vice versa depending on what I decided to measure so it's very interesting to look at the way that people use. Scientific studies to back up their argument and it makes sense because as far as persuasion is concerned. It is 1 of the best things 1 of the best ways to persuade is to say this is proven to work and that's actually the main reason why most people aren't willing. To take a scientific approach to their life. They want to outsource that science to somebody else because if I say hey mike you know I got this? Ah great exercise plan. there's ah there's a good chance. It's not going to work for you. But by the end of it. We might have an idea what will work for you versus. If I say mike I have this scientifically proven plan if you just follow it. You are guaranteed results because you know sixty percent of other people got results. But. |
| 12:02.87 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I think I think a lot of people don't don't are not friendly. Experimenting on themselves because of their association. Well, there's no guarantee but there's no so there's an association with not getting the desired result. |
| 12:12.43 | Max Shank | There's no guarantee. |
| 12:21.90 | mikebledsoe | With failure instead of really being able to view it as a test I don't think that yeah that people are people our our culture has been raised and educated in a fashion that makes ah not getting the desired result. |
| 12:25.33 | Max Shank | It's the fomo. |
| 12:38.14 | mikebledsoe | And it makes you a bad person like there's there's this, there's this association with that and they don't know what we do is We have a whole culture of people who don't know how to test what works for them because they don't It's It's so much safer to go with the mainstream I mean. Ah. |
| 12:39.52 | Max Shank | He failed. |
| 12:57.40 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I mean who yeah, it's safer just to be the average kid in the classroom. Yeah, you'll fit in. |
| 13:01.39 | Max Shank | What you'll fit in right? It's fascinating because most of the study and I'm just going to use like exercise and nutrition as examples most of the time you can easily prove that 1 thing is better than another thing. But it's so so difficult to prove with any kind of randomized control study that something is better than many other things so you end up with these studies that are very um, we'll just call it like tunnel vision. For lack of a better word right? So it's like we have proven that squats are better than leg presses and I'm I'm sure we could pull several of our friends. On this podcast and they would conclusively be like yeah dude squats are way better than Leg presses I mean this has been put to bed and I'm like for who though and over what period of time because it's so difficult to get participants to do something for a long period of time. Usually these studies are like. 12 weeks at the longest. It's really difficult to figure out what's going to be overall best for strength and longevity and plus as you and I both know a lot of the strength gains come after years and years not after just a few weeks so there are so many considerations here that it should inform your experiment but you should not believe that it is going to provide you with the same result because in fact, no matter what the odds are. It's still pretty much going to be a coin flip about whether squats or leg presses are going to be better for you as an individual because there are 2 outcomes that it could be either. Squats will be better for you or leg presses or a combination of each right? but we can't test that because it makes the research too complicated. So you might have a person who would be way better off doing leg presses but the study showed that only like ten percent of people do better with leg presses. You follow what I'm saying here and then. |
| 15:18.89 | mikebledsoe | Me. |
| 15:22.95 | Max Shank | Of course this doesn't take into consideration at all that sled pushes and lunges might have been better than both squats and leg presses. So you end up getting tunnel vision because now you have put your belief. You've put your faith into this study. So now you may plug away because. I I believe this the scientists are correct. They obviously have no incentive other than informing me of what is true. So now you are going to be because you're going to stop looking now, you're going to stop doing your due diligence and the same thing is true with nutrition. Because peanuts are either a protein packed health food or instant death depending on the severity of your peanut allergy so you have to do your own experiment because the same thing is true with with any substance and we haven't even gotten into the less. Tangible things that are more qualitative like what exercise do you enjoy doing like the reality is if even if Backsquats are better than tennis I'm I'm just not going to do years and years of back squats like I don't care I find it boring i. |
| 16:39.63 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, go ahead? yeah. |
| 16:39.86 | Max Shank | Don't want to do it and I'm a pretty motivated guy so you gotta look at you gotta look at what will work practically for you rather than trying to be more absolutist about which is better than what because it's gonna be different for you. As an individual so there's no way to get around it unless you're willing to accept a worse result for yourself. |
| 17:05.14 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, the something you said that really stuck out to me is talking about Tunnel vision. Um, that happens another other thing that contributes to tunnel vision in regard to research 3 things I want to cover is ah. And meanalysis outliers in isolation and so ah, when research is being conducted when a single study is being conducted. Ah if there's an outlier someone who falls. Ah so far enough outside of the bell curve. They just cut them out of study altogether like it just aren't even there and so ah and it will not make it into the published study. It's not even acknowledged how many people may have been cut due to being an outlier. Um. |
| 17:43.82 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 17:59.89 | mikebledsoe | And it's really up to the scientist who's conducting the study which as we know humans you know tend to be biased and by by many different things and so 1 is we must be aware of the outliers and you you got to understand that you may be the outlier. |
| 18:17.70 | Max Shank | Um, yeah, peanut might kill you. |
| 18:19.51 | mikebledsoe | So peanut might kill you might make a hundred other people stronger it'll you'll die. Um, the other 1 is the other thing I want to talk about was well isolation science is really good at isolating something but as you were talking about. |
| 18:23.26 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 18:37.66 | mikebledsoe | You're going to be able to find a study that compares back squats to leg press. But you're not going to find a study that compares back squats to leg press which the when the back squat was combined with the lunges and the leg press was combined with the sled push and. |
| 18:53.24 | Max Shank | Can't control that many variables possible. |
| 18:54.77 | mikebledsoe | Too many variables. So like the whole point of this like the scientific method by its design because it was designed by human beings by its design is really good at isolating incredibly good isolating and this is something I I really want people to understand. Is if you want to isolate. It's it's the best. But if you want to integrate it you you have to start making a lot of guesses and this is where the the N equals 1 comes in the the self experimentation because ah, you. You're the only 1 that's going to log that much care and time and into the research of yourself I mean what max was saying too the majority of studies are only 12 weeks long because it it gets really expensive for 1 to to be able to pay people and. You know that just whatever it just gets expensive energy wise time wise and then yeah who's you know? and so now if you want a longer term Study. You're gonna have to have a lot more money. Um. |
| 19:52.83 | Max Shank | And that's where the incentives come into play too where who's funding that study. |
| 20:02.89 | Max Shank | How many people how many people out there just have free cash and are like let's honestly just see what happens with it I don't I don't care if it disproves my strong incentive. It's so rare for that to happen. It's almost never going to happen. |
| 20:16.58 | mikebledsoe | So yeah, no, No so ah, it's yeah, incredibly good at ah yeah, the the the isolation I mean Also yeah is. Is. It's a small window in time twelve weeks if we talk about just fitness because that's all the research that I was involved with was all fitness based and I it became obvious to me that it was such a short period of time. How are we really getting the results. We're looking for. Um, and. |
| 20:51.48 | Max Shank | It should only inform your guess it should only inform your hypothesis for what you do yourself and there's a huge difference between the scientific method in terms of ah, proving that. Electricity and magnetism are the same Force. You know the the stuff that we the science that is done to build a telephone that can wirelessly transmit video in real time is very different than the. I I don't even like to call it science that we do for ah random control trials because these trials end up having to be interpreted in statistics and that's where you can very easily. Fabricate a different reality than what is going on So There's a really big difference between doing the experimental science where it is repeatable to the point where you get the same result every single time you know like buoyancy is so clearly Measurable. Electric Force Magnetic Force electromagnet. That's so measurable and so repeatable and so consistent. But this whole idea of getting a big group and then being able to very easily manipulate statistics to your advantage I mean that's. That's like pseudoscience to me and I'm sure a lot of people would really hate to hear me say that but it's so easy to manipulate statistics under the guise that you have done good science. |
| 22:35.86 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, so I want to differentiate something here. Um, and that is a single study versus a metaanalysis and so ah the when I when I was in school I went through ah a scientific methods class. |
| 22:45.58 | Max Shank | This. |
| 22:55.36 | mikebledsoe | Um, and between that class and another class I had in grad school I I created 2 lit reviews and which was which is basically ah a metaanalysis and that is I looked at over 1 ah hundred studies on a specific subject and then. I basically told a story about what it means. That's what ah, that's what that is and so something very interesting happened is well once I got into the studies themselves I realized it really became apparent that. |
| 23:16.64 | Max Shank | 1 and then i. |
| 23:31.90 | mikebledsoe | Finding consistency between studies was not as easy as I would have liked to have been um and then ah I conducted I conducted the analysis. I wrote the lit review and in 1 of my classes someone did a lit review on the same exact thing ah on the same exact topic and I'm telling you what I put some time into this some effort I was I was. Honest about it I wanted to impress my classmates I wanted to impress my professor I wanted to do it right? and I bet you the other guy did too the results incredibly different, incredibly different on what we've. Our suggestions on how this research should be applied between the 2 of us there's over 200 and fifty different studies that were cited and we came up with different meaning because that's what we that's it's it's sense making of. |
| 24:29.88 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 24:36.50 | Max Shank | Um, did you meta did you me analyze the same studies. Ah, that's the 1 interesting thing about meta-analysis because you can say we we evaluated. |
| 24:40.47 | mikebledsoe | Ah, no, no, but it was the same. |
| 24:51.90 | Max Shank | 3 hundred studies and they all proved the same thing meanwhile there are 7 hundred other studies that they just didn't evaluate that proved the exact opposite thing. |
| 24:56.91 | mikebledsoe | Well well that was that was the thing is I I was under time constraints. You know we're doing this in a single semester I found over 1000 studies I could have referenced but I just couldn't I just don't have the time to do that and that also happens in science. It. |
| 25:04.50 | Max Shank | Murder. |
| 25:14.38 | Max Shank | What are you a slow reader or something you can't read a thousand studies like you don't care about the results man. |
| 25:16.54 | mikebledsoe | And what. Ah, well and here's the thing is it's cherry pick and it's always cherry picked and whether it's an intentional cherry picking based on Bias or it's cherry picking based on just saying I think this is the best ones to choose from because we have a. |
| 25:26.67 | Max Shank | Of course. |
| 25:37.59 | mikebledsoe | Have a specific limitation which life is limitation and so that's not going away maybe with quantum computing that could that could change. Ah so I I really like that that really highlighted to me is when I when I started looking at the studies and then. Not only that the studies that I chose something that I learned during that process were studies and of course I believe my shit was more accurate but the studies that I end up choosing had methods used that I felt were applicable to. Athletes and so I wasn't just randomly selecting studies I was like look if I'm gonna be looking at weight lifters I'm not going to be looking at a leg press I'm gonna be looking at a squat instead. So um, so that's that's another thing that really got highlighted to me was. |
| 26:26.96 | Max Shank | Right? um. |
| 26:36.75 | mikebledsoe | Ah, the methods matter and most people only read the summary they may read the abstract which is the explanation of the the big picture paragraph about you know how we're conducting this study and all that and then there's the summary. Most people read The. The abstracting summary and they probably don't even read all of that and then they come up with some type of conclusion and so huh it is hard. It's hard I mean it's it's not is it. |
| 26:59.63 | Max Shank | To be fair, it is really hard. It's really hard like I've I've gone down I've gone down that rabbit hole man reading those studies is so difficult like I I want to poke my eyeballs out. |
| 27:13.68 | mikebledsoe | So yeah I probably read yeah I've read over yeah I read over 1000 I I know I've read at least a thousand and and yeah, it's I have no interest in. |
| 27:18.88 | Max Shank | With a fork by the time I've read like 10 of them. It's like ridiculous. |
| 27:30.81 | mikebledsoe | I don't I don't enjoy it but I still have to look at research at times because I go I gotta know I gotta know but what I what I realized is ah in inside of that I started I started paying attention to when Journalists would write an article about. |
| 27:35.35 | Max Shank | It's horrible. It's horrible. Yeah. |
| 27:50.48 | mikebledsoe | Ah study and that it it was it was after that class and I remember reading. Ah you know the eggs were bad for you in the New York times. Yeah, and but I read it and I go I go. |
| 27:50.17 | Max Shank | Oh god. |
| 27:59.29 | Max Shank | Oh no, not this again. |
| 28:07.60 | mikebledsoe | I'm probably the only person on the planet's going to click the citation and look at the actual study and I remember clicking the study and reading it and going. Wow these people really we got I got back down to the isolation thing which is. Ah, you know?? Ah, they weren't even talking about nutrition in the study they were just talking about they were testing something else and it is ah it was a huge extrapolation ah in order There was this huge gap in logic that needed to be crossed. |
| 28:37.80 | Max Shank | Oh it's crazy. |
| 28:45.25 | mikebledsoe | In order to come up with a summary because the scientists do this. The fucking scientists will they'll have a solid everything and then they get it a summary and I read the summary and I and I go I don't even know I'm not I'm reading it I'm going I can tell this scientist is Biased. So so we got this. So we we look at this is how how's it like to your point how is it funded. What are the other biases that might be with the scientists we've seen this a lot with like plant-based diet advocate science scientists. Ah. |
| 29:04.48 | Max Shank | I think. |
| 29:22.28 | mikebledsoe | How many what other biases might they have then they which may influence what data they include in the study and what they don't then not only that all they gotta do no matter what the study actually shows what they put in their summary is probably gonna get. The the most amount of attention and then you go from a scientist with biases that then makes it to a journalist who knows squat about they don't know shit about science or the scientific method and then they write an article based on their bias and so there's this. |
| 29:57.74 | Max Shank | It's all cuts the C word I think we know no ah it's the now causation and correlation I think that is the big leap. |
| 30:00.14 | mikebledsoe | What's the C word. |
| 30:04.76 | mikebledsoe | I. You know. |
| 30:13.64 | Max Shank | That's the biggest leap I see in these ah these I'll tell you these guys are real jerks ah who confuse correlation with causation because that is such an unreal difference. Between correlation and causation because even something like cigarettes and I I don't smoke cigarettes I smoked 1 menthilated one half of 1 menthilated cigarette in my whole life and it was okay and I wasn't like dying to do more of it. But this whole idea. Like when you really like dig into it. Cigarette smoking is just correlated with death from like cancer heart disease and things like that they haven't actually proven that it causes it and the difference between causation and correlation is so freaking. Huge. Because you look at something like cigarette smoking people who smoke cigarettes are less likely to exercise cardiovascularly they're more likely to make poor food choices. They're more likely to overeat they're more likely to be stressed out. There are all these I don't know if that last 1 is actually true. |
| 31:16.90 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 31:28.43 | mikebledsoe | It take any more sugar I imagine I mean just you said poor diet but I mean sugar is a huge inflammatory. |
| 31:29.28 | Max Shank | I take that 1 back. |
| 31:35.67 | Max Shank | Right? So what I'm saying is it's that leap from correlation to causation is like 1 of the most evil things that is done because you like you said you might have a perfectly legitimate study beforehand and then they're like. Coming out with this article that says Salt kills ten percent of americans I'm like or ten percent are you that was an actual article by the way Salt kills ten percent of americans meanwhile you go to Korea they have like triple the salt consumption and way less death. So how do you harmonize. Those 2 inequalities right? So that I think that's a big ah key point correlation versus causation. |
| 32:21.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I mean I'm I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there because I know you know we we will dance around it but like the died with Covid versus died from Covid it. It's the the correlation. |
| 32:32.66 | Max Shank | I Know it's horrifying. |
| 32:37.61 | mikebledsoe | The correlation is spelled out in the like title of the report and is ah people are people are believing that it's causing it and so someone's yes, right. |
| 32:44.54 | Max Shank | Whoa. |
| 32:49.79 | Max Shank | But that doesn't help with the death counter that doesn't help with the huge death counter in the side corner. |
| 32:56.66 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, the depth that yeah, it's It's not as sensational I know but ah well and here's the thing is lot anytime I I bring this up with certain people and they have just tried to fire hos me with all sorts of shit after that I'm like look look I'm just saying it's it's I'm not lying like I'm not making this up I'm just saying. This is the actual report and this is what they've been saying on even on the news like like but then they go Yeah, but it's caused I'm like no no, no, no, no with not from and it's um, and then the politicians picked it up now if you're a scientist who's studying this shit. |
| 33:19.67 | Max Shank | Ah, it's insane. |
| 33:32.63 | Max Shank | Oh god. |
| 33:35.83 | mikebledsoe | If you're a scientist that's studying this and you're getting paid to study. It would do you think maybe you would have a bias. What do you think? what do you think? what do you? which scientists think do you think are getting paid the best right now. |
| 33:44.41 | Max Shank | We all do man. |
| 33:52.40 | Max Shank | But probably the ones reminding people to drink enough water and get sunshine. It's highly highly Monetizable Strategy hey you know all that stuff that's free that you don't do start doing it again by the way that'll be zero dollars. |
| 34:00.20 | mikebledsoe | I. |
| 34:10.65 | mikebledsoe | Ah, here. |
| 34:10.21 | Max Shank | Like what it's ah no, it's It's totally insane. Um that that has been allowed to happen and like I I could talk about this I I mean we all are right? um. |
| 34:19.46 | mikebledsoe | Well who's allowing it to happen. Yeah, it's this is this is the general population it. It is because because they're not trying to hide it. They're saying died with and and yet the average the average person is just not educated well enough. |
| 34:28.87 | Max Shank | The the now. Well if if science if the science that you're doing or the scientific method that you're doing is ah dependent. |
| 34:38.96 | mikebledsoe | Think that's part of it. |
| 34:46.13 | Max Shank | On Inflammatory rhetoric and like a constant bombardment of propaganda you should probably go back to your fucking research phase and do a different experiment because it's not ah, it's not really working and actually I think that. Ah. |
| 34:50.10 | mikebledsoe | Um. |
| 35:04.10 | Max Shank | I heard 1 of the most ridiculous phrases I've ever heard in my life in the last little bit of history which is ah trust science or even trust the science now that is ridiculous because that only means ah well 2 things is funny about that. Number 1 that means trust the scientists who are talking right? It doesn't have anything to do with trust the science because you would have to be trusting the result of the experiment and you would have to understand that experiment to be able to do that and the second funny thing is um. The whole reason we do science is because we don't trust the whole purpose of science is to verify like it's the most meaningless ridiculous rhetorical phrase I've ever heard in my life has no bearing in reality whatsoever and you hear um, stupid people parroting it back. |
| 35:46.30 | mikebledsoe | You know. |
| 36:01.55 | Max Shank | Like they know what the fuck is going on. It's because no 1 wants to just say you know what? Ah gosh I don't really know and it it makes sense because we want to stay part of the tribe and we don't want to seem stupid right? So it's like. |
| 36:16.27 | mikebledsoe | You know so. |
| 36:20.42 | Max Shank | No, no, no, not yeah I trust that what what are you anti-science anti-vaccine and of course those are broad generalizations that it has to do a little bit with attention inflation like we talked about a little bit before how. If I say there's an imminent hurricane. That's a more exciting weather story then it's going to be sunny today and you'll probably click on the like imminent hurricane. So it's this race for the most outrageous deadly stuff but the same thing is true in America we're talking about right. The same thing is true in America that was true before is the biggest threat to your health is yourself like if you look at all the ways that people die um suicide beats murder like 4 to 1 maybe even 5 or 8 to 1 now. It's ridiculous like we kill ourselves way more than each other directly. With like ah, a bath with the toaster or whatever and not only that all of the ways that people die. It's like so ridiculous to like to fight heart disease like how are you going to fucking fight heart disease like who are you going to punch like it's ridiculous The whole thing is like fighting sickness isn't the same as promoting health and all of these things like we're gonna battle Diabetes. We're gonna battle heart disease and it's like no dude that person has been killing themselves for 20 years by eating shitty food not exercising. Not expressing themselves authentically not having a close group of friends that promotes that sort of healthy active behavior like it's not fucking rocket surgery here. It's no ah, it's no surprise that people are dying a little prematurely but we get so. Honed in on these ways that people die kind of like where you're taught we like to isolate. We're like we got to fight hard to so then you know suddenly the egg with cholesterol is like going to kill you the egg that's be afraid of eggs of all the things to be afraid of you should be. Terrified of the damage that you are doing to yourself not of a fucking egg. |
| 38:38.10 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well you know fighting a war on something is super super popular and was that okay we got out so far all right? so that what there used to be a war. Well well we used to have a war. We used to. |
| 38:43.79 | Max Shank | Even profitable Also Profitable war on drugs I think that's ah we lost. |
| 38:54.90 | mikebledsoe | Have Wars with other countries. It was like Kings we're having Wars with other kings and then it was it was countries were having Wars with each other and then ah yeah, and then and then we had to get really creative and start having Wars on ideas like the concept of drugs the concept of. Terrorism The constant is like like you can just ah fucking you can attack anybody at that point if you convince people that that we're fighting a war on terrorism all got do is say that there are terrorists. We're gonna fight the war on Covid we're going to that makes you might be an enemy if you get put into the Anti-vaxer ah category. Ah you. |
| 39:36.59 | Max Shank | Um, isn't the war on terror hilarious. What's scarier than that the war on terror is fucking terrifying. There's there's no greater terrorist organization than the media. No 1 has terrorized more people than the media. |
| 39:43.49 | mikebledsoe | Um, well the problem a problem with no greater. |
| 39:54.15 | Max Shank | They scare people into promoting a war. We should not be in they scare people into being like oh yeah, you better frisk my asshole before I get on the airplane like Jesus there's nothing scarier than like the constant but like the war on terror is such an epic failure. The war on drugs. |
| 40:04.79 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 40:12.45 | Max Shank | Such an epic failure I mean there are real actual problems in the world and we're like hey are you are you smoking grass. Well let's put you in prison for that like the war on. Are you kidding me? Meanwhile we're going to sell trillions of dollars in opiates. |
| 40:25.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 40:32.39 | Max Shank | Because you know the way that we practice medicine here isn't that we talk to you about a more active lifestyle or um, you know, physical therapy type exercise maybe putting your feet in the dirt. We're just going to drug you like of course like there's no There's no money in it. That's why you got to fall on the incentive like you know all of this gets erased by a simple phrase which is buyer beware and the truth is there are people who are going to swindle you. There are people who call up an old lady at home and they're like ah you're. Daughter needs a thousand dollars to get bailed out of Mexico you better wire it right away and you know what the lady does it. There are people out there to swindle you on the low level and there's a great big swindle at the upper levels too. So it's your responsibility as a consumer. To decide what you believe like it's no, it's no surprise that buy and believe are synonyms like if someone tells you a story that you don't believe you say I don't buy it so that's that's the whole thing is like it's up to you to decide what story you're going to put faith into. And quite frankly, you're better off believing basically nothing you hear and just being a little bit more of a scientist yourself to see what the results actually are and I know that's harder it is harder. You get a better result, but it is harder. |
| 42:04.57 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, there's ah, there's also I mean this this brings me back I'm I'm going to rewind a little bit here but the we've talked about the victim villain Hero the Drama Triangle and people. |
| 42:06.92 | Max Shank | Also watch out for eggs. |
| 42:19.90 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 42:24.27 | mikebledsoe | People want there to be something to demonize something to villainize something to vilify so that yeah and so I mean ah you know Covid's the enemy. So now the scientists are the heroes. |
| 42:29.50 | Max Shank | So they can be the hero. |
| 42:39.29 | Max Shank | Um, I'm the Hero eggs are the enemy also Salt but my breakfast is just out to get me. |
| 42:42.25 | mikebledsoe | And ah, eggs are the enemy. Yeah yeah, so whoever figured that out. Um, yeah, eggs and bacon I'm fucked man and ah constant barrage. Ah yeah, but it's it's interesting that these Wars went from ah these countries fighting each other which is really just governments in disagreement. |
| 42:53.76 | Max Shank | Um, ah. |
| 43:10.48 | mikebledsoe | Convincing the population to go fight for them. Ah, and I was 1 of the suckers. So I'll be the first raised my hand and ah and then we go from like ah yeah, the war on drugs the war on poverty. Ah that that fucking I think this. |
| 43:16.60 | Max Shank | Yeah. |
| 43:25.23 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 43:29.98 | mikebledsoe | People in San francisco been fighting the war on poverty harder than anybody they've got more money doing and yes, they they got the worst homeless population. Ah we haven't won a war in a while. It's been a. |
| 43:33.00 | Max Shank | Um, when was the last war we won I don't think we've ever like won ah won 1 of those wars with the like a nebulous enemy like poverty is kind of a nebulous enemy. |
| 43:48.20 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, it's not. It's not really the the last the last thing the last time we had a war with anything was what and they didn't we didn't say it was a war on this person because it would be against geneva convention rules. |
| 43:51.85 | Max Shank | Like how would we even know that we won how would we even know that we won. |
| 44:07.10 | mikebledsoe | But the United states waged war against osama bin laden and it was the first time in history that a country waged war on 1 person and they called it terrorism because they wanted to make it look a lot bigger than it was because they had a hard time getting him. So. The are. |
| 44:25.52 | Max Shank | that's um That's amazing that's like I'm not a I'm not pro-terrorism from anyone but but if you have like a whole country you wage war on you. That's like remember grand theft auto. When you would get like five five stars five cop level at at you you know I'm talking about you know that game having it was it was just like an increasing amount like if you just like. |
| 44:46.25 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, Matt not actually I didn't play that much I know what the game is though. |
| 44:56.75 | Max Shank | I don't know punch a hooker or something and get like a half a star and the police are kind of looking out for you and then if you like Rocket launcher a helicopter or something you get like a lot of so you get like 5 star. So that's when you got like the whole swat team coming after you I played this game like 5 times but this is all I remembered I just wanted to get as much havoc as possible. |
| 44:59.90 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 45:16.30 | Max Shank | If you're 1 guy and you have a whole country declare war on you. You know you've done something to get their attention. |
| 45:22.47 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and it's and it's curious I won't go into it. But if you if you look into someone Bin. Laden's history it's ah there it's it's a ah, if you want to go down and wrap a hole go look that shit up. That's all I'll say um, but it's interesting. |
| 45:38.82 | Max Shank | Well revisionist history is like a good ah like talking point for this because um, the biggest consistency in history is that it's been very carefully selected lies to get people to Believe. A very carefully selected story I mean the losers don't get to write a history book really and look I only I'm a huge ah fan of. |
| 46:06.57 | mikebledsoe | They're dead. |
| 46:16.20 | Max Shank | North korea and history not North korea exactly but the history of North korea is very interesting just to clarify I'm not like ah but anyway the guy kim ilsung who started. |
| 46:25.00 | mikebledsoe | Um, dude I heard it's popular to be a communist right now I think we get more listeners just just claim it. |
| 46:30.90 | Max Shank | Finally I can be popular. It's what I've always been looking for oh god no but what I found out is okay so there are 2 great stories. There are many more but my 2 favorite are the ones where Kim il-sung goes to war with like. Ah, usa and south korea and gets like 85 percent of the buildings are destroyed like some crazy percentage of the population is killed and he has the testicles to come back address his people. And say everybody we won that was what he said he he just he got held a catastrophic loss. He just went back and told everybody that we won and we're gonna we're gonna get revenge on the american terrorists. Basically. |
| 47:24.12 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 47:26.59 | Max Shank | Then I found out he had a huge like mass I think it was like a benign tumor on the back of his neck but you never see it because every single picture of him is from a certain angle so you can't see it so it's so easy to hide something if you are the 1 who's. |
| 47:29.82 | mikebledsoe | And. |
| 47:37.65 | mikebledsoe | E. |
| 47:45.26 | Max Shank | Selecting how history gets portrayed and look believe whatever you want I guess but like look at the war on people's minds over the last 2 years I mean it's crazy I've never seen anything like it I think more people. Have been snapped into reality which is probably why people feel very jaded about the media because like how many times does someone need to lie to you before you're just like you know what? I don't I don't trust that guy anymore like if you were in a relationship. And your girlfriend lied to you every day for years and years would you keep believing what she said I don't think so. |
| 48:27.74 | mikebledsoe | No I think it's interesting that we we started off talking about being your own scientist Now we're often to politics but it makes very it makes a lot of sense and it it. It's all it's all correlated. Ah because because you can't. |
| 48:41.78 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 48:46.32 | mikebledsoe | The the problem with the way that people are interpreting science now is through the lens of policy and politics and so it has to be addressed now I want to bring it back to how do we be our own scientist. How do we? How do we. Do these experiments for ourselves. How do we make choices. Maybe somebody's only done things that have been that they've outsourced to their doctor or they've outsourced ah took you know whoever about their life and what how they should live it and they want to start experimenting. What are some of the ways that you have you experiment for yourself. Max. |
| 49:26.78 | Max Shank | Fast fasting is a really good place to start because then you are bringing a little bit of honesty into the equation and then reintroducing foods after a fast can be very illuminating because you can be aware of how they affect you personally. I think that's 1 of the best ways to do it I think having um, an exercise plan that you follow through with is another really good way to do that and there are a couple sayings like what is measured is improved I've heard. |
| 50:02.74 | mikebledsoe | What what gets measured gets managed. Where's ah fuck singing. Ah yeah, sometimes what you can measure is not the most important thing so you got to keep keep that in you got to keep that. |
| 50:03.49 | Max Shank | Saying before I can't remember who said it there you go maybe that's the 1 I'm thinking of. |
| 50:17.46 | Max Shank | Well definitely not well that that reminds me of Goodhart's law which is as soon as a measure becomes a target. It's no longer a good measure. |
| 50:22.64 | mikebledsoe | And mind. |
| 50:30.53 | mikebledsoe | And that's that's happened a lot in regard to heart health. It's like it's like ah cholesterol is bad all right? What foods can you eat the lower cholesterol and then you know 20 years goes is by and they go. |
| 50:33.65 | Max Shank | And then what right right? what. |
| 50:49.70 | mikebledsoe | Well, it's not really the cholesterol. It's the inflammation but there's all this momentum running with cholesterol and it's like you pick up the box of cheerios and it says it lowers cholesterol and it's got a ah heart drawn on the box and ah. |
| 51:03.65 | Max Shank | That serial money can pay for a lot of scientists I'll tell you what. |
| 51:08.70 | mikebledsoe | Well yeah I mean the the ingredients are subsidized with tax Pi payers money. So why? not? That's why it's subsidized. Um. |
| 51:15.51 | Max Shank | It's also 1 of the cheapest foods you can possibly make I think the packaging is more expensive. Yeah yeah, it's absurd and here's the thing like you don't have to believe that these scientists are evil because no 1 thinks that they're evil. Everyone thinks they're the good guy in their story but just because their intentions may be good. Doesn't mean that the result can't really fuck you up, you know, like the. |
| 51:40.39 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, I Well here's the thing is scientists I know a lot of Ph Ds I know a decent amount of scientists and they they are very well versed in a very narrow field and some of them know it and some of them don't but. The the job going back to the job of the scientist is to isolate and to be a human being to live a fully optimized life. You need to Isolate. You need to integrate and then from there you can improvise. And no scientists are Improvising. It's not their.. It's not their strong suit. Their strong suit is to Isolate. It's up to you to integrate ah to to test and isolate variables. |
| 52:17.94 | Max Shank | Um, so. |
| 52:25.20 | Max Shank | You know. |
| 52:33.20 | mikebledsoe | And then see what you spec works in combination with your lifestyle integrate it into your lifestyle. This is why fasting is such a good idea is because it's It's a way to reduce variables. Um, and then you integrate it and you keep paying attention and then after you've integrated something far enough into your life then. You become like you start to improvise I see this with Ido partol talks about this when he's teaching movement. He says isolate integrate improvise and ah the idea is a lot of times people see a master improvising. And they try to copy the improvisation as and this happens with you know this happens in in everything that that's going on in our lives people try to improvise ah copy someone's Improvisation. It's in business or something and then it doesn't work for them and so. |
| 53:14.20 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 53:31.40 | mikebledsoe | It's ah it's something to remember is on on 1 side. You have people who are only look at integrate at ah isolation just acknowledge science and scientists for what they're doing. It's isolating practice integrating and then. Recognize the masters who are already improvising and recognize it as improvisation and then and then talk to them about how they did it and I think that's that's a ah key to maximizing your own potential. |
| 53:53.84 | Max Shank | The. I Think honest record keeping is probably the most important thing for for being your own scientist is honest record keeping. |
| 54:03.50 | mikebledsoe | Okay. Yeah, writing shit down is great because our memories tend to get very selective. There's a lot of research to support that I don't know where it's at right now but you know I think you should believe me. |
| 54:29.30 | Max Shank | It's very true I mean it's hard to determine causality or correlation as well and I'll give you a good example that I like which is have you ever heard of oil pulling. |
| 54:42.92 | mikebledsoe | Oh yeah I do it? Yeah man I sometimes I'll do it every day for like a month or 2 and then it'll be like once a week on and off. |
| 54:45.99 | Max Shank | Gotta have heard of that you do oil pulling every day sometimes. |
| 54:54.23 | Max Shank | Okay, so you're a bad scientist that's fine. No big deal just I'm just kidding you. You seem a little triggered there. Ah no so here's the funny thing about oil pulling. |
| 55:00.33 | mikebledsoe | I've done it long enough frequent enough. Okay, okay, max come on not I don't get triggered I don't get triggered. |
| 55:13.39 | Max Shank | So you do it for like five minutes right throw some coconut oil in your mouth. Wish it around at least that's what I've heard 10 to 20 You're an animal that means you're twice as good as those five minute oil pullers at least twice as good. Oh it's compounding benefit. No kidding. |
| 55:18.10 | mikebledsoe | Do 10 to twenty minutes but okay at least at least? well it's compounding. So it's it's an exponential. Yeah. |
| 55:33.15 | Max Shank | Yeah wow little statistic right from out of the ass. Ah, here's what's funny about oil pulling because there are 2 things going on with oil pulling that could be potentially very good number 1 you are nose breathing only. And for the average person just breathing through your nose is like is like magic because breathing is the bridge between your conscious and subconscious. You go Boom sympath ah parasympathetic state unless you have a stuffy nose then you'll go sympathetic and you'll feel like you are drowning. But the cool thing about oil pulling is it's really impossible to figure out which of those is benefiting you the most. But here's the deal if your record keeping is good then it doesn't matter which is the benefit for you if it's the fact that you have oil in your mouth. Or the fact that your nose breathing for five minutes if that ritual helps you observe observably so you're in the right ballpark now if you're a hyper Nerd. You can take a step further and you can do ah a more controlled experiment. You could do ah 2 weeks with oil. And you could do 2 weeks just with your mouth closed for that long or you could do water and so that would be a way that you could get a little bit more clarity on which of those things is beneficial to you but the point is if you find a habit. That actually improves your life then it's really good to repeat it and give it a chance to give you those long-term results same thing with exercise like there's no best eight week exercise plan because the results that you get in eight weeks will be dwarfed. By the results that you get in 2 years like it's way better if you do something that is super half asked for 2 years consistently than if you do the most optimized balls to the wall Eight week ultra gains program right. |
| 57:42.23 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I ah but made me think about the knowing why something works can be very beneficial. Ah but it can also be very limiting and that a lot of times people. Want to know why the oil pulling is working and and and what you're talking about is oh I'm just getting the these I do this action and then I get these benefits but I don't know why I'm getting those benefits. Ah I want to get people permission and to know that it's okay. You don't understand how it's working or why it's working all you gotta know is that it's working and and you're paying attention now. That's good enough. However, if you understand the mechanisms for by which it's working and you understand the principles now, you're gonna be able to bank. Better guesses at maybe you can be able to extrapolate that to another guest or you're able to um, ah know its limitations and and it's gonna help you conduct other experiments. But again, don't get hung up on why it's working the. I guess what I'm saying is don't stop doing something that's working just because you can't understand why it's working I think a lot of people. They don't even a lot of people won't even try something out because they they want to understand it first and my buddy had this really great saying which is don't let you? Yeah, he said? ah. |
| 59:04.22 | Max Shank | Um, I think that's good. |
| 59:12.21 | Max Shank | Right? It's like they want permission. |
| 59:18.91 | mikebledsoe | Don't let your understanding get in the way of your knowing and so you're gonna throughout your life. You're gonna know a lot more shit than you understand So like that. No. |
| 59:20.55 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 59:29.68 | Max Shank | And nobody really knows it all either. That's the thing you know like you ever do ohms I Love doing ohms. Ah um, and there's like ah. |
| 59:37.10 | mikebledsoe | Oh yeah. |
| 59:43.48 | Max Shank | Four separate cycles the ah the ooh the umm and then the pause and then you go through that cycle Now What's interesting is it depends who you ask why? those are good. Are you liberating your throat Chakra are you ah activating your vagus nerve. |
| 01:00:00.45 | mikebledsoe | Yes, all of it. |
| 01:00:02.34 | Max Shank | Are you simply warming up your vocal cords and and what's what's interesting is I have a diverse set of people that I've met in my life and I'm I'm really easy to get along with. And what's funny I think I am maybe maybe I shouldn't be the authority on that I have no idea Actually I think I'm fun to be around. Ah. |
| 01:00:25.88 | mikebledsoe | I haven't seen you hang around very many people. So if I'm just going to look at the results. However, I find you easy to hang out with yeah. |
| 01:00:30.93 | Max Shank | Ah, ah yeah I mean the data would the the data would suggest that I'm hard to get along with actually um I know people who would hear me say the word chakra and they would just go. Ah. Really really you think there are chakras and I'll be like I guess not I guess I'm stupid. Ah, ah. Meanwhile I could give the vagus nerve explanation to someone and they'd be like ah no, that is just restoring the flow through your kundalini and opening your heart sha or you know whatever. So yeah, just to add to your point of maybe it's beneficial to understand the principles. Behind certain things like it I think it's valuable to understand how different tissues grow and regrow at different rates. You know the lining of your intestines regenerates replaces itself every couple days whereas Bones can be like on a 2 wo-year cycle. It's big difference. Um, but you don't you don't have to know exactly what's going on in order to harvest the benefits from it and I think that maybe is a good way to segue into the placebo and nocebo effect. |
| 01:01:44.66 | mikebledsoe | What's. |
| 01:01:54.76 | mikebledsoe | Well I want to I want to mention 1 thing before we go there is ah there's a lot of like people people only value value the latest science it seems it's like if the study is more than like a few years old it's people don't even really want to pay attention to it and I see ah a lot of these Yeah yeah. |
| 01:02:16.94 | Max Shank | Did you say a few years mean like 24 hours it's got to be brand spanking new. |
| 01:02:24.40 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, there's this, there's something about people valuing things that are newer over what's older and when I say well for instance thing about Kundalini yoga that shit is old as fuck. Ah. I don't care what words they're using to describe what's happening there. There is something happening there that is ah that enhances my experience as a human being in a way that nothing else can and so whether they call it chakras or whether we're we're. You know, tickling the vagus nerve or whatever the fuck it is it is ah it's doing something that I like and that's okay, that's totally okay, but I think a lot of these ancient traditions are using language that people. I mean this happens a lot with chinese medicine. You know they're talking about this or that and then next thing you know there's some type of scientific research study that that says something and people go did you hear about this new study and like well that really sounds like the meridian system from chinese medicine. You're like no no, it's this new scientific like okay, cool. You know what. |
| 01:03:36.67 | Max Shank | Number. |
| 01:03:38.92 | mikebledsoe | I'm gonna go with an old Chinese dude over here cause I think he knows more about this than someone who just made a discovery and has come up with a clever way of explaining it. So I'm I'm a I'm a big fan of I'm a big fan of honoring tradition and really also looking at the science and. |
| 01:03:46.47 | Max Shank | Well I call it go ahead. |
| 01:03:57.68 | mikebledsoe | I enjoy when I see science and tradition. You know there's a melding and there's ah, there's ah ah, a modern explanation that that more people are willing to accept when a lot of that like more ah the older traditional explanations for things seem like that's kind of silly. I mean happens to like old russian women too talk to these old russian women and they talk about their mothers and grandmothers and what they did how they treated their food and their medicine all this stuff and 30 years ago I would have thought man that's crazy like what but now I go oh this all makes sense like oh yeah, like this old russian woman I know. Yeah, my my mother would always we drink a ah a shot of vodka every day for health I go what are you talking about? how is alcohol going to be good for your health. Well it doesn't get mentioned that they're they're soaking these ah these really magical herbs like Rodeola or ginseng. In the vodka for years and then they break it out. It's it's high quality tinctures so things like that are happening anyways. So it's it's worth paying attention to your elders. |
| 01:04:59.84 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 01:05:09.94 | Max Shank | It's good to honor tradition and then also to challenge it honestly and I think that there's there's a whole I call it n y m It's not yet measurable like there are so many things that are true that are just not yet measurable by us. |
| 01:05:12.65 | mikebledsoe | E. |
| 01:05:27.39 | Max Shank | Right now with the equipment that we have available and I think the the arrogance of people getting so pigeonholed into what is currently measurable using the equipment we have is such a limiter into that person's well-being or their ability to help somebody. Because there's a lot of stuff in isolation that may be true and then in integration may be false like for example, um, people can do research on how different frequency electromagnetic waves affect. Ah, cell right? and then can say okay this electromagnetic wave did not affect the cell negatively therefore it is safe but that has nothing to do with whether or not. That frequency of an electromagnetic wave would be safe for a whole person to experience. So when you have it so isolated like that you're missing the whole integration and the wholeness of the organism in how. It responds with that interaction. |
| 01:06:44.68 | mikebledsoe | Yeah there's there's a quote that my girlfriend posted I think I think I'll quote her put it on Twitter and to be healthy is to be whole health is english. Health in English is based on anglo-saxon word hail which means whole wholeness is necessary to live a fulfilled life. Ask you? What are you missing that prevents you from living a whole and healthy life. Yeah, and just makes me think about that is is looking at the whole person because integration is only gonna take you so far and I want to. Um, want to point out it. It may sound like we we did like there's a science bashing here I imagine some people could listen to this and be like oh they spent more time talking about how science does not apply than or where the limitations of it are than where it is and um I imagine that's. |
| 01:07:39.29 | Max Shank | Well we know what the advantages are there are obvious event we're we're having this conversation on computers in different states like of course it's it like works. But that's not see here's the thing because I'm gonna hijack what you said Mike and I Mike and I. |
| 01:07:43.39 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well I. |
| 01:07:58.31 | Max Shank | Are looking out for your health mentally physically financially and we're going to point out the things that are most likely to fuck you up and the reality is most of the benefits of science need no rhetorical argument. They need no explanation. Phone. It just works like if it's really scientific like it just works so getting the rhetoric out of the scientific method getting appeal to Authority and ad hominent attacks out of the scientific method. That's what's going to help you actually live the best. Because if you don't identify those for what they are which is huge traps you're going to get messed up. |
| 01:08:41.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well said thanks for hijacking me I love it. Let's let's shut this bad boy down last last words for the the listeners. |
| 01:08:54.22 | Max Shank | Eat lots of eggs and Salt I don't I don't know it takes more time it takes more effort to figure out what's going to work best for you. I personally followed. The worst exercise plans for my individual body for a really long time and I did it because of how I would measure up to other people and that's once again getting into that like I like saying that. |
| 01:09:16.71 | mikebledsoe | But they did. |
| 01:09:30.75 | Max Shank | Whatever measuring stick you use is also the 1 that's going to administer your beating so whatever you are measuring. It should be for an important reason and the more I think mature you get like you were talking about child adult the less you're going to care. About impressing other people with how many pounds you can lift and whatever else the more you get in tuneed with what makes your body feel the best and the strongest and the most elastic and that's actually been the biggest. Shift in my training philosophy is I used to really focus on super high level athletics and I still do. But my approach is much more about elasticity and I think that that is the ultimate. Athletic attribute is if can you bounce around without breaking because ultimately no 1 cares. How much you can squat. You don't care how much you can squat um, the amount of pounds on the bar is going to matter less and less and less the older you get and most people eventually come around. To the realization that they just want to be able to move quickly smoothly. Ah with accuracy dexterity agility without hurting and I guess that's that's basically it is it takes more effort to figure out what's. Good for you individually, but it is very well worth it. |
| 01:11:08.85 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, you know I think about this whole conversation I think about being your own scientist is really you know we can talk about being your scientist for a lot of things but for your own physical body. Um, your and your. Your internal state too. Not just your physical body. But your your mental emotional spiritual state is really just a practice of and a methodical practice of self-awareness by applying the the scientific method to yourself is to me a a spiritual practice and so ah. |
| 01:11:34.74 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 01:11:45.25 | mikebledsoe | Really pay attention to the results because in the results are the truth and so if you look at any area of your life if you look at your internal state your your physical body. Your cultural environment. The people that you talk to and hang out with and. Ah, your your physical environment. These are the these are the four different things I really look at to go is what I'm doing getting the results that I want for myself in my life and if there's a result that I don't like then it's time for me to be my own scientist and and conduct that research. If somebody's life is in Shambles I can almost guarantee you they are a very poor scientist. So even if they have a ph d so you've got to apply these things in a practical world. Not just on paper not in a laboratory. Ah, good. Scientist is able to bring this into their own life. That's so I got match where do they find you? Thank you. |
| 01:12:49.17 | Max Shank | Boy I Really like that summary. It's ah it's very I Really like the correlation you made with self-wareness because that's really what it is. It's self-awareness with good record keeping and that's how you're going to find the truth. That's also how you're going to gain wisdom. |
| 01:13:03.99 | mikebledsoe | Me. |
| 01:13:07.76 | Max Shank | Because wisdom as we described before is knowing yourself and acting accordingly. So. that's that's huge um you can find me at Macshank dot com slash elasticity for my latest program which ah is the result of about. 15 years what we just talked about today. So that's where you can find me. |
| 01:13:26.25 | mikebledsoe | So by the way folks his programs are always good. Always good. Um, yeah that your five minute flow was good for me I enjoyed that 1 |
| 01:13:39.99 | Max Shank | That was very ah, successful Shockingly so it was almost like people needed that reminder to wiggle for five minutes and drink a cup of water in the morning and and look very. |
| 01:13:53.22 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, yeah. |
| 01:13:59.45 | Max Shank | Scientific. It was a guess and that's where it all starts. |
| 01:14:02.93 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, good work. Ah find me and on Instagram mike underscore bloodtso and I have the strong coach summit coming up in March you can find more details about that at the strongcoach dot com slash summit. Thanks join us. Love you brother. |
| 01:14:20.55 | Max Shank | Thank you Love you. |
| 00:00.00 | mikebledsoe | Welcome to Monday mornings with mike and max and today we're gonna be talking about choice how to choose Better. We're gonna start off with a quote from Dr. Victor frankl and the quote is between stimulus and response. There is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response and our response lies our growth and our freedom. |
| 00:25.18 | Max Shank | Oh So when I think about this I always use fasting as a way to get people into this mode of thinking because we're so conditioned to. Eat whenever we feel that spark of a stimulus like oh I'm hungry and usually that Stimulus gets confused because you're not physically Hungry. You're just ah, chronologically hungry. Like it's time to eat or I'm bored so you reflexively go after the food and I think this concept of taking a pause so you can choose with your neocortex or what I call the wizard brain is maybe the.. The only important aspect for living a better life because if you're using your lizard brain to choose you have no control over what happens it is valuable to make Lizard brain reflexive choices when there is. Imminent danger but the rest of the time you'll probably get the worst outcome possible and you're certainly not able to see the big picture. In fact in the book Dune which is probably my favorite fiction book the test they do to Determine. If. The young lad is human is they put his hand in a box that gives crazy crazy pain and simultaneously the proctor of this test is holding a poisoned needle at his neck and says if you take your hand out of the box I will kill you. So. The whole idea is being able to suffer the pain of your hand feeling like it's melting off for the big picture of survival and that's pretty much the key to better choices is. You have to be willing to sacrifice what you want now for what you want most and if you don't take that Pause. You have no chance. |
| 02:41.10 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I Also think about the the response without without taking any space. You know there's no space. There's just a ah a reaction. A response is something that's done consciously. Your reaction is. Is unconscious and ah most of our behavior is a reaction. It's unconscious and a lot of it. It's trained over time and ah 1 of the things that I've noticed is that we tend to be ah, very. Very poor at recognizing which reactions or unconscious ah ah reactions we have ah are man my brain's freezing on this 1 Ah. They're not serving us anymore. We don't recognize when they're not serving us anymore a lot of times and so. |
| 03:38.32 | Max Shank | I think it has to do with the subconscious self-image. So whatever Selfim image you truly hold subconsciously that's going to be the driver of those reactive or reflexive or unconscious decisions. |
| 03:53.69 | mikebledsoe | Say more. |
| 03:56.76 | Max Shank | Okay, so you have this version of yourself this story of yourself that you believe that you are comfortable with remember the eco's top Priority is to sustain to keep things status quo to get as much control as Possible. So. Whatever your self-image is like your subconscious will reflexively choose to reinforce that Position. So If you're not giving yourself well, you need 2 things a you need to take that pause if you would like to choose consciously. And B which proves quite a bit harder is you have to alter your selfimage which takes conscious practice and I think writing down what your target self looks like I know James clear ah talks about how. You make up an identity and then you'll choose to be your choices will be congruent with that identity. So That's 1 way of looking at that. |
| 05:03.59 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and well an identity is is built up like what's connected to identity is is beliefs what you believe about yourself. But Also what you believe about the world and if we want to look at this from a ah physiological perspective. There's a lot of neural connections. There's actual physical neural connections that that either support or don't support ways of viewing the world and so a lot of that has to be done and this is what they look at with Psychedelic Medicine Why it so helpful is because it. At a physiological level changes those neural connections or allows those neural connections to to change and so the more repetition you have an old identity or in an identity I won't say old in an identity the the more physical Connections. You're going to have so it it takes. There's a bit of work that has to be done in order for someone to change how they view themselves and how they they view the world and what they believe about those things. |
| 06:07.57 | Max Shank | Big time you gotta be willing to like this like a snake that doesn't shed its skin will die So You have to be willing to shed those dead layers in order to embrace that new identity and. That can prove very difficult because you have to basically suffer a partial death in order to do that. |
| 06:31.61 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, that that identity is from from my view is largely formed from avoiding certain feelings. So kids at a young age. They they. They experience something. They have a feeling they don't like it they decide hey I want to avoid feeling this ever again. So I will behave in a way that allows me to avoid feeling this way and if I ever start to feel this way then I'm going to change my behavior and that really shapes. The identity that shapes that or what we could call personality so that shapes personality that shapes identity and that ah that identity stays away from certain things and indulges in other things and ah. You know we talk about you know parts of that that ego or that identity that's going to die and it doesn't want to die. But I think a lot of it is is the the self doesn't want to have that experience it doesn't want to experience that feeling that that feeling that feeling to a child is like death. You know you ever watch a 4 year old just go to fucking pieces because someone took his favorite logo lego you know or or toy car he is acting like it's the end of the world. Yeah. |
| 07:52.27 | Max Shank | Well it is because he has the inability to see the big picture I think that's 1 of the things that I've noticed most um is that for a child It's either the best thing ever or the worst tragedy that has ever befallen them. And there's not really an in-between because they're purely present and in fact, their brain waves are basically similar I think it's theta brainwave to psychedelics. So everything is new and different. Everything is right now. So there's no there's no attachment to. Last week and there's no understanding of next week it's just what's happening right now I skinned my knee it hurts I'm going to scream Bloody murder or what's happening right now I'm chasing a butterfly and running around and this is the best butterfly I've ever seen. |
| 08:42.92 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and so a lot of behavior comes from what that 4 year old chooses and that those neural connect connections are made. There's feelings that are judged as to wanting to avoid all these things and so that that starts creating a lot of that. On a macro scale. The unconscious patterns. The unconscious reactions. Ah, and so ah, that that's why I say the majority of how we behave is is unconscious. |
| 09:09.47 | Max Shank | Um, it's not. |
| 09:15.14 | Max Shank | And it's not just avoidance right because we're always naturally moving toward pleasure away from paint. So would you say it's both. |
| 09:21.94 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well,, there's there's things we avoid and there's things we indulge in ah and I mean I've known people. Well I'll talk about myself. Ah I used to indulge in guilt and so someone would think well you're crazy. Like well if you want to know what you tend to indulge in is just where do you spend the majority of your emotional space. Where is you know? Maybe you're playing a video game or you're working and your mind is fully engaged in something else. But that moment that you break from that. And you get that moment with yourself What kind of memories. Do you pull up? you know, do you pull up memories that make you feel joy Happy Sad Guilty you know, Ah, whatever it may be and so I think that it would be good for for anybody to do an assessment and go. Ah, what is it that I indulge in and then also what are the emotions that I rarely experience or maybe maybe I start to experience them and I figure out a way to ah ah avoid Them. You know there's where a lot of addiction comes from is. Ah, the addictive behavior is an avoidance you know people are addicted to video games or porn or yeah substances and it's because they want to get away from something. So Ah yeah. |
| 10:45.29 | Max Shank | It's all escapism right? it it doesn't matter what lever that you're using. It's more about what are you trying to escape and if you don't go through that then you'll just pick up a new addiction if you happen to quit 1 It's like chain smoking and donuts at an a a meeting. |
| 10:58.34 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 11:02.99 | Max Shank | Like ah this so much better and maybe for some people. It is a lot better. |
| 11:04.75 | mikebledsoe | We will get addicted to exercise I Watched you know I'm sure you do too you we we both own gyms and there's people that come in that are I don't know how many people there were. They're basically alcoholics and chain smokers before they they came to work out. |
| 11:10.68 | Max Shank | Oh yeah. |
| 11:17.30 | Max Shank | And right. |
| 11:22.97 | mikebledsoe | And then they found Crossfit and which cross Crossfit I think got popular amongst those types of individuals. Ah yeah, they because the thing is is if you if you if you push yourself under heaviest loads possible. |
| 11:31.26 | Max Shank | Masochists. |
| 11:41.30 | mikebledsoe | Or you go to the extreme and get into these glycolytic workouts or you get into these high endurance workouts where you know you start getting into this place where your mind really has to be focused on the present or else you get fucked up. So if you're squatting 500 pounds and you're not present. |
| 11:54.16 | Max Shank | Further. |
| 11:59.87 | mikebledsoe | Guess what it's you're gonna hurt yourself. You know you're you're going for time and all you're trying to do is breathe and that's the only thing you can think about is breathing and feeling your body Even if it's not enjoyable. It's still better than you know, having that moment with yourself. So I think that I think that particular. |
| 12:05.84 | Max Shank | Um, yeah. |
| 12:16.45 | Max Shank | Um, the. |
| 12:19.19 | mikebledsoe | Exercise protocol lends itself to people who who want to escape. |
| 12:23.89 | Max Shank | I Think it's good to like the idea of Escape is we don't avoid things we avoid feelings. That's what's so interesting and when it comes to the identity. You also want to consider the role and you have to look at. |
| 12:30.46 | mikebledsoe | Right. |
| 12:43.51 | Max Shank | A couple things neurologically so neurons that fire together wire together and Neuron neural pathways are just like So basically the more you fire nerves along a pathway. |
| 12:47.27 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 13:02.96 | Max Shank | The more efficient you get at firing that same neural pathway which is why sometimes people feel a familiar pain pattern like in their shoulder or whatever. Even though there's no problem there anymore. It's just been so reinforced because what happens you get this fatty. |
| 13:14.18 | mikebledsoe | Um. |
| 13:21.52 | Max Shank | Tissue called Myelin which is called a Myelin sheath it wraps around the Axon and it's basically like insulation. So The conductivity is Greater. There's less signal Loss. So It's like it's basically like going from a dirt hiking path. To a superhighway. You know the more you go through that same neurological firing pathway. Ah the more efficiently that you can go through there and there's definitely less resistance which is another electricity term. It's funny how there's all these. |
| 13:58.19 | mikebledsoe | Well it is a it is an electrical system. |
| 14:00.74 | Max Shank | Similarities. It is electrical exactly so you got to recognize that the more that you have fired a certain pathway. It's probably going to take um, an equal and opposite amount of counter. Action action or counteractivity to form a ah new pathway because you will subconsciously or reflexively gravitate Toward. What is the lowest energy cost and most familiar. |
| 14:31.85 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and going back to the quote from the beginning is that that ah that time in between is ah the time in between stimulus and response that space is our power to choose. |
| 14:38.90 | Max Shank | The. |
| 14:50.54 | mikebledsoe | And at least our growth and freedom and so there are what you pointed out before the show there are there are times where you want a reaction so you know Imminent Danger Imminent Physical Danger. You usually want to rely on reactivity If you. Know you know what? I'm just going to take 3 breaths and gonna I'm gonna think about this when you're dead right? And so yeah, flinch is a man Ah Tony Blauer Ah went to 1 of his courses and ah. |
| 15:09.94 | Max Shank | Um, yeah, while a ah punch is coming at you and you should have just flinched. |
| 15:27.46 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, he he bases everything off the flinch because he goes look. We could train you in all these crazy tactics. But you're not going to train it enough like I'm not going to train you well enough in a weekend. So let's just go up. Let's let's start with the flinch and then. |
| 15:28.47 | Max Shank | Yeah. |
| 15:43.29 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 15:45.91 | mikebledsoe | After you flinch. What do you do next because the flinch is actually a good reaction if somebody goes to hit you or you're being shot at or you know, whatever it's and you're not going up. You're not going to untrain that flinch and so. |
| 16:00.60 | Max Shank | It's like reflexive piggybacking right? He's taking this reflex that already happens and you're reinforcing it in a better way. |
| 16:07.73 | mikebledsoe | Right? right? And so um, so some we're not saying that everything. Every reaction is a poor reaction but I do want to point out is um, having been myself I've done some tactical training in the military and the whole point of that tactical training is that you're going to repeat the same behavior. So many times that it becomes a reaction. They actually when you get into a firefight. You don't want to be in this. You do want to try to remain calm. |
| 16:35.94 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 16:45.37 | mikebledsoe | And you do want to breathe easy if you can but at the beginning of ah of a situation when a situation breaks out. You're not gonna start off calm you're gonna go in this heightened state and then you've got to calm yourself down with breath from there but that that 2 to 3 hree minutes that takes you to calm down. That's. That's when you get killed and so you gotta the the whole idea is there what what? I'm pointing out is there is a way to there's 2 parts here. There's a way to take a breath and train yourself to have greater. Time to consider your choices for the best response possible but there's also the ability to train yourself situationally to where you don't have to have that time to respond in order to make the best choice possible so in both cases. |
| 17:37.57 | Max Shank | Um, yeah. |
| 17:40.31 | mikebledsoe | We're trying to maximize for best outcome by either reaction or by choice and your reaction can only be decided before the situation occurs and the ability to respond is something that can happen in the moment. But only if you're not put in to as long as you you can remain downregulated to a degree. So if someone comes in your house and starts putting a gun in your face your ability down regulates not going to be too Great. You're better to go with your reaction until you can downregulate into a better state. |
| 18:14.68 | Max Shank | Um, yeah, maybe I think um, what use. Ah you know you can make the right choice and still get a bad outcome I Think what you're touching on. There is really valuable because it's. |
| 18:18.73 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah, maybe is the right answer. Ah. |
| 18:28.40 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 18:33.87 | Max Shank | You're practicing 2 different things. The first thing you're practicing is the ability to stay calm under pressure and when I was competing and fighting. We would basically 1 guy would get in the corner of the ring and he was not allowed to throw punches and he was not allowed to move. And he would just get punched at any who the the practice was to watch all of the punches come. You know we were allowed to keep our hands up, but the whole point was don't think about anything else. Just let the punches come and try to keep your eyes open so you don't go into this. Flint response. So that practice is calm under pressure which is giving you the ability to use your higher order thinking and then the other thing you're talking about matches the different stages of learning so you have. At the very beginning when you're learning a new thing. It's pure cognitive stage like juggling or music at first you are thinking about everything that's going on. You're thinking like okay I have to throw the ball here and then I have to throw the ball here and then I have to move my hand like this and then basically you get to the. Autonomous level which is so it's like cognitive associative. Ah, sometimes there's like more steps than that basically but the end result is that if you practice something enough. It becomes very automatic. So that's the second thing that you're talking about is you train something so much. That you have implanted a new reflex. |
| 20:09.33 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I mean you're you're reminding me of the the quadrant of ah the unconscious incompetence conscious incompetence conscious competence and unconscious competence. So the stages of learning being that so I'll repeat everybody. |
| 20:19.83 | Max Shank | Unconscious competence. Yeah, exactly. |
| 20:28.24 | mikebledsoe | Starts with unconscious incompetence. This is you're not good at something and you don't even know how to improve at it and you may not even know that you're bad at it until you're put in the situation then conscious incompetence is I know that I suck at it and I may be trying to get better at it. But I'm having to think about it and I'm still not that good at it. |
| 20:37.50 | Max Shank | The. |
| 20:47.79 | mikebledsoe | Conscious competence is I have to think about it in order to be good at it if I become unconscious during the process I'll slide into old behavior old patterns and do it poorly and then unconscious competence which is ah which is I have I've intentionally trained this behavior and now I. Become competent at this skill or whatever it is um even in an unconscious state and so I I think that the idea is to move through that with as many things that you find Valuable. You know your your values are going to Dictate. Ah, what it is that you're going to become competent at. |
| 21:24.27 | Max Shank | Well and what's really interesting about this is you can ah build really bad habits going through the same Way. So That's 1 of the values of having a really good coach or a mentor and 1 of the dramatically bad costs. Having a bad mentor is you might build bad patterns like let's say you're learning how to exercise and you learn exactly the wrong way. But you get better and better at the wrong way and that's why it's so valuable to have someone. |
| 21:56.56 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah. |
| 22:02.77 | Max Shank | Pay attention to you like in some of the dance classes I've taken. Um I Really appreciate when the teacher will call out a mistake right away. So I don't reinforce that bad pattern. It's just like you know I'm doing my thing and I'm trying to keep up I'm doing this like African dance shit. |
| 22:14.54 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, um. |
| 22:22.76 | Max Shank | And you know of course I'm coming from a little bit of fight background but also a lot of just robotic exercising and I just hear like this guy yelled no and I'm like startled but I really appreciate it because the last thing I want to do is reinforce a destructive pattern. |
| 22:40.74 | mikebledsoe | Um, yeah. |
| 22:42.54 | Max Shank | And make that the autonomous thing So I like I like where we're at right now so we have reflexive or reactive and then we have conscious choice which can be um, improved upon it allows us to use the neocortex and I think. Unless you have something else to add the next logical place to go is logical fallacies where you are operating from your wizard brain but you are ah basically being tricked to make. A destructive or ah, a wrong choice because of 1 of these like psychological or logical fallacies like ah the sunk cost fallacy if you're familiar with. So yeah, tell folks at home about the sunk cost fallacy. Well. |
| 23:30.25 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, go it? Yeah tell tell tell us all. Yeah. |
| 23:38.73 | Max Shank | The sunk cost fallacy is like you have put in a lot of effort already. So even though you should not put any more effort because it's a lost cause you'll keep putting more in just because you've invested so much and the easiest example is if you're playing poker and. You put in more chips and you put in more chips and you put in more chips and you see the final card and you don't you don't make your hand that you are trying to make you don't have a good winning. You don't have a chance at winning. But you still put more money in the pot just because you've invested so much and. It's hard to tell the difference between getting crushed by the sunk cost fallacy and grit like sometimes you should persevere and follow through and sometimes you should cut your losses so. It's really hard for people to. Notice the sunk cost fallacy and if you're operating from like your lizard Brain. It's nearly impossible to because you'll be emotionally locked in. You'll be emotionally hooked with that fallacy. |
| 24:50.16 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I mean you hit on a good point there which is I think a lot of people a lot of entrepreneurs run into that is ah you know because it's getting difficult. Is it something that am I not meant to do This is it supposed to be easy am I not supposed to do this should I change industry should I. Is my product. No good but whatever it is and then ah yeah on the other side is and you hear you hear ah coaches and consultants and speakers recommend different things. Yeah on 1 side you got the the people going if you don't love what you're doing then you should quit and then. |
| 25:27.27 | Max Shank | The 1 |
| 25:29.33 | mikebledsoe | On the other side which by the way I'm a pretty good quitter. Ah, the other side is you know now you got to grind it out and this and that and so 1 of the things that I've learned how to ah make this choice because I've quit a lot of things but I will also will also grind um and I've had to learn. There's a lot of grinding I did where I should have walked away sooner and there are things that I got lazy about and didn't put a lot of effort into because I ah thought it should ah should be easier. Um, and sometimes it was ah but I've all you know I've stuck with things longer than I should have and I've I wouldn't say I've ditched things before but there's there's been times where I spent a lot of time contemplating whether I should quit something while while grinding through and. Really finding that what I what I like to do is go look I will grind I've actually worked more this past I'd say like 6 seven months than I Haven in a very long time I say the last 3 years it's been 3 years since I worked this this much and I've worked hard but. |
| 26:41.49 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 26:45.85 | mikebledsoe | Ah, but the thing is I'm inspired so I'm doing I'm working a lot of hours. Um, figuring out how to be as productive as possible I've done a lot of shit this year with my business that did not work I get I hit like roadblock after roadblock I the business. Ah. Almost ran out of money at 1 point there was I hit a lot of things that there that some people would say man. Maybe maybe like if you look at the year before the business was doing twice as good What's what's going on now. Maybe you're just not supposed to do this and and that crossed my mind for a moment but. What I really experienced was like I'm still inspired to do this I'm not working because out of desperation I'm not working because like I need to make a dollar like I could I know and and part of it is is like I've been around long enough that I can make dollars a lot of different ways like I've done it a few times |
| 27:33.55 | Max Shank | Ah, what. |
| 27:43.66 | mikebledsoe | Ah, exactly yeah, super easy money. Ah, it's really it's easy hard money. But ah, the. |
| 27:43.92 | Max Shank | Prostitution For example, easy easy money for you. |
| 27:52.74 | Max Shank | Well I Like what you're saying because it requires wisdom to know if you have a tendency to quit early or a tendency to um, get emotionally involved in a decision. That's not good overall and. What I noticed part of the reason 1 of the many reasons I enjoy chopping it up with you is because you and I approach things very differently like I really have not taken a lot of big risks I've never really laid out ah a large amount of Capital. Into anything I've always been like the the slow cooker type of mentality. But I'm also able to try more things and I'm able to um, like cut those losses a little bit more easily and. |
| 28:31.65 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 28:46.81 | Max Shank | I Know we've mentioned in a podcast before but you got to recognize that anyone who's done Well whether it's like the more like long slow or the you know company just blows up and makes a ton is basically every success story has a lot of failures. |
| 29:05.14 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 29:06.30 | Max Shank | Along the way and you're not going to know which thing people will like the best and and what people like the best has nothing to do with how much effort you put into it either. Um, and then the last thing that you said that I liked was. |
| 29:19.68 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 29:25.65 | Max Shank | You feel like purpose or passion. Maybe I'm maybe I'm the 1 who came up with the word purpose there. But if you are if you feel like you are satisfying a life purpose or following your bliss as Joseph Campbell Puts it. You won't find anything difficult like you'll just keep putting in more time you won't find yourself wishing you were doing something else because you're like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do I'm Doing. It's like ah a hammer hammering nails like this is the intended purpose I am a hammer. My purpose is hammering Nails. So If you're doing something that you're really interested in ah then you'll be able to get through those moments where things don't seem to go right. |
| 30:16.20 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, ah 1 of the things that's really helped me out ah is I'd say more recently I used to get really hung up on um, the purpose or passion conversation and. I noticed that when I was younger and I see this with a lot of young entrepreneurs or new entrepreneurs is they get caught up with a thing like they're passionate about you know a type of coaching or they're passionate about a method technique. Whatever it is and because. Probably because it made an a large impact in their own life and for myself. Um, when I started my latest business. The strong coach. Um, actually it's not the latest build it business. It's the latest business I'm still running ah the strong coach. I started that business because I loved coaches and I put coaches First I had all these ideas of what I want to teach them how I want to teach them all these things and then I started with my beta group. My first cohort back in 2018 and I realized they needed no a bunch of shit I had no intention to teach and I wasn't as interested in teaching it but I already but I had the information so I I needed to give it to them. Um, and I noticed that. Because I was so passionate about helping coaches with whatever they needed to be successful in getting their own clients results because I was so passionate about that that I didn't care if I was teaching business or leadership because I was more passionate at the time if I were to if I were to choose a passion around a thing that I wanted to teach. It would be around leadership and personal responsibility and and and a lot of personal development topics. Not um, as much about business even though I I had taught business before. |
| 32:17.00 | Max Shank | So you got clear. Ah you got you got clear on who you wanted to serve more than anything else. |
| 32:25.94 | mikebledsoe | It's about who and who and so like 3 and a half years later I am more passionate or I I would say I carry the same amount of passion now as I did 3 and a half years ago and that's because I did I found. Group of people who I want to help the most the people who I would surround myself with the the people who like I don't I can't solve all the world's problems. Um I I want to make people as healthy as possible and make people on the planet healthy. But I know that. That people aren't gonna do what I say and I don't know how to do everything I don't know what the right answers for everything I'm not going to create something that solves all the problems but I know huh I'm sorry you're you're doomed but I but I go you know what though like I look at things and I go look I am. |
| 33:09.35 | Max Shank | Damn it I hoped you would I hoped you would. |
| 33:22.91 | mikebledsoe | Uniquely positioned to help coaches and coaches are uniquely positioned to help people in ah in an era where there's an over too much information to sift through and so it takes someone who's going to be an expert in something and and hold someone's hand and guide them there. So um, so like you know sometimes sometimes there are moments where I'm like man am I really doing something that's making the difference in the world I Want to make um and then you know I remind myself of that So when it gets when it gets. What I know is what I'm doing now is what I know how to do best. That's gonna make the the most positive impact for others and myself and and and the thing is is I read this book mastery by Robert Green I know I've brought this up on the show before but he talks about having you know. |
| 34:08.76 | Max Shank | So when when. |
| 34:20.80 | mikebledsoe | People who create really innovative things in the world that make a big difference tend to have mastered up to 3 things and it could take 7 to 10 years to master something so a lot of people don't come up with their greatest innovations till they're in their forty s fifty sixty s because they needed time to master a few things and. And I look at it and I go am I going to do this forever I have people go how long are you going to coach coaches and I go as long as long as it's obvious that I should keep doing it and the way I'll know it's obvious to do something else is when something else comes along that just completely. Ah, feel feels bigger and more expansive than what I'm ah, currently doing and for someone who I'm someone who really loves having their options open. You know I have yeah, that's ah, that's a personality trait that you know on 1 side of the coin you have people. Who if they make a commitment to something in a month from now is like on on Friday the twenty ninth I'm going to be at this person's house doing this thing man that makes them feel so good that would drive me nuts because I'm like oh. Like is there a better opportunity going to come up is that go to be my favorite choice that night. how I don't know how I'm going to feel the week leading up to that I'm somebody who likes that I feel more relaxed and better about having ah many choices up to the last minute so there's different different personalities and so because. |
| 35:35.94 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 35:46.75 | Max Shank | Her. |
| 35:51.54 | mikebledsoe | I Have this thing where I don't really I prefer freedom over over the the illusion of certainty The the yeah I do prefer a little more chaos over order. But ah the some. |
| 35:56.47 | Max Shank | Over order? yeah. |
| 36:09.75 | mikebledsoe | Thing I keep my mind is well if this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing because I coached a lot of coaches. So I this is the kind of the thing I get from them. It's like oh I don't know if this is what I'm supposed to be doing I'm like who cares just do it and it doesn't you can always change it later and and everything you're doing right now. |
| 36:20.79 | Max Shank | Try it and see yeah. |
| 36:27.16 | mikebledsoe | If if you're meant to do something else when you get to that thing. You're meant to be doing the big pie in the sky thing which probably doesn't exist ah is like raining on people's parades ah is that you're practicing everything you've been doing up into this moment is getting you prepared for that. So. For me if I'm if I'm getting better at business I'm like man this is great getting better at marketing copywriting creating offers making social media posts podcasting. It's all like even if I'm not doing a thing that I'm quote unquote supposed to be doing in 5 years none of those skills are going to be bad to have accumulated in order to to achieve that and I've I've had moments in my current life where I go wow I had to go through you know all this bullshit. What seemed like bullshit at the time so that I can be effective at what I do now and having a lot of gratitude for it. |
| 37:21.91 | Max Shank | Are. |
| 37:25.49 | mikebledsoe | And I I bring this up because I I want people to be able to put themselves wholeheartedly into the choices that they're making in this moment and get as much out of it as possible learn as much as you possibly can and. While holding this perspective has really helped me to achieve peace when in the face of uncertainty. |
| 37:50.73 | Max Shank | Well, it probably makes a lot easier because it makes it easier to choose when you have a clear purpose because then you will choose congruently with that purpose if you have a clear role or identity and a clear purpose then the choices are going to be easier. So The other thing that you mentioned is you're going to change your mind like if you are are waiting to make the last decision you will never make 1 You know what? I mean like I just want to. But yeah, ah because that's also me like i'm. |
| 38:18.79 | mikebledsoe | Um I like I like how you said that if you're waiting to make the last decision. Yeah. |
| 38:29.51 | Max Shank | Ah, naturally very patient. It's easy for me to not be dynamic when there doesn't seem to be a need for it. I mean charlie munger says about you know patience and prudence in the past and then betting big when the the time is correct and that's really more. My style like I I've recognized that in life. You know, even like growing up broke. Ah, you don't have to make a lot of decisions. You just have to bet big when the time is right? So you don't have to be racing around on a wheel all the time. So the whole idea of like decision fatigue sounds like kind of funny when you realize how few decisions you actually need to make it's just that when you make them you have to really? um, do so heavily when the odds are heavily in your favor. |
| 39:22.22 | mikebledsoe | I Think a lot of people. Also they they make a choice and they start questioning their choice instead of giving giving their the choice they made their full attention. |
| 39:23.94 | Max Shank | And. |
| 39:33.92 | Max Shank | Yeah, and it's good to like evaluate your choices so you can make better decisions in the future but you want to um, give things a chance to work before you you quit on them I think and the fact that you bring up coaching is perfect because. |
| 39:46.66 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 39:52.63 | Max Shank | What what is the job of a coach if not to help you make better choices now the tactic for how you do that you can ask leading questions. You can point blank give them a recipe and say like hey I have this recipe for putting together an offer. So if you follow it. And you fill in the blanks your offer will probably be a lot better than whatever you come up with on your own that's like 1 way that you can coach someone is you can teach them a formula and the other way that you can coach people is you can provide Feedback. You're doing well this you're doing not so well you should change this. You should keep doing this um and then you can also answer questions. We talked last week about the difference between support which is answering questions and accountability which is I'm asking you questions. Um, and it's all it's all about how to make better choices and I think that's a perfect segue into authority which is another logical fallacy that people fall into as well. So you have the authority of a coach you are going to put. More weight into what a coach says just the same way. You're going to put more weight into what your doctor says because they allegedly know more than you do about health and they may in some ways know a lot more than you do about health. But if it's tricky because. Authority is how we get comparative advantage. So comparative advantage is an economics term. Basically if I can earn 3 hundred per hour coaching then I pay an electrician 1 hundred per hour. Um, the overall gain is better. Because I couldn't that's an hour that I couldn't spend coaching if I tried to do the electoral myself even if the result was just as good which it wouldn't be but you have to ah give the authority to that electrician you have to trust that he's going to. Make the right choice for you and so our whole society is is based off of that type of authority in different areas and it gets tricky when you start. Um. So like Authoritarianism I guess is where we'll come from there and I hope I didn't like gloss over too many things but basically authoritarianism is where 1 person makes all the choices for everybody else and controls the choosing and that's not what we have done in ah America for a long time. |
| 42:41.42 | Max Shank | In most cases. Um, but we do selectively have um, centralized control and people argue politics all the time but the only argument really worth having is. Who is the authority and what is their Jurisdiction So who decides and when do they get to decide and we've all kind of agreed that if somebody murders a guy and the judge says guilty then we take away that person's freedom and throw them into Jail even though they would. |
| 43:18.83 | mikebledsoe | Right? So yeah. |
| 43:19.32 | Max Shank | Not choose that right? So That's that's basically the only argument worth having is who's in charge and when do they get to decide. But of course you know if you watch the news people are arguing about stupid bullshit all the time like nobody is talking about. Authority and Jurisdiction. Even though those are the only important arguments to have. |
| 43:40.44 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and Authority is is not something that somebody can just assume Authority is granted by the individual or a group of individuals. So if you hire a coach you're choosing for that person to have authority. Um, and. And it's not absolute authority with a coach because they're making suggestions right? It's not like they're not going to I want to meet the coach that uses the stick just just put a ah shot collar on your balls. |
| 44:02.36 | Max Shank | Right? That's how I do my coaching. |
| 44:16.51 | mikebledsoe | And every time you do something I don't like I'm going to zap you. |
| 44:18.22 | Max Shank | I Have a farm out in the middle of nowhere where people have to give up all their worldly possessions and then I beat them until they're great coaches. Ah so the other the I. |
| 44:28.45 | mikebledsoe | I Um I just I just got uncomfortable I'm like ah too close to the truth. No I'm just kidding. |
| 44:37.60 | Max Shank | The the other side of um, the logical fallacy of appeal to authority which is um, it's a way to say that my choice is inarguable if I say I'm the doctor I'm the scientist I'm the ph d. Ah, you have to trust me then that is an appeal to authority which is another logical fallacy and you're very likely to be coerced into a bad decision. The other um side of that is an ad hominem attack. Which is where you're attacking the individual and you are trying to disqualify what they have to say so you know you have a person a and person b let's say person a is an authoritarian and let's just say we'll just call him doctor science because those are really good authority tags. And then we'll have person b we'll call him a conspiracy nut job and the whole idea here is if you focus on the authority of these labels then you're not going to be evaluating or choosing based on the content of the arguments. So if someone who has lots of authority makes a bad argument and you just respect their authority. You might walk into a trap similarly if someone is labeled as a nutjob or a wacko or whatever. You're not even going to give any credence to what their argument is even if it has a valid premise and a logical thought process. So. That's why it's really important to not um, Blindly follow an authority or blindly ignore someone who's been labeled as like bad. |
| 46:26.36 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah I mean you got to think for yourself, you got to you got to be able to take the information and and process it but people people that's not an efficient way to do it right? There's it's like ah cultural neural pathways are set up. |
| 46:27.13 | Max Shank | Or dumb essentially. |
| 46:44.45 | mikebledsoe | To just say all right? Whatever this person says we'll just do it I don't have to think about it's It's culturally, it's a cultural unconscious pattern that's been built in. |
| 46:53.24 | Max Shank | Well and it's responsibility. It's the difference between a child and an adult and a big part of growing up is you are no longer ah blindly following what the parent or the Authority says the whole concept of freedom itself is about choice. |
| 46:58.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 47:12.11 | Max Shank | The only difference between sex and rape is Choice. There's no, there's mechanically.. It's like the Same. It's just about whether you have a choice or not so it's really important to understand that your freedom. Lies in your ability to say yes or to say no your ability to choose freely is what freedom is all about and I can't think of a more important concept and like you said Authority is given. |
| 47:30.72 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 47:47.20 | Max Shank | Right? We have these rules in our society. The rulers rule with rules and really we have crime and punishment which means we have labeled something as a crime and we have a consequence that follows it so you are sort of accepting. Those consequences for your actions and when you accept responsibility for your actions then you also have power over your choices part of the reason a lot of people don't want to do that. Ah, myself included for a long time is then you also are taking potentially the blame for those choices. But it. It really is the difference between ah the child role and the adult role if you are willing to accept the risk then you get the reward and and reward is just a type of consequence. It's like what happens consequently what happens next after you. |
| 48:45.50 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, and 1 thing I want to point out is well I think I think you said you you talked about the word. No and just the the ability to say no ah is highly underrated. Um. |
| 48:46.16 | Max Shank | After you choose. |
| 49:04.94 | mikebledsoe | Not used and the thing is is no matter how someone's labeled if they don't honor your no if if someone is trying to do something to you and they and you say no and they don't they don't you know they still push the moment that you're. There's physical interaction. It's called violence and that's immoral so to not honor. Someone's note to to not get their their consent is ah is violence. Um, whether that be ah for sex or for a vaccine. It's. Both of these are violence if it's forced upon you? Yeah, So well if if it's well I would say violence is the initiation of force and force could be We could I like to put violence in the category of. |
| 49:47.74 | Max Shank | It's coercion right? because Violence violence isn't always immoral is the only slight disagreement. |
| 50:01.41 | mikebledsoe | You initiated the the physical interaction. The force and a defense is just using force like if someone comes into my house and tries to Rob me and I shoot them I didn't conduct violence I I used force and so. |
| 50:09.31 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 50:14.86 | Max Shank | Ah, that's why yeah I thought I I would say the opposite I would say you responded violently but you were right to do so so and I think you you and I do a good job of being semantically precise or at least clarifying what we're talking about. |
| 50:22.85 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 50:33.20 | Max Shank | So that we understand what the other person is saying. |
| 50:33.17 | mikebledsoe | Right? Well and coercion is the threat of violence. It's It's the it's and or the the threat of you know you're never gonna work in this town again or you're you You can't you know. |
| 50:38.14 | Max Shank | Well, that's 1 way. |
| 50:52.13 | mikebledsoe | To take away your livelihood or whatever. So that's coercion. Either way. |
| 50:53.94 | Max Shank | So coercion as I've understood it to be defined is the deliberate interference with property using fraud or force. |
| 51:05.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, ah Wikipedia says coercion is is compelling a party to act in an unvoluntary manner by use of threats including Force. It involves a set of various types of forceful actions that violate the free will of an individual to induce a desired response. For example. A bully demanding lunch money from a student or the student gets beaten. These actions may include extortion Blackmail torture threats to induce favors or even sexual assault in law coercion is codified as a duress as a duress crime such actions are used as leverage to force the victim. To act in a way contrary to their own interests. So ah, yeah, yeah I think I think that for for both of what we said that that summarizes it is it really really well and so. |
| 51:45.37 | Max Shank | That tracks. |
| 51:56.80 | mikebledsoe | I point this out and part of this conversation was inspired by a dm conversation I got on Instagram with somebody who was very emotionally triggered by a post I made and to be told the post was supposed to cause people to think and connect some dots. |
| 52:14.14 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 52:15.88 | mikebledsoe | Um, and you know I imagine a lot of my followers were able to connect those dots because I got a lot of people who liked it and then I got 1 person who did not like it and ah she was extremely flustered and even admitted you know in in the the dm she said. |
| 52:24.80 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 52:33.81 | mikebledsoe | You know every fiber of my being says this is wrong. It's like there's this admission of like this emotional hijack or a version of logical fallacy and um, you know I think we we got to be careful of those things. Um and and this is why. Ah, the United states was set up as a republic and not a democracy. Ah the the founding fathers recognized democracy as ah as a dangerous as a dangerous way of doing things the greeks the greeks started off as a republic and then they deteriorated. |
| 52:54.10 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 53:10.90 | mikebledsoe | Into democracy thinking you know all the while the story the narrative that was told and the story that's being told now is that democracy is an democracy is an evolution when in fact, it's ah, a devolution from a Republic and a Republic is set up in a way that that reduces. The amount of Authority a single person can have it really dilutes. Ah this ability to create violent action or coercion against a certain population of people it it creates a lot of checks and balances. It's why there's an electoral college. Ah, for voting most people don't really understand how that works. Um, yeah so um. |
| 53:52.27 | Max Shank | Yeah Mob rule. Otherwise right I like that you called it a demockery that's kind of hilarious I know that was like a freudianlip or something but I I think a demockery it's mob rule if. |
| 54:00.69 | mikebledsoe | It was it was but I'm using it from now. Well like you said a democracy is my role. Yeah. |
| 54:08.94 | Max Shank | If I get if I get fifty one percent of the people to say that. Ah we should be able to Rob and rape the other forty nine then it's legal to do So is that fucking insanity or what like that's crazy. |
| 54:19.90 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well. Ah, my buddy who has probably more racial ethnicities in his background than anyone I know he's he's as as mud as they come. You know he says ah and I quote him because he he can speak on this. Like the greatest minority on the planet is the individual and in a democracy. The individual is not honored at all democracy and and communism have more alike than a Republic and and democracy and So. Ah,, there's yeah. |
| 54:59.51 | Max Shank | That's where all the evil stuff happens too like people are like oh jeffrey dahmer he's so it's like like yeah sometimes that happens but we know him way more and nobody talks about like chairman mao and stalin and Mussolini and all these fucking that racked up. Way bigger numbers I mean if we're really to yeah I think a hundred million under mal okay like. |
| 55:18.15 | mikebledsoe | Millions tens of millions of people more more people have died under Royalty Royal commands and communist demands than any other no other individual has ever. Caused more harm than people who are in charge of Communist countries. |
| 55:39.28 | Max Shank | Right? Because there's no um, agile rebalancing you know when you're able to vote with free choice a you're not gonna have interactions that are net loss you and I would only choose to do business if. What I have is worth it to you is worth at least a little more than what you pay so when you have a society that's based on win-win or profit. Um, you can rebalance you have that agility. So there's going to be um that the food supply. For example, you're not going to have some central planner make a mistake about how much food there should be because there's gonna be opportunity for people to choose lots of different foods and there will be this. Competition and collaboration and um I think that's 1 of the most important things is that we're allowed to rebalance and vote with our dollars I mean look we could go down a deep rabbit hole about how the fed has really fucked up the. Value of money through quantative quantitative easing which is just a really finesse way of saying like we're fucking with the currency. Um, but look the reality is if you're free to choose. That's great and if you're forced to obey that's usually not great and I don't want to make such a ah broad generalization. But the whole reason we have free speech as amendment 1 and um, use of violence or right to bear arms. Number 2 is because those are the only ways that we can interact with each other to resolve conflict we can resolve conflict with our words or we can resolve them with violence and of course we would preserve to do it without. Ah. Physical violence. But sometimes there's no other choice and that's why that's baked into this idea of individual freedom. |
| 57:53.69 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, and I I think we would we We have to mention I mean now that we're down this track if we're we have to talk about ah capitalism and so ah to me. Ah. |
| 58:05.67 | Max Shank | Stop. Um I I Wish we I wish we had capitalism in this country? Cronyism um. |
| 58:12.50 | mikebledsoe | Decentralization I Wish we did too. Yeah, but we have um I don't know if this is I don't I don't know if we have like the greatest expression of capitalism Currently there is and we do have cronyism. |
| 58:24.28 | Max Shank | No, we have cronyism. It's horrific. We have we have lobbying we have all of these special. It's fucking look. It's It's not the worst but it's really deviated a lot from the concept of what capitalism should be. |
| 58:40.22 | mikebledsoe | Well the the concept of capitalism in its purest form has never been. You know the only time this existed is when probably in the old west when the the reach of government really couldn't get out and. Impact people's lives in say Nevada I mean ah I read Mark twain's autobiography and he traveled all over he he seemed to be fairly unfettered by anybody to do any business that he he would like to do um and paid no tax. So he um so I think that. |
| 59:02.11 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 59:17.93 | mikebledsoe | If we like zoom out on a macro scale. This idea of capitalism like it's always existed to some degree anytime. There's an exchange of services and goods in an exchange of value for those things that's ah, that's a capitalist endeavor when when choice is involved. Where where it's a voluntary and interaction and and pure capitalism like you're like you're alluding to is is where there is no. Ah there is no friction between voluntary interaction. There is no force. There is no coercion being brought in by a third party ah, third party butting their nose and say you're and my business so to voluntary adults creating an exchange if you read it's voluntary. This is what this is all of this is getting down to and. |
| 01:00:05.75 | Max Shank | That's the key word is voluntary. That's the key word. |
| 01:00:13.90 | mikebledsoe | There's a really awesome series I Bet you've watched it ah which is called ah, free to choose or freedom to choose by Milton friedman. It's free on youtube milton friedman ah he does he does such a good job of talking about. |
| 01:00:19.38 | Max Shank | Fuck. Yeah I've seen it. It's free on Youtube folks thomas souls on there too. |
| 01:00:31.80 | mikebledsoe | How Capitalism has led to the point where we have all this innovation like it's what's responsible for the ability to have all the goods and services that we have at our disposal now. Um, no thanks to government regulation. The thing about Capitalism I Think about Capitalism and there's been times where it's exploded and there's times where it's It's been retracted I think we're in a ah phase of Contraction. We're contracting on capitalism right now for various reasons and and I think yeah. |
| 01:01:04.33 | Max Shank | Fear I believe isn't that the only way that freedom gets eroded is through fear I'm pretty sure. |
| 01:01:08.66 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, so fear is doing that. But if we think about capitalism what it creates if you look at what Milton friedman describes in that in that series is It's really a decentralization of authority. So. The more voluntary interactions that we have in the world the more the individual gets to practice their own authority that they are the authority of their own life. Um I call that sovereignty if you if you have sovereignty that means that you are the authority of yourself and. And Sovereignty being a word that only used to be used according to royalty because they were the ones that were above the law right? They they could basically break all the laws and nothing happened to them and there were sovereignty with yeah exactly and so like the idea of sovereignty. |
| 01:01:48.72 | Max Shank | Ah, right? like. |
| 01:01:54.99 | Max Shank | Right? Kind of like our politicians now. |
| 01:02:03.10 | mikebledsoe | Ah, individual Sovereignty was something that was also ah very at the forefront of the forming of the republic of the United states and when the declaration of independence was drafted the constitution a lot of this was based on individual sovereignty as a. A philosophical backbone and so capitalism is something that has to exist in a free society because it is the epitome of voluntary interaction and you can tell if something is is capitalist or not because what max was saying at the beginning. But we have is cronyism or crony capitalism and there really isn't there. There are companies that are leveraging the government and to use violence and coercion. Ah you know disguised as in the words of regulation um to. Ah, basically force companies out or or force companies to do things a certain way. It. It creates a lot of involuntary behavior and when we have involuntary behavior that creates conflict and so if we want to have a a world of peace and without conflict then we. We really need people to to practice their own authority over themselves and realize that they are um, they are their their own ruler. So um, and which brings me to like anarchy the word anarchy all it means is without a ruler. |
| 01:03:33.95 | Max Shank | A. |
| 01:03:35.84 | mikebledsoe | And a lot of people you know Anarchy has been associated with with chaos. Ah, and it's a really good propaganda play to associate anarchy with chaos because most people have been tricked into believing that humans are evil. |
| 01:03:40.55 | Max Shank | Have. Right. |
| 01:03:55.77 | mikebledsoe | And that they they want to be violent and that you need to be made safe by somebody else when the truth is is most people are peaceful loving just want to get along I don't want to pick a fight most people will avoid those situations. |
| 01:04:09.28 | Max Shank | The chance of killing yourself versus someone else killing you is like a Hundred times more because there are different like even just pure like suicide outpaces murder by such a dramatic amount. It's like. |
| 01:04:27.64 | mikebledsoe | M. |
| 01:04:28.41 | Max Shank | 4 times or something like that. Maybe even more maybe 8 times people kill themselves way more than they kill other people. So This idea that your neighbor is dangerous is the only argument that can be made to take away. That sovereignty and it's like we talked about you know people who trade freedom for security will lose both and deserve neither. |
| 01:04:52.78 | mikebledsoe | Well I'll also say no 1 can take away your sovereignty like you are a sovereign being you do have the authority of your own life. If and if anyone else has authority over you. It's because you gave it to them now if. |
| 01:05:02.35 | Max Shank | What and there are consequences Totally no. |
| 01:05:09.87 | mikebledsoe | If you do something and someone who says that they're the authority over you they come and cause violence on you. That's an amoral action and so that's something that most people just won't be able to wrap their heads around and that's okay, but ah because. Most people are brainwashed into believing that you know the government or what they deem to be the Authority really is looking out for their best interest even if they make a mistake the overall. Ah the overall idea of it is beneficial. |
| 01:05:44.45 | Max Shank | I Think part of the reason for that is once you realize the opposite it like shatters your illusion of reality so it is so ah surreal it. It is a reality shattering experience to recognize the fact that oh. |
| 01:05:46.18 | mikebledsoe | Um. |
| 01:06:03.76 | Max Shank | Wow 12 years of school is a really bad investment for a child. Oh Wow look at how the tax dollars are squandered Oh Wow Look how many soldiers have been sacrificed in fucking Pointless Wars Oh Wow look at all these politicians flexing their power and taking away our freedom so they can grease their own pockets. Oh and it just goes On. And on and on and on and people like oh well, the media wouldn't lie to you and the reason they the reason. Yeah exactly Well. The reason people don't do that is because you have to like shatter your previous comfortable version of reality. Even if it is. |
| 01:06:27.91 | mikebledsoe | Um, the media is just 1 big advertisement. |
| 01:06:42.42 | Max Shank | Even if it's wrong. It's familiar so you can keep your ego intact if you're just like no no, no, they they know what's best they're doing What's best for everybody and you know a lot of the time. It's just impossible to say after the fact but I feel like we've gotten a little too far down. |
| 01:06:45.80 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 01:07:01.63 | Max Shank | Or maybe just appropriately far down the rabbit hole of ah choice within a societal framework or within the state. But I think we can easily bring it back around and kind of. |
| 01:07:10.42 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| 01:07:19.64 | Max Shank | Wrap up the idea that if you are what you said earlier really resonated if you figure out who you want to serve just ask them like if you're not sure what to do just ask the people that you want to help. And they'll tell you what they want, you know what? I mean like then you're you're very likely to make the right make a constructive choice. |
| 01:07:40.56 | mikebledsoe | Yep, like. |
| 01:07:45.49 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, spot on spot on. That's that's the 1 of the biggest things that ah that I teach is if you're ever confused about what to do next go ask your clients. Go ask your potential clients. |
| 01:07:49.37 | Max Shank | I think. |
| 01:08:02.74 | mikebledsoe | And ideal customer. |
| 01:08:05.12 | Max Shank | It's kind of like you know you and I tend to resonate with male entrepreneurs around 30 years old for obvious reasons like I understand it I don't understand women I've tried to I've done a lot of I've done a lot of work in the field. |
| 01:08:10.37 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, like. |
| 01:08:22.10 | Max Shank | Trying to understand women but I'm still pretty confused. |
| 01:08:24.89 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, that's that's a code yet to be cracked and I think it's not supposed to be cracked because it's ah the the mystery is a big part of the attraction in my opinion. Yeah. |
| 01:08:37.60 | Max Shank | Yeah, we we like things that are different but familiar wasn't that weird. |
| 01:08:44.52 | mikebledsoe | What let's close this down any ah, any final thoughts on this. |
| 01:08:51.20 | Max Shank | Final thoughts on how to choose better take a pause. Be aware of the so you take a pause then you are able to use your wizard brain Once you take a pause Then. You will likely get trapped by logical fallacies If you're not aware of what they are and if you're not sure what to do? Um, just try to make your choices align with the identity and the purpose that you want not necessarily the 1 that you have. Because your subconscious self-image can lead you toward the same life. You've always been living but of course the whole idea is to let go of that so you can make room for a new and better 1 and then. Once you make a choice. Don't be afraid to quit if it's wrong. But Also once you make a choice make sure you give it a chance to actually work so really test it out in the field and the other thing I would say last but maybe not least is. |
| 01:09:56.12 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 01:10:08.14 | Max Shank | If We're talking about a choice for Business. You have no clue and people will lie to you until you offer it up for sale whether it's a service or a product or anything like that if you're like hey I got this thing and you tell your friend they're like oh that's really cool. No no, don't ask their opinion. Ask if they want to purchase it like that. That's what really ah tells the story. |
| 01:10:33.37 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, just no skin in the gain with an opinion. Ah yet. |
| 01:10:38.10 | Max Shank | No skin in the game. We've been talking shit for an hour. No skin. It's easy to talk. It is cheap. |
| 01:10:44.98 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, that's why I say talk is cheap. Ah yeah I yeah I'd say like the big takeaways from me that I'd like people to leave with is um, you know. You can you can choose. You can get better at choosing now in the moment by learning to downregulate yourself. Ah when when faced with something that's stressful and you can also choose in the past or you can choose in the present the train for the future by ah, training yourself. To acquire skills that you you imagine you might need in the future like you might need to acquire the skill of taking a gun out of a holster and shooting a piece of paper that may be something else down the road but the going from unconscious incompetence looking at the area of your life where you want to make improvements. And looking at where you're incompetent and then choosing the the number 1 thing that you want to do and then train that with conscious incompetence be okay with being incompetent. It's something that you're trying to get good at and then watching yourself go into conscious competence and then getting the point of making it. Ah, unconscious competence and if you really take that perspective when you when you step into learning I find when I did that that I I started learning a lot faster because it was kind of strange the more patience I had with myself in realizing where I was at in the process. Allowed me to down regulate which allowed me to learn more quickly and then the last thing I want to mention is a lot of the principles that we talk about are happening on an individual level and according to 1 of the hermetic principles as above so below as within. Is without and basically what that means is whatever' is happening in this context and what I mean right now is whatever is happening for someone on an individual level psychologically the way they approach things is the same you're going to see the same manifestations happen in large groups of people in society whether it be. |
| 01:12:51.47 | Max Shank | A. |
| 01:12:53.99 | mikebledsoe | Ah, school City or an entire nation or the whole world. There are pieces of this individual psychology that applies culturally and so when you learn ah when when you learn 1 really deeply when you go to connect the dots to the other. It. It makes a lot of sense So worth paying attention to so if you're ever confused about why an entire society is behaving a certain way I'll just look at why individuals behave that way when when they're left to their own devices. So. |
| 01:13:25.78 | Max Shank | Oh man, that's good. It made me think of 2 more things actually which I think are really important 1 is that you can choose now about the past so framing your experience might be the most important choice you ever make. Because if you frame your experience as 1 of gratitude rather than 1 of resentment or victimhood then you are basically dooming your future based on your past. So I think that's 1 of the most common problems I see people have when they continue to make choices that are self-destructive is. They have not framed their experience in a constructive way. You know if you were beaten as a child and you say oh I'm a beaten victim versus I was beaten as a child clearly my parent wanted. What's best for me and clearly they cared about me. They just didn't really have a good way of showing it and regardless of all that it made me the person that I am today so framing your past is a very important choice that is worth putting on paper and that leads to the second thing which is your state of being. Physically and mentally will strongly influence your ability to make decisions. So if you are seeing the world with abundance. Mentally if you are um, exercising regularly if you have adequate blood flow. You're going to make better choices if you are stagnant. Your chi your blood All that stuff is stagnant. You're going to make worse choices that are more contractive and so I think between the choice of framing your past and your present to help your future and also changing your state. Can be crazy beneficial and sometimes it's better to sleep on it before you make a decision sometimes better to go for a walk or run because your state of being will heavily influence your ability to make a choice. |
| 01:15:27.98 | mikebledsoe | Absolutely Ah, anything you want to mention besides Maxsank Dot Com for finding you. |
| 01:15:38.20 | Max Shank | Yep Maxsank Dot Com and if you'd like to outsource all of your decision makingking to me I would be happy to enroll you in my Authoritarian program. You don't need to worry about choosing for yourself anymore I will just assume all your earthly possessions and I'll I'll tell you what to do from here on out. |
| 01:15:55.40 | mikebledsoe | Ah, perfect. 1 thing I want to mention by the way I've been getting messages from people that they're listening and enjoying it so I want to let all the people that are listening know that I have the strong coach summit coming up in March. |
| 01:15:55.51 | Max Shank | So. |
| 01:16:12.49 | mikebledsoe | And so if you want to check that out. Go to the strongcoach dot com slash summit or you can just hit me up on Instagram I'll give you the link so just want to let you all know about that so that you don't find out about too late and then you're mad that I didn't mention on the show and then. You know people get upset with me a lot. So. |
| 01:16:29.65 | Max Shank | By the way I was just joking I ain't your mom I don't want to make your choices for you. |
| 01:16:35.34 | mikebledsoe | Ah, it's like a fake plug in front of ah, a real plug and it's like ah ah all right? Good show. Let me brother. |
| 01:16:44.48 | Max Shank | Love your brother take care. |
| 00:00.00 | mikebledsoe | Welcome back to Mondays with mike and max and help'm coming to you from mephis tennessee I went I went home for thanksgiving and that's where I'm hanging out where you at Max you're still a home I can tell on the camera. |
| 00:14.98 | Max Shank | Yeah I'm home I'm home in ents need is California. It's pretty nice here. It's winter time but I still get to go on walks with no shirt on so it's great. The sun goes down probably around four 30 I want to say. |
| 00:25.25 | mikebledsoe | The sun just goes down earlier. |
| 00:32.30 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah, I Ah um. |
| 00:34.23 | Max Shank | 35 very exciting. We're talking about the weather this is good. The the pleasant treat. Why don't you tell the folks at home. What the weather's like over there. |
| 00:41.54 | mikebledsoe | Well this is this is what happens when you master a life of ah of ah balance and get rid of all all excess the weather becomes interesting in the sun Sunset time becomes interesting. |
| 00:55.61 | Max Shank | Spare spare me your inane platitudes. Let's get down to business. |
| 01:01.77 | mikebledsoe | ah ah yeah so we do ah we want to talk about excess today. Um, and you know max and I have both experienced a lot of excess in our lives and there's a lot of benefits to it. But there's also some pitfalls and ah. We're going to dig into what those may be and how to what you can do to navigate these waters of life because I do think that we're all drawn to excess in some ways. What are some of the what are some of the ways you were drawn to excess. And your in your youth max. |
| 01:38.94 | Max Shank | Oh gosh I think it's important to have a distinction between surplus and excess which seems very similar. So for me I just always wanted a surplus of cash and. Like everybody else I wanted to be loved so I wanted love power and attention in that order which is something we've talked about a lot and I think having a surplus is a natural inclination for people. That's why. People set up retirement accounts. That's why they have a savings account That's why they get married so they can lock in their relationship and you know with excess you might eat too much food I mean I definitely did that. When I was a kid and still I just exercise enough that it doesn't matter so I'm not really overweight but when I was a kid I was fat and it was because I just ate too much food I consumed too much television and later too much video games and then. Um, it's it's just an over concentration or an imbalance in 1 area and I think it's really common because the only way you can improve your situation is to increase your means which is get more. You can reduce your needs which is needless or you can change your attitude about it and those are really the only 3 ways that I think you can improve your situation so I was hyper focused on increasing my means which is gaining more power. And early on I really just was so focused on getting more and spending less because I was living a very Spartan existence and is because I was very focused on building up that Surplus so I would eventually feel. Secure financially because that was probably the biggest insecurity I felt when I was young younger I guess. |
| 03:55.53 | mikebledsoe | Well, what? what was? Ah, What was some of the things that you were that was you build up a surplus but what what did you experience in excess I Mean well you talked about food ah video games all these types of things. Did you experience. Um, excess and fitness or anything like that. |
| 04:17.24 | Max Shank | Oh yeah, Absolutely um, crazy excess and it was because it was so positively reinforced right? people. We think we've talked about this before I would do a strong thing and people like oh yeah, we we really love it when you do this strong thing and in my head I'm like okay so this is how I get love now is I do a strong thing and then I just layer more and more on top of that without really pausing to think about the big picture. |
| 04:36.14 | mikebledsoe | Ah. |
| 04:47.39 | Max Shank | Of the life I'm trying to live So I think I was excessively concerned with how I appeared to others and that probably drove a lot of the destructive behaviors. |
| 05:00.90 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I think um I mean when when we first brought this up what I thought of was excess leads to being desensitized and putting ourselves like in extreme situations. |
| 05:12.65 | Max Shank | Um, what. |
| 05:20.94 | mikebledsoe | Repeatedly over time will desensitize us so ah, exposing yourself to extreme amounts of sugar over a period of time will desensitize your your cells to insulin and your ability to produce insulin may be reduced. Um. And you stare at the sun too long in excess your eyes will become desensitized to be ah ability to sense light and so I think that I think and then the the first thing that really came up to this I think what led to this was the talk about porn. |
| 05:58.39 | Max Shank | No. |
| 06:00.16 | mikebledsoe | And how porn can is porn in itself to me I've gotten to the point where just any porn at all seems excessive around Sexuality. So I mean if I want to say excessive. You know there's there's porn and then there's excessive porn. I'm sure it can be consumed in a way that is beneficial or helpful or maybe not so bad. But if we look at if we zoom out and look at the the whole picture of sex I think consuming porn does lead to a desensitizing of. Men and women alike I think men are more susceptible to it. Ah get deep. They get desensitized to ah just what they think a sexual experience should look like the you know. |
| 06:39.93 | Max Shank | Less imagination too. |
| 06:53.21 | mikebledsoe | You're more than likely not going to be picking up that girl that looks like the porn star you were looking at Yesterday. Ah you know, ah that you were saying ah you know the volleyball team's not going to just you know? Yeah yeah, like. |
| 07:03.30 | Max Shank | Wander into my sex dungeon. Yeah, exactly like it's just very unrealistic expectations and pornography is interesting because there's no clear definition of what it is like we don't know what it is just the same the same thing with ah addiction. We have ideas of what it is addiction. You could say is a repeated behavior that gives you an outcome that you don't want right? that could be 1 definition but there's a lot of dissent There's a lot of disagreement. About what addiction really means there's a lot of disagreement about what porn really means because I don't know if you've ever checked out the fitness hashtag on Instagram that that is like soft core pornography like that that'll get me going. No worries now. |
| 07:57.16 | mikebledsoe | That's true. Well yeah I've had ah I've had to unfollow so many people because ah I don't have the problem now because I I put a stop to it. But yeah, there's I'm on Instagram I'm following this girl and then next thing I know I'm like. |
| 07:59.93 | Max Shank | Back in my heyday. |
| 08:12.13 | mikebledsoe | Oh shit, you know I got to go finish this. It leads it leads me next thing I know I'm I'm porn up you know. |
| 08:17.71 | Max Shank | Well like you said there's a way to appreciate visual and audible stimuli. In a constructive way and there's also the shameful slow destruction of your soul as you just watch like more and more depraved stuff and frankly you know I'm not into kink shaming. You know some people really like um pottery. And some people like hooking their nipples up to a car battery and it's not for me to say which of those is like the best way to spend your leisure Time. You know what? I mean if you like what like who could who can say what you do with your leisure. But. |
| 09:09.30 | mikebledsoe | I'm with you? Well I I would say this that the longer I go without porn the more interesting My actual sex life becomes. |
| 09:16.70 | Max Shank | And I mean I don't know if you still whack off. But if you use your imagination for that. It's kind of like you're you're flexing a muscle a little bit practice practicing your imagination. |
| 09:27.77 | mikebledsoe | What do you mean flexing what flexing ah flat flexing the imagination muscle. |
| 09:34.22 | Max Shank | Yeah, exactly so rather than being dependent on this stimulus that you may or may not feel shame about and once again, like you said it's just a ah slippery slope into something that is more and more stimulating just the same way that serial. Has become more and more sugary where it started out as like oh it's honey Nut cheerios. We're going to put like a little sprinkle of honey in there and people are like yeah and then before you know it, we got cookie crisp which is a bowl of tiny cookies like how the fuck did that become cereal. |
| 09:59.60 | mikebledsoe | Oh. |
| 10:09.37 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 10:11.74 | Max Shank | And it's just like ah it's an arms race and excess is what kills most people in America there's no question about it. Excess food creates stagnation. You never have time to clear out all of the um. Energy all the sugar or the Metabolites. So the byproducts of these reactions and um excess I refer to the creation consumption ratio. So if your creation consumption ratio is just wildly out of balance. You're not going to feel a lot of authority over your own life and that's what's so fun is the word authority has the word author right in the middle there. So the more time you practice being an author. Rather than a reader you're going to feel more agency over your life too. Otherwise you're going to just be fully addicted to the dopamine machine and it sort of doesn't matter what lever you're pulling whether it's a porn lever or. A social media lever or ah, different consumable drugs. You know it's it's hard to say what's going to be more destructive for a person. Um, you're probably better off having. Ah, few cocktails every single night then spending many hours scrolling through social media and getting into the excessive comparison because now it's like if I compare my professional success and aesthetic appearance to dwayne the rock johnson. Just going to feel like ah a pile of shit every day I'm going to feel so far behind the 8 ball I'm like what am I doing but it's not natural to compare yourself against the top fraction of a percentage of mutants. Of 7 billion like it just it just makes no sense so you get in that comparison. |
| 12:24.41 | mikebledsoe | Well, you're also comparing yourself to you know photo shoots and best days you like I'm not I don't when I'm having a down day I'm not posting the fucking Instagram I'm not I'm not posting the the 7 hours I sat at my desk and ran. |
| 12:30.76 | Max Shank | Yeah, all that stuff. |
| 12:44.35 | mikebledsoe | Ran numbers to talk about. You know how cool entrepreneurship is I wait until I wait I mean I Even even I'm someone who tries to like be as real as possible on on social media. |
| 12:46.45 | Max Shank | We We should do that We should do a whole series of like the lowest moments he ah ah. |
| 13:02.50 | mikebledsoe | And I still like it's like oh yeah, I've rented this dope car and I'm driving across these cliffs and this is what entrepreneurship looks like but you know there was also 5 other days. Yeah everything I got paid for it. |
| 13:08.61 | Max Shank | That was all I did that was all I did I It was fully curated I Only showed you a specific angle of snapshots of my let the best ones too and people. We're under this idea that I was just racking up. W's every single day like it couldn't be easier I'm like doing all this amazing stuff man his whole life must be like that. It's like are you kidding me. |
| 13:38.66 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, or it's like a lot of people will go man. You're doing so many things I'm like well I'm involved with a lot of things I'm not actually doing a lot of things. Ah but I could see how that looks like it when you when you're looking online. |
| 13:55.44 | Max Shank | Well oh. |
| 13:56.93 | mikebledsoe | And yeah, you're comparing yourself to my online image again. It's yeah it won't be helpful but I like what you're saying the excess comparison because I mean avoiding comparison Altogether that's that's difficult. But. |
| 14:03.19 | Max Shank | Yeah, conversely. |
| 14:14.80 | mikebledsoe | Social media has created an experience where excess comparison is very easy and you are you are comparing yourself to the best on the planet I mean the benefit of the internet is that look when I have kids I'm not just having them learn from any math teacher. |
| 14:19.63 | Max Shank | Yeah, oh. |
| 14:33.93 | mikebledsoe | Um, probably gonna enroll them in the khan academy which is absolutely free online. Ah and have 1 of the world's best mathematics teachers teach them. It makes sense but the flip side of that is is that the excess comparison. It also is made available. |
| 14:36.19 | Max Shank | And. |
| 14:51.76 | mikebledsoe | And comparing ourselves against people who are the best in the world at a thing. |
| 14:55.58 | Max Shank | That's what allows us to do better. Um, it's kind of like the 4 minute mile. No 1 could break it no 1 could break it 1 guy broke it. He showed it was possible and because news traveled so fast. Everyone's like oh man so that's how it works. |
| 15:00.12 | mikebledsoe | M. |
| 15:12.28 | Max Shank | And the same thing's true with all kinds of stuff like you can watch hours and hours of fight film or sport film to really evaluate what the best in the world are doing I think the you know I tend to be my own harshest critic. Which is why I Also don't really care what people say because like I've already been as harsh as I can toward myself about the truth of what I'm doing well or not doing well and I think as long as you can do that in a like a kind way. |
| 15:42.23 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 15:49.72 | Max Shank | You can be kind to yourself. That's probably the best way to go about it. |
| 15:51.65 | mikebledsoe | Well I think what you're getting at what I'm hearing in all this is It's is long. You want to make sure that you're it's staying useful. So your comparison can be useful ah and and pushing you forward. |
| 16:09.74 | Max Shank | Discernment. |
| 16:10.67 | mikebledsoe | It's probably not going to create a lot of joy for you but it may create. Ah it may create drive and for for accomplishment and and whatever the things that we tend to value as ah westerners. Anyway. |
| 16:17.50 | Max Shank | Um, yeah. |
| 16:23.84 | Max Shank | I think you want to have discernment um with regard to actions rather judgment of the person and I think that would be best applied to yourself and to other people like if you. Safe something stupid which I mean I think that's happened a few times on the podcast already. Not today maybe also today I'm not saying that you're a stupid person by by Judgment. You know what? I mean but. |
| 16:55.84 | mikebledsoe | M. |
| 16:58.43 | Max Shank | Just the same way I would think that oh I said a stupid thing I wouldn't judge myself as stupid because of that you know I'm saying so it's really important you have to be discerning Otherwise you're you're like living in fantasy land and you're never evaluating behavior so you never have a chance to learn. |
| 17:02.81 | mikebledsoe | Um, well yeah, there's um. |
| 17:14.71 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, it's a gift I What I mean recording my my thoughts and then putting them online for everybody to hear talk about a personal development tool I Almost every show I leave saying you know what. |
| 17:31.52 | Max Shank | So just. |
| 17:32.25 | mikebledsoe | I'm not even sure I Really believe that thing I said or or what I said man, there's so many holes in that I haven't really I really haven't thought about it from every angle. So I like talking to somebody else on a podcast and they can poke holes and I go Wow I was running around. |
| 17:43.62 | Max Shank | And here. |
| 17:51.34 | mikebledsoe | I Actually haven't thought this all the way through or from from as many angles as I would like to if I'm going to speak about it and so ah, ah I Invest a lot of time in learning because I don't want to be. Ah, hate being wrong like people that's 1 of the things that most people almost nobody want ah as like ah the biggest 1 of the biggest fears of people is to be wrong. So with the the problem is is most people they don't want to be wrong. So bad that they'll just dig in and and. |
| 18:10.00 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 18:28.92 | mikebledsoe | Ignore any information that is going to challenge their confirmation. Bias. |
| 18:34.37 | Max Shank | They'll create a fantasy that makes their wrongness right. |
| 18:36.56 | mikebledsoe | Right? But on the other side of that like I'm I don't want to be wrong. So I got to make sure that what I say is the right thing versus trying to make the thing that I believe the right thing and convince people of it and I don't think there's any way. |
| 18:45.10 | Max Shank | And. Right. |
| 18:54.62 | mikebledsoe | You know where human nature is to do a little bit of both but there is there are some people who are really far on 1 side and then there's other people who are really putting forth conscious effort to to do it in a way that's that's actually useful and I think it's obvious when you run into those people. Because when you get talking to them. They they're what they're talking about is well fortified with with things that are hard to disagree with. |
| 19:21.21 | Max Shank | I agree complete that's part of why I like our conversation so much is we get to test out our ideas against someone who is fairly objective but also pretty kind about it so you don't feel like we're in a dangerous place. We're going to judge each other personally which it feels safe to me like I don't go fuck. Ah, what's interesting. You mentioned before whenever I've released anything. |
| 19:41.25 | mikebledsoe | It's a safe space. |
| 19:54.66 | Max Shank | Whenever I've finished a podcast whenever I've finished and sent out a book whenever I've completed a course I've never come away thinking that was perfect. My very first response is like going through an inventory. All the stuff that I messed up all the stuff that I wish I had done differently. What I wish I had included what I wish I had excluded and I think that's a big part of what makes you better. It can go too far though. So. |
| 20:27.36 | mikebledsoe | Well this is this I mean I I teach people how to do this most people are so afraid of looking bad that and looking like they're wrong that they they won't ever launch their their coaching program or their course. |
| 20:43.60 | Max Shank | Man. |
| 20:46.21 | mikebledsoe | Or whatever it is and I think 1 of the benefits that I've had I imagine you're similar in this way because I I know this is just um, ah an attribute that a lot of successful people have is it's 80 percent good enough. So I'm going to launch it and so I think. |
| 21:00.20 | Max Shank | Um, right. |
| 21:04.57 | mikebledsoe | Most people and whether it's 1 hundred percent or 80 percent is likely a feeling because there's too many variables to be able to say you know you either feel like it's right or you feel like it's not. It's it's hard to come up with objective. Um, ah. |
| 21:12.23 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 21:23.60 | mikebledsoe | An objective measure of the quality of a content or whatever, especially when it's coming from yourself. So so what I like is like look get it 80 percent there as soon as it feels like 80 percent launch it. But after that continue to improve it. There's no reason to just. |
| 21:25.58 | Max Shank | I Think that. |
| 21:41.68 | mikebledsoe | Let it be but don't not launch it until you know, don't wait till it 1 hundred percent to launch. It. So like I spent the last ten months rewriting all the curriculum for the strong coach and it it is much much better, much much better for having done that. But I will finish the upgrade by the end of the year so I will have spent 1 year upgrading the content and I won't need to teach touch it for 2 or 3 now that I've done it to this degree? yeah. |
| 22:14.89 | Max Shank | Unless you learn something new wishful which will likely happen and I think that's part of the reason that's part of the reason I bring it up too because. |
| 22:21.50 | mikebledsoe | Definitely gonna happen. but but I even wait I will learn something new I won't I won't go in there and change it immediately. All I'll wait 6 months I want to I want to learn like 3 new things before I go and update all my curriculum because it changes. |
| 22:26.72 | Max Shank | Great. |
| 22:33.53 | Max Shank | Right? You don't need to have a third edition just because you learned 1 new paragraph I think the reason I bring this up is people get the idea that my stuff is like really good. |
| 22:38.49 | mikebledsoe | Oh. |
| 22:51.65 | Max Shank | The courses, the books, the videos the podcasts that I do um but the reality is I've never felt like perfectly happy with it once I've let it out there so kind of just know that going in. That you're not going to be like oh now it's perfectly ready and don't don't buy into this fantasy that once you do launch it that you're gonna be like ah Perfect. It's It's exactly perfect I'll never need to look back at that Again. So So don't kid yourself into thinking. It's gonna work out. Exactly Perfect. You will think of things that you wish you had done differently and that's just the nature of how it goes even when things on paper go crazy good like thousands of buyers. Ah you know, basically no refunds. |
| 23:47.80 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 23:47.64 | Max Shank | That kind of thing. |
| 23:57.72 | Max Shank | Some excessive silence here for a podcast. |
| 24:03.17 | mikebledsoe | Ah I mean if you don't if you don't remember it it. Ah I got the software set up to cut out the the long pauses. |
| 24:08.78 | Max Shank | Oh not I Remember. So what do you think? excess food from here. |
| 24:19.33 | mikebledsoe | Well, you know I I um I wanted to circle back on something you said earlier which is being the the author you know Authority has the word author in it and I think that there is a. |
| 24:28.82 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 24:38.74 | mikebledsoe | Ah, in excess of outsourcing your authority and when I think about author I mean 1 1 way people could look at it is. You're the author of the story of your life that seems a bit conceptual I like it. But. |
| 24:54.26 | Max Shank | I Want man. |
| 24:56.80 | mikebledsoe | It's it. You know when you say that to someone like oh yeah, yeah, I'm the author of my life. But. |
| 25:00.23 | Max Shank | Well, you get to put this you You are the spin doctor. You are the propagandist of your own life. You know So I think it is. It's the frame of the picture right? You remember things a certain way. But that's based on how you color. |
| 25:07.44 | mikebledsoe | Totally. |
| 25:17.78 | mikebledsoe | Well, this is what I want to point out is that what does an author do an author just doesn't tell stories an author writes they take pen to paper or they they type word and they write the story out and. |
| 25:18.54 | Max Shank | Those experiences right. |
| 25:30.62 | Max Shank | Yeah. |
| 25:37.28 | mikebledsoe | Ah, most people don't take the time to write out their story. They'll dream up their story and from what I can tell is if you leave your authorship up to just what's happening in your own mind and you're not. |
| 25:41.14 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 25:54.62 | mikebledsoe | Putting a lot of symbols outside of yourself by you know, writing then you're going to be more subject to other people's authorship. You're going to be more susceptible outside Authority because the the you know who who? ah. |
| 26:05.49 | Max Shank | Totally. |
| 26:14.30 | mikebledsoe | Are the best best authors on the planet that they they their their authorship creates the most power they have the most power as authors. |
| 26:17.10 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 26:24.43 | Max Shank | Um, I would say either lawyers or ah, the media people who are yeah. |
| 26:30.60 | mikebledsoe | Yeah Lawyers I would say lawyers because they they will write something down. They'll create a law and then people will have to follow it. Not only that they convince these these lawmakers slash policymakers they convinced these these police. These policy enforcers to be willing to kill people in order to enforce this law that they authored they authored it out of opinion. They wrote it down and then they convinced a ah segment of the population. |
| 26:56.75 | Max Shank | Right. |
| 27:07.69 | mikebledsoe | That it's okay for them to go out there and enforce this on enforce other people. |
| 27:08.32 | Max Shank | And that's where the media comes into play right? because they need to um, put it to a vote in the court of public opinion for people to have a positive frame of mind around it in order for it to to get through. |
| 27:21.56 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well, that's how they that's how you got to let people know about the laws you got to let them know about it somehow and the the news is here just to inform you about what is and ah. |
| 27:25.75 | Max Shank | Right? Because they're moonline. |
| 27:34.30 | Max Shank | I Know you don't believe that but it just sounds so chilling anyway. |
| 27:41.82 | mikebledsoe | Ah, so it's um, so. |
| 27:44.48 | Max Shank | The news is to get you to think not only a certain way but it's to distract you from thinking about a different way and that's that's probably the worst part about it is. There's an excess of data points. You know. |
| 27:52.43 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 28:01.59 | Max Shank | We're basically fixed on what we can focus on and every day there's something new and it's tugging at your emotions and the people get played like a fiddle. So I don't give any credence to what people believe I understand that they might feel a certain way. But the fact of the matter is that people are are told what to think about and that is actually maybe even more sinister than being told what to think it's like hey this happened so you should think this way about it like the the main thing is hey everyone think about this today. Everyone think about this today hey think about 1 dude who died in a state that you don't live in. You're like wait. What like that's what we're talking about that's what everyone is talking about that is insanity. |
| 28:52.26 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, the amount of focus that they're able to bring so many people's awareness into into a single focus while while the entire world. There's other things happening and then only that bring your focus on something that actually doesn't matter to you. |
| 29:00.80 | Max Shank | Ah, hope. |
| 29:07.99 | Max Shank | And it's so it's excessive new things and it's excessive focus on things that don't really matter because if we were trying to think about what matters politically there are only 2 things that matter who's in charge and what's the extent of their authority and everything else is total bullshit. |
| 29:09.90 | mikebledsoe | It's not impacting your life. |
| 29:27.52 | Max Shank | I would feel really comfortable arguing that point with just about anybody quite frankly, but all of these other little little nitpicky things like doesn't matter. It's just ah, an illusion. It's a smokescreen. It's a distraction. It's misdirection. |
| 29:30.33 | mikebledsoe | What. |
| 29:41.48 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, well we have an think people are more susceptible I mean the propaganda is interesting because what we have like if you if you look at old propaganda people who wrote about propaganda decades ago. Um. There's 1 guy can't remember his name right now he said true propaganda can only exist in a country where ah like a place like North korea where they have total control over information. |
| 30:12.77 | Max Shank | What's the difference between propaganda and true propaganda I don't know you're saying the only place that true propaganda can exist is a place like North korea. |
| 30:15.69 | mikebledsoe | What do you mean? Oh true, but where where where they where they have absolute control over how you're gonna think what you're gonna think about oh we do? Well what I'm saying is like this was during a time where. |
| 30:27.44 | Max Shank | You don't think we have that in America you don't think that. |
| 30:35.65 | mikebledsoe | Um, where they were doing a lot of comparison I think this was like this is probably ah propaganda to get you to believe that communism is is worse. Um, which I think it is but the yeah exactly. |
| 30:37.18 | Max Shank | Ah. |
| 30:49.15 | Max Shank | It's worse for everybody except the people in charge. |
| 30:53.62 | mikebledsoe | The did you know that Jackie chan is a communist. He's he's part of the ccp he is chinese yeah. |
| 30:58.40 | Max Shank | He's Chinese right? You got basically no choice I don't know what I don't know what he actually believes but the incentive to not be disappeared is probably pretty tremendous. So. |
| 31:03.22 | mikebledsoe | Ah, yeah, but but but he but he but he could but he could have he? yeah. Ah. |
| 31:14.44 | Max Shank | Like if I were chinese guess what I would be a communist too like hey and and hey look just in case things go south. Yeah yeah, and just look just in in case things go south here in America I just want our soon to be overlords to know that I believed in them the whole time and I swear my fealty to you. |
| 31:18.85 | mikebledsoe | Ah, you'd be the best communist. |
| 31:34.33 | Max Shank | You know, whatever it takes look I Knew you guys could do it. Ah. |
| 31:34.42 | mikebledsoe | Um, I was over here. You know I was helping out over here the whole time you couldn't see it. But yeah. |
| 31:41.61 | Max Shank | If you compare to different parts of history like I don't know that that's the funny thing is there are um places in America where it's like really harsh to live and I was talking to someone the other day and they were talking to me. About my childhood and their face was 1 of like pity and sadness because they knew me growing up and they knew what my childhood was like and I don't think of it that way I think of I think of myself as like pretty lucky guy because I compare it to well. |
| 32:09.52 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 32:18.95 | Max Shank | You know there are some villages in Africa where twice a year they steal all the children you know like warlords just come in and steal all the children and and I'm thinking to myself. Yeah, like you know I wasn't so bad to to help out with the rent when I was twelve you know what I mean it's like it's. |
| 32:31.56 | mikebledsoe | Right? I mean yeah, a lot of people will say that's a yeah, well some people say that sad. But what's the long term benefit of that like who that that formed who you became yeah I was roofing houses when I was like 1213 |
| 32:36.12 | Max Shank | It's not so it's all what you compare to. |
| 32:40.82 | Max Shank | Who knows who knows it's too. It's too early to tell like the yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's like dude the the whole concept of like giving a ah like 6 year old the grade of an f right? like it's. Oh that kid's failing like we don't know what that kid's gonna grow up and do like we have no clue he his his head isn't even hard yet like he's still got a fucking soft skull like Jesus christ people like we we just try to you know we. |
| 33:03.58 | mikebledsoe | Bright. |
| 33:10.49 | mikebledsoe | That's not even are yeah. |
| 33:20.16 | Max Shank | Excessively Homogenize and that's why we always end up with a worse result and the more you allow people ah just trying to like push everybody into the same square mold because it fits better. |
| 33:25.54 | mikebledsoe | Can can you explain a homogenous what homogenized means for everybody. |
| 33:36.41 | Max Shank | Like that's what school does it teaches you to be obedient and to fit in not necessarily um how to live the best life for yourself. How to understand learning how to understand value versus values. |
| 33:50.62 | mikebledsoe | Well that there's an analogy to this would be ah say homogenized milk like the the milk that you go buy at the store you go to the grocery store in America and you go get the 2 percent or the whole milk. Whatever it is that's homogenized. |
| 33:55.21 | Max Shank | Exactly. |
| 34:01.54 | Max Shank | I hope. |
| 34:06.48 | mikebledsoe | That that milk was taken from a lot of the the same type of genetically modified cows and put into the 1 big vat and mixed all together. You're not getting. You're not getting milk from 1 specific cow and the homogenization that ah coupled with pasteurization which is trying to kill all the germs. |
| 34:13.40 | Max Shank | My. |
| 34:26.90 | mikebledsoe | Has basically made milk undigestible to so many most people. But if you if you what would be the opposite ah hetero Zeni is that or heterogenous. Horogen is out of ah, no, That's not the right word. Um, now that the the opposite of that being? Yeah yeah, individual variable um, is gonna create like my more biodiversity. |
| 34:47.59 | Max Shank | I Don't know probably just variable. Yeah different unique. |
| 35:00.76 | mikebledsoe | If you're consuming that milk it me I healthier So like I liked it and it might be but that whole huge vat might be poison too and the difference. |
| 35:02.70 | Max Shank | And it might be poisoned and it might be poisoned. True. But if you but if you boil it 10 times. It won't be and that's that's kind of the argument for trying to make things as safe as possible rather than as free as possible and that's an argument a lot of people. Ah. |
| 35:21.14 | mikebledsoe | Well should we talk about excess safety excess safety versus excess freedom. Ah. |
| 35:27.66 | Max Shank | Like. |
| 35:32.37 | mikebledsoe | Ah, Max has beaten his head against the microphone. |
| 35:38.32 | Max Shank | Out it that that's like I get it. We can think so far into the future that we're like. And need to get my four ah 1 k I need to get my ira I need to get married I need to do this I want to lock in and secure the future and we're so obsessed with that because we're manic paranoid fuckers and I understand the sensation because I also tend to take a. 30000 foot view and look at the big picture and try to project really far forward into the future. So I can avoid traps and also find the greatest treasures that will give me whatever I think will give me fulfillment even though fulfillment is probably more of an attitude. That you have here and now and just thanking your lucky stars that you made it this far but there is that quote that says people who trade freedom for security will lose both and deserve neither I think it is Benjamin franklin it might be Thomas jefferson but i. |
| 36:43.21 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I mean it's a Benjamin franklin. Yeah yeah, those get those guys were all writing a lot of letters to each other and those those are some very interesting letters. |
| 36:51.61 | Max Shank | It's 1 of those guys those. You know what's fascinating about that whole situation is right before the declaration of independence got signed like months before the vast majority of those guys had every intention to stay with England. And as I understand it it was because of Thomas paine writing common sense that flipped them over the edge and started getting them to think about what it's like to be the authority of your own life instead of accepting that authority from outside. |
| 37:27.28 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 37:34.50 | Max Shank | And if we want to talk about security or safety versus freedom I think it's important to recognize that weak people are going to be the most susceptible to that. Because not only will they accept whatever abuse their ah savior brings them. They will also feel justified in weakening their neighbors so that they will feel more safe. |
| 38:06.62 | mikebledsoe | Oh. |
| 38:09.38 | Max Shank | And and that's what's really sinister about it right? like it's 1 thing to be weak yourself, but it's another thing to vote to basically rape your neighbor because you are not strong enough yourself and that's why they they weaken people divide and conquer and people. Feel more fragmented less United. It's very very interesting. We could explore the psychology of that but it does just throw people right into. Ah the phrase limbic hijack. So you just get thrown into your lizard brain where all you care about is safety and you. Can't use your mammalian brain which is love and community or your neocortex which is big picture thinking and problem solving and that's that's 1 of the evils of the propaganda as it takes you out of your wizard. |
| 38:54.67 | mikebledsoe | Yeah, yeah. |
| 39:04.44 | Max Shank | Brain the neocortex and just pumps you into the lizard brain. |
| 39:07.42 | mikebledsoe | Well Ah, what? what came up for me is thinking about ah people who who value safety. Um, when people are being sold safety outside from outside and someone else is going to provide the safety I think I think providing. |
| 39:21.62 | Max Shank | Where. |
| 39:26.20 | mikebledsoe | Putting a lot of attention and and having a surplus of safety built up that you're responsible for that you you have control over you know this may be having a certain amount of money in the bank gold bars in your safe guns Ammo Seeds land. All those things. |
| 39:31.50 | Max Shank | M. |
| 39:45.69 | mikebledsoe | Ah, that is that safety when I but but the problem is is that's hard. That's it takes work to do that. You have to you have to think for yourself. You have to learn new things. Ah, and you do have to think ahead. |
| 39:56.16 | Max Shank | It's really hard. |
| 40:04.77 | mikebledsoe | But then somebody comes along says you know what I got you I got these guys that are policy enforcers they'll make sure that no 1 robs. It kills you. You know what? if if you run out of money I got you I'll give you some money. Ah, and. |
| 40:05.88 | Max Shank | I got it. |
| 40:19.71 | Max Shank | Um. |
| 40:23.86 | mikebledsoe | You know what? if you run out of money and food then you know what? ah you can at least get milk and bread homogenized though homogenized. So ah, it's and I think that's what Benjamin franklin was getting at with you know, it's not actually safety when someone else is providing you safety that rug can be pulled out from you. |
| 40:28.85 | Max Shank | So. |
| 40:43.77 | mikebledsoe | Underneath you in any moment because it's not yours. Yeah, yeah, so I think that what ah people really desire to be is anti-fragile and so to me. |
| 40:47.32 | Max Shank | It's dependence versus Independence That's all. |
| 41:03.26 | mikebledsoe | That is where ah true safety lies and so's to be Anti-fragile there's 2 things that I see have to be available and that is planning for the future in a way that you understand that there are things that we can do. To to mitigate risk and at the same time hold adaptability and be able to change in the moment and ah to me That's what leads to a good Anti-fagile state and that's what people actually want but they're so unaware of how to. Create anti-fragile systems in their life that it is like you know what just fuck it. This is a ah complex issue I'll outsource that. |
| 41:47.36 | Max Shank | Well, it's about exposure that's the key word I think because you can either expose yourself to stress and become more adaptable to the stress that will come in life or you can. Reduce the exposure and what happens if you reduce the exposure is eventually you end up in a tiny lockbox you completely eliminate exposure So at the extreme ends you have training. Um. Injecting yourself with small amounts of poison. So that if just in case, you're poisoned. You will have built up ah an immunity to it and then on the other hand you have I'm never going to touch dirt I'm never going to leave my house I'm only going to drink homogenized milk. |
| 42:33.84 | mikebledsoe | A. |
| 42:44.55 | Max Shank | That is provided to me by someone else. So I'm not going to expose myself to any risk whatsoever and it works better if people get to assume their own risk because you need to have the um. Person who is making the choice ah suffer or experience those consequences and that's when you get the most evil shit is when the person making the choices is not experiencing the consequences case in point. Um. People who vote on what crime and punishment or laws are to be in place for our medical system. Don't use that creation. They use something separate that is better right? So You shouldn't have. |
| 43:37.50 | mikebledsoe | E. |
| 43:41.89 | Max Shank | Ah, bridge build like in in ancient Rome I think we talked about it if you were a bridge builder soon as the bridge is Done. You sit down underneath the bridge while they drive shit over it because you need to have the incentive and the risk and the choice. Like all in the right place and yeah, exactly oh I Actually really like because we we probably talked to a lot of coaches. Also the difference between support and Accountability. So accountability. |
| 44:01.74 | mikebledsoe | It's accountability Ultimate accountability. Yeah. |
| 44:17.16 | Max Shank | If I'm a coach and I want to provide you with support that means I'm going to answer your questions if I want to provide you with accountability that means I'm going to ask you questions and I think both of those are super valuable. So the difference between support. |
| 44:27.72 | mikebledsoe | But e. |
| 44:33.81 | Max Shank | And accountability from a coaching standpoint I think is really useful. |
| 44:36.78 | mikebledsoe | I Like that like that distinction I was also thinking about ah you you you were going off on stress and I got me thinking about excess stress ah and ah stress in excess is called distress. |
| 44:47.79 | Max Shank | Oh. |
| 44:55.94 | mikebledsoe | And the ah the stress that's actually beneficial that is going to provide you with enough stimulus that you can adapt to and learn would be u-stress and so I really like to keep that in mind when I'm training or when I'm learning a new skill or I'm. I'm doing anything in my business and ah 1 really good sign to see if you're in excess of stress is how you're breathing. So if you find yourself holding your breath a lot. You can be sitting at your computer running some numbers if you're holding your breath. You're experiencing distress. Your. |
| 45:25.74 | Max Shank | Um, normally. |
| 45:35.69 | mikebledsoe | You're not pumping out the hormones and and neurotransmitters that are conducive to learning. But if you're breathing nice and slow and you know semi-deep you're you're going to be your body's going to be filled with neurotransmitters hormones that. Are conducive to learning new skills and staying sharp and and not getting too much tunnel vision. So you you can hold the big picture while while focusing in on something. So I I Want to put that out. There is just like a that's something. That's that's useful that you can check in with yourself. If you're if you're experiencing ah that that excess of stress that's 1 way to figure it out and there to me. There's a way of expanding that that zone of youres ah or or the growth zone and that is by expanding your capacity to stay calm in the midst Of. Of chaos. |
| 46:33.46 | Max Shank | That's what I was just going to say is the skill is really being relaxed under stress and the more you expose yourself to it and dose it appropriately the more. |
| 46:37.96 | mikebledsoe | Yeah. |
| 46:49.19 | Max Shank | Effective. You will be the more resilient you will be the more useful. You will be people want to be useful you know and if you're weak and dependent. You're not useful and that might sound kind of harsh. But you're really, you're not doing any faith doing anyone any favors. |
| 47:07.16 | mikebledsoe | What. |
| 47:09.14 | Max Shank | In fact, in our current culture. You're you're really harming people. |
| 47:13.46 | mikebledsoe | Yeah I think that that is the job of that that is 1 of the definitions I like to identify and define. What makes an adult 1 of my definitions is you're able to parent yourself. You're either. |
| 47:27.76 | Max Shank | Any independent. |
| 47:31.41 | mikebledsoe | You're you're able to mother and father yourself emotionally but also physically in the world but the other part of being an adult your job as an adult and it doesn't mean that if you haven't done if you haven't found the thing. But if you're on the path to finding a thing that. Is most useful like it's it's your job as an adult like a true adult that's contributing to society. They have made it their job to be Useful. You know where am I most useful in the world where am I most useful to society if if you were useful. Um, so useful that people in ways that other people find valuable. They're going to give you a lot of money for it and so I think that a lot of people who ah are struggling with money. They really just. |
| 48:13.94 | Max Shank | Further. |
| 48:25.17 | mikebledsoe | They're usually focused on themselves in a way and they're not actually focused on how they can be most most useful and and if you want to have a lot of money be useful at things at really expensive things be useful at things that people find incredibly valuable. So. Either solve a big problem for a few people or solve um a small problem for millions of people or billions of people and it really to me. That's the question I ask myself over time is is this the most useful use of my time for me is it the most useful. What? Ah, what are my my talents. My strengths my skills that are most useful to society. How can I contribute how can I package this in a way that I find to be beneficial and other people find beneficial too and I think that that leads to more of that that peace and contentment. |
| 49:19.56 |