Info

The Bledsoe Show

The show formerly known as "Bledsopia" On this podcast, you’ll learn from thought leaders who are dedicating their lives to being a positive force for your physical, psycho-emotional and spiritual health. Your host, Mike Bledsoe, seeker of truth & perpetual student, spotlights premier thought leaders in the fields of emotional & intellectual expansion, behavior change, sexuality & alternative medicine that empower you with the tools and inspiration to transform your mind, body, & spirit. Every week, this is your opportunity to get downloads from exceptional people that will guide you to the connections between your own source, to live your best life & enjoy the process.
RSS Feed
The Bledsoe Show
2023
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August


2020
November
October
September
July
June
May
April
March
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: 2022
May 5, 2022

From drug-addict to successful entrepreneur, turned husband, father, and a deeply vulnerable man leading other men to lives of freedom…

 

Listen in for a Masterclass on Emotional Awareness from Michael Cazayoux and become a better human today

Apr 28, 2022

Are you still questioning the validity of crypto, NFTs, DeFi, and more?

 

If so, it’s not too late. In fact, you’re still early…

 

Listen in to this week's episode with Aleks Rybchinskiy to discover why it’s finally time you took decentralized currencies seriously

Apr 25, 2022

00:00.00

mikebledsoe

Welcome to Monday morning with Mike and max and today we're gonna be talking about how to make better decisions using using vision values and boundaries and I'll tell you what we've already gotten into some interesting conversation before we fired up the mics and that's why we decided we need to just get this show started right now because we were getting. Often to some interesting weeds because we'll probably talk about genetics as well. How you doing max.

00:25.52

Max Shank

I'm doing good man I'm excited to talk about this I think that the more wealth you get the more time you can spend and the less overall decisions. You must make. Ah, investing is a good example of that where you have a really high amount of Leverage. So Every decision is very significant and the precision. Ah and accuracy of those decisions is amplified because a small error one way or the other can really. Increase the cost and reduce the benefit. So all the way from deciding what to pull out of the fridge to eat and deciding which company to invest to and which partner to Choose. It's the most important thing ever and a lot of things influence your decision making.

01:15.34

mikebledsoe

Yeah, one of the things that brought this up for me is I I have this whole. Ah I have a lot of momentum in my life to travel and there's a lot of events and ah. I I started to notice that I desire to attend less and less things and spend more time at home and really honing in on what's really important and what's not important in getting into these conversations with my girlfriend and really noticing you know. You know if you have no vision and you're trying to make decisions then you're really doomed to the momentum of the past you're not gonna create anything new Consciously. So well, there's 2 factors here. You're you're gonna repeat the past and. And the patterns of the past. But also you're way more susceptible to other people's visions. So if somebody else is intentionally creating a vision and you're being impacted by that and you've created no vision whatsoever for yourself then you you probably won't even notice. That you they you may wonder how did I get to this place in my life. Well you it was a mixture of repeating your your historical patterns and the historical patterns of others and the intentional vision of others as well.

02:45.94

Max Shank

It doesn't sound good. That's for sure. ah ah I totally relate on the traveling thing as you know I traveled like an absolute maniac for many years

02:51.43

mikebledsoe

Ah, don't be a sucker.

03:04.96

Max Shank

I think I was like ah like a street cred Conquistador I would go to different cities around the world and I would teach the Holy Gospel of whatever I knew at the time and pretend like it was this. Massive Authority and people responded favorably to that which was so weird I can't I can't explain what that shift was like because I rose up so fast from being a personal trainer. Going to attend certifications to being only a couple years older and teaching those certifications and I was just trying to grab as much alphaness and street cred and want people to love Me. Maybe even Adoration I think.

03:58.82

mikebledsoe

I got there I think.

04:00.43

Max Shank

And right and that was what I saw as the best model the people who were the best in health and fitness industry were the ones who wrote the books and flew around the world teaching seminars and. I've always been one to ah hit the eject button really fast as soon as the appropriate catalyst is there so I went from 20 to 30 trips a year flying and teaching all over to 0 within one weekend. Just chose I was like wow I don't think I actually like this I just want people to like me more than other people. How greedy does that sound I want people to like me way more than other people. So I'm going to keep sacrificing whatever i. Actually want to do and might have fun with and might be ah sustainable or I can you know keep doing this thing where I I just hope people will love me if I do it good enough.

05:11.55

mikebledsoe

Yeah, oh what's your relationship to compliments.

05:16.64

Max Shank

Ah I would have to get one first but ah I would imagine if someone did give me a compliment I would deflect it I would deflect it humorously.

05:27.62

mikebledsoe

Max you're you're so you not. So would you say maybe you you started getting compliments and you you didn't like it.

05:38.27

Max Shank

Um I started feeling exposed ah like people would just it was so weird, almost everywhere I go people would recognize me like on the street or in a store and that was a.

05:42.20

mikebledsoe

Ah, by right? You're getting more attention and you felt exposed.

05:53.95

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

05:58.50

Max Shank

Was a total mind fuck and I'm I'm like in the big scheme of things compared to Bill Murray or something like that I'm nobody but just being recognized when you think you're a stranger in a crowd it. It was a total mind fuck I mean I didn't.

06:16.23

mikebledsoe

You're not yes.

06:17.10

Max Shank

It wasn't like harmful that part but I had to fortunately I had the luxury to reevaluate how I wanted to live my life and I realized I I didn't want to be hustling around on planes and in and out of hotels and so.

06:33.57

mikebledsoe

So yeah, what? what? ah was can you think of what what created that because usually there's sometime of real a birthday.

06:36.18

Max Shank

The boundary came up really fast and I've.

06:43.49

Max Shank

Is Birth Birth is birthday I do some good introspection around birthdays and I I went to the Bahamas with a good friend of mine and it was no I didn't work at all. And it was that was rare and I just hung out on the beach and I ran around and played games and went on water slides I was like wow this is this is really fun and it's not because ah you know later I'll get more if I do a good job.

07:19.33

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

07:22.32

Max Shank

It was just fun. Yeah, so.

07:28.69

Max Shank

You know what catalyst means something that causes or accelerates a reaction without changing and I thought that was really I just looked this up the other day.

07:32.83

mikebledsoe

No no.

07:42.88

mikebledsoe

Would that be like ah an enzyme that that would would cause the change but maintains its own attributes. Interesting.

07:46.54

Max Shank

Exactly. Yeah, and I had never known that before and it was such a cool thing because I realized that's what I would Ah, that's how I would like to do things ah from ah. I would say from a teaching perspective but that's not really the full story because actually one of the best things about teaching is that you do ah become changed quite a lot from the different variety of students that you interact with yeah.

08:20.16

mikebledsoe

But I've learned more teaching never did from sitting in a room. Yeah.

08:25.63

Max Shank

So it so it doesn't really make sense that way but I definitely think the concept of a catalyst is really cool. It's like you don't have to give some of yourself and diminish yourself so that you can create that reaction again.

08:27.99

mikebledsoe

I think I think being a.

08:35.23

mikebledsoe

Totally, there's ah, there's a conversation we have in my strong coach curriculum early on which is creating distinctions so you have you have definitions of words but you also have distinctions and that means that. And the reason we have those is because in in our society people tend to collapse the definitions of 2 words because they don't actually know the definitions and they don't create a distinction between the two and we talk about service and sacrifice and how that's a very common collapse distinction in the.

08:59.46

Max Shank

Right.

09:09.83

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

09:13.33

mikebledsoe

Entrepreneurial world. Um, it's it's ah if you look at the different cat The you know the the Us caste system. You know we got our different classes of people and so the the blue collar class which is what.

09:29.31

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

09:31.88

mikebledsoe

But I came from is the service and sacrifice are almost sine synonymous right? and they ah they get those words are interchanged. You know part of that's part of that's a.

09:37.77

Max Shank

And.

09:51.30

mikebledsoe

Probably due to christianity and you know Jesus Christ as as the servant that made the greatest sacrifice I imagine that's put together. Also, if also if.

09:53.61

Max Shank

Yeah.

10:02.52

Max Shank

It's a more compelling story. It's a more compelling So story if you sacrifice yourself. Um I don't think it's a healthy attitude. But I think a lot of people are under the impression that if you are wounded in some way in the service of others. Then you get a little bit more street cred and it it does make a more compelling story.

10:23.56

mikebledsoe

There's there's it's it's noble and you should be proud and that's yeah, so it this what I notice after working you know digging around at a bunch of people's minds.

10:27.93

Max Shank

A martyr.

10:39.52

mikebledsoe

And I've worked with people who ah, most of the people I've worked with come from a blue collar background or their parents were in some way and a handful of people who grew up in homes where you know, ah the relationship to money was very different. The the way they lived. Their lives were very different things were.

10:57.89

Max Shank

A.

10:57.93

mikebledsoe

Little easier and they don't have that collapse distinction. They they go Oh this is service and the sacrifice these are different things I've I've taught people this before and in a room and some people are like yeah duh. It's like oh tell me about how you grew up. Okay, oh someone who's.

11:08.19

Max Shank

Man.

11:14.54

Max Shank

No.

11:17.36

mikebledsoe

Who goes Oh my God that was a huge exercise for me. It's like oh how did you grow up interesting here and so also if you're if you're somebody who's in power. So say you're you're running a country or something like that if you can convince the lower class people that. Must sacrifice in order to be of service and if you're not being of service then you're a leech on society and you don't feel good about yourself If You're not sacrificing So It's a really good story to tell in order to get people to enlist in the military.. It's a really good story to tell.

11:42.93

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

11:55.87

mikebledsoe

People to sign up for all sorts of jobs where you may lose your life or a limb or is incredibly demanding of your time and energy. And yeah, it's the more I've dug into this the more. Disgusting. It seems in some ways. Um, if it's being used intentionally now if it's if this is just like the unintentional use of language over time and so on and so Forth. Then you know there's you know there's there's intentional use of it.

12:15.73

Max Shank

It is.

12:24.80

Max Shank

Um.

12:32.90

mikebledsoe

Which would be considered Evil There's the the ignorance. Maybe they're just being ignorant is ignorant use of it. Which means that you know ignorance and laziness go hand in hand because Ignorance is ah the activity of ignoring. So The the. Information is present but you choose to ignore it because it's uncomfortable and lazy people tend to avoid discomfort and then and then you yeah I mean well well, there's.

12:52.93

Max Shank

Ah.

13:03.87

Max Shank

Doesn't everybody devoid Avoid discomfort though I mean I don't want people to have a complex if they feel lazy Lazy is the natural state lazy and ignorant are the instinctual states which I think we can talk about more later.

13:10.96

mikebledsoe

Well, there's well, there's well, there's I agree. Totally totally totally. So then you have so you have intentional. You have ignorant and then and then you have just nation.

13:20.95

Max Shank

Yeah.

13:28.65

mikebledsoe

Which means that you just have not been exposed to the information at all and so I like that create distinctions between nations and or nasance and and ignorance because ignorance is you've been presented with the information and you've ignored it. So.

13:31.73

Max Shank

Right.

13:44.37

Max Shank

Um, that's so interesting I bet a lot of people think of ignorant as they don't know which is different than ignore and like you're ignoring as an active choice I I think that's ah, really interesting. You bring that up.

13:46.62

mikebledsoe

Of. Yeah, yeah, or it. Yeah. Exactly.

14:04.37

Max Shank

I bet because I used to use ignorant that way too like oh I was ignorant like I didn't know but it's more that I knew and ignored it that is a huge shift in that word. Huge.

14:08.77

mikebledsoe

Well here's the other thing is ah huge huge difference and a lot of people are ignoring things that they'll claim their nation to like oh I just didn't know it's like no that that was sitting there. You know there was.

14:21.25

Max Shank

Got it I didn't know. Yeah.

14:28.20

mikebledsoe

So like it's like walking into a room and there's ah, there's an elephant in the corner and you're for some reason you just don't notice it. It's like no it. It's been sitting there. Yeah talking about the elephant in the room right? that some people are surprised. Yeah, people are surprised by it.

14:37.37

Max Shank

Right? And how do you choose? What information is significant because you have to yeah so you might be ignorant with the best of intentions right? thinking? Oh that's not important right? that's.

14:48.50

mikebledsoe

For instance, the last the last two years with the best of intentions.

14:56.37

Max Shank

Where you and I ah like we come across that word evil and so my guess is there are lots of people in the world. Ah, who are real busybodies and they think that if they can just kill 1000000000 they'll save the other 6000000000 or some some kind of fraction.

14:59.19

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

15:15.12

Max Shank

Like that I don't know look that seems and here's the thing here's that no, we'll just kill. Ah, one of them like an unceremonious random one because if you truly believe if you have the power and you truly believe.

15:15.48

mikebledsoe

Will we'll kill the 6 bad ones or the one bat about 1000000000 bad people.

15:34.82

Max Shank

That the world is totally fucked unless you do something you're going to feel a lot of pain all day every day until you resolve that problem and if you have in your mind only a couple choices you'll say do I Let all.

15:52.67

mikebledsoe

And I got I got multiple phone I got multiple phone calls. Let me let me pause this I got a potential emergency.

15:53.29

Max Shank

The whole planet die or do I kill 1000000000 people

16:00.50

Max Shank

Okay, all right? So basically we have this kind of a situation. We have people who are thinking that they must save the world because they really believe the world or all of humanity itself will be destroyed. They have the power to enact the changes that they think will make that difference and they are faced with a choice of let's say kill 1000000000 to save the other six I can understand why they would a do it and b. Not think themselves. Evil.

16:39.82

mikebledsoe

Yeah, this ah have you ever watched cloud atlas with Tom Hanks oh man 1 of my favorite movies of all time. Yeah, it's a long one. It's like three and half hours it it didn't get a lot of attention when it came out because.

16:45.75

Max Shank

No oh really, that's cool. Ah.

16:59.90

mikebledsoe

It's deeply philosophical and you have to pay attention to what's going on for a long period of time so you have to have an attention span which means that you know almost nobody saw it and ah yeah. Yeah there's just a part in the movie where it's it's all about like people controlling other groups of people and oppressing other people and it was highlighting and it's and it's many different timelines. It's like something that was happening five hundred years ago and something else that was happening.

17:24.78

Max Shank

That's human culture in a nutshell.

17:33.65

Max Shank

The.

17:36.50

mikebledsoe

You know something was happening in the 70 s something was happening currently. There's some and then it's the it's 300 years in the future and there's these different timelines that are all over like the the energy and the patterns were overlapping and basically there was a ah.

17:41.55

Max Shank

Ah.

17:55.28

mikebledsoe

Period of time where they were looking at when there were slaves there was you know white people were enslaving black people and all that and you know there's a a part in the movie where you know it's like hey we should probably stop this and then but leading up to that The guys that believed him is like oh it's our it's our divine purpose. You know.

18:13.30

Max Shank

Oh yeah.

18:14.81

mikebledsoe

God has told us to go and conquer these people and the same thing happened when you know people come to America and you know it's like we're gonna take this land. It's like yeah, there's there's some brown people here. But you know we we could probably just take this land. You know there's they're paid for the greater. Good.

18:21.57

Max Shank

Yeah.

18:30.10

Max Shank

For the greater good by the grace of God for the greater good by the grace of God here we are give us your stuff God God Thanks you for your donation. It's like would you pit.

18:34.57

mikebledsoe

For the greater. Good. Yeah yeah, now now it's the greater good by the grace of science. You know it's the same thing. Yeah, yeah, and so.

18:49.73

Max Shank

Ah, Mercenaries against Missionaries That's the one I think of the the missionaries will be biting the heads off biting the faces off of the mercenaries to sacrifice to the blood god.

18:53.91

mikebledsoe

Ah.

19:04.83

Max Shank

All the mercenaries are high-tailing it out of there because the pay is just not good enough.

19:10.47

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah, so you you're talking about. Yeah these people are bought in and I think that a lot of people like if you look at the media. For instance I Think most of these quote unquote journalists are are completely bought in that.

19:11.52

Max Shank

So you get these true believers. Any price.

19:28.41

mikebledsoe

What they're doing is for the greater good I saw a clip was I saw a clip of ah you know everyone's art pissed off about not everyone just just people on the left are pissed off about Elon Musk offering to buy Twitter did you hear about this. Are you following it all.

19:28.74

Max Shank

Absolutely.

19:37.50

Max Shank

Ah.

19:43.67

Max Shank

Um, I'm actually still really upset about the George Floyd thing I haven't moved on since that 1 news point I haven't really made up my mind about it yet. So I can't move on to the any new any news points.

19:54.13

mikebledsoe

Oh you're stuck here have you watched any Tv since then. Okay, so so Elon Musk ah he purchases 9% of Twitter you know it's a public.

20:00.62

Max Shank

No no I'm just still trying to work out this mystery.

20:09.15

Max Shank

I did hear about it by the way I was just making a joke then he offers to buy the whole thing.

20:12.93

mikebledsoe

Okay, well fill people in he he purchases 9% of Twitter and well then and then ah you know if he owns 15 % 15% he can you know actually make some demands like he his voice must be hurt. So they offer him a board position like oh why don't you join the board and if you're on the board you can make suggestions but you can't make demands and but you can't own more than fifteen fourteen point nine five of the stocks and you go and he goes.

20:44.13

Max Shank

Right? As a board member.

20:49.13

mikebledsoe

I don't want to be a board member then and then he turns around offers $43000000000 for the entire company which is more than the value of the company that no one else is gonna purchase it for that amount and.

20:52.74

Max Shank

Incredible.

20:58.77

Max Shank

It it. It has to be Ah, it's really interesting situation because he um rightly understands that that is the the lead horse. On the winner take all of small instant public messages.

21:15.62

mikebledsoe

Yes, yeah, it's it's the it's you know I on I'm on. Yeah um.

21:20.42

Max Shank

They banned the president they they took they took free speech away from the president. That's supposed to be everybody gets free speech but because they became the platform. A new platform above the old platform of pen and paper and people talking to each other. They put a blanket of this new platform over everything and they're like this is where we talk now this is where the point gets across really quickly. Ah, it's not that different than.

21:47.13

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

21:55.80

Max Shank

These guys trying to buy newspapers. It's just a similar play to control the flow of information. It's basic. It's basic war out there and that's nature. Yeah conflict baby.

22:03.91

mikebledsoe

Yeah, oh it's definitely war. Yeah so ah, people a lot of people I was reading something this morning. It's pretty interesting is like it's like you know, yeah, a lot of people. There's primarily the left for. The political left people were saying they were they were defending Twitter as a private privately owned company that can do whatever it wants so censorship is okay, Elon Musk wants to buy it then they start freaking out that he's going to let everyone say whatever they want and.

22:29.73

Max Shank

Big.

22:39.41

mikebledsoe

That something that the government needs to step in and do something about Elon Musk buying Twitter it's like they want their cake and eat it too. They can't there's there's ah there's a foundational lack of fund of of a principle because it's it's whatever, whatever serves their.

22:41.18

Max Shank

The.

22:52.21

Max Shank

Um, it's pure Lizard man. Yeah.

22:59.28

mikebledsoe

Whatever they want in the moment they'll leverage. Whatever it takes to get there. The means justify the ends and.

23:03.21

Max Shank

Their identity is the tribe So whatever helps the tribe justifies the means basically it doesn't matter what it is as long as it's for the good of our tribe and we're good and those other guys way over there. They're bad. So if you censor the bad guys.

23:09.72

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

23:22.48

Max Shank

It's good. But if you censor nobody. It's bad by that very twisted logic.

23:24.17

mikebledsoe

Yeah, because yeah, very interesting. Yeah, so for the greater good. Um, you know I I do find it interesting that ah people really I mean I believe in Elon must having. Good intentions over somebody in government because he is actually contributing to society by his his behavior instead of just trying to take and redistribute. Um, so yeah, same.

23:44.10

Max Shank

Yeah.

23:53.00

Max Shank

On principle I like pie Makers more than pie slicers. Yeah, what do you? What do you bring into the table I think it's ah the difference between offers and orders. That's where the line is.

24:01.52

mikebledsoe

So How how did I. A a.

24:11.13

Max Shank

Line between an offer and an order where an order means do this or you are going to be punished with the stick or a fine or whatever and an offer is do this come on. You know you want to do this, do it. It'll be really good for you and.

24:25.53

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

24:28.80

Max Shank

You can get as persuasive as you want to get but there's no, there's no threat of direct violence or attack on your person with an offer. That's why I like that.

24:38.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah I saw this mean this morning I reposted on my Instagram it's got ah it's got 4 different things and it says what makes sex not rape consent choice consent.

24:49.12

Max Shank

Choice. Yeah yeah.

24:55.77

mikebledsoe

What makes a job not slavery consent. What makes a transaction not robbery consent. What makes taxation not theft magical fairy dust.

24:58.57

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

25:04.20

Max Shank

Um, yep.

25:11.94

Max Shank

Ah, and I knew we were going there.

25:15.31

mikebledsoe

Well today's tax day. So ah I always kept I have to post so taxing every every what's the eighteenth. But ah, ah, they made today the tax day since Friday was the fifteenth.

25:17.71

Max Shank

Yeah, well people just think that they're so clever.

25:28.57

Max Shank

It takes a special kind of person to think that they know best not only for themselves. But for everybody else and it takes an even more special kind of person to be unwilling to try to sell people on the idea that they have and instead force it upon them violently.

25:45.52

mikebledsoe

For your own good. You're greater. Well I think I think it it's It's a slippery. It's slippery because people I think that's a much easier argument to make is if I say Max I Know what's good for you.

25:46.50

Max Shank

But it's like it's like you don't believe in the product man.

26:04.55

mikebledsoe

That's very arguable. It's like I don't know if you know my entire situation. You don't you know you don't know about this.

26:07.40

Max Shank

Yeah, there are definitely situations where you might know better for me than me, no question. It's just we won't know when that is we just won't know when that is.

26:14.67

mikebledsoe

Yeah, some situations? Yeah, but but then what's good for the greater good is an extrapolation of that that I know what's good for you and then it becomes homogenized too. It's like. I know it's good for most of the people. So we're gonna do this and it's like yeah, it's 1 per 1 person has you know people give 1 person that power and it's it's really insane.

26:47.67

Max Shank

It's exactly about that control because the whole purpose of groups in the first place is chaos reduction or at least reducing the negative impact of chaos on the collective. So whether it's ah, a group of ah chimps or a nation state of some kind the the concept or the idea of it in the first place is to reduce the chaos. So homogenization is the logical. Ah. Endpoint of that where everybody's exactly the same. Ah totally fungible, interchangeable. We have. We have one billion we have 1000000000 persons they do this and this and this and they do this at this time and this at this time and this at this time.

27:32.36

mikebledsoe

You're just a number folks.

27:41.15

Max Shank

And we always know where exactly everybody is just like ah a dairy farm with a bunch of chipped animals. So.

27:45.10

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and I think up until this point the Homogenation um Homogenation homogenization. Thank you? Ah, it has been the most efficient way of creating order out of chaos or disorder.

27:54.21

Max Shank

Homogenization.

28:01.56

Max Shank

By definition. It is by definition. Yeah.

28:04.78

mikebledsoe

Yeah, um, but then if if we look at the Homogen is it is a nation you have to tell me this work ah of chickens right? They've got ah I learned about this this past week and I was talking to some farmers and that's what I do.

28:11.25

Max Shank

Um, homogenization. Yeah. Course you are on ah on the weekend to just me and some farmers hanging out.

28:21.89

mikebledsoe

That's what I do at festivals I Hang out with farmers chicken out chicken it eating some of the meat Egg Grew Um, and you know they were talking about the the common chicken you find at the Gar Grot grocery store is the.

28:35.23

Max Shank

A.

28:38.64

mikebledsoe

The meat has gotten to the point where you're not actually digesting and getting the protein out of like a typical chicken breast and yeah, so there's they've they basically bread for this one particular chicken that can barely even walk right? because the chickens are bred for.

28:44.00

Max Shank

What.

28:54.31

Max Shank

But yeah, um.

28:57.91

mikebledsoe

Weight and I don't I'd learned this to they now are getting these chickens up to full weight for slaughter and 6 to eight weeks after they hatch so now. Basically these chickens you know.

29:08.50

Max Shank

Wow.

29:14.99

mikebledsoe

They stand up real well against feeding them soy and corn. They they get fat. Really they put on weight really fast but the meat is of really low quality and ah and.

29:18.89

Max Shank

Ah.

29:26.51

Max Shank

Like the Amino acid profile or something you mean.

29:30.76

mikebledsoe

Yeah I know if it's they it was something about how the meat grows it almost turns into fiber versus protein like it should be protein but it's like a protein.

29:37.30

Max Shank

Okay, that's that's weird. They're changing protein to a carb somehow.

29:42.48

mikebledsoe

No, it's not a car but they're saying like it's it's it's not digestible. It's too fibrous like that. Yeah, the meat is too fibrous. So and the other thing is there are 2 I'm sure someone can let me know they they may know more details about this.

29:49.28

Max Shank

Indigestible protein weird.

30:03.12

mikebledsoe

They're down to like 2 types of chicken that are being grown so you get 1 type of aviary flu comes in and just wipes them all out now we're out of chicken. So like you know them being single pain of.

30:15.78

Max Shank

It goes back to the single point of failure thing we were talking about last week

30:21.16

mikebledsoe

So if you homogenize too much. It only takes one disaster and then and then you and then it's ultimate chaos which is you know devastation? Yeah that that could but unless I mean and.

30:25.50

Max Shank

Yeah, unless there's redundancy built into that central system right? but but it's like diversification right? The more you diversify the more um cushion you have.

30:40.28

mikebledsoe

But it's not good.

30:44.77

Max Shank

But the less of ah the less you diversify the further you can go in a single direction back to the comparative advantage example.

30:48.71

mikebledsoe

Yeah, absolutely yeah, so just it seems like to Mobgenize is is a good thing but there's also potential downfalls and so I mean we we already talked about decentralization versus centralization and and how things are moving and how.

31:02.22

Max Shank

Yeah.

31:08.39

mikebledsoe

Things in the future may not need to be so homogenized in order for to create order. We're talking about order and yeah through more complex technology I think I think we need less of that.

31:22.90

Max Shank

Well, when it comes to decision making having ah rules of the game is really important if you want to make a decision in a sport or a game of some kind the rules need to be consistent and they need to be understood by everybody. For the game to work So That's part of what makes conversation so challenging for people who have been raised any time in the current Era. There's a lot of contention and there's not a lot of collaboration. There's not a lot of ability to have an expansive and collaborative argument rather than a combative argument. You know you and I argue the validity of different points looking for a truth. Or a better representative of the truth rather than having a combative argument where I'm trying to prove that a is right? and you're trying to prove prove that B is right and we already talked about how people will go to any means necessary to support their point. Even wishing the censorship or possibly murder of other people if they don't believe the the truth the same truth that they believe so being able to have the rules of the game. The rules of discourse the rules of. The locale clear and simple enough to be understood and effectively used by all is a prerequisite for us to be able to play the game. Ah consistently and joyfully.

33:06.50

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well I think there's there's 1 thing we agree on that allows for differing opinions to come in and we're able to work through it that is we we don't we're not confused about what's right? And what's wrong like we we have an agreement on that.

33:22.90

Max Shank

Well oh no I think they're I.

33:26.35

mikebledsoe

And so because you were saying your time Out. You know I think there's the right way to do or the wrong way. But I I think that we both agree that something that is right is something that doesn't impede on somebody else's life or Liberty and if any anything that isn't. Trampling on somebody else's ability to live their life and the way they wish is totally right? That's right and anything that is trampling on someone else's life and Liberty is wrong and so everything else? Well, That's that's trampling over someone's life and Liberty but that's wrong.

33:49.25

Max Shank

Right.

33:54.89

Max Shank

Um, unless they murder 10 people right? right? right.

34:04.11

mikebledsoe

So so I think that we you and I both have a pretty clear understanding about what is right and wrong and anything that's not wrong is right? and so the ah and not only is it right? but it is a right right? I Think that's where rights come from.

34:19.86

Max Shank

Right? right.

34:23.85

mikebledsoe

So if I'm not doing something wrong. That means I'm not stealing from you I'm not taking your property I'm not enslaving you and I'm not killing you then anything I do outside of that is a right and we both understand that that's where we have agreement and I think because of that.

34:30.73

Max Shank

Yeah. True.

34:42.44

mikebledsoe

We understand that everything outside of that is an opinion and I think a lot of people they confuse the morality of right and wrong with their opinions and I think you and I have both been able to be.

34:53.48

Max Shank

Oh.

35:00.66

mikebledsoe

Clearly have that in our mind that yeah this is what I'm holding right now isn't about right and wrong. It's just about it's an opinion or if it is right or wrong then it's ah, there's a very solid foundation in which that conversation is existing on so it's very easy to work through.

35:08.80

Max Shank

Ah.

35:16.90

Max Shank

The question is really do the ends justify the means is it is the juice worth the squeeze is the benefit greater than the cost and that's where it gets way harder to tell because you you could make a wrong choice. Ah, for yourself and not know that you're making it and I think that happens all the time so we need to find a way to harmonize the instinct and the intellect because I know I'd come back to this a lot. But. Usually when people are angry or sad or over emotional. It's It's some version of afraid and they're in that lizard Brain Mode. So they might react instinctively they might. Yell or fight or run or cry or something like that when they feel afraid but only because they're in Lizard Mode. So I think a lot of folks don't even give themselves a chance myself included at times in the past I I Remember. Aftermath of making choices that way but in the moment you're like somewhat unaware of the fact that you're making these choices that in normal Circumstances. You would intellectually know this is probably not going to give me a better result.

36:48.54

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

36:51.10

Max Shank

So finding a way to harmonize the intellect and the instinct and use the intellect to channel the instinctive drives rather than sporadic explosions of instinct.

37:05.84

mikebledsoe

Yeah, the I like the idea of channeling instinct because that when I think about Instinct I Think about um Instinct is something that you can't actually put words to. Because it's It's something that wells up inside of your body. It's preverbal these are and we look at animals they're operating we say they're operating on Instinct because there is no language for you know and that's not necessarily always True. We can listen to these wells and dolphins and.

37:25.60

Max Shank

Oh.

37:39.50

Max Shank

It's like programmed desire basically because Hunger is a form of desire sex is a form of desire safety is a form of desire. So there's you know pain is a synonym for all those things but there's a genetic pre-programmed in all of us.

37:40.99

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

37:56.92

Max Shank

Common ground where there's no question about the origin of these things This is something that is shared by pretty much all living creatures and so how do you take that Raw instinct and.

38:05.70

mikebledsoe

Um.

38:14.65

Max Shank

Channel it with greater precision into a place that you want being able to project further into the future can be really a frightening experience for people I think.

38:24.88

mikebledsoe

Well yeah, so so the instinct instinct coming from the body from you know the the brain stem essentially not coming from the prefrontal cortex where the intellectual mind lives and where language is formed.

38:41.51

Max Shank

My instinct is in my root Chakra Mine's way lower.

38:43.19

mikebledsoe

Is the moment. It's way lower. Yeah and we'll say from your your throat shock or down is it will is that instinct. Yeah yeah.

38:54.24

Max Shank

His instinct Huh That's a good way to put it.

39:01.11

mikebledsoe

Once you you get the intellect in your third eye. So that's that's that's actually I haven't used those words to describe it when I think about all the energy that exists below My third eye is there you if you try to put language to it. You're gonna fail. So the.

39:01.92

Max Shank

Yeah.

39:20.55

mikebledsoe

The the mind the intellect must translate the instinct. So the instinct is to do this or that but the mind is what tells the body that there is time there was a yesterday and there's a tomorrow. And there's a separation between Mike and max. It's the mind that yeah, it's the mind that creates this so now what you have the instinct is is so primal and without words you know we're just animals and so when we when these.

39:39.92

Max Shank

The scorekeeper.

39:53.22

Max Shank

Yeah.

39:57.42

mikebledsoe

Words come online and we have these incredibly strong instincts. This energy is flowing and if we don't know how to use our words if our if our vocabulary is limited.

40:03.71

Max Shank

Oh.

40:12.50

mikebledsoe

If We have no practice in changing how we think by changing the language in which we think in and not mean English versus Spanish I'm saying using expanding the vocabulary using different words understanding. Actually what you're saying and do you understand. And all the words that you you use yourself most people I think are running around using words that they're confused about and because they're confused about it. They're confusing people around them. So There's a whole culture of people who don't really know what they're talking about. And I think that's the majority of Americans in the least. Um I Do it too. So.

40:51.44

Max Shank

I Do it all the time I would say unless I'm very specific and deliberate and I want to make a very distinct point I let the conversation flow. Normally and I use all kinds of words and metaphors where I don't have a crystal clear definition of what I'm saying like with the word ignorant I had never thought about ignorant as being an active ignore ignoring I always thought about it as just a ah passive not knowing. And that's monumentally different.

41:31.74

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and the the take this further is the the mind is having to translate to the body to the to the instinct and even train the instinct to a bit because. The Instinct wants Instant gratification. It wants what it wants right now and the mind has to step in and go whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa If We get what we want right now we won't have We won't be able to have it tomorrow and we won't be able to have it.

41:51.87

Max Shank

Ah, right.

42:05.84

Max Shank

Right? So it's like putting a leash. It's like putting a leash on the instinct and the shorter and shorter the leash the less it's running wild but sometimes it can be pretty fun to let your instincts run wild. Especially if you can.

42:10.44

mikebledsoe

You got it? True Yeah, totally to.

42:22.56

Max Shank

Really turn it off because I think that is equal and opposite damaging to have your entire life tightly controlled by your intellect and you'll feel like the weight of the future is unrelenting.

42:32.30

mikebledsoe

Absolutely.

42:39.50

mikebledsoe

Absolutely yeah and I think there are ah really healthy ways of letting that Instinct run wild. There's you can create containers for that. Um I've had the experience of just going full animal. Ah.

42:51.10

Max Shank

O.

42:58.17

mikebledsoe

Down in Columbia on this really big piece of property where I drink a little bit of yaha which is this incredibly powerful Psychedelic medicine and then I basically stripped down Buckna and run around the Sat sun roaring in the and the jungle like that's about. But.

43:15.88

Max Shank

Everybody else got a clear picture of that I Sure do.

43:16.61

mikebledsoe

I Also know that I'm supposed to say yeah.

43:21.59

mikebledsoe

Um, so that so the ah so there was a clear boundary I knew that I was not supposed to leave the property but within that you know I was.

43:34.28

Max Shank

M.

43:39.42

mikebledsoe

Able to completely let loose and you know turn into a Jaguar and do all that shit. So ah I've had to that's like my peak instinct tapping into instinct experience that I've had and then reintegrating that's interesting. But it's the integration back into the mind and the mind now has to translate what the instinct is asking for into language which is an incredibly difficult task and so my opinion is.

44:12.42

Max Shank

M.

44:15.90

mikebledsoe

You would. You'll never be able to perfectly articulate to yourself or to somebody else the experience of Instinct and by yeah, but you can get more accurate over time.

44:26.92

Max Shank

It's like trying to walk a mile in someone else's shoes you you can't do it.

44:34.45

mikebledsoe

You can expand your vocabulary. You can have a longer conversation with someone you can get somebody closer to it and you can get yourself closer to it but to get to the absolute truth of what it is. It's not possible. But I think it's a worthy task to to do as good as as possible at doing that. And so because you're in my instincts are probably very much the same I mean instincts amongst species of animals are very Similar. We know that dogs do these dog things and it's out of Instinct Dear do these deer things out of Instinct fish so on and so forth. But what makes us different. I Think why why humans are live such diverse lifestyles and there's such diverse. Um expressions of the instinct is because it's each person is interpreting their instinct through this this mind and. The mind is you know trying to control the the instinct and direct it and all this stuff. Um, so.

45:37.62

Max Shank

The prediction protection machine comes in a lot of different ah models right? Still your parents teachers peers media culture. Whatever are like okay here's your intellectual filter and then you go from being this.

45:42.38

mikebledsoe

Exactly yeah.

45:55.94

Max Shank

Little creature that doesn't have any language at all that just grabs stuff and puts things in its mouth and you know rolls around and now suddenly you're talking and you're saying this is good and this is bad and so now your third eye is the scorekeeper and the rule maker. Based on whatever you've been taught.

46:16.37

mikebledsoe

yeah yeah yeah I don't know if that's a I know I said third eye don't know if it's the exact or your third eye is ah to me is is when all the energy comes into a single point and then you can direct you can direct your attention. So I don't see a third eye as a thinker.

46:28.87

Max Shank

Um, um, ah that's that's a little different. Ok so you're so your intellect your intellect then.

46:36.32

mikebledsoe

Yeah, it's a little different. Yeah, but you got us around a shak room. So I was trying to make sense of it but I wanted to correct that for myself. Yeah, which is I think that's different so but I think that's that's 1 thing that that I think that separates.

46:46.80

Max Shank

Yeah, it's interesting to think about projection.

46:54.91

mikebledsoe

People from one another is. It's that intellectual mind because I can never explain you my experience then then I know that max will never understand me completely and I can tell you a story.

46:58.30

Max Shank

M.

47:06.81

Max Shank

Yeah, you can tell me a story though and the better the better you are at communicating that story and the better I am at clarifying. Ah my interpretation with questions. The.

47:24.21

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

47:24.22

Max Shank

Clearer The communication will be and it's the same thing for the stories that we tell ourselves not just other people right? Um, it's so easy to have different milestones.

47:32.40

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

47:42.12

Max Shank

In your story that are told in a way that makes you into a victor or a victim for example and I know it's not always binary. But I think everybody listening including you and I has. Recognized people who at every point in their life was a tragedy the way they retell the story at least and you've heard other people in life where everything was a victory. It was ah it was always coming up jackpot for this person and then you're with them and you're like this doesn't.

48:06.39

mikebledsoe

Hey.

48:19.75

Max Shank

Actually seem like the same story I was being told and so it's very interesting and I wonder how genetic predisposition is like that um like being gay is genetic right? no.

48:21.67

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

48:37.95

mikebledsoe

I I think it's I think genetic? What? ah.

48:39.42

Max Shank

Yeah, you oh god here we go Mike Mike Bled so thinks being gay as a choice send your hate mail to Mike Underscore Blesco Aty at Instagram.

48:54.37

mikebledsoe

Um, ah.

48:55.71

Max Shank

I Hope you're ready for your inbox to be destroyed you hateful Homophobic bastard.

49:03.25

mikebledsoe

Ah, oh man.

49:05.53

Max Shank

Ah, you are practically a nazi you're practically hitler I can't believe you said that I'm so sorry for Mike everybody ah dear god.

49:18.93

mikebledsoe

Oh man, you know I I don't know Well we talk about this before the show is like the semantics matter because because we've talked about this before the the.

49:21.11

Max Shank

Ah, so let's so.

49:29.56

Max Shank

Um, what is and what isn't what is and what isn't.

49:37.58

mikebledsoe

I was listening to a story from somebody the other day that said you know that our the Dna sequence of a human and the sea creature is more alike than you know a human in ah in a chimpanzee and that immediately clued me into everyone's mind went to like oh my god. We're more like sea creatures than we thought and my mind immediately goes to. We're studying the wrong shit like these scientists are they they've missed the boat on something because they're really focused on this Dna thing when obviously that's not what's causing the expression of of ah of our reality.

50:14.65

Max Shank

Like child soldier spelling Gee champion. Yeah.

50:15.40

mikebledsoe

And so you know that's why I pause with the genetics and there's there's way more variables contributing to how a person is being than genetics or training or you know the the nature versus nurture is like ah a very It's a very cool topic to. Talk about, but it's nature and nurture are the same thing and the end of the day.

50:38.19

Max Shank

Good God I've never heard anything so hateful before.

50:49.28

Max Shank

Um, it's interesting to think and let's just take because it's ah like gayness is a funny topic to me. Ah, and for the record. Ah most people I don't like. And whether they're gay or straight has nothing to do with it. But let's suppose that gayness has some element of genetics and some element of Nurture. So some nature and some nurture does that mean that there is a chance that like you and I were like. 3 uncomfortable locker room situations away from turning gay that's pretty interesting right? Or for the food thing like you have a predisposition to um, fearful mindset.

51:30.50

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, I've um.

51:44.98

Max Shank

And you have a predisposition to rapid weight gain. But then you layer on some trauma on top of it and boom you have food is the medicine.

51:52.50

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, um, yeah I'd be curious to see stats on you know, ah when it comes to homosexuality like people who identify really heavily based on sexual preference. I Think anyone who identifies heavily on sexual preference alone or identifies heavily based on a preference of any kind. Not even sexual is very.. It's a very dangerous place to put yourself because now you get into.

52:12.99

Max Shank

Right.

52:18.27

Max Shank

Right.

52:27.59

mikebledsoe

You become very easy to control through political means. So yeah.

52:30.87

Max Shank

It goes back to our talk about the tribe right? If it's for the greater good of the tribe we'll fuck over anybody.

52:37.72

mikebledsoe

Yeah, so you end up with really? ah you know you end up, you know if if you if you identify as being a part of this group or as being this thing. Then you got to vote this Way. You got to behave this Way. You can't hang out with this people. You got to hate this person or that you have to hate this other group and so I get I think that just anything that that starts creating identity becomes very dangerous which people who do identify heavily with a group get very angry.

53:07.97

Max Shank

I got.

53:14.60

mikebledsoe

When I say these types of things I gotta watch myself but I know that I'm safe here on on the Monday morning show and probably not. Ah.

53:20.20

Max Shank

I Don't know after all that bigotry earlier I don't think there's a chance I got a little jingle to help us remember this um and a Noun is easily taken down but you cannot disturb a verb.

53:27.80

mikebledsoe

Okay.

53:37.00

mikebledsoe

Ah, ah.

53:38.48

Max Shank

So That's that's what I think about um, you know you become the task your your ego is irrelevant the whole the whole magic is in knowing that the here and now is all there is and when you're. Planning You got to think of that like a hunt where you're like really focusing your attention and you're you're actively doing something but you're not also consumed with some identity that is fraught with all kinds of. Inconsistencies and crying egos desire to be loved in a very specific Way. So It's much better to become the action and you'll be better off doing actions that make you feel in Tune or in Harmony with the Universe. Which is your perspective and relationship with your surroundings. Um then trying to be trying to like be happy like you're not going to get Happiness. You can be in a flow State. You can be in peace and presence in the present moment. But if you're. If you're stuck in Noun based identities rather than becoming the task and doing it's going to be really hard.

54:59.97

mikebledsoe

Yeah I like the Noun versus the verb conversation overall because if you think about I've had this conversation when I was working with and lifted which is you are a verb if you consider yourself to be a Noun then you're. A Noun is static. It doesn't Move. It's It's not very fluid. It just is and it makes it very hard to progress when you identify as a Noun, but if you if your identity is a verb then a verb is doing. It is Moving. It is progressing. There is. It's always changing which is way more in line with reality because the universe is moving in a very fluid nature. There's very few solid things and.

55:45.46

Max Shank

O.

55:55.79

mikebledsoe

There's some solid principles in which everything is is revolving around for sure but going back to the the gay conversation is in my life I've experienced sexually a very.. There's been times where I was very narrow in my preferences and there's been times where my my preferences expanded tremendously and then I've made adjustments now the band of my preferences is probably not as big as a lot of other people's um. And but I don't necessarily like I I found what I like and but I don't like and I don't necessarily think that that yeah had I identified as just a straight man 100% I'll never Touched another guy in any way I wouldn't have gotten to where I am now and which is very um, um, I'm much more happier and I know that I've experienced all these things and I know what I like and what I don't like and and that's okay, but I think most people. Even people who well maybe even especially people who identify as straight and they'll never try anything and they identify with that Noun you know they may be they may be missing out on some some interactions even with. Say you're a guy you may be missing out on some interactions with women in some interesting situations If you're terrified to see another man naked in a sexual environment.

57:33.38

Max Shank

Wow! So you're saying that gayness is a choice and you would not be the man you are today without doing some slightly gay things.

57:42.46

mikebledsoe

Um, Ah what I'm saying is ah I have I have watched my own mind change enough and without intention and with intention ah to to realize that. I I could tiptoe right into just about anything if I I public up. Um my mind to it. So Someone's intentional. So It's not intentional, but you know I think it's I think people just do whatever the fuck they want at the end of the day. Yeah.

58:16.54

Max Shank

That's great. So ah, that's really what it comes down to it comes down to consent I think the verb Noun thing is great way to ah clarify.

58:19.57

mikebledsoe

As long as you've got consent I don't give a fuck.

58:34.49

Max Shank

The the breaking the back of the ego that is required to make the best decisions possible and take the verb running or to run versus I'm a runner so I am running versus I am a runner.

58:39.59

mikebledsoe

And.

58:50.96

mikebledsoe

Here.

58:53.67

Max Shank

And granted, if you identify strongly with an activity. You will probably be better at it and if you strongly identify with that action and then that action goes Away. You will feel a great loss. Also.

59:12.50

mikebledsoe

Yeah, or if you're not the best at it. It may that that also creates a situation of comparative analysis. It's like oh I'm I'm a runner so is max. Oh he's better at it than me like he can run faster further.

59:20.94

Max Shank

Competitiveness Yeah, right, It's true faster further easier. It means you're worse means you're worse than me at at running.

59:29.34

mikebledsoe

You know what's that mean about me. Yeah, what's that mean about me I'm I'm not as I'm not ah I'm not worthy. Yeah, so the.

59:37.89

Max Shank

Ah, oh man sounds so sad. Even even joking about it. But that's the inner monologue that most of us have for such a variety of reasons.

59:43.39

mikebledsoe

Totally that does and this one I'm a big fan of this conversation because ah there are so many things people are dealing with say being unhealthily competitive. And they're just trying to be less competitive when when we could be looking at something that's a much deeper conversation which is are you are you stuck in a noun-based identity or are you or are you moving with a verb based identity and if your identity is more fluid because ah being. Ah, associating more with being a verb creates identity fluidity which is which is which means that I can show up the best version of myself in every situation. No matter what because I'm not not over identifying with any 1 thing. You know when I'm in my office and I'm talking to you I'm a podcaster or I'm podcasting but when I leave here and I go hang on my girlfriend. You know I'm ah a romantic partner and all these things I think that there was a period of time where I started saying. Oh I'm like these 20 different identities. All these things that I do make up who I am and then one day I go this is just ridiculous. Why don't I just be like like just be completely fluid with the identity and I'll do what's.

01:01:02.73

Max Shank

Then.

01:01:15.31

mikebledsoe

Necessary for me the way the situation is demanding and me thinking about what label I want to put on myself so that I can try to seek some type of external validation. So I can feel good enough. That's just ridiculous.

01:01:27.46

Max Shank

And yet and yet that's what we mostly do I think entrepreneur is a very fluid identity in general because people are by definition willing to try a lot of different pursuits so you will attract that sort of personality.

01:01:39.25

mikebledsoe

It's broad.

01:01:46.27

Max Shank

Into entrepreneurship that is much more fluid.

01:01:48.21

mikebledsoe

No yeah, yeah, being on being an entrepreneur means so many things and such a broad term and I do I do like that when it it makes it easy to explain what I do I Tell you you know like I'm an entrepreneur a podcast coach. Whatever That's just me.

01:01:55.84

Max Shank

Yeah. Right? But then but then nobody knows if you're good right away? Yeah, right.

01:02:08.20

mikebledsoe

Just me relaying you know to other people so they they know how to talk to me. That's the other thing is I tell people when they ask me what I do or who I am I Um I don't tell the same and I don't tell different people the same thing if um, if I'm hanging out with a bunch of coaches I tell them you know I'm a coach.

01:02:16.94

Max Shank

Yeah. Ah.

01:02:27.35

mikebledsoe

Coming out somewhere most of the time I pull out the more recently and I've decided to start pulling out the podcaster card more because no matter who they are. They may want to come listen if I tell them that I coach coaches if they're not a coach. They don't give a fuck.

01:02:35.32

Max Shank

Ah.

01:02:43.36

Max Shank

Um, maybe I'll start doing that I mean I don't know if that's I guess technically true I've done enough to be considered a podcaster. But if you're.

01:02:46.92

mikebledsoe

So yeah.

01:02:52.38

mikebledsoe

Well also if you tell people you're a coach then they start bringing their problems to you and the same thing happens with Ashley he's like oh you're a therapist you know I've been I've been dealing. It's like I get the fuck away from me. Ah.

01:03:02.37

Max Shank

Right? Very compassionate of you. Ah, no totally. It's about setting those boundaries but I think what's cool about saying I'm a podcaster is you are in a very subtle way saying my words are important my words are.

01:03:17.96

mikebledsoe

Oh really? Ah yeah, but anyone's got a podcast these days I feel to me being a podcaster's not a big deal deal at all because there's it's almost no barrier to entry.

01:03:21.37

Max Shank

My words are important. Yeah, of course it says that yeah I have a I have a radio show My my words are important. It's It's really interesting. It's not. It's not cool. No.

01:03:37.26

mikebledsoe

All you need is a phone and and a 10 Joe Regan yeah yeah well of course. Well it's there's going back to podcasting is decentralized media. You know.

01:03:40.32

Max Shank

But who has the biggest audience in the world people listening to podcaster. Yeah, that's wild.

01:03:54.81

Max Shank

Ah.

01:03:55.91

mikebledsoe

He's got the biggest audience in the world for sure. But then there's 4000000 shows that are you know, almost no one listens to to those but but you can do it and anyone can do it in the period entry is super low.

01:04:02.66

Max Shank

Nobody listens to yeah yeah. Which is pretty cool.

01:04:14.40

mikebledsoe

And that's going to keep happening in every industry every industry that the barrier to entry is going to just keep getting lower and lower and lower unless the government layers on regulation then the barrier to entry gets high which is what they're trying. That's why Facebook and Twitter ah tried to. They've been very.

01:04:24.70

Max Shank

Um.

01:04:33.50

mikebledsoe

Um, encouraging of government regulations and people go oh there like it's a noble thing that Facebook wants there to be regulation where they're the only motherfuckers that can afford the lawyers to wait through the bureaucracy they're there. They're squeezing out their competition every time there's a new regulation like Facebook wants it.

01:04:49.19

Max Shank

Well, that's how lobbying works. Yeah paide. No it shows it shows the power of communication though I mean.

01:04:52.74

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah I don't think we actually got to what we were originally talking to. But I think it's okay I'm I'm enjoying the content.

01:05:06.46

Max Shank

Refer to lawyers as word Warriors and they can they can manipulate they can manipulate look if you're a good lawyer. You can manipulate almost any situation to sound totally different than what physically happened.

01:05:07.86

mikebledsoe

I Love it. It's true.

01:05:22.63

mikebledsoe

Totally.

01:05:25.26

Max Shank

And it's storytelling. It comes it all comes full circle in the beginning. There was the word and whatever I say that's what's true and the more confident you are about that like what I say is good and what they say is bad. A lot of people just are wanting to believe that because also there are going to be more people who want to follow than people who want to lead So you're going to naturally have these groups right? It's like ah. Some people want to be whipped and some people want to do the whipping and I don't know what the percentage is on that and my guess that it varies significantly by Gender. Ah so it's very I Just mean in general.

01:06:03.84

mikebledsoe

And.

01:06:15.37

mikebledsoe

To I like bdsm situations.

01:06:21.73

Max Shank

Like yes also in that sort of a situation. Oh I was going to say ladies but are you going to have a different answer. They're more receiving and attractive.

01:06:22.75

mikebledsoe

Which gender. Do you think likes be whipmore.

01:06:31.89

mikebledsoe

I Find that the more dominant and day to day day to day.

01:06:40.68

Max Shank

That's what I mean so you oh I see what you're saying so they're ah they want to assume a different role to decompress from being an a tractor of force rather than a transmitter of force.

01:06:49.84

mikebledsoe

Yes, yeah, it can feel very powerful in a different way. So like a lot of times you create a container where there's ah where you can play a new role and.

01:06:57.64

Max Shank

Interesting.

01:07:05.30

Max Shank

Ah.

01:07:07.75

mikebledsoe

And maybe someone who's normally on the more of a receiver gets to be someone who's delivering and it's ah it's a really fun experience and the same with Richard Branson is one of these. He's got a couple dominrix with them most of the time.

01:07:12.98

Max Shank

Right.

01:07:22.66

Max Shank

Loves to get whipped. Seriously, he's got a few dominatrixes with him all the time you heard it here first.

01:07:24.56

mikebledsoe

And he's a very powerful guy. He's the one giving orders all day. Yeah, still about all the time that that that's ah, maybe an over generalization. But ah my my my friends who have spent time with him have said that they're present. Um, so.

01:07:39.70

Max Shank

Wow.

01:07:44.11

mikebledsoe

The and I don't know if that's public information but I'll give a fuck because Richard Richard Branson is you know he's old. So.

01:07:46.68

Max Shank

It is now. A Monday morning original you heard it here for breaking news folks.

01:07:57.51

mikebledsoe

I think I think the guy's really great in some respects but anyone who came out and wanted mandates or pushing are the people to get vaccinated Richard Branson comes out and gives me some fucking medical advice. He can shove up his ass. So totally.

01:08:11.38

Max Shank

He thought he was doing the right thing Mike he was doing it for your own good. He thought he was doing good and yeah, yeah.

01:08:17.13

mikebledsoe

totally totally there there's a handful of people I looked up to before this whole debacle Schwarzenegger is another one you ever hear that screw your freedom clip. Yeah, the guy that came here from Austria and became.

01:08:30.24

Max Shank

Yeah I get I get sent ah a few things like that. Yeah, it's it. Well, it's like ah don't don't worship false idols you know or or that phrase never meet your heroes because then they'll just disappoint The fuck out of you.

01:08:35.20

mikebledsoe

And experience wilder success.

01:08:40.51

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:08:49.67

Max Shank

I think ah Richard Branson is actually the perfect ah way to bring this back full circle because reading that guy's book ah almost gave me stomach ulcers.

01:08:56.77

mikebledsoe

Um.

01:09:05.31

mikebledsoe

E.

01:09:07.89

Max Shank

In terms of the way that he makes decisions because every chapter was a different variation of and then I bet it all on black and then I mortgaged the house and I bet it all on red and then I sold my music company to buy.

01:09:19.52

mikebledsoe

Right? right.

01:09:27.18

Max Shank

Ah, fucking jet engine and then I rolled the dice I mean this guy was just a fucking lucky animal just a lucky animal and all of the steps of the story were like. Bankrupt not bankrupt but up and down all around and look what is the result now. He's exactly where he is which some people would say is really good. We have no idea what that guy's life is like except for your hot tip on the. Ah, live in dominatrixes but that can work that that that could work that could work right? his his way of just being ah a bowl in a China Shop it seemed like.

01:10:03.12

mikebledsoe

I live in. Anyways, they're they're present. But yeah.

01:10:15.77

mikebledsoe

Why you know you only got to hit once or twice you only got it investing is not gambling because in gambling you're gonna you're gonna come in and start over the next day and investing.

01:10:16.45

Max Shank

On to the next thing on to the next thing onto the next thing on to the next thing It's true.

01:10:26.78

Max Shank

Um, kind of is m.

01:10:35.43

mikebledsoe

You hit once and you never have to work again. You may may win big at the casino. But you're you're gonna be back in the casino.

01:10:41.48

Max Shank

Um, interesting. Yeah I almost think of them as ah, just 2 versions of a similar thing because once you hit a jackpot on one business you're going to feel the itch to do another one probably.

01:10:49.80

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:10:55.37

mikebledsoe

Yeah, but you can if you're smart about it. You'll take a portion of it and diversify and things that are more stable. Yeah.

01:11:06.42

Max Shank

That's not the Branson way. That's what I like to do I like to take some of my money off the table because you know I don't want to give all the money back that I won I want to take some off. He just let it ride the whole time. How much money do I have.

01:11:14.27

mikebledsoe

Now now now. Are are how how would how would you like to wrap up this show. What's the how I don't know I just hear comment thread.

01:11:23.80

Max Shank

Bet it all bet it. It is impossible to wrap up this show I'm still thinking about all of the people who are going to send you angry messages that you said being gay. Is a choice that's incredible. Can we make that the title of the show being gay as a choice by Mike Blitz how um

01:11:42.89

mikebledsoe

Ah, you know what? I know how I I I Know how people's minds were go but I never said that go back and listen to the actual conversation. Ah, Max knows if he says it enough people will believe it repetition. Yeah, absolutely.

01:12:05.37

Max Shank

It's that's true with almost everything right now is it also true that you think it can be cured.

01:12:15.39

Max Shank

I Don't know if you provide a service or anything like that. Ah.

01:12:16.63

mikebledsoe

Ah, oh man I've ah I'm aware of some services like that I think it's a very interesting thing that exists in the world. So that's all of another show.

01:12:35.42

Max Shank

So how do we make good decisions Mike Vision values no that was how you start that was the very first sentence you said in the that was it the first sentence you said then.

01:12:35.49

mikebledsoe

That's all another show.

01:12:42.30

mikebledsoe

We we talk about vision values boundaries. That's how we started. Um, that's where I thought that's where I wanted to take it and then we got into a flow.

01:12:55.23

Max Shank

There was a little. There's a little sign marker at the very beginning sentence one and then we just took a hard u-turn in a completely different direction. We didn't I don't even remember what the third thing is now I knew was vision values in something else. Boundaries there you go maybe we'll do that next week.

01:13:08.61

mikebledsoe

Boundaries. Yeah, maybe next week we'll see we have to name the show though. So we have to come up with what the hell we talked about. Ah yeah, any any summaries since. I remember what we said.

01:13:22.35

Max Shank

I Think the concept of not getting hyper attached to an identity and a Noun ah like a fixed state versus a dynamic action and being a verb instead just trying to become the task. Really Good. We talked a little bit about communication I think that myself included we all talk too damn much and if you focus on doing things that are intrinsically enjoyable that you want to do just for the sake of doing. Then you are in the present moment and the ego is irrelevant. There. So then you aren't going to worry so much about you know how all these other ah stimuli affect you all these news stories and all this fear mongering because I think it's good to Remember. It's basically always been. Like this where a small group are trying to completely terrify a big group into falling in line.

01:14:29.60

mikebledsoe

Yeah, pretty much very accurate I like what you said I'm not going to I'm not going to add anything I think we had a good conversation. Ah, you can follow me on Instagram at Mike Underscore bloodso and keep paying attention to this channel I've got a lot more. Episodes posting of interviews that I am doing some other folks and max and I are going to continue to put Monday morning up every monday.

01:14:57.98

Max Shank

Sweet. You can find me at http://mashank.com or at mashank and I think there are a few spots available for the partner agility and strength system certification I believe that is June eleventh and there's a big discount if you sign up before the end of April so ah, that's it. Thanks Mike Love you man.

01:15:26.23

mikebledsoe

Excellent! Thanks Max! Love you.

Apr 21, 2022
Your breathing sucks, and it’s the reason for a lot of the stress, tension, and dis-ease in your life

 

Listen to this episode with Adam Hoffman to learn how to breathe better, including the only 2 breathwork practices you need for optimal health

Apr 17, 2022

Josh Hash knows what it takes to create an optimal lifestyle

 

What’s involved? It’s not complex. There are no tech, barbells, or supplements in sight…

 

…only 3 things that are free for all

 

Find out what they are in this week’s episode

Apr 17, 2022

Is what you know about money & business true and accurate? How can you be sure? You can’t…

Krisstina Wise is a leader in the world about both topics, and in this episode, she breaks down what you’ve learned so you can unlearn it and learn the truth instead.

Apr 17, 2022

Do you let people make & set the rules of your life… or do you make & set your own?

Listen in as Kyle Kingsbury teaches you exactly how to question authority so you can create & own your sovereignty in life and create actual freedom

Apr 12, 2022

00:00.00

mikebledsoe

Welcome to Monday morning with Mike and max and today we're going to be talking about decentralization now this is a word that's being thrown around quite a bit I don't think that people necessarily know what it means and when it's used. It's normally used specifically for. Currencies they're talking about decentralized currencies alternative currencies like bitcoin ethereum and a bunch of other shitcoins that are out there but the idea of decentralization is much bigger than that and when we look at technologies that allow us to decentralize. We can see how it disrupts.

00:37.94

mikebledsoe

Economics It Disrupts social constructs and it yeah entire societies. So we're gonna talk about as decentralization occurs what you can do to position yourself to be in the best place possible. Um, and not get completely screwed over like some people are gonna experience.

00:58.54

Max Shank

Well I think this is gonna be perfect for us to talk about because you and I have really different perspectives on this I'm not very schooled in cryptocurrency because I don't quite understand the stability of it. Um. But I am deeply interested in increasing the amount of freedom I have in my life as well as that of our listeners. So I'm excited to discuss it with you today.

01:27.44

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, so let's start here the the decentralization um as a concept is that there's a smaller group of people that have absolute control over what's going on in their world.

01:46.14

Max Shank

Um, that's centralization. You mean.

01:46.84

mikebledsoe

So right now decentralization. Well there's ah what I mean is like you're grouped into a smaller group So there's greater responsibility for the individual in a decentralized society.

01:58.88

Max Shank

So the individual has more agency over their money their time their food that sort of thing. Okay, yeah, that makes sense.

02:03.31

mikebledsoe

Yes, yeah, yeah, more agency more autonomy more choice. Um in some cases so in ah and a centralized setup.

02:15.43

Max Shank

A.

02:21.72

mikebledsoe

Which is primarily what we're existing in right now if we have we have centralized money we have centralized food supplies. We have centralized energy systems. So when I talk about decentralization or centralization. This is a global conversation. Not necessarily. Talking only about cryptocurrencies or only about farming so with that being said is if you're we are being driven into a decentralized society because of ah you know this twofold one is people desire. It. Enough people desire it and that desire has helped people to generate technology which makes it possible and due to a lot of centralized power and a lot of money coming into a very small group people a lot of technology has been advanced. That used to only be available to a few that's now available to many an example of this is I remember when and you've probably noticed this max is Amazon um, and this is just a function of capitalism Amazon has. Always has better technology than the average ecommerce store. They have better tracking. They've got more data on their users. They've got ah their ability to sell at scale is just incredible and there's so many pieces of technology that. Only existed for http://amazon.com five years ago and now you and I have access to Facebook ads that targeting targeted ads that most people don't know much about ah because of Facebook and ah. A lot of this stuff that only really advanced marketers with a lot of money had access to special software. That's now been made available to all of us. So um I mention that because because of the way that things have been built up at this point is what actually creates the opportunity for a. Decentralized technology do exist now. So one's not better than another one just gives birth to another and the technology that's available will basically demand that you things be more decentralized and that each person takes more personal responsibility. And for those who don't take personal responsibility. It's gonna be a hard transition.

04:56.23

Max Shank

I think you brought up 1 of the big advantages of centralization which is called economies of scale. So one of the reasons that people we can feed more people and one of the reasons that we can get more people a cell phone.

05:05.25

mikebledsoe

Go.

05:15.98

Max Shank

Is because these companies are able to do it at a much lower cost because as the number of units goes up the cost per unit thanks to efficiency goes down so not just. Thinking centralization bad decentralization good is important and I would also agree that as long as the consumers are free to choose their product then that will yield the. Best efficiency as long as you can choose whether you want to go to Walmart or the farmer's market or something like that I think that's kind of inherently good and the more we are allowed to choose the better. The outcome is and the more people are forced to obey. the the worse the outcome is historically and presently.

06:15.79

mikebledsoe

Yeah, this conversation makes me think about Atlas shrugged. You've read the book. Yeah, okay, ah so in out.

06:23.99

Max Shank

People either really like that book or they really hate that book's guts don't they no no, one's like it's all right I guess.

06:32.38

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well you know anytime I run it when I run into people that hate it it I've learned to to focus in on 1 thing in the conversation that will totally break them and that is did you finish it.

06:50.33

Max Shank

First.

06:51.91

mikebledsoe

Did you read the whole thing because I've yet to meet somebody who's actually read the whole thing that still hates it so you know usually people hate it because they read something that someone else wrote about it or they're part of a ah social group that. Thinks that ein Rand is the Devil. So ah, it makes me think about that because you know you're saying choice. But right now they're essential like so let's just forget forget that but the where things are going when decentralized decentralization becomes possible technologically possible I think is what's going to happen is what happened in atlas shrug which is the most productive people in society are going to choose decentralization now. Decentralization wasn't. Necessarily a concept in that book. But the concept in the book was that the people who were the most productive and the people who took the most responsibility for themselves and their companies and things like that once that once they were being taxed. And the government was demanding and and social groups were demanding that they be more like slaves than independent and people they basically burned down their factories and walked away from their jobs and shut down the railroads and all went hiding in a valley in Colorado. And a lot of and then people in society are going. You can't do that and goes I can do whatever I want I'm not a slave and so I think what's gonna happen is the the atlas shrug is happening but we're not gonna have to go hide in a valley in Colorado. And where we're we were you know able to hide from planes and radar and shit what's going to happen is we're me able to hide technologically or we're going to be able to opt out of the current system. Ah and technologically and then everyone who's productive goes there and the people who are mediocre at. Best will still subscribe to the to the centralized model and so when we start talking about choice. It's like yeah you do have a choice but the being a part of a centralized model in 2020 or 2019 or whatever was. Really probably the most convenient choice. It was you you ended up having a lot of luxury a lot of really cool things were available to you. But as time goes on if the best producers on the planet decentralize. They've now removed themselves from your economy. So you're not getting the best anymore.

09:43.84

mikebledsoe

And the the beauty of a centralized economy and a centralized society is you don't have to think so much because people can become much more specialized and they don't have to consider. You know where does my food come from. You know what's really going on with the currency people right now. For instance, you could take a computer programmer and they've gotten really good at computer programming. They don't know Jack shit about anything but computer programming and so that's because. They can pick up their phone and have their groceries delivered to their house. They can just automatically have their money. Ah go into an Ira that you know someone from their job told them it was a good idea and that could they're they're outsourcing their wealth. Their health. Just outsource all these things something goes wrong physically, they don't have to be aware of it. They just go to the doctor and they write him a prescription a pill to fix it and so.

10:42.41

Max Shank

Well, that's comparative advantage. You hunt the food I'll cook the food and this guy here will protect us in the night and this lady over here will take care of all the children.

10:51.76

mikebledsoe

Totally but in a world of centralization where we're dealing with hundreds of millions of people. We'll we'll talk about the United States specifically it's become. It's we've gone past the point of diminishing returns. There is a massive benefit to it. But now we're seeing the repercussions of it for instance, the average person unless you're a health expert your health is really poor.

11:19.31

Max Shank

That's true and we could think about the causality of that and to piggyback on this centralization theme I think it's really important to differentiate between which sectors. Of Centralization. We're talking about So I like to simply think of it as you have no choice of where to go you have to come to us basically right? and so there's education which I'm no fan of I think it's child abuse.

11:42.50

mikebledsoe

In a centralized model.

11:54.28

Max Shank

I Think it's a really bad investment I think it's yeah public school I think it's one of the worst things you could do to a child. It's a horrible investment I could it's obedience school. Let's keep a simple language obedience school listen to this guy at the front.

11:54.41

mikebledsoe

Government education.

12:01.14

mikebledsoe

We should just call them indoctrination system governmental indoctrination systems or something.

12:13.23

mikebledsoe

Did you you send your kid their obedience school today. He's been acting up.

12:13.56

Max Shank

Sit down shut up, ask permission to go to the bathroom god forbid it I ever have a kid I would never send it to school not in 1000000 years um under no circumstance. Yeah well, it's ah you know I don't want to assume it's gender.

12:22.85

mikebledsoe

If I won't have a kid as long as you start referring to as long as you refer to it as it. Um, you might get yourself in hot water there in California.

12:33.55

Max Shank

Ah, so I don't want to be 1 of those hateful people who used to think that genitals identified your gender. Ah I'm woke now. Ah so anyway, so.

12:49.23

mikebledsoe

Congratulations max.

12:50.61

Max Shank

Centralized education gets away worse result. Ah the bigger. The centralized government is the worse. The result is because it's the difference between the pie makers and the pie slicers and you have to Zoom way out and. And way in to really understand what's happening so zooming way out to what it's like to be a creature who's capable of doing things and surviving in the world is really difficult on your own. In fact, it's impossible on your own. So the whole purpose of our culture. Is to reduce chaos and that's why actually why games and play are so critical for building relationships and also building skills because if you have the chaos reduced through culture but you don't have any dosage of that excitement or chaos. You're going to be a really sad little monkey and then you also need to really zoom in on what I call rules of engagement so you have to consider the interactions between entities. And reduce it down to the fewest parts possible to really understand what's happening. You know if 3 people live on a cul-de-sac and 2 people vote that they should Rob. The third one is that okay and interestingly enough in democracy. Yes, that's. That's perfectly. Okay, in fact, that's exactly how it works as long as most people want to Rob the not most people then is totally fine. So all of this back and forth.

14:33.33

mikebledsoe

It. It's interesting. How people people lose the concept of morality at scale it. What you? what you say makes no sense when it's a hundred people but the moment it's a 0 people it's

14:43.50

Max Shank

The.

14:52.23

mikebledsoe

Somehow has eluded people What what do you think that is.

14:55.22

Max Shank

The the greater good The fallacy of the greater good. Um, and it has to do with arrogance. Some people want to be saviors so they have a messianic complex of some kind and they want to be the guy who saves everyone some people are just sadists. And they want to dominate and control people and typically those are the only type of people who want ah positions of Authority like I I don't want a position of Authority over anyone but myself because I think I'm I'm a reasonable person. Ah, it's totally unreasonable. To want to be in charge of hundreds of millions of people. It's totally unreasonable. Um, but that's why.

15:40.86

mikebledsoe

There's a book about this There's a political pourology I I began it I've read about 20% and then I had to start it was one of those books where it started getting I was gonna have to invest more energy into it. When I want to put my energy somewhere else. I'm definitely going to come back to it but the concept I had gotten to that point was psychopaths make up 4% of the population. This is a so this is a known psychological statistic.

15:59.26

Max Shank

M.

16:14.72

mikebledsoe

And just like the rest of Society. The psychopaths tend to you know they the thing that makes a psychopath so powerful is not only are they not experiencing emotions the same way we are so we experience emotions and. Creates turbulence and it impacts our decision making and yeah, we just we just do really strange things to fit in and somebody who's a psychopath the the really good ones understand that other people. Are having a different emotional experience than they are. They know it and they know how to exploit it and so yeah, so not only not only do they, they're not experiencing the same emotional stuff so they actually become very apathet on a become I think they just are that sounds like they're born this way.

16:55.20

Max Shank

They leverage that perceived weakness.

17:10.91

mikebledsoe

They're very apathetic which is kind of a problem but then on top of that they understand how you can be manipulated with your emotions and so ah, just like any group of people they're the ones that are really smart and then they're the ones that are really dumb. The dumb ones end up in prison and the smart ones end up in Dc and the so there they are attracted to pout. So you tell about being unreasonable this book makes the um makes the case that ah. They're drawn to power over other people and so.

17:48.40

Max Shank

Exactly and like what you just said, it's rhetoric driven. It's tugging on people's emotions rather than focusing on fundamental rules of engagement. You know there really shouldn't be that many laws and every law should be in simple language. But of course.

17:52.84

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

18:07.74

Max Shank

That is not incentivized by the people who are writing up these laws. You know so.

18:11.90

mikebledsoe

Yeah I like what you're talking. Ah I want to go back a little bit because we're a little off track but the it was worth touching on the the as you were talking before I was thinking about incentives because when we think about people who are in in a centralized power structure. And you always mention this first we got to look at incentives so someone in a centralized power structure where is the incentive for them to make the decisions that they're making so what is the incentives of the news media. The centralized news media outlets Cnn ah Fox all these things a highly centralized stream of information because they're all reporting the same shit. They've got the same narrative. There's a centralized There's a centralization of information there and then.

19:06.00

Max Shank

I would say they're opposing narratives but they're about the same thing and that thing doesn't matter very much compared to the real situation which is jurisdiction and Authority who's in charge and when do they exercise that authority.

19:08.30

mikebledsoe

There.

19:13.18

mikebledsoe

Well.

19:21.20

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and well that episode that you recommend to me last week Joe Rogan with Gavin De Becker he talked about how man that was one of the best Rogan shows I've ever heard. Ah, he talked about.

19:29.55

Max Shank

Is champ.

19:38.50

mikebledsoe

How all the news media outlets basically agreed to call Iver mechton horse paste and there wasn't a major news outlet that wasn't doing that and so what they got.

19:42.80

Max Shank

Right.

19:49.96

Max Shank

It's a coordinated assault on people's minds to maximize their attention and to maximize their fear because fear is deeper in the brain than anything else. So you have to recognize that that. You have to recognize that the news is a hostile entity and you must take precautions to protect yourself from this because of the incentives you know, um, the whole idea of good and evil. Is um I think it's a trap all on its own. You know, don't believe the red guys are evil the blue guys are evil whatever just recognize that they're um, traumatized animals just just like almost every person right? and they're just doing. What is in their best interest with no regard for you but rather than ah say this is evil this is good. This is what whatever you just have to recognize for yourself that that is a hostile attack. On your mind and it's not going to help you exist in the world better to pay attention and it might even feel ironically a little more scary at first to not like know what's going on in the world but when it distracts you from.

21:16.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

21:22.60

Max Shank

The fundamental. That's why I come back to rules of engagement if I have value that I can provide to you that you believe is truly valuable as long as I can communicate with you. You will take it. And it'll be a win-win situation. That's why I say the customer is always right? The coercer is always wrong and the more you focus on serving your customers something that they really value the more abundant your life will be and the more you focus on. Plugging in to a machine that is literally trying to destroy your mind and break you into thinking that you are alone and isolated and powerless and convince you that some asshole in a big chair. Knows what's best for everybody else because he suddenly like figured out his version of utopia How could utopia be the same thing for Everybody. We're so different. You know some people like having their nipples hooked up to car Batteries. Do I Want that guy deciding what utopia is no way.

22:30.21

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, ah, circle back. But the going back I wanted to finish on the incentives thing is is ah going back to the fear. The the media creating fear the incentive there is. The more fear they can create the more you're gonna consume their content and the more you consume their content the more you're gonna buy from their advertisers and their advertisers are going to send more money to the news agency and so you know.

23:03.11

Max Shank

And the more you'll trust what they say if you if you just expose yourself to it more you will start to trust what they say more and more and more and more and more and that's why you have right now, People who blindly Trust one outlet and blindly distrust another is the classic.

23:07.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

23:11.54

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

23:22.71

Max Shank

God and the devil situation. Blindly Trust whatever God says which is your favorite news outlet and blindly distrust whatever the devil says which is the fucking other guy. It's just it's us and them type of shit and you would think we would be past this but we're still just. Ah, half-retarded chimps looking for food and love.

23:47.78

mikebledsoe

There's um I want to point out you said something really important is the it's the repetition creates beliefs. So if you if you were consuming that news outlet every day. It's the repetition of something that makes it believable. We talk about the there's there's ah, a handful of ways that you learn something and if you want to ingrain something as ah as a skill and I think about skills and beliefs the same exact way is. Every skill you want to get better at hitting baseballs. You're gonna fucking swing that baseball bat a lot of times if you want to believe that something is true. You'll go to church every Sunday that way you get that repetition and so that you ingrain it. Whether it be good or bad I'm not saying either 1 is good or bad. But this idea of good and evil ah playing out and saying yeah red team bad blue team good whatever it is. It is is really. Great to look at through the lens of centralization versus decentralization because in a in a centralized model of society you can create groups of people and just say that entire group over there is bad or that entire group over there is good because not only is the information. There's um, there's so little deviation from one narrative about who's good or bad There's no opportunity. It. Yeah, it just creates very few options. It's like you're either like good bad or independent and you're kind of a dick for not you know. Deciding you're good or bad or not and so the decentralization of good and evil requires and here's the thing is decentralization requires people to think and that's why a lot of people are are resistant to it because you have to think. And if you have to apply moral law in your own mind to each individual that you come in contact with then instead of just being able to label them and not have to be curious about them and think about them and listen to them. It's it's a form of laziness. And people are ah again going back to repetition. People are repetitively ignoring information they're being ignorant by choice and they've done it so much that they they don't even think there's a way to consider and.

26:31.91

mikebledsoe

And make a moral judgment themselves on an individual instead of an entire group people because someone else did the thinking for them.

26:37.79

Max Shank

Well, there's a reason that um, we do that is because trust saves calories. It's really valuable to be able to trust other people that way you're not assessing every person you interact with and go oh is this guy going to attack me and steal my.

26:44.70

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

26:57.78

Max Shank

Will the beast meet or whatever it is I'm guessing be different now but trust saves calories so it can be a very powerful tool and if you trust nobody man life is extremely hard and it feels very isolated So it's.

26:58.57

mikebledsoe

Um, am.

27:11.81

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

27:16.36

Max Shank

No surprise that we want to trust somebody that we want to. It's all it's trust is pure efficiency it. It is like language faith Trust all this stuff if I can outsource my health to someone who knows better.

27:28.32

mikebledsoe

5 blame.

27:36.23

Max Shank

And I can outsource my finances to someone who knows better and I'm saying legitimately. Also they legitimately know better that that's going to give me a much better outcome if I can trust a farmer who's much better at farming to make my food I'm going to end up. So. Crazy wealthy. It is like a superpower to have all of these different experts and that's the core of comparative advantage but you got to be careful who you put your faith into right? That's why I think um, The. The most flexible culture is one that is based on free choice because if trust is broken in one sector, there's another sector to soften that trauma basically.

28:29.20

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

28:30.62

Max Shank

You know what? I mean as long as there are multiple options for where you can go to school buy your food. Um that sort of thing. It's ah yeah, multiple places multiple doctors you can go to and of course everyone because of.

28:41.60

mikebledsoe

Well that this is where.

28:49.60

Max Shank

Power structures we want to go from survival up to supremacy. It's like survival sex and supremacy and sex and supremacy are so closely interrelated because that's how ladies choose the more ah exalted or elevated you are in the hierarchy the more. Ah, you are going to alert the sounds so weird alert The females to your viability genetically right? So you have to look at these.

29:19.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

29:25.00

Max Shank

Raw instincts underneath all of this stuff so because there are people who are looking to dominate and protect their authority. They're also going to stomp out other alternatives and maybe even with good intentions. Do some? Ah arguably evil stuff the greater good just anytime you like hear or even feel that sense of the greater good. Oh My God that person.

29:49.30

mikebledsoe

That's where book burning comes in hand comes in handy.

30:02.45

mikebledsoe

Yeah, that's ah, that's a slippery one. Um, why the ah book burning I mean the modern day book burning is getting banned from Twitter or Youtube or whatever it is um.

30:02.86

Max Shank

Come on get out of here. Good lord.

30:14.78

Max Shank

Yeah, that's pretty wild.

30:19.42

mikebledsoe

It's pretty fucking people people think are advocating for if they were actually burning books on the street they might freak out but they don't think they're not able to think and connect the dots that these the the way it's happening is the same thing or.

30:34.68

Max Shank

Censorship is an admission of guilt we should. We should be able to have we should be able to have ah a Martin Luther King guy and a hitler guy have a nice debate with each other that would be interesting to watch and like.

30:36.97

mikebledsoe

Um.

30:45.32

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

30:49.94

Max Shank

What you have so little faith in humanity that everyone's going to go like you know what after that crazy guy yelled for a while I think I am going to go for ethnic cleansing now. It's like what come on.

30:58.35

mikebledsoe

Yeah, oh man. Ah yeah, there's so much to talk about there. The I think that I want I Want to point out that decentral late decentralization is not isolation. It's quite the opposite and I think what's going to happen in the future is that.

31:20.88

Max Shank

It's of specific aspects to it's not absolute decentralization because that that wouldn't be very efficient at all I think you're mostly talking about currency I think you're mostly talking about currency.

31:27.39

mikebledsoe

Right? You can decentralized to right right? You're not, We're not decentralizing down to the individual all I'm talking about but no I'm talking about food I'm talking about energy all these things. Ah the the it's not. It's not well.

31:37.30

Max Shank

In most cases right.

31:44.95

Max Shank

Talk to me talk to me about him separately though. So I can understand better.

31:46.49

mikebledsoe

I say this because what? ah my isis. Okay well I suspect that the media in the future. The mainstream media is gonna start trying to talk about deset people who are doing decentralized things forming decentralized communities. They're gonna be considered isolationist and. You know they're gonna try to you know, burn them. But ah, they're racist. Yeah,, they're already doing it. You're racist if you don't want to participate in this this narrative that we have going On. You must be a racist trumper and you can't be Trusted. We're gonna have to.

32:08.38

Max Shank

They're racists.

32:22.50

mikebledsoe

You know, hold some trials at some point down the road because of you.

32:26.69

Max Shank

It's just ah, a new agey fancy way of saying you're the devil. We don't listen to that guy at all. It's it's an ad hommonym censorship I mean it's so obvious once you filter it down to the real meaning of what's going on and if you're not even willing to have a discussion.

32:32.29

mikebledsoe

A.

32:43.53

Max Shank

And sell somebody on an idea and you have to force an idea upon someone is it really that good of an idea I mean if you need to spend billions and billions of dollars marketing your drugs are they really like all that good. You know it has no marketing for it whatsoever. Cocaine. Ecstasy marijuana psilocybin guess what people do shitloads of with no marketing whatsoever. All those things so if something is really good. People will find out about it as long as they are free to communicate.

33:20.58

mikebledsoe

Yeah, what? what were you wanting I agree what were you wanting me to explain separately. You only said right out.

33:20.92

Max Shank

Freely with one another.

33:25.83

Max Shank

Ah, okay, so decentralization of currency and banking. Let's say versus or alongside decentralization of other aspects. So let's say food. Education maybe even governance because that's ah, that's a tricky thing right? How do you? really How do you live in America without participating in America.

33:54.95

mikebledsoe

But well governance is at the core of all decentralization. So That's the that is how are we going? What are we? What are we agreeing or how are we agreeing on the decisions we're going to make as a group. You know what are the rules that we're gonna abide by what are what are our values? um.

34:16.31

Max Shank

We already have a perfect method for that. We have lobbyists who pay the politicians to decide what kind of laws they want to exercise over the people and then. Over time. The people have less and less authority over their lives. It's perfect system.

34:34.63

mikebledsoe

Yeah, it works. Yeah, just shut up and go home. Don't don't go outside. Ah so the but let's talk about this so you want me to talk about currency and then talk about food as examples of this I think I think currency.

34:47.94

Max Shank

Sure just just ah, make them separate.

34:54.25

mikebledsoe

Which one should I start with the food might be make the most sense I think it's people can put their eyes on it and so decentralizing your food I'm involved in a project that is decentralizing food at this point and so um, there both.

35:07.69

Max Shank

For yourself or for lots of people.

35:13.59

mikebledsoe

So so this is what decentralization is it's about me my my objective is to create as much. Um, value for myself as possible and that is true value being ah my lifestyle. You know my my ability to critically think is valuable having a roof over my head is valuable the community I hang out with is valuable. The things that are of true value is I want to create as much value in my life. Ah as possible and. If I do that? Well enough I can then distribute some of that value outside of myself and so ah in a decentralized food network. For instance I'm gonna just give some hypotheticals because this is this is happening around. Awesome Texas right now. So some of it's hypothetical because it's in the. Plan and it hasn't completely been executed yet. But these things these are things that are in the process. So say that there's a twenty acre farm over here a sixty acre farm over here 200 over here five over here. Everybody has the ability to ah grow all sorts of stuff and. What you do is is you grow enough to where if you couldn't leave your own farm. You're good. You may not have all the shit you want. You're not going to get you know I don't I I have lamb but I don't have any beef and so and a decentralized model with food is we would then exchange. Locally with other farms now then it extends beyond that even fewer items might get exchanged between regions and we're also sharing information so we're farming in Texas someone else might be farming in Louisiana or California and we're exchanging. Not just goods and services but information as well instantly on what's working. What's not working and so in this yeah I mean we're not going to talk about economics as you know as a part of it but ah it.

37:12.33

Max Shank

Um, so it's kind of like bartering.

37:24.27

mikebledsoe

There's an so this is where I was thinking about timing money into it which is now I'm I'm like interlacing the 2 already which I didn't want to do but I was trying to stay away from that so the but I think that the the way that currency is going the decentralization decentralization of currency is making this possible. The other thing that's making this possible is daws decentralized autonomous organizations so you mentioned earlier that people need to exercise trust in order to save calories and so that's actually that's one of the big reasons that there's centralized power right now and dows actually help. Decentralized governance so daws are are basically governance models that are executed with smart contracts if this then that so right now if you and I go into a contract with each other and I say I'm gonna give you. Money for this service or whatever and then you don't do it and or or maybe you do it and I don't pay you. What's your recourse you then need to go to a court and then you need to so on and so forth. So as technology is advancing. We don't need a court to verify that something was completed or not there is there is a smart machine that is watching I mean depends on the service but but to make it easy to understand because this will extrapolate out to like farming. Um, if. You complete a project that we can track on your computer and you do it and you hit the complete button now. Automatically, the money is sent if I want to dispute it. There's really nothing I can do and that's possible because we're not using banks anymore and I'm not going to go dispute it and create a legal issue out of this. It just is and so. In the early days of dows which we're in There's going to be some stuff where people set up some rules and then they regret setting up those rules and then they're like oh we need to think this further out we didn't consider this and they're going to have to update things as they go along. It's going to become very sophisticated. And these rules aren't being drafted by lawyers lawyers are pretty much the people that are running and governing the world right now and like you were saying earlier. They use all sorts of tricky language. It doesn't make any sense to the layperson. It's very confusing and you can pretty much if you're a good lawyer. You could. And trap anybody in anything kind of like the Irs can basically you know if you follow all the rules as you see fit. You're probably going to be wrong or they could make you wrong if they really wanted to so in.

40:11.22

mikebledsoe

With dow's decentralized autonomous organizations which are run on the blockchain trust becomes unnecessary. You don't have to trust what someone says it just is um so last you there a second. How long were you gone? Okay, not not long at all. Ah, so yeah, the doubt dows are beginning to They're not going to completely eradicate the necessity for trust, but the future we won't have operating agreements in the future.

00:04.83

Max Shank

I'm back um, 3 seconds yeah

40:49.56

mikebledsoe

It'll be your business will be a dow and.

00:26.10

Max Shank

Well, it will still be an operating agreement. It'll just be executed by computer software. So it's software as a service basically which is responsible for a ton of efficiency.

40:59.79

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

41:07.28

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and with the blockchain software with Blockchain is basically recorded everywhere instantly and so you can't go fuck around with it and that's what makes it where it's it's like oh people are fallible. The legal system is prone to fuckery. But.

00:44.58

Max Shank

Right.

41:27.20

mikebledsoe

Over time. The dows are going to become more and more solid more and more useful and their use cases are going to expand and so um, what I see a future where the dows we talked about this. We have the farms. We talked about this like a year ago yeah and the.

01:15.78

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

41:45.78

mikebledsoe

The currency is decentralizing the same way if I buy if I buy bitcoin but I want ethereum or you have ethereum and we want to make an exchange I can quickly and easily convert my bitcoin to ethereum and then exchange with you and then I can take. You give me ethereum and I could exchange it over to bitcoin it was it used to be.. Yeah yeah, um, and so what I see is that people will join. They'll be using so particular currencies based on their values.

01:40.38

Max Shank

Provided someone else wants what we're selling right.

42:23.50

mikebledsoe

And if I want to exchange with somebody inside my value group. We all agree that we like to farm regeneratively and so on and so forth. Yeah let's just get on the same currency. We'll make it easy. Ah, each organization has their own dow each farm has its own dow that also can. Plug into another dao and so there there can become there can become hierarchy I think there will be really cool hierarchies that are designed with das and what's gonna happen is ah I'm gonna be making this food over here and you're making your food over there and or maybe. And then another guy has a solar farm down the road and he's delivering batteries to people who don't have space for solar so you know that's the decentralization of energy and so and all this is running on 1 cryptocurrency. That are multiple daalas plugged into a greater dao and if this happens then this happens someone is signaled. Oh this guy is low on energy that this guy delivers it and then there's ah the currency you can see the current start to work there and ah a current is always moving. And so the the system we're existing in right now it can take days for money to transfer. It's it's all these weird bureaucratic administrative steps that we got to go through in order for this or that to happen accountants. And bookkeepers those jobs those are jobs of the past. Those are not gonna be They're gonna they're gonna look very different or become unnecessary. They'll be It'll be more of like a reporting thing. Um, and so.

03:43.91

Max Shank

The.

44:16.47

mikebledsoe

Because what's going to happen is.

03:50.36

Max Shank

It seems like you have more ah control over what's going on but it it seems a little bit less efficient because you don't have the same economies of scale.

44:27.75

mikebledsoe

You're not going to have the same economies of scale. Ah and well and that's not that's not necessarily. Yeah, you're not going to accumulate. It's going to reduce the amount of of Deca billionaires.

04:05.67

Max Shank

Um, it's kind of like um self-reliance. Well so I like to think in extremes.

04:17.76

Max Shank

Well, it's just going to reduce your individual efficiency. So I like to reduce things to exaggerated Exc Extreme extremes. Ah for fun and for clarity and so I think of the ultimate decentralization like we've talked about is you run your own farm.

44:50.25

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

04:37.51

Max Shank

You run your own solar farm. You have ah a plot of land on a River all your own so you can make everything you need to make but the more you are relying on yourself. You have to have less.

45:23.13

mikebledsoe

M.

04:56.34

Max Shank

Um, sophistication and complexity right? if your computer breaks down and you don't know how to fix a computer you're screwed. So What's the solution is it to learn how to fix a computer in addition to being a farmer or is it to live without a computer which ah. Is probably good in some ways and in other ways it's it's far more difficult so you just have less efficiency and less overall power. Um, if you're reliant on a smaller group so you don't have the efficiency through economies of scale.

45:49.83

mikebledsoe

Well, a lot of those things are.

45:56.68

mikebledsoe

Well, and ah if you Google decentralized network. So the the idea of decentralization that that word was made you popular in the IT community so ah now I can install a network inside of my house. It's highly decentralized.

05:37.18

Max Shank

The here.

46:15.82

mikebledsoe

And everything just flows and I can be on one side of my house and I I get perfect connectivity and I don't have to hop from router to router and all that stuff so decentralized networks. Um, the way it works is 1 thing could go down and it doesn't impact everything else.

05:58.68

Max Shank

The.

46:32.84

mikebledsoe

But everything else can pick up the slack for that 1 thing that went down so in your in your case where you're talking about the farmer whose computer breaks or whatever. He's not isolated. There are still people who are going to specialize. There are people in his community that are specialists and computers down the road and then all he has to do is flash up the bat symbol.

06:06.92

Max Shank

And.

46:52.27

mikebledsoe

And says you know I have this issue and so that's something where like we're talking about different specializations there and so you.

06:27.30

Max Shank

Right.

06:34.57

Max Shank

But that's where we get our efficiency from is through that comparative advantage.. That's why the whole concept of money in the beginning was so damn Useful. Ah, some people say money is the root of all Evil I think it's probably more greed is ah the root of some. Evil stuff that happens but the advantage of money is if you are a baker and I'm a candlestick maker and I still want bread but you don't want any candlesticks I can still get bread.

47:30.49

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and so decentralization doesn't make that that makes that even more possible look. We've got billions of people on the planet. We don't need 1 manufacturer of 1 thing in order for it to be really good. There's there could be many many and.

07:20.15

Max Shank

To and and I'm not advocating for that at all that there should be like 1 1 person who makes all the food.

47:49.72

mikebledsoe

Yeah, so I'm not saying we should or shouldn't but a decentralization doesn't mean that what the the main thing the benefit of the decentralization that I see is in a centralized model. We have single points of failure so you know there's 3 just as ah, ah this isn't totally accurate, but there's there's in ah in a centralized model and a centralized model like let's just assume that there's very few Usda.

07:46.44

Max Shank

Do you mean multiple points of failure in a decentralized model in a sense. Okay, got it.

48:28.52

mikebledsoe

Butchering facilities. 1 guy gets covid in one facility and now it completely stops up all operations and it breaks down the entire supply chain to where the farmer has to start euthanizing pigs because and this is this actually happened yet. These farmers have to start euhanizing pigs because the cost of keeping them. Alive isn't worth it because they got to keep feeding them. Plus they got more pigs coming. They're being grown and when a pig gets a certain age. You don't want to eat that meat anyway. So like there's like this very specific.

08:18.48

Max Shank

Right.

08:26.22

Max Shank

Wild.

49:01.57

mikebledsoe

Way of doing things and there's single points of failure in a centralized model and a decentralized model that one farmer could get I've gotten Covid and kind of fucked up. You know say he gets some some type of weird plague thing going on and and then and then the rest of it doesn't ah impact the entire.

08:47.12

Max Shank

I Totally yeah I Totally understand that I think for like.

49:20.42

mikebledsoe

Global community it impacts a very small person 1 person or very small group of people and the ability for these other ah because you're never disconnected in ah in a decentralized model. There's always interaction with the outside. It's just.

08:55.98

Max Shank

Right.

49:39.60

mikebledsoe

Just not centralized I might have instead of I always I only have a you know one way to get in that of my neighborhood I now have 20 and it take it may take me longer to get from point a to point b but I'll never get stuck in traffic.

09:32.44

Max Shank

It's kind of like insurance. It costs you more money than not having insurance unless something happens yet.

50:02.92

mikebledsoe

Setting it up is expensive. You know it's it's a time it takes time energy. Um I'm doing things with decentralized currencies decentralized food. Ah, ah, I'm talking my buddy Jesse about doing decentralized energy. He's working on that. Um, I think that's also important and so really focusing on on on getting all these things done is a huge investment of time energy money right now. But when something goes wrong. When there is when steaks are at $100 I want to go get a stak. It's me a hundred dollars because russia's not exporting the ingredients we need for fertilizer right now. Ah then I'm not going to have to pay a hundred bucks for my steak I I just go over to the farm and I pick up my food. Because I already contributed already made my thing I'm already I yeah we yeah we could we could eat steak exactly and so um, yeah, it's not cheap, but it is.

10:34.62

Max Shank

Or maybe you start selling steak and you start eating something else.

10:47.40

Max Shank

That's why I like thinking of it like insurance. Well it makes sense to me. Yeah well and you have to assign some probability of risk in your mind.

51:15.31

mikebledsoe

It is valuable. It's ah it's a you have to think further out and ahead in the future than most people are willing to do.

11:00.65

Max Shank

Like what is the probability that x will happen. What is the probability that y will happen and we talked about this in our in an earlier episode too. You have to ask yourself like what is the probability that I won't have access to food for three months six months one year and um. Everybody has a different perspective on that That's why thinking of this like insurance is helpful for me because in when times are good. It's going to be less efficient. But if there's some ah risky occurrence that happens.

52:04.34

mikebledsoe

Yeah, if something terrible happens if something if supply chains get fucked up and all that then we're living like Kings right by comparison. But here's the thing but it is already happening.

11:39.10

Max Shank

Then it's going to be well worth it.

11:44.90

Max Shank

Right.

11:50.80

Max Shank

But when it's not happening. You're not working as efficiently as you could and you're outlaying more capital to set it up. Well I mean.

52:24.30

mikebledsoe

So Here's the thing is there's canaries in the coal mine and there's very few of there's very few of us that are picking up on it I've been picking up on it for a long time Decade I Read Omnivore's dilemma and you look at that and I and I look at what's happening with the farming and I go. Yeah, I'm willing to invest a lot of energy in a farming even if nothing ever happens to the supply chain stays exactly the same I Still want to do this because ah the food that we have access to right now is not very nutrient dense and it's not it. It's already Poor. So The thing if I'm going to invest in my health then I'm going to invest in the farm If things stay the same but we all know the experts all agree and this is widely agreed upon whether you're on the left right? Whatever is. Soil is being degraded. You know there's only what 50 or 60 crops left that can be farmed on the soil the way it's being done so that every day that goes by the average nutrient nutrient density of our food. Is going down. It's going down. It's going down so I look at that and I go look even if we don't have a huge fertilizer shortage which is going to lead to skyrocketing food prices and rights in the streets and all that even if that doesn't happen I Want to do this anyway. Ah, the idea that something like that might happen definitely has spurred a little more urgency around the matter because I've been thinking about this since 2011 and it's 2022 and I'm just now getting to it because before it there was no.

13:29.32

Max Shank

Um.

54:14.50

mikebledsoe

There was no potential danger like oh this is coming now. It's just a slow trip. You know we're frogs in the boiling water. You know, just.

13:56.70

Max Shank

I think we should talk about food next week because what you're telling me now is a very different reason for decentralizing your food or ah taking more control over the lifecycle of your food and I think it's extremely valid.

54:39.40

mikebledsoe

Well, that's the case with everything that's the case with energy. That's the same with currency. It's It's not like it's not like I'm buying bitcoin or other cryptos because the dollar might fail that might cause someone to like oh fuck I need to get some now.

14:15.94

Max Shank

Because you.

54:57.45

mikebledsoe

But the reality is is we've got we've had ah you know we came off the gold standard in the 70 s and the value of the dollar is slowly degraded. It's the same thing as the food. It's just slowly happening. We're just watching it. But it's so slow that you don't notice and you don't feel the sense of urgency to make change. And so I think that I don't think we need to cover food necessarily again, but your your view of it being insurance is is that's only part of the conversation of like the benefits of decentralization. Ah, because.

15:06.53

Max Shank

The.

55:35.19

mikebledsoe

Yeah, it's just I think it creates a healthier system. Overall.

15:14.32

Max Shank

And maybe not as efficient but healthier.

55:44.20

mikebledsoe

Um, I Well when you say efficient I I think I think it'll be more energy efficient Overall like right now we've got food being shipped from chile and.

15:24.99

Max Shank

Energy in versus energy out.

56:03.38

mikebledsoe

Steaks from Australia New Zealand and we're having it to make an impossible burger. You're having to get some ingredients from 20 different countries. That's highly centralized and inefficient. It's only efficient financially. It's not efficient. It's not efficient use of.

15:52.74

Max Shank

Right.

56:22.19

mikebledsoe

Oil. It's not the efficient use of people's time and huh.

15:59.82

Max Shank

But it has to be Efficient. It has to be efficient use of all those things The idea is that the amount of energy to produce it locally including everything has to be more. Than it would be to import it from somewhere else unless there's like dirty dealings or something like that. But you know if you're a company you're going to try to maximize efficiency.

56:42.90

mikebledsoe

And well well well part of it's cultural right? and part of it's cultural like it. It would be more energy efficient to get your food all locally. Um but the thing is is. You're not going to get people to farm because they expect to get more money almost everyone use 95% and now and now we got like yeah computer programmers in the city and and whatever fucking jobs are happening in the city going. Keep going back to computer programmers.

16:38.41

Max Shank

Um, well almost everybody used to be farmers and but and and and poor.

57:20.94

mikebledsoe

Only because you before the show. Ah, that's ah, that's pretty much it they like the most like the most useful people to me I Do you make shit.

16:55.57

Max Shank

Um, in our in our in our community. There's only farmers and computer programmers. You can be a farmer or a computer programmer or get the fuck out.

57:40.17

mikebledsoe

You make awesome software and can you feed me then I'll be your friend.

17:19.46

Max Shank

That does cover a tremendous amount of bases. Actually you know plumber Electrician there are other things that are similar to but you need like a tech guy and a food guy. Basically.

57:48.40

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

57:55.11

mikebledsoe

Yeah, tech guy and a food guy is it right? because that's all technology. The plumbers are you know they're working with technology. You know.

17:38.60

Max Shank

But I wouldn't trust a computer software guy to do my plumbing or the or the electrical well and that's what I mean you could figure out anything. It's ah it's so.

58:07.24

mikebledsoe

No no could I figure it out.

17:57.48

Max Shank

Amazing to be able to exercise the benefit of comparative advantage in a community whether that community is large or small. The reason for currency is so you don't have to rely on the barter system which necessitates that you have something the other guy wants.

58:41.37

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

18:17.80

Max Shank

And you want something of his so I definitely agree with you. The quality of food is questionable in a lot of places and inflation is a very sinister tax that is hidden and really. Fucks The bottom percentage of the population the worst. Ah by far. So ah, you know I try not to think in good and evil but that shit's pretty fucking evil.

59:03.23

mikebledsoe

Totally, it's like the ah. Ah I saw was I saw a meme a few weeks ago that was like Biden saying we're not gonna tax the poor rolling in tax the rich and then they print off a shitload of money. It's like yeah a fucking snake. Um, but here's something we haven't talked about but.

19:01.42

Max Shank

Um, yeah, it's yeah, inflation's not good.

59:30.78

mikebledsoe

that I that I've begun to experience and I think we both kind of do this is neither one of us optimize for finances. We really value happiness and connection and. Like was it ah a year ago or more you took a lot of time off of Instagram you said? Yeah I'll make a little less money. Yeah I'll make a little less money but you know it's not worth my happiness.

19:31.66

Max Shank

Yeah, like 2 years but if I hadn't prioritized but if I hadn't prioritized wealth before that I wouldn't have been in that position to do it either.

01:00:07.23

mikebledsoe

Totally yeah you you thought I had Yeah, that's maybe to have I mean to have the same exact lifestyle you have then sure. But when I think about.

19:51.20

Max Shank

If money is the goal then I think you're missing the point I think if freedom is the goal then money is a good tool for that. Just like exercise and language are good tools that can facilitate freedom.

01:00:30.71

mikebledsoe

Well I think people people do get caught up on the money equals freedom piece and the truth is is that if I took away all your money could you still be free for sure. Yeah, but you it doesn't.

20:18.16

Max Shank

Yeah, free to sleep in the gutter until I figured things out. No, you'd figure it out. Yeah you I would figure it out I will say this though. Ah because I don't want to sound like ah super asinine I mean the reality is.

01:00:49.30

mikebledsoe

But not the same thing. Yeah freedom is freedom and money is money.

20:38.80

Max Shank

Money won't solve all your problems but it will solve many of them instantly that a poor person might agonize over. Ah you won't necessarily be happier. What's that.

01:01:07.65

mikebledsoe

totally totally I'm not saying I solve problems. Well they that they've they've done studies where more money this is I mean the studies over a decade old. So the numbers may seem a little small, especially with inflation. But they said that? Ah what they looked at was getting a pay raise making more money actually increased people's happiness up to $75000 after $75000 no change in happiness happiness didn't go up. But it it did actually tend to go down a little bit and so yeah, there's in seventy five Thousand ten fifteen years ago it's pretty much talking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs is you have all those things you're experiencing some safe you probably can afford a home in a place where you feel. Ah, somewhat safe. You have a shelter you're able to eat food and whatever so 75 hours after that no more but I bring up the happiness thing because do we really need to. Keep on going down the path of ah, having more and more specialization advancing technology and innovation and all this stuff that is happening at at a very fast rate with the centralization of power and by the way it actually might advance more quickly in a decentralized model. If we look at open source software. That's ah, that's a good example of of ah of a decentralized system where there are a lot of people contributing separately and doing their own experiments but like I use an operating system on my phone that is. Much more secure and a lot more advanced than ah than Android you know it it utilizes android but this company that created the operating system I use. It's open source people are contributing to it from all over the world for free and then Android then later adopts it. And then everyone else gets it because it was the the advancements are being made in ah in a decentralized model but going back to the happiness piece is you know I could have a shitload of money I could be flying in private jets to my 5 different homes around the world and all that but also which.

22:57.26

Max Shank

Ah.

01:03:41.20

mikebledsoe

I Could still do in a decentralized model that type Lifestyle doesn't completely go away there. But if I say hey I'm gonna take a pay cut and I'm going to live more simply and I'm gonna spend more time on the farm and I'm gonna and I'm gonna do more varied Activities. So this past weekend I did a little bit of gardening I did some work on the house I did some home improvement stuff hung out with a friend of mine to do all of it and I felt incredibly happy and incredibly wealthy. Um in that space. But if I.

23:48.29

Max Shank

Sounds like that's going to really interfere with your hustling and grinding though and you're giving 110 I I think it's good. You bring that up too because not only are people poisoned by the news but they're poisoned by.

01:04:22.21

mikebledsoe

That's right.

24:08.26

Max Shank

The false idols of culture in general. So people chase things that they are made to believe will bring them satisfaction and and then I'll be happy if I if I get blank then I'll be happy if I do blank then I'll be happy. And the reality is people are are different I know that's an outlandish thing to say people are different but we are and people have different wants and desires for a lot of different reasons. We have different upbringings and who's to say. That you're better off working at something you hate for 20 years so you can retire before you're 40 or doing something that you just purely enjoyed doing because you would do it anyway and making enough money but working until you're 80 years old ah, and there's not a right answer to that we want to especially the guru types and the leader types they want to say this is this is the way but it's like is it really the way like I don't know for you. Man.

01:05:44.31

mikebledsoe

By the way max and I are coming out with a product. It's called the way.

25:25.74

Max Shank

This is called this is the way do it or else.

01:05:53.49

mikebledsoe

Ah I think you brought up an interesting thing is because a lot of what people desire is based on what they seen on media right? No one knew that they wanted that car or this or that and so I mean if we go far enough back and.

25:45.74

Max Shank

It's all about sex people look. It's food and survival and then it's sex and sex is directly proportional to your position in the hierarchy and Ferrari's and glittery tits are the new currency.

01:06:26.63

mikebledsoe

Yeah, totally now if we look at the influencer culture and so we go on Instagram and we look at ah, what's his name ty lopez and.

26:00.63

Max Shank

For your position in the hierarchy. It's all this stuff is deeper than language.

26:09.98

Max Shank

The.

01:06:41.83

mikebledsoe

You know he's got the lamborghinis and the books and he's got this lifestyle thing going on all the glitzing lamb a lot of that was a lot of that was based off of hollywood so like people saw hollywood stars and people wanted to be like the the actctors and actresses back when you know television. And movie stars were the only influencers you know the I think you heard about that on that that podcast that we both listened to you talked about? Ah, there was only like 5 influencers in the world that that back in the 50 s or whatever it was or 60 s. And then yeah, yeah, like there's only a handful people that are known by millions or billions of people and now there's a shitload of people that are known by so many people and the influencers have become decentralized one.

26:54.66

Max Shank

When we were talking about like Elvis I think right? Yeah right.

01:07:38.70

mikebledsoe

We added channels to the television. You know we went from print media to video media audio video then it was internet Instagram Youtube and now there's there's more influencers than we can count and so that's decentralized so I think that. In the centralization of influencer culture. There was only a few ways to live your life. You saw their lifestyle on you know the lifestyles of the rich and famous and you go oh I want to have that mansion in that pool and all this but now like I talk to a lot of people that are my age and younger. And they look at that kind of stuff and they just kind of go hey and there's definitely ah, a lot of young people that are doing the glitz and glam and all that. But it's it's becoming less popular and it's actually made fun of a whole lot. It's the. They become comical means it's like yeah that is true, but everything's decentralizing. So now I you know I may follow some influencers that I like that that share my own values and so I think we're gonna see um where I think we're gonna see a lot healthier. Social environment with the decentralization of the influencers as well because I think where I think we've had to go through a point where everyone realizes oh I can be an influencer and they become extremely egotistical and it becomes it's not.

28:39.42

Max Shank

Ah.

01:09:08.99

mikebledsoe

It's such a weird thing and I I think that a lot of people got fucked up by that in the last decade but I think on the other side of that. It's growing pains on the other side of that everyone kind of goes. Oh yeah, everyone's connected to everybody and everybody's unique and I don't need to be like anybody else or. You know I want to I want to be a part of this crew over here I don't need to to try to kill myself to live up to some fake standard that I'm noticing over here. So I think that with with well with tech. Well but what one of the things that technology is really doing and ah.

29:11.38

Max Shank

I Hope people are thinking that way that sounds awesome.

01:09:46.92

mikebledsoe

Bitcoin's a good example of this is transparency is you can see all the transactions between all the wallets anytime you want and so the well I mean my only my email is tied to my my wallet.

29:24.13

Max Shank

Yeah.

29:32.34

Max Shank

Doesn't leave much for privacy though. But that's okay I guess.

01:10:05.97

mikebledsoe

So you wouldn't really be able to figure out who I was if I didn't want to be found Um, ah and you guessed it. Ah so but um.

29:45.34

Max Shank

Mike Underscore blood so at Gmail I wonder who this is.

29:53.82

Max Shank

Who could this possibly be.

01:10:21.26

mikebledsoe

The thing is is we've had an incredible level of transparency in our culture but it's been one-sided Only only intelligence agencies were allowed to have ultimate ah transparency you know there's anyone can go look at any my shit.

30:10.19

Max Shank

M.

01:10:39.32

mikebledsoe

I mean if they want to be in my computer and my phone right now they can do it and there's nothing I can do about it and they want to freeze my bank account they can freeze my bank account. They want to look at my books they can look at my but they can do whatever they want we already have it's ah I think it's a Peter Diamandas ah is like.

30:17.90

Max Shank

Um, amazing wild gnarly. The power of the stick.

01:10:58.16

mikebledsoe

Like the future is already here. It's just not widely distributed yet or maybe that's a occurs while and and the same thing happens with transparency transparent 100% pure transparency already exists. You're already being watched if they want to watch you.

30:36.70

Max Shank

Yeah.

01:11:17.13

mikebledsoe

They're already collecting the data the shit is there now it just needs to be widely distributed because the benefit of this massive transparency. That's coming is the transparency will start going both ways. So the. I think Snowden was one of these guys that that started this is people like oh I think we need more to have more transparency with the intelligence agencies. Let's see about that. Where's the money flowing. Well if they don't control the currency anymore we can start seeing where the money flows at a governmental level. Okay. Things all of a sudden become very unpopular when we can start seeing how money is flowing all over the world and it's not hidden or being mislabeled or whatever it is so it's it's one it's one of those things. It's kind of like. I really enjoy my privacy I'm gonna do my best to maintain it and I would rather live in a world where everything was 100% transparent than 100% ah than ah well I'd rather be in 100% private but we can't. We can't put pandawar back in the box right? and the yeah so it's like the the next best thing is for it to be a 2 wo-way street is that there's ultimate transparency.

32:09.89

Max Shank

In a lot of ways That's true.

32:18.86

Max Shank

I think that's an important thing to remember with everything that we're talking about is there is no ultimate final best solution except for except for live and let live and I don't mean final solution like final solution. Ah, that that phrase is not cool anymore after that 1 german guy. But just you you don't know ah hit Hitler. You remember that guy.

01:13:07.87

mikebledsoe

I Don't know what you're talking about no fill me in how yeah I heard about him.

32:55.78

Max Shank

Yeah, his final solution was to kill all the non Aryans now I never thought that was a good idea and fortunately a lot of other folks also did not think that was a good idea. But ah anyway, my point is.

01:13:23.71

mikebledsoe

E.

01:13:35.80

mikebledsoe

How does have to do with live and let live.

33:13.42

Max Shank

There is not well what I'm saying is live and let live is a really good way to live but everything we're talking about. It's just searching for a marginally better way if you spend your whole life looking for the ultimate Best way to live.

01:13:50.53

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

33:32.47

Max Shank

You probably won't spend your life living and doing things that bring you joy I mean I'm a very contemplative guy. Personally I find it really fun to just sit and think about things and sketch stuff down.

01:13:59.91

mikebledsoe

Dude, it's gonna suck.

33:51.68

Max Shank

That no other human will ever see because it's way too outrageous and I find I find that I find that super interesting. It's It's a fun game. Ah I also like to play tennis and dojujitsu and things like that where I'm not living in my head and I'm just in that flow state.

01:14:25.00

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

34:11.38

Max Shank

Um, but if you spend all time analyzing like am I living the best way possible am I living the most secure way possible. That's it's kind of like buying fire insurance. But then agonizing over whether or not your house is going to burn every single day.

01:14:53.14

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

34:30.79

Max Shank

It's like checking the value of your home every day. It's like checking the value I mean it's just like ah it's ah, electing to give yourself some sort of schizophrenia. Basically it's It's not a really healthy way to live The reason we're talking about this stuff is. I Think to give you some sort of understanding of how things are and maybe how things are becoming and how to make yourself as free as possible as these things change. You know I. Have enjoyed this conversation so far a lot because I'm ah kind of an Assholeish Devil's advocate if I don't understand something I will just ask the most poignant autistic question Possible. So It's a lot of fun because I know that.

01:15:46.12

mikebledsoe

Perfect.

35:26.63

Max Shank

You won't take it personally and it's also a topic that I I really haven't been able to grasp very well. Um I understand how you can I don't know actually because um.

01:15:59.99

mikebledsoe

You do you understand it better today.

35:46.31

Max Shank

The the main thing I don't understand is what the staying power of different cryptocurrencies is I understand the value of ah autonomous contracts. Basically.

01:16:19.28

mikebledsoe

I Got you.

01:16:27.29

mikebledsoe

Oh.

36:05.10

Max Shank

So like basically you have software and an escrow account like you know I lend you ah x amount of dollars you put y amount of dollars in an escrow account if you don't pay your payment I automatically draw on your thing that part makes sense. It's. Kind of like software as a service. what ah what I don't understand is how to value a cryptocurrency relative to another cryptocurrency or relative to the dollar. Um, but I also ah don't like the idea that. More can be printed any old time. So that's why so far I've focused on investing in companies that create a profit because it it doesn't really matter what currency they're dealing in. As long as there's more energy coming out than there is coming in and that's easier for me to understand whereas if you ask me how much f will be worth in two years I don't know if the answer is 20000 or or 0.

01:17:41.47

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

37:18.80

Max Shank

Quite frankly and and I can't understand how someone would be able to know that.

01:17:46.24

mikebledsoe

Man, there's um, there's a lot there I'm glad I'm glad that I'm glad you explained all that. So. Um, so the idea that that our entire lives from the earliest memory that we can before we understood value. We had made. We made something mean about money and for us american and probably people around the world I mean even if you're born in Mexico it's the dollar you know like the peso versus the dollar but our entire reality has formed around the dollar. So the dollar has behaved a very specific way. It's had its It's been consistent in our consciousness you know in different ways for different people. But I think that what we're gonna end up experiencing is it's a paradigm shift and so there's ah in in like all good paradigm shifts explaining. It is practically impossible. It's something that. I I think that for me. Ah what I've had to do is I've dug so much into all the different information I I look at how it works I've seen how it's behaved I look at the patterns and my I've loosened up my mind around the dollar being. The thing that everything else is compared against and it is um I mean I think we talked about this in the last year or 2 is like I've had a hard time going. Okay, we're not comparing things if we don't have a standard currency then man it's just going to be chaos. Really won't work. People are looking for stability. Um, so I think there's an opportunity for a paradigm shift around there being a single currency. Um, there's also people who were trying to There's a there's a gold backed cryptocurrency like ah you know a coin. Is an ounce isn't you know that's what it is it just is and when you when when you trade it there are your reserves of gold are somewhere and if you want it in your hand you can you know you could figure that out so there are things like that happening um a lot of people think and i. I tend to agree that bitcoin may end up being the like the reserve currency. Um, it's definitely a currency that now there's times that I believe that it won't be able to exchange in high volumes and that.

40:00.40

Max Shank

Definitely maybe.

01:20:28.51

mikebledsoe

It's expensive to trade and so only the wealthy will hold it so like like the classes of people will actually divide up based on part of it. It would would be like you know it's it's expensive to buy an Nft with ethereum compared to Mineero. For instance because the gas fees are higher so they basically train like ah like a transaction fee and so um, people will kind of like put themselves. They'll use currency that makes sense to them and they'll.

40:28.70

Max Shank

A.

01:21:05.57

mikebledsoe

Be a little bit of a hierarchy that starts there. Um, but I mean in the end the the law of economic like when the primary laws of economics with supply and demand is really how it's going to go is what's the supply of it and what's the demand of it and enough people agree to be using a particular currency. It's going to cause it to do that and. I think it's going to take some Ai technology for us to that's the paradigm shift is it more likely is it's there's going to be a machine that can compute at high enough speeds that just kind of says that this much bitcoin is worth this much. Ethereum is. This much monro and whatever you're holding and you want to make an exchange it. We're gonna we're gonna make it work and I know that there's companies that are already working on that. Um, and you know there's this really cool sign here in Austin because I'm in like. Crypto land here right? So it's well they just had the bitcoin conference last weekend I had a few friends there and other yeah.

41:38.32

Max Shank

Here. It's even crazier in Miami and Florida yeah, don't get me wrong I love I love the idea of a decentralized currency that's based on demand and not based on. Ah.

01:22:22.79

mikebledsoe

Right? Yeah I mean as long as the authorities control that as long as people put their faith in the authorities more than they do and people then we have problems but there's a sign in Austin.

41:58.29

Max Shank

Blind faith in an Authority's ability to control their money printing and their grubby hands.

42:14.29

Max Shank

Ideologically I'm like a hundred but percent bought in already with that idea.

01:22:43.79

mikebledsoe

there's there's well There's this there's this one company that keeps on putting up signs in Austin they're black signs with white letters. It's always I I forget the name of the website but 1 is bitcoin bitcoin is a revolution. Ah.

42:28.22

Max Shank

Bad marketing.

01:22:59.74

mikebledsoe

Hiding in plain sight. There's another one that's ah ah bitcoin isn't and is not an investment. It's a vote and then um.

42:45.30

Max Shank

Now that that part I understand because one of my strongest beliefs is that you vote with your dollars and you vote with your attention. Basically.

01:23:18.68

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and then another sign is ah cryptocurrencies are ah is a rev cryptocurrencies something like that is a revolution disguised as a casino and so yeah.

43:09.64

Max Shank

Ah, that's one.

01:23:37.48

mikebledsoe

And so and and I think that all of those are clever and accurate. You know people are in there trading and getting in there and and they're excited about it's new technology. There's an opportunity to make shit tons of money if you want and not necessary. Well.

43:26.44

Max Shank

As long as you're in there early.

01:23:56.13

mikebledsoe

But earlier the better 100% about that. You know the best time to grow you know plant a tree was twenty years ago might as well hop in now and ah and and currencies is just one piece of this we have dows we have Nftts I've been learning a little more about Nftts recently.

43:31.63

Max Shank

There. Okay.

01:24:15.91

mikebledsoe

And well the Nft world is really you know what's getting a lot of the attention is the art but I can Nft my property and so now the the government so the the government ah holds the deed to the house right? They they.

43:50.97

Max Shank

Oh god.

01:24:35.85

mikebledsoe

Keep the the ledger and all that shit somewhere and they give me a copy of my deed and then ah but the Catholic Church used to do that and then the government took over that function because someone had to do it and they they have more power and now it's gonna become. Ah. It's because the deed and the recording of of assets is usually handled by the government if you buy a car they want your title if you own you know they give you your registration. They're going to handle the deed to your house I can nft my property.

44:41.96

Max Shank

Right.

01:25:14.35

mikebledsoe

And I can sell it to you and the smart contract says well when max sends this money here then this triggers that he gets this nft there and then it's recorded on the blockchain and it's inarguable and so the we just killed a ton of. Administrative load I mean it took me thirty days to close on my fucking house. It should take 1 and or maybe 5 you know you want to get your inspections and all that shit. But the majority of those. Yeah no shit.

45:15.22

Max Shank

Um, well look otherwise what are what are those realtors going to do otherwise though come on what about the poor realtors Mike that's not cool. Dude if they could.

01:25:51.50

mikebledsoe

Ah, ah, the realtors is oh the realtors are still be employed. No you think so I know I know I know a handful of realtors. They love their shit. They love putting people on homes.

45:32.10

Max Shank

Do something else. They would be doing that I don't know I just like to make fun of realtors. No being a realtor is an amazing gig in terms of the ridiculous commission that you can get on a house it. It makes no sense whatsoever. Um.

01:26:10.46

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah.

45:52.10

Max Shank

But just to clarify I think the idea of voting with your dollars resonates with me the most and that's why I like to let markets decide instead of people that's that's why I don't like the way democracy works because. It's basically glorified mob rule right? If 51 % of us vote to rape the other forty nine then it's perfectly legal but voting with your dollars requires that both parties of every transaction gain a profit from it. And there's no coercion involved so in that regard I think vote with your dollars and then investing in a certain currency because you ah believe in it like you vote with your dollars by investing into this currency because you believe in it I think that's totally valid. Still don't know how to value it relative to other things. But I think just fundamentally and philosophically voting with your dollars and voting with your attention is maybe the best advice to give anyone because then you also won't get caught.

01:27:20.81

mikebledsoe

Um, I think if you were to.

47:08.46

Max Shank

And this idea where you think like oh this is a good Politician and this is a bad politician. It's like no forget about it vote with your dollars invest in yourself and invest your attention in things that you ah want to absorb because you will be absorbing them kind of like you said you follow.

01:27:40.24

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

47:28.12

Max Shank

Certain Gurus Um, the internet is a tool cell phone is a tool social media can be a tool or it can be a poison and whatever you're paying attention to you're gonna. Absorb that you're basically downloading information into your brain So be really mindful of how you're investing your dollars and attention.

01:28:15.49

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and go check out. Um, if you one of the things that things started stopped being so mysterious when I went and read some white papers. You know, pick out a few different. Cryptocurrencies If if you want to look at something that is somewhat difficult to buy you have to jump through some hoops. Um, you know I would say Theta is something that's extremely useful that is that not only will your.

48:08.80

Max Shank

And.

01:28:50.26

mikebledsoe

You have an opportunity for the coins you hold to increase in value but will actually give you cash flow as well. The more that the service is used so the current all these currencies are tied to real business services. Most of them are actually um and so. Ah, theta being one of these is it's a video streaming service and they're getting companies like Youtube netflix a lot all these streaming services are getting on board.

48:57.10

Max Shank

Is it like buying shares in that company basically but using the coins as an avenue to do that.

01:29:27.23

mikebledsoe

Yeah, so you could do that or you could do ah you could also run a node which would then earn you fuel. Yeah kind of like a miner so you'd be contributing to the network with your own resources and there's there's.

49:11.32

Max Shank

Like being a minor. Yeah.

01:29:46.35

mikebledsoe

Yeah, there's ways to be involved and yeah, part of it is like owning stock like it's the future stock market you know Apple should have a coin. You know you want to. It's just just new rules. New rules are that same same game and which does change the game cause.

49:22.35

Max Shank

F.

49:33.60

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

01:30:04.78

mikebledsoe

Game is pretty much defined by the rules. But.

49:40.44

Max Shank

Well, you got me convinced I just invested my retirement into Nfts is that what I was supposed to do.

01:30:11.55

mikebledsoe

I wouldn't take all of it and do that. But um I I did just I cashed out the last of my stocks last week I hold nothing but ah, the only thing I'm interested is crypto real estate and startups. So I.

49:50.71

Max Shank

I can't help poking fun because I just don't understand well enough. Oh.

01:30:31.30

mikebledsoe

I own stock I own stock in a few companies that are startups I don't not stock market. So I basically pulled my money out of the stock market 100% so I don't have a retirement fund anymore. Um, and because I mean the only benefit retirement funds is I mean there's a couple of benefits depending on which way have but like.

50:09.90

Max Shank

E O E E.

50:22.73

Max Shank

Taxes Primarily who.

01:30:50.59

mikebledsoe

Taxes is the main thing and and there is a reduction if you're doing like a life insurance policy on you know how much loss you might endear. But the.

50:35.86

Max Shank

Just a reminder to our listeners. This is not financial advice in any way.

01:31:04.33

mikebledsoe

No, not none whatsoever. We're not financial experts we ah you know I just I have fun with my money. But yeah I've I've made I've invested. That's why I buy fun.

50:55.75

Max Shank

That's why you buy funny money.

01:31:23.99

mikebledsoe

But yeah I like startups in crypto the most and then you know real estate's the least sexy but I think the most important asset anyone could ever own.

51:10.72

Max Shank

Yeah, you gotta live somewhere and there's built in scarcity just follow the 3 rules of real estate location, location location and someone's always gonna want to live there.

01:31:45.30

mikebledsoe

True that true dot let's wrap this bad boy up and we we went hard today. The final thoughts max were you aggressive or was high aggressive or were we aggressive.

51:30.54

Max Shank

Ah, it was aggressive. Um. No, the topic is um, very uncertain and because I don't understand it I feel like I just kept asking a lot of questions which is is cool. Ah, but I still.

01:32:08.19

mikebledsoe

Um.

51:55.59

Max Shank

You know there's a difference between understanding and explanation versus having conviction in the idea enough to bet and I think that's something um that you learn I mean life is a bunch of bets Poker is bets investing is making bets.

01:32:24.64

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

52:15.49

Max Shank

And if you don't have the conviction to bet you really don't have any conviction at All. So The proof is in the pudding for you because clearly you are putting your money where your mouth is and that's why all these phrases have lasted the test of time right? So I think you got to vote with your dollars. You got to put your money where your mouth is and ideally you want to invest in things that you understand. So if you understand them. Ah just because I don't that that doesn't matter.

01:33:08.80

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and I think the the one of the thing when I think about you're talking about conviction and the word that I was thinking of was like oh maybe you know I think this is how I see it is groking it that is I ah. When I grok a topic is I surround it I look at it from as many angles as possible. There's a shitload of data collection going on tons of research and it's just question question question question and then when I grok something one day it occurs to me I go.

53:08.13

Max Shank

Yeah.

01:33:46.63

mikebledsoe

And this happened to me in 2017 it's like oh we want you to talk on a panel about decentralization I was like well I guess I'd better. Go learn about crypto so early Twenty seventeen before that when I caught a really big upswing I started researching it in a few months into researching and I go it hit me I got the.

53:26.54

Max Shank

So.

01:34:04.78

mikebledsoe

Hit that grot point where I go I get this as like oh this is the future I should buy some now but and I did and I ended up making like $30000 in less than a year from like ah.

53:40.54

Max Shank

The.

01:34:23.53

mikebledsoe

Mean I think I may put like four or $5000 in total and the.

54:02.91

Max Shank

6 x in a year is historically an incredible investment.

01:34:31.72

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah I couldn't get that anywhere else I'm like I'm looking around I'm like I didn't do that in my own business.

54:12.78

Max Shank

Well, you could you could get it somewhere else, but it's just hard to know ahead of time. That's the thing there are lots of places you could get it Well I mean there are companies you can invest in that will do that. But it's just hard to know ahead of time.

01:34:43.40

mikebledsoe

Um, you can get it at the casino. Yeah, but totally totally totally. So um, so yeah I I like to when when something piques my interest.

54:30.72

Max Shank

Ah.

01:35:02.12

mikebledsoe

I Like to just say I want to Grot this and that means that I can I can stabilize a perspective around this I don't actually need to know everything about it because I understand the the philosophy I Understand. The the big picture how it works and then as I learn more information and I just get more and more confirmation like oh I learned this small detail about this cryptocurrency. You know that validates how I understand crypto and I keep getting upgrades to that that understanding something comes in I go. Oh you know what I didn't even know that that was possible but in the thing is the I've collected a lot of evidence. Of course you know we're all subject to the particular activating system and so.

55:30.32

Max Shank

Is that confirmation bias that you're talking about okay reticular activating system I learned so many new words when I talk with you new many new words and phrases.

01:35:58.00

mikebledsoe

Yeah, kind of yeah so you buy a red car and now you see red cars everywhere. Um, yeah, a s.. Ah yeah, there's been yeah.

55:48.24

Max Shank

I Think you hit something really good there though which was you're interested and if you're interested in some I mean look I've done pretty well for myself. But the reality is I was just more interested in the topic than almost anybody else. It's kind of like cheating it's like ah the idea of what's what's difficult.

01:36:25.75

mikebledsoe

That's true.

01:36:33.72

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

56:08.10

Max Shank

Well difficult is anything I don't want to do. But if I'm if I'm willing to happily spend hours and hour hours and hour hours a day learning ah about movement and exercise and psychology and copywriting then I'm going to.

01:36:53.94

mikebledsoe

Yeah, that makes me think about ah is it not being fair people look at other people and go. They're so good at thing it's not fair. It's like you're just not as interested. What are you interested in. You need to go be unfair somewhere else.

56:27.25

Max Shank

Completely dominate someone who is just trying to do that to earn a buck. It's not fair. So if you're interested follow that.

56:41.85

Max Shank

Um, yeah, right? Yeah I when I'm playing games I like to I like to play games where the odds are stacked against me. But when I'm in real life.

01:37:11.83

mikebledsoe

Or maybe they've just been out the thing you're interested in longer that could also be.

01:37:25.88

mikebledsoe

Totally yeah I was talking to a regenerative farmer. He says ah just always trying to increase hammock time. But if I can make my garden grove I can make the farm work for me.

56:59.93

Max Shank

I try to only play games where I have an unfair advantage because you you can You can do that.

01:37:45.70

mikebledsoe

Where you know I think a lot of people think look at something like that and they think about all the hard work That's gonna have to go into It's like now you set it up and you hamicck time permaculture. You know certain farming methods are built that way. Alright, ah the only thing I've gotta say to wrap this bad boy up.

57:28.18

Max Shank

E.

01:38:04.76

mikebledsoe

Is invest your attention into things that are decentralizing and learn about it because I think this is my belief and so you can just if you want to adopt my beliefs which you know when people do good things happen. Ah. The I.

58:00.21

Max Shank

You seem so down man I feel like I broke you what happened here. He's like I guess just ah, invest in things you like? ah.

01:38:30.10

mikebledsoe

Ah I'm um'm um well I'm is well this is my way of like not trying to be overly influential is my way of like it's kind of it's my energetic way of going you know, take it or leave it but it is a good idea looking at what.

58:20.41

Max Shank

Um, ah.

01:38:49.60

mikebledsoe

What's happening in decentralization when it comes to food energy money and governance and when you look at all these things and you can understand them if you get in on you if you catch the wave that's coming then life's gonna be pretty good for you. You have opportunity to. For it to be pretty awesome if you resist it and you don't want to be a part of it and you just want to keep watching the news and you want to just and put as much money into the Ira as possible so that your company matches it doing the job you hate then.

58:43.83

Max Shank

All right.

01:39:26.86

mikebledsoe

You know I think I think life's gonna suck. But you know I'm just trying to convince you to do things from a perspective I'm holding.

59:12.40

Max Shank

All right? Well I'm gonna go the exact opposite way I'm not goingnna be not going to be wishywashy about it at all I'm gonna say that if you go to http://macank.com/pass I have a new course coming out.

01:39:42.76

mikebledsoe

Are a.

59:29.72

Max Shank

Specifically for coaches. But Also if you want to be the best training partner possible been working on this for a couple years I think it's a real revolution in personal training and just movement coaching and communication in General. Ah. Limited space available http://macshank.com/pass.. It'll be more than worth money more than worth your time and if you are a fitness professional. It's a way better investment than anything Else. You could make.

01:40:27.75

mikebledsoe

Yeah I heard that I heard that your program is like the it's basically the the decentralized training system. You know so definitely go check it out. Folks. Ah, one thing I do want to mention is I will be at paleo effects at the end of the month they have not run their event in 2 years and every year that I've been before it feels like a family reunion. It's just so sweet. So I'll be there I'll be speaking on stage I'll be on a couple of panels I got a booth there. We're gonna be hanging out. There's parties every night I highly recommend. Go to I got a link somewhere if you want it if you want me to make money off this thing shoot me a Dm and then I'll send you a link if you don't give a fuck about this and and you just want to buy your ticket then just go to http://paleofx.com and get a ticket and then I'll give you a high 5 either way. Later Max love you

01:01:00.49

Max Shank

Love you bye.

Apr 4, 2022

00:00.00

mikebledsoe

Welcome to Monday morning with Mike and max and today we're gonna be talking about ancient wisdom with modern technology because if you don't hold both of these at the same time really well in the year Twenty Twenty Two you're probably gonna have a hard. Time thanks for joining us max.

00:22.25

Max Shank

Well, thanks for having me in the year Twenty Twenty two since we started counting because if you look at how long homo sapiens have been in this current form. We've been around a really long time and depend to you ask. Roughly two hundred thousand years does that sound correct to you I believe as homo sapiens. Okay, so it's ah it's really hard to actually imagine timelines that long it's.

00:46.53

mikebledsoe

Ah sure why not? That's what they said on Discovery channel.

00:59.40

Max Shank

Almost impossible to truly hold in your mind. The fact that ancient egypt was 3 to eight thousand years ago 3 to seven thousand years ago and what's interesting is a lot of the questions that people ask today and a lot of the. Ideas that people feel are unique Today have been asked and answered thousands and thousands of times both spoken and written over the years and I think considering a the fact that we are animals. Who basically look for survival sex and supremacy more or less in that order even without the spoken and written word is an important foundational point for this so human nature which is really animal nature has not.

01:50.34

mikebledsoe

Um.

01:55.91

Max Shank

Changed really at all in thousands and thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of years but the technology has changed dramatically in that amount of time.

02:09.16

mikebledsoe

Yeah, it's um I as we start talking about this I think about there's a ah 30 hour presentation on Youtube by John Vervaki Dr. john vervaki and it's called awakening from the meaning crisis Highly recommend it if you're a philosophical nerd. You're going to love it. Um, and so what he does is he walks you through the stages of human consciousness and really ah you know. Our written history is very short compared to that 200000 year span that max is just talking about and he basically is able to start ah a in-depth conversation about the development of consciousness with the jewish people. Hebrew people and then how it then makes it over to the greeks and the the way the greeks start making sense of things and I but I believe there was either socrates or aristotle who started talking about what makes us. Human is our ability to use logic and to be able to plan ahead of time to be human is to be rational and that is to have that self-awareness and then ask questions and to develop. Wisdom your job as a human being if you want to become more human he talks about developing wisdom which we're going to get into and also getting in greater touch greater contact with reality and in order to develop wisdom. You have to get into greater contact. With reality and so ah in in order to get in greater contact. We have to become more accurate with what is and this is why max and I get really likely notice that we get really deep into semantics because. Words matter because ah, each word creates a distinction of reality you know and if you have a limited vocabulary your ability to interact with other humans in a way and and with your own mind in a way that puts you in touch with reality can become very very difficult. So um.

04:38.86

Max Shank

Well not only that not only that but the content of your thoughts determines your reality big time.

04:40.41

mikebledsoe

I Think about.

04:46.19

mikebledsoe

Absolutely yeah, you're you're projecting most of what's going on in what you would consider your reality as a projection of of the mind. Um, that's why 2 people can be sitting at the same event and. Have a completely different reporting of those events happens all the time in courtrooms and and then if we're if we're talking about anything beyond the current moment if we're talking about the past there has been a lot of research to show that people. Remember things. Not only do they remember things differently from person to person but they remember them differently over time and one of the studies that really stand out to me in regard to this is they did ah they researched people's ability to what did they report to the police. Ah, right? after a crime versus what did they say once they got on the stand and and then also what kind of impact did the questions that the police officers were asking the people how does that impact their memory of it and so.

05:53.99

Max Shank

The.

06:02.50

mikebledsoe

Um, I'm very wary of relying on my own memory or other people's memories to ah in order to be in contact with reality because I know that that simply may not be the case. Um, and so. Man Why am I talking about memories. Yeah, your your perception does does create a reality and how you remember things in the past paint how you're gonna behave now and so ah.

06:32.81

Max Shank

Well I meant from a very practical standpoint. It started with it. It started with semantics right? And the reason we go through these semantics so much is if you hold the word depressed.

06:39.30

mikebledsoe

Yes, yes.

06:50.10

Max Shank

In your mind as meaning a certain thing or even worse as something with a very nebulous meaning you might attach a certain word to your identity and there will be a domino effect to your entire psyche which is going to have a domino effect to your entire life and so just. Being able to ah clean, the slate and have ah an emptiness that you can put stuff back into rather than being saddled down with all of these destructive half ideas. That aren't really fully formed so you don't have a grasp of what's going on in your own mind and it's this very circular destructive cycle if you're not very conscious about the words that you use with yourself and with other people.

07:40.38

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well let's dig into because we're talking about ancient wisdom and and modern technology and in speaking of semantics. Let's Define wisdom max. What's your definition.

07:55.55

Max Shank

Knowing yourself and acting accordingly.

08:00.30

mikebledsoe

I Like that the um, the way I think about wisdom is that you um, you, you're aware of cause and effect you're watching when I do this. This happens when when other people do this this happens. You don't wisdom doesn't necessarily have to be all based on your own mistakes of her Failures. You can watch other people's mistakes and Failures. So I think that wisdom is largely. Um.

08:29.10

Max Shank

Then.

08:37.80

mikebledsoe

Built upon taking personal responsibility for the things that are going on in your world and because if you are if you ever look out at the world and or you look at your own life and you blame somebody else for the way something is turned out in your life. You're robbing yourself of wisdom and you're robbing your ability to see how the impact of your actions thoughts all these behaviors how they have created the current situation and so somebody who is wise typically people who are wise you look at them and go wow they made a lot of mistakes earlier in their lut in there. And their life and now they they now know what? like yeah you got the old guy in the corner going hey little Johnny you may not want to do that and I was like why not and then does it anyway and then gets fucked up. You go? Oh ah so the the wisdom is. A lot of times people will associate age with wisdom but it really has to do with you know where are you paying attention and were you were you looking for? What was my role in creating any situation that's happening so when I think about wisdom I look at it like that. There's. Individual wisdom that's developed and then obviously the the collective wisdom and looking at ah yeah, and this is where like these buddhist monks that get together and they all meditate together and and they're very scientific in a way they're studying you know.

09:56.62

Max Shank

The.

10:10.97

mikebledsoe

But when we do this? What's the result we get happens in yoga as well and there the collective wisdom is when you get a lot of agreement. It's like oh we all did this 1 thing together and we all got this result and there's ah, there's ah, a collaboration and then we write it down in a book. And that gets passed down and so this is this is where I I really do enjoy reading what would be considered ancient wisdom ancient text because there's so much. Um, there is a lot of wisdom in there and it can help you avoid a lot of painful mistakes.

10:48.49

Max Shank

Yeah I think when you say wisdom to me that's knowledge because I think knowledge is knowing what to do and wisdom is doing what you know pretty much so the way I see it. There's a slight difference. But.

10:49.48

mikebledsoe

As you move forward.

11:05.60

mikebledsoe

Um.

11:07.81

Max Shank

I Can also perfectly understand the logic to your definition too.

11:10.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, so so we've got wisdom. We got a couple to you know knowledge Wisdom Ah, let's define.

11:20.60

Max Shank

They all, they're answering ancient questions. Let's just put it that way a lot of questions have been asked since the beginning of human history where did we come from that's creation. What do we do while we're here. How do we balance out life and live life and then what happens after life death or destruction and basically every culture in the world has different myths or different stories. Ah, it's Funny. A myth is just ah. The the news a long time ago, right? So we asked the question hey where did we come From. How did we get here? How did everything get here. There are all these creation myths and there are a lot of similarities and differences we have How does how is balance.

11:59.35

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

12:16.60

Max Shank

Ah maintained. How should we live our lives and then what happens after we die and usually the way balance is maintained in our lives is there's a carrot or a stick upon our death that says if you lived a good life. You go to heaven if you lived a bad life. You go to? hell. And that is a very common thread in many different cultural fabrics so to speak you have the traditional heaven and hell you have ancient Egypt you have your heart weighed against a feather to see if you get to go. Ah, to the good place or suffer a second death. So a lot of these questions have been asked for many thousands of years of what to do with your life and what do you think? Mike? What should we do with our lives.

13:11.10

mikebledsoe

I think it's I think we should I think one of the pieces of wisdom that I've adopted over the years is looking at what's useful versus true and i.

13:13.51

Max Shank

According to wisdom.

13:27.81

mikebledsoe

When we talked about oh where did we come from what was the origin of the the world where what happens after you die and of course every tradition has their stories and I think what you're getting at you got the the heaven and health Piece. What is the Utility. Of believing that you're there's ah, a heaven or a hell at the end of the lifetime and that is to get people to behave a certain way and and so the utility for society to adopt a religion is to to help create order.

13:55.20

Max Shank

No doubt.

14:06.71

mikebledsoe

And ah this is where a lot of Western spirituality goes is you know? Well we're preparing for something later. Not right now and so which does create order and then if you go to the east and you look at.

14:17.20

Max Shank

Ah.

14:25.41

mikebledsoe

A lot of those traditions and how they came about which um, ah, a bigger I think both have their their utility and in the east it's more of yeah, you're creating your own heaven or hell and in every moment and. Everything that's happening is a complete There's no progress so in western philosophy spirituality there's a beginning and an end and in eastern philosophy it tends to be circular like now there's no beginning and an end. It's just it's there's seasons and cycles. It's winter spring summer fall. They call that some sorrow and the ah I mean the truth is that that both exist. Yes, there is a progression of humanity over time. Ah, if you look at the universe. It's spiraling in a direction. There's an expansion happening. But it's also moving in a spiral. It's moving. There are seasons and cycles. So there are aspects of it that are predictable and then there are aspects of it that are not predictable so when I think about what's true if you talk to an eastern philosopher. They go. Well, you know it's just a season and cycle. It's not that important what's important is that you just maintain the quality of your own mind in this moment and create heaven on earth in this moment and then yeah, the the west says who gives a fuck about what's happening right? now go blow yourself up. For for allah and you'll get 72 virgins and so these these are extreme. Yeah, well, it's it's ah yeah, ah Hebrew um, yeah, well, it's it's not necessarily.

16:00.82

Max Shank

They're they're they're from the west. Um I believe Middle East not to be a stickler for geography.

16:14.51

mikebledsoe

It's east us. But when we but well when we look at.

16:16.90

Max Shank

It's all relative right? There are different cultures and they have different ideas of how you achieve some sort of Nirvana or happiness or peace or fulfillment right.

16:21.40

mikebledsoe

Or the. Yeah, well the origin of these philosophies that christianity came from which is what our culture is largely based off of based off judaism which is the same thing as based off of Islam. They're all come from. They're all considered western ah philosophy is is where it spring from so it went from. Ah, judaism hebrew to Greece and then came over whereas you had a completely different track going on in the east and that's why I talk about these 2 things. But then yeah, there's utility to both. So um, I really think about let's not get too attached to what's true or not. Because that is what happens as people get way too caught up on what's true instead of recognizing what's useful and so what I find to be useful is to say yeah, both of these things are true like we have no idea what's going to happen when we die and we. Have an opportunity to ah to create heaven on earth in this very moment. So why don't we just do both. Why don't we have a nice life while we're here in this moment and do well and help each other out and find peace in our own mind and let's also make some progress and see if we can. Make a better tomorrow than than what we have today. So I have no idea how I got to that point. What's that.

17:49.21

Max Shank

So so productivity pretty much do so Productivity is the is the way to live. It doesn't matter what is true just do what is productive and make up your own goals.

17:58.99

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well you look at I think it was up was it socrates you know, true, good and beautiful if you pursue those 3 things life is gonna be pretty good. Do what's true. Do what's good and do what's beautiful and i.

18:10.32

Max Shank

That's a great way to go.

18:17.24

mikebledsoe

When I hear true I think of being in contact with reality not necessarily like a and I when I think about the Capital T truth I Think about that. That's my simple. That's what I in my own but personal wisdom says the Capital T truth is. Simply what is is right here reality right? now anything outside of that is got a ah degree of bullshit in it.

18:43.73

Max Shank

Man we could go down that rabbit hole big time. But I'm gonna for once. Keep this ship steered in the singular direction because you you decide for yourself. What's important in life. Unless you get it from somewhere else and I think that's where intuition can come into play a lot now. Intuition is a little different than instinctual desire for pleasure because. You can go down the path of 7 deadly sins total excess that sort of deal and you may not find the joy or fulfillment that you're looking for and in fact, more likely than going to actual hell. When you die for overindulging in these 7 deadly sins. It's more likely that it's a metaphor for creating a hell or an uncomfortable experience within your own life by overindulging in certain things. So I think. Coming back to intuition is very valuable and that's how the scientific method starts anyway is with observation and intuition you you go with your intuition to determine what kind of experiment you'd like to carry out. In the first place to see how that feels for you and this is how I like to connect it with the idea of identity because people get so trapped in different identities. It's like oh I'm a red t-shirt but guy I'm a blue t-shirt guy I'm a. But. I'm a white or I'm a black or I'm a man or I'm a woman and it's very it's very limiting when you're a creative creator so you have all of this potential to create things as a creature but we limit ourselves with this identity. When in fact, we would be so much better off using our intuition and our powers of observation to see what we find intrinsically enjoyable beyond some external result. It's sort of like putting the cart before the horse. If you do something just because you absolutely love doing it. The result is going to be way better and way more fulfilling than if you do something just because of the result that you may get so I think starting with intuition.

21:37.20

Max Shank

And observation to I guess observation and then intuition to figure out what feels intrinsically good that gives you an unfair advantage about any against anyone who's gonna do the same thing as you because you're gonna love every second of it and it's not gonna feel. Difficult at all because the whole concept of easy and difficult to me is you know there are things that are difficult like doing 10 backflips off of a cliff and landing on your feet but more practically difficult just means anything you don't want to do.

22:13.86

mikebledsoe

Yeah I Think that's a that's a really. Yeah,, there's there's doing something you don't want to do or or doing something that you may want to do that gets you a poor result that's also worth worth Noting. We won't go down that we talked about the marshmallow test before ah but ah, but.

22:34.70

Max Shank

Yeah.

22:38.56

mikebledsoe

But I what I think of when you're talking about that is the the 2 modes that people may operate from when when seeking happiness and 1 is having and the other one is being and if if you're caught up in the having mode. Of being and in creating happiness. There's never enough and you're gonna run out of runway and some days there's gonna be plenty and other days there won't and ah there there will never be enough and then the being which is thing if we look at.

23:02.10

Max Shank

There's never enough.

23:18.90

mikebledsoe

A lot of the new age Community. At this point, a lot of them. You know one of the things they do well is there is this focus on how are you being and then that attracting all these other things. Um the the pitfall with that is if you are trying to change your being so that you can have. Already fucked up. It's like oh I want I'm going to use the secret I'm going to use the law of attraction to get that lamborghini. Yeah, and you'll see how enlightened I am by the size of my house and at the beach.

23:45.49

Max Shank

To win an enlightenment contest.

23:53.20

Max Shank

Right.

23:56.46

mikebledsoe

And so the ah because I'll be able to attract more whatever and so.

24:00.99

Max Shank

That goes back to our earlier thing of survival sex and status right? and status is really about sex. Anyway, we were talking about the very beginning Beyond language or even deeper than language even other animals.

24:08.76

mikebledsoe

Remind me.

24:19.64

mikebledsoe

E.

24:20.13

Max Shank

They're going for survival first and foremost then they're going for sex which is typically a factor of your status and so the way we explore status now is glittery tits and ferrari's more more or less.

24:28.26

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

24:36.40

mikebledsoe

Through.

24:37.90

Max Shank

I mean I don't want to put too fine a point on it. There are other ways to gain status some people like to gain actual power over other people like having political clout. But you know largely it has to do with a man's ability to provide. Into the future because women have gotten more and more intelligent or calculated with their discernment So now. Ah you know a mongo type of giant man who's dumb can't provide as well as a frail nerd who. Knows how to create value and wealth and security long-term.

25:19.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, absolutely so going going back to having versus being modes. Um I think that what what you were alluding to before is if you if you don't. Have the being part nailed down, you're gonna be It's gonna be easy to convince you to do a bunch of shit. You don't actually want to do so you can have all the stuff that you think is gonna create happiness and if you're operating from that place and then we introduce. Technology these technology is yeah, it's tools and it's ways of leveraging our own minds and bodies to be able to accomplish more with less effort and so if you're adding a lot of you know if you're if you're on a ship and. All of a sudden I you know we're going the wrong way. But we're going fifty knots if we're going really fast then you know some people are so excited that you're going fast but have no idea what direction they're going in and ah. That's what happens with technology. It's like oh I've got this iphone in front of me and I've got this laptop and I've got you know a 4 our-wheel drive truck that can go anywhere you you give these things you give these ah you give these things guns.

26:45.57

Max Shank

I Feel attacked.

26:55.39

mikebledsoe

Guns are a great technology. Um Blockchain is ah is a fantastic technology that's emerged ah all of these things in the wrong hands in the in the hands of idiots will cause death destruction and and. It's it's not ah, a good look. But you put this in the hands of people who are you know who've already figured their own shit out and they can create some really cool stuff. You can live a really good life. You can you can do a lot of good for other people. And you you also get to fucking enjoy it which is very very rare I I hang out with a lot of the entrepreneurial community people that have money and are very successful and yada yada yada and I don't think there are any more. Um, a lot of them are any more happy than than someone who's working a tip old 9 to 5 making you know a quarter of the money.

27:58.75

Max Shank

I Think there's a big distinction I would like to make between you mentioned the being and the having and I think there's also the doing which is a little different than being.

28:09.40

mikebledsoe

Um.

28:15.10

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

28:17.70

Max Shank

And clearing your being so that you're as empty as space as fluid as water not to sound too. Ah fruity language over here is X I.

28:31.93

mikebledsoe

He's a fruit cake folks.

28:36.77

Max Shank

Um, definitely I have some homosexual tendencies when it comes to just I don't know I like nice things I like to use flowery language sometimes I don't know I'm a simple creature. No.

28:49.15

mikebledsoe

You you heard you heard it here first folks? um.

28:55.35

Max Shank

No one's a hundred percent straight I mean back when I was watching pornography I I liked there to be at least 1 penis in there even if there were 2 ladies so I guess I was like 33% homosexual in my preference there.

29:13.21

mikebledsoe

Welllthough this are you is ah I mean the whole it's ah it's a manmade concept. Ah the that there's a really cool mental model that everybody every everybody.

29:21.80

Max Shank

I know you think I'm sexy Mike you can just come right out and say it.

29:29.46

mikebledsoe

Why do you think I was over at your house all the time. Ah,, there's this really cool mental model that everybody uses. It's used early on in textbooks. It's hard to miss and it's the spectrum. It's There's this thing on the left and there's this the opposite of it is on the right. And ah, you can be somewhere in the middle and you go from left to right? and ah, it's It's so and interesting to watch people put things like sexual preference on this scale.

30:06.48

Max Shank

Where it's binary.

30:07.57

mikebledsoe

Of Ah, yeah, it's binary exactly and so it's It's really really interesting to watch people do that I mean I've done it I Still do I I Love the spectrum it.

30:19.89

Max Shank

Spectrums Spectrums make labeling difficult which is what our whole culture is in love with we love putting a very precise label on something and that's why we often miss the nuance.

30:34.60

mikebledsoe

Yeah, so I mean so you have the linear spectrum but I like to think about a more 3 dimensional spectrum which would be let's let's have a ball. Let's have a sphere and and there's a lot of things in the middle. Um.

30:34.89

Max Shank

And the context.

30:44.70

Max Shank

Right.

30:50.91

mikebledsoe

Why am I bringing that up man I'm bringing up a lot of show on the show that I'm losing track of where I was at I cut back My new tropics Max What's the problem.

30:53.24

Max Shank

Well I think it's important I think it's important to understand that the problem you're having right now in this conversation is the same problem of focusing too much. On the definition of your being. The last thing you want to do is be proud to be a man or proud to be white or proud to be a woman or proud to be a you know fairy godmother. Whatever it really is so silly and you don't want to get stuck too much.

31:11.77

mikebledsoe

You know.

31:29.68

Max Shank

In trying to define your being being should just be enjoying where you're at it shouldn't be thinking about who you are too much. It should be recognizing that you are not a fixed State. You are a dynamic changing growth. It's classic. Growth Mindset versus Fix Mindset and even though the the book flow is really a challenging read for the reader. It's got some good information in there and that is where I come in with the idea of the doing. Rather than just the being like if you spend too much time in the being it can be entertaining to wax philosophical. But if you spend too much time there you become like a prisoner in your own mind instead of enjoying the emptiness. Of your being and focusing on the intrinsic joy of doing and getting into that flow state and that's where you become like an animal traversing the terrain or a big cat hunting their prey you become focused. You become the task. Instead of being focused on yourself I can't think of a worse psychological prison than being focused on the definition of yourself so much and that's one of the biggest emphases of our very sick culture right now is what are you.? Are you a blue t-shirt guy. Are you a red t-shirt guy. Are you a lady? are you you a she are you a they are.. It's what's a worse prison than that. So I say instead of that. Go back to the intuition and the observation to figure out the doing. Where you become the task and that is something that we've known about for a long time. That's chopwood Carry water. That's um, you know the yeah Boom tying it all back.

33:25.82

mikebledsoe

Yeah, ancient. Wisdom yeah that there's um I brought up this this video I saw on Instagram yesterday I followed a lot of the teachings of a Christian and Murty are you familiar.

33:42.41

Max Shank

So one of Bruce Lee's main influences.

33:46.16

mikebledsoe

Yeah I think so and he he was talking about when you when you identify with an organization a group a religion or a race or a gender when you identify with any of these things. You are isolating yourself and a lot of time he was saying you know what? if you lived a life where you did not identify with any particular group whatsoever and at the first thought of that a lot of people would respond to him with. You know? Well, you'd be I You would be checking out of Society. You would not be participating and he would say no, it's the Opposite. You're open to the the all of humanity the moment that you identify with a group.

34:31.63

Max Shank

You have a more open connection with everybody.

34:43.23

mikebledsoe

You have just cut yourself off from and and you've isolated yourself to a very ah small small portion of humanity and ah and and the truth and and you're even isolating yourselves from people in that group because you're all in agreement about.

34:52.96

Max Shank

It's horrible.

35:02.46

mikebledsoe

1 aspect of the entire universe and can potentially miss who that person is outside of that 1 thing and so you know I get some conversations with people around. You know, ah race and gender and the victimhood and and all of these things and I get frustrated at times and they're like are you frustrated because that ah that and I got I'm frustrated because the only I'm I'm trying to help you and. You're not even willing to help yourself. You're so caught up in this argument I can't there's nothing that I can do I can't I can't hand you any amount of money I can't include you any more than you're already included in and to participate in whatever it is that we're doing until you let go of the identity. As long as you hold on to that identity. It's it's you're inflicting this on yourself all the way now if you give that up and then you're being inflicted upon then now we have violence. There's a there's a real problem with that. But when we look at society as a whole right now. What I think. What most of us are witnessing is this this heavy identification with an organization group. Whatever it is and it's ah it yeah, it's creating massive isolation and isolation creates suffering.

36:30.44

Max Shank

And it's just ah, perpetuating this us and them mentality that this this whole idea that you should define yourself by 1 variable of your being is insane. You know. White pride black pride. These are just racist ideas. They're stupid like why would you? Why would you be proud of that. It's because you're so desperate to be part of a group because you can get status within that group. It's like a kid joining a gang because they have no family right. And if you don't have anything to offer yourself as an individual. You'll think oh gosh I can get some status even if I provide no value by just saying like I'm I'm part of this crew essentially so it's a part of our deep desire for community.

37:18.92

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

37:26.88

Max Shank

And when you have someone isolated like that It is much easier to get them jump in to some ah sick fractured part of a community. Oh big time.

37:36.57

mikebledsoe

Very easy to control very easy. Can I mean you I mean it's very easy to I like using politics as ah as just ah, an example because ah, no matter what political party you're looking at there is a. Oh are you? This are you? This are you? This have you checked these boxes. Well you you would be you would you wouldn't really be that if you didn't do this that you're not with how many um how many black leaders have been called white supremacists in the last couple years.

37:56.92

Max Shank

Us and them.

38:13.99

Max Shank

That That's a pretty funny one. That's that's a pretty that is a pretty funny one I mean some of the stuff I see is so outrageous. That's one of the things where I'm like this black guy is the black face of white supremacy and I was like huh.

38:14.94

mikebledsoe

Because they didn't go with. They didn't agree with Blm um, and it the.

38:29.70

mikebledsoe

Well I remember it happened it happened 1 time it happened with the guy that was running for the governor of ah ah of ah California and well well and and I and I was like oh that's interesting. But then I watched it happen over and i.

38:32.22

Max Shank

Okay.

38:36.77

Max Shank

Oh God here we go.

38:49.40

mikebledsoe

I think I've witnessed it over a dozen times at this point it's it's kind of like the boy who cried wolf though. Yeah I.

38:55.20

Max Shank

It's rhetoric and it's effective rhetoric if you know remember if I ever run for office. All my opponents are racist pedophiles. That's all I Got to say they're bad I'm good and they're bad I help nuns cross the street I work at the orphanage I.

39:04.21

mikebledsoe

I.

39:12.91

Max Shank

Have a rainbow flag in my front yard and those guys are racist pedophiles. It's It's such a classic ah appeal to Authority ad Hominem attack which takes us right back to heaven and hell God The Devil These are not new ideas. There's a bad guy and there's a good guy. And if you can make people believe that a guy is bad. They will blindly ignore any rational thing that person might say and if you can make people believe. That one guy is good or God then they will blindly trust anything that guy says this is not new stuff and that's why it's so important to start with your gut and then you were talking about Aristotleian logic. It's really important. To have the tools to determine if something is reasonable, rational and true and it is difficult because most things the answer is not enough information and in fact, that's a ah, really valuable thing to. Notice is that when you have a true false question. There are usually 3 answers True false or not enough information to answer the question and most of the time there's not enough information to answer the question.

40:42.29

mikebledsoe

Yeah I think you said something really brilliant there and I I want to I want to zero in on just one piece of it which is the I think the the. Primary technology that needs to be mastered in order to use all other technology in a very useful way that's going to benefit yourself and others is the technology of language and you're you're talking about rhetorical fallacies and. Understanding language to a degree in which you can see when people are being manipulative with their language when I when I watch ah politics when I watch ah when I'm at the airport and I look at a Tv and I see. Advertising and commercials and I for for different goods and services and when I stumble across stuff on the internet I I get a good chuckle out of it because I can see the the Nlp the neuralistic programming I can see the manipulation. It's ah and it's interesting and and I think I have ah a very a somewhat unique perspective to be able to spot these things for a while I I thought it was insane that everyone couldn't see these things but there's there's 2 things that I've identified that I've done that that uniquely. Qualifies me and I bet there's hundreds of other people that that have done these 2 things and 1 is I used to have a top secret clearance in the Navy and I saw and I worked in communications and I saw an incredible amount of message traffic coming through ah about some. Secret shit and what I witnessed 12 hours later on the news is that all these different news agencies would be reporting on the thing where I saw the the reports we had were you know it was bullet point this happened then this happened this is how this is how we responded because. You create us. It's called a sit rep you create a situational report so that we can learn from it and make better decisions in the future. It's a life or death situation on creating these sit reps. You would not create one and then put a bunch of flowery language in it or or put anything that. Might not be true to make yourself look better. You don't do that because right? So you don't do that and then so I'm looking at at what I would trust to be very factual information.

43:16.00

Max Shank

Um, you don't hide it within 10 pages of prose.

43:30.17

mikebledsoe

Then turn around 12 hours later and I'm watching the news and I see Msnbc reporting it 1 way Fox reporting it another way Cnn reporting it another way and I just remember one day after being just. Months and months of sifting and looking and and being exposed to these 2 things happening at the same time and I go holy shit they're they're manipulating the the public at large and then I and then I I leave the navy.

43:55.63

Max Shank

Ah, the.

44:01.13

mikebledsoe

And I start studying years later I study marketing and then I get deepened up into marketing I'm studying things like and Nlp I'm studying hypnosis I'm studying how language is used to to 1 influence yourself and influence others because you're you're influencing other. Yourself with every word that comes out of your mouth and through your mind is influencing you and which and the words that come through your mind include the ones that come from outside enter your ears and then go through your mind and so there are. Combinations of words and certain words when used in a certain way are have greater weight for influence with an individual so watching seeing the objective data come through watching how it's manipulated seeing how much bullshit. Actually does exist there and then learning how it actually works ah does put me in this very interesting position and part of me wants to stay on the rooftops and be like hey this is what like can't you know that this what it is but but.

44:59.82

Max Shank

Ah.

45:13.75

Max Shank

And.

45:14.94

mikebledsoe

People are fish in water who don't know that they're in water and if you in my experience I talk to certain people who are very intelligent and they are plugged into Twitter all day and they know who said what? And. What's going on in Ukraine and they understand like war policy and all this stuff and I go I'm looking like it's like all your information is bad. You don't have any good data points. So it's like if if we assume that what you.

45:45.30

Max Shank

The.

45:51.80

mikebledsoe

No is actually true then you're right? But the problem is is the premise for which you're making your argument is actually wrong and so the.

46:02.90

Max Shank

That's a big distinction is to know that you could have a valid thought process very logical and correct. But if the premise is false. The result is still false.

46:14.28

mikebledsoe

And this is this is a conversation that I I have some friends that are you know buried pretty deep and in these in some narratives and anytime I bring this type of stuff up. There's a. You can see the emotional reaction and the and the immediate rejection of of a of a statement I'm like you know what there's and my girlfriend I Go Why don't you like tell them about this or this or this I'm like they're not they they stop hearing me as soon as they. You saw that physical reaction. They didn't hear anything after that. Yeah I immediately got categorized as some crazy asshole. Ah yeah.

46:53.88

Max Shank

You're on, you're on the other team is the thing right? You're the devil. You're the devil. You're on the other. No seriously, you're on the other team and everything you say will be ignored or misrepresented or just. Blindly mistrusted. It's better to not have any opinions that are too strong. Actually there was a really good conversation. Um Gavin Debecker who wrote a gift of fear he was on Joe Rogan's podcast the other day and. Joe Rogan changed his mind about something in real time and it was really nice to see because Gavin Debecker is a good communicator and he's patient. Guy. You could tell in the conversation. It was worth. It was worth a listen I really enjoyed it and they were talking.

47:33.92

mikebledsoe

A.

47:42.56

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go look that up right now? What? um.

47:49.41

Max Shank

Were talking about ah model mugging I think it was called and Gavin Debecker was saying it's awesome and it's ah you know a 6 hour course 1 hour a week for six weeks and Joe Rogan um at one point was like oh I totally disagree. You got to learn martial arts for a long time. In order to make any of those ah make any progress because otherwise you'll have this false sense of confidence and you know as a martial arts teacher in this and that and he was like that and Gavin De Becker said wow you have ah a really strong opinion about this and Rogan was like yeah I do and he's like well. Let me tell you something that you don't know and he talked about the 23000 people who had gone through the program and had had better results in violent encounters and explained more about the program was and. Hundred percent credit to Rogan because I've seen him do this a few times and it's one of the more admirable traits in a human being is he goes gosh I really didn't understand it was like that and that that makes a lot of sense and he completely changed his mind within minutes and it's so rare to see something like that. And it's really encouraging any time I do and you're much better off not having such strong opinions really about anything because those are those are the hardest holes to dig yourself out of because you dug those holes yourself. By having too strong of an opinion the ability to change your mind is the sign of an agile and flexible mind and we've talked many times how adaptability is the chief survival characteristic. So if you get caught in these fixed mindsets and opinions that. Really aren't based on true premises and valid thought processes. It's like an extra prison that you have attached onto your being and if you think of one of the ways to greater mental and physical peace. As relieving yourself of the psychological burdens of the ego and breaking the back of the ego so that you can dance and you know drum to the rhythm of the universe not to raja style then it makes sense that you would not want to engage. In having such strong opinions because they are really more burdens and they're not very practical most of the time either. It's not like you get anything out of it and we can tie it back to the way that we use technology people are so desperate to.

50:36.50

Max Shank

To wave their own little flag and just say hey everyone I'm smart I know what's going on. Hey hey everyone I'm smart I know what's going on, please please like me give me some sort of positive feedback positive attention and that's what I see um happen a lot is it's. Fishing for compliments from the people who are already your side and alienating the people on the other side even more so it makes no sense to me what you're doing that for except to make yourself feel better. You might as you would be much more honest to just say. Hey hey everyone could you give me a few compliments I'm I'm looking for some validation Today. Can you tell me I'm smart and good but people don't want to do that because it sounds ridiculous, but they're perfectly willing to par it out the narrative of their team. Without having done any kind of searching for whether this is true or valid. So you're safer to just not have too strong of an opinion about things. It's very burdensome.

51:47.13

mikebledsoe

Yeah, if your if your ego can withstand it. There's are you familiar with ah Byron Katie okay yeah she's um, she came up with something called the work and she.

51:56.20

Max Shank

That name sounds familiar.

52:04.68

mikebledsoe

She also wrote I think one of her books I've got it somewhere around here. It's called ah, 1000 names for joy and ah she her background is very very interesting and that she's not a psychologist. She didn't study spirituality. Anything like that and yet she became one of the most profound ah speakers and you know like you quote unquote therapists that ever lived and if you really want to be impressed with her. She does something called.

52:31.46

Max Shank

And.

52:39.47

mikebledsoe

Ah, the work and the turnaround and she has a 4 step process that she takes people through you can just Youtube Byron Katie the work and you'll be able to witness it and the the idea of the work is the premise of it is that. People are creating suffering in their own life. Oh I want to talk about this first. The way she got to where she is now is she lost her fucking mind she lost her. Ah she went through down this really negative. Rabbit hole ended up like walking through the desert and she was gone.

53:14.14

Max Shank

Well, how did we get here? How did we get here. Didn't We do roughly the same thing I mean you and I lost our minds at least once E trent.

53:15.75

mikebledsoe

Back in the 80 s huh what do you mean. Oh for sure for sure. Um, but I don't think we were suicidal I only I wasn't suicidal when I when I lost it was one of sick.

53:31.65

Max Shank

We weren't so far gone maybe does suicidal mean you're like really going to do it or you just thinking about what it would be like because who doesn't think about who doesn't think about what it would be like.

53:41.36

mikebledsoe

Yeah, there's suicidal ideation. Yeah well of course there's suicidal ideation and then there's suicid all um.

53:53.60

Max Shank

I mean I have it all planned out like you you want to do it. You want to but I'm a perfectionist that that's why I haven't done it.

53:57.87

mikebledsoe

I Just want to I just go skydiving and not not pull the cord man just go skydiving I don't pull the cord. That's that's my mask you know if I'm ever gonna go. It's probably I'll do it.

54:08.62

Max Shank

The problem is I'm a perfectionist I'm still planning out the perfect suicide which is the only thing that's saving me.

54:11.96

mikebledsoe

Ah, ah. So ah, anyways, she she basically had ah a major mental breakdown and ah, you know there's something. Ah, there's a few people out there. Jeed Mckenna is another person who basically went through a mental breakdown took about 2 years to get through it.

54:35.61

Max Shank

Ah.

54:37.12

mikebledsoe

Which is what what they have in common is they stop believing their thoughts and they got down to they were able to stabilize the perspective of truth which is just a constant presence with reality without the.

54:42.32

Max Shank

Ah.

54:54.33

mikebledsoe

Ah, without stories narratives things like that getting a fixed and attached to so she has a 4 step process for any narrative you might have to pry your identity from it and so ah, the the.

54:57.89

Max Shank

M.

55:06.54

Max Shank

Ah.

55:12.99

mikebledsoe

The key issue is that people believe their thoughts and when you believe your thought to be true. You then identify for it with it. It becomes part of who you are and if you try to wrestle the belief out of somebody's ego. The ego is gonna fight back and say no, no, no Motherfucker. If I Let go of this then I'm gonna die going back to being accepted by the tribe because yeah, and so and so I need to be accepted by the tribe if I let this go. It's a very deep. Ah you know.

55:35.61

Max Shank

Right permanence.

55:50.26

mikebledsoe

Deep thing in your psyche. It's not something where you just hear me talk about it and go Okay I'm good with it I've been I've been hip to this conversation for a decade and I'm still you know wrestling with constantly questioning is this a belief or is this what I'm noticing or you know like there's a constant. Ah.

55:54.28

Max Shank

Are.

56:09.99

mikebledsoe

Questioning going on which I think is very very healthy if. You're not doing that if you haven't stabilized reality which I think almost you know, probably a handful of people alive on the planet have actually achieved that the rest of us are walking around with some type of narrative. Some people are so bought into it. They don't. Don't even know their beliefs might not be true and then to to be operating from a place where you're actually questioning your beliefs as and being based in something that's not reality is ah is ah I think a really healthy place to be and and that means that the ego has to you have to have a relationship to the ego. That is ah that is not so attached you know and if anyone is if anyone really wants to get to the core of beliefs and language and all that I think Byron Katie is likely the best. Practical resource There's some other really cool resources out there if you're really into the conceptual shit but she has got one of those practical tools I've seen out there.

57:17.61

Max Shank

So it all comes back to trying to ease suffering basically right because suffering is resistance and the opposite of resistance is acceptance so you accept the death of the ego which.

57:24.56

mikebledsoe

Now.

57:37.10

Max Shank

The reason people fear death of their body is because the story ends I I like to phrase it that way at least makes sense to me I would be willing to hear any argument to the contrary because I like a good argument, especially a civil.

57:41.61

mikebledsoe

That's right.

57:52.11

mikebledsoe

Um, I'm afraid of the horns and the pitchfork fellow. Yeah.

57:55.76

Max Shank

Argument. We're afraid of the devil that makes sense. Ah he seems pretty sinister. Guy seems like he would enjoy torturing you for a really long time. But anyway so jokes on him I dig it.

58:05.78

mikebledsoe

I Might like it though start jokes on him. Um.

58:14.70

Max Shank

Give it to me Diablo Man. Ah so we're talking about how to ease suffering pretty much and allow us to live with more peace more prosperity more productivity and. More productivity That's where technology comes into play and a tool is just a tool. It is in fact, ah more about how you use it So a scalpel in the hands of a child is very dangerous but a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon can. Save your life so understanding what you're trying to do with the tools you have available and is it more mindfulness is it more intentioned is it more deliberate. These are all Synonyms. Of course. But look computers are such crazy leverage machines but most of the time we're just floating stuff out there um to get validation which is an external trap rather than an intrinsic joy of doing and being. So recognizing what tools are most important in your life is a good place to start kind of embracing a minimalist attitude toward the tools that you possess and. Not necessarily does it Spark joy. But what is the real use of this can I get along without it and the same way. A computer can totally trap you on the internet if you don't have wisdom and you have a computer with internet Connection. You are fucked. Your your soul will be gone if you're going on Pure instinct and you have a computer with internet Connection. You're Gone. You need to have some wisdom to control these very powerful tools. It's the same with the refrigerator. Wow. What an amazing Concept. A refrigerator can store all this food. But if I have unregulated gluttony instead of wisdom which you know there are ancient proverbs that say eat until you're 80% full. It's It's the simplest thing. But that's why knowledge is easy but wisdom is really the practice of Knowledge. It's knowledge applied to your specific Situation. So I think having ah an appreciation for technology is maybe a good first step.

01:01:00.26

Max Shank

And recognizing how fortunate we are to have access to the goods that we have access to and to put yourself in a scenario where you don't have access to these tools and what life is like and then reintroduce them back. Into your existence. You'll have a greater appreciation for them and they'll you'll use them a lot more deliberately I think.

01:01:28.48

mikebledsoe

Well sir that that feels like an end of show synnosis. Yeah yeah, yeah, same.

01:01:34.19

Max Shank

Boom I Love it. Yeah so I think the I think the modern technology is way Easier. We don't need to talk about it too much and I think the the ancient wisdom has a lot of facets to it. It. It does primarily center around questions people have been asking for a long time and how do you find peace in your being joy in your doing and gratitude in your having.

01:02:07.60

mikebledsoe

Yeah, beautiful, well said? Yeah I think about um, a really good example is you know how do you for those who use Instagram how do you use it are you are you a pure consumer that's just scrolling through that's. Being used by technology or are you are you using technology are you are you creating with it and not only are you creating but are you creating something that that brings you joy and brings other people joy and so I think about technology is simply an amplifier of it's going to amplify what is if. If if your life is full of destruction. You're gonna be able to amplify that destruction if your life is full of creative creative energy. You're gonna be able to create unlike you were be able to you were able to create before so be aware of that and the number 1 technology. That we all have access to is language. So what? what was that noise.

01:03:13.23

Max Shank

Dude I was gonna say the same thing I'm I'm right there with you. There's no, there's no more valuable technology than language. That's why you and I harp on it so much is because it is ah other than getting comfortable sitting quietly and just.

01:03:14.52

mikebledsoe

I.

01:03:30.40

Max Shank

Doing things in silence it. It is the the key to unlocking and relieving yourself of these burdens.

01:03:34.78

mikebledsoe

Yeah, if you can master that you can be the creator of your world and if you don't master that you will be the slave to other people who have mastered language. So ah, ah.

01:03:48.44

Max Shank

Pooh. We.

01:03:52.78

Max Shank

Ah, it reminds me. It reminds me of this thing I was reading about ancient Egypt where the the priest or the leader had ah a temple that no one else could go into and they would bring him gold and food and women and shit like that.

01:03:57.39

mikebledsoe

Ah.

01:04:11.82

Max Shank

And he told them that every night he had to negotiate Mott M a at which is balance with the equal and opposite world on the other side but of course no one could ah confirm this but I was just thinking what a powerful. Language swindle that is to say hey listen every single day I'm going to negotiate with essentially the other world or the underworld to make sure there's balance in all of our lives as long as you bring me all your gold and food and all this Stuff. While I go into that private room and handle this negotiation. It's it's crazy that you can get people to do things just by making noises with your mouth speaking of marketing and sales I mean it's Crazy. It's Crazy. It's Crazy. It's not Fair. It's not Fair. It's basically cheating because your relation with your relationship with yourself basically language related in a lot of cases understanding the definition of things your relationships with other people largely language related and then your relationship with your customers. You are setting the tone.

01:05:10.67

mikebledsoe

Yeah, go.

01:05:24.51

Max Shank

With every word you say it's It's not Fair. It's not fair that it's such an unfair advantage that if you can speak and communicate in a way that is both clear and inspiring. You can exponentially. Amplify. Whatever it is. You're slinging if you're slinging carpet cleaning or fitness products like myself. It is fully an unfair advantage and I can speak from experience.

01:05:45.14

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

01:05:55.80

mikebledsoe

Absolutely and an overlooked thing around language I think most people when they hear using language especially in the way we've been talking about it is in regard to marketing or Pr Politics Media they're thinking about the outside language. Well there's also the internal dialogue you're having with yourself mastering that will help you master yourself and then the next layer inside of that is the the thoughts that are made up of words that are operating in your subconscious. And I I believe that everybody has witnessed this whether they recognize it or not they witness something that's been living in the subconscious pop up into the conscious realm of their mind and they go where whered that thought come from that was fucking weird that thought's been in there. For a long time more than likely and ah, you're just now you just now have awareness of it and it's likely been causing your your personality. It's been causing behavior for you and you didn't even know it. So I think it's safe to say if you. This is one of those useful beliefs that I have which is 95% and I I say 95% to get people a little more credit but I think it's probably closer to 98 or 99% of what's operating in your mind is subconscious, unconscious and ah. We we give ourselves a lot more credit for thinking that we're we're doing things on purpose when most of what we're doing is is an autopilot function and ah for me it. It's really cool to do conscious programming where I am.

01:07:37.10

Max Shank

The.

01:07:48.44

mikebledsoe

Intentionally bringing thoughts into my mind that are going to move me where I want to go but I find even more power and subconscious programming if you learn how to hypnotize yourself and embed codes that you want to operate without any conscious effort. Throughout the day. There's ways to do that as well and maybe I should put together a course or something I told somebody recently at a mastermind that they go well what thing could you bring to the group that would benefit them well I could teach you how to hypnotize yourself. Everybody's heads turn. Never heard of that before I've heard of hypnotizing other people. Yeah, you can hypnotize yourself but you know what show is wrapping up so I to save that little trick for later later it. It's really simple so hit hit me up on Instagram if you want to know about it oll ah send you a free Pdf or something. Have to make it up.

01:08:44.62

Max Shank

Cool modern technology.

01:08:49.89

mikebledsoe

All right max it out where where are people finding you these days.

01:08:56.77

Max Shank

Well I'm currently at the top of a very tall mountain studying with a monk who is 500 years old to figure out the meaning of life and he says in another couple hundred years. We just might figure it out.

01:09:11.80

mikebledsoe

Nice, nice looking forward to hearing the answer to that I'm gonna be using all the new biotech that's available to live to for another 200 years so I think we're gonna be good to go. Ah, you can find me on Instagram at Mike Underscore blood so and yeah check out the blood so show for more content interviews go to http://matchschk.com. He's not gonna toot his own horn today for whatever reason so go to http://maschank.com and check out. Courses on how to do cool stuff with your body and I'll see you next time Levy Max

01:09:50.67

Max Shank

Love you buddy! Thank you.

Apr 3, 2022

Is what you know about money & business true and accurate? How can you be sure? You can’t…

Krisstina Wise is a leader in the world about both topics, and in this episode, she breaks down what you’ve learned so you can unlearn it and learn the truth instead.

Mar 29, 2022

00:00.00

Max Shank

Welcome back everybody to Monday morning with max and Mike Today we are going to talk about arguably the most important topic in your life because it is your life. It's about securing your future. Both. From a fitness standpoint a financial standpoint and a friendship standpoint so we are gonna talk about what is going to happen in the near and possibly distant future and what you should do about it. This is gonna be really fun. Mike thanks for joining me today.

00:34.83

mikebledsoe

Thanks! Man. Ah yeah, I'm excited to talk about this because we were just chatting before as we always do we we get a good fifteen twenty minute chat on before we do the show and I was walking max through all the steps that I've been. I've been getting walked through by a friend of mine on how to secure crypto finances and what it really takes to make sure that those things stay safe and why does that interest me well that interests me because. I look at the future and I see a lot of uncertainty which I think everybody does and if you're somebody who thinks that the future is certain then you have really fooled yourself and because we have no idea what will happen so the lot of ah.

01:25.67

Max Shank

I Think a certain future has to be kind of a sad one The the more certainty in your future. The more sad it's going to be and that's the paradox of what we're talking about is the more you secure something the more you trap that something.

01:30.12

mikebledsoe

Set Yeah a certain future is boring.

01:44.85

Max Shank

Because there are really only two ways forward. There's exposure and avoidance and if you only use avoidance as a strategy you will have greater security but you also have a much lower quality of life in your world Your universe your unique perspective.

02:03.69

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well, this also makes me think about the was it Nicholas Taleb nasim his approach in the book anti-fragile anytime I think about securing the future or investing or health and fitness I gravitate towards his philosophy.

02:03.89

Max Shank

Will shrink.

02:23.41

mikebledsoe

And his his first really well-known book that came out was the black swan and black swan was about black swan events those are events that are unpredictable and black swan is is a reference to ah europeans that thought that only swans could be white. And they never considered that there'd be a swan that was any other color and then some of these europeans hopped on boats and traveled to other parts of the world and one day they see a black swan and it was mind-bending because it was never considered that. That could ever be true anyway and so the future and well the the past is is littered with black swan events. We think we know what's going to happen or we think we can prepare for every eventuality but the truth is is you can't actually prepare for every eventuality. And I find that anytime I start trying to set up an avoidance system for every potential problem that might come up I actually end up getting really bogged down and creativity goes down and it becomes very difficult to move forward and so ah. In his book. Black Swan he starts getting into the anti-fragile conversation then he goes into anti-fragile conversation and in that book and he ah basically says that most humans think about systems as either being. Ah, fragile or robust they're on the spectrum of fragility to robustness and so I have a Toyota Tacoma. It's considered a very robust vehicle but over time it will become more fragile. It. It will not make improvements and the same with my computer. These are systems that are truly fragile systems but the human body and he also talks about he makes a lot of comparisons between the human body and the economy is there are certain types of systems that do well with some uncertainty. So if you. If you expose your body to in exercise to novelty in small doses. You will actually see improvements and the system improves. Overall if you if you throw ah too much novelty all at once then then you start breaking the system down of course. But really separating out. How do you What's the difference between a fragile to robust system that spectrum versus something that exists outside of that which is anti-fragile system and so that's how I like to think about.

05:10.34

mikebledsoe

When I think about my finances when I think about my business when I think about my health when I think about a lot of these systems some people if they're trying to prepare for every eventuality actually end up building a fragile system instead of. Thinking about it as how do I build an anti-fragile system and when they do that having a hiccup in the system may be a little uncomfortable in the short term but in the long term It turns out being a really good one so just bringing that to the forefront as I. When I think about securing my future I think about those things.

05:48.90

Max Shank

Yeah I like to think of adaptability as the Chief characteristic of survival and Thrival which is not a word but I like to use it Anyway. Ah from a fitness perspective. Adding chaos to your training is really valuable. In fact, culture the whole purpose of culture is to reduce unpredictability and to reduce chaos and if you do not. Do something to compensate for that. You get really sad human beings. That's why you need to have games where you introduce chaos in a relatively safe environment like I don't know if you're familiar with pushing hands from TaiChi.

06:43.69

mikebledsoe

E.

06:45.99

Max Shank

There's couple different types. But basically you and your friend try to push the other one or pull the other one so that they have to take a step and your feed are firmly planted and this chaos is like a more appropriate version of wrestling. For the average person. So the ability to adapt and react to an external force is really the chief characteristic of survivability. So I think adaptability number one culture is to reduce. Chaos and unpredictability so we need games and we need to dose ourselves with chaos if we want to really thrive and then just in terms of the the systems let's say there's ah, a fine line between prudence. And paranoia right? because the most the most robust system really would be to live with maybe 1 other person or a family on a farm by the river in a bomb shelter. And only leave when it's absolutely necessary so you increase your predictability but you also decrease your openness. That's probably why the further you go down that rabbit hole of securing and protecting the less creative and open and expansive. You are right.

08:17.73

mikebledsoe

Well Also Chaos is still going to find its way in going back to the black swan event is you when you create I think when people create a high level predicted Predictability. There is this inability to deal with the the chaotic and. Environment that that will come no matter what the black swan event's gonna show up no matter what and the more predictable you've been trying to make it the harder it is to adapt to that situation.

08:49.54

Max Shank

I don't think they're mutually exclusive but I understand what you're saying I think the more cards you have in your hand. The better off you are I think the benefit of living in a culture is that there's a lot of redundancy built into the system. Where I live. There are a lot of people who are electricians and plumbers and auto mechanics. So if one of them goes down I can go on to the next one if 2 of them go down I can go on to the next one and if you're relying only on yourself. You have to. Gain a ton of skills or you have to live in a very primitive way where you're not really able to use technology I just had my laptop sent in to get the battery fixed and before I sent it in.

09:39.38

mikebledsoe

Drew um, did you remove all the videos of you with hookers smoking crack.

09:44.65

Max Shank

Oh no no I just have it in a secret folder. Why would I get rid of those hookers love crack some of them do ah but I looked online first before I sent it in to get fixed. And it was 75 steps to replace the battery and you can buy a kit and do all those and it was 75 steps and I was like oh my god if I mess up one of these steps I can totally destroy my whole computer. So I ended up getting it sent in and. Especially with technology you have to recognize that no man is an island and that's why you really want to have kind of a segue here a little bit you want to have a social network ah a radical rolodex. Of. Not only service people but also friends that you can count on so there's that safety net we talked about a little bit before the 3 safety nets financial fitness and friendships basically and it's so valuable. Have those relationships with different providers of service and different providers of products and it really does increase your security and survivability.

11:09.16

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well I think about what's happening what I'm witnessing happening that continually which is ah the decentralization of things and the the format of of our our current economy. Being very capitalist I think it's going to just become more capitalist but the capitalism has allowed for a lot of that redundancy a lot of that the natural configuration if somebody goes down somebody will fill that spot and it doesn't have to be ah. Decided to buy a person's like oh we need to change this thing the system pretty much just adapts to whatever's going on in the environment in a capitalist society and as things decentralized more right now. It's like everybody is trading with everybody. But if we have a currency that is no. That not everyone agrees on in the future if if the dollar loses its value to a point where now we're going into decentralized currencies then there's this potential for a more tribalist type of society where you may not be conducting commerce. With certain groups of people and I think there's going to be an opportunity for these groups to segment and now I'm only go do business with people who are using these four currencies which I also use because the people that use these currencies share the same values and so whereas. Previously things were done geographically or by nationality things are now split up by individual values and and can be distributed throughout the entire world instantaneously and so I think that as far as the friendship goes and. Ah, social goes and economics go is having um you know if things deteriorate socially in in society as as it seems they they may go right now. It's good to make those friends have that person on board. You know have. 3 electricians on board have a few farmers that you're in contact with because the way that things have been done right now is there's a lot of single points of failure. For instance, you know through regulation Usda. You know you have to have a Usda butcher butchering the meat for it to be shipped across state lines and now you have these states that have almost no ability to birch butcher animals and distribute food and so ah, there's gonna be I think that there's gonna be a time where we.

13:56.25

mikebledsoe

We actually have to create our own network instead of just relying on I'll just go to the grocery store and pick this shit up and I've already begun doing that I've been on the phone with a woman just last week where we she she's in contact with regenerative farms and and it's helping distribute those goods locally. So. It's I think that yeah being able to just go online and pull up a technician to do this or that may become more difficult in the future and I think that the level of responsibility for having to create those connections yourself may go up.

14:33.99

Max Shank

Yeah I mean unfortunately the closer you get to the barter system the less comparative advantage you have because you have to have an agreed upon currency. That's the whole advantage of money.

14:49.46

mikebledsoe

E.

14:52.87

Max Shank

Is that it makes it so easy to trade Things. We would never have been able to produce computers and yachts and trucks and all these crazy things like if you think about it I'm in shock when I. Drive my truck around because of how impossible it would be for me to make anything like that. Even if I knew exactly how to make it and what that's that's what I'm That's what I'm saying it would be.

15:21.40

mikebledsoe

I would totally not make it I could have every step laid out and be given all the parts still not doing it. Yeah.

15:29.63

Max Shank

It would be impossible just to gather. The materials would be Impossible. So The fact that we figured out how to trade with each other in such a hyper efficient way is the only thing that has allowed us to do all that so you know it. It's frustrating sometimes because the only thing a leader really needs to do is not fuck up the money and not get into any ah Wars or conflicts. That's actually the only thing a leader really needs to do ah and if you do those things though.

15:58.47

mikebledsoe

Ah.

16:07.37

Max Shank

It gets really bad so preparing for those eventualities is valuable I think gosh you know we can start getting into the nuts and bolts of preparedness. Certainly it's good to own at least. 1 property because you got to live somewhere and as the money devalues because we don't know if it'll be hyperinflation or stagflation or we we can't predict those sorts of things.

16:43.68

mikebledsoe

Yeah, the the the variables that are currently present have never been present before we we are in a black swan event. So we have no idea what the result will be.

16:44.26

Max Shank

But rents.

16:53.11

Max Shank

Yeah, we don't know what's going to happen next exactly. But it's good to have an Id in your mind just have your best guess because I think we've talked about it once before it's like buying Insurance. You don't ah buy insurance for. Everything you just buy insurance based on what is legally required or based on what probability you assign to a certain thing happening right? So What is the probability that the value of a dollar or you know let's say that just a. Keep it simple suddenly a gallon of gas is $200 and you're like whoa. This is really bad but then you have to in your mind assign a probability to that. Oh and a certain timeframe and it gets very difficult to do those things. So.

17:43.75

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

17:50.99

Max Shank

Barring that which is unknowable. What do we know for sure that will not change and that is human nature will not change and so if you are productive yourself and you provide a skill or a service or a product that people will always want. That's always going to be very valuable so that's like your your functional safety net. What function do you perform.

18:15.70

mikebledsoe

Yeah I I think about the 2 things that that I am I do I was talking to Ashley about this Saturday which is I secure my future by continually creating value and investing in emerging economies or emerging. Technologies and if I do those 2 things I'm not really that worried about my financial future now the other the other the 2 other f's we were talking about It's not relevant as relevant to that I mean the creating value is pretty relevant to the the. The friendships the social piece because if you're valuable people will want to be your friend.

18:53.24

Max Shank

Is.

18:59.80

Max Shank

No question I think that having a group of people that you can be open and honest with who have your back and you have their back. You can't really put a price on that. So. It's good to nurture those things on a regular basis. That's really not natural for me to do I tend to be more in my own head working on projects and not really think to just reach out to people but it's something that I've gotten a little bit better with and it makes a difference. You know invite a friend out to lunch or throw a frisbee around and it can go a really long way, especially given what's going on right now where people have probably been socializing less than ever in Maybe any society for a very long Time. You know. I Guess ah neighboring Hunter gatherers probably socialized with ah their neighbors less than we do, but it's It's not a lot so reinforcing Those relationships is huge.

20:04.52

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and they didn't have ah well what? what's interesting is in the last couple years. The amount of actual social interactions gone way down, but the but the we'll call it the the fast food of.

20:19.55

Max Shank

Basement.

20:24.36

mikebledsoe

Social engagement has gone up. You know the Facebook instagram all the social media platforms. So I remember I was listening to a thing that what's his name. The guy the dilbert guy. What's his name Scott Adams he was talking a guy anyways. Um.

20:34.87

Max Shank

Scott Adams

20:43.28

mikebledsoe

Brilliant in some ways not in others but he he was talking. Yeah come on now I Well he would.

20:46.30

Max Shank

Not like you. You're brilliant in every way wait but real quick though he has an excellent Youtube video on writing just and the reason I'm plugging. It is. It's free. It's maybe a half hour long and writing. Or communication is one of the most high yield skills. There is so give give that a look in terms of securing your future.

21:08.12

mikebledsoe

It is yeah writing copywriting if you can write copy that is just you're able to write things that cause people to buy shit then you'll never go hungry. Ah yeah, so.

21:23.89

Max Shank

No way.

21:28.40

mikebledsoe

So Scott Adams was talking about somebody was challenged saying you know social interaction has gone down. He was like really seems like you know social interaction is higher than ever online and and that's why I say maybe he's not all that smart because he was making an argument for. Being we have more social interaction we ever have which is being dictated by algorithms and and you know of course humans tend to to create their own bubbles for sure like I surround myself with light-minded people where there's not a high level of disagreement. Ah, but the.

21:48.92

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

21:57.50

Max Shank

Oh yeah.

22:04.55

mikebledsoe

When there is disagreement. We can actually have a conversation and work our way through it whereas online that doesn't really happen. It just further divide is what happens and so um, you know a lot some people even people who are considered to be really brilliant like Scott Adams who who is brilliant in a lot of ways. You know he challenges that and I don't know what kind of world he lives in where he think and he may not have experienced that at all. He may have been surrounded by friends this whole time. Um, but.

22:30.70

Max Shank

Well, it also is a personality type difference and you know I've read a bunch of his books and they're very good. He's a hyper Introvert So this situation for him is almost perfect.

22:41.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

22:47.10

mikebledsoe

Probably been calming. He's probably been able to chill out.

22:49.20

Max Shank

He gets to he gets to hang out at home more. There are a lot less social obligations that you have to fulfill. Um, it's never been a better time for introverts and ugly people because you can stay home all day and put a mask over your face.

23:05.86

mikebledsoe

Um, well there was a did you see the study that people people now find other people more generally more attractive when wearing a mask.

23:08.89

Max Shank

Ugly introverts have never lived so good. Ah.

23:18.64

Max Shank

I mean it works in ah Saudi Arabia oh very mysterious. Ah, but you know someone like that.

23:22.70

mikebledsoe

Yeah I mean to that point I've been in the Middle East and I I was on a deployment I hadn't seen hardly any women for months and then I arrived somewhere where they're wearing the. Full facial covering all I can see with their eyes. So sexy. My imagination just fucking went wild. It didn't take very long at all couple months. No women and then full on Bura and that was it's true and I've seen I've seen some people where I've been on the airplane.

23:43.89

Max Shank

Now we're talking totally yeah, totally.

23:59.66

mikebledsoe

Like oh that girl looks pretty good. She pulls her mask down like ah.

24:00.42

Max Shank

Right? Well, it's like why guys grow beards so we can hide the bottom half of our face. It's like you don't know if I have a chin. Maybe I have a really strong chin. Ah.

24:14.53

mikebledsoe

That's right.

24:16.99

Max Shank

There are a lot of examples of what you're talking about with Scott Adams there and I think ah nasim Nicholas Teleleb is another good example where you have people who are really intelligent in 1 regard and then they just are so far off the mark in another regard and. We're so locked into this cause-effect relationship for health and we're trapped by the way that we do experiments and who runs the experiments and who pays for the experiment. So if you're. Taking everything very literally. You're only doing what is proven ah proven quote by science quote again, you're not going to recognize the value of sharing the same physical space with another person. You know you and i. Have explored that realm quite a lot where even just being in the same room as someone if you're not saying anything can be a really rewarding experience and it can bring you a lot of joy. And calmness and peace and resonance. There's a harmonization of 2 living beings and if you are caught up in the explicit and more material. Sort of thing you're going to discount the value of that and so in a sense you're right? It's it's easier to socialize now than ever through a screen ah through the telephone and it's better than nothing but it's not the same.

26:07.51

mikebledsoe

Yeah I'll go back to what you're saying like the the quote unquote proven for people who aren't seeing the video of us is anytime anyone starts talking about something's being proven to me. That's an immediate red flag. Someone goes. Oh. It's proven that that I go immediately I I Dis If if they got a Ph D beside their name or they consider themselves a scientist I in my from my perspective they just discredited themselves because any good scientists look saying the word proven. Is a marketing term. It's not a scientific term.. There are very few Proofs in Science. There's the only time you would talk about Proofs in Science is it's It's a mathematical equation. It's a it's hardcore physics. There are laws involved anything else.

26:46.96

Max Shank

Totally.

27:03.00

mikebledsoe

What I want to hear from somebody who's a scientist I Want to hear is there is evidence to suggest that http://dot.dot the problem is it's not a very good marketing.. It's not a good way to convince people of taking your side So just want to throw that out there. So as you're listening to. Quote unquote scientists out there talking about what's being proven and what's not usually if they're a bureaucrat in some way and they've got a Ph D and they start saying that I I immediately you know start questioning. Whatever it is. They're saying.

27:35.54

Max Shank

Well, it's like ah the phrase caused by cells way more than correlates with correlates with doesn't sell shit and if we don't know.

27:45.70

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

27:53.81

Max Shank

The best diet for people which we can't know because I don't know if you know this but people are different this whole idea that we should all eat the same stuff is freaking Insane yeah you and I we should all We should all take the same medication. Ah, you know.

27:57.57

mikebledsoe

Ah, no should we should We take the same medications to globally you know.

28:12.16

Max Shank

We should. We should all eat soybeans for the greater good too. Probably yeah, no correlation versus causation is probably my biggest gripe and it has to do with essentially gang mentality people are trying to protect their authority. And make these claims that x causes y when really it's just that x correlates with y and it would be a lot easier to have a conversation about that if there wasn't such a fanaticism around these things. Let's have an open conversation about correlation. Versus causation and god it's it's hard to see if you're not in the industry yourself, but the amount of people throwing $10 words around is like so unnecessary. Maybe that just irks me because. I I know what those words mean but I also know that it just makes it harder for the individual to understand and when you say something like post brandial forward ambulation. Why don't you just say go for a walk after you eat. So so it's like so ridiculous to me? well but that's just yeah, that's just it. It sounds much fancier if you use these fancy terms and that that is what sells and um.

29:29.30

mikebledsoe

Ah, well I won't I won't sound smart to the other scientists I won't be able to impress people.

29:46.73

Max Shank

You have to protect yourself from that speaking of securing your future I think making sure you can't make sure all the way but making sure you don't get swindled by the popularity paradox and the popularity paradox is something I use to describe. The fact that um things that are popular are usually only so because they're striking or different.. It's like a purple cow is going to be more attention grabbing but you probably shouldn't eat. It.

30:23.29

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, that the more popular something is the more I I question it something that like I just look at Mainstream and I've had people ask me and they go. Why are you? Why are you so extreme and. So alternative in every area of your life. It seems like if I if I uncover an aspect in my Life. You will go Wow. You're so extreme or whatever and I go look if it's mainstream if everybody is agreeing on it I start asking questions. And I start looking the opposite way because I'm just looking at the results of the mainstream if the results of the mainstream were you know, ah beautifully healthy bodies financially secure and everything was going really great I would pay attention to what the mainstream is.

30:58.74

Max Shank

The.

31:05.94

Max Shank

Totally.

31:16.55

mikebledsoe

Doing and and follow suit. But when I look at the mainstream I go the results of what's happening in the mainstream are so poor that to listen to any of those people giving advice on how to live life or to do things their way. And it would just be sad and for people who understand Health and fitness the the food pyramid's a great example of of that or the most the most predominant food in the grocery store is corn and there's all these there's there's.

31:39.27

Max Shank

For.

31:46.90

Max Shank

A.

31:51.54

mikebledsoe

There are these things like the food pyramid and and the predominance of corn that bring into question is like oh should I be eating corn if that's what everyone else is eating and they look like shit and ah and should I be eating like the food pyramid because the average person. They've been exposed. That's the only information they've really been exposed to on how to eat and they look and feel like shit. So let's look at something else. So the same thing with with economics and with investing you know if everyone's doing an ira. Everyone's doing an Ira and doing ah a. This and that and s and p five hundred I I look you might be able to have your investment match inflation. Hopefully probably not this year but in previous years you you probably outperformed it just kind of depends on here and there. But. You know the average person is not making that kind of investment but even out of the people who are investing the mainstream is that and there returns the amount of money you have to to invest in order to retire if you're gonna put it into a typical ira or something like that is ridiculous. You have to start investing in your twenty s and hopefully you'll be able to take some out in your 60 s. And it just it that to me does not make any sense so I look at alternative investing strategies as well and so and to me that's where I was talking about investing in in emerging technology. So web 3.0 to me right now is the emerging technology anything that's web 3 o is interesting to me tesla stock is interesting to me there. There. Ah, there's a new. Ah there's a new. Strategy for mining bitcoin that Exxon Mobileil has put into place but there's also some small companies that have ah partnered with some some oil drilling companies that the flair. So. There's a lot of methane gas that's produced when drilling for oil and that's where you see those fire stacks and they're just letting that air out well burning up that methane and creating a lot of co 2 in fact, and they're being taxed on that co 2 but they figured out how to capture that methane. And use that as a fuel for servers to mine cryptocurrencies and so now they're going to save 50% on their taxes and they're now mining cryptocurrencies. So to me I look at that and go that's a very clever emerging technology that's based on.

34:21.73

Max Shank

There you go.

34:37.71

mikebledsoe

What's happening and and blockchain and web 3.0 and so I'm looking at all this and I go that's where I want to put my attention. Ah the majority of it for me and of course I'm I'm someone who's who's always trying to stay ahead of the curve and not be in the mainstream.

34:54.63

Max Shank

Investment Strategy can look a lot of different ways. You can get very rich selling wood pellets. Ah I I tend to do kind of the opposite of what you're talking about which is more more to look at things that are.

34:56.40

mikebledsoe

So.

35:08.22

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

35:14.39

Max Shank

Generating cash and creating real profit right now that has a bad public perception If we're talking about individual companies to invest in something that people need something that is delivered at a profit. Something that isn't going to change in the future but there are a lot of things that get publicly beaten down because they're not. They don't sound as cool. Um, so it's tricky. The truth is though if you don't know.

35:41.00

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

35:50.90

Max Shank

Ah, you can spend the time to teach yourself, but you probably would be better off investing in growing your own business I Assume most of the people listening to this own their own business. So um, investing into your own ability to generate income and then investing into a single. Property that you can live in so you're not just spending money on rent every month before you worry about investing into other companies because you can get a way better return betting on yourself.

36:17.70

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

36:23.36

mikebledsoe

Well that that's a predominant view and which which I held for a long time which is if I'm going to reinvest in my business What's what's a better place to reinvest the problem is I I lacked diversity. And my portfolio basically and so my business didn't do well which is not always in my control then now I'm fucked to so the the frame that I've I've adopted in the last year is I treat my business as an income producing asset.

36:40.56

Max Shank

Right? right? totally.

36:59.67

mikebledsoe

It's not a place to build Wealth Wealth is built by other high leverage income producing Income Producing assets and what I'm looking for is the highest leverage that means it requires the least amount of effort for me to get the highest returns possible.

37:18.58

Max Shank

So investing. Basically.

37:18.97

mikebledsoe

And so if I'm investing my own. Yeah, but if I'm investing in my own business and I'm still working in my business. It's actually not a very high leverage. But if I become a a true. Yeah, well you want to become a I don't think anything is passive. But.

37:26.14

Max Shank

Right? I see so you're talking about passive investing right.

37:37.38

mikebledsoe

Some is more active than others and so like even in the stock market.

37:41.29

Max Shank

Passive meaning you're not doing any work or management. You know you can trade certainly but right, but okay so you could hire you could hire a fund manager you could hire a fund manager I suppose would be the the.

37:45.11

mikebledsoe

Um, that's still managing though you're stopping a you're giving it energy. Yeah, you do it all the politicians do yeah so and they can claim that they they oh I didn't know I was investing in Lockheed Martin 24 hours before the war with Russia was announced.

37:56.92

Max Shank

Least effort. What's that what.

38:11.39

Max Shank

Ah, well.

38:13.51

mikebledsoe

There's ah that you Nancy Pelosi you know one of the the biggest offenders of taking advantage of inside knowledge for the purpose of investing there was a Twitter account that tweeted every one of her trades.

38:19.55

Max Shank

Um, oh yeah, yeah, what a surprise.

38:30.81

mikebledsoe

And then Twitter bandit which is a very interesting thing. Yeah, but going back to I really like to put money I think you're right invest in your own ability to create value so that you can continue to have income that produces income initial income. And then ah you know own a home so that you're not just paying rent because she does hit the fan and look my mortgage is set I'm paying the same amount. The the dollar could lose half its value which it may and. Which basically means I got a cheaper house and what good for me. But if I was paying rent. What what do you think? Rent's going to do rent's gonna go. It's gonna skyrocket. It has to so actually if you're a homeowner you almost want and and most of your stuff's in real estate inflation.

39:10.96

Max Shank

You're locked in.

39:16.74

Max Shank

Um, it has to.

39:27.76

mikebledsoe

Could be seen as ah as a positive thing hyperinflation is not because that's just disrupts the entire economy. But yeah, so and then the third one is so invest in your own ability to create value and get your property and then invest in high leverage assets things that just produce income which I think is what you were saying what you want to. Investment things that are throwing off cash now not something where I'm going to put money in and hopefully it goes up in value and I'll be able to take some out the future is that accurate.

39:55.80

Max Shank

Yeah, yes, and it's tricky too because um, if there was an investment that didn't follow the rules of risk and reward everyone would invest into it so risk and reward are proportional and.

40:07.88

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

40:13.95

Max Shank

If you buy I don't know let's say Tesla right now you're probably not going to hundred x your money over the next few years I don't see how it could happen I'm already stunned that that company is worth so much. It makes no sense is divorced.

40:21.21

mikebledsoe

No.

40:33.60

Max Shank

It's divorced from reality. Um, so we could have a separate conversation about that. But there are companies that you could purchase that can hundred x over the next couple years but they can also go to 0

40:45.19

mikebledsoe

Um, um.

40:51.39

Max Shank

So The risk is much higher and the reward is much higher. So If you're looking to diversify your wealth then it would make sense to be really clear on that risk reward. You can. Only gain more if you risk more generally speaking if it's going to be a passive investment because you're not in control of what a cryptocurrency is going to do. You're not in control of what a company's going to do and usually the the more secure it is the less volatile it is.

41:26.41

mikebledsoe

yeah yeah I I this is where you and I differ because you you tend to go more on the conservative route and so that the 2 things I invest the 2 things I've invested in so far. Ah.

41:28.55

Max Shank

The less It has the potential to grow. So.

41:36.55

Max Shank

Is true.

41:44.20

mikebledsoe

The most heavily has been startups and the second would be crypto and I've 2 of the 3 are winners and the but 1 of them which was my biggest investment ah went to 0 in a month

41:51.11

Max Shank

M.

42:01.10

Max Shank

Right.

42:02.50

mikebledsoe

So I was just I basically just took money put it in the toilet and flushed it that one hurt and I I learned to I yeah I learned I learned to vet a little better. Um and then cryptocurrencies.

42:06.45

Max Shank

Might as well have bought a boat.

42:13.37

Max Shank

Well, you have a different skill set too. You have a different skill set too. So your investment style matches your personality type it matches your skill set. You have a lot of experience with startups I've got almost.

42:21.19

mikebledsoe

E a. Um, I Also spot Trends in the Market. Um I'm very good at seeing patterns in the market and I can tell when people are going to be interested in something.

42:35.33

Max Shank

Can you can you let me know next time you have one of these predictions nostra Daic Theta a crypt the cryptocurrency which could certainly go to 0 right.

42:42.18

mikebledsoe

Theta Theta Yeah, yeah, it's got utility. Um I doubt it because a lot.. It's a video streaming. It's got a video streaming utility and a lot of it. Big video streaming companies have already adopted it it it ah it reduces the amount of Bandwidth necessary to exchange more data I don't know how the fuck it works but it works Um, and.

43:12.73

Max Shank

Sounds like the the the company from that show Silicon Valley pied piper like takes your data and makes it smaller. That's one of the greatest shows ever as hilarious.

43:20.75

mikebledsoe

That's right I Love that show. Ah, it's a good show. Oh man. Yeah, if you if you're in the entrepreneurial world or ever been around startup ah in the startup world. It's It's ah pretty good.

43:35.41

Max Shank

You can win more by not diversifying all the richest people the fastest didn't diversify Zuckerberg no diversity. Ah Elon Musk not they're not diversifying. It's like a a spike. There's no.

43:37.29

mikebledsoe

Ah.

43:42.82

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

43:53.52

mikebledsoe

Yeah, no.

43:53.68

Max Shank

Well-roundedness to the investment. There's no there's no pyramid of like I have some here and some here and some here and some here and you can go further and you can earn more and you can also lose everything so you just have to find the appetite for risk reward that will. Allow you to sleep at night because if you earn a little bit less but you sleep soundly every night. It's probably a good idea and there's a good phrase to be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. And if you can avoid being too greedy. You won't be ah you know having heart palpitations when you're thirty years old because you're worried that you know all your investments are gonna go to 0 so you just gotta you gotta to match that.

44:44.76

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah, what? but.

44:49.68

Max Shank

Mentality and what kind of Lifestyle you want to live and I feel like the advantage with investing and with insurance and if you want to stockpile food and cash and gold and that kind of thing. It's ah set it and forget it. You don't want to be. Thinking about it all the time that defeats the purpose of buying Insurance. You know.

45:10.64

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah, but this whole thing reminds me of my girlfriend and I about we had been dating for about five or six months and you know I I was heavily investing in crypto and and. She had some money to invest in something. Yeah, you might want to look at crypto I can't tell you what to invest in I'm not you know I'm just saying hey I I like my returns have been pretty fucking. Good. This is the an example of what can happen and I've been pretty conservative so in the crypto world I'm conservative. Ah. I'm not looking for I'm not looking for the unicorns right? So there's you know, really solid fundamentals and all this because well part of it is because I I look at the dot com era and I see a lot of.

45:48.41

Max Shank

Blows blows my mind. Um, yeah.

46:05.97

mikebledsoe

Similarities between web 3.0 and and http://the.comboom bust and which means that 99% of the your invest of of these companies these coins all these these nfts they're all going to go to nothing ah but 1% is going to become. You know Google Youtube Twitter Facebook you know these these new things will emerge so pay attention and invest in things and you don't have to get in that early if you want to make if you want to turn you know $10000 into a b. Then yeah, you might have to get in and when something's selling at ¢3 ah per per coin. But I'll get in when it's 10 or fifteen I don't give a shit because it's going to 500 I mean I'm gonna get a ah hundred x out of it. So um, yeah, that. Um, I'm fairly conservative. My girlfriend gets into the market and she is checking it every day and you know it's going up and she's so excited it goes down. She's she's like what the fuck freaking out and I go stop looking at that shit the only the only time you should look at it is if it's not going to.

47:06.57

Max Shank

Is it.

47:15.90

Max Shank

Right.

47:21.46

mikebledsoe

Either You have the the constitution to where it's not going to bother you. You're not getting an emotional swing out of it being good or bad or you like what you were saying is set and forget it buy a bunch of cryptocurrencies and then put it on a decentralized wallet somewhere folks not not an exchange.

47:26.28

Max Shank

Home.

47:41.32

mikebledsoe

Not on coinbase not on Voyager get on a decentralized wallet like trust wallet and or exodus.

47:50.50

Max Shank

I'm I'm waiting for Mike's investing handbook. It sounds like you have a figured out man.

47:53.69

mikebledsoe

I Ah my I'm gonna be working with my buddy he he built a course I'm trying to get him I want to interview him and then promo the course because I the the information I've gotten from him has been incredibly valuable.

48:11.30

Max Shank

Nice there you go.

48:12.54

mikebledsoe

And he knows what the fuck he's talking about he comes from the financial background so he used to be in in bait he used to be in banking and then he's and and so you know he he worked in debt and then he got into crypto so the guy the guy's been thinking about money for twenty plus years in ways that we haven't. And but yeah, set it and forget it.

48:34.22

Max Shank

You know what you were saying what you were saying earlier about your girlfriend there checking it all the time you know you wouldn't check the value of your house every single day if you owned a house. Oh my god.

48:45.68

mikebledsoe

Oh she does that too. We just bought a house. She's like checking the value the homes in the area because because because the market is actually moving really fast where we live. It's like oh we probably already made like $50000 like maybe.

49:01.33

Max Shank

Well yeah, maybe and you know, checking something like that all the time can can be good if if you're a trader if you're looking to move stuff around quickly and when you have a smaller account. It's easier to move more of your.

49:12.69

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

49:20.62

Max Shank

Percentage of your portfolio more quickly so you have more agility and you could be more nimble but it kind of reminds me, you were talking about the pelosi trading thing earlier and I was just thinking about how. We have technology like never before just based on technology Alone. We should all be working less and earning more and living healthier and living longer. But we don't and there are all these traps out there.

49:46.15

mikebledsoe

E.

49:56.28

Max Shank

And people check every day like oh what's going on in the world and it's probably it's It's probably the biggest trap there is because it takes you out of the here and now the flow which is the only thing that's going to.

50:01.48

mikebledsoe

Um, that's the same thing right? Yeah yeah.

50:14.94

Max Shank

Really bring you fulfillment when you become the task. Whatever it is. You're doing um people who retire early they gotta find something to do ah sometimes the only thing they find to do is drinking themselves to an early grave. So. You get these people. Maybe they owned a chain of dental offices retire at 40 They got to go out on the golf course or learn carpentry or start a band with their other old friends at the country Club. You got to do something and you got to do something that takes you into the here and now and into that flow. And the worst thing you can do is try to stay abreast of things that have no ah that you have no chance of influencing your life in a positive way as a result of knowing these things So when I think about. The Ah Friend safety Net which is really like a psychological safety net because you should be your own. Best friend Hopefully ah, you're you're abusing yourself mentally by trying to stay on top of what's going on and oh this.? Ah. Dude is winning at swimming against the ladies and I'm outraged about it and what the fuck it's like who cares? are you gonna do something about it. No then like just live your life and it's hard because it's very entertaining I think getting trapped.

51:33.67

mikebledsoe

A.

51:49.40

Max Shank

Into a tribal identity is like 1 of the worst things you can do you're like oh I identify as he him or she her or I identify as trans or maybe I I could identify as black or whatever.

52:05.57

mikebledsoe

Or even liberal or conservative.

52:07.50

Max Shank

Ah, well God Yeah, why would you want to like wear their logo on your t-shirt like are you out of your mind. They don't care about you? Um, so I think about that as being one of the biggest traps there is I think.

52:23.43

mikebledsoe

Well you you you don't have to ah those traps work because.

52:25.70

Max Shank

If Your identity is if your identity is based on. Ah if your identity is based on a group it means that your individual character is Worthless. You're like looking for something Oh I'm part of this group. Not. I'm me and I can do this this that or the other thing is just I'm on this team if that's all you have to offer is I'm on this Team. You suck as a person probably.

52:54.10

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well, it's easy you you can stop thinking for yourself and adopt whatever somebody is telling you you should be mad about or what you should care about because you now fit into this this group identity and it's um.

52:59.38

Max Shank

Right.

53:13.71

mikebledsoe

It's really really sad. Yeah, it's really really sad, but and it's hard for us to tell people this because I've told people this before and they're like well it's easy. You're a white guy and I was like I was like yeah what did you see? did you see ah somebody posted the other day.

53:13.87

Max Shank

It's mental illness. It's mental illness. It's like it's like if you.

53:26.20

Max Shank

I'm a black lady How dare you assume my race or gender.

53:33.20

mikebledsoe

About ah the if you identify as a woman as ah as a woman owned business. So if your business is owned by a woman then you have all this access to these government grants and all this all this stuff and I was like oh this is brilliant I can just.

53:44.70

Max Shank

Amazing.

53:49.94

mikebledsoe

Identify as a woman because it obviously doesn't seem to be a problem right now and some people were posting like oh then you would get you know that would be fraud I'm like okay so do we have men and women or or are we going to reward some people for. Being born a certain way.

54:08.40

Max Shank

You know it's kind of like these otherwise healthy people are electing to participate in Schizophrenia every day by the way they're using their computers. Like plugging into the hive mind to have all these voices yelling at them of they should be this way or they should be this way and then they're yelling back into the void. No, you should be this way fucker and it's like whoa my God and look we have.

54:33.26

mikebledsoe

Ah.

54:40.49

Max Shank

Such crazy technology. We have so much leverage potential at our fingertips and we're using it to yell at a stranger about something We don't have any nuanced opinion of we're just carrying water for someone else who's trying to blind us all to the fact that.

54:52.25

mikebledsoe

No.

54:57.51

mikebledsoe

Um, are you carrying water for Putin Oh my gosh. Um.

55:00.37

Max Shank

Ah I don't carry water for anybody. But I recognize but I recognize but I recognize that carrying water blindly for Ukraine isn't necessarily a good idea either and I have the confidence to admit that I don't know a god damn thing about North Asian Fucking Politics you know what? I'm saying it's it's crazy that everyone has such a strong opinion about these things but all it does is distract all it does is distract from you know I feel like a ah a record that's just on repeats like the only thing that really matters is jurisdiction.

55:20.54

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well, it's it's funny because if you come out with no opinion.

55:39.44

Max Shank

And Authority who's in charge and when do do they get to police that authority of theirs and if you're a leader. The only thing you shouldn't do is fuck up the money or get into Wars and that's what's happening and we're all just like but what about this guy swimming.

55:43.32

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

55:58.92

mikebledsoe

Um, ah it's incredible.

56:01.50

Max Shank

It's like yes it Yes, it's stupid. Yes, it's stupid. Okay, but also there's there's not like a healthy priority list. You know I'm saying it's it's insane.

56:09.91

mikebledsoe

Oh I totally get it why why does why was that the most talked about thing for 2 or 3 days last week when.

56:19.20

Max Shank

Because it's hiding other stuff that was way more sinister. No question and look if it bleeds it leads I get it. But you don't have to participate in it. You will definitely live more angrily. If you are constantly plugging into that thing and I get really excited about it because I've coached a lot of people both ah business wise coaching training wise and as soon as you realize that the biggest limiting factor in getting what you want is you.

56:39.15

mikebledsoe

Are.

56:52.74

Max Shank

Then your whole perspective changes about everything because that's also the only thing that you have control over. Yeah I think ah.

56:53.97

mikebledsoe

But but it's much easier to blame other people for my lack come on. How am I supposed to use my scapegoats to feel better about myself for not doing shit.

57:06.62

Max Shank

You know what that makes sense I I would be so much better off if that guy wasn't swimming against the ladies. It's I think that's where the most of my problems are being caused good God man. Okay, so.

57:16.65

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah.

57:24.88

Max Shank

What do we got here. We have. Um, we have a culture the the culture is sick but the technology is awesome. So if you can avoid participating in the culture at large and create a group a family ah of friends and relationships that engage in. Healthy Behavior. You essentially have the keys to the Kingdom psychologically if if you pretty much avoid the media ah and focus on improving your own life. That's also the best way to lead is. By example, you know you just live your life The way you want to on your terms. And you'll be way better off and you'll find that you have lots more time. Everyone's like oh I'm so busy I'm so busy, but the the truth is it's more of ah, a verbal tick to let people know that you're not Lazy. It's not I don't have time I'm so Busy. You're basically just telling them I'm not lazy I'm not lazy I'm not lazy right? but.

58:23.93

mikebledsoe

Yeah, or I have a I have a terrible method for setting priorities.

58:30.42

Max Shank

I Can't prioritize my life even with space age technology I can't prioritize my life even with space age technology I'm so busy I'm so busy I have no time I have no time I have no time. It's ridiculous. So ah, ah.

58:41.62

mikebledsoe

Yeah I've had I've had students come through. It's It's hilarious students come through and they're like I don't have time to do the program and they're single and living with their mom I go.

58:50.64

Max Shank

And.

58:59.28

mikebledsoe

You don't have time to do the pro. What what are you doing like you're 23 like what do you? You think you don't have time right now this is gonna be a rough one. There's gonna be a rough life for you.

59:10.40

Max Shank

It feel like we got a little off the rails there I think I I think I I think I took us I think I took us right off the rails. You know I get all fired up sometimes.

59:14.18

mikebledsoe

We did all right? Let's go Back. It's definitely all your fault. Um, so all right? So securing your future fitness we'll we'll ah we'll start wrapping here. Securing your future fitness How tos.

59:31.78

Max Shank

Walk a lot. Um, learn how to prevent falling which is stepping and lunging and learn how to prepare for falling which is rolling and falling. Is a really good example of risk and reward because the probability that you will fall is basically 100%. You're not going to live your life without falling now given a fall There's maybe a less than 1% chance that you will die or maybe a 1 % chance that you will die but a 1 % chance of death should be plenty of motivation to learn how to fall well and learn how to lunge so that you can prevent falling and that's because even though the risk ah probability wise is very low. You will kill yourself in a fall the cost of that error is total death total annihilation so because the cost is so high even if the probability is low. You want to prepare yourself for falling and then the last.

01:00:39.45

mikebledsoe

Yeah, you know what it might have been I want to interject here because it might have been you. It might have been another coach that I've been interacting with over the last decade who knows but they talked about a relationship to the ground and ah was a you that use that terminology. Okay.

01:00:44.55

Max Shank

Yeah.

01:00:52.91

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

01:00:59.31

mikebledsoe

And and I remember talking to you about that and I really when I started holding that frame my training shifted and I became ah I prioritized my relationship to the ground and then I anytime I came across like my. Ah, like older people in my family I would talk to their their. Yeah they well they fall into bed So The bed is about hip height so they can just like roll into bed. They can roll out and then they.

01:01:22.59

Max Shank

They're afraid of the ground they're afraid of the ground a lot of time they're afraid Chest high.

01:01:35.77

mikebledsoe

They they fall back into the recliner they fall into their car. They get out. They sit in their office chair. They fall into their office chair. It's all it's got to be cushy and they have no practice whatsoever. Getting up and down off the ground. So a lot of like older family members and things like that they asked me about how to be in better shape because I walk in they're like wow you're 40 so got a 6 pack. Yeah so how do you do that I go well at first I work on my relationship to the ground and then I teach them how to. Get up and down off the ground which basically means like let's get all the way down and then you'll figure it out but practice that and I I put my you're the same way cause I've seen your bed. The bed is on the floor because I know that if I practice if I sleep on the floor that's guaranteed.

01:02:09.60

Max Shank

Yeah.

01:02:23.47

mikebledsoe

I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna get down at least once that entire day off the ground if I do that for the rest of my life. It's not gonna be a problem for me whereas for most people it is so I just wanna throw that in there because that was so valuable.

01:02:32.33

Max Shank

A.

01:02:39.51

mikebledsoe

Ah, such a valuable frame for me to adopt.

01:02:40.74

Max Shank

I Think our listeners are just wondering why you've seen my bed.

01:02:50.26

mikebledsoe

I've seen his steam room too.

01:02:50.63

Max Shank

Hey now it wasn't steamy before you got in there. Ah I couldn't I can't help myself. Ah and also ah bone density being being able to support ah heavy-ish.

01:02:57.40

mikebledsoe

I Hope what else in.

01:03:10.22

Max Shank

Amount of force with your skeleton being able to carry stuff very um, important skills. Um, that's actually what my primal athleticism program is all about it's a daily practice primarily for longevity. You're not going to be. Deadlifting £600 you're not going to be cranking out 20 handstand pushups but you're going to learn how to skip and bounce and roll and crawl and fall and climb and carry things and those are some of the most important skills I think. Just because we're in the fitness industry people overemphasize certain things because it's the brand of their cult. You know people are like oh muscle wasting you got to be careful muscle wasting and it's because we're in essentially the muscle business if you're a dude right? ah.

01:04:03.64

mikebledsoe

Yeah, pretty.

01:04:07.23

Max Shank

But a lot of skinny people live a really long time. So It's really more important that you are strong and you are able to use your muscles in an adaptable way kind of back to what we talked about before the Chief attribute is elasticity which is really. About adaptability to a wide range of forces at a wide range of angles at a wide range of positions and that's what my elasticity program is all about and it doesn't have to be complicated. Um, you could probably just do TaiChi every day go for walks and. Not eat too much and have friends and live a really long time. Yeah.

01:04:49.30

mikebledsoe

Love it. So the things I would add on the fitness side is master your breath so learn learn how to breathe well into every part of your body I Like to think about my.

01:04:57.73

Max Shank

Oh.

01:05:07.19

mikebledsoe

About I'm breathing through a sphere and I'm breathing into the bottom I'm breathing into my back I'm breathing into the top all of that equally I can I can breathe just into the bottom I can breathe just into the top I have control over where the air flows and I do things like tape my mouth shut. At night to make sure that I'm only nose breathing and game changer and I don't have to take my mouth shut for it to stay shut. But I Still do it just to you know, be sure and so ah for.

01:05:29.25

Max Shank

Breathe through that nose Hell yeah, that's game changer for a lot of folks.

01:05:41.41

Max Shank

Ah.

01:05:46.42

mikebledsoe

For that if if your breath isn't handled then you know everything else will fall apart and put in a lot of emphasis. Ah after Breath Spine being able to feel and articulate at each Vertebrae I Found to be extremely useful and I found that once I. Put my attention there. My athleticism overall went up my hand-eye coordination improved all that happened when I started putting attention on the spine and I have no you know Spine pain anymore whereas I used to have a lot of core issues and.

01:06:21.20

Max Shank

Plus your chakers. We all lined up to line the chakris.

01:06:25.39

mikebledsoe

Gotta gotta align no chakra's baby and and yeah it ah it helps so those are my 2 big things in regard to movement and then obviously you just got to learn how to eat you got learn what works for you experiment.

01:06:36.11

Max Shank

The fitness side.

01:06:43.50

Max Shank

We could do a whole thing on the fitness side of longevity because you know all the moving parts are so important you know your feet taking care of your feet I don't want to drag out this conclusion too long, but there's an old Chinese proverb that says we age from the roots up and I don't necessarily.

01:06:44.91

mikebledsoe

I'm a big. Yeah.

01:07:03.50

Max Shank

Live my life by Proverbs I don't know the origin of but I think it is still good to take care of your feet.

01:07:10.28

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah, so ah, we're just hitting the top ones all right? Yeah, we could go on and on on that so in regard to finance and the money. What's ah overall securing your future.

01:07:28.40

Max Shank

Number 1 thing number. Yeah, we sure did I think you gave us a little mini crypto master class there ah teaser it's coming soon. Ah, get get comfortable with less.

01:07:28.91

mikebledsoe

We we I think we talked primarily about that. But yeah, just quick synopsis.

01:07:47.37

Max Shank

To start out with you know, you're not gonna find a lot of fulfillment from buying yourself a bunch of toys and being fancy. It's way better to start hungry and stay hungry. Ah eat until you're 80% full, go ahead and defer gratification. You can work for money or you can put money to work for you and people put themselves in debt trying to keep up with the joneses and it's all status games. It's totally not worth It should ah start with a very spartan lifestyle if you're already kind of in. And extravagant mode. But you're not really comfortable with your finances like you know it's a mistake you got to be able to defer gratification for later and those are the people who earn the most is the ones who can. Be a little bit more patient so that's probably the first that's probably the first thing deferred gratification. Don't get into debt.

01:08:46.74

mikebledsoe

Yeah, ah debt debt is mainstream. So ah, it's incentivized right now. Um I'm not gonna say all debt is bad I carry some debt which I would consider be good debt.

01:09:04.79

Max Shank

Like a house.

01:09:05.75

mikebledsoe

But um, like a house something that's low interest. It allows me to free up cash to put into things that are higher return, but my debt is optional if I wanted to clear out my debt right now I could do it. It's just not a financially intelligent move. Um, because where the money's at otherwise is is creating way more earnings than than what I would save on my debt payments on the on the interest. So yeah, kill the debt create Value. So always be. And what I mean by create value is be in touch with the things that other people value. So We we talked about writing as being one of the most valuable things I agree with that learn how to communicate Well ah one of my previous mentors. He wrote a book. Called last safe investment and categorized labor in the 4 categories one was physical labor technical labor creative labor and interpersonal labor and with each one of those the value goes up so labor is physical. Labor is the lowest value technical labor is the second lowest value. And then Creative labor is the next one up and the highest value labor is Interpersonal. So ah, you know writing being Creative. There's technical aspects to it of course but leadership sales things like that being interpersonal copywriting is something that bridges the creative and interpersonal. So. When you're thinking about which what type of labor you want to improve on unless you're going to be a professional athlete. Ah, you're going to probably see the biggest return on developing yourself as a leader or in your creative abilities and then last. Money for me is invest in emerging technology pay attention to what technologies are emerging that's going to be a good wave to catch. But as we talked about you know with emerging Technologies A lot of those will go to nothing. So. Choose wisely.

01:11:16.97

Max Shank

I I like it you and I have different investing strategies and and it's good I would add to the labor set well enough at all at all what you compare to um.

01:11:24.96

mikebledsoe

Yeah I think we both do we both do? well. So it's neither 1 or wrong. Yeah.

01:11:35.78

mikebledsoe

Yeah I mean compare.

01:11:36.89

Max Shank

You know, ah compared to compared to dwayne the rock johnson I'm fat and broke. So it's all it's all the way you compare to but I would add to the labor side of things find at least 1 thing that has an expent.

01:11:43.33

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah.

01:11:55.56

Max Shank

An exponential return on your time ah write a book make a video course do something where you can invest a lot upfront and it can continue selling forever. Um, that has been. Like a cheat code for me personally the fact that you can make something 1 time and sell it thousands and thousands and thousands of times it is crazy. No no postage required I can so like I can send electrons through the air. Basically.

01:12:24.35

mikebledsoe

It's pretty cool. That's right that that was the first thing that attracted me to doing anything digital product I go oh I don't have to the inventory is going to cost me the same amount every month. No matter what? which. You know say I I'm paying for a membership site. It's a hundred dollars a month to be able to run the site and and run my email and all that hundred bucks a month. So if I sell 1 or I sell 10000 it cost me the same exact amount of money. Perfect.

01:12:44.77

Max Shank

Right? wild.

01:12:58.15

Max Shank

It's so wild to think about what people went through before you know they would mail letters with a return envelope postage paid that sort of thing and hope that people responded and then they would have to ship them something physical afterward. It's a lot of steps.

01:13:05.66

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, a lot of stuff all right Friendships social relationships.

01:13:15.93

Max Shank

So oh you should be your own best friend and don't engage in mind poisoning groups schizophrenia if you can avoid it I know it's interesting and kind of exciting to get angry. Certainly ah use this podcast as an outlet for that. Sometimes I think they just start yelling and Mike's over there like what is going on with this guy I love it. Ah so you you should. You should be your own best friend and.

01:13:38.20

mikebledsoe

Ah, sorry folks.

01:13:51.54

Max Shank

Not engaged in things that are harmful for you. You should reach out to people who are the way that you would like to be and genuinely show interest in their lives and ask how you can help them. And it's so Cliche but giving what feels way better than getting actually especially once you've already got a bunch so I would say ah be very selective in who you are friends with because you will become like them and. And reach out even if you don't have a specific reason that's been a hard lesson for me because I haven't done that most of my life unless I have a concrete reason for calling somebody I Never just call to see how they're doing but it can be good if you want to nurture a relationship. It's It's like a garden and. Fuck Man what is life without friends.

01:14:49.95

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, totally agree. Um, yeah on the on the social side on the friends you know I I've had a lot different groups of friends I've lived in different places and you know what if you move cities. You have a huge opportunity to. Make sure that you surround yourself with the right people if you're living in the same place and participating in the same things and going to the same gyms and bars or whatever. It's very hard to change that friend group I've found that every time I moved I I improved my quality of of circle. And I do stay in contact max is one of these I met in San Diego and we still stay in contact even though I moved so you did you did not everyone made it. Ah I did like an irish goodbye for the whole city of San Diego

01:15:36.95

Max Shank

Survived the mass Breakup You just you just you? you just skip town so you can like ghost. Ah yeah, ah.

01:15:49.16

mikebledsoe

Just like people were like did you leave town I was like yeah man I moved out six months ago but ah but I ah yeah I have since really gone with how I feel with people versus trying to basic think. Who do I want to surround myself with people I want to be like all that I still do that. It's very nice. It's good to do when I choose to go to an event I go to events I don't go to a hundred dollar event anymore because it's gonna be full of $100 people I want to spend at least 2 3 grand because if it's a. Business related event because I know who I'm gonna be surrounded by people who are willing to drop that kind of cash. So I do think about it in that way but also my my personal friend group here in austin iss really like these are people I feel comfortable with when I lead the conversations. I'm I'm put in a much more positive mood. Ah you know I the the people I hang out with most since I've been here I either I either walk away from hanging out with them with weight with. Almost like it's automatic, subconscious programming that improves my health my wealth or or my relationships in some way like 1 of my friends my my crypto trading friend I hang out with him and the way he talks about money and investing and the energy he holds with that. I soak it up and I become way more positive about it and I start thinking about things differently and a lot of it has to do with how he feels and how he transmits that feeling in a group and so yeah I encourage people pay attention to how you feel when you're with people and after you've been with them.

01:17:22.52

Max Shank

Ready.

01:17:39.60

mikebledsoe

And that's going to make a huge difference.

01:17:41.89

Max Shank

I Think that's a great way to close it out. You gotta trust your gut and see how you feel before during and after you're around certain people. You could say the same thing about food. You gotta trust your gut because no one else is gonna know what you should be eating only your gut knows.

01:17:51.18

mikebledsoe

E.

01:18:01.84

Max Shank

So sorry I can't tell you exactly how many almonds to eat at nine thirty every morning but you're just gonna have to ah try try it out. Try it out and see how you feel and I think those are the 2 best examples of when to.

01:18:08.94

mikebledsoe

18

01:18:20.29

Max Shank

Really trust your gut So that's great. Awesome dude. Love you Thanks for listening everybody.

01:18:20.43

mikebledsoe

Yeah, easy my brother love you have fun today.

Feb 28, 2022

00:00.00

Max Shank

Welcome everybody to Monday mornings with max and Mike Today we're gonna talk about borrowed dreams what you should do about it or what you what you could do about it. We don't want to should all over you. So Mike. Thanks for joining me everyone thanks for tuning in borrowed dreams. What do we do.

00:23.69

mikebledsoe

Yeah, ah well max and I were talking talking about a story before the show that is way too common. It's very very common and I've experienced it myself as well which is ah, an example someone walks into the the gym. And they want to be able to complete a certain feat and then you come to find I know I've come to find out a lot of people go oh I want to squat £500 or I want to like I want to be able to snatch and clean and jerk this much weight or I want to be able to this many pull ups. And ah early in my career I said cool. Let's do it and then as I got older I witnessed myself and a lot of other people achieve the goal and still not be happy afterwards or sacrifice all sorts of stuff that we actually valued pretty highly. Go after this goal just to find out that the achievement of the goal created 0 satisfaction and I used to I used to be in this frame of mind that it was a human flaw that was something that we could overcome that this whole idea that. I always have to achieve more and I I actually think this idea that every time I reach a goal I immediately set another goal and I don't really get you know? Maybe there's 30 seconds of satisfaction or a day at the most talk to my friend a j roberts about setting the world record for the squat and he worked at this for years and then he hits it and then he celebrates for one day and the next day he wakes up depressed and then sets another another goal and I used to think yeah.

02:08.72

Max Shank

Was one of my favorite stories. He told that he told that story at some mastermind event I was at about having nosebleeds walking up the stairs and destroying all his relationships basically and.

02:23.47

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

02:27.15

Max Shank

You know ruining his body and his relationships and then going like oh wow that was not that cool at all. Actually I think that's probably the perfect example because somewhere he got this idea that that would make him enough or great superior. In some way and you know since you and I have so much experience with fitness. It's natural to examine why people have certain fitness goals and it's usually because someone else told them it was a good idea explicitly or. They just got rewarded with positive feedback on the way there. Oh you squatted a hundred. We. Love you. Oh you squatted 200. We love you twice as much just imagine if you could squat 300 just how much we would love you It's like ah.

03:20.95

mikebledsoe

Ah, what.

03:23.97

Max Shank

Ah, love is proportional to the pounds you can lift.

03:26.96

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and and it's ah and I used to believe it was just ah this I used to think it was like a personality flaw or something like that. Where of this person is just so achievement oriented that they can't even enjoy the the reaching of their goals. And after further analysis and of course the analysis. Ah analysis. That's meaningful always starts with ourselves. It was the analysis analysis of my own life in experiencing these things and reaching goals or failing to reach goals and and then still being able able to achieve happiness even without having. Achieved it and being okay with it and so I started looking at why instead of thinking about ah am I just setting goals all the time I realized that the goals there were certain goals that I did begin to hit as I got older that. Actually created an enormous amount of satisfaction for long periods of time and the ones those goals that I hit that created a really long lasting satisfaction were they were my goals and all the goals that I had set before you know I mean if we.

04:27.14

Max Shank

Oh.

04:42.45

mikebledsoe

Work our way back. My goal was to be at nationals and and weightlifting it was strong man competitions. It was squat a certain amount of weight compete at Crossfit a certain way become a navy seal like ah, whatever it was like ah graduate top my class. All these different things. None of those things whether I experienced success or not were not very satisfying in In fact, I didn't enjoy the journey of it at all or very little and then when I when I let go of that I went through a lot of growth. And I started achieving my own goals I go oh this isn't a personality flaw or a flaw amongst people who are very achievement based this is just simply a you are. It's it's an insecurity issue. It's a way of like what you were saying. Which is how do I experience. Love how am I accepted by others and the the thing that really stands out for me is my how I behaved in the world changed dramatically when my father died.

05:53.24

Max Shank

And.

05:55.27

mikebledsoe

And I realized that a lot of the decisions. It took me a few years to after that and I watched my my behavior change in a really interesting way I it was like I took a hard left turn after he passed and as I look back on it I go oh. All my goals up that point was to impress my dad like if I thought my dad was gonna be impressed by it I would fucking. Do it whether he said so explicitly or not it was It's always our own interpretation of what is gonna get us love and acceptance. So once I realize.

06:20.77

Max Shank

And.

06:33.74

mikebledsoe

I did that with my dad and then years later learning that how we you know our dad being our first love outside of ourselves because we we view our mother as ourselves when we're first born and so this father figure really dictates how you view the world and how you. Earn love from the world and so if you grew up in a situation where you were constantly setting goals to impress your dad. You're probably gonna be prone to for the rest of your life is a set achievement goals based on what you think other people want you to do and then just be miserable.

07:10.64

Max Shank

Totally totally I think ah of kids as like an ego surrogate Most of the time It's like a little surrogate ego for the parents and the ah like ah.

07:10.65

mikebledsoe

Whether you get it or not.

07:23.86

mikebledsoe

I Love it.

07:28.48

Max Shank

It's so easy to see I used to referee kids soccer games I used to also play soccer myself and you should see these parents fucking screaming these kids are 7 years old

07:36.90

mikebledsoe

Oh wow.

07:42.64

Max Shank

There are like 3 of them who are good at soccer and the rest of them are running around and like they'll kick the ball if it happens to come near them and as a referee of these little kids I'm like getting yelled at for like ruining the game sometimes if I if I do something a little wrong.

07:48.60

mikebledsoe

Right.

07:55.28

mikebledsoe

Oh my. My my dad. My dad definitely came after some umpires and some referees like my dad was the guy in in the backtop yelling at ah at the ummp at baseball games.

08:01.99

Max Shank

Oh yeah, so so so there's no ah I I didn't want any of my parents to come to any of my events of any kind I wanted to go there and just do it on my own and you know. But here's the thing ah that attitude makes it so clear implicitly and kind of explicitly what the mission is you know you are in that family unit. You're looking to get love. You're looking to do good instead of do bad and if winning. Is the most important thing then playing is not the most important thing and I think it's backwards because if you are doing something that brings you intrinsic enjoyment. It is sustainable. In fact, you will you will. You'll spend the whole day doing it. You'll forget to eat. You'll forget to do other stuff. You'll just be in the zone of this thing that you're doing and you can win you know and and win is such a nebulous term you can have success and. Serve and connect with people by doing what you are the best at and if you really love doing it. It will be easy for you to gain tremendous skill at it I always start with that question actually. With people when it comes to business coaching. Let's say and I'm like what would you do? if you could earn no money and no credit from doing it like what would you? What would you give? what would you do and when you take the. Ego out of it then you get into the real meat and potatoes of what brings you intrinsic joy and Joseph Campbell so calls it a follow your bliss and I think that's generally a good idea. But if you do things just for the reason.

10:09.80

mikebledsoe

By the way following your Bliss doesn't mean you're experienced bliss the whole time I want to make that clear for some people.

10:17.40

Max Shank

Right? right? right? I mean if you have good drugs. You can come pretty close but no, no joking joking. Don't do drugs kids just do the drugs that Uncle Sam says you should do ah but what I'm saying is if you take.

10:24.96

mikebledsoe

I.

10:36.47

Max Shank

The idea of getting credit or the potential reward monetarily you will hone in on what you really would like to do and what you would really like to share. Ah, it's such a corny phrase but it's true. The gift is in the giving. And it required me having a pretty high degree of success myself before I got that like it's it's kind of funny how that works because for me, everything was about the result everything was about winning and. I Just thought you should tough it out for the result like it doesn't matter who cares if you're enjoying what you're doing you just do what needs to be done to get the desired result and look that can work. But if you do something that you would do anyway and then. Learn the fundamentals of monetizing that Action. You will happily do it every day and you can do it for a lifetime rather than for a shorter amount of time burn yourself out and then feel lost because you chase this goal that has its origins. Completely outside of your sense of self.

11:54.98

mikebledsoe

Yeah, that makes me think about people people hear this conversation like follow your bliss and and you know do what you love and enjoy the journey and they go look. That's really sounds cute but that's not how the world works I was. I was coaching a friend recently a buddy from you know I've known for 20 years and you know I don't talk to him very often. But I was talking to Him. He goes well,, that's just not how the world works I go for you that because you believe the the Opposite. You're making that true and you're going to collect a lot of evidence to support that so I have been collecting evidence on the other side Now here's the thing. Yeah, you get to choose which evidence you're collecting so choose wisely and So. All throughout human history.. There's been a lot of have to I have to do this to survive and eat and the the more the more primitive culture is the less choice. There really is and what you get to do there's there's you know you gotta go hunt and get your food. You gotta you gotta do some stuff.

12:54.81

Max Shank

I Should do this now.

13:10.27

mikebledsoe

And through the advancement and evolution of culture. What we we came up with this idea of capitalism which has allowed people to become specialists. You know having that currency allows someone to become a specialist and not have to do all these have to things they just have to be really good. 1 thing and then other people reward them from that and we experience trade and so it's when I look at our generation. What I see is ah the highest level of get to and when I have kids one day. They're gonna have an even higher level of get to than I did and this level of get to is just so much more pronounced and shorter periods of time from generation to generation I think that's a lot of what we looked at the boomers talking to the. The gen xes and the millennials and saying you know you gotta like work hard. You gotta grind you gotta you gotta do all this you gotta do stuff that you don't like and that's actually not that true because we live in a world of. Incredible amount of connection somebody somewhere values your passion and you being able to perform that a really high level somewhere. There was a woman There's a woman in New York that fucking makes half million dollars a year I think I told you about this before selling pictures of dicks. That are dressed up in different outfits so actual dicks. So these guys volunteer shell put little address on it or she'll put like a little tuxedo on the dick take it picture? Yeah but this is.

14:44.76

Max Shank

That's funny like actual dicks. Wow I would love to know I'd love to know that customer avatar like who are the people buying these things.

15:01.30

mikebledsoe

I Love that story because it's a demonstration of how niche and ridiculous something can be but she is the best dick pick Taker on the planet. She's the the Dick Master huh.

15:12.60

Max Shank

How many have you purchased how many have you purchased personally.

15:19.56

mikebledsoe

I've got 4 in my collection. Nft's though but ah when here's here's the other thing I mean that's what I was joking I said nft but ah, we are seeing artists being rewarded people of normally associated being an artist with being.

15:24.43

Max Shank

Ah.

15:38.54

mikebledsoe

Um, ah a starving artist. You know it's the common cliche you're a starving artist and there's a lot of reasons why artists are starving but ah in in the new world that we're living in. You can draw some shit up and sells an have m might take off and just because you associate it with that. So. There's there's much more sophisticated ways of funding artists now when people trade the art so say ah and this is a very the layers of tokenomics. Get very deep and very complicated and it's very hard to keep up with just just putting that out there because um, my girlfriend is deep in the comic book world with Nfts right now. So she owns a bunch she owns like this I think I might be she might. Think she owns like the seventeenth most expensive comic on the planet type of thing right now. So yeah, and so ah.

16:39.28

Max Shank

That's exciting.

16:44.90

Max Shank

It's always like you know you know people ah have all these comments about the the top 1% and there's a funny quote which is like there's always going to be a top 1% in fact it will always be 1%

16:58.88

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

17:00.93

Max Shank

And no matter what it is that you're doing whether you're an artist or a coach or an author or something like that like there's always going to be a top 1% but it kind of comes down to the comparison syndrome right.

17:15.32

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

17:18.17

Max Shank

So if you are measuring your success based on something like that like once again, if I compare myself to the rock I'm a fat poor slob but but it.

17:29.56

mikebledsoe

Ah.

17:35.33

Max Shank

Outside of that comparison like I feel pretty good about myself like I might go jump in the pool later and I'm in good enough shape to play tennis and you know it just depends on what you compare to so this idea that you will be happier getting richer or stronger doing something. You don't. Really want to do versus making a little bit less money or being a little bit less strong but doing something that you ah are really excited about every day I think that's a major fallacy and you you're just comparing to what. You see on television what you see around you what you see on social media. This idea that you must have Xy and z to be considered successful. Once again is totally arbitrary. You know you come in and you're like hey I want to I want to lose. Ah. £5 I don't want to be one hundred and sixteen pounds I want to be 111 and I'm like why? Well just 111 sounds better. They're like why don't you just measure yourself in Kilos the number will be smaller like what what are you talking about? It's ridiculous if you want to feel really strong just measure the weight you can lift in Grams. I lifted ten Thousand grams today I feel so strong. Ah, it's total nonsense when you think about ah the intrinsic things like what do you actually like to do because most of it's.

18:48.61

mikebledsoe

I'm so yoed.

19:01.92

Max Shank

Once again, all these cliches sounds so corny but most of the best things in life are free but there is a fundamental necessity to feel safe to feel um to be fed and things like that. But it comes back to what we've talked about a lot which is value value like.

19:14.19

mikebledsoe

We know the the cocoa. Yeah.

19:21.30

Max Shank

Value is totally um, dependent on the situation right? So bottled water at Coachella very valuable bottled water ah by a fresh river coming out of a glacier people aren't that really interested so just because. Someone says what you have isn't valuable doesn't mean someone else won't think it's very valuable so it's ah it's very arbitrary. Go on.

19:43.67

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well this the the conversation about the rock is really interesting because people go Yeah, the rock. The rock is more successful than max in a lot of areas but I'm just say I'm saying someone from the outside may say that.

19:59.23

Max Shank

Whoa who's saying that I I know I just said it to.

20:03.66

mikebledsoe

But just go with me just go with me and and um, but here's the thing is we you have no idea what the rock's life is like he's taking pictures on Instagram the dude is in pain all the time that. He is knee hurts like I've I've I've been able to glimpse enough to realize that he's in a lot of pain. He may be in less now but he's had to endure a lot of pain to get to where he's at probably you know he may have. Periods of time where he didn't sleep. Well there's periods of time he he was a pro wrestler at 1 point those guys are living a crazy lifestyle. Yeah, and it's just one of those things where it's like oh this guy gets put on this pedestal and then people start comparing themselves to him and I'm like man i.

20:40.61

Max Shank

You never know outside looking in, you never know.

20:55.44

mikebledsoe

I Don't want any like I would love to have the bank account and that's probably it I mean I don't know about the physique because you just started looking at the amount of sacrifice that was made that he sacrificed a lot of things that you and I value too much to sacrifice and.

21:11.95

Max Shank

Totally.

21:14.90

mikebledsoe

Who knows if maybe he did follow his heart and this is the the I bet he did in a lot of ways and this is the result of that and he we just value different things. So like that's his degree of success and this is what success looks like for us. So. Like to point that out in that we we definitely don't know the full story of what's going on for that other person's life and to and and when we when we start comparing we lose sight of our own Genius and our own self-expression and.

21:41.86

Max Shank

That.

21:53.28

mikebledsoe

And I think it happens when we start categorizing ourselves like if I were just to say I'm a podcaster or I'm a coach or I'm a this I start comparing myself to Joe Rogan as a podcaster or I might start comparing myself to Paul check as a coach or something like that and I gotta I got to back it up and even say.

22:01.60

Max Shank

Right.

22:12.82

mikebledsoe

I don't I don't want to really look at those guys as mentors I like to pay attention to what they're doing because they're smart and they're They're the best at what they do but at the same time I'm doing something That's really neither one of those I'm not it. It would be unfair to me to be unfair to the world.

22:15.64

Max Shank

Ah.

22:24.81

Max Shank

Ah, right.

22:30.18

mikebledsoe

To carry a comparison between these people and try to be Joe Rogan and Paul check at the same time I'd be insane but people try to do it all the time.

22:34.68

Max Shank

That would be I'd be very powerful I think you found my new goal actually I want to be Joe check or Paul Rogan yeah Paul Rogan

22:42.40

mikebledsoe

Um I like the Paul Rogan Paul wrote yeah you go? Yeah, that's what we should have called this show and ah man we fucked up be fucked up.

22:52.25

Max Shank

Ah I Love I Love what you said because also that's where envy comes from right and people become envious but they don't envy the whole thing they cherry pick they're like oh I'm envious of the rocks.

23:06.35

mikebledsoe

Right.

23:10.36

Max Shank

Bank account or his eyebrow thing that he does or whatever but you don't know the full story of what's going on and envy really is the worst of all the 7 deadly sins because it's the only one you can't have any fun at so you don't want to be you don't want to be envious.

23:26.76

mikebledsoe

Um, a.

23:28.48

Max Shank

It's very silly Plus why be jealous of someone when you don't know what's going on behind the scenes you you don't know the full story like ah it Maybe it's like really not worth it. Maybe they are just remorseful all the time. Ah so so you don't want that and then.

23:43.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

23:47.91

Max Shank

The other thing that you said that was awesome was you know if you compare yourself to those guys then you are like spoiling your song or your vibration. It's like you know the rolling stones or a great rock band. But not everybody likes the rolling stones it just so happens that they'll play for massive crowds and that most people really do like them but some people prefer like ah I don't know the ramons or sublime or something like that I don't know. And I don't really know enough band names but you get my point is like just because one band is really really popular like a rogan or a Paul check doesn't mean that you can't offer something in a uniquely different way that will resonate with a slightly different audience. It's not honestly, it's not even about what's. Absolutely better because how could you measure that and I and I get into that um line of thinking quite a lot Actually myself is just as much a reminder to me as it is to anyone listening it may feel. Like someone else is better qualified to do what you would like to do but you'll do it differently enough that it might resonate with someone Better. So Even if in your mind It's like oh well,, they're just better at it. You know, just do your best. And put your um self into it and that's going to resonate better with some group of people than that other person that you might be comparing to so comparison Envy not good at all.

25:35.32

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well and I'm somebody who has a I have a lot of interests lot of different interests and there are definitely some areas like I trained I trained one of my buddies ah on Saturday. Ah.

25:37.32

Max Shank

Not that healthy for you.

25:53.39

mikebledsoe

I trained him physically in my gym and you know we were He's a new friend. He he looks fit and but he's got a lot of back pain and he he says he's like. Like oh what do you do for training. He goes well tomorrow I was like you want to work out tomorrow. He goes well tomorrow's my buys and tries and I was like you know what? how about this and he was I was like tell me about your back I'm like how about this I bet I can make your back feel better while during your workout. You're gonna feel better. And afterwards you're gonna feel better and why don't you just stop by tomorrow four o'clock will smoke a little weed and then we'll we'll work out. He goes all right that sounds like a good time I blew his fucking mind for the guy who does buys and tries and ah. And and his his full time gig is crypto trader so he yeah he get an idea of who he might be right? I'm not gonna blast his name or anything like that. But he um I get him in the gym. He doesn't he's never studied fitness I mean he looks good like he he does know what he's doing.

26:53.44

Max Shank

Okay.

27:08.49

Max Shank

Higher.

27:09.69

mikebledsoe

If he were to go to Lifetime Fitness I Imagine he's and his posture looks pretty good. So it's not like he's not a mess or anything but I took him through some you know integrative functional movement and his he just mind exploded the whole time and so when I am exposed.

27:13.15

Max Shank

Yeah.

27:28.50

mikebledsoe

But if I were to be with train with you max I don't feel like I know much right? We're just kind of like learning I'm learning a lot from you. You might be picking up some stuff from me, but it's it's kind of like little things here and there and then I really realized what an expert I am in the field of fitness cause I've been doing it for like 20 years 25 years and sometimes it's good to expose yourself to somebody who has no very limited exposure to the topic to really see how much you know about it I walked away from that session and I've got I've got pages of if I introduce someone new to training. These are the principles because I started I spent 10 minutes talking to him before we moved so that he understood why we were doing what we were doing and so I come out with all these notes where I'm like oh I should I could put together some type of fitness program I've avoided that because I meet so many I've met so many people who are so fucking good at it. So like oh.

28:11.55

Max Shank

Um, yeah, totally.

28:23.60

Max Shank

Right? what.

28:26.33

mikebledsoe

Why would I put it together a fitness program. They could always just go to max or they could go to Paul check or they could go to you know John Wolfe and it's like and then I go oh my friend. He didn't go to any of those guys he ended up in my garage. So.

28:30.88

Max Shank

Great.

28:37.81

Max Shank

He went to you right.

28:43.59

mikebledsoe

Ah, because none of those guys really appealed to crypto traders but I like to trade crypto. So now I appeal to those people too and crypto Trader trainer. So I Um, the other thing I started this conversation or this this rant with.

28:50.60

Max Shank

You're the crypto Trader trainer.

29:03.17

mikebledsoe

Ah I view myself as someone who's got ah a broad knowledge base but not a lot of depth in 1 thing but then I realized when I was training him. Oh I do have a lot of depth in this area compared to compared to that guy. That's all it needed.

29:09.14

Max Shank

Um, compared to what that's the key compared to what and and really when you're talking about sharing something valuable or delivering value which is really what this whole. Trade-based economy is based on is do you have some value that you can deliver you want to pace the person that is reading your message the person that is seeing your message the person that is listening to your pitch of some kind. Because basically you're selling him on the idea of training in a different way First and foremost whether you're doing that in-person via video via text you are selling them on this new idea so you have to meet them where they're at so the way that you would coach someone.

29:48.53

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

30:05.16

Max Shank

Who's been a trainer for 10 years and they're looking to you know gain their you know level 5 neurophysiological functional integration pathways is going to be very is doesn't that sound nice. Ah I I created it right now.

30:16.40

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah I do you have that certification yet. You have that certification. Oh oh, you should ah print it out and put it on the wall 10 k for two days with Max Shank Dot Com go right now.

30:25.30

Max Shank

Only only ten k for two days ah that's it. Yeah, ah you know so that's that's a very different clientele like you know and I've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on courses over the years ah in person. Online. Whatever the whole the whole gamut and as you get more toward the end user. It gets simpler and simpler and simpler and it's like Titanic triceps and super shoulders and as you get more toward the trainer side of things. It just gets more and more fancy. You know they're like fancycier names and like we're gonna hack your nerve and look starting with the nervous system is the right idea but sometimes you just have to laugh at some of the crazy names that are being thrown around there so you have this.

31:03.52

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

31:21.76

Max Shank

Like especially cause I got so much into physical therapy which is a broad term. It's like a contest to see who can get the fastest results. So It's like you just need a more fancy secret and it's like a. An escalation of who has like the fanciest secret for how to erase someone's pain and get them moving functionally again which also is good from a practical standpoint because most people um you know exercise is not that hard like go for a walk. Carry some weights around move some weights. It's all good like you don't need to do anything dance around a little bit play a sport.. It's not not that hard. But if someone is hurting then having a methodical way to get them back to. A safe place where they can move without fear and without pain. That's really what requires the most effort and that's why I went that way myself with all of the programs I've created and all of the courses that I've taught it's much more difficult.

32:15.00

mikebledsoe

So.

32:31.44

Max Shank

To get someone feeling safe and strong again and pain free than it is to be like oh you want bigger legs. Well um, you know deadlift reverse lunge and sprint up a hill and you'll be fine like you don't need to do too much more than that like it could get fancier and fancier. But.

32:49.22

mikebledsoe

Yeah, one of the things that came to mind as you were talking is the ah the more knowledge we obtain the longer we're in a segment of the population. So you'll see this. You're have been to an nsea conference National sport and conditioning association. Okay.

32:49.49

Max Shank

You get the idea.

33:05.64

Max Shank

Now now.

33:08.96

mikebledsoe

Ah, been to a couple and I went when I was in college because it was the thing to do and we go and I mean you had to pay attention to a lot of these talks because these academics are talking to their peers. They're talking to other academics. Now were there? Yeah, the well that's the thing is.

33:28.72

Max Shank

Don't you mean they're showing they're showing off. Let's be let's be real here I've talked at conferences they're showing off That's all look how smart I am I'm gonna give you an offer at the end that you you can buy my product and I'm gonna show everyone how smart I am and why you should listen to me.

33:42.46

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and so the problem is in Academia they're not selling. They're not selling anything for money. They're just selling their ideas but they they fuck up because they are not talking to their audience. They're talking to their peers and so.

33:45.93

Max Shank

Most of the time most of the time.

34:02.90

mikebledsoe

They are ah so they end up using these words that are really loaded and if you're not in the field. You will not know what they're talking about and the whole point of the nsea like their their mission statement. It basically says that we want to bridge the gap Between. Science and practical application for strength coaches and then you go to the conference where the academics like if you don't if if you're the average strength Coach. You have no fucking idea what this academic is talking about because they're talking about mtor receptors and and these really deep bio energetic. Terms that no one knows what they mean unless you're one of these 20 people and so one of the things I recognize and this happens in the classroom and in academic environments too is the instructors are speaking to impress their peers instead of appealing to their audience.

34:52.50

Max Shank

Totally.

34:56.73

mikebledsoe

And the same thing happens when we we'll use fitness as an example, but this happens in every industry is when you become very advanced at what you do when you've been steeped in the information as long as max and I have been then you you you do ah get attracted to the fancier stuff because. At times because there might be a little bit of nugget and knowledge in there. But the yeah I need a harder drug but the chasing the the knowledge the Knowledge Dragon. So The the the trap is for.

35:19.89

Max Shank

It's like a harder drug.

35:26.85

Max Shank

Chasing the knowledge dragon.

35:35.97

mikebledsoe

Max and I would be if we started talking to our peers. There's a part of me that used to when I was making posts talking a podcast putting things on social media writing emails I wanted to make sure that if my friends my peers my colleagues. Read this. They'd be impressed and I that meant I was gonna get crickets from the people that needed to hear it the most and so.

36:01.80

Max Shank

How perfect is that story. You're going to literally shoot yourself in the foot to turn off your customers to impress your peers and colleagues that's hilarious. That's hilarious.

36:11.40

mikebledsoe

Yeah I see this happen coaches are doing this all the time they're so worried.

36:18.44

Max Shank

I Hear the ten dollars words I tune out I tune out so quick when I see people with the $10 words. It's like I know a few fancy words. Okay I like to work my flactoids from time to time but dude as soon as you start with the fancy talk it. It tunes me out because I I can hear when there's. No need for it whatsoever and just on the certification standpoint you know I have people who work for me at the gym I don't require any certification whatsoever I'm like you should get Insurance. Don't don't waste. They're like what certification should I get I was like done none of Them. Don't waste your time.

36:57.00

mikebledsoe

You probably learned some shit wrong by doing that cert.

36:57.10

Max Shank

Learn how to communicate with people learn the basics well yet plus the last thing I want is someone to come in there with their own idea of how things should be done like I want collaboration and a meritocracy of ideas because I'm not always right I Love ah.

37:07.90

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

37:16.50

Max Shank

You know, challenging the coaches with new ideas. Um, and it's fantastic. But I definitely wouldn't waste, especially if you're just trying to like coach people in exercise. There are a lot of fundamental truths that require no certification Whatsoever. To carry out I mean we could do a whole separate thing on how to be a personal trainer. Maybe we should do that next week. How to be a good. Ah how to be a good fitness coach. But yeah, don't waste your time with the like academia stuff. That's that's like so that's so worthless for the end User. It's just.

37:40.54

mikebledsoe

I like that I like that.

37:55.28

Max Shank

Like the only thing you can do. It's like academia itself. It's like what do you do after you take all these classes. Well then you can become a teacher and teach all these classes. It's like a fucking ponzi scheme.

38:04.90

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, ah that that that makes me think about imposster syndrome people they get out there and they feel like they have imposter syndrome I think one of the reasons they experience that is and I bring this up because. This is a common question that gets asked or we're we're talking with a coach who wants to build their coaching business. They're like I'm experiencing imposter syndrome. Okay, yeah, and an imposter syndrome I Ah believe that a lot of that comes from.

38:27.97

Max Shank

Um, it's like toxic comparison right.

38:40.84

mikebledsoe

You know, wanting to impress their peers. It's It's never about I don't feel like I'm good enough to help people because when you get talking to them. They're like why is anyone listening to me but then they're afraid to post because they're afraid of with their parents or their family or friends or people that they were in class with. Are gonna think about what they posted and so it's It's such a. It's It's not it. Yeah, it's not imposter. Syndrome. That's made up. It's you don't feel like an imposter. You're just afraid that you're not gonna look smart in front of your friends and when you you're for.

38:59.29

Max Shank

Fear judgment. Yeah.

39:17.65

mikebledsoe

Every time that you hold back and don't share because of that there are people that could have been helped by you that are not and it also impedes your unique genius from shining through which is exactly what we're getting at in this entire show. We talked about borrowed dreams in the beginning and how we live.

39:23.15

Max Shank

Ah.

39:37.27

mikebledsoe

Out the lives that other people that we imagine that other people want us to live instead of living out our own dreams and that includes speaking our own message in a way that's unique and can land for the audience.

39:49.38

Max Shank

Yeah, and you should as a professional, always try to communicate in a way that will resonate with your audience the best you know if you was talking to this lady on the phone. She's really cool. Ah. I like to make ah sexist jokes to my female friends like it. It makes me laugh a lot and so I was saying you know it's like ah it's like building a motor you know I was talking about how you build like ah an online business and a funnel and there's like a flow of Gasoll. There's fuel and you got to put all the parts together. Was like oh actually you know you're a lady so it's like a recipe and there's a sequence that everything has to be put together and and I just like making jokes like that. But it's true that it is exactly like a recipe It's not going to resonate with everybody. You shouldn't compare your.

40:31.12

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

40:45.54

Max Shank

Ah, recipe for chili compared to someone else's but you should communicate things in a way that will resonate with that audience and if I'm smart and I'm targeting ladies I'm going to use a how to make a pie rather than how to build a motor. And I'm not saying that there aren't tons of ladies who know way more about motors than I do. But if I'm going to try to resonate with the most ladies possible and have a specific person that I'm speaking to why it's so important to clearly know the audience you're talking to. You should always talk to them. In a way that will make it the easiest for them to understand which means you will also make it the easiest to catalyze the desired action that you want them to take the last thing you want to do is complicate the message like you were saying before.

41:36.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and this also makes me think about this just leads naturally into the conversation of self-expression and this desire for authenticity. You know the the online media has been I think it's showing.

41:43.19

Max Shank

E.

41:56.10

mikebledsoe

How inauthentic things are and 1 of the one of the pieces of one of the statements that I receive a lot online and in person is people appreciate how authentic I am and they talk about how rare that is in today's world which is true. A lot of inauthenticity now a lot of people in their attempt to be authentic and self-expressed fail to meet their audience where their audience is at and so I see I see this a lot, especially it seems to be more prevalent amongst women than men. Um, and that they want to express them and probably because they've there's been a suppression of self-expression amongst women at a higher rate than of men so women really want to be able to express themselves in the way they want to express themselves which is great but with the expectation that they're gonna be. They're gonna ah be rewarded for that unbridled self-expression because yeah, because what's happening is I'm gonna express myself the way I want to because I never had before and now I'm really stepping into my power and I really want to do this and then while then turning off a bunch of people or.

42:57.79

Max Shank

Um, yeah, it won't resonate as well.

43:12.90

mikebledsoe

People are like I don't know what they're talking about I'm confused which which can be good.

43:12.50

Max Shank

Which can be good which can be good to turn off a lot of people your vibe attracts your tribe. So if you do have that like insane personality type of so I mean we're all kind of insane. Um, you know you'll you'll garner. Less resonance broadly but that might be okay, but you just have to manage your expectations If you're going to be like ah you know it just it just depends on the person. You know if you have an extreme personality. You might get people who like you a lot more but less of them.

43:36.20

mikebledsoe

Right? right.

43:46.91

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and the other thing I I like to warn about here is a lot of people they get into this self-expression and authentic self-expression conversation and what they end up expressing is their their emotional wounds and I.

43:59.40

Max Shank

Their wounds.

44:06.10

mikebledsoe

The way I look at is like you could either express from a place of love or you can be expressing your wounds and if you express your wounds. You have the opportunity to create more wounding or to create ah an effect that is undesired and then and you can tell if it's a wound or if it's.

44:14.60

Max Shank

A.

44:25.40

mikebledsoe

Coming from love because a wound behaves like a child. You know it. It throws things Temper tantrums Exactly it's most adults have not developed. Emotionally they got stunted in their youth and that's why you have people doing what they do I mean we see in politics. It's just.

44:31.14

Max Shank

How most adults behave.

44:44.96

mikebledsoe

Bunch of fucking children running around up there. So ah.

44:47.32

Max Shank

You would never see a discussion like that within a company that was Successful. It's absolutely Insane. The the shouting messages and the at the shouting and the ad hom and him attacks and the appeals to I mean it's. So full of logical fallacies and ranting and raving that it just makes no Sense. You'd have to be kind of stunted to believe that that is useful in some way you know, no no sane person wants to go to war and yet we let these sociopaths go to war all the time. It's.

45:15.59

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

45:25.40

mikebledsoe

Um, and then pay them to do it. Not not only that you pay you are funding this behavior and the world is broken. Yeah yeah.

45:25.77

Max Shank

It's outrageous, um and then.

45:32.85

Max Shank

Totally I yeah in a lot of ways it is but you got to just focus on ah delivering what is important to you and I think you know the word authenticity ah is another one of those. Things that feels like borrowed dreams like my my authentic self now feels totally different than it did ten years ago and when I think about being authentic, really I I just mean like being truthful because I don't have to say something.

45:50.89

mikebledsoe

E.

46:03.94

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

46:08.96

Max Shank

A certain way like that doesn't necessarily make me more authentic like sometimes I curse and I go oh man did I really have to there and I'm like yeah I fucking did because I was emotional and there was like a reason for it. And I don't care if I turn off a few people but I can also understand someone being a little bit smarter and just never doing that to broaden their audience. So As long as you're telling the truth as you believe it to be I think that is what authenticity is I don't think it necessarily means. Ah you know. Having a weird attitude I think it's having a clear mission that you care about and being truthful I think that's really that's really what authenticity means more than like you know, exposing your wounds.

46:57.17

mikebledsoe

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I and back on the self-expression piece I think that ah some people Also they they they haven't felt like they've expressed themselves in so long and then they get the courage to do so and then they start just. Expressing themselves over everybody and what I've found is it's very useful to have a place to really just let it fucking fly. Let it fly and that's not for the general public to be around.

47:31.71

Max Shank

Dancing.

47:37.95

Max Shank

Right.

47:39.52

mikebledsoe

Create a safe space. Maybe you have a therapist or you're going through a coaching program where there's a container that's really tight. There's there are rules. There are things that create safety because if you can experience really deep. Let it fly self-expression and a container of safety you can move all the way through it.

47:49.67

Max Shank

The.

47:59.49

mikebledsoe

Heal wherever that's coming from and then then become an adult in that area of your life if you if if you're out of control in some area of your life. It's because you have yet to heal that wound that was established in your childhood and be able to move on and now behave like an adult in that area of your life. And so I'm I'm a big fan of getting a container where you can just let it go but you cannot ah, it's a really bad idea to take that type of let it go behavior into the general public because it's not a safe space for you for 1 and for 2.

48:23.86

Max Shank

It.

48:38.35

mikebledsoe

Those people aren't trained to handle your shit. They don't know how to hold that kind of space. There's just you're gonna create a lot of bad juju out in the world. So that's my ¢2 worth on self-expression and I bring it up just because it's it's been a big topic and the.

48:46.83

Max Shank

Totally.

48:57.61

mikebledsoe

What I witness is being talked about online and um I just witness a lot of coaches who value self-expression so high when they're actually just shitting on people instead of helping them.

49:08.78

Max Shank

Totally and the same thing. It's kind of like complaining like complaining is an authentic behavior because you are feeling a thing and you are letting it out and I've only had it happen a few times at the gym where someone who worked for me started complaining to 1 of their clients.

49:16.15

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

49:28.60

Max Shank

And I was like hey what are you doing there like we don't do that. This person is paying you. You do not complain in here you check whatever it is you have going on outside at the door when you bring a person in here I don't I don't care. What your views are um, on certain topics I care that you are making this person uncomfortable and complaining all over them and ruining their day. You're trying to you're trying to be a psychological energy vampire by complaining to someone. Who is the last person in the World. You should be doing this too and this cannot be tolerated. Yeah, complaining is like the most selfish Act. So I think that is very you just change what barbers no shit.

50:08.16

mikebledsoe

Yeah, is Selfish. I Just changed barbers because of this I barbers The yeah the my barber was my barber was is so good at cutting hair. But I I got Covid So I went a little bit longer without getting my hair cut and I noticed that.

50:24.90

Max Shank

Amazing.

50:33.72

mikebledsoe

For about three weeks post covid I was at I was easy to agitate and so the what what happened was is I so I started everything that agitated me in my life went on loudspeaker and I go oh.

50:46.80

Max Shank

O.

50:49.88

mikebledsoe

There was a gift in in this because I got to change some things that were bothering me at a low level but not hard enough to change but still taking away my energy right? And so I go you know what changing that and then I didn't my hair is kind of shaggy right now probably can't tell cause a headset. But.

50:54.13

Max Shank

You're more sensitive.

50:58.38

Max Shank

Ah, then.

51:09.48

mikebledsoe

Um, I'm a little bit shaggy because I decided I was like you know I'm just gonna let my hair grow out and I wasn't thinking about not enjoying my barber but then it hit me I go you know I want to get my hair cut and I went to schedule it and I recognized I was like I don't want to go to that Barber. So I I booked ah something at a different place I can't go to the same place cause he's gonna see me there and but he's a he's a chronic complainer and it's and I took it on as a challenge I was like I was like maybe I can help this guy out a little bit. You know how how good can I be like I've got a force field. My force field is um.

51:30.20

Max Shank

Of course. Ah.

51:44.23

Max Shank

Mike Mike Mike the fixer at work during his haircut appointment.

51:46.95

mikebledsoe

Penetrable. And ah well I was just thinking about like how Jesus can I be right now you know like yeah, so I so anyways like I what one the day I went to book my appointment I go.

51:57.96

Max Shank

Well, you need longer hair for that So that works.

52:08.91

mikebledsoe

I'm going somewhere else I hate being complained at all day. So anyways, just own that in their real life example of what max is talking about.

52:15.73

Max Shank

Yeah, it's ah it it might feel authentic and it and it might be coming straight out of your gut but it's not a good idea So that's a good example of like toxic authenticity. But it's not even really authentic. That's just like wounded ah wounded child.

52:33.89

mikebledsoe

It's inauthentic when it's coming from a wound. It's inauthentic but people confuse doing whatever the fuck they feel like in the moment to with being authentic. These are different.

52:35.42

Max Shank

Yeah, right.

52:46.64

Max Shank

It's it's about like ah you don't want to give a damn about too many things you want to selectively care about certain things. More than others and and you have to like you have to put yourself First. Ah and I don't know anyone who doesn't put their family before some stranger and it's good to you know? Love this whole world. And all the living creatures in it I mean I still eat a lot of the living creatures in it and they're delicious. But I don't value the life of a cow that I'm going to eat the same as I value my own life and you can't so you can't um thrive while putting yourself last. So. It's not to care about nothing. It's not to like give no fucks. Ah, it's really about being selective with what you do give your attention and energy into and anytime that you're giving to something that isn't a net positive for both parties. That's a huge. Ah, cost that you're making because there is always an opportunity for an engagement or a transaction or a connection where it's mutually beneficial and that's why profit is so fantastic. You know profit gets such a a bad rap because some people go about it in a destructive way. But there's nothing better than a voluntary transaction where both people are happier afterward and the same thing is true energetically conversationally monetarily whatever.

54:28.44

mikebledsoe

Beautiful, Well said so going back to borrowed dreams I think we've covered.

54:33.90

Max Shank

Just give up your dreams right now just give up your dreams no dreams, no dreams.

54:39.77

mikebledsoe

But it's a good thing. Well I think where we got if I you know begin to summarize this is we talk about start the conversation with people including ourselves set a lot of dreams and goals that really aren't our dreams in the first place and we ended on. Authenticity and wounding and and that's really what it takes to be able to set your own dreams and have your own goals is you really have to go and and look at where you're still a child where your ah. Being inauthentic where you have wounding that's expressing itself itself instead of yourself as love and if you can look at that and you're setting goals not out of insecurity but out of ah out of true desire and. And for me I can feel it in my chest I feel more open I feel expanded when it's something that I truly desire that it's gonna be fulfilling for me and it it I definitely I feel very much in my head when I'm setting goals to end up being for other people. So yeah i.

55:47.74

Max Shank

The.

55:51.70

mikebledsoe

Hope this is helpful. Those conversations help people move to a place where they're living their life in better alignment final thoughts for you that I was about to call you Zach I don't even know what Zach. Yeah.

56:00.93

Max Shank

Ah, lessac I'll get I'll be ah, Zach Morris from saved by the bell now. Ah, here's what I would say first focus on being turn off everything close your eyes. Sit quietly lay down quietly doesn't matter and just get comfortable with that and if you can't be happy and enjoy doing nothing I promise you you're not going to find some achievement that provides a more lasting joy and flow than that. So start with being then look at what you enjoy doing what you enjoy doing so much that it puts you directly into a flow state what you enjoy doing so much that you don't look at the clock you forget to eat think about what activity what? verb. Makes you really come alive. Ideally, you want to find where that intersects with something that people find valuable. So it's being doing and then giving and if you can. Take a little time in each of those stages. It'll be really obvious what type of dream or vision. You can come to and it doesn't suit you to compare too much to what other people are doing because. Really it just matters if you can deliver value to anybody and kind of rethink you know ask why apply the 5 y's to what that goal is after you decide what feels good to just being get comfortable with being. Not just get comfortable but enjoy just being with no distractions find what you enjoy doing and then think about what you would really like to give and on that last point if you're not sure just help out your former self. If. You're not sure who you want to help or how you want to help them just think back to a year ago two years ago five years ago ten years ago to someone just like you who's not quite as far along the path and I think that will at least lead you to something that is um. Comfortable Congruent. It'll be easy to communicate with that person because they are former you and yeah, that's that's how I would like to sum up my thoughts on that.

58:42.80

mikebledsoe

Beautiful I think any especially the coaches out there listening to this that there's That's the best advice I've heard on how to set your goals. So thanks for sharing that wisdom max. Let's wrap this up where are they gonna find you.

58:55.84

Max Shank

Oh I am impossible to find ah you can find me at http://maxshank.com or at ma shank where can they find you.

59:08.91

mikebledsoe

I'm just gonna I'm just gonna post your your home address at some point and then ah.

59:12.17

Max Shank

You don't know where I live.

59:16.72

mikebledsoe

Um, ah you can find me on Instagram at Mike Underscore Bloodso and you can check out the http://bloodsohow.com for some other shows I've been working on and http://thesstrongcoach.com for the coaches out there that want to go go be better coaches I don't know what the fuck you know he people should just go check it out. I enjoyed it later.

59:43.76

Max Shank

Sweet. Yeah, awesome dude. Well everybody follow your dreams make sure they're yours see you next time.

Feb 21, 2022

00:00.00

Max Shank

Welcome back everybody to Monday mornings with max and Mike it is our 6 month anniversary this is our twenty sixth episode I'm frankly impressed that we have been so consistent because both Mike and myself. Really like our freedom and so this consistent appointment that we have on Mondays has been kind of an anchor for both of our thinking and we've shared a lot of interesting ideas gotten a lot of good feedback and we're gonna. Use this episode to talk about what's going on with us. What's going on with the world and what you should do about it. So Mike thanks for joining me once again, excited as always.

00:52.99

mikebledsoe

Ah I'm excited about today because we're gonna talk about current events and we don't do that normally up to this point we've been really good at keeping it a non noncurrent event not talking about what's happening in the world because. Ah, it can be ah, a sketchy thing to talk about that's not we don't want to avoid it because it's sketchy if you've been listening to show so far. We definitely cover some stuff that might be controversial for a lot of people. But when you get into? Yeah yeah, but.

01:24.95

Max Shank

It's clear which side our bread is buttered on. Let's just say that.

01:29.56

mikebledsoe

When you get into current events. It's um, it's easy to step in it. You know, but we're gonna We're gonna give it a shot anyway and that the things that are going on in the world right now that um, um.

01:39.43

Max Shank

Way way way wait wait before we go before we get into that. Let me just say the healthiest thing you can do is focus on how you can embody the values you believe in and deliver value. And pretty much ignore what's happening on a macro scale for the most part that is the healthiest thing you can do caveat over. Yeah I mean you shouldn't It's ah it's interesting because if you are.

02:05.79

mikebledsoe

Well now I feel like we shouldn't do the show. Ah.

02:16.84

Max Shank

Investing you want to try to ignore the news as much as possible if you are a professional you want to try to ignore the news as much as possible but there are certain realities that you have to be aware of like let me ask you a question if you lived in Canada would you have. Moved out of Canada I probably would have maybe not I don't know.

02:38.61

mikebledsoe

I have I have several friends that left I have a few more trying to figure out how to get out I mean it's um I'm listening to ah Ray Dalio's new book right now the changing world order and ah, it's.

02:52.85

Max Shank

Earth.

02:58.59

mikebledsoe

Really what I really like about books like that um is they he he takes like a 2000 year view same thing with the sovereign individual. It's really good to look at super macro over time cycles and things like that because. It definitely makes what's happening right? now seem not such a big deal like it's it's like okay this is this is really It feels very important because it's happening right now but in the grand scheme of things. It's not important Ray Dalio is somebody who's made a lot of money built a lot of wealth over.

03:22.44

Max Shank

The.

03:37.90

mikebledsoe

Over his lifetime and the the guys that do that tend to be pretty apolitical I find they they don't really take a side they because they're so zoomed out they can basically they're not getting caught up in all of the the bullshit and so he. He really he's looking at the chinese since the six hundreds he's looking at ah you know the the the dutch the british and the american currencies because they were the dutch had the first reserve currency. The British Pound was the second the american dollar was a third and when you start looking at ah at things from that that more macro perspective and realizing that that as a society we will tend to the pendulum swings from a much more. Leftist political view to a right political view and the pendulum swings pretty hard and every time the pendulum swings there is there are winners and there are losers and it's yeah.

04:48.94

Max Shank

It's like we're fish tailing out of control back and forth overcorrection Overcorrection overcorrection.

04:54.57

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and there's winners and losers along the way. But if you can see the big cycles and not be so emotionally charged by it and get caught up in it which I've watched a lot of my friends I've actually been surprised by a lot of my friends who get in the last couple years when. Super left or they went super right? and I'm just like I'm like Wow I Really thought that you had a ah larger perspective on what's going on. So um, yeah I'm glad we're We're talking about this first because I do encourage everybody.

05:13.99

Max Shank

Ah.

05:31.30

mikebledsoe

That book by Ray Dahlia is really good. The sovereign individual is really good. The fourth turning that book talks about 100 year cycles and there's 4 generations in every hundred year cycle and what's typical and and that one's specific to America. What's typical um, is like when you read that and you look at what's happening right? now you go oh you can pretty much predict. What's going to happen next and some of these books have done this really well books that were written twenty years ago like the sovereign individual pretty much predicted everything that was going to happen in between two thousand and Twenty Twenty five

06:08.74

Max Shank

Five hundred year delta is another interesting one I don't know if you've read that one. It's ah it's even older and you read it now and you're just like whoa like they were they they knew exactly what was in the pipeline and the reason.

06:09.35

mikebledsoe

And this. I Haven't read that one.

06:20.65

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

06:28.65

Max Shank

Um, you can't just perfectly predict the future because you would just you know invest in the company that's going to win ah some of those things are unknowable like the general trend is maybe knowable but you can't pick the timing or the specifics. That's what otherwise they would all be.

06:43.51

mikebledsoe

Yeah I heard a good quote.

06:48.32

Max Shank

You know multi- multibillionaire trillionaires.

06:50.50

mikebledsoe

Yeah I'm ah I'm in this access I'm in this crypto trading group and ah, you know when the market when when bitcoin and a lot of other cryptos took a noseive the last couple months you know a lot of people were freaking out and. Someone came in and said remember time in beats timing time in the market beats timing the market every time and that's another reason it's good to take a macro view because if you look at economics at ah at a.

07:13.85

Max Shank

Right.

07:26.63

mikebledsoe

You know and hundred year cycles and things like that then you may not be able to pick the specific company. That's gonna win but you can kind of see you can kind of predict about what's gonna happen with the currency and and this and that and so I'm a big believer in. Ah. You know and and reading Warren Buffett and things like that these guys are it's not about picking that one company. Yeah you diversify and you you may catch a really good one or or several good ones. But you know, just just be investing in the things that are working right now is a good idea.

08:00.39

Max Shank

And before you do any of that you focus on investing in yourself like just to kind of bring us back to the practical like what do you do about it. First thing you should do is completely ignore the news. Or ah like passive investing until you have built value yourself that you can deliver on a consistent basis because there's nowhere that you can get a better return than building skills including the skill of delivering those skills. At a profit you shouldn't even mess around with trying to stay up with current events or politics and rhetoric or trading currencies until you have built that value building skill.

08:50.98

mikebledsoe

Yeah I really like that and it makes me think about you know hunt was a maybe one hundred hundred and fifty years ago the the people that the only people that had a vote at 1 point in America was people who own land and so ah.

09:04.61

Max Shank

Landowners. Which kind of makes sense.

09:09.54

mikebledsoe

They they were established they had they actually had skin in the game they they were like like likely value producing people in society and so if you think about who's gonna make the best decisions. It's probably gonna be them. Now the argument against that is they're gonna make decisions that are are best for their own good and and you know these other people aren't being represented and and what um the difference in that situation versus what we have now is right Now. It's one of those arguments of everyone needs to be represented and.

09:29.83

Max Shank

Wasn't that.

09:46.64

Max Shank

Ah.

09:49.11

mikebledsoe

And that's more important than making good decisions and and and I get you know if we if if it was always the landowners that got to make the decisions then you know the the possibility of people feeling like they have a voice.

09:51.31

Max Shank

Well.

10:07.76

mikebledsoe

And being able to gain land might be difficult but it also might really encourage people to buy land which would overall be a good thing because that increases personal responsibility and all sorts of things.

10:17.99

Max Shank

Yeah I mean look how parenting works my house my rules but I think in a company. It's the same thing my company my rules the the difference with voting and why democracy is like mob. Democracy is basically just mob rule and I think it's crazy that we have a popularity contest to see which sociopath gets to wield a gargantuan stick ah like it. It makes no sense if you can convince like 51% of the voters.

10:45.25

mikebledsoe

I.

10:55.16

Max Shank

To say that you're the best you suddenly have this crazy power and that's when you get imbalanced transactions like these companies would not be able to do outlander stuff without the help of lobbying so without the help of the stick. You know, enforcing things with a monopoly of violence. That's why every time you are a participant in a profitable transaction. You are actually creating wealth for both sides and that's why I come back to this idea of the pie makers and the pie slicers and the pie slicers just want to. They think it's a 0 sum game where there's one pie and if they get sharper and sharper knives they can slice it into tinier and tinier pieces. But they've never actually created any value in your life which is why I have like total disdain for politicians because it's like dude, why don't you lend a hand instead of carving up. And creating this victim mentality. It's ridiculous so making yeah right I mean making sense of things I think is valuable um, trying to make sense of what's going on but don't think for a second.

11:55.24

mikebledsoe

Yeah, but that works that works in the popularity contest.

12:11.17

Max Shank

Um, that the way our society is structured from a political standpoint or a policing standpoint makes any sense at all like don't expect it to be reasonable because it's not reasonable and there are literally hundreds of examples. The the law is too complex for any 1 person to understand the tax code is too complex for any 1 person to understand they have mountains of paper and bills and laws going through the hands of these politicians who are crooks. And they don't even read the fucking things and you have people in jail for smoking grass and you and I are paying to like house that drug user for no reason at all um public school same thing I mean we could go on and on and on but the first but the first thing you have to do is stop. Vexing it to be rational or reasonable because it's not and that's how you can avoid getting caught up in the tribalism because you'll be like you guys are stupid like the only thing that actually makes sense is to. Wipe your own ass and then help out somebody else and the only way you can do that is by having a set of values and creating and delivering value. Everything else is like pretty much mental masturbation unless you actually do want to become one of those people who. Speaks out to try to like move political action. Um, and you know there's a lot of cost to doing something like that.

13:54.57

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

14:00.28

mikebledsoe

Um, the good I You know when when I start talking to people about politics or what's going on in the world right now. Um.

14:00.69

Max Shank

Got me all riled up actually I don't need any help getting riled up to I.

14:16.49

mikebledsoe

I find that I hold ah a fairly unique perspective because I tend I try not to look at what should happen and what should not happen I look at what is happening and I think a lot of times people get a little mixed up and like they. They go oh wow, it sounds like you're an anarchist and and I go well it could sound like that because that's what we live in. We're not that's it's just what is it's not ah and it's and it's becoming more anarchist over time. And what I mean by that is when I think about the word anarchy it just means without a ruler. It doesn't mean without rules and so an anarchist is somebody who takes a hundred percent personal responsibility and is is ready to. Create their own rules for their life and live by their own standards and the the way I see things going is everything's decentralizing so I remember ah had a friend make a post while back where it was like you know, maybe censorship is good. Maybe we shouldn't. You know it's probably a good thing that people aren't telling you how to build a nuclear bomb on Youtube you know that gap ban you know that kind of shit censored so like where do we draw the line and I go I posted and didn't get a response like I got a response the first time and then we start going back and forth and then just stop is. Ah, go. It's not about what should be done or what should be censored. The truth is in the future. Nothing will be censored. So what we got to do is we got to figure out how that works how do we make the world work in a place in a time and place. When due to blockchain technology. All information is actually accessible to everybody all the time. How do you manage that? That's a different thing and so ah because once something. So. Some of this blockchain technology if someone wanted to create a Youtube that worked off a blockchain they could set it up to where it could never be taken down. You'd have to shut down the entire internet over in the entire world to take that shit down and that's where we're going and so I look at that and I go the our job. Is to teach personal responsibility teach people. How to do that because the the people that don't take personal responsibility and they're waiting for someone to rescue them and who are dependent on others they're gonna be the ones left out in the cold first they're gonna get hit the hardest the people who.

16:59.18

mikebledsoe

Already take personal responsibility want to create value in the world. They're gonna be fine. So for me, it's not about oh everything should be more libertarian more every this and that it's like no, it's just where it's going and if you want to try to argue against that. It's gonna suck for you because you're spending your time trying to. Manipulate things you're trying to manipulate this entire like billions of people all coming together and and it's a it's a fucking tidal wave that you're not going to just be able to push against and stop might as well just learn how to ride that thing.

17:33.81

Max Shank

Yeah I think there's so much wisdom in seeing the world for how it is instead of how you want it to be I think that when it comes to political action or or even like.

17:42.20

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

17:52.86

Max Shank

You know, convincing scientists. It might have been buckminster. It's like you don't you don't fight um, against something you obsolete it meaning you make a technology that's better so like fighting against something you're just going to create.

18:00.68

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

18:09.33

Max Shank

Ah there's going to be an equal and opposite force. So the more you fight the more they fight you back the more you fight the more they fight you back and that's how we have this like huge chasm in the middle because people are seeing a different Tv show basically and I think that's one of the reasons that people are so divided is. Back in the day there was propaganda. There's propaganda today there was propaganda since the dawn of time like all talking is some sort of propaganda. Basically it's just some of it is ah pretty benevolent but back in the day sound like an old guy back in the day we would. Ah. We would at least watch the same propaganda like we'd sit around the Tv and um, watch the same thing now people are choosing their own echo chamber and not only that they're having an algorithm choose their own echo chamber by.

18:48.89

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

19:06.20

Max Shank

Not what they will like the best but what will get them to ah what will be the most provocative to them what will get them to engage and fear is more ah urgent than Love. Sadly speaking I mean it makes sense from a survival standpoint. It's ah you know safety is the main thing. So yeah, yeah, you're you're done.

19:29.18

mikebledsoe

Yeah, if you don't have that you can't do other shit if you feel like that's about to be taken away. You've got to take action right now. It's an emergency.

19:38.96

Max Shank

Right? It's an emergency Well emergency Powers is how we got into this whole mess. Um, you know there's still. There's still no way to know if doing nothing would have been better than doing something and that's.

19:46.40

mikebledsoe

I.

19:58.16

Max Shank

That's like almost always the case for like political action. Something needs to be done. It's the same as the fucking busybodies in the h o as right some ladies like oh you got ah your hedges are three centimeters too tall and I'm gonna report you to the it's like fuck you. Like don't you have a life so to me, it's the difference between a villain and and and a hero because a hero will be like I have set you free and the villain will be like. I have freed you by offering this new life where you do what the fuck I say and that's the core difference is confidence. This is what is best for me arrogance I know what's best for you and possibly everybody else and that's where it gets very very dark because. Heroes and villains alike believe that they are heroes The only difference is the villain feels justified in coercion which is forcing people into a certain situation. That's the only difference and if you can focus on that it'll be clear the path forward. But um, you know Thanos is probably 1 of the best villains because he was very indiscriminate. You know a lot of villains. They single out a certain population. He's like no no, no just half of you.

21:26.21

mikebledsoe

Ah, tell me me more about Thanos I don't know what you're talking about who's Thanos.

21:31.25

Max Shank

His way of saving the universe and restoring balance to the universe. He's like some fucking Marvel character I'm not a huge comic book nerd. But he's an avengers. He's the like. Oh definitely I don't know. Ah I'm sure.

21:36.71

mikebledsoe

Ah, okay I was like I was like is there some some like Greek god I don't know about I know some of those Marvel characters are based off of you know Nordic gods and almost hit.

21:50.77

Max Shank

Oh well, you know of course all the news stories are perfectly unique and there was never anything related to you know, Gilgamesh and heroes he his his solution was to just go everywhere and kill half the people which was like very.

21:55.85

mikebledsoe

I I tell us about Anos.

22:07.34

Max Shank

Ah, objective he wasn't playing Favorites. He was just saying too many mouths not enough to go around whatever he was. He was like a hedge trimmer for the ah universal population and it's it's villainous because he's appointed himself the decider. For everyone else, but it was very um, impersonal to just choose half the people. Um, so as that relates to what's going on right now is there are a lot of people who think they know best for everyone else and. In order to stay Objective. You have to be able to argue both of the extremes and you have to have some compassion for people who think the opposite of you and the only way to do that is try to argue for. Their story and it's all it's all rhetoric like everything is kind of paradoxical. You know the more you dig down into rhetoric more more you realize like it's either forced or it's not forced and that's kind of that's the line enforced by the stick.

23:17.10

mikebledsoe

Yeah, there's a the the technique of a steel man argument is that you build the other side up before you present your side is if you can make them feel heard and understood. They can listen to you so people tend to.

23:20.72

Max Shank

Not enforced by the stick.

23:26.60

Max Shank

Ah.

23:34.70

mikebledsoe

They don't feel like they've been heard and understood then they just keep usually just keep talking. But if you can make them feel heard understood then they'll listen and so there's I mean that's so true in marketing and sales right? that's.

23:43.31

Max Shank

Oh. I wasn't even talking about how to have a conversation with them I was just talking about how to have like um you know mental peace for yourself and and not and not assume the people who believe differently than you are evil which I I have definitely been. In that situation before I'm like how can these people justify coercing other people. They must be like maniacs and the truth is like you have to be able to understand it from both sides like the whole like abortion seems crazy to me Like. Think as long as the baby is inside the woman's vagina she should be able to kill it if she wants to um, but I understand exactly why someone would believe the exact opposite of that you know what I mean I Totally understand why.

24:36.28

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

24:42.76

Max Shank

If someone is in an echo Chamber where they're getting mainlined fear that they would think forcing people to get an injection is the only way that we can all be safe I can totally understand why someone would believe that but when rhetoric is driving policy. Um, man. That's a problem. There should be some absolute truisms about coercion and non-coercion and and that's why I think the whole thing is such a crocoette basically because all of the language that we use to guide the jurisdiction and the authority of the stickholder. Is too complicated to understand it needs to be much more simple, much more clear and you're you're not going to solve it by by fighting against it directly until there's ah, a literal you know revolution of some kind where you just you know wield that power of no. To draw your boundaries and the same thing's true with any relationship you know, drawing boundaries versus being open are two critical skills and if you lack one you're going To. You're going to have a bad Time. Basically.

25:55.67

mikebledsoe

Yeah I find when I get in conversations with people that if if they hold this one view then um, I'm not going to really like like we have to talk about this 1 thing because everything. Everything seems a stem off of this 1 thing when it comes to politics and that is there's 2 there's 2 types of people in the world. You have 1 type of person who believes that people the general public people in general are too stupid to make their own decisions and they have to be taken care of.

26:31.69

Max Shank

Yep.

26:33.86

mikebledsoe

They need to be parented there. They're too stupid to to take care of themselves and they might hurt other people because they're too stupid and so that's that's a large part. That's most people that's anyone who's trying to write and this exactly.

26:40.79

Max Shank

Because no one thinks they're the stupid one. It's always for those other stupid people.

26:52.62

mikebledsoe

And this happens on the left and the right on the left people are too stupid to you know you know they're they're completely unsafe and you know the example of like are too stupid so they need to be told to wear masks outside even though we all know that's dumb as shit. But basically I had somebody on the left that was.

27:08.36

Max Shank

How dare you.

27:12.11

mikebledsoe

Had someone on the left I was talking to and they were and you know she's a doctor she goes will you know that we we have to tell them to wear it outside so they'll wear it inside too and because if they think they can if if we start changing up when they can take it where and not wear. It. They just might not wear it and I'm going. Oh you're one of the people who believe that people are too stupid um to to you can't give them complicated. You know, complex directions like where it inside but not outside and so and and the thing is is I couldn't talk to her about anything else. Until she could see that there's a possibility that people actually can learn. They can obtain wisdom and so but I would say I find myself on a side that that people are very capable of taking care of themselves except. And the reason that there's a lot of evidence to the contrary is because people have been robbed of wisdom for so long that we do have a bunch of stupid people and because they haven't been allowed to make any mistakes we've we've nerfed the world we've made the world so safe people actually I watch people cross the street in downtown Austin with their phone in their face because they just of course someone's gonna stop I'm in the crosswalk I'm like you have this is you have ah you're you're being a fool and. The problem is is that people have been made to feel so safe and they haven't been allowed to make mistakes they've been allowed to make mistakes but they they don't have to pay for them and so ah, I'm on the side of everybody hat is capable and and definitely people are different different intellectual levels. No doubt about it. Some people are. Born smarter than other people. Some people are built stronger than other people. So that's just how it is but generally speaking everybody has the opportunity to obtain wisdom and the only way you can obtain wisdom is through experience and making mistakes and. Feeling the pain of those mistakes and so I I sit on the side of the world would be a lot better place if we just let people get hurt if we just and and it and it could and if we were to transition from this everything has to be super safe to this. It might be a little harsh in the beginning I totally get that and making a fast switch might be really difficult but I do think that we do tend to swing between these 2 extremes one is people are too stupid to decide for themselves and on the other side is is radical, um, ah, personal responsibility.

30:05.82

mikebledsoe

And so those who have learned radical personal responsibility tend to be very wise and make good decisions. But I think that the people who have done that for for whatever reason have have put themselves out there and put themselves have have felt the pain of making mistakes. Ah, a really good example of this is drug use in San Francisco they they give you a safe place to shoot up your heroin or whatever it is that you want to do and it and it's like okay that's a very compassionate thing to do like okay, we're gonna give them. Safe needles and and yada yadda yadda. But then you have just an entire population of people shooting up on the street and are are you you may be saving that person's life. But how many more people are you just gonna be junkies for the rest of their life. You know. The the repercussions are they gonna come quickly or are they gonna be drawn out over a long period of time and the longer it takes for you to feel the pain of your mistake the less likely you are to to obtain the wisdom for it if I make a mistake and then five years later feel the pain of that mistake. I am way less likely to link the 2 and gain that wisdom. But if I can feel that pain of my mistake immediately say I get on the street. No one gives no one's giving me any money I'm out there painhandling I'm shooting up I'm having a hard time finding needles like think I'm gonna hit rock bottom a lot faster.

31:35.13

Max Shank

Oh.

31:40.13

mikebledsoe

And one of the things I like to share with people as I coach them is don't don't the the thing that can harm people the most is trying to save them from their apocalypse and because people do need to hit a rock bottom and people's rock. Bottoms are different.

31:42.27

Max Shank

You were a heroin addict I knew it.

31:58.17

Max Shank

But that's what politicians do That's how they that's how they keep you sucking on their teat is they let they keep you bouncing right? at the bottom so that you always need them. No, it's true I mean you create ah an imbalanced relationship where there's.

31:59.73

mikebledsoe

My rock bottom.

32:08.88

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah.

32:16.50

Max Shank

You who are the one who has and they who are the one who needs right? and just like you I think if you are free to reap the rewards or suffer the consequences. The result is always going to be better for everybody because then you will incentivize. Pie Makers essentially and you know getting back to one of my core values. It's incentives people respond to Incentives. You know if you if you make ah you know ah a free heroin house I don't know exactly how it's Working. You're going to attract.

32:38.77

mikebledsoe

We're here.

32:54.82

mikebledsoe

Um, well they have to have reb Rehab Centers some are dirty and some are clean.

32:55.65

Max Shank

Anyone anyone who wants to do heroin from all the areas and look frankly frankly I don't I think we should make heroin Legal I mean people are addicted to opiates hardcore. But that's okay so we really cherry pick. What the like bad things are and what the good things are alcohol cigarettes Fine Psilocybin Illegal Marijuana illegal like whoa whoa Whoa Huh and like I can I can become like ah I can I can eat fritos until I'm £400.

33:25.24

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

33:33.83

Max Shank

Ah, but and that's okay like I mean it's just we we cherry pick. Yeah I mean look ah isn't that a good way to stay. Ah, healthier is to do drugs instead of overeat I would agree I think you're way better off being like a thin guy.

33:33.90

mikebledsoe

But I can't smoke opium come on.

33:43.50

mikebledsoe

I Think so I I'll blame. Ah.

33:52.65

Max Shank

Doing Ah I mean it depends on the drug like I don't think ah I mean I don't think I'm not saying like a crack whore will live longer than an obese guy but it's possible though. Yeah, the drug episode really covers all that.

33:54.79

mikebledsoe

It does depend on the drug I. Go back and listen to our its drugs app our drugs Za go listen to our drugs episode that that that's all get.

34:12.80

Max Shank

Um, but yeah, it's just ah, the arrogance to think that you know best for everybody else and that whole idea of mob rule like majority rules and you know is it is it really a good idea to let 51% of the population rape the other 49 Just because they voted that they should be able to I mean it's just absurd. That's why it's so important to like create the life you want within the framework and create the incentives and consequences that you want like you know do a little jaywalking just look around if anyone's gonna see you and give you a ticket like.

34:32.88

mikebledsoe

Well, it's funny because the.

34:49.15

Max Shank

You know there's just the fundamental realities. But but don't buy in to the idea that it's good.

34:55.34

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well the the United States was set up to be a republic not a democracy and it's a really interesting like to avoid to the mob rule. It was totally set up to avoid mob rule and because the founding fathers. They.

35:01.17

Max Shank

Right.

35:13.55

mikebledsoe

Knew that that was a bad idea. They saw how that that was not going to work and the greeks were the first ones to put a Republic in place and that worked until it didn't but the the I What what I find interesting is looking at current events is when people go. Ah, Democracy isn't working. You know it's broken and these politicians say it I'm like no man. Well a it's not a democracy.. It's a Republic and and they're upset because say one side won the majority of an election in the last cycle. And then they're complaining that they don't get to have their way the whole time and it's like yeah, the whole system was set up that you can't just do whatever the fuck you want the 40 the 51 can't abuse the 49 although that does Happen. It's just slower. It's you don't it actually helps to minimize the political swings. Although with technology right now I think that's that's some of the way things are set up right now or not working so well because due to tech information is flowing so fast there there're they's probably yeah.

36:17.73

Max Shank

When there are gatekeepers to that information. Also now they have built this I think those are the 2 things that we're basically circling around today is who's controlling the flow of information and who's controlling the flow of. The use of force and maybe also as a third who's controlling the money but that's kind of ah they go hand in hand you know the the the government. What's that oh yeah, yeah, sometimes it gets a much better result.

36:43.80

mikebledsoe

Well do you do you use Google do do you use Google I every chart sometimes I I use I use all of them and I find.

36:55.59

Max Shank

Then like duck duck go and brave. Different result.

37:02.17

mikebledsoe

The top 10 top ten twenty results on Google is so homogenous. It's is and I have a hard time finding good information. It's very watered down. It's very dumb down. It's not. It's hard to find a good essay through a Google search. It's.

37:18.15

Max Shank

Well searching is a skill that you develop you learn like what Keywords to use You don't just search for the main idea you search for some sub ideas so you can find it.

37:28.80

mikebledsoe

Well last night I was last night I was doing a lot of searching through Google and having a very hard time getting depth around a certain topic I had to go to a different search engine and and so I'm just talking about the the control of information whether it's good or bad. Everyone.

37:34.29

Max Shank

Yeah.

37:44.83

Max Shank

That part doesn't matter. It's like who will well who will watch the watchers I think is 1984 and now we're in 2022 and it's who will fact, check the fact checkers and it's.

37:48.17

mikebledsoe

99% of the people are using Google and they're deciding what you get to think about.

38:03.49

Max Shank

It's so funny How the rhetoric just goes back and forth back and forth is like well it's private company. Ah free speech this free speech that and you know the the nuance of what's the difference between a platform and a publisher and you know free speech.. There's a reason that it's the first. The amendments you can say what you want you can meet up how you want ah and the second one is firearms and basically it's not Firearms. Specifically, it's just they have you have the right to be able to defend yourself with deadly force regardless of what the implement is like you can you know.

38:37.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

38:42.42

Max Shank

Should be able to own a fucking Rocket Launcher. You know the reality is everybody has a car and they don't drive through crowds all the time. In fact, it's pretty rare. So I think those are the key points is. Back to our you can go visit our censorship episode to see what we really think about that because ah, you're not going to see people who are pro censorship on the good on the right side of History. It's just not going to happen.

39:02.62

mikebledsoe

Um, well, what do you think. Now. Yeah, that's a common meme going around right now like yeah I don't remember the last time there was a pro censorship movement that ended. Well yeah, what do you think about Youtube I mean Youtube is a.

39:15.10

Max Shank

Yeah I mean it's always for your own good. It's always for your own good. Yeah.

39:24.46

mikebledsoe

Youtube is its own company Instagram Facebook these that they're I mean they're publicly held companies but they are. You know we go back to say like natural law then in my in my opinion they should be able to do whatever they want. And it it gets a little sketchy because are they classified and when when you get into the like legal legal you know, ah outside of natural law There's an argument that they're a utility company at this point and once they're utility. They're a public utility company. Now there now they fall under things like the first amendment and it's and that's the argument for it and you know there's there's other plot I'm a um, a so what do you think about that I'm just curious.

40:21.80

Max Shank

I'm certain that the the guys with the big stick Cia Fbi whatever are in close contact with those gatekeepers because Twitter is a gate Youtube's a gate Instagram Facebook is a gate. Um, when you control the flow of information like that I don't think um I don't think it's originating only within that company. Um, when I when I have watched when I have watched what's going on with. Ah.

40:50.87

mikebledsoe

That's true.

40:57.28

Max Shank

Like they do the the little dog and pony show with the the Ceo of the ah the ceos of these companies with the most retarded congressman they can find and senators who don't understand computers trying to get like a sound bite and rake them over the coals. How dare you.

41:16.19

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah.

41:16.53

Max Shank

So And so customer information our privacy and I'm look I don't know anything I'm dumb too. But the people that they send out to like slap these guys on the wrist is the most ridiculous dog and pony show with the most uninformed ignorant politicians. You can even imagine like if you were one of those ceos you would just have to be laughing to yourself like are you kidding me, it looks. It's It's ridiculous. It has dude that is not what's happening that is not their communication that is a show so they can get a soundb bite and be like.

41:38.25

mikebledsoe

Um, well sometimes sometimes I wonder if if.

41:55.19

Max Shank

Oh so and so senator slams Zuckerberg in a fucking congressional http://smackdownwwewwe and it's like that's not what's going on. That's they they did this dog and pony show so they could have these sound bites to show you. But like you don't think that they're being hardcore flexed on by you know, ah the government the stickholders to like do what they say like I would be shocked if that was really how the information was going.

42:25.80

mikebledsoe

Well I I also think that you know I look at say Zuckerberg going in front of congress. Whatever I i. I don't believe either way but I definitely play around with different scenarios in which case he's actually in charge of the whole show and he needs to it's a Pr move for for this to happen so people will still like like got oh we need. Facebook wants the censor so they need the government to come in and make them look like they've been fucking up their ability to censor and it's hurting the american public and so to me I go I look at that and I go maybe maybe yeah, it's a check like.

43:12.77

Max Shank

It's like a chess game. You think they're they're going back and forth.

43:16.73

mikebledsoe

The entire public's getting riled up and then Zuckerberg goes home and he goes like oh those's a bunch of idiots they fell for the whole thing and now we really get to do what we want to do so yeah, even better engagement I got a lot of free Pr you know? Yeah yeah, and so it's ah.

43:20.30

Max Shank

Yeah, right, even better engagement more more advertising. Yeah, exactly.

43:35.70

mikebledsoe

I really I've moved to the opinion that that big tech is the 1 wagging the dog these days and so it's.

43:43.40

Max Shank

Interesting. But you don't think that like they could just totally blow up their whole operation and you know say hey you are a monopoly we need to split you up or we're going to nationalize it.

43:56.74

mikebledsoe

I I think these guys have too much money we have too much money. Bezos thing about Bezos this dude is destroying a bridge to have his yacht delivered. They're gonna destroy a bridge deliver his yacht and then rebuild it. Ah if Bezos decided he's got some.

43:58.55

Max Shank

I Mean you would you would imagine like there's so much power there Huh maybe? yeah du. I mean I'm pretty sure like all of these people we're talking about could have someone murdered and not be found out like that. No what like.

44:16.47

mikebledsoe

Let it go swing. Pretty sure they probably have like I'd be I'd be so right? I'd be surprised I'd be surprised if it wasn't the case. But um.

44:30.40

Max Shank

The whole. That's why the word conspiracy like irks me so much because it just means people meeting in secret that happens all the time people are always meeting in secret to try to better their situation. Um, you know Jfk M L K if you have a 3 letter.

44:36.52

mikebledsoe

All the time. Yeah.

44:49.54

Max Shank

Ah, initials with a K at the end you're you're probably going to be murdered, especially especially if you if you are saying we should ah just all love each other and get along they fucking hate that that's like the worst thing.

44:52.74

mikebledsoe

Yeah RFK now

45:05.36

Max Shank

Like the worst thing you can say is like hey guys can't we all just get along and you know not bomb each other and crucified that guy literally.

45:07.90

mikebledsoe

Pretty sure that's what ah what? Jesus did and they they ah murdered him. Yeah, yeah, okay I want to I want to cover I want to rewind a little bit and go back to what is happening and ah. I get a little giddy at times because I think for those of us who are you know have the ability to be self-sustaining and are are really into personal responsibility when ah when you look at what's going on. It's it's a bit of a meltdown. And so a really good example of this is the truckers up in Canada these these truckers up in Canada there's just ah, an example of the way things are going no matter what you think should be happening or should not be happening.

45:49.11

Max Shank

We'll just print more money. It'll be fine.

46:02.37

mikebledsoe

And these truckers in Canada are out there protesting you know the mandates and all this the way the media is presenting. It is very different than.

46:10.52

Max Shank

I heard it was I heard it was just a couple of guys who are racists I heard it was just a couple of racists and I'm pretty sure a few of them fuck kids that's isn't that isn't that the story. All my all.

46:15.54

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah, yeah, well yeah, that's how it goes Well it.

46:27.43

Max Shank

All my opponents are racist pedophiles I Just want to put that on record anyone who opposes me.

46:29.28

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well I just I wanna I wanna point this out is is it's the way it's being covered like I know people that are up there and you know what's being reported like boots on the ground versus what's being reported on the news. Very very different I think that. I think the same thing was happening with black lives matter. You know there there was there was what was presented and what was not presented I went to Oakland I went downtown Oakland three days after they were burning cars in the middle of the street. Ah because I had I just want I was in the area and I wanted to see it. My girlfriend thought I was crazy.

47:06.46

Max Shank

I get it.

47:07.46

mikebledsoe

Ah, but I I want I was curious man and so um I went up there and actually did an interview with a friend who lives in the building where the outside was just fucking completely boarded up and and had been spray painted and um. You know the way that that was presented versus the way that my friend who lived in the middle of the whole thing talked about it was different and then we look at what's happening up in Canada and ah, what's it called. They're called a something provocateurs it and I just want to bring this.

47:31.29

Max Shank

Ah.

47:43.11

mikebledsoe

As a possibility to people so they don't get too caught up in the bullshit is the majority of people in a protest are probably peaceful. They're generally whatever, pretty peaceful and then you yeah, a lot of dead people and then.

47:54.91

Max Shank

Um, if they weren't You'd have a lot of dead people a lot of destroyed property.

48:02.64

mikebledsoe

And then what you have is you have a few people out there doing crazy shit are they are they on on their own a court are they are they cia are they are they going in there. There's evidence of like the Fbi having somebody encouraging poor behavior. Because now it gives the government an excuse to to lock down more on on this situation I don't know about Yeah yeah, false flag? Yeah well what What's interesting is.

48:25.60

Max Shank

It's like a gulf of tonkin kind of thing the false flag I think it's false flag for Vietnam like just not real basically and I always thought about that too like if you are a blue t-shirt guy. The best thing you can do. Is put on a red t-shirt and act like an asshole and vice versa like it's that's what's more effective than that.

48:43.17

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, well a lot of times people people don't want to believe that's what's happening right now even though it's been happening all throughout history the ah like American media will talk about. Oh.

48:54.34

Max Shank

Right.

48:59.85

mikebledsoe

Like they're talking about it happening with Russia and the Ukraine right now they're like oh Russia is pulling a false flag so they can do whatever I'm like but that's not gonna happen in America that's not gonna happen in Canada you're saying that's not possible here but you're pointing out that the russians are bad because they're doing it over there and are they doing it over there who the fuck knows and then. So you have this whole thing up in Canada which is interesting because you know it does look like somebody put up a ah a nazi flag or whatever and maybe there was a racist trucker who's a nazi and want to do that. Maybe it was somebody from the canadian government that went up there and did that so they could. You know because the the canadian government looks really bad right now. really really bad um canadians are like the nicest people on the whole fucking planet and ah to think that there's there's hundreds of thousands of nazis up in Canada that just all of a sudden sprung up. He's like.

49:51.25

Max Shank

Everybody's got a limit. Yeah, totally.

49:58.14

mikebledsoe

Ah, it's anyone who's thinking clearly is going to see that That's probably not true, but.

50:03.59

Max Shank

But you're not going to be thinking clearly if you are just getting triggered into lizard mode right? So as soon as soon as you even see a swastika. You're not going to be like oh yeah I remember when that was a Tibetan symbol of peace. You're gonna be like those are.

50:08.27

mikebledsoe

Absolutely.

50:19.98

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

50:21.77

Max Shank

So though it's an ad hominem attack where you will justify anything. You're like oh we should kill all of these people. It's like no, we should laugh at them for having such outdated ideas but you shouldn't be able to kill anybody. That's why I think.

50:34.44

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

50:40.19

Max Shank

Ah, the definition of terrorist and hate crime are 2 of the most sinister definitions in our modern times because there should just be crime. It's a crime or it's not a crime the the hatefulness of it should not be taken into consideration and the word terrorist.

50:53.67

mikebledsoe

Agreed I agreed well here.

50:58.14

Max Shank

Is basically carte blanche to be like oh yeah, he's ah he's a terrorist which means um, all the rules are suspended. We can just fuck you up for no reason for no reason like the whole due process is evaporated with 1 word terrorist the whole due process is evaporated with 1 word.

51:05.70

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

51:17.64

Max Shank

Emergency the whole idea of crime and punishment is now skewed on its fucking head for 1 term hate crime. It's like dude this is insane.

51:25.42

mikebledsoe

Well the hate crime thing is very interesting to me because it assumes somebody else's intention. You are you are saying that you actually know you. It shouldn't matter. But the thing is is it's impossible for someone to know what's.

51:34.64

Max Shank

But that shouldn't even matter.

51:44.54

mikebledsoe

Someone else's internal experience is people you're saying oh is I hate crimes like ah so I it's the same thing as calling someone else racist now if someone says you know I am racist I'm like okay I'll believe you if you if you claim being racist I like buck it I'll believe you. But for someone else to point at somebody else and be like you're racist or that was a hate crime I'm like do you know?? what's in my heart is that is that even possible and so and you're right? and and this is why these things should be judged on the behavior alone is it a crime. Yes or no, okay, well.

52:09.20

Max Shank

Yeah, it's insane. Insane.

52:24.25

mikebledsoe

There's a penalty for that. So I'm in complete agreement. Yeah ever hear that.

52:25.26

Max Shank

The content of your character. Not the color of your skin Martin Luther King again I mean look I didn't know the guy personally he seemed pretty cool but if he like beat up a white fella I wouldn't be like oh that's a hate crime I'd be like wow he must have been really upset at that guy like it.

52:40.88

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah, probably not about race. It's probably about something else. Um, well well going back to the truckers and and what is happening is I got a little chuckle out of this is.

52:44.60

Max Shank

Doesn't. Yeah, it's Ridiculous. It's absurd.

53:00.57

mikebledsoe

Go fund me. There's a go fund me operating to support these truckers. It was up to $10000000 what does gofundme. Do they steal it. They steal the money and ah at first some people thought they basically shut it down people thought oh they're just gonna refund everybody their money. No, they redistribute it to other organizations that they wanted to send the money to so so you have you have theft. Yeah, it's it's stealing. They just stole a bunch of people's money they stole the trucker's money they stole money from the people who don't I don't.

53:24.36

Max Shank

Heavy That's stealing That's stealing.

53:38.99

mikebledsoe

Like I didn't donate money but like if I were to donate that money and then they were to send it to some organization that I didn't intend for it to go to I'd be fucking furious, but here's the thing is it is theft and you know what the government may not do anything about it and you know and and.

53:44.59

Max Shank

Ah I bet.

53:52.89

Max Shank

Why would they they might have been the ones behind it. It's okay.

53:58.48

mikebledsoe

That's okay because you know what's happening now people are donating in bitcoin and they'll probably get even more and there's a really good example of the pendulum swinging or what you were saying earlier is when you when you try to push and attack something you're gonna get.

54:09.82

Max Shank

Ah.

54:16.80

Max Shank

Equal and opposite force. Yeah, it's like like it's like a it's like a 2 sided trampoline where it actually amplifies back even more.

54:17.73

mikebledsoe

Ah, greater force. Yeah I mean things be equal. It's gonna be fusly because there's a motion behind it. Yeah, so ah, go fund me really just fuck themselves and. I get a little giddy about this because whenever a company does something like that where they steal and I and I don't give a fuck if the government comes down on um because it won't matter. They just fuck themselves because everyone just realized that that things like gofund me and Patreon and these organizations.

54:50.80

Max Shank

The.

54:53.80

mikebledsoe

Take a bunch of money for not doing a lot of shit and so yeah, well the the reason they work well is because they've branded themselves in a way that makes it easy for people who are afraid to ask for money. It's like it. It's like an okay way to ask for money. But.

54:57.35

Max Shank

It's a smart business. But when you talk about like stealing. That's not cool.

55:12.63

mikebledsoe

Like if I wanted to have a Patreon type thing going on I wouldn't go do patron where they're gonna take 10 twenty thirty percent of the money coming in I just like a pay bal me. Yeah, just send me the money. Yep so they do that now. Yeah, if you're well.

55:17.77

Max Shank

You do paypal you do recur. Yeah, you do recurring thing? Yeah, but it's cooler to have a Patreon it is. There's network effect there for sure.

55:31.97

mikebledsoe

And here's the thing is now everyone's donating bitcoin. So and and well there was ah the alternative to go fund me was this Christian Ministry organization So that some people they started funneling money through this this like.

55:41.51

Max Shank

Ah.

55:46.64

mikebledsoe

Version of go fund me. That's not nearly as popular but probably just made a shitload of money from processing all those payments but and then you got people that are now donating a bitcoin and the not only did Gofundme fuck themselves but they just sped up a process that was already happening which is decentralization of the currency.

55:48.42

Max Shank

Um, ah yeah.

56:04.84

Max Shank

Um.

56:06.59

mikebledsoe

And people now go oh. It's not safe. It's not safe to send money through an organization like go fund me what is safe. Oh the blockchain got it. There. There are things about it that are riskier and there's other. But if you want to send somebody some money. There's no intermediary that can take that money There's not a third party that has a political opinion or an opinion about you or who you're sending it to that can stand in your way. It's it's an amplification of true capitalism where there is I can send somebody something and nobody. It's all voluntary and nobody can get in the way of it. Yeah.

56:46.81

Max Shank

That's the key word. The key word is voluntary I mean I'm a pretty strong guy I could and I'm pretty clever sometimes I could probably like I could probably I could probably like force people to do what I want Um, but that's pretty shitty thing to do I think it's not that fun.

56:52.65

mikebledsoe

Um, what do you?? What do you? bench? me? Yeah yeah. Yeah, so so. I.

57:04.54

Max Shank

Not that cool. Um voluntary is the key word voluntary. That's like maybe the most important word for everything we're talking about is it voluntary is it forced and I think if you don't take personal responsibility. You are more likely. To want to force others to not be in that position of personal responsibility either. You're going to want to put that idea upon others, it's like projecting outward. Um, one 1 question because you're right the whole idea of the decentralized.

57:28.47

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

57:42.10

Max Shank

Trading stores of value through like a bitcoin that at least now it gets to them directly and the only way is like maybe a government seizure I think that's happened a few times before.

57:52.84

mikebledsoe

They they would they they can't just go to a bank. It's not that simple there there have been so for. For instance, the guy that got arrested by silk road guy. He got arrested and they were able to seize some of his bitcoin but only a fraction.

57:58.69

Max Shank

Yeah I don't know I've just heard that it's been done in the past.

58:12.51

mikebledsoe

Because he locked the rest up in a place like only he knows the codes. You know that? Yeah, so.

58:16.32

Max Shank

I Think it's crazy that guy got arrested I Read the story about that. That's horrible. Um, it's It's another one of those things where ah you know you just realize like how careful we all need to be with. The jurisdiction of the stickholder.

58:33.93

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, ah so a lot of that bitcoin. The government was not able to get to so back to the personal responsibility piece is with cryptocurrencies. As they exist right? Now you're largely responsible for the safety and security of those if you're using a bank. You know you got the fdi see. It's federally insured if someone were to somehow steal that money added the bank then the government would insure that up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars there's things like that exist when you're using us dollars and bank accounts when you're using crypto if you're really good at securing your own shit and you understand the technology government's not gonna be able to get it. Ah, but if you're you know using just a ah general digital wallet and you know like. Like coinbase or or something like that then if they want to take it. They can go to those companies because there's ah, there's ah, a saying ah ah, not your keys. Not your crypto. So if you're not holding your actual keys. You don't actually have your crypto so some of these digital wallets. You don't actually have the keys.

59:43.59

Max Shank

Yeah, this is outside my knowledge base but that sounds very similar to a saying I heard which is um if you don't own your customer.

59:45.32

mikebledsoe

You have access to the keys you have access.

01:00:02.58

Max Shank

Information You don't have any customers.

01:00:03.45

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah, similar thing like building email lists. Um.

01:00:08.63

Max Shank

Or or phone numbers or addresses I mean there are a lot of ways to keep in touch with people but you know, especially as we've seen like you know I don't I don't speak out about any of this stuff really publicly because ah. Anyone can benefit from simple shoulder solution. 5 minute flow elasticity any of my excellent products and I just don't ah like I don't see the benefit like I don't think there's enough of a benefit to spouting off about that in that forum. But you and I have seen people where.

01:00:38.61

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

01:00:46.64

Max Shank

They may have had a big following on one of these platforms and then it went immediately to 0 it evaporated and they had not built up a customer list of their own that they owned and unless you have that you don't have customers. You just have.

01:00:53.72

mikebledsoe

A.

01:01:06.10

Max Shank

Ah, platform that you are essentially renting for free that can be taken any time and so it's a good reason to build a more personal connection with those customers outside of that platform just like what you're talking about with crypto versus traditional banking.

01:01:10.18

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:01:20.99

mikebledsoe

Yeah, so somebody who's done so somebody who's done that really well is Jp sears. Um, he's he's definitely more yeah he's pivoted he's become yeah and he's he's become much more controversial which he does risk.

01:01:24.59

Max Shank

And I think. Yeah, he's pivoted I he he pivoted He's way more.

01:01:39.72

mikebledsoe

He's had Youtube videos taken down. He's had Facebook but they haven't taken down his accounts completely and I think part of it is is he's comedy when you're listed as a comedian you get away with things. So.

01:01:42.87

Max Shank

It shows the power of Humor. It shows the power of humor yet. It's a comedy. Kind of I mean is is it kind of comedy though I mean he's clearly got an agenda for all everything he's saying. That's what makes him such a good like artist with that. That's the big change I Saw that's the big change I saw.

01:01:55.67

mikebledsoe

Oh a hundred percent but he's also building his email list if you if you watch his videos. Yeah, he he was like of follow me on you know I have you know subscribed to my email list this and that because what.

01:02:11.91

Max Shank

Right.

01:02:15.23

mikebledsoe

What we'll probably see is there will be a platform that comes up. It'll probably be blockchain-based video platform that comes up and you know it's It's interesting because what's happening right now is you have these alternative platforms for video streaming like rumble and things like that and it's kind of like a joke. Like I was like oh all the crazy people are over on that platform and and there are a lot of crazy people on that platform I'm not going to disagree with that. But I think that they're at some point there's gonna emerge a platform thats blockchain base where where video goes up. It's not going down and no one can can fuck with it.

01:02:36.54

Max Shank

Earth.

01:02:53.39

mikebledsoe

And the people who are being the censored the most are going to be drawn to those alternative platforms first but it is it is exciting that those things are probably going to happen. There's there's a group here in Austin Texas or putting together a social media an alternative social media platform. A lot of them have popped up. We'll see which ones stick but the the ones that I'm seeing that are um, I'm excited by are blockchain based and aren't owned by anybody. It's it's one of those things where you actually own your own shit out there in the and the metaverse here or you call it not not got. Decentral land and all the shit. But um.

01:03:30.73

Max Shank

I gotta say I'm a fan of the Canadian trucker thing going on. Um, you know I believe it is the largest trucker convoy in the history of the world even though even even though according to the major news sources. It's just a few racists.

01:03:35.80

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

01:03:40.88

mikebledsoe

By like 10 x.

01:03:50.32

mikebledsoe

A few violent racist. There's not very many of them. But the ones that are there. They're blowing shit up.

01:03:50.48

Max Shank

Ah, but what's interest a few violent racists they they're the worst it it comes back to those 2 ad hominem attack appeal to authority devil god it's this is a tale as old as time literally? Um, but. Canada is not the only place that things like that are happening France ah Hungary italy there have been a lot of places that and but but you don't hear anything about that and I think a United Kingdom just

01:04:17.95

mikebledsoe

Dude, it's gotten crazy. It's gotten crazy over in Europe. Yeah.

01:04:27.75

Max Shank

Immediately like lifted all restrictions at this at the snap of a finger.

01:04:27.96

mikebledsoe

Yeah, was funny as the prime minister comes out and he he announces it like he's like I'm gonna like he he did it like he's making a proclamation. No more masks I'm like you're the you switched fucking masks that was crazy. It was crazy and people were like.

01:04:41.24

Max Shank

Yeah, oh people have very bad memory.

01:04:47.29

mikebledsoe

And then people are like yes we're winning this I'm like are are you witnessing what just happened this dude just fucking turned on a dime on opinion like and then he's he's proclaiming it and like trying to have the win is like oh I'm gonna fucking punish you and I'm gonna lock you inside your house and then I'm gonna let you go two years later and then you're gonna thank me for it like what the fuck man what is happening.

01:05:10.84

Max Shank

It and if you're not more broadly aware. You're going to eat it up 1 crumb at a time you know I I think the people have been played like a fiddle most people. Ah if you if you've learned to ah hate your neighbor for living the way they want to.

01:05:18.21

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, yeah.

01:05:30.40

Max Shank

You have failed the test. Ah.

01:05:30.64

mikebledsoe

Um, agreed ah, last last thing I want to talk about is just the whole Joe Rogan ah thing that's been going on and it's interesting because ah.

01:05:41.42

Max Shank

You mean the final frontier of free speech our our champion. The stoner comedian Ufc testosterone ball who didn't want that who didn't want this role who he didn't want this. But.

01:05:46.24

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:05:53.64

mikebledsoe

Don't don't forget, don't forget fear factor. Don't forget fear factor. Ah.

01:05:59.29

Max Shank

It's so fantastic. We have this champion who likes to get stoned and be really curious curious and ask lots of questions I mean thousands of episodes and then you know the character assassination attempt is so blatant. So flagrant so disgusting and it's like look I have said a lot of horrible things before like if you went back 10 years into my past like I say horrible things because they're funny and if someone laughs then I will go even further and I'm not even a comedian. So this whole idea that someone should be like you know oh he must be like held accountable for his work. It's like it's so pathetic. It's so obvious and all it proves is that he is this powerhouse source of.

01:06:38.10

mikebledsoe

I.

01:06:56.10

Max Shank

Freedom of Speech and freedom of information and you know it goes back to the parent child thing. You are free to make your own choices based on the information or you are not free to make your own choices based on the information and if someone says like hey you should ah you know drink borax.

01:07:08.13

mikebledsoe

Well this is.

01:07:15.93

Max Shank

And paint thinner because it'll help you lose weight like you should be able to have a video that says that like I don't know like you can't police everything. Um.

01:07:25.60

mikebledsoe

Um, well the that the borax thing is actually pretty controversial because ah and you know what maybe I shouldn't say anything about that. But I do know people have you ever taken a Borax bath.

01:07:39.25

Max Shank

No, but I know that the devil is in the dosage and part of the reason we use it to kill ants is because it won't kill other things like us.

01:07:43.35

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, you ah yeah, Boron is something that that is not very prominent in our soil anymore and so taking small amounts some I'm not a proponent of this I have tried it but ah.

01:07:59.71

Max Shank

Ah.

01:08:03.17

mikebledsoe

Yeah, there there have been some people that have suggested taking small amounts. We were pretty smart people and I go online and search about it and I can't find much good about it cause everyone's so it's a because the devil isn't the dosage there. You can you can od on that pretty quick. Um, but at the same time you you need it at the same time.

01:08:17.21

Max Shank

With everything we don't have a problem though.

01:08:23.17

mikebledsoe

Um, anyways, ah so yeah, the Joe Rogan thing is actually very It's very much like the go fund me situation in that people are you know Neil Young came out and a bunch of other artists are saying you know take my shit off a Spotify unless you take Rogen off. First off Spotify is making way more money because Rogan's on their platform than any of those artists so from a financial perspective. It's not a smart move for them. The other thing is is like I mean and if they do kick Rogan off myself and a lot of other people are gonna just delete their Spotify accounts like. But that fourteen bucks a month or whatever the fuck I'm paying that that's going away. It's really the only reason I have that I have other music platforms that I think is even better. so so there's

01:09:11.60

Max Shank

Well do you think it's about those individual artists though like I I was reading that oh I think it's more. It's a it's a rhetorical thing. No, it's ah it's a rhetoric thing you know Neil Young is like a.

01:09:18.31

mikebledsoe

I'm just talking about from a financial perspective but that you also have the why you have the you have the white house giving pressure too many means to.

01:09:30.14

Max Shank

A known rock Star name I Think the fact that he has a song called keep on rocking in the free world is like the most ironic shit like you you have to laugh. It's like so Gosh dar't ironic. Um, but he recently just had half of his catalog.

01:09:38.52

mikebledsoe

It's crazy. But yeah.

01:09:48.58

Max Shank

Purchased out by you know this company within a company that has been known to do these character assassination. Hip jobs like the 1 happening to rogen right now. So it's a very yeah, it's a very coordinated assault on his character and look.

01:09:57.31

mikebledsoe

He's my blackrock.

01:10:07.35

Max Shank

Why would you do that unless there was a perceived problem by someone who has that kind of power to do that. You know nobody cared and now suddenly up he's he's shaken. He's shaking a few branches.

01:10:14.35

mikebledsoe

Not not.

01:10:23.60

Max Shank

And some of the fruit's falling off like you got to do something you got to take care of it right.

01:10:25.54

mikebledsoe

Yeah, or yeah, well and the thing that's similar to the gofund situation is let's just say that they get their way and they kick Joe Rogan off of Spotify. He's got like a hundred million plus dollar deal with Spotify. There's. If they cut him I'm pretty sure they're still gonna have to pay him that money like they're not gonna just there's a penalty right? and and and if there was no penalty I I imagine it would be he may already have already been kicked off. Um, but there's a penalty so that's 1 thing.

01:10:48.00

Max Shank

Yeah, no doubt.

01:11:03.38

mikebledsoe

So Rogan's getting paid no matter what secondarily if he leaves the platform his listenership will probably increase instead of decrease so it he would. It would so easily move with him because.

01:11:12.60

Max Shank

It would move. They would move with him I'm impressed how many people moved from Youtube I didn't think I would like he used to just post on Youtube to Spotify and ah.

01:11:22.60

mikebledsoe

What do you mean move from Youtube oh oh move from Youtube to so Spotify. Yeah dude, he's he's so yeah, he's so powerful that that.

01:11:32.35

Max Shank

I Think he's got more listeners now than he did then.

01:11:39.58

mikebledsoe

If he leaves Spotify. Not only will it harm Spotify but it will he I imagine he would go to a ah because podcasting is decentralized by nature because they were using Rss feeds that there is no central command. That there used to be like a central command because Apple owned the list that basically the library of all the things. But then the guy who invented podcasting Adam Curry he was like he he was saying he he saw what was happening goes. You know I'm gonna create my own now. Everything runs through his shit.

01:12:02.10

Max Shank

Right.

01:12:07.71

Max Shank

So I was just thinking of.

01:12:17.10

mikebledsoe

Which is a decentralize on so many different servers around the world. You podcasting is truly decentralized trying to shut down a podcast that's not exclusive to us to 1 vendor. 1 platform is not going to work and so ah. I I hate I didn't like the Joe Rogan went on Spotify because I don't like listening to podcast there I like listening on podcasting 2.0 apps I use podverse and it's ah it's way superior to Apple to Spotify all these really popular platforms suck compared to some of these these lesser known.

01:12:35.77

Max Shank

It's like that saying.

01:12:50.38

Max Shank

Ah.

01:12:54.71

mikebledsoe

So I I would I personally would love to see that happen and and for some reasons in that I would love to see him go on a more decentralized network I'd like to see you know ah a lot of these people just have to eat their shit because all these people are.

01:13:11.69

Max Shank

We'll see what happens when the contract is up to right? It kind of makes me think of that quote too like it's all it's only like 3 years it's like 3 to 5 is 3 to 5 Um, it makes me think of that.

01:13:14.26

mikebledsoe

yeah yeah I don't know I don't know how long the contracts for this is maybe like a 5 year contract res. Okay dude give you a hundred million dollars in 5 years holy shit for for doing a podcast. Wow.

01:13:28.49

Max Shank

I mean people get paid a hundred million a year to play their favorite ball ball game sometime. So I mean it's not surprising. It reminds me of that quote though, ah read read the books they want to ban like.

01:13:32.92

mikebledsoe

Yeah, no.

01:13:42.42

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah.

01:13:45.74

Max Shank

Things don't get censored for your own benefit fuckers like come on I can't even read it I can't even read it. The the guy is so bad that it's so scary bet I'm not even allowed like if it was really so bad. They would want you to read it.

01:13:49.60

mikebledsoe

Um, I'm not even allowed that I'm not allowed to hear what this person has to say strange. Well they they? um.

01:14:04.97

Max Shank

And be like this is what you want to? avoid? don't do this. This is like like mine kaf everybody should be able to read that I haven't read it have you read it I have no idea what's in there My my struggle.

01:14:12.10

mikebledsoe

Now Now I've read some books I've I've read some books that are you? You really can't find them online you you have to go deep I got some pdfs of some books. Yeah, yeah, you have to go dig around.

01:14:23.52

Max Shank

Like tor or something dark web.

01:14:29.45

mikebledsoe

I Found there's this one book. Yeah I found this one book I got a pdf of it that um ah, ah well you can get a hard copy. There's there's only a thousand ever printed. So.

01:14:34.13

Max Shank

Listen up Cia this is a confession of Mike Bloodso to illegal books.

01:14:46.69

mikebledsoe

There was a thousand of these printed and then never printed again. So it's it was the name of the book. You know what? Um just I'll figure out the name of the book and then dm me people and ah yeah, just shoot me a Dm and on Instagram.

01:14:48.78

Max Shank

Um, what is it.

01:15:01.45

Max Shank

Teaser.

01:15:04.75

mikebledsoe

Ah, but I read the book and I was like oh I could definitely see Hawaii somebody who wants to hold authority would not want people to read this book because when you read the book. It kind of unwinds. It kind of shows you where you've been wrong in your thinking about authority even the people who are like. Super rebellious. Would probably you because the thing is by the end of the book. You realize there's no such thing. There's it's there's no such thing as another human being having authority over somebody else. Ah and unless unless you're granting it to them and which is the only way for that to happen and you can take that. Power weight anytime you want and so the book pretty much. Yeah, the the book pretty much outlines a plan on how americans would take their power back um in a way that would disable the government and so it's a.

01:15:44.57

Max Shank

You might be killed for it. But.

01:15:58.97

Max Shank

Was this pamphlet called common sense by any chance by Thomas Paine

01:16:05.85

mikebledsoe

Um, true people people should go watch common sense.

01:16:11.50

Max Shank

That's ah, that's that that moved that moved this whole nation I mean are you kidding me like okay so common sense with um Milton Friedman is a great ah video series that's free on Youtube. But common sense by Thomas Payne was the document that was the most wide. Oh. That's right that you're your 100% right is free to choose. Thank you I got that totally wrong. Ah, kind of means the same thing similar ideas at least but that pamphlet common sense.

01:16:28.25

mikebledsoe

In it free to choose was Milton Friedman

01:16:38.55

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:16:46.20

Max Shank

Changed the direction of this whole country because most of the signers of the declaration of Independence were on board with just like yeah we'll we'll ah we'll pay. Ah you know the British thugs a little bit more money but let's let's stay british.

01:17:03.38

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:17:04.93

Max Shank

And then that was like 1 it was I think the most widely circulated publication of all time at that time it was just like boom like almost everybody had one crazy how just an idea can change the course of history and that's and that's why i.

01:17:15.60

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:17:24.56

Max Shank

Think that writing and sending messages is incredibly powerful. You know you can change even if you just change like 1 person's life. It can be huge, but if you have a really good idea and that's of course why they want to silence Joe Rogan because he's not.

01:17:32.73

mikebledsoe

Absolutely.

01:17:42.29

Max Shank

Afraid to say whatever so far.

01:17:42.60

mikebledsoe

Well, the other thing is is I think I think the reason he carries so much respect from so many people is because he will come out and just admit when he's wrong like and he'll correct. He'll correct the record he'll admit when he's wrong, he will apologize.

01:17:56.46

Max Shank

Totally.

01:18:01.20

mikebledsoe

And he'll he'll give a real apology like he he gave a real apology this last week on Instagram he's been. He's been making more like monologue posts to to share what's going on and he he gave a real apology and then.

01:18:09.64

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

01:18:19.22

mikebledsoe

And shared how he could specifically improve ah his character and ah, you never hear that from politicians they're like politicians will apologize for you feeling a certain way like oh I'm sorry you felt that way if you ever listen to like Gavin Newsom give an apology.

01:18:23.37

Max Shank

Her.

01:18:31.26

Max Shank

Right.

01:18:39.30

mikebledsoe

It's like it's like a backhanded fucking like you like like I think you just insulted like it and people are going. Oh he apologized I'm like he just fucking insulted you. It's not a real apology. He's apologizing for you feeling a certain way or for you thinking a certain way. He's not apologizing for his behavior. And so whether people catch on in these things overtly or not when you watch Joe Rogan give an apology you go he is apologizing for something he did specifically and that type of apology lands with people and that earns people's respect and so I think that he is unstoppable because he's got. 3 hour interviews where real conversations are happening and they yeah has someone like Sanjay Gupta comes on who's never had a talk longer than 30 seconds on Cnn and he fucking was freaking out halfway through the show and asking how how long have we been talking because he's never had to share his own thoughts before.

01:19:21.93

Max Shank

That's the key I think.

01:19:33.82

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah.

01:19:38.26

mikebledsoe

He's only had talking points and he ran out of talking points. He started looking foolish and he also is not used to. You can't you can't fake it now some people can but way less.

01:19:38.87

Max Shank

Right? Well, you can't fake it for three plus hours really although I did watch ah Lex Friedman interview the Ceo Pfizer and it just looked really like. That that guy maneuvered him around ah but but but and and look ah full full props to Lex Friedman I think he does a ah good job. He's like the the monotonin.

01:19:59.43

mikebledsoe

Yeah, there's there's some pros. There's some pros out there. Some people can do 3 hours but if you've been trained for 30 second segments.

01:20:16.90

Max Shank

Nerd version of Joe Rogan which is fantastic. Ah I don't know if he's a robot that has learned to love or a human that is becoming a robot over time. Ah, but I yeah but I think you hit on something huge um.

01:20:16.87

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

01:20:26.80

mikebledsoe

Ah, well, he's rushing. So I think it's part of it.

01:20:35.90

Max Shank

It's the long format like you can you can look back through hours and hours and hours of sincere conversations. Jokes Yes, sincere questions. Yes, mistakes yes like he has built up that credibility because he's showing you. Behind the curtain whereas these legacy media sources they are you know Puppet mastering of manufactured thirty second clip to make you feel a specific way and the more communication The more discussion we have. The better. It's going to be.. You're not going to solve a relationship issue because that's what we have right now we have division. It's a relationship issue how we relate to each other. You're not going to solve a relationship issue ah by not talking about something just letting something fester.

01:21:26.35

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:21:30.43

Max Shank

So more discussion more honest discussion. Um, more compassion for people who think differently than you ah that that's ah, that's the key.

01:21:43.25

mikebledsoe

Absolutely let's wrap it up max final thoughts final thoughts.

01:21:48.75

Max Shank

That's a wrap final final thought it's been a fun six months ah I've gotten pretty fired up several times. It should be ah, there should be no confusion about what I think of things at this point of. Pretty much laid it all out there and said some horrible things that I I do not apologize for and if you don't like it I'm I'm not sorry you feel that way.

01:22:17.98

mikebledsoe

Ah, brilliant. Brilliant. Ah yeah I encourage people you know it it take take a more macro view and looking at cycles over time and and and understand what's what. When you're being manipulated or the way that pictures are being taken and put side by side and really keep in mind that how easy it is to manipulate information or to hide information or to present only the information you want. And be aware of that and that every one of these news organizations and social media platforms. All of them have an agenda and that agenda is not your best interest so you really, it's good to learn how. Ah, media works. It's good to learn how marketing works Propaganda Pr all these things if you know how these things work and you look at what's going on in the world. You have the opportunity to chuckle at it and and better to prepare and take advantage of whatever situations coming instead of getting. Caught up in the emotional storm and fight that happens I see all the time on on the internet. So. That's that's my ¢2 here at the end where.

01:23:40.64

Max Shank

That was brilliantly said that was just great I Totally agree with that and I would just reiterate what I said earlier which is get clear on what your values are and deliver Value. So that you can earn a profit and be part of a voluntary exchange that is mutually profitable and not one that's based on coercion.

01:24:07.49

mikebledsoe

That's how we reach utopia folks max enjoyed enjoyed you today. This is fun and then ah Instagram Mike Underscore Bloodso and I've got the strongcoach summit coming up if you just go over to http://thisstrongcoach.com

01:24:10.73

Max Shank

That's it inside out freedom. This was a lot of fun. Thanks Mike where can they find you.

01:24:24.44

mikebledsoe

You can come hang out with me in Austin we're gonna do a bunch of really cool shit if you have any questions about that again just hit me up on Instagram and we can chat about it where can they find you max I mean you already promoted your your simple shoulder solution twice.

01:24:37.10

Max Shank

Yeah, it's because both red t-shirts and blue t-shirts have shoulders. Ah, you can find me at maxank. No underscore because I have a ah real handle and then you can also find me at http://mashank.com

01:24:41.46

mikebledsoe

Um, yes.

01:24:56.77

Max Shank

Thank you guys for listening. Love you buddy.

01:24:57.26

mikebledsoe

Love you.

Feb 14, 2022

00:00.00

mikebledsoe

Welcome to Monday morning with Mike and max and today we're gonna be talking about high leverage habits and addictive actions and one of the things that inspired this conversation is I got to work with a friend over the weekend to help improve his mental and physical health and I realized. Man lifestyle is really the problem here and we had to do the work to figure out what was gonna be the most high leverage habits that he could instill that was gonna move the needle and that's how I like to work with all of my clients. That's how I like to look at my own life. So I'm excited that that. Talk about this with max because um, he you're also somebody who you've done a good job of instilling habits over time and and I find that we just lifestyle is not something that you just do all at once. It's. You implement 1 thing one month in the next month maybe you add a little something else change something here and there and you've done a really good job of stacking your habits in a really positive way.

01:07.16

Max Shank

Well thank you for that I I really appreciate that I think one of the smartest things I ever did was actually 1 of the easiest projects I've ever done which was 5 minute flow and really what it did is it gave people permission to. Start with less and when you start with something smaller. It feels a lot more manageable and getting people out of the idea that you have to do an hour workout for it to count is really big just the same way that lao -tzu says the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ah same kind of thing. However I I would as a counterpoint say that one of the most interesting things about human beings is that we can radically change our lives when we adopt.

01:49.91

mikebledsoe

O.

02:02.20

Max Shank

A new self-image or if we adopt a new mission or a new role and just to introduce the key point which is motivation and a lot of synonyms for motivation are hunger and pain. So There's a fire that is fueling that behavior change and if you don't want to Change. You can't Change. You know they talk about that in like those interventions like you have to be ready to change like you have to want to change yourself. So I think that? um yes, tiny. Tiny tiny bets are much more manageable generally speaking. But when you have a really clear mission or purpose or Motivation Hunger pain. Whatever you're capable of radical transformations. Especially as it relates to. Transformation of your self-image and your selfimage is going to guide your subconscious action because it's really hard to be acutely conscious all the time and I think you know it is sort of like.

03:14.94

mikebledsoe

In.

03:19.71

Max Shank

Want to say in Buddhism or maybe hinduism I can't remember it's 1 of the isms. Maybe it's in b here now Ram Das talks about like it's like a fish jumping out of the water and that's your moment of consciousness and then you go back into the. The see of the unconscious so selfimage if you change your selfimage your role your mission. You can have a radical change across the board. Otherwise it is way more manageable to have. Ah. Little changes and everything you do is basically a bet that it will be better than doing nothing.

04:00.17

mikebledsoe

Yeah I like that I like that frame I I like to tell people that I they asked me what I believe and I like to try on beliefs oh I believe if I do this then my life will improve in this way. So I try it out. Check in a couple weeks later and if it's true then I go oh okay I'll keep this belief until you know something better comes along what I you know just have touch on a few points that came up that I want to that you you were making is just the idea being. Focused on the process versus the result and I think for when I look at my history and I look at the times in which I actually made slower progress was when I was not present with the process I didn't actually. I I wanted the results really bad but I was unwilling to be with what it was going to take to get there and so I just did a bunch of stuff that I didn't slow down I only did the stuff that was on the surface to try to get there and you know in athletics it results in injury. Um. And business it. It may result in being able to make a bunch of money but then don't know how to keep it going. Um there's there's all these all these things that I've learned that becoming more present with the process really is a practice and being. And practicing being with the process so spending 5 % of my time on the vision of what I want to be different in the future and 95% of my attention going into into just the execution of the thing and learning to enjoy the process of doing it because. This is where the a lot of people get stuck is they have conditional happiness they say I won't I can't be happy until I achieve this result and so what they do is they basically punish themselves until the result they want is true and that doesn't help you achieve.

05:58.63

Max Shank

A.

06:14.36

mikebledsoe

Result at all. In fact, that it probably diminishes your ability to get there and so one of the things I've really been working towards is practicing being in the process and and one of the things that has really been highlighted as I've taken on that practice is that. So much of the process when I'm doing I'm doing you know the same things I've been doing for 20 years which is taking care of my health building my business that these are not being in a relationship with a woman. These are all things that I have been continually striving to improve. And the more that I've gotten involved in the process of how I'm actually gonna move towards this this result that is really a moving target at times is to to when I'm more present with the process I actually understand what it takes to get there and I think. That most people and for myself I really didn't want to hear what it was going to take to get there and I think sometimes if we knew everything it was going to take to get the result we want. We wouldn't do it but we like I hear from entrepreneurs all the time you know if I knew what it was going to take to be successful. Um, would have never started. But once you get into it. You can't stop. It. So really as I've gotten older getting really ah present to what actually has to happen and being okay when something new pops Up. It's like okay.

07:32.67

Max Shank

Third.

07:49.92

mikebledsoe

I think I think I know what steps 1 through 10 are but after I complete step 2 I realized that there's 5 steps between 2 and 3 oh this is going to take longer than I thought and if you're if you're present with the process you look at that when that appears you go? Oh okay.

07:58.54

Max Shank

Oh.

08:07.85

mikebledsoe

And I think just knowing that that's going to happen. Always. It's always going to Happen. You never know what the step is what the next step is going to be until you take the next step and then the next step reveals reveals itself now if it's something you have a lot of practice with things become more predictable. But when you don't know much about what it is that you're doing then it's not predictable and and so it's ah it's actually been really enjoyable to step into something and go Oh I think I know what I need to do here and it actually works and I go oh that was predictable I. Actually know what I'm doing in regard to this thing right now. But I'm also open at any moment for something new to pop up to say oh this is the next obvious Step. You should be taking don't don't do this yet. Do this.

08:53.93

Max Shank

Um, yo I agree with some of what you said a great majority of it in fact and I have some comments ah number one. So it's gonna be.

09:07.20

mikebledsoe

Perfect.

09:13.18

Max Shank

Ah, greed craftsmanship discount tire and entrepreneurial tenure and I'm going to explain how those all go together. So the first one is greed you want the result but you're not willing to pay the price and that's what hurts you athletically. That's what hurts you entrepreneurially and I think that a lot of a lot of problems people cause for themselves stem from greed and it's usually based on comparison with someone else. So then you end up doing things. You don't really love the process of doing. Just to get this result that won't ultimately satisfy you anyway. So we have greed the second one is craftsmanship so craftsmanship is what where greatness really comes from. You certainly need a desire you need like a. A role where you're like okay my my role is I make clay pots for example and you just focus everything you can do into making the best clay pot there is or like Jiro dreams of sushi. You just focus on making the best sushi boom suddenly you're like the only. You know 5 diamond or whatever the heck rated sushi restaurant on the planet and the the idea of retiring is painful to him. He's like why would I retire this is this is my identity. This is my role. This is my self image. This is just what I do. He's not doing it to try to get somewhere else. He's like I do this. You have grade you have craftsmanship you have discount tire and the reason I say discount tire is as I understand it, you cannot jump into the company like leapfrog your way into a high standing position. You have to work your way up from the bottom. So you have to understand the process from the very bottom all the way up. So everybody they promote has been on the floor they they may have you know changed a few tires. They may have made a few sales. They understand the process of how everything works. And I think the intimate knowledge of the process really makes it a lot better and then the last one is ah entrepreneurial tenure and and tenure is like the worst idea ever because it's just another example of how desperate we are to secure the future. And I understand the desire we do it with relationships like we get married so we can securitize our relationship in the future. We have social security so we can securitize the future. We even call stocks securities because we're trying to secure our wealth for the future.

11:55.30

mikebledsoe

Um.

12:03.60

Max Shank

And the same thing is true for the entrepreneurs you're trying to quickly get some sort of security like I got to make 5000000 I got to make ten million I got to get whatever and then I'll be happy like you are saying. It's very conditional when I achieve this when I achieve this result. Then I will be happy and it's like dude the people who do stuff like that they will come up with a new target. Maybe before they even hit the first one like it's not going to be a lasting like ah I am now swimming in an ocean of nirvana.

12:34.47

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

12:42.91

Max Shank

Now that I have made $5000000 yes, no, you're going to look at bigger houses and bigger boats and you're going to have different goals and it's it's hardly going to be a pit stop on the road trip of your entrepreneurial life. So we're trying to like lock in. That success but like you said it takes us away from the process. So I think those are definitely things that you want to consider and it does relate back to the identity. You know James clear. That's his like main angle with habits my main takeaway. Ah, from his work is that it ends psycho cybernetics same thing. It's all about your identity and self-image and what role you are actively choosing like I am this therefore I do this and once you get clear on that everything is. Pretty much derivative of that it doesn't become about greed for a specific result. It doesn't become about like securing securing the future in some way and I think that's a really good way of looking at it so you need the desire but also the. The desire to embody the identity or the character.

13:59.40

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and and you've got to know who that character is I mean when we think about identity. There's you know there's there's archetypes you could if you're an entrepreneur you could say have the identity of a Ceo and what that.

14:16.32

Max Shank

I'm the fool.

14:19.28

mikebledsoe

What that what? that means what that means to you is maybe different than what it means to somebody else and so if you're going to take on the identity of something which I've done before but didn't actually know what it meant and then you get around people who were performing so you want to be a Ceo you want to get around other ceos. Performing at the level that you want to perform and that's how you understand oh this is how this type of if I'm embodying this archetype if I'm embodying this identity. This is how these people think this is how they behave these are these are the things they do. And these are the things they don't do so I'm in agreement like that that identity is likely the quickest way to be able to create new habits because it's such a core piece of it's it's who we are and so if. I am running my company and I go you know what? I'm ah I a hundred million dollar company Ceo and someone comes to me with a problem or somebody's slacking at work. Well what does a hundred million dollar Ceo do well he probably fires that person and then brings in somebody else who's who can do it or whatever it is. But. A lot of people they they're not holding that identity they may they may shrink in that that situation and and then may go you know maybe I don't want to have that identity. It. It requires ah myself to do things that I don't like or it's not me and. And that's the absolute truth if you're trying to take on an identity and you go I'm not like that. It's like that's why you're not that person you have to be like that person. So I I think identity spot on. That's that's the quickest way to to creating a lifestyle life. That's good. And then or that you want if it's good. You could take on thedent identity of a criminal but then there's purpose. You know you're that's right, you got the why you know it's it's the reminder There's there's so many hard days for me. There's.

16:15.27

Max Shank

Got to hang out with a bunch of evil people.

16:28.98

mikebledsoe

There's days where I don't feel like you know, taking care of my health or days that I I may not want to work when when my people need me to do it. But I have deep? Yeah, ah.

16:39.40

Max Shank

Um, what fraud he's a fraud you're not on all the time fraud I'm calling it. Ah.

16:46.76

mikebledsoe

Ah, and and yeah, yeah, sorry sorry to break the rain on your parade there max? Yeah, and I think the the.

16:49.87

Max Shank

But I thought you had to be on all the time to be successful was I wrong about that first. My bubble. Ah.

17:05.73

mikebledsoe

The deeper Why the purpose is the thing that that does get you through those moments of doubt you know I had doubt over the weekend I had ah there's a mixture of things that all happened at the same time and and I'm like why am I doubting myself and then I realize oh well I had these 3 different events. Each one of them by themselves probably wouldn't bother me that much but because there's a combination of these things happening at the same time you know I I have ah a day where you know, kind of freak out man and then wake up the next morning then laugh at myself for being so ridiculous. But. What helped me keep it together is knowing my why you know it's it. It. It helped it helped me through that hard time doesn't mean I was performing at my best in that moment. But I definitely I was able to to stand help myself in that way.

18:00.92

Max Shank

I can't remember who said it but it was a man with a strong enough. Why can bear almost anyhow was that vi frankl or yeah I I feel like someone else said it like young or something too might have been like Carl young.

18:08.51

mikebledsoe

Um, think that was victor frankel. Yeah yeah.

18:18.29

mikebledsoe

He might have gotten it from him who knows.

18:20.14

Max Shank

But um, yeah, maybe but it's like you have the why and you have the who so that's that's like my little joke Simon Sene has it starts with why and James clear is like it starts with who and so you said it rightly so you got to be so.

18:27.75

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

18:39.73

Max Shank

Selective with who you associate with because it's the 5 monkey rule you become most like the 5 people that you spend most time with and there's ah you know concentrations to it if you spend like 99% of your time with 1 person you're going to.

18:40.86

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah.

18:58.20

Max Shank

Have a lot of feedback and become most like that person so you have to be very selective in who your friends are and who you choose as a mentor also and a person doesn't even have to necessarily mentor you um, personally. It's just if you are trying to mimic them in some way. So if they are the role model man you got to be so careful and you have to know like what it's actually like for them and if it really matches your personality type if that's what you really want like I think a lot of us Chase. Ah. You know, false ideas of better because that's the only reason we do anything is we think it'll be better if we do it than if we do nothing but I think a lot of people get caught. Um I think it's called worshiping false idols right.

19:50.94

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah I Um, you know there's been people who I have become enamored with that. They're older and I go oh I want to be more like that person and then I get to know them better I get close to them and I realize that oh they. Really healthy. But holy shit. They're poor as fuck like they totally terrible with money and business and and all this and then I meet someone who's really good at business I'm like okay and then I realize that you know they spend all their time in analysis in front of their computer and I go Well I don't want that either.

20:16.65

Max Shank

Um, yeah.

20:29.50

Max Shank

Ah, they're on their fifth. The ex-wife or something like that. It's.

20:29.89

mikebledsoe

So You know there's ah yeah, that too. Yeah and so I go you know you got to be careful about who you choose to to emulate and I. You know sometimes I hang out with someone who's really wealthy and you know I just pick some stuff up and for me, it's I don't think there's ever been one person I'm like I I want to take on the identity ah similar identity to that person. It's more of. You know I'm gonna take this piece from this guy and this piece from this other guy and this piece from this other guy and and I'm gonna do my best to be me while while leveraging you know what I can learn from those people. But yeah I mean if you if you really hung out with a wealthy person.

21:03.91

Max Shank

Her.

21:17.66

mikebledsoe

Someone who's great at relationships and someone else who's really healthy and maybe you you split it up in a thirds. You'd probably figure out how to do all of those better than the average person which I think is what most people were going for So I want to move into I want to move into.

21:22.50

Max Shank

So.

21:32.00

Max Shank

Yeah.

21:36.40

mikebledsoe

What do you think I have my idea I'm curious what you think is the highest leverage part of your life to improve first. So what I'd like to do is for us to move through a list max and I going to and discuss what. Habits or what what part of our lifestyles. Ah we should maximize first before moving on to the next one because we really want to get to a place where we're maximizing every aspect of our life.

22:07.44

Max Shank

For me, it would have to be preparing for our podcast topics instead of being ambushed by you with this list that we're gonna make up right now.

22:16.15

mikebledsoe

Um, pretty sure I told you right before we hit record he doesn't remember folks. He's got poor memory I'll send you some new troics That's not true.

22:23.90

Max Shank

Ah don't say that that's not true. It's like a steel trap. Ah so check it out every every type of self-help which is a. Ah, pretty big category of books is based on the same thing its personal responsibility. It doesn't matter if it's ekhart tolly or David Goggins and what's fascinating to me is those guys. Both have a lot of fans. Who are saying like yeah eckhart, you're the man. My man you help me out and other people are like dude David Goggins gave me gave put a little fight in me and I'm just laughing to myself because of how monumentally different the advice is.

23:17.10

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

23:19.16

Max Shank

You know the difference between ah there there are no problems. There are only situations and I let them pass through me and you got to conquer your inner Butch bitch and run like ah ten miles a day or whatever. Um. And I know there's more to both of them than that I'm super generalizing but the fact is they both are dependent on personal responsibility and the worst thing you can do is. Assume the identity of a victim of circumstance versus an author or an authoritarian of your own life and take personal responsibility for the good and the bad and everything in between I mean ah if you don't. Take personal responsibility if you don't put yourself into the role of like the creator of your life. Um, basically you're screwed. So I think that's the number one most important thing and that's a psychological foundation that basically every.

24:25.89

mikebledsoe

Come.

24:31.21

Max Shank

Ah self-help has in common from the tollies to the goggins and the Jockcos It's all taking responsibility for your own life.

24:38.13

mikebledsoe

yeah yeah I agree that from a psychological perspective. That's the number 1 thing. Um, you know there's personal responsibility and then I think after that comes self-esteem and self-esteem. House people then create boundaries for themselves and other people. But yeah I think it does all start with personal responsibility and and getting out of that that victim identity. So we have spot on I this is what I love about Ah. Maybe not prepping so much for this because I was thinking more about habits and I love that you said that but I was thinking about all right? So we got personal responsibility on the list and I'm also thinking about daily habits the the most critical thing that I've recognized is. Are you getting good rest are you getting good sleep and to me I think that you know we we put the psychological side apart and we go to lifestyle habits that getting enough sleep is.

25:40.40

Max Shank

Ah.

25:54.90

mikebledsoe

If you're if you're not getting that. There's really not much else. You can do like you could do so many other things right? But if you're not getting good sleep. It's just not going to matter.

26:07.16

Max Shank

I Would agree with that I would also say that it's interesting both personally and anecdotally that if you have more drive toward a specific goal if you're more enthusiastic. If you're more expressive and less depressed people need a little bit less sleep and they do sleep a little bit less but getting inadequate sleep. Whatever that number is for an extended period of time. Ah I mean you're like killing your brain essentially and that's what's going to. Be responsible for a lot of that higher order thinking. So I would agree hydration sleep nutrition Those are those are kind of foundational physiological things that um, they they deserve to be right in there right? After. Ah, personal responsibility and self-image or self-esteem because those are very similar.

27:06.10

mikebledsoe

Yeah, the ah the deerration of sleep and the quality of sleep being different. You know I think it's widely known between six and a half and 8 hours of sleep is about the the right target and everybody's different by the way. Um, but I think. I know for myself when I'm in a high high motivation state which means that I'm waking up at the same time you know ready to go I'm doing my morning routine which involves exercise and because I'm on purpose I end up expending way more energy that day than somebody who's not.

27:42.61

Max Shank

The.

27:43.39

mikebledsoe

Somebody is spending their day distracting themselves on Instagram or watching Tv or or whatever it is that person's going to end their day with.

27:48.93

Max Shank

I.

27:57.17

mikebledsoe

Without having expended all their their energy and then they're gonna want to you know continue watching Tv and continue being distracted and that person's just not gonna get high quality sleep so they may need to make it up in quantity and of course when you wake up and you don't feel good about what you want to do. There's nothing getting you out of bed because bed is fucking comfortable I like laying around on bed on some days. So um, yeah, it it all does work together because if we're looking at sleep. We go well, you know if you're eating poorly that's going to disrupt your sleep if. You're not exercising that's going to disrupt your sleep. Um, and I think that sleep is you know if you're getting six and a half to seven and a half hours of sleep and you wake up fired up and ready to go and you're tired tired and satisfied at the end of the day with with your work then you're gonna the sleep is indicative of. That you have other habits in order. So there's a few things that are going to impact the sleep which is temperature of the room is it dark did you stop looking at screens for 2 to 3 hours before you attempted to go to sleep. These are all. Unquote sleep hygiene or or making sure you have enough magnesium in in your diet if. You don't have it have magnesium. It's hard to down regulategulate. So these are all things that are directly related to sleep. But again you know if you're not exercising and you're not eating well, that's also going to impact it so I like it as.

29:25.59

Max Shank

Most of that stuff's a feedback loop right.

29:28.87

mikebledsoe

As a marker. Yeah, it's all feedback loop all of it. But um I think I think quality of sleep is a really good. You can check in with that and if something's off then then there then you can start looking at other places.

29:31.52

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah.

29:45.77

mikebledsoe

There was a Chinese medicine. Do I used to see in in snitas and he would ask me. You know?? Ah basically are you dreaming? Do you wake up with boners and what's your shit like and those are like the 3 things and I go. Ah yeah, you know what. As a man as you know women don't have boners. Ah,, there's ah as a lady bones. Yeah, as ah as a man if one of those things are off if you're not having dreams. You're not remembering your dreams. It probably means that your sleep architecture is messed up in some Way. Um.

30:09.28

Max Shank

They have lady boners.

30:24.51

mikebledsoe

Which is fucking up your hormones which isn't going to allow you to wake up with boners and and and then obviously how you're shitting is is how you're primarily. Well let's say it makes up of how you're eating and what kind of stress you're enduring because if you emotional stress being held in the gut will fuck up your digestion. Even if you eat really? Well So Ah these things all again, a lot of that will manifest in basically sheep you look at your sleep and your defecation habit.

30:55.33

Max Shank

Yeah, it's kind of like we have neurological housekeeping which is identity self-image personal responsibility and then we have physiological housekeeping which is promoting good sleep. Maybe you have an alarm. In the evenings that reminds you to turn the screens off. Maybe you take a magnesium supplement I mean really even if your routine is total bullshit. It might be better to have one because you're intellectually and psychologically putting energy into the quality of your sleep. You're like okay I have this routine where i. You know I'd swish coconut oil in my mouth and um, you know do eye exercises and massage my hands and feet and do a little stretch like even if it's not a very good routine just having that um psychological investment into it. Can be beneficial and that's like the ah the whole idea is that physiological housekeeping like are you getting enough water are you getting enough nutrients from your food. Are you getting enough exercise and it doesn't have to be any fancy exercise. And then what you said are you know, sort of the markers for how that's going. Ah check the poo. Do you have a boner every morning and are you dreaming and that's really interesting so we have the psychological housekeeping we have physiological housekeeping and then I think from there I would start looking at actual skills I don't know if that makes sense for you. But if we're trying to go for high leverage then really the 2 skills are. Language and movement and language is no question the most high leverage skill There is um I mean mathematics is a language in and of itself sales. And marketing are certainly language-based ah flirting wooing ah dating. That's mostly language-based There's a little bit of physical-based stuff too. So then you know you have language on the one side you have physical skills on the other side which would be like fighting. Ah, moving around with ease I think it's smart to get good at giving massages personally I think that's a really high leverage skill like if you can do ah a 5 minute shoulder foot rub and do it really? well.

33:41.50

Max Shank

My god like whatever partner you have is going to feel so loved and so lucky and you know there are love languages and shit like that. But man if you have word skills and physical skills. Ah, that's super high leverage and and really those are the skills. Worth cultivating so from a language standpoint I would say ah probably sales and storytelling is the highest 1 and then also planning and delegating right after that as far as like the high leverage. Language skills are concerned.

34:17.48

mikebledsoe

Yeah there's um, there's a book called um, your like the last safe investment and the idea is the the safest investment you can make is in yourself and that. The premise in the book is that you want to make yourself as valuable to other people as much as possible in order to enhance your ability to make money because that's the people who make the most money have figured out how to position themselves in a very high value position. So the way. That they break it down is the low value skills. There's 4 different quadrants 4 different pillars or 4 different categories of skill one being physical labor number 2 being technical labor 3 creative labor 4 interpersonal labor. So. Each one is more valuable generally speaking than the other so physical labor is you know, gardening building houses plumbing electrical. Ah this is but it's also professional athletes. So the 1% of physical labor talent plays basketball. But you know that's as a very rare ah physical labor. Yeah, you get? we get. That's an interesting take on that because yeah, the artists are really left out of this whole thing. Ah if you think it sports performance.

35:37.36

Max Shank

I Think that's a I think that's a performer.

35:49.70

Max Shank

Ah.

35:53.59

mikebledsoe

Art performance. Ah all right? but outside of that and then you have technical labor these are accountants people who are you know, just man I don't even know what else fits in that category. But there's a lot of technical labor out there that is. Mostly these days being outsourced to India by the way because they're so technically oriented and then.

36:18.67

Max Shank

It's basically any labor where someone else tells you what to do, but you don't have to sweat very much.

36:21.82

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and you just have to you have to like you're probably working on a computer and it's not creative work. It's I'm moving things from over here to over here bookkeeping accounting. You're just following the rules. Not really thinking too much.

36:34.29

Max Shank

Maybe even in a factory in like a factory if you're not really like digging ditches but you're moving machinery around and you're manning the loom or something like that. That's a little more technical than digging a ditch. But yeah I follow.

36:39.60

mikebledsoe

Right.

36:46.32

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and then creative labor that may be copywriting that would be ah writing a book writing music. Whatever it is and then the level above that is interpersonal. That's leadership sales. That's things.

36:53.10

Max Shank

Writing a book creating a video series.

37:05.85

mikebledsoe

Involve relationships. That's the highest value skills to acquire and so um, it is the hardest skill because it's ah if you think about it. Ah these skills the skills that are most focused on in school.

37:12.90

Max Shank

It seems like the hardest skill to me too.

37:25.61

mikebledsoe

People are developing is really technical ability and so it's really, you're really being trained to be a worker. Not really someone who's gonna be creative. It's so funny when I hear people you know, be concerned about Homeschool kids not getting the right level of socialization but I look at.

37:27.30

Max Shank

Um, if.

37:45.48

mikebledsoe

The level relating skills that people have going to public schools fucking shit and it's like I'm like what what do you mean? their social skills. They can't lead. They don't know how to you know they don't know how to date.

37:59.31

Max Shank

They can't manage their own emotions. How are they gonna have a chance of managing somebody else's it's absurd. Don't get me started on the school thing. We'll ruin the whole podcast the worst twelve year investment you can make oh god.

38:03.31

mikebledsoe

Can't manage their own. Ah. Ah.

38:13.11

mikebledsoe

Ah, ah so ah, coming from 1 guy who who went to school another guy who didn't but um, we both agree. Ah yeah, so so I think you know with what you were saying you know there's there's skills. Was it you said Ah, it was movement skills and and verbal. Yeah, so if you look at the interpersonal if you look at the interpersonal which is the highest value you have to communicate. Well it comes down to communication whether you're doing sales or you're in a leadership position. It has to do with.

38:34.71

Max Shank

Yeah, it's verbal and physical. Basically yeah.

38:52.10

mikebledsoe

Are you able to tell people and have a conversation a you got to be a good listener and then B can you can you? then? what your your output side of the communication is that landing in a way that that is that matches your intention. Because what I find is most people they talk and then the other person completely interprets it in a way that was unintended and neither party knows what to do about it that usually is what results in most conflict.

39:21.49

Max Shank

Ah, well I call it a catalytic communication did what you did your communication yield The result that you wanted was it a catalyst for the result that you were after and if you have that it's Amazing. I mean look the average person talks like they're just practicing talking. They don't know like why they're saying what they're saying they like heard something and they're like oh it's my turn to talk for a while now and like I heard about this and like but like catalytic communication like does it yield.

39:42.63

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah I think.

39:58.11

Max Shank

Result that you had intended that is super high skill and high leverage and if we think about the word leverage we have to be clear about what we mean by that. Do we mean the highest ah result or the highest benefit per unit of time. Do we mean the highest. Ah. Benefit per per per calories because that's another way way we could measure it. That's why language is so crazy because we're all just saving tons of calories. That's why we can like sleep in a big comfy bed instead of hunting will de beastenship and then you also have ah leverage for.

40:31.40

mikebledsoe

Fucking Well at least.

40:37.11

Max Shank

Money So you have leverage for time leverage for money and leverage for calories and ah language is all of those.. That's why that's what drove the dot Com bubble. That's what has driven um these different softwares because software is language and it is. A series of conditional phrases. Let's call I'm like about to leave my circle of competence here basically but basically um, intellectual leverage is when less explains more or when less can do more.

40:59.49

mikebledsoe

Oh.

41:16.54

Max Shank

And if you have a really slick piece of software you can perform the work. You can save the calories of you know millions of people having to do the job instead and now it's replaced with a computer program which is just ah rules. Ah, using language that's incredible.

41:37.50

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and that's such a good example of how that's being utilized the there's a guy named John Vervaki I think ah, it's it's Dr. John Vervakki's ah he's like a philosopher. Ah, doctor of philosopher philosophy from up in Canada I forget which school he's got a 30 hour series on on Youtube called awakening from the meaning crisis and what's so cool about that series is he is. He walks you through the evolution of consciousness through history and so there's this handoff between basically where the hebrews and the ah like the hebrews and transfers into the greeks and say why like. Up and to that point hebrew culture was at the pinnacle of of ah of consciousness and then the greeks came along and then made a lot of improvements upon it and part of it was was that fluency increased so the style of the language actually became. Easier to understand to the average person and so there's a lot of research that that shows that if you can increase fluency you increase believability and so 1 example of this is if. If you're reading something the fluency of what's written on the page is gonna impact the believability of it so did a study of people that were reading something that was black on white and then they were reading like orange on white and they're reading. So they were tested afterwards because if there's not as much contrast on visually it decreases the fluency. It slows them down all this stuff and the believability of the statements was even when they were not true at all were rated much higher.

43:38.66

Max Shank

Oh yeah.

43:48.93

mikebledsoe

When there was more contrast and so the and so they've they've done a lot of studies where they're measuring the fluency the ability to Comprehend. What's being said and the faster you can comprehend it the more believable. It is so increasing is just an argument For. Or a suggestion towards increasing your fluency your ability to communicate in a way that others can receive it easily is going to make a huge difference.

44:16.49

Max Shank

Man and that speaks volumes to the whole idea of catalytic communication where the goal is to get the other the person on the other end of that communication to take a specific action. So if I'm talking to you I'm doing it for you I'm gonna try to gear it. As much as possible so that you can understand it as well as possible as clearly as possible and that's where stuff like eye relief comes in. You know if you have just this gigantic intimidating block of text. Ah, that's going to reduce the fluence here. That's going to reduce the understandability. Of it if you use a bunch of ah you know, fancy $10 words that's going to be a limiting factor for the other person's ability to understand so it's a big difference between writing for yourself and writing for your audience so they can take a specific action.

45:11.15

mikebledsoe

Yeah I think this is a great place to talk about the people who want more authenticity like I want ah authentic Expression. You know I want to be able to go On. You know I talk to coaches. I Want to be able go on social media and speak my truth and then that's what should bring me my clients. That's what this and that and and I watch it this. This is really big amongst I'd say more often women are are wanting this more than the guys is there's this.. There's this belief that. Authentic expression means saying whatever the whatever you want. However, you want and expecting to get a result from other people and as if that's the best way to communicate and ah and I always challenge people hey authentic.

45:53.10

Max Shank

Ah.

46:04.46

mikebledsoe

Expression or being sincere or genuine doesn't mean that you say whatever you is come to your mind in it in in a way that you want to be heard and understood Now you're you're speaking So the air the person can receive it so be Authentic. Don't lie be authentic, but keep it inside of the scope of how the person's going to receive that information. That's the best way to be authentic because if they can't receive it then they're not actually experiencing your authenticity. They're just experiencing confusion. And so I think that these are 2 things that need to be helped speak your truth and while also considering and taking the responsibility for how other people are going to receive it because the people who don't do that are really confused about why they may. Be isolated or they feel alone even though they're expressing themselves.

47:01.16

Max Shank

Well plus I mean should we really be so attached to this idea of authenticity I mean the older I get I swear every year I just look back and go God I was such a fool like I was an idiot I didn't know anything and. So the audacity of thinking Well I should just be able to talk. However I want to talk and like you said, expect that to convert whether it's like sales or believers or whatever let the authenticity come from your core belief.

47:29.73

mikebledsoe

Ah, no.

47:36.83

Max Shank

The authenticity is the core belief that hey you should do 5 minutes of exercise every morning boom that's my core belief but then from there don't just talk the way you would at a bar with a bunch of like old sailors or something like if you're. Clear on who your audience is communicate it in a way that will give them the best possible chance of taking the action. The authenticity is in your mission not in your like learned turn of phrase I mean most people learn how to communicate so badly. Like I said they're just waiting for their turn to talk. They just want to make noise and have people listen to it. So ah sometimes it works though sometimes ah people find it really funny or endearing or like oh yeah, that guy you know says the f- word a lot and ah. It's it's funny in a way you know sometimes that happens but man the best leverage communication is when you really understand your audience and you communicate directly to them and the better you understand the avatar of your audience and the more you speak directly to them.

48:41.86

mikebledsoe

Um.

48:53.50

Max Shank

The more leverage your communication is going to have.

48:54.16

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and I also want to point out that a lot of self-expression that I witness when people are are I'm expressing myself is usually a wound that is expressing itself. Yeah, it's not. It's not them. It's like yeah if it was you that was expressing yourself.

49:06.81

Max Shank

It's pain body. Yeah, totally.

49:14.47

mikebledsoe

We'd You'd be coming it sound a lot more like Love. We'd be experiencing love when you spoke but ah it and and it it could be something. But if you're speaking like absolute truth a lot of people aren't ready to hear that type of thing. But. Most people who are that I hear that are really are valuing self-expression of a high degree. Usually yeah, it's their pain Body. It's a wound.. It's an emotional wound from their childhood that that's wanting to speak up and you can spot it because they actually act like a child.

49:33.35

Max Shank

Ah, yeah.

49:49.95

mikebledsoe

You know they they might stomp around they hoff and puff they may throw something. Ah you know they they they're acting like things aren't Fair. You know all you know kids do behave differently but you can now that people hear this. When you watch people interact and they get emotional just watch how childlike their behavior becomes and that's how you can spot if it's a wound or if they're coming from Love and these are you know a wound is just going to fracture love and it's and it's going to be make it unrecognizable. Um. So you know on um, on one side you have the crowd that's got self-expression as a high value on the other side and when we we cycle between the two as we develop the other one is self-sacrificed.

50:33.64

Max Shank

How about value as a high value how about values and value. You know that's what we talked about this in the school episode. You know what you want to teach someone is values and what you want to teach them how to create is value.

50:48.59

mikebledsoe

Right? um.

50:50.44

Max Shank

And if you're focused on delivering value then the last thing you're going to do is bring your own emotional garbage and baggage into it that you've accumulated over the years I mean look most adults are still children. They're old and they don't move as quick. But they they don't act any different than a child What they know a few more words. Ah and their their lives are like a little worse I mean I I get it like I I totally understand. But if you are focused on like crying out for attention rather than delivering value.

51:09.37

mikebledsoe

I I agree.

51:28.45

Max Shank

The person on the other end of that communication. Don't be surprised that you don't get as good a result as the person who is trying to be a catalyst for that audience. It's like ah yeah, don't be surprised.

51:44.80

mikebledsoe

Yeah there's ah one of my mentors I was ah ah went to one of his ah weekend workshop with him about six months ago and he said on a post it on his on his monitor. The question is what is value. And he said meditate on that and always keep that in mind it's ah it's very deep and what is value changes over time and or changes depending on situationally you know what's what's value bull. What is value.

52:21.52

Max Shank

It's bottled water at the north pole or bottled water at Coachella on the third day I mean that's that's how you figure out what value is.

52:29.85

mikebledsoe

True that I think I spent about fifty bucks one day on water at Coachella it was that yeah those mushrooms those mushrooms made me thirsty man who.

52:35.93

Max Shank

Um, and it was worth every penny wasn't it because you're still here and alive.

52:45.15

Max Shank

So I think that's a ah good question to meditate on is like what value are you delivering and if you're not delivering value in some way because look exposing like real truth that may be uncomfortable is.

53:03.89

mikebledsoe

Oh.

53:04.18

Max Shank

Valuable but to the right audience and what's valuable to 1 audience might be worthless or actually destructive to another audience and understanding that value like you said changes based on the situation and based on the individual.

53:18.64

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and a lot of things that you may value. No one else values and I see a lot of people out there that are upset that no one values The same thing they value and and can't understand why they're not making money and you. It's usually the starving artist and so you you really really need to think about what's the how do other people perceive value and then not only that I know a lot this. This is so true in the coaching industry I know a lot of coaches that possess.

53:38.36

Max Shank

Ah, the.

53:56.67

mikebledsoe

And incredible amount of value that never gets exposed to the right people and or to the to enough people and the reason is because they don't know how to communicate their value and they don't know how to connect the value that they can create to the pain and suffering. The people who need it most and there's it's really sad to watch somebody refuse to communicate appropriately and I was coaching a woman yesterday through ah we were going through a 10 year vision exercise and. She's so good at what she does and she goes but I hate sales I go how selfish of you the look on her face the look on her face was like what the fuck did you just say to me and I go wow you you just told me that.

54:40.79

Max Shank

Ha ha.

54:52.52

mikebledsoe

So many people would benefit from where and you're not willing to meet them where they're at people who need coaching people who need someone to help them out. They are so they have been sitting with this pain. They've been trying to solve this problem for so long. They can't find the solution. They've tried a hundred different things. And you're refusing to come tell them about it and and show them how it could benefit their very specific situation and so we got to turn that one around and ah yeah I hope that anyone hearing this that that strikes a chord for those who need to hear it.

55:26.73

Max Shank

I Think that's probably because I've heard that example, a lot the selfishness of not selling your solution and the hilarious part is that you are actually selling her on liking selling. So you are communicating to her in a way that will actually resonate and because usually the people who shy away from selling they they don't want to be greedy right? That's like the last thing they want they they they want to is.

55:58.53

mikebledsoe

Well, they don't want to be perceived as greedy. That's different.

56:05.80

Max Shank

Exactly right? That's a very good point. Ah, and maybe they're also afraid of being rejected but when you change that frame psychologically I mean look imagine if she puts out twice as many offers from that you know 10 minute conversation whatever it is. Think of the leverage of that 10 minutes because now she's at least doubled and is probably going to have an exponential increase rather than a linear one. So. That's that's what we're talking about is the power of leveraging language so practicing language. That's a ah, high leverage habit I don't think there is a higher one actually you know and do it low tech because we didn't even get into all the stuff that stops you from doing these good things I mean there are a million traps. There are like cute cats and tits on the screen any time that you want them. So it's hard to say no to those that there's alcohol you can get alcohol delivered to the House. You can get drug like different drugs delivered to you. Um, it's insane. Ah.

57:13.33

mikebledsoe

Um, anything is possible folks.

57:17.51

Max Shank

So I think at least for me. Yeah, if I'm hungry I Just slide my finger across my magic telephone and food arrives Can you imagine describing that to your great-grandparents eating dinner by candlelight.

57:33.50

mikebledsoe

My guys.

57:36.75

Max Shank

And then me and then me also saying how unfair life is.

57:40.36

mikebledsoe

Um I can't believe that you gave me this this place this this world we live in the baby boomers fucked us up. It's like right got pretty fucking good.

57:50.21

Max Shank

Ah, yeah, you forgot my extra ranch you son of a bitch. So Anyway, there are a lot of traps and that's why I think with. Language if you can use a pen and paper to contain your ideas in ah like a one- pageish format where you have a big idea you have some arguments of why you have. An explanation of what will happen if you take this good action because we could do a whole episode on how to craft an offer but all communication is basically that so I would go low tech high effect. Avoid the distractions get out the Notebook and a pen. Get clear on who you're sending the message to what the ideas expand on the idea have a specific call to action at the end and practice organizing your ideas that way because that's going to allow you to think better. Most communication is an argument and it's too bad.

58:48.67

mikebledsoe

I.

59:06.29

Max Shank

Arguments are seen in such a negative light because arguments are actually quite fun. You have a claim and then you have some supporting evidence or supporting ideas and yeah, hopefully or.

59:19.10

mikebledsoe

Hopefully.

59:22.66

Max Shank

Or here's a big trap that I think I've talked about a million times. The only like 99% of the arguments that you see people make are logical fallacies that only attack or prop up the arguer. And they have nothing to do with the argument. Basically you have appeal to authority which is trust god completely don't even question his argument and then you have ad hom in him attack which is this guy is the Devil. Don't even listen to his argument. And if you look at the things that people argue about that's what it's usually about we trust this guy completely or we hate this guy so much. We're not even going to listen to what this fucker says. So if you can avoid those 2 logical fallacies. No the whole thing like everything everything I mean.

01:00:07.69

mikebledsoe

The entire Covid debate.

01:00:16.85

Max Shank

If I ever run for office just rest assured that my opponent is a racist pedophile and that will be the only thing I run the whole time. It will just be character assassinational because that's the world that we're living in people are living in their limbic system. They're just like. Ah I hate you? Ah I love you save me and so it it makes arguments not that fun. Ah whereas a good argument with acclaim and supporting points and a back and forth of. Ah, evaluating the ideas. That's why a cooperative argument or discussion is so exciting because instead of 2 people who are just trying to prove themselves right? I don't give a fuck if I'm right I care if we are ultimately right like if you have a great idea. I want to know that your idea is better and profit from that and that's like the the cooperative discussion conversation argument and that's where the real gold is if you get stuck with like I'm just trying to express myself yourself probably sucks I mean mine does most of the time. So. It's better to focus on what is like ultimately the most valuable rather than like just try to support what you already believe.

01:01:38.68

mikebledsoe

Love it. Feels like a good ending anything else. You want to add before we roll.

01:01:46.24

Max Shank

I Don't know I was I was enjoying yelling there maybe um.

01:01:48.20

mikebledsoe

You you're all red you were on the rip. You know what? I'll do my closing dots I'll let you do yours? You know this show is really just an excuse for max and I to get our rants out. To save our our romantic partners from as much pain and suffering as possible. Ah, you know we we walked into this conversation looking at high leverage habits and addictive actions. I only think we got no addictive actions much but high leverage habits for sure and you know the the number 1 thing.

01:02:07.41

Max Shank

I.

01:02:24.72

mikebledsoe

That ah max and I agreed on which it needs to be done first that is take personal responsibility in anything in which you don't you're not experiencing freedom or power in your life is due to a lack of of taking responsibility for that. So if there's something that's not going the way you like it. Go look at where you can take personal responsibility and from there you can you know work on you know self-esteem and creating boundaries and all that stuff and then on the ah so we kind of. We we did split it up. Max Max did a great job of this is saying there's like psychological and physiological housekeeping so that would be on the psychological side on the physiological we got into you know, sleep being one of the biggest indicators. The quality of the sleep. You're getting what you're how you're waking up. Um. And all that and then oh yeah, the last thing to mention on ah that I want to throw in there to remind everybody that I want that I got out of this conversation is ah when forming new habits really looking at the the who and the why the identity and the purpose those are the things they're gonna. Are high leverage things to ah to use when you're starting new habits.

01:03:42.80

Max Shank

Yeah that's great I think of those as the first dominoes like everything else kind of falls into place when you have your mission and identity lined up. Um I don't think I have too much to add. Actually I think you put it together very nicely. The reality is most people will not take the action and that's okay, like you you don't want to think of it as an all or nothing kind of thing if you get 10 % of the people who hear your message to take a better action toward their.

01:04:13.20

mikebledsoe

Um.

01:04:21.69

Max Shank

Psychological physiological housekeeping and start practicing those high-leverage skills and those are mostly language and then also ah physical like body language and athleticism and things like that. So if anyone tells you it's complicated. Definitely not. Humans are complex creatures but they are ah very tightly organized sometimes their thoughts are a little bit muddled and that makes it very difficult for people. There are unlimited distractions and drugs available to you some of them come through ah a screen full Of. Red Green and blue tiny lights that can show you all kinds of weird stuff. Some people use ah food and different drugs to desensitize ah and as far as that goes. There's ah, there's a quote I heard ah in nor Mcdonald's book. He goes I was at the psychologist psychiatrist and she said that I use gambling to avoid the realities of life and he goes. That's why everyone does everything.

01:05:36.74

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah, that sounds about right I Where can people find you? What do you want to tell people you're up to right now because you're always up to something.

01:05:37.19

Max Shank

Ah.

01:05:45.77

Max Shank

Um, sometimes I'm up to nothing which is actually a big lesson for this podcast. It's okay to do nothing I feel like that's actually a high level skill now is if you can just sit quietly for 10 minutes how far we've come.

01:05:50.33

mikebledsoe

Ah, that's true.

01:05:57.60

mikebledsoe

Oh that's and that's ah I think you're right about that that is a high lever skill.

01:06:05.91

Max Shank

I'm releasing a new I'm releasing a new e course called how to sit still for 10 minutes.

01:06:11.71

mikebledsoe

I'm gonna I'm gonna do a I'm gonna hold a retreat. It's a meditation fasting retreat. We're gonna do and say nothing. Yeah, no, no, it's $10000 well but we we'll do yeah lower lowerhead for me. Ah.

01:06:19.57

Max Shank

It's a very low overhead. Oh for you.

01:06:28.63

mikebledsoe

We will. We will be in a mansion and we won't enjoy any of it because our eyes will be closed and we'll be just sitting there doing nothing. Yeah.

01:06:34.60

Max Shank

I like it. Yeah I got ah I got a few projects I'm working On. Um, if you want something habit related check out Primal Athleticism on my website. It's basically the ultimate in physical housekeeping from an exercise standpoint to. Modular daily practice. It's awesome. Um I got a few secret projects I'm working on so http://macshank.com at Mashank Thanks for listening guys.

01:07:00.47

mikebledsoe

Who mystery ah go check out http://thestrongcoach.com/summit I am holding a summit here in Austin Texas March third through seventh and I rented out a summer camp. It's gonna be part burning man part. Summer Adult Summer camp part fitness seminar part business conference I think there's another part in there I'm forgetting about but we're gonna have a really good time and I'm a big fan of creating experiences that are both educational and fun because as if you don't know already. That if you mix play into your education. You can learn up to 20 times faster that came from a peer reviewed research study so you know don't f with me. Love y'all.

01:07:48.87

Max Shank

F that peer review f that peer review. Study play is the original form of education later bro. Love you.

Feb 7, 2022

00:00.00

mikebledsoe

Welcome going to Monday morning with Mike and max Today we're gonna be talking about money. We. We're big fans of it I imagine you're a big fan of it too and sometimes you probably get really mad at it or maybe mad at yourself about it and ah, it's a very. Very touchy subject for a lot of people and if you can master money then your life is going to get a lot easier because money solves a lot of problems. Not all of them but a lot of them. So. 1 thing I really want to discuss by the end of this show that I want people to get a handle on is a a definition that I received from one of my teachers. She defines financial freedom as having enough passive income to handle all of your living expenses and that that passive income means. Maybe you have real estate that's income producing. That's that's rental properties that money is coming in and it's profit getting dividends from your stocks or and there's ways to do this with crypto as well where you can you can pull off profits so having. I'm sure we can talk about some other asset classes that are income producing. But I personally have many friends who have already accomplished this and and I am on my way to doing the same thing for myself. So max. You're what's ah, what do you What's your relationship to money like these days.

01:39.42

Max Shank

First off am am I getting paid for this.

01:44.80

mikebledsoe

I'm sure you'll get paid at some point down the road. Yeah yeah.

01:46.74

Max Shank

Seems like a bad business decision for me to just give it away for free like this. Ah I think that money is energy and it makes trading easier and all of the emotional.

01:51.21

mikebledsoe

Um.

02:06.42

Max Shank

Baggage We attach to it is something that needs to be worked through that the real key is to understand that it makes trading easier you know and to focus on delivering value because we can talk about.

02:17.84

mikebledsoe

Oh.

02:25.47

Max Shank

Ah, money on a micro and a macro and it's best to focus on micro first which is like yourself essentially and there are only 2 ways to improve your financial situation and that's to increase your income and reduce your spending. And in order to do that. You have to be very honest about what the difference is between a luxury and a necessity and I think it's wise to really focus on delivering value on being able to scale. The value that you deliver and also being comfortable with less. You know live a very spartan lifestyle as long as you can because um, it's really not fair. Once you get ahead of the game in in money. It's like once you have a million dollars saved up you can invest it at a you can invest it slowly and 5% is still going to give you 50 grand a year and that's more than enough to live well on you can eat well, you can never have to worry about a roof over your head. You're never going to um, have to drain that nest egg and it's going to provide for you just by having it there. So I yeah very safe. Potentially.

03:49.63

mikebledsoe

And that 5%'s a very safe investment that's that's a very low aggressive. Not lowress. It's ah, whatever the safe? Yeah, not aggressive safe. Yeah.

04:02.47

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah, um, and you know we can talk about specific stocks that have different dividends like usually a Verizon or something will have a higher dividend which is what they pay out and you can reinvest the dividends or you can take it out as cash. But anyway.

04:08.36

mikebledsoe

Oh.

04:20.61

Max Shank

The the key point is realizing that money is energy getting rid of the emotional baggage focus on delivering value and scaling that value you deliver living a Spartan lifestyle and accumulating a fat chunk so that you can. Invest into securities or real estate or reinvest into your own business as well because that is that is the best investment is being confident that you can always make more.

04:48.95

mikebledsoe

Yeah I think I want to hit on a point you were making and and you know living a spartan lifestyle and and only living with the necessities. It's it's a really big challenge for a lot of people and I just went through a financial course this past year and one of the things that. Was noticed because everyone in the the course together are are all entrepreneurs and when we did a survey of the room of how many the entrepreneurs that were there to learn grew up with no money or with very little money. It was almost all of us. It was was we were the majority and the teacher she one of the things that she noted was that a lot of times what happens when we grow up poor and then we make money is we buy ourselves all the things that we.

05:28.45

Max Shank

Right.

05:46.95

mikebledsoe

Couldn't have when we were a kid or when we were younger and so there a lot of people end up adopting this attitude of you know I'll just get it and I need to treat myself or whatever to make up for you know what I didn't have and and another pitfall is amongst people who.

05:58.94

Max Shank

And.

06:06.70

mikebledsoe

And this was me for a while is I'm so good at making money like so confident that I could just go make more money that the the feeling the necessity to save and invest wisely just didn't seem that important. Whereas you've got a lot of people who are making 50 to $100000 a year on a fixed salary and they're trying to max out their ira but to an entrepreneur who can make a hundred grand in a month if they really fucking put the screws to it that ah. That seems kind of ridiculous like why would I scrounge and take that money and invest it in something that's going to earn such a slow rate of return when I could just go make it real quick and so ah, for for there. There's pit for.

06:43.79

Max Shank

The.

06:59.89

mikebledsoe

And that's not the majority of the people that were my class by the way I was I was one of the few people that were like oh yeah, if I want more money I just go make it and yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, definitely. Ah.

07:01.97

Max Shank

Yeah what's like the Richard Branson style it's good to understand the different personality types because what you say. Is like the opposite of my approach.

07:18.26

mikebledsoe

Yeah, this is a good conversation for max and I to have because we are very different in in how we've approached money in the past I bet we were probably closer to each other at this point but we'll see that but the thing I want to touch on that I learned in the class. Um, is the you don't have to be Spartan You don't have to only go to the necessities but you need you need to be real ah with your numbers and looking at and being present with the amount of money you're spending on this and that and then actually making the choice. So.

07:51.60

Max Shank

Oh.

07:56.30

mikebledsoe

I Wouldn't say that I live an extremely Spartan lifestyle but I do a lot more saving these days in in intelligent investing and I like to split my purchases up into first before I just going what do I need and what do I You know? what's an option is I go What's meaningful.

08:14.30

Max Shank

The.

08:15.59

mikebledsoe

What is a meaningful purchase does this? Yeah I don't need it but does it really bring enough meaning to my life because I'm not going to wait until I'm retired to have all the stuff that you know to enjoy my money I'm going to enjoy my money along the way. So one of the things I Really ah appreciated about her course was.

08:28.69

Max Shank

Great.

08:35.46

mikebledsoe

It wasn't this like Dave Ramsey approach where where it's kind of like you know, super hard rules and like if you know you gotta do it like this or it won't work. It's more like you know here's some things that you can apply in your life and you can live life now but just realize that every. Every dollar that you spend now takes away from your future financial freedom and and and if I go is this worth my future financial freedom then? yes I'll purchase it hey if I go is this worth my future financial freedom because every time I spend. Now is money I don't get to invest in crypto stocks real estate. These are every every penny is something I can't invest in the future that that'll give me a future return so holding that frame has been a game changer for me for somebody who. Who tends to be ah you know, ah very risk tolerant and aggressive that is extremely helpful.

09:43.13

Max Shank

Well and that's the personality type I'm talking about too oftentimes like the Richard Branson type there's a survivorship bias because there's a lot of people who try his same strategy of. You know triple mortgaging his house so he can buy an aircraft engine. Ah and it goes horribly wrong and you don't hear about that guy. You only hear about the winners and you know when you're talking about saving now. You know you're listing things that have the potential to.

10:06.84

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

10:17.69

Max Shank

Lot of things that have the potential to have compound returns and that is something that is really difficult for people to understand in their mind because when you spend a dollar on something now that's not that's not going to be a dollar. In 20 years if you're willing to be patient because the compound effect is really hard to understand in the present moment what it could potentially be 20 years from now and that's why um you know you gotta find something that suits your personality type and. What you're saying sounds like you are more. You're not spartan but you're more conscious and aware of the spending and more conscious and aware of the income. So. It's an appropriate energy balance. Rather than just this like freewheeling reckless abandon like I'll just make more I'll just make more I'll just bla but da da da da da and you know I I see that from my perspective which is like you know the further ahead you can get quicker the more. That what you put away will compound and especially when you're young I assume like most of the people listening to this are going to be somewhere around like 30 year old fellas maybe 20 to 40 right? something like that. Um you know, live as simply as possible when you can because.

11:44.37

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

11:53.33

Max Shank

Part of the the keeping up with the joneses thing is such a killer on so many levels. It's this extra ego baggage that doesn't serve you and you don't see the balance sheet of those people who are trying to get into those comparison Competitions. You know why? Why are we. Trying to keep up with the joneses. The joneses are Broke. You know you want to be like ah you want to be a secret millionaire as quick as possible and have the ability to move and act and create from a place of. Safety and abundance and when you have that when you have that separate investment that Accrues income and has a compound return I mean frankly, it feels like cheating you know you you get yourself. Ah, property like a home and you invest the rest into your own business into securities and I mean if you want to do something else. There are all kinds of other options. But it's basically it's not fair like money is ah about as fair.

13:07.20

mikebledsoe

Oh.

13:11.56

Max Shank

As nature itself. It's not fair I mean we could get into like fractional reserve banking and stuff later and go like whoa what the hell is that. But um, it's not It's not fair that a lion can tear a Gazelle to Shreds and it's not fair that if you have. 5 or $ 10000000 as long as you're not a complete fool. You'll never have to worry about money again even a million and so getting ahead as quick as possible living as spartan as possible to begin with is really good advice being able to defer that gratification for later. Same thing with creating a business for yourself. You know most of the big income I've had is through exponentially scalable things like online courses and videos and books that I've written and if you can build something one time. It may take you six months or a year in some cases sometimes 2 years projects I've been working on but I can build it once and then sell it 10000 times. Most people just aren't willing to do that and it's it's hard to it's hard to see into the future. Ah.

14:20.31

mikebledsoe

Oh.

14:27.82

mikebledsoe

Well, you're an early adopter of the digital information product and so it's you know this is definitely when those things were being early to the game. It's easier to have a big payout your marketing didn't have to be as.

14:27.88

Max Shank

For most people that way.

14:45.10

mikebledsoe

As good as it does Now there's a lot more. It's a lot more competition in the online marketplace and a lot more noise whether it be direct competition or just like I said that and that noise that's out there. Um, yeah, and.

14:56.57

Max Shank

Ah.

15:01.30

mikebledsoe

1 of the things that you mentioned you you threw outt the number of a million dollars will give you this much. Ah income. You know say at 5% a million dollars that give you $50000 a year of income and so I I think.

15:08.21

Max Shank

At 5% yeah

15:20.77

mikebledsoe

That was one of the things that I didn't sit down early enough in my life and just realize that that's all I need is like oh if I want to have by the way. Ah, ah, most people need to make more money than they need to make and what I mean by that is due to the debt that they're holding. They actually have to make a lot more money in order to pay all all that interest and all that that past purchasing and so for the average person a hundred hundred and fifty thousand dollars is is if your debt free is a lot of money. You know my number is. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars I want to I'm a little bit I'm a little bougie at times so I look at that. Yeah I have to have you know 5% you know $5000000 and in income producing assets. That's that's just knowing that number. Just knowing that that exists and I have a frame on that and like I can. That's my target my motivation after having that realization to make money went way up and before it was again. It was about how much do I need to make it through the next month or 2 or the next year but when I started thinking more long term it became a lot easier to do that and having an actual number that was not arbitrary because one of the one of the things that I one of the mistakes that I made early on in my entrepreneurial career is that. I had bought into this like ah it's like a silicon valley thing I bought into this like okay you build this business and one day you can sell it and and like I put all my eggs in that basket and I never. I only paid myself what I needed to pay myself and I kept kept all my money in the business and then one day the business has a hard year and which means that I personally have a hard year and I didn't have anything saved up. So. My ability to make decisions in the business were was hindered because I was personally in ah in a poor position and so that happened me 1 time and I said never again. Um, and then it it um the the same teacher I learned from recently. She pointed out that the that so many entrepreneurs try to build wealth in their business. She said stop thinking about your business as a wealth creating tool. It's an income producing tool. Your business is about creating as much.

18:09.35

mikebledsoe

Profitable income is possible so that you can then go invest it in things that are asset producing ah or sorry ah income producing assets that are outside of your business and having a true having a true diversification. Yeah, and so like a lot of times.

18:20.62

Max Shank

Well, it's diversification basically is what she's saying. Yeah.

18:28.63

mikebledsoe

The argument in entrepreneurial community A lot of times is ah you know oh I'm gonna invest my money in something. What's the thing I trust the most oh my own product. The thing that I get to control and so that's that's how I used to think that's how I watch other people think.

18:41.68

Max Shank

Right.

18:47.58

mikebledsoe

And that that's a that's a high high risk game that you're gonna have you're gonna hit a pitfall at some point it's not. It's not an if it's a win.

18:57.25

Max Shank

Well I think it's important to understand that concentration versus diversification. So concentration can give you the absolute highest return but you have to guess right.

19:14.77

mikebledsoe

Ah, oh.

19:15.80

Max Shank

And if you guess wrong then it is catastrophically bad diversification. You will not make the most plain and simple the the more you diversify the more stable it is the less chance you're going to have to outperform the market. Because otherwise you should just buy the whole market and like what 4% every year or something like that depending on which timeline so it's very understandable that the people who make the most are the ones who just constantly reinvest into 1 thing.

19:52.10

mikebledsoe

Right.

19:53.53

Max Shank

You know they they pick the right 1 whether they operate it themselves or not Elon Musk is a good example. boom reinvest everything into his own companies and then there are some companies out there where you know they they bet big on alibaba let's say. And that becomes a hundred times bigger than the rest of their portfolio. I mean there's a company that invested in alibaba maybe like 5 % of their portfolio or something and then twenty years later alibaba was like 95% of their portfolio because it grew so much more.

20:28.33

mikebledsoe

Who.

20:32.80

Max Shank

And everything else and that was just one that was just one bet so thinking of life as a series of bets basically and you can put all your money on double zero on the roulette wheel and you will make the most.

20:33.78

mikebledsoe

Well, that.

20:49.19

Max Shank

But you also can lose absolutely everything So it's important to understand what the point of diversification versus concentration is.

20:58.80

mikebledsoe

Yeah there's um, there's ah, there's a really cool concept by the guy who wrote anti-fragile and black swan his name's Nasimm. He's ah a turkish fellow that lives in New York really great economist and. Ah, really successful investor and he has this method which is the barbell method. So which is you know invest a large portion of your money into stuff that is extremely safe. You know, gold you know? ah. Just stuff. That's that's incredibly stable. It's not going anywhere and then on the other side go into startups go into the startup world. Go go buy those shitcoins. Whatever it is that you think might hit because the truth is with a startup.

21:48.80

Max Shank

Ah, so.

21:56.69

mikebledsoe

Or with some of these cryptocurrencies. You could see a hundred X Return This is this is a possibility This is a real possibility and so um and and he says you know just spread it out that way but he's.

22:09.73

Max Shank

Yeah, there are all kinds of ways to get that.

22:15.35

mikebledsoe

He start you know state he says he he likes to stay out of the middle because that's where the that's where the majority is the majority is in the middle and the majority I mean if we if you want to get like mainstream results do that. But it's as.

22:18.18

Max Shank

Yeah.

22:29.76

Max Shank

Threat.

22:33.67

mikebledsoe

Who wants mainstream results mainstream is fat sick almost dead and and broke. You know it's like why would you like it's it's the it's the last place I want to be and so I really like his approach to that because it does. Scratch the safety itch and it also may if if you're like myself it scratches that you know let's throw some dice down here and see if we can make a million dollars

23:02.15

Max Shank

You know that's ah, a good strategy and you also have to know yourself and know what's going to allow you to sleep at night and focus on what you're best at too like if you want to be.

23:15.56

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

23:19.39

Max Shank

Actively investing your own portfolio and researching companies great if you want to focus on what you're best at and just create more income from your books or videos or courses or you know wood pellets or whatever you're.

23:33.40

mikebledsoe

You know.

23:38.28

Max Shank

Your business is ah you can also just buy the SAndPFive hundred and then there's no, there's like no management fee. Basically so you minimize, um your spend you also do minimize your returns but you also minimize your risk and.

23:42.39

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

23:57.46

Max Shank

It's a lot easier to sleep at night doing that than you know researching startups and things like that just to give like the other side of that coin because I think the strategy you outlined has a lot of merit to it. But I think knowing your personality type.

24:03.15

mikebledsoe

Right? well.

24:15.88

Max Shank

And recognizing how much you want your involvement to be how active into those investments you want to be same as if you want to buy real estate. Do you want to hire a property manager and eat up most of your return or do you want to manage it yourself I mean these are things that. You got to consider from your personality and Lifestyle standpoint.

24:35.52

mikebledsoe

Yeah, nasim talks about that in his book is basically that investors. Yeah, if they stayed within their logic would majority of time make a lot of money but people are so emotional. You know they can't sleep at night they can't they go to bed that night worrying about their money and if you're having that experience and investing if you're investing and you're worried about it and you can't sleep and it's the you know last thing you think about when you go to sleep and the first thing you think about when you wake up, you're in over your head and you're. You're likely going to just make poor decisions and so ah, which actually brings me to one of my rules which is I only invest in the things that I understand there's so many especially and with cryptocurrency right now. I invest in crypto I actually just sold off 90% of my my ah portfolio for crypto the other day and um and and it's because for good and I'm watching the market continue to go down right now.

25:44.33

Max Shank

For good reason right.

25:50.95

mikebledsoe

Because what I'm doing is I'm I'm just going to hold cash by the way in the voyager app by the way if anyone wants access to be able to ah look at Voyager just hit me up I've got good connections there but in in the Voyager app. If I store my us dollars as Usdc which is a which is a token tethered to the us dollar I get a 9% api on that annual. So it's ah you can't get 9 % guaranteed anywhere but you can there so there are.

26:23.69

Max Shank

Weird.

26:26.54

mikebledsoe

Yeah, there, there's I won't I don't quite understand entirely how they're able to do that. Ah, but I I do have a feeling there's aspects of it that that I that I do get but I like to invest in things that I understand like I understand bitcoin at its. At its base I understand ethereum I understand ummatic I understand these some of these currencies I understand their purpose I I get what's going on I've I've been tracking them and then there's other ones that people like like shib came out and everyone's like you got to get shit I'm like why. Or doge coin you got to get doge oh because Elon Musk I'm like whoa whoa whoa I don't understand this I'm not going to touch it and of course these things skyrocket and then they plummet and you know some people make a bunch of money. Yeah, and it's like and.

27:14.72

Max Shank

The foma will get you.

27:21.55

mikebledsoe

And I've learned to be completely. Okay with it whereas I have some friends who you know they're trying to make that dollar right now they're deep in the Nfts they're trading fucking dragons and and you know magic bears and dragonflies I don't fucking know what these people are are I get.

27:37.40

Max Shank

Third.

27:40.15

mikebledsoe

I Get what's happening I mean look the wealthy have been storing their the wealthy have been storing their money as art for a long time as a tax haven I get it and it's a very intelligent move and I do think that a lot of things that only the wealthy have done the rest of us get to take advantage of and.

27:50.45

Max Shank

Her.

28:00.13

mikebledsoe

And this decentralized blockchain world. But most of you have no idea what the fuck you're doing and so even if even when I do understand the fundamentals of something if I see too many new people flooding into it I get out and I stay out until I let the dust settle. Could I potentially miss out on making a shitload of money. Absolutely I could get in there but you know what? and this is the point you were getting at too which is I would rather spend my time producing value in the world that makes the most sense to me I know how to teach coaches how to build a coaching doesn't. So I know how to help coaches be better coaches and that's the that is the value I bring to the world that people are going to exchange with me for money. No matter if the dollar goes away if we moved totally to cryptocurrencies if we end up on the yen. Whatever the fuck it is it doesn't matter what the currency is. I'm gonna be fine because I can always create value in which people are gonna then whatever it is. We're trading at the time they're gonna give it to me and so I think I want to say first off your best investment is in yourself so invest in traits in yourself that allow you to make the most money sales being the. The most valuable skill on the planet. So if you can learn how to sell if you know how to market you know how to sell it doesn't matter what the market does. You're going to be fine and so in so a. Invest in yourself be invest in things that you understand or another way of putting. Ah, another example of this um was learning from this guy. He primarily makes money trading stocks and he was talking to a bunch of us entrepreneurs who you know I'm not. Um, not really that much of a stock guy but ah 1 of the things he said that just made a lot of sense. Super simple concept is if you use the service own the company if you do you use Amazon go buy some Amazon stock. do you watch you know do you have a Netflix subscription. Buy some Netflix like you stop using it because you don't like it. Maybe you should sell your stock like you don't have to study the market so deeply and try to run crunched numbers and sounds like look if you like like if everyone who bought an Apple Computer invested and Apple stock when they bought their Apple computer because they love it so much. There'd be a lot more wealthy people out there right now. Ah so that was a because that that's a form of understanding if you if you like a product use a product you understand enough about that company.

30:48.82

mikebledsoe

Doesn't mean that it's a surefire way and it's a completely safe thing. But I think it's a great way to if if someone's like I don't know what to invest and I don't know how to get started I don't know what do you buy.

31:02.47

Max Shank

Oh I mean I really I really like what you said before which is invest in yourself and invest in things that you understand I think um, buying a stock just because you use. The product is too small of a sample size. I think it can be a good starting point though. Like oh like I use that because I think the word price is really important to explore like how do we get at the price like there is a time where you could have owned Coca-cola for 5 20 years actually and had a zero percent return so there you can have a great company at a horrible price and you can also have a horrible company at a great price and actually either of those would probably be a mistake. Um.

31:42.19

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

32:00.36

Max Shank

And investing is very paradoxical because you're trying to balance risk and reward and whenever there is more risk There is typically more reward but the price of something is just what people are willing to pay. Um.

32:13.74

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

32:20.19

Max Shank

And that is determined by how valuable it is to a person and you know a lot of the a lot of the cryptocurrencies are Tulip Mania all over again for sure I won't say that about all of them. But if and like an Nft just because someone. Values a digital magic dragon at a thousand dollars today doesn't mean anyone will ever pay a dollar for it later in the future and so I think it's a good starting point to say what do I use but it. Doesn't necessarily make it a good investment. In fact, um, you know a good product can be ah, a bad investment from a stock standpoint and that's I mean that's why markets are that's why markets are not ah rational. That's why markets are irrational.

33:08.72

mikebledsoe

It can be.

33:17.56

Max Shank

Because people are irrational and and if you go to college. They'll tell you that markets are are rational markets are like in balance Basically but that's how could that be the case if it's people who buy the stuff. We're not rational.

33:32.45

mikebledsoe

Well in Academia we got to make sure we can measure everything there's ah, there's a there's a really good book by the way I agree the just because you use the product doesn't mean it's a good investment but it's a good place to start looking now.

33:35.60

Max Shank

At all.

33:47.81

Max Shank

Absolutely good place to start looking.

33:52.19

mikebledsoe

There's ah, there's a book that talks about tulip mania amongst many other things the the money the the history of our our current monetary system. 1 is you know the the. You alluded to it a little bit earlier fractional reserve banking that basically the modern way of banking or the modern um version of money has described really well in the book. Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. So. I think it was in this book I could be wrong because I don't think you were recalling it quite the same way I was and we both read the book but ah from what I from what I gather it the current monetary system is about three hundred and fifty years old and. Came out of Europe which is basically banknotes people coming up with banknotes and coming with bills. You know, getting away from coinage where there's an actual silver or a gold coin getting away from the coinage and getting into the bank bank notes that represent a certain amount of gold held by the bank. And so instead of having to lug around all this gold now I could just have this banknote and this banknote is certified by this bank and we can trust them yada yada yada and so ah, the it started off as a very trustworthy system I think it was France who did this first. Which was the king goes to one of the banks and says I'll make you the only bank that can issue notes in all of the kingdom of France and and I forget what the deal was and of course a banker. Who is in the business of increasing wealth. They they hear this and go oh I'm about to get an immediate monopoly fuck it. Let's go and ah in the book it it outlines the ah the progression over time. The king putting pressure I think maybe the king died and then his son came up or something like that but pressure was applied to the bankers to basically print off some banknotes that aren't backed by gold you know, basically fake money and. So they started diluting the money supply and the banker in in the book basically says hey that's a bad idea like talks about how the banker tried to resist it because he's like you know that.

36:32.97

mikebledsoe

I see what you want I see why you think it's a good idea, but this is why it's a bad idea. It's only gonna lead to a collapse and sure and and the thing is is. It's kind of it's kind of like one of those things that once it gets out. You know, opening up a can of worms you can't get them back in so the or what. There's a better analogy for that I forget what Pandora's box and basically the moment you get off of a representation. Ah an actual representation of value then it get you get into like really dangerous waters and getting back to that is going to be impossible with that banknote.

36:53.79

Max Shank

Pandora's box

37:11.37

mikebledsoe

So it's kind of like people think if they can get the Us dollar to be ah, go back to the Gold Standard Yeah, never gonna fucking happen. It just be how you just have to create a whole new currency. So.

37:15.53

Max Shank

Back to buy gold again. Yeah good luck impossible. Well I mean maybe if the price of gold went up by like a hundred fold or something like that I don't I don't know exactly what the numbers are I mean if.

37:28.60

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah I don't know what it is either.

37:33.96

Max Shank

I Think for the average person this like banking and macro stuff. You should just avoid it until you're rich already like just from ah a functional standpoint like don't don't concern yourself ah with the economics of.

37:41.96

mikebledsoe

We mean avoid it.

37:53.85

Max Shank

Banking and fractional reserve and fiat currencies and things like that just if you don't have a lot of dough right now just focus all your attention on increasing your income and amassing some wealth first because you can go down this rabbit hole where you will become. Um. And I think rightfully so like paranoid about the ah fragility of our our financial interactions our socioeconomic situation here like ah getting off the gold Standard Huge mistake.

38:17.32

mikebledsoe

I.

38:31.38

Max Shank

Um, I Understand why you would want to be able to print unlimited dollars. Nobody really understands what the cost and benefit of doing this will be and I think if you're just trying to deliver value and create wealth for yourself. Um, it's best to just accept these macro truths and not invest too much of your precious and limited attention into them because you're you're not going to be Happy. You're you're going to have a bunker full of gold and only properties and you're gonna be like ah.

39:01.30

mikebledsoe

Well yeah, have you.

39:08.26

Max Shank

You won't use Banks you'll just stuff cash under the mattress. Ah.

39:10.44

mikebledsoe

Ah, well well you know I don't know if that's necessarily completely true like if you have no money saved and you haven't invested anything I agree but for for somebody who's is like okay I have a little extra money I want to invest it in something this Ah this is my argument for crypto and and.

39:18.17

Max Shank

The.

39:29.76

mikebledsoe

Say Bitcoin is because Bitcoin is ah is is powered by electricity and it has an actual cost which means it has an actual value and it and it can fluctuate depending on the.. How much energy costs and how much how many transactions are happening and and all that which makes it a little more fluid than say gold. But ah, way easier to trade.

39:56.34

Max Shank

Way easier to trade than gold I mean trading gold like if you think about trading gold like it's really hard like first off like if you want to buy gold like I don't have a fucking gold tester in my pocket like if someone sells me gold. I'm going to have a hard time knowing if there's lead in there or not and vice versa and vice versa. You know so um, bitcoin is certainly easier to trade. It's just hard to figure out what the price should be because you can't know if something's a good investment or not.

40:18.10

mikebledsoe

Well, even if we well but that does happen. Yeah.

40:35.87

Max Shank

Ah, without understanding the price and a potential future price.

40:36.37

mikebledsoe

Yeah, the the problem the problem with a lot of the crypto conversation right now is that it's all based on the Us dollar so at the Us dollar like if you log into any trading platform. It's how many bitcoins is worth how many dollars you know? and.

40:53.92

Max Shank

Right.

40:56.50

mikebledsoe

It's ah instead of it just being its own thing. But I I think that they're I think in the next five or ten years in the next I guaranteed I'll put money on it 10 years ah I don't that's a terrible thing to say not guaranteed.

41:01.86

Max Shank

How could it be its own thing.

41:12.75

Max Shank

I Think ah I think I might have a bet on my hands here.

41:14.21

mikebledsoe

Ah, but out prediction. Oh we should you want how big a bet you want to make right? We'll see I'll tell you what it is and then we'll go 10 years ah well if I'm wrong, you might be right? and.

41:22.96

Max Shank

Too big for you to cover it. What. Um, yeah I.

41:31.86

mikebledsoe

So in 10 years ah I think that that that problem is solved so 10 years the the how does how do we value it. There will be there will be some

41:45.65

Max Shank

Is it going to be a flat chart that says 1 bitcoin equals 1 bitcoin.

41:49.96

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah I mean what's it for the dollar now right? So the it I mean it's the dollar is fairly arbitrary and the pricing and all that. But I think with.

41:57.17

Max Shank

Yes.

42:03.60

Max Shank

Well, the dollar the dollar is backed up by a really big stick a a huge stick wielded by Uncle Sam and it's ah and it's attached to oil which currently makes the world go around.

42:07.41

mikebledsoe

But right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's always yeah to energy itself. Yeah, so um, but I think that I think that I think that being able to say this currently is worth this much.

42:22.79

Max Shank

Yeah anyway I.

42:32.87

mikebledsoe

Compared to this currency I think that's gonna be figured out I don't I have no fucking idea how to get figured out I I imagine it's gonna require some a lot of computing power but at the same time. Um, living in Austin Texas is is pretty great if you're in the crypto. Currency conversation because so much of tech is moved here so much of crypto entrepreneurs are here and so and I know so I know some of these people they're fucking smart they're they're they're blowing me away I just.

43:03.78

Max Shank

Yeah.

43:08.71

mikebledsoe

Um, just like yeah um, I'm doing the best I can to keep up and I'm gonna you know make some trades based on what I'm hearing but sorry for that I don't fucking know and I mentioned that because I just see people ah coming up with some really amazing solutions that that. There's all these problems that crop up when there's a lot of transactions happening and then someone creates a new ah coin a new currency that that solves that specific Problem. It's moving in incredibly fast breakneck Speeds I can't keep up and I'm somebody who. Really loves keeping up with these types of things. It's it's It's very interesting to me and so I think I think a lot of that will be solved all right I Think let's let's get out of this out of this crypto we gotta get out.

43:54.42

Max Shank

We got to get out of the macro stuff. This is what I was saying is like it's It's not practical.

44:00.72

mikebledsoe

Yeah, we gotta get out of it. So um, let's move into this is what I get for So I get for bringing up the the modern day money I So you say you say that you see money as. Energy. Can you say more.

44:18.37

Max Shank

Yes, it's a representation of energy. It's kind of like a claim check on other people's time. Um, you know some people say ah money is the root of all Evil I completely disagree I think greed is a source of some.

44:23.86

mikebledsoe

Okay.

44:37.89

Max Shank

Unsavory behavior but money is not inherently good or evil Um, it's a claim check on other people's time and it's stored up energy The fact that you can use money to bring real physical objects into your. Life is incredible. The fact that you can trade money for food is incredible. The fact that you can trade money for a house is unbelievably cool and if it weren't for a currency like that it would make trade so difficult so it makes. Trading so easy. Otherwise you have you know if you're a baker and you want a cow you have to hope that the farmer wants some bread and a lot of it.

45:24.38

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, I Really like the exchange for time conversation. That's and so I was hearing that recently from somebody else they they go. You know it's just an it's you're gonna buy your time Back. You're just gonna buy back. Ah, by buying food at the grocery Store. You didn't have to go grow that food. You didn't have. There's so much time was was purchased and so yeah, forget who I was here Ac is just a storage of time and the more you have the more time you have like oh it's very very interesting.

45:58.44

Max Shank

Yeah, well, what's interesting is you can trade your time for money you can trade money for other people's time which can save you time but you can never get time back.

46:01.50

mikebledsoe

Um.

46:13.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

46:16.37

Max Shank

Time time is your most precious resource by far and unless you learn how to leverage your time. Ah, you're you're gonna be stuck trading hours for dollars pretty much and that's what I mean when I say you want to find a way to scale your effort.

46:34.59

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

46:35.50

Max Shank

Basically so leverage your effort into something that is scalable exponential.

46:40.29

mikebledsoe

Yeah, this makes me think about the predictable stages of entrepreneurship that I've witnessed which is which is people get to people want to get to the point where they they have all this accrued money and and able to to.

46:45.66

Max Shank

The.

46:59.44

mikebledsoe

People say buy their time back. You don't get a bat but like you're able to purchase like you can spend your time the way you want to the more money you have and the predictable stages of entrepreneurship. The first stage being I hate my corporate gig I'll do my own thing and so many people. When they start doing their own thing and they're making enough money to get by. They feel like and I hear a lot of people say this is that's financial freedom but it only lasts for so long because. They're so excited about not doing this corporate gig in which they had built up their mind as something that they hate that they overlook the the burnout you know I think there's some type of saying that says you know as an entrepreneur you know you quit your 40 hour work week that you hate so you can take on it. 80 hour work week that you love or something like that. You know it's like it's really really ridiculous and I've watched a lot of people go into business for themselves who end up wanting to go back because I go wow I just get because I know so many people that they have their corporate gig. At five o'clock when they knock off and go home. Do you know how much they think about work. They don't they go to the gym. They go to the bar. They don't think about that shit at all as an entrepreneur after five o'clock maybe still, you're working even if you're not working. You're thinking about work. You're always problem solving this shit. Shit is real. So um, it people will over. They're so excited and I see that excitement can last about 9 to 18 months of excitement when somebody has given themselves a job. You know they have a. Self-employed. They wake up one day and they realize oh man I just gave myself a job. This is actually not any different. It's more responsibility same thing that I was doing before um and and they can either go back to their job or they can become an owner and I bring this up. Based off what you're saying is because when you turn into an owner. That's when you start actually leveraging your your time your attention money. That's when you it's when you start when you zoom out of the business. You're able to work on it. You're no longer working in it and you're you're hiring delegating systemizing. This is all the things. These are the things and the responsibilities that have to be taken on in order to have that lifestyle that people dream of when they go I want to be my own boss I want to be an entrepreneur I want to I want to run my own business I don't want to have a boss it really requires.

49:45.58

mikebledsoe

Becoming an owner and I know there's not many people I've Met. Um I'm trying to recall one now and I can't bring one to mind of someone who went straight from I Hate my corporateri gig to I'm an owner I think the only people that really do that may have been working in financial services and then. They they moved over into investing right away. But if you become a business owner then the level up from that is investor where you are at at each level you are looking at this thing from ah a higher landscape and. Are doing less of the work and more of the directing of where that energy goes if we think about money as energy I'm going to direct the energy to go this way. It needs to go that way instead of it being something that I'm I'm having to crank in order to generate.

50:40.21

Max Shank

It's like you have investing in ditch digging on opposite ends of the spectrum investing you potentially don't have to make very many choices at all I mean it's the easiest work there is and as long as you ah bet correctly.

50:43.62

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

50:57.71

Max Shank

You know you can have like ah basically no no work hours. You just have to make good choices once you become an investor and so it's like I really relate to it's funny. You said 9 to eighteen months it sounds kind of like the 2 year itch

51:04.85

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

51:16.13

Max Shank

For excitement and relationships too ah is kind of similar right? So you have this fantasy idea of what it will be like to be a business owner. Yeah, right? yeah.

51:16.30

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah.

51:24.17

mikebledsoe

You're on drugs you're on drugs you got 9 to 18 months to be to be in this drug and do state. You know we talked about drugs last week. So you you get what I'm saying.

51:34.43

Max Shank

Love and other drugs. Ah, and you know people don't consider what will intrinsically make them feel fulfilled right? figuring out what they want to give rather than just what they want to get and if you can figure out what you. Most want to give to people and then optimize that that's probably the best way to go to go about it because I see it as like ah maybe 2 opposite ends of the spectrum on the 1 hand you're like okay well um, I'll be a banker. Because banking has the biggest potential for me to get very rich and I don't necessarily love banking but I want to be rich so I'll be a banker and then on the other end of the spectrum you think about um who you would really like to serve like what would make you feel alive and just be intrinsically enjoyable. You pick your role you think about oh man I really like um massage or I like painting flowers or whatever and then you find a way to scale that passion. See what I'm saying so you can either start with a passion and then figure out a way to scale it or you can just pick something that is the fastest method for getting wealthy because I think a lot of people who want to own their own business. They really just.

52:54.34

mikebledsoe

So.

53:05.12

Max Shank

Ah, want to be rich and not be told what to do.

53:09.19

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the you know as I've gotten older I'm like man maybe I should have done a little more work that I was less passionate about that get me ah more bucks in the pocket but you know that was never my style. Um well I want to talk about.

53:12.43

Max Shank

Um.

53:28.66

mikebledsoe

The reasons why people won't reach third fighttro goals and in fact to same this is the reason why half the stuff that max and I said on on this show up to this point, you never even heard it like you didn't hear it today. You went right through your head and you weren't able to grasp it and that is due to. Not because of an intelligence not an intelligence issue. It's ah it's a relationship to money issue and so how people relate to money and how they relate to wealth forms their beliefs and the beliefs become constraints on. Their ability to to do something in that realm. So if you have beliefs about money. Those beliefs are actually ah, they're serving as a constraint in some way now this constraint at some point likely served you but it's not going to make you wealthy. And this is why most people are not wealthy because the information to become wealthy to be an investor all these things widely available. You can go on Youtube and get a lot of really great advice. It's out there. You can get some poor advice too. But you spend enough time you get to sift through it and figure it out now. People's relationship to money is poor because usually we just get it from our parents we but we get these these beliefs from our parents who pass them down to us whether they did it intentionally or not. It could have been a phrase that they said it could have been how they behaved around money. You know I've I've worked with clients where you know their mom had to hide their spending from their dad and you know as a child they mate they now they have this belief that formed and and now that's impacting your life now at at a subconscious level. Which actually makes it hard for them to even hear certain advice because it flies in the face of some belief that they had built up for decades and now because it's when when you're operating from belief then ah, you're automatically filtering out some information and.

55:22.25

Max Shank

Can.

55:34.90

mikebledsoe

And accepting other information.

55:36.55

Max Shank

Man is so on point I mean I think that's the the only barrier to becoming wealthy is belief and whether or not you believe that you are not deserving of money or whether you believe. Ah. All rich people are evil which is something a lot of people believe that money is a 0 sum game and in order for 1 person to get wealthy. Someone else has to be basically stolen from or victimized and it comes back to that drama triangle right? You got the villain victim and the hero.

56:08.83

mikebledsoe

Yeah. Man The politicians love to make it look like the wealthier gonna are there to fleece you like it's their fault while you're poor.

56:14.20

Max Shank

And ah you want to hang around.

56:23.93

Max Shank

Dude no charity has done more for poor people than Walmart by by any stretch. Um and boy talk about an unpopular topic at dinner parties I'm like the worst and best dinner party guest of all time. Because I have I'm a little ass burgery and I also read a lot so it's just very It's just very fun like so yeah, it's money is not a 0 sum game.

56:44.12

mikebledsoe

Yeah, that is why I s smokerk weed before I grow out in social environments that way I just keep my mouth shut.

56:57.12

Max Shank

Ah, but the the beliefs that become constraints is is so huge like whatever you believe about money is true for you and when you take away the goodness and the evilness of it and just treat it like energy. You can let it flow. You can let it stagnate. You can let it hold power over you? Um, but it really comes down to what you believe about it and. It can be tricky to get out of but it's all the more reason to be selective who you associate with because if you hang around with people who say rich people are evil and they themselves are poor. Most likely you're going to adapt. To that group so it can be very tricky to pull yourself into a better friend group and I think I even mentioned it last week you know if you hang around with people who don't think 10 grand is a lot you start to believe 10 grand is not a lot and you're.

57:48.22

mikebledsoe

Yeah, um.

58:03.75

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

58:06.93

Max Shank

You're like oh I got to step up my game and of course it just goes on and on and on too but seeing it not as ah, a means to an end or seeing it not as an end in and of itself like keeping up with the joneses. But as a means for capturing back some of your time. And using energy to promote the ideas that you really care about like a mission or a meaning or something like that. That's that's powerful I mean the fact that you can get your time back is incredible like you never have to go shopping again. If you're willing to pay like an extra little delivery fee. Someone else can go get your grocery someone else can go pick up your dry I don't have anything that requires dry cleaning. But if you had dry cleaning like ah Mitch Hedberg has it.

58:50.59

mikebledsoe

I got like 1 thing I wear every three years. Yeah I'm with you.

58:59.68

Max Shank

Mitch Hedberg has a great joke about that he goes this shirt is dry clean only which means it's dirty.

59:04.20

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, brilliant. Ah yeah, you said something. It's not a 0 sum game and an analogy I like to you cause some people that's ah that's a belief that is they don't think the belief they don't think the words. 0 sum game but the belief that because somebody's wealthy means that somebody else has to be poor or it's the poor or the reason that there's somebody who's wealthy I mean we could also you know because being poor and wealthy is really just a comparison for 1 so. There's always going to be poor and there's always go be wealthy. Like the poor in the United States have flat-screen Tv's air conditioning and ah are and have an excess of caloric intake. So these people are by world standards. So if we compare them in the United States they make. Say $30000 a year. They're fucking poor right? from re exactly.

01:00:02.59

Max Shank

The comparison has divorced people from reality if the people who are called poor are dying from overeating that's divorced from reality like we're out of our fucking minds.

01:00:15.00

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and but if you look at the the world population and income if you make $30000 you are in the 1% you are in the 1% of income earners in the world if you make more than $30000 a year.

01:00:33.16

Max Shank

And if I compare myself to the rock I'm a fat brokeke loser I should just go fucking kill myself. It's It's all what you compared to. But there are some realities like what you said about financial freedom before if you don't have to trade your time for food and shelter anymore. Basically.

01:00:34.74

mikebledsoe

And so.

01:00:39.80

mikebledsoe

I.

01:00:53.00

Max Shank

For your expenses that that's super worthwhile.

01:00:54.55

mikebledsoe

Yeah, but the the 0 sum game there. There's an analogy here which is and I think people will grasp this which is people don't have to be unhealthy for you to be healthy right. I look I look at health and wealth the same way I can if everybody were healthy. We'd all be healthier for every unhealthy person walking around the planet they're dragging us down right? And so the if we.

01:01:19.10

Max Shank

True kill the fatties I'm just kidding I'm just kidding.

01:01:29.50

mikebledsoe

No, they just can't do it to themselves but the ah by the way, not a judgment. But if you're fat. You're you're dying faster than us. But that the the more people the more people who are healthy. Yeah.

01:01:41.59

Max Shank

How dare you sounds I don't know if that's racist or sexist I know it's wrong though.

01:01:50.14

mikebledsoe

Ah, probably both. Ah, it's not a 0 sum game. So everybody has the chance to be healthy and in fact, the more people who are healthy the easier it is to be healthy the same thing with being wealthy. Everyone has the opportunity to be wealthy are.

01:01:51.85

Max Shank

A.

01:02:08.34

mikebledsoe

Now compared to each other maybe not but we all have the chance to have a really solid roof over our head be able to travel the way we want to travel all these things and the more people who are able to accomplish having these things the it drives the price down of certain things it it creates more peace around the world. It's gonna be a lot less conflict. There's all these things but there are some people who do play the 0 sum game. They they believe it and they say I've got to make other people lose so I'm not saying that that does not exist in the world. There are people out there that they're called thieves that they have to actually take from somebody else to have for themselves. And so ah, the people who are operating out of a zerosum game are usually immoral in their practice. So if you hear somebody talking about it being a 0 ero-sum game and they're rich. They're probably immoral. In some way and the way they're getting rich is they're ripping some people off, but there's a lot of people who I'd say the majority of the people who are wealthy have created more value for others and have gotten a fair exchange in return.

01:03:16.74

Max Shank

Let me add a little bit on that because I agree and I think it's even more potent than that because I'm sure our listeners have realized by now that you and I are in favor of a little thing called freedom and when there is.

01:03:21.84

mikebledsoe

Oh.

01:03:34.85

Max Shank

Profit and a voluntary exchange that is always a net positive that that's like if if it's really a voluntary exchange where there's Profit. You're always creating a surplus of value if I sell you a sweatshirt for $20 And you buy it for $20 The only way that happens is if it's worth it for you to buy it and worth it for me to sell it so it has to do with something called Win-win Theory which is very Self-explanatory. So Even if you don't buy into the other stuff. Realize that when you are creating a profit you are in an energetic surplus and you are promoting voluntary action I mean look at the things that work the worst it's when people are stolen from and there's no Incentive. You know there's an incentive. For a company if there's no ah, political or policing interference to create a product that people value at a price that is affordable. You know and so you are. As a company. You are essentially a slave to the customer rather than um, under taxation where you are a slave to ah basically ah, a guy with a huge stick that will punish you if you don't pay up so that's why you get a better result when there's voluntary action. So huh. 0 sum game whenever there's a profitable exchange that's Voluntary. You are actually creating wealth on both sides you are creating value on both sides of that transaction. That's huge.

01:05:24.81

mikebledsoe

Beautifully said beautifully said. Um we don't want to go from here I think we I think we should um there was.

01:05:31.27

Max Shank

We could call it there that would be my final thought anyway because I think it ah clearly I have one more at least if you focus on that.

01:05:40.45

mikebledsoe

It sounds like your final thought. Ah.

01:05:51.23

Max Shank

Like you will feel intrinsically good because it sounds corny but it really does feel the best to give if you find yourself if you start out very broke and then you become rich. Um, you do go through a phase where you buy yourself all the toys. Ah. Went through it myself I bought like every toy I ever wanted and then I realized that the thing that felt the best was like taking my friends out for lunch or getting stuff for them or bringing them on experiences like buying stuff is very hollow. But when you are. In a emotional and energetic balance. It's ah it's a profitable exchange like you are offering up so that people truly value and appreciate enough to put their money where their mouth is. You know and you also are filtering out the people who aren't actually that interested like I could give my programs away for free and people would be less likely to do them. But if I work really hard on something and I believe in it and I charge money for it and someone believes in it enough to pay for it. That is what feels good is those mutually beneficial exchanges where both people are investing ah their energy which can be in the form of time or Money. So I Think that's what actually feels the best is to give.

01:07:07.26

mikebledsoe

Um.

01:07:24.83

Max Shank

And if you are doing it at a profit then you are in a mutual energetic Surplus that's based on voluntary action and dude. What's better than that. That's how you promote this this freedom and love so there you go.

01:07:37.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, so what I want to leave with is it comes down if you want to be wealthy. It comes down to mindset and skill you need both of these to be present and so the mindset my favorite way to look at that is to look at your beliefs. And the first thing you can do to look at that is sit down and write down about what your mother or what you learned from your mother about money and wealth and wealthy people and what you learned from your father. Ah these are 2 different. Journal entries these what you learn from your mother is gonna be different than what you learned from your father and it's not important what they wanted to teach you or what they try to teach you. It's about what you learned. That's the important thing to remember here. So if you want it. Any any type of money mindset training that you're wanting to do needs to start there if you're starting somewhere else. You're you're not going far enough back I mean if you want to go further back which I've actually done is I I start looking at my dad's childhood. So like how you know what was that like. And how did that form. Ah, the the lessons that got passed down to me so mindset and skill and the other part is the skill and that is simply the the people have tend to have negative emotions associated with money. They don't check their bank account. They don't budget. They don't do certain things consistently because they don't like how it makes them feel and so they just avoid doing it all together. So that's a mindset deal. But once you get past that and you're actually able to be present with your cash flow. Then the skill of managing that cash flow comes in that is setting aside up money for taxes setting aside enough money for investing for a rainy day and then and then allocating how much of that money. Are you going to set aside for meaningful expenses and and and necessities and things like that. So. Having the mindset having this skill they need to both be online and most people can't even look at the skill part until they've handled the mindset. So go do those journal entries about your parents and that's all I got for yall today you good max.

01:10:00.64

Max Shank

Ah, yeah, you're like a financial freud. Ah.

01:10:05.68

mikebledsoe

Ah, we should name the show that one all right brother. Love you see all next week

01:10:09.72

Max Shank

Ah, love you. Thank you guys see ya.

Jan 31, 2022

00:00.00

Max Shank

Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to Monday mornings with max and Mike Hope you're having a great start to your week so far and we're going to get going with drugs. This week we're going to talk about drugs drugs inside your body drugs outside your body when to use them how to use them and let's just start with the fact that you're probably using all kinds of drugs every day and the word drugs is almost a little bit taboo. But we're gonna break it down step by step and go through what the most common drugs are and how to use them to your advantage rather than have them use you mike thanks for joining me here.

00:46.78

mikebledsoe

Yeah I was yeah, thanks for having? Oh yeah I didn't have I had you or do you have me? we have each other. Okay I always find it interesting I I remember one of my favorite people. Ah, he's like 50 years sober and you know when I first found out he's like ah I've never had a beer I've never had a cigarette I've never had like I limit my coffee all this stuff and I was like he's like yeah I'm sober I don't do anything I'm like oh you so full of shit like year quick. It's just so funny where like people want to draw the line of like you're ah you're using chemicals all the time to change your state and a lot of people use something like sugar as a drug or whatever to say that you've never done that.

01:33.75

Max Shank

Oh.

01:44.36

mikebledsoe

Is is really ridiculous, but your state is always shifting the chemicals in your body are always shifting and ah some of these chemicals are going to have a much more noticeable effect than others and and it's good to just be paying attention. To what's happening in the body and I think some people just are drawn to more intense state changes than others and there's nothing wrong with that. So yeah, I'm excited to talk about this today because I think that even people who've never done. Quote unquote drugs would get a lot of benefit from this conversation.

02:24.35

Max Shank

Well we got to start with a little definition then because what's what's a drug are we saying any substance that changes your state set is that a truck Aspirin's a jut.

02:30.60

mikebledsoe

Um, do.

02:37.49

mikebledsoe

Yeah I would for me like um.

02:42.17

Max Shank

Aspirin's a drug does it really change your state though very much I mean it has an effect. No question that is the most used like if if it meets our definition I believe that's the most commonly used drug unless you start including coffee and then I think that might be.

02:45.98

mikebledsoe

Yeah, it does.

02:57.39

mikebledsoe

Yeah I think coffee is probably the most widely used drug. It's got psychoactive properties. Some drugs are not as psychoactive but even Advil is psychoactive just to a degree in which is not noticeable the average person if I take something like an Advil.

02:59.15

Max Shank

Even more popular. Ah.

03:16.40

mikebledsoe

I May note I'll I'll probably notice something whereas somebody most people just would never notice that and some people are gonna hear that and go you're crazy. No not like that. But I noticed well it's like um, it's like all these people that are taking you know they they.

03:21.00

Max Shank

So you take so you take Aspirin and you see purple dragons start flying around the room.

03:35.38

mikebledsoe

They take pain killers or whatever and it's like they don't realize how much of it's inhibiting their mental state their their cognitive ability. You know I'm just killing the pain. It's like now you're killing the pain and your cognitive ability right now. So ah yeah, so like there's there's.

03:41.49

Max Shank

Moon.

03:48.71

Max Shank

Yeah.

03:55.11

mikebledsoe

1 thing I want to point out too is there's no such thing as side effects like this whole like ha but side effect the idea of a side effect is such propaganda. It's such. It's such a great marketing tool to make you believe that.

03:57.69

Max Shank

Oh I was just gonna say that go on go on.

04:13.14

mikebledsoe

We don't want this to happen and it probably won't happen but it could happen. It's some fucking liability deal. It's not true. It's like and if you go into Science Science people. Love talking about science but like in science there really is no side effects. There is they're just effects.

04:19.60

Max Shank

Well, it's marketing.

04:28.23

Max Shank

There are just effects well look at look at Viagra Viagra was heart medicine the side effect was hard cock now that's the main effect.

04:33.30

mikebledsoe

Had a side effect. It's an effect.

04:40.11

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, so.

04:46.10

Max Shank

The marketing department got hold of this and we're like this ain't heart Medicine guys. This is our golden ticket out of here.

04:53.11

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah, so ah so I think that and then there's people's perception of drugs is very interesting like I was saying in the beginning is there's like this line that gets drawn and of course there's the the personal line that gets drawn but it. It's always influenced by society's standard and so we have like this Fda thing the food and drug administration who ah the people there are responsible for telling doctors and and stores people who retail. But they can and cannot sell and also what kind of claims you can and cannot make and so a lot of times we go. Oh you know when it gets to the point where the Fda has to be involved now that's a drug or if it's a pharmaceutical now that's a drug or if it's illegal if the Dea which said. Different administration. The drug enforcement administration. But by the way was highly underfunded for decades and the only way they could make money was by stealing drug dealers money. But so their incentives for busting is a little going back to what you always talk about.

05:48.78

Max Shank

Oh.

06:08.30

mikebledsoe

The incentive set up so the Dea is in charge of putting certain drugs on a with on the schedule or schedule 1 schedule 2 schedule 3 so they're in charge of and there none of them are voted into office. They're all. Ah.

06:26.43

Max Shank

Oh.

06:26.87

mikebledsoe

Appointed and so you have this random group of people that are saying these are the drugs that are okay and these are the drugs that are not okay and the drugs that are okay aren't really viewed by the public at large as drugs and so people who are like oh I'm sober. Pretty much. It basically said I don't do the drugs that the Dea says not to do. But I'll drink my coffee. All you know this and that.

06:56.50

Max Shank

It's really interesting because the laws of the land or crime and punishment to certainly influence the culture to a certain effect right? and.

07:06.69

mikebledsoe

Well, some would say that that law is culture like it's It's the it's the basis of culture because it's it's using language to tell you what you do and don't do.

07:14.40

Max Shank

I Mean the chapter I mean isn't that kind of what religion is too. That's why that separation of church and State is so damn important right? because it's all what we inherited from the last guy you know it's this. It's this long chain.

07:24.23

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

07:33.76

Max Shank

Of parents and parents can be like ah a preacher ah Pope or a president and they're like this is good. This is bad behave yourself. We won't get mad kind of thing like and that's basically how it works right.

07:49.33

mikebledsoe

Right.

07:51.41

Max Shank

So we have this idea that there are some good drugs and some bad drugs and the best example because you got to know that there's a lot of things that are done in a very short-sighted fashion and it's really hard to. Calculate all the costs of certain things like I live in California and I believe up until like 3 to four years ago marijuana was like totally illegal right? something like that. Let's say within the last five years right

08:26.77

mikebledsoe

What was medical it was medical was it but it's been recreational flight maybe 3 4 5 years but before that was was like medical in the late 2000 yeah Yeah, 50 years

08:28.16

Max Shank

My friend who is a bouncer for. Yeah, okay, but let's say illegal for a long time and and like yeah and like a and like a pretty bad punishment I think too like you would go to Jail Yeah, that's whack yo.

08:49.65

mikebledsoe

There's people still doing time.

08:53.94

Max Shank

Ah, but my friend who was a bouncer at a bar. He said when there was a reggae concert. They would be full capacity and people would just be in a cloud of smoke and there would be no violence. There would be no car accidents and then when there was a country music band This is a guy who is bouncer there for 20 years at this local bar country music goes. Ah the bouncers are. Running around all evening. There's fights breaking out everywhere. People are beating each other up. There's drunk driving and it's like you gotta you gotta check reality a little bit because what is causing more immediate problems alcohol or Marijuana Now. That's what I'm saying. It's so hard to calculate right? because it's not.. It's not about the substance. It's about the behavior and I think that would be like a good thing to just remember regardless of whether it is a drug that daddy says is good or a drug that daddy says is bad right.

10:01.57

mikebledsoe

But but I yeah totally agree and I think that people and there's just a big problem in our society today is people.

10:04.10

Max Shank

It's more about the behavior than the substance itself.

10:16.80

mikebledsoe

Are more likely to judge something as good or bad based on what some authority figure has has to say than witnessing the results for themselves right? when it comes down to how much violence happens in regard to alcohol versus weed. It's it's incredible. The.

10:20.24

Max Shank

Of course.

10:35.59

mikebledsoe

The violent the aggression goes up with alcohol with we to go it tends to go down and ah you know I'll I'll take a high driver over a drunk driver any day of the week so I don't I don't drive I don't drive either way. But I'll tell you what.

10:46.74

Max Shank

Right? And both are fun. Um, right.

10:54.64

mikebledsoe

I'm pretty athletic when I'm high I'm not very athletic when I'm drinking and I'm pretty sure that carries over to you know maneuvering a vehicle.

11:05.70

Max Shank

Here's another here's another quotable phrase though. The devil is in the dosage if you want to do some endurance Work. You get a little high if you want to lift something real heavy. You just get a little bit drunk, not not over the top. But there's going to be a different effect. You're going to go sympathetic nervous System. You're going to go. You know, get ratcheted up into more fight or flight mode with a little booze in you a little liquid courage and if you light up.

11:32.60

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

11:38.62

Max Shank

The cannabinoid system by ingesting inhaling whatever some thccbd you're going to be able to push through those normal endurance plateaus that you would hit psychologically. So. There's a big difference between a. Using drugs and using drugs and that can be a fine line for some people but you know along with the devil is in the dosage and the substance is less important than the behavior you got to reconsider. Ah. Labeling some is good and some is bad and like does it really make sense to throw like a drug addict in jail or a drug user in jail I mean part of the reason you know I'm kind of switching topics here a little bit but a lot of reason that gangs have power is because. Certain special drugs are illegal and if they were legal there would they wouldn't have any there would be no incentive to go buy drugs from a you know a thug with a machine gun if you can go get it at Cvs like you got to imagine the.

12:39.83

mikebledsoe

No.

12:55.91

Max Shank

Benefit to society would be much better.

12:57.34

mikebledsoe

Yeah, people don't really think about that I I think a lot of people miss that and that making a product black market making it Illegal. You're gonna get arrested for it. It's hard to make that actually creates some some interesting variables. But. 1 of the things that it creates is it creates violence because now now you have to be secretive about It. You have to form gangs to protect Yourself. You've you've got to do all these things and then in addition to that The ah the.

13:26.74

Max Shank

4

13:36.58

mikebledsoe

Dosage starts getting really concentrated like cocaine becoming illegal. They were trying to figure out how do we? How do we make it more potent so that we can because shipping right? We got to hide it and ship it and so we got to make it more potent. The same thing is happening with weed over the years is an ounce today is not what an ounce was twenty thirty years ago because we can. We can you know, go further with this. So 1 thing I've noticed is when something's on the black market just becomes more concentrated a huge example of this right now. Which is in the news which is fentanyl and fentanyl I think is whether like the number one killer of ah of americans right now the number 1 or number 4 in certain age group. Okay, but it's it's in which is incredibly high but it's.

14:19.98

Max Shank

Ah, in a certain in a certain age group in a certain age group. Yeah, which is insane. No no one is thinking like I want to do some fentanyl today like.

14:31.50

mikebledsoe

It's probably because no one's thinking that but it's cheaper than heroin at this point right? So and heroin exists because Opium was yeah but.

14:37.40

Max Shank

Well and remember heroin is bad but diamorphine the prescription grade heroin totally fine, right? So it just like depends on the context huh.

14:49.70

mikebledsoe

But smoking opium was became illegal and so they had to concentrate it and make heroin and then just keeps getting more further and further concentrated because it's black market or or it's tightly controlled.

14:58.25

Max Shank

And that black market creates a lot of wealth too I mean look what happened I mean I I'm so skeptical of almost any of the history I read now because I just feel like it's ah it's a huge. It's probably a huge web of lies.

15:11.20

mikebledsoe

As you should be.

15:17.54

Max Shank

But I remember all these things that I've read anyway. So I'll just throw that caveat out there but the Kennedys weren't they huge bootleggers of alcohol.

15:24.96

mikebledsoe

Huge yeah, they were well. They were responsible for bringing from Ireland they they were like importing their big importers of ah I forget you know whiskey or whatever, whatever it is. They're they're bringing it from ah I think it was Ireland so yeah there.

15:35.10

Max Shank

That's what I'm saying.

15:41.25

Max Shank

I Mean one one.

15:44.10

mikebledsoe

And they had a they had like a a monopoly on it. So yeah, it built Ah ah, a lot of wealth.

15:49.41

Max Shank

Well and something about human nature people. Love booze that's been in our history for thousands of thousands of years we've been drinking booze and smoking different herbs tobacco ah hashish.

15:57.12

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah.

16:07.96

Max Shank

All these different things. So it's not like it's inherently good or evil it's it's what you do with it. It's not about the substance not about the behavior and if you have that kind of compassion for people who use drugs that you may be thought before are evil. Then you'll also be able to have more compassion for yourself when you start recognizing how many drugs you might be using that are like the good drugs or the okay drugs because frankly, if you give a 12 year old a 15 year old or a thirty year old ah, tiktok and they do a few hours of that every day that's probably more destructive than getting a little high and doing some yoga or something you know I'm saying so it's all it's more about the the context.

16:56.14

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well I think we're talking about there too is the difference between exogenous and endogenous substances right? So a behavior driven as an but it's not a substance. There's an external event.

17:05.94

Max Shank

Um, well it's still an external. Yeah, that right.

17:14.83

mikebledsoe

That's causing your body to create a substance if you sit there on Tiktok for 3 hours your your blood chemistry is likely looking very different 3 hours into it than beforehand.

17:24.29

Max Shank

There's serotonin. There's like a dopamine on and off you're just in this and oh like I call it story time roulette basically because it's 1 screen at a time you shut out the whole rest of the world you develop hardcore tunnel vision.

17:30.58

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

17:41.19

Max Shank

Your vision gets where vision like is going into the fucking basement because people are looking at stuff that is less than twenty four inches away from them a lot and look I'm I'm not one to say that's right or wrong. But if you don't start. Looking at things farther away and going on walks and taking in long distances your eyes will completely deteriorate anyway to your point. Yes, if you're consuming media and the hormone cascade is the result of that I would still call the. Scrolling media the drug that is initiating the production of endogenous compounds.

18:26.50

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah, and the same for the the runners high. It's like when those things where I meet someone's like oh I've been sober I'm like but you run like ten twenty miles every other day or every day to stay sane right? They're like oh I gotta like you know.

18:32.68

Max Shank

Yeah.

18:43.23

Max Shank

Okay.

18:46.49

mikebledsoe

I Don't work out if I don't get that hot and if I can't work out hard if I can't push it I got someone gets an injury and they they're you know they just they get depressed and everything just goes in the shitter because they can't exercise I'm like you are so addicted to those neurotransmitters and those hormones. Um, and one of them being a nadoide na nadoide is this is the substance your body creates when you get into that runner's high that that what most people call endorphins. It's not endorphins. It's a nadomite and. Um, it's part of the Endo Cannabinoids system and that's it's really powerful because it's it. Ah, it's very similar and it and it attaches to the cell the same way T Hc does and so. This is why you'll find people who like to roll jujitsu or go for long endurance events and they smoke weed Beforehand or have an edible beforehand because not you get that you get that runner's high immediately. So I get running and I actually everyone knows when they slip into that Groove. It's.

19:57.33

Max Shank

Like a flow. Yeah.

19:57.98

mikebledsoe

You know you get like five miles in you get into the flow smoke some weed beforehand you'll be in flow in about 60 seconds and then when your body also pumps out the nadomite on top of that t hc that's a it's a double dose of runner's high so you know ah that that. Nothing wrong with that I enjoy doing that myself. Another example of this would be I've gone to the peruvian mountains and I fly in and immediately someone hands me a big bag of coca leaves. So just raw coca leaves which is not cocaine cocaine. Takes coca leaves and they break it down into ah such a concentration that you know it's it's incredibly higher. But I take the coca leaves I I wrap some stuff in there. It's some enzymes that basically help it break down better I chew on it and now like it does elevate my mood. And I can deal better with elevation. It keeps you from getting elevation sickness. So little little things that ah that are just I think about those 2 things kind of together because.

20:58.13

Max Shank

Ah.

21:11.70

mikebledsoe

Ah, it's just a simple thing to add in. That's gonna give you more of what you already were We're gonna get or wanted.

21:18.98

Max Shank

Well and the devil's in the dosage. You know people are really fond of the term biohacker and I got to say it sounds like a really cool thing to be and I guess ah you know my. Natural state with things is one of mockery. So I like can't help but make fun of anything that sounds silly or you know people who say forward ambulation instead of walking it just like makes me laugh I can't take them serious. Ah, but the the nuance the context. Ah, using these substances to your advantage I mean imagine trying to build a business without a cell phone and imagine imagine imagine trying to build a business with a cell phone and a cell phone is another dopamine machine. You can use it or it can use you social media same thing you can use it or it can use you a little bit of Coca leaves boom mood elevator ah less sensitive to the higher altitude. Fantastic! ah. Tiny bit of booze wham maybe a deadlift pr a little bit of marijuana and maybe your best five mile runtime ever or flow state. You know, better music. Whatever um, so the context matters so much the dosage. Matters so much and recognizing that anything that is changing your state that way. It is a drug and the good and evils of it should be determined on an individual basis rather than like broad strokes with law in my opinion. You know that's that's my perspective is that the cost of having like a war on drugs which seems like it's just been a colossal failure to me is way lower than the benefit across the board.

23:21.85

mikebledsoe

Yeah I mean the the intentions of the war on drugs I mean there's a lot of speculation that you know had more to do with just suppressing minorities and and things like that and it's a great excuse to put people in Jail maybe shut up protesters. You know that went after psychedelics in the.

23:32.45

Max Shank

Yeah.

23:41.22

mikebledsoe

Sixty S because of the Hippie movement And yeah, there's a lot of that going on and the other thing. Um.

23:45.80

Max Shank

I mean it seems it just seems crazy that there's a such thing as a nonviolent crime in the first place but to have nonviolent crimes like go to jail instead of like compensate who anyway the whole thing is like.

23:55.68

mikebledsoe

Right.

24:04.71

Max Shank

Crazy to me. Yeah.

24:05.20

mikebledsoe

It's insane. It's insane. Well, the other thing is I wanted to mention this earlier which is prohibition people don't if we look at prohibition of alcohol that happened you know a hundred years ago in the us ah, it created Al Capone and all these gangsters and. All this and they were having shootouts with the cops they lift prohibition on alcohol. What? what happens the gangs just kind of go away like like they they may still be operating but they're not nearly as violent. Maybe they they probably moved to a lot of them that were in the business of trafficking. Alcohol probably moved into opium or something else that was illegal. I mean if you watch narcos which is based on true story. But you know obviously it's hollywooded up. Ah you know they basically go oh the weed's not paying enough. We'll move to cocaine and so. Those types of people who are always looking to play at the edges are always going to go there no matter what the substance is that that is black marketed.

25:09.64

Max Shank

No no question. It's hilarious that phrase crime doesn't pay but when you define something as a crime it pays handsomely like who's who's who's more wealthy than a Colombian Drug lord.

25:17.60

mikebledsoe

Ah, crime pays when you don't get paid Just don't get caught.

25:29.59

Max Shank

I mean unless you own a pharmaceutical company then you have legal drugs even more widespread use and you're even richer like those are some of the richest people on the planet. You know you look at you look at the different. Okay so is Netflix a drug is watching.

25:39.83

mikebledsoe

Oh yeah.

25:47.96

Max Shank

Media for hours and hours a drug. Yeah I mean there's no surprise that people gravitate toward maximum curiosity and maximum safety simultaneously. It completely satisfies our 2 most primal desires. Ah, that define human beings we want safety so you're inside your house or wherever you're in your own little world looking at your telephone or watching the screen and then you see the most outlandish you know game of thrones narcos like ah people like. Raping and killing each other and you're like I'm safe at home and I'm watching this like crazy dragons flying around everywhere. It's it's makes sense to me and look what are the the top companies in the world right now. It's ah like Facebook Amazon Apple Netflix. What's the g fang can't remember right now I should know that Google thank you I guess I could have googled it and figured that out. But that's so isn't that incredible.

26:49.90

mikebledsoe

Google.

27:00.84

mikebledsoe

That's now a definition in the there's else Google now made the dictionary by the way.

27:03.90

Max Shank

Well I mean what's incredible about that is that they have avoided um, being considered a monopoly that's that's incredible. We're gonna get too far off track I take it back. We'll save it for another time.

27:21.71

mikebledsoe

Alright I'll bring it back but let's get back the drugs so I like the classified drugs in the 2 categories. So when I talk to people and they get they they want to challenge me on like yeah I'm like.

27:21.84

Max Shank

We we can't do this. We have to stay on drugs. Um.

27:40.57

mikebledsoe

On on drugs and by the way I had someone on Instagram the other day just posting trolling me in the comments telling me I was ah was addicted to drugs and shit and it was pretty comical. They got blocked fuck them but they I mean you can talk a lot of shit to me in the comments I'll I'll respond back I enjoy. Back and forth. But when you just start when it starts getting ridiculous and there's not actually a conversation you're getting blocked. This person is probably listening to this I have a few trolls that know way too much about me which is which is a little creepy but um.

28:04.53

Max Shank

So.

28:10.62

Max Shank

Um, ah must make you feel pretty special.

28:17.83

mikebledsoe

not not the kind of special I want to feel but ah when I get talking to people and they go ah, you know they they start lumping in say alcohol and heroin and with lsd in the same category of drug and I go. These are not the same. They're the opposite of each other to to put them in the same category and the category is drugs and I think it's good that we're using that name for this show and using it in this way because it really should be normalized I think the only way is to do it is to say drugs are. Fine and we need to talk about the drugs inside this context when you're growing up. There's like don't do drugs and all these things fall into the same thing so we're programmed to drop everything in the drugs category and there's 2 different types of drugs. There's drugs that make you feel less and there's drugs that make you feel more. And there's a lot of those are just like two sides of a spectrum. It's a concept. There's so much in between I mean when I think about using drugs I think of myself inside of a sphere and I can go not just three hundred and sixty degrees but three hundred and sixty degrees times three hundred and sixty degrees go in any direction I want to push my state into but there's largely. There's feeling less drugs and feeling more drugs and the feeling less drugs would be heroin alcohol these things that sedate you in a way that that it it. Keeps you from having the full human experience right? right.

29:56.79

Max Shank

Reduces your sensitivity and others increase your sensitivity like alcohol and weed are the perfect examples that I think most people can understand.

30:03.78

mikebledsoe

And so most people I think they associate or I'll talk to someone about having mushrooms and they go why I don't want to like you know I blacked out once on alcohol and I'm like this is you're not going to black out on mushrooms for one and but you're. Your awareness on alcohol is being so depressed and your awareness on on mushrooms is being if you've never done it if you've never done any psychedelics. It's It's an expansion that you'll never you'll break through multiple levels of expansion of consciousness that is indescribable. And the to to put these 2 things in the same category I think is a a huge disservice and it's a great way to just not learn about it. You know people just they just would rather not know shit about it and just. Avoid it because someone told them to yeah, it is easier. Okay, um.

30:59.36

Max Shank

Well, it's easier to do that. Also right drugs are bad. Okay, you know, ah I mean the less nuance and context there is the less clear your understanding is going to be the more likely you are to just follow the closest. Authority figure. Um, so this this idea that we go into an a a meeting and then out in the hallway you got chain smoking and donut eating I mean look if you if you're an alcoholic and you.

31:19.82

mikebledsoe

Accurate.

31:37.67

Max Shank

And you like having that term attached to you and maybe you used to like beat your get drunk and beat your wife every night and now instead you chain smoke and eat donuts I think that's an improvement. Okay maybe we can do better but it's still a step in the right direction but this this whole idea. Of like substituting 1 addiction for another and that could be a whole um, different thing I've had some great talks with people about addiction and the hardest part is to define. It. The best definition I've heard is ah. Repeated behavior that gives you an outcome. You don't want that That's my favorite definition for addiction. So regardless of what the substance is go for it.

32:16.51

mikebledsoe

E. Well I would say yeah people are one of the things I've noticed in my coaching with people is they get addicted addicted to emotions you know they they get addicted to to guilt. And because they're addicted to guilt I mean just experiencing guilt a terrible outcome. But yeah I think was it a? Ah, What's his name toll.

32:46.91

Max Shank

It's like the familiar pain versus uncertainty a lot of people go into that.

32:57.87

mikebledsoe

Be here. Not be here now that's Ram Das Ah not Ram das the power of now. Well he talks about the pain body and basically there's certain things that you're basically getting addicted to this is I associate this with being accepted or loved or whatever it is or.

32:58.60

Max Shank

Ram Das Tolly is a power of now.

33:06.41

Max Shank

Threat.

33:16.22

Max Shank

Right.

33:17.83

mikebledsoe

This is how I learned to survive when things became stressful or I'm afraid that I'm not going to be loved so now I need to respond in this way and so we we get addicted to there's this emotional pattern that is wreaking Havoc on our lives and so we're addicted to it So there's it Oh fuck. Yeah.

33:23.85

Max Shank

Right? Well you ever met someone addicted to drama. You know what's you know? what's funny I've never heard.

33:37.74

mikebledsoe

Get away from them. But we're all dick. But.

33:42.42

Max Shank

A group of people who says I don't want any drama more than people who are addicted to drama like ah a person who's not addicted to it a person who actually doesn't want trauma doesn't even use that phrase but a person who's addicted to it.

33:59.97

mikebledsoe

Totally totally.

34:02.10

Max Shank

Always uses that phrase. It's one of the most and and I I'm like addicted to peace I like like drama is uncomfortable like I want to avoid it at all costs I don't mind a little confrontation but I don't want to. So for me I was just like whoa. This is insane that someone could actually want this like this and continue to either consciously or subconsciously manifest these situations of hardcore drama.

34:34.76

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well we're we're all addicted to drama I mean if you if you buy into any narrative at all. It's because you enjoy the drama of it people watch Tv because they enjoy drama yeah, where what.

34:36.34

Max Shank

Very exciting.

34:48.98

Max Shank

You.

34:52.42

mikebledsoe

What is the character they are playing in that story. They may be a more dramatic character. They may be emotional emotionally unstable. They may pick more fights but we're all living in a drama but you know what character are you playing in that drama and so.

34:55.36

Max Shank

So.

35:02.42

Max Shank

Right.

35:12.25

mikebledsoe

You're kind of like the sit back and probably only step in when it's absolutely necessary kind of character whereas Karen Karen is out there just yeah and then you got Karen out there picking fights in the parking lot.

35:16.69

Max Shank

I try to be like a Buddha guy.

35:25.83

Max Shank

Well and and that can make you feel like you are solidifying your self image or your ego right? So a lot of these back to drugs.

35:34.96

mikebledsoe

Yeah, all right? Let's get back to drugs. Um. Ah, the eye roll I don't think so I.

35:41.98

Max Shank

If we had just done some cocaine before this. We'd be more focused. Yeah I've never I've never tried it but I've heard. It's really fun. Um.

35:52.25

mikebledsoe

Yeah, ah and a handful of times. Ah I don't think the the repercussions aren't worth the fun compared to other drugs. Other drugs are just superior. It's kind of like when you start doing mushrooms. Why people start eating mushrooms like.

36:01.15

Max Shank

Oh. Yeah, ah.

36:11.28

mikebledsoe

Why was I drinking so much you mean on Friday night I could have eaten some mushrooms instead of drinking 12 beers. Wow the next day is that's pretty cool.

36:16.96

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah, the the when you when it comes time to pay the Piper mushroom certainly seems a lot kinder than alcohol. Ah, how about? So I mean.

36:30.61

mikebledsoe

Ah, just about anything's kinder than alcohol.

36:36.86

Max Shank

Ah, is sex a drug. What do you think there are sex addicts out there also known as males.

36:40.20

mikebledsoe

I Mean we're talking about it causes ears out, you know. Um, well you know, Ah, there's a certain chemical response happening in the body when you're having sex and you know sex with different people is going to give you different responses as well. So You know you might be addicted to a certain fetish or.

37:06.27

Max Shank

And.

37:08.96

mikebledsoe

Something like that. Yeah I mean I know people personally who identify as sex addicts and you know it was giving them a result they did not want and there's I shit man I I've had some sexual experience a lot of sexual experiences that ah.

37:14.35

Max Shank

Ah.

37:28.19

mikebledsoe

Would put in the psychedelic category of a lot I if you would ah if if you pulled the what's happening to my my dick out of the equation and I would say I don't know if I'm having sex or if I'm having a dmt experience. It's it's It's very.

37:30.83

Max Shank

Oh.

37:46.99

Max Shank

Sublime.

37:48.80

mikebledsoe

Very similar Actually the older I get the more similar they become which is actually really exciting because I can just take get a little hit. Yeah well part of it is learning how to channel that energy. So most dudes are just.

37:51.59

Max Shank

Um, it's an in intersection. That's pretty cool. Well, it's kind of like the meditation and mushrooms. Ah convergence right? like you were saying you can be.

38:06.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

38:09.88

Max Shank

On mushrooms can get this like crazy effect. But um, it's kind of like a shortcut in a lot of ways where you could get there with lots of meditation and releasing the ego and really being here now and being present. It's just that most people need a jumpstart of some kind. To allow themselves to get there to cut through all of the ego and trauma and things like that and that's why um, there are such big changes after just 1 experience right.

38:41.48

mikebledsoe

Yeah, huge benefit. There's most psychedelics and I like you you brought up meditation because you know you got this guy this monk sitting on a hill meditating for 30 years to achieve a state. Come back with some wisdom to share or just keep to themselves because I mean most of that's just for you anyway or you know I spent I spent a decent amount of time in South America with

39:03.44

Max Shank

Yeah.

39:15.49

mikebledsoe

Ah, the Ayahuascaros and what chimaro like healers down there is how they they go by by the way. The word shaman is ah is a northern europe like siberian word. It's not even south american so sometimes people give me like a shaman like you're appropriating I'm like no.

39:27.16

Max Shank

Oh.

39:33.98

mikebledsoe

You're appropriating. Are you from Siberia no all right shut the fuck up. But anyways, ah it's funny what it's it's mostly like white. Ah ah, whatever they call. Ah.

39:40.20

Max Shank

Where do you find all these people good god.

39:48.92

Max Shank

Hey I'm not white I'm pink Dude don't look at me. Yeah, um, yeah.

39:52.28

mikebledsoe

You are definitely pink. You're not white I'm pink too. Ah now the ah ah new ages. It's like all this the new age crowd. You know they it's like oh so worried about appropriating I'm like you're appropriating shit left and right more than anybody just chill out.

40:11.70

Max Shank

Um, isn't it isn't appropriation just called a appreciation or or sharing I mean like what if it's if it's good. It's good.

40:11.11

mikebledsoe

Ah, but ah, it's pretty. Yeah I'm like I'm like anytime and when I when I hang out with we'll we'll say quote unquote shamans in South America because that's what people are are gonna I think understand better when I hang out with them and I'm like oh I'm like I'm gonna take back what I learned to. So where I live and they're like perfect bring it back to where I live show people like oh you're appropriating I'm like the only people we should be caring about is the people who I got it from and they're telling me to spread the word like this is how culture works this is how evolution works evolution works by appropriating what someone else has created. And then making it your own so people ah people people get upset because some people are really good at making money off of the thing they learn from another tradition and those people are poor I get that that's a whole other but it's it. That's such a deep conversation. Maybe.

40:56.14

Max Shank

I Mean if you like it I think you'd probably do it.

41:06.84

Max Shank

Ah.

41:13.97

mikebledsoe

Maybe we just do a show on appropriation later. But ah so but I go down. Yeah yeah, but ah, you go down to South America they've been sitting with this medicine as thousands of years it at least if not longer thousands of years

41:16.74

Max Shank

Expect a lot of eye rolling for that one for me.

41:33.21

mikebledsoe

And you know they it's ah I equiate equate them that the knowledge that they get when um when a lot of these South American Healers have been introduced to Concepts of Buddhism and hinduism a lot of that they were completely ah ignorant of. Those philosophies of those religions and practices until the last couple decades because while the internet and people started traveling for these things and brought their own. They're like they like oh what we're doing down here is the same as buddhism like it's the same.

41:58.70

Max Shank

Right.

42:10.39

mikebledsoe

The the same wisdom is being accomplished in a much shorter period of time and ah, it's very interesting that people will will put meditation on this pedestal while using all sorts of drugs unknowingly and but. Using psychedelics as something is like oh you, you want to lean on that like human beings have been leaning on and evolving alongside psychedelic medicines for you know, probably tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years so the idea of like. Not using this tool that we've been using for so long that's going to expand my consciousness seems kind of ridiculous.

42:52.41

Max Shank

Well, it's all ridiculous because everybody is trying to alleviate a pain that they're feeling and the most primal pains are ah hunger sexual desire. The desire for safety and then as human beings. It's even a greater challenge because we have to harmonize this concept of meaning and mission and perhaps legacy and so that's why there's such a huge amount. Written passed down for generations. You know you have the bible. You have the doo de jing you have the book of the buddha you have these ah shamans in different parts of the world. I mean we have been trying to figure out how to live for a very very long time. In a way that is is comforting that pain that we feel and that discomfort is the fire for achieving your goals also and if you squelch that fire with ah. You know, tiktoks or heroin. Well I mean I guess that's where you're going to go I mean there's no worries. That's just it's going to work out differently than someone who uses that fire of discomfort like ah a Martin Luther King right and he does he goes the complete opposite way and he takes that pain and he transmutes it into something that he can share with the rest of the people and and that's why the word appropriation makes me laugh so much because it's all about sharing. Ultimately, the reason we write stuff down is so we can share it and the different pains that people feel may have different specific origins but they'll they're all rooted in some of those primal desires your ah desire for acceptance. You know, childhood et cetera growing up attracting a mate like all these different things like how can you um, use that pain for action rather than just quench that fire in a destructive way right? So it's it's very It's very interesting to see why people use drugs and really how they use them.

45:27.25

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and this is why it's very important to pay attention and this is why I like psychedelics is because Psychedelics taught me to pay attention and in days after a mushroom experience and. Being concerned that I was going to lose whatever wisdom I had had ah received in that first ceremony and then days later still paying better attention to my state than I ever had before and that's that's part of the point of meditation too.

46:00.96

Max Shank

20

46:05.43

mikebledsoe

Especially if you look at something like Viposana Meditation it's all about being present with the sensations in your body being and that would be sight smell hearing as well and so most people when they start meditating me do eyes closed. But there's also eyes open meditation but it's ah it's a more advanced thing. Yeah, it's it's pretty advanced. Ah.

46:22.72

Max Shank

You can meditate with your eyes open that sounds pretty advanced. Maybe you can put a training course together for that level one. How to sit still with your eyes closed. Level 2 How to sit still with your eyes open.

46:39.77

mikebledsoe

Ah, yeah, yeah, So the the point is the point isn't the ceremony. The point is not when you're sitting in Meditation. The point is bringing that level of awareness and that ah being present with. Your body the the world around you and yourself and all these things as you move throughout your day and so noticing I'm not that familiar with Karma yoga.

47:04.93

Max Shank

That's karma yoga right? isn't that karma yoga. That's you as I understand it's bringing the awareness of meditation to every task that you do and the first time I really got it the first time I really got it was

47:15.20

mikebledsoe

Um, oh you're right.

47:21.25

Max Shank

When I was ah cleaning the leaves out of my pool with a long skimmer and I'm not proud of it. But you know just days before that revelation I had considered killing my neighbor's tree. So The leaves wouldn't fall in the pool I was like I was like what I was like why is this happening to me and anyway I didn't kill the tree I just started to really I I know it's ridiculous. It's all relative isn't it only absolute is relativity but I was really annoyed.

47:47.20

mikebledsoe

Why is this happening to me. Ah.

47:58.55

Max Shank

That the leaves were falling into my pool and the indignance of it all was in retrospect quite hilarious and so instead of like you know, murdering a tree. Ah I started to really enjoy the process of skimming the leaves out of a pool so it was like my little water Zen Garden and.

48:13.51

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah.

48:17.59

Max Shank

The more you can bring that awareness to everything you do the more clear you get on who you really are and what your mission is what you stand for you know what your value and values are the easier. It is to bring that level of awareness to all that stuff you do and. It's no surprise that we have figured out a lot of this stuff in the last several thousand years and I think if you can if you're looking for wisdom I would look at stuff that has lasted a really long Time. So if you take ancient, wisdom and modern Tools. You'll probably be at the most peace and very wealthy if you take modern, wisdom and ancient Tools. You will probably mess yourself up. Pretty bad.

49:04.37

mikebledsoe

Agreed agreed. Yeah so paying attention helps to know what drugs you may be taking whether it be caffeine or shallow or deep breathing or whether it's lsd.

49:21.17

Max Shank

A.

49:22.60

mikebledsoe

You're gonna if you're paying attention to your state from moment to moment you're gonna you're gonna know what you should do more of in less up or when you should do things and when you should not do things but I to me takes a lot of practice ah paying attention while intentionally putting yourself.

49:41.25

Max Shank

The modern tools can help my my favorite addiction I mean look food sex. Yeah I'm all on board. But Youtube is 1 of my addictions because you can have a true expert on.

49:41.26

mikebledsoe

And these state changes. So ah, the modern tools mean out.

50:00.46

Max Shank

Nearly any topic take you through their whole thought process on anything I can I can go down the Youtube Rabbi a hole for hours and hours. That's why I use the modern tech to ah, click it off at a certain timeframe.

50:05.16

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

50:18.58

mikebledsoe

E.

50:20.31

Max Shank

So you know when I'm on my phone. Ah 5 minutes only if I'm on my computer I get 15 minutes and that's it and at least that pause will allow me to. Ask the question of is this really what I want to be doing right now. So that pattern break alone can be tremendous. That's why I was telling you before we got started here um on the door of the pantry in the kitchen There's a little sign that says pattern break.

50:38.56

mikebledsoe

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

50:56.39

Max Shank

So before you open the pantry with all the snacks in it. There's a little sign that essentially reminds you intention before ingestion like is are you going here because you're hungry. Are you going here because you're sleepy. Are you going here because you're bored. Are you going here because you're deeply uncomfortable. And I think food is the most difficult drug because you cannot practice abstinence permanently like you cannot quit cold turkey cold turkey you must continue eating food. So like you could quit heroin forever. But you can't quit food forever. There's there's a give and take there. So the fact that you always have to have a toe in there makes it very challenging and look It's no surprise. What do we have like over half of the people obese ah something like that I get I get it I get it hey we we won the game of life.

51:47.30

mikebledsoe

Something like that insane.

51:55.94

Max Shank

We're dying of being too fat instead of underfed in this country that's look we won nice job. Everybody now let's consider how how we can swing the pendulum back a little bit. Food is tough. Food is a tough one but it all comes down to a few of those basic principles.

52:05.41

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well said.

52:15.40

Max Shank

Intention before ingestion. It's not about the substance. It's about the behavior. Um, you had a couple good ones too. But it's community matters a lot I think who you associate with the the 5

52:30.76

mikebledsoe

Um I I yeah I've noticed in the last couple years the impact of community because I I'm ah I'm a very social person by nature. But.

52:33.58

Max Shank

The 5 monkey rule.

52:49.29

mikebledsoe

Um, a very social person by nature and I've also just like the downfall of that is being too open at too many different energies and and a lot of times like I almost feel guilty about not almost I do there are times where I feel guilty about. Denying people my my attention knowing that by giving them my attention. It's bleeding me dry and ah yeah, just over the last few years I'd say I'd say like the last four years I've gotten

53:11.00

Max Shank

And.

53:24.89

mikebledsoe

Very intentional about my community and the people I surround myself with and not only does it change my experience from moment to moment as I'm in those communities with those people and and having my cup filled but my behavior that comes from being and and community with certain people is just.

53:43.43

Max Shank

Ah.

53:44.77

mikebledsoe

I Like how I am I like who I'm being I like my behavior much better when I place myself in certain communities and I so you know work with a lot of people and the thing that I've noticed you know people like I want to solve my.

53:54.30

Max Shank

Um, totally.

54:04.90

mikebledsoe

Financial problems by doing all these things I need more systems and business and I need no marketing and I'm like yeah you do need to know all that stuff. But you're not going to really be able to implement it if you're if there's no Community. You're not going to loan wolf your way into the good behaviors. There's There's some people that may be able to accomplish what they want as a lone wolf but it's not gonna be as enjoyable and and it's and it it may not they may accomplish their thing but may not be happy at the end.

54:31.39

Max Shank

Also Also, you don't get extra points for doing anything all by yourself as I once thought there are no extra points or Credit. You're given at the end I always thought if I did something all on my own people would be like wow. Look how amazing he really is he You don't get any of those extra points at the end. It's total waste.

54:52.82

mikebledsoe

No okay community is a huge leverage point I mean we see this in the gym people come in to lose £15 but they stick around why community they want to be around people who are like minded we have similar goals.

55:09.10

Max Shank

The the.

55:10.83

mikebledsoe

Have similar values and you know I like putting myself in community where they value something that I want to value more you know, ah people people say they value things They don't actually value. They. They they tell you they value things they want to value but most people if they haven't reached their goal if if their values were already aligned with their goals. They have had accomplished that or beyond such a trajectory reaching it. They would be obvious that it's just happening. But people want to be different which means they have to change their values. You have to change your values to reach your goals. So Yeah and I yeah you just go in their House. You can see and so community I like to choose to hang out with people who value.

55:50.00

Max Shank

Um I think actions speak louder than words in that case, you're hundred percent right like it's easy to see what someone really values.

56:05.81

mikebledsoe

Something more than I do that I that I want to value more and so I use community to shift my values because you know I hang out with people who make more money than me they they have spent more time valuing dollars than I have.

56:21.19

Max Shank

Ah.

56:22.58

mikebledsoe

They spend more time thinking about it and they think about it in ways that most people don't and so just by putting yourself in that environment. You don't even have to be talking about money. But you're just like it's the way they're being. It's there's an osmosis going on.

56:26.89

Max Shank

Oh my God oh.

56:41.13

Max Shank

Dude, that's so true I remember that was the first you were the person who mentioned that to me and it stuck with me was ah you know don't necessarily just listen to what people are saying notice how they are being. And I thought that was ah, an interesting distinction that I'd never really considered before and the atmosphere or the climate in the company you keep is totally different and money is a perfect example because you got to be so careful. Um. Hanging out with people who have a scarcity mindset around money like you probably want to hang around with people where five ten grand is not a lot of money if you want to be wealthy like if ah if people are telling you all the time about the thing they bought for.

57:22.14

mikebledsoe

Down. Yeah.

57:31.70

Max Shank

$5 off coupon I mean I'm not saying that makes you bad it just means that there's still like ah missing the forest for the trees or pennywise pound foolish kinda thing going on there like you don't want to be in that environment of scarcity versus abundance.

57:40.21

mikebledsoe

Yeah, when this goes back to yeah and this applies to you know drugs as well drug abuse. So if you around a bunch of drug abusers. You're gonna keep abusing.

57:57.00

Max Shank

Totally.

57:58.20

mikebledsoe

And the the money one I think is a good one because people can almost everybody can they understand it. They experience it and.

58:04.52

Max Shank

And.

58:10.32

mikebledsoe

I think I may have lost it. Maybe it'll come back. Oh yeah, that changed that that changes people's state Incredible. Go check your bank account. What's that experience like.

58:12.61

Max Shank

Well money is kind of a funny, a funny, a funny drug too like I see I see money as energy.

58:29.50

mikebledsoe

For the average person. You know the average person. Some people they they don't want to go check their bank account. They're afraid to look at it. Some people are excited to look at it. It's having an impact.

58:37.83

Max Shank

I Like to look at my bank account and whack off. Ah I'm joking that I don't really do that. But I actually try to look at it as little as possible to still know the direction that the ship is going because I I don't.

58:53.10

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

58:57.39

Max Shank

I never wanted to have to like make sure I had enough in the account to buy something essentially but you know you get to a certain point I don't know I think like by today's values or something like that if you make over a hundred k you basically have as good a life.

59:01.57

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

59:16.88

Max Shank

As the top 1% in terms of like the basic needs like you don't have to worry about food going out guacamole on your chipotle that sort of thing and then beyond that then it's just this new game like trying to trying to be a billionaire.

59:29.61

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well that.

59:35.29

Max Shank

Unless you have a solid mission that you want to use that fund those funds for like that's got to be some form of mental illness now. It's a very constructive. It's a very constructive mental illness. It's like how you think that you deserve love.

59:44.14

mikebledsoe

There's something else going on there.

59:52.97

Max Shank

You know I have that thing like people want love power attention in that order and so some people don't think they'll ever really deserve love because they hate themselves on some level or their mom did which is kind of like that you get the whole idea. So They think I'll just get as powerful as possible. And then people have to love me or fear me or whatever. So It's ah it's a very funny thing the different way we could do a whole thing about about money that would be kind of fun. Maybe we'll do that after business next time but that's a.

01:00:22.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, we should definitely do that. Yeah I'm put in the notes right now I remembered we'll close this up soon. Ah, the the it came back to me the what I wanted to say about the money in community is.

01:00:28.69

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah.

01:00:39.46

mikebledsoe

I What I witnessed a lot of people struggle with is they need to find new community so they can take on these new habits and behaviors. But they feel guilty about leaving their old community behind they're like oh you know and and then your old friends are gonna call you a sellout and this and that and like.

01:00:55.24

Max Shank

Totally.

01:00:58.10

mikebledsoe

And so so many people are afraid of of leaving that community and like leaving them behind but the reality is is they're leaving themselves behind now they're they're happy where they're at you want to change, you got to jump ship and people are gonna judge you no matter? what.

01:01:13.89

Max Shank

No doubt.

01:01:16.65

mikebledsoe

And ah yeah, the more successful you become the more prominent you become the more of a target you become and so I have to say the more popular I become the more people I have to turn down to hang out and they may talk shit about me but I've only got so much time.

01:01:24.57

Max Shank

No question.

01:01:36.27

mikebledsoe

And the day and my energy is important to me and I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it that way.

01:01:36.44

Max Shank

Yeah questions. And that's great to hear from you because it sounds like you are just learning how to draw boundaries in the last few years that sound right? Yeah and it's funny.

01:01:49.15

mikebledsoe

Yeah, I'd say the last four years say it's been about yeah yeah about 4 years now it's been ah I had to like I did cut a lot of people off a lot of people are mad at me. Yeah.

01:01:58.91

Max Shank

I'm just learning how to be open. Yeah, Ah yeah for me I'm like coming from the opposite end of the spectrum you have like this super social like Chimp energy and I feel like I have this cat like a tiger type of energy where I like just. Have such hard boundaries drawn that if someone doesn't like it I'm like ah tough shit Basically but that also shrinks your circle so much. So finding that balance point or creating that balance that you really like is ah it's fun. That's why I like when we chat.

01:02:21.57

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:02:28.47

mikebledsoe

Mm.

01:02:34.28

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

01:02:36.48

Max Shank

Because we come at it from such different angles. But interestingly enough we still seem to agree on like almost everything because we really focus on the nuance and the principles and there are very few absolutes and that's what makes it so interesting. Same with drugs. There's no, there's no absolutes. It's like you either use them.

01:02:48.62

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

01:02:56.25

Max Shank

Or you abuse them. But I guarantee you're using them.

01:02:59.98

mikebledsoe

Yep yep, any final thoughts.

01:03:03.41

Max Shank

Maybe just that everybody uses them some people abuse them.

01:03:05.89

mikebledsoe

Sound are good. Ah, ah 1 thing I want to mention is set setting and dosage. So the set being your mindset. What What's your state of mind the setting. What's your environment like. And the dosage those are your 3 variables to pay attention to with everything but in regard to drugs set setting and dosage are the 3 most important things to focus on if one of those things are off. You may have a poor experience.

01:03:30.95

Max Shank

No.

01:03:42.19

mikebledsoe

You make sure that all 3 of those things are dialed in you're in for a good time and I'll leave it with that where do they find you max.

01:03:53.60

Max Shank

http://maxshank.com or at ma shank.

01:03:54.77

mikebledsoe

Excellent and I've got a strong coach summit coming up and marching go to http://thestrongcoach.com/summit and I imagine some people be doing drugs there as we listen to music at some point during the weekend. So if you want to hop in there come on over.

Jan 24, 2022

00:00.00

Max Shank

Welcome back to Monday mornings with max and Mike Hope you guys had a great weekend today. We're gonna cover a topic that I think I have the most expertise in as you know I've just been flying by the seat of my pants talking out my ass for the rest of these topics because. Ah, have no authority on them whatsoever. But today we are going to talk about the vulcan plan how to live long and prosper and there's going to be no bs here. It's not going to be a low salt diet. It's not going to be limiting the amount of eggs that you eat. We're gonna get right to the. Things that really make you live a long time and also enjoy those years the most I'm once again joined by my trusty co-host Mr. Mike blood so. How's it going mike.

00:53.18

mikebledsoe

It's going great I'm excited about this topic. You know there's a lot of information out there and as you were alluding to you know we won't be saying you to telling you to stop eating the egg yolks or whatever I know that everyone's. Probably so by this point seen the on Instagram or somewhere online the picture of the New York Times one month talking about how eggs are bad for you in another month how they're great for you and it's a prime example of just you could you can find evidence to support. Any health claim that you want to make 1 way one way or the other. So ah, what's exciting about that is that's ah, that's a huge opportunity for coaches and there's a necessity for coaches in the world because a coach our job is to help. Create the context we take the context of your life and then we take information that we've learned about such a ah topic that has an infinite amount of information and then distill it down for the individual. So I hope we can do that for you here on this. Show and it it's it can be It's a it's a heavy topic but the solutions are so simple I think that's what you're going to discover by the end of the show. Yeah.

02:16.63

Max Shank

But they're not going to be sexy. Yeah I got ah I got a lot of ideas about that. This is probably what I write about the most um because everything else trickles down from your physical and mental health. Which those together combine for your health and you can certainly have success in 1 area without being healthy necessarily. But that's not really a goal I would like to help people achieve. So I think about this a lot. You already mentioned one of the big problems which is infinite information and along with that information you have a whole bunch of people who have a certain authority and they want to maintain that authority um. You know? For example, the physical therapists and doctors want to maybe ah keep the personal trainers off their turf like we don't want you guys doing any corrective exercise. That's our territory and. There are stories about like the medical doctor boards trying to block acupuncturists and chiropractors and chinese medicine and things like that. So. There's kind of an authority give and take where everyone's trying to promote their specific solution to this. Health thing. So there's infinite information and you also have these different entities who are trying to prop up their authority whether they have the best solution or not and then another big one. We have talked about before is the difference between causation and correlation. It's it's really tragic because I have actually seen a news piece that said salt excessive salt causes. 10% of all deaths in America now that is outrageous to make that claim and I looked at the studies they were citing to do that and it was just a total embarrassment. It could be. That having a higher salt diet is correlated ah because a lot of junk food has high salt but it is just so ridiculous to say that 10% of all deaths in America are caused by salt I mean it's ridiculous. So getting back to.

04:52.80

mikebledsoe

And go.

04:57.85

Max Shank

What you said before which is that it's simple solutions. That's where I have this idea called the popular paradox and things need to look really fancy for people to buy into them. You know I realized as I've been. Promoting my own products and developing some products behind the scenes that people will do something that looks cool before they do something that is good for them if it doesn't look cool.

05:26.98

mikebledsoe

I think part of that is is that people when they when they think about their own problems. They've had such a difficult time solving their problem and so you know I've had this problem my whole life. The solution can't be simple. It's got to be complex and I really think that that's something that plagues people as they go you know I go well have you do drink is the first thing you drink in the morning water and do you go for walks every day.

05:52.19

Max Shank

Um.

06:04.56

mikebledsoe

Ah, go? Well no, but you know I'm doing the you know I'm monitoring my Hrv and I'm ah you know doing all this really complicated on this crazy training program and okay, well unless we and and and people you know just refuse to do it I think well there's 2 things is. Think that because they they haven't been able solved the problem yet that it must be.. It's going to require some Genius solution. That's just they could never have imagined so they're gonna again look for the authority just to tell them what to do whoever they assign that to be um, the other thing is I think that. In our youth for a lot of us. We associate effort with reward and a lot of people never outgrow that and so they think that it has to be hard if it's going to be effective and I think that if we.

06:55.59

Max Shank

A.

07:00.97

mikebledsoe

We take the approach that most solutions are simple and we put our attention on how to be effective versus the amount of effort we put into it people would would go a lot further.

07:21.94

Max Shank

You just said 2 things there that were really awesome. The first is the desire for a complex solution because if the solution is simple. They're like oh god I'm so dumb like how did I not know that if you say. Ah, yeah, double your water intake and walk for an hour every day they're gonna they're gonna go oh that's like I shouldn't pay you for that solution. That's like too simple, but if you have them.

07:53.42

mikebledsoe

I.

07:59.50

Max Shank

Get if if it's true if you have them get blood work done and you're like oh you're ah you're allergic to cashews or something The problem is you're eating too many cashews. Ah then it feels like.

08:13.25

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

08:17.85

Max Shank

Oh how could I have known that you know what I mean it feels like okay that they didn't figure it out themselves. So they're not afraid to feel dumb. Ah so complex solution else I'm dumb and then the next thing you said was.

08:22.91

mikebledsoe

Yeah, well I think I think that's a.

08:34.47

Max Shank

That effort is proportional to the reward. But.

08:40.71

mikebledsoe

Are you are you? okay. Are we on? Ah are we on a lag. Okay, what if your internet's just crawling I think I think it might have caught up. Sorry go ahead, go ahead cause I said something and then it took you like 10 seconds to.

08:45.66

Max Shank

Was that? yeah.

08:55.39

Max Shank

Maybe.

09:01.59

Max Shank

Oh man, it's possible. Oh.

09:05.26

mikebledsoe

Respond go ahead.

09:11.16

Max Shank

Oh no, yeah I just stopped talking. But yeah, basically then the second idea is that effort is proportional to the reward that you get.

09:20.33

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, yeah, it's ah what it works it works for a yeah, it works it works for a while. Yeah I think our our shit's catching up. Um.

09:29.90

Max Shank

Ah, it's hard to tell if we're on pace right now.

09:38.74

mikebledsoe

Everyone listening I think we're having a little bit of a internet lag issue. Um, yeah, yeah, well you know I I know you and I both spent our youth living in a world where effort did equal reward and I think that there's like a.

09:42.21

Max Shank

Technical difficulties.

09:58.59

mikebledsoe

And and I think that in fitness, especially that definitely proves to be true until a certain point and ah you only know your own body for and so if you if you've been in fitness your whole life like max and I have been It's probably until the age of like 30 that. It almost didn't matter how what the quality of our exercise was to our knowledge from our perspective and then after 38 things start showing up for sure. But ah. You know going back I I look at myself and I and I can say oh I could have trained way more intelligently way more simply had fewer injuries and gotten a lot stronger and I'd be a lot stronger and healthier now. But yeah I there's no way I could hear that message when I was younger because every time I put in effort I got a reward and I didn't know that the reward could have been better but you know it was a reward nonetheless. So I think that I witnessed this and and entrepreneurs have a fitness or military background and. Usually they they choose the hard path a lot There's like a lot of hard path choosing in with in over time the harder the path the lower the reward and so there there's ah a point in time where it's you got to switch tracks. But the the thing that you were getting at or the thing you mentioned with the like the food sensitivity and so needing someone outside of yourself to tell you what it is is is interesting because these food sensivity tests aren't going to test for everything and then they'll tell someone like.

11:28.21

Max Shank

Well.

11:45.12

mikebledsoe

Food sensitive tests would tell me that dates are fine for me. But every time I eat dates I fart for two days they're not fine for me but like if I only but people will will take a test and then they won't analyze their own shit in a toilet and be like oh I'm fine I got the test I don't need. You know to watch my my intake of you know dairy you know every time it I eat it. It bloats me but the test said I'm fine. So but that's that's 1 thing I guess ah I'd like for people to take from this is. Tuning into your own body and knowing what you may have a sensitivity to how do you respond to all these different types of stimulus and it requires a little bit of living a little like habitual and systematic because if you don't systemize anything.

12:32.30

Max Shank

A.

12:40.31

mikebledsoe

You know, doing anything Systematically, you can't really improve it. You got to it. There's a way of decreasing the amount of variables in your own life. So that you can make those systematic improvements.

12:53.79

Max Shank

Man There's a lot to unpack here. Um number one effort is not proportional to reward but effort does bring reward so one of the big risks I think is you will.

13:04.77

mikebledsoe

Right.

13:13.45

Max Shank

Put in effort and you will get a reward and you will conflate more effort with more reward but in actuality the way the body works for athletic performance which I think is the most rational way to train. You want to give yourself more athletic ability more springiness more elasticity more resilience to injury. Um, you're not going to improve your athleticism. When you go into excessive effort. In fact, you're actually going to start taking away from your athleticism with excessive effort. You know the best athletes in the world are the ones who can cycle between tension and relaxation at the quickest interval and it's not about. Maximum effort. It's about maximum skill so you're far better off hovering around that you know 50 to 80% effort level most of the time. So the whole idea that effort is proportional toward is like ah basically a form of masochism. Essentially like if I'm not ah in some sort of physical pain then my workout which is another silly name is not giving me the results that I'm after so that's ah the the myth of effort is ah a huge one. For athleticism and for training in general and then touching on the nutrition thing. Ah there's a ah couple pages in Paul check's book where he shows like a.

15:05.46

mikebledsoe

The poopy police.

15:04.54

Max Shank

The the poopy lineup I don't know if you remember that one the poop. Well yeah, the poopy police and the poopy lineup is like what the different ones look like and what likely the problem is and that there's just there's just one.

15:10.79

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

15:19.93

Max Shank

On the next page which is just this basketball player who's this like gigantic log which is the optimal ah defecation essentially so being willing to like pay attention to that very obvious metric and. Ah, just accordingly is basically the type of thing that we are trying to avoid most people want to avoid paying attention. They just want someone to tell them how many almonds should I eat at nine thirty in the morning. should I have for lunch what should I have for dinner and the reality is people are just trying to get out of the responsibility of having to think for themselves and pay attention to what the fuck is going on and your body. Can survive on like bone marrow and bugs like our bodies are so crazy. Adaptable. We are omnivores. We have these sharp canines we have these grinding molars we have stomach acid. We're able to survive on a huge variety of things I'm not saying you should eat garbage every day. But if you did you would probably still survive as long as you didn't eat actual poison so trying to be perfect with nutrition. Silly, but um, you don't see a lot of obese people make it to ninety years old and we don't need any scientific study to show us that being too heavy is harder on your body like you just won't live as long so you're almost. You are better off eating more rich food that is to let you know a bagette and butter and lasagna. Whatever else gets labeled as bad now as long as you don't eat too much of it and as far as training is concerned. Ah, try to make it as effortless as possible and do something that you enjoy that gives you an expanded range of abilities so you have more options because if you're having fun doing what you're doing. It doesn't require any of that extra willpower. Um, you know that's a little suspect to your mood and the weather and things like that. But if you're really excited about something. You don't have to really think about it. So with the nutrition and with the exercise piece I would say um.

18:09.47

Max Shank

Consistency and effortlessness with your movement so approach it like a skill for movement and then with nutrition is like ah you got to pay attention to how food makes you feel and it's it's easy to want to outsource that to someone else just tell me. How many grams of chicken breast I need to eat. It's like that's not how it works man like you gotta pay attention to your bowel movements and check the color of your piss like if you don't drink enough water and go for walks. You shouldn't expect to get a good result with what you're doing and I actually wrote an article. A while back called are you healthier than a plant and it was one of my better performing ones because I gave people like four levels of health and plant level was the first level and it was are you getting adequate water and sunshine. And if you have made that level then you go to the next level the next level is like I think it was dog like are you getting water sunshine and going for walks and then like the last level was like a ah monkey like are you do you play? Do you do things like that and there are four I can't remember off top the head. But. Should Google it. It's a good little read. Ah, it's not complicated and you shouldn't feel like you have to find a complicated solution to health. You know we we were able to live a long time and happily long before the.

19:44.00

mikebledsoe

Yeah I want to dig into here in a moment by the end of the show at least I want to dig into what it is that you're doing and what I'm doing that is that we because I you and I have both simplified over the years.

19:43.49

Max Shank

Infinite information of the internet.

20:01.74

mikebledsoe

Ah I used to take a much more complex approach to things. Um and and you did too from what I understand but you know I want to really get to the remind people of the point you're making of it. It needs to be simple. It needs to be easy. It needs to be fun. And 1 of the things that I've been able to do in my life is create a lot of structures in my life that support the the habits that I that I want to put in place I tell people a lot you know I'll be at a party and there's brownies out on the fucking island. Counter and I put away more than most people at the party but and I'm also when a few people walk around with a 6 pack but the difference is is I don't have that at home because I don't I actually have a life where I don't have to practice that much willpower. There's a few things I have to practice willpower for but Jesus there. There was a time in my life where that was true when I was in my twenty s it I powered through everything I I did start creating structures that support me.

21:01.35

Max Shank

Imagine if you did.

21:20.45

mikebledsoe

But most of it was was I think being just a bachelor in some ways like at ah at a fucking heavy bag hanging in my living room and you know girls that come over and be like oh you got mats in a heavy bag in your living room. Okay weirdo um, but. When I like like putting those structures in place have been super super helpful and then it really does come down to lifestyle and the more I look at the the health problems in the world man there is. There are some habits that somebody could change like I think about my girlfriend's mom and you know we were talking to her about when she was here for Christmas we were talking to her about you know? are you going for walks. How much water are you drinking. You know, are you supplementing with magnesium before bed. You know there's you know I had to remind my girlfriend. She's like I want to have a ah really good impact on my mom while she's here I'm like okay, let's be happy if she leaves with like 1 or 2 things that she can improve. We don't need to go nuts because you have to restructure.

22:29.84

Max Shank

A.

22:35.17

mikebledsoe

Your entire life to just change one habit you move 1 thing and then that 1 thing moves something else and it's ah it's a big deal to create a new consistent habit and so I'm a big fan of seeing how effortless you can you can. Make a habit you know something like going for a walk in the morning is you know, put your change of like this this was advice. We used to get people that wanted to train in the gym in the morning, put your gym shoes and your change of clothes at the foot of your bed before you go to bed when you wake up, you know you got your.

23:08.60

Max Shank

Right.

23:12.44

mikebledsoe

Bottle of water on the counter you you walk out of your bedroom. You're wearing your workout clothes and you pick up your bottle like the next obvious step is you go to the gym or you you know you go for your walk or your run or whatever it is but I look at the society but then we're talking to her mom. And you know we had all these ideas about what she could do to improve her health and in in conversations I find out that she's in an office with no windows under fluorescent lights nine to eleven hours a day.

23:35.65

Max Shank

A.

23:50.22

mikebledsoe

At work and so she like she says why I do go for walks I get out of my office for like 10 minutes and then go for a walk and I go wow you know what? like that walk is actually not that like it's good that she's doing it. But it's not the highest leverage thing. And her arsenal. You know, just just putting a window in her office would be would be like a huge improvement and so it it does become very situational in a way but when I look at what's wrong with the health of.

24:10.20

Max Shank

Um. M.

24:28.11

mikebledsoe

Average American and then I hear stories like that and you know I try to think about what it's like to work at the grocery store when I go to the grocery store. What's it like to be a barber when I go to the barber a lot of the way these people are living their lives is just it's a lot of screens. It's a lot of artificial light. Um, and so I think that you know if for us to have a ah turnaround in Public Health. It's gonna require a pretty big shift in society at large and I well I was gonna say I don't want to discourage anybody because.

24:58.24

Max Shank

Um, well it's like addiction. It's just ah.

25:07.32

mikebledsoe

You do you do change the lifestyle one habit at a time but it's there. There's if you change one habit a month a year later you've got 12 new habits. Do you have a totally different lifestyle. That's that's very very possible.

25:09.27

Max Shank

The.

25:20.10

Max Shank

Um, yeah, boy you said a lot of really good stuff. There. Um, it's like addiction right? because 1 of the reasons I bring people back to fasting is not because it's the. Cure all um for every illness although it does seem to have like some of the best results in the cheapest way. It's funny that people keep looking for the fastest way to lose fat and it's literally called fasting it costs zero dollars

25:58.37

mikebledsoe

I knew a guy who was charging thousands of dollars for a fasting retreat I was like ah you your main thing that you do is you don't eat.

25:58.80

Max Shank

And people just keep looking for other things. But.

26:05.45

Max Shank

Amazing. Did he also provide free room and board.

26:17.89

mikebledsoe

Yeah, it's like a three day retreat thousands of dollars but you you know you're you're getting the equivalent of like one hundred and fifty dollars room but ah yeah.

26:18.83

Max Shank

Ah, ah.

26:25.59

Max Shank

Amazing. But that's exactly it is you need to the reason I say it's like addiction is um, what could be easier than to you know, stop drinking booze or stop doing heroin. Whatever it requires no effort whatsoever but the whole idea of being addicted to screens and you're substituting or you're using all of this time and all of this energy for things that don't love you back. Essentially. And I think of it like an intervention. The person has to be ready to accept that change first and foremost and there are other things that can help new lifestyle changes stick better. You can do it with somebody. That's huge, having someone that you go on walks with is definitely better. You know I have a standing ah exercise. Um. Session that I do with my friend Anders I have a standing weekly tennis session that I do with my friend Carson so it makes it a lot easier when you have someone else that you are ah doing it alongside your your vibe attracts your tribe right? So if you hang around.

27:49.32

mikebledsoe

M.

27:52.91

Max Shank

With people who tend to do more athletic things you're going to be more athletic yourself and if you hang around with ah food critics or something you're probably going to spend a lot of time eating too much so it's how do you get someone open.

28:06.27

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

28:12.78

Max Shank

To that change and then how do you make that change. Um take the best. How do you get it to stick.

28:21.90

mikebledsoe

Yeah I like this social component I I do a weekly workout on Tuesday mornings with some friends where it's been years since I've I've done a decent amount of intense exercise. But I rarely like pick up the heaviest thing possible. Or like or or push my ah my aerobic or anaerobic capacity very hard. But once a week I go train with a group of guys where everyone has got ah a decent fitness background. So no, one's moving poorly. But we're going to go in and push ourselves. And you know half the time. It's a crossfit style workout and I I get in there and I and I go do that workout because if I work out at home I'll just be moderate all the time I'll push it less frequently. But I go there and I push it really hard and that that. Is really a check-in with myself because I'm a decade older than almost all the guys at the session. So it's it's actually nice to go do that. So having that social component to do something you knew I think is is awesome. Um I'm curious. What is what are some of your like how does your week. Do you have like ah a typical week and do you have your week structured in a way sounds like you got you know that workout with anders and you got a tennis lesson. What's happening. What do you schedule in your week that. Set you up for success and and your day as well.

30:22.67

mikebledsoe

Can you hear me.

30:32.55

Max Shank

Hello hello can you hear me we should we should pause. Let me see if I can fix the the inner all right? So basically my weekly routine is what you were saying. Um.

30:33.87

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

30:52.18

Max Shank

Have my appointments that are set 1 training session with a friend one tennis session with a friend and my goals are longevity and tennis related right now. I was laughing the other day because I was watching a little tennis and I saw this guy there this professional tennis player and I was like oh my god that guy's got an amazing body for tennis and this guy is so skinny is like 6 2 1 70 meanwhile I'm five nine and I used to walk around £200 just like a jacked little like brick shit house essentially and that was how I wanted to be I wanted to be ah buff to the point where I was intimidating that was my that was my fitness goal at the time.

31:37.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

31:47.99

mikebledsoe

Ah, sounds familiar.

31:49.32

Max Shank

So My my training reflected those goals heavier weights more weights. Lots of food move bigger weights faster all that stuff and now my goals are completely the opposite. That I want to be able to move around quickly. I don't want to be carrying around a ton of extra weight and it's kind of the same thing that I tell people as far as my morning routine is Concerned. It's like my morning routine would kill you my exercise routine. Would probably not be what you want because you have different goals than I do So I exercise every day I go totally based on feel I'm still you know stronger than. 99% of people in most ways I find that if you don't push to your absolute Limits. You can handle a tremendous amount of frequency when it comes to training you mentioned that you have a heavy bag.

33:02.40

mikebledsoe

E.

33:01.92

Max Shank

Or had a heavy bag in your living room I mean my house is full of various gym equipment like I have a huge like Monkey Bar Stall Bar gymnastics setup in the backyard with several. Ropes and pulleys and a sled and all kinds of stuff and then in the garage I have different isometric trainers that I've built and balance beams and platforms and all this Stuff. So I mean I. Am an experimenter when it comes to this kind of stuff. So a lot of the stuff I do is just experimenting on myself. Um, that being set.

33:46.50

mikebledsoe

But sounds like you've created an environment where we're practicing movement and improving your skills is just so easy. There's there's no friction between you and jumping on the balance beam with a club.

34:02.30

Max Shank

Totally um I do hill sprints about once a week and it's not the most fun. Um, it's about 1% as fun as playing tennis but I still do it anyway. So I guess I do occasionally. Exercise a little bit of willpower. Um, frankly I think most of the exercise plans that people do really don't take into consideration the actual goals they want. It's kind of just parroting what the last guy said when it comes to exercise. I think people want to be able to move around. Um athletically and quickly that's the most important thing because that gives you the opportunity to try more things I think it's important for be. People to be able to carry something kind of heavy. You know a sandbag bear hug Carrie throw a sandbag on 1 shoulder other shoulder do a couple squats with it I don't get down with the super heavy squatting. Don't think the risk reward is really there I don't think it's appropriate for most people I think like a body weight sandbag squat for 10 to 20 will take you pretty much as far as you need to go in that type of leg strength. Frankly I see the squat as more of a resting position than a position that should be loaded extremely heavily the deadlift and sprinting are far more appropriate for loading up the legs single leg deadlifting as well.

35:50.82

mikebledsoe

I agree with that. Ah I've cut out I've cut out squatting I mean I might do some cattlebell squats. But yeah, the load you know it's single arm catabell Squat load is low Sandbag squats. But yeah, pushing on deadlives pushing on on sprints.

35:53.51

Max Shank

Ah, pushing pulling the sled and.

36:10.35

mikebledsoe

And just different plios I'm with you on that.

36:10.99

Max Shank

It depends on what you're trying to get right? What are you trying to get out of it. Um, you know I think of the said principle primarily specific adaptation to impose Demand. That's how you're going to adapt and you're looking for a couple things. You're looking for the actual tissue to adapt so muscle bone Ligament Tendon. So That's the stuff and then you also have. The neurological efficiency which is recruiting more motor units. That's why gymnast and Olympic weightlifter can do greater feats of strength and create more force and more attention more torque even with the same amount. Muscle So they're able to do more with less because of the neurological efficiency and then you have ah motor control which is also specific to the task. So um. Balancing ah targeting like boxing another good example I know you're into marksmanship so being able to hold steady while you move your body around is a pretty good skill as well. So There's the skill aspect.

37:33.66

mikebledsoe

Um.

37:39.90

Max Shank

And there's the stimulus for the adaptation of the tissue and the neurological drive. Let's call it like how much muscle can you recruit with your thoughts which is kind of a trip so to keep things pretty simple. Try to focus on isometrics explosive movements and then the pump which is not necessarily trying to get as crazy of a pump as possible but it's more about trying to maintain tension on what I'm working. For at least a minute plus so I'm not fully locking out. Let's say or I'm not resting in between repetitions. So. There's not really a rest spot. Yeah, exactly So Those are.

38:27.59

mikebledsoe

You getting that time under tension.

38:34.72

Max Shank

Essentially the 3 big things that I try to focus on as far as the type of stimulus is concerned. Um, it also maximizes risk reward so the safety is very high on all those.

38:40.24

mikebledsoe

On that that also. Yeah, listening to you makes me think about the the concept of minimum effective dose and like anytime I Yeah yeah, well, you're talking about. You know the the sad principle and.

38:51.88

Max Shank

Oh yeah, like I'm ah fully autistic with it now. Yeah.

39:05.24

mikebledsoe

Anytime I hear that I think minimum effective dose I look back on my weightlifting career and how many times did I do 2 or 3 more sets necessary to make an improvement between day one and day two and I actually. Diminish the amount of results I would get because I was again going back to what we were saying earlier in the show effort more effort equaled more reward and what would have been a lot better is a little bit of effort for fewer for less volume would have given me a much bigger bang for my buck. Yeah, and so like now when approaching exercise is did I go a little bit harder or heavier than last time. Okay, cool if I did I don't need to go another £10 I just did better than last time chill out I think I think the wendler.

39:40.54

Max Shank

The.

40:00.30

mikebledsoe

System actually does a good job of teaching that.

40:03.70

Max Shank

Yeah I think it really depends on the goal if you are professional then it might be worthwhile to sacrifice some of your health for performance you know sumo wrestler offensive lineman in the Nfl. You're not going to live as long but you'll be a professional athlete and get all this glory. But if you are an amateur that's a huge advantage you can do it for fun and if you are playing the long game. You won't put. As much pressure on yourself with each training session. You won't say oh I have to leave the gym in a wheelchair after leg day and like look the reality is if you exercise for 10 years you're going to be very strong.

40:46.37

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

41:00.67

Max Shank

As long as you are getting the stimulus ah required for a little adaptation and on the other side of that coin a lot of the strongest hands I've ever seen are attached to plumbers.

41:17.99

mikebledsoe

A.

41:20.60

Max Shank

Because they just like use their hands all freaking day they're like twisting pipe on and off and using a wrench and they're like doing hard stuff all the time and then you know there are all these myths that we perpetuate to try to maintain our. Authority somehow they're like oh you're overtraining and I'm like this guy just did 5000 repetitions of the arm exercise that you said the person should only do 3 sets of 10 on like it makes no sense. It's all relative to the individual and you know this nuance.

41:49.50

mikebledsoe

E.

41:58.49

Max Shank

Is what people are trying to avoid right? They're like don't make me think just tell me how many squats I should do on Monday Wednesday and Friday okay, and then we have all of these studies that come out which are fucking embarrassing where it's like oh.

42:04.26

mikebledsoe

M.

42:15.40

Max Shank

We proved that squats were better than leg presses. It's like over a fiveweek period like what are you kidding me like we didn't measure lunges. We didn't measure ah sled pushing. We didn't test sprinting and how are you measuring leg strength are you on the fucking leg extension machine or some shit like that. And what are these people doing when they're not in the and like I understand the desire to do that. But the most difficult cost to understand in anything is opportunity cost. It's very difficult. It doesn't matter whether you're exercising. Or whether you are investing. It's very difficult to say what should I invest in should I invest into ah you know Microsoft or Apple in the you know early two thousand s or something like it's really hard to say like because. You know opportunity cost is about the cost of everything else. You could be doing instead of that thing and that's how I became so hardcore in this philosophy that I've developed which is like what am I sacrificing by doing. Heavy back squats. What am I gaining from doing heavy back. Squats is this applicable to the broader population is it a good risk reward and what could I be doing instead and when you ask what could I be doing instead. It is a mind-blowing experience because you're like man I could like work on my footwork I could lunge I could pull a sled I could do step ups. You know, step ups are another exercise. It's like a friend zone exercise I called it in an article back in the day it was like side planks. And step ups and single arm rows. It's like so ah, that kind of leads me to my upper body training right now is like 80% um, pushing and pulling a cable or a band from a lunge position because it's very athletic position. It gives me the maximum carryover to being able to use that skill from a standing position and wouldn't you know most of the time.

44:28.65

mikebledsoe

M.

44:44.66

Max Shank

You need your strength when you are standing so it's shocking actually like I get some buff dudes coming in sometimes ah and they might bench like a lot of weight or something like that. But I put them in a lunge position. And do band presses at like a 45 degree and they have no rotational stability. They have no integrity through the foot and ankle to connect that entire kinetic chain and I mean we're talking like you know. £50 of force for one arm and they're like stumbling all over the place. They can't hold that position. They can't generate that force through the foot through the kinetic chain and finish it in their hand so being able to. Ah. Hold that athletic stance and shift the weight from a standing position while you push and pull with the upper body and it gives you a good opportunity to explore a diverse set of angles. That's that's like really sweet but it doesn't look that cool and it's. A little harder to measure like if someone says I yeah I benched you know 2 25 or 3 15 or whatever. There's like ah a certainty to it. It's like very cool if I'm like yeah a cable pressed £70 from a lunge position for. 1 minute using a sixty beat per minute metronome people are like I don't really know what to I don't really know what to make of that is that hard is that good and I'm like yes I also did some isometrics from that position earlier and the load didn't move at all. It's like.

46:36.59

mikebledsoe

I I did so good.

46:39.54

Max Shank

It's just not. it's it's it's um it's not quantitative in a way that is very satisfying so people usually avoid that and the same is true. Um in investing also a lot of the time the stuff that's really boring. Just. Quietly outperforms the market by like 20 to 1 you you get that kind of thing sometimes so ah, kind of went off on a good one. There. But basically there are fewer and fewer exercises that I gravitate toward.

46:58.84

mikebledsoe

Yeah.

47:15.20

Max Shank

In the light of athletic carryover and overall efficiency. But I I train a little bit every day because I recognize you don't have to like smash yourself to elicit that adaptation. And since I'm playing the long game. It's It's very psychological if I just train every day There's no confusion I can do what I want to but I'm not not doing nothing unless I feel really banged up which is.

47:50.68

mikebledsoe

Yeah, um, over the years I've I've gotten more into whole body training each day training for like like you athleticism and you know when you're training the whole body and you're you're approaching it from a minimum effective dose.

47:51.24

Max Shank

Pretty rare.

48:09.86

mikebledsoe

Perspective then you're going to get wrecked way less often and because you're not just blowing out 1 group of muscles which means that you can your your movement patterns are Goingnna maintain integrity if you got a wheelchair yourself out after leg day like you were saying. You're you're probably damaging your motor patterns for athletic ability because how many days are you gonna walk weird when you could have been walking walking normal but to get yoke bro.

48:41.94

Max Shank

Well and why are you doing that in the first place. It's a it's no, it's a but that's a trap like we think that. Ah, if we get all these muscles then the ladies are going to be like oh my god your muscles are so big. Ah you know, whatever, but that's not how it works at all.

49:01.30

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

49:01.93

Max Shank

Like nobody cared. It's only a small section of the other like we're talking to mostly dudes I would imagine to this but we've probably scared away but was it se twenty second episode we probably scared away like most of the ladies I think.

49:10.75

mikebledsoe

Um, I I so well I got ah I got a Dm the other day from a woman who listened to our our show on relationships and the one that I think we probably several times during the show said well now that all the women have left.

49:22.73

Max Shank

Ah.

49:29.53

mikebledsoe

She loved it and sent it. She's like I'm going to send this to every guy I go on a date with like I ah.

49:35.84

Max Shank

Whoa That's amazing. There must be something wrong with her. No I'm kidding if you're if you're listening. You're probably really great. Yeah, that's awesome.

49:49.50

mikebledsoe

She's listening for sure. We appreciate you.

49:53.39

Max Shank

Ah, no like if we're talking to dudes mostly like girls don't care about that like that is the trying to build big muscles to attract ladies is one of the worst cost benefit. You could do. It's gonna take so much effort to build muscle. And it's gonna have almost no impact on your love life. It's gonna have you should exercise because exercising makes you feel better about yourself. It makes you more physically capable but exercising specifically for larger muscles is. Ah, trap. You're not going to be as athletic and quite frankly, a lot of the way your muscles look is going to come down to your genetics anyway, I've seen some crazy examples where you get a gymnast I think he was the number 1 pommel horse guy. Can you think of like a more insane upper body exercise than the pommel horse like the pommel horse and the rings those guys are like freaks this guy can't remember his name I have it somewhere. Ah dude he couldn't sell protein powder on Instagram.

50:56.94

mikebledsoe

So crazy.

51:09.23

mikebledsoe

He.

51:11.52

Max Shank

His arms were so scrawny he looked like the before picture for a protein powder ad for like some high school kid but he was so crazy strong and I'm just thinking like man all these programs out there that are like trained like a gymnast and it's like. Now, you're doing pushups and pullups on the rings and that's going to that's good to suddenly turn you into like this jacked gymnast body and you know I understand it's the ah progressive promises of advertising. Right? not not 8 minute abs 7 minute abs not 7 minute abs 6 minute abs 4 minute abs and then it's like you're going to build £10 of muscle in a month and I'm like if you're hitting puberty and doing steroids at the same time that might be possible. But. You know it's just these ridiculous expectations and that's another trap too is don't expect like an 8 to twelve week solution for you know, athletics and muscle building like even the idea of that. Is. It's just crazy to me like if you want to have long-term success. You have to like go into it thinking I'm going to make a lifestyle change and I'm going to train until I'm dead. That's that's the smart play there not like I'm gonna try to you know.

52:42.28

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, why that but the the further we look out and the further we set our goals the better. Our decisions will be from day to day you know people are setting a twelve week

52:47.35

Max Shank

Whatever in eight weeks I mean I could just go on a good one here but go on.

53:01.77

mikebledsoe

Goal which is you know? ah in twelve weeks I want a pr or I want to achieve this thing if you're always in a if you're always in a twelve week block and that does work when you're younger for sure. But if you're always thinking in twelve week blocks and you're not thinking about.

53:08.37

Max Shank

Can be good.

53:19.14

mikebledsoe

What about 3 twelve week blocks from now you're going to and you know you pick up well back in the day when I was a kid you know picking up a magazine. It's like you know a 6 weekek program or twelve week program to bigger pecs or whatever it is and if you're always training like that then you're.

53:27.64

Max Shank

7

53:37.48

mikebledsoe

You're not going to age well. But if you go what is my 10 year goal like I have I have an end of life goal I'm working 100 years into the future and I say I'm training for 100 years from now. And my my goal is to be able to wipe my ass until a day I die being able to get enough thoracic rotation and be able to stand there and wipe my ass. That's a lot of old people can't do it. They cannot wipe their own ass and so. I um, yeah, yeah, well you know I'm 40 now sorry my my goals have become more practical but ah these the setting a goal that's ten years out you know I look I go what am I gonna how do I want to be when I'm 50.

54:13.53

Max Shank

It's a very practical goal.

54:31.80

mikebledsoe

And it it's and I train how I want to be when I'm 50 I train like that today. Yeah I'm moving towards that which really takes the stress from off of trying to be in a hurry to achieve anything. Yeah, if you're if you. If you're trying to make improvements in twelve weeks you're go to be in a hurry. You're probably not going to abide by the minimum effective dose rule. You are going to give yourself a maximal dose you may value intensity over frequency. I find that having a longer term goal when I when I turned in my short term goals for longer term goals. Um I started seeing the value in frequency over intensity I saw it's like oh I would rather squat every day a little bit. Then to squat a lot a bit one day and then be too sort of squat for a week so um I really like that's another thing that really comes with longer term planning is like you were saying you work out every day you yeah you have a movement practice every day I have the same thing I move. Every day. Um I'd say about once a month I take a day where I just I get up and I don't move I just completely just let it all go which is fine. Um, which I think is pretty healthy. But yeah I value frequency over intensity and I think that.

56:02.52

Max Shank

Become the couch.

56:05.89

mikebledsoe

Yeah, and then that does I think that is impacted by having a longer term goal I'm like look I got 10 years this is more about and it's also a little bit easier for us because we're maintaining a pretty solid base so there's like um if I am as good as I am.

56:21.64

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah.

56:25.32

mikebledsoe

Now in 10 years I'm fucking excited about it. So there's also something to be set for that. No.

56:30.90

Max Shank

Right? Yeah, lots of good stuff there too I think pretty much hurrying or being greedy is what hurts people the most that might be the only thing that hurts people.

56:44.60

mikebledsoe

E.

56:49.50

Max Shank

They're greedy for more range of motion. They're greedy because they're not willing to wait for the results that will come if they're patient. That's true with so many things very novel concept. Um.

56:55.50

mikebledsoe

Um.

57:05.50

Max Shank

However, I would say that just the same way. You could take a year long goal or a 5 year goal and break it down into steps I think it can be beneficial to have a twelve week goal sometimes if you're approaching it with that patience in mind.

57:20.53

mikebledsoe

Yeah I mean I'm I'm a big fan of breaking down 10 years into 3 year to 1 year to twelve weeks same in in business. Um I just when I was younger I didn't have 10 year goals yeah I didn't have 10 year goals when I was 22 I I wanted to make it to.

57:24.81

Max Shank

Yeah, yeah, exactly I figured you meant that too. Yeah.

57:39.87

mikebledsoe

To get to national championships this year and which meant that I needed to qualify you know this year for for that and which means I need to boom boom boom and definitely wasn't planning like i.

57:53.77

Max Shank

Right.

57:56.25

mikebledsoe

In my head I'm like yeah I'll still be doing this in 5 years but I had 0 fucking plan on how to be how I was gonna be doing that 5 years ah yeah

58:04.46

Max Shank

Yeah, it's tribalism usually that leads us toward these very artificial goals like the whole idea that your self worth is somehow going to be influenced by the amount of pounds you can lift. Is one of those absurd things that would be so difficult to explain to an alien. It's like wait. What? like Yeah yeah, if I I if I lift ah a weight in this certain way then the members of my tribe will love me quite a lot more and I will be revered for this. And here's the funny part that 100 % happened with me 100% um, and I felt good and people were like wow max you're so good. Not verbatim. They didn't say that but essentially that was the message. Wow you're so good and I was like wow you know.

58:44.82

mikebledsoe

Yeah, yeah.

59:01.23

Max Shank

Feel really good now and I was like how about if I lift a few more pounds Next time they're like then you would be even more good and so it's just this self-fulfilling Prophecy even better. Ah yeah, ah well, it's like sometimes.

59:08.23

mikebledsoe

You be even better Will love you more.

59:21.14

Max Shank

When I'm doing Hill sprints I go I'm not even chasing anything or anybody like what am I doing out here shouldn't I be chasing something ah when I'm when I'm doing Sandbag carries.

59:28.66

mikebledsoe

Um, I used to I used to a warm up where I would chase my dog around the gym.

59:36.97

Max Shank

I'm doing Sandbag carries I'm like shouldn't I be building a wall. It just feels like very silly sometimes so that's if I'm going to be training if I'm going to be exercising. It should be extremely efficient.

59:39.62

mikebledsoe

Maybe maybe you should be.

59:56.43

Max Shank

You know I should be maximizing the amount of force that I can create and minimizing the risk of injuring myself otherwise I should like go play something that requires no willpower. That's fun I mean playing games. Like tennis or wrestling or something like that is like way more fun than lifting weights. But I just know that there is still a value in that minimum effective dose of training.

01:00:25.68

mikebledsoe

Um, yeah, it's actually kind of nice because training doesn't have to be as hard as it used to be getting getting in the gym is a lot easier when when you're thinking through that minimum effective dose mentality.

01:00:33.97

Max Shank

So what is it.

01:00:40.16

Max Shank

Oh my God Well I mean it depends What tribe you're part of dude. Yeah I mean depends which tribe you're part of if your tribe reveres a soul crushing effort.

01:00:45.31

mikebledsoe

Yeah, it's true. Yeah I'm part of a tribe where I don't really ah I'm I'm one of the most fit people. Yeah.

01:01:00.97

Max Shank

Well and our society already doesn't really revere people who are physically strong as much as people who are mentally capable who can deliver value right.

01:01:12.91

mikebledsoe

Yeah, why I I Um I've been in conversations with some people and I could tell that they really value I think we're our lag is fucked up again.

01:01:20.16

Max Shank

So.

01:01:42.10

Max Shank

All right? ah closing thoughts here's what I got if you want to live long and prosper. It's important to have friends. It's important to have. Ah, reason to get up out of bed. We didn't talk about that very much but it's very important exercising is important. But if all you did was walk and do taichi that would probably still allow you to live a very long time. It just wouldn't give you tons of options. For high level athletics like tennis surfing etc. As far as nutrition is concerned. Ah there aren't too many fields that have been more abused with misinformation outright lies and those damn statistics. And nutrition so I would focus on eating food that you like examining your bowel movements and just don't eat too much drink enough water get some sunshine not complicated stuff the more you. Engage with a tribe who also exhibits these healthy habits the easier it's going to be so don't make it complicated but try to make it as attractive and automatic as possible. Ah don't rely on your memory. To think of going for a walk if you are sitting in a desk for a long period of time set a timer like we have this divergence of people who have learned how to use the pocket supercomputers and people who are being used by. Pocket supercomputers so set an alarm 5 minutes is more than enough ah to break whatever pattern you're in to move lymph around There are all kinds of problems that are caused by the lack of lymphatic flow. Cause it doesn't have a pump I mean I could go on and on but I'm gonna go ahead and leave it there today. This is of course all the stuff we're talking about is the philosophy that I have had in mind as I've developed my training programs. So if you want. A more complete understanding of the athletics side of things then you can check any of them out at http://mashank.com.

01:04:12.23

mikebledsoe

Right on? Ah yeah, my my closing thoughts on this is have ah have a 10 year plan for your fitness goals and for your health goals and really avoid being in a hurry. So take your time go slowly I'd say 80% of my training is done moderately at a at a slow pace and then 20%. It's probably more like ninety ten but that ten or twenty percent is done. You know high intensity with some speed or something like that.

01:04:31.53

Max Shank

A.

01:04:50.17

mikebledsoe

And I found that to to treat me a lot better over time and one of the things I didn't mention that that I think is super important is one of the things that I do is I book myself first on Monday morning. So every day i. Log into my computer to look at what he and do for work but on Monday morning. The first thing I do is I book out what I'm doing for my training and what I'm doing for recovery and what I'm doing for my fun so I know and I block it on my calendar. No one can schedule anything during those times and so that ah. You know we do tend to live by the supercomputer in our pocket and I I will program in there like I don't take meetings before ten I don't take meetings after 5 and I have all my social activities scheduled in there and I have. You know I go do my sauna and cold plunge in the evenings and I've got that scheduled in I know what day I'm gonna go to the float tank I know when I'm doing what and if for some reason I mean I I can't remember the last time I sacrificed something that I had put on the schedule. So um I I become. Very protective of it over over the years and so I think that that's if I could advise people to do anything that I think is gonna have the biggest impact is put something in the schedule on your calendar that you're gonna do for yourself. Ah. Check in with that every single week and you're gonna make a lot of progress in that area. So thanks for joining us today really enjoyed having this conversation. We're gonna dig more into this in future shows and yeah. Your coach I've got a a live event coming up the strong coach summit and go to http://thestrongcoach.com/summit and check that out. We'll be doing some movement nutrition stuff there as well. I'm trying to get max out there I haven't gotten a definite answer from him yet. Yeah. But thanks for joining us today. Thanks for joining me max. Love you brother and we'll see y'all next time see you' all next monday.

01:07:05.52

Max Shank

Thank you buddy! Love you.

Jan 17, 2022

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.

Jan 10, 2022

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.

Jan 3, 2022

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.

« Previous 1 2 3