Long Term Strategies vs Burnout

00:02.36	Max Shank	Welcome back. Everyone to the max and Mike Podcast Hope you're having a lovely day. We're talking about long-term Strategy V versus short-term Burnout. There's a quote I like from the daw. Which is the flame that burns brightest burns half as long and I think that's a natural that's a natural method for super masculine guys. Anyone who's like trying to prove themselves or trying to achieve. A lot in a short amount of time. It's It's really common to experience some burnout I know I've experienced some burnout I would imagine that most of the people listening also have Mike I'm sure you have experienced some. Ah.
00:58.34	mikebledsoe	Few times. Yeah.
00:59.80	Max Shank	Burnout in your life a few times. So yeah, well I'm reminded of another quote from the dow I'll just quote the dow this whole episode because it's it's it's my favorite book. It really did.
01:08.50	mikebledsoe	Perfect. Well it makes sense to quote the doubt for this topic.
01:18.28	Max Shank	Put patience in a ah strong light and the the quote that I'm thinking of now is nature does not hurry and yet all is accomplished and kind of makes you start focusing on. Process rather than the result and it's a bit of a paradox because if you don't have a clear target in your mind you are maybe less likely to achieve it. But if you are so chaotically just maniacally focused on the result you won't. Appreciate the process of how to get there and you might have a little less craftsmanship. So it's kind of that balancing of the pain and the desire to achieve a certain goal versus the peace and presence of being where you are. And focusing on what you're doing like a ah Master craftsman.
02:21.45	mikebledsoe	It's so much more enjoyable to be in that craftsman space and being in that I guess we could call it like the craftsman versus the visionary and or like being to me a visionary is someone who who sets a ah.
02:30.87	Max Shank	Ah, what.
02:38.26	mikebledsoe	Ah, plan for the future but in a way that is clear where you also have the daydreamer So the visionaries like the the healthy way of seeing the future but the daydreamer is somebody who spent waste time.
02:49.59	Max Shank	What? but.
02:55.47	mikebledsoe	Thinking about what could be in the future but doesn't actually execute. But yeah I like the idea of having like the visionary is is 1 thing and the craftsman's on the other side and ah I've spent a lot of time in the visionary role and 1 of the things that i've.
02:58.30	Max Shank	Ah, but.
03:13.53	mikebledsoe	That I've needed to do because I grew up a daydreamer and then I started shifting that consciously into creating a very specific thing I would narrow my focus down onto. We're going to accomplish this and I noticed it what I've adjusted over time is the amount of attention I.
03:15.58	Max Shank	A.
03:33.13	mikebledsoe	Put into vision and the amount ah amount of attention I put into being the craftsman have shifted so I spend so when I I put a lot of attention into being a visionary I'll ah so I'll wipe an entire day on my schedule and once a year
03:39.24	Max Shank	Something like.
03:50.94	mikebledsoe	And I'll envision the next year for my business for instance and then yeah and then you know I create in every ninety days I meet with my team for a few hours to create the ninety day plan and every month we meet for like an hour to make sure that that month is squared away and so that's.
03:55.18	Max Shank	It's like chunking.
04:09.41	mikebledsoe	But rhythm that I found. That's really helped me balance out that visionary with execution and it's allowed me to really just focus in on the execution be a craftsman because I trust that the plan that I'm working towards that. What I what I've planned to execute. Is actually taking me to where I want to be and now when I'm executing I'm not thinking about the result I'm just thinking about doing the best job I can with a thing that's right in front of me right now and it's created a lot more patience and things have become yeah like life has been. More enjoyable I don't try to squeeze too much in too little time. Um, but you know hey I turned forty last week so this is definitely something that comes with age.
04:50.95	Max Shank	Ah.
04:59.90	Max Shank	Well, some people never get there right? They live and die without really honing that skill of I just call it time travel skills. You know you look back to your books on the wall which is like your memories. You look forward into the crystal ball. Which is the future and then you have the ability to be super present here and now like ram dos style and if you're able to do that consciously like I am going to project myself into a potential future and. Iron out those details and clarify that vision. That's a superpower and if you're stuck there Forever. You are just swimming in anxiety and if you're going back into the past and you're able to do it expertly. That's how you learn and I mean. You know nostalgia is kind of like a dangerous thing too. I think but if you if you stay in the past too long. You can get depressed. You can get hung up on all of the stuff you did like oh I should have done it differently I mean I always think that way.
06:10.13	mikebledsoe	Or there's also like people who who they they they have the nostalgia of the past and then they are comparing it to the present moment and then and in a way the where the present's not as good as the past that doesn't happen as much with our friends probably. But.
06:24.72	Max Shank	Yeah, totally I mean.
06:29.89	mikebledsoe	If you look at the average person. The average 35 year olds probably like me in high school man that was when I was having all the fun.
06:35.78	Max Shank	Well, the only absolute is relativity. You can't describe something without describing something else first and when I think about the the stressors that I experience now here's a story that will make everyone hate me. And it will paint like a really good picture like so ah first it'll it'll make you like me and then it'll make you go fuck that guy so first I remember that my my mom left and my dad and my brother got really depressed. And I was doing all the work basically and my outward frustration was like nothing like I was upset about it but it was like whatever the other day 1 of the speakers in my steam shower stopped working. And I was like what the fuck and like 1 of those is like obviously worse like for a child to shoulder the burden of supporting a family is like way more than I mean I still had 1 steam shower speaker that was working right. Like it wasn't like a whole thing but it but it just goes to show that that like relativity you have this idea based on ah the past, but you also have um, kind of like feature creep. You know people don't like to go down. In Lifestyle chris rockt is like a hilarious bit. It's like women don't go down in lifestyle and he says he does like this whole thing where like once you get to a certain level. You never want to go the opposite way. So it's all it's all what you compare it to and if you get stuck. Like what you're talking about you either are looking back at the past as better than right now or you're looking back as like oh I I was bad then or I did something wrong and then you pull it you pull it with you into the present. So.
08:43.40	mikebledsoe	Um, a lot of people end up punishing themselves for a past behavior in the present moment which then just creates creates more negative future moments.
08:49.81	Max Shank	Being able.
08:54.74	Max Shank	Dude. It steals the potential joy and peace out of the present and I I did a ton of that like I would um, you know who knows exactly why but when I I would like rehearse and prepare for a conversation. Even.
09:14.44	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
09:17.41	Max Shank	And be like okay this person might say this and then I can say that and then I would also look back to times when I was like a child and be like oh so stupid for saying that that was so mean or that was so dumb and so I think it's it's normal.
09:29.60	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah.
09:36.97	Max Shank	To have those feelings. It's just whether or not you can let them go so that you can be present and you can also project forward with a with a powerful positioning like I can influence my life in a constructive way.
09:39.91	mikebledsoe	What.
09:54.68	Max Shank	Here's my future plan that is better and also I can come back to the present and do that deep work because if you're thinking if you're just thinking about the pot of gold If you're just thinking about the result you're probably not going to do as good craftsmanship.
10:09.54	mikebledsoe	Yeah, absolutely the way I look at ah emotions and memories. Ah, there are everyone has emotions they dwell on and emotions they avoid and you know.
10:23.71	Max Shank	Um.
10:27.32	mikebledsoe	People Probably a lot of people probably hear that and think yeah people dwell on happy you know, positive emotions or what's perceived as positive emotions and avoid negative and that's not necessarily true I know that for myself I used to dwell on guilt The the emotion of guilt and.
10:38.77	Max Shank	The hurt.
10:46.46	mikebledsoe	Like it. It was deep down in my gut and like I just felt guilt from like when I was a little kid. It just felt guilty a lot and then I got older and I felt guilty a lot and and the benefit of it of guilt is that you'll change your behavior because you're you're guilty about how you did something.
10:54.74	Max Shank	Are.
11:03.74	Max Shank	In here.
11:05.78	mikebledsoe	But the problem is is if any emotion. But even if it's joy if you're dwelling on that instead of just allowing that emotion to move because they they tend to move unless you suppress or or just um, start creating start.
11:14.60	Max Shank	Hit a.
11:24.76	mikebledsoe	Remembering stories that you associate with that feeling and you end up in a perpetual loop like oh everyone likely can understand this or go oh I do do that is thing about ah something you were you felt guilty about or bad about in the past and then you'll have that feeling. And then you'll have a thought of something else. You're guilty about and something else. You're guilty about and and so then you just end up having a bad day right? Yeah, this 1 thing triggers a memory which triggers the feeling and that feeling triggers more memories and so we end up practicing being in this.
11:44.85	Max Shank	Here. Right.
12:02.37	mikebledsoe	This pattern um like ah ah, a guiltridden pattern and yeah, they're just wasting so much energy and time being in a pattern versus just going like you were saying letting it go and to me the key to letting it go is to feel it fully go. You know what. I Don't really look at guilt as a negative thing. It's like it's a gift and I get to learn from it and I go look I am totally present with this emotion I Love it. I accept it I Love it and I got my lesson from it and then if you can do that. That's that's a superpower.
12:39.64	Max Shank	Ah, oh yeah, once you shine a light on it. It's no longer. Ah scary. It's no longer lurking in the shadows. There's a french phrase ah to know all is to forgive all never heard that 1 I like that 1 a lot.
12:39.71	mikebledsoe	Very few people can do that.
12:44.75	mikebledsoe	Right.
12:54.33	mikebledsoe	No.
12:59.22	Max Shank	I Mean it's That's my translation. It's in French but I don't speak French Currently So um I mean I might I might later? Yeah, um, but when you think about your self.
13:05.10	mikebledsoe	But used to maybe or in the future. Yeah later. Okay.
13:18.54	Max Shank	Recognizing I mean I still am like this with myself you got to realize that you're a combination of different instincts and stories and all kinds of things where how could you not be more forgiving of yourself. You know like I I know so little still and you know I do this thing on my birthday where I just think man I've accomplished so little I don't really look at it as like a positive thing because it's more like feel like I'm a little bit behind ah my schedule which probably just From. Setting really high goals. But if you don't like forgive the fact that you are a monkey just trying to figure stuff out in some sort of Cyber Punk Weird Ah Lifestyle It's going to be really. Painful for you I mean the the whole reason that people do great or terrible things is because they're like deeply dissatisfied with the way things are right. So if you're not deeply dissatisfied with how the way things are ah you'll you probably do very little. You'll just Enjoy. So I think you said it best is you don't run from that emotion. You don't ignore that emotion. You experience it fully and I think Curiosity is the best way is like the most constructive ah mentality to have about it where you don't take anything personally I think that's 1 of those four agreements is do your best. Don't take anything personally. Um.
14:51.65	mikebledsoe	E.
15:08.68	Max Shank	So yeah, getting getting curious about the emotion and accepting it and accepting the the fact that we are very emotional creatures if not the most emotional creatures and that'll make it so you're able to forgive yourself which is kind of a precursor for letting that stuff.
15:17.89	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
15:27.84	Max Shank	Go that doesn't serve you.
15:28.20	mikebledsoe	I Think that the taking ah I think we get further define taking things. Personally, this is a this is something that I see people get hung up on a lot and I had a ah a big breakthrough around. My thinking around taking things personally are you familiar with the concept of collapse distinction collapsed collapsed distinction. Okay so collapsed distinction is where ah the human mind.
15:53.29	Max Shank	Um, class distinction. No.
16:05.47	mikebledsoe	We'll take 2 words and they've collapsed them into the same meaning and so and people start behaving that way. 1 example is ah, there's a collapse distinction for ah, most mothers they have collapsed love and worry.
16:21.97	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
16:23.38	mikebledsoe	So it right? It makes sense right? Your mom the way she expresses love she doesn't if she's not worried about you. She doesn't feel like she's loving you and yeah, exactly and so.
16:34.16	Max Shank	She might feel guilty that she's not worried.
16:42.58	mikebledsoe	Um, in in Mothers learn this from their mothers. So this is something that's happened for a long time and so it's like there's a collapse distinction because if we look at but but for us so I'm a son you're a son. If our mom we get on the phone with arm change. Oh okay, the daughter. yeah yeah I think you should just go with the queue. That's what I do yeah I'm I'm ah questioning all the time.
17:04.70	Max Shank	I'm thinking of changing actually to daughter or or undecided. Perhaps I think I might be a tree actually.
17:19.52	mikebledsoe	Ah, so ah, was it somebody somebody so somebody somebody did somebody did I was like you was like well um I fall into the que category I'm I'm definitelyquet like once I realize the Q stand for questioning I go if you're not questioning what are you doing like.
17:22.61	Max Shank	Sorry for the derail.
17:38.30	mikebledsoe	And then somebody was like almost founded offensive that I would identify as questioning I go like you're straight I'm like like ah now you're questioning my identity So like like all of a sudden I'm not allowed to yeah, it's it's funny. Ah, anyways, let's get back to it Collapse distinction. Love and worry.
17:51.30	Max Shank	That's hilarious.
17:57.50	mikebledsoe	Ah, and as a son if my mom over the years has expressed worry for me. It's I don't experience. Love I'm experiencing. It's annoying. Yeah, yeah, it's fear which is a lot of people say those are opposites.
18:06.80	Max Shank	Fear fear which is a fear and love are are good opposites. Yeah that that once again that the distinction is important right? How you use those words.
18:15.75	mikebledsoe	Ah, but um. Yeah, and so we've collapsed something that is fear based with something that's love based and so ah, you know all we got to do is pull up these 2 definitions and what's the definition of love. What's the definition of Worry. These are very different things and don't even belong in the same category together.
18:26.65	Max Shank	Brutal.
18:40.17	mikebledsoe	So ah, that's ah, just as an example of a collapse distinction and so now now that we all have the awareness of there's something called collapse distinction that exists and the consciousness of Humans. We can then look for collapse distinction and the more distinction you can create successful distinction. That's the expansion of consciousness because we can look at at 1 aspect of consciousness is is built off of our vocabulary which is the structure of our thoughts and or ah the building blocks of our thoughts. Yeah well,, That's a whole.
19:12.29	Max Shank	Probably most.
19:17.99	mikebledsoe	We can go down that rabbit hole sometime. Ah, but we should define consciousness.
19:18.70	Max Shank	I Mean everything that's not instinct everything. That's not instinctual is a artificial creation Thanks to language.
19:27.68	mikebledsoe	Yes, yes, so 1 of the things that I 1 of the the collapse distinctions I stumbled upon a couple years ago was ah being sensitive and taking things personally so what I noticed is people would say.
19:42.31	Max Shank	A.
19:47.51	mikebledsoe	Oh You're just being sensitive when they really meant you're taking it personally I go. They're not being sensitive. They're taking it Personally, they're actually being insensitive by making it about them and so to me taking it personally means that. I am taking whatever is happening in the world and I'm making it mean something about me. Usually it's a very selfish thing to do and or it or it can be in a positive way still be.. You're still taking it personally.
20:09.39	Max Shank	And usually in a negative way talk totally totally well it well what it is is. It's putting yourself into a victim role and taking it. It. It's funny because it is literally taking you are taking it.
20:24.20	mikebledsoe	But it's usually negative.
20:34.29	Max Shank	And you are making it personal to yourself so that you can adopt that victim mentality and take on that victim role which is super effective in getting you attention and I think the word is conflate. You don't want to conflate.
20:43.83	mikebledsoe	Ahead.
20:50.64	Max Shank	Being sensitive with taking things personally because being sensitive is actually a huge advantage if you want to be successful in life. It's very useful to be sensitive to all sorts of things and there are all kind of different sensitivity like for. Ah, developing really good feel in your fingertips. You can lay a hair in between 2 pieces of paper and you can try to feel that single hair between the 2 pieces of paper. So If you're trying to become like a body worker having that sensitivity is a huge Advantage. Advantage being sensitive to someone's body language I mean using the 5 senses that's sensitivity you're hearing so sensitivity is crazy superpower if you can pick up on a person's energy.
21:36.50	mikebledsoe	E.
21:45.58	Max Shank	And dogs are of course good at this because they're not so encumbered by a lot of the language things right? So There's all kinds of senses and sensations and sensitivity that we have that is crazy powerful. Ah so it's important to not conflate that like you said with taking things personally. Which is just like um the crying ego trying to get attention for no reason.
22:09.13	mikebledsoe	Well that there's this is what is 1 things that made me notice it is people I would hear people go Oh I'm I'm an empath I'm very sensitive and then I hear them talk about their experience of the world and I go. You're just taking everything personally, you may be sensitive if you're both sensitive. And you take things Personally, you're in a bad spot. That's that's a rough life to live like you're picking up on everything and you're making it all mean something about you. That's Hard. So I I Tell people all the time is like people go people go Well, you don't know you're not really that sensitive I go.
22:38.10	Max Shank	Um, I Totally yeah oh yeah.
22:48.15	mikebledsoe	Oh I'm very sensitive and and ah and that's why I don't take things personally is because like you're not going to see me get triggered because I know that it's not about me like I It's not that I believe it. It's just I know it's not and so ah.
22:54.47	Max Shank	Um, right.
23:07.22	mikebledsoe	The way that people are treating me all this I was like it has nothing to do with me. It has it's it's them and it's if you can be both sensitive and you don't take things personally now that's a superpower. But if you're somebody who's sensitive and then you tend to make everything that you're perceiving about you.
23:19.56	Max Shank	Agreed.
23:26.88	mikebledsoe	You're you're on the opposite end you're fucked. So I think a lot of people. They don't know how to not take things personally so they end up trying to desensitize themselves because it's just too much.
23:39.70	Max Shank	Yeah, Wow. It's so true and I think subconsciously um some people want that they want to take on that role. It's like ah some people like to whip and some people like to be whipped and.
23:53.85	mikebledsoe	Here.
23:57.53	Max Shank	You know if you don't have a physical whip handy. Maybe you can just engage in a little psychological self-torture anytime. So it's it's fascinating and I've never heard that collapsed distinction before.
24:03.47	mikebledsoe	Ah, yeah.
24:12.23	mikebledsoe	Okay, okay.
24:14.74	Max Shank	I Think conflate means something almost similar like you either. It's like you confuse and combine words I'm pretty sure that's what it is yeah come.
24:21.10	mikebledsoe	Yeah, well yeah, um, yeah, maybe I need to I need to look it up.
24:28.44	Max Shank	combine it's combine 2 or more ideas or words into 1 Yeah.
24:30.82	mikebledsoe	Perfect I think that's that's good. Um, the reason I used the words collapse distinction I've not heard I've heard it from a couple people it's not widely used. Um I like it because ah, there's an opposite to collapse distinction which is just.
24:40.26	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
24:49.52	mikebledsoe	Distinction whereas like conflate. It's like well what's what's the opposite of that. There's what what happens after we stop conflating whereas with ah with a collapse distinction I go Well, there's distinction and then there's collapse distinction. So ah.
24:49.52	Max Shank	Um.
24:54.91	Max Shank	Specific right? Distinction. We really should do a whole topic on language 1 of these days because that's 1 of the roots of pretty much every problem a person has right.
25:07.98	mikebledsoe	Anyways.
25:20.26	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
25:23.42	Max Shank	You know, even Ecker tolly would say you know there there are no problems. There are only situations and all of this is just based on how we frame our experience with language and the whole concept of semantic precision which is using language. Where both parties agree on the definition. That's where most miscommunication happens like my my feeling in the world is like I Just want to like yell stop to everybody I Just want to like put my hands up and be like hey whoa. I Think there's been a misunderstanding whoa This got out of hand like I think we're just not understanding each other properly. You know.
26:04.26	mikebledsoe	Um, well.
26:12.25	mikebledsoe	That's ninety Nine point nine percent of the time. Yeah I mean I if you I and and the phrase that drives me nuts to someone someone goes. Oh that's just semantics and I go what.
26:25.68	Max Shank	That's the only tools we have to argue you want a fist fight. That's all we got.
26:28.19	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah people you're like oh that's just semantics I'm like I'm like whoa whoa Whoa If you're somebody who goes that's just semantics and you are likely missing you. You actually don't know what's happening in the world like in you, you not can be able to communicate it.
26:42.45	Max Shank	Well, you don't even know what's happening you don't even know what's happening within your own structure of your own ideas because the whole purpose is to get both parties to agree on what the definitions are so that you can have a distinct. Discourse or a precise discourse where everybody's like yes, this is what conflate means this is what collapse distinction means this is what love means you know like even even in something like marriage right? You know people are so nebulous with ah. What they're looking for in a relationship and then they're like I'm not getting what I want. It's like well did you specifically ask and did the other person agree to that and they're like well no, it's like embarrassing and I'm like oh well, um you you brought this on yourself like yeah, right is.
27:33.53	mikebledsoe	Good luck, Good luck with life. Ah.
27:39.25	Max Shank	It's so brutal I mean that's why like a lot of the first language was um, keeping tally of agreements like the most of the the um ancient texts are like.
27:45.70	mikebledsoe	E.
27:54.60	Max Shank	I don't know I'm going to show my ignorance here I don't exactly know. But I think it's like sumerian or something like that where it's like you know Bob smith that's not the name like but Bob smith owes you know Joe blow 3 cattles and a bushel of. You know acorns or something like that I don't know I'm not super hip with it. But that's basically what the first what the oldest written language we have is.
28:14.42	mikebledsoe	Yeah, right I got I give you my daughter and exchange you get me 2 walks and fifty had a goats and yeah.
28:22.20	Max Shank	Ah, right right? Fifty Silver so shekels or something like that.
28:32.66	mikebledsoe	Ah, all right? Let's let's bring it back to the rhythm when we got off on a language tangent which is great because I actually think we'll we'll likely do that a lot in the future and I already wrote down the put language and all that for the for the next next episode let's get back to rhythm. Um I'll bring it back in.
28:43.35	Max Shank	Yeah, should just make that our next 1 come come nice and prepared. Yeah, so.
28:52.47	mikebledsoe	Little bit of a hard left. But I think it's necessary ah is ah 1 of my buddies he once we once got started talking about cycles. So we if we talk about um I think about seasons and cycles when I think about rhythm and.
28:56.00	Max Shank	It's good time.
29:06.88	Max Shank	Um, threat.
29:12.21	mikebledsoe	Ah, because I think sometimes when I just think about rhythm by itself I think about a song.. There's a there's a beginning and an end and there's ah a cadence but with seasons of course it's circular and ah so it's it's predictable over and over and over again. But. I think we can all see the four seasons and ah so my buddy brought this to my attention. At 1 point he goes. Okay so you have your daily cycle and then you have your like if we look at real cycles in nature outside of ourselves We have the sun. The.
29:43.79	Max Shank	Sun Moon. Yeah.
29:48.71	mikebledsoe	Lunar cycles which is about 13 of them in a year um which basically the gregorian our calendar is totally fucked but um, it's not lined up with nature necessarily. Ah so it's close.
30:03.30	Max Shank	It's pretty close with the solar cycle. What propose a better 1 mike ah I'll meet with you 3 moons from now.
30:07.40	mikebledsoe	They have to make it Well we talk about that later, but ah, um, you could just go off the moon but the the yeah but ah, well, there's the Mayan calendar which is which follows the lunar cycles. So I know someone who runs their business Ho The lunar.
30:21.99	Max Shank	The.
30:26.94	mikebledsoe	Have the Mayan calendar but ah, she's far out there? Yeah yeah, yeah.
30:29.72	Max Shank	It's pretty far out I like it I think you got to respect those cycles I think temp I think tempo um and cycles are are very similar I don't think tempo or Rhythm necessarily means a song i.
30:43.44	mikebledsoe	Right.
30:45.82	Max Shank	Have this time time is illusion but Tempo is real is this sort of thing I have going on in the back of my head because the whole concept of linear time is just based on our singular perception of it and our memory are.
30:48.96	mikebledsoe	A b.
31:02.24	mikebledsoe	Me.
31:04.46	Max Shank	That's that's all it is memory and prediction. That's our only evidence that there is a such thing as time but the tempo of these different things like the sun and the moon and the seasons those are very concrete and they're circular. They're not.
31:21.89	mikebledsoe	Right? Yeah, so we got we got the sun. We got the moon and then you you start expanding out into the universe and there's there's a cycle happening in our our well just in the cosmos in general and then you get down to you know I think it's easier to see in women. They have their.
31:22.55	Max Shank	Ah, linear. What.
31:41.34	Max Shank	And.
31:41.68	mikebledsoe	Monthly cycle. That's happening internally and you know their training and their nutrition is going to shift based on you know if you're an athlete will will shift based on those things and and.
31:52.95	Max Shank	They usually leave them out of studies. A lot of scientific studies. They cut women out of because they have the huge change during a monthly cycle which is fascinating.
31:56.41	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
32:02.43	mikebledsoe	I think men have I think it's a seventy 2 day cycle that is more subtle so it's over a longer period of time and it's not so drasstic. So just not as noticeable.
32:09.67	Max Shank	Are.
32:16.85	Max Shank	That explains why I've been so grumpy this I think I'm on I think I'm on my man period.
32:21.21	mikebledsoe	I've had that happen I go ah, that's right? Ah so I look at these cycles and look at the seasons and and 1 of the things that really ah I really started appreciating my thirty s and I actually think living on the water. And san diego in a house that had a lot of ah, a lot of natural light helped me understand the seasons much better. 1 is being on the water allowed me to see the sun move across the sky I watched the sunset almost every day.
32:45.00	Max Shank	And.
32:57.60	mikebledsoe	And so it moved from from North to south and south to North ah across the west coast ah line and then it also was you know in the in the middle of the Summer. It's nine zero pm or little later setting and in the winter I mean it's four fifty and it's dark outside.
33:10.59	Max Shank	Okay. That was a great house.
33:15.89	mikebledsoe	And great house and I miss it. Ah and it was during that time that I really started honoring the seasons because prior to that I was. When I was living in memphis tennessee and I was running the gym like I was up at the gym at 6 a m no matter what time of year it was and I was under fluorescent lights. There was no I was killing all the natural cycles and and I wasn't done till nine zero p m and I'd get home and and everything was the same.
33:45.22	Max Shank	Are.
33:52.36	mikebledsoe	All the time and I was worn out and I didn't know why and then a few years into living in the San diego in this environment and I noticed that I worked less in the winter a lot less like probably half half the amount of time during the day in the winter I would I noticed that I would. Consume weed at night in the winter and and I would do movement at night and then when it started getting warm in the summer I would do my movement sober in the morning and so like I I now adopt that so in in the winter I start I train in the evenings and.
34:15.80	Max Shank	Um.
34:20.48	Max Shank	Um, her.
34:29.54	mikebledsoe	Summer I trained the mornings so I just witnessed my personal preferences based on I really got sensitive I was practicing sensitivity to the season and I also noticed that and in the summertime there's more parties it.
34:29.63	Max Shank	Interesting.
34:38.57	Max Shank	And.
34:46.69	mikebledsoe	Ah, people are celebrating um I work a lot more I stay up later I get less sleep I get like 7 hours of sleep on average in the summer and the winter I'm getting 8 and a half to nine and I go to less parties and I I read more in the winter. It's the winners all about reflection.
34:53.36	Max Shank	A.
35:05.56	mikebledsoe	About consuming. It's about resting and and more of just being and the spring hits and it's like oh you know I'm starting I'm almost tired of doing little and reflecting I've learned a lot I've reflected on what happened last year I'm ready to kick this year's ass and you spring in the action. And in the summer you're rolling and then the fall you know is the harvest and and by you know it's october now. So now. My experience is ah is I'm going oh man I'm so glad the parties are ending. So glad the sun's going down early because.
35:39.14	Max Shank	Simply.
35:42.79	mikebledsoe	I'm really feeling the desire to read and reflect and and get more sleep right now and so having that sensitivity to the seasons has really allowed me to ah just in all areas of my life. You know we can look at business and then the winner is just as wait.
35:48.58	Max Shank	Ah.
36:02.40	mikebledsoe	I've got a lot more strategy going on. There's less less doing and in the summer it's you know you know? Um, um, there's a lot more execution happening and less strategy. So it's um, it's welcome and it's enjoyable and it keeps me interested in life.
36:12.35	Max Shank	And.
36:19.55	mikebledsoe	Having those seasons.
36:21.69	Max Shank	There's some wisdom there too and I see wisdom as knowing yourself and acting accordingly and it sounds like you are really honoring your natural tendencies rather than fighting your natural tendencies because. Whether it's a macro cycle like ah the periods in your life where we're going to be at different places right? I mean I'm um, I'm in a pretty different place now at 34 than I was at 21 right? I'm in a different kind of position and different situation.
36:52.10	mikebledsoe	A.
36:58.52	Max Shank	And even throughout the day. Everybody's going to have a different rhythm to when they're feeling more energized when they're um, more likely to do a certain type of work I mean I've fought it for a long time because I. Want to be on a Circadian rhythm but actually I do my most interesting creative work at night when it's quiet and you know I would I love ah the idea of going to bed at 8 o'clock and waking up at four o'clock and when I do that.
37:21.69	mikebledsoe	E.
37:32.90	mikebledsoe	They have.
37:36.64	Max Shank	Get even less done. It's it's just way worse. So ah, you know I'm good I always turn the screens off at 8 o'clock but I don't necessarily go to bed around that time and that makes a huge difference. So anyway back to what I said about.
37:45.42	mikebledsoe	Yeah I think I mean for me the way I The the way hit me for that is I I just I turn my screens off when the sun goes down so it's like instead of it instead of it being at a specific time I go Oh it's getting.
37:59.56	Max Shank	That's even better. Yeah.
38:05.21	mikebledsoe	Dark I try to live in homes where it's natural light during the day and I'm not using any artificial light. So when the sun goes down it becomes obvious.
38:07.92	Max Shank	Um, yeah.
38:13.30	Max Shank	Well and it's that built in rest from those things right? I mean what is it even god rested once a week even god rested on Sundays or something like that and to use ah a fitness analogy. Um, you can't you can't sprint.
38:21.37	mikebledsoe	A.
38:32.91	Max Shank	All out all the time. All you're going to do is make the result worse and start running a lot slower. So if you ride the waves you're going to get a lot more out of it and you're going to expend way less energy doing it. You know if like. I'll use jumping as an example, if I had you jump a Hundred times by the hundredth jump if you did it all in a row. It would be horrible looking jumping a Hundred times really high. But if I had jump 3 times every minute. Like you could probably do thirty minutes of jumping and be a little better and even 1 step ahead of that if I had to do 3 jumps every minute for ten minutes three times a day then it's going to be even better than that. So this whole idea of trying to grind through. Rather than draw some boundaries and set yourself up so you can ride that momentum I mean look the reality is like you don't even have to do that many things to be wildly. Successful. But you can do it the the hard way or you can do it the easy way. And if you respect those rhythms and respect your nature It's so much easier, but that does require that ability to see the big picture which is the visionary mode and then also get into the the craftsmanship mode.
40:03.87	mikebledsoe	Yeah, there's a word you use that I find to be very important that is boundaries and most people have very poor boundaries. You're good. You're good. You're good at the boundaries I'm a lot better.
40:09.52	Max Shank	I Am That's my best skill I got the fastest know in the west I'm good. Yeah some people call that unfriendly.
40:22.52	mikebledsoe	Ah, max du an asshole. Ah yeah I've had people in my life. You know they'll they'll be like if he doesn't want to do it. He's not going to do it or if I do want to do something I'm going to do it.
40:26.50	Max Shank	I Just I just love myself. That's all.
40:36.70	Max Shank	Right.
40:40.77	mikebledsoe	It's It's more about like negotiate like if I'm know whoever I'm dating so turns into a negotiation about how it's going to happen versus if it's going to happen or whatever it is or not going to happen. Yeah, so.
40:49.80	Max Shank	If you can't say no, it's not negotiation. Can't walk away. It's no negotiation at all.
40:58.85	mikebledsoe	Yeah, but I think the boundaries conversation. You know I see there's internal boundaries and external boundaries and people are constantly crossing their internal boundaries. There. You know they go Oh I'm going to turn off my screens when the sun goes down or or whatever it is and then they don't do it or I'm going to stop. You know, binge watching television and cracking a beer when I get off work and they just cross that boundary and over and over again. They end up hating themselves for it usually projecting that anger on to you know their job or a relationship or yeah to kick the dog or whatever it is and.
41:20.73	Max Shank	The.
41:30.99	Max Shank	Take the dog right.
41:37.84	mikebledsoe	So There's like the the setting and the maintaining of boundaries is really really Important. Ah for for growth and the way I look at it is if we study archetypes if we look at like masculine archetypes the King sets the boundaries. The King has a kingdom. And says these are the edges of my kingdom. This is what I will and will not do and this is these are the rules that we live by in my kingdom but the warrior their job is to maintain those boundaries and so what I see a lot of a lot of men who end up in this like really flowy place is they have no boundaries.
41:59.26	Max Shank	The.
42:06.10	Max Shank	Is.
42:15.17	Max Shank	Oh.
42:16.66	mikebledsoe	Because they're there even if they want to have boundaries their warrior is so weak that they they just fold to their internal boundaries all the time and so there's a lot of guys running around acting tough who have zero warrior energy being directed at.
42:23.67	Max Shank	And.
42:36.24	mikebledsoe	Ah, maintaining boundaries and so ah and if you can't maintain your internal boundaries. You're not going to maintain healthy external boundaries and a lot of people on the external boundary side people. They don't um.
42:36.94	Max Shank	Ah.
42:55.35	mikebledsoe	First off, most people don't communicate their boundaries as boundaries. They may communicate it but they don't use the word boundaries I find that if I use the word boundary with somebody it catches their attention they go. Oh he's being serious because it's just not a common word and ah so external boundaries usually aren't communicated.
42:57.31	Max Shank	Um, right right? Yeah, ah.
43:15.70	mikebledsoe	And again someone else crosses our external boundary. What happens if you cross my external boundary and I didn't communicate it to you I usually get angry. You know people get angry. They're like but the fuck and you're going what happened I don't know um and so ah.
43:24.91	Max Shank	Lash out and right off.
43:33.37	mikebledsoe	Learning to communicate boundaries effectively All the time will create a lot of respect from other people and it keeps things really really clean and if something if something does need to shift in a relationship and you've been communicating the boundary as being broken over and over and over again.
43:41.73	Max Shank	Oh.
43:52.36	mikebledsoe	And it's an easier thing to to satisfy to to move away from it's like oh we have Ah, we've documented that this boundary's been crossed a dozen times like you're not honoring my boundariary. So yeah, we're gonna We're gonna shift this relationship.
43:58.12	Max Shank	Right.
44:06.80	Max Shank	Well and you draw your own line of what you're going to tolerate or not and it's It's fine to compromise as long as you know what? you're getting for what you're giving. Um I think I think fasting is really good for drawing those boundaries.
44:16.22	mikebledsoe	Now. Yeah.
44:24.55	Max Shank	I mean I don't want to label myself. Um, but I usually don't have 1 of something I have like zero of something or I have lots of that something and I think fasting is really good for drawing.
44:37.27	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah.
44:44.12	Max Shank	That critical boundary of your intake and I made a little video about it and I talked about how the main benefit of fasting to me is going from um, compulsive to conscious behavior and that's.
44:59.49	mikebledsoe	E.
45:03.69	Max Shank	Really at the core of what we're talking about and when I was on this other show I got asked like what's the way to get rich and I said deferred gratification and they said anything else I'm like not really like if you're able to defer gratification until later and you provide something. Valuable. It'll it'll eventually work out if you can see the big picture and stay focused then the other stuff will sort of happen organically I think and look you can go. We can go into way more detail as far as how to get rich and stay rich which would maybe be another. Good topic for a show because we have similar but different similar similar and different strategies on that. Um.
45:41.79	mikebledsoe	Oh yeah, like that 1
45:48.37	mikebledsoe	Well I've ah ah we we come from. We have different personalities when it comes to our approaches to business and wealth building but we also have agreement on a lot of Concepts so it'd be. It'd be interesting.
45:56.90	Max Shank	Totally right. Right? Yeah, it flows so easy.
46:07.20	mikebledsoe	I Mean that's why we have these conversations because we we've come to. We've come to similar conclusions from different points of view all right. We'll do the get rich stay rich.
46:18.58	Max Shank	That's that's what we like about other people too. We like that they're different but similar right? Um I think for tying this rhythm thing back into business I think the value of.
46:21.24	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
46:35.58	Max Shank	Putting together a campaign is quite valuable and having it be. You know I'm not just like doing x y and z all day every day there's the visionary comes up with this plan and then we have this. Execution that lies on a bit of ah, a tempo or a cycle. So like let's say you and I were going to start a new business and we didn't set any boundaries for when we're going to, um, you know do the brain. Swarming I call it I don't I don't call it brainstorming I call it brain swarming like it's everything all these different things kind of coming together and moving as a unified unit. But if we don't have like a stop for that phase. And think it's easy to imagine that you and I would just stay in Dreamland brainswarming forever and be like oh and what if we did this and what if we did that and if you have this sort of tempo. For that campaign where it's like first we're going to do this and then we're going to build and then we're going to delegate and then we're going to build and then this is going to be our follow up tempo and touch points and that's the same thing with coaching is how often am I going to touch base. How often am I going to reach out to you. What's our.
47:57.70	mikebledsoe	Oh.
48:01.79	Max Shank	But's our tempo for it and for me weekly is really good. For example in my experience. That's the best of course if you have someone who can check in with you every single day. That's probably going to give you an even better result. Something like coaching hey you know how to go Yesterday. What's the plan today boom boom boom and you kind of work through it and clearly that there's a benefit to that. Otherwise no 1 would need a coach but the reality is ah.
48:27.78	mikebledsoe	E.
48:39.25	Max Shank	Ah, Coach often gets you to do something. You know you should.
48:40.62	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, I also see the the necessity for creating our own you know and I think about this I think about creating your own structure because that creating that rhythm that tempo is a structure. Um and is.
48:50.59	Max Shank	So.
48:57.64	mikebledsoe	I Think there's also why coaching is is becoming really important right now is because more and more as as the world decentralizes people are becoming more and more responsible for their own schedule and you know we saw this with Covid people started working from home and there was.
49:09.16	Max Shank	Um, now that's tough.
49:17.50	mikebledsoe	Ah, go oh wow people. Ah first I was like people probably won't work that much and then I start hearing reports that people are working way more because there's no boundary set up for them like oh you show up to work at this time and then you leave work and so they were just like working all the time at home like whoa and so um.
49:22.17	Max Shank	M.
49:31.56	Max Shank	Well.
49:37.50	mikebledsoe	Yeah, there's a lot of factors there. But as the Covid just sped things up. They were already there which is the world is decentralizing more people are going to work from home. There's gonna be more freelancers less employees and like more contractors and if you're a freelancer.
49:38.78	Max Shank	What and the.
49:49.90	Max Shank	The and.
49:55.76	mikebledsoe	1 of the beauties of being a freelancer is you have control of your own schedule and that is a new thing for people.
50:07.14	Max Shank	I've always wanted that that was like the really since I was a young kid that was the only thing I wanted is the freedom to live on my own schedule. You know I felt like something was taken away from me as soon as I had to start going to school I'm like this is awful I don't want to do this I Want to go out and play with the stick.
50:13.64	mikebledsoe	A.
50:24.80	Max Shank	But and I think kind of to borrow your term again. Um, collapsed distinction with the work and home life I think that's 1 of the um.
50:41.47	Max Shank	Challenges or opportunities for entrepreneurs I've certainly noticed that myself I mean the reality is I I did work tons and tons of hours getting to where I'm at now and that number has significantly decreased as I've gained more skill and drawn better boundaries. But if you. Are suddenly thrown into this scenario where the place you work is the same place that you eat and the same place that you also have a computer where you can see anything anytime you will get that collapsed distinction. Where now everything is just always happening right here at the console I'm working and then I'm in the kitchen eating cookies and then there are boobies on the screen and you're just kind of like this everything everything all at once where you don't have that clear.
51:37.83	mikebledsoe	Yeah work.
51:38.78	Max Shank	Distinction of when it's work time and when it's relaxed time and I think that is a very just as valuable. Maybe as being able to consciously rather than compulsively project your thinking into the future project your thinking into the past.
51:45.73	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
51:58.38	Max Shank	And also bring yourself directly into the here and now and just go for a walk and let your ah conscious mind be alleviated of all of these you know, urgencies and emergencies and problems and all of these labels. We attach to.
52:16.10	mikebledsoe	Yeah now. Yeah.
52:18.18	Max Shank	Things trying to ask you for your time but you still have the power to draw that boundary and say no. But if you don't if you don't It's game over like people will infringe on your boundaries and they will respond to. However, you train them to respond.
52:35.50	mikebledsoe	E.
52:37.58	Max Shank	Basically um, which is kind of weird I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all. But you know if someone complains to you and then you respond to them favorably favorably. You're in inviting them to do that more if someone says hey can you can you stay. You know 3 hours late or come in and work on Sunday and you just always say yes, well, they're just going to always ask you to come work on sunday.
53:01.77	mikebledsoe	Yeah I like the thing about it as you're a character in a movie and or if you've ever studied you know fiction. You know you basically create a character and then the character. Based on their characters how they respond throughout the story or the movies like oh that was it would be weird that'd be at a character of this character if james bond you know, walked away from you know a hot woman. It would be it would be at a character like no james bond like.
53:21.61	Max Shank	Ah.
53:31.11	Max Shank	That would be out of character right.
53:36.70	mikebledsoe	He orders a martini. He chats her up at the bar. Ah, and so we are all characters in a movie and we have this script playing all the time and.
53:45.72	Max Shank	God am I the villain or the hero I'm not even sure if I become a villain I would be a hell of a good Ark though.
53:54.64	mikebledsoe	And and ah, what ends up happening is people are casting us as characters in their movie and ah if you start making 1 of these changes. For instance, you go you know what? I'm going to shift my character I'm going to develop my character. By creating boundaries that I communicate now it can be jarring for other people because now they have this expectation of the character in which they perceive you to be and now you you aren't that and people tend to dislike change. So Now you're throwing a wrench.
54:20.61	Max Shank	Um, then again.
54:34.33	mikebledsoe	And their their consciousness and they go but but but and a lot of times it comes out as Anger or disappointment or whatever it is and so for me I I really make sure that my first impression with people is you know it's an anchor experience. They're now this. Moment in time. How they how they're interacting with me now is how they're gonna end up treating me in the future because changing that over time can be difficult so I'm very good at holding the boundaries from from the very beginning. They know my boundaries. They're not gonna think anything of it. They're not gonna be mad about it. The people are gonna get mad at.
55:06.60	Max Shank	Like.
55:13.78	mikebledsoe	My new boundaries are the people who I've already got very established relationships with and now I'm creating something new.
55:16.49	Max Shank	Well, it's like momentum. Well it's physics right? If you have momentum in a certain way and people expect that certain thing if you change there's going to be a new acceleration or a Jolt and a jerk and that's going to be really uncomfortable.
55:30.96	mikebledsoe	Yeah, yeah, so yeah, and summary for that is it I think a lot of people are going to get out of this is to be more conscious of their internal boundaries external boundaries notice.
55:34.84	Max Shank	No.
55:49.60	mikebledsoe	The rhythms that that exist in the world and with themselves and being able to honor that and making those changes to honor your own rhythms and the rhythms of the universe are going to make your life a lot better but in the short term making those changes and and experiencing that. Change in acceleration can be a little jarring and just realizing that hey this short term difficulty and making these ah changes for me and and others will be worth it. Long term because once you get them set and you're rolling life. Gets a lot better.
56:28.43	Max Shank	I Think it's also yeah I would agree with what you said completely I would also suggest people start timestamping their start and stop times when they're working on stuff and notice for themselves when they're doing their best work.
56:38.56	mikebledsoe	Yeah.
56:44.20	mikebledsoe	E.
56:46.55	Max Shank	And when things start to deteriorate and you know the whole point of what we're doing really is to liberate people from the false realities that have been programmed into them from a huge variety of sources and it's natural to want to get. Ah, greater effect for less effort. There's nothing more natural than that we want. We want to be as efficient as we possibly can. So if you do respect those boundaries if you do draw those boundaries if you do um draw a clearer.
57:13.90	mikebledsoe	Me here.
57:22.77	Max Shank	Distinction rather than a collapse distinction between work rest and play. You're going to get a way way better result with way less effort I mean who would not want to spend less time working but get better results like what? what seems more obvious than that.
57:41.56	mikebledsoe	Yep.
57:42.70	Max Shank	But if you don't draw those boundaries. It's basically impossible and you know you can't worry I mean this is easier said than done right? because we're the most social emotional creatures ever. You can't worry what it's going to do for someone else like breaking your own boundaries to make someone else feel better. Is not doing them a favor. It's just willingly participating in your own energy vampireism essentially and I really like the the lore around vampires because it perfectly describes energy vampires too. So with.
58:16.42	mikebledsoe	Oh.
58:20.20	Max Shank	Real vampire I was going to say real vam I mean maybe there are who knows with real vampires or the story. They can't come in your house and let see you invite them in with energy vampires. It's exactly the same thing you don't have to let anyone suck any of your energy. Unless you deliberately and directly invite them in so it's very important to just realize how much power is in the word. No.
58:47.28	mikebledsoe	Someone say it's the most powerful word there is.
58:52.71	Max Shank	Um I would agree maybe maybe yes Also but yes and yes implies that no is an option.
58:59.29	mikebledsoe	Yeah, can't have a yes without a no as a possibility I Want to mention in summary I Do want to mention 2 tools that I use that that you made me think of ah is I use a tool called Marduck which is ah. Have my entire business put in there. It's it's ah it's ah the most advanced task management system ever seen I'm go. Ah I'm a Beta user for it. My buddy designed it. We're gonna be rolling that out to my clients. But also if anyone wants to use this. Ah. This software that basically you put your entire business in it and then it tracks how long you're doing certain tasks and helps you focus I would say I've been using it for five months my productivity if I to guess 3 X I work less and get way more done. Um, and I enjoy my work so he he's figured out a way to gamify ah work. So you program it around your business and then it gamifies it and there's rewards and all sorts of stuff. Um, but what I do is with the marduck system when I start a task I hit play and it starts tracking my time. When I hit stop and when when I hit play it closes down all the other things that I need to do that Day. So I'm not getting distracted when I hit stop I Then it prompts me to put in what I did like like a little summary of what I completed and then the difficulty of. On on a number scale of how difficult that task was for me to complete and ah that helps me, um, check you know I'm consciously choosing to do a task and then I I complete it and then I do a check In. Um.
01:00:28.66	Max Shank	Um, um, how can.
01:00:44.59	mikebledsoe	And then so I use that tool in combination with another tool called Brain Dot fm.
01:00:46.44	Max Shank	We should. We should get Marduk to sponsor this episode that was amazing.
01:00:50.94	mikebledsoe	Oh yeah, thanks. Ah yeah, I'm gonna be slinging some marduck well like I said up. Um I'm giving it to all my clients starting at 2022 ah but anyone even if you're not a client if you want to get access to it. You just dm me on the instagrams.
01:01:00.98	Max Shank	Cool.
01:01:10.66	mikebledsoe	And ah, brain fm is the other 1 which is a binaural audio program that basically helps your brain it basically tunes your your brain to the frequency of focus while you're getting stuff done and what I like about brain fm is. There's 30 sixty and ninety minute. Ah. Ah, amount of time you can put on there and so the music just plays helping you focus? Um, and then after thirty sixty or ninety minutes however you program it it stops and that's what I know to take a break and so I noticed that I can do two ninety minute sprints if if I'm working before noon.
01:01:40.48	Max Shank	Smart.
01:01:47.22	Max Shank	Who.
01:01:49.70	mikebledsoe	So I'll do ah a ninety minute sprint and then I'll go make myself some breakfast take a thirty minute break go for a walk come back. Do another ninety minute sprint in the afternoons I like to do sixty minute I can do 1 or 2 sixty minute sprints and then I'm done I'm done for the day and so ah, that's that's been a really great. Those are great tools that have. Help me raise my awareness around what I'm doing how I'm doing it creating boundaries. ah so I'm ah I'm a big fan of I like to say I have very little willpower but I'm hyper ah hyperactive as 1 yeah, but I'm um.
01:02:20.15	Max Shank	Active.
01:02:25.90	mikebledsoe	Hyper vigilant around setting up structures and systems to kind of basically I bump into things I go Oh yeah, I'm so it's a stop right now. Otherwise I just keep going. Oh yeah, thank you, Thank you.
01:02:37.74	Max Shank	That's wisdom. That's knowing yourself and acting accordingly. That's really smart. That's very wise. Yeah, you bet.
01:02:45.68	mikebledsoe	Um, yeah, anything else you want to mention in summary for the show.
01:02:49.00	Max Shank	No love you. Love you guys. Thanks for listening draw good boundaries and don't fight the flow ride the wave.
01:02:59.60	mikebledsoe	Dope you can find max at ma shk dot com and everything ma shk and then find me at ah mike underscore Bloodso on Instagram and the strongcoach dot com on the interwebs. Thanks y ' all.
01:03:04.90	Max Shank	That's it.