WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Mono Mentality Podcast.
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This podcast is built for the underdogs, the entrepreneurs, and the ones obsessed with becoming better.
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We unpack the mindset of the top 1%, the struggles.
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Nobody talks about personal growth and what it really takes to become who you're capable of becoming.
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Tune in.
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Alright, welcome to the Mono Mentality Podcast.
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Man, today we have a special treat.
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We have a guest that literally drove 10 hours to come to Tri-Cities, Utah.
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And um there's never been a guest I've had been more excited to talk to.
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I've been following this guy for the last three years, four years on social media.
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Uh was blessed to meet up with Jimmy, good friend of mine, and um DM'd, and then now he's here.
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So welcome to the show, Gordon.
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Thank you.
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Thanks for having me.
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Gordon.
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Last name?
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Cooper.
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Cooper.
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So I was always thinking it's Ronan.
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So Gordon Cooper.
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So Ronan, Ronan's the name you give in the business.
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Okay.
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Um Ronan is a it's it's an old samurai term for a samurai whose um uh kind of uh a master died and then he became this masterless.
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So he's got the skill set, but he doesn't have he's not ruled by anybody anymore.
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So that's where the concept comes from.
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So Ronan's the business name, but my name's Cooper.
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Okay.
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So so Gordon, give us uh just a quick background.
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You're you're where you're from, and I guess South Africa.
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Yes, sir.
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And uh born and raised there, and then essentially you've been in the US for uh eight, nine years now.
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Okay.
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And loving it, I think uh if I could talk to more and more Americans, I tell them you don't know what you got, man.
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If you've if you come from the other side of the wall like we do, you know, you you you'll love your country.
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What do you mean by that, Gordon?
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Because do you think that people here in the US are a little bit more uh ungrateful for yeah, it's it's it's uh I I think I I've seen two types of people here.
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You see those who love their country and those who don't.
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And um, you know, what you don't understand sometimes, I think, you know, and maybe it's just human nature, but when you've when you've got to to see the other side of the wall and the other side of the world and you and you learn what's out there, you know, then you begin to appreciate what you have here.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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You can be what you want to be, but um in many other countries you you you really don't have much of a choice, you know.
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You just it is what it is.
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Talk to us about South South Africa.
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What is life like?
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I to be honest, when I when I heard South Africa, I told you I had a buddy named Corbin.
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Yes.
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Um, I just thought it was just black black people.
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And he was like, it's a he's a blue eyes, right?
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I'm like, you're from South Africa?
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No, no, we're strange.
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Um so yeah, it's I mean, it's a white minority, it's it's it's it's African, the country's um um uh um yeah, there's uh there's not a lot of I think South Africa is more kind of a bigger white population than anywhere else in Africa.
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Um and um but yeah, we're we're an interesting country.
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We're a we're a um we're a failed experiment in a lot of ways.
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Okay.
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You know, you know, the whole world they kind of call us the rainbow nation with all the different races and different people there.
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We're the only place with more Indians than India, for example.
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Really?
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You know, yeah.
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And um, you know, it's it's it's it's for decades been one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
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Yeah, we were talking about that because you mentioned to me it's and I didn't notice, I thought um, you know, it's a pretty safe place tour.
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But what was dangerous living in South Africa?
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Yeah, so so if you tour, it is, and for for those listening who innocent touring, it's beautiful.
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But go to Cape Town and go to the Kruger Park.
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Okay.
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You know, uh then you've seen the best that that Africa or that South Africa has to offer.
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And and usually when you land, you can have our tour guides that'll pick you up and take you to these places and you're in a group, and so it's a lot safer.
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Um but uh man, you know, when you expect the best of human nature and you're there by yourself trying to tour around and you're an American and they hear your accent, you're in trouble.
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What is what is, I guess you you mentioned is it's pretty dangerous.
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I mean, what's what's going on in South Africa right now as we speak?
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Yeah, so so so for decades we've been known as the rape capital of the world, um, which is horrible if you have a wife and daughters, um, because you live with that uncertainty all the time.
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And then, I mean, we we're the only country literally where our our rape steps, uh, rape stats are divided into categories.
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So we have a granny rape um uh statistic, we have an infant rape statistic, we have a toddler rape statistic, a schoolgirl rape statistic, you know.
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So so it's it's it's it's it's it's so crazy that it's divided up that way.
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Um and then also we're the only country they they figured out, I don't know how they figured this out, but only country in the world where you have more chance of being murdered in your bed than dying in a car accident.
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Um so there's a lot of home invasions, crime is out of control there.
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So you're you're telling me that there's rape going on, there's murders going on, what what are people doing about it out there?
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There's not really much that can be done.
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I think it's I think there's a much bigger geopolitical agenda behind it.
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And um and I think there's a lot of experimentation um being done there.
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And uh they see what works, so they see what doesn't work, and that's coming to America.
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It was a shocker for us to get here and for me to look at my wife and say, after being here now for a couple of years, to notice that America's on the same road.
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I think all countries are on that same road, and it's a destructive road, and it's and it's um, you know, it's just how far down are you?
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And we're a lot further down than where you are, and so it's kind of become like a deja vu thing for us being here and looking going, hey, they're using that and they're using that, and you know, and and and so um is that is that kind of the reason why you got into the military?
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Yes, yes, or so what was the reason on why you so I was so I'm this young boy, you know, and my mom um and her parents came from Rhodesia, and all this craziness happened out there, and so she's raising us and she's concerned about terrorism because a lot of terrorism we were coming from.
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We we were first in South East Africa and then we moved to South Africa, and uh so as a little boy, I was terrified of terrorism, you know, and and one day, I mean, I'm I'm a six-year-old boy at school, and I'm waiting for my mom and dad um to come and pick us up, and uh a gang of guys grabbed me and my buddy and to threw him on the ground, put a knife to his throat.
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I thought I was next.
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So for about a year after, I have all these nightmares, and and it's so crazy.
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I mean, I'm talking now, maybe 50 years later, and I can still remember the details of the dreams, where I was, um, kind of what it felt like, and and man, I was just I have my throat cut and I was all terrified.
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And so, so, so, you know, you're you're you're this helpless little kid, and and I remember as a young boy thinking there's nothing worse in the world than feeling weak and feeling helpless.
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And so uh, you know, a a wise mom said to me, Listen, let's get you into karate.
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And those were the days when karate actually meant something.
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The old Chuck Norris days, he was uh this was when he was at the height of his movies.
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I actually met him at a at a seminar and um got involved in karate, changed my life, you know.
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Just gave me something back that the environment had taken from me.
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So you joined the military.
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I mean, um, was that a choice or were you just were you forced to have to get into so so in South Africa you kind of conscripted to go at that stage?
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Um, we had a lot of Russian influence on our borders.
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Okay.
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Um, and uh so so so we were really just fighting communism.
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And and you know, so in those days you were kind of a conscript, you had to go.
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I ended up in the Navy, but at this point I'm representing my country in martial arts and I'm fit and I I want to do something serious.
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So I said, no, I can't do this Navy thing.
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It was kind of for gentlemen.
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So I then went joined the Marines, and um after being enlisted there and kind of qualifying and becoming a Marine, I then um selected for a counter-terrorist unit, um, which is a kind of a small little unit, um, and and and uh got to see some crazy stuff.
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You're a guy, you don't want to mess with you.
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Well, I'm old now, but uh when I was younger maybe, but but it was it was crazy.
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So so I learned I learned life from the military.
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I learned I learned terrorism.
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I learned that the world we live in does to you what terrorists try and do to you, what bullies try and do to you.
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And well, you know, life, life, I'll give you an example.
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So we we had this guy in our dojo, who's a third Dan, well-known guy, um national champion, and one night he goes to an ATM to draw money because his kid was sick or something.
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So he's he's at the ATM, and the next thing some drunk guy comes, breaks a bottle, and puts the bottle in his kidneys and tells him, give me your money.
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And of course, I mean you think about it, we know this guy, he's SA champ, he's brilliant, um, or someone we all looked up to and respected.
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And he says, when he felt that bottle in his kidneys, um, he says all he could picture was his wife and his little kid and see her growing up without a father and seeing his wife having to fight the battle alone.
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And he says he became completely terrified, surprised, helpless, and he couldn't do anything.
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And so he just handed over the money.
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This guy took the money, stumbled off, um, and and uh he'd been robbed, one of our elite kind of fighters.
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Yeah, and I kind of sat with that for years and thought, you know, what are we doing wrong when we're giving people all these skills and and and they still can't perform when it matters.
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And what I've realized over the years is that life will do to you what the guy with the bottle does.
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You know, we live in a world that seeks to take something from us and uh it will strip you of your agency, and it happens from when we're young.
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Yeah, and once your agency's been stripped, um you literally start to believe that you're helpless, you know, that you're at the mercy of relentless forces outside of yourself, and that there's nothing you can do to change your lot in life.
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And the moment you you you're at that point, you've now been positioned, and um you're now the victim.
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And at that stage, there is nothing you really can do.
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You know, you're you're you're the chicken and you you're kind of at the mercy of whatever happens to you in your life.
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You don't have the strength to fix anything or to make anything happen.
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What was the hardest part being part of the military or being our training for the military?
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Um the the objective of training, especially I think as the layers got deeper, was to see how easy you are to break.
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And for me, there was a profound lesson in that.
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Um and and so, you know, when I when I selected for the for the counter-terrorist unit, um we were 90 Marines and they only wanted nine guys, so they they're gonna whittle you down to 10%.
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Now you've already been through quite an ordeal to get to this point.
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You might sharing before you get into it, what are some of the things you had to do to become a Marine?
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Oh, um again, you had to show that they can't break you, you know.
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So so there was a lot of physical demands, but you know, the more I look back, it was there wasn't a skill set.
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It's not about how many push-ups you can do, how fast you can run, how accurately you can shoot, how well you follow orders.
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The whole the whole key is to find out do you have an unbreakable mind?
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And once they've got that quality, then the rest can be taught.
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You know, it's it's easy to teach a guy how to shoot straight, but you need a guy who can take the initiative with this confidence.
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Was there a time that you almost broke?
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Um your mind almost broke?
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Was there a time where you're testing?
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Honestly, I you know, when when when I look back, my black belt grading was such an ordeal that what I went through in the military in in all the divisions was was you know, I I think that had created uh created a perspective for me that I can do this, you know.
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And also something changed for me.
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Um I had buddies that I really cared about, and I found that that as I cared about them and them selecting and them getting through, I forgot about my own pain, you know.
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Um, but I think the hardest part was there was there was a week, um, the final week uh before um we were part of this ABS group.
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Yeah.
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Um and um and they couldn't get rid of there, was probably about 35 guys left.
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They want nine guys.
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So how how do you break them?
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So no more food, no more sleep.
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Uh huh.
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And so uh, of course, you want to get through.
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This is the dream of a little boy, you want to make it.
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So we'd eat anything.
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We'd we'd eat, I tell my kids we ate cockroaches, literally.
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We ate ants, um, we trapped and ate rats, and did anything just to keep your strength that little percentage above the next guy so that you can get through when he doesn't, you know.
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What how long was this?
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This was about a week.
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So one week food.
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One week, kind of a hell week where you just where you just last man standing.
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Yeah, last man standing until they got nine guys left, and then those nine guys selected.
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And of course, everyone knows the stories.
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You know, you fall out, you go ring the bell, and and uh we have a thing called a bry.
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You guys call it a barbecue, but our instructors would sit at the side and they've got these campfires going in these big thick steaks.
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And look, you guys here in the States know how to do steak.
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But we've got so many animals here that I mean we we're really good with our steaks, and these guys would kind of be brying this meat or barbecuing the meat as you'd call it, and you kind of smell that smell, and you're starving and you're tired, and the temptation to just kind of throw the towel in is is unbelievable, you know.
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Um I don't know what it is that keeps people from doing it.
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And I think I think we all have something in us, you know.
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There's a point where you've got to awaken that inner warrior, and if you can't, you lose.
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Yeah, you know, so you mentioned to me because obviously uh, you know, we we were chatting before you set up and you talked about um 55.
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And I was like, you said 55, I was like, man, I'm 30, I'm 33.
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Yes.
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I got 20 more years, Gordon, to figure this thing out.
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And so you said something that was really profound, but uh a lot of it is just um less but more in depth.
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Yes.
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Um so so first of all, there's a saying that says, beware the old man in a profession where men die young.
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One more time.
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Beware the old man, beware of the old man in a profession where men die young.
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Because there's a reason you got old.
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So back home we have these baboons.
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There's not a lot of old baboons.
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Monkeys die early, you know.
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And all my life I knew I was a monkey.
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I never had that arrogance to think, hey, I'm someone special, you know.
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But in time, I I say to my kids, and I'll tell my wife sometimes, but I'm careful what I tell her, but but um I've I've become an old monkey, you know.
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And um what I was mentioning earlier was, you know, uh when you start out, you're pretty dumb, you know, and we all think we're clever.
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I remember leaving home thinking, man, I'm clever, I've learned things that my parents don't understand, and whatever.
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But you really don't know because there's an old saying that says, When an old person dies, like a library burns down, you know.
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So so so you're you're really this dumb guy, and you and perhaps you know it.
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And so you start studying and you start learning and you start experiencing things, and you get to the point where you're really clever, and you know a lot of stuff.
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So you were simple, now you've gone through the circle and you've become complicated.
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And I find so many people stop at that complicated stage, because it's nice being complicated because because people are impressed by how much you know.
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But what I've learned is if you can get through that complicated phase, um, what happens is the circle kind of um completes where it becomes simple again.
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But now the simplicity has depth, and now you learn that there's only a couple of things in life that really matter, but but there's depth to that understanding, and all your old wise Mr.
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Miyagis and uh Yoda, Master Yoda, whatever, yeah, these are people who've reached a point where where the complex has become simple, but the simplicity has depth, and that's profound.
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Well, I'm gonna probably need to re rewatch this episode a couple times throughout the years.
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Gordon, so uh talk to us, man.
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You know, um I first came across meeting you um and your page about three, four years ago.
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So I I've I've probably spent uh I don't know, close to seven figures in personal development.
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I've it's one of the things that I've really taken into account that's changed my life on just saying yes to new experiences.
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And so I'm part of the Watt program with Jimmy Rex.
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And um I was looking, I was like Ronin, and um looking for your page for years.
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And so I just got back from a Moab event where we just did a rope swing.
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You know, we jumped, uh jumped, I think, 500 feet off of off a cliff.
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:40.399
And uh I was just looking at, hey, what what can I bring back to the organization that could really help people uh break past limits of beliefs?
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.000
And I thought about the firewalk.
00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:44.639
Um how did you get into the firewalk?
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:45.360
I mean, you're known for it.
00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.039
You got the Guinness World Record of uh 2,000 plus people to do it.
00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:49.440
That's right.
00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:50.320
How'd you get into it?
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:56.240
So four things, four things that that uh, and and they weren't all official, but we had the largest group recorded.
00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:04.080
We had uh I did the longest firewalk at the time, they've done longer ones now, but I did about a 75-meter walk, which is what 240 feet.
00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:09.840
When I got to the end, my body temperature had gone up um by four degrees, which is crazy because you're absorbing energy as you walk.
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:15.840
Then I had the youngest person ever walk, which is my daughter, walked four years old, didn't like her much anyway, so it was an experiment.
00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:17.120
I'm just kidding.
00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:21.840
So she she you know, if everyone else walking a couple of steps, she's walking a whole bunch more.
00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:29.200
And when she finishes and she comes to me, um I'm shocked, I'm kind of wondering how she is, and she says to me, Hey dad, can I do it again?
00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.559
And that kid walks three times, um, a little four-year-old.
00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.679
And then we had the oldest lady walk, a lady was 87 years old.
00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:35.840
Wow.
00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.519
Um, the walking stick got shorter as she went, but she did great, you know.
00:16:39.679 --> 00:17:02.000
So uh yeah, so I've I've done more than 5,000 events, but I got into it because of the the whole, you know, uh from from back to my experience as a kid, I learned that that life will either make you helpless, it will it will destroy the gift your creator gave you to compensate you for life in a horrible world.
00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.039
So it's it's it's it's really agency.
00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:09.519
It's it's it's it's the power to be able to win, the power to fight back, the power to make things happen.
00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:10.559
It's that inner warrior.
00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:10.960
Yeah.
00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:16.799
And um life will take that from you, and I realize that I'm either going to be a victim or I'm gonna have to empower myself.
00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.440
And so that's that's when I kind of joined the whole karate club, etc.
00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:25.039
And then when I was there, I learned um in time that it was a mental game, that that was the most powerful side of it.
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:33.440
Um uh uh Napoleon made the comment and he said in observing fighting men, he said morale is to the physical, what three is to one.
00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:43.519
So what he was saying in essence is 75% of making it as a warrior is mental, and it's the most physical profession in the world, and only 25% is physical.
00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:51.359
So all the physical skills, the fitness, um, you know, the tools you carry on your belt and whatever it is, that's only 25% of success.
00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.519
The rest is 75%, it's a mindset, you know.
00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:02.400
So I'm beginning to learn these things, and then in my studies I come across firewalking, which is an ancient warrior's rite of passage, and it was a mental and emotional preparation for the battlefield.
00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:06.960
You step on a battlefield and you learn suddenly a truth that no one can prepare you for.
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:14.240
You step on there, you face this thing, and you realize that there's a physical threat, but there's something more dangerous, and that's the mental threat.
00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:18.559
That physical threat will take something from you unless you refuse it.
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:24.240
And so, you know, what these old veterans would do is they found firewalking 4,000 years back.
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:30.319
Um, they found that firewalking was an incredible preparation for the realities of the battlefield and life.
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:36.799
So that when you face this adversity, that you understand that the biggest problem is not what's happening around you and what's happening on the outside.
00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:43.759
It's not your health, it's not the cancer, it's not the bank account, it's not the money, it's not the economy, it's not the relationship that's breaking down.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.720
The biggest threat is what's happening on the inside.
00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:53.039
And they learned that when they can master that and they can win inside, that they couldn't be beaten on the outside.
00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:56.720
Yes, you can get wounded and maybe even killed, but you'll never be beat.
00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.079
And so it's about creating that kind of warrior mindset.
00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.039
Um, and so I'm reading about all this and I thought I've got to try this.
00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:04.240
So I built this big bonfire.
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:05.759
Yeah, I studied it for two years.
00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.200
I walk across, I burn so bad my buddies had to carry me home.
00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:17.279
Um, and uh and for two weeks I couldn't walk, and then and then I I met an Australian guy, and he said to me, He showed me what I did wrong.
00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:18.319
It was all a mental thing.
00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:24.720
And once I figured it out, I was able to do this, and I couldn't sleep the night I did my first firewalk because of the impact it had.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:34.400
It gave me something back, and then I started trying to figure out what it was, but I got I got into the business three years later, yeah, and I ran it for a couple of sales guys.
00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:41.200
One guy calls me in three months later, he's quadrupled his income just because of a shift in in mind, yeah.
00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:48.880
Yeah, because that I think that's the biggest thing that I I I like me personally, I've never done a firewalk, and we're about to do it tonight, which is actually set up.
00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:52.079
So we'll we'll we'll throw some footage in there of the actual firewalk.
00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:58.880
Um have you worked with someone that that didn't want to do it, and then maybe you had to talk them through it?
00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:05.440
Like, what's probably been the the hardest person that you had to like really help them get through a breakthrough when they're struggling mentally?
00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:20.960
So so I don't want to lie, but if if I if I think back immediately, my memory goes to a an elite soldier, um like a best of the best type of guy, um, who had been shot with a White Foss grenade.
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:24.000
And the nickname he got from his buddies was E.T.
00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:25.279
because of what it did to him.
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:29.839
You know, so yeah, you got a guy who's experienced burning at a level that we can't understand.
00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:35.279
And uh White Foss is a whole different kind of um compound, it doesn't stop burning.
00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:36.799
You can jump in water to keep burning.
00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.759
So this guy burned terribly, and now he's doing the fire walk.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:51.359
And he was on a course with remember, there was a bunch of ladies there, there was a couple of guys, and uh he's he's like this stud, just this kind of peaceful warrior, nothing wrong.
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.480
And he gets to the front of the fire, no emotion, no fear.
00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:00.559
And I take his hand because I walk, I hold everybody's hand when they first walk, because I don't know what's gonna happen when you step on the fire.
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.680
Higher brain function shuts down, survival mechanism takes over.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:08.400
People freeze or they run or they do something, and then it becomes a barbecue, not a firewalk.
00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:09.759
So I kind of walk with him.
00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:14.480
So I'm holding his hand, and as I grab his hand, it was wet from the sweat.
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.000
So underneath the cool facade, I realized this man's suffering here.
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.480
And he stood there, and then his jaw starts quivering, and he just cannot walk.
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:28.160
Tears in the you know, kind of running down his face, and this guy can't walk.
00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:33.039
So it took me a while to work with him and get him through this because what he was facing wasn't what you and I all face.
00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:40.720
And once uh we kind of got through that, and this guy walked across, he stepped into the tub of water, he broke down, sobbed like a little kid.
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:47.279
And very clever tactic because all the girls at the event ran around this guy and just hugged him.
00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.359
Biggest group hug he's ever got.
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:56.640
And uh it was one of the most profound moments for me was the realization that the greater the fear, the greater the growth.
00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:03.359
And it's shocking to me how people avoid difficult things, they avoid Stuff they're afraid of, they avoid things where they think they're gonna look bad.
00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:09.920
But the worse it looks and the more afraid you are, the bigger the opportunity, the more the human spirit has a chance to fly.
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:13.119
You know, we have to eat spinach if you want to get healthy.
00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.279
You can't eat ice cream, you've got to do tough stuff.
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.920
And I think that's I think you're right, Gordon, because um, I'm learning this right now for myself.
00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:23.519
Um, you can't change people, but you can create an environment for people to change.
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:29.359
So, like looking at, you know, he did that move of having girls there that gave him the uh the courage to do it.
00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:34.720
And I look at, and that's kind of more of where I have felt the most impact of my life is just being in an environment.
00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:42.480
Um never would I ever thought the mana eight years ago would be actually uh setting up a firewalk to come do this.
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:43.039
Yes, sir.
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.519
But like you said, our wives are always changing, right?
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:45.920
Yep.
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:47.039
Uh what got you in?
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:51.920
So I guess you you you learned the firewalk and um you've mastered it over 5,000 events.
00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:53.680
Uh, what are you looking to go build?
00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:56.160
And what's the I guess what's your purpose with Ronin?
00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:06.720
What's this what's the ultimate so there's a there's a story that was told um by Zig Ziggler years back about a piranha in a tank.
00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:11.279
Scientist put a glass plate in, threw a bait fish on on the other side, piranha hits the glass plate.
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:12.720
First time in his life.
00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:15.200
Turns around, hits the plate again.
00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.200
Uh um, and again and again.
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:23.359
And as the hours go by, the piranha, the scientist says the piranha's actions get less aggressive.
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:29.119
He starts swimming in circles, testing his barriers, testing if he can get through this invisible boundary.
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:32.240
And as the hours go by, the swimming gets smaller, the swimming slower.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.880
He attempts to break through less frequent, less aggressive, till he eventually stops trying completely.
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:38.720
Evening time now, Puranas just sitting there.
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:38.960
Okay.
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:40.799
Scientist pulls the plate out.
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:45.039
So question everyone asks what happened.
00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:47.200
And answers nothing.
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:56.240
So the scientist goes and he wraps on the glass plate on this side, scares the fish, piranha, shoots across, stops just before where the glass plate used to be and goes straight back.
00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:59.279
And he says there's nothing he could do to get that piranha to go across.
00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:03.440
Covers the tank, comes back day two, nothing's changed, day three, day four, day five.
00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:06.000
I think it was the sixth day, he gets to the piranha's dead.
00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:09.039
And so the question is, what killed him?
00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:10.400
Now we know he starved.
00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:14.960
But if you think about this, um, I like to ask people, was the barrier removed?
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:16.000
They want to say, yes.
00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:17.279
Well, was it?
00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:23.359
And so what we realize is a physical barrier had been replaced by a mental barrier, which is way more powerful.
00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:30.400
There's bad news in the story, and the bad news is not just the glass plate and the conditioning that happens and the failure.
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:35.279
The bad news is that that piranha was slowly stripped of something that it had all its life.
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:36.559
It was no longer a predator.
00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:39.440
Physically, he was a predator, mentally, he was the prey.
00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:42.640
He was the victim to this failure to conditioning.
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:48.160
And the minute you take that from a human being or an animal or whatever, you completely break them.
00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:56.000
And then it doesn't matter what skills you have, doesn't matter what tools you have, doesn't matter what your potential is, you can't achieve anything, you can't do anything.
00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:03.519
And so what I've come to realize is that we all put on this brave facade, but for the most part, every human being you look at is broken in some way.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:09.279
His bank account's broken, his profession's broken, or his marriage is broken, or his family is broken, or his health is broken.
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:11.359
Something's broken in his life.
00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:15.680
And and you know, it's it's about point A and B.
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:24.880
Point A is this guy who has been beaten up by life, who now wants something better, a better lifestyle, a better perspective.
00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:34.000
He wants to like how he sees himself, he wants to like how others see him, he wants to have an outlook on the world where he doesn't see threats, but he sees opportunity.
00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:39.920
And in order to be able to get to that point, we have to reclaim what life has taken from him.
00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:44.000
That Purana is in desperate need, not of more skills or greater potential.
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:46.240
He's in need of mental and emotional recovery.
00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:50.160
And if you can give someone that power, you can change their lives.
00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.119
And what I found does that is the warrior profession.
00:25:53.279 --> 00:26:01.519
I have all my life, for decades, either studied it, taught it, or operated in it, and I've learned that it restores agency, it refuses helplessness.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:04.640
The point of the warrior profession is to develop agency.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:07.039
Agency allows you to survive danger.
00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:11.839
There's the first benefit, but that same agency allows you to go fix a broken life.
00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.839
It allows you to build a better life.
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:18.960
And so what I'm trying to do with Ronan is I'm trying to, we're we're an academy, we're a warrior academy.
00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:20.640
I think you're trying, I think you're doing it.
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:26.799
Yeah, and so you know, I teach people the physical disciplines of the warrior profession, but I also teach them those warrior attitudes.
00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:40.400
And um what I find it does is it reclaims what life has slowly taken from them, and it gives them the power to be able to take action and to be able to fix things and to make things happen and essentially to win.
00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:51.920
And so for me, it's about it's about building warriors, it's about it's about making people dangerous in a good way, you know, um, so that they're able to go out there and and and kind of really just build better lives.
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:57.359
Yeah, there's I think the world needs, I don't think, I know the world needs good, strong, dangerous men.
00:26:57.519 --> 00:26:59.839
Yes, you know, we got so many dangerous things going on right now.
00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:01.440
I'm excited to do the self-defense.
00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:01.759
Yes.
00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:08.079
I mean, we just witnessed, you know, just in Idaho with, you know, guy just coming in and shooting up in and out and killing just innocent people.
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:15.279
Um and I think that's something that it's a loss to art in my my generation from you know 20s and 30s.
00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:23.359
But uh I'm I'm just I'm glad that there's people out there that provide a service to really go and um and showcase that.
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:30.480
Question for you What advice would you give to someone that's listening right now that's currently in a broken place?
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:37.200
Um maybe they have a broken account, maybe they have a broken relationship, and they're they're they're listening to this episode and they're in that state.
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:39.680
What would you what advice would you give to that person?
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:41.920
Uh if I may, yeah.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:45.519
Just another story quick to the best advice I can give.
00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:49.519
Stories of a farmer who finds an egg in his fields.
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:55.359
He's curious, so he puts it under the mother hen, hatches, and it's and it grows up with her chicks, and it's actually an eagle.
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:58.640
But the chick, but the eagle grows up in a chicken coop.
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:04.000
And he spends his days eating chicken food, scratching in the dirt, living in the coop.
00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:05.519
He thinks he's a chicken.
00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:06.720
Grows to maturity.
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:15.759
One day a friend of the farmer arrives, he sees this eagle in the coop, and he runs and walk, tells the farmer about this eagle, and the farmer says, Oh, don't worry, you know, the eagle thinks he's a chicken.
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:19.680
So he just lives his life with the with the chickens, and there's nothing that he can do about it.
00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:23.440
And so, of course, this is like an sense of injustice for this visitor.
00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:28.559
So he goes into the coop and he takes the eagle, and like you said earlier, how do you change people?
00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:31.599
You take them out of the environment, you chuck you change what's happening around them.
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:33.599
So he takes him out of the coop into the open air.
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.200
But the problem is with the chicken, is take him out of the coop, and guess what?
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:40.160
He feels so frightened he runs right back into the coop.
00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:42.000
You know, he needs that protection.
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:49.200
And so he's got the eagle out there, and he strokes him lovingly and he says, Hey bird, you're an eagle, not a chicken, now fly.
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:58.319
He throws him up into the air, and the bird just plummets to the ground, back into the dirt, carries on squawking, scratching in the dirt, and goes straight back into the coop.
00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:07.039
So he picks that eagle up and he carries him up onto the barn roof and he strokes him lovingly and he says to him, Eagle, you're an eagle, not a chicken, now fly.
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:08.559
And he throws him off the barn roof.
00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:17.920
As he throws him off, he says, This eagle just plummets down, hits the deck, ball of feathers, squawks indignantly back into the coop and carries on scratching.
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:20.079
So this is a determined guy now.
00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:25.839
So he goes back, he gets the eagle out, and he puts him in his truck and he drives him up into the mountain to a cliff.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:28.319
And he stands with this eagle at the edge of the cliff.
00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:31.759
He says to him, Eagle, you're an eagle, not a chicken.
00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:34.319
Now you fly or you die.
00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:36.480
He throws him off the edge.
00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:39.039
And as he throws him off, eagle just starts falling.
00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:41.839
Shh, ball of feathers, squawking, screaming, whatever.
00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:48.640
But somewhere halfway down, there's like this little instinct that awakens.
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:56.240
An ancient memory, a little inner voice that says, You're more than you than you know.
00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:08.799
And that little that bird stretches out his wings and and um the the thermals catch his feathers, and the next thing, there he is gliding off into the sunset, a majestic noble creature.
00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:19.119
My biggest lesson, I think, and my my my advice is this is that um the world we live in doesn't want us to be wild.
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:27.599
It doesn't want that that God-given gift of agency, which is which is kind of a um it's it's like a dangerous thing.
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:31.440
It's it's it's savage, it's it's kind of crazy part of us.
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:35.680
It's the strength we've been given to survive this world that we live in.
00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:39.839
But the world doesn't, when you turn two, that part of you started coming out.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:41.839
And it was too much for civilized society.
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:48.480
So mom and dad said, Hey, don't be a crazy, and your brothers and sisters and your teachers and the government, and everybody told you, hey, you've got to tone this down.
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:50.000
You're a civilized guy.
00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.160
And so we take this bear and we bury him deep in this cave and we put rocks in front.
00:30:54.319 --> 00:31:01.119
And now when life gets tough, we're these helpless little chickens facing the bear, you know.
00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:09.839
And um, and so the best advice that I could perhaps give is that is that there is something to you, and people know it.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:29.279
People know deep down that there's more to them than what than what they're showing, and so we've got to learn how to get rid of this identity, which we've adopted to make us safe, because that helpless identity means the farmer has to take care of you, you know, someone feeds you, protects you, shelters you, but we have to realize that there's something more to us.
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:43.920
And when we can get rid of our past identity and we can embrace our true nature and awaken this inner warrior, let the bear out the cave, and then harness it, not unleash it because that makes us monsters, but harness it and unleash its power in our lives.
00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:56.799
Then we can take care of our health, then we can stick with a diet, we can stick with an exercise program, we can we can do the things we need to do to fix our relationships, we can succeed in our business and and and in our attempts to build wealth.
00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.240
Um, but we've got to find our true nature.
00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:04.079
And and it's it's not gonna happen by default, you know.
00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:10.640
You've you've got to find some kind of a program, some kind of a way to awaken that inner warrior and develop it.
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:21.440
Um, because the bad news outside is the bear, but the good news inside is the bear on the inside, and it makes life fair, it makes the struggle fair, and it helps us to win.
00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:25.440
Um, and so perhaps that's that's my kind of closing thought.
00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:30.559
Well, Gordon, I I appreciate you jumping on the show and giving us just wisdom.
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:37.440
Um, we're probably gonna have to do a part two of this after I go through this uh empowerment session with you and just let you kind of give you some feedback.
00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:39.039
But other than that, appreciate you jumping on the show.
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:40.319
Anytime deciding to roll this out.
00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:40.720
Thank you.
00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:41.039
Thank you.
00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:41.759
Thanks for your time.
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.240
Welcome to the Mono Mentality Podcast.
00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:08.000
This podcast is built for the underdogs, the entrepreneurs, and the ones obsessed with becoming better.
00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:11.519
We unpack the mindset of the top 1%, the struggles.
00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:16.719
Nobody talks about personal growth and what it really takes to become who you're capable of becoming.
00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:17.359
Tune in.
00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:19.920
Alright, welcome to the Mono Mentality Podcast.
00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:21.679
Man, today we have a special treat.
00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:27.199
We have a guest that literally drove 10 hours to come to Tri-Cities, Utah.
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And um there's never been a guest I've had been more excited to talk to.
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I've been following this guy for the last three years, four years on social media.
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Uh was blessed to meet up with Jimmy, good friend of mine, and um DM'd, and then now he's here.
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So welcome to the show, Gordon.
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Thank you.
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Thanks for having me.
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:44.880
Gordon.
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Last name?
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Cooper.
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Cooper.
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So I was always thinking it's Ronan.
00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:49.439
So Gordon Cooper.
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So Ronan, Ronan's the name you give in the business.
00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:51.759
Okay.
00:00:51.840 --> 00:01:01.600
Um Ronan is a it's it's an old samurai term for a samurai whose um uh kind of uh a master died and then he became this masterless.
00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.959
So he's got the skill set, but he doesn't have he's not ruled by anybody anymore.
00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:06.239
So that's where the concept comes from.
00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:08.719
So Ronan's the business name, but my name's Cooper.
00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:09.200
Okay.
00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:12.799
So so Gordon, give us uh just a quick background.
00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:15.439
You're you're where you're from, and I guess South Africa.
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Yes, sir.
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And uh born and raised there, and then essentially you've been in the US for uh eight, nine years now.
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Okay.
00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:28.799
And loving it, I think uh if I could talk to more and more Americans, I tell them you don't know what you got, man.
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If you've if you come from the other side of the wall like we do, you know, you you you'll love your country.
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What do you mean by that, Gordon?
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Because do you think that people here in the US are a little bit more uh ungrateful for yeah, it's it's it's uh I I think I I've seen two types of people here.
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You see those who love their country and those who don't.
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And um, you know, what you don't understand sometimes, I think, you know, and maybe it's just human nature, but when you've when you've got to to see the other side of the wall and the other side of the world and you and you learn what's out there, you know, then you begin to appreciate what you have here.
00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:02.400
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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You can be what you want to be, but um in many other countries you you you really don't have much of a choice, you know.
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You just it is what it is.
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Talk to us about South South Africa.
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What is life like?
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I to be honest, when I when I heard South Africa, I told you I had a buddy named Corbin.
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Yes.
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Um, I just thought it was just black black people.
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And he was like, it's a he's a blue eyes, right?
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I'm like, you're from South Africa?
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No, no, we're strange.
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Um so yeah, it's I mean, it's a white minority, it's it's it's it's African, the country's um um uh um yeah, there's uh there's not a lot of I think South Africa is more kind of a bigger white population than anywhere else in Africa.
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Um and um but yeah, we're we're an interesting country.
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We're a we're a um we're a failed experiment in a lot of ways.
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Okay.
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You know, you know, the whole world they kind of call us the rainbow nation with all the different races and different people there.
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We're the only place with more Indians than India, for example.
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Really?
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You know, yeah.
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And um, you know, it's it's it's it's for decades been one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
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Yeah, we were talking about that because you mentioned to me it's and I didn't notice, I thought um, you know, it's a pretty safe place tour.
00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:10.719
But what was dangerous living in South Africa?
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Yeah, so so if you tour, it is, and for for those listening who innocent touring, it's beautiful.
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But go to Cape Town and go to the Kruger Park.
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Okay.
00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:22.800
You know, uh then you've seen the best that that Africa or that South Africa has to offer.
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And and usually when you land, you can have our tour guides that'll pick you up and take you to these places and you're in a group, and so it's a lot safer.
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Um but uh man, you know, when you expect the best of human nature and you're there by yourself trying to tour around and you're an American and they hear your accent, you're in trouble.
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What is what is, I guess you you mentioned is it's pretty dangerous.
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I mean, what's what's going on in South Africa right now as we speak?
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Yeah, so so so for decades we've been known as the rape capital of the world, um, which is horrible if you have a wife and daughters, um, because you live with that uncertainty all the time.
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And then, I mean, we we're the only country literally where our our rape steps, uh, rape stats are divided into categories.
00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:07.759
So we have a granny rape um uh statistic, we have an infant rape statistic, we have a toddler rape statistic, a schoolgirl rape statistic, you know.
00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:12.159
So so it's it's it's it's it's it's so crazy that it's divided up that way.
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Um and then also we're the only country they they figured out, I don't know how they figured this out, but only country in the world where you have more chance of being murdered in your bed than dying in a car accident.
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Um so there's a lot of home invasions, crime is out of control there.
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So you're you're telling me that there's rape going on, there's murders going on, what what are people doing about it out there?
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There's not really much that can be done.
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I think it's I think there's a much bigger geopolitical agenda behind it.
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And um and I think there's a lot of experimentation um being done there.
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And uh they see what works, so they see what doesn't work, and that's coming to America.
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It was a shocker for us to get here and for me to look at my wife and say, after being here now for a couple of years, to notice that America's on the same road.
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I think all countries are on that same road, and it's a destructive road, and it's and it's um, you know, it's just how far down are you?
00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:13.839
And we're a lot further down than where you are, and so it's kind of become like a deja vu thing for us being here and looking going, hey, they're using that and they're using that, and you know, and and and so um is that is that kind of the reason why you got into the military?
00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:29.600
Yes, yes, or so what was the reason on why you so I was so I'm this young boy, you know, and my mom um and her parents came from Rhodesia, and all this craziness happened out there, and so she's raising us and she's concerned about terrorism because a lot of terrorism we were coming from.
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We we were first in South East Africa and then we moved to South Africa, and uh so as a little boy, I was terrified of terrorism, you know, and and one day, I mean, I'm I'm a six-year-old boy at school, and I'm waiting for my mom and dad um to come and pick us up, and uh a gang of guys grabbed me and my buddy and to threw him on the ground, put a knife to his throat.
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I thought I was next.
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So for about a year after, I have all these nightmares, and and it's so crazy.
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I mean, I'm talking now, maybe 50 years later, and I can still remember the details of the dreams, where I was, um, kind of what it felt like, and and man, I was just I have my throat cut and I was all terrified.
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:15.600
And so, so, so, you know, you're you're you're this helpless little kid, and and I remember as a young boy thinking there's nothing worse in the world than feeling weak and feeling helpless.
00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:21.519
And so uh, you know, a a wise mom said to me, Listen, let's get you into karate.
00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.560
And those were the days when karate actually meant something.
00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:28.480
The old Chuck Norris days, he was uh this was when he was at the height of his movies.
00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:33.279
I actually met him at a at a seminar and um got involved in karate, changed my life, you know.
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Just gave me something back that the environment had taken from me.
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So you joined the military.
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I mean, um, was that a choice or were you just were you forced to have to get into so so in South Africa you kind of conscripted to go at that stage?
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Um, we had a lot of Russian influence on our borders.
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Okay.
00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:56.160
Um, and uh so so so we were really just fighting communism.
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And and you know, so in those days you were kind of a conscript, you had to go.
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I ended up in the Navy, but at this point I'm representing my country in martial arts and I'm fit and I I want to do something serious.
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:09.600
So I said, no, I can't do this Navy thing.
00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:10.879
It was kind of for gentlemen.
00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:28.240
So I then went joined the Marines, and um after being enlisted there and kind of qualifying and becoming a Marine, I then um selected for a counter-terrorist unit, um, which is a kind of a small little unit, um, and and and uh got to see some crazy stuff.
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:29.839
You're a guy, you don't want to mess with you.
00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:34.879
Well, I'm old now, but uh when I was younger maybe, but but it was it was crazy.
00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.160
So so I learned I learned life from the military.
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I learned I learned terrorism.
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I learned that the world we live in does to you what terrorists try and do to you, what bullies try and do to you.
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And well, you know, life, life, I'll give you an example.
00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:59.680
So we we had this guy in our dojo, who's a third Dan, well-known guy, um national champion, and one night he goes to an ATM to draw money because his kid was sick or something.
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So he's he's at the ATM, and the next thing some drunk guy comes, breaks a bottle, and puts the bottle in his kidneys and tells him, give me your money.
00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:14.160
And of course, I mean you think about it, we know this guy, he's SA champ, he's brilliant, um, or someone we all looked up to and respected.
00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:26.319
And he says, when he felt that bottle in his kidneys, um, he says all he could picture was his wife and his little kid and see her growing up without a father and seeing his wife having to fight the battle alone.
00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:31.519
And he says he became completely terrified, surprised, helpless, and he couldn't do anything.
00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:33.200
And so he just handed over the money.
00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:40.159
This guy took the money, stumbled off, um, and and uh he'd been robbed, one of our elite kind of fighters.
00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:50.639
Yeah, and I kind of sat with that for years and thought, you know, what are we doing wrong when we're giving people all these skills and and and they still can't perform when it matters.
00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:55.759
And what I've realized over the years is that life will do to you what the guy with the bottle does.
00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:04.080
You know, we live in a world that seeks to take something from us and uh it will strip you of your agency, and it happens from when we're young.
00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:14.960
Yeah, and once your agency's been stripped, um you literally start to believe that you're helpless, you know, that you're at the mercy of relentless forces outside of yourself, and that there's nothing you can do to change your lot in life.
00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:21.279
And the moment you you you're at that point, you've now been positioned, and um you're now the victim.
00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:24.480
And at that stage, there is nothing you really can do.
00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:29.440
You know, you're you're you're the chicken and you you're kind of at the mercy of whatever happens to you in your life.
00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:32.559
You don't have the strength to fix anything or to make anything happen.
00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:36.720
What was the hardest part being part of the military or being our training for the military?
00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:45.600
Um the the objective of training, especially I think as the layers got deeper, was to see how easy you are to break.
00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.320
And for me, there was a profound lesson in that.
00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:59.440
Um and and so, you know, when I when I selected for the for the counter-terrorist unit, um we were 90 Marines and they only wanted nine guys, so they they're gonna whittle you down to 10%.
00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:02.080
Now you've already been through quite an ordeal to get to this point.
00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:06.080
You might sharing before you get into it, what are some of the things you had to do to become a Marine?
00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:11.279
Oh, um again, you had to show that they can't break you, you know.
00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:17.120
So so there was a lot of physical demands, but you know, the more I look back, it was there wasn't a skill set.
00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:23.200
It's not about how many push-ups you can do, how fast you can run, how accurately you can shoot, how well you follow orders.
00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:27.600
The whole the whole key is to find out do you have an unbreakable mind?
00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:32.480
And once they've got that quality, then the rest can be taught.
00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:38.000
You know, it's it's easy to teach a guy how to shoot straight, but you need a guy who can take the initiative with this confidence.
00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:39.919
Was there a time that you almost broke?
00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:41.519
Um your mind almost broke?
00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:42.399
Was there a time where you're testing?
00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:57.919
Honestly, I you know, when when when I look back, my black belt grading was such an ordeal that what I went through in the military in in all the divisions was was you know, I I think that had created uh created a perspective for me that I can do this, you know.
00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:00.320
And also something changed for me.
00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:09.759
Um I had buddies that I really cared about, and I found that that as I cared about them and them selecting and them getting through, I forgot about my own pain, you know.
00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:17.840
Um, but I think the hardest part was there was there was a week, um, the final week uh before um we were part of this ABS group.
00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:18.240
Yeah.
00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:23.440
Um and um and they couldn't get rid of there, was probably about 35 guys left.
00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:24.559
They want nine guys.
00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:26.240
So how how do you break them?
00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:28.000
So no more food, no more sleep.
00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:28.480
Uh huh.
00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.639
And so uh, of course, you want to get through.
00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:32.799
This is the dream of a little boy, you want to make it.
00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:34.080
So we'd eat anything.
00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:38.320
We'd we'd eat, I tell my kids we ate cockroaches, literally.
00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:49.759
We ate ants, um, we trapped and ate rats, and did anything just to keep your strength that little percentage above the next guy so that you can get through when he doesn't, you know.
00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:50.799
What how long was this?
00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:51.519
This was about a week.
00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:53.279
So one week food.
00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:57.919
One week, kind of a hell week where you just where you just last man standing.
00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:02.480
Yeah, last man standing until they got nine guys left, and then those nine guys selected.
00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:04.399
And of course, everyone knows the stories.
00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:08.480
You know, you fall out, you go ring the bell, and and uh we have a thing called a bry.
00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:14.639
You guys call it a barbecue, but our instructors would sit at the side and they've got these campfires going in these big thick steaks.
00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.279
And look, you guys here in the States know how to do steak.
00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:36.480
But we've got so many animals here that I mean we we're really good with our steaks, and these guys would kind of be brying this meat or barbecuing the meat as you'd call it, and you kind of smell that smell, and you're starving and you're tired, and the temptation to just kind of throw the towel in is is unbelievable, you know.
00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:39.519
Um I don't know what it is that keeps people from doing it.
00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.840
And I think I think we all have something in us, you know.
00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:45.120
There's a point where you've got to awaken that inner warrior, and if you can't, you lose.
00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:52.320
Yeah, you know, so you mentioned to me because obviously uh, you know, we we were chatting before you set up and you talked about um 55.
00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.840
And I was like, you said 55, I was like, man, I'm 30, I'm 33.
00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:56.559
Yes.
00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.519
I got 20 more years, Gordon, to figure this thing out.
00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:06.559
And so you said something that was really profound, but uh a lot of it is just um less but more in depth.
00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:07.200
Yes.
00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:14.399
Um so so first of all, there's a saying that says, beware the old man in a profession where men die young.
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:15.840
One more time.
00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:22.000
Beware the old man, beware of the old man in a profession where men die young.
00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:24.000
Because there's a reason you got old.
00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.080
So back home we have these baboons.
00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:27.840
There's not a lot of old baboons.
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:29.519
Monkeys die early, you know.
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:31.679
And all my life I knew I was a monkey.
00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.720
I never had that arrogance to think, hey, I'm someone special, you know.
00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:44.240
But in time, I I say to my kids, and I'll tell my wife sometimes, but I'm careful what I tell her, but but um I've I've become an old monkey, you know.
00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:51.360
And um what I was mentioning earlier was, you know, uh when you start out, you're pretty dumb, you know, and we all think we're clever.
00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:56.240
I remember leaving home thinking, man, I'm clever, I've learned things that my parents don't understand, and whatever.
00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:01.200
But you really don't know because there's an old saying that says, When an old person dies, like a library burns down, you know.
00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:05.120
So so so you're you're really this dumb guy, and you and perhaps you know it.
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:11.360
And so you start studying and you start learning and you start experiencing things, and you get to the point where you're really clever, and you know a lot of stuff.
00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.960
So you were simple, now you've gone through the circle and you've become complicated.
00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:22.159
And I find so many people stop at that complicated stage, because it's nice being complicated because because people are impressed by how much you know.
00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:31.679
But what I've learned is if you can get through that complicated phase, um, what happens is the circle kind of um completes where it becomes simple again.
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:43.919
But now the simplicity has depth, and now you learn that there's only a couple of things in life that really matter, but but there's depth to that understanding, and all your old wise Mr.
00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:54.559
Miyagis and uh Yoda, Master Yoda, whatever, yeah, these are people who've reached a point where where the complex has become simple, but the simplicity has depth, and that's profound.
00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:59.279
Well, I'm gonna probably need to re rewatch this episode a couple times throughout the years.
00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.279
Gordon, so uh talk to us, man.
00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:06.799
You know, um I first came across meeting you um and your page about three, four years ago.
00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:11.919
So I I've I've probably spent uh I don't know, close to seven figures in personal development.
00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:18.080
I've it's one of the things that I've really taken into account that's changed my life on just saying yes to new experiences.
00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:20.559
And so I'm part of the Watt program with Jimmy Rex.
00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:26.399
And um I was looking, I was like Ronin, and um looking for your page for years.
00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:29.440
And so I just got back from a Moab event where we just did a rope swing.
00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:33.200
You know, we jumped, uh jumped, I think, 500 feet off of off a cliff.
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:40.399
And uh I was just looking at, hey, what what can I bring back to the organization that could really help people uh break past limits of beliefs?
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.000
And I thought about the firewalk.
00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:44.639
Um how did you get into the firewalk?
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:45.360
I mean, you're known for it.
00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.039
You got the Guinness World Record of uh 2,000 plus people to do it.
00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:49.440
That's right.
00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:50.320
How'd you get into it?
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:56.240
So four things, four things that that uh, and and they weren't all official, but we had the largest group recorded.
00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:04.080
We had uh I did the longest firewalk at the time, they've done longer ones now, but I did about a 75-meter walk, which is what 240 feet.
00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:09.840
When I got to the end, my body temperature had gone up um by four degrees, which is crazy because you're absorbing energy as you walk.
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:15.840
Then I had the youngest person ever walk, which is my daughter, walked four years old, didn't like her much anyway, so it was an experiment.
00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:17.120
I'm just kidding.
00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:21.840
So she she you know, if everyone else walking a couple of steps, she's walking a whole bunch more.
00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:29.200
And when she finishes and she comes to me, um I'm shocked, I'm kind of wondering how she is, and she says to me, Hey dad, can I do it again?
00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.559
And that kid walks three times, um, a little four-year-old.
00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.679
And then we had the oldest lady walk, a lady was 87 years old.
00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:35.840
Wow.
00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.519
Um, the walking stick got shorter as she went, but she did great, you know.
00:16:39.679 --> 00:17:02.000
So uh yeah, so I've I've done more than 5,000 events, but I got into it because of the the whole, you know, uh from from back to my experience as a kid, I learned that that life will either make you helpless, it will it will destroy the gift your creator gave you to compensate you for life in a horrible world.
00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.039
So it's it's it's it's really agency.
00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:09.519
It's it's it's it's the power to be able to win, the power to fight back, the power to make things happen.
00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:10.559
It's that inner warrior.
00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:10.960
Yeah.
00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:16.799
And um life will take that from you, and I realize that I'm either going to be a victim or I'm gonna have to empower myself.
00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.440
And so that's that's when I kind of joined the whole karate club, etc.
00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:25.039
And then when I was there, I learned um in time that it was a mental game, that that was the most powerful side of it.
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:33.440
Um uh uh Napoleon made the comment and he said in observing fighting men, he said morale is to the physical, what three is to one.
00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:43.519
So what he was saying in essence is 75% of making it as a warrior is mental, and it's the most physical profession in the world, and only 25% is physical.
00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:51.359
So all the physical skills, the fitness, um, you know, the tools you carry on your belt and whatever it is, that's only 25% of success.
00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.519
The rest is 75%, it's a mindset, you know.
00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:02.400
So I'm beginning to learn these things, and then in my studies I come across firewalking, which is an ancient warrior's rite of passage, and it was a mental and emotional preparation for the battlefield.
00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:06.960
You step on a battlefield and you learn suddenly a truth that no one can prepare you for.
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:14.240
You step on there, you face this thing, and you realize that there's a physical threat, but there's something more dangerous, and that's the mental threat.
00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:18.559
That physical threat will take something from you unless you refuse it.
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:24.240
And so, you know, what these old veterans would do is they found firewalking 4,000 years back.
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:30.319
Um, they found that firewalking was an incredible preparation for the realities of the battlefield and life.
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:36.799
So that when you face this adversity, that you understand that the biggest problem is not what's happening around you and what's happening on the outside.
00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:43.759
It's not your health, it's not the cancer, it's not the bank account, it's not the money, it's not the economy, it's not the relationship that's breaking down.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.720
The biggest threat is what's happening on the inside.
00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:53.039
And they learned that when they can master that and they can win inside, that they couldn't be beaten on the outside.
00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:56.720
Yes, you can get wounded and maybe even killed, but you'll never be beat.
00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.079
And so it's about creating that kind of warrior mindset.
00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.039
Um, and so I'm reading about all this and I thought I've got to try this.
00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:04.240
So I built this big bonfire.
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:05.759
Yeah, I studied it for two years.
00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.200
I walk across, I burn so bad my buddies had to carry me home.
00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:17.279
Um, and uh and for two weeks I couldn't walk, and then and then I I met an Australian guy, and he said to me, He showed me what I did wrong.
00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:18.319
It was all a mental thing.
00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:24.720
And once I figured it out, I was able to do this, and I couldn't sleep the night I did my first firewalk because of the impact it had.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:34.400
It gave me something back, and then I started trying to figure out what it was, but I got I got into the business three years later, yeah, and I ran it for a couple of sales guys.
00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:41.200
One guy calls me in three months later, he's quadrupled his income just because of a shift in in mind, yeah.
00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:48.880
Yeah, because that I think that's the biggest thing that I I I like me personally, I've never done a firewalk, and we're about to do it tonight, which is actually set up.
00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:52.079
So we'll we'll we'll throw some footage in there of the actual firewalk.
00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:58.880
Um have you worked with someone that that didn't want to do it, and then maybe you had to talk them through it?
00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:05.440
Like, what's probably been the the hardest person that you had to like really help them get through a breakthrough when they're struggling mentally?
00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:20.960
So so I don't want to lie, but if if I if I think back immediately, my memory goes to a an elite soldier, um like a best of the best type of guy, um, who had been shot with a White Foss grenade.
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:24.000
And the nickname he got from his buddies was E.T.
00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:25.279
because of what it did to him.
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:29.839
You know, so yeah, you got a guy who's experienced burning at a level that we can't understand.
00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:35.279
And uh White Foss is a whole different kind of um compound, it doesn't stop burning.
00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:36.799
You can jump in water to keep burning.
00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.759
So this guy burned terribly, and now he's doing the fire walk.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:51.359
And he was on a course with remember, there was a bunch of ladies there, there was a couple of guys, and uh he's he's like this stud, just this kind of peaceful warrior, nothing wrong.
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.480
And he gets to the front of the fire, no emotion, no fear.
00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:00.559
And I take his hand because I walk, I hold everybody's hand when they first walk, because I don't know what's gonna happen when you step on the fire.
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.680
Higher brain function shuts down, survival mechanism takes over.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:08.400
People freeze or they run or they do something, and then it becomes a barbecue, not a firewalk.
00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:09.759
So I kind of walk with him.
00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:14.480
So I'm holding his hand, and as I grab his hand, it was wet from the sweat.
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.000
So underneath the cool facade, I realized this man's suffering here.
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.480
And he stood there, and then his jaw starts quivering, and he just cannot walk.
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:28.160
Tears in the you know, kind of running down his face, and this guy can't walk.
00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:33.039
So it took me a while to work with him and get him through this because what he was facing wasn't what you and I all face.
00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:40.720
And once uh we kind of got through that, and this guy walked across, he stepped into the tub of water, he broke down, sobbed like a little kid.
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:47.279
And very clever tactic because all the girls at the event ran around this guy and just hugged him.
00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.359
Biggest group hug he's ever got.
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:56.640
And uh it was one of the most profound moments for me was the realization that the greater the fear, the greater the growth.
00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:03.359
And it's shocking to me how people avoid difficult things, they avoid Stuff they're afraid of, they avoid things where they think they're gonna look bad.
00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:09.920
But the worse it looks and the more afraid you are, the bigger the opportunity, the more the human spirit has a chance to fly.
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:13.119
You know, we have to eat spinach if you want to get healthy.
00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.279
You can't eat ice cream, you've got to do tough stuff.
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.920
And I think that's I think you're right, Gordon, because um, I'm learning this right now for myself.
00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:23.519
Um, you can't change people, but you can create an environment for people to change.
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:29.359
So, like looking at, you know, he did that move of having girls there that gave him the uh the courage to do it.
00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:34.720
And I look at, and that's kind of more of where I have felt the most impact of my life is just being in an environment.
00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:42.480
Um never would I ever thought the mana eight years ago would be actually uh setting up a firewalk to come do this.
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:43.039
Yes, sir.
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.519
But like you said, our wives are always changing, right?
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:45.920
Yep.
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:47.039
Uh what got you in?
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:51.920
So I guess you you you learned the firewalk and um you've mastered it over 5,000 events.
00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:53.680
Uh, what are you looking to go build?
00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:56.160
And what's the I guess what's your purpose with Ronin?
00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:06.720
What's this what's the ultimate so there's a there's a story that was told um by Zig Ziggler years back about a piranha in a tank.
00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:11.279
Scientist put a glass plate in, threw a bait fish on on the other side, piranha hits the glass plate.
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:12.720
First time in his life.
00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:15.200
Turns around, hits the plate again.
00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.200
Uh um, and again and again.
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:23.359
And as the hours go by, the piranha, the scientist says the piranha's actions get less aggressive.
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:29.119
He starts swimming in circles, testing his barriers, testing if he can get through this invisible boundary.
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:32.240
And as the hours go by, the swimming gets smaller, the swimming slower.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.880
He attempts to break through less frequent, less aggressive, till he eventually stops trying completely.
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:38.720
Evening time now, Puranas just sitting there.
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:38.960
Okay.
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:40.799
Scientist pulls the plate out.
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:45.039
So question everyone asks what happened.
00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:47.200
And answers nothing.
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:56.240
So the scientist goes and he wraps on the glass plate on this side, scares the fish, piranha, shoots across, stops just before where the glass plate used to be and goes straight back.
00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:59.279
And he says there's nothing he could do to get that piranha to go across.
00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:03.440
Covers the tank, comes back day two, nothing's changed, day three, day four, day five.
00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:06.000
I think it was the sixth day, he gets to the piranha's dead.
00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:09.039
And so the question is, what killed him?
00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:10.400
Now we know he starved.
00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:14.960
But if you think about this, um, I like to ask people, was the barrier removed?
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:16.000
They want to say, yes.
00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:17.279
Well, was it?
00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:23.359
And so what we realize is a physical barrier had been replaced by a mental barrier, which is way more powerful.
00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:30.400
There's bad news in the story, and the bad news is not just the glass plate and the conditioning that happens and the failure.
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:35.279
The bad news is that that piranha was slowly stripped of something that it had all its life.
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:36.559
It was no longer a predator.
00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:39.440
Physically, he was a predator, mentally, he was the prey.
00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:42.640
He was the victim to this failure to conditioning.
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:48.160
And the minute you take that from a human being or an animal or whatever, you completely break them.
00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:56.000
And then it doesn't matter what skills you have, doesn't matter what tools you have, doesn't matter what your potential is, you can't achieve anything, you can't do anything.
00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:03.519
And so what I've come to realize is that we all put on this brave facade, but for the most part, every human being you look at is broken in some way.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:09.279
His bank account's broken, his profession's broken, or his marriage is broken, or his family is broken, or his health is broken.
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:11.359
Something's broken in his life.
00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:15.680
And and you know, it's it's about point A and B.
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:24.880
Point A is this guy who has been beaten up by life, who now wants something better, a better lifestyle, a better perspective.
00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:34.000
He wants to like how he sees himself, he wants to like how others see him, he wants to have an outlook on the world where he doesn't see threats, but he sees opportunity.
00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:39.920
And in order to be able to get to that point, we have to reclaim what life has taken from him.
00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:44.000
That Purana is in desperate need, not of more skills or greater potential.
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:46.240
He's in need of mental and emotional recovery.
00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:50.160
And if you can give someone that power, you can change their lives.
00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.119
And what I found does that is the warrior profession.
00:25:53.279 --> 00:26:01.519
I have all my life, for decades, either studied it, taught it, or operated in it, and I've learned that it restores agency, it refuses helplessness.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:04.640
The point of the warrior profession is to develop agency.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:07.039
Agency allows you to survive danger.
00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:11.839
There's the first benefit, but that same agency allows you to go fix a broken life.
00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.839
It allows you to build a better life.
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:18.960
And so what I'm trying to do with Ronan is I'm trying to, we're we're an academy, we're a warrior academy.
00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:20.640
I think you're trying, I think you're doing it.
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:26.799
Yeah, and so you know, I teach people the physical disciplines of the warrior profession, but I also teach them those warrior attitudes.
00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:40.400
And um what I find it does is it reclaims what life has slowly taken from them, and it gives them the power to be able to take action and to be able to fix things and to make things happen and essentially to win.
00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:51.920
And so for me, it's about it's about building warriors, it's about it's about making people dangerous in a good way, you know, um, so that they're able to go out there and and and kind of really just build better lives.
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:57.359
Yeah, there's I think the world needs, I don't think, I know the world needs good, strong, dangerous men.
00:26:57.519 --> 00:26:59.839
Yes, you know, we got so many dangerous things going on right now.
00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:01.440
I'm excited to do the self-defense.
00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:01.759
Yes.
00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:08.079
I mean, we just witnessed, you know, just in Idaho with, you know, guy just coming in and shooting up in and out and killing just innocent people.
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:15.279
Um and I think that's something that it's a loss to art in my my generation from you know 20s and 30s.
00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:23.359
But uh I'm I'm just I'm glad that there's people out there that provide a service to really go and um and showcase that.
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:30.480
Question for you What advice would you give to someone that's listening right now that's currently in a broken place?
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:37.200
Um maybe they have a broken account, maybe they have a broken relationship, and they're they're they're listening to this episode and they're in that state.
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:39.680
What would you what advice would you give to that person?
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:41.920
Uh if I may, yeah.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:45.519
Just another story quick to the best advice I can give.
00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:49.519
Stories of a farmer who finds an egg in his fields.
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:55.359
He's curious, so he puts it under the mother hen, hatches, and it's and it grows up with her chicks, and it's actually an eagle.
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:58.640
But the chick, but the eagle grows up in a chicken coop.
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:04.000
And he spends his days eating chicken food, scratching in the dirt, living in the coop.
00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:05.519
He thinks he's a chicken.
00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:06.720
Grows to maturity.
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:15.759
One day a friend of the farmer arrives, he sees this eagle in the coop, and he runs and walk, tells the farmer about this eagle, and the farmer says, Oh, don't worry, you know, the eagle thinks he's a chicken.
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:19.680
So he just lives his life with the with the chickens, and there's nothing that he can do about it.
00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:23.440
And so, of course, this is like an sense of injustice for this visitor.
00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:28.559
So he goes into the coop and he takes the eagle, and like you said earlier, how do you change people?
00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:31.599
You take them out of the environment, you chuck you change what's happening around them.
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:33.599
So he takes him out of the coop into the open air.
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.200
But the problem is with the chicken, is take him out of the coop, and guess what?
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:40.160
He feels so frightened he runs right back into the coop.
00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:42.000
You know, he needs that protection.
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:49.200
And so he's got the eagle out there, and he strokes him lovingly and he says, Hey bird, you're an eagle, not a chicken, now fly.
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:58.319
He throws him up into the air, and the bird just plummets to the ground, back into the dirt, carries on squawking, scratching in the dirt, and goes straight back into the coop.
00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:07.039
So he picks that eagle up and he carries him up onto the barn roof and he strokes him lovingly and he says to him, Eagle, you're an eagle, not a chicken, now fly.
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:08.559
And he throws him off the barn roof.
00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:17.920
As he throws him off, he says, This eagle just plummets down, hits the deck, ball of feathers, squawks indignantly back into the coop and carries on scratching.
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:20.079
So this is a determined guy now.
00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:25.839
So he goes back, he gets the eagle out, and he puts him in his truck and he drives him up into the mountain to a cliff.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:28.319
And he stands with this eagle at the edge of the cliff.
00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:31.759
He says to him, Eagle, you're an eagle, not a chicken.
00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:34.319
Now you fly or you die.
00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:36.480
He throws him off the edge.
00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:39.039
And as he throws him off, eagle just starts falling.
00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:41.839
Shh, ball of feathers, squawking, screaming, whatever.
00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:48.640
But somewhere halfway down, there's like this little instinct that awakens.
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:56.240
An ancient memory, a little inner voice that says, You're more than you than you know.
00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:08.799
And that little that bird stretches out his wings and and um the the thermals catch his feathers, and the next thing, there he is gliding off into the sunset, a majestic noble creature.
00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:19.119
My biggest lesson, I think, and my my my advice is this is that um the world we live in doesn't want us to be wild.
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:27.599
It doesn't want that that God-given gift of agency, which is which is kind of a um it's it's like a dangerous thing.
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:31.440
It's it's it's savage, it's it's kind of crazy part of us.
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:35.680
It's the strength we've been given to survive this world that we live in.
00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:39.839
But the world doesn't, when you turn two, that part of you started coming out.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:41.839
And it was too much for civilized society.
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:48.480
So mom and dad said, Hey, don't be a crazy, and your brothers and sisters and your teachers and the government, and everybody told you, hey, you've got to tone this down.
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:50.000
You're a civilized guy.
00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.160
And so we take this bear and we bury him deep in this cave and we put rocks in front.
00:30:54.319 --> 00:31:01.119
And now when life gets tough, we're these helpless little chickens facing the bear, you know.
00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:09.839
And um, and so the best advice that I could perhaps give is that is that there is something to you, and people know it.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:29.279
People know deep down that there's more to them than what than what they're showing, and so we've got to learn how to get rid of this identity, which we've adopted to make us safe, because that helpless identity means the farmer has to take care of you, you know, someone feeds you, protects you, shelters you, but we have to realize that there's something more to us.
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:43.920
And when we can get rid of our past identity and we can embrace our true nature and awaken this inner warrior, let the bear out the cave, and then harness it, not unleash it because that makes us monsters, but harness it and unleash its power in our lives.
00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:56.799
Then we can take care of our health, then we can stick with a diet, we can stick with an exercise program, we can we can do the things we need to do to fix our relationships, we can succeed in our business and and and in our attempts to build wealth.
00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.240
Um, but we've got to find our true nature.
00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:04.079
And and it's it's not gonna happen by default, you know.
00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:10.640
You've you've got to find some kind of a program, some kind of a way to awaken that inner warrior and develop it.
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:21.440
Um, because the bad news outside is the bear, but the good news inside is the bear on the inside, and it makes life fair, it makes the struggle fair, and it helps us to win.
00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:25.440
Um, and so perhaps that's that's my kind of closing thought.
00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:30.559
Well, Gordon, I I appreciate you jumping on the show and giving us just wisdom.
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:37.440
Um, we're probably gonna have to do a part two of this after I go through this uh empowerment session with you and just let you kind of give you some feedback.
00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:39.039
But other than that, appreciate you jumping on the show.
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:40.319
Anytime deciding to roll this out.
00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:40.720
Thank you.
00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:41.039
Thank you.
00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:41.759
Thanks for your time.
