1 00:00:00,170 --> 00:00:03,246 The fear of having this passion that you cared so much about, that was such 2 00:00:03,268 --> 00:00:06,286 a big part of your life. The fear of that going away and the fact 3 00:00:06,308 --> 00:00:09,166 that you were able to come back and then win, dude, that's like, if you 4 00:00:09,188 --> 00:00:12,926 stopped right there. That is amazing. That's just a great. I just love 5 00:00:12,948 --> 00:00:13,680 that story. 6 00:00:18,610 --> 00:00:22,334 Did I tell you about my albatross? A yo, here we 7 00:00:22,372 --> 00:00:26,086 go. Come on. Welcome to another episode of did I tell 8 00:00:26,108 --> 00:00:29,426 you about my albatross? I'm your host, Albie. This is the golf 9 00:00:29,458 --> 00:00:33,126 podcast for honest degenerates. It's like teeing up with your favorite forsome every 10 00:00:33,148 --> 00:00:36,898 week and diving into the best stories in and around golf. 11 00:00:36,994 --> 00:00:40,586 You guys ready to tee off? Let's go. We added chillin on the right side 12 00:00:40,608 --> 00:00:42,700 of the green. Sip a little something. 13 00:00:55,490 --> 00:00:59,322 Everyone, to another episode of did I tell you about my albatross? 14 00:00:59,466 --> 00:01:02,750 And, boy, do we have a good one for you tonight. We've got a special 15 00:01:02,820 --> 00:01:06,094 guest here, someone I've been really looking forward to talking to. His name is Alex 16 00:01:06,142 --> 00:01:09,806 Romo. He is. I mean, dude, you really need no introduction, 17 00:01:09,838 --> 00:01:13,394 man. You are quite the sensation on all social and 18 00:01:13,592 --> 00:01:17,186 really for a lot of different things, initially around golf, but it's evolved, and 19 00:01:17,208 --> 00:01:20,950 I'm really interested to hear about your journey 20 00:01:21,370 --> 00:01:24,706 and your story. So, anyway, welcome to the show, man. Thanks for joining us, Alex, 21 00:01:24,818 --> 00:01:27,974 thank you so much. I appreciate it. That's nice of you to say all that. 22 00:01:28,012 --> 00:01:31,658 You're the man. Yeah, man. Well, let's just dive in here, man. So first of 23 00:01:31,664 --> 00:01:34,666 all, let's just start. You just got back from Morocco. I was noticing. Is that 24 00:01:34,688 --> 00:01:38,394 right? I did, yeah. I just returned a couple of days 25 00:01:38,432 --> 00:01:42,074 ago from that, actually. One of my best friends got married in 26 00:01:42,112 --> 00:01:44,800 Florida on the back end of that trip, so I flew back. 27 00:01:45,330 --> 00:01:49,086 Tampa, dude, that's where I live. That's where you're talking to me from 28 00:01:49,108 --> 00:01:52,734 Tampa right now. Are you kidding me? I just. No, dude, two days 29 00:01:52,772 --> 00:01:56,542 ago. Are you kidding me? That's crazy. That's hilarious. I'm literally doing this, 30 00:01:56,596 --> 00:01:59,058 Alex. I'm doing this in a shed. Like, I can touch this. I'm doing this 31 00:01:59,064 --> 00:02:02,562 in a shed in my backyard, in. So. Wow. 32 00:02:02,696 --> 00:02:05,326 I wish I could remember the place you got married at. I played some golf 33 00:02:05,358 --> 00:02:09,042 out there, too. So that was a quick little pit stop after Morocco. 34 00:02:09,106 --> 00:02:12,770 And actually, two more days I'm going to be leaving for Puerto Rico. 35 00:02:12,930 --> 00:02:16,534 So a lot of international travel in this month, which has been 36 00:02:16,572 --> 00:02:20,050 exciting. But, yeah, Morocco was a blast. 37 00:02:20,210 --> 00:02:23,802 You were there for pro am, right? I was yeah, I was there working 38 00:02:23,856 --> 00:02:27,562 with their tourism board and also participating in the pro am 39 00:02:27,616 --> 00:02:31,034 for the PGA Tour Champions event out there. Played with 40 00:02:31,152 --> 00:02:34,910 gentleman named Paul Broadhurst, who's a multiple time senior major 41 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:38,686 champion and very cool, awesome guy, great player. And 42 00:02:38,708 --> 00:02:42,318 I had one moment there. Crazy that your show is called. Did I tell you 43 00:02:42,324 --> 00:02:45,806 about my albatross? So I've never had a hole in one. Ever been playing since 44 00:02:45,828 --> 00:02:49,554 I was 532 now. Lots of hole outs and 45 00:02:49,592 --> 00:02:53,074 exciting things, but never a proper hole in one. And on the 46 00:02:53,112 --> 00:02:56,478 17th hole, which was a par, 4310 yards, slightly 47 00:02:56,494 --> 00:03:00,174 downhill, landed like 10ft short of the pin, rolled 48 00:03:00,222 --> 00:03:04,006 straight into the pin at like, pretty mellow pace because there were 49 00:03:04,108 --> 00:03:07,570 fans up by the green watching and they're like, yes, it went in the cup 50 00:03:07,650 --> 00:03:11,494 and rattled out to the right, like 5ft. And it was on camera 51 00:03:11,542 --> 00:03:15,100 and everything. And so I was thinking, wow, 52 00:03:15,710 --> 00:03:19,542 that would have been an epic first hole in one, technically, 53 00:03:19,606 --> 00:03:23,074 but really even better than a hole in one. But no dying. 54 00:03:23,222 --> 00:03:26,974 We're going to Puerto Rico. I'm hoping that maybe something 55 00:03:27,012 --> 00:03:30,240 happens down there to shake things up a bit. 56 00:03:31,330 --> 00:03:34,640 It's crazy that we've had this conversation. Obviously a lot on here because 57 00:03:35,090 --> 00:03:38,526 the show is called right, just for context. And by the way, 58 00:03:38,708 --> 00:03:41,994 all my followers and listeners, you guys can tune out for a quick second. Alex, 59 00:03:42,042 --> 00:03:44,558 have you pumped this out to your people, man, this is a story, really for 60 00:03:44,564 --> 00:03:47,318 you and for just for context. So the reason it's called, did I tell you 61 00:03:47,324 --> 00:03:50,902 about Malvich? I love telling the story, by the way, is because, remember, 62 00:03:50,956 --> 00:03:54,614 member golf tournament, the year is 2020. My budy and I, we were day 63 00:03:54,652 --> 00:03:57,878 two. We go up to the final hole, we finish on pine one. It was 64 00:03:57,884 --> 00:04:00,102 a shotgun tournament. So we finished on the first hole, which is actually a par 65 00:04:00,156 --> 00:04:03,830 five, and I hit a good drive. Fairway, 247 out, 66 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:07,606 hit my three wood, and it goes in. Now, we had two buddies that were 67 00:04:07,628 --> 00:04:10,446 waiting for it. So we go up to the hole, and I hit a really 68 00:04:10,468 --> 00:04:13,694 good shot. We couldn't see it go in, and my budy's like, hey, we have 69 00:04:13,732 --> 00:04:16,798 spirit animals. I'll get into all that here in a little bit. But anyway, my 70 00:04:16,804 --> 00:04:20,126 budy sea turtle, he was like, hey, man, did you think you hit a good 71 00:04:20,148 --> 00:04:23,166 shot? And I was like, yeah, man, I hit that pretty well. He was like, 72 00:04:23,188 --> 00:04:26,286 yeah, went over the green. So I started looking for this thing. Alex can't find 73 00:04:26,308 --> 00:04:29,486 it anywhere for like a good couple of minutes, and I'm like, dude, where is 74 00:04:29,508 --> 00:04:33,166 this ball? And he said it went in the hole. And we lost our 75 00:04:33,188 --> 00:04:36,198 mind, obviously. So then we go inside and turn our scorecard in. This is when 76 00:04:36,204 --> 00:04:39,862 it gets weird. Turn our scorecard in and they're like, oh, yeah, you guys were 77 00:04:39,916 --> 00:04:43,734 actually three shots back going into that final hole. So with that albatross. Walk off. 78 00:04:43,772 --> 00:04:47,206 Albatross, you tied for the win. And we were actually doing a Calcutta. We like 79 00:04:47,228 --> 00:04:49,798 won thousands of dollars, dude, I thought Alex, I thought I was going to be 80 00:04:49,804 --> 00:04:52,086 famous. I thought I was going to have your social following by now. I guess 81 00:04:52,108 --> 00:04:55,686 that was immediate. None of that happened. No one cares about my shot. My 82 00:04:55,708 --> 00:04:59,378 wife'sick of me telling everyone'sick. Of me talking about it. So I'm like, great, I'm 83 00:04:59,394 --> 00:05:02,366 going to start a pod cast. And until this thing blows up and until I'm 84 00:05:02,388 --> 00:05:05,806 on sports center talking to Scott Van Pelt, then I'm going to keep talking about 85 00:05:05,828 --> 00:05:09,438 this damn thing anyway. But to me, man, 86 00:05:09,524 --> 00:05:13,006 when I hear stories like you that you just described, it drives me crazy because 87 00:05:13,028 --> 00:05:16,686 there's so many good golfers out there that don't even have a hole 88 00:05:16,718 --> 00:05:20,418 in one. And then you have gibronis out there 89 00:05:20,424 --> 00:05:24,226 that are just 25 handicaps that have multiple, like five or six. It just makes 90 00:05:24,248 --> 00:05:27,838 no sense to me. But anyway, I know I've had that conversation 91 00:05:27,934 --> 00:05:31,574 so many times with friends, it makes no sense, right? It's such a 92 00:05:31,612 --> 00:05:35,046 weird combo of skill and luck. There are some people that don't really play that 93 00:05:35,068 --> 00:05:38,274 much golf that rack up a ton and then other people that are great golfers, 94 00:05:38,322 --> 00:05:42,114 pro golfers. No dice. That's crazy. What an epic 95 00:05:42,162 --> 00:05:45,766 story, by the way. Good for you. Thanks, man. Well, it kind of ties in 96 00:05:45,788 --> 00:05:48,086 the reason I wanted to share it with you. There's a couple of reasons, but 97 00:05:48,108 --> 00:05:51,662 one, because, first of all, I love talking about it easily, but the other reason 98 00:05:51,716 --> 00:05:53,886 is because it does tie into a lot of what you and I were talking 99 00:05:53,908 --> 00:05:57,466 about before the show here. And I went really deep with this thing. I hired 100 00:05:57,498 --> 00:06:00,894 a data scientist and I just imagined like Einstein curled up in a fetal position 101 00:06:00,932 --> 00:06:02,958 trying to figure out the math on this because it took him a couple of 102 00:06:02,964 --> 00:06:06,346 weeks and he came back and he said one in 600 million were the ODs. 103 00:06:06,378 --> 00:06:09,294 Now, the reason I hired him to do it is because as soon as that 104 00:06:09,332 --> 00:06:12,654 happened, it just sort of changed a lot of things for me. I just started 105 00:06:12,692 --> 00:06:15,830 living my life like anything's possible. Like almost like a limitless 106 00:06:16,570 --> 00:06:20,038 feeling. And I mean, it's got to be the same feeling people have when they 107 00:06:20,044 --> 00:06:23,814 hit the lottery or just a really rare thing happens and if you start 108 00:06:23,852 --> 00:06:27,222 paying attention to little things like this and you start having this 109 00:06:27,356 --> 00:06:31,190 growth mindset, what happens? You'll notice it actually happens quite often. 110 00:06:31,260 --> 00:06:34,538 It actually happens all the time. We don't really pay attention to it. Maybe it's 111 00:06:34,544 --> 00:06:38,314 not an albatross, but it does happen in little everyday moments. And that's really what 112 00:06:38,352 --> 00:06:42,022 this podcast is about. It's about talking about those albatross 113 00:06:42,086 --> 00:06:45,726 like moments that are just rare and beautiful, whatever they may 114 00:06:45,748 --> 00:06:49,518 be. So anyway, that's really why I wanted to share with you. 115 00:06:49,604 --> 00:06:53,246 I love it. I'll follow up with one more similar story in 116 00:06:53,268 --> 00:06:57,006 30 seconds. Here I was playing a Tiger woods 117 00:06:57,038 --> 00:07:00,786 design course called Pains Valley in big. I saw 118 00:07:00,808 --> 00:07:04,354 some of your footage, man. It looks beautiful. Okay, thank you. Yeah, it was 119 00:07:04,472 --> 00:07:08,214 incredible. Incredible golf complex. Went there twice last year 120 00:07:08,252 --> 00:07:11,698 actually. And the first hole, 121 00:07:11,874 --> 00:07:15,666 eight in the morning playing the Tiger woods course. I'm so jacked up and we're 122 00:07:15,698 --> 00:07:19,318 out there to film everything and promote it. So I'm micked up. I've got a 123 00:07:19,324 --> 00:07:23,130 buddy in the cart with me. It's like a 480 yard par four, 124 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,886 but it's straight downhill. So I hit an okay drive and it rolls 125 00:07:26,918 --> 00:07:30,246 out like 360 or something crazy. So I have a pitching wedge 126 00:07:30,278 --> 00:07:34,042 in 137 yards and I'm just 127 00:07:34,096 --> 00:07:37,710 having so much fun. I'm like, how about a walk off? Two to start, something 128 00:07:37,780 --> 00:07:41,374 about like I think I'm going to make it. And then I 129 00:07:41,412 --> 00:07:45,226 did. But the way it went in was crazy. It was like a two tiered 130 00:07:45,258 --> 00:07:48,354 green left side higher than the right side and the pin was on the right 131 00:07:48,392 --> 00:07:51,922 side, so it landed like on the slope part, 132 00:07:52,056 --> 00:07:55,506 so it had back spin, but it kind of looked more like side spin, which 133 00:07:55,528 --> 00:07:59,206 on camera looked really cool. It like yanked hard to the right ten or 134 00:07:59,228 --> 00:08:03,026 15ft jarred in freaking throw my club 135 00:08:03,058 --> 00:08:06,402 in the air, just running all the way down, pull it out of the cup. 136 00:08:06,466 --> 00:08:09,958 We had people with us and it was honestly 137 00:08:10,054 --> 00:08:13,894 top three most exhilarating, just pure joy moments 138 00:08:13,942 --> 00:08:17,754 in my life, all things combined. And yeah, just 139 00:08:17,792 --> 00:08:21,594 kind of like you. I got my five minutes talking about 140 00:08:21,632 --> 00:08:24,380 that one that I've drawn out for almost a year here, 141 00:08:25,710 --> 00:08:29,102 that story. Keep talking about it, dude. Because I mean, first of all, I saw 142 00:08:29,236 --> 00:08:32,686 know the video is great because I had Matt sharf on 143 00:08:32,788 --> 00:08:36,574 from. Yeah, so he came on, I don't know, maybe 144 00:08:36,612 --> 00:08:40,290 three or four weeks ago and he was talking about his. Obviously he's got 145 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,018 these two amazing ones on camera, which a lot of your stuff's on camera too, 146 00:08:44,024 --> 00:08:47,506 which is great. It's going to happen, by the way, budy, I feel 147 00:08:47,528 --> 00:08:51,366 it. But he was talking and you said the word like 148 00:08:51,388 --> 00:08:55,186 you said joy, and that's really what you see him running down. And yours 149 00:08:55,218 --> 00:08:58,674 was very similar because that feeling is just unbeeble, 150 00:08:58,722 --> 00:09:02,506 man. It's incredible. So I love that. Tell me a little 151 00:09:02,528 --> 00:09:06,346 bit about your background. Let's just start when you were young. Obviously you grew up, 152 00:09:06,368 --> 00:09:10,154 you said playing golf at five, is that right? That's right. Yeah, I started at 153 00:09:10,192 --> 00:09:13,642 age five. I played a few other sports as well. Basketball, 154 00:09:13,706 --> 00:09:17,322 baseball, soccer, and water polo was my favorite, 155 00:09:17,386 --> 00:09:21,118 actually. Water polo, awesome. Yeah, I was pretty into water polo. I 156 00:09:21,124 --> 00:09:24,462 was doing some training with the olympic team when I was in like 8th grade 157 00:09:24,526 --> 00:09:28,194 and really into it. Played it in high school, but was 158 00:09:28,392 --> 00:09:31,726 not much of a future with that sport other than being on the olympic 159 00:09:31,758 --> 00:09:35,554 team. Right. And at around age 160 00:09:35,592 --> 00:09:39,126 15 or 16, just decided to hone in on golf because it seemed like that 161 00:09:39,148 --> 00:09:42,678 one I could take the farthest and stay healthy and injury free the 162 00:09:42,684 --> 00:09:46,374 longest with it. And so I started focusing on trying to play 163 00:09:46,412 --> 00:09:49,946 in college, and I came from a pretty small private high school 164 00:09:50,048 --> 00:09:53,802 in Ohio called Villanova. So although I was doing 165 00:09:53,856 --> 00:09:57,706 well at golf in our little bracket, it didn't really translate to 166 00:09:57,728 --> 00:10:01,386 the Division one visibility scale nationwide and so had no 167 00:10:01,408 --> 00:10:05,134 offers. But I went to a division one program anyway, and that was 168 00:10:05,172 --> 00:10:08,650 Cal Poly San Luis Bispo in the central coast of California 169 00:10:08,810 --> 00:10:12,618 and tried my best to walk on. Failed 170 00:10:12,634 --> 00:10:16,434 as a freshman, last guy cut as a sophomore, last guy 171 00:10:16,472 --> 00:10:20,222 cut again as a junior. Added to the practice roster 172 00:10:20,366 --> 00:10:23,906 halfway through junior year, called up to the main squad, and then I wound up 173 00:10:23,928 --> 00:10:27,746 playing the second half of my junior year and then a senior year 174 00:10:27,768 --> 00:10:30,006 and a fifth year. So I got two and a half years of d one 175 00:10:30,028 --> 00:10:33,654 experience after. Didn't look good for a while there, but 176 00:10:33,692 --> 00:10:37,014 eventually persevered. And that was really special to me. That was 177 00:10:37,052 --> 00:10:40,722 like kind of the beginning of what I would. 178 00:10:40,796 --> 00:10:43,862 I would say I'm a self described underdog, 179 00:10:44,006 --> 00:10:47,786 always kind of trying to rise from the ashes. I don't think I've ever 180 00:10:47,808 --> 00:10:51,482 been the best at anything or the most sure 181 00:10:51,536 --> 00:10:55,274 to succeed at anything, but I definitely have had some delusional self belief 182 00:10:55,322 --> 00:10:59,120 and a lot of support from friends and family. And 183 00:10:59,730 --> 00:11:03,422 somehow things just always wind up working out. Maybe not as quick as I 184 00:11:03,476 --> 00:11:06,366 think that they should, or I would like them to, but now that I can 185 00:11:06,388 --> 00:11:10,066 look back, it's been a pretty beautiful life and everything has worked out in my 186 00:11:10,088 --> 00:11:13,842 favor, even if I couldn't see it. At that time. So that was the first 187 00:11:13,896 --> 00:11:17,522 iteration of that in college. And then 188 00:11:17,656 --> 00:11:21,458 I was planning on turning pro right after, and I had some nice sponsors lined 189 00:11:21,474 --> 00:11:24,006 up and a nice schedule, and this was summer of 2014. 190 00:11:24,028 --> 00:11:27,758 And then a weird injury 191 00:11:27,874 --> 00:11:31,654 kind of just manifested out of nowhere. I had a degenerative 192 00:11:31,702 --> 00:11:34,620 joint on the inside of my collarbone. It's called 193 00:11:35,310 --> 00:11:38,714 external clavicular joint. And it was just 194 00:11:38,832 --> 00:11:42,522 like part of it was broken off and floating 195 00:11:42,666 --> 00:11:46,362 in the abyss of my clavicle. 196 00:11:46,426 --> 00:11:49,866 And it kind of created this popping, clicking, grinding, 197 00:11:50,058 --> 00:11:53,182 excruciating pain that as a right handed golfer, anytime I would 198 00:11:53,236 --> 00:11:56,946 rotate fully through on a follow through and wrap around my 199 00:11:56,968 --> 00:12:00,180 head, it just ripped that joint open and I couldn't do it. So 200 00:12:00,710 --> 00:12:04,354 did some traditional medicine at first, cortisol shot and a bunch of 201 00:12:04,392 --> 00:12:08,082 PT, and we couldn't really figure out, one, why 202 00:12:08,136 --> 00:12:11,702 it happened, and two, how we were going to stabilize that joint unless we did 203 00:12:11,756 --> 00:12:15,606 reconstructive surgery. And I met with a number of doctors and 204 00:12:15,628 --> 00:12:19,222 they all said, we won't do it because your aorta and major 205 00:12:19,276 --> 00:12:23,034 arteries are like, within centimeters of that joint, and the 206 00:12:23,072 --> 00:12:26,554 risk of nicking it and you bleeding out is pretty high. 207 00:12:26,672 --> 00:12:30,214 So for someone that just wants to play sports, we're not going to risk 208 00:12:30,342 --> 00:12:33,886 24 year old kid's life for that. So I felt really stuck. And that was 209 00:12:33,908 --> 00:12:37,166 probably my first experience with pretty heavy depression and just 210 00:12:37,188 --> 00:12:40,670 hopelessness of like, damn, I had no backup plan, dude. 211 00:12:41,010 --> 00:12:44,830 I didn't go to the career fairs in college. I took no internships. I 212 00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:48,706 never for 1 second thought of, oh, probably I 213 00:12:48,728 --> 00:12:52,286 could do this job if golf doesn't work out. It was like, golf, golf, golf, 214 00:12:52,318 --> 00:12:55,554 golf, golf. Ever since I was a little guy and 215 00:12:55,672 --> 00:12:59,018 again leaned on family. We found this experimental 216 00:12:59,054 --> 00:13:02,854 medicine which now is pretty mainstream, but at the time it was kind of out 217 00:13:02,892 --> 00:13:06,582 there, and it was called stem cell therapy. Did that for almost 218 00:13:06,636 --> 00:13:10,386 two years where I was going into LA and getting bone marrow drilled 219 00:13:10,418 --> 00:13:14,126 out from my spine and then having that reinjected 220 00:13:14,178 --> 00:13:17,434 into this neck area. I was getting like 300 injections every two 221 00:13:17,472 --> 00:13:21,066 weeks. Oh, my God, dude, that's crazy. What was 222 00:13:21,088 --> 00:13:24,494 that? If you don't mind, just tell me a little bit about that 223 00:13:24,532 --> 00:13:28,190 process because it was so new. A couple of things. 224 00:13:28,260 --> 00:13:31,646 One, what made you guys pull the trigger? Because obviously it was probably 225 00:13:31,668 --> 00:13:34,894 experimental, to your point. I mean, you were just probably that desperate. You just wanted 226 00:13:34,932 --> 00:13:38,674 to get it feeling better and you wanted to take the chance, I guess, 227 00:13:38,712 --> 00:13:42,306 right? Yeah. I mean, the doctors that we had met with, the more 228 00:13:42,328 --> 00:13:46,146 traditional ones, were like, you will just never be able to golf. And I 229 00:13:46,168 --> 00:13:49,862 also was really into lifting weights at that time. I had real 230 00:13:49,916 --> 00:13:53,126 passion for working out, and they said that that was not going to be an 231 00:13:53,148 --> 00:13:56,978 option either. And so I just kind of felt like rolling 232 00:13:56,994 --> 00:14:00,706 the dice. What else was I do? Just sit on the sofa and accept 233 00:14:00,738 --> 00:14:04,346 defeat? I felt like there was someone telling me there's something we could do. And 234 00:14:04,368 --> 00:14:07,946 even though it was going to be very painful, very slow, and very expensive, there 235 00:14:07,968 --> 00:14:11,626 was at least a chance, and it wasn't a life threatening thing like the 236 00:14:11,648 --> 00:14:15,290 surgery. And, and to be quite honest, the doctor 237 00:14:15,370 --> 00:14:19,214 was really spiritual and just connected with him. His 238 00:14:19,252 --> 00:14:22,974 name was Dr. Mark Darrow. Still have a relationship with him. 239 00:14:23,012 --> 00:14:26,786 He's still doing it. I'm one of many success stories for him. I'm in 240 00:14:26,808 --> 00:14:30,098 his book, even. And just a great guy. Wow. 241 00:14:30,184 --> 00:14:33,522 Ultimately kind of said that it was a 242 00:14:33,656 --> 00:14:37,400 physical manifestation of just the stress and 243 00:14:37,770 --> 00:14:41,334 fear of leveling up in life. This thing that I had built up 244 00:14:41,372 --> 00:14:44,918 as kind of the thing for me, turning pro and 245 00:14:45,004 --> 00:14:48,662 starting my adult life and career and just 246 00:14:48,716 --> 00:14:52,298 not really feeling like I could allow myself to have that success 247 00:14:52,384 --> 00:14:56,090 for whatever reason. And I think it just kind of came up with something that 248 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,754 would be a believable thing to shut it down. And 249 00:14:59,952 --> 00:15:03,782 it was very real. But the fact that it didn't start from, like, an injury 250 00:15:03,846 --> 00:15:07,614 or a fall, that was the best answer we could come up with. 251 00:15:07,652 --> 00:15:10,880 And I just put a lot of trust in him, and I think that 252 00:15:11,330 --> 00:15:14,478 probably had a lot to do with why the medicine worked. 253 00:15:14,564 --> 00:15:18,286 Just your mind kind of creates your reality. Your perception 254 00:15:18,318 --> 00:15:21,666 is your reality in life. And again, this was one of the early 255 00:15:21,768 --> 00:15:25,266 examples of that on a big scale in my life. Just 256 00:15:25,368 --> 00:15:29,206 crazy, crazy belief and support and love from 257 00:15:29,228 --> 00:15:32,840 family and this doctor and friends and. Yeah, fast forward two years later, 258 00:15:33,770 --> 00:15:37,286 was swinging the club again. And here's where the story. Amazing. 259 00:15:37,468 --> 00:15:40,726 Well, hang on. All right. I want to go back to that, if you don't 260 00:15:40,748 --> 00:15:44,058 mind. So this doctor, first of all, what was his name again? I want to 261 00:15:44,064 --> 00:15:47,894 give him some shout out for sure. Dr. Mark Darrow. 262 00:15:48,022 --> 00:15:51,366 A couple of things that come to mind. Mean, I think I'm a big believer. 263 00:15:51,398 --> 00:15:54,346 Everything happens for a reason. The fact that you met this guy and the fact 264 00:15:54,368 --> 00:15:58,126 that he, mean, obviously someone that you connected with and that you could trust and 265 00:15:58,148 --> 00:16:01,920 that you were willing in the state that you were in, 266 00:16:02,530 --> 00:16:05,954 that's a little miracle. That's what I'm talking about. Little things like this that happen. 267 00:16:05,992 --> 00:16:09,826 But you did these, like, 300 shots every week. Yeah, it 268 00:16:09,848 --> 00:16:13,646 just helps the cells and tissue and cartilage to kind of regenerate 269 00:16:13,678 --> 00:16:17,474 and repair itself. Yeah, pretty gnarly stuff 270 00:16:17,512 --> 00:16:20,840 if you get a chance to look it up. And it's more common now, but, 271 00:16:21,530 --> 00:16:24,790 yeah, that was wild. Definitely kind of 272 00:16:24,860 --> 00:16:28,550 incapacitated for a while, just sitting on a sofa watching 273 00:16:28,620 --> 00:16:32,418 old golf videos. But there wasn't like an event. There wasn't like where you're 274 00:16:32,434 --> 00:16:36,266 like, oh, something cracked or popped. It was just like a real gradual thing 275 00:16:36,288 --> 00:16:39,190 where eventually you're just like, man, every time I swing, I'm hearing this clicking noise. 276 00:16:39,270 --> 00:16:43,094 And then probably the pain came after that. It was actually pretty 277 00:16:43,152 --> 00:16:46,478 sudden. And it was one week before that first tournament that I was going to 278 00:16:46,484 --> 00:16:50,254 play. Oh, dude. Yeah, it was like a week 279 00:16:50,292 --> 00:16:53,998 before. I was like, wow, this really hurts. And then I took a ton of 280 00:16:54,004 --> 00:16:56,974 Tylenol and tried for like, one more day and I was like, no, I cannot 281 00:16:57,022 --> 00:17:00,274 swing. And that was it. That shut me down. No more golf for two years. 282 00:17:00,312 --> 00:17:03,780 So, yeah, it was a sudden onslaught of just 283 00:17:04,630 --> 00:17:08,306 some weird pain that we tried to figure out what the 284 00:17:08,328 --> 00:17:11,606 heck caused it. But I've been hearing this a lot lately, too, as far as 285 00:17:11,628 --> 00:17:15,202 this manifestation of bottom line fear, 286 00:17:15,266 --> 00:17:19,114 whatever that fear may. And it's different probably for everyone, but whatever it is 287 00:17:19,152 --> 00:17:22,714 to the individual, it manifests physically in a lot of different 288 00:17:22,752 --> 00:17:25,820 ways. Did he help you 289 00:17:26,830 --> 00:17:29,500 with him telling you that aspect of it? 290 00:17:30,750 --> 00:17:33,854 Did that give you enough of what you needed to sort of. I mean, obviously 291 00:17:33,892 --> 00:17:37,646 he was doing the treatments and stuff, but mentally, was that enough to 292 00:17:37,668 --> 00:17:40,830 kind of make it, or did you have to actually go into a deeper dive 293 00:17:42,550 --> 00:17:46,306 to address the mental stuff? Yeah, no, I put 294 00:17:46,328 --> 00:17:48,100 a lot of trust into him, definitely. 295 00:17:49,750 --> 00:17:53,486 And I was lucky 296 00:17:53,518 --> 00:17:55,640 that I grew up in a household where 297 00:17:57,450 --> 00:18:01,154 mindset stuff and the power of the mind was not considered 298 00:18:01,202 --> 00:18:04,998 taboo. It was encouraged. My parents were showing me, there's a 299 00:18:05,004 --> 00:18:08,806 movie called the Secret. Yes, my mom did the same 300 00:18:08,828 --> 00:18:11,738 thing, man, it was a game changer. Yeah, we were into that when I was 301 00:18:11,744 --> 00:18:15,594 like twelve years old and my dad was teaching me breathing techniques to deal 302 00:18:15,632 --> 00:18:18,954 with fear about anxiety at 303 00:18:18,992 --> 00:18:22,710 school. Or I remember there was like a camping trip 304 00:18:22,790 --> 00:18:25,966 and I was afraid of bears or something, and my dad was teaching me to 305 00:18:25,988 --> 00:18:29,006 do deep breathing and stretching with them. So I grew up in a household where 306 00:18:29,028 --> 00:18:32,734 that type of stuff was really celebrated and encouraged rather than made fun of 307 00:18:32,772 --> 00:18:36,594 or considered taboo. So the foundation was already kind of laid for me 308 00:18:36,632 --> 00:18:40,322 by my parents that I could really affect change in my own life, even 309 00:18:40,376 --> 00:18:44,114 on the physical plane, just with my mental activity if I 310 00:18:44,152 --> 00:18:47,958 really honed in and focused. And so I just don't think I ever bought into 311 00:18:48,044 --> 00:18:51,814 the diagnosis from doctors that I was incurable and all 312 00:18:51,852 --> 00:18:55,654 these things were wrong with me. And so I think that played a huge 313 00:18:55,692 --> 00:18:59,434 role in the healing process, and we can get more into this in the 314 00:18:59,472 --> 00:19:03,306 future. Part of the chronological progression, my life story. But the one 315 00:19:03,328 --> 00:19:06,874 thing that I have been learning more recently, working with 316 00:19:06,992 --> 00:19:10,206 meditation coaches and breath work coaches on some 317 00:19:10,228 --> 00:19:14,000 retreats and workshops together, is 318 00:19:15,010 --> 00:19:18,206 everything is energy. Us as humans and the entire 319 00:19:18,388 --> 00:19:22,094 universe, it's all energy, and it can't be created or destroyed, and 320 00:19:22,132 --> 00:19:25,746 it's supposed to flow freely through our heart and our body. But 321 00:19:25,848 --> 00:19:29,266 stress and trauma and the fight or flight response and 322 00:19:29,288 --> 00:19:33,074 hormones like adrenaline and cortisol can block or 323 00:19:33,112 --> 00:19:36,802 just a closed heart from fear or past scarring and trauma can block 324 00:19:36,866 --> 00:19:40,440 energy that should be freely moving through your body. Sometimes 325 00:19:41,130 --> 00:19:44,594 out of a defense mechanism or fear, we just clamp 326 00:19:44,642 --> 00:19:48,438 down and lock some scarring memory deep down inside of 327 00:19:48,444 --> 00:19:52,262 us because it doesn't feel safe to process it, whether that's 328 00:19:52,326 --> 00:19:56,042 societal conditioning or our parents or whatever 329 00:19:56,096 --> 00:19:59,706 the case may be. And I don't know if I knew at the time what 330 00:19:59,728 --> 00:20:02,574 was going on or had the words to describe it the same way I do 331 00:20:02,612 --> 00:20:06,122 now, but I really feel like that was an extreme 332 00:20:06,186 --> 00:20:09,902 case of me just I had already 333 00:20:10,036 --> 00:20:13,774 kind of first world problems. I've been lucky, and I've had a nice 334 00:20:13,812 --> 00:20:16,160 life, and we're talking about playing golf here, but 335 00:20:17,350 --> 00:20:21,054 my own mental plane, which, like we're saying perception is reality. 336 00:20:21,102 --> 00:20:24,866 And so, to me, being obsessed with golf, all in on golf, believing I had 337 00:20:24,888 --> 00:20:28,694 this big purpose to go chase these dreams, to me, it was like life 338 00:20:28,732 --> 00:20:32,434 or death. And I think that just fear 339 00:20:32,482 --> 00:20:35,894 of failure or fear of judgment or not 340 00:20:35,932 --> 00:20:39,226 understanding stress management techniques at a young age, I think I 341 00:20:39,248 --> 00:20:43,046 just was kind of blocked 342 00:20:43,078 --> 00:20:46,906 off, and I wasn't allowing energy to flow freely through my body. And when 343 00:20:46,928 --> 00:20:50,726 your body's trying to release stress, it can manifest 344 00:20:50,838 --> 00:20:54,654 on the physical plane. You can have literal physical ailments, and 345 00:20:54,692 --> 00:20:57,854 it's a good sign. Sometimes it's a sign of you letting go of things or 346 00:20:57,892 --> 00:21:01,162 processing things that you locked away ten years ago in childhood. 347 00:21:01,306 --> 00:21:04,926 But I met countless people with interesting stories like 348 00:21:04,948 --> 00:21:08,030 that in my later years now, where it makes me feel a lot less crazy 349 00:21:08,100 --> 00:21:11,774 for what I was experiencing at the time, and I really couldn't explain. There were 350 00:21:11,812 --> 00:21:15,382 definitely were times where I was like, dude, I think you're just full of man. 351 00:21:15,436 --> 00:21:17,858 There's nothing wrong with you. But then I would pick up a club and I'd 352 00:21:17,874 --> 00:21:21,206 be like, no, there's definitely something wrong with me. I just can't explain why. I 353 00:21:21,228 --> 00:21:24,326 don't think you should discount that feeling, because it was everything to you. I mean, 354 00:21:24,348 --> 00:21:27,318 that was like your whole future. That was everything you put it. And so to 355 00:21:27,404 --> 00:21:31,158 have that almost feel like it's getting taken away, that's 356 00:21:31,174 --> 00:21:34,714 a scary feeling. It just happened to be golf. But I mean, 357 00:21:34,832 --> 00:21:37,740 replace it with whatever is most important in your life, 358 00:21:38,510 --> 00:21:42,346 that can be a really disheartening thing. So you mentioned depression. Well, all right, I 359 00:21:42,368 --> 00:21:45,966 took you away from the. This is where it gets fun. So let's go back 360 00:21:45,988 --> 00:21:49,550 to that, because I didn't mean to throw you off track there. No worries. 361 00:21:50,130 --> 00:21:53,918 And one silver lining from all of that, as I mentioned, 362 00:21:54,084 --> 00:21:57,314 looking back, I feel like everything has worked out in my favor. But in that 363 00:21:57,352 --> 00:22:01,026 moment, it felt like this is the worst thing ever. What I 364 00:22:01,128 --> 00:22:04,802 learned at the time was a love for social 365 00:22:04,856 --> 00:22:08,338 media and trying to build a community and sharing. I had so much time without 366 00:22:08,424 --> 00:22:11,974 being able to really do much physically for two years there, and I was working 367 00:22:12,012 --> 00:22:14,626 a job at the time, I was a caterer. So it's not like I truly 368 00:22:14,658 --> 00:22:18,246 just watch TV all day every day. But the physical activity I was used to 369 00:22:18,268 --> 00:22:21,690 with golf in the gym was taken away from me. So I filled that time 370 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,174 with sifting back through pictures and videos from my college career, 371 00:22:25,302 --> 00:22:29,002 starting to post a little bit on Instagram, and having my first 372 00:22:29,136 --> 00:22:32,894 experience with attracting little brands here and there for 373 00:22:32,932 --> 00:22:36,190 some free t shirts or posting about this for $50 374 00:22:36,260 --> 00:22:39,806 and very small scale, small time stuff. But it 375 00:22:39,828 --> 00:22:43,520 was the beginning of me gaining belief that, wow, 376 00:22:44,850 --> 00:22:48,594 I can attract like minded individuals through the Internet if I share my 377 00:22:48,632 --> 00:22:52,034 passions and the things I'm interested in. And I put a lot of work in 378 00:22:52,072 --> 00:22:55,586 dming back and forth with people and supporting other accounts. This could become a really 379 00:22:55,608 --> 00:22:59,326 fulfilling, interesting thing where I build a golf community and then, 380 00:22:59,368 --> 00:23:03,126 wow, it looks like there's companies that are interested in people that have an 381 00:23:03,148 --> 00:23:06,982 audience, and I don't even think the word influencer was a thing yet. 382 00:23:07,036 --> 00:23:10,626 In 20 14. 20, 15, 20 14. Wow, that's 383 00:23:10,658 --> 00:23:14,346 crazy, man. I had just got Instagram like a year earlier as a 384 00:23:14,368 --> 00:23:18,026 senior in college, which is crazy because now every twelve year old has it and 385 00:23:18,048 --> 00:23:21,786 dreams of being an influencer. But obviously pretty 386 00:23:21,808 --> 00:23:25,406 late to the game. And this was the 387 00:23:25,428 --> 00:23:29,166 silver lining in the injury, was that I probably wasn't ready for a 388 00:23:29,188 --> 00:23:32,654 pro golf career at that point in time anyway. So life probably was like, 389 00:23:32,772 --> 00:23:36,446 let's put you on the injured reserve for a little bit. You can figure out 390 00:23:36,548 --> 00:23:38,946 what you're going to do in the future, which is going to be more than 391 00:23:38,968 --> 00:23:42,290 just golf. You're going to build a community and try to be a leader 392 00:23:42,630 --> 00:23:46,338 of positive impact in the world online. So that was kind of me getting my 393 00:23:46,344 --> 00:23:49,366 feet wet with that. So I look back with a lot of gratitude that I 394 00:23:49,388 --> 00:23:53,190 was sort of forced against my will at the time, but for good reason, 395 00:23:53,260 --> 00:23:57,106 into the lane, which has now turned into a really awesome career 396 00:23:57,138 --> 00:24:00,034 and something I think I'll do for the rest of my life, which is leverage 397 00:24:00,082 --> 00:24:03,260 the Internet to reach people and spread a message. But 398 00:24:04,110 --> 00:24:07,850 the fun part that you asked about was that within my very first 399 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:11,194 month of picking up a club, I was like, let's just send it and play 400 00:24:11,232 --> 00:24:14,686 a tournament. And I won, like, my fourth or 401 00:24:14,708 --> 00:24:18,506 fifth thing, which was like, five weeks after I wasn't practicing 402 00:24:18,618 --> 00:24:22,286 ready at all. I just literally was like, let's get back out 403 00:24:22,308 --> 00:24:26,094 there. And I've told this story a few times. In California, 404 00:24:26,142 --> 00:24:29,874 we have a mini tour called the Bo Tour, and just this 405 00:24:29,912 --> 00:24:33,650 awesome guy named Bo that used to run something called the Pepsi Tour, which 406 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,454 no longer exists. But great minigames attract. 407 00:24:37,582 --> 00:24:41,318 They attract PGA Tour know every now and then that are looking for a 408 00:24:41,324 --> 00:24:44,934 game in their off week. And at the time, this guy, JJ Spawn, who's now, 409 00:24:44,972 --> 00:24:48,806 like, a multiple time PGA Tour winner, he was kind of one of 410 00:24:48,828 --> 00:24:52,274 the local savages playing on that tour and taking lunch 411 00:24:52,322 --> 00:24:55,898 money. Wasn't on the tour at the time, but I was in a 412 00:24:55,904 --> 00:24:59,526 tournament that he was in as well. And he was the guy that finished runner 413 00:24:59,558 --> 00:25:02,858 up to me for my first ever pro win. Wow, that's amazing 414 00:25:03,024 --> 00:25:06,366 strokes. And had my girlfriend with me, and it was just this 415 00:25:06,468 --> 00:25:09,440 insane high of like, wow, 416 00:25:10,130 --> 00:25:13,898 I have no business being good at golf right now. I know my swing is 417 00:25:13,924 --> 00:25:17,618 trash. I know my short game is garbage. But this is 418 00:25:17,704 --> 00:25:21,394 yet another moment of proving the fact 419 00:25:21,432 --> 00:25:25,186 that your mind really is in control of everything. What was going through your 420 00:25:25,208 --> 00:25:28,822 mind? Do you remember? Yeah, definitely was 421 00:25:28,876 --> 00:25:32,326 nervous, but it was just gratitude. It was just, like, appreciation and 422 00:25:32,348 --> 00:25:36,162 gratitude that I could play golf, and that was like screaming 423 00:25:36,226 --> 00:25:39,974 so much louder than over time. The further back 424 00:25:40,012 --> 00:25:43,318 in the golf culture you get, the more you kind of get this spoiled 425 00:25:43,414 --> 00:25:46,714 attitude of complaining about the bad bounces, and you have all these 426 00:25:46,752 --> 00:25:50,298 expectations, and you think you should be doing better than you are. And 427 00:25:50,384 --> 00:25:54,026 before that can creep in, when you're just truly playing out of pure 428 00:25:54,058 --> 00:25:57,450 joy for the ability to be like a healthy, physically 429 00:25:57,530 --> 00:26:01,262 capable human being, swinging a golf club and just enjoying that moment 430 00:26:01,316 --> 00:26:05,154 of competing as a pro. When I thought for two straight years it might 431 00:26:05,192 --> 00:26:08,962 never happen. That weighed heavier than 432 00:26:09,016 --> 00:26:12,734 all of the other garbage and allowed me to actually let what skill 433 00:26:12,782 --> 00:26:16,546 was in my body come out. And it resulted in some pretty good play for 434 00:26:16,568 --> 00:26:20,102 a while there and eventually caught up with me and I stopped playing as well. 435 00:26:20,156 --> 00:26:23,906 And if I had continued that trajectory, then maybe I would be on the tour 436 00:26:23,938 --> 00:26:27,718 at this point. But it was a very early, and it's something that I've 437 00:26:27,734 --> 00:26:31,306 continued. I've tried to find that same just 438 00:26:31,408 --> 00:26:34,774 pure enjoyment and gratitude 439 00:26:34,822 --> 00:26:38,586 for living life and detachment from outcome. I think ultimately that's what 440 00:26:38,608 --> 00:26:42,266 it was. I clearly had no expectation of winning. I just 441 00:26:42,288 --> 00:26:45,918 was happy to be there. And that harder and harder to have that 442 00:26:45,924 --> 00:26:49,758 attitude. The more and more you work hard at something and you start to 443 00:26:49,764 --> 00:26:53,486 believe you deserve good results and you start to attach to them and 444 00:26:53,508 --> 00:26:57,294 identify with them. But if you can really make it simple 445 00:26:57,332 --> 00:27:00,434 and take it back to the headspace I was in at that point in time, 446 00:27:00,472 --> 00:27:04,066 I think all of us would get more out of ourselves and whatever we're trying 447 00:27:04,088 --> 00:27:07,906 to do in life. And I'm happy that 448 00:27:07,928 --> 00:27:11,686 I experienced it even once in my life. Just an overwhelming sense of 449 00:27:11,708 --> 00:27:15,526 gratitude that allowed me to excel at something without getting in 450 00:27:15,548 --> 00:27:19,350 my own way. That's not to say that I experience that every tournament, or 451 00:27:19,420 --> 00:27:23,082 I don't know if I've ever had that free flowing state 452 00:27:23,136 --> 00:27:26,486 of golf again in my life since then, but I do remember what it felt 453 00:27:26,518 --> 00:27:30,298 like. And I'm constantly trying to remind myself, like, dude, gratitude is the 454 00:27:30,304 --> 00:27:33,834 answer. Like, you are, in your own way, you think you're so much 455 00:27:33,872 --> 00:27:37,646 more important and take yourself so much more serious than you should. Go 456 00:27:37,668 --> 00:27:41,118 back to that five year old attitude you had of, it's like, wow, this is 457 00:27:41,124 --> 00:27:44,906 just so sick to be playing golf. Heard you say this now twice. Didn't deserve 458 00:27:44,938 --> 00:27:48,020 it. And I've had these feelings before, too, man. It's such a 459 00:27:48,550 --> 00:27:52,258 debilitating feeling because it can be overwhelming. And if you 460 00:27:52,264 --> 00:27:55,086 really feel that way, then kind of like what we're talking about here, if thoughts 461 00:27:55,118 --> 00:27:58,806 become things, it's going to become the reality. So I 462 00:27:58,828 --> 00:28:02,598 think gratitude is an excellent way to combat that. I 463 00:28:02,604 --> 00:28:06,406 think gratitude is a place of abundance, right? The fear of having 464 00:28:06,508 --> 00:28:09,798 what you cared and this passion that you cared so much about, that was such 465 00:28:09,804 --> 00:28:12,826 a big part of your life. The fear of that going away and the fact 466 00:28:12,848 --> 00:28:16,362 that you were able to come back and then that's like, if you stopped right 467 00:28:16,416 --> 00:28:20,220 there. That is amazing. That's just a great. I just love that story. 468 00:28:20,750 --> 00:28:22,986 If you don't mind, I would love to dive in a little bit to the 469 00:28:23,008 --> 00:28:26,794 social stuff I just started. Mean, I had a Facebook 470 00:28:26,842 --> 00:28:30,286 account, but here's the thing, it's funny, Alex. I didn't post anything. Like, I've got 471 00:28:30,308 --> 00:28:33,594 two little ones. I didn't post anything from when I got married, which I married 472 00:28:33,642 --> 00:28:36,078 the most amazing person ever. I should have posted some stuff. If I'm going to 473 00:28:36,084 --> 00:28:39,722 post stuff, should definitely mention that. Should definitely mention when my kids got bored, 474 00:28:39,786 --> 00:28:42,734 like the happiest days of my life. And then all of a sudden I'm like, 475 00:28:42,772 --> 00:28:45,926 I'm going to post about this albatross and this podcast I'm doing, which I had 476 00:28:45,948 --> 00:28:49,366 to get over the fact that this is what brings me to social media. And 477 00:28:49,388 --> 00:28:52,760 then my wife was like, really? What about everything else that we've been doing? 478 00:28:54,250 --> 00:28:58,018 I just wonder what the environment was. How fast did you 479 00:28:58,044 --> 00:29:00,300 catch on? Yeah, 480 00:29:01,950 --> 00:29:05,606 boy, it was a little tough for me, too. I definitely didn't 481 00:29:05,638 --> 00:29:09,386 grow up obsessed with social media or anything. I think I barely had 482 00:29:09,408 --> 00:29:12,986 a Facebook as a senior in high school and then 483 00:29:13,088 --> 00:29:16,640 barely got Instagram as a senior in college and 484 00:29:17,010 --> 00:29:20,606 pretty much just lived in the real world until I was about 23 or four, 485 00:29:20,628 --> 00:29:23,986 sitting on the sofa doing the whole posting when I was injured for a bit 486 00:29:24,008 --> 00:29:27,380 there. But it's definitely something that 487 00:29:27,910 --> 00:29:31,218 I was inspired by. Gary Vee one, and then I love that 488 00:29:31,224 --> 00:29:34,430 guy. I think it was called the hustle sold 489 00:29:34,510 --> 00:29:38,014 separately, and it might have been with Case Kenny, 490 00:29:38,062 --> 00:29:41,878 who, if I'm correct in that assumption, he's still doing content and 491 00:29:41,884 --> 00:29:45,110 I see him on my feet all the time. I could be misquoting that, but 492 00:29:45,180 --> 00:29:48,360 that's not the important part. It basically was some guys talking about 493 00:29:48,810 --> 00:29:52,394 document the journey before you've done whatever it is that you 494 00:29:52,432 --> 00:29:56,154 say you're trying to do, whether that's becoming the world's top chef or a pro 495 00:29:56,192 --> 00:29:59,946 golfer or a great husband and father, doesn't matter. Whatever your 496 00:29:59,968 --> 00:30:03,694 goals are, they're relatable to probably 50 million other people 497 00:30:03,732 --> 00:30:07,278 on the planet that have a similar goal somewhere else in the world. 498 00:30:07,364 --> 00:30:11,146 And the Internet is a crazy place. There's a lot of negative 499 00:30:11,178 --> 00:30:14,934 things as well. But for those that are seeking inspiration, 500 00:30:15,002 --> 00:30:18,814 education, the more helpful side of the Internet, 501 00:30:18,942 --> 00:30:21,810 you can play a huge role in that, even if you don't want to be 502 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,500 an influencer or have an online business. 503 00:30:26,570 --> 00:30:30,360 It's helpful for yourself because it creates some accountability. And 504 00:30:31,530 --> 00:30:35,042 if you make a goal of documenting your journey, 505 00:30:35,106 --> 00:30:38,406 to lose ten pounds in 100 days, and you make a 506 00:30:38,428 --> 00:30:42,154 commitment to post one video per day, or one progress picture per 507 00:30:42,192 --> 00:30:45,946 week or one blog post, it's going to give you a little bit 508 00:30:45,968 --> 00:30:49,626 of pride in what you're trying to do, even if you only have five 509 00:30:49,648 --> 00:30:53,306 people watching, because it just makes it feel like, okay, it's a little bit 510 00:30:53,328 --> 00:30:56,186 bigger than me now. We're out of my own head with this set of goals, 511 00:30:56,298 --> 00:30:59,774 and we're in the world, and some people are watching and rooting for me or 512 00:30:59,812 --> 00:31:02,800 rooting against me. And either way it's motivating because 513 00:31:03,410 --> 00:31:06,034 this goal matters to me and I want to show people I can do it. 514 00:31:06,152 --> 00:31:09,060 These podcasts were kind of talking about 515 00:31:10,950 --> 00:31:14,466 on ESPN. We watch 30 for 30 talking about 516 00:31:14,648 --> 00:31:18,182 people that are already really accomplished and going to their 517 00:31:18,316 --> 00:31:22,150 origin story, and that is inspirational and motivating to 518 00:31:22,220 --> 00:31:25,942 listen to the progression of someone from floor zero to the top 519 00:31:25,996 --> 00:31:29,640 floor. What's even more motivating is if you 520 00:31:30,090 --> 00:31:33,926 share the story and the ending of it hasn't been written 521 00:31:33,958 --> 00:31:37,398 yet, and you're able to draw people in through shared interests 522 00:31:37,494 --> 00:31:40,862 to what you're working on, and maybe you can learn from them at the same 523 00:31:40,916 --> 00:31:44,430 time. And you guys grow collectively as a community 524 00:31:44,580 --> 00:31:48,234 through collaboration and talking about your own unique 525 00:31:48,282 --> 00:31:51,790 experiences. What's working, what isn't working on this journey, to 526 00:31:51,940 --> 00:31:55,262 lose ten pounds in 100 days or whatever. The thing is that you're building community 527 00:31:55,316 --> 00:31:59,138 around, and that resonated with me at the time in 2015, and I was 528 00:31:59,144 --> 00:32:02,994 like, you're right, I'm going to start this pro golf journey. I have 529 00:32:03,032 --> 00:32:06,226 no clue how I'm going to make it, but one, for my own 530 00:32:06,328 --> 00:32:09,942 purposes, to show my family and to watch when I'm an old guy, 531 00:32:10,076 --> 00:32:13,746 I want to document it. IPhones are a big thing now. It's 532 00:32:13,778 --> 00:32:17,602 easier than ever to film. I think it's going to be a cool journey, 533 00:32:17,746 --> 00:32:21,498 progressing from one tour to the next and playing Q schools all over the 534 00:32:21,504 --> 00:32:24,966 place. I want to film it. And then two, I felt 535 00:32:24,998 --> 00:32:28,522 like if I do make it, wow, we've got a pretty 536 00:32:28,576 --> 00:32:32,314 awesome story here of the fact that I actually was filming it 537 00:32:32,352 --> 00:32:36,014 when I was injured with this weird collarbone thing and everyone was saying I would 538 00:32:36,052 --> 00:32:39,594 forgot again, let's start filming now. Rather than waiting 539 00:32:39,642 --> 00:32:43,226 till you're more bulletproof to criticism because you're 540 00:32:43,258 --> 00:32:45,620 already on this tour and nobody can. 541 00:32:46,870 --> 00:32:50,546 It's a fear of failure defense mechanism, I think, that prevents most 542 00:32:50,568 --> 00:32:54,114 people from posting because almost everyone's living a story and 543 00:32:54,232 --> 00:32:57,634 everyone's story is relatable to a lot of other people. And it's very 544 00:32:57,672 --> 00:33:01,366 fulfilling when you start to connect with people that do resonate with your 545 00:33:01,388 --> 00:33:05,110 story and there's connections between you and these other people 546 00:33:05,180 --> 00:33:08,982 based on these common interests. That's an awesome way to use the Internet and awesome 547 00:33:09,036 --> 00:33:12,634 way to add and enrich everyone's lives, in my 548 00:33:12,672 --> 00:33:16,250 opinion. And what stops all of us from being players in this content 549 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:20,154 ecosystem is just that fear of looking dumb and being made fun 550 00:33:20,192 --> 00:33:23,694 of for having some big goal and not having the 551 00:33:23,732 --> 00:33:26,826 tangible proof yet that we're 552 00:33:27,018 --> 00:33:30,574 anywhere near our goal. And then that opens us up to 553 00:33:30,612 --> 00:33:34,382 criticism. Know mostly people that don't even know us and aren't our real friends 554 00:33:34,436 --> 00:33:37,746 if they're going to make fun of something like that. So I get it 555 00:33:37,768 --> 00:33:41,300 and know struggled with it my whole life as well. But I think 556 00:33:41,750 --> 00:33:44,830 I'm glad I listened to Gary Vee and I'm glad I listened to that podcast 557 00:33:44,910 --> 00:33:48,466 and just kind of got over myself and little by little started trying to 558 00:33:48,488 --> 00:33:52,166 bust the camera out in public and film things and talk to 559 00:33:52,188 --> 00:33:55,814 it. And it still is hard to this day every single 560 00:33:55,852 --> 00:33:59,574 time that I whip out. What do you mean? What's hard? Dude, I watch 561 00:33:59,612 --> 00:34:03,306 your stuff and you got it dialed in. What do you mean? Yeah, I mean 562 00:34:03,328 --> 00:34:07,002 I feel resistance and discomfort every single time 563 00:34:07,056 --> 00:34:10,538 I start filming myself doing something, because in my mind 564 00:34:10,704 --> 00:34:14,266 other people are watching and they're like, you must think you're so cool. You must 565 00:34:14,288 --> 00:34:17,758 think you're more important than everyone else. Hurry up and hit the shot. Get out 566 00:34:17,764 --> 00:34:21,374 of the way. Or like you're in the way of my gym set, or 567 00:34:21,492 --> 00:34:25,054 why are you talking to a camera in public? And it's just people 568 00:34:25,092 --> 00:34:28,434 are thinking that anyway. Everyone's worried about their own 569 00:34:28,472 --> 00:34:32,254 stuff. But I wouldn't say I'm a natural 570 00:34:32,302 --> 00:34:35,522 born actor Hollywood guy. 571 00:34:35,656 --> 00:34:38,994 Honestly, I can do, 572 00:34:39,192 --> 00:34:42,342 and especially when I realize that it has a purpose and it's bigger than me 573 00:34:42,396 --> 00:34:46,006 and it's all for a reason. That's a 574 00:34:46,028 --> 00:34:48,680 positive reason that motivates me. But yeah, 575 00:34:49,690 --> 00:34:52,646 I wouldn't say I was born to be an influencer or anything like that. I 576 00:34:52,668 --> 00:34:56,490 just learned about the power of the Internet and trying to take advantage of it. 577 00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,418 Well, I think you're using it for the right things, too. I think that's a 578 00:34:59,424 --> 00:35:02,138 big part of it. So that's automatically I feel like going to propel you a 579 00:35:02,144 --> 00:35:05,326 lot quicker than other people trying to do it for the money or for whatever. 580 00:35:05,428 --> 00:35:09,246 Fill in the blank. But I love the idea 581 00:35:09,268 --> 00:35:12,990 of documenting the journey and the way that you described. That's really interesting. 582 00:35:13,060 --> 00:35:16,734 And then the other part that is, it's also refreshing to hear someone 583 00:35:16,772 --> 00:35:19,986 like yourself because, I mean, being a guy that's trying to throw up some 584 00:35:20,008 --> 00:35:22,946 content, and I take it serious. I put a lot of heart, a lot of 585 00:35:22,968 --> 00:35:26,466 energy, and a lot of work into it, and it's a grind. It's like trying 586 00:35:26,488 --> 00:35:28,520 to figure out what will resonate with people. 587 00:35:30,330 --> 00:35:34,038 I think your point there is, at least for me, well taken, because 588 00:35:34,204 --> 00:35:37,378 you just have to kind of do what maybe is important for you, and there's 589 00:35:37,394 --> 00:35:40,266 going to be enough. If you put enough of it out there, then there's going 590 00:35:40,268 --> 00:35:43,498 to be enough people out there that will probably find it interesting eventually. And I 591 00:35:43,504 --> 00:35:47,078 think just being genuine and true, not necessarily looking for the latest trend 592 00:35:47,174 --> 00:35:50,860 and trying to piggyback off of what's going viral, but more importantly, just 593 00:35:52,350 --> 00:35:56,074 what gets you excited, I guess, getting back to your journey as a professional golfer. 594 00:35:56,122 --> 00:35:59,774 So we left off where we were doing some of these tours. We just 595 00:35:59,812 --> 00:36:03,614 won this event. So what happened after that then? Yeah, 596 00:36:03,652 --> 00:36:07,406 we're in 2016 and I was still splitting 597 00:36:07,438 --> 00:36:11,170 time as a caterer. And then about a year from that point, I 598 00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:14,514 would become a caddy as well at a club here in California called 599 00:36:14,552 --> 00:36:17,910 Sherwood. And from then 600 00:36:17,980 --> 00:36:21,734 until 2020 was kind of when 601 00:36:21,772 --> 00:36:25,430 I had a bigger break on social media and that became more of my career. 602 00:36:25,770 --> 00:36:29,578 I worked those jobs and kind of was 1ft in the 603 00:36:29,584 --> 00:36:33,194 golf door and 1ft in the small time job door. Just 604 00:36:33,232 --> 00:36:36,906 because I never made cuts at the golf, I never was 605 00:36:36,928 --> 00:36:40,698 like, profiting. I had three wins at this point as a 606 00:36:40,704 --> 00:36:44,254 professional, but all on smaller tours. So it's not like I got some 607 00:36:44,372 --> 00:36:48,046 $100,000 payday or anything like that. And I just 608 00:36:48,068 --> 00:36:50,480 kept working these side jobs. And 609 00:36:51,170 --> 00:36:54,958 eventually I played on the Dakotas Tour in 610 00:36:54,964 --> 00:36:58,722 2017 and 2019, and that was this 611 00:36:58,776 --> 00:37:02,514 pretty well orchestrated mini tour in the Midwest that would take place 612 00:37:02,552 --> 00:37:06,306 over about three months in the summer. You play like 18 tournaments in 613 00:37:06,328 --> 00:37:10,054 this really rapid fire order, and I got to be 614 00:37:10,092 --> 00:37:13,782 around some really world class golfers on that tour and see 615 00:37:13,836 --> 00:37:17,426 exactly what it takes to win. And a lot of those guys are having 616 00:37:17,468 --> 00:37:20,758 success at the next level now. Corn Ferry, PGA 617 00:37:20,934 --> 00:37:24,730 Canada, Latin America, and a lot of them are 618 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,260 close buddies just from that Dakota tour. So 619 00:37:28,670 --> 00:37:32,238 the fire was growing. Even though I wasn't having 620 00:37:32,324 --> 00:37:35,966 tangible success like shooting sixty five? S and making cuts and 621 00:37:35,988 --> 00:37:39,646 winning, I still knew that it was worth 622 00:37:39,748 --> 00:37:43,518 my time to pursue. And I could eventually figure it out if I 623 00:37:43,524 --> 00:37:47,226 could just free myself up to pursue it for an extended period 624 00:37:47,258 --> 00:37:51,074 of time. I kind of was 2016 17 1819 were 625 00:37:51,112 --> 00:37:54,834 all years of like three month sprint at golf because I had 626 00:37:54,872 --> 00:37:58,594 either got some sponsorship money or worked for long enough to save it up. 627 00:37:58,712 --> 00:38:02,198 And I didn't practice much when I was working. 628 00:38:02,364 --> 00:38:05,478 So I would go out on the tour and be really rusty and sloppy, and 629 00:38:05,484 --> 00:38:08,278 then at the end of the three months, things would kind of be clicking and 630 00:38:08,284 --> 00:38:11,546 I'd be like, God, I am so bummed that I'm out of money, and now 631 00:38:11,568 --> 00:38:14,698 I got to go back home and make the next 20 grand to do the 632 00:38:14,704 --> 00:38:18,426 next run. And that cycle was maddening, but 633 00:38:18,448 --> 00:38:22,134 also inspiring because it's like, man, I see myself rapidly 634 00:38:22,182 --> 00:38:25,774 progress when I'm able to apply myself, not even 635 00:38:25,812 --> 00:38:29,518 fully, but just mostly apply myself to this game and be on the 636 00:38:29,524 --> 00:38:33,182 road competing for a couple of months. I think I have it in me maybe 637 00:38:33,236 --> 00:38:36,206 not to be the best player in the world, but to definitely take it to 638 00:38:36,228 --> 00:38:39,826 a higher level than the many tours that I've been playing at. And I'd like 639 00:38:39,848 --> 00:38:43,294 to see myself have that opportunity. And so that persisted. 640 00:38:43,342 --> 00:38:47,182 2016 17 1819. All the while making Instagram 641 00:38:47,246 --> 00:38:50,850 videos, doing the best that I could to keep editing 642 00:38:50,930 --> 00:38:54,578 things and keep putting it out there and keep making my recaps of these tournaments. 643 00:38:54,674 --> 00:38:57,926 So it's all growing on a small scale. And 644 00:38:58,028 --> 00:39:01,654 2020, obviously, COVID hits and I had sort of 645 00:39:01,692 --> 00:39:05,498 already had this realization at the end of 2019, start of 646 00:39:05,504 --> 00:39:09,046 2020, and I believe March of 2020 was when COVID shut 647 00:39:09,078 --> 00:39:12,894 down everything in California. But interestingly enough, just a couple of months 648 00:39:12,932 --> 00:39:16,734 prior to that, I had already kind of written a lot of notes about 649 00:39:16,772 --> 00:39:20,334 the fact that I was realizing my highest value in 650 00:39:20,372 --> 00:39:24,206 life was no longer to be a professional golfer 651 00:39:24,238 --> 00:39:27,922 and swing this piece of metal better than everybody else in the world. 652 00:39:28,056 --> 00:39:31,858 It just finally was clicking. Like, God, what a dumb life 653 00:39:31,944 --> 00:39:35,582 purpose. At least it's a positive 654 00:39:35,646 --> 00:39:39,334 thing. You're not, like, doing something bad with your life. But come on, 655 00:39:39,372 --> 00:39:42,120 man, it's a game. I know it's a game. 656 00:39:43,290 --> 00:39:47,014 There's more to life than that. And you have more to offer the world than 657 00:39:47,052 --> 00:39:50,242 that. Let's think about what really 658 00:39:50,396 --> 00:39:54,234 fires you up. What are the highest highs you've ever experienced in life? 659 00:39:54,272 --> 00:39:57,882 And it was an easy answer. It was like, oh, connection with other humans. Like, 660 00:39:57,936 --> 00:40:01,646 deep conversations, helping someone that's coming to me with 661 00:40:01,668 --> 00:40:05,310 a problem, just experiences with friends 662 00:40:05,380 --> 00:40:09,086 and family. Like, I love spending 10 hours talking to 663 00:40:09,108 --> 00:40:12,366 someone and getting deep and philosophical. You're a 664 00:40:12,388 --> 00:40:15,826 communicator and you're an empath. I didn't even know what that word was at the 665 00:40:15,848 --> 00:40:19,662 time, but definitely a sensitive person that has a desire 666 00:40:19,726 --> 00:40:23,310 to help humanity in some way and enjoys 667 00:40:23,470 --> 00:40:26,994 feeling valuable to other humans. If I feel like I can 668 00:40:27,112 --> 00:40:30,806 do something that helps someone else and it's based on my own 669 00:40:30,828 --> 00:40:34,326 experience, those are the times where I'm like, wow, today was a great day. Like, 670 00:40:34,348 --> 00:40:38,134 I had a great talk with person x y, and I would love 671 00:40:38,172 --> 00:40:41,526 to hang out with them again in the future and have more feelings like that. 672 00:40:41,548 --> 00:40:44,186 So that was all clicking for me, and I was like, well, what should we 673 00:40:44,208 --> 00:40:47,962 do with this? We are fairly well connected now in the golf world. 674 00:40:48,016 --> 00:40:51,658 I've met a lot of inspiring people. I'm not sure, 675 00:40:51,744 --> 00:40:54,686 candidly if I'm going to make it to the levels that I'm trying to make 676 00:40:54,708 --> 00:40:58,190 it to or not. And I'm getting close to 30 and feeling a little less 677 00:40:58,260 --> 00:41:01,822 okay with being broke, as I felt in my mid twenty 678 00:41:01,876 --> 00:41:05,486 s, a little more like, I always want to 679 00:41:05,508 --> 00:41:09,010 golf, but what are we doing here? And so I had kind of 680 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:12,578 conceded that I might not play that much in 2020, and I was going to 681 00:41:12,584 --> 00:41:16,194 try to figure out social media and see if I could develop 682 00:41:16,392 --> 00:41:19,846 a more powerful audience and start doing some of the things that 683 00:41:19,868 --> 00:41:23,414 I felt like I was already doing just in real life, in terms 684 00:41:23,452 --> 00:41:26,934 of helpful conversations with people, sharing my 685 00:41:26,972 --> 00:41:30,054 experiences with mental health or fitness or 686 00:41:30,252 --> 00:41:33,898 relationships, and feeling good about myself for 687 00:41:33,984 --> 00:41:37,018 contributing to someone else's life in that way. I had already said I was going 688 00:41:37,024 --> 00:41:40,538 to do that on social media, and then life just kind of teed it up 689 00:41:40,544 --> 00:41:44,154 for me and again said, sit down. You're not golfing anymore. 690 00:41:44,282 --> 00:41:48,122 You're going to have to figure something else out in March, because even pro golf 691 00:41:48,186 --> 00:41:51,802 shut down for a while there and again, shout out Gary 692 00:41:51,866 --> 00:41:55,620 Vee. He was screaming about TikTok at this point in time 693 00:41:55,990 --> 00:41:59,698 and saying, this is the most insane opportunity we're ever going to 694 00:41:59,704 --> 00:42:03,310 see in our entire lifetime to gain an audience and attention 695 00:42:03,390 --> 00:42:07,106 for free. Even if you're nobody, even if you have 696 00:42:07,128 --> 00:42:10,966 no Instagram following and you're not famous for any reason, you could have 697 00:42:10,988 --> 00:42:14,726 a million followers on TikTok and change your life in six months. If 698 00:42:14,748 --> 00:42:18,326 you just understand the language of this platform and take the time to figure it 699 00:42:18,348 --> 00:42:22,106 out and check your ego at the door, don't say, oh, it's for 13 year 700 00:42:22,128 --> 00:42:25,834 olds. Like, I'm almost 30. I'm too whatever for this. 701 00:42:25,952 --> 00:42:29,290 I always look to Gary Vee as prime example of somebody 702 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:33,034 who is ageless, really is not 703 00:42:33,072 --> 00:42:36,766 too cool to try anything at any age, and is living proof that it 704 00:42:36,788 --> 00:42:40,430 can work. So I had a tremendous amount of respect for him 705 00:42:40,500 --> 00:42:44,286 and I did go all in on TikTok and it did work. By 706 00:42:44,308 --> 00:42:47,954 the end of 2020, I had amassed a million followers there, and that put 707 00:42:47,992 --> 00:42:51,346 enough credibility to my name as being able to 708 00:42:51,448 --> 00:42:55,246 garner attention that it gave me the confidence to take 709 00:42:55,288 --> 00:42:58,870 it further these next couple of years and really refine 710 00:42:59,450 --> 00:43:03,030 what my purpose is online. You mentioned earlier 711 00:43:03,530 --> 00:43:07,206 in your own journey the desire to be authentic and not follow 712 00:43:07,308 --> 00:43:10,554 trends and things that may get you more views in the short term. But if 713 00:43:10,592 --> 00:43:14,314 your goal is to be a long term part 714 00:43:14,352 --> 00:43:18,122 of the conversation of creating content and doing something either 715 00:43:18,176 --> 00:43:21,466 educational or inspirational or helpful in some way with it, rather than purely 716 00:43:21,498 --> 00:43:24,702 entertaining, if that's your goal, then the 717 00:43:24,756 --> 00:43:28,462 attitude of a little bit slower growth in the name of authenticity rather 718 00:43:28,516 --> 00:43:32,090 than immediate growth 719 00:43:32,170 --> 00:43:35,826 by chasing trends and virality, that was something I learned the 720 00:43:35,848 --> 00:43:39,586 hard way because I did get in a crew of other influencers like 721 00:43:39,608 --> 00:43:43,410 a little group chat, and worked with this mentor who 722 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:47,160 actually was an ex employee of Gary Vee and knew a lot about. 723 00:43:49,530 --> 00:43:53,126 Know I took the advice, but it didn't come from my own, 724 00:43:53,228 --> 00:43:56,866 was I was heavily pushed in the direction of dumbing 725 00:43:56,898 --> 00:44:00,458 myself down. And I've always been this way, the way I am right now. Kind 726 00:44:00,464 --> 00:44:04,138 of a long form guy that enjoys hours long 727 00:44:04,224 --> 00:44:06,860 conversations and wants to talk about. 728 00:44:07,870 --> 00:44:11,690 I love to laugh and I love comedy and I have fun with life. But 729 00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:15,230 if I were to self assess, I'd say I am a pretty serious person 730 00:44:15,300 --> 00:44:19,054 and we get one shot at life as far as we know. 731 00:44:19,092 --> 00:44:22,906 So to me it's not a joke and I like to try to max 732 00:44:22,938 --> 00:44:25,898 it out the best I can. And so that's always how I've been. But some 733 00:44:25,924 --> 00:44:29,698 of these people in LA that I viewed as successful in the industry I 734 00:44:29,704 --> 00:44:32,980 wanted to be successful in, kind of advised me to 735 00:44:33,510 --> 00:44:37,154 turn that off for the time being and just figure out how to make five 736 00:44:37,192 --> 00:44:39,990 to ten second videos, figure out how to follow trends. 737 00:44:41,130 --> 00:44:44,918 If you ever want to have an audience and do any of the 738 00:44:44,924 --> 00:44:48,614 positive things you want to do, you have to grow first. You can't just because 739 00:44:48,652 --> 00:44:51,558 it's true. I was struggling. I was trying to make very long form stuff. I 740 00:44:51,564 --> 00:44:55,242 was seeing it work for other people, but failed to make the connection that 741 00:44:55,296 --> 00:44:59,062 people actually cared about what those other people said because they had a massive following 742 00:44:59,126 --> 00:45:02,346 and had done a number of things that they were known for. And at that 743 00:45:02,368 --> 00:45:05,726 point in time, nobody knew me for anything. And so it just wasn't hitting when 744 00:45:05,748 --> 00:45:09,086 I tried to really speak my mind about different topics. And 745 00:45:09,108 --> 00:45:12,430 so I eventually submitted to that advice and 746 00:45:12,580 --> 00:45:16,286 figured it out. Definitely learned how to follow trends on TikTok and learned how 747 00:45:16,308 --> 00:45:19,826 to just do whatever you needed to do to get views. And 748 00:45:20,008 --> 00:45:23,698 it did not feel good. At the end of the year, it felt like 749 00:45:23,784 --> 00:45:26,546 I had made up my mind that I would get to a million, and then 750 00:45:26,568 --> 00:45:28,806 at a million, I would pivot, and then I would be like, hey, what's up, 751 00:45:28,828 --> 00:45:32,274 guys? I actually have a lot more to me than you've 752 00:45:32,322 --> 00:45:36,054 seen. I'm not just an entertaining, smiling kid. Like, I want to talk 753 00:45:36,092 --> 00:45:39,798 about some real stuff. I was wrong in assuming that it would be 754 00:45:39,804 --> 00:45:43,606 easy to pivot because I think I attracted an audience that wasn't interested in 755 00:45:43,628 --> 00:45:46,934 that. And then it's, did you get the million? Did you actually hit the mark 756 00:45:46,972 --> 00:45:48,982 of the million at the end of the year? I did, yeah, I did it. 757 00:45:49,036 --> 00:45:52,734 Did you really? October of 2020. Yeah, it was about six 758 00:45:52,772 --> 00:45:56,606 months after starting TikTok. Wow. And then you tried to pivot. I tried 759 00:45:56,628 --> 00:46:00,158 to pivot, and up till this day, 760 00:46:00,244 --> 00:46:04,062 it's been tough. I think if I could give advice to somebody 761 00:46:04,116 --> 00:46:07,682 just starting, it would be, don't fall into that trap of thinking 762 00:46:07,736 --> 00:46:11,554 that it's just a life thing. Right. Like, there are no 763 00:46:11,592 --> 00:46:15,442 shortcuts. Anything worth doing is going to take time. So if somebody 764 00:46:15,496 --> 00:46:18,870 sells you a package of being able to skip to a million 765 00:46:18,940 --> 00:46:22,614 followers, which is a lot of people, it's like, that 766 00:46:22,732 --> 00:46:26,486 shouldn't happen fast. If you're doing something that's appealing to 767 00:46:26,508 --> 00:46:30,346 that many people, you're doing something wrong because you don't 768 00:46:30,368 --> 00:46:34,138 want to be that in tune with the masses. You want to kind of be 769 00:46:34,304 --> 00:46:37,866 true to yourself, I believe, at least, and 770 00:46:37,968 --> 00:46:41,562 I kind of have shifted my perspective in recent years 771 00:46:41,616 --> 00:46:45,270 and almost been grateful for the slowed growth that 772 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:48,798 I've experienced based on or compared to what I was seeing in 773 00:46:48,804 --> 00:46:52,526 2020. Because to me, it's indicative of the fact that I am being more true 774 00:46:52,548 --> 00:46:56,034 to myself. And I don't need 30 million followers to 775 00:46:56,072 --> 00:46:59,922 have a very happy, fulfilling, successful 30 776 00:46:59,976 --> 00:47:03,650 year run at this. I just need the right people. And the more 777 00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:07,526 life I live, the more I realize that I have a fairly unique set 778 00:47:07,548 --> 00:47:11,334 of interests, and I'm not everyone's cup of tea. A little too 779 00:47:11,372 --> 00:47:15,122 deep for some. And that's okay. It's 780 00:47:15,186 --> 00:47:18,630 more important to just stay true to myself and attract the right people 781 00:47:18,700 --> 00:47:22,490 and turn off the people that aren't going to be into that anyway. 782 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:26,234 And that means you don't get to grow a million followers every six 783 00:47:26,272 --> 00:47:29,946 months end on end on end. That would 784 00:47:29,968 --> 00:47:33,722 only work if you're more of a traditional entertaining blogger and 785 00:47:33,776 --> 00:47:37,102 making stuff that really appeals to 15 year olds. So it was an interesting 786 00:47:37,156 --> 00:47:40,926 journey. Grateful for all of it, all learning lessons. But yeah, kind of 787 00:47:40,948 --> 00:47:44,734 approaching it different these days. Alex. You know what's weird, man? I 788 00:47:44,772 --> 00:47:48,238 literally came across this today. The universe is crazy, man. 789 00:47:48,404 --> 00:47:51,338 Literally today. I mean, a guy trying to grow his YouTube channel. I mean, I've 790 00:47:51,354 --> 00:47:55,030 got like a handful of subscribers, by the way. We're just getting going. But 791 00:47:55,060 --> 00:47:58,694 it. But it's just funny because I came across something today and it was 792 00:47:58,732 --> 00:48:02,086 talking about this exact thing it was talking about because I do know we take 793 00:48:02,108 --> 00:48:04,630 a lot of these podcasts and then we'll chop them up into shorts and stuff 794 00:48:04,700 --> 00:48:07,286 and I post them on my regular YouTube channel. Some of those have done really 795 00:48:07,308 --> 00:48:11,046 well, especially with Matt Sharp is a great example with his audience. A lot of 796 00:48:11,068 --> 00:48:14,502 them were able to see some of the stuff on our channel, which was great. 797 00:48:14,636 --> 00:48:18,246 But what's interesting is this guy was saying that all the success he was having 798 00:48:18,268 --> 00:48:21,166 with the short form, it was taking away from the long form because what was 799 00:48:21,188 --> 00:48:24,238 happening is the short form. People would come over to the long form and they 800 00:48:24,244 --> 00:48:26,398 would only stay for a second or two and then they would leave, which was 801 00:48:26,404 --> 00:48:30,238 just killing the algorithm. So all those videos started going down and it was 802 00:48:30,244 --> 00:48:33,086 a different audience. So basically what he was saying is the exact same thing you 803 00:48:33,108 --> 00:48:36,894 are. It's a different audience that wants different things. So his 804 00:48:36,932 --> 00:48:40,354 suggestion was actually to have to separate. Like, yeah, if you want to do short 805 00:48:40,392 --> 00:48:44,082 form, sure, but separate it, because that audience is probably going to want something 806 00:48:44,136 --> 00:48:47,954 more quick and then there's a certain way that you can maybe build 807 00:48:47,992 --> 00:48:51,814 it to where you can attract them to the long form. But I 808 00:48:51,852 --> 00:48:54,822 completely agree with what you're saying. I think that if you can just have a 809 00:48:54,876 --> 00:48:58,326 much smaller subset of people that really just value 810 00:48:58,508 --> 00:49:02,098 what you're saying, what you're doing, and really appreciate your journey, 811 00:49:02,194 --> 00:49:05,450 then I think you're going to have a lot more success. And what you're like. 812 00:49:05,520 --> 00:49:08,394 I can tell, man, your ultimate goal is to really help people and to really 813 00:49:08,432 --> 00:49:10,478 find those people that you can help. I think you're going to have a lot 814 00:49:10,484 --> 00:49:14,206 more impact doing it that way. I totally agree. I just think of 815 00:49:14,228 --> 00:49:17,966 how I use the Internet and on Instagram and 816 00:49:17,988 --> 00:49:21,774 TikTok, for example, my algorithm is 817 00:49:21,972 --> 00:49:25,806 really well filtered to where it just shows me things I'm interested in that 818 00:49:25,828 --> 00:49:29,474 are helpful tips about self improvement and life. And I love what it 819 00:49:29,512 --> 00:49:33,298 shows me, but it comes at 820 00:49:33,304 --> 00:49:35,998 you quicker than you can digest it. And so at the end of every day, 821 00:49:36,024 --> 00:49:39,654 I've noticed that I've saved like 45 videos from these different 822 00:49:39,772 --> 00:49:43,510 platforms, Instagram and TikTok, and with the pure intention of 823 00:49:43,580 --> 00:49:47,254 revisiting them and implementing what I've learned, and 824 00:49:47,372 --> 00:49:51,066 it just doesn't happen. It's almost like a form 825 00:49:51,088 --> 00:49:54,634 of dopamine. You feel like you're improving your life because you're always 826 00:49:54,752 --> 00:49:58,554 sifting through these different things that are helpful. But the things that 827 00:49:58,592 --> 00:50:02,190 I actually learn from and improve my life with 828 00:50:02,260 --> 00:50:05,854 are like hour long YouTube videos, two hour long 829 00:50:06,052 --> 00:50:09,246 courses, and things where it's not as 830 00:50:09,268 --> 00:50:12,874 stimulating and hyper edited and engaging as the short form 831 00:50:12,932 --> 00:50:16,222 content is that's doing well and going viral. 832 00:50:16,366 --> 00:50:19,842 But at least where I'm at right now 833 00:50:19,896 --> 00:50:23,442 and where I hope to position myself for those 834 00:50:23,576 --> 00:50:27,234 watching my content as well would be more of like a YouTuber 835 00:50:27,282 --> 00:50:30,902 and then moving into even courses and private coaching and stuff 836 00:50:30,956 --> 00:50:34,806 where I don't think there's that much help you 837 00:50:34,828 --> 00:50:38,220 can do in 10 seconds, no matter how 838 00:50:38,590 --> 00:50:42,330 awesome your editing and stuff is, it's better than nothing. And I certainly 839 00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:46,202 still support creating positive content in any 840 00:50:46,256 --> 00:50:49,930 length. But at some point 841 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:53,726 I think I'm going to pull back from the short form platforms and just try 842 00:50:53,748 --> 00:50:57,262 to go all in on less. I'm going to 843 00:50:57,316 --> 00:51:01,054 intentionally make it not punchy because I don't want to 844 00:51:01,252 --> 00:51:04,906 mess with people's attention span and give them a new angle 845 00:51:04,938 --> 00:51:08,786 and a new clip to look at every 1.5 seconds so 846 00:51:08,808 --> 00:51:11,922 that they don't scroll down in the comments or pick up their phone and text 847 00:51:11,976 --> 00:51:15,394 someone. I genuinely believe that one of the 848 00:51:15,432 --> 00:51:19,254 biggest epidemics going on in the world right now is just 849 00:51:19,292 --> 00:51:22,866 a messed up attention span, and that leading to all kinds 850 00:51:22,898 --> 00:51:26,674 of challenges in life and depression and anxiety 851 00:51:26,722 --> 00:51:29,914 and an inability to form a real connection and 852 00:51:29,952 --> 00:51:33,754 relationship with friends, with family, with your partner. And I 853 00:51:33,792 --> 00:51:37,542 feel like I already don't 854 00:51:37,606 --> 00:51:41,194 really enjoy feeding into 855 00:51:41,232 --> 00:51:44,550 that, even though I'm doing my best to be positive. And I do try to 856 00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:48,286 make longer videos on Instagram and TikTok than the average person, knowing that 857 00:51:48,308 --> 00:51:51,998 they're not going to perform as well, and knowing that that's still more true to 858 00:51:52,004 --> 00:51:55,842 me than trying to spit it out in 5 seconds. But even that, 859 00:51:55,896 --> 00:51:59,074 I feel like I'm still a part of this 860 00:51:59,192 --> 00:52:02,962 perpetuation of an infatuation with short form 861 00:52:03,016 --> 00:52:06,594 creators and viral videos. And there's a deep part of me, and I've been saying 862 00:52:06,632 --> 00:52:10,326 this for like five years in my notes, that at some point I think I 863 00:52:10,348 --> 00:52:13,846 will try to encourage people to just not use these 864 00:52:13,948 --> 00:52:17,286 short, bite sized platforms as much and just seek education 865 00:52:17,388 --> 00:52:21,158 online and accept that if you really want to learn something or really want 866 00:52:21,164 --> 00:52:24,806 to change your life in any capacity, it's not a quick fix and it's 867 00:52:24,838 --> 00:52:28,298 not something flashy or crazy. It's just got to do the work. Just like in 868 00:52:28,304 --> 00:52:31,802 golf, just like in the gym, just like in a marriage, in a friendship, in 869 00:52:31,856 --> 00:52:35,550 school. Anything of value takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work. 870 00:52:35,620 --> 00:52:39,230 And above golf and above any of the other things I talk about, 871 00:52:39,300 --> 00:52:42,974 that's kind of foundational Alex Romo philosophy. 872 00:52:43,022 --> 00:52:46,820 And I think at some point I hope to really make that a 873 00:52:47,590 --> 00:52:51,346 more widely accepted thing. What I 874 00:52:51,368 --> 00:52:54,210 love about this whole thing, man, is I think personally, 875 00:52:55,030 --> 00:52:58,238 this is actually the best thing that could have possibly happened to you, and I'll 876 00:52:58,254 --> 00:53:01,366 explain why. So you were talking about, wow, I'm going to document my journey as 877 00:53:01,388 --> 00:53:05,238 a golfer, and if I make it on tour, I know 878 00:53:05,244 --> 00:53:08,822 that's not completely dead and I know you're still trying to compete and stuff, 879 00:53:08,876 --> 00:53:12,506 but I think it's actually going to be a more beautiful journey to 880 00:53:12,528 --> 00:53:16,182 actually the fact that you didn't. And now you've sort of pivoted and evolved 881 00:53:16,246 --> 00:53:19,946 into much, much more man. It's a much cooler story in my 882 00:53:19,968 --> 00:53:23,614 opinion. Much more depth. And to your point, the other one is just 883 00:53:23,652 --> 00:53:26,960 you swinging a stick, but 884 00:53:28,370 --> 00:53:31,786 you could help a lot of people and I think that's a much cooler 885 00:53:31,818 --> 00:53:35,566 story. I agree. I agree, definitely the 886 00:53:35,588 --> 00:53:38,926 golf is just a bonus if that ever clicks. It's mostly 887 00:53:38,958 --> 00:53:42,546 just an arena to push myself. I love being able to 888 00:53:42,568 --> 00:53:46,050 compete against other people that are the best in the world at what they're doing. 889 00:53:46,120 --> 00:53:49,926 That makes me feel like I can 890 00:53:49,948 --> 00:53:53,574 respect myself if I step into the battlefield with the real 891 00:53:53,612 --> 00:53:57,254 dogs. So I'm going to always enjoy doing that. But it no 892 00:53:57,292 --> 00:54:01,130 longer holds the same weight that it did of like, I suck as a human. 893 00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:04,790 If I don't succeed at this now, I really feel like we're 894 00:54:04,870 --> 00:54:08,534 gaining momentum, like you said, in a totally different realm. 895 00:54:08,582 --> 00:54:12,206 That all was opened up by the pursuit of golf and then the challenges of 896 00:54:12,228 --> 00:54:15,840 that and diving into content and storytelling. But 897 00:54:16,690 --> 00:54:20,334 yeah, it's different ethos on my life at this point. So 898 00:54:20,372 --> 00:54:23,758 it's cool. Been fun to live. Can you tell me a little bit 899 00:54:23,764 --> 00:54:27,038 about, because you're golfing at a very high level. And I've 900 00:54:27,054 --> 00:54:30,420 got some of our really good friends here in Tampa, actually. 901 00:54:31,110 --> 00:54:33,810 Shout out to Brad Bruner. He was on the corn ferry tour. 902 00:54:35,030 --> 00:54:37,618 He's a good friend of ours, anyway, friend of the show. He's been on a 903 00:54:37,624 --> 00:54:41,206 couple of times. It's interesting talking to him because this guy, we've got some really 904 00:54:41,228 --> 00:54:44,198 good players at our club. I'm talking. Plus, there's one guy at our club right 905 00:54:44,204 --> 00:54:47,474 now, plus eight. I mean, he's unbelievable. He's on the canadian 906 00:54:47,522 --> 00:54:50,360 tour. He's right there. 907 00:54:51,550 --> 00:54:55,354 He's right there. And we're kind of following his journey. He 908 00:54:55,392 --> 00:54:58,650 strikes the ball better than anyone I've ever seen besides Brad. Brad's 909 00:55:01,390 --> 00:55:04,878 the difference between. And I'm like a four or five handicap, and we've got some 910 00:55:04,884 --> 00:55:07,934 other good players at the club, but the difference between Brad and this guy 911 00:55:07,972 --> 00:55:11,598 Brandon, it's a different level. 912 00:55:11,684 --> 00:55:15,246 And then the fact that the idea that Brad just 913 00:55:15,268 --> 00:55:18,766 didn't kind of like what you were saying, he was like, 914 00:55:18,788 --> 00:55:22,126 okay, I got a kid now. I'm traveling 915 00:55:22,158 --> 00:55:24,994 constantly. He was on the corn ferry tour. And I mean, yeah, that's a money 916 00:55:25,032 --> 00:55:28,822 tour. But I mean, you're still not making. Unless you're the top five. 917 00:55:28,876 --> 00:55:32,246 You're not really making a crazy living. He's like, 918 00:55:32,268 --> 00:55:35,558 dude, it's not worth know. And so 919 00:55:35,564 --> 00:55:39,366 it's, you know, I was talking to, like, what is the difference, in 920 00:55:39,388 --> 00:55:43,066 your opinion, between someone like, like, that is that good? 921 00:55:43,248 --> 00:55:46,998 And then that next level of PGA guys? And then in my opinion, there's 922 00:55:47,014 --> 00:55:50,250 like multiple layers. Even in the PGA where you have the top 923 00:55:50,320 --> 00:55:54,106 ten, those guys are completely different than the guys that just 924 00:55:54,128 --> 00:55:57,822 are there for a short stint. What is the difference, man? 925 00:55:57,876 --> 00:56:01,294 Do you know? What's your take on it? Yeah. The guys that I've seen that 926 00:56:01,332 --> 00:56:04,834 have been the most effective just have the most 927 00:56:04,952 --> 00:56:08,100 unbelievable confidence in themselves. 928 00:56:08,550 --> 00:56:12,114 Really. If they vocalized publicly how they actually felt about 929 00:56:12,152 --> 00:56:15,886 themselves, they'd be viewed as just the biggest cocky douchebags 930 00:56:15,918 --> 00:56:19,718 ever. Really. And most golfers are very nice guys, so 931 00:56:19,804 --> 00:56:23,366 they wouldn't say that publicly. But, yeah, some of 932 00:56:23,388 --> 00:56:26,342 my best friends that have been the most 933 00:56:26,476 --> 00:56:30,154 successful on the Dakota's tour and then have taken it from 934 00:56:30,192 --> 00:56:33,638 there to the corn ferry and have even played a few tour events. 935 00:56:33,814 --> 00:56:37,594 Those guys have absolute God complex and 936 00:56:37,632 --> 00:56:41,478 think that they are God's gift to earth at 937 00:56:41,504 --> 00:56:45,326 this sport of golf. And I don't think that they're born that 938 00:56:45,348 --> 00:56:48,830 way. I think that you develop confidence by 939 00:56:48,900 --> 00:56:52,606 proving to yourself through actions repeatedly that you are who you 940 00:56:52,628 --> 00:56:56,318 say you are. And I think the quickest way to 941 00:56:56,404 --> 00:56:59,938 get there is to look at someone that's Uber successful in a field you want 942 00:56:59,944 --> 00:57:03,794 to be good at, whether it's business, golf, the gym, and be honest 943 00:57:03,832 --> 00:57:07,546 with yourself about what they're doing every day. And so for these golfers that I'm 944 00:57:07,598 --> 00:57:11,430 speaking of, that's what they do. They're not making social media videos, 945 00:57:11,500 --> 00:57:14,886 they're not thinking about what impact can I have 946 00:57:15,068 --> 00:57:18,582 in the world? And all these different things. They literally just want to 947 00:57:18,636 --> 00:57:22,362 be the best at golf and smash everybody in the tournament every 948 00:57:22,416 --> 00:57:25,770 week. That's where their focus is. And that repetitive 949 00:57:26,670 --> 00:57:30,346 actions daily to putt and chip and play the practice rounds and work 950 00:57:30,368 --> 00:57:34,134 with coaches, that breeds the confidence. It's not fake confidence. 951 00:57:34,182 --> 00:57:37,726 It's not fake it till you make it. It's like they really do think that 952 00:57:37,748 --> 00:57:41,534 they're the best because they're showing themselves every day that they're doing what the best 953 00:57:41,572 --> 00:57:45,346 would do, and it doesn't happen quickly, but if you repeat it over time with 954 00:57:45,368 --> 00:57:49,054 enough consistency, I think that's where that crazy self belief 955 00:57:49,102 --> 00:57:52,866 comes from. And that's, in my opinion, the only difference between the 956 00:57:52,888 --> 00:57:56,386 guys that still strike it exceptionally well and do all the 957 00:57:56,408 --> 00:57:59,702 things just like a tour player would do, but don't have the same 958 00:57:59,756 --> 00:58:03,414 success. I would put myself in that category, not 959 00:58:03,452 --> 00:58:06,966 necessarily right now, but at the times when I've been the most practiced and the 960 00:58:06,988 --> 00:58:10,794 most in competitive flow, I've felt like there is a very 961 00:58:10,832 --> 00:58:14,426 minimal difference between myself and the guys that are winning in terms of 962 00:58:14,448 --> 00:58:17,834 ball striking or in terms of anything physical. But 963 00:58:17,952 --> 00:58:21,770 because of. I think I've worked the hardest that I could for my 964 00:58:21,840 --> 00:58:24,620 set of circumstances in terms of needing to 965 00:58:25,810 --> 00:58:28,686 try to figure out how to do social media and all the different side things 966 00:58:28,708 --> 00:58:32,414 that I've done to keep going and not have a real job over the last 967 00:58:32,452 --> 00:58:36,186 ten years. But my attention has been totally split. 968 00:58:36,218 --> 00:58:39,602 And so although I've given golf all that I've had to give it, 969 00:58:39,736 --> 00:58:43,266 I've always known that other guys are giving it way more. And I 970 00:58:43,288 --> 00:58:47,074 think when it comes down to a real pressure situation and 971 00:58:47,112 --> 00:58:50,822 me versus one of them, they're always going to get me because I'll take myself 972 00:58:50,876 --> 00:58:54,230 out of it. I have that lack of belief in my mind 973 00:58:54,380 --> 00:58:58,182 that we judge ourselves the same way we judge other people, which is 974 00:58:58,236 --> 00:59:02,026 on actions. And so you watch somebody go to 975 00:59:02,048 --> 00:59:05,194 the gym 50 days in a row, and you're like, wow, that's like a really 976 00:59:05,232 --> 00:59:07,660 healthy, dude, or that's a bodybuilder or something. 977 00:59:09,710 --> 00:59:13,406 If you see yourself kind of sporadically hit the 978 00:59:13,428 --> 00:59:17,278 gym or sporadically eat healthy, you just don't have that. It's not your identity. It 979 00:59:17,284 --> 00:59:20,510 only becomes your identity after x amount of days 980 00:59:20,660 --> 00:59:24,180 without fail, doing the thing again and again and again 981 00:59:28,310 --> 00:59:32,034 in the future. Something that I'm really hoping to split test 982 00:59:32,072 --> 00:59:35,426 and see if it is true in my life the same way I'm talking about 983 00:59:35,448 --> 00:59:39,106 it. I think if I could buy myself three years of uninterrupted 984 00:59:39,138 --> 00:59:42,914 time at golf, I may see that same effect that I've 985 00:59:42,962 --> 00:59:46,658 watched some of my friends who I don't think they have different DNA. 986 00:59:46,754 --> 00:59:50,218 I don't think there's anything other than 987 00:59:50,384 --> 00:59:54,026 their actions that are making them think that they have this 988 00:59:54,128 --> 00:59:57,738 God complex of being the best ball striker on the planet. And it's cool to 989 00:59:57,744 --> 01:00:00,758 see humans 990 01:00:00,854 --> 01:00:04,554 truly can do whatever they think they can do. 991 01:00:04,592 --> 01:00:07,610 Anything's possible. Anything's possible, dude. Literally. 992 01:00:08,530 --> 01:00:11,786 I mean, an albatross to win a tournament or you fill in the blank. 993 01:00:11,818 --> 01:00:15,166 But I completely agree. One of my co hosts for the 994 01:00:15,188 --> 01:00:18,946 podcast, that's what he does, he has actually 995 01:00:18,968 --> 01:00:22,354 a golf academy. They're starting here in Tampa. He's really, his background is tennis, so 996 01:00:22,392 --> 01:00:25,930 his passion is golf, but he was a world class tennis 997 01:00:25,950 --> 01:00:29,750 player. He's coached his tennis academy. He's had some of the top 998 01:00:29,820 --> 01:00:33,666 five players in the world, men and women and including 999 01:00:33,698 --> 01:00:37,446 gold medal winners for grand slam winners and so 1000 01:00:37,468 --> 01:00:41,242 on. And he is a performance coach. So he really 1001 01:00:41,296 --> 01:00:44,970 builds teams around these professional athletes and it takes 1002 01:00:45,040 --> 01:00:48,698 that at that level of tennis. And the same thing is true in golf for 1003 01:00:48,704 --> 01:00:52,090 sure. We're talking physios, we're talking 1004 01:00:52,240 --> 01:00:56,014 mental. I mean, you name it. And the mental side is just really 1005 01:00:56,052 --> 01:00:59,726 fascinating to me because he said the same thing. You take 1006 01:00:59,748 --> 01:01:03,534 someone like, I don't know if you followed full swing. I'm sure you did. 1007 01:01:03,572 --> 01:01:07,326 Right? It was just interesting to see Damon because he such 1008 01:01:07,348 --> 01:01:10,158 a good dude. I saw a couple of pictures with you, too, so he seemed 1009 01:01:10,174 --> 01:01:13,746 like, how is he, by the way? Is he a nice guy? Super cool, same 1010 01:01:13,768 --> 01:01:17,266 as he is on. TV, dude, I would love to be. He seems so down 1011 01:01:17,288 --> 01:01:20,806 to earth and just such a good guy. But anyway, he was saying a guy 1012 01:01:20,828 --> 01:01:24,626 like him who, it's just interesting because he is such a good golfer 1013 01:01:24,658 --> 01:01:27,430 at that level and you hear him talk to himself 1014 01:01:29,050 --> 01:01:32,326 and we've had this conversation before. I'm like, this guy doesn't have that confidence. And 1015 01:01:32,348 --> 01:01:35,386 he's like, yeah, he does. He's like. He does. There's no way he could be 1016 01:01:35,408 --> 01:01:38,906 where he's at and didn't have that confidence. There's no way. I know he's saying 1017 01:01:38,928 --> 01:01:42,140 all of that probably to like, and that's his own way of dealing with something, 1018 01:01:42,670 --> 01:01:46,458 but he's definitely got that extra layer of something that he knows 1019 01:01:46,634 --> 01:01:50,414 that others might not. So, I don't know, it's just interesting. Yeah, 1020 01:01:50,452 --> 01:01:54,238 I'd have to agree with you. Definitely. Let's talk a little bit 1021 01:01:54,244 --> 01:01:57,922 about your new journey. So obviously, the physical side and health 1022 01:01:57,976 --> 01:02:01,682 is just been. I mean, it sounds like even from 1023 01:02:01,736 --> 01:02:05,266 your injury and everything else, is that where it all started? Is that where the 1024 01:02:05,288 --> 01:02:08,260 passion came from and your focus on it? 1025 01:02:08,810 --> 01:02:12,646 It's been present my whole life. My dad helped me build a 1026 01:02:12,668 --> 01:02:16,358 gym when I was like 13 here at the house. And I always, 1027 01:02:16,444 --> 01:02:20,214 throughout high school and college, hated the stigma that golfers 1028 01:02:20,262 --> 01:02:24,106 were just like, not really athletes and not in good shape. And 1029 01:02:24,128 --> 01:02:27,802 so I wanted to look not like a golfer always. 1030 01:02:27,856 --> 01:02:31,598 I wanted to be strong and muscular and hang with the 1031 01:02:31,604 --> 01:02:34,080 basketball and the football guys and lift with them. 1032 01:02:36,130 --> 01:02:39,934 It's been present before the injury, that desire to kind of just be a well 1033 01:02:39,972 --> 01:02:43,758 rounded athlete and, yeah, it's something that will always be 1034 01:02:43,764 --> 01:02:47,238 important to me. Absolutely. It's just the most fair thing I've 1035 01:02:47,274 --> 01:02:51,122 ever done in life. Working out at the gym, if you 1036 01:02:51,176 --> 01:02:54,274 pick up this weight and then you pick up a heavier weight next week, and 1037 01:02:54,312 --> 01:02:58,054 if you go home and eat this food and sleep, you will 1038 01:02:58,172 --> 01:03:01,894 watch your arms or chest or legs get bigger. And to me, 1039 01:03:01,932 --> 01:03:05,734 that was so refreshing being a golfer, because I felt like, 1040 01:03:05,772 --> 01:03:09,222 man, I'm not sure if golf really always works like that. 1041 01:03:09,276 --> 01:03:12,918 Sometimes I feel like, so true. You know what I mean? I'm more 1042 01:03:13,004 --> 01:03:16,778 totally. And I'm dialed in and I got the shanks. All of 1043 01:03:16,784 --> 01:03:20,486 a sudden it's like, what is that? It's so unfair. It's probably the most unfair 1044 01:03:20,518 --> 01:03:24,278 thing that you could do. I always love 1045 01:03:24,384 --> 01:03:28,126 the gym. That was my safe haven, where it would never lie to 1046 01:03:28,148 --> 01:03:31,998 me. The weights are on it. That's always going to be a 1047 01:03:32,004 --> 01:03:35,634 part of it. And in the more recent years, the 1048 01:03:35,672 --> 01:03:39,140 whole mental component and spirituality has become 1049 01:03:40,230 --> 01:03:43,858 as much, if not more fascinating to me and important 1050 01:03:43,944 --> 01:03:47,640 to prioritize. Definitely. 1051 01:03:49,210 --> 01:03:52,230 Maybe that was bred from just a lot of struggle and a lot of 1052 01:03:52,300 --> 01:03:55,542 challenge. Again, first world problems. I have never 1053 01:03:55,596 --> 01:03:59,258 been unsafe or in a country torn by war or 1054 01:03:59,264 --> 01:04:03,034 anything like that, but own headspace. I definitely have 1055 01:04:03,072 --> 01:04:06,762 felt pretty jacked up at times. And I think 1056 01:04:06,896 --> 01:04:10,474 when you have dark points or real 1057 01:04:10,512 --> 01:04:14,234 challenges, that's really the biggest blessings in life because that's when you 1058 01:04:14,272 --> 01:04:17,758 start trying to figure things out. If you're not in that much pain, you're not 1059 01:04:17,764 --> 01:04:21,486 going to do anything to fix it. But if you're in debilitating pain, mentally or 1060 01:04:21,508 --> 01:04:25,200 physically, that's what spurs action. And then 1061 01:04:25,730 --> 01:04:29,378 that's life, by the way. It's just constant ebbing and 1062 01:04:29,384 --> 01:04:33,026 flowing of ups and downs, or perceived ups and downs, really. It 1063 01:04:33,048 --> 01:04:36,726 just is what it is. And you're the one attaching a label that this is 1064 01:04:36,748 --> 01:04:40,486 a good emotion, this is a bad emotion. And we have this 1065 01:04:40,588 --> 01:04:43,974 false expectation that life is beautiful 1066 01:04:44,092 --> 01:04:47,734 and everything is awesome when we're experiencing good 1067 01:04:47,772 --> 01:04:51,466 things. But then when we're not, we're like, life sucks. And I'm not 1068 01:04:51,488 --> 01:04:54,186 saying everyone's like that, but a lot of us have that attitude and it's like, 1069 01:04:54,208 --> 01:04:56,620 dude, yeah, and me too. And 1070 01:04:58,510 --> 01:05:01,978 the goal is to continually improve that 1071 01:05:02,064 --> 01:05:05,914 and be more okay with when life gives you a tough 1072 01:05:05,962 --> 01:05:09,614 hand and be like, okay, this is tough right now, but I will learn 1073 01:05:09,652 --> 01:05:13,502 something from it. And guess what? It's going to pick back up. 1074 01:05:13,556 --> 01:05:16,818 And then when I'm up, don't get too high and don't get this high and 1075 01:05:16,824 --> 01:05:20,466 mighty complex thinking that it's never going to fall, because it will. And 1076 01:05:20,488 --> 01:05:23,986 then accept that. Fall graciously. And same with 1077 01:05:24,008 --> 01:05:26,980 golf, birdies and bogeys. Same with 1078 01:05:28,150 --> 01:05:31,762 everything in life works this way. Energy is always balancing 1079 01:05:31,826 --> 01:05:35,606 out and I think it's taken me a while to try to come 1080 01:05:35,628 --> 01:05:39,466 to terms with that and start to accept it. Definitely fought with myself for 1081 01:05:39,488 --> 01:05:42,726 a while about why my headspace 1082 01:05:42,838 --> 01:05:46,442 was rattled. In my late twenty s, I definitely 1083 01:05:46,496 --> 01:05:50,326 felt like the golf wasn't 1084 01:05:50,358 --> 01:05:54,190 working out, but I didn't know if I could make this social 1085 01:05:54,260 --> 01:05:57,982 media content thing work or if I even would be good at it. 1086 01:05:58,036 --> 01:06:01,614 And it just midlife crisis, whatever you want to call it. But 1087 01:06:01,732 --> 01:06:05,138 I think that kind of pushed me more in the direction of 1088 01:06:05,224 --> 01:06:08,946 finding some peace internally rather than I think in my 1089 01:06:08,968 --> 01:06:12,654 twenty s. I did it more through friends and going out and partying 1090 01:06:12,702 --> 01:06:15,986 and more of the traditional, socially 1091 01:06:16,098 --> 01:06:19,366 accepted, western culture ways of dealing with 1092 01:06:19,388 --> 01:06:22,806 issues. And that was ineffective for me and 1093 01:06:22,828 --> 01:06:26,646 unsustainable. And I've definitely. I mean, 1094 01:06:26,668 --> 01:06:30,198 it's not like I just learned about meditating this year, but this 2023 and 1095 01:06:30,204 --> 01:06:33,594 2024 is when I started to take it more 1096 01:06:33,632 --> 01:06:37,418 seriously. And I've sought out a great coach. His name 1097 01:06:37,424 --> 01:06:41,178 is Light Watkins. I've been on two workshops, and then I 1098 01:06:41,184 --> 01:06:44,474 actually did, like, a week long retreat for New Year's this past year in Mexico 1099 01:06:44,522 --> 01:06:47,754 with him and a small group of people and studied Vedic 1100 01:06:47,802 --> 01:06:51,514 meditation. And we did a lot of unpacking 1101 01:06:51,562 --> 01:06:55,166 of stress and trauma and just trying to deeply rest the nervous 1102 01:06:55,198 --> 01:06:58,754 system and just be with yourself, sit with yourself, 1103 01:06:58,872 --> 01:07:02,466 deal with the. It's kind of painful when you're used to 1104 01:07:02,488 --> 01:07:05,602 being hyper stimulated. And I find 1105 01:07:05,656 --> 01:07:09,394 myself really struggling because, dude, my screen time is, like, 1106 01:07:09,432 --> 01:07:12,534 12 hours a day, every day. Is it really? Yeah, I was going to ask 1107 01:07:12,572 --> 01:07:16,294 about that. It's justified at this point as a one man 1108 01:07:16,332 --> 01:07:20,050 show. I don't know how else I could be communicating with the world as frequently 1109 01:07:20,130 --> 01:07:23,978 as I am and as purposefully as I try to if I didn't put that 1110 01:07:24,144 --> 01:07:27,958 type of time and effort into it. But, boy, it's 1111 01:07:28,054 --> 01:07:31,818 tough on a human brain to deal with that much 1112 01:07:31,904 --> 01:07:35,470 information coming in all the time. And so the meditation is 1113 01:07:35,540 --> 01:07:39,374 something I'm excited to learn more about. And really, what it is is just the 1114 01:07:39,492 --> 01:07:43,150 removal of doing things. No Netflix, no social media, 1115 01:07:43,220 --> 01:07:46,962 no talking to a friend, no listening to music. Just stop. Just 1116 01:07:47,016 --> 01:07:50,818 sit there. And I think at least my experience so far has been 1117 01:07:50,984 --> 01:07:54,674 that that's really scary. It's very hard to just let 1118 01:07:54,712 --> 01:07:57,460 your brain yap at you for eight straight hours. 1119 01:07:58,790 --> 01:08:02,326 If you haven't done much of that in a while, chances are all the things 1120 01:08:02,348 --> 01:08:06,194 that you're pushing down that you don't want to address or deal with, they're 1121 01:08:06,242 --> 01:08:09,846 still there. They never go anywhere. The human brain is a computer that 1122 01:08:09,948 --> 01:08:13,446 can remember what happened to us when we were three. It's out of survival. It's 1123 01:08:13,478 --> 01:08:17,226 trying to remember painful and traumatic things, store them as stress triggers, and 1124 01:08:17,248 --> 01:08:20,934 then in the future, when something that looks or sounds like that painful 1125 01:08:20,982 --> 01:08:24,158 experience from the past, we're going to close off to it because we don't want 1126 01:08:24,164 --> 01:08:27,854 to die, whether that's figure fight or flight or literally. And 1127 01:08:27,892 --> 01:08:31,422 so it's a beautiful thing, the way our mind protects us, 1128 01:08:31,476 --> 01:08:35,246 but ineffective in our 2024 society, where most of the 1129 01:08:35,268 --> 01:08:39,106 things that stress us and cause us anxiety are not threats at all and 1130 01:08:39,128 --> 01:08:42,754 are just figments of the imagination, and we need to let the thought 1131 01:08:42,792 --> 01:08:46,626 pass straight through us. So this whole world of meditating and 1132 01:08:46,728 --> 01:08:50,374 being still and sitting with yourself and then breath work, which 1133 01:08:50,412 --> 01:08:54,146 is something else I've been really interested in, and ICE 1134 01:08:54,178 --> 01:08:57,350 baths and cold exposure, these are kind of like accelerated 1135 01:08:58,090 --> 01:09:01,786 stress releases and accelerated chill pills for the 1136 01:09:01,808 --> 01:09:05,578 nervous system. And definitely there's a lot 1137 01:09:05,584 --> 01:09:09,146 of levels to it. That I could take way further than I have, but I 1138 01:09:09,168 --> 01:09:12,550 think I'm on the right path and starting to tap into some things that, 1139 01:09:12,720 --> 01:09:16,462 similar to the weightlifting, will benefit me just for life. 1140 01:09:16,516 --> 01:09:20,126 And then things that I want to obviously share as well. I keep 1141 01:09:20,228 --> 01:09:23,966 investing heavily, not only my time and energy, but also money into 1142 01:09:24,068 --> 01:09:27,666 learning these things and putting them into practice myself. And 1143 01:09:27,768 --> 01:09:31,442 that's twofold. One, it's to try to improve my own life, but pretty much everything 1144 01:09:31,496 --> 01:09:35,074 I do nowadays is through the framework of, like, this 1145 01:09:35,112 --> 01:09:38,786 is something that I can share with other people. Love 1146 01:09:38,808 --> 01:09:42,598 it. It's first my family and friends, and then once I've got a 1147 01:09:42,604 --> 01:09:45,366 little bit of practice talking about whatever the thing is and I feel like I 1148 01:09:45,388 --> 01:09:49,174 can explain it coherently, then I'll open my phone 1149 01:09:49,212 --> 01:09:52,618 up and try to put it on a video or whatever. And that's enjoyable for 1150 01:09:52,624 --> 01:09:56,362 me because I do think the reason I got into these things 1151 01:09:56,416 --> 01:10:00,026 was other people that I viewed as cool, whether they were golfers or 1152 01:10:00,048 --> 01:10:03,594 influencers or friends, started talking about something that was a little 1153 01:10:03,632 --> 01:10:07,390 taboo, the breath work, to me, that was taboo, like one or two years ago. 1154 01:10:07,540 --> 01:10:11,294 And then some cool people started talking about it and I'm like, what's this all 1155 01:10:11,332 --> 01:10:15,022 about? And that's all it takes. Then you experience the benefit for yourself and then 1156 01:10:15,076 --> 01:10:18,770 boom, now you're next in line. That other people, whether you know it or not, 1157 01:10:18,840 --> 01:10:22,290 are watching you, whether you're an influencer or not. Everyone 1158 01:10:22,440 --> 01:10:26,126 is looked up to by someone and what you're 1159 01:10:26,158 --> 01:10:29,480 doing and saying and interested in does matter. And 1160 01:10:30,010 --> 01:10:33,826 it's a very motivating way to go through life. Just knowing, 1161 01:10:33,938 --> 01:10:36,758 just treating yourself like you're in a movie, like you're the main character in a 1162 01:10:36,764 --> 01:10:40,550 movie and you're responsible to do your best every day 1163 01:10:40,620 --> 01:10:44,042 to live a life that others would be proud of 1164 01:10:44,096 --> 01:10:47,818 and you would want your kid to watch and look up to whether you have 1165 01:10:47,824 --> 01:10:51,002 a kid or not. I find myself framing a lot of my 1166 01:10:51,056 --> 01:10:54,698 actions through fatherhood at this point, even though I'm 1167 01:10:54,714 --> 01:10:57,902 not currently on a path trying to have a kid or be married or anything 1168 01:10:57,956 --> 01:11:01,758 like that. I think that everything I'm doing 1169 01:11:01,844 --> 01:11:05,562 online and in my own life, just constantly striving 1170 01:11:05,626 --> 01:11:09,314 to improve and then share with others, that's all practice for 1171 01:11:09,432 --> 01:11:12,706 being a good leader, which you could probably speak to more than me. I feel 1172 01:11:12,728 --> 01:11:15,758 like that's what it is to be a father and a husband, right? Just standing 1173 01:11:15,774 --> 01:11:19,318 for something and leading by example. Yeah, for sure, man. 1174 01:11:19,484 --> 01:11:23,046 I think that's when it actually clicked for me. You're way ahead of the 1175 01:11:23,068 --> 01:11:26,822 curve than I was. Alex, the way I've had to learn 1176 01:11:26,876 --> 01:11:30,106 everything is because I've had to learn the hard way, man. I've had to make 1177 01:11:30,128 --> 01:11:33,706 a lot of mistakes and learn from it that way, which, it's okay. 1178 01:11:33,888 --> 01:11:35,820 I think that's another way that you can learn. 1179 01:11:39,070 --> 01:11:42,858 You're saying some really insightful things here, at least for me, because you said 1180 01:11:42,944 --> 01:11:46,686 everyone has someone that looks up to them. And the first thing that came to 1181 01:11:46,708 --> 01:11:50,126 my mind are my kids. And until I had kids, I didn't really look at 1182 01:11:50,148 --> 01:11:53,774 it that way. And you see your kids and they're sponges, right? So they're running 1183 01:11:53,812 --> 01:11:57,486 around. Everything you say and do, they pick up on. And you start to 1184 01:11:57,508 --> 01:12:01,346 realize, like, oh, man, I need to really be the best me. Not just 1185 01:12:01,368 --> 01:12:04,286 for me anymore, but just so they can be the best them. I mean, you've 1186 01:12:04,318 --> 01:12:07,874 referenced your dad. I can't even count how many 1187 01:12:07,912 --> 01:12:11,606 times on this pod. And I love it because that's how big of an 1188 01:12:11,628 --> 01:12:14,918 influence he was and look how impactful he was in your life and look at 1189 01:12:14,924 --> 01:12:18,678 the things that you're doing. It's all probably because of the things that he did 1190 01:12:18,764 --> 01:12:22,154 out of love for you growing up. And, I mean, it's a shame that not 1191 01:12:22,192 --> 01:12:25,898 everyone has that, but, dude, that is a special gift that hopefully you will be 1192 01:12:25,904 --> 01:12:28,700 able to pass on and you can help people 1193 01:12:30,110 --> 01:12:33,914 at least with some sort of flavor of that. But the other thing, 1194 01:12:33,952 --> 01:12:37,518 too, you had mentioned you're really good at being able to explain some of this 1195 01:12:37,524 --> 01:12:40,618 stuff. So I caught your video on the cold plunge. And I've got a bunch 1196 01:12:40,634 --> 01:12:43,706 of buddies around here that they've been trying to get me to do this cold 1197 01:12:43,738 --> 01:12:47,038 punch stuff for a long time. And we actually have one at one of the 1198 01:12:47,044 --> 01:12:50,638 clubs here in Tampa. Not at our club, but a different one. And we were 1199 01:12:50,644 --> 01:12:52,462 playing the other day and he was like, all right, man, get there at like 1200 01:12:52,516 --> 01:12:55,942 07:00 a.m. We'll do the cold punch before we go out and play. 1201 01:12:56,076 --> 01:12:58,438 And I'm sitting there in bed and it was like a cold morning here in 1202 01:12:58,444 --> 01:13:02,134 Tampa, which means it's like 65. I'm like, I don't know, man. I could 1203 01:13:02,172 --> 01:13:05,750 stay here under the covers. So I didn't do it. But, man, 1204 01:13:05,820 --> 01:13:08,838 I've heard so many things. And the way that you described it, it made a 1205 01:13:08,844 --> 01:13:12,534 lot of sense. Finally, it spikes 1206 01:13:12,582 --> 01:13:16,266 your adrenaline and all your fight or flight and then when you get 1207 01:13:16,288 --> 01:13:20,054 out is really where the benefit happens because then your stress levels go down 1208 01:13:20,112 --> 01:13:23,838 naturally because they've already been initiated. Is that a 1209 01:13:23,844 --> 01:13:27,626 fair way to summarize it? Okay, yeah, exactly. It's 1210 01:13:27,658 --> 01:13:31,086 the same with any other hormone flooding in our 1211 01:13:31,108 --> 01:13:34,558 body. There's a max that could be in our 1212 01:13:34,564 --> 01:13:38,034 bloodstream at any point in time. And if the 1213 01:13:38,072 --> 01:13:41,662 baseline is a five out of ten, and then you intentionally 1214 01:13:41,726 --> 01:13:45,186 ramp it to a ten out of ten, now you've used a lot of it 1215 01:13:45,208 --> 01:13:48,934 up and it can't possibly say that high anymore. So it has no chance, 1216 01:13:49,052 --> 01:13:52,662 no choice but to lower the low baseline down to a four 1217 01:13:52,716 --> 01:13:56,326 or three out of ten until it can replenish. Because these are all 1218 01:13:56,348 --> 01:14:00,054 finite resources in our body that replenish daily when we sleep 1219 01:14:00,102 --> 01:14:03,546 and hydrate and nourish our bodies. So, yeah, it 1220 01:14:03,568 --> 01:14:07,354 can, in my experience, be 1221 01:14:07,392 --> 01:14:10,722 like probably the biggest bang for your buck. 1222 01:14:10,886 --> 01:14:14,446 Cheapest, quickest way to reduce anxiety and 1223 01:14:14,468 --> 01:14:17,840 depression. And also it just kind of is like 1224 01:14:18,210 --> 01:14:22,046 self confidence producing because you feel, same with the gym. It's like 1225 01:14:22,068 --> 01:14:25,898 anytime you do something, my budy, that you don't want to do, your brain 1226 01:14:25,914 --> 01:14:28,546 is starting to chirp to you, like, I don't want to do it. This is 1227 01:14:28,568 --> 01:14:30,978 going to be hard and you should do it anyway, as long as it's like 1228 01:14:30,984 --> 01:14:34,594 a positive thing for yourself that does 1229 01:14:34,712 --> 01:14:38,546 infuse some confidence in you and it spills over whatever 1230 01:14:38,568 --> 01:14:41,414 the next hard, challenging thing is. You're like, I know that I can do this 1231 01:14:41,452 --> 01:14:45,058 because I already did the gym or the cold plunge, and cold 1232 01:14:45,074 --> 01:14:48,120 plunge takes like three minutes. Gym for me takes like 2 hours. 1233 01:14:49,050 --> 01:14:52,806 Talking about this, I'm going to do it, man. My budy said 1234 01:14:52,828 --> 01:14:54,858 the same thing. He was like, dude, yeah, of course you don't like it. I 1235 01:14:54,864 --> 01:14:58,218 don't like doing it either. But the fact that afterwards you're like, I did that, 1236 01:14:58,304 --> 01:15:01,462 it feels good. That's the good feeling. So I don't know, man. I'm sold. Plunged 1237 01:15:01,526 --> 01:15:05,258 quick shout out to one of my biggest influences. His name is Hamza. He's 1238 01:15:05,274 --> 01:15:09,086 a self improvement youtuber, and he always ended his videos with 1239 01:15:09,108 --> 01:15:12,702 this quote called do the hard work, especially when you don't feel 1240 01:15:12,756 --> 01:15:16,594 like it. And he speaks to that being 1241 01:15:16,632 --> 01:15:20,020 the real key to developing discipline, or basically just 1242 01:15:20,630 --> 01:15:23,794 discipline, is the ability to do something you don't want to do. And I think 1243 01:15:23,832 --> 01:15:27,154 that when we talked about what separates the top 1244 01:15:27,192 --> 01:15:30,854 golfers and how they have confidence, it's the same thing. They 1245 01:15:30,892 --> 01:15:34,578 feel that same voice in their head saying they want to sleep in or it's 1246 01:15:34,594 --> 01:15:38,402 too cold to practice, or they already played around and they don't feel like practicing 1247 01:15:38,466 --> 01:15:42,310 whatever the internal narrative is, trying to make them not do 1248 01:15:42,380 --> 01:15:44,746 what they said that they were going to do and what they know they need 1249 01:15:44,768 --> 01:15:48,234 to do to be excellent at their craft. We all feel 1250 01:15:48,272 --> 01:15:51,802 that to the same degree every day. And the most 1251 01:15:51,856 --> 01:15:55,246 disciplined people, it's like a video game, and you're trying to 1252 01:15:55,268 --> 01:15:59,054 increase your stat of discipline. It comes from 1253 01:15:59,092 --> 01:16:02,798 reps, the same way you build your bicep stat. It's like, how many times have 1254 01:16:02,804 --> 01:16:06,602 you curled the ability to override that internal voice 1255 01:16:06,666 --> 01:16:10,386 saying, I don't want to do this hard thing. That's a learned skill. That 1256 01:16:10,488 --> 01:16:14,178 every time you feel the resistance of saying, I don't want to get out of 1257 01:16:14,184 --> 01:16:16,534 bed, it's too early, I don't want to get in the cold punch, it's too 1258 01:16:16,572 --> 01:16:19,858 cold, I don't want to hit 100 extra balls, I'm tired, et 1259 01:16:19,874 --> 01:16:23,634 cetera. That is practice at the mental override, 1260 01:16:23,682 --> 01:16:27,302 aka discipline, that every successful person does 1261 01:16:27,356 --> 01:16:30,986 have. Because to be successful, you just repeat the 1262 01:16:31,008 --> 01:16:34,822 actions day after day after day that lead to proficiency 1263 01:16:34,886 --> 01:16:38,490 in that skill of business, golf, gym. And in order to 1264 01:16:38,560 --> 01:16:42,406 do things every single day, you got to understand that everyone's 1265 01:16:42,438 --> 01:16:45,710 life is kind of the same. We have obstacles and family and 1266 01:16:45,780 --> 01:16:49,390 hardships that get in the way. But the most successful people 1267 01:16:49,540 --> 01:16:53,390 let virtually nothing stop them from doing what they said they were going to do 1268 01:16:53,460 --> 01:16:57,234 the night before. And I think that that cold plunge is like one 1269 01:16:57,272 --> 01:17:01,026 of the. It's very hard every day, or cold shower as 1270 01:17:01,048 --> 01:17:04,654 well. It's like, always going to suck, and your brain is always going to scream 1271 01:17:04,702 --> 01:17:08,386 at you, like, I don't want to do it. And that almost in, like, a 1272 01:17:08,408 --> 01:17:12,114 cynical, diabolical way, you can start to laugh at that voice. 1273 01:17:12,162 --> 01:17:15,606 Like, perfect. That's what we're looking for right there. That's what we're looking for. Not 1274 01:17:15,628 --> 01:17:19,458 wanting to do it. That's my time to go do it, because I know I'm 1275 01:17:19,474 --> 01:17:23,194 going to gain, like, five discipline points. And I know that everybody else 1276 01:17:23,232 --> 01:17:26,060 out there that I'm competing with, whether I like it or not, 1277 01:17:26,910 --> 01:17:30,122 especially as a man. I'm in competition with everyone else in the world for 1278 01:17:30,176 --> 01:17:33,966 resources, for jobs, for potential partners. It 1279 01:17:33,988 --> 01:17:37,774 is a competition. And if I want to beat my 1280 01:17:37,812 --> 01:17:41,566 competition, then acknowledge that they're feeling the same thing, and if I 1281 01:17:41,588 --> 01:17:45,394 can do it right now, I'll get five extra points of 1282 01:17:45,432 --> 01:17:49,266 discipline, and that will benefit me in the long run. I 1283 01:17:49,288 --> 01:17:52,834 love that, man. No, I love the narrative because, really, 1284 01:17:53,032 --> 01:17:56,286 I told you before, I work with an executive coach. Shout out to Russ Kyle. 1285 01:17:56,318 --> 01:17:59,974 So you gave your guy a shout. This guy is amazing because he talks about 1286 01:18:00,012 --> 01:18:03,734 discipline, being self love. Like, as soon as you're able to be more 1287 01:18:03,772 --> 01:18:07,494 disciplined, really what you're doing is you're allowing yourself to love yourself, because 1288 01:18:07,532 --> 01:18:11,046 really, as long as it's positive stuff. So he also talks 1289 01:18:11,078 --> 01:18:14,314 about, you had mentioned problems. He told 1290 01:18:14,352 --> 01:18:18,086 me everything that kind of goes on. The way that you're feeling 1291 01:18:18,118 --> 01:18:21,706 is really the story that you're telling yourself. So you can have 1292 01:18:21,728 --> 01:18:25,502 negative thoughts. And that's okay. Let them go. Let them come, 1293 01:18:25,636 --> 01:18:29,150 recognize them and let them go, because if it starts becoming your story, 1294 01:18:29,220 --> 01:18:32,974 then it's going to become, like, reality. It's going to end 1295 01:18:33,012 --> 01:18:36,722 up manifesting. So he won't let me. It's funny because I'll sometimes 1296 01:18:36,776 --> 01:18:39,666 say, yeah, man, I've got this problem. He's like, it's not a problem. He's like, 1297 01:18:39,768 --> 01:18:43,266 you have an opportunity. And after a 1298 01:18:43,288 --> 01:18:47,026 while now, I'm programmed whenever I want to say problem. So, 1299 01:18:47,048 --> 01:18:50,410 dude, it's so funny because now my kids, like I said, they're sponges. So I've 1300 01:18:50,430 --> 01:18:54,066 got them now. They're not allowed to say the word can't. We don't say can't 1301 01:18:54,098 --> 01:18:57,426 in the reading household. My last name. So we don't say can't. So it's funny. 1302 01:18:57,458 --> 01:19:01,218 I'll hear my daughter, who's turning six this weekend, and then she's 1303 01:19:01,234 --> 01:19:04,938 talking to my four year old son, and Grayson's name, and 1304 01:19:05,024 --> 01:19:08,266 Gregory will go, he'll be like, I can't do that. And she'll look out and 1305 01:19:08,288 --> 01:19:12,086 go, Gregory, we don't say can't. We don't say can't in the writing house. It's 1306 01:19:12,118 --> 01:19:15,920 so, you know. Yeah, it's great, dude. It's great. 1307 01:19:16,450 --> 01:19:19,358 All right, man. Well, I got two questions that are kind of silly at the 1308 01:19:19,364 --> 01:19:23,146 end. I'm serious, too, sometimes, but I'm also real silly, 1309 01:19:23,178 --> 01:19:25,518 and I love the silly. So I do want to ask. I ask everyone on 1310 01:19:25,524 --> 01:19:28,254 our show these two silly questions. They're not golf related. One of them is, but 1311 01:19:28,292 --> 01:19:30,654 they're not good. So I want to get to those. But anything that I can, 1312 01:19:30,692 --> 01:19:34,266 like. So do you actually have. Because, dude, I want to sign up whatever you're 1313 01:19:34,298 --> 01:19:38,134 offering. Like, if there's coaching or if there's anything that you've got, like, 1314 01:19:38,172 --> 01:19:41,030 framework wise, like, dude, sign me up. What do I need to do to get 1315 01:19:41,100 --> 01:19:44,886 on board? Do you have anything yet? Are you working on it? What's next? Thank 1316 01:19:44,908 --> 01:19:48,546 you, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, it's 1317 01:19:48,578 --> 01:19:52,234 like top of mind. Number one thing I'm trying to work on, if I can 1318 01:19:52,272 --> 01:19:55,210 get out of the daily cycle of making videos and content 1319 01:19:55,280 --> 01:19:59,050 engulfing this online community. It's a website 1320 01:19:59,120 --> 01:20:02,720 called School skool.com, 1321 01:20:03,090 --> 01:20:06,878 and it's basically like an educational social media 1322 01:20:06,964 --> 01:20:10,654 and it's these little private communities. Hamza has 1323 01:20:10,692 --> 01:20:14,186 one. It's just a self improvement community. I don't know if there's really any golfers 1324 01:20:14,218 --> 01:20:18,014 on there yet, but my goal is to have a couple courses 1325 01:20:18,062 --> 01:20:21,806 inside about this sort of holistic approach to golf that I've 1326 01:20:21,838 --> 01:20:25,534 been kind of refining over the years, which is just my belief 1327 01:20:25,582 --> 01:20:28,710 of how to improve a golf. Incorporate the gym, 1328 01:20:29,050 --> 01:20:32,706 incorporate mental health and mindfulness and breath work and cold 1329 01:20:32,738 --> 01:20:36,310 showers and nutrition. All these different modules of 1330 01:20:36,460 --> 01:20:40,074 things that I have some experience with and have worked with coaches or 1331 01:20:40,112 --> 01:20:43,690 experimented with in my own life. So courses basically video 1332 01:20:43,760 --> 01:20:47,466 series and PDFs and prompts for you to sort of 1333 01:20:47,488 --> 01:20:51,318 journal and create your own plan about how to basically build a 1334 01:20:51,344 --> 01:20:54,942 daily routine and an action plan to start improving and 1335 01:20:54,996 --> 01:20:58,640 solving problems in your own life. That, as well as 1336 01:20:59,090 --> 01:21:02,614 Zoom calls and me bringing on some of these meditation 1337 01:21:02,682 --> 01:21:06,290 teachers and breath work coaches and experts in these fields that I'm learning 1338 01:21:06,360 --> 01:21:10,180 from having sort of lectures, know, 1339 01:21:10,710 --> 01:21:14,514 community calls for everyone that's inside as well as 1340 01:21:14,552 --> 01:21:18,342 just like social media looks like Facebook people post 1341 01:21:18,396 --> 01:21:21,814 and comment and it's kind of gamified. You can unlock more 1342 01:21:21,852 --> 01:21:25,606 courses when you level up. Yeah, the more things that 1343 01:21:25,628 --> 01:21:28,934 you comment and the more guys that are upvoting your 1344 01:21:28,972 --> 01:21:32,460 contributions, it's so addicting in the best way. 1345 01:21:33,150 --> 01:21:36,726 Basically, you get in a group of extremely like minded 1346 01:21:36,758 --> 01:21:40,422 people that are paying to be a part of it, so they're highly motivated 1347 01:21:40,486 --> 01:21:44,054 to engage and make friends and learn and go through the courses 1348 01:21:44,182 --> 01:21:47,786 I have been in some other people's, and that's what's got me so jacked 1349 01:21:47,818 --> 01:21:51,646 on, saying like, wow, yeah, this is the future. This is where the people that 1350 01:21:51,668 --> 01:21:54,786 are using the Internet for the right reasons, we're going to gravitate towards more of 1351 01:21:54,808 --> 01:21:58,658 this private community structure. And so I think, honestly, within a 1352 01:21:58,664 --> 01:22:02,450 couple of weeks, I have one right now, it just doesn't have content 1353 01:22:02,520 --> 01:22:05,970 inside, but I'm actually paying 1354 01:22:06,040 --> 01:22:09,746 monthly to have it, just forcing myself to get it together and do it more 1355 01:22:09,768 --> 01:22:13,282 quickly. Love it. And so if you're at all interested in the regular 1356 01:22:13,346 --> 01:22:16,994 content that I put out, it doesn't 1357 01:22:17,042 --> 01:22:20,806 seem like I can put that much depth on Instagram without it just kind 1358 01:22:20,828 --> 01:22:24,506 of getting suppressed. It's just not the right place for extreme long form stuff. 1359 01:22:24,608 --> 01:22:28,214 And at this point in time, I don't have a very sizable YouTube following 1360 01:22:28,262 --> 01:22:31,998 or consistent viewership. So I think that this is the place 1361 01:22:32,084 --> 01:22:35,886 that I'll be going all in on for the foreseeable future for the 1362 01:22:35,908 --> 01:22:39,422 people that really want to work one on one, make like 1363 01:22:39,476 --> 01:22:43,166 minded friends and kind 1364 01:22:43,188 --> 01:22:46,978 of get on this whole regimen and program of different things 1365 01:22:47,064 --> 01:22:50,914 or any piece of the puzzle of things that I've been talking about. So 1366 01:22:51,032 --> 01:22:54,802 my school community will be launching soon and that'll be definitely 1367 01:22:54,856 --> 01:22:58,646 plastered all over my Instagram and TikTok. And right now I 1368 01:22:58,668 --> 01:23:02,502 have like a broadcast channel on my Instagram, which is where I 1369 01:23:02,556 --> 01:23:05,560 keep putting updates and stuff like that in as well. So 1370 01:23:06,410 --> 01:23:09,960 that's right now the best that I got for you. I wish I had, like 1371 01:23:10,410 --> 01:23:14,042 coaching offer and if there's enough demand for that, I could definitely 1372 01:23:14,096 --> 01:23:17,914 do it. But at this point in my life I think I've been doing 1373 01:23:17,952 --> 01:23:21,774 that and just not really monetizing it, taking calls here and there 1374 01:23:21,812 --> 01:23:25,374 and a lot of DMs and just didn't really get 1375 01:23:25,412 --> 01:23:29,166 business smart or understand that not only is 1376 01:23:29,188 --> 01:23:32,526 it beneficial to me, but it's better for others as well. 1377 01:23:32,708 --> 01:23:36,286 When you sign up for a course or a private 1378 01:23:36,318 --> 01:23:40,034 community, at least in my experience, that's when I really dive into stuff. 1379 01:23:40,072 --> 01:23:43,826 You have a gift, man. Again, I've met you 1380 01:23:43,848 --> 01:23:46,806 tonight in person. I mean, I've been following you for quite a while, but you 1381 01:23:46,828 --> 01:23:50,150 have a really unique gift in being able to deliver 1382 01:23:51,690 --> 01:23:55,430 your message where it's consumable, especially 1383 01:23:55,500 --> 01:23:59,186 in today's world where there's so much noise. But the cold plunge 1384 01:23:59,218 --> 01:24:02,050 is a great example of that. I had probably ten people tell me about the 1385 01:24:02,060 --> 01:24:05,466 cold plunge. It never really resonated with me in, I don't know, like a 1386 01:24:05,488 --> 01:24:08,700 32nd video. I'm like, oh, I totally get it now. 1387 01:24:09,150 --> 01:24:11,866 I'd see why I'd want to do it. So, I mean, you being able to 1388 01:24:11,888 --> 01:24:15,390 bring that and then systemize it, I think 1389 01:24:15,540 --> 01:24:18,926 it's just going to be a great tool for people to hop on board, so. 1390 01:24:18,948 --> 01:24:22,734 Yeah, absolutely, man. I'll be looking out for that. Thank you. I 1391 01:24:22,772 --> 01:24:26,242 appreciate that. That's awesome, man. Cool, man. You ready for these two questions? 1392 01:24:26,376 --> 01:24:30,226 Yeah, let's do it. All right, question one. We 1393 01:24:30,248 --> 01:24:33,922 ask everyone on the podcast. All right, man. If can a human 1394 01:24:33,976 --> 01:24:36,518 being, and there's no right or wrong answer to this, by the way, can a 1395 01:24:36,524 --> 01:24:39,814 human being eat a golf ball and 1396 01:24:39,852 --> 01:24:43,586 survive swallow a golf ball? That's 1397 01:24:43,618 --> 01:24:47,206 insane. I got to believe that we're pretty 1398 01:24:47,228 --> 01:24:50,822 damn resilient. So, yeah, I think a human probably could. 1399 01:24:50,956 --> 01:24:53,974 Yeah, I go back and forth with it because, you know, and you take someone 1400 01:24:54,012 --> 01:24:57,726 like a big human, like Shaquille O'Neill, I imagine he could get into down a 1401 01:24:57,728 --> 01:25:01,420 lot. I don't mean. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. But then 1402 01:25:02,350 --> 01:25:05,786 the way this came up is my buddy panda. 1403 01:25:05,898 --> 01:25:09,662 Okay, I'll get to the spirit animals now. So we have this deal 1404 01:25:09,716 --> 01:25:13,426 where on our podcast, by the way, I'm going to try to come up with 1405 01:25:13,448 --> 01:25:16,638 the spirit. Do you have, like a mascot or like a spirit animal? Like, you've 1406 01:25:16,654 --> 01:25:20,206 ever. Dang. 1407 01:25:20,398 --> 01:25:24,174 I mean, my college mascot was Mustangs, maybe. Mustang. Mustang. 1408 01:25:24,222 --> 01:25:27,974 Okay. I'm thinking something like an animal that's like 1409 01:25:28,012 --> 01:25:31,558 super friendly, super mellow, chill. I don't know. I'm going to come 1410 01:25:31,564 --> 01:25:34,914 back retriever or something like that. I like that. Loyal. 1411 01:25:34,962 --> 01:25:38,706 Yes. Okay. Serving like someone. That's 1412 01:25:38,738 --> 01:25:42,454 okay. I like retriever. So anyway, we've got all these for our personalities 1413 01:25:42,502 --> 01:25:46,266 on the podcast. And my buddy panda, who is one of the co 1414 01:25:46,288 --> 01:25:50,058 hosts here, he's kind of a younger dude, but dude, the 1415 01:25:50,064 --> 01:25:53,594 guy's a throwback. He is like a golf savant. He knows everything about golf 1416 01:25:53,642 --> 01:25:57,438 history. It's just crazy. He knows certain golfers mom's names. I have 1417 01:25:57,444 --> 01:26:00,878 no idea how, but it's just crazy. So anyway, 1418 01:26:01,044 --> 01:26:04,846 he was telling me one time, he's like, we were saying, okay, if I 1419 01:26:04,868 --> 01:26:08,718 get a certain number of subscribers or followers where I 1420 01:26:08,724 --> 01:26:12,414 can actually do this full time, then I won't mention the albatross story 1421 01:26:12,452 --> 01:26:15,126 ever again. And he was like, there's no way you're going to be able do 1422 01:26:15,148 --> 01:26:18,106 that. Come on. I'm like, no, serious. And he was like, what are you going 1423 01:26:18,108 --> 01:26:21,126 to do if you don't? Or if you do tell, if you do start saying. 1424 01:26:21,148 --> 01:26:24,038 I'm like, I'm a man of my word, man. And he's like, nah, you got 1425 01:26:24,044 --> 01:26:27,138 to have a Tony, you got to eat this. So this is the golf ball 1426 01:26:27,154 --> 01:26:30,966 right here, buddy. Alex. I had to make myself my own 1427 01:26:30,988 --> 01:26:34,438 trophy because no one cared enough to. Like, they sent an email out at the 1428 01:26:34,444 --> 01:26:38,166 club, but I had to make myself my own trophy. So, look, I'm terrible at 1429 01:26:38,188 --> 01:26:41,998 making trophies. Like, this is the golf ball side. That's awesome, bro. 1430 01:26:42,084 --> 01:26:45,326 But he's like, all right, you got to eat that golf ball. If you tell 1431 01:26:45,348 --> 01:26:47,726 the story after you get the certain number of subscribers, you got to eat the 1432 01:26:47,748 --> 01:26:50,102 golf ball. And I'm like, I don't know if I'll live. I don't know if 1433 01:26:50,176 --> 01:26:54,014 it's going to kill me or what. So anyway, that's where that question originated from. 1434 01:26:54,212 --> 01:26:57,938 That's funny. All right, second question. 1435 01:26:58,024 --> 01:27:01,762 All right. This is a little sillier, little non golf topic. But, dude, this one, 1436 01:27:01,816 --> 01:27:05,326 I love this question. Are there more? And I'm talking about anything alive, like 1437 01:27:05,368 --> 01:27:09,142 anything that has life to it. Okay. Are there 1438 01:27:09,196 --> 01:27:12,946 more eyes or legs in the world? More eyes or legs 1439 01:27:12,978 --> 01:27:16,774 in the world? I would definitely think more 1440 01:27:16,812 --> 01:27:20,570 eyes because doesn't everything has eyes, but 1441 01:27:20,720 --> 01:27:24,570 their snakes don't have legs. And maybe some birds. 1442 01:27:25,070 --> 01:27:27,100 Yeah, I don't know. Do you know the answer? 1443 01:27:30,590 --> 01:27:33,866 I've tried everything, dude. I cannot get to the answer of this. I go back 1444 01:27:33,888 --> 01:27:37,578 and forth because you got a centipede with however many legs those dudes have. You've 1445 01:27:37,594 --> 01:27:41,294 got crabs with multiple legs. But then you got 1446 01:27:41,332 --> 01:27:45,034 fish. You got all these fish out there. And I'm not counting fins as legs. 1447 01:27:45,162 --> 01:27:48,846 Those aren't legs. Tentacles aren't legs. So, I mean, dude, I think it's 1448 01:27:48,878 --> 01:27:52,530 eyes because of all the fish, but I don't know. 1449 01:27:52,680 --> 01:27:56,478 And I love hearing people's take on it because it's 50 50, dude, 1450 01:27:56,494 --> 01:27:59,078 you ask 100 people, you're going to get 50 on one way and 50 on 1451 01:27:59,084 --> 01:28:02,934 the other. Yeah, those are wild questions. I wonder if there's, like, 1452 01:28:03,052 --> 01:28:06,854 a story of anyone ever eating a golf ball that's out there that we could 1453 01:28:06,892 --> 01:28:10,566 research and they lived or not. I've done some 1454 01:28:10,588 --> 01:28:14,346 digging around. There's one dude. Yes. So there is one 1455 01:28:14,368 --> 01:28:17,926 dude on Reddit that. And by the way, we're not condoning eating golf 1456 01:28:17,958 --> 01:28:20,540 balls. Like, do not eat a golf ball based on Alex. And 1457 01:28:21,870 --> 01:28:25,546 there's one. There's some guy on Reddit that actually ate 1458 01:28:25,578 --> 01:28:28,926 the golf ball. And I think it was weird because the video was like, you 1459 01:28:28,948 --> 01:28:32,686 could see him swallowing it. I'm assuming he's okay, but 1460 01:28:32,788 --> 01:28:36,510 I don't know. Other than that, I don't know. So silly. 1461 01:28:37,510 --> 01:28:41,300 Anyway, dude, everyone gets so wrapped around the axle about 1462 01:28:41,830 --> 01:28:45,506 important stuff, and I'm sitting here losing sleep over if there's more 1463 01:28:45,528 --> 01:28:49,362 eyes in the world. Anyway, hey, listen, 1464 01:28:49,416 --> 01:28:53,238 Alex, man, thank you so much for coming on, man. I know there's a 1465 01:28:53,244 --> 01:28:56,886 lot of other things you could be doing and sharing your story. Dude, you've got 1466 01:28:56,908 --> 01:28:59,878 a great one, man. And I'm really excited to kind of see what's next in 1467 01:28:59,884 --> 01:29:03,526 store for you and following along, because I think you're 1468 01:29:03,558 --> 01:29:06,938 on just an amazing path, dude. I really do. You have a lot to offer. 1469 01:29:07,104 --> 01:29:10,426 Thank you so much. That's really sweet of you. I appreciate that. And I had 1470 01:29:10,448 --> 01:29:13,950 a great time. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, man, of course. 1471 01:29:14,100 --> 01:29:17,806 All right. Until next time, everyone. Did I tell 1472 01:29:17,828 --> 01:29:21,674 you about my albatross? Thanks for tuning in, everyone. Don't miss out on our upcoming 1473 01:29:21,722 --> 01:29:25,566 golf giveaways and experiences. They're exclusive to our subscribers, and all 1474 01:29:25,588 --> 01:29:29,182 you got to do is subscribe. And until next time, golf's easy. 1475 01:29:29,236 --> 01:29:33,086 Think fairways and greens. Here we go. Come on. Did I tell 1476 01:29:33,108 --> 01:29:36,340 you about my albatross? Oh, how you know?