Resilience and Success Shane's Inspirational Story

Full transcript

Welcome to Health with Fitness Redefined. I'm your host, anthony Amen. Join us today for another fabulous episode for all of you. So, without further ado, let me welcome to the show another great guest, shane. Shane, it's a pleasure to have you on today.

Hey, anthony, great to be here. Thank you.

Yeah, Excited to have you on. I'll learn a little more about you. Go into one of my favorite topics health and fitness. But without further ado, just tell us a little bit about you and how you got into this field.

Yes, absolutely. You know, my journey started 35 years ago when I was 21 years old, from a small farming town, didn't go to college, you know, and I was just working a regular job and I crossed paths actually with a company that I got an opportunity to get a professional license and go into the financial product sales business mainly investments, some insurance but this business was a lot like real estate You're a 1099 independent contractor, no boss, no set hours, and you had really it was a great opportunity to not only build a client base but, like real estate, move into the agency arena if you wanted to. And I saw this as an opportunity to not have a boss. That was my motivation. I just didn't want a boss, I wanted to make some money and I was really excited about it. I quit my job, got my license, went in and I was actually kind of a failure my first two years and I had many moments where I would sit there knowing what I need to do but I couldn't understand why I wasn't doing it and essentially what I did is I realized that this is all mental. Everything is being played out in my head. I need to get out of my own way At 21 years old. 22 years old, I didn't think that way. It's just I need to force myself to do it. I did and I went. I had a little bit of success. Fast forward five years. I became a broker, had my own office and I moved to Fresno so Fresno is about two and a half hours from the central coast of California where I live and I moved into that big area. I didn't know anybody and I wanted to build a very big business. I wanted to build a big agency, lots of brokers, lots of everything, and so my primary focus when I went there was to go locate, you know, recruit, train agents, brokers and build my business. And what I found is, as I would talk to people, most people were just like me in my early days, you know, they wanted to do it, they wanted to make it happen, but they just would not get out of their own way mentally to go make it happen, succeed, or they'd hit a little bit of, you know, some bumps in the road or a little bit of negativity or something. They'd run back to their comfort zone. And what I did? I took about two or three years and I did a really deep dive into the psychology of people. I mean, I did everything. I mean that was before the YouTube days, obviously, but I did all the research I could. I bought college psychology textbooks, believe it or not. I wanted to learn. What is it about humans that makes us so different from other species? You know, why do we care so much about what other people think? Why do we have this thing called a comfort zone? Why can't we shake it? Why do we behave and do the things that we do the way that we do? And I really took a. It really took to me, I really got it. I understood it quickly. Took a, it really took to me, I really got it, I understood it quickly. I developed, I guess, kind of a process and a system where, from that moment on, I would bring people in and do my product training, my sales training meetings. But half of that meeting was on the mindset of winning the mentality, getting them. I had a focus of every time I'm in front of these people, if I can get them to leave thinking just a little bit differently than they got here, get them to essentially get out of their own way and go from a mediocre or what I call a middle-class mentality into a success-driven, high-performance mentality. These people are not only going to stick around, but they're going to participate, they're going to work, they're going to do it. And my business really took off and we went on a run. I became a seven figure earner. I produced a lot of free and financially independent people. And again fast forward to 2012, 2013,. I built that business. It's still here today. It runs itself. It's good, it's set. I kind of pulled back. I'm kind of semi-retired, took a couple of years off and then I had some people approach me from the business world, but also some from the fitness world, some friends of mine that personal trainers. One of them owned a gym, some were dieticians and they knew me well enough to know what I used to teach my representatives. And next thing, you know, I started teaching this mental process, if you will, this mindset, to people outside of my own business. And then, as it went, I started finding myself teaching it more and more in the fitness world. A lot of it is trying to get people to make that emotional attachment to a goal, because if you say, hey, 92% of people that set goals don't achieve them, people don't get that To them. That's just a statistic, it's just a stat whatever, but if you say, 92% of people who attempt to lose weight don't succeed they either don't lose weight or they don't keep it off that wakes people up and so we would work on this, and so I've been teaching this for probably seven, eight years outside of my business. And then, in a little over two years ago December of 2021, I have four kids and my 19-year-old daughter passed away. She had a seizure disorder since she was 11, epilepsy and she had the big one, and that was obviously, as you can imagine, was a dramatic paradigm shift for me, and at that point, as I worked my way out of that you know that loss and the tragedy of it I really discovered that what I want to do with my life is I want to pursue something that helps people Not to sound cliche, but I really get a satisfaction of helping people. I like to make a difference, helps people Not to sound cliche, but I really get a satisfaction of helping people. I like to make a difference. I like to do something that I'm passionate about In my other business. I've been doing it for 35 years. It runs itself, it's big, it's good, but I just don't have that necessarily that passion, if you will anymore, and so I decided to found and get started my company Disruption Factor and actually took all of this that I've been teaching for decades and put it into a tangible, actual system and a process and everything from seminars I could call myself a performance consultant, which is really teaching people to go from a mediocre mentality to a high performance individual. And to me, a high performance individual in this world is someone that can set a goal, do what's necessary to achieve it and stay there and keep going. And so I would consult businesses, organizations, but really it's really, in the last year and a half, really gravitated towards the fitness community. Really gravitated towards the fitness community. As I mentioned to you earlier, I have quite a few personal trainers that are affiliates with my online course, that they're working with their people to try to get people out of that mindset. So I found, as we progress here, that I'm having the most profound effect on people that are in the fitness niche, that most of them trying to lose weight and a lot of them trying to get fit. So that's how we got here. It's a lot of fun, I love it and we're able to make quite a difference for people.

That's a lot.

I know I try to keep it short. I'm sorry. I was actually thinking I got my story. I've got to make it shorter. I got to get better at this. No, I get it. It.

It comes from a good place right, sure, sure you had to go through a horrible situation yes, kind of get yourself going to really show you wanted to help people, and that's a good first point to talk about all the time. It's the saddest truth, I think to date that the people who go through the worst situations are the ones that end up being the most altruistic, that go out there and do things for themselves, go out and help other people and really push that Like, hey, I just want to help people and change lives and those are the big impact people in our lives. I'll use that word, but it's true. The gym owners that are the most successful to my field are ones that went through adversity like myself, like other people I've interviewed on this show, like yourself. That's that's why you're going to grow and you're going to make this a huge thing. You had to go through that in order to understand what it is to build resilience. We know that can't get much worse, so you're just going to keep trying yeah, yeah.

And then, just following your passions, you know you're good at what you do. You're great at what you do because your health and fitness and all things health and fitness for you, anthony are obviously a passion, first and foremost of yours.

You know so if you can follow that passion, but I had to go through that adversity Right, right, absolutely. It never was prior, prior to adversity never was prior, prior to university there was. I didn't give a shit about whether I went to the gym or not, it didn't matter. Now, my point being like it got there and then I want to talk about and this is a good segue this literally is what we talked about on last week's episode. That, for you, isn't out yet, so you don't even know that we talked about that. So I'm just gonna kind of summarize some points because I don't want to be super repetitive. When it comes to goal setting and when it comes to doing things, what I personally have learned is that people get really good at disappointing themselves, and the reason people don't achieve goals is because from a very young age, we set things for us to do and then we don't do it and our family and friends say, oh, it's okay, it's okay, don't worry about it. And then we start developing that habit. So we start doing it internally, like how many times did you say I'm going to try out for this team? And then you didn't? And you're like, oh, it's okay. And then that builds up into adulthood and then, when we have adults, we get worse, and it's just the little things. I'm gonna start this monday, I'm gonna. We don't care that we disappoint ourselves. We just don't care. So it's teaching the mindset of you have to like take yourself serious, take yourself seriously. That's what makes you feel like shit, like you don't take yourself seriously, so how is anyone else gonna take you seriously? When I set a goal, I'm like I'm not disappointing myself. I'd much rather disappoint somebody else than myself, because I'm gonna beat the shit out of myself later if I don't actually follow through what that is and that's what makes me keep doing more and keep doing more. When I say I'm gonna do something, I want to freaking do it right, how many times you tell me I'm not getting there. But what's your thought process for what you've discovered when it comes to that being what I have seen the fact that people just see the point Do you see anything related?

Yes, absolutely. I teach setting goals, achieving goals, but I have a real specialty in the comfort zone. The comfort zone, first of all, frustrates me because if you go out into social media land and you see people, you see a lot of the same stuff regurgitated. It's the circles, growth zone, fear zone, comfort zone, all that. But people don't truly understand the comfort zone, how it is the enemy, how it was built over time by your entrained mentality, which is what you're talking about. From the time we're kids. I call that the middle-class mentality or the mediocre mentality. We're taught to conform. We're taught the herd mentality Be like everybody else, Don't poke your head up, Just follow the crowd. We're taught to settle. We're taught to just be happy with what we have. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't be grateful and have an attitude of gratitude. We know that. But we're taught like you should just be. In other words, Anthony, why do you want to go open up more gyms, for example? Why do you want to expand your empire? You should just be happy with what you have. You know they teach us this mediocre mentality.

I can't tell you how many times I get that.

Yeah, and just this mediocre mentality, yeah, and not only that, but our comfort zone is part of our paradigm. So you take someone that wants to lose weight A lot of people over their lifetime. They've created this paradigm which, ultimately, in its simplest form, is just your overall worldview of things. And they might be. I've been heavy my whole life. I've tried diets in the past. They didn't work. Maybe I lost weight, but I gained it back, and that's their attitude going into it. It's a losing proposition from the start. So they need to address their paradigm, learn how to change it and understand that your comfort zone it's called a comfort zone for a reason, because it's comfortable. Understand that. There's no pressure, there's no spotlight, there's no expectation. You're like everybody else. Nobody expects anything from you. No pressure, but we all have characteristics and this is what I had, what I was going through like I can now looking back, right, but there's four things that there's four characteristics, anthony, of myself that have kept me in my comfort zone, that to this day, I've had to fight. Now I've gotten good at fighting it and I've learned how to be a high performance person and everything, but I am number one. I'm a natural. I'm a natural procrastinator. I'm not lazy, but I'll put stuff off for tomorrow that I should do today. Number two I have an intense fear of rejection. I mean an intense fear of rejection. So to send me to a strange town where I have to build a business in a cold market, that's like putting an elevator in an outhouse. I mean, it just makes no sense. But I had to get over that, right. I care way too much about what other people think about me, and that's a very common trait. I put people through this exercise to identify your character traits that have built you your comfort zone and keep you there. That's a very common one. People care way too much about what other people think, and I care about what people think, but not so much as I'm going to let them dictate my life, but a lot of people do. And then, lastly, I'm very easily distracted. I've got a little ADD going on. You know I will set out to do something. The next thing, you know, I'm in left field doing something completely different. And those things are the. Those are the things that I had to get over. But the real reality, back to your question why do people attempt to leave their comfort, set a goal? And, as you know, you know, there's five areas of life. There's relational, spiritual, financial or business, also recreational and what we're talking about today physical fitness. Any area of your life that you decide you want to take to a new level, it requires a goal. Whether you set a goal or not, you should set a goal, but it requires a goal. I set a goal, I want to do this. I want to lose weight. Let's say I want to get fit. You're going to venture outside of your comfort zone. The number one reason people come right back to their comfort zone is because of what I call the disruption factor. That's the name of my company, because it's the number one thing we teach. It's the disruption that they face when they leave that comfort zone. So again, I want to lose weight. So it could be I'm going to buy a diet, I'm going to enroll in this, I'm going to get a personal trainer, I'm going to walk, I'm going to exercise, whatever it is. They get excited about it and they're going to go out there. They're going to clean out their refrigerator, clean out their pantry, they're going to set some guidelines. They're not going to drink any soda. They're going to drink a lot more water. They're going to exercise. They're going and they start with it. And the very first thing that people hit when they embark on their journey to achieve their goal is they get hit with literally tons of disruption before they even see an ounce of success. Their routine is disrupted, their lifestyle is disrupted. They're uncomfortable. They might go to the gym and three days later they can't even brush their teeth because they're so sore. They're going to bed hungry. They don't like that. They've got cravings, you know. And that right there is the number one reason people rush right back in. So, getting them aware of your comfort zone, aware of this disruption, how to embrace that disruption? Embrace it, look forward to it. Sounds a little maniacal, but you look forward to the disruption, knowing that it's going to knock you people off.

I need to interject here just because my brain is going a mile a minute.

Yeah, go for it.

But I can tell you exactly why and if you remember, I was a psychology major. It's so interesting. But our brains, the way they get wired, when we first start doing a task, we build that connection, the neurological connection inside of our brain. So, for example, learning to walk just has. First it's very difficult to think about it. So, in detail, every little step, you're trying to ponder how do I walk? How do I walk, how do I walk? And over time your brain figures it out and starts putting it together and then, before you know it, it's able to fire those connections really rapidly. Over time, your brain figures it out and starts putting it together and then, before you know it, it's able to fire those connections really rapidly, really quickly. And the more you get good at it, you don't even think about it. We don't even think about walking anymore. Now we're walking, talking, spinning, whatever. So that's why, as humans, it's so hard for us to leave our comfort zone, because we don't want to go through the psychological stress of creating those new neurological pathways we don't want our brain to start thinking it's going to get so overwhelmed it's going wait, this isn't my just rinse and repeat. I have to think now. I don't want to think our bodies are programmed to be extremely lazy, like very. They don't want to burn calories. We used to not have food around, so we're going to be like let's just synchronize everything and preserve energy Now that we don't have that issue anymore. It's like fighting against human nature. It's okay, wait, I got to think about new things to keep myself preoccupied, because that's where you get like a brain dead feeling you do the same things over again. You set up a pathway, you do one response is going to trigger a whole bunch of responses after that. So fighting against it gets very difficult until you build a habit, exactly which the habit quote-unquote is when you build those pathways that then make it repetitive and easier and easier and easier because you're reinforcing it over and over and over.

Yeah, and that is the goal. The ultimate goal here is to not only leave your current comfort zone behind, but to build a new comfort zone. You know, I've I spent. I'm 56 years old. I spent the entire decade of my forties doing the yo-yo dieting. I would do the low carb, high protein. I would put on weight, I'd lose it. Put on weight, lose it. I knew I'm a, I'm an athlete. I knew it's not what I'm supposed to be doing, but I was lazy, like you said, and four years ago I woke up one day and I said okay, shane, that's enough. You know what you need to do. You need to eat right and you need to get your butt in the gym. And I did. And when I started doing that, all of a sudden I had to start adhering and following the stuff that I've been teaching people for decades, because I left my comfort zone. My whole routine was disrupted. I was going through all that, but ultimately, the goal is to build a new comfort zone that consists of you doing the things you need to do to achieve the goal move your life forward. So, in my own situation now, when it comes to fitness, I consistently work out three, four, usually four days a week, if I travel, if I'm doing something, or you know, we just get busy life happens. If I miss a few days, I find myself irritated, I find myself uncomfortable because I'm not doing what I need to do. And I remember when that thought first hit me about two years, about two years into my fitness journey, I realized that man, why am I so irritated? Why am I upset? Well, it's because I haven't been to the gym in a week, because I've been traveling and doing all this stuff. And that, anthony, that's when I knew that I won, I knew it was over at that point, because I knew that I had built a new comfort zone, that I wasn't happy unless I was doing the things I needed to do. That is the goal and that's the habits, that's the routines, that's changing and growing and leaving that behind, like you're talking about.

So walk us through what you would do for somebody who's not comfortable being uncomfortable or doesn't want to deal with that psychological stress. What would something you would tell that? Person a lot of people don't want to fight for that, like. You and I are different, but we have to train ourselves there. So how do you get someone to start training themselves to get there?

well, it's, it's all a mindset and that's, you know, part of the problem in the coaching performance spectrum. Out there is people think, mindset. They think, oh, they kind of discount it. But you don't realize that the difference between winning and losing and success and failure is what goes on between your ears. It is a mindset. So when you want to get people that are, you know they're scared or they don't know if they can do it, they want to take it on. There's a lot of it's a mentality. One of the ways that one of the things that I teach people that has a lot of success, first of all, believe it or not, is what I call negative motivation, and that's not something that you hear about a lot because you know, in the motivation world, if you will, we're all taught positive, positive thoughts, positive expectation, things like that, and you need that. But what is negative motivation? Negative motivation is and I do this still today, but I did a lot when I first started my again my fitness journey four years ago is I'm going, I'm rolling, and not only do we get hit with all that disruption, but the one thing that almost every goal has in common is you're never where you thought you'd be when you thought you'd be there. Right, I want to lose 20 pounds. In my first month I lost two. That's discouraging, right? That's how it hits people. Well, I would have my moments early on thinking like man, I just don't know. And then you slip into that justification phase. Well, you know, it's not like I'm fat, it's not like I'm in that bad of shape. I mean, I guess I look better than most. You know. You start to justify. That's what happens right before you give up on your goal and go back to your comfort zone. But the negative motivation is this thought of you know, I'm six months in, I'm three months in, I'm a year in If I stop now, and a year, two years down the road. I have this thought of where could I be right now? Where would I be right now if I just wouldn't have stopped? And that thought, right there, will send shivers down people's spines, because we've all experienced that. We've all embarked on a goal, gave up and at some point look back oh man, where would I be if I just wouldn't have given up? Right? And that's something that people need to think about. You need to think about how am I going to feel if I stop? How am I going to feel a year down the road when I look in the mirror? I'm not happy with how I feel, how I look, and I think to myself for a split second where would I be right now if I just wouldn't stop? It's a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching feeling and it's a big reason why a lot of people don't go back and embrace goals and try to do something again, because they don't want that feeling. So that right, there is an exercise of negative motivation and a lot of people should write that down, you know, and put himself through that exercise and learning to embrace the disruption, understanding that disruption is going to occur. I'm going to embark on this goal. I'm going to behave with this disrupt. I'm going to be uncomfortable, my routine is going to get disrupted. I got to find time to go to the gym, find time to exercise. I'm going to be hit with this disrupt. I'm going to be uncomfortable, my routine is going to get disrupted. I got to find time to go to the gym, find time to exercise. I'm going to have these cravings. I got to let them go. It's. I'm going to go to bed hungry. It's not going to be fun for me, but embrace it and understand that when you get hit with those moments of where you feel like giving up or giving in, understand that at that moment, right there, most people would give up, most people would give in, most people would go back, and you're not going to do what most people are going to do. So just being aware of this stuff and that's probably half of what I teach people is just becoming aware of these things that are going to occur. Here's what you're aware of, here's how you embrace it, here's how you tackle it, here's how you get through it, if that makes sense.

Yeah, you, I don't know if you listen to Alex or Mosey at all. No, you described what he talks about, quote, unquote, and I'm put the whole.

I'll have to look him up. I've never heard of him. I'll have to look him up, yeah.

Yeah, so he. Everything he talks about is business related, but it does relate to fitness, so it both work either way. I love this thought process on things. So first we start off with uninformed optimism is what he calls it. So that's when a new idea comes in. You know, if I'm just going to do this because my friend Betty told me that and it's going to be great, I'm going to make a lot of money or make a fitness related. My friend Susan told me if I do this great diet then I'm going to lose 50 pounds, just like her. And you get all excited about it and you start going forward and you drop everything, you spend the money on this program and you build up that uninformed optimism. And then what happens? You get that first month, exactly what you said, right around that peak of that top of the uninformed optimism, and then he calls it you dive into uninformed pessimism. Now you're getting pissed off. Now you're dropping down all the way to in business and then health right. So you're just oh my god, I can't believe this isn't working. And you start adding those justification things into it and you start thinking of all these excuses it's everybody else, it's not me and then you get so deep down. He gets to the point he calls it the valley of despair. And this is where most people have so much uninformed pessimism, that blaming everything else around them, and that's when people give up. That's when, like I think it's 80 of people stop right there sure but what people don't realize is, if you continue going through this, you eventually hit informed optimism. That means that, first thing, that that habit that created starts working and you're like, oh, this little thing made me lose a pound, okay, and you start building that. And then that informed optimism starts going up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up up, until you get to the top. And then you're hitting that whole point of you know what's going on and you're positive what's going on. Then you hit the last point, which is informed pessimism, which is only a minor slope down, because you start going into that next idea. But now you understand, hey, this isn't going to make me a million dollars, hey, this isn't going to make me lose 50 pounds in a month, but I might lose a pound here, gain a pound here, and then I will eventually slow back up to go even higher on a more informed not to start building yourself up from there. So it's a great little model to think about. Yeah, it fits in perfectly to what you were saying and that's why I love it so much. It just shows right. At that point people are just like that's it, I'm done.

Yeah, and one of the things I like to teach people is the concept of building their life in 90 day cycles. And this is again. This is all stuff that I would teach in my business and it applies everywhere. But build like, if you're gonna set a weight loss or fitness goal, you build a life in 90 day cycles. You plot it out a 90 day cycle, understanding that the first 30 days, if you're starting off the first 30 days, you're not going to see a lot of results, but you're going to experience a ton of discomfort, disruption and pain the first 30 days. Second 30 days, you're going to start to develop more of the habit and the routine is going to become more comfortable. You're going to get used. You're not going to feel the hunger pains as much If you're dieting. You're not. You know your body's not going to be as sore now as often. Now that you're consistently exercising. And by the end of that 90 days, if you're staying on it, you're working it you should start to see, typically, your first real results. You know now you're the fitness expert more than I am, um, but building your life in 90 day cycles is one of the areas that you can, that people can help from having that initial man. I tried it. I'm a month in. I'm not where I want to be, this sucks, and they take their step back, you know. So that's a whole module that we teach about building their life in 90 day cycles, you know why many days? just because it's. It's short enough that people can focus on it and they can get there, but it's long enough to allow people to go through the dip and the cycle and the experience. And usually, if they're on it and they're doing it, they're going to see some results. They're going to see some movement. I wanted to lose weight. I lost a little weight, or I feel a little bit better or I got a little stronger. If it's business you know my business increased Things are. I can see some results now because you know when they you set a goal and you embark on it and you experience a disruption and all the pain and all that you're on it, you're changing your routine and all of that. When you start to see those results, man, that's when it just takes off. That's when, like all of a sudden, wow. You look in the mirror and you go, wow, I think I see something right. This is exciting. For most people that can happen within a 90-day period of time. But if they don't think about 90 days, if they don't understand a 90-day cycle, they don't plan for it and program into it. They're going to be so short-sighted that a lot of them they hit those first obstacles, they get that first. You know road bump and they just slow down, stop and give up if they don't have, like a personal trainer or someone like that to hold them accountable.

If you run into someone in your family right and they're telling you Shane, listen, I got. I can't lose the weight, I got this. What is the first thing you're going to say to them? I can't lose the weight, I got this. What is the first thing you're going?

to say to them Well again, I'm not the dietician, I'm not talking about dietician, I'm talking about just strictly the motivation side of it.

Sure, it doesn't matter what aspect of life. They're coming to you and they're just in that. I can't do this because of X, Y, Z and blah, blah, blah has never worked. Whatever that case may be, what do you tell to someone that's so not into it? How do you bring them in?

Or do you?

have to wait for them to figure it out.

I'll ask them if they want me to be nice or they want the tough love, because the reality is they're talking to big game, but their actions aren't backing it. Okay, and what? What habits have you? What habits are what? What is? What change is required for you to to achieve this? They know what they're supposed to do. Okay, which of those changes and those habits, routines have you not changed? Are you cheated on? Are you've gone back on? Be honest with me, right, what's your focus? Are you focused? You know, have you made the break? It's a complete mentality. So I will ask about. You know, you probably know what you should be doing and, more importantly, you know what you're not doing. So what is it that you're not doing? Because you can't tell me that if you followed a program and you're on it and you're dedicated and you're doing it, that you're not going to see some results, especially within a 90-day period of time. You're going to see something, you're going to feel something, and none of us are super, super human. I mean, you'll have cheap days, you'll trip up, you'll miss days, stuff like that, but what is and usually they'll admit it They'll go well. Actually, I can't give up ice cream at nine o'clock at night Well, that's a big deal. Or I get headaches. I'm getting caffeine headaches, so I'm trying to drink water, but I'm still walking around work with a 42 ounce thing of diet soda, okay, Well. So you know what you're doing wrong. So instead of saying it's not working, you're not working. Anytime someone tells me it's not working, it doesn't work business anything, I always say that's like saying that the gym doesn't work. I tried that gym thing. It didn't work. If you said that to somebody they'd laugh at you. They'd go no, the gym works, you didn't work. And that kind of is a common denominator across the board in every aspect of life.

Do you think it's societal or related?

Absolutely. We are entrained with that mediocre or that middle-class mentality.

I'm going to add do you think it's gotten worse?

Yes, social media has not helped. We live more vicarious now than we ever have. People just live for that stuff, and I understand. I mean this is probably the most toxic political climate we've seen in our country's history. The economy is rough, inflation is up. Out here in California we're still paying over $5 for a gallon of gas and everything, and so people want an escape. So I understand the vicarious nature to a point, but it has gotten worse. The vicarious living being we all hang out with people that are just like us, anthony. For the most part We've got the same jobs, the same incomes, we look the same, we drive the same cars, we've got the same spouse, the same kids, same homes, and that's why we kind of hang out, and so that right there-.

You somehow hopped into our last week's episode and like there's a fly on the wall.

That's funny and so it's very comfortable. It's part of your comfort zone. There's no pressure, there's no spotlight. You're like everybody else. You decide to break out of that. You know it's uncomfortable. A lot of them aren't going to make you feel uncomfortable, you know you decide you want to start a business. They're not going to cheerlead you, they're going to try to talk you out of it. It's that crab in a bucket mentality and so, yes, it's the societal pressure and the mentality that we've been taught and the paradigms that have been entrained into us. It's, for most people, the idea of being a goal setter, goal achiever, high performer and really achieving success in any area of your life is. It's not easy to do and it's a lot more than just you know. Get out of your comfort zone and go to work and when you feel like quitting, don't. That's it's way bigger than that. You got to get that mentality right. You got to read books. You need podcasts like yours.

I'm going to say it again. I haven't said it in like six months. It all started with participation trophies. Oh, 100% they were doing themselves a favor by giving everyone, making everyone a winner, and there's no hard feelings. Mediocrity, that's when you create mediocrity.

Exactly.

I totally agree, there's nothing toity.

Exactly, I totally agree. I totally agree, absolutely, absolutely. And you break out of that and you pick an area of your life that you decide to take to a new level and you do what it takes and you put in the work and when you want to give up, you don't, and you achieve that level of success. The opposite end of it. There's no better feeling in the world. You know, I'm 56 years old. I'm in the best physical shape of my life since I was probably 25. And it feels great. I feel great. I look better than I looked in a long time, you know. And the same thing with business. You know, I started that business years and years ago and all my family and friends gave me a hard time, teased me, told me I couldn't do it, said I was stupid, thought what do you think you're better than everybody else? All that kind of weird stuff. And then I went out and did very well for myself and now it feels good. I haven't had a boss for 36 years, 35 years I've been free. And so the flip side of that is reminding yourself what am I leaving behind? Why is it that I want to go embark on this? Why do I want to lose weight, why do I want to get fit, why do I want to feel better. What are you leaving behind? Remind yourself of that negative motivation.

I'm going to add into it, just because I literally live in this field, it's when you add societal pressure 100%, now it's's it's okay to be a hundred pounds overweight, it don't. That's fat shaming. That's if. What are you talking about? You can't tell someone that they to lose weight it's okay, you're, you're allowed to be like this. And then people just hear it so much it's gaslighting. You hear it so much and right, you start believing it, but like I. There's a study that came out I think it was like two, three years ago that showed not exercising had a higher rate of mortality than that of smoking. Right, so you can. You're gonna die sooner if you don't exercise and don't smoke than if you smoke and exercise. That's ridiculous. People don't remember. And don't smoke, then if you smoke and exercise.

That's ridiculous.

People don't remember, and I'm sure like I do. I was 17 when the whole smoking kills you. It's on everything they showed you images. They scare people straight and people are like it's okay, they're saving lives. Why can't we do that now?

It's okay to be 5, 10 pounds overweight.

Yeah, no one cares, it's okay to be 5, 10 pounds overweight. Yeah, no one cares, it's fine.

Well, you want to hear it. I'll tell you this.

You'll love this.

Yeah, you'll love this. You've heard of Reader's Digest, right Been around forever, oh yeah, okay, you know what the number one selling issue of Reader's Digest was. No idea the cover of of this number, the number one selling issue of Reader's Digest. The cover was how to lose weight without exercise and that, right there, encompasses the society's, our society's mentality. We want to lose weight without exercise, we want to be successful without having to work and we want a great life, but we don't want to have to change. We want to go for everything and it doesn't work. That's not. You. Take your participation trophy, listen to what they say about being overweight, but the bottom line is that there is no pill. You got to put in the work, you got to get your mentality right. You got to look at what most people one of the things that I teach people and I live this way and I want to. Before I say this, anthony, I want you to understand in your audience no way, shape or form, do I ever think that I'm better than anybody else. That's not what this is about. No one's better than anybody else, totally agree. But I've lived my life in doing the opposite. In other words, you want to succeed in life in any area. Just look at what most people do and do the opposite and you're going to be successful. And it's not a put down to those people. But it's exactly what you're talking about the societal pressure, the comfort zone that they've created. It's okay to be overweight, it's healthy and participation, trophies and all this stuff, but there's no success. People are hurting financially. People are hurting physically. The health in this country is worse than it's not. There's no success. People are hurting financially. People are hurting physically. The health in this country is worse than it's ever been. You know, and just you, want to succeed. Look at what most people do and just do the opposite and you're going to win. You really are. It's not that difficult.

Yeah, I mean, you nailed it right in the head, it's. It's true, and we're doing our species a disservice. Right, nailed it right on the head, it's true, and we're doing our species a disservice.

Right.

Our populations are starting to decrease, especially in the Western world. You look at Europe. I think most European countries are like a negative 2%, negative 3%. That's a combination of being unhealthy, not having kids there's so many different being too expensive to live there's so many factors and that makes it that much harder to separate, that much harder to fight against society. Look what norms gives us and then look what being different gives you, and those that are truly different are the ones that truly succeed and that's what you really notice. Those are the true disruptors. Elon Musk is an unusual figure, right, but that unusuality, that uniqueness of him made him who he is and why everyone knows that name absolutely that's, that's how you have to think and just go opposite or whatever. When everyone's telling you is right, it, it doesn't sound right If there's something off by it, if you're only thinking of short-term and not thinking of long-term impacts. These are things you weigh in when people are spitting things because they just want to put you down so they feel better about themselves. That's the sad truth.

It's the crabs in the bucket story. You could put crabs in a bucket with no lid, because every time one tries to claw out, the other ones are going to reach up and pull it back down. You know so, true, yeah, so just becoming aware of this, these, these mentalities.

Yeah, I totally agree, shannon. It's about this episode up, so I'm going to ask you the final two sentences. I ask everyone. The first one is if we were to summarize this episode in one or two sentences, what would be your take on message?

To summarize this in one or two sentences, I would say don't be afraid to set a goal and don't be afraid to do what it takes to leave your comfort zone and embrace it. Just expect disruption to occur, expect it, embrace it, look forward to it. It embrace it, look forward to it. Don't try to avoid it, take it head on. And then, secondly, I would tell you that join the rare air of the people that become high performance individuals. Stick to your goal, stay at it, because when you get there, the feeling of achievement is one of the best feelings in the world and you can't describe it until you live it. And it's worth it. The journey and the work is worth it.

Love that. And then the second question how can people find you find out more about Disruption Factor? Give us all the details.

Yeah, you know what? I'll just make it really easy. The best thing to do is go to my website. It's disruption-factorcom. Disruption dot com. Disruption dash factor dot com. You know, my book is on there. There's enough information on there. You can reach out. All my social media platforms are on there and we've got some exercises that people can go through and learn about. So, yeah, that's probably the easiest thing to do.

Love it. Shane, thank you for coming on. Thank you, guys, for listening to this week's episode of Health Fitness Redefined. Don't forget, hit that subscribe button and join us next week as we dive deeper into this ever-changing field. And remember fitness is medicine. Until next time, thank you. Outro Music.