An Army of Normal Folks - The Hero’s Journey (and Why Ours Starts With Normal Folks)

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

The Hero's Journey isn't just the formula behind Star Wars, Rocky, Pixar classics, and countless Hollywood blockbusters. It's the oldest pattern found in real-life heroic action—and true across cultures, centuries, and civilizations. And it always begins the same way: with an ordinary person. Someone like you. In this episode, Bill and Alex unpack why the timeless archetype matters and introduce "The 10 Level Challenge"—our new Hero's Journey for service that you can dare to venture on and designed to help you engage your community, discover your purpose, and become someone who shows up. Start your journey at TenLevelChallenge.org.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney from an Army of normal folks. Welcome into the shop. Really making it artistic here, aren't you, Bill? Hi, Alex. Welcome to the shop. Welcome in, Bill. No, I was my shop. Oh, yeah, yeah. Welcome to you. How are you? It's not our shop. We're not co-finers of this thing? Not of the shop. The shop's me. I am in your domain right now. You are entering my domain in the shop. Very true. How are you? I'm doing well. How's George? Actually, so he went on the bed delivery. I was telling you about last night. Maybe I'll just share this story quickly.

George did? Yeah, he hung out with the little boy the whole time, which is really cute. So this is the Oxford. So our Oxford Service Club, A&F Oxford, also started the Sleep and Heavenly Peace chapter. The Service Club started a chapter. That's really cool. So we'd have a great activity to do,

was kind of my theory, which is proven to be true. I also started the Sleep and Emily Peace chapter. We completely control it, so we can kind of do whatever. Yeah. you know, we went with it. So to date, we built and delivered 35 beds. We've raised $33,000. We've probably got in 100 different people in Oxford involved in it. How many people? What's the population of Oxford? 20,000? Yeah, like 25 and then not including students. So, yeah, the number is like, Stephen LEP says three to four percent of kids in America are bedless.

So that would be 282 kids in Lafayette County. And we've already gotten like 76 requests in a couple of months. That's incredible. Yeah. So, I mean, it's definitely, there's something there. And the one we just did yesterday, Child Protective Services called me, because they've someone introduced me to them recently and said, hey, we need beds for these kids, for three kids. And if these kids don't get beds, they go into the foster care system. So that's like the most meaningful type of, you know, work we can do, you know, with this. So you guys made beds and got them to the kids in time so that child protective services didn't pull these kids out of their family. Yeah, I'd actually ask them on the phone, like, hey, what's your deadline? This?

No kidding. Like, if you can get it before the 4th of July holiday, that would be good. And so then you got the service club together and said, we really need to build these beds for these kids or else they're going in foster care. Yeah. I can't think of a more meaningful service club event than that. It actually was kind of cool, like another layer on it. We were out of our current bed supply. So we actually built 10 beds on Friday for this purpose and in general.

And it was with a service camp that my church does with little kids. So it's like 10 to 13-year-old kids. Running around building beds. But then were used on Sunday to help other kids not go on the system. And George was hanging out with one of the kids. I love that. I really do love that. We're all just people, right?

It's just like they just meet in that moment and become friends. Can you believe this shop talk number 111? And our guest today runs the one-one-one projects. Is that weird? Is that so weird? Listeners won't get the reference until you. you hear the episode with the 101 project the one-one-one project yeah it's coming up it's coming up uh that is funny though well by this time this airs maybe no this will air before this

yeah the shop talk will air before the episode right so people have no idea we're talking about right we are previewing the one-one one-one all right what happened 111 years ago so 1915 i think we kind of talked the first one a little bit last time the armenian genocide began that's estimated 800,000 to 1.5 million Armenians died. The sinking of the Lusitania. Oh, whoa. The sinking of the Lusitania was 111 years ago? Yeah, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans.

Einstein completed general relativity. And this one's weird. The birth of a nation premiered research. Yeah, the resurgence of the KKK. I don't think we could do without that one. Well, history is history. We got to learn it all. History's, histories.

We got a bad and ugly. Yeah, the birth of a nation. Have you ever studied any of that much? No. I did. I took a dive into it some years ago, and it's, man, it'll make the hair stand up on your back. I mean, it's getting very close to kind of a Hitler-Nazi approach to Jews. It's really, it almost.

Which we hear some of that language today. Yeah, it's true. But the thing is, what it does is it seeks to almost somehow twist and pervert consciousness to normalize ridding yourselves of human beings. And you can see how people who don't question a lot or are impressionable or young might fall into, oh, well, this is how things are supposed to be. I mean, it's really scary stuff. Or have some kind of grievance. Yeah, that's right. It's horrible.

All right. So, the hero's journey and why ours starts with normal folks. That's what we're going to talk about. Really interesting stuff here. We actually did this once already and never produced it because Alex's... Screwed something out. Tech stuff didn't handle it well, right? Yeah.

All right. The listener didn't need to know that. But thanks, Bill. Well, no, I mean, it's the shop. So we talk shopping here. All right, so the hero's journey and why hour starts with normal folks right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Listen. And you're there for heart-wrenching knockouts.

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Stream it all live on TSN Radio. Available on IHeart Radio. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHeart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days.

The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments to take over your entire time. timeline. In the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. We'll give you our takes, our debates, and probably a few disagreements. We'll talk to athletes, celebrate big moments and get into what's happening on and off the field, court, track, and beyond. Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. So if you're already a fan,

you're just getting into the game. a seat for you right here. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby. Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support, and useful tools to help maximize joy. So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together.

We're going to have these meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating. fascinating people. Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges that she never saw coming. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer. And that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartum depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. Olympic champ Sean Johnson revealed why she had no choice but to be a gymnast. There was something about gymnastics that was intoxicating to me. It's given me a belief that we all have one of those treasures inside of us. We just have to find it. Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution? Why is it important that Americans know about it? Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. I'm Rebecca Nagel. Gohin, Taoadol, Julykoyette, Liqa, Leigh, Leigh,

citizen of Cherokee Nation. Are you guys big Chiefs fans? Hell yeah. This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be, and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the shop.

Shock Talk number one-one, which is a premonition of a guest we're having, does some one-one-one stuff. But you can listen to that in a couple weeks when it comes out. Just remember that. This is about the hero's journey and why ours starts with normal folks. If you've ever watched Star Wars, Toy Story, Finding, Nemo, Rocky, The Matrix, or just about any Pixar movie, you've already experienced the hero's journey, even if you've never really heard the term. That's because the hero's journey isn't a theory dreamed up by Hollywood. Hollywood actually borrowed it, and the reason Hollywood

borrowed it is because it works. Here's what the hero's journey is. The hero's journey was popularized by Joseph Campbell, a scholar who spent his life-studying myths. and stories across cultures and centuries. What he noticed was striking. Across civilization, that never met each other, people kept telling the same basic story, different characters, different settings, but same pattern. Hence the title of his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

At his core, the hero's journey goes something like this. A normal person, an ordinary person, is living an ordinary life. They fill a call. a call to adventure. They resisted at first, then they step across a line and take action. Then they face obstacles, struggle, learn, fail, grow. They don't just change the world. They're changed. They return home, not as a superhero, but as someone who can now help others. Campbell's big insight wasn't that heroes are special. It was that ordinary people become heroes by answering a call, thus the hero's journey. Why does Hollywood love it? George Lucas has openly said he built

Star Wars using Campbell's work. Pixar famously trains its writers on the hero's journey. Why? Because it mirrors real-life transformation. Luke Skywalker starts as a bored farm kid. Woody starts as an insecure toy. Rocky starts as a nobody from Philly. They don't begin They don't begin powerful. They begin unsure, reluctant, and imperfect. Does that sound at all familiar to who you see in the mirror? The lie we've been sold. Somewhere along the way, we started telling ourselves a very dangerous lie

that people who change the world are just different from me. They're smarter. They're braver. They're more researched. They're more confident. But the hero's journey says the opposite. It says you don't start ready. You become ready by moving.

Action precedes clarity. And most importantly, the hero is not the one with the spotlight. Very important to understand. The hero is not the one with the spotlight. The hero is the one who says, yes. Someone told us we should launch the hero's journey for service. And so we are. It's called the 10-level.

challenge. And it offers a service journey that normal folks, you, all of you listening, can go on with clear, actionable steps, which is the 10 levels, to deepen your service over time, help your community, and transform yourself in the process. Here's the 10 levels. Join the Army at normalfokes.org and one of our local service clubs. If we have one in your community, you can see the full list on our website. Number two, get inspired. Follow us on your favorite social media channels and subscribe to the podcast for inspiring stories of normal folks serving their communities and ideas for serving your own. Three, the good neighbor challenge. You can't love your neighbor if you don't know them. Write the names of eight of your closest neighbors down on paper. Four, take action once.

Just one time. if it doesn't get a little contagious. Number five, bring your friends on the journey, share the Army, and the 10-level challenge with them. Six, take action every week. Just one small action every week. Examples include mentoring someone and or meeting needs on Care Portal.

That takes almost no time. Seven, join our street team. Share our social weekly content, or better yet daily, and will mail you an Army sticker or bumper sticker to confirm just how awesome you are. The street team will have its own WhatsApp group to. Eight, become a social entrepreneur. By starting something like an army of normal folks service club, a blood drive at your company or church, a chapter of an organization we've featured, or another one you just happen to like, or a brand new thing entirely that you come up with.

And if you do, we'll call to congratulate you and potentially share what you're doing on air. Nine, share models with friends. Review our list of bottles and share with your friends ones that they could find of interest. Photographers could find of interest now lay me down to sleep. Remembrance photographs for still warm bursts. 10. Share your service journey so that others can benefit. it. We'll consider featuring your journey on the podcast and our social media. And for the first

1,000 people, that's a lot. For the first 1,000 of you to complete the 10-level challenge, we'll mail you a free t-shirt that identifies you as someone who crushed it. You can sign up to take the 10-level challenge today at 10-level challenge.org. And if you do this, you just might find some happiness or fulfillment in your life that you really don't feel right now. It's amazing that everybody I've ever interviewed will always say at the end of the interview that they got far more out of it than what they put into it. And we think for each of you, the 10-level challenge would do the same. What do you think, Alex?

I think it's awesome, Bill. What do you think? I think it's awesome, Alex. What do you think? I mean, honestly. I came up with it, so it's like a, it's an unfair question. No. Actually, somebody had come up with the idea of you should do the hero's journey for service.

Someone else there was their idea, and then I kind of helped shaped it from there. Well, what I love about it is for, and we're all this way. This is not a guilt trip, but we all sit around and think, you know, gosh, what can I do? I'm out of time. I got this. I've got that. But if you're one of the 66% of the people, you're one of the people, you know, people in the United States that readily admit that they would like to get more involved in

society and don't know how. If you're one of those, this is a 10-step personal challenge you can do to yourself that will help you engage. And, no, I think it's cool. I think it's just another layer that we've added in our Army and normal folks to try to inspire people to have the courage and the willingness to get involved. And people love challenges as part of the idea, too. Like, there are a lot of people do fitness challenges or health challenges, especially at the

beginning of the year. Yeah, the water bucket challenge. Yeah, the water bucket. Whatever it was called. I've heard about the crazy one that you did. Can Max tell me you guys pour it or, or Will, like, you guys pull the whole dump truck of water on you or something? Yeah, we used a, we used a telehand or extender and had like 600 gallons of water way

above my head and it dumped on me. Did it hurt? That's a lot of water. It wasn't, they didn't hurt. I mean, it was, I was, you know, it was stupid. I don't know. Somebody around here said, we should do it, and I said, do it. And I went out front and they had the water up there, and I stood there, and they dumped water on me.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure some people will race through this and complete it fast, but also what I like about this is you can also take your time with it. Like, you don't have to finish this in a week, a month. I mean, you could take up to a year or longer, you know, doing this too. You're just completing these these 10 levels as you're able to.

It's true. And it's basically, back to the title, it's going on your own hero's journey. It's going on a journey that clearly works, that, you know, if you think about Hollywood and you think about the fact that the hero's journey is a comprehensive term for the way storytelling has happened over centuries across human existence. from all cultures and walks of life, the hero's journey works. And so this is your own hero's journey,

if you'll take the challenge. Amen. Amen. All right. So that's that. If you enjoyed this episode, please share our friends and on social. Subscribe to the podcast,

rate it, review it. Join the army at normalfokes.org. Join and start one of our local service clubs. Take the 10-level challenge, like we've just said, buy our merch. My gosh. If there's, I mean, the altos to our episodes are going to be too long if we keep adding ways for people to do stuff. It's incredible.

Yeah, I got one more thing to add, actually. July 10th, this is going to come out before then. We were doing a live interview in Memphis. Are we? You may forget this. It's with the CEO of F3. We're doing it across town in the listening lab. We're doing one of our lunch and listens there.

I'll be there. You will be there because it's on your calendar. Okay. So F3, for those who aren't familiar with it, stands for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. But I think I've told you I've been doing this. They're 5.30 a.m. workouts, outdoors rain or shine with a group of guys year-round. Like, even when we do it during the summer, it's a blast. But there's 16,000 guys across the country doing this in 600 locations.

Fitness fellowship in faith. Yeah, and there's like 10 or 15 locations in Memphis, you know, doing it too. So the CEO's coming in and we're doing a live interview with them. I'm leaving for D.C. tomorrow. Anyway, so it's F3. Memphis. Dot eventbrite.com. Okay.

Say it again. I'm sorry. F3 Memphis. dot eventbrite.com. I am leaving for D.C. tomorrow. I'm back and then I'm crazy. This fits right down the alley of the Scott Morris world with Church Health.

Would you please send him like a special email that says, hey, I want to let you know? I bet he would get people from Churchill to come to that for sure. Yeah. Because they're all about fitness too. And faith. And faith, obviously. Okay, I think that's it, right? That's it. All right.

That shop talk number one-one-one. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next week. What's up, fam, it's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from together.

We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments, and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. From game-changing performances to culture-shifting conversations, we'll give you our takes, our debates, and a few lasts along the way. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports.

On the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. 150 years ago, they were hunting us down to kill us. And now they're hunting down immigrants to deport them. This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Munga Shatigula, and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talked to scientists, biopunks, cremudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. To make it look more defined.

They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive How to Live Forever on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit, season two, is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority black city,

in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslaveers. people. Listen to Rebel Spirit season two on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.