Barbell Shrugged - The Strong Coach w/ Mike Bledsoe  — Feed Me Fuel Me #111

Episode Date: November 1, 2018

Round two with Mike Bledsoe on the Feed Me Fuel Me Podcast. Since our last conversation, Mike had journeyed around the world and embraced a nomadic life for a while with his wife Ashley, who was featured on the last episode (#110). Now that we've caught up with Mike got the chance to sit down with his undivided attention, we get into right away. Newly 37, and another year wiser, we get a sneak peak into what he's brewing for the year to come. Buckle up for this one, as we discuss what makes a strong coach, Burning Man, Project X, building the Shrugged Collective, unlearning and relearning at the Training Camp for the Soul, in addition to a ton of other deep and dope stuff with one of the founders of Barbell Shrugged and the Shrugged Collective..   Enjoy! - Jeff and Mycal ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/fmfm_bledsoe ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

This is episode number 111 of the Feed Me, Fuel Me podcast with our special guest, founder and CEO of the Shrug Collective, Mike Bledsoe. Welcome to the Feed Me, Fuel Me podcast. My name is Jeff Thornton, alongside my co-host, Michael Anders. Each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message related to our three pillars of success. Manifestation, business, fitness, and nutrition. Our intent is to enrich, educate, and empower our audience to take action, control, and accountability for their decisions. Thank you for allowing us to join you on your journey. Now let's get started. Hey, what's good crew? Welcome to another episode of the Feed Me, Feel Me podcast. There is Jeff coming to you from beautiful Encinitas, California, and we get to redo an interview with Mike Bledsoe. Yes. What's up, man? Man, uh... Everything. I'm excited.

Life is amazing. I'm... I'm, uh... I feel more on purpose in my life than ever. And it's really, really nice. Dude. As a result of what? Living. And I have to say, we have to say happy birthday, man.

Thank you. That has to be a fun experience. I want we have to say happy birthday, man. Thank you. That has to be a fun experience. I want to dive into a quick question, man, because I saw you made a super profound post talking about, you know, turning 37, how you've experienced the ups and downs of negative and positive emotions. Dive in a little bit to that, man, how you started the painting and everything. Yeah. Well, I want to address the negative emotions thing. Yeah, let's talk emotions thing. I don't even, I don't see any emotions as negative. And I think a lot of times we label things as negative

and we judge sadness or anger as something that's negative. And so it's something to avoid. And so one of the things that I've been working on the last few years is pulling away any judgment around how I'm feeling. And, you know, there's been times where I've spent, I've woken up in the morning and I felt sad. And what I used to do is get up, drink a cup of coffee, do some Wim Hof, and fucking plow through my sadness with some work and some exercise. And now what I've learned that's been really valuable for me is I've pulled it off where I go, look, I'm not getting out of bed today.

I'm going to be in bed and I'm going to be sad. And so it doesn't happen very often. It's very rare that I am that sad. Um, and in fact, in the last, I think the last time I had something like that was close to two years ago. Yeah. But I could have gotten up and forced myself, but I remember there was one day in particular, Ashley gets up, she's been up for an hour and I'm usually the one hard charging in the morning and she goes, Oh, um, man, what do you need? How can I make you feel better? I was like, I don't want to feel better. I'm just going to sit with the sadness. And it has a lesson for me.

You know, there's a lesson in the sadness. There's a reason I'm sad. And if I plow through it and I don't experience it and I don't find the lesson in it, then it's going to repeat itself. And then it's going to, itself and then it's going to over time diminish my expression and it's going to cause me to not show up in the world uh the way i want to show up and so yeah i i there are definitely the ups and downs but i i don't like talking about as positive and negative i like the reframing of that yeah yeah because it puts a whole different a better perspective on things

because no emotion no emotion has either positive negative response i like how you reframe that i appreciate you doing that seriously that was cool yeah yeah so i i uh over the last month i've experienced well i would say over the last several years i've been experiencing my emotions my feelings more fully in general and over the last month even more so and so yeah the post that I made was um I wasn't intending to try I wasn't trying to be profound but I had woken up the um the day before my birthday at 3 a.m and I woke up with uh heartache and I didn't and it was confusing because this is not normal for me to experience that I have a you know my life is pretty fucking awesome and I wake up and I go this is intense and I go downstairs and I'm journaling about

it and I process a lot through. And I go downstairs and I'm journaling about it. And I process a lot through journaling. I ask myself questions. I answer them. I look for the truth in things. And I really work on, you know, seeing where I'm living in it. You know, am I creating a story that's now I'm in this fictional world in my head that's creating this feeling that's tearing me up. And I journaled and then Ashley came and checked on me. And what was interesting is that night I had gone and bought a bunch of paint supplies. And I had been having this urge. I have a health coach and he suggested that I start painting.

And I've never painted in my life. I think I did finger paints as a kid, and I went to one painting workshop with my wife a couple years ago. But I never really wanted to paint. And then he suggested that. And then last week, all of a sudden, it was in my body. I was like, paint, paint, paint. And I go, what is going on? So I went and bought the paint supplies.

And I knew I was going to paint. And I knew I was going to paint what I was feeling. But I didn't know. There was no thing I was focused on. And then, you know, was it five, six hours later, I'm waking up with this really heavy emotion. I go, wow, something inside of me was telling me, go buy these supplies. And that next morning, I went back to bed after an hour of journaling. And I woke up feeling a lot better.

And what I did that morning was I painted. And I painted. I was on meetings and in between calls, in between everything, I spent the day painting a painting in my garage floor. And, uh, and I really liked when I painted it. It was really nice. It turned out way better than I could imagine. I have no training. I watched, I watched, I watched like 20 minutes of, of, uh, YouTube videos, the do's and don't don'ts of watercolors to make sure I had a few of the technical things down. And, yeah, after I painted that painting, I was like, wow, this feels really good.

And then the next, on my birthday, I woke up and I go, I woke up feeling really good. And I go, I know. I'm going to get a bunch of dopamine today. Because people are going to say happy birthday on my Facebook wall, on Instagram. And I wake up, I've got 20-something text messages, people wishing me happy birthday. And I go, yeah, this is going to be a good day.

I'm going to soak this up. And I don't think I ever let myself do that before. Like really receive? That's a thing. That's really a thing. I've been learning to receive. So when someone says, has an affirmation for me and wants to tell me something about me, I historically, I would brush it off.

Or make a joke about it even and diminish the compliment. And so I've gotten good at receiving the compliments. And I was like, oh, today I at receiving the compliments. And I was like, oh, today I'm going to receive. So I was really excited. And then I had taken a picture of my painting that I had finished the night before. I go, I'm going to post this on Instagram. And then I started making the post and I go, you know, I'm going to tell people about this painting and where it came from. And yeah. And as I'm typing, I go, wow, am I really going to share this? And I go, you know what? I am going to share this. This is like really, I think people will

really like it. And yeah, I got a lot of comments from people that were, um, that would thank me. They go, wow, it's really nice to see that, you know, to share that part of you. Because here's the thing about social medias It's a snapshot in time, and I know I pull out my phone, and I take pictures when I'm feeling happy How often are you pulling out your phone when you're sad and you're good and nobody wants to see that shit either someone starts complaining on social media unfollow What I found really nice is, oh, I have this artistic expression about how I feel, and I'm talking about what was going on for me, but I wasn't coming from a place of complaining.

It's more of just, hey, this is where this painting came from. I hope you enjoy it. My 37th birthday was on Wednesday, two days ago, and it was the most enjoyable birthday I've ever had. That's awesome. Super relaxed. I had meetings birthday I've ever had. That's awesome. Super relaxed. I had meetings. I was doing business. I went and had dinner with my wife.

It was super chill, no party. And it was, yeah, it was really relaxed. And I'm super excited about my 37th year. It's not that I didn't make a big deal about the day, like, oh, we got to have a party and all this stuff. But I made a big deal about it being my 37th year, because I spent the week before at a lake house with my journal and really started. I really spent a lot of time writing my vision out for

the next 10 years. And I really, I spent the time considering what do I want out of life? And, um, and I left the lake house with a lot of clarity, but even the days I had been home for three days before my birthday, and even the days leading up to that day there was this momentum that felt like it was building and i go this is a beginning of a really good year because i never experienced the clarity of vision in for my life that i am right now and it's not because i was trying it's a lot of things are simply showing up because I've done a lot of the work and I've taken time in meditation, reflection. I hop in float tanks. I do these things and it's been, um, it's been really cool because my vision of the future for myself and the intention I'm setting for the year,

it feels more like it was revealed to me versus i like i'm going to create this like i'm going to make this happen right and i and before in my life you know i made happen yeah and so it's really cool to have that more of a revelatory experience so what is the intent for 37. so we touched on it a little bit off the mic. Yeah, and I I It was really cool that I had been working on my intention for my 37th year and I was doing a lot journaling But I didn't have a really short concise statement about it. Mm-hmm, and I was okay with that Yeah, I had pages and pages of filled for this but I go and I float for 90 minutes down the road and I get out

of the float tank and I hop in my car and just as I start my car my phone rings and one of my really good friends Liz Germain she calls me and I answer it. She went with us down to Costa Rica. We're real close. Awesome, awesome woman. And Super Sister Fitness, y'all. She's got a YouTube. Shameless plug.

That's right. She calls me and she goes, hey, I just want to wish you a happy birthday. And I have something I want to tell you. Are you ready to receive? And I go, yeah, I'm ready to receive. What do you got for me? So she goes on for three or four minutes and she is a spoken word artist. And she is she's funny. If you see her out, her colors are like pink and teal. And she's like this nice prim white girl who can rap. It's like when she does it, you go, I can't believe this is coming out of her mouth.

She's so good at this. And, but she goes on for three or four minutes, just straight affirmation about who I am, how she sees me, and how she sees me, what I'm living into, and how I am in the world. And I was blown away. Again, I was in a place where I could receive that. And it's cool to have friends that will call you up and do that shit. And she asked me how that was to hear. And I go, that was a fucking amazing to hear that. She goes, okay, well now I want to know what your intention is

for your 37th year. And I, it was perfect to have the affirmation because it put me in this really high frequency place where I could, it's like she elevated me. So I had a better view and, and, uh, I went on for a few minutes about it, but what I distilled out of it was, I want to play the biggest game possible and with the emphasis on play and where I'd been previously in my life, I had been saying those words for years. I want to play the biggest game possible, but I wasn't playing. I was getting upset. I was getting angry. I was getting sucked into the game. I felt like I was thinking the game was my life. And, um, and I wasn't playing. I was working. I was working at the biggest game and all know and all my now I go I now know what it means to play

Mm-hmm, and I'm gonna play the biggest game possible. So and Yeah, so that's happening and I'm excited about it because when you play it's easy and that's when creativity flows and and And there's the thing about play which is interesting is there's no Like playing for the sake of playing versus I'm gonna play so I can win it's like no now you're working right and so and The people who play to play they usually win

Sneaky thing because you know my mind must go. Oh, are you doing this because of this but for the first time my life, I really can feel like I'm playing and What was cool about that day? I felt like I was playing I was working I was working but I was playing the whole day because I was There was something about I gave myself permission but I was playing the whole day because I was, there was something about, I gave myself permission to be at ease with everything that was happening. And so that was my first intention. But then my, uh, my second intention is to express myself in ways, uh, that I don't normally express myself. And so I've gotten really good at expressing myself with words. So I journal a lot.

I write some poetry. I speak on microphones. I get on stages. I've studied verbal communication. And I'm pretty good at it. And it's as if I'm still improving on it. I'll improve my communication verbally for the rest of my life. But it's incremental at this point.

It's small little bits here and there. I want to express myself through art. I want to express myself through music. And I want to express myself through movement. And I think in our culture and the way I was raised, it's really not manly to express yourself in those ways. And it's even not even, you know, considered manly to express yourself verbally, you know, um, not what's really going on for you. And so, uh, what I'm excited about this year is expressing

myself in all those ways and still advancing and working on my verbal skills, but also saying, I'm going to express myself through paint. Um, I'm, uh, taking DJ lessons. I'm going to pick up some, uh, DJing. I want to, and I don't even, I, I've mentioned that to a few of my friends and they go, Oh, you're going to DJ the parties. And like, cause I already put together a playlist for parties and stuff like that yeah and people enjoy it but for me I want like if all I did the entire year was sit in my garage and make music for me totally cool for with that like like you know making mixes that are based on how I'm feeling at the time and what I want to hear yeah and and then through movement

there's a lot of this weekend I'm going to Leo Savage's mace flow so to get this fucking manly mace thing but you're dancing with it you're dancing with it and I'm gonna dance this year so yeah these are all areas in which I have put very little attention into up until this point. And there was something I was afraid of it. I was afraid to do these things. And part of it was judging myself for it because I didn't think it would be good enough for whatever reason. Not up to my standards or afraid of not looking good in front of other people. And now I'm in this place where I don't give a shit what other people think. And I really want to enjoy these things and express myself because it feels good.

Right. What was the catalyst for that? Because I know this past year you did, what, the whole nomadic adventure where you're traveling around the world, seeing all these different countries. Was that sort of like the beginning catalyst or was it? Yeah. So, yeah, I would say, man, it's hard to say. It's never one thing. Yeah, true.

And so I can look back and it was last November. I did a retreat that my friend Anat Perry puts on. And she at the time was calling it journey to love. And the only reason I went to it is because I saw other people go through it and have massive transformations. Yeah. So massive and really positive ones. So massive that it scared me because I go, if people are getting that much transformation, that means that the work is fucking deep. Sure. And so I was a little nervous about it, which is strange because I'm usually the one making other people nervous. And, um,

so, uh, Ashley and I go through her, her retreat last November and halfway through, I look at her and I, it was having such a impact on me. I said, I'm going to help you with this.

So we're going to rename it because nobody wants to do journey to love. And yeah, and, uh, we'll, we'll figure out the name and I see where, uh, I can assist in making the process that we can make this better. And she goes, okay. And it's so funny because a lot of times when you bring that type of thing to somebody, they're like, well, we'll see. I don't know. Right. And I've known this girl, you know, for a few years now.

And she said, okay. And she had had a vision six months prior to that. She had done ayahuasca. And ayahuasca told her that a partner, a business partner was coming in that was a man. No way. Yeah. And she goes, well, I have no idea who that is. a partner, a business partner was coming in that was a man. Oh, wow. Yeah, and she goes, oh, I have no idea who that is. And I'm doing her retreat, and then I say that, and she goes, hmm, interesting.

And so, you know, we're meeting weeks after that and decide to partner on making the retreat, you know, something different. Yeah. And really taking the core of what she has and, and, uh, and adding to it and, and shifting it. And we we've done a few together now and every time we keep refining and it's great, but we did that retreat. And what really happens in that retreat is you do a lot of work around mother learning and father learning because, you know, before the age of seven, we're very impressionable. You know, our brains are working at a, you know, um, a wavelength that is basically hypnotic state.

And you can watch little kids like five years old they take everything literally right you know i was watching a video uh on facebook the other day is some guy was teaching his kid how to hit a baseball off a tee and he said put your eye on the ball or keep your eye on the ball and the kid bends over and puts his eye literally on the ball. And I go, this is a perfect demonstration of that. And so when you're a kid, everything is taken so literal and everything is true. And so your mother represents, there's so many things, but overall represents how you and teaches you how to relate to yourself. Your father teaches you how to relate to others. And I could go into why that is true, but, well, I'll say it real quick.

You don't really see yourself separate from your mother. You come out of her womb. You may nurse at her breast. She is you and you are her in that space. It takes a long time to see yourself. It takes years for a child to see themselves separate from their mom. So how your mom has treated herself is likely to be how you treat yourself. And so your father is your first, the first person outside of yourself

and that you love. And so he teaches you how to interact with the world and the universe as a whole. So, you know, father really is, uh, uh, really does teach you and informs you on how to relate to, I mean, I say the universe, some people say God, whatever it is. And so in that work, you get complete with what you learned from your mother and you get, when I say complete, I mean, you now see what you were taught and you get to choose what you're going to keep and what you're going to throw out. And the same thing happens for father. And so your mother is a very, uh, feminine energy and father is a very masculine energy. And what ends up happening is you get to heal the feminine and the masculine and in inside of ourselves because, uh, we all have feminine and masculine sides. And when we get to fully embody both of those and both of them get to work together, then you get a human being that can express themselves in a lot of different ways.

A masculine trait would be making plans and creating structure and creating a vision of your future and then a very feminine trait would be more of the creative stuff a lot of the stuff that i'm experiencing now the art the music the expressing myself through movement and and also uh really being you know your your father is always trying to get you to be better, and your mom is like, oh, I just, Michael, I just love you the way you are. Right? And so being able to heal that part of yourself was massively beneficial to me. It's massively beneficial to anyone who goes through it. Sure.

And because what ends up happening is because of what we learn from our parents, we don't realize how many of the choices that we make are our profession, uh, who we choose to marry, uh, you know, the big ones, you know, uh, how we treat our kids. These are all informed by how we were raised. And so now we get to remove all that. And a lot of people afterwards, you know know they question everything so i did question everything i go i don't know what's mine because i love yeah i realized how much of my life was learned from my parents yeah and i'm all these things that i thought that i was doing was either because i was being like my parents or I was rebelling against my parents.

Sure. Like even me joining the military was a rebellion. Okay. And cause my dad hadn't gone in, but it was, it was one, he definitely didn't want me to, but I was kind of like a fuck you type of situation for me. Yeah. It was like, I don't like anybody I I'm leaving town. That was a part of that decision. But so, yeah, doing that retreat. And here's the thing about that retreat is it's not one of those things where it's five days long. You don't walk out after five days and go, ooh, I'm whole and complete. I got all my shit figured out. You walk out and you go, I have no fucking idea.

And that's why there's a 90 day, 90 days of coaching afterwards for integration. And, uh, talking to a knot who runs that retreat, she says it takes people about 18 months to fully integrate the, the experience because it's so big because what I experienced, it's been 11 months. So it's been almost a year for me. What I've experienced is feeling like a child again and wanting to play. Yeah. So Ashley and I sold everything we own and we traveled the world because you know what we did? We went and did all the stuff that we've been wanting to do, but we didn't let ourselves do because I hadn't made enough money yet or I hadn't gotten the business to a point. I had all these reasons. I had all these reasons to not do the thing I really been wanting to do.

And I go, fuck all these reasons. I'm going to go play. That's what a kid does. So I got to be the kid. And we went all over the world and had fun and I went and visited friends who Previously I'd only seen them if there was an overlap with business in some way, right? Like oh, I'll come see you in North Carolina

You know if I have a seminar there or something like that Yeah And now it's like no I'm gonna come and I'm gonna hang out because I want to see you I remember showing up and seeing people they're like, well, what what do you got going on while you're here? I'm like, this is it Are you are you Mike Bledsoe? Yeah, dude this guy usually working all the time and so I Had that experience and then through the spring it was if you know months and months later Into our travels. I started feeling like I was going through adolescence again. I felt like a teenager. Yeah, yeah I was going I have felt like this before this is this is I felt like this when I was 15 16 years old

Yeah, interesting how curious this is and I remember talking to friends about it and they go, that's actually really fucking cool. Yeah. And, um, and so it's like, I got,

I get to raise myself the way I want to raise me. Uh, because, you know, you could argue, you choose your parents, you don't choose your parents, whatever.

But, uh, I got to, I, I now have the chance to be who I want to be based on what I know now, not on what my parents knew when they were 25, you know, because they didn't know shit. That's just a very profound thing.

That's deep, man. I'll just brush right over it. Go for it now. I mean, just like having the consciousness now to stand in who you are and live life through your

lens versus something that as you describe it, is virtually predetermined for you. Yeah. There's a lot of predetermined behavior and, and how you perceive the world too. So it's not just behavior, it's how you're perceiving the world. And the way you perceive the world is where you, you create the world. So we're creating way we think that we're perceiving we're creating and um you'll know you get to know that's true when you have such a strong shift in perception that colors actually look different now interesting i've had i've had a few different situations where i had such profound

shifts where I go, Oh my God, that tree is so beautiful. I've never seen it before. It's the same fucking tree in my front yard for three years, you know? And, um, and I think this kind of work is really important. It's 2018 and the, the culture of the world is moving at such a rapid rate that if we are adopting the things from our parents, oh, fuck, you're getting left behind. The people that are doing this work, you're going to have an advantage. That's all I'm going to say.

And happiness, peace of mind, the mental chatter. I remember talking to a friend of mine a few months after the retreat. And he's done an incredible amount of work too, Michael Rostoski. And we're hanging out down in Costa Rica. And he goes, hey, man, do you think a lot anymore? I go, no. He goes, me neither. I said, pretty awesome, huh?

I was like, yeah. And so the chatter just isn't nearly as prominent as it used to be. The voices aren't really running the show. Damn. And so, yeah, I get to raise myself with the level of awareness that I have now. So if I had a kid right now, I'm basically teaching myself all the stuff of awareness that I have now. So it like, I get to, if I had a kid right now, I'm basically teaching myself all the stuff I would teach a two year old, three year old, four year old. So it's, um, what I'm experiencing going into my 37th year and like, where did all

this start? I look back at that and I go, wow, that's where I really got to learn to mother myself. And I got the father myself. And now I am having the experience of, and a feminine thing is to receive and a masculine thing is to give. And I've been in this giving, giving, giving my entire life because I think that's what it means to be a man. But now I get to receive too. And a lot of that is what I get to receive is the things that I get to give myself. Give myself permission to spend an afternoon painting. Give myself, you know, permission to, you know, mix some music up and whatever, you know? That's wild, dude.

Like, do you feel like life is sort of, now that you're playing more, has it slowed down for you? Yes. Really? Oh, yeah. Time is, time has changed. Um, all the days are much longer now than they used to be. Okay. So that I, I, um, I talk about this a little bit in the strong coach program is people talk about time is your most valuable resource. I'm like, fuck no. Attention is. Your attention is your most valuable resource.

Because if you're not directing your attention, time is going to go by like that. It's going to go by really, really fast. And I remember, and I've said it myself, is you've had the experience of as you get older, the days get shorter. Right? It's like you get older and older and older and man where did the day go I remember when I was a kid they seemed like they went on forever right there are long days and I'm go it's as if that's happening in reverse for me I'm having what's that movie and it's it's like I'm a kid again in a lot of ways in that the days are long and enjoyable. Yeah.

And what I'm really stoked about is I go, wow, this is a really cool discovery I've got to make. Because I'm hearing other people that are my age and older complaining about how short the days are. And I'm going, oh, wow. This is, I'm living in a completely different universe in a lot of ways. That's wild. It feels almost like a rediscovery in a way. The hard part for me that I'm having is wrapping your head around that feeling or sensation that you're having because as I'm going through building my new business out,

it's like I just said it a minute ago. You put your head down on the computer, it's like, I just said it a minute ago, like you put your head down on the computers, like the day just goes by. Yeah. And like just hearing your insight and what you're going through, it's like, holy shit, give me a piece of that pie,

bro. I wish I could give it away that easily. Like, Oh yeah, it takes some of mine. Yeah. It's, it's,

it's a very personal endeavor. It's like the, cause you always hear because you always hear the seven layers deep. To me, it's just hearing that, it sounded like way more than seven layers, like, that you're uncovering, like the introspection piece, and going, allowing yourself the feminine energy. Because we don't, as males, we talked about it with your wife, Ashley. We don't allow that feminine energy to happen. It's just like, you shut it down and you just,

you just fucking forge forward. And this conversation has been coming up a lot lately on the show. It's like, why is males? Do we continue to just like push that aside and say, it's not, it's not a valuable feeling to experience emotion. We just need to keep, keep our head down and keep motoring through things.

I think in our, in our society, um, you know, women are, are women are judged on how sexy they are, their appearance, and men are judged on how successful they are. And so if I want to feel valuable as a man, I need to be successful. And that means I need to make money, I need to drive the car, I need to have the house, and I need to provide all those things. And I think that culturally, it's the other stuff, being an artist or being a musician or dancing, is made fun of. Because, well, what good is that?

How is that going to attract the opposite sex? Because, I mean, that's what we're, a lot of us are going after, right? Like how, how are we going to impress them? Peacocking all the time. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, I mean, one of the practices I've had, I mean, most of it was unintentional. I look back on it and I go, Oh wow, I did a good job of this. But, um, I've given myself permission over the years to spend more time with women than I do men I actually find myself vibing with women much more easily I have more girlfriends than I have guy friends yeah probably like a three to one ratio to where it's it's weird I love it I have

a lot of beautiful women that are friends of mine and I'll go out and I'll, I'll spend, you know, there'll be like three girls with me. And I think most guys would go, fuck, what did he figure something out? And what I figured out is it does nothing to do with the car. It has nothing to do with the money has everything to do with enjoying being with women. And their feminine essence is rubbed off on me yeah I go oh wow what do they like to do to have fun oh they like to dance I'm going on the dance floor yeah easy it's a direct line yeah straight to it I think we like think we got to like do all these other things to impress them or we could just go

straight at it it's so interesting that you you say that because as I told you as we were traveling out here we've just had a string of powerhouse women on the show lately your wife included as yeah and uh you know that i think there's there's an awakening not to be confused with like this whole me too thing but like this this feminine empowerment that conscious men are embracing yeah there's um i would say yeah and not to get that confused with woman women or female empowerment right and because feminine is not gender specific sure like the gender is a separate conversation. Right. Um, and the masculine, historically the masculine traits have been very dominant and, uh, yeah, I think there's a lot we can learn.

And, and I want to say there's danger to this as well because I think, uh, one of the things I'm also witnessing is, uh, I think a lot of men are embarrassed about the history of men dominating women because of the you have the feminist movement came in and and basically castrated men and said you're no good you know and and we're better you know there was like someone had to be put down so someone could get a leg up and I think that a lot of men a lot of men that I meet they even if they have like a masculine appearance, right they feel bad about being a man and Have taken on a lot of feminine traits and that but they're not they're not really in the healthy feminine

They're more unlike the unhealthy feminine Where they're passive. Oh're passive they have no vision for their life there's no purpose and these are all very masculine traits to have a purpose and to have a vision for your future and a lot of men don't have that they're just you know going to the job and doing the thing and then the when women walk all over them they go well fuck i don't know what to do when i if i'm aggressive a man, then they don't like me. And that's because they don't know how to be in that healthy masculine energy either. Right.

And so there's, I think there's a lot of confusion with men right now. And that they don't, I think they are going more towards the feminine side, but not a healthy version of it. And so they just don't know what to do and I've had that experience where you know I've gone through transitions where I go fuck am I do I need to like pull back here am I coming on too strong and my experience has been that I can be very masculine and women really appreciate it. But I, it's, it's the agenda is that I'm,

I care about everybody. Sure. That's in the picture. And it's, it's not with the agenda of like a selfish agenda of I'm being aggressive so I can get my way. Right. It's more like I'm being aggressive so that we can get shit done so that we can all, uh, have a good time right

that makes sense yeah that makes perfect sense yeah and with with everything that you've you've been going through now you have a lot of projects that respond from this you know this path that you're taking now could you give us insight to like everything that you're working on now because i mean it looks like you're doing everything, but like you said, what you're putting out there, it feels not forced. It feels like it's a natural progression in the life of Mike Bledsoe. So could you share some of those projects that you're working on with us? Yeah, it feels a lot like play, and I think that they came.

A lot of these projects are coming about because I was able to access the creative energy, which is a feminine creative energy. They can only exist when you have a lot of masculine energy, too, that structure. And, yeah, let's see, what project? So back in the spring, I was really inspired. I hopped in a float tank, and I go, I got in a float tank just to float. I wasn't trying to figure anything out. And within the first five minutes, boom, the strong coach comes into my consciousness. And I go, oh, that's interesting.

Well, I'll think about that later because I normally don't think too much in a tank. And the next 90 minutes of the float was information on what to do next. I go, oh, okay, well, I'm going to start a program for coaches so they can improve their interpersonal skills, communication, leadership, all these things. And I go, cool, well, I'm going to go build a website. So that weekend I sat down and I built out a website. And then on Monday morning I made an announcement. I said, hey, I'm taking five people into the beta group. It's going to be an eight-week program.

And, yeah, you should sign up. And I had 100 people apply. And then I ended up taking six because I was interviewing a bunch of people for it. And there was this one person I had to take and I go I need they have to be in the program because I know that when they go through this their whole life is going to change and I'd already told five that they were in yeah and I go okay they're in too so we had six and I didn't know what the program was going to be like I knew generally what it was going to be and I knew what the first lesson was going to be,

but I trusted myself that I would know exactly what to do. And so I taught the first lesson and then I got everybody on the phone. I go, what'd you learn? Uh, what do you need help with next? And so what I did was by interviewing everybody and tracking what it is they needed, I created what they needed, not what I thought they needed. You know, no assumptions. So I built the next seven modules based on exactly what they need. And it ended up, sorry, I'm getting all stuffed up. No, you're good. A little bit of pollen in the air. And I really enjoyed that creative process of really playing it by ear.

You go, oh, this is what's needed next. Okay. So Next 7 Modules came out, and it was life-changing for everybody that went through it. Just hugely transformational. And I knew it was going to be good because nothing comes to me like that, and it's not going to be good. Yeah. And it came in, and I got great results so I did round two I took a dozen students for round two and um I refined the curriculum and I found that in in the second round I go man people are getting overwhelmed halfway through this I need to extend this from

eight weeks to 12 weeks and so now I've extended it to 12 weeks. I added a lesson. I spread some stuff out. I put a couple of breaks in there. I put way more coaching in there, way more accountability. And I've got a coach, Daniel Rios, who he's been, I've been mentoring him for years and he's now coaching a lot of the people in that program and doing a fucking amazing job. And so, yeah, the Strong Coach is going really, really well. And it's personal and professional development for fitness trainers and coaches. And people are coming out knowing exactly what they want to be coaching, how they want to be coaching, how they want to be marketing, how they want to be heard, the types of clients they want to have.

And a lot of coaches have come in going, yeah, I'm just kind of like doing what everyone else is doing. And when they come out, they go, no, I specialize in this, and this is what I'm doing. And I've had people open gyms. I've had people, yeah, I had one guy this last time. He opened three businesses during the eight week period. Holy smoke. And so, uh, they, a lot of people in the first couple of weeks discover this sense of purpose that was

missing before. And so, and what, a lot of what informed me of that is when I was traveling, I was dropping in the gyms and I was watching how people were interacting. And I go, wow, there's there's there's an opportunity to to be better. There's an opportunity to be better. And I get a lot of questions from coaches going, how do I stand apart? And I go, I used to say, well, there's no one there's no running coach in town. Maybe you should do running or no one's weightlifting. Fill the gap. That's what I used to say, well, if there's no running coach in town, maybe you should do running. If no one's weightlifting, you should do weightlifting. Fill the gap. That's what I used to say. And now I go, wow, if you can really connect with your client in a real way and help them and connect with them deeply, that's what's going to make you stand apart.

So that program is running right now. I'm enjoying that process. And it's been really really beautiful um everything with the shrug collective is going really really well i've really enjoyed um well it's it's there's been some rough spots and figuring it out because we go from oh we're going to post one show a week until we're posting four or five shows we have a seasonal show where we're working there's way more moving parts and so that's been a lot of fun too and bringing uh anders warner in to run barbell shrugged uh and a real joy working with what's your connection with anders like we we've actually not had that conversation like how how did anders enter the picture for you guys

how did he become the guy we we first met him a couple years ago we were interviewing uh we went to interview theresa his business partner theresa larson with movement rx and um and and him and we got to talking and then we just had some things in common and started hanging out and you know two years later it's you know hey why don't you come be on the show with us you can co-host and then you know about I think we recorded about a dozen shows together and then we got in a conversation about expanding the show into a network. And I was like, yeah, I actually want to do my own show. I want to do the Bledsoe show.

I'd been doing it on the side. Right. But it felt like a hobby. It didn't feel like a thing so much. And the idea, we go, wow, we could do this. We could pull my show into the collective. We can add more shows like you guys and Fuck this is actually really really cool, and it solved a problem that I had been looking at for a while

Which was and this is the thing about? It's a feminine trait to be collaborative right absolutely and so How many dudes you know it's like collaboration never going to happen. And so that really opened up for me, too, is like letting people be on like this. This was my perspective before someone else being on my channel. Fuck no. Like that's my channel. And then as one day day I go why haven't we done this already this is this is so brilliant and the problem that was existing as I was looking out in the podcast market and I saw that people who were ranking the

highest were posting most frequently even if the quality wasn't that high and we've always been committed to quality sure and so go wow if I start posting four times a week, my quality is going to go down. Right. And I have other projects I want to work on and man, I, I, I want to be the best. I like, why would you do something if you're not going to be the best you can be? Right. And so it was, uh, one of those things where we go, oh, we can be the best if we collaborate. Right. Oh shit. And so I don't have to be the host of Barbell Shrugged. I, I, I have other topics I want to cover.

And, you know, and so we started having conversations about, well, who else? It went from, you know, we could have like, you know, two other shows like, well, fuck it. Let's just have five shows a week, maybe six. And, and, you know, know, expose people to really good information and different perspectives, and I think that's more what the world needs right now. That's true, because you've always been, like, from outside looking in, when did I meet you? Two years ago when we first started the podcast?

You've always been, like, an early adopter, innovator. I say innovator stage, and is that something you've always had in your life, man? Because, like, when it came to, you know, starting a podcast, you started when podcasts were, nobody really cared about them. Now you get the collective going, you get strong coach going. Those are all innovative, you know, projects that you've been working on. That's something that is innate to you. How do you just continue to evolve and find those? Yeah, I think that there was, I had a rebellious side of me when I was a kid and it's matured into something where I always just, I just want to be different.

It's like, oh, no one wants to play that position on the field. I'll play that position or people don't really like those cars. I'll buy that car. You know, I just want to like like part of me likes to with people yeah and it's um and so i think there's a part of that but uh yeah i've always i've i've always wanted to be different in a lot of ways and i there was an immature version of that where i i piss people off constantly and then it as i've gotten older that's matured, and it's a healthy version of it now. And so I think, I mean, I also opened a CrossFit.

I had the first CrossFit gym in Tennessee. That's right, yeah, yeah. Back in 2007. I saw CrossFit, and I was a weightlifter at the time. And I remember talking to my weightlifting buddies and my coach about CrossFit, and they were all like, that is dumb. And I was like, I thought it was dumb at first one of my Navy buddies came through like can you teach me cleaning jerks I was like why the fuck you're a Navy SEAL you you just need to run swim and lift weights here and there why do

you need to when you need to like do cleans and snatches and shit so he came in he started doing he did some wad where he's doing box jumps and throwing shit around. That, that looks dumb. Six months later, I'm doing it. I'm like, this is fucking awesome.

And, and, uh, yeah, but I, I, what I did was I, I,

I go, look, there's a, I got to find the CrossFit gym in town. There's no CrossFit gym. Oh, I guess I'll open one. So for me,

um, I do things when the solution seems obvious. When I go, why doesn't this exist yet? And I don't know how many times, well, all the things that have gone really well for me, I've gone, surely someone's already doing this. And I go and try to find it and I don't so I go well, I guess I'll do it So the gym was one the podcast was another and there were some things where I tried to start businesses where I wasn't being innovative Yeah, and it fucking sucked. I tried to start an equipment business at one point back in. Oh What was it during sectionals? So it was 2010 oh and i i i think we sank about 50 g's into it and i got 50 g's out of it and then i was like this i'm out those guys at rogue got this game figured out i'm not competing with that yeah and i i couldn't figure out a way to make it

special like i really like i really like making things special And so I have had some run-ins with lack of innovation and that doesn't go well for me. Like the only things that go well for me is when I am being innovative. If I'm, if I'm trying, like if I were to try to open up a franchise myself, it wouldn't go well because I like, it wouldn't be mine. It'd just be, it would, I would get bored very quickly. So yeah, the podcast was another one. I go, oh, surely there's a strength and conditioning podcast. I was listening to Rob Wolf and it was very nutrition, biochem heavy. And then I, it was suggested by my friend CTP to listen to Joe Rogan.

I heard Joe Rogan. I go, oh, a podcast can be whatever you want. Oh, there's no strength and conditioning podcasts that are, like, entertaining? Right. Oh, well, me, Doug, and Chris were entertaining as fuck. Let's put on some mics and do this shit. Yeah. And we committed to it, and it took, you know, about a year, year and a half before it felt good.

And, yeah, so, yeah, a lot of the things that, that I do, it's, it's more of, it seems obvious to me and I go, Oh, if it seems obvious to me that it needs to be done and I just do it. I always have the moment though, where I'm looking around, I'm like, somebody should do this. Yeah. I'm just going to do this. And I go, Oh, I guess I'm the guy. I'm supposed to do this? And I go, oh, that's mine. I'm supposed to do this. Ha, funny. Yeah, so there's, so the strong coach, yeah, that's definitely one of those things where I go, how is nobody doing this yet? And someone will definitely come along and copy it.

And good luck catching up, motherfuckers. And, yeah, what I love about the Strong Coach right now is we're already assembling a team that is, I'm not making it better. Six months ago was the idea, and I've already got other people making it better that are working on it and spending more time on it than I am. That's when you know, you got some good shit as when it's already really good. Then other people come in and make it even better. So I had a phone call with Daniel Rios, our head coach for the strong coach today. And we were throwing some ideas around on how to make it better and in one hour I think it got like three or four times better Wow wait fight by next week we will implement these ideas I go this is this is a huge amount of value that we're gonna add to this program that's nobody so like I said no one's gonna catch up because to be able to like even, yeah, it's great.

I'm loving it. And then I'm working on another project. Project X. Project X. That's the one, huh? Yeah. Project X will drop in December. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. So this is for athletes. Okay. Yeah. And so this is a 21-day program for athletes. It's a process. Okay.

So you enter the process, and then when you finish the process, it will completely shift your mindset around training and nutrition. Really? Yeah. Anyone who's having trouble being in the gym, people who continually get injured, people that have battles with their food, this is going to be something that's going to pull all that out. Okay.

And here's the thing about Project X, is I'm sitting down with, and this is with a secret team, and it's black ops shit. I'm like, it was a team of people who have a serious amount of training in psychology and psycho-emotional training. And we locked ourselves in a house for a period of time in the desert and literally got after it.

It was wild and It was a it's a transformative experience for me to go through to help create the program We have comedy in it. There's skits in there There's all sorts of stuff. But here's the here's my warning is Coaches if your athletes get a hold of this before you do, you fucked up. Yeah. Because it's not going to match anymore. Sure.

So if you start saying stuff to your athletes and they've been through this course, they may walk out the door. Wow. Because it's not going to match up with their new values. Okay. So coaches, it's, it's going to be, we're making this affordable by the fucking program because you're going to be a much better coach for having done it period. You should be doing that anyway. You should be doing everything in your power to be the best, greatest coach you can be. Right. And I'm not going to not release this program so I can save your job. So do it because it's going to be it's about helping people.

It's a it's a mental health program. And a lot of us are addressing what's happening with our physical bodies. But our mind is destroying us. And so you can do this program. And what you'll experience is that getting to the gym will be easier. Eating well will be easier. It's supposed to make things easier. It removes a lot of the conflict that exists in the mind.

Yeah. Like what I did with Procabulary that has had a very profound effect on the way my coaches deliver information to our member athletes. Would it be something that you want the head of an organization to do first and then drive forward? Or would it be more efficacious to go through it as a team? Or have you not crossed that bridge yet if you've not crossed that bridge yet. I haven't crossed that bridge yet. I want to say everyone go through it together because I want to get as many hands as possible. But I think from the top down is a really good idea because you want to make

sure that you're getting to the curriculum before your people get to it. Right. So if you're the head coach, you want to make sure that you're getting to the curriculum before your people get to it. Right. So if you're the head coach, you want to make sure that you're ahead in the curriculum before your coaches get to it and the athletes get to it. Because it's more of if, because the trouble is with people, and you guys have had this experience where you learn something new or you have some transformative experience and you forget the other people don't know this yet. Yeah.

Become a self-help asshole, right? Or you have some transforming experience and you forget the other people don't know this yet Man and so We're human beings So that'll happen. Yeah, and so I think it's really important for, yeah, whoever's in the head of, like, what you don't want to do is have the coaches go through it and then the gym owner not go through it. That would be a fucking problem. Sure. So, however, if you're a gym owner, if you're a head coach, if you're a coach and you go through this before the people who you're responsible for go through it, you're going to be, you're going to, you're going to seem like a fucking genius when it comes to how you communicate and how you coach your game will go up very quickly. And so, yeah, there's a, there's a huge benefit to doing it and just

get to it quickly. You're getting the warning. I'm, I'm, I'm giving it to you. Get on top of it. I am gonna do a soft launch. We may release some of it in November. I'm playing around with letting people Like maybe you know 250 to 500 people get it first that are in the vault So people who are in the vault can get it first so that they can give us feedback on it sure so we may do that in November so if you're in the vault you'll you'll get early access because I do want people who are like because the people in the vault are the super fans

right and they'll let super fans have it first is a really good idea right? Yeah, okay? Tell us about Burning Man Burning Man. Oh shit. That's a big question Tell me about what was it like to be born I'll be a little more poignant. What's the thing that you know that most people don't about Burning Man? I think most people think that it's a big party in the desert where people do a lot of drugs. And that's not not true. But Burning Man has done so much for me. I've had so many lessons and transformations come out of that.

You've been three times, four times? Three times. My wife's been five times. She keeps going without me. She always gets a really good experience out of it too but what I get out of it initially was I didn't even know what it meant to express myself until I went to Burning Man and I saw other people express themselves and I didn't realize how much of our art and architecture and

a lot of things that involve design are suppressed in society based on normative values. And going out to Burning Man where basically the most creative people on the entire planet decide we're going to all get together in the desert and we're going to show off our stuff. And so I really get to witness and I bring back more and more self-expression each time. I see what's possible There are things out there where you go How is that even possible this this past year? There was a 500 drone drone show and each one of them had a light and they went up and they made all the it Was it was one of the most beautiful things there's videos online. You can check it out

But there was an orchestra playing With this drone show and it's two o'clock in the morning and i'm laying in the desert with a dozen of my friends and we got and we're all we got our we got a bunch of like fur jackets and stuff and we're all piled there and we're just i'm crying because it's so beautiful and i'm sharing this with people who i've been just partying with all week and bonding with. And a couple of the people that were there with us, y'all would know, is Michael and Adi Kaju.

And so, like, yeah, it was me, Ashley, those two, and some other people. And we were laying there, and just it was so beautiful. And so coming back from Burning Man and one of the things I always get to bring back is leveling up my possibility. Okay. You know, I go, wow, I've been playing small. I can play bigger. And so I get that out of that. Communication goes way up at Burning Man because all sorts of crazy shit happens there

and you gotta like yeah i don't know if i can go into too much about that yeah okay i don't know exactly why communication goes up okay i don't know if i can put my finger on one thing but people are very well i guess they're very expressive so I learned how to communicate better every time I come back for instance I was I went to this workshop I went to a tapping workshop oh this is what's really cool about Burning Man that people don't know is the best at what they do show up I mean I was talking about the most creative people but but like top level people go there and then they teach their shit for free. So you guys familiar with tapping like EFT, like, uh, it's, um, it's a type of meditation

TM. You're not familiar with TM. Oh fuck. Okay. Um, it's not really for me, but a lot of people say it's like the most amazing thing they've ever discovered. So I got to go learn TM from this woman who has been doing it for over 25 years. She's like, she's the top woman. The guru.

She's the guru. And I'm sitting there going, oh, my buddies are going, oh, we're going to go ride our bikes across the desert to go learn some TM. And I go, cool. You want to go? I'm like, you know what? I've been meaning to check that out. I'll go. And I go over there.

And then I realize when I got there that it's the best person on the planet teaching this thing. Wow. Okay. And I go, oh, cool. But that happens over and over and over again. We run into that with relationship coaches. The top relationship coaches in the world are there teaching for free. Yeah.

I probably spend $4,000 or $5,000 doing the Burning Man thing. I get a trailer. I've got, you know, it costs money to go and come back. And it's what most people spend on a vacation. And what I get out of it is insane. Yeah. Because I also get education out of it.

But yeah, I see some of the best of what they do, hanging out and giving away their best stuff for free. And it's just, I learn so much every time I go. Shit, 2 o'clock in the morning, I stumbled across Skrillex playing in the desert. And I'm not a Skrillex fan, but we danced. It was like a four-hour set. Nice.

Four hours straight, and it was blowing my fucking mind Because this is the screw looks we heard at Burning Man is not the screw looks you on the radio really different shit Yeah, whole like there's stuff he can do there like it the average person That you can't play it on the radio sure because people Wouldn't grasp it appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, and I,

and he'll never probably play that kind of set even at a, another venue. Right. But at Burning Man, there's, there's this, you can play and get outside of what, what,

what people consider normal. Like I'll put on music sometimes having been to Burning Man a few times, and also if anyone follows me, they probably know I listen to some things that are very different. But if I play that music in a gym, they have a gym, people go, oh, what is that? I don't know that song.

It's okay to not know the song. It's okay that it doesn't sound like all the other songs that are on the radio. Yeah. And so, yeah, there's, It's okay that it doesn't sound like all the other songs that are on the radio. And so, yeah, the music that's there is different. And not because people are just trying to be weird. It's because it's a place where experimenting in front of a crowd is okay. You know?

And, yeah, that's another thing I love about it is getting to witness artists who are the best at what they do. Like, from a technical perspective, like, I understand what's happening up there to enough. Like, not really compared to, you know, some really good musicians. But I understand enough to understand that what he's pulling off up there is insane from a technical perspective. I'm going, what? For four hours, five hours straight, he's just fucking going, going, going. And it's just constant. It was a barrage. It was an amazing show.

That's wild. Because when I was talking to Ashley, she mentioned The Burning Man. I told her, I know, I've seen it. But to me, the image that comes to my mind is Mad Max, that movie. Yeah. Guys just running through the desert, painted up. You know what I mean? That happens, too.

There is a Thunderdome at Burning Man. And what they do is they have two ropes that come down, like bungee cords, and they strap you in, and they give you a big javelin situation and just beat the shit out of each other. That's crazy. You can get in there and just go the out of each other that's crazy and get in there and just go down they're playing heavy metal like just nuts it's nuts i i don't really like it the first time i saw it i watched it for like 10 minutes and i was like okay watching people beat the out of each other i'm cool you know whatever you guys go do that i'm gonna go do something else

i mean it used to do you know yeah a lot of martial arts and stuff so it's not like new to me but for a lot of people you know i i see like uh boyfriends and girlfriends get like a guy and a girl get in there and duke it out i i don't even want to watch it that's oh my god but it's got burning man has everything yeah and it there's another thing i really like about it is um there's it doesn't seem like there's any judgment happening there. I'm not sensing it. And everything is okay. So if you want to try something out that normally

in this world, I'm like, I don't know if I want anyone tying me up. It's like, well, you know what? Fuck it. I'll get tied up at Burning Man. That's cool. But it's cool. What was like the origin of Burning Man? do you know yeah so uh oh funny story so this past year at burning man i had a really amazing experience um

i'm gonna leave in some of the details because they're funny so the last night saturday night we watched the man burn so all the art cars get around me and you know there's like a i have about a hundred friends there then we're all hanging out and i bring out a couple bottles of champagne it's the only time i i drink very rarely and so but when the man burns i drink champagne yeah and so uh me and my friend uhanya, we decide that we're going to go for a walk. So we watched the man burn. He's like, yeah, let's go for a walk. And the reason we were going for a walk is because, Tanya, I'm going to throw you under the bus,

is she had a tantric play date, and I was just going to walk her and drop her off while she has her tantric play date. And I was going to, I don't know what was going to happen after that. But we go for a walk she completely misses her date so her and i just walk the perimeter we spent so much of the time at burning man at parties and at workshops and things near the center we go let's walk around the edge and so we walk where like the weird shit's happening people think the weird let's walk around the edge and so we walk where like the weird shit's happening people think the weird shit's happening on the inside on the outside it gets weird too so it's uh yeah and we're walking around and we're just splitting this bottle and walking

and we look over and there's this camp that's way out 100 yards away from everything else by itself. And we go, that's strange. She says, I wonder what that is. And I go, well, let's go see. So we wander into this camp. And everybody in the camp, there's like a dozen people. And it's this really antique, it's like a tent. And it's dusty. And there's all this antique furniture in there.

And these people having tea. And there's some weird, it's crazy. But I really wanted a burger I didn't really and they had burgers so I had a burger and we but the first guy we talked to we run into him he's about 70 something years old we go oh wow what are you doing out here he's like this is our camp I go oh and my friend Tanya asked, how long, how many burns has this been for you? And he goes, all of them. And we go, oh, all of them. He goes, yep.

He smiles and he walks off, like disappears like a ghost. We go, that's interesting. So we go wander over to these other people that look like they're in their 50s and 60s. And we get chatting with them and we're all talking. And they go, do you know who that is? And we go, no idea. That's Danger Ranger. We go, who the fuck is Danger Ranger?

And he goes, oh, he's one of the founders of Burning Man. Holy crap. And I go, Burning Man's been going on for like 30 years. Yeah. And I go, oh, wow, we stumbled into the founders' camp. Awesome. And so we hang out. They start telling us all these stories.

They've been part of Burning Man since the beginning. They're telling us all these stories. And they go, yeah, Danger Rangers. So he came back, and we started asking him stories. So the last night of Burning Man, we're hanging out with the Founder and asking him about how it got started and all this stuff. And we go, well, how did it get started? What went on? And he goes, it started got started and all this stuff. And we go, well, how did it get started? You know, what went on?

And he goes, it started in San Francisco on the beach. And he goes, yeah, we decided to make a man out of wood, and then we burnt it on the beach. And a small crowd gathered. And so we thought that was cool. So the next year we built a man twice the size. And we did it again. And a bunch more people showed up. And so I guess they did that for a few years.

And then the crowd kept getting bigger and bigger. And there was a camp out involved with it. And then the police said, you can't do this here anymore. And they go, oh, wow, we need to find a new location. So they started scouting out new locations because there was this thing happening. And one of the founders, he passed away this last year, Larry, I don't remember his last name. And he had found this property, this park in Black Rock City. Black Rock City was created for Burning Man.

Hour and a half north of Reno, Nevada. Just this thing, just this desert. So he brings out Danger Ranger and says, what do you think? He goes, about what? This is where we can take Burning Man. He goes, oh, okay. There were 16 people on staff for Burning Man at that point they bring all 16 staff members out there and They go and at this point it really wasn't anything it was they were just gathering and burning men

And partying I guess I don't know and and This and so I guess Larry draws a line in the sand he goes If we cross this line, everything changes. And he said that all 16 people crossed over the line, and sure enough, it just got wild after that. And people started showing up. It became a thing. I mean, they used to shoot guns at Burning Man.

People would be driving around with trucks and have, like, guns mounted to them and shit. No way. It was anything goes. It was what was happening out there. I mean, they used to shoot guns at Burning Man. People would be driving around with trucks and have, like, guns mounted to them and shit. Like, it was anything goes is what was happening out there. And so it's a little less like there's no guns allowed now, no explosives. Well, controlled explosives. There's a lot of pyrotechnics. Lots of pyrotechnics. Lots of fire.

Love it. It's so cool. And, yeah, we got to hear the stories, and they were telling the stories of the evolution of it and how it was only 1,000 people at one time. There's 75,000 people there now. They were talking about, I was like, I can't even imagine. You go, yeah, you used to see everybody the whole time. There's no way you could see everybody. There's people.

I have friends that go, I'll see you at Burning Man. Never see them the whole time because no one can stick to a schedule To think that you're gonna stick to a schedule Burning Man good luck with that you you must have not been yet I mean the way the map is written is by letters a B C D E. Yeah, F G whatever and It's a it's around like a clock. So it's like, oh, I'll meet you at 1030 and E. So I'm going to meet you at 1030 and E at 4 p.m. Is that confusing? Oh, yeah.

Heck yeah. So the idea that you're going to meet people at a specific place at a specific location just goes out the fucking window. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. It's challenging too too that's another thing i think a lot of times people think it's it's all party right it's very arduous it filters out the dumb hippies so oh because or in the lazy people because you have to have you have to be you have to be willing to go in an arduous environment but you're in the desert for a week you have to bring

enough food you have to bring enough supplies um you have to you obviously have to be willing to go in an arduous environment but you're in the desert for a week you have to bring enough food you have to bring enough supplies um you have to you obviously have to make enough money to have all these things um and uh so it there's a natural filtering process yeah you have to really want to be there and you have to be uh innovative and creative and so there's it attracts that type of person and there's a filtering process. It's not easy to get there. And everybody will tell you that goes every year. There's a million reasons why you don't want to go as you lead up to it. It's like, oh, I got to work or this came up or that things will come up. Like you have to be really committed to make it there. It seems like the biggest benefit to being in that environment is, like you said, all the commitment and preparation that goes into the five days. can create and absent of judgment and and try things and uh really fill your cup by answering

a lot of questions about yourself that you otherwise a probably wouldn't ask or b wouldn't entertain answering totally yeah totally yeah it's easy to get permission out there yeah sure i've always wondered about or maybe maybe i didn't think I was wondering about it, but now I see that other person doing it. Would I like that? Maybe. Okay. Right. And if I try it and I don't like it, that's okay too. No harm, no foul. Yeah, no harm, no foul. Yeah.

Dude, with a 37-year-old Mike Bledsoe that sits here right now, how would you define your purpose from everything that you've gone through now? Which purpose? Going forward. Like, how do you define that? Or do you even define it at this point? No? I have many purposes.

Really? I see purpose as a process. And I think that getting attached to any single purpose is dangerous. Because I think a lot of times people think about purpose as a static thing. And so what I'm a really big fan of right now and what I've been thinking about, and a lot of this came from conversations I had with my friend Mark England from Procabular. That's great. And the way I see it now and what I encourage people to do is behave in ways that you experience a sense of purpose.

Because the thing is we're chasing a feeling. We want to have the feeling of sense of purpose. Because the thing is, we're chasing a feeling. We want to have the feeling of being on purpose. We want to have a sense of purpose. But for me to mentally say, this is my purpose, and I'm going to put it here, and I'm going to write it down in some words, that's not going to be satisfying very long. And I know so many people that they go,

they go, Oh, I have my purpose and they can tell you what their purpose is. Check in with them three years later. It's not satisfying anymore. And I know that because I've gone through it. Oh, this is my sense of,

this is my purpose. Yeah. And then I go, that purpose doesn't resonate with me anymore. And now I go through this whole thing of like, Oh, well, what is my purpose?

Oh, the agony. I've got to find it now. And it's, and I think, uh, and I'm, I'm, I've been at fault for this. I've, I've, I've told people like, you know, like, because there've been moments where I felt like I was on purpose, but you know, a week later I'm questioning it. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think that living into your purpose is a process in which being in touch with your body, because your body tells you, it'll let you know if you're on purpose or not, because you'll feel like you'll have a sense of purpose, which is a feeling. It's not a thought.

It's a feeling. And so if you're behaving in ways that are creating that sense of purpose day after day after day, you're going in the right direction. Yeah. And you can be happy every single day and what i find is i usually have a sense of purpose when i'm either expressing myself or being of service yeah and so if i'm doing those two things i have a sense of purpose and then if i'm playing the biggest game possible, then I'm having a really big impact. I'm having a good time.

I have a sense of purpose. That one really resonates with me, man, because I get real goal-oriented where you write that stuff down. Like you were mentioning, I'm going to play more, things like that. And you say you look down the road three months later, and you're not playing. You're just working. And I get myself caught in that's that vicious cycle where work it's not you're like am i really having fun at this point or am i just doing it because i feel like i need to be doing it so by you saying like you know positioning purpose in that manner i've never heard it you

know described that way but that's extremely insightful because i get caught in that rut of thinking like am i on purpose all the time it's like that's where I wake up thinking. So, dude, that's extremely helpful. Yeah. And, you know, it brings you back to a conversation that you and I often visit. And that's the perfect day thing. Right. living on purpose, living in your purpose is, it seems like a lot of your action is predicated on facilitating that perfect day lifestyle, whatever the fuck that is. You know, I know for you, it's,

you know, waking up, surfing, spending time with Ashley and all those things. Um, and then being able to build out that perfect day in the biggest way possible. And that's kind of where in my perception of that story, where the abundance comes in, you know, and that perfect day is a moving target too. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That's where the reflection comes in handy. Yeah. Yeah. That's where the reflection comes in handy. Yeah. Is your reflection, you know, you mentioned your coaches, and we're going to talk to a knot this weekend, which I'm super pumped about. Is your reflection at this point stimulated by self, or is it endorsed by coaches? Like when I take time to reflect, it's myself. I get this, I'll get this feeling, I go, oh, I need time for myself.

Sure. And time for myself means I get to reflect. I hop in a float tank, I get to journal, I get to paint now. These are the things I get to journal. I get to paint now. I, you know, these are the things I get to spend time by myself thinking about what am I feeling? Yeah. Like really experiencing my feelings. Cause my feelings are informing me of whether I'm doing the things that I'm meant to be doing or not. Okay. Yeah. I dig it. So before going, hanging on that word, before we let you get out of here today,

I want to ask you two questions because I know they're different than the last time I asked them. The first of which is what do you do every day now to feed yourself and stimulate that awareness? And then the follow-on to that is what do you do each and every day to fuel yourself so that it carries over over the long term? Yeah. I journal every day. Okay.

Journal every morning. And I just write what's happening for me in that moment. What's my experience? And no judgment. I don't even go back and read it very often. Every once in a while I do. Sure. You know, sometimes there's some really good gems in there to stimulate some creativity around something that's happening.

The journaling and, and I, uh, I do gentle movement every morning. Okay. So between the gentle movement and the journaling, that really, that really feeds me. Yeah. And what fuels me over the long term is I have a vision of how I want to impact the world. Okay. And keeping that vision in front of me and knowing like, oh, this is where I'm going. Yeah. This is the impact I want to have. Sure. And within that is seeing the people I love being involved in the

process yeah that's massive a real quick question that cuz I didn't rain on yeah one last question dovetailing on that. When it comes to that experience, as you journal and every once in a while you go back and you revisit things, have the things that you've manifested as you reflect, have they manifested different than when you originally put the idea to paper? Is that a common occurrence that it manifested differently and it showed up anyway? Or does it intentionally happen the way that you desire? Oh, it's almost always a surprise. Okay. What I write down happens.

Right. Yeah. Or at least it starts going in that direction and then I realize, oh, I didn't actually want that because I'm not enjoying this process okay but the manifestation process is legit when done well when you write down what it is that you want to happen yeah what your intent and not being attached to it and what I what I mean by not being attention not being attached to how it happens is what allows it to happen more quickly okay so a lot of intensity on the intention of what i want to happen but being open to however it can happen right and almost never almost never

does my vision come true the way i thought it would like if, if I were to, like, plan it out and write it down, like, right, step one, step two, fuck that. You're just going to make life hell if you're trying to live like that. In my, well, I won't say you. For me, my life would be like hell if I tried to plan out the steps because the way in which things show up is, that's the fun.

That's the beautiful part is watching things come to fruition go didn't even see that coming and watching stuff that i think is going to take eight years show up in six months that's crazy shit blows my mind i love it dude and most people are on here let's know where you are anyway anyway but where can they connect with you and all the programs that you have coming? Ooh, yeah, obviously. Well, obviously, but check me out on The Bledsoe Show. Posts on Mondays on the Shrug Collective. Check out The Strong Coach.

Oh, I left one off the, I didn't talk about it, Psychedelic Performance. Oh, okay. Check out psychedelicperformance.com. So The Bledsoe Show, psychedelicperformance.com, thestrongcoach.com. And I'll be posting shit on Instagram about Project X soon. So Mike underscore Bledsoe on Instagram. So I think that's the most important places to be following what I got going on. Oh, brother. Appreciate you, my man.

I love this interview. This has been so much fun. It's always good, man. I think this is my favorite interview to date. Dude, that means a lot, man. That's massive. It's been extremely awesome not only knowing you, but being

in the Shrug Collective and bringing Feed Me, Fuel Me into that fold. We got the call from Doug. I got off the phone with doug i was like jeff you want to do this thing because i love these guys they love us i think this is a really good idea it was it was no brainer yeah i appreciate you guys it's been really cool i appreciate you guys you guys in yeah yeah for sure um for everybody at feed me feel Feel Me Land, support everything that Mike has going on. Be on the lookout

for Project X and Working Title. Oh, I got a title for it. This is going to be an unveiling. Alright. Until next time, guys. Feed Me, Feel Me.

And that'll do it for this episode with our special guest, Mike Bledsoe. If you want to check out everything that Mike has going on, go to shrugcollective.com. Also, be sure to connect with us on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Feed Me, Fuel Me. We would love to hear from each and every one of you. If you found this episode inspiring in any way, please leave a rating and a comment in iTunes so we can continue on this journey together. Also, be sure to share it with your friends and family on social media, including Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter,

or any other social platforms that you use. We really appreciate you spending your time with us today and allowing us to join you on your journey. We would love to hear your feedback on this episode, as well as guests and topics for future episodes. To end this episode, we would like to leave you with a quote from an unknown author. A strong person is not one who doesn't cry. A strong person is one who cries and sheds tears for the moment, then gets up and fights again. Thank you again for joining us and we'll catch you on the next episode. you