Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Cleared Hot Episode 107 - Q and A Part 2

Episode Date: December 16, 2019

Finishing off 2019 with Q and A part 2... Personal preference and advice across 3 weapons platforms (pistol, AR, long rifle), my thoughts on what we can do to heal as a nation, Macro vs. Micro mindset... when it comes to approaching your goals, and making big moves with young families.  Enjoy

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Starting point is 00:06:12 Onit.com slash hot. Love the products. Been using them for years. Check them out. And on to the episode. Q&A part two. Probably going to take next week off, so hope you enjoy this episode. Because I'm going to have some Christmas time with the family as well.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And I'm not going to worry about putting out another episode. But I digress. Here we go. Q&A, part two. If you didn't get your question answered, I apologize. I'll try to answer it some other time. Enjoy. At the red smoke.
Starting point is 00:06:52 Okay, Kathy, west of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. First question for today comes from AM. C. Keller 85. We actually went back and forth just to touch on Instagram, so I'm going to read the exchange because it will tie into my answers. Mr. Keller 85 stated and then act, act, asked, it seems that you typically deflect or answer vaguely questions about firearms. However, you do talk about remaining current and proficient, which leads me to believe you still shoot. In parentheses, is we know the bow is where you're really getting your reps in.
Starting point is 00:07:36 This is true, so that's an accurate statement. Back to the question, though. What platform do you enjoy shooting the most? Pistol, AR, bolt gun, slash precision, and why is that your favorite? And I wrote back to him, and I said most of the questions I get about firearms are general in nature,
Starting point is 00:07:54 and I'm not attempting to deflect or be vague, just trying to answer in the broadest terms possible, so the information applies to more people. My preferred platforms are only relevant to me, so therefore irrelevant to talk about in an attempt to help other people. I added the word people on that. I didn't actually type that in. He responded, that's absolutely fair, and a big reason why I respect the way that you use your voice. That's also actually the reason I ask. I feel like you're level-headed in a social media world polluted with experts, in parentheses.
Starting point is 00:08:26 The social platforms are full of SMEs, which stands for subject matter experts, that do push their POVs. point of view as the only point of view. It would be cool to hear from you on the things you prefer because it comes from a place of experience and assumingly you're not paid by half the gun industry. You know, for the average guy who just wants to be better but can so easily be sucked in by the social media SMEs that come from the military LEO background. So that is the background for this particular question. And I'm going to tie this in a little bit later to another question I got, which essentially asked about the differences between the Weaver stance and the Isosceles stance.
Starting point is 00:09:09 So I'll talk a little bit about guns and then the shooting stance, hopefully tie them all together. But I'll open with, I do not consider myself to be an expert on anything or a subject matter expert, depending on the term you want to use, expert or SME. And I actually don't consider myself to have a voice. I am constantly and consistently blown away by the reception to this podcast. If you knew me personally, you would know that I consider my superpower if I do have one, the ability to be average. Like, I'm exceedingly average at the things that I do. And if I can achieve that level, I'm actually pretty happy.
Starting point is 00:09:53 I do not consider myself to be an expert on any topic. To your question specifically, and about firearms. in general, and just to touch on some of the things that you mentioned. I don't think that there is a point of view that works for everyone in every situation, and that should never be forgotten. In addition to that, very few people actually will operate or navigate in an LEL law enforcement officer or military environment, and your tools and training should match the environment that you're actually going to operate in,
Starting point is 00:10:28 not the mill or LEO environment, and specifically the cover of a magazine. Those might be inspirational or aspirational, but be very cautious trying to tailor your pursuits after an environment you're probably never going to operate in. Another thing you mentioned that I think is correct is that many opinions are paid for, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that,
Starting point is 00:10:51 but it has to be considered by the person receiving that opinion, and I believe that it should be decided, disclosed by the person offering that opinion. Your assumption about me not receiving a dime from the gun industry is correct. I have zero sponsorships in that world. So I'm not saying my opinion is correct, but when I'm giving it to you and when I answer this question for you, it is from my own personal experience and it's not coming from a perspective of being paid to say it. Now for your actual question.
Starting point is 00:11:28 I actually enjoy all three platforms. bulk gun, but I do it for different reasons. So here are my favorites in all three of those categories. Pistol, my daily carry is a SIG 365. It is a 12 plus one, and for people who are not familiar with guns, or don't know what that means, it means 12 rounds in the magazine plus one round in the chamber. So I have 13 rounds available before mag chains. On the rifle side of the house, you know, like a, I guess it would be a service rifle side of the house.
Starting point is 00:12:02 I prefer the AR platform, and currently what I have is I have a black rifle coffee, Novesky, SBR, which stands for short barrel rifle, with an Eotech on it. And just so you know, for the people listening, my EOTech is actually mounted correctly. If you follow the tactical asshole Instagram page, you'll realize that that doesn't happen all the time. So if you buy an Eotech and you put it on a rifle, please mount it in the correct direction, which is a total digression from your question, I apologize, but damn it. The number of pictures that I have still saved on my phone with Eotex on backwards is baffling. So Pistol Sig 365 for the rifle, I'm going with the 556 actually as well.
Starting point is 00:12:45 I might as well talk about the caliber too, so that I have an AR platform. And then my favorite bulk gun, and I actually don't own one of these, is a 300 windbag. And I'll talk about each of these individually here. actually it's probably important to to discuss this just when it comes to shooting the beauty of shooting pistol rifle or your bolt gun
Starting point is 00:13:10 is that the mechanics across all three of the platforms are identical and I like to build it from the ground up so your stance if you're standing is the same or is based off the same principle for pistol and rifle and your body position is just a different way of looking at a stance
Starting point is 00:13:27 you're going to be prone if you're laying down with a rifle trigger management's the same. You know, I'm always looking for a surprise break. I'm always managing my trigger reset. I'm not just fully extending my figure, then slapping it back onto the trigger. The target acquisition and side alignment,
Starting point is 00:13:41 it's all the same. And a cool thing about this, because you mentioned I get reps in with the bow, which I absolutely do, is that everything I just talked about, it also applies to the bow. It's a different terminology and vernacular, but the concepts are identical.
Starting point is 00:13:55 The biggest difference I've noticed between shooting things that go bang versus things that go thwack with the bow. Is that the bow, all of those things you're doing, the stance, the management, the surprise break, the acquisition of your target and side alignment, it's all happening under load and tension, which makes it more difficult because you're fighting that tension of your body while you're trying to do all these other things. Let's get into the actual platforms. So, Sig 365, my daily carry for a pistol.
Starting point is 00:14:29 I'll be the first to tell you that I'm probably biased to this brand because I was issued Sig and I used it for 17 years. I'm very comfortable with their platform. I'm very familiar with this particular platform. But my main decision points when it comes to everyday carry are reliability, the comfort in my hand, concealability, and the magazine capacity. So for the 365, I find personally that it fits great in my hand. It's a very small gun, but for me, it handles well, and it doesn't feel like a small gun in my hand.
Starting point is 00:14:59 If you're looking for a gun that you want to carry every day, and I get this question often, most people lead with caliber and I go the other direction. Find something that fits in your hand, and you can back yourself into whatever caliber that you want. Caliber to me is far less important than your ability to put rounds exactly where you want them to be. So comfort, I start with comfort in my hand. I carry at approximately the 2 o'clock position, which would often be called appendix carry. And if you think of the belt buckle on your pants or on your belt, which is attached to your pants, hopefully, you know, if your belt buckle is 12 o'clock, obviously you can walk your way around the clock. Three o'clock would be right on the side of your hip. 6 o'clock would be the middle of your back.
Starting point is 00:15:44 9 o'clock would be your left hip or the left hand side of your hip. I carry somewhere in between the 12 o'clock and the 3 o'clock, wherever it feels the most comfortable. It's almost always right there, though. And with that, the frame size of the 365, it works well. And then, like I said, magazine capacity, 13 rounds for a concealable everyday carry pistol, it's great. 13 rounds without having to access another magazine to me is a great start. For the AR platform, why I choose the AR platform, it's simple and I have experience with it. Those are the best answers that I can give you.
Starting point is 00:16:24 And, you know, people complain a lot about 556. It's not the hardest hitting round. It'll be the first person to tell you. But it's more than capable of getting the job done. It's very easy to source 556. I have a bunch of stuff from my old job that I can use when it comes to equipment. I know how to clean the thing. It just feels super comfortable in my hand, and I find it to be.
Starting point is 00:16:44 incredibly reliable. And onto the 300WMag, I have years of experience with this platform. The round performs well at altitude, in wind, in extreme temperatures, and I'll be the first to admit. It's not the best in any of those. And I don't care because I am comfortable with it, and that is critical to me. What you'll probably hear me, the word that I repeated the most in just talking about these platforms is comfort. My personal comfort level. I understand the pros and cons, but I go with what I am the most comfortable with. And having said that, I've never really been a gun guy. I have always found what works best for me and stuck with it. You need to remember in the gun world, there's no 100% solution for everyone. And this ties me into the Weaver and Isosceles question.
Starting point is 00:17:39 The weaver stance and the isosceles stance, instead of breaking those down, if you're actually curious about them, just go to Google and put in weaver stance and isosceles stance. The biggest difference is, you know, in the isosceles, you're fully locked out with both of your arms. And the weaver stance, one of your arms is slightly bent. And if somebody were to ask me which one is better, I would say I don't know, because I think you need to learn both and practice both and be comfortable with both. But not just those two. You need to be comfortable shooting from as many positions as possible.
Starting point is 00:18:13 You should learn how to shoot on your side or prone or on your back or moving or sitting or in low light or in high light. Or with a really tight backdrop, meaning that there's high, high consequence to a missed round. And then open backdrop where maybe there's nothing behind what you're shooting at and you can kind of go to town. So we run an isosceles. I'm going to say they both have their time and place. But so do all of those other shooting positions. You need to explore and practice as much as you can.
Starting point is 00:18:39 and realize that the real world doesn't really care what you're best at. If you decide to carry and you step out into the street, you're going to get what you get, not what you want, or what some social media guru is telling you that is likely going to happen or what you should prepare for. So I know those answers were still probably more broad than the individual wanted, but those are the three specific weapons that I use on those platforms. It's how I carry. It's why I choose them.
Starting point is 00:19:08 and hopefully some advice for people who are looking to get into that world. Question number two comes from Sean Roser. And this is a different question than I normally would answer, which I think is why I chose it. This question is, how to best deal with moving out of state with a young family? And then there was a sub-question here from H.D. I'm sorry if I'm say this wrong. Crossin C-R-O-S-S-A-N.
Starting point is 00:19:37 And this person said, I like this question too. add on the thought process pros and cons you and your wife went through at the time and what made you ultimately pull the trigger on the move well i'm gonna say that young is a is a tough term for me because i assume the definition varies between families and i think that the age of the children has the ability to make this decision much easier or much more difficult and problematic i think if your kids are very young and by that i'll define that as say under five years old, that the burden is likely going to be solely and specifically on the mom and dad. And their concerns will probably revolve around their occupation or potential child care in the area
Starting point is 00:20:26 and the quality and entry into the first years of school. And from my own experience, those are a little bit easier to deal with. Because the social circle for your kids is likely going to matter far less, as they may have some good friends at that age, like five and below. but I at least think that those relationships can pretty easily be replaced and relatively rapidly by finding other kids that are just in that age grouping where you're going to be landing. That was not the situation that I had with my family when we moved from San Diego.
Starting point is 00:21:01 We lived in Chula Vista, which is southeast San Diego, to Montana, northwestern Montana into the Flathead Valley. at that time when we were trying to decide when we ultimately pulled the trigger on the move, I had a 13-year-old son, an 11-year-old son, and a 9-year-old daughter. My oldest son was finishing 7th grade, and one of the big decision points that we discussed was we did not want to move once our oldest son had begun high school. And we also wanted him to have time to develop a social circle as opposed to starting a new high school in a new city blind because I think anybody male or female at that age will tell you
Starting point is 00:21:46 that high school is difficult enough as it is. So we wanted to get him into a new location and at least a 12-month cycle or a school year cycle of developing that social circle before he moved on into high school. In addition to that, we weighed the pros and cons of where we lived, which I mentioned was San Diego and the potential our destination had to offer for both us personally as parents and for our kids. I will be the first to admit that I think the decision when it came to moving might have been a little bit easier from a professional standpoint because I travel for work. There is no physical infrastructure that I need to check in with every day and that provided substantial flexibility with where we landed because my main concern was access to a good airport. The
Starting point is 00:22:34 Flathead Valley has a great airport, not that it gets me directly where I want to go, but I fly Delta and if I can get to Salt Lake or Minneapolis or Atlanta, I can get to the rest of the world. And I have great options here. So I was actually really looking at when it came to moving to Montana, the airport infrastructure and what I could do travel-wise from there. So I was looking at those things, but we still didn't go blind. We visited the area multiple times for as long as we could. And specifically, we came up once for two weeks and then once for, it was almost four weeks and spent a good amount of time in that area. We watched our kids and came to the conclusion that they seemed happier. And we came to the realization that they had more opportunity currently
Starting point is 00:23:22 and in the future if we moved and got them out of the area that we were currently living in. That's what made us pull the trigger. The pace of life seemed slower and much more in line with what we wanted from our personal lives as adults and for our kids moving into the future. We involved them in the decision. We talked about it. We didn't just wake up one morning and say, hey, kids, by the way, we're going to move. We talked to them and we listened to any concerns that they expressed. And more than anything, they weren't concerns. They just had a bunch of questions, right? I think, I remember being at that age. It's not that I was concerned. I just wanted to know what was going on. I had questions about my future and I wanted to be involved.
Starting point is 00:24:06 I think the decision to move, I mean, and I would still consider my family to be young at that point. I should probably mention that. 13, 11, and 9, that was young to me, but that was probably at the tail end of young. The older and more defined that the roots were in the area that we had been moving from, I think the more difficult it would have been. I don't think it would have been possible for us to do it once they were in high school. So that was the go-no-go criteria for us. if you make the choice to move,
Starting point is 00:24:37 which I don't even know where you're living now or what your situation is, I would say go for it. And if you do, there's going to be challenges regardless, but you can choose how you treat those challenges. And what I would recommend is that don't frame them like that. Don't frame it as a challenge, frame it as an adventure.
Starting point is 00:24:55 And keep that in mind when you encounter obstacles because you're going to do. Change and new scenery is a good thing, in my opinion, especially if you can treat it with your kids like an adventure. And like I said, we didn't pull the trigger blind. We analyzed the real estate market. We researched the schools, the academics, the sports, the demographics, we visited. But once we pulled that trigger, zero time was spent looking back.
Starting point is 00:25:23 There was no waffling, which I think also makes that easier for your family. There's going to be uncertainty. Just remain steadfast once you make that decision. And once you've done your research and then decided to execute. on that move and involve those kids as much as you can listen to the concerns that they have make it an adventure have an awesome time and drive forward question number three comes from totes dash mcdotes i would love to hear the background on where this screen name comes from our username because this comes from instagram the question is though what do you think it will take to start to
Starting point is 00:25:58 heal some of the divide in our country and boy do i agree with you There is some divide in our country. And I've actually talked about this before, maybe not this exact question, but I guess what I've talked about before are the days in what I remember shortly after 9-11, which at least in my life, the 42 years that I've been hurling around the sun, it's the least divided that we have ever seemed as a country, as far as I can remember. perhaps it was that way when I was young and my parents would have to remind me of that. But as far as the things that I can remember in the days and maybe even week or two after 9-11, that is the closest that I've ever seen this country be. And I'm not positive as to why that is, but I suspect it's because we chose to put our differences aside for at least a short period of time.
Starting point is 00:26:51 And we were focused on being Americans as opposed to individuals. And I had a bizarre interaction with somebody recently that just kind of highlights how far we have come from that. And this interaction started off by me reaching out to them and questioning some things that they had said about their experiences overseas. And I'm not going to say that this individual was lying about being overseas, but let's just say that there are some common things that I hear sometimes that really raise some warning flags. this is one of them. This individual had claimed to another person that they were one of the four people
Starting point is 00:27:30 who actually knew what happened on the ground the night that Osama bin Laden was killed and that they were also there on the ground. You would think that this would be something uncommon for people to say? I can... Probably over 20 times I have heard individuals express this. Oh yeah, well, I was there that night and very few of us actually know what happened.
Starting point is 00:27:55 How about shut the fuck up? No, you weren't and no, you don't. It's incredibly common narrative. I've heard it. It is indicative of somebody who is lying. And I don't know why they choose this particular narrative because it's such a blatant lie. And it's often paired with, well, I know Rob O'Neill, to which I'll respond. That's great.
Starting point is 00:28:16 A ton of people do, and that doesn't mean what you're saying is true. So you can drop that aspect of it as well. So we went back and forth a little bit, and shortly into this exchange, this individual asked me if I was a conservative, to which I responded that I generally land in the middle on most issues. And then this individual asked me if I was a libertarian. And this attempt, which I see and hear people doing often, is a problem in my opinion. Because what I've seen is it goes one of two ways, at least in the current environment. If you align with that person's views, what the next thing that happens is they'll start talking shit about other groups.
Starting point is 00:29:00 And if you don't align with this person's views, what they're going to do is they're going to talk shit about you. And personally, I could care less what political party somebody affiliates with. At the end of the day, I do and will always define myself as an American, not by one of the political parties inside of our government system. So to tie this back into the question, in my opinion, if we want to start to heal or come together as a country, we need to start looking for similarities, not differences. We need to start looking for common ground and not the things that separate us.
Starting point is 00:29:34 Because I have friends with every possible political belief imaginable. And I'm not joking when I say that I actually do. And I appreciate their beliefs because I think that the diversity of thought and the ability to express different and diverse opinions is one of the things that makes this country great. and my concern is, or at least in my opinion, is if you spend time labeling others and then trying to shout them down on social media posts or calling them libtards or throwing memes back and forth, you're part of the problem and not the solution. And that is the issue that I have with this individual rapidly trying to corner me into a label that then they can associate some type of judgment with. because I don't feel like I fit any label completely. I refuse to participate in the bullshit political banter
Starting point is 00:30:24 because it only serves to highlight differences which both parties use to vilify the other. And I think it is driving us further apart. The next time that you want to attack somebody's belief or opinion or their ideas, here's a strategy for you. Just don't. What's the worst thing that's going to be?
Starting point is 00:30:48 to happen if you don't? The answer is nothing. Or think about this from a different perspective. The same stranger that you are in the middle of an argument with, remove that argument and pretend like you don't know this person. And you come around a corner in your car and you see an accident and they're on the ground bleeding. Would you get out of your car and render assistance the best of your ability? I would hope the answer is yes. Before you rendered that medical assistance or call 911, would you ask that individual what their political party is or what they define their belief system to be? I wouldn't. And I don't think most people would. But that seems to be what everybody is leading with right now. You're going to treat them like a human being,
Starting point is 00:31:35 regardless of what their beliefs are. So maybe you can apply that in other aspects or areas of your life. So I have, there's three things that came to me when I initially thought about answering this question, things that we could do to hopefully help help, hopefully help, bring us closer together. And in no particular order, it was, or they are, appreciation, compassion, and put your goddamn phone away. I think if we could focus more on appreciating the diversity of who we are as a nation, or took a breath before we immediately tried to slam somebody, you would come to the realization that it's always possible to find some type of common ground unless you're incredibly out there on one of these polar opposite extremes. And what I will
Starting point is 00:32:27 say about that is I think the number of people who actually live and operate there is so infinitesimally small. The odds of it being your neighbor or the people that you're encountering in your everyday life, you're not going to encounter these people. It's possible to find some type of common ground with just about everybody. And you should appreciate that. And then take a moment to have some compassion for their thoughts or the thoughts of others. From what I've seen at least, most people's thoughts and actions, they're driven by experiences in their life or a situation that they're currently in or have been in. And there's no point in shouting down people for expressing their thoughts. I'm sorry to tell you, but your meme isn't going to change the world,
Starting point is 00:33:14 regardless of how witty that you think it is or how witty that you think you are. So to get to the phone point, I say phone because I think most people interface on social media through their phone and rapidly, ask yourself this. You see something an opinion expressed to you and it's just for whatever reason lights a fire under your ass and you want to get back and you want to just get online and scream at this person about how stupid they are and their beliefs. what's the worst thing that's going to happen if you don't respond to this individual that you don't agree with? And that's right.
Starting point is 00:33:51 The answer is absolutely nothing. But if you do respond emotionally and you feel offended that you haven't had your chance or opportunity to shout over the top of this person's belief with your own beliefs, what's likely going to happen, is that you're going to come off as an asshole and at the grandest of levels we're going to be moving farther and farther away from each other which is the exact opposite of what I think we should do which is find the common ground and focus on being Americans
Starting point is 00:34:27 as opposed to focusing on the labels that we can put on individual people and then judge them by for and with. Question number four and the last question for today It comes from DT.2.1. And this is an older question. I found it in one of my notebooks. One of your most recent episodes, and I'm sorry because, like I said,
Starting point is 00:34:46 this is older. I don't know which one this comes from. You mentioned how viewing events were obstacles from a big or small world point of view as a factor in mental toughness. Can you please expand upon this? And I chose this question because I just got back from a week of public speaking in Asia,
Starting point is 00:35:01 and I talked about this at an individual level. So, it's freshman. my mind and it's relevant. Let me unpack it, though, just a touch. Mental toughness. I consider mental toughness to be a combination of resiliency and how you set and then mentally approach your goals. And both of those can be taught and enhanced because I will get asked that question as well. Are you born with it or can it be taught? Yes, you're born with a certain level, but yes, I also think you can enhance whatever an individual may have. There's a ceiling to that, of course, but it can be enhanced.
Starting point is 00:35:40 So you can sabotage yourself, and the number one mistake I have seen people make, and I have made this mistake myself, is thinking too big. This is where I'm going to tie it back into your question, big or small. Your thoughts are incredibly powerful, and if you choose not to control them, they can unwind any type of physical toughness
Starting point is 00:36:00 that an individual may possess. It works in both directions. You know, thoughts are super small, And when I was speaking in Asia, I was using the analogy of dominoes. They're really small, but they can move huge objects if you line them up sequentially. But it's important to remember that you could line dominoes up in both directions. And you can do this with thoughts as well. You can line them up in a positive direction or you can line them up in a negative direction.
Starting point is 00:36:27 In the momentum that you build, both positive or negative, right now I'm talking about your thought process and that momentum, it can have a huge outcome on performance. It can allow you to achieve things people think are not possible, or if the momentum starts building in the wrong direction, it can make it seem like you have insurmountable obstacle after insurmountable obstacle. You have to control those thoughts. They're incredibly powerful. And if you choose not to control them, they can control you.
Starting point is 00:36:56 And I'm going to have to use buds as an example because I have experienced there as both a student and as an instructor. So a brief definition of buds, which stand. for basic underwater demolition slash seal training. This is a sixth month selection course. You're not a seal at the end of this. You're not learning any high speed tactics in this training. The emphasis on this program should be on the B.
Starting point is 00:37:21 It is very, very basic. Like I said, it's six months long, and it has an incredibly high attrition rate. I'm going to just throw it out and say 75%. It does fluctuate during the time of year, and I don't really care 75% for the, sake of argument. So about seven, between seven to eight people who attempt this training do not make it. And you have to remember that every single one of the candidates that shows up for this
Starting point is 00:37:47 is already physically strong. They're already mentally tough. They're motivated and their discipline. They would already be considered high achievers. They are high achievers. They've been screened and selected before they even get there to day one of training because it is a competitive process even to get in the door on day one. And based on those characteristics, Most people would say that they should be successful. All of them should be successful, but they are not, and not even close. So that leads to a very important question. Why?
Starting point is 00:38:16 And a more important question, what could be learned from this and their failures? So there's two sides of this coin. The first one is as a student when you're going through, and you have an individual that falls into that 75% attrition rate. And as a student, when a classmate quits, you have little to no opportunity to discuss with them why. Your training day and evolution continues. Theirs does not, and they are rapidly gone. As an instructor, the other side of this coin, you have the opportunity to spend more time with them and ask them questions, should you choose to?
Starting point is 00:38:50 And as an instructor, I chose to because I was interested in why they decided to give up. I asked as many students as I could find, why did you quit? And there were some very, very common, common narratives. And the more I thought about this, if you distill it down, there was actually only one very common narrative. And that was that they got overwhelmed. And then in that moment of being overwhelmed, they made a really poor decision. One that they expressed to me that they would likely regret for the rest of their lives. And I have encountered students that I put through training who did quit.
Starting point is 00:39:31 and every one of them, every one of the students that I have at least encountered, has expressed to me a sense of regret. They got overwhelmed, they made a poor decision. And the way that they would verbalize to me is they would say something along the lines of, I just couldn't do it anymore. Or this just isn't for me, but it's the first part of that sentence that I'm concerned with. I just couldn't do it anymore. people have a very limited understanding of the training that occurs at buds and most of what they see in movies or TV shows or pictures online are of people running on the beach or laying in the surf zone
Starting point is 00:40:15 linked arm and arm or tied up in the pool with their arms and legs tie behind their back or running on the beach with the boats on their head and those are just the basic tools and they actually were not the most effective tool that I had as an instructor. The most effective tool that I had as an instructor was the ability to mess with the student's head and interrupt their thought process. I did not understand this when I first got there. It was something that I learned over time.
Starting point is 00:40:45 But once I learned this, it became far more effective than any of those basic tools. The logs, the boats, the surf, the sleep deprivation. It actually far outweighed. any of those things, even in combination. My goal is an instructor. Once I learned that once they became overwhelmed, that their thought process probably fell apart getting to becoming overwhelmed,
Starting point is 00:41:10 but their decision making was going to fall apart once I could get them overwhelmed, that is what I focus on. My goal as an instructor was to get the students to think big. Their goal, as a student, needs to be, I have to keep my world as small and as money. microscopic as possible. So here's what it would go like, the exchange between a student and an instructor, or in this case, an instructor and a student. Here's what I would say to a student. As an example, how long can you be this cold, wet, tired, and hungry? What they need to be saying
Starting point is 00:41:50 to themselves is, I just need to make it through this day, this hour, this evolution, or this minute. I would say to them, do you really think that you can be this cold, tired, and wet for the next 180 days? They need to be saying to themselves, this evolution that I'm doing right now is my entire world. I'll make it through this and then worry about what comes next. Two completely different thought processes applied to the exact same situation. Their goal is to make it through 180-day selection course. My goal was to get them to focus on the distance between where they were and where they wanted to be. I was trying to get them to think about the totality and the massive nature of,
Starting point is 00:42:31 of their goal. They need to think only about the next step that they need to take. Their mental focus needs to be only on that next step and ignore anything and everything outside of that. Because if you keep taking the next step, I don't care how far away your goal is, you're eventually going to arrive there,
Starting point is 00:42:50 unless you stop and constantly measure how far away you are from your goal. Because if you do that, I'm going to catch you in a moment of weakness. And I'm talking specifically now as a Bud's instructor. I can catch you in that moment of weakness, I'm going to try to keep you there in the hopes that you're going to make a bad decision that you can't come back from. My goal is to make your world big. Your goal as a student is to make your world small. You need to set your goals at
Starting point is 00:43:15 a macro level, like graduating buds. I need to graduate this 180-day selection course. How big should you set your goal? Your goal should be huge. And when people ask me, is my goal big enough, I ask them, are you seriously concerned that you may fail in the execution or a attempt at this goal. And if the answer is yes, I would say you're probably in line with an appropriate goal. If you're not scared at all and you know that you're going to succeed in your goals without putting forth much effort or concern, I would say you can do far better than that. So scare yourself with your macro goals. But as soon as you do that, you have to keep your focus at the micro level. And there is no right answer for how micro. Each and every person is going
Starting point is 00:43:57 to have to determine that for themselves because each and every person has some level of resilience or the analogy that I'll use, most people have heard the phrase, you know, how do you eat a whale? It's one bite at a time. Well, everybody can tolerate a different size bite. And so you have to find the size of bite that works for you. Hellweek is the fifth week of training, or it was when I went through, and it's five days long, and you can choose to look at it as that macro bite. Or you could look at it as four meals per day, you know, breaking it down.
Starting point is 00:44:27 Or you could look at it at one hour at a time or one evolution at its time. Every person is going to have a different talk. for what they can handle when it comes to taking that bite. There's no wrong answer unless you find yourself getting overwhelmed. And if you find that, you need to reorganize your thoughts. Because if you don't, you're going to go into an area where you start making bad decisions. And you may regret those decisions for the rest of your life. So if you compare that mental approach with resilience, which is another topic in and of itself,
Starting point is 00:44:57 there's not too many things that you're not going to be able to achieve. And I will say a few things on resilience, but I'm not going to get into it too. deeply. Bend yourself before the world decides to bend you. That's how you build your resilience. You do that by seeking difficult and uncomfortable things, and also don't keep your kids away from adversity. The best time to teach resilience is when your kids are young. You need to allow them to fail and be there to pick them back up again. And they're going to thank you for it later, or maybe they won't. But at least you'll know you did the right thing, even if they never recognize it. Macro goals, micro focus. Set your goals huge and live
Starting point is 00:45:32 in the most micro perspective that you can. And I promise you, if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, I don't care how big your goal is, you're eventually going to arrive there. And that's it for this week. Thanks again to Fields for supporting this episode of Cleared Hot. As I said, Fields has me feeling my best every day. And it can help you too. Become a member by going to Fields.com slash cleared hot,
Starting point is 00:45:58 and you'll get 50% off your first order with free. shipping. Thanks everybody. Appreciate the support. I hope everybody has a solid ending to 2019. Like I said, I'm probably not going to do an episode next week because I want to spend some time relaxing and enjoying with the people that I love. I hope you get a chance to do the same. See you.

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