Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - 302 | the courage to commit

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

In this episode, we’re talking about OUR NEW BOOK!! After years of conversations, ideas, and believing in this project, our book is finally coming out June 9 and you can pre-order it now! https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-courage-to-commit-shawn-johnson/1148323652 We briefly discuss the overlying topic of commitment and why it’s so hard, why it matters, and what happens when you decide to truly stick with something. We’re also incredibly excited because we’ll be going on a book tour to celebrate the launch. We’ll be traveling, hosting events, doing interviews and press, and most importantly, meeting so many of you in person!!! Getting to connect with the community that has supported us through this journey is something we’re truly looking forward to. Your opinions, feedback, and support have shaped so much of what we do. The conversations we’ve had with you, the messages you’ve sent, and the ideas you’ve shared have all played a part in bringing this book to life. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Love you guys and wee can’t wait to see you on the road! Shawn & Andrew Get a free can of OLIPOP when you buy any two — learn more at https://drinkolipop.com/COUPLETHINGS David is offering our listeners a special deal: buy 4 cartons and get the 5th free when you go to www.https://davidprotein.com/EASTFAM. Stick with your wellness goals. Go to www.https://kachava.com and use code EASTFAM for 15% off. Home Chef is offering our listeners 50% OFF and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! Go to www.https://HomeChef.com/EASTFAM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to a couple things. With Sean and Andrew. Today, we are going to talk about our book. Our book. It's here. It is available for pre-order already. And it officially launches June 9th. What a project it was. It was a project.

It has taken over two years, which is crazy. Three years. I remember we had calls with the publishers as we were trying to convince them to help us write this book two and a half years ago. Yes. I remember writing the whole thing as I was pregnant with bear and all the phone calls. So we thought one, we would walk you through the process, what it looked like, why we feel so passionately about this, and then give you a glimpse as to what it is we wrote about, why we think you should read it, and why hopefully you'll like it. I'm excited. I've never done anything like this. It was quite the journey. And

essentially it went like this. Sean and I have been making podcasts, YouTube videos, make all the fun videos on Instagram. And when we get approached on the street, a lot of people will say, hey, I started watching your TikTok videos, but then I started listening to your podcast as a result of that.

And thank you so much for the deep talk topics you guys address in there. I've never heard anyone, talk about them like you do. I'm not saying we're good at talking about these things, but we talk about them from our perspective, and that's the most we can do. So then we're like, okay, a book would be a really good project for us to, you know, take, I would say the TikTok videos are fun. The podcasts are really good and deep. And a book could even be a deeper version of what we do here on the podcast. I think something that was really beautiful about this is we try to storytell. Our our life and really short clips across every platform.

And through that, we have shared little snippets here and there. Over the past eight years, we've had our podcast about how we run our life and how we protect our marriage and how we parent and how we approached our professional careers, how I made it to the Olympics, how you made it to the NFL, how we fail and how we protect ourselves now from failure. And we've given you all these little things, such as our date nights and our debriefs. and our annual yearly goal setting, and then the marriage intensives that we've done.

Like we've given you all these little snippets, but never had this full place where we've put all of it together to show you almost the strategy that we have, like the intentional strategy behind our life. And that might sound not sexy, but we have found it really works and it's given us such a fruitful, meaningful life that I literally pinch myself about every single day.

So I'm like, how do we get to live this life? It's so beautiful. And so we tried to put that into words in a book, into chapters, that hopefully makes sense for you, but might give you set you up to commit to something that you will bear fruit on later. It was really fun once we decided that we did want to write a book. Then you're like, okay,

well how there's a topic but there's a ton of different ways you could address the topic and so for us we looked at the concept of commitment and it was something that we saw as a through line whether it be in our athletic career business parenting marriage hobbies uh when we've done it well it's it's had wonderful results and when we have failed to commit to something and the way that we propose in the book, then it's led to like heartbreak and frustration. Now, I will say, three years ago when we signed on for this project, and we had this idea similar to our podcast, we always want to be the people that are very humble in the sense of we have not figured it out and we're still figuring it out. And we don't want to

come across like we know the answer. But I do think we're pretty close on this one. But trying to write a book that gives you enough wisdom and enough direction to actually impact your life really scared us because we've never written a book for together start to finish. So something that we're really good at is we're finding the people who are really good at what they do. So with this book, Andrew and I did not sit down with pen and paper. And we will be the first to admit that and write start to finish every chapter. We brought in an actual writing genius, Jimmy Sonny, who wrote this alongside of us. He helped us do like statistical, analytical, data research and find the actual whys and the actual hows to the ideas that we couldn't articulate perfectly and backed them up. And he helped us do interviews with more people and find

everything to really make this a polished beautiful book that you can learn something from, which was, I think one of my favorite parts because we spent an entire year doing nothing but having phone calls with Jimmy writing down our ideas and our stories and our anecdotes and our failures and our successes and our wise and how we wanted and could see it come to life. It was, it was crazy. He was more of a marriage counselor for probably a year. We got to know each other pretty well. We did.

All three of us. And we also, it was really nice because having him there, you know, sometimes the way I communicate my ideas is not super clear. And he was just a great. at blending your perspective and my perspective. And it was also really fun because as we explored the topic of commitment, it allowed us to not write a book about marriage advice or how to be a professional athlete or any of those things.

It's not really a how-to book as much as it is an exploration of a topic that we feel like is the secret to a meaningful life in a lot of different ways. To also give you a little glimpse as to the format of the book and why I find it really unique and intriguing to read is if you have followed along with our podcast or if you're brand new here, let me just tell you. Andrew and I are very different people.

We are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to how we operate and think. Andrew works in facts. Like you have to know the data. I work in feelings and emotions and just like my gut. And so we tried to really harness both of those and not dilute. them. And so you'll see in the way the text is written, there's actually like a little

image of our faces. And so if you see Andrew's face, it's fully Andrew who's writing that chapter. If you see my face, it's my tone, my voice, everything and how I would kind of like argue a topic. And then if you don't see either of our faces, it's Jimmy helping us kind of bring together both sides and the ideas and show the data points behind it and how you can take both of our thoughts and kind of implement them into your lives going forward.

Yeah. And I think it resulted in a really well-balanced dynamic read in the sense that it's like, okay, we're talking about an anecdotal story but it has this scientific study to support it. It ended up being really fun. And also, you know,

know, I'm a big fan of books and audio books, and I think it'll just be a fun back and forth hearing your voice and my voice. And you'll get a very clear picture as to how you can relate this into literally everyone's life because you have two very different people showing you two completely different sides of it and how we implement those into our lives as well. But man, it was so crazy the effect that focusing on this topic had over the last three years. where one, it wasn't like a pre-planned topic. It was something that we feel like was a common theme and through line of our life, like I said. But once you start dialing in on what that topic is, I feel like it was a filter and a lens that I just saw in my everyday life for three years. We're like, oh my gosh. And then instead of making a 15 second video about it, you start to organize this.

You know, it's like it's 60,000 words. And there's a lot that goes in that. You can unpack a topic way differently than any other format of media we've ever done. So it was like really cool. I feel like the personal side effects it had. And also, like I said, it's an exploration of the topic. So I feel like I learned a ton about committing and how to do it right and then uncommitting. And they're just like this beautiful process of seeing the world through the lens of this book, which is cool.

One of our favorite things about the topic and even just, the title, like the courage to commit, is this idea that when we are put into interviews and even just in traditional, like, or in society today, everybody talks about the hack. And so we'll get into an interview. And I've seen this firsthand with Andrew when you have been interviewed by ESPN and then I'll be on NBC or like whatever. And people want to know how do you hack the system to become an NFL? Like what did you do to play that system well enough to make it?

Or I've heard people even ask my parents, what did you do when she was a kid to make me, Sean, like go to the Olympics? And I'll get stopped on the street. Like, my daughter's a gymnast. What gym do I need to take her to to make sure she goes? Or every day on Instagram, people are like, what's the trick to having your marriage? And everybody wants like the secret sauce and the secret little thing that they can do

to make it that much better. And so when we really started diving into this, it feels very countercultural to say there really is no hack because the hack is commitment. And that sounds so simple, but we try to dive into every possible category in which we've seen this work and succeed in a beautiful way. And we tell you the story of it through like our deepest failures, even within our marriage and within parenting and our biggest successes, which come from sticking with something. And it truly feels so simple, but when you start diving into each chapter and dissecting it into like a subtopic, I think you'll really feel the weight of why we think it's so cool.

Can I just maybe start by reading the front cover? Because Sean and I saw, like you were saying, this cultural trend towards hacking things. so that you can like, you know, everyone talks about freedom and flexibility and keeping your options open, which yes, yes, but. Yes, but. There's also.

There's a downside to that and there's a huge cost. Yeah. And in dating, careers, hobbies, friendships, relationships, like, you don't always want to keep your options open, you know? Like, to have a lifelong friendship, you need to have less options for friends

and focus on a few. To unlock, like, joy and purpose in your career. And to unlock a deeper sense of fulfillment than you'll ever feel in your life in any field of your life, you have to weed out all the noise and have one thing. One thing I've been trying to stay consistent with this year is actually getting enough protein throughout the day. And I know it sounds simple, but when you're busy, it's surprisingly easy to miss.

Oh, yes. Especially on days where you're running between things. That's honestly where David protein has become a huge part of our routine. It's an easy option to keep around when you want something quick that actually keeps you satisfied. David makes two different protein bars. They're delicious. Yeah, they really are. They're gold line and their newer bronze line and both have really impressive macros.

The gold bars are kind of like their hero product. Each one has 28 grams of protein, 150 calories, and zero grams of sugar, which is a pretty wild protein to calorie ratio compared to most bars out. there. And honestly, the texture is great. It's more of a doughy bar with little chunks and airy crisp. I love it. The chocolate chip cookie dough and fudge brownie flavors have been my favorites lately. The bronze bars are a little different. Still 150 calories and zero grams of sugar, but they have 20 grams of protein and more of a decadent texture. This one is like my favorite. They've got this smooth marshmallow style base with crunchy layers and a chocolate coating. I

love them. The peanut butter chocolate crunch and some more's flavors are really good there. More is my favorite. What we like about David is that a lot of protein bars are packed with extra sugar and calories, and these are designed to give you a lot of protein without all of that. It's just a simple option to keep on hand when you're on the go. We still try to eat mostly whole foods, but having something like this for busy afternoons or after workout just make staying consistent a lot easier. Don't just take our word for it. Try it for yourself.

David is offering our listeners a special deal. Buy four cartons and get the fifth for free when you go to Davidprotein.com forward slash eSFam. That's Davidprotein.com forward slash e-spam. And if you prefer to shop in person, David is available at leading retailers nationwide, including Target, Walmart, Kroger, Wegmans, and the Vitamin Shop. Just check out their store locator online to find a location near you. So the front covers this. It says modern life seems designed to keep us uncommitted.

Dating apps promise that someone better is just one swipe away. Career advice pushes us to job hop every 18 months. Even our entertainment comes with a skip button. ready to whisk us away the moment our attention waivers. We've built an entire economy around the fear of missing out, where keeping your options open isn't just smart. It's practically a moral imperative. Yet we are two people who have made a living

literally off the power of doubling down. Olympic gold medals and NFL careers aren't built on hedged bets and backup plans. They're forged in the white-hot crucible of total commitment where the only way out is through. The courage to commit, this book, is our love letter to commitment in an age that treats it like a relic from a more naive time. It's for everyone who's ever wondered if there's something more sustainable than the dopamine hit of endless options and constant change.

For those with an impossible dream that just feels out of reach. And the kind of the top headliner there is between the dream and doing lies a single radical act commitment. I was a big fan of the book, Atomic Habits. And I feel like for me, this book is in a lot of ways a preface to that concept of like, okay, yeah, you want to do something. And now you hear the habits to do it. But what about what is the thing that you want to do? And how do you commit to that in a way that unlocks the ability to have habits that help build you towards those goals?

One of my favorite things about our podcast is that we get to bring in professionals from every walk of life and dive deep into. what they've learned in life. Some are professors from Harvard. Some are actual marriage therapists. Some are scientists who research, you know, the front lines of medicine and others are just probably in their 80s or 90s and had a long, long, fruitful relationship. And I think with a lot of that over the years, we have had the fortune of getting to share that wisdom.

like for ourselves. We get to interview them, listen to what their feedback is and their highlights that they've learned over the course of their careers and their lives and we implement them into our daily life. And we're constantly like bettering our relationship and our parenting and our careers

because of all of the wisdom that we're just getting poured into us selfishly. And one of my favorite things in writing this book with every chapter and every subcategory, about faith and fear and how do you start and how do you you know how do you unravel a lot of the stuff that you've already wrapped up into your life with every chapter I'd be like oh I remember when we got to talk to this person and they were talking about whatever it was I mean divorce is one

or the fear of failure or rejection or depression or anxiety or I hate my job or whatever it is we got to kind of dump every single person's wisdom into this book. And it was really fun reliving all of those interviews and being able to like summarize all of the wisdom that we've gotten in 10 years time and like wrap it in and a bow for you all. And we've done over 300 episodes on this podcast, a lot of those interviews. And then I've done and the redirected podcast, hundreds of interviews there too. And it was, again, really cool to just have the amount of time that your brain needs to, like, remember all those things. You can't do it in, like, a day.

Say, okay, how did I, how would I summarize 400 interviews and apply those concepts to this books? But we, in this format, like being able to write it over three years allowed us to, like, really plug into all those recalls. To give you guys an example of, like, one thing we dive into very heavily in many chapters is what is written here. as like the boring middle. In almost every category of life, whether it's like your love life, dating life, parenting, business, you're going to fall in love with something, right? You're going to be smitten. There's going to be butterflies.

And you're going to like dive head first into whatever that is. It's be a career, a hobby, a person. And you're going to feel that for a while. And then all of a sudden something's going to happen where you're like, oh, I'm bored. I need the next exciting thing. And we in our book argue that if you can be equipped with the tools and tactics and strategies to get through that boring middle, you unlock a new phase of smitten butterfly power, passion, then you ever will at the beginning of that excitement. Yeah, the honeymoon phase. and that is a place in this world

that nobody wants to talk about anymore. They want to say, as soon as you hit the boring, it's time for you to quit and leave and go find something else exciting. And we give you so many examples as to why not to do that. And I go back into my Olympic career

and tell you in depth the details of the days where I was like, this sucks and I don't like it anymore. more and I think I've fallen out of love with my sport and I don't want to continue. And I tell you the conversations I had with my coach where he was like, okay, don't come back to the gym then. Don't just go find something else. And I walk you down the path of what happens when I do that and what happens when I come

back to the gym and I fall even more in love and I just keep working for it. And then I end up with an Olympic gold medal. And it's like. And then boom. And then boom. Yeah. It's that easy, guys. But we just try to give you the stories that the world is not telling you right now

because they think everything is just easy and quick. And as soon as you lose the butterflies, it's over. And it must not have been meant to be because that's just a load of crap. Yeah. And we do tell a lot of stories in there. A lot of behind the scenes of like the gold medal moments or whatever successes we've had. I have not had a gold medal moment. You just casually have an NFL moment.

But we also talk about some of the ones that we haven't, like, not every platform is appropriate for every story. So like some of the field businesses and the heartache that goes behind that. But the book is kind of broken down in the three different sections about commitment. So it's like, why is section one? Why would you commit? And the chapters that we unpacked there were because it brings calm, it brings joy it brings depth it brings mastery and it brings meaning section two is what so like

what does it mean to commit and what do you commit to and the chapters we impact there under that concept are like clues that can that you can follow for things to commit to the values that you have that that make you different than everybody else we talk about our value setting system which we've kind of alluded to on the podcast, but now we have literally the back of the book is all of our templates for our values and our goals and some of these things that you've heard us talk about before. I don't ever like saying this,

but Andrew and I spent a lot of money a while ago investing in this genius of a human who came to our house and did this intensive and took us through the most, meaningful, like, how to find your values, how to find your next passions, your hobbies, your next thing, how to find the more, like, the foundation of what makes you you. And I hope it's okay that basically put it in this book for you. Well, because we did that one, but we've also spent money on other type coaches that we've done so

many some ideas and processes we resonated more with than others so we kind of like combined them all into our our little system which was fun so we had clues values love the unknown and then endings and i'm curious my next question is what was the hardest chapter for you to write that would be mine but we'll get there section three is how so how do you commit to something and the chapters are boredom go public environment mentors metrics belief costs and grace. So that's kind of how the book progresses. And I feel like when we first submitted the final manuscript, it was like, yeah, I read through it again.

You read through this thing. You write it and then you read through it just to make sure it's all coherent and it's laid out right. And you're like, okay, that's about 90% of what I wanted to do. Yeah. And then the last four months has been like the fine-tune edits. And now I feel so good about how. how this thing panned out and the different chapters and what they talk about.

I feel like we really covered the full range of this topic. But for me, the hardest chapter of the right was endings because like we're talking about this idea of commitment. It's like, you know, the radical power sticking with something. But there are some things that need to naturally end. You know what I'm saying? Like we talk about necessary endings. Often we've ended several businesses.

or they've ended for us. And you're like, okay, how do you talk about this in a way that doesn't allow people or me to pull the parachute quickly or prematurely, but also is like a healthy perspective on, you know what, this is a commitment that needs to end. Yeah. And it was like a really fine, tuned, nuanced chapter

to try to sort through. But I feel like we ended up in a good place with it. I was going to say endings is hard because knowing when to quit is really difficult when you're trying to preach commitment because we're not saying commit to everything, stick with everything and never let go of anything because that was actually counterintuitive to like a lot of the stuff that we've learned. But we try to write in a very meaningful way how to find yourself in a low point and say, what is it that I need to get rid of in order to commit?

more of myself to these things that are so meaningful and how to decipher what is the right answer there. One of my other favorite things that we did through the final edits and the final rounds was in the very back of the book, all of our exercises that we do as far as your annual goals and like reflecting and auditing ourselves and date nights and monthly check-ins, we give you all of our like layouts for those. So there's a lot of. of like workbook um exercises exercises to like yeah that are included it's just there's a lot of brain dumb been there and i'm really excited with how it came out i selfishly want to like sit here and like read it to you guys because i feel like it's very vague the way we're painting this we're like oh you

should just read it was we are doing an audiobook and that will be released later but like john said it's available for pre-order uh now you could go to amazon or we have a way website that we'll link down below called The Courage to Commit.com. You can buy it at Barnes and Nobles, wherever. And I think the signed copies are sold out, but we might release some more. I would also like to state that it is not a faith-based book. We did want to write this very open-ended, and so it could

serve literally every person. There is a chapter about faith. It's not in the sense of, we are Christian, we believe Christianity is the right way to go, and we believe you can only access this entire book if you are Christian, it's the actual opposite of that. It's how does faith play a role as a whole, if you guys want to go back to our last podcast. It is not quite that.

But it's just like how does faith play a role when you're talking about the overarching concept of commitment and strategizing your life? So it's a very, self-help book I say that as an asterisk because we're such anti-self-help people in the sense of you can't hack your life but you can make it a lot better with intentionality so yeah I'm curious what the hardest what what most surprised you in this process because for me you've written other books you're a New York Times best-selling author like you did the fiction book you've

been there, done that. For me, this was the first time going through this process. And I was surprised by a lot of things. I think, I think first and foremost, the, it's like a nerves or anxiety around, oh my gosh, this to me is a topic that so, so needs addressed in our culture. And then you work on it for three years and you don't actually know if anybody else cares about that topic. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then you release it and you're like, well, here goes nothing. And we've, if you followed us the last couple of years, we've done polls and stuff on Instagram and like talking to our community of people who I would say most closely follow us and listen to us so that our ideas were confirmed and we weren't just like, you know, shooting in the dark.

But you don't get any feedback. Like with our Instagram videos, you could film it, shoot it, post it, and then get feedback on it the same day. This is like, oh my gosh, I put so much effort into this and I hope somebody cares. I feel like by the time you hit March, the excitement of the new year has kind of worn off. And that's usually when consistency actually gets tested. Totally. The routines you wanted to start in January only stick if they're realistic enough to keep doing once life gets busy again. One thing that's helped me stay consistent is keeping things simple when it comes to nutrition.

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You can also just mix it with water. It tastes delicious. Each serving has 25 grams of plant-based proteins, 6 grams of fiber, greens, adaptogens, and a lot more, all without artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners. It's non-GMO, gluten-free, soy-free, and completely plant-based. There are also six flavors to choose from. Chocolate, vanilla, chai, macha, coconut, asaii, and, strawberry. Chocolate has definitely been a favorite for ours lately, but I will say

strawberry is so good. They're all tasty if you ask me. It's just a simple way to stay consistent with better habits, even when the schedule gets full. Stick with your wellness goals. Go to kachava.com and use code e-fam for 15% off. That's kachava, k-a-c-h-a-va-com, code e-sfam. The hardest thing for me, I agree with all of that, by the way. It's open-ended. You know, it's, this is a passion project for us that I hope people enjoy. If nobody enjoys this, I still enjoy it, right? So, like, it's hard to kind of wrap your mind around that. The hardest thing for me, the last book that I wrote, the New York Times best selling went,

was a story about the Olympics. And the Olympics and gymnastics and a gold medal is something. people want, right? I could so easily write about that in like a strategic way because it worked out. Like there's a tangible medal that people got to witness and we just kind of backtrack from there. I get to give you anecdotes about my time at the village and my hardships that I went through. Now, fast forward, 18 years since the Olympics and everything that I have learned and you have learned, together within our marriage and our business. It's not like you and I are standing on top of a gold medal podium

that someone's watching on NBC, right? However, I still feel like we've reached that. I feel this. I feel so incredibly grateful and so happy and so fulfilled with our marriage and our parenting and our business and just my like love for life. And over the years, you and I have implemented so many, like, tactical strategies to get to this point. And trying to write that out in a way that doesn't sound absolutely crazy to people

and doesn't sound, you know, cultish almost. is really difficult because all I can say is trust me. If you put this much intentional thought and strategy behind your life, it will actually pay off. And it's really hard to write that when the entire world is saying, nah, just move on to the next one. Yeah. And one of my favorite little anecdotal stories in here is we talk about,

this is very small, but we talk about in our home, one of our values is togetherness. We like intentional time as a family, spent as a family without distraction, whether it's around a dinner table or cooking, talking, whatever it is. We really value that time. And we were noticing that the way that our house was set up, we had like an open concept living room, dining room kitchen. We were noticing that the TV in our living room was causing a distraction.

with every meal time. Since it was there, we tempted, we usually just had it on, whether it had football on or whatever it was. And even though we would turn the TV off during meal times, it was still a distraction somehow. And it seemed radical to a lot of our friends and to people around us. We're like, we're getting rid of a TV in our living room. And they're like, what do you mean? Where are you going to watch TV? I was like, we'll find another place to watch TV, but we're going to take it out.

and even just like that one little thing that we did changed our entire life and I don't mean to say that in a dramatic way but like it dramatically impacted our life in such a beautiful way and so we basically go down this like walk you through this process of finding out what's important to you and then your values and then how to implement it and how to do daily disciplines and then how to like change your surroundings to help support you right and so we got rid of the TV why because we wanted to have intentional family time and dinners in the kitchen. Why? Well, because we wanted to be together as a family and make lasting memories and like be fully

present with each other. So it's like, you know, one thing really can have a ripple effect like that. Do you feel like this was good for our marriage to write together? I think so. I think I learned a lot about you. Yeah. Likewise. And similar to a lot of the podcasts we've done, it's like we speak very, very different

languages. And it's the great mystery. of our relationship and something that we'll work on for the rest of our lives. But it's what happens when two random people get married. It's like, it's just, but I think that's one of my favorite things about the book

is like when you pick up a book, you're committing to an author, right? One author's style. And you're committing to a story based, a fictional based, to nonfiction based. And what's really fascinating is you have essentially three authors of this book.

And we don't pick one style. literally write three in three separate voices and three separate tones and three separate styles. All these same concepts. So I think it gives you three fully complete

arguments from three perspectives. That's really fascinating. Yeah, I really do think it in and with like I said, a balanced type of writing. I like what you said about the gold medal moment and it was interesting. writing this book in light of your bestseller, the winning balance,

where that was just kind of the process to reaching that one thing just laid out and written about. By the way, it's a great book. You should listen to that. You would like. You give life lessons at the end of every chapter. But this is like, how do you take

your style and approach that unlocked the ability to win a gold medal and apply that to your life after gymnastics or my life after football or, you know, our friend's lives in business. Like, it's more of a style and a mindset in some ways. And so that's what we tried to do here. But we did get, we get caught in this idea that, like, the new thing is the better thing

because it's a more exciting thing. And it's like, man, if you just, if you just maintain and take care of the thing that you currently have, it turns into something that is new and exciting. And it's like this, it's like this beautiful process of growth and maturation. And you're not, it's like, you know, let's just make the analogy to planting a seed. It's like you don't have to, you don't have to have these crazy dopamine videos on your phone to get excited. You could watch this plant grow. Today, it's bigger than it was yesterday.

And then today it's bearing fruit. And yesterday it wasn't. It's like, wow. But which one are you more invested in and committed to? It's kind of cool when you have like that time frame. And we talk all the time about this idea of compounding interest. And when you are locked in on one thing that's not just like new and better and bigger, you allow compounding to take place and to do its work.

And so it's not just with money. It's like with a marriage. How do you build a lifelong marriage one day at a time? You know what I'm saying? It's like, and that compounds into this beautiful, deep relationship. I know you better than anybody else. And we were sitting on the plane. They're like, oh my gosh, I got to post this on Instagram, by the way.

You laughing. Like in that giggle. I was crying. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. That just means so much because, one, that's the thing I fell in love with on day one, that giggle. Two, I know that it's been a difficult season. And so it's like so refreshing to see that giggle in this season. Three, we've been through so much.

And like still the thing that that we bond over and is is that giggle and laughing and like having a good time playful together. So like there's there's levels to letting that compounding take place and what makes it better than just like some random person who we, you know, we went to go see a comedian and we both laughed. And it was I didn't know anybody there. It's like there's it's a difference in that way. So yeah. So who would you say this book is for? Anybody looking for a little bit more out of their life? Sounds very vague and ambiguous.

But like, we have talked before about, say, our goal setting that we do every year. We started that because eight years ago, we sat down and said, our life feels great. Like, I'm happy. But it kind of does feel like something's missing. and I don't know what it is or why. Maybe we should reflect on our life and see what it is that we are missing, what we can change and how we need to get there.

And I think this book kind of gives you a step-by-step process of finding something deeper in your life. Yeah. And more meaningful and fruitful. Rather than a how-to book of, you're not happy in your work, go find a new job. or the stereotypical how to make $5 million in five months. It's actually finding depth and unlocking joy.

Yeah. I feel like this time of year is when schedules really start picking up again. Work gets busy, evenings fill up, and suddenly dinner is the thing that you're scrambling to figure out. Exactly. And that's why Home Chef has been such a lifesaver for us lately. It takes the pressure off dinner because everything shows up fresh and pre-portioned and the recipes are really easy to follow. Home Chef makes cooking simple. Fresh food delivered, easy recipes to follow and meals that actually taste amazing. And people really love it, including us. We've used it for 12 years.

I love it. I love it. We actually just got our friend hooked on it. I can't believe how tasty it is. But Home Chef is actually rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste, and recipe ease. One thing we have loved is the variety. They have partnered with chefs like Gordon Ramsey and now Giata de Laurentis. So there are always these restaurant quality recipes you can make right at home.

And there are a ton of options depending on how busy your day is. If you want something hands-on, you can do one of their classic meal kits. Or if it's a hectic night, you can throw one of their oven-ready meals in and you're good to go. There's even a family menu with four or six serving meals, which makes dinner so much easier when everyone's home and hungry. And it's not a one-size-fits-all situation either. has over 30 meal options every week so you can pick what actually fits your schedule and taste. Plus, it's affordable too. Home Chef customers save an average of $86 a month on groceries. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering our listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box plus free dessert for life.

What? Go to homechef.com slash Eastfam. That's homechef.com slash Eastfam for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com slash e-spam must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. I would say practically it's for people who are like going through transitions, whether it be a job change or a new marriage or having new kids. It's like, okay, you're in this transition. Maybe a commitment was ended for you.

Like you got fired. Like I did 10 times in the NFL. Or you're, you just sold a company and you're like, okay, well, what's next look like for me? the same applies with having kids. You're like, okay, what does this phase look like? And how do I reorient myself to do this phase well? Like, I would say it's those people.

I would say it's fans of Sean to hear stories. Like, I learned so much from this book because of your perspective. And I'm excited to read it for the 20th time because you just have a, beautiful, wonderful, balanced perspective. And I've never met anyone who's as capable or ambitious as you are and can do so much. But you also keep the main thing, the main thing. And you're committed to things that matter most. And it seems like you're happy with your life.

So, like, I have something to love. So are you. Yeah. I love you go into your philosophical debates and you can feel your deep thinking brain. in this book, which is really cool. I'd also say it's for people early on in a relationship, early on in a career, like you said,

where you're here like, do I, do I make the leap? Do I, you know? There's a lot of different areas of life that this can be applied to. Used, yeah. Before we wrap, tell them everything

going on with the book. We have a Facebook group right now that you can actually join, where we are giving you, like we're releasing chapters. Yeah. And asking for edits, input,

because the final copy is not technically done. You guys still have the ability to, like, change things, if you would like. Yeah, and how the whole thing is presented. Like,

Sean and I are about to do months worth of interviews in preparation for the launch of this book. And it's like, how, what resonates with you will really go a long way In regards to the last podcast we did.

We would love your input. Super helpful. Honestly, thank you for that. We're also going to go on a book tour. We're going to be doing some live events with anybody who wants to take part. We'll give more information as those get close, but you can buy tickets to higher end events. You can come to free events. There will be different events and opportunities to come hang out with us and talk about the book if you'd like.

We'll have a bunch of fun challenges and competitions and giveaways leading up to it. A lot of our content in the newsletter, the podcast, short form will start being related to the book. But right now we're doing this challenge where we're encouraging people to use AI to help create a launch video for this. And it's been hilarious so far. So you could. There's one with a monkey. Yeah. There's one where I think someone put me in a leotard.

Love it. And it was, yeah, it's great. We've gotten like a couple dozen. It's been hilarious. But yeah, because this is my first time, the process has been super interesting where it's like, you know, we started writing three years ago.

We finished the manuscript last year. The last couple months has been fine-tuning this. We just chose a book cover, which was like a highly contested. Highly contested. I love the book cover. So if you can see the front, it says host of couple things,

Sean Johnson and Andrew East, courage to commit, embrace the radical power of sticking with something and then on the back it's just a giant picture of us which i love that picture yeah um and we had to like choose the title which if you know like YouTubers will go on and on about how important a YouTube video title is and you could change it after the fact this you can't change so it's like it's a little more of a commitment um we had to we were super fortunate to work with portfolio as a publisher for this they've been fantastic we got literally like the OG like the guy

in publishing. His name is Adrian. And anyway, they've been like super helpful in holding our hand through this. But all that to say, like, we still need your help and the launch team will be super pivotal in getting feedback.

There's a cat right there. There's a cat. There's Nora. Thank you. There's Nora. The launch team will be super helpful in doing that. And also, if you'd like to pre-order,

then we'll link that information down below. It's, I think it's $31 right now. which is expensive. It's a lot of money. I don't want to belittle that. It's a lot of words. It is. What is happening?

She's getting after it. Hi, you want some pets? I'll give you pets. I will say it'll be fun. When it hits these shelves, we should, like, in airports and stuff, just, like, go secretly sign the books. I'm allowed to, or is that illegal?

I feel like that's ruining the bookstore's property. Wouldn't it technically be? No, it's actually the publisher's book. That's the crazy thing about this, too, is we don't, the whole thing, the book industry is super, fascinating to dig into. Don't you think the like people would want us to sell that or the book store?

I don't know. All I'm saying, maybe we just go hide a $20 bill inside of it or something, okay? What if we did it? We like paid for the book and cash and you just had to find the book. Oh, I like that. I like that. But then you'll have people stealing books because they thought we paid for it. If someone already took one and then, you know what I'm saying?

Well, these are bad ideas. Oh, you're saying put the cash in there. Put the cash in there. And then I got you. And then you take the book up and you're like, look, I don't even have to spend my money. That sound right there, it's always satisfying and the taste even more so. This is Olipop cream soda, which has kind of become my go-to lately. Oh, we have gotten everybody hooked on this flavor. It is, it is my go-to. My best friend, my mom, our work girls, everybody.

It's funny because we grew up having soda as a treat every once in a while and Oli-pop gives you that same nostalgic taste, but in a way that fits better into everyday life. Holly Pop is basically a new kind of soda. It has a classic soda taste you remember, but it's made with a functional ingredient blend that supports digestive health. And it's reimagining soda in a really simple way. It's high in fiber and low in sugar, which is why it's become something we reach for

way more often than traditional soda. I usually grab one in the afternoon when I want something that feels a little more fun than water, but not super heavy. And the flavors really do have that taste that takes you back feeling. The cream soda especially feels like something you'd get in an old school. like soda fountain. I love it so much. It's also interesting. A lot of people don't get enough fiber day today and many people deal with digestive issues and Oli Pop is tackling both of those things while still tasting like soda. So it feels like a really easy swap if you're someone who

enjoys soda but want something that fits better into your daily routine. If you want to try olive pop, you can actually get a free can. Buy any two cans in store and they'll pay you back for one. Just go to drink ollipop.com forward slash couple things to learn more. Olipop is also sold online at drinkolypop.com and on Amazon and you can find it in the soda aisle and chilled beverage section at thousands of retailers nationwide including Walmart, Target, Costco, and Whole Foods. Anyways, we were really excited about this. We are really excited to hear your thoughts. Please, everything that we have talked about will link down below. The Facebook group, the pre-order link. When the event dates come up, we'll definitely put them in there. We're going to be doing live streams in that Facebook.

group so if you want to like it'll be like a group zoom so we'll see faces and everything uh just join the facebook group and that's how you'll join the entrance to that facebook group is by showing your receipt for the pre-order um yeah this has been fun yeah really excited i really hope you guys like it and we should do a Q and a as for sure as this comes out about the book and why we're going to write it but uh it was a real treat to work on it with you it was the most demanding project we've done. Yeah. Jimmy, thank you for being an amazing writer with us.

It was so fun. Megan, thank you, Adrian, thank you. Brian, thank you. Portfolio, penguin. Our coaches, teachers, mentors, everyone who have contributed to the ideas that went behind this, thank you. Also.

Thank you for listening and playing along with us as we go on this journey. It's been a real treat. Yeah, this has been fun. You're ready for a roller coaster, guys. We're about to go on a marathon. Let's go, baby. We'll see you next time.

I'm Andrew. I'm Sean.