Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Adversity Builds Determination and Discipline | The Catalyst

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

Most people see adversity as a stop sign, but it’s actually an invitation to grow.  In this episode, Shawn breaks down how hard seasons expose your habits, force you to build discipline, and shape you into the person you need to become.  If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or tempted to quit, this message will help you shift your mindset and move forward.   Key Takeaways  -Adversity reveals who you are and where you need to grow -The work beneath the surface is the real win -Confidence is built by keeping your word to yourself -Systems and daily habits create relief during hard seasons -The outcome matters less than who you become in the process   *Socials* Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theshawnfrench Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/476624146831479?checkpoint_src=any Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5kS9tkLGQLcVyRgB3mDznw Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-determined-society-with-shawn-french/id1555922064 Linkme - https://link.me/theshawnfrench Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most people look at adversity as something real. And then you visualize truly what you want to look like and feel like. And then you go a step further and you say, who do I need to become in order to achieve this? It's all an opportunity to test yourself and move forward. But the one thing is I stuck to it. All these different things, guys, is how I build the determined society. What's up everybody? We are back here with another episode. It's just me today. So deal with it. Today I want to talk to you guys about the biggest A word on the planet. And that is adversity.

You know, this word really stops people in their tracks and they stop moving forward or thinking that once they hit this point of adversity, that is their cue to retreat. And actually, that is the cue to learn about yourself. Adversity will give you everything as long as you allow it to. It'll point out your habits that aren't great. It'll show you who you are and where you need to improve. And one thing I want to say about adversity is nobody likes a boring movie. If you look back at Rocky 1 through 5 or I don't know, however many they have now, one of the biggest things is you see Rocky going through an extreme amount of adversity, being poor, trying to get Adrian's attention so he can date her,

and then eventually marry her. And then you have him losing to Mr. T. You have him losing to Apollo Creed. And there's always the comeback. He loses, but what he really does instead of letting it bury him, he learns. He learns how he needs to move forward. He learns how he needs to train better, to get stronger, more skilled. And in fact, through the first what, you know, two, three rock, first two or three

Rockies, he's getting his butt beat by Apollo Creed. Then he finally beats him. And the cool part about that story is he becomes best friends with him. They train together. Apollo refines him or makes him a better fighter. He becomes his mentor. So a lot of you out there that think your competition, your enemy, it could turn into be your biggest mentor, your best friend, and the biggest blessing in your life. But the one thing that I really want to focus on about Rocky and all those movies and how America just loved them. I don't know anybody, maybe one or two, that hasn't watched the whole Rocky franchise. It is ridiculous. And the reason why America and everybody worldwide relates to Rocky and loves it so much is because of the things that he overcame. Think about

Rocky for. The biggest thing that ever happened in those movies is that the Russian beat Apollo Creed so bad he died in the ring. Now, Rocky, his reaction was, you know what, I'm going to go and I'm going to fight this guy and I'm going to win and everybody's telling him no. Can you think of a time in your life that you've wanted to accomplish something and you believe in it completely and everybody's telling you no and you listen? You're robbing yourself of joy. You're robbing yourself of accomplishment. You need to look at those people and say, you know what? You may think I'm going to lose, but I'm going to go hard. at this. And so what did Rocky do? He went into the most uncomfortable environment in the world. He went to the home country of Evandrago. He went to Russia. It was snow. They put him up in accommodations that were terrible in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere and five feet of snow. No weights. Rocky and his trainers had to figure out a way to get better in that environment. Think about that for a second. You may be sitting in the worst environment right now and not knowing how to push forward.

There's all these things that you don't have. But if you have the wherewithal to understand what your goal is and what you need to get done, you find innovative ways to get better. You lift the logs. You run in the snow. You do all those things. You hang from the rafters and you do the abs, right? You do all these things that are going to make you stronger and better and more efficient

to win the battle that you're fighting, because let's face it, a lot of us aren't in the ring. We're not doing jujitsu, we're not doing boxing, but we're in the ring of life, and we're all fighting to achieve something. So what I need you guys to understand is you have to work through these things.

And being uncomfortable is not something that you need to run from. When you're in an uncomfortable environment, that's your opportunity to grow. Right? And then you mix that in with the, uncomfort of adversity. Now, listen, I also want to say, when we're dealing with adversity, it hurts. It hurts. Think of all the things that you've been through. It could be a death

in the family, a loss of a job, a loss of a spouse, a divorce. It's all an opportunity to test yourself and move forward. Now, granted, some losses are bigger than others. You know, losing a spouse, a divorce or some people even lose children. And that's so sad. I don't know if there's a way to get over that. I don't know if there's a way to push through that because I've never lost a child. I've never lost a spouse to death or anything like that.

So my heart goes out to everybody that has. But what I have gone through is an extreme amount of adversity. I've lost my grandma who was my best friend. I spent all my weekends with her growing up. Lost her to pancreatic cancer. I lost my best friend to pancreatic cancer. I've had a blood clot. I've had surgeries.

Now, all these different things that I've gone through built me to who I am today. Because the moment I feel like I'm stuck and I can't move on, I remember those moments, those moments of perceived defeat, right? And I figure out a way just to do one small thing every single day. So my whole point of the Rocky analogy and all this stuff is what happened in Rocky for. What was the outcome? He went to the drawing board, worked out, didn't listen to even his wife that told him not to do it because she said he was going to die out there. He truly believed in the mission that he was about to embark on and he ended up winning. He beat the Russian. We all have

these Russians in our life and those are the big, hairy, audacious goals that seem to be kicking our ass. But if you work hard enough and you stick to it, you win. Here's the other thing that happened in that movie that I want to talk to you guys about. Everybody hated Rocky in that country. They were booing him, but at the end of it, they were cheering him on. They were rooting for him when he won because he earned their respect by doing the work and winning. So I want you guys to understand something. Again, everything you're going through. I understand. It's hard, but you have one choice. You have two choices, actually. You can persevere through hard work, determination, and resilience and discipline, or you can just say, you know what, what the hell?

I'm going to give up. But listen, the pain of regret is going to far outweigh the pain of pushing through it. So I need you guys to understand something when you look at adversity. You have to stop saying this one sentence. Why is this happening to me? Now, granted, we all do it. I did it a couple of weeks ago. I'm not perfect. I am only a human being. But quickly, through my support of my team and my wife, and my own skills, I say, you know what? What is this actually teaching me? What can I learn from this? How can I get better? What things do I need to change so that this may not happen again. And I want to encourage you guys. That's all this episode is about is getting you to be introspective of the things that you're going through right now. Some of you are going

through big things, massive things, and you are sitting there right now and you're depressed, you're on the couch, and you're giving up on yourself. You're giving up on the things that you want to accomplish. So this episode's for you. This episode is for you. This episode is for me. This episode is for anybody that has a heartbeat and breath in their lungs because we have choices to make every day. And when we decide that we're going to push forward and create systems and processes in our lives, we win. Right. And those losses turn into learning opportunities. So here's what I want you to do. Here's your call to action in everything. Write the thing that you're going through down, right? Is it real? Or is it an illusion? Because here's one thing that I

often face. I get fearful a lot. And I have to sit there and lean on my people and lean on myself, like, is fear real or is it an illusion? See, a lot of times, guys, the things that we worry about very rarely come to pass. You may be sitting there unemployed right now thinking you're going to lose everything. Your husband or your wife's going to be disappointed in you because you lost your job and your children are going to be sad because you're going to be homeless. I can guarantee you about 90% of the time, I don't even know if that's a real number, but the baddest of the bad things don't always happen. It's things that we create in our mind that paralyze us, so then we attract and we bring

that loss into our lives. So here's what I want you guys to do. Again, write the thing down. then write what you feel you need to do every day to overcome those things. So if you're sitting there and you're overweight and depressed because you feel bad in your clothes, write out, write that out. Then write out, what do I need to do? I need to eat better.

Then research, what does that really look like? And then plan out the things that you need to do daily in order to get in better shape and to feel better because you're eating good food, right? And then you visualize truly what you want to look like and feel like, okay? And then you go a step further and you say, who do I need to become in order to achieve this? Now, this strategy works for everything. The reason why I use, you know, weight loss or nutrition or weightlifting is because everybody can relate to that. everybody wants to look and feel better, right?

There's, I'm sorry, there's not a person on this planet that doesn't think about these things. At one point in their life, they think, you know, I should probably do better in the gym. I should probably, I shouldn't be eating pizza at 11 o'clock at night. I love pizza. Don't get me wrong. Okay. I will crush that stuff. But I'm strategic with it, right?

I eat it when it's a refeed meal. Okay. So you need to write all these things out. And then the one thing that you have to do, that's the most important thing. You can't wait. You can't wait to get started. I don't even care if it's a Sunday. I don't want to hear, I'll start tomorrow.

I'll start on Monday because you know what, Monday's going to come, and you've already given yourself an opportunity to retreat. Start now with anything. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be your sales career. Write the thing out and then execute the very next day. If you say you're going to wake up at 6 a.m. And you're going to go to the gym, or you're going to read, or you're going to journal.

And when the alarm goes off, you better get up. There's no snooze. It is get up, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, get some water, and then some coffee, and do the thing that you said you were going to do. Because if you do not, if you do not do that, you're not voting for yourself. You're losing at that point because you're breaking your word to yourself. And breaking your own word to yourself is the worst thing that you can do. See, it's easy sometimes for us to break words to other people, right?

It can be. But some of you are saying, well, no. If I tell somebody I'm going to do something, then I'm going to do it because of the shame that might come or the embarrassment or the ridicule from somebody said, hey, you said you were going to do this. But I always often ask people, and I even ask myself of this in the past, why am I so quick to break my own word to myself? That's not a vote of confidence. That's a destroyer of confidence. So write out of plan, guys, and execute it to them. a T, do not give yourself any method of retreat. And so if you can do that, all the adversity that

you're going through starts to feel a little bit lighter. And after 30, 60, 90 days, you've completely shattered what you were going through. You won. You came out on the other side because of all the work you were doing. See, because most people look at adversity as something real. And it is. but then they look at the outcome that they want to create. It seems too big. They want to get there. They want to get to that point where they don't feel that adversity anymore. And let me be honest with you.

You're always going to feel adversity. There's going to be pressure. There's going to be loss. There's going to be shit that you cannot control in your life. And your job is to respond to it, not react. There's a big difference. A reaction is, why me? A response is, what is this,

teaching me, right? So you build systems. And systems is something that is so important to remove yourself from certain feelings like adversity and loss and failure. Okay. And here's what I mean by it. Hey guys, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to slide into our recovery segment brought to you by Theribody. What an amazing technology that Therobody has. And it was founded on a really cool story by Dr. Jason Wersland. It was founded on pain. He got into an accident and had this extreme pain in his arm and found that percussive therapy really helped. So he created the very first version of the Theragun with the Makita drill just to pilot and test to see if his pain could be relieved by percussive therapy overall. And surely it was.

So now birth to the Theragun and now Therobody, who has a multitude of products to help you recover emotional. and physically. And some of the products even help with stress, meditation, and better sleep, and just overall better wellness. And when I had Dr. Jay on the show earlier in 2025, it really spoke to me because his platform was founded out of physical pain and the determined society was founded out of emotional pain. And so it felt natural for us to partner up. So here we are an official partnership with Therobody. And I want to talk to you about some of the products today that I've been enjoying that I think you need to understand and know more about so you could potentially implement them into your life. And I'm not going to get into a big deep dive of the actual science and everything like that.

I'm just going to give you some anecdotal information based on the products that I'm using and that my wife is actually using too that is helping us out a great deal at home. because the great thing about these products, guys, is you can use them anywhere. You can use them in the gym. You can use them out home, in your bed, in your living room. Hell, you can even drive with the TheraGun Pro Plus in your car and use it on your quads,

use it on your arms, whatever that is. The first thing I want to talk about is the Theragun Pro Plus. I bring that in my gym bag every day to the gym, and when I'm warming up, I use it to warm up. I put it on my arms, whatever body part I'm using that day, I activate those muscles,

I find is I'm able to move my body a lot quicker and I'm a lot stronger on those days that I do actually bring it and utilize it. I just think it's a great way to understand your body and the connection between your strength and your muscles and being warm and being able to perform because it's one thing to go work out, but it's another thing to perform while you're doing it. And the Theragon Pro Plus helps me do that. Another thing that I really truly enjoy is the Jet Boots Pro Plus. These things are wire-free. There's no hassle. There's no cords. There's infrared LED light. There's that compression therapy. And I've been having bad pains in my ankles, both of them actually, for about a year. And I don't understand where it's coming from. But when I started

using the boots, religiously after a leg day or after a cardio session, I throw those boots on and I find myself a lot looser afterwards. I find myself lighter. And then the next day, there's no pain in my lower extremity, like my feet. The other thing that I really enjoy is that product really helps me recover a lot quicker. And let's face it, that's the most important thing when we're trying to move our bodies or we're trying to succeed in life is we want quick recovery emotionally and physically. And these products help me do that.

and it can help you do that as well. One of the other things that I really want to go into because it's helping my wife out a ton with headaches and being able to distract from the noise in her mind. And honestly, it helps me with that too, is a smart goggles. Whenever we feel a slight headache coming on or things are getting really heavy just in our minds,

just thinking about all the stressors, all the things out there that we can't control, we throw the goggles on, get in a quiet place, and there's different cycles on there and different intensities of vibrations and massaging that you can either turn it up or turn it down. And what I really enjoy is it allows me to focus on what's going on with just me and I think about things. And the massaging with the smart goggles relieves either headaches and it relaxes me and relaxes my wife to a point where we can fall asleep better. We are preparing to kind of down shift and shut down and slow down for the evening.

So I heavily recommend them. The other thing it's really good for is just creating a peaceful time in your day. And what I found since using the smart goggles and then the other products is it works for me. It works for my family. And I know it can work for you too. So I want you guys to think about things that you are struggling with. If it's lower back pain or you wake up in the morning, your neck is tight. I'm going to tell you the Theragun Pro Plus will help that out.

They have cold therapy on it, hot therapy. I mean, think about that. When I opened that box and realize that I could have heat therapy and cold therapy and a Theragon changed everything for me. And also really made the thing that I'm, I hate doing the most is warm up, made that very easy for me just by applying it to the muscle group that I'm going to use before I do it and in between sets, which promotes quicker recovery between sets. So if you're looking to go high volume or to lift heavy weights, I strongly

consider that. All these products are there to help you move along in your day with less pain and recover quicker. So go check it out because now, like I said, the official partnership has begun and from now until the end of March in your first order, you get 15% off your first order. Not every order. So if you're going to buy some stuff, load up there in that cart for that first time and you get 15% off. Go to theribody.com and at checkout, the code is determined. So let me know how you guys like it until then.

Stay determined. if you can literally systemize your day, when I wake up, I'm going to do this, and at this time I'm going to do this, and then you go down the line throughout your whole day, and you make a plan and you stick to it, you're going to have immediate relief. Some of you right now are thinking,

there's no way what I'm going through right now, there's no way I'm going to feel immediate relief, but I promise you you will. because you're voting for yourself, you're telling yourself you're going to do something. And when you follow through, it's easier to look at yourself in the mirror every night because you're focused on these things here.

You're doing what you said you were going to do. You're knocking the list off. Every time you do something hard that you said you were going to do, it is a vote of confidence. And it is a vote of getting out of adversity or conquering that current adverse situation that you're in. So I encourage you to really do this. Write it out truly, okay, and study it and understand.

And don't start too big. That's the other thing. A lot of people want to go 1,000 miles an hour right out the gate. I'm that guy. And by the time I get to the second lap, I'm toast. I'm just done. I cannot move any longer. So if you haven't been to the gym in the last five years,

don't say you're going to go to the gym five days. Say you're going to go two or three days. And spend a half an hour in there. Just move your body a little bit. Get out in the sun, get some vitamin D, go for a walk afterwards. All of these things, guys, when you start to build up your endurance for work and endurance for things that you haven't done in a long time, they become easier very, very quickly.

So the one thing that I want to point out is when I said you will immediately feel relief. Can you imagine a you that does what they said they were going to do? Can you imagine that man or woman looking in the mirror at night brushing your teeth before you go to bed? I hope you brush your teeth through you go to bed because if not it's gross. Little humor in it. You look at yourself in the mirror when you're doing that and you go, you know what? I did everything I said I was going to do today. And now I'm excited about tomorrow.

I can promise you your patience level is going to go up for your family. You're going to be willing to do more things with your family. you're going to be more present, and that is the most important thing. Being present around your kids, around your wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, friends. It doesn't matter. Or even at work. Being present is the key, guys, but you can only be present if you're doing the things that no one can see. See, that's why I love that little iceberg graphic.

You know, everybody sees like the success right here. That's what everybody sees. But nobody sees the work underneath. No one sees the early mornings. no one sees the work when everybody's against you. No one sees the work when no one is clapping for you. You see, guys, that's the magic. That's the journey.

And the journey and everything you do, that's actually the win. The goal is just an outcome. So if you focus on the outcome too much, you'll never get out of it. You have to focus on the things underneath the surface, and that is your systems, that is your process, that is you sticking to your word. So again, guys, just a little bit today of some little, I don't even want to say hacks or tips or tricks to get through hard moments.

These are facts. And you can sit there and you can refute them all you want. But I get a lot of messages, especially recently of, wow, what you've created is amazing. How did you get this person on your show? How did you get that person on your show? Holy shit, you're in rooms with these people. Well, I can tell you one thing, it didn't happen overnight. We're five years in.

And I truly believe as long as this journey has been, five years is very quick. It should have taken me 10 years to do what I'm doing right now in all reality. But the one thing is I stuck to it. And so I became the person who would be in rooms with these people. I worked on my mental. I worked on my spiritual. I worked on my physical. Like all these different things, guys,

is how I built the determined society. It's how I built the guest list of the show. And you need to do the same thing for your life. I'm not saying start a podcast. Hell, it's probably the craziest thing I've ever done. It was hard. But there's a lot of work behind the scenes that no one sees. The late nights, the sleepless nights,

the pain of rejection. Right? And rejection is a real thing. You know, I start to look at rejection as a blessing because it saved me from something. And that's what I want you to start thinking about is when you face that moment where you feel that you've lost something that would have changed your life, take a deep breath and understand that it wasn't meant for you. And you can't lose anything that's not already yours. So whatever you believe in, the universe, God, just know. that they are saving you for something that's not good. And again, it's not easy. But you get through it by, again, doing the work in silence. No one needs to know what you're doing. You don't have to document everything if you don't want to. You don't have to showcase it.

It's for you. But to work under the water at the very base of that iceberg is actually the gift. and if you can look at the work and the adversity and all the rejection and all the pain that comes along with things as the actual gift, you'll start to appreciate it because it's going to build you into somebody completely unbreakable. And so if you're searching for a life of the determination and discipline, that's how you do it. It's a muscle. I didn't wake up determined and discipline. Maybe I had a level of it in me because of my childhood and my sports background, but it wasn't something that was just baked into who I am. It had to really work for it.

I had to have my wife and my kids and my team pour into me and tell me the things that I struggle with. Be open to listening to people when they tell you you suck at something and then make a change. If you don't listen to your spouse well, that's not an attack. That's them telling you what they need from you. Dive into it. Ask them what they mean by it. And have them give you examples of how you can get better and give situations toward you falling short.

All to say, guys, everybody focuses on the top of the mountain because that's where they want to go. And I'm guilty of this as well. But the gift is in the work, guys. Every step along the way, the wins, the losses, the pain, the adversity, the struggle to keep your own word,

to wake up when you said you were going to. Guys, those are the gifts. Those are the blessings, the stuff right here. The other thing is just an outcome. And if you only focus on the outcome, you will never be happy. Again, if you focus on the outcome, you will never be happy.

You have to divorce that shit. And you have to focus and fall in love with the work, the grind, the grittiness, everything in the trenches that you need to do, that has got to be your win every day. And celebrate yourself when you get to the gym. When you choose the chicken breast or the steak over the five pieces of pizza, if you don't celebrate that, I don't know what to tell you. Because that's a win.

When you actually put your shoes on and go to the gym, celebrate that. don't sit there and say, well, I only did this much weight, or I was only there for 25 minutes. It's 25 minutes more than you wanted to do. Why is that not a win? Start focusing on the things that you do daily as the success. Everything else will come, guys. I promise you that. So again, thank you for listening. Start looking at adversity as a tool to make you better, as a blessing to help you propel to who you are supposed to become. And until next time, guys, stay determined.