Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - The Pulse: Becoming the Person You Want to Be

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Check Out Therabody 👇https://www.therabody.com/discount/DETERMINEDUse Code: DETERMINED to get 15% off at checkout------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In this powerful Pulse episode of The Determined Society, host Shawn French sits down with his business partner and close friend Pat Sitkins to reflect on the evolution of the show, the power of clarity, and what it actually takes to become the person you want to be.They discuss why most people never start, how preparation builds confidence, and why the “messy middle” is where real growth happens. Shawn breaks down the difference between wishing for success and manifesting it through daily discipline, while Pat shares what makes this community-driven movement so impactful. Key Takeaways-Clarity is the cheat code to real progress.-Cringing at old work means you’re growing.-You don’t need perfect conditions to start.-Preparation is what separates winners from wishers.-Manifestation only works when paired with action.-The messy middle is where strength is built.-Extreme accountability creates real transformation.-Impact is the true purpose of The Determined Society. Connect with me :https://link.me/theshawnfrench?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaY2s9TipS1cPaEZZ9h692pnV-rlsO-lzvK6LSFGtkKZ53WvtCAYTKY7lmQ_aem_OY08g381oa759QqTr7iPGAPat Sitkinshttps://www.instagram.com/patsitkins/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

To be a top show host, do you have to pretend you are first, do the work and become it? Wow, that's a weird one. You got where I was going with this. If you want to be successful, dress the part, act the part, and just believe that you're on your path to being that highest version, right? If you're unwilling to take something serious enough to give enough shits, then you're not doing it right. Yes, and I think the other thing is really knowing what the heck you're going after, right? The gift is in the work, not the destination. I'm going to be happy when.

I'll be happy when. When I get there, then I will be satisfied. If you think like that, once you get there, you're not going to be satisfied. You're not going to be happy. The reward and the true blessings are in every stage along the way. But when you started getting very, very specific on your goals and very real about what you need to work on is when the visible progress started. Yeah.

It's the cheat code. That's right. But it's a long route. What's up, guys? We're back today with another Pulse episode, my boy and business partner, Pat Sikkins. We were talking yesterday and you're like, dude, it's been six months. I'm like, you're full of shit. It has not been six months.

Really? Yeah, because we were here end of July. And that's when the whole mustache started because right afterwards when Claire asked me to grow up for her birthday and kind of stuck. So yeah, it's been six months since we've flushed the format and got to talk about what's happened. And my goodness, we have a lot to cover. We do have a lot to cover.

So I'll let you take it, man. Well, I mean, first of all, I just, I'm going through and thinking about just me joining this and why I did it. And I wanted to start by just saying, thank you, man. Oh, man. You know, the opportunity to be here on the show today, just be a part of this movement, the society, what we're doing. It's incredible.

And I texted you over the break. And, you know, just the ability to have you as a friend. I think there's a lot of people that would do a lot to be in my position, you know, to have you reaching out and being able to call you because you do so much on camera. So to have a personal relationship, I just think it's a special thing, man. And we've been through a lot. We have been through a lot. You're trying to make me fucking cry over here, dude.

No, I appreciate that, man. And I'm blessed to have you as a friend too. And, you know, when I created this, it was something that I envisioned having the closest people to me a part of this because I wanted to build community. but I also wanted to do it around people that understood me. You know, so I have you, we have Marina, you know, Romans here flew in and didn't tell us. And then, you know, one of my best friends in the world, you know, Dan Tupperello is now working with us. And, you know, to be able to have him on and everybody here, just, you know, it's so great how life comes full circle.

So, you know, I'm the grateful one. And, you know, a lot of times I'm a little intense and it doesn't seem that way. but I just truly love having everybody that I, that I care about. I won't say everybody, but most of them in this company with me and pushing forward to keep me sharp and to do the best job we can for everybody watching and listening. It's talking about a full circle. I mean, being from Fort Myers, the ability to come back every once in a while and sit down with you and, you know, essentially my hometown.

Yeah. It's great. And I got to tour around a little bit. I've come back a few times and haven't really had a chance. I got to go by the old high school yesterday. That's awesome. Go Vikings. Yeah, I got to tour around with Christina and she showed me around and drove through the old,

you know, the old neighborhood and things like that. And it's just, it's, it's been great. But, you know, I just, I was thinking about the evolution of this show. And I know we've talked about it, but, you know, every single time we put an episode out, we have a new listener. So, you know, this thing is really gone from your car talking into your phone after the gym to a guest room when I found you. And we've told that story before, so you'll have to go back and watch that. But it was not an immediate, you know, oh, we're going to be partners and things like that.

But I was listening to the recap for 25. And I really want to dig deep on what's happened at some point today. But as I was listening through that, you were talking about you and you actually used in one the clips. You said, you know, if you're new to the show, like, why is this guy talking? Because it matters. And it does. Because when I came to you and we started doing work and it was like, oh, okay, you know, we've got some good guests and there's some good conversations and it's good. But when I started seeing, you know, essentially under the hood or behind the curtain and seeing the impact of this show has because there's a lot of shows and there's a lot of gurus and there's a lot of flashy things that are entertaining, but this show has substance. And I'm not just saying

that because of my position here. It's because it really does have impact and to see the messages that you are getting of you save my life, you save my marriage, you know, it's helping people on a very human level. And that's why the society works. That's why people are tuning in. And that's why people care about what you have to say, what the guests have to say, because it is a society. I'm we were talking to Amanda early on. And it's like, well, why would you do this? It's because of the society, because of this group. So I just think it's a really special thing. And I just want to take a moment to hear from you about the evolution of it because I've been here for two and a half years, I guess. Yeah. Two years. Not five. And when I know we're

coming up on five. So I just want you to talk a little bit about it because again, I think we do have some people that don't know the whole story. Yeah. So it was really crazy when I started recording it, you know, in my car. I mean, the first ever episode was recorded in my guest room. And I can remember that day. And I remember I started out like, hey, guys, this is a Sean French the Determined Society. I don't know if you're going to listen. I hope you do. I hope you like it. But here's the journey I'm about to go on. Here's the type of people I'm going to interview. And at the very beginning, it was a very small approach. It was like local people that have won state championship, built big businesses,

and there's many different cakes and there's many different recipes. And pretty much all of them tastes good, right? And so I felt like it was the same thing about success. So I really wanted to dive into that. And then, you know, it's noisy in my house. So I started recording after the gym when I would have some type of download or some type of thought in the gym, something that fired me up, ticked me off, inspired me, didn't matter. I went and recorded. And I did that for about,

you know, 15, 20 episodes, man. And then I learned I can upload video to the Anchor app. And so I went to Zoom and I thought everything was great, had this shitty, um, framed poster behind me. It was like a word, word cluster of the determined society of everything it meant. And as those interviews progressed, and as, you know, I put a neon sign behind me in a background and all that kind of. of stuff. It's really funny because that's when I thought, I'm like, we're here. This is the greatest thing ever. But when I go back, I watch it and listen. And then I realized that we were nowhere even close and or I wasn't anywhere close and there needed to be an up level, a step above what we were doing in the extra room. And that's when you came on and we started doing things in public venues.

We started doing recordings like this. And that's when things, and there were some, you know, show flow issues at the beginning because we thought that we had to do something different and we really didn't, right? We just needed to stick to the plan and continue to grow. And so this rant about where the show started and where we're at now, it's rewarding to go back and look at it and cringe a little bit. Because I can now say, like, I wasn't ready. I wasn't there, right? And there needed to be more work done.

And that's the message I want to send to the audience. You can look at things right now for where you're at and think that you've arrived. But if people aren't picking up what you're putting down, there's probably a reason, right? And so I had to go on this big growth, you know, journey of myself, you know, mentally, physically, and everything like that.

And then all of a sudden I started looking like the brand. And that's when everything kind of catapulted towards, you know, towards, you know, the first quarter, right around, you know, Q1 of 2025. And it hasn't slowed down since because we're putting more impactful things out there. We're helping more people because I didn't and we didn't stop putting out the messages that we wanted to. So, you know, the journey of the show has been beautiful and painful at the same time. But it's been rewarding, man. Well, I think you hit on something there. You know, if you're doing anything that means something to you, that's important to you,

if you're not looking back over the short term and long term and feeling that cringe, then you're not doing it right. Yeah. Because if you look and you go, yeah, it's about where I am. Then you're not moving forward. You're not growing. I look back at this stuff, you know, even a few months ago that we did. Like, look at the first pulse, you know, it's just there has to be that evolution. And I think if you're not embarrassed by your.

previous work, then you're probably not moving fast. Yeah, and that's the other thing, too, that I really want the audience to think about. It's like, you don't need everything to start. Too many people are waiting to have everything that they need at their disposal to start a podcast or to, if I had a dollar, every time someone said, like, hey, I'm going to start a show this year, but I don't know how to do it. And I would have a lot of dollars, dude. and the big theme behind people that aren't pulling the triggers because they're really,

I think it's fear. And they're not taking the control of the situation. They're not taking the bull by the horn, so to speak, and be like, all right, I'm going to do this. And whatever happens happens. And you have to be open to the fact that you're going to suck at something for a very long time and you're going to be judged and people are going to delete you from social. media and it happened to me. I mean, people made fun of me all the time. I don't think they are anymore. But if they are, they are. It is what it is. But you have to go through those evolutions,

those steps. And it's great for the audience to see that too. That was my point of all of this is the audience, the public has gotten to experience every level up. And so for me, that's a blessing because it shows process. It shows strategy. It shows discipline and determination. Whereas if we would have just started with this, where's the fucking fun in that? It's a good point. It's a very good point. And you look at it and you can think of every excuse. And a lot of times people say, I don't have the thing. Right. And a lot of times it's tech. It's the skills to do the thing. And when I talked to clients about that on the marketing side of things, they always like, oh, we tried social media. It doesn't work. I'm like, look, you know, when Charles Barkley goes out and

plays golf he's not blaming the clubs because he plays like crap he knows he's a crap player but he still loves it right so it's not necessarily or not always going to be this stuff around you right it's oh if we only have better mics or better cameras or you know if we could get to wherever it's it's what we've talked about a lot on this show is you focus on what you can focus on right because there's just so much that's out of control and like even you know specifically here you know we wanted to be at an event or we want to get a guest or whatever it was or even comparisons. You know, us looking at other shows going, what the heck?

Why are we not doing that? And so I think it's about looking at those things and going, you know what? What did we do? We focus on the one thing we could do, which was making the show the best we could. Yeah, man. And then we added the tech and we added the lights and we got better and better. But to your point, going all the way back to this, it was you getting yourself right. And then it was focusing on being the best you could on camera.

Yeah, man. It's my happy place. That's for sure. Well, and I think it's preparation, right? Like, I know so many people, and that's why I love this show, them being able to see what actually goes into this. And there's a few that I definitely want to talk about. And we'll start with Elite Trells.

And so we'll talk all about that. But as I was listening to that, they were talking about preparation. And I can't remember which one was talking because I was listening to it. But they were talking about the preparation that goes in, being a Navy SEAL and going into a situation where the probability of you, failing is pretty high. I mean, you think about that. Like, people are scared, and you talked about this many times recently about, oh, you're

scared to make a sales call. You're scared to start your podcast. It's preparation. And what you're scared of is not necessarily that scary. Like, if you put it into, you know, comparing to what Navy SEALs are getting ready to walk into. And so I just thought that was such an incredible statement from them to talk about preparation of things are probably going to go really bad and really poorly,

but they talk about their preparation and knowing that they've done everything they can. And so, no, I'm not comparing you to a Navy SEAL, but I'm saying the preparation that goes into these interviews to make sure that, you know, it's not just by happenstance that these things are happening. So I just talk a little bit about that specifically, and then I want to talk about just that experience overall. Well, as it pertains to the Luttrell's, that was an amazing interview.

and they become friends and, you know, thank you to Roman for having us out there in order to have that opportunity to sit and have community with them for three days. I'll watch college football with the Luttrell's. That was a freaking highlight, man. And, you know, as it pertains to preparation of what Navy SEALs do or what anybody does, you could be a teacher or what it doesn't matter what you are. You could be a freaking underwater welder. if you are not prepared, you are going to fail.

And so I truly believe that I approach preparation here or anything that I do, whether it's in the gym or my nutrition, like one of a Navy SEAL. There's no negotiation, right? And too many people leave outs for themselves as it pertains to preparation. Well, if I get to this today, cool. If I don't, I don't. No, no, no, no.

That's not the answer. you have to be so dialed in and ready to prepare to do whatever it takes to be great and to make an impact. So while I'm not a Navy SEAL and I know, and let me clarify for the audience, I know prepping for a show is not the same thing as preparation for an operation overseas. I get that. But I take it that serious. and if you're unwilling to take something serious enough to give enough shits to really dial in

and put your best product out there, then you're not doing it right. Preparation's all about effort, dude. That's it. Yes, and I think the other thing is really knowing what the heck you're going after, right? So if we're going to keep using this example, like they know exactly what the objective in the mission is, right?

You know what you want to do. There's clarity. And remember we talked about it up front. It was like, we want to be the best show well what the heck does that mean you know it's about really being specific on the goal and so i think a lot of people that you know we talk to you that are having struggles issues whatever it is like i'm doing all the stuff they don't really know what the mission is like they're not super clear on it and i think that to me was the biggest term for you is when you got very very

specific on what winning was because everyone wants to win everyone wants to do the best they can but it's so it's just so all over the place. Like even I think about financials, right? Like we've talked about, you know, people, I want to make a lot of money. That is such a subjective thing. Like, what is a lot of money? Like between you and me, I'm sure it's very, very different. Like, we talked about fuck you money, right? And I've even seen different definitions of that. Like, I saw one who was like, it's just six months reserves. Like, if you have that, you have you have, you money, you can walk away. And I'm going, well, no, no, no, that's kind of the baseline for me. Like, I always want to have that. Yeah. Because, we're, we're,

World War III could start. You know, it's like, who knows? And so I just look at that and I go, it's really about having that specific. So is that, is that? And I'm putting, I guess, I guess projecting a little bit on you. But to me, it seemed like when you got specific is when things started turning around. Hey, guys, we're going to take a quick break.

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Stay determined. I mentioned it and you said it, I think, once or twice. I said clarity. You said clear in specific. all synonymous to clarity, right? If you do not have clarity, you cannot prepare. If you don't have clarity in the direction that you want to go, you cannot get there because it's like putting Google Maps on

when you're going on a road trip. Don't use Apple around Naples. Don't use Apple around Naples. It's terrible. You got to use Google. You'll use a turn. Yeah. U turns everywhere.

Yeah, U turns. Yeah. Siri does that just to fuck with you, I think. But you punch in a starting point. and you punch in an endpoint. And then it gives you a plan and you follow it and you get there. You don't question it. You get there.

I mean, back of the day, you used to question it, right? With the tom-toms, they were terrible, right? But now you know where you're going. There's a plan laid out for you know where to turn right.

You know what the speed limit is. You know if there's a crash. You know alternate routes for a speedier arrival, right? It's following a plan. But you're clear on where you're going. That's my point. You're clear on the end destination. if you cannot get clear there, you cannot reverse engineer how to get there.

And the other part is, even when you are clear and you have the plan, you can't always think about this. Everybody thinks about getting here and I'm going to be happy when. I'll be happy when. When I get there, then I will be satisfied. If you think like that once you get there, you're not going to be satisfied. You're not going to be happy. The reward and the true blessings are in every stage along the way. And as long as you're focused and strategic in those moments and don't come off of your standard of doing something every day to move you forward, you will never get there.

But I want to be very clear. And I said this a lot. But for the new listeners, the gift is in the work. Not the destination. This reminds me of something. And I want to get your take on it. I saw it on the internet. So it has to be true.

Of course. It was something along the lines of it. And I'm going to paraphrase. I don't remember exactly. but said, in order to fall asleep, you have to pretend to fall asleep. And that's how everything works. And I went, huh. Wow, that's a weird one.

So if you think about it, right? You're not just sitting there and all of a sudden, I mean, most times, you don't just, you know, just really tired. I might have a touch. I might have a touch of narcolepsy. It's fine. But you have to play the part. You have to get ready, go through your process.

And then pretend you're asleep to actually go to sleep. It's interesting, dude. And so when I thought about that, I was like, well, it does, and it said, that's how everything works, basically. So to be a top show host, do you have to pretend you are first, do the work and become it? So for me, it's not pretending. And, right, right? For me, it's not, I think that that is a good distinction.

Yeah. I think for me, it's about being the best that I can be. And when I get to a certain point where I think I'm out of ceiling, okay, what can I do to get better, right? in order to be the top show. And for everybody listening, for me, being a top show, the show is where people come to,

to feel fulfilled and feel better after listening and have some type of tool and strategy to apply to their life. You know, but I think the big thing that you're talking about and the theme that I'm hearing when you say you got to pretend to be asleep before you can be asleep

is manifestation. I really truly believe in manifestation. You have to be able to not just see it, it on the movie screen of your mind. When you close your eyes, you better be able to see where you're going. But the other end of it is you have to feel it physically. And too many people leave that step out.

They think, oh, Lamborghini shows up in my driveway. That's not the law of attraction. The law of attraction is seeing it, feeling it, and doing the work to get there. You got where I was going with this. I did. So the point is, I think the difference is, maybe there's two types of people,

those who wish, right? Because I think a lot of people wish for success, wish for money, wish for the relationship, wish for whatever. And manifestation is a very hard thing. To me, it's kind of like meditating, right? Like when I first started really going on my journey of self-improvement, I was like, meditating. I'm like, how did I just, it's hard.

Stop thinking or, you know, whatever. And so I've heard manifestation a lot, right? And I agree. I think there's the wishing, the hoping, and there's truly manifesting, like putting, you know, whatever you believe in as far as prayers, energy. whatever into it. But the sleep thing to me kind of hit on manifestation.

It's like you believe that you're tired. You go through the process. You dress the part, right? You put yourself in the position. Do you dress and go to bed? I sleep naked. I do. I do.

I don't. Shorts people. Yeah. But you know what I'm saying? Like I just, I look at that and I'm like maybe there's something to it. And I thought it was a way to explain manifestation maybe for dummies.

It's like you dress the part. You get in bed and then you sleep. Yeah. If you want to be successful, dress the part, act the part, believe you are. And just believe that you're on your path to being that highest version, right? Yeah. And part of that, too, is you have to be honest with yourself every evening or every morning, every decision you make is this moving me towards my goal.

Did I say I was going to get up and work out? Did I say I was going to eat clean today? Did I say I was going to play with my kids today? And if you said you were and you don't, that's a withdrawal from the account, dude. Like, that's not a deposit. And you got to reevaluate that every single day. You know, because part of the whole thing, the biggest part of the whole thing, is simply that. Are you hitting the objectives and the tasks or SOPs that you need to, KPIs, whatever the hell you want to call it that day to make yourself better?

And, you know, if the answer is no, well, then you got to have a conversation. Don't shame yourself. There's plenty of days where I go, yeah, that wasn't it. That wasn't it. I'm not speaking from a soap box. I'm speaking from the freaking scars in the trenches. I go through this. Right. And, you know, sometimes it's unavoidable because you'll go to bed and I're like, yeah, I think I did everything. I could have done this. Just take a mental note of it, right? Don't beat yourself up. Get some good sleep next morning. Hit that. Like, do it. That's a massive

part of manifestation that people heavily overlook. It's like you have to be able and you have to be and available to do whatever you can every single day. Yes, and I, the biggest point in there was being honest with yourself, right? We talk about the one thing and we've talked that personally, right? Like, we're doing all things, but really we need to handle the one thing. And so when I look at that, it's really about being truthful, right? Because you can be doing all the right things, morally, ethically, you know, professionally, whatever it is.

Like, hey, I'm going to the gym. but I'm I'm neglecting whatever you know yeah I'm at home all the time but I'm not really present right so to me when I was listening to Sarah's interview and um I forget the davison was I forget the name of the actual pod but her book screw you watch this when she was talking about that it was about really being truthful with yourself right so to your point of like sitting down it's not like oh I could you know done the dishes like no what what did really screw up on today and again not being yourself up like if you want to move forward being honest with yourself and running toward the problem back to the little trails they talked

about running into the situation and so I thought in that interview with Sarah about screwy watch this when she was talking about really being honest with yourself because to go get you know play with a chip on your shoulder which we've talked about and you know have success and do the social media posts and all that that's great and yes you can get revenge that way but that's not what she's talking about. I think people could take that the wrong way and say, well, if I just post a bunch of stuff,

then, you know, my ex is going to be pissed. That's not what she's talking about. No, it's not what she's talking about. She's talking about getting your house, your side of the street clean first.

And really addressing whatever the problem is, then setting your world on fire. 1,000 percent. Great woman, man. That was a great. She was fun, dude. She was awesome.

That was a great interview. And she was grateful. And she, you know, I just love the conversation with her. She was a great guest. I look at myself and I look at you and everything we just talked about, I think is very true, right? Because, you know, when I first came to you, we're doing all the right things.

We've got the, you know, the guests and the show and all that. But when you started getting very, very specific on your goals and very real about what you needed to work on is when the visible progress started. Yeah, yeah. Long way to go. But that's true. That is very, very true, man. Clarity, man. It's the cheat code. That's right.

But it's a long route. It's a, Rachel and I talked about this on my show, two types of people. Rachel Barbo, who's one of our affiliates, friend of the show, who's been on the show. And she talked about the messy middle. And that's her term. And I think so many people want to hide that, right? Because, you know, you don't want to show weakness, vulnerability. You don't want to post, you know, messy stuff. but I think so many people are in that right now,

especially economically, politically, whatever issue you got going on, it's that messy middle, you know? I think everybody in one area of their life is constantly in a messy middle. And then you fix that and then something else happens because as you grow, we always say new level, new devil, right?

There's going to be multiple messy middles and it's an evolution that never stops. It's like you need that resistance to get stronger. In order to be a stronger human being, you need the messy middle. You need the other side, right? You need to see pain to feel pleasure. You need the darkness to appreciate the light. That's what Dr. Jay said, Dr. Jason Worsland.

That's right. When it's the darkest, you can see the bright light, man. It's right there. You just got to walk towards it. You know what I mean? Like within the absence of dark, there's no light. Every interview that you've had, everyone that I've interviewed from my book, I mean, it's just every successful person that is within the society as a whole has issues.

They've been through just some absolutely terrible, horrible things. I mean, some unspeakable, unimaginable, yet they got through it. You know, and I just, and, you know, I'm not in the greatest season right now, you know, and I keep trying to remind myself that it's going to pass. Yeah. You know, the good, I've been through some amazing highs in my life and they've gone away. Yeah. And some really low lows, you know, and it's just that advice of this two shall pass. Yeah.

Yeah. We got to help ourselves in those situations, but if we know these things are going to happen, we shouldn't be surprised. It's life. Yeah. we're not immune to this shit, right? Like, we're not immune to tragedy, circumstances, you know, or just bad seasons. We're going to have them. But we have to be ready for them.

We have to understand why they're there, too. And there's a big part of introspective, you know, thinking that needs to take place there. Why am I going through this? What is the lesson that the universe or God is trying to teach me in this right now? What part did I play? And that's a constant thing that I go through for myself. every single day is like, how did I create this? I mean, all the way down to, you know, a small

argument with my wife, how did I create it? Right. And we always have a part in it. So, you know, it's an interesting question to pose. You know, some people might be thinking, well, I didn't ask for this part. Or I'm not saying you attracted, you know, a loved one, you know, losing a loved one in a car accident or anything like that, those are massive tragedies that you can't control. For the same time, when you look inward on the things that you can control and you find that you're not controlling to the best of your ability, that's all about awareness. That's all about extreme accountability. And if you can get in those moments for issues at work, issues and relationships, then you can

fix them. Because if you don't get there, then you're looking to point the fucking finger. and that's where shit goes really bad. It's about, you know, we talked about it. You know, if you don't have that very clear vision of what you're working toward, then yes, you're going to get knocked around, right? If you don't see the island

and you're getting tossed around the sea, then you're going, this is stupid. Why am I even doing this? I was smiling there because I was thinking about last time I was down, we went out to dinner and we went out with your family and we were talking to Jackie about curses. Okay, so I follow me here because I'm going to get there.

But as I look at what we're talking about and getting through hard seasons and, you know, there's plenty of triumph stories. And again, that's what makes it great. You know, someone came in here like, well, I was, you know, an all star and then never lost the game and, you know, have struck out everyone I've ever, you know, faced. That's not a story. No, I mean, it's a story, but it's not, there's no triumph. And I think that's the human condition.

And so when we were talking about curses at dinner, We were talking about them because Jackie is not as big of a sports fan as us. So we were talking about the baseball ones, you know, 86 years with the Red Sox, 108 with the Cubs. We were talking about curses. And what I, where I'm bringing that is it's about getting past that season. And the curse wasn't real. You know, a goat did not cause the Cubs to not win the World Series for 108 years.

Babe Ruth. Okay, Babe Ruth probably caused the Red Sox to not win for 86 years. As the Red Sox fan, that's, that's true. All the other ones are not true. Selective reasoning. Exactly. But curses are not, you know, it's not real. It's just about, well, it's this thing that's hanging over your head.

It's this thing that's there. And the only way to get out of it is you. Yeah. And their curses for a reason, right? It starts off as are the Boston Red Sox curse? They let the best baseball player arguably ever old time, right? Babe Ruth, traded them to the Yankees. They're cursed.

It's a curse if you believe it. And that's the big thing about believing in something. What is it you believe in? Is it feeding you or bleeding you? And believing that you're a part of a curse that's not going to allow you to win or, oh, this happens to me all the time. Well, cool. You know, the universe is like, your wish is my command.

Here's some more of that shit. Because that's what you're attracting. You're on that low vibration. Like, you're going to get that kind of stuff. Right. But if you don't believe, if you don't, like, I'm not curse. Like, this is on me. I got this.

If you're on the cover of Madden. Yeah. Right? The Madden curse. Yeah. Yeah. There's just so many examples. And then front of the show, Cam Little.

Mm-hmm. So I was worried about this. So we've got two Jags. We need to give a shout out to. I was hoping to come on today and be all excited. Yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, my goodness.

AFC champions. AFC South champions. Yeah. You know, Liam Cohen taking a team for the first year. We've got first team. All Pro Ross Matzick for friend of the team or friend of the show and then Cam Little also a friend of the show and where I'm going with Cam is Cam hits a 70 yarder in preseason so Asterix longest ever preseason it's a 68 and a 65 yarder okay after his 70 yarder this season he missed one

I don't know if it was the kick after but it was the game after whatever and it was right after we met him me and my kids and he missed it and I'm thinking oh my God this could be a curse you hit the longest and then you fizzle out and there's plenty of kickers who've done that right and plenty you know the chuck knob blocks and yips and all that stuff the knob block thing but what it can do came back and he hit two more

record breaking yeah kicks this season I do can do you guys got a boo bro that's right but I looked at this and went he could have gone oh my god I hit my peak I hit the I hit the pinnacle I'm in the Hall of Fame and now I can't kick it again I can't hit it up right yeah and so to me it's

this whole thing bringing it all together is you can feel cursed and you can believe it. And it's going to last for 108 years if you wanted. Yeah, if you wanted to. Or you can get back on the horse like Camden and say, okay, it's just another kick. Yeah. I mean, that guy's so high level. I mean, he barely, I don't even think he missed in high school. From what, from what I looked, he was perfect in high school, missed a few in college.

I think he had a 70 in college too. At Arkansas. At Arkansas. Wow. We'll have to ask him about that one. Yeah, yeah. Good, but, you know, so he's doing all these things, but it's like, you could have just fizzled out and had this curse and then it would have been a thing. And then the next guy and then the next guy. Instead, he just went, you know what?

It's all about preparation. Yeah. It's about running torture problems. And I'm sure he did some mental work and, you know, got it dialed in. But the same thing. And I am very guilty of that. Like when I get knocked off, boy, especially people around me that I love, you know me. If I'm on a path and someone just taps me a little bit to the side, I'm done.

We don't work on that. So how do you do that? I mean, I really do have a hard time with that. It's like I know I'm doing the right things. I know pretty clearly what I want to get accomplished. But as someone that I care about or I care about their opinion knocks me, man, you know, I'm three trails away now trying to find my way back. I mean, for me, I do feel it. I don't run from the feelings.

I don't run from the disappointment. You know, it depends who it is, right? If it's my wife or someone very, very close to me, I'll communicate it. But at the same time, when I'm, when someone makes that effort to kind of throw me off, I look for the truth in it, right? Like, okay, if that, if someone said that wasn't my best show, let me find the truth in it. And let me find where I went wrong. And then I fix it.

But then I don't think about it, right? So I think there's, the big thing is, is when something happens, right to your point when you were talking about if someone that you love bumps you a little bit you're off course you're three shades of white it's okay to feel that way initially but i think the key for the listener and even you because this is your situation is just going okay if i keep thinking about it like this how is it helping me and trying to get away from the unjust part of it because that's the key. If someone feels slighted or what's happening is unjust to them and is not right as far as, you know, integrity or loyalty or whatever, people sit there in that moment and

stew over it a lot. And what I've learned to do is look at it and go, okay, fuck it. Like, it is what it is. Like, I can't keep thinking about this because we're always going to disappoint people, right? we're always not going to be enough for somebody. And it's hard when it's a loved one, but it's also hard when it's the public, right? Because everything's exposed depending on what you do. Like, for my sense, like, it's all exposed. I'm exposed for everybody to make their comments

and their frustrations and whatever. But, man, long-winded answer, but the most important part of it is realizing and acknowledging who you want to be. And if someone can sit there in that moment and feeling that the way that they're feeling, you know, negatively and slided or, you know, unloved, if they focus on that and they choose to sit in that,

that's where the problems occur. Because it creates more resentment. It creates so many other things. So for me, honestly, dude, I feel it. I work through it for a day or two, depending on how serious it is, and then it's gone. Because I'm so focused on what I have to do every single day to feel good and be good. I like that. You know, it's about focusing, again, on the things you can control.

And, you know, whether it's a loved one or some Yahoo in the comments on whatever platform, you can't let it bother you because someone can talk about a guest or whatever. Like they have no idea. And Rome and I were talking about it dinner last night. It's like, if you're going to come in the comments and talk about the lone survivor, you better have some actual information and some credibility to back it up. Or like when I interviewed an astronaut, people were all, we did a flat earth. He was talking about, you know, all the research and R&D into space.

And it's like, so, you know, Bob, at this point, when are we going to know if the earth is flat? And people went nuts, of course. And if you were like, oh, he's the astronauts even admitting that the earth is flat, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, when are we? go to work. It's so funny. Like, go to work. Go to work.

Luttrell 1. It blows me away how much Haiti got. But the thing that's really funny to me is people on social media, especially TikTok, they don't know how to feel context or understand it. I field an answer probably at least five or six comments a day on the fasting reel for for the Luttrell's. And the ones like, wives, question mark, I'm like,

yes, wives. I interviewed two people. Each of them have a wife. They are... The plural of wife is wives. They are twins. Their wives are besties. The wives were out of town. It's like, holy shit, listen to the whole thing.

You can't see that there's two people there, but it's like so many people want to be heard and the only way for them to feel that they can be heard. is if they insult. And I just don't think that's a thing. But yeah, dude, like people hop in on comments and find their angle like, oh, let me be a dick here. Right. Let me, let me be a dick here.

But it is what it is. I just kind of thought about that. But, you know, these are, we talked about leveling up. These are the problems that you ask for, that we've asked for. Exactly. We want the public in there. And we want to hear. You know, if it's not good, that's great.

but we're also not going to play into, you know, comments that have no meaning and whatever. Absolutely not. I mean, these are the things. And to your point, you know, the whatever you, however you said it, but the more that we do, the more that you're going to expose yourself and all of us to comments, whatever, but it's what we ask for. And these are the problems that we ask for. And yes, they get bigger and harder and more expensive, but it's what we ask for.

And, you know, what I love about it is we always start with positivity and we always start with trying to celebrate the wins because it is going so fast. And that's why I wanted to do this flush the format type show anyway, is just to kind of let you not relax, but just to have you be a little bit more of the subject matter and just talk about all the things that are going on around here because it is so fast. And if we don't stop to appreciate it, all we're going to do is look back and go, oh, that was cringe, you know, six years ago. Yeah.

And so, you know, I look at last year and I know you talked about it, but, you know, know we got to travel to Pennsylvania to be with gronk and had a great group of people with us we've been to l.a during the riots and had those interviews i mean you know trips that really were not easy to to make happen for anyone they still happened we had some amazing i mean when we got started to say gronk and kathy ireland and grant cardone and whoever else that we had on we'd be kicking ourselves, you know, and at some points we did, oh my God, we got to travel, we got to do this. The riots are happening, but, you know, it all worked out. Yeah.

Yeah, it was, that was an amazing trip, dude. We got to do some pretty cool things, man. Like, I look back and look at 2025 and I'm like, wow, we did that. Like, that was an amazing experience. Sitting down in Jay Leno's garage. That was unreal. That was, and that was a hard interview for me. But not in a bad way.

It was just, I'm sitting. Jay Leno. It's Jay Leno. But to look back on that and be like, we had that, we had that benchmark. And there were so many benchmarks in 2025 in 2026, dude. Like, it's, I thought 2025 was a demanding schedule. 2026 is going to be that much more intense. You want to talk a little bit about what you got coming up in 2026?

I know we've got some travel coming up. Yeah, I got some, I mean, you know, some TV, you know, New York, Billboard and Times Square. Then we go to D.C. and then Chicago, that's all on a three-day trip. Then back, Tampa for like two or three TV segments in one day. So we're starting to get more, you know, network TV, which I think is very big for visibility. I mean, I don't think. I know. It's going to really help us reach more people with the whole goal of bringing them to the show so they can be fulfilled and you know hopefully it makes them feel a little better and they can listen to

something that has some positivity to it and and some substance because there's a lot of shit out there that is just surface level stuff and we don't roll that way here so you know we have a lot of you know great trips um that you've outlined um you know i don't know if i want to talk about those because no no no but they're exciting and they're and they're big and they're they're the holy shit they are and the other thing I really like about them is continuing to tell your story you know because yes this is the determined society with Sean French but it is a guest driven show interview show so what we've done is very intentional not only to have some very impactful conversations with some very well-known celebrities but to really get you back into not just you know back on the west coast

but in your element in a few different ways and really just I you know I want to want to know more about you. You know, as much as I know about you, there's times where we surprise each other. Yeah. Yeah. And we learn about family members and things that we didn't know about. So, um, 26 really is going to be something special, I think, um, based on the plans that we have laid down, um, the impact that we're trying to have.

And that's one thing I did want to ask you is, you know, when you look at 2025 and you look the success of, you know, almost nine million downloads or nine million listens, um, the guests that we have, the trips that we went on, the, just all the things, right? I always circle back to impact and I talked about this multiple times today so far. And that's why I got involved with this. So, um, this is actually Roman's question. So we have only one AMA because we didn't get around to it today, or around to it this time, which we will do next time.

I do want to, yeah, throw out an AMA. So if you're watching this now next month, uh, you all, have the ability to ask us some questions and we'll try to feel some of those. Ask away too. Yeah, please do. We tried it once and it didn't go well. You guys need to pick your shit up, man. We'll put it on the social medias and people can respond to me that way they can stay out

of your inbox. But so the question is of everything that we did in 2025 and I want to frame it because, you know, again, I said it earlier, but people talking about the impact that the show has had on their lives. And there were times in 2025, Sean, where I could not listen to our show. I was in such a bad place. where I was just like, I don't want to hear my bestie over there telling me about all this stuff I know I should be doing and feeling all positive and all smiley because I just couldn't do it. And then there were times where I didn't want to listen.

I would listen. I would get a nugget and I go, damn it. Damn it, Sean. Okay, fine. This show really does create impact. And there's nuggets, you know, whether you like the guests or not. If you absolutely don't like the guests, you don't have to listen. But just every time, it's not about taking the whole thing and flipping your life upside down.

It's about just taking one thing going, you know what? Let's try that. Today I'm going to try that thing. So for you, I know there's a lot. And you can take a minute to think about this. What was the number one most impactful story that you have from 2025? Meaning someone reached out and they said, hey, I heard this. I saw this.

You know, a clip on social, whatever it was. And this happened because of the show. that is a hard one man um you know there was a gentleman that reached out and and it was crazy because he didn't he wasn't following me and he reached out on instagram and said hey i just want to let you know that i've been listening to your show and i love it it's really helping me in my journey with brain cancer and i listened to the show i listened to the stories and it helps me get into a more positive mindset and just understand that I'm going through this

and I'm going to win, I'm going to fight my ass off. And there's no reason why I can't stay positive and fight. I think that right there, I mean, that's someone's life. That's someone's dad. That's someone's husband. Someone's child. And so when you have people that reach out and go, this is helping me,

that for me means everything. Like that for me means everything. I had another one. It was a very personal one. I grew up obviously in California and one of my teammates, Mike Davy, had two sisters or has two sisters. And one of them, Nicole, hi Nicole, Cole, Cole Davey reached out to me one day and, you know, started like commenting on the clips and everything and sent me a message like, hey, I'm going through some stuff right now. I'm not going to share details, obviously, because it's her story. But I utilize your show to fall asleep at night. I was floored. I was actually in Mississippi heading from the airport to Wing Ranch when that, when that DM came through. And those types of stories make me feel so good because it's enriching someone's life. That's the impact. Those two stories are in there many more. But those two, I think about often when I feel like I don't want to today or I don't want to adult today.

I put an extreme amount of responsibility on my back and my shoulders to carry people. Like, I don't put this out. If I'm not fresh for this interview, then that person and that person and the person over there, they're not going to get the value that they need today. So I just, I put it all on me. I put it all on me, man. You know, it's heavy, but it's worth it, dude. And those are the two stories that I think that made the most impact for me. Thank you.

Yeah, because, you know, again, we get so caught up in the day to day of booking guests and getting content out and all that. So, you know, and we talk about it in our team meetings a lot. But I just, I wanted the society to hear it of. you know, taking this stuff and it is important. And yes, it's entertaining when we try to do as much as we can to make the show the best it can be as far as an entertainment standpoint. But there's some really impactful stuff that's happening.

And, you know, the fact that it is impacting people's lives and changing lives and making people better, you know, we see it a lot. But I, for me, it has helped me, you know. And to be around this group of just, some of the best people that I know that can push me and help me kind of stay straight sometimes when things are spinning out. You know, so the fact that people get to tune in and learn from you twice a week is pretty awesome. And we just, we have so many things going on. I just, that's kind of the way I wanted to close it. It's just kind of recapping the fact that, you know, we do have a newsletter.

We've got the website. We've got the playlist, the frequency. We got to kick that back up. We've got the school account too. And we have the school accounts. You want to talk about that real quick. Yeah, I'm excited. about this one. So for everybody listening, we're going to be launching our school account. And, you know, we're going to be making a major push for the free access. So if you're listening, you know, pretty soon you'll have free access to the school community, right? The cool thing about the school community is I'm doing a determination summit for five straight days at 7 p.m. Eastern. So whoever goes into that community is automatically going to be able to be enrolled and get a,

calendar invite for the determination summit. And they're going to have the opportunity to listen to me, to listen to Brandon Burns, potentially you or another speaker on how to build determination in their lives. And so for the most, there's going to be three levels of it, man. There's going to be a free version and a paid version.

And there's going to be a mastermind option, right? If people want more, they want to hop on group calls. That is going to be there. And, excuse me, we've been needing to do this for a while. We found the right guy to help us build it,

and we're about to launch it very, very soon. There's behind-the-scenes stuff in there that nobody else has seen. And I'm not talking about BTS from the show. There might be some mixed in there, but what these people are going to find in there is two things that are really cool right now. They're going to find all my key notes,

out speech is that people pay me thousands of dollars to perform. It's going to be in there for them to watch. And then the behind the scenes is the selfie recordings. They haven't been released anywhere. They're in a folder being ready to be uploaded to school. So when people come into that community and see these videos, the behind the scenes, those are my thoughts. Those morning thoughts I used to put on Instagram.

People are asking me, why aren't you doing this? It's because I have a strategy. It's going there. I want to drive people to the school. account so they can build community with each other, you know, we'll have a gamified experience in there to where we do a 14-day determination challenge and the people that complete it, we'll get a wall of determination sticker or, you know, seal on their account. And they can, there's going to be a leaderboard where they can see where they're at, you know, and they're going to

be able to communicate with each other. And, you know, it's going to give them a lot of access to what we have here and just also just my mind like they're going to they're going to get heavy doses of it every day and there'll be a you know call for it too i mean everybody that's in the community that hop on a group call but so i'm really excited about that one got a lot of stuff coming yeah so i what i would encourage your one is go to the the determined society dot com it's got links to all our social all the places the show is streamed on apple spotify youtube you name it um it's got links to the playlist, you know, go out to Spotify, search the frequency. Sean's pictures right there.

It's got the thumbnail for the show. Follow it if you want. You know, that's probably the best, just so it's always there. But I told Sean, it's always sitting right at the top. But, you know, the frequency, just real quick, just so people don't know, what we do is when we bring guests on, we ask them, and it started with, what was your walk-up song at LSU? And we were talking about hype songs and how music fuels life, essentially.

And so everyone's got that one song that just no matter what they're doing, it comes on. it just gets their juices flowing, gets them turned up to 100. And so we've got your walk-up song, and we've got every single guest that we've had. We've asked them, and we've got so many of them out there. And so it's just fun as you're working out,

driving, whatever it is to go, oh, man, this is Jamie Kennedy's song. This is Jay Leno's song. This is whoever. And so for people to go out there and we're updating it on the go. And, you know, I just think it's something great. Yeah, dude.

And again, like, I can't stress enough, though, the newsletter. Like sign up for the newsletter. Everything's in there. You can sign up for the newsletter right on the website. There's pop-ups. There's all that stuff. But yeah, just, again, the amount of content happenings, events that we have keyed up for this year, that newsletter is going to be key.

If you are a fan of Sean, fan of the show, I want to get more involved with the society. The only way you're going to know. Love it. I love it. Well, dude, thank you. That was fun. Another pulse. Another pulse.

Recorded and done. We got to stand a normal. agents. This is too much fun. For the audience, thank you guys so much for listening. Share this episode with someone you know love and trust. And just remember that ultimately in life and in your day to day, you make the decision to how you're going to operate in the face of adversity or even in the face of success. Hopefully it's with extreme accountability and that you understand that everything is placed in your life for a reason. And it's for you to grow. The wins, the losses, the messy middle, everything like that.

So I love you guys. Share this again with somebody that you know love and trust. Sign up for the newsletter. Keep your eye out for the school account. Until next time, stay determined.