Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - The Pulse | Cultural Perspectives on Success

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

Everyone sees the success, but no one sees the weight behind it. In this episode, Shawn French and Pat Sitkins pull back the curtain on  Exploring the cultural perspectives on entrepreneurship and breaking norms around success From pressure, sacrifice, and family impact to the loneliness of leadership, this is the raw truth about entrepreneurship.   Key Takeaways  -Building something meaningful comes with pressure no one prepares you for. -Success impacts your family more than people realize. -You can’t balance everything—prioritization is required (Four Burner Theory). -Determination is doing the work even when you don’t feel like it. -The hardest seasons often come right before major breakthroughs.   Follow Us 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 Pat Sitkins Instagram - https://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.

Building this media company, so to speak, has been the hardest thing I've ever fucking done in my life. If you knew what you were going to have to go through day one when you started this to get to today, would you have done it? No. I would have stayed in corporate America, made $300 grand a year and just been completely happy taking vacations whenever I wanted to because we had money to do it and lived like a robot. I'm going to tell it to everybody right now listening. Yesterday was a very hard day and you know that. My kids are very intuitive. The moment they looked at me, they knew something was up. And I said, hey, guys, don't worry.

It's just a rough day in business. Daddy will get through it. Now, the little one, she's a witch. I was putting her down, and I kissed her right here on her cheek. And there was tears. And she goes, something's going on with you, and I don't know what it is. You know, that was a wake-up call for me to be like, man, maybe you should not wear your shit on your sleeve.

That's why it's emotional for me because people don't see that side. People don't see how the family's affected. It's just been heavy lately, man. And I think it gets really heavy right before the breakthrough. Welcome back. You are about to experience another recording with my partner and one of my closest friends, Pat Sicken's on the pulse, the behind the scenes episode of the Determined Society. Today we're going to do some housekeeping items, some announcements about the Therobody

giveaway that's starting to come to a close, et cetera. And then we're going to get into some nitty gritty stuff, guys. we're going to go deep and we're going to uncover a lot of different things with this show and the questions that you guys have asked time and time over again of how we built this thing and what our mission is so without further to do buddy let's get it what's up patty welcome back we're back another episode man we hear there's been a month already good grief dude months pass by really quickly i i've in my old age at 47 years old i realize how quickly time moves. So that's a conversation, I think, you know, that's another, that's a whole other deep one.

But, you know, it's being time speeding up and just the rate at which things are going right now, I was actually in a conversation this week. And we were talking about slowing down to stop the little wins because it goes so quick. I know we've mentioned that in the past, but I at least got to stop for a second because I called you and made sure no one else was around and I screamed at you. and excitement because we did hit some new milestones. So why don't you tell people about the charts and where we are right now? Man, it's really nice. You know, the things with these charts,

it's really nice to see that a bigger platform like Apple recognizes what you're doing and verifies it on their platform, right? So for the United States of America in all categories, I think there's, gosh, I don't know, man, probably six million shows here in the United States of America. You know, we hit number 14. You know, I think it's probably the first time we broke the top 15. which is a massive milestone. And then categorically, we hit number one again,

and we're still at number one today. And let's be very clear about this, okay, because I think this is something that really fires me up, all right? You know, we are battling giants in this industry. Okay, the Ezra Klein show, the Sean Ryan show, and we're continuing to be there right next to them. You know, the thing that really fires me up is that, you know, sometimes the visibility I don't feel is there.

And it's always about these other shows. And I love what they do, man. Don't get me wrong. I'm throwing no shade at these people. But, you know, it's time for people to start paying some damn attention. It is really freaking time because I feel like the tiger is being let out of the cage right now. And you know a lot, obviously, behind the scenes. So I'm on another level right now, probably a level that you.

never seen me at and we will continue to speak later offline but i am ready and the only thing that happened over the last 24 to 48 hours is i was woken up fully and that is a dangerous place to be in man because when i'm awake i make moves and so put your fucking seatbelt on dude feeling feisty this morning i like it oh i'm spicy that's right spicy with an app not spicy i'm spicy that's right Ficey. Well, if you're, if you're feeling all motivated, this is a good segue into one thing I did want to talk about. And I know we've mentioned it a lot, but that's the frequency. We've been asking people on TDS on my show and just people in general that we're having conversations with.

We're having that conversation around music. And again, it started with the walk-up song. And I actually had a guy give us credit this week. He said, man, that's you baseball guys. That's your term. And I love it. Because it is. It's our walk-up song, right?

But I do want to remind people that that playlist is out there. It's got curated songs. It's the hype song, the one song that gets people's blood, you know, flowing and their, you know, energy up and all that stuff. Whether you're a weekend warrior trying to, you know, crush it out there on the road or whatever it is. So if you're feeling motivated like Sean French is today, go out to Spotify and search the frequency. And you'll see the podcast cover right there. And you can look at the playlist. and we're updating that thing every single week.

So I did want to mention that. And then the final one, like you said, is the sweepstakes. So talk to them about that. They hear about Therobody and the Theragon in every episode because they've been a great sponsor so far. So let's talk about, you know, this was your idea. We've talked about doing some type of giveaway sweepstakes for a long time. And we finally pulled the trigger and we got it out there.

Yeah, I mean, the sweepstake is going amazingly. Every single day, more people are entering this contest. And, you know, I think the main thing about Therobody that I really want to highlight is, you're right, they have been a great partner. And, you know, it's a great product for overall physical and emotional wellness and recovery. And people notice these things. And when you give something away of that much value, people respond. So if you haven't already entered this contest, you got to the end of the month, right?

You got to the end of the month. And hopefully we extend the partnership because I, I think there's so much more we can do with Therabody, you know, in terms of on-site, in clinical, laboratory, et cetera. But like, guys, hop on this. It's an opportunity to win Theragun Pro Plus. It's retailed at $649, man. And I'm giving it away for free.

The only thing you got to do is go to the bio at the Sean French on Instagram and enter the contest and do the bonus entries, right? Like, follow the prompts, man, because you're going to get so many, so many additional entries. if you follow what's going on. And what we've seen, man, is a lot of people are doing it. I mean, we've had over 2,000 people click on that link. And we are not running any traffic to it.

I boosted it. I paid $200 over 14 days. And that's it. And people are just filing in there. So again, don't miss the opportunity, guys. Go in there, click on the bio link and enter the contest, man. You might win. There you go.

All right. So you started mentioning it and we might as well just get down into it. And I mentioned this the other day and I want to bring it up again. It's the idea of the four burners theory. So and you hadn't heard of it. So I'm assuming you haven't done a ton of research. So I'll go ahead and give you the premise of this. It's the idea that there are four burners in your life. You have family. You have friends. You have your health and you have work. And at any time, there's only so much gas that can go to all four burners on the stove. Right. So they can't all be running at the same life. level every time. And so what it's saying is when you're trying to build something meaningful, you're trying to focus on your health, whatever one or two of the four, you've got to tone down or bring down the other burners. And so as I look at that, to me, it's about the cost of what you're doing. Because to be, you can't be the fittest person in the world, the best husband and father, the biggest business person on the planet and have all the friends. Like you just, you can't. So I wanted to bring that up and let that sit for a second and get you to respond,

not like just in general, but specifically today. You know, I think it's a great point, man. And I think what it all boils down to when people are making decisions to move forward, whether it's their fitness, build their business, their family, you got to go with what is most important at the time, right like if you have a horseshit relationship with your wife and your children or your husband

and your children or whatever relationship you have that you want to pour into that's got to be the priority man because without real meaningful relationships in our life you can have as much money as you want you can have you know the most popular brand on the planet it ain't going to mean jack shit if you don't got people next to you that love you right so prioritizing what needs to be done you know what I found with fitness though you know when you include that aspect, you know, being the best physically fit you can be. It helps you mentally and it almost indirectly helps everything else, right? It helps the relationship with the family because you're already doing hard things daily, right? And so those moments of contention within

your household seem to be a lot easier because you're already doing the hard thing over here. Right. So again, you can't have all four burners at the same level. Something always has to, I don't want to say take a backseat, but isn't the priority, right? Like for me, when I had to get in really good shape, that was my priority. That was it. Now, coincidentally, the show elevated because of it. And so I think what people really need to understand is don't worry about the four burners. Worry about the one thing, and we've talked about this, right?

But I'm going to say it again because people don't really listen the first hundred times. the one thing in your life that you know you need to fix. It's the one thing that keeps you up at night. It's the one thing that you think about consistently. It sits on your frontal lobe and it's as heavy as an elephant. That's the one thing you fix, man. That's the one thing you dial into because what happens is you build the confidence level of following through. And then that bleeds into everything else.

So if you're stuck, there's a real thing. And most people do know the reason, but they keep dismissing it because they don't know how to move forward. You don't need to know how. You don't need to know how. You just need to make that next move. Make that next right decision and then do it again over and over again. And what you'll find is that area of your life starts to get fixed and then everything else will fall into place as well. Now, it's not going to be without adversity.

I mean, we're learning that a lot, a lot lately. But I think it's what builds you in these moments, man, is this. these points of contention, adversity. It is the true classroom, man. It is the true classroom. But, you know, the four burner theory I love. Because if you focus on all of them and you turn your dial up to 100 degrees on all of them, you will burn out quicker than you can even blink.

Take a breath. Focus on one thing. It takes the pressure off in my mind, right? Because, like you said, you were looking at everything you were trying to do when you started focusing on fitness he said that's the one and so there's classic examples of entrepreneurs that turn their work one up all the way and everything else crumbles right their relationships their family goes away they have no friends whatever it is so to me it takes the pressure off of going look right now like you said i can't do everything so i'm going to focus on these two realizing that these two

they're not going to get the attention they need right now but it's the decision on making to get all four up as best i can agreed i mean just think about it man Everybody has their own dynamics, right? For me and my family, I'm close with my wife, I'm close with my kids. I already have that going. You know what I mean? Like, is our relationship perfect? No relationship's perfect, man.

Everybody goes through shit, right? But the bottom line is I'm not trying to fix anything that is massively broken in that, in that realm, right? Now, in the past, yeah, like I've had to grow. I've had to get better, right? But right now, I know I can focus on the fitness and I can focus on the show. And for me, you know, always as well as keeping an open line of communication open with my wife and my children, that's easy for me. Right. That's already happening.

But if something shifted to where I had to focus just on the family and the business, then I would do that. all the other things are already autopilot already go to the gym every day it's not a conscious decision anymore some days it is right yesterday it was I was like I don't want to do this I put my shoes I took my shoes on and off 10 times yesterday and I finally said you know what

if I don't go then I'm going to regret it and I'm not willing to sit with regret so anyway that that's where I'm at with that theory So you mentioned the adversity and, you know, we've talked about what we're going through, I think, in a decent way recently, especially with this show. But I know a lot of people have questions about the beginning and how this show started. And so I think a good place to start there because everyone loves an origin story, right? So we've got to have your origin story out there.

When I look at the adversity, the word determination, okay? and I know this is something that you and I talked about early on. I was like, is this the name for the show? Should we change it? Should we not? The word determination. Okay. Was there a moment in your life when you decide this is the cause I'm going to hang my hat on?

This is the word that I'm going to lean into. Like, explain to me and the audience at what point determination became this sounding board for everything. Hey, guys, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to slide into our recovery segment brought to you by Therobody. 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 a 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 Therogun and now Therobody

who has a multitude of products to help you recover emotionally 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, 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 at home in your bed in your living room. Hell, you can even drive with a Thera 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. And what 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, 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 Theragon Pro Plus will help that out. They have cold therapy on it, hot therapy. I mean, think about that. When I open that box and realize that I could have heat therapy and cold therapy and a Theragon changed everything. everything for me. And also really made the thing that 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 car for that first time and you get 15% off go to therobody.com and at checkout the code is determined so let me know how you guys like it until then stay determined. You know, it's a good question. And I hope people really grab onto it this time. You know, I hate to be, you know, petty with it, but that's the reality. Like, literally catch on. You know, the word determination, when I looked at my life, when I looked at everything I'd been successful in, what was the common ingredient? It was me not giving up. It was me continuing to move forward even when I didn't want to.

Right. It's like, whether it was in sales or baseball or even in this damn show, those moments of like where you just feel like the world is pushing against you and you want to stop. Like that's the moment of like I can't stop because I made a commitment to myself and to other people. Right. And now there's business partners. There's there's an audience. Like I have a responsibility. It is to live that branded determination. So for me, it was like, you know, this massive realization of what made me successful. And it wasn't a ton of talent. It wasn't, I was just a better salesperson than everybody else. And I didn't have these special skills.

It was like I was unwilling to fucking stop. And for me, determination is something that I pinpointed that were most people fall. they give up at the first sign of any type of adversity. Like, well, you know, if this is going to be this hard, if the barrier of entry is this difficult, then this must not be the thing for me. How many times are you going to do that? It's not that.

It's like, what are you willing to give? What are you willing to sacrifice? Are you willing to put your, you know, proverbial nuts on the line? And for me, it was on determination because I felt that that's what made me special in some ways. but it also gave me a lot of insight of where people are missing because they're waiting for that moment where they want to do it.

And that is not determination. That is not going to move you forward whatsoever. That is waiting on this motivation word or feeling like you want to. I mean, Jesus, Pat, how many days do we wake up and want to do something? If we waited for wanting to do something or emotionally ready to do something, like I would still be 230 pounds, maybe 250 by now, laying on the couch underneath the blanket watching Netflix.

You mentioned barriers to entry and how hard it is to get started. And it is, right? Like putting your shoes on, taking them off, you're like, crap, I've got to put them back on again. Like, that's pretty hard. And then I've got to get in the car. Let me ask you a question. And I've been wondering.

about this with myself and then with you. If you knew what you were going to have to go through day one when you started this to get to today, would you have done it? I don't know. That's my honest answer. I mean, a part of me says, yeah, but a big part of me is like, no, no. I would have stayed in corporate America, I've made 300 grand a year and just been completely happy taking vacations whenever I wanted to because we had money to do it and live like a robot, you know, wake up, get in my scrubs, go to the OR, do this, do that, do the dog and pony show with the lunches, do the dog and pony show with the surgeons, play their game. You know, and I think it's a great career. I mean, I think that, you know, I don't, I don't want to paint corporate America in a

bad light, but it's a lot easier road. It's a lot easier road. I mean, the barrier of entry here is tremendous, tremendous. And if you look at things and try to dissect them up front of how hard it's going to be, and if you're willing to do it, man, I think most people would say no. No. Like, I got three kids, a wife. Like, let me stay safe. That's how we're wired.

You know, and so sometimes, man, ignorance is bliss. That's a very honest answer. And I'm pretty much in the same boat because I look at where we are. and you and I talk about this offline all the time. You know, these are the problems we asked for. We didn't say, we're going to ask for these specific problems in the future. It was we want to go up the ranks. We want to be known.

We want this, that, and the other thing. Well, what comes with that is all the stuff that we're dealing with. And so we asked for it. And so to look at it now, I love what we're doing. I'm sitting on, you know, 11 o'clock, you know, in the morning. hanging out with you this is good we get to do some great stuff but it is fucking hard you know yeah and and you know one day i i want to tell it all i just can't right now right now right now right now but the fact of the matter is is like people look at the show and look what we what we're doing

you know i'm grateful for the response but they have no idea of what goes on in the day to day in the back end of it. Like you know, because I update you, I talk to you three times a day most days. And it's like, like these are the things that we're dealing with, right? And like I said, one day I want to be able to air it all out,

like literally air it all out. But I can't do it yet until we hit a certain point to where we're set. And then I can tell everybody, this is the shit that you're going to go through. You know, and again on a one-on-one basis, if somebody wants to hire me and help them,

then cool, I'll do that. But I'm not going to be, I'm not going to air everything out on socials. I'm not going to air everything out on the podcast because I don't think it's the, I don't think it's the platform, right? My whole thing is, is like, this shit is not easy.

This, building this engine, building this media company, so to speak, has been the hardest thing, I've ever fucking done in my life. And I want the audience to truly understand that. What you're seeing is the payoff of a lot of pain, a lot of sacrifice. And I don't say this to get pats on the back or people feel sorry for it.

I don't want you to fucking feel sorry for me. What I want you to understand is there was so much that has gone into this. And there's some days where this is not emotionally. healthy for me. And my wife deals with it. And it's not fair. Yesterday was a very hard day and you know that. And I told you this, but I'm going to tell it,

I'm going to tell it to everybody right now listening. My kids are very intuitive. The moment they looked at me, they knew something was up. They knew. And I just said, hey, guys, don't worry. It's just a rough day in business. Daddy will get through it.

I'm a fighter. We're going to get through it. It's not a big deal. we'll figure it out. I asked my wife to put the girls down last night because I just didn't have the capacity to do it. But when I tucked them in, my middle daughter's like,

are you okay? I was like, I'm going to be okay. Now, the little one who you know, I mean, you know all my kids, but you know how she's an empath. She's like her mom, like she's a witch. And I was putting her down, and I kissed her right here on her cheek and there was tears.

I'm like, what's wrong? And she goes, something's going on with you and I don't know what it is. But I'm sad because I want you to be happy. And I looked at her and I'm like, honey, I love you. This is not for you to shoulder. Thank you for caring so much. And I ended up laying with her and holding her because I needed to be there for my kid. My feelings about what happened yesterday or the thought,

five years prior meant nothing at that point. The most important moment, the most important thing right then and there was my daughter. And, you know, that was a wake up call for me to be like, man, maybe you should not wear your shit on your sleeve because it can impact your little ones. You know, and then I went into my son. After put him down and he put his arm around me. He's like, you got to. this. And dude, like, that's why it's emotional for me because people don't see that side. People don't see how the family's affected. You know, people don't see how the kids respond.

Man, my kids are freaking leaders, man. And they're there to pick my ass up. And the thing is, is like, they made me feel better last night. My son asked a question about Barry Bonds. And I went off. And it made me. forget about everything going on. And we researched his stats. I gave him some ammo so we can go back to people with. And dude, I don't know where I'm going with this, but like, it's just been heavy lately, man.

And I think it gets really heavy right before the breakthrough. What we've talked about a lot is, you know, a few things. Number one is instead of a victim mentality of saying, why is this all happening to me looking at and saying, what is this doing for me? And making space to hold whatever it is that we're about to hold. I had Tim Lehman on two types this week. And he's the CEO of a 200 plus insurance and risk management agency up in South Bend, Indiana. Their offices all over the place.

I've known for a really long time. And I said, Tim, there's a lot of people out there. that are entrepreneurs, right? They want to be. A lot of social, maybe not quite accurate posts going out of people saying how great entrepreneurship is and CEO and all that stuff, right? We've talked about it. And so I said, Tim, as a high-powered CEO and someone who is actually a chief executive

officer of 200 plus people, I said, what is the one thing that people don't talk about? talk about when it comes to being a leader. And he said, it's the loneliness and the weight that you carry. What we're doing out here is very visible. And it's very high profile. And even with Tim, it's a very large insurance agency. People see the results. And they go, oh, that's really great. That's really cool. But again, I just, I keep asking myself, what I have started? I don't know. I'd like to say yes, but I don't know. And so I think where I'm going with this is it's not unique to us. Like our problems are very unique, but being in a position of any leadership, whether

that's at in your family, in a business, if you're trying to build something meaningful, like you said, buckle up because this shit is a fucking roller coaster every single day. Like it's layers upon layers. Like every little decision, you know, it's like, oh, we're getting this guest on. Well, but we have to do this and that. And then this part, I was telling my wife, I'm like, it's just layer upon layer upon layer. And you just keep digging it. It's just dirtier.

So I don't know what to say to that as well. But I, man, it's all back to determination. Right. Every single person we talk to have had a season, have, are in it. you know, even on the surface where everything looks great. And then they go, oh, God, I'm really struggling. I got stuff I need to say. So I think for everyone, you know, your problems, they're very specific to you,

but you're not that special. Everyone's going through it. Dude, the moments of loneliness. That, that, when you told me that Tim said that, and then you made that post on your social, that to me is the most real thing in entrepreneurship. or even if you're leading in a Fortune 500 company, dude, like if you're a CEO and, you know, you're or an entrepreneur and you're building something, you can have people all

around you. You can have a spouse. You can have children. You can have business partners. But the same time, you feel lonely. You feel lonely in your own thoughts. And, you know, because not everybody's going to operate like you do. So they're going to, they're going to cope different.

differently. For me, I put my face in it and I try to dig our, dig myself or dig ourselves out of something or put us in a position. And there's times of, of massive loneliness. And, and again, like, I don't know what fixes that. Because I, because I think that it's always going to be that way. That's where we went, man, was, you know, you can have the, like, Tim's got a great team around him. And most of the people we talk to around him have people in their camp that are the best at what they do. We have an amazing team of partners and

people around us, but at the end of the day, it's just a reality. And so I think the biggest thing here is just minimizing it, right? Understanding that it is just part of it, deal with it. The more you can minimize it, great. And if you can get bigger payoffs, knowing that like sitting there at four in the morning, hacking away at the computer going, yeah, but now I get to sit here with you, at 11. Yeah. Pay off. Yeah.

Exactly. Like is the juice worth to squeeze, man? And oh, by the way, like you said, I signed up for this shit. Know what I think it is, man? It's alignment, right? Like, I know you and I are bigger energies and different stuff. We won't go too woo-woo and this one because I know we're in a lot of stuff. But, you know, people look at celebrities.

They go, I want the whatever body. I want to look like this. I want to have a massive media company like Sean French. It's like, if you just want it because everyone else is doing it and it seems good, then of course you're going to rely on motivation. And we know that goes away. Like to me, you know,

my definition of determination is remembering why you started in the first place. And we do that a lot. You know, when we have to push each other sometimes like, yo. Yeah. Like, hey, like, this is the brand, right? This is the brand, guys. Like, this is where we go.

And to your point, if I had started this out of vanity in wanting to have this visibility because everybody else had it, I would have quit four years ago. And, you know, the point here is it was a calling. It was a purpose. And so when you have a purpose and you feel like this is what you are made for, And this is what I want the audience to really grab onto. It doesn't matter what it is. If you were meant to be a baseball coach, if you were meant to be a freaking teacher,

if you were meant to be an entrepreneur, you better hold on to that purpose of why. Because that's what's going to get you to continue to move even when you don't want to. Because you can't give up on your purpose. Because if you do, you know, in 20 years or 30 years when you're laying on your deathbed, you're going to regret. You're going to regret not pushing forward. Or you're going to regret not pursuing something that was your actual

purpose. So for me, it's like it's very simple and hard at the same time. Like, this is the mission. This is why I started it. Like, I have to keep going because this is another opportunity for me to solidify the brand. Because you know it. You know, you can't explain it fully. Most people do not understand this right now. Now, everyone, you know, not everyone, millions of people are listening. and that's amazing. So yes, people are paying attention, but the ones around us that we need to understand what's happening, they don't understand it yet. And so to your point, whatever your profession, whatever you're trying to make a college baseball team, whatever the thing is, if you know that that is what you are supposed to do and you can't get off it, right? Because you're going to have

your own internal garbage going, why the hell are we doing this? Like, let's go back to corporate America. Let's go do whatever. Like, abandon this ship. Enough's enough. But if you keep going back to it and you can't explain it, like there's no reason like logically that we should have kept going to your point, four years ago, three years ago, two years ago, one. But we just know that this is what's supposed to happen. And at some point, it's going to be okay. This is what most people won't say. But I'm going to say it. Do you think for one second? and I haven't thought multiple times about just going back and doing a job.

I think it's the most natural thought. You know, and there's too many people out there sensationalizing, no, I believe in myself. I would never say that. You're fucking lying. You're a liar. Okay, this is about survival. Okay, we're in a game.

And it's our job to score as many runs as possible to win the freaking game at the end of the nine. frames. So yeah, naturally everybody would want to say like, you know, maybe, maybe I should, maybe I should pivot. But hey, that's not in the cards here. You know what I mean? Like it's just not. This is what we're doing. Because I believe in it. You've talked about going from, let me ask this, when you started recording in your car, you said it was after the gym. Like, what was life like? what were you doing professionally?

What was your life like when this thing started day one? Yeah, I was in medical sales, right? And I was making great money, but I wasn't fulfilled. You know, there was something in me that wanted more. It was like there was a creative side of me that was like, maybe you should invent something. What can you start? You know, like where can you really grow?

And then what I just started diagnosing is that people were struggling and they were stuck. I mean, there's many successful people out there making a lot of money, but not happy. And so what I identified for myself, it was never about the money. Yeah, money's nice. You know, it's a tool. It is not the end-all be-all. And it sure isn't something that you should idolize.

And a lot of times when we get stuck, I feel like it's because we're idolizing the bottom line instead of the mission. And we got to quickly pivot. But yeah, dude, what it looked like there is I was, you know, You know, early morning workouts, dude, and I was in the OR. I was servicing, you know, operating rooms and selling capital equipment and disposable, disposable things, you know, for the, for the cases. And it was great. I mean, it was a great job.

But for me, man, it was just, I felt there was more to life. I felt like I was stuck in a sense, like always having to answer to somebody, always having to like be accountable, you know, have my, look, education turned on so they can see where I'm at. And they just didn't sit right with me, man. You know, it didn't sit right at all. You know, so life was a lot different than, you know, I had great benefits, which I don't have now.

You know, you had a steady, you know, 15 to 20 Gs a month coming in. Were you just from my house? Were you coaching? Yeah, I was coaching baseball too. Okay. So, and I thought that was part of it. And so, you know, I saw that you had the professional aspect. You had the kids that you were coaching.

You've got your family that's growing. So at what point did you go, you know what? I think I'm going to take this Facebook group and I'm going to start a podcast. That's a great idea. Yeah. Yeah, that was a fucking good one, wasn't it? You know, I was driving down the road one day, headed into a hospital on 75. And I think I was going north.

I think I was going up to Bradenton. And all of a sudden, it was just this wave of thought that came through. Like, man, this is not just a Facebook group. This is going to be a podcast. You know, we could do merchandise, which we still haven't really figured out. And we will. But bringing stories of overcoming, I think even at that time during COVID, was super. important, right? And so it just hit me like a freaking Mac truck, dude. You know, I call my wife. I'm like,

what do I do? Like, she goes, well, you have until the time you get home to figure it out, or I don't want to hear about it. And so I figured it out and recorded my first episode that evening. Because it's about taking action when you feel something instead of worrying about the hows and what's going to happen. You know what I mean? And I think that always comes from a place of, again, I'm going to say it one more time, purpose. Like, what's the purpose of it? it. Why are you doing this? And for me, it was just like, the world needs it. Everybody wants to know how to be successful, but people get stuck. So what can I do to create something like a vacuum for people to be like, oh, me too. Like I feel this way as well. And what stories can I bring?

What type of guests can we bring? And it started off small. It was just me venting. And then it was, you know, local, you know, local entrepreneurs. Then it was people on Instagram. that built stuff and then all of a sudden it exploded into the Jay Leno's and William H. Macy's and Tony Goldwin next week. That's where we're at, you know, but it was painful. At what point did you realize this might be something, right? Because there are a lot of people that we talk to that either have a show already and they're like, how do you do what you do? Or I want to start a podcast. I want to get on YouTube. I want to start or whatever. At what point Did you figure out like this actually might be a business?

Like this might actually be a viable podcast that people care about. Was there a guest? Was there an episode? Was there a, you know, what was it when you went, hmm? You know, that's a hard one to answer. Here's what I'll tell you. And for everybody listening is it wasn't an exact moment. It was in a culmination of a bunch of different moments.

Like when I would, as bad as I was at the beginning, at this thing. I mean, my speech pattern was off. I would ums and I, it was terrible. But what I started getting feedback from with every guest is, thank you for creating such a safe space. Thank you for allowing me to tell my story.

Thank you for hearing me. The world needs more shows like yours. And I'm like, hmm, they don't, I didn't pay them to say that. You know, and when those, when that type of feedback kept coming, I just sat there and said to myself, I go, this is, this is it, this is the way. I just got to figure out down the road how to scale it and make it bigger and, you know,

all that kind of stuff. And we're still trying to figure that out. But, you know, to the point is, is like, you can only hear people's feedback for so long until you actually believe it. And the blessing I had wasn't like, hey, dude, you suck. Your show's terrible. It was like, you're on to something.

Don't stop. And so I use that and, you know, that's where we are now. And I look at it as a responsibility. If I stop, then people lose. I'll always go figure it out. I can walk away today and I'll go figure it out. But I'm not worried about me.

I'm worried about the people live. listening right now. And that's the difference between us and a lot of other shows. I actually give a shit. You had been around for three years before I even heard the name Sean French. And we've told this story and we won't go too deep into it. But basically we both got introduced to each other. We both said, nope. Want no part of that, whatever it is. You don't want marketing. I don't want to work with another podcast or we're good. But again, you just kind of to know when things are supposed to happen and here we are. What I found with you, and I want to say this differently,

because I don't want to repeat the way we said this before, is this show and you are not manufactured. Meaning there are shows, you know, like I just said, there are plenty of brands, businesses, celebrities, they're trying to figure out this podcast content game. right and it's all for an end purpose of promoting the said product brand whatever it is this was purely because you needed to vent into something during COVID and then it became something and now here we are did you imagine signing up to be the face of determination when you started this

no what does that in a million years what does that feel like from a pressure standpoint, because I can say from my standpoint, like, there are times when I deliberately post something or say something to you because I am supposed to be portraying this brand. I'm not Sean French. I didn't start this. So when you look at everything you're dealing with, you slapped a pretty darn big label on yourself. Does that, does that affect you? I think I'd be lying if I said no. You know what I mean? I don't know if it's a conscious thought that runs through my mind daily,

but every time I want to fall off and not do something, I think of the responsibility I have to the listeners, to the viewers. It's like, I came out and I said this. This is the name of the show, the determined society. And if I don't execute what I need to execute, then I'm a fucking liar. And that's what changed everything for me through even just like I always go back to it, the physical transformation.

Like we had a show called The Determined Society that talked about discipline, determination, and grit, but I wasn't displaying, I wasn't the walking billboard. You know, and that is heavy, right? That's a realization.

And I had two choices. I could sit in the shit or I could move. And I just, I chose the ladder. I chose to move. you know what I mean and and I am welcoming that I am the face of determination. I am a determination expert because I've dealt with a lot of shit in my life. I'm dealing with a lot of shit right now and I'm not going to stop.

That's a difference, man. I'm not going to retreat. You know, and it is a heavy thing because people are watching. People are looking at me. You know, people are judging my next. move based on what my brand is. And when you open that, when you open that can of worms up, you better be ready and you better be committed.

Because if not, you're going to lose. And I'm not, I'm not a big, not a big proponent of losing. So. No. Well, just say no. No. When I look at this journey, right, and it's obviously been well documented, but those closest to your family, your friends, and the people that continue to tune in twice a week

and listen to the determined society, what do you want them to understand most about this journey so far? I want them to understand that it was done with a pure heart. I just think that a lot of people create things because they can make money and they can monetize it. They're like, cool, let's double down on it. You know, for me it was about purpose. For me, it was about giving people something, giving them a piece of me, giving them something that no other platform can give them, which is hope. You know, in truth, but man, the one thing, the other thing that I'll say outside of that it was done with a pure heart, I don't know if I can describe how rewarding it is when I'm in the gym. And a friend of mine, her name is Fabby, she's great. She took care of

stitch when his eye was all jacked up. For those you don't know, my Shih Tzu had a melting eyeball about six months ago, and he almost lost his eye. And I ran into her in the gym, you know, one day. And, you know, since then she's been over at her house, hung out with me and my wife and amazing human being. She comes up to me one day in the gym after not seeing her for about four months. Gives me a big hug.

I smile at her. And she holds up her fun. And she goes, I was just about to listen to your newest episode and holds it up and it was me and you. It was the last Pulse episode. I was like, wow, you listen. And she goes, our whole office does. That means more to me than anything because that is proof that it is working. That is proof that people are listening.

That is proof that people believe in what we are doing. And that means something to me. And there's many more examples like that. But that one to me was crazy. We've talked about that before of the messages and how much those mean to you. So I definitely want to encourage people, you know, obviously there's a lot coming at you, but continue to, you know, comment, send messages, do all that stuff because we all at the Determined Society, appreciate that stuff, and we share it weekly in our meetings.

And if you want direct contact, we do have a school account. So I do want to wrap up with that, Sean, and just talk more about the society because what you just mentioned, you know, we've talked a lot about determination, but we haven't really talked much about the society. So I do want to wrap up with that, just talking about the fact that we have so many people around us both directly that we're working with that, you know, we're collaborating with, but just this whole group of people that are all focused on one thing and that's just getting a little bit better every day. So I want you to talk about the society first of all and then

talk about that school account because it's getting better and better. Well, I mean, I think the society is very simple, right? It's a group of individuals that refuse to retreat based on their feelings, you know, and they understand that this is going to be hard. Whatever, path they've chosen, you can either continue to dive in every day and follow through and do what you said you're going to do or you can let up off of it. That's the society. Like if you, if you are in life and you are building something, then you need to be a part of it. Like straight up, like we don't give any lip service here. The shit's going to be hard. Right. And the school account, and I want to be up front with everybody, we're, we're slowly building this thing. Slowly building it.

And right now there's free access. So, you know, go to the freaking website, you know, click on coaching and then enroll in the school account. It's free right now. What are you doing? It's cheap. Like, what's wrong with free? Eventually there will be offers in there.

But, you know, there's going to be a lot of behind the scenes things in there, hot seat coaching. And if you really want more and you want to be a part of this, that's the place to go. Because we're building something right now that nobody knows. It's in the background. Okay. and it's going to be big. And if you want more and if you want more of this in your life,

then you need to be in that school account because that's where it's going to live. You want the real and raw, go there. I would end with one thing. Yeah. Because you came out firing. And I think we simmered a bit, so it's good. I still feel the feisty energy.

Healthy balance is fine, right? Your feisty burner is down right now. If we're trying to... My heart rate's up, but it's okay. There we go. As we were wrapping this up, I was thinking about the episode we had between our last pulse and now where you were talking about a much deeper conversation than manifestation where you had literally outlined the life that you wanted and it's now.

And we're getting knocked around a little bit as a company right now, even though on the surface things are great. if you could do that exercise today for it's a one month right so it's not future a couple years from now but if you could take today's energy unleash everything that you said you could what does next month when we're talking look like oh put me on a spot um as detailed or not as you want to be I think for me, you know, looking at the next month, I think I just want more peace. And I think peace can bring so many different things, right? I'm not saying that we're going to let up, but, you know, we have some things in place.

You know, Dave Dreivers hauling ass right now. I took the leash off of him this morning. You know, he's working on some big things. And if one of those pops, that's going to create a lot of peace. It's going to create a lot of just more of a less turbulent me inside, right? Because I feel like I feel like I'm vibrating at such a high frequency right now. And it's just I'm about to burst. And I'm waiting for that one thing, that walk off home run or that base clearing double.

And if I could pinpoint anything for the next month, it would be peace. It truly, truly would. And that may not make sense to everybody, but they ain't going through what we're going through. Right. So it's just, I need some more freaking peace. Okay.

And I need some more calm so I can create with you. I can create with production. I can, you know, create multiple things, you know, but what we really need is a big deal, right? Because I want to be able to bring over Jackie as a C.O.

So she can run the operational stuff. There's a lot of things that we don't have in place yet that a lot of people would think that we do and we don't. And that creates a lot of turbulence for me internally. So peace, man. I like that answer. Yeah. And a billion dollars. But to your point, I mean, peace can come in a lot of different ways.

It can be financially. It can be additional resources around you. It can be time. It can be a trip. Whatever it is. closer to spirituality, whatever it is, man. So all right, well, y'all heard it. He just spoke it out there.

So next month, I don't know if he's going to be as feisty. Maybe we'll see a very peaceful, long flowing hair, some robes, you know, some nice chains and feeling peaceful. Dress up like a monk. There you go. You know, I'm, I'm just happy to be out here with you, just fighting this fight every day. And, you know, again, the payoffs that we get, those little ones. and that's what keeps the thing interesting and fun and certainly worth it.

Like you said, just to be able to affect people's lives and whether it's just giving them a stupid playlist to get them through a workout. It's not a stupid playlist, but a playlist to get them through a workout, a little soundbite here or there to get them through their day, whatever it is, man. I'm just proud and an honor to be with you. So I'm excited to see peaceful Sean next month. Well, I love having you. Thank you for being here and dealing with my crazy.

in my intense nature. For the audience, thank you for listening. Share this episode with somebody you know, love and trust, but don't forget to go to the Determinedsociety.com, click on the coaching tab, enroll in the school account for free,

and I promise you, you will not be disappointed. And until next time, guys, stay determined.