Video summary
In this high-energy conversation, Cameron Hanes and Chris Williamson explore the intersection of extreme physical endurance, psychological resilience, and personal philosophy. The discussion is framed by their recent collaboration involving a grueling 11-mile trail run up a mountain carrying heavy rocks to illustrate concepts from Hanes' book, *Undeniable*. A central theme emerges regarding consistency versus intensity; while Williamson excels at explaining tactical fitness advice like warm-ups or hypertrophy cycles, he notes that true longevity comes from the unsexy habit of simply showing up day after decade. This distinction is crucial for understanding how individuals maintain discipline over time rather than just achieving short-term goals. The dialogue also touches on Hanes' upbringing in Eugene, Oregon, and his Puritan-influenced work ethic where suffering was once viewed as a tribute to God, though Williamson challenges the notion that pointless physical pain serves any higher purpose unless it is part of a specific training cycle or mindset shift. The conversation delves deeply into motivation, contrasting love with hate as driving forces for high achievers. Hanes admits that while he appreciates support and validation, his primary fuel often comes from resentment, criticism, and the desire to prove doubters wrong—a sentiment encapsulated by his "Poser" rock challenge where negative feedback sharpens rather than dulls him. Williamson introduces Viktor Frankl's concept that when people cannot find deep pleasure, they distract themselves with meaning; for Hanes, this manifests as finding joy in suffering itself, such as running 250 miles or enduring injury to complete a race. They discuss how many successful individuals trade longevity for intensity, chasing immediate metrics like subscriber counts or download numbers without realizing that the most important metric is often intangible connection and personal integrity. Williamson warns against becoming addicted to external validation, noting that filling an internal void with accolades rarely works in the long run, whereas Hanes maintains a "worker" mentality regardless of his status as a bestselling author or podcast host. Family dynamics play a significant role in their exchange, particularly regarding how they raised their children and managed success without losing perspective on its original mission. Williamson reflects on pushing his sons to extreme feats at young ages—such as running half-marathons by age seven—to prepare them for life's inevitable hardships, admitting he was essentially trying to manufacture toughness because of his own difficult childhood. He acknowledges that while this approach worked for him and resulted in world-record-breaking children like Truit, it risks creating a "gold medalist syndrome" where the goal is never truly reached because there are always higher benchmarks set by society or oneself. They also touch upon Hanes' upcoming 250-mile race with his son Trueit, highlighting how family can either be an obstacle or a catalyst for performance depending on whether partners enable each other to push further or hold them back from their specific goals. Throughout the interview, both speakers navigate the tension between professional ambition and personal well-being, discussing topics ranging from hydration science (promoting Element electrolytes) to supplement formulations like AG1 NextGen. They address how injuries can force a re-evaluation of one's identity when fitness becomes a coping mechanism for trauma or feelings of inadequacy. Williamson observes that Hanes has successfully avoided the "champagne problem prison" by maintaining his work ethic even after achieving significant material success, viewing himself as just another worker in a different field rather than someone who deserves special treatment. Ultimately, they conclude that while hate and aggression provide powerful short-term motivation, true fulfillment may require integrating love and play into one's life without losing the edge that drives extraordinary achievement. The episode ends with mutual appreciation for their contrasting yet complementary approaches to living an undeniable life of purpose and discipline.
Read the full video transcript
I can't believe it's been two years. I
can't believe that it was two years
since I was with you. Crazy. I know.
It's uh we got a good lot of good
material out of that discussion and that
time that day. I still see clips
everywhere. Did anything uh stick with
you from the few days that we spent
together? Um I like, you know, you've
kind of repurposed some stuff like so I
I love seeing that. But I think it's
just
that footage going up the mountain with
the rock and you chose it talking about
chosen and unchosen suffering that
that's going to last forever for me. I
mean it's such a good a good point, you
know, and just that setting to have that
message delivered at that time was just
so powerful. So yeah. Yeah. I uh I
really appreciate how complimentary you
were about me in the book. Uh, it feels
like most of the first chapter is some
[ __ ] that I've stolen or said, well,
well, look, I I if we need to take a 72
lb rock up a hill, you carrying the rock
and me spouting nonsense. That feels
like we're specializing in where our
skill sets lie. You know what I mean?
Yeah, I see. Yeah, but you carried the
rock. You also, what' we do? 11 miles.
Too much. Too many at least. At least
10. Too many. So that was the I mean
that's the furthest that I've run maybe
ever uh was that with you and that was
trail running and yeah it was great. I
actually felt great the next day. Uh
sometimes I mean you'll know this or
maybe you won't because you're always
running but the non-runners will know
this. You've always got one body part if
you've taken a big break from running
and you're not conditioned. There's one
body part that always hurts. Like
[ __ ] for me it's my ankles and my
calves. Like just it is always on fire.
And maybe it's cuz we were trail
running. Maybe it's cuz the pace was
right. maybe whatever. But I felt fine
the next day. What I was concerned about
was whether or not you would have
wrecked me so much physically on day one
that when it came to like my bit, which
was the sit down and spout nonsense
stuff that I would be sat there so much
[ __ ] pain. I can't even focus. You're
great. Yeah. And it that I I uh I'm
thankful we were able to go out to, you
know, where I grew up and I could share
that part with you, too, cuz I I just
wanted and I've heard you mention like
on a few of your podcasts you mentioned,
you know, the poser on the rock and and
the gym and like do the stuff that I do
and kind of reference to that lifestyle
or or how I grew up because I I wanted
to share with you because it's so much
different than well, in some ways
different, but in some ways I felt alone
too just like you did. But I think when
people they hear like little nuggets
from somebody else and then they always
latch on to whatever they can identify
with. So there's a few things that you
mentioned that uh that really resonated
with me. But I was just thankful to
share everything my my little slice of
the world with you and it was awesome.
Eugene, Oregon's a cool place. I loved
it. I I you know there is uh a lot of
differences growing up in the northeast
of the UK or growing up in Oregon but I
think the principles end up being the
same. You know this sort
of question about what do I deserve?
Yeah. From life. That was a great
analogy and I I can't maybe it's in the
book also but that Puritan work work
ethic you know we talked about where you
know you're supposed to work and I think
you
mentioned I can't but like the work I
can't remember how you how you told the
story but was it about the priests that
used to work out in the sun in the
fields? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So
this belief that suffering was in
service to God. Yes. Right. that that's
it. Um they're hoing the fields and the
sun's beating down on their back and uh
you know this is kind of the same as
like you know like whipping yourself um
to the the actual suffering itself was a
tribute and uh it's in some ways it's
noble because you're building up your
resilience to uh difficult things but in
other ways it's [ __ ] pointless
because the suffering is not in service
of a thing. Now obviously if you
theologically minded then you're like
the the the tribute is that but um yeah
I think even though very different
places a lot of a lot of similarities I
was very surprised with that and then
probably in retrospect totally shouldn't
have been workingass you know limited
opportunity towns probably end up
producing similar sorts of mindsets that
way. Yeah, probably. Yeah, it's Yeah,
even though it's other side of the
world, similar in some ways, but uh
yeah, I think people I think people love
the discussion, but you're so good at
articulating thoughts, ideas, sharing
things you've read, um just really
putting giving context that people can
really take home. That's, you know, you
just get these sound bites that are so
powerful. So, that's that's your skill
set. You're you're great at it. Yeah, I
uh I've collected the best of what other
people have already figured out and uh
repurposed it onto the internet. So, I
guess like I say, I get to turn the
tables today. And we missed each other
on the first book on Endur and then
you've got Undeniable, which is a new
one, which is [ __ ] awesome, by the
way. Thank you.
Um I've wanted to I wanted to ask this
when we nearly spoke the first time. I'm
interested in what drives you because
you've done some pretty stupid, pretty
extreme things to yourself across a
variety of domains. Mhm. Uh I'm just
intrigued into where that sort of
relentlessness comes from,
man. Uh what Yeah. I don't know what's
crazy is I don't I don't remember ever
being asked this before. So what
um man, I don't know now. Now it's like
when you go through life and there
probably was decision-m at some point,
but now it's kind of just what I do sort
of. And you know, I'm just going to get
up. I'm going to get my the whatever
work I have, I'm going to get it in.
Whether that's 20 miles or whatever it
is, shooting the bow. Um, you know, now
it's content creation. You got that's a
never- ending process. But now just the
hard stuff. I think you're talking about
like the challenging and um the
mountains. That's just what I do.
Um before it was what before it was what
I do. I don't know. I think that was
where that was uncertainty. It's like
where do I fit in this world? What what
do I and it's not even like I never even
asked myself what do I have to offer
because I didn't think I had anything to
offer. So you never even got to that
that part. But it was just
like, is this it? Is this I'm just going
to work
and trying to pay bills. And it's like I
remember like even a tactic I had I
haven't even done a checkbook in a long
time, but my wife's in charge of that,
but like even just writing out checks
and I would just I was never thought I
never thought it was going to anything I
did was going to last. So, I'd be like,
if I if I had a check for like $17, I'd
just make make it for $20, put it in a
thing, and I'm like, well, at the end of
the day, I should have more in here.
Instead of being exact, I just wanted
this cushion of like I just want to have
a little bit more than what I think, and
then I can just get through if a
challenging time. That's as far into the
future as I ever thought. It's just
like, let's round up in the Yeah. Just
so I got a little buffer and that there
was no future. If I was thinking about
the future, that's all I did right
there. I know the difficulty of trying
to put yourself in the mindset of
somebody before
a trait became a habit or before sort of
an effort became a habit. Yeah.
Um in my experience, I think where most
people get stuck and this is why uh
consistency is such an unsexy topic. uh
what people are looking for for the most
part is getting from zero to one. So I'm
not a lot of the habits or a lot of the
ways that I show up in life and a lot of
the things that I'm doing aren't going
well. Please explain to me the first few
steps to get to a place that I want to
be and that's great and pretty doable.
You can go and explain to somebody how
to uh effectively run a 5k warm up
pre-race preparation. and here are some
good shoes that aren't too expensive and
here's a cool down process and but
what's really difficult to explain to
somebody is how you do a 5K three times
a week for 5 years like you you kind of
can't explain how to do that. Uh the
same thing with going to the gym. Mike
Israel uh who you should have on the
show. I think he'd be a great guest. I'd
[ __ ] love to see you two together
actually. Um, he can explain how to do
the perfect tricep push down the maximum
muscle hypertrophy and you know he can
all of those things, but he can't
explain how you do that with progressive
overload once a week on that cycle and
two other muscle groups on other cycles
for a decade, you know, to get the
physique that you want, right? And um
when you look at someone like you who is
very consistent, who is disciplined in
that way, uh you
almost it's such a part of your being,
the habit is what's kept you going. and
whatever the [ __ ] it was that got you
started. This fear of insufficiency,
this desire to not be nothing, this need
for validation or to prove yourself,
this uh desire for control over your
environment, you know, this sense that
things are maybe a bit destitute or a
little bit hopeless, but [ __ ] like in
the gym. I remember this dude when I
when I first started training, I started
lifting weights when I was 18, when I
went to university, the Center for
Sporting Excellence in uh Newcastle
University. Yeah. And um I remember I
had this idea in the back of my mind
which was everything in my day can have
gone to [ __ ] Like everything can have
woken up and just you know faceplanted
from attempt to attempt. Uni went badly
and girlfriend and me had an argument
and this thing went wrong and that thing
went wrong. But I went to the gym and it
just felt like
this area that I had complete control
over and uh that was absolutely in the
first instance what got me there and a
desire to be stronger and feel a little
bit less weak and vulnerable and you
know be more attractive and and gain
confidence in myself. Mh. And then now
it's just why do you go to the gym on
the morning? It was I don't know. It's
it's it's 7:40 a.m. That's where I am at
7:40 a.m. I'm in the gym. That's what
happens. Yeah. Uh so yeah, something
gets you started and then I guess habit
keeps you going. Yeah, that's I mean and
that's the secret because most people
like you said you started to get a
little muscle, started to feel a little
bit better about yourself, but how many
people get there and then slide back and
then have to start back over to get
there again, you know? So they get a lot
of times they get a little of that
dopamine is whatever but a little of
that positive reinforcement hit and that
feels great but then they still can't
can't make that consistent you know
because life gets in the way or I don't
know or they get distracted or they they
lose enthusiasm whatever the key is that
consistency decade after decade after
decade and that's why like I even think
like me back in high school yes I was an
athlete but there better
athletes now. I've been doing it for 40
years. There's nobody that was better
than me that's better than me now.
Right. So, is that the But who can no
one that's still even running? Who can
think 40 years in advance? Right. So, so
all you're thinking is about, well, this
is what I do and I just got to keep
doing it. But it's sounds really easy.
Isn't it interesting? I don't know of
any books that have been written about
consistency. I know about books that
have been written to do with discipline
uh and and motivation and overcoming
hard things and resilience and becoming
undeniable and stuff like that. Yeah. I
actually consistency would be such an
unsexy book. Be a pretty short book.
Yeah. Don't keep doing the thing. Don't
stop. Yeah. Just Yeah. Keep doing the
thing. Don't stop. And you know I I
think that in you asked that question,
you know, why or how or whatever. But I
wonder if like everybody goes back to
their childhood. I mean, childhood
trauma does kind of affect us forever,
right? But like my childhood childhood
was pretty a lot of upheaval, a lot of
ups and downs. So maybe the one thing I
could control was what I was doing. You
know, like even in in the first book I
talked about as a 5-year-old, I was in
first grade and I would go before school
and run a mile by myself and I would do
is 31 times from the fence to the fence.
She had to do that 31 times back and
forth for a mile. And I would I I
started school early. I'd do that as a
5-year-old. So
maybe nothing was I wasn't in control of
anything, but I was in control of that.
So maybe that hasn't changed. Maybe like
no matter what happens, I know I'm
getting my run in. I know I'm going to
even if the whole day goes to [ __ ] I
think you kind of mentioned this. You at
least got one win. There's a win in
there somewhere. Yeah. I think this is
one of the reasons why injuries for
people are just feel like such an
unfortunate curse. You know, it's this
weird [ __ ] irony that all of the
people who uh sit on the couch and don't
have a health and fitness routine have
perfect spines and it's all of the
people that have tried to do CrossFit
and yoga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu that
are all bulging, hemorrhaging,
degenerated disc. You lost half an inch
in my blah blah. Um,
and this was something toward the end of
my 20s that I had to deal with where I
had, you know, fiveyear period where I
was pretty much always injured in one
form or another. So annoying. Bulging
disc, second bulging disc, ruptured
Achilles, uh, hurt shoulder. I was, you
know, my entire identity, a lot of my
identity was wrapped up in being, you
know, like the big muscular guy in his
20s around other big sort of dudes that
giving me confidence and making me
attractive. And then I had to be in the
corner doing bird dog rehab in the
CrossFit gym while everybody else was
sending it and getting after it. And I
was watching myself get fatter, slower,
and skinnier all at the same time. Yeah,
that's rough. And um an interesting
thing there is okay so where do you take
your sense of selfworth and well-being
from when your coping mechanism cuz
let's you know it is a coping mechanism
training is yeah yeah uh for a lot of
people if you wanted to be really you
know uh RX plus super difficulty level
resilience it's okay how good can your
mindset be when you're not allowed to
train because to you the thing that's
easier is going out and going for the
run, right? The hardest thing would be,
okay, for the next two weeks, you got to
sit on the couch on a morning. Yeah.
Like what? You can't meditate either.
You can't use it to do something else
productive, right? It would tear people
up inside. Yeah. It's uh I've been I've
been injured and I have a big race
coming up Monday and uh I've been
injured. It stem from my foot, but now
it's up to the hamstring where every
time I tried to run hard, it would tweak
my hamstring. So, I was supposed to do
Boston with Truit, my son. I was
supposed to do Eugene. We're going to do
that as a family and race and do all
that. And I couldn't do either one of
them, right? So, but I knew I had this
big 250 mi race coming up on Monday. And
I'm like, well, I can't just not train.
So, I just had been walking around
Eugene and I I was one day I walked 27
miles. Took me like that uh six hours.
[ __ ] Quite quick walking I think as
well actually. It's so you know and
that's kind of like these long races
like 250 mi you are walking because you
can't run all the uphill. You can't run
for 3 days with no sleep, right? So you
have to there's strategic walking. So
I'm like, "Okay, [ __ ] it. I guess I'm
just going to hone my walking game." And
I've just been trying to get 15-minute
miles, which is a pretty good walk, you
know, if you try to get four miles an
hour. Mhm. And I was just doing that. So
that I think it was last week I walked
150 miles.
Yeah.
And so I would instead of sitting and
rehabbing like I should, I'm not I'm not
running. I'll just [ __ ] walk all day.
So that's what I did. Right. That sounds
like a very sort of latigious way to get
around. I've been told that I can't run,
but they didn't say anything about
walking. That's right. That's right.
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slash modern wisdom. Yeah, dudes. I I we
need to have a chat about Truit. What
the [ __ ] is What is he built of? Uh he's
Yeah, he's a machine right now.
Um you know,
it's it's weird cuz I I I get credit for
my kids, you know, and they're like,
"Oh, you must have done such a good
job." I didn't. I mean, I pushed those
boys way too hard. I mean, I was just I
didn't know what the hell I was doing. I
was young. I was in my 20s, so I didn't
know how to be a dad. My dad was never
around. I hated my stepdad. So, I was ne
I knew I definitely didn't want to be
like him, but I didn't know what a dad
was supposed to be. And I'm like, well,
okay, I'm just going to prepare these
kids. I know how life is. I know life
will [ __ ] kick you in the nuts. So,
they're gonna be ready for anything.
Life is competition. They're gonna be
ready to compete. So, I had I pushed
them really hard and it was not great
all the time because So, what what did
you do?
Um, you know, it was just always a
battle. It's just
like, you know, it's we were running
every day. You guys got home from
school. Okay, get your stuff on. We're
going to go do Pisca. No kid wants to go
run a mountain. And I'm like, no, this
is because the way I thought it thought
it of of it was I had a terrible
childhood, but it made me tough. So, I'm
like, you guys have everything. You have
everything I ever wanted. Your dad's
around. Your mom is here. She loves you.
You have you have every shoe you want.
Every basketball camp you want to go to,
you go to. I said,
"So, the way this is going, you're going
to grow up to be a couple big [ __ ]
We're going to make you tough." So, I
would just make them do hard things. And
and uh I made they both did half
marathons when they were seven and 8
years old. True. Just put up a picture.
He looks like he's this tall. He was
tiny at 8 years 8 years old, but he ran
a 154 half like this tall, which is
eight something minute miles. And
um that all that to say that yeah I I
had the kids do really hard things for
many years to prepare them for what I
said was life's challenges and uh it
made
it you know if I was it reminded me did
you ever see the movie Tree of Life? No.
So Brad Brad Brad Pitts in it and great
movie but he was super hard dad there.
When he would leave it was like [ __ ]
playtime, right? mom, kids jumping on
the beds every and then when dad dad
would come home and be like, "Oh god."
So I said, "This reminds me of me when I
was when we go out of town, it's just
playtime, come back, it's like, oh
shit." So that's not great when you're
the bad guy all the time. You know, dads
are usually the disciplinary and that's
whatever. But I was also like, you know,
making them do these really hard things.
So they see now and they see all the
success, but it it wasn't great. And
anybody from the outside in would look
and say that what's wrong with that?
That dad is pushing those kids too hard.
You know, it's like any basketball game,
I'm just like a loose ball. You better
be on that floor. And I said, I want to
see floor burns on your knees. I want
you diving on. I want you playing the
harder than any kid out there. So,
that's a hard that's a hard um thing to
live up to. Kids just want to have fun.
They want to play. They're not looking
to compete every day, but I made them
compete. So, it was a challenge. Now,
you see what that results in, you know,
and you know, Tanner, he was a ranger.
He's freaking badass. It's probably
tougher than Truit. And then Truit's,
you know, doing these crazy things and
getting all this attention. And yeah, I
mean, it's great. I I'm I'm glad to see
it, but um I didn't I wasn't perfect
raising. Do you regret it?
Yeah, I regret
[Music]
um I regret I remember when Tanner went
to the army. He was a deputy back home.
Very proud of him. Such an important
job. He, you know, a corrections
officer, just worked at the jail, but
still it's, you know, a good job. It's
like paid paid the bills. I was proud of
him. We need people who need men to do
that. So, um, he said he was going to
join the
army and he wanted to be a ranger. And
I'm just
like, you know, you get deployed. And
I'm thinking, what
if, you know, he I think it was because
I would tell them that average is
failing. If you look around, you see the
average person. That's not us. That's
not what we want to be. So, we're not
Yes, I know people need to work at gas
stations and do things whatever. That's
fine. that's but that's not what we're
settled for. So he he said he wanted to
quit he didn't want to be a deputy more
he wanted to be a ranger cuz he had more
to offer this world. And I was thinking,
was that me who [ __ ] up and and said
this that being just having a regular
job was somehow failing? And I just had
so many regrets. And I was just like I
told him he's getting ready to go to
basic training. And I'm like I said,
Tanner, I'm
like, there's nothing wrong with with
having a regular job, being a family
man. And I said, there's nothing I was
wrong. I was wrong to say what I said.
raising new kids and um because I was
thinking about what if he got deployed
and was
killed and it's just like because of
[ __ ] I said trying to make my boys tough
and this is a result. So yeah, I was
like
yeah I definitely have had regrets over
how how hard I pushed them.
film.
I
think it's such a delicate
balance
to give your kids the life that you
never had and the life that you worked
so hard to be able to afford them with.
whilst also knowing where most of the
important realizations that made you
into the sort of person who could
provide came about due to restriction
and difficulty and and tough times and
and toil uh and a little bit of maybe a
bit of resentment and a a little bit of
uh unfairness. Yeah. In childhood that
galvanized you to sort of do something
great with your life. every single I
look dude every single parent that I
know uh and even more be tell you what
be [ __ ] grateful that you had your
kids in your 20s because if you'd had
them now imagine how much of a
differential your lifestyle is uh
materially in terms of resources in
terms of uh status and and and notoriety
and opportunity and all of this stuff
you would be like floating out in space
you know you would have no the total
frame of reference would be out of the
window um there's not a single dad that
I know who has sort of crawled out from
the place that they were as a kid and
made something of
themselves who doesn't have that exact
concern about their children. I think it
is one of the most common worries. Uh
Ben Francis, he's the guy that founded
Gym Shark. Uh Gym Shark's completely
bootstrapped. He still owns 70% of it.
Gym Shark's worth over it's nearly three
billion3 billion pound company. This
guy's like worth like2 billion pounds,
like3 billion, and he's 31. He's got
twin he's got twin boys, but he grew up
like as rough as they come in Birmingham
with a granddad that made him go and
work in like a clay mine or a a pottery
barn or something like that. And I've
asked him this question. I'm like, how
do you intend on navigating this one?
How do you intend on teaching your kids
the lessons that you learned from a very
working-class grandfather, their
great-grandfather,
whilst also not throwing away the entire
reason for working as hard as you did,
which was to be able to afford your
[ __ ] family the life that you never
had, right? So, you know, first off, I
think you did the best that you could.
So, you need to give yourself some grace
with that.
And
look, if this was so if 50% was like the
middle of the bell curve of how much
toughness versus easiness you could give
kids, I would guess that most kids and
most parents are too far on the easy
side. I think snowplow parenting,
helicopter parenting, gentle parenting,
whilst um noble in its intentions is
usually kind of over pattern matched and
results in soft entitled adults, right?
Uh narcissistic soft entitled adults
when they grow up. Um given the choice
between the two, sort of being pushed a
little bit further on the other side uh
is a very strange kind of
gift. I I think what would be
interesting would be to
know how much of that is actually
because of the way that you raised them
and how much of that is just your genes.
Um the more that I learn about
behavioral genetics, heritability of
different traits and so on and so forth.
Like I this I this should be comforting.
As far as I can
see, there is no such thing as really
getting parenting right. There is only
getting it wrong. And getting it wrong,
kids are pretty [ __ ] resilient. Like,
they're really, really tough. And you
see perfectly balanced adults that grew
up in horrendous childhood environments.
Mhm. Uh, and I think as long as there's
no really extreme Well, maybe you would
say some of the the climbs with the rock
were slightly extreme. Um, my point is I
get the sense that if they're made out
of the same stuff that you're made out
of, they didn't really have a choice
whether you made them go up the mountain
or not. I think that there is a lot more
built into you. You know, you're talking
about consistently running for four
decades and thinking about
framing that up against what that meant
in your childhood and you know the sort
of relentlessness that you approach like
even the pod when you started that I
think that was episode 3 2 3 4 something
like that it's now like what 160 some
[ __ ] uh like even with that that's
that's not that's a level of work rate
that most people don't hold up in just a
minor little area then in the hunting
and then in the lifting and then in the
bow stuff and then in the running and
then in the so you
know maybe there is maybe it's
contributed but what I would if I could
sort of bet a couple of chips on the
roulette wheel of a couple of other
universes in which you'd approached your
kids differently I think they'd
be probably 90% 80 or 90% of the way
there just with less experience about
how to deal with it. Yeah. Um, and one
of the best things you can do for your
kids, I think as a [ __ ] look at me
spouting nonsense as a non-father. The
internet loves when I do this. Um, one
of the best things that you can do is
set a good example. You know, you can
read all of the books about healthy
attachment and child education and
socialization and all the rest of it,
but they will learn more from the way
that you and your wife show up for each
other around the dinner table than every
lesson that you try and force into them.
Like, you can top down try and tell them
how they're supposed to behave. this is
how you're supposed to treat girls. You
don't hit girls and you don't do this
and you must hold the door and you got
to be this way and be blah blah blah
blah. It's like, all right, but then
when you're around the dinner table,
you're a prick. You look at your phone
instead of looking at your wife or you
ignore her or you don't laugh at her
jokes or you guys don't relate well or
they never see you be physically
affectionate to each other or whatever
it is. It's not for me to say that you
need to like force a relationship, but
yeah, the point is I think that kids
learn by seeing a lot more than they get
learned by being told. And that's what
you're doing. Even if you hadn't made
them go up the mountain, you were like,
"I'm off to go up the mountain." They'd
be like, "Dad's going up the mountain.
Can I come up the mountain?" You know?
So, yeah, it's uh and and I was thinking
also too, it's not just like what you
do, but when you have that mindset about
life is competition. Um hard work is the
is the the key, whatever. That's that is
impacting how you talk and how you carry
yourself because everybody says says the
right thing. They they tell their kids
what you're supposed to tell your kids.
It's like as you said, no, you hold the
door for women. You you know, be
respectful. Everybody says the right
stuff, but how you carry yourself and
then how you how you talk. Not when
you're delivering some ultimatum or some
direction, but just how you what's your
mindset. And that's when it's not
controlled, when it's not you're not
thinking about it.
So my mindset was
always let's do more, perform more, push
harder. So I I guess to your point that
even if I wasn't m they were seeing that
of course it's
um yeah it's you know you talked about
true it you know originally but even for
him it reminded your story sort of
reminded me of his like people see him
now and they're like I mean he's easy to
he gets hate too cuz he's easy to hate
definitely um he's got a lot going for
him and that's that will build some
resentment over with some guys. But for
him, he lost for years. He He didn't
miss a day lifting weights for
like 14 years. Still hasn't. I started
them lifting when they were 14, both him
and Tanner. And since that time, he
hasn't missed more than a
day.
So, it was loss after loss after loss.
He's like tiny, not getting bit. He and
he mentioned this. We did this we're
doing this video on his pull-ups that
you know he broke the world record and
he's just like he goes I don't think he
goes I didn't realize
that Tanner was kicking my ass every day
as his older brother anytime we'd
compete me against him I would never let
the kids win. It was always like it was
always a battle always
crying. I mean, kicking the basketball
down the street because they're so mad.
Go get it. Y
Tanner, uh, I was throwing like football
as hard as I could, making him catch it
because he's a receiver. Drops it,
punches the ground, breaks his hand. So,
there's like all these losses
essentially. So, Truit said, "I didn't
know that." Yeah, I was getting beat by
my older brother. I was getting beat by
you every day. He goes, "I didn't
realize Tanner was the biggest beast,
one of the biggest beasts he's ever
met." And he goes, "And I didn't know
you were who you were. I thought," he
said, "I just thought I was weak and a
loser. I didn't know that I was going
against these these people that were
making me." So people see him now and
I'm like if you could see him back when
14 years old and you know when he's in
high school he get he was 5 foot like 90
lbs got cut from the basketball team
even though he was really good and the
most skilled cuz he was too small. They
don't see all that. They see now and
they're just like oh what is he on
steroids? It's just like, no, this is
this is a kid who hasn't missed a day in
the gym for 14 years and trains for
hours every day and doesn't drink,
doesn't do anything but get enough rest
to perform every single day. This is
what you get when you're that dedicated.
But people, they want to ignore that
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checkout. There's a very special type of
distaste and envy that the internet has
toward
uh certain types of successful men. Uh I
still haven't kind of fully worked out
what it is. Um it's kind of like the
inverse of pretty privilege that uh
girls have. Yeah. That girls get. But
you know, dude, chicks do not have it
easy uh around other women. Like if
you're an attractive woman, you better
watch your back cuz holy [ __ ] they're
coming for you. Yeah. Like they are
coming for you hard. But in the same
way,
uh men, masculine men, uh guys that
certainly seem like competent,
especially if you're young, if you're a
bit older,
uh I think guys are a tiny little bit
less threatened. I think a lot of this,
you know, from both sides just comes
down to mating. that uh if you're a hot
woman, then you with your hand in your
boyfriend's hand thinks you better not
be [ __ ] looking at her like, [ __ ]
Like, what's she wearing a skirt that
short for? Um, and the same thing in
reverse. And the here's an interesting
stat. The only
uh one of the most predictive
um traits around enhancing
attractiveness is masculinity measured
by muscularity. M so if you're a guy and
you are a five out of 10 and you get
yourself in the gym for a decade, you're
probably going to be like a six or a
seven, you know, assuming that you don't
[ __ ] your face up in the process by
dropping weights on it. Um, basically
there was this fascinating study done by
a guy called David Puttz
and he got uh women to rate the uh
attractiveness of men, these images of
men and he got men to rate the same men
as how likely do you think it is that
you would beat this man in a fight.
Okay. So you have a female rating of
attractiveness. Yeah. and male rating of
formidability, right? And then 12 months
later, they brought the men that were
the photos into the study and they said,
"How many sexual partners have you had
over the last 12 months?" Mhm. The
female rating of attractiveness had zero
predictive power. The male rating of
formidability almost exactly predicted
their most their uh uh level of uh like
sexual partners really. So what it seems
is formidability
uh especially as sort of um shown by
that typically masculine and this isn't
the only way to you know get into a
woman's pants or whatever. It's not the
only thing the you know cool artsy
heroine looking [ __ ] guitar player it
can be hot too. But there's exceptions.
Typically, this seems to be one of those
things. And I wonder whether if you look
at someone like a Truitt who is a young
kid who's full of energy, kind of
doesn't give a [ __ ] who is only going
to get
better, like in some ways it's
inspiring, but it's only inspiring if
you're remotely close to his level,
right? Because if you're looking at
someone
who doesn't have anything special about
them, not in the same way that Usain
Bolt has something special about like
he's godly, right? And he's in a sport
that feels a bit untouchable. Yeah.
Everybody's tried to do a pull-up. Mhm.
Right. Everybody's thought about running
a marathon slowly in jeans. Maybe, maybe
not.
Um, I wonder whether the the closeness
that people feel and the fact that
there's nothing ostensibly special
there, uh, it throws into very harsh
contrast. Well, why is that not me? Why
can he do that and not me? And the
easiest place to go to would be
privileged upbringing, silver spoon,
uh unfair assistance, enhanced genetics,
enhanced hormones,
uh cheating with form, whatever. I don't
know what the criticisms are. Um but it
helps people to close the gap between
somebody they would want to be like and
themselves. Yeah. They reckon with it.
Yeah. That's uh you know that's it's
kind of a double-edged sword because you
nobody can identif or relate to Usain
Bolt because he's got that God-given
talent but and it's it's kind of been
what I've used also is like you can come
from nothing a regular job and had
success. So then it kind of it puts a
pressure on other regular guys. You've
got no excuse. Yeah. And so both Truit
and I have benefited from that. It's
just like he looks like a regular guy
running in jeans but he's doing these
incredible things or it's like and then
so it does allow him because if you look
at his followers it resonates more with
regular people because it gives them
hope that oh maybe I can be better um
than like an elite Olympic athlete
doesn't have near the followers who is
like a run influencer is what you know
they some of these elites say this new
craze of marathonic excitement and he's
run groups and all this. It's just like
they don't deserve it because they're
not they're not elite like I am. But
because they can relate to the average
person, that's where they get the power.
So yes, you you get criticized by the
regular people who feel threatened like,
"Okay, now so am I. I'm expected to do
[ __ ] like this, too." but you also
benefit from it because well just to sit
on that for a little bit longer I think
it's a a really really good point that
um this sort of narcissism of small
differences the fact that you don't you
haven't come from a different place
you're not in a sport that's untouchable
or unreachable uh and there's two ways
to respond to that one is holy [ __ ] this
normal person did something
extraordinary that means I can too the
other one is this normal person did
something extraordinary that means that
I am expected to two. Yeah. And the
expected to thing shows you all of the
places that you're falling behind
because you know that if not for my
discipline and my consistency, there
could have gone eye, right? That could
have been me in principle, but it's not.
Why? And when you get to the why
question, yeah, that's a problem. You
have to face facts that well because I
didn't not miss a training session for
more than two
days. Yeah. It's an ugly realization
because the realization's boring and the
realization points the finger at you.
And I see this in myself, dude. I see,
you know, especially when I was a bit
younger, this [ __ ] bitterness that
used to come out in me and it still does
now sometimes in my more juvenile, less
aquinous moments if I've not been
[ __ ] meditating enough. I'm like,
"Fuck that guy." Like, "He had this
thing or this was unfair or that's not
it." And it's just ego. It's just it's
just you trying to protect yourself from
this weird status game because
previously we knew we were in 30 people
pods in 150 person tribe and you knew
the best hunter and the best everything
elseer and you were probably not that
bad at a couple of things which meant
that you had some value compared to the
small little group. Exactly. Whereas now
we're even though we know that we're not
friends with Truer Haynes, uh we don't
know that we're not supposed to compare
ourselves to him. So our like status
mapping ability has just spread out
across the entire planet, which is why
so many people feel inferior. Yeah. Um
and you can take it as inspiration or
you can take it as a threat. And uh I
see why I see why people take it as a
threat. And then if you've got [ __ ] you
energy and you're doing it in glasses,
like you know what I mean? If you're
going to twist the knife a little bit,
people are going to say, "Go [ __ ]
yourself." Yeah, it's uh Yeah, it's been
crazy to see. I mean, and it's not like
nobody's immune to being criticized or
or nobody's immune to the effect of
being criticized. You know, nobody likes
to read the [ __ ] people say. So, and
he's no different. But I just would I
would just encourage people to take a
look and think about it. It's like I
mean I because I can think when I first
started training and I was bow hunting
and having success and I was running
marathons and I remember the the old
guard or the gatekeepers would say, "Oh
yeah, so you have to now you have to run
a marathon to kill an elk." And I'm
like, "Nobody ever said that. I'm just
I'm just showing you what I do. You
don't you can do whatever you want." But
it like put this expectation there. And
you know when now when people look at at
Truit, I just want want to remind people
that there was a time when he I could
help him up on the pull-up bar. He was
not getting a pull-up done. He had new
skinny fat. You've heard that term. You
couldn't get any more skinny fat than my
boys were. They they were just skinny
regular young boys, skinny arms, two
bodies. It's just like nothing special.
But that's where it starts. That's where
everybody starts. I've just realized
that
the world's marathon record for wearing
Crocs just got broken this weekend. Yep.
Fourth times a charm. That was the UK's
Tommy Trees mindset as he made his
fourth attempt to put his name in the
Guinness Book of World Records. And
finally, he came out successful.
Sunday's London Marathon. Trees put his
Crocs into sport mode and clocked a
24848.
Pretty fast, surpassing the previous
record for the fastest marathon wearing
foam Crocs. uh 41 new world records. Uh
over the past year, the record for the
fast marathon in Crocs was broken four
times. So, this is really heating up. Um
the London race mark's 12th marathon and
followed three failed attempts to break
the fastest marathon dressed as Santa
Claus which stands at
23323 and he's also got a 22941 when
he's not in Crocs. Uh so he pivoted from
uh dressing as Santa to doing it in in
Crocs. I think Crocs and jeans is that's
the perfect blend. They What's happening
with his What's happening with his jeans
at the marathon thing? What's he doing
next? Um, next up Oh, he's doing a last
man standing race here in Austin. Okay,
that's Nick's place. Nick's race. Yeah.
Yeah. So, that's that's a 4.2 mile loop
every hour for as long as you can do it.
Yeah. So, that's But Guinness won't
approve a Jean's marathon. Why? I have
no idea. Hm. Because Truit tried to do
that, too. And I tried to do like I was
going to run a marathon with a bow.
Okay. Like just run with it. They
wouldn't approve that either.
And so I I don't know why, but they'll
approve dressed as Santa wearing Crocs.
Uh a guy just uh this other guy in
Boston uh Jordan Maddox, he ran in
dressed as a banana. Set the world
record. Okay. As a fruit. Okay. So, but
they won't Oh, he broke the banana and
the fruit world record. Like, if you
could be the quickest banana, but an
orange beat you. I don't know. Actually,
I don't know. I don't break this down by
fruit type. I don't know if it's banana,
fruit, orange. I think the banana as as
far as fruits go, the banana is probably
pretty aerodynamic. Yeah. You know, you
want to be Yeah. pretty, you know,
slicing through the air. You don't want
to be a pear. This is real slowing you
down. No. Or a watermelon. No. Also bad.
Yeah.
I it's I don't know. It's it's
fascinating, dude, watching this thing
unfold. And obviously after getting to
hang at you with you and kids at your
house and get to meet everybody and sort
of watching the last two years, it's
been uh kind of unsurprising, you know,
to be honest. Um it's unsurprising or
surprising. Unsurprising. Oh, totally
unsurpris. It's like the least
surprising thing that could have
happened. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I I'd love to
see it. But I mean, um, yeah, Truth is
doing good as far as like he's selling
his sponsorships and he's doing like
Road to Sub 230 or Datrine. So, you
know, it's like a weekly video series.
So, yeah, he's I love to see it. Um,
what was watching him do that the most
recent pull-up record like?
Um, yeah. I mean,
it's I just remember it's a big it's a
big ask. 10,000 pull-ups, you got two
contact points, basically your hands.
Um, that's a lot of pressure, a lot of
reps, a lot of little stuff that can go
wrong. A lot of ligaments, tendons. You
know, Gogggins tried it a few times
before he got it. And one time, I think
live on Good Morning American got
injured. So did it live some other time
and got injured. So there's no guarantee
you're going to make it unscathed
through a challenge 24 hours of
pull-ups. But for Truit, I mean, he's so
dedicated and obsessed. He trained so
hard. It's like, and when he got it, I
just, you know, that night, I just
remember
saying, you know, good job. Not
surprised. This
is this is what you're supposed to do.
This
is if if you weren't doing [ __ ] like
this, then I'd be like, "What the [ __ ]
going on?" Yeah. So, this is what this
is what I expected. This is this is the
expectation that's always been there.
You I I told the boys and my daughter,
too, for that matter, but you guys
aren't
normal. I'm not normal isn't okay.
Average isn't
okay. You're supposed to be doing stuff
like this.
That's why we're here. So, it's like I
said, good job, but yeah, I'm not
surprised. Expected job in some ways.
That was it. He did what he's supposed
to do.
It's like I said, dude, it was not It
was It was like the least surprising
thing. Yeah. Happened. It It's I I think
it's cool that I think it's cool that
it's something that no human has ever
done. He did 10,000. No human's ever
been to 10,000 in 24 hours on pull-ups.
So, it's uh And as you mentioned
earlier, anybody who's tried to do a
pull-up,
[ __ ] five pull-ups is hard. Yeah,
five pull-ups is hard for for me. It's
like
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drinklnt.com/modernwisdom. That's
drinklnt.com/modern wisdom. You've said
I've seen you say that you think love is
the most powerful form of motivation.
What's the role of love and passion in
this? A lot of what we're talking about
so far is like aggression. It's
gripping. Some resentment in there. that
is, you know, sort of wanting to prove
people wrong. And then you talk about
love and passion. Where's that come
from? Um, yeah. I don't I think I might
think I might say passion. Love
sometimes the the saying I have with
love is like uh love makes me strong.
Hate makes me unstoppable.
So I still lean for whatever reason I am
motivated by hate by people talking [ __ ]
by people not believing in me. If
somebody supports
you I mean it's that's
great. I don't want to say I don't give
a [ __ ]
but hate is what pushes me. hate and
people
discounting what I've done or my effort
or my goals. That that's what drives me.
I don't know why, but love is great.
Support, I appreciate support. Um, but I
just think that, you know, have I I will
You said love and passion. So, passion.
Yes. Because in in my book, I talk about
outliers and, you know, you're one of
them. But what what makes somebody an
outlier in my mind is this passion for
this thing. What's this thing? What's
this thing they do?
For you, it's this, you know,
thoughtprovoking intellectual
discussions like peeling back the
onions, figuring out, you know, modern
wisdom.
Um, and you're the best at it, right? So
whatever you had this passion to learn
to learn more about human behavior and
and the brain and the body and sexual
attract attractiveness and different
different things like that. That's
that's passion drove that, right? So I
think passion is what sets people apart.
Love and hate that can go either way.
It's interesting thinking about how hate
is a better motivator, a bigger
motivator for you. Uh because it puts
anybody that wants to bring you down in
a very awkward position that they have
to compliment you in order to not drive
you further. They have to say something
nice if they want to slow you down.
Yeah. I mean, but when somebody says,
you know, how many people say, "Yeah,
you know, love you." It's just like, is
that real? But
hate hate that's usually pretty real.
It's real. Yeah. That's a good point.
That's a good point. People are flippant
with their love, but they're not that
flippant with their hate. If they hate
you, that that means something. That's
deep. That's why it's like I think
that's why that drives me. That's
fascinating. Yeah. I've never I've never
considered that. Uh
maybe because it's sort of socially
desirable to sort of say that you love
something. Typically, you don't be seen
as a hater all that much. Yeah. Uh that
there is maybe more emotional activation
in someone's hatred than there is in
someone's love. and uh you're like,
"Holy [ __ ] like I I got to this
person." Yeah, I did got to this person.
Yeah. I So that's where I get I'm more
fueled by that. I I this is one of the
things that I one of many things that I
learned spending a couple of days with
you. Uh having uh Must Be Nice written
in the gym and Poser written on the
rock. Um and you know, I've mentioned
this on the show a bunch of times like,
huh? Like why Poser? I asked you about
this and you explained that you the sort
of it's £72 is £72 and there's nothing
you can do about it and you can say what
you want but come and carry this [ __ ]
rock up the hill and see if see if you
think that it's you know all for show
after that. Um I didn't realize until
now that that's because you
were fueled way more by people's
distaste than people's support. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. It's a that if
somebody's telling you how good you are
all the time, for one, you can start to
believe it and then you to me if I'm
hearing that I'm losing my edge. I'm
like, I don't want to hear that [ __ ]
That's I appreciate it, but I want I
want an edge. I want I want to know why
you don't think I'm So that's what
that's what poser That's why it's so
powerful to me. I like when people say,
"Oh, yeah, [ __ ] Cam Poser."
Yeah.
I've been thinking about this for a
while. I haven't written it out yet. So,
I'm going to try and play with this idea
live with you. Um, there's a quote from
Victor Frankle that says, "When a man
can't find a deep sense of meaning, they
distract themselves with pleasure."
Right? And his point is, I think that if
your life is uh bereft of a higher
purpose, you uh look at hedonism and and
and short-term gratification and stuff
like that.
I think there's an inverse and I think
that you and maybe me as well are good
examples of the inverse that when a man
can't find a deep sense of pleasure they
distract themselves with meaning. Mhm.
And that if your dayto-day experience of
life, I don't know, just sort of joy and
like play and ease and fun and
lightness, if that's just not what you
grew up being taught, or that's not sort
of your psychological set point or
disposition or it just doesn't come as
easily to you as it does maybe to other
people. Uh I I think I see in a lot of
the people that are like overachievers
uh in the winning the marshmallow test
of life just permanently delaying
gratification. Um I think I see that as
quite a common
archetype that how how easily do you you
switch off smoke weed and play Xbox?
It's like [ __ ] impossibly like it
doesn't happen. Yeah. and and how much
sort of play and ease and grace and joy,
you know, how how easy does sort of
enjoyment and lightness come. It's like
h you know, sometimes things are kind of
heavy and I apply pressure to myself or
even when it's not needed and sometimes
I struggle to give myself a break and so
on and so forth. So, I think that yeah,
that uh when a man can't find a deep
sense of pleasure, they distract
themselves with meaning. Um, you know,
instead of just having a fun Saturday
morning with the kids. Mhm. It's like
we're taking a big rock and a couple of
small rocks and we're going up that
[ __ ] hill again. Yeah. Yeah. It's uh
Yeah. When you when you were saying
that, I was thinking about
um Yeah. I don't know. It's uh I'm I'm
happiest when I'm suffering. So, I've
heard people say like they said this
mostly about Gogggins. I know you've
talked to him too, but it's just like
asking him. was like, "Are you ever
happy?" It's just
like for him, he's happy when he's
miserable. So, it's like, "Well, whose
definition of happy are you talking
about? Is you're happy eating [ __ ]
donuts, watching TV?" Mhm. That sounds
miserable to me. So, it's like the
people that get these words and they're
like, "Are you happy? Are you enjoying
yourself? Do you ever have fun?" It's
like running up that mountain is fun.
That's what I like. So yeah, it's uh
when you're talking about pleasure and
passion, I was trying to to weigh that
out there on on what is what is
happiness for people, you know? And also
another thing, um I see you put up like
3 million subscribers. So it's like, is
that what type of does that do anything
for you? Is that I mean because you'll
never let off. You're like, "Okay, I
made it. I'm good. I got 3 million. That
was my goal." But you put that up like
sometimes people will put up things like
like I made it like this is my I'm here
but I've arrived to you that's just what
is that
just a benchmark just another little
destination I suppose I I what what is
the goal? Do you have a goal? Uh not in
terms of sort of money or follow account
or anything like that. Uh I think I did
originally even though I didn't have a
number in mind. Um, I I think I wanted
to
be I wanted to become really proficient
at something. I wanted to be able to say
that I was like I'd reached something
close to mastery or competence. You like
I was competent at this thing and and
people respected that and recognized
that especially people that I respected
and that I admired. How do you is that a
measurable that tells you that? No. So,
because some people like look at I
haven't even looked at where your
podcast is on the charts today. Okay.
You know, so I'm I like measurables.
Like I like I need to do this many miles
this vast at this pace. I want, you
know, this many downloads to the pot.
It's like I love measure measurables
and I think the my boys have kind of
taken on that too. I love that too. I
think it's a good way to bring some
control into a messy world. Um I I have
just tried to sort of put a bit of a
speed limiter on how much I rely on it
because
I at least for me it is not the most
important metric. The most important
metric is something that's pretty
intangible which is how much did I
connect with the guest? How much did it
impact the the people that were
listening? And a lot of the time the
episodes that do sometimes the episodes
that do the most plays are the ones that
are the most impactful and they
certainly reach the most people, right?
But I don't know how, you know, deeply
that really changes people. M um and I'm
at the stage now, at least with this
particular art form, where I'm trying to
really really connect with the person
I'm sitting opposite and I'm really
really trying to understand why they are
the way they are or what it is that
people should understand or learn about
them. And none of that is going to
appear on a YouTube analytics
spreadsheet. It simply doesn't. And the
The measurement stuff is good and it
ensures that you're at least keeping an
eye on one or a few things. I'm the sort
of person, I think, that would become
very obsessed by it. Yeah. And and I
need to be aware of that and I need to
account for that because it's not all
that matters. You know, um it would be
something
else. A lot of people trade
intensity. They they in the very
beginning they use intensity but the
thing that keeps you going is your
longevity right that's what we said the
consistency thing and they trade
longevity for intensity and if you're
just chase chase chase chasing the
numbers you're able to see the immediate
effect of your work this is the same
with uh powerlters let's say so you're a
powerlifter in the gym and you're
pushing yourself RP9 RP 9.5 RP 10 over
and over again you're not periodizing
you're not taking weeks off and you're
going dude my numbers are going up I'm
[ __ ] crushing it. I'm crushing it.
I'm crushing it. Snap. Yeah. You go.
Okay. Well, what was the goal? What
really what was the goal? The goal was
to get the numbers to go up, but the
goal is to get the numbers to go up
steadily over 10 years. Mhm. And all
that you can see is such a short amount
of time in front of you. And I think
that you should be careful about trading
longevity for intensity. Mhm. Um because
and at least with the show for me, the
more fired up I am when I wake up on a
morning, and I think this is just the
best judgment of sort of where your
life's at at the moment and how much joy
you're getting out of life. When you
wake up, when your alarm goes off on a
morning, how excited are you to get out
of bed? I think that's a pretty good
rubric for how's life going right now.
It's not going to be like that forever.
You know, it's going to be better and
worse and sometimes really worse and
sometimes really better. And if I wake
up on a morning and I go, "Fuck yeah,
like I get to speak to Cam today." Like
that's really exciting. Tomorrow I've
got Will Store, like science of
storytelling. [ __ ] awesome author. He
did the status game. I'm [ __ ] fight.
I can't wait. And then, you know, there
was periods in the show where I wake up
and I'm like, "H, who am I talking to
today?" H yeah, that'll be all right.
You know, maybe the episode would be
great. Maybe it would even be a really
great performance. if it didn't speak to
me. Um, so very much in that sort of
I don't know
postgrowth thing uh where I've already
got at least with regards to the show so
much further than I ever thought I was
going to. Yeah. [ __ ] moved
continents. Mhm. and came over to this
this new country and made all of these
friends and you know have lifted myself
out of a area of the UK that's it was
literally only famous for having the
highest teen pregnancy rating in the UK
and then it lost that so it didn't even
have that anymore
um
I I've already won I've already won so
trying to find ease grace joy and just
seeing how that works me for a little
bit because I've very much applied the
sort of Cam Haynes Gogggins. Yeah. Uh
mindset for a while and I can totally
see me turning around in 6 months or two
years or whatever and being like, "All
right, time to really [ __ ] grip the
bar again." I'm just seeing, okay, what
happens if I try and have a little bit
more play with this and what happens if
I go back in the other direction? Yeah,
I was curious about that just because
we're so inundated with these
measurables every day with the follower
count, the likes, the, you know, when
you start getting into podcast and it is
a downloads because then that affects
what you can ask for advertisers and
they that's all they give a [ __ ] about.
They don't care about what type of
connection you had with your guest.
They're like, "Okay, cool. How many
downloads was it?" You know? So, it's
like we get kind of roped into this to
this trap of everything is measurable
and it's like you're not successful
unless you're here and then when you're
here, you better be here. So, I was just
kind of curious how you how you
navigated that just because it is it's
life now. It it is and it's and it's
easy. It's an easy
like everybody loves like how do I
compare? So, it's an easy comparison.
That's why you look at the lists on like
whose podcast is highest rated, right?
But uh I think Joe's done a really good
job of this too. It's like and I want to
kind of adopt Well, your mindset is very
similar now. Um to that's why he can
have on somebody like me who when I
first went on there, nobody nobody knew
who I was, but he Joe doesn't care. He's
just like, "Am I interested in this
person?" Most podcasts are like, "Let's
go with the biggest guest that's going
to give me the biggest." I dude, I
really I really think that you can look
back on a body of work that
was like disembodied, disconnected
successes. Or you can look back on
something and be like, "Yeah, that was
me." Mhm. Like that was really me. I put
myself out there. And there's some
people, let's say that you're in a
sport, right? Let's say that you're a
powerlifter or something like that. You
want to be the best in the world. You
want to be the best in the world. It's
not about manifest manifesting your
[ __ ] artistic expression on the
lifting platform. Pick the [ __ ]
weight up. Okay? You know what I mean?
Can you pick it up or not? Can you pick
it up or not? And the goal is to pick
the [ __ ] weight up. And however you
get there is how you do it. Now, you may
feel transcendent. You may feel like
this is you really sort of actualizing
your potential and doing it in the
world. But uh my goal is to look back on
this period of life and look back on you
know the library of work that I do and
go yeah like that was really me. That
was exactly where I was. I really tried
to be open and honest with myself. Uh
it's a selfish project and I think that
the best ones are and not everyone can
do this. Not everyone can be selfish
with with what it is that they get to do
for art because if you're a
trader, oh, please tell me about how
your your artistic [ __ ] expression
helped you lose money on that USD JPY
trade. No, you you have a very very
tightly defined outcome. Um, but in some
other writing books and stuff like that,
you could write a book, you would sell
tons and tons of copies, but you weren't
connected to and you get loads of
success. How do you feel after that? And
for some people, they may take a ton of
well-being and satisfaction and joy and
all the rest of the stuff, meaning from
it just being successful. They just
wanted the success. And I get the sense
that maybe the first few books or the
first few projects or the first few
businesses or the first few years of the
podcast or whatever might be you playing
that game, but then after a while you
go, okay, well kind of satiated my
desire for status and and and maybe
money or being recognized by all of
these people. I had this I made this
joke with regards to the show that I
kind of had the uh five infinity stones
from Thanos's Glove. Yeah. Uh I had uh
Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Alander
Boton from the School of Life, Naval
Ravocant, and Joe Rogan as like the five
people that I wanted. And I've got four
of them. And Joe texted after the last
episode and was like, "Don't forget we
need to do an episode on Modern Wisdom."
So I'm like, "Right, okay. Well, once I
do that, if all it was was about being
I've got gold medalist syndrome, why do
you go from that?" And that's a genuine
question. And that's still something
that's true. Every time that you
complete a new goal, Mhm. You have to
ask yourself, okay, well, what is my
life now that I've completed this thing
that I was working toward for a long
time? And that's the danger of goals,
right? You know, James Clear got this
right in atomic habits where he said,
you don't rise to the level of your
goals, you fall to the level of your
systems. So, you just need to iterate
and keep going and keep going and it it
helps with longevity. But there is no
growth without goals because you need a
goal to give you a [ __ ] direction to
move in. Or else you're just like
growing outwardly but not moving toward
a particular thing. It's not great for
the way that motivation works, dopamine,
positive reinforcement, all that stuff.
So again, it's this tension. It's this
balance between the two, but I get the
sense and it'll be interesting, you
know, in a year's time, couple years
time when we chat and you're episode 300
for me to go, okay, and what's driving
you now? Like how how do you feel about
the show? And I would guess that you're
going to say, you know what, it is like
actually I'm kind of taking my eye off
the ball with regards to the metrics a
little bit. Mhm. I'm really interested
in having like conversations with
underground. I'm really platforming
people that, you know, no one knows
about or I I've really enjoyed delving
into this area of whatever. And uh I
think that is a realization that lots of
people come to. I think they come to it
maybe with even raising kids that you
think I'm going to get the kid into the
Harvard Ivy League university. I'm going
to get them to be the captain of the
this team or they're going to be the top
in this particular pursuit or whatever.
And then after a while you go, I just
kind of want them to have fun. Just want
them to be happy. Yeah. And I thought
that I could get them there through
that. But you kind of need
to It's far easier to achieve it than it
is to get rid of it. Yeah. Uh because if
you haven't achieved it, it's always in
the back of your mind as ah, you know,
that might have been the answer, right?
So you need to do it to see that it
isn't it. Like Naval says, uh the reason
to win the game is to be rid of the
game. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
Yeah. It's a It's a tough one. It's like
uh you know, you want to be successful.
You want you I I like I I think when I
was you were kind of explaining that the
best feedback is when somebody says they
really enjoyed whatever discussion you
had or um and they're not talking about
how many people listen to it, you know,
it's just how it impacted them. And it's
like I'm not I'm not great at quote
podcasting, which is why I do the lift
run shoot with my guests to make to
because I can connect on that and then
that hopefully helps the conversation.
Um but yeah, it's uh it's tough. It's
tough sitting down and really
um yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe
it's not tough. Maybe it's just we don't
do this. Maybe we How often do you sit
down and just talk to somebody? I never
do it like not like this. So maybe it's
like maybe you can learn a lot just by
having a discussion and maybe a podcast
is an excuse that we ne we wouldn't have
we wouldn't do this normally. Yeah. Cuz
I'm not going to be like call up one of
my buddies and say, "Hey, you want to go
talk for a couple hours?" It's like
nobody would say sure. It sounds like
you're saying that you find sort of
doing the podcast is one of the more or
most difficult things that it is that
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functionhealth.com/modernism. So, what
what are the most difficult things that
you've done physically? You've got this
long illustrious career of doing [ __ ]
stupid things to yourself. Yeah. Um what
rank in the the the top few? Oh, it's
the long races, you know, the Well, this
race I have coming up is 250 mi. I've
done 240 mi. I've 200 miles. 100 miles
is hard. Um, marathons are hard when
you're pushing a lot of hards where
you're just miserable, you know, in the
snow, long hunt, Kodiak Island for 12
days. So, it's um th but those are
um those they're not predictable, but
you know what you're getting into. You
know what I mean? It's like, yeah, you
know, it's going to be terrible and it's
going to you're going to be miserable
probably for a while, but that's part of
the deal. That's just like that's why
you sign up is that test. I'm trying to
test myself. I want to see if I'm tough
enough to do this. So, those when I
think of hard, it's those. Are there any
in particular that come to mind from the
hunts or the races perspective?
Um, yeah. I mean, yeah, I've been on I
don't know, a lot of hard hunts in the
mountains just being soaking soaking
wet. I mean, one time me and Roy were
sheep hunting. Royy's my friend who
fell, but before obviously before he
fell, we were sheep hunting. Um,
miserable weather conditions, super
steep. Uh, we were blood trailing this
ram and it wasn't a good shot. So, it's
like uh it was going to be a long hard
blood trail to kind of decipher and get
this animal. And it got dark and then a
grizzly was kind of circling the tents.
And uh I was just like, I don't give a
[ __ ] I'm going to bed. I'm not I'm I'm
not even I don't care about this bear. I
don't know what's going to whatever.
Went to so tired. Just went to bed. So,
that's that's being miserable. Um, on
Kodiak, you know, you get dropped off
and I remember in in my book,
Backcountry Bow Hunting, the pilot like
wrote down the day he was supposed to
come back and pick us up on his jeans
with a pen. So, it's like hopefully he
doesn't wash those jeans, you know? So,
he's going to come back in what, 12
days, two weeks to get us. And then and
this is first week in November, so it's
pouring down rain every day. Kodiak is
just south of the mainland there. Um,
and it's uh it's just miserable. Every
day you're wet. It's just miserable. So,
um, yeah. Then if you talk about the
races, you're going the the long races.
So, in Moab 240, I think I slept for
about I don't know, I can't remember
now. It's been a few years, but 2 to
four hours, and it took me 79 hours to
finish a race. So over 3 days been
slept, you know, maybe 4 hours total. So
that
when you know what it feels like to get
a good night's rest, it's just like
nothing feels better if it seems like.
So on the opposite of that, when all you
want to do is sleep, but you have to
keep pushing for 240 miles,
it's that seems overwhelming. So to just
to be able to muster up the strength to
still take another step where every step
is an
effort. And
so if you think when I go
running every mile is 2,000 steps. So if
I'm doing 200, you know, so it's 500,000
steps. 500,000 steps roughly and every
one is an
effort. It's tough. That hurts. So those
those experiences stand out. The first
guy I ever had on the podcast, episode
one that people should not go back and
listen to. Uh but it's f interesting
episode. It's a a guy called Stu Morton
who was uh training to row the Atlantic
solo. Oh. So this is a the Talisa
whiskey race. It's a pretty common Okay.
thing. Um but it's very extreme. you you
go from I think uh the coast of Portugal
uh to kind of the Caribbean and
um the interesting thing with that is
that people that do it in groups of two
or three or four are really no quicker
than the person that does it on their
own because for every additional person
you need a bigger boat and more supplies
and another person which is more drag.
Yeah. So everybody kind of nets out at
the same pace that you can go at. Now
obviously I guess uh physically must be
a little shared workload probably a
little easier but uh yeah I remember
speaking to him and I can't it's like
something like 14 million strokes or
something he needed to do to get him
it's just 14 million across that thing.
It's so funny when you break down races
like 200 miles into five like it's
500,000 steps you got to take 500,000
steps. Yeah. And uh it's so hilarious
when that happens. I Well, you know cuz
most people are like their goal is
10,000 steps a day. Uhhuh. And that's a
good
day. Okay. 500,000.
Yeah. I love the uh I love the idea of
these backyard ultras. It was the dude
from the Barkley Marathon that invented
it, right? Yeah. Laz. Yeah. And
uh just his insight that he hated the
fact that sometimes people won. Yeah. He
wanted a race where no one won. Yeah.
Like everybody loses. Everybody loses at
this race. There's just some people that
lose less than others. Yeah, Barkley.
There's no finisher sometimes. But the
backyards, there's always going to be
one person who outlasts the other. So
that also called last man standing is
kind of what they're called. But uh
yeah, it's they still don't beat the
race though. No, I mean the race is
still there. It's just you needed
somebody else to go with you to go to
the next level. Yeah. So the race never
loses. You never never really win the
race. You just outlast less than the
last the next guy. You outlast the other
man or woman. But uh yeah, those
fascinating, isn't it? That how long can
you run 4 miles an hour? Yeah. It's
crazy. Is now there's guys who have went
400 miles. Do you know this? No. 450
miles. It's like that's the current
record for this thing. Wow. Yeah.
So God, what would that So that'd have
to beund and some hours. How many days
is that? That's over four or over four
days with never getting more than so if
you finish and say 50 minutes, you get
10 minutes before you have to be on the
start line. So never getting more
than 10 minutes of rest
um at any one. What's the sort of pace
that people are doing? Because you could
do 8 miles an hour, right? You could
move at 8 miles an hour and get done in
half an hour. Yeah, you you could. Um,
but for how long? You know, so the thing
with these is the more you break your
body down, the less distance you're
going to be able to go. If you run fast,
you're stretching that intensity,
longevity, your muscles out. You're
which stretching muscles out is
essentially breaking them down over
time. Um, so yeah, it's like finding
that sweet spot. But I think Courtney,
she's won one of those before. And I
think she was doing her laps in
about 50 or 52
minutes. So just got if you get 8
minutes, get a little food in, sit down
for a sec, they're back on the line.
And Truett's going to do one of these.
Yeah. In jeans.
Ah [ __ ] I don't know. I told him I'm
like I mean he needs a win. Like if if
you
had the he hasn't won a race. So it's
like he's Yes. He's went viral in Boston
and Austin Marathon Eugene. He just you
know a lot of news stories and he does
have the world record in the pull-ups.
That's all great. I said but you need a
win. You need to be come across break
that tape because I you haven't had a
win yet. So you show me a win. That's
the goal.
What's
your perspective
on genetics, pedigree,
uh, talent, and hard work and how all of
these things fit together?
Um, yeah. I mean, we always joke that
Drew would always joke he got shitty
genetics. That's why he had to overcome
his genetics because really, I mean, I
don't have I have never thought I've
I've had great genetics. If I had great
genetics, I would have been able to play
college football for a while. And uh so
I've I've always said, you know, I've
just either you're average or obsessed
has kind of been my thing. It's just
like I had if I didn't want to be
average, I had to be obsessed. So I just
put it tied it all into hard work. Um
when I see the boys, I do
see they have some genetic advantage for
sure. Um, but what do genetic advantages
give you if you don't capitalize on
them? Not much, right? So, they've just
both done a good job of capitalizing on
whatever gifts they've had and then they
and Truid is definitely maximizing them.
Yeah, it's it's weird with I
guess
talent, something like motivation or
enthusiasm and and consistency or
discipline because at the very beginning
you're no matter how talented you are,
you haven't spent enough time and
attention to unlock that talent. Now,
sure, you begin the race a little bit
further ahead than the other guy that's
also starting, but you're, you know, the
most virtuoso keyboard pianist ever,
right? The first time that they sat down
at a piano, they [ __ ] sucked. Mhm.
So, even if they had all of the raw
materials to learn very, very quickly
this insight that you kind of unlock
your own potential, you unlock your own
talent through the only thing that
matters, which is the consistency. Now,
I will say, do you know who Craig Jones
is? Yeah. Yeah, he's a uh Craig may be
the
most he may be the biggest outlier I
think in the entire world of sort of
elite sports uh in that he doesn't train
consistently. He doesn't have a strength
and conditioning routine. He doesn't
care about his body or what he puts in
it. He sometimes cares about what he
puts his body in. and he as far as I can
see is a professional partyier uh who
still is probably top five grapplers on
the planet. Yeah. Uh and you know Nikki
Rod who's trains here at B team uh in
Austin
will eat, sleep, lift, train, recover,
give study tape or do all of the things
and Craig will roll back in from a
session with a cigarette in his hand and
still give him a like as good of a run
for his money as anyone and oftent times
win. Yeah. And
that in some ways is just like really
[ __ ] cool, but in other ways must
just be so disheartening if you're in if
you're in that. Yeah. No, for sure. I
when I hear that story, what I think
about is how how great could he have
could he be being dedicated? Got the
cocaine down. Yeah. Yeah. I mean be
because he's comparing himself to Yes.
They're they're elites, but could he be
a legend? Yeah. Could he be the best?
He's a legend in certain disciplines.
They're just not Brazil jiu-jitsu. But
could he be the best ever? You know what
I mean? Like I mean I don't know cuz
Gordon Ryan does he live pretty I think
he does he live pretty clean I think.
Yeah. Yeah. Pretty pretty pretty pretty
apart from when he's injured. But even
with that like there's a degree of of
commitment during your injury. Yeah.
Right. If your stomach's upset and you
kind of got to focus on yourself. But
yeah, I think for a lot of people what
they end up realizing
is it doesn't really matter how talented
I am. The consistency and the hard work
really is the only
uh solution. It's the only pathway I
have to sort of capitalize on this
stuff. And I think that's one of the
reasons again why somebody who largely
is pretty untalented is such a trigger
for a lot of people because there's two
ways you could look at it and you could
say, "Holy [ __ ] like there's nothing
special about them. Why did they get
that? Holy [ __ ] there's nothing special
about them. There's nothing special
about me either. That means that I too
can do it. I can make it." Yeah. Yeah.
Because what people want, I think a lot
of the time is what is
the super secret squirrel technique or
what was the unique combination cocktail
of upbringing and genetics and whatever
it was that this person had in order to
be able to get them to this place. Mhm.
And the more boring the answer, the less
satisfactory it is. Mhm. And I think
part of the reason that it's not very
satisfactory is that it actually it
doesn't take it further away from you,
right? It brings it closer to you.
Because if you say, "Well, what's the
reason that you say what's the fastest
man on the planet?" And someone explains
about how his fast twitch type A muscle
fibers have a particular like ATP output
and his lactate threshold and his limb
length and the way that his body
biomechanics and spinal flexion and all
of this stuff and you go, "That's
beautiful." Like what a romantic what a
gorgeous distillation of the fastest man
on the planet ever. How the [ __ ] am I
supposed to replicate that? You said I
just sort of I just trained for a decade
and a half and I didn't stop. You go.
Yeah, that's [ __ ] lame, dude. Like
that's but it's also enlivening, right?
Because you say it's at your feet, too.
Yeah, it's uh Yeah, cuz when I think
about, you know, if I think I don't
know, if you think through it, um you're
like I I hear people say all the time,
well, if I was in this s situation or if
or they've even said like if if I you
know, if they were raised like True was
raised type thing or you know, people
the privilege of being made to suffer as
a seven-year-old. Yeah. God. Yeah. They
they well Oh, that's another thing that
I get worried about is some of the dads
watching what he's doing then thinking
like I'm going to have a child that does
10,000 and one point. Yeah. And and I I
feel bad for those kids because it it
was like the perfect storm for my boys
and they were built for it. So to you
know people say I'm built for this
whatever I whatever the case but they
did eventually uh
flourish. A lot of kids aren't going to.
It's going to be a disaster. Crushed
into the white. It's going to be a
disaster. And the dad is probably not
going to be like living that example
every day like I was. So, it's like then
it's just like what? You don't do this.
Why am I do It's going to be tough. But
it comes back to authenticity. Yeah.
That for sure. It was a natural
outgrowth. And I think this is where you
can hopefully give yourself a break even
though I know you're terrible at doing
that as a um
you did probably what comes most
naturally to you which was your way of
showing love which is world's tough you
need to be tougher than it is at least
and ideally about between five and 10
times tougher than it is. Yeah. And this
is the way that I'm going to show you
that I love you because I'm going to
prepare you for the world and I'm going
to make sure that nothing can hurt you
and that you're going to be resilient
and that you're going to have, you know,
this is my this is my my showing of
love. And uh if that is not how you
actually want to show up, sooner or
later there's going to be cracks in
things. You can't force stuff Yeah. long
enough. It's, you know, the trit old
thing about the man who loves to walk
will walk further than the man who has
to.
Um because eventually over a long enough
time
horizon people end up just regressing to
the mean. They just go back to what
their patterns are. And now maybe you
can change your patterns over a very
very very long time. But how many people
do you know that have really made
changes in their life? It's so few.
People lose five pounds. You know
they'll go from one company to another.
They they'll you know read a book about
arguments and change their communication
style. How many people do you know that
have lost £100 or moved changed their
career at 40 or or or gone to a new
country, right? Or or got out of that
abusive relationship and entered a new
one that was flourishing and taken all
of the things that they learn. Like
that's alchemy. It's like taking
something that was awful and useless and
pointless in your life and turning it
into something that's beautiful and
valuable. And it's so [ __ ] rare.
Yeah. Just doesn't happen all that much.
And again to kind of bring this back
down, one of my favorite
realizations and one I think that you
share as well is
well in some ways that's kind of
terrifying because oh my god look at how
many people don't end up actualizing
everything that they could. And it's not
that the only thing to do in life that's
great is to actualize your potential. A
lot of it can just be flourishing and
living it fully fully and and and um
maximizing your time on this planet in
experience and and presence and all that
sort of stuff. But most people don't get
that. [ __ ] that's terrifying. Or most
people don't get there. Holy [ __ ] how
low is the bar? Yeah. Like the average
American is obese, divorced, and with
less than 1K in the bank. That's the
average American. Isn't that nuts?
How low is the bar? and with more
opportunity than anywhere else in the
world. And that's that's average
American. That's what's crazy. I was I'm
I was curious about what you think about
this cuz I've heard people say that, you
know, I couldn't have done it without
whatever their wife or their their
whatever. It's like um and as you know,
my wife has been supportive. Truth's
wife is very supportive. But to me, it's
just
like I so I I don't know. I'm cur what
you think because yes, I
think so if if say True is saying, "Oh,
I'm going to go I need to go train and
his wife was saying again."
But so I could see where that would be
an issue. But to me, it's just like
maybe it goes back to the point you
started to make this whole time about
like parenting or whatever. It's like I
don't I don't want to say if it's fate,
but to me it's like yeah, support is
nice. I [ __ ] don't need anything. I I
do the same [ __ ] whether you love me,
hate me, support me, or don't. Nothing's
going to stop me. I wonder if so can
people say well I didn't have that
environment or the support you had
that's why I didn't achieve this or are
there people who who are like and I
think of Gogggins I think he I don't
care who the [ __ ] was in his life he was
going to be who he is no matter what
there's a difference between doing
something because and doing something in
spite right I I achieved this in spite
of the way that My wife hates that I go
out for a run at 5:30 in the morning.
Right. I did this because my wife
encourages me to go and do it. Okay. And
I think this a it's a good point to talk
about that I do worry about the
romanticization of suffering too much on
men especially that um there is a
certain type of personality. I certainly
have this. Maybe you do too. I I
definitely get the sense that that
Gogggins has
this. That is someone who like it like
the priest's hoing
seeks out suffering beyond its utility.
Right. It's like I've taken everything
that I can from this. Mhm. And I'm
making it harder than it needs to be. So
a great cue that one of my friends gives
in the gym is what would this be like if
it was easier? Mhm. Uh so you're
carrying the rock, right? There's
perfect example. You got to carry your
72 pounder rock up a hill. M there are a
variety of different ways. I learned all
of them with you. You can have it in
freaking bear hugging the shoulders. You
can have it in the center of the back.
You can have it there. Why not carry it
on the top of your head? Mhm. Genuine
question. Why not carry it on the top of
your head? Cuz that would be harder.
Yeah. That would make the 72lb rock
harder. Well, you know, I I'm I'm
calcifying the top of my skull attempt
to like this is real suffering. You go,
well, you don't do that. So, we're
always making a kind of value judgment
around how hard should the hard thing
be, right? Yep. And I just get the sense
that a supportive wife or, you
know, if you really want your kids to to
know what suffering is, break up with
your wife when they're one year old. You
know what I mean? Leave them. Don't pay
the alimony. Leave them in a broken
home. See if you can leave some needles
around. Like, you know, for you. Yeah.
Exactly. A nice systemic infection will
really toughen them up. So, we we
understand, but we just make value
judgments. Like all of this is like I
feel like this is about the right
amount, but you didn't make the kids do
the the mountain three times, right?
Okay. So why one? Why not one in a bit?
Why not three? Why not five?
So with that, I just get the sense that
if you have the choice of flying with
the wind behind you, giving you a little
bit of a push, being like, "Huh, the
thing that I want to do that's really
[ __ ] hard is made easier by my
partner." So I can run, let's say you
can run 100 miles on a day. If I have
partner that's a total [ __ ] I can
get to like 95. If I have partner that's
a total hero, I can get to 105. I want
the partner that gets me to 105. That
doesn't mean that the thing is less
virtuous or or or uh any easier, but
that my capacity gets unlocked because
I'm not wasting it carrying a rock on my
head. I'm carrying a rock on my
shoulder. Right. That makes sense. Yeah.
I I knew that's why I knew I there's a
reason I brought it up because you could
distill it down perfectly. But yeah, I I
was just curious about I've never really
thought about it past like just the
basics like that. So, thank you for
Yeah. I mean, if was in a relationship
and his wife was permanently saying,
"Fuck, I wish that you could do any
exercise but pull-ups. Like, I just hate
them. Like, I'm mortally offended by
pull-ups." You'd be like, "Hey, darling,
come here. Let me have a let's let's
have a little chat about this. It's
like, can we just [ __ ] ick with the
with the pull up the pull-up? Yeah,
exactly. He's trying to he's trying to
break a world record here. Um, so I do
think that's important. Uh, and I as
well
the learning when to actually just go,
I'm going to enjoy this. I'm going to
[ __ ] enjoy the end of the race,
right? Like you've run the marathon, you
you've run the the ultra, you've run the
215. It's like, well, if you went 3%
faster at the very very end, then you'd
shave 4 seconds off your time, right?
It's like, okay, but why did you do
this? Did you do this to get the fastest
time possible? You didn't win. Someone
else [ __ ] won, right? You didn't win.
Or did you do it so that you can take a
tiny little bit off the top and be like,
"Yes, I crossed the finish line. I
[ __ ] felt that. That's positive
reinforcement. That's why I'm here. I'm
here to experience it. And maybe this is
why I'll never be a turbo billionaire
or, you know, like the absolute world
champion at some super difficult
pursuit. Uh because I I just sort of
value other things. And this is not
natural. So it's very much me like
dictating it to me, not expressing it
out of me, if that makes sense. I'm like
uh saying what I want to be true and how
I want to show up, not how I show up.
It's still very much just like a [ __ ]
Japanese torture chamber inside of my
head. Me telling me that I'm not good
enough and that could have been better
and I shouldn't have done that thing and
so on and so forth. Is that like is that
mostly a man thing like uh
being being judged on performance and
worth and um do you think it's like more
certainly contributes I think. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. cuz it's like I heard
somebody say the other day cuz I and now
I'm think thinking about like what it
means to be a man and a provider type
thing.
Um yeah, I think
that I don't know is it's hard. It's
hard. I just know the pressure I felt as
being a dad and a husband and like
making sure everybody was taken care of,
the bills were paid and all this. I just
know
Yeah. I don't know. I I think I think
men get roped into this trap
of worth sometimes and it's just that's
fine because that's how it works. You
know, not many women are out there
saying I need to work harder cuz I need
to to get my husband a bigger house in a
nicer car. I mean Yeah, that's funny. I
don't Yeah. Did you ever hear that? No,
no, no. I don't I I don't know that
much. the biggest house in Austin that
was ever sold actually is owned by a
friend and that was built by the the
founder of Bumble uh who was a a a woman
and I do I don't know what her partner
does or whatever but like you didn't
build a [ __ ] $40 million house. I
know that unless you were I know also
like a total freak business person but
there is a little bit of me that goes
like uh I wonder what it's like to be
with someone who uh outwardly is that
high achieving you know and that's not
to say that's the only way to achieve.
Yeah, there's other many many other
things that are more valuable than than
how much money you bring. But definitely
the dynamic typically is, you know,
protective provider and then helping.
Um, and even if that's not the way that
the dynamic needs to be or even like
structurally quite is, even if you've
got two breadwinners in the household,
there's still this sort of expectation
that the guy's going to Yeah. show up in
that way.
But one of the saddest things to me is
to see somebody who's won the game and
is still playing it. M um like what's an
example? A 70syear-old businessman who
is now a grandfather, high-powered, you
know, CEO of a company, founded a bunch,
built and sold, and still going to the
expose and still walking around hustling
and grinding and giving out their card
and, you know, staying up late and
scrutinizing all the stuff. It's like,
dude, you've got a legacy that is so
[ __ ] far beyond this business thing
that you did. Now, maybe in a minority
of cases, it's your passion. It's just
adore
printer ink or whatever turnip farming,
whatever the [ __ ] it is that you're
great at. For the most part, what I see
is people that just want to be validated
by the world around them, and they just
need that that and I would say I've got
a lot more grace
for the people who haven't yet achieved
it and are still chasing it. You know,
if it's I want to become but this is the
problem with not having milestones and
with the game being infinite that you
can get to a situation where you never
feel like you've arrived. I think this
is exactly what these people are
struggling with. They're like, "No, no,
no, no. It's when I get to 10 million
subscribers on YouTube, but no, no, no.
It's when the business hits I sell it
for 3 billion cuz the first one that was
at 1 billion, that's just wasn't quite
enough. I need to repeat it twice. It's
not just doing it once cuz that could
have been a fluke. I need to do it twice
to Well, no, three times because I timed
the market because of co like, you know,
there's always a excuse, excuse excuse.
Yeah. Yeah. And after a while, you need
to kind of admit to yourself that this
is just an addiction to wanting to be
validated by the world and it's never
going to be enough. And you're trying to
fill a hole internally with accolades
and love externally. And that's for the
most part not the way that it works. But
in slight part is if you never run a
[ __ ] 100 mile race, you'd be like,
"Come on, I've got to do it. I've got to
do this thing." Yeah. You look, you did
240. What's the next one? Yeah, it'll be
250. I know it has to. Where is that?
Arizona.
Okay. What's the We're in It's going to
be the 1st of May soon. Mhm. So, it's
what like the 5th of May or something?
Yeah. Yeah. It's from Jackson or is it
is it Jackson or No, no. What? Uh [ __ ]
now I can't. Oh, no. Black can [ __ ] now.
I can't remember. Black Canyon City. I
don't know. To uh Flagstaff.
What's the temperature like in Arizona
at this time of the year? Uh, it'll I
mean it'll be hot during the day, of
course, but it's it's kind of high
desert, so it'll be could be cold at
night. Brilliant. Yeah. Like when when I
did Moab, for example, it was maybe 90
during the day, and then one night it
got down to 9 in the mountains. Quite a
swing. Holy [ __ ] Yeah. So, it's a it's
a tough one. But yeah, it'll be good.
But yeah, just it's always like finding
that limit essentially
because you know when you're saying that
I was thinking back to like I mean when
I grew up I didn't even know people
actually paid off cars. I thought you
just had a car payment like you know
it's like I didn't know or
I thought like that little mobile home I
showed you. I thought I'd live there and
I I didn't actually know people paid off
their houses. So, I thought you just
paid rent or your house payment forever.
And I was just like, so now now it's
just like I have to readjust. You know,
my house is paid off my And I'm just
like,
okay, I now I don't really know what to
do. Don't really know what the goal is
supposed to be. Yeah. I mean, that's
gold medalist syndrome. Yeah. Right. In
a small small reg. I know my mom and dad
felt the same. My dad one of my dad's
proudest things is, you know, I was
mortgage free. Yeah. And uh I didn't
know that happened. Yeah, you just I
Well, I remember you showing me when we
were driving around Eugene, not it
wasn't like a trailer park, but it was
like a barn, like a mobile, like a
single small thing. And you were saying,
you know, when I grew up, I thought,
"Wow, that would you know, one of those
in a truck, like, holy shit." Yeah, that
was that was awesome. That was the
dream. Yeah, that those are called
manufactured homes. Do they not have
those here? Uh, yeah, they will do. I
just don't know what the name. It's like
an old tra they used to have a trailer
park where was like they're made out of
metal and now they look more like houses
but they're still sort they still come
in on wheels internally it's still the
same get set down still the same. Yeah.
And but for you know for out there like
where I showed you where we drove it was
just like [ __ ] that's awesome. You
remember we went over that bridge that
your sons used to jump off and there was
a logger that was pulled up by the side
of the road. Yeah. We had a little chat
with him. Yeah. Yeah. So cool. I know.
Driver. I'm interested
in how you've navigated success or your
relationship with success warping sort
of the original mission and not getting
a a set of velvet handcuffs or you know
sort of champagne problem prison or
whatever where
uh you want to keep your foot on the
gas. you want to keep pushing hard, but
you also, you know, materially have a
very different life to the one that you
were used to and that you expected and
that you grew up with and that even your
kids grew up with. You know, you've sort
of arked this across time. Yeah. Um, how
does success warp your relationship with
the the original mission in that way?
How have you found navigating that?
Um, yeah. I mean, I I just, well, I lean
into the hate, so I'm I'm
always any negative about me is being
reinforced. So, I I never feel like a
success, so to speak, cuz I'm I'm
reading this these hateful things people
say about me. How do It's hard to feel
successful when you're reading what a
piece of [ __ ] you are, right? Um, so I
get reminded of that daily. But also
it's like, you know, even when I had my
regular job, I was a superintendent at
the water and power company. I felt like
I never deserve that job. I'm like, "No,
they're going to figure out I'm not,
even though I was good at it. I was
good, but I always felt like I'm
supposed to just be a
worker. I'm I'm a worker. That's that's
my talent level. That's my ability.
That's my intelligence is we need
workers. That's me. And so I've never
that's all. Even though I I retired from
that job and now I'm doing the other
thing, it's just like I I'm a worker.
That's that's what I do. So whether it's
running miles, lifting weights, doing
the podcast, 160 episodes or whatever it
is, it's just like, yeah, it's just a
different form of being in the ditch. I
thought that I was just going to be in a
ditch, you know, putting water line in
the ground when I worked for the utility
till I retired. So, it's just it's the
same. It's just work. It's just in a
different form.
I got a question and I don't quite know
how to phrase it, but I want you to try
and think about it quite deeply if you
can. What do you
think? How do you think you would
feel
if you believed that you were worthy of
the things that you've achieved or if
you believed that you were good
enough?
Um, if I felt like I deserved this, cuz
this is part of it. Um, man, I don't
even I've never felt that way. I've
never Um, how would I
feel? Seems like it'd feel good. Would
it feel if Wouldn't it? I'm guessing. I
mean, wouldn't it feel good to feel like
you're
success? I think that'd feel good. I've
never felt that. So I don't
um because even even if somebody told me
that or if you if you if somebody says
that right now like I would just be like
I would just discount it. I'd be like no
they're [ __ ] full of [ __ ] They're
just saying that's what you're supposed
to say to people. I mean I wouldn't
believe it. So I don't know. I'm not I
don't know. I'm not What if Let me give
you another one.
What if the next mountain that you need
to climb is to be able to feel resonance
and connection with the things that
you've achieved in life?
Man, I don't
um you like take a step back and say,
"Wow, I made it. Look at what I did."
Yeah, I am good enough. I raised some
[ __ ] kids. I raised kids that are
world record breakers and protect our
country. Mhm.
Um, I felt like that's that I did what I
was supposed to do. So, if I didn't
raise the kids to be that way, I failed.
Uhhuh. Because they had it. Obviously,
they have it. So, you have made it. So,
you were a success. No. You're like a
[ __ ] You're like the Gordon Ryan of of
taking compliments. I just I just I I'm
honestly I just did what I was supposed
to do. I understand. So, you can only
fail Right. Oh, okay. So, it was an
obligation. Yes. Right. In some ways, it
was minimum minimum accepted level of to
to them because what if I what if I what
if they weren't achieving these things?
Then I failed cuz they had it in them.
So, as a parent, aren't you supposed to
get the most have your kids believe that
they can achieve incredible things and
and get them to do it? But, I mean, you
know, you could argue, well, why is it
not two world records? Why wasn't he a
seal and arranger? Because you're not
carrying it on your head. Yeah, you got
to carry it on your head. It's very
important. Um, no, dude. I look I
um I
really I'm very very impressed with
everything that the [ __ ] Hannes
household does. And I just wonder what I
wonder
what I wonder whether you could fly with
a little bit more breeze behind you like
internally with this stuff. Go [ __ ]
yeah. like, you know, just little
glimmers. Not all the time, right? I
don't think it's going to kill your
edge, but
uh I'd love, and this is again me very
much speaking to me, which is why again
I I'm saying it how I want it to be, not
how it is, at least for me. Uh yeah, I'd
just love for you and for Gogggins as
well, you know, these these guys that
are really really driven, you know,
hatred and and and a chip on your
shoulder and this bitterness and the
resentment and stuff like that. Great
fuel. But I just wonder if there's, you
know, can this be a hybrid car as
opposed to just a diesel one? And uh I'
maybe that's a maybe that's an
interesting mountain for you to or an
interesting race uh for you to assess
the difficulty of because in the same
way that uh spending a day on the couch
uh would be uh in incredibly
uncomfortable in a manner that running
250 mi isn't for you. I wonder okay
well let's look inward. What is there
that I can do here with regards to this?
Like how can I Oh,
[ __ ] Congratulating myself. No, dude. I
give give me 200 kilos to deadlift a few
hundred times, you know, like that's
that that that's what I want to do. I I
I I understand that it's uh that's that
is really hard. Um cuz I when I think
about even this race coming up, you
know, I broke my foot, had all these
injuries and it's like of course my
wife, people that care about me is like,
"Well, you can't do the race." I'm like,
"I have to do the race." Well, why? Why
do you? Well, cuz Speedland has these
shoes coming out. It's a big promotion
about me doing this race with the
Coca-Con 250 shoes. Got a road shoe and
a what? And like this what I have
expectations. The race let me in. um you
know to drive awareness and to drive
interest. It's like I got people this
relying on me relying on me. I I not
doing it is not an option. Well, you're
hurt. Doesn't matter. So, it's
like, "Yeah, I'm not quite there. I'm
not quite there yet to where I can be
like cuz normally it'd be like most
people would probably be like, "I'm
injured. I was going to do it, but I
broke my foot. Mhm. And anybody would
say,
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense." A good
reason. That's a good reason, but I I
can't do it, so I can't I wonder You
Have you got grandkids yet? I'm going to
have one here on the 12th. Tanner,
congratulations, Tanner. Uh I wonder
what granddad life is going to be like
for you.
I mean, if kids don't change you, do do
great. Run it back. We'll do it again.
[ __ ] one generation down. I look,
dude. Uh, that's one of the things that
you would typically hear about the
maniacal
solo ranger guy that, you know, keeps
working. Ah, but he's softened by kids.
It's like, no, no, no, no. His kids were
a vehicle for it. Like, you know, it
went even harder. Um, but I don't know.
you you it'll be fascinating. Like
you're a fascinating guy and I I'm going
to be really really interested to watch
what happens over the next few years as
presumably more the Haynes household
grows more and more and and and the
grandkids thing and you go [ __ ] like I'm
revisiting
this babying childhood thing and running
this back. Hm. Where was I at the last
time this was the case? And how do I
want to show up this time for grandkid
Haynes? And you know, I think it'll be
different because as you said, like even
if I had kids now with where I am
socially,
economically, you know, when they were
born, we didn't have anything, you know?
So, it was just like it was a grind
different now. So, yeah. I don't know.
Maybe maybe it will be different.
Cam Haynes, ladies and gentlemen. Cam,
you're awesome, man. I'm so glad that
you got to come on. Thank you. And your
drink is amazing. Well, fantastic. Tell
people about your book. Most
importantly, get me dialed in. Good,
good, good, good. That's all we need.
Undeniable. Chris Williamson is featured
Modern Wisdom because first chapter and
on the back outlier. Um, yeah.
Undeniable. It's available everywhere.
It's uh ships on May 6th. The goal is
last time. So, you're in the middle of
this [ __ ] run when your book
releases. So your publisher wants to
will be chasing you down. That's why I'm
doing this now to run away from the
book. Yeah. Well, I just said that the
book, you know, a book release is
usually pretty predictable. You go and
you do these appearances and that I said
mine's going to be a little different.
I'm going to be doing a 250 milei race
and the book comes out and that's to me
that means undeni you are undeniable if
that's the philosophy. Yeah. So, it's
like last time they had Endure, they
they got it up to number seven on New
York Times, so I got screwed. I was the
best seller of those, but it's an
editorial, so just give me what I
deserve. I just want number one this
time. All right. Okay. Well, uh I I love
it, dude. Uh not just because I'm
plastered throughout it. It's [ __ ]
awesome, and I appreciate the [ __ ] out
of you. Oh, thank you, Chris. It's uh I
mean, it's it's been getting to know you
has been amazing. Getting to watch your
growth and success is incredible. Um,
you put the pressure on me to to think
and to to be smart. You made me run 11
miles. Go [ __ ] yourself. So, we Yeah, I
guess it's reciprocal. But thank you. I
appreciate the opportunity. Big fan of
you and Modern Wisdom. So, thank you.
Appreciate you, too, dude. All right.
Congratulations. You made it to the end
of the episode. And if you want more,
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here? Come on.