In this episode of 'The Tactical Empire,' host Jeff Smith and guest Shawn Rider discuss the mental challenges and resilience required in entrepreneurship and self-improvement. They explore common thoughts that hold people back, the importance of focusing on immediate actions while maintaining a broader perspective, and how to overcome fears and anxieties. They emphasize the significance of personal growth, the responsibilities towards one's family and community, and the necessity of continuous self-evaluation. The episode concludes with an invitation to join their community for further support and resources.
Navigating Life's Challenges: Micro Actions, Macro Perspectives, and Personal Growth
In this episode of 'The Tactical Empire,' Jeff Smith is joined by Sean Rider to explore how to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship, personal growth, and maintaining a forward-focused mindset. They discuss the importance of balancing micro actions that lead to progress with a macro view that provides perspective on life's problems. The conversation delves into dealing with fear, anxiety, and the tough lessons learned through business and personal struggles, emphasizing the value of stoicism and disciplined growth. Listeners are encouraged to take actionable steps towards their goals while staying grounded in the present moment and learning from past experiences.
00:00 Introduction and Personal Struggles
00:39 Welcome to The Tactical Empire
00:45 Casual Banter and Personal Stories
02:22 Focusing on the Present and Future
04:16 The Importance of Micro Actions
05:57 Facing Challenges and Growth
09:53 Stoicism and Personal Philosophy
14:40 Impact and Influence on Others
22:33 Final Thoughts and Call to Action
184
Jeff Smith: [00:00:00] Man, I suffer from the same fucking thoughts everybody else does. I, I think that like, I mean, it sucks. Like, from time to time, it sucks. And as you level up, it sucks even more.
How do you find the will to fight back against a world that wants to keep you sedated, averaging Stuck in plates. Join us for the tools and strategies you need to create a life of abundance, discipline, and high achievement.
This business, this is The Tactical Empire with Jeff Smith.
Jeff Smith: Welcome to another episode of The Tactical Empire. I'm joined by Sean Rider. How's it going? My.
Shawn Rider: You know, I'm going with the facial hair man, uh, facial hair comment early on, uh, not, not the head comment, the face, you and I must be super busy because we are not shaving our faces. I don't have the extra five minutes, [00:01:00] dude, I just, I don't, I've, I've wanted to for like five days.
Look at that.
Jeff Smith: It's okay. It's okay. You just, you keep letting it grow and you're going to be in trouble because then Kate's going to be like, you can't, you can't trim it.
Shawn Rider: Well, it's at that stage where it's prickly. So if I try and kiss her, she's like, she doesn't like it. So once you get,
Jeff Smith: once you get past that, you can't go back.
That's the thing. So careful,
Shawn Rider: listen, I got my, my beard is three different colors, so I don't think she'd like it. And, uh, it's probably been, let me do some math. It's probably been eight to nine years since I like let it go for two or three months, and it was when, uh, throwback when our CrossFit gym made regionals.
So all the men on the team grew their built beards out for like two to three months. And I had never done that because I have basically red hair in my beard. And it was, there's a photo that comes up once a year in, uh, on Facebook. And like, I'm literally grabbing and it's just, it's, it's nasty. It's the ugliest beard you'd ever see from a non redhead with a red beard.[00:02:00]
It's awesome.
Jeff Smith: Mine will probably be fully gray by next year. I would guess.
Shawn Rider: Underneath your ears. It's definitely gray.
Jeff Smith: I'm rocking two tone. I'm going to keep that black mustache and then get a full gray beard. It's going to be legit.
Shawn Rider: For some reason, the blonde in my beard too is turning white. So I'm just going straight from that to whatever.
So we'll see. But my man, you said something on the last podcast episode, we talked about finishing the year strong, but you made a comment in there that resonated with me on something that I've thought about a lot lately, and your, your comment was about like It's focusing on what's right in front of you and doing what you can do, you can do.
People know that I'm big into socialism, it's like what's in your control, but like, that's not the topic quite for today. The topic for today, especially as someone that built their first brick and mortar business, shut it down, got into another one, has the type of empire with you. I have a real estate portfolio.
I have a few different things that I work on. And it's like, I've seen so many people [00:03:00] that want to know what the future holds. They want to, and it's not about like knowing everything. We talked about that on other podcasts. You don't need to know everything to get started. The extension of that is some people want to know how things are going to play out and every step that they're going to need to take, uh, in this journey of entrepreneurship or investing or whatever it may be building a career inside of a business.
That's perfectly fine as well. Um, but every time I look back on the things that I've had to go through to get, uh, and accomplish and build the business that I have, I'm like, Man, if someone would have told me five years ago, I would have to do X, Y, and Z and get through ABC and do one, two, three, uh, to get to this point.
If someone would have told me that it probably stopped me from doing the damn thing. And so this episode, I kind of want to talk about like the thought exercise on, okay, in the past, we have lessons that we can learn from the past, but then people want to know the future. I'm like, do you really want to know the future?
Because what you're about to go through to get what you want, isn't as. [00:04:00] Rosie and rainbow and sprinkles as you think it may be. And so this episode is the keep people in the here and now. Learn from the past. Be optimistic about the future, but really the only thing you have right now is to be a realist about the situation that you're in.
And
Shawn Rider: what, what micro action can I take to move me a little bit closer without getting sidetracked by the what ifs or the what's going to happen next or what the bullshit that I'm dealing with right now. How do you navigate some of those thoughts or where does your mind go a lot of the times? Does it go back into the past?
Does it go into the future? Are you pretty set on the here and now?
Jeff Smith: Man, I suffer from the same fucking thoughts everybody else does. I, I think that like, I mean, it sucks. Like from time to time, it sucks. And as you level up, it sucks even more. And like, you just have to grow into it. But like the thing that I say to everybody all the time is like, and this is the, this, this is exactly what I tell myself.
So [00:05:00] like you asked me on the last podcast about a post I made in the post is to myself, like the exact same conversation I'm having with myself is. Like, what the fuck is the alternative? The alternative is just to stay the same. Or, or like, knowing what I know, having done a lot of things, is that like, staying the same is a simple, is essentially regressing.
Because the world is moving like that's where you go with your river analogy. If you're standing in a river, like the river is going by you and to stay the same and not do something different, the river, the water is just moving right by you. Right. And so like, what is the alternative? The alternative is to step into your fear, to step into your anxiety.
And to just keep on moving forward. Um, and, and then for me, I oftentimes can find things that I'm avoiding in that conversation as well. Like I've avoided two or three things that I should be buttoning up. And so like, when you talk about what's the alternative, it's [00:06:00] kind of a little pep talk for you to like, cause when you're in that shit and getting really kicked in the nuts, it's usually because you haven't buttoned up to the level that you need to be to really like, Like prepare for that level of storm, if you will, like this happens to me all the time when I take on other projects or I level up in like real estate or I buy something that's an additional zero bigger than the last thing I bought.
And I haven't ever done that before. Like the lessons that are going to get taught to you are, are painful. And, and the longer you sit in it. And, and you make excuses or you pout or you say, Oh, this is taking longer than I thought or whatever, the longer it lasts, like until you go back and analyze yourself and say, what, what am I doing?
What am I avoiding? What corners am I cutting? Like, that's what's making that last longer than it otherwise should. And so like [00:07:00] that question of like, what's the alternative? The alternative is staying there and continuing to have your fucking pity party. And all that does is. Lengthen the long tail effect of how long you're going to be in that shit.
Like I'm, I'm, we've, we've talked about financial plights and things like that on this podcast in the past. And like, I'm a firm believer that like, Most of the people that go bankrupt are people that are just avoiding that, like the work that they need to do for too long. They like stuck their head in the sand and put bandages on it at every turn.
But it's not like generally, there's not catastrophic events that take you out in like one decision. It's a series of abdication of responsibility. It's a series of bad decisions. It's a series of not paying attention to your numbers. And it's usually plenty long enough. Like God gives you plenty of fucking grace to dig yourself out of most every fucking [00:08:00] hole.
And. And we're just stupid humans. And we're like, man, we're just going to ignore him again and see if we can go five years. And like, it's, I truly believe that. And so like, when I say what's the alternative, like, the alternative is to just keep on moving forward. And like, I'm a big believer that like, we're all just part of this energetic human experience.
Like, little orbs floating around in a universe that we're insignificant in. And so like, it's our job to, to make the most of the time that we have here. And, and, and part of that is challenging yourself through growth, pain and suffering. And like, it sounds horrible, but it is what it is. And to your point about like, um, like 20 years ago, if you would do the same things, like I, I think you probably wouldn't, but it's out of inexperience and maybe immaturity, you might have chose an easier path, but like, that's just not how, like, [00:09:00] you're built to, like, go through life.
And for me, I chose the easier path out of the military, and we've talked about that, and like, it drove me fucking crazy. I was like, holy shit, I'm not really gonna live 20 years. Like, so it doesn't even matter. This is stealing my soul and like, cause you were settling every day. So when you talk about what's the alternative, the alternative is to not live up to your potential, not seize your potential, not go out and get what fucking world has to offer you.
And, and, and you're just. Stagnating and settling for mediocrity, which will kill your soul and it'll kill you internally as a man I think like that's my experience in it. At least I I don't pontificate and talk about like putting myself in other people's shoes But that is my personal experience
Shawn Rider: Uh, well this podcast was supposed to be for the people jeff not talking directly to me And the the sufferings that I go through mentally [00:10:00] Um, but no people know in my past like i'm always I have a habit of thinking about what could go wrong so I can have a preset game plan for if and when that thing happens.
I've, I've stepped away from how often and how long and how deep those thoughts occur just because of the practicing stoicism and I guess it was Seneca or one of them that said about like we, we suffer more in imagination than we do in real life and so like that, reading that 20, Thousand times finally like connected with me.
It was like, Hey, if that things if that thing Actually happened. I have a track record Of figuring it out, right? You kind of just put it that in another term in another phrase. You were saying like, God gives us a ton of leeway to figure this shit out. Well, that's, that's the conclusion I've come from. Um, like something happens and something always happens And my first reaction is I don't want to deal [00:11:00] with this I'm gonna get rid of this thing like right now right now there is a sewage issue at one of my airbnbs and like Of course, the first thought in my head is like, sell the damn property.
Because I don't want to send a plumber in there and pay 400 for a plumbing situation when I could just sell the property and put the money out, like whatever it may be. And again, I'm, I'm totally open to selling shit because the extension of that is not only do I have a track record of figuring things out, nothing is going to be detrimental to my life, uh, besides passing away and dying, which I hope doesn't happen.
Uh, but while like, This is going to be an interesting thing to say, and, and I don't know how it's going to come out of my mouth while I'm, while I'm trying to progress while I'm trying to build these things while I'm doing all this to hopefully benefit, you know, my family and the people I hire and all this other stuff.
The other side of me is like, Those things aren't me. That's not the [00:12:00] definition of me. I'm not tied to these things. My life's purpose isn't to be these things for the rest of my life, or have these things. And I think that's what the Stoics have taught me the most, is like, it's okay to have those things.
It's okay to build, you know, your empire. It's okay to do all this. But will you be okay without it? Like, once you reconcile that thought To me, people might see, say that it's like, Oh, then you're not like, like, you're, you're not going to push hard enough. Like, no, no, no, no. For me, it gives me permission to go get it because like, because if it, even if I don't get it, I know I'll be fine.
But. As you've said, what is the alternative? The alternative is to have nothing, you know, and not, not trying to improve, not trying to give your best, not because, because you've said this before. It's like, if I'm not trying to be my best, then the other people around me, if we're [00:13:00] working towards something, Like I'm not doing a duty to them.
I am having a disservice to their ability to progress. And that's not the type of person that I want to be. So going back to the original thought is like, we all have thoughts about the future. We all have thoughts about the what ifs, but every second you take every sleepless night you have about these things hinders your ability to take the micro action to get you a step closer to accomplishing what it is that you want to accomplish and potentially avoid.
The negative thing that could happen, the issue that could have the problem could happen, but even if it does happen, you have a track record. If you're listening to this podcast, you probably have a track record of figuring something else. Okay. Look at everything that's happened in your past. Either you solved the problem, found someone else to help solve the problem, or you didn't solve the problem, but you moved on anyways.
And the fourth factor I would say is. It's not like time solves everything, [00:14:00] like I'm not going to say that, but like some of the things that we think are problems, even if we just don't do anything about it. They dissipate and disappear and they're really not a problem anymore. Like that's it, that, that, that's it.
And that, that's what I've learned in my short experience of 10, 11, 12 years of owning businesses and running businesses. And at the end of the day, just maturing as an individual, as a man, as a, as a husband and as a father, like we figure these things out and the things that we think are problems on a daily basis, in hindsight, aren't.
Problems the way we think they are.
Jeff Smith: Yeah. And, and some different ways to think about it, guys, is like, depending on what resonates with you or where your motivation is derived from, like you have a spiritual responsibility to pursue your like optimization, [00:15:00] like to utilize your gifts for the good of whatever the community, and then again, like it goes back to like being the example for other people.
Like, to your point about, like, if I'm not pushing and there's people that are looking at my example, like, there's certainly people in my household, my kids are watching me, like, saying, hey, could you just be a shitbag that settles for whatever, and like, is that a fulfilling life? I mean, they're watching me.
My wife is watching me to see if, like, I'm going to provide safety and security for our family. Or, like, What am I doing? And the people around you are watching you, your sphere of influence. I think, I think people take way too lightly their ability to impact others and the, the influence that that holds, um, most people go around in life and tell themselves a story that like, nobody's watching them.
Nobody's paying attention. Their role in this world is insignificant. [00:16:00] Um, but, but the reality is like, people are watching you. Eyeballs are watching you. Like even strangers are watching you like walk down the street when no one's around and you don't think anybody's watching you and like pick up trash, throw it in the trash.
Like if somebody will notice that and they'll be like, huh, that's very interesting that that person, while not looking for any recognition. From anybody else just took this action, right? Just simple things like that, like behaving a certain way, holding a certain standard when no one's looking and no recognition is coming.
Like it to the point of stoicism that you're talking about. Like that's how they tried to behave. They aspired to behave. And that is that that's seeking like your true purpose. Like it takes that type of level of discipline and commitment to who you're being and honesty. With like, Hey, I fell short here to be able to pursue your [00:17:00] actual potential.
And so like, whether it's your kids that motivate you, whether it's your relationship with your spouse that motivates you, whether it's your relationship with your God that motivates you, or it's just you saying, listen, motherfucker, I'm wasting my life here. And so like, what's the alternative? The alternative is wasting time and the clock is ticking.
And to your point, nothing really matters three years from now, five years from now. The problems that you have, that you've got your head wrapped around, that you're pissed off about your wife or kicking your dog about today, don't fucking matter in 72 hours. Most of the time, they definitely don't matter in 72 days.
And like, So it's, it's about framing your overall look at life. And, and when you're looking at like trying to pursue something greater than you, like, I don't think you get wrapped around an identity like you're talking about. So like, that's a very mature way to look at [00:18:00] it. Cause I think in, when we're younger, we, we do, we, We wrap up our identity and our purpose in our job, our profession, our business.
And I used to do the same thing for sure. And I dealt with some of that coming out of the military that we've talked about. And then you get into these roles of like, ultimately, are you, are you Jeff the, real estate investor, or you Sean, the gym owner, the franchisee, like you're, you're all of these things.
And like, when you accept that, that like, you're a father, you're a guy who likes to read your whatever, a guy who likes to sit in a fucking sauna and like, you're, you're just a variety of things. I think people get wrapped up. It's the same type of thing you started the conversation like wanting to know every micro, like step.
You, you have to look at like the all encompassing result of what [00:19:00] you're trying to become and, and as a business, as an, as a venture, I had a conversation with a person this morning. I was on the phone with them and I was talking to them about. And they were asking, like, if you were talking to that avatar, what's, what's your biggest frustration?
I said, my biggest frustration is I've been fucking beating people over the head with this information since like 2016. And all those people told me that they were going to do it later. Do it later, do it later. The few that did it in 2016 are now like completely free. But the people that didn't do it.
That have waited and spent seven or eight years waiting to start. They've missed out on that entire eight years. And that part is the most frustrating thing to me because like the, just like life investing is the same way. The results are not sexy or transparent in the first three months, six months.
Like these are analogies for everything. Fitness, relationships, like all of it. [00:20:00] It all just is one foot in front of the other for a long fucking time. And then you look up and you're like, huh. This has been pretty fantastic. I'm in pretty good shape. Like, we got a little bit of money. Like, we've had a pretty good life.
Or you raise your kids. I think raising kids is one of the easiest way to, like, look at it. You got 18 years with them. 18 years. And so in 20 years, my wife and I are going to look back and say, Huh, we either did a good job or we didn't do a good job or man, that went fast. Like there's all these things that are going to happen right now.
There's a million micro decisions, daily shit that goes on in there. But like the macro level is what you're trying to create is, is solid human beings that still like you and want to be around you and like carry your values into the future. I think business investing, everything you're doing is similar to that, but you can make that impact on anybody, even if they're not your children.[00:21:00]
Shawn Rider: What I like about what came out of this discussion is like. In a short sense, like focus on the micro actions, but if you feel yourself like dragging through mud and it's starting to get nasty in your head, like now you have to zoom out and that that's really where the big picture comes in. And like you said, is it a problem in 72 hours?
Yes or no? If it's a yes, is it going to be a problem in 72 days? Yes or no? If it's a yes, how about in 72 years? Eventually, you'll get to a no. So you always have to zoom out to put things in perspective. But the zoom out is not how we get shit done. So to get shit done, you need to do the micro. In order to put things in perspective and know that you don't have it that bad.
Now you need to look at the macro. So it is this ebb and flow. And I do like, uh, what we've discussed on the last two podcasts, which is like, if you guys follow Jeff and I on social, when we make posts, I've said this at our, at our type of empire, inner, inner [00:22:00] circle meetups is like, My social media is my Marcus Aurelius meditations.
When I post, I'm not posting to y'all. Like, those are my inner thoughts, and those are the journal entries that I'm having to have with myself to keep myself on the right path, to keep myself sane as I go through things that I never could have imagined that I would go through, positive or, or negative.
Negative. I don't like saying negative, but like the problems too, it's like, Hey, yeah, I'm just dealing with this right now and I've gotten through. I have plenty of others. So I hope this helps. If you guys are doing anything, follow us, reach out. If you need any insights, reach out to us. Uh, this call made me realize I need to do a mentor call with Jeff just so I can read him in on, Hey dude, like what are your thoughts on what I've been doing?
And, and here's how my, my finances look and here's what I'm kind of struggling with mentally. So if you guys need. Jeff and I, we, we got on calls with people all the time. So if you just need a quick 15, 20 minutes to kind of brain dump or, or vent and get someone else's two cents, we're [00:23:00] unbiased to your situation.
Um, and if we don't have anything to help, we'll find someone that's gotten something to help for your situation. So Jeff, anything else to send the people out on? If not, tell them where they can find us.
Jeff Smith: Yeah, join the Tactical Empire community on Facebook. Uh, like and subscribe to us on YouTube. We just hit 500 pieces of content on our YouTube channel.
Uh, there's a lot of information out there, not a lot of followers. So, subscribe to us and, uh, let us know if you have any questions. Like Sean said, shoot us a DM. We're happy to help. Um, Cause when we're focused on our problems, the best thing you can do is focus on helping other people. So, cause the answers always present themselves out of helping other people.
And so I'm happy to be here to help shoot us a DM. Um, we can hop on a call. We can chat it up about if you're fit for the inner circle, or if we've got free content for you. We've got a ton of resources to help you hit 25 real hard and, um, just start accumulating your wealth [00:24:00] and your freedom for you and your family.
Have a great day.