**Guest Appearance on Next Level Minds**
Have you ever scribbled down your dreams only to find them collecting dust in a drawer? We uncover the transformative act of intention and goal setting, exploring my own evolution from a place of anger to living a life fueled by purpose and deliberate action.
Topics Covered:
Connect With Chris!
Next Level Minds Podcast
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Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
**Guest Appearance on Next Level Minds**
Have you ever scribbled down your dreams only to find them collecting dust in a drawer? We uncover the transformative act of intention and goal setting, exploring my own evolution from a place of anger to living a life fueled by purpose and deliberate action.
Topics Covered:
Connect With Chris!
Next Level Minds Podcast
Social
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
a question I like to pose to myself often, like what is our true potential? And I don't think it's one that I don't think it's a question that we'll ever really know the answer to, because when you commit to this journey, when you commit to this lifestyle, I had a mentor tell me this that you're really on a mountain with no peak. You know, there's a reason why people like to add my leads the Brandon Bouchard, who we were talking about before hopping on here, the Richard Branson's. There's a reason why they haven't just hung up their shoes, even though they have hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. It's because they're on the mountain with no peak, too, and they're constantly challenging and assessing what their true potential is, and I don't think we'll ever really know the answer.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Win Today Podcast, a weekly tool intentionally crafted to help people enhance performance, feel inspired and conquer life. Our commitment is that you will learn from some of the most disciplined, heartwarming and inspiring people on the globe, in addition to receiving a piece of a winning playbook from myself or a renowned expert in their field. My name is Ryan Kass and I'm your host, and it is my purpose in this world to inspire people, to establish a foundation for sustained success by developing systems that will enable you to accomplish your goals, break systemic trends of adversity and chart a desirable course for life. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please help us achieve our vision of becoming one of the top podcasts in the world by subscribing to the show, sharing it with somebody who you believe will benefit from it and leaving a review. Let's connect with our guest. What's up everyone?
Speaker 1:This week I'm going to be on the other side of the microphone as this is a replay from the Next Level Minds podcast, which I recently appeared on.
Speaker 1:This is hosted by my friend, chris Chapman, who has been on this podcast before, and Chris is, like me, somebody that is ambitious and is balancing the podcast on top of a corporate role, and I really appreciate Chris's intention that he puts into his work and into the world. He's also somebody that's passionate about goals, and it's an honor to have the opportunity to be on the other side of the mic with him. Here we talk about systems, my framework for developing systems and setting clear goals in 2024, in addition to a little bit more of why I do what I do and we get into resiliency a little bit. I like to share these episodes as replays because it allows the opportunity for you guys to get to know me better, especially folks that have recently subscribed. So here you get to see a little bit of me from the other side. Support Chris and Next Level Minds and win today. Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1:Ryan, good to have you back on the podcast, brother, I'm fired up to be back here, fresh out of a traffic jam and excited to be with you, man.
Speaker 2:Dude, I loved what you said, though offline, about the mindset behind it. I'd love if you could just kind of reshare that, because I'm sure out the gate a lot of listeners would love to hear.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what folks don't know is that Chris and I were supposed to be doing this interview about an hour and a half ago and it appeared as when I was leaving the office, that it was going to be my normal 20-minute drive home, and it turned into an hour and a half drive home. And as I'm sitting there in the car, there's a couple options. You can sit and be upset and pound the steering wheel or curse, or just choose to be angry over something that's out of your control and be mad that you missed the podcast. Or I look at it as, hey, this is an opportunity that now I get to listen to an amazing podcast episode with Ed Millett and Brennan Brashard and I get to make a few phone calls and with anything in life, we have a choice as to how we're going to respond to it. And also, if the worst thing that happens to me today is that I sat in my car for an extra hour and a half, things are going pretty well in life and a lot of people in this world would love to have your worst problem that day.
Speaker 1:The one thing I think about at work is that people are complaining about the long walk from the parking lot, and then I think about people that are in wheelchairs and you think through that for a minute, think about how many people and maybe people that are listening are included, and I've definitely, at earlier points in life, taken something as simple as a long walk to a building, as look at this long walk, you know how many people would kill to have that long walk. So it's just with these moments, these temporary moments rather, that may present conflict or an inconvenience, always flip the script and look at what can this give me right now. So that's what I offer to anyone listening. Always flip the script, dude, I love that.
Speaker 2:I think that's a great way to start the episode and just to piggyback off. That. I mean totally agree with all the points you made. But I also think kind of adding to that is that everything always works out for the reason that it should work out. For example, if we had originally recorded it at 5.30, I had about an hour of eight to five work that I had to do after. But since we pushed it back an hour, I was like I'm just going to do this now, and now I can get done with the podcast, eat dinner, pack for my trip and go to sleep, versus having to do the podcast, get back into work grind mode, eat dinner, then pack. So I'm like I'm very glad it kind of worked out this way type of thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go, yeah, there you go and take advantage of the opportunity, the new opportunity that gets presented, and you go from there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean challenge. I already out the gate man. Challenge for the listeners is whatever circumstance you're dealing with, try to think about that perspective that Ryan shared and try to think about this situation, the circumstance. That serves a bigger reason. Although the reason I shared was very simplistic, that's still a bigger reason of why this happened. So that's what I wanted to share. But diving in Ryan, I think a good question to kind of really kick us off into even a higher gear is I know you are extremely passionate about breaking generational curses, so I would love if you could take it from there and first kind of say why has this happened, why are you passionate about that? And then maybe some things out the gate of what you're doing right now to help others break some generational curses.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. I often tell people that the greatest gift I've ever received in this life is growing up in a family with a systemic trend of alcoholism and mental and emotional abuse. And I say it's the greatest gift because, for many reasons. One, it's what has created this conversation today. It's what has created and fueled a lot of the things that I choose and get to do today, whether it's a keynote speech or recording on my own podcast and coaching clients, and the list goes on and on. It's created so many fantastic things that I would have never imagined in those difficult moments.
Speaker 1:But life early on looked like me often playing the middleman between my parents and just stepping into a lot of chaotic scenes at home that you wouldn't want your children to see, fueled by alcohol, and some of them to the point to where police would show up at the house. And my main objective was making sure that everything was OK. And then my little sister, who was three years younger than me, didn't see what was going on. And what really bugged me about it, chris, is that those experiences I just named have just been passed down from family line to family line to family line. And then it's here in this house that I'm living in, and I remember in those moments I was very angry at the world and upset why is this happening to me? I didn't know about this whole personal development world and really things don't happen to us in life, things happen for us and I didn't know about this. How is this happening for me, question. Yet so, being angry and upset, I did start envisioning well, what would I want to do with my life and how do I want to make it look different? And I remember I'm making myself a promise that the buck stops with me. I'm not going to be the next one to carry this on.
Speaker 1:And so that really just led me down this path of researching some of the best leaders in the world, most renowned people that we often talk about Ed Milet, tony Robbins, richard Branson, warren Buffett and as I'm learning about all these people and really what sets them apart, I discovered that they're all very intentional about writing their goals down and looking at those every day and building systems.
Speaker 1:And I'll just never forget asking myself is it really that simple, is it really that freaking simple to get whatever you want in life and to end generational trauma just by writing it down and looking at it every day, and I did that for the first time in 2011, during my first semester of college at the Citadel, and never turned back from there.
Speaker 1:It absolutely changed my life, and why I'm so passionate about this is because there's a lot of people in this world that come from a broken household or live in a family that has been impacted by a generational curse, generational trauma, that view it as something happening to them, versus for them.
Speaker 1:And by these simple mindset shifts and by this simple practice of even writing down what you want and looking at it every day, it shifts your behavior, it shifts your thinking, it shifts your way of being. You start finding the positives in everything, you start focusing on things that you want to create, you start rewiring your subconscious to be more intentional, and it's the most powerful, beautiful and simple thing that I want everyone, regardless of if you've been impacted by this or not. We all face difficulties in our lives and have all been impacted by something. There's something deep down that drives everybody, but I've found this to be a gateway to end the curse, to make sure that the buck does stop with me, and that's again what has created this conversation and led me to start a lot of things outside of my corporate role to serve these people and just show people that we can create any life that we want when we choose what we're intentional about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I just want to say firsthand I'm sure you've received this feedback before, but just watching you from afar and even close up, it's so cool to see what you've been able to do so far in life. I know you and I are both just scratching the surface of our potential, which is honestly the coolest part, but I love to see that and I love to see just the intentionality behind it. You can tell when somebody is real or fake and every time you've talked about this, I can just tell you're so genuine and honestly, so intentional about it and, frankly, it seems to be that this is like a big driver for you of why you're doing all these things and what gets you out of bed in the morning. So I just love to see it from this perspective over here.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that, man. It means a lot and, yeah, I don't believe that you or I have even gotten close to the surface yet, and that's something that is so exciting. It's something that's so exciting and not just for us, but the people listening. Think about how many folks that are being intentional about tuning into this. And if you're listening to this right now, it's because you crave the to get the most out of life and see Chris as somebody you can learn from, which you absolutely can learn from Chris, and it's an honor to be on here right now.
Speaker 1:But, man, I think that's just in a question I like to pose to myself often, like what is our true potential?
Speaker 1:And I don't think it's one that.
Speaker 1:I don't think it's a question that we'll ever really know the answer to.
Speaker 1:Because when you commit to this journey, when you commit to this lifestyle I had a mentor tell me this that you're really on a mountain with no peak.
Speaker 1:You know, there's a reason why people like the Edmillettes, the Vernon Richard who we were talking about before hopping on here, the Richard Branson's there's a reason why they haven't just hung up their shoes, even though they have hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. It's because they're on the mountain with no peak too, and they're constantly challenging and assessing what their true potential is, and I don't think we'll ever really know the answer. A question I like to pose to myself often, like what is our true potential? And I don't think it's one that I don't think it's a question that we'll ever really know the answer to, because when you commit to this journey, when you commit to this lifestyle, I had a mentor tell me this that you're really on a mountain with no peak.
Speaker 1:You know, there's a reason why people like the Edmillettes, the Vernon Richard, who we were talking about before, hopping on here, the Richard Branson's there's a reason why they haven't just hung up their shoes, even though they have hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. It's because they're on the mountain with no peak too, and they're constantly challenging and assessing what their true potential is, and I don't think we'll ever really know the answer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and to me that's the fun part of it, you know, yeah, yeah, I mean I think the cool thing when you adopt that mindset and then also mixing it back to what you just referenced of the goals and writing them down and all the important stuff there, right, but like I have the mentality that if you wake up every day and you're looking at your goals and then you're also putting in the systems and habits and all that stuff towards those goals, I find a lot of joy in that personally, because it's like I know every single day I'm getting closer and closer to just my ideal life. One year down the road, five years down the road, 10 years down the road, and I know when I go to bed at night I'm like man, I just did all these things the podcast is Ryan, the client meetings, the workouts, the tracking, my macros. This week it's like boom, I'm getting close to that goal and to me like that brings a ton of happiness. I'm sure you would kind of agree with that too, right?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, the number one motivator. I referenced this in a lot of my speeches. Now. The number one motivator for people, you may think and I also thought too, like it could be. Maybe it's money, maybe it's happiness, maybe it's possessions, but material items. This Harvard business review showed that the number one motivator for humans is progress, moving forward, even if it's the most minuscule bit of progress, even if it's literally one step progress when people move closer to their goals and create quick wins, even if it's just. I did a 10 minute workout today and I checked that box off.
Speaker 1:Studies show that you release just as much dopamine from checking that list off of your quick win or crossing off that goal, that you release just as much dopamine from that as you would after, say, a two-hour long hard workout. Wow. So you create this drug for yourself. Like this concept of progress, is this drug, this good drug that we can create for ourselves?
Speaker 1:And I love that you write things down and I also encourage people like write down. There shouldn't be a day that goes by where you don't have three things that you can do that day that are going to get you closer to your goals, or even three quick wins, whether it's making your bed, whether it's folding the laundry, like the most simple things. And then you do that repeatedly over time you build your confidence, you become more invested in your habits, you become more invested in the journey and you just start believing in yourself more and you're like man, look at all these things I'm doing. If I could do that little thing, I can do this little thing and small becomes big. You want to win big. You got to win small first, and I love what you said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then just stack the wins. And I love what you said too, about like the joy you get from checking it off and it's funny how that works. And I think there's a misconception of it's like okay, well, I have to do this physical activity and read the book and read this, and although you should be investing a lot of time into those things, it's like don't get trapped in the mindset of like I have to do an hour workout and 30 pages and this and this. It's like, dude, some days not all days, right, but some days when I'm super busy, I may only get a one or two mile run in and maybe only five pages and maybe only two minutes of visualization. That wraps up to only being like 30 minutes. Again, would much rather have more time, but at least you still move the needle right.
Speaker 1:It's 30 minutes more than zero, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think that's super cool, and I know you touched on this on the first time we spoke on Next Level Minds, which was about a year ago. But I would love, since 2024 is approaching and I don't want to spend too much time here because I want to talk about all the runs and stuff too. I think that's really, really solid. But can you just go over kind of like your systematic approach when it comes to like goal settings and then maybe like the execution behind it, because I think a lot of people could get some value out of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'll. How about this? I'll share my winner framework that I developed and I'll go through that, and then what I'll do is conceptualize okay, here's how I actually write this stuff down and look at it every day and build the day to day. So when we think about a winner in life, what does that person do? What represents a winner? So let's dissect it real quick. So W is one.
Speaker 1:You got to write everything down. Get in the habit of writing everything your daily checklist, your goals, the little wins. If you don't write stuff down now, start writing things down Any personal development book. You read any of the experts that you listen to. They will tell you the same thing. And I'll share my favorite stat, which people that have listened to me before have known. I've probably said this close to a million times now Just by writing things down, you're 42% more likely to accomplish it. That's proven by a study by Dr Gail Matthews. And I'll leave it there Write everything down. Now.
Speaker 1:The next thing, the I, is you identify what it is that is important to you. So that may be completely different from me to you. It could be completely different from whoever's listening. So I say identify what's important. So if you think about what is. If I ask you what's really important in your life, you would start naming things off such as your family, your fitness, your faith, your finance. For some other people, it could be their, their relationship, it could be fitness and the environment, anything but what are the five things no more than five things that are important to you in life? And then let's just take one, so fitness. Then identify like what does success look like in that? So if we fast forwarded the clock to, let's just say, december 31st, 2024. Now, and you say fitness is something that's important to you, what would success look like? What would make you say man, 2024 was a great year in fitness because I ran my first marathon, or I lost 25 pounds, or I gained five pounds of muscle. That's what success looks like. Okay, great.
Speaker 1:Now we get into systems. So when we talk about now, we're in the end, we're in the first end. So a goal is simply a desired outcome. What allows you to accomplish a goal, rather, what enables you to accomplish a goal, is you build a system around it. So for this goal of, let's say, losing 25 pounds, the question really is what person, what type of person, must you become? You must become someone that works out frequently. You must become somebody that prioritizes their diet. You must become somebody that prioritizes their recovery. So that first end is you normalize habits, you normalize the behaviors you really, you build system around it. The second end is you notify people.
Speaker 1:Going back to the stats 42%, when you share your goals with somebody. So if I tell you, chris, that my goal and one of my goals in 2024 is to complete the New York and Chicago marathons, because you know that and I value being a man with my word and a person of integrity and someone that does what they say they're gonna do, now studies show I'm 70% more likely to accomplish that thing Because it's written and now you know about it. And if I tell you about this all the time, additional studies show this is my new favorite stat that you're 90% more likely to accomplish it. So this is how you hack life and this is how you just make the odds work in your favor, and it's nothing grandiose now. Now we're at the E, and the E is you eliminate excuses and you eliminate limiting language. There's no room for excuses in this formula and there's no room for limiting language. So I don't want anyone to try to Be more fit in 2024, because when you say I'm gonna try to work out tomorrow, what that says is and Maybe I'll work out tomorrow, it's optional, versus when you say I'm going to work out tomorrow, now You're triggering in your brain that an action is going to be taken tomorrow. An action is going to be taken to move you closer to becoming more fit or to To accomplishing your professional goal, to being more intentional about your relationship, your marriage, whatever the case may be. So eliminate limiting language and try is just.
Speaker 1:It's my least favorite word in the In the vocab in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. I can't stand it. It needs to be Eradicated from the dictionary. If I was president for a day, I would get rid of that word. And then, and then the R is you repeat, repeat, repeat. You do this stuff repeatedly over time and it is amazing. It is amazing what can be accomplished and what can be created in life.
Speaker 1:And just as a is a visual like okay, you may be thinking great, now how do I actually apply this practice to writing my goals down? Identify what's important, get your categories no more than five and then no more than Three goals. So you're five and three rule no more than three things in each bucket. And if this is your first time doing it, then I would encourage anyone to Put one thing, one thing, in each box.
Speaker 1:And one of the biggest things I've learned and I believe, chris, you, this, you could speak to this too is, on this journey, less equals more when it comes to goals, even if you only have three goals written down for the year, those three goals could be monumental and require monumental effort, and Everything that you've gotten your heart and soul and that's and in accomplishing those three things May set you up for the next five, ten, fifteen years, I don't know versus writing down a hundred things, thinking that Writing down more things equals more ambition and then getting mad at yourself that you only accomplish one of them. So, as Years have gone by, I've actually condensed my lists more and more and more, and in 2024 I'll be doing it again and there'll be less goals on there, but they're going to be much more challenging, much higher quality, and that's what I, that's what I encourage everyone, that's how I encourage everyone to get into this and to build systems. Think about the winner framework and you will win. You will have challenges, but you will win.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that, I love that framework. I don't think you shared that acronym, if you will, on the last episode, so I like that. You broke it down in that lens there. And I really like what you said about the keeping it simple. It's like I've struggled with that too in the past, like you were talking about, where it's like I wrote down like 25 goals or 50 something goals and then it's like, well, I'm just scrambling at the end versus like the deeper Better to go deeper than than wider mentality there. Yep, so, and yeah, I mean your approach is cool because it's like at the most, you'll have what 15 Written down if you, you know five categories, three for each and then you know, if you're simplistic, you'll have you know five type of thing that you can really focus on. So I think that's super cool. And you took the thought out of my head.
Speaker 2:I was about to ask you about accountability because I remember you called me one time at like 5 30 in the morning, like just making sure you're getting up, and I was like, yeah, I'm actually a mystery call. And I was like, dude, I'm at the gym, don't worry. And I had to remember that I sent you the picture of it. Yeah, whatever, yeah, so I was gonna ask you about the importance of that, but you touched on it with the winter framework there. So I appreciate all that Absolutely, dude, let's, let's shift a little bit, and this is obviously stuff that's important to you and I think it's a super unique story.
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously you've done Ultra runs, marathons, all that. You obviously just ran 100 miles on the Cooper River Bridge, which I think is crazy, just the amount of like back and forth you have to do there. So I want you to touch on that. But I like I also want you to dive into, like, your six-year Boston marathon journey, because I Think that can capture a lot of different people, whether you're a runner, whether you're trying to gain weight, whether you're trying to lose weight, whether you're on this eight-year, five-year, two-year journey of trying to start a business, like. I think the themes in your story there encompass everyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, let's. Let's tie it back to what I just mentioned, that I just broke down a framework and then said If you do this, you will win. Now the caveat is that there will be challenges and, in life, even if you have the best system in the world, you've got the most clear goal. You look at it every day, just like I didn't know that it was gonna take me an hour and a half to get home today, life will throw you a curveball or two and it's up to you and how you respond to that and, and in this case, life through many curveballs and you guess what. You get back in the batter's box and you put the bat up and you're like all right, I'm ready for the next pitch, let's go. You know, I'm not not leaving this batter's box until I get a hit, or I get on base or I hit my home run. So in 2017, I wrote down that a goal to to run, run a marathon and qualify for Boston. And, for some context, the reason why the Boston marathon is so significant, especially in the United States, is it's the oldest marathon and it is old school in the sense that the only way you get into Boston is Is by qualifying. Like there's no lottery system, they do. They do have some charity fundraising slots, but besides that, compared to the other world major marathons in Chicago, new York, london, berlin, tokyo Boston is the only one that doesn't have the the lucky lottery system. So you, you have to, you get to qualify and, as being an under 34 year old male, the qualifying standards for Boston is running a sub three hour marathon, so at minimum, that's a six minute 51 second per mile pace and I love Pursuing very challenging, ambitious goals and I figure we'll. I don't want to just run a marathon, I want to go, go, go for the go for the gold man, and you know what's the hardest thing I can do, and so Set my sights on Boston. That year, 2017, got injured Unforseen. Didn't really know too much what I was doing, I would actually, I didn't train that well and I would go run as hard as I could every single day, figuring, okay, well, to get fast and run fast for a long time, you must always run fast and I found that I just plateaued a lot, so learned a little bit more about the sport and what to do 2018. I was like all right, didn't happen in 2017. I'm gonna write it down in 2018 no go injured again and but got better at training. I'm making progress. 2019 okay, I'm definitely gonna qualify this year like I'm fast, I'm strong, I'm doing all the right things, I'm changing my shoes out, all the good stuff. January 23rd 2019, I was going for what I thought was my normal run and Just just got done, talking to my dad and told him I was going for run after work my normal, my normal eight mile route, and 10 minutes into that run, crossing a crosswalk, I was struck by an SUV and I woke up at the trauma unit at Medical University of South Carolina here in Charleston. So thank God that I'm here. The big man clearly has a few things set for me. That's why I still get to be here today, because so then, so that takes 2019 out of the picture. 2020, as the world knows, a few things got canceled that year. So, no, no qualifying that year. 2021 100% gonna be my year.
Speaker 1:I'm back, made all this progress, strong, everything Go to the Wilmington marathon.
Speaker 1:I'm running a great race. Paces are a little out of control, but I'm still. I'm going wicked fast and at mile 16, you know, I know something's wrong like I can't reach into my gel pouch anymore to get my nutrition. But at that point I'm thinking alright, I've been going at this for four years now. I'm not stopping. It's 10 miles, like kind of thing. Like David Goggins, I suck it up. You know, you keep going and it doesn't matter what the body says, you keep going. It's about the mind. So that's what I'm telling myself. And Then at mile 20, I'm really something's really wrong, cause at this point I'm starting to lose even more feeling. But then my that Goggins is saying six more miles, suck it up and keep going. Mile 22 and 23. I mean, I'm literally starting to feel like I'm falling asleep. Like this is, this isn't just a, this is more of like a mechanical thing Now. Like something is actually wrong in the body, like the systems you know. Like this is this isn't a mindset thing either.
Speaker 2:You can't push your guess.
Speaker 1:Something's, something's very wrong, but I still refuse. I'm thinking, all right, I'm, I'm getting way off pace now, but I'm going to miraculously recover and come back and bounce back and I'll sprint my way and start running six minute miles out of nowhere. And at mile 24, it takes a turn for the worst. I'm running into parked cars Like it looks, like I'm a newborn giraffe, like my legs are just falling out from under me. So thank God that the medics ripped me off. That's that's why marathons are so expensive, by the way, for all the insurance and everything that they need to have. So, so a medic rips me off and says you're done, and I'm saying let me go, let me go, I got two miles I can feed. I'm going to finish this freaking thing. You know I'm going to sprint back and they start taking my readings. Like Mr Cass, you're at risk for cardiac arrest, like your heart rates, and like the 230, like 220, and I so end up in the hospital and I was like all right, well, back we go. Another opportunity. Failure equals opportunity. There's no real such thing as failure. It's just an opportunity. It's an opportunity to get better and learn something about yourself. Do it differently.
Speaker 1:So, 10 months later in 2022, go back to the exact same race, got a chip on my shoulder. It's been five years now at this point and I'm running. What I didn't know is at mile 12, like my parents actually were following me the whole time they came to Wilmington. They stood in the middle of the road at mile 12. So they could know, so they could let me know that they were there. And at that point I'm telling myself, like dude, you better freaking qualify. And at mile 22 and 23, again that wall starts coming up. But at this point that was just a mental wall. And mile 24 was my fastest mile of the entire race and ended up qualifying for Boston in 2022. And I got to run the Boston marathon this year after six years, seven years, seven year journey.
Speaker 1:So all that to say that when you initially write something down, you may get it when you want it and when you expect it and in many cases has been the case with me, has been the case with you, chris, like you're not always going to get it when you want it, but the beauty is in the process and each year along those seven, you know, it taught me something new and it made me stronger, made me more capable, not just as a runner but just to handle life's challenges. You know, there's been some times where over the last few years, you know, I've lost some good friends, some close relationships have been severed and I think, despite a lot of the intentional tests that running has provided, you know, it's helped make those things easier, it's helped make the longer days at the office flow more smoothly, and there's so much good. There is so much good to be found in the moment of despair, in the moments of struggle, in the moments of negativity. There is always good and that's what I wish that people get from that journey.
Speaker 2:Dude, there's a ton to unpack there. I'll congratulate you again of like how badass that is of first off, even qualifying, second, finishing and third, just like to keep going Like I'm glad those medics pulled you off because of the heart rate and all that, but it's like man, that's some true mental toughness to like keep going under those conditions there. So I think that's super cool and I think the biggest thing, dude and this is what I'm like personally like coaching a lot of primarily young men on, but it's like flipping that victim mentality from instead of like why me, looking at this challenge, this struggle, is like a gift because of all the things that you just mentioned there. So I love that you, you share that story with us, brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, yeah. And then the other the other way I look at it too is like look, look at all these cool stories I get to tell now. Yeah, how cool is that? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean I wouldn't change.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't change the thing. I wouldn't change the thing about it. I wouldn't change any of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to say, like every time you conquer a struggle, it's kind of like you can add that to the arsenal of I'm just going to say this story and talk about this and impact somebody, whether it's a speech, a podcast, a solo episode, you name it. So I think that's that's a good way to look at it as well. Dude, I want to talk to you also about you talked about relationships a little bit. Well, like where, where do you find your balance? Because you wrote down like what's important to you. You have the systems, you have this right, but, like you're doing a lot, just like me. I mean, you have the full time job, the coaching, the podcast, so those are three things we share. But then you have, like, your aggressive training of running right, running 10 miles to train takes a hell of a lot longer than it does for me to do a 45 minute workout. So it's kind of like what's your balance to handle all those important areas of your?
Speaker 1:life, yeah, so you build a system around it and you get very good at looking ahead and eliminating any guesswork. So there's no day that goes by where I wake up and I'm scratching my head like, all right, what am I going to do today? The reason why it's so important to put your goals down in front of you and to write down these, the things that you want to accomplish, is one, because it gets it out of your head and there's no chance of it getting lost amongst the myriad of thoughts that we have throughout the course of a day, which experts estimate we have 50,000 to 80,000 thoughts. Our minds are always running. And two, it allows you to look at okay, this thing, I say, is really important. So I've got this calendar, I've got these time blocks. Where am I going to fit it?
Speaker 1:And you mentioned the podcasts and the things that, the various things that that I choose to do. Not all of those buckets, or not all of those things, get touched every single day. So, for instance, there are certain reminders or time slots in my calendar where, hey, this Monday, from 5.15 to 6.15, generally speaking, pm is where I'm going to focus on my podcast Guest Outreach. Or, this time from on Tuesday from 3 to 4 o'clock. That's usually a business coaching call, so it's creating those time slots for the things that are important. And then this is also where you make some sacrifices and if you want to get those things done within your day, it starts very early. You want to fit the workout in. Generally speaking, the best time to do it is at the crack of dawn or anywhere between 4.30 am to 5.30, usually out there on the road, and what helps you be able to do that more often is, again, make sure people know about it or get a running buddy or a workout buddy. But I believe it's really as simple as you take what you say is important. You look at a calendar for a week. You map it out for the week OK, this thing fits there, this thing fits there, the workout is here and you repeat, repeat, repeat and you make little adjustments here and there.
Speaker 1:And if you're in a you mentioned relationships like if you're in a relationship with which now I am for the first time in many years, it's something that my girlfriend and I were actually talking about it. Today, ed Milet and Brandon Brashard released an amazing podcast episode about how to navigate through busy season and we talk about these things. All right, what's your week looking like? And we know, generally speaking. All right, these days we might not see each other this particular day, this particular week. It might be that we see each other after work this one night and we go from there, and we understand it, but it's something that we know in advance. It's not a head scratch. Yeah, am I going to see you today? It's like no, we know about it because we're intentional about it.
Speaker 2:That's cool, man, I think, just also embracing the season that you're in right, you're going to go through some crazy busy seasons. You're going to go through some not as busy seasons and think that's another thing too, just like you embraced that situation with the six year journey right, you had ebbs and flows throughout that whole process. So, man, I would love if you, as we start to wrap up, I want you to talk about your scholarship, because I think that's super cool what you're doing, and I know, like I've seen all these photos and stuff how you'd like impacted lives with it, and every time I'm seeing it, I'm like man, like Ryan, just planted like a big seed in their life that probably just changed their entire trajectory over this thing. So I think that's super cool.
Speaker 1:Oh man, if it does that, then that's, I believe, the greatest honor and the scholarship. So last year, I'm thinking about my goals and just what's important. How do I want to make an impact? What does success look like? The same questions I posed earlier. One thing that I've always wanted to do, especially having student debt in the past.
Speaker 1:I graduated from the Citadel and walked out of there with $70,000 in student loans and paying those off. I got rid of them and just over three years and I remember paying every penny and it was painful. I'm like man, this is not fun. But again, a lot of lessons in there wouldn't change that. But, and I thought back as I've become more financially blessed, I'm like there's a lot of people that are out there that were just like me in terms of coming from a broken household, and if you're coming from one of those households, there's likely not a lot of college funds set aside, if any. And also the stats say that people that come from a broken household are one that's been impacted by a generational curse, are 36% less likely to succeed, and I just have a big problem with that. And also, coupled with the pain of paying off student loans, like you know what I'm going to do something about it.
Speaker 1:So I decided to launch the Be the First One Scholarship, because when you come up through one of these households, you have a choice you can be the next one to carry it on, whatever it may be whether it's alcoholism, drug abuse, anything you could be the next one to carry it on. Or you can be the first one to break the trend and do something different, and those are the kids that I wanted to, that I'm being intentional about finding and rewarding. So 2022, I put it out to the entire state of South Carolina hey, any rising college freshmen, graduating seniors, I've got this scholarship that at the time, my goal was just to give away two $1,000 scholarships, I figure. Okay, I can raise $2,000, I'm pretty sure let's see what happens and brought in $8,000, found four students that are I'm still in touch with today and that is since now we're in 2023. And four more students were just awarded all across the state of South Carolina and got one in North Carolina.
Speaker 1:Now, and my dream with this is eventually mark my words I will give out a full ride to somebody and then to multiple people, and it's just coming from wanting to serve that younger version of myself and what would you know, and knowing what it's like to make those loan payments? Hey, if I can make one person pay one less payment, or $1,000 less, or and you take $1,000 with interest, that really turns into $2,000 or $3,000, $4,000 over the course of 20 years, making it easier for them and giving them a kickstart to again being that first person. So that's really what drove me to do it and what is driving me to continue doing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dude, and I think a point that you may already know this, but it's like I also feel like the way you're impacting is by just instilling a stronger belief system in these people, because that may be the only scholarship, right, like I know for myself, I didn't get a single scholarship because I was horrible in school, right, and I had no belief system, and then people started believing in me and this and this and this, but it's like that one scholarship that they got may kick them into gear of like wow, like I'm on a good trajectory, so I think that's a good impact too, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah for sure, and I tell these kids that what they went through, I mean the hardest part is, you know, is narrowing it down to now eight students.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I've received over 130 applications and the majority of them, chris, are, I mean, heart-wrenching. If I shared them, it would put people into tears. I ask three questions on the application. How have you been impacted by a generational curse? What are you going to do, what are you committing to do to break it? And what does change in the world look like to you? And I mean, the vulnerability and maturity of a lot of these applicants is astounding, and it's. I let them know that those things that they wrote down are what's going to serve them in the future. It's what's serving them in the future and I'm here for them. I'm there, I'm part of their army of support, whether I'm the first person to start it or if they already have some people around and anything that they need, I'm here. I touch base with, again, all of them, and that's my commitment. So I guess our first round of graduates won't be until 2026, but you can bet that I'm keeping up with them every step of the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think that's going to be cool to see that come to fruition there. Cool man. Well, you just touched on that. Where else can people connect with you? I know you got a lot of good things to plug and you're making some big waves, not only in Trosten, but I mean, I think, all over Instagram, linkedin, other spots as well too, so I appreciate it man.
Speaker 1:So the easiest way is LinkedIn is my favorite network. I love it. There's not as much nonsense on there. So LinkedIn, ryan Cass. I post more on my personal Instagram page these days at Ryan A Cass, but it also links to my business page, which is one WON day today. One day today We'll start getting some more activity on there. I've been putting a lot of, got a lot of video footage in the background, so that will be coming in 2024. And every Monday I release an episode on my podcast, win Today, and that's been humming. So all those places, my website, ryancasscom, and that's how you can find me.
Speaker 2:Awesome brother. Well, I appreciate you mentioning that More appreciative of you coming on the show. I'm thankful that we got to catch up, I'm thankful for the things you shared and I know all the listeners are equally as grateful of all the good stuff you shared. So again, thank you for hopping on again.
Speaker 1:Grateful for you, man. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Well, that's it, everyone. Thanks again for taking the time to tune into this week's episode of Next Level Minds with Ryan Cass. Be sure to connect with Ryan on the various avenues that he mentioned, but, most importantly, be sure to implement the strategies, the tips, the advice and, most importantly, the systems of winning that he recommended in today's episode, as I want you to perform well next year, ryan wants you to perform well next year and the future version of you wants you to perform well. Take these systems, run with it, have a great week, have a great year and build a great life.