Ep. 45. Summer Smash Recap & Q&A

Ep.45 Summer Smash Recap & Q&A

1st Phorm Summer Smash looks like a party on the surface, but what grabbed us was the standard underneath it: thousands of people training, rucking, sweating, and still leaving a massive facility without trash on the ground because everyone owns the culture. We start there, with Jake fresh off the trip to St Louis and Braxston breaking down what the First Phorm community gets right about leadership, shared values, and why “the people make the party” is not just a slogan.

Then we pivot into the real heart of the conversation. Jake puts Braxston in the hot seat with 10 questions on faith, disappointment, marriage, fatherhood, discipline, and purpose. We talk about what it feels like when your plan does not happen, how submitting your goals to God can change your direction, and why success starts looking a lot less like recognition and a lot more like presence: date night, kids’ games, a strong marriage, and choosing the hard right over the easy wrong.

We also unpack identity and reinvention, from being a 333-pound NFL lineman to building a new life as a runner and hybrid athlete. The physical change is real, but the mental shift comes first: replacing the jersey identity with a values-based identity and daily structure you control. Along the way we hit practical discipline tips, nutrition preparation, why discipline does not guarantee success, and the career lesson we both swear by: talent can take you places your character cannot keep you.

If you take one thing from our time together, let it be the bonus challenge: stop procrastinating and jump start now. 

Subscribe to Rising Tribes, share this with a friend who needs a push, and leave a quick review. What’s the one step you’re taking today that your future self will thank you for?

Transcript

Welcome And Summer Smash Explained

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome back to the Rising Tribes Podcast. This is Braxton Cave, and today I'm joined by the man who's usually behind the screen doing making all the magic happen. Jake Fine is is in the hot seat today as Nick is uh spending some intentional time with his family that's in town from Florida. So here we are going at it.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Yeah, we got to get an episode in because we don't have anything in the back.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

So this is why we're doing this. Um you just got back from Missouri from St. Louis, and you're being out at first form Summer Smash. So I think it'd be a good leadoff to tell for those that don't know what Summer Smash is, tell them what it's all about and what your experience was like.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Um well, basically it started out with a customer appreciation barbecue. I mean, if you guys don't know what First Form is, it's basically a supplement brand. They're out of St. Louis, uh, Missouri. Uh Andy Frisella is the the owner of him and Sal, and then Chris. They all, you know, they've all started this brand at the beginning. And uh, like I said, basically they had a customer appreciation barbecue that started, I want to say two on T, let's see, it's 11-year anniversary, I think. Either 11-year or 12-year anniversary. Um, but they started with like 300 people. Their first one, you know, they had what an eating contest at one time, and I guess Andy was telling the story that um someone actually choked. Um, so that was their first time ever doing that. But as the years went on, it kept growing and they made it bigger. And um like this last one, I went to last year was the first one I went to, and this year is my second, but this year we I think it was maybe 4,000 to 5,000 people this year. Um, but I mean basically it's it's a three-day event, starts Thursday. Um they open up the the store for apparel that's not even launched on their site yet until after Summer Smash. So all the stuff's available now on their site. Um they launched the new energy drink, which you're drinking, which is a non-carbonated drink that they have out now. Uh so basically the apparel is available. You get to go in the gym and do workouts. They have workouts, an outdoor gym. They have, I mean, there's so much to do. Yeah, I mean, I'd be shocked if you can't find anything to do. Uh, they have a lot of rucks going on around the whole facility. Um, and then they have the Friday event, which was the rodeo this year. They did um it was a rodeo, I it wasn't at Frisellos farm, it was at a different farm, but they had a rodeo this year and they had a local country singer come in, so he performed as well. Um that was it was that was the first time I've ever been to a rodeo, so it was a good experience. And uh yeah, it was it was just uh that that happened, and uh Saturday's like the main event. So that I mean you're basically doing the same thing, you know, workouts, they have they're all available, the rucking's all available every single day. Um the apparel stores open every single day, and but yeah, Saturday once 3 p.m. hits, that's when the gates open for the main stage. For they always have three acts perform. Um nobody knows until they come out. And uh this year was I mean, this year was huge, and the acts that you know Andy and them put on this year were insane. Like Big X the plug, who's taken off big time, he let off first, and then uh a legend TI came out second, and then they usually have an EDM or DJ. Last year they had two friends, and uh this year they had Marshmallow that ended the show, and um yeah, it's it was a great event. I mean, yeah, you get to to go through the event and see the performances, but like I tell everybody, um the they always say this, the people make the party, and that is the truth because the people that you meet there, the culture that they have, um you're gonna take home this culture and share it with everybody that's around you. That's the goal. And every year it's getting bigger and bigger, and you know, it's gonna hopefully it's gonna change the world because I mean if we get the whole world to do how their culture is, I don't think we're gonna have any issues. And um I don't know if you guys know I've I've mentioned this before, but first forum is like a very clean facility, like they don't have any janitors, everybody cleans up after themselves, and they posted a photo of like the stage and the whole back part of the the um facility, and there's not one lick of trash on the ground, and you know that's everybody picking up after each other and living living the standard, and um that's I that's why I love that brand and I always support them. And it's like every year you you're gonna build a family, and that's basically what they're doing with that that brand. And it was good seeing people that I met last year, and then I met new people this year, so and it's gonna be like that every time. So I highly recommend uh checking it out. But like I said, I'm gassed. I was gassed. I've I think I took two or three naps this week just to get my battery, my body battery back up because it was just gone. I think I did almost 30,000 steps the first day. Yeah, I pretty close every day. I was at 30,000 steps, except Saturday. That was the last the least one I did. Um, but yeah, I was gassed. And um I'm just slowly getting back into it now, my routine here. So but yeah, it was a good experience, and um St. Louis is good, but I'm glad to be back and get back to the grind here.

Rodeo Night And Mud Lessons

SPEAKER_00 6:10

So did you um did you wear cowboy boots to the rodeo?

SPEAKER_03 6:14

Dude, that's the thing. When I saw the itinerary come through, um I texted Josh, who works for First Forum, a good friend of mine. I was like, where can I find some boots? And he gave me a brand to look at in the store. I never did. I just I I will eventually, because of course I want a pair. Um, because I feel like they're not comfortable. So, but he told me the ones that he has are extremely comfortable and you should give them a try. And then I did not go to the store and buy any pairs, so I just dressed my comfortable. I'm glad I wore some terrible shoes because they are wrecked because it was so muddy out there, and it did rain like a couple days before. So when they plow everything for the rodeo, there it was just a big pile mound of dry clay, mud, and I'm like, oh, it's you know, it's stiff enough, you can stand on it. Some spots, so it's not. So I sunk a little bit and I had my Nike, I had my black Nike Air Max 270s, and they're just done. They're mudded up, and I was like, that's fine. But I was like, if I would have worked cowboy boots, I'd been fine. But yeah, I've never owned a pair, and um jeans is another thing. I've I just excuse me, I can't find a comfortable pair of jeans. I mean, do you?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I mean it's hard to find. It it they are hard to find, and um I've gone through hundreds of pairs of jeans, and it's like once I find one that I like, like that's the only pair that I wear, and then I go through them fast. So um, I don't wear jeans all that often though.

SPEAKER_03 7:55

It's gotta be, I mean, the quads gotta have some room, and it's gotta be. I just like I use built, you I know you heard the band like dress pants I have, those are flex fit, comfortable. I can wear those the entire time, but jeans, I just haven't find the right pair to that are comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yeah, but a future I will have cowboy boots and um you need a comfortable pair of cowboy boots and a comfortable pair of jeans. Yeah, help them out.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Yeah, I mean, but eventually I'll get to that point where I can wear that because everybody was I mean, not everybody, some people dress comfortable as well, but it's like everybody was cowboy boot and and jeans, of course, and the big belt, the belt, and some cowboy hats too. So it was good though. It was a good time.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

That's awesome. So today's episode we're gonna do uh a quick well, I don't know if it's gonna be quick, but um Jake's got some questions that he's gonna run me through. Uh I'll do my best to answer those and and hopefully give you guys some value out of this. So you want to kick us off here?

SPEAKER_03 9:00

Yeah. Um, we have 10. 10 questions get through.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Yeah. And a potential bonus.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Yes. Yep, depending on time. Um, let's start with number one.

Faith When Plans Fall Apart

SPEAKER_03 9:12

What is the biggest lesson God has taught you through a season where you didn't get what you wanted?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

I I allude to this often on the podcast, and it's you know, I I had a dream and a vision that I was gonna play, you know, at least 10, 15 years in the NFL, and I had all these plans. And you know, as the saying goes, when you plan, God laughs. And um I think you know, I I made it into my you know, to my fourth season of the NFL, and and that's where it ended. And you know, I through those first three years of my my professional career, I wasn't getting the results I wanted. And it was always like me, me, me, what do I need to do? Push harder, push harder. And finally, when I just submitted to all right, God, like what do you want this to look like? That's when things changed. And in that fourth year, I um, you know, hung them up and felt like God was calling me to the next chapter of life. And and Natalie was pregnant with our first, and you know, life changed. And I mean, through that process, I was extremely humbled, you know, from going, you know, an all-American in college, you know, obviously all-American in high school to an all-American college, so then going to the NFL and being humbled and not being the guy anymore. Um, it became very clear that God had a different path for me, though I didn't know what it was at the time. Um He very quickly sent me on a different path.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

So He's got our plan.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

Wish he would just tell us.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

That's the thing, but you gotta, I mean, you gotta figure it out. It's the whole the whole plan for you is to figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Yeah, I mean, Nick and I just had this conversation the other day. It's you know, you you can pray to God, you know, to help you win a marathon and he'll send you running shoes. And it's just that way in life. Like God gives you all these gifts and tools, but he's not gonna give you the outcome. That's on you. 100%. That's the hard piece.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

That's 100%.

A New Definition Of Success

SPEAKER_03 11:22

How has your definition of success changed as your faith has it matured?

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Yeah, I mean, the the maturing process is has been a big thing for me, you know, over the last uh ten plus years. Um you know, success to me now versus then, like success is never missing a baseball game, never missing a recital, never missing date night. You know, now they have a standing Thursday night date night. You know, before to me it was, you know, the money, the fame, the recognition, uh, me, me, me. Um that's all completely changed. Like success to me is like teaching my kids to shake someone's hand when they meet them and look them in the eyes. You know, that's and and I've people probably listening to this that don't have kids are probably like, you're crazy.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

Um I can vouch they all do. Every time I every time every time I come over here, that's I mean, they always do.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

So and uh so success to me now is just you know being a man of God, a great husband, father, friend, and and then you know, the last part of that is probably on the career side, a leader of people. And now, don't get me wrong, like you gotta make money, you gotta earn a living and take care, you know, fiscally take care of your family, and but if that's the sole leading driver, and I think you're chasing the wrong thing, that's not success to me anymore.

SPEAKER_03 12:55

So nailed that one, man. That's that's the truth. It's just crazy once once that family starts, man. It just but yeah, I mean, I I see what you do day to day, and I know you uh your calendar just gives me anxiety looking at it. Um you do really well at it, so I a lot of respect for you. So I appreciate that.

A Marriage Lesson Learned Late

SPEAKER_03 13:21

One what's one mistake you've made as a husband or father that taught you a lesson you'll never forget. This is good, this is a good one right here.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah, I think the biggest mistake that I've ever made was not having the ability. I think it goes back to the maturity piece. Um, I wasn't mature enough to prioritize Natalie sooner in my life. And so Natalie and I were together 10 years before we got engaged and got married. And so, you know, to me, it's like I wish I would have been more mature and prioritize her and got married and started our family sooner. Like that's to me the biggest mistake. I think the lesson in that is that like sometimes the best things in life are like right in front of us. But if like we're not aligned in our priorities and what's important to us, like you can completely miss it. And thankfully, um you know, she waited around long enough for me to figure out my crap.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

So yeah, good good teammate with you, man. Yeah. All right.

What We Hope Kids Remember

SPEAKER_03 14:38

If your kids only remembered three things about you when they were adults, what would you want them to be?

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Yeah, this one's so hard to you know nail it down to three. Number one, obviously, is I I want my kids to say that you know, my dad loved Jesus, my dad brought us our to Jesus, and that was a priority in our family. Um I think number two would be that dad loved mom and us fiercely. And and three, like you, you know, structure, discipline is so important to me that I would hope that they would say that dad always chose the hard right over the easy wrong. And then you can obviously take that in many different directions. Um but I hope that they will see like just the disciplines of routine and the choices. You know, choices are sacred and and the the choices that I made weren't always easy, but it was the right thing. I think that would be if I could nail down three, I think that would be you nailed, I mean, that was quick.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

I thought you had to decide which ones you're gonna do. Do you have any more? Is that just no?

SPEAKER_00 15:46

I mean, I probably could make a list of a hundred, to be honest with you. It's just um I think those are the three that at least right now matter most to me.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Good. What has marriage taught you about yourself that you couldn't have learned anywhere else?

Marriage Humility And Real Gratitude

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Um, I think it's that it's not about me. Uh I used to be a very, very selfish person. And Natalie is the reason why I'm a thousand times better person uh than I ever was. Uh I think some of the biggest things that I can call out that she's helped me with is you know, she helps me slow down and reflect. You and I have talked about this before, like journaling and reflecting. Like it's always like next, next, next, next. How how far can we go? What's the next thing? Um, she so often will like recenter me, refocus me on like it's great to to chase, run hard, and do all these things, but you have to have gratitude for the things that you have been able to accomplish. And without her, I would never do that or have gotten to like focus on that. So that I would say that's where our marriage and having her be, you know, my partner in life is has been a huge blessing.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

That's good to have. Yeah. Um I mean, I know a lot of viewers and listeners that knew that you played football and you were 330 pounds. I mean, what did you tell me your weight was today? You you said you had to go.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

232 this morning.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

So 333 was my heaviest I ever stepped on a scale. 333.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

I mean, I could put a photo before and after up of what you looked like in football and then to now. It's just insane, just you going from football and seeing you like marathon runner, and it's like it's just that each shows like you can do anything. You can do anything. So, and I mean, congrats to you hitting 100, Mark. And I mean, I I don't think you're done.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

No, I don't think I'm done. I don't think I'm done. Um, you know, I I haven't, you know, what it's uh it's kind of like everything. Once you hit a number, you you the bar moves. And so now that I'm saying I want to get down to like 200 pounds, that's not that's no.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

You no in my in my own. I will stop you from doing that because 225 probably at the max. It's good.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Yeah, 225 seems to be a good number. I haven't been 225 since I was 15 years old. It's insane. Um, so that might be a good number. I mean, obviously, as as everyone knows, I've been putting a lot of attention on running, and running's not fun when you're heavy, regardless of if it's heavy because of a lot of muscle or not, it's it's it's the joint still not fun. It's yeah. So I think 225 would be a good number to to get to and see how I feel and kind of go from there.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Yeah, it's gonna lead up to the next question, but first, like, you know, I'm starting to get into running myself, and my mindset is like, okay, if I start running, that that means I can eat more and consume a little bit more. Because I I am a monotonous person. I eat the same thing because I know the macros, and I'm pretty simple. Like ground beef, rice, and I'll throw a certain amount of hummus on it just to get it down. I love hummus. And the person that's taught me that is Nick Bear. Yeah, so I do that with most everything. And I buy these little cups, the Kirkland brand of the hummus from Costco, and that's what I use, and it helps, and I love it. So it's pretty easy and simple. And um, but yeah, that's the reason why I'm gonna start running a little bit more, and um I can consume more. So, but with you know, the weight talk and how much you weighed, that leads up to the next question.

Identity Shift From NFL To Running

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Going from a 330-pound NFL lineman to where you are today, what changed mentally before anything changed physically?

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Everything. Um, my entire identity had to change. And when I think back to that, to those days of going from football to what was gonna be next, you know, my entire life from as far back as I can remember was structured out for me. You know, especially when you're in school, even middle school to high school, like it was school, then practice, then dinner, homework, but you know, it was like you knew what you were doing every day. So then, you know, college and NFL is like your life, your everything is laid out before you of what you need to do this at this time. There was an itinerary for each day. So the first thing was I had to learn how to structure my own life, not for who I was, but who I was going to become. And my identity had to change in that. It wasn't practicing the football player anymore. It was you know, really sitting down and having that one-on-one in the mirror of like, okay, who who are you? Who are you gonna be? You know, I for so long I could hide behind the football identity. And when that was stripped away, what was left? And so I would say the the biggest thing was just you know, mentally, you know, you talk about like I am statements, it was no longer I am football player, it's I am Braxton Cave, and and who is Braxton Cave going to become? And you know, Nick will challenge used to challenge me on this all the time of like when I first started running, I was you know, kind of talk about running and I'm gonna try this, and I'm and he's like, No, you are a runner. You know, you yeah, and and I'm like, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

I can hear him say it.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Um so that was big. I mean, so yeah, it's like I I I am a runner. When people ask me, like, what do you do? And I'm like, Well, I'm a runner, I still I lift, I do so it's like that that's identity of who who I am. I'm a dad now.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

You're a hybrid athlete. Just say that. I mean you're on pace for it.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

I'm trying, man. It's um it's it's been a huge change from what I've done my whole life and you know just a completely different style of training and methodologies and and it definitely pushes me out of the comfort zone. On this week on what's today if let's see on Wednesday or maybe it was Thursday Nick and I did a workout together and Nick's like if you guys don't know Nick and the way he works out like he gets to the gym and just decides what he's gonna do. I am not that way.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

He also does that for podcast episodes too I'll let you guys know that too.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

I am not that way like I like structure I want to know what I'm doing days in advance like the mental side of just being prepared and attacking a workout again back to like that's how I have always been and so Nick sends me a text um Tuesday or Wednesday night and was like hey you should do this running workout with me tomorrow. I'm like all right so I text him at like six o'clock that morning I'm like hey what are we doing and he goes haha yeah I forgot you always like to know what we're doing and so he like threw out some stuff and we ended up not even doing anywhere near close to what he had said. But it basically it it was um there were four of us who did it and it was two laps around the track to then um six sled push to 60 burpees over the bar to then run a 1k and you had 15 minutes to complete it so whatever time you had between the the 15 minute turnover was your rest which came out to like two minutes. And uh I mean two minutes is good to me I feel like yeah I mean it was two minutes was a good number to recover from but going from those burpees to the run it was like every time I it reminded me a lot of the Hyroxavan you're going from from working out to the run it's like I was blacked out for like the first 30 seconds until I was able to like come back but it was a great workout but those like that's the type of training that really pushes you out of your comfort zone especially for someone like me who for so long was into more the power lifting you know I I always default to like a bodybuilding style program. And uh so that's been it's been fun. I was like man if I if I start doing these with you more often I'll probably get 225 pretty quick.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Yeah. I I've incorporated his workouts when he posts them on the stories I'm like oh I'm gonna do that tomorrow. I mean they're good. I like incorporating them because I like just like you I like to default back to the the bodybuilding and um yeah I'll incorporate that but I don't want to keep doing the bodybuilding every day. I want to incorporate the stuff that you guys are doing you know endurance and because this is that's the the engine dude and it's not about being jacked anymore. I mean yeah it's a bonus but yeah I I want to be functional yeah that's my that's my goal today now and yeah his workouts are just insane. I forget which one it was that I about vomited I want to say the I want to say it was probably the deadlift one um I want to say it was like you do six deadlifts of 315

Discipline Myths And Consistency Rules

SPEAKER_03 25:30

then you go do um jump oh yeah jump over the box four inches and he said 16 rounds but obviously that's eight rounds per person well I was by myself and I didn't think of that so it didn't get to my mind like well hold up I'm like I can only do eight I don't need to do 16 I I went past eight and I was gassed and then I was like okay I did it completely too much yeah so but yeah his his workouts are intense I I like that I like to get uncomfortable that's the thing to do now so um next one what's the biggest misconception people have about discipline this is uh this is gonna hit a lot of people I I think there's probably a lot honestly of I can think of two that really stand out to me and and the first one is a lot of people think that discipline if you're a disciplined person it guarantees success and it doesn't but but I to I will say this being undisciplined will guarantee failure so I think being a disciplined person and having a a here's the other you can be disciplined in the wrong things so I think there's a lot of disciplined people out there you know who aren't successful because they're disciplined in the wrong areas of life and you know that's why we're so big on our four pillars of faith family fitness and business less leadership because like and and none of those can be perfect all the time you know those it's like a bar graph that as the percentage is constantly changing on each of them and we you pour more time in here then this is going to go down and so you're constantly trying to keep those leveling up but and somewhat level but it's really really hard to do and then I think the other one is a lot of people think when they think of someone you know I people I get this all the time like people will direct message me and they're like oh my gosh you're so disciplined or you they think like you're this perfect person and you're I am so far from perfect.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Nothing's no one's perfect. No one's perfect and and it's not and on a day to day it's never perfect. And there's days where you know I'll there's days where I snooze my alarm in my sleep you're not the only one and like so then you know I'll wake up 20 minutes after I wanted to be up and be pissed off and I'm like is that a failure like to me like I didn't live to the standard that day but like it's not I don't throw the whole day away it wasn't perfect. But I what I would say is like it's never perfect but the difference is the consistency piece. Yeah like never never lose two days in a row right you're gonna have bad days it happens we all have stuff that comes up life happens but don't let the bad days continue to stack I see it all the time right especially like nutrition and and fitness is always the easiest one where you know you go to a birthday party and they're serving pizza and cake or whatever like if you're on point you can eat a piece of pizza or have the cake but then be done and get back on your routine.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

With that being said when you are so disciplined and you do take a bite of pizza or cake you're gonna be telling yourself in the head like you you're gonna know you're doing it and you're like okay this isn't right. That's I mean discipline's a skill you're not born with it is a skill you teach yourself to be disciplined and it just I mean it's a routine after that but like I said like eating some you know I'll just say a donut and you take that bite you're like okay it this isn't right that's how you know that you you you are a disciplined person.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Yeah um so but yeah yeah and I think there's there's pros and cons to that man there's like I I can get in phases where I'm so regimented that it takes the fun out of life and like for what? Yeah you know if my kids want to go and get a donut like I'm gonna go and get a donut with them. Now I'll tell you this because I don't eat like that very often I will pay for that like I just I I won't feel good. So which I hate because I'm like I like I want to have a donut I want to eat some pizza on the same but then I'm gonna pay for it later. So it's almost like not worth it. And I think after you're so consistent for so long people be like you know we've had pizza nights like and I will like so there I think there's hacks to all this stuff too like just the other night it was kids last day of school we had friends over they brought their kids over we uh everyone swam and uh Natalie ordered a bunch of pizzas and so for dinner that night I had um she had made like this big salad and we had some prepped chicken in the fridge so I made a salad I threw some chicken on it and then I had a couple pieces of pizza with it like you know there's there's ways to do it right and it but like I'm not gonna sit there and eat 16 slices of pizza and feel like crap. And so there's there's ways to do it and I think a lot of a lot of around discipline is just being prepared. It's preparation around it because like any of us if if I'm hungry and I don't have something I'm gonna grab whatever's the easiest and the fastest.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

And it's whatever's in the house.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Yeah so a lot I mean a lot of people are like well that's not that bad but there's days where I'm like I'll grab like four beef sticks and a banana and like that's my meal. Like it's a better alternative but it's not ideal.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yeah um and you know with that being said back to Summer Smash that that's I mean every time I go I obviously lose weight because all they have in house are the meat sticks, the protein bars, the clear protein which is phenomenal during hot days it's refreshing. But yeah that's it. I mean they had food trucks there but it's like I don't want to walk my way over there to that you know great barbecue from St. Louis and then um tacos and stuff like that. You're just on the run all the time and that's pretty much what I consumed most of the time.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

400 grams of protein and nothing else.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

Yes. So it's like it's refreshing and all that but it's not real food and that's the thing that's bad about you know because this year we weren't the park in the parking lot so and last year I took meals and kept them in the vehicle so it's easy for me just to walk my vehicle um so this year it's kind of a little bit more difficult to do that. So but yeah that's mostly what I consumed was protein bars and clear protein and meat sticks. So but yeah being disciplined and I knew it too I was like man I need to have some real food so I mean you know it you have that little voice up there like this isn't you need to be speaking of food we did just get a kava here. Yes have you had it yet no um one of the guys at the work at my work had it and I'm like it was phenomenal. I didn't know they were open I knew they had a soft opening I didn't know they were fully open yet.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Yeah so now I saw that he had that I'm like okay I'm glad we had one yeah so shout out to Kava it was it was really good.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

Yeah I'm well I might just have that tonight now. There you go. So but we always get um what's the other one core life? Yeah yeah I always get core life but now yeah Kava has I see people down on Texas posting by I'm like okay we finally have one so hopefully what do you get I don't know steak and rice whatever it was I didn't Mediterranean right yeah okay all right so I just I looked at the menu I because we had all the we had the kids with us so I just looked at the menu real quick and I saw steak rice I don't know what else it had in it told Natalie I'll have that double steak is there steak good tender it was good and uh I went and took the boys found a table to keep them under control.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

So the place big I don't know what it was called um it's right where over by Dick's it's where CC's pizza used to be oh yeah

Character Beats Talent In Careers

SPEAKER_00 33:40

super used to be yeah I think it turned into that okay so there yeah I mean they probably have like 10 tables in there or so yeah that's dinner tonight I guess what career lesson has helped you the most that could save someone listening a lot of time I I mean the the piece of advice I have here I would say could save people a lot of time but also like a lot of heartache and suffering honestly this this might be the easiest question for me to answer and it's you know I heard this quote a long time ago by Eric Thomas and he said that if you're not careful your talent will take you places that your character can't keep you and whether it was in football or in you know corporate America I have seen time after time after time super talented individuals ruin their lives ruin their careers because they couldn't their character couldn't handle where they were at the success right a lot of times it's success it's money it's they get this title and then they become someone different um I have seen it over and over the list is long of people that would fall into that category. Character is key dude so the I would say the the lesson in that is that your your character and what you're building and who you're becoming is more important than the position or the success or the top those stuff those things will come as you build your character build your skill set and um as I've seen a lot of people learn the hard way all right we're getting

Success Versus Fulfillment In Real Life

SPEAKER_00 35:30

there what's the difference between being successful and feeling fulfilled yeah we talked about this a little bit earlier um a question I don't know what it was maybe two does success change as your faith hasn't matured yeah I think it depends on what your definition of success is and I think there's a lot of people who is if you looked at them as an outsider you'd be like that person's pretty successful they got money cars the house whatever but then you talk to someone that maybe knows them or you get to know them and you find out they're miserable and so I think I think there's a lot of it goes both ways there's there's people who are fulfilled in what they do and they wouldn't be deemed successful to other people but to themselves they are so now if you want the combo of both I think it one goes to what's what's your definition of success and is what you're chasing fulfilling and and is the end result of that considered a success to you. Like everyone's idea of success and what's important is going to be different. I think it's easy to be fooled by social media and what success really is I love you know listening to Andy's podcast lately he's been talking about this a lot and there's so many people on social media that have never done anything but they pose on social as a successful entrepreneur or fitness coach or whatever and they've never done anything. But it's very easy to deceive people on social. You see what they want you to see. So I think you you really hit the the sweet spot if you find the thing that you're passionate about that fills your cup that you can chase every day that just being able to have that even if you're not accomplishing the end goal yet just to be able to have that is is success.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

Yeah yeah he he has been he preaches that all the time um you know whatever to get the 897 program cells you know posing by Lamborghinis that are rented and stuff like that he's like what what's the what's your resume look like you know what you built he's like I video myself all the time what I've built you know so yeah there's a lot of them out there you just gotta be be careful let's see if you could sit down with your 25 year old self for 30

What We Would Tell Our Younger Self

SPEAKER_03 38:10

minutes what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_00 38:12

You know I it's interesting I I came across this um on social not long ago and it was like if you had if you were able to have a one minute conversation with your 25 year old self or 20 year old self whatever it was what would you say and like I've been thinking about that for a while now and I'm like I still don't have a perfect answer to be honest with you but I think at this moment I would say you know stop placing your identity in Braxton the football player. You know so at 25 I was a year away from my last from football being over from my my last year of playing ball and and I think that's where I could have saved myself a lot of heartache and time and that transition if I would have sooner started putting my value into you know my faith and who I was outside of Braxton the football player. So I don't know what you know I had I at the time I had fooled myself into thinking that I I'm not just Braxton the football player but deep down like that's exactly who I was so it'd be an i I would love to go back and have a conversation with the 25 year old me because I'd honestly I'd probably punch myself in the throat.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Well especially with all the stuff you've learned and gone through but yeah it's it's very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah it's just I my my actions weren't aligned with you know the things that I would say out loud were important to me.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

Yeah.

Stop Procrastinating And Start Today

SPEAKER_03 40:01

Here's the bonus one we made it to the bonus one.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Made it to the bonus round all right what is the one thing every listener can do today that would make their life better a year from now I I could answer this this isn't just me answering for the listeners this is me answering for myself as well and I would say go jump start now you know there's so many like times where like we're all destined to do something great and we just procrastinate and to me the definition of procrastination is the you know the ignorant thought and belief that God owes you more time. And how often do we just sit back I mean it's the whole reason why we started this podcast you know was to it was something we were passionate about and we wanted to be able to uplift other people and it's like why like I want to do this you want to do this like we want to do this like do it. Like what are you waiting for? Yeah and you know and from that like we've built other things and it's becoming bigger and building a community and and to see other people taking steps and like none of that would have happened if we wouldn't have just started. And so that would I would say if you start today and you're intentional taking action steps forward where you're gonna be in a year from now will blow your mind. It won't blow your mind next week but a year from now a year of consistency will blow your mind.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

You'd be surprised but you gotta be consistent with it too I mean that's the thing you know people always put procrastinate and put it I'll just start on Monday so it's like no do it now because I mean there's you don't know when your last breath on this earth is you know time's running out. So but yeah I mean you take that step and yeah you

Share The Show And Keep Building

SPEAKER_03 42:10

you knocked it on the head so that was our last one dude that was the bonus.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

That was it the bonus well hopefully I mean that that gave you a a little bit of a sneak peek and a deeper or a deeper dive into things in in my world and my brain and how things how I process things so hopefully it was helpful. Appreciate you guys listening you know if it if there was value please share it out follow along tag us ask questions submit questions we love hearing the feedback from the listeners and I love that almost everywhere I go now I feel like I'm having conversations with people about the podcast and takeaways that people are having and yeah people are sharing it and people are posting their stories and yeah so it's been it's really cool. It's it's honestly as much as I hope it helps you guys it's a blessing to us as well um you know we we pour a lot of time into to doing this and hopefully providing value so to hear the feedback is has been awesome. So appreciate y'all hope you have a a great week ahead and we'll see you soon.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

We'll see ya, you can see that the