Break the Mold

You can do everything “right” and still feel like your life does not fit. That tension is where we start, from selling everything and traveling full time to the quieter, tougher choices like turning down a career-defining promotion because your family needs you more than your resume does. We get honest about the scripts dads inherit, the pressure to provide at all costs, and why that story can lead straight to burnout, loneliness, and a version of you your partner barely recognizes. 

We also dig into what actually helps: clear personal values, shared values in a relationship, and the kind of support that includes a little challenge. You will hear how creativity can come back after years on the shelf, why sobriety can unlock a “return to roots,” and what happens after the big breakthrough moment when nobody comes to save you and you still have to build. One line sticks for a reason: if you break it, you gotta build it. 

Then we zoom into the tools that make building easier right now. AI is changing the skills economy, lowering the risk of experimentation, and opening doors for modern dads who never thought they were “tech people.” We share our “Zero To Claude Code” dad hack, talk through practical ways to use Claude for real life and business, and pull lessons from MrBeast’s purple cow approach to innovation and execution. 

If you are ready to redesign work-life balance, fatherhood, and purpose with less talk and more action, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a dad who feels stuck, leave a review, and tell us: what leap of faith are you taking next?

Transcript

Selling Everything To Reset Life

SPEAKER_00 0:12

My wife and I sold everything we owned. I quit my job. We left to travel the world full time for a year. Today we're going to be talking about what happens when you stop doing what you're supposed to do and start doing what actually works for your family. Society hands dads a blueprint. Get the degree, climb the corporate ladder, buy the house, coach the weekend team. That works for a lot of people, but that didn't work for the three of us here. So before we get into it, I want to ask you guys what is one thing that society told you a good dad does, but turned out to be complete

The Dad Blueprint That Fails

SPEAKER_00 0:45

nonsense?

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Ooh, um I wouldn't say it's nonsense, but it's certainly worth thinking about and weighing. But like it's getting a degree. You know, it's uh it's not for everybody, especially in today's age where you can learn so much at home on AI, Claude, or on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Yeah, and the question, of course, being, how are people going to pay for their degrees when they graduate, right? With which job? Hopefully one that's related to those degrees. I would say, Jordan, that the one that that for me was the biggest, the biggest mold breaker was certainly the idea that dads are supposed to be working every second of every day. And if you're not providing, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. And if you're not taking time for yourself, then that's some sort of self-sacrifice that you're supposed to do. And that's just not true. We live in an era now where there's many ways that you can find time for yourself to balance, to discover what's important to you and to be there for your family in far more important ways than you could be if you didn't.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

But I think what's so hard, John and Jordan, is that like I think it's easy for us to say it at our age and we're parents, but like a lot of it for me had to come through experience. I had to come through when I realized what my values were, what was truly important to me. Because when I was in my 20s or even in my early 30s, I was doing what I thought was important to me. And so I think to break the mold, you really got to figure out kind of like Jordan's point like what what are your values? What fills you up? And especially if you already have a family or a partner, it's like what are the shared values that you guys can attack together?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yeah, I started down this path. I went to college, I got my degree, I graduated, and I I started in the corporate world, but all the while I was doing it, I knew that's like deep down, that wasn't what I was supposed to be doing. And I can't explain it. It's not something that, you know, is is easy to explain to other people because you're technically doing the right thing, right? You're getting the degree. But when I was in college, I just hated it. I look back on those moments, and if I would have trusted my gut, it's taking a massive risk, right? Dropping out of school or not, you know, fully getting the degree, you don't have that to fall back on. But if I would have started a business way earlier on in life, I feel like I'd be so much further ahead now. And so it's it's one of those things. I love the quote the people who tend to get the luckiest are the ones who take the most risks, right? In order to really have a massive break in life and career, business, whatever it is, you have to take some sort of risk.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Yeah, I mean, it's just like playing baseball. The more at bats you have, the more hits you're gonna have. You know, it's uh but yeah, it it's it's easier said than done. Again, like uh it it took me 40 years, over 40 years, to really kind of share or kind of become who I thought I always wanted to be. So it's uh, you know, I think if it was anything to take away from this episode, is like, hey, like Jordan said, you don't have to wait. Like, gosh, I could only imagine if uh if I started taking more swings early on.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Yeah, it um my own journey through school was was an interesting one. I coming from a less resourced background, going to college wasn't really an option for me right out of school. But it was something that I did later on. I got my bachelor's degree in my late, early 30s. I got my master's degree around the year I turned 40. My midlife crisis was an MBA. And interestingly enough, I accidentally lived the paradigm I think you're describing here, Jordan, which is I was getting the practical knowledge and then going back and living in an old paradigm, getting the degree to prove that I deserved it. And that always led to a really strange imposter syndrome that basically said, even though you, in many ways, already practiced a lot of what you're learning, the theory is more important. And so you still need to go and take courses to be eligible. Because until recently, we've lived in a world where if you couldn't click yes on do you have a bachelor's degree, or in many cases, yes, do you have a master's degree, most applicant tracking systems wouldn't even let your resume be seen in the first place. And now we are so far past that that even seeing that in an applicant tracking system feels like I'm applying in Aramaic. It might as well be. Like it's a dead language.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

But it is so crazy how quickly that changed. Because we're just talking about a couple years. But yeah, and so I mean, I think if there's ever a time to think about breaking the mold, it's now. Like when everything changes, change everything. And I think I think everything around us is changing. It just kind of, hey, if if you're thinking about you need permission to go for what you think you want to achieve or who you want to be, it's a good time.

Big Career Risks And Hard Choices

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah, and I want to talk a little bit more about some of those risks that both of you guys have taken in your lives as well. Because obviously my risk is dramatic, right? Most people aren't gonna sell everything and leave everything and and and just go be a free spirit traveling the world. But John, a big risk that you took in your corporate life is you had a massive opportunity to take a job in China, and you ultimately decided to turn that town. Talk a little bit about what went into that decision-making process and you know what transpired after. I think said TF Jordan.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

It was um, as a little bit of backstory, the the situation was I had been doing a lot of work building out leadership hiring structure in China with Apple. Really exciting time. This is 2013 into 2014 into 2015. This was a time when most companies were trying to establish a foothold in mainland China, specifically Beijing, Bin Zhen, Guangzhou. And so this was a really, really fun, really exciting time. It was also the absolute prime time for my professional momentum to be building. And I got a gift of clarity that I certainly didn't hope for, but that was somebody in my immediate life had reached a point with some health concerns. There was a completely binary choice to make. Either I pursued the career or I stayed where I needed to be to help that person. And that person was counting on me. There was really no middle ground. And so I chose to be there. And there's mental health issues here that are at play with some of the cast of this particular production. It basically meant that I needed to be there a lot and I needed to be focused in a way that made that job impossible to do anywhere, from here, from there. And this was boots on the ground. You're going next week and you are living there and you're moving your family there. That for me was a major departure because my whole mold is this corporate mold. You know, I've I've lived in the corporate world and come up through large companies like Apple and Amazon, smaller ones like REI and Safeway, which is a where I had got my first job pushing carts when I was oh we little John. But that moment of breaking my own mold, my own path, my momentum, it forced a complete identity shift because I was no longer the guy who would do anything for the company. I couldn't be anymore because I had made a choice that ran so conflict to that that I could never be that again. It was done. And I don't regret that at all. It was the best choice I ever made. And it was the hardest choice that I had ever made at the time. Having had having made that same choice many times since, it gets a lot easier every time. And kids, they give you that clarity. So it's a mold that I'm so glad that I broke. It just hurt when I did it.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

In terms of, I like to think, in a literal sense, of climbing the rungs of a ladder in the corporate world. How many rungs would you say you would have climbed up if you were to accept that position?

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Well, at the risk of getting too deep into like the HR weeds, if you use what's called a Radford classification, you have all these like levels of vice president in most companies, would be an L10, something equivalent to that, with senior vice president slash executive vice president, then C-suite, then CEO, top level C-suite president. This would have been equivalent to most companies L10 or L11. And though this was a director titled role within Apple, so that that would have been, you know, one and a half ladder rungs at the time, but in like the broader picture around the world, it probably would have been worth three or four.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

I think that's important to paint the picture because the mold of somebody in the corporate world is when you get the promotion, you take the promotion. You don't think twice about it, right? You take the extra pay increase, you take the extra responsibility. And so turning that down isn't something that's easy to do. But sometimes there are things in life that are more important. And that's when breaking the mold is extremely important. Absolutely. Yeah.

Beast Games And Creative Comeback

SPEAKER_02 9:03

And sometimes, sometimes it's when there's something hard, and sometimes it's when there's some impossible adventure ahead, and you're making the bold choice, like both of you guys have, Jordan, with you choosing to start counting countries, and Jeff, with you deciding, hey, you know what? I'm gonna go do this thing called the Beast Games. We'll see how it turns out. How did that decision look for you, Jeff, when you were looking at that applicant form for the first time? Like what was what were you feeling?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, I mean, it it's again for me, breaking the mold or getting into the mold started in my teens. Like when I think back, you know, I think back when I was 13, you know, I was in a musical and loved it. And then I did another musical the next year. But then, you know, I got into high school and I was playing competitive baseball, competitive football, and I just kind of separated creative from competitive. Like I didn't, I didn't think those two blended or I couldn't make space for them. So I played football in college and I kind of you know hung up my tap shoes. I don't tap, I wish I could. But it wasn't until I was 30, and a good friend of mine like shared that she was the creative director for musical. And I'm like, oh I said a line from the musicals, the musical my mom and I went and saw when I was young. And she's like, You should audition. And I said, Okay, where's the show? Like, oh, it's in it's in San Diego. I'm like, okay, great, I'll audition. I lived in Ohio at the time. So I auditioned. I got the part and I flew there on the weekends, and it just, and I would take fly home, red eyes, and I would just it filled me up. And I kind of go, oh my gosh, I have the creative spirit left, but I'm also in really high intensity kind of healthcare sales. And so I kind of had the best of who I was someone who's a competitor, but someone who's also creative. And so that stuck with me. Then I didn't do a show again for another nine years, and then after that it was three years. And then so when when Beast Games came and I saw the opportunity to kind of apply to be on a show, I'm like, okay, like I've been on stage before. Granted, it's community theater, it's only in front of a couple hundred people. I'm like, I I enjoy it. I enjoy, I enjoy that side of kind of the colors that I have, but also it's a competition. Okay, I'm an athlete. I love to win. So for me, the DNA for what that show is was perfect for me. And also, my why was big. So my why was how can I go tell my son Lucas a story and how can I look kind of cool for my other son, Jack, who loves Mr. B. So for me, it also helped that I just got laid off. So I like like I had some free time. So like when you think about all these things that line up, I'd say the biggest thing in this that I was able to kind of break this mold and kind of go, hey, screw it, I'm applying, I'm gonna make it happen, is having a wife that understood my values, who understood that I had this itch. Because guess what? Being a theater, when you have kids, it's not good for your marriage. Like, meaning it's like rehearsals at night and on the weekends, like the time where you need your husband the most. But she knew that I loved it. She knew that it filled me up. So when I told her about Beast Games, she was super supportive. You know, I I love I know I've shared this story, but I gotta share it here. And this is where you get to see Jen's competitive side too. Is I told her, hey, I'm gonna go and do the show, it's gonna be great. I'm giving her a hug with my suitcase. Like, I'm gonna go tell Lucas' story to the world. She goes, Screw that. If you're gonna go, you better win this thing. And um, dude, that is so good. I mean, it and it it it shifted it for me. Like, I mean, this is this is Jen. She's like, if you're gonna like you don't get to go on to some vacation and have fun. If you're leaving home, you better come home with something.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Jordan, did you flash to 300 with Leonidas when he's saying goodbye?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

And if the wife says, Come home with your shield or on it. It was so real. Like, like she like it was like a poke in the chest. It was like, I think she might have said F that. Like, it was like, okay, this means business.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

It was like a threat. It's like, Jeff, if you come home without a big check, you're in trouble. Well, she meant it because when I come home came home in season two without a big check, I felt it.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Wait, what do you mean? What do you mean you eliminated yourself?

SPEAKER_00 13:02

But um quick pause on that. Jeff, one of my favorite quotes from season two is when Jimmy says, Can you imagine if you won this show again? And you say, Yes, I can. I can. Oh, such an epic one-liner.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Oh, yeah. So, you know, I I think breaking the mold from me started with me getting back to who I was and getting back to my roots. And, you know, I know I've talked about it again, but like when I got, you know, this month of May, you know, marks 10 years that I haven't had a drink. And the moment I got kind of sober from alcohol, I turned like 17 again. Like I became a child again. I felt like I just I just felt like like a teenager again with you know, the world is my oyster, and I was being more honest and sincere and just more myself. And so for me to break the mold, I had to get back to my roots. And uh, once you get back to your roots, like you can start fresh again. Pairing the creative and competitive side was huge for me. And the fact that I got something, an avenue called Beast Games to do that is a miracle and just absolutely amazing.

Partner Support And Travel As Fuel

SPEAKER_00 14:07

So, Jeff, speaking of Jen's fiery attitude, it actually reminds me perfectly of my wife, Chloe. When I was working my corporate job and I was miserable every single day, she would tell me when I came home, she's like, we need to figure this out. We need to do something different because you're not happy, you're not you. And like, I want my guy back that's you know full of life and full of energy, and that's just not you right now. I can tell like this is draining you. And that really hit me and it stuck with me. And that was the catalyst behind the idea to do what I do now. And so I think it's super important to have a partner who is equally as crazy as you are with the ideas that you bring to the table and you know, willing to take risks with you, because that can be a really tough point in a relationship if your partner isn't on that same page as you. Have you guys experienced that in in your relationships? Categorically, yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

On both sides. If you are with somebody and you have this ability to create this A-frame where you're both focusing on finding joy together, on being concerned, your point journey around, is my partner happy? And if if the answer is no, then something has to change until that is no longer true. And if you know that that's the case, then I think there's an entire subconscious universe of options that becomes available to you that is not there if you feel like my job is to provide, and that's the only thing, and it doesn't matter if I'm suffering, I'm just gonna soldier through it. That's where loneliness comes from. That's where honestly depression that could lead to self-harm comes from. And that's where like loneliness and a desperation to stay in these corporate jobs that just lock you in forever. That's where so much of that comes from. And honestly, I think that your partner is where that begins and ends.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And and Jordan, was like when you were kind of grumpy at your corporate job, like was Chloe like, hey, it's okay, what are we gonna do? Or was she like, hey, I am tired of you, you know, bitching about this? Like, you gotta figure this out. Like, like what like which one was poking the chest?

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yeah, definitely uh more of the latter there.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yeah. Which which is awesome. Like, like for me, maximum growth comes at the pinnacle of support and challenge. Like the times that I've changed is because Jen says, What are you doing? Like, yes, and it's like, and that is I think super important too, because you could obviously have a partner who goes, Hey babe, we'll figure it out. The days will get better, or it's like, no, no, Jordan, like I because I kind of feel like Jordan, I've never seen you grumpy and kind of like complain about stuff, but I like I kind of feel like you'd be like kind of mad, like kind of angry. Is it? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I'm sure she was just like, What are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Stop, shake this off. And so she would call me vacation Jordan because I was a completely different person when I'd go on vacation. And so I remember the year after we got married, we were, you know, very poor, living on, you know, not much money at all. And we got our tax returns back. Um, and I think it was for about $3,000 or something along those lines. And she's like, we're gonna take all 3,000 of that, and we are going to go on a vacation. And so we flew to a Caribbean island, St. Thomas, and she planned the whole thing. We had an amazing vacation together on the beach, Caribbean Island, ate good food, and I was the happiest I've ever been. And she was like, All right, we need to figure out how we can travel more because this is what brings life into you, this is what makes you happy. And so I I love this topic because it doesn't have to be as dramatic as changing your entire life and leaving everything to go travel. But for me, that's what it was. That's what brought joy into my life. So once we kind of realized that that is what we both wanted to do, I was like, all right, we need to take this to the next level. We need to turn this into a career. And I was like, well, how do we do that? And this is really before social media was that big. Instagram was just photos, right? There was no reels out yet. And so content creation was still really new. So Chloe had the idea. She's like, well, let's just try. She's like, I know how to take photos, let's go travel the world for a year and you know, I'll take some photos, we can post them and see what happens. And um, you know, that was in 2018, 2019, we started traveling and we traveled for a full year and then kind of ran out of money. Came home, worked some more, earned some more money, and went back out there. And all the while, I mean, the feedback we were getting is like, you guys are crazy. You shouldn't be doing this. Come back, get a stable job, you know, settle down. And I just kept thinking in the back of my mind, I was like, travel brings me to life. You know, it's I'm so happy. I'm I'm myself when I'm doing this. And so I I kind of went all in on it and just locked in and focused and said, you know, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make this work. You know, I'll travel as long as I can. If I run out of money, I can always come back and find something else. I think that's where it's when the shift kind of happened, is when I said, you know, failure isn't an option. And so I'm willing to put in as much work, as much time, whatever it takes to turn this into a career. And eventually it did. You know, Jordan, it's really interesting in the corporate world.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

And maybe this is much more visible because corporate is by definition a large, very established entity. And the bigger the corporation, the more true that is. But when you see someone is burned out, I I've never seen somebody who is doing what they love or at least doing something that they really believe in and that they're committed to who is burned out. I have seen people who are doing that that are working 100 hour weeks and have done so for months on end. That's what you call passion. That's what you call mission. Burnout. I have seen people working 20 hours a week on things that they don't like who are burned out because all this drive, all this energy, all this brilliance is just getting blunted and shoved into a hole where it's not doing anything. And I think that that is not throwing shade on anything. Some of those people I described that are doing what they love are accountants and they absolutely love knowing that every single number for a corporation is perfectly organized. And that's

Zero To Claude Code Dad Hack

SPEAKER_02 20:17

beautiful. Others are creators. That actually does highlight our uh our dad hack of the week. If you've been following us, you know that every single week we debut another Claude Skill. And this week, if you go to our GitHub, you're gonna notice there's one that's called Zero to Claude Code 101. The reason why we're debuting this one this week is we are in a golden age of entrepreneurialism, where the access to making changes, Jordan, like what you did, the marginal risk cost is so much lower. And all you need to do is go in and start playing with Claude Code. And the idea that you have this concept that you you always wanted to bring to life, you are an afternoon of playing away from seeing if it's real or not. And the reason why we've got this skill for you to play with is when you go in and you go to uh anthropic academy, when you go into anthropic academy, you'll notice that there is a certain amount of knowledge that you need to have to get started. This tool takes you from I don't actually know what terminal is, and I don't want to say that to anybody because everybody knows what it is now, and I don't want to sound silly, to being ready to take those courses. And the second you do, you are on a roller coaster. We want to get you on that roller coaster today so that you can be like Jordan when you grow up, even if you're older than Jordan.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

So this tool is actually my favorite one that has been built so far, John. Are we gonna get a little preview of it today? Well, we are actually.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Here's what you're gonna get when you fire this up. Uh, there's a couple different ways that you can do it, but we actually created this to make learning not just accessible to anyone, but fun. This is free, and we would love nothing more than for you to go in here and do this and then come and talk about it in the Discord, to share with us on socials what you're learning, why you love it, and honestly to share your success stories. The greatest thing that I could Ever hope to read tomorrow after you read, if you after you listen to this episode, is that you tried this and that now you are on a journey of discovery that is going to unlock a future that just wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Here's what you're going to find when you jump into Zero to Quad Code 101. This is the companion episode. This is the companion skill, of course, for today's uh episode six. But you jump in here, you're going to see a couple of definitions, Anthropic Academy. You click this, it's going to take you to Anthropic Academy. That's what this is getting you ready for. You get to choose between three options. This is going to be called your example archetype. When you go through this, it's going to explain your entire lesson plan. It will break it down and give it to you in examples that work within one of three different ecosystems. One is the human body in medicine. Let's say you are in medicine and you want to understand through the lens of something you spent a lot of time mastering. The second one is natural ecosystems. This is going to be talking about how terminal is like the mycelium network and so on and so forth. And the last one is for people of discerning taste. If you love Dungeons and Dragons, this is going to be using a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons examples for you. But let's just say that we want to do human body and medicine. Here is how this breaks down. First is your computer secret layer, what is a terminal, opening and navigating files and folders, installing things and environment basics. Then it goes into the workbench, which VS Code, VS Code tour, so on and so forth, all the way through what Cloud Code is and getting you ready to literally go from this directly into your first lesson. One of my favorite features here, by the way, it says ready. Down here, you just go right into it. One of my favorite features is this interactive terminal. So as you're learning, you actually have a simulated terminal that will display the same thing that you would get if you were actually in terminal on your computer. It's a safe sandbox. You're not going to break anything in here, but you are going to be learning along as you go. That is going to be your Claude skill of the week, what we're calling DAD hacks.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

So valuable. There's never been a time in history where you can do so much so quickly with so little. And so I love this, John. Thank you for sharing that. I hope everybody uses it and let us know how it goes for you.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

And if you're out there and you're like, I have no clue what this is, you don't have to. Just take the chance and take the risk and carve out some time and dive into it. It's remarkable. And I'm only, I literally am in preschool when it comes to it. I have not even in kindergarten and it's changed the way I do a ton of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

You know, the hottest programming language at one point was something called C, then it was Python. The hottest coding language of today is the English language. And if you can describe what you want, you can bring that magic to life. Everybody in the world, this this came, this comes right from the Naval podcast. Everyone in the world just got handed a magic wand. And there used to be these sorcerers that walked around creating magic universes with all these special words that they knew in these languages. And now we all have wands and you just have to start playing with it, and all of a sudden you'll see your Patronists come to life.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Maybe we should make a physical dad squad cast wand that we can start selling. Universal.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

If you'd like to partner with us, we're ready.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

What a great episode for this, though, too. Like break the mold that you're not a techie, that you don't know how to code, that you don't know how to build something through technology. Like, and it could be something as simple as something for your family, you know. So just break the mold. By the way, I'm talking myself because there's a lot of stuff that John's told me to do that I haven't done yet, but I have to.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

John, Jeff, I gotta say though, what you've been able to do, your native curiosity, like, there is not a shortage. There is an abundance of knowledge and learning resources out there. There is drastic scarcity of curiosity. And I think that, Jeff, I'm just gonna say it right here, live on camera. What you've done with just your curiosity alone and the tools that are in front of you for $20 a month, you have done amazing things. And what even just what you've shown me has blown me away. And I've learned watching you. That's why build a little curiosity community, folks. Like learn with other people, play, show, practice, learn.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

And

AI For Real Life And Work

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Jeff, just to kind of set the stage a little bit, before you started, before John started sharing these Claude skills with you, you you basically knew nothing about AI, correct?

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yeah, well, I mean, I I use ChatGPT and I use Grok. And it was just like asking questions. Hey, who won the 1978 Super Bowl? You know what I mean? Well, nothing too wild. Um, and it was like, I think the same week John told me about Claude and happened to be um a guy who owns a plumbing company. He's like, man, I've been using Claude co-work on my plumbing company. He goes, You don't understand. He goes, it's helped me do so much with my with my company and my uh my team and our training manuals. I'm like, he's like, it's like a hundred bucks a month, but like it's worth it. I'm like, 100 bucks a month. Then John tells me more, and I'm like, okay, I need to check this out. And it again, you don't even know you don't even need to know how to do it. You tell it what you want, and it'll tell you how to do it. It sometimes cloud, obviously, cloud can do it for you if you use the extension. So um the first time I was blown away was I had I was uh moving my domain from one hosting to another and something got messed up. My website was down, my email wasn't working, I was freaking out, like, oh my gosh, what's going on? And I just hooked up the cloud extension, told it what was happening, it went through and did it all for me. It was wild. I'm like, oh my gosh, I need I need to become better friends with Claude.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Hey Jordan, what did Jeff say when the plumber told him that Claude would blow his mind? No shit. Hey, Gino, shout out to you, buddy.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Gino! But no, yeah, that was uh that was an unexpected referral into technology through John and Gino.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

We talk about AI a lot on the podcast because every single industry can implement some sort of AI and become better at your job, better at growing your business, become a better dad. I shared an example last week how I had Claude plan an itinerary for me and my five-year-old, and he had the best time he's ever had. And so literally anyone can take very, very simple skills and break outside the norm of people who, Jeff, to use your words, aren't techies and improve your life or your business, relationship, whatever, with simple skills.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

So Jordan, circling back on that, you should know that when I told Lexi that story, she learned to chant Wally Wombats and has done so many times since. We'll take a uh group trip there at some point. Like Wally World. Let's film an episode from inside of Wally Wombats. Of course. And we'll we'll all dress like blippy. I'll I I may already have the hat. I don't want to talk about why. Oh my gosh. You know, speaking of breaking the mold, there is a um there's a mold that that I watched get broken that you guys have seen broken far more completely than I had a chance to, but that has I thought about almost daily since, and that's the mold that Mr. Beast broke. And I think it might be worth talking about for a second because there's there's so many people who are using this AI inflection point to rethink their connection with being a creator, to do something that is accelerated by being part of the creator community economy. And I have to say, you know, if you if you watch how a lot of Mr. Beast works, it is very similar to how you will see the most innovative startups working, where sunk cost fallacy is aggressively abandoned, where you will see a fierce commitment to innovation and to focusing on what matters and to identifying where bottlenecks are. Where's the bottleneck? How do we eliminate that? How do we bore it out? And it is a level of consistency that happens between, again, beast and the most innovative places in the world, like anthropic, like open AI, like some of these really innovative startups. And um, I don't think that's coincidence. I think that's vision.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

It's it's vision, and it's also like the the inner artist in him, where it's like inner art, art, true artists create something new, something of their own. And like, you know, a lot of his stuff is this is what makes Mr. Beast Mr. Beast, and why things go viral. It's because it hasn't been done before. So it's just it's uh it's wild how they can execute on such a large scale, but also it's like to create a new is not easy to do when there's no blueprint.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

Well, he shared an example himself how if you're driving down the road and you see a cow on the side of the road, you're not gonna think much of it. You're just gonna keep driving. You're driving down the road and you see a purple cow on the road, you're gonna turn your head and say, Why is there a purple cow over there? And it's gonna drive curiosity. And he said that's the motto he takes into creating his content. He wants to create purple cows for every single piece of content he puts out there. And there's so much creativity, there's so much that goes into it where it makes you turn your head and be like, Whoa, what is that? I've never seen that before. You know, where so many other creators, myself included, it's like, let's just make a video, it's probably been made before. But he is trying to be innovative every single time, and I think that's super impressive.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Yeah, and and another thing you always hear, and I was in healthcare forever, like you always hear that, yeah, we want to do well and do good. You know, we want to do well by the patient, but also do good. Or, you know, I want to do well in my job, I want to make good money, but I also want to be a part of something that's making a difference. As you get into a company that's growing at leaps and bounds, and especially you have a consumable company in feasibles that's doing three, four, five hundred million a year in sales, like that's doing well, but they also do good. You look at his philanthropy channel, you look at um the most ethically sourced chocolate in the world, like it's crazy how he's able to do that at scale too. And it's like it goes back to values, it goes back to breaking molds. I mean, heck, Hershey's could have done this for years, they never did. It's uh, you know, and to think that as of this episode airing, he just turned 28. Like when I was 28, oh my gosh, like I hope there's no photos of me when I was 28.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

They look the same, they look the same as right now. So exactly.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yeah, I did have the silver hair, but um, but it's just it's I think in some weird ways, we're talking about him like he's accomplished so much, which he has, but it's just the beginning. It's like truly just the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Goes

MrBeast And The Purple Cow Rule

SPEAKER_00 31:59

right into Jeff. When you took the leap of faith and the risk and the chance and breaking the mold to go on Beast Games, won the show. You your intention of going on the show was to help find a cure for Lucas. I want to talk a little bit about what life has been like afterwards, after winning and where you're at now.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah, uh it's it's so interesting because you know, I won and then, but it didn't get revealed for another five months. So I kind of had this gestation period where I knew the end result, but no one else did. The world didn't know it. And so in my mind, I'm like, you know, man, it's gonna be things, so many things are gonna change. I I wore Ray Bans a ton during the show. Man, I'm gonna get called by Ray Band. They're gonna want to sponsor me. Uh super naive. But like in retrospect, I realized like everybody knows the saying, you know, if you if you break it, you buy it. You go into a store, you break it, you buy it. For me, when it comes to the mold, I realized if you break it, you gotta build it. Like just breaking the mold. So kind of going on the show and winning, it broke the mold of, okay, man, I'm I'm a dad who went to go tell his son's story. I happen to win $10 million, and I have this kind of unique platform, but the platform isn't anything unless I do something with it, unless I go out and build it. So for me, I realized, and a lot of this is with the help of our mutual friend Jeremy, just had this vision of I need to go tell Lucas' story more. I need to go. That's when we did Ruck for Rare. We built Ruck for Rare, which is an annual fundraiser where we we rucked across California 365 miles the first year. We rucked five marathons in five days in North Carolina this past year, but I need to build the platform. I need to, you know, create content, I need to interview researchers. No one's gonna come save me. Even though I won the largest competition show from the largest content creator in the world, I still have to build it. So I think for me, if you break the mold, understand that's awesome. That's the first step. You have to keep building the life that you just that you desire and the life that you want to design. Like, did you ever have because I remember, Jordan, you talked about the first time you got paid from a sponsor and you're like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. But I can imagine if you got that paycheck today, you'd be like, I'm not, I'm not taking on this partnership. Like that's you know, like meaning like you have to keep building on it, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Like does that speak to you? Yeah, that's a really interesting point because I would have felt the same thing with you, Jeff. Like as soon as you, as soon as the show aired, that you would have people calling left and right. Hey, let's sponsor this, let's do this, let's I'll give you an another big check to for a cure right away. And you know, it it just hasn't been that way. And I think that's kind of I think every aspect of life is like that. You know, if I were to stop creating content, I would no longer get brand deals. I have to create content very consistently to stay relevant and keep building my business in order to stay at the top of my game and and keep building relationships with brands. So super important to stay consistent in every aspect of your life. And John, curious your take on this.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Yeah, you know, molds, we're talking about molds. Why are molds made? It's so you can do something repeatable, which is what most business, well, honestly, what most of life is. Systems will set you free, which is an ironic thing to say when we're talking about molds. Molds aren't necessarily bad. Molds are dangerous when you just live in the only one that somebody handed you because it probably isn't gonna be shaped like the success that you're looking for or like the way that success will be shaped soon. Very unlikely, unless the mold that you're in is being born into a billionaire family, in which case you're probably shaped like success. You're probably gonna be fine. Assuming that our listeners are not yet billionaires yet.

Values Audit And Hot Takes

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Here's the one thing I would give as a little bit of a tip. Meet with your significant other, or if you are a solo, uh, the solopreneur in life so far, really sit down and put your three to five core values, what you really believe in, and I mean really believe in, put them on paper and then look at how you've spent your money and your time in the last 90 days. Compare those two things. Possibly use AI to compare those two things and really ask yourself if these are my core values of being frugal, of being mindful, being present with my family, and you are spending money on things that aren't associated with that, gambling or other issues that you might need to stop and really ask yourself, how is this alignment working? That is especially true if you are married, if you are in a long-term relationship and you sit down, you look at your finances, and you look at your time, you may very well find that there is a big disconnect between who you think you are and who you are actually becoming. AI is able to do this for you in a way that is very objective, but it's probably not as meaningful as the subjective emotion of sitting and really looking at it. So even if you don't own a computer, you you can still do this. But it really just comes down to saying what mold are we building together? And is it the mold that we want? If it's not, let's measure that and let's start making steps to move in the right direction, as hard as that might be.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Nothing beats some old-fashioned values work. I mean, I remember in my early 30s, I was exactly where you're describing, John. I was like, oh my gosh, like, I got these nice fancy leather shoes because I closed this deal and I got a nice car, but like I just felt empty. Obviously, I had a therapist. It was uh he was phenomenal, took me through the values. I'm like, oh, this is what I value. I'm not doing it. So it's uh highly recommended. By the way, you probably can use AI to do that too. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Next week's skill, AI therapist. Yes, AI valued work. Well, beautifully said, and I think that leads us perfectly into hot dad's hot takes. I would love to hear, John, your hot take first.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Shocker, it has to do with AI. Very my hot take this week is this just do it. Just launch the thing. And yes, we will censor that. One of my favorite quotes is Reed Hoffman said, if you aren't embarrassed by the first version of the thing when you launch it, then you waited too long to launch it. And what that means is get out there, be embarrassed, be the first person to dance in the crowd. And if nobody else dances, fine. There will be another crowd. And then that might be your crowd. But just launch the thing, just do the thing. The learning is in the doing and in the trying. That's it. And that's never been more true than it is now in the era of AI.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

I legitimately cannot watch the first YouTube videos I ever put out. They are so cringy, they are so bad, but I just put them out there and I did it. And over time you learn and you grow. I love that concept. Thank you so much for sharing that.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

And 45 minutes of Jordan flossing.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Yeah, hey, and then John, please roll Jordan's first clip. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

Nobody wants to see it. Trust me.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

It's painful. I'll go with my hot dad hot take is uh the most dangerous lie a dad tells himself is that consistent thing he calls a sacrifice. Again, we all make sacrifices, but if it's the same sacrifice over and over again, um, it's probably a compromise from something that is a value to them. I clearly went on Beast Games for my family, but you know, in retrospect, I realized like I went on it for me, it allowed me to kind of be my truest self, creative, competitive, furious, blending all these sides of me and just kind of own it. I could have easily said, Oh, you know, I I don't have a job, I can I gotta buckle down. Uh no one would have blinked, you know, blinked an eye. I would be like, oh yeah, it's a smart move. So I think um if you consistently tell yourself the same thing and you say you're sacrificing, it's worth exploring, worth looking into.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Here, here. Love that, Jeff. Well, my hot take is pretty straightforward. There's no one right path to take in life. Our guts are very rarely wrong, from what I've found. If your gut is telling you to do something and do something different, I would listen to it, right? Take the risk, take the leap, take the jump, and try something new. And all that does is open up new doors and give you new things to look forward to and accomplish in life.

Take The Leap And Join Discord

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Love it. And that being said, if anyone listening feels like they are not on the path that they are supposed to be on, we're gonna encourage you to take that leap and let us know in the comments. Give us feedback. What leap of faith are you gonna take this week, this month? And we would love to hear it. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

And jump into the Discord. We're starting to build new communities every single day as we go. We're looking at curiosity communities too. So if you want to come in, talk about AI, talk about your own values, work, really anything from the show and beyond, this is the place to come and find brotherhood, mission, and legacy.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

And with that, we will see you next week.