79. What It Takes to Be Resilient in Adversity

“I don’t want you guys chasing shiny objects.” Life is hard. Difficult circumstances come and go, we face hard decisions, we encounter business woes, marital friction, the battle against complacency, and so much more. What does it take to truly be resilient to the constant stress of this world? 

Between Wally's decision to sell his multi-million dollar business and Big A's wake up call to the tragedies of being unable to control life and safety within his family, you'll be getting a cold wash in the face yourself about life's most trying moments and men who walked through them and came out the other side. 

Key Takeaways:

• How to solve difficult problems
• Best routines for surviving the hard
• How to build resiliency 
• What matters more than preparation

The practice of gratitude, a simple yet profound shift in focus, is praised as a daily ritual that magnifies life's blessings over its shortcomings. Join us as we share these reflections, with the hope of enriching your path with the steadfast resilience and heartfelt gratitude that have fortified ours.

Resources:
Carol Dweck's Mindset
Dr. Andy Garret Resilience Course: https://www.truenorthprograms.online/sales-page-41c05714-f632-4d54-97ed-b88ab5449013

LinkedIn Group: https://www.viewfromthetop.com/group
Local Roundtable Events: https://go.viewfromthetop.com/isiroundtable

Connect with Big A and Wally:
View From The Top Website: https://www.viewfromthetop.com/
The Climb Newsletter: https://www.viewfromthetop.com/climb
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/
Wally’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwallenbeck/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey everybody, it's that time again for another episode of View From the Top. This is a podcast where we help growth-minded Christian businessmen who desire momentum in their business, their family and their finances get through the valleys and up the mountain to their very own View From the Top. Thank you so much for listening in and joining us today in this conversation. We're going to be leaning into embracing adversity. I don't know about you, but I've had plenty of adverse moments in my life, thinking back to, even as a kid, all the way through teenage years and being young and all that. So maybe you have too, and you're listening and you go, man, what are some of the things maybe the big A did? What are some of the things that the big A's learned from others, or Wally's learned from others? Well, we're going to do that today. We're going to dive in and we're going to talk about some things that we've learned going through some adversity in our lives. So thanks again for joining us. Let's get Big A in the studio. Big A, you here.

Speaker 2: 0:59

Wally, I'm ready.

Speaker 1: 1:00

I'm ready to go.

Speaker 2: 1:01

I'm ready to go, wally, I'm getting older.

Speaker 1: 1:04

Well, that's not a secret, it just dawned on me.

Speaker 2: 1:06

You know what dawned on me? I?

Speaker 1: 1:07

don't know what you meant by that. It just dawned on you. You're getting older.

Speaker 2: 1:10

No, no. It dawned on me when I had to take Robin for cataract surgery. I said, robin, we're getting old. I said, cat, our first date. And she's like that was 45 years ago. And I'm like, here we are now, we're old people going to get cataract surgery. But hey, I will tell you she did great. She came through it with flying colors and you know what she said. There was a scary moment, though they take your lens out. For those that don't know this.

Speaker 1: 1:38

Like right off your eye, it's like crazy.

Speaker 2: 1:40

They vacuum your lens out, they go into your pupil and they cut this slit and they put this like vacuum cleaner and they take your lens out. And then Robin says she saw this light show and I was like I don't know what that means. But then they inject this other lens in and what's pretty cool is the guy that did the surgery is a good friend of mine. We've known each other since school, since, like junior high school, We've been friends. And then 24 hours your pupil heals itself. They don't even have to stitch it up and I'm like six minutes. He's got 34 people in the waiting room two days a week. So he's doing 70 of these surgeries. And listen, I'm in the wrong business. I need to get in that business because I know what the bill was.

Speaker 1: 2:31

I don't want to be peeled back stuff on people's eyes, man, that's not my thing.

Speaker 2: 2:35

Six minutes and I'm like oh my gosh what a great thing, man, how have you been?

Speaker 1: 2:42

I'm doing well, man. We're you know well into April here, I know and yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:47

The buttercups are up. So yeah, grass is growing. Here we go. I'm glad too, because man back in the winter I hated the snow. I was like man. I hope I never see another snowflake. So.

Speaker 2: 3:00

I'm fired up, man, I'm ready to go. I'm fired up, man, I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go. We got an exciting topic to talk about today, but got a quick question for you. What's your greatest leap of faith that you've ever taken? Man Like, uh-oh, I'm going off the high dive on this one. What has that been for you?

Speaker 1: 3:20

Ooh, the greatest leap of faith, leap of faith. Man, I could go spiritual on this, I could go relational. I'm going to go business on this one. One of the greatest. I'll call it that, all right. Okay, maybe not the greatest, but definitely one of the greatest.

Speaker 1: 3:38

And this maybe sounds like almost contradictory, but when I sold the business that I had had for 18 years, there was that thought of like, well, yeah, you're selling your business, you're going to put a few zeros in your bank account. Life's going to be great and I knew it wasn't going to be. I didn't know how hard it was going to be and there's different topic for a different day, on a podcast for sure. But that leap of faith of saying, really, the way God orchestrated me to sell my business, even with all the challenges and struggles that were in it and through it and after it, it was definitely something that he directed me to do and it was a leap of faith. I mean, you're everything that you you know 18 years of building a business and you start with you're the only person in the back of your garage, literally.

Speaker 2: 4:39

It's like getting rid of one of your children. Yeah, I mean, it's almost like.

Speaker 1: 4:42

Yeah, we talked about Seth Weckley on here a bit, um, cause he's a good friend of ours and uh, he runs cathedral, uh consulting along with another guy named Mike and and uh, they were the um advisors for me through that, through that sale process, and um, something that Seth told me uh about as we got toward the end where we were going to close the deal. He said now, like have you ever experienced like grief, like losing someone really close to you? And I was like no, I haven't. He's like you're probably going to experience like some of those same emotions, and most people won't understand it. And I'm like, oh man, like Lord, what in the world Do I want this? This is what I want. So that was a big leap of faith and you know, god's proved himself faithful, as he always does on this side of it.

Speaker 2: 5:33

Did you experience that sense of grief?

Speaker 1: 5:36

A hundred percent. Yeah, in different ways too. It wasn't, it wasn't like I expected and and uh, even even after talking with him and some other others that had gone through similar things, um, it shows up a little differently for everybody, but definitely, yeah, some of those, some of those emotions around that man it's. It's some of you that have maybe not gone through that type of experience before, but you've gone through like a death or someone really close to you in real, uh, having that type of grief before. But you've gone through like a death or someone really close to you in real having that type of grief, like those things are real and it was man. I didn't want to go through that, but I did. That was the biggest leap of faith, I think, from a kind of a business and working part of my life. What about you?

Speaker 2: 6:19

Yeah, yeah, I was thinking a little bit about this and I'm like you. Yeah, I was thinking a little bit about this and I'm like you. I could go all different directions, but the thing probably that's challenged me the most in my entire life career spiritually everything was last year, in 2023. At the end of 2022, my youngest daughter was diagnosed with a liver disease and we were at Vanderbilt here in Nashville. She'd been in for two and a half months trying to get on the donor list and this lady walked in and hadn't seen her before and I hope I can get through telling this and she said I'm such and such with palliative care and you know, I guess I should have known what that was, but I didn't. And I said I'm sorry, I don't know what palliative care is. And she said well, it's a step up from hospice. I said what in the world? What are you saying? And she said well, if your daughter doesn't get a liver in six months, she's not going to be here. And I was like what? And the horror on my daughter's face at that moment.

Speaker 2: 7:39

Even as an adult, you know she's still your little girl and we had nothing. It didn't matter who I knew. It didn't matter how much money I've got, it didn't matter, I couldn't fix it, nothing I could do. So the level of faith was trust in God. It was like that's all I got. You know, I can't do anything. I mean I can't fix this. You know I can't do anything, I mean I can't fix this. And so the good news is they sent us to Memphis, to Memphis University, and Steve Jobs had his liver transplant there. And so I'm like man, if Steve Jobs is picking a hospital, sign me up like we're in, and so is picking a hospital, sign me up like we're in. And so we went there immediately and within a few weeks she had a liver. And now here we are, you know, eight months post liver transplant, and she's doing amazing. And so God was faithful and he really brought her through that. So I would say my greatest leap of faith was at that moment. And I've had many trials through my career and in my relationships, but I'll have to say that was my greatest leap of faith. I was really just leaning in and trusting God. And so, yeah, we were talking about this the other day with some folks. It's like, how do you do that? It's like man, like what do you do in those moments when your relationships fail or you fail financially? What is it that you lean on or like, what do you put your confidence in or what do you put your faith in?

Speaker 2: 9:22

I remember as a young business guy immature you know starting my first business or two and I just thought, man, if I can get enough money to be comfortable, not have to worry about you know where I'm going to get, you know the mortgage payment or whatever. And then we sold a business or two and it didn't scratch the itch, like I thought it was going to scratch the itch. And I was like, wow, like that didn't give me that feeling, that confidence Like I thought it was going to give me. And then I thought, you know what? I get my kids raised, I'll get them out of the house, become an empty nester. Then I'm going to have this sense of satisfaction. I'm going to, you know, everything's going to be good, I'll have a little bit of money and my kids will be gone and Robin and I'll drift off into the sunset, you know. And it was like man, that wasn't that magical feeling either, it was like it just didn't happen and I was like man, maybe, if it's a little bit more money, I'll build another business, right and well, that didn't do it. And God was really convicting me and saying you're putting your confidence and faith in the wrong thing. Right, it's not in more tangible possessions, it's not in titles, it's not in more businesses, it's not in those things. Now don't hear me wrong.

Speaker 2: 10:45

And I get the privilege of doing a lot of interviews and a lot of people talk about finances and making money and then you hear other guys that are very successful go, money's not that important. And I want to go. Money is very important. Don't minimize it, just don't make it. God, don't make it the very thing that you're trying to accomplish, for that and for that only. But money does solve some problems, let's be honest. I mean it gives you options and it does create. So I don't want to demotivate people from making money. Money is a good thing. It's a tool and we need to use it as a tool and we need to use it as a tool. But money can also create its fair share of problematic areas in your life. I mean quite honestly and I've seen some very, very wealthy people that I've had the privilege of coaching that really is confused on this issue that we're talking about today.

Speaker 2: 11:41

And so there was a guy in ISI that called me a couple of years ago and I didn't get permission from him so I'm not going to share his name, but he called me one day and he said hey, big A, I want to talk to you. And I said, yeah, sure, so we'll call him Michael for this episode. I said yeah, michael, what is it? He said Big A, I'm really struggling right now, financially and relationally, and I'm having some challenges that I need to talk through. And he said at the end of the day, I want you to tell me how you solve difficult problems. And I said Michael. I said I think you know what I'm going to tell you. He said yeah, big A, I want to hear you say it. Though Now, michael wasn't a believer, and when I say a believer, I mean he didn't profess Christ, he was just, he was atheist, and so he didn't believe in God, didn't believe in any of these things.

Speaker 2: 12:36

And I walked him through some of the things, my processes, my mindset. One of the greatest honors and pleasures for me in Iron Sharpens, iron was I had an opportunity to introduce him to Christ and lead him to the Lord, and today he's been baptized, he's got a small group, he goes to church, he's taking his children to church, he's very involved and he has that sense of peace that he says does surpass our understanding once you accept that. And so I thought it would be a really cool episode if you and I, as believers, would kind of talk through a little bit about what we do, about our mindfulness and things that we do and activities that we do. Some of you listening to this episode are not believers, and there's no condemnation, there's no judgment. We don't look down on anybody.

Speaker 2: 13:31

This is View From the Top podcast, and Wally and I both are believers, and so we're just sharing some fundamental principles that we live our life by, and so I thought it would be good, wally, for us to talk a little bit about some of our routines, some of the things that we go through, ways that we play out our faith, and so, yeah, just let you go for a minute. Like, what does a normal kind of routine look like for you as you live your daily life?

Speaker 1: 16:09

Yeah, I want to back up before we even get there. You know we started off interestingly enough with some of the examples that we gave of adversity. You might be guys listening to this going man, I wish I had that problem, right. So your adversity right now may be that you're struggling to make payroll this week, that's right.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Your adversity right now may be that you know you've not invested in your marriage and you know, you've seen some things with your wife and maybe your eyes are wandering and you're wondering what in the world is going on. You know, maybe you've invested with your kids and and cause you didn't know how. Maybe you had a dad that didn't didn't know how to teach you well, so you're having to learn on your own. That's really hard. You may find yourself that, you know, things are just kind of coasting along. You know business may be good and maybe okay, and you're making money and able to, you know, save some and do what you want pretty much, and and you're kind of just coasting and you're and you find yourself actually like, almost like in a state of adversity inside your head going is this all there is? Is this it Right?

Speaker 1: 17:18

I've been there, I think, big A, you've been there and and maybe it's, you found all kinds of crazy, you know success in terms of how big your bank account's gotten or how big your company's grown or you know whatever it is that you find yourself there and you're just like man, like Big A was talking about. It's not what I thought it would be, you know. And so we all face adversity at different times and different stages of our life in so many different ways and you know you had asked me what what, uh, you know, kind of my routine was and I think how it plays out and, yeah, I think what you're asking is like how do I?

Speaker 2: 17:59

keep myself.

Speaker 1: 18:00

What are some things that I do to keep myself I don't want to say even keel.

Speaker 2: 18:05

Grounded, yeah, grounded, that's a good word. Grounded, yeah, grounded, that's a good word Grounded, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:10

So I think the first thing for me is, you know, again, as a believer, the Word of God, scripture being in Scripture, that is to me how God talks to me, speaks to me not verbally but through the written word, and that's where I receive encouragement, that's where I receive instruction, that's where I receive guidance, but it's through the word, and so, through the word, I have to have a routine that enables me to be in the word. Am I 100% accurate with my routine every day? Nope, you know, when I was I don't know all the guys listening to this today right, like we come from so many different places and spaces, like around the US and even probably somewhere around the world, and I remember growing up, I had, you know, grew up in multiple churches when I was younger and pretty much through, you know, kid, through 18, same church, very much a fundamental Baptist type church, and loved it. Good people there. Every church has its issues and so if you find one that doesn't just wait, it'll have one, you know, because we're all people trying to figure it out, right?

Speaker 1: 19:30

Another church in Michigan for 22 years, and so I've been at churches for a long time and different speakers and preachers and teachers throughout time. I think you know they're doing the best they can right, based on what they've been taught. Doing the best they can right Based on what they've been taught, and so. But some of the teaching that came down to me, what I felt, the pressure that I felt, was that I needed to get up at 4 am. Now you're gonna laugh at me because you get up at 4 am. I don't get up at 4 am, but get up at 4 am. You know, be in the word every day and there was like this you have that and you know life's just going to be great for you.

Speaker 2: 20:12

That's not what they were saying, but that's what I heard. You know what a guy told me recently? He said Jesus is up at seven too.

Speaker 1: 20:17

That's right, I love it. And so I found that for me, somewhere between starting my routine in the morning six or seven, and and and granted guys that that have you know kids and they're getting help, you're ready for school and taking some drives and or have a you know got to get up early and have a commuter Like, your situation is going to be unique and different, right, there's different seasons of life for different things, and and uh, and you just have to make it a priority. One of the things I did learn when I had younger children I learned this from somebody else was that my morning routines were packed. I'd get up, you know, and I love spending the time with the girls in the morning, not someone's getting them ready, they do their own thing, but help with breakfast a little bit and get lunches, and then half the time I drive to school, half the time Sonia would, but those were precious, precious times. But on the way to school, you know we would not every day, maybe once or twice a week when I drove, we would read the Proverbs, right, and then have a discussion around it.

Speaker 1: 21:16

So I got in the Word. It wasn't like me sitting down like right in front studying at that moment, but I was in the Word. Something I heard from somebody was if it really matters to you, then where are those marginal moments in your day that you can take advantage of to be able to be in the Word? And so maybe that's lunchtime for you, maybe that's going to your car or whatever, maybe that's just being intentional on the way home, kind of debriefing, with some scripture coming over the radio, or maybe it's whatever it is. The point is is like being in the word. For me, is has to be a. It's how God speaks to me and so that's a. Probably there's other things too, but definitely being in the word is yeah, starting, starting your day out, I mean that's the important thing, ideally, ideally, but again, day out, I mean that's the important thing Ideally, ideally, but again, again.

Speaker 2: 22:10

If you don't yeah, sometimes you can't.

Speaker 1: 22:12

It's not about being ritual right or legalistic, oh my gosh, it's not.

Speaker 2: 22:18

It's about building a relationship. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:20

You know and that's what we need to do. Mine's very similar. You know, I do get up early and I do get in the word early, but we're in a different phase of life, right? My responsibilities are no longer small children at home and Robin and I have been empty nesters for 18 years now. Holy smokes, and so, yeah, isn't that crazy. And so I'm able to get up. Where I am old, I'm able to get up early. But I do want to point out one thing that I was just introduced to, maybe a decade ago, but it was being quiet and still, and I want to talk about that just for a second. I do similar things.

Speaker 2: 22:56

As you read scriptures. I'm doing a study right now called Journey. Brett Barnhart turned me onto this, and so I'm doing this study called Journey, which is really cool. So I'll always be doing either some kind of study reading the Word, reading through the Bible, doing a Bible study, whatever I did, experiencing God years ago and some people brand new to this that's a really great place to start. Disciples, prayer, life that's another really good study that you can do. That's been really good.

Speaker 2: 23:25

But for me, what I have found I've talked about it multiple times, but several years ago we put a jacuzzi in and it's undercover, it's got like a gazebo over it so I can go out in all weather, it doesn't matter. And I had initially wired it up for a TV. I was going to put speakers out there and all this kind of stuff and I was like you know what, I'm not going to do that because I'm going to let this be a quiet space for me. And so I do get up 4 or 35 o'clock. I go out there many, many mornings and I'm just still, I'm just quiet and I'm listening. And I know in First Kings it talks about God speaks to us in a low whisper, in a low gentle, in a low gentle whisper or soft whisper. Different versions give you different words. But my point is is if we're busy, we're active, we're doing, we may miss that. And so some of the most profound, impactful moments I've had is not when I'm requesting things, not when I'm praying, not when I'm asking for something of God to do, but it's he impresses upon me and what I have found out and you said this earlier God talks to me through the word.

Speaker 2: 24:39

A lot of people say I don't really understand that because it was in biblical days and so that's why they call it the living word, right, it's because you may read that and it not have a meaning to you, but the next time you read it it's a different meaning. And so I do an alignment. I listen, I feel the inspiration God says he gave us the Holy Spirit, and so I listen and feel that inspiration, and then it's in alignment with prayer, and then it's through counsel of the multitudes, and then it's through God's written word, through counsel of the multitudes, and then it's through God's written word. And so when those are in alignment, more than likely you're probably on a good path. When we talk about God's small still voice, there's just a few things around that that I think maybe would be beneficial to you. One of them is be aware Just kind of think of the situation that you're in, and when I'm coaching clients I always say what is it that you really know that you're in?

Speaker 2: 25:30

And when I'm coaching clients, I always say what is it that you really know that you're lying to yourself about? And we do that all the time. It's like, oh, it's gonna get better. It's gonna get better when you really know it's not gonna get better until you do something. It's the same way with this. It's like, don't lie to yourself if you know you're not in a good spot.

Speaker 2: 25:45

As Wally said earlier. Maybe your relationship with your spouse is not what it should be, maybe you're working way too much, and you know you are, but you're rationalizing that with well, I'm doing this for a period of time but it never changes and you're like, well, I just gotta keep doing it. You're gonna miss some opportunities with your wife and with your kids that you're going to pay great, great cost for later. So I just want you to be mindful of that. So be aware when you're listening to God talk to you and he whispers to you.

Speaker 2: 26:16

It's in scripture, it's in prayer, it's through the counsel of other people. Just kind of be aware. The other thing is be discerning and a lot of the times, the things that we feel or fear right, they're not of God, they're just a fear, and so just be mindful of that. The other thing that a buddy of mine told me when he was mentoring me. He said if you're going to pray for rain, take an umbrella with you. He said be expectant, right in faith. No, like this is the thing that I'm praying for, and so I pray believing and the other couple of things is be available If you're so busy. Every morning you get up, you pick up your phone, you get on email, you start making sales calls. You're not available.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Can we talk about that phone thing for a second? Real quick, yeah, sure, if you're listening to this podcast, this episode, right now, and like your phone's the first thing I'm not talking about reaching for your phone to shut the alarm off, I'm just going to call it out Like I believe this If you, the first thing you do in the morning is pick up your phone to read email, check news, see who texted you the night before I'm not saying there aren't moments where you're waiting for something or you just want to make sure, you're sure you know, not that kind of stuff but if you're just like, if you are so stuck to that phone that that's like what you look forward to in the morning and the first habit you create, yeah, it's going to be a struggle for you to find space to be still mentally and physically, to be able to find time to really be in the Word, but not just when you read it for read it's sake, but actually absorb it right, because you've already turned your brain on in a way that I don't.

Speaker 2: 28:07

It sucks you in. It sucks you in and you can't put it down. All of a sudden you've got these other things going on in your head.

Speaker 1: 28:11

Especially, you start checking email first thing. Way that I don't. It sucks you in, it sucks you in and you can't put it down. All of a sudden you've got these other things going on in your head, you know. Especially you start checking email first thing in the morning and that's the worst. You shouldn't check email before you go to bed and you shouldn't check it in the morning. Like, honestly, just get out of that. So when you talk about being available, I just want to like I had to jump in there on the phone thing, man.

Speaker 1: 28:27

I really consider, guys, if you do that in the morning, man really consider how that's affecting you.

Speaker 2: 28:32

Yeah, yeah, it's a great word, wally. I'm glad you said that, the things you've already pointed out and I've said as being in the Word. Right, a lot of people are like, hey, I don't know anything about the Bible. Right, go to people and say, hey, man, I want you to help walk me through this. Tell me, reach out to us, we'll help you, we'll figure out a way. Listen, if you need a Bible, I'll get you a Bible. I mean whatever you need.

Speaker 2: 28:56

We want to help you kind of get on this path, be in relationships. You know we talked about that earlier. And then, hey, be humble, you know, in your approach, when you're thinking through, like your approach, when you're thinking through, like, what are the things that I need to do to kind of get in alignment, these are some of the things that you do. I talked about seeking counsel and support from other people. Man, we could do a month's worth of episodes on seeking counsel. It's the thing that's made. The greatest impact in my life ever was 25 years ago, when I was invited to be into a small group to meet on a weekly cadence to give me insight, to point out my blind spots.

Speaker 1: 29:43

With other men who are similar direction as you. Yeah, they have.

Speaker 2: 29:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's yeah. I'm glad you said that because I just in my head was thinking that. But yeah, to say it out loud that you want people of you know like-mindedness, similar core values. You want people that are on a trajectory upward, not the drama, the complaining, that's not what I'm talking about. You want to get around guys that are going to encourage you. That other complaining that's not what I'm talking about. You want to get around guys that are going to encourage you. That's going to lift you up, that's going to help you.

Speaker 2: 30:17

Now, some of you like, I guess, brand new concept to me, like I'm unfamiliar with it. We can help you work through that as well. But you know, get in a local church, get around some faith-based groups for support. You know what I found out, wally?

Speaker 2: 30:27

When you share your burdens, it seems like the load gets lighter, because it's always way worse in your own head than the reality of it. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've been in a tough spot and I've called some of these guys that I'm talking about, and even when I say it out loud, it changes. It's like, wow, when I said that out loud, it didn't feel quite as bad as when it was just in my own head, right. And so then you have different perspectives. You have other guys that can give you insights or solutions and you're like I didn't even know that was a thing, or I didn't even know that was a thing, or I didn't even know that was an option, or I'd never even dawned on that. But it just feels like that your burdens get lighter when you share it out loud in a trusted environment.

Speaker 1: 31:21

I think a trusted environment is really key and that's a struggle for a lot of guys. Like you know, I've been there I didn't a lot of years where I didn't even my local church that I loved. I didn't have an environment where I felt I could really be transparent and you know genuine about what was really going on. You know a business owner and a lot of people I was around that I loved them and they're great people, but they didn't really understand some of the stuff I was going through. Like, to them it was all. Like you know, you've heard people say like I love it when somebody says, oh, you can do that because you can just write it off, oh my gosh, that just pains me. When people say that it's like, yeah, I'm going to spend says, oh, you can do that because you can just write it off, oh my gosh, it just pains me. When people say that it's like, yeah, I'm going to spend a dollar to save a quarter, like that makes total sense, right.

Speaker 2: 32:18

Yeah, but you get around guys that are sharp and business people and they heighten your awareness to that. It's like, really Do you want to do that? Like yeah, you can go write that off, but when you put it in the perspective or the context you just did, you're like, oh yeah, that doesn't make any sense, does it? No, unless, you need it.

Speaker 1: 32:35

If you need it, then okay, yeah. But my point is in saying all that is not to diss the local church by any means. I'm not saying that at all. If you're a guy listening to this and you're a Christian businessman, you probably you may have a local church environment where it's perfect for you and by all means, praise God for that. Keep going, right. Yes, but you know, big A, and I know we hear from hundreds of guys around the country that that is not the case in their situation, and so I just want to encourage you, don't give up. Like, if you're out there and you're like man, I just I don't. Big A is talking about finding these guys I can trust and like, don't give up, like, really lean into.

Speaker 2: 33:14

God on this.

Speaker 1: 33:15

Like, really bathe this. I hate to bathe it in prayer, but really put it out to God in prayer and and you know he will provide. And again, we're happy to help connect you as best we can with connections that we have around the country. So please, we'll give our email at the end, happy to reach out to you guys.

Speaker 2: 33:33

Yeah, we got guys all over the country. We're in multiple countries now, but all over the US we've got relationships and we can connect you Wherever you're listening from. I feel confident that we can connect you with somebody that can maybe help you with that. I'll have to say, wally, quite honestly, people ask me all the time on the interviews. You know what is the best thing? It was like what is the greatest tool. And I'll have to honestly say, for me personally, the greatest line of defense for me is relationships and I genuinely mean that.

Speaker 2: 34:04

I know that we have Iron Sharpens Iron, the mastermind. That sounds self-serving when I say that, but when I retired 13 years ago and we started Iron Sharpens Iron, I had already had years and years 10 or 12 years of masterminding. I wouldn't even started this if I didn't believe it. And I see guys every single day now saying man, without you guys I wouldn't be able to do this. And I've got the strength you know, I can borrow from you when I don't have any and you can give me the sense of encouragement and it's like it's just really, really good for me. So I just want to encourage you, man, get in a connect group, get in your local church, join some mastermind, get in some organization. Isolation is the enemy of excellence and we do not want that for you. We want you to get around other people of like-mindedness.

Speaker 1: 34:56

There's a quote. So, first of all, you keep telling me you want me to talk more on this podcast, but I try so hard to get in there.

Speaker 2: 35:03

I know, but I got so much I want to say I'm going to wait until he pauses. You don't pause, but you got to jump in. I'm going to start raising my pauses. You don't pause, but you got to jump in.

Speaker 1: 35:10

I'm going to start raising my hand and be like hey. No no, it's all. Good man, I forgot what I was going to say honestly.

Speaker 2: 35:19

Well, see, you lost my train of thought and I was right in the middle of something. Good, caleb, don't edit this out, but just leave it in there. I don't even care. So we're human, and so here's the bottom line. Before we move on, we got one more topic we want to cover. If we don't have something that we can point to as truth, we tend to get caught up in the latest greatest movement, and I don't want you guys chasing shiny objects. You know God's Word has been proven to be truth for Christians and I want you to just explore that. If you're not a believer, okay, I get it, go explore it For those that are believers. Really lend yourself to stand on the truth and not get caught up in the latest greatest movement. So yeah, yeah, man, it's important, important stuff. Building resilience through mindset and perspective shifts man, mindset, wally, talk about that. For a second, mindset is so, so important in having a sense of resilience. There's so many great resources out there. So, yeah, what's your thoughts on?

Speaker 1: 36:32

mindset, I think, about the two things we've talked about already. Remember, the whole idea of what we're talking about today is around embracing adversity and being unshaken and embracing it with faith and fortitude. And so we've talked about our routines and being prayer and reading scripture. And so we've talked about you know our routines and being prayer and reading scripture, and we talked about those people that we surround ourselves with. So I find it interesting so far, the two things you talked about so far, is that they really aren't things that sure, they're things you can do in the moment, but they're really tools to help you prepare for the moment, because adversity is going to come right for all of us, there's no question it's not.

Speaker 1: 37:13

If it's a win, adversity is going to come, and so um I think we absolutely need to have a routine that honors god and builds relationship with him and then being in relationship with others and having that support in our local church as well as other organizations that can help us, um, in our purs and endeavors, things we're doing, and how that aligns, and what you just talked about, with having a mindset that is both in the moment and before, right. So if we have the right mindset, we may not come up against the adversity may not be as big of a deal as we think it is, because we haven't had our mind fixed, you know, on the right things. And then in the moment, if we have the right mindset, it's probably not as big of a deal.

Speaker 2: 38:04

And so, wally, you're loaded with value bombs today because you're helping me really think through that I'd not really thought about. The preparation is going to prepare you for the moment, and having the right mindset in the moment is a result of the preparation. We can't just automatically have the right mindset. Right, it's work. We got to do the reps, we got to do the work. It's a muscle, yeah, yeah it's a mindset.

Speaker 1: 38:29

That was really good. Mindset is a muscle. Is that good?

Speaker 2: 38:33

Yeah, I don't know if it is or not, but it's going to be on this episode, so that's really good. Carol Dweck does a really good job with a book that she wrote called Mindset. It's an old book, it's been out there for a long, long time, but she talks about having a growth mindset and how important that is, because if you've got a fixed mindset, you're like, well, it's just the way it is and it's never going to change and it's like man, that's not true and you want to surround yourself with growth-minded people.

Speaker 1: 39:02

There's a quote that I have up on my wall up here. It says you guys, you've heard that quote before about you know a ship. What it says is a ship is easier to steer when it's you know out to sea and not sitting in port and I think about yeah.

Speaker 1: 39:20

I think about mindset is that that if, if my mindset is fixed like you just said, like it is what it is, I can't change it, fixed like you just said, like it is what it is, I can't change it, then you're not going to find time some time this week to be in the word. If you have a fixed mindset that you're accepting the way things are, you're not going to find people that you need to be around and you're just going to accept the status quo and you're going to fight the same stinking problems and the same stinking frustrations and you're going to go head on to the adversity, not equipped when it comes, and you're going to experience challenges and you're going to experience consequences that you don't want to experience, because even when we're prepared, it's hard.

Speaker 2: 40:14

And so that mindset piece is so important to get you know the other part of that is the perseverance to really build that resilience. And it's that way, with the mindset we've got to persevere, ongoing. It doesn't like you don't arrive, you don't ever just get there and you're like, okay, I'm good now and I can attest to that even after all these years. It's like it's continual, it's we've got to persevere, going through that. Speaking of resilience, dr Andy Garrett really created a phenomenal course. We'll have him in the show notes where you can get his course on resilience to really help you develop the right mindset. And so, yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out to Dr Andy. I think we've talked about that in other episodes, but he's really done a good job. Last thing before we go gratitude man. This is something that I wasn't great at doing this until a few years ago and I was in a funk Like I got into. We've all been in them, wally. You've been in them, I've been in them, listeners have been in them, you'll get in them again. Right, it's just the natural part of living a life, and so I was in a spot and I couldn't work my way out. Normally I'm like, okay, I can talk myself through this and I couldn't, and I remember this guy saying you need to be grateful. And I'm like grateful, like I'm pissed right now I don't want to be grateful, like I'm mad and I'm down, and he's like no man, you need to list out things that you're grateful for. And I said, okay, I don't feel like doing it right now. I don't, I'm not in the mindset to do this right now, but I'm going to do it Like I'm going to trust the process. I don't know how long I sat there. It was a long time and I had three or four pages of things that I wrote down that I was grateful for. Now, you know, I don't know, and I'm going to believe it to be true it got me out of the funk. It was like really Like I'm hung up on this thing over here and look at all that I've got to be grateful for, and so I just want to tell you, man, when you practice gratitude, something changes, and I know guys that have gratitude journals, right.

Speaker 2: 42:36

Seth Buechle we've talked about Seth a couple of times recently, in the past few weeks, but he wrote a book called Ambition and man. It's a must read. It's a great matter of fact, he's doing a revised edition to it right now. It's pretty cool. I was just talking to him about it, but yeah, get a copy of Ambition, but it is a really, really cool tool to help you to be grateful. So what about you, wally? You're a journaler. I'm not a journaler, but do you practice gratitude on a regular basis?

Speaker 1: 43:06

Yeah for sure you know I say regular not as often as I should. Yeah, for sure you know I say regular not as often as I should, but definitely as a practice of being prepared for the adversity that you're in, you know, and then, as you go through it, being able to identify those things that man, man God has just blessed us with not not things.

Speaker 2: 43:39

He just blessed us in so many ways. Yeah, when you start counting it.

Speaker 1: 43:40

It's cool man, you know, and even the little things, if, if, if you've not spent, if you're not invested much time, you know, if, if you spend your evenings, you know three, four, five hours watching TV every night I'm being a little judgmental here If that's all you do every night, every night of the week, you're missing out, truly missing out on opportunities to learn about other people in other places, whether it's through reading or even, I guess you could watch some documentaries, and you know, been on a couple of missions, trips that have helped open my eyes to, to, to things that go on in the world. That we, you know, we live in a world where we're, what you know. If you make above a hundred thousand a year or something, you're like in the 2% of the world or some crazy thing like that. Wow, it's like some crazy number and like we don't think about that because we live in the US and so we judge ourselves by our neighbor and so we've moved into a nice neighborhood and everybody's kind of the same and we don't think that way.

Speaker 2: 44:43

You start taking that stuff for granted. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:45

And you know we need that reset of, not that God's I'm not saying that God's calling you know everybody to give everything away and live in a sense. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is like if we are truly write down and identify and speak gratitude to ourselves, we speak gratitude to our spouses, our wives, to our children. Let other people know you're grateful for them.

Speaker 2: 45:14

You know, while you did that not long ago, you were early morning you sent me a shot of you sitting there journaling and you gave me a really nice compliment about some things that we had talked through. It was very impactful. It was like, wow, where did that come from and where it came from is you cared about that topic and you were thanking me for something, and it was very meaningful. That's the very thing we were talking about earlier with relationships. You didn't want anything, you didn't want to borrow anything, you weren't asking for anything, you were like you matter, and it was very, very impactful. Guys, that's what we're trying to convey to you today and as we wrap up kind of this podcast episode.

Speaker 2: 46:03

Today, we've really uncovered the fact that challenges in business and life they're inevitable, there's no question about they're going to happen, but facing them with faith and resilience can significantly shape the journey. As we discuss the power of starting and ending our day in prayer and in meditation, whatever it is, that's good for you, highlighting really the importance of sitting still and listening to that small, still voice, it really centers you and it gives you that guidance that I was talking about earlier. This practice, along with engaging your faith in communities or around other people that you care about. It really offers strength and wisdom to really navigate some of life's storms. And I'll just be honest with you, man, the reason we want you to do this is because it matters, wally, and I hope that your faith and your resilience really guides you through some of life's trials, really lighting your path with that strength and that wisdom, so that you, too, can enjoy your very own view from the top.

Speaker 1: 47:13

Hey, thanks again for listening today, man, covering the idea of adversity. Like we said, we know it's not if it's when. So I hope that you'll take these nuggets to these different principles to heart. Grab a nugget, make an application today. Do something different today that'll make a difference tomorrow. And this an application today. Do something different today that'll make a difference tomorrow and this week for you, your walk with God and your business, your relationship with your wife and your kids.

Speaker 1: 47:37

If you need help with that, please reach out to us at pod P-O-D at viewfromthetopcom. As we said earlier, happy to connect you with other resources around the country. Man, we'd love to be able to serve you in that way. So please do that. Pod P-O-D at viewfromthetopcom. Maybe even a simpler way to start getting connected. If you're a Christian businessman, go out to viewfromthetopcom slash group. That will redirect you to a private LinkedIn Christian business owners group that we recently started in the past couple of months and I think there's I don't know if there's a couple of hundreds in there yet pretty close. We're getting there, but more guys are coming in pretty much every week and joining that, where we're continuing the type of conversations that we're having right here on this episode and these podcast episodes, except you get to speak. So please come join us there, viewfromthetopcom slash group and we hope to see you there.

Speaker 2: 48:38

Until next week, go, make it a masterpiece.