Chapter 1, Man Up To Yourself
Alright everybody. Hey, this is Scott. Sorry, it’s probably going to jump around a little bit. Let me try and get that light out of there. There we go. I forgot my [inaudible 00:00:12] out in the shop, my normal place for doing videos, so I’m going to have to try and hold it without making you feel like you’re in an earthquake or something like that. No pun intended towards Mexico at all. In fact, they’re all in our prayers. So, anyway, one of the things that, one of the reasons … Oh, hey! There we go. The youngest just found something for me, so bear with me while I try and get this set up. Good job, E, way to look! Hey, Ev, come here and hold the phone for me, will you?
Hold that. Sorry for the technical difficulties everybody. We’ll get this rocking and rolling here. Okay, so take this one. Same way as the shop. Oh! that’s so much better. Okay. So one of the things that I’ve been doing, I dunno if you guys have followed much, but the things I’ve been doing this week or in the man up challenge for myself, one of the things that I wanted to do and I wanted to make sure I was working on, was manning up with one, two and three. These are my three boys, and spending that time with them.
Now, here’s the thing. A part of the book release right now, this was me actually reading a part of the book, a chapter or so, and then kinda talking about it or rambling a little bit about that part of the book. So I said, “Okay. How am I gonna do this? Brenda’s not feeling well”. I got the boys and I thought, you know what, since they’re men upping in training, I’m gonna involve them in this. So this is non-scripted. This can either go really, really, really well or this could be an epic fail. This could be a total NASCAR crash. So if you’re into NASCAR crashes and you wanna see something just absolutely go boom, this may be something you want to stick around and watch. I have no idea what’s gonna happen with this. So what I’m gonna do is these three are going to pay attention as I read from the book. They haven’t heard this. None of them have read the book, but I’m gonna read a little bit out of the book, out of chapter one, and then I’m gonna ask them what they think about it.
So God only knows what the answers are going to be. So this is from chapter one and chapter one is titled ‘Man up to Yourself’, and chapter one is ‘Man up to Yourself’ because in order to be anything for anyone else, we have to be the best version of us we can be, in my mind, and so that’s why that one comes first. So this part of the chapter is titled ‘Embrace the Suck’.
“My trainer has a phrase that he uses while kicking my butt at the gym. He says, ‘Embrace the suck, Scotty. It’s the only way you’ll ever reach your goals’. It’s specifically for those times when I’ve used up, spent up, out of breath, and wondering if the torture is really worth it”.
You guys listening closely? Alright.
“This is definitely one of those instances when you must learn to embrace the suck. In fact, one of the ways you know you’re on the right path to your purpose is when embracing the suck doesn’t seem so bad anymore. When you’ve reached the point where you can enjoy the blood, sweat and tears portion of this process you know you’re on the right path. The blood, sweat and tears are the late nights and early mornings when everyone else is sleeping, but you’re up embracing the suck and going after your dreams. You understand that you must temporarily set aside some of the fun things or play time in order to go after what’s bigger and better. This is an important piece, especially if you have kids. Our kids deserve to see us going after what we want, facing our fears and working hard to make things happen. If all they see is a depressed lump that sits on the couch, pissed off because of the choices they’ve made in life, what kind of message do you think it sends to them? What kind of expectations do you think they’re going to grow up with? It is our job to be the rock for them, not their job to be the rock for us. They need to see us leading the way, taking control of life and embracing the suck if and when necessary. They should be able to clearly see that we’re the only one holding the pen while writing our book”.
So, now, here comes the unscripted part. Everett, come on up here buddy. So what did that mean? What did that mean to you? When I talked about embracing that suck.
You’ve got to work harder.
You’ve got to work harder to get what?
To do better.
To do better. Okay. To do better and be better. Okay. You listened. Good job.
Garrett, get up here. Well, that one was okay. Holy smokes! Let’s see what this one says. So dude, wait a second. We’ve got to be able to see who you are. So Garrett, what did you get out of what I read there about embracing the suck. What does that mean?
You have to work really, really hard to get to all your goals in life.
Okay. So there was a part in there I talk about what the kids should see. What is it that I show? … Okay, here … I’m going to do it because this part makes me nervous. So, Garrett, what is it that when you look at me, as your dad-
[crosstalk 00:05:49].
No. Okay. Thank you. But I know … don’t say what you think I wanna hear. I talked about what do our kids deserve to see?
That they “deserve to see us going after what we want, facing our fears and working hard to make things happen”.
So do you see? Here’s the real tough one. Do you see any area that I need to work harder at going after what I want and facing my fears? Or am I facing all of my fears that you see? What do you think?
Facing all your fears that you see?
Yeah. Do you think I’m facing … There’s nothing else that I could do better at? Okay. Say it. What can I do better at?
Teaching us more.
Teaching you more? Teaching you more what?
About more stuff in life?
Okay. Like what?
How do you use the Bobcat outside?
So somebody wants to learn how to use a skid steer a little bit more. So alright, fair enough. You’re getting to that age where you can start to learn this Fall. So fair enough. I’ll take that constructive criticism. I’ll do that. Thank you. Alright. I just got challenged and told ready to improve by a sixth grader. That’s alright. I’m good with that.
Wyatt, get up here? So this is my eldest and my intellectual, Wyatt. It’s been a while since you heard it, since I read it but what did you think when I was reading that? What thoughts came to your mind about … So this is all … this is the man up book, right? It’s all about manning up to yourself. What did you think when I talked about that? Or read it?
Well, honestly, it reminded me of now that I’ve started working out … Yeah. So that reminded me of me working out and, honestly, I didn’t think I could work out that well and now I’m starting to get better and better and starting to lift more weights and starting to become more confident in myself.
Okay. So would you say that you’re going after what you want? You’re not sitting on the couch waiting for things to come to you? You’re going after what you want?
Yeah, I’m trying to do that.
Okay.
By doing that.
And is it easy or is it challenging?
Very challenging.
Okay. Now I know at the beginning you didn’t like the challenge.
Yeah.
How about now? ‘Cause I remember the talk when I said, “At one point you’re probably gonna … it’s not always fun and it’s not always enjoyable, but the challenge you’ll start to kinda crave that challenge”. Have you reached that point yet?
Yeah, I have.
Okay. Cool. Alright. Thanks Bud. Appreciate you guys. So there we go. It wasn’t a NASCAR crash completely. These guys are actually … they were listening, and I think they had some good things to say.
So you know what? Here’s the deal. Chapter one is ‘Manning up to Yourself’, and what I was hoping that this would do, and they did it well for me, is much like the industry that I’m in … The industry I’m in is simple. I mean realistically it’s simple. It’s all about relationships, but it’s not easy. Manning up, the idea, the premise behind what it means to man up, what it means to do better, to be better, to be the best version of yourself, and in chapter one, manning up to yourself and for yourself so you can be better than the other areas of your life, is simple. The context is simple. The idea is simple. The actual piece of putting it into action is not always easy, and I think that’s the big thing.
But, here’s the thing. Nothing was guaranteed for us that it was ever going to be easy and, quite honestly, the more I challenge myself to be better and to do better, the more, like I talked with Wyatt about, I start to crave it. I want the challenge. I want that piece of challenging myself. Nobody else is gonna challenge me. That’s a whole different area of manning up is looking for someone, that mentor, that coach, that person to challenge you. I think I feel very strongly that we have to be willing and able to challenge ourselves even more so. If we can get to that place where that self motivation, that self-challenge piece is what is driving us, man, that’s a sweet spot to be in.
That’s what I shoot for. Don’t always happen every day, but that’s what I shoot for. So Carrie Syme Sanders says, “Will ‘Man Up’ be available on audible?”. Yes, it will. In fact got some traveling I got to do this week, but then next week we are actually going to start the recording process. And we sent a sample in to the publisher of actually me talking through it, reading the book, and they liked it. I don’t sound like a marble salesman with a mouthful of samples enough so that they want me to read my own book, which is … I think that’s pretty cool because I think I can actually add some inflection and importance to certain areas that are important. So yeah, I get to read my own book. So, anyway, that was tonight.
Thank you for bearing with me, with these guys. It’s just a way for trying to figure out a way to spend time with them yet get done what needs to get done. Well, there’s always a way to do something. My idea tonight was to involve them … just so happens the topic … they’re all boys and so it fit in really well, but don’t be afraid to involve your kids in what you do and who you are, more than just telling them what to do, school, that type of thing. I mean, this is some kind of fatherly advice, but involve … Don’t hide what you do, don’t hide who you are. Let them see it and let them be involved in it a little bit.
Alright, guys, hope you all have a great night. Yeah, I got a little leadership meeting I got to go to a little bit later. So we’re going to finish getting these guys ready for bed, finish some spelling, and a little bit more homework, and then off to another meeting. See you all later. Have a great night.