Every New Year, millions of people set goals that they will never reach. While many commentators say New Years resolutions are useless, the real problem has nothing to do with setting resolutions. The problem is that we often set goals that don't carry a great enough meaning to follow through on. Even if a goal is set up perfectly under the SMART goal criteria, you won't get far with it if there isn't enough meaning behind it. Change is difficult and to create the change you need, you'll need to set a goal that motivtes you everyday for the long term. This video will help you to create a process to set meaningful goals for yourself in 2020
Walt Gragg is a United States Army Veteran, former lawyer, and military fiction writer.
His latest book, The Chosen One, follows the story of an unassuming holy man who gives rise to a worldwide Islamic fundamentalist movement that takes over the world and leads to a battle of epic proportions. The storyline also follows several characters in different theaters of the battle, including a Marine Force Recon officer who is tasked with delaying the Chosen One's forces until US reinforcements can arrive.
This is Walt Gragg's second time being on the show. Last time, he came on to speak about his first book The Red Line.
The Chosen One is action packed, enormously detailed, and captivating. It's characters, particularly the Mahdi, an Algerian cleric named Mohammed Mourad, and Marine 1st Lt. Sam Erickson, are enthralling.
Walt Gragg's books not only bring entertainment, but lessons for the avid military reader. There are many leadership lessons through it's pages and the detailed descriptions of the weaponry and tactics used are outstanding.
In this conversation, Walt Gragg discusses his writing process. He delivers solid advice to aspiring authors, and he gives us some insight as to his next project.
You can purchase The Chosen One here: https://amzn.to/2PZxOxe
I had someone ask me a few weeks ago, "looking out at a world with so much evil and so much bad, how could you believe in God and how can you get excited for something like Christmas? How could you put so much effort into your ideals"
This is a tough question. I've been in this person's position before and shared the same mindset.
I am by no means the wisest man in the world, but I have lived a good amount of life and this is my best answer:
It is precisely because this world is an imperfect place, because I know that evil exists, and because I know that there are things like suffering in this world that I hold onto my beliefs and ideals.
This is why I joined the Marine Corps in the first place, and why I run this podcast. It's why I pray everyday, why I take care of my body, and why I work so hard to spread this message. It's why I believe God put me on the path to do all of these things.
It's easy to become negative. It's easy to tell someone off, exact revenge, and it's easy to try to make this world more worse off than it is. The harder thing is to work on building this world into a better place, to lift people up, and to free yourself from negativity by forgiving.
We all need to hold ourselves to higher standards because the world is the way it is, especially within the warrior class. That's because we know that evil exists.
We're the ones who need to be strong because, paraphrasing Travis Manion, if not us, then who?
That is why I choose to believe in God. That is why choose to hold myself to higher ideals, and that is why I love the Christmas holiday.
It's a time when, in the face of evil, we can remember ideals like goodwill to all and peace on earth, even if they are ideals that might never be reached.
Wherever you are, and whatever you believe, my prayer for you is that you see a deeper meaning for you being here. Not an easy life, but a life that allows you to see all the good you might do if you open your eyes and your heart and dedicate yourself to something bigger than you.
Not just during this Christmas season, not just for a period, but through your life.
Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season to all of you.
Like many stories we bring to you on the Warrior Soul Podcast, the story of Craig and Fred begins on a battlefield. Battlefields are known to be places of horror, sacrifice, and death. They are also the sources of some of the greatest stories ever created.
Craig and Fred have a great story. It's the story of a US Marine, named Craig Grossi, who found a little dog in Afghanistan whom he named Fred. That dog worked his way into Craig's heart, and into the heart of his fellow Marines. Then Craig decided to bring Fred home to the United States.
The book, Craig and Fred has inspired thousands of people from across the country and across the globe.
I've been lucky enough to befriend Craig and Fred the Afghan, and to get to know both of them. I can say that both have huge hearts and a desire to help others gain the same stubborn positivity that made their story so great.
This is why I bring Craig Grossi onto the show each year around Christmas time. It's a story that can unite us in such divisive times and it's a story that can lift us up.
Brian Tally woke up one day with near paralyzing pain in his back. Brian is a Marine Corps Veteran, and like many veterans, he was in the VA System.
He went to the emergency room in excruciating pain, where he was given a cocktail of painkillers and then sent home.
The pain got worse, and Brian Tally found himself back at the hospital. Eventually, he underwent surgery and doctors found that he had a staff infection in his spine.
Brian's situation was worsened by the neglect of the VA Emergency room, and he was told that the VA would give him damages.
Then, they broke the news to him that the VA was not liable because one of the doctors who worked on him was an independent contractor. He had to sue them under state law, but they didn't give him this information until the statute of limitations for California was up.
Brian was left high and dry, but he's not going down without a fight. Now, Brian Tally is working to save other veterans from this loophole with the Tally Bill.
Kevin Meier is back on the show this week. Kevin is the creator of the very popular Pure Bullfit channel on YouTube.
Kevin's channel is centered on calling out bad actors in the fitness industry, while simultaneously giving his followers valuable advice for their own fitness journies.
Kevin is also a fellow veteran of the United States Marine Corps, and he is a man of the utmost integrity when it comes to bringing the best to his audience and his clients.
In this conversation, we discuss fitness as we head into our 40s, SARMs, steroids, and holding the fitness industry accountable for bad advice.
Human beings have been using psychedelic plant medicines for thousands of years. Often, those medicines were used as a way of helping the subject to reconcile experiences he or she had gone through.
But over the past century, psychedelics became stigmatized and prohibited. Seen as a major threat to society, the US Government took them off the table for anyone seeking to use them as medicine by making them a schedule one drug.
Recently, however, many are seeing psychedelic plant medicines like ayahuasca and dmt as a viable therapy for those dealing with trauma.
Jesse Gould of the Heroic Hearts Project is a US Army Veteran and former investment banker. He started the Heroic Hearts Foundation after having his own transformative experience with ayahuasca in Peru.
The Heroic Hearts Project takes veterans to Peru after extensive preparation to partake in their own healing psychedelic ceremonies.
To learn more about Heroic Hearts, visit https://www.heroicheartsproject.org
In 2016, Brandon Straka felt like the world was ending. President Donald Trump had just been elected, and as a gay man, he believed that the United States had just elected a regime that would oppress him and his values of tolerance and equality for all.
As the viral video he released nearly a year later explains, Brandon identified as a "liberal" because he rejects racism, the marginalization of any human being based off of gender or sexual preference, and tyrannical group think.
But as he looked around, he didn't see tolerance amongst the left. What he saw was a growing hatred for middle America, consistent attempts to marginalize people because they had white skin, and an irrational demonization of heteronormativity. Some on the left were even turning their sights against black men and gay men who didn't tow the line.
Increasingly disillusioned with what he once considered his tribe, Brandon decided to walk away from his identity as a leftist and the Democratic party. With it, he created the #walkaway movement, made up of those increasingly disillusioned with the direction that the political left in the United States is taking.
If you are a regular listener of this podcast, you're probably wondering "why is Chris going political?" Let me explain.
The mission of this podcast is to empower US Military Veterans to live their best lives. Many amongst our audience are headed to University campuses around the country, where they will continually have the values that they've fought for demonized. My fear is that as these young men and women go forth to continue their educations, they will be marginalized and told to sit at the back of the class and shut up, as many leftists have advocated.
If you disagree with me politically, that is fine and completely encouraged. I don't hate you. Like you, I reject racism, bigotry, and marginalization of anyone based on their sexual preference.
But I also believe in America, in religion, and on the value of equality regardless of race.
And for those reasons, I believe that it is my duty to bring Brandon's story to this community. If that causes me to lose listeners, then so be it.
If there is one thing that will determine whether or not you can be successful at anything, it's this: your ability to delay pleasure in favor of pain.
It's impossible to know what life has in store for us. Keith Murphy, US Army Veteran, certainly did not know what life had in store for him when he went out riding on his motorcycle one day.
He was hit by a woman who wasn't paying attention to her driving. He lost a leg, and his life was changed forever. At that moment, Keith had a choice: to allow the situation to break him or to allow the obstacles in front of him to make him stronger.
Luckily, Keith came in contact with the Adaptive Training Foundation, an organization started by former NFL Linebacker David Vobora after he was inspired by US Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills, a quadruple amputee who lost his limbs in the war in Afghanistan.
The foundation runs a 9 week course that's built to empower those with physical disabilities through exercise. In that 9 weeks, Keith was rebuilt and transformed.
Today, Keith is not only continuing his career as a truck driver. He's running Spartan Races and climbing mountains because of this amazing organization.
In this interview, we discuss Keith's transformation with himself and his trainer, Alex Barham, a US Marine Corps veteran who works with athletes at the Adaptive Training Foundation.
You can donate to this amazing cause by heating over to http://www.adaptivetrainingfoundation.org.
Nick Bare is used to "embracing the suck." Completing US Army Ranger School can drive anyone to the ends of their endurance, but Nick rose to the task as a young Army infantry officer.
While he was in the Army, Nick Bare started Bare Performance Nutrition, a supplement company.
Entering as saturated market, Nick had to figure out a way to differentiate his brand. He did that with the Nick Bare YouTube Channel, which detailed his life as an Army Officer.
Soon his brand started taking off, and Nick and his brother had to begin scaling things up.
In this interview, Nick Bare reveals how he started BPN during his Army career and what he's doing now to grow.
Nick also discusses his new foray into endurance training, and how he deals with the wear and tear on his body.
To learn more about Nick, head over to his website: https://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/
And be sure to check out his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/barelifenutrition
Pain, emotional or physical, drifts finds it's way into all of our lives at one time or another.
Regardless of how pain enters our lives, it leaves its impact. That impact can be devastating.
Pain can drive you to the ends of your sanity and to the edge of your strength, but pain can also make you stronger.
In this episode, Chris talks about how he deals with his chronic physical and emotional pain in his life.
The Warrior Soul Podcast is brought to you by FBOMB Nutrition - makers of delicious high-fat/low-carbohydrate snacks. Their macadamia nut butters are premium quality and highly portable. They also make outstanding meat snaks and cheese crisps. To get 20% off of your first order of FBOMBs, use the code WARRIORSOUL at checkout at http://www.dropanfbomb.com
Matt Hesse is the founder and CEO of Performix, a high-performance supplement company.
Recently, Matt also founded the Fit Ops Foundation. This is a charity that is dedicated to helping veterans become elite personal trainers.
Through a three-week boot camp, Fit Ops candidates go through the necessary course work and training they need to secure a personal training certification, free of cost. In addition to that, Fit Ops candidates get priceless mental training in the company of their fellow veterans.
Once Fit Ops candidates are through the bootcamp, Fit Ops continues to provide aftercare to ensure that graduates get jobs and stay on the path to success.
Recently, WWE star John Cena donated $1 million to Fit Ops, and he's matching any donations that come in prior to the holidays.
To donate to Fit Ops or apply for your spot, head over to http://www.fitops.org.
Justin Stenstrom is the founder and host of Elite Man Magazine and the Elite Man Podcast.
He started Elite Man originally as a blog to help give young men more confidence as they navigated through life.
Since then Justin Stenstrom has grown Elite Man into a successful media and nutrition company. He's interviewed some of the most accomplished men in the world and has developed a world wide following.
We brought Justin on to discuss his business, life, and his advice for veterans as they strive for success in their own lives.
You'll learn:
Be sure to check out Justin's show the Elite Man Podcast at http://elitemanmagazine.com/.
In this "Ask Me Anything" edition of the Warrior Soul Podcast, Chris examines three question ranging from the practical to the very serious:
Get your questions answered by posting them in the Warrior Soul Agoge: Empowerment and Resilience Facebook Group here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/warriorsoulagoge
Grant Cardone is an internationally renowned author, speaker, sales expert, and real estate expert.
The Grant Cardone empire spreads across five publicly held companies, hundreds of employees, and reaches millions of people via social media content marketing every single day.
But things weren't always so good for Grant Cardone. Until the age of 25, Grant had a drug habit. That habit got him disowned by his mother and it landed him in rehab.
When he got out of rehab, Grant Cardone became a man on a mission. He got a job as a car salesman, which he hated, but he dedicated himself to learning everything he could about sales. He got so good that companies hired him to train their sales teams.
In the process, Grant Cardone also began investing in real estate, securing apartment complexes and rental properties into his portfolio. Today he owns over a billion dollars in real estate and is working to grow that number each year.
Over the past few years, Mr. Cardone has dedicated himself to creating the Cardone Academy, where he teaches sales and investment strategies to students and fans from across the world.
Grant has deep admiration and respect for the Veteran Community, and he's worked with American Dream U to create a sales training program free to all Veterans.
He has made that training program available to our listeners at http://www.cardoneuniversity.com/vets. You can access it for free by clicking on that link
In this episode, you'll learn:
In this episode, Chris takes questions from the Warrior Soul Private Facebook Group on dealing with younger subordinates at work, exercises you can do to burn fat and raise testosterone, and on counting your calories.
You can join the private Facebook Group at http://www.facebook.com/warriorsoulagoge.
This episode is sponsored by FBOMB Nutrition, makers of delicious high fat, low carbohydrate snacks. Their macadamia nut butters are ridiculously delicious and they've got no sugar. Get 20% off of your first order of FBOMBS when you use the code WARRIORSOUL at checkout at http://www.dropanfbomb.com
Life is difficult and fortune does not favor everyone. Some people just have bad luck.
There are those of us who seem like we just can't catch a break. Like the world is doing everything it can to hold us back.
That leads to pure unadulterated rage. You alienate yourself from others. You push everyone and everything you ever loved out of your life, and you drive yourself to be alone.
If you've ever felt like you wanted to watch the world burn...
If you've felt like punching anything and everything that comes in your sight...
If you've felt like you were alienated from every other human being that you've ever come in contact with...
If you've, at times, scared yourself...
Then this is the podcast for you.
Bad luck happens, but you make it worse when you feed into it, and you need to stop.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm going to do my best to help you get there and get to the point where you can live an amazing life, but you need to be willing to do the work.
That starts with pushing that play button and giving this an honest listen.
Donny O'Malley is known for his "no fucks given" comedic style. The characters he portrays are raunchy and at times disgusting. For many veterans, they are also familiar, echoing either someone they knew while serving or someone they once were while serving.
Veterans Entertainment Television, or VET TV, is not for the faint of heart. It's not meant to be. Many of the jokes will either fly over civilians' heads, or completely offend them. Either way, Donny is good with that.
I watched his recent movie, A Grunt's Life, while I was sick with the flu to research for this interview. As a Marine, I thought it was hilarious, but I also watched it with my girlfriend.
When the inevitable post-movie discussion happened, she asked "would you have tried to fuck a corpse?" Highly medicated at the time I blurted out, "no. Maybe a skull if I could have, but it would have just been to get some laughs."
Awkward pause.
Beyond the character, the real Donny O'Malley is also funny, but he's also a workhorse.
He has to be. Starting a new Television and Media Company takes an ungodly amount of work. VET TV is here today because it's founders kept absolutely unsustainable work schedules for months.
That work paid off.
Today, VET TV is running at full steam with Donny at the helm of a world class organization with multiple divisions and a highly talented team.
In this conversation, Donny and I discuss how he got there. You'll hear about the long hard road that he's travelled to success, and you'll hear about where he's taking VET TV in the future.
This podcast is brought to you by FBOMB Nutrition, makers of delicious high fat, low carbohydrate snacks. Try their amazing macadamia nut butters, meat snacks, and cheese crisps by getting 20% off of your first order when you use the code WARRIORSOUL at checkout at www.dropanFBOMB.com.
This podcast is also brought to you by Save the Brave. Save the Brave helps veterans by providing comradery events like fishing and golf that bring Veterans together in healthy ways. They also work to support gold star families from around the country. Make your donation to Save the Brave at www.savethebrave.org.
You've heard it over and over again from yourself, your friends, and your family.
"I can't catch a break."
"Why does this crap always happen to me?"
"Life sucks..."
Lots of people live their lives believing that the world is aligned against them.
Here's something everyone needs to learn: the world isn't against you because it doesn't care about you.
It doesn't care if you're wildly successful, and it doesn't care if you hate life.
The world is simply the world. It's been testing living beings since the dawn of time, and you're no different.
In this episode, Chris discusses why this is actually a good thing. It means you actually have more control over your life than you think you do.
Goals are important. They indicate an end state that you want to get to, and they help to tell you if you're heading in the right direction. Having goals in your life could also motivate you to work harder.
For most people on the path toward personal development, goals are central to their focus.
They shouldn't be. We rely on goals far too much for motivation even though there's a vast amount of evidence to show that they fall short in keeping people on the path to betterment.
Each year, millions of people set goals on January 1 and they forget about them by March.
That's because goals are not some magic motivational pill. They are simply results that you want to get to, and results do not happen without difficult work.
What's more important than setting goals is finding meaning in what you're doing. Meaning is what will help you to do the difficult work each day that will slowly but steadily get you to the end state that you desire.
Books mentioned: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
If you enjoyed this episode, you'll love:
On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan gave an address at Pointe Du Hoc in Normandy, France.
Reagan came to honor the thousands of men whom, 40 years earlier, fought to save the world from Nazi domination during the invasion of Normandy.
Today, the Reagan Legacy Foundation is doing everything it can to keep the memory of those brave soldiers alive.
Through its work with the Walkway to Victory at Pointe Du Hoc, the Reagan Legacy Foundation is building an everlasting memorial to their bravery.
As we did last year, we brought Michael on to talk about this important project and why it's so vital that we keep this history alive.
The Warrior Soul Podcast is brought to you by FBomb nutrition, makers of delicious high fat-low carbohydrate snacks, like their amazing macadamia nut butter. Get 20% off of your first order of FBombs by using the code WARRIORSOUL at checkout at http://www.dropanfbomb.com.
The Warrior Soul Podcast is also brought to you by Save the Brave. Save the Brave brings Veterans and Gold Star Families together through outreach and comradery events. Their outstanding work helps Veterans to find their confidence and gain happiness through fishing, golf, and other activities. If you're interested in helping Save the Brave, head over to http://www.SavetheBrave.org and make your donation today.
This past week, we had Bas Rutten on as a guest, and it brought a question to mind: what are you willing to fight for?
Most people would answer with something like their country, or their family, and that's all admirable.
But in this episode, I pose it in a different way: what would you be willing to go on the offensive for?
Think about it. Most of the time, we live our lives passively. Even fighting for your country or fighting for your family requires that you fight in response to something.
But in life, if you live passively, things don't tend to go so well. You end up constantly on your heels, waiting for something to fall into your lap.
In this episode, Chris discusses why you need to go on the offensive when it comes to your hopes and your dreams.
The Warrior Soul Podcast is brought to you by FBomb nutrition, makers of delicious high fat-low carbohydrate snacks, like their amazing macadamia nut butter. Get 20% off of your first order of FBombs by using the code WARRIORSOUL at checkout at http://www.dropanfbomb.com.
The Warrior Soul Podcast is also brought to you by Save the Brave. Save the Brave brings Veterans and Gold Star Families together through outreach and comradery events. Their outstanding work helps Veterans to find their confidence and gain happiness through fishing, golf, and other activities. If you're interested in helping Save the Brave, head over to http://www.SavetheBrave.org and make your donation today.
Bas Rutten is a retired Mixed-Martial-Artist. He's a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, a 3-time King of Pancrase World Champion, and he finished his career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak.
Aside from being the ultimate badass, Bas is also an outstanding individual who contributes to anti-bullying campaigns throughout the world.
In this conversation, Bas discusses his fight career, his battles with drugs, and his love of faith and family. Bas also talks about the importance of his Catholic religion, and how his use of psychedelic plant medicines brought him closer to his faith.
The Warrior Soul Podcast is brought to you by FBomb nutrition, makers of delicious high fat-low carbohydrate snacks, like their amazing macadamia nut butter. Get 20% off of your first order of FBombs by using the code WARRIORSOUL at checkout at http://www.dropanfbomb.com.
The Warrior Soul Podcast is also brought to you by Save the Brave. Save the Brave brings Veterans and Gold Star Families together through outreach and comradery events. Their outstanding work helps Veterans to find their confidence and gain happiness through fishing, golf, and other activities. If you're interested in helping Save the Brave, head over to http://www.SavetheBrave.org and make your donation today.
October was an awesome month for the Warrior Soul Podcast.
Our inspiring guests for October included Robert Greene, Bing West, Nick Koumalatsos, Dr. Kirk Parsley, Rob Jones, and Vincent "Rocco" Vargas. Civilians and veterans who've gone on to build businesses, write best-selling books, and inspire thousands.
It is such an honor for me to be able to do this work for the Veteran Community and I am so grateful for this opportunity.
But things weren't always this way. Six years ago, I was literally living out of my car. I was broke, sick, and had few options to move forward.
It wasn't until I stopped feeling bad about myself and started working on the things that would move me forward that my life changed.
For far too long, the US Military Veteran Community has been treated like a group of victims by the popular media and by ourselves.
We aren't victims. We are the sleeping giant in this country, and we are capable of shaping it's future.
My mission is to empower Veterans to live their absolute best lives with the content we provide. If you're getting a lot out of this show, please share these episodes out and consider writing us a review on iTunes.