Courtney Stephen - From the Field to Finance and Fatherhood

In this interview with former Hamilton Tiger Cat Courtney Stephen, he shares with us his perspectives on good leadership, exceptional coaching, and the role of family in supporting their children through sport.  Courtney also brings in his passion for financial education and provides us with some great ideas to increase personal wealth. From bitcoin to base cover 3 this episode has it all.

What we discuss:

• How coaches can have a vast influence on young players
• How parents support their kids in positive and encouraging ways
• Courtney shares how to be the best you can in all the areas of your life because you have to be.
• How not being exposed to crypto currency is more risky than being exposed to it.
• How even small steps in financial literacy can make improvements to your current situation
• How being a good teammate is one of the best skills you can possess
• We discuss the broader concept of "Alignment and Assignment"
• How a growth mindset can prepare you for life beyond sports

Courtney is a community leader, a coach, a business owner and an investor. He has played over 100 games as a pro in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger Cats and Calgary Stampeders. He is best known for his dedication to helping young athletes in the community. He also has a passion for financial education and empowering people to create generational wealth. He is a writer, writing about personal finance on his blog at CourtneyStephen.com. He is passionate about teaching students, athletes, and young professionals how to build wealth for their families. The $10 Million Marathon - His goal is to help 100 people built their net worth to $100,000.

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KEEP CRUSHING IT!

Mizuno


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Transcript

00:00:00:16 - 00:00:24:16
Unknown
Hey, team, welcome the Benchmarked. Thanks for joining us today, Coach Messier, along with Coach Larocque. Today we are pumped to have a guest with us that I've known for. Only a few years now, but I have tremendous respect for is an athlete, a community leader, a coach, a business owner and an investor. He has played over 100 games as a pro in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger Cats and the Calgary Stampeders.

00:00:25:06 - 00:00:46:18
Unknown
Courtney Stephen is best known for his dedication to helping young athletes in the community. He also has a passion for financial education, which is really cool and empowering people to create generational wealth. Love that. Maybe we'll get some tips. This Shoji He is also a writer writing about personal finance on his blog at Courtney Stephen BCOM. And to top it all off.

00:00:46:19 - 00:01:06:07
Unknown
He is the father of two beautiful kids and obviously a great husband as well. Courtney, Stephen, thanks for joining us today. We are so excited to have you on this show with us. And thanks for having me. I can't wait. This might be. This is a lot of football in one room for you. This this might blow your mind.

00:01:06:15 - 00:01:31:18
Unknown
This is this is the first football guest we've had. I am going to try and stay focused throughout this whole process, but I'm intrigued, man. Like what? I really like Courtney when when mess talked about inviting you bring into the show and the financial part is like, oh, man, the worst on the planet for this and I started watching some of your stuff on YouTube I'm like, you just made stuff that sounded really complicated to me.

00:01:31:18 - 00:01:54:09
Unknown
Sounds super easy. What's the big catch? Man, there's no catch. I feel like as coaches, you guys that appreciate that it's not what you know what it's what you can't get your players to understand and execute. So for me, it's like taking a teacher's approach to everything and truly understanding the core principles of any concept so that you can deliver those.

00:01:54:12 - 00:02:10:08
Unknown
At the end of the day, I don't want you to memorize facts, but I want you to understand concepts so that you can apply them. And especially if you end up in a new situation that you never been in before, you got the tools to deduce the correct answer. Or so the man that's the approach I take in everything is like, Do I fully understand this?

00:02:10:08 - 00:02:40:00
Unknown
And part of me teaching is forcing me to distill those concepts down into real simplicity. You know, that's the best way to make sure that you actually understand what you're talking about is to write it or to teach it to somebody else. So you're in good hands. Man Listeners, let's get to it The other thing I finally clued into as well as it and I'm looking at I mean, I've known you so Kourtney, I met you the first time when you're with the two cats and you came to be our community liaison from the cats to work with our football program at Nelson.

00:02:40:14 - 00:03:06:00
Unknown
I think within 5 minutes of meeting you, I was in awe. You had and we've had other players come before you. I've been there for 20 years and you were the first person that I've ever felt had such a presence about him as a teacher and as an educator. As a coach. When you came in, it's like, yeah, you were a tremendous athlete and what you did, and the kids can identify with you, but you communicated so well with those kids.

00:03:06:06 - 00:03:22:09
Unknown
I give you credit, man. It was awesome. Like, some people come in and they're like, They're players, they're not coaches. You you were the perfect hybrid for that. And it was like, I loved having you on the bench. I was like, Hey, go with me, guys, go. Go with Courtney. He's going to teach a whole bunch of stuff.

00:03:22:09 - 00:03:51:12
Unknown
So then I give you credit because the way you handled that was just awesome. And when I think of you personally, I think, yeah, CFL tremendous career success, but community leadership coaching, whether you're coaching about finance or football, you're crushing it, man. And they love it. I love it. Good for you. I appreciate it, man. To me, it's really the experiences you have really shaped the way that you approach things.

00:03:51:12 - 00:04:17:04
Unknown
And I had some really strong coaches in my life you know, whether it be in a football coach like my high school gym teacher from grade nine was my football coach all through high school. We had a great relationship and he's given me some of the best advice I've had in different situations just over my life. You get to the point where, you know, this guy ended up coming to my wedding so many years later.

00:04:18:06 - 00:04:40:00
Unknown
Coaches like, in a way, like my parents need is coach you want life is a different venue. You know, it's not necessarily a field or a locker room or a basketball court, but when there's a teachable moment, if somebody steps up to give you advice and you're receptive to it, like that's a coaching moment. So you just take what you like, you pay attention to what you don't like.

00:04:40:19 - 00:05:01:06
Unknown
And and honestly, if you're interested in something, then you will put effort towards getting better at it. And I'm really I'm really interested in seeing that light bulb go off for other people. So it's something I try to, you know, get better at and I try to put myself out there. Tell you the truth, now you've got to be willing to suck at something if you want to be good at it.

00:05:01:06 - 00:05:22:19
Unknown
So I definitely have had some bad practices and I've had some people not be receptive. But, you know, I've just stepped up to the plate so many times. This is something I'm I'm excited to do now because I've had the reps so it's so we can go in so many directions with that. And I don't even know where to start because it's we talk about growth mindset all the time.

00:05:22:19 - 00:05:47:04
Unknown
And it seems to you for you, you've been able to pivot from a lot of different things player to a professional level in terms of your career right now in doing what you're doing let's call it entrepreneurial skills. How did you make that pivot? You know, in coming like you just freshly came off, you know, retiring from the CFL and you're still involved, you're still mobile football, you're still involved, the takeouts.

00:05:47:12 - 00:06:08:21
Unknown
But now there's this other side of Courtney that's developing, which is really cool. How do you how do you change your mindset? How do you shift man? Just to be completely honest with you, like there is no shift. It's just you got to compartmentalize your life and this is something I got from my brother, actually. I don't even know when he told me this.

00:06:09:08 - 00:06:36:11
Unknown
Some of the best coaching points you have to hear a hundred times for them to actually sink in. But you are who you are and you just bring that same energy to everything that you do. And if who you are is greatness, then you're going to try to be great at everything that you truly are passionate about. And so from the very first day when I was playing football and you know, I made it to college, then I was thinking about what's next.

00:06:36:11 - 00:06:55:19
Unknown
You know, when I made it to the pros, I was thinking about what's next. But at that at that time, thinking about what's next doesn't mean, you know, trying to run with the ball before you catch it. It means having a plan so that, you know, if this is the last day that you did this thing, what are you going to have to show for it?

00:06:56:07 - 00:07:11:12
Unknown
I always had a list of things that I wanted to have after my career was done that I could say, you know, I made the most of this time I wanted to pay off my school day. I want to see if it was some kind of down payment, buy a house. I wanted to, you know, build my network.

00:07:11:19 - 00:07:34:21
Unknown
Because when you when you were in that Jersey, people pick up the phone in a different type of urgency. I wanted to get some experience. You know, I wanted to try things that was going to give me an opportunity to figure out what I was actually passionate about outside of football, because I know that that's one of the pitfalls for many athletes is that they don't actually have something else to pour themselves into the way they're used to.

00:07:35:10 - 00:07:53:21
Unknown
So from the time when I first got into the pros, I was trying to work towards those five things. And by compartmentalizing my life, I just mean, you know, when you step in that locker room, nothing else exists. If you're not a husband, you're not a brother, you're not an entrepreneur, you're nothing you're you're you're a professional playmaker.

00:07:54:02 - 00:08:13:22
Unknown
That's literally that's all you are. And nothing else matters. Like, you could have been fighting with somebody on the phone as soon as you walk in team meeting. It doesn't matter what happened 15 minutes ago. You like your l l five on kickoff, you got to run down you know that if the ball is going on the up the left hash should look out for the reverse.

00:08:14:01 - 00:08:35:17
Unknown
Like your focus is completely different when you're in that zone. They take off the jersey, you go in the shower, you come out, you do your little ritual. Now you're not a football player anymore. Maybe now you're, you know, a father or your brother or your whatever it is Europe entrepreneur. But you have to compartmentalize your life so that any point in time, whatever it is that you're doing is the only thing that exists.

00:08:35:17 - 00:08:53:00
Unknown
And if you're focused on it, laser focused on it, then you can be great at that thing. There's 24 hours in the day. You don't have to spend all 24 doing one thing. Do you believe, like, I that was the policy, I just got it for you. If I rewind the video, I was literally like this the whole time.

00:08:54:18 - 00:09:12:04
Unknown
So would you, would you agree with this statement ideals I'm previewing? So hopefully you're on the same page. Life is not a skill thing. It's like you can learn these types of things. Everything has like a secret to be able to get done. If you're willing to put in the time in the work and learn the different types of skills.

00:09:12:04 - 00:09:28:22
Unknown
It's not just like you're born this way like I'm guessing the financial part of what you're doing is something you picked up and you got some passion into it and and something you love doing, and you just put more time in and you know, half hour turned into an hour or an hour turn to 2 hours sleepless nights because you're just so engaged.

00:09:29:04 - 00:09:54:07
Unknown
But it's like you're born like, am I going to jump in in the financial world? Yeah, but I would say that there's different types of skills, right? Like, you could want to dunk as bad as you want, but if it's not anyways, it's not in you. And so where nature meets nurture is that everybody is born with a scale, meaning that like your IQ might be somewhere between 75 and one 25, or your IQ could be somewhere between like 61 35.

00:09:54:07 - 00:10:21:06
Unknown
It everybody has a range when they're born, you know, there's a range of heights that you can have based on the nourishment that you get. There's a range of weights that you could be, there's a range of, you know, introversion versus extroversion. There's so many different, you know, personality traits and body traits that you could possibly have. You might be able to be faster or whatever, but the amount of work that you do to your point is going to determine where you land on that scale.

00:10:21:15 - 00:10:59:17
Unknown
So some of us will never dunk. Some of us will dunk easy because of the way we're born. Like shoot. Like it's just weird how much closer to being able to dunk without trying but it's the people who have high potential and a heavy amount of work ethic. That combination is rare and dangerous and so I think the people who have this serious work ethic and a little bit of potential generally outperform the people who have way more potential just because it's harder for them earlier and they get used to putting into work earlier.

00:10:59:17 - 00:11:18:22
Unknown
And when you've put in more work, you do better than somebody who's put in less work. Bottom line, you are starting my age up because I at a practice like two or 3 hours ago, and the same conversation with a kid and he's progressing and progressing and and he walked out of the batting cage and he was a little flustered a little bit.

00:11:18:22 - 00:11:32:24
Unknown
I went to him, I said, listen, do you want to tell the story down the road? Do you want to tell a story? Hey, man, I picked this up easy. I'm not sure I figured out and I just did it. I said, or do you want this story to be what you're doing now? Hey, Ingrid nine. I had to do this as a freshman.

00:11:32:24 - 00:11:55:08
Unknown
I had to do this sophomore. I did like thousands of baseballs. I'd come in early. I had to get lifts in. Do you wanted to which story do you want to tell? He's like, I want to tell. That's a good story. I said, That's it. That's exactly it. If you can go into somebody and fired up about this, but if you can go in with that mindset of like my story is just starting instead of like credit card, like, I'll swipe and I'll pay the bill later, that's not how it works.

00:11:55:08 - 00:12:24:02
Unknown
You got to pay the bill now to Bill. Enjoy it later. So I might not see your point, though. Like you're building habits, right? And ultimately we don't like we fall back to the level of our training when things get tough right? So if you were your bottom base habit is to wake up early and do something productive, then when it hits the fan, you're going to fall back on that meaning, okay, you already made it pro, right?

00:12:24:02 - 00:12:47:07
Unknown
You're already there. You're in the locker room now, but now you're not as fast anymore. Because that scale that we talked about, that range of how how naturally talented you are is actually the top end is coming down. Like you might not be as fast anymore. So you need to have those same habits, those same productive habits to maintain what you've achieved that you used to get to where you are now.

00:12:47:07 - 00:13:15:24
Unknown
So like if you had to put up a thousand shots to become a good shooter, you're going to have to keep putting up a thousand shots to stay in the pros, because the thing that you do better than everybody else is keep shooting. You know, is, is 11 anecdote I heard about Kobe where he's like basically at the point where he was, you know, many years deep in the pros, he had put in so many extra hours that even if you started doing the work that he was doing, you would never catch up to how much work he's put in because he's literally have years worth of extra work on top of what you could possibly do.

00:13:16:14 - 00:13:32:03
Unknown
So it's like you got to form habits just to just to bring the baby into the world. But then you got to take care of that baby. So you need you need to have good habits all around. How much money do you say we're going to invest with him? What was going on? Well, Jesus G. He's he's going to explain to you Bitcoin.

00:13:32:03 - 00:13:50:06
Unknown
So do I still have a sister? So come on, let's not get one Bitcoin. I'm not I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole by just as I say, this is more risky to not have it than it is to have it. Really. There there you go. You can't just say stop and like, I'm done, though. I want to rewind a little bit, Courtney, because you said the word potential.

00:13:50:06 - 00:14:11:02
Unknown
And, God, I we don't like the word potential. I don't like I wouldn't want somebody to use the word potential for me because that means I'm not there yet and I'm not doing what I need to do to get there. So, you know, it's one of those things. I think that's a that's a personal take, though. Because if not potential, then what do you call something that you could possibly become?

00:14:11:06 - 00:14:29:10
Unknown
I and I think it's it depends on the athlete, too, right? Like I'm not the type of athlete who wants any sugar on what I get. I need you to give it to me. Roar, coach, like tell me the truth and tell me like a man because I'm not here for fun. Like yes, I love this stuff, but damn it, I'm trying to feed my family.

00:14:29:10 - 00:14:44:13
Unknown
I don't care if I'm a freshman in college, you know, I understand what it was like where I came from. So, like, yeah, tell me I'm not at my potential and tell me how we can get there. Otherwise I'm going somewhere else because you're not the one for me. We need to have a relationship where you understand my motivation, but that doesn't work for everybody.

00:14:45:01 - 00:15:04:07
Unknown
And that's what separates a good coach from a okay coach is like a great coach knows what makes each player tick. So, like, for you, I can't use that same I can't use the same coaching style, right? Yeah. Yeah. And and it's harder even now. There's such a more broad, like, you can't coach any sport or any athlete anymore.

00:15:04:08 - 00:15:22:09
Unknown
Like it's 1975 because people don't respond to that. So you do have to dig deep into, oh, so you can either go a mile wide and an inch deep on everybody or you go an inch wide and a mile deep. And I think the best people are the ones that go one inch wide and a mile deep on everybody.

00:15:22:13 - 00:15:38:11
Unknown
Or if you're good enough, you go mile wide, mile deep. Right? So these are all things that are super important, but I think that makes a difference between being great at anything you want to drill down and get to the core of it, where we're live in bits in like five, 10 seconds, like we're talking about Tick-Tock and stuff like that.

00:15:38:12 - 00:15:59:13
Unknown
It's now we're live in the world in like five, ten, five, ten. Second shadow is here, man. I want to hear more about this though. Like, tell me, tell me about the premise of potential and like why it's all explained to me. Yeah, potential is something you don't have if you use it. Absolutely something. That's right. Like it's like a ball that you're holding in your hand.

00:15:59:13 - 00:16:30:17
Unknown
It has potential energy. You drop it and then it has energy and motion right now. And like what you see equation knowledge minus action equals this is nothing right? So so if you don't do action on the knowledge that you have and you get nothing, but if you go to knowledge plus action now you have changed. You get something so I think I think I mean, I don't know this this could be a hot take from a coach who's just, you know, please, this is why we're on here.

00:16:30:17 - 00:16:48:07
Unknown
I think you got to tell people that they're throwing their potential away. I think you give them an excuse if you see that that's not. Oh, yeah. You take potential out of the equation, right. Because there's a lot of people and I bet anybody you can see this who's played at a higher level than high school. You played with people who could have been at that level with you now.

00:16:48:15 - 00:17:12:18
Unknown
Yeah. And they didn't do the grades. You know, they didn't want to do the wake ups. They don't want to travel out of town to go to their showcase. They, you know, whatever the excuse may have been, they threw potential away now. So let's on that point. I'm just in case. So it's just because, Mark, when we first got this conversation about potential and I said that and you said, yeah, but it would depend also it was a good point.

00:17:13:19 - 00:17:26:20
Unknown
You said it depends maybe the age of the athlete where they are in their careers. Right. We could be talking about a freshman, say, hey, we got tons of potential or we got a 22 year old who's been in the league for whatever, two or three years, like your potential man, that that ship has sailed. You've just wasted it.

00:17:27:08 - 00:17:46:08
Unknown
So sometimes it's, it's taken a different context. I guess also sorry Mark, I just had to get off my chest now. But it's important though, for, for the player to understand because without potentially you don't wake up in the morning and keep doing things, you can call it something different if you want. But like at the end of my football career, I had the potential to be a leader.

00:17:46:12 - 00:18:04:06
Unknown
I had a potential to contribute to the team in different ways. I had the potential to hit personal goals. I had the potential to do different things because, you know, in stages of your life, in your career, you're not aiming at the same target. And I think, you know, if you're not goal oriented, then it's very easy for you to lose motivation.

00:18:04:06 - 00:18:23:15
Unknown
And I think potential maybe shifts, maybe the potential is not for you to be a superstar athlete anymore. The potential is for you to contribute to a championship team. And you need to know that. Look, in college I, I was on the bench at a school where we were a great school and I had a role and I contributed on four special teams and we went to Orange Bowl.

00:18:24:05 - 00:18:47:18
Unknown
Would I be the type of person that looked at me and be like, I don't like my role, so I don't want to be on this team and miss the whole boat. No, but that team, you don't think that team needs people to run down on kickoffs that the punt returner doesn't need people to block for them? Like, dammit, you have potential as a group if you buy in and if you're too selfish to see the potential of the group and the potential you have to contribute to that ultimate goal, then I mean, that's a personal problem.

00:18:47:19 - 00:19:04:02
Unknown
But but the ship keeps sailing like this. The song goes on no matter how you feel about what your personal potential is. Mark, I got to jump this one and you can have Alex. I got to get some off it. So, Courtney, you talked about you. You could have reached personal goals, all these things, but I really don't know if we can even speak to it.

00:19:04:02 - 00:19:25:19
Unknown
I'll just generalize it. But just from knowing you for what do we have, like 40 minutes or something like that. But you are in the position you need to be and are meant to be. And because I know what you're going to do with one of the clubs, I'll just leave it like that. It's, I don't know what we can or can't say, but you're going to be able to be able to turn things around for ice.

00:19:25:20 - 00:19:52:04
Unknown
I think grassroots football and probably football in general, probably within our province, maybe within our country. So I think they've they've shown and I've just only 40 minutes been they've they've chose the right purpose and you might have packed in the career a little bit earlier because you needed to do this at the time that you need to be able to do this in football my opinion I appreciate it man and it maintaining control over your product and your path is important because to that point of a lot of people feel empty and whatnot.

00:19:52:15 - 00:20:08:23
Unknown
It's often correlated to the fact that they left the game on someone else's terms and not their own so being able to, you know, have that option and take that option of my own liberty is something that not everybody has a chance to do. To be able to make an announcement, to say I retire. It's not something everybody gets to do.

00:20:09:05 - 00:20:39:22
Unknown
And so for me, I appreciate it, man. And I would like to say that it was the right time, not early. Nilay, it was just you know, when you empty your bucket every damn day for years and years and years and years, you never look back, right? There is not one time like there is not one time when I can say that I went to practice and, man, I was dogging it because I loved what i was doing and it and it was when it finally got to the point where I was like, am I then that's when you call it.

00:20:39:24 - 00:20:57:03
Unknown
You know, if you if you have to question it all, then you call it. So I think it was the right time. Gordon I used to leave your practice and come to our practice and share your energy and enthusiasm. And there is a point where I'm like, and then you come to our games when you could. And I know if you guys were at home, you'd be there.

00:20:57:11 - 00:21:18:00
Unknown
And, and the other thing is shift gears here because this tells me about the character, the person you are like you're pro I'm even the defensive coach and you're saying, what do you want do coach? I was like, I don't know what should I do? But you may not remember this and but I remember it vividly and it was a Friday night game under the lights on TV.

00:21:18:22 - 00:21:41:20
Unknown
And you were obviously when the defensive backs were coming out and I said, you know, go group up with Courtney and we're talking and you I had a plan, a strategy. And you could have probably not that I was in college, but I was second guessing myself a little bit because you were there and you're the pro and I'm just a high school coach, but you're like, yeah, coach, that's a great plan.

00:21:41:20 - 00:21:57:10
Unknown
That's a great strategy. And you supported me and I was it kind of gave me that little bit of like Courtney Stevens thing. I know what I'm doing here. So you went like five, nine, five, ten after that. I did. I did a groom, met a girl, a man. But you know what I would say, though? You really did know what you're doing, though.

00:21:57:10 - 00:22:15:12
Unknown
It wasn't just it wasn't just lip service, man. Well, I appreciate that, but I think it was one of those ones where you're you're able to make people comfortable in what they're doing and you get the message across. It's just awesome. And now it's like like the thing is, as I'm scrolling through your videos online, I'm like, this is good.

00:22:15:12 - 00:22:32:15
Unknown
Like, I'm learning like you're a great communicator. That's and that's a good thing. And I think that's what's made it easy. I shouldn't say easy because I don't I'm sure there's a grind there, but it seems like it appears like from the outside, that transition from I mean, you're always going to be Courtney, Steven, the the football player.

00:22:32:15 - 00:23:01:14
Unknown
But that transition to the finance world in that financial literature stuff. And I know you got a degree in journalism, so that makes the blog writing nice and easy for you when you when you're writing stuff down. But it's it's so well communicated for guys like Josh and I like this makes sense now when it makes sense, you know what it is to man I in high school I had and this is another interaction with the coach and this is a life skill that I took from somebody who football just gives you an opportunity to to bump into people.

00:23:01:14 - 00:23:19:16
Unknown
Right and this is coach Daytona and he just told me straight up like you're going to be able to speak to people from all different places and that is a skill that will take you more places than your backpedal. You know, if you go into a room full of people who don't look like you used to be able to talk to them.

00:23:20:00 - 00:23:38:21
Unknown
And so there's many different ways that you can practice these fundamental skills to success, the same way how you practice, how to catch block tackling shed blocks or whatever it is, you know, and so there's things that I've done deliberately to get better at speaking. I can tell you a handful of times where I went to to speak and it was embarrassing.

00:23:39:08 - 00:23:56:16
Unknown
Like the very first time as a pro that I went to go speak at a grade schools like Grade one to five, you know, did a little talk about healthy nutrition. And at the end they open up for Q&A, something I learned you never do with young kids so when someone asks the question, they're just like, So what if you what do you do if you're getting bullied?

00:23:56:16 - 00:24:23:07
Unknown
And I'm just like, this is a little like, you know, grade four girls asking me are true. Like, she really wants an answer to this question. Completely blindsided me. And I didn't really know what to say at the moment. And so I kind of like froze and I'm just like, what am I supposed to say, you know? And so in that moment, whenever we resolve the, you know, I came up with something and whatnot, but in a moment, it is sticks out in my mind is like a flash bulb moment.

00:24:23:07 - 00:24:44:17
Unknown
One of those ones that's pretty formative. And I understood that. Okay. The takeaways from this always as your PR person, what is on the table? Further questions are going to be asked in an interview. One to don't open it up for Q&A. If people are just going be able to shoot off the cuff and their questions are filtered, then three, it's like, what does somebody do if they're getting bullied?

00:24:44:17 - 00:25:05:21
Unknown
Put that in your arsenal and have that on the ready, you know? And so you have to go through these moments of trying to speak and then like speaking poorly. Like I started a Facebook Live that I did weekly and not a lot of people don't know this. I did a Facebook live weekly for a couple of months in like 2006 or, you know, probably like two under 17 just to work on public speaking.

00:25:07:04 - 00:25:29:22
Unknown
Yeah, I just created a group made a, made a theme. I was going to talk about three points on leadership every week just so that I could work on public speaking because I know that there is opportunities for people who could public speak. Like there's a few skills that everybody needs to have. I don't care what your profession is, being able to write a email is one of them being able to speak in front of large groups of people is another one.

00:25:30:09 - 00:25:46:00
Unknown
Sometimes I believe sales is a valuable life skill. It doesn't matter what you got. Do you to sell somebody and get them to believe in your product? What you're selling So life skills like these, you have to develop those. And I mean, coming from the athlete mindset, the only thing I know how to do is just put up shots.

00:25:46:02 - 00:26:05:03
Unknown
So I just find opportunities to keep putting those shots in. Eventually you get better at those things. I like the one of the videos I saw. You're usually have a central location and you shouldn't videos there's one time you're in your driveway, you just pop. As I came in, I got to squeeze this in when I can because your kids, there's something going on in the house with the kids.

00:26:05:13 - 00:26:20:15
Unknown
And I was like, Man, that is, I've been there how many times I pull a driveway, I'm going to call it. I guess my wife's like, Where are you? I've been in the driveway for the last half hour. So it's just but that's the reality that a lot of us live but we seem to, like, want to hide it or put it behind us.

00:26:20:15 - 00:26:38:21
Unknown
Like it's not really happening. I just really appreciated your honesty here. Like, this is how life works for real. It's not this isn't the Hollywood. I was like, I can relate to this cat. Like, I love it. Yeah, man. And I don't want to seem like I'm a professional at anything, but I just think that to be perfect is to be fake.

00:26:38:21 - 00:26:57:10
Unknown
You know, I think, oh, let's repeat that, please. You seem to be perfect is to be fake because, like, I've ever seen a perfect diamond. Like, as a Fugazi man, you buy a ring, you look inside of that stone. There's going to be a flaw in there somewhere, you know, unless you got a big bankroll like mass, like.

00:26:57:14 - 00:27:21:01
Unknown
Oh, God, I don't know, major salary, teacher salaries thing. You know, like, everybody has something going on in life, and you can always make an excuse why you wouldn't hit publish, you know, like, whether it's that blog that you wrote, whether it's a video you recorded, whether it's that interview you did after the game, and you said something that you promised and said, like, you're going to wish that that stuff doesn't get published, is going to go out there.

00:27:21:01 - 00:27:39:16
Unknown
People are going to, you know, see it, judge it, and move on with your life and like you got to move on with your life to just take the coaching out of it. Man, that's that's the main thing. We can't have these ideas of things going poorly, stop us from things going green. But I think that's one of the things, too, is you back to what you're saying.

00:27:39:17 - 00:28:00:05
Unknown
You're you're relatable. You're relatable as a player watching on TV, you know, and then when I meet you, you're relatable. You're then to me, when you're talking finance, you're more relatable than the guy sitting there in a three piece suit, you know, in and telling me, like, to me, this is the guy. He's he's working hard for his money, so he's going to make good decisions.

00:28:00:21 - 00:28:19:09
Unknown
That's what I think is going to make you different than what's out there already. Which I think is super cool. So what he's saying, if he gets a suit, we won't trust him anymore. Seriously? Probably not. I don't know. Because if I put the suit on, who paid for the suit? Was it you're you're your customers? That's the thing, man.

00:28:19:09 - 00:28:51:23
Unknown
I think, you know, it's there's a tendency to match up like appearances with and I mean, this is a psychology, right? Like, there's so much going on in the world that it would take up way too much cognitive energy for you to truly discern like what's going on at all times. So your brain needs heuristics, shortcuts to be able to make quick decisions and we have been programed by a lot of different factors that people who look a certain way provide a certain type of value.

00:28:52:14 - 00:29:09:16
Unknown
And so I'm just here to shake that up. Like, I don't want to look like your financial advisor. Do I have the same certifications? Yes, I got the paperwork, but I'm not. I'm going to pull up with a hoodie on and tell you like, listen, they've been robbing you because you didn't understand how to invest in a tax free savings account.

00:29:09:24 - 00:29:27:17
Unknown
And you're over here with a, with a margin account and you're paying for every buy. And still, when you could be in that TFSA up to, you know, $6,000 per year, you can contribute all the way back to the time. It'll mean if you're 18 when open. So like these are the little tidbits. Anyone touching is called anti-child mortgage work.

00:29:27:17 - 00:29:50:16
Unknown
They can teach you how a savings versus a you know a credit and they and teach you about like oh no student loans probably something we should learn about because you would think 50% of people graduate with student loan right so I mean there's a lot of information out there and I think when you realize that school is just books with somebody to guide you through them, you can go and get that info on your own.

00:29:50:16 - 00:30:12:00
Unknown
Not to say that teachers aren't important. They are some of the most important people on this planet because in a way they're doing the work that other people you know, they would be they wouldn't have enough patience to do. You know, not everybody even wants to listen to the guide on the journey. Right? But a teacher is somebody who's dedicated their life to helping others grow you know?

00:30:12:00 - 00:30:32:15
Unknown
So when you when you've come to realize, though, that most information is in a book or a video or a podcast somewhere, and if you understand your own learning style, you can teach yourself a lot of stuff and then find out what's the right questions to ask. You can go find guides and teach yourself many, many things. Otherwise you have no idea what they are good with Good Will Hunting.

00:30:32:15 - 00:30:54:17
Unknown
That's what he was saying as like Good Will Hunting. Yeah. Get some library late fees and you're good to go. We've all I've always thought like, you know, all your teacher again, it's an important job. I think everybody's their own most important teacher in their lives. Now, I might be able to influence people a little bit if I move the needle a little bit I feel like I've done my job as a teacher, but I'm hoping that my job is done better.

00:30:55:01 - 00:31:14:13
Unknown
If I could teach you and you and you to teach yourself in the long run like it's what lesson we're expendable. All the information is out there. I could probably teach myself finite math in a couple of weeks on YouTube if I really, really had the motivation to do that. I'm not going to do that. But it's one of those things is because I think people have to understand they're the information's there.

00:31:14:16 - 00:31:39:21
Unknown
We want it. Yeah. And also, man, it's like as a teacher, you're teaching life skills and you're teaching, you know, certain personality traits. You're helping them mature so yes, of course, there's a curriculum, but like, you're helping people learn to be patient. You're helping people learn that, like, if you don't figure something out seven times, they might take 11 times, and that's okay.

00:31:40:01 - 00:31:52:03
Unknown
Well, you're, you're helping people figure out that, like, yes, the door is right in front of you to walk through, but you might have to go out and walk around the back of the building because that's the way that you know how to get in. Like, you don't have to always do things the same way that everybody else does.

00:31:52:10 - 00:32:24:06
Unknown
So you're a guide, right? That's what a great teacher is. But like, there is also a sort in a certain trait that people need to develop eventually. And that's the trait of like not waiting for help, because if you're a person who's always gone to a tutor to edit your papers before you hand them in, if you're a person who's always had somebody writing out your schedule for you, if you're a person who always has someone knocking on your door before you went to practice, to make sure you woke up, then dammit, sometime you're going to be late, you're going to miss an assignment or you're going to just mess up because you don't have that

00:32:24:06 - 00:32:39:23
Unknown
accountability, partner. You got to go out there on your own and want this as bad as you want, because I'm telling you, that ladder can't hold to people at the top. Like you got to go on your own. You literally have to go on your own to make it to where you want to get to eventually I want one of those buttons, I think, who has that?

00:32:39:23 - 00:32:58:21
Unknown
But like Tim and Segal, when he does these awesome lines, like, bye bye bye, I want one of those buttons for my calendar. Yeah, I want one of those men. Yes. But I would not stop when you're talking about Mom. But anyway. Yeah, and I'm fired up, man. I love it. I'm glad my heart out. You know what I'm trying to process here?

00:32:58:22 - 00:33:13:20
Unknown
People to people. A ladder is not going to cut it like you talk about accountability. But I love the fact, because if those people had everyone doing that for them, that means they haven't failed. If they haven't failed, they're setting themselves up for failure. You got to fall on your face. You've got to get punched in the face.

00:33:13:20 - 00:33:35:08
Unknown
Like that's got to happen in life. It has to the you don't have urgency without the light unless you feel like fire a little bit. You can't truly have urgency right now. I don't know. Personally, I think you need to scrape your knee a little bit. See, when you're learning to drive a car, you get to learn where the guardrails are, just so you know how wide it is, how fast you can go, right?

00:33:35:08 - 00:33:56:17
Unknown
So you might bump up against the guardrails every now and then, right? This is true. It's true. And nothing wrong. With that. And I think that's what that's what teachers do, too, is also they create that room to make a mistake because a person like a young version of myself would be so hard on myself that it could actually stop your progress unless somebody is like, hey, it's okay, man.

00:33:56:18 - 00:34:20:12
Unknown
Like, chill. I'll come back, regroup, try again. So, Courtney, you talked about it before the show, and I, I was referring myself, JJ 1.0, 2.0. So let's go to Courtney. One point. Oh, because you talked about like when you're at school, example, but I think you said something earlier, I think was pretty still talked about teachers were trying to tell you something or whoever was is trying to tell you somebody.

00:34:20:12 - 00:35:02:07
Unknown
You just weren't ready to listen at the time or you didn't have the tools necessarily to be able to understand what was happening. Can you kind of talk us through the evolution of Courtney yeah, man, honestly, I'd say I'd say there is different personality types. I had to learn how to work with. And just going through school, I had I had one principal who was actually really good about understanding the maturity of like 16, 17 year old male in like an environment where you feel like you're old enough to make decisions for yourself, other people might not feel the same way.

00:35:02:07 - 00:35:25:16
Unknown
And then just navigating that tension, right? Because it's a it's a very those last couple of years of high school, it's like a very crucial time. We're trying to make the biggest decision of your life where you want to go to school. Up to that point, you haven't made a decision that has that kind of way yet. And just like coming with that kind of, you know, decision, you also feel a certain amount of like authority over your own life.

00:35:25:24 - 00:35:49:02
Unknown
And so I guess the communication styles of people that you don't get along with and just navigating those. This isn't even about school, but this is just about like working with people who you don't get along with. You know, I was always a respectful person and things like that, and I was never really like outwardly disruptive or like definitely never violent or nothing like that.

00:35:49:02 - 00:36:12:00
Unknown
But like I just was like not down for a teacher to act like I was their kid. Right. So I just remember specifically, like in high school, I had one teacher, like a math teacher, and we were the teachers. Yeah. Like we really did not get along. Like, we really, really did not get along. And, you know, something happened one day.

00:36:12:00 - 00:36:32:09
Unknown
I ended up like talking to my football coach about it and he's just like, yeah. Do you think that honestly, out of hundreds of teachers in the school that I'm going to like every single teacher like or like they're my best friend? Like there's obviously going to be people that you have to work with that you're not going to like or you maybe you don't get along with, maybe see the world differently.

00:36:32:15 - 00:36:47:07
Unknown
And this is going to be a theme that happens over and over again in life. And like if you can't deal with that, that's going to be a roadblock in you getting from where you're at. To where you want to go. So you need to understand, like not every battle is actually worth fighting because when you win, you still lose.

00:36:48:13 - 00:37:09:09
Unknown
This is all part of the you were saying earlier in the pre-show, you're talking about mindset. And I think these are all lessons that you've picked up along the way that you just you keep filling your toolbox with these pearls and these these capabilities of dealing with difficult challenges. Right. And this will affect you as a I can call you a young parent.

00:37:09:09 - 00:37:28:02
Unknown
I'm an older parent now. My kids are all. But you're you're just at the beginning of this. But these are all things that are going to help you as a father. Right. And be a good father. And I know family's important to you. And we got a solid family background and you had a great picture of your folks, I think it said at Tim Hortons Field a couple of years ago.

00:37:28:02 - 00:37:55:14
Unknown
So, like how what does it mean to you to have that family unit and how are they behind you in all of this? Man, I think that's important. And it's something I want to replicate in my own in my own home. Myself and my wife together, trying to just raise up kids that I think not that we've not to say we want to raise kids that we could be proud of, but like raise kids that we don't leave the world to parent them.

00:37:55:15 - 00:38:19:15
Unknown
Like we know what morals and values we want to teach them and what kind of personality traits that they have and how we can help them learn the different things that help them be their best selves. You know, at the end of the day, I don't want my kids to be like me. I don't want them to play football or be athletes necessarily, or any of that kind of stuff.

00:38:19:15 - 00:38:48:02
Unknown
I just truly feel like in creating an environment where people are allowed to ask questions, people are allowed to make mistakes, people have respect, people communicate how they feel, people reflect and are grateful. I think when you when you create this kind of in environment where it's like, Judge, I'll see judge me a free, that's where you're really creating fertile soil for people to grow into be great human beings.

00:38:48:03 - 00:39:05:13
Unknown
And like great human beings naturally accomplish great things because they're not afraid to fall like I can. I can run down on a fast break and try and dunk the ball and miss completely and still go home and laugh about it with my mom. She's not going to criticize me for it, right? Like you got to have that kind of environment.

00:39:05:13 - 00:39:19:17
Unknown
Otherwise you're never going to try and do something great for fear that you won't even be able to go home to the people who truly at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is their love. At the end of the day, you ask a lot of athletes and I've worked with some, you know, sports psychologists on this thing.

00:39:19:17 - 00:39:43:05
Unknown
At the end of the day, most of what we do as athletes is for the love is for the love of our friends, is for a love for our family. It's for us affection respect, you know, social status, like a lot of the stuff that we do is for that belonging in the tribe. And if you make it the environment at home where people feel like, you know, I feel the test, my parents are going to kill me, like, yes, of course, we're going to talk about it.

00:39:43:05 - 00:40:04:05
Unknown
Like, how do how does this happen? Like, did you not do your homework or whatever? But like, if you did what you're supposed to do and gave your best effort, at the end of the day, I can never be mad at you, but we could work through this together. And I think family is underrated in building high achievers I don't even I don't even know what to say to that.

00:40:05:20 - 00:40:31:09
Unknown
I'm I'm still there. I'm still there. I've had that conversation sometimes where parents will feel like their kids are a reflection of them. And they are in a sense. But I mean this I'm talking to sports in a sports context right now where if their son or daughter does not perform, misses a free throw, drops a pass where the case may be and the parents feel like they missed like I must did something bad as a parent for my daughter.

00:40:31:09 - 00:40:52:14
Unknown
To miss that free throw for my son to miss that pass. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. They are not a reflection. They are human being to themselves. They are themselves. You are yourself. Leave it at that. But I think that's what some people get caught up in. It's a direct reflection of you because their successes and their successes, their not your successes, their theirs, they own their not yours.

00:40:52:22 - 00:41:13:10
Unknown
The failures of their failures, they're not yours. But that's a hard that's hard core to cut is hard. I know, but I think that's where I think things should go. But maybe I'm wrong. But you know, what's crazy is that a lot of kids goals are actually their parents goals. That's not fair. It's not it's not fair. It creates a very toxic environment.

00:41:13:10 - 00:41:38:11
Unknown
I can't think of one time when my parents told me what they thought I should do in my athletic career, not once ever, never ever like the advice I have gotten from my parents was like, have fun and not, like, cliché way, but just like because I was like, I am okay. They say they are this. They are like sayings in football, but like one is if they don't bite when they're young, they're not going to bite when they're older.

00:41:39:01 - 00:42:02:18
Unknown
Right? I've been buying since I came out the womb. Like they never had to teach me how to be aggressive on a football field. Like, that's one of those things. Basketball. I was just I was going to fight down to the last whistle. We're losing by 20 points. I'm still trying to put up to myself like, you know, so my parents are more from that coming from the angle, like, Hey, man, just relax and have fun, you know?

00:42:02:18 - 00:42:21:23
Unknown
Like, if you lose, we got another game next week. Like, have fun. Like, this is a game you know? You want to go train. Sure. We'll bring you. Like, training is wicked, chicken is fun. My mom getting some of the best advice my mom ever. My mama, my mom ran track for the Canadian national team. She never went to the Olympics, so she went to the trials before.

00:42:21:23 - 00:42:40:07
Unknown
So, like, she compete on a very high level. She had track scholarships and stuff, but she elected to stay home in Canada because she wasn't really like she knew where you want to travel and uproot her life and go to the states and stuff. And so she stayed here in Toronto. But some of the best advice she ever gave me, and it was like before a track me in grade five stayed with me to this day.

00:42:40:19 - 00:43:02:22
Unknown
She said, when you're running and you get down right near the end and her legs are heavy and you feel like it's burning just take one deep breath and push because you got more in you than you think you got, you know how many times? Grade five. Grade five. You know how many times I was in winter conditioning as a walk on a D-1 program at NCAA winter conditioning.

00:43:03:03 - 00:43:24:11
Unknown
Five 30 in the morning, pushing a sled under a bench press squat and running stairs. And I just hear my mom's voice like, just take a deep breath. You got more in you, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's not about somebody telling you how to how to shoot a jump shot. It's not about somebody telling you to stay low and your backpedal like, Mom, I got a coach already.

00:43:25:05 - 00:43:46:23
Unknown
Like, let me let me be a kid. You know what I'm saying? Like, relax. You obviously didn't play pro mom. Like, you know, that's that's what most people should be telling their parents. But since my mom already went to that high level she knew, like, there's no need added pressure needed. If if the kid already has a fire, let them have the fire, and you just be there to support them and let them know that you don't have to be perfect.

00:43:49:21 - 00:44:05:15
Unknown
But there's a saying, I did a clinic, and it was a coaching clinic. And there's a saying the very first slide on the that the instructor had put up, and it's something I think it's in Oakville, this sign I haven't found. I think I know the field. It's out and I got to go take a picture of it again.

00:44:06:01 - 00:44:29:11
Unknown
But it says, parents, your child. Success in sports is not a reflection of your parenting abilities, but their coach ability attitude is definitely a direct reflection of your parenting abilities. And I think so many parents need to see that. I wrote that down and I was like, I'll never forget that but your mom seems like she's got the right perspective on things, right?

00:44:29:11 - 00:44:51:11
Unknown
Like you're going to do like, say you were biting, you were coming your fight. And she did. They did not need to crank you up more. They just had to push you in the right direction, right? No, not at all. They didn't have to push down to push me to go to practice or none of that stuff. I will say this like I played for some amazing coaches from the time I was young, so that was a benefit that not everybody has.

00:44:51:23 - 00:45:12:24
Unknown
But like we pushed ourselves to a very high level competitively. And so I got I did get burnt out at a young age, and I actually left football for like three years and came back. So I didn't play football in grade seven, eight or nine. And then I came back. The football rejuvenated after doing like, you know, martial arts, basketball, a whole bunch of other stuff.

00:45:13:20 - 00:45:32:09
Unknown
But like all the while, I just remember my, my mom, my dad, my brothers, my sisters, no matter what I was doing, they were my biggest fans. You know what I mean? Even if I wasn't that good at it, if I was playing, I was pretty good at basketball, the like running track or whatever I was doing, they would come to watch.

00:45:32:09 - 00:45:50:02
Unknown
And I used to be embarrassed for them to come to watch unless I was like killin it. So it was like it was good to have a support system where you don't have to be perfect. And they never told me that they wanted me to go pro or they wanted me to go to the NCAA or I should do this or I should do that.

00:45:50:03 - 00:46:10:17
Unknown
Those are goals that I created for myself. Organically, and when I voiced those, then it was like, All right, my dad will come pick me up. We skipped fifth period of high school and I'll go to the combine with my friends and go put down times in front of scouts. You know, that's the kind of support that I had at home because they knew that, you know, it wasn't like I just was shooting off of the mouth.

00:46:10:17 - 00:46:33:02
Unknown
I want to go play and see the way football it was. You know, I'm going to the gym three or four days a week, so I earned the right to be able to miss fifth period to go to this combine because, you know, my actions matched up with what I was seeing. Lot of it. Yeah. Sounds like you were brought up with the right amount of fertile, the right fertilizer, not just the right amount of fertilizer, but the right fertilizer, if you understand what I'm saying.

00:46:33:12 - 00:46:52:06
Unknown
You know, like it's such a great sounds like an amazing environment. And the nice thing is, is you're going to pass that on as well there. You're going to that's that the best. Yeah. Nobody like we said, nobody's written a manual on parenting or speaking or writing. I had to rewind a little bit. Why would you mark where are we trying to write down the quote?

00:46:52:06 - 00:47:11:05
Unknown
Why don't you just take a picture with your phone? Like, what are you thinking? How old school buddy was is like the eighties or something? Dude, you got you got to do the pictures, send me send me a screenshot or something, like, hey, jeez, I read this is pretty cool. Just like I look like your you know what if I read it, I remember this like that.

00:47:11:11 - 00:47:29:18
Unknown
Yeah. Honestly, I write down a lot, too. I keep a notebook with me. I'm like, well, that's started thing, man. I said to anyone, that's cool, man. School. So I know it's not that photo. Then write it down. Yeah, think it. Ink it. There you go. Oh, there you go. See it? Do it. Think it for corny. I want to shift gears.

00:47:29:18 - 00:47:52:02
Unknown
I want to ask you about something because obviously at some point and I want to retire the 10 million marathon. Oh, yeah. Tell us a little bit about that because I love the sound of it. It's got a great ring to it. Yeah, man. So basically, it's like if I can help a hundred people increase your net worth by $100,000 maybe $10 million, right?

00:47:52:13 - 00:48:20:23
Unknown
So I mean, that's a goal that I thought was lofty enough to be worthy of chasing a meaningful enough to be worthy of chasing because so many people don't, don't have like like that 100 at first hundred grand. Warren Buffett says is the hardest to get you know, and for a lot of people 100 grand is something they don't even think they would ever be able to to put together so trying to make that real for people.

00:48:20:23 - 00:49:04:03
Unknown
And even if that means coming out of $50,000 of debt and building a net worth of 50 K like those are goals that are valuable I had an opportunity to become a wealth manager with a firm out here when I was transitioning out of my career. And one of many factors I came into play as a decision why I went down the management role in sports instead of the finance role was I wanted to work on the grassroots with people who a change in $100,000 would be a material impact on their lifestyle as opposed to working with people who already had such financial stability that $100,000 wasn't going to actually change the way that their life

00:49:04:03 - 00:49:33:21
Unknown
worked. So and that's not to say that those are like bad people or anything like that. Not, not in the least. That's not what I'm saying. But just I like helping people in a way that is going to echo into the future, because if you get out of debt, then now maybe you can put some savings up together where your kids don't got to be your retirement plan, because unfortunately that's the case for a lot of people, you know, and then you're borrowing money from your kids who just got out of college and they're trying to pay off their debt.

00:49:33:21 - 00:49:49:05
Unknown
And that's a cycle. And it's a cycle that many people live through. Right. And they don't understand the basics of how to build wealth or how to measure wealth. So that's what wealth represents at the end of the day. Money is just time, you know, that's all it is, just like is the greatest mechanism that we have for transferring our time.

00:49:49:05 - 00:50:06:14
Unknown
You go somewhere, you dedicate your life to this place at the end of two weeks, they give you a check. That check represents the amount of time that you gave, depending on what kind of job you got. They give you a different amount of value for that time, and then you take that time and you bring it places and you spend it on things like food, shelter, transportation and whatnot.

00:50:06:21 - 00:50:26:24
Unknown
Right. Ultimately, you retire when you have enough time bank the way that you can spend it on whatever you need to live without having to continue to go to work to get more of that time to spend. You know, I'm saying so like don't think about money as as dollars and ones and zeros. The ones and zeros in your bank account really aren't actually there.

00:50:26:24 - 00:50:49:09
Unknown
You know, it's a it's a it's a social construct. It's something that we may like before this society was put together the way that it is. People use different things to barter and trade with each other. So money is just a technology for us storing our time value and so when you start to look at it for what it literally is, you stop focusing on like numerical goals and you start thinking about lifestyle goals.

00:50:50:00 - 00:51:11:06
Unknown
And if your lifestyle goals are tied to things that have meaning, like what are the top ten things that are most meaningful to you? Spending time with your family. You know, you love your dog, you want to travel, you love good food, then like the amount of money you need is just enough to do that, plus a little bit more, you know, and putting your money to work for you because every dollar is a soldier, every dollar is an employee.

00:51:11:10 - 00:51:28:14
Unknown
If you learn how to put your money to work for you, then you can reach a certain threshold where eventually then you'll have enough time value stored up to sustain a lifestyle. And that's the goal is not to get rich, is to just reach a certain lifestyle. And yeah, and that's why I'm that's why I'm passionate about finance.

00:51:33:23 - 00:51:51:21
Unknown
Oh, wow. How do you find a guy to ask? Like, are you your teammates, your former teammates? Are they clamoring say, hey, Courtney, was what am I doing? Or are you finding like and generally not just like to meet in a pandemic like our home, I start reading about like GameStop and all this stuff. So I'm like, what is this stuff?

00:51:51:21 - 00:52:19:00
Unknown
And then like, okay. And like with the retail investor thing, like, I found an interest because I had time to do it. But it's it's so interesting. Are you finding people are starting to come around to it now more in the last couple of years? Yeah, definitely. A lot of people are interested in investing, but so many people are interested in the story of I did something and I changed my life forever in a short period of time.

00:52:19:15 - 00:52:38:23
Unknown
Right? It's the same or lower of the athlete who thinks that they can do this certain type of, you know, milkshake for a certain type of drug or a certain pill. And they're going to be a better athlete. Of course, there's people who have done it, like you've seen the headlines because headlines don't cover average stuff. They talk about their details on the distribution right?

00:52:38:23 - 00:53:24:21
Unknown
They don't talk about everybody in the middle of the normal curve, right? The bell curve. They don't talk about that. They talk about details. So of course, there's people who you know, they bought GameStop, they bought Bitcoin in 2012. You know, they bought Tesla in 2015 or whatever it was. And that changed their lifestyle forever. And that's the thing that attracts a lot of people in and that's not bad, but it distorts people's idea of what's reality because in trying to get to a very far destination quickly, you can trip and fall backwards or you can take a more sure path that is slow and steady and you can get there damn near guaranteed.

00:53:25:10 - 00:53:51:14
Unknown
So it's managing the passion for reaching this place against like the haste of getting there, you know, and if you're willing to wait a little bit longer, you can get there with more certainty. But it's just that the way that the media works with the media is meant to grab attention so they could sell ads, right? If you have enough viewers on your channel, nobody is going to pay you to promote through your channel.

00:53:51:14 - 00:54:21:07
Unknown
And as a as a media company, you're not gonna make any money. So you the incentives are aligned for them to talk about things that bring an emotional response from people. So when we understand that money is an emotional thing and that investing is really about impulse control, human psychology and patients instead of reading charts and price action and, you know, stocks and all that kind of stuff, it's really it's about, okay, what are my goals?

00:54:22:04 - 00:54:43:10
Unknown
Okay. If this is my goal, what rate of return per year do I need to achieve to actually hit that goal? And come to find out, most of the time, the answer is not that you have to double your money overnight. You know, that's what that's how they want you to feel. They want to show you the story of the kid who's 16 years old in his mom's basement who made $1,000,000 off a doggy coin.

00:54:44:00 - 00:55:03:02
Unknown
Right. And if that brings people in, that's cool. But when they come to me and they say, Yo, should I buy this thing? I just try and give them the honest truth and say, You know what, you can. And if you have a little bit of money burning a hole in your pocket, go for it. But if you want to talk about building a long term plan, a sustainable and doing something that's repeatable, then I can have that conversation with you two.

00:55:04:14 - 00:55:30:24
Unknown
It's one of those ones, too, as in last year during the pandemic, I'm teaching a two grade 12 classes and all of a sudden, you know, you're talking about tax free savings account. And I was like, some of these kids are turning 18. And I just I quickly did a poll on my, on my screen and like, okay, how many of you guys as you're turning 18 are cranking up the idea of a tax free savings account with 30 kids total.

00:55:31:01 - 00:55:50:00
Unknown
One kid knew what I was talking about like 17 going on 18. Right. The one kid that knew it, she's like, I already know I'm buying this, this, this and this. I mean I invest in this, this and this I can put my 6000 in and it's he was taking his birthday money and I was like wow like there's but everybody else is like what are you talking about.

00:55:50:00 - 00:56:12:19
Unknown
And this isn't a for Z glass so maybe it wasn't appropriate venue for it, but it was almost disappointing that they didn't know anything about it. Never heard of it because most people I'm assuming sometimes parents would just do it for them but they're not learning they're not learning how to do it. Of course not. And you would think that, you know, certain things that all of us do, but we all we all eat food.

00:56:13:04 - 00:56:35:15
Unknown
So we should all take a food and nutrition class and learn the difference between the macros and the microscopic. We all use money. So we should all take a personal finance for everyday living class. So we can learn about a credit card, learn about a mortgage, learn about auto loan, learn about student loans, learn about, you know, all those basic basic things like what is compound interest like how does taxes actually work?

00:56:36:09 - 00:56:56:08
Unknown
There's a lot of people out there and I'm not judging, I'm just trying to highlight something that is a common misconception. A lot of people out there are afraid to make more money because they think they're going to get taxed more. But there's especially in Canada, there's a lot of tax shelters, but they take this in you're telling me you want to make less money because you're afraid of getting taxed.

00:56:57:06 - 00:57:22:08
Unknown
That's a good that's the best problem in the world to have because you have more money of course. Yes. You don't know that the marginal tax rate is charge on your marginal dollar just meaning like so like you're allowed to make like $13,000 tax free then from like 13 to like 24,000, they have a lower tax rate. And then from that $24,000 up to like the $35,000, there's a different tax rate.

00:57:22:15 - 00:57:38:02
Unknown
And then the dollars after that are charged at a different tax rate. And the last dollar that you make, that's called your marginal tax rate, right? So like your marginal tax rate could be 36% that doesn't mean that every dollar that you have is being taxed at 36%. It means the last dollar that you had was taxed at 36%.

00:57:38:12 - 00:57:54:19
Unknown
So like simple ways of breaking on a graduated tax system to some people so they can understand like, oh shoot. So if I make more money I actually make more money. Like that's a basic thing of personal finance that people don't understand because it's not taught in school and and it bothers me to my core because there's other things too.

00:57:54:19 - 00:58:19:13
Unknown
Like you people are afraid to invest in U.S. companies because they don't understand how taxes work. But the taxes on a capital gain are less than a taxes on the income you make at your job. So as an investor, as the people who are putting their money to work, they make money while they sleep, while they eat, while they run, while they do all kinds of things and they get a more beneficial tax rate versus somebody who punches a clock every day and goes to work.

00:58:19:17 - 00:58:42:19
Unknown
Not saying it's a bad thing where are you going to get the money to invest in all of these financial instruments, obviously from your day job, but the financial education has to be worked into wherever it is that we interact with people because they're not teaching as part of the standard curriculum. So if it's on the football field, if it's on the way to a game, on the way from a game, if it's in the parking lot, if it's, you know, through DM messages or whatever it is, if it's a side hustle or this is a reason why I do this stuff, because I don't.

00:58:42:19 - 00:59:02:01
Unknown
And we all need to be professionals with money because we all spend money every day. Yeah, and it's interesting too, because I have two daughters and they're both over 18 now. So I'm like, Okay, this is what we're going to do, try to guide them. And I got the one who's very socially conscious. So she's like, I don't want anything that's inviting, you know, be on.

00:59:02:05 - 00:59:18:13
Unknown
She'll, she did her homework on. These companies are not environmentally, they're not green. So I was just like, oh my God. So but you know what? Everybody's got a different approach, which is and the other ones just like, Dad, I just want to make money. Just, just put it in and let's watch it grow, right? So, okay, I respect that.

00:59:18:13 - 00:59:36:18
Unknown
She's like, I don't care. I'll make a deal with the devil. I just want to, I want to get this thing to grow. Hey, man, as long as you're in the game, that's half of the battle. Yeah, it's cool. So you guys okay? Good for both of you guys. It's awesome. But so I had to come from my perspective because you guys are probably speaking to whatever amount of our listeners.

00:59:36:18 - 00:59:54:20
Unknown
I'm going to be the other part of our listeners this stuff is intimidating. Okay? This stuff is intimidating. So I'm further in the game, right? So I'm whatever it is for retirement, let's, let's use the spectrum of whatever age group you want. It's intimidating to us. It's just like me sitting in our math class. I have no idea what the teacher's talking about.

00:59:54:20 - 01:00:13:22
Unknown
I just tune out and I'm going to be a pain in the ass. So they get kicked out of class and I'll go hang out with some of those are those other people. So like, how do I like you? You're making its way easier because I did this a long time ago, but I have the mentality and convince me otherwise or don't I work hard for my money?

01:00:13:22 - 01:00:30:24
Unknown
I have a hard time giving it to somebody else, and I don't know what's going to happen with it. Like, that's literally my mentality, my personal mentality forever. I work hard for it. So I'm not a gambler. I'm not, you know, none of that stuff. I'm just I'm scared. I don't know. I'll just be straight up. I think I'm scared to lose everything I've worked for, and I've nothing to show for it.

01:00:31:16 - 01:01:01:02
Unknown
Yeah, man. And I think you have all the right to feel that way. And there's there's good reason to feel that way because there's not everybody out there is looking out for your best interests. And I would say there's so many different aspects of financial literacy that is not investing. You know, you can look at am I am I incurring debt that I don't need to incur less like the habits you have with your credit card or maybe the type of car that you drive or maybe, you know, you have a trigger finger on Amazon and you just like to buy stuff all the time.

01:01:01:02 - 01:01:21:00
Unknown
So sorry. You may profile before we had this same. So like for for personal finance it could just be as much as getting a finger on the pulse of your finances to see like where you actually act because that's where everybody should start. People shouldn't start by just putting money into it to investing, right? You have to know where you want to go.

01:01:21:00 - 01:01:35:11
Unknown
But in order to figure out what's the path to get there, you have to know where you are currently, you know? And so to people starting in two different locations will take a different path to get to the same destination. And it's important for people to start out and understand where they're at. So like, do you have debt?

01:01:35:11 - 01:01:54:14
Unknown
What kind of debt is it? There's different kinds of debt, right? Some debt is high interest. That meaning like a credit card is going to be charged to 17, 19, 20, 21% per year, compounded on the money. You owe some debts, low interest debt, like a student loan or a mortgage. And then, you know, where are you keeping your money?

01:01:54:14 - 01:02:10:01
Unknown
Are you keeping your money in a, in a checking account that has like a $15 per month fee or you'll make that face when you say checking account, please don't say. Or maybe they're just saying, are you keeping it in an online bank where you have your no monthly fee and automatically you could save yourself $15 per month.

01:02:10:09 - 01:02:42:17
Unknown
So little things that it's not necessarily about investing is stuff that you can do if you're not willing to go out on that journey of putting your money in a stocks and stuff like that. Yeah, because it all counts under the umbrella of personal finance. But, but both. But here's the one thing I will say that will make you at least want to get familiar with or start to look in the direction of investing if you went to the grocery store before the pandemic, bought the club pack, lean ground extra lean ground beef maybe cost you 12, 13 bucks right.

01:02:42:21 - 01:03:10:02
Unknown
You're going to get a couple slabs of that. You know that before you make some hamburgers and some spaghetti bolognese, whatever it is you go to buy that same club pack. Now it's going to cost you 17, 18, $19. So if you had $100 in the bank. Right. I know. Let's just make it even more simple. If you had $15 in the bank at the beginning of the pandemic, you're buying that and a pack of pasta.

01:03:10:23 - 01:03:30:12
Unknown
If you have $15 in your bank now you're not getting out of there with any ground beef and the money that's in your bank account, you say, I still have $15. $15 is $15. Right but because of factors that are outside of your control in the larger economy, the money that is in your bank account is programed to lose its value over time.

01:03:30:12 - 01:03:59:07
Unknown
So if you are not gaining money, you are losing money because the same dollar doesn't go as far. It costs more to send your kids to school to fill up your gas tank to put food on the table. And that's why it's essential for all of us to understand that investing is actually your duty, is your fiduciary duty to your family to make sure that you ensure the hard earned time that you have in your bank account is there for your kids to see.

01:03:59:20 - 01:04:16:14
Unknown
You know what I mean? And remember, it's not money, it's time and hard work. That hard earned time that you have is going to disappear if it is not invested. Since I'm broke and a bad parent, that's what you're telling me I'm just trying to put a little pressure on, you know, just one direction. I had all these football questions.

01:04:16:14 - 01:04:34:13
Unknown
They're down to me. And you want to you want to talk to I love this. I love this. I think the other to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I literally want to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And this is uncomfortable for me. But I this is how I'm going to learn. This is literally I'm going to learn. And also, I would say this.

01:04:34:14 - 01:04:54:02
Unknown
You don't have to make big returns. I don't want to go out there and tell anybody what they should invest in or anything like that. But I would say the power of compounding means that if you're getting, say, 15% per year, right. Every five years or money is going to double and you'd be thinking like 15 times five doesn't equal 100.

01:04:54:17 - 01:05:13:22
Unknown
But compound interest is a heck of a drug like it is what makes people wealthy. And so those who understand compound interest tend to earn it and those who do not tend to pay it. That's why it's important for us to understand this. It's important for us to understand how money works so we can get it to work for us.

01:05:14:08 - 01:05:32:21
Unknown
And it's interesting because some athletes are just like, I'm just again, I'm playing I'm on my own and coaches, I just I'm just a coach. But like you say, it's like something that this is this is important stuff. I think it's important stuff. And whether you come to it like Jiji like Total, and I like to give you a hard time about it, but I came to this stuff late in my life.

01:05:32:21 - 01:05:46:04
Unknown
Like it's I went to school, my mom put my money in my bank account. I was at an age where I had the bank, but they'd put in a machine and it was like, I don't know, you're pretty young. Did you have one of those do like they did you what was one of the things that helped me get into it?

01:05:46:04 - 01:06:05:00
Unknown
Because you could see the numbers go up when you I used to roll up my pennies and bring them to the bank. Oh, yeah, yeah. My bankbook was like, he put in the machine. It comes out, you're like, it's got all the little doodads either, man, a lot of numbers, but. Okay, yeah, yeah. Thanks. But there's it's. That's what I.

01:06:05:11 - 01:06:22:19
Unknown
You never too late to start. That's the thing. There's never a bad time to get going. Like, the sooner you can, the better. But that's, that's kind of what we're at. But that's this is awesome. Hey, this is a coaching and leadership show, but we're learning this is it. This is all about growth mindset, right? We're not just focused on one thing, we're all over the place, but it's, it's all related.

01:06:22:19 - 01:06:41:16
Unknown
It is all related. You can't confine greatness to one phase of your life. You just be great, man. You know what I mean? Don't be great when the ball is in the air, only being great all day. Okay, now you're just showing off. I was just like, look, if you're showing up, if you're here right now, like, obviously you want to get better.

01:06:41:16 - 01:07:03:02
Unknown
Come on, bring. Are we talking banners on the wall? I like one. Don't you and I don't want to throw one of my friends in long coke. Throw them under the under the bus. But you knew where this was going. I was like another. Don't want to, but I will. I'm going to coach. Gary loves this zone. And I remember Courtney came in, I was like, Courtney, I really like to play man to man.

01:07:03:02 - 01:07:22:18
Unknown
And you were like, yeah, let's do these guys to cover and I was like, I got another person in my back pocket here about playing more man to man. So I was like, Jerry and I used to butt heads, had this coat and it was like, if he could play a zone 100% of the time, he would. And I just find it's safe.

01:07:23:09 - 01:07:41:05
Unknown
But it is high school. I mean, I understand it's got its places, but I'm like, Jerry, we're playing like, cover zero. Like, we're just going to teach these guys to cover and play man to man, and we're going to challenge and we're going to be aggressive. And when Courtney came in and you back me on that, I was like, yes, Courtney, Steven likes teaching, man.

01:07:41:13 - 01:08:08:11
Unknown
When I coached basketball, if I didn't have very good athletes, we would play zone sorry. Nelson has got word we're gifted with athletes. Go So now, speaking of being great, Courtney, one of the questions I want to ask you, because you made reference a couple of times to some influential, influential coaches in your life. What in your opinion, you've played a lot of different places and you've played for a lot of different coaches.

01:08:08:11 - 01:08:30:20
Unknown
What is the difference between a good coach and a great coach? And it could be like in a leader, let's use a broader term in leadership, like what's a good leader and a great leader? What's the gap? What's the difference? In between those two There's literally like so many different things, and you could talk about their demeanor on the sideline.

01:08:31:23 - 01:08:48:19
Unknown
A coach like I've had like June Jones, I just remember his demeanor on the sideline was always just stoic. We could be up, we could be down. He was always in control. And I think if if you're the leader of any kind of organization and you're showing your group that you've lost control, then they're going to lose faith.

01:08:49:05 - 01:09:13:24
Unknown
So that's one thing. Another thing a great leader is going to ask you to do things that you're actually capable of doing. And there's a risk with somebody who's, you know, coaching linebackers and they haven't actually played linebacker, you know what I mean? Like, it was a lot of the best coaches out there are guys who haven't necessarily played the position right.

01:09:13:24 - 01:09:33:15
Unknown
Like I know a couple of coaches that I played for who would literally coach every position on the field, and they're some of the best coaches, but they understand like you ask a player to do what they're capable of and show off what you do best. I don't want to put a round peg in a square hole. I want you to show off what you do best.

01:09:33:15 - 01:09:49:12
Unknown
So I'm going to build a system around. The tools that I have is they're trying to fit these guys into something that might not be the best from like not everybody can play, man. Not everybody can play zone. So you have to make sure you understand, like, who you're working with and then, you know, give them an opportunity to shine the brightest.

01:09:49:12 - 01:10:14:05
Unknown
That's what great coaches do. Another thing is some coaches are motivators. Other coaches are teachers, you know, and I think the best coaches are the ones who they intrinsically motivate you because you see how much they dedicate to whatever it is that they're doing and you feel like you'd led them down if you don't also match the level that you bring.

01:10:15:02 - 01:10:36:16
Unknown
And so coaches who are able to help you develop and when you leave their tutelage, you're more advanced. I think that's that's what a great coach actually does. A great coach isn't somebody who just wins, is somebody who can make people better as players. As people, right? So there's so many different dimensions. But I like to be a great leader or be a great coach.

01:10:36:16 - 01:10:56:20
Unknown
It's like you really got to you really got to be balanced well, now I feel like I could see your teacher. I feel like your teacher. And I think that's why when you walked on the field for the first time and I heard you speak and saw you interact with kids because you work with kids all the time.

01:10:56:21 - 01:11:17:24
Unknown
You work with kids a lot. And I feel like you're one of the they love going to your programs. They love going to your training stuff because I think you're real and you're fair and you care. And it sounds that you're imparting them the ability to play zone or man to man. It's the idea that you're going to make them the best they can and they know they're going to get your best, which is cool.

01:11:18:00 - 01:11:35:12
Unknown
So where do you get that from? Where does that come from for you? That passion to teach and carry on and people did it for me. And I think that's that's what a lot of players will tell you. It's like whenever somebody has a big milestone to get an award, they retire, whatever what's the first thing they do?

01:11:36:05 - 01:12:08:13
Unknown
I think other people, you know, and it's because like the reason why an athlete can break down and cry after winning something is because like the championship was won in the dark. It was won on cold mornings. It was won like out of sight of anybody with no spotlights, no announcer, no scoreboard none of that. Right. You put in hell work to get an opportunity to win on that stage.

01:12:09:09 - 01:12:30:11
Unknown
And there were certain people who were there with you. And not everybody can not everybody can even relate, let alone remember where he was. Like when you were like hunched over, throwing up in a garbage can when you still have 400 meters left in the workout, you know, and not everybody knows what it's like to be late to a workout.

01:12:30:17 - 01:12:49:08
Unknown
And that person is there running with you to get there. So you're not making the whole team do sprints and not everybody knows what it's like to know be in that huddle when you have to do the game. Winning drive and you guys just look at each other like a man, just like practice, right? We're going to go Z, right three out and just just catch it this time and let's win.

01:12:49:08 - 01:13:10:21
Unknown
And then you go out and win, you know, like so when you do that kind of thing with people and you've been through those moments, then it's like you want to pass that on because there is nothing like being on a team, you know, that's, that's, that's special. So I just it's not even like I'm not even trying to be funny.

01:13:10:21 - 01:13:28:03
Unknown
I'm just like, Okay, sorry, dude. The only thing that I miss about football is the locker room. I don't miss I don't miss anything else called, like, the quotables. I actually liked going into cold, but like the reason why I went to the Kotel because my body here don't miss it, you know, occasion. I want to watch film and stuff, but ultimately, these are guys, right?

01:13:28:07 - 01:13:45:21
Unknown
It's their bond. You had it's like sitting down and watching film for like 6 hours through the week with people who are giving it up to you as well. And like, you want other people to have the opportunity. And that's why you coach like because, you know, was on the other side. Like if you just put in this work, like I'm telling you guys, it'll be worth it.

01:13:45:21 - 01:14:12:08
Unknown
I've been there, drank the Kool-Aid. It's I got the T-shirt. Just do the work. Trust me, that's what you want to tell these kids. I was going to say I wasn't ruling my other question, like the locker room stuff. What makes in your opinion like it? Give me one or two things that you think are critical. I know there's a lot critical to good culture in the locker room because when you talk about successful teams, you've played on some successful teams.

01:14:13:00 - 01:14:33:11
Unknown
A lot of people, they all got a great culture. In your opinion, what are some things that either help that or the cornerstones of that are what are some things that impede that as well? Players going to take ownership? 100% of players going to take ownership. You can't come from the top down like the coach can't tell you to be dedicated.

01:14:33:24 - 01:14:58:08
Unknown
Coach can't tell you to have each other's back. Coach can't tell you how to carry yourselves. They can. But when you're policing your own for like the lack of a better term, but like, you know, if a guy goes offsides, yeah, the coach can get on him. But like when I get on him, it's a whole different message, right?

01:14:58:10 - 01:15:23:19
Unknown
It's the same thing is like your parents tell you something all the time and you're like, Okay, Mom, like, but then it's like if your best friend is like, Hey man, you're messing up, you're going to be like, Okay, let me check myself. And so that accountability, when accountability comes from within, it's a whole different culture, you know, bottom up mean something because those people are in there bleeding, sweating with you and they're not sitting up on high on a throne right there, like right there with you.

01:15:23:19 - 01:16:03:03
Unknown
So I think a player player's taking ownership of the culture. Their team is is crucial player led now coach Fred Yo then give me like give me one, give me one. Come on and get you back into college like you. While we had a we had to call the Navy SEAL Jason Coon and he always said service over status and that makes a huge difference in the long term perspective of where are you going to go if you're doing about serving others and serving your friends and the person, the man and the woman beside you, the person beside you instead of their own personal status, the group will advance and you'll have personal success through that

01:16:04:07 - 01:16:27:01
Unknown
So absolutely. And my coach always used to say group success is prerequisite to individual success. So like like if we don't make the playoffs, nobody's going to be all star. You might as well just do your job, start farming another man's land and just, you know, just be your chest and say, not my guy. These are all things my coaches have put into us.

01:16:27:01 - 01:16:46:08
Unknown
And that's why coaches speak with these mnemonics, right? Like they use stuff that's easy to remember because at the end of the day, it's not about being like catchy This stuff actually works. Like when you get on the field, you say to yourself, a lime assignment, okay, where do I go? What do I do? A lineman assignment. And then I say, Not my guy.

01:16:47:03 - 01:17:13:01
Unknown
I'm writing. That one down is okay. It is. I'm not screenshotting that one. I'm saying no, why this stuff is all this stuff is stolen from other people. And in a lineman assignment join I got from you get it in the States and Canada pros every level. You know what I mean? Not my guy. When the ball is in the air I got a great coach coach Orlando Steiner he's the head coach Hamilton Syracuse right now he has this thing where when the ball is in the air he says it's a mindset when the ball is coming to you just say easy.

01:17:13:10 - 01:17:34:12
Unknown
Shout it out loud for everybody to hear easy every time the ball is in the air and then go catch it, you know? So like understanding how the mind works It's like you see it, you do it, you think it, you think and like you say things and they become real. So you have to just program yourself. And that's a cultural thing too.

01:17:34:12 - 01:17:48:07
Unknown
Like, for example, if the ball's laying on the ground, we had a culture who was like, we don't let a ball lay on the ground. That's our ball. We take care of our ball. So if a receiver drops the receivers on a lazy we on the defense, we go get every ball. We don't care if the receiver dropped it, we going to go get it.

01:17:48:12 - 01:18:02:16
Unknown
We're going to find that receiver before he is the huddle and put it in his chest and say, he'll take your ball back home with you. But that's part of the culture of a team, right? And then it becomes contagious and the offense gets a little competitive and then the coaches see it and they're like, Hey, did you teach them that?

01:18:02:16 - 01:18:21:16
Unknown
No, but they're doing it, so let's support it. And then it gets contagious, right? It can start from the grassroots, from the ground up and and build gee, I never this is another show. I just don't want to end like it is. This is just so much fun out in Courtney, you said so many amazing things here tonight.

01:18:21:16 - 01:18:50:14
Unknown
I'm I always ask our guests if there is one or two pieces of leadership advice and what's the best that you've ever received or that you would want to pass on to my almost want to ask for some financial advice here. So you throw me a curveball, but what would be the like some that maybe a resource you'd mentioned a book earlier that was really cool, a resource or some leadership advice that you think of you could pass on to our listeners to be better versions of themselves.

01:18:51:02 - 01:19:13:12
Unknown
What would it be I'll start with the book. Best book I ever read in my life, Byron nine hands down and no questions asked to call the 5 a.m. club by Robin Sharma I've read the book probably about seven or eight times. I go back to it every year. The book just teaches you about so much more than mindset.

01:19:13:23 - 01:19:44:23
Unknown
It's told as a parable, but you know, we make so much emphasis on mindset, but you forget about like the heart set that helps, said the source. And just taking care of your whole person, they talk about the power of having a routine, the power of like finding mental clarity, focusing in on, you know, just having a way of going about life intentionally and the benefits you can get from that and you can't lead anybody unless you take care of yourself first.

01:19:44:23 - 01:20:04:22
Unknown
So like that book is is crucial. I recommend it to every single human being on Earth. No matter what you're doing, it will have something in it for you. And then as far as leadership advice I say stop measuring yourself against people who you see on a day to day basis and measure yourself against the people who are in the position you want to go to.

01:20:05:09 - 01:20:21:10
Unknown
If I'm in high school and I want to play pro football, it doesn't matter that I'm the best in my school or the best in my town. I need to just be modeling the person who is doing what I'm doing. At the highest level, not because I expect myself to be doing that, but because that's what greatness looks like.

01:20:21:22 - 01:20:41:24
Unknown
And so if I can model what greatness looks like, then I keep myself honest and I don't get a big head thinking that I'm something that I'm not. All I am is a work in progress. And if I still happen to achieve some things along the way, then that's great. But I'm not going to get overwhelmed with confidence because I, you know, I did some cool things.

01:20:41:24 - 01:20:59:22
Unknown
Now I have much bigger plans, so don't measure yourself against your friends or people you see here or there. I used to just close my eyes and envision all the other people who were training, going after the same goals as me. That's why I think I'm one of the few people who would rather train by themselves because I want to run until actually my legs actually give out.

01:20:59:22 - 01:21:20:08
Unknown
Like, I want to go up and down that hill like an extra time. I want to, you know, push because, you know, some people say it's negative, but I used to train out of fear, you know what I mean? Because there's millions of high school football players there's only a couple of hundred pros. And I knew where I wanted to go from a young age.

01:21:20:08 - 01:21:40:21
Unknown
So I just put myself in a mindset of like, let me just train like a pro. Now, and if I could train like a pro now, I have a shot at being one. I heard I heard an amazing lady said, when you start getting tired, take a deep breath. Right? And then just keep us busy. Yeah. More than David Goggins.

01:21:41:13 - 01:22:01:06
Unknown
We refer to him on the show a couple times. Courtney's mom and Courtney's mom and I, she should write a book, you know, she can supersede David Goggins. I love it. That's just amazing. You can get her on the podcast to make sure she's an athlete and a coach. And you know what? I find track and I love coaching track.

01:22:01:06 - 01:22:19:13
Unknown
And to me, track coaches are unique in a way because you get that kind of like you're talking about Orlando Steinhauer. He's got a whole team of guys he's got to worry about. With your track coach, you can zero in on a person. Mano-a-mano Yeah. And you can dig in. You can mine and refine that person, right? And dig out.

01:22:19:13 - 01:22:42:17
Unknown
Get those diamonds. That's awesome. It's awesome, man. G, you got anything else? No. I mean, I just I too much to process right now. Wow. Corey fix. I know Marcus interrupts up shortly, but I just want to thank you publicly. Thank you for this. This was an educational piece for me personally, and I guarantee guarantee for our listeners.

01:22:42:17 - 01:22:57:06
Unknown
We'd love to make a mark on superseding here. We'd love to have you back down the line. I want to see how things can play out with some of the pre-show stuff we talked about because I think you're doing an amazing job with it. I want to see where that goes for you. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

01:22:57:12 - 01:23:23:03
Unknown
And before we wrap it up, Courtney, what's next? What's what's it like? There's you got you got a lot of things going on. What's what can we look for next? I know listeners probably won't Twitter Instagram, Courtney, Stephen dot com. There's a lot of information there YouTube. What's next for you, man? Man, a lot. But the best place to connect with me is on Twitter.

01:23:23:19 - 01:23:59:06
Unknown
Does Stephen step in? And you know what, man? I'm just I'm just trying to keep building like right now I worked in my role. I have opportunity to work in the community. I'm also passionate about, you know, investing. I'm passionate about technology. So I've got a project that I'm working on. And should it come to fruition the way I believe when I'm going to get to merge a lot of my passions together and then hopefully put some tools out there to help other people continue to keep pushing on the good the good education stuff.

01:23:59:06 - 01:24:18:08
Unknown
So, yeah, man, I'd say the best place to connect is on Twitter, and you can find whatever I'm doing lately on there. We'll make sure we link everything up and or our listeners can find you. Man, I appreciate you. Appreciate years. Ever since I known you as a man, this is a guy that I want to keep in my life because he's such a cool dude and there's just so much there.

01:24:18:08 - 01:24:37:11
Unknown
There's there's a lot of layers and there's just it's just you got a great energy about you. The people want to be around you, man. That's awesome. Appreciate the appreciate the opportunity, man. This is a great podcast that you guys are not just keeping your super official, but you're getting into stuff that matters. So when I do talk to real people like you, they're doing it right.

01:24:37:11 - 01:24:48:18
Unknown
So well, that does it for this episode of Benchmark. Thanks for listening. Until next time. Keep crushing it. Yes. Yes.