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6: Experiences & Mindset Equal Growth w/ Dan Stowell · Harder Than Life

• 0:00
  I'm Kelly Siegel and this is harder than life a podcast about self-love self-awareness business and health We tell outrageous stories and boil everything down to simple practical advice. You can start using today. Let's get living I'm Kelly Siegel with a harder than life podcast today's guest is a young man that I met through a mutual friend He immediately had me leveling up and helping me
• 0:25
  He has a smile and demeanor that will melt anyone's heart. His dedication to helping people exudes from said smile. I instantly knew I liked this guy and had to have him in my life forever. Dan Stoll's story is being written, but already is nothing short of remarkable. I don't want to steal any of his material. So without further ado, let me introduce you, Dan Stoll. Thank you so much. It's an absolute honor to be here, and I'm looking forward to this conversation.
• 0:53
  All right, Dan, what's your story and why does your story matter? Yeah, so honestly, my story is everything but normal. I grew up as an only child and my parents never got married. So that was always an awkward social dynamic for me growing up as being in Livonia, Michigan. And it's a general...
• 1:17
  people are pretty well off there. It's a, it's a nice community, but I always grew up with an alcoholic father and that's something that I just couldn't really relate with, with other people. And it was tough. And for as long as I can remember, that's just how life was. And, and,
• 1:35
  Things got really bad for me, fourth grade through eighth grade, and those are some of the most stressful moments in my life, honestly. And all of the resilience that I talk about today, it stems from those painful experiences and...
• 1:51
  even going through my health journey that we'll talk about in a little bit. It's all prepared me for that, all of those hard experiences. So yeah, it's been the journey growing up with an alcoholic father, having Crohn's disease. And yeah, I'm excited to dive into it more. So you founded this company, Nova Fusion Wellness and Resilience. Tell me about it. And how does that relate to your story?
• 2:20
  Yeah, so when I got sick with Crohn's disease, that was back in 2015, and it was just rock bottom for me, and it took me a couple years to get out of that, and while I was going through those experiences, I met people in similar situations, and I continue to do so today, and...
• 2:41
  Throughout my journey, I've learned new skills and techniques, mindset and health to optimize my wellness. And all of those things, I know people need them. And so I just I know that not a lot of people can relate to Crohn's disease, but everyone battles adversity and we all have hardships that we go through. And so I just want to be a beacon of hope for anyone going through a tough time because.
• 3:08
  We're all human. We all have feelings. We all go through struggles. And there's always a way to get out of that, get through it, and just one step at a time. And, yeah, I just want to be a beacon of hope. And that's why I started this brand, to just help anyone out there going through a difficult time. Well, life is simple, but it's not easy. I tell you, I usually am very tough and very...
• 3:33
  winning mentality but if i get the slightest bit of sickness like right now i'm battling a cold i'm just like oh i'm a big baby so you battling through crohn's disease and and smiling about it every day is uh harder than life so thanks for being on the podcast um you constantly say experience plus mindset equals growth that's your slogan your motto please explain it and take take
• 4:03
  Yeah, it's my philosophy for everything in life. And I've really discovered it and developed it through my experiences getting sick. It wasn't really so much through my dad, but I did realize that those experiences showed me lessons that I was able to take through in my health journey. And so
• 4:26
  we're all going through experiences. I like to say that, um, with my logo, it all ties with the experience. So this mindset equals growth. So the fire and that, that represents the experiences we're going through. I was going through hell when I was, uh,
• 4:43
  I had those dark times with my dad when I had surgeries, when I had diagnosis. That was hell and I was going through the fire there. And so those are the experiences. And then plus mindset, that's the yin yang in my logo. And that's where you are able to have a growth mindset and learn lessons from those experiences because we can go through the same thing over and over but if we don't learn from it, we're not gonna grow. So that's where I like to...
• 5:11
  We got to reiterate that off. We don't learn from it. Let's not get hit over the head, which is what we constantly do. You knew better. I know better, but we still did it. Why did I do it again? So what would you give somebody advice on, on that about? I mean, how do you go about,
• 5:27
  changing that mindset. Yeah. So I like to say awareness is the first step to change and anything that you do. And so we're in those patterns, those habitual patterns, your paradigms, and you're on like autopilot because the subconscious mind is like 90, 95%. And then your conscious is that 5%. So
• 5:47
  you're going through a day on autopilot and you have to find ways to snap out of it and have that awareness. So one way that I like to do it personally is I learned this through James Clear Atomic Habits book. He likes to do a scorecard of your habits and you'll have like your good habits. I like to do neutral habits and then positive habits. But I take it a step further and do it with your emotions. So throughout your week, you can track all of your emotions that you're feeling, your positive, negative and neutral.
• 6:17
  And then that will give you the awareness to how are you feeling? What's making you feel this way? And then once you can really put the pieces together, that's where you'll be like, okay, I need to change here. I might need to do some things differently. And that's where you can get the growth. So the experience plus mindset equals growth when you learn those lessons. So let me try to flip that on its head and see if I understood you right. So...
• 6:42
  We literally just have to understand and actually just notice when we feel bad and make a change. Yeah, I mean, it's simple. Most people won't even... It's simple, but it's not easy. Exactly. Most people won't even acknowledge that there's an issue. I keep yelling at somebody when they come in and disturb me, or I go to drugs or alcohol every time there's a problem.
• 7:08
  Oh, I'm just blowing off steam. That's what you mean, correct? Yeah, and it's taking accountability because you can play the blame game all day. That's something that I learned from my dad. He never took responsibility for his sickness, his relationship with his father, and all of those things, they continued throughout the rest of his life and it impacted the rest of his relationships. And if you don't take that self-accountability, then you're not going to...
• 7:37
  be able to make that change in your life. Yeah, I know exactly about that. So inevitably, people are in their life on a hamster wheel. They just go around and around and around. And typically, they call it the life chain. And you continue down the life chain. Did Crohn's disease...
• 7:57
  Getting sick with Crohn's, did that keep you from carrying the torch of your alcoholic father? Honestly, no. So I got sick with Crohn's disease in 11th grade. And I've had peer pressure before that to drink and do other stuff. So you never drank? No, never. Wow. Because of my dad. There's the story of the two sons with the alcoholic father. And one is an exact replica of his dad.
• 8:23
  The other turns out to be really successful. They ask both of the kids afterwards, you know, how did your life turn out the way it did? Same answer, my dad. And you can go one or two ways, up, down. And you have role models in life and obviously good role models, but there's also bad role models and things that...
• 8:45
  you don't want to become. And I seen what alcohol did to my dad did to our family. And I knew that was something that I did not want to get involved with. Well, you're much smarter than me because I was so stupid. I just followed right into the fricking things. I was better than my mother and my stepfather. And I guess not as good as my dad because he didn't make it. But, uh,
• 9:08
  I followed right in the footsteps and my life changed when I decided to put down the naughty water. And that's why we're here today, man. And I wrote it in the book, Harder Than Life, all about it. So, and I got a copy for you here today. Thank you for coming. But the overwhelming...
• 9:26
  point that you are trying to say is talking about gut issues and a lot of people are inflicted by this afflicted by it uh you introduced me to your boy mike diamond who shares this affliction can you share some advice for the people that have the same issues what what should they be eating what should they not be eating what what
• 9:46
  You know, this is a much bigger issue. I can tell you I have it. I have this. I don't have Crohn's, but my stomach is. You look at this pile of junk I got. I just take on protein and everybody thinks, oh, I'm just a big tough guy on the outside. But I have I can tell what I didn't eat right. I can tell. So talk to me about what we should be eating, what we shouldn't be, because I know you're a master at this stuff.
• 10:08
  Yeah, so first and foremost, like whole food diet, get rid of all that processed garbage. If you look in the ingredients, it's just, you know that you shouldn't be eating it. You can't even pronounce the words in there. Wait, processed, is that some of the easy prepare meals? Are those, like, are those, there's a lot of misnomers out there. Oh, I eat this and it's healthy. Yeah.
• 10:32
  What are some of the things that the media or the mainstream will tell you that's healthy that is not? Okay. Yeah. So any like grains, gluten, those are things that strip your gut actually, strip the gut lining in there. And it actually like degrades your mucus, your membrane. And that's what keeps your gut strong. Yeah.
• 10:57
  keeps it protected so those bad ingredients don't continue to degrade it. So you need a strong, healthy gut lining. And one way to do that is through probiotics as well. So yogurt, anything fermented, that will help as well. Yeah, because our gut is... Any old yogurt like Danone, like this sugary stuff, or do you have to have the Greek stuff?
• 11:19
  Well, I would go for whole fat and no sugar because sugar is also an inflammatory. So that will for sure mess up your gut, cause more inflammation in your body. And with gut health, that's what it is. It's inflammation and it's that inflammation continuing to get worse. So with the yogurts, you want to do, you can do dairy if you can tolerate that, but
• 11:45
  That's a thing that a lot of people are intolerant. So if you can find non-dairy options like coconut, almonds, that's good too. And yeah, those probiotics are powerful because our gut is just a balance of these bacteria. And so when we get sick, when we have inflammation, IBS, something that you might have because most of the population has some form of it, um...
• 12:12
  balancing out your gut bacteria. So having those probiotics, that's the good bacteria, and that's going to help replenish you and feel better. And so if you're just having all this processed foods, the grains, the granola bars, um...
• 12:27
  Just the frozen foods that you heat up. There's some of them that are okay, but you want to be really conscious of what you're getting. And yeah, I mean, I fully recommend like an animal-based diet. You have the meats, the dairy, fruit. So animal-based, we're good. So if you hear everybody going vegan, I mean...
• 12:49
  I am a meat guy. I like my meat and potatoes. So I'm okay with it. Cause I've heard so many things like, Oh my God, you got to lighten the amount of meat that you consume. Is that? Honestly, no vegetables. That's something that will hurt me. But I mean, my system is totally, well, I don't have a colon anymore that I got that removed four days after graduation in high school. So congratulations. Here's your reward for graduate from high school.
• 13:18
  Honestly, man. But wait, I heard you say something about sugar. It's like, wait a minute. So I used to get all my sugar from alcohol. That was good for my gut. All I would ever do is just drink more. My gut felt better. I'm being joking, of course. But I have found that since I gave up alcohol, I have a crazy sugar craving. So I get that in my form of chocolate cake. And it's one of the funniest things in the world. If you ever see me, don't ever get in the way of me and chocolate cake because you will die.
• 13:47
  and everybody that I know and all my friends they're like wait a minute he's so ripped and he's such in good shape how does he eat that stuff well that's my vice yeah I mean you need the calories too to get big like yourself on your website there's a an assessment so
• 14:05
  you know, we're kind of talking about what's what. Tell us about this assessment. And do you recommend people? Obviously, it's on your website. So you recommend people go to it. Give us this site. We'll put it in the show notes. And tell me about it. Yeah, so it's NovaFusion.co slash assessment. And what that is, it's
• 14:24
  really to help you get more direction, awareness, and clarity on your health, first and foremost, because I like to say if you fix your health or you improve your health, you improve your life. You improve your mindset, you improve your life, same thing. So if you can get that awareness to figure out what are the things holding you back, what are your goals, how are you feeling? I have this whole checklist on are you sleeping well, are you eating well, are you exercising? So you can do this assessment.
• 14:55
  I know you are though. So yeah, that will give you a full breakdown and awareness. And then based on your answers, I'll actually send you some resources to help you out. And I'm doing personal coaching for in the health and wellness space. So if we're a good fit, I'll even reach out to you for that. But it's really to help you get that awareness. And then I'll send you some resources. And I just want to help people out. What does something like that cost for your coaching and help and, and,
• 15:24
  and whatnot. Yeah. Right now I got a 12 week program for a nine 99 and then we can cut it in half for a six week 500. So, uh, those are my options right now. And if anyone needs that, I'd be happy to help. That's so much cheaper than going to the doctor and then giving you the runaround and what are they going to do? They're going to prescribe you pharmaceuticals and it may or may not help. So might as well work with Dan and get, uh, get it, get it right. Yeah. Organically.
• 15:55
  Oh my gosh. Here we go. Yes, absolutely. So with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, that's what I was originally diagnosed with. There's only three treatments. And so I got it really bad. It was the summer going into my senior year of high school. I was on a camping trip with my girlfriend at the time. We're swimming in the water, having a good time. All of a sudden, my stomach starts cramping. I have to run to the bathroom. And...
• 16:23
  We don't know what's going on. We think I have a stomach bug or something. This goes on for a couple weeks, and we're like, okay, I should probably see a stomach doctor, a GI doctor. And so we do that. They put me on some powerful steroids just to get rid of that inflammation, and then they have these oral medications. So...
• 16:44
  That did nothing for me to help my condition throughout the year of being homebound my senior year. My disease is continuously getting worse. Home life is not good. My dad, he's starting to do more drugs now. It's not just alcohol.
• 17:00
  It's just me and him at home trying to figure things out. That stress is making my disease worse because what I've learned now is diet and stress are the biggest things that bring on my illness. And so those oral medications did not work. I was put on IV medication after that. It was called Remicade. And so that just goes straight to your bloodstream. It's more potent.
• 17:25
  I actually had like a negative effect from that where it made me feel worse. And it actually almost paralyzed one of my friend's moms who had the same situation. The medication did not work for her. So after those two options, you're left with a life changing surgery, which I had four days after graduation. Like I said, removed my entire colon in between those surgeries. I had a colonostomy bag and. . .
• 17:54
  that's like my intestine outside of that. I think everybody knows what a colonoscopy bag is. It's, it was rough. Um, again, that's, that's amazing. Yeah. That was honestly like some of the darkest times in my life going in between those surgeries. I had that ostomy bag for about three months. Then I had a second surgery that removed the bag, but I had complications after that. So,
• 18:17
  They say they recommend me to like nutritionists after all those medications don't work. The nutritionist tells me all these things that I should be okay with, but they hurt me even more. So they're telling me like the grains and stuff, the gluten. Um...
• 18:33
  vegetables and stuff like that. It's just things that I cannot tolerate. So I had to go two years of just trial and error. I was on a liquid diet for like three to six months. It was, it was tough. Like I couldn't digest anything. And so, um,
• 18:50
  It was honestly one of the darkest times. I was back in that suicidal mindset again. I was like that when I got diagnosed, and then things got a little bit better, but they came back, and it was just a really tough time. So that's why I'm so passionate about what I'm doing because I went through the whole medical system. Nobody can help me. Nobody still can help me. I meet my doctor yearly. It's the same conversation.
• 19:20
  I'm just, like, figuring things out on my own, but I've found ways to actually help. Could they have saved your colon? So what I heard was I went to the doctors, and they didn't help me. Right. To summarize, they didn't help me. They prescribed...
• 19:36
  Medication didn't work. Then they prescribed, then they did surgery, didn't work. And it was ultimately, I mean, I guess looking backwards, you're not going that way. You know, losers assigned blame, winners fix problems. I'm just wondering for anybody else that possibly could be going through this. Do you recommend going straight for the knife or?
• 19:55
  So I was against it the whole time. I met with a doctor, a pediatric doctor. It was a three-part surgery, actually. I stopped listening five minutes after. I'm like, that's not happening to me. I had another consultation with a more qualified doctor, and I ended up just breaking down into tears. Like, I realized that this was all real, and...
• 20:22
  I don't know. It's maybe, but my disease progressed so fast. And if I did not get the surgeries, my colon would have perforated at some point and that could have been fatal.
• 20:37
  If I really like if I knew what I knew now and I could change my diet so much and manage my stress better, it's possible. But again, my disease was so progressed at that point. I just I don't know.
• 20:53
  So he tweets his own and you got to figure it out. It's in each individual circumstances. You then went on to go to college, right? You went to Michigan State University. Yes. So you just went, you graduate, you have the worst surgery, the worst time of your life. And then you go on to college. Kudos. Yeah. Thank you. Most people give up. Yeah. That's a definition of perseverance. And I love hearing that.
• 21:17
  Yeah, it was a childhood dream of mine. My grandpa, who's my absolute role model, he graduated from there. So I wanted to follow in his footsteps. And yeah, because home life was bad in high school, junior high, elementary school, my grades sucked. I was like a 2.0 GPA. And so in... See, those Spartans don't... You don't have to... It's not that hard to get in as the Michigan State. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding.
• 21:46
  I went to Western, so I wasn't any better. No, but I was going to say, like, community college, I got to restart. So my grades, I was a four-point student at that point. I was taking, like, smaller classes, but I was focused. Hold on a second. Did I hear this right? So you didn't have the grades to get in the state, so you went to community college to get the grades to go into state? Yes. Oh, dude, that's awesome. Yeah.
• 22:12
  You amaze me more and more as I get to know your story. And you are the definition of perseverance. And that's the American way. And this is what more people need to hear. So I'm so glad you're on this podcast because, you know, people face adversity and then they wilt. And that's not what I want to. You talk about creating awareness. I want to create awareness that, listen.
• 22:33
  Everybody in the world has hard times. Everybody. How do you deal with them? And you were facing, in my case, I was facing prison. You were facing death. And I always say you can fix anything but death. That's permanent. Yeah, it is. So kudos to you. How's your relationship with your father now?
• 22:54
  I haven't talked to him in five, six years now. A wise man once told me that if someone brings more negative to your life than positive, then it's time to set boundaries. And that's what I had to do. My life has been much better and you know, that's not a knock to him. I hope he finds his way. I I've gotten a letter from him. My last birthday, he said he was four years sober. That's very good. I'm happy to hear that, but yeah,
• 23:21
  At the same time, I just have so much going on in my life right now. I don't want to open Pandora's box, what I like to say, because you just never know. What's his name? Mike. Mike Stoll? Yep. Mr. Stoll, congratulations on four years sober. If there's anything that we can do at the Harder Than Life podcast, reach out to us. If you're hearing this, you have a wonderful son, and you should be very proud of him, and we're rooting for you.
• 23:47
  Yeah, I mean, honestly, it'd be nice to reconnect eventually, but just the timing right now is probably not the best. But wish him the best, and same with the rest of his family. If it's meant to be, it'll be... I haven't talked to my mother 20, 25 years, and I've forgiven her. I've given past that. I'm good with that. It's just, like you said, my life is so busy that...
• 24:14
  I don't see the benefit to doing it. I've made peace with it, and I wish her the best. And I'm sure she's thriving, and so am I. So sometimes you just don't want to poke the bear or aggravate what's working. So I see you with these ice buckets daily, and it cracks me up because you're literally in a garbage can, and I'm always messing with you. Like, seriously, a garbage can? But if you think about it after just hearing your story,
• 24:38
  You persevere through everything. This story is just remarkable. And I admire you because I've faced some adversity, but your adversity is far more. Does this, do these ice buckets that you do daily, is it just to make life harder? Or does it help with the stomach issues at all?
• 24:56
  Both. Really? Yes. So it's scientifically proven to reduce inflammation. That's what Crohn's and ulcerative colitis is. It's inflammation in your gut. And then it also boosts your immune system. And I'm on an immune suppressant medication right now. So...
• 25:14
  That's just something I have to be cautious of. But those two things are very appealing for me to boost my health. And then the mental resilience that you get from it. Oh, my God. I got to figure out where to go. I see Joe Rogan doing it all the time and I'm tough, man. But.
• 25:34
  I will do it, but I got to figure out the right setting and when. But that thing, I hate cold. That's why I own a home in Florida. I do too. I run from here and I go to Florida. But I got to do it just for the reason. I throw the cold shower on for 30 seconds, but actually submerge it. That's a mind warp or mind challenge that I've yet to partake, and I want to. So I wish there, if anybody knows, if you know of a place where we can go,
• 26:03
  I heard about some of the lifetime fitness is having it. So somebody's got to have one. I want to go do it. And then we'll film it and we'll raise money for charity because that's what all this is about is giving back. Yeah. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Because you're a young man. You're very young.
• 26:18
  Yeah, I'm 24 still. I wanted to say, where do you see yourself at 30? But either one, where do you see yourself? What's next? Because I tell you, there were big steps in my life. 20, 21, 25, 30, 35. Big life changing. Yeah.
• 26:34
  Yeah, these past two years, tons of growth for me personally. Yeah, I don't really think like 10 years down the line. I think more of like a year and five. So, you know, I would just say...
• 26:51
  just continue to spread the message and spread my brand. I want this to be a global brand for sure. It already is to a certain extent. I have merchandise and people all around the world are joining that and repping it. So that just warms my heart right there.
• 27:10
  Yeah, I mean, I'm going to be starting my own podcast. I'd love to you're going to be on that as well. Love to feature your story. So I just want to continue to spread the message with the world. I don't know if there is an exact destination, but for sure, entrepreneurship. And I have some other ideas beyond Nova Fusion, so I might explore some of those later.
• 27:33
  But yeah, man, I'm just focusing on the present moment as much as I can. And so much has been happening like week by week. And it's just like, I'm just here trying to do what I can now and the rest will catch up. And I know that I will have a great life in five, 10 years. I don't know exactly what that's going to be, but I know it's coming and it's going to be great. Well, experiences plus mindset equals growth. Yeah, I'm going to continue to grow. What's the name of the podcast going to be?
• 28:03
  So I'm conflicting with an idea with that because EMG, my philosophy, I was thinking like the EMG podcast, but I might want something a little bit more catchy. So I don't know yet. I'm debating still. And I saw that you picked the March 31st. What have you, what do you, how can we help you? And I mean, obviously we're sitting in a new podcast studio. I can truthfully say we had launched a podcast recently.
• 28:33
  Pulled it back. I had five figures invested in it. Pulled it back. It didn't feel right. And we started over with this new company. And they're amazing so far. And my boy Grant's smiling at me. And I'm so happy with this choice. So tell me about it. How can I help you?
• 28:49
  Yeah, so the whole theme of it is going to be experiences plus mindset equals growth. And what I want to do is bring people on to feature their stories, highlight those experiences, those painful ones that are relatable that other people listening are going through. And then we're going to really highlight that mindset shift and where those lessons came, what they learned the most and what they did to apply themselves to the
• 29:15
  get themselves out of that situation and then to see the growth that they are today. So it's really to highlight those people, highlight the adversity that they went through and again, be a beacon of hope. And I'll also do some like solo episodes of like some health tips because my whole brand is wellness and resilience. So it's going to be a mix of that, bringing people on to feature their story, sharing more details of my story because I'm going to be a mix of that.
• 29:40
  We've only scratched the surface on it here. There's, it goes so much deeper. And, um, so yeah, that's kind of the vision for that right now. What's your daily routine look like? Most people start with that. What's your daily tips, tricks, habits, habits to, to success?
• 29:56
  Yeah. So wake up, hydrate. That's the first thing I like to do. Lemon water and some salts, get the electrolytes. I love these because I forget about things that I used to do and you forget about it. Yeah, honestly. I have a whole routine and that used to be part of it. And I have completely forgotten about it. So thank you for that. We get so busy throughout. We wake up and I'm just go. It's I snap out of bed and it's like.
• 30:21
  How am I going to win? Wake up and get the gym. But yeah, after that, I'll move my body a little bit. Either that's play basketball, work out, or just take a walk. Today I went on a little run. So I'll move and then...
• 30:37
  I'll recenter myself. So whether that's journal, looking at my to-do list, or meditation, I'll just recenter there, and then I'm ready to get on with the rest of my day now that I have moved, I'm hydrated, I feel good, so I'm ready to work now. I want to interrupt for just a second the meditation thing because –
• 30:58
  I realized that the days that I don't meditate and I just saw everybody, I can't do it. Of course you can't. Cause you're saying you can't, uh, I struggle with it cause my mind is so busy. But if I noticed the days that I don't do it, I am off. It's become a routine. And, and recently since I haven't felt so great, I've been doubling up my meditations. Um,
• 31:18
  How do you do it and what do you recommend? Because it's not the woo-woo stuff. It's literally, I call it giving my mind a break, even though that's sleep, but this is, you're dreaming when you're sleeping. So when I'm meditating, I'm literally just giving my mind a break for the day, even though when it's supposed to be on and turning, I've just...
• 31:36
  put it in neutral and let it sit for a second. What do you do? Because I, the last person I just interviewed, I, we talked a little bit about meditation. I want to bring this up a little bit more. What do you, how talk to me about your meditation practice? Yeah. So I like to do like binaural beats just to have that background music. And then the biggest thing for me is like mindfulness and to really just focus on my breath. That's pretty much all I do. Try to stop those thoughts from coming in because, uh,
• 32:05
  That's a big reason why I do it, especially at night, just to unwind those thoughts and slow them down a little bit. So focusing on my breath and that's what the cold does. It helps. It forces you to tune into your breath. And so are you meditating in the ice bucket? I am. Yeah. Most of the time. You put yourself through some of the hardest stuff I've ever done. I would. Yeah. I'm sitting there trying to like live and you're meditating.
• 32:33
  Yeah. So, I mean, honestly, the biggest thing, though, is like focusing on your breath. And whenever a thought comes up, just go back to your breath and continue to do that for 10, 15 minutes. And you'll feel reset after that. It's really simple. I'm not...
• 32:50
  doing like this big breath work where it's like 30 breaths, hold your breath after that. Like it just went like the Wim Hof stuff. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He does some crazy stuff. So, and he's big into the ice buckets and ice challenges. So I, uh, I use a guided meditation. I use the daily calm. Um, I find it to be soothing. I hated it when I first started. So I don't even get paid for that yet, but Hey, they want to hit me up. I'll, I'll continue to pump it up.
• 33:14
  Yeah. And a guided meditation that I do is Dr. Joe Dispenza. Love everything that he does. He's helped me on my healing journey as well. So if anyone's battling a chronic illness, wants to improve their health, definitely check him out. And yeah, he has tons of meditations that you can buy. I have one that's like 45 minutes and it's a cleanse through your energy centers. So, um, you just go through like each chakra, each energy center, you, um,
• 33:41
  visualize the wholeness the what you want it to be your desires and uh you let it go you release it all and you let your body do the work and a big part of it for me is i'm trying to force i'm trying too much with the meditations and for the longest time like i wanted to open my third eye like that was a goal for me so i'm like doing my meditations i'm like feeling right here and
• 34:05
  that's not the way to do it. You can't force it. You just have to be calm, be water like Bruce Lee and just go with the flow. Like your flow is your breath. So just follow that. I think what you're trying to say is surrender. Yes. Yes. Dr. Joe's work is amazing. He, I've read all of his books, hardest books I've ever read.
• 34:26
  I literally had to read and then I had to go reread. And, but he's part of my meditation. I don't listen to any of his guided meditations cause he haunts me with that voice. So, but, but I love it. I, I have a dear friend that swears by these and, and he goes to every single retreat that, that Joe has. And I want to, I want to go check it out.
• 34:45
  He's actually trying to pass the torch. I read in one of his posts that he's looking for somebody to come up because he's looking to retire. You should look into that. I have to go back and look, but he's wanting to put a mentor in his meditations. He claims to heal people, and they actually did studies on it where they studied the brain of people that would go through his meditations.
• 35:09
  guided meditations is three-day meditations or week-long whatever they were so look into that because you could be the you know we just said we didn't know where you'd be in 10 years you could be the nectar uh dr dan yeah it'd be awesome yeah he's uh i love people that help people it's just i don't know i have so much compassion for that i have a question that i ask everybody and i love this because it tells me where they're at if you could have dinner with one person dead or alive who would it be and why
• 35:36
  Wow, that's a good one. I don't really think about that. I can come back to it if you want to think about it for a second. Well, I mean, I'll just say, like, what the first thing came to my head is Bruce Lee. Because my philosophy, my brand is really...
• 35:55
  directly from him and his philosophy. So if you're not familiar with Bruce Lee, he created his own style of martial arts. So he learned from every other style, pretty much Wing Chun fist, Taekwondo, karate, he did everything cha cha dancing his footwork for that. And so what he did was he
• 36:14
  he figured out and identified what the best qualities for what the most practical qualities were from those different techniques. And then he put it all into one. So if he figured out how to punch the best, he would use that punch from that style. There's a different kick from a different style. He's going to use that kick when he fights. So you never know what's coming when you're fighting this guy. And that's why he was the best fighter in the world. And, uh,
• 36:38
  I just try to take that philosophy with life. So I'm learning things from you every single day, grateful to have you in my life, and I'm adding those qualities into what I'm doing. I have other mentors. I'm learning from them. There's people that I don't want to become, and I'm learning things from them. So life is your teacher. You can learn something from everyone, and yeah, I'd love to speak with Bruce Lee to learn a little bit more about it.
• 37:06
  You just literally let my secret out. I borrow or steal, I say, from every single personal development person. I take the message and I leave the mess. And I adopt what's worked for me. I've done that in my business. I take little bits and pieces that resonate with me and my soul. And I adopt it to my own. And I move it out.
• 37:27
  Like I'm doing this podcast. I'm not trying to follow in the footsteps of anybody. I just, I want to have, I don't want to have just a regular old dialogue. I want to have some questions that, to get this spurred along. And we'll see if it, if it comes out of anything. My guess is everything I've done has done successful. And, you know, hopefully this will work out. So thanks for spilling my secret of stealing everybody else's stuff. I guess it's like, what do you see that BASF? We don't make the things...
• 37:55
  that you use every day, we just make them better. So all my personal development brother, and I'm just making everything better. Yeah, I think there's a quote like, good artist copy and great artist steal. I love that. That's great. If you could create one law, what would it be and why? One law.
• 38:17
  Oh, I don't know, man. Like I was going to say like, just be kind, but that's like too generic almost. Um, you can't like, I don't know. Um, I'll give you an instant. So I don't know if we've ever, if I've ever said this out loud or not, but my law would be, everybody has to tell the truth.
• 38:37
  Okay. People can deal with the truth. The truth hurts once lie hurts forever. But if we just said what was really on our mind, we're pretty resilient people. So, and I'm not saying the truth, not your truth, the truth. Everybody has their truth. As it goes through their filter and their ego, but the truth, you know, did you do this? Did you not? Yeah. The world would be just an easier place.
• 38:59
  Yeah, yeah, really would. Holding that accountability as well, the truth and accountability. Yeah, and just be kind. I think that's a good one. That's good. So you'll also hear me say a lot about the four agreements. And I live by the four agreements. And being kind also is to yourself. How many people beat themselves up? The things that they say to themselves, they would never say to anybody else. Why would you say it to yourself? Yeah.
• 39:29
  So you define perseverance and you have just overcome so much. So I would imagine it comes with a lot of positive self-talk.
• 39:39
  Yeah, but it wasn't always like that. You don't say. I used to be a drunk. Yeah, I mean, when we think about what motivates us the most, pain and pleasure, when you think about the things that you really want in life or the things that you've already been through, those painful experiences that you never want to go back, which one's motivating you more? The things that you want or the things that you never want again? For me, it's the pain. And so...
• 40:08
  That's a catalyst for me, honestly. And I'll think about those experiences when I'm in a tough time or I use that to spark my inner fire. And so...
• 40:20
  Yeah, it's not something that you should stay in. You don't want to stay in that pain, those negative emotions, but I like to use it to spark myself. So I even wrote this in my journal a month or two ago that I can utilize this technique maybe three times a week, but again, stay in that positivity. Just use that to...
• 40:40
  do a project or something, like get your blood moving and have that motivation. But it's not something that you want to stay in. Well, you can look at bad times and there's always a correlation. You know, for me, it was alcohol. Every time something happens,
• 40:56
  it wasn't because of the alcohol, but alcohol was always present. Yeah. So if I was in trouble with something or if I was fighting with my girlfriend or, or alcohol was always present. So I look for the correlations and then you start eliminating variables and then all of a sudden you figure it out. So, um, it's when you're the victim all the time and you're pointing fingers, it's your lack of accountability. So there's nothing new that anybody hasn't heard. Uh, Dan, it's been a pleasure having you here, but, uh, how can we personally support you? You said the podcast, uh, uh,
• 41:25
  you don't know the title yet, whatever we can do to help you do that. Talk up, tell me about, uh, how we can personally support you too. Cause I've sat here and listened to you for 40 minutes now. What is your main call to action? What do you want the listeners to do for you? Yeah. So, I mean, I'm here to help others optimize their wellness and just maintain that. So,
• 41:53
  If that's something that you need, I'm on Instagram. That's where I hang out the most at Nova Fusion Co. And yeah, I mean, I'm just here to be a support system right now. I mean, obviously I have to grow this and continue to make like these business decisions. But at the end of the day, I started because I went through those pains and I started with a blog post and I just had to get my story out there. So.
• 42:21
  It's just really helping other people. If you know someone out there, if you're listening and you know someone in a similar situation that needs help, please send them my way. Like that could be the biggest thing right there, helping me and helping them at the same time. It's a win win. So that's what I would say is how you can support me is creating those win win relationships.
• 42:41
  So in lieu of going to the doctors, reach out to Dan, go to his website, go to Instagram. It'll be in the show notes. And I can't thank you enough for coming here today. I know it was a little bit of a trek. And did your mom bring you? No, I drove here. Your mom's fantastic. And I loved meeting her over the holidays. And I look forward to us working together in the future. Yeah, same here. Thanks for coming. Thank you so much for having me. It's been an absolute honor. Awesome.
• 43:09
  Thank you for listening. Please rate and subscribe to Harder Than Life, and let's take this to the next level. Get connected at the links below.