The Uncommon Leader Podcast
Are you ready to break free from mediocrity and lead an extraordinary life? Join us on The Uncommon Leadership Podcast as we explore the power of intentionality in personal and professional growth. Our podcast features insightful interviews with inspiring leaders from all walks of life, sharing their stories of overcoming challenges and achieving greatness.
Discover practical strategies to:
- Think positively and cultivate a growth mindset
- Live a healthy and balanced lifestyle
- Build your faith and find inner strength
- Read more and expand your knowledge
- Stay strong in the face of adversity
- Work hard with purpose and passion
- Network effectively to build meaningful relationships
- Worry less and focus on what matters
- Love always and make a positive impact
In each episode, we'll dive into relevant leadership topics, share inspiring stories, and provide actionable steps you can take to elevate your life. Whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey, The Uncommon Leadership Podcast offers valuable insights and practical guidance to help you achieve your goals and live your best life.
The Uncommon Leader Podcast
5 Ways Consistency Changed His Life at 55
What's the single most powerful force behind sustainable transformation in leadership and life? According to leadership expert Dave Campbell, it's consistency.
In this deeply personal conversation, Dave reveals how he achieved the best physical shape of his life at age 55 through unwavering daily disciplines that transformed not just his body, but his leadership impact. His journey illuminates the critical connection between personal wellbeing and leadership effectiveness—"You have to take care of yourself, because your presence, your ability to show up, is absolutely critical."
Dave unpacks his "mind, body, soul" framework for holistic growth, explaining how carefully curating your daily inputs fundamentally shapes your leadership outputs. He challenges listeners with the confronting truth that "you get what you are, not what you want," prompting deeper reflection on the alignment between aspirations and current reality.
The conversation explores how identity shifts create lasting behavioral change, why environment is stronger than willpower, and the game-changing principle of "consistency before intensity" for anyone struggling to begin their transformation journey. Rather than aiming for dramatic overnight change, Dave advocates starting with small daily wins that compound over time.
Whether you're looking to elevate your leadership influence or transform any aspect of your life, this episode offers practical wisdom for sustainable growth. Start your journey today by choosing one small daily habit that aligns with your vision, committing to consistency, and watching as small wins compound into remarkable transformation.
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Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!
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I'm going to exercise because of the way I feel and look and I think my health is benefiting from it. I'm going to continue that journey for health because, at the end of the day, even when you get into leadership, the most important thing for you to do not only is to grow yourself and learn and become a better leader. You have to take care of yourself, because your presence, your ability to show up, is absolutely critical and if you're not healthy, there's going to be a point where you just can't show up anymore.
Speaker 2:Hey, uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast. I'm your host, john Gallagher. Another great guest for you today. This is four-time guest, david Campbell.
Speaker 2:Now, when I think about that, dave, as we go through this conversation, at the end I probably need to get your jacket size, because it'll be the fifth time where you get the five-timer jacket and you'll be the first one that goes. So, if you're the first time, that's been on the episode four times as well. It's been since November 2023, since we've had Dave on as a guest, so about a year and a half but I know a lot's changed for him on this journey and I look forward to hearing what he has to share about that, including being in the best physical shape of his life and wearing a Bible in a year badge that he's gone through as well, and some of the changes, especially in leadership and lastly, maybe most importantly, but he's got this title of two-time grandfather-to-be as well, coming up here real soon, and maybe we'll get a chance to talk about that. So, dave Campbell, welcome back to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. How are you doing, man?
Speaker 1:Thanks, john, I'm excited right, it's great to be here. I always love being on your podcast.
Speaker 2:Good, well, I'm glad you are and I'm glad you accepted the invitation to come back on again to talk about it. Let's really think about that transformation in the last 18 months, since we had you on here before. What was the catalyst for this? In the best shape of your life, at 55 years old, reading through the Bible in a year? What's been the catalyst for you and your continued change?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, if I could put it into one word, it's consistency, and I kept hearing that word over and over again and as I was growing as a leader and developing myself, the consistency kept coming in and it's like, hey, I've got to be the example. And then the only way I can be the example is if I actually build in the consistency to become disciplined. So, you know, I started this transformational journey several years ago. Probably 2018 is where it really started, but the consistency over the last probably two years is where I'm really starting to see the compound you brought up my fitness journey. So we're on kind of a I don't want to say it an overhaul. Right, I'm in my mid-50s, just like you, and thinking ahead into the next decade of how I want to be, how I want to be able to perform, has been extremely motivating for me. But again, I'll come back to that one word it's consistency. Right, it's. What are you doing on a daily basis?
Speaker 2:Love that and I know that's been something that we go back a lot of years. We won't mention that even though we are 55. That's something that's been there for you and I just think you've taken it to another level, which is really cool. And what I what I like about where you've taken it as well as not just in your own personal journey, but in the development of others, and you've kind of clarified what you would say is your personal mission is to help others recognize and ultimately realize that aha moment, uh, and their development, where they need to improve and make a change. And was there, first of all first kind of part of the question was there a moment in your journey with regards to that whether you go back to 2018 or something different on that consistency? And then, secondly, how are you helping others to find that aha moment as well?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I would say 2018, when I got certified with John Maxwell in coaching and teaching and training was probably the start of the very intentional journey. As far as an aha moment, I don't know that there was a day in particular, but I just started noticing that my behavior and the way I acted and the way I presented myself really did affect everybody that saw me or heard me or interacted with me, and I started thinking that, you know, wow, if I could share this power with everyone else right, and really start to enlarge an organization, to think about leadership in the sense of influence. You know, I had the opportunity a few months ago to meet with John Maxwell and I was talking to him particularly about the five levels of leadership, because that's where I start with so many people now in our organization and, just in general, start walking them through the five levels of leadership. It tends to be an aha moment for a lot of people, but when I was talking to John at dinner, I said you know, when I say leadership, I get different expressions from people because their minds start to turn and they think position. They think different things when they hear leadership.
Speaker 1:And he said, dave, when I first started teaching the five levels of leadership. I had to call it the five levels of influence just to get in the door of influence, just to get in the door. And that for me was an eye-opening moment to say, hey, here's my mentor of so many years and I give you credit for getting me started reading his books, by the way saying you've got to use the terminology and meet people where they are, and I think that's kind of the key is that so many folks don't understand or haven't become aware of. They can understand and they will understand. They're just not aware of their influence on others. So I take it on as a personal mission to help people awaken to their influence, right, and the potential that they actually hold inside of them. So many times we think of leadership as a position and it really is the fact that the leadership is just your ability to affect someone's character that impact their behaviors or let them see you as an example, right?
Speaker 2:so love that, when I think about that too, like you mentioned, and first of all, the the recognition of being being with john maxwell and having that conversation with him is really cool and his own, to your point, his own, uh own reflection on what that means with regards to influence the moments for us in that journey, and we can look back on many years and probably think of some pivotal moments that exist inside of that space. But I know you're starting to hear stories of those aha moments from others who are sharing with you. Prior to those stories, in terms of successes, what are you recognizing as some of the barriers? One of those things is mindset, but what are the barriers?
Speaker 1:that folks have to really recognizing what that aha moment is and making the decision to change, wow so you know, I think the big thing is that people need to understand the change that they want to see in an environment, in their family or in a company really needs to start with them. And it comes down to three things really of hey, what am I filling my cup with on a daily basis? Right, what's kind of that input, because we are nothing. We're kind of like this computer diagram. Right, it's an input output, and the outputs really can't be that different from the inputs and the outputs really can't be that different from the inputs. And you know, I will tell you that for the first several decades of my life I was just thinking I could take in whatever I wanted and then filter it out and have an output of my selection.
Speaker 1:And that's not really the case, right? So you have to first start with yourself and say what am I always thinking about? What am I reading about? What am I listening to? What am I hearing on a regular basis? Reading about what am I listening to? What am I hearing on a regular basis? And then, how am I actually turning that into my external behavior? You know, what are people seeing when they interact with me? What are they hearing when they interact with me, and so you really get the three things of what am I thinking about all the time, what's playing in the background, how am I behaving? And then how am I interacting with people? Right, and so I think that's where people start to come alive, when they realize that they need to just start with themselves, right?
Speaker 2:and be the example. Well, I love that. And you think about those inputs. If we just take a, an inventory of those things that we allow into our minds on a daily basis, whether it's to, frankly, the news and we've, you know, we've had that conversation before many times in terms of why would we ever try to watch the news, which is, you know, really, uh, focused so much on creating drama and talking about negativism, regardless of which station? Yeah, fear to get people to listen in, you know.
Speaker 2:But also, what are we consuming on a daily basis in our nutrition is one, but in our uh, when it comes to leadership, certainly, uh, basis in our nutrition is one, but in our uh, when it comes to leadership, certainly. Uh, in our reading, and who are we allowing to influence us? Think very good, and then we know that our thoughts will lead to our behaviors right, absolutely, and so understanding what we need to change there as well. You know, you, you've had that personal transformation for you. What have been the, the, the physical transformation, what have been the barriers for your physical transformation as well's, what's been difficult for you because, dude, you're, you're doing stuff.
Speaker 2:That's, that's just hard right now I mean, I saw just as soon as recently as this morning uh and sharing what I saw as one of your biggest calorie burning workouts, uh, that you've had so far and susan kind of gave me a hard time when I got home.
Speaker 1:She's like you're still of breath, but I know it's a 10 minute drive back from the gym and I was still soaked in sweat Barriers, Wow. You know, I think the biggest barrier is just my own mind, right and being willing to be patient with the process. Because I will tell you, so many years and I remember even way back in Susan, in our early in our marriage, we joined a gym. We just never went right. You know, you still, you pay the dues but you don't go. And I think even when you and I were in college maybe we lifted weights twice, right, or something like that we just weren't willing to be patient with the process. And I think the barrier for me is continuously and daily reminding to myself that you know, I have to have faith in the process, right, I have to actually believe in it.
Speaker 1:And the cool part is that kind of releases after a while. If you have that patience for six months or a year, you start to see results, right, you actually start to carry yourself, you know, and if you think about what James Clear says, you got to change your identity right, and I made a conscious decision several years back, probably five years back. I wanted people, or I wanted to identify myself as an athlete and I wanted people to recognize me as an athlete. And I will say that in my entire 55 years I've probably never had that kind of thought where I would say, hey, I want to walk into a room and somebody say, hey, you look fit, Are you an athlete? It was never at the top of my list. It was never at the top of my list. And when I decided intentionally to change my identity and say I want to be known as, or I want to reflect and carry myself as an athlete, everything changed. Because you asked about that barrier.
Speaker 1:Some of those workouts are, you know, I don't want I'm trying not to use the word, but they're terrible, right, and they hurt. And it doesn't just hurt in that hour, it hurts the next day or sometimes even after this. I'll stand up and my legs are tight right. So it's like this constant willingness to endure right and be willing to suffer for the long-term goal. You know, and I learned a lot of that when I was in the cycling industry, but I will tell you, when I was in the cycling industry I got really good shape.
Speaker 1:I was using events, so goals, as my motivation, and that was. It worked for a while, but then it became detrimental. I would finish an event and then I'd take two, three weeks off of training and lose everything I had gained because I hadn't actually changed my identity or didn't keep that vision far enough ahead of me. So I was thinking more goal consciousness rather than growth consciousness, right? And so now I have this journey in front of me. That's never ending, right? I mean, I'm going to exercise it because of the way I feel and look and I think my health is benefiting from it. I'm going to continue that journey for health because at the end of the day, even when you get into leadership, I often tell folks when I do our leadership workshops, the most important thing for you to do not only is to grow yourself and learn and become a better leader. You have to take care of yourself, Because your presence, your ability to show up, is absolutely critical, right?
Speaker 1:And if you're not healthy there's going to be a point where you just can't show up anymore, right, and I know that happens to all of us. I mean, we're not going to, none of us are going to live forever, but it's like where's how far can you move that needle out to where you can still be impactful and productive?
Speaker 2:Hey listeners, I want to take a quick moment to share something special with you. Many of the topics and discussions we have on this podcast are areas where I provide coaching and consulting services for individuals and organizations. If you've been inspired by our conversation and are seeking a catalyst for change in your own life or within your team, I invite you to visit coachjohngallaghercom forward slash free call to sign up for a free coaching call with me. It's an opportunity for us to connect, discuss your unique challenges and explore how coaching or consulting can benefit you and your team. Okay, let's get back to the show. Yeah, I mean, that's the book I read recently with a longevity guidebook. I believe is the name of the book, but one of the things that stuck in my head was it's not about lifespan, it's about healthspan.
Speaker 1:How far can I?
Speaker 2:get that health to increase in journey. Now you touched on and almost answered my next question, but I'll say that where's the overlap, or how much overlap is there in your fitness journey as well as your leadership development journey? Where are the similarities that exist? I think it's yeah great question, it's the same.
Speaker 1:I don't know that there's. If you would ask me that five years ago, which you probably did there was. There were the definite silos of, hey, my fitness journey, my leadership journey, and now there's no difference. Because one of the things I firmly believe is, as you get on a leadership and a growth and a development journey, you have to tell your team and your family what you're doing, so that you can make them aware that, hey, I am setting an example for you and hold me accountable. I'm going to hold myself accountable, but the behaviors that you build by doing things on a daily basis, through getting fit or eating well, all flow right over into leadership.
Speaker 1:It's like what are you reading? What are you listening to? How are you expanding your mind and your understanding and growing and learning on a daily basis? So, at the end of the day, it comes back to the first word I said right, it's consistency. And where can you apply that to your mind? Body and soul is what I call it. Right, it's? Hey, what am I doing every day for my mind, what am I doing every day for my body and what am I doing every day for my soul? And start getting into that habit of having daily wins.
Speaker 2:Love that. I see that. I mean there's such an overlap because you touched on it. You said you know, if we're going to be a good leader, we have to take care of ourselves physically as well. We have to be there, we have to be present, but if we're going to be a good leader, we have to take care again, as you say, consistently, what are we consuming on a daily basis? From what we're reading, what we're listening to, how we're growing regularly and you touched on that that it ultimately leads to how you grow others as well. So what are some of the things that you do in your daily work that are helping to also grow others that you work with or outside of your sphere of work as well?
Speaker 1:So hopefully, if you ask some of the folks I work with on a daily basis, I am always challenging them to grow on a daily basis. We talk daily. They've probably heard me say the word daily ad nauseum, right where they're going. Okay, dave, we get it, we get it, and you know a few of the things that I've done inside the company where I work is, you know, I've introduced a weekly basis now, kind of a mindset reset. Every Monday morning I do an open call with whoever wants to listen in and talk about getting your mind right and your mindset right for the beginning of the week. I think. You know, on Wednesdays I do my Wednesday wake up call, just kind of a little pop to get you through the hump of the week. And you know, just on a daily basis I'm talking to people all the time and encouraging them, sharing what I'm up to and then asking them what they're up to hey, what are you reading?
Speaker 1:You know, what are you working on, what's your vision for the future? So I'm just trying to be that active leader and listener at the same time and really continue to share what I'm doing and how I'm growing and how it's impacting my life and how it can impact theirs. Once that light turns on for others, I get really excited right when I see someone go oh my gosh, I hadn't thought about that, dave, and I'm so glad you taught us the five levels of leadership. Or, I have an engagement model that I've developed and a lot of it's from the years of reading and learning, and I've pulled this together so that I teach this as much as people will let me.
Speaker 1:I get invited to different plants and business units to come talk to them about what is a huge issue in, really in corporate America probably global corporate companies where we have active disengagement, and you know many companies will come forward and say you know we need better engagement. I don't disagree, but we actually, as leaders, have to be the example for what engagement looks like. Right, it's time for us to hold that mirror in our face and say this is what I want. Am I that? Am I actually being the leader in the change? Am I growing? Am I committed to it? Do I understand the vision? Am I talking about it every day? What are people hearing from me?
Speaker 2:So again, back to am I being the example right. Not a do what I say, not what I do mentality. But am I being the example? Can I check my behaviors? Can I again take that inventory of what I've been doing to make that happen? You touched on the three areas mind, body and soul. One of the hard things you've also chosen to do was to read through the Bible in a year for the first time. How has that changed you and your leadership in going through that journey?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that was something I did last year, you know, added it to my daily standard work and I'll give you credit again because you did it the year before and I was like, ok, if John can do this, I can do this. You know, in several influences you've had on me, where you know some books that we've read at the same time, like the 5 am club, it's like setting up that, you know, that hour in the morning. So reading the Bible for me was it was, I'll say it was transformational, because I finally was able to put a lot of those stories together, because I'd never read the Bible before, cover to cover. Of course I've been going to church the majority of my life. There were some years where I didn't, but there was always that you know little pieces of scripture here and there and pieces of stories. So to actually read through that and now be able to kind of draw the thread through the entire book has been really meaningful for me.
Speaker 1:And now it helps with conversations, it helps with understanding. You know we just started watching the House of David and I'm like, oh gosh, okay, I remember this right. Or different stories where you know what's your favorite story in the Bible and I just think of the story of Joseph and that, to me, is one of those stories that always helps me understand that there's a plan, right, regardless of all the bad things that may happen, there's a plan and things are happening to you and through you for a reason right, and sometimes it's so easy to get distracted from that message right or lose that message. So I would say that's the, it was transformational and that's the story I keep in front of me all the time is the story of joseph, right?
Speaker 2:so yeah, it's good well, I think those stories to be able to pull back on are so cool. You know, I've the analogy the greatest story ever told in some of my teaching, but after I had a chance to read through the Bible in a year, uh, no doubt that that is the greatest story that's ever been told and never been lived.
Speaker 2:And to to your point that through line, all the way through, uh, and understanding the stories, understanding the uh, the hymns that are out there and that all of those are really really scriptural based and the worship songs that we really love to listen to and where they come from the, the Psalms and different verses in the Bible. I just think is uh can be really powerful, but it's you know, you, you touched on it's like it's something that many say you know. What I really need to do is I'd like to read through the Bible. But it takes a decision, it takes a mindset to say that I'm going to choose to do it. I mean, it takes time. It's a 15 to 20 minute a day discipline to make it happen in a year. Having a plan for me in terms of what that was made it much easier and to put that discipline the first thing in the morning certainly makes that a little bit easier.
Speaker 1:But those are all those disciplines. Yeah Right, I had to adjust. And it's funny because you know I read the 5 am Club and that was one of the books that kind of helped me set my morning up. And when I added the Bible, the reading of that, because I read 20 minutes every day and then I added in the Bible and I've got my exercise, and then Susan and I added in a 6 am Every we have a cup of coffee, you know so that 5 am became 4.15 am. So that was kind of our running joke is, you know, the new 5 am is 4.15.
Speaker 1:You, just you got to kind of adjust your schedule and say, hey, I'm going to commit to this. Where do I need to turn the clock a little bit right and make sure it fits? And you have to be willing to adjust. I'm very much in tune with kind of that. This is what I do every day, this is how I get through the day, this is my routine, if you will. But you've got to be willing to do things that serve you and then stop doing things that are no longer serving you. Right, and add and adjust, and we all have the same 24 hours.
Speaker 2:It's just what we choose to do with it right, that's right what we choose to do with it. I love the idea of the 6 am morning coffee that you have with Susan, chris and I stole that idea from you.
Speaker 2:So there's influence, the other thing I said influence and other leaders back and forth, but ours isn't 6 am. We're not ready to do that at 6 am. It has that meeting around 7 am with us. Sure, sure Again. All these things, the behaviors that you're changing, the mindset that you talk about, the teaching methodologies that you use with others to develop others and helping them to develop their teams Is there a story that's impacted you over the past year and a half of a win and that somebody else has communicated with you, where you've made a difference?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, stories are coming in pretty regularly, right, and I'll tell you a couple of very, very short ones. This morning I noticed someone that has been through my Leaders Developing Leaders workshop a couple of times now has started reposting leadership things on LinkedIn and using the hashtag you get what you are. And I love that, because one of the I think one of the most influential slides I put up on there during it's a picture of a. It's a stick figure of a person staring at themselves in the mirror and it says you get what you are, not what you want. And then it's that reflection period of I want this and you have to ask yourself am I those things?
Speaker 1:So it's so cool to see somebody now starting to maybe go through a transformation and I will tell you, some folks that I work with pretty close have taken different paths with their growth and their health, and to watch them, give me feedback or listen to them, give me feedback on why they're doing it and then report out almost daily on hey, here's what I'm doing now. I'm going off to this seminar, I'm going to go do this tough exercise. You know, one of the folks that I work with is working on getting certified with Wim Hof, right, for the breathing methods. So I like to think that I was influential in kind of that growth pattern of going hey, go pick something you can get passionate about and develop another skill and then come back and be able to share it with other people. And so he's doing that now, right, he's sharing the breathing techniques even inside our company. It's amazing, right.
Speaker 2:Really good. That's so cool because that's the other side right. So now that they've learned a skill, they're sharing it with others. They've made that decision that they want to transform that. That aha moment for them may not have been there until you've made that influence, dave, fantastic, well done, good job there. The other thing I touched on the introduction was the you know two-time grandfather to be as well. Like how has the future of becoming a grandfather kind of affected you?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, there's this underlying excitement, and maybe I don't want to say it's not angst, for sure it's a little anxiousness, right, Because we've heard for so many years. You know, being a grandparent is transformational because you get to now just spoil this wonderful child. They're now children because we have our daughter-in-law is expecting in July and then our daughter is expecting in August. So Susan and I are just elated and I'm not sure what it all holds for us, but we're excited about it. We're looking forward to that transformation. It's been rewarding, right, To watch the children grow up and then get married and now they're going to start their own families. You know and that's another thing that comes out in leadership there's so much parallel, right, Leadership and parenting. And even now I even reflect and sometimes mention it to my children. You know, I wish I had known what I know now when I was raising you, but your kids are in for a treat, right?
Speaker 2:So yeah, so we're going to sit down I don't know 18 months from now again, and we'll. Well, you'll make you a five timer on the show, and that'll be when I present your jacket. What's your jacket size? 40? It's 40 long. You probably get the shoulders over there. Well, I'll get you some dimensions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's one of the cool things on my fitness transformation journey. I was getting fitted for a jacket last month and I had to actually, they had to go up a little bit on some of the dimensions. I was like, okay, that's cool, things are starting to sneak up right.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't around the waistline, which is really good. Exactly. Even better, yeah, when it's up at the top. No, that's very, very noticeable, but what are we going to? What are we going to talk about? What's going to be different for Dave in 18 months?
Speaker 1:You. You know, one of the things that I'm really working on right now is, in addition to the leadership, is building out. So not only am I in John Maxwell the leadership, I'm also a corporate facilitator. I have access to several programs there. But inside, where I work right now, there's such a wonderful appetite to understand and improve our culture. We have a great culture at our company, but there's always room for improvement and to get that more widespread. So just really teaching on and helping people understand how they can build and understand where they stand within the level of the culture they've got inside their business unit or their plant or the company overall, just being so, when we get together, you know, together in 18 months I'll be able to share with some of those experiences of how we've gotten into a business or into a plant and work with them on their leadership first, but then how they expand that out to really create the culture that just drives and enables continuous improvement and growth right, excellent, can't wait to hear about it.
Speaker 2:I want to take you through a speed round here, just so folks can get to know you a little bit more and learn from you and put some other things in place. Just real quick answers. They can be short or go as far as you want to Influencer you follow on social media. Who's had the most impact on you?
Speaker 1:That's a good question. There's several and I don't pay attention to too many influencers like on Facebook or Instagram, but more on LinkedIn. There's a lady named Erin King that I follow who really talks about your energy and how contagious it is, but in making sure you're bringing the right energy, so I enjoy listening to her little snippets. There's another gentleman that I saw he was our keynote speaker last fall Brendan Hall. He wrote an amazing book called Team Spirit that is about his journey around the world in a sailboat. It was a race Highly recommend. If you haven't read that book before, grab a copy. It is a leadership manual, right, it's his journey of building up this team and all the checks and balances of being a leader. But having the opportunity to meet him last fall, read his book, follow him on LinkedIn. You know it's been really, uh, inspirational.
Speaker 2:Cool Least favorite exercise that you just don't like doing.
Speaker 1:but you know you got uh, I'm still feeling the, uh, the, the lung, the weighted lunges lunges from a Tuesday. So probably those are the Bulgarian squats, right yeah?
Speaker 2:Bulgarian split squats. There we go. Absolutely, those are brutal, especially if they're weighted as well. All right, what's your favorite go-to healthy snack then nowadays that keeps you going, keeps you.
Speaker 1:So I've really tried to eliminate snacking. So that's my healthiest snack is to not snack. Um, when I do, it's either I try to, maybe it's either an apple, or Costco now has these one or two three ingredient protein bars. I try not to eat too many protein bars, but every once in a while I just have a hunger pang and it's like I need something. Uh, and I try to eat things that have as few ingredients as possible. So they have a. I think it's an IQ bar, is what it's called. Okay.
Speaker 2:Just a few ingredients in it Lots of protein Um yeah, all right, your uh go to uh pump up song during a workout, or do you listen to the podcast during workouts?
Speaker 1:You know I, so I flip flop on music while I'm working out. But there's a Christian rock band called Skillet and I listen to Skillet, or I listen, I love listening to acoustic music. There's a, there's a group called um let's see Rodrigo y Gabriela, and they are acoustic guitarists, or they're not the the one lead guitarist, not always acoustic, um, but man, that's some great music to listen to to uh, work out. So yeah, between that, and skillet.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna, I'm gonna look this skillet one up. I think that sounds pretty cool. I know uh that one will keep you moving. No doubt about it. Uh best book you've read in the last 18 months.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, so many there's. Um, I think this one that's sitting here I happen to have it here, right, it's like uh, tender warrior by Stu Weber. Uh was an amazing book. Um, yeah, highly recommend that one. I just started reading outlive by, uh, peter Atiyah. Um, so it's hard to put them on a list, of which one's the best right Because they're the favorite One brings something different. I just finished Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell last week. That's eye-opening right, so I love that too. It's cool.
Speaker 2:I'm actually reading two books at the same time right now. Hey, if you're going to read that many, you got to have multiple going at one time, right? Yeah? How do you do that? How do you keep multiple books going? How do you keep them separate? I mix it up.
Speaker 1:So the two books. So, for example, the way my workout schedule is my sauna time, I usually mix in reading time. If I'm working out at the house, if I go to the gym, then I read up here in my office. So I've got one book down there, one book up here.
Speaker 2:Okay, one book up here. Okay, also, it's location more than else. That's cool more location you got any guilty guilty pleasures, though, that you still have that. You, uh, it could be food, it could be a tv, it could be something uh it's probably a little bit of it's food.
Speaker 1:And in binging, uh, shows, right, you know, my wife and I'll get into a show and it's like, if it's there, we'll watch it, we'll, we'll kill a day if we're not careful, right? So, oh, so you're like, okay, we've got to get to this productivity part and then we'll watch the show, but sometimes it gets flip-flops, right, we'll watch the show and then go. Okay, now we're going to need to go do something productive. Um, yeah, the food. Um, it's a weakness, right, you know, if it's one of those things where you say, hey, your environment is stronger than your will. If the sweets aren't around, you don't eat them, but if they're there, man, that's tough, right, and I've got, you can only be disciplined for so long, and then you're finally going to reach into the cookie jar, right?
Speaker 2:Well, you think I mean that's exactly where the I love that I hadn't heard it like that before. Your environment is stronger than your will. There's no doubt of no such thing really as willpower. If it's there, it's going to be very difficult to get in touch with. Excellent, that was fun. I have a few more, but we'll just kind of pause that on the time. Dave, I think it's a matter of saying again the transformation you've been through is very inspiring, very encouraging, and certainly you're an equipper as well in terms of helping folks to get to those aha moments, and some folks really struggle to get started. I want to kind of finish this as the last question for today, like if somebody is really wanting to get started and bring it down to the lower shelf for them, what's the one thing they need to do to get started on that journey?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know what's funny is it goes full circle, right. That journey, yeah, and you know what it's funny as it goes full circle, right. It comes back to consistency, because a lot of folks will see, oh, you get up at 4.15 or you go work out every day, or you read every day, and then they start telling you their stories about how I'm not that or I'm not motivated, or I'm not as disciplined as you. Believe me, I've been down that road. I wasn't disciplined either. I still don't know how disciplined I actually am because, you know, my alarm goes off in the morning. My head does not go. This is going to be great. Let's go to the gym. You start having that conversation. The trick is to not listen to that conversation. But no, I made a decision last night, a year ago, that I'm going to go to the gym every day. So you just get out of bed even though your brain is going oh, this is so comfortable.
Speaker 1:I think one of the things that I learned from Atomic Habits really as well is that you need to start small, right. You need to start with if you want to read every day, and you're saying, hey, like you and I, you read 20 minutes a day. It's somewhere 20, 24 books, I don't know, reading Outlive. Outlive is about that thick, so that's going to take a month and a half probably. But start small, read a page every day and do it at the same time, right? So you know, get up five minutes earlier, read a page and then you're got hey, start checking the box and getting those daily wins to, whereas if you don't do it, it starts to feel strange. Oh gosh, I got to go read today, right, I got to go do this. That's the kind of trigger, and so where I was going with the comment of it comes back to where we started with consistency.
Speaker 1:What I like to remind people of, its consistency before intensity, right.
Speaker 1:And that's where that's where the key has been for me and what works for me is that if I need to start something, just start a small level of it and build a consistency, and then you can ratchet it up, right.
Speaker 1:So that for me has been transformational, just reminding myself and reminding others. You know, it's the same thing where everybody joins the gym at the end of December or first of January and they go in so hard that it's not sustainable and you've got to get to where you know, if you haven't worked out for a long time and you start working out, you're probably by day three you're not going to be able to walk right. So I mean it's going to hurt if you start that hard. But if you just start, hey, let me just go do some walking, let me go do some air squats, let me go do something very, very minimal, just to see start getting that awareness back. Um, then then you're more likely to continue, right, because then you're going to start to notice in a month, two months, six months, you're starting to feel better, right, maybe just stretching, maybe you just need to stretch, right?
Speaker 2:so, yeah, consistency before intensity I love that consistency before intensity tweetable, I can't take full credit for it.
Speaker 1:It's james clear man.
Speaker 2:It's that's all right, that's, that's good stuff, it's, uh, it's repeatable right.
Speaker 1:You got to just tell people consistency before intensity. And it's a great story to tell people when they go I'm not disciplined, cool me either. I'm consistent and then it looks like discipline, right feels love that very cool stuff, dave.
Speaker 2:I'll put your LinkedIn connection. I think folks should definitely follow you, get the Wednesday wake-up call from you on a regular basis and some of the other things that you're sharing as well. I appreciate you investing the time once again with the listeners of the Uncommon Leader Podcast and wish you the best in everything. Coming up, our Spartan Race, coming up here in a month after we record this, maybe by the time it comes out, we've already run it and had a great time with that, becoming a grandparent and becoming an even better leader on a daily basis. Appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Thanks, john, I appreciate the conversation.
Speaker 2:And that wraps up another episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. Episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. If you found value in this episode, I encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues or anyone else who could benefit from the insights and inspiration we've shared. Also, if you have a moment, I'd greatly appreciate if you could leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback not only helps us to improve, but it also helps others discover the podcast and join our growing community of uncommon leaders. Until next time, go and grow champions.
