In this episode, I talk to entrepreneur and creator, Chris Duncan. We chat about creating something out of nothing, how do you choose which ideas you actually pursue, when the universe tests you en route to your dreams, and much more.
Show Notes:
(06:39): How do you choose which ideas you actually pursue?
(10:18): Creating something out of nothing
(16:31): Entrepreneur House
(23:18): Things that block or prevent success
(28:44): Mental models for life and accomplishment
(41:29): When the universe tests you en route to your dreams
Connect w/ Chris:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duncanhustle/
Website: https://couraj.com/
COURAJ Apparel: https://couraj.com/
Elon Musk article: Grand Theft Life concept: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/11/the-cook-and-the-chef-musks-secret-sauce.html
The Alchemist Book: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/11/the-cook-and-the-chef-musks-secret-sauce.html
Connect with Athan:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/doingtheworkpodcast
Website: https://www.doingtheworkpodcast.com
Sponsors:
Strive S&C: www.strivebastrop.com
Strive Human Optimization: www.shobastrop.com
Tracy's Drive-in Grocery: www.tracysgrocery.com
Chris (00:00):
A lot of times in life we don't let things happen, we prevent things from happening that would better our lives. And it is from fear really fear of the unknown. I think the unknowns my best friend goes in the unknown is where all the winning is as where all the opportunities are.
Athan (00:21):
For the doing the work podcast is brought to you by Tracy's driving grocery backdrops iconic neighborhood grocery store, serving the community since 1946. And home at the best coffee in Bastrop. Check them out at www.tracysgrocery.com All right, Chris Duncan. I'm excited to have you on the show. You and I have known each other for quite a while. Yeah, rockin 'that courage. You that's how we actually met was through courage. You, we started working together I'd say probably I guess it must have been like 2017 or something like that. It was a while back and, and right off the bat you struck me as someone well, even how you designed your logo, which you might even get into this show. But like, all the thought behind your logo and your brand, and how you live your life, really left an impression on me right away. And, I appreciate something I love and a person of people who hustle, and who grind it out. And, you've definitely been someone who's been the shining example for me. And that's why I've got you on the show. So I'm super pumped to have you, man.
Chris (01:43):
I'm honored to be your man. And likewise, all the same to you. And I think we have a lot of the same values. So I think your listeners will get a lot out of this show. We're gonna teach them and they'll teach us one day to SolidWorks.
Athan (01:58):
absolutely, yeah, it's a lot of give and take. Well, I'd love to know how you introduce yourself when you're meeting people? Like how do you describe what you do and who you are and all that stuff?
Chris (02:08):
Yeah, so who is Chris Duncan? Dude, I was raised really poor. I grew up on the Georgia Alabama line in the middle of the woods in an old single wide trailer. Actually, I'll show you a picture right here,
Athan (02:24):
We share the same. We share that same upbringing, I grew up in the trailer park myself, that's awesome.
Chris (02:32):
And grew up living paycheck to paycheck, my mom and dad did a lot of people where I'm from, probably the same as you didn't really have a lot of big expectations out of life, really, didn't really expect to go out into the world and do much. And since that upbringing, also, when I was like two or three years old, I had a very bad ear infection, which left me with a lot of hearing loss. So I have a lot of hearing loss right now. I wear hearing aids. And so I had a lot of stuff stacked against me. And I have created a great life for myself. And through courage through hustle. And one of my goals in life is to show people what is possible, the lead and by leading by example. But in doing so, so yeah, man, I'm just a normal guy that was born like a lot of people. But I have created a great life for myself. And I'm very humbled to have done that. And I'm not where I want to go. But I'm happy right now. I've always been happy and always will be happy. But I'm excited to see what life's come and take me and we can get into a law. That story.
Athan (03:44):
Yeah, I'd love to get into that. I think what you just said is really important. And a lot of people listening to this show, after all these years I've been, you know, I'd say I've been really I think it's just part of I mean, even as a kid, like always trying to help people with their goals and stuff like that, like one thing that I've learned is like nobody's ever where they want to be, you know, and that's I think that's just part of the human condition. But I think the balance of kind of what you just said is like, Okay, I've got aspirations, I've got goals, and I'm content, like, and I'm okay with where I'm at, it's not an either or thing. And, I think for real quality of life. That's super important. So I'm glad I'm glad you said that. Yeah, I know that. Like so courage is how I met you. But you've started a couple, you've got other businesses and other ventures going out. I would call you a true pure entrepreneur. You're constantly like, every time I meet you, you've got a new idea and a new thing that you're working on, which again, I love that I'm kind of like that too.
Chris (04:44):
To have to fall sometimes.
Athan (04:47):
I mean, same, but I mean, I wouldn't change a thing I love to create, I'm okay with failing. You know, and so I get that, but what would you say you do for a living? Like, I mean, like how do you what do you do? You know, your day to day life.
Chris (05:03):
The best way to describe what I do for a living is entrepreneur, creator. So I have a few different businesses, I have a main business that generates most of my income, which allows me to do some other side projects that will either bloom into overtaking that business, or will at least teach me a lot of stuff along the way. And, and are fun along the way. So my main business is selling a marketing agency for gyms and fitness studios. And that brings them most of my income. It creates massive value for our customers, but also allows me some time to do other stuff. So I have an employee, I have a lot of it automated. And it's kind of like a four hour workweek where it only takes a few hours a week for me to create, continue creating massive value for our customers. And also then pursued on these other two other projects that have gone on to a courage is one of my businesses, I have an app in the financial industry trying to hustle on this year. So yeah, I got a lot going on. And I just love to create love to get ideas, and I'm excited to try new stuff. And I just love it, man.
Athan (06:16):
Yeah, if you're like me, you've got ideas constantly bubbling up, you've run into someone mentioning something to you like a problem or something like that. And you're like, you get excited about it. And so there's probably no lack of ideas that you have. But how do you choose which ones you actually pursue? Like, do you have any methodology for that?
How do you choose which ideas you actually pursue?
Chris (06:39):
Really depends on what's different stages of my life. So now, back when I didn't have any money, the business I pursue, which are the ones that are gonna put money in my pocket, and it might not be, it might not have been the one that I was most passionate about. But it's something, sometimes you gotta do what you don't want to do to get to where you want to go. And so it's a little bit of a sacrifice now to open up huge opportunities down the road. That's what I've learned. And so yeah, so it depends. Do I need money in my pocket right now? Right now I have, I'm financially stable, financially free. I'm not a millionaire by no means, but I have. I'm not not hurting. So, right now, the way I choose it is, okay, I have a stable income. Now, what do I actually feel like, my vision, my purpose is for life. And that's ever evolving, man, as far as that, but like I said, I want to show people what's possible. So this coming year, what I'm gonna do is be more creative, I want to really attack YouTube. And I'm really good at video. And I think that's one of my talents that hasn't really got to show the world yet. And I want to make the most out of that. So I'm going to really start on my youtube this year to be around motivation. It's going to be around courage, it's going to be around adventure. And then tips, tricks, stuff that I do, stuff that other people have done and stuff that I've learned, and really providing value and helping other people create a great ProLite for themselves, too.
Athan (08:21):
Yeah, I love that. Because I think similar to you, what I really figured out for myself is how can I make a living? How can I? How can I get some of my needs met, while contributing to the world in the ways that I'm on fire about. And so like, what you just said is, I love that it's just like, you're going to find the things you already love to do that you probably do for free already. And then you're going to give that to the world. And, again, try to just make, maybe expand your quality of life by doing that. And now like we were talking about with things like YouTube and social media and all the technologies that are kind of emerging, we can more than any time ever in the history of humankind, we're able to really get those gifts into the hands of people, way more people.
Chris (09:17):
The more you give, the more you receive. It's such a universal law and it's hard to understand until you do it and then you understand once you start.
Athan (09:25):
Yeah, absolutely. So, a little bit about your background. Did I know you grew up as an athlete? I know you played baseball, I think you played ball in college. You know? Is that where I mean? I'm curious about life, because I know like I grew up my family were farmers, right? And they were farmers and again, we were poor. We didn't have a lot of money. And then you know my mom moved out of that town and then again we didn't have money we were like moving from shitty apartment to trailer to you know all those different places. And in that process what I learned was the grind, the hustle, the How To Get scrappy, how to make things, put things together, create something out of nothing. And I'm curious, where was that born for you like, what was that through your sports? Was that through a family or what?
Creating something out of nothing
Chris (10:18):
Yeah, when you don't have anything and you want something, you have to figure out how to get it. This is actually it, man. So I grew up financially poor, but I was rich in some areas of my life. I had a family that loved me. And another way I struck gold, was I had a dad who pushed me in sports. And he was a great motivator. So he was a well known baseball coach in our hometown. The crazy and amazing baseball players, and you had to get the most out of people. Now I grew up watching that. And I grew up in those hands. And he always told me, he said, so we do a workout. And after the workout, he said you want to be the best. I was like, Yeah, I want to be the best, so you want to be the best baseball player you want to go pro is like, yeah, I want to go pro. All right, well, right now, you're sitting here resting, there's someone else out there still working. They're swinging a bat right now. And they're lifting weights. They're getting better. And you're sitting here doing nothing. So you're gonna be better than them doing that. I was like, no, no, like, now let's get back to work. So some extra effect. And so that kind of always stuck with me is like, somewhere out there. There's someone, I'll work for you. They're gonna take your lunch money. If you're in a competition, then you gotta have that mindset and in life it is a competition. So yeah, I know that another one of the things he taught me was no, always hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle, 100% effort.
Chris (12:01):
And that really stuck with me too. So on all of my social media handles are Duncan hustle at all right? Chris Dunkin is always already taken on all social media. So I was like, Well, if I had to create a name for myself, what would it be? Like? Dunkin? hussle. I like that. So yeah, that's another one, I believe in hustle and courage to the main characteristics and values I live by. But yeah, baseball taught me how to fail. You know, in baseball, you can go to the hall of fame by only succeeding three out of 10 times, you fail more than you succeed. And learning how to win and learning how to compete. All that came through sports, mainly baseball for me. And that taught me work ethic. If you ask any baseball player that ever grew up playing baseball around me, they say I was the hardest worker in the room. And what I thought my goal was at that time was to become a professional baseball player. That didn't work out. But what it taught me well, I didn't realize but what it was actually teaching me is how to win, and anything you ever do in life. And that's the main thing that I got from playing sports, because all sports are microcosms for life. And if you can win, you know how to win in sports, and you can carry that over to life. And I didn't know that at the time. But now that I've gotten outside of sports, I can see I can apply that anywhere. And that same work ethic that I built, playing baseball is now in my blood, I can't turn it off, and I don't want to turn it off because it's fun.
Athan (13:35):
Yeah, I love that. And I think that you I would say that it did work out for you, maybe you are playing professional baseball, but like you said, all that paid off. And that's because I like to work with young people. And that's one of the things that I try to get, help them to understand a lot of people have aspirations of some sort of, you know, something grand, you know, being a professional football player, a baseball player, so the President of the United States or something like that, and it's like, I say, shoot for it's gonna be hard to get there, but you and you may not end up at that at that particular goal. But when you're striving for excellence, when you're trying to be elite, you've worked, you've developed a work ethic that helps you to strive for something like that, it is absolutely going to pay off for you in one way or another. And, and that's the thing for me again, I played sports my whole life. I was in the military. I'm in business, and I've never been the most talented. I'm not the I'm not the most gifted. But, I'd like to work. I love to work and when I played sports, I actually enjoyed practice more than the games. I wanted to be there hustling cried and I wanted to be the one leading the way for the team and be a part of something bigger than myself. And I really know you and I share those same values.
Chris (14:55):
When you live your life that way. Not only The better your life, you're better the people around you because they see you. And it wears off on them. Like, in my high school, our baseball program was mediocre. Me and the guys I played baseball with got into our high school. And we changed the culture. Because we knew how to work hard. We knew what it took to win. And instead of them hoping they make the playoffs, and we left, we graduated, they were expecting to go deep into the playoffs, we changed a culture. And now it's still the same way. So if you get some leaders that come in somewhere, they change the culture because they lead by example. It can have ramifications that last generations, you plant seeds that grow.
Athan (15:43):
Absolutely, I think team is so important I can, I can actually benchmark my life by my successes, by and my failures, some of my most catastrophic failures in life by when I was trying to be a part of a team, versus when I was trying to go out there and do things alone and on my own like a lone wolf. And certainly, there's really value in that I can always say the most successful aspects of my life. Again, looking back on sport, looking back on the military, looking back on business is when I had a team with me, that we were able to feed off of each other and pick each other up when we're down and push each other forward. And one thing that I recall about you that I thought was super awesome was that I remember you lived in a house of creators and I can't remember what you called that house.
Entrepreneur House
Chris (16:31):
So yeah, we call it entrepreneur house. Yes. And when I first moved to Austin, I didn't know anyone just came out here and didn't know a soul, but decided I was going to come out here and tackle life. And I had the idea to start courage. And we can get into what that means. But basically it's a it's a brand that represents the virtue of courage people wear it, when they need full courageous in life, no matter what that means them is their courage shirt, their courage hat and it gives them motivation. So I started this company and add another buddy who was interested, interested started a business. So we decided, You know what, it'd be really cool if we had a house and we actually who lived this life. We slept it, we breathe it. So let's find a house, man. Let's see what we can do. And we'll get one other person we were playing on three people. So we found this house and and Hyde Park, near up in central Austin. And it was a six person house. It was huge. It actually was a old sorority house. It was so it was huge. And but we're like, man, we need three other people. And we only had two people at a time. So we also started making some contacts. And we end up getting six entrepreneurs living in this one house. And that was one of the most amazing years of my life.
Chris (18:00):
So every Sunday, we had accountability session. So everybody, you don't have to attend. But there was something everybody did. We had a whiteboard, okay. What's your goals this week? How'd you do on your goals last week? Do you need any help with anything everybody is has their own specialty and different skill sets they can bring to the table. So we go around the room. And not only did that help us develop our skills and keep us accountable. But it kind of lit a fire that Sunday night to hit Monday up and running. Yeah, it was great. So right now we got a guy who owns a big solar company that was there. At the time, we had none of these businesses so like, this is kind of what people accomplish after that big big solar company. We got a guy who runs a robotic company. Let me show you one of these pictures of this stuff and he's created an Ironman suit as a robot company for the senior movie Ironman. Yeah. There it is. Okay. So is it right here? Wow.
Athan (19:15):
That's crazy.
Chris (19:17):
Yeah, so they're developing this for the military. It gives you a machine like strength, Sheen, like speed, power. All this stuff is in its very early stages. And I am okay to show you this picture. I've been okay. But he's done that I got another guy. Another guy started a big construction company and I'm doing my thing and yeah, this little seed has grown and we're kind of doing bigger things now. It's gonna be really interesting. Interesting in 30 years to see where all the entrepreneur house guys have gone and what they've done.
Athan (19:48):
Yeah, do you have plans to kind of keep that going? Like I know y'all don't live together still but do you? Because that you hear all the time about and people will try to sell you for like big dollars. You know? Um, the term is escaping me right now. But essentially that's right, like these little groups of people who come together regularly to support each other over time, like if that's something you guys still do, or is it kind of like faded away?
Chris (20:13):
Yeah, we try to meet up once a month usually turns into once every two or three months, because we have a lot going on with a couple of math kids now. So it's a lot more complicated than it used to be. Right. But yeah, we meet up and we try to keep in touch. I think what you might have been trying to say is like a mastermind group mastermind,
Athan (20:33):
That's the word Yeah, yep. Yep. Yeah,
Chris (20:36):
Those are a little bit more structured, and well organized than what we do. We just grab drinks every once in a while. Now these Yes.
Athan (20:45):
Yeah. But I think that it's the unstructured, low key organic way that things happen. That actually, a lot of times they grab more traction, cuz sometimes you go to one of those groups, you go to a conference, you go to something like that. And there's like this high set of expectations, where people are really trying really hard. And, sometimes it doesn't foster the most effective and productive environment.
Chris (21:19):
You know, yeah, like I said, that, just kind of letting things happen. Because I think a lot of times, like we don't let things happen, we prevent things from happening that would better our lives. And is, from fear, really, fear of the unknown. I think the unknown, my best friend goes in the unknown is where all the winning is as where all the opportunities are. So that's one of my, one of the actually, one of the ways I love my life is trying to get out in the unknown and telling other people and tying myself to that you got to, you gotta let life happen. You, you're trying to plan every step in your head. All is what you've known in the past. And you're not, you can't tell the future. But life knows what it has in store for you. And you have to let life take you. Because if you never let life take you, you're not gonna know what you could have accomplished and go where you want to go. So quit trying to predict the future, quit trying to plan every step. Because as soon as you take one step, a whole new road is going to open up that you could have never even predicted unless you took that first step. So don't try to plan your steps, because life has better steps out there for you. It just wants you to take the first so I can show you the next.
Athan (22:40):
Yeah, we are affordable predictors of the future humans have proven that time and time again. You know, but like you said possibilities will open up for you, when you just move in that direction.
Chris (22:53):
You don't have to have everything planned, you just have to have your first plan. And then life opened up. And you could have never predicted where it leads you.
Athan (23:02):
A couple minutes ago, you said something like we block or prevent ourselves from progressing. You know, you said something along those lines. What are some of the things that you see people do or that you've even done that like block or prevent success?
Things that block or prevent success
Chris (23:18):
Yeah, well, a lot of people have a few different things if they don't have a clear path of what they want to accomplish. So they don't have a goal. Once if you do have a goal. Now a lot of people never take action to try to get that goal because they're scared of failure. So being scared of failure. Yeah, basically it is that man is not giving life a chance, not taking the plunge, and not giving it a shot. A lot of people try to over analyze overthink, when really it's about simple actions, simple actions every day, and taking one step forward every day. And not trying to plan out the whole thing, just a little bit at a time. And that builds up before you know it. You've learned a lot before you know it. you sharpen your saw before you know it. And your weapon before you know it. Like you just gotta get out there and get started.
Athan (24:20):
Yeah, I completely agree. I recently and I don't know why it took me so long to read it. But I recently read The alchemist. And everybody had been recommending that for a long time. But I mean, when I read a book that really impacts me, I try to write notes and I have this document that I read to myself every single day. And what I added into my document that I read every day is some quotes from that book. And one of them is when you have a dream the universe conspires for you for that dream to happen. And if you have faith in that and belief in that then it relieves a lot of the tension like you said you can just get out of Your Own Way, when to read the signs and what they called the omens in that book, but, the when the writing's on the wall that that dream, it'll you'll see him everywhere if you're are looking for him.
Chris (25:14):
I love that book and for those that don't know what an alchemist is, NACA misses. I believe this turns coal into gold. Yes. Or something along those lines. It turns into gold. Yeah, it turns nothing into gold. That's what Nakano says. So, really, it's a metaphor for life, you got to be able to take your life and transform it into gold, whatever that means to you. And in that book, yeah, it's, what's it called his his personal destiny, a personal greatness or something like that personal dream,
Athan (25:43):
I think that is what they called it. Yeah.
Chris (25:45):
But the biggest thing I got from that book is the omens because I want to get woowoo or anything. But every time I've ever needed to make a decision in my life, I've, I've been given signs. And as soon as I take that, life opens up, and when I ignore it, life gets dull, and I get stuck. So follow your gut. think rationally, but that gut feeling, and no signs that you're seeing? I think they're real.
Athan (26:21):
For sure. I don't think it's woowoo at all. I'm a huge advocate. And again, same as you like, when I think back on the times when I just liked, trusted and took what, like, something just popped into my lap, and I trusted it and just went for it. Those things have always worked out a lot better for me than the things that I just tried to like, force and like there was really no energy or support behind it. You know, those things have fallen short a lot of time.
Chris (26:50):
Yeah. And they don't make sense. And they really do a lot. Rarely do these things make sense at the moment. But when you look back, you can connect the dots. Like if this one that happened, then this one happened. And this one happened. This one happened, this one happened. It's all like little tiny things that connect each other that if one thing wouldn't happen, you actually wouldn't even be here. Right? where you're at today. So it is crazy. All the stuff lines up when you allow it to?
Athan (27:21):
Yeah, I recently and I've heard a couple people say it, but the one that's resonating with me right now is Ryan Holiday and Gary Vee did a podcast together recently. And they were talking about the impossibility of being born. Even, like all the things that have to perfectly align in order for your birth to have even for your conception to have even happened. And if that kind of thing.
Chris (27:44):
You know, we're getting deep now. Yeah, that goes into we don't even we don't know what life is like. Where's the little planet? Who knows how infinite space is seen. We're such a tiny thing. And it's interesting, very interesting.
Athan (28:04):
Yeah, we're just specks of dust man on like this big, massive. I also saw recently there's this satellite telescope thing that was able to find this black part of space, right? It shot its lens into this, like, black part of space. And it was such a powerful telescope that when it zoomed in it picked up planets and galaxies. And I don't know all the terminology that made our galaxy look like a speck of dust like it was an atom. So it's like the infinite size of the universe just blows my mind. It like literally makes me think like,
Mental models for life and accomplishment
Chris (28:44):
I have no idea. I have no idea about anything like most people. But we could be our solar system could be an atom in a larger organism. Yeah, we didn't think we could be Athan humans. Yeah, there could be a skin cell. Like, who knows, man?
Athan (29:03):
Yeah, it is crazy. That's what gives me hope. And that's what gives me data that allows me to just let go, I think so. So, often we get in trouble when we try to make ourselves right, make other people wrong. Say this is good. And that's bad. And like, we tried to be the owners of knowledge and wisdom, rather than being like consumers have it other than just being students of life and wisdom, and that's where it helps remind me of that, I don't know shit. I don't know shit about shit.
Chris (29:42):
Like that goes back to what another thing that holds people back. So, one, I've created a lot of tools that I try to use too. Once I get into my own head and maybe start feeling some of that fear or something like you got to create tools that kind of help yourself, stay on the right path and stay on That journey. So one of the things I do is Yeah, I think about how massive the infinite universe is and how small I am and how, really, my life doesn't matter. Like, a billion years from now, probably 500 years now. 100 years, people aren't gonna know who I am, what I did is gonna be as inconsequential as it is, so like, What are you scared of? Like, does it matter? It's kind of weird because you want our lives to matter. Good, I think our lives do matter. But if you can zoom out and see that humans have been around for a crazy amount of time. And we don't know anything about the light, we only know their name, what they look like or anything like, You're the same way. So you ever read this article called The cook, and the shelf is about Elon Musk. Now, it's basically diving into Elon Musk, and how he accomplishes what he accomplishes and how he does it, how he thinks about things.
Chris (31:08):
His his mental model, about life and accomplishment. And it's called a cook and a chef. So the cook follows a recipe to create food. The chef creates the recipe for others, and he creates original stuff. So it's about first principles thinking. Anyways, there's this concept in it called grant that life. Have you ever played the video game Grand Theft Auto, it's a fictional world where all goes, you can do anything. Still cars, guns, bad things, good things, you can explore and do whatever you want to. But basically, it was saying, life's not too far off from Grand Theft Auto, your life is kind of like Grand Theft light. There's really no consequences other than you need to feed your family and don't go to jail and don't die. Other than that, if you treat your life like Grand Theft Auto, the video game? How would your life open up to where if you removed all of your ego, all of your fear, and just did whatever you want it to in and went hard for whatever you want it to? and live your life like a grand theft, Grand Theft Auto Grand Theft, Wyatt, how would you be living your life? If you're living your life like that video game? How do you live now? And then how would you live your life? If you were living Grand Theft light, and it kind of gets you on track to kind of have a good mental exercise to get you on track to? Kind of, yeah, what am I doing? Like? Why am I scared? This is my, this is kind of stupid, or? Yeah, I do need to start doing this. All right, I'm gonna start doing it. Grant that apply FABY Let's go.
Athan (32:55):
I love that. And there's you. I can see that happen in a lot of ways. I've heard it said differently. In that, like, what would your life look like, if you were afraid? If you just had no fear? Like, there was nothing that you were afraid of in the world? Like what would be some of the actions and things that you would take? And, I mean, I fear you mentioned earlier in the show, and I personally feel like the main evil in this world, that is fear. It's what keeps us from doing all of our dreams, from doing all of the good that we want to do, from anything that, it's just literally just like we're afraid to do it. So then the question is, it's like, well, what do I need to do to have less fear? To just do a little more courage, have the courage like you've to stand for? To be just okay, I'm afraid, but I'm going to go ahead and do this anyway. You know, and what would the world look like if everybody was doing that?
Chris (34:04):
You know, I think the main fear people have is they think it's an internal fear. But I think it's really a fear of external fear, a fear of what other people will think, yep. A fear of looking weird, a fear of being out of the ordinary, a fear of standing out, a fear of perceived failure, if it doesn't work out. And give people too much. Too much credit, man, they're putting way too much on what other people think when everybody's so caught up in their own lives. They don't give an F about you. And if they do hate you for failing for going out and trying something. That type of person you don't even want to give the time of day, man. It's like, yeah, yeah, let me kind of explain courage a little bit because that kind of leads into that. So my company's courage right here, the reason I created that cause back home, I have a lot of talented friends, a lot of talented people I know, that weren't doing anything because they were scared to go out and attack life and try to accomplish something. So I was like, how can I create a tool that helps people show more courage in life, you can't just create a wrench and adjust, somebody has courage behind their ear. Now, how can I do this? I want to create something that people could wear, something people get from, and then create a whole community, a whole movement, that plants a seed here, this person does, it inspires another person as far as another person. And then it's a ripple effect.
Chris (35:48):
So that's what courage is. So courage spelled with a J. That j represents your journey, because life is a journey. And you're going to need sustainable long term courage, courage every day. The lion, so the logo is half lion, half Native American Chief. And the star represents your goal or your purpose that you're going for. So the lion is strong, courageous, and driven. And then achieve is wise, a warrior is a leader. And it stars as your North Star, that's where you're going for. Courage is, I like to say, the currency of life. So if you go to the grocery store, everything has a cost. And you pay the American currency. The United States currency is the American dollar. That's the currency that our economy runs on. What you want to accomplish in life also has a price just like stuff at a grocery store. But to accomplish that, that price is going to be bought in your courage. So life accomplishment runs on the currency of courage. All right. Now, the bigger a goal is, the more courage is going to take, the more expensive the more valuable it is. The lower the goal, the less courage is going to take. big goals cost a lot of courage. You have to spend a lot of currency, a lot of courage to get there. But it's valuable. It's worth it. That's why it's expensive, man.
Athan (37:21):
Dude, that's awesome. I love that explanation because I've never heard anyone say courage is the currency of life. But I love that concept. I'm just it was like, as you were saying that I was sitting here thinking and then it's like, okay, yeah, another way of saying that is the extent to which you're going to overcome your fears is to the extent of how you're how successful your life is going to be, because that's all courage is, is, is pushing forward, despite your fear. Man, that's powerful. That's badass. I had heard you explain it to me before, probably like five years ago. And I think I wasn't in a place in my life. I hadn't had the experiences that I had, in the past five years that I've had now to really digest. Like, what you put together and a huge part of what's happened for me, in the past five years, that's different. Now is what you were talking about that North Star, that star that's on your shirt, I didn't have a I kind of had a general fuzzy, not very well defined version of what my purpose in life was. Or is and, and since then, I've spent a lot of time and effort sculpting and creating what that purpose is. And that has shaped everything. Because like you said, when you feel like you have a purpose. It's not that big of a deal to overcome a fear. It's not that big of a deal to have courage because this is what I'm here for. Fuck everything else. Like why I'm not going to let this silly little thing get in the way of why I know I'm here. But if I didn't have that purpose, I wouldn't. I'd still be afraid because I'd be unclear, you know?
Chris (39:05):
Yeah, you're an army you know how to navigate Yeah, if you're if you're trying to navigate you got to have a an in spot a location you're trying to get to and that's the most important thing or else you're in the woods two years going every which way and yeah, having that having that goal is the first thing but it's the changes along the way man. Because a lot of people think small minded and not not because they're they're wrong and doing so it's just God's way we kind of the way we were robbed, wired. And if you have a small goal, go for it. Go for the small goal, because that's going to lead you to your net score, and that score and that score. And eventually you create and accomplish some crazy, crazy big stuff.
Athan (39:48):
Yeah, because when you get there, it creates confidence. It's like I accomplished this goal that maybe I didn't even think I could accomplish and maybe to everyone else look on the outside looking in like Oh yeah, that was a layup. You know, but Getting your, uh, making that layup is like, oh, I could do things I'm capable of. And so it's important.
Chris (40:09):
That goal didn't exist when you started your first goal. So I tell people all the time, you got to do this thing now because it's gonna prepare us for that. For something that doesn't even exist right now an opportunity, it doesn't even exist, right? Like think about technology. Someone, someone created a little device. And then that allowed them later on to create something even crazier. Or you learn, you took a course on marketing, because you're interested in it. Five years later, an opportunity came around with crypto or whatever, didn't exist at the time. And now you have the tool to accomplish that, because you have the confidence, you have the tools in the toolbox, yet to prepare for opportunity. If you're not prepared for opportunity, you can't take action on opportunity. That's why taking these acts, these small actions that might not work out that you might fail, you might succeed. But that's not the purpose. The purpose is to gain tools to gain confidence. So you can take action or opportunities and those come because the universe, life will give you opportunities. And it might not be right now, you might be waiting for the right time. When the timing is everything and opportunity. But when that time comes, you'll be prepared.
When the universe tests you en route to your dreams
Athan (41:29):
That's right. Yeah. And I think there was so much packed in there, there's a few things it's like, those lessons so go back to the alchemist just because it's fresh in my mind. I recently read that the universe will also test you many times in route to your dream. So that not to prevent you from your dream. But to prepare you to have earned the ability to actually achieve that dream. When it comes that they're the like you said, it's the lessons and the tools that you learn from the test trials, tribulations, that they give you the ability to have that ultimate success. And then the navigation thing is also important. You mentioned like kind of land navigation and for maybe a lot of people haven't been out in the woods with a compass or whatnot. But right you have an endpoint, you start walking towards it. But during that you're gonna realize there's a tree in the way, there's a ravine in the way, there's a hill in the way, there's something that you're going to have to circumnavigate in order. So your direct path to that point never happens that way. You have to know, and there's an end actually, there's an infinite number of paths to that end point. But you're never going to actually realize the best one until you start walking and you're not going to know what obstacles are going to be in the way of that endpoint either. Till you start walking.
Chris (42:45):
That's an amazing metaphor. I've used something similar in the past to and if you're climbing a mountain, say, a professional mountain here, okay, they see a mountain, they see where they're going, they can see the top of it. And they can get a sense of the weather, how the weather is going to be whatever. But if they sat back and tried to plan every step of hiking that mountain, they would never hike it because it's not possible. What they do is they start hiking, come across a stop, go over the stop, come to a snake and write over the snake, if they go around the snake and go over cuz you might get bitten, but, uh, go around it. All these different things like, you can't hike the mountain until you start hiking a mountain. That's it, right or hiking.
Athan (43:36):
100%. And I just love that message, man. And that's something that, I really want people who are listening to this show, and anyone who I have any type of influence or impact on you know, I just want people to know is like you're capable of amazing things. You don't even know what you're capable of. And you're never going to know until you just get started. So just just have a dream, create a dream, even if it's, that dream is gonna change. It's guaranteed to change later on. But just pick a dream. Go for it. And and then you're going to really find out what you're capable of,
Chris (44:11):
let life
Athan (44:13):
Yes, absolutely. Okay, cool. So, let's jump into a couple. So what do you have going on? Like, do you have anything you're launching that you want people to know about? Are there ways that people can find you and sign up for your programs? Or like what kind of how, you know what, how can we put your stuff out there, man?
Chris (44:33):
Yeah. Duncan hustle. All my social media handles. I'm not really active on anything other than Instagram. But like I said at the beginning of the podcast, I'm gonna attack YouTube hard this year. So if you want to go ahead and subscribe to me on YouTube, I'm gonna start putting out some stuff. So that would be what I would do if people are trying to follow me and it's Some of the motivation I'm gonna be putting out if you got anything from this podcast and you might also get some stuff from the stuff or actually make a real video and put a lot of effort into it. So, Duncan hustle on YouTube probably be where I'd go. Yeah.
Athan (45:15):
And you were kind of downplaying your skills in this. So everybody who's listening to this year, he is a great photographer, some of the stuff that he has filmed and that I've witnessed him create is freaking high end top notch phenomenal. And, if you're trying to learn how to do stuff like that, or you just want to learn from a really creative guy, I don't follow you on YouTube by now, but I'm glad you mentioned because I am going to follow you on YouTube. Because that's the kind of stuff that I want to witness and learn how to do also.
Chris (45:45):
So yeah, I got a I went, I went and paddle boarded the Statue of Liberty got arrested in the process because you're not supposed to be that closest statue. So I have a whole video. if that interests you. You think that's funny, then I have a whole video about that on YouTube.
Athan (45:56):
I think I saw parts of that maybe on Instagram, I saw some of that, which I thought was cool as hell. Also, I'm going to plug your courage brand. You can buy that shirt that he's wearing and other ones like hats and stuff like that, which I need. I'm still rocking a gray courage hat from like five years ago. How to say it has the red logo and then the red courage kind of like right near the snapback it's pretty beat up right now. But I'm gonna have to get a refresh and get a new
Chris (46:28):
courage calm CEO, you are a j.com. And what's on there right now is basic stuff, but long with YouTube. Courage is going to be a big part of that, too. So we're going to start ramping that back up this year. Awesome.
Athan (46:43):
Well, man, I deeply appreciate you so much. Like I said, I know what is inside of you. Because I've felt it and seen you doing it. And I'm just grateful for the opportunity just to kind of tap into a little bit. We didn't get into nearly everything that we could get into. But I'm just glad that we were able to pull out a nugget of that for our listeners, and I hope that they start following you. Because you are a true inspiration.
Chris (47:10):
I appreciate that. Yeah. Just a guy with a positive mind is willing to go out and try stuff. So yeah, if I can leave everybody, the other guys with your, your audience with anything. It's courage also. And a positive mind can rule all of mankind. Alright.
Athan (47:28):
I love that. All right, well, thanks for being on the episode. And, that's a wrap.
Chris (47:34):
All right, Ethan. Thanks very much, man.
Athan (47:39):
I'm so grateful that you joined us for this episode of doing the work podcast. Providing you with value is why I do this and I hope you got something out of this episode that you can put into action into your life. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please share this episode with your friends and family who are looking to level up in life. Sign up for our email list at www.doingworkpodcast.com. To receive special offers and discounts from our sponsors. subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, YouTube, Amazon and anywhere podcasts are hosted. Thanks again for joining the word podcast. And we'll see you in the next episode.
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