In this episode, I chat with Garrett Thompson. We talk about negotiation, curiosity, leadership, and much more.
Garrett's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glt3_official/
Garrett (00:00):
A lot of people these days want instant gratification, right? Again, you're going to have to know right up front that there's, that that really doesn't exist in the world, right? Not when it comes to dreams and big things, right? Instant gratification is gone, going down and buying something. Okay. I got my widget and instant gratification, right? Dreams are instantly gratified. You got it. You gotta do the work.
Schindler (00:25):
Welcome to doing the work. If you're okay with living a boring life with below average results, this is not your podcast. Go ahead and tune out now. But if you want to live an amazing life full of purpose, love, joy, abundance, and elite health and fitness. You've come to the right place. This podcast is for people who are ready to stop making excuses and start doing the work that creates a life that they love. I'm your host, Athan Schindler an airborne ranger turned social worker turned strength, Coach turned entrepreneur. I've spent my entire life learning how to be uncommon among the uncommon. I found my purpose and empowered people to reach their full potential. And this podcast takes a deep dive in how to prioritize. What matters is that work, own your life, maintain compassion and kindness and risk failure while enjoying every moment along the way. I talked to people who inspire me and share their gifts with you.
Schindler (01:21):
This is my way of helping you set you on fire and keep the fire burning. Doing the work podcast is brought to you by striving, strength, conditioning, backdrops, premiere jam that helps you crush it in the gym so that you can be happy, healthy, and successful outside of the gym. Check them out at www.strive.backdrop.com. Well, I am so excited to have you on the show for everybody on the show. This is Garrett Thompson. I just have such a deep appreciation for you for a lot of reasons. One as some people listening might know, but other people might not. You were one of the owners of Strive when I was given the opportunity to, to buy the gym. And from the get-go you just showed up in my life as someone who was fair and reasonable and had values and character. And you, one of the things I love about you is how consistent you are. You always show up in that way when I have conversations with you or when you've acted in any way is just such a consistent, steady force in my life. And I just have a deep appreciation for you, and I'm super excited for you to be on the show.
Garrett (02:34):
Oh, well thank you. ASEN appreciates that. Just very humbling. You know, I don't tend to think of myself that way, that's just what I do. That's just part of my life being very fair, being very ethical and just doing what's right by myself and that ends up being, doing right for others. So that's just how I try to live my life. So I appreciate all the compliments. But again, it was just how I try to live.
Schindler (03:03):
Yeah. I think that's why it's so special because you're not trying, it's just really who you are. And so I think everyone who knows you feels that way. So thank you again. Yeah, of course. Yeah. and I often kind of get to chit chat and in the gym and stuff, and we have some great conversations. And so the last one we were talking about was kind of like optimizing health. You were kind of talking about, we were talking about wearables and, and you were maybe going to delve into that. And so it kinda makes me one of my curiosities about you is like, what does optimal health look like for you? Like what does that look like?
Garrett (03:41):
So optimal health for me is really just being able to live my life the way I want to live it, being active, playing with my kids being an example for my kids. You know, and just being able to be active as long as I can, and to be able to live out my life wholly, holistically, not having any limitations based on either health or physical ability or, not being able to do something because of those things. So that's really often will help, am I perfect? No. Right. Last night, like it was Saturday night, my wife needed to go out. It's like grand buying a dairy queen, get some dairy queen. Right. And so, optimal health isn't just being in the gym every day.
Garrett (04:27):
It's not eating your broccoli and celery and carrots and protein, right? Like it's optimal. Health is in the physical and the nutritional, but also just in your mental state, like enjoying life. You know, I work hard in the gym. I work hard during a lot of times, watch what I eat, try not to eat processed foods, all that stuff that, you know, all the doctors and people tell you to in the health industry, but it's also, not beating yourself up about no gone, having some dairy queen go and having, I'm fruity pebbles guy. I love fruity pebbles, as probably almost a bad thing at this point, I could eat a bowl of fruity pebbles every night, for dessert, but really it's, not beating yourself up about that and not getting in your own head, and saying, oh, you did this wrong, you did this bad.
Garrett (05:19):
Right. So it's kind of a whole picture, right? Like doing what you can to be conscious of the choices you make. Right. And you go, okay, then, well, I shouldn't make this choice every day, but I'm going to splurge because I've worked hard and you know, it's not going to kill me to have one, you know, dairy queen blizzard in my life. So it's just being conscious of the choices you're making, for the present and for the future. Right. And so you optimize your health, that looks something different for everybody. You know, and then once you reach that phase in your life, it's like, okay, you need to redefine optimal health for you. Right. You know, we know what's optimal health from the science and the doctor's standpoint, it's all these things and is anybody really optimal health? If you set your standard of that, right. You're always going to fail. Right. You have to set yourself your own little benchmarks, say, Hey, I've reached health for me right now.
Schindler (06:15):
Right. I think, and I couldn't agree more in because cause I think there's people what people struggle with to have a distinction of is the difference between number one, PR health and performance, and then optimal versus peak. And I think where most of us, even the average Joe like me, who a lot of us get caught up into, I'm going to get healthy again. And their mental, their mind state jumps right into peak. Right. I'm going to jump into almost like being a professional athlete. I need to hit the gym five days a week and I'm going to start slaying in weights and get huge muscles and get super skinny or whatever. And, to me, that's not healthy. To me is what you were alluding to is being well-rounded right.
Schindler (07:00):
Being able to do it all and not being limited, minimizing the number of limitations that you have, which I would like to, we talked about yesterday longevity, and you kind of mentioned it today is like getting on into my life. Being able to still do the things that I did when I was younger and I'm a hundred percent. Yeah. And so I really appreciate that. And I think that's an important distinction and I see that in your life all the time, because I noticed that even through the seasons all your family's into sports and all of that stuff. And so not only just like the weather seasons, but like seasons of life and seasons of the year, your engagement with even your own physical activities, adjusts based on that. And that's healthy for you.
Garrett (07:50):
Yeah. Just having that conversation the other day is like, okay, this season's like, I'm not able to get into the gym, but about one day a week, maybe this week's been an anomaly I got into three days a week. Right. But I'm doing stuff at home. Right. So it comes in peaks and valleys, right. With the seasons and what's going on in everyday life. And it's just being conscious of that. Hey, I've got this change happening. I gotta do a little extra to get myself somewhere or do something. I was having this conversation with Phillip Cole actually, he was I've followed a little bit of his little weight loss goal and stuff like that. And he's been running and everything. And I was like, man, it's all about the seasons. You know, you got peaks and valleys.
Garrett (08:31):
Some seasons are better than others. But it's getting back on track. And again, it's being aware, being conscious of that, Hey, I've got these seasons, I got these changes happening and I just do what I can to adjust your life. And it's about how fast you realize that and how fast you adjust. You can sit there and go make excuses. Oh, I'm super busy. You know, football season started, I got football games and track, cross country meets. I can't go to the gym. Right. But you know that stuff's happening, you're going to have to make a change. Right. So just change and adapt. It's adapting to your physical surroundings.
Schindler (09:05):
I couldn't agree more. And that's something I've talked to people about all the time. And one of the things that I like to say, one of the mantras that I say is all the greats adapt, all the anyone you've ever noticed and you consider to be great at anything they have and had the ability to adapt to their environment and make changes when needed. And I agree like when you know, part of where people get so rigid in their habits and their routine is like, okay, this thing's working for me. And then one thing changes in their life and it completely spins them out. And they're not able to keep to those habits rather than saying, okay, my schedule changed a little bit. Let me adapt these out. Let me still keep doing these habits, but let me figure out how to work them differently. You don't get me wrong.
Garrett (09:46):
I love the routine. And early on that way, I got to have the routine, I'm a very routine guy due to pretty much the same stuff every day. And it was hard for me at first, right. Like before I had no kids, I was working out, I could just go to the gym at will do whatever I wanted, started having kids, they were young again, I could kind of go to the gym at will, but once I started getting busy and life getting busy and practices, I was struggling to get to the gym. I didn't have my home gym, we're running around. We never been big out to eat people, you know? So I really haven't had that to deal with, personally, I've always cooked at home, done all that kind of stuff. But I really struggled with the routine thing and I was, I'd get myself, upset because I was like, Aw, you know, I was supposed to go to gym today and I can't, and I've gotten past that. It's like, again, just a normal season. I just have to change and adapt, but I keep that same routine. You're right. It's like, this season has got this routine, this season's got this, another routine and we just adapt and make it happen.
Schindler(10:50):
And that's the beauty of the struggle. Right. And I think you know, I have a value of failing often, but other people might say embrace the struggle or something like that. And I think that's the beauty of it is that as you get on and on, you stumble a couple of times and you have to figure things out. It's the learning and the growth that comes through that frustration. If you allow it to, if you look at it as like you know, some of my favorite authors and you know, in history, you've got your philosophers and stuff. And a lot of them are like, when an obstacle comes rather than saying like, what it was me or this is feeling sorry for yourself. It's like, good. This is awesome. I'm going to grow from this.
Garrett (11:35):
I often tell people, things got to get worse before they can get better. Right. Cause you don't realize how good it is or how bad it is until it gets worse and in order to make it better. And so, again, like you said, it's just part of the struggle and, and everybody goes through it and, you know, from, from professional athletes, peak athletes across the game athletes to normal Joe's right. And again, it's about adapting and again, I think it's about being aware, aware. Okay. Something's about to change. You know, I realized something, whether it's internal, whether it's something physical, you know that's influencing you to adapt and change and be aware and make it happen. It's only you who can make it happen. We all have a choice. That's one of my favorite things about going through some human performance improvement stuff at work, and I've really latched on a choice. We all have a choice. We can embrace that struggle or we can let it hold us back. We've all got that choice to make our own decisions and make something happen for ourselves.
Schindler (12:34):
Yeah. I totally agree. I think that you will use the two words you've said several times and bring it to that choice is the awareness, right. You know, we get so programmed, and socialized and all these things. And then we forget that we don't have to do things like everybody else is doing things or how we've all, even how we've done them up to a certain point. So you can choose. And it's that level of one of the things we said in the military quite a bit as prior planning, prevents poor performance. And so it's like, I see this thing coming ahead. I should already be thinking about it. I should have a contingency plan for that. And shame on me if I didn't already plan to kind of like, have, of course unforeseeable things are gonna come and you just got to adjust, but most of the things we know is coming, football, season's coming, your schedule is going to change at work, and most of the time we just let it happen to us rather than us happening to it.
Schindler (13:28):
Yeah. Of course. There's a train going to go by right now while we're having.
Garrett (13:32):
You know, why not, we're in Bastrop, train tracks go right through the city. You know? So it's part of, I guess, who we are as people here in Bastrop.
Schindler (13:40):
Well, we kind of talked about sports and I know your kids are engaged in sports. You played sports, your wife played sports is a big part of your family culture. What does that mean like, what is sports for you, why is that a big part of your life?
Garrett (13:57):
Well, number one, we didn't really push our kids towards anything. As far as sports wise, we were going to do something physical. We were going to do something to keep 'em moving. But we didn't necessarily push him towards any one thing. We've kind of let them choose for them, for the most part. Right. It was probably not a complete coincidence that Grayson's kind of sport is football. Joey's sport is gymnastics. You know, my wife was a gymnast and then, I played football and so I really didn't push them toward those sparks. So they just kinda found him, we talked about him a lot, and they both liked him. You know, what's important to me about sports is the team aspect. Right. I see it now, at work.
Garrett (14:44):
And then I would even say society at some point, I can almost pick out people that weren't on sports teams you know kind of their behavior, kind of how they interact kind of their social being if it's how they make decisions, even, whether it's for themselves or for, if they're more about a team decision in a team success. So that's why I think team sports in general are important to me because it just manifests so many more things in life and in the future than just, just being on that sports team for that short time in life, that you can be part of it. And so even like gymnastics, people are like, oh, well, gymnastics is an individual sport. It's a huge team sport, right?
Garrett (15:34):
Like, those girls right now, or, they haven't even really got to the point where it's like all about me and my performance. It's about cheering each other on and making sure that they do well and the team's doing well. And, to stand up on that podium as a team and hold up that banner, you know, y'all, accomplishing something together is big. So I ain't got, I think it just goes into life is what you can achieve as a team, together. And that's just huge for me.
Schindler (16:04):
Even individual sports. I'm so glad you said that because that's my belief in it also, I, you see parents and you see coaches who make it all about winning, and it goes back to what we talked about, like peak performance versus health and wellness and hope being holistic. And it's like, it's for kids, especially. And even as adults, it's an opportunity to learn life lessons, doing something fun. You know, it's a little bit of a safer environment to try some things, take some risks, learn, grow, develop, build some character, build some values and contribute to a team or contribute to others. And so often we see with kids, it becomes about something, not that, and, and unhealthy
Garrett (16:47):
Well, and it teaches you OSS, right. You know, it's and how to handle that because, I tell my kids all the time, the world's roads are harsh, right. The road is not forgiving. You know, you're going to have to learn and we keep going back to adapt, but you got to adapt to it. Right. And so, no, we've been very fortunate here. We've had some very good football teams from flag to seven on seven with my son, but we'll go play in bigger tournaments with more talent, and then we'll suffer losses. Right. And it's very humbling for those kids. Because they're on top of the world and it's like, Hey, remember this feeling, you don't want this feeling, again, you know, what it takes now to put in that work to do the work.
Garrett (17:30):
Right. I do the work you've done great. You know, you've been putting in the work you've been winning, having that success. You feel that success, but now you've also felt the loss. And like you said, a safe environment, right. You know, when you get out of that, into the real world, right. You know, the losses are harder. Right. And they're harder to bounce back from. And in some instances, again, it's about you and your choice and how you take that loss. Right. If you're going to crumble and go hide in the corner and pity yourself, or he's going to say, Hey, okay, that was humbling. This is a new benchmark. You know, I gotta go and do some more work. I got to better myself in order to get back to that point. And so it's very good for children's children to learn at this age. And I think we're seeing some more of that in society. Right.
Schindler (18:17):
Yeah. I think it's good for adults to help their kids in those areas too. It's good for not just kids. I mean, kids traditionally, this is where they do it, but for adults too. And I love what you said about going to these bigger tournaments, right. And again, that's in sport, but another way of saying that is just getting uncomfortable, stretching yourself, really putting yourself in situations where you probably could lose. There's a good chance you're going to lose. And not enough kids are willing to do that. They're afraid to, it's easy. Like you said, if you want to, if you just want to win all the time and feel good about yourself, go pick some low level league somewhere and something you're really good at. You don't really have to practice that hard at, and sure. You'll dominate people and feel real good about yourself, but are you really growing? Are you really getting better? And so what I often tell people is like, when you're failing, that's an amazing thing, because that means you're stretching yourself. You're putting yourself on the line and there's so much growth that comes out as long as you don't let it defeat you. And like you said, go run in a corner and hide once it happens to you.
Garrett (19:20):
Yeah. I mean, and that's why we do it, right. I mean, we want to benchmark ourselves, we wanna push that, optimization, and peak performance. So we've talked about it, but you gotta get out of the bubble, right. You gotta get out of the bubble and struggle through, what's the word I'm looking for through a little bit of challenge, that's how you grow. That's how you get better. Right. Again, we could all stay in our small little bubbles and feel good about ourselves for dominating or being the best or whatever. But until you break out of that bowl, break out of the shelf, see what's out there. Right. you're never gonna know. And you're never going to grow, like you said, and can you really then be your optimal self, if you're not continuing to challenge yourself in that way, whether it's physical, whether it's mental, whether it's work, whether it's in the gym, you know, all aspects of life, you got to get outside and embrace the struggle and challenge yourself in order to go.
Schindler (20:23):
You have all this experience and wisdom and things that you've developed in your life. And I know you're a leader at work, you're in a leadership role now, you've moved up in your organization. Are these things that it's sometimes a little harder to get adults to do this stuff, when you have influence over kids or age on them. And but are these things that you're trying to apply at work or that you also tap into there? Yeah, of course.
Garrett (20:47):
I try to, and first off, I'll start off by, leadership isn't a title. Right. You know, everyone's a leader, you know, from the frontline employee to the CU, if they want to be right, it's a choice, it's a choice to lead. And so it's definitely not a title. But I feel that, I've tried to lead my staff and, from when I was a frontline worker, I'm sitting there, I'm a desk jockey, I said desk every day, we're trying to teach and learn and mentor people, and share the information I have. But yeah, it's something I try and, and do at work for sure. You know, I'm not perfect, I've got a lot of leaders around me that have helped me be successful surrounding myself with people, around, around people that are leaders and, to help help me be successful personally, but also the organization.
Garrett (21:38):
Right. And you know, I'm always only as successful personally as my team is and organizationally, and I couldn't do it without them, you gotta have good people around you. And I've got a lot of good people around me. I'm very fortunate for that. But yeah, I try to apply these same things and some of the same phrases I've used, here today, talking with you, I use with my staff, at work, so it's not something I turn on and off. I feel I'm very genuine. And, I'm just who I am, whether I'm sitting here in front of you at the gym or at work.
Schindler (22:12):
Yeah. And one of the things you said about leadership, which I really find important. And as it is a distinction between being in a role of authority versus actually being a leader and different people will tell you different things about how that actually manifests or how people apply that or execute on it. But you said something that resonated with me. And some of the way I try to live is as a leader, as a person of in a position of influence and things like that it's not about what everyone can be doing for me, what, you working for me, it's like, how can I serve you in a way that helps you to do your job better? Because none of us make it if we all don't make it with certain leadership.
Schindler (22:56):
Yeah. And I think that's important. And I even look at that, like being an owner of a gym, like some gym owners are like, I own this gym, I make the rules, you're going to do things the way that I want to, or I'm going to force you into my box. And my perspective is like, I work for you, as a member of my gym, like, I'm your employee, you pay me and how can I serve you and how can I contribute to you better? And, they kind of look the same day to day on execution, but the mentality of it is different, the perspective.
Garrett (23:31):
Yeah. At the end of the day, you worked for somebody, right. Whether you're a gym owner, for a big company, you have actual customers that are buying something from you, you're always working for somebody. Right. And, you're serving somebody. Right. And if you can realize that again, going back to awareness, realize that I think you're just going to be more successful, that you report and work for somebody. No matter what.
Schindler (23:58):
Yeah. So going back to, we were talking about personal growth and optimization, are there things that you're where your areas in your life you're trying to grow? Anything like any, you know we all, I think some of us don't actually, but like a lot of us have an area where we're struggling and we're trying to grow. Are there, we've got a desire to get better in, and I'm just curious, do you have anything like that?
Garrett (24:23):
It's not funny you brought it up, but,, I would honestly say I'm in a little bit of a rut, right. I've always been really driven, really seen what I want in life. And, being able to go get it, whether it's been in my career or in the gym. Right. And I would say I'm a little bit in the rut trying to figure out what it is I really want to do. I know what it is, but it's figuring out how to get there. You know, one thing that I, as far as self-growth and for myself as is, I would really like to work for myself. Right. I'm you know, have a desire to work for myself on my own business, kind of call, somewhat call my own shots, kind of like you say and it's, I look at you, having been a small business owner, the struggles you go through I've been, small business and, a lot of our friends and stuff at the gym, but I think there's also, a lot of growth that comes through that.
Garrett (25:28):
Right. And that's just one aspect that I'm looking at growing myself and seeing how I can figure that out and start my own business and kind of work for myself and do my own thing right. The way I kind of want to do it.
Schindler (25:42):
I love that. And I, anyone who's ever owned a small would you have actually, you owned the gym before I owned it. So you've owned a small business. I don't know if there are others, but anyone who's ever owned a small business knows the struggle and how difficult it is. And, you have these dreams and aspirations of making a great, what, we can see a lot of people consider success is financial. Right. I don't consider myself, I don't care about money. Yeah.
Garrett (26:08):
Yeah. But, that's part of the struggle. Right? I'm high, I got a very good job, a very good stable job. And that's part of the struggle for me, I got retired, all those great, wonderful things that people talk about and people will be like, why in the world would you want to give that up? And it's about growth and it's about embracing the struggle.
Schindler (26:29):
But what comes with that struggle for me is self-actualization, there's so many rewards far above, beyond other versions of success that I wouldn't trade for the world. And I think now that I've been, that I've owned, I've primarily been a small business owner full time for all these years is I can't imagine. Sometimes I toy with the idea of what my life would be a lot easier if I just went and worked for some big organization that paid me a lot of money and I just clocked in and clocked out.
Garrett (27:03):
But that's the thing like you, I think you've realized there's so much more for you. And that's where I'm at. I was like, you know, I've done well for myself. I've learned a lot, from people now it's time to take that next step. I tell my wife this all the time. There's something bigger out there for me. There's more out there for me, I need to figure out what, what that is and how to get there and keep working towards it. And so, there's other little things that I want to do. Right. you know, that kind of build me to that, there's some different certifications and things like that, you know, and, go pass some tests and study and put in some work there, but you know, that all just brings me to that point of, okay, I'm more for myself, I'm doing my own thing. I'm setting my own schedule. You know, I'm not reporting to somebody, I'm not having their decisions, they aren't influencing my decision necessarily, I can somewhat call the shots. Right. And, again, kind of going back, we all work for somebody you're right. You know, so one side of the mouth, certain speaking out of the other, but, I'm still gonna work for somebody. Right. You know, but we can make the decisions together, what that looks like.
Schindler (28:11):
We're working for other people, but doing the things that you really want to do. And you have the choice that we talked about earlier to hand off the things that you don't want to do, or that you're not good at, or you don't have any interest in or whatever. So that's really a big benefit of working for yourself. And I think for a lot of people and this, but it's like, okay, we do a lot of thinking about that idea. We create the idea in our head and we get the certifications and stuff, and there's somebody listening to this right now. Who's got some big idea that there is something, a goal that they want. And this, it took me five years to do this, but it's just the leap. It's the free fall eventually, it's you, you're no other way to do it other than get out there, do the work and know that you're going to fail. I know there's going to be some rough months and they embrace that as like, good. That's going to be, that's what I wanted. I wanted to be self-actualized.
Garrett (29:07):
Well, if it was easy, everybody would do it. Right. Like, and that's what I would tell people, you know, if you've got a dream, you've got something, I think a lot of people these days want instant gratification, right. Again, you're going to have to know right up front that there's, that really doesn't exist in the world. Right, not when it comes to dreams and big things, right. Instant gratification is going down and buying something. Okay. I got my widget and instant gratification, right. Dreams aren't instantly gratified, or you gotta do work. And so I would, you know, from, from speaking for myself and, I've accomplished things through my life and I've set goals and went and went and got it, did them and sacrificed to get there.
Garrett (29:55):
But yeah, if you've got those dreams, you have those desires, set yourself a goal, and just realize it ain't going to happen overnight, put in the work. And that's what I'm, you know personally what I'm trying to build that framework, I'm trying to, in my head, get my Headspace right. To like, okay, yeah, this is going to be a struggle here. You know, we've set our, I've set myself up to a certain type of lifestyle. Okay. You know, am I going to be able to maintain that until I reach my next goal? You know, are we going to have to take a step back in life, you know, it might be financial, doing something right. In order to embrace that struggle to get to the next step.
Garrett (30:34):
You know, sometimes you gotta go work, go down in order to get back up, and you don't realize how far down you're going to go. You don't realize how far up you're going to go. You know, but at some point you just gotta take that leap of faith and it's not even a leap of faith, right? Like everything, I've, quote unquote, everything I've done, I've been successful at, I mean, the next thing I'm going to be six flat, I've had failures and an embrace that, but in general, I feel like I've been pretty successful, whether it's financially, whether it's raising a family, whether it's you know, taking tests, certifications, and whatever. Right. And, I have confidence that I can be successful.
Schindler (31:12):
So set yourself up. There's like an undertone of what I'm hearing of what you're saying. And I know it's true for me. There's a difference between okay, like making a living, having a job. And then there's like, then there's like having a purpose, you know? And when you choose your purpose over the comforts that come through a job and then at the end of the day, even like when you've chosen a purpose, that's hopefully something that sticks with you. Well, maybe not always, you can choose different purposes in different phases of your life, but then like, you're always working on that and it might have nothing to do with a career.
Garrett (31:51):
And Simon, Sinek's why, right. If any, I'm sure some people listen to this, I know you're aware of Simon Sinek, but, his big thing is finding you, why you're going to start with why. Yeah. It's a book and he talks about it, go watch his Ted talk, all that stuff. You know, he's been an actual, somewhat of an inspiration to me too. It's finding your why. And, you gotta have your, why, what is my, why? I honestly still don't know what my reason is right. I asked myself that question, I think about that. You know, quite often,, but I know there's something greater for me out there then, working the nine to five, there's gotta be a better way. There's, I tell myself all these things, what's my, why, you know? So you got to continually hunt that and your why might change from time to time, and just keep, just keep tracking that down. Just keep, keep staying on that.
Schindler (32:43):
Yeah. Well, it took me a long time to figure out my why to and, and sometimes that just comes with years of kind of figuring some things out. But when I finally figured it out, I went to a seminar one time. It's like a weekend long seminar and they had, they went, they let us do this activity. And they basically, I don't remember all the details of it, but the big picture of it was, as they said, okay, look at, let's take a look at all the different things that you've chosen to engage yourself in over the years. So supports certain jobs and career fields and stuff like that. And then try to figure out what did all those have in common? You know, they took us through a process of figuring out, well, what's the, I think they called it the thin red line or so thin red thread or something like that, that kind of sewed all those different experiences together.
Schindler (33:29):
And once you were able to, I was able to identify that I was able to kind of pull out of, even the military, which you set me up for success in a lot of ways. Like I always knew, I always felt like that wasn't going to be like my purpose in life, but there were things about it that I chose to do that I really loved and why I've stuck with it all this time. And so I've been able to kind of pull that piece out. And when that was like that awakening, when I was able to say, oh, here's the common thing about why did I play sports? And why did I? And so that kind of led me to my why now I'm able to, in all things, I make all my decisions based on the mom, my wife, you know?
Schindler (34:05):
So I love that. There's been something I've been wanting to ask you for years now since yeah. So in 20, in 2017, you were one of the, I mentioned earlier, you were one of the owners of strive and and in our negotiations without sharing any details of those, I will say one thing is like, one of the things that you said is like, I want to continue to be a part of this community. Like, that was like part one of your like, terms. And I was like, that's when I knew, I already liked you before that. But when that was part of your negotiation, I was really like, touched by that. And I always wanted to ask you why I never asked you why, like, why was that one of the things that you really wanted to negotiate for?
Garrett (34:52):
I mean, probably just seeing it grow, right. I wasn't in from the ground up. I wanted to be part of my play. I played team sports through college, got done with college sports, joined a couple of global gyms, there wasn't that team mentality going there and being a team right. Once I found that, right. Back with strive back in, I think it was 20, I joined strive in 2013, opened 2012, right. Again, not at the ground floor. Had been watching them grow. I'd been wanting to join a CrossFit gym or find a CrossFit gym. I'd been searching for Austin. I couldn't afford it. You know, in Austin, I was working in Austin. I was like, man, just looking at the financial aspect and even when I joined Strava it was like, whatever it boiled down to like 10 bucks a workout or something like that.
Garrett (35:43):
And I was like, man, I can't do that. You know? And so I watched them as they, as they kind of grow watching on Facebook or whatever, I drive by, the people do the dry by the gyms. Right. And see people working out. Right. You know, that was me. I'm searching. And so once I found that, right. Once and really my aha moment to finally join strive was we went to lunch. It was modified, I'd never been modifying ours, this is amazing. I spent like 14 bucks on a hamburger that was just okay. That I could have got it. Dan's hamburgers for, for seven. Right. And then I was like, I was sitting there going, I'm gonna spend 14 bucks on this one meal for instant gratification that I didn't even get that gratified from, but I won't pay 10 bucks to better myself.
Garrett (36:30):
That was kind of my aha moment. You know, to finally join Stripe. But once I got there and met the people and I felt like that team was going and playing and bang, and we had the same, you know, the same purpose, I guess when we walked in there, I could relate to them, they're wanting to better themselves. They're wanting to get stronger again. Right. You know, we can, that's a whole nother thing. I've talked to several people about, but as humans, our desire to compete, whether you think you're con we wanted to compete or not, but having that back again from, all those days of playing team sports and playing football as being with a group of people that had the same purpose, the same, wanting to, want a good in there and better themselves.
Garrett (37:15):
And just being part of that, I was afraid that some of that was going to go away. So that was like, man, I want to be part of this as it grows. And, especially for you in a gym and seeing where you have taken things, I was like, I don't want to miss this opportunity to, to continue to be a part of this. I didn't want to, one of the reasons I took on the strike was because the doors were going to close. If I didn't take it on a year before you took it off, right. We had 17 members. I was maybe the 17th or the 18th. And I was like, I don't want this to go, not only selfishly, but for everybody else. And some of those were, were the founding members, right.
Garrett (37:51):
That is still there today. Right. And so I was like, we can't close this for them, for me. Like, we got to figure out how to make this work. And then, we had, I had grown the business to be, we're at the point where I was working full-time I just couldn't do it anymore. We had found you through ties and in, and I guess the business, I guess, and it was just time for me to step away and let you take over. And I saw what you could do with it, and I just really want to be a part of it. Not only where I saw it could go and tour, it could be in this community here in the backdrop. But just for the team aspect, I wanted to continue to be part of that team, part of that family, part of that same purpose of getting together and working towards our common goals. So I didn't want to miss that opportunity and that's all I want to be a part of.
Schindler (38:48):
Well, I've always loved that you made that decision. One, speaking of like you know the red thread that ties things together, like I have always viewed you as one of the leaders of the community, but, you know, as the former owner, but even if you hadn't ever been, when you walk in the room, people know, you're a leader. Right. And you're welcome. And I think the fact that you stayed, stayed with, it has always been like a really brought a lot of warmth to my heart, because it would have been, you would, no one would have faulted you for saying, washing my hands out of it. I'm going to go do other things, you could have had an ego about it. I mean, certainly we changed some things and it's probably not the way that you would have done things, but you've always stuck it out and not always you know, just meant a ton to me. And you continue to look at you to this day as a leader. And I can see, I don't know, I kind of consider you still like a pseudo owner or whatever, because of that tie. And
Garrett (39:50):
I consider myself an ambassador.
Schindler (39:53):
There you go. Perfect.
Garrett (39:54):
No, whether I've got the title or not, I'm constantly wearing this drive, whether it's still CrossFit or strength conditioning or what it's our family, it's our team. And so I've always been super proud of it from, you know, the day I start your day, I walked in that gym again, we can, that's a whole nother conversation. You know, we were just talking about the hardest thing you do is walk into the gym. And it still is especially for that first day, that support of the people then support that people want to support you. Because it's a big part of my offense. Part of the family is part of the team and I want to see it be successful.
Schindler (40:34):
Yeah. So going back to one of the, like earlier parts of that section, you I feel, and I've always said this, like, why did when we were a CrossFit affiliate, why did it work for me? And now we still do something similar, but we have our own flavor of it. Why does it work for people guys like us and gals w you know, certain people and I always say, it's like, it ties, if you played team sports as a kid, or if you were in the military or you're in a law enforcement where there's like a, like a team environment or it kind of ties all that together. What made me successful in the military was I had a group of guys who we all had a collective goal.
Schindler (41:13):
We were all working on the same thing. We had a mission, a big picture mission, but like a task that day that we were going to take, and we were all suffering together to accomplish that. We had leadership. So you had a coach in football when I played football. And you had your position coaches, and you had your strength coaches, and you had your head coaches, and that's kinda like, and it brings all that together. I mean, it's just kind of like that system works for a lot of people, then they come in. And so there's people on the outside looking in thinking it's a gladiator camp, people just clanging and banging maybe it's somewhat cutthroat, cutthroat, or super competitive. And, but it's always like a competition in a healthy way. Like, let's all get better together. And I think that works for the majority of people, I think for, I tell everyone what we do there will work for anybody. It's just, do you enjoy it? Is it something you're gonna stick with?
Garrett (42:04):
And I've told people from when I was quote unquote, selling CrossFit or selling the gym and trying to get membership is, I think CrossFit, or I think this type of training is for everyone, but not every gym is for everyone. Right? Cause again, gym owners do things differently because of cultural differences. You know, some people are like, Hey, you're going to do my, do it my way. You're going to do it certain ways. No. and then there's other gyms that have different free-thinking. And so it's I lost my train of thought God was bumping going by, but yeah. I don't know. You can't couldn't hear it, but yeah, I mean, from when I was selling CrossFit, it's and I don't think it's about to coach.
Garret (42:49):
Right. I've had good coaches in life and bad coaches in life. It really boils down to your brotherhood. Right. And even at the gym, I've had times where it's, we still got a CrossFit thread where it's like I won't say what the title of the CrossFit group is here. Or the text grid, the text group. Yeah. The text group, sorry. You know, but you know, there for a good long time, we had a group of guys that went in at the same time. Every day we compete against each other, we talked a little, we had a good time, and is that groups not necessarily there anymore, there are certain members are still there and again, you kind of change with the seasons again, everybody's got different things in life and you continue to find and gravitate towards those people that you can relate to in the gym that you can compete with in the gym, whether you you're competing directly with them, or just kind of, watching the leaderboard and benchmarking yourself towards them, but they push you.
Garrett (43:43):
Right. You find those people that push you and that you relate to, and that's what keeps bringing you back. You know, it's not the coaches, I'm not going, I love Katie to death, but it's not going to, I'm going, cause Katie's there, I'm going because you know, there's normally a group of people there that I want to go, and Katie and the coaches are certainly, they don't hold themselves on a pedestal. They are part of that group. Like, we're just one big happy family. And so you know, that's what really brings people back to the community. And what's different about our community versus maybe some other CrossFit communities or even a global gym. Right. You know, you're going in, not faulting anybody for walking to a global gym, that's the hardest thing they're going to do too.
Garrett (44:23):
And we all make ourselves better. And so you know, but what's different about us, when you walk in the door, you're going to be welcomed. You're going to feel warm. You're going to hopefully find someone that you care and relate to. And if you don't, I think that's okay. You know, but, but don't give up that search, right. Like I said, I think CrossFit, I think, this type of team training is for everybody, but not maybe every Jim's for everybody, but go find that next, Jim. And, find that community that you fit in. And I think that's what you promote, we've had other CrossFit gyms open up in the community that have come and gone. We're still here, you know, but it's you know, if they're promoting that kind of thing to the team that's better for us, right? Because again, you know, that gym might not be good for them, but ours is, and vice versa, right. As long as we're getting healthy together as a community, as a whole here in Bastrop, I think it's good.
Schindler (45:17):
Right. And if, as long as you're prioritizing, what's important, like I'm in this business, not for any other reason than to help people to be healthy and be their best self. So again, if my place isn't working for you, no issues, I'll let me help you find somewhere that does work for you. And I've many times referred people to other gyms for various different reasons with no issue at all. Because I look at, I don't, I've never my perspective on everything now. Although I have been in many competitive situations, whether it be in sport and the military in my career, I've never looked at it like competition. I look at it like collaboration, like when you are in it, when you are somebody that's maybe gonna beat me out in a particular opportunity, or you're going to get an opportunity or make some money that I'm not going to make or whatever, I love that I'm like, great.
Schindler (46:11):
I want you to be your best because when I beat you, I want to know that I beat you at your best. I'm not looking just to be competitive with you or to stomp you into the dirt. And I need you to do better. I need everyone around me to be better so that I can be better. You know, it raises all of us, and that's part of the environment that I think in our facility, that also works in it. But people, some people just look at it differently, like, I'm, I don't ever lift as much weight as Garrett does. And so like, I feel bad about myself and I'm like, no, awesome that gravitational pole, the more weight you're lifting now, maybe I won't ever lift more than you, but I'm going to lift more than I am. Correct.
Garrett (46:51):
Yeah. And I think that's the mindset, right? Like the mindset of, and you've got to realize that, I don't want to compete, but you are competing if you're thinking about it, and you're looking at someone that's either fitter or lifting more than you. Right, but I don't want to compete, you're competing just by noticing it, just realize and do it for, and realize it and to challenge you and push you for the right reasons you do it for our reasons. And, guess what, right. Like, I'm a competitive guy. I see you pushing to push me, it's going to push me to make me even better. Right. And it's just a cyclical thing that goes around in the gym, you know?
Garrett (47:30):
And again, it comes in waves and seasons people come and go that challenge you and that kind of thing. But that's great. Like we were all pushing each other. Right. And, are we ever going to reach the peak, like you said, at the beginning of this, so your peak performance I'll never reach my peak performance. Well, I never know, but, I've got big dreams, big aspirations but it also got to come down and humble yourselves. Right. But I don't ever want to stop being pushed. Right. And am I going to lift the weights and do the times the numbers that I did when I was 30, I could, right. It's about that push and, the season and the dreams, the peak, the, what you got going on, but it's coming in and pushing each other, whether that's, you know again, lifting a certain amount of weight you know, certain times anything on the leaderboard, or just pushing ourselves again on the personal side, Hey, Athens, jumped off on these, huge business adventures, and they come with challenges going, oh, I can do that too.
Garrett (48:34):
Right. It's not only the gym, the physical piece. It's connecting and relating with those people and challenging each other together. And using that collaboration.
Schindler (48:43):
I love that. Well, we could, like I said, I knew that we could, you know, chit chat forever, but is there something that you came on to this, I didn't give you any agenda or any questions or anything. Was there anything you thought I was going to ask you about that I haven't asked you about?
Garrett (49:00):
Oh, man. You know I did some pre-planning, it's kind of like an interview, right. You know, trying to, okay, what are the questions I'm kind of going through my head and my wife can attest to it. I do a lot of thinking especially when I'm in the car, for sure. I gotta have some time to think about things. And, so, I thought it'd be more about, what supplements you take in and, and I don't want to say that bad, isn't that shallow questions, but, that's some of the conversations we have in the gym, we talk about wearables, we talk about audit, different things. You know, this is very good to talk about and, just kind of life and being more of a I guess at a high level or a lower level, however you look at it.
Schindler (49:44):
The baseline.
Garrett (49:45):
You know, just being real. Right. And I think that's great.
Schindler (49:50):
You and I like to nerd out, like, we'll talk about supplements and we'll talk about like, when we talk, a lot of people think about human optimization, they're thinking about, optimizing my nutrition and I like when we catch each other at the gym, we do talk about that a lot. I think maybe I didn't ask about it cause I kind of already talked about it before. But yeah. Are there any supplements you're taking right now?
Garrett (50:15):
The basic stuff, I multivitamins, with, obviously we've upped our magnesium zinc, vitamin D with all the COVID, stuff going on, but really just try and eat healthy. That's the base of it, we don't eat out, you know? No, but we do supplement the whole family with some extra vitamins and minerals, that kind of stuff. I've always taken part in creating a team pretty much my entire, I guess, fitness life, off and on times, do that. But promote protein, whether it's, by natural sources or supplementation. So, I think all those things, I think everybody probably needs to be doing anyway, with the health benefits of all those things, I don't take anything special, I guess, or really extra. And so just, just really trying to take the basic needs of your lifestyle right there.
Schindler (51:12):
Yeah. And I think when I'm coaching people on nutrition and things like that based on things like modern times and how we eat and how food is processed and stuff, there's some things that I think most of us should take. And then there's things there's been so much empirical research on that you really, you kind of just got to take because it's been proven time and time again in various different populations. And, situations tend to be good one. I mean, it's the most researched supplement out there. It's like, kind of like, if you're not taking it, it's got like 11 benefits. And if you're not taking it, are you losing a lot? No, probably not. If you're eating well and training everything else, but if there's an edge.
Garrett (51:49):
At the beginning,, at the start of all things is nutrition, right. You can supplement environmental minerals and you can spend hundreds of dollars a month. You're going to waste your money. If you're not starting with the basics of eating healthy, what you're putting on your plate or what's coming out of a rapper, or a box, right. You know, if you're not fixing those things first, then supplementation, is it going to, you can waste the water, your money, right. You know, vitamins murals are gonna still help, but you gotta fix those challenges and, and health things first, what you're putting in front of you every day.
Schindler (52:31):
Well, I couldn't agree more, I just want to thank you again for coming on the show. But more than that, I just want to, you're on the show because of who you are. I just want to thank you for how you showed up for me personally, as an individual, but for our community and all, I know you're working with a lot of kids and it's just so fun to watch. And I aspire to gain some of those characteristics from you. I don't feel there's some areas where I haven't grown into yet that I would love to. And you're just really a huge inspiration.
Garrett (53:03):
I feel the same. I feel the same. Since you've come into my life, I've seen you, do things in your life and grow and the challenges you've taken on and you inspire me as well. And so I just feel blessed that you've come into our life. You know, it was none of my doing, it was my other business partners doing, but God works in mysterious ways and, we've, I think we're still building our relationship and, together, and I just love seeing you challenge yourself and grow. And I'm thrilled that you're here sitting in your backyard, in this beautiful community. You've just added to our community and just very thankful you're here. And, I look forward to continuing to grow our relationship and inspiring each other, challenging each other. I think I've yet to beat ACE in a CrossFit open workout. And so he continued to push me not only, on the personal side, but on the physical side too. So personally, I just want to say thank you to you for coming into my life and doing what you continue to do and inspiring me and inspiring so many of us in the gym as well. So thank you again for having me and what you do. Absolutely.
Garrett (54:12):
I'm looking forward to getting back into that four 30 clock when I get off these orders and just slang and some weights with you.
Garrett (54:18):
Let's go climb, bang. Let's go do it. I appreciate it, man.
Schindler (54:23):
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. 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, doing the work podcast, and we'll see you on the next episode.
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