January 20, 2025 • 49 mins
In this episode of the Granger Smith Podcast, Granger tackles heartfelt listener questions and offers thoughtful advice on navigating tough situations. From dealing with a toxic work environment and balancing the fear of the unknown to co-parenting after divorce and staying consistent with fitness goals, Granger provides practical, faith-centered wisdom to help listeners find clarity and peace.
He also reflects on the importance of sleep, shares insights on overcoming fear, and emphasizes the value of preparation and discipline in daily life. Plus, he discusses the balance between land development and environmental stewardship in a fascinating listener question about population growth.
This episode is packed with relatable stories, encouragement, and actionable tips to help you navigate life’s challenges with grace and determination. Don’t forget to email your questions to podcast@grangersmith.com and join the conversation!
Key Topics Covered:
- Handling toxic work environments and making bold career decisions
- Practical tips for effective co-parenting
- Finding consistency and motivation in fitness routines
- The impact of sleep on mental and physical health
- Reflections on balancing development and nature preservation
Tune in and be inspired to take small steps toward a better you. Yee Yee!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Everybody, granger Smith here, Welcome back to the Grangersmith podcast.
We put out new episodes every single Monday, and we've
been doing this for I guess since twenty seventeen. So
what the format is is, I answer your questions you
email me podcast at grangersmith dot com. We'll put it
in the queue. Ant Man, my producer, We'll get them
(00:32):
together and I pull these up and I read these
questions as if you're a friend asking me a question,
very low key, very relaxed and informal. I don't have
a whole bunch of notes in front of me. I'm
just going to read the question as if you're asking
me in front of a campfire, and the answers will
(00:55):
be very off the cuff, in fact, so much so
that sometimes I could think about it later and perhaps
want to change my answer a little bit, and I
don't get that opportunity. I think the podcast is better
if you get the first response, the first reaction in
my head today, I don't have a guess, it's just
me and the first question comes from Ryan. Once again.
(01:19):
The email is podcast at grangersmith dot com. One day.
The plan is still to do this live somewhere as
I create some kind of podcast tour, and we've been
in talks with different people to come to your city
and set up and maybe like a theater and have
(01:40):
you have a microphone out in the audience, and we
actually answer them live. That's the plan. The first question
today comes from Ryan, and it says this, Hey, Granger,
I'm stuck in a job where the environment is really toxic,
and it's starting to take a toll on me, both
mentally and emotionally. My boss is unpredictable and overly critical,
(02:03):
making it hard to feel like I'm doing anything right.
On top of that, the office politics are out of control,
and it feels like no one trusts each other. It's
a constant game of walking on eggshells just to get
through the day. I thought about quitting, but I'm scared
of what that might mean for my family. I'm the
primary bread rent winner, and while I have some savings,
(02:26):
it's not nearly enough to carry us for very long
if I don't find a new job quickly. At the
same time, the stress of staying in this environment is
affecting my sleep, my mood at home, and even my
physical health. I'm torn between sticking it out I'm trying
to find a better situation. The idea of jumping into
the unknown is terrifying, and so is the thought of
(02:47):
continuing like this. How do you know when it's time
to walk away from a bad situation, even if the
future feels uncertain. What would you do in my position?
Thanks for your advice, Ryan, Ryan, Thanks for the email, Brother,
And I'm sorry you're in You're you're in a tough situation.
(03:09):
It's it sounds like you've put a lot of thought
into this, and it sounds like you're you're thinking in
all the right ways because you're What I mean is
you're you're kind of weighing the cost of what it
looks like to be out of this job, to remain
in this job, to be better in this job. And
you know something you said in here where you said
(03:31):
it's it's affecting my sleep. I've thought about that a
lot lately, more than I have in the last four
or five years. And I've been talking to Amber about this,
because you know, I I have some friends that have
told me, hey, you know, the more and more we
(03:52):
read about sleep, the more and more we see how
important it actually is. And I think about sometimes my
uncle who was a Marine captain in Vietnam, and he
was just an early riser. He would get up every
single morning at four am and go for a run.
(04:13):
As he got older, it was a walk, walk the dogs.
And it didn't matter what time he went to bed.
He was up at four vacation weekends, it didn't matter.
And sometimes he would get, you know, four hours of
sleep several times in the week, and he was always like,
(04:34):
I'm fine, I just when I wake up. That's what
we do in the Marines, you know. And we ended
up losing him, and he suffered from pretty severe dementia.
And I look back on that and I wonder, you know,
the Lord is sovereign in all this, but I can't help,
but wonder if if we could be responsible, more responsible
(04:59):
in the area of sleep, me and my family and
you listening. That's something we probably don't do enough in
this world today. My friend Heath Evans told me that
I need seven hours and Amber needs eight. Men need
a little bit less, women need eight. Kids. I mean
the kids need ten. I would say. Sometimes Maverick sleeps
(05:20):
twelve hours. We put them down at eight pm and
or seven thirty pm, and he gets up at seven
thirty am or eight o'clock am. But I think it's
so important that we take these extra precautions toward getting
the appropriate amount of sleep. And so when you say
that right in the middle of your email, that's one
(05:41):
of the first things that pops out to me. It's like, Hey,
this is affecting your sleep. Then that would also affect
what you say next, my mood at home, and that
would also affect the next thing you say, my physical health.
So sleep is going to affect all these things. So
if the job is hurting your sleep long term, it
(06:01):
could actually be taking years off the end of your life.
That's my point. So add that, to add that to
the worry of what's going on in this email, you
say that the environment is really toxic and it's starting
to take a toll mentally and emotionally. Now, I caution
(06:23):
first of all saying that I believe we live in
a world now, that is, we live in a job
jumping world that our parents and our grandparents certainly and
everyone before that just didn't do. Today, you ask any
any joe off the street that's middle aged and younger,
and you ask what they do, and there's probably several answers.
(06:46):
I've done this, this, this, and I'm currently doing this,
and my dream is to do this. And everybody before us,
starting with my parents generation and everybody before that, they
just pretty much worked one job. Either they had one
skill and they just did that, or they landed one
one kind of job and just did it for forty
(07:08):
years and either did it until they died or did
it until they retired because they physically couldn't. And but
then then they did something similar after that. And so
I think that it's it's admirable to think in that
old way of just let's let's not be job jumpers.
(07:30):
And here here's what I think part of the problem is,
I think we have kind of built this illusion in
this country and worldwide to see it worldwide, this fairy
tale Cinderella illusion that there's always something better, there's always
like you were born for this same way I caution
against the idea of soulmate, which is a pagan idea.
(07:53):
I think we should caution the same way in front
of in terms of saying that there's like one job
that's mysterio out there, and when you find it, your
life kind of just aligns to it magically and the
stars just kind of line up and you go, ah,
this is this is what I was born to do,
this particular thing, and now everything else is happy. And
(08:15):
that's not the case. I do think that certain people
certainly are are better at other things depending on their
skill set. But I just think, I just think we
there's no perfect job out there, So although we should
climb ladders and work hard and grow businesses or grow
(08:37):
within companies, we don't have to always be thinking about
this is fine for now, but then I'm going to
find something better because I know something better is out there.
So there's prudence in here, right like we're we're we're
kind of cautioning in all these areas, saying, don't be
abused by your boss and just stick with it for
(08:59):
four years. Don't be someone that has completely lost the
American dream of you could do or be whatever you
want to be. Like, let's stay within the guardrails of
all this and go I'm going to think through these things,
and I'm not going to job jump just because my
feelings are hurt or because there's a mysterious magical job
(09:24):
out there that I don't know of yet. Because certainly
I see social media people that work it. Okay, that's
my foundation. I say all that to then say, after
all that, I say this, I think it's time for
you to get out of this job. From what I've
read here and what I believe you're saying, it sounds
(09:46):
like this job's crushing you mentally, emotionally, and you are
still in it because you're scared to take a step
out of it. That's what all this is coming from.
You're scared of the unknown, which is a normal fear.
If you could say, there, what's the what's the average
fear of the average person, you would throw in there,
(10:09):
the unknown. It's scary the dark. Why are dark hallways scary?
Because at the end where the darkness is, you don't
know if there's a door or not. You don't know
if there's a stairway, you don't know if someone is
standing in the darkness. But the reality is not not
the person or the stairway or the door. The reality
is the unknown of any of those things. So that's
(10:33):
what we got to deal with. You're scared of the unknown,
and it doesn't have to be scary, And this is
how you do it. You you work hard in the
job you're in right now you you be respectful to
your boss, you kind to your co workers, You do
your job with excellence. You you dress appropriately for the gig,
(10:59):
you show up on time, and you stay all the
way till it's time to leave. You are you're you're
consciously battling, battling against bitterness, right so that those are
all the things you do right now, and then when
you go home, you are networking. You're looking for You're
(11:24):
looking through job ads. You're emailing or calling potential bosses,
potential new job prospects. You're talking within your friend group.
That doesn't leak back to your co workers that you're
now on the market for a new job, talking to
different people. Hey, I'm I'm I think I might be
(11:45):
thinking about switching jobs. Here's my skill set. Hey, you're
putting together a resume, not too long, not too short,
right to the point. And as you put these feelers
out there, you're still work any other job with excellence,
and so there's no fear of losing out on the income.
(12:06):
And I think the idea of the new job, and
as you're working towards that, I think the excitement in
that will start to supplement to kind of mitigate the
fear and the emotional mental breakdown that you're getting from
the other job will kind of be swallowed up by
(12:30):
the excitement that you're getting because you're on the market
looking for something new. And this is what you can control.
You can't control your boss, you can't control who hires
you on the next job, but you could work with
excellence in the old job and be taking small steps
day by day towards the new job. You might have
(12:52):
to cut back on some bills. I think I said
this a few podcasts ago, that you might have to
give up some of the luxuries you have in your life.
Like maybe that car you have that that costs seven
hundred dollars a month, maybe you have to trade it
(13:14):
in at the dealership and get something that's two fifty, right,
and then you just you put four hundred and fifty bucks
in your pocket and you say, okay, this is this
is working for me. And you do that several times,
and you you take four hundred here, five hundred or
six hundred here, a thousand here, and and you kind
(13:36):
of equal out your your living expenses and all that.
Giving up the car, giving up the Netflix account, you know,
giving up all these things is worth your is worth
getting rid of this the mental monster that the current
job is and taking a job that pays a little
(13:57):
bit less, and you'll be You'll be happier in the end.
Next question comes from Josh says Greater. I'm recently divorced,
and one of the biggest challenges has been figuring out
how to co parent our two kids in a way
that's healthy and consistent. My ex and I both love
our kids deeply and want what's best for them, but
(14:20):
we approach parenting very differently. For example, I'm stricter when
it comes to discipline, but my ex tends to be
more lenient. This leans to leads to situations where the
kids get mixed messages. And that's okay sometimes, but it's
also not I'm worried this inconsistency might confuse them or
(14:43):
even make them feel like they can play against each other,
play us against each other. Josh says. It's also starting
to cause a lot of tension between me and my ex.
Even though we try to keep things civil, emotions from
the divorce start to create been in small disagreements about
parenting can turn into bigger arguments. I don't want my
(15:05):
kids to pick up on this conflict or feel like
they're stuck in the middle of it all. I know
that co parenting is not easy for anyone, but I
want to make sure that we are creating a stable,
loving environment for our kids. How do you navigate co
parenting effectively, especially when you and your ex don't see
eye to eye. Think of your help and your wisdom
(15:27):
that you share. Josh, Hey, Josh, thank you brother. I'm
sorry for the situation. I hope you know that I
personally have not been in this situation, so I would
only be speaking my best encouragement to you as a friend.
And you already know it's not easy. You're out there
(15:54):
taking arrows. I talked about this with a friend just today.
Sometimes you got to take the arrows. And sometimes in
order to improve, because I know you're firing arrows too, Josh,
in order to improve, you need to fire one less
(16:14):
arrow than she does. That would be improvement. It sounds
like you're a big hang up. Is is discipline and
given given what you're dealing with right now, like you
can't change what has happened. And ideally parents need our
(16:37):
kids need two parents, and that's that's God's design. Is
that kids have two parents, and that the the two personalities.
Typically what we would see is the the dad has
has authority and the more the more of the discipline
(16:59):
aarian than then that the mom, and the mom has
the nurturing, compassion and wisdom in protection, and then the
father carries out the protection and carries out the discipline.
So that that's the partnership. When men and women in
(17:19):
the Bible are created equal, they they are created equal,
but that that does not mean equal roles. That means
that means equal value, but but not equal roles. That's
really practical, easy to understand. And that's not the point,
(17:41):
and that's not that's not the point of your email.
But but I do think it's it's important to remember
that when parents break up and get a divorce, and
it's it's not as if two equal parts have now
split into two and there's one half here and one
half here. It's equal valued parts have broken up that
(18:06):
have that have different roles, and so that now the
roles are split. And that's where the difficulty that that
you're you're talking about comes in. So what do you do?
What do you do? I don't know how old your
kids are, You don't say that. Do you know if
you said if you said how old the kids are,
(18:26):
they could start to it could start to help because
as they get older, you could have conversations about this.
But what you want to do is always be respectful
towards your ex wife. You never want to throw shade
on her or talk behind her back, or give any
allusion to your kids that you're doing things right and
(18:49):
your mom's messing it up because well, for a lot
of reasons, because but one of the reasons is that's
their mama, so you don't you don't want to put
their mama in a bad light. And that concept is
kind of lost in split parenting right now. The idea
(19:10):
that if anyway, this is kind of a known thing,
you talk to anybody about their mama in a negative way,
and we get mad, we get defensive because that's our mama,
Dad's that includes you when you have divorced the mama
and that's your ex wife. Just because it's your ex
wife doesn't give you now a free pass to talk
(19:34):
negatively about their mama. Just as just as a guy
in a grocery store or a guy in a bar,
or a guy in the street or a guy in
the football team wouldn't say anything negative about someone else's
mama without them being triggered. That goes with the husbands
of the ex wives as well. Don't talk about your
(19:56):
kids mama in a bad way. Wives, I can't speak that.
I can't speak for you, but I could speak to
you and say you should take the same advice. And
so as they get older, you could start to just say,
you know, your mama loves you so much. She's a
(20:17):
great mama, and everything she does is out of love. Now,
we do see things a little bit differently when it
comes to discipline, and you could probably tell that when
you come to my house, I'm a little bit stricter
with this. And I told you that you can't eat
froot loops because it's sugar and it's bad for you,
(20:37):
and you know you can get cavities, and so I'm
sorry that when you come over here, my rule is
that you can't have froot loops. And when you go
to your mom's house, she lets you. And that's not
because I love you more, She loves you least. It
has nothing to do with that. She just she doesn't
see it. And she's your mama, and so you got
(20:59):
to re expect her rules when you go to her house. Okay,
and she has things that you can't do that I
let you do. But because we're in this situation and
I wish we weren't, you're gonna have to go buy
my rules when you're in my house, and then you're
gonna have to go buy her rules when when you
go to her house, and those rules sometimes they don't
go to each other's house. So these conversations you could
(21:22):
have with a six, seven eight year old that you
can't have with a four year old that don't quite
understand it yet. And these are the difficult conversations that
come with h you split parenting, And I don't think
I don't think there's inconsistency there. You're worried about inconsistency
(21:44):
and confusion. I don't think that that is there. If
you lay it out like I just did, or you're
just you, you tell them when I discipline, I do
it this way. When you're I'm a discipline, she does
it this way. I'm not saying that your mama is
doing it wrong. But this is my house and my rules,
(22:06):
and that's her house in Hurles. Just be very clear
on that, and I don't think that creates inconsistency. It
creates inconsistency if they don't know and that's not communicated
and they just go in there like I think, Dad,
I thought I could have fruit loops, and you go,
you're a mama, Let you have those fruit loops. I
don't know why she does it. That just tears your
(22:28):
teeth apart and messes up your belly and gives your pimples.
You shouldn't need that sugary stuff. You know. That's throwing
shade on mama. Do your best to stay away from that, Josh.
I'm sorry you're in the situation, man, And I hope
this helps just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
A lot of people thinking about twenty twenty five and
New Year's resolutions, and a lot of those are business related.
In fact, a lot of people listening right now are thinking,
this is the year I'm finally going to start that
small business something I've been wanting to do it forever,
and now is the time. It's gonna be some kind
of e commerce business, and I need a website, and
I've got the perfect product and I'm gonna put it
(23:08):
on there. But then you think, God, it's too complicated
thinking about the website, thinking about the checkout process, all
the behind the scenes and how do you even get
that going at all? Well, let me help you. At
ee dot com, we use Shopify and we have for
a long time. It takes all the questions about the
technology out of it and leaves you to just be
creative and sell your product. See Shopify makes it simple
(23:31):
to create your brand, open for business and get your
first sale. Get your store up and run them easy
with thousands of customizable templates, no coding or design skills
required at all. All you need to do is drag
and drop and then they're powerful social media tools. Helps
you connect all your channels and create shoppable post and
help you sell everywhere that people scroll.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
See.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Shopify makes it so easy to manage your growing business.
They'll help you with the details like shipping, taxes and
from one single dashboard, allowing you to focus on the
important stuff like growing your business. What happens if you
don't act now, maybe you'll regret it. Don't kick yourself
when you hear me say this again in a year.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
And you still haven't done anything.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Established in twenty twenty five has a nice ring to it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Sign up for your one dollar per month trial period
at shopify dot com slash Granger. All lowercase got to
shopify dot com slash Granger to start selling with Shopify
today Shopify dot com slash Granger. If you want to
get a hold of me, an easy way to do
it is Cameo dot com slash Granger Smith cameo dot
com slash granger Smith. You could order a video message
(24:43):
from me saying whatever customizable message you want me to say,
Happy birthday, happy anniversary, maybe a word of encouragement, whatever
it might be. I think it's a pretty good gift,
especially for people you just don't know how to buy
for get them a cameo from me at cameo dot
com slash Grangersmith. So wherever you're listing from, whatever platform
you're listening to this podcast on, I would encourage you
(25:03):
to check out the YouTube version of this. Every podcast
that we do, we put it out on YouTube as
well on my YouTube channel Granger Smith.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Super easy to find. If you go to YouTube and
search for Granger Smith podcast, it should pop right up
for you and you might be listening to it on
there right now as we speak. But a lot of
people aren't a lot of people are on the other platforms.
YouTube's good for a few reasons. One, you can see me, Hey,
we can have these conversations. Sometimes I watch videos on
(25:34):
here and commentate them, and you could watch the videos
with me. And the other thing that's really cool is
you could comment and I do go through those comments,
and so that's encouraging. If you go to the YouTube
version you hear something, maybe one of the questions, and
you want to double down on something, or you want
(25:54):
to reviewed me on something or agree with me, whatever
it might be, you can comment right there and I
see that, and it's of course you could email me
podcast at grangersmith dot com like all of these emails
and say that. But sometimes that idea might get lost
because you'll say, hey, Grangeer, I at a certain episode,
you said this, and so many weeks might have gone
(26:17):
by and I already forgot. So if you go to
that YouTube, actual video, that version, then I'll see that,
and that's helpful. Another thing you could do to help
this podcast is on the other another platform, Apple. If
you're listening on Apple podcast, you could give me five
(26:38):
stars or four if you're not inclined to do five
and you could you could also rate it and comment
on that give me a rating of some sort that
helps the podcast. But that that and that's great and
I hope you do it, but that doesn't help it
as much as you actually sending it to somebody. So
(27:00):
if you you know, I always provide these for free
for the listeners, and the best way for me to
get a return for giving out the free podcast is
for you to share it, so that would be that'd
be great for me. And then lastly, if you want
to ask a question, email podcast at grangersmith dot com
like Steven did, who says, Hey, Granger, I'm a longtime
(27:22):
follower and fan, I'm curious to know your opinion on
population growth. Do you think we will run out of
farmland if we keep developing it to support new homes.
This is something I struggle with. I can't wrap my
head around the fact that we are called to reproduce
as Christians, but we only have a limited amount of
(27:44):
farmland to sustain us. It seems counterintuitive. How do we
approach this in a godly way? Wow, Steven, that is
an interesting question. I don't think of all the questions,
I've never gotten one quite like this. Like I usually
think that a lot of a lot of questions are
just the same, rewarded differently, this one was not. Steve.
(28:06):
That's a great thought. And you know, I have thought
about this before, and it does it bothers me. Absolutely.
I have every time I've moved somewhere in my life
part of them of the decision of moving there. It
(28:26):
kind of sits upon this idea of will the will
the neighbors develop this land and turn it into like
a trailer park or at a neighborhood or an industrial park,
you know, And it's it's always a little it's always
a scary two to move someplace and think, Man, right now,
(28:50):
I love this. I love sitting on my back porch
and looking at these trees and maybe one day a
bulldozer will come in and knock them all down and
they'll put they'll put a target in a hobby lobby
here right right behind me. And so it's definitely it's
definitely a fear. But but I don't think I don't
(29:11):
think it's a it's it's necessarily anything that you and
I have to think of in our lifetime. And there's
there's a lot of ways to approach this, and and
and another thing that kind of comforts me, for instance,
is you know, I've heard people then the next city
(29:32):
over from where I am now is Austin. Austin is
like very progressive, very liberal, and I've I've known people
there that have like one acre of land, and they
think that if you don't touch it, then that's the
way Mother nature, as they would put it, intended for
it not to be touched by man. We have seen
(29:58):
recently in the news with the with the fire in
California that when you do that and man doesn't intervene
and instead just lives and doesn't doesn't work the land
at all. Uh, it not only becomes very dangerous for
fires because of the the underbrush and and but but
(30:20):
it's it ends up the unkempt land ends up being
pretty ugly and pretty dead. I think about this in
my that I have some woods behind me, and since
I've been here, I've gone through a lot of those
woods and taking out some of the the vines that
(30:43):
get up into the oak trees, and taking out a
lot of the thorns that have grown in the in
the brush on the ground. And when I do that
and I pull away the brush, and I pull away
the thorns and the and the big vines. You see
the new growth coming in. You see the pretty flowers
in the grass, and then you see the trees start
(31:04):
to thrive when you cut off the dead branches and
you prune them as they go.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Up, and.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
The land just gets more vibrant and prettier and healthier.
As man, as commanded in Genesis, cultivates the land and
works the land. So there is a sense Stephen, that
that man working the land, even if it's developing, it
(31:30):
is better for it. I've definitely seen neighborhoods go into
cotton fields that the cotton fields have lost all their
nutrients and they're they're kind of worthless, or there's some
kind of rocky land that was valueless, and the neighborhood
(31:52):
goes in there. And then what happens with the neighborhood
a good neighborhood is that they put a couple of
trees in every front yard and a couple of trees
in every backyard, and and over time the trees get
big and the neighborhood gets older, and it's it actually
creates a bit of a forest in a in a
(32:12):
land that used to be just rocky cotton field. So
there are positives, even though they're harder to find there,
there are positives in development. And I could probably go
on and on with some more ideas like that, but
but I think ultimately this is not something you and
I are gonna have to deal with because I live
(32:34):
in Texas and I see millions of acres of undeveloped land.
Maybe if you're you're sitting in in New York City
and you're going, man, is there anything else we could
possibly develop? I don't think. I don't think we can.
But in America, uh, we we have millions and millions
(32:54):
and millions of acres. And so I say, if we
do it responsibly, then man and should come in and
develop and do it with integrity, and do it with excellence,
and do it with class, and and and do it
with keeping the original owner in mind, keeping the farmer
(33:16):
in mind. And you have a lot of farmers that
lose their land to development, but then now they have
a few million bucks to go and and get an
even prettier piece of land farther out of town. I
see this happen to farmers all the time in central Texas.
There I don't think they're too sad when a developer
comes in and buys their old grandpa's farm because they
(33:37):
have so much money now in the bank that they
get to go and and and share that with others
and disperse it among their grandkids and get another farm
somewhere else side. I don't see too much sadness when
it comes to that stuff. So so, buddy, I love
your heart. I love that you that you see that
the bulldozers come in and you you get a little
(33:58):
upset because I know that feeling. But as we go
out and intend to tend to the land and multiply,
if we do it with integrity and love, I think
it is a good thing. This question comes from Michael says, Hey, Granger,
(34:19):
been trying to get in shape for a while now,
but it just can't seem to stay consistent. Life always
seems to get in the way between a demanding job,
family responsibilities, and just trying to keep up with the
day to day life. I find it hard to carve
out time for exercise. I've tried starting out workout routines
and meal plans, and for a couple of weeks I'm
(34:41):
all in, and then something happens, word, gigs gets hectic,
and kids need extra attention, and then I lose the
motivation to keep on going. Before I know it, I'm
right back where I started. It's so frustrating. It's not
just about losing weight or looking a certain way. I
really want to feel healthier and have more energy to
keep up with my family. I know it's important, but
(35:02):
sticking with it feels impossible when everything else seems to
be so urgent. How do you stay motivated to prioritize
fitness when life gets busy, and do you have any
advice for making it less overwhelming and more of a
long term habit. Thanks for taking your time to read this, Michael.
All right, Michael, Yeah, it's a good question, man. And
(35:28):
how do I answer this? Because you could always tell
with somebody how much they want something, how much they
desire something, by the result of it and the progress
of it in their life currently. So if you say
(35:52):
my kids' lives are a huge priority for me, being
there at their sporting events is a huge deal to me, Granger,
and then you're out every week playing golf and missing
the sporting events and you're with your buddies, I would
(36:12):
say it looks like golf is the main priority here,
not the kids. Right, that's easy to see. Super practical.
Same thing with working out, Same thing with staying in shape.
When you say you began your this whole email saying
I've been trying to get in shape for a while
(36:33):
now and just I can't seem to stay consistent, I
would say, if you can't stay consistent and you've tried
it for a while, then you just don't really want
it as much as you want other things in life.
And when we're talking about working out, that's not a
bad thing, you know. That's not like reading the Bible.
I would say. If we're talking about spiritual disciplines and
(36:56):
reading your Bible, I would say, there you must drop
other things to feast on the word of God, because
man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word
that comes from the mouth of God. So as you
would not skip a meal, you cannot skip your personal
devotional time with the Bible. But we're talking about working out.
(37:20):
I think that's very important, but not as important as
some other things. But I would say this, Michael, in
the same way I would be talking about spiritual disciplines,
I would say, I bet you, I bet you don't
ever skip lunch, and you might not ever skip breakfast.
(37:41):
And I would say your lunchtime is about an hour,
probably forty five minutes at the least, a slot in
your day for what you're asking, Because what you're asking
is you're asking for me to help you with your
schedule because you're busy and things come up. I don't
(38:05):
know where you work, I wish I did. I don't
know your work routine. I wish I did because I
could directly help you with that. But I would say,
if it's not waking up early, which is the number
one recommendation, would be set your alarm thirty minutes earlier.
You don't have to go to a gym. You could
do a workout online and you don't even need weights.
(38:29):
Or you can go to Academy Sports and buy some
of those adjustable dumbells that they go from ten pounds
to sixty pounds and they're just two units and you
could adjust it. You could buy those and a bench
and you could pay a couple hundred bucks and be
in and cancel the gym membership and do this in
(38:50):
the garage. Set your alarm thirty minutes earlier. And do that, or,
like I said earlier, if that's not possible, if getting
up earlier is not possible, because what we talked about
earlier with sleep, then I would say skip lunch. And
if that sounds shocking to you, then I would say
that you must not be that serious about it. Eat
(39:13):
if you like to eat, eat a bigger dinner. And
my brother Tyler, I'll tell you what. That guy's crazy.
He only eats dinner and he's been doing this for
years and that's just the way he is. Like I'll say, hey,
you want to go to lunch. He'll go, yeah, but
I'm not gonna eat. He has trained his body in
this way. Or he doesn't even get hungry. Now. He'll
(39:37):
eat twenty five hundred calories at night in one sitting
because he could do that. But he didn't need breakfast
or lunch, and it sureed us free up his day
a lot. So he'll go with me to lunch, but
he'll just sit there and drink water. So have you
ever thought about that? I mean, there's a thousand things
we could talk about, Michael, But I would say, but
(39:59):
you haven't thought about I bet you haven't thought that
lunch is an option, and if you go to work
every day you probably do, then there's there's probably a
gym that costs twenty bucks a month that's walking distance
or a quick drive from wherever you work, and you
can get off for lunch like you usually do. So
you get off it and you say you usually leave it
(40:20):
noon and come back like one fifteen to work. Leave
it noon, go to the gym that takes ten minutes
to drive there. Now it's it's twelve to ten. You
work out for thirty minutes, it's twelve forty. You get dressed,
you take a shower if you need to at the gym,
have it all in a bag, and you hit the
road at one and you're back at the office at
(40:42):
same time about one ten, one fifteen. So you've just
traded one thing for the next, and you will feel
better for this, and you'll feel healthier if you're If
you're like man, I can't skip food like that, then
take a couple of protein bars in the bag and
eat some high calorie protein bars or a high calorie
meal replacement supplement powdered form. Mix it with some water
(41:05):
or some almond milk or something like that. Shake it
up in a little one of the little shakers, you'd
be good to go. And once again it goes back
to how bad do you want this? Like, are you
really serious about this? Because we could, we can go
down a whole list of options. I would say maybe
one of the problems that you're having is you're you're
(41:29):
you're thinking about the workout as too much of a
time commitment, and you're not thinking that you could do
what you need to do in thirty minutes. I hesitate
to talk about me because we're all so different, and
we're all motivated by different things, and we all physically
(41:50):
benefit from different kinds of exercises. But I've done I've
done strength training. I'm not a big cardio guy. I'm
not a big definitely not a CrossFit guy, but I've
done I've done like chest on Monday, back on Tuesday,
legs on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday, and arms on Friday.
I've done that for maybe twenty years. I remember doing
(42:15):
it in high school before that, so a long time.
When I was on the road touring, I did it
in the mornings. I always found a local gym I
had a membership at anytime. Fitness and Planet Fitness and
a monthly membership at each of those it was like
twenty bucks. And so wherever city I went through, there
(42:37):
was always either and Anytime Fitness or a Planet Fitness.
And if there wasn't, then the venue I was playing
suggested something else that was almost always free to go
work out, or sometimes a ten dollars day day fee
sometimes And so I worked. There wasn't an excuse not
to do it. And so I have several workouts for
(43:03):
each of those different muscle groups, I said on my
phone on my notes app, So I could go in
there and there's little videos I could press play, and
they're like thirty five minutes each. So when I want
to do a chess workout, I could find any gym
in the country or some adjustable dun bells and press
play if I have a bench and do a thirty minute.
(43:25):
At every hotel, by the way, that I've ever stayed
in has something to do, you know, some kind of
exercise room. Some are better than others. But when I
go to speaking and engagement now, I will always get
up that morning. I'll get my coffee, i will read
my Bible, I'll do my devotion, I'll fill out my journal,
I'll do my Bible memory, and then I will walk
(43:47):
downstairs at the hotel to the gym and I will
do my workout, and then I'll come back to my
hotel room and start my day and by the way,
skip breakfast typically, So that's how about do you want it? Michael?
How about do you want it? One more thing? Having
(44:09):
a plan before you get to that day is pretty critical.
So for instance, if I'm in a hotel per se,
i will check in, go put my bags up in
the room, and then I'll go back down and I'll say,
where's your fitness room, and they'll say, second floor, into
(44:32):
the hall. So I'll go get an elevator. I go
to the second floor. I go to the end of
the hall and I peek in there just to look
at it, and I'll go, Okay, they got a bench,
they have dumbbells that go up to fifty pounds. They
have two treadmills, and a like a medicine ball. And
then I'll go back to my room and then I'll
know in my mind, I know tomorrow is shoulder day,
(44:56):
and so I've got a I've got a little video
on my phone that work for the dumbbells. They go
up to fifty pounds, a treadmill and a medicine ball,
and that'll work for my shoulder day. So that's my plan.
And then I'll look at look at my schedule and
I go, Okay, the best time because my morning's gonna
start about eight thirty. That means I need to be
(45:17):
in that. See, I'll get up at six. So I'll
look at my watch. It's it's ten thirty right now.
So I'll try to get in bed. And then I
need seven hours. So if I can get to if
i'll read a little bit, if i can get to
sleep by eleven, then I'll wake up at six, that's
seven hours. I'll get my coffee and oh, and I
get up. I literally get up in the hotel room.
(45:39):
This is every time I'm in a hotel. And I
will get that coffee that's in the little plastic bag,
and I'll there's a cup for that little plastic coffee maker.
I'll take the cup out of the plastic bag and
I'll set it in the coffee maker, and I'll get
the coffee pod and I'll put it right next to it.
And then I'll get my water bottle and I'll put
(46:01):
it right next to that, and I get it all
set out, so then my alarm goes off at six.
I go over there. I'd put that. I take the
cup of the cup for the coffee, fill it with water,
put it in the machine, put the pod in, hit power,
I take my iPad, I hit start on my daily
(46:23):
reading plan in my Bible. I start reading, and I
go through the reading and I do my little journal.
I drink the coffee, and then by now it's six
forty five. I go downstairs and I go in At
seven o'clock, I'm working on my shoulder workout. And then
I go from there back upstairs, and now it's you know,
(46:48):
it's seven fifteen, seven twenty, and I could check some emails,
get dressed, and I'm out the door at eight to
whatever I need to do. But that comes from the
plan of the night before. It would be harder if
I woke up that morning at six and been like, okay,
let's see is there coffee in this place or they
(47:10):
have breakfast downstairs. I wonder if they have a gym,
And if they do have a gym, I wonder if
they have free weights, like yet, I would that I wouldn't.
I don't want to do that. It's so much better
to have a plan. So that's my hotel plan. I
have my home plan. But for you, Michael, gets your
shoes ready, get your your your shorts and your T
(47:32):
shirt that you're gonna wear. Get your little earbuds that
you're going to listen to the workout on. Lay them
all out the night before, look at your watch, know
your plan. If you're going to do the lunch thing.
If it, put it in your bag real neat Your
wife says, what are you doing. I'm getting my getting
my gym bag ready, put your shoes in there. Heyre's
here's another side note. If you don't have good gym shoes,
(47:56):
go buy some. I'm not an advocate for buying junk
or things just to buy new things. I'm not. But
for some reason, if you have shoes that you like,
like gym shoes that you like, it will help motivate
you for some strange reason. So what I mean is,
(48:18):
don't have like hybrid like these these will work. These
will be okay. You know, I wore them in the
mud yesterday in the in the field, but they're okay. No,
get you some gym shoes, you know, get you some
modest gym shoes. Put them in the bag. Put your
clothes in there, and put your put your little zip
block bag with protein powder in it. Throw you a
little a little protein bar in there, something high calorie.
(48:42):
Zip it up, put it right there by whatever you
got to take the work or put it in your truck.
The more you prepare the night before, then you get
up that next day and there it is ready to go.
The planning is out of it. It's just waiting for
you to execute the plan. How bad do you want it?
That's the question. Love you guys. Email me podcast at
(49:03):
grangersmith dot com. Don't forget to go to YouTube and
go to this video or any of the podcast episodes
and comment below specifically on that things you like, things
you don't like, And then if you're listening on Apple,
make sure you give me a five star and a
review and above all that, send it to a friend.
Love you guys, See you next Monday. Thanks for joining
me on the Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate all of you guys.
(49:26):
You could help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes.
If you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel. Hit that
little like button and notification spell so that you never
miss anytime I upload a video. Yigi
Everybody, granger Smith here, Welcome back to the Grangersmith podcast.
We put out new episodes every single Monday, and we've
been doing this for I guess since twenty seventeen. So
what the format is is, I answer your questions you
email me podcast at grangersmith dot com. We'll put it
in the queue. Ant Man, my producer, We'll get them
(00:32):
together and I pull these up and I read these
questions as if you're a friend asking me a question,
very low key, very relaxed and informal. I don't have
a whole bunch of notes in front of me. I'm
just going to read the question as if you're asking
me in front of a campfire, and the answers will
(00:55):
be very off the cuff, in fact, so much so
that sometimes I could think about it later and perhaps
want to change my answer a little bit, and I
don't get that opportunity. I think the podcast is better
if you get the first response, the first reaction in
my head today, I don't have a guess, it's just
me and the first question comes from Ryan. Once again.
(01:19):
The email is podcast at grangersmith dot com. One day.
The plan is still to do this live somewhere as
I create some kind of podcast tour, and we've been
in talks with different people to come to your city
and set up and maybe like a theater and have
(01:40):
you have a microphone out in the audience, and we
actually answer them live. That's the plan. The first question
today comes from Ryan, and it says this, Hey, Granger,
I'm stuck in a job where the environment is really toxic,
and it's starting to take a toll on me, both
mentally and emotionally. My boss is unpredictable and overly critical,
(02:03):
making it hard to feel like I'm doing anything right.
On top of that, the office politics are out of control,
and it feels like no one trusts each other. It's
a constant game of walking on eggshells just to get
through the day. I thought about quitting, but I'm scared
of what that might mean for my family. I'm the
primary bread rent winner, and while I have some savings,
(02:26):
it's not nearly enough to carry us for very long
if I don't find a new job quickly. At the
same time, the stress of staying in this environment is
affecting my sleep, my mood at home, and even my
physical health. I'm torn between sticking it out I'm trying
to find a better situation. The idea of jumping into
the unknown is terrifying, and so is the thought of
(02:47):
continuing like this. How do you know when it's time
to walk away from a bad situation, even if the
future feels uncertain. What would you do in my position?
Thanks for your advice, Ryan, Ryan, Thanks for the email, Brother,
And I'm sorry you're in You're you're in a tough situation.
(03:09):
It's it sounds like you've put a lot of thought
into this, and it sounds like you're you're thinking in
all the right ways because you're What I mean is
you're you're kind of weighing the cost of what it
looks like to be out of this job, to remain
in this job, to be better in this job. And
you know something you said in here where you said
(03:31):
it's it's affecting my sleep. I've thought about that a
lot lately, more than I have in the last four
or five years. And I've been talking to Amber about this,
because you know, I I have some friends that have
told me, hey, you know, the more and more we
(03:52):
read about sleep, the more and more we see how
important it actually is. And I think about sometimes my
uncle who was a Marine captain in Vietnam, and he
was just an early riser. He would get up every
single morning at four am and go for a run.
(04:13):
As he got older, it was a walk, walk the dogs.
And it didn't matter what time he went to bed.
He was up at four vacation weekends, it didn't matter.
And sometimes he would get, you know, four hours of
sleep several times in the week, and he was always like,
(04:34):
I'm fine, I just when I wake up. That's what
we do in the Marines, you know. And we ended
up losing him, and he suffered from pretty severe dementia.
And I look back on that and I wonder, you know,
the Lord is sovereign in all this, but I can't help,
but wonder if if we could be responsible, more responsible
(04:59):
in the area of sleep, me and my family and
you listening. That's something we probably don't do enough in
this world today. My friend Heath Evans told me that
I need seven hours and Amber needs eight. Men need
a little bit less, women need eight. Kids. I mean
the kids need ten. I would say. Sometimes Maverick sleeps
(05:20):
twelve hours. We put them down at eight pm and
or seven thirty pm, and he gets up at seven
thirty am or eight o'clock am. But I think it's
so important that we take these extra precautions toward getting
the appropriate amount of sleep. And so when you say
that right in the middle of your email, that's one
(05:41):
of the first things that pops out to me. It's like, Hey,
this is affecting your sleep. Then that would also affect
what you say next, my mood at home, and that
would also affect the next thing you say, my physical health.
So sleep is going to affect all these things. So
if the job is hurting your sleep long term, it
(06:01):
could actually be taking years off the end of your life.
That's my point. So add that, to add that to
the worry of what's going on in this email, you
say that the environment is really toxic and it's starting
to take a toll mentally and emotionally. Now, I caution
(06:23):
first of all saying that I believe we live in
a world now, that is, we live in a job
jumping world that our parents and our grandparents certainly and
everyone before that just didn't do. Today, you ask any
any joe off the street that's middle aged and younger,
and you ask what they do, and there's probably several answers.
(06:46):
I've done this, this, this, and I'm currently doing this,
and my dream is to do this. And everybody before us,
starting with my parents generation and everybody before that, they
just pretty much worked one job. Either they had one
skill and they just did that, or they landed one
one kind of job and just did it for forty
(07:08):
years and either did it until they died or did
it until they retired because they physically couldn't. And but
then then they did something similar after that. And so
I think that it's it's admirable to think in that
old way of just let's let's not be job jumpers.
(07:30):
And here here's what I think part of the problem is,
I think we have kind of built this illusion in
this country and worldwide to see it worldwide, this fairy
tale Cinderella illusion that there's always something better, there's always
like you were born for this same way I caution
against the idea of soulmate, which is a pagan idea.
(07:53):
I think we should caution the same way in front
of in terms of saying that there's like one job
that's mysterio out there, and when you find it, your
life kind of just aligns to it magically and the
stars just kind of line up and you go, ah,
this is this is what I was born to do,
this particular thing, and now everything else is happy. And
(08:15):
that's not the case. I do think that certain people
certainly are are better at other things depending on their
skill set. But I just think, I just think we
there's no perfect job out there, So although we should
climb ladders and work hard and grow businesses or grow
(08:37):
within companies, we don't have to always be thinking about
this is fine for now, but then I'm going to
find something better because I know something better is out there.
So there's prudence in here, right like we're we're we're
kind of cautioning in all these areas, saying, don't be
abused by your boss and just stick with it for
(08:59):
four years. Don't be someone that has completely lost the
American dream of you could do or be whatever you
want to be. Like, let's stay within the guardrails of
all this and go I'm going to think through these things,
and I'm not going to job jump just because my
feelings are hurt or because there's a mysterious magical job
(09:24):
out there that I don't know of yet. Because certainly
I see social media people that work it. Okay, that's
my foundation. I say all that to then say, after
all that, I say this, I think it's time for
you to get out of this job. From what I've
read here and what I believe you're saying, it sounds
(09:46):
like this job's crushing you mentally, emotionally, and you are
still in it because you're scared to take a step
out of it. That's what all this is coming from.
You're scared of the unknown, which is a normal fear.
If you could say, there, what's the what's the average
fear of the average person, you would throw in there,
(10:09):
the unknown. It's scary the dark. Why are dark hallways scary?
Because at the end where the darkness is, you don't
know if there's a door or not. You don't know
if there's a stairway, you don't know if someone is
standing in the darkness. But the reality is not not
the person or the stairway or the door. The reality
is the unknown of any of those things. So that's
(10:33):
what we got to deal with. You're scared of the unknown,
and it doesn't have to be scary, And this is
how you do it. You you work hard in the
job you're in right now you you be respectful to
your boss, you kind to your co workers, You do
your job with excellence. You you dress appropriately for the gig,
(10:59):
you show up on time, and you stay all the
way till it's time to leave. You are you're you're
consciously battling, battling against bitterness, right so that those are
all the things you do right now, and then when
you go home, you are networking. You're looking for You're
(11:24):
looking through job ads. You're emailing or calling potential bosses,
potential new job prospects. You're talking within your friend group.
That doesn't leak back to your co workers that you're
now on the market for a new job, talking to
different people. Hey, I'm I'm I think I might be
(11:45):
thinking about switching jobs. Here's my skill set. Hey, you're
putting together a resume, not too long, not too short,
right to the point. And as you put these feelers
out there, you're still work any other job with excellence,
and so there's no fear of losing out on the income.
(12:06):
And I think the idea of the new job, and
as you're working towards that, I think the excitement in
that will start to supplement to kind of mitigate the
fear and the emotional mental breakdown that you're getting from
the other job will kind of be swallowed up by
(12:30):
the excitement that you're getting because you're on the market
looking for something new. And this is what you can control.
You can't control your boss, you can't control who hires
you on the next job, but you could work with
excellence in the old job and be taking small steps
day by day towards the new job. You might have
(12:52):
to cut back on some bills. I think I said
this a few podcasts ago, that you might have to
give up some of the luxuries you have in your life.
Like maybe that car you have that that costs seven
hundred dollars a month, maybe you have to trade it
(13:14):
in at the dealership and get something that's two fifty, right,
and then you just you put four hundred and fifty bucks
in your pocket and you say, okay, this is this
is working for me. And you do that several times,
and you you take four hundred here, five hundred or
six hundred here, a thousand here, and and you kind
(13:36):
of equal out your your living expenses and all that.
Giving up the car, giving up the Netflix account, you know,
giving up all these things is worth your is worth
getting rid of this the mental monster that the current
job is and taking a job that pays a little
(13:57):
bit less, and you'll be You'll be happier in the end.
Next question comes from Josh says Greater. I'm recently divorced,
and one of the biggest challenges has been figuring out
how to co parent our two kids in a way
that's healthy and consistent. My ex and I both love
our kids deeply and want what's best for them, but
(14:20):
we approach parenting very differently. For example, I'm stricter when
it comes to discipline, but my ex tends to be
more lenient. This leans to leads to situations where the
kids get mixed messages. And that's okay sometimes, but it's
also not I'm worried this inconsistency might confuse them or
(14:43):
even make them feel like they can play against each other,
play us against each other. Josh says. It's also starting
to cause a lot of tension between me and my ex.
Even though we try to keep things civil, emotions from
the divorce start to create been in small disagreements about
parenting can turn into bigger arguments. I don't want my
(15:05):
kids to pick up on this conflict or feel like
they're stuck in the middle of it all. I know
that co parenting is not easy for anyone, but I
want to make sure that we are creating a stable,
loving environment for our kids. How do you navigate co
parenting effectively, especially when you and your ex don't see
eye to eye. Think of your help and your wisdom
(15:27):
that you share. Josh, Hey, Josh, thank you brother. I'm
sorry for the situation. I hope you know that I
personally have not been in this situation, so I would
only be speaking my best encouragement to you as a friend.
And you already know it's not easy. You're out there
(15:54):
taking arrows. I talked about this with a friend just today.
Sometimes you got to take the arrows. And sometimes in
order to improve, because I know you're firing arrows too, Josh,
in order to improve, you need to fire one less
(16:14):
arrow than she does. That would be improvement. It sounds
like you're a big hang up. Is is discipline and
given given what you're dealing with right now, like you
can't change what has happened. And ideally parents need our
(16:37):
kids need two parents, and that's that's God's design. Is
that kids have two parents, and that the the two personalities.
Typically what we would see is the the dad has
has authority and the more the more of the discipline
(16:59):
aarian than then that the mom, and the mom has
the nurturing, compassion and wisdom in protection, and then the
father carries out the protection and carries out the discipline.
So that that's the partnership. When men and women in
(17:19):
the Bible are created equal, they they are created equal,
but that that does not mean equal roles. That means
that means equal value, but but not equal roles. That's
really practical, easy to understand. And that's not the point,
(17:41):
and that's not that's not the point of your email.
But but I do think it's it's important to remember
that when parents break up and get a divorce, and
it's it's not as if two equal parts have now
split into two and there's one half here and one
half here. It's equal valued parts have broken up that
(18:06):
have that have different roles, and so that now the
roles are split. And that's where the difficulty that that
you're you're talking about comes in. So what do you do?
What do you do? I don't know how old your
kids are, You don't say that. Do you know if
you said if you said how old the kids are,
(18:26):
they could start to it could start to help because
as they get older, you could have conversations about this.
But what you want to do is always be respectful
towards your ex wife. You never want to throw shade
on her or talk behind her back, or give any
allusion to your kids that you're doing things right and
(18:49):
your mom's messing it up because well, for a lot
of reasons, because but one of the reasons is that's
their mama, so you don't you don't want to put
their mama in a bad light. And that concept is
kind of lost in split parenting right now. The idea
(19:10):
that if anyway, this is kind of a known thing,
you talk to anybody about their mama in a negative way,
and we get mad, we get defensive because that's our mama,
Dad's that includes you when you have divorced the mama
and that's your ex wife. Just because it's your ex
wife doesn't give you now a free pass to talk
(19:34):
negatively about their mama. Just as just as a guy
in a grocery store or a guy in a bar,
or a guy in the street or a guy in
the football team wouldn't say anything negative about someone else's
mama without them being triggered. That goes with the husbands
of the ex wives as well. Don't talk about your
(19:56):
kids mama in a bad way. Wives, I can't speak that.
I can't speak for you, but I could speak to
you and say you should take the same advice. And
so as they get older, you could start to just say,
you know, your mama loves you so much. She's a
(20:17):
great mama, and everything she does is out of love. Now,
we do see things a little bit differently when it
comes to discipline, and you could probably tell that when
you come to my house, I'm a little bit stricter
with this. And I told you that you can't eat
froot loops because it's sugar and it's bad for you,
(20:37):
and you know you can get cavities, and so I'm
sorry that when you come over here, my rule is
that you can't have froot loops. And when you go
to your mom's house, she lets you. And that's not
because I love you more, She loves you least. It
has nothing to do with that. She just she doesn't
see it. And she's your mama, and so you got
(20:59):
to re expect her rules when you go to her house. Okay,
and she has things that you can't do that I
let you do. But because we're in this situation and
I wish we weren't, you're gonna have to go buy
my rules when you're in my house, and then you're
gonna have to go buy her rules when when you
go to her house, and those rules sometimes they don't
go to each other's house. So these conversations you could
(21:22):
have with a six, seven eight year old that you
can't have with a four year old that don't quite
understand it yet. And these are the difficult conversations that
come with h you split parenting, And I don't think
I don't think there's inconsistency there. You're worried about inconsistency
(21:44):
and confusion. I don't think that that is there. If
you lay it out like I just did, or you're
just you, you tell them when I discipline, I do
it this way. When you're I'm a discipline, she does
it this way. I'm not saying that your mama is
doing it wrong. But this is my house and my rules,
(22:06):
and that's her house in Hurles. Just be very clear
on that, and I don't think that creates inconsistency. It
creates inconsistency if they don't know and that's not communicated
and they just go in there like I think, Dad,
I thought I could have fruit loops, and you go,
you're a mama, Let you have those fruit loops. I
don't know why she does it. That just tears your
(22:28):
teeth apart and messes up your belly and gives your pimples.
You shouldn't need that sugary stuff. You know. That's throwing
shade on mama. Do your best to stay away from that, Josh.
I'm sorry you're in the situation, man, And I hope
this helps just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
A lot of people thinking about twenty twenty five and
New Year's resolutions, and a lot of those are business related.
In fact, a lot of people listening right now are thinking,
this is the year I'm finally going to start that
small business something I've been wanting to do it forever,
and now is the time. It's gonna be some kind
of e commerce business, and I need a website, and
I've got the perfect product and I'm gonna put it
(23:08):
on there. But then you think, God, it's too complicated
thinking about the website, thinking about the checkout process, all
the behind the scenes and how do you even get
that going at all? Well, let me help you. At
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a long time. It takes all the questions about the
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(23:31):
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Speaker 1 (23:53):
See.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Shopify makes it so easy to manage your growing business.
They'll help you with the details like shipping, taxes and
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important stuff like growing your business. What happens if you
don't act now, maybe you'll regret it. Don't kick yourself
when you hear me say this again in a year.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
And you still haven't done anything.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Established in twenty twenty five has a nice ring to it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Sign up for your one dollar per month trial period
at shopify dot com slash Granger. All lowercase got to
shopify dot com slash Granger to start selling with Shopify
today Shopify dot com slash Granger. If you want to
get a hold of me, an easy way to do
it is Cameo dot com slash Granger Smith cameo dot
com slash granger Smith. You could order a video message
(24:43):
from me saying whatever customizable message you want me to say,
Happy birthday, happy anniversary, maybe a word of encouragement, whatever
it might be. I think it's a pretty good gift,
especially for people you just don't know how to buy
for get them a cameo from me at cameo dot
com slash Grangersmith. So wherever you're listing from, whatever platform
you're listening to this podcast on, I would encourage you
(25:03):
to check out the YouTube version of this. Every podcast
that we do, we put it out on YouTube as
well on my YouTube channel Granger Smith.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Super easy to find. If you go to YouTube and
search for Granger Smith podcast, it should pop right up
for you and you might be listening to it on
there right now as we speak. But a lot of
people aren't a lot of people are on the other platforms.
YouTube's good for a few reasons. One, you can see me, Hey,
we can have these conversations. Sometimes I watch videos on
(25:34):
here and commentate them, and you could watch the videos
with me. And the other thing that's really cool is
you could comment and I do go through those comments,
and so that's encouraging. If you go to the YouTube
version you hear something, maybe one of the questions, and
you want to double down on something, or you want
(25:54):
to reviewed me on something or agree with me, whatever
it might be, you can comment right there and I
see that, and it's of course you could email me
podcast at grangersmith dot com like all of these emails
and say that. But sometimes that idea might get lost
because you'll say, hey, Grangeer, I at a certain episode,
you said this, and so many weeks might have gone
(26:17):
by and I already forgot. So if you go to
that YouTube, actual video, that version, then I'll see that,
and that's helpful. Another thing you could do to help
this podcast is on the other another platform, Apple. If
you're listening on Apple podcast, you could give me five
(26:38):
stars or four if you're not inclined to do five
and you could you could also rate it and comment
on that give me a rating of some sort that
helps the podcast. But that that and that's great and
I hope you do it, but that doesn't help it
as much as you actually sending it to somebody. So
(27:00):
if you you know, I always provide these for free
for the listeners, and the best way for me to
get a return for giving out the free podcast is
for you to share it, so that would be that'd
be great for me. And then lastly, if you want
to ask a question, email podcast at grangersmith dot com
like Steven did, who says, Hey, Granger, I'm a longtime
(27:22):
follower and fan, I'm curious to know your opinion on
population growth. Do you think we will run out of
farmland if we keep developing it to support new homes.
This is something I struggle with. I can't wrap my
head around the fact that we are called to reproduce
as Christians, but we only have a limited amount of
(27:44):
farmland to sustain us. It seems counterintuitive. How do we
approach this in a godly way? Wow, Steven, that is
an interesting question. I don't think of all the questions,
I've never gotten one quite like this. Like I usually
think that a lot of a lot of questions are
just the same, rewarded differently, this one was not. Steve.
(28:06):
That's a great thought. And you know, I have thought
about this before, and it does it bothers me. Absolutely.
I have every time I've moved somewhere in my life
part of them of the decision of moving there. It
(28:26):
kind of sits upon this idea of will the will
the neighbors develop this land and turn it into like
a trailer park or at a neighborhood or an industrial park,
you know, And it's it's always a little it's always
a scary two to move someplace and think, Man, right now,
(28:50):
I love this. I love sitting on my back porch
and looking at these trees and maybe one day a
bulldozer will come in and knock them all down and
they'll put they'll put a target in a hobby lobby
here right right behind me. And so it's definitely it's
definitely a fear. But but I don't think I don't
(29:11):
think it's a it's it's necessarily anything that you and
I have to think of in our lifetime. And there's
there's a lot of ways to approach this, and and
and another thing that kind of comforts me, for instance,
is you know, I've heard people then the next city
(29:32):
over from where I am now is Austin. Austin is
like very progressive, very liberal, and I've I've known people
there that have like one acre of land, and they
think that if you don't touch it, then that's the
way Mother nature, as they would put it, intended for
it not to be touched by man. We have seen
(29:58):
recently in the news with the with the fire in
California that when you do that and man doesn't intervene
and instead just lives and doesn't doesn't work the land
at all. Uh, it not only becomes very dangerous for
fires because of the the underbrush and and but but
(30:20):
it's it ends up the unkempt land ends up being
pretty ugly and pretty dead. I think about this in
my that I have some woods behind me, and since
I've been here, I've gone through a lot of those
woods and taking out some of the the vines that
(30:43):
get up into the oak trees, and taking out a
lot of the thorns that have grown in the in
the brush on the ground. And when I do that
and I pull away the brush, and I pull away
the thorns and the and the big vines. You see
the new growth coming in. You see the pretty flowers
in the grass, and then you see the trees start
(31:04):
to thrive when you cut off the dead branches and
you prune them as they go.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Up, and.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
The land just gets more vibrant and prettier and healthier.
As man, as commanded in Genesis, cultivates the land and
works the land. So there is a sense Stephen, that
that man working the land, even if it's developing, it
(31:30):
is better for it. I've definitely seen neighborhoods go into
cotton fields that the cotton fields have lost all their
nutrients and they're they're kind of worthless, or there's some
kind of rocky land that was valueless, and the neighborhood
(31:52):
goes in there. And then what happens with the neighborhood
a good neighborhood is that they put a couple of
trees in every front yard and a couple of trees
in every backyard, and and over time the trees get
big and the neighborhood gets older, and it's it actually
creates a bit of a forest in a in a
(32:12):
land that used to be just rocky cotton field. So
there are positives, even though they're harder to find there,
there are positives in development. And I could probably go
on and on with some more ideas like that, but
but I think ultimately this is not something you and
I are gonna have to deal with because I live
(32:34):
in Texas and I see millions of acres of undeveloped land.
Maybe if you're you're sitting in in New York City
and you're going, man, is there anything else we could
possibly develop? I don't think. I don't think we can.
But in America, uh, we we have millions and millions
(32:54):
and millions of acres. And so I say, if we
do it responsibly, then man and should come in and
develop and do it with integrity, and do it with excellence,
and do it with class, and and and do it
with keeping the original owner in mind, keeping the farmer
(33:16):
in mind. And you have a lot of farmers that
lose their land to development, but then now they have
a few million bucks to go and and get an
even prettier piece of land farther out of town. I
see this happen to farmers all the time in central Texas.
There I don't think they're too sad when a developer
comes in and buys their old grandpa's farm because they
(33:37):
have so much money now in the bank that they
get to go and and and share that with others
and disperse it among their grandkids and get another farm
somewhere else side. I don't see too much sadness when
it comes to that stuff. So so, buddy, I love
your heart. I love that you that you see that
the bulldozers come in and you you get a little
(33:58):
upset because I know that feeling. But as we go
out and intend to tend to the land and multiply,
if we do it with integrity and love, I think
it is a good thing. This question comes from Michael says, Hey, Granger,
(34:19):
been trying to get in shape for a while now,
but it just can't seem to stay consistent. Life always
seems to get in the way between a demanding job,
family responsibilities, and just trying to keep up with the
day to day life. I find it hard to carve
out time for exercise. I've tried starting out workout routines
and meal plans, and for a couple of weeks I'm
(34:41):
all in, and then something happens, word, gigs gets hectic,
and kids need extra attention, and then I lose the
motivation to keep on going. Before I know it, I'm
right back where I started. It's so frustrating. It's not
just about losing weight or looking a certain way. I
really want to feel healthier and have more energy to
keep up with my family. I know it's important, but
(35:02):
sticking with it feels impossible when everything else seems to
be so urgent. How do you stay motivated to prioritize
fitness when life gets busy, and do you have any
advice for making it less overwhelming and more of a
long term habit. Thanks for taking your time to read this, Michael.
All right, Michael, Yeah, it's a good question, man. And
(35:28):
how do I answer this? Because you could always tell
with somebody how much they want something, how much they
desire something, by the result of it and the progress
of it in their life currently. So if you say
(35:52):
my kids' lives are a huge priority for me, being
there at their sporting events is a huge deal to me, Granger,
and then you're out every week playing golf and missing
the sporting events and you're with your buddies, I would
(36:12):
say it looks like golf is the main priority here,
not the kids. Right, that's easy to see. Super practical.
Same thing with working out, Same thing with staying in shape.
When you say you began your this whole email saying
I've been trying to get in shape for a while
(36:33):
now and just I can't seem to stay consistent, I
would say, if you can't stay consistent and you've tried
it for a while, then you just don't really want
it as much as you want other things in life.
And when we're talking about working out, that's not a
bad thing, you know. That's not like reading the Bible.
I would say. If we're talking about spiritual disciplines and
(36:56):
reading your Bible, I would say, there you must drop
other things to feast on the word of God, because
man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word
that comes from the mouth of God. So as you
would not skip a meal, you cannot skip your personal
devotional time with the Bible. But we're talking about working out.
(37:20):
I think that's very important, but not as important as
some other things. But I would say this, Michael, in
the same way I would be talking about spiritual disciplines,
I would say, I bet you, I bet you don't
ever skip lunch, and you might not ever skip breakfast.
(37:41):
And I would say your lunchtime is about an hour,
probably forty five minutes at the least, a slot in
your day for what you're asking, Because what you're asking
is you're asking for me to help you with your
schedule because you're busy and things come up. I don't
(38:05):
know where you work, I wish I did. I don't
know your work routine. I wish I did because I
could directly help you with that. But I would say,
if it's not waking up early, which is the number
one recommendation, would be set your alarm thirty minutes earlier.
You don't have to go to a gym. You could
do a workout online and you don't even need weights.
(38:29):
Or you can go to Academy Sports and buy some
of those adjustable dumbells that they go from ten pounds
to sixty pounds and they're just two units and you
could adjust it. You could buy those and a bench
and you could pay a couple hundred bucks and be
in and cancel the gym membership and do this in
(38:50):
the garage. Set your alarm thirty minutes earlier. And do that, or,
like I said earlier, if that's not possible, if getting
up earlier is not possible, because what we talked about
earlier with sleep, then I would say skip lunch. And
if that sounds shocking to you, then I would say
that you must not be that serious about it. Eat
(39:13):
if you like to eat, eat a bigger dinner. And
my brother Tyler, I'll tell you what. That guy's crazy.
He only eats dinner and he's been doing this for
years and that's just the way he is. Like I'll say, hey,
you want to go to lunch. He'll go, yeah, but
I'm not gonna eat. He has trained his body in
this way. Or he doesn't even get hungry. Now. He'll
(39:37):
eat twenty five hundred calories at night in one sitting
because he could do that. But he didn't need breakfast
or lunch, and it sureed us free up his day
a lot. So he'll go with me to lunch, but
he'll just sit there and drink water. So have you
ever thought about that? I mean, there's a thousand things
we could talk about, Michael, But I would say, but
(39:59):
you haven't thought about I bet you haven't thought that
lunch is an option, and if you go to work
every day you probably do, then there's there's probably a
gym that costs twenty bucks a month that's walking distance
or a quick drive from wherever you work, and you
can get off for lunch like you usually do. So
you get off it and you say you usually leave it
(40:20):
noon and come back like one fifteen to work. Leave
it noon, go to the gym that takes ten minutes
to drive there. Now it's it's twelve to ten. You
work out for thirty minutes, it's twelve forty. You get dressed,
you take a shower if you need to at the gym,
have it all in a bag, and you hit the
road at one and you're back at the office at
(40:42):
same time about one ten, one fifteen. So you've just
traded one thing for the next, and you will feel
better for this, and you'll feel healthier if you're If
you're like man, I can't skip food like that, then
take a couple of protein bars in the bag and
eat some high calorie protein bars or a high calorie
meal replacement supplement powdered form. Mix it with some water
(41:05):
or some almond milk or something like that. Shake it
up in a little one of the little shakers, you'd
be good to go. And once again it goes back
to how bad do you want this? Like, are you
really serious about this? Because we could, we can go
down a whole list of options. I would say maybe
one of the problems that you're having is you're you're
(41:29):
you're thinking about the workout as too much of a
time commitment, and you're not thinking that you could do
what you need to do in thirty minutes. I hesitate
to talk about me because we're all so different, and
we're all motivated by different things, and we all physically
(41:50):
benefit from different kinds of exercises. But I've done I've
done strength training. I'm not a big cardio guy. I'm
not a big definitely not a CrossFit guy, but I've
done I've done like chest on Monday, back on Tuesday,
legs on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday, and arms on Friday.
I've done that for maybe twenty years. I remember doing
(42:15):
it in high school before that, so a long time.
When I was on the road touring, I did it
in the mornings. I always found a local gym I
had a membership at anytime. Fitness and Planet Fitness and
a monthly membership at each of those it was like
twenty bucks. And so wherever city I went through, there
(42:37):
was always either and Anytime Fitness or a Planet Fitness.
And if there wasn't, then the venue I was playing
suggested something else that was almost always free to go
work out, or sometimes a ten dollars day day fee
sometimes And so I worked. There wasn't an excuse not
to do it. And so I have several workouts for
(43:03):
each of those different muscle groups, I said on my
phone on my notes app, So I could go in
there and there's little videos I could press play, and
they're like thirty five minutes each. So when I want
to do a chess workout, I could find any gym
in the country or some adjustable dun bells and press
play if I have a bench and do a thirty minute.
(43:25):
At every hotel, by the way, that I've ever stayed
in has something to do, you know, some kind of
exercise room. Some are better than others. But when I
go to speaking and engagement now, I will always get
up that morning. I'll get my coffee, i will read
my Bible, I'll do my devotion, I'll fill out my journal,
I'll do my Bible memory, and then I will walk
(43:47):
downstairs at the hotel to the gym and I will
do my workout, and then I'll come back to my
hotel room and start my day and by the way,
skip breakfast typically, So that's how about do you want it? Michael?
How about do you want it? One more thing? Having
(44:09):
a plan before you get to that day is pretty critical.
So for instance, if I'm in a hotel per se,
i will check in, go put my bags up in
the room, and then I'll go back down and I'll say,
where's your fitness room, and they'll say, second floor, into
(44:32):
the hall. So I'll go get an elevator. I go
to the second floor. I go to the end of
the hall and I peek in there just to look
at it, and I'll go, Okay, they got a bench,
they have dumbbells that go up to fifty pounds. They
have two treadmills, and a like a medicine ball. And
then I'll go back to my room and then I'll
know in my mind, I know tomorrow is shoulder day,
(44:56):
and so I've got a I've got a little video
on my phone that work for the dumbbells. They go
up to fifty pounds, a treadmill and a medicine ball,
and that'll work for my shoulder day. So that's my plan.
And then I'll look at look at my schedule and
I go, Okay, the best time because my morning's gonna
start about eight thirty. That means I need to be
(45:17):
in that. See, I'll get up at six. So I'll
look at my watch. It's it's ten thirty right now.
So I'll try to get in bed. And then I
need seven hours. So if I can get to if
i'll read a little bit, if i can get to
sleep by eleven, then I'll wake up at six, that's
seven hours. I'll get my coffee and oh, and I
get up. I literally get up in the hotel room.
(45:39):
This is every time I'm in a hotel. And I
will get that coffee that's in the little plastic bag,
and I'll there's a cup for that little plastic coffee maker.
I'll take the cup out of the plastic bag and
I'll set it in the coffee maker, and I'll get
the coffee pod and I'll put it right next to it.
And then I'll get my water bottle and I'll put
(46:01):
it right next to that, and I get it all
set out, so then my alarm goes off at six.
I go over there. I'd put that. I take the
cup of the cup for the coffee, fill it with water,
put it in the machine, put the pod in, hit power,
I take my iPad, I hit start on my daily
(46:23):
reading plan in my Bible. I start reading, and I
go through the reading and I do my little journal.
I drink the coffee, and then by now it's six
forty five. I go downstairs and I go in At
seven o'clock, I'm working on my shoulder workout. And then
I go from there back upstairs, and now it's you know,
(46:48):
it's seven fifteen, seven twenty, and I could check some emails,
get dressed, and I'm out the door at eight to
whatever I need to do. But that comes from the
plan of the night before. It would be harder if
I woke up that morning at six and been like, okay,
let's see is there coffee in this place or they
(47:10):
have breakfast downstairs. I wonder if they have a gym,
And if they do have a gym, I wonder if
they have free weights, like yet, I would that I wouldn't.
I don't want to do that. It's so much better
to have a plan. So that's my hotel plan. I
have my home plan. But for you, Michael, gets your
shoes ready, get your your your shorts and your T
(47:32):
shirt that you're gonna wear. Get your little earbuds that
you're going to listen to the workout on. Lay them
all out the night before, look at your watch, know
your plan. If you're going to do the lunch thing.
If it, put it in your bag real neat Your
wife says, what are you doing. I'm getting my getting
my gym bag ready, put your shoes in there. Heyre's
here's another side note. If you don't have good gym shoes,
(47:56):
go buy some. I'm not an advocate for buying junk
or things just to buy new things. I'm not. But
for some reason, if you have shoes that you like,
like gym shoes that you like, it will help motivate
you for some strange reason. So what I mean is,
(48:18):
don't have like hybrid like these these will work. These
will be okay. You know, I wore them in the
mud yesterday in the in the field, but they're okay. No,
get you some gym shoes, you know, get you some
modest gym shoes. Put them in the bag. Put your
clothes in there, and put your put your little zip
block bag with protein powder in it. Throw you a
little a little protein bar in there, something high calorie.
(48:42):
Zip it up, put it right there by whatever you
got to take the work or put it in your truck.
The more you prepare the night before, then you get
up that next day and there it is ready to go.
The planning is out of it. It's just waiting for
you to execute the plan. How bad do you want it?
That's the question. Love you guys. Email me podcast at
(49:03):
grangersmith dot com. Don't forget to go to YouTube and
go to this video or any of the podcast episodes
and comment below specifically on that things you like, things
you don't like, And then if you're listening on Apple,
make sure you give me a five star and a
review and above all that, send it to a friend.
Love you guys, See you next Monday. Thanks for joining
me on the Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate all of you guys.
(49:26):
You could help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes.
If you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel. Hit that
little like button and notification spell so that you never
miss anytime I upload a video. Yigi
Host
Granger Smith
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