Here’s a short story of a guy named Ned.

Just the other day around 6:00pm, I was on a call with a man from the Los Angeles area, after he applied to one of my programs, Battle Ready. It’s a Fitness, Nutrition and Mindset program specifically geared for Men.

Ned is in his late 60’s, still working in Manufacturing but through his experience and expertise is now a Consultant for multiple companies in the Manufacturing space (A HUGE market btw).

Consulting is an earned and respected position because you’re being paid for your brain as opposed to your hands, your solutions and processing skills rather than your assembly, and paid A LOT for it.

We talked about his regimen, which is he walks and jogs around 1.5 to 2 miles every other day, he does his pushups and squats, and is pretty damn proud about it too.

We get to talking about what drives him, you see -

When it comes to any goal were after, we’re almost always clear in the pursuit of pleasure, the thing were running towards. We also need to be clear on the avoidance of pain, the thing we’re running away from.

And Ned moves on to seeing his parents and relatives all end up in care homes needing physical and medical assistance, and it was a driver of his to never end up there in his “golden years”.

So far it’s led him to where he is today, healthy, mobile, capable and kept his wits about him.

But he wanted to get to the next level, he wanted to build muscle again, become stronger and be able to carry his 4 grandchildren on his shoulders.

He was a type A, clear, purposeful man.

We get to the end of our conversation, and i ask, do you have any questions for me?

He goes “Can I be honest about something?”

I reply “Of course, please”

And he says “All my life, i’ve felt like theres this.. weakness when it comes to asking people for help..”

I asked “Why do you think that is?”

“Im not sure.. But thats why i’ve never worked with a coach.. Or asked my parents for help.. Asked anybody for help really..” - Ned

And right there in that moment it hit me like a f*cking truck 🚛..

Ned.. If you recall, IS A CONSULTANT..

It literally made me chuckle on the phone and I go “Ned, isn’t it a funny thing how us men work?”

Your entire livelihood is based around the activity of offering your aid, your services, your expertise.

And yet, we as men carry this little open wound we like to cover up, a tiny wound that says shit like “I feel weak for asking for help”

And the takeaway is this, whatever that wound is for you, its typically found in your story

The story you tell yourself as to why you haven’t made progress, thing story of what’s holding you back.

It might sound like -

I’m meant to be big

There’s no good men out there

The market is bad for my industry

That kind of things just not for me

You’ll typically find that its completely contradictory to other places in your life.

It’s the single friend giving relationship advice,

It’s the guy who complains about his industry but has all the advice for yours,

It’s the guy who can’t control his nutrition and physique but has all the advice for you.

The case for Ned, is that the same thing that was holding him back in his health, nutrition and fitness was the same thing building his career and livelihood.

Funny how our stories, affect our operations huh..