Kane: Coming to you live, pre-recorded, live today with the IGK Podcast. Absolutely. Absolutely. This is episode five, I think, of season two. On the fifth flow. ⁓ yeah. Which is I think it's five. Four or five, whichever one. You'll see it in the thumbnail. But we're happy to be here ⁓ with a new topic. Yeah. That we're going to talk more extensively about our careers. Okay. Yep. Okay. That should get it. ⁓ that sound crazy. Probably sounds nuts in the microphone. ⁓ but we're gonna talk a bit more extensively about our careers and different aspects of what we do ⁓ in our regular life that isn't just IGK. Yes. So ⁓ I we look I apologize for those of you who are wearing headphones. ⁓ you hear this like if you watch this on T like you're probably gonna hear it anyway, but if you these headphones you heard every You heard every single All right, man. Okay, man. So, so so so so Welcome, welcome to the I Gotta Know Podcast. Absolutely. The podcast that marries our two cool careers in fitness and entertainment and delivers them to you anywhere you get your podcast for your listening or viewing pleasure. My name is Kane. My name is Pat. And that's Pat. So ⁓ like I said, today we're gonna talk a little bit more about our careers. Yeah. ⁓ which I think is smart because we've been talking a lot of deep shit. You know, we we went adjacent to our careers. I think we'll be forward about our careers. Yeah. A little bit more. Which the topic today is ⁓ abs and auditions. Yeah. Because those two things correlate. I'm sure we'll get to how. You hope so, bro. We ain't gonna give ain't gonna give you all the runaround, man. No, no, no. We'll get straight to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So w with that said, with the topic and the correlation between the two things, I I This is w on a list of topics that we have, this is one these two things are together, not just because they both start with the letter A. ⁓ but because ⁓ but big reason. Big reason, big, big reason is the letter A. But also because I feel like having a strong core is foundational to, you know, ⁓ your fitness journey. Mm-hmm. And ⁓ being able to like you need to have a strong core to be able to handle building your your your legs, your muscles of your legs. And a strong core to be able to build your upper your arms and shit. I'm saying it's funny, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I with auditions. Like you need to have a a strong core understanding of how to audition because this is something I tell everybody that's ever interested in in in voiceover is auditioning is the real job. Yeah. Auditioning is the job, the reward is the booking. Mm-hmm. And so I feel like ⁓ that's that's why those two things need to be c coupled together for this conversation. I feel Because it you need to have that strength. But also what comes along with having that strength? What is the journey to getting to have building that strength? And what are some other aspects about having a strong core that we we might miss? Not just for like looking a certain way or just feeling a certain way. But ⁓ what are some other aspects like is it you know managing stress? Is it managing regular life shit like is it's about your willpower, is about your personal identity, is it about I wanna I wanna touch on some stuff. Okay. That sound effect went perfectly with your head right now. Yeah, yeah. We're gonna see it in post. ⁓ man. We're gonna see it in post. ⁓ man. ⁓ but anyway, ⁓ it's too late. ⁓ and so you know how this goes. ⁓ I wrote down a couple of questions. For him on this note card, he has a couple of questions for on that note card. Absolutely. And because this is we're supposed to be asking each other about two different things, I'm excited because we haven't done this in a while. Where the formula has been is two separate points of the conversation, all leading to one beautiful culmin ⁓ culmin culminating to one beautiful thought. Culminating. Culminating. Okay. Okay. Culminating. Word of the day for y'all is culminating. Culminating. Culminating. Culminating. Yeah. So I'm gonna start with the first question. Because we should dive right in. And so here's what I think for you. Can we train our abs into existence and why the need to have a certain definition? Why does every why are we obsessed? Why do you think we are obsessed with the look of abs? Because technically, we all have ab muscles. Yes. We do. But we don't always see them. Yes. The way that we have I feel like been trained to see them and need them maybe. But I w I'm curious about your professional thought as to why. Why why we have such an infatuation with with with with seeing them. Yes. I think a lot of that comes from Entertainment society, like every movie, especially if it's like a superhero movie or something like that, or like like Rocky or or ⁓ you know what I'm saying, it's you know, Michael B. Jordan and Black Panther or something like that, or I think I think it started there with like celebrities having like like we have this image of a perfect body. Perfect body. ⁓ and for some people it's very unrealistic. Actually most people, it's it's very unrealistic. ⁓ but I think it started there. Now would it change too and what it would like would it build it up to? Hey, that's ⁓ I think that's subjective. I think based on who you ask, it that the answer might change. But ⁓ yeah. I I'll be that I'm always that guy. Everybody has a core. Everybody has abs. If you didn't have a core, if you didn't have abs, you wouldn't be able to fucking sit up straight. You wouldn't be able to stand up straight if you didn't have a core. You just fold over. Yeah, you just literally you would just fold over, right? You would just Yeah. Literally like getting down to the anatomy of certain things, like you would have a hard time doing regular regular task because you can't sit up or stand up straight. Right. But ⁓ yeah, I I'm always I'm always gonna be that guy because I hate I I won't have any abs. How you standing up right now? Right, how you standing up? How you standing up right now? Yeah, yeah. But ⁓ I will I do always say If you want your abs to show, that comes in the kitchen. Mm. You strengthen your abs, that comes in the gym. Right? You can do all the planks, rushing twists, you can hang them knee tucks, whatever it is, until you get something right in the kitchen. Mm. Right. And then you have to and then we have to be ⁓ honest about what what we truly want as far as what our like ⁓ what we want our body to look like or how we want it to to feel. Right. Some people get to a certain point where it's like, okay, I don't really care about being the most ripped or the mo or or the leanest. ⁓ I just want to be healthy, strong, like, and then, you know, be be good. Some people, that's that that is the only driving force. I need to see my goddamn abs, man. I need to be as lean as possible. I want to see the striations. I wanna see the goddamn I wanna make sure my muscles have muscles. I wanna make sure my eyebrows got some muscles too. I wanna make sure my shit looks like the rock. Okay. Right, right. I make sure like the right. So ⁓ to answer you to answer your question, I think it started with like the the the celebrity, the the entertainment business ⁓ that puts this picture of like, okay, this is the perfect body. Right. If you're a guy, this is what you should look like. If you're a female, this is what you should look like. And it's ⁓ yeah, man. Yeah, like it's on one end, it's cool 'cause you know mo Hey, everybody needs some motivation. Of course. But then on sometimes, like you don't you you know, we don't know the half of it when it comes down to celebrities and entertainers and things like that on on that spectrum. Some people had a lot of help. Right. Some people, all they get, like, they get like their job is to work out, essentially. Yeah. And they got this person over here helping out with the meals. They got this person over here helping out with their sleep. This person helping out with so they got all these things. ⁓ and they're trained in two, three times a day. Right. ⁓ an hour and a half each time, whatever the case is. Like they're going balls to the wall. Yeah. ⁓ and they're getting paid for it. And they're getting paid for it. You mentioned a great aspect about sorry, to control. Like but like a great asp ⁓ aspect about it being like, Okay, they s ⁓ they they they're training for a superhero movie. Yeah. You know? ⁓ I'll use ⁓ I'll use a few different actors as a example, but I'll I'll go with David Corinsweat. Yeah. Who's ⁓ now Superman. Okay. And so before being Superman, he was just a normal guy. Like it he was an actor, but he just looked like a normal normal dude, yeah. Like he maybe just, you know, kept up with his health some somewhat, you know, maybe kept up with some exercise somewhat, but he wasn't jacked and ripped like he became for Superman. But in order to do that, he had to put all of that effort and got the D C money. Yeah. You know, and the the trainer built in, the chef built in, the nutritionist built in, everything built in. And the same could be said about I know I've watched the men's health and interviews with Paul Rudd, with Chris Pratt, ⁓ And they're both discussing like it's pr I think Paul Roberts the funniest about it was like like if if if I wasn't being paid for this, I wouldn't be doing it. Nah. At least not to that magnitude. Like they wouldn't be doing it like that, yeah. No, no, not to that magnitude. Like you said, like every and everything being built in. So I think the issue is unless you have that information. Yeah. Like if you know how much it takes to make these perfect bodies, yeah. It it g there's a lot that goes into it. Multiple there's a team of people. To make sure that that body gets to where it needs to go. Yeah, man. And it has to get there. That you're being paid for it to get there. Yeah, and it like yeah. So if we I guess if more people knew that, it might help. But I don't think I think that the issue that we've seen in the grand scheme of things i is with definitely it points back to entertainment. I agree. Yeah. You know, like it body dysmorphia, I deal with that at at times. Yeah. And I think that's as a society, we deal with that at times because we we look at somebody else We look and then it when it's copy and pasted when it's everywhere. When that very when that when that strong muscular physique is everywhere, when that when that lean or s or ⁓ skinnier w woman is everywhere, then everyone looks to the that's that's what we need to be. Yeah. And that's ⁓ that sucks. Yeah. Because ⁓ it's unrealistic. It's at times even unhealthy. Yeah. ⁓ like in order to get to a certain place for your body to be that way, you need to be unhealthy or you need to be making decisions that aren't good for your benefit. Or maybe who knows? Maybe having the nutritionist ⁓ trainer, the this, the that, the this isn't great for your schedule. Because you're like, I actually really enjoy being able to do be with my kids more often and now I'm I'm in the gym more than I see my kids. You know, like it's not for everybody, but it almost feels like it's like it needs to be. Now do I do I believe it has to that it's like a a grand scheme to force everyone to be No, I don't think so. But it doesn't help. Yeah. You know, I think that we if if we all could be a little bit more realistic about how we how it is to get to these goals, yeah. You know, ⁓ you said it's you know starts in the kitchen. Yeah. That's how if you really want to get those abs, you wanna see that definition, it starts in the kitchen. And I've always heard, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, that ⁓ on your fitness journey to be able to get to that to a certain point to see your muscles that way, it's eighty percent kitchen, eighty percent diet, yeah, and twenty percent Exercise. Yeah. That's what that that's what I like to stand by. I I don't like I've said it before and I'll say it to y'all. I'm not the ⁓ when it comes to me coaching and me training, look, if you wanna get ready for a show and do something like that, hey, by all means, like yes, you have to be super strict on that because you gotta be, you know, based on your age, based on your your gender, based on your height, right? You gotta be a certain weight class, you gotta have a certain amount of muscle, you gotta be a ⁓ a certain percent of ⁓ body fat, like and everything has to be symmetrical, whatever the case. If if you go on that route and that's what you want to do, by all means do that. Outside of that though, me personally, I don't feel the need unless you had like you went to a doctor and doctor was like, yo, if you don't change this, like like you ain't gonna make it past, you know, ⁓ you know, for the next five years. Like you just gonna keep going downhill. If it's doctor's orders, it's like, okay, then you gotta be strict on some things. Like if you pre-diabetic or if you got diabetes or something like that, or high cholesterol, like yes, you have to be a little bit more strict on certain things. Right. ⁓ to get you back to a a normal standing. But 80 20 is is perfect. Like, I I'm keen on like, yo, if you want the cookie, have the cookie, bro. It's fine. Like that if that's what you want, have it. If you want if you if you want to have a drink, have the drink. Like, that's okay. Now When y'all fuck up. When y'all fuck up. It's is look, I tell you I tell you they had a cookie, you had a whole sleeve. I didn't tell you to do You didn't say that. Right? I tell you to look, yo, yeah, you can have a drink, you can kill the whole wine bottle. ⁓ huh. Nah, man. Nah, nah, nah. That's where self control comes in, right? So you gotta have you got you gotta build you gotta build that. But I'm never gonna tell somebody like unless you like salads, I'm not gonna tell you to eat a salad because I don't like salads. Right. Shit is boring, right? Right. Look, I'd rather have me get give me ⁓ some ⁓ what what did Lee what what did Lily make for ⁓ for lunch this week? Man, burger, man. ⁓ man. ⁓ boy. Man, two two double doubles from in and out. ⁓ Man, I do I do look, I I know, I know you think differently, but I do no onion, no tomato. I do no tomato, but I do Raw chopped onions. Raw chopped onions. Okay. So raw chopped onions. Prove them for my in and out order. Man, I keep the look, no protein style. Give me the bun for both. Give me the bun. Yeah, of course. Give me the button. Take the fries, right? And if I'm feeling real frisky, whatever, give me a strawberry milkshake, bro. Damn. And I'm good. That sounds fire. And I'm good. Now, can't have that shit every day. Well, no. We just talked about that yesterday too. Off the like during the strain session. Yeah, you get to a certain age you can't have that shit every day. Well hell no, I look I would I would even go as much to say is that there isn't an age at all that I think it needs to be. You're right. Cause your body can totally burn whatever when you're younger, if you're an athlete, you can totally whatever, whatever, whatever. You are right. I think it's those habits that need to be built. This is true. I think that matters more 'cause I'm trying to teach this to the boys. Yeah. And Johnny's a little bit more understanding of it than Easton at times, but they both really are ⁓ mostly on the same page where they're like getting the understanding of like we're dad and Cora wanna help us build Better habits. Not built not just better habits. Like just like great habits. Yeah. Things that you'll if you don't build them now, it's harder to build them when you're an adult. ⁓ yeah. You know? So if you don't appreciate exercise or understand it while you're at a younger age, it gets harder when you get older. Yeah. Especially if you do indulge and engage in food and alcohol or whatever ⁓ for years and then you have to try to go backwards, it almost feels like. ⁓ same thing with sleep. Like we're big we're coaching sleep all the time of like you need these I know you're not tired, or I know your friends get to stay up. You need rest because of the habit. Yes, get your ass in bed. Get your ass in bed because of the habit you're gonna need later on. Right, exactly. Because otherwise, when you have the c full control of your life and you can just stay up till 4 a.m., you will. Yeah. And you'll you'll degrade your health that way. You'll be more irritable. You'll it's harder to keep relationships going and friendships, harder to show up for there's so many things that come along with these habits that need to be built. Yeah. And you know, age twenty, kitchen. ha kit those kitchen habits are huge because as an adult as an adult we can do whatever the fuck we want. We can do whatever you want to do, yeah. Whatever we want. So if I want to have that whole bottle, if I want to eat burgers every day if I want to, I absolutely can. No one's gonna stop me from that. However, I want to have those habits to stop me from that. And you know what? And you know what? And I'm glad that you said that. Well and and I'll get to asking you I want to what I want to ask you, but for those of you out there, whether you're coaches, trainers, or if you're just you know somebody who's just Don't want to take their they want to take their health a little seriously. I wouldn't recommend starting off by doing all these diets and shit like that. Nothing against the diets, but as a coach, what I've seen, right? And I've talked to you about this, the the the foods that you eat aren't necessarily the problem. The habits behind that. So it's like, okay, yes, you're having ice cream, but you're having that every night. Why are we having that every night? Right. Right? It's not the ice cream. It's not the cookies, it's not the drink, but you feel the need every time you go out to drink, you feel like you gotta have you got you gotta go all out. It's the habit. Right? Why and how can we change that? Because I always say, look, especially if you travel, I'm like, yo, go travel, have a good time. Like, don't hey, go out there, enjoy yourself, right? Enjoy yourself. ⁓ but I think it's important for coaches and trainers, especially, focus on the habits that you have your people go through, right? Understand, like, okay. Late night is a problem for these people. Why? How can we adjust that? Right? Is it is it the morning is it that morning coffee? Like they got the they got the 42 ounce of the of whatever. Like how can we adjust that a little bit? Right? How can we minimize that? So yeah, it's not it's not always the the diet that fixed. Sometimes you just gotta you just gotta cut out the soda a little bit and all of a sudden you eat and all of a sudden your knees feel better. Right. Your joints feel better. All because you instead of having a soda or three sodas every day. Now you have a soda, okay, on a Friday. Right. You go out to dinner and you have that. Shit. Switch over to the zero sugar or that we have in our household. Whichever. Whatever whenever you want. You want look, you want soda. You can have you can have a soda every day if you feel like it because you want to. And I allowed the boys, they to ask for a soda. I'm like, Yep, go ahead. As long as it's not too late and you know, with caffeine. Yeah. Like, yeah, go ahead and have a soda. It's zero sugar. And it and it takes time. It takes time. You're gonna have a lot of failures when you do this shit, like ⁓ I just want you like give yourself some grace. If you're training people, give your people some grace because they're human beings trying to unlearn habits and trying to rebuild habits. Like they're trying to rebuild that shit. So you gotta have a lot of grace, right? I know everybody online's like, ⁓ yeah, this is the diet that lost me. Hey bro, if it worked for them, that is cool. Right. Right. But your lifestyle and what you do and what you're trying to accomplish is different from theirs. So you gotta you gotta give yourself a lot of grace with that, right? But you're gonna have a lot of s you know, you're gonna stumble a lot. With that being said though, right, 'cause we talked a lot about abs and fitness and and that whole little segment, which is cool. Hopefully y'all got something. Yeah, hopefully y'all got something. Right. But on along the lines of failure, mm-hmm. Along the lines of stumbling, right? And and you know, hitting the brick wall. Mm-hmm. When it comes down to auditions. I'm sure there's a lot of auditions that you and then every voice actor or actor, actresses, you know, they that they have their eyes set on, like, man, that's one that I know I can do or that I really want. You spend weeks, months, maybe even years preparing for this one aud audition and shit goes left. You don't get it, whatever the case is, and then you dealt with rejection. Yeah. How do you deal with that rejection after spending So much time, so much effort trying to get your ⁓ your your your your tone right, your appearance right if that's the case. Like how do you deal with ri rejection after that? I think that's something that stands out to me that I share all the time with other actors, all the time, that's in in line with this, is w what I do when it comes to my auditions, is I send it and forget it. Okay. And that's something that I learned from my ⁓ my very good friend But who was once my agent, Alyssa Gentile Drum, ⁓ she taught she taught me, you know, a decade ago. She I was I would get stressed out. I shoot her an email after auditions or getting rejection or after being uncertain or asking, like, how does this work? How can I find out even? Like, how can I fix what I did wrong? And she she in short was like, Here's how you manage this on a very easily. When you have an audition, send it and forget it. Don't worry about it. You did the best that you can. It's captured into that microphone. You sent that file and now it's in the hands of the casting gods. So you have to send it. And the best part of ⁓ about this process is you get to forget it. Yeah. You don't have to go through this whole other additional rigamaroo to You don't have to go through the rigamaroo. No, you ain't gotta go through that rigmaroo. When you do an audition. You can send it and forget it. And that's a beautiful thing because it means that you did the best that you could in that moment. And if you book it, that's awesome. That's auditioning is the job. Bookings are the reward. So if you get rewarded for that, that's phenomenal. E no matter how much you prep, no matter how much you study, no matter how much you work on your your tonality, not your mic etiquette, all of these things, it it it's it's ultimately still up to the the casting director. It's up to the client. It's up to other people that don't know your journey, that don't know how much time and effort you put into this thing, that don't know ⁓ who you are. Yeah. You know, that don't that don't really care about you had an off day or that you were sick. No. Or that your dog was or that your kids were they don't care. The it's it's your opportunity in that moment to do the best that you can in any audition. ⁓ and so the the thing that's helped me lessen the blow of rejection is that idea of send it and forget it. So thank you Alyssa forever. And I've been it shout out to Alyssa and I've been sharing that with Actors forever now because it it has helped change the mindset around it all. Now, do I have times where I'm like, this is it? Mmm, this is it. I'm booked this one. It's gonna be easy. It's my shit. It's my shit. This is mine. They literally just said casting Colin Kane, Jungle Murray. Like it's it's it. Yeah, this is. So when I do the audition, I don't hear back and I'm like, that's okay, no worries. I'm not even worried about it. Then I'll then I go, I'm watching, you know, the game and I hear the commercial, somebody else did it. These motherfuckers they had my name in the email. Like that's that's how tight I get to some of the auditions. ⁓ for sure. Absolutely. So w when it when it is when it is like that, those moments, that can hurt sometimes. Especially when I'll do an audition, I hear it or s or what I see it, and I go, Ooh, that wasn't even what they asked for. Yeah. So I had no shot. They wanted this poetic, chill, ⁓ grounded voice. And they went with some average announcer type, okay, well then I it means that they changed the specs or maybe I had no shot. Or in the case of some voice actors, we I used to audition for movies. Yeah. All the time. Yeah. Never got ⁓ Yeah. But all d I used to audition all the time. Yeah. Now voice actors don't even get the opportunity for that kind of stuff. Yeah. We don't get the opportunity to be to f most auditions we don't get for animated shows even, ⁓ unless it's maybe a small n non recurring character more of the time. Most the time. And even those go to the bigger names in the voiceover industry. Yeah. So and these these are this is another way of of ⁓ feeling rejection. Yeah. You know? Like ⁓ it it it sucks ultimately to to know for a fact there's opportunity that you're missing out on simply because the industry does not care about the non named actor. Yeah. You know? Yeah. ⁓ and that's that's ⁓ that's painful. Yeah. It's painful because ⁓ Matthew Lillard recently I saw a clip. Matthew Lillard actor played Shaggy ⁓ in the live action Scooby Doo's ⁓ the Scream franchise, some recent FNAF franchise. Yeah, I'm about to say FNAF ⁓ and a lot of other things. He's an incredible actor. Yeah. But he recently was saying, and I'm gonna paraphrase, that ⁓ that the industry needs to stop hiring on camera actors for voiceover and hire voiceover actors. ⁓ for voiceover. Yes. Yeah. 'Cause that's That's what we do. Yeah, it's kinda we are the professionals. It's kind of in the ⁓ job description. It is. This is literally what we what we trained and train trained and trained continuously to do. To do. We already do this. So why are you hiring, you know, the person that doesn't know how to do that? Or doesn't change their vo that can't change their vocal tonality. Can't they? Can't do the thing behind the mic. Can't g sell it behind the mic like we can. Yeah. And it Thank you so much for a a a big actor like him to speak out. We need more we need more Matthew Lillards saying, Hey, stop hiring us. Yeah, bro, do something. We don't we don't need it to be us. We already have the opportunity. Yeah. There's a whole industry of people that literally do this job already and you give them nothing but crumbs. Yeah. That's not cool. Cause even commercials, they go to celebrities all the damn time. Yeah. All the fucking time. And they do. They do. They do. And then even video games. Go to celebrities all the fucking time. All the time. All the fucking time. Is it somebody that's already has has a has other jobs. Yeah. I can't get their jobs. Yeah. I literally cannot walk into a room and audition for something that fucking ⁓ Carlos Despacito or whatever his name is can get. I remember what his name is, but I can't get I just I can't get those jobs. Yeah, yeah, it's right yeah, it's hard to I wish I could. Yeah. I wish I could. Like I I I remember the last time I got a a movie audition, it was for ⁓ ⁓ Netflix Kids ⁓ is it was a book, now it's a sh now it became a movie too, Captain Underpants. ⁓ shit, okay. So I got an audition for like for the little black boy that's the lead k that's the one that leads in the last one I did. This was years ago. Do you know who got the role? Who got the role? Kevin Hart. No shit. Do you think I had a fucking chance against Kevin Hart? No. Yeah. And that was the last one I did. Yeah, man. I remember it vividly and I always think about it. Yeah. Cause I I think about how I did see it, you know, doing auditions and I would go, ⁓ that that celebrity got it. ⁓ that's what you got it. But it's now I don't even get the opportunity. Yeah. And so, man, I went off from well, I'm s I'm stemming from rejection. So I'm on a little tape. I mean, but that's that that's real shit though. I mean, because there's to your point, there is I I imagine a lot of these big corporations, big companies, like ⁓ like if I can get ⁓ Kevin Hart for Chase. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? ⁓ man. His his name alone is gonna bring however many X amount of dollars. I agree. But if we go for this small even though you're far better you're like you're far more equipped right for the job, it the the name is not it it doesn't it doesn't weigh as much as ⁓ somebody like Kevin Hart or no somebody like ⁓ whoever whoever it might be. I I and I I understand the politics behind it. I think the issue is, and this is something that Matthew w I I think touched on in what he said, and if he didn't, I'm gonna go ahead and just say it myself as well. Yeah, say just say look, stand stay on that shit too. I'm gonna stay on that shit myself. People will show up to the movie anyway. Yeah. They'll still watch the kids will still watch that show. Yeah. You know how many kids don't know any of these actors at all in any of these things? Nah. They don't care. Nah, bro. They are in love with whatever it is. And at at some point a long time ago, it used to be a lot more voice actors. Yeah. It used to be that not every not just ten voice actors also got every single job. Yeah. It used to be open and it slowly the pipeline slowly got cut off. Yeah. And then so some of us are just stuck back here. Yeah. And can't even I wish I can send it and forget it on movie auditions or T V shows. I have nothing to send. Yeah. So Yeah, yeah. I don't even get the opportunity. Yeah. And so I I believe wholeheartedly there needs to be a change in the industry because there's a there are p pieces of the of the entertainment industry that are crumbling and are are gate kept. Yeah, ⁓ for sure. Because the pipeline is so small. For sure. That like especially for when it comes to voice actors, there are like there are literally ten people that do all of the things. Yeah. And you know how annoying that is to just I just want like a little bit of. Yeah. Just a little bit of it. And so do other actors. And then I feel bad telling other actors that talk to me and ask me about my journey. And I'm like, mine was a lot of luck too, and a lot of this and a lot of that. And it's changed now. Yeah, it's different. Like it it really is different. So it's a different thing, bro. That's man. Yeah. And it's ⁓ as fucked up as it is, bro. But in every industry though, the the there's those those gatekeepers, right? And and a lot a lot of them too. A lot of the people that are gatekeeping, they're not They're not the best, right? Like I I don't know if anybody can consider themselves the best solely off the fact that you're just on everything. Yeah. It doesn't mean you're good. Nah, it's like, yeah, you're harder to ignore cause we see you on everything, but ⁓ or we see you doing a whole lot. Right. But, you know, eventually the more you do, like the more you lose like your flavor a little bit in in a sense. Now, get your bag, like whatever you like. Get your bag. But yeah, at some point when we're talking about in your case, talking about art, like at some point the the quality of the art gotta matter. It's gotta matter, right? 'Cause you know, there's certain I ain't lie, man, like there's certain actors, man, that I'm like, ⁓ my god, he or she's in the movie again, right? Right. Like, all right, man, I'm tired of seeing and now unless it's your favorite, then it's like, okay, you they they can drop ten movies in a year, you're like, I'm gonna see every single one. Right. But even then it's like, bro, give someone else an opportunity. Like, yo, take a break. Take a break. I know you got kids, bro. Right. I know you got kids. I know you got a fight. I know you got a life. Yeah. Well, actually I just watched you an interview on a podcast where you're saying, like, I built all this, but like, you know, I wish I really Well nigga, give it to s give it to somebody else. Put someone else on the pedestal. Your name is so strong. Yeah. You can help lift others up. Yeah, bro. Yeah, that's yeah, that's ⁓ yeah, there's so many there's so many gatekeepers in any in Any and every industry. Yeah. ⁓ and they're not way like I said, they're not always the best people, they're not always the the most talented people or even the most equipped people. But because of who they might know, yeah, because they just somehow, somehow they're in front of the right people, you know, and the right people, the right people at the right time. And some of that, too, I do want to preface it too, some of that needs to be accounted for also. Because you know what I'm saying? Like, I know some people watching this, like, hey man, they might feel some type of way. Yeah. I mean I don't give a fuck anyway. I mean if you're triggered Hey, listen, I look I don't ⁓ reassess yourself. 'Cause you can have grievances and we can have grievances. Then you need to reassess yourself. But I think I think you can only I think people on that note though, I think people who have truly ⁓ got skin in the game and and experienced those things, they'll relate to it. And it's not on the like, yeah, no, he right about that. Anybody else who's over here and they might end up, I don't know, talking shit, whatever the fuck. It's like, have you really experienced it? Or it's like, ⁓ yeah, no, I haven't had that experience. Everything's going well for me. I well shit, you just haven't done it. Look, even then though, I'm just say, you haven't done it long enough. Right. Right. You haven't done it long enough to Nothing's perfect. Yeah, because the people who who really doing it in any field have experienced the heartache, the heartbreak, right? The failure, the the rejection. Everybody has experienced that at some point. So if you say, No, I haven't I haven't ⁓ no, I haven't experienced that at all. Right. I should cool. I don't know what you're talking about. Hey man. Well that's good for you. Either you're not trying ⁓ hard enough, ⁓ look, I'm gonna fucking say either you're not trying it hard enough or you just ain't been in it long enough. Right. Right, 'cause everybody has been in it. Like, bro, you talking about ten plus years of experience in our respective fields. Man, I wish we could sit here and tell you, like, ⁓ man, it was all look, it was all it was all great. It was all honestly. But I'm gonna give you another one. I'm gonna give them another ism. It was all velvet, bro. It was all velvet. It was all velvet, man. Like it was all smooth, right? Yeah. But that's not the fucking case. That's not the case. It never is. But I feel like social media, ⁓ even industry people, whether that's fitness or entertainment. Where they they talk about it almost like it is. ⁓ yeah. And maybe it is for them now, so then it's easier to say, Well, yeah, it is pretty simple, easy. Go, you know, I'll watch a a clip of s of a creator being like, you know, I just you know, I just I just didn't stop. I I didn't give up, you know, like even when it was hard, and even I'll say th things like that. The other day I was on a podcast and they'd asked me like it was a longer longer question, paraphrasing of like How did you have you handle have you handled like the success of things into getting to where you were and are? And I'm like, I failed. Yeah. Yeah. I failed and gave up many times. Many times, bro. Just straight up was like, this ain't for me. I'm done. Yeah. And just stopped. Yeah. ⁓ I'm not gonna lie to you and go, well, you know, like ⁓ yeah, yeah, I hit some roadblocks and I but you know, I came out on top, or I I I kept pushing regardless. I all I had was seven bucks in my pocket and I just kept going. Like, no. It was who was that, y'all? Come on, y'all. Who was that? Who was the same story every fucking time? Who who was that? Look, don't say I wanna know in comments who was that just now. Who had seven bucks in their pocket and that was their thing? Hey man, he's he's hey, he's ⁓ yeah. He's up there as far as he he's in every movie. Everything. A lot of movies. Pass it around. Yeah. Pass it around. Anyway. Yeah, yeah. You know, like I I I I was forward. I was truthful, I was honest. It was actually failure was the was the key or the answer or But it wasn't it was like I didn't it wasn't this pretty story. Yeah. You know? And like I said, social media, entertainers, all that stuff, kind of paint this picture and kind of ⁓ I I think peop put people on a path that is unrealistic. So so many so many more people are going to give up because they're going to believe it's a straightforward thing. I think it'd be the same as if watching a fitness influencer or even a coach ⁓ talking about how to get those defined abs and what they did. You mentioned earlier, like this this is the thing that worked for me. And so this can work for you. We see it all the time. Yeah. But I I'm wondering from your point of view, especially in your journey ⁓ in fitness and and becoming and maintaining being a coach ⁓ have you seen either clients of your own or other trainers' clients start walking this path of ⁓ that's unrealistic? And and they in even everything you try to say and do to to put them on the right path, they follow that anyways because it's just the easier sounding looking path. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And ⁓ that's that's and and I get a lot of pushback on that from like ⁓ well not not necessarily from clients, like maybe initially, but ⁓ I do I do a pretty good job of getting them to getting you guys to understand, like, okay, this is listen, like This ain't that and that ain't this, right? So like I'm I'm gonna give it to you honest. I'm gonna give it to you for real and you take it for what it is. Yeah. Right. Same thing with trainers, 'cause you know me, I'm a man, I'm a super, I'm a super, you know, glass half full guy. Mm. And it's is if I see like potential in anything, ⁓ yeah, I'm gonna let I'm gonna let some like if it's that person or whoever, like, yo, do you see what I see? I don't think you fucking see what I see. Go for it, right? Yeah. And You know, people have the the the unrealistic expectations. And I think a big part of why those expectations are unrealistic is because they're not truthful with what they're willing to put into that. Especially in in in fitness. Right. Right? Like, okay, you got your favorite fitness influencer, whatever the case is, right? What they got what they did to get to wherever they're at and how they're doing it, that's what they did. Right. They had you had to pay the cost to be the boss essentially. Right? You have to pay the cost to be the boss. ⁓ and what I try to get all you guys to understand is okay, like f right now, fuck the goal. Like, okay, you got your goal. Okay, we set it, we forget it. All right. We know what it is. We don't have to keep like we know what it is. But the cost of that is what it is. Then the real question is, are you willing to pay that? Right. Are you willing to pay that cost? Right. Is that does that mean you gotta give up X, Y, and Z? Does that mean you have to sacrifice, you know, a certain element of your life that you enjoy? Like what are you willing what are you willing to pay in order to get to that? ⁓ and then you have to be honest. Like even if the answer is like, nah, I'm not willing to do that shit right now. Okay, then our goal needs to be a bit smaller. Right. Like ⁓ we need to we need to work backwards. Like, okay, maybe that being as lean as possible is the ultimate goal. Right. Okay, but In order for you like we can't skip step one through ten to and to get to a hundred we can't do that. Right. Or one through ninety-nine to get to a hundred. Like you have to be honest about what you're willing to do and where you're at at the current moment. Okay. So even if you like, you know what I'm saying, you can have all the goals. Now I never dismiss anybody's goals. Even if I'm in my mind, I'm like, okay, that's okay. That's a little ⁓ I don't know. I don't know about that. But you see the nose. But I'm never gonna dismiss that. Right. I'm never if that look, I want them to come to whatever the realization is, you I want you guys to come to that on your own. My job is to help you like cause I know no matter what, we still gotta go through the like step one. Right. Right. And not only do we need to get through step one, I need you to be a master at step one. Like not just like, ⁓ yeah, I know it. Okay, now I w like all right, go through it again. Let's say how well you know it. Go through it again. Right. Can you get ten for ten? Can you go eighteen for twenty? Can you go like can we can we do that first? And then same thing as step two, same thing at step three. And then normally what happens is you guys get to a point where it's like, you know what? You know, the goals shifted a little bit. Or the the goal is still the goal, but you're like, Okay, now I know like okay, this shit's gonna be a lot harder than what I thought it was gonna be. Right. ⁓ and then on the other side, you know, for like as trainer to trainer, coach to coach. ⁓ everybody wants to be the, you know, the ten thousand dollar trainer or the ⁓ or the, you know what I'm saying? The ⁓ I'm trying to think of somebody that I I don't know, who whoever your big social media influences are. ⁓ and you have to you have to okay, like what does ten thousand dollars a month look like? Right. Like, yeah, you can charge a grip. You can do that, right? You can do that. And I know that there's some trainers out there that do that. Hey. See each is on however you do it. Like what they call ⁓ high ticket clients or whatever the case is. I feel it. But majority out of of you out there, you're gonna start out, you're gonna be training regular people. Right. Regular people. So if you're training regular people, and whatever you whatever your number is a month, if if you're charging some let's go four fifty. Right. Right. So you're gonna need to get ten thousand. What's the math on that? Four fifty, you need like t ten. No. You would need more than that. You need twenty people. You would need So so twenty people? Right. Yeah. So maybe maybe about twenty people. Yeah, about twenty people, right? So doable? Yes. Totally. You definitely can do that. But then you gotta look at you gotta look at okay, how's my day gonna look like with twenty people in a week? Right? How how long are my days gonna be? Right. Right. Okay, then you gotta account for do you got kids? Do you got ⁓ are you doing other stuff outside of training, right? ⁓ what what other stuff are you interested in? Like you have to be very honest about that. Right. Right? Because I know a lot of trainers make a lot of money, but they're in the gym all fucking day. But I also know the trainers too who like you know, they spend like two, three hours, whatever. ⁓ but the quality of their training, whether it's online or or in person, yeah, they're making a lot of money, but the people that they're training is not like they're not getting them to the results that they asked for. Right. So it's like, is it really the num is is it really about the number, the qual ⁓ the quantity of things, or is it about the quality of whatever it is that you're doing? And you have to be very honest. Like even if even if it is, no man, I wanna have a shit ton of tr ⁓ a sit a shit ton of clients. Okay. All right. Okay. Nah man, I wanna I want ten thousand dollars a month. That's what I want as a as a trainer. Okay. Okay. Like okay. So what do you need to do to get ⁓ to get that? And I need you to be and we need to be ⁓ honest about that. Like I we had a conversation about it where I was like I've done the whole being in the in the in the in the gym all day. I don't like that shit. No. Right? I've done the group fitness, like that was cool for the time. And you know, as you get older and experienced and get around, you know, different people and different things, you things start sparking your interest. Yeah. And then it's like, okay. Things look a little different now. Mm-hmm. Okay, how how so now I need to be smart like this. So now you don't just take every on every client. Right. The goal is not to just fill up your schedule as far as that goes. No, you don't. The goal is like, okay, I want to stay efficient with how I do things. How can I what's the number that puts me right in the middle where I got a good amount of people, but I got enough quote unquote free time to get involved with some other things and then you know, still stay connected within the fitness space or whatever it is. You know what I mean? So and look, this that might not be your thing. That might you might look like no I'm a diehard trainer. That's what gonna do is train all day. Yeah. Okay, whatever the fuck. Hey, listen, I look I don't give a shit. Like whatever you wanna do. But hey, I'm just you at once you get to a certain level of doing it after a while, don't be surprised if your level of thinking starts to change and starts to and starts to heighten. Whatever. Well you said a you said it a little bit ago. About it being like the quality versus quantity. Yeah. And I would say the same about auditions. Same thing. It's gotta be you want you wanna give quality auditions. That'll be harder to do if you have this large quantity of auditions. So sure, ultimately what any actor would want would would be a ton of opportunities because auditions are opportunities. You'd want to have a ton of those. However, your quality is ultimately what matters. So make that one or two or three auditions phenomenal yeah rather than mediocrely going through two hundred auditions. Cause I definitely come across actors in my path that have done the online like voices.com or voices one two three and so there's a shroo of auditions they can do. And so they'll sit all day doing all these auditions. There was one guy I I met a while back and he had he was making six figures doing voices one two three. Okay. A voice one two three. And ⁓ great for him. But the catch was that he was constantly in his booth. It was like a full-time job to be in his booth to audition. Now, awesome. If that's what you want to do, good for you. ⁓ for me, no. I would prefer to have like today, you know how many auditions I had? I had one. One audition. But I made sure that one audition was phenomenal. That it was curated just right. I went through all the specs, make sure I was c I was connecting with that character, looking at the the graphic of the character the breakdown of the game, so I understand ⁓ what they're looking for. Like I got to take the time to then give a great audition to this one audition. Right, right. It's not about the it is really I think ultimately for for voice actors, and I'll say this for everyone that wants to be a voice actor, it isn't about the quality, excuse me, the quantity of your auditions. It is absolutely about the quantity. I'm gonna say it again. It is not about the quantity of your auditions, it's about the quality. Yes. ⁓ you I would rather spend my time being able to look over those small details. Yeah. They're small, but they're details about the character or the game or the commercial or the promo that is needed for you to actually be able to have that reward, the booking. And so ⁓ I love I love that you said totally. You can if you want to train all day, train people all day. That's awesome. You have a goal that you want to meet, ⁓ homie that I met. You know, he's he wanted to make sure he made those six figures so we spent his entire day record that's good for you. Yeah. If that's that good for you, if that's what you really want. But for me and for a lot of people, it really it really is more so about the quality and having the time to do other things. Having the time to do other things. And I think too, just and not just in our field, but just in that in in everything. Yeah. ⁓ I think it's good for all of us to truly have a good understanding of what success looks like for us as an individual. ⁓ 'cause that was man, that was like a almost like a culture shock. ⁓ in a mind fuck. When I f when I was like, 'cause in my mind early on, I'm thinking, okay, successful training, like you man, you training everybody. You training everybody. Man, you everywhere doing everything. Right. You put look content, whatever. You doing it all. Right. And then you get more into the thing, right? Like I was just having this conversation with somebody ⁓ today and I was like, ⁓ like, yeah, man. I said it used to be a point where it's like, yo, man, you must be making money, man. I said, bro, I don't even got I don't even have time to s see the shit. Right. It goes straight to bills and wherever else needs to be done. And then look, I finished at a certain time, I gotta be back up in the morning. And then somewhere in there you gotta look, your own workouts, you you if you got children, you trying to take podcasts, whatever, right? Like you gotta fit that shit in there. ⁓ and that shit's not fun. And it got to a point where the money wasn't even worth it and I'm losing my goddamn mind. Right. Right. I don't care what nobody says. They're like, ⁓ man, you gotta be able to do it. Man, if if it's if it's all day, it's all day. Sacrifice. You gotta sacrifice to get where you're listening hey listen, bro. Hey, listen. You don't get no there ain't no trophy for that. There's no trop Literally no one cares. There's no trophy. No one cares that you sacrifice. ⁓ There's no one cares about those details. There is no trophy for sacrificing. There is no trophy for giving up time with your family or your kids or on yourself. Nope. Literally no one cares. Like, bro, like like all for the sake of, yeah, I made I like I'm I made, you know, six figures, whatever. Right. Like, yeah, in the beginning, like, yeah, you might have no choice ⁓ of doing that because it's like, okay, it's just me. I gotta do that shit. Sure. But bro, at some point and I don't want anybody to to watch this like, ⁓ man, they're telling me not to, you know, not to ⁓ go All in on coaching or all in on voice acting. That's not what I'm saying. Like if you've do that. Yeah, do that. But you gotta understand, like, okay, what do you really want out of life? Right. Like what do you really want out of this career or whatever it is? ⁓ you know, you can speak all yours. I know for me though, like when it came down to coaching, I was like, Okay, at some point at the like the way I like to coach, what makes you know, at some point it's gonna be harder to do. At some point, and like my body is just not gonna give me what I want it to give. Right. And like I'm gonna have to just like, okay, like all right, I'm gonna have to take a back seat to that. Yeah. So then you start thinking, okay, what else can I do that I that I can give ⁓ the same amount of quality without giving up so much of my time as well. And at first it used to scare like, nah, you're not supposed to think like that, man. Hey, ⁓ no, you're supposed think like that, bro. You fuck you f everything that you that you've been talking about, man, you back you look, you backpedal it on that. Right. But I think it's kind of nature, man. If you're really in it for a long time, like you like it's like the way that the way that you were doing things at twenty four versus now thirty four. Can't do it. Bro, like it doesn't make sense it doesn't fucking make sense. It doesn't it doesn't well, it doesn't make sense, and it just isn't the same even if I wanted it to be. Bro, it doesn't make sense. And like it's like, bro, at that time you have ⁓ you had One kid already? I had Easton already at twenty four. And then I was ⁓ helping ⁓ his his sister, his older sister. Okay. So I had two, really. So you father at the time. Yeah. Right. One one kid helping out with you know with the with you know, ⁓ older sister as well. I was stepdad. So and then and then life looked different. Like life looked different completely at that time. Yeah. ⁓ and then it's like, okay, it doesn't make sense to do shit like that. No. ⁓ like I don't like like I said, you don't have to be in the gym all day now. Because I don't have to be, bro. There was a time where I used to wear that badge of honor. Right. Right? Like, yeah. Pat you was in here all day. Yeah, man. I got in here at five. I got here at eight. And I'm gonna do it again tomorrow. Right. Man, you hit that wall so crazy, bro. Yeah. Shit. Of course. You hit that wall so fucking crazy. Burn out. And then at the time it gets to a point where, like you said, nobody gives a shit whether you hit the wall or not. They're like, Bro, give us what we been what we know. Dude, come on man. No and this you know, ⁓ it's no ⁓ You know, it's not people's fault, but you know, the use of something, is that that's what it is. But ⁓ you just gotta have a clear definition of what success looks like for you. Don't let social media or anybody else tell you what success actually is, because I guarantee you a lot of those people are really sad inside for whatever reason. Right. Some of them might be genuinely happy, right? But a lot of those people Yeah, man, cause you can put a highlight reel on there and it and everything looks gravy. Like you don't never go through shit. Or like, yeah, this is what I do when I have a hard time. Right. Bro. I think we mentioned that almost every episode where it's a highlight reel. Like you said, like it's it's not the full picture. So you can get inspired. You can utilize ⁓ others' words and their journey as inspiration. Absolutely. But look at your own life and yeah, ⁓ see what it is that you want out of it all. You know, like do I want a larger than life career sometimes? Absolutely. But the sacrifice means that I have to sacrifice my time with my family. No. I'm not doing that. I don't want to do that. I'm not doing it. I'm not fighting it. I don't want to do that. Not right now when it matters the most that I'm available to my to my kids. When it matters the most that I'm available to my fiance, then it matters the most that I'm available for myself. Exactly. Like I'm able to work on my body, work on my mental health, work on all these different aspects because I have the time. And if I yes, if I wanted to go gung ho and go get that larger than life career, I could do it. But it's going to come at a cost that I'm not willing to do. You're not willing to pay, yeah. And that's okay. Yeah, and you have to be honest with it. You have to be honest with yourself about that. ⁓ if you're willing to like I said, pay the cost to be the boss, pay the cost. Because rent's due every day with that. Rent, yeah. Rent is due every fucking day, and whether you like it or not, you gotta pay that. Right. So it's it's just understanding, hey man, because there's plenty of people. Like there's a reason I want y'all to really think, like, there's a reason why some of the wealthiest people in the world There's a reason why they are some of the wealthiest people in the world. And they're not out here killing themselves with all this work. Right. There might have been a time. Right. But at some point they got they got smart and was like, okay, I get look, it's not sustainable this way. We have to we have to find a way to make this efficient, more efficient, without me being on the front line every single fing time. Right. How do I do that? And then you start thinking in a completely different way. You do it as long as you have to as far as being on the front line, but The goal at the end is not because like, ⁓ yeah, this is just badger bonding. No, eventually I'm not gonna be able to do it like this. Right. And that's fine. But I need to have systems in play. I need to have something in place. So the people or whatever that come around to help me out, they can run the play. And it's almost like look, I can be hands off and I can be good. And now you got more time with your friends. You got more time with your kids. You got more time for yourself. All because you stopped thinking, I'll call it surface level. You start thinking on the different on the different plane. Bro, so ⁓ man. Yeah. ⁓ man. This is a good episode. The fuck. Abs and auditions. Abs auditions. And see, in the beginning I was like, we'll see where it takes us. And it took where it took us. And it took everything. It took us everywhere. It took us everywhere. Yeah, man. But let that be a lesson in life, though, man. Let the like we like to keep our hands on the steering wheel like a lot. Sometimes you gotta you gotta let go and let things be what they are. I think you gotta get out the fucking car sometimes. Some hey, sometimes. Hey, sometimes you can just take get out of the car and go take a seat elsewhere. Get out the way. I know, ⁓ man, it's ⁓ it's almost like like you try to help in certain ways like, nah man, I feel like if I don't, and I had to learn this, like if if I don't do something, like I'm gonna lose it. So actually you're fucking it right now. Right, you're making it worse. Let go of it. Let things play out the way it's gonna play out. Let the chips fall where they're gonna fall. Right. And trust that everything that's supposed to happen and What and how it's supposed to work out is going to do that. I agree. But the more you keep trying to control every single aspect, yeah. All of a you're like, no, I'm trying to help. And we're into a fucking wall. Right. Yep. Because you couldn't let go. Yep. All you need to do was hey, just breathe. Come on. Chill. Come on. Come on, man. Relax. Relax. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, man. Like, you what I'm saying? There's a t you gotta pick your spots. Know when to be in the driver's seat, know when to Okay. Get in the passenger seat, know when to get the fuck out, know when to smell the roses, know when to take, you know, take a take a step back, take a nap, and know when to put your foot on the gas. You have to understand that the better that we can get at picking our spots, bro, ⁓ not only were if finances is your thing, like monetary shit, you'll make more of it, I think, doing it that way. Yeah. ⁓ but also too, you just get more your you get more of your time back. And there's nothing more valuable than time, bro, because you can't like, bro, like you just Time time is pretty Time is I I got asked a question a long time ago on a another it was someone doing a ⁓ something for their class, their film class, and they reached out to me, we FaceTimed, and one of the questions they asked me was, How do you define your success? And I was like, Can you give me a second? Let me let me let me think about that. Let me go to my room. So then I like, Hold on, let me let me let me really think. And I came to the conclusion, I was like, ⁓ it's time. It's time. My success is equated to time. I get time with my family. Yeah. So ⁓ yeah, that's that's success. Like I could have I could never ⁓ make millions of dollars I could maybe never achieve the like I said, the gr that big, huge, larger than life career. But man, if I got that time, then it was worth having the the career that I have. It's where it's and it still is. It still is worth having the jobs that I get to have. Could I be booked and busy and non stop? Absolutely. Absolutely, bro. But it d that doesn't equate success. That just equates to that just means it's bookings. That's just like That's that's the reward, that's great, but I don't always need that 'cause that's that at at some point it won't it'll outweigh that that time with my family, so then it won't be a reward anymore. ⁓ You'll start seeing like a burden. Yes, absolutely like a burden. Like like damn, I don't wanna do this shit, man. Like I'd love to be here for for whatever you know, whatever it is, but like we said, everything comes at a cost. You just have to know what you're willing to pay. That eighty twenty mu it can be utilized in other ways in in life. ⁓ Eighty percent is for me is In life is time and availability for my family and from myself. Yes. That twenty percent is available is utilized for career, chasing dreams, building blocks for things that are outside of my real existence. The other day, that podcast I was on. ⁓ yeah. I was telling them too, I was like the character Umber Eyes for Resident Evil that I did. It was like point zero zero zero one percent of my entire thirty-four years on this earth. Yeah. So awesome that I'm even on the podcast. Yeah. People get to know and enjoy this character, they get to be a part of. This is all I I could go the list goes on. Yeah. But it was this much. Yeah, just a little bit. But and that's same thing even for my career in voiceover. Yeah. My career in general. My career for the rest of my life is gonna be a very small percentage of my full existence. It i i it doesn't equate at all to give that much energy, love, and time. Yeah. To something that isn't even my but but I you know what it does take up ⁓ it is a huge part of my existence? Being a father. Yeah. And being ⁓ a soon to be husband. Yeah. And being a a good friend. Like all these other things that take up way more than that small bit, you know. So that eighty twenty, eighty percent goes to the people that I love and to myself, the twenty percent goes to my career. Yeah. In my those other building blocks, you know. So Yeah, that's and that and you know. That's important, y'all. So hopefully everybody got something from this man. Hopefully everybody ⁓ hopefully we opened your eyes to something too. ⁓ and we gave y'all some like a little bit of insight, man, because I know on the outside looking in, looking at what we do and stuff like that, just from a career standpoint, it's like, man, like that's pretty damn cool and it is. Yeah. And it is cool. But ⁓ there's You you gotta take the good with the bad, man. You get to experience the good, the bad, the ugly. And like I said in the beginning, if you're in it long enough, you will there there is no there's no way around it. You can't cut no corners. Like if you experience the good, you for surely gonna see the bad and you damn sure gonna see the ugly. Yeah. And you gotta find a way to stay as even as possible. Yeah, I mean it and it gets hard to stay even. It gets hard to stay even sometimes, but you have to find a way to do that and you have to figure out what for one, what why the fuck am I doing this? And what the hell is true success to me? Not what social media said, not what your favorite celebrities said, but what's true success for you and your family, your kids, if you got kids, what's true success for you, bro? Ooh. Great episode. Great episode. We got to highly recommend it. Yeah. Now because ⁓ I feel like we've had a we've had a great ⁓ episode here. I'm over here looking at the time. ⁓ so ⁓ look. You know how we do things here, the highly recommended. Absolutely. ⁓ highly recommended is gonna go start. We're gonna start with you this time. Okay. ⁓ again, if you haven't if you're new here, ⁓ highly recommended is you know, a quote, a a book, a music, movie, something, anything that we think that we you know resonates with us right now. We want to share that with you. So go ahead. Okay. All right. So my and my mine's gonna be like a it's more of a ⁓ a question for ⁓ that I've asked myself. It'd be a question for you. Okay. Definitely for y'all. If it all were to end today, if this was it. Would you be happy and or satisfied with the life that you've built up until this point? Yes. Yes. That's my answer is yes. So none of the other bullshit, but no. If things were to if it was just cause you never know. Right. You never know what would you be happy or satisfied with the life that you built up until this point. The the time that you've given to your kids if you got kids, the time that you've given to your spouse if you got a spouse, family, the time that you've given to yourself, ⁓ the work that you've maybe put into yourself, you put into your craft, you put into the the things that you love and care for the most, would you be happy and satisfied with that if today was just, Hey man, this is it. Mm-hmm. So that's the question. If it all were to end the day, would you be happy or satisfied with the life that you built up until this point? And if your answer is yes, like ours is, then I think we look at that. Remind yourself how beautiful life must be. If your answer could be yes to that, dying today, would you be happy with what you left behind? Be like Yes, okay. Then that's you have a pretty beautiful life then. And that's and that's and that's a beautiful thing to say. But even if you answer that and you have to answer honestly, like, I don't know, or maybe it's no maybe it's no. Okay. Okay. So then then we start sparking the thinking, like, Okay, how can I be happy? Right. Then it become it's not it's not about a number, like a money number. It's not about a certain level of fame. Yeah, yeah. It becomes okay, how do like I want to be happy with the life, I wanna be proud of that. Right. How can I build that? What's that 80 20 spectrum? What's that? What what's that? What does that look like for me? So that's that's my highly recommended man. Deeper thinking, but that's good though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so my highly recommended is going to be ⁓ there's a I came across a video of Dochi, the rapper Dochi. Dochie. Douche. And ⁓ I came across a video of her talking about she does this book called The Artist Way, which I have down there and have not started it. And I think I should that right there, that that red and brown book. Which one? That ⁓ right here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She started this book, The Artist's Way. And I have not actually started. There's a little sticker up there. I haven't started it, but I should. Because there was something very fun to this book. Yeah. Okay. So, but in the video, she was talking about ⁓ a section of this book that she was filling out, and she sent him something poignant. And the the quote is ⁓ I need to create what needs to be created, whether it sells or not. Because what needs what wants to be created needs to be created. And that stuck out deeply. What wants to be created needs to be created. ⁓ Because I feel as if as a creative, and sadly, thanks to the you know ⁓ the way that the world is functioning right now, ⁓ like we all we feel like we need to s we need to sell or monetize our art. Now, is that a bad thing? Not not necessarily. But when you feel stifled by that idea, so then you don't create. Yeah. Which is how I felt for a long time. Where I just stop I'm like, I don't really want to have to monetize my art. I don't really want to have to sell it to make it. I just want to make it to make it. And there's nothing you can still do that. It's just hard as a creative to make it regardless, which is what she was saying. Right. That it it it wants to be created, so it needs to be created. I'm going to create it because it wants to be. I need to do that then. And not everything that I create needs to be sold. No. So let me create anyway. Yeah. And ⁓ there's another part in that video where she talks about, you know, like basically saying like the market valuing not valuing your art in that moment doesn't speak to your art. It speaks to the market and the market doesn't matter. No. Woo. Like you're right. Yeah. Cause I could go and put out a a poem on on Instagram even. It's as simple as that, which I have. And it might get a few hundred views, which it has, and that's cool. ⁓ but do I do I wish at times it had thousands, a million or whatever? Yeah, but does that speak to my art? No. Was the poem amazing? Is it beautiful? Is it touching? Is it whatever? Yeah. To whoever? To me it is. So that's all that ultimately matters. Absolutely. It doesn't matter if it sells or not. It doesn't matter if it reaches across platforms or not. It I just want to make it to make it. And I need to remind myself of that. So for other creatives out there, Maybe that's helpful for you to think about it that way, that it doesn't matter if your art, your creativity is it is sell if it sells or not. It wants to be created, so you need to create it. So go out and create. Because if you focus on the market, like you said, then you start creating shit that's really not for you. Yeah. ⁓ and then you kinda lose your way. And then you that that's how people end up hating what they make. And it happens all the time. Actors musicians, writers talking deeply about like I didn't even want to promote this movie. I hated the movie. Or I didn't even want to write this thing, but it was a job. ⁓ I didn't want to make this music 'cause but I'm making the doshi talks about that too. Making TikTok music, making things for for the algorithm. Yeah. And how much that broke her creativity. Maggie broke I know we get ready to end, but to your point, to your point. Cause have you listened to Alligator Bites Never Healed? course, yeah. So the The what was the what was the TikTok song? The anxiety song that was born that that was all around. Yep. Right. It was it was cute. Whatever, it was cute. But man, like she was getting on the album, she was rapping, rapping. Mm mm and it wasn't like it wasn't like the super popular like you know what I'm saying? It wasn't like the super like you're gonna hear it on like all the radio or anything. Right, right, right. But it was fire stuff and it was raw. Absolutely. So to that point, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So We could talk another a whole nother hour about that time. We could, but we're gonna end it right here. We're gonna end it right with this card that we're gonna throw at you. ⁓ and that's it. Well, it might not hit you, but it it never hits anything. ⁓ But this is something we do every episode. So thank you for listening. If you laughed, you learned, you cried, you felt something, go follow on Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, follow on TikTok, ⁓ likes, shares, three posts, or just you know, listen. Watch quietly to yourself and that's cool too. We appreciate you ⁓ vibing with us. So I am Kane. And I'm Pat, man. Appreciate y'all man. ⁓ yeah, man. Damn. IGK. We in this thing. IGK. We in this thing