Ep. 154: I CAN DO HARD THINGS: WILL REUSCH DOING DAVID GOGGINS 4X4X48 CHALLENGE TOWARD HELPING THE HOMELESS IN LOS ANGELES, A CHAT WITH MY HUSBAND
I CAN DO HARD THINGS.
That's my family's motto. And I say it to my team, my students, everyone all the time. Because I truly believe in the power of that mindset, of knowing that you CAN do things, no matter how hard you think they are.
So when my husband came up to me one day, all excited, with this CRAZY physical challenge that he wanted to do...well I had to remind myself of our motto.
Will has decided to do the David Goggins challenge. This means he's going to be running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours.
I'll just let you sit with that for a second...just think about it...just imagine it...4 miles. Every 4 hours. For 48 hours.
WHY would anybody want to do that? Well, we're going to answer that question in this very episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. We're going to talk about the story behind the challenge, what it's for, and why Will is so determined to do something that is, frankly, extremely dangerous. It's fun!
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [01:59] First Will and I want to explain our family motto: I can do hard things.
‣‣ [03:19] Will gives some background on this (crazy) challenge that he's doing and the man behind it: David Goggins.
‣‣ [07:05] Even though I'm concerned for Will doing this challenge, it is for an important cause, which we share more about here.
‣‣ [09:45] Here Will starts to answer some questions about his challenge starting with: how long does running four miles take him?
‣‣ [25:02] I want to talk about why Will pushes himself so often even when it's dangerous for him to do so.
‣‣ [14:36] When Will first told me about this challenge he was SO excited and I don't understand where that excitement comes from. Why are you excited to suffer? Here Will makes it relatable for me as an entrepreneur and business owner.
‣‣ [20:31] Will and I are both scrappy in the sense that if we need to make something happen for our family then we WILL find a way. But how did we get this way?
‣‣ [22:17] How do you plan for something that is going to be so physically and mentally taxing?
‣‣ [24:29] Here Will explains some hardships he faced in his childhood that have influenced the way he views this challenge.
I CAN DO HARD THINGS! (Listen Here)
Support BARE Truth and donate to the cause here!
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast!
Pretty Rich Bosses
The Elusive Clubhouse Course
Text me! (310) 388-4588
FOR MY LISTENER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy this podcast by downloading it on iTunes here.
(Life Hack: Subscribe to Pretty Rich Podcast to get the LATEST EPISODE downloaded to your phone AUTOMATICALLY)
FOR MY READER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.
Sheila Bella:
Welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast, where you're totally the heroine of your own story. I'm your host, Sheila Bella, and I built a seven-figure PMU beauty biz and a seven-figure online biz, without a degree, without a fancy website or a sugar daddy. If you and I hang out on here long enough, you're going to start to believe that you can do it, too. How about that for a side effect of listening to this podcast? Because you really can. I know you think, "I don't know you. I have no idea who you are," but I do. I really, really do, because I am you. I was you, and I believe we are all on the same journey together. My perfect job didn't exist, so I created it. The job I wanted wasn't hiring me, wanted nothing to do with me, so I skipped the line and hired myself as CEO, just like you can. Consider me your secret beauty biz BFF in case you need to be reminded on a weekly basis that power is never just handed to you, you have to take it. Are you ready, beauty boss? Let's jump in.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another Friday live session here at Real Sheila Bella. Today, I wanted to bring Will on because he's doing something absolutely bonkers tonight, starting tonight, and I need to understand. I don't understand why he's doing what he's doing here. Actually, I'm going to let you explain. The title... But before you explain, I just want to say the title of this live podcast recording is, I Can Do Hard Things. Did you even know that that's the title?
Will:
Nope.
Sheila Bella:
Okay. I can do hard things is our family motto. When you ask the kids-
Will:
Yeah, I shared it on my Instagram.
Sheila Bella:
Oh, you did?
Will:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
What did you say on your Instagram?
Will:
I just shared that. I didn't say anything.
Sheila Bella:
Oh, why is that our family motto?
Will:
Oh yeah. It's our family motto, so we have the kids say that because the go-to excuse when they're struggling with something is, "It's hard." You're kind of beating them to the punch.
Sheila Bella:
Oh, I've never explained it that well before.
Will:
How do you explain it?
Sheila Bella:
I don't have any brain cells right now, Will. The way you say it, from now on, I will do that. I wanted to talk about the challenge you're undertaking, starting this evening.You told me about this challenge, this crazy challenge. Hi, Brie. When did you tell me about it, like a month ago?
Will:
Probably even more than that.
Sheila Bella:
Okay.
Will:
Yeah, maybe. Yeah, maybe like six weeks to two months ago.
Sheila Bella:
Talking about this for a very long time. Starting at 8:00 PM today, tell them what you're going to do.
Will:
It's David Goggins challenged. So for people that don't know, David Goggins is a former Navy Seal and Army Ranger, a world record holder for the most pull-ups in 24 hours, ultramarathon runner. He's run 250-mile races and things like that. He's just a wild man. He's also an author of a book that's phenomenal called, Can't Hurt Me.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, I read it.
Will:
It's really, really good. This is a guy who came from a really abusive background-
Sheila Bella:
True.
Will:
... and he was, by his account, a loser. He was overweight. He would eat a bunch of milkshakes, and he gained a lot of weight. He was an exterminator, and he just was depressed and all that kind of stuff. One day he just decided that didn't want to be that anymore. He decided to instead become the toughest man alive. He wanted to callous his mind to just push through anything. His first 100-mile marathon, he didn't train for. He ran and broke all the bones in his feet and broke his legs, but he finished the race. He was peeing blood, and he pooped his pants and all that kind of stuff, but he finished the race.
Sheila Bella:
Right.
Will:
That's just kind of the way that he is. He just pushes through everything. He believes that your mind is stronger than anything else. Who was it? Angela Duckworth, I think, has the book, Mindset.
Sheila Bella:
Is it?
Will:
Carol Dweck.
Sheila Bella:
Carol Dweck.
Will:
Angela Duckworth is Grit.
Sheila Bella:
Grit, yeah.
Will:
These ideas of just being able to push through things. So Anyway, David Goggins has this challenge. I think he did it with Jesse Itzler when he was working with him. It was, you run four miles at 8:00 PM. It's four by four by 48. You do four miles every four hours for 48 hours. It's a lot of running. It's not a lot of sleep. I've been running since... I've never been a runner, but starting January 1st, which isn't that long ago, I started running regularly.
Sheila Bella:
We were running last year.
Will:
Yeah, we were doing like two miles.
Sheila Bella:
That's true.
Will:
Two miles, three days a week, but this is 48 miles in two days.
Sheila Bella:
One time we did six miles. That was the longest.
Will:
You and I did six?
Sheila Bella:
I think like five point something.
Will:
Did we? Okay, maybe we did, yeah. That's what I'm going to do. It's going to be a hard physical thing. It's going to be... What do they say? It's simple, not easy.
Sheila Bella:
Yes. Pick up weight, put down weight.
Will:
Yes.
Sheila Bella:
Left, right, left, right. Yeah, simple, not easy.
Will:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
Okay, so guys, let's slow down on that, because you kind of breezed through that really quickly, kind of nonchalantly. It's four miles every four hours for 48 hours. He is going to run four miles every four hours... hold on... for 48 hours, starting at 8:00 PM tonight.
Will:
Yeah. Well, I don't know what kind of pace I'm going to do. I have my route. Last week I did four miles when I woke up, four miles in the afternoon, and then two or three days last week I did four miles a night then. I did anywhere between eight and 12 miles on the route just to get used to it, and it was fine. I was averaging 9:00, 9:15 miles, which is just a good pace for me. I can keep that pace up. I'm guessing I'm going to be over 10-minute miles, so it might be a blend of a slow jog-
Sheila Bella:
Right.
Will:
... because I'm not a great runner. I just did some hikes earlier this week. My calves hurt, my feet hurt going into this. I'm not going to break myself, because I've broken myself before.
Sheila Bella:
Let's talk. Number one, I'm concerned, but I support him, and I also understand wanting to do hard things. The way we're conditioning our kids though, I do think that that's an important element of life. You want to beat them to the punch. We have some questions over here. Well, number one, he is doing it for charity. I pinned the cause here. Let's just talk about the charity real quick, and then we'll answer the questions.
Will:
The charity is Official B.A.R.E. Truth. Joseph Bradford, III has become a friend of mine. He is a guy who has a crazy background, as well. His history is-
Sheila Bella:
You're the third, too.
Will:
Yeah, I am. But his history is nuts. I get the numbers wrong, but something like he's like one of six kids and his mom had six kids before she was 30 or something crazy like that. He's from a really poor community in the South. I forget what it is, like Alabama or something like that. Anyway, he came out to L.A., and he started a non-profit called Official B.A.R.E. Truth. He's just the real deal. He's trying to fix homelessness. He bought several houses, and he's given them to people who are homeless, to house them. He goes to skid row every Saturday, all through COVID, goes out to skid row to deliver pizza and food, canned food and clothing and blankets, sometimes medical care. He is just doing what…
We're in L.A., and the homelessness problem is bad. There's 150,000 homeless people in L.A., and it's going up and up and up. The government's not doing anything about it. Actually, their policies are making it far worse. It was Dr. Drew has highlighted it. He thinks that they could even be brought up on charges, the politicians in L.A.
Sheila Bella:
It's really bad.
Will:
It's really bad. He's stepping up, and he's actually fixing it. The money isn't for me. It's a motivational factor, because I'm tired now, and I kind of want to take a nap. I might just be like, "Hey, I'm not doing it." But if I have people donate to this cause, I can't go back on it, so that's why I aligned with Joseph and Official B.A.R.E. Truth.
Sheila Bella:
Guys, you can donate to B.A.R.E. Truth, even if it's $5 or anything would definitely help.
Will:
It's huge. I mean, Joseph's one of those guys who he's running this non-profit and there're employees and stuff like that. But I saw him one time, he literally gave the shoes off his feet to a homeless guy and then drove home in his Jeep with bare feet.
Sheila Bella:
It's so cool.
Will:
I mean, he's just such... Yeah, he's like the real, the most selfless person I've probably ever met. I was like, "If I'm going to align with some sort of charity, this is the one to do."
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, absolutely. Let's go back to some of the questions, because these want an answer.
Will:
How long does four miles take?
Sheila Bella:
How long does four miles take?
Will:
It was taking me about 35 minutes or so, but I'm guessing it's going to take me about an hour. I'm going to go slow. I'm going to do like a nice doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo pace. I'm guessing it'll be about an hour, a little bit less. It'll be less than an hour.
Sheila Bella:
Someone said, "Don't binge. You might die." Let's talk about the ways you've almost died pushing yourself too hard, and why I might be concerned.
Will:
Well, I don't know if it's always pushing myself too hard, but I've just had these rare brain issues, so I spent a lot of time in the hospital. That's kind of it.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. He had intracranial hypertension when he was in his twenties, and he still kind of does have that, although there are no symptoms because he has a shunt. About two years ago... some of you who have been following me for a while know this... he had a stroke, after he told me before he left for the gym that he was going to go for the hardest chest workout of his life, came back-
Will:
That was beforehand, and that's not-
Sheila Bella:
No, I'm pretty sure it happened at the gym.
Will:
Yeah, but when you said after.
Sheila Bella:
No, I think it happened there, because you came back with a headache, and then you went to Vegas and did a bunch of crazy things. Then you came back, and we had to go to the ICU.
Will:
True.
Sheila Bella:
Anyway, so that's why I'm concerned.
Will:
Can you walk these miles?
Sheila Bella:
Can you walk these?
Will:
Yes, I can, and I probably will. I'm going to try not to. But if I get an injury, which I might, I might tweak my knee, I might tweak... My feet kind of hurt already, just from, I've been running a lot to prepare for this. If I'm injured, then I'm going to just walk. You can walk for a long time.
Sheila Bella:
Okay. Everybody is talking about Clubhouse, the new app. I know what you're thinking, because it's what I thought, too, "Oh my goodness, another app I need to download and maintain." I was so resistant to downloading this app, you guys. But as soon as I got on, I realized that it's not as high maintenance as I thought. Actually, it's very low maintenance. It's an app that's audio only. I've been able to grow on there so easily with just an hour or so a week. I've been able to get more sales for my business. Not only that, using this app has helped me position myself as an authority in my field. Let's just face it, using these new apps keeps us relevant. That's just the name of the game nowadays. Social media requires you to constantly update, learn and evolve.
But a lot of people aren't quite sure of how to use Clubhouse properly. That's exactly why I created my super affordable training called the Elusive Clubhouse Unlocked. It took me a minute to learn the app, but now that I know, oh my goodness, I wish somebody would have taught me all of these things sooner. In this course, you will learn exactly what Clubhouse is about and how to use it, who is in Clubhouse, and why you need to be there, too, what to do once you're in Clubhouse, how to optimize your bio, what is a room/club, room etiquette and details, because if you don't know, it could get embarrassing. The many sales benefits of being on Clubhouse, you got to learn how to convert Clubhousers into prospects and paying clients.
If you want in on this course, all you need to do is go to sheilabella.com/clubhouse, sheilabella.com/clubhouse. This free app could totally change your business. Get on it early, because it's so easy to grow on there. It's going to be big. Get it now, before it becomes too hard to grow. It's definitely changing the marketing game. Again, just go to sheilabella.com/clubhouse.
Are you going to-
Will:
I can.
Sheila Bella:
... Insta Stories and go live on Instagram throughout [crosstalk 00:13:58]?
Will:
That's the plan. I don't know. I might be kind of irritable. I might be tired. The plan is to go on and just talk to people and bring them in on the process, especially people that donated and stuff like that. But I guess I'll just have to play it by ear. I'm going to try and enjoy it as much as possible. No, I think that, well, if you're going to be doing hard things, you could be miserable doing it, or you can just enjoy it, enjoy that grind. I think it will be... You're just going to be miserable either way, so I might as well try to enjoy the misery. It's going to be two days, but two days that I can say for a long time, "I did that." I've done that with different things-
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Will:
The Murph Challenge or-
Sheila Bella:
Let's talk about why when you first heard about this... you told me, I was right there... you told me like, "Guess what?" Now you told me about this thing and you're like, "I'm going to do it." You have this look on your face, like you're so excited about this thing. You're like, "I'm totally going to do it." What is that about? How do you think someone like me, do I have anything like that, you think, that I would be like, "I'm excited to work hard at it. I'm excited to suffer?" Why, and can it be relatable to me?
Will:
Yeah. It's just not physical for you.
Sheila Bella:
Oh, if you tell me like-
Will:
You don't like physical struggle.
Sheila Bella:
I like it a little, but not like this.
Will:
Okay.
Sheila Bella:
If you would've told me like, "Okay, so make a million dollars in a month. Kill yourself to do that."
Will:
Yes, which you had to do. Well, I don't know about if you'd kill yourself to make a million, but I there've been times in the past where we'd look at the numbers, we'd go, "We need $20,000 by the end of the week."
Sheila Bella:
That's true.
Will:
So you-
Sheila Bella:
And I said-
Will:
Started smashing eyebrows.
Sheila Bella:
... and I delivered. I remember that. Oh, it was hard times. Yeah, I guess if you gave me a goal to make a million dollars in the month of May or something like that, I would probably-
Will:
That's like the near-impossible challenge that you like to rise up to.
Sheila Bella:
I'd probably, yeah, I'd probably do it, not sleep. I'd probably be into it. I don't know. Let's say Mark Cuban has something like that. Yeah, probably. Yeah, sure. Let's do it. Why don't we do it? We've got a team. Let's do it. Okay, now they're nervous. Laura says I beat you up. Okay, what is that about you? Why does it make you excited to suffer, physically?
Will:
It's voluntary suffering.
Sheila Bella:
Voluntary suffering, yes.
Will:
I've suffered pain-wise, because of the issues that I had medically. They were very painful things, a lot of spinal taps and things like that, really, really painful things. You're ill-prepared for that. You can't prepare for someone sticking needles into your spine and things like that. The only way you can really prepare is by voluntarily suffering so that when the suffering comes that's unavoidable, you go, "Ah, I got this." When I had my stroke, and you did podcasts from the hospital room-
Sheila Bella:
True.
Will:
... there was something, too, when I was kind of touch and go for a little bit there. We had two little kids. We had two kids who were three and one.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, oh.
Will:
The business was complicated. There was a lot of things going on, and you just handled it, and part of that is because you've been handling a business. You've been juggling a lot of things in your life. I don't think you... You can't just like do it. That metaphor of going swimming every morning in a cold pool sucks, so people avoid it, but then someday you're going to be at the beach, and your best friend is out in the ocean drowning. You don't just all of a sudden have these swimming skills to go out and save them. You had to have put your time in, in the cold pool day in and day out, to be able to save the day. I'm hoping that this increases my capacity for everything. That's the goal.
Sheila Bella:
Okay. So when Goggins writes back to you, and then he's like, "Stay hard, brother."
Will:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
That's it, stay hard?
Will:
Yeah. Well, his idea is, it's kind of a Tim Kennedy thing to the Army Ranger guy. He's hard to kill. David Goggins' book is, Can't Hurt Me. You can't do anything to me that I haven't done to myself voluntarily. How much suffering can you put me through, because I've prepared for this? It's like, also, the Jordan Peterson stuff of, what's the worst thing that can happen? Then you say like, "A horrible death to someone in the family," or something like that. It's like, well, it could be worse because you could be fighting over the casket. Now it gets really dark, but essentially, this concept of-
Sheila Bella:
Prepare to be [crosstalk 00:18:44].
Will:
Yeah, you want to be the most reliable person-
Sheila Bella:
At your father's funeral.
Will:
Right. I put that in my stories just recently, my Instagram Stories. I'm like, "That's what David Goggins was saying." It's like, "You want to be the person that when there's crisis, a real crisis, something bad is happening, that they go, 'Oh, thank God, Sheila's here.'" That's what you want to aim to be-
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, I want our boys to be that way.
Will:
... is you provide that for the people when there is chaos, when there's suffering, that you are the one who can save the day.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Will:
You don't just become that. You have to train for that.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Will:
You can't just be like, "Oh, I'm really angry." I do martial arts... now it's [inaudible 00:19:23], but I do martial arts. That's something people say like, "Oh, I'm so mad, so I can beat the crap out of somebody." It's like, not if you spent your time in sparring and doing drills and stuff like that. No, it doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that with any sport. You don't just get really angry, and all of a sudden you can be Serena Williams in tennis. No, you have to spend a lot of time on hitting balls back from the tennis ball shooter. I guess that's part of what this is, is I'm putting in 48 hours of struggle. My body will heal, and then I can be like, "All right. Well, I'm capable of that. I've done that." So if I have to, someday our car breaks down or the RV breaks down, and I got to walk through the desert for 20 miles-
Sheila Bella:
That's true.
Will:
... I can be like, "Well, I can do this."
Sheila Bella:
Will can do it. I think, yeah, if that happened to me, and I was by myself, I'm like, "Where's Will?" Man's search for meaning, "Hey, the book's right there." That book's right there.
Will:
Yeah, Viktor Frankl, yeah.
Sheila Bella:
I like that. I want to be that to some degree. Oh, there it is, yeah. I want to be that some degree. There are certain things I hope people are [crosstalk 00:20:32].
Will:
You have it, just not as much physically. But if a situation comes up financially, or where our family is in some sort of financial need, we need to do X, Y and Z-
Sheila Bella:
Get scrappy.
Will:
... you'll be able to do it.
Sheila Bella:
Get scrappy. Figure it out. Figure it out.
Will:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
I think that's part of why, as much as I don't understand this about you, that's also what intrigues me about you and what I respect.
Will:
I don't know if I was like that when we met though. I think to some degree, but it was-
Sheila Bella:
How did you become this way? We kind of became this way together. I don't know if I was like this when we met either.
Will:
Yeah. I think I was starting on the path. I think I just had to ease my way into it. I know martial arts helped, because you get humbled a lot. You get beat up a lot. I think you just have to get used to getting beat up a lot and putting your body through hardship. It's all relative. For our kids, when they get like a bruise, Beau fell off his scooter and got a scrape on his side. It was the most pain he's ever felt. He was screaming, because it was the most pain he's ever felt. It's all relative. It's like when people talk about microaggressions and stuff like that. No, it's not something that should be ridiculed or shot down. If that hurts you for real, well, then that's real for you.
We can get into, well then, we got to toughen people up or whatever, but that's not the point. The point is this is real. If the most suffering you've ever felt was a three, a three feels like a 10. The goal is to just keep going through that in a controlled situation, so it's a controlled suffering that you can quit anytime. You push yourself through it, because there's going to be times when you can't quit, and that's the Viktor Frankl thing.
Sheila Bella:
Dang. How are you preparing for this physically and mentally? That's the question. How are you preparing for it? Are you thinking about like, "Oh, I'm really going to want to tap out?"
Will:
No.
Sheila Bella:
Is that in your head?
Will:
No, never.
Sheila Bella:
There might be a moment where you're like, "Ooh, this is hard"?
Will:
No. Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think it's going to be that hard.
Sheila Bella:
Okay. I'm going to be there with a [inaudible 00:22:43].
Will:
Yeah. But no, I've prepared by running. Since January 1st, I've been averaging 40, 50 miles a week. That's a lot of running, and my body never did that. I'm a fairly big guy. I'm 6'3". I'm 190 pounds, so running isn't necessarily easy, but I've been doing it. That's how I've been preparing. Then mentally, I don't know. I think that's kind of one of the things that I hang my hat on is just my discipline, my capacity to push myself mentally, far more than I can push myself. My body kind of taps out before my mind does.
Sheila Bella:
What about emotionally? You don't feel like you have to-
Will:
It's just getting up. It's just not sleeping and running.
Sheila Bella:
For those of you who are just popping in right now, the challenge is he's going to run four miles every four hours for 48 hours, beginning at 8:00 PM tonight, Pacific standard time. Follow him on Instagram, at Will Reusch. He's doing it for charity. It's for B.A.R.E. Truth, which helps the homeless in Los Angeles. You can check out the pin here. I pinned the link for anybody that wants to help.
Will:
Oh, thank you for doing that.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, absolutely. What is Jim Carey talking about? What is he talking-
Will:
I'll take Jim Carey. I've been called worse.
Sheila Bella:
Oh, funny. I think you look like Jim from The Office. “Oh geez” is right. Okay. Anything else? Any closing remarks? Oh, well, I want to dive into one more thing before we exit. I think I overheard you say yesterday that a lot of your personal hardship in your life from childhood, you're kind of bringing into this. The reason why you are motivated to do this is because of baggage, I suppose, that you may have.
Will:
Yeah, just looking for the easy way out. I was a physically weak kid, really, really physically weak. I've just found other ways to get around that, because when you're a boy, especially, I think that being physically weak is tough, because it's like you're in the jungle.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, I think [crosstalk 00:25:10].
Will:
I always look for the easy way out of everything, and that's the way I was just for most of my life. I just look for whatever the easy way out was. If I had to read a book, I would find CliffsNotes or SparkNotes or something like that. Every single avenue I'd looked for a way. I cheated my way through most of school, and I'm a school teacher now. I went through medical issues and stuff like that. But I think now, I just recognize the importance... I still look for the easy way out. I was still look for shortcuts. I life hack as much as I possibly can, and there are benefits to that. I find the shortcut to a lot of places in the intellectual world and academic world and stuff. But this is one where there really isn't a shortcut.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Will:
I mean, I could cheat, but that's no interest to me. I just have to force myself to do it. I think it's trying to make amends with the element of who I was and who, I guess, I still am, which is always looking for the easy way out. It's like I commit to, there's no easy way out of this.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. Well, you said growing up you gave up on a lot of things. You didn't-
Will:
Everything, yeah. I never played any sports. I never read a book.
Sheila Bella:
How are you the exact opposite now? How are you the other extreme opposite as an adult? We have children now, and I'm worrying sometimes.
Will:
That didn't get me to where I wanted to be. I got really sick in my early twenties, and that wasn't enjoyable. That was a really hard thing for several years. Then when you can't be physically active... I couldn't. I had to lay in a bed at one point for a month, and they had to keep it flat because I had a spinal issue. I had to stare up at the ceiling. I couldn't even see the TV. I had to stare up at the ceiling for weeks. I was in a lot of pain, and I was single. I was a 24-year-old single dude, just moved out to California, so I was kind of alone. I remember at one point... This is super embarrassing, but whatever, I don't care.
Sheila Bella:
This is the platform.
Will:
I remember there was a cute nurse that I had, and I had to go to the bathroom in a pan, and it was so hard. I was a 23-year-old dude. I was like, "Oh, this is a cute nurse." I was like, all right-
Sheila Bella:
You said, "So hard." Sorry.
Will:
Yeah. No, that wasn't working. But I remember just super embarrassed to her, and she was cool about it.
Sheila Bella:
She's a nurse.
Will:
I should find out where she's at. She was like, "Oh, don't worry about it. I've seen much worse," blah, blah, blah, blah. But I had to like take a shit in a bed pan, look over at this nurse and hand it to her. When you're a 23-year-old dude, that was really hard. I go through these-
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, at any age.
Will:
... really hard... Exact. When I'm 80, I'm going to embrace it. That's the beauty of being old. But I think you go through those experiences, and you go like, "All right. Well, I can't be physical. What a waste it was for me to not be." It's a Socrates quote about how much it's like an injustice for people not to understand the extent of their physical capabilities in their life. Then there's Black Panthers actually, part of their traits, their points, their pledge is, "I pledge to develop my mind and body to the greatest extent possible."
I'm not a Black Panther, but I think that there's something really valuable to that concept of developing your mind and body to the greatest extent possible. That's what I do. That's why I read books constantly. That's why I'm challenging myself mentally, and then I'm challenging myself physically. David Goggins has this concept where he says... I do it all like a nerd though. I do things that are kind of cool. But I do them like a nerd. This might be kind of cool, but I'm doing it.. I'm writing out like the best ways to breathe and the best ways to do this.
Sheila Bella:
That's true. Yes, best stretches.
Will:
I talk to my students about drugs.
Sheila Bella:
He's a high school teacher. He's a high school teacher.
Will:
I teach high school. I say like, "Don't do drugs." I say all this stuff, but like, "If you are going to do drugs-"
Sheila Bella:
Do it like a nerd.
Will:
"... do it like a nerd." You find the most reliable place to do it. You test it, you dose it, blah, blah, blah. I think that's just an important way. You can still do whatever cool things, but people... I've gone skydiving and bungee jumping and stuff. They're nerds about their equipment. Navy Seals, nothing's cooler than a Navy Seal, but they are nerds about preparation and about the way that they keep everything clean. Everything is organized. That's all nerdy stuff, but they're Navy Seals. I think, you do cool things like a nerd.
But David Goggins had that concept where he says, "You die, you go to the Pearly Gates, and then they show you a video of who you could have been." He had this vision when he was an exterminator. It's like, you died a 70-year-old exterminator who was 350 pounds. You could have been the Navy Seal, ultramarathon runner, world record holder, motivational speaker, best-selling author.
Sheila Bella:
Holey Moley.
Will:
I think that if everyone who watches this, they're like, what is the possibility? What's the pipe dream? What's the best that I could be, and then how do I get there? It would be a shame not to live up to your potential. That's something I tell my students. That's the Jordan Peterson thing, too. He was like, "You're not okay the way you are."
Sheila Bella:
You're not. The self love thing goes a little too far sometimes.
Will:
You're a bundle of unrealized potential. That's what I tell my students all the time. They don't get that. They get told, "You're great the way you are." Bullshit, no you're not. This is the best? You tell that to a teenager, they're like, "Oh, I'm miserable. This is the best that it's going to get? That sucks." But if you tell them like, "This is nowhere near what you're capable of," then they go, "Oh, well then, maybe I should aim a little higher." I think as a teacher... because most teachers suck, I don't necessarily get along with people in my profession... but I think that modeling is really important. I think modeling, if I'm going to tell kids that you can do really hard things, and you can push yourself, and you do all this kind of stuff, it's important for me to model it.
Sheila Bella:
Yep, I agree.
Will:
I think that resonates with... I just had like a couple of my former students reach out to me and say like, "Hey, this is really awesome, watching what you're doing, and supporting you and stuff like that. It's an inspiration." All right, cool. Well then, I'm doing my job.
Sheila Bella:
Where can we track your tracking?
Will:
You told me to talk a lot, so I talked a lot.
Sheila Bella:
I love it. I'm so turned on right now. Oh my gosh, thank you. What are you looking at? There's no puddle. What are you glancing at?
Will:
That is way inappropriate.
Sheila Bella:
April. Hi, April. Hi, Shay. Hi, Jody. April is asking, what subject do you teach? Can you guess? History. There's a ten-second delay, so I don't know.
Will:
Social studies, so I teach U.S. history, government, economics, and civics.
Sheila Bella:
And life skills.
Will:
I taught a life skills class. Got UC-approved, yeah, so [crosstalk 00:32:07].
Sheila Bella:
Ah, okay. So where can they follow you tonight? Hi, Leidy. What's up? I love this guy. Oh, April did guess history. There's a ten-second delay. Yeah, I knew it. Where can they follow you?
Will:
Just my name, Will Reusch.
Sheila Bella:
@WillReusch.
Will:
It's like a critical thinking-
Sheila Bella:
He doesn't care about followers. He doesn't care about-
Will:
No, it's a critical thinking Instagram. Again, it's a shortcut my way into conversations, like getting an organizations like a Heterodox Academy, getting people on my podcast to talk, because the way I see it is I could read a whole bunch of books and take several hours to do that, or I could just have a conversation with someone super smart and kind of pick their brain. I love being proven wrong, and the best way to do that is tap into the power of social media and say like, "Here's my idea. If I'm wrong, please tell me why." Then I can just steal all that knowledge, like knowledge hack. That's shortcuts.
Sheila Bella:
You are so open-minded. Yeah, you said that you look for disconfirmation. That's something you've taught me. Does that also apply to our marriage? Side question, completely off topic. Do you like being proven wrong by me?
Will:
No. I mean, short term, no; long-term, yeah.
Sheila Bella:
Well, what does Jordan Peterson say?
Will:
You go to your separate corners [crosstalk 00:33:28].
Sheila Bella:
If your wife is never right, if your partner is never right, you don't respect them. I want you to be right so that I'll [crosstalk 00:33:36]
Will:
I won everything argument with my ex-wife.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, I don't want to do that. I don't want to win every argument, because ultimately-
Will:
You don't.
Sheila Bella:
No, because ultimately, it would mean that I no longer respect the person I'm with. Can you imagine that? If you're right about everything, you're not going to be attracted to your spouse anymore.
Will:
But you highlight things that I'm wrong about. I think, short-term, I'm defensive because I try to defend my ideas, but then I thank you for it. I just need like process.
Sheila Bella:
Time.
Will:
Yeah. You're still going to have an ego-
Sheila Bella:
I stare at you while you sleep.
Will:
... as much as I... That was weird.
Sheila Bella:
Was it?
Will:
Yeah, that was weird. But the Ego Is the Enemy, the Ryan Holiday book. You got to keep your ego in check, but your ego is there for a reason. It's to protect you. It's to protect your identity. You just have to recognize the ways that your ego isn't serving you, but we all have it, and we all don't like to be challenged when it comes to who we are as people.
Sheila Bella:
Well, thank you for recording this podcast with me. Thank you for talking a lot.
Will:
Yeah. Thank you.
Sheila Bella:
Guys, if you want to support B.A.R.E. Truth, go ahead and click on the link below, or you can just... Some of you are saying the link is not working. It's going to be in the show notes, or you just go to Will's Instagram at Will Reusch, W-I-L-L R-E-U-S-C-H, and the link to donate to B.A.R.E. Truth is going to be in his bio. I'm going to be here. I mean, I'm going to cover this a little bit on my Instagram. It's kombucha. Oh, wow, you're going to drink that? It's ginger kombucha. Do you like it? 25 calories. I think I'm going to switch to this brand. It has less sugar.
Will:
Gingery.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. It's healthful. Okay. At Will Reusch, donate to B.A.R.E. Truth and follow David Goggins if you dare.
Will:
Yeah. He has a million followers not following anybody.
Sheila Bella:
Oh my gosh. He's always running.
Will:
You got to look at him, also, like I said about this challenge, you have laugh at it.
Sheila Bella:
You kind of do.
Will:
He's like a cartoon character.
Sheila Bella:
Ah, you guys are so sweet. You look amazing.
Will:
I told you, you look good.
Sheila Bella:
Oh, thank you. Why couldn't he be my kid's teacher?
Will:
I know. That's very sweet of you.
Sheila Bella:
He's available for tutoring. Sometimes people have... You love these troubled kids.
Will:
Oh, if it's a trouble kid, yeah. Then I'm definitely available. I like the challenges.
Sheila Bella:
That's true.
Will:
When someone's like, "No one can get through to my kid." I'm like, "Ha." Yeah, if you have a kid like that, yes, please. I'll find time in my busy schedule to meet with you.
Sheila Bella:
I feel that way about... You like challenges, physical challenges and challenges in that way.
Will:
Yeah, in your wheelhouse. Your wheelhouse is business. In your wheelhouse, you like those challenges.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. Give me the A. Let's get them to 10K in a year, and we did. Sorry, excited.
Will:
Smashing up.
Sheila Bella:
Okay, you guys. I think we'll replay this recording on Pretty Rich Podcasts, but for now, it's going to live on my feed. All right, love you guys. Bye.
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If you want to continue the conversation longer, check me out on Instagram. It's my favorite place to connect with you guys at real Sheila Bella. I'm happy to answer any of your questions or simply to chat and get to know you better. If you end up doing something super awesome, like screen-shotting this episode and reposting it on your stories, that would put the biggest smile on my face. Don't forget to tag me. I appreciate every share and love feedback from my listeners.
Also, do you have my number? Do you have my number? Because if we're going to keep hanging out, you should probably have my number. You can actually text me. That's right. You can text me at (310) 388-4588. If you're sick and tired of doing business alone, and you're interested in accelerating your success by hiring a business coach or joining our mentorship program, called Pretty Rich Bosses, go ahead and just apply. Why not? Check it out. Go to sheilabella.com/apply, and we'll schedule a free strategy session with either myself or one of my advisors. Of course, I got to include my kids, so here to send us off are Beau and Gray.
Grey:
Hello.
Sheila Bella:
Grey, say, share with your friends.
Grey:
Share with your friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Grey:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
Thanks for listening.
Sheila Bella:
Hey Beau, can you tell everybody what our family motto is?
Beau:
Yeah. I can do hard things.
Sheila Bella:
I can do hard things. Good job, buddy.
