ATCF 2020 Year in Review; Become more resilient in 2021

Vance Crowe [00:00:02] It's got all of your attention, but you know what? It doesn't actually hurt you. You're not at risk. And so your brain has to relax and say you're not in danger. You don't have to be afraid. Now let's think about what do we have to do to stay here? And when you try and say, okay, I'm staying here, what image comes to mind? Welcome back to the podcast. I'm glad you are here. So today is going to be an as the crow flies year in in review. So if you're a new listener of the podcast, you might find this kind of fun 'cause we'll talk about different episodes that we did throughout the year and some of the stuff that's going on in the network, but it also may be a little bit of inside baseball. So if you find yourself being like, who is these people? What's going on? Maybe just jot down some notes about interviews that you think seemed interesting. If you're a longtime regular listener of the podcast, I would love it as if as you listen to this conversation, you have a piece of paper and a pen nearby and jot down some notes of what you think about, you know, if you really think about it, we've spent a lot of time together and we've had a lot of the same conversations, or at least you've been able to listen in on those conversations. So we have a shared experience about this year that's unique. And I would love to know, as you're thinking about the last year and episodes that you listened to and things that caught your attention and what brought you to the podcast, if you jot down those notes and email 'em to me, you can either send it to my Twitter at Vance Crowe or you can send it to my email vance at Vance Crowe dot com.

Vance Crowe [00:01:35] But just do it like if you think of anything, it doesn't have to be long or drawn out or eloquent or fancy, it's just strike up that conversation and let me know how the podcast has been impacting you. I, last night had a really interesting experience. I sat down with a friend of mine, Travis Liebig, somebody that's been on the show, and we listened to a private interview that we did at the end of 2019 and that was a fantastic experience. We had the chance to sit down and say, what were we like back in 2019, a year ago? What was, what were we thinking were our hopes and our dreams? What were we excited about? What did we nervous about? And I really recommend everyone do this, particularly this year. If you're not going to a big New Year's Eve party, maybe throw your phone down and have a conversation with your wife or husband or partner or friend or something. But record a conversation about where your mind is at this year because it was tremendously valuable for Travis and I to remember who were we back then? What did we hope for in the future? And you know, what was working for us? What do we wish we had back that we had in those times? So I have done a lot of thinking about this year in review, and I think a lot of people would agree that the last few interviews that have gone out, the Kevin McKernan talking all about the way PCR tests work and kind of a different way to look at coronavirus to a girl, the commercial sex worker that was extremely open about not only her Asperger's and her homeschooling, but how does she feel morally about what she's doing and how does her work, you know, interplay with other people to Alex Kada, who was a really interesting thinker and economist from Romania that had some really interesting things to say.

Vance Crowe [00:03:19] Those podcasts finished out the year with a lot of excitement and it's easy to think of the podcast as those types of interviews, but we've really been all over the map this year. Back at the beginning of the year, I was able to do these interviews in person. So I had a chance to have people like Jackie Joyner ey sitting across the table from me and talking about what it was like to be one of the greatest athletes in the entire world. But when coronavirus happened, suddenly that whole dynamic changed. And I had to decide, am I gonna break my rule of only interviewing people in person and start doing it remotely? And I'm glad I did because you and I together got to use the podcast during the pandemic to answer some of the questions that our larger media was failing to answer. And I had a deep interest, I think everybody did, right? Our health and safety makes it like, hey, I really do wanna know the right answer. But in particular, I was searching for this answer because I wasn't just trying to find out what's gonna be a, a way to keep my wife safe, but also my wife an unborn child. And so you came along with me as we were interviewing Raz Khan, Spencer Wells, Yosha, Bach, Brad Fracking, and you're hearing people say, Hey, they're lying to you about masks or Brad fracking saying, Hey, I have more tests right now of people and if they have coronavirus than anybody in the country, and I can tell you about the spread rates and I could tell you about what's working to protect and to stop them from spreading it.

Vance Crowe [00:04:52] And it was just a phenomenal conversation. So we had these high intensity conversations around coronavirus, and if you recall the time that all this was going on, as so many changes were happening to our world that people were saying, you must wear a mask and everybody should stay at home and let's give the government the power that they need to stop this disease. When we first encountered coronavirus, people were running with bodies down the street. Like you'd see a video of people in Ecuador or people in Iran, and if the body fell out of the sheet, they would just keep on running with their makeshift bandana masks and run for the hills because they had no idea what was killing everyone. And it was legit. We did not know how deadly is this should, should we be building mass graves like they are in Turkey and Iraq to, to address this problem. You know, we're watching our hospitals build out and people get on camera and and literally cry that there aren't enough masks. And so I think it's important to remember the fear that was going on and really what it prompted you to do and what actions you took in this space, but also how did our collective thoughts about how we should react change the world around us? So I'm, I'm taking some time to make inventories. You know, I got in a group of people and I started saying, Hey, what do I need to do to have enough food stores around? What do I need to do to get a freezer in my house?

Vance Crowe [00:06:23] And how do I get beef here so that, that way if the grocery stores aren't doing well, I can have beef. I brush Creek Farms who came on the podcast, talked all about local, and we watched this huge influx of people say, I want to know a rancher that can get me a cow. I'm willing to pay to have pigs slaughtered so that that way I can have pork chops. And I really think we saw in certain groups the very best come out in people. And I think that a lot of that had to do with, I was interviewing the Ring Brothers and anybody that I could get my hands on that could help me understand what I could do to prepare. And you were along there with me. So I think the podcast guests were clearly some of my favorites because we were hitting new territory. But another result of the Coronavirus was I started saying, well, who would I interview if I could ask anybody in the world I wanted? 'cause everybody was sitting at home. And so you probably recall I had a chance to interview Matt Ridley. He's a member of The House of Lords. He's written innumerable books. Like although we had been acquainted before we'd had dinner together, there's no reason why he would take what limited time he has and come on my podcast, except for everyone had time during Coronavirus. So I had people like Matt Ridley, or we had Jeffrey West on there, Joffrey West, who's from the Santa Fe Institute, who had some really interesting points to talk about networks and how ideas and viruses spread across networks and some of his thoughts on how will you bring people back from the pandemic, have a big party.

Vance Crowe [00:07:58] I'm really thinking about those for 2021. So ideas that I heard back in June and July with you on the podcast are, I think, gonna turn into things that I want to achieve in the new year. And I hope, I hope they're also giving you those kinds of ideas. You know, one of the biggest all time podcasts that I put out was with an economist named Lacey Hunt. And he is a slow talking deep voiced man, but that podcast absolutely exploded on YouTube. That went totally nuts. All the clips have gone well, and I continue to get, I can tell when somebody does a reference of him or somebody reads something he's written that he's just recently published because I all of a sudden get a spike of new people wanting to watch those videos. And between his video, Brad Fracking and Yosha Bach, it took me over that 10,000, the the the amount of people that you have to have following you in order to monetize YouTube. So we ended up getting to the monetizing of YouTube level, and that has been great. That's actually brought in a little bit of revenue that we've been able to invest into the podcast, and that came from having really good guests. And from the executive producer Ben Anderson, you probably have noticed that I've gotten off the beaten path. People like Ella Girl and Alex Kda, those are people that Ben is finding and bringing onto the podcast and saying, Hey, I want you to try and talk with this person, find out what they know. And I really can't thank him enough. He is bringing the bar up on the podcast.

Vance Crowe [00:09:29] We figured out how to do some editing stuff to be able to produce them faster, more efficiently, more beautifully. And we're gonna keep working on that this year. But it has been really exciting when I finally took the reins off of him and said, no man, go out and find some stuff and let's talk about how to make these interviews get continually more engaging, where we encounter ideas that we wouldn't ordinarily come into contact with and answer questions that can change how we're interacting or how we view the world. So I am deeply grateful to Ben, who's become the executive producer this year. And, and in no small part because because of Ben and because of the success of the podcast where we're getting thousands, tens of thousands of views, I started having people reach out and say, Hey, I wanna support the podcast. What can I do to, to say thank you because you're keeping me and my family safe as we learn what you're learning about coronavirus. But I felt really uncomfortable putting a a hat out and saying, oh, well, if you like it then you can donate money to me. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. But it just didn't feel right to me. So I'm talking with Ben about this and he said, well, why don't we just create a network? Why don't we create a place where people that wanted to support the podcast can meet each other, that they can interact that, that we can provide things for there that are value that you don't necessarily just wanna publish for free on the podcast. And I think I hemmed and hawed for a little while, and then I decided to take the plunge and we created the Articulate Ventures Network, and it has blossomed into a group that is growing just about 10 to 15 members per month.

Vance Crowe [00:11:05] Very slow on purpose because the group is finding that we are interacting with one another and able to challenge each other's ideas, bring new ways of thinking about things, support each other for different types of shared experiences, like we did a sober October together and really making the community that we're not getting to have, because we're in the era of coronavirus. So if you've been thinking about the Articulate Ventures network and you haven't done it yet, I would actually really recommend that you consider joining this year and do it now because we are capping it. You know, when we hit 15 new members in a month, we shut off the new members and then we say, well, you have to wait until we're ready to open it up, because the group really cares about the culture and they want to add people in and get them used to what it's like to have people say what they really think of how you put that speech out or what, what your ideas were. And they really challenge and ask you questions. And it's a, it's, it's an environment where you can grow, but we don't want to grow too fast because we want the the whole group to kind of bond together. So join Fast, it's a, it's a very interesting group. It's a place where you can meet people that are, you know, the FFA officer Miriam Hoffman, one being an FFA national officer while she was in the group. So we're getting to learn all about what's going on with FFA and how did she get ready for it and what does she think are important. We also have 70-year-old Mike Compton, who every time I get on a VR field trip, I'll throw a link into the network and say, Hey, is there anybody that wants to hop on vr?

Vance Crowe [00:12:41] And sure enough, my 70-year-old rancher from Nevada hops on and we explore these different technologies and learn new ways to use it and new places to go. So it is a really great place. This is the place where the book club kind of generated the environment that we have, where we're doing things together and we're making it happen. So if you thought about joining the network, it is a great place for everybody that is in the network. I want you to know that I really care about what happens there. I reserve several hours of my day generally to going in there and putting together events and asking questions and engaging on content and writing people. And that's because I find that every moment that I spend contributing to that network, the network gives me back tenfold with the, the, the fact that we're having conversations there that, that you don't have in the free open social media where what they're doing is they're selling your attention because you're, you're getting their services for free. So I I I don't really know where to go with this other than to say what I'm planning to do this year, and I'm hoping you're thinking about what your commitments are, and the, the recording that I told you you could do is a great way to capture those commitments to really say, Hey, the person that's ending 2020 wants the person that's in 2021 to be this. And you really get a chance to say what you want to become and start to lay out a plan.

Vance Crowe [00:14:12] And then those plans can turn into habits. And that is a, is a, an important path to go down if you wanna get the most out of this very moment we have right now, which is all we have. So I know for me, I am now the baby is starting to sleep through the night, so I get the experience of being able to have a little bit more time to myself. I'm getting back to the daily meditation. I've been doing it for about a week now, and it is definitely the right way to go. I'm continuing to exercise and I've got some goals there. I'm gonna do some work on flexibility. I want to have my flexibility measured and then figure out what are the core movements that that an adult uses that if you don't feel sore when you're doing them, you feel younger again. So I'm, I'm trying to make sure I can maintain my body so I can play with my child as she gets older. And the biggest part of that isn't running faster necessarily or being stronger, but flexibility. So I'm gonna keep running and and lifting, but I'm gonna add in some flexibility. And then for January, I'm gonna do a shared experience that I want to encourage you to do even if you're not in the network. So one of our network members, Bruce figure, he is a veterinarian, he is always up for kind of pushing the envelope and Bruce said, Hey, I'm reading Wim Hoff's book who talks about enduring cold temperatures and breathing techniques. He's really got a meditation concept that's really popular right now. He says, why don't we try and do the, the experience of getting into a cold shower every day? As soon as I read about this, I was like, oh hell no, I do not want to do this.

Vance Crowe [00:15:48] I did this before and I did last summer. I in the, in the middle of summer, I would turn on the coldest water and expose myself to it, and I did it for 30 days. And I could not have been happier when it was over, because doesn't matter how many times you do it, every time that cold water hits you and you, you jerk, you wanna get out of it, you wanna pull yourself out of it. And there's no time during the whole thing where you're glad that you're in it. And so you have to actually be present in the moment because you can't think about anything else. And so while I was saying, no, I don't want to do it, I thought, you know what? I should try and do it this morning. So Bruce had put this up earlier in the morning by the time I got done with my workout and I took my shower, I had read it, and I decided I'm gonna flip the cold all the way on. Now, in the past, whenever I had turned this cold water experience on, I would always have a vision, an image pops into your head, and it's the image that I use to grab onto in my thoughts to keep me from leaping out of the shower or stepping away from the water. And the image is one of those things that I can't control. I am so rested by the arrested, by the cold temperatures and wanting to get out of it, that whatever comes to mind is whatever is there. It's almost like communing with the, the inner voice, the Damon, so to speak. And before I had the baby, I used to see this vision of a house on the cliffs of Mendocino that I used to see when I would go surfing.

Vance Crowe [00:17:24] When you go surfing out in Mendocino, it is in the frigid cold Pacific water. And so in order to stay warm, you wear a wetsuit and you could wear boots and you can wear gloves, but the more things you wear, the less you are connected with that wave. And so I loved being connected with the waves. So I wore very few clothes around my wetsuit and that meant that the water was icy, icy cold. And I remember when I was surfing at those times, I would see this house that was up on a cliff, and I would imagine that there would never be a way that I could ever own a house like that, live in a place that overlooks the rocky craggy continental shelf of the United States and also have a place that I could walk down and surf. And so I think when I was having that, when I was stepping into that cold water in my shower and I saw this vision of that house, it really motivated me to be like, Hey, what would I need to do to amass the sort of resources that would allow me to achieve that dream? And it really kept me disciplined and I thought that that was just my cold water image. But today, when I went to do this exercise, when I went to take the water from being that nice warm temperature that you can get all your lather on you and you can sit in for a long time, and it's relaxing right as I turn that knob and the cold water hits me and I have the instantaneous pins and needles that come from cold water, a new image popped in my head as I'm trying to force myself to stay put. And that was the image of my baby being cold and my baby not being protected.

Vance Crowe [00:18:57] And there was an interesting experience because there I was freezing cold and choosing it because I am this adult. I'm, I have the ability to apply my will to the world. I can reach down and touch that handle and put it away, but my baby can't do it. And I saw the vulnerability that's there and the vision, I think was telling me like, Hey, you've gotta be responsible to seeing this vision through now. And I, I think the image of the house on the cliffs will be there one day, but right now I think my Damon is telling me, this is the thing that you should pay attention to really focus on it. Don't have the, the way that it's chaotic to your schedule and your sleep and what you wanna do with your time and your responsibilities. Don't let that turn into a burden. Understand that this is a dream that you're getting to have that a year ago you really didn't even know if you could ever have. So the reason that I'm sharing this with you is because I want you to go on the same type of vision. I want you to have an experience where you actively and willingly choose to put yourself in the way of suffering and use the suffering to try and see what image you grab in your mind. That is the thing that keeps you from wincing, the thing that keeps you from running away. The thing that keeps you from stopping and taking the easy route, the comfortable route, because the cold water, it's got all of your attention, but you know what, it doesn't actually hurt you.

Vance Crowe [00:20:35] You're not at risk. And so your brain has to relax and say you're not in danger. You don't have to be afraid. Now let's think about what do we have to do to stay here? And when you try and say, okay, I'm staying here, what image comes to mind? What's your cliff house? What's your baby that you're taking care of? It could be anything. It could be your parents, it could be a trip that you are going on, it could be the job that you wanted, but I assure you, if you do this a few times, an image will manifest. And I think it could be important. And if there's one thing that I believe deeply in this world, it is that we're all called for some kind of purpose. And a lot of times we wanna take the easy route or the route with filled with excuses or the idea that we can start living tomorrow, but we only have this moment here. So if you've been the type of person that's been wanting to push yourself and push the limits, try this shared experience. And by the way, if you do it, you will have a community of people at the Articulate Ventures network that's all also going to be doing it. And they would love to talk with you. And you can see a lot of them at the book club. If you're not ready to join, we do that book club at seven 30 on the last Sunday of the month. This month we're reading the Right Stuff by Tom Wolf. But this has been an, an, an amazing experience and I think anybody that's joined the book club knows, we read 11 books this year that I probably would've gotten through one of those books all the way through if I didn't have the book club.

Vance Crowe [00:22:08] But because I know that at seven 30 on the last Sunday of the month, a whole bunch of people are gonna be there talking about the book that they read too. Then I pushed through. So we read Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the epic journey of Lawrence of Arabia, we list, we read Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the Hobbit 1984, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You know, we really explored all sorts of, of genres and distances from the present day when they were written. And it was a great experience. And I am better because of the network and the people that join the book club. So if you do this shared experience, but you're not in the network, show up at the book club, I guarantee you there'll be some people there at the end of January that will have done 30 days of cold water and they'll be interested in hearing from you. So to close out, as you think about what you could record, if you do a private interview, if you do a sit down with your spouse or your best friend and try and record a retrospective for 2020, sit down and ask yourself, what were three high points of this year and three low points, what were some achievements that we have that we wanna remember that you're proud of right now? And what are some of the pieces of wisdom that you had to learn through experience probably came the hard way. Are there any things that you thought the world worked one way, but because of this experience you learned it worked another way? And what's the wisdom there? How can you better react in 2021 than you did in 2020? And then finally, I'd, I'd like you to, to finish with making some commitments to your future self.

Vance Crowe [00:23:44] You know, talk

Guest [00:23:45] About what you wanna feel like. Talk about is weight. Something you're gonna try and control is the way you spend your time or sleep or how you meditate or who you're connecting with, or how you're getting involved in your community. I held a retreat, a private retreat a few months ago for a small group of selected individuals. They all got special invitations and they showed up and we held an event. It was at the time when it was a little bit risky with coronavirus, but we all felt like it was worth it. And during that event, I made a commitment that I'm gonna somehow get involved in my community, whether that's run for a board, some sort of governance body, whether that's to volunteer in some way. But I'm gonna do that because I think the, the most important thing that's gonna happen coming out of Coronavirus in 2021 is how do we rebuild the communities that have been smashed by us being apart, covering our faces, having a tenuous relationship with the government, having the fear of a disease, and having the love and care that people have really been able to culture and nurture with their families. How do we bring that back out into the open and retie our communities together so that they are the somewhere places that we want to live? So I recommend if you get your commitments done, if you have a vision and you have something that you think you can do, make a commitment and push yourself to be a part of the solution that's gonna make the world a better place. Know that I am always open to your podcast guest suggestions.

Guest [00:25:20] You can always put them to me on dm, on Twitter. I am, I'm interested in people that have different ways of viewing things that we can learn from. You know, there are some doors I may not decide to open, but those should be based on are we thinking and being open enough to ideas so that we can continue to learn and not get into a gravity well or an echo chamber where we stop thinking about the world as robustly as we can. Also, if you have a Peter Teel paradox, if there's something that you believe that is true that almost no one agrees with you on, I always am interested to hear those. So you can always throw 'em on Twitter and at me there, I I wanna read 'em. Or if it's something more private and you know that you don't wanna get everybody riled up, just go ahead and send them in my email Vance at Vance Crowe dot com. I, I have been loving these private interviews that I've been doing. I didn't know how this would go, but there's an opportunity that I created to interview people for a small fee. I think right now it's $300. I think in the future it'll probably go up, but right now I just wanted to do a few to get used to it and learn how to edit. But it's in different kind of interviewing. I'm sitting down with people that are 80 years old and they're telling me what it was like to go to a one room schoolhouse without electricity or running water and the lessons that they've learned by living through the last 80 years. This is one of those things that it is an honor to be able to do as a part of my business because it is doing good in the world. I've heard back from people that we're able to give these interviews as gifts after we've done them.

Guest [00:26:54] And people feel deeply gratified when somebody sits down and, and does an interview and says, what is the wisdom that we can capture out of all of the life experiences that you've had? And one of the things that I've learned through this is, I have good questions. I'm a good interviewer. I like it. I'm curious about people. But one of the advantages that I have that you don't always have when you're doing 'em yourself is sometimes your dad won't tell you the stories that he'll tell me. And sometimes the modesty that somebody has when they're talking about their children goes down a little bit when it's a stranger asking, but they're genuinely curious to hear the answer. So I love the fact that these private interviews have offered that to people and I'd love to, I'd love to do them a little bit more before I start trying to scale this. So I'm, I'm really kept it quite quiet. It's mostly just been people on the podcast that have heard about this. But in the new year I'm going to expand those. But if you'd like to get in on it now, I, I believe that you will be, well, you'll be really happy that you did if it's a present that you want to give. So I'm going to close out. I may see some of you out in the wild world. I am now accepting trips to give speeches that are live and in person. I've got one coming up in January. I'm starting to book some out in July. I've got some in between there. I, you know, I'm always happy to do online and I'm sure this year I'm gonna create a VR reality conference. So I'd love for you to be a part of that.

Guest [00:28:26] If you've been thinking about getting a VR headset, the $300 Oculus Quest is to, is probably a good option. And you may be able to then buy tickets to come to a retreat or just do some of the virtual reality experiences. But I am definitely also going to be doing live talks. This is an important thing for me. It's one of the, the, the payoffs for doing all of these interviews that I do on the podcast is that I'm constantly bombarded with new ideas, new people to read, new things to think about. And so I am stoked to get out there next year and start really pushing the envelope on some talks, whether it's to your farm bureau group, to your bankers network. I can talk about how to push yourself, how to engage with ideas you don't initially agree with. How to create an environment where new ideas can proliferate and you can make change that has been difficult in the past. So if you've got one of those speeches, know that I am great, I would be grateful if you could connect me with that. 'cause I want to get back out on the road. So now the year is over. I hope you sit down and do one of these interviews. Know that I believe that we are all in this together, and that the best way out is to try and figure out how to, how you yourself, how I myself can contribute to making the world better. And I'd like to think that listening to this podcast helps you figure out important things that you want to do with your life. So thank you so, so much for listening. Thank you for being here with me through 2020.

Guest [00:29:58] And man, go out and have the best of your, of your life coming up.