Integrity during the ups and downs with Daniel Gonska, former Navy Seal and founder of Elite Shooting Solutions

Welcome to the Win at Home first podcast. I'm your host, Corey Carlson. This podcast is where we talk about how successful business leaders win, not only at work, but also at home. On this podcast, we'll go behind the scenes with great leaders to hear stories of how they win. Thank you for listening and on to today's episode. Hello, this is Corey Carlson. You're listening to Win at Home first podcast. Today I'm joined by Daniel Gonska, who I met two years ago when I was speaking in Cleveland at an event. And we've stayed in touch since then. And partly because he's an awesome guy as you'll learn here soon. However, he's got incredible story, which factors into it. He served for the Navy for 20 years. 18 of those, he was a Navy seal. And so pretty crazy wild story. He has been a competitive sharpshooter. I don't even know that's the proper right term. We'll find out, but a competitive shooter. He has a business called elite shooting. And where he's helping, you know, just basically helping people with protection, protecting their own lives. And really cool. The things that he's done in his life and now what he's doing, but he's a incredible father, husband and man of God, and very bold about both. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. So Daniel, welcome to the podcast. Corey, thanks so much. I'm excited to let everyone know what God has done through and in my life. Oh, it's awesome. What AI love starting off podcast. It was that key trait to win at home, win at work. For me, Corey, that's integrity. When your yes is not yes, you're living a lie. Matthew 537 says, let your yes, be yes, and your no be no. And whatever more is than that is from the evil one. The way this plays out in my life is when I have integrity, whether it's at home, at work, or in the spirit, it plays out in a very positive way. So if my yes is yes at home, then my spouse and kids will say, yes, Daniel is there as someone who shows up and does what he says. So I don't end up with that. Well, never mind. I'm not even a father asking dad because he might say he'll do it, but he doesn't. At work, think about it. How do we do it in a job interview? We're promising the sky, right? Hey, yes, I can do this job. But if you looked at my career and said, ultimately, for Navy SEALs, buds is the job interview. Granted, it might not be 60 minutes. It's six months long. It's what's buds stand for basic underwater demolition and SEAL training and insane. Yeah, cool. And so there, there are three phases to it. One where they're weeding most of the people out, a dive phase, and then a land warfare phase, we're getting a blow stuff up and learn all kinds of cool things as well. But ultimately, there were 200 guys that said, yes, at the beginning of that six months, right along next to me. And by the time we hit the end of it, the yes is yes, was 14. 14 guys from that 200 really meant it when they said, yes, I want to be a SEAL man. Of those 14, how many stuck it out? I mean, how does that work? Is there another part where people start to drop off? Or well, you're even on your head. So yes, when that takes place? First phase is where the majority of the guys that are going to quit do. And for me, as a guy who's five six, it's kind of a funny thing to look at it and say, well, you're in the smurf crew. So five five six and all muscle. I mean, when I, yeah, when I saw you, I was still intimidated. I'm taller than you. But it was like, wow, this guy could take me out in two seconds. I appreciate that, Corey. The thing is they, it's kind of a demeaning thing when you have numbers for all the boats. And then the boat crew that's a smurf crew actually has a little blue smurf painted on the front of the boat that you have to carry on your head. No way. That's awful. It is. And at the same time, just like it says in the Bible, what you meant for evil, God has used as a positive or for my benefit. Listen to this, we had five days straight, they call it Hell Week, no sleep, grueling, grueling, just wherever you thought you could go, it's a thousand miles past. In that time is when the majority of guys who quit do. Since I was in the smurf crew, I got a very unique encouragement. And that was the fact that of the six or seven guys that we had under the boat, none of us quit. No way. Yes. And so while 50 plus guys probably quit in Hell Week, the guys that I was looking with at the guys that had their head under the boat that I did, none of us quit. And so while the smurf crew was meant to be this dig at us for being the shortest guys in the class, God used it as a benefit to me because I didn't have that mental game going of, oh, guys are quitting all around me. I'm watching it. So maybe I should as well. We stuck it out together and by the grace of God finished as a team at the end of that week. Did you lean into the fact that you're the smurf crew like during that? I mean, do you intentionally remember guys we can't quit? Where's the smurs or whatever you whatever you did? I mean, did you use that for more internal strength? I wish that I could say yes, Corey, but I was 18 or 19 at that point and very early in my leadership career. So it was more of just I'm going to be the Graham Man and hang on. Yeah. The problem is that in buds, if you're not first or last, and so if you're not winning, you're getting punished. That was our thing the whole time. We're never running as fast as the other guys just based on the fact that they can trot along while I'm sprinting. But what it does like so many other experiences in our lives is when I face that adversity, I'm like, oh, based on what I've been through so far, this is just Tuesday. And in the other guys, the star athletes, the guys who I was looking up to leading up to going to buds, those were some of the guys who actually quit first. The people you would point at without knowing and saying, that guy will make it. Because I had Christ in my heart as that prayer to help me through those times and that will to not put my family name down with the others that had given up, I was able to continue on regardless of whether or not I was in the smurf crew. Of the 14 people that finished, how many were in smurf crew? Do you remember? I think there was one or maybe two. You being those numbers, so one or two total. Yep. That's just interesting. That's cool. So when you went into the Navy and then eventually Navy Seals, was faith always strong for you? Is that how you grew up? I was blessed to grow up in a strong Christian home where I had my mom and dad. I was one of six kids. I was homeschooled all the way up in the high school, had a strong character foundation that ended up serving me throughout my military career. But when I was 16, my parents split. And it was something that shook my confidence pretty significantly. To wear months after that, I was fighting with my dad and I had hair as blue as this water bottle, bright blue, just looking for attention, unsure of myself. My God had a path for me. And while faith was with me, throughout all of that, I really went into the military, seeking something that I could justify my own masculinity by. I was saying to myself, all right, when I pin that Navy Seals trident on my chest, then I'll know I'm a man. The crazy truth is it didn't change me. It didn't give me that thing that I was looking for. So then just like on the corporate ladder, you chase after the thing that you think will fulfill you. So I said, all right, maybe it's the deployments. Maybe it's going to war. Maybe it's, oh, there's this tier one unit that you can try out and get selected for and do all these crazy things. It wasn't until 15 years almost into my career when I had the opportunity to move to Germany with my family. And I got to take a breath. And I recognized what I've been chasing all along to answer your question was my faith. So while it had been a part of my life and it had been there with me, God had been with me that whole time. I hadn't fully centered my life on Christ. What happened in Germany to make you want to make a stop the chase, stop the pursuit? It had started four years earlier in 2011 when I was at the peak of what I could have been doing as far as I had made it to the tier one unit. I was overseas operating at the highest level I could, and in one night, one catastrophic combat incident, I lost a dozen and a half friends at once. That was when God said, "Hey, by the way, you need to pay attention." Your book talks about winning at home and at work. I was winning at work. But when you're gone, only those people at home are going to care forever. And so I watched that serious, serious pain, and then on top of that, the guilt that I felt at that time, because I lived differently. I did live with integrity to my wife, to the other relationships at home that I had, but I wasn't focusing on them as much as I know God wanted me to. And so that loss helped reframe my perspective, and I started to say, "All right, my second son a year after that is on his way. I need to find and make a different career choice." So it wasn't good for my promotion, but I said, "I'm going to take this other job, and it was fulfilling for me and allowed me to be there for my family." Follow on one more step, and I'm in Germany with that same mindset. They said, "Hey, come back, take this leadership position. You can do this." That is a totally worthy and righteous job. But I said, "Hey, I've seen how this goes. I need to do this for my family." And we went to Germany as a family. And then I was like getting off of that career path that's going a hundred miles an hour. So to answer your question, it was that slowdown plus that pain, plus refocusing on my family that drew me to re-centering on Christ. Could you have been a tier one seal and still one at home? Are there things you could have done differently? I think that is possible. One of my friends was killed in 2017. No, those 2010, sorry. But the book that was written about him makes me think that I could have. Because it talked about him being totally devoted to his wife and kids. And his wife was with him much earlier on. Mine was my girlfriend while I was going through buds. And we got married soon after. I was actually at my first seal team. But I don't looking back. There are so many things that I want to grab the young version of me that's saying and prioritize that wonderful woman that's supporting you. Yeah, I asked the question. Yeah, I asked the question on this standpoint. I think there are just sometimes getting out of a different career will help you win at home versus work. Also, I've seen people have difficult careers, but yet they still seem to do it. I mean, certain demanding corporate jobs require tons of travel. There's those guys that just, they appear to be winning at home when it worked the way they face time their kids at night or the way they're sitting taxed or prayers, then sports in a fell. When it's in season, I mean, you can't do tons with your family. But there's ways you still can love and serve and be present with them. So I just was curious because not every answer to, hey, if you want to win a home work, you've got to stop what you're doing and come over here and do something different. I think to your point on that query, when like you said in your book, as far as finding a coach, athletes, yes, naturally they have a coach. But for us, whether it's in the military, finding a mentor or on the civilian side in business, finding a business coach, we need to do that in order to have that outside perspective. I'm confident that if I would have had a version of me now in my life at that time, I could have been that success story that you're referring to where they're like, wow, this guy is on the road 200 days a year, but somehow he's still connected with his wife and now his sons as they're growing up. So to answer your question, I think regardless of what field we're in, we need to find a coach or mentor that can help us with that forward focus and on our families as well. Yeah, I mentioned coaching, you value coaching because when you left the Navy, I mean, I know like right now you have a coach, you know, Brian is a good friend of mine and a coach on our team and you work with him. So even though you do some coaching now, well coaches have coaches. And so you work with Brian, how's Brian helped you? I mean, how's that having a coach helped you? It's so amazing to see, especially with his Christian perspective on things, his business sense, his teaching background, the place where I'm at now coaching others really is a root in him. Because of all the benefit and I even added my wife in now on our coaching calls because she's my manager and business partner as an entrepreneur. Oh wow, okay. It's really great. But what Brian did was say, look, I can see your situation here is something you should do. And then in a chain of God or events where I was in Las Vegas at an industry convention, I met a guy then who has his own businesses and then is looking to get mentorship for the people he cares about most. That's over the span of two years, but it puts me here now having this conversation and it was the forcing function for me to say, well, I know these things. They've helped me succeed, but how do I package them in a way that I can clearly convey them to others? And then in the back of my mind, your recommendations about winning at home first, give me the motivation to create this structure, then that I can turn and use on all four of my sons to help them succeed as well. So coaches definitely need coaches and amazing impact. Well, I remember, you know, from our conversation, especially early on, it's just like your transparency of just the ups, the downs, you know, it's been hard and you have had success winning at work as far as the Navy Seals and being a medalist, a sharp shooter, whatever that proper term is. But then just trying to figure out, hey, where do I go for business? Because when he came out of the Navy, you didn't know exactly what you want to do. And so Daniel, how did that look for you where it's this combination of, I got to go provide for my family. I'm out of the Navy. I need to go find a job. What doors are got is got opening. They don't seem to be opening fast enough. And so there's this tension of old striving where we just get into this element of striving versus old stewardship. And so for you, Daniel, how's that look like in these last few years since you left the Navy? Yep. Getting your feet underneath you as far as the different, you know, elite shooting solutions and some of the other things you're doing. I guess walk that journey and how that's look being a faithful man, even when you don't know exactly what you're going to do next. Well, and that's a good place to start and say, this was a spot where I wasn't necessarily winning. And so when I got out, I said, yes, I'm good with my transition. I'm fine being in a different place, different circumstance than I was for the last two decades. I'm good. Right now I'm in my office inside of a 1,800 square foot shop that my son and I built. And that was my 14-hour a day project when I first got out. I said, hey, yeah, I'm fine. And ultimately my wife Mary goes, uh, no, you're not really fine. I mean, you've gone to, you've got your commercial driver's license and heavy equipment operating, but now you're the guy, the new guy in the trench again, but you're not 19. You're in your 40s now. You need to find something that's not going to break you just by going to work every day. And so while I appreciate and can enjoy looking at all of the construction sites and have some idea of what's going on, the experience that I had shooting is something that I said, what talent do I have that God's given me that I can share with others? When you are young and you get into a fist fight in the neighborhood, if you lose, okay, it knows it's bloodied, you walk away, that's low stakes. Imagine that same fear that you feel if you don't know how you're going to react In that situation, when you are a husband or a father, it's your responsibility to protect others. I had that fear from when I was young. The seal teams helped me get beyond it by learning how to use a firearm in order to stop evil in its tracks. And then elite shooting solutions is both like you could see behind me. The focus is on Christ first, but then also empowering others to protect themselves and the ones they love. That is really where my heart is at. That fear that I had, our God is not a God of fear, and so I don't want fear for other people. So that's a great concept, but like we talked about earlier, you need a coach or a mentor. And so as I started researching that, God put a guy in my life and said, "Hey, here's a guy who's a decade into his instructing career." This is my friend Brett, the Bravo Tactical. I'm actually wearing his shirt today. He was there. We had a similar Navy lineage and it was fun for me to have his input and direction in my life early on. Now my wife honestly will say, "Hey, maybe your dad and I were telling you that this would be a good idea." So we're glad that Brett stepped in. That's a coach mentor input. But yeah, that was how I combined that aspiration of empowering others with the nuts and bolts of, here's how you actually do it in a real way. Hey, it's Cory Carlson here and I want to tell you about the rise community. Are you ready to become a better leader at work and home? After 20 years in corporate leadership, I learned that true success isn't just about the business results. It's about leading with purpose in every area of your life. That's why I created rise. Rise is a community of faithful men who are committed to winning at both work and home. We have weekly live coaching calls, proven frameworks for personal growth, monthly guest speakers, and real accountability, and a group of awesome men that will help you become the leader god designed you to be. So do you want to thrive in your career and be present for the moments that matter most? Visit rise-community.com to learn more and join today. I hope to see you in there. I think it's cool and Brett you mentioned is training and coaching you in this day. You know, it's the same industry. You could be viewed as competitors, but yet he's got this abundant mindset of, hey, there's enough people out here that need training. Like let's get Daniel going and up and running. Have you seen that with him the whole time? I mean, he just has this abundant mindset. I absolutely have. It's fun to look back at it now. I mean, because I've been, I've known him for a couple of years now, and he's in Indiana. I'm in Ohio. We'll go back and forth. He's great at thinking through things and getting stuff down on paper. I am great at recognizing quality on paper and communicating it well. He does that as also, but it's a fun relationship now where we're peers to some extent. He still has so much knowledge, but yes, he has continued to pour in to me and share with me, and I'm doing my best now to say, hey, Brett, here's a way that I can give back whenever I get the chance. Yeah. So providing for why four kids entrepreneur now, you're always got to be looking for clients mentally. So how are you shutting it down? How do you have this mindset of I'm going to just work harder in the day and then just trust God has the rest. I work on a third book here or I've actually written and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with as far as the next steps. But God has an idea that we strive when we believe it's all our own and it's actually stewardship when it's both with hustling and with God as well. And so for you, how do you, Daniel, know to not stress out about where the clients are, not stress out about figure out when to do the next shooting camp, but just get it done during the day so you can love and serve your wife and four boys. Hearing you say God's got the night shift when I was listening because I listen to books more than read them. It was a news flash for me because I had built this place that I'm in right now on my property out of fear. Imagine where it's 2021. I've retired and now I'm trying to make it so that I am completely self-sufficient. I wanted to be off the grid. I know lots and lots of things many more than the regular person without a top secret clearance. And so I have all these things that are churning around in the back of my mind. And I put myself in a negative financial position because I wasn't letting God have the night shift. I was doing that 14 hours a day. I was doing everything I could. I have this haircut now for those I can't see my head is shaved very close. My wife did we put a one tear as I did it, but it's a reminder for me of the stewardship that I need to have and that stewardship requires the trust. So I said look this is something I'm going to sacrifice. And until my finances are back in a good place, I'm not growing my hair back. I want that to be there so that I can now as I have over the last six months trust God more with the night shift. I've got that reminder to say don't go back to how it was. You don't have to handle all of it. And to answer your question how do I turn it off? Having structure was something that served me well in the military and now creating that structure for myself and my family is the way that is helping me turn it off. So whether it is a routine of in the evening saying past nine o'clock I'm putting my phone on airplane mode or this is my target in bedtime structure in the morning. It goes back to integrity. If I am saying I'm going to get up you know what is it? It's like oh man I've been on the road I get I'm going to get up at this time maybe I'll snooze. In reality what we're doing when we hit snooze is our first lie of the day. That's right. It's right because you said five minutes. Yeah the night before I said I'm going to get up at this time and time comes snooze. Now I've lied. So in my coaching as I developed that I said look that's your cornerstone with a nod to the cornerstone of our faith. That's the corner stone habit that you need to execute on. So that structure whether it's the beginning of the end of the day having those times when we are focused on family and God allows that breath allows us to shut it down. Yeah I like the honesty of when you were building your place of just kind of acknowledging that it was out of fear. I mean yes you had to build it I mean you need the barn you needed that to take place but just work around the clock deep down it was just a matter of fear of well what other top secret information you had but also there's a fear of probably getting back to the real world like I don't know what I can do. Even though you had the CDL you had a couple other pieces like I just don't know what to do. Even though your identity was a beloved son there was probably some work identity as a for 20 years I did I was a Navy SEAL and that's what I know and their fear so part of building your barn was was hiding and I know a lot of listeners may not build a barn per se but they're hiding in their emails they're hiding in their social media accounts they're just hiding in that day-to-day as opposed to just kind of maybe facing the facts what God's calling them to. Yep and so I'm glad you just you spoke to it and so what was that wake up call for you of stop hiding stop striving stop building out of fear and like stand strong and go. I would say hitting rock bottom to an extent so it's super weird when you can smile and shake people's hands and be helpful to them it's not like you're wearing tattered clothes and you're on a street corner right but it is the version like listening to your book when you're talking about being in the bankruptcy office well I'm and it's fun to to look up aspirationally towards what God is is going to do, if things hadn't worked out the way that you had planned them out and you end up with $100,000 in debt and 150 short of completing the home that you need in order for your family to live in it, it's wonderful to have a bunch of clients like I have over the last month since this haircut started. No, cool. But at the same time, it's like, okay, here's all these small blessings when you've got this big, huge thing reminding you of your lack of trust previously. And so it is that that bottom point where I've said, hey, I thought I was humble before. I'm asking for help for people that are around me through whatever non-profits and so on. Having that humility and being at the bottom is that turning point for me. To when I've let go of it completely and said, God, you made me strong, but you are my ultimate strength. And now as I've shifted, I can have that God's got the night shift mentality where I can breathe easy at night. I'm still pushing looking to help people through the services that I provide. But praying at the same time that God will miraculously provide. That's pretty cool. We're in the thick of it right now. I mean, you just shaved the head a month ago and as you're building this business, I knew just from some of our communication back and forth and talking with Brian, you've got momentum. It's pretty awesome. It's exciting and like, this is the path forward. So that's really cool. Well, congratulations. And on that journey that it's that I know it's been a hard journey at times. And then as a father, any, how are you growing up your boys? How are you shooting them like from a face standpoint? Do you do the devotions with them? Are you? Have you shared why you shaved your head? What kind of parenting? Call it, you know, advice, whatever you give the list is. But what's what's helping with you is you're growing a four strong faith forward young men. Yep. And so that that's where it comes into where I did well or not previously. So as an encouragement, if folks are on the starting end of it, when my son was a year old and I was at that pinnacle in my career, yes, work was very taxing. But at the same time, it was actually my hobby of playing online shooting video games with my friends from work that kept me up late at night, which would translate into me being not there for my one year old son like I should have the next day. And my hat is off to my wife in having the strength to say, look, I'm not going to deal with this anymore. I will take our son back home to Ohio and you can figure it out. And then we will be husband and wife again. That's a freaking big deal thing to hear. And I packaged up all of my video game stuff and sold it to some very happy teenage kid the next day. And didn't, didn't look back. It is kind of a kick in the shins when the customer to buy your thing is a teenage kid like, oh, wait, maybe I was not doing something I should have been doing. That's funny. Knowing what I know now, I probably just would put it straight into the garbage can because it's not good. Yeah, I can now you're feeling this, yeah, yeah. But so that was something that I stopped. I stopped that at that time. This starting that I would say as far as from the parenting perspective, four sons plus a wife that needs to come before them right after God. That's five days a week minimum on top of work and everything else. What I ended up developing throughout the latter part of my career was a special time and a your day. So since I've got four sons, it was Monday through Thursday. If it was your day and I was home, I would spend 45 minutes or an hour if I could with that son specifically. So that we could have that time where just they got my attention. I've done that in fits and spurts every time that I've done it consistently. It's paid huge dividends right to where I hear the thing that's really going on with them because they have the opportunity to have my attention directly on them. It was convicting too as far as that priority that's supposed to be before the sons were talking about dating and Holly and making that a priority. My intention was to have a date scheduled before I talk to you on this podcast. He did it, huh? I will have that 20. You got to do it. You got to do it. I 100% will. I've been married 22 years now and couldn't be more excited about being with my bride. She sounds awesome. She's came to you a couple of different times to say, "Hey, wake up. Come on. Let's go." That's pretty cool. I mean, she's just stood by you and been strong enough to mention. One thing I will say though that I have been doing consistently is downloaded this accountability app and simply putting something in there for kinship, the relationships that we have that says minimum four times a week, I'm going to send a note to my wife. Oh, cool. You're doing that? Yes. Yes. I could open that up and it's great whether you schedule a text message. As soon as you have that thought, typically your phone is close enough by, don't let it pass. And if you have something that's tracking you to say, look at this. You hit this goal seven out of ten times in the month of August. It's even more encouraging because you get that dopamine hit and your spouse does as well because they get ting and it primes them to say, "Oh, I wonder if this could be another message telling me how much he loves me and something special." Yeah. Oh, man, that's so good for the marriage. Yeah, that's really awesome. And going back to the Navy SEALs, I'm not to like rat out Navy SEALs or anything like that, but is faith strong in Navy SEALs? There's a lot of this tough guys. They will do it ourselves, we'll pull up our own bootstraps. Or do you find faith to be a thing because they are facing, we'll possibly death every single day through battle. I mean, do you find faith strong or not? I began my SEAL career in 2002, so almost a quarter century ago. As culture has shifted, the thing that I'm hearing more and more now from guys that are senior and are looking at younger guys is that faith has become a lot bigger piece of the picture. Awesome. In an open way. Yes. That's cool. Any reason why you heard or it took a general to start it? Or maybe even the younger men are starting it. I mean, maybe starting from bottom. I mean, I know they're in churches in the United States, younger people are coming to church. I mean, I think they've just seen their parents wandering and figuring out what the chasing career is and working. I do think there is this spiritual growth everywhere, but that's cool to hear that it's in the Navy. I think it's a generational shift. You'd think of somebody like Admiral McCraven. His commencement speech has been seen by millions and millions of people. Make your bed. Yep. Guess what? Making your bed absolutely. What do you need to do before that? Don't hit the snooze button. Yes. Absolutely. That comes from my faith. Jesus, what? Rose early and prayed. I've got the ultimate example. We have the ultimate example. And so the generational shift, I wouldn't say it's something that I've said or Admiral McCraven as important as those things can be. I would say it is just God at work. And if I can find something specific that we can pinpoint, then I'd be happy to let you know what it is. I understand it's so cool to hear that it isn't an uptick. It's exciting. It's good for everything. Good for our country. Good for their future spouses. Good for their future kids. It's awesome. Ma'am, thank you very much, Daniel, for being on the podcast day. And it's great to reconnect here your story. Anything that we failed to hit on that you want to make sure we talk about as we near the end of this. I would say the one other story that I would want to bring up is one of the questions you had asked me earlier was about comparison against other leaders. I think this is a super important one, and it's been one that has taken me years to fully understand. So, for me as a leader, imagine you have a friend. You've started out your careers, for me it was my Navy SEAL career together, and that you served at the same SEAL team for some period of time, but then that friend went to the war, and you were somewhat sidelineed, fast forward, another couple decades, and he's co-written a best-selling leadership book that's known worldwide. Imagine how that feels comparing myself to that friend. And it's not just a hypothetical, like I've got behind me, perhaps you've heard of extreme ownership. - Yeah, so you do friend, good friend to Jakko? - I am not, but his co-author, Lafe Babin, is a friend of mine. - Got it. - And so it's remarkable to look at it, because for so long I had done the wrong thing with comparison to where I said, why would I even bother reading these guys' book? We were at the same place. I've done plenty of things, and it was just pride instead of humility. Praise the Lord, I reconnected with him out in San Diego. I had a client that said, hey, what about this book? And I said, you know what? I should have a slice of that humble pie, and I've read it, and I was like, holy cow. These guys have great information, and on a super unique thing, in that book it talks about leadership, winning out and getting to go to the war. And that they have the success story. For me, it was a remarkable thing to be on the other side of that story as the disgruntled junior guy whose leadership didn't win out. And so while we went someplace else, they were in Iraq fighting the real war that we saw as team guys. And for so long, I had held that, like, oh man, I didn't get to do that thing. In reading that, in humility, now I recognize that was God taking care of me because if it was my leadership there, it might not have been Jaco making that call to lay to reconfirm. And I could have been that team on the rooftop that was getting shelled by the army tank instead of, hey, he made the call 'cause he had earned it in training, he conflicted again. I don't care if feelings are getting hurt, holy cow. And it saved those guys from having that terrible accident happen. So all of that to say, now I'm in this position where I can appreciate the journey they've been on and where God has taken me on. I still have plenty to offer. Just like you do, just like Brian does in my life, just like Brett did for me. So many people along the way. It is the devil in our ear trying to discount what God has given us to share with others. So shut that voice down. - That's cool, that's awesome. And so how do you do that now? How do you stay grounded in content with how you bar? I mean, as a man, as a father, as a business owner? - Going back to Craig Groschell is one of my guys that I looked up to in leadership. His book "Winning the Worn Your Mind" helped bring biblical truths against the lies that we tell ourselves. - Yep. - That is one of those things that helped me transform the soundtrack in my own mind of, you're not good enough, you should, why should you even bother? You're not that guy, you don't have the Medal of Honor, you don't have X, Y, or Z. And it's saying now, I got to hear him at life surge, Cleveland, and Craig was on stage saying, hey, just take that one step. And I feel as though now I can hear God more and more saying, hey, you have a voice. You, I loved for 20 years not having, and you couldn't find me on the internet, and I was proud of it. Well now it's a different chapter. I need to put myself out there in order that others can hear the message that God has for me to speak to them. You know, I'm still searching for somebody that can help me with all that content, but yes, it is saying, hey, God has me here for a reason, communicate the things that he's putting in my heart. - Yeah, and I did, you can always help someone, you can always help who you were yesterday. I mean, it's awesome. And Dean, thanks so much for being on the podcast today. - Absolutely boring. - Yeah, grateful for you, and thanks for sharing the wisdom you did today. - Yeah, I think the final thing I would say, Corey, is live with integrity before God, family, and others. When you do that, you honor each of them. - Yep, that's awesome, awesome, awesome. All right, brother, thank you very much. - Thank you very much for listening to this whole podcast. You made it to the end, congratulations. A couple of things for you before you leave. One, as a thank you, if you do not subscribe to my weekly newsletter, please go sign up. You can go to my website at Coreyimcarlson.com. When you sign up, you will get 10 ways to win at home and win at work. And leaders have found it to be a helpful tool. From that point, you will receive weekly emails from me with tips on how to win at home and work. Secondly, if you have enjoyed these podcast episodes, please rate and review it wherever you listen to it. It helps others see it. But thank you very much for listening. I greatly appreciate it. I love having these conversations. I'm learning, I'm growing, and I hope you are as well. So until next time, continue to win at home first. Thank you very much.