Episode 10:

Hello, and welcome to The Upstream Leader podcast. I’m Heath Alloway, your host for this episode, focused on building a culture of proximal strength. I’m pumped about our topic, I’m pumped about today’s guest, and today we have Jeremy Mhire. He is the owner of Proximal Strength. And that also happens to be the CrossFit gym that I go to. And I’ve been a member for several years now. And as I was reading through Jeremy’s bio, I do have to tell you, there were some unique points. One, he was actually a recording artist at Atlantic Records in a boy band called Plus One. And I kind of joke with Jeremy saying I’m a little jealous of that. I think it’s a pretty cool experience that he got the opportunity to do that.

And not only that, Jeremy was a CrossFit regional games athlete. He’s a coach, he’s been a coach of games athletes. Not only that, he’s also a father and a friend, and I’ve seen him do a lot in the community. He’s also someone that took a leap of faith and took that adventure of being a business owner, and has one of the most tenured CrossFit gyms in the country.

So welcome, Jeremy, excited to have you on the show today, and I believe that most of our listeners know, Jeremy Clopton and I primarily work with accounting and CPA firms. So some of those that are listening, and they wonder, “Why do you have a gym owner on the podcast today?” And you know, I think there’s a lot of good reasons behind that.

I see a lot of firms, I see a lot of organizations, I see a lot of people really struggle with building a strong culture. And if you have people, sometimes they can be a culture killer in some cases. So it’s not an easy journey. And you know, once you’ve built a good culture, it takes a lot of work to maintain that culture as well. And some days, they may say, this is a gym-type mentality. And I will tell you, Jeremy, I go back to the first day I walked in, from the first day I walked in, from the first time I met you, and just solid community in action, I could tell that there was something different. There was something special about it. And throughout the years, I’ve seen that culture grow, and I’ve seen that community get stronger and grow with each other.

So my goal today was to bring Jeremy on the show, take maybe 25, 30, 35 minutes, and I want to share his experiences, and what’s helped him and how he has maybe struggled at times, but then also develop that great culture. So that is our goal today.

So Jeremy, as we get into this: in two minutes or less, how did you become the leader that you are today? Oh, wait, wait, wait a second, Jeremy. I’ve always wanted to do this, because you’ve done it to me so many times: Three, two, one, go!

Oh man, putting me on the other side of the clock! Well, again, first off, thank you so much for having me as a guest here, I feel very, very honored for that. But two minutes to explain how I became, I guess, kind of the entrepreneur and leader that I am today, is probably not enough time to unpack. But I will say, I think the biggest thing that I would point to, is just having a continued desire to learn and grow, and to strive for excellence. So that hunger, and that joy, and that fulfillment that I had, through this first 13 to 15 years of owning this business, and in building the culture at our gym—I mean that you double or triple that, and I have that even more today.

So just this constant desire to take, as a mentor said to me before, take the best and leave the rest. I think my leadership style and business practices are really a combination of the things that I’ve seen from leaders and mentors around me. And then just trying to take those best practices and really put them to work. And you know, not just accumulate knowledge, but actually apply it.

I love that: “Take the best and leave the rest.” I’m gonna probably hold on to that one for a while. And one thing you said Jeremy, just the ongoing focus on growth—and I think too many times when, you know, whether in our profession, when someone becomes a partner, they see that as the end of the journey, whether in a lot of ways it’s kind of part of their journey.

Absolutely.

And we’re constantly growing and learning and I think, you know, that’s part of building a great culture as well. So, the next question, Jeremy, I don’t know if I’ve ever asked you this, but in your eyes, how would you describe the culture of Proximal Strength? How do you view that from your seat?

You know, this kind of ties in to the initial question of kind of how I got to where I’m at today, but I think there’s a combination in life of humility, that you need to continue to have, to want to chase a better version of yourself. But there’s also confidence that you have to have. So there’s this measured balance between confidence and humility. And if you have too much of one without the other, I think you can go very astray very quickly.

So you know, that’s the culture that I really want to try to continue to build and maintain at our gym, and with our community, is build confidence, and also instill humility, to where everyone is still striving to become a better version of themselves.

Yeah, I love that, Jeremy. One of the things we talked about at Upstream a lot in our leadership training is “high yield, low maintenance.” So that high yield is your results. It’s not just average results. And then that low maintenance piece is, you’re not consuming a lot of resources. So you’re basically putting in more than you’re taking out. So as you were describing that, it was making me go back and think about that.

And you mentioned something earlier, as you’re kind of talking about your background in leadership, and kind of unpacking it a little bit, and this is where we start to get to that hard part—and really unpacking and figuring out how you got to where you are today. And going back to my opening comments, a great culture, it’s not easy. It’s very challenging, but I would say it’s very worth it.

So for anyone that’s going through this right now, whether it’s building a culture, improving their culture, maybe they’re having team issues, maybe they’re having organization issues, can you get into some of the—maybe one or two of your—top obstacles that you faced along this journey?

Yeah, I think for me, managing people, and whether that’s members or coaches, you know, probably one of my biggest struggles throughout this 13 to 15 year journey has been maintaining—setting the precedent, setting the standard—and then kind of continuing to foster this environment of expectation that we meet or exceed that bar. And it’s a challenge. I think there’s the aspect of needing to lead by example, but then also the obstacle of realizing you can’t wear every hat. You have to be able to delegate and trust everybody to do their role and do their job.

So that’s always an ongoing issue for people that are management or a part of a team, is just, you know, trusting people around you to do their job so that you can focus all your energy and effort on yours. And I’ll say really quickly, but I think the one thing that really helped me overcome a lot of those hurdles was the book Extreme Ownership by Leif Babin and Jocko Willink. That really helped me, as an entrepreneur, realize that I need to take more ownership of the communication piece—not just the communication, but like, if something isn’t being done to the standard or the level of the degree that we have tried to create as in our culture of excellence—then I have to take ownership of what do we need to do to get it to where it needs to be.

Jeremy, one of the things that, as you were describing that, I’ll try to summarize it appropriately demanding of you, the expectation level, setting the guardrails. I love something you said: it’s not just for coaches or employees, you also said your members.

Yeah.

One thing that I’ve seen firms struggle with is sometimes they’re dealing with a lot of capacity issues right now. They’re having a hard time finding people, there’s a lot of partner retirements. So firms are, in a lot of ways, almost have more clients than they know what to do with. So we talked about this concept of D level clients. So in some ways of culling their clients, so they’re picking and choosing the people that they work with.

But I think that that’s important internally and externally of setting that bar and the expectation level. I think sometimes if you don’t, kind of thought whatever is permitted is promoted.

Yeah.

So if you don’t appropriately demand excellence, you’re probably never going to get it or it’s going to be hard to build that culture.

Yeah, and realizing as well, I would say bad weeds will sometimes pull themselves. So once you create a culture of like this certain standard, you know, more is not better. Like I did a podcast a couple weeks ago, and I could tell that the host was kind of trying to bait me into, you know, “How am I going to get more and achieve more and obtain more?” And I’m like, “No, what I’ve learned in 15 years of business is I would rather be extremely successful and a good steward of what I have to manage, than have an overabundance, and not being able to manage, it because that’s where you get those diminished returns.”

Yeah, I love that, Jeremy. And one of the things that I’ve observed, that I’ve experienced over the past several years—there’s a lot of the parts of your culture, the gym culture, that have really helped. They’ve influenced me in a lot of other areas with just various leadership topics, various skills. And several of those traits—they really made an impact. And one of the things that, as I was thinking about our discussion today, one thing that I had to do for my coaching, and receiving, and giving feedback, I have to continue to take a bite of that humble pie almost every day that I walk in, and really check my ego at the door, and understand that I have to be coachable to get better. Because there’s people in there like you and others that are way better at what you do. Not only that, they’re better athletes than I am. So, I’m a very competitive person, so it is hard for me at times to really just be humble and check that ego.

But as far as the question: to build that culture, because I look at different generations. To build a great culture, you have to invest in helping develop others. It’s just, it’s critical. So what advice do you have for our listeners, when it comes to one, giving, and then two receiving feedback—sometimes constructive feedback. Constructive can be good and bad, but sometimes the bad, you know, I think we’re doing people a disservice, if we don’t give that kind of feedback.

Well, one of the things I look at in my industry is coaching. So we’re, it’s we’re doing in the fitness space for dealing with sometimes technical movements, we’re, you know, most people understand the concept in CrossFit, that everyone is group-based. So there’s that shared hardship aspect. But it’s got to be scalable to the individual, so it’s got to be appropriate. We use the term relative intensity, because what’s challenging for you may not be challenging for someone else, and vice versa.

But one of the key tenets that I have, as a coach, is understanding that the true bonding and trust that happens between a coach and an athlete doesn’t happen while the reps are taking place. It really happens between the reps. So there’s this listening, that has to happen. There’s this exchange of information and feedback that has to happen. So maybe just going back to your question—it’s like, how do we take feedback? How do we give criticism? Well, that’s what I do all day, literally, you know, tell people, this is what you need to do better, and this is what you can do better. But if I go in with this mindset, that it’s going to be very one-sided, then there’s not really that relationship, you know? It’s more transactional.

You know, my mindset towards that, just really trying to coach the person, build a relationship with each individual. I just told someone that’s interning with me today, “Your goal when you’re coaching a class of twenty people, is to make a connection, at some point with each person that’s authentic, and that’s dynamic, and that actually moves the needle, you know, in a direction that hopefully is positive for them.” And that really, you know, acknowledgement being needed and known in any community is a really powerful, powerful concept. Just the acknowledgement. If you’re in a class, and I see you doing the work, just the acknowledgement of, “I see you Heath, you’re doing good, keep it up, do another one.”
It goes a long way. It’s motivating.

It goes such a long way. And it doesn’t have to be sexy and flashy, and it doesn’t have to be screamed at you. But the simple act of acknowledging someone is so powerful.

It makes you pick up the pace. I can’t tell you how many times you’re sitting there almost feeling sorry for yourself when you, or Cindy, or whoever coaches will say something and I’m like, “Oh, crap, I better get going again.”

Jeremy, there’s a couple things you said you were describing. You mentioned not coaching everyone the same. So the thought of … you may have people that are progressing at the faster rate somewhere.

Yeah.

That’s one thing that I mentioned, capacity, in our profession earlier. Some of the progression is time-based. So if someone’s two years, they get a promotion, four years, they get a promotion. But we’re seeing kind of a shift of that rapid skill development. So for firms that they have people with a lot of potential, of thinking about developing them faster than others. And that’s actually helped, maybe, going to that next level and investing in their careers.

And the other thing you said, the connection standpoint—I think that’s so important, especially a lot of firms are remote right now. That connection piece, when you say something, you touch someone in the middle of a workout and you say something that they remember, to me that shows you care, and when you’re investing in them, that shows that you do care about the results, you care about them as a team member. And I think, from the culture you built, from retention of your members or your clients, it goes a long way.

So one of the big things too, that has made a big impact on me—and this is, it’s helped in so many different areas and you and I are going to get into this a little bit—but kind of the thought of stretch goals. And anytime you’re getting out of your comfort zone, that’s usually when you’re growing: whether it’s career, whether it’s your fitness, whether it’s your personal life. And that’s hard. You know, people like the results—sometimes they don’t necessarily enjoy the work that goes into it.

Several months ago, I was reading a book called Living with a SEAL by Jesse Itzler. And he hired David Goggins to come live with him for 30 days to really get him out of his comfort zone and stretch him. And I was reading that book, and I started talking to my wife Emily about it. And she immediately said, “You’re not gonna have someone come live with us for 30 days.” So I did the next best thing and reached out to you, and kind of told you what I was looking to do, and really stretching myself it felt kind of like, although yes, I was still on a good path that I needed to be pushed a little bit.

And it was very rewarding for me. It sucked at the time, in the middle of the moment. But every time I walked out, I felt accomplished, I felt good about what we were doing. So I’d like to hear in your culture, and you’ve witnessed, you see a lot of people getting out of their comfort zones. Maybe someone walking in that as their first time to come in, and they end up being a five year member, it just, it changes their life. So I’d like to hear from your perspective, how critical is it for people to step outside of their comfort zone? And how have you witnessed that impact people?

Well, you know, I can only best speak to how it’s impacted me—just as a perfect kind of visual, what you’re saying: just before I came here, I went to a yoga session. Just restorative yoga, just kind of gentle stretching and recovery. And so we would hold these stretches for like, a long time. Like, I didn’t realize how long we we’re gonna be holding. So like, I’d be sitting in like pigeon pose, or, you know, in my leg off to the side and my torso up the other side of the room. And what I noticed was the second that I started thinking to myself, “This is uncomfortable, I’m trying to breathe, when’s she gonna say ‘Okay, let’s go to another pose?’ ” It’s like the second that I started to feel that inclination, all of a sudden, within 30 seconds after, I would feel like I wasn’t even thinking about it anymore, and all of a sudden, I relaxed and just accepted that position.

And my point with that is that so many times, our biggest breakthroughs happen just after our moment of greatest discomfort, you know? And so I think continually, like you just said—seeking those opportunities for us to be pushed just past our threshold of comfort, and not even in an unhealthy way, but in a way so that it actually moves the Mendoza line of what we thought was capable—the expectation that we have for ourselves and what we can achieve.

That “never quit” mindset.

Yeah. There’s a leadership aspect to that too. But once you see, you know, someone that’s a part of your team, achieved something more than what they thought they could, and then they feel that result, and they feel the benefit of that, now you can have a higher level of accountability, because it’s like, I know you’re capable of going there.

In other areas of your life.

Yeah.

Absolutely does. And I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this—well, I know, I’ve never shared it with you Jeremy, and I’ve definitely never shared it on the podcast. But in college, I was so deathly afraid of public speaking, I took it as an online course. And now that’s what I’m doing for a living. It just took time to do it, time and time again, to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And that kind of leads into another big part of the culture around adversity, and that goes back to culture, it’s not not easy to build. And every business owner, any person that’s successful, almost any person, they’ve had all types of challenges along the way. It goes back, people see the end result—they like the results, but not the work, sometimes, that goes into it.

So can you dig into a little bit—you’ve definitely been through some adversity in our gym—there’s been some highs and lows and things that have happened throughout the years. But I’d like to hear, because I think it’s easy to have a better culture when things are going good. But can you share when maybe things aren’t going great, maybe when things are bad, you know, how important is that culture? And how does that play into the opportunity to possibly even build a stronger culture?

Yeah. Well, you know, definitely the ebbs and flows in 15 years of having a gym, having a business. I mean, we’ve dealt with everything from divorce to death, weddings, graduations, lots of members and all of a sudden, a pandemic and things shut down and you’re trying to figure out how to navigate that. I mean, we’ve dealt with all of those, but I always knew that you have to be really rooted in your mission. So I think, you know, your culture so directly tied to what is your original mission.

And I’m reminded of that every single time that things are going really, really good and when things are going really, really bad. Our mission is very specifically to build and edify lives—mentally, physically and spiritually. So those three aspects, we realize that what happens outside of the gym carries into the gym, and what happens in the gym will take what that’s going to carry and spill over into the other sectors of our life.

So, yeah, I mean, specifically, we’ve had former coaches that, you know, Will Thompson, that was a longtime member, and then a coach, at our gym, and was pursuing his dream of going to the Marine Corps, you know, literally right after he kind of accomplished and achieved that, to be an officer, he was diagnosed with cancer, and very quickly, tragically passed away. But his mindset, his attitude towards like, truly devoting himself to military service, towards the leadership, towards servant leadership—I mean, that that really made a huge impact to a lot of the people at our gym right after his passing. Just realizing that the reflection of what he had left in his example, was still there for us to do.

100%. No doubt. Jeremy, it’s ironic that you bring this up. I was actually just in Atlanta yesterday, doing a new partner meeting. It was roughly 30 people. And this is not the first time I’ve heard this come up, but talking about the generation entering the workforce now. I still keep hearing it referred to as millennials. It’s not millennials anymore. That’s more of a—millennials are almost 40, or 40 years old. So it’s not millennials. It’s the younger workforce, and saying, maybe they don’t want to put in the time like we have, or, you know, they’re not like us.

I kind of stopped at the question and said I’d probably challenge that a little bit. Because I’ve seen the younger generation that really have a desire, and they want to do well. They have a strong desire to be leaders, and make a big impact in our community, in our businesses. And sometimes it’s almost the opposite of that of having the right coaches, having the right people to help develop them. Because I do—I think there’s a fire inside that generation as well. I see it time and time again. And Jeremy Clopton, one of our other partners, he shared different time periods  throughout the past several years, it was in Time Magazine, and I think it went clear back to 1976. If I remember right, maybe you further that, in almost every cover almost said the same thing about that upcoming generation.

Yeah, absolutely.

That’s part of when I look at the culture within Proximal Strength—you mentioned Will. There’s been others, half my age, or maybe more than that. There’s a common goal and a common purpose. So what advice would you have from kind of that bottom-up mentality of you know, how do you get the younger, the maybe closer to retirement, getting the generation gaps, moving that same direction? I’ve witnessed it, both sides, at Proximal Strength, there’s people that are older, there’s people that are younger, and it’s just like the age doesn’t matter. It’s about the success.

Exactly what you’re saying, and your point is, that human emotion—it’s universal. So the emotions we experience, the feelings that we have, the highs and the lows, they’re universal. And the means by which we carry them and communicate them may have changed, obviously, but we’re still—everybody’s still trying to get from a point A to a point B, and we long for connection, and we want, you know, resolution, and we want justice in our lives. And we want all these things. But I mean, just having a grace and an empathy to work with—the best compliment that I can ever get is when people see the diversity in our gym. And likewise, in a time where things really are divisive—and sometimes for good reason, because people feel so certain that the way they think the outcome that they want is the right one—but man, it’s like the E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one, you know what I mean? It’s like out of many, one, and having a unified, you know, kind of just understanding that we’re all we’re all on a journey. We’re all trying to experience life through the lens that we’re processing our experiences.

And that’s really what I try to do. And that doesn’t make any exceptions for when there’s ugliness. It doesn’t make any exceptions for when there’s just, you know, a lack of moral integrity or whatever—like, the right thing is the right thing. And there’s things that we can be divided on, theoretically, but I think there’s got to be an overarching feeling in the workplace, that, “Okay, well, we still the same mission.”

Common goal, common purpose.

Common goal, common purpose, yeah. That’s what I seek to develop within our gym on a daily, monthly, yearly, decade basis.

And some of the firms we work with Jeremy, where I see you as a strong culture, and you mentioned some of the divisiveness in different things. That common goal, common purpose, of not tolerating—you know, we use that high yield, low maintenance, but also there’s high yield, high maintenance. And that’s something that’s too frequently put up with it because it’s, you know, someone that produces a lot, but they are, they’re hard to work with, or they cause a ripple effect.

And so yeah, what you were describing of some of the communication and some of the things we’re seeing in the world today—I think it’s a dangerous place, if we can’t still sit down and have a conversation about things. Sometimes there will be disagreements, but in a firm and a business and a team, and at some point, there’s a play that’s called—and you either run that play, or you potentially run the risk of hurting the bigger culture.

And in any organization, I don’t believe that there’s any one person bigger than the culture. And that’s in a CPA firm, that’s a football team, that’s—whatever we’re talking about, I can see. So people looking to develop in their careers, just knowing that mindset, they will have an impact on that culture. But there’s no one person bigger than that culture.

Yeah. And I will never, ever, put the goal or the mission of one individual, above that of our team. Ever. I don’t do that with our members, I don’t do it with our coaches, I don’t do it with myself. And I really strive to honestly seek that mark, in every aspect of our business.

Well, Jeremy, I know you and your family now, gosh, I’m trying to think back—at least probably nine or ten years now. And I’ve seen a lot of change. And I know, I haven’t been around your kids a ton, but some of the stuff that you share with them in sports and activities, I’ve seen a direct correlation of how you approach your business, along with your family—kind of their drive for excellence. And it’s been cool to watch. Whenever I look back, it’s just crazy, how they’ve changed, how they’ve grown. So as a parent, we’re gonna get outside of the work culture, but as a parent, how have you seen that overflow? Or how have you seen that impact your family life, as well?

You know, the root of integrity means that it’s integrated, it’s gonna grow, it’s every aspect of your life is consistent. And back to the podcast that I did a couple of weeks ago, you know—I told them, I remember saying, “I don’t want to just be a successful entrepreneur, and have my house burning down, you know, my marriage falling apart, and, you know, struggling with my kids.” And I, you know, I say that, knowing full well, that there’s been times where that’s been the case—where Jenny and I, my wife—were struggling, or my relationship with kids in some way or another strained , because of them acting like turds, or me acting like a turd.

But, you know, to strive for excellence truly, in every area of your life, means that you’re going to have to be very, very task-oriented and focused about where you spend that energy and effort. And so, I’m just, I try to be very intentional, whether it’s with Jenny, having date nights, whether it’s with the kids, you know, going into the room and just talking to them, or praying with them. You know, I think just reassuring them constantly, through every season and phase of their lives. My son is 13 now, my daughter is 10.. But, you know, I’m not one of those parents that’s like, “Oh, this age is gonna suck. And this is gonna be awesome.” Like I see, I see the fruits and the toots of every every phase of life. Like there’s stuff that just kind of stinks. And there’s stuff that’s awesome about every phase.

But my goal is always to just really let them know that my love for them is not contingent on, you know, their performance in basketball, or dance or in school or whatever. It’s because of who they are inherently. Hard to not get emotional saying that! Who they are inherently and who God’s called them to be, man. And like, you know, I was saying, God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called. And I know I’ve been called to be an entrepreneur. I’ve been called to be a husband. I know. I’ve been called to be a parent. So I’m still figuring a lot of it out.

Aren’t we all? Yeah, it’s a process.

But God is equipping me daily.

Yeah, Jeremy, it’s funny. I always, I kind of say this jokingly, but coaching and parenting—there’s a lot of overlap. Not everyone’s meant to be a coach. Not everyone is meant to be a parent. Not everyone wants to be a parent. Not everyone wants to be a coach.

Absolutely!

But I applaud you for being open and sharing that, that people can learn from that. Because it’s time to, as a parent or professional, we sometimes we can be our own worst critic. I can see you kind of talking about some of the things that you know, from the outside looking in and Jeremy, it just seems like they’ve really bought in, and it’s just it’s fun to watch them grow as well. So it’s cool to see how that culture kind of overflows, or maybe it’s the family culture and it’s overflowing in your professional life. Maybe that’s the way to look at it.

Well, Jeremy, a couple last questions here. This is a hard one. So what is one thing that Jeremy now would go back and tell yourself, whenever you’re first starting this journey of opening your business and trying to build that culture?

Well, I’d have to go back and tell myself, just continue to be steadfast. I mean, I think that’s something that I’m reminding myself constantly—just steadfast in my core values. Being patient, you know, just patience. Have patience. Nothing good happens fast, I heard another friend and business that says it all the time, he’s like, “nothing good happens fast,” and it’s really true. You know, you don’t get out of shape overnight and get back into shape overnight. And just having a steadfast mindset, to stick to my core values and stay committed to the task at hand.

One of the biggest things that I’d probably do over—I think I’ve only, I’ve had to learn this—but just checking in more. Checking in more with my coaches, my members. I feel like it’s something that’s seasonal each year that I’m doing. But I think that’s something that you can always get better at. Just taking the pulse, checking the temperature of where everybody’s at and how they’re feeling. But it’s like I said, it’s a needed and known piece in any culture: people want to be acknowledged, you know? And sometimes it’s not as much about like, “Hey, I noticed something’s going on, or you seem down” or whatever. It’s just really just checking in, like, “How are things, how are you doing,” and being authentic about it.

A lot of group satisfaction, and it’s kind of what you’re describing, as viewing it as most people want to be bigger, part of something much bigger than just themselves. And whenever you’re connecting, and whenever you’re doing that, you’re impacting others. And to me, professionally, personally, that’s one of the biggest gifts and most rewarding things, if you’re able to make an impact—a positive impact—on someone. And that can really lead to that strong culture.

So Jeremy, one thing we like to do, as we wrap up with all of our episodes—we always like to share different resources, books, podcasts, whatever it may be. Do you have any resource, maybe books, podcasts, something that’s really influenced you that maybe could help our listeners as well?

Yeah. My daily go-to, kind of my routine, my morning routine is once I get up, usually before, a lot of times after, I’ve made coffee is the Jesus Calling app. So there’s just a devotion on there daily, and it helps to kind of frame and set the tone for my day. It allows me to kind of look through the lens of life with gratitude, you know? We’re just, man, especially in light of current events, we’re just so blessed in America. And, you know, I’m pretty well traveled—I’ve been around the world a few times in a lot of different places. And, you know, just realizing, I think each day that like, you know, most of the world lives in poverty, and a significant amount of strife. We’re very fortunate in America to have a lot of freedoms and the blessings and conveniences that we have. So, but the Jesus Calling app, the Bible app, I use that as well, just from a spiritual standpoint. That’s how I like to start.

Well, it’s a lot of intentionality to start your day, and kind of sets the tone. And no matter what anyone is going through, it’s that concept of “win the day.” If you win two days in a row, then you’re on a winning streak.

Yeah.

And I love that concept, because sometimes, whether it’s fitness culture, professional career, or with your kids, it’s easy to get so focused on the end of it, you’re missing the journey. And I’ve always been big on the “micro-goal” mentality of small steps can equal something big. So I love the thought of just the intentionality when you wake up, early in the morning, it can set the tone on how the rest of your day goes.

Right now, as you mentioned, the world we’re living in, that’s a pretty good goal is just start off right and keep winning the day.

Absolutely.

So I love that thought.

So, Jeremy, we’re going to wrap up here and I’m going to try to summarize the best that I can I know there’s a lot in our discussion. But there were some notes that I took: One of the things that you said that I loved was “Take the best, leave the rest.” That’s something that you—that the rest part, sometimes things that we hang on to they can eat at us. It can influence our attitude, how we perform. So I love that concept.

One of the other big things was the generation difference. I’ve never heard it described as the thought of, we’re all human, we all have emotions we all carry. And when we peel back, remove the number, remove the age, and we’re all people. And I think firms can learn a lot from that, because I don’t think it’s just partners passing it down to their staff. I think we can learn from our staff. Just like the Will example. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from people like Will. You mentioned Aaron. I’ve just, I’ve learned from people of all all ages.

So those were all things that really stuck out to me. And then the last one was, if I recall, you said, “Make a memory” or, “have the intentionality of touching everyone during the class.” So they remember that. It shows you care, and that’s just, to me, that’s the biggest part of the culture relationship is, “Yes, we’re all gonna mess up sometimes. But if you show that you care, hey, that to me, that’s half the battle.”

So, Jeremy, appreciate your time. Appreciate your insights. I really enjoyed the conversation. I hope we can do it again sometime. Thank you.