Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem.
Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim.
Nunc nec neque. Phasellus leo dolor, tempus non, auctor et, hendrerit quis, nisi. Curabitur ligula sapien, tincidunt non, euismod vitae, posuere imperdiet, leo. Maecenas malesuada. Praesent congue erat at massa. Sed cursus turpis vitae tortor.
Donec posuere vulputate arcu.
Phasellus accumsan cursus velit.
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.
Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus.
Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus.
Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo.
Learn how to implement the 4 Pillars Philosophy that will help you lay a firm foundation across all areas of your life – an essential FRAMEWORK for maintaining a truly balanced and well-rounded life that can support the marriage and family you desire, and that can support the business you dream of building…
At the same time as I was uncovering this 4-part mental model for managing MY life, my (now) mentor Garrett also pieced together essentially the same framework. Inside the Warrior Brotherhood, we live a challenge-based lifestyle across Body, Being, Balance, and Business. Discover how he stacks them up into a DAILY Protocol so you can WEAPONIZE yourself across the “CORE 4” to supercharge your Business, and unlock more Power and intimacy in your Relationships!
Just a quick message today before I go fire up the grill with my brother-in-law and jump in the pool with my son:
242 years ago, the Second Continental Congress unanimously declared the sovereignty of the thirteen united States of America from the British Empire. The Declaration of Independence, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, listed colonial grievances against King George III and asserted an individual’s natural rights:
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Today, I believe that no matter where you come from, you and I are entitled to the same natural rights now more than ever.
Though (some) governments certainly serve a few useful purposes (sometimes), bloated bureaucracies tend to prioritize their own survival above your individual freedoms, no matter what the cost.
When it really comes down to brass tacks, it’s up to you to protect yourself, your family, your empire, and your freedom from those who would try to take them away from you. As history has shown many times, nobody else will hold them sacred for you.
There may come times when you will have to FIGHT for your life, FIGHT for your liberty, and certainly you will have to FIGHT for your own happiness.
Freedom is a paradox, because it comes with RESPONSIBILITY. You are responsible for defending your own life when the rubber hits the road, and you are responsible for the consequences of your chosen pursuits.
So while true freedom is the opportunity to make your own choices, living a truly free life REQUIRES taking full responsibility for your choices, your behaviors, and your results.
And if you don’t like your current results — your current reality — there is nobody to blame but yourself.
This can be a hard pill to swallow. Believe me, I understand.
When my business collapsed and my world came crumbling down, I wanted to blame ISIS. I wanted to blame repugnant sex traffickers and martial law in my wife’s home country. I wanted to blame Homeland Security for insisting that we uproot our family and relocate internationally in order to get travel documents. I wanted to blame the partner who betrayed me and cooked the books.
I wanted to blame my mother for getting cancer. I wanted to blame my wife for giving me a child. I almost wanted to blame my son for scratching my cornea during roughhousing and landing me with an eye infection that took me out of commission for a month.
Hell, I even wanted to blame the flesh eating parasites burrowing intolerably slow and painfully through my feet.
I was laying in the fetal position on the tile floor of my 4-bedroom condo in Chiang Mai, Thailand one night cursing God Himself.
But the Truth was that too much avoiding responsibility caught up with me.
It was me — I had made every choice that got me there on that cold hard floor, pulling my hair out, crying and throwing a tantrum like my toddler.
Declare Your Individual Freedom
I used to think that chasing “freedom” meant running away from responsibility.
For 10 years I wanted nothing but more time freedom, more financial independence, and more freedom of location.
And I got it. For almost a decade, I lived in 8 countries across four continents.
I built and experimented with five small companies. We sold two of them.
I dated women from around the globe, and enjoyed all kinds of travel misadventures across at least 35 countries. But I allowed myself to get too comfortable, I let myself become a “victim” of my own success, and bought into the lie of the “four hour work week”, pleasure seeking, fleeing from commitments, and basically drank and smoked away a literal fortune.
In the pursuit of riches, I wrecked my health, and then I carried on abusing my body probably out of sheer self-hatred.
But it was when I realized my real RESPONSIBILITY to show my son a good example, to do my damnedest to be a good role model, to teach him everything the world will neglect to teach him, to be involved in his life and guide him any way I can, that was when my own results began ever so slowly to turn around.
In order to achieve true freedom, YES, you must cultivate an ability to control your money, control your time, and eliminate the mindset that you are subject to any higher authority (at least not here on earth).
But avoiding responsibility, perhaps counterintuitively, will ensure your failure. It will ensure that your health and vitality go down the drain. It will ensure that you create strained, stressed, and broken relationships. It will ensure you create chaos all around you.
You must take RESPONSIBILITY for your Mindset, your Health, your Wealth, and your Relationships.
This Fourth of July, take stock of where you’re at, appreciate what you have, and accept radical responsibility for your current situation. Some things will be great. Others may be a trainwreck.
This is not about guilt or shame. We are all screwups.
For my fellow Americans, be grateful that you ARE the privileged 1% of the world. The USA is an imperfect mess, but it’s one of the safest, most functional places in the world. For my Canadian friends to the north, happy belated Canada Day to you!
Wherever you are, I invite you to accept the challenge to take responsibility for cleaning up whatever areas of your life that are lacking, to realize the necessity for balance in your life, and how your mental health, your fitness, your finances, your spirituality and your connections with people around you are all interconnected.
If you go through life on autopilot, chances are you are going to let at least one of these dimensions of your life completely deteriorate.
So take responsibility to give each of these areas of your life attention, to go through your life consciously, to craft a plan for how you can maintain balance in your life, and always be vigilant looking for opportunities where you can seize MORE responsibility for things around you.
Declare YOUR personal freedom from the mistakes you have made in the past, from your baggage, from your stories, and FIGHT for your life like the men who built America had to.
Declare your freedom from the TYRANNY of victimhood. Choose not to accept the role of “victim” in this life. There is nobody holding you down. Choose to rewrite those negative stories. Trust me.
It is Time for You to Choose FREEDOM, Sovereignty, and Personal Responsibility.
If you are ready to commit yourself to a higher purpose, to double down on yourself, and have accountability, systems, and structure to help you find balance across your Mindset, Health, Wealth, and Relationships, join us as we embark upon a 12-week Dragon-slaying challenge inside the Foundry accelerator this month to turboboost your progress toward your dream goals in Q3.
https://i0.wp.com/herofoundry.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Independence_Day_Declaration.jpg?fit=800%2C449&ssl=1449800Cody McKibbenhttps://herofoundry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FOUNDRY_logo-1.pngCody McKibben2018-07-04 02:22:092018-07-04 21:58:03Declare Your Own Independence Today
Thursday morning, I was incredibly grateful for an opportunity to sit in on the proceedings of one of the first community brainstorming sessions hosted by the new Dale and Katy Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Sacramento State University.
Interim Director Jyoti Das with Sacramento State President Robert Nelsen
At least 50 student leaders, University and community representatives gathered to meet the Carlsen Center’s Interim Director Jyoti Das, learn about the vision for the Sacramento region University’s brand new center for entrepreneurship, and get a first-look at the roadmap for where they plan to take the center over the rest of 2018 and beyond.
Carlsen Center Director Jyoti Das welcomes students
The leadership team aims to create an innovative, interdisciplinary new institution in California’s capital city:
The Dale and Katy Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will immeasurably enrich the educational experience of Sacramento State students irrespective of their academic disciplines. High-quality education, advising, and practical experiences in innovation and entrepreneurship, coupled with experimentation and practical application in programs and events of the Center, will fully instantiate a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the campus and the region. The partnership with regional, national and international community partners will provide opportunities to network and collaborate broadly. In addition to nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit of the students, the Center will provide students and others the pathway to take solutions to market. Ultimately, the Center will provide the leadership and workforce to ensure the vitality and success of the region’s economy, businesses, charitable and civic organizations, and ultimately the quality of life.
Sacramento State University President Robert Nelsen
Administrators invited select student leaders and alumni from CSUS to attend the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s (CCIE) Breakfast Break. It was an informational and networking meeting for the student and alumni community to learn about the mission of the new center and hear some of the exciting opportunities the CCIE aims to bring to campus in the coming years. President Robert Nelson gave a resounding welcome, emphasizing that it was also a chance for the community to provide feedback on what they expect from the center and how to best engage and serve the student population.
Mia Kagianas, President Nelsen, and Noel Mora giving the “Stingers Up” sign
Mr. Nelsen was also joined by Sacramento State student government directors: Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) President Mia Kagianas, and Vice President for Academic Affairs Noel Mora.
A panel of mentors was introduced — local entrepreneurs, business leaders, and Sacramento State staff — to help facilitate discussion about entrepreneurship and innovation in the Sacramento region.
Dale Carlsen, founder of Sleep Train Mattress Centers
Legendary local businessman Mr. Dale Carlsen, the founder of Sleep Train, CEO of Bunker Wilson, LLC, and Chairman of the Ticket to Dream Foundation presented a spellbinding keynote about his astounding entrepreneurial journey and his passionate desire to give back to fellow students from Sacramento State University.
Mr. Carlsen and his team announced preliminary plans that the CCIE plans to push deeper involvement in Global Entrepreneurship Week this coming November, as well as hosting pitch competitions across all colleges, and fostering larger venture competitions potentially involving regional partners, and eventually leading promising student startups all along the incubation process to back office, HR, intellectual property, funding, etc.
The Carlsen Center’s first mentorship session
Breakout group discussions were led by volunteer mentors and University members including:
Brian Dombrowski – Founder of Fantag Inc.
Edris Bemanian – COO of Engage3
Mitch Gardner – Co-Founder & COO, Pocket Points
Mark Beckford – Sales & Marketing Executive, EZE Sytem
Josh Wolfson – Director of Product Development at Parrable
Sabya Das – Early stage technology VC at Moneta Ventures
Julian Vasquez Heilig – Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Sacramento State student leaders discuss with mentor Josh Wolfson (center)
I sat at a table with student Shay Putnam, President of the Business Honors Society Dwight L. Wise, education studies professor Dr. Julian Vasquez Hielig, and mentor Josh Wolfson, Director of Product Development for Parrable.
Dale Carlsen addresses the room, flanked by analyst Frank Bisek
Mr. Carlsen and the Center leadership team opened the conversation by asking all in attendance to discuss what innovation and entrepreneurship mean.
Some of the conversation topics can be seen on the Center’s Instagram and Facebook accounts.
They also asked: “What is the best way we can shape the curriculum and delivery method so that it is fun and effective for students to learn?”, and highlighted the importance of experiential learning.
Local business representatives and mentor roundtable discussion
“Where and how best can we engage the student body? As leaders of the campus how can you influence and engage?”
Advisor Lokesh Sikaria and Director Jyoti Das
The closing address was made by Lokesh Sikaria, Managing Partner of Moneta Ventures, LLC, one of the region’s largest venture capital investment firms.
Mr. Carlsen greets Sacramento State student leaders
ASI Vice President Noel Mora speaks with Director Jyoti Das and Dale Carlsen
Director Jyoti Das, CCIE Chair Dale Carlsen, staff analyst Francis Bisek, and student leader Dwight L. Wise
Business Honors Society President Dwight Wise, CCIE Chairman Dale Carlsen, and HERO Foundry director Cody McKibben (Sac State alumni, 2006)
We want to set a HUGE goal to see if we can raise over $3,000 for the district Head Start programs.
SAVE THE DATE: MAY 5th CINCO DE MAYO AT MADDOX PARK (adjacent to Starr King school)
We certainly don’t expect monetary contributions from you parents, but any way you can chip in on May 5th will help make this even more fun for everyone, and PLEASE share with your family, friends, or employers you think might be interested to help sponsor us…
I’m going to share this with Raley’s, Starbucks, local restaurants and small businesses, and we’ll go door to door to invite the whole neighborhood.
Jam & I will provide some food & drinks.
If you want to bring your own potluck style dishes, snacks, etc., outdoor games, of course bring the kids’ bikes or trikes, and anything else you can think of, excellent!
If you have any feedback, tips, or ideas for any changes, please just let me know. We’ll create an FB event and do some promotions very soon…
On this twentieth day of March, 2018, I Cody McKibben hereby dedicate this Foundation to:
Christopher Shawn Suficiencia McKibben
Jam Milcah Suficiencia McKibben
Christopher Reid Cravens
Kareem Shah Khan
and the people of the many nations of the world.
Psalm 68:28-35
Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before. Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings will bring you gifts. Rebuke the beast among the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations. Humbled, may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war. Envoys will come from Egypt; Cush will submit herself to God.
Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.
“The Art of a Good Marriage” by Wilferd Arlan Peterson
A good marriage must be created. In marriage the “little” things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say, ”I love you” at least once a day. It is never going to sleep angry. It is having a mutual sense of values, and common objectives. It is standing together and facing the world. It is forming a circle that gathers in the whole family. It is speaking words of appreciation, and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is not only marrying the right person — it is being the right partner.
October 8th, 2017, Sacramento, California
Anniversary Edition: Remastered Hi-Definition Wedding Video
https://i0.wp.com/herofoundry.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/McKillinit-Wedding.jpg?fit=5184%2C3456&ssl=134565184Cody McKillinithttps://herofoundry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FOUNDRY_logo-1.pngCody McKillinit2017-10-08 14:14:122018-10-09 06:42:01The Wedding of the Year: Jam + Cody
Every month at the HERO Project, we drill incremental habit change and gather accountability groups to help you connect with others and become the best version of yourself!
August was the father/son pushup challenge.
Throughout September, we did cold showers EVERY SINGLE day.
This month, we’ll be joining comedians Joe Rogan, Bert Kreischer, Tom Segura, Ari Shaffir, and friends for a no-booze October, plus fitness challenge.
Sober OctoBert Announcement from the JRE
The rules for the #SoberOctoBert Challenge as described by its participants:
I personally will be taking one single 24-hour pass on my wedding day on the 8th, but with that exception, I’m committing to 30 days alcohol-free, plus 15 days of fitness in October.
So that’s a workout every other day basically.
I’ll be hitting the gym as much as possible, but also using at-home routines as my backup plan. You can do your cardio workout, you can do HIIT routine, you can do yoga classes, or whatever you want, but if you want to join us for the 30-day HERO Challenge and have some folks alongside to cheer you on all month, we will host the group inside my private group The HERO Project.
After our pushup challenge, my fellow father Brandyn Shoemaker had this to say: “What are you struggling with right now? What do you want to teach your kids? Whatever it is, do it. Do it everyday and soon enough it will change from a struggle to a habit.”
It’s completely free to join on Facebook. Join me and a group of fellow heroes all through October for a Sober October and 30-day fitness challenge.
Over the last month, several fellow fathers joined me participating in the 30-day HERO Challenge, where we witnessed the value of committing to one simple, daily practice. We got to watch first hand the exponential growth possible with small iterative habit improvements, and the power of routine practice.
Whatever goal you want to reach, or behavior you want to improve, PRACTICE the things you want to get good at — even if you have to start in very small ways. If you commit to it every single day, you are bound to see transformation over time.
Take it one step at a time, and eventually you’ll find yourself in a whole new world.
One person who has really proven this for me recently is Andrew (watch below) who shares his journey sof habit change and personal transformation on his video channel Sorting Myself Out. He’s been incredibly transparent and very inspiring.
Andrew helped inspire me to set a monthly behavior change goal EACH MONTH, to drill a 30-day habit change challenge around it, and gather an accountability group of guys around me to help keep me pointed at my target each month.
But before we start our next 30 day challenge, my friend and fellow HERO Project member Brandyn Shoemaker and I promised to award the dad who made the most progress on this pushup challenge with a little gift from the Heroic Dad store. So, with that, please welcome Brandyn to the blog:
And the Winner Is…
August 18th marked the end of the #30DayHero Challenge. It was 30 days of sore arms, squirmy kids, frustration, and joy. We also did a ton of pushups.
The challenge was simple: for 30 days do pushups with your kids, or with your kids on top of you. Some of the dads even did pushups with their wives on their backs. Props to those guys.
A post shared by ?Let’s Become HEROES! (@thrilling_heroics) on
On the surface it was a pushup and physical fitness challenge, but it went much deeper than that. While physical fitness is extremely important, the challenge was really a way to build good habits with our kids.
Traditional wisdom says “Your kids won’t listen to what you say, they’ll do what you do.” We’ve all heard it, and it’s become one of those cliche sayings we don’t even pay attention to, but it’s true. We’re all guilty of telling our kids to go out and play and be active while we’re sprawled out on the couch binge watching Rick and Morty, or to clean their room while we have piles of laundry sprawled all over our room. (I might not be speaking from experience, don’t judge me.)
So with the challenge we aimed to create something that would force us to build good habits, teach our kids the importance of building good habits, and bond with our kids all at the same time.
A post shared by ?Let’s Become HEROES! (@thrilling_heroics) on
The challenge ended about a week ago, but the pushups haven’t. Earlier today my three year old hopped on my back and told me to do pushups. My one year old got next to us and started doing his own version of the pushup. You should see it, his form is AMAZING. We all had fun while doing something productive. The best part of the 30 days was watching the habit form in my little man. There were days I would forget but he was right there to remind me.
We had a good group of great dads that stuck it out with us the entire 30 days. All of us had good days and bad days. We all had days that we didn’t want to have anything to do with a pushup, but we did them anyway. It felt great fighting through the struggle.
It was extremely inspiring to watch all of the dad’s daily photos and video check-ins. Everyone worked hard and everyone gave it their all. At the end though, one father stood above the rest. He’s even starting his own pushup challenge to build off of what he accomplished in the #30DayHero Challenge.
Christopher Wolf worked hard all month, built a strong new habit, bonded with his kids, and maybe most importantly, he won a comfortable new Heroic Dad tshirt!
(If you want a Heroic Dad shirt, head on over to the store. At checkout just use the code “HERO” for free shipping on anything. I won’t even make you do pushups every day for a month.)
When the challenge started I struggled to do 5 pushups. STRUGGLED. It was embarrassing. It still is. But by the end of the 30 days I was doing 25 pushups with a 40-pound wiggleworm on my back.
I hated pushups. Pushups were the enemy. I’ll be honest, they still are, but I’m not afraid to do them anymore. I can drop down with my little man and knock some out anytime, anywhere.
What are you struggling with right now? What do you want to teach your kids? Whatever it is, do it. Do it everyday and soon enough it will change from a struggle to a habit.
“I hadn’t really done any exercise in about 2 to 3 years,” said winner Christopher Wolf. “I’ve been following a ketogenic diet since October of last year, and I’ve lost about 50 pounds. But all of that was due to food, none due to exercise.”
“I’ve had a real serious battle for about 10 years with anxiety, most of it being health anxiety, that culminated in 10 to 15 major panic attacks — several of those resulting in hospital visits because I was convinced that I was having some sort of cardiac event.”
“My heart is fine, but somewhere deep in my mind I was convinced that that wasn’t the case, and that kept me from doing anything physical. I walked slow, I was very hesitant to play rough with my kids for fear that raising my heart rate to I would trigger something.”
“I saw this challenge as something I could control. It was just doing push-ups every day. I could do five or ten, and have little to no change in my heart rate and be fine. After doing that the first couple days, and then passing 20 or 30 about a week into the challenge, I started changing that deep-held belief about what I could and couldn’t do safely.”
A post shared by Christopher Wolf (@aaaarrrrgggghhh) on
Chris is now launching his own September pushup challenge to increase his one-set pushup max from 50 to 80. “Just goes to show that facing your fears head-on is generally one of the most effective ways to overcome them,” Chris shared. “This is probably one of the five most important things I’ve done in the last year.”
Final Note from Cody: September HERO Challenge!
Every month at the HERO Project, we drill incremental habit change and gather accountability groups to help you connect with others and become the best version of yourself!
If you want to join me for the next 30-day HERO Challenge, we will host the group inside my mentor David’s private group The Warrior Way.
From my coach David DiFrancesco:
“I thought it would be appropriate to bring one of my favorite ‘tests’ to this group as a way of starting the initiation process. A step in proving you’re worthy and have been tested. It’s something I’ve done with all the guys I’ve trained for Navy SEALs and something I’ve personally done every New Years Eve at midnight. A cold water swim in the ocean for about 20 minutes in trunks. (one year I even got to enjoy having a shark swim with me)”
“But as I’m here and you’re, well, there and perhaps not near a convenient, freezing cold body of water, I’m thinking of the next best thing. After a great conversation with Cody today we’re putting this idea into action as a part of his next 30-Day Hero Challenge. Beginning this coming Monday, September 4th, we’re all going to take a bracing cold shower first thing upon rising. It’s probably (well, most assuredly) the last thing you’ll want to be doing, but the very practice of making yourself do something you don’t want to do, along with a little bit of physical discomfort will have a host of benefits in your mindset that we’ll be discussing over the coming weeks and certainly as we wrap it up at the end of September.”
“I’m going to be with you along the way and will be following up with you each day as we go through this testing together. Feel free to share your own experiences on what’s happening for you and what you’re discovering. As I tell the SEAL guys, you are not going to get through the days ahead relying on only yourself. You’ll get through it as a team, a tribe. So tribe, let’s get to it!”
It’s completely free to join The Warrior Way on Facebook. Join me and David here all through September for a cold shower challenge. I’ll be waking up early every day at 7am and starting my day with a cold shower for a month!
00Cody McKillinithttps://herofoundry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FOUNDRY_logo-1.pngCody McKillinit2017-08-31 17:05:052017-08-31 17:05:05The Power of Incremental Improvement (30 Day Challenge Winner!)
