You're only human so be kind to yourself on the journey.

What would you do if you were sweating through your clothes, struggling to breathe, watching your daughter's face crumple as she says, "Daddy, I don't want you to die"?

And what if your first thought was about the meeting you were going to miss?

This episode digs into the dangerous myth that success requires self-destruction. George shares the story of nearly dying in his closet, what it taught him about respecting his own humanity, and why treating yourself with kindness might be the biggest unlock you're missing.

The Closet That Changed Everything

George was at the peak of his career. Successful. Recognized. Hustling with everything he had.

He was also 320 pounds, running on a pot of coffee a day and 3 to 4 hours of sleep, carrying the stress of a $12,000 business loss he hadn't processed.

One morning, after a shower, he started sweating like he'd never sweat before. His blood pressure hit 243 over 161. EMS arrived. His daughter stood there terrified. And as they rolled him out on a gurney, he looked back at his wife and said:

"I don't have time for this. I have a meeting in 10 minutes."

His wife didn't bring his laptop to the hospital. She didn't give him his phone. For three and a half days, he lay there while they worked to get his blood pressure down to "acceptable."

That was the moment George realized he'd been disrespecting everything that mattered. His sleep. His stress. His family. His body. All in the name of hustle.

What Beyond Your Default Isn't

Here's what George wants you to understand: going beyond your default doesn't mean grinding yourself into the ground.

It doesn't mean sacrificing your health, your marriage, or your relationships to chase some version of success that leaves you broken.

Beyond your default means living a holistic life. Paying attention to all the areas that matter. Building something sustainable, not something that kills you before you get to enjoy it.

"If you're trying to live a life beyond your default, you wanna probably be around for a while."

The Myth of the Superhuman

We're really bad at understanding how quickly we can be broken.

Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. Financially.

George traces his own hustle mentality back to the men in his life. His stepfather, the rural postman. His biological father, the steel mill worker. His grandfather, who was out raking his driveway the day after neck surgery.

The unspoken lesson: if you want to get from here to there, you work hard. Sacrifice yourself. Get bruised. Get bloody. Keep going.

Nobody sat him down and taught this explicitly. It was just absorbed. Modeled. Inherited.

And for a long time, George lived it. Until his body forced him to stop.

It's Your Life. Design It.

George has this written on his whiteboard: "It's your life. Design it."

But most people don't feel like designers. They feel dragged through life. Living up to someone else's expectations. Making decisions because their parents wanted them to go to college, or follow the family business, or avoid doing something that might be frowned upon.

"Funny thing is, it's all bullshit."

You are an individual human. You have the power to make the choices you want to make. You have the ability to design your day down to the minute.

Too many people look at their life like it's a set of bricks that can't be moved. But life isn't bricks. It's clay. You can shape it into whatever you need it to be.

The question is whether you'll take the time to do it.

The Second Wake-Up Call

Four years ago, George got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. He went from his actual age to feeling like 90 in about three weeks. Couldn't get out of his chair. Tried everything. CBD oil. Cutting coffee. Every snake oil remedy he could find.

Finally, his wife said what needed to be said: "Why don't you take your happy ass to the doctor?"

The doctor gave him a choice. Change his diet, reduce inflammation, take care of his body. Or stay stuck in pain.

George chose to change. During COVID, while others talked about gaining weight, he lost 79 pounds in 7 months.

For the first time in his life, he beat the demon that had been on him forever: his relationship with food.

The unlock? Having a plan and making a choice.

"I just started to think about how many things in my life would become true if I just had a plan and made a choice."

Why We Wait Until We're Laid Out

Why does it take a crisis to make us choose ourselves?

George thinks we're just really bad with time. We don't understand how today's decisions shape who we become in 5 or 10 years. That doughnut is amazing until we've gained 20 pounds. That cigarette feels fine until it's not.

"We have this feeling that we're superhuman. We're really bad at understanding the thread in which we're actually walking on during most of the life that we're living."

We keep saying we'll do it tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes. There's only today and yesterday. Tomorrow is just a way of putting it off.

The People You Surround Yourself With

You will become the people you hang around.

George wishes someone had told him this earlier. The humans you allow into your ecosystem shape who you become. What they focus on, you focus on. What they tolerate, you tolerate.

Today, George is intentional about his circle. Fewer people. Healthier relationships. People who are pushing themselves to live beyond their default. People who fundamentally care about being good humans.

"If you want a tree to grow and bear better fruit, you have to prune that tree."

When's the last time you pruned relationships that weren't healthy?

The One Thing to Take Away

If you remember nothing else from this episode, remember this:

Treat yourself with kindness.

So many of us are great at blessing others. Great at cheering on the people around us. Great at telling them they've got this.

And then we get into our quiet spaces and tear ourselves apart. Why are you so stupid? Why can't you get your life right?

"Loving yourself and being kind to yourself might be one of the largest unlocks for you as a human."

Start being the same cheerleader for yourself that you are for everyone else.

Quotable Moments

"I don't have time for this. I have a meeting in 10 minutes."

"It's your life. Design it."

"Life isn't bricks. It's clay. You can shape it into whatever you need it to be."

"We're really bad at understanding how quickly we can be broken."

"Treat yourself with kindness."

Questions to Sit With

1. Where in your life are you disrespecting your own humanity? Sleep, stress, relationships, health?
2. What would change if you stopped treating your life like a set of bricks and started treating it like clay?
3. When's the last time you were as kind to yourself as you are to the people you love?

Press play above to hear the full conversation. George goes deeper into the closet story, the lessons from his grandfather, and what it really takes to design a life you actually want to live.