Nick Houpt: 0:01

What happens when a corporate executive turned international speaker dares to turn his darkest moments into a message of hope? In this vulnerable and powerful episode, Rob Swimer, bestselling author of Surrender to Your Adversity, shares how he overcame addiction, the sudden loss of his wife, and a lifetime of self-doubt to build a purpose-led life rooted in resilience and service. In this episode, we unpack why surrender doesn't mean giving up and how it can unlock real transformation. The difference between living from fear versus living from purpose, how physical intelligence and emotional awareness can reshape leadership, the daily practices that helped Rob move from surviving to thriving. From Boston roots to boardroom breakthroughs, Rob's journey is a master class in how to rewrite your story, live with intention, and lead with love. So take a breath, open your heart, and settle in. This is Life Well Balanced with Rob Swimer and me, your host, Nick Halp.

Unknown: 1:13

Life Well Balanced

Nick Houpt: 1:14

This podcast is made possible by Balanced Wellbeing, psychiatric and psychological care. This is great. I'm super excited. All right. We are here with Rob Swimer. Your book, Surrender to Your Adversity, is an Amazon bestseller. And I just want to acknowledge you and thank you for putting this book out because I read it and I love the rawness in what you share in the book and everything that you let people know that you have been through. Because I think a lot of the time people keep stuff in because whether it's ego or embarrassment of the adversity they've been through or the struggles they had. And I just want to acknowledge you for putting that out there. And I believe the reason you did it was to let people know that they're not alone and that there are other people that can help them through these things. Let's get into it and give me Rob Swimer's origin story. What made you into the Rob Swimer you are today?

Rob Swymer: 2:26

We only have an hour, right? Look, I'm just a regular guy that went through his share of stuff, right? And we all have a story, Nick. And mine is like most, like a lot of people. I grew up Regular childhood, no big deal. Middle class in the bottom side of Boston. And I had my challenges at a very young age. I was diagnosed with severe learning disabilities. School for me was really a challenge. In fact, just writing the book, my buddies back home are amazed. They're like, Swymer, you didn't even read a book when you were in high school or junior high. And here I am, I'm writing a book. So that's kind of the journey I took, getting past those limited beliefs. But I did have my challenges like everybody else. As a kid and then my teens, And I was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at 10 years old. And that put a whole new level of sort of challenges for me with the kids and growing up. And, you know, kids can be when they're little. And, you know, I was doing a lot of twitching and body movement. And there was a lot of anxiety and stuff like that that went with that. And I've since managed that and been able to use some of the tools that we'll probably talk about. But my Tourette's is not severe. It's a mild case. I don't verbalize or yell at people. I mean, I still yell at people, but I don't have. In a good way. In a good way. But that sort of manifested to a lot of things. And when I was in college, I got introduced to the paternity party and the free drink at the well. And that was sort of what spiraled me down to my My experience with alcohol and addiction, I had a pretty good run with that. But today I'm 32 years sober, and that's part of my life now and part of who I am, the resilience that I've built up because I've gone through these things These things, these adversities that sort of we all sort of go through, especially now in the world, right, Nick? I mean, this is the world we live in now, the speed of life, as I say, is everybody's on that cortisol or high anxiety seesaw. We're all trying to survive, right? And my whole preface for the book is, look, if you surrender to your adversity, if you actually give in and not give up, then you'll not only survive, but you can thrive. And I'm proof of that. I'm a classic story of the rise from the fall and dealing with depression, addiction, and even thoughts of suicide. And of course, losing my wife of 32 years in 2013. was another spiral for me. And if I hadn't built all that resilience, if I hadn't surrendered as a kid, not even knowing some of these things, I look back and I'm like, how did I even get here? When I was doing some of these things without even knowing it, that's why when I was in London, locked down with COVID, you can only watch so much Netflix. And that's when I sort of said, maybe I should write this book and sort of just pass on some of the lessons I've learned from just a guy's perspective. And like you said, people are I don't know, they're leery of being vulnerable or they think it's a weakness where I think it's courage and I think it's strength that if you share your story and somebody can learn one thing from it, then, you know, I'm blessed beyond measure if that's possible. I love that. Let's go

Nick Houpt: 5:32

back to the addiction piece, if you don't mind, because it's something that I have struggled with in the past as well. And what I want my listeners to understand is if you're feeling that way, It's okay to reach out to people. It's okay to talk about it. For me, I was at a point years ago where I was waking up every day looking at myself in the mirror and just pissed off at the guy I was looking at because of the decisions I was making. And it really was alcohol. And the alcohol was controlling my life. And honestly, I think that alcohol held me back a lot from being... more successful in an earlier time, if that makes sense. If someone's listening and they're in that position in their life where they're questioning, am I doing this too much? Am I the person I want to be? What do you want that person to hear from your story and understand?

Rob Swymer: 6:31

Yeah, there's two things. One, if you are thinking about it, then that means that you are already there. My opinion, it was sort of the old adage, maybe I should go to a meeting. If it's The word maybe is just take that out and you should definitely go to a meeting. I think that that's sort of the way of kind of holding back and getting that sort of that keeping the window open for that's not me. And I did that for a long time. I would call the 800 number and I'd take the test and I passed, you know, and. That's not me. I'm not one of them. I did that a few times until you hit your bottom. And we have a saying that the elevator goes to the bottom floor. It goes all the way to the basement, right? But you can get off at any floor. And I think it's, I'm very fortunate that I got off where the sunlight was still there. I didn't, I didn't lose my job, my family, my, I lost time. I lost relationships. I lost, oh, financially, I lost a lot, but But the reality is I didn't lose my life, right? Then your life is still there and you get to rebuild that from a different perspective. And that's, I would say to people, if they're looking in the mirror and they're having those doubts, take that massive action and change your life. And it's going to be the best decision you could ever make. And it's the most difficult one. And it's not weakness. Because it's difficult, it shows courage. That's how you have to look at it, right? It's like people think, oh, it's weakness if I go, you know, AA's quitters, right? We've seen that bumper sticker. I still laugh at that. But the reality is that it takes so much courage to walk through that door. And that's a testament to the person that you want to be. And if you do that, your life will never be the same.

Nick Houpt: 8:10

Now you say here on page 42 of your book, you say, was that the reason we lost our house or was drinking such a priority? Yeah. let's talk about the excuses we tell ourselves. Because I know in your book, I was reading it and I'm like, I have used all of these excuses because I'm a sales and business development guy. And I would always say, well, it's a part of my job. I go to these happy hours. I take people out to dinner. I have to drink. Can you touch on the excuses that we're telling ourselves and how do we overcome those excuses to start shifting our patterns in the choices that we make.

Rob Swymer: 9:13

Yeah. It's about the story we tell ourselves. We get to change the story. That's the cool part of free will. That's the cool part of being a human is that we get to change our story anytime we want. And that takes the courage. That takes the massive action to do that. It takes the ability to see that you need to change your story. I mean, that's really the key is to do you want to continue to live that story that you're telling yourself? And the reality is if you're really honest and you really look deep into your soul, that's not the right thing. I certainly knew it wasn't the right thing to travel to New York for over a decade and drink my expense report. That certainly wasn't the right thing to do. And I know that. And when alcohol takes over your life or addiction takes over your life, you don't think about it when you're doing it. You just don't. And was alcohol a catalyst for some of the bad things that happened to me? Absolutely. There's no doubt about that. Because I was still the man that I am now. I had that foundation growing up. My dad raised me right. And I was a good man. But I was a broken man. And that's really what happened to me. And then when I sort of looked inward, went into my soul and really did the personal development, I tell people all the time, be a student of your game. That's sort of what I mean. If you're a student of your game and you kind of start to really do that personal, whatever that is, that's something different for everybody. It could be podcasts, right? It could be YouTube videos. It could be seminars or whatever the case may be. The issue is if you can go inward and be a student of your game, And there's so many things that can happen. The potential is endless. And you get to write your story differently or rewrite your story and create your own destiny. And simply, that's what I did. That's what I did. And that was the courage that it took to do that. And I knew that I had to be a different person. I wasn't going to survive being the person that I was during that addiction. There's no way. I wouldn't be here. Man,

Nick Houpt: 11:10

I love the realness that you're giving us. And it I'm like being selfish, asking all these questions because I've went through that stuff too. And that struggle and those stories I've told myself and, and wondering that back and forth of, am I a good person, but I go and do this every day. And, you know, it just weighs on you and weighs on you. So I really appreciate you sharing that. And, and I hope that the listeners are or understanding that you can rewrite your story or make edits or transition into a new chapter. Now you said personal growth, you talked about podcasts and books. Let's talk about, are there any books or podcasts or any materials or content you listen to or watch that you recommend to people that you say this will help change Yeah. Well,

Rob Swymer: 12:07

my story is not unlike a lot of other people. As I said, you need to go to where your comfort level is. I was introduced to Tony Robbins back in, I think it was 2015, 2015. And I've always wanted to sort of see what he was about. I was kind of curious, this motivational speaker. And he really isn't that, right? He's more of a sort of a life coach and does a lot of different things. And then, of course, the network that you get involved in, the people that are around him. I had the fortunate experience to get involved in that network for the last decade or so. And that really catapulted me into a different level of my personal growth because it's full immersion. You go to an event with Tony, it's 18 hours a day, six days. You're really in it and you're really working on yourself, breaking through those limited beliefs or finding out what your values are, what your old values are, what your new values are. There's so much work on yourself. So that really helped me sort of It sort of put me on a new trajectory, right? Put me in a new lane, if you will. And then from there, I really was able to sort of really work on myself and know how to work on myself and really be, like I said, a student of my game. And that was one of the things that I was really fortunate to be able to be part of. And I'm still, obviously, I have a lot of good friends that are part of that network. I had the chance to tell my story to Tony live about a year and a half, two years ago at one of his events. I got to stand up and and speak to him and got my bear hug. And it was a great moment because I know he's a servant like I am. And it was a really good connection for me to be part of that universe. And I've taken that and now really kind of made my own universe. And now as I'm on the circuit speaking and doing my workshops in corporate, all these things, all those voices that I've been listening to, Mel Robbins, any of them, Simon Sinek, you name it, these voices are all now sort of part of me and I can I can sort of mold them to my language and hopefully take them to the next level, which is what I'm trying to do. Great. Great.

Nick Houpt: 14:15

Now, you travel all over the world speaking.

Rob Swymer: 14:19

Yeah.

Nick Houpt: 14:19

Yeah. I do. Where's your favorite place that

Rob Swymer: 14:21

you've gone? Everybody always asks me that. Oh, really? Yeah. It's like the question I always get, what's your favorite place? I don't really have a favorite place because they're all... They're all amazing experiences once they happen. I get an hour with those beautiful souls everywhere I go, and it doesn't really matter. It can be anywhere in the world. But that impact that I feel, the energy that I feel coming back to me is palatable. It's so immense that it's something I'm so grateful to be able to do and so grateful for. I had an interesting one that I did in Mexico City on a rooftop for a company that was really cool. I've never done that before. They had it all set up in a rooftop, and I'm overlooking the skyline of Mexico City. while I'm talking. And that was very unique as we're used to ballrooms or whatever. But that was a unique one. But, you know, Yeah, I get that question a lot. I'll tell you, it's really hard to say where my absolute memorable one was. They're all so memorable. And the energy that I get from that audience when they play all out, because my talks are a little different than most keynotes. They're very energetic. There's a lot of movement. There's a lot of emotions to those talks. So people are left with sort of a different state right away. It's a much different experience, which I really love doing.

Nick Houpt: 15:36

Tell me more about that. You say your talks are different. a unique experience, and you have a saying that you can get people in a peak performance in eight seconds. Do you want to talk about that?

Rob Swymer: 15:49

Yeah, sure, sure. This all started back when I went to London and my story, but I got there early 2020, and for everybody listening now, they probably realize right away that I was in for it without even knowing it. I went there not knowing anybody in a foreign country as an American to run that country for a high-tech company out of California, a multibillion-dollar company. And when I got there in January, it was only a few weeks later that we were in complete lockdown. I had to lead that country over Zoom, not knowing any people that were under my charge, and try to figure out how to ignite them, how to motivate them, how to inspire them, how to empower them as a leader. It was crazy, Nick. And I took that I took that opportunity, really, to bring some of the principles that I now bring to the keynote stage, which is how do I change the state of the people that are talking to me, even on video? How can I change their state to be in a peak state? And I got exposed to the Physical Intelligence Institute over in London. I met the founders of that group. Claire Dale wrote an amazing bestseller book. She's a intelligence. For anybody listening, please go get that book. This is a whole new practice that's broken up into many different phases, but it's over in Europe and it's a coaching platform for the most part. So I'm kind of the only one kind of taking it to a stage and igniting a whole audience. It's really a lot of fun. And what we do is we tap into the chemicals in our body that are there, the technology of our body, of our own body. And we do that with body movement or breath work or manifesting your goals and your future and your destiny. All those things It's really cool. It's a dose of peak state chemicals. It's dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. It's simple.

Nick Houpt: 17:39

Now, is that something you can track while you're

Rob Swymer: 17:42

doing talks or anything? We're working on that. Paul Zak is a neuroeconomist, and he has a lab where he takes blood work. Paul Zak wrote a great book called The Trust Factor. You should get that one as well. It's beautiful about oxytocin, really, and how that is an amazing chemical in our bodies. And I take his principles, and I take it one step further and say that I believe love... Love in business is a competitive advantage. Oxytocin is the love hormone. And obviously, it's not the love like you would in your partner or your significant other. But I have love in my heart for the people that worked under my charge for all 40 years as a leader and sort of around me and with me. I really felt that love. And I still have friends for life and companies that I worked 40 years ago. And that's who I am. When I learned all these principles of physical intelligence, it was a natural progression for me to say, I'm all in. And I need to take this message around. from a leadership perspective. So if you release these chemicals, the dose, if you will, of these chemicals, then you can love, live, and lead in that peak state. And he went and he's done many, many studies. And you can read these books and read the studies he's done in the Trust Factor book. But he would go into even tribes, in tribes in the middle of nowhere, where they have no exposure to anything like we have. And he would take their blood level and get a base, for example, for oxytocin. And then he would take them through these body movements and these exercises to naturally enhance those chemicals in their own body, to tap into those chemicals. He'd take their blood again and he would see the spike in those chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine. The science is there and the studies are there. When I saw all that, I knew that it was backed up by real science. That's when I wanted to bring it to the business world as well as the life world as well. But going into companies now and igniting their cultures because an engaged culture is more profitable. We know that. And the Gallup studies show it every year it comes out. It's usually 22%, 23% more profitable if you have an engaged culture. Well, how do you get an engaged culture? You've got to be able to ignite them. You've got to be able to get them part of something bigger than themselves. And that's serotonin. Get them happy. Get the oxytocin. They belong to something bigger than themselves. They have a mission statement they can all get behind. This is all things that companies need and cultures need. Endorphins, having the strength and conviction to continue every year to exceed those goals. And all these things can be released just by simple body movements or breath work. And yes, it does take eight seconds. I do it on stage for probably 30 seconds to really get the room going. But it's amazing to see the state of that big room change and the people in the room looking back at me with awe saying, what just happened to me? Because it's really hard to understand until you go do it. When I was on Zoom for 12, 13, 14 hours a day back to back in London, I would do these body movements prior to getting on Zoom. I would live and breathe that. I would be able to use the words that I knew I could use to incite oxytocin. I would use the actions. I would focus on different things. My physiology was always there. And I was able to do that through day after day for two years because I had these tools. And I was able to really kind of get them in a different state. Now, cut to the chase. The first year I was there, now they had four leaders in three years. They were broken. They didn't have a lot of trust and a lot of collaboration. They had amazing people were there. These people on my team were amazing. They were beautiful, beautiful souls. They just weren't led correctly. They weren't led consistently. When I brought these principles together, we made the first quarter by the skin of our teeth. And then we kept going. And at the end of the year, we were the number one theater in the world. And that's never happened in my 42-year career for an American company to be beat by a European theater. So it says something for the principles. When I did that, I realized that I knew what my next chapter was going to be. I knew what my destiny was. And that was to do this. I retired about a year and a half ago now. And now my mission is very simple, is to arm the next generation of leaders in life and business with these principles. They can live, love, and lead better in a peak state. And it's not that difficult. Any age can do it. I love it. I

Nick Houpt: 22:00

love it. We're going to come back to some leadership. But for our listeners right now, can you provide... Practical tips to incorporate physical intelligence in their daily routine or daily life.

Rob Swymer: 22:11

Yeah. There's all kinds of movements we can do, but I'm usually standing or where we've got some kind of space around me. But the winter pose is a great pose to incite endorphins. That's a great, it's an easy thing to do. You just put your hands up in the air. You pretend like you've won. And I always say like you've won the Boston Marathon because I'm from Boston. I've just won the Boston Marathon. I put my hands up in the air, put my head up in the sky, in the heavens. And I'm just letting those endorphins throw through my body very naturally. And that's one body movement that's Very simple. Anybody can do it. Put your hands up in the air and pretend like you've won the race of your life and make the sound of victory and make that an emotional state. Those are the kinds of things that I would do prior to getting on a Zoom. The other is the Kate Winslet, which is the oxytocin release. And that's, I always say, pretend like you're Jack and Rose on the Titanic. I always get people laughing. The whole audience laughs. We play the Titanic and they've got their arms outstretched and their head is up and they're visualizing being on that Titanic. You have your whole audience

Nick Houpt: 23:09

paired up.

Rob Swymer: 23:10

Yeah, they're all paired up. Yeah. It's funny because I did a talk in Atlanta recently and there was a couple there and they did that. They were able to do the Jack and Rose and it was because I looked out and I saw them. I was laughing. And of course I called them afterwards and they shared with everybody. Yeah, we're a couple and we were able to do that. They got a whole nother level out of it. But just releasing these chemicals, it's life changing. And it's something that once you do it and get in the habit of doing it, then it becomes part of your life. I do it all day long. I do it. I did it before I came here. And

Nick Houpt: 23:42

it's something so small that you can just incorporate. I know with me, when I wake up and I'm, I'm groggy and tired with the baby, not sleeping and everything, I'll just start doing some jumping jacks or, or something. And sometimes I'll, if I'm preparing for a meeting or something and I'm in the car by myself, I'll just be in there like, just getting myself going and probably looking like a crazy person if a car pulls up next to me or something. But yeah. With the book, and we're talking about surrender to adversity and resilience, let's talk about resilience and leadership. Yeah. How do you come into a company and blend those two together?

Rob Swymer: 24:21

Yeah. Resilience is like the new buzzword, right? You hear it all the time. The company wants to be resilient. This person is resilient. Resilience means different things to different people. But for me, it's been very simple in my life. It's the ability to bounce back. after after adversity any kind of adversity big or small doesn't matter the ability to bounce back with new purpose and new perspective even stronger than you were before and that's really what resilience is to me and that's the lesson i'm passing on and the fact that you can build that resilience from any adversity It could be traffic, right? It could be somebody cuts you off or you're in traffic all day or whatever it may be. Those are the kinds of things you want to stack. It's like that James Clear book, Atomic Habits, where you start small and you kind of, it's the same thing. It's like adversity stacking, you could call it. I've kind of said that a few times. It hasn't really stuck yet, but I believe that there is a certain amount of ability to stack that adversity and that's important. And from a leadership perspective, you do need to learn from those hiccups as a leader. And you have to be able to understand that you're not going to know everything as a leader, that you need to be vulnerable and that you need to be authentic. And if you're communicating that to your team, you're going to build that trust. And you build that trust deeper than you've ever had it before. You know, the leader of the 80s, where you came in and had to know everything and no questions were allowed, that doesn't exist anymore. We need to lead the whole person, not just the employee. a leader today having that resilience or having that ability to develop and really sort of demonstrate emotional intelligence. That's really the key, leading with empathy. And again, we all need operational cadence and excellence. I certainly wouldn't be sitting here after a 40-year career if I didn't know how to run a business, right? And I had to make, not just make the number, but exceed the number year after year, quarter after quarter, week after week, day after day. I mean, I did that for 42 years. That's table stakes. You wouldn't be even talking to anybody if they didn't do that. The key to make it even more impactful, impactful, what I mean by that is that your employee will never forget you or the company. is to activate and ignite that emotional intelligence. And how you do that? You do that with a physical intelligence. And that's really what I talk about. I start with emotional intelligence. Everybody kind of understands the second cue, right? Now there's a third cue, and that's the physical. And if you put those together, there's nothing you can't do, and there's nothing that will ever stop you from being successful. And I lived it and breathed it. I know it. I did it. The fact that I'm standing here and sitting here telling you this is because I did it over and over again consistently because I was able to activate that emotional intelligence. Because I came to that in a natural perspective after my personal development, after I became... I was a different person, right? Before when that life event hit me, when Bonnie was gone in a split second, my life changed completely. And as you could imagine... I was on my knees many times. My story to triumph is not a one day story. It took many, many nights and days of no sleep and trying to figure out what am I doing here? Why was I left behind? It's not something that's easy to deal with.

Nick Houpt: 27:42

Yeah. And I want to touch on that. But before we do, you were talking about adversity stacking. And something that you put in your book on page 66, it says- I love the page. I certainly don't. Yeah, go ahead. Well, I was looking through and it's funny. I just looked through stuff I already highlighted. The work was already done. That's awesome. I love it. I love you. But on page 66, it says, next time you experience stress, step into it Acknowledge it and appreciate it is something that will make you stronger. By doing this, you can thank your brain for making you pay attention. Only then can you look at your options and start to formulate an action plan. I want you to touch on, you had mentioned adversity stacking, but in the book you talked about adversity not always being a big thing. Can you elaborate on that? smaller adversity, what it looks like. And then also what is thanking your brain for this adversity? Because someone's probably reading this and they're like, they're probably like, thank my brain for what? This is horrible.

Rob Swymer: 28:58

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I have, what's come out of this book is what I call a three-step process or AAA process. AAA formula for overcoming any adversity. And that's the key is any adversity, like you said, to stack that. And that adversity can be the waking up with the kids crying and you can't get your day started right. And you got to reset or like I said, traffic or a deal goes south, which happens every day in the world of sales or go-to-market executives. Anybody that's got that world knows what I'm talking about. You're working a deal for two years and all of a sudden it goes south and you got to bring it back. And that's certainly adversity, whether you're going to close it or not, make the number. So for me, I'll take you through this. There's three things, and I think it'll answer that question. The first step in overcoming that adversity, big, small, medium, or large, doesn't matter, right, is to absolutely accept. For me, when I traded my expectations for acceptance, that's when my whole life changed. And I relate it to the program because I was in the program for a whole year where I did not accept. I did not accept the program. I'm not one of these people. And what happened was I was severely depressed. I had suicidal ideation and I was in a bad place for a whole year. And I didn't think I was going to make it. First of all, I didn't think I'd be standing and sitting here because I didn't accept the fact that I needed to be there. I still had expectations that I was running the show. I traded those expectations to acceptance and everything changes. And it's not accept

Nick Houpt: 30:27

is in a way of, well, this is what my life is like.

Rob Swymer: 30:29

It's not at all. It's not at all. It's accepting your adversity for what it is. I'm leaning into it to say, I'm going to learn from this. This is going to be okay. Once I accept it and I don't fight it, then I've got a good mindset to go to the next step, which is to appreciate it, which is to thank your brain and appreciate it. And I believe that if you appreciate it and you're grateful for it, then you have the right mindset to go and take the last step, which is to assess. And that's where you can pull back with the right mindset and After you've done the first two steps and move forward with new purpose and new perspective. Again, I lived and breathed this. I applied this. This is a proven methodology. And I know it's been proven by many, many people that have come to me afterwards and said, I did this and it worked. And it's very simple to remember the AAA formula. And when you appreciate something and when you live in a grateful state, the science behind this already proves that the brain can't process fear or anger. And fear or anger is where we really are when we're doing this. When we're in the car and we're in high anxiety and we're high cortisol, that's fear and anger. That's fear of not being loved. That's fear of not being successful. That's fear of not being thin enough, not being fast enough, not being strong enough. It's all those limited beliefs that we're afraid of and we're fearful. And then we have anger. We have anger because we can't understand it. We have anger because we can't wrap our arms around the fact that we're human. We're all human and we make mistakes and we just have to know that and we have to lean into all of that and learn from it because it's all here to make us stronger, not break us. And again, this is what I lived. I mean, I was a broken man. Absolutely. But by doing these three things, I came back. I came back stronger than I've ever been. And it is a tragedy to triumph. And how did that all work? And like I said, I'm just a regular guy. I'm not a psychologist, not a doctor. I'm just a regular guy that went through a share of shit. And here I am. And it's like, how did I do that? And then when I started to go back to my life, even as a teen, as a early 20s and 30s and as a kid. I was actually doing those three things without knowing it. And I had a good role model in my dad. University builds character, Rob. And I got enough character, dad. When do I start having fun here? But the reality is that's really what it is. And I made it simple for people to grasp. It's not easy to do. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of soul searching. But if you can lean in and accept that where you are is exactly where you need to be, that's the first step. And you can... It's just amazing how you just take that breath and you go, okay, I got this. Now this is going to be a learning experience and I can appreciate this. I mean, there are so many health benefits from being in a grateful state. We know that we're living in high cortisol and we're living in a high anxiety state when we don't have resilience. Harvard Medical came out with a study way back in, I think it was 17, that if you don't have resilience, lack of resilience can lead to depression, anxiety. And get this, even heart disease, we know this already, right? We have all the science that backs it up. So what you have to know is you have to step back and say, look, if I just do these three things, and look, everybody's got a formula. Everybody's got a way to do this. I use mine, and I'm just passing on one more thing you can do, that if you're in a place that's not good, if you're in a place that you've got high anxiety, if you get in a place that you're uncomfortable, try that AAA formula. And just try it. What do you even get to lose? It doesn't cost anything.

Nick Houpt: 34:09

And that ties into the surrender piece, right? Let's talk about that because it's so funny when you and I met and you gave me your book, it was like everything around me was like, surrender, surrender, surrender. And I'm like... What is going on here? The universe was bringing it. Yeah. And it's such a strong and powerful word, but I think people read it the wrong way and put the wrong definition on it. Can we elaborate about what it really means to surrender?

Rob Swymer: 34:38

Yeah. Yeah. And surrender, yeah, that's a huge word. And there's a surrender experiment, right? There's all kinds of books about surrender. If you Google surrender, you'll have a thousand books to read. Here's what I... the perspective that I bring to the table with that whole word. And man, I looked at that word and I thought on that word for months, years. And for me, it was that first step of surrender. It was that humility. It was getting on my knees and surrendering to my higher power, whatever that may be. And it was the ability to be humble and to know that I don't have all the answers. Now, the key is to surrender, not to give up, but to give in. I think there's a big difference. And that's what I'm trying to bring to the table to people to say, when you say surrender, and by the way, I've talked to military leaders around the world. They don't say surrender to give up either. They pull back and look at a new strategy. They don't give up, right? They give into what they're doing. They pull back. They gather, they get together and they figure out a new way to do it. And they go forward again with new purpose and new perspective. They do the same thing. And this is not the white flag. This is called giving in to what is going on in your life. And once you do that, then you can have that clear mind. You can have that new mindset to actually pull back and to say, okay, that was a learning experience. I can't do it that way anymore. Now I have to pull back. I have to appreciate that now I've learned that. I've learned that lesson. I'm not giving up. I've never given up in anything I've said in the last five minutes. I come back. I look at what my options are. I have the clear mind. I have the mindset now to say, what are my options? I move forward now with new purpose, with strong purpose and conviction and a whole new perspective. just like a military operation would, just like a person like you and I did, like I did when I went to AA. I never, ever felt like I gave up. I never felt like I gave up. I gave in to that. I had to accept it. And to accept it is to give in, not give up. And that's really the preface for the whole book and for my talks when I talk to people or when I go into companies and talk about cultures and what they're dealing with. Look at the business world today and trying to coexist with AI and coexist with technology and remote, not remote, in-person, not in-person. My gosh, there's a lot to deal with. And I'm out of that realm now, but I lived it long enough to know that By gosh, we better have leaders that can apply that AAA formula to their business world because the people under their charge need to see that. They need to see they're demonstrating that. They need to see that demonstrated in real life in their physiology, right? And what they focus on when they speak and the language that they use and how they can change those people for life. We have the ability as leaders in life and business to change people when we meet them. You're a leader in life and you changed my life when I met you. I mean, this is what you do, and this is what we need to all do. And if we can make that impact on people, then all this other noise becomes very low volume. Right now, it's very high. There's a lot of noise. Everything's stressed out. Everything's stressed. The cortisol is going through the roof. We're on a cortisol dopamine seesaw, every one of us. We get high cortisol. Where do we go? Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, drink. Eat. I'm a pasta guy growing up in Boston in an Italian neighborhood. Look, I go right to pasta, right, when I'm stressed out.

Nick Houpt: 38:29

I'm an Italian kid from Pittsburgh.

Rob Swymer: 38:30

There you go. Do you know what I mean, right? The reality is how do we get off that seesaw, right? We apply these principles and then we ignite it with physical intelligence by simple body movements to manage all those chemicals and neurotransmitters in our body, hundreds of them going through our body at all times. And there are people that we just can't control it. Most people can't. You see it out there. Just take a drive for a half an hour on the road. You'll see it.

Nick Houpt: 38:56

Especially here.

Rob Swymer: 38:57

Especially. I

Nick Houpt: 38:59

was looking up statistically Florida has the worst drivers in the entire country. Oh my God. Because I stress out when I'm driving. Yeah. And I'm like- Defensive. I'm looking at everyone and I'm like, where do you need to be in such a hurry and so aggressively? It's crazy.

Rob Swymer: 39:18

But that's the cortisol that's left over from what they did just 20 minutes ago.

Nick Houpt: 39:22

My wife and I were talking about this too. And she said, I used to drive like that back when I was drinking. And not drinking and driving, but just drinking in general. And then she was like, I was strung tight. And I was just so anxious. And my heart was racing. And I drove so aggressively back when I was drinking. And I don't do that now. Do you think there's a correlation with that? Is everyone just... trying to get somewhere and they're all hung over or not feeling well, or what do you think is causing, and I know this is just opening up a whole can of everything, but what do you think some of the major things are that are just making everyone stressed and anxious in the world today?

Rob Swymer: 40:08

Simple answer. That's how we define, how we define the adversity that comes our way, how we define the challenges that come our way. Very simple. And we're defining them now, in most cases, in a negative way. We're defining them as life is happening to me, not for me. Those kinds of things. You've heard that before.

Nick Houpt: 40:28

And do you think people are just being so reactive to everything? And that's what's stressing everyone out is because it's life is happening to me. It's like, I don't even have time to figure this out because I have to do this and I have to do that. And if I don't do this, this isn't going to get done. And I think that in the culture today, it's just so much of not the grind culture, but you have to have things and you have to do this and you have to be a certain way. And I think so many, I was talking to someone the other day and I said, everyone's busy being human doings and they're not busy being human beings. I love that. And I think that- I'm gonna steal that. Well, I stole it too. That is, I don't know where I heard it. I love it. That is not me. It's a perfect, that's exactly what's going on. And I think everyone's just wound so tight that they're not being present.

Rob Swymer: 41:25

Well, I'd say present, right? Present and mindful. Mindfulness is a big thing, but I think, so cortisol actually is, a little cortisol is actually good for us, right? I get excited before I go on stage or I get excited for what I'm doing next. That's cool. A little cortisol is really good. We're, overdosing on cortisol. And that's the fight or flight. And that's what you just talked about. What you just said is really, simply put, fight or flight. We are in fight or flight. And we are 1.0 caveman brain. It's never been upgraded. We talk about technology every day, about the different versions of software. And your iPhone gets updated right at night. The brain has not been updated. It's version 1.0. It's up to us to hack that brain. The brain is also not wired to be happy. I don't know if you knew that. But the brain is not here to make you happy. We have to make the brain happy. That's fight or flight. We are still that 1.0. Survival, food, right? That's what we are. Huntress gathers survivors. And that's who we are. as humans. We need to round out our brain by doing the kinds of practices that we've been talking about, whether it's meditation, whether it's doing the kinds of stuff I talked about with physical intelligence or anything like that. We have to be able to hack our brains to make them happy. It's not going to do it for us. And people are expecting happiness from outside, and that's not where it comes from. It comes from inside. And That's the whole preface behind what my practices are all about, the gratitude, right? We know if you're in a state of gratitude, right, you cannot, like I said, be fearful or be angry. Those are two caveman brain responses, right? We're going to be fearful. What's going to eat me, right? And that's sort of who we are as humans. We have to have that ability to hack the brain. Now,

Nick Houpt: 43:15

if someone's listening to this and they're telling themselves, oh, well, my brain doesn't make me happy, then how am I ever going to be happy? What would you tell a person that is lacking in happiness but wants to feel happy? And let's also talk about joy and happiness because I think as you grow more inside, you become more joyous over being happy because you can get a new car and that makes you happy for a little bit. Yeah, for an hour. And then, but when you experience having a child, that is pure joy. Can you touch on that? What can someone do to feel happier, be happier? And then what can people implement into their life to really experience joy? A

Rob Swymer: 44:09

couple of things. One is purpose. It's really the biggest thing. For me, it's you've got to have a purpose. And what I mean by that is you've got to have a reason for being here. You've got to have a purpose in life and whatever that may be, your why, as you say, or what sparks you, what ignites you internally in your soul. And there are a lot of people walking around that are just doing the job. And it's scary. to make those changes or to go in a different direction. And I knew that my next chapter, what I'm doing now, is my purpose, my next purpose. And I live with purpose. And that's the most important thing any human being can do is to find their purpose, find what sparks them. And that takes a lot of work. That takes that personal development. That takes that, look, be a student of your game. Find out what really sparks you. What is it that ignites your soul? And that's your purpose. And that's so important. Go find that purpose, whatever it may be. And it may be something that's unlike what you're doing now, but you've got to open your heart up to the universe. You've got to meditate on that. You've got to visualize and manifest what that purpose is. And that universe, the universe will bring it to you. I've seen it over and over again. It's in my life too. And people think I'm woo, but it's not woo. This is real stuff. And if you manifest that and you put it out there and the universe will reward you. If you continue to manifest that and you continue to really look at what your purpose is and what your why is. Why are you supposed to be here? It's really important.

Nick Houpt: 45:37

And I think that ties into your surrender because I think so many people are trying to be in control.

Rob Swymer: 45:43

Yeah.

Nick Houpt: 45:43

And we're not in control. And if we just surrender and listen to the universe or God or source or whoever your higher power is, whatever your higher power is, I think in such a loud world, we need to be a little more quiet.

Rob Swymer: 45:57

Yeah.

Nick Houpt: 45:58

Surrender.

Rob Swymer: 45:58

Yeah.

Nick Houpt: 45:59

And then let that, a word I like is dharma.

Rob Swymer: 46:01

Yeah.

Nick Houpt: 46:02

And let your dharma happen, your calling.

Rob Swymer: 46:04

Yeah,

Nick Houpt: 46:04

sure. And I think that if someone steps back, they surrender, they take note of their adversities, and then start implementing a plan, they can start to change their lives, correct?

Rob Swymer: 46:19

Absolutely. But this is a lot of work, Nick. We've been talking for a little bit here. We're kind of throwing all these principles out and just do this, just do that. But It's a lot of work, and it's not easy. And it takes discipline. It takes the willingness, right, to be uncomfortable. In business, we talk about the growth mindset, being comfortable being uncomfortable, right? And I think that in life, we need to do the same thing. And I certainly wasn't comfortable looking at my limited beliefs of who I thought I was and my story. I wasn't comfortable walking through that door the first time in AA. I wasn't comfortable being on my knees. I wasn't comfortable through all that, any of that. But that uncomfortableness is what gave me that growth. And these answers take time too. These answers are not, you're not going to get a bright white light in a burning bush. It doesn't happen like that in life. Maybe for some people, but not for me. It takes time. It takes discipline. It takes a real concerted effort to put the time in to find out what you're really supposed to be doing. And then it does come to you. I believe that. And I've had so many people I've talked to around the world and they tell me their stories of how it happened to them and what they did. And they just quit their job. I'm not saying quit your job. I'm just saying they changed their life completely. They went into a whole different direction. And now they couldn't be happier because they're living their purpose. I think it's important for people to do that. And the other thing that you talk about being happy and the other thing that really kind of resets me because I have my days where I'm not happy either and I'm down or I've got to bring myself up. I'm only human. It's like, this is not, I'm not sitting here saying that I'm unicorns and butterflies every day. I think when I get to that point, what I try and do is level set to gratitude. And you can really do gratitude for very simple things. You can be grateful for the wind in your back, the sun on your face. You know, you don't need to be grateful for your beautiful car, your big and beautiful house, or you don't have to be grateful for these huge things that you have. You can be grateful for just some very simple things. But if you actually meditate on that and you put that in your mind and you put that vision, say you're grateful for something that happened a couple weeks ago and you put that moment in your head and you live that moment, you give that gift to yourself to live that moment again and you feel the emotions of that moment, you make notice of who you're with and where you are and what you're feeling and you do that a few times and all of a sudden the brain is rewired and it happens every time. The studies are showing it over and over again. Again, that fear and anger leaves and fear and anger is where our everything comes from. The resentment comes from there. Everything comes from fear and anger, if you look at it. That's the least common denominator. We're fearful that we're not loved. We're fearful that we're not going to be successful. We're fearful that we're not the right person. We're angry that other people around us are doing better. We're angry that we can't do this or that, or we're angry at that person because we think they said that or did that or It's just it's a spiral. And what it is really is it's resentment and resentment leads to some real serious, serious stuff.

Nick Houpt: 49:31

And that really ties into the story we're telling ourselves, like you had mentioned earlier. Now, we're talking about purpose. And I want to talk to this person that is sitting there, not even sitting on their knees, like you said. Yeah. Broken. Yeah. They may have just lost someone. They may have lost a job. They may have experienced something very detrimental to their life. And I'd like you to share your story about Bonnie, if you don't mind. But what do we tell a person like that that feels like they don't have a purpose because they are so broken and they feel like their world's falling apart?

Rob Swymer: 50:12

That's a tough question. That's a big question, and everybody's dealing with something. My experience was mine, but I know that when I was living that, especially the first year, trying to really survive that first year, not knowing... again, why was I left behind, right? And what is the whole purpose of all this? And it didn't make any sense to me, even as a believer, even as a person that is spiritual. And I still had my doubts of what was going on here. I need some answers. And there were many times that I fell to my knees and I definitely absolutely would put myself in that broken bucket for sure. And I think for me, what it was, it was the ability to sort of still even in that moment have faith that not live in fear but live in faith and say look this there's got to be something here i don't know what it is right now and i'm not sure i can understand it right now because i'm really broken and i'm really in pain but i know that it's going to come to me if i continue to just continue to just be myself and have faith not fear and have faith that there is a greater plan and that's sort of where i went in those moments. And I went to the fact that I don't have all the answers. And I think the program, being sober at that point, I was about 20 years sober. And I think it really helped me ground myself in the fact that I have to accept that this happened. I have to accept it. And I have to appreciate the 32 years I had with her, which were amazing. It was an amazing love story from a blind date at 19 years old. And I, I today still appreciate every moment I had every moment. And, and I know that it was her time and it's, it's, it's not something that's easy to accept. And, and there's, you look back at it, there's always a, there's always that doubt of what, what, what happened? How did that, why did that happen? And I still have that today. And I, but I have the tools now. And I think that the biggest thing I can tell people that are on their knees and experiencing the kinds of stuff that we go through every day is to really get out of yourself and know that there is a bigger plan and it's really hard to do really hard to do but know that people like myself are testaments that you can not just survive but thrive I mean I'm living my best life I'm blessed beyond measure I say every day and I think that that's because of the kinds of things that I did to better myself. And that's the important thing. And work on yourself and be that student of your game. But those people that are suffering now, and there's so many, my heart goes out to them. I pray for them every day. And I know that if they can find it within themselves to just surrender, surrender to the process, to the journey, to the transformation of what's going to happen next in your life, it won't always be easy. It won't always be sunshine. But at the end, it's really an amazing life. It's an amazing life to be able to live and look back and say, I was there and now I'm here. And now I have purpose. Now I have a new perspective and a new goal and a new reason for being here. And I know my why now. I know why I was left behind. And it took many years to find that. So it's not something that happens overnight. Like I said, it's not a burning bush message that's going to come to you with a voice from the skies. It's going to be something you're going to have to really, really search for. And it takes time. It takes effort. It takes discipline. And it's not easy. And I'm not here to say it's easy. Even that AAA formula is not easy. But it's a process. And it's a transformation that anybody can do. It doesn't cost anything. Anybody can do it. If you're on your knees, it's all right. Look up. Look up and know that there's a reason for all this. And... It may not be evident right now, and it might not be something you want to hear, and that actually may piss you off that you're hearing this now. That's okay, because in the end, you will thrive again. You will, because you're meant to be here. You've got a purpose, and you need to find it.

Nick Houpt: 54:27

Now, I feel like I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't bring this up.

Rob Swymer: 54:32

Okay.

Nick Houpt: 54:32

And you say on page nine, right in the beginning of your book, You love that I have these

Rob Swymer: 54:38

pages. I do. I don't even know the page

Nick Houpt: 54:42

yet. And you say there is life and love after loss, but that doesn't mean you forget. You don't move on from the person you lose. You move on with that person in your heart forever. And, man, that is powerful, and I love that. Can you talk about moving on from versus moving on with?

Rob Swymer: 55:04

Yeah, yeah. It's a big thing for me, right? And I talk about this every day, that I have moved forward with Bonnie, right? Not from her, like you said. And today, I live my life in tribute to her. And that's what guides my principles. That's what guides my state. That's what guides my language and what I focus on. And it guides my physiology. That one saying, and I say it I say it throughout the whole day. It resets me because it puts me in that acceptance, appreciation, right? And it gives me the ability to live my life like I really should. And there is life and love and there is that after tragedy. And we have many stories of that. We know there is. But when you're in it and you're on your knees and you're trying to figure out how you're going to live through this or whether you want to live through this, it's hard to say something like that. But I always tell people that are grieving and I've done a lot of eulogies and I always say that in the eulogies. We move forward with, not from, and we live our life in tribute to them. And I believe that that's the best thing we can do. And if we don't do that, then what was all that time for? And why are we grieving that time? Why are we missing them if we don't live in tribute to their life? You can't have both. I hate to be a little harsh, but if you really love that person, which I know you did, if you really miss that person, which I know you do, if you really still love that person, which I know you do, then why not live your life in tribute to them every day? Every day. And when you get off, when it teeters and you fall off the balance beam, just get back on and say it again. I've moved forward with. And I believe that. I know Bonnie is with me 24-7. She's guiding me and she's my guardian angel. And she has helped me not just survive but thrive with the family. And my life is a tribute to her because she's built it. She built who I am today. She made me the man I am today. I certainly didn't come to her like this. She made me the man I am. And I had that connection. foundation that she built when I came to her and at a young age of 19 and I still had that foundation and that foundation is so strong it's so strong that she built that was her purpose hmm that was her purpose

Nick Houpt: 57:42

now I think just from getting to know you over over this last year and everything I think Bonnie would be very happy with you appreciate that just just from the guy that you are and and the friend you're becoming to me or you're a really amazing guy and I love I I love what you're doing. I love your energy. I can see that you're just a giver and you want what's best for everyone. And I truly appreciate you coming on the Life Well Balanced podcast. And it seems like your life is in amazing balance. And I want to ask you, what is the definition of a life well balanced to you?

Rob Swymer: 58:22

Simply put for me, it is... When you live your purpose and you have life balance, you're able to not just be focused on one thing in your life. You're focused on all things in your life. And I think that for me, a life well balanced is simply put, is to go into every relationship and go into every project, everything you're doing, everything in your life to give versus get. That's a very well-balanced life because if you go in with the mindset to give and to serve, you come from a different perspective. You come from a perspective of vulnerability and authenticity. And a giver is a fulfilled life. There's no better, better life than a life of giving. And I've learned that over the decade because I'll tell you what, before 2013, I was a getter. And that was a whole different life. It was what's in it for me and how much can I amass and what can I get? And I don't wish that life event on anybody losing a spouse like I did, but it catapulted me into a whole different world. For me, life balance is a life of giving because that really sets your whole mindset. It sets who you are, who you want to be, and it impacts the people around you and everybody you meet.

Nick Houpt: 59:53

Man, this has been so great. I'm sitting here. I can't even think of questions to ask because I'm just zoned in to what you have to say. And I appreciate that. Man, it's just been such a pleasure spending some time together and doing this and getting to get this info and content out to some people. And I hope people are going to hear it and at least take one thing, like you said, to just start to make a change in their life. And let's get a little... Let's get our energy up a little bit. We're coming into an end and I want to be mindful of your time and everything. And what we do here on the Life Well Balanced podcast is at the end, we do a speed round called balanced or unbalanced. And what we do is I ask you a question and you tell me if it's balanced or unbalanced. If you want to elaborate, that's fine. If we want to just keep moving, that's completely fine too. But it's just a fun way to kind of wrap up some things. Sure. Are you ready? I'm ready. Let's go. All right. Balanced or unbalanced. Scheduling back-to-back meetings without breaks.

Rob Swymer: 1:00:56

Unbalanced. Disconnect to reconnect. That's what I

Nick Houpt: 1:01:00

say. Disconnect to reconnect.

Rob Swymer: 1:01:01

Yes. It's really important. We feel it's an accomplishment that we worked hard. On our deathbed, we're not going to talk about how hard we worked. We're going to talk about the relationships and the human connections that we made and the love that we had in our life. If we're doing back-to-back meetings, that's not going to happen. You're not doing yourself any favors.

Nick Houpt: 1:01:21

And you're getting yourself stressed out and overworked. Right.

Rob Swymer: 1:01:25

Okay. Disconnect or reconnect.

Nick Houpt: 1:01:26

Disconnect or reconnect. I like it. Balanced or unbalanced? Sharing personal struggles on LinkedIn.

Rob Swymer: 1:01:33

Balanced.

Nick Houpt: 1:01:34

Okay.

Rob Swymer: 1:01:34

Be vulnerable. Be authentic. Somebody's going to hear it and you may help somebody. And that's why we're all here.

Nick Houpt: 1:01:41

Balanced or unbalanced? Venting to a team you manage. Unbalanced. Balanced or unbalanced? taking mental health days off of work. Balanced. You'll like this one. Balanced or unbalanced? Crying in front of your team as a leader.

Rob Swymer: 1:02:01

I'm going to say in the middle. I mean, I know I've teared up a few times. It depends on them. Not break down crying. No, I'm not going to break down and cry. No, that's probably unbalanced. But I've certainly shed my share of love tears, I should say. In an intentional

Nick Houpt: 1:02:14

and empathetic kind of way. Yeah. Okay. Balanced or unbalanced, saying no to a promotion to protect your peace. Balanced. I know I've had companies reach out in the past that have offered me positions and I've turned them down. More money and everything, but I just knew how much work they were going to take and how much that was going to take away from what I was doing and my family and everything.

Rob Swymer: 1:02:38

You can't get that time back. And speaking from somebody that can really probably be an expert on that, you'll never get that time back. That's the biggest regret is the time. Yeah.

Nick Houpt: 1:02:48

And I think that touches on being in the now and being present. Tomorrow's not promised, right? Certainly not. Balanced or unbalanced, having a drink to calm down or unwind? Well.

Rob Swymer: 1:03:03

For me, unbalanced. It depends on the person, but I think that, yeah, I would go both ways depending upon who you are. If I have a cigar by the fire pit, that sometimes it relaxes me. If you need to have some kind of moment, then I'll be it, right? Unless you have a problem, which that would be unbalanced. Unbalanced for me.

Nick Houpt: 1:03:25

Me too. I tell my wife, I don't know if you're familiar with, the x-men oh yeah there's a villain in the x-men and he's the juggernaut and once he starts running you can't stop him and my wife when when we were starting to make this transition into cutting out drinking she said you're a chuggernaut and i that always stuck with me because once i would start i would just yeah keep going and keep going yeah balanced or unbalanced coming on the Life Well Balanced podcast.

Rob Swymer: 1:03:58

I think it's balanced, yeah. Awesome. I love it. I had a blast. I love being able to spread my purpose. And it's just a gift that I have. It's a gift for me. And I'm grateful for it. And I'm humbled by it. And I love the fact that you asked me here. And I'm really happy we had some time together. Me too. I hope

Nick Houpt: 1:04:17

somebody learned something. Me too. Now, before we jump off of here, is there anything we haven't covered that you think that someone listening should really know or understand or or need in their life

Rob Swymer: 1:04:32

you know i would i would say that it life comes at us pretty hard i say the speed of life and and and you are absolutely not alone and that's that's it's a trite saying everybody says that it's like i hate to even say that you're not alone but the reality is You've got a lot of people around you, and you have to tap into those resources. I would say that if you are struggling, if you are unhappy, if you have some adversity in your life, show courage. Show courage, not weakness, and ask for help. Whatever that may be for you, ask for help. And normalize the conversation of mental health. Normalize the conversation of whatever you're dealing with, and show that courage, and you'll be better off for it.

Nick Houpt: 1:05:19

Now, where can people find you on social media, website? Where can they buy the book?

Rob Swymer: 1:05:25

Yeah. Well, it's robsweimer.com. Real simple. Everything is there. There's links to buy the book there, but the book's available anywhere books are sold. Amazon, Walmart, anywhere. Books a million. I mean, they're everywhere. Just go online and it's available for you. And hopefully you learned something from it. And if you do, please leave a review. I want that feedback. I want to know if the book is speaking to you. And if the book is something that helped you, please feel free to leave a review for me. for that.

Nick Houpt: 1:05:50

Amazing. Amazing. And then social media is just Rob Swimer as well.

Rob Swymer: 1:05:54

Yes, I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook and Instagram. Those are my three main platforms, mostly LinkedIn, Rob Swimer. And you can also find more about me there. There's some good content there. But if you go to my website, then you can find out more how to book me for speaking or anything you want me to do for your company or your organization. All that's on my website, robswimer.com.

Nick Houpt: 1:06:15

Perfect. I had a lot of fun here. This was great. I truly appreciate you coming on board and sharing your story. No worries. Glad to be here. So much fun. Rob Swimer, everyone. Thank you. Thank you, brother.

Rob Swymer: 1:06:28

Yeah, thank you.

Nick Houpt: 1:06:35

This podcast is made possible by Balanced Wellbeing, psychiatric and psychological care. Be sure to like, subscribe, and follow. And if you want, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you liked what you heard, please share it with a friend. Like, subscribe, and follow if you're not already doing so. We appreciate you.