Ascent Life Podcast

Ep. 8 - What is Success? | Founder & CEO of Biznis Resource, Michael Westover

Ascent Life LIVE Ep. 8 - Ascent Life LIVE with Founder & CEO of Biznis Resource
 
Guest: Michael Westover, CEO Biznis Resource
https://biznisresource.com/
 
Join us LIVE Monday’s - Thursday’s 2pm MST:
 
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Inspiration & Motivation:
 
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Intro Notes:
 
What is success?
 
How do you personally define success?
 
I ask every guest on this show the same question—How do you define success? 
 
Answers vary. So, I wanted to go to the experts. I have a book my sister gave me, “The Book of Positive Quotations.” I pull from this book often.
 
There is a chapter on Success. Here are some of the notable quotes that stood out to me about success:
 
“The successful person is the individual who forms the habit of doing the what the failing person doesn’t like to do —Donald Riggs
 
“Nature gave men two ends—one to sit on, and one to think with. Ever since then man’s success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most.” —George R. Kirkpatrick
 
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imaged, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” —Henry David Thoreau
 
“Success follows doing what you want to do. There is no other way to be successful.” —Malcolm Forbes
 
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.” —Abraham Lincoln
 
“He did it with all his heart, and prospered. —2 Chronicles 31:2
 
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” —Robert F. Kennedy
 
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” —Henry David Thoreau
 
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.” —Albert Einstein
 
“I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you.” —Harrison Ford“
 
The secret of success is constancy of purpose.” —Benjamin Disraeli
 
“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” —John Wooden
 
Hope that clears up the definition of success for you. Hint: it varies.
Welcome to the show, I’m your host, R. Brandon Long and this is Ascent Life LIVE! We’re here with the mission to inspire 1 million people a day to live their best lives, and be the best version of themselves. That is living an Ascent Life!

Ep. 7 - Mindset | Real Estate Broker & Amateur Bodybuilder, Paden Anderson

Our guest today is… Real Estate Broker for MTN Buff and amateur bodybuilder, Paden Anderson
 
After bragging about crushing my morning yesterday, this morning’s routine was rough. Not a great morning in the Long house.First, I slept in until after 6. Not ideal, because this shifts my whole morning routine to later.Second, the 10-year-old woke up and chose resistance! He didn’t want to do anything that was asked of him which is unusual. He’s normally really good at getting ready for school. Not today.So, this put us parents in a parenting situation, and I’m already late to start my morning routine, and now I’m stalling even more, just to make sure crazy lil’ man gets his shit together. It didn’t go well. Once the kids were all off to school, I should have started my morning routine, and got things done, but I jumped on social media, and that took me out, for about an hour. I mean I did “work.” I uploaded a SHORT to 5 different platforms. It’s a delay tactic. Finally, I worked out, got ready, read 30 minutes, and started work (show prep, editing, etc.), but I wasted a lot of the day this morning. So, I tell you this because, living an Ascent Life means living up to the best version of ourselves, and I’m learning how to do that on a consistent basis. We’re going to have rough mornings, rough days, rough years, but two things:1 - You can always start over2 - Do what you can to keep the daily promises to yourself.I got my workout in. It wasn’t the best workout, but it got done. I got my reading in. I wasn’t as focused on it because it was later in the morning, and my head was busy. In my reading this morning of The Greatest Mindset by Lewis Howes, he talked about his system he uses to be productive in life. He calls it his GPS or Greatness Performance System. Great name.He breaks his goals and attention into 3 areas: Business (income, influence, impact); Relationships (personal, professional, community); and Wellness (physical, mindset, emotional health)A little corny. But, at least it’s a guide or a structure to start from. Then he asks himself 3 questions pertaining to each area:1. What do I want?2. Why do I want it?3. What’s the next step?He goes into detail obviously in the book, so if this all interests you, I suggest you pick up the book, but I found his GPS structure for living a productive life interesting, and something you all may benefit from. 
Welcome to the show, I’m your host, R. Brandon Long and this is Ascent Life LIVE! We’re here with the mission to inspire 1 million people a day to live their best lives, and be the best version of themselves. That is living an Ascent Life!
Today’s Wisdom From the Pages 
 
Atomic Habits by James Clear: On showing up…“If you show up at the gym five days in a row—even if it’s just for two minutes—you are casting votes for your new identity. You’re not worried about getting in shape. You’re focused on becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts. You’re taking the smallest action that confirms the type of person you want to be.”“It’s better to do less than you hoped than to do nothing at all.”

Ep. 6 - Morning Routine | Ski Guide J.T. Robinson

Ascent Life Ep. 6 - Morning Routine with Ski Guide J.T. Robinson
Guest: Skier, Guide, Entrepreneur, J.T. Robinson: http://www.jtrobinson.com/
Intro: Wake up, do hard things. What are you doing today to be the best version of yourself?
Today, I woke up at 5:30, prayed and gave gratitude, read “The Greatest Mindset” for 30 minutes, made some goals for the remainder of the week, lifted weights for 15 minutes, then walked on the treadmill for an hour.
I then showered and got ready for the day, and was at my desk doing focused work by 8am.
That is basically the morning routine goal. I rarely hit it. I often sleep in until after 6:30am, which, I have my phone locked out of apps until 6:30am, so when I wake before then, I have to manually unlock any app I want to use. That’s a pain in the ass, so it allows me to focus on gratitude, reading, working out…
When I wake up after 6:30, I jump on my phone, and BAM!!! There’s social media, and all the notifications, and an hour later I’m like, damn, I need to workout and get my day going… and I’m behind on the day for basically the day.
I have no boss. I have few real deadlines. The deadlines I have are mostly self-imposed.
So, what’s my motivation to get up at 5 or 5:30 in the morning, and be disciplined? It really is to just be the best version of me I can be.
Morning quotes: “Snow endures but for a season, and joy comes with the morning.” — Marcus Aurelius
“The morning is wiser than the evening.” — Russian proverb
“Each day the world is born anew for him who takes it rightly.” — James Russell Lowell
“God had infinite time to give us… He cut it up into a near succession of new mornings, and, with each, therefore, a new idea, new inventions, and new applications." —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Carpe diem.
As poet Robert Herrick wrote:
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. Welcome to the show, I’m your host, R. Brandon Long and this is Ascent Life LIVE! We’re here with the mission to inspire 1 million people a day to live their best lives, and be the best version of themselves. That is living an Ascent Life!

Ep. 3 - Redevelopment | Commercial Real Estate (re)Developer, Thaine Fischer

Yesterday’s show with Cam McLeod, and our two hour conversation about many things, was a great second episode of Ascent Life, and really challenged me to think about what it means to live our best life, and why? So, I encourage you to go back and watch that, and maybe put it on 1.25 speed to burn through a little faster. We went full Joe Rogan, as far as length.
But after we stopped recording. Cam encouraged me to share more of my personal journey with you all, and I agree. But, I’m also hesitant. Despite my forward appearance with podcasting, and hosting shows, I’m a fairly private person. Most of my social media posts are to promote our shows along with the occasional funny meme, or an accomplishment or celebration of one my kids.
Outside of that, I rarely share personal thoughts and opinions on social media, because it’s a hell-hole of judgement. I think…
But a blog.
Or, in this case a podcast / vlog where the point is to learn about ourselves, and learn how to become the best version of ourselves, I feel Cam was right to share more of that personal process with you.
So, first, a couple things I’m working to improve on this year.
My health / fitness - I need to lose 50lbs. 
My personal income - I need to increase my income to a number where I can again save & invest. Since becoming self-employed in October ’22 (27 months), I haven’t replaced the income I was making at my job. 
I decided last night, to use Monday’s as a recap of my week, and how I personally performed to hit my goals, so that you, the audience can follow along, and offer any tips, suggestions, razz me. 
But, more importantly, you’re front row to my transformation into living an Ascent Life
I would like to hear from you and your successes…
So, welcome to the show! 
I’m your host, R. Brandon Long.
Please subscribe to the show on YouTube at my page: R. Brandon Long
Follow me on X under R. Brandon Long
For daily visual inspo, follow Ascent Life on Instagram
Reminder, we are LIVE 4 days a week. Each episode will then be uploaded as a podcast to all your favorite podcast outlets including Spotify & Apple Podcasts as The Ascent Life podcast.
 
If you are watching LIVE, play along with us, and drop your questions / comments in the chat! We’ll get to some of those before we close the show.
 
Our guest today is… artist, Real Estate Developer, Thaine Fischer
Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thainefischer

Ep. 2 - Create the New | Commercial Photographer, Cam McCleod

As a creative, I often lose focus. I become uninterested easily. And, when things become hard, distraction and procrastination becomes an art form. I manipulate graphics, or scroll social “for inspiration,” or edit “to get ahead,” or watch an instructive YouTube video, or listen to a podcast, when I should be selling. I should be creating. I should be working out. I should be doing the hard things.
So, I encourage you to determine what the hard things are that you are avoiding, and make time for those. One technique is to “Eat The Frog.” Which means to tackle your most difficult task first thing in the morning.” I’ve vacillated with this. Do I, upon waking, and making tea, get immediately to work on editing, show prep, booking guests, firing off sponsorship emails, or do I work out? All are tasks I don’t necessarily look forward to. 
Right now, however, I’m 8 days in to working out first thing. 
Because without your health, you have nothing. 
And, I have 50lbs to lose. 
I’m down 5lbs since Christmas, so 45lbs to go. 
But doing the hard thing, is well, hard. It usually takes discipline, courage, humility, and most importantly, action. 
So, Eat the Frog, and become just a little better everyday. 
Welcome to Ascent Life LIVE, where we strive to become the best versions of ourselves. 
I’m your host, R. Brandon Long.
Please subscribe to the show on YouTube at my page: R. Brandon Long
Follow me on X under R. Brandon Long
For daily visual inspo, follow Ascent Life on Instagram (check out the Stories on that account)
Reminder, we are LIVE on YouTube & X 4 days a week. Each episode will then be uploaded as a podcast to all your favorite podcast outlets including Spotify & Apple Podcasts as The Ascent Life podcast.
If you are watching LIVE, play along with us, and drop your questions / comments in the chat! We’ll get to some of those before we close the show.
Our guest today is… artist, professional photographer, and friend, Cam McLeod @_cammcleod_
VI: Visual Inspo of the day: @mosesheredia // @Ascentlife
Interview:
What is your Definite Major Purpose (Napoleon Hill) / Meaningful Mission (Lewis Howes) / Life’s Task (Robert Greene) - Mine: Help 1 Million People a Day Become the Best Version of Themselves by Living an Ascent Life
How do you define success?
Your Story.
What drives you?
What is our purpose as humans?
How do you overcome hard?
How do you want to be remembered, as a person, as an artist?
How can art be used to improve culture / the human condition
 
Wisdom: From the Pages… Robert Greene’s MASTERY, “You have something you want to express that is unique to yourself and related to your inclinations. You must be sure it is not something that is sparked by some trend or fashion, but that it comes from you and is real. Perhaps it is a sound you are not hearing in music, a type of story not being told… a new way of doing business… People are dying for the new… By creating something new you will create your own audience, and attain the ultimate position of power in culture.”
 
Outro:
If you made it this far in the program, please subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Follow me R. Brandon Long on X, and for your daily dose of visual inspiration, follow Ascent Life on Instagram. 
Thank you for joining me on this journey as we all learn how to level up, and become the best version of ourselves. No wasted ability. We’ll catch tomorrow on the next episode of Ascent Life!

Ep. 1 - Why Ascent Life | Wealth Advisor, Rex Baxter

When do I get angry? When I’m not living up to my own expectations and abilities.
What annoys me about other people? When other people do not live up their own expectations and abilities. 
I recently answered these questions as they are laid out in Lewis Howes book ‘The Greatest Mindset,’ under the chapter Healing Your Past. 
When I’ve been frustrated and experienced severe anxiety (panic attacks), it’s been when I knew, inside, that I was not fulfilling my expectations of myself - whether that was a job I knew wasn’t my destiny, or a job I knew I wasn’t for whatever reason, capable of bringing my best. 
So, Why Ascent Life?
Because I’m fascinated with and jealous of those who follow their dreams, passions, and true abilities to live a life others do not dare lead. Why are those people successful? What is stopping everyone else from also living their best, most true lives? There are all kinds of reasons - from abuse, to access, to status, but there are many examples of humans who have overcome extraordinary odds to become great. It’s those stories that inspire me, but also, depress me because I have yet to live up to my own expectations for myself. 
This show is the first step in fulfilling those expectations for myself. 
Ascent Life is the study of those who are living their best lives, what makes those people great, and how can we apply what we learn to our own lives.
Please subscribe to the show on YouTube at my page: R. Brandon Long
Follow my on X under R. Brandon Long
For daily visual inspo, follow Ascent Life on Instagram.
Reminder, we are LIVE on YouTube & X 4 days a week. Each episode is then uploaded as a podcast to all your favorite podcast outlets including Spotify & Apple Podcasts as The Ascent Life podcast with myself, R. Brandon Long
If you are watching LIVE, play along with us, and drop your questions / comments in the chat! We’ll get to some of those before we close the show.
VI: Visual Inspo of the day: @thelandrovers // @Ascentlife
 
Our guest today is… Wealth Advisor, Financial Planner with Ameriprise Financial, good friend, and celebrating 30 years in the financial industry!
Interview:
What is your Definite Major Purpose (Napoleon Hill) / Meaningful Mission (Lewis Howes) / Life’s Task (Robert Greene) - Mine: Help 1 Million People a Day Become the Best Version of Themselves by Living an Ascent Life
How do you define success?
Your Story.
What drives you?
What is our purpose as humans?
Wisdom: From the Pages… Book quote: The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (link in description)
“Charlie Munger says the first rule of compounding (interest) is to never interrupt it unnecessarily.”
Outro:
If you made it this far in the program, please subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Follow me R. Brandon Long on X, and for your daily dose of visual inspiration, follow Ascent Life on Instagram. 
Thank you for joining me on this journey as we all learn how to level up, and become the best version of ourselves. No wasted ability. We’ll catch tomorrow on the next episode of Ascent Life!

Ascent Life LIVE - Intro: The Joe Rogan Life

I’m Joe Rogan now! Not that I want to be Joe Rogan, the person. I want to live the same schedule as Joe Rogan. It looks something like this… Wake, Make Tea, Read & Write for an hour, Focused Work (top 3 items of the day), Workout (lift heavy things), Shower & Get Ready, Break Fast around noon, Head to the Studio & Record a Podcast, Post-Production Work, Network & Socializing, Home for House Chores & Time with Family, Journal, Sleep, Repeat. 
 
In my opinion, this is the greatest life routine. This is the life I want. To create a SHOW that helps others live their best life. I get to be creative. I get to learn. I get to inspire. I get to meet wonderful people. 
 
So welcome to Ascent Life LIVE with your host, myself R. Brandon Long - where together, we will learn how to live our best lives. First, we’ll learn how to define what that means, then we’ll meet successful people from all walks of life: artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, business leaders, thinkers, doers, who in some way, define what it means to live an Ascent Life. I’ve read “Think & Grow Rich” countless times. That book gave me the courage to try podcasting over 15 years ago. It taught me that the best way to be successful is to have a Definite Major Purpose. 
 
I have have struggled for years as to define what my Definite Major Purpose is. This show, Ascent Life LIVE is now my purpose. Hopefully through this show, I can reach thousands, perhaps one day, millions of people, and help them learn how to live their best life.
 
Start a podcast interviewing those who have achieved success in some form, learn from them, share their stories with you. 
 
What is success? What does it mean to live your best life? Is it spiritual, material, familial? Is it to be healthy, travel, be the best at what it is you do?
 
These are the questions we’ll answer through the Ascent Life Show!
 
I’ll be going live on YouTube & X 4 days a week: Monday through Thursday 2pm MST. 
Podcast will be available on all the platforms after the livestream. 
 
Each show will contain segments designed to help inspire, entertain, & educate in the ways of living an Ascent Life. 
 
Play along with us, and drop your questions / comments in the chat! We’ll get to those before we close the show.
 
Ascent Life LIVE Segments:
 
Intro
Inspo (Vision Board) @ascentlife
Guest / Interview
Q&A (From the Chat)
Wisdom: From the Pages (Book Quote)
Close
 
VI: Visual Inspo of the day: @wayup_media // @Ascentlife
Wisdom: From the Pages… Book quote: The Greatness Mindset (link in description)
“It’s all about figuring out who you are and how you can make an authentic and unique contribution that makes the people around you better and the world a better place.
 
…the Enemy of Greatness: the lack of a clear Meaningful Mission
 
Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, “The first thing that gives life meaning is a project that demands your attention.”
 
Outro:
 
If you made it this far in the program, please subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Follow me R. Brandon Long on X, and for your daily dose of visual inspiration, follow Ascent Life on Instagram. 
 
Thank you for joining me on this journey as we all learn how to level up, and become the best version of ourselves. No wasted ability. We’ll catch tomorrow on the next episode of Ascent Life!