200 – 200 Episodes! Thanks To you…

Being A Better Man

Hey every body, this is a pretty special day—a mile stone, if you will. It’s a special day because this is the 200th episode of Being A Better Man!

That’s right guys! Exactly 464 days ago I sat down to the Being A Better Man microphone and recorded the very first episode. Now here we are at number 200…pretty crazy right?

It’s astounding to me, because when I started this I didn’t know if I would make to episode 30. I had no idea what was going to happen or how it would be received, but here we are celebrating 200 shows.

In the past 464 days about 245,000 of you have downloaded an episode. That’s almost a quarter million…so that seems kind of significant. That means that for the past 464 days 528 people somewhere in the world have listened to the show every single day. That’s the average, and since I only make three a week it includes all the days that I don’t release a new episode. Every day, about 528 people listen. That’s pretty cool.

This would not have been possible without you guys out there tuning in. Without you guys I would just be a guy in a man cave talking to myself but you guys made this happen, so thank you.

If it wasn’t for the download evidence that people were actually listening, and if it wasn’t for all the amazing feedback I’ve gotten from listeners, I probably would have stopped doing this a long time ago.

There were times when I started questioning if I was having an impact, and started wondering if I should do something different…and then I would get a letter from some body telling me that listening has helped them make improvements in their life. Or I would get a letter thanking me for saving their marriage and for keeping their family together. I even got some letters from wives of listeners thanking me for the difference the show is making in their home.

These letters that I got from you over these past 464 days are what made all the difference for me. They are like fuel for my spirit, I love getting them. They let me know we were on the right track here and that the show was in fact making a difference. So thank you to everyone who ever reached out and said anything to me at all, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You know recently I was sort of going through this again. I was telling my wife I was thinking about scaling back, that three episodes a week were just becoming too much with everything else I have going on. I was thinking of going to just one episode a week, maybe two sometimes. In fact I was going to make this episode, episode 200, the point at which I made the change. But, then like every time before I got another letter from a listener that changed everything. It reminded me of the importance of what we are doing here. That letter helped to re-charge my focus and I realized I can’t scale back…not yet. I decided as long as people are out there being impacted and deciding to change their life around and be better men every day…I need to just keep going. So for now at least, I plan to keep on bringing you three episodes a week, every single week.

I keep talking about you listeners being impacted, but the truth is that I have been heavily impacted by this show as well. When I started this I told you I was on my own journey to be a better man every day, and I was inviting you to join me in that mission. You did, and as a result of that I have also been transformed.

I didn’t start this podcast because I know everything or have all the answers, I started it because I was on a journey. I have to tell you that putting these 200 episodes together, writing them, researching them, recording them…all of it has also transformed me. I can say without reservation, that I am a better man today than I was 464 days ago and I have this podcast and you the listeners of this podcast to thank for that. Thank you.

Aside from the feedback and interaction with you, the other thing that has helped me keep going is the sponsor of the Friday shows, Stumptown Kilts. They came on about 6 months ago and it really helped out. There is also the PATREON page, where a few of you decided to pledge a monthly amount to the show and every single penny is really appreciated. I would urge you, if you have been intending to contribute on the Patreon page but haven’t gotten around to it…please follow the link in the show notes and get it done. It’s a small thing, the amount is up to you, but it really adds up and helps things keep moving around here. Thank you for that.

There was a format change a little while ago. I had been telling a story every Wednesday and at the end of each story I would talk about the lesson I learned that helped shape me into who I eventually became. I have stopped doing that on a regular basis now because after 60 plus stories…I’m afraid if I keep going I’ll run out. So I’ll still tell a story from time to time but not every week.

That leads me to the other big news. For those of you that enjoyed the story segments, now you can have them forever and share them with your kids or whoever for the rest of your life, because I compiled 55 of those stories into a book called Forging A Man. It’s available right now on Amazon in both print and eBook form. I encourage you to get one or two, it is also another way of indirectly helping to support this show…and I think it’s a pretty good book.

In the last year you may have noticed I have not had many guests. In fact the last guest I had was Tom Schwab back in October, 8 months ago. Luckily I have had plenty to talk about without having guests. I want you to know I am not opposed to having guests on the show, they just take a little more time, and I haven’t had too much of that lately. It is my intention to have more guests on the show in the months to come. I have two or three people I am considering for guests right now.

That leads me into the last thing I want to talk about today; the future. Moving forward I would like to see more constructive feedback from you listeners. I invite you to send me your questions or topic ideas, and if you have a guest you would like to see on the show tell me about that too.

Ultimately, this is your show. You make it happen every time you listen. So I want to be sure I’m talking about the things that matter to you where you live right now. No idea or topic is off limits. Tell me whats hard about life, ask me those questions you have been wresting with, and also tell me whats been working for you.

It’s not just me or you that you are helping when you do this, your’e also helping the other 528 guys that are going to be listening every day. There might be somebody out there going through the same thing you are, and your topic suggestion could really help them out. So just start thinking about that as you go through your day and when you think of a great topic idea or question, just fire me an email.

It would be really cool to organize some events too. I’m still brainstorming that, but I’m thinking webinars or actual live seminars where people could ask questions and talk about the journey of being a better man, and we can all work on this and support each other as a community of men. If you are interested in that or have ideas about it, please let me know. The best way to reach out to me is to just write me an email at: [e-mail].

Ok guys, that’s about all I have for today. I am humbled and grateful for your presence. Thank you so much for listening and supporting the show. Thank you for helping me to be a better man than I was yesterday. It has been a fantastic journey so far and with your help, we might make 200 more, we’ll see.

Hey don’t forget to check out my new book, Forging A Man, available right now on Amazon.

(GET THE BOOK HERE)

Also, please take time to check out the MANLY RESOURCE CENTER, in the menu tab at the top of the page. Or, click on these links.

PATREON

STUMPTOWN KILTS

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