Do Hard Things™ with Siegfried Tiegs

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Description
You track your miles. Your heart rate. Your sleep score. Your macros. But there’s one number most men never check, and it can warn you about heart trouble before you feel a thing.

Today we’re talking about erections. Your nighttime erections. How many you get, how long they last, how firm they are.

My guest is Dr. Elliot Justin, founder, inventor, and CEO of FirmTech. After 25 years in emergency medicine, Elliot built the TechRing, a wearable that tracks erections overnight and during sex. His data covers thousands of men, and it’s changing how we think about erectile dysfunction, testosterone, alcohol, overtraining, and heart health.

If you’re a man over thirty, you need this one. If you love one, send it to him.

In this episode

• Why nighttime erections are a leading indicator of cardiovascular health
• What healthy looks like: three to five a night, about 45 minutes each, around a 6 out of 10 in firmness
• Why a 50% drop in nocturnal erections is a warning sign for heart trouble in the next two to three years
• Why most men diagnosed with ED don’t actually have it, and why pills can mask a real heart or diabetic problem
• The difference between not getting it up and not keeping it up
• How Elliot approaches testosterone: free T, and dosing to real outcomes instead of chasing a number
• What overtraining, alcohol, and cannabis do to your numbers
• The health and relationship benefits of frequent sex
• What’s coming for women’s sexual health

Timestamps
00:00 Why erections are a health metric
01:24 From the ER to FirmTech
05:45 What healthy looks like
06:42 Why nighttime erections happen
08:46 What the data shows
11:12 Blood pressure meds and personal data
13:03 Testosterone done right
18:22 The benefits of frequent sex
21:14 Most “ED” isn’t ED
23:50 Getting it up vs. keeping it up
29:18 Running dysfunction and the plumber analogy
30:48 Overtraining and endurance athletes
33:23 Alcohol and cannabis
36:05 How the TechRing works
39:20 Why men resist, and the Viagra research
44:03 The research and where to find FirmTech
44:34 What’s coming for women
46:45 Put a ring on it

Connect with Dr. Elliot Justin
Website: https://myfirmtech.com
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-justin-md/

Connect with Sig
Coaching, the book, and more: https://linktr.ee/dohardthingscoaching
Join the Do Hard Things Nation: https://www.dohardthingsnation.com
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/developgritdohardthings
Email: [email protected]
Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1981380/support

This episode is for educational purposes only. Talk to your doctor before changing any medication or treatment.

Keep doing hard things.

#dohardthings #menshealth #hearthealth #sexualhealth #wearables #testosterone #highperformance #preventivehealth

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

Description
You can hit every goal, crush every number, build the business, and still feel like something’s missing. Most driven people skip a critical step. They never slow down long enough to notice what’s already good in their life.

Today we’re talking about gratitude. Yep, gratitude. On a podcast about doing hard things.

My guest is TJ Sweet, a human connection keynote speaker, author, and host of the podcast Living the Sweet Life. For more than 20 years, he’s led teams and coached leaders, and he helps leaders build cultures people never want to leave. On a personal note, TJ helped inspire me and mentor me into the speaking world, and I’m grateful for him.

TJ shares the story of his dog Bertie and the lesson that changed how he treats every person in his life. We get into his daily gratitude practice, why gratitude is a performance tool, how to build a culture people want to stay in, and how to find gratitude in the hardest seasons.

If you’re always chasing the next thing and feeling frustrated, this is the episode for you.

In this episode

• The lesson TJ learned from his dog Bertie, and why he’ll never treat anyone like an obligation again
• Why fulfillment is in the eyes of the people watching you back out of the driveway
• TJ’s three levels of gratitude: what you’re grateful for, why, and how you show it so they receive it
• Why “if you aren’t grateful now, you won’t be grateful then”
• Gratitude as a performance tool, and why it’s really hard to think you did it all on your own
• Building a culture by seeing people as people first and employees second
• How to find gratitude, and presence, in a heartbreaking season
• Why letting people help you is how you help more people
• The one question to ask the people you love: “When do you feel the most loved by me?”

Timestamps
00:00 Gratitude for high performers
01:12 How TJ and Sig met
02:27 Learning what matters the hard way: Bertie’s story
15:13 Achievement vs. fulfillment
17:02 What changed: TJ’s daily gratitude habit
20:28 The three levels of gratitude
24:00 Why some things never end up in the garage sale
27:11 Why gratitude is a performance tool
31:27 Building a culture of gratitude
36:55 Why the words leaders use matter
39:15 Finding gratitude in a hard season
43:22 Let people help you
47:08 It’s never too late to start
50:08 Where to find TJ

Connect with TJ Sweet
Website: https://tjsweet.com
Podcast, Living the Sweet Life: https://tjsweet.com/podcasts/
Books, Practice Gratitude: Find Joy and Grateful Leadership: https://tjsweet.com/books/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetjsweet/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-sweet-02125b7a/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTJSweet

Connect with Sig
Community, merch, and events: https://www.dohardthingsnation.com
Coaching: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com
Join the Do Hard Things Nation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/developgritdohardthings
Get the book, Life on Offense: [Amazon link]
Email: [email protected]

Keep doing hard things.

#dohardthings #gratitude #leadership #highperformance #purpose #connection #personalgrowth

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

In this Field Notes episode, Siegfried “Sig” Tiegs shares how his first backyard ultra ended in an ambulance. Two miles into lap 6, his vision blurred and the nausea hit. A few hours later, he was in the ER with rhabdomyolysis, aka rhabdo. Sig breaks down the story, his numbers, what rhabdo is, how athletes end up with it, and the perfect storm he walked into without realizing it. He does hard things so you don’t have to.

In this episode:

• Why Sig and Lacy went to scout the backyard ultra format for a future Do Hard Things event
• How a backyard ultra works, and why the slow pace is a trap
• Laps 4 through 6: hitting the wall, the porch, and the blurred vision that wouldn’t go away
• Putting pride and ego aside to call EMS
• His numbers: blood pressure of 78/50, CK over 1,000, and potassium over 5
• What rhabdomyolysis is, and what CK, potassium, and myoglobin do
• How athletes get it: military recruits, college football, spin class, and CrossFit’s Murph
• Why rhabdo pain can show up days after the event
• Ibuprofen, over-hydrating, and hyponatremia
• The perfect storm: dehydration, drinks, too much caffeine, and poor sleep in the 72 hours before the race
• The warning signs, and knowing when to stop instead of grinding to the finish
• Why your crew needs to know your stop signals
• Recovery: skipping the next race, follow-up labs, yoga, and a couple of months of taking it easy

Chapters
00:00 Cold open
02:00 Intro: I do hard things so you don’t have to
03:25 The story: a weekend without the kids
05:30 How a backyard ultra works
07:20 Laps 1 through 5
11:30 Lap 6: hitting the wall
14:50 Calling EMS
16:40 The ER and the diagnosis
18:40 What rhabdo is
20:40 How athletes get it
22:35 What I learned
25:10 The perfect storm
27:15 The signs, and knowing when to stop
29:15 Recovery
30:40 Closing

Mentioned in this episode

• 2nd Annual Backyard Ultra at New Town, Saint Charles, MO, put on by F3
• MSMDS charity supporting Braxley
• Big’s Backyard Ultra and Lazarus Lake (“Laz”)
• The Barkley Marathons
• The Murph workout
• Jocko Willink’s “Good”
• Exertional rhabdomyolysis in the U.S. Armed Forces, 2020–2024 (MSMR): https://health.mil/News/Articles/2025/06/01/MSMR-Rhabdomyolysis-2025
• 2011 Iowa football rhabdo hospitalizations: https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=6061650
• 2017 Oregon football rhabdo hospitalizations: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/oregon-football-strength-coach-suspended-players-hospitalized-school
• Spin class rhabdo report, The American Journal of Medicine (2017)
• Coming soon: the Do Hard Things Backyard Ultra

Had rhabdo? Share your story. Add your experience in the comments on the blog post at https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com

Sig isn’t a doctor. This episode is for education and entertainment only. Talk to your own doctor about your own situation. If you have dark urine, severe muscle pain or swelling, or nausea after hard exercise, get checked.

Support the Show
The Do Hard Things Podcast is listener-supported, and we keep advertising out as much as possible. We’ve got a powerhouse lineup of guests booked this season. If you want to put some wind in the sails, become a monthly supporter:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1981380/support

Connect with Sig and the Do Hard Things Nation

• Coaching, retreats, and the Base Camp community: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com
• Merch and community: https://www.dohardthingsnation.com
• Join the free Do Hard Things Nation Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/developgritdohardthings
• Get the book Life on Offense and all links: https://linktr.ee/dohardthingscoaching
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jaytiegs

If this episode was useful, like, subscribe, and share it with a runner you know.

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

Breathwork, Men's Work & Building Lighthouses with Josh De Jong

Josh De Jong is the newest coach on the Do Hard Things team. He's a breathwork facilitator, life coach, and mentor, a retired triathlete and USAT certified triathlon coach, and a sales professional. Sig and Josh met at a men's retreat about eighteen months ago and connected immediately. Josh now leads breathwork, coaches men, hosts fire circles, and helps run Do Hard Things retreats, including last week's Base Camp.

In this episode, Sig and Josh talk about why so many men feel alone by their forties, what men need from other men, how to start a men's circle, and how breathwork regulates your nervous system so you can respond instead of react. Josh shares his path from leading the Tri Loco triathlon team to retiring from the sport after three surgeries in one year, and what endurance racing taught him. They close with Jesse Elder's lighthouse vs. tugboat parable and what it means to build lighthouses.

In This Episode

• (03:10) How Sig and Josh met at a men's retreat
• (06:02) What drew Josh to his first all-men's retreat
• (10:27) Why men need to get around other men
• (12:07) The biggest challenge men face: feeling alone
• (15:47) Why men hit their forties with no one to talk to
• (17:46) The cost of carrying everything alone
• (19:58) First steps for a man who feels alone this week
• (22:45) What a fire circle is and the rules of the circle
• (26:00) What breathwork is and how it regulates your nervous system
• (30:08) Breathwork for healing vs. breathwork for performance
• (33:47) How Josh found breathwork (James Nestor, Wim Hof)
• (36:20) Josh's triathlon journey, Tri Loco, and retiring after surgery
• (41:26) What Ironman taught him
• (42:59) Bonking at Panama City 70.3 and finishing anyway
• (44:36) Building lighthouses: the lighthouse vs. the tugboat
• (47:48) Why Josh joined the Do Hard Things Nation
• (48:43) Rapid fire: morning routine, favorite breath technique, favorite race, book recommendation
• (53:39) Josh's advice for anyone who's drifting

Resources Mentioned

• Breath by James Nestor
• Wim Hof Method
• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
• Life on Offense by Siegfried "Sig" Tiegs and James E. Thornton

Connect with Josh De Jong

• Website: https://www.eldrandair.com
• Coaching with Josh: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com
• Men of Standard men's circle (Indianapolis), Thursday mornings and evenings. Reach out to Josh to join.

Connect with Sig and the Do Hard Things Nation

• Coaching, retreats, and the Base Camp community: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com
• Merch and community: https://www.dohardthingsnation.com
• Join the free Do Hard Things Nation Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/developgritdohardthings
• Get the book Life on Offense and all links: https://linktr.ee/dohardthingscoaching
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jaytiegs
• Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1981380/support

If this episode was useful, leave a review and share it with a man who needs to hear it.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US).

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

Field Notes: What Do H.A.R.D. Things Actually Means

Most people are doing pretty well in most areas of their life. But there's usually one arena where they're getting crushed, and it's quietly dragging everything else down. The guy killing it at work who hasn't been to the gym in two years. The woman in the best shape of her life who's drowning in credit card debt. The couple with the nice house who haven't had a real conversation in months.

In this Field Notes episode, Siegfried "Sig" Tiegs breaks down the Do HARD Things framework from his book Life on Offense. DO means taking action. HARD is the four arenas of your life: Health, Affluence, Relationships, and Development. THINGS are the things that matter, the 20% that make the real difference.

Sig also kicks off The Daily HARD Question: 365 days of journal prompts in the Do Hard Things Nation Facebook group, built to give you awareness in each arena and a reason to take one deliberate action every day.

In this episode:

• Why most people end up "looping," living the same year over and over
• The Army after-action review, and how to run one on your own life
• Healthspan vs. lifespan, and the four energy centers: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual
• Why sleep is the one thing to fix first
• The screen-time test for anyone who says "I don't have time"
• Money as freedom of choice, and why "the borrower is slave to the lender"
• What the 80-year Harvard happiness study found
• The three relationship circles: partner, family, and friends
• Why the number of men with no close friends has gone up five times since 1990
• The four development questions: What are you learning? Who's coaching you? What hard thing are you training for? Who are you teaching?
• Swinging singles, and why 1% better every day adds up
• Day 1 of The Daily HARD Question

Chapters
00:00 One arena dragging down the rest
00:40 What Do HARD Things means
01:25 Kicking off The Daily HARD Question
02:20 Living in reaction and "looping"
02:55 The after-action review
03:40 The HARD framework
04:05 Health: healthspan vs. lifespan
05:45 The four energy centers
07:25 Sleep
08:30 Movement and The Comfort Crisis
09:40 Nutrition
10:25 Mental health
11:05 "Look at your screen time"
11:39 Affluence: money as freedom
13:05 Poverty, middle-class, and wealthy mindsets
13:40 Relationships
14:35 The Harvard study on happiness
15:50 Partner, family, and friends
17:10 Your five people
17:45 Development
18:54 Four questions for development
20:05 Ten pages a day
20:40 Who's coaching you?
21:18 Training for a hard thing: the Misogi
21:55 Who are you teaching?
22:20 1% better every day
22:45 Why every day
23:31 Pole pole: slow is smooth, smooth is fast
24:00 Day 1: What does "healthy" actually mean to you?
24:25 Your challenge
25:53 Closing

Day 1 Question
What does "healthy" actually mean to you? Is it strength? Energy? Peace of mind? Keeping up with your kids? Still having adventures at 75? Answer it in the group.

Mentioned in this episode

• Life on Offense by Siegfried Tiegs and James E. Thornton
• The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
• The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• The Harvard Study of Adult Development
• 75 Hard
• The Misogi challenge

Support the Show
The Do Hard Things Podcast is listener-supported. If this episode meant something to you, become a supporter and help us keep bringing these conversations to you.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1981380/support

If you're struggling: Call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Veterans, press 1.

Connect with Sig

• Join The Daily HARD Question in the Do Hard Things Nation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/developgritdohardthings
• Coaching, Base Camp retreats, and Summit adventures: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com
• Community and merch: https://www.dohardthingsnation.com
• Get Life on Offense: https://linktr.ee/dohardthingscoaching
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jaytiegs

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

On September 11, 2001, Chris Meek was on the 19th floor at Goldman Sachs. He heard what sounded like a garbage truck hitting a pothole. A colleague looked out the window and thought it was a ticker-tape parade. Then they saw the paper was on fire.

Chris and ghostwriter Dave Jarecki join Siegfried "Sig" Tiegs to talk about their book, Keeping Our Nation's Promise: 9/11 and the Stories That Still Shape Us. They interviewed close to 60 people for 38 profiles: a soldier who personally tagged more than 60 bodies at the Pentagon, two fighter pilots prepared to ram Flight 93, a mother still carrying the story of her son, the man in the red bandana, and two brothers who worked their way onto the pile to find their father. One became a West Point graduate. The other is now a lieutenant in his father's firehouse.

Chris also shares how a Marine's request for tube socks and baby wipes became SoldierStrong, which has now donated 31 exoskeletons that let paralyzed veterans stand at eye level with the world again. The conversation turns to PTSD, veteran suicide, and what separates people who find hope from those who don't. Sig shares his own fight through depression, and Dave shares what finally pulled Port Authority officer Will Jimeno back from the edge.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:46 Chris on the morning of 9/11
05:00 Dave watching from Milwaukee
06:35 Sig at Fort Leonard Wood that day
08:28 Twelve families on one cul-de-sac
09:46 What 9/12 felt like
13:50 A nation united
15:15 Inside the book
18:14 Chris Braman at the Pentagon and Col. Marilyn Wills: "Why him and not you?"
20:16 Alison Crowther, the Dowdell brothers, and Flight 93
23:00 38 profiles and 44 voices
23:35 How the book was built: leadership, resiliency, legacy, remembering
28:09 A sign in a Pittsburgh bar
29:09 Ambassador Nicholas Burns and NATO's Article 5
31:37 The Dowdell brothers
35:02 How 9/11 changed the Army
36:25 Tube socks, baby wipes, and the start of SoldierStrong
38:22 Exoskeletons and being eye level again
40:37 BraveMind: VR therapy for PTSD
42:36 Army Sgt. Dan Rose
43:23 Why some people find hope and others don't
45:08 Will Jimeno's story
47:57 Did telling their stories help them heal?
50:30 Writing the book
52:27 The 9/11 Legacy Foundation's national curriculum
53:25 The boatlift: the largest maritime rescue in history
57:24 Only 14 states require 9/11 education
58:43 Where to find Chris and Dave

Links

• Keeping Our Nation's Promise: https://ournationspromise.com
• Buy the book at Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/keeping-our-nations-promise-chris-meek/1150424729
• The 9/11 Legacy Foundation: https://the911legacy.org
• Share your 9/11 story: https://the911legacy.org/mystory/
• SoldierStrong: https://soldierstrong.org
• Dr. Chris Meek on Substack: https://drchrismeek.substack.com
• Mentioned: Saved at the Seawall by Jessica DuLong and the documentary Boatlift

Support the Show
The Do Hard Things Podcast is listener-supported. If this episode meant something to you, become a supporter and help us keep bringing these stories to you.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1981380/support

If you're struggling: Call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Veterans, press 1.

Connect with Sig

• Coaching, the Do Hard Things Nation, and Life on Offense: https://linktr.ee/dohardthingscoaching
•  Join the Do Hard Things Nation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/developgritdohardthings
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jaytiegs

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

Embark on a quest to conquer the wild and unpredictable world of adventure racing with us, your guides, through the rugged terrain of the Castlewood 8-Hour Adventure Race. Feel the rush of adrenaline as we reveal the crucial strategies and uncharted paths that make this sport an electrifying challenge distinct from triathlons and obstacle courses. With Lacey Teiggs by my side, we dissect the sport's multidisciplinary nature, from trekking and biking to canoeing and orienteering, delving into the essence of teamwork and the pivotal role of navigation skills that elevate adventure racing to a game of endurance and wits.

Whether you're a seasoned athlete or a curious newbie, this episode serves as your entry pass to the adventure racing community, proving that anyone can get their start with sprints before graduating to the big leagues. We lay out a treasure map of essential gear—much of which you can rent to avoid breaking the bank—and share insider tips on how to sharpen your navigation prowess through local orienteering clubs. Be ready for our next episode's race report from Castlewood, but for now, stash this comprehensive gear checklist and prepare to lace up your shoes for an expedition that could redefine your limits and ignite your passion for adventure.

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

I got invited on a podcast with a significant following. Real show. I was excited about it.

Ten minutes before we go live, I get a message. Feeling under the weather, need to reschedule. Fine. People get sick.

We reschedule two weeks out. This morning, ten minutes before the show, another cancellation. No explanation this time.

I'm not outing anybody. He's just the example that showed up on my calendar. And once I got past being annoyed, I realized it wasn't a character problem at all. It was a difference in standards. He was operating exactly to his.

I come from a world where if you're on time, you're late.

So this episode is about your word — what it's worth, what it costs you when you break it, and how to call somebody out when they break theirs.

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THE FIRST AGREEMENT

A lot of you have read The Four Agreements. The first one is "be impeccable with your word."

Most people read that and hear "don't lie." That's not what it says.

Ruiz breaks the word apart. Impeccable comes from the Latin for "without sin," and he defines a sin as anything you do against yourself.

The first agreement was never about the other guy. Being impeccable with your word is about what breaking it does to YOU.

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THE TWO COSTS

Every broken word costs you twice.

OUTSIDE YOU, and you never see it. Most people won't tell you. They get annoyed, they write you off quietly, and the invite doesn't come back. The referral goes to somebody else. Nobody sends you a bill for a broken agreement. Your reputation is a pile of decisions other people made about you and never told you about.

INSIDE YOU, and this is the one that compounds. Every time you say you'll do something and you don't, some part of you files it away. Then you go set a real goal — the business, the race, the hard conversation — and some part of you won't buy in. You'll call it fear or bad timing or lack of motivation. It's none of those. It's an accurate risk assessment. The man making the promise has a track record, and you've read it.

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YOUR WORD: HONOR IT. OWN IT. CLEAN IT UP.

HONOR IT — starts before you say yes. Most broken words start as a yes you should never have given. "I can't commit to that" is a real answer and people respect it more than a yes you don't mean.

 OWN IT — when you break one, name it in one sentence with no "because" in it. The second you add traffic or the kids or how busy it's been, you've stopped owning it and started defending yourself.

CLEAN IT UP — an apology is free, so it isn't a cleanup. Do something that costs you. Reschedule on their calendar. Deliver early. Eat the expense. The cost is the point

WORK WITH ME

If you're good at what you do and can't figure out why it isn't compounding — if you keep making promises to yourself in January and quietly renegotiating them by March — if your team says yes and you can't count on it and you suspect it starts with you — that's not a discipline problem. That's a self-trust problem. And you don't fix that one alone, because you're the one who's been keeping the record.

Coaching: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com

Speaking: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com/speaking

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Siegfried "Sig" Tiegs is a keynote speaker, high-performance coach, and co-author of the Amazon best seller Life on Offense: A Tactical Guide to Dominate Life and End Mediocrity. A retired Army Major with 27 years of service, he hosts the Do Hard Things™ podcast and coaches high performers at dohardthingscoaching.com.

GRIT. PURPOSE. PEACE.

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

At 2:03 in the morning I woke up to the light on and the shower running. Our dog Koda had taken a direct hit from a skunk.

My first coherent thought, standing in the hallway in my shorts, was that we didn't have any tomato juice.

Because that's what you do. Everybody knows that. My grandmother knew it, your neighbor knows it, and Google will still tell you so this morning.

It doesn't work. It never has.

And what got me wasn't being wrong. It was how sure I'd been. Tomato juice wasn't a guess I'd have defended if you pushed me — it was a fact I had, the same way I know a stop sign is red. I couldn't tell you where I picked it up or when. And in forty-some years it never occurred to me to check.

So this episode is about the things you've never checked.

EVERYTHING YOU DO IS EITHER INHERITED OR CHOSEN.

Inherited means somebody handed it to you and you never checked it. Chosen means you tested it and kept it on purpose. From the inside, those two feel exactly the same. That's the whole problem.

Three questions to tell them apart:

SOURCE — Where did I get this? If you can't name the source, you inherited it.

MECHANISM — How does it actually work? Walk the steps out loud.

EVIDENCE — What has it actually produced? Left column what it was supposed to do, right column what it has done.

Then give it a verdict. Keep it. Kill it. Or test it — set a date and a number and go look when the date comes.

There's no fourth option where you keep doing it and don't think about it. That's the one that got you here.

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THE SKUNK FORMULA (Paul Krebaum, 1993)

2 cups of 3% hydrogen peroxide

1/4 cup baking soda

1–2 teaspoons Dawn dish soap

Mix it fresh in an open container. Never seal it in a closed bottle — the reaction releases oxygen and a capped container can burst. Keep it out of the eyes. Work it into the fur, let it sit five minutes, rinse, repeat as needed.

It works because skunk spray is made of compounds called thiols. The peroxide and baking soda oxidize them into something odorless — the molecule itself changes. Tomato juice never touches the thiol. It sits on top of it and waits to wear off.

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WORK WITH ME

If you're running a life you didn't actually pick — the career you fell into, the routine you inherited, the version of yourself somebody else decided on — that's not a motivation problem. That's a life full of inherited defaults nobody ever audited.

That's what The Forge is. Twelve months, a rope team of men doing the same work, and somebody in your corner asking you question two about the things you can't see by yourself.

Coaching: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com

Speaking: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com/speaking

-------------------------------------------

Siegfried "Sig" Tiegs is a keynote speaker, high-performance coach, and co-author of the Amazon best seller Life on Offense: A Tactical Guide to Dominate Life and End Mediocrity. A retired Army Major with 27 years of service, he hosts the Do Hard Things™ podcast and coaches high performers at dohardthingscoaching.com.

GRIT. PURPOSE. PEACE.

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events

Send us Fan Mail

Two months before the Missouri River 340, we lost the boat.

High water, a headwind we hadn't planned for, and a log. My partner Joe and I spent forty-five minutes in the river swimming for a dike while my canoe went downstream with my sunglasses and my Bose speaker. We walked back down the Katy Trail covered in mud with paddles in our hands and nothing else.

That night we were done. Not weighing our options. Done.

This episode is about what happened next, and about the curve that explains it. The Emotional Cycle of Change was mapped in the 1970s and it has five stages, and stage three is where almost everybody quits. Not most people who fail. Most people, period.

I've taught this curve for years and it still put me at the bottom of my own diagram. Knowing the name of it didn't take an ounce of weight off. What it did was show me the decision point.

In this episode:

• Why day one feels great and why that never lasts
 • The five stages of the Emotional Cycle of Change, and how to find yourself on the curve
 • The bullshit belief that takes more people out than the difficulty ever does
 • Why flow feels like ease but never is, and what inspiration actually means
 • Scoring lead indicators instead of lag when the results have gone silent
 • The one test for telling a valley from a dead end
 • Five tactics for getting through the part where it gets worse before it gets better

Stage three doesn't end with a feeling. It ends with a decision. Here's how to make that call on purpose.

Do Hard Things Coaching: www.dohardthingscoaching.com
BLOG on this topic: https://www.dohardthingscoaching.com/blog/%2Fwhy-it-gets-harder-before-it-gets-better
Life on Offense on Amazon: Amazon.com :Life on Offense

GRIT. PURPOSE. PEACE.

Welcome to the Do Hard Things Podcast with your host Jay Tiegs, Are you ready to amplify and improve your life? Then you are in the right place.  On this podcast we have unfiltered conversation with inspiring people who take on challenges and share with us, the wisdom from their journey. We talk about how doing hard things adequately enable all of us to deal with life's struggles and challenges and ultimately improve the quality of our lives. 

Support the show

Big things are happening inside Do Hard Things Nation, and I want you with us.

Want more support? Join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Four coaches. Weekly mindset training, movement, breathwork, meditation, book club, and challenges. Join as a member here:
👉 skool.com/dohardthings/about

Our book, Life on Offense, is now an Amazon Best Seller!  Grab a copy and leave a review. 
👉 Get the book on Amazon

Grab Your Do Hard Things Gear and Apparel. Show the world you Do Hard Things with high-quality apparel! 

👉Gear — Do Hard Things Nation

And don’t forget—the Do Hard Things 5K, 9.11 Mile Run, and 9.11 Mile Ruck is happening in September. There’s even a virtual option—so no excuses. Sign up here:
👉 dohardthingsnation.com/events