VISIONARY STORM | Be Vulnerable to Become Unshakable | Recognize Your Own Disfunction | Chad Brignac

Speaker A: It takes a traumatic event. It takes a life altering event that usually awakens us or gets our attention. We all know we have ego. We all know we battle pride. We all know we can be stubborn and hard headed. So why wait on life to throw you a massive curveball to get an awakening? Why not get an awakening now?

Speaker B: Hey, what's going on? This is Brett Snodgrass with another episode of the Iron Deep podcast and I have a Chad Brignack on the podcast with me today. What's going on Ch?

Speaker A: Oh, not too much. Just looking forward to the conversation. It's always good to dig into a person and get to know them a little bit better. And I love the Iron Deep topic podcast title. Iron Sharpening iron just really touches me and I put out an article about it and most of us shy away when we actually look at how iron truly gets sharpened. So let's make some tools.

Speaker B: That's right, let's get some tools in the tool belt here. So, uh, that's awesome. Well, Chad, guys, he is a transformationalist. Uh, he's also a consultant, author, speaker. He empowers individuals, families, organizations to discover their purpose, align their lives, transform from the inside out. He's written books. He's um, co authored one book called Blend don't break creating your family secret sauce. He's writing another book right now called the Visionary Storm, uh, which a lot of visionaries listen to. This particular podcast, this particular podcast audience is mostly men, number one. Um, and it's, it's men, business leaders, uh, number two. And men, business leaders of faith typically are the ones who listen to this podcast. This will be a great, a great, uh, just conversation guys, with Chad. Um, Chad, I just want to kind of start with you man. So leadership, typically you're, you're building other leaders, transforming leaders from the inside out. And uh, you say the leadership begins within. And I want to talk about your transformational journey. So a lot of times maybe we go through a pain, a suffering to, to hit some place, to, to wake up and be like man, I, wow, this is, I, I need to, to do something. I need to change, I need to transform. And, and can you talk about your transformational list journey?

Speaker A: Yeah. So it's a long one. I've been, I have a three decade long career in construction where I led multimillion dollar projects, large teams, teams of 25 to 150 people. I've had my own businesses, I've ran large businesses. Coo, general manager, CEO, founder, all of those things. And what became Evident in my life and also in the life of the business world as well as my family is how unapproachable I was, how much I didn't relate to people, how much I didn't understand the individuality of people, and how much I didn't know about myself, what was developing inside of me as it related to people. I could get the project done, but no one wanted to be around me. They wanted to be a part of what I was doing because I would remove obstacles and I would make them look good on the project side. But as far as having a relationship, no one would ever want to be close to me. I can give you story after story. I lost my first wife when I was 28 years old. You would think that tragedy would have got my attention. I've had kids, run away from home. You think that would have gotten my attention. My second wife had a massive stroke. You would have thought that would have gotten my attention. But I'm a stubborn, hard headed man. And now something really got my attention. And it was actually the process of writing Blend, Don't Break. It was facing the reality of our dysfunctional family that I believe I was the primary cause of. Because I didn't relate to my children and to my wife in the proper way. I didn't use compassionate leadership. I had zero self awareness. I didn't even know what emotional intelligence was. But it was after her stroke when I looked up and said, what legacy do I have? Well, I can look at the landscape and see everything I built. I didn't see any people that I was really connected to, including my own family. And that's really what began my transformational journey. I didn't realize it was happening in the process of writing. I really discovered it more as I read the book and said, okay, this is what I need to be helping other people to develop. Because now I see life differently, I hear things differently, I, I talk differently, I respond now instead of reacting. There's just so many things that while I still have some of those same emotional triggers that I used to have, my approach to those is completely different. My approach to those is when they happen is I want to learn what can improve inside of me, not what's wrong with someone else, that they caused this trigger to happen. And that's really been the journey for me to transformation and how I became a transformationist. I can't transform anybody. When you hear it, it sounds like an illusionist. That's not what we're doing. Uh, we're doing real work. But it's Small internal shifts that led to a long term lasting outcome in my life. And it changed the person that I became and who I am today. And anybody can have it. Oftentimes, as you said, it takes a traumatic event. It takes a life altering event that usually awakens us or gets our attention. And I'm here to say, why wait on that? M. We all know it exists. We all know we have ego. We all know we battle pride. We all know we can be stubborn and hard headed. So why wait on life to throw you a massive curveball to get an awakening? Why not get an awakening now?

Speaker B: M wow. The time is now. Now. That's ah, that's so good. You talk about, um, just vulnerability. Intimacy. Yeah. There's actually another, you know, book that um, you were talking about that actually hasn't. I don't think it's out yet, but you know, let's get naked, let's get intimate. M Vulnerable. Um, when you talk to people or even in yourself, uh, you know, embracing vulnerability, um, especially like, you know, with your family because sometimes, um, that can be the hardest. Um, you know, even in our own four walls of our home is. Is just to be self aware, to be vulnerable. Is there a practice or is there some way that, you know, you can, uh, just talk about embracing vulnerability for yourself or for other people.

Speaker A: You're training and coaching for me that that book is coming out. It'll be out in 2026. Let's get naked. Living a life of intimacy, vulnerability and unshakable confidence, which is key that you reach a place of unshakable confidence. And again, that's one of those things that as I was reading my own book that I believe the, the Lord wrote through us. This started to become a reality to me. Like what changed, what transformed? M and it's those three things that the, the vulnerability, the intimacy with God and the confidence that I've built this year as I'm preparing the book and I have all the outline written, everything. But this year as I'm preparing the book, the Lord really began to deal with me about the model of the man, Jesus. And most people look at vulnerability and go, well, that's weakness or that has a negative spin to it. Vulnerable people get hurt, those kinds of things. And you are correct that vulnerable people risk being hurt, especially by those who they love the most, as you mentioned in family. But the unwillingness to take that risk closes you off to things and it makes you your own protector. And Christ allowed God to be his protector while he lived a Life completely vulnerable. They threw words at him, they accused him of many things that wasn't true. And he sat there quiet, just vulnerable, letting them say whatever they wanted to say because it was not going to change who he was. Until they touched on the truth and said, you're the Son of God, he would not stay quiet. He confidently said, I am who you said I am.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And it's just that model that I spin to every time. You know, there's the saying, what would Jesus do? And that went around trying to transform people's lives. But the reality is he is the model of how I'm to live as a man. And it's very hard to live up to that model. But everything that I'm faced with, I have to look at it and go, how would Jesus have handled this situation?

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: You know, when Peter came back to Jesus after Jesus was resurrected, he could have very much said, leave me. You denied me three times like I said you would. I'm not going to give you an opportunity to hurt me again. But he didn't. He said, I'm gonna build my church and you're gonna help plan it. You're gonna start it. Because I saw things. But what did Peter do to get to the point of denying him is he followed at a distance. First. He allowed a gap between him and Christ. He allowed a gap between him and the example and the model of what are you supposed to follow? And I just choose now that I'm going to live so close to Jesus, to Christ in my walk, that if I'm going to get attacked, it's going to be from behind. It's never going to be from the front. It's never going to be the things that I see coming. It's never going to be in the conversations I have, the things that I hear, because I want to be so close to Jesus that I don't allow a gap in my life, that things can come in and separate me from him, because he is the model I have to follow.

Speaker B: M. That's so good. Many men have to just kind of lay down in order to do that. Number one, they have to have trust. Right. Um, they have to trust, uh, those around them, uh, to be vulnerable and they have to lay down, um, some fears, um, what, maybe some of the fears that you've had to come to grips with. Uh, uh, a lot of men, uh, you know, they're, they're afraid of something and that keeps them into that protective mindset. Um, is there any fears that you've really had to face in your own life and you've had to lay down.

Speaker A: Uh, yes. And still do. You know, it's. It's the fear of losing control of what's going to happen, the fear of not being able to direct all the outcomes, knowing that when I let go of something that I have to put all my trust in a God that I actually can't see. The fear of not being significant M the fear of not being respected, the fear of being devalued. And again, it takes me back to the way I answer all of those is by knowing who I am in Christ. Mostly Christian business leaders will listen to this podcast as you, as you mentioned. And it is finding all of those things that you're fearing you're going to lose here on earth in who you are in God. And that's, that's the only answer. You know, every time I look for something or someone else to meet that need of, uh, fear to fill that gap, I'm taking my eyes off of who God is. Whether that's to my wife, of course. I want my wife to respect me. I want to feel valued by her. I want her to lift me up and edify me, if you will. I want my business to be edifying. I want my business to see all the risk I take. I want my business to see all of the sacrifices I make and all of those things. And when I don't feel that come back to me, I start to question, what is it worth? M. And the reality is it's worth a model life of Jesus. That's what it's worth. And anytime we look for any of those things to fill voids that, that we have in our life, we will start to fall into fear. And the risk that we have is sometimes we'll try to find other ways to fill that fear, which ends up turning into lifestyles of pride, lifestyles of arrogance. Um, you start to look at the sources, the resources, instead of looking to the source. Money becomes one of those things that fills your fear and they're just temporary. And that's why I said before with the traumatic life event. I lost a wife at 28 years old. My second wife had a stroke and I was 48 years old. Those things will really hit you and go, okay, what's most important? Well, we can ask ourselves now, what's most important now?

Speaker B: Mhm. That's good. I want to talk about purpose and identity. I lead a group of 12 guys. Uh, we're all business owners, mostly in the real estate space. And uh, I'VE just seen, uh, especially men when there's, most of them are mid-30s to 50, 50s, you know, and most of them are still struggling with purpose and calling and identity. And we start to question ourselves with what does this matter? This business that I've been running for 20 years, is this even matter? Right. And they start to just ask these questions. I don't know my purpose, I don't know my calling. I don't know. You know, I know I'm supposed to do the will of God and I want to find that out. But in a lot of us, you know, or them start to look for something else. I should be over here doing this. And maybe they downplay even their business or their marketplace leadership. And can you talk to us about this purpose and calling and this identity, uh, that men have and uh, you know, what's your take on some of this? Men just trying to discover more of their purpose and their calling in life when they've been maybe running a business for 20 years. And I don't know, that's just these questions swirling around in our minds.

Speaker A: Yeah. And, and you know, I would say that you don't necessarily fall into those businesses by accident. You don't fall into a job or career by accident. Something draws you there. Oftentimes it can be money that you have a need to meet and that gets you there. I like to say if you're in your purpose when you get home in the evening, you actually want to do more for whatever it is that you're doing because there's an energy that your purpose will produce. It's purpose times passion equals calling. When you find your purpose, it will ignite your passion and you will discover your calling. I would love to say that I'm sitting here on this call telling you I've known my purpose my whole life. I tell you I had 30 plus years in construction. I'm 51. I lived my first 50 years for something that gave me purpose. It was not my purpose. This is my purpose.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And I know this is my purpose because I'm energized. I can feel it, I can sense it. And it's what I know. I'm starting to discover my calling because my passion has been ignited. If you're going home drained, whether you're running a business, whether you're in a career, you're going home empty and drained from what you're doing on a day to day basis, I would challenge you that you have not found your purpose.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And I would say to look within to see what's burning. Something's burning on the inside. Something that you feel like you have the only answer for. When you find the answer to what's burning, you will start to find your purpose. And you will find that passion gets ignited. I have a podcast call that, uh, it's with a team in the uk and he asked me, the only time we have available is 10am in the UK, which is 3am for me. And my team said, are you going to make it? And I said, yes, I'll make it. You're, uh, like it's three o' clock in the morning. I said, no, I know that, but this is what I'm doing. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. M. It's why at midnight I get up and I'll go write in one of my books because I know it's my purpose. And there's a. There's an ignition of passion that takes place with that. I put a lot of hours and a lot of energy and a lot of work into construction. And I didn't realize until again, I started writing and I realized, what have I been doing for 30 years? And uh, the words hit me as what I just said to you, I did what gave me purpose, it gave me an identity. I'm a contractor. I'm a civil contractor, I'm a residential contractor. It gave me purpose, it gave me an identity. Now I know my purpose. And that is to help people transform their lives. It is to write books that will transform people. It is to speak on stages and try to encourage people to look within, grow in self awareness, grow in emotional intelligence and lead with compassionate leadership. That is my purpose. And because now that I know that my identity is in Christ and it's not in anything else.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And because of that, my passion again is ignited. And now I'm identifying, discovering and learning what my calling is. Churches always say we have one purpose. You know it. Everybody on your call can say it. It's the Great Commission. And that's hard to say. Okay, great, we're all part of that. But I'm not doing that. I'm not in a place where I can talk about Christ. I don't. I'm not around people where I can share Christ. So how am I part of the Great Commission? I truly believe that when you discover your purpose, really, you will automatically be part of the Great Commission because you will, unashamely, without apology, live for Christ.

Speaker B: Hmm.

Speaker A: You won't have to speak, you won't have to share. You will actually live. You will love and you will lead like Christ. You won't do that if you're not in your purpose. You're constantly trying to find, as you mentioned, your identity. You're trying to discover who am I in this journey and what part of my life is to be edifying Christ. And I believe when you find your purpose, that is when you will edify Christ the most in your life. And you won't be afraid to share who he is because you worried about the repercussions of it. For a realtor, they won't be scared to lose a sale that's right for a businessman. They won't be scared to miss an acquisition. They won't be scared for profit to decrease. They won't be afraid to lose an employee. They won't be afraid to put someone else first over themselves, over the money, over the profit. Because now they. They are doing this for a greater reason. And that is what you identified as purpose.

Speaker B: I love that.

Speaker C: I want to move on. Talking about your book, the Secret War within. This book is amazing. I'll just say it up front. I could not put it down. Thank you for sending me a copy. And I get sent copies and I have just a, uh, catalog of books that I'm trying to get through. And so I didn't know if I would have time for this. And I started like the first. First chapter and I had like three other books I'm reading. But then I just. I just came back to this, like, for the course of a week. And that doesn't happen where I just don't put a book down. And this was just something that definitely wanted to have you on. Talk about it because I think everyone needs to read this, especially men. It really speaks to the heart of the matter. And it's an allegory, which is also not a book I would normally read. But it's one of those things that I think that it just tells such a powerful story without breaking it down. Chapter, verse, and like diving into all the nitty gritty, it just tells a powerful story that so many people can relate to.

Speaker B: Purchase the Secret War within on Amazon, leave a review and share a snippet of your experience with us, uh, through email or text. To show our gratitude, we'll send you a special gift. Just include your name and address in your message. I look forward to hearing from you. That's awesome. You're writing a book right now called the Visionary Storm. And, um. And, uh. And I'm a visionary. Uh, most of the guys that I hang out with, seem like they're visionaries, like, um, to come up with ideas, like new things, like challenges, like adventure, you know, um, I know that's how. That's how I am. And sometimes it can become just misunderstood. It can become chaotic. Uh, because maybe we're chasing after a new thing or a new idea or shining objects. Uh, but when they can come together, I mean, visionaries really can. Can transform and really impact a lot of people's lives. And, um, can you talk about this book? You know, what is that? That visionary storm? And how do you channel the energy to really make an impact and not just to have a bunch of chaos and a bunch of. A lot more noise in your life than you already have?

Speaker A: That's exactly what the book talks about. You just, you just gave the title and the subtitle of the book. Because we go into the book and we talk about the storm, we talk about the chaos, we talk about the destruction, we talk about with visionaries leaving their wake. And they don't do it without. They don't do it on purpose. They don't say, okay, I got all these great ideas. I'm just going to unload this to the team and we're going to redirect, shift, change, move, and do this new thing, because this is the best thing we need to do. This is how we get in front of the competition. This is how we keep up. This is how we advance all great ideas. And I love the visionary mind. The visionary minds, whether you like them or not, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, you know, people like that, they are, uh, they're filled with visionary minds. I wouldn't model necessarily their lives on how they treat people interact in their personal relationships, but the reality is they have visionary minds. And in our book, we actually touch on the journey of Steve Jobs being exiled from Apple and then being asked to come back, and what happened in between was really personal growth. The reason why Apple is what it is today is because he changed his personal growth. He didn't just change his business acumen, he worked on himself. And that's what the book gets into. After we described a storm and we described a storm in detail, I compare it to my time in Oklahoma when I first. My. When I faced my first tornado. I compared it to being in Louisiana, where we deal with hurricanes and Katrina, the storm of all ages. We compare it to those kinds of things, but then we get into practical things that visionaries can do to help navigate that, to harness that power, deliver it to the team. Then we talk about how the team can better handle a visionary mind as they come into the room and throw the hail, wind and debris all over the room. And then we talk about what we call a strategist at the end of the book. And we talk about implementing a strategist, that partnership between the visionary mind and the person who can put that into strategy. And the COVID of the book is a tornado storm with a hand underneath. And the power going into that hand, I believe that power, that hand is the strategist. They are the funnel that the visionary mind can unload everything to. But then the strategist can say, out of all of this, this is what we're going to focus on. This is what we're going to execute on. That dynamic takes a lot of, a lot of trust. The book Traction talks about integrators and visionaries similarly to that. I call it a strategist that's going to be the same as the integrator. The amount of trust that both of those people have to have in each other.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: Is hard for people to grasp. It's the reason why these relationships don't often work. So what we do is we take the approach in helping the visionary to change and then helping the strategist to identify themselves. Because you may have a strategist already in the room into a visionary mind. They look like they're just resistant.

Speaker B: Poo poo. Er, yeah.

Speaker A: They want to crap on all my ideas. They want to pop every balloon that I have.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: But the reality is that person may be the strategist right in front of you.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: And to develop and work on that relationship would just supernaturally expand your business. It would put fuel to the vision. It would harness the power, as you said. And that's actually what our book says, the Visionary Storm. And it talks about harnessing that power.

Speaker B: No, that's good, that's good.

Speaker C: Um,

Speaker B: let's talk about like leaving a. Leaving a legacy. So you, so, uh, you know, you talk a little bit about leaving legacy in your books. Um, but you know, what, what legacy are you looking to, to leave right now? Uh, maybe relating in, even into your own family. I mean, uh, you know, you, you wrote the book Blend don't break. Uh, talk to us about, you know, you're trying to align your purpose, your calling, the way you live each day, maybe even when no one's watching. Because I feel like a lot of, let's just call like influence, influential people, maybe people that are on stage, people that write books. Uh, a lot of people are watching Them, possibly on social media. But I think the real impact can really become, you know, when no one is watching, it's behind the four walls of their home or behind what you're doing when no one's watching. Right. Um, can you talk to us about this legacy and men that we all want to be significant? Uh, we don't. We don't want to live a life that doesn't matter. Um, so what does it kind of mean to you?

Speaker A: Yeah, for me, it goes directly to my family. And that is when I'm gone, will they reflect on the man that I was and try to model things that I've done? Would they look at my life and say, he was always devoted to who Christ was. He messed up in the early days, but he always took ownership for his actions. My legacy would be my young men becoming better men, more Christ like men. My legacy would be my young ladies wanting to follow after young men that are Christlike, because I modeled it. And I did a poor job doing that. That's why when I looked up after my wife's stroke and I said, I don't have a legacy, I had not made the impact in my children, the people closest to me that I wanted to make for good and for Christ. Now they know more about me. They're willing to hear more of what I have to say. They're more intrigued by the man that I am today because of the vulnerability that I've shown and I've gotten in touch with my emotions. Their biggest thing that they felt was that he would never tell you how he felt, so why talk to him about how you feel? I was a brick wall to them. I was just something that was immovable, didn't have any empathy or compassion. And now I believe not yet, but that wall is softening, and I'm becoming a sponge to them where I want to absorb their lives and get to know more about them. I feel the best impact that I can have on their lives is to what I call become a student of them. Get to know more about who they are and let them see who I am through my modeling and not through my words. Making that shift from being a lecturer to a listener and M. For me, that impact would be really resounded after I leave this earth. If they can find one thing in my life that has impacted them for good. To change the community, to change their family, to grow with Christ, to be a better man or woman in their life. And then that goes down to my grandkids. Um, I just shared with my grandson just about A week ago, because he has had tremendous impact in my ability to see people differently. Because this kid loves people like I've never seen. I told a friend of mine if, if I didn't know Christ as a child, but if I did, I feel like this is what he would be like, related to loving people. I've never seen a love for people like I've seen in my grandson. And that has impacted me because of my vulnerability, that I'm like, I'm not too old to learn from anyone so young, but I'm also aware of what's going on around me and looking at everyone's uniqueness. And it has changed how I see people, how I relate to people. And I told him that and he's like, well, what do you mean, why? So I told him the reason why and he's like, oh, thank you. This same kid said, hey, papa, am I too nice? And I said, dude, you can never be too nice. Just don't let anybody ever mistake that for weakness.

Speaker B: Mhm, mhm.

Speaker A: And we have some tremendous conversations. But the influence that he has had in my life, you know, I'll leave you with this. On this topic is one of the things that has resonated really with me. And this is in business and in family, we way too often abuse our authority and we undermine our influence when we should be maximizing our influence and minimizing our authority.

Speaker B: Can you explain how to do that as a dad? Because I, uh, mean, you know, just personally. Yeah, I mean, I have two boys. They are 10 years old and 11 years old. And um, just last night, um, they're. They're constantly at each other. They're very close in age. Constantly, constantly at each other. And, uh, and I can, you know, I'm bigger than they are, right? They're 10 and 11. I'm, you know, so I'm bigger and I can, you know, raise up and, and just be bigger and, and, and louder, for example, um, you know, because maybe I feel disrespected over authority and, um, how could you approach a debt, you know, a dad that maybe is in that example where they want their kids to. Maybe there's signs of disrespect or they want their kids to, you know, follow the rules, for example, or just to be kind to each other and when they're not. And um, you know, so, so maybe take us into a compassionate leader, a compassionate dad. What, what could someone do, uh, that's a little bit different. Instead of just raising up and yelling and demanding and, you know, the Old. The old thing that we, that we do sometimes.

Speaker A: Yeah. The reason why we wrote Blend, don't break and the subtitle is creating your family's secret sauce is because a, uh, sauce is all about the ingredients. And the primary ingredients that every family has is the people in the home. So step one in any of this is to get to know your ingredients. Well, what we do is when we do rise up, when we do discipline, when we do correct, and when we do forcibly make the separation in that scenario you just explained is we reinforce that that is how you handle conflict.

Speaker B: Hm.

Speaker A: And we just simply make a statement that this is, once you have authority, then you can do this. But until you have authority, you're not allowed to fight, you're not allowed to disagree, you're not allowed to go after each other. But I'm going to model to you that once you have authority, then you can do this. Well, they start practicing that for when they get authority, so it gets reinforced. And it's hard as a dad to sit back and just watch them waylay each other, watch them go after each other.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: What I would suggest is that while that's happening, that's not the moment for you to be able to coach.

Speaker B: M. Mhm.

Speaker A: So you have to take that scenario and while that's taken place, you're looking within and you're going, okay, is this part of that personality? Is this part of what I modeled? A combination of both. And once they calm down, what am I going to do to reinforce something different?

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And I really believe in the moment of individual conversations because that's when you become truly a student of your children to get to know what drives them. If they look like you, they act like you, they have a personality like you. You make assumptions that go, okay, I know why he's doing this. And that's the approach that we all have a tendency to take. And I'm going to tell you that that's the wrong approach because we don't know why they're doing that unless they can tell us. And not every time can they tell us because they don't know why are they doing that.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: And as a parent, that's our responsibility to get to the root of, is to help them discover what are they looking for in that moment that they're going at each other.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: As a parent, what I'm looking for is initial respect and to let them know that I ruled the roost. That's why I react. But if I want to respond, then I need to be willing to say, you know what? They know this is our home. They know I'm, um, the head of this house. I don't need to show them that right now. What I need to do is help them to navigate why they're doing this.

Speaker B: M. No, it's good. That's good. And that takes compassion. It takes knowing your kids. It takes, you know, learning and discovering who they are. It takes how they respond, how I respond. Self awareness, you know, family awareness. And, uh, and it takes a lot of patience. And, uh, it's a lifelong journey. And, uh, that's awesome. That's good. That's good feedback. So, guys, take that in. Um, Chad, uh, just any last. Just words of m. Encouragement to the. To the men listening you again. Business leaders, men, you know, trying to discover their purpose, their calling, the leading businesses, leading families. Um, any kind of last words that you want to leave with us today?

Speaker A: A couple things are resonating with me, and it's. It's conversations that I have that I tell people, you don't know me to the extent that I allow you to see me, but I don't know myself to the extent that I allow God to show me. So I would encourage people to allow God to go on that discovery journey with you, and let God reveal to you things in your life that you may have not touched on. You may have walls around them. You may have protection put in place to prevent those things from being touched by God. Let him get in there, let him dig. Let him show you some of those things that have either held you back, cause you to react. The way you reacting puts triggers in your life. Because what God has done by doing that in my life is he's redirected my. What, uh, I call my people compassion. I just see people differently now. I hear things differently. I believe I'm developing the mind of Christ, as the Bible says that we can do by the transforming of our mind. We have to get to a point of living a life that's led by the Spirit, and in that will be the fruit of the Spirit. And that fruit produces love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness. And the last, to go back to our, uh, previous topic, self control. And those things are not in that order by accident. He says, without love, we're clinging symbols. So everything we do, we have to first approach with love. And at, uh, a speaking event, I said, if you. If you approach this situation with love and you're filled with joy and you have peace, your children are going to test your patience. And that's fourth. And then in the end, you gotta find goodness and kindness and faithfulness and gentleness. And then you got to react with. You got to respond with self control. This whole life is different for me because of the manifestation of those things given to me by the fruit of the spirit which comes with the life yielded to the Spirit of God. I don't always get it right. I'm human, I'm flesh. My mind goes just like everyone else's. But what I recently realized is that to be led by the spirit is to allow the spirit to transform and renew your mind. Because the spirit does not move the body, the spirit does not move the mouth. It doesn't look through the eyes. The mind does. And the Spirit of God wants to transform the mind so it can be in charge m. Because the mind is the, is the computer that God gave us to process everything through. And it's not going to just go dormant so the spirit can take over. The mind is going to be in constant conflict with the Spirit of God until you yield every thought, every action, every word, everything you see to the Spirit of God. And it starts with that yielding first. And then eventually you'll start to see him take over your life. And that's what I'm starting to experience now, is that takeover where things I do are just in line with the spirit of God. And it's not a second thought, it's just part of who I become.

Speaker B: Awesome. Well, Chad, I just really appreciate your words of wisdom today. I appreciate your heart, your compassion, uh, just your encouragement to our audience today. I really, uh, you know, I wish you the best, uh, with your book. Guys, make sure you get some of Chad's books. Uh, we have blend, don't break. Creating your family secret sauce. We got the new book coming out. When's the Visionary Storm coming out?

Speaker A: It'll be out probably by October.

Speaker B: October. So make sure we check that out. The Visionary Storm. I know I'm gonna definitely, uh, be getting that particular book. Um, and Chad also. Ah, his website is Chad mbrignac.com It's going to put that in our show notes as well, um, on our website, irondeep.com so thank you Chad so much and uh, wish you the best. God bless you, brother.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: Go to irondeep.com and check out other resources we have to help you on your journey. We'd love to connect with you as

Speaker C: iron sharpens iron friends Sharpen friends.