This episodes contains advice for all four summers at a service academy, what regrets I had, and what learned from my summer military trainings. Swab summer as a 4/c and strategies I took to survive. Then there's Eagle and Cutter Vigilant as a 3/c, I go to Germany, Denmark, Belgium, and France while my friends go to Japan. 2/c summer, the cadre take charge and run boot camp for the summer. As upper class, we are now transitioning to leading others. Now, 1/c summer is approaching, and I am putting in for MSRT (Coast Guard Navy Seals) and TACLET (Coast Guard DEA) for half the summer. The other half of the summer I am hoping for a smaller platform boat, and we dive into what I think about a big boat versus a little boat (schedule, culture of the unit, mission). 

In this episode we dive into some interview questions for me to answer honestly and off the cuff. These are questions you can ask anyone and are likely going to dig a level deeper on their personality, goals, and desires. The plan is to use some of these questions in future interviews and podcast episodes for the best story telling to be brought out of guests. Listen to this episode for some gem questions to use in your own life and to learn more about Jack. Here are some of the questions from this episode: 1- What makes you different/ unique? What makes you ‘you’? (events, experiences, characteristics) 2- What is something you’ve been working on daily to make yourself better? Why? 3- How would you describe yourself in one word? 4- What’s an uncommon opinion you hold? Why? 5- What is your daily routine? What makes your schedule busy? Will that matter in five years? 6- What big opportunity are you waiting for? 7- Most valuable book you’ve read? 8- What is bad leadership advice you often hear? 9- What is your biggest leadership/ personal triumph? 10- What is your leadership philosophy? (for living your own life and for leading others) 11- Who is the one person you want to most be like? 12- As a leader, what are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? 13- What are your thoughts on failure? A tool to learn from, a sign of pushing oneself, or a sign of weakness? 14- What is the most worthwhile investment you’ve ever made (investing money, time, energy, etc.) 15- In the last few years what new belief, behavior, or habit has improved your life? 16- If you won $1,000,000, what would you do with it? Would you change anything about your life? 17- What would you do if you had enough money to not work another day in your life? 18- What is your ideal, perfect day? (No limits on time, who you’re with, where you’re with. Only constraint is you have 24 hours). 19- If you could have dinner with any three people dead or alive, who would they be and why? 20- What does it mean to live a good life? 21- If you could ask your God/ creator one thing and they had to tell you the truth, what would you ask? 22- In what moments do you truly feel alive? Happy? Satisfied? 23- Who are the five people you spend the most time with and what do they bring to the table? 24- If you could have a 15 second Superbowl commercial what would it say to the world? Quotes, messages, statements, etc. 25- What do you want your life to be like in five years? Why? 26- What is your biggest dream and goal? What are you doing to get there? 27- What would you pursue if you knew you couldn’t fail? Why? 28- What bad habits do you want to break?

Are naps helpful, do blue light glasses work? In this episode, we dive into how to achieve better sleep and why. This includes many techniques, including having white noise, a natural sunrise alarm clock, waking up naturally vs. a traditional alarm, and maximizing your sleep environment. It is important to improve our sleep in three steps. The first is our before bed routine. Avoid electronics right before bed, wind down with a book, meditation, or whatever your nightly routine is. What's better before bed- a cold shower, hot shower, or no shower? Then, how can we maximize our sleep quality? Should we strive for a colder or warmer sleep environment? What kind of mattress (hard vs. soft), how many blankets and what kind (weighted blankets), should we wear socks and lots of clothes when sleeping, or should we sleep naked? Finally, how should we be waking up? We are built to wake up naturally with the sun and to go to bed when it gets dark. How can we sleep this way when living in different places and having to stay on society's time with work and school? If you live in Alaska, your sunrise and sunset is not going to coincide with your schedule, especially in the winter. There are so many ways to improve sleep, and it is one of the most important things we can do to stay healthy, energized, focused, and live a fuller life. We also jump into a discussion of the importance of naps, how they affect us physically and mentally, and if blue light glasses are legit or just a fad? 

In this episode we talk about all the skills I've gained from podcasting, ranging from better communication and listening skills, confidence in giving speeches, and becoming a better learner. There is not enough time allocated in our days to be alone with our thoughts and to let our ideas fully develop. Quality and quality of ideas and conversation are decreasing as real conversation is being replaced by more artificial snapchatting and texting. Take some time to yourself and process what's actually going on in your life, either with a journal, a deep conversation, or even voice memos. Try something new and see what it offers, you never know!

In this episode, we dive into what minimalism actually is, including its benefits. Minimalism combats materialism by reducing clutter in our houses, minds, and lives. Minimalists don't strive to live like hobos, they strive to limit the physical items that enter their lives as to reduce distractions and unnecessary spending. In turn, minimalists have less mental and physical weight to carry, allowing them to pursue their passions and dreams. Minimalism encourages financial freedom through living an alternate lifestyle that requires thinking as an individual. Minimalists aren't part of the crowd and must disengage from the social pressures of buying big houses, fancy cars, and expensive clothes. Minimalism boils down into understanding the difference between price and value. Minimalists understand that a fulfilling, happy life is not a result of big spending and owning a lot of things. We are the sum of our experiences, not our belongings. 

In this episode, Jack dives into what he's working on to live a longer, fuller, healthier life. There are three major aspects of life that we're working on this year, including learning Spanish, attempting to eat cleaner and healthier (potentially going vegan?!), and completely altering my workout routine by squatting with my knees over toes and doing awkward lifts that any lifting coach would call risky, unhealthy, and improper form. We dive into linguistic determinism, the impact of being bilingual, and why Spanish is the best, most effective language to learn over French, Arabic, Chinese, and others).  Why squat and lunge with your knees over your toes, exactly opposite of what all our fitness coaches and fellow weightlifters tell us? Why are the fads of most diets, eating X amounts of protein, and reliance on eating meat for muscle growth and as a measure of manliness all wrong? This year, we are making big changes with expectations of big results. Being like everyone else makes you normal, average. To be great, you've got to be unique, different. Open your mind to an alternative lifestyle, be willing to do 'crazy' things nobody else is doing.

Why I wrote a book, what it’s about, and why I’m not writing any more books anytime soon. It’s a travel book, and it is something I poured a lot into. I had a lot of questions that I couldn’t find the answers to in other books, so I wrote my own. I did the research for hours on end in my bedroom late at night, finding out how to travel authentically, cheap, and for a long time. I want travel as a lifestyle, and I am still trying to figure out how to attain it. There’s many ways to write a book or pursue something big in life, but the only way to truly follow through and accomplish it is to be all in. To be genuinely passionate and curious about what it is you are doing. You get into a flow that is not comparable to anything else. This episode also explains my struggle with writing and publishing a book at a service academy, where I learned it is not allowed and needs to be postponed until I graduate. Writing a book is not a simple and quick process, and I explain why I don’t plan on writing another in the near future. Would I go back and write the travel book I did again? Of course, no hesitation.

In this episode I have my first guest, ones of my best friends Jacob. We dive into our running careers in high school that took us to state for cross country and track, championship wins in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and even at Disney World of Sports in Orlando. Harrison High School running is only getting better, and who better to hand off the baton to than Sully Shelton, one of our great friends and a commit to the University of North Carolina. Jacob and I cover our favorite races, our failures, progressions, and overall experiences being on such a great team in an amazing sport. There are many great takeaways and insights from our stories and experiences, even if not a runner. Both Jacob and I started our running careers as soccer players before transitioning into track and cross country. My main sport is basketball, and Jacob and I discuss what running has in store for our futures, as both of us are no longer running. I gave it a shot at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as a freshman, but there was simply too much on my plate for me to give it my all. Who knows, maybe one day Jacob and I will be running marathons, ultras, or even triathlons with each other. 

In this episode, Jack explores how we can use procrastination and desire to quit as a warning sign of dispassion. It can tell us how to live our lives better.  It is ok to quit, as it leaves more time and focus to pursue bigger and better things. But quitting is only a good option if you have something better to pursue. Quitting college with no plan, quitting working out but then filling that time with TV instead, etc. are not good times to quit. Viktor Frankl- Part of the discipline is to continue searching for meaning and fulfillment instead of fun and immediate pleasure. Dalai Llama speaking vs listening quote- "When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. When you listen, you may learn something new" Subtracting the bad or inferior from our lives is productive, but that's only half the battle. Then you need to add to your life to fill that time with better things. It's good to have that void/ emptiness of time though, it gives you time and focus to think and acknowledge yourself. When we have distractions/ fillers like TV, social media, video games, we don't even give any thought to how we are living our life each day and how we could improve it. The silence and void of doing something is awkward and uncomfortable, which is the first step to doing something better with that time that is productive rather than mindlessly let time pass. The silence and emptiness of that hour is kind of like meditation- it makes you more present, more aware, and more proactive. It gives you that chance to do something about it. Most people don't even give themselves this chance. Even if something seems pointless or unrewarding, sometimes it still needs to get done because there is a much greater impact/ reward in the distant future (doing our schoolwork, eating healthy, working out). Don't always see immediate results or rewards. Should be doing those things because they are inherently rewarding and good for longevity, a lot of us just fail to see that. Most of us at this point will know if something is good for us or not, it just depends on if we want to actually do it. That's when discipline comes in. Even if already doing good things, there are always ways to do it better and turn those good things into great things. Transition costs- each time switching from one task to another, there is a greater chance to get distracted or off track. Hardest part is starting. Me Update: Missed 2 weeks of podcasts, a lot going on- finals, flying back home, but its not an excuse. I didn't feel like I had anything important to share on the podcast. I use podcast as a way to confirm to myself that I'm actually growing and learning useful things through my education and more importantly self-education. Lately a lot of real estate but don't know how I'd organize that or even proclaim I learned to others because there is a lot of experience that needs to happen compared to investing in stocks. Anyways, I still should have found ways to make the episodes happen regardless of whatever pressures were going on. This is the mindset. Something clever I've been doing is listening to podcasts during workouts on 2x, can easily listen to 3-4 hours of podcasts per day without it impacting anything else. Something I need to do though is somehow manage the workout, listen more attentively, and take notes so I can remember it instead of going in one ear and out the other. Learning through osmosis doesn't work (sleeping and listening to stuff, passive listening) Give your tasks/ activities assigned times, it makes it more likely to complete them. Do them at same time everyday. The things I always get done is shooting hoops at the Y at 3 and my lifts at 9, because those have the most regularity. Otherwise, the rest of the day is a gamble.

Episode 17 of The Jack Brunswick Show explores everything you need to know about investing among other things, including: The power of compound interest, a snowball effect. Invest early and build momentum for your financial growth.  Bob vs Dave, how it works. What matters more- investing early, or investing a lot?  How much can we actually make from investing in our 20s.  How to maximize interest- what accounts, stock, and strategies should we use?  The best investing strategy in the long run is actually 100% hands off. Invest in the market as a whole. 90% of investors cannot beat the market.  Roth IRAs vs Tradtional IRAs- which should you start out with?  401k account and Thrift Savings Plan. The worst investing/financial advice that millions of people follow that they shouldn't. Playing the long run and being disciplined How to minimize taxes taken from your well-earned interest. Tax avoidance (legal), not tax evasion (illegal). How could I start my retirement investments at the age of 18? The best financial books to educate yourself and teach yourself everything you need to know about investing for under $50.