Episode 75

full
Published on:

24th Jun 2025

Andrew Wittman | The Inner Armor: Building Mental Toughness and Leadership Excellence

In this episode of The Last 10%, host Dallas Burnett sits down with Andrew Wittman, a former Marine turned resilience coach, to discuss his journey and expertise. Wittman, who has served as a police officer, federal agent, and author of 'Inner Armor Perpetual Resilience,' shares fascinating stories from his career protecting top political figures and training elite warriors. They delve into the concept of mental toughness, methods for building resilience, and specific strategies like 'suspending disbelief.' Wittman also touches on his time working with high-profile individuals such as Hillary Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu, and offers practical advice for leaders looking to unlock the last 10% of their capabilities.

Special Gift: https://getwarriortough.com/podcast

To follow Andrew on X, click here.

To follow Andrew on LinkedIn, click here.

Transcript
Dallas Burnett:

Hey, everybody.

Dallas Burnett:

We're talking to Andrew Whitman today.

Dallas Burnett:

What an amazing guy He is, a former marine police officer, federal agent turned

Dallas Burnett:

resilience coach, the creator of the Inner Armor Resilience System, the author

Dallas Burnett:

of Inner Armor Perpetual Resilience.

Dallas Burnett:

He's protected.

Dallas Burnett:

World leaders like Nancy Pelosi and trained elite warriors has some

Dallas Burnett:

incredible stories of staying mission ready, under pressure, building mental

Dallas Burnett:

toughness, and leading through chaos.

Dallas Burnett:

He's a great new friend of mine.

Dallas Burnett:

You don't want to miss this incredible conversation.

Dallas Burnett:

Welcome to the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

Your host, Dallas Burnett, dives into incredible conversations that will inspire

Dallas Burnett:

you to finish well and finish strong.

Dallas Burnett:

Listen as guests share their journeys and valuable advice on living in the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to level

Dallas Burnett:

up, you are in the right place.

Dallas Burnett:

Remember, you can give 90% effort and make it a long way, but it's finding

Dallas Burnett:

out how to unlock the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

That makes all the difference in your life, your relationships, and your work.

Dallas Burnett:

Now here's Dallas.

Dallas Burnett:

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm Burnett, sitting in my 1905 Koch Brothers barber chair in Thrive Studios.

Dallas Burnett:

But more importantly, today we have a great guest.

Dallas Burnett:

He's a Marine Corps combat veteran.

Dallas Burnett:

Former federal agent has a PhD in theological psychology.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh my gosh, we're gonna have to talk about that.

Dallas Burnett:

Who's protected heads of state like Hillary Clinton, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Dallas Burnett:

He's trained Navy Seals and special forces.

Dallas Burnett:

Now he equips leaders, teaches teams how to thrive in high stress environments

Dallas Burnett:

with his new inner armor system.

Dallas Burnett:

He's a world class expert in resilience and high stakes performance.

Dallas Burnett:

He's gonna share some tools with us today, so welcome to the show, Andrew.

Andrew Wittman:

Thanks Dallas for having me.

Andrew Wittman:

I gotta get me one of them chairs.

Andrew Wittman:

Man, that thing is awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

everyone needs a chair.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah, that Coke chair from 19, I mean, yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Barber chair.

Andrew Wittman:

I need that.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, that's so cool.

Andrew Wittman:

What a flex, bro.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

You know, we had this special reveal in the episode, I don't know what it

Dallas Burnett:

was, episode 50 or something, but I saw this, one back in former life I

Dallas Burnett:

was in, in music was writing songs.

Dallas Burnett:

I was gonna Nashville all the time.

Dallas Burnett:

I got hooked up with Charlie Daniels and, so they had us out to his studio

Dallas Burnett:

we walked in and, he wasn't even there.

Dallas Burnett:

He was out on the road and his manager takes us into the

Dallas Burnett:

studio and it's all empty.

Dallas Burnett:

But I'm like, looking around, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is incredible.

Dallas Burnett:

It's just like in the backyard and like some barn in the

Dallas Burnett:

back of his, you know, farm.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

like we walk in and this had this massive board

Dallas Burnett:

and just like what you'd think.

Dallas Burnett:

And then I turn around in the back of the room, there's this

Dallas Burnett:

big barber chair sitting there, this huge, huge barber chair.

Dallas Burnett:

And I was like, Is that where everybody, are they here for so

Dallas Burnett:

many days just living in the studio?

Dallas Burnett:

They gotta have a barber chair.

Dallas Burnett:

They just bring the barber in and cut everybody's hair.

Dallas Burnett:

They're like, no, dude, they don't do that.

Dallas Burnett:

That's Charlie Daniel's chair.

Dallas Burnett:

And I was like,

Andrew Wittman:

Aw.

Dallas Burnett:

if he's got a chair like that, his studio he

Dallas Burnett:

sits in, I gotta give him one of

Andrew Wittman:

right.

Dallas Burnett:

that's, that's one of the reasons

Andrew Wittman:

Dude, that is so awesome.

Andrew Wittman:

And of course you just reminded me of that when, Jack, my son was young,

Andrew Wittman:

he said, now as Charlie Daniels and Jack Daniels, are they brothers?

Andrew Wittman:

I said, no, but I think they're closely related.

Dallas Burnett:

Would not surprise me.

Dallas Burnett:

That's awesome.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Good stuff.

Dallas Burnett:

man, so just, I'm excited about this conversation

Dallas Burnett:

today because you've just had such amazing, just incredible experiences.

Dallas Burnett:

You

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

over the world, train all these things.

Dallas Burnett:

Well, I just want to get into that, but I want to jump back a little bit.

Dallas Burnett:

Before we get there, tell us a little bit about your story.

Dallas Burnett:

what's your history, where'd you come from, and how did you get into becoming

Dallas Burnett:

this, big time, resilience, coach, military special aids and all this stuff.

Dallas Burnett:

Give us a little

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

So, my mom and daddy were missionaries and, I went to high

Andrew Wittman:

school in a town called Wagga Wagga, new South Wales in Australia.

Andrew Wittman:

And, there was four Americans in the town.

Andrew Wittman:

Two were my parents, one was my younger brother, and the other was me.

Andrew Wittman:

And there's, it was, they didn't have anything back then where it was in

Andrew Wittman:

the eighties and there was no, not a Pizza Hut, McDonald's, nothing.

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Andrew Wittman:

So, um, they, and we were, a strange attitude, but I was

Andrew Wittman:

the fat kid in high school.

Andrew Wittman:

And of course the Australians, they loved nicknames.

Andrew Wittman:

They called me beach ball.

Andrew Wittman:

because I was five three and 185 pounds.

Andrew Wittman:

and yeah, and I got bullied a lot, right?

Andrew Wittman:

Because I wasn't allowed to fight back.

Andrew Wittman:

So, and then, you know, I would cry and, all this stuff, missionaries,

Andrew Wittman:

kids, anyway, and then I would turn to food for comfort, which would make me

Andrew Wittman:

even a bigger target for the bullies.

Andrew Wittman:

but I met two guys there and they, got me, they took me under their wing and

Andrew Wittman:

introduced me to the military, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So when left, the mission field.

Andrew Wittman:

I was supposed to go to a, bible college and, my choices were Bob Jones or Liberty

Andrew Wittman:

at that time 'cause that's who was given a scholarship to the missionaries.

Andrew Wittman:

And I was like, I'm a fat kid and I'm, I live in fear and anxiety, I'm

Andrew Wittman:

gonna enlist in the Marine Corps.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what I did.

Andrew Wittman:

I was like, that was like, my parents were like, what?

Andrew Wittman:

I don't think so.

Andrew Wittman:

You know, so, so I went down to the recruiter's office and I sat

Andrew Wittman:

there for like four hours 'cause he's out doing stuff and the Navy

Andrew Wittman:

recruiter's Hey, you wanna come over here, fat kid, we got great for you.

Andrew Wittman:

we got great food in the Navy.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, no, I wanna be a Marine.

Andrew Wittman:

So I signed up, and I made in my contract that I would be in the infantry.

Andrew Wittman:

and I asked him, and he's are you sure you need your charts are your test

Andrew Wittman:

scores are like air traffic controller.

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm like, avionics.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, dude, Avi, I don't wanna do electronics.

Andrew Wittman:

I would've went to Lincoln Technical Institute for that.

Andrew Wittman:

You know what I mean?

Andrew Wittman:

I want to, I wanna roll in the mud and blow stuff up, dude.

Andrew Wittman:

so I went to bootcamp and I lost 50 pounds in bootcamp and,

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Andrew Wittman:

was the beginning of my obsession for

Andrew Wittman:

mental toughness or resilience.

Andrew Wittman:

I had to get my physical cylinder under control.

Andrew Wittman:

And then, so I learned that from the Marine Corps.

Andrew Wittman:

I spent six years in the Corps.

Andrew Wittman:

I was in desert.

Dallas Burnett:

you feel like that

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

you feel like that was one of the, was one of the motivations

Dallas Burnett:

to go into the military to get in shape and to feel like get that

Andrew Wittman:

a hundred percent.

Dallas Burnett:

you

Andrew Wittman:

hundred percent.

Andrew Wittman:

Man.

Andrew Wittman:

I did not wanna be like, I did not want to live my life in fear and

Andrew Wittman:

anxiety and, that life was always pushing me around like these bills.

Andrew Wittman:

And I had no, I had no way to fight back or to do, to take control of anything.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm really, I'm like a control freak, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I, anything that I can control, I will.

Andrew Wittman:

But then I found out the only thing I actually can control

Andrew Wittman:

is my response to anything.

Andrew Wittman:

It's, I can't control anything external or other people.

Andrew Wittman:

I have to control me.

Andrew Wittman:

So I, that, that's the journey, right?

Andrew Wittman:

but it started there because I wanted to take control of my not

Andrew Wittman:

being the fat kid and being scared.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

know though, I mean, your, your mom and dad's in Australia.

Dallas Burnett:

They're are they like, dude, what are you,

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

No,

Dallas Burnett:

did they have to wrestle with that

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

No, they wrestled a lot with it.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause my mom and dad are, or were, I say Bob Jones Baptist,

Andrew Wittman:

but they're all independent.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Andrew Wittman:

There's not like a, it's not like the Southern Baptist.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Andrew Wittman:

So very fundamentalist.

Andrew Wittman:

And, really they were like, I don't wanna say that they were saying I was

Andrew Wittman:

going to hell, but that's what they said.

Andrew Wittman:

If you join the military, 'cause we don't do that.

Andrew Wittman:

they don't even vote.

Andrew Wittman:

They don't, do you know what I mean?

Andrew Wittman:

we don't do any of those things.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

One of those deals.

Andrew Wittman:

So

Dallas Burnett:

Oh

Andrew Wittman:

okay.

Andrew Wittman:

We all made, it was great.

Andrew Wittman:

It was at the time.

Andrew Wittman:

And I made this decision, before I was 18.

Andrew Wittman:

I. I tried to, you know, enlist and so the embassy in Canberra drove whatever

Andrew Wittman:

the three and a half hours to the Outback in Wagga Waa to try and get

Andrew Wittman:

my parents to sign the consent form.

Andrew Wittman:

And they're like, they ain't signing that.

Andrew Wittman:

no, get outta here.

Andrew Wittman:

So that was, so I had to wait till my 18th birthday before I did.

Andrew Wittman:

That's so I was going against the grain, but there was

Andrew Wittman:

restoration with my mom and dad.

Andrew Wittman:

Don't, I, that's one of the things that I prayed for when I was like 18 or 19.

Andrew Wittman:

Even when you get 20, you realize your parents were actually smarter

Andrew Wittman:

than you gave them credit for.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, wait, they knew what they were doing, And because, and I'll

Andrew Wittman:

tell, and it's honestly because my dad was a strict disciplinarian.

Andrew Wittman:

We were fundamentalists.

Andrew Wittman:

Bootcamp was like vacation.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh,

Andrew Wittman:

the drill Strucker yelled at me.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, ah, that's easy.

Andrew Wittman:

I got this.

Andrew Wittman:

So I rose to the top very quickly in that Marine Corps discipline society.

Andrew Wittman:

So shout out to my,

Dallas Burnett:

like

Andrew Wittman:

oh man, I'm like, this is easier than home.

Andrew Wittman:

I,

Dallas Burnett:

That's so funny.

Dallas Burnett:

I've never, that's not, my bootcamp was like a

Andrew Wittman:

it was, thanks.

Dallas Burnett:

That's great.

Dallas Burnett:

So you go through, you're in the Marines and you're there for a while and then

Dallas Burnett:

you transition how, what does that

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

So I, I get through my, I did six years and I did, like I said, I

Andrew Wittman:

did, desert Storm and I was in combat during Papa Panama thing.

Andrew Wittman:

We did, I did five deployments in six years in the infantry, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I also did counter terrorism in the Philippines, counter

Andrew Wittman:

terrorism in Honduras.

Andrew Wittman:

And so I, and I got married along the way, right?

Andrew Wittman:

And I wanted to be with my bride, and we got tired of being gone

Andrew Wittman:

all the time from each other.

Andrew Wittman:

oh, I wish, she's I didn't get married for you to deploy every 10 minutes, So

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, we're just separated constantly.

Andrew Wittman:

So I was like, all right, this is not my, the life for me.

Andrew Wittman:

So I got out and I did go to Bible college, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So then I went, and I was like, I just, I'm not ready for the, the ministry thing,

Andrew Wittman:

I was a little too not high speed, and I mean, I'm not saying I'm addicted to

Andrew Wittman:

adrenaline or whatever, but, so anyway.

Dallas Burnett:

after you go from getting bullets shot at you and

Andrew Wittman:

You

Dallas Burnett:

counter-terrorism, I could

Andrew Wittman:

so what I did was I Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Know, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So anyway, so I started my law enforcement career there in Spartanburg County.

Andrew Wittman:

I became a sheriff's deputy in Spartanburg County.

Dallas Burnett:

oh

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

In 1997.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

and Chuck Wright was like, he was on a traffic unit at the time, and

Andrew Wittman:

we both had the same Sergeant John Lyles, and I was just a rookie and

Andrew Wittman:

he was, the, the experienced traffic veteran and everybody wanted to be

Andrew Wittman:

Chuck, 'cause he had the unmarked car and, you know, it was so, yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

and then I, it was great watching him become, and I think he's retiring

Andrew Wittman:

now or something, but he had a really great run and what a great dude.

Andrew Wittman:

So that was my, how I started my law enforcement career at Spartanburg

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Dallas Burnett:

That's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

That's

Andrew Wittman:

County.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

that is really neat.

Dallas Burnett:

So then you go from law enforcement into this

Andrew Wittman:

Well, I became a federal agent because here's what happened.

Andrew Wittman:

Here's what ha what had happened was, my wife became pregnant with

Andrew Wittman:

her first, and she says, baby, I wanna be a stay at home mom.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, I'm all about that.

Andrew Wittman:

But you're making 65% of our income.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause at the sheriff at the time, I was making $7 and 41 cents an

Andrew Wittman:

hour, like literally no overtime.

Andrew Wittman:

It was $21,000 a year.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm like, we cannot make it on that baby.

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Andrew Wittman:

So, uh, I just put in all my federal applications to every A, B, CI

Andrew Wittman:

took every test, the marshals, the DEA, the Secret Service.

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Andrew Wittman:

so the one who called me was US Capitol Police, which

Andrew Wittman:

I had rarely never even heard of, but I found out that they do the

Andrew Wittman:

same thing the Secret Service does.

Andrew Wittman:

They just do it for the House and the Senate.

Andrew Wittman:

And then, so of course, the ones that ask each to the dance, that's who you go with.

Andrew Wittman:

So I entered, I moved to DC, became a capital police officer, spent about

Andrew Wittman:

three years in uniform, and then got a chance to become an agent.

Andrew Wittman:

and I went through, agent training with the diplomatic security Service.

Andrew Wittman:

At the time, I was the last class that went through diplomatic security service

Andrew Wittman:

with the State Department for Capitol Police before they had their own.

Andrew Wittman:

so I was a State Department trained agent.

Andrew Wittman:

That was right before nine 11.

Andrew Wittman:

It was like April I. of 2001 and then nine 11 happened, and they just immediately

Andrew Wittman:

pulled me over to, do protective work.

Andrew Wittman:

And that's where we got into that.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh my gosh.

Dallas Burnett:

So what was it like, you go from a, like a local, sheriff type role in

Dallas Burnett:

the deep south to DC protecting heads of state and was that like, was that

Dallas Burnett:

a very difficult transition or was it like, oh, this is what I'm made to

Andrew Wittman:

it was difficult when I went into uniform up there because

Andrew Wittman:

it's a lot of so in South Carolina, we're the right now police, right?

Andrew Wittman:

My zone, I had Greer, Lyman, Wellford Duncan Reedville, right?

Andrew Wittman:

It was 150 square miles and there's only two deputies on any given

Andrew Wittman:

time covering that entire thing.

Andrew Wittman:

So my backup's half an hour away.

Andrew Wittman:

So when you're showing up to domestic violence or whatever it

Andrew Wittman:

is, you show, it's you, right?

Andrew Wittman:

you, your guys got, so it's adrenaline high.

Andrew Wittman:

I mean it's very dangerous.

Andrew Wittman:

It's a, My kids always lay, they say that's when I learned how to

Andrew Wittman:

lie, was at the sheriff's office.

Andrew Wittman:

It's not lying, it's deescalating.

Andrew Wittman:

No, we're not arresting anybody.

Andrew Wittman:

I just need you to put these handcuffs on for, Hey, it's just for your safety and

Andrew Wittman:

my, I just need you to get in the car.

Andrew Wittman:

We're not going anywhere.

Andrew Wittman:

I just don't want the neighbors seeing you in the street.

Andrew Wittman:

Next thing you know, it's a half an hour later we're, at

Andrew Wittman:

the sally port, up at the jail.

Dallas Burnett:

I

Andrew Wittman:

jail.

Andrew Wittman:

Right,

Dallas Burnett:

so

Andrew Wittman:

right,

Dallas Burnett:

so true.

Andrew Wittman:

So it's,

Dallas Burnett:

I can totally

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

That's,

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Andrew Wittman:

So

Dallas Burnett:

no, we're not gonna jail.

Andrew Wittman:

Deescalation.

Andrew Wittman:

so

Dallas Burnett:

Right,

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

so we did all that.

Andrew Wittman:

And then I get to Capitol Police and I'm in uniform and I'm like,

Andrew Wittman:

I'm standing here at this stairwell making sure a terrorist doesn't walk

Andrew Wittman:

in for 16 hours a day watching the paint change color from beige to ecro.

Andrew Wittman:

You know what I mean?

Andrew Wittman:

And I was miserable.

Dallas Burnett:

man.

Andrew Wittman:

at the sheriff's office I made I think 'cause I would, you

Andrew Wittman:

count your arrest, like your stats would be like I made like 356 arrests

Andrew Wittman:

in the last six months I was there.

Andrew Wittman:

dudes would make go through their whole career, Capitol, police,

Andrew Wittman:

and barely make three arrests.

Andrew Wittman:

You know what I mean?

Andrew Wittman:

'cause it's not, it's a different mission.

Andrew Wittman:

So once I got outta uniform and I went to the agent side, then it's crazy

Andrew Wittman:

because now, my jurisdiction is all the US states and its territories

Andrew Wittman:

and any, and now I'm on a protective detail and the US title code.

Andrew Wittman:

Now see, we have the same authority that the Secret Service

Andrew Wittman:

does in their protective detail.

Andrew Wittman:

It's

Andrew Wittman:

code 18 or whatever, right?

Andrew Wittman:

But separation of, powers eight, article three.

Andrew Wittman:

I have the same power as Article two.

Andrew Wittman:

And interesting thing about Capitol Police, they're the only

Andrew Wittman:

legislative branch law enforcement.

Andrew Wittman:

I mean that, that's like the original deep state, right?

Andrew Wittman:

The Congress has their own, they're not subject to anybody but congress.

Dallas Burnett:

oh, wow.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

had no idea.

Dallas Burnett:

I had no

Andrew Wittman:

They the Secret Service agents.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause they're like, yeah, you're not, we're the Secret Service.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, yeah, but I get overtime pay, so I'm on plumbers pay by two

Andrew Wittman:

30 in the afternoon and you guys are on law enforcement availability

Andrew Wittman:

pay, which is 25% of your base.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm making, I capped out at whatever the speaker made.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Andrew Wittman:

So it's one of the best kept secrets.

Andrew Wittman:

I just let it out.

Andrew Wittman:

You know that they pay their agents time and a half, not, they pay 'em hourly

Andrew Wittman:

and not on a salary and then we give you 25% to be at our beck and call.

Andrew Wittman:

so it, I mean it was great.

Andrew Wittman:

Great.

Dallas Burnett:

wow.

Dallas Burnett:

And so you would just essentially travel with members of Congress,

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

offering that

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

and plan that out.

Andrew Wittman:

Correct.

Dallas Burnett:

your

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

So doing the advance.

Andrew Wittman:

when I first started out, I got in, they pulled me off a midnight post.

Andrew Wittman:

I like this agent, special agent in charge saw me stand and post

Andrew Wittman:

on midnights after nine 11.

Andrew Wittman:

It was like a, not even three days after nine 11, we didn't leave the

Andrew Wittman:

hill for I don't know, a week, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm out on post at midnight, we're sleeping in the locker room

Andrew Wittman:

and he, he just slams on the brakes of this thing and he gets out.

Andrew Wittman:

He is like, Whit, what are you doing here?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, I, this is what I, my job.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm on my post.

Andrew Wittman:

He's Nope.

Andrew Wittman:

He called the watch commander had me relieved.

Andrew Wittman:

He said, it's already two in the morning, be back here in a suit and

Andrew Wittman:

tie at seven in the morning for roll call over at the, I'm like, okay.

Andrew Wittman:

And so that morning they,

Dallas Burnett:

Oh

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, all right, we're in it now.

Andrew Wittman:

And that's how it started.

Andrew Wittman:

And then they put me with Hillary Clinton.

Andrew Wittman:

For the first couple weeks.

Andrew Wittman:

So I don't know even remember this, but it was like right after

Andrew Wittman:

she, they left the White House.

Andrew Wittman:

It's 2001.

Andrew Wittman:

Bush is new.

Andrew Wittman:

She's a new senator.

Andrew Wittman:

But she was the first lady.

Andrew Wittman:

So she still has secret service protection for as the first lady,

Andrew Wittman:

but now she's a sitting senator.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Andrew Wittman:

So she can't be on the, so we have so have jurisdiction.

Andrew Wittman:

So she's got two details She's got the Secret Service and then Capitol Police.

Andrew Wittman:

So I was the officer whenever she's on the Hill Capitol police

Andrew Wittman:

agent had to be with them.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh my goodness.

Dallas Burnett:

So you're literally working with her Secret Service?

Andrew Wittman:

Correct.

Dallas Burnett:

because she's First

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

And how does that, do you guys get along Hey man, what's up?

Andrew Wittman:

Oh, no, we, they were great.

Andrew Wittman:

No, they were great.

Andrew Wittman:

I love those guys.

Andrew Wittman:

They were so funny, man.

Andrew Wittman:

so I'm with, yeah, so I'm with Hillary, and of course, so we're on the hill,

Andrew Wittman:

I'm a guy that will not be ignored.

Andrew Wittman:

Do you know what I'm saying?

Andrew Wittman:

Dallas, like you could tell me, right?

Dallas Burnett:

I got

Andrew Wittman:

so when I, even when I'm in uniform, like a senator

Andrew Wittman:

would, like Senator, Kennedy, Ted Kennedy would come in every morning.

Andrew Wittman:

I would be like, Hey, Senator, what's going on, Senator?

Andrew Wittman:

every morning he is gonna see me in uniform, right?

Andrew Wittman:

And he wouldn't, he would not even acknowledge I existed, dude.

Andrew Wittman:

He'd just walk grumbly.

Andrew Wittman:

Now I know he is shot in the back, so he is in pain and everything,

Andrew Wittman:

but I'm like, you know what?

Andrew Wittman:

Do not ignore Andrew.

Andrew Wittman:

So every day I would find, you know, I was watch him and every day that I

Andrew Wittman:

was, I would go tell him good morning.

Andrew Wittman:

I would go find whatever door that he came in, got out of his car.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm there like, so every day there I'm, ah,

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Andrew Wittman:

so after about six months of this, he finally just stops

Andrew Wittman:

and he turns around and he looks at me.

Andrew Wittman:

He's what is your name?

Andrew Wittman:

I was like, good morning.

Andrew Wittman:

Say up Andrew.

Andrew Wittman:

He is Andrew what?

Andrew Wittman:

Andrew?

Andrew Wittman:

What he is?

Andrew Wittman:

He like, okay.

Andrew Wittman:

So then after that he would always tell me, hi.

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

So

Dallas Burnett:

months

Andrew Wittman:

yeah, six months, I'm like, I'm not furniture man.

Andrew Wittman:

You're not gonna ignore me, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm here, I'll put my life on the line for you.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what, so I'm up with Hillary.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna be, I'm not gonna be ignored, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not just furniture.

Andrew Wittman:

So I have the conversation with, I am Andrew, blah, blah, blah.

Andrew Wittman:

and because I'm at the Capitol and I've been there for three years in

Andrew Wittman:

uniform, I know all the tunnels.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh wow.

Andrew Wittman:

if she doesn't want to get right, she doesn't wanna

Andrew Wittman:

get hit by the pre, the press, we gotta, I'm like, oh, no problem.

Andrew Wittman:

I get you to your car.

Andrew Wittman:

No one ever know you even left the building.

Andrew Wittman:

She's what?

Andrew Wittman:

Secret Service?

Andrew Wittman:

Don't know that they know the White House.

Andrew Wittman:

They don't know the capitol.

Andrew Wittman:

So I would take her around.

Andrew Wittman:

So a, after three weeks, her Secret Service detail will be like, man, I've

Andrew Wittman:

been on her detail for three years.

Andrew Wittman:

She still calls me Driver, you're here for three weeks and it's

Andrew Wittman:

Andrew this and Andrew that.

Andrew Wittman:

so it's, yeah, the beginning of my people whispering career, my wife calls it.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

But you're kind of, you're valuable at that point.

Dallas Burnett:

'cause now you know the

Andrew Wittman:

That's the thing.

Andrew Wittman:

You gotta solve their problems, even the ones they didn't even know they had.

Andrew Wittman:

And you solve 'em in a way that always helps.

Andrew Wittman:

So this is the beginning of what I've, right.

Andrew Wittman:

Managing upper, it is really mental toughness, right?

Andrew Wittman:

This is not what I want.

Andrew Wittman:

It's what the target is.

Andrew Wittman:

what is it that they want, what's the problem I need to solve for them?

Andrew Wittman:

Now I'm valuable and not only value, I become most, I'm like indispensable.

Andrew Wittman:

if I'm not there, they're not ha, they're uncomfortable.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, Linus with the blanket, right?

Andrew Wittman:

The blanket's gone.

Andrew Wittman:

so I did that for her for three weeks and then the anthrax crisis hit, and

Andrew Wittman:

we went right, and we got through that.

Andrew Wittman:

And then, they put me and I bounced around and did some stuff with Gephart

Andrew Wittman:

and a couple of, until they trained me, I had to do some, went to nine

Andrew Wittman:

11 to ground zero with Gephart.

Andrew Wittman:

And I had to learn the advance in New York.

Andrew Wittman:

my dad pastor a church in New York when I was in seventh or in fifth grade, right?

Andrew Wittman:

77. So I like knew my, I don't know.

Andrew Wittman:

this is God, bring it back to your memory.

Andrew Wittman:

But I knew my way around New York, in downtown Manhattan and Midtown Manhattan.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm five, I'm seven, I'm fifth grade.

Andrew Wittman:

Oh, I know.

Andrew Wittman:

But I know better than anybody else all of a sudden.

Andrew Wittman:

So now I'm the guy.

Andrew Wittman:

And that kind of marked me as, all right, he's ready to travel.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause he got our butt out of the fire in New York.

Andrew Wittman:

and then they put me with Joe Lieberman.

Andrew Wittman:

So now I'm his lead advance.

Andrew Wittman:

and I'm a Lieberman's detail.

Andrew Wittman:

My job is to go everywhere.

Andrew Wittman:

He's gonna go.

Andrew Wittman:

I have to get on the ground before him and totally advance everything out.

Andrew Wittman:

Now the Secret Service has a team of like 10 dudes in advance offices all over.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm one guy, capital police.

Andrew Wittman:

I have to advance every hotel, every route, every restaurant,

Andrew Wittman:

every venue, the hospital.

Andrew Wittman:

I need emergency, dental, all these things that go into it, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So it made me, very good at it because you have to, you had to wear all the

Andrew Wittman:

hats, like in the Secret Service.

Andrew Wittman:

It would be like one guy that just does the hotels.

Andrew Wittman:

He could spend like 10 years just doing the hotels.

Dallas Burnett:

just doing hotels.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh my gosh, that's incredible.

Dallas Burnett:

You've gotta do it all.

Dallas Burnett:

You've gotta be the

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah, so because,

Dallas Burnett:

know

Andrew Wittman:

so it helps you to be at the lower, I wanna say that's

Andrew Wittman:

the minor leagues, but that's how they looked at us at Capitol Police.

Andrew Wittman:

Capitol Police is probably getting a pretty good name now though.

Andrew Wittman:

After there was the shooting with Steve Scalise, right?

Andrew Wittman:

That kind of put 'em on the map.

Andrew Wittman:

And there was the January 6th stuff.

Andrew Wittman:

They're they have a little more well-known than they were back in the day.

Andrew Wittman:

it's a great agency though, because we have, anything that

Andrew Wittman:

you wanna do in law enforcement, you could do it at Capitol Police.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not trying to recruit for 'em, but it's, if you wanted to get

Andrew Wittman:

into Federal, that would be the place I would start because you

Andrew Wittman:

really can write your own ticket.

Andrew Wittman:

and there's still tons of opportunity.

Andrew Wittman:

you just gotta be willing to move to DC

Dallas Burnett:

Oh yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

and the connections of the network, the people that you're around every

Andrew Wittman:

every day.

Dallas Burnett:

I know that there's things that you can't

Dallas Burnett:

share, but just being in the room.

Andrew Wittman:

I am telling you, I told my mentors, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I learned how to do people with, my political mentors are my political,

Andrew Wittman:

but you're in the room with the best military minds, the best.

Andrew Wittman:

so so Ted Kennedy, here's the spinoff of Ted Kennedy.

Andrew Wittman:

So that happened.

Andrew Wittman:

Ted Kennedy, when I was a rookie officer, fast forward four years, Elton John's

Andrew Wittman:

coming to the hill for his AIDS thing.

Andrew Wittman:

hey, Ted Kennedy is sponsoring him.

Andrew Wittman:

Ted Kennedy says Andrew will be doing Elton John's protective detail.

Dallas Burnett:

what?

Andrew Wittman:

so I'm the guy, they call me out and they're like, oh, Senator Ken.

Andrew Wittman:

Oh, Senator Kennedy, watch.

Andrew Wittman:

Because I see, this is what I'm talking about.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm telling hi and I, and every time I'm talking four years later,

Andrew Wittman:

I need Andrew to do Elton John.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm with Elton John all day, and I do what I do for everybody else.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, I'm parking his car where it needs to be parked, everything.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm running it like, he's like the speaker of the house, right?

Andrew Wittman:

so by the time we're done, he's his aid come out and he's

Andrew Wittman:

Sir Elton wants to meet you.

Andrew Wittman:

Because I'm not talking to 'em.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm doing my job.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't have time to talk to you, man.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not taking a picture with you.

Andrew Wittman:

Or they, they wanna take a picture with me, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm like, so I'm like, okay.

Andrew Wittman:

So I go into the green room and he's super awesome, but he tries to

Andrew Wittman:

hire me to run his security detail.

Dallas Burnett:

What?

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

and I'm like, I can't, I'm doing this, I'm the, I got a thing,

Andrew Wittman:

I, I'm a federal agent, man.

Andrew Wittman:

I can't do I all, I could see myself was behind stage wearing the pink Feather

Andrew Wittman:

bow going, tiny dancer at all unit.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Tiny dancer at all units.

Andrew Wittman:

Rocket Man has left the building.

Andrew Wittman:

Tiny dancer, all unit, But he's super awesome.

Andrew Wittman:

he got tickets to my family and friends to, behind the stage in a meet and

Andrew Wittman:

greet when he was actually in the Greenville concert and my friends

Andrew Wittman:

at Green, at that Greenville concert went and they behind the stage.

Andrew Wittman:

He's super awesome, great super generous guy, but you're

Andrew Wittman:

around the best of the best.

Andrew Wittman:

And you learn, how do they think, how do they process information?

Andrew Wittman:

How do they observe?

Andrew Wittman:

What's their viewpoint, what's their mindset?

Andrew Wittman:

And that's, I wasn't wasting my time.

Dallas Burnett:

that's really great, man.

Dallas Burnett:

That's such a cool story about Elton John and, man, that's just to be

Dallas Burnett:

in the room and, just be able to experience how these conversations

Dallas Burnett:

are going down and see people and just being, that's just fantastic.

Dallas Burnett:

let's talk about a little bit, let's talk about some things you learned.

Dallas Burnett:

First of all, before we get into the inner armor or resilience and

Dallas Burnett:

in that discussion, was somebody that you ran across in, in your work

Dallas Burnett:

at in Washington that you really.

Dallas Burnett:

You respected how they approached things.

Dallas Burnett:

you made comments about different people, but was there anybody that

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

jumped out?

Dallas Burnett:

You were like that man or woman?

Dallas Burnett:

Man, when I was around them, I just, I paid extra close

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

they were just so awesome.

Andrew Wittman:

I'll tell you the, Joe Lieberman, he's the same.

Andrew Wittman:

He was the only guy that was the same, whether it was just me and him in the room

Andrew Wittman:

or we're in front of a press conference.

Andrew Wittman:

He's the same everywhere.

Andrew Wittman:

There's no shtick.

Andrew Wittman:

I, and he was like family to me.

Andrew Wittman:

Actually, my, the first day I was with him, it was, he's an Orthodox Jew, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So they walk on, they don't drive the car to synagogue on Sabbath.

Andrew Wittman:

They don't turn on the lights.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, guys, you're like part-time Amish, like no cars during the

Andrew Wittman:

weekend, Sabbath on Friday night.

Andrew Wittman:

So anyway, it's Y Kippur, it's Dave Atonement, and of

Andrew Wittman:

course I'm the new agent.

Andrew Wittman:

Remember this is back nine 11 just happened.

Andrew Wittman:

He was the vice presidential candidate, if you remember the Al Gore thing

Andrew Wittman:

and the bush, the hanging Chad.

Andrew Wittman:

So he's like a rock star still.

Andrew Wittman:

He's still a rock.

Andrew Wittman:

He's got a detail.

Andrew Wittman:

And so we need, he's going to, synagogue, which is, he lives in Georgetown,

Andrew Wittman:

so it's three miles from his house.

Andrew Wittman:

We're gonna, you're gonna have to walk, right?

Andrew Wittman:

and the car will trail the, in case there's, An incident, we'll throw him

Andrew Wittman:

in the Suburban, but somebody has to walk with him and you're the new guy.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, okay, I don't care.

Andrew Wittman:

I'll walk three miles.

Andrew Wittman:

It doesn't matter.

Andrew Wittman:

So we're right.

Andrew Wittman:

So he's gonna start telling me about Day of Atonement, right?

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm like, oh yeah, Senator.

Andrew Wittman:

That's what we believe.

Andrew Wittman:

What Jesus did.

Andrew Wittman:

he was Son of God, son of man, scapegoat and a sacrificial goat.

Andrew Wittman:

And hypostatic union was split and a scapegoat went, up to heaven to

Andrew Wittman:

put the blood on the, and he's what?

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm like, so I go through the whole thing and we get to the synagogue

Andrew Wittman:

and he is Hey, rabbi, this is Andrew.

Andrew Wittman:

He knows the Torah better than you.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, don't tell that.

Dallas Burnett:

That's hilarious that you're walking with the vice

Dallas Burnett:

presidential candidate who's Jewish, telling him about the nuances of,

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

and ju,

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Crazy.

Dallas Burnett:

it's

Andrew Wittman:

And then, so then I'm asking the question.

Andrew Wittman:

This is where he is he's you gotta talk to the rabbi.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause I'm like, alright Senator.

Andrew Wittman:

So here's my question is so Dave Atone we're, now how are

Andrew Wittman:

you atoning for your sins?

Andrew Wittman:

'cause there's no blood sacrifice.

Andrew Wittman:

You had to put the blood once a year.

Andrew Wittman:

Aaron had to take it, high priest had to take it in and put it on the mercy seat.

Andrew Wittman:

You're not doing that.

Andrew Wittman:

We believe Jesus did that once for all for us.

Andrew Wittman:

How are you atoning?

Andrew Wittman:

a fast and some prayers.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't, does that get it done?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not just, I'm just curious.

Andrew Wittman:

He's you gotta talk to the rabbi about that.

Andrew Wittman:

So that was the, and then, for the next year I was with him as his lead advance.

Andrew Wittman:

We'd always go to the, whatever synagogue we were in, the rabbinical students would

Andrew Wittman:

come over and they'd wanna debate, right?

Andrew Wittman:

They wanna talk to Andrew.

Andrew Wittman:

Now I could preach 'em the gospel, but only out of the Old Testament

Andrew Wittman:

you can't use the New Testament.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause they don't.

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm hanging out in Isaiah.

Andrew Wittman:

I call Isaiah the gospel, the Old Testament, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So you gotta, but I learned more.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm telling you, I learned more from them, about the covenant and about.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't know how we got into this, like the word blessing means it

Andrew Wittman:

culturally, it means, it means kneeling down and giving someone a gift.

Andrew Wittman:

When you bless somebody kneeling down, like you're giving a five-year-old

Andrew Wittman:

a piece of candy, which I was like, that's great, but they're like, but

Andrew Wittman:

culturally, Andrew, culturally, in our culture, it means somebody who

Andrew Wittman:

has consistently lucky success.

Andrew Wittman:

So someone looks at you and they say you're blessed.

Andrew Wittman:

It means because we recognize that you have consistently lucky success.

Andrew Wittman:

Like, how could that happen?

Andrew Wittman:

Joseph had consistently lucky success.

Andrew Wittman:

As soon as he got up, Daniel Shad recommended consistently.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, wow, that just blowing me, And then we got into words like,

Andrew Wittman:

what shalom means and all that.

Andrew Wittman:

So I learned a ton of the Hebrew stuff from them.

Andrew Wittman:

but it was, it's like you said, I'm not wasting my time or the

Andrew Wittman:

opportunity that's in front of me.

Andrew Wittman:

You know what I mean?

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's, it is just really cool to hear, you notice the consistency

Dallas Burnett:

of a man, of an individual.

Dallas Burnett:

Like you said, there's that, that he was somebody that you noticed was

Dallas Burnett:

the same on, on camera, off camera, at press conference, off at home.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's just really important.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's really cool that you were able to

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

and just see him in that capacity.

Dallas Burnett:

'cause obviously in Washington that's not,

Andrew Wittman:

No, he's the only, he's the only one I saw up there.

Andrew Wittman:

and I'll be honest with you, I'm not even like that.

Andrew Wittman:

like I, when I'm doing a ra, I put my radio voice on when I'm like, yeah,

Andrew Wittman:

welcome to the Get Warrior tough show.

Andrew Wittman:

He's so I, I'm not even, I'm not like that.

Andrew Wittman:

So it is just, it's an amazing thing.

Andrew Wittman:

And he was an amazing individual and he told me, he said, Andrew, I think,

Andrew Wittman:

we're both looking for the same guy.

Andrew Wittman:

You're looking for him to come back the second time.

Andrew Wittman:

We're looking for him to come back the first time.

Andrew Wittman:

It's the same guy though, and I'm almost there.

Andrew Wittman:

He said, I'm Almo, you almost got me to cross the finish line on it.

Andrew Wittman:

That was back in 2001, Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

And the last time I even, I did talk to him.

Andrew Wittman:

I had an email exchange with him, in 2018 after I saw when,

Andrew Wittman:

the embassy went into Jerusalem.

Andrew Wittman:

He was there with Bibe.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause he's the one that introduced me to Bibe.

Dallas Burnett:

Ah,

Andrew Wittman:

there's another story, right?

Andrew Wittman:

He said, bibe, this is Andrew Israel has no greater friend.

Andrew Wittman:

but, and then I saw he was there.

Andrew Wittman:

And so I emailed him, I saw you at the end.

Andrew Wittman:

He's yeah, it was a great day.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause he's, he's a covenant guy.

Andrew Wittman:

he's all about the, I learned so much about the covenant

Andrew Wittman:

from him and the Orthodox Jews.

Andrew Wittman:

It's just amazing.

Dallas Burnett:

so that's how you got connected with

Andrew Wittman:

Mm-hmm.

Dallas Burnett:

who you also did

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

so that's another story, right?

Andrew Wittman:

That's another one of those.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm guarding the back stairwell, I was on Lieberman's detail and after

Andrew Wittman:

nine 11, I was gone all the time.

Andrew Wittman:

Even if we're in DC I'm like getting home after midnight,

Andrew Wittman:

leaving before four in the morning.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm living on, a veteran caffeine and aspirin stacks.

Andrew Wittman:

You remember the ECA?

Andrew Wittman:

It's outlawed now, but I would take two of them, drink a gallon of, stuff,

Andrew Wittman:

and then I'm gonna Starbucks for a quad espresso just to get through the day.

Andrew Wittman:

there was days where you worked, just incredible day, right?

Andrew Wittman:

anyway, my son Drew, he was four years old at the time.

Andrew Wittman:

He came, one day I was there and he is daddy, how come you

Andrew Wittman:

don't live with us anymore?

Dallas Burnett:

Oh

Andrew Wittman:

And I was like, maybe I do.

Andrew Wittman:

And then I thought about it from his perspective.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't even, when I'm not traveling, I'm still, he's in bed.

Andrew Wittman:

the whole, I'm,

Dallas Burnett:

it.

Andrew Wittman:

yeah, not seeing me at all.

Andrew Wittman:

So I went to him, I said, could you guys just gimme, like four to six weeks in

Andrew Wittman:

uniform day work, just come off the road.

Andrew Wittman:

I know it's putting you in a jam, but it's really, it's a hardship for my family.

Andrew Wittman:

Could you?

Andrew Wittman:

And they're like, yeah, we'll do it.

Andrew Wittman:

So Lieberman was gracious enough to make it happen, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So he encouraged my superiors to make it happen.

Andrew Wittman:

So anyway, so I'm on day work and of course they're, the superiors

Andrew Wittman:

are not happy with me because, Look, it's just a thing, right?

Andrew Wittman:

That it's jealousy is really what it is.

Andrew Wittman:

So why do you have these people paying, like I'm working the system.

Andrew Wittman:

I wasn't working the system.

Andrew Wittman:

It was just, it's just favor.

Andrew Wittman:

But anyway, certain people, sergeants, whatever, so they're gonna then

Andrew Wittman:

yahoo's coming up on the hill and of course Lieberman is the sponsor.

Andrew Wittman:

and he's got his shim bet with him and, massage

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

anyway, so I'm on, they got me on this back stairwell.

Andrew Wittman:

It's not even near where he is coming.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm just guarding the stairwell, right?

Andrew Wittman:

and I'm sta I'm minding my sector man.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not looking around.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, but I can hear him down the end of the hall.

Andrew Wittman:

And, It's the TV lights and it's a circus, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So all the cameras, and they're all, and everybody's shouting questions

Andrew Wittman:

and they're supposed to go in one direction and I hear them make the turn.

Andrew Wittman:

they all turn and they're heading towards me, and I can hear

Andrew Wittman:

'em getting closer and closer.

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm like, this is not the, that's not the route, And here it is.

Andrew Wittman:

We walk up and I feel this hand on my shoulder, and I turn around

Andrew Wittman:

and it's Senator Lieberman.

Andrew Wittman:

And he is like, Andrew, I want you to meet Bebe.

Andrew Wittman:

Bebe.

Andrew Wittman:

This is Andrew.

Andrew Wittman:

Israel has no greater friend.

Andrew Wittman:

and so we're talking and, Bebe's like, why don't you come

Andrew Wittman:

with us the rest of the day?

Andrew Wittman:

why aren't you with us?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, I gotta hold down this stairwell store.

Andrew Wittman:

So the

Dallas Burnett:

got important work

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

So the senator,

Dallas Burnett:

Can't you

Andrew Wittman:

right?

Andrew Wittman:

So like one of the assistant chiefs are there, 'cause all the big wigs are there.

Andrew Wittman:

He looks at, and so Senator looks at him and says, can you get someone

Andrew Wittman:

to hold this post down for Andrew?

Andrew Wittman:

Oh, of course Senator just makes him hate me even more.

Andrew Wittman:

But, so the chief has to stand there.

Andrew Wittman:

And hold the post until they get someone else to relieve the chief.

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm off.

Andrew Wittman:

And we go and we have lunch and we spend the day with Bibe.

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm, and now, so yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

So that was another crazy, see, it's just, that's the thing though, is

Andrew Wittman:

like, how do you present yourself?

Andrew Wittman:

Are you, are you there?

Andrew Wittman:

I was there to learn, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not just, I'm gonna do my job, but I'm going to be a sponge and learn from it.

Andrew Wittman:

And then people, they look at that, man, I saw a video with,

Andrew Wittman:

president Obama, if you're a young person, he said, just do the job.

Andrew Wittman:

Great.

Andrew Wittman:

Whatever it is, don't look for more, pay, don't like, whatever

Andrew Wittman:

your thing is, just do it.

Andrew Wittman:

Really, really great.

Andrew Wittman:

People are gonna take notice.

Andrew Wittman:

And that's the best advice, like I could give anybody that I heard also

Andrew Wittman:

from him is I love hearing it from him.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause it's true.

Andrew Wittman:

Any high performer knows they look for somebody else that just

Andrew Wittman:

does get the lunch order, right?

Andrew Wittman:

Yes.

Andrew Wittman:

You may be getting lunch every day for the rest of your life

Andrew Wittman:

because you got the lunch order.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Andrew Wittman:

But get it right.

Andrew Wittman:

And then maybe we'll add dinner.

Dallas Burnett:

that's the last 10% right

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

captured a really great idea of why we're doing what we

Dallas Burnett:

do on the show because it is, there's a value of excellence and that,

Dallas Burnett:

you know, you can be pretty good.

Dallas Burnett:

You can get to that first 90%.

Dallas Burnett:

Takes a lot of work, but you can get

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

to live in that last 10%, man, it is, takes a

Dallas Burnett:

lot of effort and intentionality.

Dallas Burnett:

So I think that's a great transition.

Dallas Burnett:

Let's talk a little bit about how we can better ourselves and be more resilient.

Dallas Burnett:

You have a lot of discussions on this and you do a lot of training on this.

Dallas Burnett:

So, uh, what is something that you call it almost like a field manual, your

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

like a field manual, for mental operating system.

Dallas Burnett:

Was something like a, a practical drill or some nugget that, that you

Dallas Burnett:

would like to, to share with, listeners

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Like here's something that you could use right away.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm, I call it suspending your disbelief.

Andrew Wittman:

It's my two minute rule, right?

Andrew Wittman:

Ask you, can you suspend your disbelief for just two minutes?

Andrew Wittman:

People look at me like, what?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, look, have you ever seen a movie that you like Dallas?

Dallas Burnett:

Sure.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah,

Andrew Wittman:

so congratulations.

Andrew Wittman:

You suspended your disbelief for an hour and a half at least, because

Andrew Wittman:

you know it's not real, right?

Andrew Wittman:

Even the ones based on a true story or Hollywood or not, that ain't real.

Andrew Wittman:

You know that, right?

Dallas Burnett:

right.

Andrew Wittman:

in order to have a good time, you suspend your disbelief.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not asking you to do anything you don't do already.

Andrew Wittman:

But when you hear,

Dallas Burnett:

me, let's give a practical example.

Dallas Burnett:

So like the movie, I like

Andrew Wittman:

yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

but let's land the plane and I'm at work, I'm doing

Andrew Wittman:

right?

Andrew Wittman:

How does this work, right?

Dallas Burnett:

leading a team?

Andrew Wittman:

It leads the team.

Andrew Wittman:

You're gonna hear the voice of resistance in your head.

Andrew Wittman:

That won't work.

Andrew Wittman:

That's impossible.

Andrew Wittman:

That's crazy talk.

Andrew Wittman:

You can't do that when you hear, 'cause you're all hear it.

Andrew Wittman:

It might be even when you're leading the team.

Andrew Wittman:

and it's as great as a leader.

Andrew Wittman:

When my team says we can't do it, or I call 'em the America cans, we're gonna

Andrew Wittman:

tell you all the things we can't do, not the Americans, all the things we can't do.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna be like, no, I get it.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not arguing.

Andrew Wittman:

This is impossible.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm asking the impossible.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not arguing that.

Andrew Wittman:

But if it were possible, all I'm asking you to do for two

Andrew Wittman:

minutes, just play along with me.

Andrew Wittman:

Suspend your disbelief.

Andrew Wittman:

If it were possible, how do you guys think we would do it?

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

It just opens

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

all kind of possibilities.

Andrew Wittman:

because the brain, you given

Dallas Burnett:

out the

Andrew Wittman:

yeah, you given the brain permission to go find the answer.

Andrew Wittman:

And it could be crazy.

Andrew Wittman:

We're just brain, we're just brainstorming, what do we call it?

Andrew Wittman:

Storming, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I don't care if it's crazy.

Andrew Wittman:

Talk.

Andrew Wittman:

Just say what it is.

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm telling you without that, when you ask that question, you give the

Andrew Wittman:

human brain permission to find the answer and bypasses the voice of resistance.

Andrew Wittman:

You'll have 15 solutions, within like three minutes.

Andrew Wittman:

if you're having a team, everyone will come up with something and

Andrew Wittman:

then you could start putting them together, and winning them down.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that idea because it is so true that there's

Dallas Burnett:

always something that you get stuck on or you get hung up on.

Dallas Burnett:

We have these, worries or anxieties and I think that it's natural, a natural

Dallas Burnett:

tendency for people to, the pendulum to swing too far to the, to what you said,

Dallas Burnett:

the I cancer, that's this not gonna work.

Dallas Burnett:

And I, I do think it's so funny.

Dallas Burnett:

You just have to give yourself permission, to suspend that unbelief.

Dallas Burnett:

I think, and we talk about that in terms of, as a leader, it's important

Dallas Burnett:

that we battle for people's beliefs.

Dallas Burnett:

if I'm leading a team, I'm constantly doing things to try to shape

Dallas Burnett:

that belief, to try to guide that

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

because that belief is gonna drive action.

Dallas Burnett:

And so I think that's a fantastic tool.

Dallas Burnett:

One of the

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

battle for belief is just suspend the

Andrew Wittman:

Yes.

Andrew Wittman:

Because that really is a belief that we can't do it.

Andrew Wittman:

It's actually a belief.

Andrew Wittman:

So what I'm doing is just backdooring it, there's a, if you say we can't do

Andrew Wittman:

it, or that's impossible or it's hard.

Andrew Wittman:

Okay?

Andrew Wittman:

It's hard.

Andrew Wittman:

So what I. And

Andrew Wittman:

Ed.

Dallas Burnett:

that's

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

You know what I mean?

Andrew Wittman:

So that's just, that's, so that's the one thing you could do, like immediately,

Andrew Wittman:

the two minute rule, it'll, it'll revolutionize how you every problem.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause as soon as you hear the voice of resistance, no matter what it is, whether

Andrew Wittman:

it's, I can't lose weight or I can't get up early, oh, I gotta get up at 4:00

Andrew Wittman:

AM I gotta set 14 alarms, No, I agree.

Andrew Wittman:

You do.

Andrew Wittman:

But if you didn't, if you could just get on a bed and be

Andrew Wittman:

energized, how would you do it?

Dallas Burnett:

That's right.

Dallas Burnett:

That's right.

Dallas Burnett:

How would you do it?

Dallas Burnett:

And then it just, for, it forces you to create a new pathway, a new

Andrew Wittman:

No pathway.

Andrew Wittman:

Correct.

Dallas Burnett:

gotta break something out, so we're gonna do

Dallas Burnett:

something different, How about that?

Dallas Burnett:

So when you're thinking about this resiliency, how much, 'cause you

Dallas Burnett:

have a PhD, this kind of a, this blend of like, you know, the,

Dallas Burnett:

this, the soul and the mind kind of

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

theological psychology.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm, I've never, honestly, I've never heard of that degree,

Andrew Wittman:

It's not really the degree is theological studies.

Andrew Wittman:

But my master's in divinity was all psychology.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause then when you do your md it's all counseling, right?

Andrew Wittman:

It's massive psychology.

Andrew Wittman:

So I blended and then my PhD was, it's theology, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm, but it's this, theology is the study of God.

Andrew Wittman:

Psychology is the study of the soul.

Andrew Wittman:

It's very interconnected, right?

Andrew Wittman:

but how do we bridge the gap?

Andrew Wittman:

Well, the thing that's the, what's the thing?

Andrew Wittman:

The one piece is missionary is like not your spirit, not your

Andrew Wittman:

soul, but your body bios, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So in, in the, this is the, I'll just give you a quick theology.

Andrew Wittman:

The, in the Greek New Testament, there's three words for life.

Andrew Wittman:

In the English bio, it all says life.

Andrew Wittman:

One is bios, which is biology.

Andrew Wittman:

Natural life, right?

Andrew Wittman:

One is que, which is your soul psychology.

Andrew Wittman:

That's where we get the word.

Andrew Wittman:

And then Zoe, which is the eternal life.

Andrew Wittman:

Perpetual life, the life that God has.

Andrew Wittman:

It's the one you get born again, then your spirit's alive under God.

Andrew Wittman:

Now you're a three part being like God was, God made Adam, and then when

Andrew Wittman:

he died, his spirit died, your two.

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Andrew Wittman:

So, so here's the three parts.

Andrew Wittman:

We are know, it's spirit, soul, and body.

Andrew Wittman:

but the thing is the, and Jesus said this.

Andrew Wittman:

He said, look, the spirit is willing to be in charge, but the flesh is what?

Andrew Wittman:

Weak,

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

That week.

Andrew Wittman:

right?

Andrew Wittman:

So the body is the easiest part of us to dominate.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's began, that's what I had to do in the Marine Corps.

Andrew Wittman:

I had to dominate my body first before I could get my mind and emotions on board.

Andrew Wittman:

That's the whole soul is your mind will and emotions.

Andrew Wittman:

So if you can't dominate your body, you think you're gonna dominate

Andrew Wittman:

your angry outbursts or your, if you can't do the easy one, you're

Andrew Wittman:

not gonna do the hard one mind.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's where this whole blend came together and.

Andrew Wittman:

It's really been my obsession, right?

Andrew Wittman:

That's why if you ever see like a speaker or coach, our obsession is the thing

Andrew Wittman:

that we have the most problems with.

Andrew Wittman:

That's what our content is, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So that's all I'm doing is just is for me, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm doing all this for me to overcome this stuff, and if

Andrew Wittman:

it helps somebody else, great.

Andrew Wittman:

and that's what I wanna do,

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's so true though.

Dallas Burnett:

and you do hear that with, I write a book, it's always something

Dallas Burnett:

that I'm trying to wrestle through and I'm like, I need to do this.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's, yes, I can put a book out, but it's really, I need this for

Andrew Wittman:

right?

Dallas Burnett:

true.

Dallas Burnett:

'cause I feel like when you engage in the struggle around anything, you

Dallas Burnett:

find more truth in the struggle and in that perseverance and that endurance

Dallas Burnett:

through it's truth that becomes real.

Dallas Burnett:

It's that, that you literally, that struggle and that suffering shapes who

Dallas Burnett:

you are and it builds that truth into you.

Dallas Burnett:

Instead of it being like in your head,

Andrew Wittman:

Right,

Dallas Burnett:

no, it's deep.

Dallas Burnett:

It

Andrew Wittman:

right.

Dallas Burnett:

in me.

Dallas Burnett:

It's who I am

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

gone through

Andrew Wittman:

Correct.

Dallas Burnett:

I think it's so

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

And you talk a little bit about motivation and I think this

Dallas Burnett:

is a good spot for, 'cause you've talked about how your team needs this,

Dallas Burnett:

tactical, emotional armor and instead of motivation, and you've talked about

Dallas Burnett:

really training yourself and your body, what's the difference between

Dallas Burnett:

kind of relying on this motivation to whatever, get up in the morning and

Dallas Burnett:

whatever, or building a system, for resilience that like teams can depend

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

So this, you know, we all are, humans are creatures of habit.

Andrew Wittman:

We all know that.

Andrew Wittman:

And people will say, I would do one on the podium.

Andrew Wittman:

I ask people, I do a two day training.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, how long does it take to make a habit?

Andrew Wittman:

And they're like, 21 days or whatever.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, Nope.

Andrew Wittman:

It takes one time.

Andrew Wittman:

As soon as you're comfortable with something, you're going to, I said,

Andrew Wittman:

where's everybody gonna sit tomorrow?

Andrew Wittman:

When they come in to training tomorrow, you're gonna sit in the

Andrew Wittman:

same seat that you work, right?

Andrew Wittman:

And they'll let somebody be in your parking spot at work, even

Andrew Wittman:

though your name isn't on it.

Andrew Wittman:

Why are they parking in my spot?

Andrew Wittman:

Or they're the lunch table.

Andrew Wittman:

That's my spot.

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Andrew Wittman:

So a habit is as soon as we become comfortable with something,

Andrew Wittman:

now it's becomes our habit.

Andrew Wittman:

and, the way the brain works.

Andrew Wittman:

we take in, 11 million bits of information per second, but only 126 bits goes to

Andrew Wittman:

our conscious mind for action, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So how do we pick the 1 26?

Andrew Wittman:

is the filter of our beliefs and our attitudes.

Andrew Wittman:

But what I'm interested in is that 99% of the space of the brain, that's

Andrew Wittman:

not conscious, we are on autopilot.

Andrew Wittman:

Your brain is making, your heart is pumping, you know you're breathing.

Andrew Wittman:

It's all outside your consciousness because you've had these habits, that

Andrew Wittman:

you said, and you're on autopilot.

Andrew Wittman:

So what I wanna do is set these systems in place so that by habit, like I

Andrew Wittman:

work out every day because that's what I did in the Marine Corps, right?

Andrew Wittman:

and that's what we do.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't even know what to do, to not do it.

Andrew Wittman:

And on day rest it's like impossible.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, what am I doing?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, I have to do something.

Andrew Wittman:

because you have a habit and your body's that's not what we do.

Andrew Wittman:

I have a puppy, right?

Andrew Wittman:

And puppies are like the same thing.

Andrew Wittman:

He knows what the routine is.

Andrew Wittman:

If I get a treat every time you clean my ears, then I'm, as soon as you come

Andrew Wittman:

clean my ears, would you clean my ears?

Andrew Wittman:

Because I know I'm gonna get a treat here.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what I'm,

Dallas Burnett:

right.

Andrew Wittman:

not motivation.

Andrew Wittman:

He's operating on the system.

Andrew Wittman:

And that's what I wanna do with my teams is get Hey look, you guys get a

Andrew Wittman:

treat every time we clean your ears.

Andrew Wittman:

Go, can I clean my ears?

Andrew Wittman:

'cause I want to get the treat right.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm not motivating you.

Andrew Wittman:

Like we gotta get this done.

Andrew Wittman:

And I'm not giving the, the Mel Gibson speech and Braveheart

Andrew Wittman:

to get you to go into battle.

Andrew Wittman:

And I mean, there might be a time and a place for that, but that's

Andrew Wittman:

not an everyday thing, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I don't wanna rely on that.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that a hundred percent because I, it reminds me of, Do

Dallas Burnett:

Higgs book on habits, and then there's Atomic Habits, that everybody's, read by.

Dallas Burnett:

oh man, I, the author slipped the process essentially is, there's

Dallas Burnett:

a, there's some type of a trigger, like you have this conference and

Dallas Burnett:

you're going in the conference room, you gotta find a place to sit.

Dallas Burnett:

And that's the trigger I've

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

then there's the act of sitting in the seat.

Dallas Burnett:

And then the reason is there's a reward.

Dallas Burnett:

And the reward is that you don't have to worry about where you're gonna sit.

Dallas Burnett:

If

Andrew Wittman:

Hmm.

Andrew Wittman:

That's so good.

Dallas Burnett:

place.

Dallas Burnett:

There's comfort,

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

And so what you're saying is that like with your dog,

Dallas Burnett:

your puppy's ears, if you let me clean your ears, there's the trigger.

Dallas Burnett:

Hey, you've got dirty ears.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm coming to clean it.

Dallas Burnett:

And then the actual cleaning, and then the reward, which is the treat.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

we're very engaged in that process.

Dallas Burnett:

Even though we are not thinking about it, we're moving towards

Dallas Burnett:

things that make our life

Andrew Wittman:

Yes.

Dallas Burnett:

We, at least we perceive, or

Andrew Wittman:

Better, right?

Andrew Wittman:

More comfortable.

Andrew Wittman:

that's the word

Dallas Burnett:

Or comfortable.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah, more comfortable.

Dallas Burnett:

And so I think what you're, to your point is when we can build systems

Dallas Burnett:

with our teams that make rewards, make resilience part of the reward,

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's really meaningful and

Andrew Wittman:

right?

Dallas Burnett:

it's like the working out thing.

Dallas Burnett:

Like if I'm.

Dallas Burnett:

I wasn't in the military and I didn't get, you know, have a habit of working

Dallas Burnett:

out, what are the things, what are the systems that I can put in place to allow

Dallas Burnett:

me to work out where there is something at the end where it makes me, it's either,

Dallas Burnett:

the endorphin release or if it's man, I get myself my favorite smoothie at

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Dallas Burnett:

Or I allow myself to watch an extra half an hour of, Netflix if I

Andrew Wittman:

Yep.

Dallas Burnett:

my workout, whatever that is.

Dallas Burnett:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

Is that kinda what you're

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah, so always reward good behavior.

Andrew Wittman:

And this is how when I raise my kids, and a lot of times

Andrew Wittman:

we don't reward good behavior.

Andrew Wittman:

We just yell at the bad behavior, or we punish bad behavior or correct.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't care about the bad behavior.

Andrew Wittman:

If I reward enough good behavior, like I'm not even gonna acknowledge,

Andrew Wittman:

if the team is being, 'cause here's what we know in psychology.

Andrew Wittman:

Here's my psychology, right?

Andrew Wittman:

if I point something out, don't think of a pink elephant, what did you just do?

Dallas Burnett:

You got it.

Dallas Burnett:

you're

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna be like, Hey man, it's hot in here.

Andrew Wittman:

Like I'd be on the stage and it's a million degrees out.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm sweating.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna be like, is it hot in here?

Andrew Wittman:

Because now I've just drew everybody's attention to it.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not even gonna talk about it.

Andrew Wittman:

So it's same thing with the team.

Andrew Wittman:

Are you guys are all dismotivated, nobody has good communication.

Andrew Wittman:

Why are you just, you're just running us down the wrong path, man.

Dallas Burnett:

sure.

Andrew Wittman:

the neurons that fire together wire together, you're

Andrew Wittman:

wiring us down the wrong path.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm gonna always reward good behavior.

Andrew Wittman:

So I want that neuron to fire that group of neurons to fire together again.

Andrew Wittman:

So that every time we go down this path, I know it's good until I, and

Andrew Wittman:

eventually you don't even need the reward.

Andrew Wittman:

Because now I've, that's what we do.

Andrew Wittman:

It's my circuit.

Andrew Wittman:

That's my business.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

it's my identity at that point.

Andrew Wittman:

You

Dallas Burnett:

it's,

Andrew Wittman:

that's the process,

Dallas Burnett:

feel strange if I don't do it.

Andrew Wittman:

Correct?

Dallas Burnett:

also, I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

I like not pointing out.

Dallas Burnett:

If you're speaking in a room that's really hot, like just, it's

Dallas Burnett:

a non-issue that, because you're not drawing attention to it.

Dallas Burnett:

I don't know the trick this was, because you're Clemson, you're, you've worked with

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

team during their glory

Andrew Wittman:

Yes,

Dallas Burnett:

when they were in

Andrew Wittman:

I did.

Andrew Wittman:

Yes,

Dallas Burnett:

which is amazing.

Dallas Burnett:

You're like, you're everywhere.

Dallas Burnett:

Like you're everywhere, man.

Dallas Burnett:

You're all over the world.

Dallas Burnett:

Even, even college football,

Andrew Wittman:

I have college football.

Andrew Wittman:

I loved it, man.

Andrew Wittman:

I, that was, it was so much fun.

Andrew Wittman:

You know, I had a show on the Roar too, on 1 0 5 5.

Andrew Wittman:

I was, yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

Look at

Andrew Wittman:

I used to be on Out of Bounds, like KK used to

Andrew Wittman:

bring me on when it was KK and Dutch, and then I still Dutch.

Andrew Wittman:

And then we did the Get Warrior Tough show.

Andrew Wittman:

It was Andrew and Dutch.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh wow.

Dallas Burnett:

That's

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah, babe.

Dallas Burnett:

heard you on the radio then.

Dallas Burnett:

but to your point, like one of the things I heard, one of their, I guess it was

Dallas Burnett:

their strength coach, say one time I heard him talking at a luncheon or whatever

Dallas Burnett:

event, and he said, we tell our guys that.

Dallas Burnett:

If you come here and you're, coming into this training in the summer, we don't

Dallas Burnett:

say that it's hot or it's cold, whatever.

Dallas Burnett:

We don't say it's hard.

Dallas Burnett:

We say

Andrew Wittman:

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Dallas Burnett:

hot.

Dallas Burnett:

we like it when it's absolutely a hundred degrees and you're sweating it.

Andrew Wittman:

Yes.

Dallas Burnett:

we are thriving

Andrew Wittman:

Yes.

Dallas Burnett:

going.

Andrew Wittman:

it.

Dallas Burnett:

And what I've found, I know was just sitting

Dallas Burnett:

there and it just, I know everybody else is like enjoying their salad.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm sitting there just blown away.

Dallas Burnett:

'cause I'm like, this guy's just dropped

Andrew Wittman:

Massive.

Dallas Burnett:

out a way to tell someone that the reward is

Dallas Burnett:

actually the thing that they hate.

Andrew Wittman:

Yes.

Dallas Burnett:

you hate getting up earlier.

Dallas Burnett:

Maybe you hate going out and sweating all day.

Dallas Burnett:

And he just took that and flipped it on his head and said, no,

Andrew Wittman:

I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

is what we love

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

it when it's displayed.

Andrew Wittman:

A hundred percent, dude.

Dallas Burnett:

man, that's a mental circus that I wanna be a part of that.

Andrew Wittman:

that's what you have to do, is you just have to force

Andrew Wittman:

yourself to change your self-talk.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what I was a fat kid, I went to bootcamp.

Andrew Wittman:

I hated running more than anything else in the world except more running.

Andrew Wittman:

What do you do in bootcamp?

Andrew Wittman:

You run.

Andrew Wittman:

So instead of saying, running was my enemy, I had to make running my friend.

Andrew Wittman:

And then I was like, I love running.

Andrew Wittman:

And then I'm like, I'm an ultra marathoner.

Andrew Wittman:

You're like, dude, you're fat.

Andrew Wittman:

You can't even run a quarter mile.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm an ultra marathoner.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm saying where I want to go.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm telling you what my target is, not what my target isn't.

Andrew Wittman:

Saying your self-talk.

Andrew Wittman:

What that guy said, the straight trainer is, he's changing your

Andrew Wittman:

target by changing your, because there is a mind to mouth connection

Andrew Wittman:

and I can override my mind with my mouth.

Andrew Wittman:

wanna do an experiment?

Andrew Wittman:

See if I'm right.

Andrew Wittman:

That'd be fun.

Dallas Burnett:

Let's

Andrew Wittman:

Okay.

Andrew Wittman:

All right.

Andrew Wittman:

Now in your mind, I want you to start counting backwards from

Andrew Wittman:

a thousand just in your mind.

Andrew Wittman:

9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 8. Oh, you got count going now out loud.

Andrew Wittman:

I want you to say your name.

Andrew Wittman:

Say your name.

Andrew Wittman:

Say it Alice.

Dallas Burnett:

Dallas.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

Dallas Burn.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Where, what happened to the count?

Dallas Burnett:

it's gone

Andrew Wittman:

stopped.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't know where you were or you weren't, but it stopped.

Andrew Wittman:

You stopped that thought process.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna force myself to say things.

Andrew Wittman:

It stopped that circuit that is putting me in the wrong direction.

Andrew Wittman:

Does that make sense?

Dallas Burnett:

No,

Andrew Wittman:

why I love it.

Andrew Wittman:

Hot out.

Andrew Wittman:

Of course, I love the heat, but it, that's freezing.

Andrew Wittman:

I love it when it's cold out.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

See what I'm saying?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna a Right,

Dallas Burnett:

You can't think, yeah, you, yeah, you can't think

Dallas Burnett:

you don't like it when you're saying

Andrew Wittman:

right.

Dallas Burnett:

you

Andrew Wittman:

Correct.

Dallas Burnett:

those two thoughts at the same

Andrew Wittman:

Absolutely.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm tricking myself with the right, I'm tricking myself with my mouth, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what, that's the science behind why we do these

Andrew Wittman:

quote affirmations or whatever.

Andrew Wittman:

But I don't want cheese.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm want things that actually help me in real time.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, you're so what is the, from Saturday Live,

Andrew Wittman:

you're special, you're sweet.

Andrew Wittman:

You're like, you remember the John Levits?

Dallas Burnett:

Oh,

Andrew Wittman:

I'm still my age.

Andrew Wittman:

But anyway, yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

it's not just like I love me.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, Hey man, I love that.

Andrew Wittman:

I, so I, my, my daughter Michaela, right?

Andrew Wittman:

She was, in first grade or whatever, and of course, in South Carolina,

Andrew Wittman:

you know, girls don't do math.

Andrew Wittman:

they come sorority girls, man, you don't do math.

Andrew Wittman:

Whatcha crazy.

Andrew Wittman:

you become a wife at stuff, right?

Dallas Burnett:

That's

Andrew Wittman:

It's true, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So she came home, she's I can't do math, math's hard.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, Nope.

Andrew Wittman:

I love math.

Andrew Wittman:

Math's the easiest thing in the world.

Andrew Wittman:

I love math.

Andrew Wittman:

I love science.

Andrew Wittman:

So we changed her.

Andrew Wittman:

So she's, she's starting her senior year down here in Florida at Florida

Andrew Wittman:

Tech as a biomedical engineer.

Andrew Wittman:

But her freshman year, she didn't even know, but the professor, right?

Andrew Wittman:

They put her in research.

Andrew Wittman:

They got her in an under, graduate research program as a freshman

Andrew Wittman:

because she tested on the, chemistry one, oh, whatever, the chemistry,

Andrew Wittman:

standardized test for freshmen, right?

Andrew Wittman:

She was like the top three in the entire state.

Andrew Wittman:

and she didn't even know it, right?

Andrew Wittman:

but because she now, she, and she's English is not her bag.

Andrew Wittman:

Like she doesn't, she's hilarious, but she speaks math and science.

Andrew Wittman:

that's her first language is

Dallas Burnett:

math.

Dallas Burnett:

That's her

Andrew Wittman:

yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Science and math, right?

Andrew Wittman:

Because we changed what she thought about it from first grade.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm, it's.

Andrew Wittman:

It's our fault.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause I could have just agreed with her and been like, yeah, baby math's hard.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't, 'cause I don't do math.

Andrew Wittman:

My, my degree's in theology, I couldn't write, you know, if it's

Andrew Wittman:

not a, I dunno, what do I know?

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

It's hard.

Andrew Wittman:

That's why I theology

Dallas Burnett:

that's so true.

Dallas Burnett:

I think, but think that's such a great, that's such a great visual because think

Dallas Burnett:

about this, you're not a math, you're not

Andrew Wittman:

No.

Dallas Burnett:

a math guy, but you're not allowing her to not have that

Dallas Burnett:

as an opportunity in first grade.

Dallas Burnett:

You're shaping, and again, it goes back, we were talking about

Dallas Burnett:

earlier, battling for belief.

Dallas Burnett:

You're taking someone, you're, it's not even your area of expertise.

Dallas Burnett:

If you're leading a team and you've got somebody over here and you're

Dallas Burnett:

not even in their same level of expertise, but you're leading that team.

Dallas Burnett:

It's not saying that you can't step in the gap and battle for that belief

Andrew Wittman:

right.

Dallas Burnett:

no, this is who we are.

Dallas Burnett:

This is what we're doing.

Dallas Burnett:

This is what you are about.

Dallas Burnett:

This is what you are capable of doing.

Dallas Burnett:

And just relentlessly shaping that belief.

Dallas Burnett:

because it, just like what happened to your daughter, she's, she grows

Dallas Burnett:

up, she speaks math and science.

Dallas Burnett:

That's what she does.

Andrew Wittman:

dunno if she sell these stuff.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, whatcha talking about?

Andrew Wittman:

I dunno.

Andrew Wittman:

Well my kids are laughing because I made them all go, they're all engineers.

Andrew Wittman:

One's mechanical.

Andrew Wittman:

One's construction one's biomedical.

Andrew Wittman:

I can't turn a screwdriver, dude.

Andrew Wittman:

They're all laughing 'cause I can't, don't get, listen, I hold the light for

Andrew Wittman:

my kids when they're fixing the car.

Andrew Wittman:

Dad, get over here and hold the light.

Dallas Burnett:

good.

Dallas Burnett:

That's so good.

Dallas Burnett:

But it just goes to show how coaching and development, how powerful that is.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's not even that you had to be this math and science professor to coach your

Dallas Burnett:

kids in the direction of that belief,

Andrew Wittman:

right

Dallas Burnett:

not saying that you have to be the expert.

Dallas Burnett:

We're saying that you have to be the expert in shaping belief.

Dallas Burnett:

That's

Andrew Wittman:

dude.

Andrew Wittman:

That's

Dallas Burnett:

leader.

Andrew Wittman:

that's I'm tagline.

Andrew Wittman:

But that's it.

Andrew Wittman:

that's.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm serious, and I don't even care what your belief is.

Andrew Wittman:

This, all I do is teach you how beliefs are made and how to vet

Andrew Wittman:

them and then ask yourself is this belief helping me or hurting me?

Andrew Wittman:

But that's it.

Andrew Wittman:

If you know how to shape your beliefs, you can literally write

Andrew Wittman:

your own ticket on the entire planet.

Dallas Burnett:

Now, and now you talk about thought audits,

Andrew Wittman:

Hmm.

Dallas Burnett:

kind of your daily armor routine.

Dallas Burnett:

Is that kind of, is that in that same vein of shaping those

Andrew Wittman:

Absolutely.

Andrew Wittman:

So,

Dallas Burnett:

about

Andrew Wittman:

so I, we got, that's the corporate term thought

Andrew Wittman:

audit, I call it honest assessment.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm gonna ask myself, I ask, because the human brain is like

Andrew Wittman:

the original search engine, it has to answer a question.

Andrew Wittman:

Now the answer doesn't have to come outta your mouth, but your

Andrew Wittman:

mind will search for the answer.

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm always gonna ask, and if you right asking, you shall

Andrew Wittman:

receive, ask a bad question.

Andrew Wittman:

What kind of answer you're gonna get is a bad answer, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I wanna ask you a good question.

Andrew Wittman:

I wanna ask a better question.

Dallas Burnett:

Sure.

Andrew Wittman:

a really great question is, once I set my target, what do

Andrew Wittman:

what, the first thing I ask myself is, what am I trying to accomplish today?

Andrew Wittman:

What am I trying to accomplish?

Andrew Wittman:

Like even doing the show with you, what am I trying to accomplish in this email?

Andrew Wittman:

What am I trying?

Andrew Wittman:

that's the first thing I wanna do is set my target.

Andrew Wittman:

What is it that I'm trying to accomplish?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm trying to do three things on this show.

Andrew Wittman:

I want it to be a win for you.

Andrew Wittman:

I want it to be a win for your audience, and I want it to be a win for me.

Andrew Wittman:

So we all have a great time.

Andrew Wittman:

We all learn something.

Andrew Wittman:

I've already learned like what, battle for your belief.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm just gonna steal that.

Andrew Wittman:

I'll give you credit the first three times after that, I'm like, I.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

it's yours.

Dallas Burnett:

You can take that.

Dallas Burnett:

it.

Andrew Wittman:

That's what I do.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna ask these questions, right?

Andrew Wittman:

how's this?

Andrew Wittman:

Once I set my target, what am I trying to accomplish?

Andrew Wittman:

Not what I don't want, but what I do want.

Andrew Wittman:

Then I ask myself, whatever's next, is this helping me or hurting me?

Andrew Wittman:

Hit my target is what I, the action I'm taking is the word I'm about

Andrew Wittman:

to say is, the thought I'm having, right now, is that helping me get

Andrew Wittman:

closer to my target or hurting me?

Andrew Wittman:

like I have, we have self-doubt thoughts all the time.

Andrew Wittman:

and I say this all the time, right?

Andrew Wittman:

You cannot keep birds from flying over your head, but how many of you

Andrew Wittman:

let them make a nest in your hair,

Dallas Burnett:

Right.

Andrew Wittman:

right?

Andrew Wittman:

So yes, negative, right?

Dallas Burnett:

a great analogy.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that.

Andrew Wittman:

thoughts are coming, but man, if you a bird, like if

Andrew Wittman:

a negative thought you'd be like, yeah, I'm, well, you know, they,

Andrew Wittman:

you act like it's the unwanted house guest from Saturday Night Live.

Andrew Wittman:

They moved in, living in a van down by the river, right?

Andrew Wittman:

But no, if a bird landed on your head, you're gonna start freaking out.

Andrew Wittman:

I mean, you know, and get it off, right?

Andrew Wittman:

We should be doing that with our negative thoughts.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's our my, that's my thought on it.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna let any birds.

Andrew Wittman:

Make nests in my hair that doesn't help me get to my tar.

Andrew Wittman:

Does that make sense?

Dallas Burnett:

Oh, a hundred percent.

Dallas Burnett:

My daughters were at, camp a few, a couple

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

they were talking to, they had a performance coach come in.

Dallas Burnett:

It was an athletic, it was at tennis camp.

Dallas Burnett:

And so they, had a performance coach come in and they were talking

Dallas Burnett:

about it, it was from another sport.

Dallas Burnett:

But the performance coach made a comment, said, don't judge your thoughts.

Dallas Burnett:

don't say, well, I'm, I'm like, in terms of like hitting, I've

Dallas Burnett:

made a bad shot or I've done that.

Dallas Burnett:

Said, but just judge whether what you're thinking is productive or

Andrew Wittman:

Hmm hmm.

Andrew Wittman:

That's good.

Dallas Burnett:

That

Andrew Wittman:

Stealing that too.

Dallas Burnett:

It's

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Lemme write.

Dallas Burnett:

You're

Andrew Wittman:

Lemme write that down too.

Andrew Wittman:

That's another,

Dallas Burnett:

Write that down.

Dallas Burnett:

We'll both take that one.

Andrew Wittman:

I dunno.

Andrew Wittman:

Some guy from club.

Andrew Wittman:

Camp we always say, me Dallas came up on the show.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah, exactly.

Dallas Burnett:

yeah, but I just thought about that as, it's just what you're saying

Dallas Burnett:

is that you can't control these.

Dallas Burnett:

These birds is flying over.

Dallas Burnett:

And, but if you can say what's productive and what's not, then it allows you to just

Andrew Wittman:

Yes.

Dallas Burnett:

the ones that are unproductive to make nest in your hair.

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what I'm gonna do is

Dallas Burnett:

good.

Andrew Wittman:

thought, I'm gonna run it off.

Andrew Wittman:

Like I have an id sta it's like I have a border, right?

Andrew Wittman:

A border checkpoint, and I'm gonna, ID, the thought is, and all my

Andrew Wittman:

books, I have this, what I call the good list or the evil list, right?

Andrew Wittman:

The red flag or green flag list.

Andrew Wittman:

Oh, good.

Andrew Wittman:

Thoughts are all bad thoughts.

Dallas Burnett:

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Wittman:

on the, I check it.

Andrew Wittman:

What's your id?

Andrew Wittman:

Lemme see.

Andrew Wittman:

Oh, you're on the, you're on the deportation list.

Andrew Wittman:

So you're out, man.

Andrew Wittman:

You're not coming in the, I'm sorry.

Andrew Wittman:

You're an illegal, you can't come in here.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna deport you.

Andrew Wittman:

You can't come in.

Andrew Wittman:

But people don't do that with their thoughts.

Andrew Wittman:

they let you know, bad thoughts in, and then they set up shop, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So that's what we, I wanna ID every, and I'm gonna handcuff 'em and take

Andrew Wittman:

'em outside and Nope, you're deported.

Andrew Wittman:

You can't come in here.

Andrew Wittman:

and I, you do it in conversations all the time.

Andrew Wittman:

I talk about this with my parents.

Andrew Wittman:

They would give me their organ recital as they got old.

Andrew Wittman:

my pancreas is going, my heart's bad.

Andrew Wittman:

My kidneys are failing, right?

Andrew Wittman:

My eyes are getting dark, right?

Andrew Wittman:

The organ recital, I'm like, that's nothing but the bad list.

Andrew Wittman:

How is that helping you?

Andrew Wittman:

So I told you gotta tell me something good that's going on in your life or

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna talk to you for 30 days.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna talk to you.

Andrew Wittman:

You guys think about what's good in your life.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause it was just constant what your brothers and sisters did.

Andrew Wittman:

This is bad.

Andrew Wittman:

The neighbors, that's what we do, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So we're on this evil list, I call it.

Andrew Wittman:

goes by, I don't answer their calls.

Andrew Wittman:

So then I called and my dad answered and I said, Hey, what's up pops?

Andrew Wittman:

He said, did you know that Tuesday bananas are on discount special at Kroger?

Andrew Wittman:

'cause it's.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

That's so good.

Dallas Burnett:

Bananas are on sale on

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

that's all you got and gimme that.

Andrew Wittman:

That's all you could come up with at the time.

Andrew Wittman:

But

Dallas Burnett:

take

Andrew Wittman:

take it.

Andrew Wittman:

I was like, alright.

Andrew Wittman:

That was my signal that he got.

Andrew Wittman:

He got the message.

Andrew Wittman:

We're doing it right.

Andrew Wittman:

So then after that, all of our conversations were great.

Andrew Wittman:

Everything was good.

Andrew Wittman:

We got a new, I got new flowers for the porch.

Andrew Wittman:

It was sun shining out.

Andrew Wittman:

It was all the good, 'cause they're in retirement.

Andrew Wittman:

They're telling me all the good things that are happening.

Andrew Wittman:

Then my brothers and sisters would go be like, Hey, do you know what's going on?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, yeah, I just talked to 'em.

Andrew Wittman:

They're doing great.

Andrew Wittman:

No.

Andrew Wittman:

And then they would try to, I'm like, so they're still giving

Andrew Wittman:

their organ recital to everybody else, but they wouldn't to me.

Andrew Wittman:

So I Right.

Andrew Wittman:

Well that's what I'm, as an elite thinker, I lead warrior, right?

Andrew Wittman:

As this inner armor.

Andrew Wittman:

I wanna, I'm gonna push my airspace out.

Andrew Wittman:

It's not, listen, if you have permission to tell me all the garbage that's

Andrew Wittman:

gone on in your life, I believe that.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna argue with you, but it gives me permission to tell you all

Andrew Wittman:

the good that's happening in my life.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause misery loves company.

Andrew Wittman:

If I'm not gonna be miserable, you're not gonna wanna hang around me.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's true too for leaders.

Dallas Burnett:

If you're leading a team, I think a lot of times when you assume leadership

Dallas Burnett:

positions are, you create a new team or you're, you've been put in this place, you

Dallas Burnett:

promoted there's this re character that could be on your team, lurking on your

Dallas Burnett:

team, and you feel the negative vibes.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's just that person that always is just complaining The

Dallas Burnett:

glass is, you know, half, half

Andrew Wittman:

Yep.

Dallas Burnett:

everything's not good enough.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think to your point, what you did with your parents

Dallas Burnett:

is so important for leaders.

Dallas Burnett:

And ultimately, as a leader, you are, you're working to coach and

Dallas Burnett:

develop that person out of that habit.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

or out of your team.

Andrew Wittman:

One or the other.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

want, I don't want, I don't want that to be around.

Dallas Burnett:

But I think one of the ways you can do that is not accepting that to you.

Dallas Burnett:

So they know that if they're going to say that they either keep it to

Dallas Burnett:

themselves, but they're definitely not gonna say it to you as a leader.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

not acceptable.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's just like when you said with parents, look, I'm not gonna

Dallas Burnett:

take you for 30 days until you tell

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

good.

Dallas Burnett:

And then it was just like after that, yeah, they could, they

Dallas Burnett:

might say it to other people.

Andrew Wittman:

Not me.

Dallas Burnett:

it to

Andrew Wittman:

Right?

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's really, I think that's really powerful, as a leader.

Dallas Burnett:

When you're engaging with your teams, you can bring that same

Dallas Burnett:

level of clarity and expectations.

Dallas Burnett:

'cause what you're doing is you're raising the level of the

Dallas Burnett:

expectations that you have on your

Andrew Wittman:

Hmm.

Dallas Burnett:

especially the person that's got that bad attitude.

Dallas Burnett:

You're saying, look, your expectation is everything's falling apart.

Dallas Burnett:

My expectation is you've got to do better.

Dallas Burnett:

You can't talk like this.

Andrew Wittman:

Right.

Dallas Burnett:

share.

Dallas Burnett:

And so I love that.

Andrew Wittman:

No, that's so good, man.

Andrew Wittman:

and lemme just throw this out, George, you're saying that a thought popped

Andrew Wittman:

in my head that silence is consent.

Andrew Wittman:

Like you cannot let 'em say it and say nothing.

Andrew Wittman:

And this is what a lot of leaders do.

Andrew Wittman:

I don't want the confrontation.

Andrew Wittman:

Look, it's the confrontation will is not conflict.

Andrew Wittman:

The, but it will turn into conflict if you don't confront

Andrew Wittman:

that e that attitude, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So I'm not gonna just ignore it.

Andrew Wittman:

'cause if you ignore it long enough, it will turn into a blow up conflict.

Andrew Wittman:

So I don't wanna be silent, like every time I got, every time.

Andrew Wittman:

it's, you gotta be consistent with it.

Andrew Wittman:

if you're saying something on the, on that red flag list or the evil list,

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna tell you something good.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna argue with you.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm just gonna tell you what the, I'm gonna point out the good thing.

Dallas Burnett:

and again, it's hard when you're catching people.

Dallas Burnett:

You made a comment of, not just berating people when things go

Dallas Burnett:

wrong and it's ultimately catching people doing the right thing and

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

that.

Andrew Wittman:

Correct.

Dallas Burnett:

it just all goes together, right?

Dallas Burnett:

If you're catching people doing the right thing and you're rewarding the

Dallas Burnett:

right behaviors, then it just isn't, it is not congruent with someone

Dallas Burnett:

that only sees the bad and only sees the, and so I just think that, the

Dallas Burnett:

consistency though, is the key in that.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

And that is, is that, is the messaging.

Dallas Burnett:

Again, we're battling for the beliefs and we always talk about on the

Dallas Burnett:

show, it's like Ford Truck doesn't tell boys when they're 16 that they

Dallas Burnett:

need to buy a Ford truck and then never talk to 'em again the rest of

Dallas Burnett:

right?

Dallas Burnett:

They're, just a barrage.

Dallas Burnett:

Every sports show, every radio broadcast, every, and so you

Dallas Burnett:

need a four, you need a four.

Dallas Burnett:

And so at the end of the day, we've gotta be the same way as

Andrew Wittman:

Hundred percent.

Dallas Burnett:

to catch people doing right.

Dallas Burnett:

We're gonna raise the standard and we're not gonna accept this,

Dallas Burnett:

negativity that people bring

Andrew Wittman:

Dude, that's so good, man.

Dallas Burnett:

love it.

Dallas Burnett:

Dude, this has been a great conversation.

Dallas Burnett:

So let's, if you were to give people, one piece of advice, for living in the

Dallas Burnett:

last 10% to up their game, in their personal life, in their leadership and

Dallas Burnett:

leading teams or their organization, if we wanted to leave with one thing here,

Dallas Burnett:

what would be your advice to our listeners

Andrew Wittman:

It's just a, it is just a quick thing called ride

Andrew Wittman:

hard, shoot straight and never lie.

Dallas Burnett:

Hmm

Andrew Wittman:

hard, shoot straight.

Andrew Wittman:

So my, I got that from my leadership mentor, Lieutenant Colonel John Chetty.

Andrew Wittman:

He was my commanding officer in Desert Storm.

Andrew Wittman:

and then when he change of command, he took over, weapons Company three six.

Andrew Wittman:

That was his speech.

Andrew Wittman:

He got up there.

Andrew Wittman:

He is gents, ride hard, shoot straight, never lie.

Andrew Wittman:

And we're like, we love this guy.

Andrew Wittman:

It's short, we're not cooking in the sun.

Andrew Wittman:

But it took me years to like really unpack that.

Andrew Wittman:

it's I'm gonna ride hard.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm a man of excellence.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna, I'm gonna give my best effort at everything I do.

Andrew Wittman:

That's the test.

Andrew Wittman:

10%.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

if it's easy that, look man, if you're not, if you're

Andrew Wittman:

not giving your be, and I always ask this, do have you, can you think of a

Andrew Wittman:

time when you gave your best effort?

Dallas Burnett:

Hmm, hmm

Andrew Wittman:

What's that look like?

Andrew Wittman:

Like for my wife, it was like when she was giving birth to our kids

Andrew Wittman:

without any epidurals or drugs.

Andrew Wittman:

that was her best like John, right?

Andrew Wittman:

That for me, it was like a rookie on the street where the first time a bad

Andrew Wittman:

guy tried to take my gun from me and kill me with it, and we're fighting.

Andrew Wittman:

that's my best effort, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So if you don't have a best effort story, how do you know

Andrew Wittman:

if you're riding hard or not?

Andrew Wittman:

So the next thing,

Dallas Burnett:

do you

Andrew Wittman:

yeah, you don't know.

Andrew Wittman:

You're just like, I'm doing my best effort.

Andrew Wittman:

what is your best effort?

Andrew Wittman:

and the next thing is shoot straight.

Andrew Wittman:

that's about being skillful, right?

Andrew Wittman:

I'm gonna hit the target.

Andrew Wittman:

I wanna hit the target that I'm going for.

Andrew Wittman:

I have to identify the target, and I have to make sure that my skills

Andrew Wittman:

in hitting the target are up, right?

Andrew Wittman:

So that means for us in the professional world, and I co man, you gotta read an

Andrew Wittman:

hour a night and you're, if you read an hour every night, people are like an hour.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Andrew Wittman:

Stop watching Netflix or something for a minute.

Andrew Wittman:

Read before you go to bed, something in your field in five years, imagine

Andrew Wittman:

what kind of expert you're going to be.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh, unbelievable.

Andrew Wittman:

So shoot straight.

Andrew Wittman:

And then the last thing is, never lie.

Andrew Wittman:

that's pretty easy, man.

Andrew Wittman:

But not just don't lie to others.

Andrew Wittman:

I mean, yeah, that's great.

Andrew Wittman:

Don't lie to yourself, man.

Andrew Wittman:

That's the thought audit, that's the honest assessment.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm not gonna lie to myself, I'm gonna be brutally honest with myself.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah, I love that, man.

Dallas Burnett:

That's all right.

Dallas Burnett:

So I'm just recapping some of the great ideas that you shared with the

Dallas Burnett:

listeners date, suspend disbelief.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh man, that was really great.

Dallas Burnett:

I love catching people doing really, you know, the good

Andrew Wittman:

Yep.

Dallas Burnett:

and raising the, that bar of excellence.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

silence is consent.

Dallas Burnett:

That is just a great, that's, this is great.

Dallas Burnett:

And then obviously, the question that you just asked, how do you know

Dallas Burnett:

that you're giving your best effort?

Dallas Burnett:

Oh, that's a man

Dallas Burnett:

that's stepping on some toes right there.

Dallas Burnett:

That's

Andrew Wittman:

I'm sorry, but

Andrew Wittman:

I

Dallas Burnett:

it,

Andrew Wittman:

club It's toughness.

Dallas Burnett:

Hey, listen, it's, it is, we gotta have it.

Dallas Burnett:

Leaders gotta have it.

Dallas Burnett:

and you gotta be willing to go for it.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

live in the last 10%, you gotta get the toe

Dallas Burnett:

stepped on every once in a while.

Dallas Burnett:

That's really good

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

So, all right.

Dallas Burnett:

How can listeners of the last 10% connect with you?

Dallas Burnett:

Find out more information and, find your book

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah, I got a special thing for all your listeners if you

Andrew Wittman:

go to get warrior tough.com/podcast.

Andrew Wittman:

So I got stuff up there just for the listeners of the podcast.

Andrew Wittman:

Get warrior tough.com/podcast.

Andrew Wittman:

That's where you guys should go.

Andrew Wittman:

and you can find me on, I'm on all the social medias, under Get

Andrew Wittman:

Warrior tough or Warrior Tough PhD. but man, what a great time, Dallas.

Andrew Wittman:

I mean, I, dude, where have you been my whole life?

Andrew Wittman:

I can't believe we're both in Greenville and we're not.

Andrew Wittman:

This is the first time I'm like, what is going on here?

Dallas Burnett:

I know we need to do this more often.

Dallas Burnett:

This is

Andrew Wittman:

So crazy, dude.

Dallas Burnett:

we always ask the, when we end the show, we always

Dallas Burnett:

ask the guest, is someone you'd like to hear on the last 10%?

Dallas Burnett:

So

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

that

Andrew Wittman:

I told Nick Saban is my, I mean, 'cause you live in Greenville and

Andrew Wittman:

Clemson and Dabo would be an easy get, but you get Nick and Nick's retired now.

Andrew Wittman:

He ain't got nothing to do except talk on tv.

Dallas Burnett:

Got more

Dallas Burnett:

maybe he's got more

Andrew Wittman:

But I do love,

Dallas Burnett:

have, we'll have,

Andrew Wittman:

process and.

Dallas Burnett:

he's a great.

Dallas Burnett:

The process is great.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

I love saving too.

Dallas Burnett:

he's a, obviously phenomenal coach and I've watched a lot of

Dallas Burnett:

his YouTube stuff, just, nuggets from his, his career too, yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

All right.

Dallas Burnett:

we'll have to, we'll have to put him on the list.

Dallas Burnett:

We'll see if we can get him on the last

Andrew Wittman:

How would you do it?

Andrew Wittman:

Because I know when I said it, you're like, we can't get Saban.

Andrew Wittman:

All right.

Andrew Wittman:

How could you, if you could get him,

Dallas Burnett:

That's

Andrew Wittman:

how would you get him?

Dallas Burnett:

disbelief.

Andrew Wittman:

would you get him?

Andrew Wittman:

I have faith in you Dallas.

Andrew Wittman:

I know you can get him.

Dallas Burnett:

Alright, we're gonna put it down.

Dallas Burnett:

We're gonna suspend disbelief and I'll

Andrew Wittman:

Because I knew it.

Andrew Wittman:

I knew it.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, I'm gonna give him somebody that I can know.

Andrew Wittman:

He is gonna be like, we can't get that guy out.

Andrew Wittman:

This.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like,

Dallas Burnett:

me, man.

Dallas Burnett:

we're in the

Andrew Wittman:

we didn't even, yeah,

Dallas Burnett:

disbelief.

Andrew Wittman:

wasn't even an hour.

Andrew Wittman:

And you forgot the question, bro.

Andrew Wittman:

Man.

Dallas Burnett:

All right.

Dallas Burnett:

I got my challenge.

Dallas Burnett:

I got my

Andrew Wittman:

Alright.

Dallas Burnett:

sure.

Dallas Burnett:

All right, we're gonna, we're gonna suspend this belief.

Dallas Burnett:

We're gonna get Nick Saban on the

Andrew Wittman:

That's what I like to hear.

Andrew Wittman:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

That's great.

Dallas Burnett:

Now, Andrew, this has been a fantastic conversation.

Dallas Burnett:

Thank you for sharing your wisdom, insight with all of the listeners.

Dallas Burnett:

We just appreciate you.

Dallas Burnett:

We should

Andrew Wittman:

Oh, no.

Andrew Wittman:

Thank you so much for having me.

Andrew Wittman:

What a great time.

Andrew Wittman:

And you're, I, dude and this, I seriously, I feel more energized being with you.

Andrew Wittman:

I need to be in your space more because I'm serious.

Andrew Wittman:

I feed off that energy you bring.

Andrew Wittman:

It's just so good.

Andrew Wittman:

I'm like, where's he been my whole life?

Andrew Wittman:

I need to pay pocket.

Andrew Wittman:

I need a pocket.

Andrew Wittman:

Dallas, I can just pull outta my pocket.

Dallas Burnett:

Pocket, Dallas.

Dallas Burnett:

That's right.

Dallas Burnett:

that's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

thanks again, brother.

Dallas Burnett:

We'll, we'll have you back on the show again

Andrew Wittman:

Awesome.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for The Last 10%

About the Podcast

The Last 10%
Inspiring People, Coaching Teams, and Improving Cultures
Join The Last 10% for incredible conversations that help uncover the secrets of what it takes to finish well and finish strong. Our guests share their journeys, hardships, and valuable advice. We release new episodes every other Tuesday. If you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to level up, you are in the right place!

You can give 90% effort and make it a long way. But it’s the finding out how to unlock the last 10% that makes all the difference in your life, your relationships, and your work.

About your host

Profile picture for Dallas Burnett

Dallas Burnett