How to Better Your Life In this New World

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

You know, one of the things I'm always saying is that if this country is gonna get better, if this country is gonna go on the right path, we have to step up as a community. Veterans are the sleeping giant in this country, and it is time for us to step up. That's why I wanna talk to you about The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Now you might have thought about The Citadel in the past as this corps of cadets, this military institution, but they have programs for veterans that don't involve you joining the corps of cadets, don't involve you wearing a uniform every day, and don't involve you living a military lifestyle. If you wanna do that, great.

But if that's not what you're up for right now after your military career, then you don't have to do that, and you can access some of the best programs in the world. The Citadel has some hot degrees in intelligence, tactical strength and conditioning, engineering, and project management. And there's five student type options for veterans. There's graduate college, there's evening undergraduate, there's active duty students, non cadet day program, returning cadet veterans, and online programs. The academic offerings include undergraduate, graduate, college transfer, graduate certificates, and online degrees.

Veterans have access to every single academic degree the college offers, and they have the most flexibility when it comes to their schedule. They can major in anything offered to the cadets and would take those classes during the day with the cadets. But then there's other programs offered in the evening or online and graduate programs to choose from too to make things so flexible for you. The US World and News report has named the Citadel the number one college for veterans in the South. And for veterans who choose to take classes on campus, they get to be a civilian student in a military environment.

They don't have to wear uniforms, like I said before. They don't have to join the military culture of the corps of cadets. The atmosphere is a really good transition environment from military to civilian life. There's an organic mentorship that comes from taking classes with the cadets. The cadets wanna talk to you guys.

They wanna hear your stories. They wanna know what it was actually like to be in the military. A lot of the a lot of these men and women are gonna go on to serve as officers in the military, and they're gonna exact change. And they need to hear from you guys. They you also get access to The Citadel's alumni network.

Like I said, this is one of the most illustrious institutions in the world. And when you join the Citadel and you graduate, you're part of their alumni network. That includes so many leaders. It includes so many business leaders, so many leaders from the military, and so many leaders from the government. The college's core values of honor, duty, and respect align with veteran culture.

They align with who you are, and it's something that you're not gonna get anywhere else in this country. There is tons of special assistance for veterans at The Citadel. And whether you're a veteran or active duty military personnel, you can take advantage of these programs. You also get access to the veteran student success center, the career center, the academic success center, the student veteran association, and all campus clubs. If you wanna play rugby, you could do that.

If you wanna you wanna lift weights, you could do that. You get access to everything that the students get. There's fellowship opportunities. There's tons and tons of financial assistance. So if you're interested in getting a degree from The Citadel and building your life, head over to citadel.edu/veterans.

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible with one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul podcast.

What is going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome to another edition of the Warrior Soul podcast, and my name is Chris Albert. And if you haven't been to this podcast before, I haven't been doing, like, announcements at the beginning, but the reason this podcast exists is to help The US military veteran community to live their best lives. And we just got through an absolutely crazy year, 2020. Alright?

And it's been crazy for a lot of people. For some people, it's been a really, really bad year. For some people, it's been a really good year. And I have to say for me, 2020 was actually a pretty good year. I'm working with a new company right now, Fortress Anchors out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I moved out of California and into Florida. I made a lot of changes in my life. I started saving money. I bought a house. I've been really trying to look after my financial health, putting money into my IRA.

I am moving forward in my life despite everything that happened last year. And in a lot of ways, I feel very lucky. In other ways, I feel like I was probably a bit more prepared to deal with the crisis than other people were. You see, one of the things that happens with people is, you know, there's a saying, when when the tide goes out, you see who's not wearing any swim pants. Right?

And that's part of the problem of of what happened over the last year. A lot of us were overextending ourselves. A lot of us weren't saving money. A lot of us were buying stuff that we didn't need. A lot of us got caught with our pants down.

And I'm not saying that that's anybody's fault. Obviously, freaking, you know, virus that pretty much shut down the world for a long time and, you know, certain governments out there that are instilling draconian measures to to deal with that virus. I don't think anybody ever foresaw that. Right? And I think that one of the things we need to do as we venture into 2021 is we really need to think about, you know, where we are in the world and how we're dealing with the world as it is.

Not as we hope it could be, not as we wish it was, but but as it is. And one of the things we all need to consider is how we're gonna deal with the circumstances that are dealt with us or dealt to us. Right? And I think that a lot of times when things like this happen, we go through this phase. We go through this phase of, oh my god, what is going on?

And then we're like, oh, I can't believe this is happening. And we sit there and we think about it, and we think about it, and we think about it. It gets us so pissed off that we don't really do anything. We just talk about it all the time. And that is what really keeps us in the same place all along.

And really, if you look at what happened in 2021, it's just really an extension of what we've done up to this point, what a lot of us have done up to this point, which is think about how horrible our circumstances are, but but not really do anything about it. Now, yeah, there's a lot of us out there who've been prevented from working. There's a lot of us out there who've been prevented from from doing much of anything. And, you know, in those cases, there is a lot to be factually pissed off about. You got every right to be mad.

You got every right to be angry. You got every right to, you know, complain to your public officials, complain to your politicians to to to say, I don't like the way you're doing this. Right? That is your right as an American citizen. And particularly as a veteran, I think it's your duty.

At the same time, what we all need to consider is what are we doing to deal with those circumstances? And I came up with a list of of different things that, you know, I really think we all need to be paying attention to as we move forward into the future. And these are things that you can literally control. Right? These are things that that you actually can do.

You don't need to to, you know, go out and take some course to do them. You don't need to to find some guru that's gonna teach you how to do them. These are things you could do right now after listening to the show. And the first thing is this. It's the one thing that you can always absolutely control, and that is your personal health and fitness.

Right? Now you can't control if you're gonna get a disease. You can't control if if you're gonna get some kind of chronic illness, but you can prepare yourself. Right? One of the things we're seeing out there is that this virus has really, really affected those of us who've been in really bad shape.

Right? If you are overweight, if you've got a chronic illness, if you are are not in good health and you get this virus, then things are gonna be pretty bad for you. Right? But as the statistics show, and don't get me wrong, there are plenty of healthy people who have died from this virus, but it's it's really, really a really small number of people who've died from this virus who've been extremely healthy. But if you're going out there and you're working out, you are making sure that you are not obese, you are making sure that you're eating the proper nutrition, you're making sure that you're not prediabetic or anything like that, then chances are if you do contract COVID nineteen, you're gonna get through it.

Right? That's just the way the statistics lay out. And again, like I said, I'm not saying that healthy people don't die from the virus. I'm not saying that that you're you're completely immune, but you'll be better prepared to deal with it. And I think that's something that we all really need to come to terms with as a society.

Right? No matter what your economic standing is, the one asset that you have that you're gonna carry with you for the rest of your life is your body. And if you're not taking care of that body, then, you know, you're gonna lose everything. It's just the facts. So, you know, no matter what where you are, I know a lot of you don't have gyms right now, but you could do burpees in your home.

You could do push ups. You could do body weight squats. You can get a kettlebell. You can go running. Right?

Well, some places you can go running, some places you can't. Alright? You can get a kettlebell and walk around your backyard or walk around your block. Right? There's a lot of different things that you can do to stay in shape.

Right? With your nutrition, you don't have to be eating junk food. You don't have to be eating fast food all the time. Right? In a lot of areas, fast food restaurants are all that's open, but you don't need to be eating from restaurants.

Right? You can go get yourself some ground beef, some vegetables. You can go cook cook a meal at home. Right? Get yourself an instant pot if you can or get yourself a slow cooker.

It's really easy to cook meals in those things. Right? Make sure you're taking care of your health and fitness. The sun's shining outside. Try to get outside.

Get out to your backyard. If you gotta social distance, social distance. Get some sun to get some vitamin d in your life. Right? If you're low on vitamin d, it's been shown that this virus is going to affect you pretty, pretty badly.

Alright? I was low on vitamin d for a really long time. I've got autoimmune disease. I supplement vitamin d, and I get out in the sun whenever I can. And, of course, I'm in Florida, and I lived in California prior to this.

But, you know, whatever you can do, if you got a supplement with it, vitamin d isn't that expensive. You get it over over Amazon. You know? But whatever you can do, get vitamin d in your life. Alright?

Next thing is this. You know, think about all the things in your life that you don't need. Right? What are you spending money on right now or time on right now that you don't necessarily need in your life? And I think time is more important than money.

A lot of us, we spend our time doing things that aren't necessarily moving us forward. Now, I love to come home and eat dinner and then sit down and watch Netflix with my girlfriend. Right? We do that a lot. But it's an hour a night, and the rest of the time, I'm home, I'm reading a book, I'm learning about real estate, I'm learning about investing, I am, you know, trying to get out and do things that are going to to push me forward.

In my area, jiu-jitsu's open, so I'm going to a jiu-jitsu class tonight. Right? I'm gonna be rolling tonight. Some of you can't do that. If you can't do that, then then pop on a video.

See what you can do to to practice there. You know, again, spend your time working out. Spend your time learning. Learning about things that are gonna push you forward. Learning about saving money.

Right? Think about the things you're spending time on because you can't ever get that time back. And then look at your finances. Right? See what you're spending money on that you don't necessarily need.

Are you do you have some crazy subscription accounts that you you you don't really need right now? Are you spending money on on alcohol and things like that that are are not really moving you forward? Where could that money be put that would put you in a more secure financial position? Alright? Could you start an IRA?

Could you start a Roth IRA? Alright. I've got both an IRA and a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA is my retirement savings plan. Right?

I put money in there. And the thing about a Roth IRA is, you know, you already paying taxes on it as you're putting the money in, but when you pull that money out, you don't need to pay taxes on it. Right? And you can pull money out of a Roth at any time. So if you wanted to save money to get a house in the future or to retire, you can draw on a Roth IRA at any time.

And again, I'm no financial expert. Go consult a financial expert if you're looking to start these things. I'm just pointing you in these directions. I've got a a traditional IRA to help me with taxes. Right?

I'll put money into there so that I can I can deduct that full amount of my contributions from my taxes every year? That'll help you to get a much bigger return when it's time for a tax refund. Again, talk to your CPA, talk to your financial advisor, talk to somebody. If you're a veteran, there's plenty of places you can go to get free financial advice. So check those resources out.

I've been saving a lot for real estate. Like I said, I bought a house this year on the VA loan. And one of the things I'm doing right now is I've got a house with an efficiency. Right? And I bought that on the VA loan.

I'm living in the efficiency. It's a little studio apartment, and I'm renting out the house. So that's helping me pay the mortgage. So I'm pretty much living rent free, mortgage free right now. Scrolling money away, everything that I can, not spending on trips, not spending on going out to eat, not spending on alcohol, not spending on anything.

Put that money away, stack it as much as possible, and think about where you're gonna put that money. Because right now, the government's putting tons and tons of money out there in the printer. Right? They're printing it out, and what that's gonna do is that's gonna devalue the currency. So think about where you wanna stick that money.

Do you wanna stick it into real estate? Do you wanna buy your own houses? Do you wanna invest in index funds, in in in an IRA or a Roth IRA? And again, couple of books to check out here that you should definitely read is one, you should definitely check out The Millionaire Teacher. It's by Andrew Hallam.

And then you should also check out Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins. And I know Tony Robbins is some self help guru, but that book is actually really good as far as finances go. I'll teach you how to save though save that cash, how to get it together for retirement so that you have a reserve so when something like this happens again, you won't be in a horrible position. And then if you're thinking about real estate as a veteran or as a military member, check out Active Duty Passive Income. That is an organization put together by a good friend of mine, Mark Ian Sitch.

He's a Marine Corps officer where he teaches veterans how to use their VA loans to get into real estate investment. Really, really awesome stuff there. So those two things I think are really important. There's another one that I think is equally important as those two, and that is the people you're surrounding yourself with. Now I know we're all social distancing.

We're not getting out or anything like that, but think about who you're interacting with, whether it's on the Internet or whether it's in your personal life. Alright? You know, you really wanna make sure you're bringing good people in your life. Right? Maybe you're stuck where you are because the people you're surrounding yourself with aren't really adding anything to your life at all, and they're not helping you.

Right? So think about what your life is, how who you're interacting with. And if you're interacting with no one, which is the way I used to be. I used to interact with absolutely no one ever. Think about what you could do to to find some good people.

Are there online groups you could join? Right? Could you join a mastermind group? Could you join if you're interested in real estate investment? Could you join a local REIA?

Right? If you're there's plenty of veteran online veterans groups out there. There's you know, my good friend Ryan Michler, he's got the the Iron Council with the Order of Man. Right? That's teaching men how to be more capable men.

Right? There's so many of these different things that you could do that would add to your life, and some of them cost money. Some of them don't cost anything at all. Right? So seek those opportunities out.

Seek networking opportunities out. Get yourselves in a position. Right? And and that's what this podcast is all about. Right?

I say this podcast is about you guys living your best lives. It's also about getting the veteran community to step up in this country. Because if you look around, we got a lot of problems. Right? And a lot of us complain about those problems, but there's very few of us who ever do anything about them.

So take charge of your life. Get yourself into position. Alright? Get yourself into a point where you're good so that you can get out there, you could help other people, you can have an impact on society. Alright?

That's all I got for today, ladies and gents. So I hope that all makes sense. If you have any questions about this stuff, feel free to hit me up on Instagram. I am at Warrior Soul Agoge. I'm not as active as I was over there, but I'm still posting.

You can also hit me up on Twitter at Warrior Soul Gear. Just reach out. Let me know how you're doing. Alright? Hope you guys are well.

Happy 2021. I'll be at you later on this week with some more awesome content.