Interviewing Mike Pridgen

Rick MacIvor (00:01.271)
And just to get the flub out of the way now, I'll just... Okay.

Rick MacIvor (00:07.417)
Hey everybody, I'd like to introduce you to Mike Pridgen. Mike's story often includes that he lost 110 pounds and he's most proud of keeping that weight off. But if you've ever seen one of Mike's videos, you'll know his tagline, be kind to yourself. And that really is the core of Mike's approach. In one of Mike's recent podcasts called Mike Needs a Plan, he shared that he's been diagnosed as neurodivergent on the autism spectrum. And I'm really excited to talk to

to Mike today about his amazing journey of weight loss, health, positivity, entrepreneurship, how he incorporates his neurodivergence into his amazing success. So I'd to welcome Mike. Hi, Mike.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (00:50.394)
Hey, I've been trying Home of the Whopper as my new tagline because it doesn't seem like Burger King's been using it, so I just figured why not zazz it up. But it's been working for me. I'm not too big a fan of Burger King, but any attention is good attention, even if it's a lawsuit. So give it a shot.

Rick MacIvor (01:07.289)
All right, there you go. thanks for taking the time to talk with us today, Mike. I touched on this briefly a little bit earlier. I'm really curious. Can you tell us more about your journey, how you came to be where you are now?

Gabbers (01:09.112)
Chicken fries scare me.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (01:15.032)
Thanks for having me.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (01:23.512)
So my journey, it started about seven and a half years ago. It was June 8th of 2017. I have the fun distinction of getting to know what day it was. I've got a picture. I've got my final picture. It almost feels like a a death mask in a way of my old body. I've got the final picture of me at my biggest weight and I can send that to you later if you want to see it. But I had a friend send or hand me a bottle of Kiefer probiotic.

Have you guys ever had K4 Probiotic? It's like yogurt's evil twin. It's really gross. Yeah, it's like a little bit fizzy. It's liquid. Yeah, it's not good. And he had told me that it helps with cravings. And at that point, I couldn't honestly tell you that I ever thought of my diet as just a bunch of cravings one after the next. So I tried this stuff. And sure enough, it works because it's freaking gross. So I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day.

Rick MacIvor (01:54.681)
Thankfully, no.

Gabbers (01:58.159)
wait, I do know what you're talking about.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (02:21.36)
But I thought to myself, huh, maybe I could do something about all the McDonald's I'm eating. Maybe I could do something about this body that I've got. Maybe I'm not doomed to be so rotund. And thus began about six years of trying and failing to do all sorts of crazy stuff to get all the weight off and developing some eating disorders in the process and really hurting myself real bad that way.

As I got toward the end, after I had essentially burned my house down and built it back and burned it down and built it back again, I was sitting in the burning ruins of yet the 10th house I'd built for myself. And I promised myself, I'm 6'3", I was 155 pounds. For those of you at home doing the math, not good. And I...

told myself I don't care how long it takes to build this next house I just don't want to burn it down again. And I went into this journey which is now two and a two something years going now very intentionally. It's it's slow but it's intentional and I'm getting to where I want to be I'm healthy I'm happy I'm doing well and it's my house is fireproof now.

Rick MacIvor (03:43.717)
that's awesome. That's a great analogy. And so you've shifted to now not just being doing your health journey for you. You've turned it around. And you're sharing it with other people. And you've built a business on that. How did you come to that? How did you come to a place where you decided, hey, I've done this. I would like to share it?

Gabbers (03:44.855)
love that.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (04:06.968)
Like everything in my life or anything that turns out good, it starts with a tiny decision that I don't realize what it will become. Eventually I started again. I've got the date in my mind, May 25th, 2023. I decided to film a video talking about what I do and, how I operated with my weight loss. Cause I was really about a year into being healthy. I was, I was approaching a year of being like really healthy about the way that I was doing things and

Part of that was like, I've got to talk about this with somebody. It gets to a point once you've lost the weight, and I had been skinny for a while, the people in your life, you just look like that now. No one's complimenting you anymore. No one's asking you how you did it because it's been a while, and it's just like, that's who you are. And the new people that I was meeting didn't know that I was big, so I had no one to talk to about it. So I decided, why don't I just post a video online and see if anybody wants to hear about it?

Rick MacIvor (05:03.587)
Mm-hmm.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (05:06.362)
And that was it, I just made a post every day. It wasn't the best post I was gonna make every day, but I figured if I don't like this one, I'll just do another one tomorrow.

Rick MacIvor (05:15.863)
I remember seeing your video where you quit your job. You're like, I'm sending the email and I'm quitting my job and I'm going to be a coach. I'm going to change this. How did you get there? How did that decision for you, how did you manifest that?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (05:32.39)
One, I'm a little bit reckless. Two, I don't have any children. So that makes it really easy for me. If the ship sinks, I'm the only one on it. It's a one-person kayak. But also, last year and in the last preceding years were really, really rough for me. Like, terrifyingly

And it got to the point where, I'll start here. I've had this mantra for a lot of years. It's gone now, but I had a mantra for a lot of years where I'd tell myself, no hopes. Anytime I hoped for something, anytime I wanted something, I'd say, no hopes. Because I didn't want to get my hopes. It was easier not to have hopes than to have them and get them crushed. So if I just reminded myself, don't hope for anything.

Gabbers (06:13.55)
Mmm.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (06:24.002)
I couldn't be disappointed and sure enough that's the way it was but I lived a very I call it a jellyfish kind of life where I'm just reacting to stimulus. I'm not really going anywhere. Just kind of existing suspended in water and

@MikeNeedsAPlan (06:40.004)
This thing started working out. I wasn't making money doing it yet, but it just seemed like people were really into it. And I had enough saved. I'm like, you know what? Why don't I give this a couple of months and see what happens? Just really put my all into something that I finally feel hope about. Once you feel that hope, after years of pushing the hope away, it's like you don't want to let that go.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (07:08.794)
So I just decided to pursue it full force and I left my job that day. Or not that day, two weeks from then.

Rick MacIvor (07:18.752)
man. That's a hit.

Gabbers (07:21.02)
How did you two meet and get to kiss? I'm unaware of that story as well. I'm curious to know how that happened.

Rick MacIvor (07:27.577)
I'll say I can start that. I saw Mike's couple of Mike's videos online and on Instagram actually and Mike does these walking talks through the woods where he's just asking questions and talking about things and he always ended his videos with be kind to yourself and at the time I was having a hard time I was having I was beating myself up for a lot of things and I knew that I was in a place where I

If I continued down the road I was on, I wasn't going to be around for my kids when I was older. And I didn't know how to change that. I tried a billion things. I tried the keto thing, and I tried the no carb thing, and I tried the no dairy, and I ate only potatoes for three months. I did all this stupid shit. Nothing was working. And Mike's continual message of be kind to yourself inspired me to reach out.

I remember the day it was after I made the decision to reach out that day because it was so I am here in Kansas City and they won the Super Bowl last year. I don't know if you remember that. I'll say that whenever I can. But there was a big parade and a big thing party downtown. And at that party, there was a mass shooting that happened. And it shook the hell out of me.

I couldn't believe, I almost went, I was almost in that crowd and I wasn't. And I thought, I need to figure out, I need to make some changes, right? And Mike was the person I identified with. I liked the message, I just felt the connection, reached out and we had a little 15 minute phone call and was like, wow, I wanna work with this person. And so that's how he and I met.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (09:24.742)
of the reasons that I'll tell you our phone call was about an hour.

Rick MacIvor (09:30.282)
Felt like a...

@MikeNeedsAPlan (09:30.846)
They don't last that long when it's with somebody that I don't think I'm gonna vibe with it's usually just real quick like okay Here's what it is and here's what we'll do. Okay, cool. Thank you And then you know, I never hear from him again but when I I book those out for an hour because I know that there are some people out there who haven't had an opportunity to talk about this stuff yet and they've got a lot to say and You had a lot to say

Rick MacIvor (09:54.423)
Yeah. Yeah.

Gabbers (09:56.12)
What kinds of things do you find yourself exploring with your clients or prospective clients?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (10:05.2)
So a lot of people, usually the people that I tend to attract are the people who are ready to experience the kind of journey that I've had now. It's not just, let's track our calories and let's figure out how much fiber we need to get. Like Rick knows, obviously that's important stuff, but that's not what we do all the time. We get that stuff done and then it's like, okay, let's talk about why it is that the weight was there in the first place. Let's talk about why it is that the only thing that feels good is a bowl of ice cream.

You know, ice cream is, I just had it a couple of days ago, but it is one of many things that I enjoy now. Whereas back in the day, that was like the only surefire thing I knew that could give me some kind of enjoyment. And thinking about why it is that my needs were relegated to a bowl of ice cream is what we talk about. We talk about why it is that the people in my life made me feel that way or why I made me feel that way.

Gabbers (10:55.636)
Wow

Gabbers (11:06.702)
That's heavy.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (11:07.852)
It's it's really heavy. Yeah, it's you know if if people just want like a quick here's what to eat and here's what you can go somewhere else for it. I'm not that guy. We will cry. We're supposed to.

Rick MacIvor (11:07.906)
Yeah.

Rick MacIvor (11:19.577)
Yeah. Right?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (11:22.286)
I didn't make progress until I cried not in anger but in in joy. It's time and you deserve it. Rick, you and I have talked about that little 5%, the little piece in the back of your mind that makes you believe. You may not believe that you're worth it, but if it bothers you that you feel like you're not worth it, there's a little piece in the back of your mind that believes you are. And that's all I need. don't need.

Proof that you're going to succeed. just need you to believe that you can get there. That you can make steps towards it.

Rick MacIvor (11:58.125)
Yeah. So when

When we've talked a lot about that 5%, the little changes, the small things, you talk a lot about making things, taking easy steps. Instead of big swings all the time, take easy steps. And that was one of the things that worked for me. Small, let's focus on this thing. Let's focus on this thing. Can you talk more about that, how you coach people? Maybe if you have other neurodivergent clients, don't mention by any name.

I'm ADHD, so that really worked for me. Kingtel, I'll talk a little bit more about that.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (12:38.96)
So let me first preface this by saying that I don't know what it's called now, but I was diagnosed with Asperger's back in the day. I know that's not the proper term for it anymore. So I just say, you know, on the spectrum, which I think is just the proper term for it now anyway. But sorry, what was the question? Lost it. Yeah. Why to make so especially when it comes to ADHD, you already know that you and I will get distracted.

Rick MacIvor (12:58.283)
The 5%, the easy, the doing it in little bits, yeah.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (13:06.392)
on our own calls and I've got to like rain it back in or you'll rain it back in or something like we have that conscious mind of like, hold on, we're letting our squirrel brains go crazy. We got to pull it back. The 5 % changes. One, it makes them easier to track, but two, it makes them easier to deal with the falls when they don't work because not all the changes are going to work. And when you take a big swing and you fall from that big swing, it sucks. So when you're making big changes all the time, you're going to experience

big failures all the time, not always, you will succeed sometimes, but trying to level out that roller coaster and just have it be like a, at least a flat plane with a couple of bumps, best we can is the best we can do. I am not a motivated person. I think some people would assume I'm very motivated or I'm very driven. I am so lazy guys. I am incredibly lazy and Rick knows cause like you won't catch me dead in a pair of shoes. have to tie. I went to a wedding.

Rick MacIvor (14:04.141)
Right.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (14:06.254)
My best friend's sister's wedding I went to in shoes that don't have laces on them. Yeah, no one called me out for it. I don't care. I'm living the rest of this life comfortably because I spent too much of it not comfortable. Rick also knows that the dinner that I make every night, I figured out how much water I need to boil my pasta to where I don't have to strain it. To where by the time I put the sauce in there, there's enough water gone.

That's I don't have to. Yeah. Cause it's, wanted it to be a one pot recipe, Gabby. And if there was a strainer.

Gabbers (14:41.122)
The Italian grandmother in me is schooning right now, but that's fine.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (14:44.762)
It was a one pot, one strainer recipe. I needed to make sure it was a one pot recipe.

Gabbers (14:50.639)
I will get over it. It will be fine.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (14:53.222)
But my success is because I keep making things so easy that I can't not do it. You know how hard it is to clean a strainer?

Gabbers (14:55.714)
Wow.

Rick MacIvor (15:06.103)
you

Gabbers (15:06.996)
skill.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (15:07.502)
It's really hard! It's a skill! I don't even know if it's a skill, it's something you gotta be born into that. I can't clean a strainer, what do you clean it with? We may have to talk every-

Rick MacIvor (15:13.078)
You

Dishwasher actually, that's what I clean mine with. goes right in, I just close it and hit no.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (15:20.1)
Yeah, goes in the dishwasher, but I'm not doing dishes every day. I'm pile up, but I make that dinner every day. So I've got to make it little, yeah, I've got a hundred of these little things, but it's a hundred of these little things that create, how much have you lost? Like 35 pounds or something with me? Yeah, 40. And it's just little changes. How many times have I told you, get out there and grind?

Rick MacIvor (15:35.181)
Me? I'm at 40 now. I'm at 40.

Rick MacIvor (15:42.721)
Never.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (15:43.694)
Never and why?

Rick MacIvor (15:46.259)
because I would hang out.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (15:48.55)
What does science say about taking 100 % changes?

Rick MacIvor (15:53.497)
It hasn't worked in the past and it won't work in the future. It's the baby steps. It's the baby steps. You asked, you've said this a couple of times with the easy thing and the pasta thing reminded me of it. You have, and this might be part of the neurodivergence in you and I know it works for me. I have like set meals. These are the things I eat all the time, right? And if it doesn't happen, go, right? I freak out a little. Does that?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (15:56.581)
No.

Rick MacIvor (16:21.913)
Does that show up for you, like with meals, and I know you have a pasta thing you like to have every night, or how does that work?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (16:28.422)
we can definitely tie that in with the neurodivergence. We like our routines, but I recommend that for everybody. If you can have a roster of meals that you can reliably make and that you'll reliably enjoy, even if they're not the same ones every night or the same ones week by week, if you just know that you've got the ingredients to make something and you can make it reliably, taking that decision paralysis away prevents you from ordering DoorDash again.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (16:57.378)
I can usually tell if someone's gonna be successful with one question. What are you having for dinner tonight?

Rick MacIvor (17:03.939)
Me? I'm having, I have ground turkey, I frozen veg, and no, I'm serious, it's all precooked, it's sitting in the fridge upstairs. It's, I don't have think about it.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (17:05.04)
both of you.

Gabbers (17:14.318)
Yeah, I have no clue. Haven't gotten there yet. Don't know.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (17:16.99)
Gabby, you and I are going to have to talk.

Rick MacIvor (17:19.915)
you

@MikeNeedsAPlan (17:22.424)
Having that decision out of the way, you can decide what you're gonna get from DoorDash earlier on. Just don't have to decide in the moment. Don't make yourself decide then. You can decide in the morning, like, here's what I'm gonna get later and here's what I'm gonna get it. And fine, DoorDash, I don't care. But make that decision then, not when you're hungry, not when you've got like 10 minutes to figure it out.

Gabbers (17:48.566)
Not to hijack Rick's question, but I do remember not that long ago reading a statistic. I'm going to say it was probably the Washington Post because I read it the most often. Talking about how people with neurodivergent traits and spectrum disorders tend to be either overweight or unhealthy with their food choices. Is this

Do you think why or is there more to it? Like what do you think causes some of this?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (18:23.75)
There's definitely more to it. I think it's just a component like anything else. Obviously, Rick, you know that the ADHD plays into it a little bit, of course, because you'll forget that you ate something and then you'll go back and have more. Or we just like the repetition. So we'll just go ahead and have more. And you're looking for the dopamine hit, which is super important. Not important to chase, but important to notice.

Rick MacIvor (18:42.145)
And I look for that dopamine hit.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (18:51.024)
But it's the same with our upbringings and the ways that we were raised and the ways that we were socialized. There's not one aspect of this that causes everything. It's not like, well, you'll hear the term insulin resistance a lot. And it is a factor. It can make things more difficult, for sure. But I don't think that's the only factor. I don't think that somebody who is completely mentally healthy or neurotypical

or whatever, is going to be significantly overweight and not have several different issues that need to be addressed. Doesn't mean that they're just a person that's got a lot wrong with them. It just means that they're a person who needs things that they're not being currently provided. Like a plant needs sunlight, but it also needs water. It needs fertile soil. You focus on just one of those solutions. It's not going to grow the plant, but it's not because it didn't need that one thing. It's because it needed other things too.

Gabbers (19:28.27)
Hmm

Rick MacIvor (19:51.321)
Yeah. One of the things you've kind of helped me decipher is getting through some of the bad information that's out there. And I hate labeling things as bad, but some of it is just bullshit. Uh-oh, I've just explicit this. I just made this episode explicit. But there's like, there's scammy stuff out there. There's trendy, stupid stuff out there. And I know because I tried lots of them.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (20:03.342)
I don't hate it. I will label things as bad every day.

Rick MacIvor (20:21.369)
And it enrages me sometimes now that I look back and I go, it's just the information was wrong. It's just wrong information. What are some of the fundamentals that you found that aren't, that's good information?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (20:37.808)
Well, I'll tell you there's a video I'm about to put up here soon. And it's this woman who she's a chiropractor. So already red flag. She tells us right here. She's like, so take your sides and just rub them like this. So wherever you have fat that you don't want, you just like rub it. So to those of you listening on audio, I'm standing and I've got my hands by like, you know, my my love handle area. And I'm just like using two fingers to scrape at it.

And she says, do that 200 times until it's sore every day and the fat will go away.

Rick MacIvor (21:14.478)
my God.

Gabbers (21:17.016)
What?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (21:20.098)
But there are people that'll try it because they're desperate for something to work. These are not dumb people that choose to do this. These are evil people who choose to sell this. And these are people who are hopeful, who are trying to use it. I don't think people are dumb. I don't think the people that believe the carnivore diet are dumb. I think that they're hurting, and they want anything to work. And they don't think it's as easy as it.

Rick MacIvor (21:23.486)
Yeah.

Gabbers (21:26.51)
Hmm.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (21:49.964)
Easy, but it is simple. My friend Michael Smoke says that, higher up wellness. It's not easy. It takes a long time. But the easier we can make it to where it feels reachable and it doesn't feel like a grind every day, the more simple it's going to be going forward. So for me, the core thing is it's not a sexy process.

It's not exciting. It's not the lose 21 pounds in 21 days, 14 days to a flatter stomach. It just doesn't happen. You've been with me now since March. It's 40 pounds is significant, but the process hasn't been like sexy the whole time. It's just been like, hey, I had some weird poops the other day.

Rick MacIvor (22:34.72)
you

@MikeNeedsAPlan (22:38.128)
This is from another person, another client. This is from somebody else. I bought this keto bread from Aldi. By the way, this is a PSA to everybody. There was this key. If you're using keto bread right now, just just get regular bread, please. Well, let me rephrase it. If you're doing the keto bread because it's low calorie and you are stuck on the toilet now for extended periods of time, get rid of the keto bread.

Rick MacIvor (22:40.006)
I'm gonna edit out.

Rick MacIvor (22:44.675)
You

Gabbers (23:07.342)
Hmmph.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (23:07.418)
Just get rid of it. I had the worst experience of my life after that keto bread. Digestionally. It was really, really rough. yeah, heed my warning.

Gabbers (23:22.766)
This makes me think of something, you know, again, tying everything into to obviously neurodivergence. Do we all agree that neurodivergent individuals seem to be brutally honest? We just say it like it is sometimes and boy does it get us in trouble, right? People don't like it. We ruffle feathers.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (23:38.618)
Yeah.

Gabbers (23:49.154)
you know, sometimes piss off the mainstream, but like everything might just, what have you ever heard anyone be that brutally honest when it comes to something related to weight loss? I don't think, yeah.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (24:00.336)
We all do it. We all experience it. All of these things that we do. One of the reasons that there's such a stigma around all this stuff is because we don't talk about it. We need to discuss it. One of the reasons that people have trouble sharing their feelings. And every time I post a video where I'm crying in the woods, I always get some Jimbrough that pops in. He's like, I'm pussy. And I'm like, I'm sorry that you experienced the things that you've experienced. That weak men in your life raised you with the idea that you couldn't speak about the way that you feel.

Gabbers (24:20.915)
@MikeNeedsAPlan (24:30.99)
It's up to you to break the curse and I've got a seat at my table when you're ready to take it. They're not mad at me.

Gabbers (24:38.008)
Damn, there's the mic drop right there. Ugh.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (24:41.846)
it. Thank you. It's they just need to be shown that they can talk about it and that it's okay. That's all. The more we talk about it and more we talk about having trouble on the toilet from keto bread.

Rick MacIvor (25:01.409)
Again, shhhh.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (25:04.048)
No, this is me. I actually have a video of the time that I experienced. There's a recording of me not on the toilet. But I was on a live stream with some other guys. that's when at first, so you can actually see the discomfort on my face. But the more we talk about this, the less we're going to be giggly about it. It's like sex ed in school. They just hit you with the terms. Well, my school didn't, because it was an abstinence only thing.

Gabbers (25:11.852)
I would hope. mean, that could be.

Rick MacIvor (25:13.463)
Little too long.

Rick MacIvor (25:25.517)
Mm-hmm.

Gabbers (25:25.71)
But it's funny.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (25:32.132)
The schools that are more successful with it use the terms that are meant to be used.

Gabbers (25:37.21)
And Mike, just do you have any sort of a medical background or none? Because you... Well, the reason I ask is not for credential sake. It's because you remind me the way you speak, the things that you're so willing to talk about. You remind me of a very close friend of mine who's a nurse.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (25:43.278)
No, not at all. I'm just obsessive.

Gabbers (25:58.262)
I always kind of joke with her and I'm like, man, is all you guys do, you guys just talk about poop all day. That's it. Like that's, that's your job. Like you just talk to people about bodily funk. She's like, yes. She's like, because nobody else is talking about it.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (26:11.974)
It's one of the number one indicators of health. 90 % of Americans are not getting enough fiber. It's one of the reasons that colorectal cancer is starting to rise in people that are ages 30 to 40. Whereas we used to have to get our colonoscopies at 45, they're telling us to get them at 35 now. Yeah, because the colorectal cancers are on the rise because there's no fiber in our foods anymore. The less fiber there is in our foods, the more we'll eat, but the less fiber we get in our diets, the more colorectal cancer we have. So the rates are through the roof more than they've ever been.

Rick MacIvor (26:25.901)
What? Wow.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (26:41.83)
It's not because of some evil cancer chemical. It's literally we just don't have enough fiber anymore.

Rick MacIvor (26:48.76)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, you and I worked through that a couple of times. I wasn't getting the fiber, and then I was getting way too much on the fiber. And then I figured out how to back off that little bit. And when it's leveled out, it's a lot better.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (27:02.212)
and we leveled it out, that's all. But if we took the big, yeah, and that's it. It takes a while, but now you're on a good path and you'll be there forever. And now you know how to troubleshoot it too.

Rick MacIvor (27:11.895)
Right, and that's the bit about the information I was talking about earlier. It's like the way that the information is helpful and correct, and there's a lot that's not. And it's geared towards people who are just trying to make a buck, right? With your business, way you're coaching business, that has a, you have a lot that, there's a lot of moving parts, let's put it that way, to make your business successful.

With your being on the spectrum, how have you worked on the, I mean, do you chunk in that easy method in all things in your life? Is it just the diet? Is it part of building your business? How does that work for you?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (27:56.43)
I have to. I'm not a natural businessman. I'm good at the stuff that I'm good at. I'm good at talking about this stuff. I do a lot of reading on it. I'm just obsessive with it. But when it comes to business, just I don't have that. I've not trained to have that mind. So it's it's important that I try to make that process as easy as possible to. I've got a system that works. It's held together by duct tape and hope, but it's held together.

and I paid my rent yesterday. So not much more, but I paid my rent yesterday. So that's pretty cool.

Rick MacIvor (28:27.479)
Bye.

Gabbers (28:32.886)
But to come full circle, you just contradicted what you said earlier about hope. So clearly that is something you have, well, not contradicted, you've worked on it. You've overcome that. Yeah.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (28:41.782)
Well, that's the yeah, once I felt it for the first time of like, I can hope for something and maybe just take the L if something bad happens. Like, okay, cool. I try to exercise that muscle all the time. It was very rusty. When I felt it there for the first time, but I've got an episode about that on my podcast. It's called How to Hope Again. And I just talk about how I learned how to hope again. I'm not good at it.

Gabbers (29:08.993)
for you.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (29:09.806)
still very new, but I'm better at it and I'm taking little swings at it.

Gabbers (29:15.406)
But you know what, I would rather hear an entrepreneur say that to very honestly say, hey, it's held together by duct tape and hope than to hear, I don't have a business plan. I don't know. It's just, you know, whatever happens, happens. There's gotta be something. Nice.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (29:27.742)
My business plan is to keep trying new things. You know, I've got goals. I don't have a five-year plan. You know, but also I don't live in five-year chunks. I live in day chunks. I can't make a plan for the person five years from now. That plan won't be effective for the person five years from now. That person is capable of more than I'm capable of. That person has experienced more than I've experienced. How could I make plans for the CEO of a major corporation somewhere?

Rick MacIvor (29:27.993)
Yeah.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (29:57.638)
I don't know, it's not that I'm going to be the CEO of a major corporation. I don't want to be. That seems awful. And I don't want people to eat me when the revolution comes. Though I would give myself up willingly.

Rick MacIvor (30:08.203)
You're still lean though. mean, it's got the you've got a nice tender lean.

Gabbers (30:10.124)
Yeah.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (30:10.874)
That's what the weight loss is for, I don't want to be tasty. Warren Buffett's looking a little bit, you know, so he's real tender. He's a wagyu steak, but he's also nice. So it's like, I feel like I have to close my eyes as I eat him.

Gabbers (30:14.382)
Now we

Rick MacIvor (30:19.193)
He's tenderized? that what you're saying? He is. He's just North of me. He lives in like Omaha.

Gabbers (30:22.956)
He's succulent.

Gabbers (30:33.42)
He eats what? It's like steak and chocolate cake every single day of his life.

Rick MacIvor (30:37.861)
yeah, he has this thing. He goes through McDonald's every morning. I think he's on the spectrum. He's gotta be. He gets to the McDonald's line. He eats the exact same breakfast every day. They have it for him when he pulls up. He doesn't even go in. He just drives through. He's got his little Toyota Corolla. He's worth like a hundred billion dollars. With his little car. And he goes, here's Alba, here's your little breakfast thing. Same every day, right?

Gabbers (30:54.934)
wild.

Yeah.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (31:06.79)
You gotta have him on. Talk to him. Just wait for the... You know where he's gonna be every morning. Just wait. Pull up at 6 a.m. Give it a couple hours.

Rick MacIvor (31:08.289)
That would be a trip. That's true.

Gabbers (31:09.659)
Warren, come along, Warren.

Just ambush him.

Rick MacIvor (31:17.165)
Right?

Rick MacIvor (31:22.041)
How's your McMuffin, Warren? Yeah.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (31:23.43)
He will be there.

Gabbers (31:23.438)
Really not a bad idea.

Gabbers (31:29.55)
So, Mike, how can people get in touch with you? How can they learn more and engage you and,

@MikeNeedsAPlan (31:38.246)
I don't want any more phone calls. So you can reach me at Mike needs a plan on Instagram, TikTok. I've got a on my link tree. It's I don't even know. You can find that from Instagram or take that. There's a little link and you can schedule a call with me. And there's I'm not there to sales pitch you. I'm just there to figure out if I like you. I've turned people down because I don't I'm like, I don't think we're going to get along.

Gabbers (32:03.874)
Amazing.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (32:09.126)
And we might work together for a while, so let's figure out if we like each other, because I don't want to just take money. I want to help people change.

Gabbers (32:20.385)
may borrow that mic. I think that's about to be part of my consultation process. I love that.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (32:28.714)
You run your own business, you're an entrepreneur, you do your own voice work and everything. You have to like what you do. When you were talking about, like, do I apply this stuff to everything in my life? I do. I have to like what I do or I won't do it. Now, does that mean that everything I do is terribly efficient? No. But over a long enough period of time, everything gets done. So, you know, I'm not...

Gabbers (32:31.114)
Exactly.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (32:54.596)
making as much money as my compatriots are, but I'm making enough to pay my rent. That's really cool. And I don't hate my job every day. I don't hate the people that I work with. I like everybody that I work I'm excited to get on calls with you. You know, I'm excited. I was excited to come and do this. I'm excited to do everything I get to do.

Rick MacIvor (33:17.923)
That's all. You do.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (33:17.99)
Yeah, you gotta like what you do when it comes to weight loss, business, anything.

Rick MacIvor (33:23.555)
Well, I appreciate you popping on here and being one of our, well, our first guest.

Gabbers (33:23.704)
It's true.

Gabbers (33:28.962)
Yes, the inaugural guest.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (33:30.702)
Of course, did I do well without preparing with the questions?

Rick MacIvor (33:33.975)
You did fantastic. I actually have a whole bunch. didn't use them. was just to have a chat. This is you.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (33:38.968)
If you have a couple more you want to ask, I've got the time. I won't hold you though.

Rick MacIvor (33:42.116)
let's see. We just asked how the people, how did you come up? Here's one. How did you come up with the catch phrase, be kind to yourself?

@MikeNeedsAPlan (33:51.886)
I I just said it once. I don't remember really. It wasn't terribly conscious. Just kind of like, here it is, but it's something I needed desperately in my day. If it wasn't for that, everything I do is rooted in that. People ask me, what's the most important information you can give to somebody? I say, it's at the end of every video. You do all of this through kindness. You can add little things under the umbrella of kindness and everything will work out a little bit better.

can't promise it will work out the way you anticipated, but at least you won't be so upset if it doesn't.

Rick MacIvor (34:27.353)
There you go.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (34:28.186)
That's all. So that's the be kind to yourself message. That's, suppose, where we could leave everybody off with, because that's how I end everything. So be kind to yourself.

Rick MacIvor (34:35.833)
That's perfect. All right. Thank you, Mike. Back at you.

@MikeNeedsAPlan (34:40.784)
course anytime.

Gabbers (34:44.942)
That was great. Wow.

Rick MacIvor (34:45.753)
That was fantastic. All right, I'm gonna hit the stop button. Bloop. Did it work? It worked, yay!

@MikeNeedsAPlan (34:46.715)
Thank you.

Gabbers (34:54.222)
Bye!

@MikeNeedsAPlan (34:54.576)
Very cool.

Gabbers (34:57.048)
Well, I am,

Rick MacIvor (34:58.297)
Thank