00:00:00.41 nextlevelguypodcast No, because that's something I loved about your stuff is like you get back to the nitty gritty. Like you're actually traveling. How did you find that journey? to 00:00:10.49 Donny Dust All through Scotland or just me getting into? 00:00:12.92 nextlevelguypodcast Just well, in Scotland in general, that the did was so did you find it a strange 00:00:17.08 Donny Dust Yeah, it was. did. I mean, I was there when I was younger and I think going back older. you kind of appreciate a lot of like the nuances of just the ancient people that used to live there, the culture that's there. And like, I'm not one of those Americans that's like, I'm Scottish. I mean, I'm an American, but I have family in Scotland and like we've, we've connected with them over the years. So it was cool to, to catch up over years and ultimately kind of see how it was. But We are, my wife and I are travelers in the sense where we don't have a lot of plans. 00:00:52.42 Donny Dust We're like, we're gonna land in Glasgow, we're gonna meet a friend in Edinburgh, and then we're just gonna drive north and we gotta be at the family's place in three days. Let's just figure it out as we go. Cause maybe something catches your eye. 00:01:04.98 Donny Dust Maybe there's a cool site that you learned about from somebody in a pub and you just go. So you have it too locked down, you kind of lose that curiosity. And I think for us, when we travel, 00:01:15.73 Donny Dust whether it's in Central America, South America, Europe, we have a very loose plan and just kind of whatever happens, happens. 00:01:23.92 nextlevelguypodcast you're very much like a Scottish bloke watching a World Cup. You know, it's like, oh, turned up in a pub six days later. No idea. i went off on a tour. 00:01:31.77 Donny Dust Exactly. 00:01:33.06 nextlevelguypodcast But you always have a but new best friend every bar you go into. 00:01:33.34 Donny Dust Exactly. 00:01:37.30 Donny Dust um that's awesome. We we did it. We had some... She was pregnant at the time, so she was like one month away from giving birth. So I was like, well, I'm going to experience some of the brews and, uh, but I'm like, you're going to to drive some. 00:01:52.70 Donny Dust And I was like, it was a whole different experience. Cause we just drove and, uh, but it was everywhere we went, everyone was just super friendly. They wanted to hear me talk cause I had an accent. I'm like, you all have the accent, but good time overall. 00:02:07.70 nextlevelguypodcast Well, we'll have to get you on a whiskey tour the next time you're over. You know, sampling the true bruise. 00:02:11.46 Donny Dust Gosh. All right. 00:02:13.46 nextlevelguypodcast But that opens up the sort of the first real question. 00:02:14.32 Donny Dust I'm in. 00:02:19.07 nextlevelguypodcast It's like, how do you explain who you are and what you do? 00:02:19.61 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:02:23.03 nextlevelguypodcast Because you must get asked this millions of times, but have you got it down to this kind of like standard answer? Or is it just as you'd find yourself? 00:02:33.05 Donny Dust Yeah, I think, I think it's a great question. And I think a lot of, you know, ah young men and older men, they want to, they want to follow a certain sort of like make and model. They feel comfortable within it. And I think for me, i don't necessarily follow exact kind of like pathway on this is who I am. I always like to mix it up. So like every year I like to experience something new. so maybe that kind of shapes how I go about approaching the world or, 00:02:59.83 Donny Dust different travels and different adventures, it always impacts you in a different way. And I try to not live in this constant box, which try to kind of break out of it. But I think when most people ask what you do, i always kind of say, you know, or like, what, who are you? I'm just, 00:03:18.17 Donny Dust I live by this simple way of like, I'm a guy that chose not to listen to everybody else. He goes to listen to himself and do what truly made him, you know, happy, brought him a level of peace. And that was staying outside, playing in the woods, making stone tools, teaching people, writing books, running my own podcast, doing lectures, doing a lot of things that brought me joy. And I think that's kind of like ultimately who I am. 00:03:47.96 nextlevelguypodcast Because if you look at your history, something that pops out a lot, you know, that you taught leadership, that you're teaching people survival of skills and also the like prehistoric tools and things like that, all always comes in the teacher identity. 00:04:04.92 nextlevelguypodcast Do you think you were always a teacher disguised as other things? 00:04:10.55 Donny Dust I think I think my my approach into the teaching is leading and teaching by example. Like as much as I like to tell people, this is what you need to do to achieve a certain task, whether it's making a certain stone tool or to be able to last, you know, a weekend in the woods, I like to be that example that's doing it with them. So they kind of see that ground truth and that proof on exactly what is happening. 00:04:35.03 Donny Dust But I think there's always been a bit of a a teacher, an instructor, an educator, if you will, and in my blood. 00:04:43.96 nextlevelguypodcast So was there something that you always felt as a mission to try get across to people that like we needed to connect better with nature? You know, like when you look back across your life, is there like a thread that connects the Donnie that was in the military to the Donnie that we know now to just you as a person? 00:05:01.78 Donny Dust Yeah, I think ah curiosity. I think people need to be more curious. about the world. And I think I've been a very curious, you know, young man in my, into my, you know, teens, twenties, thirties, and now into my forties. I've been curious about people and about culture and about places. And think a lot of people, they kind of get roped into this online world with social media and they see these places, they see people experiencing these very unique things and they just get a little bit of satisfaction. from They're almost satiated and they kind of say, well, 00:05:36.86 Donny Dust and don't think I'm going to do it because I just maybe saw it online. I think that just kind of fires me up to say that person got to live an experience. I want to be curious about that. And I want to go and actually do. I want to go and live. i want to walk from this place to this place. I want to swim with sharks. I want to climb mountains. I want to, I just want to do it all. And then in the military gave me a lot of that curiosity, but it was a little bit more focused. They're like, you are going to go to the Middle East and fight in the war. Okay. You know, but the military definitely fosters that ah kind of leadership as well as, hey, you could do whatever you want to do in the military. You can just be the average Marine, but if you want to go bigger and better, be curious about those opportunities and seize them as they're sitting right in front of you. 00:06:25.08 nextlevelguypodcast Because you certainly took curiosity to like another level. And yes, I hate myself for using that. um Because you went into so human intelligence and you like to know some real scum and some real good people across the world and in different areas and different you know geographies, religions, et cetera. 00:06:32.25 Donny Dust No worries. 00:06:36.02 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:06:44.82 nextlevelguypodcast But did did that experience, what did it teach you about what people truly want and need as men, as people in the world? 00:06:45.10 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:06:52.28 Donny Dust yeah Yeah, so as a counterintelligence, human intelligence you know agent in the Marine Corps, I think my biggest exposure was that despite everyone's cultural differences and religious differences and geographic differences, we were all still the same. And we still look for kind of like love of the family. We look for our own safety and security, whether that comes through financial means or a physical presence, maybe in the form of a wall or a firearm or something to that extent. 00:07:22.94 Donny Dust we are all the same, like in the most simplest forms. If we were to take like Maslow's hierarchy of needs all the way to the top, all the way down to the bottom, most people live in that kind of bottom rung. They want to feel safe. They want to feel loved. They want to feel the embrace of that kind of community around them. And I don't think if it was, you know, a guy in the Middle East or someone in Southeast Asia or someone in Africa or South America, it's all the same thing. And you find a way to relate to those people, but then there's also identifying the darker side of things. What can drive somebody to go to great lengths to obtain those sort of bottom layer wants, whether it is money or safety or or just you know security. People will go to lengths to get those. And I think once you can understand that, the human being, the the human psyche is is very flexible 00:08:16.15 Donny Dust And when one of those things are compromised, people will go to great lengths to preserve themselves as well as their family. And when you realize that, you can kind of use it as tool in certain ways, but you can't use it as a tool to, you know, ultimately destroy. You have to use it as a tool to better understand, but ultimately kind of preserve and and do your job as you move forward through, you know, any experience with any culture. 00:08:42.10 nextlevelguypodcast So how do you sort of use that? Because when you're looking at somebody who is maybe, you know, people who are starving or got shelter, et cetera, know, they're just coming and asking for help, et cetera. But then you have the ones who they see it they're within the right to... 00:08:58.46 nextlevelguypodcast to decide that your version is not the right way to live, et cetera. Sort of like modern culture does to a lot of other sort hobbies and that at minute. 00:09:04.57 Donny Dust Yeah. Yeah. 00:09:06.42 nextlevelguypodcast how How do you understand somebody, but not attack them, but to kind of understand them, but not follow their ah their behaviors, if that makes sense? Because a lot of guys are acting against how they truly want to be to fit into society. 00:09:17.30 Donny Dust yeah 00:09:21.82 nextlevelguypodcast how How did you find that in the military? Because you had somebody with the end of a gun rather than the end of a pen. 00:09:28.50 Donny Dust Yeah, I think the military gave me a whole different level of what it is to be, you know, a man, what it is to be someone who is willing to kind of lay your life on a line for the persons next to you. And i always kind of paint it in this like kind of weird sort of picture of people. I say, depending where I'm going, I know there's obviously threats and this, that, and the other, but no one at that present point in time is trying to kill me. So I can go into with a different level of ease that the military has prepared me and conditioned me option 00:09:59.16 Donny Dust even, you know, after being out for so many years that it's It's you have your own confidence based off of your own experiences. 00:10:10.36 Donny Dust And that gives you the ability to move forward without like worrying about what other people think, how to, you know, try and fit into a group that maybe you don't belong to or a group you want to belong to, but you'll go to great lengths to get into that group. The military, you know, as a teenager was that group. It gave me the foundation. It gave me the confidence and it gave me the, the, 00:10:32.79 Donny Dust that the direction to say, i can do what I want and I don't really need anybody else's approval, which is kind of different because in the military, there's a chain of command. But also in the Marine Corps, we exercise, if you are in a position of leadership and every Marine's a leader, make decisions, make choices, stand by your choices and just make those choices. 00:10:54.97 Donny Dust Even if they're wrong, we'll learn from them and we'll keep moving forward. And I think a lot of young men as well as older men, they don't really have those options. they're They're not accustomed to making decisions, sticking by those decisions. And then more importantly, if the decision is wrong, admitting that it's wrong and trying to move forward. So for me, I'm willing to try and do everything and anything. 00:11:18.71 Donny Dust And if it's not working, cool, it didn't work. I'm not going to wear my heart on my sleeve and be like, my world is over because i attempted this and i and I failed at it. I just, okay, I'm done with that. Let's move on to the next thing. 00:11:30.86 Donny Dust So it kind of shapes your mind in a way where you're never really worried or trying to fit in in ah in a group or in a place because you are your own. You know what i mean? Like, I'm just confident with who I am. 00:11:44.73 Donny Dust always will be, and that's, net it's never gonna go away. 00:11:48.63 nextlevelguypodcast Thank you. 00:11:48.92 Donny Dust Sometimes it's it's one of those downsides, I guess, but it works. 00:11:53.98 nextlevelguypodcast Because that's the thing, and it is like how many people, if you truly asked them, are they comfortable or confident in themselves, they would go ah yeah, yeah. And you could hear that little nerve in their voice. 00:12:02.30 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:12:02.65 nextlevelguypodcast And they would wouldn't know what to do. Like, look at COVID. Look at power cats. People shitd a brick a second their phones are off. 00:12:07.87 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:12:10.62 nextlevelguypodcast Do you find that that's the part that the military teaches you, that the art of you know like accountability to make mistakes, to to let you blossom and then find yourself? 00:12:19.32 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:12:24.09 Donny Dust Yeah, i would I would actually label it resilience. they they They build you up in your ability to be resilient through lots of failure, getting screamed at, getting you know bruised and and battered and broken, but it builds up this resilience. So if you take the a you know my experience as the military, i've I've seen a lot, I've done a lot, and I've enjoyed every bit of it. 00:12:48.98 Donny Dust But all of those small moments that lead up to those big moments, it's made me a very much more resilient person. Some people don't have that opportunity. They get a bad grade on a test. 00:12:59.61 Donny Dust Maybe they get a bad review at work and their world is over. It really impacts them. And I think the Marine Corps shaped me to say, look, When you messed up, we're gonna let you know you messed up, but then we're also gonna give you kind of the the tools and the keys to success to move forward and not make those same mistakes again. So no matter, like I tell my you know now three sons, no matter whatever your worst day is, that's just your worst day. 00:13:26.81 Donny Dust It could always be worse, but keep that in the back of your mind and use it as a tool. So when my two oldest boys were God, so when one was 16 and the other one was 13, I brought them out into some really remote deserts and we went walking, very little gear, there was very little water, and we wound up doing like 40 some miles from early in the morning to late in the evening and we were moving. 00:13:52.92 Donny Dust And now don't get me wrong, they had done stuff like this before, but this is kind of when they were a little bit older and you know they just kind of use that one trip, that one experience as kind of a something to hold onto, a little little kind of cornerstone, if you will, that they could be having a bad day anywhere else. They can look back to that experience and be like, 00:14:11.32 Donny Dust Is today as hard as it was that one day out in the Utah desert with dad when we were digging for water, drinking from streams, and we had no food and we were hot and we were sweaty, one of them pulled a hamstring, one of them was just you know covered in sweat. Is it as bad as that? 00:14:29.24 Donny Dust No, it's not. Let's just move forward. We'll get over it. It will always And I think the Marine Corps just built this level of resilience in me that I don't think you know a lot of people have, but they they they do get there. Some people have their own ways of getting there. 00:14:46.26 Donny Dust And I'll give you another example. When I was 37, I had a massive heart attack. My left anterior descending artery had a 99% blockage. and It's not because of drugs or alcohol or anything like that. It was just genetics. 00:15:02.39 Donny Dust And basically doctors were kind of like, you know, you're going to have to slow down in life. You're going to have to take it easy. You're technically, you have a heart condition. just laid out all of this stuff and really painted this picture of like, your life is now going to be like this. It's going to have to slow down. And I think it just gave me something else to look at where it kind of fired me up to say, there's no way this is going to happen to me I'm like, I would rather keep living a life and even more intensified life because I know this happened. So most heart attack patients typically 00:15:38.90 Donny Dust will die from a second heart attack. So like I use that as my example. it's like, well, huh, that's kind of lucky and fortunate for me. i already had one heart attack. It's very likely I'll have a second one. So knowing that, what am I going to do from this day moving forward? And From that point, it shaped my very existence where it's like, well, when opportunities come that I wanna do and I'm excited about, I'm gonna do them. 00:16:03.38 Donny Dust When there's something I don't wanna do, just say no. Because a lot of people, they're afraid to say no or to reject somebody or say, hey, I'm not interested. It gave me a point to shape my life moving forward at the age of 37, which is very young, to say now from this day forward, you have to approach life in a way that you're gonna maximize it because that's what you want to do. 00:16:28.67 nextlevelguypodcast but 00:16:30.58 Donny Dust A lot of men, they always focus on everybody else and slowly but surely, they slowly kind of weather away and they kind of, you know, they just, they put everybody else first and it kind of impacts them the hardest. 00:16:44.38 Donny Dust And I think for me is, well, I'm gonna focus on me, but I'm still gonna focus on my family. But for the first time in 37 years of life, I'm gonna prioritize my health, my wellbeing, 00:16:56.73 Donny Dust And then i was able to quickly realize that when my health, my wellbeing, and like my four mark tattoo, which stands for my mental, physical, emotional, and primal wellbeing, when those four marks, so those four ideas are aligned, I'm that much better for my sons. I'm that much better for the people around me. And it seems counterintuitive because most men are told to always put everybody else first. But when you actually put yourself first, 00:17:25.53 Donny Dust focus on you, it makes it that much easier to bring everybody else up and support them and love them and care for them. So that was a very unique turning point. But the Marine Corps, I swear, if I would not been in the Marine Corps, I think my approach would have been a little bit different. It built so much resilience in me where i was like, shoot, you know, a heart attack, 37 years old okay, that's just enough. No one's trying to kill me. 00:17:49.71 Donny Dust Let's just heal from it and keep moving forward. And that's what I did. Wrote some books. ah You know, after that, how I went about and healed my body in a natural way, just shaped everything moving forward. 00:18:02.97 nextlevelguypodcast Because there's like the Cato thing into it of like, you know, wearing the harshest dress, eating the worst food and that. So you always get, you know what the lowest point could be, but you took that to but to a legendary conclusion. 00:18:12.28 Donny Dust Exactly. 00:18:14.97 nextlevelguypodcast What was it like though, at that point, you know, when you, your identity was taken away of being the guy that was prepared, the guy that was organized, the guy that knew what was going on, to suddenly take that capability away from you when you were ill. 00:18:15.19 Donny Dust Exactly. 00:18:28.63 nextlevelguypodcast did Did you ever have that real earth-shattering awakening or... 00:18:29.23 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:18:33.43 Donny Dust Yeah, I think i think so. But it kind of came in two ways. So when it happened to me, everyone was like, oh, my God, I can't believe it happened to you. Like, keep keep in mind, when this was going on, I was training for a super jungle ultra marathon down in Peru. It was like 245K over like given number of days, completely by yourself. 00:18:56.12 Donny Dust but I was in like peak physical condition. People kept saying, man, I can't believe this happened to you, man. And and i I took that opportunity and say, well, here, kind of exactly what you said. I'm prepared. I'm physically fit. I'm always kind of on point. If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. 00:19:11.86 Donny Dust So let me be the example on why you should be prepared. You should be mentally, physically, emotionally, and primally kind of aligned. You should have your finances in order. You should be able to tell your kids that you love them. 00:19:22.58 Donny Dust You should have all of these things ready to go 24-7 because it did happen to me. the person that is always, you know, leading the charge or ready to go it hits the ego a little bit. 00:19:28.60 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 00:19:37.90 Donny Dust But I said, all right, I can sit here and beat myself up over it, or I can say, all right, did happen to you? How can this help other people? And that's kind of what led into like my first book called Scavenger was, 00:19:52.15 Donny Dust I wanted to shape my old life. I wanted to scavenge bits and pieces from that old life, apply it to my new life kind of going forward, not because they were bad, but I needed to feed off of some of those things. And it led me down this next path of life. And i mean, it's, ah it's only been positive. It really has. It's I've, I've enjoyed it. And next year will be like that 10 year anniversary on February 3rd, having a heart attack. 00:20:19.23 nextlevelguypodcast It's great that you can look to that, like that positivity of it. But when you look at it now, back now, was there anything that you were hiding from? Was it anything that you were glad it happened because it it let you tackle that part of your life? Or was there anything that, you know, if you look, you think, if I didn't have that, I wouldn't be the person I am today? 00:20:41.37 Donny Dust Yeah, I think the one thing that I was, it really gave me was i was able to look at personal relationships. And I said, you know, and to keep in mind, this is even before there was any online presence. It wasn't on Instagram, TikTok, none of that. 00:20:57.43 Donny Dust No phone, none of it. I looked at all of the personal relationships that I had and said, Do these people bring me a value and not like a value in the sense of a monetary value, but do they aid? do they Do they provide me with something that I long for or that I seek out, whether it's guidance or advice or you know kinship, something to that extent. And those people that didn't provide that value, 00:21:25.69 Donny Dust Just got rid of them. And I mean, got rid of them in the sense where some of those conversations were like, I think we're just on two different fields and I'm playing this direction. You're playing that direction. It's been great knowing you, but I'm going to go about my way. And those were the things that I think that it gave me a confidence to say, and need to do what's right for me. Again, focusing on me and provide those people like, you know, because if I didn't see them as a value, I guarantee you they didn't see me as a value. So it was just kind of like an easy separation. And that was with personal relationships and like former work relationships, people from my past. 00:22:02.49 Donny Dust If they didn't present me a value today, then they're not in And I still live by that. Like, I'm not a ah guy that goes out for beers with his but with his buddies or his boys. I don't go to bachelor parties. I don't go to golf weekends with my boys, none of that sort of stuff. 00:22:21.05 Donny Dust If I'm doing anything, it's with my sons, it's with my wife or a small group of people that they are my value. They they they they give me curiosity. They educate me. I educate them. There is a relationship there that is based on mutual understanding where it's it's more of like a trust, it's more of a family. And I always tell people like, if you have my number, you're part of that that value system. Like I want to communicate with you. And there's there's a handful of them in the state of Colorado. And there's a handful that are outside of the state of Colorado that 00:22:56.28 Donny Dust and make it a point to chat with them and to reach out to them. Those, that's the value that I look for today. And it doesn't have anything to do with business. It doesn't have anything to do with likes on a video. It just has to do that. Do they make me a better person? And can I reciprocate that value and make them a better person? 00:23:16.60 nextlevelguypodcast And is there a kind of criteria or is there something that you look for in each of the person, you know, in addition to making you more curious to sparking that ignition in life? what Is there something that you look for in each of these people? 00:23:31.13 Donny Dust Absolutely. This when I go back to my old counterintel, human intelligence, days I kind of, I assess them for a period of time and say, what are they trustworthy? Are they going to do what they, you know, say they're going to do? And do we have similar values? Like I'm not a very religious man and in zero way, shape or form. 00:23:49.24 Donny Dust That doesn't impact my relationships with them. I want to see them as, if they are married, are they good to their wife? Are they good to their kids? Do they take care of themselves? Do we have a similar kind of make and model in the ways going forward? Can i call them up and say, hey man, I'd love to get together and um do something as families. Do they have enough confidence to say, you know what, man, I would. My son's got a baseball game. We're not going to be able to do it. 00:24:16.81 Donny Dust That's what I want. I don't want them to suddenly manipulate their whole family situation to accommodate me. I want them to stay focused and and true to their family and say, cool, we'll make it work another day. Let's shoot a couple of dates where we can get everybody together and go you know hiking or go do this or go do that. 00:24:34.55 Donny Dust That's the sort of relationship that I want with a man. And I say a man because i don't have... friends that are females that I would connect with or contact in any way, shape or form. Like my wife is my best friend and it's kind of one of those things where we have similar likes and we have similar interests. And if it's like one of those things where it would make her feel uncomfortable if I was like, oh You know, so-and-so's wife is really nice. 00:25:03.50 Donny Dust And we do have friends like this, but like, I don't have that relationship where I'm texting them to being like, hey, we're going to come over on this weekend or hey, we're going link up like it's with the husband. 00:25:06.36 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 00:25:13.54 Donny Dust It's not a traditional marriage, but it's a respectful marriage where my wife is my everything. My kids are my everything. And the community of people around me are also my everything. And I value them because they value me. 00:25:26.15 Donny Dust And there's a reciprocity of what we can do to build each other up. That's the most important thing. 00:25:32.66 nextlevelguypodcast Does that stem, this is probably going to be bit of a weird question, but does that stem from like the the prehistoric work that you've done? You've kind of liked the the tribes, the, you know, the family unit, but you're also fixing it, but you're in your area and then you move with your people. 00:25:42.52 Donny Dust Yes. 00:25:48.73 nextlevelguypodcast You don't go to the outsiders, et cetera. You have that tight knit group. 00:25:51.90 Donny Dust Yeah. Yeah, I always call it, it's that kind of family, like kinship. 00:25:54.49 nextlevelguypodcast It's, 00:25:56.94 Donny Dust there's ah There's a family group, and then there's those people that are in your tribe or in your clan or your cohort, and they are just of similar makes and models. And somebody could be, you know, banker, but they could still enjoy some of the leisure time with their family. And we have found a way to connect. 00:26:13.64 nextlevelguypodcast Thank you. 00:26:13.82 Donny Dust um And it doesn't really matter the age. It's just that it is. So I think from a prehistoric standpoint, if we're going back to like hunter gatherer societies, whether it's 20,000 years ago 10,000 years ago, there keep your your your your family group small because then it's very easy to rely on them, one, and then two, to help them out when they need some help. And like that help is very you know impactful in certain ways. 00:26:41.43 nextlevelguypodcast Because it's interesting that, you know, you've got this sort tight-knit group and stuff, but then when you had the heart attack, you know, most people would have gone off and had the green smoothies and they were taking up pickleball. 00:26:48.04 Donny Dust did, 00:26:52.24 nextlevelguypodcast You did the most logical thing to you and went and lived in a cave for a period of time. well 00:26:57.18 Donny Dust did I did. 00:26:57.75 nextlevelguypodcast What was the reason you find that? 00:27:00.82 Donny Dust I think I knew ah in my mind, like the natural world always brought me peace, it brought me clarity, it brought me a lot of different things. And I think that was the best place to go and heal. It was the best place to like reconnect with a very primal sense of who I am and kind of, I don't want to say be reborn, but I would like to say something along lines of like healing from, and I don't even want to say trauma because that's a very cliche word. 00:27:28.38 Donny Dust i just would say maybe healing from, a bad day and finding different ways to get over it. That was that was the focus. And that I always tell people the natural world will heal everything. 00:27:41.11 Donny Dust And I'm not talking like if somebody has like brain cancer, I'm not speaking to that extent, like just go drink some stream water. I'm just saying it can give you and emotional stability. It will give you some of that curiosity, but there are different things in that natural world that can make you feel better, whether it is the plants that you forge, the wild game that you hunt, the shelters that you sleep in, or just the overall experiences, it's very healing. And it can set you on the right path to maybe a more kind of, you know, not industrial way, but more of a structured way of healing. So if somebody does have, you know, cancer, heal yourself, heal your mental well-being in the bush, and then take those necessary steps through, you know, a legitimate doctor, you know, heal whatever that next kind of phase is. 00:28:27.45 nextlevelguypodcast So what was that first night like, you know, that when you went there, mean, after you tried to explain to your partner and your kids, like, I'm going into a cave, you know, and they want you to get, like, to rest, et cetera. 00:28:35.61 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:28:38.60 nextlevelguypodcast What was that night by yourself like? what What was going through your mind? What did you kind of, was there any kind of appeasements to your your soul, kind 00:28:44.95 Donny Dust Yeah. ah 00:28:48.79 Donny Dust No, I'm going to be honest with you it was like going home in certain ways. I had been to these caves before, so it was kind of like If you think of like some of the most joyous events in your life, whether, and I'm not saying like watching your, of your kids being born, but like some of those great experiences that you have and get, you're doing, you've done it once and you know, you're going to do it again. It's kind of that I was just happy to be in this place and. 00:29:14.17 Donny Dust i'm I'm very comfortable being alone, but I was happy to be amongst the cave and the walls and the fire. i was happy to be amongst those friends because it it always brought me, you know, a level of peace. And I didn't look at it as, you know, any sort of big like, you know, self-reflection into anything. I was just like, all right, just like the military. We've got it we've got a mission. We know what we got to do. 00:29:39.86 Donny Dust Stay out here. Let's heal ourself. And let's, ah you know, this doesn't need to be documented. Like, again, this is all part of any social media. Like, this is about you. 00:29:50.74 Donny Dust Do it. Move forward. That was it. 00:29:54.33 nextlevelguypodcast ah love that you too ah so ah sorry i was because I love that you took the most important thing to you as the way to heal and you just went for it. 00:29:54.90 Donny Dust Go ahead. 00:30:02.76 nextlevelguypodcast You didn't say, no I'm ignoring what everybody else says. 00:30:03.69 Donny Dust That's it. 00:30:05.88 nextlevelguypodcast I know what I need to make me happy. what What did it start healing, but what didn't it heal? 00:30:09.42 Donny Dust Bingo. 00:30:14.04 Donny Dust So I think what it healed quickest was my mental sort of game. Like when I mean like the mental game, I, there was a lot of doctors that were telling me, Hey, you got to slow it down. You got to do this. And I think just by going out there, i was proving them all wrong right after, you know, one after another, day after day. What I don't think it really healed was I mean, it didn't physically heal my heart in the form of like physical heart. It healed my heart in the form of like that metaphorical love of the outdoors and my sons and everything. But I think there was no physical healing of the heart. 00:30:54.01 Donny Dust What I did was I just gave myself time to truly rest and truly kind of be present in what was and ultimately kind of move forward. I don't think but don't think anything negative came from it. 00:31:09.34 Donny Dust I'm sure it could have impacted people, maybe maybe my folks for a while and, you know, my kids and I would travel out to, you know, see see my boys and everything. But um it was all about making sure that like I can return to the world, so to speak, in the most real form of who I am. It's almost like kind of going back to that like 12, 13, 14 year old you when you're just like the world is there. You're a little bit older. 00:31:37.37 Donny Dust You can kind of do things on your own. That's like where I wanted to be. what it gave me. 00:31:43.29 nextlevelguypodcast And did that come all of a sudden or was it a gradual thing? You know, was it a moment that you thought, fuck, I feel confident and I feel capable again? Or did that just being in nature kind of fill your body back up so this week? 00:31:57.88 Donny Dust Yeah, I would say it definitely, it filled me back up, but I think the act of just going out, the act of committing to something and then actually executing it kind of was the biggest sort of thing. 00:32:09.15 Donny Dust Cause I can't tell you how many people said, oh my God, your life is over, man. Like everything's changed for you. And I think, you know, if enough people start to say things, they start to pick away. 00:32:19.85 Donny Dust But I think my, 00:32:21.02 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 00:32:21.62 Donny Dust Me listening to, you know, my my my mental, physical, emotional, primal well-being to just go out and do it. I think that was the biggest kind of revelation, the biggest healing point where it's just just committing to and then doing it. 00:32:35.35 Donny Dust That was it. was It's not so much proving everybody wrong, but it's more about just saying, ah you know what you got to do. It's listening to yourself. Because a lot of people, they might want to say, oh, I got to prove everybody wrong. I don't care about everybody else. I want to listen to me do what I say, do what I feel, and do it. 00:32:53.11 nextlevelguypodcast And is that, do you think that's what a lot of guys are losing in life just now? 00:32:53.33 Donny Dust That's just, yeah. Go ahead. 00:32:58.41 nextlevelguypodcast That that's what where're they're grieving with modern society, technology, etc. 00:32:59.50 Donny Dust Yes. 00:33:02.85 nextlevelguypodcast That they're not capable, that they just do listen to other people. we don't feel and go and do what we want in life. 00:33:11.19 Donny Dust Yeah, I think a lot of lot of guys, they get they get pigeonholed into certain things and they get kind of stereotyped into this is what you have to do, this is what you're supposed to do. 00:33:23.00 Donny Dust some of them might want to follow those particular paths. But I'll put it to you very easily. Like having three sons and two older sons, we had one rule in our house. and well We had a lot of rules in our house, but one rule focused around that was like, you guys, you guys can't be me. 00:33:38.42 Donny Dust You have to be you. And what that means is i will expose you to everything. I will give you opportunities to climb mountains, to fall down ravines. I will give you plenty of opportunities. But you guys can't be me because what I am is completely different than you. 00:33:53.66 Donny Dust And what I think that did for them was relieve the whole different level of pressure where they don't have to be like dad. And I think a lot of young men, they're faced with that. And it might not be dad per se, but it might be somebody that they... 00:34:06.49 Donny Dust they that they view as their hero or that they idolize. They want to be like that person. And the reality is they will never be that person. They will never get to that same level. I mean, you can look at any famous like football and take like Ronaldo. See how many people probably want to be like Ronaldo? 00:34:23.03 Donny Dust But nobody will ever be Ronaldo. I think for most young men, they say I can aim. 00:34:25.51 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 00:34:28.44 Donny Dust maybe do things and be at a level, but I want to be authentic and organic to who I am. So with my boys, i said, hey, follow your heart. Do what you want to do. 00:34:39.46 Donny Dust I'm still going to be your dad. I'm not your friend. I will teach you. i will coach you. i will mentor you. And I'll always love you. but Be you, do you. and I think that gave him a whole lot less anxiety growing up in this world where there was no pressure from their father to follow into my line or to join the military or to make stone tools. 00:34:57.14 Donny Dust I got one son in college in Japan right now. He took an entire gap year off, saved all of his money, went all throughout Europe and you know Asia and everywhere else, just exploring, just doing his thing. 00:35:06.68 nextlevelguypodcast Nice. 00:35:09.91 Donny Dust He turned 18 and left like a month later. That's what he wanted to do. And I think if I was a different dad, would you have to go to college. soon as you graduate high school, that's what you're supposed to do. 00:35:23.19 Donny Dust For him, i was saying, do what you want to do. Make sure you have a plan. Make sure you can execute it. This isn't dad funded, but go and do it. And even with my you know middle son right now, it's the same thing. like Do you want to play lacrosse in college? do Do you want to do this? do you want to do Pick one of those. And if you want to do it, do it. But there's no stress from me. 00:35:45.46 Donny Dust you won't be living in my basement as a 20, 30 year old, you know, grown man mooching off a dad. That's not how this life works. But I gave them enough to know how to think and not necessarily what to think. So I think a lot of young men, they struggle with that, with as much social media presence. And I'm, I'm, I don't consider myself to blame for that because a lot of people are like, man, I would love to be able to do the things that you do. And I say, go do it. 00:36:12.79 Donny Dust What is stopping you? And they come up with a couple reasons. Well, I live in a city. Take a train into the bush to get a car. There's so many different ways to be curious and to just go and do, but they just, they're constantly told, no, don't do this. Don't do this. Oh, you can't. and You can't. Oh, you don't have enough time. 00:36:30.30 Donny Dust Just go do it. Like, Don't be me. I am who I am. Nobody else will be me. You do you and be the best version of you and you'll be totally fine. 00:36:39.89 nextlevelguypodcast And is that what you found with a lot of your clients, a lot of the guys you've worked with, you know, in the services, et cetera, that a lot of them do as they're told because they don't know who they are. they're ah They're almost asking for permission. And that's your great skill is letting them find that they are capable and they have got skills within them. 00:36:59.22 Donny Dust Yeah, absolutely. there's there's There's a lot of men that I bring out in the bush and they want to know how to do it this way, how to do it this way. i i bring them out there and i say, look, here's the number one rule out here. It's a way. It's not necessarily the way. 00:37:13.98 Donny Dust But how you build a shelter to stay warm that night, that's a way. It doesn't have to be this way that you saw in a book or this way you saw on TV. Think about if you're going to be cold tonight, what can you do to make tonight just a little bit better? 00:37:27.26 Donny Dust You don't have to follow what you have been told day one, day two, day three, and all the way up into your current day. So use your curiosity, use your creativity and try to solve those problems. Because what I try to get people to do is just make decisions when they're in the woods. Hey, but I try to educate them because you don't know what you don't know, but I do try to educate them that, hey, if we are looking to employ, you know, some traps to to trap some game, here are some, ah you know, best practices. We're looking for this. We're looking for dens. We're looking for, you know, ground spore. We're looking for anything that would be an indicator. This is a good place. Now, if they say, hey, I'm going to set my trap up here and I know 00:38:10.12 Donny Dust In my heart of heart, but that's not a good place, we're going to set it up there. They made a choice, they made the decision, and that's a good decision. Now, the next morning, it might not have any food in it, but then we can use that as a learning point say, all right, why do you think this is? 00:38:24.15 Donny Dust I think I was just a little far from the den entrance. And I all right, well, look above. What do you see? ah there's a nest. Maybe that could have been some sort of bird of prey. How would we overcome this? And they start to make those decisions and me just kind of painting the scenarios and I should probably move it over here maybe face it away from the sun. 00:38:40.76 Donny Dust Good, let's try that again. And and when you got a couple of days to do that, the light bulb starts to click. and these men that were afraid to make decisions are suddenly like just running running themselves. They're totally running all of their own kind of day-to-day functions. And I'm there to, I like to use the word teach, coach, and mentor. 00:38:59.51 Donny Dust I can teach you some hard skills. I can coach you in those processes and give you some examples. And then I can mentor you through those hours and through those days. That is my opportunity for those young men to make decisions of their own free will. That's their own autonomy. 00:39:16.74 Donny Dust There's no books. We're not bringing out, ah you know, you know ah diagrams and stuff. More importantly, I'm not giving out certificates. I'm not giving out badges. I'm not giving out little stickers and little, you know, Velcro patches. You're not going to get shit because what you just got, if that's your only thing you're focused on is a little say, hey, I went through Donnie Dust's 10-day survival course. I went through Donnie Dust's five-day primitive skills walkabout. If that's all you're focused on, then you're missing the big picture. 00:39:45.11 Donny Dust You know what I mean? It's everything in those five days or those 10 days, all of the knowledge and the skills and the abilities that you gain, that's what you get to carry with you, not a patch. Patch, hey, save that for Instagram. We're out here to do work. 00:39:58.62 Donny Dust We're out here to learn this stuff. and We're actually out here to live. So that's my decision-making forum. 00:40:04.38 nextlevelguypodcast And do you think that's almost like you become that leader, that father figure, of that role model that a lot of men don't have in their life, that we just we don't have that rite of passage anymore like you would have had back in like the olden days. 00:40:17.10 nextlevelguypodcast We now don't become men, so we don't know where we fit in. 00:40:18.20 Donny Dust yeah 00:40:21.22 nextlevelguypodcast And you're giving them that ability to find themselves. 00:40:25.02 Donny Dust Yeah, i think I think most men do know this. I think they do know where they fit in, but they're just easily they're easily influenced from everybody. Deep down inside, there's that small little golden nugget. 00:40:35.80 Donny Dust They know where they fit in, but they start to believe their own doubts. And I think sometimes they might need somebody to kind of slap them on the ass and say, got to go this way. 00:40:46.65 Donny Dust This is the direction you're going. After I point you in that right direction, the decisions are up to you. But that's kind of what my role is. Maybe it is like the village elder, so to speak, but it's like, I'm going to point you in the right direction, but that's just the direction. Every step you take, every turn, every twist, you're still going in that direction, but all those choices are in your hands. 00:41:08.34 Donny Dust think a lot I think a lot of men know this. I truly believe there is that innate, there is that kind of raw, primal sense of truly who they are, but they never really get to kind of you know ah you know live it. They never get to breathe it. i i I brought professional athletes, doctors, construction workers, mechanics, everybody and anybody you can think about into the bush. And there's this common kind of sense when they're walking out like, 00:41:37.29 Donny Dust can't believe I just did that. Or man, I'll tell you what, I feel just rejuvenated. Like they just tapped into something that was totally primal. And don't get me wrong, we're not out there yelling and growling into the woods. Like we're not into this like scream camps. I'm not into this like masculine energy. I don't play any of those freaking games. 00:41:58.10 Donny Dust Living in the bush is a completely different game. There are no steaks. We're not having beers. If we don't find food, we don't eat. If we don't build our shelter, then you stay cold. 00:42:08.76 Donny Dust If we don't walk to water, you're not drinking. It's real. Like I'm i'm out there. with a whole bunch of experience to teach, coach, and mentor them. 00:42:19.42 Donny Dust But like, this is 100% real in every way, shape, or form. So they walk out of the bush. i kind of say, you're going to walk into the bush with absolutely nothing. 00:42:32.66 Donny Dust and You're gonna walk out of the bush with absolutely everything. It's perspective, it's confidence, it's resilience. More importantly, it's ground truth. It's ground truths into who you are and what you can do. Remember when I was referencing my boys in the desert, they had that day to fall back on. Now these men have a day to fall back on. They could be at work one week later and say, you know what? My boss has really hounded me, but it's not as bad as it was one week ago when I didn't eat for three days because I couldn't figure out how to set up this trap. 00:43:04.02 Donny Dust Even after Donnie showed me 10 times, he wouldn't give me the answer. I'm not gonna go over and do it for you. I'll show you 10 times, but you have to do it. 00:43:12.84 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 00:43:13.10 Donny Dust He's gonna think, ah, it's not as bad as that. Eh, my boss is just an asshole. We'll get through this day and move on to the next. That's what young men need. like 00:43:22.40 nextlevelguypodcast Because a lot of people used to think like capability created the confidence to then act and be. That ground truth that you're talking about, that is not permission. It's more just awakening who you truly are. it's Has there been a great transformation that you can think of? Somebody that's completely... You've you know you've had them in thinking, jeez, here we go. And then they've left a completely different person. that's You've given them that personal power. 00:43:52.44 Donny Dust Yeah, I mean, I think there's been a lot of like, and there's there's there's been a large number of, you know, students over the years. I think some of the ones that really kind of stick with me are are dads that have daughters. 00:44:09.85 Donny Dust It sounds kind of weird, but a lot of dads that have daughters I think most daughters, and I'm kind of stereotyping, they're not maybe wanting to go live for five days with next to nothing in the bush. 00:44:22.30 Donny Dust But I think a lot of those dads, they always have this sense of could I take care of my daughters, my wife, if we were in this kind of remote setting? 00:44:33.37 Donny Dust And I think that translates into ah daily life because they might be able to provide them food on the table every night, maybe a car in the driveway or all the books that they need for school. 00:44:44.31 Donny Dust But that's a very controlled environment. But when you go into the bush, i the natural environment removes that control and they want to experience, can I take care of my daughters everywhere in this raw environment. It's raining because i think for a father, when he's maybe looking at his daughters or even his wife or, you know, a man with his girlfriend, there's a sense of like that, that manhood comes over. I have to protect. I have to, have to provide, i have to do all these things. 00:45:14.14 Donny Dust And I think for a lot of those dads that have come out there're Their information means like, I've got three daughters, I've got two daughters. I want to be able to bring them camping and not have them be miserable. More importantly, I want to be able to take care of them. We're going to go for, you know, i have two daughters that are in their 20s and we're going to for a 40 mile hike. I want to make sure that they're okay They've never done this. 00:45:34.61 Donny Dust It's those sort of things where it's like, you know, those dads, they come out because I expose them to like a very harsh reality of what the natural world can provide. 00:45:42.52 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:45:43.51 Donny Dust And then they ultimately fill that void of like, you know, how many people go, they're gonna go for a hike and they're like, oh man, what happens if I twist my ankle? Well, he just spent five days with me. 00:45:54.94 Donny Dust He knows he's not gonna twist his ankle. He's gotta worry about sun exposure and dehydration. Like those are the real ground truths that he now has put into his back pocket so when he's with his daughters, he can quickly analyze and assess and say, oh we don't need to worry about that. But we are getting above 10,000 feet. Lightning strikes are a little bit more probable up here. Let's drop down in elevation and take a different route. 00:46:17.85 Donny Dust That's the ground truth. Those are the guys that are like, man, I just so feel, you know, fired up and invigorated that now I can do this with my daughters, with my loved ones. And I feel confident I can kind of take on that man role and really provide for them when we're out in the bush. 00:46:35.25 nextlevelguypodcast And is that the capability that you think all men are like grieving or is there different things you see in different people or is it all coming down to that universal ground truth that a lot guys just have never been taught how to be men and we don't know how to, and we look at like Andrew Tate and these kind of morons rather than likes yourself? 00:46:54.78 Donny Dust um then yeah I think, I think it's very easy to say you're a man, you know what i mean? But there's like, I think I do like Andrew Tate and some of those guys that are always just running their mouths 24 seven. 00:47:10.17 Donny Dust they can have their own successes, but it's by a group of people that view that as successful. Because that group of people have ultimately been swayed into having a Bugatti and having this and having all these things is what it is to be a man. 00:47:25.08 Donny Dust But I can tell you the other night when my refrigerators um fan went out, I was able to fix it. For my wife, that's being a man. Being able to chop firewood to burn during the winter, that's being a man. To be able to hunt game, that's man. Being able to provide financially, those are things that I believe men should do. 00:47:47.87 Donny Dust But I just think the modern world kind of shapes what a man is because it's easy to portray something online and then not have to live it in their real life. And that's where I think most young men 00:47:56.95 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 00:47:59.48 Donny Dust they get caught up in that and they're like, oh man, this is how I'm supposed to treat women and I need to do this and I need to do that. And it's like, you don't have to. Like there is a piece, there is a ground truth in what it is. And it that doesn't mean only going out into the bush. 00:48:14.46 Donny Dust It means a lot of different things, but you have to be able to take parts and pieces. More importantly, the whole flip side of this is when I don't know something, finding somebody who can't. have Like I'm not a very good mechanical guy. 00:48:26.66 Donny Dust I can do bay basic maintenance on a car. But when I need to work on my car, I go to somebody that knows. That's finding that tribe, that group of people that you can trust that bring that value saying, all right, hey, look, man, I need help with my car. Can me out? And he's not gonna be like, oh you, you, whatever, you should know how to do this. It's like, no, he gets it. I can help him out things. He can help me out with things. It's finding that little community. It's finding that, that, that tribe, that clan. 00:48:52.63 Donny Dust to ultimately get those things done. but But I think a lot of young men are are warped and they're they're swayed. And I hate using the word influencer, but they are heavily influenced by the wrong types of men because those that speak the loudest typically fall the quickest. 00:49:09.63 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. And do you think that's the main reason ah for a lot of guys is that you're not they're not missing survival skills as such. 00:49:11.51 Donny Dust Right on. 00:49:18.25 nextlevelguypodcast They're missing the the need, the feeling of being needed, the feeling of personal power of providing for their tribe, so to speak. 00:49:26.46 Donny Dust Exactly. I think that's, I think it's a very accurate statement. Like, like it it doesn't have to tie in a survival. That's just my make and model. But I think like a lot of men, they, 00:49:39.77 Donny Dust They just don't know or they would need to figure out or they need to develop that confidence on what they bring to their tribe's table. How do they, because there's hunters, there's gatherers, there's scavengers, there's basket makers, there's all these different groups in that tribe. 00:49:53.18 Donny Dust What do you provide? What do you bring? And if you're doing the same as somebody else, that's totally fine. You guys can work together. But I think a lot of young men, they struggle because they're told, hey, you could just be a student or hey, you're gonna student athlete. 00:50:06.70 Donny Dust You're just going to do these things. I think most young men, i mean, I couldn't imagine in this day and age, like I feel for my boys, but they've had it a little bit different, like being told this is what you're going to do and this is how you're going to do it. And it's not by parents. 00:50:23.10 Donny Dust It's by people they'll never meet and they believe them. 00:50:25.17 nextlevelguypodcast Yep. 00:50:26.87 Donny Dust it just blows my mind. You know what I mean? And I'm 46. I didn't grow up with YouTube or, you know, that this level of technology, but I had, you know, my fathers and my uncles and the positive men in my life, as well as a bunch of drill instructors telling me what it was First they break you down, then they build you up and that builds that confidence. But i I could never imagine believing somebody that I've never met, I've never bled with, I've never sweat with, I've never sacrificed my body ah in any way shape or form with. like 00:50:59.58 Donny Dust But they do it. They just they just believe them. Crazy world, man. 00:51:04.90 nextlevelguypodcast It's especially since people realize that masculinity could be a moneymaker. 00:51:05.08 Donny Dust Crazy world. 00:51:09.30 nextlevelguypodcast you know They could sell masculinity or a perceived version of it. And i was always fine with who I was. i was kind of bumbling along. 00:51:16.80 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:51:17.22 nextlevelguypodcast And you know then i the podcast started introduced me to great guys like you. And then all of a sudden I was like, oh, right. you know There's this whole new world of confidence, ability, et cetera. 00:51:27.99 nextlevelguypodcast But a lot of people... don't have a clue what they're doing and since my nephew's have been born i've kind of gone well i'm a niece i've been like oh shit you know um i don't want them to have to struggle in any way did that happen with your kids or were you already feeling that in yourself as much like how did becoming a father change you as much in what you don't want to stop with you but you also you want to pass on to the next generation 00:51:55.93 Donny Dust Yeah, i think I think when I became a father, i had some great examples on what it was to be a father. My father, i had my grandfather, had my brother-in-law. I think those were the examples. And I think everyone likes to have this tragic story where they didn't know their father and all this sort of trauma in life. My parents loved me. They were very strict, but they loved me. 00:52:17.69 Donny Dust And I think my father gave me the best example, but he also gave me some examples that I can learn from, are maybe things that I would want to do different. So I was able to take all of these positive father figures and influences in my life, take out the tools that I wanted from them, take them into my own, and then apply that kind of going forward. it's there's There's no instruction book for being a dad. If there was one instruction book and it was right, there would just be one book and this would be like how to be a dad. 00:52:47.35 Donny Dust But like how I parent my 20 year old is different than how I parent my 17 year old and definitely different than I parent my four month old. So it's, it's one of those things where I think men sometimes they don't have those positive male role models. 00:53:05.30 Donny Dust So they'll seek out those that are just willing to talk to them and maybe it kind of gets them in the wrong influence. I don't know if that answers your question, but like, i just had good examples and use them as things that I wanted to do forward. You know what I mean? I remember once when, uh, you know, I was younger, I could, I could see the things my father was doing and I still do those things today because that's what it was to be father he would He would take care of, you know, my i have two older sisters and my mom. He would work late. He would do all these things. And then he would still find time to show up for me when I was, you know, playing in a baseball game or I was fishing down at a pond. He would still find time to show up. And like, I've used that as a tool to say, i need to be present for my boys, matter their ages going forward. 00:53:54.46 nextlevelguypodcast So are there just parts of what your father did that you don't want to pass on that you kind of went, no, I need to stop this. Or are there things in your son, because of that modern technology, you thought I need to show them this before this part of society dictates them? 00:54:11.38 Donny Dust Yes, so I think I grew up in the a generation where like spankings and not like abusing your kids. um was a thing, but spankings and like getting hit with a spatula, it was definitely more more more popular. 00:54:22.78 nextlevelguypodcast Oh, yes. 00:54:25.43 Donny Dust i had plenty of them, but I always told myself, I'm like, man, if I ever have kids, I'm not going to do that. So it requires you to think a little bit strategically. One, you know, if my if I'm 30 years old and my son's five and he does something wrong and I hit him, I could i can hurt him. And that's not where I wanted to go. 00:54:43.67 Donny Dust it was a very easy decision to say, How I discipline my kids will be the purest form of discipline. And it really came from like military where sometimes the best leaders, they will do the punishment with they're they're their Marines. So like platoon messes up. 00:55:04.14 Donny Dust They're also, and they're the ones handing out the punishment. They're also going to be involved in that punishment. And it gives you a sense of like, man, I really respect this dude. You know, it's, it's it's that sort of thing. So when when my two older boys messed up, um it was very much, all right, this is your guys' punishment. This is what we're doing. 00:55:20.48 Donny Dust We're all doing it together. Granted, sometimes it's a little confusing for them, but then they start to kind of realize like, man, we're also like, we did this, but dad is also taking this punishment with us. It kind of helps them. And then you have to be a little bit better communicator because you're communicating with words and actions compared to, you know, smacking somebody with a spoon or something like that. 00:55:43.26 Donny Dust um I think, and what what was that second part of your question? I don't know. 00:55:50.20 nextlevelguypodcast So it was um you know is there something that you you're trying your hardest to kind of teach them that civil society doesn't then dictate it to them? 00:56:00.57 Donny Dust Yes, yes, yes. um So my boys have become very exposed to a lot of things in the natural world, but I've also wanted to become very experienced in technology because that's just the world we live in, which is also they've helped me out a little bit. But I also teach them that they are not less than anybody else. 00:56:20.94 Donny Dust don't care what their skin color is. I don't care where they've been born or anything like this. You are not bad people because you had parents that loved you. You were brought up in ah and an environment. you were not less and you were not um better than anybody else. You are who you are and you can craft what you want to be going forward. Like, do not listen to people that want to place you in a box, that want to put you in a rank and a column and say, this is what you are. You break that mold. 00:56:47.77 Donny Dust You show them that you're not. And like, don't live by that. Live by what you want to be. It's so many, I feel bad for a lot of young men because that's just what they're told they're going to do. 00:56:54.80 nextlevelguypodcast Thank you. 00:56:58.78 Donny Dust and they've never given the opportunity to push back to say, well what if I don't want to do that? Like, they're like, I had my sons in, and you know, athletics when they were younger and they understood when dad gave them an invite and when dad gave them, 00:57:16.38 Donny Dust direction. So, Hey, you guys are, you know, in athletics and they're a couple of years apart. Oldest one's like, I don't think I want to try this sport. I don't want to do this sport this year. I want to try this one. Well, instead of me being like, no, you're going to do it because that's what I'm doing. And that's your brother. That's what he's doing. And it's just easier for practices. but Well, why do you want to do that? 00:57:35.56 Donny Dust Let's break this down. Give him the opportunity at those younger ages to feel confident to talk to his parents and also say, well, this is kind of why I want to do it. want to explore this. I want to try this. I want to experience that. 00:57:46.01 Donny Dust Great. Let's do it. Let's make it happen. But once you commit, You've got to commit, not for the long term, you've got to commit for the duration of that thing. And I just gave them the opportunity to kind of make decisions at a young age, but appropriate to their age. 00:58:00.05 Donny Dust I wasn't going to have my eight-year-old be like, all I need you to start thinking about how you want to do this or how you want to do this. It's like, all right, these are your daily tasks. Do these tasks. Once you guys are done with those tasks, then we can move on to something else. 00:58:13.09 Donny Dust Task them out to their abilities. Task them out to their ages. It was confidence. 00:58:16.28 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. Because you went when you went to the Arctic, you know you went there as one of the most prepared people. You then left on date. 00:58:23.45 Donny Dust Yeah. 00:58:25.18 nextlevelguypodcast You out and you apologized your kids, et cetera. You were a bit emotional about it. But that probably taught them far more about strength, power, responsibility than anything else that you could have done. 00:58:29.34 Donny Dust yeah 00:58:37.11 nextlevelguypodcast How did that change you and your relationship with them? Did it help you understand yourself and them any better? 00:58:44.76 Donny Dust Yeah, i I think it did a couple things. I think once they saw me as like, dad is human. he is he can be emotional. He can have all these sort of different feelings about this experience. 00:58:55.77 Donny Dust And it's okay. It's okay to be honest with yourself and with those people that are around you. And I think also for them, it was it's kind of one of those things where like, 00:59:10.62 Donny Dust they realize that not everything in life will be perfect. Not everything in life will be 100% all times. A lot of parents like to tell their kids, it's going to be fine. You did great on this. You did great on that. They're just lying to their kids. And I think for them, they saw and had this image of me and then not completing it. 00:59:32.34 Donny Dust ah you know, as human, more importantly, sometimes bad things can happen, but it's what you do after those sort of things. And I think they just got to see an honest level of me and like a very low form, but then also see how it can rise, what can happen after it. Because i mean, there's been, think what, 13 seasons of alone. 00:59:52.63 Donny Dust but And you could probably say there's been well over a hundred losers on alone there's been 13 winners, but it's like, you know, 01:00:00.34 nextlevelguypodcast I'd say they're all winners. the kid 01:00:02.20 Donny Dust Yeah, I mean, yeah, they're very simple form. They are all winners, but it's kind of like when we just look at it in, you know, the black and white, there's winners and there's losers. But I think those people that didn't complete the challenge, you know, are they still holding on to that? However many years later, like people, people online, they'll, you know, sometimes they like, oh, it happened on a long, like, it was one of the best days I ever had because I got to realize I'm not 100% invincible. I knew what I needed to do to get better. Couldn't do it. Had to tap. 01:00:32.31 Donny Dust I'm okay. I'm now, you know, 10 years later, eight years later, I'm okay. I'm not holding onto that. So I think for my boys, even now to see that I've let it go. That was just a small chapter in dad's book. 01:00:47.14 Donny Dust We're done with it. Moving on to bigger and better things, not to hold on to that sort of that anger or any sort of guilt or anything in that capacity. Just move on, man. Resilience. That's what this is about. I failed more times than I've had successes in many ways, shapes and forms. And I think for them, like, it's okay to fail. 01:01:03.99 Donny Dust It's totally fine to fail. It's just what happens after because failure is inevitable. Anyone that tells you they haven't failed at something, they're They're instantly lying. We all have. but I think for them, they got to see it in their dad, which made it even more true. 01:01:17.26 Donny Dust They're like, all right, you know what? We can fall on our sword, pull that sword out. It's going covered in blood, but let's wipe it off. Let's put it back in the sheath and let's kind of keep going for it. 01:01:25.78 nextlevelguypodcast Because it probably links back to that original message you were saying about the military teaching you to make mistakes, but to learn from them. um Because, I mean, eight days living on your own out in the Arctic is a fucking impressive thing to do. 01:01:33.59 Donny Dust Absolutely. 01:01:38.77 nextlevelguypodcast But I love how that you you showed them that. 01:01:39.64 Donny Dust no 01:01:41.29 nextlevelguypodcast It's not about ego. It's not about, well, I did it and you didn't, you know, or any of that kind of stuff. You just went, yeah, I'm human. 01:01:46.52 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:01:47.90 nextlevelguypodcast We make mistakes. But this is what you learn from it. 01:01:49.96 Donny Dust That's it. 01:01:51.80 nextlevelguypodcast Were you worried about the reaction at all? 01:01:52.12 Donny Dust That's it. Yeah. 01:01:55.99 Donny Dust um I think I was more worried about like, maybe my, my persona to them, you know, but I think it was, it was what I needed to be honest with you. Cause I mean, I've been sick in the woods before and I've spent months in the bush plenty of times, but I think it was also something i just needed to where like, you know, you can be the most prepared, you can be the most whatever, but it's, it's a good example on sometimes why you need a tribe, why you need a clan. Sometimes you need help from people. 01:02:23.61 Donny Dust because I got sick and I knew what I needed to to heal. I needed a specific sort of plant, couldn't find it. But if somebody was out there with me, maybe they could have found it. They could have helped me out. So it's also letting young men know and my boys know that you need to have community. You need to have friends. You need to have people that you can trust because we are not designed to survive alone. 01:02:46.28 Donny Dust It's just not how we are. We're social animals and alone challenges that mental game and that physical game. But let's take that and let's overlay that over the real world. Like you need you need friends. You need people that you can trust on trust in and and rely on. 01:03:02.04 Donny Dust More importantly, forming, you know, a type bit tight-knit bond and a little clan of of like-minded people. 01:03:09.78 nextlevelguypodcast Because that that leads me perfectly on to like, you know, because you teach a lot of self-reliance. 01:03:12.80 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:03:13.74 nextlevelguypodcast But if you're ill and shitting your guts out, you pardon my French, you get to that point of if you can't go out and hunt food and water and get the the plants you need, you're ill and you could potentially die. 01:03:15.05 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:03:19.32 Donny Dust Yeah, no, no. 01:03:27.50 nextlevelguypodcast And like a lot of ah people back in yesteryear would have done. 01:03:28.82 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:03:31.24 nextlevelguypodcast What did did that teach? 01:03:32.34 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:03:33.24 nextlevelguypodcast Is that something that you use as a story almost to teach your clients and your people that work with to say, you do need to rely on people, the importance of having that tribe and that support. 01:03:45.08 Donny Dust Absolutely. And the best part is I don't think there's anybody that you know, who hasn't signed up for a course, who hasn't or witnessed that sort of thing. And they love to ask questions about it. But I always say that is a truth. Like you will get sick. You're not in the most sanitized and cleanliest, you know, ah places. You will get sick. 01:04:06.52 Donny Dust But this also, it shows you that sometimes help in any way that it, you know, comes, whether it's in the normal world, the civilian world, the business world, the online, whatever world, sometimes you need help. 01:04:19.93 Donny Dust Ask for it. Ask for it. With all the experience that I have in the bush, I still had a radio and I was able to ask for help. So don't take on everything by yourself. 01:04:30.81 Donny Dust Ask for help. And there was there was this British SAS guy who was um was working on that season of alumnus. His name is Kieran. And Kieran and I really you know connected. He was you know military. I was military. And soon as i you know i tapped and he was going out there, he was going to pull me out. I think they sent him out there. 01:04:51.74 Donny Dust specifically because he had that military background. And, you know, as I tapped and the cameras were, you know, pulling me out and like we kind of did our little send off when we were flying out on the boat, he kind of looked at me and just said, you know, in this hard, i would say like South London accent, like, look, you tosser, you've had worse days than this. You know, one's shooting at you. This is just what he just laid it all out for me. Pick your chin up. You'll be fine. And I was like, you're right, Karen. You know, he was just one of those guys. 01:05:21.69 Donny Dust that I needed at that time to be like, look, dude, you've done way harder things than this. This is a TV show. Get over it. Move on. And he just brought me back to that reality real quick where it's like, you've had harder days. 01:05:34.86 Donny Dust You'll be fine. Move forward. And I think I've taken a little golden nugget from him at times with some of my clients. After they've gone through a training and they've, you know, reached back out to me and say, you know what, man, I, I want to do another one. I just felt good. I felt alive, having a rough time at work. And it's, I try to paint that same sort of scenario. Like, look, that can be a hard day. You're going to have more hard days, but you just got to keep going forward. Move past it It's not the end of the world. Suck it up, move forward. 01:06:03.37 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. I love that. 01:06:03.99 Donny Dust It's true. 01:06:04.25 nextlevelguypodcast the that Even though you've done these amazing things, that you know of the importance of having a friend, having a backup. ah yeah Because it's not the only time you've come close to death. 01:06:11.86 Donny Dust yeah no 01:06:14.58 nextlevelguypodcast ah you You know, like that time in Utah when you were you almost dehydrated and things like that. 01:06:18.45 Donny Dust yeah yes 01:06:20.02 nextlevelguypodcast But you just went, oh, well I just knew I needed some extra water. It wasn't that like your your brain immediately goes, what was the what was the layer lesson from it? Brilliant. Let's change that. 01:06:29.59 Donny Dust free That's it. What can you do? Like, what's the resilient steps you can do to like not make those same mistakes and just overcome it? And it's funny because with my buddy Neil, who sent me out in that time to almost die, we joke about it now. But he's one of those guys that's in my circle. We go to his place. He comes to my place. You know, like he's he's in that circle where we can joke about it And I think that's the other good thing that men need is like with that kind of brotherhood. um When there is that bit of adversity, 01:06:58.52 Donny Dust Once it's done and it's over, joke about it. You know what I mean? If it still eats you alive, let it go. got to find ways to let it go. 01:07:04.70 nextlevelguypodcast Thank 01:07:04.92 Donny Dust And, you know, it's never to, you know, just totally overlook it. Use it when it has its place, but don't let it run your day to day. So but i was that was, ah I mean, I always, that's, how I got all these little marks on my foot that I've tattooed of like my real close brushes with death from like time in the Middle East to time in the bush. 01:07:26.68 Donny Dust It's just fun little reminders, you know? 01:07:29.43 nextlevelguypodcast And so when you are on your own or you're in a cave or whatever and you're looking at these things, how do you use them as a way of your progression, your evolution, you know, the the part of the military Donnie that had to die to become the prehistoric Donnie to the working with films Donnie, you know all these kind of different identities. 01:07:50.58 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:07:51.13 nextlevelguypodcast But you use these as a way of journaling on your own body. 01:07:51.99 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:07:54.74 nextlevelguypodcast how How do you use them to understand how you live and what you want? Because i think you have a motto that life is long. How do you incorporate that? 01:08:03.35 Donny Dust Life is long. Yeah. i think I think my life is long and just all my tattoos, um it is it is it's a it's a mental of ah mental sort of kind of way of kind of approaching the world. So many people think life is short. I got to hurry up and do this and hurry up and do this, or I'm going to miss this. It's that fear of missing out the FOMO. And I think my heart attack made realize that life is long. 01:08:32.70 Donny Dust And if we're in a hurry to rush through it, then we're going to miss out on a lot of beautiful things. That's relationships, that's experiences, adventures, and new opportunities. Don't be in a rush. So once you can shape your kind of mental game that life is long, enjoy it, take your time, do what feels right, do what feels good, you're going to be great going forward. And my tattoos are just reminders that sometimes they're on my hands, they're on my feet, my legs. 01:08:58.84 Donny Dust When that kind of modern world starts to rush me a little bit, I can like just kind of sit back and be like, ah, That's why that's there. Slow it down, bring it in a little bit. Or, you know, when my wife and I traveled to South America last year and we were working with some like indigenous folks, reshowing them stone tools, how to make them and how to shape them, because they kind of lost that in about two generations, um I got sick. 01:09:25.43 Donny Dust we We ate some like bad piranha and some bad water and I got sick for about 24 hours, was throwing up and she's really good at into medicinal plants. and um And I was just like, i' I'm just going to be sick. Eventually this will pass through my body, but like I'll be OK. And as I was looking at like some of my tattoos and what they represent, I was like, OK. 01:09:45.52 Donny Dust You'll be fine. You're not going to die. and if you do die, you had a good life. But I know you're not going to die. Therefore, brace the suck, get it out of your system and move on. And I think those sort of like reminders on my body, because they all mean something. Some of them are fun stories. Some of them are, you know, like, what were you thinking? Some of them are, hey, you almost died or just remember where you come from. 01:10:08.46 Donny Dust It's like having your own story kind of on your body. And I think a lot of people like to take their tattoos, heavily tattooed people like myself with my chest and my back and my legs, they wanna like cover them up. 01:10:20.73 Donny Dust They wanna safeguard them because that's their their art form. Mine is the complete opposite. I want them scarred, I want them burnt, I want them faded. I want them exposed to the world because I believe that's how like our ancient ancestors one of the reasons they would tattoo was to tell stories, to to remember different things, and more importantly, to display to people that like, 01:10:45.56 Donny Dust this person has something to share if you're willing to listen. So a couple years ago, I was i was in Inked Magazine and they asked me about like all my tattoos and I kind of broke some of them down. But I said, the one thing that you will never find ah my body is a tattoo that doesn't have a scar, has not been cut or scraped or ripped open because I've been walking through the bush or I've fallen down a ravine or whatever. And I'm like, that's how I want them to kind of be displayed to the world. Not just a beautiful piece of art, 01:11:15.54 Donny Dust but a story, a little bits of who I am. And if you're curious, I'll tell you about that story if you ask about them. 01:11:23.45 nextlevelguypodcast And is there ah one that's kind of ah a story that's most impactful to you? Is there one that you you get most excited when somebody says, what's that or what's this? 01:11:36.18 Donny Dust Yeah, I mean, so on my back, well, let's think. God, there's there's so many. ah I think ah these ones right here, This is actually from your neck to the woods. This is a Pictish symbol. 01:11:51.13 Donny Dust And the Picts are, you know, you know this. 01:11:51.24 nextlevelguypodcast Yep. 01:11:53.65 Donny Dust um They were just this unruly group of people that lived in the Highlands and and different portions of Scotland. And um Anyone that doesn't know anything about the picks, just go and read about them. they're They're pretty amazing. But this symbol is unknown. they They have a lot of symbols that are etched in stone and the true meaning of what they are isn't known. 01:12:15.48 Donny Dust And I think for me, I fell in love with this symbol when I was learning into a place called Burghead, Scotland, where I have some large amount of family that lives 01:12:29.72 Donny Dust I was curious about who the people were. More importantly, they kind of they kind of come from where my family originated from and started spreading throughout the world. i always wanted a piece of me to connect to something that was just beyond, you know, I was born in Michigan and, you know, this, that, and the other. I i just wanted a little bit of connection outward. 01:12:50.55 Donny Dust So I saw this and I was like, what does that mean? And nobody knows what it means. But it also means a couple of different things to me and the symbolism that I knew before. So when I look at this, this is the crescent moon and this is the broken arrow. 01:13:08.60 Donny Dust And some of my time in the Middle East, I quickly learned that a crescent moon will give you direction, meaning that if you're in the northern hemisphere and you see a crescent moon and you draw a line from this tip of the crescent to the next tip of the crescent down to the horizon and you're in the northern hemisphere, that will give you a cardinal direction of south. 01:13:28.93 Donny Dust it's And it's reversed if you're in the Southern Hemisphere. And i was I was always fascinated by that. And anytime there was a crescent moon, I was always looking up at the sky trying to figure out like those, it just gave me something, a familiarity and a comfort. 01:13:42.65 Donny Dust And then the broken arrow, sometimes referred to as the the bent rod, it was very symbolic to me because it, to me, it means If you're afraid to take a shot, let's say archery, if you're afraid to take a shot and that try to put that arrow on target and you're cautious and you're apprehensive, even before you pull your arrow out of the quiver, your arrow is broken. You can't be afraid to take a shot. And if you are, your arrow is already broken. And I think those two pieces, the moon and the broken arrow in opposition, ah one of direction and the other one of reminder of broken shots and and not taking chances, is something I should have on my hands because my hands are my tools in everything that I do. It gave a little bit of kind of like... 01:14:30.93 Donny Dust family tie, not necessarily to claim, but to remember a certain connection of where a lot of your blood comes from and what you're doing with it forward. But always have a good direction and don't be afraid to take shots and remember who your family are and then put that on the tools of your trade, which are my hands. So a lot of people ask about it and there's most people from Scotland, ironically, they're like, I've seen that before. 01:14:56.95 Donny Dust I've seen it, you know, at at this stone. 01:14:58.46 nextlevelguypodcast I was going to ask. 01:15:00.15 Donny Dust Yeah. They've seen it at this stone circle and, and they've seen it here. And, and they're like, how do you know about that? And it's like, well, It's just something that like I saw, but like it fit examples of things that were important to me. Always having direction and not being afraid to take shots. 01:15:17.78 Donny Dust And being that it didn't have a true meaning, I was able to take it and kind of adapt it into what it means for me. And more importantly, where I put it on my hands and what my hands do for me. Because everything I do, I'm always making them, doing them. These are my tools. And I think like it just represents a whole lot of You know, my family in the sense of like, know where you come from, do taking shots, having a clear cut direction and know that like you are your best tool. You are your own best tool for creating everything that you want. 01:15:55.38 Donny Dust Rely on yourself. So that's kind of like my hand tattoos. And there's tons of other ones, but they're all kind of stories. I have some on my back that are from my time in Iceland. Some of the ones on my legs represent different paths, you know, family members. 01:16:14.62 Donny Dust you know, the alignment of my mental, physical, emotional, primal well-being, life's journey, like Chevron's pointing forward in a forward direction, then Chevron's pointing at me to like, don't forget who you are, where you are, where you come from, focus on you. I have giant chess pieces and sometimes they're just, they're interesting stories. And I think like the tattoo culture nowadays is far more accepting having hand tattoos, but, uh, 01:16:41.21 Donny Dust Yeah, I like them. I like them. They are faded and scarred and just gnarly in every way, but life is long, right? 01:16:49.04 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. I love you can tell a story through your own body because I have got a key of scarring so not allowed to get tattoos and it's always been a big regret because there's so many little things I want to ink in part of my history and when I see these people getting silly ones for bets and stuff like that 01:16:54.55 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:16:59.45 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:17:04.18 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:17:07.93 Donny Dust yeah 01:17:07.99 nextlevelguypodcast But do you think that kind of links into we no longer tell stories? You know, you no longer know the story of your father. You know that he was maybe a hard ass or liked to drink or whatever, but you don't know what made him excited or what made him scared or whatever, that we no longer have these sitting around the fire with the tribe. 01:17:26.61 nextlevelguypodcast Because 10 million people watched you chip a stone, you know, and you're making like arrowheads and all these sort things. 01:17:27.67 Donny Dust S. 01:17:33.02 nextlevelguypodcast Do you think we're watching that to have that kind of 01:17:33.88 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:17:37.50 nextlevelguypodcast quieter time that kind of just talk around the community that like, what what were they looking at as much as the skill you were teaching? 01:17:44.76 Donny Dust Yeah. I think people... yeah it's it's It's an interesting question because I think people... 01:17:56.57 Donny Dust this natural curiosity about the world around them and and what people can show them and demonstrate. I think, you know, for me, i'm showing a skill that has been one of our longest and most traditional skills really since the dawn of time. 01:18:13.62 Donny Dust But I think people sometimes they want they want that little bit of story. They don't they don't sit around the fire anymore. They Everything is is consumed so quickly and then it's expelled even quicker. You know what i mean? Like how many times people can scroll and scroll and scroll, they'll see something and then it's gone. They might not even remember it. 01:18:31.96 Donny Dust And I think... My tattoos have a story. More importantly, the stone tools that I make, a story as well. It's a story of cultures past. It's a story of what I do with them today. 01:18:45.62 Donny Dust and I think for some folks, they they wish they had that. they They might not know where they come from. And I say stone tools are part of the human culture. 01:18:56.31 Donny Dust Every culture has used stone tools. That's the one thing that really truly connects us all. And yes, we can go into the woods with a steel knife and do things just as quickly. 01:19:06.78 Donny Dust But if you go in with stone, you got to slow it down but because life is long. You got the time. Take your time. do find that people want something to hold on to that they can maybe hand down to their kids. And they might not realize that when they're 18, 19, 20 years old. Once you around 30, maybe 35, you're like, what do have give maybe thirty five you're like what do what do i have to give my kids? What do I have to show them and maybe future generations? 01:19:34.52 Donny Dust And I think for me, i chose after my heart attack to start writing, to start writing stories in the event that one day i know I will die, which is 100% guaranteed. 01:19:47.89 Donny Dust What can the generations that come after me, what can they know about their grandfather, their great-grandfather, their great-great-great-grandfather? 01:19:56.85 Donny Dust I need to take that responsibility as a man to make sure that that stuff is there. so that's why I've written books. That's why I've decided to put things online so that my four month old right now, who's in diapers, maybe when he's 12 or 13 or 14 at the appropriate age to maybe start viewing these things online, can see that's his dad. 01:20:17.63 Donny Dust 10 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever the case, read my books, maybe to his kids when he's 35 or 40. That legacy can can ultimately continue. Like when I went to Scotland this past December with my wife, we went to my aunt's house and she has kept the family lineage. 01:20:36.09 Donny Dust the whole way and knows like what um ah certain families went to the states, which ones stayed in Scotland, which ones went to Ireland. But one of the things that I was able to do is they were able to communicate with me. 01:20:49.27 Donny Dust One of um like my great great uncles died in a shipwro shipwreck in Galway, Ireland. Well, we were able to go to Galway and see the shrine. 01:20:57.33 nextlevelguypodcast Welcome. 01:21:00.10 Donny Dust Like it's those sort of things that I think some generations are losing because maybe they just, they don't have an interest, but like, I find that very important to be like, this is who you are family-wise. 01:21:14.50 Donny Dust This is who you are generational-wise. And like, you should know, you should know this. Like, this is a very proud thing. And like, I know that my, On my wife's side, she has her family, you know, genealogy laid out. And that's that's really important for for people because it helps give them not necessarily an identity, but it might give them something to hold in the back. Because I mean, like, i'm I'm an American. I have family that's in Scotland, but I'm not like I'm a Scottish American. Like, there are connection points there. That's not something like I'm returning home. Like, no. I've never lived. I was born in Detroit, Michigan. Like that's not my home, but it is a connection to a portion of my family that I've maintained communication with them that I want to talk with. 01:21:58.36 Donny Dust And I want to make sure that my sons also know that same sort of history as well. And I think some folks, they just kind of just give up on it And they're like, well, this is who we are. This is what we do. And they'll be it. 01:22:10.04 Donny Dust But there's more to who you are than just what you see in the present. Like, I don't know. it's It's that sort of history has always just been fascinating to me. And um I think like more parents, uncles, aunts could write their stories. 01:22:27.32 Donny Dust should It shouldn't just be an Instagram post because one day that's all going to go away. And I told this to my boys very early on. Before I was on social, I'm like, I'm writing this book. i'm dedicating this book to you. So one day you'll just have a piece of my story that you can share with your sons, your daughters, whatever the case may be. Because one day all of this technology will go away. 01:22:48.14 Donny Dust It's going to go from a blackout, hopefully, fingers crossed, you know. But that book will remain. That story will remain. And all you have to do is read it once, remember some of it, you've lived the experience, and you can share with those that want. 01:23:01.08 Donny Dust not to not to become famous or anything like that, just to share it with your loved ones so they know a little bit about who their grandfather was, their great grandfather, so on and so forth. That's all. 01:23:11.77 nextlevelguypodcast ah Do you think that's like why a big part of the audience love your work is that you're letting them kind of learn about the past, but you're, they're missing, you know, that's where depression, anxiety, burnout, a lot of this comes from. 01:23:27.42 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:23:28.31 nextlevelguypodcast It's not knowing our past, so we can't really understand our present and our future. 01:23:32.95 Donny Dust think that's a very accurate way it's a very smart way of putting it i think that's 100 true um sometimes what i portray but i think my my success with some of the audience is that i don't ask anything of them i'm not i'm not asking them to like you know subscribe to this or to do this or go to my online yeah i mean i do have those options but i'm not making anybody feel that if they want to be part of this little online tribe, they have to do something. You just got to sit and watch it. 01:24:02.42 Donny Dust And if you don't want to, scroll away. i'm not My feelings aren't going to get hurt. More importantly, i engage with that community. From very early on in the and the online world, i made it a choice that if somebody watches your video and says, hey, man, great video, yeah I should say thank you. 01:24:21.80 Donny Dust That's how my parents raised me. 01:24:23.30 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 01:24:23.99 Donny Dust But there's so many of these influencers and content creators and actors and all these people that just expect it. And I'm like, it it'd be funny if you take some of these real famous people and if their audience decided not to like their posts or not to go to their movies or to subscribe to their channel, what would happen? They would crash and burn. 01:24:44.63 Donny Dust For me, i don't i don't look at that as that's just what they're supposed to do. I look at it as they gave me a minute of their time. I should be able to reach back out to them and say, hey, man, I appreciate you watching. Thanks. I can't get to everybody because if that would be my total my my total life would be replying to comments, but I should show up. 01:25:04.79 Donny Dust It should show up long enough for those that are there early or maybe a day into it. Hey, I appreciate you watching. Hey man, could you make this? Absolutely. I'll give it a try. That lets them know that this guy they'll probably never meet cares enough just to reply to them. And I can't tell you how many people have been like, you know what? I've been on this app for three years or I've been watching YouTube for 10 years. I've never had somebody reply to me and I'm saying, Hey, I'm sorry, but I'm not like these other fools. 01:25:31.99 Donny Dust I appreciate you watching my video. You know, thank you. And I think that's the sort of thing that I really provide is sense of community that's no expectations. 01:25:43.51 Donny Dust this I'm just giving you something to watch. And if you find a piece of curiosity in it, man, maybe I want to try making some tools or I want to try and do a fire. Cool. You should go and do it. 01:25:54.39 Donny Dust You absolutely have the full capability to experiment and try those things on your own. 01:26:01.01 nextlevelguypodcast Because that... 01:26:01.14 Donny Dust it's It's the easiest source of delivery in the world. You know what i mean? 01:26:06.87 nextlevelguypodcast I mean, you did that video recently with Hugh Jackman, you know making arrowheads. And I remember watching that and, you know, here's a guy with millions of followers, millions of dollars in the bank, and he's feeling most alive. 01:26:10.74 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:26:19.98 nextlevelguypodcast You could see the how much he lit up by creating something with his hands and stuff like that. 01:26:23.48 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:26:25.86 nextlevelguypodcast what What did that teach you then about what's important in life? but You know, because you can only carry so much in your backpack. 01:26:33.14 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:26:33.21 nextlevelguypodcast ah What has all this taught you about what's essential? 01:26:33.97 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:26:37.59 Donny Dust I think like, you know, if you go to like the the physical sense, I always say it's, it's, you know, it's easier to know more than carry less. The more you know, the less you can carry and the natural world can, you know, provide I think in like the form of like, just my chances of coming across Hugh Jackman and like the normal world is probably zero, but like that movie, that production company, him, they sought me out because of what I do. It's interesting. 01:27:08.50 Donny Dust And I think they saw that value and it's like, this guy kind of ties into our movie. Let's see if he can bring this back into like Hugh Jackman to me, you know, maybe to fire em 01:27:21.70 Donny Dust him. But it was, it was, i mean, it was, it was a pretty good experience. I don't know. I just, I, i I think he's a great actor. I think he's a very nice and very humble human being. 01:27:35.61 Donny Dust But I think for me, i see him as just a man like anybody else. He's successful because he chose to do it his way. He didn't backstab people. Just like anybody you come across, they're going to have their different successes. 01:27:49.19 Donny Dust For me, i presented my skill set. I got to watch his skill set on the screen and he was able to kind of reconnect and maybe this something he experienced. And don't get me wrong, we saw two minutes and 30 seconds of a longer portion of the day where we were kind of BSing and sharing stories. But he's He's just like anybody else. 01:28:09.68 Donny Dust You know, he wanted to make some arrow points. He was talking about his son and him wanting to do this with his son. And that's perfect, man. That's all I got to do is influence one people a positive way to say, you know what? 01:28:21.53 Donny Dust We might not be do this professionally, but we might see if we can share this with my kids. You know what? I'm going to bring my kids hiking and remember to pack these things so we don't get, you know, hung out in the woods. 01:28:32.30 Donny Dust That's really what it what it comes down to. I i just think most of the people i i most of the things I do online, I just try to create a level of authenticity where like, you don't have to do what I do to be happy. 01:28:43.03 Donny Dust Just you're curious. Hey, I'll be an example. This is how you make this. This is how you make this. Some of them are super far-fetched. Some of them are more you know accurate into what you might actually need. 01:28:54.61 Donny Dust Some them are not. And then different people see the value in that and don't Don't get me wrong, like those, those production companies and they reach out to me because I have a lot of followers. 01:29:05.91 Donny Dust But I will say like, I started with one follower as well, but I think I just stuck to who I was and that came across in the screen. 01:29:11.51 nextlevelguypodcast Amen. 01:29:14.29 Donny Dust i engaged with an audience. I valued who they were because i didn't get to 10 million followers on TikTok because I closed myself off. I'm a 46 year old guy that made stone tools in his workshop. 01:29:27.67 Donny Dust Nobody had, nobody had to follow me. They did it because there was some curiosity there. There's a little bit of storytelling. There was simplicity. There wasn't a lot of craziness. it was just this dude doing what he loves. And you could see that in the screen. More importantly, he was willing to respond when you asked a question or when you, you know, had an idea for a future build. 01:29:48.41 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. And Hugh is definitely one of those people I want to have on the show. like He's a bucket list guest for who who he is as a person. 01:29:54.33 Donny Dust He's awesome. 01:29:55.70 nextlevelguypodcast So it's great to hear he's like that off camera as much as on. And something I was really intrigued about, though, was like, 01:29:59.84 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:30:03.54 nextlevelguypodcast Your partner sounds a godsend. You know, like I can't imagine anybody else that says I've had a heart attack. I'm off to live in a cave. And they went, yeah, OK. You know, you went off. 01:30:12.38 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:30:12.92 nextlevelguypodcast I'm off to live in the Arctic. I'm off to do these things. 01:30:15.00 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:30:16.00 nextlevelguypodcast I'm off to into the bush. You probably won't be able to hear from me because I might die. You know, all these kind of things. 01:30:21.69 Donny Dust yeah 01:30:22.55 nextlevelguypodcast how What has that taught you about relationships, about your finding your person? And for a very single person like myself, what's it taught you about finding your your tribe, your person? 01:30:31.26 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:30:36.29 Donny Dust I think the one thing that's taught me is they're out there. 01:30:42.04 Donny Dust And with them being out there, it it might take a little time to find them, but you should also find that person that just makes you better in the form of like, my wife does not let me get away with it. 01:31:01.23 Donny Dust She's probably, you know, 115 pounds, 110 pounds soaking wet. She's shorter than me, just a cute petite little woman, but she is a spitfire. And I think that's kind of one of those things that ah I need, she just puts me in check. She's not afraid to call my BS, but with all of that, she always just makes me better. She tells me that she's proud of me when I do something and I make some money and she, she appreciates it. She says, thank you. Thank you so much for supporting us. And she she generally makes me feel good about what I'm doing, but she'll also let me know, like, you know, let's, ah let's do this. Like she just, 01:31:43.86 Donny Dust It's just a good partner. It's hard to describe it certain ways, but like somebody that makes you better and and multiple ways is a good person. But she doesn't do it in a way where she makes me feel bad. 01:31:53.61 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 01:31:56.95 Donny Dust You know what i mean? She won't be like, well, you should you could be doing this a lot better. We'll never say that. What she'll do is she'll shoot she's It plays into like my my madness sometimes. Like sometimes, if this sounds so silly, but like if I'm carrying something like heavy, she'll look at me and be like, oh you're so strong. And then all of a sudden I'm like, I'll carry more. I'll do more. She just gives me those little things that just makes me feel better. 01:32:22.14 Donny Dust And that's the sort of person I think does exist for everybody out there. Somebody that just makes you feel better. More importantly, they're kind to you, respectful, and she's a great communicator. 01:32:34.15 Donny Dust Communication's key, especially for for men. you know Like my generation, we weren't brought up to be the best communicators, but she has taught me how to be a better communicator, to be aware of my emotions, to to not squash everything and hold it inside, to talk about things, which has ultimately allowed me to be better towards my sons and how to communicate with them. 01:32:55.58 Donny Dust just She's just a rock star. She really is. She likes to go on the adventures with me. Sometimes, you know, I have to be like, you can't go on this one because I got to do X, Y, and z But yeah, she's she's a great mom. She really is. She's like the best mom. 01:33:10.55 Donny Dust Outstanding. I love her 01:33:12.35 nextlevelguypodcast I love how you light up when you talk about her. 01:33:12.82 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:33:15.42 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:33:15.88 nextlevelguypodcast You can see the true passions, like you you know your kids, you your partner, and then it's your your tools and things like that. 01:33:17.94 Donny Dust Yeah, 01:33:23.86 nextlevelguypodcast So if you did have, say, like so a fat, out-of-shape podcast host who came to you you know and he's got depression, he's burnt out, he's and is anxious, whatever it how would you start going, okay, we need to you know to talk about your story, we need to talk get you to do these 01:33:24.74 Donny Dust she's great. 01:33:32.50 Donny Dust yeah 01:33:41.30 nextlevelguypodcast like ritualistic things we did back then to find who you are in the past to the future all these kind of things what could we start doing today any man to find more of themselves to get that capability back 01:33:47.99 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:33:55.32 Donny Dust Yeah. think i think there's a couple things. um First things first, I think you need to go outside and you can't wait for the best day to go outside. 01:34:07.00 Donny Dust Go out in the worst weather, start building your ground truth into those sort of experiences. And that's going for hikes, it's experiencing, picking up a plant book and learning the local flora in an area. 01:34:17.91 Donny Dust Just getting outside and being active outside, whether it's for 10 minutes, 30 minutes or an entire day. The natural world just has that way of healing. And I know that's very cliche and a lot of people tell you that, but like it's it's real, it's 100% true. 01:34:33.34 Donny Dust And once you're outside, take off your shoes, walk barefoot, go swim in the ocean, go go do things because that's what you feel is right instinctively and don't worry about what anybody else is is looking or saying or doing, just just go do it because you wanna do it. 01:34:51.74 Donny Dust Nature, it's a great way to heal. two You have nephews, you have, you know, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, start writing your story. 01:35:04.57 Donny Dust And I'm not talking about journaling. I'm not saying today i did this, start writing your story and don't be afraid to go back and read your story. 01:35:16.66 Donny Dust Read your story in a sense of 01:35:20.63 Donny Dust Like, I want this to be honest to those who come after me. I recommend to everybody start writing your story, even if it's small chapters of your story, start writing it because people can learn from it. People can experience who you are, whether they know you or whether they don't know you, but like those that do know you, it will give them a different sort of insight. You don't have to publish it. You can just write it and put it in a cool book and set up on the shelf and It's there when they want to read it, they can read it. 01:35:51.06 Donny Dust Start writing it down, sharing those successes and failures because at some point somebody might be in a similar spot and if one person, just one person can learn from your mistakes, gain an aspect of who you are, that could change your life. It can be very impactful and shape their days going forward, whether it's mentally, physically, emotionally or primally. 01:36:11.77 Donny Dust Start writing your story. More importantly, I say story in the sense of like, just write, just write stuff down. Don't journal. This is what I did today. Just write. What do you feel like? What do you want to write? And if it's your story, that's the best story that there is. 01:36:27.80 Donny Dust And number three is like, it's it's just going back to like the value. Who brings you value? What is your your tribe, your your your clan, your group? Who brings that to you? 01:36:43.26 Donny Dust Acknowledge them, appreciate them, and just cut out the rest. That is the biggest thing that a man, a woman, a young man, young woman should do is just surround yourself with that tribe that keeps you focused, that brings you value, loves you, supports you, but is not afraid to help you when you might need help. Not to ridicule you, not to you know ah mock you because you failed, but say, look, dude, sometimes we fuck up. That's that's just how this works, but this is what we're going do to move forward. 01:37:21.08 Donny Dust Find those people. And sometimes you might think you already have them in your mind, but then those people that are maybe are around you, you already know if they're there because they want to be there, there because they have to be there. 01:37:32.95 Donny Dust Just find those people that support you. And sometimes it's just making it's making new friends, making new kind of colleagues, whatever that case may be. That's that's important, yeah. So get outside, find your tribe. 01:37:47.38 Donny Dust Start writing your story, man. i would love to say like going to the gym 10 times a month is a good thing or walking 100 miles is a thing. I can't tell you exactly what it is, but those are three things. 01:38:01.11 Donny Dust One is art, one is connection to the natural world, and one is a connection to a positive sort of influence in your life. Those will be good. I don't care if somebody wants to drink a beer, if they want to smoke a cigarette, I don't care. That is their choices. They already know what right and wrong is. They know what the positive, like, I'm not here to do that, but like natural world, share your story and find your tribe. 01:38:26.04 Donny Dust Worked for me. 01:38:28.30 nextlevelguypodcast And that's a hell a beautiful answer. 01:38:28.81 Donny Dust worked for anybody else. 01:38:31.22 nextlevelguypodcast And you have mentioned about passing on the story to people and you know that kind of part of it. 01:38:31.51 Donny Dust Right on man. 01:38:37.98 nextlevelguypodcast What do you want people to to know of your story? you know Because you're going to be that type of person. People go, this is the guy to follow. this is You have to follow him. You have to go work with him, etc. 01:38:48.55 nextlevelguypodcast But what? What do you want out of this when you look back now? 01:38:49.94 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:38:52.87 nextlevelguypodcast Is it somebody that your sons respect? Is it somebody that lived life following your own values? How do you encompass it all into Donny, the man? 01:39:04.31 Donny Dust Yeah. I think, I think. the The biggest reward is that my sons know that their father loved them. 01:39:17.27 Donny Dust ah And he was and is who he says he is. He's not anybody else. He's not here to betray any sort of image that isn't who he is. He has just lived in his most authentic self. 01:39:35.03 Donny Dust And we're happy to call him, you know, father, father can call him call call me dad. You know, I just want my kids to think I'm cool. I think that's really what it is. 01:39:45.03 nextlevelguypodcast I think they will. 01:39:45.27 Donny Dust But I think they, but I want them to think I'm i'm cool because like, I'm a good dad. i showed up. care for them. i love them. held them to a standard. 01:39:56.95 Donny Dust I didn't give them everything. I made them work for stuff. And that hopefully shapes who they are as young men moving forward, who they are as husbands moving forward, and how I treat you know, my wife, they know what a man should be doing for his wife. 01:40:15.79 Donny Dust There's a lot of bad examples out there, but there's good ones. You know what i mean? And sometimes you only see what's online, but like the flesh in that ground truth is really where they see the examples. 01:40:26.63 Donny Dust And I think they know how to treat their, their, their significant other when the time comes. 01:40:32.73 nextlevelguypodcast and Is there Oh, sorry. 01:40:33.75 Donny Dust Yeah. I, 01:40:36.70 Donny Dust No, and I was it like, if nobody else says anything or, you know, is, you know, that's dying. I just, as long as my boys and my wife know those to be my truths and what i hope are, then I can die a happy man. 01:40:51.99 nextlevelguypodcast Because one of the things I used to always ask was when I first started was what made a next level guy? What made somebody living life on the next level? And for a lot of this, it comes across from you as authentic, happy, following your own path. 01:41:05.88 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:41:07.67 nextlevelguypodcast would that Is that how you describe a next level guy? 01:41:12.25 Donny Dust Yeah, I think the next level, yeah, with without doubt being authentic, following your own path, having your your own self-confidence and resilience to adapt and overcome. And think for anybody listening, it's the easiest thing to be. 01:41:30.20 Donny Dust is the easiest thing to be. Like to be you, who you are, what you love, what you want to experience. super easy. You don't have to live to any makes or models. Just be you and be who you want to be and go do it. 01:41:45.21 Donny Dust That's the next level guy. 01:41:47.07 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. I mean, yeah it literally feels like 10 minutes. So I know it's been, I've used up far too much your time. So I have to have you back on and we can really go into deep and different things and prehistoric tools and flint making, et cetera. 01:41:54.87 Donny Dust right. Yeah, absolutely, man. 01:41:59.90 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:42:00.03 nextlevelguypodcast But, For people who've listened this, and I hope it's it's changing lives, what would you want them to remember from this? what would you How would you sum this up into a kind of a message or what would you want people to come to you and say, I listened you on that show and I did X, Y, Z or whatever it is? 01:42:18.07 nextlevelguypodcast what What would you want people to take from it? 01:42:21.59 Donny Dust i think If anybody was to come to me say, hey, listen to you on the next level guy, my biggest takeaway is you are who you say you are. And more importantly, that is the easiest thing to be. 01:42:36.57 Donny Dust so I'm now taking that as my kind of mantra into life and be like, whether I love gaming, I love art, I love fishing, I love F1, and i want to pursue things into it. 01:42:48.07 Donny Dust That's what I want to be. That's what I want to do. going to do it regardless of what anybody else tells me. Like that is my authentic me. So thank you for that. Because it can work. 01:42:59.29 Donny Dust It is real. I play with rocks every day. it can work. Trust me. So whatever it it is, go with it. I got your back. 01:43:11.96 nextlevelguypodcast And how can we follow this journey? Because you go from strength to strength. You're using the past to create a better future for everybody. You're changing lives. How can we follow on? 01:43:23.09 nextlevelguypodcast How can we read the books? How can we, you know, come and work with you? 01:43:26.77 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:43:27.45 nextlevelguypodcast Go and almost die out the time. Like all these kind of things. How can we find ourselves to be more like you? 01:43:31.42 Donny Dust Yeah. 01:43:34.23 Donny Dust Yeah, I think the easiest way for people to kind of follow and stay abreast of what's going on is and just have a website, DonnyDust.com. That's where I post courses and different offerings and teachings and just everything is kind of like the central hub there. And anywhere on social media is DonnyDust.com. 01:43:56.79 Donny Dust you know, at TikTok, Instagram, all that sort of stuff. But I will say there's one caveat to that. I have a lot of online presence, but people, you're getting about 15 20% of Just remember that. 01:44:14.20 Donny Dust Like there's a whole other 80% of me that I will not share with anybody or anybody because that's my life. And I want to keep a certain portion of it for my sons, for my wife, for my family. 01:44:24.65 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 01:44:28.09 Donny Dust That's what makes this very easy for me to manage. What you see on the online, that 15, that 20% is authentic to my real life, but i i don't put everything out there. 01:44:42.87 Donny Dust you You can't. And I think you should realize that with a lot of people that are on social media, how much of their life is on online and how much of their real life is offline. Cause the majority of my life is offline with my wife, with my kids on the adventures we go on and the the things that we do together. i don't share it all because that's for us. 01:45:06.41 Donny Dust I will share a certain portion and more importantly, that portion is i think, 01:45:07.40 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 01:45:14.07 Donny Dust It's kind of fantasize and romanticize because it's exciting. But there's days I take out the trash. There's days where I got to pick up dog poop. There's days where I got to wait at an airport because of flights delayed. I'm just like everybody else. I'm just like everybody else with the same sort of trials and tribulations and success and failures. 01:45:36.80 Donny Dust the stuff I share is a very small portion of my reality. Know that to be 100% true. Like I love sharing it, but it's just a small bit. The rest is for me to keep and keep safeguarded for my loved ones and for my family. 01:45:53.50 nextlevelguypodcast Love that.