#138 Formidable And Indomitable

Rachel Denning (00:00.942)
Hey, all you awesome people. Welcome to another episode of the Extraordinary Family Life podcast. Man, a lot has happened, is going on. Got some exciting, crazy cool stuff happening at the time of this recording. My family and I have packed up all of our gear, loaded up on, in our big old Expedition van with Safari.

I got a big old custom Safari roof rack on there that goes the full length of the van and a massive rooftop tent. And we are on an overlanding expedition as a family. We're going to be on the road for the next five months and we're heading through Mexico. We'll go across the country, across the United States, all the length of Mexico. And then Rachel and I will take a little excursion for our anniversary. We'll go down and climb.

go to Ecuador and climb Cotopaxi, which is like 19 ,300 and change feet above sea level. And then we'll go with our friends. We've, we've chartered a private yacht with some friends to circle the Galapagos islands. And then we'll fly back and get our family. Um, and then we'll head to, into, uh, Guatemala and man, just a love adventure. Absolutely love adventure and living.

and extraordinary family life together. And I hope, man, a little side note here. I hope, I hope you're doing that too. I hope you are striving and preparing to live life on your terms and do your adventures. You don't, you know, you don't have to go travel the world as a family, but man, you gotta, you gotta have an extraordinary family life. You gotta have a vision and a plan. You gotta have some dreams and I hope you're chasing your dreams. Please.

You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your spouse, you owe it to your children, you owe it to your future children and grandchildren to create a legacy and live life on your terms. Oh, because it's possible and it's awesome. So do the things that you love. Make your life list that I've talked about before. Your bucket list and put up your vision board and write down your dreams and your goals. And man, get after them.

Rachel Denning (02:20.974)
It just makes you feel so alive. It's so fun. We played, so I led, I think I told you guys about this. We led, a couple years ago, I led a backpacking trip up into North Carolina with a whole bunch of youth and we ended up playing capture the flag up there. Cause we love playing that all around the world where we're gonna play with our kids and friends and go all out, right? But then we're like, let's kind of up the stakes here. We made it kind of full contact. Oh man, it's so much fun.

So then we've been doing that consistently now for the last couple of years. Actually it's been like a year and a half and we did it again. We're in Texas right now and we had this full out capture the flag game. It was amazing. You guys might have seen my story or post on Instagram. I took an elbow in the nose so hard so my lip was all swollen. My nose bled for like two days. It was crazy. It was so fun and then the day after that we went out and just.

massive paintball games on this huge estate. They've got this, they've got castles, they've got a western kind of town. They've got something set up with all these bunkers. It was amazing. So we went through and played all these different games there. We're just having so much fun playing, having adventures, and jumping in freezing cold pools every day. Oh, it's just awesome. But.

I've gotta share the thing I'm most excited about right now, my friends, is today we are launching live after, I would say, years of preparation. This is a part of my life's work. This is a part of my mission. And I feel so excited about it, so strongly about it, so driven, called even to do this. And today,

published and launched the be the man masterclass, which is just this comprehensive resource of tools and team and training to help men be their absolute best self, to be the best husband, they can be the best father, the best leader, the best businessman, the best

Rachel Denning (04:45.709)
man to feel alive and invigorated to feel on purpose to be centered and grounded spiritually and to be awake and alive mentally and emotionally and physically fit the best shape of your life and stay there your whole life and to be leading out and making a difference and contributing and feeling you know man liking liking yourself right

A lot of people struggle even liking themselves or being proud of who they are and who they're becoming and where they're going and to do work that men love to do and to provide well, to have all the abundance you want and to win, to crush it, to just absolutely win and succeed in work and at home.

Right. And have all the tools and all the resources, all the community, the tribe, right. To be part of an elite group of men who are serious about living an extraordinary life and being the best self. So that is live and out there and I love it. Um, and it's so fun. We've already had a great response and got a bunch of fantastic men in there and the journey begins. Journey begins. So.

If you are a man and you're listening to this or you're a woman and you know good men who could use this and need it, I consider genuinely consider this. It's a big investment, but it's worth every penny and much, much, much more to make sure that you're doing life as your best self, your best self on your terms, as you define it, right?

being a great man and again, so many good men are just struggling. They're just kinda, even if they're not struggling, if things are good, but they know they could be great, they're living below their potential, that's what it's all about. So we don't waste time and life. And we can bring just that energy and passion back to, again, our work, our relationships.

Rachel Denning (07:10.509)
and everything we do. And so life, life is just fantastic. We wake up every day excited and alive and just crushing it. Oh, this is so good. So, so awesome. So check it out. Be the man masterclass. You can access that on extraordinaryfamilylife .com and share that. If you join me on this, I'm just going to ask for your help because it's so needed. It is so desperately needed right now.

to give men the tools, the team and the training to be their best, to unleash their power and their potential. Oh man, that's good. So in that vein is what today's topic is about. I've been studying about it, thinking about it for a long time. And I came across two words that are so awesome and they give us this framework. Vocabulary is super cool. It's like sometimes, you know, maybe as a kid, you had to, you know, memorize vocabulary, learn meanings and, and definitions and.

You know, spelling and all that stuff, but I love vocabulary. When you learn a cool word and you learn about the meaning, you're like, yes, that is, it gives us power and it conceptualizes things that maybe we've thought about or felt and you want to bring to life. And I came across to, as I was preparing for this masterclass and I wanted to share them. I wanted to do a whole podcast just on these two words and really share this idea.

and how it applies in our lives and applies to all of us, not just, not just men, but men and women and even children, right? It's, it's pretty awesome. So the first one is you can pronounce it two different ways, formidable or formidable, right? And, and there has been a context and some of the meaning is like to be, you know, you're so, well, here's, here's one, right? Tending to inspire awe or admiration because of great size or strength or excellence, right?

And that's, Ooh, that's where I want to key in where you want to be the kind of person that you're living in such a way that your character, your mind, your energy, your, your aura, maybe just, just your being radiates strength and maybe not. And it says size. Not, I'm not talking about size, physical size because I've met, um, men and women of small stature, but of trim.

Rachel Denning (09:31.469)
And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is.

Rachel Denning (10:01.229)
about the ego. This is not about getting people to like this, this need to be significant. It's not about the need to be seen or admired. It's not the ego. You with me on this? I don't want to be misunderstood on that. We're not doing it for that reason. We're doing it for the right reason. And that's actually what, what brings the inspiration.

Because it's done for the right reason, not for the look at me, I want to be in the limelight, I want people's attention, I want all eyes on me. It's not that. It's not that. But it does inspire. And I think that's the greatest force in the world is to inspire. But it inspires awe and admiration because of greatness in strength, strength of character, strength of mind, strength of emotion, strength of determination, strength of endurance, strength of...

doing the right thing for the right reason and of excellence. Here's another definition. Very strong, especially in character, producing respect and even a little fear in others. Oh, I love it. Worthy of respect is another definition. Right? Here's another one. If you describe something or someone as formidable,

Excuse me, you mean that you feel slightly frightened or maybe intimidated by them because they are very great or impressive. I really want to key on in that. That's we want to become just absolute, superb human beings. So good. So great, in fact.

that it's even a little bit intimidating. Not that we want to be intimidating, we don't want to be. Not that we want to be, we don't want to inspire fear in others. But when you chase greatness, it almost has that effect on the human psyche. You've met people like that, right? They're just so good, so great, so excellent. It's a little bit intimidating. Wow.

Rachel Denning (12:14.829)
That person is absolutely extraordinary. And it could be in almost any field or genre. But I want to take this approach and I want to invite you to join me to pursue this, to become formidable in that we're chasing absolute human excellence. We're allowing that spark of divinity to come out and greatness. And it has that, the power to inspire.

and motivate and encourage. And here's what's interesting, right? This one's going to, it kind of sounds funny. When I first introduced it, this idea was first introduced to me. I was kind of like, well, I'm not so sure about that. But the more I thought about it, right? Yeah, that's spot on. There's, there's this somebody recently said, you know, within the first few moments of somebody meeting you, they, they ought to know that you are someone to be reckoned with and not to be messed with. Right now, I really don't want that one to be misunderstood.

It's not one of those, I'll walk up and when we shake hands, I'll squeeze your hand so hard, you'll know not to mess with me. It's not that. It's not, you know, shoulders and arms back, you know, I'm acting like a blowfish or a peacock or something, or, you know, I'm trying to intimidate you. It's not that. It's just this strength of mind and character and emotion and spirit that you're just like, whoa. Like, that's a person you just don't mess with.

Like these don't tolerate absurdity or threat or bullying or any crap. Right. And this is true for men and for women. It can even be true with kids. These kids that just, they have, they have this strong will and this confidence and this sense of assurance and certainty. You're like, man, that's awesome. Nobody messes with that kid. Right. And again, it's not the, it's not.

physical force because physical force is the lowest form of

Rachel Denning (14:18.317)
influence or persuasion or getting things done, the lowest form of communication. It's not that. It's this sense of...

strength.

confidence and belief that is so powerful and so beautiful. I don't know, I love this. And for men particularly, you know, some of the best men are

dangerous men in that they know how to defend themselves and they know how to defend others. They know how to well and they can do it intellectually as well, right? They know how to form an argument and to see both sides and to intellectually, you know, stand their ground and operate a debate and engage in a conversation and when necessary engage in a battle.

And there's part of that there for protection for being a warrior. And to be able to stand up for truth and for virtue and for justice and for goodness. And there is a lot of stinking injustice in this world. And there are a lot of people who cannot defend themselves and we need more warriors.

Rachel Denning (15:55.853)
who are willing to, in a tactful, a droidful, a skillful way, defend those who can't defend themselves, and defend ourselves, and defend good things, good policies, good ideals, good standards, and stand up against the tide of...

Malice and injustice and selfishness and corruption that that sneaks in to individuals or families or societies or organizations or businesses. I mean think of the businesses that have collapsed or been exposed in the last decade or two because of corrupt decision -making or corrupt. I mean look at look at the corruption in governments around the world and

You know, things come out all the time. Things are coming out. Oh, this has been exposed. You know, there was this big, you know, corruption going on inside and we got to stand up against that. And, and we have to be, be a worthy opponent to evil and wrong and injustice and, and terrible things that are happening. I'm, I'm a, I'm a full optimist. You guys know this. I love, love life. And I love this world. I think the world's a great place.

But I'm not blind to the insane amounts of dark things and evil things, wrong things like child trafficking is a big obvious example. And then just the junk that's going on. And we need to be formidable opponents to wrong, right? And to dishonesty and to deceit and corruption.

theft oh and all that stuff oh I love this here's a I thought it was really valuable I think I think a thesaurus is extremely valuable here are some synonyms to a formidable opponent is someone who is capable and able who's proficient adept adroit accomplished someone who's impressive and strong and powerful and mighty and terrific tremendous and great and redoubtable I like that word redoubtable such a great word look that one up

Rachel Denning (18:19.405)
Indomitable, which is the second word, invincible, seasoned, skillful, skilled, gifted, talented, masterly, virtuoso, an expert, knowledgeable, qualified, trained, efficient, good, excellent, brilliant, outstanding, first class, first rate. Whoa. Isn't that awesome? I love that. Oh, I love a good thesaurus, right? That right there. Those are the words that if you were to describe you, what if that was a list that described you? What if when people,

after being in a certain organization or a certain position or a certain time period of your life or even at the end of your life, what if people said, hey, if you could just use one word to describe her or describe him, what if a group of people used those words that I just read to describe you?

Aww yeah. That's what I'm talking about. And so this invitation for you and for me to become our best selves is to become formidable. A formidable opponent of anything that's lowly and pathetic and below our high values and standards. Anything that's wrong. Oh, it's so good. So good.

Isn't this awesome? Isn't this exciting? So become formidable. The second word is dominable, indomitable, sorry, indomitable. And it's the definition I found is impossible to subdue or defeat. Right. And I really thought for our men's master classes, indomitable men, men who are impossible to subdue or defeat. Right.

Indomitable warriors. They were invincible. Here's the same thing from Thesaurus. Invincible, unconquerable, unbeatable, unassailable, impregnable, invulnerable, unsurpassable, unshakable. Ooh, I like that one. Unshakable. Indefatigable. I'm sure not saying that right. Unyielding, unbending, stalwart, stout -hearted, lion -hearted. I like that one.

Rachel Denning (20:30.861)
Strong -willed, strong -minded, staunch, resolute, firm, steadfast, determined.

intransigent, inflexible, adamant, unflinching, courageous, brave, valiant, heroic, intrepid, fearless, plucky, meddlesome, gritty, and steely. Oh, man, it's a good, good list of adjectives there. And the reason I love this word, un -dominable is because, well, it's because of a quote from Walt Disney that I have in my philosophy journal. He says, most often,

the difference between winning and losing is not quitting. Let that sink in. Most often, the difference between winning and losing is not quitting. And if we will just become resolute, determined, indomitable, that we will do the right thing for the right reason, that we will live life on our terms, that we will...

succeed in family, we will succeed in marriage, we will succeed in business, we will succeed in life, and we won't quit, and we won't be conquered. And by that I mean like conquered by laziness, by indifference, by apathy, by complacency, by fear, self -doubt, insecurity. We won't be conquered by those things. We'll be indomitable, right? And if

If we're willing to stand our ground, to be determined and resolute, oh, my friends, we'll be able to achieve so much, do so much, become so much, just because we won't give up. Now, there are times we need to pivot, so I don't want to be misunderstood here. There are times you're going down a path and you realize, oh, this isn't the right path. And you gotta get off the path. I know people that continue down the wrong path because they'll say, well, I'm not a quitter, I'm not quitting.

Rachel Denning (22:36.365)
And that's different. If you're on the wrong path, or if it's not working, by all means, quit. Stop that thing and get on the right path. But if you know you're on the right path, if you know this is your thing, if you know you're on the high ground and this is standard, this is what's right and it's what's true and you've thought through it and been all around it, you've tried to prove yourself wrong, and you know this is where you need to be, then be indomitable and push. So join me, my friends, join me on this quest.

as quest for greatness and in that seek to embrace this identity of being formidable and indomitable. And we will be able to achieve and accomplish unbelievable things and inspire awe and wonder and inspiration and motivation and greatness in those around us and be able to live absolutely extraordinary lives. Because awesome, my friends, is always an option. Reach upward.