School Of Awesome Sauce With Greg Denning

In this episode, we’re discussing teen mental health and strategies for helping them not only overcome mental health challenges but to learn to thrive despite their difficult circumstances. We’re empathetic to the real struggles and suffering that parents and youth are dealing with and want to provide hope in this episode. Through personal experience, as well as from working with thousands of youth, and doing decades of research, we’ve discovered what actually works to help teens deal with the challenges they face. We know that not every situation is black and white with clear-cut answers or solutions but this episode will provide some puzzle pieces that may fit perfectly for your unique situation. Please use what you can and share it with others who may need to hear this message. This episode is sponsored by Mr. Denning’s Habits for a Successful Life — a live, online class for teenagers. After studying personal development for 20 years, we looked far and wide for a class that would teach our teenagers someth

In this episode, we’re talking about Failure to Launch syndrome — a significant growing phenomenon among young adults who are not successfully making the transition to adulthood. Its symptoms include young adults who continue to live at home or to be supported by their parents, YA who don’t contribute financially to their own living expenses and begin to withdraw from the world and society. Failure to launch — known as Peter Pan syndrome in the U.S. -- can take the form of unrealistic (or NO) goals, blaming others for their situation, narcissism, a lack of motivation to change, low levels of persistence, high expectations without reciprocation, lack of basic adult skills, and no ‘liftoff’ into adult responsibilities — among other things. In the extreme, it can lead to the proverbial 30-year-old living in the basement and can be accompanied by anxiety, depression, and sometimes suicide. In this episode, Greg and I discuss the contributing factors to failure to launch plus strategies to avoid it. Whether you ha

We often receive emails from parents or spouses asking questions -- we love it. (Email us your questions at support @ extraordinaryfamilylife.com) This email asked us: “How can our family create balance and not feel guilty for doing things we enjoy (Netflix, video games, etc.) that aren’t necessarily productive (toward achieving our goals)?” Great question! We've also experienced the 'gap' between the reality of where we are and where we want to go/be (our BIG dream or goal). Sometimes that gap is painful. And it often requires that we sacrifice, give up, or exchange some of what we're doing now in order to achieve what we really want to have. We call this The Exchange Rate. But where there's pain there's power. And you can use that power to transform your life. If you enjoy this episode, please leave a review. Take the next step in leveling up your family life. http://courses.extraordinaryfamilylife.com/ You can also join Greg's Be The Man Masterclass & Tribe

Under duress, Greg agreed to do ANOTHER podcast touching on issues around C*vid -- but only because someone was confused about our 'statement' and position during the last one. They also believed there were some holes in our arguments. We address those in this episode. We also encourage you to take 100% responsibility for your health, your life, your family, and your circle of influence.  Stop wasting your energy on trying to get others to understand, agree, or conform and put it back into making the most of yourself. Stop hacking at the branches and start getting to the root of the problems. Listen now to see how. Wim Hof & Jordan Peterson podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/cy/podcast/wim-hof-with-jordan-and-mikhaila-peterson/id1184022695?i=1000501492588 Wim Hof Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CWRAbgvlqxZ/ Be the Family Man Workshop -- for wives https://courses.extraordinaryfamilylife.com/bundles/be-the-family-man-challenge -- for men https://courses.extraordinaryfamilylife.com/pages/btm-w

It IS true that 'you are good enough the way you are'. You are special. You are lovable. You are allowed to just be YOU. But those ideas are INCOMPLETE truths. You were also designed, created, and evolved to continually aim to become YOUR best version of you. So you'll never feel completely content remaining the way you are now. No matter how many times you tell it to yourself. The only way to be completely fulfilled is to regularly work on letting your inner light shine... To get comfortable with discomfort, because that is how you grow... To become self-aware enough to know when to give yourself grace and when to push yourself harder. Because loving yourself for who you ARE -- and being discontent for who you've not yet BECOME... ...being grateful for the progress you've made -- and being dissatisfied with the results you've gotten so far -- -- are two sides of the same coin. And wholeness comes when you learn to hold and operate by these two seemingly opposing viewpoints. Visit ExtraordinaryFamilyLife.com

"Rebellion of basically any kind stems from needs that are not being met." "Which needs are commonly not met that are likely to lead to rebellion?" Is there a difference between healthy and unhealthy rebellion? Do you consider some kind of rebellion necessary in a person’s life? In this episode, we discuss these and other parenting topics and how 'restaurant parenting' (as I call it) may contribute to future teen rebellion. We also talk about rule-breaking and why we encourage a healthy version of it in our teens and young adults. If you're a parent, no matter the current age of your kids, don't miss the critical lessons in this episode! 

In our last episode (#158), Greg hinted at doing another episode about the v*ccine. I wasn't so sure. But after thinking and discussing it, we decided to do it together -- partly because our individual views balance each other out and help us both to come to a more centered truth. We discuss how C*vid and the v*ccine have become politicized and what implications that has. We also examine C*vid's significance now compared to other times in history, and examine how politicizing a topic can skew each individuals understanding of the real facts. Most of all, we emphasize points that all sides are likely to agree on, and how that approach overall will help us to come together to find solutions that will benefit humanity as a whole.

What happens when you share a 'controversial' meme on social media? Lots of comments and ensuing arguments. In this podcast, Greg and Rachel respond to comments on a meme that was shared which said: "If you've ever wondered if you would have complied during 1930s Germany, now you know." The reactions included words and phrases including: incomprehensibly stupid asinine comparing people who have been vaccinated to Nazi Germans and a lot more... An adequate response was not feasible in a Facebook comment, so we answered in a podcast episode instead. Plus, it was a lot more fun that way! "Covid is a problem but it's not the real problem. There is something bigger than that which is the real problem. Until we address the bigger problem at the bottom of the swamp, we won't really solve the problem." We'd love to hear your feedback, questions, comments, or requests for clarification -- or show us where we were wrong! Resources: The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn In Order to Live: A North Korea

How do you know if you’re winning in life? It’s Easier in sports where there’s a scoreboard, but even that isn’t always reflective of true winning. You might lose the game but still be winning in personal improvements, performance, effort, giving your best, sportsmanship, integrity, grit, etc What about each of the areas of your life? How do you know if you’re winning? Do you have a scoreboard? Are you keeping score? In what ways? Are you trying to compete with others or with yourself, or with an ideal? Some are not keeping score at all. They have no idea how they’re doing. They don’t think about it; they don’t measure it; they’re so distracted, or unconscious, or in survival mode, or on autopilot, that they have no clear picture of how they’re doing. Some are even against keeping score at all. They may not like the idea of tracking, measuring, or scoring. You can’t master what you don’t measure! I’m choosing to win as a man! As a man. That includes several roles. I’m not trying to only win in busi

Misjudging people it’s so easy and most of us do it pretty often if not all the time. Outward Symptoms can often help, but not always. They might Look rich but are broke. Look poor but have millions. Look nice but are evil. Look rough but are as honest as Abraham Lincoln Sometimes you meet people who in your first impression you mentally toss them out because they don’t fit, only to find out later that they’re AMAZING! We often misjudge because we have categories, labels, and boxes in which we psychologically try to arrange all the people, places, and things in our lives. The problem is that there are always people who don’t fit in our boxes, and that is where we get ourselves into trouble. Revisit the categories, rules, and labels that you have and see where they might be inaccurate. Leave an open box for those who don’t always fit the mold.

Here are 5 ideas about learning to like and enjoy the things you need to do but may not always want to do. 1—Like the results. You may not like the method and that’s okay. FOCUS on the results. What you focus on you feel. Need motivators? Grab a chunk of belly or flabby arm, and then get your running shoes on and out the door. 2 —If you used to like it but now you don’t, find out what’s changed. Try what you used to do. Or try liking it in new ways. 3—Do something totally different. Try new things. Get creative. Learn to like something else. 4—Train yourself to like what you need, what you must. Do you realize that EVERYTHING you like or dislike is all because of conditioning. I believed for a long time that it was just the way I was. Perhaps I was born that way. I didn’t realize that I had conditioned myself or had been conditioned to it. Now I know that I can recondition myself to anything. 5—Sometimes you don’t like it. Do it anyway. That’s called being mature, responsible, an adult. Sometimes i

Being good is not enough Most of our default thinking is that if we’re a good person it will be enough. That’s just not true! You can be a good person and a piss poor husband You can be a good person and a lousy lover You can be a good person and a poor loser You could be a good person and be terribly unproductive You can be a good person and a lousy listener You could be a good person distracted absent father You can be a good person and a terrible businessman You can be a good person and a very Foolish investor You can be a good person and a flimsy friend You can be a good person and an unresponsive son You can be a good person and totally ignorant and uneducated You can be a good person and clueless to what’s going on around you and the needs of other people Now if you’re not good at tennis, that’s OK. If you want to be good at it you can work on it. If you don’t want to be good at it then you don’t have to do anything. But that’s not true of the other areas of your life like marriage and parenting a

What are good beliefs and practices around money in your marriage? What if one spouse brings in the income and the other stays home, who should be in charge of how it’s spent? Does the non-income earning spouse have any say on how the money should be spent? What if one spouse wants to save every penny and the other sees it as a tool for experience and growth? What if one spouse wants to approve every purchase before anything can be spent? What if they become upset when they feel you spend in a way they don’t approve of? What if one spouse spends out of control? What if one spouse hates their job and feels resentful and frustrated and doesn’t want their ‘life’ to be spent on anything they don’t personally agree on? What if spouse have completely different paradigms about what money is (good or evil, tool or curse)? Greg and Rachel discuss these and other issues related to money in your marriage. Listen now and share with your spouse! Sign up for our Extraordinary Marriage course or our Master Your Mone

Many marriages are merely okay, or even slowly dying simply because men are inadvertently neglecting their wives. Gentlemen, you’re living far below your privileges in your marriage. Inadvertent negligence is costing you the spark, romance, and relationship you could have. With a little awareness and a few simple habits, you can totally transform your marriage. How is your health and fitness? It is affecting your relationship! Do you have clear boundaries between work life and family life? That is affecting your marriage. Are you leading at home? Spiritually mentally, emotionally, socially, physically, and financially? Are you fully engaged or usually distracted? Do you listen? Really listen? Are you making daily romantic gestures and planning awesome weekly dates? Are you taking ownership of the condition of the house and raising the children? Your wife will admire you more as you become more admirable. Your wife will respect you more as you become more respectable. Those of you who are married to hig

Is sex ever a source of frustration, confusion, or contention in your marriage? It definitely was for us early in our marriage. Most of it came because we didn’t understand each other, or ourselves for that matter, and we didn’t know how to communicate effectively in order to share our unique perspectives. Once we were able to communicate, understand, and not resent the different and often difficult perspectives between us, everything in our marriage got better. In today’s episode Rachel shares her perspective about both the importance and the complexities of a great sexual relationship in marriage. Listen to this episode today and share it with the other couples you care about.

What Mark are you making in the world? What Mark are you making in your family? We all have the privilege, opportunity, and even responsibility to make a mark in the world and in the lives of others. Interestingly, we are always making a mark. We can’t not.And so we must be responsible for the mark we are making. Some of you are making a significant mark, while others are leaving an insignificant scratch that will quickly wear way. What Mark are you making? What Mark do you need and want to make? How can you actually do it? Listen to this episode today to find out

Sexuality is just a part of being human. And as such it needs to be understood and directed. Unfortunately many men do not understand themselves and their sex drive, and many more women do not understand their man.  Why does he think about sex so much? Why does he want to have sex every day? Why are men visually stimulated? What can we do about it?  What about the differences in sexual desires and preferences between spouses? What are you doing to increase or decrease sexual desire, either in myself or my spouse? What can I do to make it great?!  These things come up all the time in the personal coaching that I do, and the work that I do with couples and it is very often a huge source of frustration and conflict, instead of an amazing source of connection and love.  In this episode, I risk being open and blunt and bold in order to share a perspective that I hope will be very helpful for individuals and couples. This is an episode that needs to be shared far and wide so that couples can hav

Every day we have a choice. In fact we have many choice moments throughout the day. Choose to be a champion, or by default we can choose to be a chump. The champion chooses to do things in a great way, even the little things that seem not to matter much. By default when we choose to be the chump we cut corners, we cheat ourselves and others, we take the easy way, and of course we end up with mediocre results. This is true even in how we start our day and how we choose to feel at the beginning of our day and throughout the day independent of how we slept or what’s going on. Adopt the mindset and attitude of a champion. Refuse to acquiesce, to settle for less than your best. Set up your tool bag, get the training, and surround yourself with the team it will help you live like a champion, starting with the little things.

My youngest brother died last week. He’d been struggling with a drug addiction for years. I thought he was getting better. I hope he was getting better. But it came to a tragic end last week. This last week has been brutal for me and for my family. I miss him so much! There’s so much I wish I could say and do but now it’s too late. The intensity and reality of this experience Has reminded me of a lot of important things and I wanna share those with you so that you can learn from my experience as well. Listen to this episode today and share it with someone you know who needs to hear it.

We all have little corners in our lives where the dust and the dirt and the things begin to gather. This is both literally and figurative. It may be the corner of your closet or your garage, or the corners of your mind or your spirit. Which “corners” of your life are unattended and neglected? Which “corners” have piled up with dirt and garbage and unused things? Which corners have you been avoiding and have become chaotic and disorderly? Corners of our rooms, or garages, or yard, or bodies, or minds—atrophy, ignorance, mindset, attitude, inappropriate thoughts Examine your whole world today. Mind, spirit, body, bed, bedroom, closet, bathroom, kitchen, pantry, family room, office, storage room, garage, yard, car, etc. Careful examine your entire life mentally and then literally make a list of the corners that need clearing out and cleaning. Start on one immediately and then worked on the list. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much efficiency and effectiveness and optimization you’ll bring