#200 - Taking A Chance On Being Real

[00:00:05] If you are an irrigation professional, old or new, who designs, installs, or maintains high-end residential, commercial, or municipal properties, and you want to use technology to improve your business, to get a leg up on your competition, even if you're an old school irrigator from the days of hydraulic systems, this show is for you. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Thank you for listening, my friends. Welcome back to The Sprinkler Nerd Show.

[00:00:34] Welcome to episode 200. 200 episodes of The Sprinkler Nerd Show that has been about irrigation, technology, entrepreneurship, business, and more importantly than ever, curiosity. I think, as I reflect on 200 episodes, it will continue to be those things. But I think, and I've been thinking a lot about this,

[00:01:04] it's time for me to widen the lens a bit. And it might be because my personal lens is getting wider, and I feel safer than I've ever felt to widen my lens, giving myself permission to widen my lens, let's say that.

[00:01:20] But not away from irrigation. It's more like I want to widen my lens via irrigation or through irrigation. And it's almost as if it's kind of like behind, in some ways behind every controller, and sensor, and truck roll, and business idea, and project, and career that's out there.

[00:01:48] There's a person. There's a person. There's you. You who are listening. And people, including myself, people are complicated. So before I get into today's episode, I want to share something that points towards where the show is headed. And maybe I should say where the show might be headed. But because I'm saying it out loud, I guess that's a micro-commitment to where the show is headed.

[00:02:15] And episode 201 is already moving in that direction. So episode 201 will be airing next Friday. I can't wait to tell you about episode 201. It's actually, there's a reason I'm telling you this now, because it's the foundation of the next journey of this podcast.

[00:02:34] Today, as I release this episode, I'm scheduled to record a conversation with my first mentor, Doug Lewis, an Olympic downhill skier and World Cup bronze medalist. Doug was my first mentor when I was, I don't know, six years old, eight years old, 12 years old.

[00:03:00] And as this podcast is released, Doug and I have not recorded the episode yet. So I can't tell you exactly where the conversation is going to go, but I can tell you that I am so freaking excited about it. And Doug isn't from the irrigation industry. He's from the world that you might call discipline, perseverance, mentorship, and becoming the best version of yourself.

[00:03:25] And while lessons like that may not have anything to do with sprinklers and pipe and fittings and sensors and weather and ET, they have everything to do with your life, my life, just life. And so it's my pleasure to bring a different kind of guest to this audience, to all of you.

[00:03:51] And my hope is that Doug is the first of many people who can inspire us, challenge us, and help us think differently about our own journeys. People from inside our industry and outside our industry. People who have done hard things. People who have learned difficult lessons. People who are willing to share what they've discovered along the way.

[00:04:16] Because I think that, that right there is where this show is headed. It's not away from irrigation. It's through irrigation. It's because of irrigation. Not away from irrigation. It's actually more towards you, the people, the human, the realness, the real humans. It's towards understanding ourselves a little better. Toward asking bigger questions.

[00:04:46] It's hard to say out loud. Over the last seven months, I hit a place that I'd never expected to find myself. What felt like a sudden collapse was really something that had been quietly building for decades. 26 years, specifically. And looking back, the signs were there. I just didn't know how to see them.

[00:05:15] And while I wouldn't wish my experience on anyone, coming through it has taught me something really important. And that's that the hardest things in life are rarely technical. It's not understanding how the Lorwan frequency works. It's not about those technical details.

[00:05:43] The hardest things are internal. Finding the courage to be you. Finding the courage to be yourself. Taking a risk. Taking the chance. If you have the opportunity, take the chance. Leaving something that no longer fits you. Starting over. Speaking honestly. Setting boundaries.

[00:06:12] Listening to that subtle, quiet voice inside that says, Something just doesn't feel right. And then there's, Why do some people embrace hard things while others avoid them? Why can one person walk into a challenge that terrifies someone else?

[00:06:37] Why do we stay in situations long after we know they're no longer serving us? Why do we ignore our intuition? We have two minds. The mind on our head and the mind in our gut and our intuition. Why do we ignore that? How do we know whether our thoughts are telling us the truth or simply making shit up? I don't have any of these answers.

[00:07:07] I just have questions. Or maybe I should say, I'm just curious. I have curiosity, which develops questions. And I think curiosity has served us pretty well for 199 episodes. I've always said that I don't want this show to be a place where I pretend to know everything. I don't want to know everything. I want to be curious. That's the goal. That's my goal in life.

[00:07:36] Just because I know something doesn't even mean I need to say it. I want to learn. I want to be curious. I want this to be a place where we stay curious together. And lately, my curiosity has been pulling me towards something else. It kind of feels deeper. Emotions. Fears. Doubts. Courage. Meaning. And it's not because I've figured any of it out.

[00:08:05] Because I haven't figured anything out. Well, let me restate that. Well, I'll save it for later. I haven't figured anything out. It kind of just feels more like the beginning. More like finding me. Finding Andy. Being true to me. True to myself. And then I'm thinking, is this just a me thing? No, it's probably not. There's probably some of this in all of you. So I'm going to share it. If I'm finding myself again, find you.

[00:08:36] Whoever you are listening, it's time to find you. And I haven't found totally me yet again. But I have found a lot of me. And it's amazing. And it's not easy. And what I've discovered is that there's a difference between living your life and truly listening to it. Sometimes your life is telling you something long before you're ready to hear it.

[00:09:05] And sometimes your body knows before your mind knows, before your heart knows. Sometimes that little voice inside you knows. And the challenge is finding the courage to listen to that little voice inside you who knows. I've come to believe that every person is on a quest. It's like the why quest. Why do you do what you do?

[00:09:36] And that's why I like to understand what gets someone out of bed in the morning. You know, that why question is so powerful. Every person is on a quest. It's your quest. It's my quest. It's your spouse's quest. Your girlfriend's quest. Your child's quest. Your friend's quest. Your boss's quest.

[00:09:57] We're all carrying experiences and hopes and fears and struggles and dreams that most people never see. Sometimes we're fully aware of our quest. And sometimes we're wandering through it without even realizing it. And sometimes life delivers a moment that forces us to pay attention.

[00:10:26] Maybe, let me ask you this, maybe you're already on your quest. And maybe you've known it for a long time. And that's awesome. Congratulations. I'm not saying that in a funny way. It's just that's awesome. But also maybe you've never thought about it that way before.

[00:10:57] I wish I could find the Jimmy Buffett quote. I know I have it saved on my phone from a late night hot tub cigar smoking session. I know I saved it on my phone. But Jimmy Buffett said something like he was on a quest early, early on.

[00:12:05] Crazy. If you could go back and tell that guy from 1973 all the things that happened to you since, what would he make of it all? I was on a quest. I think he'd be very happy that we made it. Yeah. Because you start out, you have to commit to this. This is not a part-time job. And in those days, the ratio of success is real minuscule.

[00:12:36] There's a lot of wreckage on the road to success. I was watching, interestingly enough, the last two days. My friend Frank Marshall, he and Alex Gibney have done a two-part documentary on Laurel Canyon. And I think it was coming out this week. And maybe nobody ever told you that it was okay to keep asking questions, to keep questioning things. I had to have that quest.

[00:13:04] And it was okay to change directions, to become someone new, to reinvent yourself, to pursue a life that feels more aligned with who you really are. And maybe who you really are now isn't the same as who you were. But maybe it is. And you just couldn't really be who you really are. And I knew that as a child growing up on the Gulf Coast, I was a beach boy and I loved going back there.

[00:13:34] And once I got on that part of the circle, I knew I was coming back. Somewhere or another, I would get to Key West. Somewhere or another, I would get to California. What I think I should say. California didn't work out until way later. What I think I should say because I think it's what you want to hear. It's not going to be about that. It's going to be... More about what is actually true to me. Which is less about having answers.

[00:14:02] More about asking better questions. Less about performing. More about being real. And some of you know that my friend Molly challenged me to a... Instead of a New Year's resolution, What we did is we picked a word for this year. And I don't recall if I talked about this on the show or not. But we picked a word for the year.

[00:14:33] That was just meaningful. It's not something you have to live by and whatnot. Just a word that was meaningful. And my word this year is real. And so as I talk about performing, There's some elements of a podcast and a YouTube channel, etc. That you're performing. And that doesn't feel right for me. And so I just want to be real. I'm just going to be the sprinklinger to Andy. I'm just going to be Andy. The real Andy.

[00:15:04] And that means some people will connect with that. And some people won't. There's going to be some people listening to this episode That won't want to connect with it. And that's okay. It kind of reminds me of the expression, I hope I can get this right. You can only make some of the people happy some of the time. I want to say that to Steve Jobs quote.

[00:15:33] You can't make all the people happy all the time. You can only make some of the people happy some of the time. I think there's just a lot of power in that. Because it means you get to choose your audience. And choose your audience means doing what's right for you. And those who that resonates with. You guys are here for a reason. So I'll just say thank you. And for the people that don't connect with that,

[00:16:03] That's okay. And episode 200, I think, is going to mark just a simple, It's like a, maybe I should call it a simple commitment to myself And a simple commitment to you all as the audience. A commitment to curiosity. A commitment to authenticity. A commitment to exploring not just how we build better and rethink irrigation systems,

[00:16:31] But also how we build better lives. A commitment to sharing what is honestly on my mind every day, every week, Even when I don't have the answers. And I would say, like, especially when I don't have the answers. Because I don't know exactly where this path leads. If I did, would this even be any fun?

[00:17:01] Part of the journey is not knowing where you're going. But exploring and experimenting. And then reporting back. So I know that that, to me, that just feels right. And for me, after spending too many years ignoring things that didn't feel right, I'm learning to pay attention more when something does feel right.

[00:17:31] So, as we begin the next 200 episodes together, I have one, I think promise is a strong word. I don't want to say promise. We'll just say commitment. I'm going to take a chance on being real. I gotta say that again one more time to myself. Because, wow, that's powerful. I'm going to take a chance on being real.

[00:17:56] And if that inspires even one person to become a little bit more honest with themselves, and a little bit more curious about their own journey, and a little bit more willing to pursue the life they know deep down is calling them, then all of this will be worth it. So thank you for joining me on this journey. And welcome to the next chapter of The Sprinklin' Nerd Show.