Role Models

Recently I shared a post on Facebook about LeBron James describing the incredible personal achievements he has made on top of his career achievements. I don't know anything about basketball or the player that is LeBron James, but I live in Ohio so I certainly know of the guy. Heck, my wife even got to see him play in a tournament when they were both still in high school! But I was very impressed to read about how he has been a loyal husband, a good father, and basically a father figure to over 1,000 local youth by helping pay their way through college. It's incredible! The guy is a freaking great role model.

 

The post about LeBron got me thinking about role models and their importance in our culture today, especially in regards to who my children will look up to. I didn't really grow up paying much attention to any role models, except maybe Bob Saget because lets be real, Americas Funniest Videos was the amazing predecessor to YouTube. However, social media allows us to get deep in the day to day lives of our Heroes, Role Models, Idols, or just your every day Pop Stars. It's easy to get sucked into the vacuum of Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Do you really want to spend your time being exposed to the twitter thoughts of someone like Donald Trump or the Kardashians? I know I don't. So this year I've purposefully been weeding out the negativity and looking for positive influences on my social media feeds.

 

This year I've really been focused on trying to have better control over the media I'm exposed to. My hope is to have a more positive impact on how I see the world around me and how I interact with it. I wouldn't be talking about this topic if I didn't think it worked, and this is me encouraging you to be aware of your own role models. I think everyone should have at least 5 names on hand of people they attempt to emulate. I don't mean the obvious ones like your own parents, grandparents r or people you know intimately. I'm talking about the ones you read about, see on television, social media, or on the Hollywood scale.

 

I am a firm believer that we are shaped by what we see and hear. If your exposed to negativity in the news, it affects you.  So I want anyone reading this post to comment below with your top 5 role models, and if you feel like "extra-mileing" it today, give a reason for them being your role model. I've become a little narrow-minded in my exposure of the world recently, and therefore miss out on seeing the good that people like Lebron James put out into the world.

 

At first I was having a hard time coming up with my 5, but I think that was more of a writers block and how my brain works. Now I can't stop coming up with them, so here are my top 5 followed up with a few honorable mentions.

 

5. Gordon Ramsay
 

 

            Gordon is famous for his culinary show where he berates and yells at his chefs for making basic mistakes but this is just a farce for television. His shows where he works with kids, or even the show he created out of his own home with his children are amazing. This chef's passion for creativity and the art of cooking mixed with his passion for being an excellent father put him in my Role Model number 5 spot.

 

4. Alex Honnold

 

 

            This guy may be a bit of an unknown to a lot of people, but in the rock climbing world Alex is the quarterback who won the Super Bowel by catching his own pass in the end zone in quadruple overtime. Although Alex would be the first to point out that in any given climbing discipline he is far from the best, he stays active in all of them. Therefore he is on an entirely different level with his ability to adapt to new situations. He used his climbing world fame to start up the Honnold Foundation, an organization working to bring solar energy to tribes and villages in remote areas who otherwise may burn unclean and harmful fuel sources for light and energy. Alex's worldwide climbing has brought him a lot of exposure to poverty which sparked his desire to give back to the world. His thankful mindset is what caught my attention, I really appreciate the type of guy who recognizes the opportunities he has been given and decides to give back to the world. His book (pictured above) is an interesting read about his life and influences leading up to his "Free Climb of El Capitan" an escapade that gave him some level of fame in almost every news outlet out there.

 

3. Joe Desena

 

 

            The founder of Spartan Race and a Godfather of the Obstacle Course Racing Community. Although he catches a lot of flack for bringing a corporate attitude to a sport that rallies around small town races, in my mind there is no question about Joe's desire to change people's lives. Spartan race has had over 1 million participants world wide and aims to have 10 million in the next couple years, you have to recognize that he is bringing inspiration to people. Although I've participated in more than 5 of his races myself, it was his podcast that makes Joe stand out to me. Every week they pump out an interview with someone successful in hopes to bring inspiration and good daily habits to the listeners. The podcast usually focuses around the idea of everyday people finding their "True North" or purpose in life and getting off the couch to pursue it. I've had the opportunity to learn about so many people and achievements that otherwise wouldn't have come up on my radar except for the Spartan Up Podcast. It's become a part of my life I'm very thankful for. Joe is also a father, and takes raising his kids more serious than most, going to lengths like having a Kung Fu instructor from Japan move into his home to train his children twice a day. So Joe the OCR Tycoon gets the 3rd slot in my Role models list.

 

2. Jason Momoa

 

 

            "My sun and Stars", ok not my sun and stars, but the Game of Thrones star who is affectionately referred to as such often shows the importance of fierce marriage loyalty both on and off the screen. Jason is has been interviewed about his role as a husband and a father, two jobs he takes even more serious than his incredible acting career and he always leaves me inspired to remind my wife why she's the best thing to ever happen to me. Hollywood is known for its drama and record setting divorce rates, but Jason stands out as an inspiration to his peers as well as us lesser folk. Besides acting, Jason can usually be found rock climbing with his personal friend Chris Sharma, or throwing axes and drinking Guiness. It doesn't get much more interesting than that in my opinion.

 

1. Ben Greenfield

 

 

            My top pick for Role Model, Ben has an incredible list of achievements including participation in the Iron Man World Championships and Spartan World Championship, Professional Biohacker, accomplished Bowhunter, the list goes on and on.
A friend of mine recommended I check out Ben's podcast and it has literally changed my life. Ben has inspired me to aim high and to improve my life in many unconventional ways. He brings fitness, nutrition, and all kinds of healthy things to the forefront, even some of the "woo-woo" medicinal practices out there. I admire his open mind a lot. Ben and his wife have two twin boys and I've learned a lot about the type of father I want to be from his podcast. His boys have a nutrition podcast about cooking healthy recipes and he encourages them to be very independent. So independent that Ben has a Friday rule for food in his house, which is "If you need to eat today, you need to go out to the woods and find that food.". It might sound crazy at first, but just a few minutes listening to Ben talk about his family's day to day life in Washington State will hopefully have you wanting to run off to woods like it does for me.  He is also a professed Christian and talks often about the power of having purposeful and daily gratitude. If there is one guy out there I could most closely be like, it is definitely Ben Greenfield.

 

 

Who else is out there? Who do you look up to and why? Do you conduct yourself in a certain way because of another persons inspirations? The answer is a giant YES for everyone, it's just whether or not we are aware of that influence on ourselves. Share your Role Models with me in the comments, and thanks for reading!!

 

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

It was hard to leave these 3 off the list so I needed to make sure these names wound up in my post somehow.

 

Kevin Hart


Dewayne The Rock Johnson


Jesse Itzler

 

I wont write up bios on these 3 guys but they are all hugely influence men, they're all comedians in their own light, successful millionaire-billionaire status, but most importantly they are using their fame and success to inspire others through social media prominence. The 8 men mentioned in this post have touched and changed my life through movies, books, stand up comedy, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Podcasts, and Obstacle Course Racing.


In 2018, these are the men I look up to.