E587 | What I Learned From Eugene Levy

Doc Danny is discussing a new show called The Reluctant Traveler, starring Eugene Levy. The show follows Levy as he travels to different places, despite his fear of traveling. Doc Danny and his wife watched the first episode, which was set in Finland. He was fascinated by the country, as he had only ever met a few people from Finland before. The show follows Levy as he experiences different cultures, and it looks incredible. Doc Danny thought it was a funny show and he recommends watching it.

The conversation is about the concept of sisu, which is an internal strength and fortitude in Finnish culture. Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world five years in a row and the US is number 16.

Sisu is a cultural and national concept of perseverance, mental toughness and seeing things through. It is not just about big things, but also little things, and not letting fear stop someone from doing things. The takeaway from this concept is that most of us have to go out and find difficult things to overcome.

Danny references his grandparents and their experiences in the Great Depression and World War II, and how they actively avoided challenging things afterward. Danny also talks about their own experience in the military, and how they came to appreciate the comforts of home after being uncomfortable in the field.

Finally, Danny discusses how entrepreneurs don’t need to go out of their way to find challenges, as they are presented with them daily. They encourage using those challenging moments to practice one’s “Sisu” and to develop emotional control.

Danny also discusses the difficulty of having to confront employees when they are not meeting expectations. He mentions how hard it is to have direct conversations with people and how uncomfortable it can be. They emphasize the importance of learning skills and challenging yourself, as this can lead to improved confidence in other areas of life. 

Danny explains how developing these skills, such as talking to people about uncomfortable topics, can help with day-to-day interactions, leading to inner confidence that can be carried over into many areas

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Podcast Transcript

Hey, real quick before we start the podcast episode, I want you guys to check out our new YouTube channel for PT Biz. We are putting out a weekly video on the most common questions that we get, and we are breaking those down in a way that's more engaging. Where you can learn better and really focus on one thing at a time.

So if you're interested in really learning more skills to upgrade your cash and hybrid practice, head over to YouTube. Subscribe to the PT Biz Channel and check out the weekly videos that we're coming out with to help you win in the cash-based practice game. So here's the question. How do physical therapists like us who don't wanna see 30 patients a day, who don't want to work home health and have real student loans create a career and life for ourselves that we've always dreamed about?

This is the question, and this podcast is the answer. My name's Danny Matte, and welcome to the PT Entrepreneur Podcast.

What's going on guys? Doc Danny here with the PT Entrepreneur Podcast and today we've got a short one for you on a Thursday. I'd like to share a little nugget, something that I'm thinking about, something that I'm working on. And in this case, it's something that I watched actually just the other day with my wife.

So we watched a new show called The Reluctant Traveler. It's Eugene Levy the guy from SCHs Creek. And Best in show and a bunch of other movies. Funny comedian, and apparently he hates to travel. So the show is basically the tagline is imagine Anthony Bourdain, but he's scared of everything.

And that's that's kind of Eugene Levy. So it's a, it's pretty funny. And the first episode we watched was in Finland. And I've never been to Finland. I've actually only met a couple people that are finished. But. What I thought was fascinating about it was, first of all, it looks incredible.

He was there in the winter and just looks like a really pretty country. I'm sure that it is. I'd love to see it one day. But the one thing that I took away from all of it was this idea of the finished concept of csu. So it's S I S U and is how it's spelled. And it, I did some digging on this after they brought this up in this show a few times.

It was like the main theme of the show was basically Eugene Levy. Finding a csu, which is essentially internal strength and fortitude to per persevere over things, both small and large. And this is a core concept in the finished culture. And what I thought was interesting about this was, Finland has been has been ranked as the happiest country in the world five years in a row now, as of 2022, I guess I don't even know how they pulled its data and they sent out surveys, but what's interesting, the US is actually number 16 and Finland is Finland's number one. And I don't know all the context around what. What drives that? Or doesn't? Happiness is a very subjective thing in a lot of ways, but the concept of CSU that they have, which is really interesting, is it's a cultural thing.

It's a national thing. It's it's just the word they all use with each other to really like, Keep as a core concept of overcoming challenges and difficult things. And again it's not like just big things. It's little things too. And just like having perseverance and being mentally tough and sticking to things and seeing things through, not being not letting your fear stop you from doing things.

That's the whole concept of the idea of csu. And I think what I took away from it was, what's interesting is, The, for most of us, what we have to do is actually go out and try to find difficult things. We can live lives that are very comfortable, that are very limited and insulated from challenges. And it's interesting because.

People that have gone through challenging things, they try to move away from those. I've seen this like with my grandparents that went through the Great Depression or my grandfather that, fought in World War II and in Korea. And like he hated war. He hated the idea of the US ever going back to war because he lived it and he knows just how terrible.

It, it is. And he didn't want any of his, family going into the military, ironically. We all did, but he didn't like search for things like that. He did, he actively avoided things like that because he knew what it was really like. So he didn't need to try to find.

Challenged, like he had lived some really challenging things. Even if, with he and my grandmother that they lived with the Great Depression. They were set on. Not having like saving money. Like they, they never wanted to be in a place where they didn't know if they were gonna get, food that day or that week or whatever it was.

And they lived through some really challenging things that we haven't, so we don't have the same perspective that they do. And for us it's easy to be complacent and take how. I guess plentiful our lives are and how much we have access to and how much higher our quality of life is. But at the same time, like we don't have perspective on those things because we haven't actually.

Had to test ourself in a way to then have perspective in regards to how good our life is. It's as simple as like the concept of being and sleeping somewhere uncomfortable. You could go camping. For me, I remember when I went to my basic training, I remember coming back. The the first week that we spent out in the field, it wasn't even like we were in these massive tents on cots.

This is in September in San Antonio. It was hot as shit. It was so hot. Porta-potties that were out there were like 130 degrees on the inside. And this is like not necessarily. The most challenging thing in the world. There's plenty of things that are harder, but I remember just being so uncomfortable for that week and tired.

And when I got back, I remember my bed. It just I never. Felt like a bed was ever quite as comfortable as that first night of sleep that I had after I got back from sweating all over myself on a cot for, however long we're out there. And I appreciated it more. The first meal I had tasted amazing.

That wasn't just an Mr. E that we had out, in, in in the training area. So like it's perspective, the same thing can happen if, you go camping, it can be. Taking certain things outta your life or trying things that are challenging or uncomfortable and having the perspective of being able to persevere through, through those things, but also have an appreciation for the things that we do have that are comfortable.

We, we don't realize that they are. We forget that they are because we never see the other side, which would be discomfort. So the idea of CSU that they talk about, I just really that a lot. I like the idea. Of just like a national mental toughness word. It's like their word for perseverance is just like csu.

They could probably just say that to one another. Or like they're thinking that all the time, am, oh, am I doing a good job of CSU with this or am I not? And what I also thought was interesting about many of us having to seek these challenges out. It doesn't have to be a physical thing, by the way.

It could be a, it could be like mentally a difficult thing. And in entrepreneurship. One of the things that happens to us is we don't have to go search for challenges. They're there every day. You want to go teach a workshop in front of however many people, and you get anxiety with public speaking, great opportunity to work on it, right?

It's like you're developing your CSU by doing so. You have to have a challenging conversation with an employee that's not doing the right things. They're not following your core values. You have to maintain emotional control. You have to have that conversation, and you have to make sure that person starts to make changes.

Otherwise, you have to get rid of 'em. And they can't be a part of your company. That's hard. You have to understand, okay, what do I do with their schedule? What are the state laws that I have with these things? How do I handle is it a mistake? Can I train this person better? What am I not doing right?

There's so many things that get thrown at us that make you realize just how much shit you need to work on and how uncomfortable it is. There's nothing fun about having a direct conversation with somebody about what they need to improve and why. And then Not avoiding that. Most people avoid these types of interactions because they are uncomfortable.

Yeah. We have to do them all the time, getting better at skills. You don't, you aren't any good at selling. You don't know how to sell. You're a great clinician. Man, there's discomfort with that. You get anxiety when you talk about money with people and visits you building that skillset. What happens is you're challenging yourself.

You're improving yourself in a difficult situation, and you're making yourself better, and that blends or it bleeds into other parts of your life. When you're talking to. People about lots of things that might be uncomfortable. You have this callous you've developed I in, in, in your own business that you can carry over into other areas.

I, I, it's been tremendous for me, just that one area alone of forcing myself to get better at having conversations with many things that would normally just make me very uncomfortable. I feel much more comfortable with and I feel more calm with, and it affects me in a really positive way outside of of my business, just day-to-day interactions.

It could be at a school, it could be a sporting event, it could be anything. It's just an inner confidence that develops from having gone through challenges, and that's what I think they mean by. This concept of CSU and I just thought it was really fascinating and I love, hearing what other cultures value and and digging into that a little bit more.

So anyway, I wanna share that with you if you're interested. I thought the show was pretty good. It was pretty funny. Gene Levy's pretty funny. But Ben Finland looks awesome. I love the idea of csu. Hopefully you can apply this to the next difficult thing that you're doing, and you can be like, damn.

What would like a a wise, old finish, reindeer herder whisper in my ear right now, if I was being a little baby about not wanting to do something, they'd probably just be like, are you working on your csu? So think about that next time that you are balking at doing something. And you need to, is just this idea, just this one word and maybe write it down.

Just think about it and go forward and do that challenging thing and it'll be better for you in the long run if you do.

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