Cam Hall (00:00)

Dr. Perry, welcome to the Dad's Making a Difference podcast. Great to see you today.

Dr. Travis Parry (00:04)

Thank you for having me, really appreciate him.

Cam Hall (00:07)

I'm excited to dive into this conversation. We had a little bit of a chat as I always often do before we press record. And already I know that this will be a valuable episode because the insights that you've given me in the last few minutes, I know will be beneficial to our guys. And one of the things you mentioned there in our pre-call was just the balance. And immediately it struck my interest and hit like a nerve in me because life can often quickly become out of balance. And I'm passionate about

learning more. So Travis, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself. Man, first of all, we got a dive in, Eight children. So you get to touch on that. So tell us a little bit about yourself and we'll dive into some of the important work that you're doing.

Dr. Travis Parry (00:42)

Yeah.

Sure.

Yeah. So you know, as daddy provided and, tried to preside at home and protect her kids, from, from the craziness of the world, my wife homeschools and, know, I'm, I'm sort of like, I, know, she's the teacher and, and, not necessarily the principal and we're like the vice principal. She's like the principal and I just help. but you know, I, I help them goof around and, and have fun times. And, you know, we, kind of have this,

idea that we enjoy the experiences, experiential learning. So we'll take them on trips, not nothing lavish, a lot of road trips. but we have done Costa Rica. have, we've been to most of the contiguous States and Hawaii with a couple of the olders, et cetera. And we're taking them to the oldest, to Scandinavia this year to really understand where the roots are from.

Kind of see where, their great grandmas and grandpas came from and, and that sort of thing. Um, but we, we love the experiences and giving them opportunities, helping them grow. And so, yeah, that's a big part of our culture here at home. And, know, if you hear them running around in the background, I said, just having a good time getting ready for, for the lake today.

Cam Hall (01:58)

That's awesome.

Excellent. Okay. So eight children. What's the age range? Oldest to youngest.

Dr. Travis Parry (02:05)

Yeah,

21 to one and a half, one and three quarters ish. Yeah, right there. So fun.

Cam Hall (02:10)

amazing. That's incredible. You

you're homeschooling but you're you're running a school. Yeah, good. Okay.

Dr. Travis Parry (02:16)

That's right. Yeah. You can relate, right? You can relate. Yeah. It's a,

you know, the thing is, you know, we, we've looked at all sorts of different schooling options, years and years ago and just, you know, we just kind of, we kind of progressed to this level of like, well, why not just do it ourselves and why not just kind of do, something a little bit different. and this was way before COVID and then COVID came and everybody was like, we're homeschooling and like, yeah, welcome.

to the club like it's, it is a, it's really full of freedom and it's, it's nice to be able to say, Hey, we're going to control the calendar and we're going to go on trips. We're going to do these things. And instead of having to feel like pulling them out of school, what we're actually doing is giving them opportunities to learn wherever we go and when whatever we're doing. It's pretty fun.

Cam Hall (03:00)

Amazing. Amazing. So

as you and your wife have done this together, what have you learned through that process and what have you taken away from that journey?

Dr. Travis Parry (03:07)

Yeah.

Yeah. You know, I think the most important thing and it kind of comes back to some of the things I teach about is, I don't, well, let's start with this. I think it helps our family have better balance. because oftentimes like I know how it was for me growing up, was like school and sports and schedules. And, you know, I think a lot of people, again, through the COVID lockdowns and everything had a taste of what it's like to just

boom, all that's gone. There's no schedules. There's nothing going on. What do we do now? You know, and some people hibernated to the online world and that probably made things worse, but others like let's go on road trips. Let's buy a trailer. Let's travel the world. And we did a lot of that during that time, but we just, you know, that's, that's kind of how our life is a lot of the time. you know, we still have things that we pack in. We still have schedules and stuff, but a lot of things are just more fluid.

They're less rigid. And so I've, I've learned to just go with the flow a little bit more. I'm very much a planner and very much. want to do these things and I want, want the schedules to work out. then it's like, well, we may just change everything tomorrow. and I know for a lot of people that that's crazy. Well, after a while you get used to it. And my time management philosophy is make sure that the most important things, those are the rocks, the really important things.

But most everything else, like you can be fluid with, you can allow things to unschedule and reschedule and that's okay. So I don't get too uptight anymore.

Cam Hall (04:39)

curious, did you get into this work talking about balance and time and wealth? Did you get into this before you had children or during the path? Where did that happen for you?

Dr. Travis Parry (04:49)

Yeah.

Yeah. If we go way back. I decided I wanted to be a financial advisor, but before then, you know, not usually a story I tell a whole bunch, but I appreciate you asking. I will go into it. I wanted to be a pilot. I think I watched Top Gun is like a 15 year old punk kid is like, yeah, I want to fly. I want to do that. and you know, a little traumatized by some of the craziness, but it's like, I still want to fly. And when I was 19, my dad actually took me out on an airplane flight for my birthday and I got to fly.

Cam Hall (05:00)

Yeah

Yeah, of course.

Dr. Travis Parry (05:16)

And, know, I don't know, maybe it was the airplane pilot trying to get a new client. Like you're a natural, you did this so well. But I remember Cam, he's like, okay, I want you to try this, do this, try this bank. And I was like, I don't, my, my dad was in the backseat going, uh, I've never been on a flight like that. And it actually sparked him to go get his pilot's license. Cause he'd been wanting to do it since he was my age, like 19. So he's like, that's it. I'm going to do it before this punk kid does it.

Cam Hall (05:35)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (05:44)

So I told everybody for years, I was going to be a pilot. And, and when I actually got to school, I started looking at, um, lifestyle and man, I I talked to pilots. I tell people, Hey, I know you think you have a knack for whatever, you know, industry or job, but go and interview people, watch them see what their life is actually like. You know, you think you want to be an accountant because you like business.

Go sit in an accountant's office for a week. Go sit with them when they do taxes. You think you're gonna really like that? Go try it. Now I'm not saying like, work is bad and you shouldn't do work, but man, if that is not your thing, why spend five, six years going to school thinking you're gonna do that? Only to just be like, I'm burnt out. You know what I'm saying? So I kind of preempted this and I like to reverse engineer. I love growing up the little side story of a...

You know, these choose your own adventure books. Do you remember those camp? Was that big?

Cam Hall (06:43)

yeah, turn to page

21. I fell off the cliff. I got to go back.

Dr. Travis Parry (06:45)

Crap. Yeah. So like

I loved those in elementary school and I, and I was one of those impatient kids. I just went to the back and I was like, okay, this is where I want to go. So I went back and it's like, how do I get here? So I was always reverse engineering and maybe cheating a little bit in that respect, but I look at life and like, well, I don't want to end up there. So why would I start down that path? And you know, some people are like, you gave up your dream. I didn't give up my dream. I I'm working on my pilot's license. I'm going to get it and I will fly.

Cam Hall (06:56)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Travis Parry (07:14)

But right now, the most important thing is, having a balanced life. can be there for my kids. want to be their coach. I want to be involved in their youth programs. I want to be at church. I want to be able to be there for my wife so that she does not a single mom for, for a week. And then, you know, I'm home for a week and I know some people make that work and that's awesome, but I really, you know, ask God and my wife, like, what, w which direction should I take? And as I started to interview people,

in various industries. like, love flying. It was just a magical thing. Loved it. And I do think I have some very natural talents there. And, but I decided to not make that my career. And, I, from there I said, well, then what am I going to do? And my father had a plumbing business and now like, that's like the big theme right now, like buy boring businesses and make them profitable.

He always wanted me to take it over and I said, know I'm going to go to college. I'm going to find my own way. And if I come back, awesome. Never made it back. Um, and then he just kind of mysteriously, he passed away two weeks before his 50th birthday. I was 25. He was basically 50. Um, and you know, was like, that snapped me cam that snapped me. I was like, Oh my gosh, I had a great relationship with my dad. He got his pilot's license before he passed away.

And we went on rides together and I was like, I want my dad to teach me how to fly. I'm going to fly with him. Like, yes, I could see his path. He was a business owner and then he had this freedom to go and do his hobbies and things that he enjoys with the money that he's making. And like, was such my example and we, we rode mountain bikes all the time together. And anyway, we just had a great relationship. I know some people don't have a great relationship with their father, but I did. And so when he died, there was a big part of me that just.

It died and it really suffered. Um, and I talk about it, my first book, achieving balance where that, was the thing that, snapped me. Cause I found the financial planning industry. I was like, wait, I can make unlimited money. I can work my own hours. I can be my own boss. I can work with clients. I want this is beautiful. I knew nothing about insurance, nothing about stocks and bonds and modern portfolio theory and all the basics things, but I learned and it was a wild ride.

But once dad passed away, I looked at everything and said, is this really the industry that I'm supposed to be in? Is this really who I'm supposed to be helping? And I think it was, but I started to really feel this pull towards you need to help business owners like you have been, but more. You need to help them with their own balance, with their own health. Ironically, my father passed away of a heart attack while trying to ride his mountain bike to keep himself healthy.

we call it the widow maker. Have you heard of the widow maker? Is that sound familiar to you? And, you know, once we got the autopsy results were like, how, did this happen? So I spent years studying health and stress and anxiety and depression. And I did a master's in psychology to really understand what's going on. Like what is true balance? What does this mean? Are we always just supposed to just be hustling in our business? And does that

Cam Hall (10:04)

Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (10:27)

contribute to the stress that builds up in our arteries and that could potentially cause heart attacks to millions of people who think they're pretty healthy like my dad. So that's, that's what got me to this whole balance concept. Like what is it then? How do you balance? Well, we know this balance is not equilibrium. That's the 1980s version of trying to, you know, balance all the plates and spin all, know, spin all the plates around and balance the balls in the air or whatever balance truly is a lot of what Covey talks.

Cam Hall (10:34)

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (10:55)

about is like doing the first things. What are the most important priorities in your life? So after you're being literally thousands of business owners, we came to this conclusion. Balance is living your highest priorities and it is, is making the time to work on them. So I spend a lot of time helping business owners say, Hey, I know you care about your wealth and your business, but your time is your greatest asset. It really is. That's the most important thing. And if all you do is hustle and grind.

and you neglect your health and your wife and your kids and your God and your community and everything else in life that there is to enjoy, you're going to be empty. And so many people are there, Cam.

Cam Hall (11:35)

Mm-hmm.

Oh I've seen it. I've seen it. There's been times in my life I felt it where you feel like you have to chase something because of Maybe the expectations are on you. You mentioned it to you say oh I have a skill set or talents in this area I should pursue it, but am I really pursuing it for me, right? So I've seen it

Dr. Travis Parry (11:54)

Yeah.

Yeah. And then when, when you really ask yourself those questions, I think that's when you're open to new ideas and, and revelation. I, I, I'm a big believer in God and I think that he helps us to direct, you know, our lives and when we're open to it, he doesn't force his hand, but I do think when we ask those questions, he'll answer and he answered me and I said, Oh man, I had to do a masters and I've got to go back to school again. I was the first.

in my family line to ever graduate with a degree. And I thought that was enough. Like I cried the day I took my last test. like, I'm okay, education, but test taking the anxiety and all the stress and pressure. I'm like, this is so dumb. I'd rather be running a business, you know? So the fact that I went back to understand psychology was not my plan. And then after that, I really felt the call to.

Cam Hall (12:39)

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (12:46)

to get a PhD in family and finance and really understand, well, hold on. Stress, the biggest stress in life for business owners comes from money. And married business owners, they actually don't talk about money. And if they do, they argue about it with their spouse. And while, you know, divorced people will say the number one thing they argued about was money, I really dove into that in my PhD. I really wanted to understand like, okay, so then what are people doing

Well, like the ones that are making it the ones that are doing really good in their marriage and with their money What are they doing? And that's where I dove in and really tried to figure out what's going on there in a strength space way and and the research that I brought back out is is what now has become this new book Marion grow rich and This is this has been a project of mine. We've been working on to help business owners say, alright, let's get balanced But let's stay balanced while we're growing it while we're scaling

so that we don't lose everything that we work so hard for.

Cam Hall (13:48)

Yeah, I love it. There's guys listening to this right now who are, yeah, they're business owners, they're entrepreneurs, but maybe they're a leader at work, maybe they are in a position of leadership in the business that they work in, and they're at this point in their life right now, they're like, wait a second, I'm between 35 and 45, which I've been told is the earning time in my life.

and I feel like I'm earning, but I also feel like I'm missing out on stuff. And you mentioned that being away all week to come home on the weekends, and there's guys here who are like, man, how do I show up, be more present from my family, also provide for my family, also be open with my wife, and then the alsos and alsos and alsos stack up and they feel like they're just being buried in it. Where should a guy who's a business owner, and I'm gonna speak from my personal experience,

Some context, started my first online business in 2015 while working full time and doing my master's degree and doing all these things. And that led to different pathways. And then you're working full time and then you're leading a team that's running your business and now you have another brilliant idea to start a podcast and start a men's group and now you're trying to do it all. And there have been times in my life where I just haven't been able to find that balance.

Dr. Travis Parry (14:42)

Side hustle, baby.

Cam Hall (15:02)

like you mentioned, but there's guys listening to this right now who are just like, I just need to know where to start. What's the first step?

Dr. Travis Parry (15:06)

Yeah.

You know, so I'll tell you my framework and then I'll give you my first step, the framework. It goes like this. You have to really get clear first with what your highest priorities in life are. And because you can chase anything, but if you're chasing, it's like we were talking about, you're going to feel out of balance. when you, when you told me, Hey, there are times in my life when I feel like I'm not in balance, that is your, that that's, that's your soul. Telling you like, Hey, you're losing, you're going the wrong way.

And I find it to be a psychological thing as well. Like, well, if I'm not doing the things that I know, like if I'm not working out, if I'm not reading scriptures and being with God and going to church and spending time with my wife and kids, I feel it. Balance is a feeling. It really truly is. And you know, when those highest things in your life are, getting the time they deserve, you feel fulfilled. Regardless of the chaos happening at work, we're not.

If it's good or bad, doesn't matter. You should always be taking care of those highest priorities. And in fact, during the hardest times at work where things are the most stressful and you're like, my gosh, I don't know how this is ever going to work and the economy's crazy and who knows what's going on with taxes. That's when you should spend more time away from it and more time working on you so that you can handle the stress at work. It's almost, it's,

backwards that most, uh, burnt out workaholics, they actually spend more time when things are stressed at work. Oh man, I'm so sorry. Things are really bad at work. I'm like, yeah, they're always going to be like, there's always a fire. There's always some emergency. There's always something going on. That beast will never stop. You can feed it forever. You have to put the boundaries, right? So the first thing is make sure that you know where your priorities are and, really get balanced.

so that you're not becoming a workaholic while you're growing. Okay. That's huge because I've interviewed people like, my gosh, Travis, where were you 15 years ago? I'm on my third marriage. I can't figure this out. I am totally a workaholic. And while you and I like we can joke about a lot of it's sad. I've sat and cried with people like, their lives are ruined because they were told this idea. Like they have to hustle and grind and my wife's just not supportive enough. And that created all sorts of problems.

Yes, you need to be supportive spouse, but man, if you're not ever giving that spouse any time, it goes both ways. So make sure the balance is there on the growth aspect of what I call the balanced growth method. the most important thing you can do as a business owner is get off the field, get out of the business. Interesting that you talk about, know, you've got your full-time thing and you're running a business, like either, you're spending 60, 80 hours a week, right? Doing that.

Or you've, you've hired people to delegate to, right? Hopefully, hopefully the latter. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're a principal, right? So you know what it's like to delegate to good people and have good systems in place. Otherwise it all ends up in your desk, ⁓ your docket on your to-do list. So what most business owners struggle with on the growth side is this, the D word.

Cam Hall (17:54)

Yeah, Really good people that I can trust and just know what's happening. Yeah.

Yep.

Dr. Travis Parry (18:19)

delegation. They just can't do it. Like if I had a dollar for every time I heard, I just can't let somebody else do it because I do it better. I'm like, really? You're the best one in the whole industry. You're the best talented person in the world. It's actually quite honestly, it sounds arrogant. You know what it really is? It's fear. It's fear. They're afraid that they will lose status, clients, money.

time, whatever they're afraid of that. And so as I help them like get what I call, get off the playing field of business, quit running around on offense or defense in your business, become the coach, be on the sideline, get out of the business, let other people and other systems AI, you know, w w you know, standard operating procedures, run your business, become the CEO. When you're, when you become the CEO, then that's when you start a

write a book, start speaking, become the thought leader for your industry. And what's crazy, it's just the reverse is true. Like when you're not doing everything, but you've created systems that other people can follow, now you're replaceable. Now you can sell the business. Now you have an asset. Now you have income that's coming in, whether you're there or not. And you can go to the next level where you...

replace yourself as a CEO and just become owner. Right. And now you can sit back and now you're just looking at profits and maybe you start another business or maybe you sell it or you give it to the next generation. Now you're in a great position. that balanced growth model, um, I've come to understand works really well. either a you're not very balanced and that's where you should start. If you are balanced, then work on your growth, but don't start on the growth, hoping that the balance will work itself out. Cause it won't.

If you don't give it boundaries, you keep feeding that business beast. You will continually have the same problems and you won't feel fulfilled. And what's crazy are the people think, well, I'll work on my balance later. the reality is when you're more balanced, you have more energy, you're more productive, you're healthier, you're happier. You're a better leader. Like all of the indicators show you're going to be better. Ready to grow your business than if you're just trying to limp along.

stressed, overweight, depressed, not doing well at home, thinking about finances, the list goes on. Right. So it's that that's, that's the two pieces. but where does one start? That's really what you asked right here between the ears cam. This is it. Fear. The number one thing that I find with most business owners is they struggle with their own thought patterns, limiting beliefs.

Cam Hall (20:42)

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (21:02)

Things that keep them stuck in their day to day. I can tell them all these great things, stats and the framework and everything that I teach in my book, Mary and grow rich. but they'll, they'll never do it until they get past their subconscious blocks.

Cam Hall (21:17)

Yeah. You mentioned finances as one of the greatest stresses. And I see this, we have guys in our community who by all outside measures would seem very successful. And yet when you dive into finances, we do this thing, it's called a one sheet. And so in our group, we call ourselves a trusted group of advisors, which means we share everything. There's really no off topic. And so we do a one sheet.

and we're transparent about where we are financially, where we are net worth, all the things that are happening in our lives. And we can do that as a group of men in the DMD, but then I ask a guy if he's that way with his wife. He's like, ⁓ wait. So how do we recognize the importance of having those conversations in our home? And what does that look like in practice for somebody who's either super successful in

Dr. Travis Parry (21:54)

Yep. Yep.

Cam Hall (22:08)

the private sector or W2 or whatever it might be, or they're running their own business.

Dr. Travis Parry (22:12)

Yeah. So when they're, when they can get out of their own way and they can get past their blocks and limiting beliefs, step two is getting on the same page with their spouse. Now, a lot of the blocks that most of us have, they're money related. So, you know, a lot of marriage people will say, it's communication. You just need to communicate better. Well, maybe, maybe.

But if you're so stuck in your own head and you're, you don't have an abundance mentality, you have a scarcity mentality. that's going to be a problem when you try to communicate with your spouse. Communication typically is just, you know, an indicator of what's going on inside. Right. You got to change that inside first. You got to change what's going on here in the subconscious mind about money. What's your relationship with money? What does it look like?

What were your parents' relationships with money? What's your money history? Dive into it. Talk about it. This is what I do with most business owners. That's where I start. What's your relationship with money? How's it been? And I don't care how much money they make, Cam. I have business owner clients who they run businesses that are worth billions. And I have some that are just starting out and it honestly does not matter. I've seen the range.

The fears are the same. They're not good enough. They haven't risen to where their teacher thought they should be or their parents or their parents were so tight with money that it's screwed up their idea about money. So then you take a spouse and you throw a spouse into this. Just yesterday I was meeting with a client who, you know, he's the CEO of his, you know, amazing company, multimillion dollar company. And they actually both grew up on the same amount of acreage.

they had the same kind of upbringing and things, but yet they have different views, of, of life and, and money because of how their parents were. So same opportunities, but the parents were the difference. And I typically find this is where we start. So I'll look at a husband and talk to a wife about what their money histories are, what their ideas about money. And then we look at the differences and go, man.

This is where you are, and this is where you're at. And I've got some assessments in the book that talk about like, are you on the same page financially? Do you have differing views about money? And that's one of the biggest ones. And so we kind of look at kind of a scale of where they are. There's different types of money histories and money scripts per se. And so, you know, some have such a different point of view about money that it's toxic for their relationship.

So, you know, therapist could come by like, you guys just don't communicate about it. If you don't understand the psychology behind it and what's really happening with the relationship of money, communication won't solve it. It's the psychology. So then, then you move to the communication. Once you understand where the two of you are at, differing wise, you start to then look at, where are we similar? And this is the strengths-based research that I did with

Cam Hall (25:03)

Hmm.

Dr. Travis Parry (25:17)

thousands of couples in my PhD program, we looked at what actually worked for couples. How did they have great marriage and, and we're on the, you know, had a great financial stability. Okay. We looked at these two factors. We found out that couples that had the same values or had shared values. That's what made all the difference. So yes, understand the differences, but then focus on where the shared value is. Where it's your overlap.

That's where you start. You focus on where, what you have in common and build on that. Third is good financial management. Now that you're on the same page, now you're going the same direction. Quite honestly. I mean, there's lots of different programs and thought patterns out there and I have my own, which will be my third book. We'll get there. but, but, you know, the important part is none of those programs matter. I've listened to Dave Ramsey. I've listened to all, you know,

Cam Hall (25:56)

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (26:13)

David Bach had listened to so many people that try to talk about this and it's very personal finance. It's very individual, but that's not how we work. We're in families. We're in relationships. Nothing is personal finance. It's relational finance. It's family finance. It's marital finance. Someone is always going to be in there, you know, trying to make sense of what's going on in life with your money.

as business owners, married business owners, dads, we need to involve our spouse. We need to. If we don't, they tend to feel left out because we're the business owner. The money's coming in through us typically, right? And if they're the stay at home mom, or even if they work another job, they don't know what's going on in the business. And if we don't at least involve them and say, Hey, this is where we're at quarterly.

and weekly or monthly sit down and discuss this is where the money is coming out and this is how we can work on this together, then that's really the third issue is now utilizing the money together for the benefit of the family according to what we prioritize.

Cam Hall (27:21)

Amazing. I'm writing them all down. Yeah. Yeah. It was amazing.

Dr. Travis Parry (27:23)

Well, you know, explain, know, all

that in the book, but I mean, simply your own money history, where the shared values are as a couple, and then working together as a team to utilize that, what I believe it's a stewardship of money based on your priorities as a couple. then we, I'll help them prioritize where every dollar will go. I'm not so nitpicky on every dime or dollar, but, but have a plan.

Cam Hall (27:31)

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Travis Parry (27:51)

and work the plan together. And I don't care if the wife is running the budget or the, I like call it a spending plan. I don't care who's managing that. There just needs to be transparency. No hiding, no, no sucking money away, no pretending. It needs to be out in the open. It needs to be transparent.

Cam Hall (28:08)

So Travis, if somebody wants to pick up your book, learn more about you or either of your books, where can they do that?

Dr. Travis Parry (28:14)

So they can go learn more about me at make time Institute.com. Um, they can find everything about my podcast, my speaking, my books, but if they want to grab access to this book, they can go to Mary and grow rich book.com. So Mary and grow rich book.com all spelled out. And right now, you know, I mean, you can go to Amazon and get them all there, but it's like 20, 30 bucks for, for everything. Uh, but I have a, I have a package deal for basically five bucks. You get the ebook, the audio book, the workbook.

if you, if you're a paperback guy, fantastic. I give that to you at cost. It's what we pay for shipping. So you're welcome to do that. And I have a bunch of other goodies and freebies and stuff on there that if you're interested and you want to take your marriage and your business to the next level, please go there, Mary and grow rich book.com.

Cam Hall (29:02)

amazing. Travis, go one more question for you. Love asking this, especially if a dad who has eight children, as a father and as a husband right now, what's an area of growth or excitement that you're digging into?

Dr. Travis Parry (29:05)

Yeah, man.

Currently right now, it's my physical health. Um, you know, I think this is what really got the whole balanced journey started. Cause I thought everything was, you know, really physical. I dove into the mental and relational. It's like, it's all connected. It's all connected. Once you start improving one aspect of your life, uh, it's, it's related to everything. So it's really difficult to, to not, uh, but I'm, I'm for, I'm 45 now. And I started this journey when, when I was 25.

And it's been almost 20 years of me kind of, you know, banging the drum and, and saying, Hey, this is what we need to do. And quite honestly, it's been a learning journey for me to go through this process. And I, I consider it a privilege to coach anyone who wants to listen and be their mentor. and it's a great responsibility for me to do that. but right now, I think the physical health aspect, I I'm racing bike and mountain bikes, amateur.

Cam Hall (29:47)

Amazing.

Dr. Travis Parry (30:12)

Definitely not an expert, uh, you know, but I've been doing, I've been riding mountain bike since I was 14, you know, this it's so fun, but now I wanted to push myself a little bit and you know, we, we kind of allow ourselves to plateau. We allow ourselves to age. If the aging process is not going to necessarily stop, but I really, really believe we can slow it down. We can slow it down by eating really well by managing our stress.

Cam Hall (30:13)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (30:39)

by sleeping good, by having great relationships. A relationship with God is a big one actually on our health. Okay. You talk about your men's group. think that's so important. So important to have a group of dads that are going through the same stuff. Cause where else do we talk about this? At a bar? You know, on the golf course? Maybe like, no, like you and we need that. We need the brother, you know, brotherhood, this fellowship. so important. I get that with my church and with

Cam Hall (31:00)

You

Dr. Travis Parry (31:07)

my friends and my brothers and, others out there. But, uh, right now I'm really trying to push the envelope on my physical health because as I'm seeing, you know, some aging taking place, I'm pushing back like, no, I'm going to do more so that it will benefit me. You know, I want to be riding bikes when I'm 75, man. Um, and I see a lot of people who are like, you know, we can talk about the mountain bike stuff and no offense if you're an e-biker, no sweat. Like I still love you.

Cam Hall (31:28)

Yeah, me too.

I was about to say, said, okay,

so we're the same, we're at the same age and I bike often. love mountain biking. And I did this, it was, it's called trails to ale. It's a three peak climb. have to do it in 24 hours. It's like 3,300 feet of climb. It's awesome. But I don't drink alcohol. So I don't do it for the free beer you get at the brewery after I did it for a sticker and to say I did it.

Dr. Travis Parry (31:38)

Okay, okay.

my gosh, that's horrible. Yep. Okay. my gosh.

Cam Hall (32:01)

But in that climb, I was doing it solo, was just like, okay, I'm just about 45 years old. I'm not getting an e-bike until I'm at least 50.

Dr. Travis Parry (32:10)

No, exactly. No, I first said, you know,

people that don't mountain bike, like they don't understand the psychology, but when he bikes first became a thing and these like, and no offense, uh, you know, women out there, know, they were passing me on the trails and these old guys were passing me. The first thing I did was like, what? And then I looked down and I could see their frame. I'm like, it's.

Cam Hall (32:20)

Yeah. ⁓

Cheater.

Dr. Travis Parry (32:34)

You know like and then like it helped to reduce

some of that friction, but then I was I started to become like I don't know just annoyed annoyed by the ebike like I don't want to do that and I found that people that go over to ebikes they never come back to mountain biking they just they did they don't because that thrill and being able to and I know the justifications okay, and this isn't a mountain bike show but

Cam Hall (32:42)

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (32:56)

The justification as well. get a pedal assist and I can go three times farther, but do you really? And does it really give you the same? I don't know. And like, so I'm not, I'm not hating on it, but my thing is, ah, okay. If I'm 75, maybe I'll get an e-bike, but I want to be good enough to stay relevant. And I have an uncle who's well, he's in his sixties, late sixties, and he is still killing it on his mountain bike. Um, he's one of the few that I know that has a, you know, a gravel bike and e-bike and still mountain bikes.

Cam Hall (33:10)

Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (33:25)

Because of, he's just, he's just crazy. And I want to be like that. I want to have such great health and the irony and kind of bring this all back to, know, what didn't your dad die on a mountain bike? Yep, he did. And I guess what? I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. Every time I go out, I'm still, I'm healthy. I'm safe. I know my boundaries. Tell my wife where I go. I mostly ride with people. Like I do the things, but it's all here. It's really all here. It's in this brain and I'm racing next weekend.

Cam Hall (33:46)

Yep.

Dr. Travis Parry (33:55)

On a race that I actually almost died on because we moved here and the elevation change from sea level to 8,000 feet was killing me. And anyway, so I, I'm doing this so that I can put that memory to bed. finished that race, but nobody was even there to clock me. It was so bad. Like they'd all gone home, the balloons, everything was gone. My family's they're like, hi.

Cam Hall (34:05)

Yeah.

Amazing.

Yeah, yeah.

You made

it!

Dr. Travis Parry (34:21)

I'm

this time I'm going to rock it. I'm not there to win it, but I'm there to be, you know, to, finish and I'll do a few more bikes bike rides, but I will tell you most guys who are out there like, well, what can I do? What do you don't have to hit the gym? You don't have to be a gym rat. You don't have to do the things you see on social media every day. Do something you like to do, something you love and then go to the gym because you want to get better at that thing.

Cam Hall (34:24)

Yeah.

Dr. Travis Parry (34:46)

And it's amazing how many guys in their forties are actually hitting their stride and feel the best ever. and I helped one of my clients do a half Ironman at 50, five zero because you know, we're coaching him to make that time and make that shift in his brain. So we can do it cam and we need to go mountain biking together. sounds like I need to come up to Canadian and visit you. Sounds good.

Cam Hall (34:56)

Amazing.

We can do it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm in. Let's do it. Travis,

thanks for taking time away from your family to spend with me and us today. I appreciate you.

Dr. Travis Parry (35:14)

For sure.

Absolutely, thanks for having me.