Episode 34: The Stuff We Keep: Why Letting Go in Midlife Creates Room for What's Next
Rob and Brent each did a room-by-room walkthrough of their own houses and came back with the evidence: a 90-year-old silk top hat, a custom motorcycle jacket from the Harley days, a bin of coaxial cables, gold-toed bowling shoes, and three corporate suits that have not been worn in years. In this episode they sort it all into three categories — the memories worth keeping, the expensive stuff held hostage by sunk cost, and the things that just need to go — and dig into the fear and identity underneath why we hang on. The point isn't minimalism. It's making room for the version of yourself you're becoming instead of storing the one you left behind.
Links, resources, books mentioned:
Topics we are covering in this episode:
A room-by-room inventory of the stuff we keep
The three categories: sentimental keepers, expensive maybe-somedays, and things to let go
Why old suits and ties carry the fear of going back to work
The sunk cost trap of expensive purchases
How giving things away can feel better than keeping them
Replacing old stuff with items that fit your future self
Transcript:
Transcript Disclaimer - May contain the occasional confusing, inaccurate, or unintentionally funny transcription moment. It’s all part of the show.
Rob: 00:01
Brent, every person I know has one item. It's in their garage, it's in their basement, it's in their closet. But no matter whatever happens, they're never going to let it go. They're never going to get rid of it, they're never going to sell it, they're never going to give it away. What's that item for you?
Brent: 00:36
Rob, I got a good one for you on this one. And before I show it, what I recommend for those of you that are on Apple Podcasts, we actually have a new feature that we just released. And Apple Podcasts within the player, you can now watch video. So instead of hopping over to YouTube, you can actually just see this right away. You can toggle back and forth between audio and video. You have to have the latest version of iOS to make this feature available. But we just wanted to make sure our audience has visibility into some of the things that we share throughout our episodes. So, Rob, your question is great. As I was kind of rummaging through my house, I came across this beauty.
Rob: 01:18
Wait, is that is that a top hat? This is a top hat. When were you a magician? That thing is awesome. You got to pull that back up. You got to show that again. You put it on the screen for such a short time. That is a fancy, that's not just a top hat, Brent. That's a fancy top hat.
Brent: 01:37
This is a super fancy top hat. And to answer your question, no, I was not a magician, but I have had this for over 40 years. Wow. And so the backstory here is my grandparents used to live in the same town that I grew up in for just a period of time. And at one point in time, they decided to move and they were moving to Florida and they had a basement full of junk. And I came across this hat, and I think I was all of 10 to 12 years old. So I came across this hat and I'm like, I got to have it. Don't know why. So it's been sitting in a box in my basement for over 40 years, but granted, multiple houses over 40 years.
Rob: 02:24
Wow.
Brent: 02:25
So I find it fascinating. It's this old hat. It doesn't fit very well. It doesn't fit me at all. I don't know when I when would I wear a top hat, but we have to find the occasion for you to wear that thing. Yeah. And I can I share with you some of the research that I did on this specific hat.
Rob: 02:41
What you've got to do is hold on. You read you had to research the hat?
Brent: 02:46
Well, I've been carrying this hat around forever, Rob. And I've never really known much about it. Outside of it was my grandfather's. So I was like, well, I'm going to do some research. And the benefit of the internet today, you pretty much can find anything about anything. So I looked it up. So this hat, if and when you look inside, it's got like a very distinct label in it.
Rob: 03:08
In gold, actually. That's fancy gold inside the hat, even.
Brent: 03:11
Yeah, it is very, very fancy gold. I mean, so it was produced by the Knox Company, and they were known as the presidential brand. And so did Abraham Lincoln have a Knox hat? Matter of fact, they had she had 23 US presidents that had Knox hats.
Rob: 03:30
That's cool.
Brent: 03:31
And it was Abraham Lincoln, FDR. It was known for their excellent quality. And so this hat, what's unique about it also is they stopped making silk hats over 60 years ago. And the last known manufacturer of this, I don't think it was a manufacturer for my specific hat, but it was actually in France, and it was destroyed. The manufacturing plant was either destroyed or something happened to it uh in the 1960s. So here I have this hat, and I was looking through the box that it is in, and I was curious of like what else? And I've never actually looked in the box beyond just pulling the hat out. So underneath the packaging is a invitation to a fireman's ball.
Rob: 04:20
So you're holding up the invitation for those that are just listening today. It looks that looks like it's almost ready to fall apart piece of paper it's so old.
Brent: 04:28
Oh, of course. I mean, it's it was from, and so I was able to date this as well, and it looks like it was from the late 30s, early 40s. And so it was a fireman's ball, and it was a gala that was put together, and that's what fundraisers often were for the volunteer firemen in this case, and they had an orchestra and it was a live swing band, and um, it was dated back to sometime in the late 1930s to early 40s. So this hat actually has a little bit of legacy associated with like a cool event. So my grandfather was pretty hip, so was my grandmother, and uh this must have been a part of the attire for that event. So I'm super excited that I have it. I'm glad that we did this episode and we're going to talk about stuff that we keep because I have not pulled it out of the box in probably 15 years, 20 years. So I just hold on to it. I have no idea, but now I have a bigger reason to hold on to it because now I have a little bit more of the history of it.
Rob: 05:32
Do you have any pictures or have any idea? Did your grandfather actually ever wear the hat?
Brent: 05:36
I don't. I don't that it'd be cool. I probably could ask uh one of my aunts or uncles just to see if there was any connection to it. But I like the storyline as it exists today. I don't want it to get debunked. Yeah.
Rob: 05:50
Well, maybe we should uh take a little road trip and go to an antiques roadshow event. You can bring the hat and just see what it's worth. I yeah, I've obviously you said you're never going to get rid of it. This is something that your kids are going to inherit, and one of them is going to get a hold of this top hat and wonder why the heck did dad have a top hat that wouldn't fit him. I think that's going to be pretty fun for your kids to get uh get their hands on at some point.
Brent: 06:12
Absolutely. And it's one of those things where maybe it's like grandchildren, you know? Yeah. That's what's probably going to pass to it.
Rob: 06:18
Your grandchild's going to go into the basement and go, what's this, grandpa? And oh, let me tell you the story about the top hat, and you'll bore them to death with it.
Brent: 06:25
Yeah, exactly.
Rob: 06:28
Oh, well, that uh takes us into our episode today. It's really about stuff. And it's we all have it. It's the stuff we keep, it's the stuff in the garage that we might, and I put in air quotes, might need or use in the future. It's the clothes in our closets that don't fit anymore that uh we hope might fit again. It's the just clothes in our closets that we think we might need just in case, or just to have because they give us comfort. It's the gear or equipment for that hobby that you've always wanted to restart again, but you're going on six or seven or ten years of wanting to restart that hobby. So this episode is about all of that stuff, not your spouse's stuff, not your kids' stuff, but the stuff that all of us keep holding on to. Brent and I did a walkthrough in our houses, and you saw just a little glimpse of that with his top hat today. We went through it room by room and inventoried some of the stuff that we have, and we're going to have fun sharing with all of you what that stuff is. So, what were some of the items that we found that were kind of fun? And we're going to spend some time getting into the psychology of why us and a lot of other people hold on to our stuff. Why do we keep it even though we haven't used it in a really long time? And we're going to end by talking about why letting go isn't about loss. It's about edit, it's about an edit. And it's about editing and finding newer stuff that you can bring into your life, into your house to create a newer, maybe realer. I don't know if that's a real world, is real or real world. I mean, I can't now I'm slurring in my thing. Realer, a realer version of yourself. So we're going to start by just talking through kind of the inventory room by room and having fun with some of the items that we found.
Rob: 08:13
So the garage is a place that I know, Brent, a lot of people kind of just accumulate stuff. My parents have never been able to park their car in the garage because they've continued to accumulate stuff and it just kind of stacks up in their garage. I'm happy to say I'm not one of those people that cannot park in their garage because of stuff. What are some of the things that you found in your garage as you started to do this inventory?
Brent: 08:37
This was humorous for me because I have uh a couple of bins of old electronic parts and then also another bin of a lot of cables. And I was thinking about these cables, Rob. I'm going to hold some of them up and I will describe them.
Rob: 08:54
You're holding up a coaxial cable, Brent.
Brent: 08:57
I've got two of these beauties, but I have probably 20 more of these. So uh haven't had to use one of these in probably 10 years. I have these uh Cat 5 for computer type stuff, which yeah, uh none of my computers that I have today don't even have the ability to plug into them.
Rob: 09:16
Yeah.
Brent: 09:16
And so I found a lot of cables, old electronic parts. And the challenge with some of this is I have no recollection of actually what they were from and what I could use them for. So I've got these two bins of just random electronics and random cables that clearly uh had their day a long time ago.
Rob: 09:37
So coaxial cables, that's an interesting one, Brent. Do you have any coaxial plugs in your current house? Not to say an item that you would plug into because I know those don't exist. But is your house new enough that even on the wall, there's a coaxial support for you to actually put plug into?
Brent: 09:53
There is, but there's no equipment that I have that would use that. For you have a cable. But I have the cables just in case I go to the thrift store to buy some of that old equipment someday to use it just because I want to go back in time.
Rob: 10:07
Nice.
Brent: 10:07
So interesting part of the experience of going through the garage because I found a few things that I just need to move on from.
Rob: 10:14
Very good.
Brent: 10:14
So as you were going through your garage, any interesting things that you came across?
Rob: 10:18
It's funny, I didn't find any coaxial cables, but I found a lot of like speaker cables. Everything in my house is now wireless. So I have these speaker cables, they're good quality speaker cables too, because of the time I needed things. Uh needed these cables to actually power the surround sound system that we had and had cables running through the walls and things like that. But the fun thing that I found, and I actually had to go looking for this brand, because it's an item I put in the garage only a couple months ago, maybe just a month and a half, six weeks, four weeks ago. I put it in the garage. I'm going to hold it up for you. So I'm going to show you what this is. You want to describe it for our audience?
Brent: 10:55
That looks like a uh it's a Ziploc bag with a few parts in it, and then some sort of description of the parts.
Rob: 11:02
It's yes, yeah. So about a month ago, we bought a pizza oven. And with the pizza oven, it came with a cart, and you had to put the cart together. And I don't know about you, but when I put stuff together, I get frustrated if I have too few or too many items. It just I think it should be the perfect number of bolts and screws and things like that to be able to put it together. After putting together this pizza oven, I had leftover bolts, nuts, and washers. And so rather than just putting them in a big pile, I was planful. I said, you know, I might have to, I might need these again to fix it if I lose a bolt in the future. So I put them in a Ziploc bag, stapled them with the directions on how to put together the pizza oven in case a bolt disappeared, and I placed them in my garage. And I couldn't remember where I put them. It took me probably an hour. I knew they were there, so I had to go digging around the garage for an hour to find this bag of nuts and bolts.
Brent: 11:54
Welcome to midlife. Just yesterday I put them in the garage today. I had no idea what they're going to do. I have no idea where they're at.
Rob: 12:00
So that was kind of a fun. I knew as we were preparing for this, I'm like, oh, I know exactly what I want to share, but I got to go figure out where I put them.
Brent: 12:07
Well, what's very impressive, Rob, is that you actually put things in Ziploc bags with descriptions. And the funny thing about bolts is once you assemble something, if it a bolt does fall off, Rob, it usually falls straight to the ground. So there's only two reasons why that bolt would disappear. Your dog's going to eat it, which I highly doubt your dog. Your dog is very astute, so I don't think your dog is going to eat it, or you kick it, but if you kick it, you're probably going to pick it up. So it's funny that you're keeping them in such an organized way with some instructions just in case you need to remember how to righty tidy lefty loosey, right? Exactly. Putting it on. So well done there.
Rob: 12:45
I go back to my grandfather. You talked about your grandfather a little bit. Both of my grandfathers had the planter's peanut jars, the glass jars full of nuts and bolts for random stuff floating around that they might need to fix. And so I'm like, oh, I it's a nice pizza oven, it's a nice pizza oven cart. I don't just want to put some random bolt on. I have original parts from the manufacturer. They're OEM. I could actually put these back on the cart just in case I have one that I lose. And so rather than putting them in the big jar or the big uh coffee can was the other place that my grandfathers carried, you know, screws. I said, I'm going to label it. I'm going to be really effective and label it and keep it together so I can get to it when I need it, because I'm going to need it soon. But I probably would have found it about three years from now and then, oh yeah, there's a pizza oven fix thing. I wonder if I have any bolts loose. And then I would have gone and looked to see if any bolts. They're all probably still there.
Brent: 13:36
Yeah, you're doing just fine. I like how you do share that nostalgic story because my grandparents did have the planters thing as well. So they used the planters, peanuts, containers, and then some old mason jars and stuff, and they were very organized. And my father did that as well. I'm not as sophisticated as that. I just throw it into one giant bin of parts that I'll never actually go back into because every time I put my finger in there, I usually stab myself with a nail or a sharp screw. So usually that just gets left alone.
Rob: 14:07
All right. Next room in the house that we went through, Brent, was the kitchen. And Tara and I do a really good job of using all of our kitchen stuff. We don't have a lot of small appliances sitting on counters. We don't have a lot of things in drawers that we never use. I love to cook and I love to have the right piece of equipment to use when I'm cooking something, but we tend to use almost all of the items that we actually store and keep in our kitchen, with the exception of one thing, and it is a food dehydrator that we bought a number of years ago. And we bought, of course, we bought a nice quality one at the time, and I was getting into making vegan cheese. So cheese that's made out of nuts, and I was having fun with that. I dried out some fruit uh to take backpacking, and that didn't work out quite so well. But I've moved this dehydrator around every about year or so to somewhere else in the house. Makes me feel like I'm using it a little bit, but it also keeps uh Terra off my case of you should just get rid of it if you're not going to use it. Now, I do plan on using it again soon. I want to use it again soon, so I'm not just ready to get rid of it just yet. It's the only small appliance that I have that doesn't get the usage that it needs at this time.
Brent: 15:21
Well, for me, Rob, uh what I find is that I'm like you, I like our countertops pretty clean. So whatever's on our countertops is being used. But in my uh little walking tour of my house, I noticed that the kitchen was pretty good shape. But I realized I have a little storage area on a high shelf in my garage of old small kitchen appliances. I got the toaster oven. I've got a few other small appliances there. And those are going to be used someday, maybe. Probably never. But it's one of those things where I'm like, oh gosh, everything's looking great in the kitchen. Not so much, not so fast there. I did find some relics out there, and I don't know why they're even being kept. I just have them uh in case I need them, but they're pretty old, and I'm like, why do I keep these? Hmm, good question.
Rob: 16:09
What was the most random kitchen appliance, small kitchen appliance that you don't use currently that's sitting in the garage right now?
Brent: 16:16
There's an old toaster oven, so that's one of them. And then the second one is one of those soda stream machines. It just never really worked that well, and we thought we'd use it a lot, and then it just collected dust. So it's just sitting there in case I want to come back and use it again someday. Try to make it work correctly. Yeah, yeah. It's probably just full of spiders and things like that now. So wonderful.
Rob: 16:40
The uh the next room is going to be our office and our home offices. And this was actually pretty eye-opening for me. It's the largest space in my house that I've been keeping stuff, and it's stuff really from my old life. And I did a purge brent before we did this episode, and I felt pretty good about it. I got rid of, uh, and I and I've been doing this over a period of years, but I just got rid of my last set of hanging file folders. And in those hanging file folders were articles and Harvard Business Reviews and uh chapters from books that I used to facilitate leadership discussions on. I had the hard copies still in file folders, in a hanging folder in a file cabinet for me to be able to access. And some of those things have been in my file cabinet for 10, 15, 20 years with notes on them and things like that. But not only did I have a single article in these uh some of these folders, I had 20 copies of the same article in some of these hanging file folders because when we were meeting in person, I'd taken here's a copy. I want you to read this over the next week and we're going to uh do a discussion on it. And so I finally got rid of all of those. I just went in the recycling bin and uh freed up an entire big drawer in the file cabinet that's sitting behind me.
Brent: 18:03
I'm glad you're prepared just in case you needed multiple copies for yourself and your dog and your wife. I mean, that stuff that ship sailed a long time ago, Rob, when those things. That's such an eye-opening thing because it shows that you are organized, you're into your craft, and you're ready, but then they kind of just get stuck in the corner, they get stuck in the file cab. You don't think about them, then you open up, you're like, when would I ever do that? Like, when would I go back to that article? The challenge with some of those articles is probably there might be about 50% of it might be relevant to today, but 50% might be so outdated in techniques and use of systems, it's like insert floppy disk here. You know, it's like, well, we really don't do that anymore. Well, I have to tell you, in my office, the one thing that caught my eye the most is I've done the document purge. So that was cleaned up a couple years ago, but it's books. And the funny thing about books is I create these unique attachments to books, and it's the maybe someday, but I have a beauty that I'm going to show you. Um, this happens to be uh a book called Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. It's over 950 pages long, and it's been sitting on my shelf for quite a long time. It has never been cracked or a single word read in this book. But I clearly want to be a good speaker, so I wanted to learn about all these speeches. But what I feel what's funny about this book is I actually like watching speeches more on like YouTube, you know, like commencement speeches or you know, certain events and things like that. But this book needs to go away because when I see it, oh, I look at it and I'm like, yeah, I probably should read that. There is no possible way I'll be reading 950 pages of speeches.
Rob: 20:01
Oh, speeches. There's no need for you at this time, except for our audience might want you to become a better speaker.
Brent: 20:06
That's definitely important. But I probably could listen to about 5,000 other podcasts of great speakers or great interviewers, and so I'll work on that craft. But this one, this one needs to go, Rob. Very good. But I have lots of books. I mean, tell me your book story. I want to set the stage here. If you had a lot of articles, you clearly had to have a lot of books.
Rob: 20:27
Well, yeah, I had books. Real quick, though, I'll tell you about my book story, but I got to challenge you real quick on something, Brent. I think this might be kind of fun for you. I'm guessing in the book of great speeches, there is a speech from Abraham Lincoln. Has to be.
Brent: 20:40
Well, there is, and there's also uh a lot around that era, so I won't be able to see those live. Okay. And that's probably the attachment and the holding on to it is to have some of these older speeches documented, but they're easily uh recallable on the internet.
Rob: 20:55
All right. So my challenge to you is you do have to crack the book, grab a speech from Abraham Lincoln, put on the top hat, and uh and say the speech out loud. You got to do it. You have the top hat for it. There's not anybody else I know that can actually do that exercise.
Brent: 21:11
Game on. I'm going to do that. I'm going to be very presidential.
Rob: 21:15
I want to watch it. We probably won't show it to our audience. Maybe we will, but we got to do it on this system. That'd be hilarious.
Brent: 21:20
That's a great way. And maybe I'll uh wrap some of the cables too that I have into this whole thing as part of my costume.
Rob: 21:27
Uh so my book stories. I've slowly been purging books over the last number of years, and I get books as gift sprint and from other people, and they have the best intentions. You give me a couple of books a couple of years ago, and they sat on my bookshelf for a number of years, but I actually just recently took 25 of the last of my business and leadership books down to the thrift store and gave them away. And some of these books are books that I have not read in 20, 22 years that have been sitting on the bookshelf. They're great books in business groups. Great books in leadership. I've pulled out and maybe looked at a chapter or held the book up for somebody on Zoom when I was in a meeting and said, Hey, you got to pick up this book. I think it talks about it. Um, but I've not actually read them. But I so I haven't read them in 20, 25 years. Great books, but I've moved them to six different houses. There you go. That explains a lot, right there. Yes. Yeah. So I finally got rid of all of those books that have just been business books sitting around. And now my bookshelf has fun books on them, at least right now, that I might more likely go back and read.
Brent: 22:36
It's funny you look back and you have all these books, and they were great at the time, but it was so great at the time because it met you where you're at that moment in time. And then you're thinking, well, I want to keep this one because I probably will want to go back to this one. Yes and no, right? So you can't.
Rob: 22:53
And I went back and looked through I went back and looked through some of these books, and I had notes in the margins. I had little pieces of paper inside that were talking points for per the chapter and things like that, which were kind of fun to go and read again, but also a little bit cringe worthy about some of the ways I was thinking in my twenties about leadership and about business. And so I didn't read all of them. It was kind of a little nostalgia back on 20-year-old Rob thinking about how businesses run and worked back in the uh late 1900s. All right, I said that again. I hate that phrase. I keep saying it though. Oh, all right. Next area
Rob: 23:25
of the house. And Brent actually already showed an item from this area of the house. We have the basement and where we keep, and I think the basement, Brent, is a fun one. And I think a basement or attic space kind of does the same thing for people. And it's typically the space where we keep memories and memorabilia. What are some of the things that you found in the basement besides the top hat that fit or the attic, a basement or attic for you that fit the memorabilia category?
Brent: 23:55
Well, I would say it was interesting doing this part of the process because I found a lot of video archives and a lot of photo archives. That's fun. But the challenge is I'm going to show you one that I found.
Rob: 24:08
What is that, Rob? Ladies and gentlemen, Brent is holding up a very nice, dust-free, very high-quality VHS tape.
Brent: 24:18
Yes. And on the VHS.
Rob: 24:20
It is VHS, it's not Betamax, right? No, there's another one.
Brent: 24:24
And on it says Brent's eighth grade football.
Rob: 24:29
I want to see that. I really want to watch that video.
Brent: 24:32
Well, I'll wish you luck because I don't have a VHS player. Of course not.
Rob: 24:38
Why would you have a player? So I've got a co-be have a coaxial cable to plug it into the TV, right?
Brent: 24:44
Yes, I've got all these supplies to make it go live, but I don't even think my TV has the capability to now intercept the VHS player. So some work to be done there. I found a full box of VHS tapes. I actually found a full box of camcorder tapes, too. So some of them labeled, some of them not labeled. So there's some work to be done there. And Rob, to add a little bit more to it, is I found a bunch of boxes of old slides. Ooh, that's the negatives. Yeah, yeah. A lot to do there. Uh I do have the rotary slide projector. So if I want to pull that out someday, but this is all a lot of work, but it was fun to see all the VHS tapes that were labeled. And some things on there were labeled like a boating trip. Don't know what that is. Don't know at all. And so maybe I don't want to know because it was from my parents' house. So what if it uncovers the mystery of my mom and dad?
Rob: 25:44
They're knowing something about your parents that you really don't want to know was going on.
Brent: 25:48
Yeah, they're doing something in the Virgin Islands they shouldn't do. I mean, I don't know. So maybe I should just get rid of all of them. No, I'm curious about them, but I got to crack the code here. I know there's places that can transfer them into digital, so I may do that, or I might just keep them in the mystery box for the next 25 years.
Rob: 26:06
So we'll I think we need to figure out a way for you to get those seen at least. I want to see the football one, I want to see other ones of young Brent, young professional Brent holding, you know, very, very prim and proper Brent. Yes. Or maybe not prim and proper Brent probably not so much.
Brent: 26:21
Yeah. Kid grew up from Boulder. There isn't a whole lot of that. So tell me about your exploration into your memorabilia.
Rob: 26:29
So I've gotten rid of a lot of the memorabilia stuff. I'm not that nostalgic, Brent, about things. I don't have a lot of things from my youth necessarily, but there is something that I do hold on to, and I'm going to grab this for you. You get to describe it for the audience. Not only am I going to uh bring it out on video, I'm actually going to put it on because it does still fit.
Brent: 26:49
What do we got here? Oh, this looks like an old leather jacket. It is a fancy leather jacket. All right. It's got this big zip. It's got looks pretty bulky.
Rob: 27:01
It is. Yeah. It is my old motorcycle jacket. This thing's going on maybe 15, 17 years old, uh, from when I owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Brent: 27:12
Wow. How long? When did you get rid of your Harley? Uh 2007. Okay. So that tells us this coat is last been used probably 20 years ago. 20 years ago, ish. Yeah. 20 years ago. Tell me a little bit about the coat. Like what's special about it?
Rob: 27:30
So it is a motorcycle jacket, and it is a custom-made Langlitz leather motorcycle jacket. So Langlitz leather is based in Portland, Oregon, where I was living at the time. And when I got uh when I got the Harley, my dad suggested, hey, I know you're going to look at leather jackets. You have to get a Langlitz leather motorcycle jacket. Your grandfather had one, I think he told me something like that, that my grandfather had owned one. And so I went in the shop. It's an old shop. It's like a custom, they make leather jackets for different styles of leather jacket, but this leather jacket, they actually measure every part of your upper body to make this jacket perfectly fit you. I'm happy that it actually still fits me today, which is nice to know. But the cuff, the circumference of the cuffs, when you zip it down, it makes it feel nice and perfect. And not only does it fit perfect, Brent, my name is embroidered into the inside of the jacket. So this is like your top hat. This is an item that I just keep around. It sits in a in a in a tub upstairs in my attic space. And I pulled out every couple of years and retreat the leather just to make sure it stays nice. I know it's there. I retreat the leather to keep it nice, but because I don't wear it out in the sun, it gets all crusty, like the leather treatment stuff gets all crusty on it. Because I've got yet, I've yet to wear it outside.
Brent: 28:49
The things we keep. I mean, that is one fancy jacket. So it's pretty nice. You're holding on to it. It's obviously got some fond memories of your Harley days. Maybe they'll come back someday. I'm sure this is one that you have to keep very top secret from Tara, uh, because she probably says, Why are you holding on to this jacket? And you're like, Because.
Rob: 29:08
Because I uh I just I have to. I'm not going to get rid of it. This is custom made for me. I'm going to keep it as long as I can. I don't have anybody to pass it down to, but I have uh I have a reason to keep it. And maybe one of these days you'll see me wear it when we go out to dinner or something like that. Maybe I'll have the guts to wear this motorcycle jacket, even though it doesn't quite fit my lifestyle. I'm not a Harley guy today. So maybe I'll uh maybe I'll wear it outside one of these days.
Brent: 29:32
Well, we've definitely have some beauties that we could pair it up with, you know. And so I'd like to see you wear it and wear it with pride and you can show up on your e-bike with it. There you go, that's fun.
Rob: 29:44
Maybe I just need a motorcycle I could use to motorcycle again in my house that actually fits that jacket.
Brent: 29:50
Just the modern version of you.
Rob: 29:51
That's right. Buy a motorcycle just to make sure I can run jacket.
Brent: 29:55
The e-bike. You've got a cool cruiser e-bike. It just shows that you're this is where you're at today, not where you were yesterday.
Rob: 30:01
Uh I'm going to do it. I'll do it.
Brent: 30:03
That's great.
Rob: 30:04
So it's been a fun type of experience as Brent and I have talked about going backwards and actually nostalgia going through some of the things that we keep. And one of the other features that we have as part of our show is a way for you, the listener, to message the show. And we're going to ask is leave us a voicemail on that messenger. And you can find it in the app, whichever, wherever you get your podcast, at the top of the uh show notes, you'll see a link that says message the show. Leave us a voicemail, do a quick walk around your house, find those fun items, and leave us a message with the most random thing you have in their house, and we'll hopefully be able to play that in one of our future episodes.
Brent: 30:39
That would be great.
Rob: 30:40
All right.
Rob: 30:41
Last area of the house brent that we uh we went through to find items that we uh we don't know why we keep or why they're there was the closet. And I actually mentioned that in my introduction of the topic today. I think a lot of people keep stuff in their closet uh just because, and they hope it might fit again someday. What did you find in your closet?
Brent: 31:02
You're going to have to really describe this because these are beauties right here, and I'm going to show them to you.
Rob: 31:09
These those are kick-ass bowling shoes. These are gold-toed bowling shoes.
Brent: 31:18
Gold toed bowling shoes. So let me give you a little history of my bowling. There is none, so I've only played a handful of times in my life, you know, the as a kid, of course, but then a few times as a young adult, we go out and have some fun. These were my father-in-law's uh bowling shoes, and when they moved from Colorado to Florida, I was like, I got to have those because I bowl so much that I need to have a pair of bowling shoes ready. I don't even think they fit me. That's a problem number one. They just look really cool. And I think there was a stage in life when people were wearing bowling shoes out and about, but I don't think I met that, I don't think that stage will ever come to me at my age now or my age in the future. So there's not going to be a cool version of Brent wearing bowling shoes. But I have them, and I was quite surprised that I do have them and I've kept them, but it's a question mark of why do I have them?
Rob: 32:12
Uh we do have a bowling alley in our community, so we could you could use them. We just don't go there very often. Do you do you think they might fit?
Brent: 32:22
They'll fit enough to go, you know, bowl a few strikes, but other than that, like they're just in the closet, just collecting dust. So it was a funny one when I was going through stuff because there's of course there's other things where I'm like, why do I have this? But the bowling shoes stuck out as a is the prime winner. All right. So I want to talk about your closet because I think there's something interesting probably lurking in your closet, and it's something tied to your corporate past. So you made your shift out of corporate life a couple of years ago. So my assumption is you have some beauties in your closet tied to your old corporate buttoned-up rob.
Rob: 33:03
There are uh, yes, there are quite a few. Then this has been a point of contention in our house since I left the corporate world, and I've slowly been eliminating some of these items, but I can't get rid of everything necessarily just yet. And Brent, I'll hold up just a few of the artifacts.
Brent: 33:18
There are some nice ties. Some nice ties, right?
Rob: 33:21
I'm going to hold up the items that are of most contention. Well, that looks like a bow tie. These are hand tie bow ties that I actually wore for a period of time as well. You were a bow tie guy. I was a bow tie guy for a little while.
Brent: 33:35
Yeah, you had to own the space when you did that. Absolutely.
Rob: 33:38
Tell me about your bow tie day. Wearing bow ties was kind of fun because it started a conversation anywhere I went. And it was always a conversation of look at that bow tie. I like the bow tie. Nice bow tie. It always started that conversation. No one ever, no one ever um was negative about the bow tie, but it made people laugh quite a bit. I see people like do the double take, like, wait, is that guy, that guy's wearing a bow tie? Huh, interesting. And they kind of put a smile on people's faces. So it was fun to wear the bow tie. It was a conversation starter for me. I'm not allowed to wear it very often, and especially not with Tara out in public. She's not a big fan of the bow tie, and has been asking me to get rid of both my tie collection and the handful of ties that I've been keeping, as well as absolutely get rid of the bow ties, all every single one of them right now, because she's not a big fan.
Brent: 34:24
So, Rob, let's talk about why are you holding on to these suits and these ties and these bow ties and your corporate getup? Like, why is it still present in your closet the way it is? How do you know I have suits in my closet? Rob, I know you. You're a fancy dresser. You're in corporate life. I've seen the pictures. That's only a couple years ago. My guess is that you're not ready to let go of certain things like that.
Rob: 34:50
I'm not a hoarder, but yes, I do have. I obviously showed some of my ties. I probably have about 30 ties. I think I have four bow ties. Well, it was like 50, 60, 80 at the peak. Uh, I think I have five bow ties left, and I think I have three corporate suits left. And I'm keeping them, Brent, for a couple of reasons. One is that the ties that I've kept, I've been slowly eliminating them, but the ties that I've kept are really nice, high quality, really good ties. And I've actually done the pairing to make sure the ties that I've kept still match the suits and dress shirts that I still have. So they all still kind of match and work together. So I have done that type of work. But I'm keeping the suits and the ties, not only because they're nice and high quality and they were expensive, I do have a little bit of anxiety that I might want or need them again, is a big piece of it. That I don't want to be at a place where I decide to go back to work and I'm going into an interview and I have to buy a suit to go into an interview. So I'm going to look back with regards. I should have just kept some of those suits and kept some of those ties when I'm going into an interview. If I need to go back to the corporate world, it's probably going to be a, if it's a need, it's likely a financial reason. So I don't want to have to go out and buy a suit to go back and try and find a job to get back in the corporate world. And there was a period of time that I liked dressing up. And it was a, it was, it was quite a while ago. I think about the ties in particular. I probably haven't worn a tie in 10 years. I've gone with a suit jacket, but without a tie. But for some reason I keep holding on to the ties because I think I might need them or use them again. But a lot of it's coming from a place of some uncertainty, some anxiety around the future, and I might need to use them again. And I like dressing up. So I look back and I think I look good when I wore a suit. I think I look good at least, maybe not in the bow tie with a suit, but I like doing that for a period of time in my life. So there's a little bit of a fondness. Um, but a lot of the emotion behind it for me is the anxiety of I might need to, I might need to use them again.
Brent: 36:52
That's kind of that maybe someday list. Yes. But you talked about a few things there that we probably should dig into a little bit
Brent: 36:59
here. So we're thinking about why are we holding on to things? And so we had some humor here where we talked about cables and we talked about some books, and we talked about a jacket, and we talked about different things that we're holding on to. But then there's certain reasons why we hold on to them. And Rob and I have been talking about this at great length, and really it comes down to three categories of why you're holding on to something. The first is the memories. So when you talk about the jacket, I talk about the top hat, when I talk about the VHS tape, like there's certain things you're holding on to because it brings you back to a stage of your life, and that's pretty cool. And are we saying there's a reason to get rid of those? Probably not. Now, if you've got oodles and oodles and lots of it, maybe there's a question mark there. But for the sake of conversation, those are memorabilia. Maybe you hold on to them. The next category, which I find is the most fascinating, is getting attached to something that it was expensive. And maybe I'll use it again. And I can tell you on the closed side, I got the same dilemma. I got the suits, got the fancy ties, and it's like I paid really good money for that. But the challenge is some of that stuff becomes dated, then you'll actually look like more of a clown than an actual, you know, buttoned up leader. And then there's the last thing is, you know, category is the things we should just let go. And example that, Rob, the bag of bolts, Brent, the bin of cables that are just no longer needed or have any sort of relevancy in the things that I do today. You could just get rid of those and you can move on. But what I want to go back to, Rob, is when you think of memories and you think of expenses, sometimes those come together too. And so what's challenging is we hold on to stuff because it's part of our past. But where does that actually take us? Like what does it do for us and how does that serve you? So let's talk about the suits. What is it really serving you to have what you unlocked a little bit there was fear. So, how does that serve you when you really think about the things that you're holding on to just related to the clothes you described?
Rob: 39:14
So the suits in particular, Brent, and the ties are the fear of I'm going to need to go back to work. And real, and I know the reality, the financial reality, that I don't have to, at least at this point, and I don't have to for the next, you know, 10 years at least. And who knows what's going to happen, you know, 15, 20 years from now in the economy and the market and all of those things. But I'm not going to need them in the next 10 years, at least, unless I want to go back to work, is how I'm thinking about my life right now. And so the fear of getting rid of it is the fear that I'm going to have future regret, that I wish I still had them. So I don't have to spend the money because I need to go back to work. When in reality is I don't need to go back to work for at least 10 years.
Brent: 40:01
What's interesting about that, Rob, like the 10 years you just put it and then you start to ask yourself questions is like, and am I going to be so dated with this clothes in 10 years? The answer is yes.
Rob: 40:12
You called that out, and I hadn't thought about that. That even 10 years from now, these things are not going to look profound. I'll look like the clown. You said, I'm going to look like the clown going into the interview. I'll be the old guy going into the interview, not the fashion forward person that a company's going to want to hire anyway. These ties are going to be outdated by then.
Brent: 40:29
And you're going to say, but they used to be amazing.
Rob: 40:32
I'm going to be that old guy that I've interviewed before. And now that I'm like, You're making me laugh. I've you've probably interviewed that old guy that showed up in the brown suit with the big lapels, and you're thinking you're not going to be able to know what the what the world is like today. Do you even understand the internet? Um, I'm going to be that guy going into an interview. That's what you're telling me right now. Thank you.
Brent: 40:52
There is not a way to overcome that with your old gear. Like, unless you're trying to be super retro and there's a need for it, but it's a really tricky one. I have a quick side story of how that impacted me. So when I was doing uh in my investment firm, we raised we did this big fundraiser and we had a bunch of people over at somebody's house, and I needed a sport coat, and I hadn't worn my sport coats in years. I had a couple suits, so I put the sport coat on all the five minutes before the event. It was so big because I bought it like 15 years ago. So maybe I was a little bit bulkier back then, not just like fit, but that was a style of them, and I was so embarrassed. I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie Big, you know, where he's sitting there and it's the little kid wearing his suit and it's just like draping off of him. Embarrassing moment in time. So that's how you may feel. You'll be like, wow, I am so outdid. I'm out of place. Then that creates its own level of anxiety.
Rob: 41:52
Yeah. Well, you have the whole home edit person. I think it's home edit the or Marie Kondo, you know, asking the question, does it bring you joy? And I can easily say when I look at those suits, because I liked dressing up for a period of time. I look back and it puts a smile on my face when I think about what I felt, I how I felt I looked when I wore that nice suit. Does it bring me joy? I could answer the question. Yeah, sure it does. But at the cost of what is also the thought. Is it not something I'm going to wear, except I'm unless I'm going to a wedding or a funeral, I'm not going to wear it. And I'll tell you, two of the suits are not funeral suits.
Brent: 42:24
They're two it's like it is not going to work out well there. No. I mean, but that's part of the challenge. I mean, that is the challenge when we think of certain things in our house, is you're holding on to something for the maybe someday. And two things factor into that. There's a cost component, you paid really good money for it. And number two is like, well, why would I want to pay good money again for it in the future? But what it is is you're holding on to an older version of yourself. And you have to think about that. Now it doesn't mean you have to purge everything, but you just alluded to you got a few of those suits that probably won't fit the mood on a whole lot of things. And it might be just time. And then I'm in the same boat. I probably have 30 ties as well. And I'm like, I don't even like wearing ties. Like, and nowadays, if you go to a wedding, a lot of times people don't wear ties. They have a nice suit on, nice shirt. So it's just a really interesting dynamic when you start thinking about the why we're holding on to stuff.
Rob: 43:22
Well, beyond the suits, I mean, think about the bolts that I had that I'm holding on to, right? I if the pizza oven cart falls apart, we got an ace hardware I can actually go to down the street to buy the singular bolt that I need right at that time. I don't need a bag of washers and bolts sitting around. Uh, because I have, I do have a little bit of a storage container that is not storage container, a plastic thing that has a handful of washers, a handful of bolts, a handful of nuts for those just in case quick fix it things, which has come in handy. Maybe I'll throw some of those in into that pile, moving from pile to pile. But I use that for anything, not necessarily the pizza oven. And if I don't have the right part there, I can. Actually, go and get another one. It's what, a dollar for a bolt? And probably what end up happening is that the bolt's going to fall off the pizza oven. I'm not going to remember where I put this thing. I'm going to go down to the place anyway and buy a new bolt. And then six months after I replace the bolt, I'm going to find this packet of bolts and washers that I was supposed to use in the first place.
Brent: 44:20
And you'll be disappointed with yourself because you spent a dollar on the bolts when you could have just gone and found that bag. But you forgot the bag even existed. Yeah. So those are things like you start to really challenge yourself as you're getting through this process of like, why are we actually holding on to stuff? And it's it's an interesting process and it's part of this whole midlife journey because you're starting to have this accumulation of stuff. And you sometimes when you make a transition in your life, are you going to are you willing to let go of the old version of yourself to actually create something new?
Rob: 44:53
And that's the biggest part of this conversation, Brent, is by getting rid of some of our stuff that might be holding us back. And I said this in the introduction, it might help us move more closely to align with the future version of the selves that we want to create. Either the current version of ourselves, which is not Rob wearing a suit, it's Rob wearing outdoorsy gear. I free up space to actually fill it with that type of uh attire, or it frees up space mentally for me to actually think and begin to move towards who I want to be going forward. And those items might be holding me back a little bit. I know the books do, because there's a lot of books that I've had on the list that I want to read that I've not bought because of the books that I currently have. And you pulled out one of them. I feel guilty buying a new book because I have a stack of books that I should have read anyway, that I bought a while ago that I still haven't read anyway. And so it might be holding us back from moving forward. That's really the big thing as we think about going and doing this as an edit within your house is again, Brent said it's not about getting rid of stuff. There's things that you should keep because it brings back a really good memory. You want the memory, you're going to have the memory, you want to pass that memory or have that conversation with your kids. We're not getting, we're not saying get rid of that stuff. It's the things that you have that you're sitting on because they were expensive and you don't want to have to replace it. They're the things you're sitting on because you need, you might, you might need it or you might in the future want it. And if it wasn't that expensive and you might need or want it, maybe just need or maybe that need or want just gets filled with you buying it in the future and see what happens. Because in my experience, rarely do I actually need or want those things 15 or 20 years from now? My life has moved so far beyond that. But let's talk about uh the edit, Brent, and actually getting rid of the stuff that we
Rob: 46:42
have. What happens when some of this stuff that we've been accumulating in our in our adult lives, that we move from house to house to house potentially? What happens when we start to actually get rid of some of this stuff? What happened for you as you started getting rid of some of your stuff?
Brent: 46:56
Well, a good example of this was last summer I have two expensive e-bikes that are meant for like off-road. And I bought them with the intention of doing a lot of e-bike exploration with my kids and friends and things like that. Well, they did a great job of just collecting dust in my garage. They would get used maybe once or twice a year. I think you and I did a couple trips with them, just screwing around, having fun. But what was challenging for me is they were very expensive and they weren't being used. So I've got this dilemma. But then the challenge with the e-bikes is over time their kind of value is just dropping rapidly because they're batteries. And newer ones come out that are lighter and better and things like that. So I sat there and I was like, this was just last summer. I was like, you know what? I think it's time to let go of these e-bikes because I actually have another e-bike as well. So, you know, we had three of them. I'm like, I really am the only one at this stage in our household, both my kids drive, that is using an e-bike periodically. So, what if I get rid of the two fancy ones? And I made that commitment to say, I'm going to get rid of it. But what I did for myself in that to help me through the process is whatever I make on selling those e-bikes, I'm going to put in a little bucket of for future adventures or for something else. So I'm going to use it as replacement funds. And it worked out great, Rob. That's a great idea. And I bought uh a new fly fishing rod. I was pretty excited about that. I've already used it. Which you use quite often. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, there's certain things I was like, and it was just a way for me to let go of something that I was trying to create memories, but it just didn't come together. And I'm glad I did it. But it was actually the heartache. Most of that was the heartache of I had these cool visions of what I was going to do with it, with them. They just never came together. And then the second one is they were quite expensive to start, but they found a great home. Ironically, I saw the two e-pikes out and about like a month after I sold them, and it was a kid and a dad. And I was like, sweet, somebody else is using them. So that was that was weird. I did not expect it. They're parked out in front of this place. I was like, well, those are used to be mine. I noticed the scratches, the very distinctive scratches that I put on them. So, but those are those things like creating space for something else in your life. And that was an example for me where I was like, I was holding on to things for something that wasn't coming together. And then I made a change, and all of a sudden I felt I've actually felt like weight off my shoulders. Like I just needed to move on from those.
Rob: 49:35
Well, those electric bikes were like the Peloton or the old Bowflex that's been sitting in people's houses or garages that's been collecting dust and not being used for years. You and I used it once, used your e-bikes once. I was excited when you got them because I was thinking, oh, this will be fun. Brent and I'll go use it a bunch. We did it once. How many times did you go out with your kids and use the e-bike?
Brent: 49:54
Those oh, maybe once or twice each.
Rob: 49:56
Once or twice each over a period of time. And you said, Brent, that they were really expensive when you bought them. I'm pretty certain you sold them for a pretty significant loss. How did you deal with the emotion of the expense differential between I bought them for this, I'm selling them for that? Maybe I'll just keep them because they're worth more to me for a couple hundred dollars because I spent thousands of dollars on them. Why uh how did you get through the emotional cycle of getting rid of something expensive like that?
Brent: 50:22
I'm just trying to teach myself like the value of going forward versus kind of getting stuck. And so, yes, there was a sunk cost in all of it, but I just got to get over that. Anytime you buy something, it doesn't matter what you buy, high probability its value is going to drop significantly the day you walk out of the store. So that's part of it. And the other part of it is actually the emotional drain was more expensive than the dollar drain because I was just trying to create something that just didn't exist. And so I felt so good just to let it go. So that's part of like the things that we have is you might feel like that's a significant loss, but what are the possibilities of opening up? You referenced it earlier on your bookshelf. You might just create a little bit of space, but all of a sudden you have this space to explore. When I purged a bunch of books a little while ago, and I still have a bunch more that I can purge, clearly, is all of a sudden I started to see my collection that were more relevant to the things I'm interested in today, the things that I'm exploring today. And I used to have oodles and oodles of books on investing in business and leadership. I have very few of those now. Now my books are an adventure, uh, actually, some really fiction books that I was never really into that are really cool. And it's just showing me like there is a path elsewhere, but it was a challenge to let go. Books are funny, Rob, because you spend like $25 on them and I've just refused to let them go.
Rob: 51:52
Here's a couple of things. You talk about getting go, and you actually mentioned this, Brent, as you saw your e-bikes and it was a dad and a kid riding your e-bikes. When I think about the books or even the suit, so I've given away some, a bunch of books, and I've given away almost all of those old business books. I think about the old suits and ties that I already have given away. Where I've gone to mentally when I've given these things away is somebody is going to be reading this book that's going to get the same benefit that I got 20 years ago from reading this book. And that's going to be so cool. And what goes in my head is going to be some 20, 22-year-old kid. Maybe it's going to be your son that's going to graduate with a business degree, is going to buy this book, or they're going to, and they're going to read it and have the same epiphany or the same aha moment that I had in my 20s and see my handwritten note in the side and actually think I'm an idiot because my note doesn't make any sense today. Or even better, when I think about my suits and my ties, someone that's actually today going to go into an interview for a job that they really need is going to have something really nice to go and interview and find that job that they need. Right. So it actually getting rid of some of this stuff, and I've done it historically, has given me a lot of joy because I envision it as, and it's actually been more rewarding to me giving this stuff away than letting it sit in the closet because of the maybe. And I'm I'm at the place now where I can actually take the rest of my suits, except for maybe one, and all of my ties, except for maybe a couple. And it's been part of this conversation and this process to be able to give those away because that joy is so much a greater emotion for me than the fear is of I might need these things because I do envision that person that truly needs it today benefiting from giving it away today.
Brent: 53:34
That's such a beautiful way to look at it. And when you just said, like, what if it's that, you know, fresh out of college kid that's trying to get their first job and they want to look great and the suit is still somewhat modern for today's, you know, environment. What if that gives them that great job? You just did them a huge favor. You know, they got it at pennies on the dollar. I think about it the same way with ties. I mean, some of the ties I have are incredibly expensive. I have no interest in any of them. I like, I like I need to keep just a couple. And so when you let those things go and you allow somebody else to grow with it, like the e-bikes is a good example. When I saw them just like a month later, maybe somebody else is fulfilling that kind of dream that I had. Maybe the kid is age appropriate and they're like, let's just go do things together and they're loving it together. So that's part of it is like when you go to the thrift store, you go to goodwill and you drop things off, know that maybe it's going to fall into the right hands for somebody that needs it at that moment in
Brent: 54:30
time.
Rob: 54:30
That kid, that piece of clothing that doesn't fit you anymore might be completely in fashion for that high school kid today. I'm seeing kids wearing old beat-up Carhart jeans right now. And I have some of those, which actually luckily still fit me. But having that piece of clothing, that vintage piece of clothing in their mind, but you think you might fit into it again, it's going to benefit somebody else.
Brent: 54:52
Absolutely.
Rob: 54:53
And then your clothing's cool again. And you can say, that was mine and it's cool.
Brent: 54:57
That's right. That's right. And you then and guess what, Rob, you're in a position in life. If you need to have one of those items in your future, you can just go to the store and get them. Okay, Rob. So as we close out our conversation today, we've covered a ton of ground. And the question that I have for you is we're clearly both going to walk away from this conversation and probably go donate a few things. But my real question for you is you're going to get rid of some things. What are you going to begin to replace it with?
Rob: 55:25
That's the fun part of the thought process here, Brent, is getting rid of stuff to be able to replace it with the newer version of myself or the current version or the future version of myself. So, as I mentioned, I got rid of a bunch of books and it cleared off an entire bookshelf for me to be able to put some new uh drone equipment that I've purchased on that shelf. And how I've been thinking about getting rid of some of the stuff. And I know we spent quite a bit of time on clothes because I think clothes end up having a more emotional tie for us. And you and I have books that have an emotional tie because of the business role we left. I'm using it as an opportunity to move towards the future self and really replace it with some of the things from my 50 list of the 50 items or 50 things I want to learn during my 50s. So flying a drone and learning how to do videos with a drone is on my list. And I have now a space to store all my drone equipment. Uh, by getting rid of some of the stuff in my garage, I was able to put a unicycle in my garage, which didn't take up a lot of space, but it makes me laugh every time I go and look at it. Um, so that's that's how I've been thinking about freeing up spaces, is as I as I remove stuff, it's not just about having, you know, a minimalist lifestyle and getting rid of stuff just because is what am I going to replace it with? And was it what am I going to replace it with that's going to bring me joy today, but also move me towards that newer version. So for me, it's the items that I'm the 50 items I want to learn during my 50s.
Brent: 56:48
That's a perfect way to wrap up this episode because what you just described is you're really starting to plant things in your life that are for your future self, things that you're curious about today that you may not have had time to do in the past. And maybe you're picking up a new hobby and you actually want to have proper space for it in your house. Or maybe that those books that you're going to read are something more relevant to where you're at in your life today. So it's about growth, it's about expanding your views and maybe letting a few of the things go and not being hard on yourself in the process. That's one of the things that I find as we think about the stuff we keep. It's like, gosh, you know, I never fulfilled that obligation or that idea or that hobby or that book or wear those fancy clothes. Get over it. You know, it's just one of those things that's moving forward. And that's what this episode was about. Yes, we had a lot of humor involved intuitive, some of the things that we found in our house and the relics and so forth, but it's all about the letting go process and starting to create new pathways for new things in your life. So we're really excited that we got to share some of the things that we found in our house. As Rob alluded to earlier, if you find anything in your house that you want to share with us, go ahead and message the show. Leave us a voicemail because we'd love to hear it. Because if you'll have as much joy as we had in doing this, I guarantee you, because it's comical of what you may find. So as we close out all of our conversations, we really want to do a gratitude share.
Brent: 58:20
And this one's pretty cool, Rob. And I'll start it out here. So we got a message uh from one of our listeners uh from the message the show, and this was done via the text uh show feature. It says, Hi, Robin Brent. I'm really enjoying the podcast. Brent is especially great hearing your voice as a coach at the second book in my career. I'd love to hear you discuss strategies for navigating today's ATS, which is application tracking systems, driving the hiring landscape when pursuing more purpose-driven work in a completely new field. And what he went on and started talking about is to say, I'm talking about retirement work, not the ambitious career change, just income to cover the basics by working at something like PBS, a museum, or similar nonprofit that could be more personally rewarding than a corporate career. Would starting as a volunteer be the key to unlocking a paid role? Appreciate your insights. Thank you, Lon. So, cool backstory here is Lon was a client of mine when I was a management consultant. And we started working together, I think, in 2005. So this is over 20 years ago. So I did a ton of work with his company. So, Lon, it's so cool to hear from you. So thanks for being a listener and bringing this conversation to Rob and I. And this ties a little bit, Rob, back to the volunteering episode that we did a little bit ago. And one of the things that we've learned through people in our community and some of our friends that are actually working at nonprofits as an example, is they all started out volunteering to get to know the nonprofit and really seeing if a role will come up. And it's ironic that roles do come up over time, but you just have to be really patient with it. And you don't need to be misleading. You go in there and maybe you're just feeling it out, and maybe it isn't an environment that you want to be a part of, or maybe it is. So that's a great way to start the process, you know, specifically nonprofit, is volunteering and then seeing if there's an opportunity to leverage some of your skills in the past to this nonprofit environment.
Rob: 01:00:23
The other thing that was built into Lon's question was applying for a role when you're going to get automatically screened out because you're very much overqualified for that position. And we recently did an episode with Sarah Hager where she talked about how rather than just applying for a role blindly and waiting to see if she get a response, she reached out to the employer. And whether it's a nonprofit or a corporation, if you're applying for a job you're overqualified for, like Lon is or looking for here, reach out to the employer and just share with them why you're applying for it as an overqualified individual. You might find that that's exactly what that company needs. And they're going to get far more benefit from you in this in this overqualified background into a into this role than they than they uh than they would get if they actually hired directly for that role. So you might be a valuable asset, but you have to get past that screening device, and it might be an automatic outreach you have to make to the company. So thanks again, Lon, for sending us that message. And if you have questions like Londe just sent us, please again message the show so we can actually answer them in future episodes.
Rob: 01:01:28
Thanks again for listening. Have a great day.
Lena: 01:01:32
That's it for this episode of Midlife Circus. Visit midlife circus. Follow Midlife Circus on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss your next great act. Quick reminder the opinions and stories shared here are personal reflections, not professional advice. This show is for entertainment and inspiration only. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you under the Big Top next time. Midlife Circus is a Burning Matches Media production.