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We Play Full Out with Bart and Sunny
Welcome to We Play Full Out – where high-achieving entrepreneurs, spouses, and parents Bart and Sunny bring you real talk on showing up fully in business, marriage, family, and life!
For over 30 years, we’ve been playing full out together, building multiple million-dollar online businesses, challenging limiting beliefs, and raising a family. Our mission? To inspire you to do the same, with insights, strategies, and honest conversations on balancing work and family, strengthening relationships, and staying authentic in a world that often demands the opposite.
Join us every week as we dive deep into topics like:
- Entrepreneurship and scaling successful businesses
- Marriage and relationship advice for couples who work together
- Parenting tips for entrepreneurs with families
- Authentic leadership, personal growth, and goal-setting
- Resilience, overcoming challenges, and playing full out in every area of life
From interviews with champions, thought leaders, and fellow entrepreneurs to sharing our own journeys, We Play Full Out is your go-to channel for advice and motivation to show up fully and live a life without regrets. Whether you're looking to ignite your business, deepen your relationships, or pursue personal growth, we’re here to support your journey.
Subscribe now and join us in playing full out!
We Play Full Out with Bart and Sunny
Are You the Lion or the Sheep? Roar into Your Power: Living Bold, Magnetic, and Fearless
Why can’t you look away when a lion enters the scene? It’s all about that magnetic, bold, and authentic lion energy. In this episode, we’re diving into what makes lions so captivating and how you can channel that same powerful mindset in your own life. We’ll talk about using your voice to set boundaries, designing your future self with intention, and surrounding yourself with people who push you to grow. Ready to unleash your inner lion and create a life you can’t wait to live? Let’s roar!
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Welcome to. We Play Full Out with Bart and Sunny Miller. Take it away, Sunny.
Speaker 2:In the wild. There are two types of creatures predators and prey. Now, whenever we go to Animal Kingdom, at Disney World or wherever we can see a lion in person, the difference in energy when a lion is spotted versus, say, like a giraffe, is palpable to me. Like, even though I know in my mind that the lion is not going to be able to rush the tourism bus and like grab one of us for a quick meal, there's still always this thing in the back of my mind like what if this happens? Right, and you know, don't look away from that lion the whole time we're passing him by until the bus pulls out of sight and we can't see him anymore. And if he happens to roar, I'm not going to say my heartbeat doesn't like go up a little bit, he's a lion.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Why? Because in that instant I am the prey, he is the predator. So the lion energy is like big energy, it's magnetic, it's powerful, confident and authentic. It takes bold action, it knows what it wants and relentlessly pursues it. It knows who and what it is and it doesn't settle for mediocrity, because, well, that's just not a lion's nature. On the other hand, we have the sheep, and I would say the sheep energy is pretty small energy because it's prey energy. They're also reactive, they avoid risks and stay confined to their comfort zones, and they want to stay safely tucked within their herd. So why are we talking about lions and why would you choose to be one? As you know, the name of this newsletter is we Play Full Out and at this point in our lives, we're passionate about architecting our own lives on our own terms and by our own design, and helping others do the same. And I would say, in order to really create and live the life you choose to live, you have to be a lion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you think? I think that is so good. A lion, you know a lot of people think of a lion as the male lion, when reality is there's both, and understanding that sometimes, in all relationships, even though a lion and a lion are together, they're not right, like I don't know how to describe it, but like you don't want to marry a sheep if you're a lion.
Speaker 2:Nope, you got the lioness. Who's the hunter?
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's the one. That is awesomeness and there's so much about this that I just love, and I agree with you that anytime you're in the uh, the energy of, let's just say, a Navy SEAL or certain people, you instantly are like, ooh, they're lions, you know, and uh, I think it's really cool. I'm so, I'm really excited to dig into this.
Speaker 2:Sweet and I really feel like, after just this brief time talking about it earlier and then putting the newsletter together, that you can write a whole book on this topic. Yeah, talking about it earlier and then putting the newsletter together, that you can write a whole book on this topic. It's a very powerful topic and, man, I wish we had a lot more time to dive into, but it'd be a very long conversation. So we're just going to touch on a few things.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:The first one to be a lion. So just some stories and ideas to help whoever's listening jumpstart their big lion energy, should they choose to take it on.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So the first one would be to be hyper aware of your surroundings, meaning your environment, and kind of, like you just said, like imagine a lion, it's always tuned into its surroundings, like you just said, like a Navy SEAL who enters every restaurant or park or any kind of a setting, they're going to have a really keen awareness of everything that's happening all the time.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:For those of us who aren't Navy SEALs, this might mean being mindful of who and what we let into our lives, would you say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Who are you listening to? What are you absorbing? Is it lifting you up or bringing you down, and are you placing your trust in people who genuinely have your best interests at heart, which can be a little tricky, because sometimes you just don't know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're not paying attention, right. And I think one thing you know, even in our marriage, you've seen, when we walk into a restaurant, do I just sit anywhere?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Do I observe Bart?
Speaker 2:always has to sit where he has a full view of everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Do I observe everybody and think of what's going on and pay attention to what is going on in our atmosphere? Yep, Because to me it's critically important. Not because I feel like I'm going to be attacked, but I want to be ready if something actually happens and I'm understanding or aware of the surroundings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so good. Are you simply going along with what you've always known in life? Let me go back a little bit. So have you ever paused to question the things you've been doing all your life to see if they truly align with the path you want to follow, or are you simply going along with what you've always known? It takes courage to go down paths and question people or ideas that you have taken for granted as okay. It takes courage to leave a relationship, a religion or a belief system. Belief system, but taking those steps by choosing for yourself what is good for you, not what's good for other people, is what being a lion is all about. Lions reclaim control over their future and don't let external factors dictate their path.
Speaker 2:So personal story here would be us leaving our religion. I would say we were members of a church for 45 plus years, me 45, you like three more, and I think for me a little bit more than from you, it was the basis of my whole identity, 100%.
Speaker 2:It was a huge part of yours, but it was not the basis. Yeah, every decision I made in my life up until that point was based on whether it fit or didn't fit into the framework of that church. We're talking about how to speak, how to address what principles and values my entire life was based on.
Speaker 2:How to spend your time what I could eat, not eat, drink, not drink, and even down to what I could or could not pursue in my life. And then, when we both started to really question the foundation of the religion and realized we didn't believe it anymore, it took, and continues to take a lot of times a huge amount of courage, not just to leave the religion but to really start to dive deep into who we are and what we truly want out of life. It's like step one is okay, we're leaving. Step two is like now what? There's a lot to that. So, like in your life and I'm talking to the listeners it might not be religion, it might be culture, it might be family environment, it might be a belief you've adopted that you haven't ever questioned, or it might even be all of the above. And I would say for us, that's how and why we play full out was created in a lot of ways because finally, we weren't in this framework anymore and now we're free to choose and decide the life we want to live.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I want to just as a listener. I want you to think about this is because you know it's. There's nothing wrong with stepping away from what you're in, because if it truly is the right thing, you will always be accepted back. But people are so afraid to even step away and question and look at things from a different lens because they don't dare, the fear of what they might find out. But what you can do is justify that in your head as oh that Satan tempted me, or it's this or it's that. When reality is, it's nothing to do with that, it's literally looking at it from a different lens. Now I want to use an example here. So there's a certain area, geographic area, where there's four different religions, four different beliefs, four different everything, and they all attach. If you take one of those out and you threw them in the other ecosystem, they would kill each other over their beliefs, over their stuff, over all these things. Now think about that as think about that as you. Are they really wrong in all four categories?
Speaker 2:And what if you had been born just two miles away?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just because of your environment and situation, you are believing so much so that you will kill somebody because of your beliefs, when your neighbor believes the exact same thing. Now, I think this is really really good and very important as a lion, because as a lion you Doesn't mean we have to fight, but as a true lion and a leader, you have to be able to agree, to disagree, but understanding why you're disagreeing and so does the other person. And if both people do that and take their time, it's amazing how the world can change, or how perspective can change, how empathy can be changed, how things can change, because you may have never seen it from that lens.
Speaker 2:Yes, so good. Had a thought but I lost it based on what you were just saying. But very, very good, okay. So the second one would be to roar. To use your voice, lion is obviously known for its roar. Lions roar for many different reasons they're establishing their territory, they're communicating with their pride, they're asserting their dominance and, as a signal of confidence and presence, letting others know it's there.
Speaker 2:And we also use our voices for many different reasons. So I would say, just like the lion sets its territory, we set our boundaries. We confidently declare our goals and purpose. As marketers and business owners, we use our voices to gather our team or just to let the world know what we have to offer. That'd be like hey, we're here, we're letting people know we're here and this is what we have right offer. That'd be like hey, we're here, we're letting people know we're here and this is what we have Right. Um, we use our voices to communicate with the people in our lives, and we can use our voices to assert dominance and to stand up for ourselves and or for people who cannot stand up for themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think a prime example of this, like it or not, michael Jordan. If you go watch Michael Jordan's life, right, because there's a movie out on this.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Ask yourself, when you got on the court with Michael Jordan, were you playing with a lion or a sheep? When you come up against a competitor, was he a lion or was he a sheep? Even in his communication, even in his movement, everything about him was a lion.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so you want to look at people like that because you say, well, I don't see this. You see it every day in sports, in somebody who gets a point and just absolutely steps in and roars about what they're doing and shows and frustration, emotion, all the things, but they're not afraid. In fact, Sunny always liked to bring up Annalee Waters.
Speaker 2:Yes, I do Cute.
Speaker 1:If you don't know, Annalee, she's pickleball. Pickleball gal cute, she's got a lot going for her. She's super young, all the things, but her self-talk is lion self-talk.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:It's not sheep self-talk, ever Nope, demeanor position, how she stands, the way she presents herself. She's going in for the kill every time. She's a lion.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 2:And I think it's interesting because you start, when you become a lion, seeing other lions, and you also see sheep, yeah, for sure, and once again, there's so many different angles we could take on this topic that I wish we really had a lot more time to get into it.
Speaker 2:But one personal story that I would share would be we were at the State 4-H event in Blackfoot, idaho. Do you want to share this or do you want me to Go ahead? Okay, so Xander was one of the many kids competing in a horse event there, and there was a young girl there that was competing as well and her father was being very aggressive towards her. At one point, I think he pulled her off his horse twice at least twice and he was yelling at her a lot and, of course, course, she was in tears and she was just a little gal. Everyone there saw it and everyone there was troubled by it, like you could see it on their faces, but you were the only one that did something about it. I want to say you walked over to them both and first you asked the little girl if she was okay and then you'll correct me if I'm wrong but she told the father that if you saw him lay a hand on her one more time, he would have you to deal with. Is that right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what? I? First and foremost, I approached the young lady and I said I just want to make sure you're okay. And I could see so much fear in her eyes and her tears welling up. But she didn't dare say she wasn't okay because she knew her dad. And so I said well, I just want you to relax and just be okay for a second sitting there. And then I looked at her father and I said what are you doing? And he goes. He told me to get out, leave him alone. He had it under control and he was the father. And I said, sir, what you're doing is not right.
Speaker 1:And then he attacked me again and I said, sir, if you lay another hand on her, you will have me to deal with, and you do not want that. And he looked at me and he paused, he took some deep breaths and I took two steps forward to him and I said if you got somebody to hit, I'm the person, not her. So get it out right now, because she can't protect herself. I can. And he looked at me, lowered his head and he said I'm sorry. And I said I want to accept your apology, but right now I want to accept your actions, do not lay a hand on her and I'll be watching you the rest of the day. And I walked away. So he let his girl off, took her over. It's very kind to her. And then everybody approached me. It was like Holy crap, that was intense.
Speaker 1:I'm like it was, and then a couple of the other people notified some other people and then they actually got the cops involved and there was a lot more going on here.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't remember then met the eye.
Speaker 1:This little gal was being so abused that she had marks on her, all sorts of things. I don't know what the end story is, but there was way more happening here than met the eye. I was just the one that finally stopped it and I asked a couple of people I'm like you saw this before me and they said I was just too scared to take action.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so lions stand up for themselves and for those who cannot, and that's a pretty well, I want to say extreme example, but it probably happens more often than we want to admit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Watch a lot of the news Watch. We had incidents happening here in Rigby.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did To a gal. Yeah, we did. Who stepped in Nobody. Yeah, we did To a gal. Yeah, we did. Who stepped in.
Speaker 1:Nobody did, nobody did. We're being taught as a society that bullying isn't right, this isn't right, and this is the hard part about what we're being taught. If you do step in, then you're taking on some liabilities which I'm not going to get into, that can turn on you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's scary, that can turn on you. Yeah, it's scary, yeah, but at the end of the day, no matter what happens in my mind, you're not going to abuse another human that cannot defend themselves in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, and in terms of like backing up a little using your voice, that's a powerful way.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:In day to day. It can be scary just to use your voice in other situations. Sometimes I don't think we have a lot of confidence in who we are and what we want to say, so we just stay silent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think you know another analogy was and it went great was Xander and his band and me and his band teacher. You know there's there's so many analogies that people are just afraid and I would say it's, they think it's confrontation, when it's really not confrontation, it's really communication and approaching it from a really lion communication moment. But communicating to understand, not communicating to be heard. There's a difference when you roar to be heard versus to be understood 100%.
Speaker 2:And you know I have amazing parents. They are fantastic parents, but they would be ones like that, would just never really question what people were telling them. People were telling them so, for example, like you just said, with the band teacher which is another story in and of itself, but they would just accept whatever was told by anybody else. They never fought for anything, they never used their voices, they never maybe tried to get a deal or tried to make deals happen or any of the things. So, from my perspective, having you as an example has been amazing, because now I look at Xander and I'm like dude, if you want something, you have to say it. Nobody's going to say it for you.
Speaker 1:So anything else that you can think of, oh, there's lots of things, but you know me, I could go on all sorts of tangents, but let's keep moving forward with what you got.
Speaker 2:Okay, so the next one would be resilience and adaptability. Challenges are obviously part of our adventure here. Even lions have days when they don't catch their prey. They probably go a little hungry. They make mistakes and sometimes they lose a fight, but they never get probably too caught up in their emotions over it. Right, and as humans, we often criticize ourselves too harshly. I think we beat ourselves up a lot. We just beat ourselves up, and then we're worried about whether we're good enough or how we'll look if we fail.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that comes down even to me. Sometimes I am loud and when I play sports I am aggressive, and there's people that are sheep, that cannot handle that intensity and that energy. So what do they do? They avoid it and they avoid me which to me sometimes can be super sad because I don't want them to see it that way. It's just like, but I am here.
Speaker 2:But I would say you have huge energy. So yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Sort of lions. I'm just saying it'd be hard to have huge energy, so I don't know, sort of lions, I'm just saying it'd be hard to match your energy. Yeah, no, I agree, I'm not saying. What I'm saying is, though, is if they were to rise and try. It's not like it's over dominating them, but they're so used to cowering and not being there that they actually want to escape it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's kind of like avoiding a confrontation Totally, like we were just saying, which is more of a communication, but it all depends on how you frame it right.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, so good yeah. So we often criticize ourselves too harshly Once again. We tend to forget that every success is built on a mountain of failures, and the key is to adopt a positive attitude, see failures as stepping stones and keep moving forward, and that way we can be adaptable and resilient as a lion, if we just don't let ourselves get bogged down in the mire of our own psyches telling us to give up, because our lions in our psyches can sometimes be stronger than us as a human being, a lion, which is amazing, because we do have a predator in our psyches, our predators in our psyche, right, and they're just waiting to snatch up anything.
Speaker 2:They can use as food and fuel against us, which is interesting, but I think we've talked about before. It actually makes us stronger when we overcome that.
Speaker 1:Amen.
Speaker 2:So, but I think we've talked about before it actually makes us stronger when we overcome that, amen. So we've often talked about viewing life like a video game. It's like if a lion loses a fight, I don't think he's emotionally tied to getting back in and fighting again.
Speaker 2:It's just like, let's level up. Yep, there we go. So number four live the life you choose by pushing your limits and aligning with other lions who are doing the same. So lions see opportunities where others see obstacles. They keep their focus on the bigger picture and they take action Now in our world. I would say we've dived into this a lot over the last two years. In our magnetic program, we explore the idea that personality is not the most important thing in creating an extraordinary life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like, not even close. Your personality should have absolutely no bearing on living the life you want to live. Yep.
Speaker 1:Because that's your personal reality, but that doesn't mean it really is your reality.
Speaker 2:No, the only thing that matters is the choices you make. Amen, that doesn't mean it really is your reality. No, the only thing that matters is the choices you make.
Speaker 2:Amen. Most of our current personalities we talked about this a little earlier is shaped unintentionally, a product of our upbringing, past experiences and limiting beliefs. Once again, if I was born in Thailand 20 years ago, I'd be a totally different person than I am, totally Unintentionally, 100% Just a product of my environment. Totally Unintentionally, a hundred percent Just a product of my environment. So to truly embody the line mentality, you must intentionally design your personality and start living and making decisions based on your future vision, who you want to be and the life you want to create. And that's going to take some pushback on your psyche sometimes because, like, maybe I want to speak or sing on stages, but I'm too shy, yep, well, what do I really want to do? I can craft my personality, so I'm no longer shy.
Speaker 1:Amen Right.
Speaker 2:Yep, but it can be scary, which is why you need the lion energy, amen, and when you align yourself with other lions, it's very helpful, sometimes vital. Being in a circle of people who step out of their comfort zones and encourage you to do the same creates an environment where growth becomes inevitable, and sometimes it's nearly impossible to rise into your future self if those around you don't support or believe in your potential and a lot of times it's no fault of their own, I would say Sometimes, like we're in a family or something and they just can't see the future person we're trying to be, so they never look at us that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I will say maybe this is wrong, but I'll just say it. Let's say, for example, you're not married to a lion. It can be tough because a lot of times, if you're married to a lion, they demand you become a lion.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They're not going to let you. They get so tired of you not being a lion that they will absolutely, or you'll leave them because they're going to demand you step up and help, protect and be part of and play the game of being a lion, and I think that's the thing that's awesome about tying yourself, if you're not one, to some, but also you got to be ready for it because they're going to demand excellence. So take Michael Jordan why is it critical? Why would you want him as your team leader? Why would you want these things? It's not because he wants to be mean, not because he has none of that in him, but he knows what it takes to win and he's going to be clear on what it takes to win and demand it from his teammates to win.
Speaker 1:And so sometimes in relationship and partnership and all the businesses and things like that, people get tied to a line and they look in. They're just overwhelmed and they don't look at it as a blessing, they look at it as a curse. They look at it as a curse. And so I just challenge you if you have a lion in there, understand if they're there on your team helping you win, or if they're absolutely trying to destroy you and belittle you and make you. There's a totally difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I would say a step further would be to find your community where people are also lions Yep, because sometimes you know if you're going alone, family doesn't understand you, things don't understand you. Like you really need to find somebody who can help push your limits and you'll help them push theirs as well. Would you say yeah?
Speaker 1:absolutely.
Speaker 2:All right. Lion energy is authentic and undeniable. It's not about demanding attention, but about exuding a presence so genuine and powerful that people cannot look away. When you operate from a place of authenticity, you become magnetic. Others are drawn to your certainty, your strength and your ability to stay true to yourself in every situation. This kind of power inspires trust and admiration, the kind that leaves a lasting impact, and I would say it inspires other people to be able to reach that level as well. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:Okay, leaves a lasting impact and I would say it inspires other people to be able to reach that level as well. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's kind of the newsletter. Today we have some life updates.
Speaker 1:Cool.
Speaker 2:One would be. We played pickleball last Sunday with some friends and was Xander, and we're happy to report that Mercedes is back after having her baby. Yeah, I play probably the first time in about a year with her.
Speaker 1:So good, so fun.
Speaker 2:That little stinker hasn't missed a beat.
Speaker 1:Yep, she's still so good, she is so good.
Speaker 2:We booked the court for two hours and we ended up playing for about three and a half. Yeah, so fun and we really enjoy spending time on the courts together. And then we also went and drilled one night together just for about an hour Got some good practice time in.
Speaker 1:That's so fun.
Speaker 2:You've been shooting some new Instagram and TikTok content.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's been really fun and just encourage people to go check that out on either platform if you want to go see some fun rails.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'd be fun. Love to have you watch it.
Speaker 2:Other than than that, it's been a pretty chill week. We've got a lot of new projects going on that take time to build, and you've had your elite client calls this week and of course, we have our daily I do epic networking and accountability calls yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, it's been a great week. Lots of cool things. We bought our tickets to Funnel Hacking Live International Finally got that done. We got an invitation that we I don't think we can announce yet but upcoming for Funnel Hacking Live. That will get printed out, signed and back. So lots of cool things happening, lots of fun things. But right now you guys really think about as you listen to this podcast are you a lion or are you a sheep?
Speaker 2:I do have one more thing to add. Your birthday is on Monday, yay. So Monday January 20th, give Bart a shout out, wish him a happy, happy birthday and tell him how amazing he is.
Speaker 1:Thank you, sweetheart, appreciate that. So, yeah, so, think about lion versus sheep. Think about where in your life are you being a sheep and then what are you going to do about it and what can you do about it, and really make a list of that. And, uh, so grateful for Sonny and her stepping into her power, looking at her power, looking at things from a different angle and really knowing that she is a badass queen and lion that is just out there crushing the world. So we love you guys, we're thankful for you guys and this segment brought to you by I Do Epic.
