097 | KEN RIDEOUT - Raising courageous kids, Mental health, Adoption, and Giving your family the best version of yourself

Dad the Man

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Today's guest is none other than Ken Rideout. Ken Rideout has an unbelievable story including a chaotic childhood, working summers as a prison guard, and drug addiction. Through it all, he managed to work his way onto a trading desk on Wall Street where his professional career began and now he has shaped himself into a world class marathon runner. He was actually deemed "World's Best Marathoner over 50" by the NY Times. Ken is a non nonsense, salt of the earth, would do anything for anybody type of guy who leads from the front in every way, every day. Before Ken and I spoke, I felt deeply drawn to him and his story for a few reasons 1) He adopted his oldest daughter and for those of you who may not have followed along here my wife and I recently adopted newborn twins. It was great getting to connect on that experience. 2) In Ken's Wall Street days, he worked for a company called Cantor Fitzgerald Cantor Fitzgeralds headquarters was located in the World Trade center. Ken happened to be in London on September 11, 2001, but he lived through the experience of losing many of his friends and colleagues to the tragedy. My uncle, my dad's younger brother, Glen Wall, also worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. On 9/11 he was at work on the 105th floor of tower 1 and unfortunately did not survive. As you can imagine, 9/11 is a big deal in my family and getting to speak to someone who was basically there for it was a unique experience for me. We spoke at length today about the importance of managing our mental health through physical exercise, and how there's absolutely no excuse not to make time to exercise. We also talked about holding our kids accountable and Ken breaks down the values that he focuses on the most with his four kids. Above it all, Ken is an incredible man, husband, and father, and it was an honor to host him on the show.

DISCUSSION POINTS

• Caring for your own mental health
• Treating yourself like someone you’re responsible for
• Mental health and running
• Living a life of service
• If you aren’t the best version of yourself you’re cheating those around you
• Seasons in life
• International adoption
• You’re only as happy as your saddest kid
• Supporting your kids emotionally
• Kindness, confidence, and effort
• Raising confident kids
• Addressing fear with your kids
• Apologizing to your kids
• What Ken is the most proud of
• What Ken wants his legacy to be with his kids

LINKS

www.rideoutstrong.com

Instagram: @ken_rideout