Ryan Alford [00:00:14] Hey, guys, this is Ryan Alford, welcome to the radical podcast. Really excited about today's episode. Got a good friend, mentor, a person I look up to who is doing a lot of cool things here in Greenville. Ted Phaeton. Hey, man, good to have you. 

Ted Phaeton [00:00:40] It's funny because you said, mentor. I felt “is he talking’’ about me!”

Ryan Alford [00:00:44] No, man, I look up to you. We all learn and engage from each other. And so, I've been really appreciative of getting to know you these last few months. I appreciate you coming on the podcast. 

Ted Phaeton [00:00:53] It's a pleasure, man. I love the office. 

Ryan Alford [00:00:57] Yes, we try to make it a little Radical here. But I appreciate you coming on, man. And, Ted is a local anchor with Fox News as the day job. Ted, let’s start with sharing your background – what got you here in Greenville, what got you into the news, the interest in being a meteorologist and things that led you today. But I'd love for our audience to hear in your own words a little bit of the history of Ted. 

Ted Phaeton [00:01:51] First things first. The path is never a straight line. If you would have told me three years ago I was going to be an anchor, I would not have believed you. If you would have told me three or four years prior to that I was going to be a meteorologist. I wouldn't believe you either. So there's been a lot of shifts and lane changes in my story. But I mean, it pretty much started off as a kid in high school trying to figure out my way. I love playing video games. I actually built my own computer in high school and I thought I was going to be a computer engineer. And I ended up switching to computer science because the college I went to didn't offer that. Combination of luck - the brakes were off. First-year in college. Join a fraternity. You're doing something that's not for you. It was the perfect recipe to fail. So I had a 1.9 GPA at the end of my freshman year, and I'm on vacation in North Carolina with some friends not knowing what I'm going to do with my life. Then, I somehow see a bird just take a dove into the ocean and I start talking to my friends about the tide and the bird coming and hunting, and they're amazed. Well, I've always been good at Earth science and stuff. And my friend Colin says, “we have a great meteorology program”. And that was it. I made my mind up then, like, let me do meteorology. And, there's been bumps along the way. I graduated with Broadcast Meteorology as my major and worked at a law firm before getting into the business. So it took me three years to get into the business. And then after getting the business, I had one year contract. And my boss walks in, says, “Hey, there's a job opening in Greenville, South Carolina”. “Do you want to?” And he walks out of the office. I go to the computer, I start Googling like, where in the world is Greenville, South Carolina? I never heard of it. The journey landed here. And it's been that ride ever since. 

Ryan Alford [00:04:06] So, the news positions, whether it's meteorology or otherwise. But is it competitive? I remember coming through the early stages of my career and having friends that broadcast and journalism; it was hyper-competitive. Is it still that same? 

Ted Phaeton [00:04:30] The business there's a lot of competitiveness in it because a lot of people are hungry. I mean, to be in the business, you have to be hungry. And when you're surrounded by other people who are hungry, that's going to breed competition. For me, I'll be honest, I didn't. I haven't felt much competition. And I think it's just because I have tunnel vision. I’ve been lucky to not compare myself in the business with others around me. And that has helped me keep my head down and keep working to the point where when I was offered the opportunity to anchor, that blindsided me. I didn't expect it. And when it scared me, when it was offered, I said, oh, and it scares me. And that's why I have to do it? I mean, I read prompter every day in the morning and I'm in high school. I was the kid that didn't like reading out loud. I read the paragraphs ahead. But going from that and focusing, “the challenge for me” “this is how I grow”. “this is how I overcome myself”. My only competition is me. But in the business, everybody else, they're gunning for that, that same position you're going for. 

Ryan Alford [00:05:46] Talk about SUNY Albany. Growing up in New York, was that considered upstate or middle state?. 

Ted Phaeton [00:06:04] So I grew up in Long Island College and SUNY Albany. That's upstate. It's cold and it's gray. And the main selling point for SUNY Albany was this big fountain in the waters flowing and all this beautiful and as I started to go to the school in September, they turned off the fountain and they didn't turn it back on until April because it's too cold. But yes, SUNY Albany was where I kind of started putting in, 

Ryan Alford [00:06:38] Where do you feel like you got your drive from? Since we've gotten to know each other, that purpose and that passion to really succeed and just be unique and successful. Where do you think that comes from? 

Ted Phaeton [00:06:54] My parents. Both my parents, I come from a household where there's no such thing as complaining about my mom and my dad. They're both from Haiti and they both completely left the country. Went to a new country and started from scratch to give their kids a shot at a successful life. And I grew up seeing two perspectives of life where my dad would leave at six o'clock in the morning. I wouldn't see him till six p.m. because he's commuting to the city, coming back. My mom was a psychiatric nurse for over 25 years, so she would go to work at seven a.m. She's supposed to get up at 4:00, but she'd work overtime, come home sometimes at 11:00 p.m. just to put me and my sister in Catholic school. So when I go to Catholic school, I'm seeing a lot of other kids in high school, these are 18-year-olds driving H2, Hummers and BMW using them like seeing these two worlds and seeing the work my parents put to even give me a shot in that world. I felt it will be almost doing them a disservice if I stop trying to better myself. 

Ryan Alford [00:08:02] Yeah, that's cool, man. Not everyone has that. A lot of that drives some of us self-driven and modern comes from my parents as well. So I relate to that. So talk about what it's like being an anchor. I'm fascinated by it. I know you get up early, it's not all glamor. I've been in the marketing business long enough and behind the camera and on the other side of the camera, enough to see it's not all sexy all the time. But talk about your experiences and being the anchor and meteorologist before that. And I know you're still technically what's the balance there between those roles and. Are we going to be Ted, the anchor, moving forward in the career or are we hanging on to a little bit of both or what's the talk? I’d love your perspective on these. 

Ted Phaeton [00:09:03] I'll be honest with you. I got a lot of soul-searching to do for the road ahead. Because I've done the anchoring and I've done weather and I've seen those two worlds. Both require a lot of responsibility. And I say that because it's easy to see the meteorologist in the anchor on TV and that must be so much fun. And there's an aspect of fun to it. Learning how impactful that position is, we're translating information as a meteorologist and you're talking about storms, this potentially life-threatening. And I know from my meteorology days, I talk about for myself, I have two losses. There are two storms here in the western Carolinas that claimed two lives. And I take responsibility for that because if our job is to inform the public, let them know of the dangers out there if. If someone doesn't know, I have to take that as a personal failure, so specifically that was I don't know if you remember maybe four years ago, the heavy downpours, Stoned Avenue was flooded, Haywood Road was flooded. And unfortunately, we always say turn around, don't drown. Unfortunately, someone drove into the floodwaters. They got stuck and they tried to get out of the car. The floodwaters swept them away. It doesn't take much – perhaps six inches to a foot of water moving can knock you off your feet. And so when we're trying to put that information out and we see a victim of that, we take personal responsibility for it. So first and foremost, with the position comes a lot of responsibility. The same goes for anchoring the news, especially in the political culture that we're living in right now and the conversations that are going around. It's important for me to translate information from a neutral perspective and keep it with the facts. Also, keep any biases out and just give pure facts and allow people to make their own mind up. The basis of journalism is informing the public so they can self-govern and inform the public. They can vote the officials in and then they can, in fact, create the country that they want to live in. I think that's the translation that as journalists we try and put out there, the power is in the hands of the people. And as journalists, we keep those in power accountable. So the responsibility aspect is huge. On the other end, I have a lot of fun. I get to in essence, I get to be myself. And I'm lucky when my news director and my boss says, “hey, be a little bit more open Ted”. That's great feedback. want me to joke around a little bit more when I can and sneak in my comments. Sure. I can do that. So waking up at 2 A.M. is not fun, but when you get to speak about a Disney trailer. And there are a lot worse things to get paid for doing. 

Ryan Alford [00:12:09] So where does your heart lie – with the weather? Does it lie with being on the news moving forward, or is it one of these other passes which we'll get into in just a minute? 

Ted Phaeton [00:12:21] I think my heart lies in communication. I think my heart lies in the media. And I never got in it for the cameras and to be on TV. In fact, when I was studying broadcast meteorology, I didn't realize till my senior year when I went into my internship, I was like, “oh, wait, I have to be on TV”. So I didn't get into it for that. But I've fallen in love with just the production and the transformation that media has given me. Even the lights, the cameras here. I love this because there's somebody on the other end. We can't see them. They can hear us, they can resonate with us. We can connect with people through time and through space with what we're doing right now. So for the rest of my days, I don't know if it's going to be anchoring if it's going to be whether it's going to be any of these other ventures. But till the day I die, I think I'm going to be either on the print audio, video platform in some way, shape or form. 

Ryan Alford [00:13:17] You said about the neutral aspect of the news that, to me, has to be a real challenge, not because you aren't able to be professional and not show it, but the stories that are that you have to tell that you're told and that you're guided through. Because when I watch the news now, as a marketer, I see through a lot of it and I feel like all I feel now is so many biases – love or hate. What's going on in politics? I'm actually bothered by it. But it's like there's something fascinating about that coverage and how you balance those stories. And I'd love to hear, like what goes through your mind and trying to do that and how much maybe you hear feedback or do you run into people on the street or through your social channels that are like that? Think you're slanted in certain ways. I mean, I'd love it if you dive into that a little more. 

Ted Phaeton [00:14:46] To be honest, we get it all the time. We'll get emails and there are folks who think they'll swear that we are titled towards the right. And then other emails in the same day, they'll swear we're favorite towards the left. And it is a difficult balance I will say.  The major networks, because I'm sure you've heard in marketing and in business, if you try and make everybody happy, you don't have a good product. So news has been transferring a little bit in that on the major networks. So now the networks, we all know who they are. They're starting to take more biases. Clearly, they're taking a stance and they're taking a certain side because they're building more of a passionate following. And because of that, that actually translates into local media, which a lot of people don't realize are independently owned for the most part. So when I work for Fox Carolina, I'm not working for Fox Network, the only thing we have in common is the primetime showing on our channel. Our news is mainly a group of journalists who go out, they find the story and what's going on in the community and what's affecting people. And oftentimes, if we get information that is lean towards one side, the rule of thumb is, “get comment and get the other side”. There are three sides to every story, one side, the other side and the right side and our job is to tell the two sides of that story as best as we can. And again, let the viewers and let those watching come to their own conclusion. I think that's really the mission in the goal that we do and. As you can't make everybody happy, sometimes the story has not presented the way that they want, or sometimes we don't have both sides because one side refuses to comment and we're forced to report on what we have. So when it comes to news, it's an everyday battle to tell the story a certain way, and that's why. We get in there at three o'clock in the morning, everybody's in there in the middle of the night, and we have four pairs of eyes looking at a script before it comes out. And, that's helpful because we need to check each other.

Ryan Alford [00:16:58] Media is interesting right now. Do you know what kind of dialogue I fancy? Questions like I just ask sometimes and then we're being broadcast right now live and a lot of channels you're on a news station and TV's not going anywhere like tomorrow. There are still millions of television sets and it's news. But I wonder what kind of dialog if you do or if you hear it, like with your producers and different things that people are having around the reality of the transmission of news and content now and how that has become so mobile, so active. We're all almost like broadcasters ourselves in a way, but more towards the distribution of media from your perspective. But then just behind the scenes, if there's a dial, do you guys talk about that stuff? Is it like not going, “Oh God, is TV going away?” Do you guys have those conversations? Are our producers or the big wigs that you deal with – you hear them talking about those things? 

Ted Phaeton [00:18:04] I'll be honest, I'm not too many people in my building have those conversations. I've had those conversations with a couple of people because, I mean, we look at the market, we see what's going on, and I like to prepare for the future. I think there's something that's working right now and it's easy when something works to get comfortable. I'm not comfortable and looking at the makeup of what's going on. When I first got the job anchoring, I didn't really study much journalism. I had a journalism course throughout my college career, so I bought a couple of books and read up. And one of the books I was reading talks about the challenge of how social media and instant access to information is a big challenge for journalism in today's world. 

Ryan Alford [00:19:00] I was working in New York on that.  

Ted Phaeton [00:19:05] That was credited. The breaking news story for that, the coverage that was credited to Twitter. And that was the first time a social media platform beat out news networks. And that's when the world changed. And that's where we are now. Most journalists have a Twitter account because that is information in real-time. If you want to stay informed, be on Twitter. And we live in a world where we find breaking news stories through Twitter. I came in in the morning. I have a tweet deck, so I have all these tweets and I follow journalists from all over the country. And that's how I first saw the news of the Las Vegas shooting. And that's coming in on Twitter. And we get into gathering mode. We start listening to the scanners, listening, listening to the local networks. And of course, you see it all the time and news whenever there's breaking news stories and they talk about a tragic occurrence, the numbers are always wrong initially. And that's the biggest challenge that we have in journalism, is we were supposed to pride ourselves on accuracy. We're supposed to pride ourselves on our reputation. But when the information is coming out in real-time, we can't ignore it. So we have to report the latest number. Is this the latest number and the responsibility for us as a news network is not to believe everything we hear. We have to filter through fake news and make sure what we put out there is credible and that's how we keep our reputation. That's how we keep the trust of the people by vetting all of our sources, vetting where the information comes from, and then translating it as best we can. 

Ryan Alford [00:20:47] Do you think there's still this race to be first versus the race to be right? Is that still prevalent in media or have these other mediums like we were talking about, augmented and lessened the pressure? Perhaps because it's almost impossible whose first is whoever smartphones their fastest rate yet? Is it more about accuracy and then speed or is it still like the race even locally? Like, I still wonder, are you Fox Channel seven and four, NBC, CBS and Fox like are you still battling to be first on a local news story or is it less about that anymore? 

Ted Phaeton [00:21:29] What's interesting about it is you can't win it both. Speed is the enemy of accuracy. If you're first you sacrifice the ability to be accurate and if you wait a little longer, you can be accurate. And I guess it’s harder to balance there. 

Ryan Alford [00:21:45] But do all get pressure to break first? 

Ted Phaeton [00:21:48] I don't think it's too much pressure to break first. I think it's pressure to cover what's happening in Russia to cover what's relevant because if something is happening, we don't ever want to be in a spot where we ignore the elephant in the room. So we don't want to sit on the trigger, if you would, if there's something happening, we have enough to report on it. The pressure is OK, you have it, get it out in a timely manner. Definitely, there is urgency. There's no doubt about that. There is urgency in business. But again, the urgency becomes dangerous when you're dealing with the accuracy of the story, too. 

Ryan Alford [00:22:31] So let's venture into the subplots of Ted, what I know you've got your hands and a lot of different things. We're talked about that before. You've got a successful podcast yourself. You've got the website. I know you do a lot of blogging. You talked about some of those sub passions and some of the things that you're into and that you're both challenges and opportunities that you see ahead for that stuff. 

Ted Phaeton [00:23:01] Well, anybody that knows me knows I love to talk. So four and a half hours every morning isn't enough, I guess. 

Ryan Alford [00:23:07] This is perfect. Time to have a regular segment. 

Ted Phaeton [00:23:11] So after doing news in the morning, I love what I do. But those topics are really what concerns the community. And those are topics that need to be discussed afterwards. I have a passion for self-growth. I have a passion for learning the business and just learning about myself. So I continue that with my podcast the No Rain, No Rainbows podcast. Part of that's because I mentioned before where I am now, I would have never thought that. And to be where I am, I just have this. I almost feel like I have a responsibility to portray other people like this. I say no rain, no rainbows because I've had my dark days. And to get through those dark days I have a good job and I'm pretty happy with where I am. And I just have this positivity about me. I want to share that. So that's been a passion of mine through the No Rain, No Rainbows podcast. And that is LIVE on my blog, Phaeton Forecast, which again, it's all in the same realm. I say the best way to predict your future is to create it and hear how it's all related because meteorology is where I got my start. So with Phaeton forecast, my goal is to share some stories, share the books that I'm reading, share how I've found a certain level of fulfillment in my life and really get the discussion going with people. I love this realm, discussing with people, how can we be better? I'm not a big fan of small talk. I know I'm not a good listener because when people tell me about their day, I'm like, “I don't really care what you had for breakfast. Let's talk about these goals”. “Let's talk about what we could do in life”. “There's so much opportunity outside of these doors”. I don't know how long I'm here and I know I'm here once, so I want to see what's out there. So it's really just a passion for self-growth and finding how I can share my story with people. And if it resonates with somebody builds relationships, that's really the end game there. 

Ryan Alford [00:25:17] Share with our listeners, maybe, a good book or a good tip or something that you've come across recently that maybe made an impact in something that you did or I know you just reviewed a lot of books. I was reading your blog. So anything, any tips or tricks or recent things? I know you're big into the personal development side. I do want to get into the fitness part in a second, Ted. Not granted last week in advance of it. We'll get to that in a minute. But any tips in the personal development or a book you've read or anything that's really hit you right in the head? 

Ted Phaeton [00:26:01] So I just did. The blog post you're talking about was the 19 books every man should read in 2019 to jumpstart his growth. And I know it says men in the title and it is focused towards men, but I think everybody can get value from that list. There are only maybe three or four books on the list that have men in their title. It is really geared towards men. But I think it's a good balance of habits, self-growth, mindset and masculinity. And really the first book I'll recommend to people would be The Power of Habit. That showed me the importance of habit in terms of getting going. And the reason I say that first is because reading, for example, if you pick up that book and you read it and you understand the importance of habit and you make reading a habit that'll help you get through the list and that'll help you implement everything else. So the power of habit would be the first book I recommend because motivation gets you going. Habits keep you going. So number one, habit number two, As A Man Thinketh. I've been learning a lot about myself, and I don't like everything, and that's the hardest thing looking in the mirror. Spending time by myself, meditating, reading these books to consciously think and I don't like certain things about myself, I love myself. But there are certain things I can work on. I can improve on. And being real with myself, I'm like, “Ted, man, you're not perfect. You got things that are messed up, but you've done a great job so far. Keep going, you know? And that's the biggest thing I want people to get out of that list is finding out who you are accepting, who you are loving, who you are”. I used to have a lot of self-doubt, self-talk, and I've transitioned to a spot in my life where I walk into a room and I don't care what anybody thinks. There's still some feedback here and there because it's a hard habit to get away from. But if I'm just genuinely made myself, I've accepted I'm a good person, I have good intentions. If somebody takes something the wrong way, I'd love the opportunity to address it and correct it. But I don't want to apologize for living my life anymore. 

Ryan Alford [00:28:15] Well, that's a powerful one. Once you can get to that point, you can really take on the world because 90 percent of our inhibitions are that doubt and then the worry of what other people think. And the moment you can and you never get rid of all of it, we're all human beings. But once you can embrace that, you are your only limit and really and realize that all starts with you and that we're not perfect. But we're all clay being molded at all times. I think some of the challenges, some of the things that drive me crazy and I try to build my content around this. I'm forty-one. People get to my age even, which, 40 is the new 20, whatever.

But they think that they can't be molded or they can't grow. Like, this is just who you are. And, it's powerful to hear you talk about self-awareness and then just knowing that you don't have to care what everybody thinks, but you've got to keep pushing and keep growing. And, I think there's a lot to learn in that truth. But I'd love to hear where that came from. If you listen or give a little background on what you've been doing, the Modern Man, I think that's just another pet project. But, I don't know where you see that going…

Ted Phaeton [00:29:54] So a pet project now, but I'll speak it into existence right here. I want that to be my life mission. And that scares me because really, the modern man was a thought, an idea. I had sat down with Tyler Harris and he was really the first person I told about it. Let's do it. We'll get the cameras. And he helped manifest that into something real. And since then, I've been honing in on building the modern man. And I get it because growing up, I saw my parents operate like a well-oiled machine. I saw the work my mom put in, my dad put in. And then as I got out into the world and I'm starting to read these books, I'm realizing that I need to find a purpose. Men need a purpose. I think everybody needs a purpose. But men, they really pride themselves on a mission. You've heard the quote, If you don't stand for anything, you'll fall for anything. And I've looked around. I'm starting to hear men suffering. They're not saying anything. They're not sharing anything. But I hear suffering. And if you want to see the reality of it, just Google the suicide rate among men over the age of 35. And so I think it's a problem where we are having to find a new definition of what it means to be a man in this world. The reason it scares me is because I'm going to have the audacity to want to build the modern man and push for the modern man. I better walk the talk. And the first thing I will say is that being a man is not easy. It's not easy. Being a woman is not easy. I'm not trying to downplay the opposite gender here. I think being a man is hard and being a woman is hard, but giving some support to men, having to find not necessarily a blueprint, but maybe some direction where we can find purpose, we can find growth, meaning, that is something I think all men want and need. I think we need men groups. We need to roar. We need to be beasts. But we also need to hone that in and focus it in productive ways. And I think if I can find that makeup because I'm still trying to find it. Yeah. If I can find that makeup and share that with others, I think it can increase the quality of life that a lot of men live. They say if you change a man, you can change the household. If you change your household, you can change a community, change your community, you change the state, the change of the country which changes the world. Start with the men in the household and we can ultimately change the world. 

Ryan Alford [00:32:38] Yeah, I love that. I mean, it's really powerful. And I think you're dead right. And it's back to I think it's all men instinctively hold things. I mean, you talk about extroverts and introverts and all that, but I think there's this introverted ness of purpose and things that stay internalized with most men. And, it's not like, well, “I can't show my emotions”. I'm not saying it's all that, but some of it is that. Yeah, it's like just being real. Most men feel like they have to wear this facade. And, I think they keep that cloak on and it becomes even more as you get older in my age and even past that. I think it just suppresses and suppresses and suppresses. And then I think that's why it leads to a lot of broken families because it's like that it's the midlife crisis, but it's because they haven't been, being their real self or feeling confined or feeling comfortable expressing that. 

Ted Phaeton [00:33:42] Yeah. And that's men. We want to be strong. And we hold things. And I don't know if you've ever heard, like, the mug or the cup. So this is a bottle of water. And as men like I could hold this bottle of water, it's no problem. But if I hold it for an hour, two hours, three hours, the weight of the bottle didn't change. But my arms are going to start shaking. I can't hold it that long. And sooner or later, the bottles are going to crash, water is going to get everywhere. And people are like, “what the hell happened?” And you say, “I am just fine”. But when you hold on to it, it explodes. And I think we need an outlet. And I was reading a book and the author talks about surveying men and women through marriage. Most women have friend groups for emotional support whereas men typically only have their wives. And that's one thing that because as men, we bottle it up, we keep it to ourselves. So being able to be vulnerable with some of my friends, being able to be like, “Hey, man, listen, I'm not alright”. “What's going on with you, man?” I messed up being able to be vulnerable a little bit and show some emotion, even shed a couple of tears if you need to. Having that emotional support can help men because it's a lot to put on one person. And, that can also cause stress in the marriage. If all the emotional things you're going through fall on your wife, she's got to carry her stuff and yours, too. So I think it's our responsibility to share that load with some of our friends, to not overwhelm and burden our spouses. And having that balance, you're going to share it with them, of course, but not weighing them down with it is also important. 

Ryan Alford [00:35:32] Right. I know you've been involved with it. That's what we've been trying to do with Greenville Hustle. Not just men, men and women, but on the networking, making it more real dialog, more real conversation and all that. Yeah, so I've really appreciated your support of that. Just wanted to say that. And instrumental and just showing up to the events and all that. So I appreciate your support of that as we move forward. 

Ted Phaeton [00:35:59] I mean, I believe in the mission in terms of bringing people together. And really it starts with the conversations. It starts with meeting other people where they think the same way. I spent a lot of my life thinking I was crazy because most of the people I was around, had a different mindset. And it's good to get in a room where your mindset is with the majority for what's right and it makes you feel comfortable. And I leave those events like, “man, I'm not doing enough” that I got to do or but I mean, that's how you stay sharp as a knife. Need a whetstone, stay sharp. And that's the environment you guys have created and you're growing. And I'd love to see from its roots all the way to the fruits come out. 

Ryan Alford [00:36:46] We'll get there. I know physical fitness is important to you, talk a little bit about that. And how have you always been into working out? Is that like a newer thing? Ted and I were involved with an event with metabolic Core 24 and Lululemon last weekend. It was a men's event where we did a little bit of every exercise. Ted and I were sweating and falling over next to each other. It was rough, but I had a good time. But, maybe talk about how fitness and all I mean, it starts with the body. I mean, I know as far as the mind and everything being strong is concerned, but I love where that comes in. And maybe as a passion point?

Ted Phaeton [00:37:28] Yeah, I think I was not always in fitness. I graduated high school weighing 135 pounds. I was tiny. I was the smallest kid on my Varsity Football team. But through college, I put on a little bit of a beer belly. And then when I graduated, I started going to the gym a little bit, but I ended up getting ulcerative colitis. For those that don't know, it is very similar to Crohn's disease. Your body doesn't absorb nutrients the way it should in this condition. And that put me in the hospital. I lost thirty pounds in a month and I was skin and bones and coming out of the hospital after that, I wanted to bounce back. And that was the first realization of the things I eat have an impact on my body. So I started paying more attention to what I ate and worked my way back to a month and a half after getting out of the hospital. I was on top of a mountain snowboarding. And that was not just my mindset of positivity, but my mindset of eating and staying active. So I did that for a while, and then Charles Ross came into my life, and now he's the guy that if you need somebody to challenge you and up your game, hang out with Charles Ross for ten minutes. So he literally was like, “hey, let's go to the gym”. And he would increase the difficulty. And I'll tell you this much, it never gets easier. You just get stronger. Yeah. And then you just level up as you go. So I've been on that journey. I've been working out and just trying to level myself up and challenge myself and really start molding my body. Because the biggest thing is when I start seeing those changes, it makes it tangible. You actually know that the things you do have an impact. And it's not just in fitness, but really in everything. I look in the mirror and the life I'm living, the way I look, the person I've created, I'd advise anybody listening to create an avatar of themselves, the ideal self that they want to be hanging on your bathroom wall and look at it every day and do something to create that person. I've created my physique. I've created the relationships I've had. I created this world around me. And I do that every day by intentionally living. So if people live intentionally, they can create their own future, their own physique, whatever their fitness goals are, whatever their career or financial goals might be, just to start little by little doing it. 

Ryan Alford [00:40:12] Love it. Well, man, I really appreciate you coming on. And let's tell everybody that's listening where they can find you. Fox Channel 12. Give me some of your handles and where people can find all your content. 

Ted Phaeton [00:40:32] Sure. So first and foremost, you'll see me every morning from 4: 30 to 9:00 a.m. Monday through Friday at Fox Carolina. Outside of that, my Instagram handle is Phaeton 4Kast. That's also my handle on Twitter and for Facebook, it's just Ted Phaeton. And then that'll end up directing you to my website, which is Phaeton4Kast.com. It's about the same as my handle. 

Ryan Alford [00:41:02] Love it. Well, Ted, I really appreciate you coming on the radical podcast and my pleasure. Love to continue growing our friendship and having you evolve with Gvl Hustle and just staying connected.