Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Every man dreams of success, power, money and influence. But what most men don't realize is success doesn't just open doors, it opens temptations. When you rise in business and start winning in life, new women notice and new opportunities appear. And suddenly your character is tested in ways it never was before. If it's your first time here, my name is Michael Riggs. I'm a full time author, entrepreneur, men's personal development and marriage mentor, husband and father of six. And I teach men all over the world how to live fully optim leveled up lives. So if that's something you're into, definitely stick around. Subscribe to this channel, subscribe to this podcast, wherever you're getting this, because this is what we do here every week. Talk about man stuff. How to be better leaders, fathers, husbands, successful men, and overall fully optimized men. And in this episode, we're talking about how to remain faithful, honorable and grounded when the world starts offering you everything you once thought you wanted and more. Because true success isn't just about what you gain. It's about what you refuse to lose. Hello and welcome to the Warrior Kings podcast. I'm your host, Michael Riggs, here to assist you on your journey to living a fully optimized, leveled up life as a man. So again, welcome and welcome back to the Warrior Kings podcast. It's great to be here today, it's great to talk to you today and I know I say this all the time, but I have to apologize, there hasn't been an episode up in a while. Last time I said, hey, we're back and better than ever and I'm going to be posting consistently and all that, but then I had some technical difficulties. We got some new gear, a new camera and stuff like that. And it was a huge transition and you know, I had to figure out how to make all this stuff work and that's basically what happened. No excuses, but I miss you guys, man. I miss you. That's really what it comes down to. I miss talking to you on this podcast. And again, if it's your first time here. My name is Michael Riggs. I'm a full time author, entrepreneur, men's personal development and marriage, mentor, husband, coach, husband and father of six. I know that's a lot of kids and there's some links down in the description of this podcast episode or this video where you can learn more about me, get into contact with me if you dig this episode and you can find my books in there and stuff like that and not really much other news for you guys. This week. So let's dive right into the topic of the day, which is success and temptation. How to remain faithful. Success amplifies who you are, good and bad. Success doesn't change you, it reveals you. And this wisdom comes from me talking to many successful men. Success gives you more freedom, more resources, more power, which means the parts of your character that were once small or hidden now have room to grow and show. When you're broken, struggling, your options are limited. Trust me, I know. We've all been there, right? You're forced into discipline by circumstance. But when you succeed, when money, attention, and freedom increase, you're finally unrestrained, and what's inside of you naturally comes out. If you're generous, success amplifies generosity. If you're selfish, success amplifies selfishness. If you're disciplined, success sharpens it. And if you're reckless, success will multiply the damage. Temptation increases with comfort, attention, and power. I mean, think about it. Things that weren't excess accessible to you before are now suddenly accessible. And you have this sense of, I can do pretty much whatever I want and nobody can stop me. And we'll get into ego in just a little bit. And where many men fall when they reach monetary success in their lives is the mindset of, I deserve this. So when a temptation presents itself, they say, I've been working really hard. I worked my way up to this point. I've earned this, so I deserve it. But the real test is, can you handle success without losing yourself? And here's the thing, man. Temptation targets your weakness. Once you ris. So those parts of you, the dark parts of you, will be exploited. It's like in my belief system, which is Christianity, the enemy uses our weak points. He exploits our weak points and uses those things against us to attack us, right? To make us fall in our lives or hold us back from our purpose, holding us back from our full potential. So whatever those weak points are in your mindset, your mind, body, and spirit in your life, those things will be exploited. And you will find temptation in those areas more in your life. Because suddenly everything has been made accessible to you. So let's say that you have drinking problem and now you can afford all the alcohol in the world. Let's say that you, like this episode is talking about being faithful. Let's say that you have wandering eyes and you love looking at pretty women. Hey, who doesn't? But now all of that is accessible to you. These weak points will be exploited, and temptation will rise in these areas. And this is to cause you to fall. Power plus ego plus access equals danger if left unchecked. And it gets easier and easier to get yourself in trouble when you start thinking that you're the king of the world and can get away with anything. And here's the thing, man. The same traits that made you successful are the same traits that have the power to destroy you. Confidence can become arrogance. The confidence that helps you lead and take risks can become ego and entitlement if you stop staying humble. Ambition becomes obsession. The drive that pushes you to build and succeed can make you neglect your marriage, your health and your peace if it goes unchecked. Charisma can turn into manipulation. The charm that wins clients, partners and followers can also be used to flirt, deceive or justify moral shortcuts. Power can easily turn into control. The leadership that builds companies can turn into domination or emotional distance at home. Focus becomes neglect. The tunnel vision that fuels your success can blind you to what is falling apart around you. Your marriage, your faith in your relationships. Discipline can become pride. The self control that builds strength can morph into self righteousness. Looking down on others who you feel aren't as put together and risk taking can easily become recklessness. The bold boldness that fuels breakthroughs can lead to impulsive decisions in business or in temptation that cost you everything that you've built. And really quick. If you're on the YouTube version of this episode, if you haven't already, go ahead and click the like button. Click the subscribe button so you don't miss any of my upcoming episodes. And here's the thing, man. Small compromises become big consequences. So in the moment, these things might seem really small. You might be compromising on little things and you might use that I deserve this mindset. A temptation might present itself and you say, say I've worked really hard. I worked my way up to this point. I deserve this. It's not that big of a deal. It's just a small thing. But these small actions compound over time and have the power over time to destroy you. And if you've been here for a while, you've heard me talk about small compounding actions lead to big results. You do enough small actions over time and they lead to a big thing. Well, the same is true for negative actions. So you might say, this isn't that big of a deal. It's just a small thing. Keep doing that enough times and you can watch your life fall apart. Strong men fall when they stop guarding, guarding their hearts, mind, body and spirit. It's very easy to get to A point in your life where you say, I'm comfortable and you stop doing the right things, the things that got you to where you are in the first place. So you have to stay optimized, mind, body and spirit. Still, you can't just say I made it and then relax and stop guarding yourself, stop guarding your heart, stop guarding your mind, body and spirit and start slipping up. You have to stay optimized in every area of your life. And faithfulness equals conviction, not lack of opportunity. Being faithful doesn't mean that you never had the chance to cheat or even cross the line. It means you chose not to even when you could have. A man's loyalty isn't proven by the absence of temptation. It's proven by his response in the presence of it. Lack of opportunity equals you're faithful only because the opportunity to cheat hasn't presented itself yet. Conviction equals you've decided in your soul who you are. And that decision doesn't change when opportunity knocks. That's what separates the average man from the honorable one. Faithfulness built on conviction says, even if I could, I won't because my integrity, my vows and my values mean more. And if you've read my book Warrior Husband, you've seen me talk about weak men giving into every fleshly impulse, every impulse like a dog, you know what I mean? Like hungry, eat, angry, bark, and so on. But having control of yourself, mind, body and spirit, and not giving into temptation and staying honorable and staying righteous and doing the right thing, that takes strength. It takes determination and self respect. You have to stay anchored in mission, not emotion. When you start winning in life, making money, gaining attention, attracting women, even emotions start pulling you in all different directions. Pride, desire, loneliness, boredom, validation. They all hit harder when you have success and freedom. If you're not grounded in something bigger than how you feel in the moment, you'll drift. Your mission, your purpose, your values, your why is what keeps you steady when emotion tries to pull you off course. And here's how it plays out in real life. A woman flirts with you. An emotion says, you deserve this. It's exciting. Mission says you have a wife to honor and a legacy to protect. Let's say business gets stressful. Emotion says I need to escape and go blow off steam. Mission says, lead through it. Your family is counting on you. Let's say you feel powerful. Emotion says you're untouchable. But mission says, stay humble. You're here to serve, not be worshiped. So staying anchored in mission is about living by conviction, not condition. It's Remembering why you started, who you're becoming, and what you stand to lose if you drift. When a man's emotions lead, he reacts. When his mission leads, he reigns. And here's another thing. Public discipline begins in private. When men think discipline, they think of what's seen. Showing up to work, hitting the gym, running the business. But the truth is, real discipline is built in the moments that no one else sees. If you're not disciplined in private, your thoughts, your habits, your screen time, your self control, that weakness will eventually show up in public if you stop guarding your eyes, your integrity. Integrity erodes quietly. Then one day, your marriage cracks publicly. You skip your prayer, your reflection, your self checks, your ego grows unchecked, and you start treating people that you feel are beneath you differently. If you slack on leadership at home, eventually your business and your leadership gets sloppy too. Every public failure begins as a private compromise. The man you are when no one is watching is the man you truly are. And if you can't master yourself in quiet, your phone, your thoughts, your discipline, you will lose control when life gets allowed. When you build integrity in private, it naturally shows up in your business, your marriage, your leadership, and your presence. Before you lead others, you must lead yourself. Before you command respect publicly, you must practice restraint privately. Now let's talk about marriage and high value men. Your wife needs leadership, not perfection. I talk about this a lot in my book Warrior Husband, and you've heard me talk about it here on the podcast. Women want to be led. They're not looking for the perfect guy, the perfect angel man, you know what I'm saying? They want a guy who can protect and provide for them, who makes them feel safe, who makes them feel seen and heard, who makes them feel emotionally safe. She wants you to be in your masculine so she can relax into her feminine. And being faithful and knowing that you will be faithful is part of that feeling safe. She can trust that you're not going to do something wrong. She can trust that you're not going to give into temptation. She's so secure in the fact that you that you love her and are in love with her that she has nothing to worry about. That is feeling safe. And success can pull you away from your marriage emotionally. So you need to fight that. There are tons of distractions and honestly, a lot of things to do the more you grow in the world. Again, this coming from talking to many successful men, it's very easy to lose sight of what actually matters because the world is pulling you in 10,000 different directions and temptation is pulling you in 10,000 more different directions. So focus on what truly matters, which is the woman that you committed to spending the rest of your life with. And know that nothing else in the world can provide you the type of satisfaction and fulfillment to having a happy, thriving marriage. Marriage can. And by the way, if I sound a little bit raspy today, I think I'm getting some sort of a throat cold or something. So that's what's going on with that presence, communication, and a shared vision. Involve her in the vision of your dream life, where you're going, you know that next level. Share that vision with her and work towards it together, at least conversationally. Spend time with each other. Basically, what I'm trying to say here is remain best friends with your wife and keep her a part of everything you do. That is a huge part of remaining faithful. Because if you're completely disconnected from her and just living out in the world and having everything presented to you and you're just forgetting about her, way easier to give into temptation. So make her a part of your daily life. You know what I'm saying? She should be your best friend. She should be involved in everything that you're doing. Your thoughts, your dreams, your aspirations, your vision. And here's the thing, man, you need to guard your kingdom. Set boundaries for yourself. No blurred lines, no looking at pretty girls dancing on Instagram for hours or private DMS or anything like that. Set boundaries for yourself. Like we talked about before, public discipline starts in private. And those small, seemingly meaningless actions compound over time, and eventually they turn into you making a terrible decision or the wrong move. And it has the power to destroy everything, even your reputation, even your marriage, your relationships, your friendships, your business, everything. Keep accountability with brothers and mentors. And one way to do this is to start offering them the same blessing of encouraging them in their marriage. Encouraging them in being a good, righteous man, encouraging them in being an honest, good man. And then they will reciprocate that. And then you can hold each other accountable. And when you see each other slipping, you can call that out. And they. And you can invite them by calling them out to call you out if you're in the wrong. And I definitely recommend having a mentor in your life, someone who can lead you and guide you in wisdom of what it means to be a good, honorable, respectable man. A good husband. When you need advice, you have someone to turn to and say, how do I go about this thing? Someone that you can open up with and be honest with, who won't judge you for anything about your Life mentors are extremely important. Another thing is you need to guard your spirit because success invites tests. The higher you go, the more spiritual tests you will be put through. Whether you believe that or not, I promise you it's true. And you will see it once you become aware of that. You will see that more and more in your life when you start viewing things through that lens. And for those of you listening right now who are very successful man, have you ever reached a point where you were like, why does it seem like everything is trying to stop me? Why is everything going wrong this week? Why is everything going wrong this quarter? It seems like everything is trying to shut me down. Those are the tests. And like I said before, your weaknesses will be exploited through those tests to get you to the next level. And those weaknesses being tested will show up in the form of temptations. So guard your mind, body and spirit and stay consistent in that. Remain fully optimized in your life, mind, body and spirit. Attention from women isn't just admiration, it's a trap. Don't fall into it. Don't put yourself in situations that you know could lead you to destruction. When you're on business and you wrap it up for the day, just go back to your hotel room. Don't engage online. No secret private messages. Don't even entertain it. Open the message requests and you see something, just delete it. Don't even open it. Don't even give them the time of day. Skip the bar. Vices like alcohol and drugs have the power to get you in trouble. And you need to remain focused. Have the honor to deny invitations even if there's some sort of payoff, networking wise. Like if you have the opportunity for some big partnership or collaboration. And the only way to have this meeting is to get on yacht with 10 only fans, girls. Absolutely not, bro. That opportunity isn't worth it. No opportunity is worth destroying yourself. Your marriage, your reputation, your business, everything. Also, set boundaries with female employees. Even if it's uncomfortable, it's better to get your point across and address it and being accused and lied to than to take the alternative route, which ultimately is destruction. You are an honorable, successful king with a lineage and a legacy. So act like it. True success. Success comes from peace, happiness and integrity. Let's say you were offered $100 million right now, what is that? $100 million? If you aren't happy, if you aren't at peace, if your relationships are out of control, if you're out of control, if you're not fulfilled, no level of success can fill you up if you aren't full already. You know what I'm saying? And true peace, true happiness comes from being optimized, mind, body and spirit. Remaining honest, honorable and faithful. No matter what you face in life, no matter what temptation comes your way, what test comes your way, you remain true, honest and honorable. If it costs your character, it's not success. And when it comes to the ways of the world and the temptations of the world and being bombarded with the world every day, redefine success in your mind and develop a legacy mindset, a lineage mindset, a king mindset. Build something for your family, something your family respects. Say, this is my lineage, this is my legacy, and I'm not going to do anything to destroy that. Think 10 to 100 generations down the line and say, this starts with me, not I'm just a guy living in the world and all this is happening to me. Think of yourself as more important than that. Think of your bloodline, your lineage, and your legacy is more important than that. Listen, man, the world doesn't just need successful men. It needs honorable, faithful ones. Master yourself and protect your home and your name. Protect your lineage and your legacy. The world cannot offer you anything that is worth destroying your life. Remember, success means nothing if you lose your soul. Like the Bible says, what is it for a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? So that's what I got for you guys today. I hope you got something out of this episode. I hope this episode inspired you in some way. Like I said, there's links in the description of this podcast episode or this YouTube video where you can find my books, you can get in contact with me, you can find out more about me, me, all my socials and all that is on there. And it was great to talk to you today. So get out there, kill it. Level up every aspect of your life, mind, body and spirit. I love you. I'm proud of you and you are going to do great things in this life. You listening to this right now? A life of overflowing abundance awaits you on the other side of you deciding to make the switch, make the change and level up every aspect of your life. Get out there and have a good week, guys. Thanks, bye.
