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Front Row Dads with Jon Vroman

Jon Vroman

Since 2016, Front Row Dads has been the community for "family men with businesses, not businessmen with families".

Weekly interviews on marriage, parenting, health, emotional intelligence, business and legacy.

Learn about the brotherhood at FrontRowDads.com

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#591
Yesterday · 15 min
Why You Keep Having the Same Fight with Your Wife/ Mark Groves
Every couple has a dance, and most men have never seen the steps written down. One of you closes the distance and gets louder. The other creates distance and shuts down. What makes it a loop rather than an argument is that each one's way of coping is precisely the thing the other cannot tolerate. Mark Groves names it, then takes it apart: Gottman's four horsemen, why men stonewall more than women do, and the single sentence that breaks a defensive pattern even though saying it feels awful. Then the harder half. Groves admits he spent years in a relationship with someone who needed exactly the skills he teaches, and asks the question underneath it: what if you need the problem to be there? What if the fixing is the point? IN THIS EPISODE The dance: the distancer, the escalator, and why the loop holds Gottman's four horsemen, and why men stonewall "I can see some truth in what you're saying," and why it tastes terrible Behind every criticism is a desired behavior "Our defense strategies live beside our greatest wounds" The kitchen, the deal breaker that kept moving, and what he said instead What happens to the fixer when the addict gets sober Why nobody should be 100 percent in with someone who is 99 Unconscious commitments, and needing a battle to fight Jon on creating problems at home to have something to bring to the room FULL EPISODE How to Co-Regulate: The Science Behind Relationship Harmony: https://frontrowdads.com/474 Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is all about? The Brotherhood Experience is a free, one-hour online session where you meet other like-minded men who are committed to being family men with businesses, not businessmen with families. You will hear the core ethos and values behind the community, and why this brotherhood is a strategy for connecting with your kids, building a thriving marriage, and winning in business. It runs every month. Pick a time that works for you at https://frontrowdads.com/experience
#593
Sunday · 7 min
Reveal Your Truth, Ask for Help, Do The One Thing
Jon walked into a band meeting with seven things to do and walked out with one. Episode 4 of Walk With Jon. No studio, no script, no guest, no editing. Jon Vroman walking the lake in downtown Austin on a Wednesday afternoon, thinking out loud. The audio is rough on purpose: traffic, wind, and footsteps are part of the deal. He recorded this straight out of his monthly band meeting, where he put business on the table. Two things he admits he hasn't always done well: saying his truth out loud instead of withholding it to spare feelings, and being humble enough to ask for counsel. He did both. Then his buddy Tim kept saying the same thing until it stuck: "there's only one thing you need to do after this meeting," and until it's done with excellence, don't do two. IN THIS WALK: What a band is, if you're new here: four to six men, monthly, real conversations Withholding isn't lying, but it isn't the truth either Lead domino, five whys, communal drive: the FRD core values, and the one he wasn't living Ideation is his top strength, and why that means he needs editors around him The method in one breath: reveal, get curious, lean on your trusted advisors, pick one thing, execute, follow through Front Row Dads is a brotherhood of family men with businesses, not businessmen with families. To learn more, go to frontrowdads.com.
#592
September 17 · 1 hr 36 min
The Husband's Guide to Perimenopause and Menopause w/ Dr. Heather Hirsch
She calls it puberty in reverse. It can last a decade. And most husbands have no idea it's happening. LIVE WITH DR. HIRSCH, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8TH. She is joining the Front Row Dads community for a live session with Q&A on how men can support the women in their lives through menopause. Free for members, and a limited number of guest passes for everyone else. Details at frontrowdads.com/menopause Dr. Heather Hirsch is board-certified in internal medicine, founded the Menopause and Midlife Clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital, taught at Harvard Medical School, and has treated thousands of women through perimenopause and menopause. She flew to Austin for this one because, in her words, most of the conversation about menopause happens with women, and it's the men who share a bed, a marriage, and a family with them who never get the briefing. This is that briefing. She defines the terms every husband should know, explains what actually happens as the hormones flicker out like a failing light bulb, and walks through what it does to sleep, mood, memory, weight, skin, and sex. Then the practical half: how to bring it up without saying "this explains everything," why tracking symptoms beats blood work, the bedroom at 65 degrees, why so many women see five to seven doctors before the right diagnosis, and what real treatment looks like. Her story is the first 20 minutes. The practical breakdown starts at 19:56. Find a trained clinician: menopause.org or heatherhirschdirectory.com Her books: Unlock Your Menopause Type and The Perimenopause Survival Guide Follow her: @heatherhirschmd Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? We run a live Brotherhood Experience most months. Jon and a few other dads, 60 minutes on Zoom, and a real conversation about how fatherhood is actually going. It's not a webinar, and you won't leave drained. On any given week, most dads give support and never get any. That's what this hour is for. It's free, and the next date and your seat are both at frontrowdads.com/experience
#591
September 15 · 10 min
Most Couples Fix Their Marriage Backwards
Most of us don't have a plan for our marriage. We have a repair schedule. Something breaks, we patch it, things are fine for a while, and then we sit there quietly waiting for it to break again. Lance Salazar lived in that loop. He describes a defeatist stretch where even when things were okay, he was just wondering when it was going to go bad. So he and his wife stopped fixing and started designing, borrowing the thing they already knew how to do in business: decide what you want, build a plan, commit to it, track it. What came out of that is a framework they call the four legendary relationship elements. You. The partnership. The friendship. The lovers. And Lance is insistent about the order, because a great partnership needs a great partner first, and it is very hard to feel like friends with someone you are arguing with about the garbage. IN THIS EPISODE The cycle of patch, coast, break, repeat, and why it ends in mediocrity Designing a marriage instead of repairing it Applying goals, milestones, and actions to a marriage the way you would to a company Why you can't run a marathon you never trained for The four legendary relationship elements, and why the order is the point The partnership loop: finances, kids, the trash, and why couples get trapped there after kids Tracking it: ten minutes of talking a day, a planner, an actual checkbox "If you haven't been kissing your wife every day, then you need a reminder" Why it sounds unromantic and why he does it anyway How friendship becomes the foundation for intimacy FULL EPISODE Legendary Couples with Kids: https://frontrowdads.com/39
#592
September 15 · 10 min
Why Your Kid's Anxiety Might Be Yours
Jon's eleven-year-old had been more anxious than usual, and his wife told him why. You have been more stressed at work. He is a reflector. He picks up on your energy. Bryan Post takes that and does something more useful than reassurance. Your son has his own part, formed long before this week. You have yours. And the moment you take his behavior personally, you lose the ability to be present for him, because you have made his stuff your stuff. He gives the actual words to use, and the reason they work: all behavior arises from stress; a stressed child regresses to a younger age, and between the stress and the behavior there is only ever love or fear. Then the part most parents get backward. When your kid's fear frightens you, what you do next is control, suppress, and correct, and you tell yourself that is good parenting. It isn't. He finishes with the child who goes quiet instead of acting out, what happens when you try to pry that child open, and the one thing that works instead. IN THIS EPISODE What Jon's wife told him about his own energy Your part and their part, and why the difference matters "Every communication is energy" Why personalizing your kid's behavior costs you the ability to be present The script: "Dad's been really stressed lately, and I've noticed you have been too" All behavior arises from stress, and why a stressed eleven-year-old acts like a five-year-old Love or fear: what actually sits between the stress and the behavior "You're doing that because you're scared" Turtle children, and why you cannot dig them out with a stick The linchpin, the neuroscience behind it, and the Bruce Lee line that sums it up FULL EPISODE This is a short cut from one of the best conversations on this feed. The whole thing is worth your time: Love-Based Parenting Is Firm, Honest, and Harder Than Yelling Ever Was — https://frontrowdads.com/531 Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is all about? The Brotherhood Experience is a free, one-hour online session where you meet other like-minded men who are committed to being family men with businesses, not businessmen with families. You will hear the core ethos and values behind the community, and why this brotherhood is a strategy for connecting with your kids, building a thriving marriage, and winning in business. It runs every month. Pick a time that works for you at https://frontrowdads.com/experience
#591
September 8 · 11 min
Stop Working on Your Marriage. Switch to This.
Nobody got married hoping to work on it. That is where Ted Lowe starts. After a long day of working hard, the last thing anybody wants is to work some more, so telling a man his marriage needs more work tends to land like a chore. His alternative is a habit he calls serious fun, built on simple accounting: you cannot make withdrawals from a relational account you never deposited into. And the hard times come, and they require withdrawals. Then he asks the question that gives this episode its name. Jon takes the second half and gets honest about a six-month stretch where his own marriage went into a storm, and the realization that came out of it: he had become boring. Too routine, too practical. So he ran a thought experiment about what he would do if they split up, realized he would immediately become fun and kind and generous for someone else, and asked himself why he wasn't doing that for the person he loves most. IN THIS EPISODE Why "work on your marriage" is the wrong pitch to a tired man The relational bank account: deposits before withdrawals "Would you want to be married to you? Are you funny? Are you fun?" "We don't date each other. We date each other's PR department" Your best self, and why chasing the perfect couple is a trap Scheduling it, and why the anticipation is half of it Jon on becoming the boring one, and what he did about it Planning to win: your calendar fills with whatever has a who, what, when, where, and how, including root canals Looking at the days around the day, and marriage in seasons "Do you want me to fix it or feel it," and the minivan on the side of the road The scuba diving skins FULL EPISODE How to Not Make Marriage Complicated with Ted Lowe: https://frontrowdads.com/17
#590
September 7 · 12 min
What Does Your Marriage Look Like Twenty Years From Now?
Geoff Woods set a goal of thirty-six date nights with his wife, tracked it all year, and then had to admit it wasn't working. What he found instead was the idea he spent years teaching at The ONE Thing: find the one domino that makes everything else easier or unnecessary, and knock that one over first. In his marriage it wasn't the date nights. It was a cup of coffee at 5:30 in the morning, before the kids were awake, on the couch, looking each other in the eye and asking How are you doing. This is from a training Geoff ran for the Front Row Dads brotherhood. He walks through how he goal-sets backward from twenty years out, why being the accountability guy with his wife on money backfired, and what he says to a spouse who has no interest in planning anything. IN THIS EPISODE Why the purpose of a goal is not the result Writing down what an extraordinary marriage looks like twenty years out, then reverse engineering to this week The 411: year, month, week on one page "Me being the accountability man with my wife on money, surprisingly, did not make her love me more" The aha: getting a babysitter and going to a restaurant does not equal connection Why the coffee date turned out to be the lead domino What to say to a partner who resists planning, and why Geoff decided it was his own fault The Sunday rhythm: kids in the kids club, both 411s open, dating your goals Daphne, the private school, and why vacuuming the carpet does not matter WANT MORE FROM GEOFF WOODS Goal Setting for Couples: https://frontrowdads.com/107 How Leaders Can Leverage AI for Strategic Thinking: https://frontrowdads.com/458
#589
September 4 · 9 min
Do You Have a Board of Directors for Your Life?
Nobody claws their way out of rock bottom alone. Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share, and you don't have to prepare. Dates and sign-up at frontrowdads.com/experience Matt Aitchison was expelled from high school, arrested in college, and facing real jail time. He is quick to say that might not be your story, but that every man has his own version of the bottom: the moment you realize the way you are living is not who you are, and you are not going to let it become who you are. What rebuilt it was not dramatic. One small decision at a time, over and over, for a long stretch, which only looks like a fork in the road looking backward. He also makes the case for why the men around you matter this much: the board of directors, the people who would not let him stay down. Short, practical, and worth a listen on a hard day. IN THIS EPISODE Expelled, arrested, and facing jail time Why your rock bottom doesn't have to look like his to count The one-small-decision-at-a-time mechanism, and why it only makes sense later Broke, living at home, borrowing money, unable to make rent The board of directors: why you need real men around you Being rich in more than money
#588
September 3 · 15 min
The Five Versions of You (And the Sixth One You Need) w/ Dr. Kelly Flanagan
Five versions of you are already running your marriage. The work is building the sixth. Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share, and you don't have to prepare. Dates and sign-up at frontrowdads.com/experience Dr. Kelly Flanagan says we each carry five versions of ourselves: the lover, the loner, the hider, the fighter, and the ruler. They formed early, they never go away, and they surface uninvited in exactly the moments that matter most. You cannot uncreate them. What you can do is build a sixth version, the one he calls the welcomer, that greets those parts and guides them instead of being run by them. Recorded live at one of our online summits, this one moves from framework into three real stories, and the last one is the reason to stay to the end. IN THIS EPISODE The five versions: the lover, the loner, the hider, the fighter, the ruler Why the lover is the original self, the one you arrived with Why you can't uncreate the selves you've created, and what to do instead The sixth version, the welcomer, and how you actually build it Will Smith, Chris Rock, and the twelve-year-old boy who finally got his chance The pastor who invited his six-year-old self up to preach, and gave the best sermon of his life The car charger fight, and the moment he realized the shaken little girl wasn't his daughter WANT MORE? This was a members-only online summit, so there is no public episode to link. Learn more about the room where these happen at frontrowdads.com
#587
September 2 · 28 min
The 5 Levels of Every Marriage (And How to Move Up)
Every marriage is sitting on one of five levels right now. Here is how to find yours and how to climb. Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share, and you don't have to prepare. Dates and sign-up at frontrowdads.com/experience Recorded live at one of our online summits, Jayson Gaddis walks through the five levels of partnership, from survival at level one to the spiritual union at level five that most couples never reach. He is upfront that the model is his own, built from almost thirty years of sitting in circle with couples. Most long marriages, he says, stall at level three: stable, functional, and quietly unable to talk about the hard things. Then he gets practical about the one thing that actually moves a marriage up: repair. The conflict repair cycle, the two skills of speaking first and listening first, why a man's urge to fix his wife's pain backfires, and what to do when you feel you cannot bring your own feelings into your own marriage. IN THIS EPISODE The five levels, and how to tell which one you are on Level one: mating and survival, and why people stay where they are hurt Why most long marriages stall at level three The conflict repair cycle, and what skipping repair hollows out The two repair skills almost nobody is taught Why fixing your wife's pain isn't love, and what to do instead How to work with a partner who won't own their part WANT MORE This was a members-only online summit, so there is no public episode to link. It is the kind of room we build for dads who want to win at home the same way they win at work. Learn more at frontrowdads.com
#586
September 1 · 7 min
The 3 Rules That Make Date Night Actually Happen
Most date nights quietly die for the same reason, and it isn't love. Nobody scheduled it. Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share, and you don't have to prepare. Dates and sign-up at frontrowdads.com/experience Jim Sheils wrote The Family Board Meeting, and he and his wife have run a date-night system every week for years. It takes about five minutes to learn. Same day and time every week, locked on the calendar. No phones. And one or two real questions you don't already know the answer to. He is blunt about why it fails. It fails for the same reason the family board meeting fails: that which we schedule gets done. He tells the story of a nine-figure entrepreneur who could not make it stick until Sheils got his assistant on the phone and had her block every week for a year. It has run ever since. IN THIS EPISODE Why date night fails for the same reason the family board meeting fails The nine-figure entrepreneur whose assistant had to block a full year Same day, same time, every week, and why "we'll find a night" never works Why the phone doesn't come along The difference between "how was your day" and a question that opens someone up What happens after a year of one real question a week Why couples married thirty and forty years still learn something new FULL EPISODE How Family Board Meetings Can Level Up Your Family Life: https://frontrowdads.com/389
#585
August 31 · 8 min
Stop Telling Your Kids to Stop. Then Let Them Teach You
The thing you keep telling your kid to stop doing might be exactly what they're built for. (Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share, and you don't have to prepare. Dates and sign-up at frontrowdads.com/experience) Giovanni Marsico has spent his career helping people find and use their gifts, and in this Quick Cut from 2024, he turns that lens on parenting. He starts somewhere uncomfortable: under stress, parents fall back on how they were raised, and the fastest word to come out is stop. Stop with the questions. Stop being so loud. Stop being so much. He knows it from the other side. At sixteen, he was producing events, a thousand people at his first party, and what he heard at home was don't do that party thing. The trait underneath the annoyance was the career. Then he catches himself in the same trap in real time, mid-story, with his own endlessly questioning kid. It closes with his eleven-year-old's soccer lesson becoming the family's mantra for the year, get open, which is proof that the learning in a family runs both directions. IN THIS EPISODE Why stressed parents default to how they were raised The thousand-person party, and being told to stop doing it "Stop with the questions," and the moment Gio caught himself The reframe: the annoying trait is usually the gift, undeveloped How "get open" went from a soccer field to the family's phrase for the year Kids co-creating the family culture, and why it makes them feel powerful FULL EPISODE Manufacturing Serendipity, Sharing Your Superhero Powers: https://frontrowdads.com/423
#584
August 28 · 10 min
How Four Men Deal With the Hard Stuff
Four men. Same question. Two completely different answers: is it powering through strength, or is it avoidance? Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share, and you don't have to prepare. Sign up at frontrowdads.com/experience. We pulled four opposing takes from across ten years of the archive and let them collide. Brian Johnson opens with the case for hardship: it is supposed to be hard, and the only way to build real trust in yourself is doing what you said you would do, especially when you don't feel like it. Stefanos Sifandos complicates it. The thing you are avoiding is usually the thing you most need to do, and if your drive is sourced from an old wound, it will not hold. His buffalo runs into the storm rather than away from it, together, because that is how you get through faster. Nik Hulewsky takes the other side. After losing his son, man up stopped working, and it was his wife telling him to go see somebody that changed everything. Then Josh Trent turns the question over: we call a 150-hour week courage, and we do not count facing what you feel as hard at all. IN THIS EPISODE: "It's supposed to be hard": antifragile confidence and doing what you say you'll do Why the thing you're avoiding is usually the thing you most need to do Where your drive is sourced from, and why one built on an old wound won't hold The buffalo that runs into the storm rather than away from it, together, to get through faster "The solution isn't always power through it or be a man": when help is the strong move The courage nobody celebrates: facing what you actually feel WANT THE BOOKS? The book list we mention in this episode: over 100 books Front Row Dads recommends, the ones that changed how these guys operate at home and at work. Free at frontrowdads.com/books WANT THE FULL STORY? All four come from full episodes worth your time: - Brian Johnson on heroism and training for the 21st century: frontrowdads.com/412 - Stefanos Sifandos on facing fears and letting go of the past: frontrowdads.com/344 - Nik Hulewsky on the four advantages for entrepreneurs: frontrowdads.com/453 - Josh Trent on the H.A.L.T. framework (hungry, angry, lonely, tired): frontrowdads.com/327
#583
August 27 · 21 min
The Three Emotions That Sink Good Men
Quick test: how do you deal with your neediness? If you just cringed, you found your enemy emotion. (Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share, and you don't have to prepare. Dates and sign up at frontrowdads.com/experience) Psychiatrist Dr. Laura Dabney has spent her career working with successful men who buried three feelings so deep they stopped recognizing them: neediness, anger, and sadness. In this Deep Cut from the vault (recorded in 2019), she maps what each one turns into when it goes underground: neediness becomes compulsive giving, sadness becomes relentless positivity and joking, and anger becomes the blowup you swore you'd never have. Jon goes first: the punched wall, the need for validation he'd been dressing up as contribution, the positivity that was really sadness-avoidance. Then Dabney lays out the way back: accept the feeling, catch yourself invalidating it, journal with a purpose, and start with you before you manage everyone else's reaction. It ends with the story of a patient who couldn't ask a woman on a date and now sends her postcards of his four kids. IN THIS EPISODE: The cringe test for finding your enemy emotion What buried neediness, anger, and sadness each turn into "Winning, but you don't realize the price you're paying on the flip side" Why being sad in front of people isn't selfish, and why that word is a trap Journaling with a purpose: practicing the right thing instead of rehearsing the wrong one The turnaround story: from suicidal and stuck at home to married with four kids WANT THE BOOKS? The book list we mention in this episode: over 100 books Front Row Dads recommends, the ones that changed how these guys operate at home and at work. Free at frontrowdads.com/books WANT THE FULL STORY? The full conversation also covers stopping anger before it becomes a blow-up, why men funnel every emotion into sex, and the boundary conversation that saved a military man's marriage. Hear the whole thing: "How Men Deal With Neediness, Anger and Sadness with Dr. Laura Dabney" : frontrowdads.com/74
#582
August 25 · 6 min
You're the Bow, Not the Arrow: How He Sees His Job as a Dad
Ask young fathers how to raise great kids and you get 72 steps. Ask the old guys and you get two words: just love them. (Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is actually like? Come sit in on a live Brotherhood Experience. It's 60 minutes on Zoom with Jon and a few other dads, free, and it's the easiest way to find out whether a room like this is for you. You don't have to share and you don't have to prepare. Dates and sign-up at frontrowdads.com/experience) David Osborn has built companies, written books, and taken his kids around the world. Ask him what a father is actually for and he goes to Rumi: you're the bow, your kids are the arrows. Your job is to be steady, and let them go. In this quick clip he walks through what that looks like on a normal day — loving his wife hard enough that the kids see it, keeping their world wide, and holding a clear picture of the grandfather he wants to be. And when his 15-year-old walks in and looks at him like he's annoying, he hugs her anyway and tells her the truth: I don't understand you right now, and you probably don't understand me, but I love you. IN THIS EPISODE: - Rumi's bow and arrow: what a dad is actually for - "Keep exposing them" — why he keeps widening their world - Loving his wife hard, where the kids can see it - The vision he's working backward from, right down to the grandkids - What he says to a teenager who finds him annoying WANT THE BOOKS? The book list we mention in this episode: over 100 books Front Row Dads recommend, the ones that changed how these guys operate at home and at work. Free at frontrowdads.com/books WANT THE FULL STORY? The full conversation goes into Osborn's Nepal orphanage trip with his son, raising wealthy kids without entitlement, and letting teenagers graduate to autonomy. Hear the whole thing: "Unlocking Adventure, Fatherhood, and a Life of Purpose with David Osborn" -> frontrowdads.com/476
#581
August 24 · 23 min
Stop Waiting for Your Son to Grow Up (here's your role)
"If we do not initiate our sons, they will burn down the village just to feel the heat." That African proverb is where this one starts, and Chris Bruno, counsellor, author of The Man Maker Project, and a dad who built a year-long rite of passage for his own son, spends the next twenty minutes showing what it demands of a father. This is a Deep Cut from a 2024 members-only session: what a rite of passage actually is (they are happening around your son constantly, whether you design one or not), why the passage from boy to man does not happen by accident, what ancient cultures knew that we dropped, and the difference between raising boys and raising girls: dad leads the charge for the boy, and stands under the charge for the girl. IN THIS EPISODE: The proverb: uninitiated boys burn down the village to feel the heat Rites of passage are already happening around your son, unsupervised The Man Maker Project: the year-long process Bruno built for his own son Why a boy must be called out, tested, and welcomed back by men Boys need your heat, girls need your warmth: the difference in dad's role "I cannot lead my daughter into womanhood, but I can support it" WANT MORE? This session was a members-only deep dive into the brotherhood, the kind of conversation that doesn't happen at a backyard barbecue. If you want to be in the room where these happen, join our next brotherhood experience and find out more. Frontrowdads.com/experience
#580
August 22 · 9 min
Why You Keep Learning the Same Lesson Over and Over | Walk With Jon
Having the same realization five times doesn't mean you failed the first four. Episode 3 of Walk With Jon. No studio, no script, no guest, no editing. Jon Vroman on a walking trail near his house, thinking out loud. The audio is rough on purpose. He even fumbles an old saying mid-walk and leaves it in: "Like I said, these are unscripted mistakes and all." Jon walked this one listening to his own voice notes from the last five to eight years. A week earlier he'd pulled out a bin holding 30 to 50 journals, most of them a quarter filled and abandoned. Going back through all of it, he noticed he keeps having the same realizations, over and over, each time a little deeper. His take on why: "It's not about learning something new. It's about remembering something true." Self-reflection is a workout, not a graduation. You don't go to the gym once and stay strong. He's honest about the other side of reviewing decades of your own notes: the shame of feeling like you should be further ahead, and the sheer number of things a man is supposed to master. But the point of this walk is the honoring. Front Row Dads turns ten in October 2026, back in Philadelphia where it started, and Jon has watched men keep showing up for that entire run. His ask this morning is simple: put your hand on your heart and thank yourself for showing up and doing the work. IN THIS WALK: Listening back to five to eight years of his own voice notes The bin of 30 to 50 journals, most of them mostly blank "It's not always about learning something new, it's about remembering what's true" The shame of "I should be further ahead," and the comparison game Ten years of Front Row Dads, October 2026, back to Philadelphia Hand on your heart: thank yourself for showing up The homework: a friend found one recurring pattern across 25 years of journals. What are yours? Jon reads every reply. Send your thoughts to team@frontrowdads.com. And if this one hit home, share it with another brother and start the conversation. Front Row Dads is a brotherhood of family men with businesses, not businessmen with families. To learn more, go to frontrowdads.com.
#579
August 21 · 19 min
How I'd Do Early Fatherhood (If I Could Start Over)
"I would say to my wife, I need to get to the coffee shop by seven, because I couldn't be hassled by the kids in the morning." For ten years, Jon Vroman has asked the questions on this show. To close the first week of Good Questions, he answers them. This is Jon in the hot seat: how the man who founded Front Row Dads would have introduced himself before it existed (speaker, charity founder, ultramarathoner... and, toward the end of the list, a husband and dad), what he believed fatherhood was in the early years, and what he would do differently if he could start over. He is honest about the survival seasons, six figures in the bank to six figures in debt, and about the beliefs underneath his choices. Then he lays out what changed: a calendar that puts his kids first, the shift from providing for his boys to nurturing them, the rite of passage he is building through their 10-to-20 decade, and the one invitation he would give every father listening. IN THIS EPISODE: "What do you do?" answered by the old Jon and the new one What he valued before: achievement, progress, significance, and a calendar that proved it The coffee-shop-by-seven confession, and the belief about fatherhood hiding underneath it Six figures in the bank to six figures in debt: the survival season nobody romanticizes The 7-to-9am block on his calendar that just says "kids" Nurturing the spirit of the child in front of you, and the 10-to-20 rite of passage decade The invitation: find your crew and lean in all the way 📘 These aren't just business books. They're about building a legacy—at home and in your work. Curated by successful, family-first entrepreneurs. 👉 Get the full list: https://frontrowdads.com/podcast-books WANT THE FULL STORY? This conversation comes from "Fatherhood Before and After FRD: Jon Vroman." Hear the whole thing. And if his invitation landed, that is what the brotherhood is. Learn more at frontrowdads.com
#578
August 20 · 11 min
How Three Men Deal With Their Anger
"Do you ever lose your cool? Do you ever just yell?" It gets asked point-blank in this one, and the three answers could not be more different. Ryan Deiss, founder of DigitalMarketer, says he is not a yeller, then tells you exactly where his line is and what happened the one time somebody made his wife feel unsafe in her own home. Connor Beaton, who leads men's work through ManTalks, traces the charge underneath a man's anger back to what it is actually made of, and lays out his move from a medicated way of being to a meditative one. And then the question turns raw: one of the questions in this episode is not for a guest at all. It is a dad admitting he goes from zero to a hundred in the blink of an eye and asking breathwork coach Charles Clay, can you fix me? Clay's answer, catching where anger shows up in your body and naming what you need out loud, is a tool you can use tonight. IN THIS EPISODE: "I'm not a yeller": Deiss on living at a three and what it takes to hit his eleven Why no yelling, no slammed doors, and no thrown things is a household rule, not a temperament Beaton on the internal charge under a man's anger, and where it comes from Moving from medicating the intensity to working with it: breath, cold, stillness "Zero to a hundred in a blink": the honest confession at the center of the episode Clay's toolkit: the 4-8 breath, finding the anger in your body, and saying what you need 💼 These books helped us integrate purpose at work and peace at home. They've transformed how we show up—for our clients, our kids, and ourselves. 📖 Get the list: https://frontrowdads.com/podcast-books WANT THE FULL STORY? All three of these came from full episodes worth your time: - Ryan Deiss on avoiding the regrets of success as an entrepreneur father: frontrowdads.com/495 - Connor Beaton on shattering the mask of masculinity: frontrowdads.com/378 - Charles Clay on the advantages of feeling more, not just better: frontrowdads.com/317
#577
August 19 · 25 min
How Three Dads Deal With Apologies, Wounds, and Forgiveness
"Every decision I've ever made in my life, good and bad, has been in an effort to get my father to tell me he loved me." This one moves in three parts: the apology you owe your kids, the dance you are still in with your own dad, and the forgiveness that sets you free. It starts at a kitchen table, where a dad raising his voice over math homework suddenly recognizes the scene, because he lived it at his son's age, on the other side of the table. Psychologist Dr. Kelly Flanagan takes the question everyone asks after a moment like that, "Did I repair it okay?", and reframes the whole thing: your kids don't need you to be perfect, and an apology is a gift, because it teaches them they don't have to be perfect either. Then Ryland Englehart of Cafe Gratitude gets asked for a painful memory of his father and lands somewhere more honest: gratitude first, and a dance with his dad's expectations that is still alive today, because a son spends his life trying to prove his father wrong or make his father proud. And then Michael Chernow, who built The Meatball Shop and Seamore's, answers the hardest version of the question: have you forgiven him? What follows- a father lost during Chernow's addiction, and the moment years later when he finally heard the words he had been chasing- is one of the most powerful stretches of tape in our archive. IN THIS EPISODE: The kitchen-table moment: recognizing your own childhood wound mid-yell "We worry from our wounds": why your reaction is about you before it is about them Flanagan on why apologizing to your kids is a gift, not a failure The empathy-vs-boundaries pendulum our generation of parents swings on Englehart on the expectations dance with his dad, still running today "Prove his father wrong or make his father proud": the paradigm most men live inside Chernow on hating his father, losing him, and the breathwork session where he finally heard "I love you" What forgiveness actually freed him to build at home 🚀 You're building a business—but are you building your family with the same intention? These books helped us do both. 📘 Grab the list here: frontrowdads.com/books WANT THE FULL STORY? All three of these came from full episodes worth your time: Dr. Kelly Flanagan on the two things every parent must hold in balance: frontrowdads.com/85 Ryland Englehart on growing up wild, and the rooftop in San Francisco where he made amends with his dad: frontrowdads.com/488 Michael Chernow on building a legacy at home, not just in business: frontrowdads.com/477

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