Hi everyone. I have been a member here for quite a while, but I have been remiss in introducing myself. My name is Michael Todd. I am a dog trainer. I have trained hundreds of dogs over the years, including service dogs for veterans with PTSD, therapy dogs for firehouses, and countless shelter dogs. My training philosophy comes from the idea that we must respect the fact that dogs descended from wolves and they need to understand their place in the pack, which requires the owners to learn how to be the Alpha. The life lessons that people learn when they begin to effectively work with their dogs often change their lives for the better. I am also the Founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit called New Start Enterprises which exists to remind everyone that they are the heroes of their own stories. We primarily operate inside prisons in California, teaching people about trauma and how it (combined with lifestyle, upbringing, and bad decisions) leads people off the straight path. We pair developmental psychology with a heroic mythos and trauma understanding with Dante's Inferno. We also provide them with a philosophy for life, based on teachings and vales of the ancients, which we sum up in the RAIDD Code: Responsibility, Accountability, Integrity, Discipline, and Dedication. My personal journey has led me to champion the idea that we need to return to the wisdom of the ancients and embrace those traditions, qualities, morals, and values that they understood made us heroes. I shall leave you with a tenet that we hold dear at New Start Enterprises: Life is like a choose your own adventure book. In these books, you reach a point where you are required to make a choice. If you make the wrong choice, there is nothing you can do except keep reading and wait for the next place where you are able to make a decision and strive to make the right decision at that point. No matter how many times you make the wrong decision, the book is going to keep giving you more opportunities to make the right decision, because the book, like life, wants you to be the hero of your story. So, stay the course and keep looking for the next opportunity to make the correct and heroic decision.

To keep things moving in my world while I’m on the brink of a total meltdown I chose to do a yoga session at home today. It felt more achievable than going outside for a walk at this present moment with all my firefighter parts acting up, and I’ve been wanting to join in this free yoga series I’ve been following for a while now with Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. So, I turned on the tv, got out my yoga mat I’ve used only once, and navigated my way through finding YouTube and even logging in to the platform so I could subscribe to her channel (I’m nailing huge wins all round over here). I’m a bit late chiming in for her December series, however, it couldn’t have been more perfectly timed as today’s session was “yoga for when you are spiralling.” Touché… this was clearly meant for me in this moment. Since this was my first time doing any sort of exercise at home, it was also the first time for Anubis, who decided to be an active participant in the 25 minutes I thought I was going to have for myself. We started with alternate nostril breathing, of which two wet nostrils joined in and made their way pretty much up my nose the entire time. Following that we did some cat-cow movement, which resulted in a furry body underneath me and a head up and out the top of my sweatshirt, wet nose included. By the end of the practice, I’m not sure I achieved any stillness with the squeaking pickle in my ear, the gnawing of a bone on my toes and the wet nose everywhere it wasn’t meant to be. But, I, or should I say we, did it anyways, with a lot of added laughter, and it still felt really good.

Movement: More snow shenanigans today. We only had a few inches of snow overnight and it was a quick 20 minute job to shovel it all. Not even worthy of busting out the snow blower. However I ended up spending another 40 minutes raking snow off of the roof of the house as I noticed ice dams forming over the front and back doors. Which is like doing cable face pulls, but above your head. Then I had to shovel the snow I pulled off the roof away from the house because if I leave it, it would be a massive snow bank that would melt in the spring and likely cause some flooding in the basement. At least the moon rose early and was beautiful to behold. Leader Habit - Read a few chapters in Team to Tribe and journaled. Hit water & protein goals as well. Checking that last box after I hit POST.

I was not fit today, drank my water yes but was underwater figuratively speaking with some big time deadlines. Made it through and joined the Ravenwolf call which I was close to ditching out on. Proud of myself for that as it was a great call with some amazing women. That's my win for today.

Happy Friday, Tribe! It's easy to coast through the holidays and that's ok...but if you're like us and wanting to keep the momentum going into and EPIC 2026 join us for this challenge! Doing things together activates honor and enables us to do things we can't as a lone wolf. Honor is stronger than motivation and discipline. We've also created a little structure which is also a powerful tool to keep projects moving. This challenge has 5 super simple requirements (that we should be doing every day anyway but sometimes don't). 1. 30 minutes of intentional movement every day. 2. Keep your protein up ( @Tanya Folsom gonna cover this on our kickoff call this Sunday) 3. Half a gallon of water every day MINIMUM 4. One intentional self development activity; meditation, journal, ice bath... 5. Post here for accountability and celebration The Challenge Tracker is attached along the overview and we're gonna have a community kickoff call here on Skool this Sunday at 4pm PST. There's also gonna be celebration call at the end of the year when we vision your epic 2026 and there will be a winner for the most consecutive days who gets a Wolf Tribe VIP swag kit. You're welcome to invite your family and tribe of leaders to join us!