Over the past few years, I’ve watched a growing number of Australians looking to the US — particularly places like Texas — to see what people are actually building around food, land, privacy, alternative currencies and community.

When we recently introduced the PWQ audience to Live Free Academy, the response from Australia surprised even their team. Aussies joined the virtual summit, and some are travelling all the way to Texas to participate in person.

So I wanted to ask a bigger question:

What can Australia learn from what’s working — and not working — in America’s freedom movement?

In this episode I sit down with John Bush, founder of Live Free Academy in Texas, who has spent more than 20 years in the freedom movement.

John eventually came to a fairly simple conclusion: endlessly fighting the existing system wasn’t necessarily creating greater freedom.

So his focus shifted towards building alternatives.

We talk about local food and regenerative farming, land and intentional communities, Bitcoin and alternative currencies, privacy, decentralised technology and the counter-economy.

Importantly, we also talk about what hasn’t worked.

John and I compare notes on our experiences building communities and land projects and arrive at a familiar conclusion: sometimes the cows and chickens are easier than the people.

Because freedom isn’t simply about opting out. It requires responsibility, maturity, self-governance and the ability to work together.

John also shares what’s happening in his hometown of Bastrop, Texas, where residents organised against Flock surveillance cameras — a fascinating example of ordinary people taking effective local action.

Not everything happening in America translates directly to Australia. Our laws, culture and circumstances are different.

But there’s a lot we can learn from people who are already experimenting, building and finding out what works.

Rather than reinventing everything ourselves, let’s learn from their successes and mistakes — and ask:

What could we build here?

To get your free tickets to the EXIT AND BUILD VIRTUAL SUMMIT, click below:
https://courses.livefree.academy/exit-build-6-virtual-summit?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fcourses.livefree.academy%2Fa%2F2148329189%2FSoTekGyh

We don’t control the world our children inherit. But we have enormous influence over how prepared they are for it — and over what we choose to build for them now.

In this episode I sit down with my good mate Craig Schulze — entrepreneur, investor, podcast host and founder of the One Shot Movement.

Craig and I first connected during COVID, when both of us made the decision to speak up. But what started as a conversation about freedom, resilience, business and navigating an increasingly uncertain world ended up somewhere much deeper.

Craig shares the story of losing his first son, Ethan, and how that experience fundamentally changed the way he approached life. It eventually became the foundation of his book You’ve Got One Shot and the One Shot Movement — but more importantly, it changed the way he thought about fatherhood, purpose and what we actually do with the time we’re given.

We talk about the cost of speaking up, building financial and personal resilience, creating income that isn’t dependent on a single employer or institution, investing in yourself, building meaningful relationships and learning to use emerging technology rather than simply fearing it.

But ultimately this is a conversation about our kids. We can’t possibly predict what the next 10 or 20 years will bring. What we can do is raise capable, questioning, resilient young people — and take some responsibility ourselves for creating the kind of future we’d actually like them to inherit.

A wide-ranging and very personal conversation with a good man. I think you’ll get a lot from this one - Adam.

Connect with Craig here:

www.theoneshotmovement.com

www.craigschulze.com

For the past six years, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about freedom, broken systems and the need to build better alternatives for our families.

But increasingly, I’ve come to believe that our biggest challenge may not be creating new movements, communities or institutions.

It may be learning how to relate to one another well enough to sustain them.

In this episode of Parents With Questions, I’m joined by Aaron Christos and Greer Ashley from Intimacy for Couples to explore the relationship skills most of us were never taught: how to remain curious during conflict, how to disagree without trying to dominate, and how to stand firmly for what matters without destroying the relationship in the process.

We discuss why pressure exposes the cracks already present in families and communities, and why regulation should never be confused with passivity. Being grounded does not mean refusing to act. It means becoming clear enough to defend what matters without being consumed by fear, anger or the need to overpower someone else.

Aaron and Greer also share their experience of navigating deeply divisive issues within a blended family, including co-parenting through the COVID vaccination debate. Their approach was not to avoid difficult conversations, but to find the common ground underneath the disagreement: the wellbeing of the children.

We explore why so many well-intentioned movements, cooperatives and communities eventually fracture, even when everyone involved believes deeply in the mission. Often, the project receives all the attention while the relationships holding it together are neglected.

This conversation covers:

• Why relationships become a crucible for personal growth
• Curiosity as an alternative to combativeness
• How to seek understanding before demanding to be understood
• The difference between regulation, collapse and passivity
• How men can access anger without becoming controlled by it
• Standing in “soft power” without attacking or dominating
• Navigating major values differences inside families
• Co-parenting respectfully after separation
• Why children are harmed when one parent tears down the other
• The relationship between self-esteem and power struggles
• Why communities need relational skills, not just a shared mission
• Masculine and feminine qualities beyond rigid gender roles
• Repairing conflict rather than expecting relationships to be perfect
• Creating a healthier model of relationship for our children to inherit

The argument at the heart of this episode is simple:

If we want to create a more peaceful, resilient and cooperative world, we cannot only focus on changing systems.

We also need to become people capable of stewarding those systems together.

And that work begins at home.

Learn more about Aaron and Greer:

Website: www.intimacyforcouples.com
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/awakened-intimacy/id1850347974
Instagram and Facebook: Intimacy for Couples

To find out more about Rockit-Fuel, go to:

https://www.rockit-fuel.com/