Stair Pits

Why Social Media Is Destroying Your Sense of Reality

Fri, 22 May 2026 17:00:00 -0600

Robert and Max explore the essential concept of personal development, emphasizing that acknowledging one's ability to survive rejection or refusal is a core life lesson. Building mental strength comes from understanding that setbacks are part of the journey. Embrace the idea of being a survivor, as this confidence is crucial for self improvement.

• the idea that surviving “no” builds confidence
• a statistic about 18 to 35 year olds reporting no meaning or future
• how early hardship becomes “battle scars” that prove you can overcome
• Max’s turning point signing to play college football
• growing up fast on an LDS mission in Argentina while learning Castellano
• rejection as training for criticism and pressure later in life
• sacrifice equals better future as a practical rule
• social media as comparison, bragging, and an echo chamber
• “move the cheese” thinking and trying a different door to win

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0:00 Resilience Starts With Hearing No
3:34 The 56% Meaning Crisis
5:36 Childhood Despair And Battle Scars
20:04 Max’s Independence And Argentina Mission
30:40 Rejection Training For Real Life
31:45 Sacrifice Beats Comfort Culture
38:10 Social Media Bragging And Self-Loathing
46:08 Hope Learned Through Survival Skills
51:33 The Cheese Moved Find Another Door
55:31 Flamingo Shirt Marketing And Goodbye

Parents Miss This Basic Truth About Parenting

Fri, 15 May 2026 18:00:00 -0600

In this insightful episode, we discuss effective parenting tips for raising children, emphasizing the importance of introducing values. We explore how cooperative interactions are key to good child development. This video offers practical parenting advice for fostering a positive family matters environment.

Thriving is the goal, not just surviving. And thriving requires values, skills, and the chance to fail safely so you can recover. Walking is controlled falling. Growth is controlled failing — with guardrails, feedback loops, and real obligations to other people. Without them, you don't grow up. You just get older inside the echo chamber.

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#StairPits #EchoChambers #Parenting #DarkHumor #Resilience #UnbreakableOrigins #Podcast #philosophy

[00:00:00] Parenting As Preparation For Society
[00:02:43] Yes Men And The Echo Chamber Trap
[00:09:04] Truth Versus Real And Relativity
[00:14:36] Defining Vague Things Without Overexplaining
[00:20:52] Building A Hierarchy Of Values
[00:29:03] Values As Training Wheels For Behavior
[00:36:20] Assimilation And Rules We Agree To
[00:43:33] Morality, Responsibility, And Modern Incentives
[00:51:32] Achievement Culture Versus Obligation To Others
[01:00:20] Takeaways And The Book Pitch Finale

Curiosity Is a Survival Skill (Not a Personality Trait)

Fri, 08 May 2026 03:00:00 -0600

In this funny episode, we dive into creative discussions, touching on everything from a 'Venus de Milo statue arm' to the narrative structures Joseph Campbell explored. It's a comedic episode with a unique blend of art funny observations and Star Wars references. We even challenge viewers to participate in a contest!

We get into why adventure-driven stories keep pulling us in. What Star Wars and Marvel get right (and where the stakes disappear). Why Indiana Jones feels like nonstop momentum. How a book built from short, intense adventures can train the same survival muscles. Reading isn't escape — it's practice. You get to see failure, recovery, and grit without paying the full price yourself.

Then it gets personal. If you grew up in chaos, you can become unusually calm under pressure and weirdly comfortable when things go sideways. We unpack how humor functions as controlled chaos, why disaster and comedy can live in the same story, and how tragedy shapes a person without ever justifying what happened to them.

Comedy = Tragedy + Time. That's the equation.

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#StairPits #Curiosity #DarkHumor #Memoir #Resilience #UnbreakableOrigins #Podcast #StarWars

[00:00:00] Cold Open And Prize Tease
[00:04:32] Excuses And Dodging Responsibility
[00:17:18] Stories That Trigger Adventure And Growth
[00:27:43] Order Versus Chaos From Childhood
[00:36:28] Tragedy, Survival, And Alternate Paths
[00:45:29] Venus De Milo Arm Giveaway And Wrap

Nobody Wants to Wait Anymore. Here's Why.

Fri, 01 May 2026 03:00:00 -0600

Nobody wants to wait anymore — and it's not laziness. It's that a lot of people have quietly stopped believing the future is real.

When tomorrow feels unreliable, delayed gratification stops making sense. Instant gratification doesn't just become tempting — it becomes rational. R.A. Thompson, author of Unbreakable Origins: Stair Pits, breaks down why patience and sacrifice are collapsing, and what it actually takes to build a life that moves forward.

In this episode:
Why delayed gratification only works when you believe the future can be better
How social media turns dopamine into a lifestyle and shallow validation into identity
Outrage and victimhood as performance — with no real responsibility attached
Participation trophies, losing, and why failure is where real self-esteem gets built
The difference between self-esteem from winning vs. self-esteem from responsibility
Sacrifice redefined — it's not giving something up, it's reprioritizing for something bigger
Why forgetting the past kills your ability to build a future
Gratitude, perspective, and what we're missing about opportunity

What's one thing you're willing to give up to move forward? Drop it in the comments.

📖 Get the book — darkly funny, raw, and impossible to put down:

👉 www.unbreakableorigins.com

Subscribe and share it with someone who still believes in the long game.

[00:00:00] Why The Future Matters
[00:06:39] Why People Stopped Trusting Tomorrow
[00:12:03] Social Media And Instant Dopamine
[00:19:06] How Lucky Americans Really Are
[00:27:12] Addiction Stories And Life Without Goals
[00:31:20] Use The Past To Build A Future
[00:34:33] Buy The Book And Subscribe

You Know the Rules. You Just Can't Explain Them.

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0600

What happens when you grow up learning every rule of survival — but nobody ever taught you how to actually connect with another person?
R.A. Thompson, author of Unbreakable Origins: Stair Pits, pulls back the curtain on the stories, characters, and hard truths behind the book — and what they reveal about how we communicate, cope, and grow today.
In this episode:

The mother character — complex, layered, and impossible to look away from
Seeing protection and harm living inside the same person
The stepfather figure and why he moves the whole story
The uncle as a blueprint for humor, attention, and chaos
How kids absorb the rules of life before they have words for them
Learning to talk by watching commercials, sports, and reruns
Conversation as a game of building — not spiking your favorite topic
Growing up without peers and finding real connection late
Emojis, hieroglyphics, and what we're losing in modern communication
Tattoos as grief markers, value reminders, and daily accountability
Dopamine, curiosity, and why everything connects if you keep learning
Why the current version of you has to change for a better life to show up

Who do YOU think should play the mother? Drop your casting pick in the comments — we want to hear it.
📖 Get the book — darkly funny, raw, and impossible to put down:
👉 www.unbreakableorigins.com
"I laughed and nearly cried in the same breath." — Michelle H.

Subscribe for new episodes every week. If this resonated, share it with someone who still knows how to have a real conversation.

[00:00:00] Childhood Rules And Isolation
[00:04:59] Casting The Story And Stepfather Impact
[00:12:21] The Uncle Who Taught Humor
[00:23:40] The Savant Friend And Belonging
[00:32:47] Maps Commercials And Modern Talk
[00:48:12] Tattoos As Memory And Meaning
[00:58:52] Dopamine Learning And Reinventing Yourself
[01:05:44] Closing Notes And Auditions

What If Winning Means Refusing To Play

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 03:00:00 -0600

The funniest moments in our lives sometimes come from the same place as the hardest ones. We start out messing around with a fake cigarette and a “mercy shirt,” then end up in a real conversation about why one of us laughs easily while the other learned to stay invisible just to make it through the day. If you’ve ever wondered why you default to charm, silence, intensity, or control under stress, you’ll hear yourself in this one.

We talk adoption, family culture, and the hidden rules kids learn early: when it’s safe to be seen, when it’s safer to disappear, and how those patterns turn into adult habits. From sibling hierarchy and competition to the psychology of play, we unpack why connection breaks when someone always has to “win,” and why some people don’t chase fights at all, they outlast them. Along the way we use simple but sharp metaphors, from wildlife behavior to the shark versus eagle problem of home-field advantage.

The takeaway is a strategy you can use in business, relationships, and conflict: don’t accept the other person’s premise, don’t fight on their turf, and focus on the one thing that changes the whole outcome, survive the first wave. If this hits home, subscribe to the Stair Pits Podcast, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review. What’s your default strategy under pressure: chase or endure?

Find Stair Pits here:
www.unbreakableorigins.com

[00:00:00] Cold Open On Being Invisible
[00:06:14] Where Smiles Come From
[00:12:52] Cooperation And Sibling Hierarchy
[00:18:03] When Play Requires Letting Go
[00:24:36] Why Winning Ended The Game
[00:32:57] Did A Hard Childhood Create Success
[00:40:02] Iowa Jokes And Flyover Truths
[00:45:08] Learning From Everyone Through Targeting
[00:49:03] Shark Vs Eagle And Home Turf
[00:55:44] Flex, Lessons, And Closing

Wearing Pink Salmon and Creating Wisdom from Knowledge

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 03:00:00 -0600

What if the real education you needed never happened in a classroom and the lessons that stuck came from hunger, failure, and watching adults do everything wrong? We dig into a blunt framework that cuts through self-help fluff: knowledge plus experience equals wisdom. From getting kicked out of schools to reading nonstop, R.A. Thompson explains how a head full of facts can still leave you helpless until life forces you to apply them.

Then we turn to modern learning and technology: smartphones, instant answers, and the trap of unlimited information with zero depth. We ask why curiosity feels eclipsed, why memorization is disappearing, and why enthusiasm without knowledge turns into burnout. Along the way, we keep it honest and funny, from bright pink shirts to chicken coop bits to the absurdity of building “smart underwear” instead of solving real problems.

Find Stair Pits here:
www.unbreakableorigins.com

[00:00:00] Knowledge Plus Experience Equals Wisdom
[00:05:58] Education At Home And In School
[00:09:19] Hunger Shoplifting And Practical Wisdom
[00:20:30] Social Skills Silence And Gibberish
[00:32:44] Failure Biographies And Trusting Experts
[00:48:33] Phones And Information Overload
[01:02:05] Quick Math And Book Plug

If Parent Is A Verb Then Who Are You: Adoption And Identity

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 06:00:00 -0600

A birth certificate can name parents, but it can’t explain belonging. We sit down with two people who are “adopted” in very different ways and pull on the thread everyone avoids: what do you do with the hole that biology, paperwork, and silence can leave behind? One of us grew up in a closed adoption with a nagging question that never quit: why would a birth mother keep two sons yet give up a newborn? The other grew up inside a home where addiction, neglect, and performative “fatherhood” made the word parent feel like a label instead of a promise.

We talk transracial adoption and identity, including what it’s like to be a Black kid raised by white parents in Utah, how racism shows up early, and why even great adoptive parents can’t always feel what their child feels. We also get honest about the coping strategies that follow: chasing fame, stacking trophies, living with constant self-judgment, and turning mentorship into a way to rebuild what you didn’t get. Along the way we explore the idea that two things can be true at once: gratitude can coexist with grief, and love can coexist with unanswered questions.

Find Stair Pits here:
www.unbreakableorigins.com

[00:00:00] Two Blindnesses And What Parents Mean
[00:04:19] Divorce, Alcohol, And A Life Saved
[00:09:13] Closed Adoption And The Need For Answers
[00:12:55] Transracial Upbringing And Belonging
[00:20:15] When Parenting Is Title Only
[00:31:50] Mentorship, Motives, And Inner Healing
[00:33:26] Chasing Fame To Prove Worth
[00:40:42] Learning The World Through Odd Skills
[00:47:24] The Moment Anger Could Have Killed
[00:57:29] Cain And Abel Then Forgiveness

Real Education Starts When You Decide To Teach Yourself

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:00:00 -0600

School is supposed to teach you how to think. So what do you do when it teaches you how to comply instead?

Robert and Max discuss what happens when a mind is hungry for knowledge but the school system feels like a dead end. Robert tells the story of walking into kindergarten excited and walking out convinced he would never survive 13 years of it, then explains how self-directed learning filled the gap. We get into the surprisingly practical mechanics of becoming self-taught: reading encyclopedias with a dictionary at your side, breaking big ideas into smaller parts, and using relentless repetition until concepts finally connect.

From there, we jump to one of the most unforgettable threads of the conversation: auditing classes at UC Berkeley and Stanford without being enrolled. He describes sitting through the same lecture twice, buying the textbook, going back again, and watching understanding stack up like bricks. That leads into a bigger discussion about invention, creativity, and why modern life gives us endless tools but not always the right focus. Along the way, we challenge the culture of performative success and ask what “heroism” actually means if fame is off the table.

Find Stair Pits here:
www.unbreakableorigins.com

[00:00:00] Kindergarten Shock And School Violence
[06:08:00] Why School Never Fit
[14:50:00] Deconstructing Ideas Through Reading
[24:20:00] Why Invention Matters
[32:41:00] Mentoring Athletes To Do School
[47:52:00] Wrap Up And Stair Pits

We Lost the Ability to Read and Nobody's Talking About It

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 03:00:00 -0600

Why Reading Feels Hard (And Why That's Exactly the Point)

Reading a full page and absorbing nothing is a weird kind of panic — we've both been there. We call it "the scorpion in the mouth": the strange discomfort of something that demands your full attention when your brain is trained for quick inputs and fast replies.

In this episode, we get honest about why books feel harder than texting, scrolling, or watching a show — and why that difficulty is actually the whole point.

We break down what gets lost when communication moves to a screen (tone, subtext, the ten different meanings of "OK fine"), make the case for novels as a mental gym, and talk about how reading expands your vocabulary beyond good/bad/sucks when you need to explain what's actually going on in your life.

Then we go deeper: imagination, ownership, and why the character you build in your head hits different than the one a film decides for you.

We also cover writing that works for people who hate reading, why short chapters matter, and how small inventions like spacing and punctuation made written language powerful in the first place.

If you've ever said you don't like reading — this one is for you.
👇 Drop your take in the comments: what's the last book that truly pulled you in?
📖 Get the book at UnbreakableOrigins.com
🔔 Subscribe and share with someone who lives in their texts

[00:00:00] Biographies, Novels, And The Scorpion
[00:06:16] Why Reading Feels Hard Now
[00:11:19] Texting Loses Nuance And Subtext
[00:15:04] What Reading Is Really For
[00:22:06] Imagination, Ownership, And Characters
[00:27:56] How We Learn Language By Assimilation
[00:32:36] Vocabulary, Precision, And Better Thinking
[00:46:09] A Book Built For Non Readers
[00:50:11] Charlemagne, Punctuation, And The Close

Growing Up in Chaos: What I Had to Leave Behind

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 03:00:00 -0600

Have you ever sat at a table — literally or figuratively — and realized you didn't belong there anymore?

In this episode, R.A. Thompson and Max trace back to a single Thanksgiving moment that cracked a teenager's world open and sent him on a decades-long journey toward something better. It's the kind of story that doesn't announce itself as a turning point until you're already past it.

This isn't a polished redemption arc. It's messier and funnier than that — fake cigarettes, Calvin and Hobbes energy, and a rule about long shots versus close-ups that changes how you look at pain entirely.

What we get into:
The Thanksgiving table that became a mirror — and a exit sign
Why Robert wears a suit, and what it actually means
How acronyms like ZZZ, WHY, and WWW helped turn chaotic people into patterns you can understand
The three-part definition of life that reframes everything: childhood is what you can do, adolescence is what you can get away with, adulthood is what you can overcome
Why knowing what NOT to do is a completely valid strategy when the right path isn't clear
How addiction works like an enzyme — quietly changing everything around it
Using dark humor not to avoid pain, but to make it something you can actually look at

📖 Grab the book: unbreakableorigins.com

🎙️ Follow the show, leave a review, and tell us what topic you want next.

[00:00:00] Cold Open Banter And Identity
[00:07:20] Thanksgiving Shock And Leaving
[00:19:00] Knowing What Not To Do
[00:32:40] Sleepwalking Parents And ZZZ
[00:45:20] Overcoming Vs. Excuses

Welcome To The Stair Pits Zone

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:00:00 -0700

What happens when a retired investor in a suit walks onto a college football practice field?

In this first episode, author R.A. Thompson and co-host Max pull back the curtain on an unlikely friendship, an even unlikelier mentorship, and the book that came out of a life spent doing the next useful thing.

Robert shares how five weeks at Utah Tech turned into years of steady presence on the sideline — not because he knew football, but because he showed up when no one else did. Together, he and Max dig into the contrarian mindset that guides everything: when everyone's selling these kids short, buy their future.

They also open up about Stair Pits — a lean, darkly funny memoir about a childhood gone spectacularly wrong in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, written for modern attention spans. Short chapters, no filler, and a simple truth at its core: you only ever live one of two arcs. You fail and keep going — or you fail and stop.

In this episode:
How humor delivers hard truths without drawing blood
Why identity has to outlast the athlete label
The contrarian logic of betting on people everyone else gave up on
Writing a book designed for people who don't read
Creation over consumption — and why it matters

📖 Grab the book: unbreakableorigins.com
🎙️ Follow the show, leave a review, and tell us what topic you want next.

[00:00:00] Humor's Lens: Long Shot Vs Close-Up
[00:06:03] Showing Up Becomes A Mission
[00:11:39] Connecting Through Humor And Truth
[00:17:11] Why Write Stair Pits
[00:24:00] The Two Life Stories We Choose
[00:28:20] Closing Gratitude And Book Tease