iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 6h

Leaving my mom's home this morning. The sadness hit early. Two handles on the same feeling. One says hard days ahead. The other says this is how much love lives here. Breathe. Sit with it. Grab the better handle. That's the Freedom Gap. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Allons 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

2 Brians. 2 hearts that stopped. 1 conversation worth your Monday. My talk with @Brian Simpson on The Heart Attack Thriver Podcast is live. Surviving is a medical outcome; thriving is a daily decision. 🫀 Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Drove into Carlsbad last night. Spent the evening at my mom's table. No rank. No résumé. No armor. Thirty-three years chasing proof of worth; one evening with Mom to remember it was never the mission. You are enough. You always were. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Leaving Austin this afternoon to beat the weather rolling in. Teams can outrun some storms. Not all of them. Build the foundation before the clouds: shared values you can stand on. Then, when the storm hits, watch what holds. That’s clarity. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Morning pour at Intelligentsia in downtown Austin. I call it the thickening; stay in the problem until it reduces down & gets rich. Thin answers come fast. Good ones simmer. ☕🔥 Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Monday. Cold plunge. Same drink. Same track. Stand & write. 🧊🔥 Get the start right & you're on fire before work. Now I'm building Set Your Team's Table. What does your team do in its first hour that sets the tone? Tell me. 👇 Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Missed my conversation with John J. Murphy on The Fearless Podcast last week? It's live now. 🎙️ Fear. Armor. Courage. Here's the first reel. Full episode: www.youtube.com/live/X2JIq54... Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

30 minutes into my favorite show last night, I hit pause. Ran my shutdown. Sent the emails. Screens off. This morning, gym. Discipline isn’t the cage; it’s the key. That’s how you close the Freedom Gap. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Heading to Akron for @The Referent Group Leadership Academy with one truth in my ruck: indecision is still a decision. In armor, the tank that stops to deliberate becomes a target. Decide. Adjust. Execute. Stay in the fight. Set your table. Allons. 🇺🇸

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Tell Him. Tell Donald J. (Im a Pedo) Trump!! Again and again.

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Americans — pls make this go viral. Enough is enough. We don’t shoot ppl in the back b/c of their skin color or immigration status. WTF?

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

LIVE today: joining John Murphy on Fearless at 10 AM CST to talk leadership & the Five Foundations behind real execution. Sleep. Move. Eat. Focus. Breathe. Set your table before you set your plan. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Drove to Bastrop hoping to catch Ryan Holiday at The Painted Porch. Didn't happen; great day anyway. Where are you betting on yourself? Bet where success is least likely & the dream keeps you up at night. Stay in the fight. Set your table. 📖 www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZYXLZXY

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

@ryan-holiday.bsky.social hey … I’m here at the Painted Porch today… wanted to stop by & give u a copy of *Set Your Table: Reclaim Your Life* #booksky #allons

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

33 years in a profession built on conflict taught me this: the best victories are never fought. 🌊 Water doesn't argue with the rock; it keeps moving. Noncontention isn't surrender. It's positioning. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Donald J. Trump, the 47th president, is allegedly a child rapist who threatened to kill the same little girls he raped. Why is that so very hard to believe?

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Took a medically directed sleep test. Pretty sure I failed. 😴 Oura says 84; the doctor gets the last word. WTF do we do about AI? Speed without accountability has always been dangerous. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

We think we want success. We actually want connection. Most connected generation ever & the loneliest. Relationships aren't hunted, they're cultivated. What's killing real connection for you — busyness, social media, or armor? Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Reposted by Brian Cook

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026

Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Twenty-five years since 9/11. We rose against evil once. Now watch a president who lies to guard his ego & base; a SecDef firing our best to consolidate power. That is not the sword the founders built. Remember September 10th. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Today's my Alive Day: the day they put a pacemaker in my chest. One job…keep me in this meat suit. Four cardiac arrests tried to write the ending. Didn't get the last word. Buy the book. It’s everywhere. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

And we have no rapid means to restock our batteries? Oh my… Sun Tzu comes to mind. The warrior wins the war then goes to battle…

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Fri, Sept 11, 2:15 PM. Capital Factory, Austin. Storytelling Session w/ @Jana Spruce (Home of the Brave) & @Joseph Randall II (Forged in Heat) at the @Leading 2 Win Summit. My book “Set Your Table”'s in the mix too. Come sit with us. Stay in the fight. Set your table. #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Tuesday after Labor Day. Someone will misread you this week. They will put you in a corner because the version of you they filed away no longer matches the one showing up. Let them. The corner has good light. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Plan blew up this morning. Wrong turn, wrong timing. Ended up at a table in New Braunfels with my better half & two kolaches. The Freedom Gap doesn't close on perfect mornings; it closes on broken ones. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Between every inhale & exhale there is a space. Grace lives there. You cannot find ur authentic self while moving at the speed of everyone else's expectations. @JimKwik's Limitless Daily runs on the same math; one page, one morning, compounding. Choose your fracture. Please buy my book. #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Robert Greene taught me to read the room; 33 yrs in uniform taught me to read the terrain. Neither 1 taught me to read myself. The 48 Laws will make you formidable; it will not tell you what to be formidable about. Learn the laws. Then drop the armor. Stay in the fight. Set your table.

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Chapter 11 today: Setting Your Community Table. "Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions." Holmes, 1858. Old friends first. Leading to WIN next. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Mind before media; that's the rule Jim Kwik dropped on Hal Elrod's pod this week & it wrecked me (good way). Also grabbed Be One of Zero by Karla Murphy, another Marine turned teacher; it's free right now. Both hit my Personal Table today. What's feeding yours? • Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Rest is not the reward for the week; it is the ammunition for the next one. Great sleep groove this weekend. Time with people I love, help given to people who raised a hand. Monday arrives like a rocketship when Sunday night is set. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is absolutely absurd. Can we please impeach this ignoramus?

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

51 percent is not consensus; it's a tipping point. You will not argue anyone out of following the loudest voice. You outlast them; you hold the standard when it costs you. Do not count the whole room. Count to 51. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The night my heart stopped, life got simple; a short list in one hand. That's Occam's Razor, learned hard: the simplest truth is the true one. Darkness cuts the noise & leaves what's real. Name the gap. Cut one excuse. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

A fellow war college instructor & naval aviator on Set Your Table: "I teach strategy to senior military officers, yet realized how little deliberate thought I had given to the strategy for my own life." That is the Freedom Gap. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Tuesdays are my jam. 🔥 Studio day: Chapter 6 redo (Strategic vs. Tactical) & Chapter 7 fresh (The Table Framework). Audiobook of Set Your Table taking shape in my voice. Time autonomy is not a perk; it is the whole point. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Monday truth: no one is coming to save you. Not your boss. Not the market. Not the algorithm. The cavalry is not on the ridge; you are the cavalry. Mindset is your last line of defense. Guard it. Then use it. Wake up. Suit up. Show up. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

⏰ VOTING CLOSES TOMORROW. That space between your declared life & your lived life? I call it the FREEDOM GAP. I want to bring the Set Your Table framework to the SXSW 2027 stage. Thirty seconds; free SXSW account; link in reply. 🗳️ Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Austin ran hot this week 🔥 Fed Supernova, Network Before Launch, & Ep 65 of the Healthy Leader Forum with Traci Fisher. The line we landed on: you don't have a hustle problem; you have a strategy problem. Aim your best shot right. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Live today 1pm ET on The Healthy Leader Expert Forum with Traci Fisher 🎤 I am not the battle; I am the war. Five Foundations, the Freedom Gap, & your questions. Otsukaresama, Traci. Link in profile. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Live tomorrow w/ Traci Fischer on the Healthy Leader podcast. Talking judgment under pressure: the inward eye you build through reps, not the certainty you wait for. Judgment is a muscle. Tune in. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Waiting to feel certain before you decide? That feeling isn't coming. Clausewitz called it coup d'oeil: the inward eye. It's not a gift; it's reps. Decide. Get it wrong. Adjust. Judgment is a muscle. Build it under load. Stay in the fight. Set your table. ~ Rusty 🚀 #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Great room last night; defense-tech, dual-use, real energy. Then the drive home, & this morning, a hollow. Whose table are you sitting at? Deals fade. What you build yourself does not. Set your table. #booksky bookshop.org/p/books/set-...

bookshop.org

Set Your Table: Reclaim Your Life

Now that I've got your attention, let's talk about why most self-help books fail you. They promise transformation through willpower, optimize you like software, then leave you more exhausted than when...

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

To my South Korean friends: I apologize for our ignorant president. Real ?? for #PACOM leaders & #warcollege profs...how vital is this alliance, forged in Korean War blood, backed by 28k troops & the 1953 treaty? Experts call it the #linchpin. Strategy without character is manipulation. #booksky

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Brian Cook @21stcenturycol.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Leading 2 Win, fourth annual. Friday, September 11, Capital Factory, Austin. Twenty-five years on. Not a conference you sit through; an unconference you build. Veterans trading what they actually know. Bring a hard problem. Leave with your people. leading2win.org #booksky

leading2win.org

Leading 2 Win 2026 — 4th Annual Summit · Austin, TX

The 4th Annual Leading2Win Summit, September 10-13, 2026 across Central Texas — on the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Register, sponsor, and support.

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