Gents Journey

The Evolution of Gent's Journey

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What happens when a podcaster goes from creating individual episodes to crafting immersive narrative series? Anthony pulls back the curtain on the four-year evolution of Gent's Journey, revealing the deeply personal stories behind his twelve distinct podcast series.

Starting with his "Foundational Five" concept and moving through his transition to story-driven content, Anthony shares how each series emerged from specific life experiences. The Death of You series was born during a period of profound loss, examining how one version of yourself must die for growth to occur. Mental Supremacy was inspired by characters like James Spader in The Blacklist, exploring what creates that rare calm confidence that shifts the energy of a room. The Rebirth of Cool—named after a jazz album found in a thrift store—redefines coolness as self-sufficiency rather than external validation.

Anthony reveals the healing power of creating characters who process trauma similar to his own. "One of the greatest things about writing is I get to heal myself because I'm healing the character," he explains, particularly regarding Remembrance, which helped him process grief around his mother's cancer. From noir-inspired The Forgotten Samurai to the adventure-driven Relic Hunter, each series evolved his storytelling while maintaining powerful developmental lessons.

For listeners discovering Gent's Journey for the first time, Anthony recommends beginning with the trilogy of Death of You, Mental Supremacy, and Unseen Laws of Power—"Those three right there will absolutely change your life." Looking ahead, he shares plans for expanded 20-episode series and themed content around holidays, continuing to push his unique blend of personal development and narrative storytelling.

Connect with Anthony through the chat link in the episode description, by email at anthony@gentsjourney.com, or on Instagram @my_gents_journey to share your thoughts on these series or request topics for future episodes.

"True mastery is found in the details. The way you handle the little things defines the way you handle everything."

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to the Gentleman's Journey podcast. My name is Anthony, your host, and today we're just kind of doing a little. I don't know if you could call it a question and answer, but realistically I'm just kind of doing a review, a series review of all the series we've done so far this year on Gent's Journey. We've done 12, which is absolutely unbelievable. So what I want to kind of get into in this episode is we're going to talk about why I made the change from doing singular episodes to series and then how the series progressed and changed, kind of what you can expect, you know, the rest of this year because as I'm recording this we're still in the end of July. So talking about the rest of the year, how that's all going to look, and then really just answer just a lot of questions that I get a lot on here about my process and that kind of stuff. I get a lot on here about my process and that kind of stuff. So I'm just going to go ahead, I'm just going to get into it. So first things. First, one of the things about podcasting that a lot of people don't talk about. A lot of people just think like, oh, I just get on a microphone, I just start talking. That's so little of what being a podcaster is, you know, especially with Jen's journey. You know it's been a journey for me, as you can see, like I started this four years ago and now I mean it's completely different. But podcasting is a full-time job in itself, meaning coming up with concepts, writing scripts, making sure they sound good, editing all that stuff. There's a lot to doing all of this and as I start getting into this you're going to see like, oh my gosh, how do you do that? Because, just so you guys understand, understand, it's just me, I. I don't have a team of people, it is 100, just me putting out content every single day, monday through friday. It's just me. So that's first things. First.

Speaker 1:

Now to to kind kind of talk about the beginnings of Jent's journey. I originally did this as I don't know if you want to say therapy, but I saw in the landscape of I guess you can say men's talk, that there was there's camps of you. To me, if you're gonna teach something, teach it all the way. Give me the depth, let me, let me work with it. You know, or if you were gonna get depth, that they wanted to charge you thousands and thousands of dollars to get depth and I just didn't agree with that. Now, just to give you a little background about me like I've been doing self-development for a very, very long time, I've read gosh, probably three, 400 books on self-development. I've read everything you know and I still read a book every two weeks now. I used to read a book every, but now I read a book every two weeks. So so you know to kind of see what's out there still. But I wanted to give that guy, you know, give that to you.

Speaker 1:

So a lot of the series like, especially if you look at my first five, which are called the foundational five of gents journey. It was one of those things where you know the average podcaster I don't know if you guys know this or not they only ever release three episodes, that's it. That's know the average podcaster I don't know if you guys know this or not they only ever release three episodes, that's it. That's the average. The average person will start this, they'll release three episodes and then that's it. I mean, we're 260 strong, but three episodes is the average, right. What I'm doing is unheard of, like there's just no one that's doing it like we're doing it here, here.

Speaker 1:

Um, anyways, to go back on what I was saying, if I was gonna, like, only do five, I thought to myself, like if I only had five series to say, or five episodes to say exactly how I felt, how how could I, how could I do that? How could I make that work? What would that look? How could I make that work? What would that look like? So that's what came up with, the foundational five. So essentially then, from that point forward, every year there was a foundational five series and what would start to happen is that I would apply situations or things and that was kind of like the foundation for that year of how we were.

Speaker 1:

What we're going to talk about essentially. You know breaking it up through the years, and you know that's very well and good and all. But I'm going to tell you, when you get 150, 100 episodes in and you're doing new episodes every single day, 100 episodes in, and you're doing new episodes every single day, monday through Friday, it's a very jarring situation and for me there's only so many things you can say a certain way, and I did kind of take a step back for a little bit, just for the simple fact of, you know I did 120 episodes and you know, essentially I'm like I don't know what else to say. So I kind of had to reinvent Jen's journey and then, starting at actually the 31st of December 2024, I said, listen, I'm just going to do my best to just do an episode Monday through Friday and then through that, that was about good for about a month. And then in February we started doing series.

Speaker 1:

The first series was the 10X series and to me you know I've read the 10X books and I've done some of the training or whatever but the thing I didn't like about it I'm just gonna be 100% honest with you there was a lot of fluff. There wasn't like do this, do this, do this, do this, do that? Right, there was none of that. So, reading that book, like for the third time, like you know what, I've read this enough times I think I could teach it, and that's what I did and that's what we came up with. Then we went to the Death of you series. Now I'm going to be 100% honest with you. This was me. This was me when my mom passed away. This was me when everything was going pretty much to crap.

Speaker 1:

You know, when you have to make a decision that there's two yous right, there's the old you and then there's the you that you want to become. They both can't live together. One has to essentially die right For the other one to live. So you choose which one. Obviously, you know I chose the latter, but it's going through that, especially with the ceremony and going through the um, the whole part of of you dying in the funeral scene. What was so hard to write that was, literally, I had a really good friend of mine. Her husband passed away gosh, not even three weeks before. So you, that that came at a very pivotal time, you know, for for for me cause, like I said, she was a very close friend of mine and a lot, there was a lot of, you know, there was some nods to her husband in that. You know, as you know, giving, giving thanks to her for her friendship, um, um. So there's that now.

Speaker 1:

Mental supremacy one of the things. Actually, mental supremacy and unseen laws of power were some of my favorite series up to that point, just because the fact that you know, when we never talk about mental supremacy, it's always about like, oh, I'm confident, I'm alpha, you know, like, bro, it's always those kind of things right, and if you actually look at people that are really mentally powerful and that are really confident, what I pulled him from? I was a I was a huge, huge fan of the blacklist and if you, it has James Spader in it Great series I essentially took him as a character and said, like, well, what would create something like that? To where you're smooth, you're calm, you're polished, you have everything. You know exactly what to say, you know exactly what to do. That was mental supremacy.

Speaker 1:

Right Now, the unseen laws of power, oh gosh, so so, with Unseen, lots of Pirate. This was my biggest thing is, you know, I'm I'm a huge, huge fan of of Robert Green. Right, I've read, gosh, all of his books. I, I didn't okay, I'm going to. I didn't read the 50th law. I, just, I just couldn't, I, I tried, couldn't get into it, right, but I've read everything else that he's done.

Speaker 1:

You know, obviously you have the 48 laws of powers, laws of human nature, gosh, I mean, there's so many, but those two were kind of my building blocks to unseen laws of power, of my building blocks to Unseen Laws of Power, because if you really look at true power, true powerful people, they're nondescript, right, they're the people. Like when they walk in, you feel a shift happen in the area in the world where they're at Like, things just shift. So, like to me, you know and I'm not saying I'm a conspiracy theorist or whatever, but you know we always hear like these, you know these things out there in the world that, oh, the world is only ran by 12 guys and you know they make all these decisions, blah, blah, blah, right. So in my mind I'm like, okay, let's say I was starting from scratch or starting new, and I was going to be one of these people, or I was going through that. I was picked per se. I'm putting that quotation marks. I was picked. What would that training look like? That was unseen laws of power.

Speaker 1:

And I'm going to tell you this if you're new and this is the first time you're ever listening to me talk please do yourself a favor, don't listen anymore. Go back If you really want to really improve your life. Those the, the death of you, mental supremacy and unseen laws of power those, those three right there will absolutely change your life. So, and if you're never gonna listen to me again, listen, put. Just put those three episodes, those 30, those 30 episodes right, those three series. Just put them on repeat and I'm telling you, your whole life will change, I promise you. Your whole life will change, I promise you.

Speaker 1:

But so, as I was saying like, that's what that came from is like how can I architect something to where, let's say, you don't have control of your life, let's say you don't have answers, like you're not where you want to be in your life? Those are things you have to kill yourself. You know the old you. So death of you. Then you know mental supremacy. You got to start building your mind. And then, once you're good with that, then you have the unseen laws of power. So it's this little arc that you create for yourself to really build the best you possible, right. And then there's the rebirth of cool. So one of the things about rebirth of cool I'll tell you how I came up with this, right.

Speaker 1:

So obviously, after unseen laws of power was was done, I had nothing. I'm like what do I do after this? What do I do? How do I make this work? And I was at a pawn not a pawn shop, uh, like a goodwill, like a thrift store, right. And they actually had a jazz record and and it said the Rebirth of Cools. I was like okay, all right, because it kind of hit me. I'm like this is what I'm going to write about, but what does that mean? Why is this hitting me so hard? And then I really thought about it. I really thought about it.

Speaker 1:

You know, when you get past like 25, 30 years old, you don't look at people being cool anymore, right, you look at people who are established so like. Cool is a reference to where it's elegance, it's stillness, it's ease. How do I become so comfortable in myself, right? How do I become timelessness? How do I have that feeling and that vibe to myself? You know what I mean? Where I don't need anything, right, I already have everything that I want. And that's the rebirth of cool. It's to where you are so comfortable in your own skin, to where you just know who you are. And I say this all the time. When you listen to the Rebirth of Cool, what I'm really trying to tell you is I'm really trying to make you the most dangerous person in the world. And the most dangerous person in the world is someone who doesn't depend on outside circumstance or the outside world telling them who they are. They know who they are to the core and they just walk the world that way and then they become completely self-sufficient. So when you know that, when you know that the world doesn't dictate to who you are, you dictate to the world who you are, your whole world changes, and that was the rebirth of cool.

Speaker 1:

Now the charisma protocols Ah, the charisma protocols. You know, this was kind of stepping towards storytelling. There's a little bit of elements in this, right. Actually, hold on, before I go into that, I want to go back here. Unseen Laws of Power, right. So Shadow King, that kind of stuff that was that's where he has given birth, and to kind of go into that. And to kind of go into that. He's a character that you're going to see pop up a lot in Gent's journey in general, in a lot of these series, and I'll get into why here in a minute. But I just wanted to clarify that really quick because that is something that we spoke about. Now. Charisma Protocols was also really great. This is where storytelling really started coming into play.

Speaker 1:

Peace Unique it's you understanding. It's you understanding, you know when. Let me pull up this quote from Peace Unique one second, because it was one of those things. You know, as I created Peace Unique and created these things. It's I don't even know how to say it. It's something or someone that I wish I had earlier in my life. I guess is the best way to explain it honestly. It's just, I don't know. I don't know. It's just one of those things to where you understand that you are unique in yourself and nobody else can tell you who you are. That's what peace unique is, that everyone is unique, no matter what. And actually, how I came up with that name, I can't take credit for it. Came up with that name, I can't take credit for it. So I'm a fan of watches, right, and I was watching this YouTube video and John Mayer had a Peace Unique watch and I'm like what the hell does that mean? And he explained what a Peace Unique is. They're watches that are one of one. They'll never be made again and it was made specifically for him. And I thought about I'm like you know what? That's how we all are. We're all unique people, but how do you become comfortable in that? That's piece unique.

Speaker 1:

Now the confidence protocols oh man, this. I'm going to tell you what. I'm going to just be 100% honest with you. Oh man, this. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to just be 100% honest with you. When you're writing series, they're all like your children, right, but this is one of my favorites and this is why this is where storytelling started coming into play, right?

Speaker 1:

So I was a big fan of Lost, and there are some Lost elements in this, obviously, right. But you waking up, you know, on a beach with all you have is just the clothes on your back and that's it, and you're in this jungle and how the hell do you survive? And then, as you're going through this, there's all these trials that you have to really regain yourself, and I'm not gonna I mean, I'm not gonna ruin it. But the reason why the confidence protocols are such a huge thing for me was it was exactly how I felt when my mom died and that 10 years it took to kind of get myself back. That was the confidence protocols, because my confidence was completely shot. I had no idea who I was and I had to go through these trials of life to gain back who I was. That's the confidence protocols.

Speaker 1:

Now, the forgotten samurai, oh man, oh, actually, with the confidence protocols too. And I don't say say this, but that was actually the first ever not mentioned, but the first time the shadow king actually showed up in something as in a physical form, which was a lot of fun to write to now the forgotten samurai this is. This is this is where I'm now getting my footing for writing stories, right, because just to kind of give you like a background about this, you know, kind of give you some behind the scenes, I'm a huge, huge fan of like 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s detective noirs. They're gritty, they're smart, they're smoking like a pack a half a day, they have a big heart, but they don't know how to show it kind of situation that was the Forgotten Samurai to show it. Kind of situation. That was the forgotten samurai.

Speaker 1:

And and this series, too, is also where I wrote my first female counterpart, right, and it was a lot of fun because I wrote her off for some people that I know, right, and just being able to share that with them and some of the things that they would say was just was just such a, such a fun, fun, fun, fun thing to do, and the fact that you know I don't want to give it away, but there's a continuation with him. I'll just say that way, right? Then you have the Relic Hunter. Somebody asked me this question, right, because the Forgotten Samurai he was smoking Lucky Strikes all the time.

Speaker 1:

Now the Relic Hunter this is where we're getting to more this is kind of like what I wanted, know, like I like it, not a james bond feel, but I wanted more action, more adventure, kind of those kind of things. Right, that's what the relic hunter was, was like. How can I make this fun, have some comedy in it, but still make it to where there's lessons to be learned and there's development with it? Because you have to understand, guys, as I'm doing these stories they're not just for your entertainment. There's still things to learn from them and I think a lot of people kind of forget that. But that's what we're doing here. You know, that's why you're on this podcast, or listening to this podcast is the simple fact that you want to learn how to be better. So I'm always the kind of person that in the beginning I was talking at you and trying to teach you. Now I'm telling you stories about people so you can kind of see the stuff working in action and examples, right, and then also, too, I won't give away the story, but towards the end was one of the hardest but one of the best things I think I ever wrote written thus far and like because it was just such a good way to send them off.

Speaker 1:

Now, remembrance, okay, sigh, sigh. There was a lot of me in this. So one of the hardest things I had to write was when his mother, obviously, was diagnosed with cancer, and living through that whole thing, because that's something I had to do for a while, and living through that whole thing because that's something I had to do for a while, and it was a very hard experience. One of the greatest things about writing and about having a show is I get to go through these things with you guys and I get to kind of heal myself because I'm healing the character. So because I'm healing the character, so as I'm healing the character, I'm kind of healing myself at the same time. So you know with that that, you know, remembrance, especially towards the end, was very hard for me to write but very needed.

Speaker 1:

And if you've listened to the series you'll definitely understand what I'm saying. And then the key to everything you know I'm not going to lie, I'm a huge romantic kind of guy. I love a little bit of romance in my life and again, with me writing Strong Women. I always feel that romance has to be earned right and with this guy he lost himself in the beginning, didn't know who he was. He lost himself in the beginning, didn't know who he was, got the key things happened. He was in love, lost the love, got it back. I'm not going to tell you how that all goes, but these are characters right that I'm probably never going to write again. There's no continuation for them.

Speaker 1:

So I did something different in this series I haven't done in any other series thus far where I wrote an epilogue where we finished really the series on episode nine but episode 10 is what happened afterwards to make the series complete, to kind of complete everything for them and for you, the listener, because I always think that's important, because to me, I hate when stories have loose endings or they don't explain this or they don't explain that. I always like to tie everything up. So, obviously, with this being the latest one, number 12. It was just such a fun thing to write and, like I said, it's gotten so much positive reviews so far and I'm just really, really grateful for that. So, like I said, 12 series it's been just such a wild ride so far with you guys, and I'm gonna be honest with you, I never expected us to be here. I never expected me to be doing so much with this series or, honestly, like this, this show. But it's all because of you guys. Your guys' support, your listenership, the messages I get from you. I just wanted to say thank you.

Speaker 1:

So before I leave, I just want to kind of tell you what to kind of expect here for pretty much the rest of the year. So here's what's going to happen. So in August, right, or actually Monday, so the end of July, pretty much the end of August we are going to have one series a month now and it's going to be 20 episodes. These are going to be very big series, right? So there's going to be a lot of stuff going on with them. So that's going to happen August and September, right, you're going to have two big series.

Speaker 1:

So then in November, what we're going to be doing is and I think I shared this on my last episode, but just in case for some of you listening or you missed that episode what we're going to be doing for November is everything's going to be centered around Thanksgiving. I know that's not celebrated everything in the world, but we've all know what Thanksgiving is. If you're not, please look it up, right? So it's going to be four stories that are going to be just one week episodes. They're all going to be five, five episode series, which is short for us, but they're all going to be five episode series, which is short for us. But they're all going to evolve around Thanksgiving. And then we're going to do I'm sorry, no, october. Everything's going to be evolved around Halloween, right, because before scary and I'm putting this quotation mark scary stories. Then November, same thing. We're gonna have four short series that are gonna involve everything around thanksgiving. And then in december, we're gonna have four short series are gonna involve everything around, uh, the holidays, so christmas, and then, uh, we start again july or july, uh, january 1st, withst with a whole new. I don't know exactly what's going to be coming up, but there'll be updates here for you guys. But we're at 30 minutes now.

Speaker 1:

So I just wanted to kind of give this review, kind of tell you what's going on, answer some questions that I get a lot, and I just want to just thank you guys, just so very much for for always listening, always your support. Now, if you want to, you know, send me questions, ask questions. There's three ways you can do it. First way is going to be through my uh, actually through the description here on the podcast. If, if you click on it, there's a thing that says let's chat, once you click on that, you and I can have a conversation about this series or this episode, or the you know the 260 plus episodes I have out there. Second way is going to be through my email. My email is anthonyatjentsterneycom. And then, last but not least, you can always reach out to me on my instagram. My instagram is my gents journey. And then also, too and I, I just, I literally just did this today I also did a tiktok, so that is gents journey, one, I believe, and that'll be out there too. But I'm gonna start linking all this stuff in the descriptions.

Speaker 1:

Okay, guys, but again I want to thank you. Every single one of you that have listened are listening. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I can't, I wouldn't be able to do this without your guys and your guys' support. So, again, thank you so much and thank you so much for listening today. And, as always, remember this you create your reality. Take care. Bye.