Lessons in Action, Agency, and Purpose From Buying a Ghost Town

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the 19th century, Cerro Gordo, which sits above Death Valley, was the largest silver mine in America, a place where dreamers came to strike it rich. In the 21st century, Brent Underwood used his life savings to buy what had become an abandoned ghost town, and ended up finding a very different kind of wealth there. Brent has spent four years living in Cerro Gordo and has documented the details of the mines he’s explored, the artifacts he’s found, and how he’s restoring the town on his popular YouTube channel, Ghost Town Living. Now, in a book by the same name, he takes a wider-view lens on his adventures there and shares the big lessons he’s learned from his experiences and from the original residents of Cerro Gordo. We get into some of those lessons on today’s show. We first talk about how and why Brent bought a ghost town as a way of escaping a typical 9-5 life and finding a deeper longer-term purpose. We then discuss what restoring Cerro Gordo has taught him about the necessity of getting started and taking real action, how learning the context of what you do can add greater meaning to it, the importance of understanding the long-term consequences of short-term thinking, the satisfactions that come with being a high-agency person, and more.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness
0:10.5	podcast in the 19th century Serordo, which sits above Death Valley, was the largest silver
0:16.0	mine in America, a place where dreamers came to strike it rich.
0:20.0	In the 21st century, Brent Underwood used his life savings to buy what had become an abandoned
0:24.6	ghost town and ended up finding a very different kind of welfare.
0:28.8	Brent has spent four years living in Saragordo and has documented the details of the minds he's explored, the artifacts he's
0:34.0	found, and how he's restoring the town on his popular YouTube channel, Ghost Town Living.
0:38.8	Now in a book by the same name, he takes a wider view lens on his adventures there and shares the big lessons he's learned from his experiences from the original residents of Sarah Gordo.
0:47.0	We get into some of those lessons on today's show.
0:50.0	We first talk about how and why Brent Badegosetown as a way of escaping a typical 9 to 5 life and finding a deeper longer term purpose.
0:57.0	We then discuss what restoring Suragordo has taught about the necessity of getting started and taking real action,
1:02.0	how learning the context of what you do can
1:03.9	add greater meaning to it, the importance of understanding the long-term
1:07.0	consequences of short-term thinking, the satisfactions that come with being a
1:10.6	high agency person and more. After the show's over check at our show notes at
1:14.3	AOM.IS slash Ghosttown. All right, Brent Underwood, welcome to the show.
1:27.2	All right, Brent Underwood, welcome to the show.
1:29.8	Oh, man, thank you for having me.
1:31.3	So you are the owner of a ghost town that was once a thriving mining town at the edge of Death Valley.
1:40.0	How does a guy like you end up owning an abandoned mining town?
1:46.3	Yes, that is a question I seem to ask myself a lot,
1:49.3	but I think it was about the right project at the right time for me.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Art of Manliness, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Art of Manliness and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.