First Class Fatherhood with Alec Lace
First Class Fatherhood with Alec Lace
SNIPPET #128
What do Hollywood legends Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne have in common with the popular podcast host, Alec Lace?
All of them created stage names for the world at large to know them by, while friends and family know them by their given names.
Aiden, Logan, Emily, and Chris are the names of Alec’s four children; that’s where the name Alec was born, from the first letter of each name.
We didn’t ask his real name and he didn’t offer it – but whatever his true name is, Alec Lace is otherwise as transparent as can be.
He speaks openly about the path that brought him to where he is today. From his childhood addictions that nearly cost him everything he cherishes in adulthood, his decision to take his life back from those addictions, his struggle to do so and the new success he’s found as creator and host of First Class Fatherhood.
Alec Lace has been face to face with people like Tom Brady and President Trump.
He’s interviewed celebrities, former Navy SEALs, and NFL greats, including Tom Brady, about the topic he is most passionate about – fatherhood.
His podcast, First Class Fatherhood, is soaring to the top of playlists as fathers all over the country tune in for nuggets of wisdom from some of America’s most famous fathers.
It’s a sweet gig. Alec loves it. It’s not only brought him to the White House and introduced him to people he previously looked up to from afar, it’s allowing him to fulfill a purpose he is passionate about.
“One of the most important things is becoming a father, says Alec.
“Being a dad really motivates you to strive to be the best person you can be. That’s a driving force behind everything I do.”
It’s something he’s always felt strongly about, especially having come so close to losing his family.
Alec knows he has an addictive personality. He’s got years of evidence to support that acknowledgement.
He was just in the 8th grade when he started drinking and gambling – and he didn’t just dabble in gambling, he started a pool of his own. By the time he started high school, Alec was a full-blown alcoholic. The gambling and drugs merged with the alcohol to form a trifecta of trouble for Alec. Each time he made an attempt to change, he says, something would happen that sent him running back to his comfortable coping methods. The death of his parents and then a close friend’s suicide overwhelmed him with pain. All he’d taught himself about coping was to flee from pain.
“It’s like the minute you plant a backyard garden, all the weeds and bugs start to attack it,” is how Alec describes his repeated attempts to grow a positive mindset. ‘Everything starts to turn against you and say – How bad do you really want it?”
For Alec Lace, that answer was, “not enough” until he realized he’d been attacking his problems the wrong way.
An addictive personality can serve as an asset or a liability, depending on how it is harnessed. Alec reached the point where he understood himself enough to know he’d have to reshape how he saw himself in order to be free from his negative addictions. So he turned his personality toward reading. One book after another on personal development and different philosophies on life. Navy SEAL books topped his list along with Napolean Hill and James Allen.
Gradually Alec learned how to stop viewing himself as anything other than a sober person who was not even tempted by alcohol or drugs. He started focusing less on his harmful addictions and more on what life would like like if he was sober and strong.
“If it’s possible for other people to have these success stories, it’s possible for me,” he figured.
One inspirational story after another added fuel to his fire, and a new mindset began to scorch the remains of his previous mindset.
Staying sober is no longer a battle, he says. He no longer counts how many days he’s been sober because not being sober no longer plays into his possibilities.
He drives an Uber on weekends. It’s his side hustle and he enjoys it. Every weekend, though, he’s driving with versions of his old self, reeking of booze and headed for a hangover. Every mile he drives with those passengers puts another mile between the new version of himself, and the old.
It was in the course of his Uber hours that he first noticed the recurring theme of fatherhood as the end of all happiness rather than the door to new happiness. The young men he drove would stare at him like he had lost his mind if he happened to tell them he has four kids. Instantly, says Alec, the passengers would launch into a litany of things to despise and dread about having kids: They’re too expensive, why would you want to bring a kid into this world, I cannot imagine having kids …. On and on it would go and Alec would listen in growing dismay as weekend after weekend his passengers preached about fatherhood as if it was a death sentence.
It began to irritate him to the point that he wanted to do something that would reverse the negative message about fatherhood. Being a father is the thing Alec believes changes lives in a positive way. He hates the time he missed out on those joys because of his addictions and he’s grateful for every day he’s had since he pieced himself back together. Being a husband and a father is to him the greatest part of his life, and he knew there had to be plenty of other men who felt the same. How could he send that message out into the world for others to hear?
The answer to that question presented itself by by chance.
Alec’s two oldest boys decided to launch their own Youtube channel and Alec, being the engaged and mission-driven person he is, jumped in to help.
If they were going to do this, they may as well really do it. So he researched the topic and coached them on how to go all the way in. In the course of that research is when he discovered the world of podcasts.
“What a great way to reach people,” he realized. This could be the platform for him to take his message about the joys of fatherhood out to the world.
A few clicks on his phone and he had an app to use for recording, editing, and posting a podcast. That was all he needed to get up and running. His tenacity and drive are what’s taken him from a guy with a cell phone to the podcast host on the White House lawn next to Fox News, CNN, and other networks there to get their questions in to the president. His never say no mindset is what landed him that media pass at the Superbowl after he was declined more than once. He’s got former Navy SEALs on his show every Friday and he’s connected with celebrities who are also thrilled to share their insight and lessons on fatherhood.
It’s a far different path than the one he began on, and Alec is just getting started. He’s found the key to becoming the best version of himself and the key to his own version of the American Dream.
[clickToTweet tweet=”America is a ladder to climb, and the possibilities are open to everyone that wants to work hard – Alec Lace” quote=”America is a ladder to climb, and the possibilities are open to everyone that wants to work hard – Alec Lace” theme=”style5″]
A lot of blame for people’s struggles is placed on the country and the government, he says, when in reality it comes down to how much value you bring to the marketplace.
He worked hard to rebuild his mindset and create a fulfilled future with his family in it. He’s adding value not only to his own life but to fathers everywhere who also strive to be the best dads they can be.
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