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.
Resources Related to the Podcast#660: How Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Heal the Soul
#659: Do You Want to Be Rich or Wealthy? (And Why the Difference Matters)
#658: In Praise of Maintenance in a World Obsessed With Innovation
#657: Why You Don't Change (But How You Still Can)
#656: The Hidden Pleasures of Learning for Its Own Sake
#655: Simple, Excuse-Busting Advice for Getting in Shape
#654: How to Astronaut
#653: The Dirtbag's Guide to Life
#652: Chefs' Secrets for Organizing Your Life
#651: How to Turn Fear Into Fuel
#650: Why People Are Building Bunkers for the Apocalypse
#649: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Outsourced Expertise
#648: Lessons in Building Rapport from Experts in Terrorist Interrogation
#647: What Happened When Two Friends Left Their Jobs to Build a Cabin Together
#646: How to Win at Losing
#645: The Forgotten Story of the Lumberjack Commandos of WWII
#644: How to Develop Greater Self-Awareness
#643: Life Lessons From Dead Philosophers
#642: Finding Money and Meaning in the Blue Collar Trades
#450: How to Make Time For What Really Matters Every Day [RE-BROADCAST]
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Tucker Carlson Show