Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
Join us as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, proving that even after the mission changes, the call to serve and thrive never ends.
Security Halt!
100 Days to Optimize
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Deny Caballero introduces the 100 Days to Optimize Challenge—a structured, veteran-led approach to improving mental health, physical performance, and spiritual alignment. This episode explains the framework, rules, and accountability measures behind the challenge and why holistic wellness is critical to addressing veteran suicide and long-term resilience.
Key Topics:
• Mind, body, spirit optimization
• Veteran mental health & suicide prevention
• Accountability and ownership
• Goal setting and discipline
• Community-driven growth
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Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction to the 100 Days to Optimize Challenge
02:21 – Why Accountability Beats Motivation
10:00 – Mind, Body, and Spirit Optimization Framework
17:45 – Veteran Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
19:02 – How to Join the Challenge and Take Action
Sponsored by: Dr. Mark Gordon & Millennium Health Centers
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Produced by Security Halt Media
All right, good morning. Welcome back to Security Audit Podcast. There's no guest. And this won't be on YouTube. This is going to be an audio only. Going back, folks, going back to the roots. If you've if you haven't been following the show from its horrible first iteration, season one, this this whole experiment, this whole attempt at reaching through the void to talk to a veteran audience, first responder, and and really anybody that's struggling with the human condition, it was meant to connect, but it was meant to have fun. It was meant to be an enjoyable format. Um last couple of well, honestly, 2025. 2025 was a hard charging year for me. A lot of growth, a lot of new followers, a lot of new listeners. But um guys, I'm at the I've reached I reached burnout. I did, 100%. Uh at the end of January, and I realized that the only way to keep going, the only way to continue growing this thing is um to find ways I can go back to to have that bit of fun. I'm not saying that the guests I bring on aren't fun. I'm just saying that um this, this interaction we're having right now, just me talking, sharing, um in short form, that's what I really fell in love with. That's what I really enjoyed, of course. It was a lot easier when you had friends to riff with, co-host, and um I'm thinking of trying to figure out how to bring that back. But in the meantime, I'm gonna challenge myself to do a lot more of these shorter um just me talking to you, one topic or two, really dive in how it connects with me and how I think it could resonate with you in hopes that could bring value to you. Wherever you are, wherever you're listening, if you served, if you didn't serve, if you're struggling, if you're just part of the American audience, it's just finding it a little bit hard to navigate these days. I hope that I can bring something out from a research study or from something new that I found that can help you. Um it's all gonna be framed from things that help me. Uh so today I want to talk about um, you know, the new year's resolution. Every year we sit down and we make this grand list or we develop a plan of what we want our new year to look like. And uh I'm speaking about this because that's what I did. I wrote out everything I wanted to optimize and and all the things I wanted to prioritize. And that briefs well. Usually within like the first two weeks, like you're doing well, and then the third week comes in and it just starts to fall apart. And I realized, okay, I can't be the only one struggling with this. It can't just be me. So I dug back into my uh some of my old textbooks, dug into primarily atomic habits and um some of my mindfulness guides, and um figure it out. One of the great things about us as individuals that are trying to get better is we like challenges. Uh some of you out there have probably already done something like the 75 hard and have had success. But again, you know, you do 75 days, and then you kind of slack, and then you have to figure it all out again. So I figure fuck 75. Let's do a hundred. That's right. A hundred days. A hundred days to optimize not just one pillar of our well-being, but three. I always talk about mind, body, and spirit. And uh in this challenge, that's what we're working on. We're not trying to just focus on one thing, we're trying to find three things that we can improve in each one of those pillars. Or more. However bold you want to be with your strategy. But I want you to identify these things and figure out a plan of action that works for you in order to successfully accomplish a hundred days of trying to be the best version of yourself. These doesn't have to, these don't have to be giant things. You can write out that you want to be um, you know, more mindful, you want to journal more, you want to express express gratitude more on a daily basis, you want to reach out to one friend every day. Um, simple yet positive things that we can all do. You know, you don't have to dive into a new CrossFit program. Maybe for you it's just two walks a day. Um, because we're all on different journeys. We've gotten out of the military and got out of law enforcement, let ourselves slack a little bit. This kind of helps us tighten the shot group on everything. So here's the mission statement. The hundred days to optimize challenge is built on improving all three core pillars of human performance mind, body, and spirit. Participants must address each pillar intentionally and consistently, neglecting one limits progress and the others. Optimization requires total alignment. So the challenge duration is a hundred consecutive days. No rest days, no makeup days. Miscommitments trigger accountability penalties. This is fun. I'll go into that in a little bit. So here are the core rules. No alcohol for the full 100 days. That's right. I want you to abstain from alcohol. Um, if you don't drink, but maybe you smoke some weed, I want you to abstain from that too. All three pillars, mind, body, and spirit, must be addressed daily. Participants must select goals for each pillar prior to day one. Now, for me, I'm starting February 1st. If you're listening, I'm gonna I'm I'm recording this in full, full transparency. I'm recording this today on January 28th at 5 47 a.m., right after my gym workout. So I'm gonna try to speed this up, trying to have this out by 8 a.m., if not sooner. Um yeah, core rules. No alcohol for a full hundred days, all three pillars, mind, body, and spirit, must be addressed daily. Participants must select goals for each pillar prior to day one. Honesty and ownership are mandatory. Look, I don't have enough money for a fancy app, and I don't want you to submit your body picks to me directly for accountability. If you want to jump in on this, take action, be accountable, hold yourself accountable. Maybe have your wife or friend hold you accountable. If you need that, if you need that help, um reach out to me. I'll I'll help. I'll put a I'm thinking about putting together a single chat group for this or either a Discord channel, depending on how many participate. But um, yeah, it's about accountability. So be willing to look at yourself, hold yourself accountable, and uh let's, you know, exercise that that ownership, as Jocka would say. All right, the mind, body, and spirit framework. Participants must choose a minimum of three goals per pillar. This equals at least nine total optimization goals tracked throughout the challenge. Mind pillar, again, minimum of three goals for each. Daily reading or learning, stuff that we can all do. Journaling or reflection, limiting negative media or social media intake. This could be a great way to do a digital media detox. 100 days, no social media. I understand how hard that would be for some of us that work is if you're a digital marketer, if you're like me, like that's almost impossible. You know, that's how you put foot on the table. But hard lines. So if you clock out and you're done at work at three, put it down. Automatic schedule things. Um, I'm certainly trying to do a lot more of that. Automate and schedule things so that I'm not on my phone 24-7, having to do my analytics and scour for the latest templates and what's trending. You gotta find we we all have to find balance in this. Um, but if you don't do that for your work, I really, really recommend the science and studies are behind it. Are are insane. Walk away from social media if you can. That's coming from somebody who needs followers, needs growth. But I'd rather, I I would rather you be healthy and have a great life than worry about followers. Um, because social media is I mean, as much as it's great, we connect each other, there's got to be a better way. It's getting really toxic out there, folks. All right. Body pillar. Minimum three goals again, daily movement or training, sleep consistently consistency, nutrition, adherence, mobility. These are all just examples of things you can do. Hydration discipline. The big thing is if you're already crushing it when it comes to fitness goals, maybe you're a little bit too far into that. Say that you work out six, seven days a week and your your actual recovery is being hindered by that. Prioritize recovery. Get with a coach, get with somebody that can tell you the optimum training cycle and plan that you need. Uh, shout out to 18 Alpha Fitness, uh, Terminator Fitness. There's tons of people out there with great coaching platforms that you can reach out to and will give you a great plan of action because, you know, like I said, maybe you don't need to focus so much on the lifting part. Maybe it's the mobility and the stretching. But that's up to you to figure out. Uh, I'm gonna be focusing a lot more on the overall uh the amount of gym time. So the two days are or two times a day are absolutely mandatory for me, but the recovery, my sleep has been horrible lately, as I've been open and honest about that. So that's what I'm prioritizing in this. Um, and then arguably one of the most important ones. Uh, you know, if you've been following me for a while, you notice you've been with me in my journey through faith. That's that's the crazy part. If you go back to like season one, two, three, four, uh, five, you there's somebody there that's just beginning to explore faith. Uh, as you move forward in time, you see me uh finally get back into church. Um, I go to Adoration or try to at least. Um, definitely going to make that happen this week, hopefully today. Um go to mass, make faith part of my family. Uh it's a priority, man. Uh, there's nothing more important than having all three of those pillars in the spirit truly, truly is important. So I don't need you to practice like me. I don't need you to follow me in that regard, but explore that for yourself. I'm being completely honest, and I'm telling you guys, whatever it is for you, explore it. Dive into it. And if you're new and have and and or maybe you just haven't been willing to explore that, take up this hundred-day challenge and be willing to dive into that. Talk to friends, engage, ask questions, reach out to me. I'll freaking share everything I can with you. Um, but if you're just, like I said, if you're if you're just dipping in, dipping your toes in the spirit realm, there's nothing better, there's no better way to start than you know some reflection meditation early in the day. And this doesn't have to be standard rigid meditation meditation. Just go outside, sit down, touch some grass, close your eyes, do a breathing exercise. That in and of itself would allow you to be present and focus on the moment, the present moment right now. Prioritizing time with family and friends, that's also part of the spirit domain. Gratitude practice. Just writing down three things in the morning, three in the evening that you're grateful for. And then um also service to others. Find ways you give back. That's I can't tell you how much that feeds into your spirit domain. And then um the the big one after working on all these pillars, is you have to identify a mandatory physical goal. So at the end of the hundred days, I'm going to task you to go do something big, something epic. It has to be challenging. It can't be something as simple as running two miles. Now, we're all at different stages of our physical ability and our mental health game, but be willing to challenge yourself to do something hard. If it's a 5k, it's a 5K. If it's, you know, running 10 miles, run 10 miles. But if you're able to and you can, challenge yourself to do something great. Um, do a 24-hour road challenge, do a friggin' 25-mile run, do whatever it is, make sure it challenges you. All right. Now, tracking and requirements. Participants must use a habit tracker system of their choice. No photo submissions are required, and integrity is expected. So the Notion app is something that I've been fooling around with. There's tons. You can buy Excel spreadsheets that help you with habit tracking. Whatever you do, if you want special recommendations, hit me up, psychhoppodcast at gmail.com. Um, you know I'm going to be there for you. I've got tons of recommendations. You can modify anything. Good notes on your uh on your iPad if you're like me and that's your like second brain. That's a good one. Um, but utilize something that works for you. Uh if you are your heavy phone user, maybe that would be a better way to track and manage your habits. But um, please look into that. It'll make it so much easier when you can schedule it, it gives you reminders, and you stay on track. Now, here's the big important thing most of you are waiting for the accountability penalties. Missed goals result in donation-based accountability penalties. Participants may donate to any nonprofit organization of their choosing. Miss one goal in a day, that's a$10 donation. So, for example, if I sign up for this challenge and I'm gonna be doing two workouts every day, and I miss a workout, that's a$10 donation. Now, miss two goals in a day, that's a$25 donation. So I'm if I missed on my second gym time and I didn't hit my nutritional goal or I didn't hit my prayer goal, um, that's a donation. So miss three or more goals in a day,$50 donation, miss daily tracking,$25 donation. Um, and that can be to any nonprofit your choice. It doesn't have to be anything that I've preached, anything that I've I've promoted on here. It's all up to you. Uh, I have some recommendations. There's tons of good nonprofits. I would really love it if you could find a nonprofit that supports a veteran organization or uh a first responder organization. Look, our veterans need lots of love and care, but it's a well-known issue amongst our first responders that they don't get enough love, especially in a nonprofit space. If you can find a nonprofit within the law enforcement, firefighter, first responder world and donate to them, that would mean a lot to me. Please, please, please consider doing this challenge just for the donation. I mean, look, we're gonna drop the ball. We are most definitely, and I'm going to drop the ball. 10 bucks or 25 bucks in a week for at the 100 day span, that helps somebody cover services for an a first responder in need, for a family in need. This is huge. A lot of times we think that it has to be big donations. That's a common myth. Nonprofits thrive on the$10,$25 daily donation. That's the truth for operating stuff. Um, so if you can establish that, if you can set that up, or maybe that can be one of your pillars, maybe you can set something up for your spirit where you're donating an allocated amount of money for this hundred days. Think about that. Please consider it. Um, I'll start writing out a list and I'll just share on social media of some law enforcement or some first responder nonprofits that I think would be great. Um, you know, could benefit greatly from your donations. Now, the grand prize, I'm still working on it. It's it's pretty ambitious, I'm not gonna lie. Um, full transparency. 2025, I donated um five concept to roars, all out of my my earnings from uh production and and the work I do. This is not, I don't have an official sponsorship with Concept Roar. I paid for all those. That was a hundred percent a uh dog shit entrepreneur idea. And uh, but I was grateful for it because you guys have followed and supported the show and then all the other shows that I produce, and that means a lot to me. So there's there's no way that I'm gonna not participate in giving back to my own community. You guys have done so much for me, and uh that's just a small way that I can do it. So uh please, if you want to consider if you want to be considered for any of those giveaways, join our whoop community. Again, that's 100% the whoop straps, everything all bought out of uh my the kindness of my heart because you guys do a lot for me. Every download, every subscription, every awesome review you guys do helps me grow and promotes the work I do, and that's how people find me to produce their shows. So I'm grateful for it. So I'm gonna give back. Um I'm not like I said, I'm not sponsored by Whoop, I'm not sponsored by Concept 2. But um, and I'll go into a little further detail in a little bit, but to give back to this community, it it's it's a no-brainer. So I'm trying to find a way that I can do something really big uh with these larger organizations so that everybody participates will walk away with something. Um but more on that soon. But the grand prize, uh like I said, I'm trying to make it so fucking big, and it's a big task. Um so far, a lot of unread emails and a lot of unanswered phone calls, but we'll continue. Uh that's that's uh that's a denny, Denny issue to work out. I'll I'll be working that further. But uh yeah, so join in. You'll you'll be participating in something great. You if you make it through 100 days, you will be getting some swag from Security Halt Media, but then you could potentially win an amazing great grand prize. Uh final notes optimization is not about intensity, it's about alignment, discipline, and consistency. Addressing the mind, strengthening the body, and anchoring the spirit. We want to finish stronger than we started. Now, some of you might have questions as to like, why are we even doing this? Why'd you come up with this? Well, like I said before, this is part of it because in the new year, new year resolutions, and how a lot of us fail. But the bigger issue, the bigger problem is veteran suicide. And sometimes we tend to think that veteran suicide is just this one thing. It's very narrow focused. We have to stop veterans from killing themselves and first responders from killing themselves. Veteran suicide, it touches on so many aspects of that lived experience of that veteran, that first responder. It's not just a mental health, it's an overall deep look into that person, into all of us. If we're not physically fit, if we're not looking into the mirror and seeing somebody that we're proud of both in our physical attributes, in our our our character, and our morals, our values, that's just one more thing that's weighing on us. If we can address the whole person, if we can help each other get to a better point of view, like if we can just push ourselves to work on all those issues that are interconnected, we can directly impact the veteran suicide epidemic. We can, a hundred percent. So there it is, there's a challenge. And at surface level, it can look like just another fitness challenge, something that's just for the new year's, but it's more than that. I feel like this can help us be more resilient and help us not only connect with each other, with those that are out there, but by you doing something, putting yourself first, being willing to take on a challenge like this, and you going out and talking and sharing this with a friend or two, it'll help inspire them to maybe change some of their habits, to maybe focus on some new goals. When we look at suicide, it's easy to think that this is a mental health issue, that it's it's only us dealing with depression, anxiety, and then it's only the mental health aspect. But the reality is it's it touches on so many different aspects of our lives. If we can't perform the way we used to, if we hear we are limited by physical ability, that 100% impacts our mental ability. Being, so why wouldn't we focus on the physical, the body, and then the spirit as well? Mind, body, and spirit. All three rely on each other. We have to build those pillars up and try to balance them out, find harmony within them. So I'm challenging you right now to take this challenge on with me. I'm starting February 1st. You know, maybe you need another couple weeks to prepare and write it out. I recommend getting atomic habits, using that to help you develop better habits, look at how to develop good strategic goals. But the goal is February 1st, we start and we move forward. We don't stop till we hit 100 days. Can we do it? Can you do it? I think you can. I think I can. But I certainly want you to try. So if you're in, connect with me on LinkedIn, connect with me on Instagram, send me an email, get this challenge. I'm going to be hanging it up on the website, securityhalt.com. And uh and then you can also get it from me on Instagram. Right now it's just a very, very vanilla PDF. Um, I will at some point put some graphics and uh maybe throwing a free habit tracker in there and some stuff like that. But uh right now I want to rush to get this out to you. Uh so if you're interested and you want it right now, send me an email at sechoppodcastgmail.com. Uh hit me up on Instagram, SecHop Podcast. I think that's SecHopCast. I am the worst promoter. Guys, I apologize. It's been a busy year. 2025 was a busy year, and um I need to get better about this. Yeah. Security underscore halt underscore podcast. I don't even know my fucking Instagram name. Hit me up on there, send me a DM. That's just me. I run run the page. There's nobody else. Guys, there's there's one more thing I want to debunk. Um I get a lot of messages where it's like, you guys are fucking killing it. It's just me, dude. It's just me. I am I'm trying to build a team now. I finally have uh full-time editor, uh, some SEO people, but those are all remote workers. Um what I'm trying to grow now is expand this. I'm trying to launch other shows within the Security Halt um Umbrella. So if if you're out there in the veteran space, if you're funny, if you got uh the chops, you want to jump into the podcast world, let's connect. But yeah, if you're if you are out there in a veteran space and uh you're interested in launching a podcast, let me know. Have production company, we'll launch a podcast. Um I'm always looking to launch something new. In 2026, I want to bring back some of my old stuff. If you remember ILG, I want that back. I want I want the riff. I want to be able to riff with people and joke a lot more in 2026. So if you're out there, you like making funny stuff, you like to laugh, hit me up. Let's work together. All right, guys, that's the challenge. That is all I got. And um, oh, get used to hearing more of this um because I'm I'm doing more episodes. I just proof of concept, I can get done with the gym, run back home, and run my suck for 26 minutes. So now I'm gonna wait for this to download. I'll remix it and um get it up as soon as possible. No graphic, no funny gimmicks on YouTube, nothing. Just raw, unscripted audio for your ears on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. So hope you enjoy it. If not, let me know. Send me a message, send me um send us a text. You can do that on Spotify, send me an email, let me know that you hate it, and I I'll take it into consideration. Who knows? Maybe I'll stop. Or maybe I won't. Who knows? All right, take care. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
