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Welcome to The Thrivewell Journey.

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We're a new podcast dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs

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to uncover and embrace their purpose here on earth.

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As multifaceted human beings,

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we strive to navigate our financial,

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mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

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And that's what this podcast is all about.

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We're here to inspire, uplift and equip you

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with the tools to thrive on your journey to greatness.

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All we ask in return is your support.

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One, subscribe to our YouTube channel

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or to download the podcast from your favorite platform.

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Your engagement, it helps us grow

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and attract incredible guests who will enrich your life

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with valuable insights and wisdom.

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Now in turn, we promise to keep bringing you content

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that enlivens, edifies and elevates your journey,

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not just as an entrepreneur, but as a human being.

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And with that, I wanna thank you

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for being a part of The Thriveau Journey.

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I think that energetic and great teachers

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bring about energetic and great students.

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So where does that disconnect?

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What do you think that disconnect is?

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Well, and this is-

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What is it?

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Hey, is it, what do you think it is?

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Well, I think teachers are, I mean,

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everybody blames every problem on teachers

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and they just keep on giving teachers more and more to do.

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I mean, there's a survey done every 10 years

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on teachers' greatest fears.

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In the 1950s, the greatest fear of teachers in America

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was students were talking about raising their hands.

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In 20, 20, 70 years later-

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In leadership and speaking,

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what are the key things that people should work on?

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Okay, so when I'm working with clients,

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my co-owner is a guy by the name of Coach Jimmy Hayes Nelson.

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It's great, because his background is Broadway

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and I'm the educator.

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I call us the professor and the poet.

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And we teach people a structure.

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And this structure works,

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whether you're speaking to 1,000 people

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or to 100 people or even one-on-one.

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It's flexible enough to use live or virtual.

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It's, you can use it on a webinar

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or you can use it when you're there.

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You can use it in the board room, in the ballroom,

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in the courtroom, in the classroom, in the,

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heck, one of my clients, he used it in the restroom.

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He did a pitch in the urinal.

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I don't recommend you do that.

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Hopefully, he told the guy to wash his hands afterwards.

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But it's a structure.

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So there's four key elements

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to a really well-crafted story.

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MUSIC

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Welcome to another episode of The Thrive Well Journey.

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Check this out.

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According to Statisa.com, did you know that 42%

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of college graduates never read another book after college?

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70% of Americans have not been in a bookstore

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in the past five years,

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and 60% of U.S. public school students

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do not read at grade level.

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And this was published on February 21st, 2024.

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Well, today we have a guest who truly embodies

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the spirit of bringing back joy to reading,

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teaching, and education.

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He's a highly sought-after speaker, trainer,

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and coach, affectionately known as Jim Carrey with a PhD.

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And we'll talk about that nickname in the conversation.

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Dr. Danny Brasel has delivered over 3,500 presentations

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worldwide, captivating audiences with his insights

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on leadership, motivation, and powerful communication.

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He's the author of 16 books, including his latest,

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which is Leadership Begins with Motivation.

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And he's the co-founder of the world's

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leading reading engagement program,

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helping parents ignite a love for reading in their kids.

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But that's that all.

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Danny's on a mission to help business owners,

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entrepreneurs, and executives unlock greater income,

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freedom, and impact through engaging presentations,

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through inspiring action.

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Get ready for an exciting conversation with Dr. Brasel.

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Dr. Brasel, how are you doing today?

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Fantastic.

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Thank you so much for having me, Michael.

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More importantly, thanks for spreading some joy

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in the world.

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We need a lot more of you.

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Yes, we do.

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Joy, you know, I was talking to someone not too long ago.

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And there was a difference between happy and joy.

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And I'm like, yeah, there is a difference.

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And joy is this internal thing that just,

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it's not a fading thing.

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That's a state of mind.

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What is your mission?

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Yeah, yeah.

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I know we talked about your mission just to kind of skimmed

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over it in the intro.

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What is your mission?

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So my mission, Michael, is to bring joy back in education

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and workplace.

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I do that by enhancing communication skills.

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And so basically, there's four areas of communication,

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being speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

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And so I've made sure to create different businesses that

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deal with those various aspects.

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So in terms of writing, I've now written,

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now I'm up to 18 books, just finished number 18 this past

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week.

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I'm very excited it's coming out in December.

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Like you said, I speak over 100 dates a year

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all over the world, pumping up audiences, primarily schools,

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but also businesses as well.

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You did mention in terms of reading,

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I had the world's top reading engagement program,

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which in just over two months shows parents

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how to get their kids to read more, read better,

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and most importantly, to love reading.

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And then finally, my real passion right now is,

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as listening as a coach, is I get

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to work with individuals, businesses, and entrepreneurs,

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leverage speaking on stages as a major client lead source.

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So that's a whole big mouthful.

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Hopefully, I'll be more succinct in my answers

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to your short questions.

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No, that's good because it gives an overview of all

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the questions that I do have.

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So it's really great and perfect.

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But just so that we can get a sense of who you are,

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let's go back to where I understand that you

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to be at the beginning of who you are, which is a journalist.

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Did you start as a journalist and then move into school

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teaching or what was that?

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It was kind of funny, Michael.

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I started as a journalist.

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And then I was having drinks with people.

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And I had a great job.

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I was connected to basically every major newspaper editor

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in the country.

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And an editor of a major newspaper

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offered me $16,500 a year to do the city beat in their city.

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And meanwhile, a friend told me, hey,

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they need teachers in South Central Los Angeles and Compton.

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They're paying $25,000.

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So I always tell people, I've been

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an educator for the noblest of reasons, for the high pay.

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And it turned out I love teaching.

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I really love my students.

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And it's just become a passion of mine.

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It's so funny because we were talking

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about the statistics in the introduction there.

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And again, 42% of college graduates

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never read another book.

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And just going back to the 60% of US public school students

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do not read at great level.

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What do you think that attributes?

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What's attributed to that?

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So that's actually why I created my reading program,

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thereadinghabit.com.

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It's basically, I think schools do

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an adequate job of teaching kids how to read.

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But the question I always ask people is, well,

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what good is it teaching a kid how to read

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if they never want to read?

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I teach kids why to read because I've never

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had to tell a kid, go turn on the TV.

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I've never had to tell a kid, go play a video game.

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And I never want to have to tell a kid, go read.

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I want them to choose to do it because they love it.

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And there are simple strategies that I

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share with parents and teachers on how

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to get kids to love reading.

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Because the more excited we get kids to read,

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the more likely they are to read.

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And the more you read, the better you get.

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That's true.

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I remember I was a little, I was a youngster.

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And I was tagging along with my mom,

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but she would always take me to a library.

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And back in Michigan, so back in Michigan,

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they would have these initiatives back then,

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early 80s or something like that.

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And I really enjoyed going to the library.

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I can still smell what the library was like back then

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and enjoy reading.

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And it was just, it was a passion of mine back then.

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I didn't know it was a passion, but I loved doing it.

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And now I have a nephew who's about one of my nephews, 10, 11.

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Or so I think he's going to be 11.

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And he's smart.

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He's really intelligent for his age.

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And he loves to read.

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But we have to tell him, you have

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to read at least 10 pages today.

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And bringing back joy to reading,

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like what do you do to inspire that within the parents?

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So I just went to a football game with a buddy

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that we had been to a game about a year ago.

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And he complained to me that his two sons hated reading.

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And I said, well, what are they reading right now?

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And he's like, well, the teacher has him reading these things.

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I'm like, stop that.

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What are the kids like?

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And they're like, well, they like Marvel Comics.

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I'm like, get them reading Marvel Comics.

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You know, again, our research is very clear on this.

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It doesn't matter what you read.

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What matters is how much you read.

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It doesn't matter if you're reading James Joyce

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or James and the Giant Peach.

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People who read more read better.

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The little boy who only reads Captain Underpants

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is going to become a better reader

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than the little boy who refuses to read anything.

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Captain Underpants is the gateway drug to Shakespeare.

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But we got to get the kid hooked first.

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And I can't tell you how many kids.

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When I was teaching second grade, I had a little boy, Chiara.

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And Chiara's first grade teacher told me,

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Chiara, don't know nothing.

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I'm like, well, thank you for that.

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Well, Chiara, who don't know nothing,

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comes into my classroom one day.

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This is a long time ago.

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Michael, he's like, hey, Mr. Bustel,

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you see, Barclay last night, he had 18 points

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and 16 boards.

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I'm like, thank you, Chiara.

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Because from that day forward, every day, after lunch,

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Michael, I'd sit Chiara on my lap.

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We'd read the LA Times Sports page together.

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And guess what?

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By the end of the year, he's one of my best readers.

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And all that kid ever read about were sports stories.

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Now, do I think you need to expand your reading

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to other things?

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Yes, but you got to get the kid hooked first.

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And that's where we're missing so many kids.

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I was exactly the opposite of you, Michael.

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I hated reading growing up.

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My father's a librarian. I always hated the public library.

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I always smelled funny to me.

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It smelled funny to me.

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The furniture was uncomfortable.

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There was always some elderly woman telling me to be quiet.

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There's always some freaky homeless guy.

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I think he's a vampire hanging out by the shells.

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I always hated the public library.

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And it wasn't until I started teaching in the inner city

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where I saw a lot of my students didn't have a lot of the advantages

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I had growing up.

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And I basically said shame on me.

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I mean, I was blessed, Michael.

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Both of my parents were in the home.

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We weren't wealthy.

263
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We were poor, but we always had food on the table.

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And my parents always read in front of us kids, to us kids.

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And we had plenty of access to reading materials.

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And I realized, you know what?

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Something has to be done about this.

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I need to make sure that everybody has at least the opportunities

269
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to succeed.

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And that's what drives me nuts is when you give a statistic

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like that with over 40% of college graduates

272
00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:40,600
never open up a book again.

273
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I'm like, what are we doing wrong in this country?

274
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That's crazy to me.

275
00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:48,200
That shows me that we're forcing people to read things

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that they don't want to read rather than showing them

277
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that reading is a lot of different things.

278
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I mean, when I was in high school, I had a teacher.

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00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,040
She made us read the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

280
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And no offense to people that love Nathaniel Hawthorne.

281
00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:06,040
The book is about, it's written like the 19th century.

282
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Hester Prynne commits adultery.

283
00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:10,800
And she's forced to wear an A on her chest.

284
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And I raised my hand in class.

285
00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:14,880
And I asked my teacher if I could wear a B on my chest

286
00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:17,600
because I was so bored reading that book.

287
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:22,360
And I think about, why doesn't that teacher just get me,

288
00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,640
I'll tell you right now, sports illustrator's written

289
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,240
at a higher level than the network news.

290
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,480
Why not have the kid read sports?

291
00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:31,760
I have little kids all the time.

292
00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:33,120
They say the kid can't read.

293
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,240
The kid just read the word Tyrannosaurus Rex.

294
00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,200
I mean, that's a pretty difficult word to read it.

295
00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,160
But it shows me the kid's interested in it.

296
00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,440
So I think there's a disconnect.

297
00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:44,960
I'm sorry, I just got on my soapbox.

298
00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,720
So it gets me irritated that I see people

299
00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,200
that don't like reading this because they were force-fed things

300
00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,680
that, and I'm not saying, I was just doing a podcast earlier

301
00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:57,120
today with a journalist in Nigeria.

302
00:12:57,120 --> 00:12:58,760
And she was talking about how a lot of the kids

303
00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:00,200
didn't like what they were reading.

304
00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,000
I said, well, of course they don't.

305
00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,040
Cause you're still based on a, I mean,

306
00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,200
Nigeria's been independent, I think since 1960.

307
00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,800
It's still based on a British schooling system.

308
00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:12,760
So the kids are forced to read Jane Austen and Charles Dickens

309
00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:13,960
and William Shakespeare.

310
00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:16,400
There's nothing wrong with those authors at all.

311
00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:20,760
But maybe the kids would like to read like a Nigerian author,

312
00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,760
like Chinua Chebe, or something that they're actually interested in.

313
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,920
Figure out what the kid's interested in and let

314
00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,800
that drive your instruction.

315
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:29,160
Right.

316
00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:34,840
You know, there was, I watched a video of yours, and it was a snippet.

317
00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:39,280
And just, it was a story about a gifted young man.

318
00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:44,000
I think it was, I think you said the teacher was Ms. Hampton.

319
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,960
And how she basically, she would, basically she would destroy the young man.

320
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:48,760
Can you talk about that?

321
00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:49,000
Yeah.

322
00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:54,000
So, you know, one of my favorite, I've taught all, most of my career I spent in

323
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,320
South Central Los Angeles and the Watts Compton area.

324
00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:59,720
I did teach third grade for a year in Houston, Texas.

325
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:01,520
And I know you're not supposed to have a favorite student.

326
00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:02,440
I had a favorite student.

327
00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:03,840
So his name was Howard.

328
00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,240
And Howard was a son of a Baptist minister.

329
00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:08,680
And Howard's father spoke like Martin Luther King, Jr.

330
00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:11,120
Which meant Howard spoke like Martin Luther King, Jr.

331
00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,480
And so one day I was reading a book to the class called,

332
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,320
Stuart Little by this guy named E.B. White, write his name down.

333
00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:17,440
He's going to be big someday.

334
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:18,600
E.B. White.

335
00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,880
And after I read a chapter, I always have the kids applaud the author.

336
00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:26,920
And so one day the kids are applauding and one of my little boys, Deshaun,

337
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:28,400
he's like, he starts laughing.

338
00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,360
He's like, I like Stuart because he's little.

339
00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,360
And Howard stands up and he's like, don't you get it?

340
00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:37,320
Don't you get it?

341
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:39,040
We all be little.

342
00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,080
We all be little.

343
00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:45,000
But we be big someday, like Mr. B. And he pointed at me.

344
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,440
And I realized this child could lead a revolt.

345
00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,200
And Howard is the reason I became a teacher.

346
00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,720
I love his unbridled enthusiasm.

347
00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:56,840
And I was worried to death for Howard because I knew next year he was getting

348
00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:57,560
Miss Hampton.

349
00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:01,200
And Miss Hampton was going to treat his, she was going to misinterpret his

350
00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:07,120
enthusiasm as a discipline problem because Miss Hampton is a direct descendant

351
00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:08,400
of Darth Vader.

352
00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,560
And that really taught me something very important.

353
00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:12,760
Never give a kid an answer.

354
00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,520
Give him a strategy because sooner or later all of us are going to have a

355
00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:16,720
Miss Hampton deal with.

356
00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,240
Have we properly trained people on how to deal with people like that?

357
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,920
So I mean, Howard is one of my favorites.

358
00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:26,640
That's pretty exciting.

359
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:31,000
I like the impression that you gave him.

360
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:36,640
It put me in the space of where, how brilliant he was and or is.

361
00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:41,560
And just the magnanimous energy that he has at that age.

362
00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:43,080
Oh yeah.

363
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,800
It, this is what disappoints me, Michael.

364
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,440
I mean, I've taught, I started off as a high school teacher.

365
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,400
I went from high school to middle school to upper elementary to lower

366
00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:53,000
elementary pretty soon.

367
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,200
Instead of preparing students for college, I was coming home with

368
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,160
snot marks all over my pants for my little ones hugging me.

369
00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:02,040
And what I learned is what works with a 12th grader does not necessarily work

370
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:03,600
with a kindergartner.

371
00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:07,360
But what works with a kindergartner works with all age levels.

372
00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,480
You know, we need to get those kids up and moving and pumped up.

373
00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,160
And it broke my heart because my kindergartners would go to bed with

374
00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:15,200
their backpacks on.

375
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,680
They were so excited to come to school the next day.

376
00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:22,000
Meanwhile, my eighth graders were thinking of ways to get sick.

377
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,240
What happened in those eight years to get that kid to hate school so much?

378
00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,160
If I'm doing my job, my kids should be banging on my classroom door at six

379
00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:28,560
in the morning.

380
00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,280
They're so excited to come in and they should be in tears when they hear

381
00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:33,720
that final bell at the end of the day because they don't want to leave.

382
00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,720
And, you know, if it's not fun, I'm not doing it.

383
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,320
And I always told my kids, I'm like, hey, you got the rest of your life to be miserable.

384
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,280
This year we're laughing, you know, average adult lasts 15 times a day.

385
00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,320
Average kindergarten lasts 300 times a day.

386
00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,040
You guys got to make me laugh 315 times every day.

387
00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,440
Kids are great.

388
00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:56,760
I actually, I'm very passionate about the little ones.

389
00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:02,160
And I miss being in the classroom.

390
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:03,560
I can hear that.

391
00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:11,400
I mean, as you were talking, the connection that I was hearing is that energetic

392
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:17,320
and great teachers bring about energetic and great students.

393
00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:19,360
So where is that disconnect?

394
00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:21,160
What do you think that disconnect is?

395
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:23,360
Well, is it pay?

396
00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:24,360
Is it what do you think?

397
00:17:24,360 --> 00:17:28,520
Well, I think teachers are, I mean, everybody blames every problem on teachers

398
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,720
and they just keep on giving teachers more and more to do.

399
00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,720
I mean, you know, there's a survey done every 10 years on teachers' greatest fears.

400
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:43,120
In the 1950s, the greatest fear of teachers in America was students were talking

401
00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:44,920
without raising their hands.

402
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,440
In 2020, 70 years later, it's school shootings.

403
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,320
Crazy.

404
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,320
I mean, we've actually had, we've lost more students.

405
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,720
In school shootings in the United States in the last four years,

406
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:02,120
then we've lost troops stationed abroad in the military.

407
00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:05,920
You know, everybody says, my brother's in the Air Force.

408
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:07,720
And so we were at lunch one day.

409
00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:13,120
He was in uniform and the waitress comes up afterwards and she looks at my brother.

410
00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:14,520
She's like, thank you for your service, sir.

411
00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:16,320
We're going to give you a complimentary lunch.

412
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:18,720
And I look at her and I'm like, why don't you thank me for my service?

413
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:20,920
I've had many more weapons drawn on me.

414
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:22,520
I'm a public school teacher.

415
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,920
You know, he's living a good life.

416
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:30,920
And so I think that one of the big disconnects, I mean, teachers just get,

417
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:36,320
I mean, I can't use language, but they get pushed aside all the time.

418
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:37,920
They get blamed for every single thing.

419
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:43,320
And I always say to the critics of teachers, I encourage them to do that job for one week.

420
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,720
They will see how difficult it is with all the different, you know,

421
00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,520
and I was actually kind of delighted when COVID happened.

422
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,920
I told my wife, I'm like, oh, there's a couple of things that America is going to learn

423
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:54,720
because of COVID.

424
00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,520
And my wife's like, well, what's that?

425
00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:01,720
I'm like, well, first of all, they're going to learn the deep secret that 12 to 15 million

426
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:07,520
12 to 15 million kids in this country, the reason they go to school is so that they can eat.

427
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,520
A lot of people don't know that.

428
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,920
And then second of all, they're going to these parents are going to have to teach their own kids

429
00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:15,720
are going to be become so frustrated.

430
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:21,520
I'm like, yeah, multiply that multiply that by 32 and they're all different kids with different needs.

431
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:29,320
I mean, it's actually what I loved about teaching is the challenge is what what makes what makes Michael get excited about learning.

432
00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:30,820
You know, what what helps Howard?

433
00:19:30,820 --> 00:19:32,220
What helps Tyra?

434
00:19:32,220 --> 00:19:36,520
I'm always looking at what gets this because every kid's a little bit different.

435
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:37,720
And that's the thing.

436
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,320
The other thing in America, we try to do everything the same.

437
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,820
And I'm like, you know, but that's the problem.

438
00:19:42,820 --> 00:19:46,620
When is America going to figure out the strength of our country is our diversity?

439
00:19:46,620 --> 00:19:50,820
You know, I was being interviewed and a person said, well, what do you think public school or private school?

440
00:19:50,820 --> 00:19:52,220
And my answer was yes.

441
00:19:52,220 --> 00:19:53,720
Some kids should go to a public school.

442
00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:55,120
Some kids should go to a private school.

443
00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:56,320
Some kids should be home schools.

444
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,420
Some kids should go to a vocational school or a magnet school.

445
00:19:59,420 --> 00:20:02,420
I mean, there's lots of different ways to get through to a kid.

446
00:20:02,420 --> 00:20:06,520
The reason I love teaching that I'm also a coach.

447
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:12,420
Thank God for sports because the reason a lot of my boys would come to school is so that they, you know, they'd be eligible.

448
00:20:12,420 --> 00:20:16,520
So they could play basketball or football or whatever, which is great.

449
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:20,420
But again, I don't know why we're not.

450
00:20:20,420 --> 00:20:20,820
I don't know.

451
00:20:20,820 --> 00:20:25,020
It's very, you know, you get philosophical about these things.

452
00:20:25,020 --> 00:20:28,420
But I always tell people anybody can teach.

453
00:20:28,420 --> 00:20:31,220
It takes a lot of hard work to be a good teacher, though.

454
00:20:31,220 --> 00:20:38,520
You know, I hate that saying when they say, oh, if you touch just one child, you have succeeded as a teacher.

455
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,120
I used to tell my teachers, if you touch just one kid, please find another job.

456
00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:43,120
You know, let's shoot for the moon.

457
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:44,020
Get at least half the kids.

458
00:20:44,020 --> 00:20:46,920
It's amazing how low we set the expectations for students.

459
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:48,020
So there's it.

460
00:20:48,020 --> 00:20:48,920
It's a big thing.

461
00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:55,320
And of course, you know, we have we have elections in this country and nobody ever really talks about like education.

462
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,220
You know, I was just speaking at a school.

463
00:20:58,220 --> 00:20:58,620
It's beautiful.

464
00:20:58,620 --> 00:21:01,320
There was a chandelier in the auditorium.

465
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,220
And I told the teachers, I'm like, you better be thanking God.

466
00:21:04,220 --> 00:21:04,920
You're at this school.

467
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,820
I've never taught at a school without metal detectors and heavy security.

468
00:21:08,820 --> 00:21:14,920
You know, and it pains me that some kids are put in what seems like a penitentiary.

469
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,920
I'm like, every kid was a great book by Jonathan Cazal, Savage and Equalities.

470
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:22,620
I think she needs to be read by the president of the United States and every member of Congress.

471
00:21:22,620 --> 00:21:27,120
It talks about the huge discrepancies in public school funding in this country.

472
00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:36,820
And until I see every kid getting a fair opportunity, you're going to hear me passionate like this, getting angry and saying, hey, we need to make sure every kid has a fair shot.

473
00:21:36,820 --> 00:21:38,520
That kind of leads me into.

474
00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,620
This is a, this is not reading, but it is math.

475
00:21:42,620 --> 00:21:53,520
And there was a, my fraternity brother had something on his page where it said that, I'm going to say a certain public school system has like 23 students.

476
00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,320
They have zero students, proficient in math.

477
00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:02,320
And then at their grade level and many more having only one or two.

478
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,720
And I was like, you know, why are the public school systems, you know, failing this children?

479
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:15,720
And his response was, it's systemic and it has become an issue that requires the full support of the nuclear family and involved community.

480
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:24,220
Relying on a failing system to correct an intentionally created problem is an exercise in futility.

481
00:22:24,220 --> 00:22:26,220
I love the way you phrase that. That's great.

482
00:22:26,220 --> 00:22:31,020
I'm a Baptist in the front row with your fraternity brother.

483
00:22:31,020 --> 00:22:32,220
I think that's exactly right.

484
00:22:32,220 --> 00:22:35,020
I mean, it's the same thing with math though.

485
00:22:35,020 --> 00:22:36,920
I mean, I'm not a math expert.

486
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:38,420
I will say this though.

487
00:22:38,420 --> 00:22:43,120
I've never understood how an elementary school teacher has a difficult time teaching elementary math.

488
00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:52,220
I mean, I can teach almost every single elementary math standard provided I related to food, money or an NBA box score.

489
00:22:52,220 --> 00:22:57,320
We graduate kids in this country with calculus, but they don't know how to, how to balance a checkbook.

490
00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,520
You need to show kids how they're going to use this.

491
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:01,920
The same thing with Kiara was a perfect example.

492
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,820
So Kiara, my boy that is first grade teacher, say he didn't know nothing.

493
00:23:05,820 --> 00:23:06,720
Oh, we can't do math.

494
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:08,420
I'm like, he can't do math.

495
00:23:08,420 --> 00:23:12,720
I guarantee you he can figure out Mookie Betts' batting average within three seconds.

496
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,720
No problem because he's interested in it.

497
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:21,820
You got to figure out what the kids are interested in and how they're going to use this stuff.

498
00:23:21,820 --> 00:23:24,720
Yeah, make it practical to them.

499
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:37,120
Like it's, it's, it's amazing how, and I get to know like what they're learning through my nephew and, and it's, it's crazy.

500
00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:39,120
It's a whole different math system.

501
00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:41,920
It seems like it's just a little, it's a little gnarly.

502
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:42,620
Yep.

503
00:23:42,620 --> 00:23:46,020
One plus one equals 11 in today's math.

504
00:23:46,020 --> 00:23:49,820
In today's math is, it's something else.

505
00:23:49,820 --> 00:24:00,820
You transition from the classroom to, to basically becoming like a leader in communication.

506
00:24:00,820 --> 00:24:05,320
Well, what brought you out of the classroom into that new world?

507
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:05,620
Yeah.

508
00:24:05,620 --> 00:24:09,620
So, well, I'll be, I'll be very vulnerable right now.

509
00:24:09,620 --> 00:24:11,620
So it was basically out of financial necessity.

510
00:24:11,620 --> 00:24:14,720
My wife and I attended a real estate seminar one weekend.

511
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:15,920
It turned out to be a scam.

512
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:17,520
We lost everything.

513
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:19,720
I could focus on all the negatives that came out of it.

514
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,820
I prefer to focus on the positives.

515
00:24:21,820 --> 00:24:24,520
So first of all, my wife is my life mate.

516
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:29,320
You know, she, she, she stuck by me even though I put her through the ringer.

517
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:37,920
Second of all, I no longer value money as much as I used to because I realize you can lose it all in a second.

518
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:46,620
You know, third, I try not to judge other people because if I was somebody who saw what I did, I would have said, you deserve that.

519
00:24:46,620 --> 00:24:51,520
But now I realize if you don't know everything about a person, you really don't know anything about a person.

520
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,520
Fourth, I became a Christian and I'm embarrassed about that.

521
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,720
But the more I read my Bible, the more I realize I'm not the first screw up to find Jesus.

522
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,920
And then fifth, I did not want to declare bankruptcy.

523
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:09,420
And my accountant said, well, you have to make this much more money this year if you want to not file for bankruptcy.

524
00:25:09,420 --> 00:25:13,420
Well, I started speaking on the side and I hit that number, Michael.

525
00:25:13,420 --> 00:25:16,120
Well, the next year he gave me a much higher number.

526
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:18,520
And I hit that number right on the number.

527
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,920
And so in year three, I thought to myself, well, maybe I should set a higher number.

528
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:36,120
And basically during one of the worst economic downturns in American history, I was able to build up a speaking business, which has afforded me all kinds of incredible opportunities, which I'm now basically always looking for the pivot.

529
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:41,720
I always take the bad things and figure out how to make them to turn them into my advantage.

530
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:46,620
So for example, I had always resisted coaching, people would always ask me to coach them.

531
00:25:46,620 --> 00:25:51,320
I don't like coaching just because I coach and teach the same way.

532
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,420
I have a very high standard and I'm on you.

533
00:25:54,420 --> 00:25:56,020
I hold you accountable.

534
00:25:56,020 --> 00:25:57,620
I'm like, no, you're going to have to do the work.

535
00:25:57,620 --> 00:26:06,420
I used to always, when I was talking to my players, I'm like, hey, I'm looking for the guys with heart, not talent, because heart will be talent in the end.

536
00:26:06,420 --> 00:26:09,320
Heart, I'm going to teach you the habits to win.

537
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,520
Talent gets lazy.

538
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:16,220
But that being said, COVID, I lost over 100 speaking gigs overnight.

539
00:26:16,220 --> 00:26:17,620
And so I had to pivot.

540
00:26:17,620 --> 00:26:22,220
And so I started coaching people and I absolutely love it.

541
00:26:22,220 --> 00:26:26,320
It's just as rewarding as teaching used to be.

542
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:31,520
I get to see now instead of seeing like kindergarteners learn how to add.

543
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:38,220
Now I'm watching entrepreneurs expand their business clientele and produce wonderful results.

544
00:26:38,220 --> 00:26:41,420
And I just love it.

545
00:26:41,420 --> 00:26:45,020
How do you lose over 100 gigs in one day?

546
00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:47,420
COVID, COVID within 24 hours.

547
00:26:47,420 --> 00:26:50,620
Okay, I'll never forget that night.

548
00:26:50,620 --> 00:26:53,320
I know everybody listening.

549
00:26:53,320 --> 00:27:00,120
They all had their COVID stories because I was in Warranty County, California in a hotel and I'm watching a basketball game.

550
00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:09,720
And as I'm watching the basketball game, it said that the, which I think was like the Salt Lake City, New Orleans game was postponed.

551
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,420
And I'm like postponed. It's a basketball game.

552
00:27:12,420 --> 00:27:14,520
Why are you postponing a basketball game?

553
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:18,120
And as I'm thinking that the announcer is like, why is that game postponed?

554
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:22,020
And then like an hour later, they say Rudy Gobert has COVID work.

555
00:27:22,020 --> 00:27:25,020
And then like an hour later, they shut down all the NBA.

556
00:27:25,020 --> 00:27:25,720
And I'm like, what?

557
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,920
And then like an hour after that, they shut down the NHL.

558
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:28,620
I'm like, what?

559
00:27:28,620 --> 00:27:31,020
And then it's like Tom Hanks has it in Australia.

560
00:27:31,020 --> 00:27:32,720
I'm like, what is going on?

561
00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:39,420
And I was supposed to speak in Orange, California the next day and the conference organizer calls me at about 1130 at night.

562
00:27:39,420 --> 00:27:41,420
He's like, he's like, hey, Danny.

563
00:27:41,420 --> 00:27:45,720
And I'm like, I bet you're calling to tell me you got twice as many people coming.

564
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,020
And he's like, man, Danny, I hate to do this, but we got to cancel.

565
00:27:48,020 --> 00:27:49,720
I'm like, you know, what are you going to do?

566
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:55,920
And like literally within 24 hours, every engagement on my schedule canceled.

567
00:27:55,920 --> 00:28:01,720
And yeah, I never thought you could lose business like that that quick.

568
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,120
But it happened.

569
00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:08,220
So it's a good humbling experience, good, good lesson.

570
00:28:08,220 --> 00:28:14,320
Yeah, COVID calls a lot of people to learn how to pivot or get lost on the pivot.

571
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:15,720
One of the other.

572
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,320
I remember actually, this was 2020.

573
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,820
And I was actually I was dealing.

574
00:28:21,820 --> 00:28:23,120
I was on dialysis at the time.

575
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:23,720
Oh, wow.

576
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:32,120
But it's crazy because before it was actually announced, I was talking to a friend of mine.

577
00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:33,920
She was just like, I'm not feeling well.

578
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:39,420
And she was going through all these symptoms before COVID was announced.

579
00:28:39,420 --> 00:28:45,520
After I left the phone with her, maybe a week later, I started having the symptoms and was really sick.

580
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:46,520
And I called her back.

581
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,920
I was like, you got me sick over the phone.

582
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:54,520
And then not but a month later, you know, here's COVID being announced what COVID was.

583
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:58,220
And it was interesting during that time.

584
00:28:58,220 --> 00:28:59,920
Everything just went crazy.

585
00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:07,020
But in that space, you found a new way of forwarding your life in your business.

586
00:29:07,020 --> 00:29:08,420
Yeah, it was it was great.

587
00:29:08,420 --> 00:29:11,120
I mean, again, I'm an optimistic person.

588
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,020
I always look at the good that comes out of the bad.

589
00:29:13,020 --> 00:29:16,720
But one of the great things that happened, I started doing podcasts like yours, Michael.

590
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:23,220
And I started doing podcasts like even today earlier today, I was on a podcast in Nigeria and one in England.

591
00:29:23,220 --> 00:29:25,420
And all of a sudden it dawned on me.

592
00:29:25,420 --> 00:29:26,120
I'm like, wait a sec.

593
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,020
I've just been thinking about the United States.

594
00:29:28,020 --> 00:29:31,520
There are all kinds of opportunities around the world.

595
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,520
And, you know, one of my businesses was basically created in India.

596
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:41,120
And I was just telling the guy the other night, I'm like, I don't care if anybody in America knows me.

597
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:42,920
I just want to be a rock star in India.

598
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:44,820
India is 1.5 billion people.

599
00:29:44,820 --> 00:29:45,720
It's amazing.

600
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:47,720
Yeah, a lot of people there.

601
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,420
That's right.

602
00:29:51,420 --> 00:29:52,620
That's amazing.

603
00:29:52,620 --> 00:29:57,920
So when you're now that you're actually you're still you're coaching, you're going around the world and you're.

604
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:00,120
You know, you're causing leaders.

605
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:01,320
What is that?

606
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:03,620
How you got the name Jim Carrey, the PhD?

607
00:30:03,620 --> 00:30:05,020
What's what's that all about?

608
00:30:05,020 --> 00:30:09,920
Well, I take my job seriously, but I don't take my job seriously because I ain't all that neither you Michael.

609
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,920
And if you think you're all that teach kindergarten for one week, those little ones will set you straight.

610
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,720
One of my little girls, LaShonda raises her hand one day.

611
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,720
She's like, Miss Basal, when are you going to trim your nose hair?

612
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:20,820
I'm like this afternoon.

613
00:30:20,820 --> 00:30:22,820
Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

614
00:30:22,820 --> 00:30:24,020
I ain't all that.

615
00:30:24,020 --> 00:30:30,720
And so it's also what distinguishes me a little bit as a coach, Michael is a lot of these people.

616
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:39,920
What I what I train you to do is how to create a well crafted story that you can use again and again to introduce yourself to new audiences to acquire clients that way.

617
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:44,020
Now, a lot of people they teach you to tell the saddest story of your life.

618
00:30:44,020 --> 00:30:46,520
And there's three reasons why I hate that.

619
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,420
First of all, the world just survived a global pandemic.

620
00:30:49,420 --> 00:30:51,420
Everybody's had some bad stuff happen to them.

621
00:30:51,420 --> 00:30:53,220
I don't think we need to hear another story.

622
00:30:53,220 --> 00:30:54,320
I like stories.

623
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:55,520
Yeah.

624
00:30:55,520 --> 00:31:00,820
Second of all, do you really want to tell the same sad story again and again?

625
00:31:00,820 --> 00:31:07,520
I mean, you got to be stronger than me to talk about the worst day of your life to strangers of over a thousand times.

626
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:12,120
But third, and this is the most important one, which which I think people hate me for.

627
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,720
But I have one objective when I'm on stage.

628
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:16,920
I want you to leave feeling better than when you came in.

629
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,520
I want you to smile and laugh and happy.

630
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:27,520
I can tell the same stories and the same jokes and I feel like it's admirable that my goal is to get you to feel better about yourself.

631
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:34,820
I believe that these people that keep on telling those sad stories again and again by the 20th time they've told that sad story,

632
00:31:34,820 --> 00:31:38,620
those are now crocodile tears and now you're being manipulative.

633
00:31:38,620 --> 00:31:40,820
And I'm not saying it's not an effective sales strategy.

634
00:31:40,820 --> 00:31:42,820
It's a very effective sales strategy.

635
00:31:42,820 --> 00:31:48,920
But I personally don't want to have to take a shower after I speak because I've just manipulated my audience to buy my product.

636
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:59,620
I want them to want to do business with me because they want to it's a relationship is this is a person I want to do business with because this is a person that's about service, not about sales.

637
00:32:00,820 --> 00:32:04,020
What's up, Thriveau journey listeners and watchers.

638
00:32:04,020 --> 00:32:11,720
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639
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640
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641
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642
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643
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644
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645
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646
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647
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:04,920
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648
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649
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650
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651
00:33:19,620 --> 00:33:24,620
All right, one more time www.theoriontsgroup.com.

652
00:33:24,620 --> 00:33:26,620
All right, we're doing the spot.

653
00:33:26,620 --> 00:33:28,920
Let's get back to the podcast.

654
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:34,320
So how does one get into being a speaker, a public speaker?

655
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:40,420
Well, you know, like I said, the more screwed up your life, the better that that'll help you out a lot.

656
00:33:40,420 --> 00:33:44,520
There's two things that I always suggest to people in order to get better at speaking.

657
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,720
First of all, you got to watch lots of speakers.

658
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,520
So I watch at least 10 speakers a day.

659
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:49,920
I watch comedians.

660
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:50,920
I watch politicians.

661
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:52,020
I watch televangelists.

662
00:33:52,020 --> 00:33:57,020
I watch them in front of big groups in front of small groups in front of men in front of women.

663
00:33:57,020 --> 00:33:59,420
Here, I'll give you a ninja strategy.

664
00:33:59,420 --> 00:34:07,020
I watch a lot of awards shows because when a person wins the Academy Award, they only have 45 seconds to connect with their audience.

665
00:34:07,020 --> 00:34:09,320
I want to see how they use their 45 seconds.

666
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:10,720
Now, most people waste their time.

667
00:34:10,720 --> 00:34:12,220
They get up there like, I want to thank God.

668
00:34:12,220 --> 00:34:13,220
I want to thank the Academy.

669
00:34:13,220 --> 00:34:13,720
It's stupid.

670
00:34:13,720 --> 00:34:15,020
Nobody pays attention.

671
00:34:15,020 --> 00:34:17,320
But every now and then somebody does something remarkable.

672
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,120
So a couple of years ago, there was a gentleman.

673
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:21,720
I think his name was Joe Walker.

674
00:34:21,720 --> 00:34:24,120
He won the Academy Award for best film editing.

675
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,020
Now, this is Hollywood.

676
00:34:26,020 --> 00:34:31,720
A lot of important people in the audience, a bunch of actors sitting there and they're not paying attention because this is best film editing.

677
00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:39,220
Well, Joe Walker gets up there and he's British and he speaks very slowly and deliberately and he says, a lot of people don't know this.

678
00:34:39,220 --> 00:34:46,720
But when phrased properly, the term Academy Award nominee can be used as an insult.

679
00:34:46,720 --> 00:34:50,920
Well, now the camera pans the audience and you see people kind of leaning in like, what's he talking about?

680
00:34:50,920 --> 00:35:00,620
And he says, for example, yesterday I got up to an argument with my 17 year old daughter and she said, well, Academy Award nominee Joe Walker.

681
00:35:00,620 --> 00:35:03,920
All of a sudden you see everybody laughing hysterically.

682
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:04,820
He gets off stage.

683
00:35:04,820 --> 00:35:06,420
Denzel Washington wants to meet him.

684
00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:07,620
Sander Bullock wants to meet him.

685
00:35:07,620 --> 00:35:09,020
Brad Pitt wants to meet him.

686
00:35:09,020 --> 00:35:12,220
Time magazine said it was one of the highlights of the Academy Awards.

687
00:35:12,220 --> 00:35:14,720
That's the power of connecting in 45 seconds.

688
00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:19,020
So the first thing you have to do to get better at speaking is watch a lot of good speakers.

689
00:35:19,020 --> 00:35:21,920
Second of all, one of my mentors was a guy named Jim Rohn.

690
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,720
And Jim used to say, you can't pay other people to do your push-ups.

691
00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:28,320
Translation, you gotta do the work.

692
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:29,920
You know this, you were an actor, Michael.

693
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:31,020
It's all in the reps.

694
00:35:31,020 --> 00:35:34,020
You know, you're the first, same thing with this podcast.

695
00:35:34,020 --> 00:35:36,820
The first time you did this podcast, it sucked.

696
00:35:36,820 --> 00:35:39,620
The second time you did this podcast, it sucked.

697
00:35:39,620 --> 00:35:41,920
But it didn't suck as much as the first time.

698
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:43,420
And now you're in a flow.

699
00:35:43,420 --> 00:35:44,720
So you've got no problem.

700
00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:47,120
And that's how you get better at anything.

701
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:49,920
And this is what I'm always working on clients with.

702
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,820
I'm like, hey, you got to do your reps.

703
00:35:51,820 --> 00:35:54,120
I have a guy, Jason, I worked with three years ago.

704
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,920
I'm so proud of Jason because he did what I said.

705
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:02,820
I said, Jason, you got to go out there and speak, speak to schools, speak to service organizations,

706
00:36:02,820 --> 00:36:08,720
speak to synagogues, to temples, to churches, to chambers of commerce.

707
00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:11,120
You know, he said, I have none of those audiences.

708
00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:13,320
I'm like, hey, you have a Facebook account.

709
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:18,120
He said, yes, I'm like, go on Facebook live every day and practice your speech.

710
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,120
And so he did that.

711
00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:27,720
The next day he went on Facebook live and one woman from Ontario, Canada accidentally watched him and he stunk.

712
00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:30,420
The second day he did it at exact same time.

713
00:36:30,420 --> 00:36:32,220
He had like three people watch him.

714
00:36:32,220 --> 00:36:34,920
And he stunk, but he didn't stink as bad as the first time.

715
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:40,920
Well, three years later, Michael, Jason now has an audience of over 6,000 people and he made,

716
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:46,520
he didn't make seven figures last year, but he almost made seven figures based on that audience.

717
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:48,120
He did it through consistency.

718
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,020
He did the work, you know, you don't get better at anything.

719
00:36:51,020 --> 00:36:53,220
These things, everybody loves to look at Tiger Woods.

720
00:36:53,220 --> 00:36:54,820
Say he's the greatest golfer ever to live.

721
00:36:54,820 --> 00:37:00,820
I'm like, people don't watch how much he practiced me and that kid, he practices harder than anybody else.

722
00:37:00,820 --> 00:37:03,620
I mean, plus he was wise enough.

723
00:37:03,620 --> 00:37:08,320
He hired a putting coach and he hired a driving coach and he hired a mental coach.

724
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:12,820
You know, maybe he should have hired a relationship coach and that would have been a little bit better too.

725
00:37:12,820 --> 00:37:15,920
But it also demonstrates the power of coach.

726
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:17,120
A whole different world there.

727
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:21,620
That's great.

728
00:37:21,620 --> 00:37:30,720
You know, so when you talked about the guy who went and did Facebook live, he stunk.

729
00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:33,020
You know, the first few times or whatever.

730
00:37:33,020 --> 00:37:35,420
Was there a time that you ever bombed?

731
00:37:35,420 --> 00:37:37,420
All the time, man.

732
00:37:37,420 --> 00:37:42,020
Just swimmers get wet, new boxers take it in the face from time, of course.

733
00:37:42,020 --> 00:37:51,720
Yeah, I've had lines where, you know, you look at the, they're just staring at you like, what do you, I mean, I shouldn't say it.

734
00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:55,420
Back, I went to college in Washington, D.C.

735
00:37:55,420 --> 00:38:01,920
And before I was a journalist, I, when I was in college to pay for my spring breaks, I used to do stand up comedy.

736
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:10,720
And my agent was a six foot 11, 300 pound X defensive lineman from the Cincinnati Bengals, Sherman.

737
00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:17,120
And he only booked me in all black strip clubs in Anacostia in southeast Washington.

738
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,820
And I would sit there and do my routine.

739
00:38:19,820 --> 00:38:22,720
And they're looking at me like, what is this guy doing?

740
00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:24,220
And I'm just sitting there.

741
00:38:24,220 --> 00:38:27,420
I get paid $75 for a 15 minute set.

742
00:38:27,420 --> 00:38:34,920
And one, one night it was ladies night and the guy before me went out and he had like this nitpikini.

743
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:40,420
And so my opening line was, wow, my mom used to knit me sweaters.

744
00:38:40,420 --> 00:38:41,920
Total silence, Michael.

745
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:45,220
And I'm looking at my watch 14 minutes and 50 seconds to go.

746
00:38:45,220 --> 00:38:47,220
Yeah, it gave me a spine.

747
00:38:47,220 --> 00:38:49,120
But that's what I loved about teaching.

748
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,420
If, you know, as an actor, you would have loved it.

749
00:38:51,420 --> 00:38:53,520
I mean, being a teacher, you got your audience.

750
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,220
They're, they're forced to be there every single day.

751
00:38:56,220 --> 00:39:03,120
And the kindergartners are what made me a better teacher because they have about a seven minute attention span.

752
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:05,120
And it taught me, keep it moving, man.

753
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,520
I got to keep them engaged and moving.

754
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:08,620
And they were great.

755
00:39:08,620 --> 00:39:13,520
I learned everything I needed about tension in kindergarten.

756
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:17,720
Yeah, the, the, the youth keeps it keeps it real.

757
00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:18,720
That's what I'll say.

758
00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:19,520
The youth keeps it real.

759
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,920
Absolutely.

760
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:32,320
So in leadership and speaking, what, what are the, like the key things that, that people shouldn't should work on?

761
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:32,720
Okay.

762
00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:40,520
So when I'm working with clients, I, my, my co-owner is a guy by the name of coach Jimmy Hayes Nelson.

763
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:43,820
It's great because his background is Broadway and I'm the educator.

764
00:39:43,820 --> 00:39:47,020
I call us the, the, the professor in the poet.

765
00:39:47,020 --> 00:39:50,920
And we teach people a structure and this structure works.

766
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:59,320
Whether you're speaking to a thousand people or to a hundred people or even one on one, it's flexible enough to use live or virtual.

767
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:05,920
It's, you can, you can use it on a, on a, on a webinar or you can use it when you're there.

768
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:13,020
You can use it in the board room, in the ballroom, in the courtroom, in the classroom, in the heck.

769
00:40:13,020 --> 00:40:14,820
One of my clients, he used it in the restroom.

770
00:40:14,820 --> 00:40:16,620
He did a pitch in the urinal.

771
00:40:16,620 --> 00:40:23,220
I don't recommend you do that and hopefully he told the guy to wash his hands afterwards, but it's a structure.

772
00:40:23,220 --> 00:40:28,220
So there's, there's four key elements to a really well crafted story.

773
00:40:28,220 --> 00:40:32,120
My seventh grade teacher, Lynn Escridge, she, she gave us the four eyes.

774
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:33,920
I do the four C's, but she did the four eyes.

775
00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:36,920
So a good presentation has an introduction.

776
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:38,320
I call this connect.

777
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:39,920
This is when you're connecting with your audience.

778
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:42,120
This is the most important part of your presentation.

779
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:46,560
Cause if you don't get them, this is going to teach your audience, should I be present or should I be

780
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:50,160
engaged? Am I into this person or am I just stuck here?

781
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:50,660
All right.

782
00:40:50,660 --> 00:40:53,820
Second of all, is your instruction is what Ms.

783
00:40:53,820 --> 00:40:55,620
Escridge used that was her second eye.

784
00:40:55,620 --> 00:41:02,860
My C is, this is the content of your presentation, which research shows is actually the least important part of your presentation.

785
00:41:02,860 --> 00:41:04,160
This is a big mistake.

786
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:09,160
Most people think they want to teach, teach, teach, but it's not going to convert in sales.

787
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:13,160
It's teaching, over teaching actually confuses your audience.

788
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,760
Then the third part of your presentation, Ms.

789
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:18,860
Escridge would call your invitation to the audience.

790
00:41:18,860 --> 00:41:20,960
I call it your call to action.

791
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:25,160
What do you, what do you want the audience to do next?

792
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:29,360
And then finally, you end with inspiration.

793
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:35,860
I call it your conclusion or your, your, it's, it's just another way to connect.

794
00:41:35,860 --> 00:41:41,660
But if you do these four things and you do them in the proper way, then you're going to see your audience take the next step.

795
00:41:41,660 --> 00:41:44,260
That's the only way I judge success.

796
00:41:44,260 --> 00:41:50,460
I only judge success in that the people I work with, you know, I was working with a guy, a realtor the other day.

797
00:41:50,460 --> 00:41:54,160
I said, well, what's, you know, what's a, what's a client worth to you?

798
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:59,060
He's like, well, one client, he's like, when I sell a house, my commission's about $120,000.

799
00:41:59,060 --> 00:42:03,160
I'm like, okay, well, my fee isn't $120,000.

800
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:06,260
All I have to do is find you one client and I'll pay your fee.

801
00:42:06,260 --> 00:42:07,360
It'll pay my fee.

802
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:08,160
No problem.

803
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,160
And so we worked on that.

804
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:15,460
If I'm working with people, the other thing I, so I just told you, content's the least important.

805
00:42:15,460 --> 00:42:19,260
There's research that shows this, that it's called the primacy and recency effect.

806
00:42:19,260 --> 00:42:22,260
People remember the beginning of your presentation and the end of your presentation.

807
00:42:22,260 --> 00:42:24,460
They don't remember anything in between.

808
00:42:24,460 --> 00:42:25,060
Oh my gosh.

809
00:42:25,060 --> 00:42:27,360
That means the bun is more important than the burger.

810
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,360
Load up the beginning and the end with the important stuff.

811
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:37,460
The other fatal mistake I see most people make in presentations is they only speak to half of their audience.

812
00:42:37,460 --> 00:42:38,960
They ignore the other half.

813
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:45,260
So Nobel Prize winning economist Daniel Caneman has a book called Thinking Fast and Slow.

814
00:42:45,260 --> 00:42:47,560
And he says that there's two types of thinkers out there.

815
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:52,160
There's the people that are based on fact and the people that are based on feeling.

816
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:58,860
I call it your Joe Fridays and your Julia Roberts or if you want to stereotype in a husband wife.

817
00:42:58,860 --> 00:43:01,360
The husband is the Joe Friday.

818
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:02,660
He's just the facts.

819
00:43:02,660 --> 00:43:04,260
You know, how much is this going to cost?

820
00:43:04,260 --> 00:43:05,160
How long is it going to take?

821
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:06,360
What do I have to do?

822
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:10,460
You know, some of your audience when you're making your offer, they need to know that information.

823
00:43:10,460 --> 00:43:14,060
That's, you know, they're all about numbers.

824
00:43:14,060 --> 00:43:16,760
But then the other part of your audience, they're the Julia Roberts.

825
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,860
They don't really care what you sell as long as it makes them feel good.

826
00:43:19,860 --> 00:43:23,160
I don't even know anything about Michael, but Michael makes me feel good.

827
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:25,060
I want to work with Michael.

828
00:43:25,060 --> 00:43:30,360
And so you need to make sure you have a connecting story that accommodates Michael that way.

829
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:38,060
So, and then what I take clients through is how to, you know, a really effective speaker.

830
00:43:38,060 --> 00:43:38,960
They're also a farmer.

831
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:43,160
They're planting seeds throughout the talk so that by the time you get to your offer,

832
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,760
your audience is like, oh, I was hoping he would make an offer.

833
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:49,760
And again, I'm into numbers.

834
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:51,860
I'm actually into the research.

835
00:43:51,860 --> 00:43:54,260
There's nothing I do based on opinion.

836
00:43:54,260 --> 00:43:56,860
Jimmy, I always say Jimmy is the wife in this relationship.

837
00:43:56,860 --> 00:43:57,560
I'm the husband.

838
00:43:57,560 --> 00:43:59,460
I want hard facts.

839
00:43:59,460 --> 00:44:01,760
I want to see what our numbers are.

840
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:06,860
If you speak to a hundred people, how many of that hundred people actually decide to take the next step with you?

841
00:44:06,860 --> 00:44:08,060
And it can be a paid offer.

842
00:44:08,060 --> 00:44:09,560
It can be an unpaid offer.

843
00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:14,560
I mean, it can be a paid offer like, you know, buy my product or enroll in my coaching program.

844
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:21,160
It can be an unpaid offer like sign up for my newsletter or get my free PDF.

845
00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:27,860
The choice is yours, but you're trying to get your audience interested in staying engaged with you.

846
00:44:27,860 --> 00:44:29,660
Yeah, those are interesting methods.

847
00:44:29,660 --> 00:44:34,360
I was putting myself back in the spaces when I went to different talks.

848
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:38,660
And I would think that I'm a bit of both.

849
00:44:38,660 --> 00:44:47,760
I need to have hard facts, but then I have a part of me that like if you, you know, make more heart go boom, boom.

850
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:48,360
You know what I'm saying?

851
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:56,260
Or you maybe feel or see a possibility in what you're saying in addition to the facts.

852
00:44:56,260 --> 00:44:58,360
The hard facts, then you probably got.

853
00:44:58,360 --> 00:44:59,260
Yeah.

854
00:44:59,260 --> 00:44:59,460
Yeah.

855
00:44:59,460 --> 00:45:01,460
And don't discount the emotional connection though.

856
00:45:01,460 --> 00:45:02,460
That's very important.

857
00:45:02,460 --> 00:45:05,160
And so here's here's an exercise your audience can do.

858
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:14,360
So I want everybody in the audience to get a pen and paper, sit in a comfortable chair, get a libation of choice beside them.

859
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:17,060
And for an hour, just write down every story of your life.

860
00:45:17,060 --> 00:45:18,160
And I don't mean the entire story.

861
00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:19,160
I just mean triggers.

862
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:25,660
Like the time I locked myself out of the car in front of Costco, the time dad's built mustard on his tie.

863
00:45:25,660 --> 00:45:31,360
When we went to that fancy restaurant, you'll find typically in an hour, you'll come up with four to 500 stories like this.

864
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:33,260
So that's the first part of the exercise.

865
00:45:33,260 --> 00:45:38,060
The second part of the exercise is then you want to figure out, well, what's this story really about?

866
00:45:38,060 --> 00:45:40,660
Oh, this is a story about perseverance.

867
00:45:40,660 --> 00:45:43,460
Oh, this is a story about loyalty.

868
00:45:43,460 --> 00:45:49,860
And so on my computer, I literally have thousands, if not tens of thousands of these stories catalog.

869
00:45:49,860 --> 00:45:55,260
So whenever I'm trying to make a point in the presentation, I need to I need to make a point about

870
00:45:55,260 --> 00:45:57,860
the importance of sticking together.

871
00:45:57,860 --> 00:45:59,460
I have a folder called sticking together.

872
00:45:59,460 --> 00:46:01,260
Here's some stories about that.

873
00:46:01,260 --> 00:46:05,460
You know, and every now and then I work with a difficult person to say nothing's ever happened to me.

874
00:46:05,460 --> 00:46:11,660
Well, even if that's your attitude, look at if you look at personal development books, one of the most successful

875
00:46:11,660 --> 00:46:18,160
personal development books of all time is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, in which he shares no personal stories.

876
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,660
All of his stories are based on interviews he had with millionaires.

877
00:46:21,660 --> 00:46:23,860
So that's another way to do it is take other people.

878
00:46:23,860 --> 00:46:26,860
I mean, I'm, you know, I'm Irish.

879
00:46:26,860 --> 00:46:29,060
This is my entire childhood was listening to stories.

880
00:46:29,060 --> 00:46:33,260
That's what they always, you know, we don't let the truth get in the way of a good story in Ireland.

881
00:46:33,260 --> 00:46:35,260
So it's all a catalog.

882
00:46:35,260 --> 00:46:40,960
And that's what, you know, of all people, it was Joseph Stalin who said a million people dead is a statistic.

883
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:42,960
One person dead is a tragedy.

884
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:45,060
It's all about the story.

885
00:46:45,060 --> 00:46:47,760
You know, we're in an election cycle right now.

886
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,060
And I this has nothing to do with the politics.

887
00:46:50,060 --> 00:46:53,560
I'm always looking at the methods that the different politicians are using.

888
00:46:53,560 --> 00:47:01,060
I like to make fun of all politicians because if you ever notice Michael that no, no presidential candidate ever grew up middle class.

889
00:47:01,060 --> 00:47:03,860
They all grew up dirt poor because you all want to sell.

890
00:47:03,860 --> 00:47:05,360
Oh, I grew up in a log cabin.

891
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:07,760
I was able to make myself live the American dream.

892
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:09,960
Same thing with motivational speakers.

893
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:14,860
You know, they always, oh, I grew up in a garage or I had to wash dishes in my bathtub.

894
00:47:14,860 --> 00:47:15,460
Really?

895
00:47:15,460 --> 00:47:17,860
You didn't have a sink yet to wash dishes in your bathtub.

896
00:47:17,860 --> 00:47:22,060
I, I don't know if I buy that story, but that's, that's the powers.

897
00:47:22,060 --> 00:47:25,260
We're always trying to get, get through points through those store.

898
00:47:25,260 --> 00:47:27,760
I mean, this is through the history of civilization.

899
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:33,360
I mean, cavemen, they used to tell stories of the campfires and this is how you connect with people.

900
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:36,160
I will give a political example.

901
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:38,560
This is not a based on politics.

902
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:40,360
It's just a very effective strategy.

903
00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:48,360
So President Reagan, when he gave his state of the union address, I think he was the first president and every president's copied him since then.

904
00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:55,660
He's, he wouldn't talk about healthcare. He'd be up there and he's like, well, it's like, it's like Tom.

905
00:47:55,660 --> 00:48:00,660
Billson, Tom stand up and this guy is in the gallery and ways and everybody applaud.

906
00:48:00,660 --> 00:48:03,660
Tom works at the GM plant in Louisville, Kentucky.

907
00:48:03,660 --> 00:48:05,260
He got injured on the job.

908
00:48:05,260 --> 00:48:10,060
He doesn't have health insurance and he can't make his rent payment because you have to pay the doctor.

909
00:48:10,060 --> 00:48:13,660
So now when Americans are thinking of healthcare, they're not thinking of healthcare.

910
00:48:13,660 --> 00:48:15,160
They're thinking Joe.

911
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:16,660
That's really smart.

912
00:48:16,660 --> 00:48:19,860
You got to put it through the framework of a store and they do this.

913
00:48:19,860 --> 00:48:23,360
Best example I can give was we just watched the Olympics.

914
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:24,560
I love the Olympics.

915
00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:27,360
I absolutely love the Olympics because they do the background stories.

916
00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:27,960
Yeah.

917
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:31,060
I mean, my wife hates watching the Olympics with me because I always root against America.

918
00:48:31,060 --> 00:48:34,060
I'm like, honey, what honey?

919
00:48:34,060 --> 00:48:42,760
Who am I going to root for the American with the microchip in his Nike shoes or the barefoot Sudanese refugee who just survived a civil war that is background stories.

920
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:45,660
Like I learned how to run running away from the bullets in my village.

921
00:48:45,660 --> 00:48:46,960
I'm like, of course I'm rooting for that guy.

922
00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:48,360
It's an amazing story.

923
00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:49,560
It's the story.

924
00:48:49,560 --> 00:49:04,660
And this is why I love sports is sports is always about the story is, you know, how do we, you know, CBS, when they used to do the NFL today, they don't do it the way they used to, which was better in the 80s when it was madden and summer all because at the very beginning of the game, they'd be like,

925
00:49:04,660 --> 00:49:06,160
Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

926
00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:10,060
He'd be like Joe Montana, you know, is known as the greatest of all time.

927
00:49:10,060 --> 00:49:12,660
But here's one nemesis he's always had.

928
00:49:12,660 --> 00:49:18,260
And then it shows Bill Parcells, the New York Giants who have a defense and it's like building up a story.

929
00:49:18,260 --> 00:49:23,060
So now, now when you watch it, you're like, oh, I want to watch these different matchups.

930
00:49:23,060 --> 00:49:25,160
It was really smart the way they do that.

931
00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:26,860
They do that a little bit.

932
00:49:26,860 --> 00:49:34,460
I think the NBA does a little bit better job of creating those matchups now where you're like, oh, let's see the storyline between these people.

933
00:49:34,460 --> 00:49:37,160
But that's how you that's really how you create the interest.

934
00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:38,960
It's really not as much.

935
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:43,460
That's why Americans always want the underdog because we love the story of the struggle.

936
00:49:43,460 --> 00:49:45,360
And so it's really a good thing for all.

937
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:47,760
So totally drifted off from your question.

938
00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:52,460
But that's really trying to get better as a speaker is that's what people want.

939
00:49:52,460 --> 00:49:53,160
They want that.

940
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:59,960
That's why Rocky's like the greatest movie ever made because Rocky people forget Rocky lost Apollo Creed.

941
00:49:59,960 --> 00:50:04,660
But it doesn't matter because in the movie the night before he's sitting there in bed with Adrian.

942
00:50:04,660 --> 00:50:07,460
He's like, Adrian, I'm going to lose.

943
00:50:07,460 --> 00:50:09,160
But I just want to go the distance with the champ.

944
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:10,060
I want to go the distance.

945
00:50:10,060 --> 00:50:13,660
If you watch Rocky, he goes the distance with Apollo Creed.

946
00:50:13,660 --> 00:50:18,060
He loses, but he's the champion because he went he went the distance.

947
00:50:18,060 --> 00:50:21,760
And that's why everybody loves Rocky is he gets hit, but he gets right back up.

948
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:25,260
That's I mean, his greatest story of all time.

949
00:50:25,260 --> 00:50:28,560
It's the stories, the connections, the emotion.

950
00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,960
Yeah, that's that's that's good.

951
00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:32,460
That's good.

952
00:50:32,460 --> 00:50:37,160
That's really good because now in the audience, you have something definitely to go away with.

953
00:50:37,160 --> 00:50:43,460
If you are interested in moving on as a speaker, I have a couple more questions for you.

954
00:50:43,460 --> 00:50:44,360
What?

955
00:50:45,660 --> 00:50:49,460
How do you how do you in your speaking?

956
00:50:49,460 --> 00:50:51,760
I know that we're probably not.

957
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,760
But in the beginning, did you have stage fright stage fright?

958
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:57,160
And if you did, how did you get over it?

959
00:50:57,160 --> 00:50:58,460
Or how would you help someone?

960
00:50:58,460 --> 00:51:02,160
Yeah, so I was speaking to a school in India and I got all the kids all pumped up.

961
00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:07,060
And afterwards I was shaking hands with all the kids and all of a sudden this little boy comes up to me.

962
00:51:07,060 --> 00:51:09,960
He's about six years old and he has tears in his eyes, Michael.

963
00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:15,360
And I noticed he's missing his left arm and he looks up at me.

964
00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:17,260
He's like, how can I succeed?

965
00:51:17,260 --> 00:51:26,760
And so I get down at his eye level and I'm like, you know, when I was your age, I went to 18 different schools before I was 12 years old.

966
00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:32,460
Everybody called me stupid because I stuttered.

967
00:51:32,460 --> 00:51:41,760
And eventually I had a teacher that worked one on one with me and she would sing things to me and I would sing them back and I didn't have my stutter when I sang.

968
00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:44,560
And I eventually lost my stutter and I became a swan.

969
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:46,960
It's got like the movie, The King's Speech.

970
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:53,560
But I looked in that boy's eyes and I'm like, isn't it interesting that the little boy everybody said was stupid because he couldn't talk right.

971
00:51:53,560 --> 00:51:58,460
Now gets paid a ridiculous amount of money to travel the world to do what?

972
00:51:58,460 --> 00:52:00,060
And he gets the biggest grin on his face.

973
00:52:00,060 --> 00:52:03,960
He's like, speak and like, don't let anybody ever tell you what you cannot do.

974
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:06,960
So if I can do it, anybody can do it.

975
00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:11,460
And again, a couple of weeks ago, I gave a presentation.

976
00:52:11,460 --> 00:52:13,060
This woman comes up to me afterwards.

977
00:52:13,060 --> 00:52:16,560
She's like, oh, I would love to be a speaker like you, but I can't be as quick as you.

978
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:19,360
You're so quick with those questions and answers.

979
00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:23,660
And I looked at her and I'm like, just so you know the question you asked me.

980
00:52:23,660 --> 00:52:25,860
I've had 500 people ask me that question.

981
00:52:25,860 --> 00:52:34,760
So before you asked it, I had 500 opportunities to craft the perfect answer, which totally made you feel like I was really smart.

982
00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:36,160
But I'm not that smart.

983
00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:37,660
I just had a lot of practice with it.

984
00:52:37,660 --> 00:52:38,760
Same thing with the podcast.

985
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:42,160
And so if you have stage fright, you got it.

986
00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:44,760
And it's and frankly, you're in great company.

987
00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:49,260
I mean, Barbara Streisand, she was terrified before she ever took the stage as a singer.

988
00:52:49,260 --> 00:52:53,060
President Reagan, another example, used to bomb it before every speech you ever gave.

989
00:52:53,060 --> 00:52:57,360
Bill Russell, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, vomited before every single day.

990
00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,060
They were so freaked out about that.

991
00:52:59,060 --> 00:52:59,960
So you're in good company.

992
00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:01,260
There's lots of people with stage fright.

993
00:53:01,260 --> 00:53:02,060
It's not a big deal.

994
00:53:02,060 --> 00:53:03,760
It's something that you can get over.

995
00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:08,460
It's it's retraining and mental mental exercises and breathing.

996
00:53:08,460 --> 00:53:11,260
But I work with most of the people I work with aren't speakers.

997
00:53:11,260 --> 00:53:13,160
They're just people trying to get more clients.

998
00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:22,860
And I show them simple strategies you can use to make your your speeches engaging and to get rid of that stage fright.

999
00:53:22,860 --> 00:53:27,760
Yeah, I never had stage fright, but I did have performance scare.

1000
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:35,360
I went out when I was a wrestler, I would always throw up nothing before I went to a match.

1001
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:40,460
And it was it was like, I mean, I was totally frightened.

1002
00:53:40,460 --> 00:53:47,460
And I would get in in the ring and and wrestle or the Matt, rather and wrestle.

1003
00:53:47,460 --> 00:53:57,060
And, you know, I would win most times, but it would just that that that emotion that would show up before I went in and did the wrestling.

1004
00:53:57,060 --> 00:54:04,760
But after a while, I stopped, you know, doing the dry heaving and fake the better than Bill.

1005
00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:07,060
I mean, Bill ruffled it his entire career.

1006
00:54:07,060 --> 00:54:12,660
As a matter of fact, it got to the point where Red Arbac, the coach of the Celtics, he's like, damn it, Bill.

1007
00:54:12,660 --> 00:54:15,260
Will you will you puke so we can go out onto the court?

1008
00:54:15,260 --> 00:54:18,460
You know, they knew he couldn't play until he had bomb it.

1009
00:54:18,460 --> 00:54:19,260
It was ridiculous.

1010
00:54:19,260 --> 00:54:19,860
It's going to play.

1011
00:54:19,860 --> 00:54:20,960
But you're in good company.

1012
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:26,360
And that's completely and isn't it interesting how your mind I always tell this to students.

1013
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:35,260
I'm like, in your mind, you'll create things that are so much worse than anything that can happen in that's why I like older movies as opposed to newer movies.

1014
00:54:35,260 --> 00:54:39,060
Newer movies, they show everything and people like, oh, that's very violent.

1015
00:54:39,060 --> 00:54:43,660
I'm like, actually, it's more violent when you have to imagine for yourself some of the things.

1016
00:54:43,660 --> 00:54:52,960
You know, some of those older movies, they leave your mind to the imagination, which is much scarier the imagination.

1017
00:54:52,960 --> 00:54:56,860
Yeah, the imagination can do some some tricks.

1018
00:54:56,860 --> 00:54:59,260
They can play games and play tricks, man.

1019
00:54:59,260 --> 00:55:04,360
I tell you, even as an adult, I tell you, of course, especially for kids, kids are better than that.

1020
00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:09,960
I always say this, we underestimate kids, you know, kids.

1021
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:13,860
I love their spontaneity, their enthusiasm.

1022
00:55:13,860 --> 00:55:29,360
You know, I can ask my kindergartners what's two plus two and within three seconds, kids are like four, seven, I got a dog, you know, and it only takes me till about third grade where the entire class is quiet because school taught that kid never take a risk.

1023
00:55:29,360 --> 00:55:31,160
And it just breaks my heart.

1024
00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:31,660
You got it.

1025
00:55:31,660 --> 00:55:35,060
You got to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

1026
00:55:35,060 --> 00:55:39,360
Yeah, that's pretty much my life these days.

1027
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:40,360
And I'm okay with it.

1028
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:43,660
I'm okay with living in the unknown most times.

1029
00:55:43,660 --> 00:55:45,360
Well, you were an actor, too, Michael.

1030
00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:47,860
I mean, you've dealt with all forms of rejection.

1031
00:55:47,860 --> 00:55:53,660
I mean, you should be excited every time you get a rejection, say, great, that's getting me closer to yes.

1032
00:55:53,660 --> 00:55:54,660
Keep on.

1033
00:55:54,660 --> 00:55:57,360
I need the people to tell me no, it's getting me closer to the yes.

1034
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,260
That's the attitude you have to have.

1035
00:56:00,260 --> 00:56:06,360
Yeah, these days, no, they don't they don't affect me like they used to, you know, especially in the beginning.

1036
00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:11,860
It was like, you know, you have these bright eyes and it's like, oh, my God, you know, this is this is a great part.

1037
00:56:11,860 --> 00:56:13,860
Yeah, they're not they're not going to pick you.

1038
00:56:13,860 --> 00:56:14,160
All right.

1039
00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:14,660
All right.

1040
00:56:14,660 --> 00:56:15,060
Okay.

1041
00:56:15,060 --> 00:56:26,660
Then over and over again, the nose would, you know, dimmer bring the dimmer in my eyes and I wouldn't have that much of a gleam.

1042
00:56:26,660 --> 00:56:34,260
But, you know, as as, you know, you kind of live in life and you shift.

1043
00:56:34,260 --> 00:56:36,860
Your mindset shifts your mindset shifts.

1044
00:56:36,860 --> 00:56:39,060
And that's that's where I'm at now.

1045
00:56:39,060 --> 00:56:39,860
My mindset shift.

1046
00:56:39,860 --> 00:56:41,360
My mindset has shifted.

1047
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:44,860
I know I can't talk right now.

1048
00:56:44,860 --> 00:57:01,260
But you have really shown us like how you've really pivoted from, you know, being a journalist to a teacher to teaching professors to, you know, teaching leaders and speaking.

1049
00:57:01,260 --> 00:57:02,860
It's an extraordinary journey.

1050
00:57:02,860 --> 00:57:12,460
Like, what would be your message to somebody who's in the middle of their pivot and trying to make sense out of their life?

1051
00:57:12,460 --> 00:57:13,760
Keep your eyes open.

1052
00:57:13,760 --> 00:57:16,160
There's all kinds of opportunities every single day.

1053
00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:23,060
I mean, that's what when one of my speeches, you know, I talk about in Chinese, the word crisis consists of two characters.

1054
00:57:23,060 --> 00:57:24,460
One means danger.

1055
00:57:24,460 --> 00:57:25,760
The other one means opportunity.

1056
00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:29,760
And while there's all kinds of horrible things happening in the world, there's also amazing opportunities.

1057
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:31,760
If you look at them from the proper point of view,

1058
00:57:31,760 --> 00:57:39,460
it reminds me of a story I used to share with my little ones about the king who had the childhood friend that had this ridiculous habit.

1059
00:57:39,460 --> 00:57:44,060
No matter what the situation, whether it was positive or negative, he always said the same thing.

1060
00:57:44,060 --> 00:57:46,860
This is good.

1061
00:57:46,860 --> 00:57:48,860
Well, the king was out hunting with his friend one day.

1062
00:57:48,860 --> 00:57:51,360
His friend was always in charge of loading the king's rifle.

1063
00:57:51,360 --> 00:57:58,060
What's something went horribly wrong this day as the king fired his rifle at blew off his right thumb to which his friend responded.

1064
00:57:58,060 --> 00:58:01,360
This is good.

1065
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:03,460
The king was furious with his friends.

1066
00:58:03,460 --> 00:58:05,360
We put his friend in prison.

1067
00:58:05,360 --> 00:58:10,960
Well, a year later, the king was out hunting in forbidden grounds when he was captured by a tribe of cannibals.

1068
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:18,360
And as the cannibals tied the king to a post, put logs at his feet to set him aflame to make their supper.

1069
00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:22,260
One of the cannibals noticed that the king was missing his right thumb.

1070
00:58:22,260 --> 00:58:27,460
Well, being a superstitious tribe, they never believed in eating anything that was not whole.

1071
00:58:27,460 --> 00:58:32,960
So they released the king to his freedom. The king could not believe his good fortune.

1072
00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:36,360
As he ran back to the palace, he remembered what his friend had said.

1073
00:58:36,360 --> 00:58:44,960
So he rushed to the prison, released his friend, apologized profusely, told his friend the entire story to which his friend responded.

1074
00:58:44,960 --> 00:58:48,460
This is good.

1075
00:58:48,460 --> 00:58:49,760
The king couldn't believe his ears.

1076
00:58:49,760 --> 00:58:50,560
Like, how could it be good?

1077
00:58:50,560 --> 00:58:52,760
I just put you in prison for a year.

1078
00:58:52,760 --> 00:58:57,360
His friend looked at him and said, but if you hadn't put me in prison, I would have been out hunting with you.

1079
00:58:57,360 --> 00:58:59,260
And the cannibals would have eaten me.

1080
00:58:59,260 --> 00:59:01,460
So everything in life is a point of view.

1081
00:59:01,460 --> 00:59:03,460
So keep your eyes open, folks.

1082
00:59:03,460 --> 00:59:09,460
And as a thank you for having me today on your show, Michael, I wanted to give everybody a free guide.

1083
00:59:09,460 --> 00:59:13,460
If you go to freestoryguide.com, again, freestoryguide.com.

1084
00:59:13,460 --> 00:59:22,260
This is a blueprint that will help you map out your presentation because I believe everybody is just one well-crafted story away from seven figures.

1085
00:59:22,260 --> 00:59:31,360
You can get that at freestoryguide.com and I just really want to thank you again, Michael, for having me today and enduring with my technical difficulties and all that.

1086
00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:32,360
I appreciate it.

1087
00:59:32,360 --> 00:59:34,360
That's okay.

1088
00:59:34,360 --> 00:59:40,760
Yeah, I appreciate you being here and showing up on time and you're really sharing your story.

1089
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:48,460
And what you had to give myself and the audience was, it's a treasure.

1090
00:59:48,460 --> 00:59:53,260
So I definitely appreciate it and you're welcome back anytime.

1091
00:59:53,260 --> 01:00:11,760
And for you wonderful listeners, if you want to catch the nuggets and get into the conversation and follow the communication with Danny Bras- excuse me, Dr. Danny Brasel, go to our Facebook community, The Thrive Well Journey, and connect with us.

1092
01:00:11,760 --> 01:00:16,660
And as we always say, let's make thriving our new normal.

1093
01:00:16,660 --> 01:00:18,660
Take care.