0
SPEAKER_02
 This is episode number 1,238 with George Mumford.
0
SPEAKER_02
Welcome to the School of Greatness.
0
SPEAKER_02
My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur.
0
SPEAKER_02
And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness.
0
SPEAKER_02
Thanks for spending some time with me today.
0
SPEAKER_02
Now let the class begin.
0
SPEAKER_02
 Welcome back, my friend.
0
SPEAKER_02
Today's guest is George Mumford, who I had such a pleasure sitting down with.
0
SPEAKER_02
And George is a globally recognized speaker, teacher, and coach.
0
SPEAKER_02
Since 1989, he's been honing his gentle but groundbreaking mindfulness techniques with people from all walks of life, but most notably professional athletes like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Michael Jordan, who credits George with transforming his on-court leadership and helping the Bulls to six NBA championships.
0
SPEAKER_02
 He's written the book, The Mindful Athlete, Secrets to Pure Performance, as well as a new course to dive deeper into his lessons in the book.
0
SPEAKER_02
In this episode, we discuss what separates the 1% of high performers from the rest.
0
SPEAKER_02
We dive into the 5 superpowers we can all focus on to be the best versions of ourselves.
0
SPEAKER_02
The practical steps to stop living in fear.
0
SPEAKER_02
 The greatest lesson George learned from coaching mindfulness to great athletes like Kobe, Michael Jordan, Shaq, and so many others, and so much more.
0
SPEAKER_02
I think you're going to love this one, and if you do, make sure to share this with a few friends.
0
SPEAKER_02
Text some friends, post it on social media, and make sure to tag me and George as well over on social media.
0
SPEAKER_02
And if you are new here, please click the subscribe button over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify right now for the School of Greatness so you can stay up to date on the latest, greatest from this show every single week.
0
SPEAKER_02
 Incredible content coming up so make sure to click subscribe Right now and also if you know someone that would love this show share this with a few people Text some friends post it on social media and spread the message out there to the world and leave us a review if you're enjoying this Let me know what part of this episode you'd enjoyed the most from this episode You can go to Apple podcast and leave us a review
0
SPEAKER_02
 And a big shout out to today's fan of the week from Xavier, who said, I've been tuning in regularly to the School of Greatness podcast for the past couple of months.
0
SPEAKER_02
I'm always impressed by the range of excellent topics and expert speakers.
0
SPEAKER_02
The learnings and insights are invaluable.
0
SPEAKER_02
And to Lewis and team, thank you for the great work you continue to do.
0
SPEAKER_02
Big shout out to everyone who is helping us create this show, build this show and serve humanity in a bigger way.
0
SPEAKER_02
It's been such a joy to be of service to
0
SPEAKER_02
 each and every one of you who listen on a consistent basis, whether your first episode is right now or you've been here for nine years.
0
SPEAKER_02
We're just so grateful for your support and for spreading the message forward to others in your life that you think would be inspired by this message.
0
SPEAKER_02
Okay, in just a moment, the one and only George Mumford.
0
SPEAKER_02
 This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy.
0
SPEAKER_02
Relationships take work, and a lot of us will drop anything to go help someone we care about.
0
SPEAKER_02
We'll go out of our way to treat other people well, but how often do we give ourselves the same treatment?
0
SPEAKER_02
That's why I'm a huge advocate for investing in myself, because I deserve it, and so do you.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I make sure to prioritize therapy, coaching, self-care, and all of the above.
0
SPEAKER_02
And this month, BetterHelp Online Therapy and I want to remind you to take care of your most important relationship,
0
SPEAKER_02
 the one you have with yourself.
0
SPEAKER_02
BetterHelp offers video, phone, and even live chat sessions with your therapist, so you don't have to see anyone on camera if you don't want to.
0
SPEAKER_02
It's also much more affordable than in-person therapy, and you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours.
0
SPEAKER_02
Give it a try and see why over 2 million people have used BetterHelp online therapy.
0
SPEAKER_02
 School of Greatness listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash greatness.
0
SPEAKER_02
That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P.com slash greatness.
0
SPEAKER_02
 Are you looking to take control of your health?
0
SPEAKER_02
Well, one way to do that is to check GoodRx and finally stop overpaying for your prescription medications.
0
SPEAKER_02
Prescription prices can vary between pharmacies by as much as $100, meaning you're never sure what you're going to pay.
0
SPEAKER_02
Not only will GoodRx find you discounts, it will also let you compare and find the lowest prices at pharmacies near you, like CVS, Kroger, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Vons, and more.
0
SPEAKER_02
 Now you'll always know what you're paying before you get to the pharmacy.
0
SPEAKER_02
Even if you have insurance or Medicare, GoodRx often beats your copay price.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I actually have a team member who was prescribed a brand name medication, but her insurance would only cover the generic brand.
0
SPEAKER_02
And she had side effects with the generic brand.
0
SPEAKER_02
So she was forced to pay out of pocket for the brand name.
0
SPEAKER_02
With GoodRx, she's able to save a lot of money on her meds.
0
SPEAKER_02
 So for simple, smart savings on your prescriptions, check GoodRx.
0
SPEAKER_02
Go to GoodRx.com slash greatness.
0
SPEAKER_02
That's GoodRx.com slash greatness.
0
SPEAKER_02
GoodRx.com slash greatness.
0
SPEAKER_02
And GoodRx is not insurance, but it can be used instead of insurance.
0
SPEAKER_02
In 2021, GoodRx users saved an average of 79% on retail prescription prices.
0
SPEAKER_02
 I speak from experience when I say the best way to stay consistent with your fitness and health goals this year is to switch things up.
0
SPEAKER_02
It'll make it easier to stay excited for your workout each day.
0
SPEAKER_02
And of course, it can be hard to always come up with your own new type of workout routines, which is why I love Peloton.
0
SPEAKER_02
They always are coming out with new stuff to help switch up your exercises.
0
SPEAKER_02
The Peloton Bike and Bike Plus are releasing new classes, new music, and new ways to keep your workouts fun and motivating.
0
SPEAKER_02
 Keep your workouts interesting.
0
SPEAKER_02
This is key.
0
SPEAKER_02
Peloton has a workout for every goal, day, and mood.
0
SPEAKER_02
De-stress from a long day with 30 minutes of strength and 20 minutes of cardio, or do a quick 15-minute total body class before work.
0
SPEAKER_02
Stay motivated while having fun with bike workouts, yoga, meditation, dance cardio, and more.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I wanna see you achieve your goals.
0
SPEAKER_02
So make sure to visit onepeloton.com to learn more.
0
SPEAKER_02
That's O-N-E.
0
SPEAKER_02
 P-E-L-O-T-O-N dot com.
0
SPEAKER_00
 The willingness to succeed.
0
SPEAKER_00
When they've done this study and they ask coaches and experts, what is the one thing is the willingness to succeed?
0
SPEAKER_00
The willingness and you might call it the pursuit of excellence.
0
SPEAKER_00
 You could talk about never quitting and having a goal says yeah, I'm going to do this I'm going to take it to a to the next level So it's the hunger and the thirst you have that you have to go for it.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's not something that's gonna come to you It's something that you have to Pursue there's a lot of people that I don't have they don't have hunger.
0
SPEAKER_02
They're not hungry.
0
SPEAKER_02
How do you train someone?
0
SPEAKER_02
Or is that not something you can train?
0
SPEAKER_00
 Yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
So it's interesting because I've done a lot of research and study on this even on my own.
0
SPEAKER_00
I had a sense of urgency.
0
SPEAKER_00
You had a sense of urgency.
0
SPEAKER_00
Some people have to create a sense of urgency.
0
SPEAKER_00
And before I was motivated by, you know, my butt being on fire or just survival, just wanting to get
0
SPEAKER_00
 get to live in.
0
SPEAKER_00
But you can create a sense of urgency by creating a possibility, a vision of possibility that you want to live into, or you want to serve more people or something.
0
SPEAKER_00
So initially, it was me just getting out of that, you know, butt on fire.
0
SPEAKER_00
Then the game I'm playing now, I'm pursuing excellence and wisdom with grace and ease.
0
SPEAKER_00
 So, there's a hunger for me to want to get to the next level, to want people to help people get to the next level.
0
SPEAKER_00
And to me, it's about helping people understand they have a masterpiece and that their job is to express it and share it with the rest of us.
0
SPEAKER_00
But it's an inside job and only they can do it.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, unless they have the will and the desire to do it, but not just say do it, but I'm
0
SPEAKER_00
 I have this will to succeed.
0
SPEAKER_00
I'm gonna do whatever I need to do to get there.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so that's the 1%.
0
SPEAKER_00
That's the 1% that says I am responsible and I have a masterpiece inside of me or I have greatness inside of me and it's my job to develop it and express it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's why it's so challenging because if you want more than the other person, then that's a problem.
0
SPEAKER_00
But if you can...
0
SPEAKER_00
 help them discover that they have this greatness inside of them, this masterpiece that can be developed and it can only be developed by them.
0
SPEAKER_02
So let's say you're, there's a lot of really good athletes out there.
0
SPEAKER_02
There's a lot of really good humans, good people at their jobs, but they stay good and they don't transcend to the next level for themselves.
0
SPEAKER_02
Not meaning they have to be the best in the world at what they do,
0
SPEAKER_02
 But they stayed very comfortable.
0
SPEAKER_02
Maybe they did well in college as an athlete, but they didn't take it to the next level because they didn't have the desire or the willingness or whatever it is.
0
SPEAKER_02
Maybe someone stayed well at their job for 10 years, but they got to a level of comfort, but they didn't want to grow and develop their skills to another level to see what's possible.
0
SPEAKER_02
 How can you inspire, evoke, empower people that are at a good level, that have been stuck there for a while, that haven't been willing to do what it takes to see what their true masterpiece is?
0
SPEAKER_02
Is there a level of coaching?
0
SPEAKER_00
It's what I said, you have to create a sense of urgency.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because why would they change?
0
SPEAKER_00
 There, I got to be working with young athletes and say, what's up, man?
0
SPEAKER_00
How you doing?
0
SPEAKER_00
I'm chilling.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, relaxing.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I say, chilling ain't going to get it done.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, you can be chilling, but you've got to be willing.
0
SPEAKER_00
So you can chill now, but then you have to step to the next thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
So the way that it works, especially if you're thinking about getting in a flow, you've got to look at it as a step function.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because once you get to a certain level, then it becomes normal.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And so if you don't challenge yourself, it's like a step function and the high challenges will get you.
0
SPEAKER_00
 revved up and you have to have a vision of possibility.
0
SPEAKER_00
We live in the future, we see.
0
SPEAKER_00
So if you're not uncomfortable, then you're probably not learning.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I don't mean being uncomfortable all the time, but I talk about getting comfortable being uncomfortable, which means keep moving and increasing your capacity to grow, learn, and experience life in different ways.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's what it comes down to.
0
SPEAKER_00
So it's an inside job without the will.
0
SPEAKER_00
 They're not doing it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And the will, some people look at will as having three components.
0
SPEAKER_00
One component is motivation.
0
SPEAKER_00
One component is commitment.
0
SPEAKER_00
But the third component is security or confidence.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so people who have a strong self-efficacy, like myself, like you, that we embrace the challenge.
0
SPEAKER_00
We see things as a challenge and an adventure and something to move towards.
0
SPEAKER_00
 So we're always trying to expand our capacity, but we have this adventurous spirit that says, I don't know how far I can take this, but I'm just going to take it as far as I can take it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it's fun, and it's something that I know
0
SPEAKER_00
 creating a service for others.
0
SPEAKER_00
I want to help others by expressing or being a leader in terms of how am I going to not get so comfortable that I'm chilling.
0
SPEAKER_00
And when you get to that phase of, you know, even boredom or just relaxed and, you know, just sort of satisfied, that's when you have to challenge yourself.
0
SPEAKER_00
And if you challenge yourself, then you can
0
SPEAKER_00
 You have to raise everything to meet that challenge.
0
SPEAKER_00
And unless you do that, that's where the self-regulation comes in.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's why when you talk about MJ or Kobe, some of those guys like that, Tom Brady, there's a lot of them out there.
0
SPEAKER_00
I'm not naming all of them.
0
SPEAKER_00
Of course, you know, the ones that are there now, you know, I could name them all.
0
SPEAKER_00
But what it comes down to is
0
SPEAKER_00
 You will know them by their fruits, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
You will know them by their ability to not settle and the ability to keep getting better.
0
SPEAKER_00
If you think of Steph Curry last year, he knew he wasn't going to, well I can't speak for him, but it was pretty obvious they weren't going to win without Clay, but he took his game to a whole other level.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And see, that's the thing, if Clay was there, would he have been doing that?
0
SPEAKER_00
Probably not, because the situation probably didn't call for him to be extraordinary.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's why if you think about going to a team that's already loaded, you might win championships, but you really have to look at, just my opinion, whether or not you're challenged enough so that you can get out of your comfort zone and go to that next level.
0
SPEAKER_00
 sense of urgency, you can't do it, or unless you're committed to excellence and you're taking it to the next level.
0
SPEAKER_00
So let me give you an example of that.
0
SPEAKER_00
I can lie about MJ, but let's just talk about Kobe for a moment.
0
SPEAKER_00
So Kobe won a championship in 2009.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think I have it right.
0
SPEAKER_02
 You were working with them then?
0
SPEAKER_00
When they come to Boston, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
I've always been, when they come to Boston, I work with them, talk with them.
0
SPEAKER_00
The process they use is the one that we developed when I was here in the early 2000s.
0
SPEAKER_00
So that's the thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
So that's what I'm talking about.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's like, okay, you won, but you want to go to the next level.
0
SPEAKER_00
 So, you know, when you retire, you can reflect on it, but you got to keep getting better because now the team knows you won.
0
SPEAKER_00
Every team is going to be coming for you.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, you have to keep getting better.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's a progressive realization of a worthy ideal.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, you're not there, but it's in that.
0
SPEAKER_00
 Day to day, just making today your masterpiece, getting better today.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's that incremental process.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's what I mean.
0
SPEAKER_00
And there's other people that do that.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don't have to name names.
0
SPEAKER_00
People don't realize that Tom Brady probably spends 10 to 12 hours a day in the off season getting ready.
0
SPEAKER_00
Now he's 44.
0
SPEAKER_00
Now he just came this close from going to the next level at the defense held.
0
SPEAKER_00
He probably, knowing him, he would have got the ball and scored and they would have won.
0
SPEAKER_00
But that's a mindset.
0
SPEAKER_00
 It was 27 to 6.
0
SPEAKER_00
No quit.
0
SPEAKER_00
That probably disinspired him even more.
0
SPEAKER_00
So that's what I'm talking about, that idea.
0
SPEAKER_00
So it's not about how do we get them, it's...
0
SPEAKER_00
 How do we help them go inside and make that, become willing to go to the next level?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because some people just don't wanna do that.
0
SPEAKER_00
They're not interested.
0
SPEAKER_00
That's why they say many are called, few are chosen.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's about you having a vision, a possibility for yourself that has to do with being great or helping others be great by being a role model and by taking it to the next level.
0
SPEAKER_02
 What happens when people stay comfortable for year after year after year and they don't challenge themselves?
0
SPEAKER_02
What happens to them?
0
SPEAKER_00
They become relaxed and bored.
0
SPEAKER_00
That's what boredom, we spend most of our time between boredom and anxiety.
0
SPEAKER_00
So if you look at it that way, so you're bored or you're relaxed, but you're just a couple of levels up from boredom.
0
SPEAKER_00
But if you're bored or if you're anxious, it's saying to you, if you're bored, you need to challenge yourself more.
0
SPEAKER_00
You need to have goal setting and set goals.
0
SPEAKER_00
Or as Steve Harvey said on a video I heard,
0
SPEAKER_00
 He said the reason people have a hard time getting up in the morning is because they don't have a good enough reason for them to get up.
0
SPEAKER_00
So you want to create a raison d'etre or a way of being where you're jumping up like a kid at Christmas.
0
SPEAKER_00
So Christmas Eve you can't go to sleep because you know it's going to be...so you have to have that kind of a process where you are getting up and you're going at it because
0
SPEAKER_00
 makes you feel alive, it makes you feel like you're making a difference.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I would say what we're really talking about is people being who they are and not somebody that they're supposed to be or somebody wants them to be, but coming from that masterpiece.
0
SPEAKER_00
And when you're being real, so it's like we used to talk about it when I worked in the corporate structure.
0
SPEAKER_00
You have, you know, Hump Wednesday,
0
SPEAKER_00
 TGIF Friday, like so five-sevenths of the time you're doing something you're not happy about.
0
SPEAKER_00
When in actuality, why not have it be seven-seven?
0
SPEAKER_00
So having a work, and it's interesting because I was just reflecting, I was reading this book by Eric Butterworth called Spiritual Economics.
0
SPEAKER_00
And in there, he talked about what's been my experience.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's not, so the job may not,
0
SPEAKER_00
 be that great, but it's what you bring to the job and how you apply yourself.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it's interesting because it's not so much about the compensation, it's about your soul growth.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's about you growing as a person, just being fully engaged in everything.
0
SPEAKER_00
 I think Jesus talked about this, about going the extra mile.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, like I guess back in the day there, the Romans could say, okay, I want you to carry this a mile.
0
SPEAKER_00
He said, go two miles.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so this idea of giving more than what you get, and there's something about applying yourself, be fully engaged, your whole mind, body, heart, and soul engaged.
0
SPEAKER_00
So that's what healing is.
0
SPEAKER_00
 It's wholeness, so just fully engage in yourself, or as in Zen they say, burn yourself in the activity, do not leave a trace.
0
SPEAKER_00
So fully engaged, fully present, just doing it, and what you bring to it is what makes the difference.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it's interesting because I'm thinking about this book I read called The Way of Man.
0
SPEAKER_00
They talk about this idea of just fully burning yourself in the activity.
0
SPEAKER_00
 losing yourself, just really, just really, because what is that about?
0
SPEAKER_00
It's like, so he talks about this idea of what can man do that angels can't do?
0
SPEAKER_00
And the answer to that is that men or men with a woman with holy intent can, you know, can hallow anything.
0
SPEAKER_00
We can make something holy just by intention.
0
SPEAKER_00
 So we can make something hollow, holy, whole just by our intention.
0
SPEAKER_00
So that's what we can do.
0
SPEAKER_00
We can intend to make things holy.
0
SPEAKER_00
We can make heaven here and now just by bringing that love, that compassion, that presence that's fully committed and a productive act of love.
0
SPEAKER_00
That's what love is.
0
SPEAKER_00
When you love something, you help it grow.
0
SPEAKER_00
 So, it's the intention.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, do you have to stay in the job?
0
SPEAKER_00
I was in the job I didn't want to be in.
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, I woke up and I'm making missiles.
0
SPEAKER_00
I used to work for Northrop back in the day, 16 years working on that stuff.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then I went to a high tech after that.
0
SPEAKER_00
But it was really more about
0
SPEAKER_00
 And I got into that job.
0
SPEAKER_00
How did I end up being a financial analyst, getting an accounting degree?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because my high school coach told me they make money.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I did it.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I did what I thought I was supposed to do.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it wasn't until I stopped that I started doing what I wanted to do.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I go from working in corporate, wearing a three-piece suit, going back to graduate school.
0
SPEAKER_00
 studying the soft sciences, like psychology.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then I'm there with people who are in the soft sciences wanting to go into business because they want to make money.
0
SPEAKER_00
And they look at me like, dude, what's wrong with you?
0
SPEAKER_00
Ah, you come in here with a three-piece suit trying to do what we're doing.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it was very simple.
0
SPEAKER_00
That's because I was following my bliss.
0
SPEAKER_00
I was doing what I was supposed to do.
0
SPEAKER_00
It had nothing to do with what the conversation was.
0
SPEAKER_00
It had to do with me getting into a situation where I could fully express myself.
0
SPEAKER_00
 be fully in, all in.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think you talk about that a lot, being all in.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it's what I bring to it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And of course, that can change.
0
SPEAKER_00
But what can't change is me being fully engaged in the moment with as much love and joy and compassion as I can have.
0
SPEAKER_02
 Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Something you mentioned there was healing is wholeness.
0
SPEAKER_02
Of the people that you train at the 1%, it seems to be like a lot of those people have a chip on their shoulder.
0
SPEAKER_02
They have something where they're, maybe not always, but it's like there was a pain somewhere that drove them to be great.
0
SPEAKER_02
Correct me if I'm wrong.
0
SPEAKER_02
 When I was training as an athlete, I was very driven to be great to prove people wrong.
0
SPEAKER_02
People that hurt me or the pains that I went through and the sadness I felt, the being picked on and all those things.
0
SPEAKER_02
I was like, I'm going to become so big, so athletic, so strong, so needed that I'm going to prove them wrong.
0
SPEAKER_02
 And it worked, it got me to achieving results and being like the captain of my team and playing professional football, all these different things.
0
SPEAKER_02
But when I would achieve my goals, I felt so empty and alone and angry.
0
SPEAKER_02
It's almost like it was like, well, this isn't what I thought it was supposed to heal me.
0
SPEAKER_02
 And it didn't.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then I went for a bigger goal, bigger goal.
0
SPEAKER_02
We kind of talked about this before a little bit.
0
SPEAKER_02
And it wasn't until I started doing the healing work that I was able to create from a place of peace and love and generosity as opposed to I got this chip on my shoulder, I gotta keep showing up and proving these people wrong or whatever.
0
SPEAKER_02
 Do you think most of the top performers in the world create and build from a place of there's something that's still not healed or whole inside of them?
0
SPEAKER_02
Or do you know some that you worked with who have completely healed or on a healing journey and they're creating their masterpiece at a high level from wholeness?
0
SPEAKER_00
I think and I'll speak about it this way because I don't get into people's hearts and
0
SPEAKER_00
 I mean, I do, but I don't want to talk about people's hearts.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because I have to talk to them.
0
SPEAKER_00
And even if they express to me what it is, it may not be what it is.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's their interpretation of what it is.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I watch their behavior.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think what's important is maybe that gets you there, that anger, or gets you to prove people wrong.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because I was like that, too.
0
SPEAKER_00
When you told me I couldn't do something, you had a tiger, I would show you.
0
SPEAKER_00
 But what happens is at some point, you're right, that's empty because that's coming from a place of fear.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I talk about coming from, you know, you're either coming from love or fear.
0
SPEAKER_00
And when you're coming from fear, you're in survival mode, which is that flight, fight, and freeze.
0
SPEAKER_00
Or growth mode or love mode, where it's rest and digest.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's something that's coming inside of you.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's an expression of you and something that comes from the inside out, not something...
0
SPEAKER_00
 coming from the outside in.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so even though you get there initially by that, you can't sustain that.
0
SPEAKER_00
And as you mentioned, there's emptiness there.
0
SPEAKER_00
There's no meaning there because you're not whole.
0
SPEAKER_00
You're just acting out of fear.
0
SPEAKER_00
 instead of coming out of love where you can have your whole being be engaged in it.
0
SPEAKER_00
So even though, I'll use the example, I used to work in prison, do mindfulness-based stress reduction in recovery units, people who have substance abuse.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And some of them, they were mandated to be in the program.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so I used to teach where it was voluntary and they were very different people who were mandated and said, well, I'm forced to be here.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I said, yeah, there's some choice you got here out of force, but you can decide to be here for you now.
0
SPEAKER_00
You can decide.
0
SPEAKER_00
 Instead of letting somebody's bad behavior affect you, or your bad behavior, or you doing something you don't want to do, you can choose to do it for yourself.
0
SPEAKER_00
You can choose to change how you look at that, and the way there's healing.
0
SPEAKER_00
 You can say, okay, I'm here.
0
SPEAKER_00
I'd rather be here for me, even though they got me here, but I can fight it or I can just embrace it and say, okay, how can I find myself in this mix?
0
SPEAKER_00
As Hansel talked about, in this place, there's an opportunity for me to express myself, to me to get in touch with myself, and it's an inside job to do it for myself.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so I can't speak to all of those athletes, but I think at some point, the ones that are
0
SPEAKER_00
 are the happy, are the ones, because if you do that and you're not in the field anymore or in that sport, how do you deal with life?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because now you don't have that place to express that, that outlet.
0
SPEAKER_00
Whereas, yeah, it gets you there, but why not be there for yourself and then deal with the whole person?
0
SPEAKER_00
 you know, how you feel, you know, your body is physical, your mind is mental, the heart is emotional, social, and your soul, your spirit, that you want all of those aspects of yourself to be there.
0
SPEAKER_00
So when we talk about the spiritual thing, it's like how do you embrace, how do you get out of survival mode into growth mode and then embracing those parts of yourself that haven't been so helpful?
0
SPEAKER_00
 But you have to make peace with that.
0
SPEAKER_00
We all make mistakes.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so that, those two wolves, I talk about this idea of the two wolves with the Cherokee grandfather telling his grandson, I have two wolves with this ferocious battle inside of me.
0
SPEAKER_00
And the grandson's concerned and says, which wolf will win?
0
SPEAKER_00
He says, the one we feed.
0
SPEAKER_00
So we both have
0
SPEAKER_00
 that those two wolves in us, but it's a question of which one we're gonna feed.
0
SPEAKER_00
So the fear wolf gets us there, but then once we get there, can we just start feeding the love wolf?
0
SPEAKER_00
And this idea of getting beyond the illusion of separateness and being a service.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I like to call it, forget yourself to find yourself.
0
SPEAKER_00
 forget yourself.
0
SPEAKER_00
To find yourself.
0
SPEAKER_00
So when you give yourself a service and you help other people, you're also helping yourself, but you have to get to a place where you have something to give.
0
SPEAKER_00
So you have to develop enough so that you can actually give.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so a lot of things we give, we can give money, but when we can give our time, when we can give our heart, we can give our soul, I think that pays a bigger dividend.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
 You talk about superpowers in order to achieve your goal.
0
SPEAKER_02
I think there's five superpowers you talk about.
0
SPEAKER_00
Right.
0
SPEAKER_02
What are those?
0
SPEAKER_02
And why are these important to develop?
0
SPEAKER_00
So I talk about mindfulness, this effort or diligence, this focus, concentration, this insight or wisdom, and faith, put faith last.
0
SPEAKER_00
So they're all connected.
0
SPEAKER_00
So for me to be mindful,
0
SPEAKER_00
 What I talk about being mindful is having a mirror mind or being able to see, let things be as they are, like they're in the mirror, just interpreting them or letting them speak to you in their own language instead of us interpreting them.
0
SPEAKER_00
So it's like being vulnerable and letting the unfolding moment.
0
SPEAKER_00
 unfold without you interfering.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so what you want to do is you want to create...you want to elongate the perceptual process.
0
SPEAKER_00
So first, there's a very short time where the raw data is there.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then immediately, associative thinking, abstract associative thinking, like, oh, I remember the last time this happened, abstract thinking,
0
SPEAKER_00
 selfing or self-importance, all of that stuff.
0
SPEAKER_00
And of course, the way the visual system works is it's trying to relate what's happening based on what we've already experienced instead of seeing it in fresher new ways.
0
SPEAKER_00
So we have to create this ability because as human beings, we have this ability to sit back and watch things as a silent witness without being critical.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's what it is, uncritical observation.
0
SPEAKER_00
 are seeing things in a certain way and that when we create space between stimulus and response, we start to be able to see things as they are, not as we remember them or as our mindset that we happen to be in is interpreting it in a certain way instead of seeing the raw data.
0
SPEAKER_00
So we want to be able to be mindful.
0
SPEAKER_00
So you have to have faith
0
SPEAKER_00
 You have to realize, like Einstein said, the most important question to ask yourself is, is this a friendly or unfriendly universe?
0
SPEAKER_00
And let's just go with the friendly.
0
SPEAKER_00
If it's a friendly universe, then you will use all your resources to understand how things work and then align yourself with how things work, like gravity.
0
SPEAKER_00
You don't have to believe in gravity.
0
SPEAKER_00
It works.
0
SPEAKER_00
If you align yourself with gravity, you'll be okay.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so you have to have the faith that what you're going to do is actually going to go
1
SPEAKER_01
 to be possible and it's going to be helpful.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you have to have faith to make the effort to be mindful, but then you need...so we're talking about faith, we're talking about effort, then you have to have the focus, the here and now, you know, being able to be locked in so that you could be mindful.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then you also need the wisdom or understanding, what am I being mindful of and what are the essentials?
1
SPEAKER_01
What's the principles involved?
1
SPEAKER_01
 And so all of those things are always working.
1
SPEAKER_01
So mindfulness helps us cultivate effort or this idea of being diligent, like the sustained effort.
1
SPEAKER_01
We can't do anything without the sustained effort.
1
SPEAKER_01
But the effort to do what we say we're going to do and just to keep doing it until we get it, not quitting, not giving up, and that sort of thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
But that's really more mental to get into it because when you're in a positive mind state,
1
SPEAKER_01
 then it's easier to do it if you're coming from love rather than fear.
1
SPEAKER_01
Let's just talk about that wolf, those two.
1
SPEAKER_00
How does someone get more into love though if they've been living in fear their whole life?
1
SPEAKER_01
By recognizing they're in fear and understanding how it's not helpful and how to get out of fear.
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, how do they get out of it?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, so this is part of my effort.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's like you're in fear once you notice that you're reacting to things instead of responding to things.
1
SPEAKER_01
And if you can pause and notice that you're reacting
1
SPEAKER_01
 And then, well, how do I not react?
1
SPEAKER_01
Be still and know by just stepping back and instead of leaping in and interpreting, just let it speak to you, but you have to be vulnerable.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's where the faith comes in and that sort of thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
By being that, then once you say, oh, when this happens, this happens, and if I want to change something, I have to change, I have to self-regulate.
1
SPEAKER_01
I have to change my thoughts, my feelings, my behavior.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so you understand, how do I not be fear, noticing you're in fear,
1
SPEAKER_01
 and realize that you're in survival mode and if you can just breathe and focus on one thing and get your nervous system into rest and digest or focus, generating what I call a Hall of Fame, H-O-F.
1
SPEAKER_00
A Hall of Fame.
1
SPEAKER_00
A Hall of Fame.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Hope, optimism, faith.
1
SPEAKER_01
 Okay.
1
SPEAKER_01
So, if you get into a positive mind state, it's called the Broaden and Build Theory.
1
SPEAKER_01
When you're coming from optimism, hope, faith, then your cognitive functioning is enhanced.
1
SPEAKER_01
So, you actually start to see, instead of being locked on channel 5, there's 200 channels.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then by opening up, you say, oh, there it is right there.
1
SPEAKER_01
So, you have to be able to
1
SPEAKER_01
 to understand that's what we call right effort.
1
SPEAKER_01
How do you abandon an unwholesome mindset like fear?
1
SPEAKER_01
So one way you can do that is do the opposite of fear.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's love.
1
SPEAKER_01
Another way you can do it is understanding the consequences of coming out of fear.
1
SPEAKER_00
What's holding you back from that, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Okay, so if I'm in fear, then I'm going to be reacting and I'm not going to be able to create space between stimulus and response.
1
SPEAKER_01
And in that space, I get to align with my core values, with my goal.
1
SPEAKER_01
 with my aim, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
So that's the third thing is to divert your attention from it to something else.
1
SPEAKER_01
So if I focus on what I want or I focus on what's going to work, then I can't have two things in my mind at once.
1
SPEAKER_01
If I focus on what I want,
1
SPEAKER_01
 versus what I didn't want, then that changes it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you divert your attention to it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So that's the third way.
1
SPEAKER_01
The fourth way, I'll just talk about four today, is you actually turn towards the fear, and you say, okay, when fear is present, I notice that there's this tightness, I notice that I have tunnel vision, I notice that it's keeping me small, and like choking, I can't breathe.
1
SPEAKER_01
And if I understand, so I get intimate with fear, so I know, oh, fear is here,
1
SPEAKER_01
 It's okay, just breathe through it, just feel wherever the fear is in your body and just let it be there, you know, just notice it.
1
SPEAKER_01
But if I can breathe with it, I can open with it and say it's okay because I'm not reacting to it, I'm actually creating space and then now I'm not reacting.
1
SPEAKER_01
So an example of the fear, I had this fear of talking in public.
1
SPEAKER_01
 And I would get up and I was in this program called Toastmasters.
1
SPEAKER_00
I did it too.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I get up there and I'm at the podium and I'm shaking.
1
SPEAKER_01
And the more I tried not to shake, I shook.
1
SPEAKER_01
So at the time I was in graduate school and I was studying paradoxical intention.
1
SPEAKER_01
This is Viktor Frankl and he was saying that instead of running away from the fear, embrace it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so I decided I was going to be a shaken fool when I got up there.
1
SPEAKER_01
And when I got up there, I stopped shaking.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So the only way out is always through.
1
SPEAKER_01
So the fear is, and then we talk about exposure therapy, so the thing you fear to do, just do it a little bit in increments that are manageable, uncomfortable, hard to do but doable, then what happens is you actually create this
1
SPEAKER_01
 what they call exposure therapy, the more you're exposed to it, the less it affects you.
1
SPEAKER_01
So there's all of these different ways, but it's really embracing the fear and generating the hope and saying, okay, there's a lesson here for me to get.
1
SPEAKER_01
And if I look at fear as an acronym for false evidence appearing real, or some fears are healthy, like fear of being hit by a car when you're walking across the street or touching a hot thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
So it's really understanding when fear arises,
1
SPEAKER_01
 I embrace it, and by embracing it and working through it, it is no longer fear.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's just a reaction, and we're learning from it.
1
SPEAKER_01
We respond to it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so you embrace it, and you get comfortable being uncomfortable.
1
SPEAKER_01
And by embracing the fear and understanding it, it no longer is fear.
1
SPEAKER_01
What was the biggest fear you've had to overcome?
1
SPEAKER_01
Being myself.
1
SPEAKER_00
When did you learn that?
1
SPEAKER_01
I didn't learn that.
1
SPEAKER_01
I just observed myself, self-sabotaging and being uncomfortable.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So this is what Marianne Williamson said, our greatest fear is not embracing our masterpiece, our divinity, but it's just uncomfortable.
1
SPEAKER_01
And we know the nervous system, if something is unpleasant, it's going to avoid it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And if it's pleasant, it moves towards it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And if it's neither, it spaces out.
1
SPEAKER_01
So we're afraid of our greatness.
1
SPEAKER_01
 But it's by embracing that greatness that we can...once again, that exposure therapy, just taking it a little bit more, so I do it more and more.
1
SPEAKER_01
But it's, yeah, my greatness, and it's not something I thought about, it was just something I observed.
1
SPEAKER_01
 When did you realize that you weren't fully being yourself?
1
SPEAKER_01
How old were you?
1
SPEAKER_01
I think when I was in recovery in 1984.
1
SPEAKER_01
I was about 32 and a half, something like that, when I started getting glimpses of it.
1
SPEAKER_01
Realizing, oh, there's more to it because I lived in my own little fantasy.
1
SPEAKER_01
But just to open up and to see that I was responsible and that I could choose my response.
1
SPEAKER_01
 And stuff like that, I realized that on some level I was hiding out in plain sight.
1
SPEAKER_01
Just like those folks that don't get up if you can't keep up, as Vin Diesel says, wasn't interested in getting up.
1
SPEAKER_01
So that's it.
1
SPEAKER_01
But it's really fear, the process of fear is probably the main thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
But that's how it manifests in not realizing.
1
SPEAKER_01
And you know how it feels to realize that you're afraid of your greatness?
1
SPEAKER_01
It really feel like a loser when you do that.
1
SPEAKER_01
But that's just a thought.
1
SPEAKER_01
 It's not reality.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's just, okay.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's one way to look at it.
1
SPEAKER_01
Or another way to look at it is fear is sort of taking care of yourself.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh, I can't do that.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's afraid.
1
SPEAKER_01
So self-care can be looked at...I mean, fear can be looked at as self-care, and it's not self-care that's helpful or effective, but it's a form of survival.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that's what we call survival mode.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's what that is.
1
SPEAKER_01
 like a prey animal.
1
SPEAKER_00
When did you learn how to overcome self-sabotage and how can people do that today?
1
SPEAKER_00
Learn if they've been doing that in their relationships or their career, how do they learn to stop doing that?
1
SPEAKER_01
By observing, by noticing that you gotta get into love mode, you gotta get in a positive mind state and look at it as an uncritical observation.
1
SPEAKER_01
 You have to, the mindfulness, you have to be able to see it without judging and just see how things arise and fade away and then think about, well, how do I get out of it?
1
SPEAKER_01
How did so-and-so get out of it?
1
SPEAKER_01
What does the research tell me?
1
SPEAKER_01
What are the role models out there that have overcome?
1
SPEAKER_01
 They have fear.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then ask them or read the books and just study.
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, I've been in recovery going on 38 years.
1
SPEAKER_01
I've averaged over a book a week.
1
SPEAKER_01
So my way, the best stress reducer is, the best stress reduction or dealing with fear is wisdom, understanding.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because as Franco says, because we're really talking about suffering, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
 Victor Frankl said, suffering ceases to be suffering when we find meaning in it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So when you find meaning in it, then it ceases to be suffering.
1
SPEAKER_01
So we have to touch our suffering, we have to go into it, and we have to understand it.
1
SPEAKER_00
 For some reason it's hard to understand the meaning of suffering when we're in it sometimes.
1
SPEAKER_00
I always look back and I'm like, man, that was a rough time in my life, but I wouldn't change a thing because it helped me overcome this adversity and it helped me learn this skill and it helped me...
1
SPEAKER_00
 have more courage or whatever it is, but it's like when you're in it, you can't, I shouldn't say you can't, it's hard sometimes to really step back and have wisdom and observe, oh, I'm in this.
1
SPEAKER_00
Unless you have a habit of doing that.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, unless you're familiar with it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And unless you're able to feel it in your body and step away and get out of the mindset, but this is the whole thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's creating this ability to observe experiences no matter how challenging it is.
1
SPEAKER_01
 from this silent witness and not doing anything but just observing and asking what is this and how is it manifesting.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you're absolutely right.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's why you've got to get out of survival mode and get into growth mode.
1
SPEAKER_01
If you react to the things, there's no way you can do it because there's no space to do anything but react.
1
SPEAKER_01
But if we reflect on it and then we look at it and reflect and say, okay, I reacted.
1
SPEAKER_01
 what training do I need to do?
1
SPEAKER_01
What learning and practicing do I need to do so the next time I can create a little bit more space, a little bit more space?
1
SPEAKER_01
Then once I create the space, then I can really see.
1
SPEAKER_01
But you're right, when you're in that mode, that consciousness, that consciousness is like a tractor field that only allows you to have certain options.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so you have to raise your consciousness or expand
1
SPEAKER_01
 your ability to pause, slow things down and in that space learn from your mistakes and then at some point you understand, oh, here's how you do it.
1
SPEAKER_01
But it's the inside job and it's something that you have to practice.
1
SPEAKER_01
So if you're going to do it and just say, I did it last week and I don't want to do it this week, but you're not learning and practicing anything,
1
SPEAKER_01
 then how do you expect to not do the same thing?
1
SPEAKER_01
So you have to actually reflect on experience because the true understanding reflects on, comes from reflecting on experience.
1
SPEAKER_01
So how did I, I did this, how can I do it differently?
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, first thing you gotta understand, if you don't look at it differently or if you don't have a different mindset, you're gonna keep doing the same thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So, that's why you got to get out of survival mode into growth mode or that hope, optimism, faith I talked about, or the willing suspension of disbelief and saying, okay, why don't I try it this way?
1
SPEAKER_01
But once you change, this is what Dr. Wayne Dyer said, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
1
SPEAKER_01
So, it's the perspective from which you are observing experience that's the whole thing, your mindset.
1
SPEAKER_01
 The fear glasses, then I'm going to be looking, if I have on the love glasses, then I have on possibility.
1
SPEAKER_01
If I come from half full, that's abundance.
1
SPEAKER_01
If I come from half empty, I'm coming from scarcity.
1
SPEAKER_01
It totally changes everything.
1
SPEAKER_01
But if you just notice, oh, I'm in fear.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Get out of fear and be in love and go then you it'll be clear to you what you need to do 100% agree and I remember for probably most of my life Feeling like I would get in these waves.
1
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes it'd be a good season of life and sometimes it seems like oh man I'm in breakdown mode, right and I felt like stuck and I couldn't get out and
1
SPEAKER_00
 And I remember something happened four years ago where I went through a challenging moment in my life and it felt like, oh wow, this felt like a heavy moment, like a season, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
A few months of heaviness.
1
SPEAKER_00
And for whatever reason, I think because I'd experienced a few different seasons of that in the past 15, 20 years,
1
SPEAKER_00
 I remember thinking to myself, okay, a lot is happening.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was almost so emotionally and mentally overwhelming.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was like, okay, I've been here before.
1
SPEAKER_00
And every time I've been here, three, four, five, six years later, I look back on it and say, I'm so grateful for what that taught me.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I would reflect back and have wisdom.
1
SPEAKER_00
 So what are the reasons, this happened four years ago, I decided when something was challenging, I said, I'm going to reflect forward and have wisdom.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like I know this is going to be happening for me and I just have to wait six months, a year, two years until I'm going to see the benefits and the fruits of this.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And it worked.
1
SPEAKER_00
It helped me stay in peace mode, not reaction mode.
1
SPEAKER_00
Helped me focus on love, what I can control, not what I couldn't control.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it put me back on my mission.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like, how can I improve?
1
SPEAKER_00
What's the lesson?
1
SPEAKER_00
What's my mission?
1
SPEAKER_00
 How can I be angry at the world or whatever?
1
SPEAKER_00
And it was a beautiful experience to reflect forward for me.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don't know if that's something you teach as well in terms of moving forward, but it's like time travel and see yourself a year or two away.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you live into the future, you see.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So, when something bad happens, we see it happening again.
1
SPEAKER_01
So, what are we really talking about here, Louis?
1
SPEAKER_01
We're talking about something happens, then we interpret what it means.
1
SPEAKER_01
So, in the interpretation, if you interpret it as from survival mode, then things are gonna get worse.
1
SPEAKER_01
You interpret it from love.
1
SPEAKER_01
You said, okay, what's the lesson here?
1
SPEAKER_01
How do I learn it's gonna be okay?
1
SPEAKER_01
That's where all those like the faith,
1
SPEAKER_01
 and the effort and the mindfulness and the concentration and the wisdom, they all come in and you just look at it and say, okay, I interpreted it this way before and this is what I got.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I don't want that, so I have to do something different.
1
SPEAKER_01
This is with self-regulation.
1
SPEAKER_01
So something happens, why not interpret it in a way that empowers you, motivates you, inspires you?
1
SPEAKER_01
And that's what you did.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that's the whole point.
1
SPEAKER_01
The whole point is we learn from mistakes, we are not our mistakes.
1
SPEAKER_01
 And that's the challenge we have where we make a mistake and we identify with it instead of realizing, no, it's just behavior.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's not who you are.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's just, it's an event.
1
SPEAKER_01
But then we carry it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So when you were talking about that and all of that carry on, I was thinking about when I worked with baseball and softball players.
1
SPEAKER_01
 when you haven't got a hit, each time you go up, you keep adding on to the drama.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you're going up with a 16, 20 pound vest on instead of saying what Yogi Berra, one of my philosophers, when they asked him about that, he said, I ain't no slump, I just ain't hitting.
1
SPEAKER_01
So what he's really saying is I just have to get a hit, but I'm not bringing those other 16 at bats into the moment with me.
1
SPEAKER_01
 Let it go, but more importantly, reflect on those 16 and see in each case what could you have done differently to get ahead.
1
SPEAKER_01
So now you don't look at the string, you look at, okay, what do I need to change?
1
SPEAKER_01
What are the principles involved in getting ahead?
1
SPEAKER_01
Seeing the ball, having my hands right, being ready, having to relax.
1
SPEAKER_01
 Having the confidence is your mindset.
1
SPEAKER_01
There's a certain mindset that you need to have.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then physically, you gotta have your body ready.
1
SPEAKER_01
But more importantly, you have to have this idea that you're gonna do well.
1
SPEAKER_01
That you have what we call outcome expectation.
1
SPEAKER_01
You expect things to turn out.
1
SPEAKER_01
Just like when you talk about, oh no, this is happening, but I expect it to turn out.
1
SPEAKER_01
So now you can let go to grow.
1
SPEAKER_01
And you can say, okay, this is just a stepping stone.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's not a roadblock.
1
SPEAKER_01
So it's all about the mindset.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's all about this growth mindset.
1
SPEAKER_01
 that says, okay, everything that happens, I need to reflect on it and understand what worked, what didn't work, and then figure out what didn't work, how to make it work.
1
SPEAKER_01
So that's the thing we have to focus on.
1
SPEAKER_01
This moment, not the previous 16 at-bats, but this at-bat, and just focusing on it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that's how MJ or Kobe can go in the fourth quarter before free footer.
1
SPEAKER_01
 three, four, 11, or something like that, and then, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
Hit the game winner.
1
SPEAKER_01
Hit the game winner, because it's always about resetting and beginning again, make a mental note how, okay, I have to keep my arm in, but you expect to make the next shot, but you forget about.
1
SPEAKER_01
 the previous shots, other than understanding, okay, I'm not using my legs, or you saw it in the last dance, Michael, he was tired, so he didn't get his legs in it, so when he made that last shot, he didn't make it for style, he put follow-up on it, because all his shots were short, so he was adapting in real time.
1
SPEAKER_01
 to what happened.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that's what the key is.
1
SPEAKER_01
Don't focus on what happened before.
1
SPEAKER_01
Focus on the moment and focus on what you want.
1
SPEAKER_01
Remember I talked about don't focus on what you don't want because that's what you're creating.
1
SPEAKER_01
You focus on what you want.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then you reset.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's just like my iPhone.
1
SPEAKER_01
It was probably the same thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
If it gets stuck, turn it off and turn it back on and it's reset to factory settings.
1
SPEAKER_01
 and you can roll.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's what we have to do mentally when we make mistakes.
1
SPEAKER_01
Not just athletes, like you talked about, when we get stuck, we make a mistake.
1
SPEAKER_01
Can we bring compassion and forgiveness and say, when I know better, this is what Dr. Maya Angelou, one of her sayings, I love, when you know better, you do better.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So, no blame, no being critical, just notice what needs to change and then go from there.
1
SPEAKER_01
And the rich get richer because when you understand that, you automatically do it because you know that why would you take confidence from yourself?
1
SPEAKER_01
You know confidence is really important.
1
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_00
What do you think is the...
1
SPEAKER_00
 the best way to build confidence and self-belief and overcome self-doubt for people.
1
SPEAKER_01
Depends on the situation, but I think the main thing is to be able to listen to those voices inside of you.
1
SPEAKER_01
So obviously prayer and meditation, focusing on what you want, cultivating that hope, optimism, and faith that I talked about.
1
SPEAKER_01
Having social support.
1
SPEAKER_01
So there's this thing I talk about, predicting success in a job.
1
SPEAKER_01
 Shana Kaur, Happiness Advantage, talks about the research that says there's three things that are important.
1
SPEAKER_01
The positive genes, what I talked about, the hope, optimism, and faith, cultivating a positive mindset.
1
SPEAKER_01
Second thing is social support.
1
SPEAKER_01
So it's not just being around somebody and commiserating, but being around people who are in relationships, like you talked about, your mentor.
1
SPEAKER_01
 They're encouraging you the only way out is through and that you're not by yourself and you have help.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then the third thing is seeing the crisis as an opportunity or seeing it as a challenge.
1
SPEAKER_01
And like we said before, people don't look at things as a challenge.
1
SPEAKER_01
They just look at, oh, that's bad.
1
SPEAKER_01
I don't want to go there.
1
SPEAKER_01
Instead of saying, no, this is an opportunity for me.
1
SPEAKER_01
 To learn something and even if I don't want to do it for myself, my kids, I want my kids or I want to impact society in a way where people are saying yes to life and not no to life and are leveling up and embracing challenge, seeing opportunity rather than staying back and being reactive to be proactive and really talk about how can you express yourself, that mass of people within.
1
SPEAKER_01
It comes out when it's challenged.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_00
You taught a lot of people over the years and coach people and You know you were saying before that you learn a lot when you're teaching right you get some of the best lessons when you're teaching someone Yes, what would you say were?
1
SPEAKER_00
The three greatest lessons you think you learn from people you coached maybe there's someone well-known maybe someone not well-known But what would you say just like wow?
1
SPEAKER_00
 This person actually just gave me an incredible gift.
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, I'll give you two.
1
SPEAKER_01
Right off the top of the head, you can only be yourself.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because if you don't know who you are, you can end up being anybody.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's number one.
1
SPEAKER_01
Number two, if you don't know where you're going, you could end up going anywhere.
1
SPEAKER_01
Number two.
1
SPEAKER_01
And number three is, you have a masterpiece inside, and when you access it, even a little bit of it,
1
SPEAKER_01
 It changes everything when you realize you have the power to do whatever you need to do, you can learn whatever you need to learn, and that you don't have to do it alone.
1
SPEAKER_01
So it's really more about understanding who you are and where you're going.
1
SPEAKER_01
 and that you have everything you need to succeed.
1
SPEAKER_00
How did you have confidence when you're coaching some of these superstars?
1
SPEAKER_00
When some of these guys and gals have some of the powerful mindset out there, how did you
1
SPEAKER_00
 as a coach and a teacher, make sure you went in there with confidence knowing that you could contribute to these people as well sometimes.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
To be honest with you, I prayed.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_01
I focused on my masterpiece and knowing if I could be still and know and just trust that the universe was lawful, just trust that my higher power, God, the universe, whatever you want to call it, that if I was aligned with divine will, I was going to be fine.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So that mean love how can I help how can I serve not worrying about so forgetting myself to find myself in that case is not worrying about how I'm gonna perform or how they're gonna take me but focusing on how I can serve and
1
SPEAKER_01
 And just coming from my own experience, knowing from my own experience and being authentically myself.
1
SPEAKER_01
So understanding that if I can be still and know and come from the love, come from the inside out and how can I help?
1
SPEAKER_01
So the two questions I usually ask people.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So I work with a team that says, what do you want?
1
SPEAKER_01
And then the question is, are you willing to be who you need to be to do what you want?
1
SPEAKER_01
Those two questions.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's really simple.
1
SPEAKER_01
It doesn't matter who you are.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's like, OK, here's what's happening.
1
SPEAKER_01
What are you going to do about it?
1
SPEAKER_01
Are you going to?
1
SPEAKER_01
 React to it and respond to it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And if you understand you have everything you need to succeed and you have that will to win.
1
SPEAKER_01
Remember I talked about the desire to succeed, the will to succeed.
1
SPEAKER_01
If you have that and you realize that it's going to take as long as it takes, but if you sustain your attention, if you're paying attention,
1
SPEAKER_01
 then you're going to learn what you need to learn, and you're going to do what you have to do.
1
SPEAKER_01
And even if you don't get the result you want, if you can walk away and say, I gave everything I had, that's a winner.
1
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_01
No regrets.
1
SPEAKER_01
I was fully engaged in what was happening, and sometimes that's the way it is.
1
SPEAKER_01
You don't always win, but you win when you are
1
SPEAKER_01
 when you got better today, when you played your best, when you expressed your potential.
1
SPEAKER_00
In that moment, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
In that moment.
1
SPEAKER_00
My friend Rory Vaden says, it's hard to be nervous when your heart's on service.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I used to... Yes, I like that one.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's a key... I might steal that one.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, my buddy Rory Vaden, that's his quote.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's hard to be nervous when your heart's on service.
1
SPEAKER_00
For years, I would be nervous before a game, a speech, whatever it might be, an opportunity to present something.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And it wasn't until maybe six years ago, seven years ago, where I reached out to a coach right before a big speech.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I'd been speaking, I did Toastmasters as well, because that was my big fear.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I overcame the fear and having the skills to be able to present an idea in front of an audience.
1
SPEAKER_00
It took me a year to really get there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Every week practicing at Toastmasters, terrified in the beginning.
1
SPEAKER_00
And years later, after I'd been speaking professionally for a while,
1
SPEAKER_00
 I was still getting nervous the day before and I didn't understand why.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was like, I should be better by now.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was judging myself was the first thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I reached out to a coach and I said, I don't know why I'm still nervous.
1
SPEAKER_00
This was about an hour before a big speech.
1
SPEAKER_00
I go, what can I do?
1
SPEAKER_00
And he said, you're focused on yourself, not on the audience and serving.
1
SPEAKER_00
He's like, no, you're gonna make a mistake.
1
SPEAKER_00
No, you're not gonna remember every line or every point or joke or whatever.
1
SPEAKER_00
Stop thinking about you.
1
SPEAKER_00
 and what people think of you and start focusing your energy and attention on how you can be of service to them.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that was a big shift for me.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I still maybe get a little nervous here and there, but it's like whenever I feel that insecurity, I just think I'm not gonna be 100% perfect and that's okay, but if I put all my energy on the message, the mission of what I wanna get across and focus on that, realizing I'm not the best speaker in the world and I'm trying to do that,
1
SPEAKER_00
 then it relieves the nerves.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's helpful.
1
SPEAKER_01
You forgot yourself to find yourself.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, right.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I'd like to say a couple of things about nerves.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's not the nervousness that's the situation, it's how you react or respond to it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I'll give you an example.
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, people don't know, but Will Russell, I grew up in Boston, so I watched the Celtics.
1
SPEAKER_01
 And Bill Russell won 11 championships in 13 years.
1
SPEAKER_01
11 championships in 13 years.
1
SPEAKER_01
He's crazy.
1
SPEAKER_01
And he used to get nervous before a game to the point where he would have to throw up.
1
SPEAKER_01
And one game, he was before the game and read our backs, said, Russ, did you throw up?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
He said, no.
1
SPEAKER_01
He said, go in the locker room.
1
SPEAKER_01
Don't come out until you do.
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, what's that about?
1
SPEAKER_01
Because he knows when he's nervous,
1
SPEAKER_01
 He plays his best.
1
SPEAKER_01
And part of the nervousness could be for a lot of reasons.
1
SPEAKER_01
It could be maybe because you want it so badly or whatever.
1
SPEAKER_01
But in the moment of the game, if you change your consciousness or your focus,
1
SPEAKER_01
 from being nervous to doing the next thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
I call it the, some people talk about the wind, W-I-N.
1
SPEAKER_01
And what does that mean?
1
SPEAKER_01
What's important now?
1
SPEAKER_01
So if you manage the moment, it doesn't matter how you feel or how you see things.
1
SPEAKER_01
If you manage this moment, then the next moment goes, the next moment goes.
1
SPEAKER_01
So it's not about, we have this interpretation that we're nervous, because there's people who are not nervous, and then in the moment of truth, they're nervous, even though they weren't nervous before.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that one second could make
1
SPEAKER_01
 all of the difference, you know, making a play or whatever.
1
SPEAKER_01
So we have to realize that stuff can happen, but it's always about the mindset and it's always about
1
SPEAKER_01
 what's important now.
1
SPEAKER_01
Managing this moment and forgetting yourself to find yourself.
1
SPEAKER_01
When you're in flow, there's no self-consciousness there.
1
SPEAKER_01
You're doing the thing in and of itself.
1
SPEAKER_01
You're not focused on the results because you're focused on the results.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's where a lot of the nervousness might come from because you're focused out there instead of being in here and just managing the moment.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that's the most important thing is
1
SPEAKER_01
 Right now, there's nothing wrong.
1
SPEAKER_01
Right now, there's nothing wrong.
1
SPEAKER_01
Think of how profound that is.
1
SPEAKER_01
There's nothing wrong.
1
SPEAKER_01
But if we think about the past or the future or we say, yeah, but, then it's a problem.
1
SPEAKER_01
But if we just say there's nothing wrong and just focus on what you're doing, even if you make a mistake, correct it in real time and keep it moving.
1
SPEAKER_01
But that's too simple.
1
SPEAKER_01
 we have complicated minds, but that's it.
1
SPEAKER_01
It's like, so you're nervous, so what?
1
SPEAKER_01
Like with me, I was shaking, I was nervous, and the more I tried not to shake, I shook like this, and then once I just said, I don't care.
1
SPEAKER_01
I'm gonna be a shaken fool.
1
SPEAKER_01
I'm gonna be the best, the most nervous person there ever was.
1
SPEAKER_01
Now once you do that, you change your relationship to it, and then you don't make it a thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
Then it totally transforms everything.
1
SPEAKER_01
 So that's it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you're absolutely right.
1
SPEAKER_01
It worked for you.
1
SPEAKER_01
As long as you focus on service, you won't be nervous.
1
SPEAKER_01
But even if you are nervous, who cares?
1
SPEAKER_01
The thing is, can you make the play even if you are nervous?
1
SPEAKER_01
Can you do the next thing?
1
SPEAKER_01
What's important now?
1
SPEAKER_01
And if you focus on what's important now and forget yourself and just focus on the task, then you find yourself.
1
SPEAKER_01
That's the power.
2
SPEAKER_02
 That's one of my Georgians forget yourself to find yourself Yeah, once you get out of the way and just let what's inside of you your divinity express itself and being real and being authentic So being authentic means you're nervous.
2
SPEAKER_02
You're expressing your nervousness.
2
SPEAKER_02
Mm-hmm Yeah, but it's your relationship to it in that space.
2
SPEAKER_02
How are you gonna respond to it in a way?
2
SPEAKER_02
Where it actually?
2
SPEAKER_02
Helps you get to the next level.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so you had a drug addiction for a while.
2
SPEAKER_00
Is that right?
2
SPEAKER_00
How long is that period of time for?
2
SPEAKER_02
 I couldn't really tell you.
2
SPEAKER_02
I know I stopped in 1984, but I was, I don't know, 15, 20 years, whatever.
2
SPEAKER_00
What do you think is the root cause of addiction in general?
2
SPEAKER_00
Why people get addicted to substances?
2
SPEAKER_00
And then also, what was the biggest lesson you learned from your recovery, from rehab, recovery, and getting off of that?
2
SPEAKER_02
 Yeah, well, not speaking, that's a big question to speak about it, but I think the nervous system is programmed to go for things that's pleasant, approach things that are pleasant, avoid things that are unpleasant, and space out if it's neither pleasant or unpleasant.
2
SPEAKER_02
Now, the neutral that's positive is when you're in equanimity or when you're in the center, in the hurricane, where there's...
2
SPEAKER_02
 There's not a preference.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's not indifference.
2
SPEAKER_02
So you're not moving towards moving away You're just holding your center and just observing things.
2
SPEAKER_02
I just didn't want to be in my experience for whatever reason I was trying to get away from from reality and I found a way that I got out or I could just kind of dull the pain or numb it and sometimes people just start
2
SPEAKER_02
 using drugs and alcohol because it's a thing to do.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then some of us, because we get addicted to it, we need it more and more.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so it wasn't...I think the most important thing is just to notice that
2
SPEAKER_02
 that I was doing things that got to the point where I was just, you know, I was a functional addict, you know, I still worked and everything.
2
SPEAKER_02
But it was robbing me of myself.
2
SPEAKER_02
And it's like people, some of us, my father was an alcoholic, so I, you know, all my uncles, I probably came to some part that's just nature and nurture.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I think the main thing was that,
2
SPEAKER_02
 You know, I found out, well for me, especially, I was always drinking, all right, but with the alcohol, I mean with the drugs, it just made me feel more, it got rid of some of my inhibitions and I felt like I could just
2
SPEAKER_02
 It just changed me.
2
SPEAKER_02
It gave me courage and stuff like that when I think about it.
2
SPEAKER_02
But it doesn't matter so much how you start.
2
SPEAKER_02
What matters is that once you start, you can't stop.
2
SPEAKER_02
And some people could do it in safety.
2
SPEAKER_02
I couldn't.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it wasn't until my butt was on fire when I realized that I had an issue.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so I had to come to the realization that
2
SPEAKER_02
 that if I don't take a drink or a drug, I won't get high, I won't get drunk.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so the best lesson for me is that it was a way for me to deal with life and I wasn't dealing with me.
2
SPEAKER_02
I wasn't going inside and dealing with my greatness, with my masterpiece, with my ability to just be myself in spite of what everybody else wanted me to be.
2
SPEAKER_02
Because people will tell you who you
2
SPEAKER_02
 should be or who they want you to be.
2
SPEAKER_02
And when we're being inauthentic or when we're doing what we're supposed to do instead of doing what we want to do, that creates a whole... I mean, there's a lot of conflict.
2
SPEAKER_02
There's a lot of self-hate.
2
SPEAKER_02
Who knows?
2
SPEAKER_02
It could be a lot of reasons.
2
SPEAKER_02
But to me, I just didn't know how to deal with life on life's terms.
2
SPEAKER_02
 I'll just put it in some ways that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then once I got clean, now I had to deal with that daring reality for the first time.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that was overwhelming my nervous system.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was really challenging.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I had chronic pain.
2
SPEAKER_02
I had all kinds of stuff.
2
SPEAKER_02
So that's when I got into meditation and some of the mind-body experiences.
2
SPEAKER_02
But the main thing I learned was
2
SPEAKER_02
 The mind and body are connected and that I am responsible and it's an inside job.
2
SPEAKER_02
So that was the lesson for me is that it's up to me.
2
SPEAKER_02
I can't worry about what you're doing.
2
SPEAKER_02
I got to focus on what George can do.
2
SPEAKER_02
George can't drink.
2
SPEAKER_02
George can't do drugs.
2
SPEAKER_02
George is not interested in this.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I was doing all the other stuff.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And so when I got clean, that's when I just started saying, I'm going to do what I want to do.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm going to take responsibility for me and what resonates with me.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I don't really, I still cared about what other people thought, but I kept weaning off of that till I got to the point that the only opinion, the most important opinion is my opinion of myself and me doing what I needed to do and continuing to embrace that.
2
SPEAKER_02
So that's challenging.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm still, you know, I feel like 40 years later, I'm better at it.
2
SPEAKER_02
 It's something that's constant, like you talked about nervousness or fear.
2
SPEAKER_02
You can get traumatized any time.
2
SPEAKER_02
I was working with the Lakers during the championship run against Boston.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And I go in there and this voice says, you shouldn't be there.
2
SPEAKER_02
They don't want to hear from you.
2
SPEAKER_02
Inner voice.
2
SPEAKER_02
Because of my training, I said, well, that's interesting.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I ain't listening to you.
2
SPEAKER_02
I got work to do.
2
SPEAKER_02
But you see what I'm saying?
2
SPEAKER_02
But for me, I've been doing this for a long time.
2
SPEAKER_02
And a moment, you can have a voice, or you could have fear, or you could have nervousness, or whatever.
2
SPEAKER_02
But when you're a professional, which I think really helps me in my role,
2
SPEAKER_02
 It's professional.
2
SPEAKER_02
It doesn't matter how I feel.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
I just have to show up and do it, and show up and show out.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it can happen at any time, but it's me creating that space and being able to observe it and not judge myself.
2
SPEAKER_02
So, oh, that's interesting.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's Tom from the Pina Gallery.
2
SPEAKER_02
I call it the negative committee.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was just, OK, so it could be there, like background music, and just go and do what I needed to do.
2
SPEAKER_02
And no one knew the difference.
2
SPEAKER_02
 No one knew it was just me, but it was a blip, but that could have sabotaged the whole thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
Absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_02
I could have just said, well, you know, I'm not feeling good.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so you're like, well, come on, you're on the championship run.
2
SPEAKER_02
You can't do that.
2
SPEAKER_02
No, you can't show up.
2
SPEAKER_00
Step up or step out, right?
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so it happens, but the training of being able...
2
SPEAKER_02
 I can't explain, I mean I can't overstate how important it is for us to be able to be in the moment and observe the experience as this silent witness from the eye of the hurricane and just notice it without judging, without being critical, without pushing it away, pulling it towards you.
2
SPEAKER_02
Then once we get the intel,
2
SPEAKER_02
 Then out of that silence there's a knowing.
2
SPEAKER_02
I can't really explain it.
2
SPEAKER_02
There's a knowing that there's some part of you that knows what to do, that masterpiece, that divinity within just knows what to do.
2
SPEAKER_02
We call it intuition sometimes, but it's a gut feeling.
2
SPEAKER_02
 But it's just a knowing.
2
SPEAKER_02
But a lot of times I tell people, I have no idea what I'm doing, but it's great.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that is because I'm not in there, but I'm letting...I'm being like water.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm just going with the flow.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay, I hear that.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay, you got your opinion.
2
SPEAKER_02
And thanks for sharing that.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I got to do my job.
2
SPEAKER_02
I have to be present.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And you're staying in the moment.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then, like you said, when you serve, when you focus on service, you're not nervous.
2
SPEAKER_02
And it's the same thing as when you focus on how you're going to help somebody, you forget yourself.
2
SPEAKER_02
But by helping others, you're also helping yourself.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then when you get through it, now, and I noticed this answer in that voice, that voice is not there so much.
2
SPEAKER_02
But a lot of us have been traumatized in one way or the other.
2
SPEAKER_02
Or once again, here I am on a major stage.
2
SPEAKER_02
 in prime time and then things could happen.
2
SPEAKER_02
Things could happen.
2
SPEAKER_02
Something comes up and I was fortunate enough to be able to not listen and just focus on the task.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that's why I think being a professional, what I mean by that is being a professional when you do a job or you go the extra mile or you do it, you forget yourself and you just focus on the task.
2
SPEAKER_02
And it doesn't mean I don't take care of it later, but it means unless
2
SPEAKER_02
 I can't breathe, I'm gonna do what I can do, I can show up and show up.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
So does that make sense?
2
SPEAKER_00
It makes a lot of sense.
2
SPEAKER_00
What was the biggest lesson you learned about yourself from the rehab recovery process then, would you say?
2
SPEAKER_02
When we can't express ourselves, there's something, there's not a feeling of wholeness, I'll tell you that.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's, you know, like having two sides, you know, like just really
2
SPEAKER_02
 trying to hide our secret self, not wanting anybody to know who it is.
2
SPEAKER_02
So this surreptitious kind of sense of being, I'll show you who I want you to see, but you can't really see my real self.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I was identifying with that negative stuff instead of identifying with the masterpiece of saying, okay, that's the fear wolf, you're feeding that.
2
SPEAKER_02
Stop feeding that and feed the love wolf.
2
SPEAKER_02
They're both there, but the one that's gonna win the battle is the one that you feed.
2
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Yeah, I think, to be honest with you, I was so focused on getting high and stuff, I didn't really have time to think about stuff like that.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was just survival.
2
SPEAKER_02
When you're in survival mode, you're not thinking about tomorrow or yesterday.
2
SPEAKER_02
You're focused on the next thing, putting out the next fire and that sort of thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I think for me, I was just thinking about, how am I gonna get high?
2
SPEAKER_02
When am I gonna drink?
2
SPEAKER_02
Or how am I gonna get through this?
2
SPEAKER_02
And there was nothing positive.
2
SPEAKER_02
There wasn't something that I was looking forward to.
2
SPEAKER_02
 and say, okay, I'm gonna go on vacation or I'm gonna have this spell of really positive results and whatever.
2
SPEAKER_02
I was doing work, my whole play.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was more a consumption of just trying to not be present.
2
SPEAKER_00
Was there a mentor or someone you saw or an incident or was there someone die or did you know?
2
SPEAKER_02
There was a couple of things.
2
SPEAKER_02
One thing was I was riding around with
2
SPEAKER_02
 like 100, 400, 500 degree temperature, I had a strep infection.
2
SPEAKER_02
And because when you're drunk, when you're dope sick, or when you're having that, it feels like a bad cold and all sorts of things.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I had no idea, but I had to go to the hospital.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then they kept me for five days.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so when I got out of the hospital, a couple of weeks after that, a friend of mine that I used to get high with came by my house on April Fool's Day.
2
SPEAKER_02
And he took me to AA meeting.
2
SPEAKER_02
On April Fool's?
2
SPEAKER_02
On April Fool's.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I'm looking at it and said, dude, man.
2
SPEAKER_00
Is this a joke?
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, exactly.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Dude, he's a dolphin.
2
SPEAKER_02
Look at him.
2
SPEAKER_02
He's so... What you doing, man?
2
SPEAKER_02
It got my attention.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that's the first time I had real hope.
2
SPEAKER_02
I hoped that, oh, there's a way for me.
2
SPEAKER_02
Then I went to the meeting, you know, the AA meeting.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then I saw other people that had the same issue I had, but they were sharing their experience, strength, and hope.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And it gave me a vision, a possibility that, okay, I could do this.
2
SPEAKER_02
It took me months after that, but I went into a detox for 21 days.
2
SPEAKER_02
And when I came out of there, it was very interesting because I think it's the first time I ever saw my house.
2
SPEAKER_02
First time you saw your house?
2
SPEAKER_02
Mm-hmm.
2
SPEAKER_02
Really saw it, where I was really living on life and lifetime.
2
SPEAKER_02
I've never gone 21 days without having some kind of drug or
2
SPEAKER_02
 some kind of living in fantasy or something where I was dealing with life on life's terms for the first time at 32 and a half.
2
SPEAKER_02
But it's a blur and it was just like in and out of my own little fantasy, but I didn't know I was in there until I got sober and I started seeing clearly.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it was profound and it was even more so because when I was going into the detox, I heard this voice say to me,
2
SPEAKER_02
 If the St.
2
SPEAKER_02
George that goes in there comes out, you're in trouble.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I knew I had to be different.
2
SPEAKER_02
And of course, that's probably because that implicit learning I got being around recovery and people who were clean, that I believe that I probably, it's what they call implicit or non-declarative learning.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think there was some stuff there that I got that told me that, and I was on the methadone program before, so I knew taking methadone when I went in there, trying to detox in 21 days was not gonna work.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Wow.
2
SPEAKER_00
So this was 37 years ago?
2
SPEAKER_02
This is 1984.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, 37, 38 years ago, I guess.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it'll be 38 years in July.
2
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_02
After going through that, man, everything is a blessing, man.
2
SPEAKER_02
Man, life is amazing compared to what it used to be.
2
SPEAKER_00
I want to ask you a question about the fears.
2
SPEAKER_00
We talked about it a little bit before.
2
SPEAKER_00
 You know, the fear therapy, exposure therapy, and really, you know, facing the fear the only way out is always through and exposing yourself to it, to feeling it, and then going more into it.
2
SPEAKER_02
But you don't have to go look for it.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's there.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's just how you... Just lean into it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, lean into it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Embrace it, is what you say.
2
SPEAKER_00
 What do you think people are afraid more of, the fear of failure, success, or the judgment, the other people's opinions about them?
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm going to go back to FDR during World War II.
2
SPEAKER_02
We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it's a mindset.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's being in that survival mode.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think that'll cover everything.
2
SPEAKER_02
In recovery, we talk about dealing with fear, doubt, and insecurity.
2
SPEAKER_02
 But I think it's hard to know what people are going through because you can't paint it with a broad brush, but I will say that they're in survival mode.
2
SPEAKER_02
I guarantee you that.
2
SPEAKER_02
They're in survival mode where they're doing either fighting, fleeing, or freezing, which is numbing out or just not being there, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
And that kind of indifference.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so that's what I think.
2
SPEAKER_02
So when we think about it, it's hard to get into all of the complexes.
2
SPEAKER_02
 and the psychological terminology that we have for, you know, character disorders or psychosis and neurosis.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think the main thing we need to understand is that they're in survival mode, so they're either fighting, fleeing, or being frozen and feeling like life is happening to them and they don't have
2
SPEAKER_02
 the ability to respond to things rather than react to things, and they don't even know the difference between reacting and responding.
2
SPEAKER_02
I didn't.
2
SPEAKER_02
I was just reacting all the time, but then once I realized that I could pause and reflect, and I could actually think about things before I did them, and then even while I'm doing them, I can reflect on, is this working, is this not, and then adjust in real time.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then afterwards, true understanding comes from reflecting on experience.
2
SPEAKER_02
 So reflecting on, okay, so I used to get high or I got clean or I got through this, how did I do that?
2
SPEAKER_02
And so when I talk about people being mindful of their behavior, we need more of let's catch each other doing something right, what works?
2
SPEAKER_02
Attitude of gratitude, grateful heart, it's just saying, okay,
2
SPEAKER_02
 As long as I'm breathing, it's more right with me than wrong with me.
2
SPEAKER_02
Life I used to live before, now, this little stuff, this is nothing compared to that.
2
SPEAKER_02
But if you look at it and say, okay, what's the lesson here?
2
SPEAKER_02
And this is an adventure.
2
SPEAKER_02
We're on an adventure.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Then I come from that hall of fame, hope, optimism, and faith, and say, okay, there's something here.
2
SPEAKER_02
There's an opportunity for me to be of service.
2
SPEAKER_02
Like you talked about, be of service, not nervous.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then it's a totally different experience.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it's my attitude, and that's the self-regulation, self-regulated thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Well, I'm choosing joy today, joy now or never.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm choosing compassion.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm choosing love.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm choosing to be present.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm choosing to fully deploy myself.
2
SPEAKER_02
That changes everything.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And so that's the habit, get into that habit of saying, okay, what is this and how am I going to relate to it in a way that's in alignment with my core values?
2
SPEAKER_02
Do I have core values?
2
SPEAKER_02
Do I have a worthy cause?
2
SPEAKER_02
What is my intention?
2
SPEAKER_02
So if you're trying to impact a hundred million people or billion people,
2
SPEAKER_02
 Then you have to be engaged in that day-to-day.
2
SPEAKER_02
You have to have a strategy in which you are getting this progressive realization of a worthy ideal where your success is on a moment-to-moment, day-to-day basis because when you get off, you get back on.
2
SPEAKER_02
You talked about it.
2
SPEAKER_02
That's all.
2
SPEAKER_02
It doesn't matter.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's a zigzag.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's not straight.
2
SPEAKER_02
So when you get off, all you have to do is get back on.
2
SPEAKER_02
Don't judge.
2
SPEAKER_02
What did you learn?
2
SPEAKER_02
And keep it moving.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I love this stuff, man.
2
SPEAKER_00
You've got some amazing wisdom and lessons and experiences that I hope everyone dives into more.
2
SPEAKER_00
You do a weekly show on Instagram, is that right?
2
SPEAKER_00
Or a weekly, like, YouTube thing?
2
SPEAKER_00
I do YouTube, being at home with George during COVID.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes, and last week I talked about
2
SPEAKER_02
 this idea of a grateful mind is a great mind and it will attract great things to you.
2
SPEAKER_02
So attitude of gratitude.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I want to acknowledge Thich Nhat Hanh's passing.
2
SPEAKER_02
And a lot of my teaching comes from, you know, he's been inspirational.
2
SPEAKER_02
He's been a person that has led the way to mindfulness in daily life or bringing this contemplative practice to everyday folks.
2
SPEAKER_02
And just really talking about it in ways that makes a lot of sense.
2
SPEAKER_02
 compassion, love, just smiling and embracing people's divinity, seeing the greatness in everyone and just training the mind and the heart.
2
SPEAKER_02
 You've got a course out right now, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes, I have a course I've been teaching for the last three years.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's called the Mindful Athlete course online.
2
SPEAKER_02
And what I've done with it is so you sign up for the course, you're in it for life.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so we have actually next week we have a quarterly call.
2
SPEAKER_02
So each quarter we have a call where people can get on it.
2
SPEAKER_02
 But in the spring, we'll have a six-week study group.
2
SPEAKER_02
Just past November, October, November, we did a study group called Being Courageous.
2
SPEAKER_02
So what we do is we go over six weeks.
2
SPEAKER_02
Once a week, we'll get together.
2
SPEAKER_02
 and we'll have an hour call.
2
SPEAKER_02
So we'll do a little practice and then we'll go over the homework.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I'll say a little something, but it's mastering those five superpowers I talked about.
2
SPEAKER_02
Mindfulness, effort, concentration, insight, and faith.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so we apply those to a topic like the last one, being courageous, how to be courageous, how to
2
SPEAKER_02
 Feel the fear and do it anyway.
2
SPEAKER_02
And what's the relationship between being courageous and faith?
2
SPEAKER_02
You know, your courage, you know, it means there's fear.
2
SPEAKER_02
We talked about fear.
2
SPEAKER_02
You feel the fear and do it anyway.
2
SPEAKER_02
Or you have to have faith.
2
SPEAKER_02
Faith helps you to be courageous because you don't know what's going to happen, but you know something good's going to happen if you just show up and show out.
2
SPEAKER_02
And you're truly, you know, you just learn from your mistakes.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Kind of do that.
2
SPEAKER_02
So we go through it over and over.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's what I call circular learning.
2
SPEAKER_02
I read my book probably 47 times.
2
SPEAKER_02
And this last time I'm reading it, it's interesting because I have this client of mine who goes into prison and he's using my book.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so we go over each one of those superpowers.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so, of course, me being a recovering perfectionist, I read it.
2
SPEAKER_00
You're going over it all the time.
2
SPEAKER_02
I go over it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And each time I go over it, I learn something new.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I say to myself, man, this is a really good book.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And I say that because I wasn't there when I wrote it.
2
SPEAKER_02
I just was expressing that.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it was flowing through you.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was flowing through me.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I keep reading it, and each time I read it, it gets a little bit deeper.
2
SPEAKER_02
It gets more in my psyche.
2
SPEAKER_02
So when I said to you, the best way to learn something is to teach it, because when you teach it, what you give comes back to you, but also you have to...
2
SPEAKER_02
 You have to understand what you're saying in a way and then you have to present it to other people.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it encourages me, it encourages us to know that if you have something, you share it with your family and friends, you talk about it, it gets more into your psyche because you repeat it over and
2
SPEAKER_02
 So you keep going over this idea that you embrace whatever comes up.
2
SPEAKER_02
That's what I talk about.
2
SPEAKER_02
Embrace and generate the hope.
2
SPEAKER_02
You have to keep finding the courage to say yes and to say, what's the lesson here?
2
SPEAKER_02
And then kind of move through that.
2
SPEAKER_02
So yeah, so I offer these things.
2
SPEAKER_02
I have a masterclass on dealing with anxiety during the time of COVID, and I'll do more masterclasses.
2
SPEAKER_02
 developing a youth course.
2
SPEAKER_02
And the other thing is I'm writing a new book.
2
SPEAKER_02
It's going to be about unlocking a potential or embracing a masterpiece, discovering a masterpiece within.
2
SPEAKER_02
Something along that line, but it's really more about how I got through that, you know, my experience and how I teach people.
2
SPEAKER_02
But the idea is you talk about this idea of being happy when you're doing something that, you know, when your work is happy, your work life is happy and that sort of thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
 then you're happy.
2
SPEAKER_02
And my thing is that if you're being your authentic self and you're living and you're embracing that masterpiece within, it's going to be amazing.
2
SPEAKER_02
So no matter work, love, and play, you're going to bring this aliveness to it, this quality of authenticity and being present and getting beyond the illusion of separateness.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, that's what we need a lot now.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Because we have people who are at each other, crazy things, and we just need to know we're all connected.
2
SPEAKER_02
And the best way is to do it together and not stop demonizing each other and stop talking at each other, but to realize that I and the other are one.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then how about just seeing that just like me, that person wants to be happy.
2
SPEAKER_02
Just like me, a person suffers.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Absolutely, yes.
2
SPEAKER_02
So we have to get to a place, and it's not polyamorous, because I come from a really challenging background and all that stuff.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm not a simpleton.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'm not talking about anything that I haven't experienced or witnessed.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I know we can do much better if we can remember who we are.
2
SPEAKER_02
Because like I said, if you don't know who you are, you could end up being anybody.
2
SPEAKER_02
And if you don't know where you're going, you could end up going anywhere.
2
SPEAKER_02
So why not decide to be yourself?
2
SPEAKER_02
 And then go where you want to go.
2
SPEAKER_00
The Mindful Athlete, the book, Mindful Athlete course, you got the master class on anxiety.
2
SPEAKER_00
They can get everything at georgemumford.com, is that right?
2
SPEAKER_00
georgemumford.com, that's right.
2
SPEAKER_00
And they can follow you.
2
SPEAKER_00
What's your main social media platform you're on the most?
2
SPEAKER_00
Instagram, Facebook?
2
SPEAKER_02
Instagram, mostly Facebook, YouTube.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, like you, man, I want to reach a billion people.
2
SPEAKER_02
That's big.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Yeah, I probably won't do it in this lifetime.
2
SPEAKER_02
But maybe I will.
2
SPEAKER_02
I never know.
2
SPEAKER_02
I never know.
2
SPEAKER_02
But to me, I don't know.
2
SPEAKER_02
I ask you because I don't know where that number came from.
2
SPEAKER_02
I just put it out there.
2
SPEAKER_02
I want something that's going to stir me and encourage me to just really get out of my comfort zone and to really just go out there, get beyond the realms that I'm normally in, and then just embrace more realms.
2
SPEAKER_02
So if I only got
2
SPEAKER_02
 20 people or 100 people, that would make a difference.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I know I'm reaching more than that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And it's not like I'm reaching it.
2
SPEAKER_02
I just want people to be themselves.
2
SPEAKER_02
I just want people to know that they have a masterpiece and that they can develop it and only they can develop it.
2
SPEAKER_02
But my platform is to help them do that.
2
SPEAKER_00
That's great.
2
SPEAKER_00
It's exciting stuff, man.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I got a couple final questions.
2
SPEAKER_00
This is called The Three Truths.
2
SPEAKER_00
So imagine you get to live as long as you want to live, but it's the last day for you on Earth.
2
SPEAKER_00
And you accomplish everything.
2
SPEAKER_00
You reach the billion people, you do whatever you want to create, and you have the life you want.
2
SPEAKER_00
 But for whatever reason, everything you've created has to go with you or has to go somewhere else.
2
SPEAKER_00
So it's not here available for us anymore.
2
SPEAKER_00
But you get to leave behind three lessons to the world, three things you know to be true that you would share.
2
SPEAKER_00
And this is all we would have from your teachings and your information.
2
SPEAKER_00
What would you say are those three truths for you?
2
SPEAKER_02
You have a masterpiece that you can develop.
2
SPEAKER_02
Number two, only you can develop it.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And number three, the quality of your life is going to be a reflection of how much you develop.
2
SPEAKER_02
It can be developed and only you can develop it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And to the degree that you develop it, the quality of your life and the quality of your service is going to be a reflection of it.
2
SPEAKER_00
If you only develop it a little bit, you'll, at the end of your life, you'll be like, oh, look at all this I did not develop that I could have.
2
SPEAKER_00
And you'll be frustrated or resentful or regretful.
2
SPEAKER_02
 And I hope at my last days that I can continue to be in joy, joy now and never, and to just be as loving and as present as I can be.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I want to acknowledge you, George, for how you have transformed your life and how you've used your lessons for service.
2
SPEAKER_00
I've never been addicted to drugs or alcohol.
2
SPEAKER_00
I've never been drunk or high in my life, believe it or not, because I saw what it did to certain people in my life.
2
SPEAKER_00
And my brother was in prison for many years for drugs, for selling drugs.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so I guess fortunately I got to learn from other people and realize I don't want to go down that route.
2
SPEAKER_00
So it kind of scared me, but I think it helped me as an athlete and other things.
2
SPEAKER_00
 So I don't know what that feels like, but I do know how challenging and almost seeming impossible it is for people to overcome addiction.
2
SPEAKER_00
For a lot of people, it seems almost impossible for a lot.
2
SPEAKER_00
So for you to overcome that and wake up for yourself and realize I'm gonna use myself for good and develop into who you've become now is really inspiring.
2
SPEAKER_00
And the fact that you're doing it at such a high level to serve people,
2
SPEAKER_00
 you know, anyone listening or watching and people of all spectrums of life from high achievers to people that just feel stuck, I really acknowledge you for the gift that you've become and the gift you keep sharing to the world, so.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, thank you.
2
SPEAKER_02
I'll take that in.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, that's powerful, but I believe that's why I'm here.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, of course.
2
SPEAKER_00
I'm just being myself.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
About being myself, being a service.
2
SPEAKER_02
So thank you for saying that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that's my challenge, is continue to take that in.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I love helping people.
2
SPEAKER_02
I love everybody, man.
2
SPEAKER_02
So why wouldn't I?
2
SPEAKER_02
You love what you labor for, and you labor for what you love.
2
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Final question, what's your definition of greatness?
2
SPEAKER_02
My definition of greatness is doing, getting better today.
2
SPEAKER_02
Expressing yourself as much as you can.
2
SPEAKER_02
That's greatness, is just getting out of yourself and just
2
SPEAKER_02
 Being real, just being the best version of yourself at whatever you do.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it's about not what you do, it's what you bring to it and who you are being.
2
SPEAKER_02
So greatness is somebody who's going to show up and be themselves consistently and in a way where they're progressing.
2
SPEAKER_02
 So, they're getting better each day.
2
SPEAKER_02
That's great.
2
SPEAKER_02
Every time you do something, it changes people.
2
SPEAKER_02
It makes things better.
2
SPEAKER_02
But it gives this realization that we have this unlimited potential and that if I get better today, I'm being great today.
2
SPEAKER_02
But once again, I'll go back to my quote.
2
SPEAKER_02
 Last week, a grateful mind is a great mind, and a great mind attracts great things to it.
2
SPEAKER_02
Absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_02
So greatness is being grateful and being great.
2
SPEAKER_00
Thank you so much for listening.
2
SPEAKER_00
I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness.
2
SPEAKER_00
Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links.
2
SPEAKER_00
And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most.
2
SPEAKER_00
And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.
2
SPEAKER_00
And now it's time to go out there and do something great.