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161. Record Setting College QB Justin Miller
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We sat down with former Southern Utah University QB, and long-time E4A member Justin Miller. He reflected on how the principles of E4A have shaped him and helped him as he has navigated his athletic career. We also talked about the difference of being present and being engaged.
Key Takeaways from the Podcast
- Being present is not enough—be engaged. True influence comes when we give our full attention to the people around us rather than simply being in the same room.
- Resilience matters more than a perfect path. Justin’s journey to college football included injuries and unexpected turns, but persistence and “stick-to-it-iveness” helped him stay the course.
- Influence multiplies across generations. Living good principles today can create a ripple effect that blesses people for years to come.
- Athletes have a powerful opportunity to serve. The spotlight that comes with sports can be used to bless others rather than simply seek recognition.
- Real impact requires action. Simply being around people is not enough—service, effort, and stepping out of our comfort zones are what truly make a difference
0:16 Meet College QB Justin Miller
0:33 Growing Up in California & Moving to Utah
2:36 Snow College, Romania, and a Broken Throwing Wrist
5:25 Walking On at Southern Utah
7:39 Turning Around the Southern Utah Football Program
10:52 How Justin Discovered Especially for Athletes
15:16 Life Lessons Sports Teach You
20:16 The Power of Resilience & “Stick-to-It-iveness”
32:16 Lessons Learned Outside of Football
42:16 Taking Risks Instead of Playing It Safe
57:16 Seek to Bless, Not Impress
1:04:46 Final Lessons from Justin’s Journey
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Especially for Athletes:
- Website: https://e4a.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EspeciallyForAthletes/
- X: https://x.com/E4Afamily
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/especiallyforathletes/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmbWc7diAvstLMfjBL-bMMQ
Join the conversation using #E4APodcast
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Credits: Hosted by Dustin Smith & Shad Martin
Produced by Shad Martin and IMAGINATE STUDIO
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Transcript
Justin's Journey from High School to College
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast, where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
00:00:15
Speaker
Well, everybody, welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast. We're here with longtime friend, Justin Miller. and And Justin, we know you well, but others may not. Would you tell us a little bit about your journey starting in high school and where you ended up there at Southern Utah University? I spent a good majority of my life in Southern California and Irvine, California, and then moved up to Utah, actually a little bit before the rest of my family. So I came up. at the end of the last quarter of my sophomore year of high school, um, and moved up and lived with my grandparents for a few months while my older sister finished high school.
00:00:56
Speaker
Uh, she was a senior, so my parents wanted to let her finish, um, and didn't have to move right at the end of school. But, uh, to get me settled a little bit up here, um got up a little bit early, was at Lone Peak high school. And then, my family moved in the summer, uh, got our house and everything situated. And then, was at Lone Peak the beginning of my junior year and then actually transferred over to Summit Academy, um, and finished there, uh, the rest of my junior year. And then my senior year, uh, went to snow college, played there, um
00:01:33
Speaker
as a freshman and and then was just there a semester, went on a mission and went to Romania and then ah had all kinds of crazy stories there. And halfway through, found out I had broken my wrist earlier, my senior year of high school, my my throwing wrist. And so they, the doctors in Romania told me to come home and get surgery.
00:01:58
Speaker
um So I came home and then went back out a couple months later. So once I finished there, I ended up back at Snow for that spring semester and then walked on at Southern Utah. So that was kind of the the process of getting to Southern Utah. wasn't super clean. It definitely wasn't what I had imagined trying to play college football, but Ended up all right. I got to start ah with a COVID half season in there, three and a half seasons at Southern
Southern Utah's Turnaround and Cultural Impact
00:02:29
Speaker
Utah. So ended up all working out for me, but quite the journey to get there.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah. And you had pretty good. I mean, your senior year, you had a great year at Southern Utah, if I remember correctly. Yeah. Yeah, we we played well. um We're, I mean, a field goal away or a touchdown away for making the the playoffs and winning a conference championship. So always disappointing when it doesn't happen, but Yeah, we we had a good season. And I think the the most um maybe feeling of success or accomplishment for us and for that team was it was our first winning record in I think it was five years or so. And so that was really important to the team and got them going in the right direction. And they've been about right around those playoffs. And I think they were the first team out or first two out of the FCS playoffs the last two years. And so they're, they're climbing there, they're getting there, but yeah, really important for us and kind of helping turn the program around and get them going in a good spot again.
Influence of E4A and QB Elite on Personal Growth
00:03:38
Speaker
So Justin, um just real quick before Dustin you our first question here, I was actually a huge fan of yours. I attended every one of your games in 2023 season because my daughter was on the dance team there. Yeah. I just wanted to point out that I went to more of your games than Dustin, but yeah yeah, it was always awesome to go down there and to to see you do your thing. and And that's really cool. What you, what you and those who played with you did for Southern Utah university always takes this like culture changing group of kids and coaches to, to take a program to the next level. And, and as it gets that next level, that must be really satisfying to see. So great job, but it was super fun watching you do that.
00:04:26
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah, I mean, kind of that turning the program around is, I think our coach would call it our stick-to-itiveness. And I always like that term of, like we talk about in E4A with resiliency, and it it kind of goes along with that principle of, well, we're going to we're going to see this out and finish it. And I mean,
00:04:46
Speaker
you get into all the stuff with the transfer portal and NIL money and all that stuff now, and that's a whole different animal. But it's it's hard to find those kids that have that stick-to-itiveness and that resiliency and and building that is super important with, I mean, starting in youth sports and then going up through high school and college. So it was it was a pleasure to to be there for so long and and to stick through all those tough seasons that we had while I was there and then be able to come out and all right, we're we're changing this and and it's getting to ah to a place where we're proud of being Thunderbirds and and being Southern Utah alumni.
00:05:24
Speaker
Justin, tell us about, and you don't have to give a specific, um but i I remember the first time I started working with you. ah Share your sort of coming to to know, i mean, started with QB Elite. You trained with me as a quarterback.
00:05:41
Speaker
But then, you know, when did especially for athletes or Eyes Up do the work or, you know, do you remember at a time in your, not a necessarily a specific time, but the period that you started to be introduced and kind of take to the message of especially for athletes?
Resiliency and Overcoming Setbacks
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think really when I started, the first time I heard about it was with quarterback elite. And I remembered at the end of our camps and and even during our camps and our training sessions, you would bring up some of the principles of E4A of resiliency and winning the hour, make sure we're we're doing stuff every day and and every hour of the day to help.
00:06:19
Speaker
get better and not wasting away our days and i think that was kind of the the foundation that set it and then as we spent more time together and and spending time around these high school in utah that have e4a within the system just kind of got a little more familiar with it and i think it was a really good time for me um with moving and coming from California, coming from a different place, having to make new friends and then changing over again with with another high school where, all right, now I got to do this all again. i think a lot of those principles really resonated with me. um
00:07:01
Speaker
i think probably one of the experiences I remember most with E4A was going to one of the kind of leadership summits at Dave Strohshines down in Orem.
00:07:13
Speaker
ah right next to his or off off of his facility. And we were just talking about all the E4A principles. And I remember getting to know some of the people there um and kind of making friends with these people that I had never met before. But we all share the same values. We have these same principles that we're learning and we can use these experiences to learn with each other. So it's I thought that was a really valuable um experience or or memory that I have from e foury
00:07:44
Speaker
and I would consider you, Justin, for those that you know that don't know, but you were, I mean, there's 10 athletes that I can think of that would be like the original 10 of Especially for Athletes. um There was a handful when I was kind of testing the idea before we officially made it what it is that came to some things. um But when we actually had formed it, and that was one of our first events that you came to. So I don't remember much of Especially for Athletes with you were one of the ones Jaron Hall was another one who were like lifers from day one. Like right when we first started it, you were in, and because of me, you know, all the time we spent quarterback training, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of hours in private workouts and small groups and camps. i mean, you've probably come to 30 camps, you know, over your high school and college, um, and a hundred plus probably workouts. Um,
00:08:40
Speaker
it was it was really fun for me to see the program sort of be embedded in you at a young age. And as we grew the program and it got more substance to it and got more refined and cleaner, you were along for the ride. So much so that, you know, we we were talking about this off air before we started, even when we you know, our most, some of our most recent events that we've done, leadership summits, like you just talked about, you've been a part of helping and, and you've recorded at those things and you've helped us set up and you're, you know, you're going to be doing more with, especially for athletes and, and quarterback elite. And so it's fun to have that. um
00:09:18
Speaker
But let's dive into like real practical, like real life stuff. You had to practice the the principles of especially for athletes right away. It's one thing to talk about it, but you had to live it because your story to get to Southern Utah university where you didn't just end up playing and doing well, you broke a lot of records at Southern Utah yeah your last year there.
00:09:40
Speaker
Um, So you're one of the top all time quarterbacks to come through that university. But in getting there, you went through a lot of
Professional Football Experience in Germany
00:09:48
Speaker
stuff. You had a short stint BYU in the spring um and when, when Detmer was there, you had to figure it out at snow college. You then had to walk on at SUU and walk-ons don't usually get three years of starting time at any college, especially at quarterback.
00:10:03
Speaker
So yeah, And then you had to, it wasn't an easy road for you even in high school. Moving here in the middle of high school, you know, that's tough to walk in and and figure it out. And then you end up after, you didn't tell this in your intro, but after Southern Utah, you took a year off. We're trying to figure things out. You had your baby.
00:10:21
Speaker
um and married and everything, but then you get a chance to go play over in Europe and you play professionally in Germany. And not only are you the, you know starting quarterback there, but you're the league MVP out there in Germany. So, which is pretty awesome. And then you kind of got banged up again and and you got hurt. Now you're home.
00:10:39
Speaker
Talk to me about resiliency. That's kind of where I wanted to go. You had to, you had to learn how to be resilient. So what's the principle of resiliency meant to you and and how have you learned that but through your experience?
00:10:55
Speaker
I think part of resiliency, and and I think I've learned it ah through the years, especially listening to to more, especially for athletes. and And I mean, there's been times and when we were living in Cedar City where you would come down and talk to Canyon View High School or Cedar High School, and I would just come to listen and obviously say hi and stuff. But I wanted to hear the message again.
00:11:18
Speaker
And I think as time's gone on, resiliency has changed a little bit for me because I think before it was when when I was going through high school and and then switched high schools and had to go to junior college, it was always kind of that...
00:11:34
Speaker
underdog mindset and I just have to be super hardened and just get through it. And like, I know I've always felt like my time was going to come and my dad would always say the cream rises to the top and all those kind of little sayings that went along with it. And I think the more time went on, the more I realized that it's good to build up that hardening and kind of those calluses. Um, but at the same time, you can live these other principles too. Uh, you don't have to just dig your head in the sand and, and outwork everybody, but you can also bring guys along with you. And I think one of the, one of the
00:12:18
Speaker
ah principles of E4A that sticks with me the most is the seek to bless, seek to bless, not impress. Um, and that one i think probably sticks with me cause I need to work on it more. Um, and some of those other ones kind of, uh, I feel like i I do pretty good at that most of the time, but that one is always, you can always be working on it. And so kind of that resiliency leads into those other ones of, you know, i I can't just be hardened and cold and, okay, I'm to outwork everybody, but I'm not friends with anybody. I'm just going to, I'm going to beat everybody. And that, I mean, goes right into competing without contempt as well with yeah with other quarterbacks and and your position groups and things like that. But, you know,
00:13:03
Speaker
yeah, I think resiliency throughout my whole career is, has kind of been prevalent of, yeah, it started as this, no, let me just work hard and and beat everybody. Um, and I'll take my blows and then stand up and be better. And that is part of it. But I think part of it is also, know, we're, we're learning and we're growing, in becoming resilient where,
00:13:29
Speaker
It's not just those things. It's all right, let's let's come out of this better. And we can we can go through these trials, these hard things, um but still excel through them. We don't have to just be beaten down by these things.
00:13:45
Speaker
Yeah. That's one those principles, seek to bless, not to impress, that if you ever think you're really good at it. you're probably starting to get bad at it, right? Yeah. If you're ever like, I think of myself and I just walk around just blessing everybody all the time. I'm really good at that. Probably a concern there, but but that's really cool, Dustin, don't you think? the Yeah. Like the relationship between the principles...
00:14:10
Speaker
is what makes the principles powerful. and as you're trying to change a culture, as we've talked about, there not not the culture, but the results at Southern Utah University, if you put your head down and said, you know what, I'm just going to beat everybody, I'm going to be resilient, like you said, without those other principles, then it doesn't become what it became It takes a leader to to try to raise everyone around them. And when you have the leaders on a team and many members of a team that are not just concerned with resilience and winning the hour themselves, but looking around and seeking to to bless people, to lift them, even if it means with with all the training you've received and like how much attention you've given to being a great quarterback,
00:15:00
Speaker
You're training that quarterback room, as and you know but there might be some talented people in there that you could train to the point and lift to the point that it puts your own job in danger, but it's what's best for the school. And that relationship between principals is really ah cool thing to talk about, not just the principals isolated from one another.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Josh, you played in Europe. What was that like? Tell us the first time you you landed in, you got off the plane in Germany and you're going go play football. What was that like for you?
00:15:35
Speaker
you can It was crazy. i I thought it was very similar at the the first couple of weeks. I thought I was back on my mission and i mean being in Romania and then Germany where they're both European countries. So similar in that way had kind of similar stores and things like that. So a little bit of, okay, i kind of know what's going on here.
00:15:59
Speaker
um but very different because you're on your own. Um, I mean, you're living in the same apartment with, with guys on the team. Um, so you get to know them pretty quick and things like that, but it's, uh, a unique situation because you're on your own in this country that, I mean, most people speak English, but if you're walking around, you're not hearing English. And so yeah that was very different. Um, and,
00:16:29
Speaker
I think probably some people understand this if you speak another language. um When you go to another country and you hear another language, you want to speak the other foreign language that you know.
00:16:41
Speaker
So you'd be sitting there and i a lot of my Romanian actually got better there because people would say things and I was like, hmm, that doesn't make sense. I don't know what they say, but how would I say this in Romanian? Because that's the that's the foreign language that I know. So yeah that was unique, very different.
00:17:01
Speaker
very a different experience there. i think overall, uh, I mean, it was amazing. Like the team that I got to play for, kind of, we were talking about that culture a little bit.
00:17:13
Speaker
They have a special culture in place. They're, um, very driven. Um, and the, the players there have to be I mean, super resilient as we're on that topic, but they have normal jobs. Like most of them are, they're either in school or they're working. And then they come and play at night. They come to practice and after what they've been doing all day and and, they just love football. And that was something, probably one of the main things that, um that kind of,
00:17:49
Speaker
gave my love back to football was seeing those guys and just how much they enjoyed playing. um yeah I mean, we had a lot of, there's rules, so you can only have ah two American players on the field at the same time.
Winning the Hour for Success
00:18:03
Speaker
So they're trying to grow the game in Europe. And and so we'd have some European players, a couple from Finland, Spain, Italy, Sweden, kind of all around. but So we we would see those guys a lot more. um
00:18:19
Speaker
but But, I mean, those German players just love football. Like, it's contagious. if They just want to be there. They're so happy to be there. um I mean, it's still football practice, and and it gets to be a grind sometimes. But it changed my perspective of every practice is so enjoyable.
00:18:37
Speaker
And I tried to do that in college. And you do it as best you can, but sometimes it's just – this just isn't the thing to do today. Like this is, this is horrible, but yeah where you only had so many, uh, we'd have two practices a week and then every once in a while we'd have an extra walk through or, or kind of jog through. but we'd have two a week and so you got to make them count.
00:19:01
Speaker
And, uh, it was just so enjoyable. Love did love the coaching there. love the atmosphere of the players. And then the fans, uh, really surprised me where in our city, uh, some of the best fans, uh, where we were in Dresden on the East side of Germany and incredible. Like we, they would fill out our stadium. Um, and really one of the only fan bases that were that big, uh, some of the away games where you get a,
00:19:28
Speaker
a few hundred, and maybe a thousand people. and our home games were 6,000, seven or 8,000. So they were up there. And then the championship game we were in was actually in our city, um, in the big soccer stadium. And I think they were at 22,000 or something. So, uh, pretty special, pretty unique thing. And yeah, I love the time over there. it was, it was really cool. Yeah.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah, that is cool. What do they think of Americans over there in Germany, in your experience? Were they cool to you or did they have any issues with you being American? No, they were, they were pretty cool. I think, uh, especially where the city we're in a pretty historic place. And so they see a fair amount of tourism and things like that. So, uh, pretty cool there. And then they do similar things with their other sports teams with hockey and, and basketball and things like that. So they, they have a few Americans and, and people, I mean, enough people that speak English to where everybody kind of knows what's going on.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah. That's cool. Well, good, man. Talk to us about when the hour and then I'm going to have, I know Shad has a couple of questions for us, but as you were, you know, working on your quarterback development, working on rehabbing after your injuries, um, just life in general now as a parent, you know, what, what does that principle, the first principle of, especially for athletes, why is that important to a young kid, um, playing sports to understand winning the hour?
Living by Design and Finding Purpose
00:21:00
Speaker
I think it sets the tone for all the other principles and then just how you live your life. I mean, waking up in the morning and getting straight onto your phone or whatever you're doing that's unproductive, going down to watch TV or flip on YouTube, whatever it might be, turn on Fortnite, all that stuff. is, I mean, as you get older, you start to learn I'm wasting time. Like there's, there's only so much time that you're going to have, to live and and to do what you want.
00:21:31
Speaker
Um, especially in high school and and junior high elementary school where, I mean, yeah it takes kind of a certain developmental age to kind of understand it. But yeah as you understand those principles and start to live them of, all right, I got i gotta to make every hour count here.
00:21:52
Speaker
um And I think it it gets more important when you get to junior high and high school and and then college and beyond. But I think parents have a big influence on that. And I know mine did of, um, what are we doing today to get better? Right. Are you just going to sit there and watch TV all day? Or are you going to go out? I mean, playing with your friends is a great thing to do, right? If you're outside and, and I mean, just throwing the ball around or running around, that's not necessarily ah a bad thing to do, especially these days. So yeah I think my parents had a big impact on that of, um,
00:22:26
Speaker
go out and play with your friends. um And when we're doing sports, let's go do sports. Like if we were having a baseball practice or whatever, we're showing up an hour early and, and getting to the batting cages and things like that. And I mean, we talk about resiliency, I got a lot of stories about,
00:22:43
Speaker
getting hit with baseballs in the batting cage and things like that for my dad. But, but yeah, just winning the hour is you wake up in the morning and you find your purpose. And i think that's, that's what E4A has meant to me is find your purpose. And then it becomes a lot easier to win the hour.
00:23:03
Speaker
If you're, If your focus is, i want to become the best quarterback ever, or I want to become the best point guard of all time, whatever it might be. And if it's not sports related, that's fine too. If I want to be the best dad I can be.
00:23:19
Speaker
um whatever your purpose is, I think it becomes a lot easier to win the hour. And, um, so yeah, that I think that's probably, what it meant. And then, I mean, the first time I heard it, it was, yeah, I got to know what I'm doing every hour of the day. I think,
00:23:36
Speaker
kind of scheduling helped me with that. Uh, and not that you have to schedule every day, but I think if you go for a week and kind of schedule out your days, see what you're doing all day. Like we have all this time, what are we doing with it? How much time are we wasting, doing other so things and, and things that don't matter, things that we could push off and, and maybe, or eliminate out of our days. Uh, I think that's one of the things I like the most about, uh, the phones is that they can show you how much time you spend on every app. And yeah I think that's really telling for people.
00:24:10
Speaker
Um, especially if you're kind of on the lazier side or, or maybe you're not, but you're still spending a ah significant amount of time on Instagram or on Twitter ah You can go in and see that and say, all right, I need to maybe make a change here. and And you don't have to go through and and schedule out every day. But I think kind of that awareness and that acknowledgement of we talk about eyes up, you got to recognize what's going on here and then start to do the work and and do something about it.
Embracing Change and Revealing Destiny
00:24:41
Speaker
yeah I love that phrase, Dustin, find your purpose. Yeah. Right. Because it's like, we talk about living a life by design and not by default, but if you're going to design something, you know, it needs to be toward a certain direction. What, what do you really want to be in life? What do you want to accomplish? What are your priorities?
00:25:04
Speaker
And once you answer those questions, you then you can design your time in such a way, fashion it in such a way that helps you become what you want to become. And in that in default mode, I just feel like there's a lot of people that they miss their purpose because they don't even ponder the question about what is my purpose? Like, yeah what do I want to be? and they go with the flow, even in sports, right? Like there's some kids that
00:25:38
Speaker
they just kind of do whatever their family has done, which is fine. but But if we start asking ourselves, what do I really want to do? What do I love? What comes natural to me?
00:25:50
Speaker
And we start finding our purpose and what we really want to do. Then it's it's easier to win the hour. It's not just discipline. It's discipline toward something.
00:26:02
Speaker
And I love that thought of find your purpose in relation to win the hour. Yeah. And being focused, it's it's, you know, I think so many of us, it's an easy phrase to say, well, be intentional or, you know, live a life by design and not by default. And it sounds great until we actually go back and look at our day and realize I'm really not, you know, I'm just kind of living. I'm i'm just... You know, I'm hour to hour, day to day, and then the week, a new week and a new week. And that's, oh, it's been a month. It's been six months. And next thing you know, it's years over. And now the last year was a lot like the year before that. You know, I just same habits, did the same thing, still wanted to get better at A, B and C and didn't um because,
00:26:43
Speaker
you know the, the bottleneck there where things get kind of jammed up and progress stops, I think is the, the consistent working, but to first you got to recognize that there's some holes and, and that's really maybe the most powerful thing about winning the hour is what Justin, I thought of it when you said you don't have to schedule, you know, every hour, all the time of every day and live by it like religiously, like that would be a, I wouldn't live that way. I don't think that's, yeah, yeah, I couldn't do that. But,
00:27:11
Speaker
It is good to do it from time to time. It's sort of like a, it's almost like a a, fasting of sorts, like to kind of just, okay, what am I doing? Like, look, I need to look and kind of reevaluate some things here.
00:27:25
Speaker
I waste a lot of time. And if we don't know what we're wasting, then we didn't, we're going to just kind of live, just do stuff. And then like yeah a month goes by. So like to do a self-evaluation and then make a course correction if necessary that, okay, I'm off course here. I need to get back on course. And between,
00:27:45
Speaker
10 a.m. m and noon, i'm kind of just floating here. Like I got it. I could be more productive. What are some other things I could do during that time? Maybe that's when I need to get my workout in or that's when I do my meditation or my reading or I call my my family or a friend or whatever I take care. Like but until we have the maybe it's the set, the humility to look at ourselves and say,
00:28:08
Speaker
I'm probably wasting some time. What are they? And then where can I get better? And then do it, do the work. Um, nothing's going to change. We'll just talk in circles and it's, it's a lot of, you know, what it could have should have, wish I did this, need to do that. And that nothing actually happens. I think it's that way in sports. I think it's that same way in every area of our life.
00:28:29
Speaker
We like the idea of change, but we don't like to change. Yeah, I like one of those ah kind of newer age terms that kids are using is like the bot of you're just kind of a bot. You don't do anything. You're a robot. And yeah you're not really aware of anything around you. You're not aware of your circumstances, things like that. And I think that kind of fits perfect. That's one that I actually like of, yeah, I am being kind of a bot. I get on my phone and I just scroll Instagram for an hour. Yeah, yeah that's that's not... Living with purpose and and winning the hour, that's just being nothing, right? You're not getting any better from that. And one of the, I mean, in finding purpose, I think that was one of the best things for me going over to Europe. um Because after football ended, it was kind of all right.
00:29:22
Speaker
what's, what is my purpose? what ah What am I supposed to be doing? And, and that can be playing football, uh, if you feel like that's your purpose. Um, and maybe it's more spiritual for some people of what am I supposed to be doing while I'm on earth? Um,
00:29:37
Speaker
But that was one thing that I was trying to figure out. And through after my senior year of college and and when I was just working a normal job, my wife knew she's she's on it of you're not super happy. Like you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. There's there's definitely something more that you're missing. And so kind of that time back away of.
00:29:59
Speaker
yeah, I need, I need football again to kind of figure it out where I know football's football's not my end purpose here. yeah playing football is not my end purpose, but it gave me that time and that space to, to kind of figure it out. And I always love, um, the quote from, it's in the last samurai movie with Tom Cruise and it's kind of near the end. Uh, he's going through this journey of, he doesn't I mean, he's gone through his life, but doesn't he's not really living. He was a soldier and and didn't love it and then was just kind of a lifetime soldier guy,
Overcoming Fear of Failure and Taking Risks
00:30:36
Speaker
moved around, hopped around armies, and then was taken to Japan and captured by the samurai and lived with them for a little while before he was taken back and released. But at the end of the movie, he says that I think a man i think um a man does what he can until his destiny is revealed.
00:30:56
Speaker
And I think that's that's kind of what we do. um As much as we try to find our purpose early on, and some people are really good at that. You hear stories about people that are teenagers or younger, and they're like, I knew from when I was 10, this is what I was supposed to do with my life. And I haven't quite felt that way. But I think with people that don't have that experience of knowing early on, I think you go throughout your life. And and if you're intentional and and you are trying to win the hour, that that kind of gets revealed to you as time goes on. And, and those experiences that you go through earlier in your life, make you ready for what your true purpose is and and what your destiny holds for you.
00:31:40
Speaker
Like that. i love that. That's, that's a deep thought. um You just keep going, you keep doing your best at everything you do. And I think it's an important thought too when chapters close, right?
00:31:55
Speaker
Because we've had a lot of athletes on our podcast that they've talked about that transition from sports to life and, and how that was really difficult, like to be a professional ah athlete or a college athlete. And then all of a sudden that sport light turns off and it's like, wow, now, now what? And I think it's healthy to view it as i learned a lot of lessons. doing that Now, my purpose is not to be a football player, but if I keep,
00:32:29
Speaker
ah giving everything I got to to what I'm doing, what's going to happen eventually is something, there's just going to be this door open or this revelation come that's like, ah, that that just feels like a fish in water to me.
00:32:46
Speaker
But it comes from taking advantage of every opportunity that comes along. it it doesn't come just by sitting on your couch and waiting for life to give you purpose. You know, my my future son-in-law calls it being a D1 doom scroller, you know. Whenever he sees my my younger daughter on the on her phone, even though she's not on it a lot, he's like, ah, D1 doom scroller, you know. um But if we just sit there and think we're going to find our purpose by watching other people's lives, that's typically not what happens. What happens is whatever life presents to us, we win the hour in that thing, in that moment.
00:33:26
Speaker
And going back to that, like Dave Strohshine, first event at Pinnacle, whatever that was back that has changed hands like 19 times now. But I remember Bob Cattell telling his story of walking down the hall. He compared it like when we're going toward a goal in our life, it's like we're passing a bunch of doors that open as we walk by them.
00:33:53
Speaker
And we may not make it to that door that we're ultimately going toward, but it seems that by going towards something, other doors open. And every now and then we turn we turn in our life and we see a door that's open. We're like, that's an interesting door. And we walk through it and we go as far as we can. And then we may not make it to the end of that door, but we've opened other doors. And pretty soon through that maze of decisions, it just feels like we end up where...
00:34:21
Speaker
where you know we're all men of faith here where God wants us, like and where where we can use the talents and the gifts that we have to lift and to help other people. And it feels so so natural.
00:34:35
Speaker
And i just really like that analogy, ah but you just taught it in a different way, Justin. i I feel like whatever comes up in our life, win the hour in that thing, and it will open other doors. And that might not be the thing,
00:34:52
Speaker
but it will open the doors to the thing. And so great and lot I love that idea. It's okay to go into those other doors sometimes, right? Like to not just stay in the same lane forever that it's, I think it takes a ah wise person to be able to recognize that, okay, it's time to right-hand turn here. It's time to 90 degree this thing, right? Like I need to go in that other door. I've, instead of holding on forever with something, realizing,
00:35:19
Speaker
it's, it's, it's, it's time to turn the page and and move on and, and, and then not, not live last page. It's over. I read it. I don't need to go back and hard. It's what's next. know What's the new thing you go to Germany, Justin, not knowing. i mean, you look at your whole life first, you come to Utah and it wasn't long after you made it to Utah that you came to a camp at the first time I saw you was at a camp. I did,
00:35:42
Speaker
in Provo area is some, an indoor facility there. I think that was the first time you came to Pleasant Grove. Yeah. Yeah. And then you started coming to some workouts and then that led to especially for athletes, but then, you know, you're, you're yeah all of a sudden you were starting to find some, some things that still now 10 something years later, you're still involved in. Right. But you had to make a correction to snow college and then you had to make a correction to, to,
00:36:09
Speaker
Southern Utah and you had to make a correction and let's try Germany. and And now you're here where you're at and all these things, all these doors you went into have now made you the Justin Miller of, you know, of March of 2026 that had you just stayed in, no, I am this and, and never, never realized I need to, you know, try something different. It's okay to change is hard and different, you know, doing different things is hard. And a lot of us are afraid of,
00:36:36
Speaker
of change, right? We're afraid of rocking the boat when we get comfortable, but growth doesn't happen in comfort zones, right? So yeah we've got to realize I'm getting pretty comfortable and I'm not going real. I don't feel like I'm pushing myself. That's a good time to, like Chad said, look left or right. and if there's a door open, let's go in here and see what I can do. Right. I mean, that's, that's how I think of it.
00:36:59
Speaker
Yeah, totally. I mean, when I finished college, I got a job working as a commercial lender at a bank and and Cedar City, and and we just wanted to stay there because we loved it. And um I mean, I learned so many things there of working with people and in a business environment and how to communicate in that way. And then also just in terms of business about, i mean,
00:37:25
Speaker
hundreds of different lessons in accounting and finance and and business management where I was basically in charge of these people that we were lending money to. And I had to know what they look like financially, how their businesses were running, and I had to know how to communicate that with them and help them course correct if they were a little bit off. So, I mean, going forward, um I mean, basically everything after school and and when you're growing up, some you're going to be involved in business somehow.
00:38:00
Speaker
And I think that was a huge stepping stone for me where I needed that. of If I had just went straight over and played in Germany and and come back, I wouldn't have all that knowledge and and the experience that I'd had there. And so... I mean, even if you don't exactly know what your purpose is, like we've talked about, kind of finding those doors that are open and and going through them, you're still going to learn a lot. yeah And that's probably going to help you as you move on in some way. And sometimes it it can be a totally unrelated field. Like I don't expect to be back in the banking industry, but at the same time, you you learn things about business and about finance and things that
00:38:40
Speaker
are going to help you forever. and you And you make connections with people that you never know when those people are going to cross your path again, down the road. Yeah. And your wife is a hero too.
00:38:51
Speaker
Like i you know, I think that's, I, I love studying the lives of successful people. And because I'm a man, I gravitate a lot to successful men, you know, and to have a wife that says, could tell you're not loving this.
00:39:07
Speaker
even though I'm sure it was a safe, secure place to be, it is willing to say, so do what you need to do. Like, that like, it's fine. I'm here. You know, like I think that there's something really cool about not getting locked into a safe place.
00:39:26
Speaker
and And saying, I'm just going to do this because it's safe. And I'm going to keep going down and just keep my head down. And I'm not going to turn left or right because we're fine with the way things are. But maybe greatness is left and right. You know, those opportunities are left and right. and But we settle for okay.
00:39:45
Speaker
And it takes a lot when you're in a couple for a person to take a risk to say, We're okay right now, but we want a great life. And I'm fine with you taking a risk and going out and seeing if you could create a life that's that's great and I'm by your side. I think that's really cool to hear, Justin, about about your wife and your relationships. I think that's important in...
00:40:11
Speaker
getting where we need to get in life as well. Well, and Shad, what normally she is, she's Kenzie's the best, and and we are all lucky to have, we wouldn't we wouldn't be anything without them, our moms and our wives.
00:40:27
Speaker
But Shad, I think that some of the reasons why we don't take those risks is that the fear of fear the fear of failure is so powerful that the Instead of recognizing that, yeah, you might fail. Like that doesn't mean you don't take a risk. Like, yeah, you might fail, but you'll be fine. You'll figure it out.
00:40:46
Speaker
Like, but you'll never figure it out if you don't ever take the risk. Like you're guaranteed a mediocre. I shouldn't say that. i You're not guaranteed. Maybe if you're doing something, it it turns out to be great. and And you look back and say, I'm glad I just stayed with it. So, you know, you gotta, you gotta kind of know when to get off the track and when to not get, but yeah,
00:41:06
Speaker
but so many people have, I mean, I watched it with you a very, very close family member of mine that did very well doing something that they didn't enjoy doing for a long time, but they had to put food on the table.
00:41:20
Speaker
So they took what they had at the moment and they stayed with it and they brought a paycheck home and they took care of what they had to do as a dad, but there was, it wasn't happy. Right. And, and I, I looked at that and thought, you know, I don't,
00:41:34
Speaker
I think I'm okay with being unhappy a little bit to fig to find something that you know really gets me fired up to get going every day. And I think too many of us don't ever really find that thing that we really could have been great at because the risk of it being, of not making it, we're comfortable being comfortable and I'm good. I you know i don't wanna hurt, I don't wanna risk it, I'm fine where I'm at.
00:42:02
Speaker
Bills are getting paid. i'm good. Right. That we never become what we're really capable of. and And it's like it's like Justin is trying to be a good quarterback, but never having guts to to throw the ball into a tight window.
00:42:14
Speaker
Right. You're going to have to sometimes. or I'm afraid I'll throw an interception. Well, you might, but you're also going to miss out on some touchdowns, too. Right. Yeah. tell Sometimes you just got to give you guys a chance.
00:42:27
Speaker
Yeah. And you had to take some risks, Justin, and, you know, and and now you've seen that, wherever you're at or where you will be in five or 10 or 15 years, the lessons you learn by taking risks, I think, come back to pay you back eventually, right? I think, Chad, in our life, things we've done that at the moment maybe didn't work out like we thought, we look back now at some point over the last 10, 20, 30 years, even if it's just a lesson learned in the process of failing, helped us avoid another failure later in life that we never would have learned had we not
00:43:01
Speaker
you know, touch the stove, so to speak, and realized, oh, that's hot. i I shouldn't do that again. But you have to sometimes kind of try and get burned a little bit, right? Yeah. And it almost seems like, you know, when we're living and I'm not, I'm not degrading this at all. There are some people who are like, I know our life is like, hey, I go the steel mill every day and I work and I put food on the table and that's like super
Genuine Connection and Impact on Others
00:43:27
Speaker
honorable. And I'm not, I'm not degrading that at all.
00:43:31
Speaker
But I think sometimes it's, we know that there's something else, but what we're afraid of is we have an average life right now and we're like, okay with it.
00:43:42
Speaker
We're like you said, the risk is that I'm going to step away and life's going to get worse. And so the fear of that, that we settle for average so much and,
00:43:55
Speaker
where, okay, this is going to take a risk. It is going to put me out of my comfort zone and I'm going to have to sacrifice some things. And that, that fear of life getting worse, if we change it, I think leave some people frozen in a very average setting when they could have something more.
00:44:15
Speaker
And the fear of the failure is greater than the, the hope of success. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Is that, is that kind of what you mean by that? Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Like there's this opportunity, but what if I fail?
00:44:32
Speaker
it seems like people and couples and families, even young people, Dustin, I've heard you tell people so many times, don't close the door on yourself.
00:44:43
Speaker
Yeah. Don't close the door on yourself. And, um, yeah You know, I had a daughter that actually i had this conversation with. i was grateful for what I've learned from um from Dustin in that manner. Justin, you've probably heard it a thousand times with all the times you've been with him, but I actually echoed it. I had a daughter that coming out of high school.
00:45:07
Speaker
I thought she had so many talents and things for leadership that for whatever reason, sometimes the way high school works out, some kids don't see themselves as they really are, you know?
00:45:18
Speaker
And there was the ambassador program at Snow College, Justin, you you did a ah little time there, but... where you tried out, you know, and my daughter was a drill team member and on the Badgerettes there, but had never done student leadership. And she was like, I don't know, I'm afraid that it's all going to be a bunch of student body officers there.
00:45:40
Speaker
And I don't know how to do that stuff. And even though they had come to her and said, you should try it, you should do this. She almost didn't go to try out. And when I look at that, the reason why was she was so afraid of being told no.
00:45:55
Speaker
And, and I actually told her, i was like, no, you're not gonna, you're gonna make someone close this great opportunity on you. You're gonna make someone close the door. I made her go to, to the thing and she did it.
00:46:09
Speaker
And it ended up being her best experience of college. But the fear of being told no almost kept her from not doing it. And I just think, Dustin, that what you just said, you articulated it very well, is that the fear of failure becomes greater in some people than the hope of success.
00:46:31
Speaker
yeah And so they stay where they are. They would rather be known as someone who had an average life than someone who tried and failed. Where successful people, I think, are they would rather be known as someone who tried, who made people close doors on them.
00:46:46
Speaker
And I would say if you have not failed, if someone has not closed a door on you in whatever it is that you're doing, you don't know where you could get. yeah Like you're just hanging it out in the hall. Make someone shut the door on you. Keep trying. And I think that success comes when we keep going and until someone closes the door. And then we call an audible.
00:47:06
Speaker
And then we we move. And then we go full speed down another another lane. And that's how we get where we're supposed to be. That's how life reveals our purpose to us, I guess. It's not sitting on a chair contemplating, but going after stuff.
00:47:22
Speaker
so yeahp Yeah, well said. Just you, you're young. How old are you now? 28. twenty eight Yeah. So you're, you're man, 28. Really?
00:47:34
Speaker
Golly. I knew you when you were really young. You've been around, you've been in this program really have been since it first started. Well, 28, you're still young. So you still have a lots of of stuff to to do and figure out, but you now have a young family. Um, you got another one coming here in the next couple of months.
00:47:51
Speaker
Um, Has your perspective changed now? that you've kind of you You're now an adult, man. You've got a ah kid at home and you got one coming. what What does win the hour or compete without contempt or resiliency, seek to bless, not impress, eyes up and do the work?
00:48:08
Speaker
how has that How has learning that from sports now helped you transition into you know earning a living and being a dad and a husband? Well, I think it's definitely takes on a little transition of being resilient or competing without contempt, especially where you're sitting there in a competition with quarterbacks all the time and, or whatever position you play in sports of, all right, I gotta, I gotta win, right? I'm trying to be the starter here. Um, That changes a lot, um especially in a family dynamic. Obviously, it keeps in there with some business a little bit. yeah But in terms of family, I think competing without contempt has taken on a new meaning of
00:48:55
Speaker
Me and my wife still need to push each other to be better. I think it's what we talked about of not staying the same and being average of we want to still be improving. We want to find the find that next level of of both of our abilities and doing that without being ah mean to each other or degrading or things like that. I think that has taken on a whole new meaning of we're competing with each other where we're we're both trying to get better at different things. We're trying to, in a spiritual way, to understand God's purpose better, God's plan for us or the scriptures or in a parenting sense, how can we be better for our kids. But you're doing that completely without contempt or or we're trying to. of You're not arguing and and debating of, well, I'm doing it right, you're doing it wrong kind of thing. It's counsel together and talk together of of how do we do this? How do we make each other better and push each other instead of just i'm trying to be better than you?
00:49:57
Speaker
Justin, just do what your wife says. I'll save you a lot of... Yeah. that looks Everything you just said, just do what she says and you'll just save yourself a lot of pain, brother. Yeah, that's, that's probably a good, usually, usually, usually we learn that lesson in the hard way, right?
00:50:12
Speaker
At the end of it, we're like, I should have just done what she said the first time I would have saved me the last couple hours and her not talking to me for whatever it was. Right.
00:50:23
Speaker
ah Yeah. Yeah. No, I think ah the other one that stands out is the seek to bless, not impress. And yeah I think that, I mean, you guys know with your kids and stuff where you kind of take a backseat a little bit and and you want to get the best for them and put them in the best situations of how do I, how do I bless these kids? And I mean, Dustin, as a coach for a long time, you've done it and and you continue to do it of how do I bless these kids' lives? How do I give them wisdom? And and I mean, that's kind of the whole purpose of what we do for E4A is how do we get these kids to kind of understand it earlier and and start to live that way so they can spread the word even more.
00:51:04
Speaker
Right. We're, we're trying to do that and and get these kids to listen and figure it out kind of earlier on so that they can make an impact on these high school and junior high and and younger kids where, I mean, even if maybe they don't have it quite figured out, but they're living in that way, they're going to have impacts on kids, on kids around them And through that sport light, I mean, they're recognized people, people hear you. I, I tell our quarterbacks and receivers, like,
00:51:33
Speaker
When you score a touchdown, you're the name that gets called. You're the name that gets put in the paper. You and your receiver, you and your running back, whoever it is. The linemen aren't getting all of their names listed out in their in the paper or in the school newspaper whatever it is. And so people recognize the name. People recognize who you are.
00:51:52
Speaker
Basketball especially is a big one where they recognize your face because you don't have a helmet on. so they're going to recognize who you are if if you're on the team. And using that sport line and understanding, right, i can I can bless people around me. I can help people and and be a good influence and do the right thing and bring people along with me. i think that's one of the biggest ones is is once you figure it out, now you're responsible to bring people along.
00:52:21
Speaker
ah you You're above people, so don't just keep pushing them down because that doesn't make anybody better. That makes everybody worse. Bring them up with you and and then we can create a a cumulative effect of, well, now we're impacting tens, hundreds, and thousands of kids instead of, oh, you figured it out and and you got it, but you didn't do anything with it, right? And that's that's part of the the do the work, but I think that transfers into to being a parent as well as we're looking out for our kids and other kids of we're trying to bless their lives and and help them understand these principles early on so so that they can keep doing that with the people around them.
00:53:00
Speaker
Can I, on the seek to bless, not impress, I thought of something as you were speaking there, so but I might be off base a little bit here. So Shad, You can correct me. we're correct I'll correct you, Dustin. yes We're similar in age and Chad's the chad's the wisdom of the one-two punch here. So I run stuff by him. When you say seek to bless, not impress, I think in the in the sake of the sport light and and and you related it to home life, which I think I think i can do here, but...
00:53:29
Speaker
What we mean by that is you're not blessing anybody by your mere presence. When we say seek to bless, not impress, your presence doesn't bless anyone because you're because you're the point guard or you're the cheerleader or you just being around or being there.
00:53:44
Speaker
No, that that doesn't bless anybody. You're not that cool. it's It's your service. It's what you do and what you give back. It's the do the work part that blesses other people. I think the same thing even as a dad. Yes, our presence as parents is important. We need to just be present, right? We just need to be in the room.
00:54:02
Speaker
But I don't think that's enough. We can be in the room and be present in the house and still not be engaged. in our lives of our family. We can be watching TV or be on our phone or be you thinking of work while we're you know're sitting in the kitchen and our kids are around us and we where we we're not engaged. So it's not so, yes, your presence is good. You know you need to be there, be home or be around your kids or whatever, but that's not work.
00:54:28
Speaker
right? That's being engaged with your family, putting your phone down, putting work aside and being engaged is what blesses them. Not you just simply being in the room, unengaged, uninterested, doing your own thing, eyes down on your phone or your laptop or whatever it is. Does that make sense? So it's,
00:54:48
Speaker
It's not just your presence, athletes. Yes, you have the sport light on you, but you're, Shad, you say it all the time, that walking down the hall just smiling at people, that's nice. Like, that's better than frowning at people. But just saying hi to people, that's cool. Like, that's nice. Saying hi, waving to somebody and saying hi is better than not.
00:55:07
Speaker
But that's not really going to make that much of a difference. I wouldn't call that work. Work would be, all right, I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and go talk to this person and introduce myself and ask them about themselves. And right. And that might be hard. Just saying hi to somebody isn't going to change your school. It's not a bad thing to do, but it's not really. We're not going to make the difference we're trying to make. Just smiling at people. We have to
Long-term Impact of E4A Principles
00:55:30
Speaker
do more than that. That's good, but we can do better. Right, Chad? Am I too off base there?
00:55:35
Speaker
Dustin, i'm I'm happy to tell you as the wisdom of this operation that you are right on. Thank you. i actually lock it edited out had. I had an experience just the other night. It, it, I mean, we'll show that I'm not completely the wisdom of this, of this place, but I'm sitting there. Um, my daughter, you know, she's done with college. She's here getting married this summer.
00:56:01
Speaker
Her fiance is over. They were like, look we want to watch a movie tonight. We want to watch a movie. And so they put on Shrek too, you know, and watching a movie and, um,
00:56:13
Speaker
And I had my phone and I thought, you know, I'm trying to get some stuff done too. So I'm sitting there on the couch and I'm returning some texts and doing some things as we're watching the movie together.
00:56:25
Speaker
And my daughter actually goes, dad, I wanted to watch the movie together. You know, like, and I mean, you might think both of them are screen time.
00:56:36
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? But the point is not we all want to be in the same room together. To your point, Dustin, like she wanted to enjoy something together. Even watching a show when someone's sitting there and you've recommended a show and everyone's sitting there on the couches, if one person is disengaged and on their phone instead of laughing with you at the movie and stuff, it feels different, you know? And I do think that what you said there, Dustin, is really, really important. And you you took it on to athletes and stuff. i I feel like there's more and more we're in danger of being present and unengaged.
00:57:16
Speaker
yeah And i I feel like seeking to bless and not to impress is we are very engaged. In fact, we are looking for opportunities to connect with people, to lift people, to laugh with people. In that case, all she wanted was like something funny had happened in the movie. And I didn't even laugh because I was returning texts on my phone. And it was just like, I want to laugh together at this movie. Yeah.
00:57:41
Speaker
And i I thought about that as I went to bed, to be honest, like, man, I i do that too much. I'm present and unengaged because I'm not a D1 doom scroller. That's not that's not my um my problem. My problem is I'm trying to multitask. I'm trying to get things done. And I need to put stuff down to be engaged in order to be a blessing, i'm not just present. My presence, I'm not cool enough that my presence can bless people.
00:58:10
Speaker
Yeah. Just, there's some wisdom for you, buddy. As you have your kids, make sure that you're, you know, you don't make the mistakes we've made. We've been, we've done a pretty good job, but you'll do a better job because you've always been this way. You're mature beyond your years. You, uh,
00:58:27
Speaker
you look for ways to learn from people who have already done it and, and, or had some success in it. And that's a super valuable characteristic that you have that'll really help you. And, ah and Shad and I talk about it all the time that if you want to be good at something,
00:58:46
Speaker
Before you spend too much time Googling it or reading a book on it, great, do those things. You'll you'll probably find help. But I think the most effective thing to do is to call somebody who's good at it and ask them.
00:59:00
Speaker
And you'll probably get the answers quicker in a five minute conversation with somebody who's been successful doing that thing than in hours and hours of trying to find it in the book or online or who knows who you're listening to. And if they're really even an expert, you don't know who wrote the article. Go to somebody who's been a good dad and ask him about it. Right. Or who's good at whatever it is, their their their workouts or their eating habits or their, you know, whatever it is. So,
00:59:26
Speaker
But that takes humility because most of us don't want to ask somebody for help. It's easier to just Google for help. If Google was a person, we wouldn't be asking it for so much help, right? we Because we'd feel like they would know we don't know the answer to it.
00:59:41
Speaker
The stuff we put in Google, if Google could speak, might say, are you serious? You don't know that? Or you really want to know the answer to that? But we could just go ask somebody who's who's good at it and and in the process, make a friend because people like to be asked to their wisdom in something or their, for their advice in something, right. They enjoy It's a compliment to that person. So Justin, you've always been good at that. Um, and now that you're, you know, you're, you're, you're approaching 30, you're going to start having, uh, young kids that high school age kids that you're going to influence. I mean, I wasn't much older than you when, you know, when we first met. So, um,
01:00:21
Speaker
you know, that that'll pass on to you. And that's really the goal of, especially for athletes, this will be my last thing. And then Justin and Chad, if you guys want to kind of wrap it up, but the ultimate goal, if someone was to say, what's ask me for that, I, yes, we want to address things happen currently. We want to help kids now, but my real goal would be if in 20 years from now, the kids that we're working with, the the 120 that I saw yesterday up in up in Logan, Utah, if of those 120, 20 of those end up being coaches someday, and they're teaching the principles of especially for athletes to who knows how many hundreds of kids they end up coaching, and that maybe at some time we actually
01:01:07
Speaker
tilt or tweak the culture of sports, that our impact in the sports world actually moved the needle a little bit. Because it's hard to change culture in any industry. Culture changing business is tough.
01:01:19
Speaker
It's really hard. But if we could change culture a little bit in the sports world, because the people that we've worked with now teach their kids that, they teach their youth soccer teams, their high school coaches, their college coaches. And when we where we're older, we can look back and see guys like you, Justin, and others who are now having that impact in your neck of the woods, in your area, in your you know circles. Then what turns out to be you know, 10,000 kids this year that we may be in front of or speak to or whatever, turns out to be several hundred thousand kids or a million plus in 20 years from now. um
01:01:56
Speaker
And so Justin, we guys like you to continue to to take that torch and and just preach on and live it, and and coach and get involved and help and volunteer and do stuff. And, you know, if you have the itch to coach, we need you. The the the kids need you.
01:02:11
Speaker
yeah um and And we need good people in these kids' lives. So that's, and Justin, you're going to be that. It's been awesome, buddy, working with you. And we have a lot more time and lot more things to do. But I'm proud of you watching you. I mean, you know that I've told you this before in person, but I'll say it publicly. Watching you pull off what you've pulled off with as many blows as you've taken. I've never met a kid who just kept on plowing like you just kept on plowing. and You didn't open the door, buddy. You kicked it open.
01:02:40
Speaker
like You bulldozed it. You just kept on grinding and pushing and punching and kicking and finally you knocked it down. and Sometimes you have to do that too if you really want something bad enough. You just have to kick the hell out of it until it opens up.
01:02:52
Speaker
right and That's what you did. so out of it Oh, sorry. There's the, see, there's the wisdom he taught me. I went into coach mode, Justin. When I get into coach mode, he sees this vein right here, start to get going.
01:03:05
Speaker
And then he's like, aort abort, abort, abort. He's going to say something he shouldn't. I'll end on that. ah Go ahead, Justin. I've shared a lot of my thoughts. I really think from your story, what I just shared there, for me personally, I love these podcasts because I walk away wanting to be a better person. And some of the things you shared really made me want to be better person.
01:03:30
Speaker
um, present, uh, not just present, but engaged. I, that's what I'm taking from this. I I'm this week, I'm going to try really hard to whatever setting I'm in to be engaged, not just present.
01:03:43
Speaker
And that that was really meaningful to me. So thanks for the things that both of you shared, but Justin, let's give you last word and then Dustin will wrap it up. All right. I really liked that saying that, uh, present, but not engaged. And I think that, that, uh,
01:03:59
Speaker
Yeah. Can really make a difference in all of us. But yeah, I've i've just been surprised with the kids, the two girls that i already have, that how much they pick up and how much obviously they hear ah and they'll repeat. And I'm sure all parents know that, but how much they notice things. I've always tried to be kind of one of the people that notices a lot of things like aware your surroundings, all of that type of stuff.
01:04:28
Speaker
And the kids just take it to a whole new level. Like they're doing something completely off to the side, playing in a little play kitchen or whatever they're doing. And you're talking to your wife or whoever, and they hear it and they see what you were doing. All right. If you're on your phone, they say, Hey dad, come look at this.
01:04:48
Speaker
Like, I know you're looking at your phone, come over here and do this instead. yeah And yeah, I think I love that saying. I think that was a really good way of putting it, Chad, but yeah, Yeah. Thanks for having me. I mean, i mean, we've been, uh, been friends for a long time now and it'll continue. I'm sure. yeah, hopefully keep finding that purpose, right. Winning that hour. And i would encourage people that,
01:05:12
Speaker
are not uh maybe happy or satisfied with what they're doing right now to kind of find those doors to kick down or walk through right and it might be either one uh dustin kind of touched on another point of resilience sometimes you just gotta to beat the door down until it opens and find a way in if you really want it so i think uh kind of I like how all the principles tie together. That's one of my favorite things about E4A is they don't necessarily lead one right to the next. It's not footsteps into each other, but they all kind of circulate around each other and and around that higher purpose for for being better and
01:05:50
Speaker
I think I would encourage, like you said, Dustin, where if people are interested in trying to move on and and help other people, help kids learn these things, it doesn't have to be a high school head coach or or a college coach. If you just feel like, oh, I want to help these kids, you can go volunteer and and help.
01:06:09
Speaker
coach your kid in five-year-old soccer, right? It doesn't have to be this big time-consuming thing. it can yeah It can be little things and little steps and volunteering in PTA programs and and whatever it is around school and and all that stuff. You can make a big influence on people's lives and as long as we're teaching the the good principles, of especially for athletes and and ba trying to be good people and bless those around us and and not looking for recognition. I think yeah I love, I love all the principles of E4A and probably why I've stuck around for so long and, and still talk to you too is the, the, those things just really resonate with me and they always have. And i think,
01:06:54
Speaker
That purpose of passing it on to the next generation so we can have that ripple effect down 10 generations is is what keeps me engaged in it. and And I love that part about it. So, yeah, thanks for having me on.
01:07:07
Speaker
Thanks, Justin. Appreciate it. Everybody, keep your eyes up. Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast. To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sport Light, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.