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Feel the Power: a Survivor's Guide to Happiness (the ultimate guide for those who have been bullied)
23 Plays1 year ago
For over 30 years, Jon Pritikin has traveled the world motivating & inspiring people of all ages by using feats of strength as a platform to share his ‘never give up story’. In England, Jon broke & set 2 world records for rolling up frying pans with his bare hands, earning a spot in the Guinness World Records book.
Having overcome a multitude of obstacles & challenges, and proving wrong all those who spoke the words ‘you can’t’, Jon has a gift for speaking to issues of self-worth and to the value of each individual. Whether speaking in school assemblies, with professional athletes or in the corporate world, Jon uses humor, inspirational narrative & passion to equip people with the keys to make positive decisions & to help them recognize their true potential.
Over 10 million people in 60 countries have heard his motivational message.
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Transcript
Introduction to Russell Jones Speaks Podcast
00:00:37
Speaker
Welcome to Russell Jones Speaks, where we explore big issues that matter to parents, grandparents, and kids. We tackle intergenerational issues. Everything that affects parents, grands, and children is on the table. That includes health and fitness, relationships, attitude, family unity, vision, adversity, God, and anything else that might arise. The goal is for you to take away something that you can use in your life immediately.
John Pritikin's Inspirational Journey
00:01:04
Speaker
For over 30 years, John Pritikin has traveled the world motivating and inspiring people of all ages by using feats of strength as a platform to share his never give up story. In England, John broke and set two world records for rolling up frying pans with his bare hands, earning a spot in the Guinness World Records Book.
00:01:23
Speaker
Having overcome a multitude of obstacles and challenges and proving wrong all those who spoke the words, you can't. John has a gift for speaking to issues of self-worth and to the value of each individual. Whether speaking in school assemblies with professional athletes or in the corporate world, John uses humor, inspirational narrative, and passion to equip people with the keys to make positive decisions and to help them recognize their true potential. Over 10 million people in 60 countries have heard his motivational message. Welcome, John. ah It's good to be here today. Thank you for letting me be on your show. Hey, I'm stoked.
00:02:03
Speaker
and yeah i just wanted to ah the ah The way we got connected, So ie I went to, my mentor in the strongman world is Dennis Rogers. I started out ah with a couple other guys back in the early 90s. He's right over your shoulder. He is. yeah and ah and so um ah those guys did The guys I first got introduced to breaking things and whatever, um they weren't really into the culture of the physical culture of strongmanism and everything. and so But back in the early 90s, it's not as easy as today to go look at a YouTube video or whatever, see things. so
00:02:45
Speaker
I'm, I don't even know where to go. I called Paul Anderson, you know, 1956 gold medal winner just before he died. I didn't even know he was sick. wow And I'm trying to get advice from him and he's going, well, well, when I go in, he says, I take this 300 pound dumbbell and I bend over and I do 10 presses with it. I'm like, ah Okay, I'm talking to the wrong guy. And he's he's driving nails through boards, but the boards were like two by fours. And it was like, all right. So ah he was a great guy, though. Yeah, just great, great guy. So anyway.
00:03:19
Speaker
I end up at the Association of Old Time Barbell and Strong Men event in New York City and at the ah the home of the Heisman Trophy, the Downtown Athletic Club. And so um and I meet this little guy. like i'm like you know I'm thinking strong men, whenever I think strong men, I'm thinking like big gorillas, like you. and he's like you know Now that's a compliment in our world, it's a compliment. She called me a gorilla. ah Yeah, that's awesome. But um yeah, and I meet Dennis, and he's like the littlest guy there. And I get to hear his story. And um you know we connected. I was his first student. So um and not his best, but his
Influence of Dennis Rogers
00:04:00
Speaker
first. And so um he just had this knack. So as a grandmaster, he not only did he do things, physically do things, like John,
00:04:08
Speaker
100 pound, he had a ah dumbbell. I would hand to him. We went to some places to do some demonstrations. His arm is braced on an inclined bench. He can't swing his arm. I put a 100 pound dumbbell in his hand and he did 10 curls. But either arm, he went he did 10 curls. yeah And that was at about 150 pound body weight. yeah And I was just like, I went home and tried I couldn't even hold it up. I couldn't even ah hold it in that position. and so Dennis was just incredible. But his gift was,
00:04:44
Speaker
seeing, ah being creative, doing all these different, coming up with all these crazy feats um and challenges. And he was really the, they he's called the Grand Master Strongman for a reason, because just about everybody in the strong man world today somehow has been connected through Dennis Rodgers. Anyway, so we're down visiting at his ranch down in Texas, a couple of maybe two years ago now. And um Dennis always has stuff for him. He's got his gym, but then he's a collector. He's got all kinds of like and and crazy historical stuff and everything. Objects that were bent and twisted by whoever. Mighty Adam and all those stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. limbda hammerman all his stuff Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:31
Speaker
so he gives me stuff and and it was like some kind of posty typepe stuff and he gives me a book And so I'm traveling though with like two big dogs, my wife, we got a bubble on top of our SUV.
Family Background and Upbringing
00:05:43
Speaker
I want to put it in a safe place. So I put it somewhere under a seat so it could be flat. And we went home back to South Carolina. It had to be two months later. And I said, I was looking for something. And I said, oh, I forgot. I put this stuff under the seat. And I pull it out. And it's John Pritikin's Feel the Power book. And so I read that book. And I got and i just got stoked. And I called Dennis. He goes, dude. He said, I've seen him do his presentation twice.
00:06:14
Speaker
And he said, I cried both times. I knew exactly what was coming. And I still cried. And I was like, OK, I want to tap into what this guy's emotions are about, what he's learned over the years. So anyway, enough of that. So anyway, so you're a California kid. right so So John, where did where did you grow up? So I was actually born in outside Chicago, a little town. Oh, oh this is the biggest, second biggest city in Illinois called Rockford, Illinois. And then at 18 months old, we moved to the San Francisco Bay area. yeah I just couldn't handle it. I needed to get away from the traffic. i' sorry yeah was a year that was good no My parents moved out there ah and we lived in a town called Lafayette, California.
00:06:55
Speaker
And that's where I grew up. ah And the next to a city or a school called University of California, Berkeley, UC Berkeley, which is a pretty prestigious school on the West Coast. And so I grew up there. My mom worked ah for a bank at the time. It was called the Hong Kong Shanghai Baking Corporation. Now it's called HSBC, and she was an executive with them. ah But back then in the 70s, she's only allowed to have two international branches in the United States. So there's one in San Francisco, one in New York. They're allowed one. as They changed the rule. That's what it was. And so they had to close her branch. And so she moved to ah another branch, and she became a vice president of Central Bank, which is a bank in California.
00:07:36
Speaker
That's now Wells Fargo. ah So yeah, Wells Fargo's absorb them. Yeah. So and then my dad was in sales. and So I grew up there in the East Bay of San Francisco. OK, now you said you had a sit a half sibling. So I have a half sister. So my parents were divorced when I was in first grade. And then when I was 15 years old, my mom had a ah little girl. And so she I have a half sister. But I was almost 16, 15, 16 when she was born. So there's a big age difference between us. And then I have some stepbrothers. I have three stepbrothers. Okay. yeah But they're all younger than you. Actually, they are all younger than me, but two of them were all born this, we were born in the same year. So one's only a couple of months old or ah younger than I was like six months younger.
00:08:24
Speaker
Oh, wow. And then I have another one that's ah about 10 years younger. So, yeah, but um not super close to all of them. I mean, we talk and stuff like that, but yeah. Right, right. Yeah. So, OK, so um neighborhood, was it a neighborhood or you grew up in like an apartment complex? No, yeah. So Lafayette is a very, very, very, very, very wealthy area. And so still like back in the 70s, the houses were going for almost a million dollars. I mean, So like I remember the lady who helped take care of me, her boyfriend was a singer named Eddie Money. He lived there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So oh there's a lot of things. Yeah. It's a paradise. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. and Oh my gosh. Yeah. I think we talked about North Carolina when you said that. I don't know. Not North Carolina, South Carolina. Oh, you're in South Carolina. let's see go yeah yeah There's a big difference. There is a big difference. I bid a vote. You're right. There is a big difference. Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:22
Speaker
but But yeah, so that era was kind of like that. And then when I was in first grade. No kindergarten, we moved to a town called Saramone. And back then it was like, everyone's like, why are you going so far away? It was only about 20 minutes ah from the school I grew up at, but it was ah it was a chance for my parents to buy a house there that was more affordable. Now today, Saramone, you can't buy a house in Saramone in California today, in 2024, for less than like probably 1.5. I mean, it's considered the Bay Area now. Back then it was not considered the Bay Area.
00:09:55
Speaker
And so the Bay Area is anything that's surrounding San Francisco. Yeah. All right. So, okay. So we might as well jump into this whole thing because this is a you know, it's always been
Challenges with Bullying and Disabilities
00:10:08
Speaker
an issue. I've been doing school assemblies for years and years, not as many as you, but I've done like probably a thousand or so. That's a lot. You know, we estimated, but yeah, but spread out over a bazillion years. But, um but bullying is always a thing, right? It's always, you know, self-esteem, motivation, anti-bullying. It's always a thing ah to talk about because it's, it's something in life that just,
00:10:34
Speaker
I mean, it's just part of humans. I mean, you know, they're just cruel. There's there's a side of humanity that's not pretty. So you go to school and um all of a sudden, you know, I guess it's all of a sudden you're picked on everything. and I didn't realize until i was I was reading. So you had two issues, right, that were kind of set you apart from the other kids. Because I mean, pictures of you as a kid, I mean, it wasn't like, you know, you know, we used to talk about, you know, people being a juggier Martian or, you know, whatever all these things we, you know, kids would always, you know, have a thing for other kids, you know, point differences and everything else. But you had two things, right, that were going on.
00:11:16
Speaker
Yeah, I would say I probably had a couple. One, I was non-verbal for a lot of years, ah so not able to speak. And then I had a speech, I was stutter when I did, when I talked and stuff. And then um not only able to enunciate very well too. And then I was had to severe dyslexia, still have that. And then in 1979, again, yeah, 1979, I was the first, one of the first children ever in America. I'm in a textbook diagnosed with ADD, ADHD. So like, so they took a group of us and they did a study UC Berkeley. They did a study on us. They came over to our school and they studied us and they see back then they would put anybody who had any kind of, was this different? They put us all in the same classroom. Now I was always the tallest kid in my class. I'm six, four and a half now, but like,
00:12:05
Speaker
I was always the tallest kid in my class back then. and And so they put, and then I was nonverbal or had problems with enunciating. And so with all that going on, they would put us in the same room. So we had people with Down syndrome or people who had cerebral palsy. ah There was a girl named Sonia. She was the same age as me in my class. And she was in the classroom with me, ah but she was a little person. She didn't have a learning issue at all. She was just a little person. And so they put anybody who was different back then. And then during that time period, they were in the first schools in America to integrate kids with special needs into the the normal classroom. So they started bringing us back in and back out, back in, back out, which was good and bad because it made you a target. So it started in first grade. So I'm sitting in the class, a teacher walks in in front of everybody, picks me up.
00:12:55
Speaker
and puts me into this other room with other kids. I started in the in the normal classroom, or I won't say normal, typical, let's say typical typical. Because we're all normal. That's how I look at it, you know. At that age, is anybody normal? Yeah, that's that's a great point. Yeah. i don't know so But what happened, because it happened in front of everybody, I think it made me a target. And so that's when the kids the students at the school started meeting me. And the when I would eat my lunch, they would throw garbage at me. and And at the same time, my parents were going through a divorce that started then too. So it was all that was happening through that first grade year. So, okay. So then I, you know, a couple of the, the stories, you know, the chase again, what was that like third third grade? Yeah. Yeah. Third grade. Yeah. So every morning, cause my parents worked a lot. Uh, I went, I went to a daycare.
00:13:43
Speaker
But sometimes they were said to taking me to daycare early, they were dropping off at school. And ah my parents used to joke that I went to college before I went to elementary school because this the daycare I went to was called Humpty Dumpty College. ah so it great um Yeah, so anyways, I so that day those several days, of I didn't like to go in there and have to walk down the streets of the school. So ah they would drop me off and I would sit outside the school and they they would play this ah game where they run back and forth from there was like a tree to a playground equipment and because grew up in San Francisco, we called Alcatraz. So you had to run across without even capturing you. And so, ah yeah, so the one day they just walked over and they say, hey, why don't you help us once you play?
00:14:30
Speaker
Oh man, I was so excited. I'm playing this game. And Russell, I gotta be honest with you, I had this mapped out in my mind where I was going to go, how I was going to run, what I was going to do. Cause I've watched this game for over a year now. And I was, you have that thing, right? Where you like, you have, didn't you so at one point I think we were talking you talked you had this like natural focus like like where you play things in your head probably more than than the rest yeah yeah like because I make a living telling my story I can watch the same movie over and over and over yeah and I'm fine it drives everybody else crazy but then also I can go back to a hotel I've stayed out in in India 17 years ago and tell you where everything the hotel was
00:15:13
Speaker
Like I have a crazy memory and stuff like that. So that was probably playing into this. Oh, yeah. Yeah. there guy area yeah And stuff like that. So yeah, yeah. yeah So um so that day I just I was so so excited. I played it and then all of a sudden halfway through the game, it was a setup. They were actually trying to hurt me. They ran and chased me down the hall and another boy had ran ahead and tripped me. I didn't know he was had Uh, stuck his leg out and then split my chin open and it was a mess. I had to go to the hospital and all that. And so, but this is the part I don't always share in the assembly part is that I went back to school. Uh, and I was so excited to go back to school because I thought, cause I got hurt. Everyone was so compassion. Not knowing that when I was in the hospital, getting all these stitches in my chin that the, had us all school assembly, they brought everybody in because of my accident.
00:16:06
Speaker
and ban that that game on the school campus. They were not ever a allowed to play that game. That was the last day that game was ever played because I got hurt. So I went from being like a victim to where I was the one who caused everyone not to play that game anymore. So things got a lot worse after that. Got worse. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And some of those schoolyard games, yeah, we, yeah, we played one called Johnny rides a pony and, uh, on recess, this is Catholic school. All right. So you got, you know, white shirt, you know, whatever slacks and your tie and whatever. And then let us out in the schoolyard for, I don't know, 20 minutes. We didn't have gym class. There was never any gym class. It was like 20 minutes recess.
00:16:47
Speaker
And, uh, and the guys, I didn't remember how you picked the team, but you'd have to bent like the corner of the schoolyard. There'd be one guy that would be the brace and everybody would like lean into him and make this like line. And then the other team would run and jump on top of. And you'd see how many you know people could be on the line before the before the guys collapsed underneath. And so it'd be like scrapes and I mean people, you know you come in from recess and you're in total disaster. yeah people started But people started getting hurt and so yeah, it it was banned, but I don't think it was like,
00:17:26
Speaker
No, but like in your case, at that was extraordinary to, so you know, associate you you with the band, right? I mean, that had to be, yeah. Well, yeah, that's all they thought of. I mean, the word got out that it was my fault. I tripped and fell. They know, and they weren't saying I was tripped. Right, right. Yeah. yeah So, okay. So you get, somehow you get through that and then ah ah the fourth grade doesn't get better, right?
Impact of Education and Mentors
00:17:53
Speaker
It was, uh, no, so that was the year. Okay. They're like, no more putting this special class. We're going to keep you in the class all day long with this teacher.
00:18:03
Speaker
And so, um, I think the one thing I got used to is like changing environments and someone who have battles with attention problems that made life easier, actually changing. Um, so I think, I mean, I live on the road. I think that's kind of, that's makes my life, it makes me focus a little bit more when things are a little bit more chaotic at times. Um, and so anyways, I say, I'll have to say that, uh, I got to sign this teacher who did not care for me and it was, Yeah, it it came prevalent and it all came down to one day where she dismissed the whole class and helped me after. She's, I'm sitting in my desk. I'll never forget. I'm looking up at her and she said, you're never going to be able to read, write, or talk. You'll never graduate from high school or any college or university. She goes, you are just a throwaway and you're, she didn't want to tell other stuff too. And now this is like, you know, 10 year old kid sitting in this room or I should nine, I believe.
00:18:56
Speaker
And, um, and just like, this, it rocked me. Yeah. I remember walking, but I didn't tell my parents until I played that happened. No, but it was in there. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, and from a place that, you know, you're, you're kind of conditioned as a kid, right? To trust, you know, you can trust adults, you trust, you know, trust teachers, people in authority, you know, um, and to have that come out that had to be, go But you know, the amazing thing out of that, um I've shared that all over the world, you know, in all the countries and all the people online and all that stuff.
00:19:37
Speaker
And I also talk about when I was speaking at a school, they say secondary school in the UK, not high school, but it was a high school kind of type in Scotland. And this boy comes up on stage and stops me in the middle of my program, says, this morning, my parents sat me down and said, we're getting a divorce. He goes, they point at me and said, it's your fault. And he just collapsed and before he hit the stage, I caught him. He starts crying in front of this big school outside of Glasgow. He goes, John, I don't know why I did. He's just crying and yelling this out loud. And i I tell that in my program to this day, when I come to that part, when I was in fourth grade.
00:20:15
Speaker
And I said, um, I came to your school today, if that's anyone that's here to say, I'm sorry. And I have watched cultures and I even see grown men and athletes and millionaires and politicians and presidents and even royalty people, kings and queens cry when I tell that part. Uh, so one of the most dramatic things that happened in my life is one of the things to this day is open the door and help me to help other people all over the world. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I know yeah that's, you know, I mean, we, we had a tragedy and it's
00:20:52
Speaker
to use experiences like that. um And I think bullying is is really universal. um I think we really, at some level, I think we experience it. Because even if you're the the bully in your class or whatever grade it is, you know there's classes above you. And there's always somebody bigger that you have to kind of succumb to or, or ah you know, I guess, you know, you can't assert your bulliness in front of that person, right? But, um, but the degree that you got it was, it was totally extraordinary in that when you were able to, you know, turn that around. So can I kind of say one thing about bullying, you know?
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah. And that's this. is that i was on a tv I was on NBC and they asked me, they said, John, what's the difference between bullying and teasing? See, in my assembly, I don't use the word bullying. I don't say the word bullying at all. Because if you're in New Jersey, you're doing the school assembly, and a student goes to a teacher, says, I'm being bullied, they had to fill out a HIPAA report. Just cause that one word bullying. There's a guy in my gym. He's a bodybuilder. He's huge. His name is Bobby. Just great guy. Great. we We're really good friends. And he walked in one day and it's really, really tight shirt on. And I go, Hey Bob, I go, Bobby, baby gap. Just call. They want their shirt back.
00:22:13
Speaker
And it was like, he's laughing and stuff like that. Was I bullying him? No, I was teasing. We were joking back and forth because it didn't come from a place of trying to hurt him. We're just laughing. Like he was making fun about my highlights and we would go back and forth. i even mention them Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I do this because I'm insecure. And so I'm so insecure. I was watching a football game. They had a huddle. I thought they were talking about me. Oh, that's the whole line. That's all. But anyways, um so with Bobby, though, that's the difference. And I think a lot of times students were saying I'm being bullied and not necessarily being bullied. They're just being teased a little bit. So I think as parents and as educators and as adults, we're trying to siphon through that. What's a bully situation? And what's a teasing situation? Because you don't want your student or your child to always be bullied when they're it's just
00:23:04
Speaker
joking around a little bit. So there's a thing we got to figure out too. Because people still tease me to this day, and I know they love me. But does it hurt my feelings sometimes? Yeah, but then I'll say something, you know, but that's different between teasing and bullying. So I just want to say that real quick. good No, that's good. That's important. I'm glad you brought that out because I the going through the school process, uh, you know, terminology, uh, like you said, filling out forms when, if it's a teasing thing, then it can, you know, it should be easy to be deal with, right? I mean, there's enough messaging that we could take, come on, you know, you're, you're being too much. It's over the top. Okay. yeah You know, it's, you're teasing a bit too much, you know, back off instead of, you know, filling out all kinds of forms and bringing administration in on it, you know,
00:23:52
Speaker
Right, right. Absolutely. Yeah. But yeah anyway, okay. So, but somewhere, let's see the first. So when you you had a couple of mentors, though, that popped up by the grace of God, ah i I don't know the order of it. Was it, uh, was it Mr. Edwards or was it your in football? Uh, yeah. So I w I would say the first person who kind of came in and stepped into my, I have a great mom and stuff like that. So there's different things like that. But, uh, I went out for high school football, terrible athlete. I always joke to say my own position ever played in high school football was like left out. I was terrible. You know, really? Yeah. Oh man. I'm not an athlete. You know, it's so it's just because you're big and maybe have some kind of strength. I do want to say this too, working with professional athletes for almost 30 years too, is that this weight room strength does not equal athletic ability. So for everybody who goes in there and sees an NFL player and you go like, he's bested 225. I thought he banged 500 pounds.
00:24:56
Speaker
It doesn't make a difference what what the what you do in the weight room. I know a lot of guys who did not have great careers in the NFL, who weren't that strong in the weight room. I mean, who were really strong in the weight room, you know what I'm saying? So I just want to say that real quick. And so, but yeah. um ah So I went out for the sport and there was this guy on our team. He was like, he was like a man, you know, he was the era ahead of me. And you know how in football and high school, you go to school, you start practicing before school starts. You had those things called like hell week and all these different things. So I've never been a part of that. So I went and did all that stuff and I never played any kind of organized football before. And so he's like, staying here, do this, staying here, do this. And I couldn't figure out the playbook. It was too common complicated for me. Like I couldn't figure out that the X and the O is everything would move. So I didn't know I was doing everything wrong. So he would kind of help me out with that.
00:25:49
Speaker
So we go, we go to the first day of school, you're in high school, you know, and back then, um, not like today, now they have multiple lunches, you know, they might have, you know, break everything up, but back then everybody had the same lunch. And I walk into the lunch area and it's packed with the whole school in there. And I don't know where to go. And he goes, Hey, John, sit next to me. And, uh, that was Craig Anderson's his name and Craig, uh, he went on to play at the university of Colorado. Um, he was a starting rate guard for them for three years. They won a national championship and that there was done that, that time brain. Oh, with McCartney was the coach? Yeah, Coach McCartney recruited him. Right. Right. Oh, cool. And so and then Craig went on and he was a Secret Service agent and then he just retired as a police officer in Sunnyvale, California, where he's a captain there. so be So I was just with him this week in Florida. But yeah, so Craig's still my best friend to this day. All these years later, he's always watched out for me. So that was one. Number two um was Mr. Edwards. That first day of school, I couldn't find my class.
00:26:49
Speaker
the bell rings. I'm late for class. This is before lunch even started. This was high school, this high school, high school. And I'm standing there and I don't know where to go. And it's it's the same day. Craig said, come sit next to me. And, but it was early. It's before school started. I'm just the bell rings. I can't find my first class and he goes, Hey, and let me help you out. and he didn't just help me find my class, but Mr. Edwards was the man who worked and taught me really how to read. He worked on my speech, helped me organize my homework every day after school. I would go to him, he organized my homework, and my junior year in high school, he left though. He became a principal up in the Oregon. He never saw me graduate. I'd go to university. What class did he teach? What was his? He was a special ed teacher. Special ed, okay. And I did not know that. And he did not know I was the student. But he said, he goes, oh, I see you, I have you in my class later today.
00:27:36
Speaker
He never, I didn't even know that was a special ed class until later on, my mom said something to me. Oh, wow. And so, um, cause he just made me feel like it was a normal class, but he goes, he would sit down and he goes, let's figure this out. And such a nice man. And so he never saw the same thing though, like this structure of it. So you had him, but then you're in other classes as well. So yeah, there was a one period of day that was, it was that class was dated too. So it was a normal, it felt like a normal classes was a period. I go, Oh, I got that class. I didn't notice there's only like 10 of us in there.
00:28:07
Speaker
But like he had different people throughout the day that would go into that class. And so everyone had different times throughout the day. So my freshman year was in the afternoon, and not knowing that. And then but he just made me feel super normal. But yeah, and so we re we reconnected later in life when he came and heard me speak at an event. um And and i it was in Oakland and I jumped off the stage when I saw him in the back. He saw my picture on a poster and drove 10 hours just to be there. Yeah. Awesome. Those those moments, and I hate to say that there's ah um that there's not that many teachers like that out there. I don't want to say that because
00:28:51
Speaker
Mr. Edwards could have been your, the best teacher for John Pritikin, right? And maybe he didn't have that effect on everybody else, so well for whatever reason, connecting and everything else. But you know just being around schools, and I know it's it's a really tough job, but there's a lot of teachers that just kind of go through the motions. and um But we need we need them to be like a Mr. Edwards. We need them to have that that passion. But, you know, the system life, you know, i it's it's really, really difficult to have that level of, you know, passion excuse me, passion every day to sew into one kid when you have a whole bunch of kids that you have to deal with, you know. But, okay. So that's that's every career I want to say that too.
00:29:40
Speaker
right Everybody at some point gets burnt out, tired, frustrated, or whatever. and so But like you've done school assemblies, and you've spoken to a crowd. Let's say there's a thousand students in the... Are you going to reach every student in that crowd? No. There's some people you're going to connect with more than other people will. You might be with another speaker, and that speaker might connect with that crowd more than you will. ah or a segment of the crowd should say and that's like teaching like everybody you know i have i do have this i think after all these years of doing this i have more grace and patience for teachers i just don't have the grace and patience when
00:30:18
Speaker
um When a person in authority or education, whatever parent yells at a student and screams at a student and belittles, I understand discipline, I understand correction, but when it becomes derogatory and puts down and screams, that that's the part where I have an issue with. Yeah, draw a line there. Yeah, it's tough. ah We've been in assembly. I always try to edify teachers as well as parents. That's always like my thing. I learned edification years ago.
00:30:53
Speaker
It wasn't something that came natural to me, but I'm always trying to build up for a kid. I want to be that that third party voice for a family so that you know kids and parents you know stay connected. they don't Parents don't become irrelevant. And if some you know if me doing some crazy things and telling stories can ah better that relationship between parent and child than I'm all in, you know, and so yeah, but the teachers, yeah, it's, we've had some fun teachers, you know, I bring, sometimes I'll bring teachers up on stage and stuff, you know, and I get a little nervous. I do that feat, you know, with the sledgehammer, you know, busting a block on my stomach laying across two chairs. And you always wonder if, you know,
00:31:39
Speaker
if they're really going to, you know, really got to hit you hard. But it's fine. I can handle it. But but they're there. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a calling for sure. And hopefully, you know, ah the teachers can stay really zoned in as long as possible. um So OK, so all right. So now now with football, is that when you started strength training?
Discovery of Strength Training
00:32:03
Speaker
Yeah, a little bit before that, my stepdad always worked out. He had like a little home gym. He was a strong guy. ah He went to University of Notre Dame. He is actually a rocket scientist. He's a super smart guy. But he was, ah he always, he had his letterman's jacket from Notre Dame because he was one of the only guys. This is kind of like poly, let's see, he was born in 44. So this is ah like late 50s, early 60s. And he was benching over 400 pounds back then.
00:32:29
Speaker
oh And so he was a strong man. And so still, I mean, he's, he just turned 80. He still goes to the gym every day and works out, goes to a goals gym in Southern California. And so oh gosh um anyways, I say, I'll have to say that he kind of got me into the some of the weight training a little bit and I was lifting throughout high school. And then I met a man. who said, Hey, let's go. It was me at the gym at six 30 every morning. And that really kinda got me going. And so yeah, a businessman for school. Yeah. So lifts up junior year and high school year. I went before school every morning at six 30, sometimes six. And I would go work out before school. So this is dad. I'm a morning workout guy. I love to work out in the mornings. It's my favorite. So that continued. Okay.
00:33:11
Speaker
Past high school into college. oh No, just in high school because I went on to a college. But there was a guy in my sophomore year in high school. There's a guy who came to my school who did the feats of strength. He ripped a phone book in half when they had phone books. He'd been a steel bar and he shared motivational stories. He didn't share his own personal one. He shared other stories. right And his, his name was Donnie Moore. And so he he started doing the feats of strength in about 1980s when he started. So this is a, this would have been 89 now.
00:33:46
Speaker
uh, 88 run that time period when I saw maybe more like 88, I'm sorry. And, um, so then in college, uh, and like the, uh, when I was in my second year, well, 93, 94, I called him and he started
Speaking and Overcoming Speech Difficulties
00:34:01
Speaker
mentoring. He took me on the road and said, Hey, this is what you do. This is how you speak to a school. He goes, kids are acting up. And he's just like, he goes, you never attack the student. You talk to actually don't tax a student. And you say, he just taught me things, how to, how to control crowd, how to stuff like that. And so he really mentored me later in life. Yeah. Well, that's cool. yeah Yeah. So, okay. So John, what was your major in college? So it was business. So it's like nothing I work with today. So I went to a small school in Santa Cruz, California.
00:34:31
Speaker
Okay. And what about the speaking? Like, at what point did it go from, you know, not being able to speak stuttering, right? oh and And to the point where, I mean, you talk awesome now. So I mean, how did that whole thing? What was the timeline on that? I have a face for radio though. i was okay yeah um the The for me was as I was growing, ah some of myself was developed, I can say it developmental. And so as I developed, my speech got better, things worked. As I stutter, I learned different secrets to stop stuttering and different things. Even on stage to this day, drive-throughs are the worst for me. I still stutter in drive-throughs. But um so like when I go through those things, I was able to work with that. But then ah later I had surgery in my throat. I had like sleep apnea.
00:35:25
Speaker
okay And so they took tonsils, adenoids, and skin from inside of my throat. They took it out. And when the swelling went down, I could i said words I could never say in my entire life. I could never, I never grow up. I could never say the word piano. My whole life. Yeah. And I was able to say piano and went out after college, a successful, aluminum. I could never say those words. Wow. So I've seen tinfoil or whatever, you know. And when was this? What? Also, this is when I was 2023. I had the surgery. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:00
Speaker
Now was this, no, wait, there was something in there too where you, I don't know when you started doing presentations. Yeah. My junior year in high school. I'm excuse me, uh, college, my third year in college, I started my nonprofit
Power of Personal Storytelling
00:36:12
Speaker
for the power. It was in 1994 and I started doing presentations and I would never share my personal story. I shared other people's stuff. I showed like stuff like about Oprah or all these different motivational stories. Cause I saw, that's what I saw my friend do. Uh, and so, uh, one day, uh, my mom, Show me this article she should look at this article was in the magazine who is about a lady who took her son to school and the principal and the teacher pulled her on the hall so there's just no hope for your child. I'm just like it's on the train going to the city and she's crying she says out loud from everybody there's gotta be hope for my little boy.
00:36:47
Speaker
And it looks at the bottom of the page and saw it was my mom who wrote it. And that's how I started to share my story. So, so that what happened was I read, I go, this is me. She goes, yeah. So I'm not a very good reader. So I memorized it. I was doing an event in Chowchilla, California. And Chowchilla was famous in the, I think the seventies when they captured the, a guy took a school bus of children and hid them. It was all over the national and dudes is like seventies or eighties or something like that. They make a movie about that. They did. They didn't make a movie about that. Yeah. So I was doing an event there for 400 families. Um, and so I came to that and I go, can I read you an article? Which I had it memorized and I read it. Um, and I said, and that boy's me and that's my story. And they gave me a standing ovation.
00:37:35
Speaker
And I realized that day, people don't want to hear a story. They want to hear my story. They want to hear your story. They want to hear about the person who's in front of them about somebody else. So from that point on, I started sharing my story. Awesome. Now wait, now what when did the yeah San Quentin come in? that ah Because that like caught my attention. yeah yeah Was that before you started your regular thing? Yeah, so I was kind of doing that. That was kind of like high school. as I went to an event and I went on stage to share. I was sharing a little bit about my life, but not the detail I do today. But I was just sharing about life. I was invited to come and kind of be inspirational to these guys. And that guy stood up
00:38:15
Speaker
And we're like eye to eye. I was like 6'2 at the time. And so and we're on the stage and he's out in the thing. I'm on the stage. He's out in the crowd. We're eye to eye because I can't hear you. I put the mic to your mouth because I held the mic down low. And yeah, I share my story. Do you know it's something I don't ever tell people very often? I'll tell you today. I just told this other day to somebody. but ah At the end of that, at the end of that um someone said, you did a really good job talking about your life. And I talked about struggles. Again, I didn't go into all the detail. They said that was really emotional. And I'm like young and I'm like, oh, thank you. He goes, we had people watching on TV because it was death row. She says he had a guy named Richard Ramirez, who is known as the Night Stalker, was watching. Another guy in death row named Robert Alton Harris, who was later killed who was a ah mass murderer.
00:39:07
Speaker
And a guy made me a little spider from his underwear. The last time he made a spider to give to me saying thank you and how I really touch his heart. And I said, I didn't take it because I didn't want to touch it. But that guy is ah Charlie's, Charlie Manson. And I look back and I wish I would have cut that spider because I would have worked today. yeah So all three of those guys sent message to the guards to say to me how my ah my life tests our tests our hearts. oh my goodness Yeah, i know I didn't put that in my book or any of that stuff. All right, wait I gotta to put a plug for my hometown. You mentioned Manson. The guy I looked up to as a kid was his name was ah Dave Draper. Oh, da jeffer ham he's the one who taught me how to lift weights really.
00:39:57
Speaker
You serious? Yeah. Santa Cruz. He has a he had a gym in Scotts Valley. It was a world's gym. He had one in Santa Cruz. He still has to this day. And then the one in Scotts Valley where I went to go work as it was by the place I worked out. And Dave goes, goes he goes, son, you're not doing this right. You got to do it like this. And he took me around. And he taught me how to, he would, later in life, he would come to my, ah all my school assemblies when I was in the area. We'd go out to eat. Dave was one of the kindest, most, ah just, I can't speak enough about him. And um I remember one day he was in the gym, he was sitting there and his arms were like this, like his hands and stuff like that. And I go, Jim, is that? I go, Dave, is that um arthritis? Is that why it's like that? He goes,
00:40:37
Speaker
No, it's all those years of taking steroids because we put so much stuff in our bodies back then. It just messed us up. But one of the nicest men and I ever. Yeah. When I blew up a hot water bottle, he said the first guy I ever saw do it was Fredco Colombo. Fredco Colombo, yes. Every time I did one. Yes. yeah But Dave was from my hometown. So ah yeah, we could go up on story. Yeah. Seacock is New Jersey. And Joe Wieder, his business was in Union City, which was the next town over from our seacow and And Dave had a job with them. And when Wieder went to California, Dave went with him. And um yeah, so I had never met him as a kid. It was just like...
00:41:18
Speaker
The stories about him as a kid were just amazing. And um and then like at the old-time strongman banquet, he got an award one year, and I finally met him and his wife, Louis. And it was great. But the connection was, but anyway, going back to the Manson thing, right? So that was Don't Make Waves, the movie. That was Sharon Tate's last movie. Oh, that's right. And Dave was Sharon's boyfriend, husband in the movie, right? Yeah. yeah heard and That's right. And then right after that, that's when. And the only reason I know that there was a picture of that on the wall. Yeah. Like, beats, beats, blanket bingo. I think it was what it was. It was called.
00:41:57
Speaker
That was another one. I'm telling you, it hit all those movies on the wall that he was on. Because they called him the blonde bombshell. I think it was his name. The blonde bomber. Yeah, blonde bomber. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he wrote really well too. In fact, in the one book I wrote, I took one of his excerpts of a thing that he wrote and I actually, I put it in the book. I told him I was doing it. Oh, so awesome. Well, that's a great connection. All right. So if you learn from Dave, now you got, well, he also, you know, he would go around the gym, him and he had a general manager named John and anybody put their weights on the bench, on the fabric. They got kicked out for the day. If you dropped your weights, you got kicked out for the day. It was a very nice gym, nice area. But if you didn't follow the rules, if you, if you had to drop it or like yell and scream, he understood like pushing through a weight. He goes, but if it was over the top, he goes,
00:42:48
Speaker
I sound like you gave people's membership for dropping the dumbbells. That's probably, um, the stories of him working out in some of these real dungeons and, uh, before he got his own gym, it's probably related to that. Some of these places like they had, you know, like one 20 watt light bulb and they're working out and like, you know, the sweaty place off the beach, no air conditioning. I was probably in response to that. sustain kind of Anyway, all right. Well, I'm glad I asked about that. Yeah, yeah that's pretty small world. Yeah, yes sir. All right. So, ah let's see, where are we going with
Adapting Motivational Programs for Audiences
00:43:25
Speaker
this? I want to know about, um I see your strength training, your show is birthed. Now, um you had your mentor doing the show.
00:43:35
Speaker
did Did everything else kind of um like fall into place? I guess over time um How you prepared, you know what you're gonna say and everything else or you know You had that revelation moment that hey people, you know, this story is is the story to tell um So it was any research go into that or were there other any other influences that we should know about or it yeah I think for me it was like as time went on, you know ah You learn what works, what doesn't work. And then I'm willing to change my program depending on my audience. And god and then I do so much international now working with translators and stuff like that. You either realize what's going to work or not going to work. Like I'm heading to Africa this week.
00:44:20
Speaker
So I'll be the DR Congo and there's things i I can't do here. I can't do there. I do here, you know, cause it's, uh, Americans lie a lot on sarcasm and stuff like that for funny. So sometimes I don't always use a lot of humor on the international side cause humor doesn't always translate. Some things do, but some things do. And so yeah, over time we just kind of figure out what works, what doesn't work. I haven't noticed this, especially since the whole COVID situation. that my program's shorter and tighter now because the the attention spans is not what it used to be. Is that so around the world or is it? Around the world. Wow. Around the world. Yeah, absolutely. I noticed that big time. So most people used to do like a 50 minute assembly on 5-0. Yeah. My assembly is like 35 minutes. 30 minutes for elementary, 35 for middle and high school. And and it's this for me, it's just my sweet spot.
00:45:13
Speaker
So yeah, so there so there's things and I've done I used to do a lot more of the feats of strength in the program that breaking stuff and now sometimes I do two to three and that's it I don't do more than that just because it and then at the end of the program kids the students I don't want to say kids but students um Don't talk to me about the frying pan. They talked to me about my story the majority of the time Yeah. And that's what, you know, obviously that's what you want, right? The feats are there. And yeah, yeah know there that, that, uh, basketball, famous basketball coach, Jimmy Valvano, you know, he was a great motivational speaker back in the day. University of South Carolina, I believe he was a coach, but he was a New York guy, but he always used to say, you know, Jimmy V, right? Yeah. Jimmy V. And, uh, you know, they still have the foundation for the yeah foundation for him and everything.
00:46:02
Speaker
you know, and, um you know, he always had all the different components, you know, of a great talk, you know, make people laugh, make them cry and make them think. And usually you can't go wrong with a good talk. But I, I always thought about that, um being introduced to the strength world. And um it's kind of another another layer right of of just grabbing people's attention. Because you like you said, you're only with them for a short period of time. And um instead of you know having to kind of go and win them over, per se, um yeah you get their attention pretty quickly when you're bending and breaking and tearing things. you know so up yeah So that's pretty cool. pretty cool So wait.
00:46:43
Speaker
Now, did you do that ice break thing with your head? Yeah. Tell the truth. You did? Yeah. Yeah. I've done a whole bunch over the years. Did you do bricks too? Yeah. Yeah. A lot. Yeah. So the scallop bricks, man, the scallop bricks. Yeah. So my records, uh, 20, 20, one or 22 with my head. And then the ice is 14 feet. No. Yeah. 12 feet. No, 1200 pounds, 14 feet. That's what it is advice. So the guy who really started doing all that, like for those different teams back in the day, there's, there's like the, like the power team, all those different ones, but the guy who first started doing that for them was a guy named Kevin Newton.
00:47:29
Speaker
I know it's ever heard of this guy, but he's the one who trained me how to do all that. Yeah. What part of your head did you hit with? You hit the top right here. The reason why you hit right here is that your brain floats in liquid. You don't want to go back once and forth because you can bruise the front and the back. You try to go up and down. So you're diving into it with your top of your head right there. I've done, I probably have done. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've probably done close to a thousand head breaks. Yeah. God bless you. I just did one last summer in and the UK. my ah My wife keeps saying, um we got to get bricks. Because that was the first thing I ever did in my entire life. was as yeah I did nine bricks, but I had never done anything in the in my life like that. I was 39 years old. i I was an old basketball player, keyword being old.
00:48:19
Speaker
And this guy just kind of talked me through it. In fact, i ah Bill Henderson was the guy's name. He was a San Diego guy. And he was doing ah an event, a youth rally in in New Jersey. And he had me do this thing. And I was like, but it it was at a time in my life where it it was perfect timing because we had just come through losing a child a few years before in a car crash. and so um we had gotten really into the parenting thing and i mean at a way deeper level than I ever anticipated. and I had all this cool stuff that I had learned and I wanted to get it out there. I wanted to share it with people, and but I was kind of like, well, who cares? like You're like a 39-year-old guy. like Who cares what you got to say?
00:49:07
Speaker
But then this kind of, I saw the reaction of the audience and I was like, hey, wait a minute, this could be an opener, you know, open up something. And it, you know, that, it went from there. And, you know, obviously, Dennis after that. So, okay. So today, okay, so you talked about teasing. So you talked to kids. Give us just, I don't want you to do your whole presentation, but luckily you're
Message of Resilience and Support
00:49:31
Speaker
wrapping it up. You've, you made a difference, you know, a distinction between bullying, teasing. um like what do you What do you say to the kids in terms of like ah relating to each other? I mean, is there there's a ah message right for, hey, kids, you know think about this. Or you know is there something like that that you close with? Yeah, I think throughout the whole program, you're always trying to say it. Because you just don't want to say at the end, you want to kind of put your throughout the whole program. But my whole thing is called Be a Hero.
00:50:03
Speaker
Heroes watch out for each other. They help out people who are as strong as they are, you know, help out people who are going through a tough time. i said and so And everybody needs a hero, too, at times to step into their lives. And so my whole thing is I want to assume to know, one, that they're special. Two, to never, ever give up. The tough times you face now aren't always going to be in your life. you're Not saying you're not going to ever go through tough times, but the fact is they don't last forever. um ah I always say this for myself, don't look where you're at. Look where you're going. It's like the boys in the backyard who dug a hole. They put a board across the the hole and they're riding their bikes across and everyone's falling off the board. One boy sitting off the side and they go, once you try, he gets on the bike and rides right across. No problem. He goes, how'd you do it? He goes, I wasn't looking where my bike was at. I was looking at the end of the board where I needed to go.
00:50:53
Speaker
and that that's the thing, and I still constantly, because there's times, I'll be honest, I've done all this stuff, accomplished different things. Do I still have tough days? Absolutely. Do I still have those days I need like, for a lack of a better words, a mental health break? Yeah. But I always reach out and I always tell somebody what I'm going through and I remind myself, don't give up, it's gonna get better. And that's the other thing I would tell, I want students to know too, and I say is that everything I shared in the assembly today, I'll say, I didn't, I didn't tell anybody. If I could have told somebody they could have stepped in, they could have helped me out. You don't have to do life by yourself. There's people along the way who want to help you out. And for the person who's here today, it feels like everything, they feel like they're a mistake. They feel like they're an accident.
00:51:38
Speaker
You feel like giving up. We want to know today. We'd rather have a broken you than not have you at all. Because the choices you make today are the realities we walk in tomorrow, but you need to know that when you give up on the gift of life, that is a permanent decision as the saying goes. to a That's a permanent decision to temporary problems. The problems do get better. And, uh, I just got an Instagram message from a boy saying, Hey, I was in sixth grade. You came to my school. I had planned to kill myself that day, wrote my suicide note and everything. And he just, I said, I wanted to watch your note today, just saying, Hey, I'm graduating from high school, uh, tomorrow. And I would say, you're the reason why I'm graduating. Cause I didn't take my life. That just happened to me yesterday. Just got that message. And that's why we do all we do. It's like, you just want people to know just the way you feel right. It's not gonna, the way you're going to feel the rest of your life.
00:52:28
Speaker
and Again, not saying you're not going to have tough times, you know, but they don't, they don't last forever. You know, just don't give up and then watch out for another person. You know, be kind to each other. Watch out for it. Be careful how we talk. We have enough pain and struggles we go through in life. We don't need more. And so, you know, you're not going to make a difference in everyone's life, but hopefully you make a difference. And lastly, I want to encourage teachers. Now, I'm a product today of a school assembly, but also um I am able to do what I do today and speak to all the kids and people around the world because one teacher, let me say this, one adult saw something in my life.
00:53:05
Speaker
And we just want to encourage everybody today. And then I usually end with this. say My daughter, who's traveled with me her whole life, she's 21 years old, but she's traveled with me. She's the youngest person ever in the history of an American Airlines to be executive platinum at one years old. She has flown over 4 million miles. she's She's been with me all over the world, 50 something different countries. And if she was staying here next to me, now i every week as she was going up, I took her on a date, her and I. We were going on a date every week of her life. But if she was staying here next to me, and this is what I say at the end of my assembly, especially the older students, she would tell you, me as a dad, I'm not the perfect father. I've made mistakes. Have I tried? Yeah, but I'm not the perfect father. I don't know what your relationship is like with your parents, but as a parent today, I want to tell you this. I'm proud of you.
00:53:53
Speaker
and to watch students all across the world start crying when you say that. That's what we need to know. People need to know that they're encouraged, they're not alone, and to never give up. Yeah, yep. It's that simple, but it's not simple. Yeah, it's easy to say. It's hard to do. I said that too. It's easy to stand on the stage and tell you not to give up. It's hard to walk it out. Yeah. So now do you talk directly to parents ever, or is it mostly you're talking directly to, uh, to the students themselves? The majority of students. Yeah. But a lot of some districts have me come and do parent nights and stuff like that. It's just, it's so hard nowadays with all that with the parent stuff. Um, uh, just because sports is so big now with all the, but I have done a lot and they've always been well attended. Yeah. Yeah. They, you know, that was always, uh,
00:54:40
Speaker
That was always the challenge, you know, that we started doing the the parents a few years into it and reluctantly because i I, what am I going to tell parents? I was, you know, a young parent myself. My kids were young. I was like, I don't know what I'm going to tell you, but this is what I'm following basically. um i And I was honest, but we were able to get um pretty good turnouts, but then it's always like, uh the feeling was you kind of like preach into the choir at that point because the parents actually do show up or the parents that really do care and the ones that should be there are the ones that ah don't show up but yeah that that whole dynamic is tough but uh but anyway um all right so let's I just want to hold this up because this is John's book Feel the Power and
00:55:31
Speaker
This book is is super powerful and I want to encourage ah grandparents and parents as a resource to get this book to understand what John went through and what he took away from. him Because in our conversation here, ah we we just kind of like We put a little dent in it, but there's there's so much more to it um in day-to-day life and how you can use that book to encourage your your kids, your grandkids. So um yeah, I want to do that. Is there anything else? Can I say one other thing too about that? Yeah, for sure. And that is that we have an app.
00:56:11
Speaker
It's called, on the front of that book, it says the survivor's guide to happiness. right And so we have an app called a survivor's guide that goes with the book. Now it's for sixth grade and above. It's totally free. It's both Android and Apple. Every day on the phone at 12 o'clock, there's a little inspiration saying it pops up on your phone. There's information for me and also a psychologist that we worked with. I'm not a good reader, so everything on there is, there's also, we worked with Audible and we have a little sections being read by me and by the psychologist if you want to hear it. There's even white and brown noises and different things to listen to to help you calm down.
00:56:46
Speaker
And there's action steps with the do they can click on it. ah If they want to see the if they're going through a tough time, there's different subjects matters. And then there's also a way to connect with different like suicide prevention, hotlines, all that. And it's on its again, it's in the Google Play and also Apple Store. It's called a survivor's guide. Awesome. Awesome. John, I want to pause one more second. Okay. And, uh, yeah. So is there anything else you want to tell the parents, John? Yeah. Um, I alluded to earlier about my mom, you know, uh, she, she has always been there for me or encouraged me and stuff like that. And.
00:57:25
Speaker
For every parent who is listening or watching ah this podcast today, I just want to say this to you. um You've heard about me being able to speak to all these countries and all these different people, you know, 10 million in person, over 200 million online. um I just want to say this. If I can make it, you can make it. Your child can make it. I don't care if they have a learning disability, a speech impediment, ADD, ADHD, or even autism. I want every Mom and dad don't know today. There's hope today. Don't ever give up on the student. We appreciate you. Thank you for all all your hard work, but once you know, there's hope today. Yeah. Awesome, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate your time with this. I, uh, I was going to ask about your mullet, but I'm going to leave that for the conversation. It's been gone for quite a while. I was going to compare, but, uh, if I really appreciate you, man. ba that you are So that's a wrap.
00:58:22
Speaker
I hope everyone enjoyed today's episode and you got some takeaways that you can use immediately in your life. I'm sure you can. um Please share this with your friends and don't forget to see John's stuff at feelthepower dot.org. You can find his app there. Get his book. It's on Amazon. It's awesome. Feel the power. and And don't forget all my stuff at TopSecretsOfSuccess.com and RussellJonesSpeaks dot.com. If you're a parent or grandparent or mentor to a 10 to 13-year-old, check out our 60-day transformational interactive video series, Top Secrets of Success for Kids and Parents. It's amazing. It will equip and encourage parents and kids, yes, at TopSecretsOfSuccess.com. Get on our email list. And in the words of the inimitable Hulk Hogan,
00:59:10
Speaker
Say your prayers, take your vitamins, and you'll never go wrong. Then you can all go and make it a great day. Bye for now.
00:59:21
Speaker
let me