0:42

And welcome to another episode of the stuck my mind

0:46

podcast. I'm your host, w I z e, And my next guest is

0:50

a distinguished US army veteran, accomplished life coach,

0:54

and transformative trainer. Welcome to the show, Derek

0:57

Johnson. Hey. Hey. How's it going, Will? Pleasure to be

1:01

here, Wise. Thanks thanks for stopping by, man. How how you doing

1:04

today? Doing great. Doing great. Been an awesome month. That's good.

1:08

That's good. Alright. So let's just just jump into this. Okay.

1:12

Alright. So like I mentioned, you you in the,

1:16

in the US army. How did your experience in the US army shape your approach

1:20

to coaching and mentorship? Great question.

1:23

So what I took from the US army was the

1:27

discipline aspect and the camaraderie. And I'll start with the camaraderie.

1:31

So some people, they didn't play sports as a child or as a teenager,

1:35

so they never really had that group setting whether it was males and males, females

1:39

and females, or best of both. But the camaraderie

1:42

aspect is definitely something that I brought into it. Because

1:46

if they didn't play sports or were never part of, like, a group or sales

1:50

team professionally or personally, then they don't really have that

1:54

experience of having that camaraderie of people that truly just want them

1:57

to level up and win together rather than just like a 1 man

2:01

team or every man for themselves. So definitely the camaraderie

2:05

bringing that aspect to it. And then number 2 is the discipline.

2:09

And more so with the daily routine starting with the morning. As you

2:12

know, sports, military, we all get up early, so I never force

2:16

people or tell people what time to wake up, but I do make the suggestion

2:20

to get up a little bit earlier So they at least have

2:23

30 minutes minimum to themselves, whether that's going for a

2:27

walk, whether that's just meditating, yoga, hitting the gym. If

2:31

they can get 30 minutes minimum, if they can get more, awesome. But 30 minutes

2:35

minimum to themselves. So definitely the discipline aspect of the morning

2:38

routine and then bringing in the camaraderie. So that way, they they don't feel

2:42

like they have to hold everything in. They have a good solid team that they

2:45

can count on and vice versa. Alright.

2:49

So can can you share, like, a pivotal moment for you in the military in

2:53

your military career that significantly influenced your your coaching

2:56

philosophy? Yes. 100%. So dealing

3:00

with the different personalities and cultures.

3:04

So seeing people

3:07

bumping heads in field training. You're sleep deprived. You're

3:11

hungry. You're dehydrated. You're in the heat. You you haven't showered in a few

3:15

days, you've got you've used baby wipes. Like, we can all paint the

3:18

picture, but you're out there and everybody's just annoyed. No matter what their rank

3:21

is, at the end of the day, everybody's human in that moment and is annoyed,

3:25

but we have a mission to do and objective to get completed. So in

3:28

those moments, a lot of soldiers would argue. They'd be on

3:32

edge, and there's a lot of hostile energy and hostility.

3:36

So as the leader being able to sense, does he or she

3:40

need to vent? Maybe they're going through something personal. And

3:44

everything that's happening here right now to all of us is maybe not the icing

3:47

on the cake. It's something at home or it's, hey. This

3:51

person took their last pack of macaroni, whatever it was,

3:54

and they just, like, flipped out. But being able to identify

3:58

each individual person, how they react in different

4:02

situations. So an example could be some people,

4:06

they love the drill sergeant mentality, and that's what they need. They're very straight

4:10

straightforward, very direct. Others, they just need to be pulled to the side

4:13

and just ask him or her, hey. What is the main thing that is bothering

4:17

you? I can tell that there's a lot on your mind, but the key

4:21

moments would be in the heated moments where everybody was annoyed with each

4:24

other and just wanted to go home, being able to identify how to approach

4:28

the team as a whole or the platoon and squad, and then how to

4:32

approach the individuals 1 on 1 and knowing, okay. I

4:36

can sense his energy is different today. Let me approach him this way. So having

4:39

a different level of approach with each each person depending on the scenario

4:43

played a major factor in how I approach people nowadays where I

4:47

can better read the individual and better read the energy of a room

4:50

or of a group as a collective. Okay. So okay. How how did you navigate

4:59

and transform the hate and adversity into fuel for

5:02

personal and and professional growth? Great question.

5:06

So I'm actually my father's African American, so he's a farm

5:10

boy from Mississippi, and my mother is German. So as a

5:13

child, we we lived in Germany. And then in elementary

5:17

school, we moved to Pensacola, Florida. So it's in the Panhandle. I I

5:21

like to call it Floribama, so you could tell I got various accents.

5:24

So living in the south and never actually visiting

5:28

America until I was in elementary, we were I was in

5:32

3rd grade. So I got the culture shock going into middle school

5:36

of seeing how close minded some parts of the nation

5:39

are. And, like, I saw it on TV. I knew about it, but I'd

5:43

never lived in America, so I didn't know what to expect. And I was like,

5:46

alright. Big school, cheerleaders, big cafeteria,

5:50

big gym, like, everything big, big meal, big plates. And

5:53

you watch the movies, and you just think that's what it what's gonna be

5:57

expected, and it actually was a 100%. So, like, all my German family when they

6:01

came to the states, I would take them to my school, and they're like, this

6:03

is like a movie. It's actually just like it. So I had that experience as

6:06

a child. And then from there, I quickly learned that

6:10

close mentalities exist on every side. So being the light skinned

6:14

one, as you probably relate, people don't don't fully know what you are at first.

6:18

They're like, is he is he half black, half white? Is he Puerto Rican? Is

6:21

he this? Is he Dominican? Maybe he's Mexican. And so with that being said,

6:25

the preconceived notions that some people would have, and it was mainly from guys that

6:29

I played ball with. Like, I didn't know them personally back then because I was

6:32

the new kid. But as a light skinned, pretty boy, soft,

6:36

whatever they wanna call it, I had to prove myself on the basketball court.

6:40

So I knew that if I don't stand up to these guys

6:44

and maybe I'd have to get in a fight, I'm just gonna be the one

6:47

that's bullied constantly. So that's eventually what I had to do was just one

6:51

good fight in front of everyone, and then they were like, hey. This guy's not

6:54

soft. Internally, I was like, this is stupid. Why do I have to do this?

6:57

These are my own people. This is a waste of time. But I was like,

7:01

I have to, or I'm just gonna get bullied this whole year, and I don't

7:04

wanna deal with that. So one was standing up for

7:07

myself, and I'm not just condoling violence, but it is what it is back then.

7:11

Like, you had to stand up for yourself. Yeah. So being able to utilize

7:15

that, but not seeing it as I hate anyone. It's more

7:19

so like, hey. This is their territory. They grew up a certain

7:22

way. Dad thought a different way. His grandpa thought a certain way, and the

7:26

same thing with other cultures or other races. So definitely

7:29

been being in that position to having to prove myself

7:33

to my own people and as in mainly African American guys. But after that, there

7:36

was, like, the mutual respect. We weren't really friends. A lot of the guys I

7:40

played ball with, but we respected each other. Like, hey. He has my back. I

7:42

have his. We're not scared of anything. So there was

7:46

that one main thing as a team.

7:50

Witnessing it from our side because I thought it was gonna be the opposite. Some

7:53

other buddies who are also mix or were different cultures from military backgrounds are

7:57

like, hey. When you go to that state, you gotta watch out. Because, like, half

8:00

of my school was country black folk, and the other half was,

8:04

like, white rednecks. And I was friends with everybody, so I didn't I didn't care

8:07

what color anybody was. And they're like, yeah. You gotta watch out this and this.

8:09

And I was like, hey. The people had 0 issues with who are the other

8:12

side. So it was interesting time, but I definitely learned a lot in

8:16

regards to people's upbringing. That's all it is. You don't know what you don't know,

8:20

so my whole intent was always to face

8:24

whatever was happening, but then give them an example of a good

8:28

memory with somebody that was different. Where they're like, wow. I thought he was gonna be angry the rest of the

8:33

school year. He actually shook my hand afterwards and went from there.

8:37

So I always try to leave on a positive note.

8:41

Cool. Yeah. And on what ways has fitness

8:44

played a role in your personal healing journey, and how do you incorporate

8:49

that into your coaching? Great question. So growing

8:52

up, both of my parents grew up poor, and they

8:56

became highly successful. So my dad was US army for 25 plus

9:00

years, and he retired. And my mother was a kindergarten teacher

9:03

for 40 plus years. And she was a kindergarten teacher at Montessori. I

9:07

didn't personally go to Montessori. That's a private school. So, a lot

9:11

of people knew both of my parents all around the country and in

9:15

different and in different countries as well. But with that being said, they face a

9:18

lot of trauma in childhood and teenage years. And I

9:22

noticed when I turned 12 that there was a shift at home that they

9:26

would drink a lot more after work. It never affected

9:29

professional life, but it affected personal life. So we had the

9:32

beautiful home in Florida with the pool and all that, nice looking family.

9:36

Everything looked great from the outside. But as soon as the last guest left the

9:40

cookout, the birthday dinner, whatever get together there was, closed the

9:44

door, and then something just erupted. Like, glass is being thrown,

9:47

yelling, screaming, punching killers, all kind of stuff, and that would

9:51

happen 300 plus nights out of the year. And

9:54

so fitness was my outlet because I didn't wanna repeat the process

9:58

of, let me grab a bottle and drink my feelings

10:01

away or find another vice. So what I did,

10:05

I was that skinny, scared, fearful,

10:08

timid kid, and I knew that I had to change my body,

10:12

not to just become mister muscle man, but more so that even my

10:16

posture was bad and had a very bad stuttering issue. So I I was

10:20

stuttering. I was skinny. I was bullied at home, bullied at school, and I was

10:23

just like, enough is enough. And so I got

10:27

massively obsessed with learning about the body and the mind. And then

10:30

within 2 years, I transformed my body into a

10:34

athletic build, and then that's when my friends,

10:38

my classmates, teachers, and professors started to ask, like, hey. Are you the

10:42

same guy? Did you have a twin? Like, what what happened? You were used to

10:44

be really skinny and timid and all that. And so I use that

10:48

pain as fuel opposed to giving people what they expected. So, like,

10:52

younger version before I did all that, I would go to the room and cry

10:56

or I would yell back and just give too much emotion. And

10:59

so when I was 14, that's when I made a promise to myself and

11:03

I said, I'm no longer allowing people to control my

11:06

reaction. I'm not gonna give them what they expect, whether that's family,

11:10

whether that's bully, whether that's just somebody random in public. So from

11:14

there, I just stayed much calmer, and most of it came from my

11:18

workouts, whether that was late night or early morning, but it was more so for

11:21

my mentality to to be calmer because I never wanted to snap at

11:24

school or at home. But working on myself

11:28

with the family, working on myself because of school, I was

11:32

able to just be that calm and under control teenager

11:36

who then realized that he had a lot of natural abilities to

11:39

help others and lead others. But I do feel that kids and

11:43

teens that went through trauma, whatever their extent or level

11:46

was, were all given a gift. And I truly feel that my gift was

11:50

discernment, so being able to meet people where they're at and then

11:54

slowly build them up. And the same thing with a group. And I think

11:58

it's just because when you're that kid thinking something's gonna be thrown at you, you're

12:01

gonna get hit or thrown against the wall. You're always on edge and always hyper

12:04

aware. So I think that was another cheat code for the military. It's

12:07

like everything at home set me up for it. And I was like, oh, okay.

12:10

Drill sergeants, y'all saying nothing against my, 54 German

12:14

mother. So I was used to the yelling and screaming. I'm like, it's a walk

12:17

in the park. So you you mentioned your father was,

12:21

Korean military man. What Yes. What what was your inspiration

12:25

for you to transition from being a a distinguished military

12:28

career to becoming a life coach?

12:32

Great question. So the transition was that I always

12:36

forecasted that I wanted to utilize the military as a stepping stone.

12:40

I never truly wanted to go 20 plus years and retire. Everybody

12:44

else is like, oh, you should because the retirement plan, x x y z, like,

12:48

all these different things. I was like, hey. That sounds great. I understand what it

12:50

is, but my heart and my passion was always in

12:54

helping empower other people and seeing them so

12:58

prideful, seeing them so happy and excited about

13:02

life because they accomplished their goals. So I knew that it would be coaching.

13:05

It all started as just fitness and performance. And then the more that I

13:09

dealt with different cultures and people, I started to really pinpoint

13:13

people's patterns and, like, how they react to things, why

13:16

she acts this way, why they act that way. Then I got really interested in

13:20

learning more about the mind. And a huge shift was

13:24

after months or years that I would train with someone online

13:27

or in person as in just fitness, I would see them

13:31

online or in person months or years later, and I'd say,

13:34

oh my god. He or she lost their results. And at first, I was like,

13:38

man, I let them down because I didn't give

13:42

them the mental tools that they couldn't sustain it. And so that's

13:45

truly what inspired me the most. I never wanted somebody to go backwards again. So

13:49

nowadays, people less likely go backwards physically, emotionally, or

13:52

mentally, or even professionally because we're able to get rid of those

13:56

patterns, limiting beliefs, traumas, whatever that thing was that

14:00

was always weighing on them or on the in their chest. So being

14:03

able to see, okay, he or she got in great shape,

14:07

but we never worked on the inner thing, so they started to go backwards again

14:10

once we stopped working together or once they finished their programming. So that was a

14:14

huge factor for that. I just wanted to help people in a deeper way because

14:17

I saw that there's a lot of broken souls or confused people, and I

14:21

just have always hated seeing people unknowingly waste their

14:25

potential. So I wanted to make sure to build them up.

14:29

Okay. So how do you tailor your coaching modalities to meet

14:33

the unique needs of individuals versus organizations?

14:37

Great question. So what I do on a 1 on 1 level is

14:41

we first just have a conversation specifically about their

14:45

goals, and then we start to peel back the layers. So one of the first

14:48

things that I do with anyone is we create a eliminate

14:52

sheet. So they grab a notebook and pen, and we ask the

14:55

question, what are some things that you could eliminate or

14:59

replace with something better that could help you make more progress.

15:03

And it usually starts with the basics of what somebody consumes, what they eat and

15:07

drink. It doesn't mean that everybody eats or drinks extremely,

15:10

but it could just be those small thing. It's like, man, he he wants to

15:14

drink less sodas. She wants to drink less wine. Could be that

15:18

small thing where it turned from 5 days a week to 7 days a week.

15:21

For somebody else, it might be something more personal. Maybe it's anger. Maybe that

15:25

is their advice. So they just really start to go deeper, but we first start

15:29

with what they consume, what they eat, what they drink, and then

15:32

what they do on these devices. What is their advice on here?

15:36

Because everybody has a pattern. We get bored. We open up the

15:40

app. We get stressed. We open up the app. Then we do a loop.

15:43

TikTok, Facebook, email, this, this, this. Oh, shoot. 20 minutes went by.

15:47

What am I doing? It's hard to get back into the workflow. So we first

15:50

identify what are some things that we could get rid of or replace with something

15:54

better that they can make more progress. And once we learn more about

15:58

where they're at, then we can start to tailor to see what he or she

16:02

needs in this moment because it's always different for everyone. Because

16:05

sometimes somebody might have a fitness goal, but then we realize

16:09

that the reason they haven't gotten results is because they have a bad relationship

16:12

with food based off of being bullied when they're a

16:16

kid, family making fun of them, past relationships. There's

16:20

usually something deeper than just wanting that body or performance or just overall

16:23

health. So having a good quality conversation and being

16:27

present with them. So that's a huge thing that I try to aim for. Be

16:31

present with them. They're present in the conversation. Because as you know,

16:34

nowadays, it's it's like this. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. No. No. No. Waz, I'm

16:38

I'm listening to you, man. You know? You know? So everybody's doing that nowadays. So

16:42

that's why people don't really like to talk about their goals because most people

16:46

don't care or they're not even listening. So I try to give the give them

16:49

that undivided attention. So can can you elaborate

16:53

on the role of mental fitness in your coaching and why

16:56

it's a key focus? Yes. Definitely. So

17:00

I like to see it as, do you have the

17:04

tools on how you react to stressful situations?

17:08

So, like, a person could in the past respond in a

17:12

negative aggressive way to a stressful situation. Yes.

17:16

We're we're allowed to be pissed off, sad, whatever the emotion is, but

17:20

how long do we stay there? So with the emotional fitness and

17:23

the mental fitness is more so what is the time window

17:27

that they will allow themselves to stay in that state? So I ask my

17:31

friends and clients this. They'll say, hey. I can sense that you're going through x

17:34

y z, but how long do you wanna feel this way? And it

17:38

catches people off guard because they're like, I wanna be pissed off

17:41

for 1 hour. And then they they're like, is it 1 hour or 30

17:45

minutes? They're like, I don't know how to answer that. I'm like, alright. So let's

17:48

just give yourself a 10 minute window. If you have to yell, yell.

17:52

If you need to meditate, if you need to pray, if you just need to

17:55

go outside and go for a 5 minute walk, like, whatever it is. But

17:58

it's more so seeing that the best leaders,

18:03

they can control their reactions to things much better. Yes. Life happens.

18:07

Yes. Stress is there. Anxiety is real. All those things are real, but how quick

18:10

could they come back to being on a equilibrium and being calm and controlled?

18:15

Because sometimes that person might get angry. You might catch yourself being angry for

18:18

2 hours, 2 days, or 2 weeks where you're like, alright.

18:22

I gotta get it out of out of the zone. So that individual

18:26

being able to catch themselves like, hey. I noticed I'm in the zone. I'm in

18:29

a really low place because I thought of the past, whatever it is.

18:33

What do I need to do to reset? Let me just have some me time.

18:36

Let me call my friend and say, hey. Today, I'm not gonna be at the

18:38

dinner. Just need a couple hours. I'll see you guys tomorrow. So

18:43

helping people become that person who can catch it

18:47

before they're deep in that emotion, whatever the emotion is. And we're not saying

18:50

these emotions are not real. It's more so like, hey. Let's give us a time

18:54

window to release and reset so we can get back to

18:57

whatever is next. Okay. You you

19:01

mentioned your mixed background. So how does your mixed race background

19:05

influence your coaching and connect you with clients on a deeper

19:08

level? I think a major factor with that

19:12

is growing up in Germany and traveling a lot, seeing

19:16

different cultures really just opened my mind. And

19:20

also on top of that, being that quiet kid who's always yelled

19:23

at and saw a lot of wild stuff is that I was just always

19:27

quiet and reading the room. So being able to, like, watch my parents

19:31

and their friends and all the different cultures, see how they interact, see what

19:35

makes them. And I was just always people watching and

19:38

just taking a lot of mental notes. Because once you're

19:42

exposed to different type of cultures, experiences, traumatic

19:45

situations, you can identify people's patterns

19:49

really quickly. Now that you can read everyone perfectly, but you can use these sense.

19:52

You're like, okay. He carries himself this way. I guarantee you he's been through a

19:56

lot and he did a lot of work, or she did this and this. And

19:58

you can start to really read the room seeing how people react to things.

20:02

But I think one being mixed and just

20:06

seeing different cultures like Germans, they're very strict and gung ho professional.

20:10

They're extreme OCD, so there's that side. My dad's side is

20:13

from Mississippi, from the farmland, so they got the work ethic, the discipline

20:17

up early and all that. So kinda taking the best of both, but

20:21

also with our surroundings. Like, some of my friends growing up are Filipino,

20:25

and I learned so much from them. And the others are Vietnamese. Some are from

20:28

Venezuela. So all of us would teach each other things, and it was just

20:32

amazing to see because nowadays, I feel like that's needed more than ever. Just

20:36

like a melting pot of people coming together. You teach me about that food.

20:39

I'll teach you what we ate in our country. And it's like next thing we

20:42

know, we all know something new, and we have that camaraderie again.

20:46

Cool. That's dope. What what principles guide your coaching when it

20:50

comes to helping clients take control of their minds and bodies?

20:56

Teaching them how to become that individual that they would be proud

20:59

of and seeing that how they can give back to others,

21:03

whether that's personal, whether that's their career, maybe it's charity work

21:07

or nonprofit, but making that person proud first.

21:11

So it's always based on them first. And

21:15

society would say, well, that's selfish. You need to do this. But we see it

21:18

as selfless because when you take care of you first with your morning

21:22

routine, you're in a good headspace. No matter what traffic happens,

21:26

no matter if Wi Fi goes out, no matter if somebody pisses you off in

21:29

public, you're gonna be like, hey. I had a good morning workout. I

21:33

already planned my whole day. I'm in a good zone. Nobody's gonna ruin my

21:36

energy. So being that person

21:39

repetitively by just having control, but what we aim for is to become that

21:43

person that he or she would be proud of, calm

21:47

and confident, and see how they can give back to others in whatever way

21:50

that gives them a passion or gives them a rush.

21:54

Yeah. No. It's you're absolutely right. You need to

21:58

it's something that I've been I've learned last few years

22:02

is that I need my my my time to recharge my battery. I

22:05

need my time to Oh, yeah. To really get back in the space,

22:09

especially when so right now, we're we're going through

22:13

something with my family because, my mom is soft suffering from

22:16

Alzheimer's, and it's it's it's it's getting worse. It's progressing.

22:21

And and I can look at it

22:25

and and be upset and angry and everything, but I I

22:28

I I I start looking at it at the times I had with her.

22:32

And and I I when I think of her, I think of her of

22:36

how she used to be. I don't I don't look at her as as

22:40

she is now. Yes. I look at her at how she used to be

22:44

the strong, independent woman that I grew up with.

22:48

So it's like but you have those moments that these

22:51

these these things, obstacles in your life, they they get in your

22:55

way, but you gotta some you gotta overcome them. You have to

22:59

face them and and and and look at look at the

23:02

the the bright side of of everything in life.

23:06

Exactly. 100%. And on a faith level, I truly believe

23:10

that everything is happening for us, not to us,

23:14

even the bad, because sometimes those situations can, like, spark a whole

23:18

new path, career or personal, for someone because of

23:21

something that happened with families. So it's always interesting, the the big

23:25

picture. But I know that deep down that she's

23:29

gonna be proud and whoever else is in the circle of family or friends, they're

23:32

gonna be proud of what you're doing and just using all that stuff as fuel

23:36

when you're like, you know what? I got hundreds of amazing memories. I remember this.

23:40

Remember that. I don't know if you got wife and kids, but you're cooking a

23:43

dish that she used to teach you how to make, and you have those good

23:45

memories and holiday season's coming up. So to taking

23:49

all that with you. No. Definitely. Definitely. It's,

23:53

I I've she's to me, she she's,

23:57

she's been that person who like, growing up, she she

24:01

was the the family member that her door was open to

24:05

everyone. It didn't matter where you came from, who you were.

24:09

Her house was open to you. If you needed somewhere to stay, her house was

24:13

the place. She she took care of people. She's her her her

24:17

thing her thing was always taken. No one went to our house and

24:20

ever went hungry. Yeah. Like, what we might not had

24:24

a pantry full of food, but what we had, she made sure if someone

24:28

came to our house that they were fed. So

24:33

being raised by her and looking at how she treated

24:36

people and and how they treated her back

24:40

in return, That that's how I live now is I treat people the

24:44

way I wanna be treated, and I get that from her. I get that. I

24:47

get the way she she treated it didn't matter who you were.

24:51

She treated you with the utmost respect, and that's how I go into life.

24:55

When I meet someone, I treat them with the utmost respect. And

24:58

if they can't treat me with the same respect, then I don't associate

25:02

myself with them. I I make sure that I'm not around that energy.

25:06

Oh, yeah. The most part, I I've learned from her that

25:10

if you wanna be treated a certain way, then you need to know how to

25:12

treat people. Exactly. Is she

25:16

from the where where is she from originally? My mom's Puerto Rican.

25:20

Okay. Makes sense. That that was my guess right when we

25:24

popped on. Also, with the Yankee set, I was like, alright. I could tell.

25:28

Yeah. She feels Puerto I was born in Brooklyn, raised in Brooklyn, but she she

25:32

was born in Puerto Rico, raised. My my mom is my mom

25:36

is 84 years old. She had me when she was

25:39

37, 38 years old. So she had me later on. So my siblings

25:43

are older than me. And so,

25:47

she she's she's old school, but she's always

25:50

been that person where, like I

25:53

said, no one if you needed some place to stay, if you didn't have

25:57

food, she was that person that she would give it to you. Oh,

26:01

yeah. That's amazing. So can

26:04

you can you share an empowers your sex story from your coaching career that

26:08

stands out in your memory? Like, is there one specific

26:13

coaching coaching job you had where you're like,

26:16

man, this was a rough one, but we've really, really

26:20

worked hard and got you to where you're seeing much some great

26:24

progress. Oh, yeah. A 100%. So

26:28

this was last year. One of my clients, she broke the world

26:31

record for running the marathon, pushing her brother who

26:35

has a disability. So her brother has

26:39

cerebral palsy, and so she's been a runner. She was a college

26:43

athlete and all that, and this was one of her goals for years. The record

26:47

was broken a few months ago, but she still broke it for women, which is

26:50

amazing. Just I mean, running a marathon is difficult and then pushing somebody,

26:54

but not just the accolade, but knowing

26:58

that she has that bond with her brother, that if anybody else push him,

27:01

that it wouldn't work. Like, he wouldn't wanna do it or anything, just that bond

27:05

that they had. But also the personal trials and tribulations that she went through

27:09

these past 3 years, it was intense. A

27:13

lot of things, but just seeing the overall

27:16

light shining again after going through the darkness. And she

27:20

works with a lot of students that have disabilities, so has a

27:24

nonprofit and all that. So just seeing her passion or ultimate

27:27

passion to help people that are overlooked.

27:31

And I learned so much from her as well because I

27:35

have 2 cousins in my family that have mental disability,

27:38

but I haven't seen them in years. So it's if it's not

27:42

within your vicinity, if it's not in your environment, then you're not really gonna think

27:45

of it much. But I learned I learned so much that I was just unaware

27:48

of. It was just very interesting because it really made me see things differently.

27:52

More gratitude, humbled ourselves, but just really seeing

27:56

that, wow, somebody is always going through something worse. We're not

28:00

trying to undermine that our stress doesn't exist, but it's always

28:03

interesting to see. Like, you would never know because it's the most positive, brightest person.

28:07

It's like, hey. Do you need anything? Pleasure to meet you. It's like always high

28:10

energy. And then realizing, like, wow. Behind closed doors, there's a

28:14

1,000,000 things going on. So it was just amazing to see, like, how positive

28:17

somebody could still be even though that they were boiling for months years

28:21

on end because of some family and personal things, but just

28:25

that light and seeing as a at a

28:28

big picture, my favorite thing during the holidays is seeing

28:32

clients post on social media and seeing their real smiles.

28:36

Like, I you could always sense it. You see a old picture of yourself a

28:39

Facebook memory 4 years ago, you're like, oh, yeah. Me and my group of friends,

28:42

I'm like, oh, I was in a dark place. I could see it in my

28:45

eyes. I'm smiling, but that's not real. I know exactly how I felt that

28:49

night or that day. So I could see that with my clients. And so

28:52

holiday season, I love it because I can always sense what the real smile

28:56

is, what the pride is, or if they're, like, crying, like,

28:59

whatever it is, but I love seeing, like, where they're at because maybe this person

29:03

is now married or in their 1st relationship in years. Maybe this one is in

29:07

a new home. Maybe this one was able to take their family on their 1st

29:10

vacation just like all these things. And it's just amazing to see because

29:13

thinking back, I'm like, wow. I remember day 1. He was just like, man, I

29:17

just wanna do 225 on bench, and that that was the only goal.

29:21

And then now he's married and has kids and all this stuff. So always seeing

29:24

the journey and just seeing people happy and excited about life. So

29:28

it's it's amazing to see in in hindsight. Just seeing, like,

29:32

somebody was inhaled, quote, unquote in a

29:36

dark. We're very really close to giving up to them pushing and driving through, keeping

29:40

their faith strong. And then now looking at them, it's like, wow, they're crushing it

29:43

in every area and not taking all not taking everything that

29:47

came from me, but working together as a team, it just inspires me. And I

29:50

feel like that's what it's all about. If we can make a good positive impact,

29:54

we can create a positive ripple effect. Because if they see you in a in

29:57

a good head space, they see her in a good head space, like, wow. They

30:00

carry themselves in a different way, and that makes people wanna wanna join or

30:04

just vibrate better as well. Because the same thing happens in

30:07

reverse. We get around somebody in public. We're like, yeah. Let me let me

30:11

stand in this other line. It they didn't even say anything. You could just feel

30:14

and sense their energy. You're like, alright. I'm a use that checkout line.

30:18

So so you're you're a 3 time winner of, soldier of the year.

30:22

Right? What what how

30:26

has that influenced your leadership style and your coaching techniques?

30:31

So it honestly was me overcoming that

30:35

scared timid child. That's why I joined a lot of training

30:38

schools and went to the board. Like, you don't have to compete for that,

30:42

but I did it more so for myself. So being

30:46

that scared teen, I had a fear of heights. I had a fear of

30:50

public speaking. I had many fears. It was just like crippling.

30:53

So I knew that sports and fitness would help, but I knew deep down

30:57

I needed to serve and, like, face a lot of other things, which would make

31:01

me grow more than ever. So that's a huge factor of what drove

31:05

it was just making that younger version proud. And

31:08

so going to the board excuse me. Soldier of

31:12

the year, at least in the US Army, consists of 3 things. There's the physical

31:15

fitness test and a lot of other physical tests outside of just the

31:19

basic test. 2 is a written test.

31:24

But keep in mind, you're dehydrated, sleep deprived, you're hungry. So,

31:27

like, you're already physically, mentally tested. It's not just like, alright. You woke

31:31

up, go to the cafeteria, eat, then take a test like college. You're you're

31:34

tested in many ways. And then the last 1 is you go to the board,

31:38

which essentially means you pound on a door, the highest ranks

31:42

tell you to come in, you stand at attention by a chair, and you just

31:45

see a table of a row of the highest ranks, male,

31:49

female, just like scolding you. And then they tell you what to do. You sit

31:52

down, and they're just drilling you with questions. It's like a verbal

31:56

test, but they try to throw you off because he might ask you something random

31:59

like, who won Super Bowl in 1998? And you're just like, what the hell does

32:02

that have to do with anything? And then this person asked you about, in year

32:05

1942, what war or, like, what is this article? And

32:09

then, like, they try to throw you off, but I love those environments because I

32:13

would just think back to childhood and teenage years where I was like,

32:16

alright. Everything at home was worse than any of this, so bring it on. So

32:20

I always thrived in the high pressure moments because I was always living in a

32:24

pressured home. So, like, facing life, I was like, alright.

32:27

This is can't get worse because I've heard the wildest shit ever and

32:31

seen a lot of crazy stuff. So I was like, alright. I can take the

32:34

drilling. So in the moments of feeling the pressure, I would just

32:38

respect everyone, do the best of my abilities, and then afterward,

32:42

just feel pride that I gave my all. Even if 1 of the years I

32:45

didn't get it, it was more so to make that younger version proud because

32:48

he he could barely even walk straight or, like, form a sentence

32:52

without being scared. So In your opinion,

32:55

what are the key elements that differentiate surviving from thriving,

32:59

and how do you install this in your clients?

33:03

Great question. So I see it all as what do we take

33:07

away from the experience? Do we just take the pain,

33:11

stress, anxiety, anger, and vices, and say,

33:14

why me, god? Why does this happen? I don't know why this is happening.

33:18

Is that what we're taking from it? Or do we

33:22

pause and say, you know what? I did, and I still do occasionally feel these

33:25

emotions from that memory, but I was able to

33:29

see how strong I am, how good I can work with people, etcetera,

33:33

etcetera, whatever that list is. So seeing what can we take from

33:36

the situation. Is it just a negative? Or we're not gonna pretend

33:40

there's negative things don't exist, but is there something positive or

33:44

empowering? Or maybe there's a skill set that we got from this

33:47

experience. Because sometimes when we zoom out, people that are really good at what

33:51

they do, they usually just went through a lot of stuff And

33:55

life punched him in the face, kicked him in the balls, stabbed him in the

33:58

gut a few times, and the next thing you know, they're like, that's why he's

34:01

good. No wonder he he or she does this. They peel back the layers, learn

34:05

their life journey and story, and they're like, okay. They didn't just learn it from

34:09

a textbook or they took a certification class or, like, they've been through

34:12

some shit, and now they make it happen.

34:16

Yeah. I I'm I'm I'm a prime example of that,

34:19

man. I I was widowed at 31,

34:23

and it was just 1 tragedy after another, reconnected my

34:27

father only to lose him. I lost 2 brothers,

34:30

a aunt and uncle that helped raise me. And I was angry for many

34:34

years. I was angry. I was like, what? I was in that

34:37

mentality where why me? Why is why am I being punished?

34:41

And and then when they it hit me like it's not

34:45

you. Is this is this you're not being punished. This is this is

34:49

just part of your journey. These these are lessons that you have to

34:53

learn in life. These are things you have to go through in life. It's

34:56

not you're not being punished. You're not being picked, singled out by God. You're

35:00

not be so it took me it took a few years for me to really

35:06

get back to because it it's crazy. Because prior to my wife passing

35:09

away, she had introduced me to to the world of self development.

35:13

She introduced me to Tony Robbins, Louise

35:16

Hayes. There's so many different other people, and and and

35:20

I it was her way of preparing me for what was to come. And at

35:23

that at that time, I didn't, when it happened, I didn't look at it that

35:27

way. But later on, after I went went through all the tragedies

35:31

and everything, and I was struggling

35:34

with just just struggling

35:38

with the fact that it just thinking that

35:42

why am I such a bad person that all this is happening? Yes.

35:46

And it it it one day, it it really sort of

35:49

voice something spoke to me and was like, this isn't your

35:53

life. You you're not being punished. It's not your

35:57

fault. These are things you had no control over. They just

36:00

happened. And and so when I when I started

36:04

realizing that and I and I went and sought the help therapy and

36:08

went to to speak to a professional because, you know,

36:12

I'm I'm from a generation where we I'm I'm 47 years

36:16

old. This is not something we would do. We this we didn't Oh, yeah.

36:20

About our feelings. We didn't go to therapy, especially

36:24

men. Men weren't allowed to I'm a Brazilian. You

36:27

crazy? What are you seeing a therapist for? Something wrong with you? Yeah. So it

36:31

wouldn't so for me to really do that and go

36:34

seek the help and speak to a therapist and and get my life

36:38

back in order and and and and and

36:42

really get back on that self development and

36:45

and and really getting back into reading it and wanting

36:49

to improve. It it's and

36:53

it's led me to doing my podcast. It's it's really helped

36:56

me find my purpose because

37:00

had I not gotten back to what I was to to the self

37:03

development and and the coaching and all that, but I've been

37:07

doing my podcast or or what I've been doing any of the things that I'm

37:11

doing now. So finding

37:15

finding my purpose in in podcasting and

37:19

and really going back getting really back into

37:23

the self development and the coaching and and wanting

37:26

and wanting to create

37:30

content that because I could have easily went I could have

37:34

easily done a podcast that focused more on

37:37

stupid shit, more focused on shit that really people gonna click in

37:41

because I'm in a niche that it's not

37:45

easy. 100%. People will not Most people will

37:48

pick the easy route. Will and Jada, Tom Brady, whoever,

37:52

Kobe versus LeBron. Like Yeah. There's good trending topics.

37:56

That's what they pick, and it's like clickbait and but you definitely pick the

38:00

right path because that connecting with people, it's it's one of the most

38:03

amazing things. Yeah. Meeting good people that also have that fire in them, that have

38:07

been through things, and seeing that people actually can have

38:11

real conversations because it's so rare, especially as men, like you said. Yeah.

38:14

I I grew up the same way. It was like, suck it up. Don't be

38:17

soft. Don't cry. Blah blah blah. And then the older I got, you

38:21

start catching patterns, and the men in your family are men that you grew up

38:25

around, you're like, alright. I think we all should have spoken because there's a

38:28

lot of wild stuff that happened just by not releasing. We they release in a

38:32

different way. But Yeah. It's always interesting in hindsight. You're like, that makes

38:36

sense. And then just us stepping up as men, speaking about

38:39

it, opening up. A key thing I just

38:43

wanna bounce off of this that it made me think of it is my senior

38:46

year of high school, one of the most pivotal moments of my life.

38:50

I'm 17 years old. I'm in my English composition class, and

38:54

I'm writing. And then my teacher, he he could obviously read

38:58

people. He knows the students. He's seen them for years, and he's like, hey, Derek.

39:01

Let's go in the hallway. I was like, alright. He just wants to talk to

39:03

me. We go out there, and he's like, hey. I'm not

39:07

gonna ask you a question about what's going on. I could tell there's a lot

39:10

going on, but I just wanna tell you it's okay to be human.

39:14

That's all he said. I looked at him. I like my knees buckled, and

39:18

I cried in his arms for, like, 5 minutes. And that was the 1st time

39:20

I cried in, like, 7 years at that time. And, like, he he could just

39:24

see it. Like, I was just writing, doing my assignment, but he could just sense

39:27

my energies. Like, something's different with him, pulled me into the hallway and literally just

39:30

said, it's okay to be human. And to this

39:34

day, I say that in my head sometimes where I tell my male and female

39:37

clients, hey. Sometimes you just need to release. Even if you're not even sad, you

39:40

might be in the car and just be like, just grab the steering wheel and

39:44

yell or just cry for 2 minutes. Release.

39:48

Breathe. Gratitude. Thank you, god. Whatever somebody believes in,

39:52

reset, and keep going. Sometimes just releasing is one of the most

39:56

powerful things because most people, they hold it in so

40:00

long, and that's why the vices come in because they'll try to overshadow

40:03

whatever that feeling is. But especially as men, if we could just release sometimes,

40:08

we can reset, and then we start to make better decisions. But that

40:11

that was a pivotal moment where something so

40:15

simple, but hit powerful. And thinking back on, I'm like,

40:19

wow. If I would've had a video of that, I would've loved to see that

40:22

just to see because I was I was not a crier at all, but at

40:25

that time, he could just sense my energy. And nowadays, I feel like

40:28

I got another skill from him was that you can sense even if

40:32

it's a stranger in public. When you've been through a lot, you can see it

40:35

and sense it in somebody else because you know what it feels like or you

40:38

know what they're going through. And then just being there for somebody. Let's say you're

40:41

at a bus stop or at the airport, sitting anywhere in public and somebody

40:45

comes up to you and just starts pouring out to you. They're just like, I

40:49

don't know you, but someone's telling me to just and then all you

40:53

did was listen. You didn't even say a word, and they're just like, thank you.

40:56

They walk away. They leave, and then hours later, you're like, did that happen?

40:59

Was that a dream? Was that an angel? Like, sometimes you don't even know if

41:02

it even happened, but it's an amazing moment because

41:06

just giving people 2 things. Every

41:09

human just wants to be heard and understood. If we can make

41:13

somebody feel heard and understood, everything can start to

41:17

come full circle. It's it's an amazing thing. Like, that's what I felt then, and

41:20

that's what I try to give to other people. Make them feel heard, make them

41:23

feel understood, and then go from there. If I don't have the answers, I'm gonna

41:27

find somebody that does. Yeah. So how do you approach

41:30

healing as a life coach, and what strategies do you employ to

41:34

guide the others in the healing journey?

41:38

So the first thing that we that I like to focus on is,

41:42

as I mentioned earlier, is first see what you can get rid of

41:46

or replace with something better. Because

41:50

if we have 2 individuals, 1 person, they may have been an athlete or

41:54

been in bands or anything competitive. Mhmm. And for them, it's

41:58

a lot easier to add something onto their schedule or routine, but

42:01

that's not most people. Most people, if you try to add on to their routine

42:05

or tell them to open their pantry and say, hey. Throw away the first 3

42:08

shelves. Hey. I want you to buy this. I want you to wake up at

42:10

this time. It's too much. It's not gonna be sustainable. So

42:14

first, if somebody can get rid of some things, they can open themselves

42:18

up, and then they can slowly start to build and stack those wins.

42:21

Hey. Tomorrow, he wants to get up 30 minutes earlier and not hit

42:25

snooze 5 times. Hey. Tomorrow, she doesn't wanna buy another bottle of

42:29

wine. Tomorrow, he wants to raise his hand 1st in class. Whatever those

42:33

things are, but stacking wins and slowly building

42:36

a solid routine and that self trust. Because I truly

42:40

believe self trust and self confidence all comes from

42:44

stacking wins, which just means showing up for ourselves and no

42:47

longer letting vices, procrastination, limited thinking,

42:51

negative thinking, whatever those things are, hold us back or really

42:55

make us second guess ourselves. So once that person starts to

42:59

get in a more powerful, empowered state, then we could start

43:02

the healing process at a deeper way because they're like, hey. I crushed my

43:06

morning routine. I haven't missed a workout in

43:10

3 weeks I haven't missed a social media post, whatever their thing is.

43:14

And then once we start doing the inner work, it's way more

43:17

effective because they've they've already showed themselves proof of how much

43:21

progress they can make with just themselves rather than like, hey. Today's day

43:24

1. Tell me what happened when you were 14. Not everybody can do that where

43:28

they're like, where the hell do I even start?

43:32

But if they already are in an empowered state and they feel

43:35

some sense of pride and accomplishment, then it's way more

43:39

effective because then they can look at things in a different perspective than

43:43

just being a low state. Because when they're confident

43:46

about, hey. 2 weeks straight, I've been doing x y z. They're excited.

43:50

So when we talk about deeper topics, they can look at version

43:54

10 point o. They can look at present version, and then they can think back

43:57

of their past self. And they can stay neutral the whole time rather

44:01

than catching them on a day where they're feeling really low. That's not

44:05

the day to dig into the past, but definitely

44:08

building that daily routine and that foundation is everything.

44:14

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely right. What what role does resilience

44:18

play in your coaching philosophy, and how do you help clients

44:21

cultivate resilience? Great

44:25

question. So with resilience, I just like to focus on

44:29

saying the statement in your head or out loud. People depend on me.

44:33

People depend on me. Maybe they have kids. Maybe they have

44:37

pets. Maybe the neighbor down the road always looks at them when they go walk.

44:40

Maybe somebody online messages them randomly. It's like, hey, man. I see your

44:44

posts. Thank you for what you do. I don't even know you, but I see

44:47

your stuff. And they write, but there's always somebody watching.

44:51

Even if they don't think somebody is, there's always somebody watching. So if they can

44:54

have the mentality that people depend on me in the key

44:58

moments where they don't feel like doing something or with or when

45:02

they're really stressed and they say, I don't really feel like making this

45:05

post. I don't I don't feel like showing up to this conversation

45:09

tomorrow for work. But if they can start to think of who depends on them

45:13

because somebody does, then they start to get a rush.

45:16

And it's not that we're we're just trying to show up and give, give, give

45:19

to others. We're not trying to people please. It's more so,

45:23

hey. Let me take a breather. Let me reset. I need to reset real quick,

45:26

but people depend on me because somebody out there needs to hear your

45:30

message, needs to see his product, his skill, his

45:33

passion, needs to learn her life story, whatever it is. And I

45:37

do believe that God has us all here for a reason, and that is

45:40

to face whatever's happening, work through

45:44

it, and then teach others how to do that thing as well even if it's

45:47

not career. Because the best advice we ever got was from people that actually

45:51

lived that thing. They can see it, and they can sense it. So the

45:54

resilience is more so, can you keep going, and how is your reaction

45:58

to things? Yeah. Yeah.

46:02

It's definitely, it is definitely

46:06

something that peep you can build up. Like,

46:11

for me, like I said, it was just 1 tragedy after another after

46:15

another, and it's, it got to a point where it's

46:18

like, man, how much more can I take?

46:22

Like and and then and then I I really sit there and I looked at

46:26

it, and I reflect on it, and I looked at my

46:29

well, God couldn't if God wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle.

46:33

And so this this was my path. This was the path that I was

46:37

supposed to take. These things were supposed to happen and and be a part like,

46:41

someone asked me, do I regret any of the stuff that

46:44

happened? And my answer my answer shocked

46:48

them because it was no. And they were like,

46:51

why? I said, because I wouldn't wish it upon

46:55

anyone. I wouldn't wish anyone to lose their wife. I wouldn't wish anyone to lose

46:58

their father after reconnecting with them. I wouldn't wish them losing 2

47:02

brothers, and I I wouldn't wish that upon them, but

47:06

it was my path. This was this was the path chosen for me.

47:10

And so if he didn't feel I could

47:14

deal with it, he wouldn't have he wouldn't have put it in front

47:17

of me. He wouldn't he wouldn't have set that obstacle in front of me.

47:21

So for me, it's been

47:25

it's been I look at

47:29

I look at look at life completely different with everything

47:32

that's happened, and I am grateful.

47:36

Like, I I everything I've been through is also

47:40

prepared me for what I'm going through right now with my mom. Yes. It's

47:44

helped me build that strength and that toughness

47:47

within to have to deal with this and and

47:51

because it's easy to to to see

47:55

what state she's in and and really give up and really be

47:59

like, oh, why me? Why is this happening? Why is instead

48:03

of looking at it as, like, take these these moments that I do have with

48:06

her and and cherish them and and make the most out of

48:10

them. Exactly.

48:14

100%. And I'm glad that you that you can see those perspectives. A

48:17

big thing that I work on a lot with my clients is I use

48:21

the phrase perspective hopping, which is essentially what I mentioned

48:25

earlier when you can paint a clear vision of who version 10.0

48:29

of you is, all of his traits and characteristics inside

48:33

out relationships, career, podcasts, just everything

48:36

about him, and then current version and then younger version.

48:40

And it's really interesting. People that can perspective hop and just see things from a

48:44

different angle, they can stay neutral.

48:48

They can be grateful for things. They can be proud of

48:52

themselves, and then they can be excited about the future. But it

48:55

helps those individuals not just be stuck in one zone

48:59

where they can see just like you mentioned. Now you see the big picture because

49:02

past you went through those things, and it's always amazing to be able to connect

49:06

the dots. And then sometimes even if we don't know what's next, it's just that

49:10

faith can continuously just keep building. Mhmm. And it's

49:14

some people speak faith just from church or just from a a

49:17

biblical standpoint, but when it comes from faith to

49:21

people that have been through real things, it's a I think that they have the

49:25

strongest level of faith where it's not just Sunday service

49:28

or anything else. Just like, hey. That was the only thing that they had at

49:32

some point. It was faith. Yeah. And and and I'm not a religious person. I'm

49:36

not I'm not I'm not someone who goes to church, but I am a spiritual

49:39

person. I do look at at life different, and and,

49:43

I I'm I'm I I I

49:47

am grateful for everything that's going on in my life and that,

49:50

like, I I'm blessed to be able to come in and do my podcast

49:54

and and be able to to to share this message with

49:58

other people and have you on the show, and you can share your story and

50:01

share your message and and really make an impact on

50:05

people's lives. And that's if and to me,

50:09

it's people look at success

50:13

as, oh, I I got 5,000,000 downloads.

50:17

I look at it as if I have to help 1 person

50:22

and I've made an impact on their life, I am doing what I'm supposed to

50:25

do. And I've and I've gotten those messages where I've I've made

50:29

an impact on people's lives, and that to me is some of the

50:32

most fulfilling

50:36

parts of this. This is that's why I do it when I when I do

50:39

receive those messages from people saying, man, I needed that episode. Thank

50:43

you. I I needed to hear what that person had to

50:46

say, or I needed to hear what you had to say. Whatever it was,

50:52

that to me is success. That to me is like like I said,

50:56

if I've impact 1 person's life doing this, then

51:00

I'm doing something right because now who knows

51:04

who's who that person is going to impact? How many more people

51:07

they're gonna how many more people's lives they're gonna change

51:11

just from the fact that they heard something that on my

51:15

podcast or heard something I said or whatever or heard something a guest said,

51:19

and now they're like, yeah. No. That's why I try to help

51:23

other people. So it's a it's a ripple effect.

51:27

Exactly. And that's the best thing about it is, like, that one golden

51:30

nugget, that one perspective, that one thing that they needed, because

51:34

we've been on the receiving end of that as well where we're confused, broken, lost,

51:38

whatever situation we're in, and we just heard that one thing, and it just made

51:42

something click. The light bulbs went off or the mind shifted, and we're like,

51:46

wow. That's that's what I needed to hear. But being able to give that to

51:49

others, I totally agree that it's so fulfilling where I'll think

51:53

back to childhood or other crazy nights and stuff I saw in the

51:56

army, and then I'm like, wow. All of that is for a reason, and now

52:00

I'm here. And this person is excited, proud. They're holding their

52:03

kids and whatever the situation is, and it just all makes sense in the moment

52:07

where you're like, I don't know if I wanna cry and excitement for them, cry

52:10

and excitement for myself, or, like, cry because the younger version is proud,

52:14

but it's, it's it's good tears. So it it gives you chills.

52:18

Love those moments. Definitely. Definitely. But, Derek, this has been great,

52:21

man. I I appreciate you coming on the show, but now is the time of

52:25

the show where you get this the solo screen. You get to plug away,

52:29

let people know where they can find you, everything. Alright. I

52:32

appreciate it. Well, thanks again for having me, Will. But the easiest way to

52:36

find me guys is on social media that is fit with

52:40

Derek too. That's d e r I c k. And my

52:43

coaching website is fit with Derek .com. On

52:47

there, I just like to show real people with real results. I have

52:51

pictures and then also videos, and they just tell about their

52:54

journey, where they were personally, spiritually, or professionally, and

52:58

where they are now, and how the journey went for them. So the whole intent

53:01

is to help people win so they're thriving, not just surviving.

53:05

So they're thriving, not just surviving. And my whole intent with social

53:09

media is just to plant seeds. If you hit snooze 5 times every morning and

53:12

you watch my videos, I'm gonna plant a seed and be in your head where

53:15

you stop hitting snooze. It's my whole intent. Plant seeds, make you a little bit

53:19

uncomfortable sometimes, but make you not waste any potential. I feel like that's

53:23

what it's all about. Oh, I can't hear you. There we go. I'm going on

53:35

with you. There I go. So I will be putting a link to

53:39

his website in the description, so definitely you can check out his website

53:43

and check him out, follow him on on all social medias and everything.

53:47

Thank you, Derek, man. This has been great, man. I appreciate it, Will. Thank you

53:50

for having me, and thanks also for the transparency. It's rare for men to do

53:54

this, and so what it's all about, man. Oh, no. Listen, man. This is what

53:58

I this is what I love doing my podcast. But, we we were live. We

54:02

had some comments there. Mickey Delaney, he's from, from Washington

54:05

state. He goes, hey, Will. Hi, Derek. How are you

54:09

both? He wants to thank you for your service,

54:12

Derek. And, I appreciate it, Mickey. Yeah. No.

54:16

This this is another reason I do go live is because I I love the

54:20

interaction. I love the fact that, people who leave comments,

54:24

people who if something I say or my guest say, and

54:27

they they feel it, they they they can share

54:31

share their opinions on it. And so I I love that aspect of

54:34

it. But, man, thanks, Terry. This has been great. Don't leave just

54:38

yet. Don't leave just yet. Let me close out the show and me and your

54:41

child will be off air, but, man, thank you once again. This has been

54:45

great. No problem. No problem. Alright.

54:48

So, shout out to everybody who stopped by. Mickie Delaney. I

54:52

don't know who it is, Facebook user, but thank you. Appreciate you.

54:56

Shout out to my real wise fan, Papi j, Brandy j. Shout out

55:00

to the boss lady. Love you and appreciate you. Shout out to Derek

55:04

Johnson for coming through and and sharing his story and and having

55:07

a wonderful conversation with me. And as always, a big, big

55:11

shout out to all the essential workers out there. God bless y'all. Be