Josh Perry dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to pursue his dream of being a professional BMX athlete.
In March of 2010, a hard crash on his bike led Josh to the hospital where doctors uncovered a mass taking up the entirety of the left side of his brain.
In a moment he went from pursuing his passion, competing around the world, to being told by doctors he will die without emergency surgery.
Josh has since beat back 4 brain tumors by taking charge of his health and chooses to live in service despite experiencing extreme loss and adversity.
On this episode we get into the wild ride called his life as Josh opens up about his perspective shifts, beliefs systems and the importance of having a clear vision.
Plus so much more!
Connect more with Josh on his website www.joshperrybmx.com or on Instagram
This episode is soo good!
Don't miss it!
Josh Perry dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to pursue his dream of being a professional BMX athlete.
In March of 2010, a hard crash on his bike led Josh to the hospital where doctors uncovered a mass taking up the entirety of the left side of his brain.
In a moment he went from pursuing his passion, competing around the world, to being told by doctors he will die without emergency surgery.
Josh has since beat back 4 brain tumors by taking charge of his health and chooses to live in service despite experiencing extreme loss and adversity.
On this episode we get into the wild ride called his life as Josh opens up about his perspective shifts, beliefs systems and the importance of having a clear vision.
Plus so much more!
Connect more with Josh on his website www.joshperrybmx.com or on Instagram
This episode is soo good!
Don't miss it!
Welcome to the action hour. My name is Jesse Simpson. And I believe there's never been a better time in the history of the world to be alive. I'm on a mission to bring you the insights, ideas and inspiration. You need to uncover your greatness and take action on your dreams. If you want to start a business, write a book, take a big trip, or level up to a higher state of living in the world. mentally, physically, spiritually, or financially. The stories found in the show will provide the action steps and energy you need to succeed. No matter what you are going through, or where you've been. You can at any time, break that cycle and transform your life. This show is going to show you how to do it. If you've got the itch to act, now is the time allow the inspiring stories within this show to serve as your guide. This is the action hour, buckle up and enjoy the ride. Josh Perry, thanks so much for coming on to the action hour. You are a former pro BMX'er, you're a brain cancer ward you've just defeated four brain tumors, man, you're a badass motherfucker. And I'm super grateful for the opportunity to be able to connect with you here. Share your story with these the audience and jump right in and learn more about how you're living your life, man and how you're giving back now and you're moving forward despite all the opportunities you had to give up. Thanks for coming on to the action hour. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate the intro as well. It's always interesting to see how people are going to choose their words that describe me that I when I get asked like who are you? What do you do? I'm it's like I do a lot of things. So I've been working on distilling that. So I have always appreciative of how people introduce me. Well, well, let's hear it though, man. How about yourself? How would you describe who you are? Yes, I mean, like you said, you know, I'm a former pro BMX athlete, which was a dream come true of mine, I worked hard as a child to make that happen. And then I supported myself for over a decade, from 17 years old on and, you know, with that came the brain tumor journey, not once, not twice, but three times, and lots of other challenges. And all those things, you know, really led me to auditing my health inside and how my life, my reality, what that meant, what that was, and all these elements that make up who I am, and how I show up. And that led me into the work I do today, which involves speaking. Never thought I'd do that. A lot of writing, never thought I'd be doing that, let alone thought I was able to write and wrote a book. And so that's pretty cool. And then get into the space of coaching and helping people improve started out with improving their health, you know, I was a health coach. And then I've just kind of evolved to, you know, what I what I call myself is the optimization strategists like I love strategizing with people to build, you know, these foundational pathways, if you will, in life that will optimize their efforts, I spend a lot of time just kind of going in circles, not really knowing those go in circles, just thinking I gotta do more, I do more to be successful, I gotta try harder, do more and, you know, sleep less and work harder and work more time and didn't really have clarity on where I was going. So I just love being able to be a unbiased third party to other people that are already doing so well in life and maybe just find themselves you know, sick, tired, not feeling confident, unfulfilled, things like that. And then just really, what can we do to change that I've learned, there's an easy way to do that and then there's a, you know, a way of suffering, which is what I went through, and which I love helping people avoid. And that's where I just take my life, my experiences, what I've learned along the way, and help people optimize their efforts. So that way they can get to becoming as healthy, happy and successful as they define it. And as congruent to that vision they hold in their mind. So So today, yeah, I guess I just, you know, take all that and I say I just love helping people optimize their strategies in life to get them from point A to point B, the most efficient, enjoyable and effective way possible, and more than just getting their how to maintain the sustain that level, and that reality and continue, you know, getting as close as they can to the vision they have in their mind for their most ideal life. Beautiful man, and you're someone that strikes me as the the man who walks the talk, you know, you're not just one of them. You're not just putting these things out there, you're actually going through this and now you're just coming back and you're reaching back to the people that are struggling some more that sort of area and you're helping them overcome them because you've been there and you've done that man. I'd love to dive in a bit on onto your journey going back to the start in your just your childhood. So I want to eventually get to where you are with the what you're doing to optimize everything but like, what made you YOU Josh? Like, Where did you come from? What was that like when you were growing up? Yeah, I'd say I grew up with a very supportive family. My parents separated when I was about two or three. And then shortly after that, my mom remarried and then my younger brother came from that marriage, I guess you will consider that like a half brother, I'd never really talked to that because it's my brother and I grew and working grew up in a working class family and my mom put herself through college after my younger brother was born, she became a phlebotomist. And then she, you know, worked full time and really instilled you know, her and my dad instilled this notion you can have the life you want, you know, you just got to work hard, and they never really cared about my grades, they cared about the effort I was putting into it, which makes sense, because then my grades will reflect that. And so they encouraged me to really just do whatever I enjoyed in life. That was productive and positive, of course, but as long as I was doing my best in any aspect that I applied myself, that's all they wanted. So I had that foundation built from a from an early age and I took the sports right away my dad, he's been playing sports, most of his life still today, he's still actively bowling and golfing and, you know, slow down with you know, he was he was before, before a second hip surgery, he was also playing softball, he was playing basketball on Tuesday nights, he was playing flag football, all those things. So from as long as I can remember, I've always been active with any kind of sport. And so I grew up playing basketball for you know, the school team and start out with T ball and moved into little league and then basketball became my focus. And then towards like end of middle school, I got really into BMX, and the summer between eighth grade and ninth grade going into high school, I made the decision to go to a Technical High School because I was working landscaping for a friend of the family as well. And I was like really intrigued by having my own landscaping business one day, and at the same time I was progressing with BMX. So come freshmen, sophomore year, I stopped playing all school sports and just was solely focused on BMX and work. And the reason why I picked the Technical High School was because I knew come 10th grade halfway through if you had like a b-minus or higher, average grade in all of your classes, you can enter the co-op program which allows you to go we would go to cycles of two weeks shop and then two weeks academics by come 10th grade, you can enter the co-op program if you're eligible with your grades and you can go to work instead of shop for two weeks, so you can make money and get credit for school. So to me, I was like, less time in school because I hated school and rather than being in class for shop and then working for free on the school grounds, and then doing other projects, I can make money, get credit, and I can use that money to fuel my you know, my dream of competing professional BMX. And so I did that and then come my junior year, it was the summer between junior and senior year my boss gave me this ultimatum because BMX season was the same peak season and landscaping. And he was like, hey, man, like you're doing well, at that time. I was 16-17 I was running my own routes with the 16 foot trailer mowers, you know all this stuff and just taking care of business. And then I go train in the evenings on the weekends. But then I was taking Friday's off, Monday's off to travel to compete and things like that. And I was doing really well. And I was balancing them well, except for taking those days off. So it got to a point where he wasn't happy with that. And he's like, man, we're getting busy, which is good, you know, but I'm trying to get you to the point where you can have your own business, he always did that watch that happen with the older guys, like buy a truck trailer mower, give or give it to them, they go off do their own thing. Like that was his objective. And then he was like him, you got to pick man like, is it? Is it BMX? Or is it you know, working with me and, or working for me, and then having your own thing, and I was just, I was 17. And it's just easy. I was like, man, like, unconscious as like, I'm not gonna have this, you know, this, this opportunity again, and I'm, 17 I'm doing well. I'm competing professionally now. I'm in the do action sports tour traveling around the country. And I'm not gonna be to do this when I'm 30. Like, I'm not here to start this when I'm 30. And I don't want to have those regrets. So I was like, Oh, it's easy. Like, thank you. I'm out. And that's what led into me dropping out of high school. Funny, so with that I was actually the first month of senior year I missed I was in North Carolina writing and my mom got a letter in the mail. She's like, Oh, shit, I forgot you had school. And I was like, Yeah, me too. Like, and they're like, well, they're saying you can come back next year. I was like, Nah, I'm just gonna stay here. Like, I'll just keep doing my thing. And then I think it was like three or four years later, I need to get my GED and surprising my mom and she like no, never thought I was going to do that. So that was a cool moment. But yeah, I mean, that was my childhood. It was just, you know, I grew up in Cape Cod mass, it was trade centered, or focused, I should say, you know, you're either landscaping you're doing construction of some sort welding electrical, masonry, you know, things like that, or you're going off cape to go to some school for you know, trying to go in the medical field or be a lawyer at something. So the the work ethic was instilled in me at a young age on top of sports. And I just took that and I was like, I'm gonna go my own way. And thankfully my parents were very supportive and just you know, they knew because I had that work ethic that drive that, then I could show them I was responsible and managing those things, I was paying my bills and all that stuff like living at home, like, alright, you know, my mom signed me out of school like me ready to come back and like, officially withdraw. And, you know, the rest is history. But that that was, I'd say, growing up in that working class family, focus on effort, not results, which is a huge thing I focus on today, it's not about focusing on the results is focusing on what efforts are going to manifest those results, because that's gonna increase the probability because we have no control over reality in the future, or now we just have control to a degree, you can still argue this about how we show up, which is still influenced. And that's a whole other conversation. But we know if we put the effort in will increase the probability of having the outcome we want and decreasing the time in which we experience it so that I don't think they're aware of that I've actually loved to to pick their brain if that was like running through their mind at all, but they were just like, you do the work. You know, the results will show Crazy man, your mom sounds amazing as well, a month off school and she forgot you were supposed to be there. Shows that she just trusted you a lot and just saw that you were putting in the work man again, walking the talk, even from a young age. And then you went on like so what was like the professional life after you left school? What was it like for you then? So like I said, I was still competing while I was in high school professionally, and I was, you know, going on all these trips, and I actually started my GED before I officially moved. Because I think it happened like I think I came back for some time before I officially moved down to North Carolina. And then I just kept postponing tests because the contest and I just kind of gave up on it for three years. But yeah, I mean, moving to North Carolina, it's where Dave Mirra Ryan Nyquist and all the other top pro BMX athletes were either living or coming in and out for seasons of the year from all over the world. And I just knew I was like, man, if I really want to have a shot at this the best chance possible, I got to be where the best are, I gotta be on the best ramps, and I got it, I got to live that life. And it's interesting because action sports, they're not as mainstream as like NFL and NBA. So like, you know, the average kid, you know, when my shoes coming from where I came from being like, I want to go train with LeBron, like, that's not gonna happen. Not by any means. But in action sports. There's this more, I think it's because it's not as popular, you know, that? Well, Dave was a celebrity. He was on MTV, and you know, cribs and hosted different shows, things like that. Very different video games and all that. But it's still like action sports, I think because it's not as mainstream and you don't have these crazy fans, you know, trying to stalk you. And like all it's like, it's on that level, that that's more open. And so I wasn't the only one like myself that came to North Carolina to train with these guys. It was just a matter of you making the right connections, and then being able to actually meet them. And thankfully, because I was already I already met him and all the other guys because of competing on the tour. They welcomed me in with open arms. And I think that that moment was a pivotal moment in my career, because it put me from it got me from this place of being like the best in my area, to being not even close, like I'm at the bottom starting over. And that instilling the drive of seeing what's possible, and what I can do, and these people showing me telling me and encouraging me, it just it fueled me. And it wasn't like this competition of like, Oh, I gotta be better. It was like, I want to be better. I don't need to be better than anyone else, I want to be the best I can. And I developed my own style of just growing up watching all these influential riders and then picking what I liked, and then develop my own style that it just it worked really well for me. And it allowed me to stand out. But making that move was one of the best decisions for that career in my life. Because then it put me on the path to writing X Games, I think two or three years after I moved, you know, so I was 19 or 20 when I wrote X Games, with a massive brain tumor I didn't know I had, which is interesting. But then I started traveling internationally getting paid to live my dream and then just progressing more and more. And it was fun. It was amazing. You know, being able to see the world being paid to see the world to share and express myself, or express myself doing what I loved and sharing that with the world while being paid to do it. Like the thing I think that's everyone's dream. Like, you know, today's society, we need to make a living, why not do what you love, and share that with others, especially on a global level. Like it's just, yeah, it was a dream come true. And some stuff I'd never go in Iraq and Saudi Arabia like going to these crazy countries that you read about in history class, and you get to go see it and share something that you love with people and then you know, performing for the military for 12 days through Kuwait and Iraq. Like what other opportunities what I have had to do that anything else within BMX? So yeah, it was it was amazing and to be able support myself from 17 on by doing something that many people said I wouldn't be able to do. And it would be irresponsible decision of me to drop out of high school, not go to college, not get a job, but like, make money riding my bike, you know. So that was pretty fun. And it saved my life because it discovered the first brain tumor through a concussion. And that was a whole another event that just was such a wild unraveling of how that occurred. That's crazy man. I get a feel for like the drive the hard work that you put in and what you learn from a young age. The vision though the vision that would help, like, where do you want to go? And then the support of your mentors, Dave Mirra, and all these people that were there cheering you on? It seemed like they were instrumental parts to your success. Is there anything else that I'm missing in there? No, I think that summarize everything. I think I think the vision is like the key because the vision is what I saw, other people couldn't see. And I've learned like the greatest like, Dr. King, you know, people said, you're crazy that makes no sense, of course, doesn't make sense. You can't see it, feel it, hear it, taste it, smell it, because it's not now. But it's that you're defined by what's in your mind. And that vision is what's going to influence your behavior, starting from a chemical reaction your body, like, it doesn't make sense other people because they're not able to see it. But then once you find your tribe of people that share that same vision in different forms, which is what I found, then it just sets the pace for everything else. And that was I think, I think vision, if I had to pick one thing, vision is everything. Like it's it's everything can be summarized up or distilled from vision, because vision is what you're working towards. And it creates all the other pieces of the puzzle, or discovers all those pieces of the puzzle thereafter. Because if you can take hard work, for example, but like what are you working towards? It's a vision, you're working towards something that you don't currently have? Yeah, so it's it's motivation, or where's motivation come from? Where does inspiration come from? You know, where his purpose come from its vision. And so, you know, being able to take the vision and look at other people are referred to as virtual mentors and model what they're doing, you know, I had post as a Dave on my wall, and then played his video game, bought all his movies, like, went to his website and computer class in high school before vlogs and YouTube were a thing, he put out weekly training videos, and just lifestyle videos, I just absorb everything, and I tried to do everything I could. And so that vision is what compelled me to model what I was seeing. Because that was to me the key to getting what I wanted in my life. And then by being surrounded by that, that environment of those types of people, the way they thought the way they live their life. It just built all this unconscious learning in me and I acted on it over and over. And we know, learning is all unconscious. Conscious repetition is what builds it. And so I was doing that, and I just didn't even know it and I think that's super important. It's having that vision, having virtual mentors that some may, you know, you may hang out with like, some of the doctors I've looked up to and my years of researching human health and optimization I've met in person, you know, like Kerwin Ray business mentor of mine, I've now met him a couple times and you know, communicate with it. Like it's, it's just a matter of setting your sights on something and then doing what you can to get there. And then the rest just kind of unfolds. Amazing, man. It's like faith that your your work is gonna pay off and your to end up where you are, where you want to go. When you think about the vision, are you what's your process for setting this down as like a five year is like the end of life thing. Imagine you're at your funeral, like what's your process you go through for setting your vision. I mean, I've kind of been open to those things in recent years. But when I reflect on my journey, there was no time involved, there was just this is what I want to do. And I'm going to focus every day on anything I can do to get close to that vision. So could be filming a video part, could be going to that contest, could be doing this demo, whatever it was, there was also a phrase from my buddy Isaac, that I didn't know I was doing, but strategic ignorance. I was being ignorant to everything else that wasn't aligned with that vision wasn't congruent with manifesting that vision. I mean, now I've learned to like set different, you know, goals at different times, and then recalibrate it like 90% is like an NLP rule is like when you're 90% of the way of your goal, if it's something you can measure like that, celebrate recalibrate it, because that weight just keeps you unconsciously driving forward. You know, I'm planning to do those things. But honestly, like, I find those things are stressful, especially if you're not aware of your unconscious programming, because as you start to see that date creep up, and maybe you're not where you think you want to be, even though that one week prior, everything could change. 99% of your goal could be reached in that last week of maybe three years trying. Unconsciously well, that's not how we're wired in today's society so for me, it just, those things are helpful, but I've learned to like if I set a three or five or 10 year goal, like cool, I just don't ever look at it again, I do the work, I get into my brain and I don't look at it. I focus on what is it going to take to do that. And that's actually a learning that came from Keller Williams and the one thing methodology. He has a great exercise I use this with my clients now to the goal setting to the now you just start at the very abstract some day goal. I'd love to x, y & z. And then you break that down, what's one thing in five years you could accomplish, that would make everything else easier necessary to reach your someday goal, and then you go down to a year, and then you go down to a month, and then a week, and then a day. And then right now, I think those things that are tangible, for me make more sense and setting like a 3, 10, 5 year goal. I like to look at those as visions. But as soon as I take a vision for five years, and I set it into a goal, I'm unconsciously thinking and consciously thinking every day, every week, every month, every year, especially with my obsession with data and tracking my success. Where am I? Am I on route? Or on path? Am I getting there? Am I making, you know, things like that. And I find that that can create a lot of confusion, a lot of stress that's unnecessary. And so what I like to do is just do those things, I just relabeled them, you know, I just simple change words. And then when it comes to the bigger picture, it's like cool, you know, take a smart goal, for example, you get that really defined, you get it specific, measurable, you get really detailed, and then you create a vision board, whether it's digitally or tangible and then you look at that, you don't look at the the micro and then you just, you know, go from there with creating the what I call the foundation, like what are the steps you're gonna take? What are the actions that you must change must implement? Where the thought processes that need to change? What about the emotional pieces? What about everything to do with your identity? what needs to change? What needs to improve? What needs to get rid of? Like all those things? And so to answer your question is a long way of saying like, I'd never did that to get to where I was, yeah, would have been helpful, I now do some of that thing, but I have my own take on it. And so I just I'm very, very aware of words now. And I tried to be very conscious of my wording, because I know what that's telling me unconsciously and then that's gonna influence my behavior. So I try to just kind of do my own reframe on things and just kind of thrill, but it depends on the person. I mean, if someone's like, yeah, like a three year goals, this and that works cool. There is no right or wrong, it just what do you want? Is it working? Is it not working? I love it, man. Simple. And I love the idea of just kind of, it's like you set it and forget it, you just put the vision up. I mean, you think about it, you're not forgetting necessarily, but you just focusing on the effort, and the results will just take care of themselves. And whether it's 5-10 years or six months from now, like, you know, you're gonna end up there. And that's that that really has been my experience, I would say about that earlier this year, the way I was living my life with this travel company, and this podcast and some of the things that I'm doing, you know, having left everything behind two years before I plopped down and now I have like I'm living the life that I used to imagine now. And it was just such a surreal sort of feeling. And so I can really, this just resonates a lot with me, man, how you're just kind of like just doing the work and just going for it. And I love the idea of not getting so caught up in the numbers of the time or like constraining yourself, which puts the added pressure, you know, unneeded pressure, probably for some people to live up to the expectations and then they beat themselves up and it starts to cycle. So yeah, man, I love this. Yeah and I think that's where self awareness comes in and working with other people that can, you know, see from an unbiased lens of your emotions, you know, and for me, I know, I had a big challenge of overcoming control and things like that. So when I set, let's say, a three year goal, I'm gonna want like, I want to be as optimal as I can, I want to increase my performance, I want to audit I want to improve, I want to optimize like, I'm a former professional athlete, the only way I did that was by constantly auditing myself. And I've learned that has been also kind of a challenge to me when it comes to things outside of the sport, where it's not so you know, I can guarantee if I put the time in, I will get this result in terms of strength or if I just you know, do this, it'd be like, to a degree, you can't do that either way, but I've just learned with my mentality and my personality that if I set a three year goal and it's very specific, and I'm looking at it all the time and like that's why I just kind of like I do those things but I just push them away. I never used to do those, but I do them today. But I just know like I'm just gonna get obsessed with it because I'm going to be constantly asking myself I'm like the most judgmental person to myself in a constructive manner like am I doing what I need to be doing today. Is this serving me? Or is this hindering my efforts? Is this going to get me there? Or is this going to be distracting me, so that phrase, my buddy uses a strategic ignorance, like I've been trying to apply that more and more and audit my time, be a guardian of my time. Is x, y, and z, going to help me with my one thing coz that's gonna be appropriate. And so I think when there's too many specific parameters and numbers attached to things, then it's just about knowing yourself. Some people thrive in there, like I'm, I'm the type of person that I love the data. I love the analytics, I love the numbers. I love measuring progress. I love auditing. And then I also don't like worrying about the time because that's something I've taken from my journey is time is irrelevant, because everything you're working towards can just be gone in a split second. So what's the point of saying this is my three year goal? Like, what do you get out of that? Like, you could just have a vision, you're working towards certain milestones. But when it comes to the time, like, you know, I think it's helpful, but then it just depends on the person. And I think everyone needs to abide by the same rules. What's the process you use? And I think you were hitting on it there, but what's the process you use for auditing? And along with that, how do you how do you bring in time to relax and like not audit? Like, how do you find the balance between those things? I just schedule it. I mean, I just have a day, like two days a month where I just review certain points I'm at depends on what I mean, there's such a broad way of answering those. But, you know, I look at my day, once a week, I look at the week ahead, what am I doing this week? And then I also audit the past week, did those similar things that they help out? Or were they a waste of time? Or do they produce results? Or if they did, or didn't? What can I change? And then you know, yearly I look at different things. Like that's the thing. It's just it's there's so many ways to approach it. It just depends on what works for you. And so, I know you asked about what works for me, but like, I have such like, an interesting process to where I'm like, Yeah, like I'm like, kind of like vague with it. But then I'm very specific with it. I mostly in terms of auditing my performance, I like to look at things every minute possible, like, is this helpful? Is this not helpful? But then when it comes to like auditing results, and goals and things like that? It just depends, like, I have so many, like minor goals that are actually action item goals. So they're not like an outcome goal. It's like, Did I do what I thought would create the outcome? And did those actions manifest the outcome? And it's like, okay, so I'll audit those things on like, a weekly basis. So like, for example, it's like, alright, I'm gonna do X amount of podcasts, I'm gonna do X amount of posts to promote this, I'm gonna reach out to X amount of potential clients or partnerships. So all these types of actions with the goal in mind, and then I'm going to audit at the end of the week or the month, whatever I set for that time of those actions, did that produce a result? If it didn't cool? What can I change? That's just, you know, collecting data, and then just going back to the drawing board. Same thing with BMX. Okay, I want to do a backflip. What do I do first? Okay, let's go do it. Did I get close? Now? What do I do? Let's go back to the tape. Let's check out the video. This was sports. I mean, it's basic sports, auditing and analogy. But that's, I mean, that's how I do it. And I think it's important the beginning. I say all that. I think at the beginning, conscious repetition is what instills that like to where I'm always thinking, is this helpful? Especially when it comes to my brain? Is this going to be a good? Like, if I'm gonna have you know, a beer or something? It's like, I always think like, this is gonna hurt me, or is this gonna help and I have those conversations, and I've learned to get better about it. But to your point about, you know, with like, leisure time, and like self care and taking a step back, like I've literally programmed my weeks like that, I don't like to have like a Monday through Friday, I do this and that. And on the weekends, I do this, like, at one o'clock, I'll program and or I'll put my schedule, I'm gonna go bowl for an hour and a half. I'm gonna go hiking, I'm gonna go golfing like Friday, I have, you know, in the morning, I'm golfing for four hours. And maybe I have some client calls after that. That's the beauty of working for yourself, you can create that. But I think that's really important. Whether you work for yourself, or you work for someone else, it's programming. You know, putting it on the calendar when you're going to do things because human beings were so easy. It's so easy for us to say we'll do something. And that thought just slipped our mind. We have to be actionable about it that we have to take action. So just for me, it comes down to put it on my calendar. And the same thing with celebrating. We have these moments in life that we can celebrate whether it's just a quick little, take some time and just yeah, alright, that was awesome. Or like, go buy yourself something, go do something. You know, we have these thoughts that come in, and it's like, man, I'm stoked on that. We don't tell anyone we don't do anything. We don't do anything to make it physical. And to really solidify it into, you know, rewire that reward system in our brain, we just go, oh, cool, that was awesome, what's next? And I did that for so long, and I didn't get anywhere with it. And then when I started saying, alright, cool, how am I going to celebrate this, maybe I'm gonna hit up my friend. Yeah, I just did X, Y, and Z. I'm so stoked. Or maybe I recorded a podcast about it, or, you know, I started doing new things I signed on a new client, I go buy a new bowling ball. Because I'm really into competitive bowling right now. It's been a great outlet for me. So it's just, you know, there's so many things, and I think it just comes down to seeing what works best for you. And that's also why, you know, I started working with a coach, why I do that I work with people as a coach as well, because I think it's just a matter of what works for you. Anything I say? And I think that's why I'm having trouble answering this question very simply is because it's all relevant to what works for me. And I get this question all the time about like, how can I do this? You know, what, what did you do? And do you want to go through what I've gone through? Because I don't think you do, but that's what worked for me. And that's what put me here today. Oh, yeah, man. So let's get into that then, like, what did you go through and you talked about the cancer, I'm, you know, a one or the the tumor came out when you were writing, but take us on that first, just to catch anybody who's listening up on to what you have actually gone through these last few years. Yeah, so 2009, I wrote X Games, and I, that was a dream come true. I was just ecstatic to have that invite from Matt Hoffman, you know, pioneer of our sport, and I was like, Hey, this is sick. And then, you know, my goal was to not get last place. I didn't. So that was awesome. And then, you know, where's the vision there? Was that I said, Where's the vision there? Not get last place? Yeah, yeah. It was just I want to just do better than last place. But um, you know, going through the rest of the season, I started competing internationally for the first time, you know, had paying sponsors and all that stuff, and it was amazing. And then March 2010, I was trying a new trick for the first time out of the foam pit, I fell and hit my head, you get a concussion and need to get an MRI to look for, you know, TBI, traumatic brain injury symptoms, swelling, bleeding, things like that. The backstory though, is for a year prior, I've been complaining of headaches, migraines, on and off vision problems, nausea and vomiting. And they kept you know, taking my blood looking at me and judging me by cover and denying me scans that I was asking for. So they think there's something wrong should we look at my skull, like look at like x ray, CAT scan and MRI, I don't know, like something. They kept saying, like, no, you're young, you just have headaches, you know, not there's nothing abnormal with your blood work. There's no need to do an MRI, here's some pain meds come back to me and more. So that was my life for about a year, year and a half of pain and suffering. And I never took the pain meds until the last time I went in. Because I always had this weird thought that I would get sick from them. Because when I was younger, it was the flu, but I took like Tylenol or something and immediately threw up. It's always associated that with pain medication. But the last time I went in, it was just so bad. I was like, fuck it, I just took the he was like parka sets or something and projectile vomited, because I took him on empty stomach. And I was like, oh, there's that again. But then, I think it was like two weeks after that moment, I was training and that's when I hit my head, how to get an MRI. And it was just me going by myself. I'm live in North Carolina, I was like 19-20 years old, I think I was 20 at the time. And, you know, went in thinking I'm just gonna get told two weeks off the bike, you know, nothing, nothing crazy, just standard protocol for concussion. And that's when they diagnosed with a brain tumor. They because of that crash, they found the brain tumor if you've seen the MRI image, I post every now and then on my Instagram, it's pretty much half the left side of my brain eight centimeters long for wide for deep into my brain. And they told me they weren't sure if it was benign or cancerous didn't matter to me, because I just heard tumor cancer I associated with death. They said you probably never ride your bike again. And if you want to start living, you have to have surgery immediately. And so that was the first diagnosis and we can have later I got into surgery here at Duke and Dr. Friedman actually rearranged the schedule to get me in because my case was that severe it was that pressing and he was like man, another month or two, you probably wouldn't have woken up you know, it's just a matter like I that's how I felt it was just get to the point where the last week before surgery I couldn't see like all day. And I guess when they got in there, they saw that it was wrapped around an artery and pushing them an optic nerve and that's what was creating a lot of the pressure and if you see the thing like pressure, it's easy to see but also the vision problems was coming from that. And so yeah, six hour surgery, 75 staples 16 stitches for titanium screws later, back on my bike five weeks and competing another eight weeks after that. So 13 weeks out of surgery, I was back in England, competing and back to the normal. Just, it was interesting because it was a whole different outlook on life. But there was also this lingering fear of like not wanting to hit my head, because that's what I thought caused it because they said, because it wasn't cancerous, so to speak, it wasn't malignant, it was benign, that they weren't sure what created it. But I got back to my normal self, I'd say about somewhere eight to 12 months after the surgery and get back on my bike and realizing I was able to do everything. And then I actually improved a lot that year, you call recovery. And then 2012, September, October, I believe it was routine MRI showed to Massa growing back because of the location of the optic nerve in the artery, they couldn't risk hitting either them. So there was a residual cell growth. And so I went through Gamma Knife treatment. It's like a radio, radio static treatment. November 2012, out in Boston, TELUS Medical Center, they basically just zapped them. And then two years for three or four years, they shrunk slowly. And they've been stable since. 2017 routine MRI showed two new masses had popped up on the right side of my brain. And that's when I got really serious about metabolic health, getting into a state of ketosis, reducing blood glucose, therefore reducing inflammation via reducing insulin and insulin growth factor and all these things. And for two years, had clean scans. And then, you know, just as we're recording, nine or 10 days ago, whatever last weekend was from this previous weekend, well, I woke up from a seizure, actually in my sleep. And then that MRI has shown that the mass and the frontal lobe has progressed in the two years since our last MRI after two years of stability. And so now I'm just waiting on, you know, looking at possible surgery coming up or gamma knife or I don't know. So I'm just kind of actually this week waiting on the results for my surgeon and oncologists from Gamma Knife about what they think is going on and what we're going to do and then making a decision moving forward. So that's, that's been the brain tumor journey, I still live with four and my skull today, which is one of them, looks like it's grown. And that's what triggered possibly triggered the seizure. So with all that, I've just learned every step of the way to audit what I could have done to increase that occurrence, originally, again, and again. And what I can do to better my reality, inside and out, so first one was first diagnosed who attends would get me really introduced to nutrition and metabolic health. The second one, two years later, it's what solidified that belief that there's something to this with metabolic health, ie nutrition, exercise, supplements, things like that. And then the third one is what put me into full belief that a state of ketosis with all the things that I was learning with epigenetics, and then mindfulness and meditation and got me really heavily into Dr. Joe dispenza is where like, all those pieces came together. And so now it's just like, I just, I'm just wired to be like, Alright, what did I do? or What didn't I do? Therefore, what can I do? What are the options? And what do I get to do to make what I want to happen? So? Yeah, it's it's interesting, crazy, man, it's, it's obviously, still really present. And it's ever evolving. And I'm wishing you the absolute best man. And, you know, my, my older brother's name was Josh, I don't know if we talked about this. But he he battled pancreatic cancer for 22 years. You know, so in a way you remind me of him and your resiliency, and how you've turned what you're going through, and you're still living your life in service of other people and something larger than yourself. And I believe that's what kept him going for all that time when, you know, within, he's 18, they said he had six months to live, he had a 5% chance of surviving the next six months, man. So I feel for you on this man and I respect what you're doing so much. I'd like to dive in a bit on to the like, what that's been like for you this ongoing thing, and like what you've learned in the process as far as ketosis and how to optimize and like what you're actually actively doing now to manage your mental, physical and even spiritual well being. Yeah, I mean, and going back to what you said about your brother, you know, I know we talked about that in the past and I think that that's something that I've just at the beginning is kind of started unconsciously shifting my energy to like, what can I do with this to help other people and that's what led me to finding or to defining my purpose in life, which is to help serve other people optimizing their their health and their their subjective reality. And so much so that after the third diagnosis, I went all in on that and I stopped competing on my own terms. There's no way I could still ride at the same level I did for many years. But it just wasn't serving me the way I like I wasn't feeling fulfilled, and I wasn't I didn't have that passion. And it's actually been 15 months since I last rode. And again, that just on my own terms, I just wanted to just do something more impactful. And so I think having that purpose, having that new vision, that that's what inspires me draws me towards something. And that's I always talk about motivation is useless motivation is non existent, because it's just elevated energy in a moment, we label as motivation. You can go to a seminar, you can watch a talk, you can listen to a song, you can see something that feel motivated, but it's short lived, if you're not inspired, if you're not drawn towards creating something, or accomplishing something. And so for me, you know, I have my personal vision for my life. And in that vision, is a massive amount of contribution. And I'm told, last few years, I've been told more and more, I need to focus on me a little bit more, but like, I can't help but have this, this feeling of responsibility that I'm here. You know, people like your brother passed, I mean, you know, my younger brother passed. Those people aren't here and I am, there's got to be a reason, and it's not just to live a selfish life, which I don't believe the word selfish is good or bad, but I believe that there's a higher purpose of me being this human being in this life, how I'm living it, everything about who I am, what I choose to do with my time and what I prioritize myself and for others, like, it's that that keeps me going. Because that I guarantee other than people that deeply know me, if one day, I'm just like, fuck it, I'm done doing everything, I'm just gonna play the victim card view. Like if that makes sense, dude fucking lizard for brain tumors has been through this, this and that his mentor took his life, his brother took his life, he just had a seizure, mass has grown again, he's going to have to have surgery, like all this shit, like, that makes sense. But like, that's not what I see, in my mind. That's not what I want nor do I need to give that energy. So the fact is, you know, we can choose. And I think it's something that I love talking about, I was talking to Jack this morning about it's like, there's a difference between theory and experience. I'm a high school dropout that learned through experience I self taught myself. That's incorrect. I self taught, however, that without repeating myself, I'm self taught with all the things that I speak to today, through going through courses, hiring coaches, reading books, everything I can to teach myself these things that I now share with people backed on experience, I don't just go out and teach theory, everything I teach, talk, share whatever, I've learned and experience, and I've seen the results from that. So whether it be ketosis, and metabolic health, I've done an amount and immense amount of research, collaborating with doctors the same way didn't beamex I became friends with the leading researchers metabolic health and human optimization. You know, why does this do that? Why does this that what I've learned, and so I've gone all in on doing it, and then I had some results myself, I share results with other people, or I've helped them get their own results. So I speak to those things, I don't speak to things I don't know, I speak to curiosity of things, I don't know, I'm just being true to myself. That I really think it comes down to you know, being intentional about something larger than yourself. And it's okay to be you know, intentional about having things experiencing things for yourself. But I find that those things come a lot more efficiently and effectively and easier, when you're focused on a larger picture beyond just yourself. And so that's, that's the life that I choose and the meaning I choose to make of all the things I go through and have gone through and continue to go through. And I think that's why I'm in this space today talking about these things without breaking down without living in fear. And I told Jack at the end of this year, before the seizure, before the new information on the mass growing, it's like, man, I just have this feeling that things are gonna be great, like, not just good, but like things are great. You know, she's in a lot of change right now, leaving her athletic training, or athletic trainer position at a school to go all in on a photography business. That's, you know, we're moving in five weeks of this conversation to Florida, like we're doing all these new things. I'm just like, I just like could be worried, especially with the recent seizure and growth of the mass. It's like, fuck, like, it could be a whole different space. But I believe, you know, the 11 years up to this point have got me to this point, to be confident to be happy to be choosing how to respond to things and the message I want to put out into the world. So walking my talk is everything, because it's that's what led me to being the you know, elite athlete I was on a global scale, making a living from doing something that people told me was just riding your bike. And it's like, no like, it's all these things I learned and implemented that got me to this point. And if it wasn't for that vision, drawing me towards that, and then you know, just choosing what to believe and what to focus on, I wouldn't have got anywhere in BMX. I don't think that I'd be where I am today, let alone live. And that's just the belief I try to share with other people moving forward. And I love using me as an example. That is because like, I'm going through this shit right now. Like, not only if I lived before brain tumors for years, I'm now facing, you know, what could be possible surgery or radiation treatment, I refuse to do chemo, that's a whole different topic. I'm very strongly opinionated against chemo. But if it comes down to that option, I'll get the experts that I know to weigh in, that do use chemo in certain situations. But I don't believe that's going to be the case for me, because the tumors I live with are malignant. So that's where Yeah, but anyways, it is what it is. And I'm choosing what to do with this information and how to move forward. I think that's the most important message I can share with people as I go through these things that people would say are hard or unwanted. It's just to me, it's just, it's life, you know, it, because we define what's good. Therefore, we define what's bad. And I don't like to look at things as good or bad is like to look at, like I like I've been really fascinated with Buddhism, like, there is no meaning to life, like I like to I love Jim Carrey, what he talks about, like, it's just, you know, the stuff like, there's just, it is what you make it and that's going to ultimately, you know, create the experience you have I love it man. And it's just such a strong feeling of no matter what's going on or in the world around you, or things you can't control of your focus on what you do have control over and the meaning you're attributing to the thing going on. And that's what's keeping you moving forward, man. And it's amazing. To see now you've talked about the struggle you've experienced and I think before you talk about the easy way, the hard way, and I know Joe dispenza talks about you can make changes from a state of joy and inspiration or a state of pain and suffering. I think it's obvious, you know, if your life is falling apart, you know, the pain and suffering is there. But like, how do you how do you not get so bad that you're just thrust to change or die? How can you do it from this sort of joy and inspiration, this like feeling good and still make positive changes in your life? You just gotta be open to you know what's possible, good or bad, you know, as you define that, and for me, I was living a life that I thought I wanted in the manner I wanted, but I was using a lot of things to cover up the pain and suffering I was going through. And then it all made sense when I got diagnosed with a brain tumor. So I had to react, I had to choose from pain and suffering with a little bit of inspiration that like there's a possibility I'll live. We live in the modern times where I can have this surgically removed. Cool. And then it got to a point where I just started learning like, Oh, I could have been proactive. I could have taken, you know, I wish these things were taught in school. I wish metabolic health and mindfulness and consciousness wish those things were taught in school, because that's what really matters. You know, getting a job, especially when you don't even have a fully formed prefrontal cortex and thinking, What am I gonna do the rest of my life, I don't even know who the fuck you are at that age, let alone what you want to do the rest of your life when you haven't even tried other things. But I think that I think those are the things that need to be taught. And that I think, you know, going through it, that's why I do what I do is because I want people to be open to like, hey, this is what could happen. What do you want? I find most people don't know how to answer what do they want? If I were to ask someone, which I do with my clients, what do you want? I don't want this. I don't want that goal. What do you want? Well, I don't know. I never thought of it like that. Yeah, that's the problem. That's why you're experiencing what you're experiencing right now. Because you're not focused on what you want. you're focused on we don't want what we focus on expands. That's how our unconscious mind works. And so for people that you know, want to learn from join inspiration, just be grateful that you don't live with circumstances I live with. You don't live with work situation and circumstances that you live with. Oh, I got 50 pounds to remove cool. You could have 150 you don't, cool. You could have one leg or you have two, I have a friend with one arm. He has no excuses, his slogans, it's just an arm. Like that's his thing. You know? You could have brain tumors, like fuck, like there's so many things, they could be worse. That's perspective. And so for people that are like, Oh, I don't know, you know? I don't know what kind of inspirate like, look for it. What do you want to do with your life? And if you can't just start with what do you enjoy? Like what do you not enjoy about any aspect, your life start there? That's most place most people need to start there. But it's a simple reframe. I don't want to be overweight, I don't want to be broke, I don't want X, Y, and Z cool. Just reverse engineer that then or just flip it, what's the opposite of what you don't want. Or if I don't want to be overweight, I want to be in shape. Cool, hey, go, I don't want to be broke anymore. What do you want? Maybe financial freedom, maybe financial abundance, maybe you just don't want to give a fuck about it. And you just want to feel confident that things are gonna be okay, whatever it is, just start with what you don't want, and then flip it to what you do want. And then focus on what it takes to make those changes. Usually 99.9% of time it's internal, you have to change the thought process, you have to change your perspective, you have to change a belief structure to change your paradigm in which you operate. And then the work becomes easier, because now you've shifted what you believe is possible and who you believe you are, and what you can do with that. And so I find the meaning I've taken is I was able to overcome these challenges. I'm still alive when someone like my mentor, Dave, Mir, and my younger brother are no longer alive, which is, you know, we could say that's fucked up. But the fact of the matter is, I'm here, I woke up. I woke up last weekend with a seizure, but I still woke up, I'm fine. But I've dedicated my life to helping people form perspective, to change in a state of joy and inspiration, rather than what I've gone through could be a reality for you. I just happen to go through the 21 years old, not 40, or 50, or 60, a lot of things start to become evident that people are unhappy. When their body starts breaking down, their mind starts breaking down, their debt, you know, gets bigger, their relationships fall apart, whatever it is, they realize, Oh, I'm sick, I'm tired, I'm unhappy. I'm alone. Whatever else is out there looks like just change now. The fact is, it's never too late if you're waking up. So that's why I tell people if they're not if they're like, well, I don't know, it's like, cool. Well, you could have this life, what do you want? But I think we're conditioned to take the safe route, the practical route, there was that talk, Jim Carrey gave that speech, like 2014 15 that went viral? The one we, you know, share that big 30 or 40 foot painting. He said, so I forget how exactly word of it was like so too, too often do we pick a path of fear disguised as practicality. That's, that's the majority of the population today. Like, you know, I was one of the outcast. But I'm like, I'm happy. My bills are paid, you know, I'm alive. I've been able to inspire people, I've been able to impact the world, I could have gone down this route and worked a nine to five or done whatever and been miserable. That's what we see in a lot of society today. But it just comes down to what do you want. And I think the the one, there's two things that I believe holds anyone back from where they want to go, and go, regardless of where they are. Now. It's beliefs. That's number one. And two is skills. They're the only reason you're not where you want to go is a belief structure. anyone that wants to challenge me on that, feel free to reach out, and I will be happy to just ask you 1000 questions, and then you'll discover your belief structure holding you back. It's as simple as that. But we get caught up in our own, you know, reality, our own mind. And we start convincing ourselves that, you know, this is this and that, like, this is a bunch of bullshit. And I know that because I've changed it. And I just, you know, with my health or with my finances, just changed some belief structures. It took time took effort, of course, I didn't invest in it. But here I am. So back to your original question about people that you know, are having trouble finding that joy and inspiration to change. All it's like two things. One, you can wait, you can let you know the things you don't enjoy progress and progress and then maybe have a chance to change them if it gets too much. Or you can focus on other people's realities like mine, and what you can learn from it and be thankful that you don't live with brain tumors. Be thankful that you have all your limbs, be thankful you're not 300 plus pounds. Be thankful you're not in $400,000 with the debt. Be thankful you're not homeless, be thankful you're not addicted to drugs, be thankful that you have loving family members that are alive in your life. I just spoke to so many different friends of mine and their realities, be thankful you have any limbs. I know people don't have any limbs. They're still out there crushing it loving life perspective. Well, let's get into that belief structure. I like to know your approach to addressing those unconscious belief structures and how you can change them so they can better serve your your life and your your vision. Yeah, so I have some like journaling scripts that were shared with me from my coach, mentor and her coach, mentor and so on so forth. And it's just, it's just just a bunch of simple questions just uncovering you know, what comes up and you just allow your unconscious mind to do the work. But ultimately, I don't have a right in front of me, it's, it's gonna be kind of hard to reference. There's a lot going on there. But the first thing is just asking yourself, you know, why are you here, like doing in this moment doing this work? Like, why? Why do you want to change? What do you want to change? And then once you have, you know, these examples, I'm, I'm unhealthy, or I'm broke or whatever, I'm unhappy, or I'm insecure, or whatever it is, alright, cool. Where was the first time that this experience showed up in your life, you just let your unconscious mind draw you back to that first event. And then you just do the best you can to just see what comes up in terms of what went on? You know, what were you thinking? What were you feeling? What was just describing that scene? And then can you find the unconscious decision or the unconscious belief that was formed in that moment? So for example, you know, I was working with a client recently, you know, we were talking about I was like, man, imagine, you know, use a different name. But, you know, imagine, Little Joe, you know, he's 10 years old, asked his parents, you know, this ice cream truck, I want an ice cream cone. Like, no, no, we gotta go. We can't do that right now. But then he sees John down the road, he got to ice cream cones. So in that moment, he felt like his parents didn't love him. He wasn't worthy of it, he didn't deserve it. His parents didn't, you know, want him to be happy, he made up whatever meaning it was. And then time went on, he forgot about it. And then an event happened later on, which is the next step is uncover all the other events that solidified that, that belief, that meaning that you made as a child, and how those just reinforced it. And then he's like, you know, five years later, I had this happen. And it just reaffirmed that this belief I made that I wasn't good enough, I wasn't worthy of what I wanted. And then as an adult with experience and a fully pre fully formed prefrontal cortex, you can take all of that information, and you can logically think about it now. What were your parents going through? When they said, No, we can't get that right now. Oh, they were broke. They just spent the last of their paycheck on groceries. Or they were late for something they were trying to better my life and that we had to get like, they were looking out for my health, whatever it was. And then so in that moment, you can reframe that experience, you can create a new conscious decision to be made there. So rather than I wasn't worthy, my parents didn't love me, whatever it was, what really was going on, oh, my parents were looking out for my health. My parents do love me. Or my parents were, you know, they were struggling financially. So it's not about you, it's about what was going on in that environment is 0-12 years old, for the most of our belief structures are formed. We're in like this hypnotic brainwave state, we're just soaking up everything, we're just modeling things, or 25-26, our prefrontal cortex is finally developed to the point where we can make reasoning out of things and rationally think. And so that's just, you know, some of the steps. It's just like, Okay, what is it you don't enjoy right now? Where's the first time? Or when's the first time to show up in your life? whatever you can do to describe that entire event from the other people's perspective involved? What were the sequential, you know, events that happened to reinforce that belief that you made? Or that meaning you made? And how can you reframe it now, and then watch all the other events, reevaluate themselves, and come back to this point in time and re evaluate where you are? And what's the positive learning from all this. I mean, on a simplistic surface level, that's one of the first steps. And it's just, it's, it's so simple. And it's so powerful. It the mental and emotional release that can come just from doing that journal entry. In this specific strategic flow. It's been written for many different experts over the years. It, it can change your life just by doing that. And then you can take it a step further, and it's like, Alright, cool. Now I have this new reframed mentality in life, and I have this, you know, I want to do this now. It's like, Alright, cool, what do you got to do? I have to change this, I have to change that. A great book that's practical and simple to break this all down in terms of change is Atomic Habits by James clear, he talks about, he doesn't get into depth with like, what I was just talking about, like tracing back to your past, but you just talks about being aware, and creating new systems in your life that change your identity, because at the core, that's what I just described. Part of your identity was formed from one event in your past as a child. And then you just affirmed that that identity with your unconscious mind with all these different situations and meanings been made. And so that book atomic habits, talks about how to break habits, how to create new habits, whichever one you prefer, based on the identity of Who you are that allows you to do the things you want to do. Another great, there's a disney movie as a cartoon called inside out. Have you seen that one? So that that it's a kid's movie, it's a disney movie. But it's a great fundamental of how emotions and memories and personality is built. It follows this little girl from the time she's born till a teenager, the ups and downs of her family losing their job having moved to the city, and how memories are replaced with new experiences and personality is developed. And then she becomes moody when she was once this vibrant, young. And it's amazing. It's, it's the most. Like, it's probably the most efficient film I've seen on identity being formed. And it's a disney movie, pixar disney called inside out. And then recently, the movie, disney movie soul just came out. And I think that's like the long awaited sequel to inside out about identity, personality and emotion since, yeah, so anyways, I would say, you know, that structure I gave of just those simple questions, what's going on now that you don't want? Where did that first occur in your life? What was the meaning that you made or the belief you created? Can you describe what was actually going on from other people's perspective that were involved? Or your life then? And then what? how you look at it now? What are the other events that have occurred since then? How can you reframe all those? And then can you see how you're in the reality that you are today experiencing what you're experiencing? And what can you do differently moving forward, and atomic habits, the film inside of the film soul? I think those are great resources that go with it. And I have, I've actually done podcasts, you do videos about breaking those down even further too. So I can always share those with you a later time. Let's get into epigenetics a bit. I think I heard you say before 70%-75% of our gene expression can be influenced by our daily actions, and perhaps our beliefs. Tell me if I'm correct on that, but then lead into like, what that looks like, how do you shift your your, your genes? gene expression? Yeah, so I first heard about this concept in 2013, from Dr. David Perlmutter his book grain brain. That was the first time I ever heard about ketones, ketosis, eating higher fat, all about the brain, brain performance. And Dr. Andy Campitelli, she's a doctor out of Canada, she was speaking at an event 2019, where she was saying their research has been showing somewhere around 70 75% of our genes can be expressed differently based on lifestyle choices. So of course, nutrition, exercise, sleep, toxins, supplements, so on so forth, fasting, like all these things. And ketones have very powerful epigenetic factors. So people look at ketones, they think, oh, weight loss, I don't need I don't need to be on keto, or they like, No. Ketones do two things, they one they provide you with your mitochondria of your cells, adequate fuel source that's more efficient than glucose and less, like dirty burning, for example of free radicals and inflammation, but then to their powerful signaling molecules. So they actually signal different mechanisms in your body to upregulate downregulate. So they'll target like the NRF two pathway to reduce inflammation. They'll target their internal glue defile, which is a powerful antioxidant that your body can actually produce, and so many other things. But epigenetics is basically the study of gene expression through lifestyle choices and changes and interventions since like that. And then, you know, Dr. Joe talks a lot about this with just, you know, something as simple as stress releases cortisol and on a cellular level that programs your cell a certain way. And then if you grow up in a stressful environment, I went through this addiction to stress I had no fucking clue why I was like, Oh, my works done for the day, everything's peaceful, or peaceful. Now all of a sudden, I'm like, stressed out because I'm not doing anything I need to fill this time in. I was addicted to stress on a cellular level, he talks about this in breaking the habit of being yourself or becoming supernatural. I know in his courses he talks about in depth as well. But when your cells don't get this, you know, hormone hit, it starts to excuse me, starts to have like withdraw. And so that over time will change your gene to express itself one way, I'm not going to speak too in depth because I don't know enough about to regurgitate it. But my basic understanding is epigenetics is the study of gene expression. We can express our genes known as Let's step take a step back, you know, bone density, structure, skin color, hair color, eye color, those are like your fixed genes like those are your fixed genetics, but the majority of how your body performs and interacts with itself. You can change through diet, exercise, mindfulness, the content you consume. But that's triggering on a cellular level and meditation fasting, so many things. Excuse me, I have like a weird tickle in my throat. But if you want to learn more about epigenetics, just google epigenetics, Dr. Perlmutter, epigenetics, Dr. Joe dispenza, read their books, or just YouTube it I'm sure there's tons of information out there. I know Dr. Joe's intensive and progressive workshops on his website, talk about it, as well as his book. So I guess this, the main takeaway is like, most people think, Oh, my genes are fixed, like, I'm gonna be overweight, unhealthy forever. And it's like, no, like, you can change that. You just have to change your life. And your genes will respond accordingly. What's your approach? Because I'm with you, 100% man, but do you ever face any resistance on like, like, how do you nudge someone? Or maybe you don't you just kind of let them live the life but how do you nudge someone to let them know that like, their diagnosis, or what they think their life is destined destined to be? Whether it's weight, or some sort of health issue, or whatever it is? How do you convince them that that's actually not the reality? That does ask them questions, you know about why, you know, and they may say, Oh, this is forever, why? I didn't know that. It'll go back to a belief structure. And then just with what I've been trained in, it's just, you know, asking strategic questions based on the information they give, like, Alright, well, you know, let's, let's talk about that. Where'd that show up for you? Why is that? You know, you know, what, you know, things like that. And then sharing stories like myself and other people who have challenged that belief, because it didn't This is a belief, it's not fact. I mean, there there's a difference between a belief structure based on an experience with an interpretation and a fact. Even like two plus two equals four could be broken down and made different ways to not be true. And it's like the like the one plus one equals two. Will one mom, one dad created baby, that's three. So one plus one could equal three. It depends on the perspective depends on how you're interpreting the information. So that's just I mean, it sounds cliche, maybe or simple, but it's It is that simple. It's just asking questions. And someone will say, you know, I'm diagnosed with this, like they identify with a diagnosis. Okay. What does that look like for you? Is that serving you? Is that what you want? Then why are you focusing on that? And it's just, it's just about listening for language, and then asking questions based on the feedback. And that's what I've learned to do. It's not project on two people, share my perspective, my experiences, what I've learned, and then ask questions, the best way to defuse emotion is by asking a question, sometimes that may bring up more emotion, if a person's like maybe like, they can tell they're being challenged. But if you're just like, cool, that's your belief. Where did you develop that belief structure? Or why is that your belief? You know, I believe all people should be treated equally cool. Why? Now, I don't disagree or agree. I'm just curious, how'd you come up with that? I love asking people like that. Cool. How'd you come up with that? Like, how'd you gather that? That information or that belief? Or how do you come to that conclusion? And just by doing that, they're like, Oh, actually, Facebook told me that one day. Oh, so who source that? I don't know. Oh, so it was like your your uncle that said that, and you believed it? Or you just grew up hearing that shit in your family all the time. Money doesn't grow on trees, you know, must be nice. You know, things like that. Like, that must be nice thing. Like, I hate that. My dad says it all the time. And I'm just like, I'm always triggered by it. I'm just like, No, I've worked really hard to like live that expression of it is nice. That must be not of course, it must be nice if I can work for it. So it's just like, Where did that information come from? Usually, it comes from, you know, inherited some way from family, content, teachers, other people, co workers, whatever. But yeah, it's just about asking questions. That's the thing I've learned. And Stephen Covey talks about that, and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The book he wrote, one of the chapters, I believe, is like chapter five, it's first seek to understand then be understood. If someone's got a different belief structure than you and you're trying to project your shit onto them. There's no understanding, they're not going to hear you. But when you can ask them questions. Hey, how'd you come up with that conclusion? Would you go through? You know, how are you feeling? Why do you think that way? What information do you have? What evidence do you have for that being true moving forward? There's no right or wrong just genuinely asking. Because then you can get information from them. You can understand where they're coming from. You can create a connection by saying, fuck, man, yeah, I hear that. Like, that's crazy. Like you went through that. Here's something I went through. Here's what I learned from that. Are you interested in seeing how that could you know, change your life? Like? Most people don't do that most people don't think to ask questions. You see this all the time, people just want to be heard. And I think that's the problem. People aren't feeling heard. They're not feeling supported. So they just want to get everything out. And I've been there, I've done that I've ruined relationships, intimate relationships, I just like, just, you know, word vomiting everywhere, because I didn't feel heard in my life. And it's not about that all the time. It's about understanding where other people are coming from, because as much as my intention was to help people years ago by just sharing and sharing wasn't doing anything, because it wasn't connecting. It was just throwing it out the wall and falling down. And when I started asking questions, I gathered a better sense of where that person was, and I knew how to connect with them. Dr. Joe talks about that your state of being is going to determine what information is going to seep in or not. If you're stressed out, if you're in fear, if you're angry, you're feeling guilty, doesn't matter what someone tells you that will help you. If you're not at the same level, that information coming in terms of energy, you may hear and they may not register, they could have the absolute solution to your problem. But because you're not resonating on that level, energetically. Secondly, click when you can ask questions and defuse the energy, get you a neutral state, and then just share things usually click and that's been my experience. That's what I do with my coaching. Just ask questions. It's, it sounds so simple, I had to work through the guilt of like charging money for what I do. That was a whole different, you know, growing up belief structure around money and guilt and shame and inadequacy and things like that. But once I got to it, I had to work through them. Like, this shit seems so simple, because it just takes that third party that's unbiased, to your emotions, to just ask you questions, to just call you out to just, you know, why do you say that? You know, what do you want? Like, it took me paying to have that, you know, support for me that really like accept it. And I was like, shit so powerful. It's just questions are so underrated. And I think that's everything. It's just, you know, someone says this shit, you know, this diagnosis is, you know, my life. What do you want? Well, I want x y&z cool, then why are you saying that? And I think it just comes with this belief that people think their genes are fixed. People think that no matter what they're gonna do, their life won't change. Because mom said that, because dad said that, because they watched them do that, because they watched them manifest their life with their words, and live that life. And I think that people are starting to open up. Doc Joe talks about this thing, see, you know, these things, social media, cell phones, information traveling so fast, people starting to open their mind to like, oh, there's other ways of living. There's other way that person's doing it differently. And it's working. He looks like me, she looks like me. They're from where I'm from? Yeah, like, maybe it's possible. Just about being curious. I think that's actually I want to leave on that note, I want to leave this. The number one thing I tell my clients and I try to practice myself and I tell anyone that's struggling. Just be curious. Stop judging your self, your experiences, your life, your reality. Just be curious. Just, that's interesting. Why is that? Why am I experiencing this? Why am I not where I want to go? Why did this happen? Just be curious. Because if you can be curious, you'll find the learning. You'll find the information. If you judge yourself and you say I'm a failure. I'm not good enough. I don't look pretty enough. I'm not skilled enough. I'm not smart enough. All things that I've dealt with belief structures. Whenever you do that. You don't have any door to walk through to gain opportunity. You're solidifying it. It's like when people What is it? Robert Kiyosaki the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki? Yeah, he said that he's like, when you say you can't, your brain shuts down, has no reason to do anything. You already told it what to do. When you say how can I? Or what would it take? Your brain opens up possibilities open up. And I think that's one of my favorite things to share with people is to be curious. Curiosity is the key to opening up possibility and opportunity to change your life. But whenever you say I can't, or you affirm things, the nuts that's what it's doing. It's affirming that you can't do X, Y and Z, you can't learn you can't afford you can't whatever. Especially if you say I am going to be sick, I am going to be broke. I am going to be alone. I am going to be all those things. Your brain has no reason to look for opportunity, because it's just abiding by the code you're giving it. Amazing man. Alright, Josh, I got one more question to ask you. Before I do that can you share where people can find you if they want to get connected in your world perhaps coaching or anything else? Yeah, so this is a funny story about that. Everything's just Josh Perry BMX @joshperrybmx, joshperrybmx.com, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn all Josh bear BMX. The funny story is I went to buy Joshperry.com years ago, and they wanted like five grand for it and I was like, I don't even have $1,000 right now there's no way I'm gonna, you know, go in debt for a URL. And then I think it went up over the years I haven't looked in like two or three years. So it just it made sense. I just believe everything just transparent this Josh Perry BMX weather .com or at before it doesn't matter. And I just kind of like accepted like, that's a part of my identity like BMX, it got me to where I am today. It opened up the door for me to do what I do. It's a fun conversation starter. I don't need to get rid of the BMX, but for so long. I was like, the BMX thing isn't professional, especially now that I'm not competing. I'm not that was huge identity. imposter syndrome. Like I'm not a BMX athlete anymore. My buddy was like, What the fuck do you mean? Like, yeah, you are, you just don't do it, but you're still a BMX athlete. And then my buddy, Jimmy Ferris, who I'll have to connect you with you if you're interested in chat with him some time he, his rookie year, he won a Super Bowl with the Patriots and he competed in the NFL for 10 years. And we were talking about this too because he helped me out with a lot of it heats like 10 years ahead of me and this this game of life and transitioning from Pro sport athlete to business and coaching and all that and he was like, man, like, I still say I'm a Super Bowl champion, because I am. I don't play football anymore but that's what I did. And that's what allowed me to build my platform allowed me to speak allowed me to coach allowed me to write this book like all these things and it's like the same for me. And that just it's it's such a it's such a slippery slope with identity and that's why that book atomic habits is so amazing and that's what I focus on today is identity because we build this identity over time and then when we go to shift to do something new because we know we need to improve our health we know we need to make a change to better our our family or to get the house we want or to pay off debt whatever it is, it conflicts with our past our passes with confirmed our identity now everything we do, affirms it Dr. Joe talks about this like your body, your unconscious minds always comparing contrasting your mind your body with space and time what's in the environment. And it's always doing that. And until you become aware of it, you don't know what's going on the imposter syndrome is fucking bullshit. So many people are living suppress from their truth, their talents, their value their passions, because they don't believe that's who they are. Because everything their external environment has told them why they're not that. And I just saw this year with a pandemic and American Idol because they were able to do zoom auditions. There's been amazing people with amazing voices that 15 years old to 30 to 40 years old, coming out now, because they had an opportunity that allowed them to share. When maybe the before they couldn't afford to get somewhere. And then it just changed the world. And now they're like making finals or they're, you know, they didn't make the final but they're getting picked up with this record label. They're just doing amazing things. And I think that just I don't know where I was going with all that, but it just comes back to identity. What we believe our identity is is usually a protection mechanism to keep us safe from trying and the the pain of not succeeding based on other people. And I think if you can be curious and just focus on what it is you want and do your best to create that vision as specific and as you know, meaningful to you as you can, the rest will work its way out, especially when you let go of control. And so going back to the URL, I just had to realize the BMX is a big part of why people even care to hear what I have to say or what I've gone through and I need to respect that and I need to because I did I loved it I enjoyed it. But then there was a time where I thought that like chasing BMX to mess me up for where I am today. It's like now it's a beautiful thing so I just can't bring myself to pay five plus grand for a URL they just it's terrible that people do that. What's the with that Josh? I want to who that who that Josh Ferris is just sitting on your domain name but I love it man. It's like once a green always a green, once a BMX'er always a BMX'er. I love that. Thanks again for coming on the action hour brother I really appreciate it. Thanks so much for all the value dropping the show anything else you want to say before we go? No, that's my dog shatter decided to drink some water as we're exiting the conversation. But now I just appreciate if anyone's still listening like I just always appreciate people like to be able to share what I've gone through my perspectives to have other people's time in doing so. It's not something I ever thought I'd be doing. And that's the beauty of vision It's always evolving, and to be where I am today to have these experiences and share it, it definitely means the world to me. And so I just appreciate you give me the opportunity to share. Thanks again, ladies and gentlemen, thanks for tuning in to the action hour. We'll catch you on the next episode.