The Action Hour

Jeremy Herider - Pro-Baseball Player, Entrepreneur, Speaker and Coach

June 23, 2021 Season 2 Episode 8
The Action Hour
Jeremy Herider - Pro-Baseball Player, Entrepreneur, Speaker and Coach
Show Notes Transcript

"Excellence in anything increases your potential in everything. "

Jeremy Herider spent a lifetime building the elite habits needed to achieve success as a pro athlete and beyond.

He was the first contracted player to get a hit with the Arizona Diamondbacks following his career with the Cincinnati Reds.
 
He was later drafted by LA Reign of the Grid League and had the honor of qualifying for the CrossFit Games, winning 1st place in the Deadlift/Box Jump event.

Jeremy now leads Optimal Self Inc where he has helped thousands of people become the best versions of themselves. He’s done so with the belief that every high-performing individual follows those same basic habits to support their success.

We get into those habits and so much more in this action packed episode

Connect with Jeremy here:
Become your Optimal Self here and connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Tiktok

Then buckle up and enjoy the ride! 

Unknown:

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. Jeremy Herider, thank you so much for coming on to the action hour, and you've lived quite the life you were a former professional athlete you played in the CrossFit Games. And now you're taking on optimal self? Would you you step in here and tell me a bit more about you introduce yourself to the audience and tell us what optimal self means. Yeah, man, thank you. First of all, thank you so much for having me, man, I appreciate it. I love what you're doing. You know, the action hour is is is right up my alley. So the fact that we could connect and share this with the people is awesome. So I'm just a kid from small town, about an hour and a half outside of LA, you know, born to my mom was 15 when she got pregnant 16 when I was born, so children, a child having a child, so, you know, are those early years were rough. My birth father was was only around for the, for the beginning and that's just because my grandfather and grandmother were very religious and they were like, No, you have to be married and so they, but he, you know, he's alcoholic, drug addicts still to this day. So I grew up. My mom got us out of that at a very young age. And we never went back. He was very, you know, abusive, mentally and physically. And so, that strong, amazing lady that she is man, she got us out of there. And but if you ask her, she'll tell you from the day I came out of the womb, man I was I was swinging bats and throwing balls. And, you know, for the time she can remember when people asked me what I was going to do, I was going to be a professional baseball player. And so I mean, there's something about conviction in your life. There's something about being just just so headstrong, and something that, that even if you're not if you're not the best and and i i was not the best. I didn't make all star teams. I wasn't the kid that, you know, I didn't grow until after high school to two inches and gained like 25 pounds after high school where my strength started to come in. I was one of those late bloomers. So you can imagine when you're 6-7-8 years old, when you tell them you're going to be a professional baseball player, they think it's cute. When you become 15-16-17 years old, and you say that they're and they're like rolling their eyes going, alright kid it's time to get you know, it's time to get a plan B, you know? And there are plenty of people that didn't didn't believe I would make it. There's plenty of people that told me I wasn't gonna make it, you know, and I just always tell people, I just wasn't one of them. I didn't I didn't care what they said I didn't it didn't. It didn't hit me that way. Right. I just I'll tell you a quick little story because it kind of gives context to where we're doing. I think that people for that that are that are fans that your podcast might might might understand this is that when I was 13, I grew, I was you know, it was probably the best year of those younger ages that I had. And our team won the championship. Our coach was my my best friend's dad. So like, I'd been on vacations with them. Like I grew up around him. He's still one of my best friends to this day. And in those days, the championship team that coach got to coach the all star team, right? And so I thought, Oh, man, we won the championship. We're all celebrating. We're all happy. I I knew he was gonna be the coach. I'm like, how do you not pick your own kid? He's like a second dad to me. You know what I mean? Like, and so I thought, oh, there's no way I don't make it right. And my name didn't get called at that closing ceremonies for the all star team and I'm gonna be honest, like, I was devastated. There's no question and you know, after that you go to this pizza party kind of thing where all the families get together and the kids go play video games and the you know, the, the the parents drink beers, and we all eat pizza and you celebrate right. And I walked up to him in that moment. He was standing over over by this corridor and Jesse I can tell you right now I can tell you what he was wearing. I could tell you what I was wearing. I could tell you what things smelt like. To this day. It's still vivid in my mind. Right? I see it clear as day. I was a 13 year old boy. I'm 50 years old today. So I That just gives you an idea of how vivid and how paradigm shifting this was. And I walked up to him and I asked him, how come, how come I didn't make all stars? How come you didn't pick me? And he looked me dead in the face. And he said, because you weren't good enough. And I know what everyone thinks and when you hear it, man it's and I'm not gonna lie crushed my soul. It it hit me hard, right? Like, Oh, my God, I'm not good enough. And I want to tell you like, he didn't do it angrily or to hurt me. And and what's funny is this. So I walked away from that, that and of course, I started crying. So I ran off to the corner where no one could see me, then went up to the front desk and isolated to use the phone, because we didn't have cell phones in those days. And I asked the lady if she can call my mom, it's emergency. And she did. She handed me the phone and call my mom. I said, Mom, can you please come pick me up, I'm sick? What are you talking about? You're supposed to you know, you're supposed to stay the night, right? It's asleep over and all the kids and I was like, Please, mom, please, please, please, please. So she's like, fine, I'm on my way. I didn't even go back inside. I literally from the front desk. I just went straight out the door. I sat on the curb till my mom pulled up. She pulled up I jumped in the car with her. And at that point, waterworks, man, I mean, sobbing uncontrollably, like, you know that, that that kind of crying. She's like, What in the hell is going on? I'm like, please just go Just go. Just get out of here. Just go. And she's like, Jeremy, I'm not moving this car until you tell me what the hell is going on. And so I did. And of course, what any parent, especially a mom would do is like, you are not going to say that to my son, right? Like, she's like, oh, and she pulls into the parking space. She's going inside. I'm like, please, please, please don't please don't please don't. I'm embarrassed enough. You know, I'm embarrassed enough. And she looked at me and i and i don't know that she knew what she was doing in this moment. I don't know that she knew what was was happening. Right? If she was just being a mom. Or she's just, it just shows her brilliance even more so. But she looked at me. The radio is playing, she turned the radio down. She looked at me and she said, Okay, fine. I won't go in there. Tell me what you want to do. The greatest question that I've ever been asked in the history of my life, 13 year old boy. So what are you going to do? What do you want to do? And it literally when those words hit my ear, there was a little bit of sense of, of, of almost like relief that came over me. And in a split second. It even happened right now when I'm telling you the story, like literally, like there's a sense of relief when she said so what do you want to do? And I literally said, this gonna sound crazy. I was like, can we go to Big Five? those of you guys that aren't like on the on the west coast. In those days, the big sporting goods store, you probably have these dicks and things like that today, it was called Big Five. And I said, hey, can we can we please go to Big Five. And she literally squinted her eyes looked amazing. Just like rolled them. She's like, what? Like, you don't want just go get some ice cream. Like, we can go get a toy at Target or you know what I mean? Like, like, what is that thing? Right? Like that's appease the problem, right? Let's just make it okay, let's let's give you a treat. Right is kind of, you know, like, the thought. I said, Can we please go and she's like, Fine, whatever. So we not very far we drive over we walk in. Just like I can tell you I know what he I can tell you what he was wearing and what I was wearing that day. I want I can tell you exactly. I can still see this sign vivid in my face. We walk in and we walk over to the walker over to the baseball section. And there's a yellow sign. It's on sale. Yellow, it's on sale. All the other signs are white, there's a yellow sign says 1999. And I said, Can I have that? She goes, what is that? It was a batting tee. Right? You probably use these with your kids. Those of you guys that have ever played you know exactly what it is. But it was a tee baseball batting tee. And she goes, that's what you want? Like, really? This is what's going to appease my 13 year old son is going to stop crying he's gonna be all okay if I get him this stupid batting tee, right? So she did she bought a 20 bucks. She's like, Great, awesome. 20 bucks less than I would have had to spend anywhere else right or do so. I went home that day, that day. And I put that thing up in the backyard. I found whatever balls I had around the house. And I promised myself I was going to hit 100 balls off of that tee every day. Every day I was going to go out there I was going to hit him I was going to hit some off of that wall is gonna hit some off of that wall. I was doing funky things with whatever I was 100 swings every single day, because nobody was going to tell me at least not from my work, that I wasn't good enough. And it was in that moment. And what I want people to understand too is is this is that it didn't happen the next year. I was out there every day rain in the rain, I would use tennis balls because they could absorb the rain better. So the water would be okay because it would wouldn't wreck the baseballs, right. So on rain days, I would be out there and I'd hit balls into there and my mom would get pissed because my shoes would be all wet. And you know what I mean? And every day. But when I was 14, nothing really changed. 15 I mean, I made the high school team, but I barely played I was a benchwarmer, I got I got I got more water for the team than I did at bats that year. You know, and, and as you go 16-17-18, so now I'm a senior in high school five years later. And everything started to click, everything's all and I lead, I lead the team in hitting. I was I was the MVP of the team. I was also an all league player. So I got they get the patch on my Letterman's jacket, I get to go to all the award shows I made. I made the all Valley All Star team, all the schools from all the area, right. And I also got a scholarship to go play baseball, the only person, the only player on that team, my high school team to get a scholarship to go play baseball. Matter of fact, out of the four years that I was in high school, I was the only player of all four years from my freshman, all the people that were older than me. And the people who came after me, was the only player to get a division one scholarship in play for baseball, there was other sports, football, we were really good with some track players that but I was the only baseball player to get a division one scholarship, the only one to go on to play professional baseball. And so I say that, because I want people to understand and you hear this all the time, we overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate what we can do in the next five or 10. Because if I would have just went out there one time and hit balls and expected to be you know, an all star and wasn't then then then I would have thought it wasn't working. We seem It was not the point was not what was next door or there was a result at the end of this. Even even the result I ended up with I never anticipated. It was my goal. But I started to do things differently. Because one, the Tee led to with this construction site by our house there, they were building houses, and I went over and stole a big piece of plywood off of there. And I'd put it on the ground. And I throw balls up and let it bounce off and I'd hit them right like because it would bounce differently. It'd be like a curveball or like, change up and things like that. So through the years, you know, you adjust to things and and but it was it was in those moments, it was that 13 year old boy, that was still that was still fighting to do the right things to be better. And when you start to see some results again, four or five years later, it's not right away. It's it's are you willing to put in the work right? And so, and one thing I want people to understand too is is my own fault of feeling the way that I felt was because I felt like I was going to be given something at that 13 year old boy right? Because I cuz he was my second dad. So he had to choose me, right? Because because of an of a relationship or because I thought I deserved it. But you want to know something? The truth is, I wasn't good enough. That's the truth. I thought I deserved it because of for the wrong reasons. And we see that so much in our world today is that everybody wants something for free. Everybody believes that they deserve something. Bullshit. You deserve what you work for. You deserve what you what you you what you earn. If you haven't earned it, you don't deserve shit, and I didn't deserve it. And here's another thought. You know, there's 10-12-15 teams in that league. There's another 120 -130 kids in that league. 15 of them make the all star team. So even if I was the 16th best kid, then then I wasn't good enough. It's pretty good as 16 out of 130 kids, you're pretty damn good. But I don't know where I find I don't know if I was 16th or 60th I truly don't know. But I know this there were 15 kids better than me. I know that I know that much and that's honest. And the moment we can be honest with ourselves is the moment you can change it the moment you take responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you can have anything in your life I was now responsible responsible for those results. Not a coach, not my dad, not my second dad, not, nobody else nobody was responsible for those those that outcome but me. And the moment I took responsibility for that was the things and again, the results aren't what they are. Let's be clear, I still failed. Because my goal was to be a 20 year Major Leaguer and go to the Hall of Fame and being in the you know, on every Billboard and ESPN, you know, but I'm not even close. Didn't even sniff it. They had been not it's it's a different stratosphere. Right. I never made it there. But I maximize my potential. I got to see the world playing baseball. I got to get a degree playing baseball. I get it, I get to experience different states in different countries, as an athlete as a baseball player because of the work that I was putting in, day in and day out. Right? And so understanding that what he did, and what's really cool story is a lot of those kids because you're young, were were my best friends for life, right? Like, we went to high school together, we, we've stayed in contact all these years, seven of those 15 kids that made that team, later in life, including the coach, bought a ticket to come watch me play baseball. And it's cool, because they were my friends. We hung out afterward. And that day, I told him the story. I said, you know, you're, you are a big part of my life. Right? I didn't have I didn't have that father, who was going to coach me who was going to be there and play catch with me. I didn't have any of that shit, none of it. But what's cool is that I told him that story, and he was devastated. Like he was like, No, I did not. Did. You're kidding me? And I was like, No, no, it's a good thing. I, I gave him a hug. And I said, I love you, like, thank you. He's like, I can't believe I said that. And I said, we would just be the thing you've always done for all of us, is be honest with us. And it wasn't saying, you see, he wasn't saying that I could never be good enough. He was just saying in this moment today. They're 15 kids better than you. And so just what my mom said, they're 15 kids better than you, Jeremy. So what are you gonna do about it? You sit here and cry, the milk is spilled, you're gonna let it rot and just stink up the whole house? Are you gonna clean that shit up and get your shit together? Because that's, that's the difference, right? We baby everything today. Everything is a baby, everything you say somebody is offended or whatever. Listen, the milk is spilled. The words can't hurt you. His words couldn't hurt me. They can't. It's my job to do something about it. It's my job to create the outcome that I want to just like he said. Hey, he didn't say you're never going to be good enough. He didn't say you can't do this. He said, Jeremy Michael, today, you're not good enough. Today, there are 15 kids better than you. And she said, What the fuck are you gonna do about it? Look, this is what it's all about. Optimal self is born out of that, is born out of those opportunities in my life to say hold on a second. Because our tagline is the art of becoming the best version of you. And I didn't learn that right away. This is all this is all decades and decades later of meeting different people and knowing different things. But let me tell you this. It's not about anybody but me. It's not about me being better than another kid. It's about me being the best version of me. What does that guy do? How does that guy get up in the morning? How does it, what does that guy eat? What does that guy spend his evenings? What does that guy read? What is that guy watching? Because if that's your focus, right? If the focus is again, I said to myself, I want to fucking be an all star. I want to be an all star I want to be recognized. Okay. What is that guy do? Guess what he's not doing? He's not behind the bleachers, you know, smoking weed and drinking a beer at a you know, a lot of my friends were, that make no mistake, right? He's, it's doing things like what is that guy do if that's who you want to be? What does he do? And then it's easy to start to make decisions. Even at a young age. There were a lot of nights. A lot of nights where some friends were doing some really cool shit. Right? Thank God, we didn't have Instagram and all that because you would have probably would have maybe throw my mind differently. But if I don't see it happening, I don't care. Right? Because I don't know it's there. So I just made choices that I did. I just wasn't in those spots. Just wasn't in that because I wanted to get up. Right? I remember I remember had a girlfriend and one of our what the kid who was like the best player on the team, right? He was like, he was like the all football player, baseball you anything this kid did he was the best kid right? He was full grown at 12 years old though like, you know what I mean, six foot with a beard at 12 he crushed all of us right? You guys have all had that person in your life. And even through high school, he was still very very good. And are our girlfriends were best friends. And I remember one night they were there was a there was a party. Hey, this is that sounds party so and so's parents aren't you know what I mean? And there was a there was a league that played it was it was a there was a scout that ran this league and they played on Sunday mornings down in in Pasadena, which is away from you know, it's about an hour and 20 minutes from where I lived. And I was like oh I'm going to I'm going down to play, you had to be there, if you you had to be on that field, by eight o'clock, if you were there at 801, they didn't let you play it get in your car and go home. Like they didn't screw around like, and that means I had to be on the road by like six in the morning to make sure hit traffic, whatever. Well, if I go to there, there's no way I'm going to give. He's like, oh, who cares? No one cares. No one's gonna be there. You know, like, but it meant something to me. And so that day, I chose not to go. Not I said, you guys go, you guys go have fun, whatever I'm gonna, I'm gonna take, I'm gonna go home because I'm gonna get up and go and go play. And it's funny, but like, they were so upset, right? My girlfriend was mad at me because the guy didn't go, do you know what I mean? But it was just a choice. It wasn't even a question to me. Just it. I didn't like go, Okay, you guys are upset. Okay, let me know. Because it wasn't in alignment with what I wanted to do. I didn't talk like that back then. I look at it today. And I think about those decisions. And do you want to know this? I didn't even think twice. I got home. And you know what I mean? set my alarm, made a protein shake. Right? Got some shit ready for the morning, make sure my stuff was my baseball stuff was ready. I didn't even think twice, turn on, you know, TV and went to sleep. I got it. I didn't even think twice about it. Because I just knew where what I wanted. And I hope people hear that I hope people understand is that that's not I wasn't better than anybody else. Do you want to know the truth? That kid, he could go out that night and probably wake up and hit two home runs tomorrow. Like that's, that's, that's that's the ability that he had. Right? I didn't have that ability. I was I didn't, I didn't have that opportunity. For me, I had to be perfect. I had to be on time, I had to be on time. I had to be you know what I mean? Like, I just there's just things that that we do that if we recognize what we truly want. The decision making process is easy. If you're struggling with with the decision of what to do, it's because you It's because you're not clear on where you want to go. And I hope people understand that. You don't lack motivation. You lack clarity, because you'll be motivated as heck. When you get super clear on something. I was very clear on where I wanted to go. It's very easy to be motivated. You see me today, I know what the hell I want this to be. I know how many people we want to help the heck out of whiteboard over here that has all kinds of shit on it. That is so I can't wait to get out of bed man. Like, let's go. So sorry. I know I took up a bunch of time but I hope they get some context around around around what optimal self is where it comes from and a little bit about me. I love that man. So so much to unpack in there. But I got to ask. So what do you think about participation trophies? Oh my god, I can tell you this. My kids don't get them. Let's just put it that way. I don't have control of everybody else. But no, man, there's no such thing in life is a participation trophy. Get the hell out of here with that shit. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry if I offend people. I'm sure there's somebody out there's gonna be offended. But I think the science is even out on it now. Like we've we've we've been we've been experimenting with that long enough that I think the science is out about how it affects the brain and how it affects who we are. And then the expectation so nah, man, you only get what you earn, bro. That's it. I love it. I love it, man. And it's crazy how when we look back on our life, it's like, especially when we're kids, you know, these defining moments in our life, just that one sentence. And I was thinking of some as you were talking to your mom coming and saying what do you want, you know, those moments are what? What move us forward. And I love just my vision was become a marine yours has become a professional baseball sames a lot of the same stuff here. And I can relate a lot with this. But I'd be curious to know now, as you've transitioned from knowing exactly what you want, how do you transition to the next thing, like how do you know what you want? Now? What's that process like? Man, I only do shit now that makes my hair stand up. Like, here's what I'll tell you is what I learned through the process of being an athlete is throughout my life, you'll see a lot of what I call accomplishments. Right? So when you read the bio, and you go, oh, man, he was an all Pac 10 player and went on to play for the reds and the Diamondbacks. And, you know, he went to the CrossFit Games and and not only went there but won an event was number one in the world set the record in that event that year, right. Nobody on the earth that they tried to participate could beat me that day, right? You're the best in the world. And I can tell you that none of those things that you see on there were fulfillment. They were accomplishments, but they were not fulfillments because that when that thing happened, it's like what's the next thing like let's get a new goal. Right. And in I, I've said this to other people, so I think it's relevant in the accomplishment to fulfillment and people understanding what the differences is that when I started gym, so so when I started CrossFit, I, we were doing it my buddy's garage, and we were literally watching YouTube videos, and then going out in the garage and trying to, to mimic that right and try to learn a little bit and get a little bit better. And as we did, we started, I started to see the elements of it in the methodology. And I was like, wow, done, right, this could be incredible, just for any human walking Earth, like, and I wanted to prove it, I want to, I wanted my, you know, 60 year old mother to come in there. And I wanted to do it, I wanted my 11 year old daughter to come in and do it, your, you know, my 11 and 13 year old daughters to come in and do it with and, and so I built the gym. So I you know, I had some money, and I built the gym. And I went over and so we, we we had when we built it, I wanted to prove that was possible, right? I wanted to I wanted people to see it a view if we teach it the way that we should and the methodology and the move correctly. If I can help people move better, it will change their life. And so through that process, we did have a very specific class called called Final Cut, which was a program for weight loss, right where we were we worked on nutrition. And each and every one we did an assessment. So when you came in if we even if it was you, and you were saying, hey, I want to be number one in my class, I'm going into the Marines, which I've had those guys come in, right I'm going into. And so and by the way, thank you so much for your service and everything. Like that's cool, right? Like, I didn't get to do what I do without guys like you so so I appreciate that very much. I don't want that I want that to go on unnoticed. Um, and so we had a lady walk in, I'll tell you this when I tried to be brief with it, but she came in, she was about 100 pounds overweight. So we sit down and we're like, hey, do you have any injuries? You know, we go through this, I had this whole assessment with her. And but the number one, the number one thing I asked is like, what do you want to get out of this six, you know, give me 12 months from now You and I are sitting here and we're going over this? What do you want to happen? She's like, I want to lose 80 pounds. Okay, that was her. That was her goal. I said, Okay, then we went over Why? Right? Like, I've been a mom, I've got three kids. You know, I'm the one who does homework. I'm the one who does soccer. I'm the one who packs lunches. Like, she's full time and like, that's a full time job. Like you need that probably harder than any other job on Earth. To be honest, like, I don't know too many people that you know that we like to think our jobs are hard. Go try to be you know, the three kids and run them around and tell me how tired you are at the end of the day. So I get it right? Well, at the end of these assessments and do this with everybody and people, people listening to this right now could do the same thing. So whatever that goal is, I would have them close their eyes. And I would say okay, we are 12 months ahead right now, you and I are sitting here, right? And I want you to tell me, but better yet. What do you you know, you want to go on a date with your husband, right? And I said, so you're getting ready for that date? What do you what is she wearing? Right? That 80 pounds is off of her? What is she wearing? What does that dress look like? Is it a dress? Or is it jeans? What are you wearing? What what necklace does she have? What earrings? Is your hair up? Or is it down? What perfume do you have on? I mean, I want them to sow engulf themselves and see that person? Because here's what I know, Jesse is this, is that if you can see that if you can envision it, then there's a very likelihood that I can build a plan and you'll follow it. Right? Because if you can't see it, you're never gonna make it. So so you know, I said, Okay, open your eyes. I was like, okay, so. So what were you wearing? And she's like, um, I think, I don't know, maybe. So she didn't have an answer. And I said, Can you see her? Yeah, kind of Yeah. But you know, she was like, totally nonchalant. And when people did that, because it was it happens, but eight out of 10 would not be eight out of 10 people would be crying. bawling, right? And I would be crying with them. Because I they're just because when you see it like that you're moved by it. You're completely moved by it. And I told her I said, hey, listen, I don't think this program is for you. She's like, What? I said, Listen, I don't want to take your money. I don't need you know what I mean? It's not about the money for me. Like I can put you in the class, but I know you're not going to follow through. Because because it doesn't mean shit to you. And all of a sudden, she started to get angry. And I was like, okay, you're angry. She's like, you're not going to take my fucking credit card? Like I can afford it. And who cares if I show up or not? I said I do. Because if I can't help you, there's no reason then I don't earn your money. If I can't help you, then I can't earn your money. And I don't want it if that's the case. It so she's like, I cannot believe this. And I said Tell me, is there something in your life that you've ever wanted? Like, just really wanted? Like, is there something physical, mental, like whatever? Is there something out there? And she goes, Yeah, you know what? I came in here yesterday. And, and I wanted to sign up and you weren't here. So they won't let me sign up because I said I had to do this stupid thing. And this assessment, right, but I saw girls out there and they were doing pull ups. And I said, yeah, okay, I could never do a pull up. I was always the chubby girl ever since I was in the sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade in gym class, I could never do again, pull up. And I could see this fire starting to burn, right? And I'm like, tell me more. She's like, I'm tired of being the chubby girl. I'm tired. And I said, you want to do pull up? She's like, yes, I want to do a fucking pull up. I said, now you're talking, now you're talking. I said, Your goal is no longer 80 pounds. I don't give a fuck with it. I don't I could care less what the scale says. Your single goal is in this next year. Is that your is that we do a pull up? Or is that something you can get behind? She's like, yes. Show me, tell me. Now, Let's be clear. I already know inside. She's gonna have to lose weight. But she's gonna have to be consistent in here if she ever wants that to happen. So I'm going to need her here three, maybe four days a week, maybe five? I don't know, depending on how this goes, right. But for sure. That opening bell we're going to start this thing you got to be here three days a week, you pick the three worlds and seven days you pick the three days right? And so she goes out there we had we painted this wall with with chalk paint. And it was a goal wall. Everybody who ever walked in that gym had to write a goal on that wall. Okay, so she writes, she goes up, she literally wrote do an F a posture and pull up as she signed it, right that's on the wall. And, and so here we go. Right. She did have some shoulder issues. So we worked on a whole program to get her shoulders articulating correctly. I had a I had a, an area that we built the headbands and and we built a whole program so she could start working on mobility, get everything ready, right. And so she would do that every day before she came in to start the class. We didn't work on pull ups at all yet, right? We just worked on getting your your scapula is moving in the right direction so that you could reach with full extension, you can hold on to that bar without falling in two seconds, right? Like things like that. So we built this whole program, she's in it. And she's convicted man every day, because every day I'd asked her to say, hey, you're one day closer to pull up. You got here again, you're one day closer, right? Because it's keeping her motivated to what the goal was. And the weight starts falling off. And now she's down 10 pounds, 20 pounds. 40. So she comes in about around the six and a half, seven month mark, right? She comes walking in. It's a 6pm class I'm teaching there's a six o'clock and seven o'clock class at night. And she's got this different look to her man. She's got a little skip tour. And she's looking at me, she got a smile, and you see how I am and I'm smiling all the time. Like, I'm looking at her and she's like, Jeremy, today's the day. And I'm like, looking at my watch. I'm like what is today like every day is like national something, right? It's like national cheesecake day, National baked potato day. What are we what are we talking about here? Right? And she's like, no, no, today's pull up day. And I'm like, really? I know what the board is because I wrote the workout. So I know she's going to be smashed at the end of this workout, like everybody is right, you're going to be you're going to be spent it's it's a good one. So good strength, all that. And so I'm like, man, she's gonna be super fatigued by the end of this thing. So, Mike, I'll tell you what, go get your shoulder stuff done. But I want you to do a little bit extra. I want you to be sweating when you come over here. And then once you're loose and ready, I'm gonna get the class ready, they're gonna go through their warm up. And then before we start class will attempt we'll make that attempt for you. Right? She's down at this point, I think maybe 60 plus pounds, right? And so I'm over getting the class ready. And they're like, hey, what is she doing? And I'm telling them and like she wants she you know, her goal on the board is to do a pull up. She thinks she's ready, blah, blah, blah. And so sure enough, classes are warm up ends. She's got a little sweat to her. She comes over she's all geared up. Somebody I don't even know who this was. turns off the radio, turns off the music because there's music playing right. She turned they turn it all the way down off. It's dead silent in there. Everybody's starting to slowly gather around the rig. And I'm like, alright shows yours, man. The floor is yours. And she like takes a couple good breaths, right we sit we teach belly breathing and how to regulate. She jumps up there dude and grabs on to that thing. She starts pulling in it's right out of the gate is tough, man. She's like struggling. She gets about just half, halfway, and it literally looks like she shot out of a cannon. Whoosh. up over man. She her chin is over. She's Oh, she gets this whole like, oh shit look on her face like, that just happened, right? Eyes big. She drops down. People are high five and a cheer and screaming she comes running over, jumps on me, hug, bear hug, like legs around me arms around. She's like, Oh my god, oh my god. I'm like, holy shit. She drops down and we catch eyes and she's crying. I start crying, right? People in the class are crying like, it's just mayhem. Right? She's like, hold on, hold on, hold on, she runs back over I go, she jumps up and does like three or four more pull ups, right singles just jumps up. And everybody's just bonkers man hugging and high. fiving. And it's just, it's just awesome. Okay, so we do the class. Everybody leaves everybody's still on a high that the next class comes in. And they're talking about it right. And the next class goes and so the night ends, and I you know, we're doing the cleanup. Everybody goes, I lock all the doors. And then I got to go do the business. Right? So I go reconcile all the numbers. Did we sell any shirts, what happened? We get the newer members today, right? You're doing the business stuff usually takes me about an hour, hour and a half at night to close all that down and go over all the numbers. And I recognize as I'm sitting there that like, I am still like beaming like, I am on fire, man, my soul is just burning. Great. You know, and I'm like, this is awesome. Like, what? So I'm a journaler you guys, I mean if you're not on video, but I got journals for everything. I got different names for him, I got different thought processes and all kinds of stuff. So pull out a journal and I start I start writing to stop what I'm doing on the business I start writing. And it's just pour anatomy about about how fulfilled I was in that moment. And I want to give this caveat to this whole story is that same day on that same board, my goal was a 500 pound deadlift, away they don't I weighed 181 pounds, I wanted to deadlift 500 pounds, okay, like it's world class two and a half times your body weight considered like elite levels, all this kind of stuff. That same day, that same afternoon, I train, I train in the afternoon, I've worked real estate all morning, I'd go train in the afternoon and I'd usually teach at night. And I would that same day with my group of guys, you know, bro sesh I pulled 500 pounds first person in the gym to do it right? A lot of guys bigger than me stronger than me, but first person to actually do it. And in that moment, we're all we were high fiving chest bumping, right, bro sesh, it was awesome, you know. And as soon as that weight hit the ground, and we high five, I walked over that board and I crossed out 500 and I wrote 550. Right? The the accomplishment was over, it's time for the next thing what what's the next goal, right. And with this, it was still beaming me telling you this story right now I feel exactly the same as I did that day, back in 2012, or whatever it was, like, it's that you know what I'm saying? Like, I still get that feeling if I run into her at a grocery store or something. It's the same thing. Oh my god. By the way, she's she's down like 150 pounds today she's she runs marathons, she actually teaches an interval training course now classes with with people she's she's giving back in her way. So what we talked about in the beginning of the series, I tell that story is because there's a difference between accomplishment and fulfillment. You see, the accomplishment is the things you see on the resume. fulfillment comes of, of what got me there, and be able to turn around and give it back. And I refuse optimal self is born because I'm going to refuse to go to go to my grave with the knowledge and expertise in the things that was given to me that that it dies here. It's my duty to turn around and give that back to people in whatever platform today we're very fortunate in that we have these digital platforms that I hope that the things that I've learned in the things that I've accomplished, I can now turn and give those things back because it's that's where the fulfillment comes. And so today, as I always had those goals, and I always had those dreams of playing baseball, of getting to the CrossFit Games, when that became a thing for me building a business that that is sustainable and profitable in any market. We thrive during the pandemic. I you know, I feel bad for people who didn't, but our business you know, real estate, we we actually had the best year of our lives best year in the history of our country. But we pivoted very quickly, we focused on what we needed to focus on and so but all of those things were learned through all of those other those those other avenues. So today I get out of bed and my mission is to help and inspire people to change behavior, through belief in action, so they can be the best version of themselves. Not me, not my version. This isn't my version, not your parents version, not your friend's version, not Instagrams version, like to truly start to understand what is that? What is the best version of me? And how do I live that way. And that comes, that is the fulfillment side of things. accomplishment never gets you there. And you hear it all the time. But people don't talk about it this way. It's not the car. It's not the money, right? You're gonna make a billion dollars. And, you know, I remember Tony Robbins saying that up, like 10 years ago, how, you know, when he started coaching billionaires, he never met more miserable people in his life, right? Because they you think they had everything, they had jets and yachts and boats, and they could be anywhere they had all that. But they were miserable, right? Because, because again, accomplishment is not fulfillment. So what is that thing that fulfills you? And almost to us to a person, it's when you can give back to others, when you can help somebody else achieve their goals. It's, it's the most amazing thing ever. And that was one of those, again, paradigm shifting moments in my life that allowed for me to get to where I am now. Because I'm like, oh, man, let's do more of this. So he asked me, How do you make the transition? You find the things that fulfill you, you find those moments that you're like, this is great. I do this with my agents all the time. There's a million ways to skin the cat in this game. Right? There's 1000s of different sales techniques that you can use. There's 100,000 coaches today that will tell you what, you know, their version, right? But the truth is, is I asked them, What do you love about this? Why? Why are you showing up today? Why did you choose this? What What is it that you do like to do? Oh, I don't like to you know, door knock, okay, great. Don't fucking door knock anymore. But you got to do something. Find that thing that you love to do? And then let's do that every day. A little bit of that every day, because it's not perfect. I got to do shit that I don't like to do for sure. But, but it's a method to the madness, right? It's a method to the madness. So again, when you when you find it when you know what that what you when you know what that even if you don't like to do it, like people think like, Yes, I mean, but every day, I don't like to go to the gym. I mean, I enjoy workouts. I enjoy being in shape. I enjoy feeling strong, all those things. But there are days where I just want to lay there, man, like, it's gold. And now I've got this, this comforter is warm and shit. The pillow feels good. And I don't want to get up, bro. I don't. But I think who's the best version of me? What do I have today? Oh, wait, I got to be on a podcast with with Jesse Simpson on the action hour. He deserves a fucking 100% of me. So guess what? This morning, I spun my ass out of bed. I couldn't wait to get down to the gym. I couldn't wait to sweat. Because I knew by the time you and I were going to meet, I was already going to read right? I was already going to set my intention for the day. And I already have my movement in my hydration before I ever see any. And that goes every day before I see people. Because you deserve the best of me. You deserve the best version of me. So what does that guy do? How does that guy get his ass out of bed? That's the transition. Right? That's the transition. I love that man. I love that idea of being guided by that future best version of you. Yeah, you were talking about this the story man, I was getting goosebumps here. I'm so happy she got her pull ups in. I want to I want to, I want to just bounce back to the real quick as you jump, something jumped out at me about the idea that she wanted to lose weight. She had this sort of almost like a superficial level goal. But then you got it down to something deeper. You you, was that natural for you that you kind of got to what was deeper? Do you have a process to get to what's like real and deep in people when you're trying to uncover what they need to where they want to go? Or the goals they have? It is it is? It is that that that that visualization is the best word I can use at this point. And what I mean by that is, if we have that goal, right, I want to make a million dollars, I want to lose 80 pounds, I want to you know, start my own business, whatever that that thing is. There's there's two there. So I said to you behind changing behavior through belief and action, right, that that's something and so, yes. The what i what i mean by that, is that visualization, that belief, right? So what she was saying to me was I want to lose, I want to lose 80 pounds, right? And you I mean, come on when a person's 100 pounds overweight, you don't have to be a superstar nutritionalist you can see that that person is is is not making good choices, right? But in order for you to change your choices, it has to be bigger than that because it's but some people don't get me wrong. Some people it is it is that some people do they want to see that number on a scale and that moves the shit out of them. It everybody's just different. Right? It's not that it's not that losing weight couldn't be the goal that it can be, but it can't be the metric that we challenger, right? It can't be the reason. Because the reason, again, it's called good arts law, right is where that when the metric becomes the goal is when it becomes a problem. What I mean by that is this is that you, it then becomes getting down that weight. And you can do that very unhealthy as well. Right? So you might lose weight, but you're doing it very unhealthy, right, we need to do it in a way that it's going to be sustainable over time. Right? Same thing with the reason why I the education system is so jacked up for us is because we don't go there to learn, we go there to go to get to get a good grade, like, I'm more concerned about getting an A so my mom doesn't get pissed off, or a more more concerned about passing the class than I am to actually learn the actual words and what they're really teaching me, right. That's the problem with it is that we were teaching our kids to get a good grade, we're not teaching them to learn, when success is about learning. You in order for you to be a better version of you, then you've got to learn something new. You've got to understand that so to answer your question succinctly, or the best that I can is that there's two sides of belief. When will we look at that? And what you said is that superficial goal, because when you put that goal out there, there's the most people, I asked them, Do you believe that that's possible? Right. So again, do you believe that 80 pounds is possible? And a lot of times, the answer's Yeah. Okay. Do you believe that the path that we can set that my expertise and what we're doing in nutrition in this blah blah blah works? Yes. Okay. So now we're going to flip the coin of belief to the other side. And I'm going to ask you this. Do you believe that you are worthy of that goal? Do you believe that you are capable of achieving that goal? And do you believe that you are deserving? So are you worthy, capable and deserving of that goal? That's where people most people miss we stop at do you believe it's possible? Yeah, hell yeah. 80 pounds? Yep. Yep. I believe it's possible. I believe that this nutrition plan that Jeremy is giving me, and that the gym and the workouts are all designed to do that. Yep. 100%. Like, hell yeah. But what we fail to ask the question to ourselves a lot of times, is do we believe that we're worthy of that goal? You see, she didn't she didn't she couldn't picture herself. She couldn't see that 80 pounds off of her she couldn't. Because she didn't believe that she was capable or worthy of it. And many times it's the same thing for us. Right, is that we just don't believe and it could be from anything it could believe from our childhood, it could believe that, you know that we're not good enough that we're not deserving of that. Oh, I don't come from what what you came from or, you know, we see somebody that has something we believe Oh, we you know, they have an easier than we do? Not really mean they are sometimes a little bit here and there. But listen, if you're willing to learn, if you're willing to sacrifice, you're willing to put in the hard work and have a little bit of patience around it. And then any things and it's inevitable, right. So so the the caveat right to what you asked was, you know, how do we get to the deeper goal? Sometimes it's not even a deeper goal. It's just understanding if you believe you're worthy of it, and capable. Yeah, hell yeah. She's like, hell, yeah, she was convicted. I'm deserving. Why shouldn't Why not me? Why can't I pull my ass up over that bar? If there's other girls out there doing it? They can do it. Right. I used to tell the story to people like that all the time. I said, Listen, do you know that story about Roger Bannister running the four minute mile? Like, do you know that there were scientists saying that the human body that they would look at the cheetahs and they would look at all these fast animals? And they'd be like, nope, they're their knee and their hip, their flexion of their foot. The human body doesn't articulate that way and so it's impossible the size of our femur to the to the ground and in the amount of power that we can force off the ground. It's not possible for the human to break the four minute mile. That's what they said. It's out there Google that shit. It's crazy. And then the moment somebody did it, within like, eight months, 14 other people or some shit had did it. Now they're running three minutes. It's bonkers, right? But sometimes we just so again, I tell people that story cuz I'm like you asking something that's never been done that there's no human in the history of time that's ever done it. No, there's somebody out there. Just like you doing it. Well they proved it's possible. So it's absolutely possible. Now you have to believe, are you capable, and worthy, and deserving. And we can work through that. Because you want to know how to get after that. What did I say believe that we're going to change behavior through belief and action. So again, when we factor in the belief factor, right, that I got it, now I got to change behavior, I got to do something different. And how do I do that I got to take a different action. So again, if I can take, if I can get you doing something different, right than you've ever done, then we're going to change then that behavior is going to change. And now if that if that thing you're doing that action you're taking is in alignment with that goal, right, which is so so the action she took was coming in every day, and working on that pool, working on giving her scapula working on getting rid of some of that shoulder pain, working on some of that strength holding from the bar. So her grip strength got better, right? She knew that she knew the plan, and they were all things that she could do. And she could see other girls doing it. There's proven now it's just a matter of saying, am I worthy of that? Am I worthy of that goal? So sometimes we just got to switch it to say, hell yeah, I'm worthy that if she can do it, I, why not me? Because most of the time, the things that we ask for the things that we want, somebody has already proven it's done. Now, it's just us about understanding our belief, and then taking action on it so that our behavior changes. And now our habits change, because everything in your life today is a factor of your habits. right this second. No question. Absolutely, man, that was fire. Alright, cool. So let's go with those habits. Let's, what about the optimal self habits? What does that look like for you? Huh? Beautiful. This just came up this weekend. So I want to share it because it and I wrote it in my journal because it goes along with what you just asked him habits. So how do we? How do we create habits, right? So there's a there's a book, there's a there's an old Samurai warrior, named Miyamoto Musashi, he wrote the book of five rings. And in there, he said, If you know the way broadly, you will see it in everything. Stay with me for a second because this is how we get to the habits is, that means what he's saying is this. Excellence in anything increases your potential in everything. So when we go back, and I'll use her again, because it's what that's who we're talking about the moment she became diligent, consistent, excellent to knowing I didn't have to show her I showed her three or four times, the rest of the time, she could come in and do that on her own move correctly, make sure she was in the red, right? So she created excellence, she created that habit. That habit compounded over time, lead her to the result. So in optimal self, what we're going to do, what we want to do is help people create habits, you need to get what you want. They're not all the same, you understand, her goal was different. So we have to get to the habit that needs to lead us to her goal, what is your goal we can now we need to create the habits around that, what is the one thing that I can do, right? And it's pretty crazy. So and I want people to understand that I hope people write this down excellence in anything increases your potential in everything. Because if you can do it here, you can do it anywhere. Right? How we do anything, is how we do everything. So if you're if you're struggling somewhere, and you you're probably struggling in other areas, you just don't realize it. And so we've got to be able to get to the we've got to be able to get to the core. And the reason and the why. And a lot of times it's very simple jet. It's very, very simple. And for us, for us, our number one principle is hydration. Because your brain is 90% water, your your muscles are over 80% water, your bones, you don't even know this, or we're 70% water even as stiff and hard as they are right. And so if we don't get the control center, which is our mind, which is our brain, if we don't if we don't hydrate that if that thing is not running and firing, right? You ever you ever dropped some water on on electrodes, right? Right, you can throw it right, it's the same thing with their brain. That's how that's how it functions. So as that as the water dissipates, right as you as you are drinking your diet coke, or you know, your lemonade or whatever it is, is that you're actually seeping that water out, you're never going to run optimally your body is not going to run optimally. So what we want to be able to do is create, we want to create excellence in something so that your potential increases in everything. Right. And so that's that's where we start. I don't know if you guys watch this, and I know this will live forever. So I'm just going to, but this past weekend, and I hate to timestamp him with these to be evergreen, but Kobe Bryant was was inducted into the Hall of Fame, right. And even if you're not a sports fan, don't tune out real quick because this is this affects us as humans is something that I think was was really, really evident this listening to Michael Jordan, introduce them listening to Vanessa, his wife talk about what he and he funny thing is, is they never talk about talent, they never talked about how tall he was, they never talk about, they talk about his work ethic. Right? talent is like secondary to what he did. And so I want people to understand this is this. What Kobe mastered, was not basketball, he missed more shots than he made in his career, you do not master basketball, you don't, you're going to miss more times, then you're going to make most most players. Right? If you mastered it, you'd never miss. You'd never ever miss if you were the master of the domain, right? And guess what else? Imagine this, the game got faster and faster guys get bigger and faster and stronger as every year. Right? So 20 years of it, he always has to be getting better. He has to learn something new, learn a new move, learn to get go with his back to the basket, learn to go to maybe shoot the three point, whatever, right? He's always in a constant. But what he mastered was the artist showing up. What he mastered, is getting his ass out of bed and going to do the work. Because as many games as they want is five championships and the MVP is in the scoring. Like when the lights were on and Staples Center was packed. only possible because of what he did when nobody was watching. And so it was wonderful to see Vanessa talk about that and people talk about him because what he when I when I say before excellence in anything increases your potential and everything, right? Just like the the great Samurai Miyamoto Musashi, he said, If you know the way broadly, you will see it and everything. What he knew was the way broadly. He knew what that work look like. So guess what? When he retired, he wrote, directed and narrated an animated film that won an Oscar the highest level, that's like winning the championship in a different thing in a different way. He wasn't a writer. He wasn't a narrator. He didn't do that for a living. He wasn't even he didn't know anything about that stuff. But you know what he mastered? You ask the people that worked with him on that his team, right? Yes, his basketball team. They're gonna tell you he was here before us. He stayed later than us. He took more shots than us. He worked our asses off. He ran harder than us. He was better condition than us all of those things. The same thing happened there. They're like, yeah, we'd show up. He was already there for four hours. He had shit on the whiteboard that he was going to share with us like, it was it, it was exactly the same thing. Because he knew the way Bradley so he could see it and everything. He knew how to get there. He just showed up. And he did it. And he worked. Right. He built that his his daughter wanted to play basketball and there were no girls basketball leagues at her age that were worth a shit. And so what did he do? He got up early and he learned how to create a league and how to create and gave up give other girls those opportunities. And now they had at the time had built the biggest, most productive league with with the greatest, you know, 8-10, 12-15 year old girls on the planet that people were traveling from miles to come be part of this because he had because he knew he knew the way broadly, and he could see it in everything. He mastered the art of the work, the artist showing up, never master basketball. Never. Nobody ever will. Because it's going to ever change it's going to ever get faster, it's going to ever get better. What my point of that is this, his habits we're duplicatable, in other areas of his life, so when you create excellence in anything, if I can get you to get up every morning, and drink 16 to 32 ounces of water with a little bit of Himalayan sea salt and some lemon. Right and that's all an optimal self. It's called our hydration cocktail. I can have you drink that first. And you can you can string those days together, we can put some streaks together. And you can recreate anyone on earth can create excellence in that. I'm not asking you to deadlift 500 pounds. Most people will never ever, ever, ever get even remotely close to that. Or maybe their body isn't even meant to do that. And they have no desire, right but you want to run optimally. You want to be your optimal self. You want to be the best version of you, you have that opportunity, you want to know how you have that opportunity by starting to create excellence in anything which is, let's start with some hydration, let's just get you going there, let's breathe better, let's move better. Because those things they don't you don't believe it. But there's people right now in our in our in our beta test that are literally talking about how their marriage has gotten better. And now they drink water together and they go for a walk every morning. And and their marriage has never been better. Because they got they got consistent on one single action because excellence in anything gives you the potential. Right? The potential to have everything. Those are the habits. Oh yeah. Excellence in anything increases your potential in everything that's positive. And I love it. Awesome. Well, Jeremy, thanks so much for all this value, dude, you're you're dropping bombs here. I love it. Where can people learn more about your connect with you outside of the show? I mean, go just go to optimalself.today, That's our website. On that website, we have all of the links to, to the podcasts, to the courses to anything like that we have some free courses on there now. And then it also has all the social media, my personal one is baseball optimal self like we're, we're on that they can jump into our private Facebook group. And get you know, I'm in there all the time we're jumping around, we're talking and it you know, it's you know, it's cooler than anything man is is, is the people who are there. They're the ones giving back when they're when they find something new when they find something that might help they're sharing it with one another. And that's the true ideal, right? It's the best version of you not the best version of me. I don't have I don't have a life in a box that I'm going to give you. I don't it's none of that shit. I want you to be the best version of you, whatever that looks like every single human has. You all have a unique print. That fingerprint is yours. Nobody else has it. But that's also about what's inside your unique blueprint. Everybody has a unique song inside of them. Right? I want to, we want to create this platform and create this opportunity. So that nobody goes to their grave with that song inside them. I want to hear it. The world needs to hear it. You deserve it. Let's sing it. Let's sing it together. So good, thank you so much for coming to action hour. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for tuning in. We'll catch you on the next episode. Thank you, man.