Jon Gordon (00:00:02):
You're not meant to live an accident life. You're not meant to live a random life. You are meant to live with intention and purpose. Why? Well, if we're all gonna die, then why should this world matter? Yeah. Think about it. Why should it matter? Yeah. And I believe it matters because every moment is an eternal moment. The power of now or right here, right now, to have an eternal impact and to express your eternal self in this reality, the essence of who you are. And so appearance is temporary, but essence is eternal.

Brandon Turner (00:00:34):
Welcome to a Better Life with Brandon Turner. That is me, where world-class guests share their wisdom on building a better life. Join me as we explore the habits of the actions and the beliefs that have guided their journey with the aim of helping you apply those lessons to your own.

Brandon Turner (00:00:59):
All right, man. John, it's Austin to have you there. Thank you. We'll be with you. Yeah. All right. So let's, let's jump in. You know, we this show the advertising revenue for the show, a hundred percent of all the ad revenue goes toward a charity of the guest choosing. So I wanna start by asking you, what breaks your heart, man? Like, what do you what do you care about? Whether an actual charity or just a, a cause that you care a lot about,

Jon Gordon (00:01:18):
Care, about a lot of causes, but I would say first and foremost, kids who are struggling, kids who grow up in, in neighborhoods that are impoverished, where they don't have great role models, they don't have great leaders. Maybe they don't feel like they have a, a future. Mm-Hmm. . So I love helping kids and creating futures for them. That they could actually dream and believe that anything is possible. And when they see it, they know they could achieve it. So, work with Peace Prep Academy in Atlanta. Okay. It's a community, a school, Christian school, but it's where they have these kids that are from these difficult neighborhoods and challenging neighborhoods, and they invest in these kids. They build some real estate in the area. So they build up some real estate. They try to create community. And so Lecrae is actually a big supporter of it.

(00:02:02):
Oh, that's cool. And he got me involved in it. Yeah. And I've been supporting ever since. And I, I love it. So Ken Bay is also pretty amazing in Mexico. Okay. This is the Rosewood Resort, the GM there, Daniel Scott said What would happen if we made a difference in our community, if we impact our community as a resort? And so they saw this area and they decided, okay, maybe we should open up a school or do something like that. He met a woman who rode into town on a bicycle, and she was teaching some kids in a dilapidated building. He meets this woman, this woman, and decides to do this school. He raises money from guests and also his family. And they build this incredible school. Mm. 500 kids are now going to this school. That's awesome. Their lives, their future, their families are changed forever. Cuz these kids are gonna go to high school and now college and it's gonna change everything. So I was there. We put a lot of money towards this school and saw a new building being built. And now they're building a high school. So they had a middle school, but elementary school, now they're building a high school. Yeah. They're building a sports academy. It's incredible. So you see this area that is like the, the surrounding area is dilapidated buildings. It's like worse than like even this neighborhood where we are here . And, and

Brandon Turner (00:03:16):
You sure man. I don't

Jon Gordon (00:03:17):
Know. It's worse than here. Worse than here. And, and you see what they're doing and you just know that, okay, this is what breaks my heart, but this is the solution. Yeah. To changing lives. Yeah.

Brandon Turner (00:03:27):
Where does that, where does that desire for, I mean, both those things are revolving kids. Like where does that come from? Like, where was your background? Did you have like, when I was

Jon Gordon (00:03:35):
In college, I wanted to, you know, make a difference for some reason. And then right after college I moved to Atlanta and then I got involved in the Boys and Girls Club. Mm-Hmm. And we started to raise money for youth focused charities. And I don't know why, but I wanted to impact youth focused charities. Always have. And so we would do these events, raise money, worked with a van, holy Field, did the golf tournament, and did a bunch of events like that. I was like, in my twenties. And I would get all these young people together and we would, we raise all this money, we would impact these organizations and just saw the difference that we could make. And so ever since then, I've just loved doing that and impacting kids. I think maybe I was a kid who wanted to achieve more. And I think kids are also so innocent. Yeah. They're so impressionable. And they have like a rookie mindset. They believe anything is possible, but they get tarnished, contaminated by the world and by adults who say you can't do it. And so if you could actually help these kids see a positive future and help them create it, I think that's how we changed the world.

Brandon Turner (00:04:31):
Yeah. A hundred percent agreed, man. I love that. I love it. All right. Well let's get into your story a little bit. Now, you've written 26 books, is that right? 27. 27 now. All right. By the way, I asked AI this morning chat, g p t to okay. I said gimme a bio on John Gordon. I'm curious, like, it's super long. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but I'm curious, which are these things. All correct. So, bestselling author, motivated speaker, business consultant, known for inspiring work on leadership, teamwork, and positive organizational culture.

Jon Gordon (00:04:57):
Yes.

Brandon Turner (00:04:57):
All right. Born October 20th, 1971. Long Island, New York.

Jon Gordon (00:05:00):
No. January 20th. Oh,

Brandon Turner (00:05:02):
All right. So ai. Think it was October 20th. That's funny. Graduated Cornell University. Yes. Played lacrosse. Earned a master's degree in teaching from Emory University. Wow.

Jon Gordon (00:05:11):
It is, right. Isn't that

Brandon Turner (00:05:11):
Crazy? Yeah. And it goes on and on, but yeah, wild. Right. I

Jon Gordon (00:05:15):
Majored in lacrosse at Cornell. That's the only reason, reason why I wait. Know to Cornell.

Brandon Turner (00:05:19):
You can major in lacrosse.

Jon Gordon (00:05:20):
I had to because I wasn't a very good student. So I focused on lacrosse.

Brandon Turner (00:05:23):
There you go. Okay. Alright. So you've written all these books. You've coached with cr, I mean, you know, mentored, coached amazing number of people like high, you know, influencers, business owners, athletes, coaches of big teams. A lot of people know you've sold millions of books. But let's go back to like where that wasn't you. Like what does pre that look like?

Jon Gordon (00:05:45):
Pre that is, I'm miserable. Okay. , I'm negative and my life is falling apart. Cause I lost my job during the.com crash. Mm. So I don't know how I'm gonna pay the bills. I don't know how I'm gonna take care of my family. We had just moved from Atlanta to Jacksonville, PRA Beach. My wife wanted to move to the beach. I'm working for this.com. I thought I was gonna make a fortune. Yep. I had a hundred thousand shares. Like this is it. I'm 30 years old. Like, my future is set and then everything crashes. Lose my job. I'm gonna take care of my family. What am I gonna do? Where can I make the kind of salary I was making with this move? And so I was crumbling and I was blaming my wife for why my life was, was so bad. Mm-Hmm. , like why I wasn't living up to my dreams.

(00:06:29):
And she had enough of my negativity. Catherine said, if you don't change, like we're over. She goes, I love you, but I'm not gonna spend my life with someone who makes me so miserable. You need to change. And so I begged her to stay. She agreed to stay. And I agreed to change. And that began this journey of working to become a more positive person. So I started researching ways I could be more positive. This was during the year merging field of positive psychology. We're talking 2001, 2002 now. Yeah. And so I start practicing some of these ideas. I started to take a walk of gratitude every day. The research shows you can't be stressed and thankful at the same time. So every day I'm practicing gratitude and I'm walking. Mm. And I'm saying what I'm thankful for. And when you're doing that, you're flooding your brain and body with these positive emotions that uplift you rather than the stress hormones that slowly drain you.

(00:07:15):
And over time will solely kill you if you let them. And so each day I'm doing this, I'm starting to feel better. I'm starting to, to see an impact. My wife's noticing a difference in me. So doing little things like that every day just started to change me. And I realized like I've been on a quest to try to be better myself. But that led me to then wanting to help others get better. But it started with just doing these things for myself on a daily basis. And then next thing you know, I start writing a, a, a weekly positive tip. And I would send these tips out. And this was like before there was email newsletters, but I started one of the first email newsletters and I had five subscribers. My mother , my brother best friend from college. No joke. I'm sending it out.

(00:07:55):
That's all you need. Yeah. They were getting that newsletter whether they liked it or not. Yep. And then I started to get some feedback. Oh, this is great. And they started sharing with friends. And I would meet people, I'd get their email. Yeah. I, I would send it to 'em and I'd meet another person. I would send 'em the, the newsletter. And it just started with that. And that began this journey of of doing this work. But I was always a, you know, a go-getter. I was a entrepreneur. Now when I knew I wanted to write and speak while I'm doing that newsletter, I decided I need to support my family. So I can't just be a writer and speaker and make money right away. So what can I do? I was in the restaurant business when I was in Atlanta at 24 years old.

(00:08:30):
24 years old. I owned a bar in Buckhead. So that was my first sort of business. Was able to get some investors together. We opened up this bar and it became a hotspot. It was called Park Bench. Like one of the cool places in Buckhead, the Olympics was coming to town. We thrived during the Olympics. It was a great time. Now then next thing you know, I get involved in the.com. I'm not there so much. My partner starts stealing from me. And so they bought me out of the business. And then I took that money and we went down to Jacksonville. So I thought maybe I should get back into this business somehow some way because I'm pretty good at it. I know it. And hopefully it can make us enough money that would allow me to then do what I really wanna do. And That's right.

(00:09:09):
And speak. So I opened up this MOS second mortgage in my home, $20,000 in credit cards. And every dime I had to open up this first MOS in Jacksonville, Florida. It was the fifth MOS in the entire country. Oh wow. First in Florida, not knowing if it's gonna work. So that was like a terrifying time, like as an entrepreneur trying to make this work. But that's who I was like learning how to grow my business to survive. Yeah. To make money, to make payroll, hire people. And so there I am flyering the neighborhoods in the area. There was a huge movie theater near us. My wife and I literally put flyers on every single car. We were trying to sell caterings to the local businesses everywhere. And anyway, just to survive. Yeah. I wasn't a a a faithful person at the time. I didn't have a lot of spiritual faith.

(00:09:56):
And that was where my faith was born though. Because I was in deep trouble. Like we were almost bankrupt several times. I had what I call my Jerry McGuire moment. Like, God, show me the money. God. Yeah. Yeah. like, show me the money. Help me help you, help me help you . Because I kept on saying, God, provide for my family and I will do your work. Mm. That's what I kept saying, just provide for my family. Cause there were moments that I was pale, white, terrified. But it was amazing. One time I thought we weren't gonna make it. I told my wife, I don't think we're gonna make it. She's said, it's okay. Somehow, someway we're gonna make it. I said, I don't think so. I went upstairs, I prayed now I finally like was reaching out. I prayed, God, please help my family.

(00:10:37):
Help me. Help me get through this time. Provide for me. I'll do your work. And I'll never forget this feeling of peace came over me like no other. Mm-Hmm. like, and I was filled with the knowing this belief that somehow, some way it's gonna work out. Everything happens for a reason kept coming to me. Okay. So let's continue to promote it. Let's continue to market it. Start doing some radio advertising with the little, little profit we had next, you know, starts growing, starts becoming more successful. Then a company reaches out to me. They're a web development company. Mm-Hmm. , I was selling wireless technology. That was the.com I was part of. We were bringing literally data information to mobile phones from the very beginning. I sold the NFL on NFL Wireless. Really? We were the first. That's funny company to do that for them.

(00:11:25):
I sold them on that idea. So now that that was happening, but you know, I was no longer in that business and I never knew the technology of it. I would say, okay, here's your data. Here's your device. We're in the middle. Yep. And that's all I would say. That's all you needed to know. But then this company says, teach us how to do it. I said, I don't know how to do it technically. They said, no, teach us how to sell it. We'll pay you $13,000 for six weeks of consulting. Mm. Like out of the blue that just happened, that money literally carried us till we made our first profit in the restaurant. Mm. And after that became widely successful, I sold my several restaurants that I then opened up after that for about a million dollars. And then after that said, okay, now I can focus on writing and speaking.

(00:12:05):
100%. So now we're 2005, 2006. But then I'm really struggling because I sell the restaurants, the money's running out. We're living off this money. Yeah. And the writing and speaking is not going well. Yeah. It's not happening. Yeah. Cuz that's not a guarantee. No. Yeah. But I think it's gonna happen. Yeah. My wife did not want me to sell the restaurants. Kathryn's like, no, don't do it. She's like, it may not work. I go, there is no other option. I can't do anything else. Like I have to do this. There is no plan B, I'm walking one day again, I'm praying. Really stuck in, in the wilderness in many ways. And the idea for the energy bus comes to me. Mm-Hmm Is that the first book? First book? Ah, I didn't know that. Well I had two other books, I should say two other books that I tried to do sort of on my own in a way.

(00:12:49):
Yeah. And the interesting thing about that was I did those two books while I, you know, had the restaurants and was building up a, a speaking brand in a way. Got on the Today Show with one of those books. Everyone said my career was gonna take off. It was a four week series. Get energized today. I coached Ann Curry, Katie Kerick. Wow. Lester Holt. Oh, these people on the show. It was an amazing show run really well. But then after that, everything died. Yeah. Everything went down. It was, it was crazy cuz those books were not meant for me. And that was not my core message. I was gonna share. The energy bus was meant for me. So here I am, like everything is not happening now I'm in the wilderness again. And I take that walk and the idea comes to me with the book and wrote that book in three and a half weeks.

(00:13:32):
Wow. Yeah. Rejected by over 30 publishers though. Dang. Told to give up. Yep. It's not gonna happen. My agent said Give up. It's not gonna happen. But I couldn't cuz I had my mission to encourage and inspire as many people as possible one person at a time. I always tell people, you gotta have a vision. You gotta have a mission. We don't get burned out cuz of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do it. And you need that telescope and microscope, big picture vision, but zoom, focus action every single day. What actions are you taking to realize this picture that you had? And that's what I was doing on a daily basis, trying to make this happen somehow some way. And eventually John Wally and Sons agreed to publish the book and came out and now one bookstore would carry it. So I went on that 28 city tour. Ooh. Paid for by myself. Publisher wouldn't pay for it. And I go from city to city. Five people in one city. Yeah. 10 people or another. 20 and another. This is before podcast, wasn't it?

Brandon Turner (00:14:24):
Yeah. Was way easier. .

Jon Gordon (00:14:26):
We, we, well, you know what's funny? I prayed for the bestseller came out, it was a bestseller in Korea. , I learned, you have to be specific with your prayers. It was like this huge hit in South Korea. Not North Korea, but South Korea was huge. Literally. No, South Korea was like a top five bestseller. Wow. So imagine this huge bestseller in South Korea, but now one bookstore in the United States. We carried the bug. So my publisher, he was, he was a smart al, he called me the David Hasselhoff of, of Korea . So, so I go on this tour and like, it's not going well. The most people we had were a hundred people in Des Moines, Iowa. They thought Jeff Gordon was coming. That's why they showed up. got home, didn't know what the future held. But I knew that I had this vision and mission and just live it and breathe it every day. So here we are now, all these years later. Yeah. And I get to share that message all the time from that book.

Brandon Turner (00:15:12):
Why, why do you think it resonated so much? I mean, I actually had not read, so I, I'd heard about this book for years. I'd not read it until this morning cuz I was like, I gotta read this before I interview you. So I got up early this morning and I just powered through

Jon Gordon (00:15:21):
It. And the fact that you can read it that quick is pretty fast.

Brandon Turner (00:15:23):
Yeah. I, I'm a fast reader I had in Kindle and I'm like, wow. Yeah. It said two and a half hours, like read time on Kindle and I was like, oh, I can do half that.

Jon Gordon (00:15:30):
Wow. That is really impressive. Yeah.

Brandon Turner (00:15:32):
So so

Jon Gordon (00:15:33):
You're a lot smarter than I am

Brandon Turner (00:15:34):
. No, no. I just, I am I peruse apparently much faster. So tell me, why did this hit so bad? I mean, like, it was so good, you know, why did everyone, yeah. Why did it take off?

Jon Gordon (00:15:45):
I think it's because it's about a guy who's miserable and negative. And it was based on me, and my own personal life. Yeah. It really was. George, the main character is based on me and it's about him getting on this bus meeting this bus driver. And she calls him sugar. Yep. And Sheena caster characters teaching the 10 rules for the ride of his life to not only become a more positive person, but a better father, better husband. And I really think it's good cuz it's about getting his team on the bus Yep. And moving in the right direction with a shared vision, focus, and purpose. And it's about the fact that every one of us will have to overcome negativity, adversity, and challenges to define ourselves and our team's success. I think it resonates because there's so many applicable things to our lives right there in that book From Purpose to Loving Your Passengers, to really overcoming negativity.

(00:16:29):
Like energy vampires. People love that book. I think it's why a lot of sports teams love that book. Because coaches know you've gotta get rid of the energy vampires on your team. You cannot let them sabotage your team. One person can't make a team, but one person can break a team and your positive energy must be greater than all the negativity. And Gandhi said, I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. And so that book says, don't let anyone walk through your mind or your team with their dirty feet. And so this is, okay, how do I feed myself every day in order to feed others? Because everyone struggled with negativity, with adversity and challenges. We have negative people in our lives. And we so often allow those people to sabotage us. And I think this is sort of the blueprint on how to overcome that.

(00:17:14):
I'll never forget Jack Del Rio reading the book, you know, big time coach Jack, civil Jaguars. I get a call outta the blue, invites me down. I'm sitting across the desk room. I just wrote this book. I'm 35, 36 years old, I don't even know if it's gonna be successful or not. And Jack Del Rio says, you know, your book really spoke to me. I got these energy vampires in my life. And I realize, man, I let them get me down. I have to be more positive than their negativity. I'm like, wow, I wrote something that can impact someone's life. That's pretty cool.

Brandon Turner (00:17:40):
Yeah. Yeah. So energy vampires I love that phrase by the way. For those who haven't read the book yet, can you dive into that a little bit more? And then I want to specifically go into what if you're not the boss mm-hmm. , how do you deal with them in the workplace? I, one of my early jobs had cliche energy vampire. I couldn't do anything about it.

Jon Gordon (00:17:57):
That is one of the most common questions I get when you're not the boss. What do you do? Or what do you do when your boss is the energy vampire energy vampire is someone that will drain your energy. They suck the life right out of you when you're with them. Yeah. When you walk away, you just feel it. You knew, okay, that person just sucked the life right out of me. They're an energy vampire. Yeah. And we can see 'em. We live with them. Sometimes. I was an energy vampire to, to my wife. Yeah. My dad at times. New York City Police officer Undercovered narcotics. Yeah. Could be an energy vampire. So sometimes they're people that we, we love, but they will drain our energy if we let them. And so what happens is when you have them on teams and organizations, they suck the energy out of the team.

(00:18:39):
They hurt morale, they sabotage performance. They're more focused on me instead of we. They're focused on themselves and their own issues in their own wounds a lot of times. And as a result of that, the team doesn't get better because of them. They get worse. I always say, if you have a energy vampire on your team and you're the boss and they're sabotaging the team, yeah. They're sabotaging the culture and they're unwilling to change. You have to let them off the bus. But if you can mentor them and coach them and encourage them and help them change, that's the greatest thing of all. And we've done that a lot. We've helped a lot of energy vampires transform. I've had a lot of leaders who are negative leaders become positive leaders after reading that book. And the power of positive leadership. But if you're not the boss and you're working with someone who's an energy vampire, what women say, we convinced by our presence.

(00:19:29):
And so your positive energy must be greater than all the negativity. And so when you're with them, you have to realize, I'm not gonna allow that person to bring me down. I'm gonna be someone who lifts them and others up. I'm gonna make sure that that person's negative energy doesn't bring me down on a daily basis. I always say, create this positive force field around you that, that really protects you from their negative energy. And what happens is, the more you do that, the more you protect the positivity, real positivity, the more you're showing up every day knowing that they can't impact you. Guess what? They won't. But say they do. Sometimes we get sick. Why? Because, you know, our immune system isn't strong. But then that sickness actually makes us have a stronger immune system. So sometimes when an energy vampire brings you down, they're actually helping you grow stronger over time. Can you learn from that experience? Can you grow from that experience? If they bring you down, it's letting you know you have to get stronger. You have to find ways to deal with that negativity because they shouldn't really be able to impact you. No one has power over you in your life unless you let them.

Brandon Turner (00:20:31):
Yeah. That's powerful man. All right, moving on. Let's talk about, yeah, I wanna go to the word the one word that will change your life.

Jon Gordon (00:20:39):
That is so much fun. I love doing that. I've been doing this for years now. Dan Briton, Jimmy Page. They came up with the idea. They've been doing it for over 25 years now. These two guys, great friends with each other. And then they became my really great friend. And so they told me the idea about every, every year they pick a word for the year and then they do it with their families. So New Year's Eve, they actually create their words and they make paintings. Yeah. With their words on it. And they put these words up in their kitchen or the living room. So they see these words all the time. So I started sharing this with my companies, my sports teams I was working with. And they all loved it. I mean, Dabo Sweeney, when he won the national championship said my word all year has been love.

(00:21:19):
I told our team that our love for each other would make the greatest impact and would help us win. Told the world that, right. So a lot of teams have now picked their word for the year, but the word should be something that gives you meaning and mission. Passion and purpose. I'm not afraid of doing this with my family. My, my first word was purpose. Cuz I knew my purpose needed to be greater than my challenges. Katherine picked intentional. I remember my daughter picked motivation. Great word for her. She needed it at the time. Hmm. But now she was motivating herself. And my son picked the word positive cuz he deals a lot with negativity as well as I did. I'm naturally negative. I gotta work to be more positive. I think that's important too. So often that we think we're just gonna be positive and show up with this positive attitude.

(00:22:00):
Some people are born more negative, some go towards the negative. I do first and foremost. So every day I'm working to be a more positive person. But I'm a great example of that. You could actually rewire your brain from negative to positive. You could actually change the energetic structure of your brain. You could tune into a positive frequency instead of a negative frequency. And the more you do, you'll actually create that highway. Yeah. To positivity. And you wanna create dirt roads to negativity. So this one word is like a great technique in terms of what's my meaning, what's my mission? What's my passion? What's my purpose? What word will drive me towards that This year. And every year you do this, I, I'm convinced that there's a word that's meant for you. Cuz my words have molded me and shaped me to be who I am today.

(00:22:43):
And we do this all the time and people say, man, I was, I was praying on it where some people, I have a friend who's an atheist and and I said, just speak out loud and say what's my word? If you don't believe in God, just speak out loud. He goes, it's amazing. Like a couple days later it came to me. Yeah. He goes, isn't that, I don't know where it came from, but isn't that cool , so this came to him. Right. I think it's God that gave it to him, but, but whatever you wanna believe. Yeah. And the word just came and it helped him live his life in terms of what he was meant to live, what he was meant to go through. My wife's favorite word I ever I ever chose was serve . She loved the year that I served at home.

(00:23:16):
And it was a hard year for me. Toughest year in my life. Best year of her life. Yeah, I bet. But man, that molded me and shaped me that year to grow, to be a servant leader. Every year after that, every book I've written has become a bestseller. Wow. Because I learned to serve, it shaped me, it changed me, it made me a better father, a better husband than that word that year. Last year was power. I knew I needed more power this year. It's whole W H O L A. Yeah. Yeah. I wanna be whole and and cuz we all have a hole in our soul. H o l A And the goal of life is through love and forgiveness to heal the whole and become whole. Yeah. And so this year I wanna do a lot more healing. I've healed a lot, but I think there's still some left.

(00:23:58):
Yeah. And so become more whole. And every day I'm thinking about that word. How am I becoming more whole? So the word gives you focus, it gives you clarity. Yeah. And every day you show up to take on the day, the day of life. Like the challenge of today, you have this word that will help you get through it. Cause we often forget our vision. Yeah. A lot of times we'll forget our mission, but the one word helps to remind you of what it is every day. So you live with this greater purpose. Yeah. And more intentions.

Brandon Turner (00:24:26):
Yeah. Yeah. That's great. You know, it kinda reminds me of, you know, like what the first rule in the energy bus Right. Was like, what does it take? Like you drive your bus, right?

Jon Gordon (00:24:33):
Yeah. You're the driver. Yeah.

Brandon Turner (00:24:33):
The driver of your bus. And so this idea of like get outta the back seat. Yeah. Get outta the, the passenger side, whatever. Like you drive your bus or you, and I would tell people all the time is like, most people drive around their life. Like they're in a taxi. Wow. And they're into the backseat. And the taxi driver's, first of all, drunk . And like he doesn't care where he's going, he's whipping around. Right. But it does matter. Like, and if, if you don't care where you're going in life, then who cares. Right. Right. Alice is Alice Wonderland. Right. Like, Alice's like, you know, where do I go? And the Chester cat's like, well, where do you want to go? And she's like, I don't know. And he's like, well it doesn't matter. . Right. This is like same but you, it does matter where we go in life, we have visions and goals and plans and dreams. And so getting into that driver's seat. So with this word thing, when I, when when I read about this from you, I was like, oh, this is a way to like snap back into the driver's seat from the backseat. Cuz it's, I naturally just wanna sit in the backseat too.

Jon Gordon (00:25:19):
Yeah. I love that. It's so empowering. Yeah. It really is. Because when people pick their word, okay, now it's my word. Yeah. How can I live this word this year? Yeah. How can I take action on it? And it gives you empowerment. I love to empower people. That's like my, my greatest source of, of energy. I think it's my greatest gift to empower people and to encourage people to give them tools to, to get into that driver's seat and say, you know what, this is my life. Like I am here to live my life with intention. I don't wanna go through like wandering around. Yeah. I wanna have focus and mission and meaning and I wanna do something meaningful. Yeah. Something great. I truly believe people are here for a reason. They're not here by accident. Yeah. You are not an accident. You are here for a purpose.

(00:25:59):
Yeah. And you have a plan for your life. And when you tap into that and you start to own that and live it, life becomes such a meaningful and amazing journey. Yeah. People think it's accidental. They're probably gonna live an accidental life cuz you get to choose what kind of life you wanna live. But you're not meant to live an accidental life. You're not meant to live a random life. You're not meant to wander around. You are meant to live with intention and purpose. Why? Well if we're all gonna die, then why should this world matter? Yeah. Think about it. Yeah. I think about that all the

Brandon Turner (00:26:26):
Time. If there's no purpose to it, then there's

Jon Gordon (00:26:28):
No purpose to it. And and there's just an afterlife or no afterlife. Yeah. And this is all that there is. Why should it matter? Yeah. And I believe it matters because every moment Yeah. Is an eternal moment. The power of now or right here, right now to have an eternal impact. Yeah. And to express your eternal self in this reality. Yeah. The essence of who you are. And so appearance is temporary, but essence is eternal. Mm-Hmm. . So who you are on the inside is what you're expressing every day. And so your mental, to live and express the essence of who you are and your own unique soul. Like you have a soul. I have a soul that's a unique spiritual d n a of who we are. And we're meant to express that in this world right here, right now. And so many people don't realize that. And then they live with fear. They live with condemnation, they live with anxiety, they live with powerlessness. They don't have any power. We're meant to live with power. Mm. And we're meant to live with purpose. And I'm convinced it's the purpose that also gives us power.

Brandon Turner (00:27:29):
That's so good. That's so good. You know, to, to elaborate one more thing or to the, on the one word, I'm gonna break the fourth wall here and throw to Alex. Didn't you have a great, so Alex is the director here of the podcast. Didn't you have a story about a one? Didn't you have a word last year and then I just destroyed it.

Jon Gordon (00:27:45):
Do a word every year. Yeah.

Brandon Turner (00:27:46):
Yeah. That's awesome. And what the word

Jon Gordon (00:27:48):
This year is Homestead.

Brandon Turner (00:27:49):
Yeah. . It wa really focused on home. Yeah. And

Jon Gordon (00:27:53):
Then I moved to Maui few

Brandon Turner (00:27:53):
Weeks later. . Yeah. He . Yeah. He said, I'm gonna be, you know, home homestead. We're gonna buy this house, we're gonna settle in him and his bride or future bride. Yeah. And then I call him up a few weeks later and I'm like, Hey, I want you to move to Maui. Come. Yeah. your homestead in Maui. I

Jon Gordon (00:28:07):
Was gonna say your home is, is wherever you are and wherever your your future bride is the one you love is there. Yeah. I always tell my wife, I said, wherever you are, I feel like I'm coming home. Cuz you're my home. It's not necessarily a place, but it's, it's a person.

Brandon Turner (00:28:18):
Yeah.

Jon Gordon (00:28:19):
I love that

Brandon Turner (00:28:20):
There's a cheesy line from a owl city. Remember that Banda did a fireflies back in the day anyways. Said if my heart, if my heart was a house, you'd be home. Oh that's good. That's a great line. Like it's cheesy and sweet, but

Jon Gordon (00:28:30):
I Are you saying when I said that my wife was cheesy?

Brandon Turner (00:28:32):
. Yes. And it should be. Yeah.

Jon Gordon (00:28:36):
I actually said that and she went, oh. And then we had a very romantic night. So it's, it's worth saying. It's worth saying rim. I

Brandon Turner (00:28:42):
Love it. Alright, so let's go talk positivity again because you brought it up is like, sometimes you just have to, like your natural state might not be positive. Right? Is positivity, just faking it till you make it is just putting on a, a big smile and that makes you positive. Is there more to it than that?

Jon Gordon (00:28:57):
There's so much more to it. I'm glad you said that because it's not Pollyanna positive. It's not about seeing the world do rose colored glasses. Yeah. It's like, no. When you have the power to overcome the thorns, it's not about ignoring reality, it's about maintaining optimism, belief and faith in order to create a better reality. And there are moments that you're gonna say, you know what, this stinks, this is really tough what I'm going through right now. But what I have found is that positive leaders working with so many of them, they find a way forward. Yeah. Yes. We're here yesterday. Yes we had this challenge, but where are we going now? Yes we had the setback, but what are we building? What are we creating? We're always looking forward. And that's a different mindset. Now I'm not saying that there are moments when you should be down and, and feel grief and despair.

(00:29:40):
You should feel those moments. But we don't wanna allow those to take us down the spiral staircase of despair. Yeah. And depression cuz they will. So this is about feeding ourselves every day with real optimism, real belief, real hope, like hope in the future gives you power in the present to take action. To take one more step today, hope for one more day. Sometimes that's all we need. And it's sometimes all we can do. Yeah. But guess what? That moves us forward towards what we're building, what we're creating. And you're not always gonna feel that way. There's a movement now called toxic positivity. Mm-Hmm And I hate that term because if it's toxic, it's not positive. Let's call what it really is. A lack of empathy. Fake positivity. Yeah. Not meeting people where they are or just saying, oh just be positive people do this all the time.

(00:30:26):
Oh just be positive. No, no. Meet people where they are. Come down and talk to them and be there for them and listen to them. And then try to lift them up. Yeah. Or ask them, how do you like to be encouraged? How can I encourage you? They may not want to hear, Hey, great job. Some people don't like that. So how can I encourage you? How can I support you? What does that look like for you? And then you make it meaningful and personal to that person to be a real positive leader. And all I know is being positive, not, it's not gonna guarantee you succeed. Yeah. But, but being negative will guarantee you won't. Yeah. And the negativity, I always say don't sugarcoat the situation but don't let negativity sour it cuz that's what will happen. And at the bigger level, there's a force, there's two main forces going on here.

(00:31:10):
Our friend Irwin McManus, you know, there's two main frequencies he talked about that happened in the garden, if you know the garden and the Adam and Eve story. Right. Two main frequencies. The voice of God. And then there was the voice of the serpent that was lying, that was trying to separate them from God and from each other and from themselves. And the word anxious, the Greek root of that. And the root word of that word means to separate and divide. Mm-Hmm. . So think about it. When you're anxious, you feel divided, you feel separate. So negative thoughts separate us. So there's a frequency, a negative thought that we can tune into that separates us and divides us and weakens us and makes us feel powerless. And that's why so many people feel powerless. Cause the negative thoughts that they're tuning into that they have in their head.

(00:31:53):
But those thoughts are not coming from them. How do I know who would ever choose to have a negative thought? Yeah. Would you ever choose a thought that sabotage you that said you're not enough. The future's hopeless, you're not gonna make it. The health diagnosis is not gonna improve. The relationship is not gonna get better. You would never choose those thoughts. So we have this negative frequency always trying to sabotage us and separate us. But then we have this positive frequency of love, of hope, of joy, of purpose, of meaning. That's always trying to unite us and bring us back to ourselves, to others. And I truly believe to the creator of the universe, but also think about this, if, if you're not a, a religious person, look at the the Cherokee story of the two wolves. Mm-Hmm , you know the two wolves inside of us.

(00:32:35):
Yeah. The positive and negative. And they fight all the time. Which one is gonna win the fight? The one you feed the most. So feed the positive. Well that's the same story, just in a different tradition. But it's there. Why? Truth is truth and truth exists everywhere and anywhere and you will find it wherever you're looking for it. So that is the truth. And there are two main frequencies, positive and negative. So that's why I truly think the battle, the narrative of the universe, when you look at it, what is Harry Potter about? Good verses evil. Yeah. Superman. Good verses evil. Yeah. Star wars good verses evil. Why is every movie about that? Yeah. It's the epic narrative and it's the narrative within our soul of the battle of good verses evil. Evil trying to divide and separate negative thoughts and love and positivity and God trying to unite you and bring you back to connection and oneness where there is power.

(00:33:23):
And once you understand that, that's why you realize, oh positivity matters. Cuz I gotta tune into that higher positive frequency to give myself a higher state of mind so I can perform at a higher level. And I was working with just athletes recently, just spoke to the Colorado Rockies, spoke to a number of teams, then I talked to some of the players guys who are professional athletes struggling though with their negative thoughts coming in. Once they understood this and they understood how thoughts work and their negative thoughts were not coming from them. And you don't have to believe the lies that they tell, just speak truth to the lies on a daily basis. And you do that over time, you start walking in that truth. You start walking that power encourage yourself every day. And I'm not saying stand in the mirror and say you're smart enough and good looking and gosh darn people like you.

(00:34:05):
But no, I have what it takes today. I am strong, I am powerful, I am successful. I am here to do something meaningful and something great. I'm not gonna allow this negativity to sabotage me. I'm here to love the battle. One picture I said love the battle, love the competition. Stop worrying about the outcome. Just get back to loving. He's like, yeah. When I was at my best, I had this motto. He told me the motto I can't share cuz it's private. I said, start saying that motto again. He did that outing, best outing literally in in several years. It was so cool just having that talk with him. What did I do? I just got him back to oneness and to love and the power instead of negative thoughts that were causing him to feel dismay and get down. So I also did this with teenagers and some people who are listening I'm sure have teenagers.

(00:34:50):
This is really important. Yeah. I met with a 16 year old kid. I knew his mom. He was really struggling and he's a world-class athlete, but he had all these negative thoughts. He was depressed and even suicidal in the ER two nights before. And so now I meet with this kid and I said, do you have a lot of thoughts in your head? He said, oh so many. I said, are they negative? Yes. Do they bombard you and attack you all the time? They tell me things about myself all the time. I go, those are lies and negative thoughts are lies that will tell you things about yourself in your future that just aren't true. Stop believing the lies we talked about that he realized his negative thoughts were not coming from him. So what'd he do? He stopped beating himself up after that. He stopped feeling guilt and shame for the thoughts that weren't coming from him.

(00:35:31):
See he was thinking they were from him. Yeah. So now he's beating himself up as a result of having those thoughts. Once he understood that it changed everything within a day. Yeah. Turn around. I text him the other day, how you doing? Doing great. Mr. Gordon High state of mind. Unbelievable. So that's why positivity is so important. T U N E T u n E. We gotta tune into a higher frequency. T stands for trust and truth instead of doubt. We trust unite stands to unite with love cuz love casts out fear and neutralize the negativity on a daily basis. Don't allow that negativity to sabotage you. Right. Be more positive than the energy vampires and all the negativity come in your way. And e elevate your thinking on a daily basis. When you appreciate you elevate, when you practice mindfulness and meditation, you're elevating your state of mind.

(00:36:21):
When you pray, you're elevating your state of mind. Do all the things each day to elevate your state of mind. You know my wife Kathryn, so I gotta tell you this funny story though. But that's tuned. Yeah. Which is powerful. And you start tuning into that higher frequency on a daily basis. Literally it changes the energetic structure. I'm convinced I've been talking to neuroscientists challenging 'em on this theory. Yeah. And I'm asking 'em to research this. It will change the energetic structure of your brain. Cause their brain is an antenna. And the more you tune into that, you actually create a healthy antenna that starts tuning into that higher frequency even more. But Katherine, a couple of months ago, she's like, oh, I'm getting old . My body's sore. I feel like everything's breaking down. I'm, I'm not like I used to be. I'm never gonna be again.

(00:37:02):
So I go away, I go to a speaking engagement, I come back literally like two days later she's hopping around the house. She's skipping, she's all energetic, she's a all hopping. I'm like, did you have a boyfriend or something? Like, what is going on here? She's like, no, no. I talked to that health coach the other day. We did that intensive testing with your blood, your dna n your jeans, everything she said, I was talking to the health coach. She said, you have something really unique, something special. You have the gene of an Olympic athlete. . So now captain's walking around. I can you not, she's like, I an Olympic athlete. Yeah. I'm an Olympic athlete. She's really, you wanna play tennis tomorrow? I will crush you cuz I'm an Olympic athlete. You might see Kathryn Gordon in the 2024 Olympics cuz she believes it . But Brandon, I'm telling you the the the pain went away. Yeah. The soreness went away. No more complainant now she's losing weight. She's working out harder than I've ever seen. Why? Her belief. Yeah. Changed. I am strong. Yeah. I am powerful. I am here to take on this world. I am a conqueror. Start speaking those words of a life for yourself. It will change your energy. Ah,

Brandon Turner (00:38:03):
That's fantastic. Yeah. One thing I teach in inside like what we call the better life tribe, which is my kind of mastermind where all the prophets go. Charity yeah. It's all about getting a better life. But I do this thing called identity-based goal study. Mm-Hmm. and it all, it doesn't start with what do I want? It starts with I am Am. Yeah. Who am I? Right? So it's like I am and then like let's, let's figure that out first. I'm an amazing husband and father. Mm. I'm present in the lives of my kids and my wife. Like that's what I say to myself. That's so good. Right. So now like I'm starting there. Now I can build a goal around that instead of just like I am, you know, like I want this or I'm gonna have this body. Like what, what am I like I'm, I'm not, you know, sexy for all the women to look at. No, I am healthy. Right. And fit so I can live. You know, like to see my great grandkids. Like that's a different now based on that goal. Yeah. Or that desire. I can now set a goal. Cause yeah. The, the words, whether they say the words that follow the words I am are the most powerful in the universe. Yeah.

Jon Gordon (00:38:52):
And who you are determined how you lead and how you show up every single day. And that essence of who you are is your identity. What Superman took off for Superman Alpha. Who was he? People always say he was Clark Kent. No. He was still Superman. Mm-Hmm. Cuz you are who you are in the inside. Mm-Hmm. The power is within you and the identity is calling out that power that you are, that you're meant to reveal and express and grow and unleash. Like, I believe the powers in everyone, but so many don't know they have the power. Yeah. So they don't unleash it. But you're saying when you know who you are, you can start to express it. Yeah. Which I

Brandon Turner (00:39:28):
Love. Yeah. And it's, it is cool like kind of like cycle, it's virtual cycle, virtuous cycle. Right. You say I am this and maybe you're not fully that yet, or you wanna be that mm-hmm. , but then your actions start to line up with it, which then reinforces Yeah. The identity which reinforces the actions. And pretty soon, like I, I don't wanna be somebody who goes and loses 20 pounds. I wanna be somebody who weighs 20 pounds less cause that's who I am. But order to get there. Right. Sometimes I just gotta to lose that 20 pounds. I gotta figure out the actions until it becomes automatic. Right?

Jon Gordon (00:39:52):
Yeah. I would say don't fake itty and make it act like you belong cuz you do. Oh.

(00:39:57):
Because you do. Like that's God, you, you are here to do this. Yeah. You are worthy. A lot of people don't feel worthy. Why? Because they're negative thoughts that come in, tell them they're not worthy. Mm-Hmm. because they're believing the lies. This is where the spiritual battle comes in. Yeah. You'll always be attacked in the place of your identity. Mm-Hmm So here you are saying Yeah you're right. I am this and I am strong and I am powerful. Meanwhile you're getting attacked saying no you're not. Yeah. You've never done that in the past. Yep. You weren't successful. You didn't adhere to that plan last time. You didn't, it will accuse you and attack you. So That's so true. Your identity has to be stronger than the attacks trying to attack your identity.

Brandon Turner (00:40:32):
Yeah, that's so true. I mean, yeah. To go back to the kids, like I'm present the lives of my, you know, my kids and my wife and I'm a good husband and father. Like I get that that the attack that I get more than anything else is you're not there with your kids. Like you're, you care about work more than you do kids. And it's like, no I don't. But it's like that's the message I get all the time and I'm very, yeah. Very afraid of being that guy that is on his phone all day when his kids and I fight it. But it's yeah. That's so

Jon Gordon (00:40:56):
Good. It's, I wanna give a tip to that. Please. Please. My daughter, my daughter spoke at the birthday party I had last night. It was my, it was my 50th birthday party , which was cuz we actually were celebrating 50th but I was 52 we couldn't celebrate during Covid. So we've been putting it off for a long time. But my daughter spoke and she's 24 years old and she told the audience like the impact I had on her and she said my dad was gone a lot speaking but I don't remember him gone a lot cuz when he was home he was present. Mm. And I think that's key. Just striving to be present and investing in your kids when you're with them. It doesn't have to be all the time. Just make the time you are with them present and be there with them and invest in them.

(00:41:35):
And when you do, it's gonna come back to you. Because I didn't make that effort. I felt bad for being gone so much and I was wondering, getting attacked. Yeah. Oh I should have been there A guy I was having that date, Jade, did I travel too much? Was I not a good dad? And I was feeling down cause those thoughts were coming to me. He goes, no dad, I remember you being there all the time. You came to my games. Yeah. You always bring me food before my game. You did this, you encouraged me here, you were with me here. So you remembered those moments. And I'm like, ah, thank God I did that during those times. I didn't build a training company during that time cuz I knew that I needed to spend time with my kids during that time. Yeah. I was writing and speaking after they left the home, went to college.

(00:42:15):
That's when we started building the training company. Cuz I knew I couldn't do both at the same time. One would suffer. Yep. So I, I think that's important to always say who'll be the people crying at your funeral. Yeah. And spend more time with those people. Because guess what? Not a lot of people will be crying at your funeral and not everyone's gonna come to your funeral. Mm-Hmm . So one, I had an executive the other day, he would actually say to his team, are you gonna be at my funeral? Are you gonna be at my funeral? Will you be there? I thought about that. Like he would challenge his team to say, will you be there? Cuz a lot of people you worked with when someone died, people did not go to that funeral. Yeah. So what's gonna make people want to come to your funeral?

(00:42:52):
So be the kind of person that invests in them, but also the people that will cry the most are your family. And they should always be our biggest priority. Yeah. But I guarantee knowing you. Yeah. That's the attack you're facing. That's not who you are. And I, I always see the future that your kids are gonna be like, thank you for all you did to invest in me. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Like you, that's pretty cool. So speaking of kids, you got kids, what's your I have two kids. Kids, well they're not kids anymore but my son is 22. Okay. About to graduate college. Okay. And my daughter is 24 and now she is speaking actually doing this work. She a 30 talks this year. Wow. This is her first full year of speaking. Yeah. And she's already just going after it full of fear.

(00:43:33):
Yeah. Terrified. But got called into this. Yeah. That story's amazing. We don't have time for it. But recognize this was her purpose. I never thought she would do this cuz she was always afraid to get up in public. Yeah. And to speak. But then next thing you know, she got this call, she started doing it. She made a woman who spoke life into her after that she said, dad, I'm gonna do this work. And she's been doing it ever since and impacting people. It's pretty cool to see. That's cool. But I often think about this, I was a negative leader and a negative dad early on. So if I don't change, yeah. She would not be doing this work today or want to do it. She'd be like, my dad is a jerk. He doesn't live it. Or I would probably never even write a book like this.

(00:44:09):
Yeah. I had to change. Being positive doesn't just make you better. It makes everyone around you better. And I think it unleashes the legacy in others. So it allows them to live what their purpose is. So seeing her do this knows it's a direct reflection of me changing from negative to positive. That's why I'm so passionate about doing this work and also why she is now. She's like, I've seen you change dad. I now see people change by even me speaking and it makes her wanna do it more and more. So. So these are my two kids and my wife's speaking. My daughter is, I am. And our son thinks we're crazy. So there you go. .

Brandon Turner (00:44:42):
Any more tips for me? I mean, I'm, I got a three-year old and a six year old at home. So as somebody who's been there before, what

Jon Gordon (00:44:48):
Do you got for me? I got a couple Catherine and I wrote relationship, grit. And I think the key is, it always looks like the grass is greener somewhere else cuz it is hard at this age. Yeah. It is really challenging and it's a battle. And there are times when you think it'd be a lot easier if I wasn't home or if I was going to do this or I was looking outside. Yep. And it's someone who, you know, publicly admitted the failure that they've had in their relationship. Like my wife and I, we had some failures because I was not always faithful in our relationship early on. Mm. I wasn't a person of faith. I wasn't who I am today. And I had a lot of issues that I needed to heal. And so I wasn't this guy that was like making my relationships in my marriage a priority.

(00:45:31):
And my kids were not my main priority. I was not being a great husband, I was not being a great father. I was so stressed myself. I was focused on me no one else. Very much a, a self-focused kind of narcissist kind of person. And everything changed when I said, how can I help others? How can I make a difference? I'm so miserable. When she threatened to leave me, everything changed. She didn't know about about the infidelity. It's hard to talk about that because when I talk about it, people think, oh, it was like a, you know, full blown infidelity. Yeah. It was not full blown. It was not even Bill Clinton infidelity. Sure. It wasn't even that. It was just, it was looking outside the marriage. Yep. It was flirtation and things like that. Yeah. And it was some physical contact of kissing, but beyond that.

(00:46:10):
But I was still, it's still infidelity. And then I, I told my wife and what we tell couples all the time is the grit formula. G R I T G stands for God. You gotta make God the center of your relationship and your family. I think that's really important to have that greater power that that helps you if you're not a religious person or but you believe in, say say even addiction programs. Addiction programs all believe in a higher power. Yeah. Why? Cuz they know they're not strong enough on their own. Yeah. And so we need a greater power to strengthen us. Well, in your relationship with your family, you need that greater power. R stands to resolve, stick together and resolve to stay together through challenging times. Cause it's easy to walk away, but you gotta fight for your marriage and you gotta fight for your culture.

(00:46:51):
Number one thing we did family meeting. I highly recommend that they're a little too young now. Yeah. But a couple years you'll have a family meeting. Sit around the table, talk about your family mission statement, come up with one. Mm-Hmm. , ask the kids their one words for the year. Talk about that as a family. Talk about their challenges, what they're going through. We found out so many things about our kids by having these family meetings on a daily basis. So people call them these meetings, dinner, but we would be so busy with everything going on in life that we would not often just talk. Yeah. We'd be so busy. So you make this time for this family meeting, I would read something inspirational, show a video, and we would talk about it. And no one wanted to do. At times I did. But they were like, no, no, no.

(00:47:28):
My wife was like, no, I'm busy. I said, no, we're doing this. You have to fight for your culture of your marriage, of your relationship, of your company, of your team. Culture's not just gonna happen. You have to fight and protect your culture. So I had to fight for it. So that's the resolve. Then you gotta invest. Make sure we're not at consumers in our relationship. Make sure that we're investing in our relationship. And Catherine did so much investing in me all those years. I am who I am because of her love and support. There's no doubt. And now it's my time to be investing a lot back. I invested along the way, but even more now than ever. So investing is key. And investing your kids, like we talked about, time, energy, coaching, mentoring, just being there to listen. I wish I was a better listener by the way.

(00:48:11):
Here's a key tip. I would always try to give advice. Then I had to learn to start listening mm-hmm. . And the more I'd listen to them talk, then I can be helpful. I'd say, Hey, do you want some advice on this? But before I would speak, I would just ask permission to speak. Yeah. And my good friend Dan Brendan encouraged that because I would sometimes just always give advice, then say no, ask permission. Hey, I have a suggestion. You want to hear it? They'd be like, no, dad. Okay. Yeah. And you don't say anything. So you ask permission, which is really cool. Then they're willing to receive it. And then the tea part is together. No one creates success alone. Working with all these teams like I do in corporations and businesses and sports. You need a team to be successful. And so how can we do this together as a team and fight for each other instead of against each other?

(00:48:55):
So I'm, I'm big on connection. Making time to connect and making time to commit small moments of service and sacrifice. I gotta tell this to people, this is an important stat. 99% of couples that pray together actually stay together. Mm-Hmm. The Gallup poll did that. Gallop, gallop poll. 99%, 1% did it. People go to church, 50% stay together. No different than actual the general population. Go to church. And now I'm gonna, don't go to church. But the people who pray together stay together. So that's a great way to stay together as a couple and find ways to actually connect and commit to each other. Also, couples that actually make small moments of sacrifice for each other and for their kids. A little sandwich here, helping out with the groceries, taking the garbage out. Hey, can you look at this Instagram post I was about to post and tell me what you think of it. Yeah. How often in the past was like, oh, I'm too busy. Yep. But then you make time for those small moments. 85% more likely to stay together. Couples who do those little things. That's so

Brandon Turner (00:49:55):
Good, man. Yeah. You know, the, the pray together thing. You know, I've been a, I've been a Christian my whole life and my wife has been a Christian in her whole life. We have a Christian marriage, you could say, you know, like the whole thing we met in Bible college, right? Yeah. We never prayed together outside of dinner and like, you know, meals, that was it. Like when the, with the kids, we'd prayed the kids and we never did it. And it wasn't until like four months ago that I was like, and I, in my head I was like, there's something cheesy about it. It feels, we like, like this is just awkward. I'm forcing it like I pray on my own. I don't need to pray for my life. And then I just felt convicted over it. Yeah. and so I set a goal this year.

(00:50:25):
I, I don't call it a goal, but as part of the Better Life tribe that we have, we do a lot of that idea of you get the results of what you repeatedly do. Right. So we track our like five to seven habits that we want to do. So I've got like, wake up by 6:00 AM cause I know my life is better. Then I've got my, did I get 10,000 steps? I want, I know my life is better then. Yeah. But then one of them I just started tracking is, did I pray with my wife before bed at some point? And I just have a like, wow, seven times a week do I do it? And so I went from zero times to now I'm averaging five to six times a week. That's awesome. Like, sometimes we, one of us falls asleep putting the kids down. Right. . Cause we're in that phase of life. But what a dramatic difference. And I cannot explain why that is other than just that the semi cheesy analogy that people have used for yours. Right. Like, if God, if you and God, or you and your spouse and then God is like a triangle, right? As you move towards Gods, you move towards each other. That's like, maybe that explains it, but I'll

Jon Gordon (00:51:13):
Explain powerful. Please. I'll, I'll explain it. It's cuz we are spirit and God is spirit. And so when we pray together, you align on that you become one spirit. Yeah. And as you become one spirit, you experience oneness and this power and oneness. Yeah. Instead of drifting further apart in being disconnected, you become very connected and experienced and feel the power of that oneness. And from that oneness, what happens? There's healing. Yeah. And there's growth. Mm-Hmm. . And so that's what it's all about. And our prayer is this, God, we invite you into our marriage to love us, to unite us, to heal us, and to strengthen us so we can grow strong together and serve you together and raise children that will glorify and honor you. And then your daughter will try to beat you know, your son up and you'll be like, Hey, are you honoring you know, God, are you, are you glorifying God by doing that?

(00:51:59):
And you can just point out little things like that, but we'll just say that prayer. And we've said that prayer now for 10 years. Wow. Transform. I love that Our marriage Yeah. Transformed it. Just doing that every single night. And for Catherine it felt awkward at first. I started saying it cause she was so mad at me . Because I revealed the truth about what had happened. Yeah. 10 years before. Yeah. And when I told her she was gonna leave me. Yeah. And I'm on a plane, I meet this guy. I'm, I'm pouring my heart out. I'm crying like my wife's about to leave me. I told her something I did years ago, but I'm not that person anymore. Like, I'm literally just devastated, go to give a talk and the guy goes, oh, you know, my wife and I pray before bed every single night we say a prayer.

(00:52:39):
It's, it's transformed our marriage. Like out of the blue I meet this guy. Yeah. I said, God, what's, what's our prayer literally came to me and I wrote it on a napkin. Wow. And I brought it home. I started saying it every night. Catherine did not wanna say it. Mm-Hmm. , well first I was on the couch saying she, she, I was in bed, then I got, I made my way back to the bed. So now I'm sleeping next to her. But that's it. And then I started saying that prayer every night and she would not say it. And then one day she tells a story about how she grabbed my hand and said the prayer with me that night. And that began the journey of when she forgave me and when we started healing our marriage. And that's when our marriage became really, really good. Like ever since then, like we have an amazing marriage now and we did not always have an amazing marriage. You gotta work at it. Yeah. But I'm convinced it's the prayer that made the difference.

Brandon Turner (00:53:22):
That's really, really powerful man. Yeah. Aim people

Brandon Turner (00:53:24):
Who non-religious, like how can, how can they apply that?

Jon Gordon (00:53:27):
Yeah. Again, you don't, religion is religion. God is not a religion. He's a relationship. Mm-Hmm. So God is all about oneness with you and connection with you and connecting you to others. So just start praying together. Yeah. I say just do it. Just try it and see how you feel. Yeah. See how it goes. So often people say, God, you know, show me and I'll trust you. God is saying no, trust me and I'll show you. So guess what? Say God, if you are real, we're gonna start praying together and just show us that you're real in our marriage, in our relationship. Yeah. Now when you do that, you're probably gonna be tested cuz everybody was always tested on their journey. So just know the fact that you're being tested after you, that is actually a sign. That's what you truly need. Mm. Because it's giving you a choice.

(00:54:12):
Do I want to go to the left or do I wanna go to the right? Do I wanna go towards the negative? Do I wanna go towards the positive? Which one? So you might be tested, but I guarantee if you just start praying together and just just decide to trust what's the alternative. Yeah. What would be so wrong with just trusting in that moment? Yeah. Like give it a try and see if it has an impact on your life. Yeah. It just might change your life. Because I don't judge anybody for what they believe. Because guess what, I've been on a journey. I've been a Buddhist. Yeah. I've been a big meditator. I was a new agere, a seeker. I've done everything. I was searching for all of the answers. And what I realized was there was a creator of the universe. And when I cried out to that creator, he answered my prayers and I believed that he had an answer for me.

(00:54:54):
Mm. Cuz I was, I was open. And I think the more you're open, God can move into your heart if you're just open. And that began the day when I said, I am open, I am willing. And that's, that changed everything. So sometimes I can't believe that I believe what I believe , but I can't deny that it changed the course of my life. Yeah. And the fact that I write all these books in about three and a half weeks is proof of that is proof that there's a God, because I am not that smart. people say, you're so genius the way you break things down and make it so simple. No, no. That's the way my mind works. It's actually a simple mind . I can't read books like you do. I'm not that smart. So it's proof that there's Mir that miracles exist and they're

Brandon Turner (00:55:35):
Possible. Oh, that's fantastic.

(00:55:41):
Hey yo, it's Brandon. This is that ad spot we mentioned earlier, like you heard a hundred percent of this week's ad revenue is going towards a charity of the guest choosing. So here's that as spot by listening. You're making a real financial impact on the world. Today's sponsor is the Real Estate Investing Summit in Maui. Yeah. That's actually the conference I'm throwing here in Hawaii. It's gonna be a two day in-person event at the Grand Hyatt in Kna Poly Hawaii on Maui. May 22nd, 23rd, 2023. This is a dual track event, which means we're gonna have two tracks at one time. One for new investors, one for experienced investors, and you can pick whatever one you want to go to. We got speakers lined up like David Green, host of the Bigger Pockets podcast, Jay Papa, investor and author of The One Thing Wendy Papasan, tar Yer, AJ Osborne, rich and Kathy Feki, Brian Burke, and me of course, and a whole lot more.

(00:56:27):
And while this event is part of the accountability mastermind I run called the Better Life Tribe, we're actually opening up the few remaining tickets for the general population right now. So yeah, that actually means you can come if you hurry and get your tickets. And you should, if you wanna lean into investing in real estate to fund your future, you'll network with speakers and attendees. You'll gain a ton of knowledge and wisdom about strategies and tactics that are working now. And you'll make some great friends at the same time. Now look, we only have 300 total spots for the event. This is not one of those huge two, 3000 person conferences. We, you're gonna get lost in the crowd. This is intimate, powerful and life changing. But because it's small, it's also gonna sell out quick. So for more information, if you wanna come, I'd love to have you go to re ei maui.com. Again, that is r e i maui.com.

Brandon Turner (00:57:13):
All right. Well I can't get you outta here before quizzing you on the geniuses that you work with. I mean, you work with some real high level people and some incredible entrepreneurs, CEOs, leaders, investors, whatever. Athletes. What do they have in common? The ones that are just phenomenal, the ones that you're like these, they're just next level people. What do they have in common? One,

Jon Gordon (00:57:31):
They have a ton of clarity. Mm-Hmm. clarity leads to focus action. Greatest thing a leader could do is to provide clarity for their team and their organization. Where are we going? Yeah. What are we doing? What is it that we want? Right. Be intentional. Yeah. Identity. Who are we? Once you know who you are and what you stand for, every decision you make is easy. When you know your values, you will show your values on a daily basis. These leaders are also tremendously optimistic and very pos again, not fake positivity, but they truly believe, and the leadership is a transfer of belief. So these leaders, they believe in others so much that these people start to believe in themselves. I've worked with Dabo Sweeney for the past 12 years, the coach of Clemson football, and he's won two national championship. Yeah. Clemson should not necessarily be a national contender like they are.

(00:58:18):
He's built that program with this belief. Dave Roberts is a guy I worked with ever since he got the job with the Dodgers. Mm-Hmm. Dave Roberts connects with his team on a daily basis. So these leaders are very relational and that is, they build incredible relationships with their team. And Dave every day would meet with his team and connect with them one-on-one, not just collectively, but one-on-one. That was powerful. Sean McVeigh is a guy I work with, the coach of the Rams. And, and Sean is just brilliant. He's a genius, but also relational. He's a relational genius. Always connected with his guys. And if you notice with any of his teams, even when they're losing, did you hear any negative comments in the media from the guys? Nothing Harley anything because of the kind of leader he is. And he connects with his team in that way, provides a ton of clarity and then reinforces the values on a daily basis.

(00:59:08):
And then the athletes, I truly believe, you know, Damien Lillard, who read my book training camp twice before his rookie season, you know, be before he was even a superstar, and then reached out afterwards and then have seen him, you know, aspire and, and create this incredible career. You look at a guy like that and that guy is just, I truly believe that they have grit. Like there's just this grit that is always working to continue to get better and to continue to prove themselves. And they're always striving for greatest. Like they're never happy where they are. They're humble and hungry on their journey. They have confidence, but they're humble and hungry with a desire to get better, to improve. And they still believe no matter where they are, the best is yet to come and haven't turned 50 at 52. I can tell you, , I can tell you like my goal even now more than ever is like, I, I wanna get better.

(00:59:57):
Yeah. I feel like I've just beginning. I'm sure you feel the same way. I mean, you're younger than me, but you a lot younger. Little but you, but you a lot younger , but you, but you feel like you're just beginning and what you're doing. Yeah. Right. This, this podcast, this tribe that you have. Yeah. Like it's epic. It's incredible that you're doing this. And that's how I feel. So we never feel like we've arrived at our destination. Mm-Hmm. Because the minute you think you've arrived at that door of greatness, it gets slammed in your face. Yeah. So what are you excited about the future? What are, what are you headed next? I'm excited for this new book I have coming out in June called The One Truth. Okay. And that book is really transformative. It's all my revolutionary ideas and thoughts recently about mental health, their brain being an antenna, oneness and separateness.

(01:00:37):
And when people read this book, they're gonna understand how to live with power. They're gonna understand how to master their mindset. And also in many ways the healing of their soul that is necessary to become who they're meant to be and live the life that they were born to live. So I'm more excited than ever because this is what I've been teaching people now, the teams, the organizations, the teenagers, and I'm seeing literally transformation in just one teaching session after they hear what I teach. So when they read this book, not everyone can hear me teach necessarily one-on-one. But you read this book, you're gonna be able to implement this in your life. And people have read it so far, said, John, this is like nothing you've ever written. And I think this is the best book you've ever written. And I think this book is gonna literally change the world.

(01:01:17):
And I truly believe that it was given to me to do that. And their conversations I had with many people along the way. Ed Mylet and Irwin McManus. Yeah. Irwin has been a huge mentor for me in terms of the way I think, how I think. And also just things that I would run by him with this. And many of our conversations helped me really develop the ideas along the way that allowed me to understand at a deeper level how everything works. Hmm. A lot of people talk about master your mindset. Yep. And they talk about positivity, but don't talk about the deeper level of how do you really get there and what causes the higher state of mind. What causes the positive mindset? What causes the negative? How can we tune into the positive? How can we avoid tuning into the negative? All these understandings of the brain being an antenna, the wounds that we have and how that creates a gap, a separation.

(01:02:05):
How ego stands for edging God out. So when you have an ego, it actually creates a feeling, believe it or not, of powerlessness. Mm. You actually try to feel powerful. That's where the ego arises, but it's cuz you feel powerless. So I go at things at a deeper level with this, and once people understand this, I really believe they're gonna go through life like a Jedi. They're gonna know how it works and it's gonna give them under like, it's un someone said the other day, I felt like you just unlocked the secrets of the universe. And, and in a such a simple way and a quick read, literally within a couple hour read, you'll be able to understand how to unlock it and now live it. And that's why I wrote it.

Brandon Turner (01:02:37):
That's powerful. And when it come out, you said June?

Jon Gordon (01:02:39):
June, June. End of June. All right. Yeah. People, I'll sending you a copy.

Brandon Turner (01:02:43):
Okay, good. I can't wait to read this

Jon Gordon (01:02:44):
Book. No, I'm gonna send you a copy. I hope you're, I wanna get your feedback. Yeah. And yeah, be coming out end of June, Amazon. We're gonna be doing a launch team for the book. Yeah. And so, I'm, I'm really, I've never been more excited than, than this book. It's what I taught, you know, all summer on, like, I was having conversations every day to n NFL coaches, NBA coaches, major league baseball coaches, pro athletes, some of the biggest names that you, you know, in sports sharing these ideas with 'em. And then at the end going, what do you think? They're like, John, this is the key to mental toughness. Mm-Hmm. , it's the key to mental health. And it's the key to high performance. Yeah. It really is. I'm like, all right, let's go,

Brandon Turner (01:03:18):
Dude. I'm, I'm excited. I wanna read this thing . I, I gotta get this. All right. So we're gonna shift into the, probably the last segment of the show. I don't have a name for the segment yet. So you may be, you're a marketing guy, you may have good ideas. But this is the idea. I'm gonna ask you the, the we'll call the three question, three question. I don't know. We'll figure it out. All right. So I got three questions and I'll have three positive.

Jon Gordon (01:03:35):
I'm not, wait, I'm in my marketing mind

Brandon Turner (01:03:36):
Kicking. Yeah, I know. Now you're gonna figure

Jon Gordon (01:03:37):
This out. Now I wanna help you create it. I'm like, okay.

Brandon Turner (01:03:40):
I told I'm just gonna solicit help from all my guests. We're

Jon Gordon (01:03:43):
With the beard something with the beard. Yeah.

Brandon Turner (01:03:44):
Maybe. Yeah. The ooh, the three-way beard. I don't know. So here's the question. The first one is, what are three things you have done? in the,

Jon Gordon (01:03:51):
Just shook their head. No, no, no. We don't like that one.

Brandon Turner (01:03:53):
Alex is like, I love

Jon Gordon (01:03:55):
It.

Brandon Turner (01:03:56):
What are three things that you've done in the last year that has improved your life? Meaning it could be a habit, an action, a trade, a change, a belief. Something that, three things that you've changed in the last year that's improved your life.

Jon Gordon (01:04:07):
Okay. So ed Mylet, who I know, you know Yeah. Ed inspired me to start working out again. Okay. Started lifting.

Brandon Turner (01:04:15):
Well, he doesn't know anything about working out. Nah.

Jon Gordon (01:04:17):
He doesn't lift much . So I get together with Ed and I see this jacked guy. First time I met him I'm like, okay, if this guy's my age Yeah. And could work out like that, I need to start working out again. Cause I was again a division one athlete. Yep. And I used to be like a really powerful athlete. And then, you know, you lose it over the years and you're not taking care of yourself. And it's so funny, Eric Spolstra, the coach of the Miami Heat, he saw me recently. He goes, John, you look like an athlete again. Last time I saw you a couple years ago, you looked like a writer. . So, so I thought that was

Brandon Turner (01:04:45):
Funny. Wait, should I take offense to that? I don't know.

Jon Gordon (01:04:48):
. Exactly. Sorry. I think you meant it for that reason. So working out with weights has, you know, increased my testosterone, my strength. I'm all natural. I don't do anything else. Yeah. But just lift and I walk and run as well and play basketball and pickleball and tennis. But, but lifting has changed how I feel. It just makes you feel stronger. Makes you feel more powerful. There's something about lifting that makes you feel younger. Yeah. And it's incredible. So lifting is probably the number one thing I've done. I like that. From a physical standpoint.

Brandon Turner (01:05:17):
Alex here, the director, you know, yesterday I asked you, I think I, he had a shirt on. It looked really nice. And I said, where'd you get that shirt? It looks really good. And he goes, the gym. was like, yeah. He's like, there's no, yeah. The best, what is it? The best fit is a gym workout or something. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, okay, fine. I'm going to the gym. . Yeah.

Jon Gordon (01:05:32):
Alright. And I was never a curls guy, but I started doing some curls again, you know. Yeah. So, but I, you don't wanna be just an arms guy though, like, you know, you, you gotta work on the, the whole

Brandon Turner (01:05:39):
Body. No, you do. All right. That's good number one. Alright.

Jon Gordon (01:05:41):
Number one, is that done? Just, I recommend people lift, get back to lifting. If you don't know how to start working with a trainer, or there's great videos on YouTube, you can get anything on YouTube now, then we'll show you how to do it. And just start easy. Start, start slow, start small and then work your way up. Like, I didn't work hard right away. I literally just started gradual and started getting back into my routine and game plan. But now I work out like on a Monday, then it'll be a Thursday, then there's Friday, Saturday, then Sunday. So that's like my schedule in terms of trying to do like three times a week. So that's game. I started playing pickle balls. Another thing I've done to improve my life from a physical standpoint, play with these young guys. Yeah. And you're battling, again, reflexes and the competition, which is a lot of fun. I think that keeps you young, which is cake. So

Brandon Turner (01:06:27):
Pickle pickleball. So my, my complain has always been, and now in Maui where I live in Maui, right. We have a lot of old people that come there. Yes. And they play pickleball and they're always like, it's like watching them play ping pong. Yes. There's no sweat other than this. The sun is beating on them. And I'm like, I don't want to play a sport where I can't like work up a sweat. Yeah. But do you play like,

Jon Gordon (01:06:42):
Yeah, we can play intense. You can play intenses.

Brandon Turner (01:06:43):
We play

Jon Gordon (01:06:44):
Intense. That's a thing. Athletic. The guys I play with some of the best athletes in the world. Okay. And they're like in their twenties and thirties and we battle.

Brandon Turner (01:06:50):
Okay. So it's so you break a sweat, you

Jon Gordon (01:06:52):
Can do the work workout. Yeah. And we, we'll even do it the end. We'll play singles. Mm. Okay. And that's when you get a lot of sweat. But if you play that just the dent game. Yeah, yeah. Then, then that's lame. I don't like that a lot. So watching a lot of fun. Yeah.

Brandon Turner (01:07:01):
Ding,

Jon Gordon (01:07:02):
Ding, ding, ding. And we're not playing. Ding ding. Yeah. Okay. So pickleball is great. So I would consider that one. Number two, what have I done? I, I started praying more again. Okay. So again, praying has been a huge part of my life. And I think it will really help people to tune into that positive. Yeah. P R A Y e R. What does that look like? Praise then repent. Mm-Hmm. , you know, again, forgive me for my sins. Forgive those who have sinned against me. Just, yeah. Just repent. You'll, you'll be amazed at how that clears out the sludge in your pipeline. A ask, ask for what you want. Yeah. Ask for guidance, ask for wisdom. Why yield, yield, surrender and trust God. Not my will, but, but your will God I surrender and just I know that you have a plan for me and I'm open.

(01:07:46):
You'll find peace and joy when you do that. E expect, expect great things to happen. Expect God to deliver on, on the promises. Expect miracles. I would walk and say, I expect a miracle. God, I expect a miracle. It's amazing how many miracles have come by just saying, I expect. Yeah. And then receive are, receive prayer and receive you. You receive God's blessings. You receive goodness. You receive you wisdom. You receive great relationships in great people like us connecting. Right. I receive this and this relationship. So you receive it, you're open to it. Most people don't feel worthy. Say they don't receive. Just be open and, and and feel worthy and receive. So prayer is the number one thing I've done for me personally. I'm taking walks on the beach again and doing that, I'm now elevating my state of mind. I was on social media too much and not taking the time to do that.

(01:08:31):
And getting back to that. I feel more creative now. I feel more energy. I feel more powerful on stage as a speaker. Yeah. All of that has changed. So I, I would say that's been a, a huge part of my life. And then getting back to, to just reading it more. Trying to read 20, 30 pages a day. Yeah. Still not doing it every day. So I wanna admit like, okay, it's not something do doing every day. I gotta start doing it more consistent. Cause I want to just continue to grow in knowledge. And there's always a book, I have a stack of books right now that I want to read. Yeah, me too. Yeah, you're right. And mostly on, on brain health and brain energy. Mm. And the idea of, of neuroscience. So I'm trying to really dive deep into those books. When the one truth comes out, I know I'm gonna get tested on my ideas so I wanna be able to explain it and in their language as well. So I'm doing all of these, these books I have that I have to now get myself into reading these books. Yeah. So, so I think reading though, but that's been really helpful to reading. Reading books. People always say, wait, what books you read All kinds. Yeah. Business books. I read books from pastors, which I love. I read devotionals, I read, you name it, I read it. Well at least perfectly.

Brandon Turner (01:09:32):
And the next question, cuz the next question is, what are three books that have made the biggest impact on your

Jon Gordon (01:09:35):
Life? Wow. Three books. Yeah. Rich Dad, poor Dad. Oh yes. Oh that hits me. Taught me about what you do in terms of generating wealth assets and not always relying on income. Yeah. Become an owner of real estate and buildings. And I, doing that made me realize I need to be my own boss. Yeah. At my own company and not always work for someone. So that was transformative. Years ago, reading that book that really impacted me. We gotta go with soul Keeping by John Ortberg, which was an incredible book about the, the nature and the care of the soul. The soul was very needy and because it's needy, it's craving a connection in relationship. But too often you feel that craving and that need with cheap substitutes and that leads to your destruction brings you astray. Yeah. But we needed to connect and feed it with soul nourishing things that give us life and hope and abundance.

(01:10:32):
And so that, that book was amazing. There's so many more than that. Like there's, I can give you 10 books that work. Yeah. Books that changed my life. But, but that was a book that also just was impactful in many ways. And then, you know, Richard Bach wrote Illusions and Jonathan Levin Sin Siegel years ago. And those books were like these little fable books that were like magical and they made me wanna write fables. Mm-Hmm. Yep. Yep. So those books, I would say were very transformative in my life. I love Donald Millers A Million Miles in a thousand Years. One of my favorite books of all time. Erwin McMahon's book, the Genius of Jesus. Yeah. It's phenomenal, phenomenal book. Right. Just explains things in such a practical way, but from the genius standpoint. Yeah. Which I love. So that's an incredible book. So yeah. Many books along the

Brandon Turner (01:11:14):
Way. Yeah. I'm slowly, I don't wanna say I'm working on it cuz I'm not working every day on it, but I'm slowly working on my first fiction book. Like a fable, like guys. Nice. Yeah. So I'm, I'm, I'm like two chapters in. You know what I did the other day? I took this, I took my two chapters. I took paragraph by paragraph and I put it in a chat G B T. Okay. And I was like, can you make this sound like Stephen King? And it rewrote it in a way that was so good. And I'm like, I don't know if this is good or bad, but Right. Like it's incredible what it does for writing skills. Wow.

Jon Gordon (01:11:40):
So what is gonna happen with books? I don't know when people can actually do that.

Brandon Turner (01:11:44):
Well, when anybody can just come up with, I think, I think the value becomes the idea then because AI is not gonna come up with the idea of the energy bust. At least not anytime soon. But

Jon Gordon (01:11:52):
The idea. But even the way to write it. Cause someone could say, cause I have a certain style. Yep. And I've noticed people, since I've written 27 books over 5 million copies, people try to basically imitate my style. Mm-Hmm. . But with chat G B T you might be able

Brandon Turner (01:12:06):
To Yeah. You do that write in the style of John Gordon and you can totally do that. Yeah. . Wow. I can totally try that. I'm gonna, I'll put my new book in your style. It'll be good.

Jon Gordon (01:12:13):
That is crazy.

Brandon Turner (01:12:14):
Yeah. It's crazy.

Jon Gordon (01:12:15):
But I do believe that there's value in being an artist. I do too. Just cuz you can write something good. Yep. Will people resonate with it? Yep. And will they connect with it? That's gonna be the interesting thing because Yeah. There's something about when you write your own book versus having a ghost writer. Yes. Yep. Uhhuh. Will you write your own book, the Essence of You Hundred Percent Sports. And I think that's why my books have done well is cuz it's the essence of Me. Right. That book, I can't think of many books that have been ghosts written that have actually done well.

Brandon Turner (01:12:40):
There's not a lot. Yeah. No. I can't think of too many either. Yeah. I can't think. Or we don't know about 'em.

Jon Gordon (01:12:43):
Like the ones that Yeah. Hide 'em. The ones

Brandon Turner (01:12:46):
Yeah. You can tell a spirit like the soul of a person in the writing. I totally say it. People are always shocked that I write my own books and I'm like, like I just, whenever I see anybody else writing, like trying to write anything that that's not them. Like, you know, a ghost writer, it's, yeah. There's no spirit.

Jon Gordon (01:12:58):
My grandmother made the most amazing soup and when she passed on, other people try to make the same recipe, but it never came out the same. Yep. I'm convinced it was her love that made the difference. Yeah. So the love you put into it determines the quality of it. Yeah. And so we ca the, there's an, there's an artist. Yeah. You know, there's an artist, the creator of this universe. And there's, there's a, a common thread in, in the creation that you can look around and you see these play out. Like love being the dominant force in the universe. Love plays out. Cause that's the dominant essence of the creator is love. So when you experience that love, you're now experiencing that of the creator. Yeah. Well when you experience someone's work of art and their music Yeah. There's a certain essence of the creator that draws you to it. You know,

Brandon Turner (01:13:35):
The the, the label like non GMO label bill you sell all over like food. It says like, Hey we have verified that this is I think that's gotta come to books soon. Right. Oh, great idea. Like this is like, this is a label we put on books and it's the non-ai like label or non Yeah. Like, you know Yeah. Whatever. Just testifying that this is an actual thing that I did. The art. Yeah.

Jon Gordon (01:13:54):
Will they be able to distinguish that?

Brandon Turner (01:13:56):
I don't know. I think you'd have to, how would you'd have to somehow prove it? Like you'd have to show like, no, this is me writing. I, I don't know. But there's gotta be a way to

Jon Gordon (01:14:01):
Well they could probably do an, there'll be an AI analytics, they'll be able to tell. Yeah. AI created or created by the original creator.

Brandon Turner (01:14:08):
Yeah. Like I would legit pay like maybe minutes a business idea Right here we're figuring it out right here. Like I love that idea. I would pay like an organization. Yeah. If they're like, Hey we will certify yours and you have to submit a bunch of documents or whatever you gotta do, but they'll certify yours as real. Yeah. And then we submit it as real. And then cuz we have to solve those problems as a society in the next couple years. Cause I love that. Yeah. Every day there's a new AI thing coming out and,

Jon Gordon (01:14:28):
But I always think that an original is always so much more valuable than a replica. Yeah. And so it's that original piece that will be the most valuable and a replica won't do so well. And how do you study? You know, how do counterfeit experts, you know, study whether they can tell if something's real or not. They actually don't study all the counterfeit money that's out there. I thought they did. They study the real thing so well. So well they can tell the fakes. Yeah. So I think they'll be experts that'll be able to tell the fakes.

Brandon Turner (01:14:55):
That's good. Alright. So we got the things you've done, the books you've made. And the last thing is, what are a, and and I'm, I'm playing with this, I'm actually curious your thoughts here on the podcast. Cause this is, you know, we're figuring it out. I, I like the idea of the 3, 3, 3 framework. Right. The three things you've done. Yeah. Three books. I got that from Lewis. How actually he always asks people three like, Hey, what are three things you do? And I learned that it's because Yeah. People go deeper on three things than if you ask one. Right. So, okay. The the last question, should it be a, like what are three just final pieces of wisdom? Like a sentence wisdom that you can leave people with? Or is it three leaders that you look up to?

Jon Gordon (01:15:30):
Wow. I think it's the three pieces of wisdom. But, but I

Brandon Turner (01:15:34):
Think it's more social media shareable with the three pieces of

Jon Gordon (01:15:36):
Wisdom. Yeah. I think, I think that's more shareable. And also you wanna give people takeaways. Yes. Yeah. So people benefit from a podcast. Like I can tell you my whole story the entire time. Yeah. But we have to add value to people. A story is valuable, but what lessons can they take away? Yeah. So what

Brandon Turner (01:15:52):
Are three lessons? I can, but

Jon Gordon (01:15:53):
Here's one for people. Whenever you're giving a talk, always remember this is the way you should give a talk or even write a book. Principle, story, application

Brandon Turner (01:15:59):
Principle, story

Jon Gordon (01:16:00):
Application. We always remember through the sharing the principle, telling the story and then how it applies. Cause the story brings the principle to life. We give talks, people don't remember much, but they remember your stories. Yeah. And then remember your principles cause of the stories that you told. Yeah. And then how they could apply it. So that's I guess one piece, piece

Brandon Turner (01:16:17):
Of advice. That's one

Jon Gordon (01:16:17):
Piece of wisdom. I love that. One piece of wisdom is that, a second one is the best advice I ever heard. It's from Dr. James Gills, the only person on the planet to complete six double Ironman triathlons. That's a double iron man. Which means you do an iron man. Yeah. . A day later do another one. Oh, last time he did it, he was 59 years old. He was asked how he did it. He said this, I've learned to talk to myself instead of listen to myself. Ooh. He said, if I listen, I owe the fear, the negativity, the doubt, all the reasons why I can't finish this race. But if I talk to myself, I could feed myself with the words and the encouragement that I need to keep on moving forward. And so he taught me talk to myself. Don't listen to those negative thoughts we talked about earlier, but speak words of life on a daily basis.

(01:16:58):
Talk to yourself. So I think that's one of the greatest pieces of wisdom I can share with people. Cause it really does make a difference. And then you really wanna impact the world. You really wanna make a difference. I reached out to my coach from Cornell, Richie Moran, the Hall of Fame is named after him. And he was about to pass away. And I said, coach, you changed my life. I wouldn't be who I am without you. And I just told him how much I loved him. And he said, John, remember teammates are forever. Teammates are forever. And I thought about that. I said, so are coaches who changed the course of your life? Mm-Hmm. . So I think the key is going throughout life, develop relationships, not for the short term, not for an agenda, but join with people who are forever are gonna be there with you forever here.

(01:17:42):
And then now producing something that will last. Something that will leave a legacy. Something that will make an impact. And remember when you make a difference in the moment, that's a forever moment. That's an internal impact. I'm a big believer in, in the kingdom. And everyone says, oh, you know, let's make an impact on the kingdom. Let's impact the kingdom. The kingdom of God is inside of each person. So guess what? When you're impacting them, you're impacting the kingdom. Hmm. So how do you do that? Three words. You wanna make a difference. You wanna, you wanna be a great leader, you wanna be in great sales, you wanna be great in customer service, you wanna mentor people. Do these three things. Love, serve, care,

Brandon Turner (01:18:18):
Love,

Jon Gordon (01:18:18):
Serve care. It's in my book, the Carpenter. Love, serve care. You love people, you show up, you love 'em every day. Pavarotti said, everybody wants the audience to love them. But I love the audience. Mm-Hmm. You love people, you serve them. You're here to mentor them and coach them and guide them and help them become who they're meant to be. The more you serve people, it just comes back to you tenfold. And then you show that you care. That's the difference. Who do we wanna be around? People who care about us. Yeah. When you know someone has your best interest at heart, are you more open to that feedback? Of course you are because you know, they care. A leader who cares, builds a team who cares, who then cares about their customers. And that's how you build a great business and achieve success. I always say don't focus on building your business.

(01:19:01):
It's, it's contrary. Focus on loving, serving and caring. And your business will exponentially grow from there. Focus on the root of the tree and you will get the fruit. So often we'll focus on the fruit, the outcome, the numbers, the stock price, the wins and the losses. The performance. I gotta hit these numbers. Yeah. You gotta measure those numbers. But the numbers, the fruit is just a byproduct of how well you're investing in the root. Yeah. And if you invest in the root and you're making your number one priority, what happens? You get a great supply of fruit.

Brandon Turner (01:19:32):
That's so good, man. So, so incredibly good. All right, thank you. Where do people follow you at? Where should they get in touch or f you know, website url.

Jon Gordon (01:19:42):
Yeah. John gordon.com. J o n gordon.com or Twitter. Instagram is at j o n Gordon. 11. And by the way, I love your Instagram. You've come out like, like, like man, my wife is sending your stuff to our son every single day. And us as a family. Oh yeah. She sends it all the time. Like, I follow you too. So I said that means a topic. Like I saw it, you know what's cool now is my son's like, yeah mom, I already saw this, you don't need to send it to me. Which is great. So you, you have a lot of Gordons now. Okay, well thank you. Four fans. That's amazing. So Instagram at j o n Gordon 11 and yeah, I can't wait to have you on my podcast cause I know your wealth of information and knowledge. Thank you. And what you're doing is gonna impact, I love you. A lot of people that listen to my podcast, I have a podcast positive you, but mm-hmm . Can I say this and people want to get ahold of me or I would love them to follow me. Yeah. I do a weekly positive tip that I've shared out since 2010. Oh, they

Brandon Turner (01:20:29):
Still from that original thing.

Jon Gordon (01:20:30):
Still every, I write it every week to this day. How did

Brandon Turner (01:20:32):
Make it on this

Jon Gordon (01:20:33):
About 400,000 subscribers now. Yeah. More than five. And I send it out every single week to this day. Just j o n gordon.com. You go there, you'll see the newsletter space, you put in your email and that's it. And you sign up the newsletter and every week we'll send you a positive tip every week. So I love to connect with people that way and love to just try to encourage people that way. I love it, dude.

Brandon Turner (01:20:53):
Well thank you very much. This has been

Jon Gordon (01:20:54):
Amazing, dude. I love it. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Brandon Turner (01:20:56):
And that is the show. Thank you everyone for tuning into another episode of A Better Life with Brandon Turner. I hope you enjoyed the insights and the wisdom brought to you today on the show. If you found value in this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback actually does help us improve the show. We look at the feedback, I look at the feedback, and we can reach more people with our message of living a better life. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Follow me on social beardy Brandon. And hey, before I go, this show is all about the habits, actions, and beliefs that can give you a better life. But in case you're interested and you want to know my opinion on what it takes to live the best life ever, and that includes some of my kind of weird spiritual beliefs, maybe check out a better life.com/best life a better life.com/best life. Thank you again for listening and I will see you next time on a Better Life with

Brandon Turner (01:21:48):
Brandon Turner.