Have you ever stumbled upon a setback that unexpectedly propelled you forward? My tales of transformation, from blame to gratitude, reveal that our darkest moments often lead to our brightest achievements. With Max Rook, the ever-enthusiastic associate head coach and author, at my side this week, we uncover the secrets to setting life-enriching goals, sustaining energy through all seasons, and engaging in conversations that can utterly reshape our world.
Pepperdine University was more than just a backdrop for education; it was where the magic of mixing passion with the right company unfolded for me. This episode is a testament to the power of people – how the individuals we choose to walk with can amplify our experiences from mundane to extraordinary. Max and I delve into the notion that our connections, be they near or far, are vital in both personal growth and professional success. Leveraging technology, we can redefine what it means to be in someone's presence, breaking down barriers and fostering relationships that transcend geography.
To cap off our journey, we confront the invisible fences we build around our potential, drawing inspiration from the African Impala's self-limiting leaps. It's a year of awakening to new possibilities, and I share how selecting a 'one word' mantra can guide our focus and unearth our passions. Listeners are encouraged to find that one word that resonates, ignites, and directs their path in 2024. Join us in this episode for a deep exploration into connecting life's dots, pushing past fear, and leaping into a future brimming with untapped potential.
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
Have you ever stumbled upon a setback that unexpectedly propelled you forward? My tales of transformation, from blame to gratitude, reveal that our darkest moments often lead to our brightest achievements. With Max Rook, the ever-enthusiastic associate head coach and author, at my side this week, we uncover the secrets to setting life-enriching goals, sustaining energy through all seasons, and engaging in conversations that can utterly reshape our world.
Pepperdine University was more than just a backdrop for education; it was where the magic of mixing passion with the right company unfolded for me. This episode is a testament to the power of people – how the individuals we choose to walk with can amplify our experiences from mundane to extraordinary. Max and I delve into the notion that our connections, be they near or far, are vital in both personal growth and professional success. Leveraging technology, we can redefine what it means to be in someone's presence, breaking down barriers and fostering relationships that transcend geography.
To cap off our journey, we confront the invisible fences we build around our potential, drawing inspiration from the African Impala's self-limiting leaps. It's a year of awakening to new possibilities, and I share how selecting a 'one word' mantra can guide our focus and unearth our passions. Listeners are encouraged to find that one word that resonates, ignites, and directs their path in 2024. Join us in this episode for a deep exploration into connecting life's dots, pushing past fear, and leaping into a future brimming with untapped potential.
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
and just keep it real. I was mad and I was upset and there was so much blaming and you know better than anybody, Blaming and complaining does not get you anywhere. And now I look back and I'm like thank you, Thank you what was probably, I felt, one of the worst moments in my life. I'm like thank you because it was the biggest gift and the only difference was being able to connect with us, and so I just encourage everybody out there if you, what is something in your life right now that you currently look at as an adversity or a failure or something like that? And can you trace that to a point in your life now where you look back and say the reason you are where you are, the beautiful life you have, the person that's in your life, the thing that you coveted for so long that you now have, the reason you have it is actually because of something bad that happened in your life.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Win Today podcast, a weekly tool intentionally crafted to help people enhance performance, feel inspired and conquer life. Our commitment is that you will learn from some of the most disciplined, heartwarming and inspiring people on the globe, in addition to receiving a piece of a winning playbook from myself or a renowned expert in their field. My name is Ryan Cass and I am your host, and it is my purpose in this world to inspire people to establish a foundation for sustained success by developing systems that will enable you to accomplish your goals, break systemic trends of adversity and chart a desirable course for life. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please help us achieve our vision of becoming one of the top podcasts in the world by subscribing to the show, sharing it with somebody who you believe will benefit from it and leaving a review.
Speaker 2:Let's connect with our guest. The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all of the hopes and dreams that were never filled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step or keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream. That's an excerpt from Max Moments. And we have the author here with us today, my friend, my brother Max Rook, who is the associate head coach of one of the top women's soccer programs in the nation at Pepperdine University and, in addition to that, newly minted author of his book, max Moments powerful lessons to help you break through from good to great. Max, welcome back, brother.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much, indira. I meant you were so complimentary. I appreciate the introduction but, most importantly, getting to spend time with you any time is a blessing, so thank you for having me. I'm excited for our chat and just excited to spend some time with you.
Speaker 2:Likewise, brother. So we had you on the podcast once before. You're one of a few repeat guests because you're so awesome and amazing and mean a lot to me, but also because people get so much value out of you. And before we really dive in, what lights you up the most right now?
Speaker 1:Man, oh man, hit me with the big question right out the gate. What lights me up? Goodness me, I think there's two parts to it. As we enter into a new year, you and I expand to this in terms of goal setting and just looking at the vision and the plan and what you want to have happen, and I always get excited about every year. A lot of people do. Sometimes that energy can burn off, but the real, true doers and believers are able to maintain that energy, and so, as we head into this year, just a big piece for me is based off of the book.
Speaker 1:What lights me up is seeing some of the reaction of what's happened from the book and the doors that it's opened up to now have these life changing conversations, these transformational conversations, to just create even more impact.
Speaker 1:So I just get lit up any time I can have a conversation like this with other people who are doing amazing things in the world, or somebody who needs help, or with this with our team at Pepperdine, and it's just creating the impact. So I truly get lit up every time I get to share something. Somebody shares something with me that really just creates this just element where we're all here to kind of live into who we're truly meant to be, and it takes a village. You know what I'm saying, and so I've got people around me I know you do too and hopefully we can create something here that is going to then have that ripple effect that go out and create something that somebody else might take and it changes their life. So right now I'm just getting lit up by just the energy surrounding the book and just the energy surrounding people like you there, where we can just make a bigger impact. So I'm excited, I'm always excited, but a 2024 year is going to be a big year for you too.
Speaker 2:It's difficult not to get lit up when having a conversation or being with someone like you. It's difficult not to get up, not to get lit up when you read through this book and all of the short stories and max moments that it's packed with. And it's difficult not to get lit up when you're making an impact on someone's future, and that's really what I experience of you that you touch people now but really you leave a mark on people's future, and I believe that you set such a great precedent for how to live an amazing life, and it's very fitting that you talk about living life to the max. You have the perfect name for what you do. What does it mean to live life to the max?
Speaker 1:So I've lived my life for 20 plus years in the world of high performance. So, as a player when I used to live in England I know I shared this on the last podcast we was on I think you asked me a little bit about my story and so I grew up in England and played soccer there, football right there, learned so many great lessons. Came over to America A big part of my career was over here playing soccer. Then I got into coaching because coaching was the natural way to just give back to the game for what the game gave me, and so throughout that process I've been so conditioned to be like. For instance, the book talks about powerful lessons to help you break through from good to great.
Speaker 1:My mind has always been focused on what is the difference between good and great. I get obsessed with what is the difference between good and great, and so, living in the world of high performance, it's always been about how do you get better results. What's the difference between good results and great results? Will being a good player and a great player? Or being a good team or a great team? Will being a good coach or a great coach? It was very results based, and the more.
Speaker 1:I've lived in the world of high performance and the book reflects this, which I'm sure we'll get into in a little bit. But it's like there's only one way to do life and that's at the highest level. So living life to the max to me means how do you do everything, all parts of your life, at high level? How do you live in the world of high performance? How do you do stuff like what you do? I mean, you're managing so many things and doing so many amazing things in the world and how do you manage all of those and still find time to energy, and still find the energy to take care of yourself, to take care of your loved ones, to take care of the people around you, to really find that joy and fulfillment throughout all of the adversities and the natural things.
Speaker 1:When you pursue something so big, it's not if something's going to happen, but when those things happen, those adversities, and how do you find the joy and the ability to the resilience to work through those things? So again, living life to the max really at one point in my life was about how do you just succeed, how do you get great results? But it wasn't me, I think. Tony Robbins says, success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure, and so how do you manage all of that and create this life that is just whole, and so that, to me, is something that I've learned later in life. It took me a number of years to get to that point, and the book is truly a reflection of my mindset and my heart posture through 20 years of living this stuff.
Speaker 2:I believe this thought can be encompassed by this framework that you shared on our last discussion and when I was with you, and it continues to come up and it's something that when you first said it, it stuck with me and I want to bring it back, because we talk about high performance, living life to the max. And then you also talked about energy and really just this constant state of fulfillment and gratitude, joy, excitement. You said something if you love what you do, if you love who you do it with and you love where you're doing it at, that's the key to a good life. Did I get that one exactly right? Is that it?
Speaker 1:You did Amazing. Yeah, top notch, that's it. That's it If you love, I mean, those three things. I know a lot of people they love what they do, they love where they do it, but they might not really be connected with the people that they're around and they might not love who they do it with. And I don't know if anybody who's listening to this if you ever felt that you've been in this experience where things are a little off right, you're not really necessarily showing up in the way that you know you should show up, whether it be to business or to your relationships or to life, and a lot of it's down to who we do life with a thanks, I stay every single day.
Speaker 1:And I also know a lot of people that they love where they're at, they love who they're with, but they may not necessarily love what they do. It's like it's just a job or it's just this and we're just getting by, and I just don't think that. I just don't. You could probably have I mean, I don't know if I said this last time, but I thought you could have two of the three and possibly, you know, have a decent life, but you talk about life to the max and like that, truly next level. Once you've got all three of those man, the whole game changes and I just I appreciate you saying how that resonated with you and so for me, the only way I can explain it is like where I'm at now, like you know, loving what you do, getting to impact people, working at Pepperdine University, getting to consult with people and do life to the max Like that is amazing. But it's only one piece when I do it.
Speaker 1:My wife now works at Pepperdine too. She's the beach volleyball coach here, and my beautiful wife, who would be a man for 15 amazing years, she's the love of my life, she's my everything, and so to get to like couple with her every day, you know, and she has her life and I have mine. But then we see each other, we go for walks, so you know where you do it and then, obviously, who you do it with. And I've got an amazing staff that I get to get to show up to live with. An amazing team, you know, and I coach women soccer, so amazing group of young women that I get to show up and do life with. And you know, we get to choose who we get to do life with.
Speaker 1:You know, part of recruiting. I would say this to it in our recruit I'm not going to get into the too deep into this but a big part of what we do to sustain and have a successful team, it's all. It's all based on our recruiting. And so people just assume we got to get the best players and we're like well, we don't just want the best players, we want the right players, and we are fortunate that a lot of times the best, the best players in the country are also some of the right players for us. But it's also about who they are as a person. It's, it's the character and it's what energy go back to. Energy is what they're bringing to the table. So when you show up, you know and you surround yourself with with like-minded people, good people, then those three things together, goodness me, I've been experiencing since I've been here at Pepinite for the last 10 years. It's been amazing. So I know last time we talked about it and for me that's it's awesome. Thanks, I love it.
Speaker 2:It's such a meaningful framework and that's how I summarize life to the max. Those three things right there, yeah, yeah. And when people hear that and it's my desire that, as people heard you saying it that that sticks with them, because people ask themselves all the time how do I create my best life? What is an ideal life look like? And there's a million questions that you can post to yourself. But those three right there are, in essence, the key to an incredible life. Yeah, and a lot of it goes to who we choose to be with, who we choose to allow to sit at our table, and I appreciate how you brought up that part of your success with Pepperdine. Pepperdine's been in the top 10 rankings for quite some time your national contenders.
Speaker 2:It's interesting I read this morning in my Tony Dungey devotional Tony Dungey, one of the legendary NFL coaches, indianapolis Colts. He shared a story about Liberty University out in Virginia and their football team was one in 10 and had won hardly any games for a few years and Liberty is primarily Christian based school and they brought in a new head coach and they were telling the head coach hey, we need to bring in all new players where we suck. And the coach said well, sure, we can overhaul some players, but we're not going to look for the best players, we're going to look for the players that align most to our values and develop them from there. Because if they align with our values and with who we are, what we represent, then going on this journey, this life, this season, we're going to be so much more united because we all see from the same lens. And they went on to win several conference championships in a row after that, and we're national contenders as well.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot to be said with who we choose to do life with, and I appreciate the context that you shared there.
Speaker 1:I love it and that's awesome, and I will say this too as you speak that's what a great story. By the way, sometimes, because I've had this conversation with the people and some people like, well, you know what, if, what, if my surrounding, the people in my inner circle, the people I'm close to, if I just don't have those type of people, the people that I want? Well, and I'm saying, like you and I, like you and I, we don't live in the same state, but like I can call you up, you call me up and I can gain energy from you, I can gain perspective from you by conversation. So it's not all lost, like I mean, obviously, day to day, who you get to do life and who surround yourself is so important, but sometimes, if you don't have what you feel you need in your life, I just want to encourage whoever's out there go, seek it, go cool, like you can, you can find those mentors and, like I say, I truly call you a like, say, a friend or brother and somebody who I really respect and go to as well for advice, and it's like, but you don't even you and I don't even live in the same state.
Speaker 1:We had a great conversation a week or two ago, right, and it was amazing, and I just remember that conversation and a lot of conversations we've had and you've impacted me, and we don't even live in the same state. So I think there are multiple ways to be able to. When you say who you're choosing to do life with, a lot of times we think you know proximity is is vitally important, but the world we live in now, proximity can come in a lot of different ways, you know. So that's technologies allow us to do that, so, so anyway. So I thought I'd make that you know, because I don't think we talked about that last time, but that is a an intricacy that I think is important, because some people are like, well, I just don't have those people around me and we'll go find them.
Speaker 2:Go find them, absolutely, yeah. We live in a day and age where we can be connected to anyone and even though I'm in South Carolina, you're in California right now. It's almost like we're sitting in the same room because of, again, that, the, the energy that we're giving off right now, and I wish that that people are feeling that, and people are important. Resources are important. What we choose to who we choose to surround ourselves with important, the information we choose to consume, critical, and now you have a resource that is available to anyone. Last we spoke, this book was in work. It was an idea, it was a vision. Here we are. I've got the copy in my hands. Max moments Talk through. What does someone to get out of picking up Max moments and what drove you to put this out there in the world?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, I appreciate it. First of all, thank you for getting a copy. I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, I think where do I start? The impact, the ability to impact people, you know, as you grow, it's like, well, how can I influence people, how can I share my message, even if it's, even if it's I'm not able to see somebody you know one-on-one it's the fight that. So the book there are other ways. I mean, we've talked about sort of like, you know, online programs and stuff like that, but really the book was just that next step. It's like how can I create an impact and make a difference potentially, you know, even if it's just one person, but make a difference through the written words? So I made a commitment and you taught me kind of the a lot of the concepts that you, that you believe in in terms of goals and then how to follow through on them, and so and I learned from you too so for me, 2023 was about putting together a process that would allow me to write and publish my first book. So that started January one and by middle of June, I had done it and I wrote it, and it's a collection of a lot of the content that I previously have put out in the world over the last three to four years, and these things called Max Moments. They're basically little little insights, little little moments, like you said, little stories, little little concepts that can really hopefully shift somebody's perspective right, give somebody a different, a different frame of reference, a different way to view something that's happened in their life. And so you know the world we live in now. People don't always I'm not saying to everybody, but some people don't want these massive books and chapters that are 50 pages long. So every single maximum in here I've got my little copy, here I've got the original. It's got the whole, the little, not free sell thing. So I've got the original and hold onto this thing. But every, every maximum it's like three, four pages. You can leave it in a snapshot and there's some action questions at the end. And really I was talking about this with somebody the other day.
Speaker 1:The introduction talks about this. It says. It says how do you become a master of meaning Like we? There are so many things all around us in life and there are so many things that happen to us, and so whatever we focus on, we're going to feel. Whatever we focus on, we're going to get more of right. And so, whatever we choose to focus on, you have to give a meaning to it. You know what I'm saying? That's why two people can experience the same thing in life and yet have two very different concepts of what happened, because of the meaning that you attribute to whatever you're focused on.
Speaker 1:And so this book is about how do you become a master of meaning? How do you take things that happen in your life and how do you attach a meaning to it that can help you and not hurt you, and make you better and not worse, and push you forward and not drag you back, and take you closer to what you want instead of further away, right? So again, it's not the absence of fear or adversity or pain or suffering. It's not saying that you're not going to experience those things. It's when those things happen, as well as all the other stuff, the positive. But when these things happen, what meanings are you associating to be able to turn these things so that you can create a life to the max, a next level life?
Speaker 1:So there's five sections in the book max moments on vision, mindset, habits, resilience and happiness, and so basically, first one being vision, everybody in life has to have a great vision, right. And once you have a great vision and you know what that vision is and you know what you're moving towards, the second thing is you've got to have the right mindset to carry out the vision. So that's the second section. And then, once you have the great vision, you have great, the right mindset. Unless you have the right habits to take the right actions to carry on, to work on the course, on the journey towards what you want, then it's not going to work. So you have to have the right habits. So that's three. Then, once you have a great vision, great mindset, great habits, what's going to happen? Right, you know what's going to happen. I'm leaning into the screen right now. Life is going to suck in the face and it's going to say and it's going to you're going to take a little U turn or a left turn or a right turn or whatever it's going to be. And so how do you meet that moment? With a level of resilience to be able to stay on the journey, to not give up and to say no, this is what I want and this is how I'm going to get there.
Speaker 1:So fourth section is on resilience and then, kind of alluding to what we talked about earlier with enjoying the fulfillment is this is really important to me. I know a lot of people, a lot of people that are really successful but they're not very happy. So I'm like, how do you live in the world of high performance? How do you go after something really big? How do you go after next level types things in your life, face all the adversities that you're going to face, go through all the challenges that you're naturally going to challenge when you go out, when you step outside yourself and go after something bigger, and how do you do all that? Yeah, still find a level of joy and happiness and fulfillment.
Speaker 1:And so that was important to me to add that fifth section in the book. And so sequentially, those things make sense. And so if you read from front to back, then you're going to kind of get a good. There's eight maximums in each section. You kind of get a good, good sense of what things are about. But at the end of the day and this is what I love most is people have told me like, hey, max, I picked up the book and I just turned to page 119. And I just read boom, that maximum, because each maximum it stands alone by itself. So you don't have to read the whole book to be able to. You could just read one maximum and you know, and you can get that insight that can change your life. So it's been an amazing thing and I'm just excited to be able to share it with people.
Speaker 2:I love the sequencing in that you start with building the vision, the habits, but then in the mindset, because those things are prerequisites, no doubt, to what life is really going to give you, and I appreciate you didn't just stop it there.
Speaker 2:Okay, if you have your vision, your mindset and your habits, you can go do anything which you absolutely can. Now life happens and it's important that you understand that even if you have the best vision, strongest mindset and best habits in the world, you're never fully protected or never fully protected from what life may bring, and so I love that it's followed with the resiliency piece and maintaining joy and appreciating the journey. The last section and the way this book's reads. I almost tie it back to the daily stoics where you can go pick a random page and you're going to get some amazing insight that you can go run with, and you don't need to read the entire thing, even though I encourage that everyone does. You said something powerful before you started sharing more about the book, and that was that these max moments really help people assign meaning to various things in life. What's an example of something that has happened in your life where you've assigned some meaning to it that is greater than the actual thing that occurred.
Speaker 1:It's a great question. Right, there's a max moment in here and it's called Connect the Dots. It's probably one of the most personal max moments in there, because I sort of some of the other max moments I'm using insights from other people and stories maybe some familiar stories and stuff like that but then I just channel in a different way and pose it to you in a different light. That maybe just creates and triggers a moment that you can think about things. But there is a couple in there that are quite personal, and so this one's fairly personal and it's called Connect the Dots. So whoever's listening, by the way, then we can just imagine with me so you ever remember when you're younger, or, as I say in England, when you're 80-bitty, when you're 80-bitty, you're younger, you have the old coloring books, right, and they connect the dot coloring books, right. So you open up the page, you get the old coloring book and you look at it, right, and what have you got on the page? You've got a bunch of dots and they just you're like what the heck? There's no rhyme or reasons, just a bunch of dots. And then it tells you connect dot number one to dot number two, to dot number three to dot number four and you start doing it and before you know it, in a couple of minutes you just connect all the dots and all of a sudden now you've got a rabbit staring at you. You're like hello, there wasn't a rabbit there before. Now there's a rabbit. And then you color it in and stuff like that. And then you go show your mom and dad like, look what I drew. But it's like I look at those Connect the Dot Coloring books like life. And I see so many instances where if you isolate things that happen in your life and you only look at it just like the singular dot, if you just look at it, you might see it in one frame of reference.
Speaker 1:And for me that was when I got cut by the team that I was at in England. I wanted to always want to be a professional soccer player and make it big there and I got cut. And so I say like if I hadn't have got cut. So if I look at that instance in solely like I was upset, I was mad, I was frustrated, I was ticked off and I have all these associations. Then I came over to America and I still carried that with me for a good part of my life I'm currently, and it was so and so is for the reason I'm not where I am is because of this and because of that, and there's a lot of blaming that went on.
Speaker 1:But if I just fast forward to where I'm at now, you and I today like if I hadn't got cut by that team in England, I never would have made probably the biggest decision and the biggest leap of faith I've ever made in my life, which is to come to America. And if I hadn't come over to America, then I never would have gotten into coaching. And if I hadn't gotten into coaching, I never would have met my beautiful wife, the love of my life in the world. And if I hadn't met her I'm just telling you life to the max wouldn't exist. She's been my biggest fan and my biggest problem. She's one of the ones been pushing me the entire way, saying you got to do this. So life to the max wouldn't exist if it wasn't for my beautiful wife. And if life to the max didn't exist, then I wouldn't have written this book and you and I wouldn't be having this conversation. And so where I'm going now is now.
Speaker 1:Now I look back by connecting the dots and see that some of the worst moments in our life, when you actually connect the dots, they lead you to some of the most finest moments in your life and some of the best moments in your life and some of the most beautiful moments in the life. But if you isolate that situation, it doesn't make sense. But it's not until you connect the dots that it begins to make sense. And so for me, that master of meaning is he's starting to see all of the things play out in my life, how, when you connect them, you become so much more grateful for it.
Speaker 1:Like there was a part of my life I was, I was mad. I mean, just keep it real, I was mad and I was upset and there was so much blaming. And you know better than anybody, blaming and complaining does not get you anywhere. And now I look back and I'm like thank you, thank you, what was probably, I felt, one of the worst moments in my life. I'm like thank you, because it was the biggest gift and the only difference was being able to connect the dots.
Speaker 1:And so I just encourage anybody out there, if you, what is something in your life right now that you currently look at as an adversity or a failure or something like that, and can you trace that to a point in your life now where you look back and say the reason you are where you are, the beautiful life you have, the person that's in your life, the thing that you coveted for so long that you now have the reason you have it, is actually because of something bad that happened in your life, and that's the power of connecting the dots. But if you don't connect the dots it doesn't make sense, and so that's reframing and that's how you master meaning, and it took me a long time to kind of learn that, but you know, hopefully it doesn't take other people as long. But but that's, that's an idea of how you master meaning. You know is somebody else can look at that same instance and have a completely different view of it, but for me I just say thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you for sharing that and what I take from that a few things. One is that whenever it feels like something is being taken, something is always being given to you, and it might take you a little longer to understand what exactly is being given to you, but I don't believe that things are ever truly taken from us, because when you flip the script, as you alluded, you always get something. And the second thing is always flip the script. It's something that I share often. You mentioned that was your greatest gift. I share all the time that my greatest gift that I didn't know as a gift at the time was growing up in the household that I did and experiencing the alcoholism playing the middle man between my parents. If those things didn't occur, you and I wouldn't be talking, podcast wouldn't exist, and so many other things. And at that point in time, I really love the context you've put around this. That point in time, max, I was pissed off at that singular moment, thinking there's no way around this. This is it. This sucks, because I wasn't connecting the dots either. And, man, and I feel like when you don't connect the dots, I opened up with this Max moment and this is my favorite one the richest place in the world.
Speaker 2:I'm going to reread that quote. And when I first opened the book, this is on page 27. So it's early. It's early for those that are going to get the book and pick it up. But where is the richest place in the world? And before I started reading any further, I started looking at, I'm thinking, dubai and all of these luxurious places. But then that quote, and I'm going to read it again, the opener the graveyard is the richest place on earth. Because it is here that you will find all of the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step or keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream. I think about how many people didn't connect the dots also fit into that picture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally no, it's great. It's one of my faves too, if I'll be honest, and actually I've been reading along and so, without reading the whole thing, you know you talked about like how do you master meaning in your life? Okay, so, for instance, that max moment right Without reading the whole thing, but it goes on in the very last statement says there, says everything will change in your life, and this is still the same max moment which is placed in the world. Everything will change in your life when you shift your mindset from thinking less about what you expect from life to one where you think more about what life expects from you. That's a different meaning on life.
Speaker 1:The reason a lot of people don't do things in life is because they're always thinking about what's in it for them. What do I expect of life? What do I expect from life? What do I expect life to do for me? You know, the ones who really step up and do and you're an exemplary example of this is you actually shift your mindset, you create a different meaning and you say, instead of it being about what do I expect from life, what is it that life expects from me, what is my gift, what is it that I can do. And when you start asking that question, it changes the whole game and it's just a simple shift in sentence structure which creates a different meaning, and then that meaning creates a different way of thinking what does life expect from me? Not what do I expect from life, but what does life expect from me.
Speaker 1:And that's what every single one of these maximins is about. It's a change and just like that, it's the reason why I wrote the book, because I'm like what does life expect from me? I've got to get my book out in the world. If I was like what do I expect from life? I'm like I want it to be easy on this. Well, it's too hard to write a book, but I'm like no life expects. I need this. I need to do this, not for me, but for those people out there. And again, it's not about how many you know I've had these conversations whether it's one, a hundred, a million, like it's not the number, it's the process and it's the intention. And when you show up with a desire to understand what life expects from you versus what you expect from life, it's game changer.
Speaker 2:I feel like that question is one that we don't just ask ourselves once. And if someone was going to ask that question for the very first time, what does life expect from me? What's the inventory or thought process that they should take to be able to answer that? Because I feel like it's such a powerful question and it gets me thinking like man. That's one that I can ask myself every year. But where do I go to answer that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, I think, man, we're getting deeper right, we're getting deeper. You know, I like to do this man.
Speaker 1:I know you do, I know you do. Let's do your podcast. This is good, this is good. I think you have to look to one of the most powerful sources and you mentioned resources earlier to one of the most powerful sources and that's your heart. And that's your heart, you know, sometimes we think with our head right and our brain and that's a good place, right, it's not a bad place. But I look at some of the most impactful decisions I've ever made, like coming to America, I probably had the least amount of information at that time and that decision wasn't made with my head, it was made with my heart, you know. So I think a good place to start is with the heart, and that's a very big statement, because people are like how do you know what you're feeling and stuff. So I would just say, a heart is a great place to start. But from that, what is in your heart? Passion, right. Passion. What are you great at? What do you love to do? You know what I'm saying Like, what does life expect from you?
Speaker 1:Life expects you to show up and play big. Well, when you play a big game, what are you generally doing? Doing what you love, right? What are you passionate about. So, for me, what do you love to do? I think that's a really, really great place to start is figuring out what you love to do, right, what are you great at? What can you bring to this world? And, like I say, your heart posture is such a great place and it starts with, yeah, what do you love to do? What are you great at? Because, ultimately, that's what fuels us. You know that's what fuels us.
Speaker 2:So start with your heart. We talked about what lights you up earlier, and then we transitioned into how it's difficult not to get lit up by being in conversation with you, people like you, by consuming this book, this material, taking what we're talking about and incorporating it in. When I think about being lit up, there's one word that comes to mind, and it's actually your word and you inspire me, max, but you inspired me to make one word for my year.
Speaker 2:And last year it was Deliver and you made me that awesome bracelet which is in my car. I look at it every day and my 2024 word is velocity. Like you and I spoke last week, your word for 2024 is awaken and I believe this conversation may be awakening a lot of people and this book is certainly going to awaken a lot of minds. What's the driving factor behind your one word awaken and what encouragement would you offer to people that want to pick one word to resemble their year?
Speaker 1:Yeah, great word, by the way, velocity, that is a fantastic word. So, john Gordon, great author, a friend of mine to John Gordon, he's the one who created the one word process and so I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. You know, and a lot of people use it in a lot of different facets, so it's something I've been doing for a long time and so, yeah, so awaken for me is it's really again, it's a product of the book 2023, it was about writing the book. Now the book is out. It's really triggered a sense of like of internal fire. Maybe is the word the internal fire to take the emphasis, to just really go for it in all facets of life. So, the beauty of the one word process if anybody hasn't been through it and again, check out John Gordon the one more process is about Taking a word which can fuel you To create the type of life you want for one year, because each year is different. You meet, you meet the process exactly where you're at for that year and you meet it. So, with the one word process, it meets you wherever you're at for that particular year and you have that, what that word that fuels you.
Speaker 1:And so For me, based off of the book, like, say awaken was just really about the night, in that inner fire, to say, you know what? I want more people to hear what I have to say. You know, I want more people to understand the message that I have to give, and so so that was part of it, for sure. Like, like, how do I awaken this in so what? I want to speak more. I wanna get a more Stages. I wanna be able to just kind of share my work, you know, but more so than that, to I think you know I've mentioned my beautiful wife, like who you do life with. I wanna awaken and just not not go by any day without my wife knowing how much I love her. So it's about awakening that love that's inside me and sharing it with her. That's another way I can use it. And I think seriously to like the christian school got the time and I will work with you know.
Speaker 1:Just just just understanding the faith is a big part. And again I say, faith is not necessarily religious thing, but it's just it's about Believing in something bigger, something more, something higher, and so for me, igniting and saying that to do big things, you can't do it by yourself, you know you can't do by yourself, and so so I have to awaken that belief inside me and that faith that resides, to say this process, in this journey that I want to take in the things that I want to do and achieve. And when I say achieve, achieve Not just for myself but for others as well and to help it and to help people Like you've got to tap into something higher and also something deeper, you know. And so it's about awakening that in a spirit that's, and that true belief that that that we're doing this for something, for something higher and something bigger.
Speaker 1:So there's multiple layers and I think that's the beauty of a word is that when you choose the right word, like for lost, you talk about this with you to velocity, you attach that to business. It makes a lot of sense. But I also believe and I know for sure you would agree that you could also use that word in many different facets and elements of your life, and it's supposed to be that way. It's not supposed to just drive you in one part of your life, you know. And so that's why, that's why I chose it and I'm excited. I'm excited to use it this year.
Speaker 2:That's what I love about it as well, is that the word isn't applicable to one thing. It's applicable to all things, all things from your relationship, your professional life, your personal life, and so it's important to be mindful of your word that you choose when you go through this process. Was awakened, something that just was on your heart the most, or did you go through and flip in through a bunch of different words? Maybe it was between awaken and deliver, or bravery? I could go on and on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's the process, what I've utilized? A few questions over the years that really you know it's like journaling. You know you have a question, I just sit down and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, you know so in December, and you're writing out so instead of. You know, goals are a part of it. But it's not just cause, it's it's thoughts, it's feelings, it's reflections on twenty. What would have been twenty, twenty three? Start future patients in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1:So this questions that guide you in terms of where have you been? Where are you at, where do you want to go? You know, what do you change? What do you want to improve? What are you grateful for all these different things.
Speaker 1:But ultimately, I think the biggest thing I want to share right here would be that experiences told me that you don't find the word.
Speaker 1:The word finds you Again, meaning right, it's a different, it's a different frame of reference.
Speaker 1:There have been times where I tried to force the word, like I want that to be my word, like I love it if that was my word, and then you kind of get it like I don't know if that's my word and you just kind of force it. Right, you know I'm saying, and it's not just the one word process, but how many times in life we tried to force something and it not actually work out? Yeah, we, sometimes we can try too hard, you know. And so where I felt I've truly succeeded in this process and the words that have the biggest impact to me, I didn't actually choose the word. The word chose me, and and that's been true from all the words, but in the few cases, some of them have been back to me in extraordinary ways, and it would. I could have said it would have been the last word I would have chosen, but end up being the word that I found. And I can say the same about this one, you know, this one I'm excited about it is is it really found me, you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that. You said the word chose you because, as you said that, I was thinking about my word velocity, and if it was anything other than that, it wouldn't feel right. Velocity is something that Is just stuck to my heart, in my mind, and it's something that it just feels different and it's that word that's been lingering around the most that even if I said, even if I attempted for it to be something different, like vulnerability, just picking another V word Wouldn't feel right. It doesn't come off the tongue right. So I Appreciate that it's Also. It's not just something you pick, but it's something you feel. Yeah, because that may help somebody else out when they're thinking OK, do I just flip through the dictionary and find the coolest sounding word and the one that May appear to be fitting? No, you'll know if the shoe fits. Yeah, and it's encouraging you to really examine your heart and connect with your heart. Yeah, I love that. Can you give me one more example? Is that right?
Speaker 2:What yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So so what? Again, you and I, we were swimming in the same circles, like Sharing similar philosophies on life and stuff like that. But just somebody is who's, who has the system right, the system of goals and habits, and just that, you know. I just look at you and like that's, that's your thing, like that's your specialty, you're so good at it, you share it with so many people, make a difference in so many people's lives and help in them, create these goals. And so the thing with the word to is that the word is not, is not in absence of the goals right. So so the goals in process and all that you know in the habit making process and all these things, those are important. And then the word just sort of like almost encapsulates everything.
Speaker 1:So, for instance, last year, my word was essential. Ok, well, essential is connected to the fact that in twenty twenty three, I said to myself, you know, to go back to December twenty twenty two, as I'm entering into twenty three three, I said on January, first I'm going to figure out how to write this book. I had no idea how I was going to do it. I didn't know anybody. I'm like I'm going to, and then you put me in touch with somebody, said, hey, talk to these two people and you know.
Speaker 1:And so the word essential was literally this. It was like if I'm going to write a book, I have to focus on the most essential things, not like, you know, I might do this or I might do that, but if I'm going to write, but what is most essential, yeah. And so that became the driving force to write the book, because every day was about what is essential to write the book. And then, just like my beautiful wife, what is essential, to let my wife know that she's the most important thing in my life. And you keep breaking it down.
Speaker 1:But I just come back to this idea the goal of twenty twenty three was to write the book. It would not have happened if I didn't have the word that year, which was essential. But twenty twenty four, it's different, it's not essential anymore, it's about waking. So you see that that process goes. So I just wanted to share that, like how Our goal setting and how that formation, those things are really important in this process, and so the word just kind of becomes a yeah, kind of a reflection of all the things that happen in your life, you know. So.
Speaker 2:Going back to your word and how we wrap up the podcast. As you know, it's customary to do the rapid fire session One jam and one jam, one step, one book. Here we go, and we're going to switch it up because you've done this once before. Okay, so we're going to go. One max moment, one step, one book. Okay, what's one max moment that everyone should put in their back pocket? Besides, connect the dots that we talked about earlier.
Speaker 1:Dang, you put me on the spot spot. I do. I really do love. I really do love. It's the reason I put it first. So I know it might be a cop out because I asked the first one, but the connect the dots is at the end. But but the $12,000 pizza, so everybody reads that one, actually read it to. I did a speaking the other night and I read it to somebody and I do love the $12,000 pizza because people like how much, like a piece of cost that much and like, yes, it costs $12,000. That's right, but it's crazy.
Speaker 1:But the reason that that one is important is because it has this quote here that says what is your job on the planet? You know, kind of like the graveyard ones, what is it that you know? Something about? That probably won't happen unless you take responsibility for it, and it's a sort of an insertion, the very first, maximum, right into your heart, to say what is that vision? You know like you are made. You are special. You are unique, ryan. You are special.
Speaker 1:Everybody is listening to this podcast. You are special and there is something that you have been designed to do, you know. And so that $12,000 pizza, I do like it, just because it's like you know, a lot of people treat their lives like the $5 pizza. You know, you get from pizza hut or whatever you know and you chuck it away. But when we actually treat our lives and our not just our lives, but our, our quality, the qualities that we possess we treat it like that $12,000 pizza. Man, not only are you going to lead a great life, but you're going to help a lot, a lot of people.
Speaker 2:I kind of want to have this $12,000 pizza. I remember reading that yeah, yeah. What's one step that people can take today to start living life by the max Reframe?
Speaker 1:Reframe. It's basically the same thing as mastering, meaning reframe Whatever happens daily, how can you reframe it in such a way where you look at it in a different context that would allow you to see the blessing in it or the positive in it, or how it's helping you, like I said, not hurting you, taking you forward? And it's not always an easy thing, but but reframing is a is an amazing tool because we all face challenges every day and the power of the reframe and the contextual reframe, which is another maximum in there and I took by that there's a maximum called shipwrecked, which specifically talks about this idea of reframing and contextual reframing. What is a blessing or what is a burning in one in one context is actually a blessing in another. It's a powerful tool to have in your toolbox. From a mindset standpoint, reframing Make lemonade?
Speaker 2:Yes, it is. That's one book besides yours that we can read to sharpen our mindset.
Speaker 1:John Gordon. I mean, I got to give props because we talked about one John Gordon a lot. So, or let me phrase it we've talked about the one word process a lot. So let's just do this In honor of John Gordon because he created their process. He has a book called one word which takes you through that entire process. If you haven't done it, I encourage you. That book will shine a light on exactly what that process looks like, so you can have that breakthrough moment, so you can show up to each year with intention and energy to create the things that you want to create. So that process that you and I have talked about, there is a book about it. So, yeah, so I think, in honor of our conversation, I've got to go there and say the one word by John Gordon.
Speaker 2:I feel called to bring this up. I was about to end this, but there's one more thing that I feel people should hear. As we're relatively fresh into a new year, there's going to be a point in time where some people may fall off the horse a little bit and not take action on the things that they want and maybe allow fear to set in. As this new year quote motivation dissipates. And this story isn't a max moment in the book, but it's one that you told me when we were sitting together at Pepperdine's campus a couple years ago now, and one that I share frequently, and it's about the African Impala and how we shouldn't be like this African Impala. I hope people are scratching their heads right now wondering where the heck are you going with an African Impala? And of course, I'm not going to be an Impala. It's an animal and I'm a human. Why should we not be like an Impala? And what is it about Impalas that we should not resemble?
Speaker 1:So I got my 10 year anniversary with my beautiful wife. We got to go to Africa and we got to do a lot of safari and stuff like that. And there's these beautiful like, say, tons of animals, right, but there was this African Impala, as you said, right. And so these things are they're elegant, they're strong, they're powerful, they're athletic, they're agile, they bounce all over the place, right, I think they can jump as high as 10 feet in the air and they can bound as far as 30 feet at one time in one stripe. I mean, this is how athletic they are.
Speaker 1:So this guy is telling me about these animals and he's telling me about this African Impala. And then we got to talking and he started to share about what happens then when they go into zoos. And so what happens is he says, if you take the African Impala the one that can leap 10 feet in the air and can bound 30 feet at a time if you take that African Impala and if you transport it, you take it out of its habitat, like in Africa, where it can just run free, and you can take it and you put it in a zoo. All you have to do is put a three foot wall around that African Impala and that African Impala will never escape. And so, ryan and I, we had this conversation and you know, the eyes get big and we're like what the heck? Like what do you mean? Because you would assume somebody that athletic, that strong, that powerful, that can do that much, that is that capable, how is it that something so small can prohibit them?
Speaker 1:And then the story goes on to say that the reason the African Impala, even though it is quite capable, clearly capable of jumping over that three foot wall, because it can jump 10 feet high and bound 30 feet, because it cannot see where its feet will land, it will never jump. And that three foot wall is just high enough that the eyesight of the Impala cannot see to the other side and so, therefore, it blocks its mind off and it will never jump over that wall. So because it cannot see, it does not jump. And I just feel, ryan, and to everybody here on the podcast, that's a little bit like life.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of things that we can't see in our life and because of that we don't take belief. And if we were to just take those three foot walls out of our lives or out of our way we would be capable of so much more, and I know I've been victim of it too. So I'm not here to tell everybody that I'm the same, I'm perfect, because I'm by no means am. But just like the book and some of these things, it's about training our minds to eradicate these three foot walls, because I think we are an Impala, we are capable, we can jump high, we can leap far, we can do extraordinary things, and often what limits is our mind and, just like in this case, our sight, you know. So, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:It's a beautiful story and we are often the construction crew of our own three foot wall for the Impala, because the only thing that can ever stop us is us, and what typically stops us is the stories that we create in our minds that often aren't true. I tried 95% of them aren't true, and that's what keeps us in this cage at times, or what can keep us in the cage and going back to the very beginning, the richest place on earth, the graveyard, where a lot of dreams have never played out, probably because of people that are also in these three foot cages. So, max, it's always a pleasure to be with you, learn from you so proud of you for this book and everything that you do beyond your coaching responsibilities, which are a lot in itself, and you're a beacon of awakening for people all over, and it's my wish that you continue to awaken people in 2024. How do we keep up with you and all of the amazing things that you're doing?
Speaker 1:Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Love you too. You're awesome. I appreciate you. Keep doing amazing things. Just go to wwwmaxcom. That's my website and everything's on there. So social media links to the book, things like that ways you can get in touch, just like you. I'm sure I know Ryan, but I'm open to conversations. If you just want to reach out, if you have a question, we're always here. We just love what we do. So if you need me for any reason, if you have a question, you want to talk, just go to my website, maxrootcom.
Speaker 2:It'll all be linked. Folks also pick up a copy of the book and live life to the max. Connect the dots, make lemonade and you're going to win today. Thanks so much for tuning in.