Trauma Healing and Overcoming Adversity with Anthony Trucks

Michael: You got me, man. Perfect.

Anthony: Man, we're in two places at once.

Michael: It's amazing, brother, I'm super excited to be here. For those of you who do not know my man, Anthony Trucks, he is a former NFL player, American Ninja Warrior, an amazing speaker, author, podcast host, coach, and human being that has not only played a huge and beautiful role in my life, but someone who is going to be speaking out on Unbroken Con, who is going to help play a huge role in transforming your trauma into triumph. And my man knows about what it means to rise up, to be able to push yourself through adversity, to find the inner strength to have that shift and during Unbroken Con, December 13th, Anthony Trucks is gonna be there live with us to talk about what it means to put shift into your life. AT my man, what is going on? How are you today?

Anthony: I'm good, man. I've had my whole day's been podcast. I was traveling around the country the last couple days, this whole week, man, guys got settled in. I had two podcasts now we're here hanging out. So, I'm dialed in, I'm ready, I'm super warmed up. We'll call it now. It's game time, bro.

Michael: Heck yeah, man. I love that, man. And you know, it's one of those things I think about this idea if you are always prepared, you don't have to get prepared. And bro, I know that you are a man who is always prepared, who is always working, who is always diligent about trying to make the world what we think it should be. You know, I think about Gandhi's quote all the time, be the change you wish to see in the world. And your background, where you come from I know for certain that trauma, because you and I have a very similar background. Stops most people dead in their tracks. Trauma keeps people stuck, and it takes away all possibility from them. When we get to Unbroken Con, our mission is to help thousands of people around the world transform their trauma into triumph and do it through a shift. What does that mean, Anthony? What does it mean? Not the how we'll get into how its Unbroken Con, but what does it mean to shift brother?

Anthony: Well, it's a shift is to pretty much go, here's the moment and I love that statement that it goes, no moment has any meaning, but the meaning we place upon it, right? And it's not to say that we are to discount anything that happens, we all have crazy things happen, but sometimes people get stuck at those things for lifetime, you know, if you look at any prison in America, 75% of the inmates are former foster kids like I was, right? So, there's a lot of individuals that just never got past that hiccup. So, when I think of the oh shift aspect, it's one, it's can I shift my perspective of how I saw the moment and then shift my response to it. The shifting of a response changes the life over time and so those moments I call oh shift moments; aww shift good and aww shift bad. And I essentially have to go in this a shift moment like, aww I didn't expect it to happen. What was the meeting I gave to it with my response? And when you can control that intentionally, you can control your life.

Michael: Yeah. And that's one of the things I think people get lost on so frequently, they're like, I don't think I can. It's not for me. It must be for somebody else. Look at all the things that have happened to me. Bro, you know my story so many of the Unbroken Nation do. I was homeless as a kid, drug addict at 12, massively abusive parents, didn't graduate high school, hit rock bottom at 26, and yet here we are. And the thing that I think that people have found success in their life have in common is just this willingness to bet on ourselves. Anthony, how important is it for you to bet on yourself in this healing journey?

Anthony: Boy, there's a statement that goes, a smooth sea makes not a skilled sailor. And I actually have a painting that says that right on my wall ‘cause I love this statement. I look at my childhood and the craziness and I go, man, all that stuff needed to happen for me to be who I am. So, all these moments that were taking place were gifts in a weird way. And so, I say that all to say because of my ability to have navigated the hardships. I know inevitably we will all have our own problems however I bring me to my problems and that gives comfort. And so, the mentality that I live with is really based on like, I survived all that, man, we all have survived a hundred percent of our hard days. So, if you can think about that and go, okay, what did I navigate? What did I bring as tools? What did I learn? Well, then when you inevitably face the challenges, life will present to us, it's okay because you bring you to those problems. So, find solace in that.

Michael: I think about this concept pretty much every single day. The hardest thing and the worst thing that ever has happened to you has already happened. And yet so many of us, we catastrophize, we think about the worst-case scenario. We go, man, I don't think that program will help me, that course won't help me, that coach can't help me, what's the point? How is this gonna make my life different? How important does mindset play in this journey? Like if you really want to heal, does mindset matter? Does the way you think matter, Anthony?

Anthony: It does, man and so I have different working. So I work in identity primarily, and I believe mindset is a part of your identity like it's wrapped up in a burrito of who you are, right? If you think about some of the best athletes that we talk about, loving their mindset, they wouldn't usually come to you and go, oh yeah, my mindset got me through. It's just like, that's who I am it's how I function, how I operate. Not to say they couldn't be able to go and say the exact same thing, but it's not typical. And what I noticed was when I wanted to like frame up the identity, there's an area where I see mindset and it's belief, thoughts, actions, and a Venn diagram then the overlap is ego, sense of self between belief and actions. Actions and thoughts, which become our habits, right? What we do consistently, and then what you have is your beliefs and thoughts. I believe that's where mindset lives because there's something, I believe in a way that I think, as an example, if I believe that I should be out sharing my story with the world about how I can think unbroken, I believe it to be true, but every day I get up and go, but you shouldn't do it, let them mess it up? What if you can't? Well, then what happens is your mindset, which I believe is your mind in motion in the world well, it's weakened, so it doesn't show up strong. And then all you do is creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of going, yep, see, I suck at that. So, the idea is how can I take control the beliefs and anchor them into something more powerful than what I have now? And then on top of that, actively control my thoughts, not let them spin off into oblivion. When you could have a belief and a mindset that are connected or start belief and thoughts that are connected and dialed in the same direction your mindset strongs.

Why you see athletes go, I believe I can be the best in the game. And they go, yeah, you can. You got this. They hype themselves up and then sure enough, they step on the court and dominate people. It's not an accident. And so, for all of us, it's a paramount piece of how we design and build our lives. And most of that comes down to what are your beliefs and how are you thinking?

Michael: Yeah, a hundred percent man, I couldn't believe in that more, and I think every single day about this idea that if you don't believe in yourself, who will? But honestly, I think it does take a parlay. You have to be willing to reach out, seek guidance, seek help, seek whatever it is that you can find in the world of finding support in this journey. Anthony, I think so many people believe that man, they're alone, they feel stuck, they feel lost, they feel like nobody's gonna get it. And I sit here and I look at you and myself, and I go, man, our stories are so similar. So much trauma, so much abuse, so much suffering into greatness, right? For lack of a better way to phrase it and knowing that people like you and I exist, remind me that we are not alone. For those who feel like they're alone, who feel like they're stuck, like nobody gets it. What would you say to them?

Anthony: I mean there's two reasons that I think we sit in that place. One is we don't wanna be a burden. And two, it's almost like we have this thought that, well, I don't have to put effort in cuz no one's gonna get me if I try. Right? And so, I removed myself from that thought, cuz for two reasons. One is I've never been in a relationship with someone or as a friend or a call that's reached out to me, gave me the respect of reaching out and going in I need some help man. And I go, ah, you're too, but you're too beat up for me right now. No, I desire to be desired. So like I help you out. So first thing is, people around you want to help you. Let them help you too. There's no badge of honor for swallowing in your sadness. No one's gonna come by and say, great job. Great job being in a bad mood for the last five years of your life. And so, while there is some effort to having to get out of the hole there it's way easier just to sit there. And so, what I recommend to people is you need to branch out and find people who are willing to help you or even who can help you and you have to meet them hard, like hard effort wise halfway there. There's a statement that goes, if I'm a person as like a lifeguard and there's two people drowning, I'm gonna say the person swimming towards me, not swimming away. Like so you have to give some of the effort. It will take effort, but when you start giving the effort, I'll match it. We'll actually meet and I'll save you in some manner we'll call it. But the idea is like you have to actually give some work to save your own life, it's not gonna happen because you're having a bad go of it and someone's gonna reach out and be your savior like, that's not how life works. You must be the one responsible for saving your own life, even if it wasn't your fault. There's this what Mark Victor Manson, whatever the subtle art book. He talks about it may not be your fault, but it's your responsibility. For me, like it wasn't my fault that I got put in foster care, but it was my responsibility to change my life and build something from it and that responsibility can be heavy, however it's even heavier to carry that burden of sadness an entire lifetime.

Michael: Yeah, a hundred percent and I couldn't agree more about that and that's a huge reason why we're putting together Unbroken Conference because I believe that when we take people like you and I and other people who are willing to share their amazing stories and give to the world and be of service, that we can actually show and empower people into this concept and the idea of like, Hey, it's okay. It's okay that you have gone through life and that it has been against you and that you feel stuck, but guess what? We're here to support you into what's next. And that's why we created Unbroken Con. And if you go to unbrokencon.com, you can sign up. It's absolutely FREE to join. We have an amazing VIP offer for you for those who want to go that route, but it's absolutely free to watch in, attend live December 13th unbrokencon.com. Anthony, I was thinking about this a lot over the course of the journey of time that I've known. Do you remember you and I met in person the first time now, almost four years ago at one of Brendon Burchard’s events, man, and I remember distinctly being at that event and thinking to myself, I would never have connected with this amazing human being if I wasn't willing to invest in myself. And Anthony I think so many people are so afraid to spend the $9 or free $7 or $10,000 for that matter, depending on what you're doing. What kind of role has investing in yourself played in your life and in your healing journey, man?

Anthony: That's the only way you get there, man. I wish it was easy to get everything for free, like it was information laid in the world. I think the problem people think is like, I have the information to figured out, and it's true, it's all out there. However, it's a whole different thing to really understand we'll call it the clearing of the clutter to find what the true aspects of your needs are. And so, for me, like I invest every single year, I mean tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars into my ability to grow, and that money has come from previous investments when I didn't have it. At one point, I was at a point where I owed $16,000, only had $4,000 in my name, and I hired a $6,000 coach that I could only pay 4,000. Sounds crazy, right? Listen to this. I told 'em, I was like, I'm gonna give you four grand, but I can't pay the other two unless you help me make the money back. Fast forward three months, we were making $27,000 a month, pay this person back and forth, it was a whole, cause what they saw was the information was there, but I wasn't using the right stuff in the right order, in the right consistent manner. And so just that clearing of it all helped me progress to what I'm doing now. And so, it's something where like if you are truly serious about, I want to change my life, well, you have to put some skin in the game. You can't just go, aww it's free on YouTube. Yeah, but YouTube, because free, you won't even take it seriously. But when you put skin in the game, your brain and body goes, oh no, you put that in, you will show up for yourself and do the right work. And so, investment is critical, not just because of your short cutting all the information, getting the right stuff, but also you are triggering yourself to have to show up for yourself, which is really what most people are struggling with in the first place.

Michael: Yeah, a hundred percent man. And what's really fascinating is people will invest in themselves thinking like there's an ROI like there's some kind of thing they're gonna get immediately from it. But I'll tell you this now, myself, having invested tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in myself as well. Do the ROI is incalculable, like what price do you put on for self-love and confidence, self-esteem, community, amazing friendships and the ability to show up and live life on your terms every single day like there's no amount of money, I wouldn't pay for that life brother.

Anthony: Yeah, no, same way. My wife and I were just talking about it last night, I've gone through a lot, man,this is a 10-year journey for me to get to this point in my career. And the reality is like I was able to get up on Monday and hang out my kids for Halloween, they had no school and then I did my work stuff, but just kind of puts it around then took a trip to Amazon with one of their offices out in New York, worked with them for a couple days and I could fly from there straight to my son for his 18th birthday in college, that came football practice with my youngest son, today I'm hanging with you for a few hours after this I got some work, I do some creative type stuff. I gotta meet with my wife and do something with my son. And then tomorrow I got a game, I was like, I say all that to go. No one in there told me what I had to do or where I had to do it. It's all what I choose to do with my life and it's the most beautiful part of it. I've got a family that I love and that has the ability to share like time together. And I do something that has been hard but allows me to create income that gives me the freedom to be able to do what I want when I want. So, the duality of having actual income that gives me freedom, and then the time to be able to spend it. And then people who love me when I spend it with them for my life, man, there's nothing more, I don't care what Bugatti you got, I don't care what Louis Vuitton belt you have, what private jets you flew in, bro, none of those matters. At the end of the day, if you don't have amazing relationships and if you're making amazing money, the time to spend that amazing money.

And so, doing these things like we're talking about, the biggest issues with people reaching that is what's going on inside here, man? And if you've got something that's anchoring you down, you might not even see it, but the moment you can see it, cuz you invest yourself, you get someone to give you guidance and you can clear that, or what gives you a B line to that kind of a life.

Michael: Yeah, amazing my friend Anthony, amazing to spend this morning with you. I'm super excited for Unbroken Con. Guys, go to unbrokencon.com. It's absolutely free to sign up and watch live. December 13th, our man Anthony Trucks is gonna be talking about shifting your life, the mission, the goal is to transform your trauma into triumph. Other incredible, amazing speakers is gonna be with us over the course of those four days. Make sure that you get the VIP. Keep the recordings for life. I'm telling you right now, Anthony is gonna teach you stuff that when you learn it in real time, it's gonna start this shift, but you're gonna wanna see it again and again and again so you can make sure you can show up every single day.

So unbrokencon.com, SIGN UP. It's for free. Check out Anthony Trucks the Aww Shift Podcast.

Anthony, my friend. I will see you December 13th, brother.