For things to change, you have to change. Otherwise, things are always going to be about like they've always been. Welcome, everybody, to our Next Level podcast. This is Jared and Heather BURNETT. We live in the Tampa Bay area here in, I guess you would say, the Clearwater area in a little township called Safety Harbor, Florida, right here on the Gulf Coast.

And we have been married for going to be 26 years coming up on our anniversary. Yep. Next month. Next month, we have four kids. Four boys, actually. Cooper, Keenan, Campbell and Creed from ages 24 all the way down to age five. So we had three. And then Heather was doing some volunteer work a few years ago in the foster care system and met our fourth son Creed that we adopted just a few years ago.

And so we have, even though we're well into our forties, we have a five year old, we're chasing around the house every day. So but, you know, so that's that's a little bit about us and a little bit about our background and you know, why we're doing this next Level podcast. Heather and I, you know, when we first met and got married, we really didn't have any experience in business or entrepreneurship and really didn't have a lot of experience in anything and life.

I didn't have kids and anything like that, but at a young age I've always been an entrepreneur and, you know, thought that, you know, first took the course of going to college, you know, because that's what people tell you when you're in high school, Hey, go to college, get a degree, get a good job, and, you know, kind of tried to listen to that advice.

And while I was in college, found out that, you know, I was working two or three jobs, putting putting us through college. And then we had. COOPER our first son was born. Heather didn't want to go back and finish her degree. She wanted to be a stay at home mom. And I was working two or three jobs to support us and our new baby and pay for college.

And I remember looking at our situation and seeing that, you know what? When I graduate from college and get my degree, my degree is not going to pay me that much more money than I'm making here, working two or three jobs while I'm in college. And I knew our financial situation was not that great. We were just trying to get by.

And so it caused me to really start looking at things and evaluating things and that's when we were presented with an opportunity in the direct sales industry, and we got introduced to a company that was really an old school direct sales business model where we would buy products and sell them and recruit and train other people how to do it.

And we got involved in that and worked really hard and made a little bit of money at first. But then, you know, we had some we're fortunate enough to have some mentors come into our lives, and that's when things really started to change. And so I always tell folks that it's the people that come into your life that are going to make the biggest difference in your trajectory of where you go as far as success is in the next 3 to 5 years and really throughout your whole life.

So it's the people that come into your life and some people came into our life that were willing to mentor us and teach us some things. And we applied those things and we started to make money in business. We started to be successful in that venture. Then going out, getting out of college continued along with that and then also got involved in traditional brick and mortar business.

We had retail stores and shopping malls for the wireless carriers, you know, the little kiosks in the mall where they sell wireless phones. We had some stores in in West Texas, where we lived at that time in Lubbock and in El Paso, Texas. If you've ever driven to El Paso, Texas, from Lubbock or Midland or Odessa, that area, it's like there's nothing out there.

It's horrible, like a six hour drive. It's like it's only place in the country where the speed limit is like 85 or 90 miles an hour because there's nothing. But I would drive down to El Paso, check on my stores, drive back to Lubbock, And then in 2007, 2008, the economy took a major downturn and we were struggling and we were our businesses had not been making money for months and our businesses were in debt and we were facing bankruptcy, didn't know what to do.

We had one stream of income and that's when, you know, we really felt like God brought another business model into our life. That was direct sales and we had had experience in that. And so we took advantage of that and jumped in and applied everything we had learned over the years from our previous business. And we ended up building a six figure income our very first year and went on to teach and train a lot of other people to do the same thing.

Ended up earning millions of dollars and building a seven figure passive income stream, becoming the top brand partners in that company. And now we have a team literally all over the world, tens of thousands of people in our business. And then we, you know, diversified in business. We expanded into owning restaurants, into real estate for whether it be short term rentals via Rubio's hotel that we now own in real estate.

So we've really come a long way, have done a lot of different things in business and, you know, I guess one of the reasons that we're doing this podcast is, you know, going back 25 years ago, you know, we had mentors come into our lives, but, you know, it was it was here and there's stuff we could learn or we would drive somewhere to to listen to someone speak and teach us.

And if we could just capture one concept and we would apply it in our life and it would help. And all of a sudden, if we applied that concept, we would go to another level. And so, you know, one of the things that I've learned in life is that you can find out what other people do and you can duplicate what they do and you will get the same or similar results.

So success when when you when you really look at it at the simplest of terms, it's not that hard. If you're willing to look at what successful people do and understand that success leaves clues and failure leaves clues as well. And so but the question is, is are you paying attention? And so that's really all we've done is really pay attention because we were hungry for success and we learned from successful people.

And I guess the purpose of this Next Level podcast, one of them is for me, I'll let Heather speak here in a minute, but is to really pass on to try to to pass on and teach people as many of the things that we've learned over the last 25 years to get to where we are today. And to help you understand that there's always another level and no matter what it is.

Yeah. And I would say even though we're even where we are now, we still have a next level that we need to get to. So this isn't this is a marathon. It's not a sprint. I mean, this is your life. You have to make the best of it. And you know, you're always on the journey. We're still on a journey too.

We still look to other people to teach us things. And a couple of things I wrote down when Jared was talking that I kind of want to hit on is he was talking about mentors. And I'll never forget we were at this kind of like an event was called a boot camp, and there was like 15 or 20, maybe 25 people in the room.

And this guy that was there was super successful full time. And he just like, I don't even remember the the conversation before. I just remember him stopping and saying, Who would you put who would you put your money on out of everyone in this room? Who would you put your money on? And I'm like, looking around, you know, And he's like, I'd put my money on these two.

And I was like, Really? He saw something in us that we didn't see in us. But that gave that gave me I don't know what it gave Jared, but it gave me. Okay, well, if he believes in me, then I better not let him down for one thing. And for another thing. It gave me confidence in in trials or in harder times.

And then the other thing I wrote down that I wanted to throw in here, and some of these things are kind of go down as we go through what we're gonna talk about today. But one of the things Jared was mentioning is he was telling our story and everything, and I'll say is probably one of the greatest traits that Jared has.

And he's really the one that's built most of the business. I've been home keeping kids and keeping things somewhat stable here on the home front. But Jared never quits and he never gives up. And so even though he was still going to college, driving 90 miles, one way to go to class, we had a brand new baby. I was staying home and he had two jobs and he already had figured out this degree is not going to get my family where I want to be.

He still didn't quit school. He finished. He got his degree. Did he use it? No, but he had it. And so and that I think that was huge. I don't I don't even think. No. If you paid attention at the time. But he didn't stop that. He didn't stop that and jump over here. He stayed focused on what he had started and what he was doing and then started adding this other opportunity in.

And so I just think that's huge and that people can take a hold of that. You know, if you if you're struggling or whatever, you really don't quit. Keep doing what you're doing. Absolutely. That's yeah, I think there's something to be said for being a finisher in whatever you do. And even if you know, that's not the thing that's going to be the long term play in your life.

There's just something said about being a finisher. I remember when I remember playing Little League baseball and in small town where I grew up in Clovis, New Mexico, and I remember specifically, I remember one of my friends, there was only like two games left in Little League Baseball. We weren't even a good team and I wasn't certainly wasn't a good player.

And this is probably in fourth or fifth grade. And one of my best friends, he said, Me and my parents are going to the mountains for the weekend and he invited me to go on that trip. And I remember being so excited because I had never really done that with another friend or family at that age and travel.

And and I went to my mom and dad and I said, Can you know, my buddy invited me to go on this trip. It's awesome. It's on. You know, they're leaving after school on Friday. Can I go? And I remember that my my dad was like, well, you have a baseball game on Saturday. And I was like, Yeah, well, that really doesn't matter.

Like, we're not we're not heading to win, you know, the league or whatever it was. You know, we haven't even had that great of a season. And I'm not like, the team's not going to miss me. But he was like, Look, you're not a quitter and you're a finisher and this is you need to, you know, be there for your team.

And so that was just a principle, you know, that probably I probably thought it really sucked when when I was in fourth or fifth grade. But it was something that my parents put in me, you know, my dad being a basketball coach, that was probably something that has paid off in life, just be it being a finisher in whatever you do.

And so but in you were tell it, you were talking about being at that Bruce's house. Bruce was one of our mentors and and our one funny memory I have about that early on is when we were just getting started in business and we were at this boot camp and I remember, you know, we hadn't really made any money, but we for some reason we thought we knew some stuff.

And, and, and I'm going to tell you something. This is a problem with a lot of people today is they have no success. You know, they have what some people like I've heard someone say they have all of the answers and none of the money. And that was us. Like we had all the answers. We thought we knew what to do to be successful, but our bank account said different.

Yeah. And so I remember, you know, Bruce had the balls to step on our toes and come right out and say, you know, how's your way of doing things, working for you? And so that's what I would ask anyone right now that, you know, if you ever get in that place where you really think you're pretty smart or you have all the answers, and I would say, you know, how is your way of doing things working for you?

And I know that that man, when when Bruce said that to you and I, it really caused us to stop and think and say, you know what, you're right. Our way of doing things sucks. And I don't know, we don't ever sit down and say, you know what? If what he said is right and we need to like, we were just so hungry for it to be different that we kind of individually took that on.

I can remember, you know, Jared's always been way more visionary than me, so he can see big, big, big. I'm like, Tamara, that's about as far as I can go. But I can remember someone saying, Oh, you'll never be rich if you don't make your bed. I'm like, Oh my gosh. Like other in my bed. And I mean, it didn't matter how many pillows I put on it, that bed was getting made.

And but those little things, those are like little planks that that matter. That's the little things that you think don't matter. That did matter. Yeah that's so you know as we're going to dive into something today but that's a concept that I think was life changing for us, for us to share with some people. But but before we do that, I want to define on this first podcast like what is next level?

What does that brand mean? Because it really means a lot to me. You know, I've got a book coming out called Next Level Mindset because I, I believe that mindset is everything and I'm sure we're going to talk about that on Future podcast and dive into mindset. But to me, just next level and those two words, what that means is, and I want to define this for the listeners, is that there's always a next level, there's always a next level in every area of life.

And, you know, but I but I want to clarify it because I don't want people to get confused that that life is just about having more or more stuff or more things, because certainly things and stuff are cool. Everybody likes you know, everybody would like to have a nice car or live in a nice house or for their family.

But but it's not just about more things or stuff that's not what next level is. It's about that, You know, the Japanese have a concept they call Kaizen and it means constant and never ending improvement. And so and it's really powerful because, you know, you can get almost anywhere you want to go in life if you are willing to be the turtle and not and not the hair, you know, the tortoise and the hare, the old story.

And I always say the the tortoise always wins, not because he's fast, but it's because he never stops putting one foot in front of the other. And you know the story. The hare, he he takes off. He runs as hard as he can, and then he takes a break and does nothing and takes a nap. And then he gets back up and does it again.

And that's it's it's such a simple story, but it is so true in life. If we look at people's lives and, you know, I definitely consider myself a tortoise because I am not the fastest, Heather will tell you at anything. But but one thing that I am damn good at is I do not start putting one foot in front of the other in anything that I do in any endeavor.

I'm going to wake up every day and I'm just going to stay at it. And if you are willing to do that, there's always another level. And that's what we're talking about is in and success is so many things. It's not just finances, you know, certainly financial success puts you in a place to not only take care of your family and even your kids and grandkids, future generations, which is awesome.

If you can do that. I think we should all strive to do that. There's a scripture that says a good man sets up an in him inheritance for his grandkids kids, and so we should all strive to do that. But there's always another level in all areas of life that we're striving for success, and that's relationships. Your marriage, you know, we've certainly learned that and seen that.

We've we're not perfect by any means. We don't have a perfect marriage. We're striving for that always working on that certainly have had issues that we've had to overcome and that with your family, your kids, there's a next level. We want people to know that there in your marriage there is a next level, and we've experienced that, too.

There there is a next level for your family in your relationship with your kids. There's a next level in your health. Okay. And again, we're going to talk a lot about that on on this podcast in the future is is because, you know, you can have all the money in the world if you don't have your health, you can't enjoy it.

I actually know someone that's, you know, grew up in the town, small town where I grew up, and he's one of the wealthiest people in that town. But he doesn't have his health and he sits around and does nothing. And he could be experiencing life and everything and traveling and seeing the world or just doing things. But he doesn't have his health.

So health is huge. And there's a next level, no matter where you are right now, no matter where we are, we're we're always talking about that, too. There's another level that we can go to for our health and then your spirituality, your relationship with God. There is a next level and we're not talking about religion here and religious activities or doing, you know, trying to do more, to just do more for the purpose of doing more.

We're talking about relationship. We're talking with the creator. And so there's a next level and we're always striving for that as well. So that's kind of what next level means to me. And you know, Heather and I know with our obviously our success in business in life and we see people that we come into contact with or people in our business or just people we meet or people we don't know, and we know that there's a next level for them.

And it's possible if they would just apply some simple principles, concepts and ideas and apply those things, they can go to a next level. So and we want you to go to the next level in all those areas. And sometimes you can't tackle all of them at the same time. Sometimes it's good to just work on one usually.

And so but that's what this podcast is about. That's what next level stands for. For me, I don't know if you and I would agree to, you know, I think maybe there you know, you can't you don't want to bite off more than you can chew because then you're just can throw your hands up and quit. And by nature, I'm definitely the hair.

I'm like, let's go, let's go, let's go. Okay. I'll try to need a nap When I wake up. And I'm like, Now I don't want to go. So, you know, and that's okay. You've got to learn to be okay with where you're at. You can't. And I was going to say comparison is the thief of joy. And so, you know, when you're figuring out your next level, you don't need to look at anybody else's level to figure out what your next level is.

You know, be inspired by people that you listen to, be inspired by us if you want to be whatever. But don't ever be like, I want to be like this. Or when we get you know, you got to you got to figure out, you know, you can you can be joyful at the level you're at and strive for another level.

Find the little things in your life right now that that make you happy. I mean, it's little things. There's things that I love that are really little, and we like to enjoy them whether we, you know, had money or didn't. And so, you know, I think next level is different for everyone, you know, And I I'm still kind of processing it.

I'm a slower I do things faster, but I process slower. Jared Process is quicker than me, but for next level it changes and it's it's always a moving target and but I think knowing in your mind and and being constantly aware that you know I think well let's talk about the Kobe Bryant quote I love Kobe Bryant stuff that pops up on Instagram and he says he just woke up every day and said today I'm going to be better than I was yesterday.

And at the end of the day, you look himself in the mirror. Did I? Did I did I do it today? Did I make am I better? Did I go to the next level? And it's not necessarily that, you know, it's some massive leap, but little things that he did better that day. And so, you know, when you're starting out, that's where you have to be.

You have to take little steps. That's it. That's it. So, guys, the the concept that we're going to dive into now that we've kind of laid the foundation for next level that we're going we want to talk about on today's cast is is something that we heard early on many years ago. And when someone said this, it really hit home.

And it goes right along with Bruce's statement of of him saying, you know, how's how's your way of doing things working for you. But here's what it is. It's that for things to change, you have to change. Otherwise things are always going to be about like they've always been. So let that sink in for a sec. Let that sink in for a sec.

Second, thinking would be appropriate too, but let that sink in. You know, for things to change, we have to change, you know, that Einstein's definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results. And I think as humans, that's just our nature is, oh, we'll just try harder, just work harder when sometimes you have to step back and say, no, I'm going to have to change.

And I think, you know, that was probably the best advice that we've ever had in our life as far as business is concerned and success is concerned. And you can apply that to any kind of success. You want relationship, finances, health. For things to change, we have to change. And so, you know, we've got some bullet points we want to hit on that.

But I really, you know, want our listeners I want you guys to really let that sink in that if you don't change what you're doing and if you don't change who you are, you know, and as humans, we're good at making excuses for who we are. And well, that's just not my personality. You know, or that's not who I am.

Well, you know, we're really good at that. But you know what? There's something called neuroplasticity where science has proven the brain can even change. And so you can change. And that's how things are going to change in your life. But you have to change first. And our mentor was a guy by the name of Charlie Regas, one of our many mentors.

And he also said he said, work harder on yourself than anything else. So he didn't say, work harder on your business or work harder on this. He said, Work harder on yourself than anything else. And so we took that to heart at a young age early in our marriage. And we've worked hard. And you know what? We are far from perfect.

We're far from arriving. I don't think we'll ever get there, but we are dead serious about, you know, personal development, personal growth, working on things to improve. And again, you work on these things, you get better. And it's like a lot of times it's like climbing Sandhills. You climb up, you think you're doing really good, and then you slide halfway back down and that's okay.

The key is, is you don't quit. So and I think that's who the real winners are in life is the people that never quit. They just kept going. So, you know, on this concept of for things to change, you have to change. You know, the first thing that I want to say is, is this is that, you know, you can change.

There's hope because but the only way there's hope is if you take complete responsibility for where you are right now. Yeah. And that was super hard for us is is in the beginning, you know, going back 20 plus years ago saying, okay, where I'm at right now, the size of my being count the my relationship, my marriage, the my health make my spirituality where I am right now is nobody else's fault but mine.

And there's a book out there that a marine wrote called Extreme Ownership, and it's just about owning everything, saying, I'm responsible for my situation and I don't think people can change and go to the next level until they're willing to admit I am where I am because of me. And I'm going to tell you something. There's Heather knows this.

I'm not going to get into it, but there's things that have happened in my life going back to high school when I was an athlete with my coach, just or just different things in life that I could very easily point the finger and say, well, this person or, you know, there's people that that we've dealt with in business years ago that we could point to them and say, well, because then this is the situation I'm in or because of this or, you know, people want to blame the economy.

People want to blame the Republicans or the Democrats or the president. So, you know, but until you stop blaming and you take extreme ownership, things are never going to change. Well, and that's all of those things are situations beyond our control. We're never going to be able to control all of the things out there. But what we can control is ourselves, our self control, and we can control putting one step in front of the other every single day and getting better and trying to get to the next level.

That's what you can control. And if anything else, you can't control. So don't put your mind there and keep plodding forward. That's it. That's it. I mean, it's even like, you know, I'm at a point now where I remember last election or after the election and getting just fired up about things and allowing the media or things going on in the media to just get me worked up and then things would come out of my mouth or I would say things and and it would just put me in this state that I don't want to be in.

And I'm like, You know what? I'm not you know, I know we have another election coming up next year. I'm not going to allow the media, the propaganda, whatever, whatever, right side, left side, anything like that to, you know, impact me so that the next topic on for things to change, we have to change has to do with mindset.

You know I heard it said one time that success is 90% from the chin up and you know, our mindset can make us or it can break us and when you look at the word mindset, you know, a lot of people don't realize this, but it actually means to set your mind and so that's a verb. You have to you have to do something.

You have to take action. So we have a choice on how we're every day, how we're going to set our mind. And and if we're aware of it and we're conscious of it, you know, none of us are walking around saying, I'm going to choose to have a bad mindset, right? So if we just so really all it is is just being aware that I'm going to make a choice today to set my mind in the direction that I want things to go.

And, you know, for me what it means is it's a it's an I can mindset is one of the biggest things. It's a mindset, it's a possibility mindset of your self-talk telling you, telling yourself that you can't, that it's what if you can win? What if you win? Because all of us have a choice on how we're going to set our mind every day.

And you know, your mind controls everything that the body does. But what a lot of people don't understand is we have the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. And the conscious mind is, is the learning, speaking, making choices and things like that that we do every day, that things we're thinking about and we're in control of that and we are in control of our conscious mind, but our subconscious mind is like it's almost like, you know, where we're old enough to talk about cassette tapes, you know?

And we used to, you know, you could record it on a cassette tape, a mix tape, and you would record it and then you would play it back. And so the subconscious mind kind of works like a cassette tape that we have. We have recorded things on to it because then you're just going to press play and it's just going to play.

And so whatever we are consciously choosing every day and deciding and thinking about where we're imprinting that we're copying it like a cassette tape or, you know, then they had CDs that you could, you know, burn a CD on. You know, now we have M.P. threes and everything's digital, all that. But, you know, it's almost like our conscious mind and our thoughts that we're choosing every day and our mindset is imprinting onto the subconscious mind.

And then every day we wake up and we just press play and whatever we're constantly putting on the subconscious mind is when we're not thinking that's just how we behave. We're just running a program, but we get to choose what program we're putting on that tape every day. So for things to change, you have to change if you're going to if you're going to go the next level, you've got to start setting your mind and working on your mindset because 90% of success is from the chin up.

Yeah, I would agree. And I think for some people that comes easier, but that's not an excuse that you don't work on it and it will look different for everybody. You know. Jared What that looks like for Jared and what that looks like for me is two different things. But I'll say like, you really can't afford to ever go into coast mode and just float through your day.

It's intentional thinking, Drifting. Yeah, no drifting. And, you know, I think then we're going to talk about this, but like just and that's where you have to really guard your mind. I mean, that's that's important to guard your mind because if you just listen and hear everything, then you're going to go with whatever you're hearing and drill easy to hear, not the best things.

And these principles, guys, that's what everything that we're going to be sharing, everything we're going to be talking about. We didn't come up with this stuff. The principles of success and going to the next level have been here since God created the Earth. And, you know, there's and it's all there. Like there's a scripture that says, think on these things.

And what if people actually did that? If they just thought on these things that are true, that are lovely, lovely, pure, pure, noble, noble. Right, right. What if we set our minds every day and those are the things we're thinking about. So guys, mindset is huge for you to go to the next level. And so what would you say, Heather, to people that would, you know, devil's advocate?

They would say, Well, I just you don't understand. My mind just goes here or it just goes there to fear or doubt or guilt or, you know, whatever it is. What would you say to those people that, you know, they might hear this right now and they might want to make a excuse that, well, you don't understand me, and my mind just naturally goes there.

I would say I feel your pain, but how's that working for you? I'm I'm more of a natural. Probably half glass, glass half empty girl. I can find something wrong and even a really great situation. I mean, that's just my bent. That's, you know, But that can also be very, very helpful in situations where you're married to someone that like is always rainbows and Skittles.

And so but you have to learn that just because you have that thought doesn't mean that's the one you're going to cling on to and run with. You might be like, okay, yeah, that's true. That could happen. Or you know what? That's true. That is bad. But that doesn't define me. That doesn't define the situation. I can't. And usually the thing that's bad, you can't control, but what you can control is how you're going to handle it and what you're going to do with it.

And if you're going to let it stop you, that's it. That's it. So guys guarantee there's going to be a lot of coming podcasts on mindset and different things about mindset because it's such a powerful topic. But the next thing about for things to change is who and what you listen to, because you know, belief really sticky. Yeah, but belief and faith are so critical to you going to the next level.

And when I talk about faith, I'm talking about the, you know, the Hebrew word for faith is trust. And so that means like literally trusting in believing that you're going to go to the next level in that relationship, in that business, in your health, that £20, you're going to lose, that you've never been able to do it like.

So belief, faith is certainty that you believe it's going to happen. And so but the scripture says faith comes from hearing. So what is going into our ears? And what we're listening to is so important. It's so powerful. And I'm not talking about getting super analytical or religious. I'm like, I can't hear this. I can't hear that. What I'm talking about is that, again, consciously deciding and choosing, what am I going to get up and listen to today that's going to push me further, higher, right, versus going to drag me down and and pull me into fear and doubt and I can't do it.

I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy. You know, I'm always going to be like this. You know, there's things that you can listen to that are going to take you in either one of those directions. Agreed. So we have to choose. We have to choose what we're listening to. So, you know, what I would say is find things, you know, like this podcast, find there's so many resources out there that you find for you what it is you can listen to and go for a walk every day.

Listen to that. Listen to you know, I've got some things I listen to. I love to listen to Joel Osteen. Why? Because he encourages me. And and people I've had people some of my friends, I had someone I'm in business with that just totally, you know, was crucifying me for listening to Joel Osteen saying, oh, I don't agree with you.

He says this. He says that. And I said, I don't care. I said, I don't have to agree with him on everything or his doctrine or beliefs. But I. I can listen to him, too. I can listen to one podcast. I can listen to one audio book or message. And I feel like I can go run through a brick wall.

I'm ready to go take on the world. I'm ready to walk out into that world and take on the negativity that is the world. And it's not going to take me down from listening to that one thing. So. So again, what you listen to, for things to change, you have to change. And which brings us to our next one, which is words, because we all have power over our words and what we say.

And when we're speaking, you know, believe it or not, you're building your faith because faith comes from hearing. So it's coming out of your mouth, straight into your own ears. And you're either building faith that you can or you're building faith that you can't write based on our own words. What would you have to say about that with words?

Well, I was going to I was going to say something about I'm going to I'm going to backtrack a little bit. So. And you were saying, like, who and what you listen to or whatever. And you said you listen to Joel. So here's what you're going to find out is like, I don't have anything against Joel Osteen. I think he's great.

Whatever doesn't do that for me. Like, I don't get the same response from when I listen to Joel Osteen. I need more like I just need quiet, peaceful music in the background. Gives me peace, gets me calm, settles me down so that I can focus and so that I can, you know, do what I need to do. But I will say to, you know, we like, you know, we have the TV on in our house all the time and some rooms have the volume on and some rooms don't.

And we pretty much always have on ESPN because I'm a teacher, I love to read the ticker. I love to know, you know, kind of what's going on or whatever. But I make a very conscious choice. I don't get sucked into the scandal on ESPN, Right. Like, I like to need to know the scores. I like to know who's getting treated here.

I like to know, you know, my dad was a football coach. His dad is a basketball fortune coach and we have four boys. So ESPN is what we do. But you have to you have to learn to filter out. I mean, I could sit and watch ESPN and, you know, not that I'm sitting and watching it, but just in the course of my day it's on.

And I could get all out of whack because this baseball team is doing this or these this hockey team is going to warm up and this shirt or but that's like you have to make a choice. You know, you can't you can't just cut the world off and not listen to anything in the world because it sets you in a bad mood.

You have to learn and grow. You know, I think back and a long time ago, someone told us, like, be careful. You listen, do watch what you listen to. And we interpreted that as like anything negative we're not listening to. Well, okay, that's okay. But then you have to still know what's going on in the world. I mean, you still have to kind of know things.

And so you have to filter out like, you know, like a hot topic right now is target. You know, are we going to boycott? Target what? Look, it's target. You know, they just want PR are you going to take on what they're doing and get all angry and get fired up and sit around at the dinner table and gripe?

Are you going to be like, Target's going to do what Target's going to do? And if I go back to Target, I do. If I don't, I don't. We might mention it at dinner and then we're going to carry on. You need to know what's going on in the world, but you also need to learn to filter out.

Just because something happens out there, it doesn't necessarily affect you unless you take it in and let it take you down a nosedive. And I see so many people that they're allowing those things to steal their joy and they have no joy. They have they don't have a pep in their step. It's it's everything's negative. They're critical of and they're and they almost become a person that's just looking for and they become hard to be around for.

And so so guys, again, if you're going to go to the next level, these are all things you've got to start paying attention to. Yeah. Is is your words. Your words can create or they can tear down. And what I see more than anything is people are tearing themselves down with their own words. So I always ask people, When's the last time you said, you know, I'm really good at this?

Yeah, when's the last time, ladies, you said, you know, I'm beautiful and told yourself that. So your words are powerful and your self-talk is one of the most important things out there. So you got to pay attention to your words and you for things to change, you have to change. And if you catch yourself saying something about yourself that's negative, man, correct it right away and say, No, that's not right.

This is the truth about me. And speak it out loud because words have power. So one of the other ways that people really have to focus on to change if they want to go to the next level and you want things to change is something that a lot of times people don't want to talk about because they don't think it really has that much to do with success in different areas of your life.

Unless they or they, they categorize it and compartmentalize it to just that to their health. But it's, you know, moving, exercising, getting out and moving your body and what you eat, what you put in your body. And you know Heather and I believe that success is holistic, that everything affects everything. And so how you do anything is how you do everything.

And again, this is not about being perfect, but getting out and moving your body is not just good for your health of your body, which is going to help you be successful. Because again, if success is 90% from the chin up, a healthy body helps have a healthy mind. And so a lot of times, you know, Heather will even tell me like, sure, if we because we're not perfect, we don't always, you know, get six or seven days a week, 45 minutes, hour and a half workout every single day.

You know, we strive to be active and move and exercise and work out at least three or four days a week. And most of the time we hit that. Sometimes we don't. If we get in a busy season or some travel or just things going on, you know, it happens. But we're very intentional about making that a part of our life and I think sometimes people don't understand how that what that has to do with if I'm trying to be financially successful, they would they would say, okay, yeah, I'm trying to be successful in my health and I'm trying to lose this weight or just get, you know, overcome this chronic health issue.

But, you know, what would you say? Does working out, staying active, getting out and moving, you know, and there's so much to it. There's so much research coming out that that we as human beings need sunshine. We need to get in the sun. And I know some of you guys live in different parts of the country or the world where sometimes that can be.

But I would say if you live in that area where you don't get a lot of sunlight, then when the sun's out, get as much as you can because things like that are so important. So what does that mean for you when it comes to working out, staying healthy and how that affects everything? Well, it is totally intertwined.

And, you know, we've talked a little bit about mentors and stuff. And one jet, one journey are like, you know, you find someone that he's listening to and he's like, Oh, I heard the tell their stories. I'll almost always, because I'm glass half empty, will say, Yeah, well, is he married or is he fit? Or because I want I want the whole not that, not that I want perfection in the whole package, but I want to listen to somebody who believes like we do that's holistically And so, you know, a lot I started I, you know, I was a I played sports a little bit in school.

Then I was a cheerleader. I cheered in college. But back then and maybe it's because I grew up in a tiny mountain town in New Mexico. But like, we didn't we didn't even have, like, conditioning or any of that for cheerleading. So I didn't grow up with any kind of working out mentality. Right. But after the boys were born, probably after Campbell, I would say is probably when it happened in Lubbock, I just started like this whole like getting better in every area, like what's an area?

And it was amazing how much it helped. And what I'll say now is that, you know, I'm a planner. I like structure. I don't like when things don't go like this. And what I've learned, especially now that I'm 48, is that I don't have control over my days or how my body feels or what the kids are doing.

And so I've learned to be flexible with that. And so, you know, I know that when I exercise, I can be funky in the mind and I can go for a 20 minute walk or a ten minute walk or whatever. And I it's amazing how it changes. And, you know, well, I have this. I can't work out well.

I have this, I can't work out or you're going to find an excuse for everything. But again, we're trying to help you go to the next level and, you know, to go back to. How's it working out for you? You know, it looks different all the time, right? There's there's seasons when the kids are all in school that, you know, our days are pretty normal.

And he takes the last one to school and I can go downstairs and get to work out five days a week. Well, now it's summer and we've got, you know, our oldest son home visiting. We have the one that was at boarding school home visiting. The five year old's not going to school this summer. So it's like I might get 30 to 45 minutes of highly interrupted training in, but that's okay.

Doesn't mean I'm going to give up and throw my hands up because it's just that important. And you know, one of the things when I first started working out, I was realizing this kind of Celia, I've never said this to anyone before when I was first started working out. It's because our kids, our oldest son, was kind of starting to play sports and stuff like that.

And I was seeing that like, okay, nowadays sports are different. Like these kids are like, like working out there, you know? And I'm not saying that it's all okay, but it is what it is. And if you a kid that loves sports and wants to be good at sports, I mean, you know, they are they're working out a lot.

They're training a lot. And so I literally started working out to be an inspiration to my kids so that they would also want to work out so that they would see my mom does that, I'm going to do it. And they've never worked out with me, but they all have done. They've all gone through periods where, you know, they they really started training for their sport and they did things.

And my working out has changed. I used to run a lot, you know, 48. My hit doesn't like it when I run, so I do more walking and weightlifting. You have to find what works for you and just know it varies in flex. It's you have to be flexible with it, but don't stop up. I think that's the main thing and and start somewhere.

Yeah. And there's no excuse. You can go on YouTube and type in set or size and find something to do. I mean you can literally start anywhere. And that's what I think a lot of people, they just don't know where to start. And so what I would say is get and walk. Yeah. One of my friends very well versed in exercise physiology.

He's been, you know, certified trainer bodybuilder and is always just studying all the latest research on burning calories, cardiovascular health, all of that and all of the science is pointing to that. One of the very best things that all of us can do, no matter what age, is going for a walk, a brisk walk, you know, and getting that elevated heart rate again, anyone can do that.

That has two legs. You can get out and go for a walk. And I'm telling you, there's there's something about getting out in nature. I believe that, you know, God created it that way, that when we're out and we are connected to, you know, whether it's the water we live here in Florida or just the trees or nature.

And, you know, there's all this research coming out about take your off and put your feet on the earth to ground yourself to the earth. It actually impacts the blood in your body for five or 10 minutes a day. So just being outside in nature does something for us. Yeah. So get out and move. And then also what we put in our body.

Yeah, you know, you are what you eat. And so Jared and I are far from perfect eaters. We, we've gone through, I mean every extreme of trying to do, you know, whether it was, you know, a couple of our kids have different, I guess food allergy type things. One of them has an autoimmune thing that he deals with and we've gone like way over here and way over here and that doesn't last.

You just can't do it. And so, you know, we try to eat at home real food like that God made that grew out of the ground or that an animal like we try to eat that as much as we can, but we also have kids and like pizza sometimes because it's convenient, yummy. But, you know, we're pretty we're pretty pretty flexible, strategic, I would say like, you know, we know, okay, we're hungry and it's ten.

So we go in the pantry and we have regular chips that if we grill a hamburger, we might eat. But then we also have protein chips that if it's 1030 or 11:00 at night and we have the munchies, we're going to grab the protein chips because we're like, I'm still going to get the salt and the crunch and the time.

He's going to get full. But at least but I'm not going to fill it with Cheetos. So I guess what we're trying to say is that you can't think that you're going to go to the next level and not pay attention to that area in your life. You know, if no matter what change you're trying to to create in your life.

And I think I think the way it is, the way it works for most people, this is the way it's worked for me is at different time frames in our life or different seasons. There's usually one specific area that we really want to go to the next level and that we're trying to create change in. And so, you know, but but you can't just set aside all these other areas.

You can't say it. Walk right now. I'm just trying to change my mindset or, you know, my words. I'm trying to speak better about myself and speak more positive than negative and say, But it doesn't matter what I eat, right? That is. No, because it does matter what you eat. Because you're not going to feel good about yourself if you're eating a bunch of processed food that makes you feel bad.

There's no I mean, nobody is going to overcome feeling bad and still tell themselves good things. That's right. I just have one more thing I want to add, because I wanted to say it earlier and, you know, you were talking about we were talking about like the government and all these different things. Right. And I just kept thinking this and so I'm just going to spit it out and maybe it can tie a bow on something or you can finish it off nicely.

But, you know, Jared talked a lot about scripture, and obviously that's what we believe is the Bible. Not saying you have to, you don't, but that's what we believe. And, you know, it says and their trust in the Lord God with all your heart. It's all your mind and with all your soul. And I find that when I get, like, overwhelmed or stressed out about any situation, it's because I'm putting my trust in either someone involved in the situation or the situation, or my ability to fix or handle the situation instead of putting my trust in that maybe God has me in this situation to grow me, to get me to where He wants to

go. Because that's where our trust is supposed to lie, not in who the president is or what target selling or any of that. We're supposed to trust God because he is sovereign, He is in control, and we wake up every day and we're doing that. Then that ten minute walk, if your trust in in God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, you're going to see the most beautiful Redbird, the most amazing tiny bunny rabbit, the whatever.

And when you get back from your walk, you're not even going to realize it was a workout. But you are going to be so energized and so feel so good that helping with your mindset just going to come natural. But you, you I guess I'm kind of trying to say it's really hard to just do it all on your own.

That's right. And you know, a lot of times it's easy to trust. You know, again, don't don't judge us for our faith, whatever your faith is. And we won't judge you for your faith. But it's it's whatever you put your faith in for us, it's God. It's it's easy to do that when things are going awesome. Yeah. And you just had a big win.

But when you have a major, you know, issue or, you know, it just we're all going to face struggles, challenges, hurdles or situations and circumstances. And when you go through those valleys, that's when you have to put that into practice is do you really trust do you really have some faith that this situation that just went you know, you are here now, we're here in a valley, maybe there's a reason for it and it's going to take you to where you're supposed to be.

Do you have that trust in the situation again? Be that turtle, keep putting one foot in front of the other. Have faith and trust that everything works out for good. Yeah, and I want to tell a story about this because this just recently happened. I'm going to be a little bit vague just in case if I'm wrong for like this.

And but so one of our children, he's very naturally athletic and his junior year of high school, he he had always been pursuing basketball. He got a track coach in his freshman year of high school that really showed him how good he was at running and pretty much everything track and field. And over the course of time after his junior year when basketball was over, he came to us and he's like, I don't think I want to play basketball anymore.

I just want to focus on track. And we were both like, Oh, no more basketball. Like, what are we going to do with us? And we were sad a little while, but we, you know, supported his decision. Things were going so great, like he had a great state track meet, everything's great. And then his track coach isn't coming back the next year for his senior year after we just made this decision.

And, you know, I initially was in panic mode because that's my initial panic, my initial thing, but we just kept trucking along. He qualified to go to nationals last year at Nike. We went, you know, while we're there, like I kept noticing this other coach, like all the time. After Nationals was over, he asked us if he could go to a boarding school about an hour away.

And my mom was like, Absolutely not. You are not leaving your senior year. I get another year with you. But Dad being a glass half full was like, Well, let's let's look into it. So I said, okay, call your track, call your track coach, because I thought she was definitely going to shut it down and she didn't. And we just kept taking a little baby.

Steps went down, visited, visited. They went there this last year, just got home on Monday. And the things that came from that year, he is, you know, he's going to college just like he wanted to as a decathlete at an at a place that we probably would have had no way to get him to if he would have stayed here and gone to the same high school because there were no connections.

And where he ended up going to school, there were a lot of connections and he made a great friend there that has also a little brother. That's a I mean, just amazing the way things worked out. And it looked like a horrible situation a year ago. And it but we kept trusting, we kept moving. We didn't try to manhandle anything.

We just kept kind of cruising along and things worked out. But we also we stayed positive through it. You know, we didn't go beat down the door of the school. I wanted to, but he's calm, so we didn't and tell him, No, you can't do this to our son. And it all just worked out so great. But, you know, I think a lot of these helped with that, you know, with his mindset through it all and coming out on the other end and seeing the rewards.

So it's all connected and, you know, mindset who you listen to, your words, your thought life, you know, getting out and moving day and what we're putting into our bodies. So just to recap for things to change, you have to change. Otherwise things are always to be about like they've always been. So what we would say is, you know, of everything that we talked about today, what is the things that hit you the hardest?

What are the things that just like are blaring you in the face? They're like, okay, I'm going to create change in this area in my life and start there and then, you know, subscribe to our podcast and listen to this and follow us on on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, And we look forward to doing more these podcasts and, and having you guys tune in.