0 (2s):
Boom, a shake the room, Fire Nation, JLD here with an audio master class on finding your mentor with none other than Shawn Stevenson himself. Shawn is the author of sleep smarter and creator of the model health show, which is featured as a top health podcast in Apple podcasts. And he recently published his new book called eat smarter, which is literally not just flying off the shelves. It flown off the shelves because they're having to do a major restock now because too many people wanted to learn how to eat smarter at the same time. And that we'll get into that in a little bit Fire Nation. But when we talking about how Shawn became a master in nutrition, you know how mentors have played a factor in his life and a specific mentorship he had with a gentleman named Ken and so much more.

0 (53s):
When we get back from thanking our sponsors online training is skyrocketing across every industry and thousands of entrepreneurs just like us are using Thinkific to create market and sell online courses, launch your own online course and share your knowledge with the world today. Get started at Thinkific.com/eof that's T H I N K I F I C.com/eof Fire Nation. Are you looking for a step by step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment? Will I have some great news for you? My first traditionally published book, the common path to uncommon success is available for pre-order now visit uncommonsuccessbook.com to pre-order today and lock in the incredible bonuses that are going away soon.

0 (1m 45s):
Uncommonsuccessbook.com. So Shawn, welcome my friend. Thank you. Thank you for being here. And man, I'm just excited. Every time I get to hang out with you, who, by the way, you were a personal mentor of mine, you flew out to San Diego to spend three days with me and literally changed my, my entire just life. Essentially, as far as blackout shades and a new shower and a new like water, and you took me shopping and it was just amazing. And that mentorship that I, that I had from you six to seven years ago now, like stayed with me. Like when I came to Puerto Rico, I implemented all those things in my new bedroom here and my new household here.

0 (2m 26s):
And like this just when you invest in our nation in a mentor, the right mentor, like one time, like I had with Shawn for three months as a one-on-one mentor, it stays with you for life. So you went from being a trainer to a nutritionist, to at a local gym, to spending over 10,000 hours becoming a master in nutrition, which of course led to this amazing book, which you need to get Fire Nation eat smarter. What prompted this whole transition brother?

1 (2m 52s):
Ah, this is so good. And thank you, John. It was one of the most incredible experiences hanging out with you, hanging out with Kate and her family. We all had dinner together. That was such a great time.

0 (3m 2s):
It looks, I know, by the way, w that when that happened, I said, Shawn, there's this app called Instagram. You have to get on it. And he's like, really do I have to? I'm like, trust me. And you have since crushed it. I mean, you're actually one of my favorite Instagram stories to follow because you have such an amazing fun family life. So just a quick side note, keep going.

1 (3m 22s):
And this is about this again. I think I'm a great case study for mentorship because I definitely had was what I refer to as lone Wolf syndrome, big time, you know, I'll figure it out, I'll do it on my own. I'll save the world. But that kind of like modus operandi will literally kill you, trying to save the world by yourself. You know, it's going to be with it through other people. And I have this resistance, you know, towards doing other things, you know, like I really feel good about doing the things that I'm good at. And, you know, even when you mentioned Instagram, it took me like two years to actually do it. I think I might've even started my account when you told me, but like to actually circle around and get into it, you know, because I'm just kind of, and this probably would speak to a lot of people.

1 (4m 7s):
I have this resistance or apprehension towards, you know, stepping outside of my comfort zone, you know, and it's in subtle ways because ironically, I'm also a very growth driven person every single day I get up and I can't go to sleep and sleep well at night, sleep happily, unless I know that I grew up, but generally it's the things that I'm obsessed with that I want to grow it. And so, because of my apprehension, I proactively put myself in tough situations. Now I proactively do things outside of my comfort zone. And, you know, going back to how all of this happened and how, you know, garnered all of this experience in nutrition.

1 (4m 48s):
You know, this was for, for many people who are operating at a really high level in this space, it's often out of great suffering that they find their gift. And so for me really quickly, you know, this is a short version of the story, but when I was 20 years old, I was diagnosed with this incurable spinal condition. So-called incurable, spinal condition, degenerative bone disease, and degenerative disc disease. And my physician at the time told me I had the spine of an 80 year old man when I was just a 20 year old kid. And I was an absolute superstar athlete when I was 15, I ran a four or five 40 yard dash that's NFL combine times, you know, three touchdowns, a game for the first, you know, three to four games I got to play.

1 (5m 31s):
And then my body just started breaking down. Literally I've gained films where I'm getting injured running by myself. I do a 39 sweep and I passed the back five yards away from them. And I just started breaking down like my, you know, I'll snap, my hamstring, or, you know, I'll get a knee, a knee injury, or my hip again, I broke my hip, but that was at track practice. So my body was breaking down from the inside and my physician told me there, nothing I can do about it. You know, this is incurable. And you know, of course he meant well and our wonderful physicians, you know, everybody's getting into the field for the most part to help people. However, there's a fundamental flaw in our system of health because every single organ is made from food.

1 (6m 16s):
And this is one thing that is almost totally negated in our field of health and wellness. And now today I know the top cardiologists, I know the top pediatric cardiologist. I know the top endocrinologist, the top gastroenterologists. I know the best in the world and they'll tell me they might go to school for 15 years and then they'll get two weeks of training on food. They might even treat the Oregon like the gastroenterologist, my friend, I'm thinking about right now, he deals with the organs that are responsible for the assimilation, elimination and digestion of food. And he only learned about food for two weeks. It makes no sense. It literally makes the organ, the heart is made from the food, the weed. I know the top neuroscientists and neurologists.

1 (6m 57s):
These are all my friends. I love these guys so much. Your brain, you're the axon terminals, the den dries, the neurons, the white matter, gray matter, it's all made from food. So this is what literally allows us to have thoughts, feelings, and emotion. It's all based on food. And so once I really like something clicked after a couple of years of like a lot of pain and suffering. And I asked the fundamental question, what can I do to get better? Whereas before, and we talked about this before, and this is also any smarter. We talk about some of these things with our, with our neuroglia, I'm sorry, with our psychology, psychology and food go together big time as well, but there's something called instinctive elaboration and what it is really. And I want everybody to think about this.

1 (7m 38s):
We all tend to have a habitual question that we're asking ourselves. It is it's probably going to be a little bit unconscious or subconscious, but for me, for those two years of pain and suffering, I was constantly asking, why me, why is this happening to me? And why won't somebody help me? You know, for other folks, it might be, how can I get people to like me? Or how can I get out of pain? You know, how can I, how can I get my, you know, my spouse to, to be more supportive, you know, like we'll have these habitual questions and because it's instinctive elaboration, our brains work a lot. Like, you know, producers notice media folks in media, it's called an open loop.

1 (8m 20s):
We have to find the answer to questions. Our brains are driven to find out what happens next on this episode, you know? And so I shifted my question. I asked, how can I get better? How can I be healthy? And also, what am I bones made of? If they're degenerating, what are they actually made of? And that sent me down a path of discovery and finding so much about how food creates our tissues. And I completely reversed the condition. And I shifted all my coursework in school. I was still in college at the time to neuroscience. I'm sorry to nutritional sides too. And I just taught a neuroscience at NYU this past semester guest lecture.

1 (9m 2s):
So anyways, so nutritional science, biology, kinesiology, all that good stuff and starting my clinical practice. And that led to that one-on-one thing. Eventually I'm like, I need to record this or write this down. So I started writing books. That's when my, the model health show, my podcasts began. And it's been a quantum leap in impact ever since,

0 (9m 22s):
Like I mentioned earlier, you were my mentor when it came to health, nutrition, and just kind of overall like a healthy lifestyle. I mean, your book sleeps sleep smarter has been a huge inspiration for me. And, you know, really improved my sleep, which is a huge focus in my life. And you have been mentored by a lot of amazing people in your life, which is exactly why I knew that you were the person to be featured in my chapter, chapter five, finding your mentor in the common path to uncommon success. So first and foremost, thank you for your contribution. The chapter came out fantastic. Your featured part is so, so amazing.

0 (10m 2s):
And what I'd like to share with foundation real quick is, is a little story with a guy named Ken, because, you know, you were good at what you were good at, but you knew there was gaps in your life. There were voids that needed to be filled. There was knowledge needed to be gained and, and can actually fit that role for you. So can you tell that story to Fire Nation?

1 (10m 24s):
So Ken, when he came into my office, he was actually coming along with his wife, Susan, who's just this prolific writer and, you know, she's a superstar in her own. Right. Which was funny how that all came together as well. She gave me some good advice early on, but Susan came in because she was dealing with a health issue and she got referred to me by a physician and Ken just came along and he was sitting back all stoic. You know, I think he was about 78 at the time, maybe 77. And I'm just like, what's with this guy, you always sit in the office, he's got this like neutral, like Switzerland vibe to him, you know? And so it wasn't like, he was just like, ah, this is malarkey. But he was actually calculating in his mind different aspects of what I was saying that he wanted to apply for his life.

1 (11m 10s):
So I worked with Susan for maybe like a month or two, but then I ended up working with Kenny, Ken Bulk for the next four years, you know, and really became one of my best friends. And here I am, you know, I'm like probably, you know, I don't know, in my mid thirties. And I got like this 80 year old guys, like my best friend, we spend all, you know, holidays together and all this stuff, but I was providing my insight and my experience in nutrition. And then in, in, in fitness, you know, he was one of the very few people that was still work with as a strength and conditioning coach too. I was mostly working in my clinical practice, but I would meet with him, you know, a few times a week. And because when he came in, he couldn't even lift his arm above his shoulder from an injury.

1 (11m 53s):
And he got all range of motion. He was in there doing pushups and all this cool stuff as an 80 year old guy getting himself healthier. And in that, in that timeframe, kin started to drop these nuggets on me that were sporadic at first. But then it became like I was his student. I was his student now. And right now, one of the things that I'm thinking about that he shared with me, I don't, I didn't share this previously, but he told me how he had a a hundred year plan get a hundred year. He, he planned it out, him living a hundred years. And what that looks like, what it looked like, monetarily, what, it looked like, relationship wise, what it looked like with his health. That's why him being in my office that day.

1 (12m 33s):
He knew that I was the investment for him to make sure that he makes it to his hundred year goal. How often do we think in those terms? You know, we got, we don't have next week go, right? What's today's date. So that, that thinking, like, if you're just open to it, it can literally like change the wiring of your brain. And you start to get like a new perspective in life is really about being able to tap into multiple perspectives. It's a big part of life from my opinion. And so that was one big thing, but the, probably the biggest gap that him being, my mentor really helped me to traverse.

1 (13m 14s):
When I first met Kenny, I was, I was getting by things were okay. It wasn't like too tight, but it was not like I could just go do what I wanted to do when I went to do it. Right. I couldn't just like necessarily take a trip family trip without a lot of like moving the numbers around you. Weren't JLD Puerto Rican balling. That's what you're saying. I was not at all, not at all Dale D status. That was, it looked like Mars and Jupiter whatever's happening right now so far away. But Ken, he actually started his own company when he was, and he built all that.

1 (13m 55s):
Like he's an architect, that's what his, but he was an entrepreneur. And I remember him sharing stories of when he went to other folks who try to work for them and they wouldn't give him the time of day. It's always like, I'm going to start my own thing. And it was tough going in the beginning, you know, and being like the son of immigrants, you know, Jewish immigrants and just like really struggling, you know, for him to be able to go to school. And, but him taking on the responsibility of not number one, I'm going to take a bet. I'm betting on myself, but it's very calculated bet because he knew what he could do when he was very good at planning things out. But he built his company to multi multi-million dollar entity and he built like malls and St.

1 (14m 40s):
Louis and all of this cool stuff. Like I would shop at his stores. And like I never knew, I didn't know this guy was behind it. And he taught me about financial wellness and what that looked, you know, there were terms, you know, IRAs and all these different things he would tell me about in different things like scholarship funds for my kids that would, you know, some money would get put, put into my account, like matched by different entities and all this stuff. And I just knew I had no idea about it. So he impressed upon me mentorship in taking my knowledge and not just trying to live off of my knowledge base in nutrition, but allowing myself to be financially intelligent so that I can allow my money to make money for me, you know, a big part of it.

1 (15m 29s):
And also being able to invest properly as far as, you know, having a bigger, I wasn't thinking in terms of a a hundred year plan, but like what, what about 50 years from now? You know, what does that look like? And so that was just some, some of the inklings of the impact that he's had on me as a mentor.

0 (15m 45s):
That's really what I want to impress upon you here is that you look at the story that I shared with Shawn. Like I had massive gaps in my life. I didn't understand sleep and the value of it and how to maximize and how to optimize it. I didn't understand the nutrition side of things and then understand the value of the natural products that Shawn brought into my life and all these other things that were huge gaps. You know, I was crushing it on the business side of things and that's all fine and well, but I was doing the opposite of crushing it, you know, on the things that I just mentioned, that Shawn brought into my life, you know, over the course of, by the way, a three-month period, like three months to transition, you know, me six, seven years ago, now that you know, now I'm standing in front of you at 41 years old, clearly healthier than I was when Shawn found me, you know, at 34, 35 years old.

0 (16m 34s):
So, I mean, this is the stuff that a mentor can do. Shawn, you know, has certain things dialed in in his life. And he was crushing it in certain areas, but there were huge gaps and huge things that he wasn't taking advantage of. And I love your example about like the matching contributions for like a five 29 for your kid's education and things like, you know, a Roth IRA to start saving money tax-free for your retirement and all these different areas. And this is all stuff that's like, Oh, I'll learn it someday. But some days opportunity costs because if Shauna waited 10, 15 years or 30 years, like all of this financial windfall that he's now going to have, because he implemented it back in his twenties and thirties is going to be exponential.

0 (17m 15s):
Compounding effect is real. And Shawn, you have a major value bomb. You're about to drop. As soon as we get back from thinking our sponsors with the COVID 19 pandemic, still ongoing and with businesses needing to adapt, entrepreneurs are moving to online courses more than ever with Thinkific, the best platform to create market and sell an online course. It's easy to pivot and create an impactful course for your business. With Thinkific, you get total control over the structure, price, and content of your online courses, and you don't have to be tech savvy to get started. And we speak from personal experience. We've been hosting our courses on Thinkific since 2017. Our students rave about how easy it is to follow our content, thanks to Thinkific readily available themes and templates and in a world where spending hours online can get exhausting.

0 (17m 57s):
We know that we are delivering an experience for our students that is both user-friendly and engaging, allowing them to succeed and reach their goals. Whether you're a guitar teacher or an executive business coach, then Kevin can help you expose your business to millions of people worldwide. Join the thousands of entrepreneurs, creating, selling their own online courses and start monetizing your skills today at Thinkific.com/EOF that's T H I N K I F I C.com/eof what's up Fire Nation. I'm so fired up for the launch of my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success right now you can pre-order your own copy and lock in some incredible bonuses that will be disappearing soon by visiting uncommonsuccessbook.com for all of 2020, I've worked tirelessly to create this life changing book.

0 (18m 45s):
The Common Path to Uncommon Success has 17 crucial, yet simple steps that will guide you to your version of uncommon success. To sum it up. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is your roadmap to financial freedom in fulfillments. Also I've convinced 17 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs to contribute their genius to these 17 steps. We're talking about entrepreneurial all-stars like Hal Elrod, Selena Soo, John Morrell, Billy Jean, Leslie Samuel, Shawn Stevenson, Jeff Walker, Amy Porterfield, Russell Brunson, Stu McLaren PatFlynn Rameet Satie and many more by your nation. The time to take control of your future is now visit uncommonsuccessbook.com and pre-order your copy today pre-orders will help so much in making this book launch a success.

0 (19m 25s):
So if I've added value to your life in any way over the years, it would mean the world. If you pre-ordered this book today and locked in your amazing bonuses, Uncommon Success Book, Tom, to bring this home brother. And again, thank you for your time today, and thank you for your contribution to the book and to everything you're doing. And another shout out. I know we had you on the show recently, actually back in, well, it was actually in December. Now let's talk about eat smarter. So Fire Nation 10, definitely go listen to that show because he dropped value bombs, and you want to make sure that you're consuming that type of content in your life. I have a quotes from your contribution in The Common Path to Uncommon Success. So I'm going to read it and I'm going to hand over to you to bring us home.

0 (20m 9s):
Your quote is I believe in the Goldilocks approach to mentorship, not too few, not too many, just the right amounts. Don't be tied to just one guru and have mentors have mentors for different areas in your life. Anyone you admire can become your virtual mentor and when the time is right, your next mentor will appear. So Shawn, bring this home for us. How can Fire Nation right now use this inspiration to go all in and find their first or next mentor. I got to say, that was incredible. That was your words locks. Oh, that's

1 (20m 49s):
So good. It's so good. But you inspired it, man. You inspired the, the answer. You inspired me to think about that. And so what we, what we tend to have a tendency to do is to not have a mentor like a consciously or we on the other side where we're jumping around from person to person, to person. And I, I'm a big advocate of finding somebody that you really admire, who who's their life in whatever field that is whatever particular thing. And they don't, they don't have to be perfect in everything, but maybe it's a financial mentor. Maybe it's a mentor in podcasting. Maybe it's a mentor in health, really dial in and spend more time with that person. It's not that you can't dibble and dabble, you know, have some other influences, but really just decide like this is the person I really want to follow, because what that does is it literally change.

1 (21m 36s):
It helps your brain to lay down more myelin in basically making those pathways of information that you're learning from them stronger and deeper. But if you're bouncing around and getting so many conflicting ideas, it's not that they can't be helpful, but it can just confuse you and delay your progress. So, number one, to move away from that lone Wolf approach that I had. And on the other side, being a little bit more cautious about getting multiple mentors at one time, especially if it's in the same domain and the last little cherry on top, there is giving yourself permission to have mentors for different areas, because I think we can also fall into a pattern of wanting to have that mentor and following everything that they say about everything and chances are, if they're a general person, even if they're successful, they're going to have some big time peaks and valleys in their life.

1 (22m 30s):
You know, they might be outstanding at business and outstanding with their health, but their relationship with their wife might be absolutely terrible. But social media won't tell you that, you know, so like really go to somebody who, you know, for certain has success in that area. You know? So again, choose a mentor in one particular area, really follow that person and really get dialed in connected, be careful and conscientious about lone Wolf syndrome. All right, don't try to do stuff by yourself. Don't say I don't need a mentor. I don't need influence. And at the other side, don't bounce around from person to person too often because it's just going to get you a lot of confusion and delay your ultimate success

0 (23m 14s):
Fire Nation. This was just a glimpse at Shawn's genius. When it comes to mentorship, he reveals everything. His entire contribution obviously is in chapter five of the common path to uncommon success. And if you're listening to this anytime close to the release dates in early March of this episode, there's still time to go. Pre-order this book, which you want to do because there's five amazing bonuses that come with every single pre-order. So with a $17 Kindle, pre-order this book, you are literally getting hundreds and hundreds of dollars of real value. Not to mention the you're getting the book was Shawn's genius and 16 other amazing contributor genius.

0 (23m 57s):
I'm shipping to your door. All three of my journals and Shawn, I don't know if you still have it handy, but hold up that freedom journal right there. He used the freedom journal to write the book, eat smarter. He used it. He was flipping through the pages showing me earlier as it's. I mean, it's such an honor to know that he's done, that you get the freedom journal, the national journal, the podcast channel shipped to your door. If you're in the U S the digital version, if you're outside of the U S and there's four other insane bonuses, check them out. uncommonsuccessbook.com, uncommonsuccessbook.com pre-order and Shawn, thank you brother, for sharing your knowledge, your genius, or truth that Fire Nation today for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

1 (24m 40s):
Awesome. Thank you, man. Hey, Fire Nation cities value bonds is brought to you by Shawn Stevenson and, and Hey, one final call to action, uncommonsuccessbook.com. Get those five bonuses. Pre-order the book. Your support means the world I'll catch you on the flip side. Online training is skyrocketing across every industry and thousands of entrepreneurs just like us are using Thinkific to create market and sell online courses, launch your own online course and share your knowledge with the world today. Get started at Thinkific.com/EOF that's T H I N K I F I C.com/eof Fire Nation.

0 (25m 21s):
Are you looking for a step-by-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment? Will I have some great news for you? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success is available for pre-order now visit uncommonsuccessbook.com to pre-order today and lock in the incredible bonuses that are going away soon. uncommonsuccessbook.com