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One Leg Up on Being AmeriCANS with Richard V Battle 6-24-23 · OneLegUpAlex Media

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Welcome inside to the Alex Gap podcast Network, and today we have Richard V.
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Battle, as promised, returning to discuss more about his book Made in
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America By Americans, Not Americans, and Richard, thanks for joining this podcast
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once again, and to start out a really really horrible note on the loss
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of life with the titan sub your thoughts, mister Battle, Richard, as
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we memorialize five humans that lost their life trying to get to the remains of
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the Titanic this week, Well, thank you for having us with you again.
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Alex said yes and has a parent who lost my first and only son.
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I grieve with the families for those people that were lost, regardless of
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the age. It's never easy, and especially when it's an unexpected loss,
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it's just devastating. And hoist them up in prayer and pray that they will
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grab God's leg and hold on to it and help them as they continue their
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walks going forward, because it's a tough day. You know. There are
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a lot of people this week that I've been saying, oh, well,
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they're rich, they kind of deserve to die. I mean, what a
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horrible thing to think and even say out loud. But they can do spirit
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talk about that for a second. Well, absolutely, no one deserves this
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type of catastrophic loss. And that's one of the points. I've even got
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a later book that Made in America buy Americans, not Americans, call the
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unopened present, and it's just because somebody has something you don't have, doesn't
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mean that they're rich. And even if they are rich, doesn't mean that
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we should be jealous or envious of what they have because that enmity and creates
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anger, and it inhibits us from our personal growth. And we have to
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accept where people are and just look at how we can improve ourselves. And
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the only competition we should really have is becoming better than the person we were
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yesterday. Well, you know, we talk about the high Seas here and
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the tragedy that this part of the Atlantic Ocean has wrought on no as its
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Titanic families, but generations after and now the titans subfamilies. But I want
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to get into your seven seas, not the seven s s, but your
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seven cs to success and towards having that can do attitude as Americans. Well,
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absolutely and in Made in America by Americans, not Americans. I have
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a collection of essays and this one is about how we can achieve Tom Brady
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type performance in any part of our life. And so I came up with
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the seas. And then there's an alternative definition that we can use as well,
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because if someone just uses this as a template and recognizes that they first
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have to make a choice, which is basically a vision where do they want
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to go? And then second, a chance is taking a risk. There's
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no growth, there's no extra success without taking a risk. And then change
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that requires action, and too often people don't want to change and they don't
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act, and so you don't get any improved behavior. And then we want
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to channel that in energy, which is focus. And the analogy I like
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to use is think of blowing up a balloon and letting it go in a
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room and it will fly all around the room, and then expend itself on
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the floor and blow up that same balloon and put it on a track that
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are running a straight line, and that balloon will run a long way down
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a straight line. Both balloons had the same energy, but the balloon that
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had the straight line encompassing the things we just talked about will have a much
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greater performance than the one that just flies around the room. Before it falls.
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I'll stop there in case you want to talk about those where we finish
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up on the balloon. Analogy is very interesting because I also believe, Richard
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v Battle that every choice we make, and that's one of your seven seas,
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every choice we make does change the trajectory of our day, like the
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wind changes the trajectory of the balloon. Would you agree, well, yes,
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And I believe there's no positive growth with a negative attitude, and so
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we have to have a positive attitude. All of these encompass having a positive
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attitude when we begin and after channeling, we talk about the commitment, and
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that's dedication, and dedication is basically the commitment to finish what you committed to
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long after the enthusiasm in which you've made it expires. And we've all known
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a lot of people who will commit to do something, but then all of
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a sudden they get into the hard part of it and they decide it's not
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worth pursuing. And the people who are the most successful dedicate themselves to finishing
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what they commit to, regardless of how much that enthusiasm has left them,
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and then consistently as being persistent. And Calvin Coolidge had the best quote about
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persistence is the essential thing, and that education is not. There's a lot
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of educated derelicts and talents not. There's a lot of people that have talent
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but never use it. But persistence alone is omnipotent. And then when I
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talked about coming again, and that's basically showing up every day, day and
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day out. And too often people will again not show up every day and
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think that they can work occasionally and have great results and life doesn't do that.
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I don't care what your goal is, what you're trying to do.
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To successfully achieve the highest heights, you have to perform these functions consistently.
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Well, Richard, you know, I know you don't like to get that
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political, but but because you do have political experience. You've been part of
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a governor Perry's counsel down in Texas when he was governor. I got to
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ask you about this persistence in the presidential race for twenty twenty four, both
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men President Biden and former President Trump are in legal trouble if they keep on
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running. What a sign of persistence? Rade, Well, I think you're
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right, and there's no partisanship on these qualities of leadership and how you can
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be successful. Anybody, regardless of which side of the aisle their own,
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can apply them in their lives. And I think we have a history and
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that's part of the reason I wrote and made in America, buy Americans,
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not Americans. Our forebearers had that can do spirit. And we are being
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told by people and government, media and other places today that we as individuals
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can't do things, and we may or may not be able to do everything,
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but we all can do more than we are doing most of the time.
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And that's what our forebearers did. They had the courage and took these
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risks and made the changes to accomplish building this great country. And it wasn't
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a partisan action. It was individuals over the two hundred plus years of our
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country, and they gave us this great gift of liberty. We owe it
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to our children and grandchildren to broaden our shoulders and toughen up and continue so
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we can give them that gift of liberty and even more when it's their generation's
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time to stand up. And I've always said, Richard, you know the
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generation now is in the bullpen for when leaders like President Trump and yes,
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President Biden can no longer run the country and I don't feel like we're ready
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for this generation. So thank you for this book to continue of preserving a
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legacy. Now, the seventh seas have also been a big deal for me
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in my pursuits to get this podcast on radio, So thank you for inspiring
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me, Richard. I didn't invent any of these. I just kind of
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scramble the eggs and put them together and this sequence to try to make it
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easy to communicate, because a lot of times people want to do things and
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they may get six of the seven in the seventh one may be the missing
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ingredient, and it's like baking a cake and you miss the one important ingredient,
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the cake doesn't taste the same. And so putting the seven of them
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together in your actions, I think will significantly increase the probability of success.
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You have a whole chapter dedicated to the post COVID world, and in these
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seven seas you mentioned establishing higher goals, and I feel like this pandemic and
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the aftermath is that not many people are willingness that higher goal anymore, because
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well, hey, we just kind of all got used to working from home,
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and those that got used to it don't want to go back so how
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do we re establish those higher goals again post COVID in twenty twenty three.
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Well, yes, and there was a lot of difference between depending on what
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part of the country you were in, and I know up in the New
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York area, y'all were shut down much longer than we were in Texas.
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But in any adverse situation, and the pandemic was one I think and I
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talked about previously, we have two choices. One we can hunker down and
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wait for it to blow over, or two we can look for opportunities in
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that adversity that may have a rhythm but are different than what our original goals
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were. My goal at the time of the pandemic, I was wanting to
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do much more of public speaking, corporate and for associations and things of that
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type nature, and the pandemic shut all that down, and so I turned
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to doing more radio and TV and podcasts like this, and now do about
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two hundred a year that I never dreamed I would do because I chose a
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different path versus just sitting down and not doing anything. Richard, you do
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make a lot of weekly appearances on different places, So what is your goal
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and not only preserving history through these books, but also as you rate books
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like American Verse, Americans Man in America by Americans and Americans. Well,
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I think that's a great question. And one of the things I tell people
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is even if no one reads or here's what I'm saying except my daughter and
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her future children, and it helps their lives, that will be an achievement.
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But I hope that people listening or reading my books will get something out
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of them that can help them in their lives. And I believe if we
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can touch enough people your podcast, my efforts and others as well. If
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we can touch people and help them improve their lives, they will be more
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satisfied. But they will also contribute to building a better country for the future.
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And that's one of my objectives. Talk about the real life application of
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the words you've written in this book, because obviously when you get immersed in
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the book, you don't think of the real life applications. But that is
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a goal as well, to make it applicable in real life. Well,
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yes, and I think these seven seas can apply to your personal goals,
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whether it be physical, spiritual, professional, financial, social, whatever goals
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you come up with. I think it can apply in a family, business
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and civic activities, whatever you're doing, I think you can apply them.
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And that's what makes them so nice. They're brief, they're concise, and
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they're clear, and someone can pick them up and apply them today and take
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where they're at today, wherever that is, and make tomorrow a better day
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than today, and the day after tomorrow and even better day a little while
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ago. You reference future projects that you're working on right now. Tell us
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what can we expect from Richard V. Battle in the coming future here.
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Well, I just published my latest book called The Unopened Present. And when
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my son was six months old, I was an old or father and I
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was concerned that I might pass before I could teach him the essential truths or
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principles of life. And so I wrote him a letter and had forty three
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important life lessons in it, and unfortunately he passed away three months later.
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And I put that as an appendix in a book I wrote about hit that
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grief, Surviving Grief by God's Grace twenty years ago. And last year,
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when I was doing radio about Father's Day and talking about that loss in overcoming
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the grief, I'd had someone in Texas over here my talking on a radio
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interview and they call me, and this story's in the unopened present. I'm
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a bridging it right now. And basically said that they had prayed the night
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before that God would send someone to say words that could help them because he
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had lost his daughter two months before. And I've mentioned that to a friend
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and the friend said, between that story in these lessons, you should write
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a book about that. And so I took those forty three principles, expanded
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and commented on them, added examples, quotes, scriptural references, and that's
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what's in the unopened present, in the hope that young parents, children,
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grandparents for their children and grandchildren, people leading groups can look at those principles
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and that information and help them be more successful. Richard, We've had a
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great conversation, and then you just mentioned about being a successful society. So
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tell me about how we as Americans can be Americans and get involved politically,
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but you know, not storming the Capitol or causing any kind of damage,
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just really changing our country for the better. Is it just the ballot box
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or is it also keeping an eye on the legal system, which we as
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I mentioned, see President and Hunter Biden and President and trouble in right now.
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Citizenship rights are like a muscle if we don't exercise them. Milt Atrophy
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and I believe that we should have principle overpower and honor over ambition. And
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one of the diseases, and its bipartisan, that we have right now is
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we have ensconced political leaders who make a career out of holding political office,
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and they treat us like rulers treat subjects, as opposed to how elected servants
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treat treat citizens. And if we had term limits or if we have turnover
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of leadership that will breathe fresh air into it. We have to hold those
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leaders accountable and we have to restrict their ambition and their seeking power. And
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that's what our founders did so brilliantly again, was having checks and balances and
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limited power. It made it to where people knew they couldn't do too much
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and it wasn't rewarding to be in government, so they would go serve for
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a year or two and then go back home. And we've made it too
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enticing to be in government full time. It's like an industry now, whereas
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before it was a public service that citizens rendered, and we were a much
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healthier country when it was a citizens volunteer effort for their community, state,
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or nation than we are now with a political class. Well, I'm gonna
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have to digest this again listening back to this podcast, because that's a lot
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of insight. Tell us a couple of real life stories of amputees for are
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also athletes. Well. One and made the merry could buy Americans not Americans
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was Chris Cooke and he was born without arms and legs, and his parents
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treated him like the rest of the children, and so when he decided he
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wanted to do something, they would help him try to accomplish it. And
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he's done marathons, he's played sports, and he's done so many different accomplishments
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because he refused to think that he could not do it. And my dad,
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when I used to complain to him about not being able to do something,
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I'd say, I can't do it, and my dad would always say
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can't never did anything? And can he? Or can we do everything?
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No, But if we don't try, if we don't push ourselves to the
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very limits and then fail at some point, we'll never reach the heights we
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can reach. And too often we accept less than our best because we don't
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want to reach that final step where we can't do it. Well. I
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think we can all use a little improvement. And that's why I recommend Made
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in America by Americans, not Americans, by Richard Battle. Richard, we
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can all use improvement, right, Oh, absolutely? And to me,
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Chris Cooke inspires me. You inspire me, you do so much. Nick
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voicec who's evangelist who was born with no arms and no legs. He's very
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similar. Jim Bricker's another one I wrote about. She was born without legs,
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and she played high school softball in basketball, and her dream was to
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become an acrobat and an aerialist, which she has done professionally. And again,
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her parents told her the one word she could never say was can't.
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And too often we as parents are friends or supervisors or whatever, we help
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enable people to say can't, when we should always encourage people. Well,
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hey, give it a try. If you fall short, let's find out
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what you can do, and let's do as much as you can do and
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always try to do more. All right, I gotta ask you this,
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what happens when the government tells us we can't? What should we do?
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Well, that's a great question. First thing is I think that they promote
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us letting them do it. They tell us just trust us, will take
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care of it, don't worry about it, just go enjoy your life.
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And one great example was a guy named Joe Robbie some years ago. He
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owned the Miami Dolphins, and when he wanted a new stadium and to get
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out of the old Orange Bowl, he went to the government for building permits
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and things of that nature, and he was going to do it on his
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own, and the government told him he couldn't do it, and he took
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that as a personal challenge and said watch me. And he ended up building
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his own stadium on the borderline between Broward and Dade County down there for the
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Miami Dolphins, and he did it despite the government to show people what could
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be done. And too often we sit back and just accept what we're told
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on that we don't have to riot or protest or do other types of things.
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A lot of times there's other alternatives if we step back, think about
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them, look for allies, put together a plan, and then try to
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make something happen. Now does that apply to everything, like defending our country
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against external attack? Probably not, But there are a lot of things we
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as individuals and groups of people can and used to do instead of the government
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doing everything. Well, I gotta say thank you for writing in my personal
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copy keep up the can do spirit. And I've got a question, how
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many people reading this book have told you they're getting inspired to have that can
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do spirit things to you. I have a lot of people say, hey,
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that inspired me to do something I didn't think I could do, And
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so I do get that a lot. But people are frustrated and they think
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I can't do everything I want to do. And so my word of encouragement
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to everyone is none of us can do everything. All of us can do
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one thing. So pick one area that you want to work on or you
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want to contribute to your community, state, or nation. Pick that one
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area and get involved in that one area and help. And what you will
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find is once you start helping and make a little bit of a difference,
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it will inspire you to do more. And when you're inspired to do more,
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you'll contribute more. And if enough of us do that in different areas
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of life, we will all contribute to a much better country. And for
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those listening that might want to reach out to you, Richard what's the best
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email or a point of contact for you? Well, thank you for asking.
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My email is Richard at Richard Battle dot com. Richard Battle dot com.
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Battle is the website and all books ordered on that website are signed,
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and if you like one inscribed, you can email me. And we have
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a lot of people buying my books for gifts for graduation, Father's Day and
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other things, and I'm happy to inscribe them to people who try to inspire
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them, similar to what you said. That means a lot to me when
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my words meant something to you me and in America by Americans, not Americans,
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by Richard V. Battle. Follow him on Twitter as well, Richard
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V. Battle. And yes, Richard, I can't wait to have you
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back on in a couple of weeks. We're going to drop your Amazon link
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as well for people to buy a copy of this book. Thanks for joining
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us today on the Alex Garrett Podcast Network.