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Do You Know Your Own “STORY”? There’s Power in Knowing It · The Missing Secret Podcast

• 0:00
  Kelly Hatfield: Welcome to The Missing Secret Podcast. I'm Kelly Hatfield
• 0:03
  John Mitchell: And I'm John Mitchell. So our topic today is, do you know your own story and a little background on this. So for the University of Texas head coaches and the 75 people in the athletic department, I do a weekly Personal Growth program for them. And one of the one of the things that came up, that I found was really interesting, is is both Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan had a coach, a mindset coach, and his name is George Mumford and very enlightened guy. He talks about how Michael and Kobe reached their greatness from really understanding their own story and their authentic story. And I thought that we would talk about that, because once, once they understood who they were, then they could live into greatness. And there's so many things here that are worth talking about, but let's, let's pursue that. And Kelly, I know I'm putting you on the spot, but I know you're up to it, too.
• 1:21
  Kelly Hatfield: Yeah, sounds good. No. Now paid. You know, I have not watched this clip or anything, so I'm just kind of going shooting in the dark here. So bear with me this. Just trust me, excited. Just trust me. You're a good aunt, all right. And so if you had to recap your story or or would you rather me go first. Yeah, go You go first. So I kind of get what
• 1:43
  John Mitchell: Okay, So he talks about how you need to understand your own story, and which is interesting, because how often do we really step back and think about our own story, right? And so here would be my story, and I, and I haven't really thought this over. This is, this is going to be one I'm going to think about tonight when I put my head on the pillow. But, but here's, here's the assessment of of my story. The short version, I think that I was certainly a kid that had a private, privileged background. My parents sent me to Jesuit High School, and because they want to give me an advantage, and they were not wealthy, very middle class. My dad worked for the government. And I think one of the things that was was enlightening to me, although I didn't fully understand this at the time, but my senior year, I got suspended twice. And yes, yes, yeah,
• 2:52
  Kelly Hatfield: I know it's shocking about you. I need to know the court
• 2:55
  John Mitchell: It is. It is shocking. I realize, because I know everybody thinks that I'm a little angel, but this was enlightening. I remember, so I'm, I'm playing football, and it's my senior year, and I had, I had started my junior year, and I played linebacker, and had a really good year, and I thought, Who knows where this might go? But right at the start of the the season, right before we actually started practicing, I ruptured a disc in my back and so but I'm still trying to play, and I actually ended up having surgery, and literally had to learn how to walk again, and approximately three weeks later, I'm out on the field again, which which was probably not the best idea, but, but nevertheless, I didn't want to lose my senior year. And so I remember that during the one day at school, the assistant principal accused me of doing something I didn't do, and he says, okay, you've got penance Hall. And this is where after school you have to go to the big auditorium. And I guess, study, I don't know what they have
• 4:13
  Kelly Hatfield: How effective this was, yeah
• 4:15
  John Mitchell: Yes, I'm sure if we were all studying, but so I remember being in the locker room. I'm blowing it off. I'm going to football Screw that. I'm going to football practice, and I'm putting my uniform on, and I got my pants, my football pants, half on and half off, and the principal comes and grabs me, and I'm like, at just reaction, I push him into the lockers. I just, I'm like, Listen, I'm getting I'm I'm half dressed. Don't be grabbing me. And so I push him into the lockers. Well, I get suspended for that. Mm. Yeah, and I realized that that was very telling later, because what one thing I think about the John Mitchell story is, Don't screw with me. I mean, don't disrespect me. Don't screw with me, because I will come after you like there's no tomorrow, and I feel that way towards, you know, my family, too, and so that was enlightening. And again, I understood it way better today than I did back then. But back to my story. So that was telling that, that I was this, this kid from a privileged background, but wasn't a high performer in terms of school, got my act together in college, launched into the real world. And one thing that I am was very clear about, though, is how precious life is. And I remember going to the hospital when my brother was born. He's like nine years younger than I was, and looking at all those babies and thinking how precious life is and, and how they're all made basically the same, more or less and, and they're going to have different lives. But, you know, life is precious, and so that that was a theme in my life about how precious life was. And so I guess my my story as it evolved was by the time I was 30, again, this idea of Don't, don't, Jack with me, I become an entrepreneur because, because I want more control over my life. And that seemed to be a certainly as it evolved, that became more significant, and then in my 30s and 40s, I never could quite find the right thing, which was, now I look back on it, and I'm like, Boy,
• 6:46
  you've gotta, you've gotta play into your strengths. You better understand what your strengths are. And I did. I just didn't intentionally figure out a career that I could play into it. And so in my 30s and 40s, I'm in like seven different businesses, and then, as we know, I had 50 I'm not as successful as I thought I should be. I read, Think and Grow Rich. Understand how the human mind works. That gives me immense control over my life, and then off I go, and I'm blessed to make enough money so I don't have to work. And I'm like, boy, I'm going to teach this to other people again, sort of that theme of of how precious life is, and I want to help other people get the most out of their precious life, because I got something that's life changing, and so I don't know that's that's my story in a nutshell. And I guess if you hit the main points, it's that foundational idea that life is precious, that I evidently had a lot of self pride, that I wasn't gonna let anybody disrespect me or screw me, and I don't know, so that's, is there anything you would add to that? That would based on what you know it means,
• 8:12
  Kelly Hatfield: Gosh, in terms of, you know, and I don't know where the through line is, or where this started for you, but I'm curious about, like, your superpower, one of your superpowers, which is making the complex simple. Like, where did that in your story? Where do you think the through line is for you in your story? And where, how, how you became to to write that, for that to be really one of your super strengths.
• 8:39
  John Mitchell: Oh, that was really clear. I remember when I was, like, 27 years old, and a CPA, and I write a one of my tax clients a letter and explain something complicated in the tax code, and he says, Wow, the you, you made the complex simple. Thank you so much. And, and when it happened, I'm like, Well, that's nice. And then the same thing happens two weeks later, and I'm like, Ah, maybe this is the universe telling me, this is my talent. And then that ended up playing out when I became an entrepreneur, because I had to raise, you know, a few million dollars for my first deal, and I didn't have any money, so I had to write a investment prospectus, it made it clear enough to investors that they stroke a check. And so that played out. And then when I got in the reverse mortgage business, that was sort of a complex idea, and I made it simple, and we prospered, and ultimately were the biggest in taxes and fourth biggest in the country, but playing into that that string. So that's where that that that strength, came
• 9:46
  Kelly Hatfield: in. Interesting, and I'm wondering too. So you know, at the opening of this podcast episode here, you mentioned that Kobe and Michael's coach right, weren't being that. So why is this such an integral part, like knowing your story, such an integral part to, like his coaching, you know, his mentoring and to their success? What's the, you know? What's the correlation and the importance of knowing that? How did knowing their story help them?
• 10:19
  John Mitchell: Yeah, that's a, that's a very good question. I mean, at the end of the day, they and I don't remember exactly what Kobe's story was Michael's story, although I do remember that like Kobe wanted to be the best ever. So that was, Michael wanted to be the best ever. Kobe wanted to be the best version of himself, little different, and, in fact, very different, the more you think about it, because Kobe could control being the best version of himself, whereas Michael Ness couldn't necessarily control being the best ever. But I think understanding who you are at a deep level is important, like, like, for me, I think the driving force is appreciating that life is precious, really appreciating it. And that was the driving force throughout my life, and that now that I, and I think I have understood this for the last, oh, I don't know, at some level since I was nine years old, but largely in the last 10 or 15 years, I've understood that and and that's what, what drives me to help other people, because what, what you and I have discovered, is so friggin simple and easy to implement, and you want everybody to to have a better life from implementing it so,
• 11:48
  Kelly Hatfield: and it's interesting too, I feel like this the story, there's some direct ties back to the conversations we've had multiple times about Identity.
• 11:58
  John Mitchell: Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, I guess that's really the essence, because your actions are going to reflect your identity, right?
• 12:08
  Kelly Hatfield: And so the story, understanding what your story is, must really then help like, going through that process of understanding your story must really help you, I would imagine, from a mentoring standpoint, help identify, like, where are some of those things that are going to help trigger you? Yeah, you know, drive you, you know, based on your story, what are those things that he can build on from a mindset standpoint? Because this is how you're built. You know what I mean? This is what you went through and what you experience. So how can, then, you frame that, you know, in a way that it becomes motivation, or it becomes the chip on the shoulder that you're always trying to get off, you know, like, whatever that is. And so, yeah, I was just curious about, you know, that perspective on, you know, why is knowing your story so important,
• 12:59
  John Mitchell: Right? I think that's a great point that your i You have to be clear about your identity, and from a coach's standpoint, he's got to know the things to to push the buttons to get you.
• 13:12
  Kelly Hatfield: What levers can you pull to right to create the outcomes that you want based on,
• 13:18
  John Mitchell: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Let's take you so what would be your short version of your story? Yeah,
• 13:25
  Kelly Hatfield: I think that you know when I you know, so when I'm thinking back, obviously, we talk all the time about how so much of your identity is formed in your, you know, young years. And I think for me, I think that it was growing up, you know, in a situation where, so I've got a, you know, an older brother, and he's six years older than me, so when I came along as the girl, like that was a big deal, you know. And, you know, you thinking about too, like your parents aren't the same parents, like they were 18 when they had him, yeah, they were really young when, when he was born. And so, you know, then I come along, and I think that, you know, in a young marriage like that, you know, my dad worked up on the slope, so he wasn't home along at Prudhoe Bay. I'm working on the pipeline. And so I didn't have that real close father figure in my life all of the time that was present, but when he was, you know, like I had all of the, you know, like all of the attention, and I think, you know, and then experiencing what my brother went through with drug, you know, he's been an addict who's for most of his life. He's six years older than me, and I think it started for him when he was, like, 16. So I was right, so, right, you know, the majority of my life. So watching that, then we have a close, you know, family friend who's like my brother, you know, who passes away, gets diagnosed with cancer. We're in sixth grade, you know, and finds away, you know, our senior year in high school. And so I think for me, like watching somebody waste. Life like my brother did, yeah, you know. And same thing, like, it's just he, you know, it's unfortunate, but it's just a sad he's led a really sad life, you know, and then watching Ben's life be cut so short, right? Didn't have the opportunity to, you know, I knew, like, early on that, like, again, back to life being present. It's like, I'm not gonna waste this. Like, this is an amazing opportunity, and then watching
• 15:25
  the relationship with my parents, my my mom would ask her mission for money. And like, there was a dynamic around money that was a real so it was like, I am never gonna be in a situation where I have to be supported by a man for like, I'm never gonna ask for money for me. Like, I'll go make my own like, there were some real distinct messages that, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And my life bit formed, like, kind of where, you know, and I'm like, I can't get out of here fast enough, you know, I'm 17, just turning 18, and I'm like, peace out. I'm gonna go live on my like, like I knew as wonderful, and, you know, like all of those things, as difficult as they were, were also like, the blessing that's in all of that too is that it's how, it's what made me who I am. It wasn't the ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it goes back to understanding how you choose to frame that and look at it, you know? And without having those different experiences, I wouldn't be who I am today, like those things formed me. But, you know? So I think so when I look at those, are the kind of the first things that I think were, were pivotal, when I look back and reflect on my life, that were real foundational and kind of molding me into who I've become as a as an adult and a human and with a tremendous amount of compassion and empathy for plugin and something else my detriment, you know, but Right? I think that that growing up the way that I did, and then also, too, it was, you know, we've talked about this as well in prior episodes. It's also like, okay, there's all this turmoil. We've got this, you know, my mom is always at the hospital with her best friend. You know there's with her son. You know, my brother, Bill, is always in trouble, like, there's always friction in the house as a result of what's going on with him. And so I think then the message that that sent to was just keep everything above board. Do like, you don't want to get on anybody's radar.
• 17:26
  Everybody already has enough to deal with you. Do you you know beyond and like, you've talked about how your parents set you up for school and education. Nobody ever talked to me about college and I was an excellent student. Like, and no, like it was not a conversation, you know, they weren't a part of my education in any way shape or form. They, you know, involved in any way shape or form, as far as any of that was concerned. And so I think it was just, I was extremely independent. I took myself to school when I was six. I wake my mom up, right? I'm leaving for school. Like it was a wow. I was very, very independent from a very young age where it was like, Okay, you're on your own, sis. You better make it happen and something,
• 18:09
  John Mitchell: Well, I keep in mind you, when you were, what 10 you you really realized you wanted to be an entrepreneur, and which is now I understand why you wanted that independence that your mom didn't have?
• 18:23
  Kelly Hatfield: Yep, exactly, yep. I was like, No way. And as wonderful as my dad is, you know, and, like, it's funny too, because we have these conversations about gender and women. And the really thing that one of the things I'm super grateful for was I never thought once about the fact that I was a woman was going to hold me back from anything like that. Was never planted for me, you know, it's just like, well, go do what you want to do. And it was like, okay,
• 18:46
  John Mitchell: Yeah, what? Yeah, I've never understood that either,
• 18:49
  Kelly Hatfield: You know, and I think it's a for real. There's a real, obviously, when you look at, you know, income disparity and all of that, I'm not taking weight, but like, for me, I didn't have that. That wasn't a thing in my upbringing where I felt less than or at a disadvantage because I was, you know, a woman in any way, shape or form. The first time I recognized it was when I was in the engineering space, when I was like, I'm in a room full of just men working in the engineering space, like, there would be a token women or two, because it's predominantly has in the past, has been a male, a male focused, you know, kind of profession, until the last 10 years or so. But when that an advantage for you, 100% an advantage, because I love being underestimated, you know. So yeah,
• 19:33
  John Mitchell: they're like, hey, there's a good looking girl. I need to pay attention to what she's gonna say. Where have you got a guy is like, Yeah, I've heard
• 19:40
  Kelly Hatfield: that, yeah, no, absolutely. I think that if Bennett, there is absolutely places that have benefited me. So, you know, I I'm getting off the story now and everything. But I was really lucky that I was that there were no boundaries put on, like it was up to me, like there was no boundaries or limits put on set by any. Buddy on me, right? And then those other things that kind of came into play. So they all, you know, I think those are such pivotal things for me that have carried over. And I think are part of why I'm driven, you know, part of my I like to win. I'm pretty competitive, right? So, yeah, I don't know if that kind of helps us always, as we're talking about story, whether that's where you wanted to go or not, but those were the first things that came to mind for me
• 20:24
  John Mitchell: Very much. I think when you look at both your story and my story, you can see how and why we evolved to where we are and and so much of it was happening at a at an early age. I mean, I mean, I remember, like with my parents. I mean, they were great to me, but they didn't have a real in their the romantic side of their life. I never saw any affection, and there wasn't a lot of laughing and playing. And, I mean, they ended up being a anti role model, and like the ginger and I play all the time. I mean, we're I was constantly kidding each other and and that's what I wanted in my spouse. But I would say to our audience to that tonight, when you put on, put your head on the pillow, think about your story. Just just tell that story to yourself, and you'll see why you are the way you are, and how powerful the way you are really is. And I tell you, one of the things I've been thinking about lately is the value of having a coach. And I've tried to do this in the past with I've I had tried to have a coach a number of years ago and and a nice guy, but, but I didn't get that much out of it. Have you had a coach before?
• 21:47
  Kelly Hatfield: I've had a couple, you know, of different coaches over the years, and I've had more success out of mentorship relationships than where I'm like, you know where the coach is almost I'm like, Yeah, I just need more than, you know what I mean? Like, it wasn't, you know that it was a fit from a personality standpoint, but maybe it was just the technique or the I was getting, the value I was getting out of it. I was just like, Well, yeah, you know, like, yeah. Like, you're allowed to bring anything new to the table here.
• 22:16
  John Mitchell: You really want somebody that has more wisdom, yes, than you, and that's why a mentor sort of fits. Yeah, I get that. And one of the things, I mean, I'm, I'm interested in this, this having a coach idea, but I see that I gotta really believe they're operating at a at a high level. And I see that to some degree, until I find that coach. If I ever find that coach, I'm going to be my own coach. And I see that in being my own coach, the first thing I would say, really to anybody is have less ego. I mean, at the end of the day, it's you know, that that higher level is, is having less ego, and letting go of the ego and and bring up the space to think about maybe more important or impactful things. Would you agree with that?
• 23:16
  Kelly Hatfield: I would, because I think to the ego gets in the way. There's positive things about the ego that, a lot of the time, though, the ego gets in the way of growth. Yeah, sometimes with the ego comes a fixed, you know, kind of mindset that comes around. Like, those two things can sometimes go hand in hand, if you have the real, you know, I'm somebody who's very egocentric. It's like, you know, no, you you aren't the be all, end all. You don't know everything you know. And I think when you come into that you know with that kind of an attitude, it closes the door to growth and like to this personal development. Because that level oftentimes I see with somebody who's very ego centric is that they are, what's the word that I'm looking for just closed off to learning something new because they think they you know right, that they think they know
• 24:08
  John Mitchell: Well. And I'll tell you one of the things I've really come to learn about it in this and as I said, You rather than this book letting go about that I just read a few months ago and had such a impact on me, it talks about how there's, there's 16 levels of consciousness, and ideally you want to be operating from a consciousness of love and but the reality is the vast majority of people are operating from a Consciousness of anger or our or pride, or, Oh, just just a lower level of consciousness where they're just looking at the world from, I'm a victim, or they're angry, or they're prideful and and you can see it so clearly in other people. And then then you start to go, oh, when you. Have like, a negative thought, you're like, Oh, I almost every negative thought relates to ego, so you're when you're having that type of negative thought, you're operating from a consciousness of of pride, when it's better to be operating at a consciousness of love and and this book has been so powerful for me, because it's so easy to take our methodology and apply this letting go concept, and it's interesting. I have a I think I've told you about him, one of our star basketball players, about, I don't know, year and a half ago, he I meet him, and he wants to learn think and be it. And it's interesting because he was dating one of the star female basketball players who was just just, she is the best, she's beautiful, she's very good at basketball. And they were the power couple. They were truly the power couple at the University of Texas. And you know, he's a he's a big guy. He's 6465, good looking guy just had the world by by the tail. And so he comes to me, says, y'all want to learn this? Think it be it thing, so I teach him. And now he is. He went over and played a year of basketball in Europe, and now he's coming back to the United States and starting his career, and he wants to be on Wall Street, and so I was talking to him yesterday. We're just talking
• 26:37
  about how this path of of growth works in that, in that if I knew known it 20, what I learned it 50, and on, what a difference it would have made. And I was talking to him about this idea, like a concept of doing what you say you're going to do. Well, the statistics show that people do what they say they're going to do about 40% of the time, although they say they do it all the time. And but when you really hold yourself to doing what you say you're going to do, it's life changing, don't you think 100%
• 27:16
  Kelly Hatfield: I mean, it is crazy how it changes your life. And I think too, on so many different levels, but it also helps you. And I know I've talked about this before when I firmly grasp this concept, because I was one of those people who would say, Yeah, I always do what I'm going to say, you know, well, and then you start paying attention to it. And that reticular activating system on this to upward, ooh, you know, yeah. Well, once you do that, now also too, you start paying attention more to what you say you're going to do. Like, there's, it's this, you know. So, like, I'm not saying, Yeah, I'll do that without thinking about it. I'm stopping and going, okay, is this really something I can commit to and put, you know, my before, I'm saying yes to it. So, like, there's so many benefits to it. And then when you begin to always do what you say, you're going to do, the confidence you get from a result of doing that, and all benefits and momentum that come as a result of that. Or it's crazy,
• 28:13
  John Mitchell: Right? And, you know, it's interesting how it fits in with the think it be it methodology, because you create your life GPS template, and you articulate all the things you're going to do, and that's all conscious mind and and here we go. Now you start living your life. And at first, sometimes you discover you're not doing all things you said you're going to do, and you feel guilt. And so then you go, oh, that didn't feel good. And then you fix it, and that's how you move from the average of the do it at 40% of time to 100% of the time, and then by and that. And that is all pretty much conscious mind, but because when you're reading your visualization, you'll you'll go, Oh, I'm I'm not doing that. I'm saying. I'm doing it. I'm not doing it again, conscious mind. And then when you feed it to yourself every day, the subconscious mind kicks in, and it makes doing those things happen automatically, without thinking. And so it's, it's amazing how this, this dance between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind play, play into each other to make you do what you say you're going to do, and that changes your life. So the other thing I think that's I was telling him, I said this idea that you got to have the belief that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. Now, when I was 20 years old, if, if, if you had told me that, of course, he's 2025 or 26 now, but I'm like, sure I've sort of what I understood that at a at a pretty shallow level, but when you really believe that, and really. Believe that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, and you have a way of overcoming that negative inner voice, which, of course, you have, because you're wired for survival, which causes you to be fear based and reactive, and, of course, to have a successful life and to have an enjoyable life, man, you got to be living it where you have that attitude, I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. And so the only way that happens, though, is you
• 30:37
  go, Oh, that negative inner voice, I've got to get rid of that. And oh, I need to maybe feed to myself, to my subconscious, that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. And you may also want to feed some things that reaffirm why that's the case, some of your past successes. And so that's another idea that we were talking about. But I I'm fascinated by this idea that you can tell someone in their 20s, here's some foundational ideas that if you will live them, it'll make your life immensely easier. And I don't know if I think I would have embraced it and been able to have done those things, if the explanation was strong enough. Yo, what do you think? Yeah,
• 31:25
  Kelly Hatfield: I think so absolutely. I think for me, it was the missing, again, always being a seeker, you know, of knowledge and just a lifelong learner. I think the difference for me is the mechanism to make that stick and to actually do right so somebody said that I knew that I'm like anything I set my mind to, I'll do. I always blow it out of the water like I had a positive self talk around that. But I think that until you, especially if you're not somebody who thinks that naturally, you know,
• 31:56
  John Mitchell: I don't think anybody thinks it naturally.
• 31:59
  Kelly Hatfield: Yeah, I think that having that mechanism for, you know, putting that into your subconscious is critical, you know, to run that recording, you know, right, is so critical. And I think, you know, the earlier you could do it, the better. Because I, I love that the the young adults that you're working with right now we're getting introduced this so early, because I'm like, Oh my gosh. I know I've said this a million times, but it man, you know, if I would have had access to this and understood this earlier, and, you know, I wonder what, you know, what I would where I would be,
• 32:34
  John Mitchell: well, and I see that this, this truly is my destiny, because I've got three and a half months with them, I start my new class tomorrow, and when you got three and a half months with them, I can get the concepts through. Yeah. I mean, you know, because we develop a relationship, I meet each one of them for 1520 minutes in the first week of class. And, and, of course, it's hard to take that amount of time and and do it 40 times over. Yeah, it's so powerful to do it. And I build a relationship with them and, and I'm saying the same thing over and over again and, and I'm giving different examples that by the time they get through, I mean, I'm so ingrained into their head in a way that that I can't get ingrained in the head of an adult. And so it's, it's a cool thing, and maybe a final thing, to wrap this up, this idea just, and I want to tell you a story that that shows you how you get more enlightened as you get older. And it's important to know that you'll get more enlightened. I guess that's the point of this story. But, and I know I've told you this before, but so I'm watching Netflix the other night, and they have a new Netflix series on the Dallas Cowboys. I'm sure you've watched it, and
• 33:58
  Kelly Hatfield: I haven't yet, but it's on my little it's on my queue. I know I love all of those sports, like seeing behind the scenes. Oh yeah, I love sports. So I love hearing the story, so I'm excited to watch it.
• 34:09
  John Mitchell: Well, this was totally fun for me, because I had a chance to buy 12% of the Cowboys. And I'll tell this story fairly quickly. So this is back in the late 80s. Tom Landry was the coach. They were owned by a guy named bum bright who owned First National Bank of Dallas. And banking business crashed and burned in the 80s, so he had to sell his interest in the Cowboys. Jerry Jones swoops in, and interestingly, he swoops in and hits a to, like, two or three years before he's able to buy the Cowboys. He's like, 40 or $50 million in debt from drilling wells a woman that hadn't worked out and he was like, around the. Age of 40, and he puts, like, $800,000 in in one, well, that was like, I'm gonna put it all on or nothing on this one, and it ends up producing $100 million so $800,000 he gets $100 million that allows him to buy the Cowboys anyway. So he buys them in in 89 and surprisingly, he starts coming to this little Italian restaurant that I owned in Dallas, which was a totally cool place. It was sort of New York City, 1940s we played Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and it was dark and and just a totally cool vibe. A beautiful girl at the front door, welcoming people in. The food was spectacular. And so Jerry Jones starts coming in, and he probably liked it because it was, it was dark. We had a lot of celebrities come in because, you know, we wouldn't, we'd just leave them alone. And so I, I get to know Jerry, and around this time, I am aware, surprisingly, that the federal government 12% of the Cowboys, because when bum bright sold the Cowboys. He sold 80% to Jerry Jones. The other 20% was owned by Jerry Jones's friends, and 12 of those 20% ended up getting foreclosed on at their bank, and the FDIC owned it. And so as I'm getting to know Jerry, he comes to me, keep mine. I'm trying to figure out what's going to be my my ticket in life. I'm like, Boy, I'll tell you, here's an idea. Why not find a public shell company and buy the Cowboys through that and
• 36:51
  make the Dallas Cowboys America's team, the first sports franchise to be owned in the public markets. Well, good idea. And so the interest in the Cowboys at 12% was priced at $10 million I didn't have $10 million but I had a relationship with a law firm out in in California, and big law firm, Bill bags tweed, and so I end up pitching the idea to them. I'm like, why don't you guys fork over the 10 million out of the partners pension fund, and you guys will get 10% of the Cowboys, and I'll get 2% for for putting the deal together. So they like the deal that like, like that idea. And so I go to the FDIC, I say, hey, I want to buy that 12% of the Cowboys you guys have. They go, Well, you and everybody else. And I go, Well, you know, I really have the money. And they're like, Okay, if you really do and put up a letter of credit, okay, no problem. So I, I then proceed, and I said, Well, okay, now show me the partnership agreement. The Cowboys for a partnership. Well, they don't have it, and they, you know, just lazy, they won't go get it. And after about three or four weeks, finally I'm like, what's obvious, they're not going to go do it. And so I'm thinking, Well, only one thing to do is call up Jerry. So I call Jerry Jones and go, Jerry, Hey, John Mitchell, how about if I, I said, Well, I'm I'm looking at buying that 12% and no, I'm not looking I am buying that 12% of the Cowboys that's owned by the FDIC. I'd like to swing by this afternoon and pick up the partnership agreement. Jury goes, Well, I'm not going to give it to you, John, because I intend to buy that 12% I go, Well, sure, they can make you do it. And he says, I know, but they're government employees. I'm betting they're incompetent and they don't do it well, make a long story short, I'm like, Well, sure. You know, I got to say, this is how I would play it too. You just play the incompetence of of government employees and so. But we came became deeper friends from that. But here's really the
• 39:32
  lesson that story. So my 2% would now be worth $200 million and the 12% would be like, a little over a billion and so but here is the lesson about eight or 10 years later, as I'm thinking back on that, I'm like, I never needed the partnership agreement to begin with. It would already been vetted. By the bank that loaned the money on it, on the interest originally. And what I should have done is flown out to California to the law firm and say, Hey, write the check for $10 million and if there's problems, you can sue them. You're lawyers. But I didn't have that wisdom and maturity. And one of the things, two things you're going to see in life, you're going to get smarter as you get older. And most things don't matter. Only a few things matter. I love that. So, okay, you want to add any anything to that?
• 40:38
  Kelly Hatfield: I don't think so. I think that's a brilliant note to end on. Let's just put a period on it. That's awesome.
• 40:43
  John Mitchell: Okay, okay, well, we'll see you next week.