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48: The Miracle Mentality w/ Tim Storey · Harder Than Life

• 0:00
  I'm Kelly Siegel and this is harder than life a podcast about self-love self-awareness business and health We tell outrageous stories and boil everything down to simple practical advice. You can start using today. Let's get living
• 0:15
  I wrote in here I've only got an hour and I'm not wasting any time on a fancy intro. Tim's story is on the Heart of Life podcast today. I'm concerned we're going to burn down the place with his miracle mentality, or perhaps his world shaker views. Welcome my friend. We're gonna jump right into it. Looks like you've been going to the gym. It's a small shirt.
• 0:37
  But you know what, honestly, that's what attracted you to me because I was standing in the back of the room and just you burned the fricking stage down and came over and like, I gotta talk to you. But that's how we're gonna start, Tim. I have several notes from your Miami speech where we met. You are one of a kind and I love you dearly. Here are a few of the notes I took down. You were born an original, don't die a copy. Your mindset is your mind to set.
• 1:01
  You must desire a miracle mentality, desire, discipline and disciple. You will never be successful without stress. It lifts you like an airplane. What is your story and why does your story matter? No pun intended. Wow. What an intro. That was good. And the fact that you took notes like that meant a lot. But you're right. I made a beeline to you because I like your energy.
• 1:30
  But another thing is, just because you're built and nice looking, you're also very kind. I noticed that you were very kind to people. So when you did not know I was watching you earlier in the day, I saw you just talking to people and being kind to people. And kind goes a long way, don't you think?
• 1:54
  Tim, I received that thank you. And I wake my daughter up who's 14 years old every morning, and I say it's time to be awesome and kind. And I love, I didn't know that you weren't looking at me, so that's the highest compliment you could ever give me. Thank you. And I strive to be that because I haven't always been that guy.
• 2:11
  So the thing is, like, my story starts in Los Angeles. I love the fact that we were raised with a little bit of tension, like a lot of families. So we had five children living in a two-bedroom apartment with my mother and my father in Compton. And when you're cramped and you're crowded,
• 2:38
  man, you gotta learn to get along. So we did. The place was always super clean. That was my mother's thing and still is. It's like, don't do a halfway job at anything. That has really helped carry me through life.
• 2:53
  And also the fact that we had a lot of humor in our house. So thank goodness it was not tight and full of negative energy. It was it was cramped, but full of a lot of laughter. And so that was my early childhood, Compton, California, in a very small surrounding with big dreams. But you were young as the seven, too, right?
• 3:18
  Yeah, yeah, the young, yeah. So we had mom and dad and then five kids and I'm child number five. Oh. And we had three sisters and then my brother, bless his heart, he passed away when he was only 40 years of age of addiction challenges. And then I come about three and a half, four years after that.
• 3:44
  So I'm going to have you back and we're going to unpack those addiction challenges because that's how my story starts. We are going to get to know each other even more. I'm glad, grateful to have you. We're going to utilize our time for what I've prepared. But I'm going to have you back because that's where my life started, where it actually went back to what I should have been. So one of my core values and certainly seems to be yours is integrity.
• 4:06
  You told a beautiful story on how Smokey Robinson asked you to write a song for him and then got upset with you. Will you share the story with the listeners? Yeah, I paid attention. Yes. So whenever you deal with the Quincy Joneses, the Smokey Robinsons, the Stevie Wonders, it all sounds very glamorous. And it is. I've been with all three of those guys over 25 years as being a part of their life.
• 4:34
  But without going into all the story, I will say this, that in dealing with any of those three guys, they also are very intense.
• 4:46
  And so in the story that you're talking about is I was asked to do an assignment and come back the next day with three pages for this assignment that he asked me to do. And I asked a lady who was a famous writer who wrote like a very famous movie to help me with the assignment. And when he saw that I did that, he read each page and then he crumpled up.
• 5:21
  and throw it behind his back. And then he did it to the third page. I thought, whoa, what just happened? And then he kicked me out of his house. And he said, if I wanted somebody else to do it, I would have asked them, go ahead and leave. Man, that was a lot of intensity. I thought I was gonna like go down the street. He was gonna say, come back. I was only teasing or I'm sorry. But no, I didn't hear from his assistant for three days. It was a long three days.
• 5:52
  great great insight of being your authentic true self and trusting yourself there's your stories are easily digestible and relatable even though you sprinkle in these these big names it was smokey robinson right or did i have that wrong with a quincy jones this this this listen i've had my challenges with stevie with smoky but this one was quincy
• 6:18
  It was Quincy Jones, one of the greatest legends of all time. But all three of them have given me a lot of hardship and love because they love me. Look how kind you're. Oh, sorry. Yeah, but because of guys like that and Sprinkle and Barry Gordy who founded Motown, I mean, you got Tim Story. I mean, there's no way on me if it's not for guys like that.
• 6:42
  Tim's story is full of love and you're kind. I just had it wrong. You didn't even correct me. And you didn't even take the time and you actually made me feel better about it. But I thought I had that wrong, but thank you. You're amazing. And I'm very grateful that you took the time to get on the Heart of the Life show.
• 7:00
  I want the listeners to head over to Tim story.com. It's Tim is available for one-on-one coaching, executive coaching. He's an author speaker, and even counselor. I found, I find your availability to connect on a personal level, even on stage profound where, and how did you learn to do that? Comedians. So where a lot of speakers study other speakers, I never study other speakers. Yeah.
• 7:28
  I get to watch him in person. So if I watch Ed Milet, Ed's one of my really great friends. Ed has now become one of the best guys on stage. Grant Cardone has now become really great on stage. Eric Thomas, African-American, just fantastic.
• 7:49
  I don't watch their YouTubes. I don't study speakers. I study comedians because they have some of the best timing of anybody. So I go way back to George Carlin, uh, the early days, Johnny Carson, and then, uh, even, uh,
• 8:14
  I love Kevin Hart today, but I studied comedians, comedic timing, and they've helped me become even better on stage. That's brilliant. I've read that his tone and tonality is the majority of it. And only 7% of what you say matters the tone and tonality. And then I think it was even Kevin Hart that said this. It's the art of the pause. No doubt. See, that's where the, um, the public speaker, um,
• 8:42
  is more of a chess pounder of like, I have 10 points and these are my 10 points. They're more of a chess pounder. That's not me at all. I am finesse. I'm an artist and I'm like doing a monologue. So when I'm on stage, it looks like I'm doing a monologue, like a one-man play. That's my style.
• 9:07
  I've seen a lot of people live and I enjoyed yours the most. I walked away with life lessons and I felt like you were talking straight to me. So kudos to you. I believe that's what you're aiming for. And I took away a lot. You just heard my notes. Thank you for that. Because you've heard a lot of people. But I think also, as you said earlier, what you've seen is the ability to connect.
• 9:34
  So what I'm doing on stage is I am like the mailman. I want to deliver the mail. So before I get on stage, I'm never thinking I'm going to wow this crowd. Because then you're off. I'm thinking I'm going to deliver the mail. I have a message. I put probably 20 hours of study. And now I'm going to deliver the mail. So let me see how I'm going to deliver that mail. That's brilliant. I listened to that Grant Cardone interview that's on your website. It was...
• 10:03
  phenomenal you you have the ability to tell people they're wrong or to go to hell and they ask you how um yeah and it's very polite and and i admire that about you and i'm gonna i'm gonna we're gonna i'm gonna learn from you this is why i wanted you on the podcast because i'm gonna i'm gonna suck your energy um i'll tell you something about that i think that
• 10:34
  I think that too many men, they go at it like almost like two lions. If I'm in the room with a guy who thinks he's more powerful than me, I will always let him, watch me, I will always let him come up here and I'll come down and serve the guy. And this is a very common thing when you start to do well, that a guy wants to show you what he's got.
• 11:05
  And so he'll come up here. I never try to go higher or hit him like another lion. I'll come down and serve him. And I get that from the Bible. So, you know, Jesus himself, with all his power, served people. So when you serve people, then what happens is that God's divine strength stays on you in an unusual way. And I walk in divine strength.
• 11:36
  Speechless. You said something, and I'm going to deviate from my questions, because we were talking about Grant Cardone, and you said something about being human versus something else. What was that? It wasn't dehuman. I think probably that we have to be human beings. That's it. Beings in the moment, fully present, fully feeling, fully alive, instead of human doings.
• 12:03
  And so you see that by my style, I got a lot going on, but you would almost never know it because I'm so in the moment. In fact, like when we go to lunch, you'll notice I will not pick up my phone one time because why would I ask you to take your time, go to lunch with me and I'm texting a bunch of people. I just don't do it. I'm in that moment.
• 12:34
  Where did you learn that? They say President Obama was the best at that, making you feel like you're the only person in the room. And that's an art, and it's something I'm working with. This is why I love you. I'm going to learn so much from you. I learned it by watching people. So as a kid, when you're the youngest, there's a lot of observations. So you're down here. Everyone's living up here because they're older than you.
• 13:00
  And I would watch my sister's friends, my brother's friends, my dad's friends, my mother's friends. And I would pick up on these personality types and see things that really kind of flowed with me and things that did not. And the things that flowed with me was when I would see like really kind men.
• 13:25
  And then as I got older and I started traveling the world at age 20, I'd get around some very powerful men and they would never brag about it. They were like super good to people. And that did a lot to and for me. Like I remember just quickly being in Sweden and I was hanging around this guy who was a heart surgeon. And he had this amazing house in Gothenburg, Sweden. I was only 20 years of age.
• 13:54
  And he invited me to lunch after seeing me speak and just treated me like, you know, like I was a heart surgeon. And I said, I'm gonna become more like this guy. So that was part of it, the observation. Another deviation is, do you, with your brother passing at such an early age, do you drink alcohol? I never drank alcohol until I was 35.
• 14:20
  And that was just because I saw what it did to my dad. And my dad overcame that. And then I saw what it did to my brother. At one point, I drank wine on occasion. Right now, I'm in a no drinking phase. And it's just because of the idea of alcohol.
• 14:44
  just keeping my weight where I wanted and not feeling bloated. But I never had a problem with drinking at any point in my life. When I would drink wine, it would be very rare. It would be because I spent time with a lot of powerful people who like to order their expensive wine on a menu, and I didn't want to let them down. They're like, oh, my gosh, wait till you taste this. That was it.
• 15:14
  Well, you look beautiful and I, I, I, they're handsome. I should say you look very handsome and your skin tone is, so it's, it's very, you take care of yourself. So you wrote three books, I believe the miracle mentality, come back and beyond as well as utmost living all the way back in 2008, which you looked a little different on that cover. So,
• 15:32
  These are three diverse books. I highly suggest the listeners go buy all three. I know what I'm getting everybody for Christmas. Hopefully there's a, there's a, a pack that we can get all, all three books and I can give them out. Which of your books is your favorite? My guess is it's setbacks and comebacks because everybody likes a good comeback story, but which are you, which are the three of your favorite? So I, the, the politically correct one would be for me to say the latest is,
• 15:59
  Miracle Mentality with HarperCollins. Now that book is phenomenal. And you should get that because I'm talking about your mindset. But my favorite is the comeback book because the comeback book changed my life. And I remember when I wrote that book and was taking a lot of time going to various little vacation spots by myself and writing things.
• 16:30
  man, I knew I was onto something. I knew it was a hit song. And it's weird to have a hit song and you're just writing it, but you know no one's heard it, but you know it's a hit song. And then I remember when Oprah interviewed me on the comeback on Easter Sunday, many years ago, and she was holding the book in her hand the whole time. I went, holy schmoly,
• 17:00
  guacamole, this book is about to be a hit. And that's what it became, a big hit. I love it. Look at you don't even swear. This is the gentleman. No, holy schmolle guacamole. So watch, I was eating my oats, so you'll watch me eat some oats still while we're talking. Hey, this is how you are a high performer, you gotta multitask, I get it. So this is a great segue. What gets you out of bed in the morning?
• 17:30
  I think that I just enjoy life. Like every single day, I trigger myself with Motown music. So before this interview, I was listening to Stevie Wonder. So seven days a week, I listen to Motown. Seven days a week. Because it triggers me to Little Timmy from Compton. So even though I have like big stuff and then big meetings and
• 18:00
  you know, things that people find important, dude, I need to be little Timmy from Compton. So I trigger myself that way. So I'm not like...
• 18:13
  Jocko Willink or some of these other guys that are like really hardcore, like on these are the five things I do. Number one, bam. Number two, bam. I trigger myself with Motown music. I exercise in the gym five days a week. I'm now taking yoga with a private instructor two times a week for mobility, and it's really helping.
• 18:38
  but I'm really freakishly disciplined, but I'm cool about it. Yeah. You do remember, and I'm sure you do, because you're so humble and kind that we're in Detroit. So you talking about that makes everybody happy. I actually went to high school at Eminem. I think I told you that. I love that. Eight Mile. Eight Mile. I grew up one street from Eight Mile. So it was...
• 19:06
  It's interesting. You see that off the freeway. I don't know what freeway that is. You know. I-75. Okay, I-75. When it says eight mile, that's dope. No, I'll be a pervert for a second. I like, there's one in, it's 69 on I-75. It's Big Beaver Rose. I don't know what it is.
• 19:29
  I had to go there for a second, Tim. I apologize. Wait a second. But I know that because you guys have a nice mall that's not far from Big Beach. It's right there. Somerset Mall, you're right there. Listen, when you come here, and I'm going to promise you, I want more of you. And I know everybody wants more of you, but I'll drive you around, and anything that you need, we'll take care of because I just – It's Somerset Mall.
• 19:56
  So on your way to Somerset Mall, guys, you got to pass Big Beaver. I'm a child at heart, Tim. If you can't giggle at silly stuff, are you really living? I agree. If you could have dinner with one person alive or dead, who would it be and why? I would say Nelson Mandela.
• 20:27
  Nelson Mandela came to see me speak when I was in my 30s. Wow. And that was pretty dope. There was like a lot of people there, probably about 10,000. And his people said that he was going to come, and then he did. But I didn't get to talk to him much. I just got to shake his hand, and they signed a book for me, what he did. But I want to know...
• 20:57
  How a guy could be in prison for 25 years for something he didn't do and not get bitter and stay bitter, get callous, stay callous. But instead, he walked out of that place walking in love. I mean, what Nelson Mandela's mindset was like and what he did for South Africa and many other black people. I would like to have a longer conversation with Nelson Mandela.
• 21:28
  And so the listeners know, your father's black and your mother is... Spanish. Spanish. Ooh. That's how you're so handsome. Thank you for saying that. But the funny thing about this mixture is it's been good for me because in the Spanish culture, I have been able to do a lot of nice things.
• 21:56
  And I understand more than I can speak, but I'm also taking Spanish classes currently. But as an African-American leader, wow, what a privilege to do things that I'm doing in that space. So I like the balance. It's been good for me.
• 22:15
  So folks that listen to this, this is a serious influencer, a serious high end person. And he's expanding his being learning span. Yeah. At a higher level, because I can say smaller things and, and, and know where a conversation is going, but I feel that for where life is taking me,
• 22:41
  that I need to really learn Spanish and know it. So I told my good friend yesterday, I said, in two years, I have this locked in. But if I don't know something, I want to figure it out. But that's Carol Dweck. That's a lady from Stanford, a teacher who teaches on the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. So I always have a growth mindset. If I don't know what something is, I want to figure it out.
• 23:10
  Yeah, fixed mindsets I don't think are going to change the world. And I'm not trying to knock it because the world needs all different walks of life people. I think you and I can have a...
• 23:20
  day long of talking about the world. And I listened to you and Grant Cardone and talk about COVID and talk about racism. And one of the things that, that I am staunchly about is I don't get, I don't like any kind of isms ages and sexism, racism. I just don't subscribe. I don't even allow space in it, but, uh, I do want to ask one, if you could create one law in the universe, what would it be? And why?
• 23:50
  A law in the universe. I would say that it would be awesome if people really learned to walk in love even for a day. Love keeps no record of wrong. Love is kind, love does not envy, it does not boast. So that's 1 Corinthians 13. When you walk in love, it'll change your life.
• 24:19
  And I learned the love walk as a child, and I never let it go. Every single day of my life, I meditate about walking in love and being kind to people. And I was in a gym the other day. I was on vacation just down the street in a place called Del Mar. Went to the Del Mar horse races with some really cool people.
• 24:47
  And a lady was rude to me in the gym because I had my phone on. I was listening to music because there was nobody in the gym. She walked in, and the first thing she said was, could you please turn that off? She just walked in. So I didn't say a word, and I went and clicked it, and then I went back to doing my weights.
• 25:15
  I later saw her and her husband at this little restaurant at the same hotel and she asked me to come over and she apologized to me. And she said, I could not believe how kind you were when I came at you that way. Man, love, love can change, right? So that's the one thing I'd like to put into the universe. Well, Tim, you know as well as...
• 25:44
  I hope all the harder than life listeners know it's never about you. The book, the foreground is don't take anything personal. She had something going on, had nothing to do with Tim's story. That's a beautiful way of saying it. And that's a book that has helped a lot of people, but you're right. That was about her. And I mean, I was just a happy chocolate guy in the gym.
• 26:09
  God, I just love you. I could just squeeze you. Now that we're talking about books, what is a book that is your go-to? The Four Agreements happens to be mine. I read it several times a year. But what's a book in your life that's been influential that you, besides the Bible, a lot of people go to the Bible. So I'm going to take that one off the table. We've all read it, and it's fabulous. I understand. Yeah.
• 26:37
  I'm going to tell you that it's different than most guys because like a Lewis house, who's my buddy, um,
• 26:45
  He became very well known for many things, but one is for studying greatness. So I obviously read all the leadership books. I read all the latest books. But part of that is because I life coach people at a very high level, and I take them through leadership books. But I love reading biographies. My life.
• 27:10
  The biggest lessons I learned is reading a bio about someone like David Bowie. And so some of my black friends will say, like, how do you know so much about David Bowie? And I go, I read his biography. And I know about David Bowie. I know about Gianni Versace. I know about Giorgio Armani. I know I've read two books about Lady Di, not the gossipy ones, but just books.
• 27:38
  I read about people that maybe I just hear about them, maybe a famous photographer, and then I'll read that book, or the former editor of Vogue, and I'll read that book. Because I want to find out what it took to become that. And so I'm a biography reader. I literally have read over 100 biographies, no doubt about it. It's taught me a lot.
• 28:08
  Would it surprise you to know that I read a lot of personal development books? I read a book a week and I have to read the book. I don't listen. I read it. And so when I want to take a break, when my mind is just full, I read biographies. And I was very surprised to hear that you didn't say the one that I'm sure you've already read, Winston Churchill.
• 28:30
  Yeah, I mean, of course, I read about him and then watched several documentaries on his life because he was a grouchy guy who got stuff done. And so everybody thinks that because of some of his quotes, like never give up, never ever give up, that he was like the Tony Robbins of his day. But a lot of people who write about him say that he had a real crotchety grouchy side.
• 29:00
  which happens to some older people, if you're not careful, older people. But Churchill was a very interesting human being. But I tell you, biographies are powerful because you get in the mindset of people and you find that everybody at times feels like it's not going to happen.
• 29:24
  And so that's what I think is super interesting where you look at like a Mick Jagger, you're like, okay, that's just Mick Jagger. But then the people that write about him say, there were times where he wanted to quit. He didn't think the Rolling Stones were gonna work. It's interesting, right? Right. So most icons or iconic things had times and spaces, that's interesting.
• 29:51
  where they thought like us, I might throw in the towel.
• 29:56
  Well, if you think about it, the biographies are just the bigger versions of these podcasts that you're hearing out right now. And these people, these celebrities didn't get there by winning a lottery. They worked their tookus off and they doing these habits of personal development. So if you listen very recently, I heard Jason Derulo on Ed Milet's show and it was profound. I love hearing what they, the struggles and like you just said, talked about Mick Jagger. It's like, this is how you learn. This is why I have you on. It's, I'd never...
• 30:27
  I never knew who you were before I met you. And then now I get to interview and, and we're going to be friends forever. And I'm going to drive you crazy because I'm going to be in Newport pizza and Hey, let's have lunch. Tell me more. Tell me more. I'm a learn it all. But I get to learn. I get to learn about Michigan from you. I get to learn about weight training, um, uh, fat carbs, uh, mindset, life, business recovery, uh,
• 30:56
  how to stay sober, not just off of drugs or alcohol, but sober in your mind. So there's a lot of things that you're a master at. I'm a learning on, I'm a work in progress. But I will tell you, there's so many synergies between the two of us that I say to myself, listen, learn and love. I know all my journal entries with that, listen, learn and love. And then when you say walk in love for the rule, if I ever fall of alignment and you see me walking around,
• 31:24
  I pat in my heart, I'm out of alignment. And I do it wide out in the open. And a lot of times I'm at the gym and something's not feeling right and I'll do this. And I'll be beating on my heart. Okay, get back in alignment. And I'll breathe. That's super powerful. So I do something similar that I've never seen anybody do. So if I'm driving in my car or just somewhere,
• 31:53
  And I got so much going on. I pat myself three times. Like boom, boom, boom, like step in. So it's very similar. The whole... We're separated at birth. I'm the white version of you. So what I'm doing, Tim, is I'm trying to get the heart to emulate, to...
• 32:19
  Emanate love. Go. It's like kickstart it, get it up. I wanna love everybody and I wanna, I have a quote up in my bathroom. Yeah. Ram Dass quote, it says, love everybody and tell the truth. It's something I live by. Yes. Now that we're talking about this, once. And that, that's very powerful. But sometimes you gotta tell the truth with silence. That I'm gonna learn from you, because you are so right, it's,
• 32:48
  It's the art of not saying anything because it isn't going to help. And it's going to hurt feelings. I talk about that a lot. I'm a master of that because people like to ask me for advice and they'll sometimes say something obvious like, should I lose weight?
• 33:17
  No comment. It's not something verbal. You're so kind. You probably said, well, how do you feel? I don't need to be verbal. Yeah. You know, now we're talking about this. Wait a second. That is the answer. That is the answer right there. That would be the correct answer. How do you feel? Yeah. What's one thing about you that people might be surprised to know?
• 33:48
  that I like to be alone. So the thing about the five kids and being the youngest, there was a lot of alone time because I was too little to play in the other reindeer games, like Rudolph. Remember that song? Yeah, of course. So my point is, my older siblings were off doing things and my mother would say,
• 34:18
  Stay with me. They're out doing like older kid things. And so, you know, I learned to spend time by myself, being on the road since I was 20, traveling around speaking. I learned to be in all these foreign countries. I've now been to 78 countries in the world. Outstanding. I like to be alone because my life is very loud.
• 34:46
  very loud, and I like to be alone and I like quiet. That's something I'm adapting and being comfortable
• 34:54
  I say to sometimes it's freaky how much I enjoy being alone now. And this is coming from years of having hundreds of people around me at all the times. And it just now I need my alone time. And it gets freaky scary how much I enjoy it. And I'll sit in my hot tub alone. I'll smoke a cigar by myself alone. Give me a book, a cigar, and some sun, and I'm happy.
• 35:21
  No, but I think we were created obviously to be connected. There's a guy named Peter Block that wrote a book on community. And community is key, no doubt about it. So I believe in the community and the village and friendship. And I've been blessed to have great friends. But the alone time is so important.
• 35:46
  Because the alone time, if you allow yourself to be still, that's when you become in alignment to your assignment. Because I think that all of us have been given a divine assignment. And you can go really off track by just running from event to event and even book to book or seminar to seminar. I don't do all that stuff. Because I need to be in alignment to my assignment. And I find that usually in the quiet.
• 36:16
  What's your divine assignment then? I think that I have several. And I think everybody does. An assignment is a task or a mission. And I think that part of my love is that I love life. So I'm not just like mission oriented, like I wake up and I'm going to rah, rah, rah.
• 36:45
  Oh man, I'm, like I said, I listen to Motown. I like life. So I love life. And then I like to give life. And the way I give life is through my writings and verbal and counseling people and doing the things that I get to do. My assignment is to make people's lives better, but I enjoy my life. I just love you.
• 37:11
  I love everything you stand for. What's the most important decision you made in your life? To stay with God. I think that when you're a kid in the inner city, you usually go into church because your parents think that's going to help. And it did for me.
• 37:33
  But a lot of guys, even like a lot of my entertainment friends, they left church and they have a degree of connection with God, but they kind of went their own way. The biggest decision I ever made that's smart is to stay connected with God as my source. Because I always tell people that I don't believe in chasing anything.
• 38:00
  I simply cooperate with what heaven has said. And that's where I get a lot of my peace. I don't chase. So someone could say to me, hey, Steven Spielberg's going to be at this one party and I know that he wants to talk to you about this project. If I already have something going on and I promise that guy I'm going to do it, I'm not going to that party to go talk to Steven Spielberg. And I've always lived by this and it kind of blows people away.
• 38:31
  But in that piece is where so many of my breakthroughs come. Whether you want to give God credit or the universe or however someone sees life, those big opportunities always came back by me just not chasing anything. I don't chase. And at a better time, a more appropriate time in your life, I guarantee it.
• 38:57
  That's a great way of saying it. So you just added another Lego to my Lego land. That was good.
• 39:06
  I gotta tell you something. Since I met you, I've been very God curious and now I've pretty much will just surrender to God. And I'm gonna tell you when it happened. It was in LA recently during that hurricane and that switched into a typhoon, which then evolved into an earthquake. And I said to God, I was in the hotel, I had a super tight schedule and I said, God, if you're real,
• 39:31
  smooth this weather out for me so I can finish my duties and get back to my daughter safe in Michigan. And Tim, I'm telling you, I rented a car and I drove through the typhoon. And, you know, L.A.'s roads are not set up to have that kind of rain. And there were cars smashing into the wall in front of me.
• 39:55
  And I'm like, what is wrong with people? I'm from Detroit. We drive in a foot of snow, no problem. And I made it through everything. I went to all my commitments. I did everything. My flight was on time. We made it through her. And I was on the plane ride home when it was smooth as can be. And I said, thank you, God. And I'm a believer. Yes. And I think if we just take just two minutes on this subject, I don't blame some people for not believing in God.
• 40:26
  I think that a lot of people will say that if God is so powerful, why did my father die? Or if God is so powerful, why did this happen to my baby? Or if God is so powerful, why do people get raped? I mean, a lot of awful things happen that you wonder about. But I honestly think that life is black, life is white, and life is gray. And a lot of life is in the gray area.
• 40:55
  And it's in the, we don't really quite understand. But I believe that there is a God and I do believe we can have a connection with him. I'm a Jesus guy, but for those that are not, I can understand. And what I try to do is just be a billboard for better life. And not always
• 41:21
  Verbal, but just by my lifestyle. Yeah, I believe there's definitely something.
• 41:29
  I believe everything happens for a reason. And I, and, and, you know, even those bad things and people don't want to hear that, but everything's happened for you, not to you. We have two more questions. I want to be cognizant of your time because you asked me to be really quick. And I'm going to ask you to come back on, cause I will read your book and we'll do this in person in LA. I have a studio that we can go to and I'll interview you on your book. And I want to make sure that we,
• 41:53
  I want to talk more about racism. I want to talk deep. So we'll do a long podcast. If you'll have me, we'll do it right in your backyard. And we'll wrap it up with two more questions. If you'll have me, because you said that you're going to get a studio. So that sounds good. Well, we'll have lunch. We'll have fun. Yeah. Then I think I heard you say you're buying lunch. Did you guys hear that? Absolutely. Say yes in the chat if you heard that.
• 42:16
  Yes. Can you share any hobbies and interests outside of the professional that you've already talked about? And you've talked about so much, but it's just something I want to know. What else makes you tick? Oh, man. I love art. So I just went to this Laguna Beach art festival. I love art. I'm going to go to a ballet coming up. I'm going to see Gwen Stefani tomorrow night.
• 42:43
  And Gwen is not as popular as she used to be. She's on The Voice, but I'm still going to go see her. I almost saw Beyonce last week, but I've seen her probably six times already. So I'm really into the arts. I go to a lot of Broadway plays. I go to other plays. I go to a lot of concerts. I even go see people that other people would not think I'd go see. I go see country westerns.
• 43:13
  concerts. I love the arts. Hold on. What's the most favorite concert, the most entertaining concert you've ever been to? You've had to have been to so many. No, no, but that's such a great, great question. I would say because he's my friend and the way he can get down and he's blind at the same time, Stevie Wonder,
• 43:35
  rocking the form. But then secondly, Prince, I saw Prince two times in a row. So I went with a friend of mine and he was so good that I'm like, got another friend, went the next night. Prince was like, what just happened?
• 43:59
  My favorite concert was Prince. I saw him at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Wow. Followed closely second by Janet Jackson. I could see that.
• 44:11
  And I'm not a big fan of either one. I just had to go. I'm a lot like you. I just had to go. I just went to LL Cool J's concert and Ice-T came out. And it was like, whoa, 50 years of hip hop. That was wild. Ice-T, let me kick my credential. Young player, born in South Central, LA, home of the body bag. That was just one of his raps right there. Yeah, I know. I know. He's a competent guy too, right? Yes. Ice-T.
• 44:39
  I got to give it to that guy because he made it even on television. I mean, he wasn't just a rapper. The guy's an actor too. Tim, he came out on stage and you could feel the authenticity like you. So he was just, you could feel it. So I want to be cognizant of your time. Is there something I didn't ask you that you feel compelled to share? Um, I will tell you that.
• 45:09
  Life is still good for all of us guys, but you got to look for the good. It's almost like when you lose your keys and you got to get in your car and you go frantic. And in that frantic space, you forget how good your day was going because now you lost your keys. And you can't find your keys because you're frantic. I think a lot of people are being frantic right now.
• 45:39
  But if you just slow down to the speed of life and look for the good, man, there's so many good things about life.
• 45:48
  This was short and sweet, but if you, the listeners replay this and listen to everything you've said, I will tell you, and you follow those principles, how good can you handle life is the answer, is the question, because it will be amazing. Just the simple little principles. And please tell me, I'm going to tell you this. I love you. Keep sharing the love and compassion that you exude in every interaction. If there's ever anything I can do for you, never hesitate to ask, but please, please,
• 46:16
  promise me that you will give me a couple of hours for us to really deep dive into your book. And I want to talk about, you know, some of the isms because you're fabulous and, and, and I just, yeah, I would, I would love to always talk to you about deeper things and thank you for bringing your gift to the podcast space and helping people and helping people to grow.
• 46:42
  I'm going to see you in Nashville on the end of October. Oh, and by the way, Craig Siegel, you and I are supposed to arm wrestle over who is going to get to officiate his wedding because I asked and he goes, Tim asked too. And I said, I said, why don't we do a, why don't we do a, I'll be the Jewish one and he could be the non-denominational. And imagine the two of us officiating his wedding, the things that would come out of our mouth.
• 47:09
  I mean, the things that would come out, and then we'd have to, like, charge. They didn't miss a charge to a wedding. You know what? Somebody else asked me to tell you hi. Do you know who Billy the Kid is? Yes. He asked me to say hi to you. We have a lot of mutual friends, I mean.
• 47:29
  Yes. Our big friend who loves us both dearly is in Miami. What was her name? She was at that event, too. We're going to have fun together. When we stop on this, I want to grab your cell phone and I'll make sure that we connect because we are very synergistic.
• 47:47
  Let me wrap this up. Please rate and share this podcast. Also, I do my best to respond to all the comments on all social media platforms. So if you want to see more of something or less of something, leave a comment. Each and every episode is sponsored by National Technology Management, the easiest and best IT company to do business with, delivering peace of mind with technology every day. Visit TrustNTM.com for more. Until next week, be harder than life. Thank you for listening. Please rate and subscribe to Harder Than Life, and let's take this to the next level. Get connected at the links below.