Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - #173: Become The BEST Version Of Yourself With Zion Clark, All American Wrestler & Motivational Speaker

Episode Date: December 14, 2021

In This Episode You Will Learn About:  Embracing your TRUE self   How to persevere and achieve greatness    Believing in YOU and stepping into your confidence  Resources: Website: zionclark.com   Read Unmatched LinkedIn & Facebook: @Zion Clark Instagram: @big_z_2020 Twitter: @Zz_tops330 Snapchat @big_x97 Youtube @Zion Clark Overcome Your Villains is Available NOW! Order here: https://overcomeyourvillains.com  If you haven't yet, get my first book Confidence Creator Show Notes: Our guest, Zion Clark, a well known wrestler and motivational speaker explains how we must take the chance to embrace who we are and get outside our comfort zone. When you set yourself apart from everyone else and allow yourself to be your own person, you will achieve more than you ever dreamed! It’s not about doing what everybody else has already done. Find what you can do that’s unique to you!  About The Guest: I am so excited to introduce today’s guest, Zion Clark, an elite athlete, author, motivational speaker, and a Guinness world record holder as the fastest man on two hands! Zion is passionate about reforming the foster care system, as he spent seventeen years of his life there. His well known Netflix documentary, Zion, won two sports Emmys and is one of the longest running documentaries on the platform, for more than three years! He is here to share his story and inspire us to be the best version of ourselves today.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I took that chance to just step outside that line, step outside to comfort zone. Even if it's just for a second, you need to get that taste of what it's like to really set yourself apart from everybody else. Not in a bad way, but like be your own person. Achieve your own great feats. You know, it's not about achieving what so-and-so did or doing what he did over there. You know, it's more about what can you do. What's something that you can achieve that's unique to you.

I'm on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals. We'll overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. I'm ready for my close-up. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited for you to meet our guest today. Zion Clark is an elite athlete, author, motivational speaker, Guinness World Record Holder as the fastest man on two hands, and also passionate about reforming the foster care system

as he spent 17 years of his life there. Known for his Netflix documentary, Zion, won two sport Emmys, and is one of the longest running documentaries on there for more than three years. If you haven't seen this documentary yet, check it out. He's 24 years old and is coming from Ohio, but today I'm meeting up with him in San Diego. Zion, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me.

Every chance I get to share my story, every chance I get to just inspire more people. I always jump on it. You know, me personally makes me feel good. And on top of that, I'm doing something positive. You are doing more than something positive. I'll tell you, I research all my guests ahead of time. And Zion, I have to admit, I mean, I was crying, reading your story,

which I'm sure happens very often with a lot of people. It's such a heartwarming yet really hard story. Your life has not been easy. And it's just such a beautiful trajectory of your life. And I'm just so proud of you. as a mother, I'm watching everything, research, everything, and I just want to hug you. I'm so proud of you. Thank you.

Does that happen to you all the time? People come running up just wanting to hug you? Yeah, more often, I guess now that I've really been able to establish myself and really show, like, just not. So people to show myself that I can do something good on a whole different level, you know, on top of supporting my family and withholding our family name, you know, because everyone's that really developed me into who I am. the very end. Well, let's start out just so people understand because I think people who see how high profile you are now, how successful you are now, it's hard for them to understand that,

first of all, you were born without legs, which is, I know that you don't see it as a disability. Many people do see that as a disability. If nothing else, it definitely differentiates you, right, from everybody else. But not only did you have that one challenge to deal with immediately in life, but your mother also had to give you up when you were born and you went right into the foster care system, which, as we know, is not a good experience. You know, people don't understand, I think, unless they really dig into your life, how hard things have been for you and how hard that window of time was when you had to move around from from home to home just trying to get by. What got you through those days? I think that really got me through times like that,

you know, I had my friends at school. I had wrestling, which was really, really like an outlet for me ever since I was a kid, you know. It was the one place I could go to during all those times with wrestling. It just, it gave me just that peace of mind. I was treated as an equal. I didn't have to wear my prosthetic legs. I didn't have to be forced to be like everybody else. If anything, they encouraged me to be more different and to try to see what I could do. That's one of the things I loved about the documentary was seeing that you didn't really want to wear the prosthetic legs. In fact, you preferred not having them on and you and your coach preferred coming up with solutions and wrestling that embraced your body.

Exactly. And I love that because he really took the time to understand. The crazy part about that is they've been working with me for most of the time I was a wrestler up to that point. You know, ever since I was about seven, eight years old, his identical twin brothers when I got me into the sport of wrestling. So I was connected really closely with their family for years at that point. And they always, every time I came across, every time I was having practiced, they would stay after, try to help me figure things out. And sometimes something will work, but then it wouldn't be perfect.

So we got to keep going back to the drawing board. And they spent time, like, years, really helped helping me. It finally paid off. And I'm glad I could really do right by them, too, you know, make them proud. Because every time I wrestle, everything I learned are from those two guys. Oh, my gosh. Your coach is so proud of you. It's so obvious in the documentary and it's so touching.

But so everyone that doesn't know your entire. story up until that time you were not a champion wrestler out of the gates this did not come easy to you oh absolutely not wrestling ever since i was young was extremely difficult for me actually and uh it really forced me to work harder i guess all the time and i got used to you know getting beat up year after year for one it kind of gave me a toughness too i just really loved the sport so much i didn't care how many times i lost i didn't care how many times i got beat up i would just keep going back because it wasn't just about the actual sport. And, you know, ever since second grade,

all the way up to my junior year high school, maybe like with a year in middle school that actually didn't do too bad, but that's middle school. So just that whole journey up until I was like 17, I was just like, okay, I lost everything. I have friends, though. And that was my logical thinking back then. Well, before my last year,

my coach was talking to all the juniors about, like, next year and how it'll be good to get, like, college offers. how like if you work hard enough, you'll get it. And I'm just thinking, like, I haven't done anything. Like freshman year, zero wins. Sophomary year, zero. Junior year, one win. I was like 35.

Everything was not looking up. And when I left that summer between my junior and senior year, I remember I talked to my mom because she was trying to want me to get a job or something if I wasn't going to be doing too much. And I was like, mom, can I just train every day? Like, I promise, I'll do it all day every day. And she was like, I got to prove it. Next thing you know, for three months straight,

I trained almost Monday through Sunday, two, three times a day. I was going to different tournaments still losing over the summer. And then I finally stepped out. My senior year first match and just killed it. And then after that, I won like, it was like 16, 17 more in a row before I lost my first one of that year. And by then I was beating like some of the best guys in the state. And it was just, it was a weird feeling for me telling you, like, Because I was just doing everything I'd worked on just, I probably did over a thousand shots, a thousand takedowns, over a thousand takedown defense.

It's just training something so many times that I did it practically second nature. And yeah, I took off next to you know, in that match to go to the state, which sadly I lost, but it opened up a whole bunch of doors because it's a match before, you know, I knocked off one of the top-ranked guys in the state. This guy I was battling against beating me one to zero and shipple over time, sudden death. And he was predicted to win the whole tournament that year. And I think he did. Yeah, it just opened a whole bunch of doors. I just so happened to put on some of my best performances at the time that I needed to do them, like, do them the most, honestly. Well, Zion, let's talk about where did that confidence come from?

Because I know that there was this couple year window, some big changes happened. Your mother came into your life. Some really significant changes happened. What was that transition like to stepping into confidence for you? It was rough at first. You know, my mom, she didn't know what to. expect. I didn't know what to expect. You know, I was kind of tired of everything at this point. I was at the point where, like, you know, I was either going to get sent to her or I was going to

get sent to a group home. And after that, you know, just kind of out on your own. And you're 16 years old at that time. So at that point, I was really just kind of over it. Like I said, you know, I was just so drained, so tired of everything. I was getting in trouble constantly. I was getting kicked out of school. I was getting in all sorts of things I shouldn't be getting into. I just had this thing about me where I just didn't care. You know, I still had my friends or whatever, but at that point, like the home life, I gotten so insane to me that I was just like, you know what?

It doesn't matter if I go to school or not. They're going to either show up to school or they're going to show up at the home or whatever happens. And that has happened so many different times. I was just like, okay, whatever. And then my mom stepped in and she just completely changed everything up. At first, I had no idea what she was doing and why she was acting what she was acting.

You know, like, I would get in. trouble and she wouldn't yell at me. She would just talk to me. I could be a serious talk. I'd still get in trouble, but like there was this calmness about her that really resonated with it. Because I was so used to just forever just screaming and yelling every time I did something bad from the get-cuff. And she just completely had patience and told me nothing but love and opened up her home and my sisters and my uncles, my grandparents, my family. I have a huge family. We're spread like all over the country. They completely all welcomed me in.

And next thing you know, school started to get a little better, stopped getting kicked out, grades started to go up, wrestling started to go up. I watched my sister. Her name is Indonesia. I call her Indy. I watch her win the long jump state title with a torn MCO. Oh my God.

Like that year. And then I joined track. And I was like, okay, she can be a state champ doing that. I want to be a state champ. So next thing you know, I train for a couple months in track and field. and I won two state titles and got a four top places. And that was just because, like, they really motivated me. And they were like what I wanted to be like.

I wanted to be a good athlete. I wanted to be a good student. I wanted to just be happy, honestly. Next thing you know, I'm just completely resonating with that, man. I got adopted. Funny thing, the day I got adopted, my mom and I were so accustomed to living together that we forgot. It was just a normal day.

Like, I was at school. I was in class. you go to wear it. Like, I was like one of those days where I wanted to just like kick it a little bit. It would be comfortable. So I'm wearing like a torn wrestling shirt. It was one of my favorite shirts wearing some ripped sweatshorts. And, um, cheerily next to you know, my caseworker shows up.

And I was, she was like, you're ready to go? And I was just like completely shook. I didn't know what to do. I was just like, for what? I was like, I asked her, like, what did I do? I was like, I haven't got anything. I was like, what did I do? And she's like, you're getting adopted.

they just forget. And I was just like, yeah. But that's such a testament to how comfortable and at peace you were bringing in your life. Wow. Yeah, it was so crazy. Next thing you know, like my mom, like her work gave her off like the rest of the day. She like sped over to the courthouse and met me there right when I got to the school. We walked in.

She was in her work clothes. I was in some school clothes and got adopted on the spot, went back to school. She went, she went home because I had to go back to class. That was what you felt like was really the turning point for you. you in your life was that window. Yeah, and it wasn't even like a big, like, it was big and official, but it wasn't like a ton of people. Like, it was always like, like how it was all the other times where I was adopted.

But this time felt, I didn't feel nervous. I didn't feel like it was the wrong thing. You know, it felt completely right. The way that you just described that sounds like how people, when someone's going to get married and they'll say, if it doesn't feel right, you're going to know. And if it is right, you're going to know when it really is right. And that's just, I felt like exactly. what you're explaining right now,

there'd always be a reason, something didn't feel right, or you're questioning something. But this time, it just felt like it was the right place to be. Yeah. And like I said, when we went back to school,

and I see you know, my last name's Clark. I'm winning titles. I'm kicking people's, but on the mat, I got good grades, getting college offers. Just everything,

ever since then, everything just blew up since I've been 18. And it's for inquired journey. And I'm still seeing what I can do, honestly. You're 24 years old. You are at the beginning

of your journey, my friend. How did the Netflix opportunity come into your life? This random guy actually just messaged me on Facebook. I remember I was in my room and I was like, mom, who is this dude? Because I never had anybody like that reach out to me or anything. You know, the biggest thing I had done at that point was I got follow around by ESPN for like the second half of my wrestling career of my high school or the second half of my senior year in high school. And I was just like, mom, who is this dude? You talk to pretty much. Because at that time, I wasn't a very social person.

Even through all the wrestling in high school, especially when I started to get more attention and more TV stuff where they would pop up, I would not talk to them. You know, I just didn't like that part of, you know, being successful, I guess. And I was just like, no, I need to focus. And that's exactly what I did. Like, I might say something for 30 seconds or less and I would sit with my team. have a good time with my team. And I told my coach, I was like, Coach Dee, you talk to. I don't know what to say.

I got the other thing I'm 18. I've never spoken to really anybody. You know, I had my few friends. I really just chill and try to just survive for the most part. So how did it go from you being so focused and not speaking to these people to you actually launching a documentary on Netflix? We did like a phone call, me and my mom and this dude, his name was Floyd. We were like, it sounds like a good idea.

you know, he was able to sell it to us, I guess. And next thing you know, they flew out from New York, we recorded for a week and a half. I went to college. And like a year and a half later, I get an email with the finished product, and they submitted it to Sundance. And next thing you know, we're in the Sundance Film Festival,

and we get the best short film at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah. They flew me out. I was in the middle of my wrestling season at Ken State, and my coach was mad. But I was like, like, I missed so mad and I was a starter,

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at www. northwestregisteredagent.com slash confidence-free. Yeah, being the Sundance Film Festival is kind of a big thing. Yeah. So I went out there and it won a short film. Did a really cool. interview. I met a whole bunch of like top, like top tier, top level people. And at that time,

I think I'm only like 20. It's like 20, 21. And went back to school, made up a test. And went back to the college life, you know, because I was in school. I was studying my business major. So that next year, I get a call and I'm like, hey, Netflix is going to, Netflix wants to pick this up. And I was just like, yeah. There's like, what do you want to do? I was like, do it. And leading up to them even behind it, you know, it hit almost every big film festival around the world, like all across the United States, all across Europe, all across Canada, like everywhere. And it got number one in almost every single one of them.

And then Netflix picks it up. And then overnight, just everything was different. I forgot, I forgot about the day it was dropping. You know, I was in school. I was like spring, like springtime. I was getting ready for finals. I was completely not in tune with what was about to happen. And it blew up overnight just spread like wildfire.

After then, like, you know, people coming up and all this stuff. But again, I still wasn't ready to really talk to people just yet. So I just have everybody, like, keep their distance and kept focusing on my stuff. You know, I was at the regional finals. And this news team that came up, like, right before I'm getting ready to get on the mat. And I gave him the craziest look. And then I looked at my coach. Like, I didn't even say any words.

I was just like, dude, this has to get shut down right now. And he made him back up. Because I gave the camera, I gave the cameraman this crazy look. Because I was ready. I'm like, when you didn't ready for a match, especially a college match, you're getting ready for a fight essentially. I don't want to talk to anybody. I usually got me like two hours before that. I'm not on the side of the mat with my headgear.

But yeah, it was just like crazy. Crazy. That tournament ended up getting second place at the regional championships and making it to the national championship. It was just a crazy moment. I beat this dude in the semifinals. And just, I beat him bad, too. It was a match. Like, he was like, if we were going at it, I would just catch those takedowns and then hold off on defense. So, like, as the match went on, the score, just kept going up. And then I ended up with the tech right at the very end. So tech and wrestling, and he swam by 15 points. If you have 15 more points, the other person, no matter what the score is you are in my equivalent.

So I ended up getting one of those. And then I lost in the finals for first place. Very close match. At what point did you decide to start going for the Olympics or writing the book or launching the speaking career? How did those things take place next? So the speaking career happened pretty matched, like kind of by itself. I remember I was again back at Kent State.

I was in class. The athletic director comes in. I was like, I need to talk to Zion. So I was like, okay, what did I do? Because, you know, I used to, like, I lived your typical college life, if I'm going to be honest, you know. But, you know, I was like, what did I do? And, like, I was thinking, like, I shouldn't be in trouble for anything. And he brings me into his office and sets down these big stack of papers.

And I was just like, oh, what did I? Like, oh, man, what did I do? Can't be good. Yeah. And he opens it. And it's just all these letters. and these hand-drawn pictures from this school in Akron, Ohio, which was like a refugee school. So at the time, you know, all the war that was going on in Syria, they were sending,

families were sending their kids over to all different parts of the country just so they could escape and, you know, survive. These kids, they had seen my documentary, so they wrote me letters. It was only about, like, 80 kids in the school. And I looked at the athletic director. I looked at the every single one of them, looked at all the pictures. And I looked at them. I was like, hey, can I do something for these kids?

I was like, I got to do something. You know, and I didn't know what I was saying, didn't know what I was doing, but it felt like the right thing to do. And he was like, we can show up to school. I was like, I'd love to talk to these kids. I just wanted to say, like, thank you. And like, shake their hand and give them high fives or something. You know, I just wanted to go, like, meet them.

And they had set it up to where it was a surprise. And I came into this gym and all their faces lit up. And this one looked at. little girl drawn a really nice detailed picture. It said be a Zion with like the Kent State logo on it. So I was able to get Ken State and BSN sports in Ohio to help me make these shirts. That said, Biazana and the whole school of the staff, everybody got them. And I got to speak to these kids. And it was the coolest thing ever, honestly. They were just so intently listening. I went down every single one of them. And I asked every single one of them in the middle of me talking.

It was like, all right, what do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want to be when you grow up? what are you like every single one and after that I was just like that I started talking about it like if you wanted to be this this this this and I wasn't paying attention but somebody told the Fox News in Cleveland that I was doing that and next thing you know there's like a whole news crew capturing my very first speech I ever get I'd ever get oh my gosh that happened yeah yeah I didn't know so it was too late though so I just went and talk to these kids. I like, there's nobody there, you know. I was, like, real on, like, talking to these kids and saying, thank you, you know, it was the best, like, at the time,

it was the best I could do for them. You know, I was in college. I felt like the only thing I could do is just show my face and say hi. Hopefully I can make, like, open, I can make their day or something. And it was the feedback you got from that speech or the feeling that you had when you left that you said, I think I was in, it wasn't even that. You know, at the time, I still was in, I was still in school. So I went back to school next thing you know, every once in a while I get opportunity here, opportunity there. And I just kind of started speaking. Like even now, like I used to just, I would just go up there and speak what's on my mind. And even now I did the same thing. I cannot, I am physically unable to write down a speech. Like I can't do it. My brain doesn't work that way.

It's, it's all bad if I do it that way. My thing is I'll have my set points. I'll go in and I'll speak off those points. That's smart. That's very smart, by the way. So many people try to script everything out and that is not a winning combination. So it's so good that you do it the way you do. Yeah, I feel like more natural is a lot better. And yeah, ever since then, speaking's been getting crazy, you know. Right before COVID hit, I was starting to hit big locations, like different colleges, different schools, always be with kids. Like, it was, I was just having so much fun. And next thing you know, I'm speaking in Vegas at the F-45 World Conference. That's huge.

Yeah, I know. And it was crazy. It was in Vegas. And it was just the coolest time I've ever had. You know, I've never been to Vegas. And I've really been to that side of the country at that point. I was with my squad, my friends, my manager, just my whole support system. And I went out there, I was nervous.

You know, there was over a thousand people in this crowd. super nervous and I go out there and it was like just like I was the only one up there and I just spoke was on my mind and just walked around I had one of those mics on so I could move freely on my hands just walked around and spoke my peace

and as soon as I was done it just the whole like the whole like venue just like erupted that's when you know you found your calling like that's it. Yeah it was crazy the first thing I did when I went backstage I called my mom and tell her exactly what just happened.

I was like a big thing I did, and the only person I could think of at the time was like, I wish my mom could be here, you know? So I just kind of dipped out of Ohio pretty much and just hopped on the road, kind of set myself up in California a bit. And in the way the Olympic wrestling came around, that was at the end of my college career,

I decided to actually leave college early because I saw a better opportunity and the window of opportunity was closing and closing pretty fast. And I was just sitting there at school, studying these books and I was like I could do a lot more I could be a lot more be a lot better at wrestling be a lot better at speaking be a lot better at everything I do if I went out out west and not that not that there's nothing wrong with how not that there's nothing wrong with getting a degree or anything but some people it doesn't work that way and I think I'm one of those people next thing you know

I'm in California and I just crashed out my buddy's name's Joey Davis he's a bellatory fighter that we met actually when we were both in college still so So this guy, he's like a four-time national champ. He went 133 wins, zero losses. He's one of my closest friends. I went to his house, crashed out there, and just got some of the best training I'd ever had over the next, like, seven, eight months, just every single day,

like in there training with some of the best wrestlers, some of the best best fighters in the world. Because I went from just, you know, college. And college, something wrong. There's good guys in college. There's a lot of guys, but some guys turned into Olympians and stuff out of college too. But I felt like my route might have been better that way. And next thing you know, I'm training with this guy's name's, his name's Antonio McKee.

He coaches up in Long Beach. And this guy is absolutely incredible. His son, AJ, is actually currently the Bellator World Champion. I just won it about a month and a half, two months ago. Shout to my boy, the mercenary, AJ, you know, I love you, doc. But these guys, they just open it up to me. And they actually not really even open it up. The first day I met them,

coach told me he was like, you can either work hard, I will personally kick you out of my gym. And he said, I don't care you got a Netflix documentary. He said, I don't care if you did. He said, if you want to come in here and work hard,

I can make you into the champion. You want to be in. And I was like, I'm with that. And so I started coming in every day, and I'm kidding you not, I got beat up pretty bad for like three months before I really started to catch a hang of it.

So say you're right here in your level, and this is where. college is at, these guys are up here. So Diane's showing us right now, if you're listening to audio of this, if you're like in the middle part, like on a scale of one to ten, if you're around five, that you were at a five and these guys were running at a ten. At a ten or higher.

Honestly, because you got guys that are in that gym like Tyrone Woodley, Rampage Jackson, Chuck LaDelle, like some of the most decorated UFC champions that have ever stepped in the cage. How do you put yourself into an arena like? that. Like how do you, what do you say to yourself when you're walking in there? I don't know. I'm going to take down the biggest dude here. I want to take down the most savage dude here. I got to work my way up. Here's the thing. Everybody in there is good. Everybody is good. Everybody's a professional. Everybody has professional fights,

professional title fights under their belt. And then there's me. And, you know, yeah, I'm an All-American. Yeah, I did some big stuff in college, but those guys are All-Americans too. That guy's a national champion, too. They don't care. You know, they've been there, done that. They're under the next thing. And so I walked in there and just started working my hardest. You know, we have my boy Slice. He's actually a Kimbo Slice Jr. And we call him Baby Slice. So, you know Kimbo Slices, right? Yeah. Yeah, his son, Kevin. And he's a savage. Dude has bricks for hands. I remember one day, I just decided like, all right, I think I'm going to put the gloves on that. I think I'm comfortable. And then he punches me in the mouth.

and I just get my brain rattled a little bit, and then I came back for more. You know, you got to have that mentality. The sport of fighting, even wrestling, once it gets to a certain level, it's not for everybody, and it can't get dangerous. That's why you have to, like, have some training. That's why you have to have some sort of skill.

I didn't know if I had that type of skill, and I didn't at first, but coach was looked like with my last coach, he was very patient with me, and very instructive and savage all at the same time. And now I feel like I'm a very round fighter. I'm actually working on a possible contract with an organization, which I'd rather not say yet that you definitely have heard of.

We can imagine what it might be. Yeah. Zion, what you've done is amazing. And I've got to tell you just from my personal experience, I want to talk a little bit about unmatched your new book, which is incredible, by the way. You did such an amazing job. I have a 14-year-old son, and we were reading it together.

And my son was in awe. He first looked at and said, Mommy, he doesn't have legs. And I said, I know sweetheart, but let's see how the story unfolds. And we keep watching. And he says, Mom, he's way more Jack than me. And it was so cute to hear the way he saw your story, right? And how did he get so strong without light? He was really trying to understand to apply it back to his life, right?

And it was such a, and with your tattoo, two, no excuses, and I want to hear about that. You know, my son with this book looked at me and he said, I don't think I can make excuses anymore, can I? And I said, no, my friend, either can I? And that was just like that. For any parent listening right now, this book unmatched, go right now to Amazon.

It's an editor's pick, by the way. I don't know if you saw that, which is unbelievable. That's amazing, like 0.00.1% of books get Amazon editors pick. But there's a reason why this book is so inspiring. It's so motivating. It's so beautifully done. And I'm just, I'm blown away by it. So thank you for writing it. If your anxiety, depression, or ADHD are more than a rough patch, you don't need just another meditation app. Takiatry makes it easy to see a psychiatrist online using your insurance in days. Takayatry is 100% online psychiatry practice that provides comprehensive evaluations, diagnoses, and ongoing medication management for conditions like ADHD. anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, insomnia, and more.

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Head to tachiatry.com slash confidence and complete the short assessment to get matched with an in-network psychiatrist in just a few minutes. That's tachiatry.com slash confidence to get matched in minutes. I feel really appreciate it. Thank you. This book, you know, when I was writing it, the whole time I was writing it, I wasn't thinking about myself, honestly. When I first got approached by Candlewick and we talked about this, you know, I'm writing two more books. And these, those books are going to be nothing like this because this book, I wanted to be very special to something that was important to me. And I told them, not that the other books aren't, but like the other books are going to tell my full story. The ends and outs, but this book, I wanted a younger audience to really understand. I want to be able to inspire a younger audience, and I want to be able to show them that like anything is possible, anything can be achieved, you know, and I felt that just with my daily interactions with kids when it comes to speaking or just out in public, I love, I love children, like honestly. And I just felt that if I could transfer that energy that I have

when I'm with them into this book, the gap of misunderstanding would be completely close. Oh, it's so true and so well done. I want to read two quick things from the book that I think are important for people to understand a little bit. This is not a heavy read. Okay, so here's one page that I just, I love. Technically, I'm disabled, but I refuse to see my body as less than whole.

There is a difference between not having legs and believing you are missing something, and I can't miss what I've never had. That is so incredibly powerful, Zion. Thank you. It's how I feel, though. It's really how I choose to live. People in this life, they don't see that bigger picture.

They don't see what's on the other side. You know, for a while, I felt like I didn't see what was on the other side either. But at the same time, I took that chance to just step outside that line, step outside the comfort zone. Even if it's just for a second, you need to get that taste of what it's like. like to really set yourself apart from everybody else. Not in a bad way, but like be your own person. Achieve your own great feats. You know, it's not about achieving what so-and-so did

or doing what he did over there. You know, it's more about what can you do. What's something that you can achieve? That's unique to you. Oh, that just hit me right between the eyes. I'll tell you that's because so often we just set a target of, I want to be like that person and achieve that goal and it has to unravel that way.

But that really, thank you for sharing that because I realize it doesn't have to be that way. And in fact, the way that you've created all your success is going a completely new path that nobody ever thought of. Yeah, and like I said before, it was a gamble. You know, I went out to California with $150 in my pocket. And it was very challenging for the last couple of years.

You know, I was back and forth between Ohio. I was like trying to set myself up. So I got like constant opportunities out in California, which is crazy because after the Ellen DeGeneres show, I was down there with my mom a whole bunch of doors open and I had a really serious talk with my mom before we were supposed to fly back to Ohio. And I was like, I don't think I'm going to come back. Like that was one of the first times in my life where I really believed I was saying. Like I really believed what I was saying. And like on a level to that extent, you know, I'm on the other side of the country, far, extremely far from home. And my mom was like, if you need anything, this let me know.

I was like, I think I got to fast forward to now. I have my own place. I have my own crib in San Diego, California, which I'm so happy about. You never have to see snow again if I don't want to. It's always going to be like up there for me. But like seriously, it's just the opportunity that opened for me and the doors that opened. It was a journey as a process. You know, I failed a lot.

I messed a lot of things up. It is a learning process. I practically went into these different types of industries when it comes to acting, being an author, being a motivational speaker, just being an entrepreneur in general. It's a tricky world. That's for sure. And I felt like I was, after a while, I felt, one, I felt like I matured over the last couple of years just navigating and experiencing new things and figuring things out,

figuring life out for the most part. I feel really confident what's about to happen this next year. Some of the things I couldn't even talk about because they're like huge. But some very special things are happening with my team and I, we're all excited. It's so exciting to see and thank you for sharing that you've had, you know, the past few years working on this. And that's all coming off of the success that you built and the tenacity that you build and the motivation and discipline that you built in your earlier years. Everything is building off this success that you've created for yourself from nothing. and with adversity, every day coming at you in so many different directions,

you just allow for no excuses, and that is the most powerful message that I think anyone can hear. Thank you. You know, when it comes to no excuses, especially with the tat on my back, the way that came around, there's like two different stories behind. The first half of the story was I really wanted a tattoo. My mom was like, you know, I get a tattoo until you're 18. And so when I finally learned that I made it to the state front, like the state championships, I was like, Ma, let me make a deal. I was like, if I win a title, for every title I win, you want me two tattoos.

But you owe me a tattoo. And it was funny. And I didn't think she would go through with it. You know, I was 18 talking out my rear end on that one. But she was like, deal. I was like, oh, okay. You know, not that I was in the sense. I really wanted to be a state chair just to my sister.

wanted to, but, you know, my family was always like to have our fun and stuff like that, but I ended up winning two titles. So my mom was like, all right, I'll buy you two tattoos. So the first one I got was her name with a crown and next one I got was no excuses. Well, it makes for unbelievable images in your book. So I will say you've got an amazing mother that made an excellent decision. Oh, yeah. Hey, my mom, she is simply amazing. Another part of why I chose no excuses is our sister coach. She was coach Percy. Percy McGee, actually. And this man was such, he's such a kind man, but at the same time, he was like our conditioning coach too. And he would make me do extra stuff just because he wanted to see how far I would go.

Like he would honestly see what my limits were. I remember I was in this match. It was a big tournament senior year. And I was going up against this dude. That was one of the top five guys in the state. Like this isn't even at like any qualifiers. It's just regular match. And, you know, we go into overtime and I had torn my shoulder a little.

bit, like a big bruise on my shoulder. And it just, I was really starting to kind of give up a little bit. And he literally like, grabbed me by my shirt, like by my singlet and like picked me up and told me like, he's like, you better not, you better not quit. And he's like, this guy, you can be, you've been hanging with him this whole time. He's like, why can't you be? He's like, you should be able to go over there and take him down. And he sits me on the ground, smacks me on my back, super hard. And it was like, no excuses. You let's go. And what happened in that? match. Dude, tried to jump over me and I caught his legs in mid-air and won the match.

It was a huge episode. No excuses for the win. That was it right there, defying. Yeah. Yeah, and it just, that moment stuck with me forever. Because, like, that was also the match. Like, as soon as I won a match like that, three different colleges that were at that tournament, like three represent, different representatives came out to me.

Three different college offers just like that. Well, this is a defining moment for me, Zion. It's been such a pleasure having you on this show. I'm so grateful for you've created. unmatched for the books that you haven't written yet, for the Netflix special and for what you're going to do next that I can't wait to see. How does everyone find you and how does everyone find unmatched? You can find unmatched. You can actually go into Target if you want to go into a target and buy it. You can order on Amazon. You can get it off Indigo. You can get it

from Barnes & Noble's off. And then to find me, my handles are, my Instagram handle is big underscore Z underscore 2020. My Facebook, Zion Clark, Snapchat, big, underscore Z97. Definitely subscribe to that. I've been doing a whole bunch of different adventures on there. A lot of funny content. YouTube, sign on Clark. All right. Well, we're going to be adding you on Snapchat. I did not know about that yet. My son is going to be extra happy. We will be cheering you on the sidelines. Can't wait to see what you do next. Ion. Keep going with no excuses. Thank you. All right. Until next week, we'll be creating our confidence. I hope you will be too.