High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 422: A Second Chance at Life with John Kriesel, Motivational Speaker & Veteran

Episode Date: April 10, 2021

If Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was writing his incredibly popular book, The Power of Positive Thinking, today he would need to add a separate chapter on John Kriesel. In 2006 Kriesel was nearly blown to shreds by a 200 pound roadside bomb in the parched sands of Iraq. He died three times and was shocked back to life. Somehow he survived through four hospitals, 35 surgeries and months of recovery. He lost both legs and suffered numerous other major injuries, but it was the loss of two close friends that hurt the most. The guy who wasn’t supposed to survive and was told he probably would be in a wheelchair the rest of his life walked out of Walter Reed Army Medical Center after nine months. His transition from military to civilian life offered many challenges, but his amazing support system, positive attitude and sense of humor allowed him to bounce back stronger than ever.   In 2010 he was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives but decided not to seek re-election when his family said they wanted to spend more time with him. He is director of veterans services for a County in Suburban Minneapolis, MN, a part-time personality on KFAN Radio, motivational speaker, and co-author of the book, “Still Standing: The Story of SSG John Kriesel,” winner of 8 national book awards.    In this episode, John and Cindra discuss: The warrior’s mindset His “second chance at life” perspective Lessons he learned in the hospital Strategies to respond to adversity and challenges Why it is essential to not compare our adversity to others HIGH PERFORMANCE MINDSET SHOWNOTES FOR THIS EPISODE: www.cindrakamphoff.com/422 HOW TO ENTER THE PODCAST GIVEAWAY TO WIN $500 CASH: www.drcindra.com/giveaway FB COMMUNITY FOR THE HPM PODCAST: https://www.facebook.com/groups/highperformancemindsetcommunity FOLLOW CINDRA ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/cindrakamphoff/ FOLLOW CINDRA ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/mentally_strong TO FIND MORE ABOUT JOHN: https://www.johnmkriesel.com/ Love the show? Rate and review the show for Cindra to mention you on the next episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-performance-mindset-learn-from-world-class-leaders/id1034819901

Hey, my name is Cindra Campoff and I'm a small-town Minnesota gal, Minnesota nice as we like to say it, who followed her big dreams. I spent the last four years working as a mental coach for the Minnesota Vikings, working one-on-one with the players. I wrote a best-selling book about the mindset of the world's best and I'm a keynote speaker and national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. And I am obsessed with showing you exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best so you can accomplish all your goals and dreams. So I'm over here following my big dreams and I'm here to inspire you and practically show you how to do the same. And you know, when I'm not working, you'll find me playing Ms. Pac-Man.

Yes, the 1980s game Ms. Pac-Man. So take your notepad out, buckle up, and let's go. This is the high performance mindset. Sean Anker said, the most successful people see adversity not as a stumbling block, but as a stepping stone to greatness. Zig Ziglar said, sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful. And one of my favorite quotes ever, J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, said this, had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. This is your host, Dr. Cindra Kampoff, and thank you so much for joining me here today on the High Performance Mindset Podcast. I am grateful that you're here, and if you know that mindset is essential to your success, then you are in the right place.

And for those of you who are just joining us for the first time, I'm a keynote speaker and an executive and mental performance coach where I work with entrepreneurs, salespeople, business leaders, and athletes. So if you are looking to level up your life and your performance and free yourself of mental roadblocks, feel free to reach out to me for a free discovery coaching session. You can send me an email at syndra at syndracampoff.com. Now in today's episode, I have interviewed John Creasel. I first listened to John Creasel several months ago as a member of the National Speakers Association Minnesota chapter. He spoke at one of our chapters and I was blown away. And I wanted to showcase his story on the podcast for all of you because I think he's an incredible example of the mindset it takes to overcome

adversity and challenges. You know, if Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was writing his incredibly popular book, The Power of Positive Thinking, I think he'd add a separate chapter on John Creasel. In 2006, Creasel was nearly blown to shreds by a 200-pound roadside bomb in the sands of Iraq. He died three times and was shocked back to life. Somehow he survived through four hospitals, 35 surgeries, and months of recovery. He lost both of his legs and suffered numerous other major injuries, but it was really the loss of his two close friends that hurt the most. So this is a guy who wasn't supposed to survive and was told he probably would be in a wheelchair the rest of his life and he walked out of Walter Reed Army Medical Center after nine months. His transition to military to civilian life offered

many challenges as you could expect. But he credits his amazing support system, his positive attitude, and his sense of humor for allowing him to bounce back stronger than ever. In 2010, he was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, and he is now the Director of Veteran Services for a county in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. He's also a part-time personality on KFAN Radio, a motivational speaker, and the co-author of the book, Still Standing, the story of SSG John Creasel. The book is a winner of eight National Book Awards. In this episode, John and I talk about the warrior's mindset, his second chance at life perspective, lessons

he learned in the hospital while recovering, strategies you can use to respond to adversity and any challenges you experience in your life, and why it is essential to not compare our adversity to others. I hope you enjoy this episode. As you're listening, share it with a friend. You can take a screenshot, copy and paste the link, and share it with somebody who you think could use a powerful message today. And we'd love to hear from you on social media.

Wherever you are on social media, just search Cinder Campoff and John Creasel, and I know you'll find us. And if you'd like to see the full show notes of this episode, along with the transcription, you can head over to cindercampoff.com slash 422 for episode 422. And if you haven't joined us already, come over to Facebook and you can join us at the High Performance Mindset Podcast Community, where you can listen to these episodes live and ask us any questions. Again, you can just head over to Facebook and search High Performance Mindset. Or if you are listening on an Again, you can just head over to Facebook and search High Performance Mindset,

or if you are listening on an iPhone, you can just scroll down to the podcast notes on the bottom, and there is a link. Without further ado, let's bring on John. All right. Hey, everybody joining us on Facebook. So welcome to the High Performance Mindset, John Creasel. It's so great to have you. I'm really looking forward to speaking with you today and sharing more about your story and what you've been through the last 20 years or so. Yeah, it's been an interesting run.

There we go. Well, maybe to start us off, John, how would you describe what you're passionate about now? I'm passionate about life, my family, just trying to make the best out of every day now. I live in Cottage Grove, just south of St. Paul, here in the Twin Cities with my wife, Kayla, and we have a now 19 month old baby girl, Chloe. And we don't even know at 18 months after that, is it just year and a half? Or do we, I don't know if we say the months anymore, but she's officially 19 months old. I work full time as a veteran service officer for a county in the Twin Cities. I am on KFAN one day a week. I'm a motivational speaker, former state representative. So yeah. So after all of that, I just focus on trying to make the

best out of every day now. Well, there we go. And I heard John speak to our NSA, the National Speakers Association chapter of Minnesota. And I was really excited about when you said yes to this interview, because I think your story is incredibly powerful and people who are listening can learn a lot from you. Thanks. So let's kind of just get started with your work. And let's just maybe start with tell us about what happened that day in 2006. Yeah so I volunteered for deployment to Iraq shortly after deployment to Kosovo and then nine months into it we were on a patrol to go check out someone had been digging in the road we were on another patrol and we got redirected because a drone spotted somebody digging in the road at checkpoint three,

four, which was about two miles from where we were at when we got the call. There were two vehicles. There was a tank ahead of us. We were fully uparmed and hungry. There were five of us in the vehicle. So we headed that direction. And I remember calling in the checkpoints from the map, letting our headquarters know our location on our way to go and and check out what this individual was doing we were we were certain that he was burying a bomb in the road because that's that's what they there's no other reason to dig in the middle of a dirt road so sure as we were almost there we got to checkpoint 33 and we rounded this corner this 90 degree turn uh for the last stretch of road before getting there and as we rounded that, I remember hearing this metallic plink, this loud, like metallic clank sound.

I was briefly knocked unconscious. I don't remember flying through the air and I don't remember hitting the ground, but I remember waking up on the ground. It was short enough after the blast. It was a short enough time after the blast that rocks were still falling. I hadn't yet opened my eyes, but I heard rocks hitting the ground, it was a short enough time after the blast that rocks were still falling. I hadn't yet opened my eyes, but I heard rocks hitting the ground, rocks hitting metal. It

sounded very much like a hailstorm. I heard my buddy yelling, what's going on? What happened? So there was a lot of chaos and confusion. I joke that I didn't want to believe what had just happened, but I've been a Vikings fan my whole life. So I'm used to the worst case scenario at any given time. It prepared me for that day. And now I won't even get into the jokes about the Vikings more. I won't kick them while they're down. I'm a diehard fan, but they've caused me a lot of heartbreak. So anyway, I didn't feel a lot of pain. I didn't feel any pain. I just felt kind of warm and itchy. I felt like I was kind of twisted in a contorted position. So I knew I'd been injured, but I didn't know how severe it was. I looked down and I saw that my, my both bones in my arm, my ulna and my radius were broken. So that was hanging there.

I was very concerned about that. So I held that against my chest. Then I looked down and saw that my left leg just above the knee was connected maybe by a piece of skin, but probably my pant leg is what was holding it together. My femur was broken and it's sticking out. My right leg below the knee looked like I stuck it in a wood chipper and was bleeding a ton. So at that point I was convinced that I was going to die. So thankfully my friends in the vehicle ahead of me, we all go through combat lifesaver training and I'm very thankful they paid attention in that class. So they came rushing back to our location. A couple of them performed first aid. One of them stayed, got up in the turret to watch our back with the main gun and keep radio

communication with the medevac helicopter as they were headed our direction and uh two of my two of my buddies worked on getting uh tourniquets on my legs stopping the bleeding getting me stabilized and uh ultimately they they saved my life so yeah it was a it yeah, it was quite the incident. It's obviously changed my life entirely. But after that, I was in an eight-day coma, medically induced. The first field hospital they had to shock me back to life three times, which I didn't know until the author of my book, Still Standing, Jim Cosmo was interviewing everyone that was involved in the incident.

And my company commander had been at the hospital when we were brought in and said that I had been shocked back to life three times. So I didn't know that until a couple of years after I got home, when we're writing the book, I learned that and thought, wow, I knew I was close to dying, but I didn't know really how close. So yeah. Yeah. Two field hospitals in Iraq, one field hospital in Germany, then back to the United States and I had a nine month recovery to learn how to use my prosthetics, multiple other life-saving surgeries. And, and, uh, 14 years later, life is, life is pretty darn good. Well, and I think, um, what I was most struck with was your ability to, um, be able to cope

with all that and, uh, to be able to, um, kind of see the good that's come from it, even though you lost two of your friends. Right? So maybe just tell us a little bit about the journey of you're in Iraq, then Germany and these, these field hospitals, and you come to the United States, you know, well, how were you feeling during that time? It was like a loneliness. Like there's, you can be in a room full of people and people that you care about. And my ex-wife was there when I got brought back. We were still married at that time. My dad and my sister and my half-brother flew out. So I had people around me, but you still kind of feel alone because it's tough. You have a warrior's mindset. You're in war, you're fighting for, you have a mission,

but you're also fighting for one another, the guys to your left and your right. Two of the guys I'm responsible for, two of my closest friends died in the blast. The rest of my guys end up having to go back into battle, doing their job day to day, the rest of the guys in the unit. And they've got a mission to carry out, you don't really get to pause and grieve, you got to get back to work. And so I felt like I'd just been yanked from the fight. And I was away from my family family that I had in Iraq. And it's just tough. And then you learn, you know, Corey and Brian died. And then on top of it, because of my pelvic injuries, I had a shattered pelvis, um, amputation just above the left knee, uh, amputation just below the right knee. So I lost both legs in the blast. Um, the things I

like to do, I like to play sports. I like to golf. I like to do all kinds of stuff that I was like, okay, that's probably never happening again. So all of this, like at once and then, yeah. All right. You got a nine month recovery. You may never walk again. What not. Um, I mean, it's a lot, it's a lot to take in at once and at 25 years old, which now I feel like it's very young. Um, it's a lot to chew on. So a couple of questions I have is, you know, just kind of talk us through how did you come to terms with that and what kind of help did they give you? I know you said you were in Walter Reed. So kind of, and I'm also thinking about what you just said, like this warrior mindset of like, don't show any weakness, right? Like be strong and tough. So, you know,

do you want to just tell us about what that recovery was like? Okay. Yeah, it was. So, I mean, as you learn all that, you have to really, it takes a bit to absorb it. And obviously learning that Corey and Brian died, that's ultimately kind of what snapped me out of my funk. I was devastated about it. It's war. So this kind of stuff happens, but ultimately I'm responsible for them. And so there is a responsibility that you feel, and I will feel for the rest of my life. And I know that it wasn't our fault. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't Staff Sergeant Nelson's fault. It's just the way it works. But ultimately it's my job to bring them home safe. And that didn't happen. So, so you have that to deal with, but it, but I realized that they're gone. And regardless

of my injuries, I got a second chance at life that they didn't get. And, and I'm pretty sure if they were given the chance, they would have, they would have absolutely said it. Yeah. I'd be more than happy still continuing my life just without a couple of legs and having recovery ahead of me. And so it really gave me perspective. And from that moment forward, I said, I I'm not going to sit and feel sorry for myself. I don't have time for it. I want to get back to Minnesota and start my life, um, and, and really kind of move on from this. Well, to do that for it. I want to get back to Minnesota and start my life and really kind of move on from this. Well, to do that, it's going to take a lot of work. And if I sit and look and dwell on the past on stuff that's already happened that I have no control over,

we're not really going to get anywhere. And so that was kind of the first thing that I was like, all right, because in full honesty, and it's another reason I'm very glad that I was awake after the blast when I was laying there and saw my injuries, heard my blood squirting into the ground. And I was like, I'm not going to survive. The fact that I did survive and I woke up in the hospital, I was like, thank God, thank God I'm alive. And so that really was like, it could be a lot worse. I still have my arms and my hands. And I just got to work my tail off to get out of the hospital and get back to Minnesota. And so, you know, I remember you saying with the NSA Minnesota folks, and I think I also read it on your website that you say you don't want to suppress that memory of your day, right? Or that

day. And it might be easy to do that. So tell us a little bit, you know, how that day fuels you now and why you don't want to suppress it. Sure. I mean, if you think about it, I mean, when I tell the story to people that a lot of times they're like, that's insane. And, and I feel the same way there's it's reality for me. So I don't think that it's ever going to change, but, but I'd still kind of hard to believe even as long as I've had to deal with it now and wear prosthetic legs and stuff. So I say in the morning when I take my shower and then I put my pants on my legs and then I put my legs on, that's a reminder of that day. And it really is because I'm, my legs are never going

to grow back. And, and thinking about that in the morning, starting my day with that is just like, you know what, Hey, I've got challenges ahead of me, but it really is a reminder of how lucky I am just to be alive. Not just, I mean, just being alive, but now on top of it, I've got a career. I love, I've got a side gig that I love speaking to people and sharing my story. I've got an amazing wife, a beautiful little daughter that I'm just so thankful to have. And so all of this is just, if nothing else, what happened to me has helped me kind of focus on life and my family and really soak in how lucky and fortunate I am. And I'm also hearing like some gratitude there, you know, that you could be wishing things would

have gone different, but that you've accepted what's happened and then just being incredibly grateful for where you are now. Do you feel like, like, tell us a bit about that journey to get to that perspective? Was it immediate? Was it a year later? You know, when were you able to kind of besides that moment where you just realized that you were lucky to be alive when you're, you know, your two buddies were, give us a sense of what that journey was like, just coming to terms with like putting this all into perspective. Yeah, it was a lot of work. And that's, that's the thing is now I feel like I've got life by the horns. And I've got everything figured out, which of course, I don't nobody does. But after after it happened, it I mean, I didn't want to talk about it. But they I was in a hospital bed

without legs, I wasn't going anywhere. And they right after I found out Corian and Brian had died, there's a doctor. Dr. Coonley came in. And he had said, tell me everything you remember about the blast. I couldn't get through a lot of it because I was very emotional. It was extremely traumatic. He's like, take your time. It's fine. I'd get through it a little bit.

And then, all right, continue when you're ready. And I would continue. And we'd get through it a little bit and then, all right, continue when you're ready. And I would continue and we'd get through it and then, okay, talk about it again. And then they set you up with, with mental health care to just talk about it and give you coping mechanisms. And so you do that on top of it without getting into the details. I, I wasn't in a great marriage at that time. I was married to someone else. So it was kind of a blessing in disguise because while I had assistance with, Hey, can you help me carry this or lift this? I had that, but I didn't have a partner. So I had to get through this alone. And I have a wonderful support system. My army buddies live near me. They

would do anything for me and they do, but I didn't want to burden them. I wanted to just kind of hold it in. It's a military thing and it may not be healthy, but it, it, it was twofold. I didn't do it obviously alone, alone, because I was talking to a psychiatrist and a psychologist, whatever, I get them mixed up. Um, and they were giving me the tools to cope and move on with my life. But at the same time, getting back to Minnesota, once I got back here is when I truly started growing as a person because I had to do things every day. I had, she would go back, she had to go back to work. I had to get the stepkids to and from school and all that. So I had things to do, but mentally and emotionally, I was very much on my own. I was on my own and I had to

figure it out and deal with it. And I'm glad, I'm glad I wouldn't change any of that. All of that stuff that goes on, it makes you a stronger person and it helps me appreciate my life a hell of a lot now. And my wife, I'm very thankful for her, my current wife. And so it is, it's a lot of work. And a lot of people are like, oh, you've made it seem so easy. I didn't, I just don't advertise when I was feeling down or something. Now I almost never feel down. I'm just a thankful guy, but everyone has their days, you know? Well, John, I appreciate you saying that there's a great Byron Katie quote, and she says, like, life happens for you, not to you. And that's the perspective that I heard you just take, right? Like, it was difficult to go through. But I mean, to say that you wouldn't

change anything, you know, is, is, you know, incredible. I was, I was not injured by the Boston Marathon bomb, but I was there. And so I had some, some, some trauma I had to go through just like being right there. But it was also the day that kind of woke me up to my purpose and what I was supposed to do. And I feel like I was kind of playing pretty small with my life then and just trying to impact people the way that I can. But it's like, I see, you know, and I wasn't injured, you know, right. Maybe more like psychological, but like physically not injured. But I still see that day is like so important in my journey. And to say that you wouldn't change anything, maybe might seem like, wow, really eye-opening to

people. So maybe dive into that a little bit more. What would you not change about it? And how has it helped you become the person you are today? Sure. And obviously, the bomb blast itself in Iraq, I would absolutely change that if I had. I just, I'm not wired to think that way because I know that I can't change it.

It's over and done with. I, I, I meant more of like my recovery afterwards and being married to who I was married to. Yeah. It hardened me, but it didn't make me where I just was dead to emotions or anything like that. No, I just, I really, I had to take the lessons that I learned in the hospital from those mental health professionals and I had to apply it. And I mean, when you're in that situation, it's like, you think when you get home from

the hospital, everything's going to be great. And I have that hope. And then I got home and it wasn't that reality. And everyone would say, how are you doing? How are you doing? Because it was a very public story, my injury and the recovery of it. Carol Levin followed me. And so I'd run into people and distant family and distant friends and be reaching out and be like, how are you doing now that you're home? And I was really spending a lot of time convincing everybody that I was great and everything was perfect. And

it wasn't, I was really looking back on it, trying to convince myself. And I didn't realize at that time that it's okay for things to not be okay. That that's normal. Everyone has challenges in their life, but it's how we cope with it, not suppressing it. And I didn't, my army buddies who I said are the closest people that I have on the planet. They were a little bit irritated at me after the fact, because they didn't realize that everything was going on in the marriage that it was. And they're like, why didn't you talk about, about that? And I'm like, well, you know, it's one of those that I have to get through it on my own. Now I realize since then what a hypocrite I am because I tell them if something was

bothering you, you got to tell me I can help you through it. We just talking about it feels good. So I learned from that and I know now that there's, there's nothing that I should be keeping from them. But yeah, but again, it did help me grow as a person. So it's, I don't regret it entirely how I handled it. Yeah. Well, I think you said something really powerful, like it's okay to not be okay.

And I know, you know, there's athletes, for example, Michael Phelps has come out recently in the last couple of years saying that, and just with his, you know, struggles with mental health issues, you know, and I think that's a really important message that you just said is like, sometimes we wanna suppress these negative feelings or just kind of like move on, but it's okay not to be okay. And just by embracing that,

then you ask for help or you get the social support that you need. Yeah, absolutely. Give us a little sense of maybe some of the tools that when you were at Walter Reed and the work that you did, give us a sense of like what helped you there. I think having physical therapy every day and having a goal, setting goals is still very important because I, once they said they had to put together my pelvis. They had to do a surgery and put bolts through my pelvis into my spine.

So then once that happened, they said, okay, I had to lay flat for like 12 weeks and let it heal. Once it healed, they said, it's healed enough that you can now bear weight on prosthetics. So from the start, it was, this is a terrible pelvic injury. We are not very sure that you're going to be able to walk again on prosthetics. So then I learned that, okay, I can wear prosthetics and we'll see what I had a goal that I'm going to walk out of the hospital. So then having that every day, like just very driven. And then after a while I would do physical therapy every morning. Then I doubled up while I would do physical therapy every morning. Then I doubled up and I would do two sessions a day because there's nothing else to do in the

hospital. Doing that kept my mind right. And I had, I was always looking forward at that, getting back to Minnesota, doing all that. And there's always, there's always something to do. There's always things that are going to help me achieve my goals. So that's what got me through the nine months at Walter Reed. So yeah, that's, I think that answers your question, perhaps. Yeah, that's great. I think, you know, like doubling down on your rehab to make sure that you could reach that goal. But I also heard like futuristic thinking, like you were thinking about what you could do what you could become right so like this kind of this thinking about your future self not just like feeling sorry for what you had right now right looking at the bright side of things trying to do that I mean now

I get the best parking spots I get to uh drive up to the green on the golf course. And again, like stuff like that when I was at Walter Reed and, and again, just kind of alone, my prosthetist, and I have to be careful how I say that he loved golf and he was like, let's go out and swing the sticks. And he brought his tools with him. He'd make adjustments to my prosthetics. So instead of just being between the parallel bars all the time, started doing that. It helped me work on my balance swinging while on prosthetics. And it kind of became a passion that now recently has been reignited. But again, stuff like that, where I would be, if it was a crappy day, I'm like,

at least I'm going to go to the golf course this afternoon after my therapies and all that. And it's going to be a great day. And so, yeah, all of it just kind of shapes you, but you have to let it, you have to let it, you have to not reject things, not reject help. And I don't know. Yeah. And I also hear like some acceptance in that, right? Like acceptance of what happened. But I'm also, John, I'm thinking about people who are listening either on Facebook Live or on the podcast. And, you know, I'm thinking about, gosh, with COVID right now, there's so much change and adversity. Maybe people are struggling with the physical injury or cancer. You know, there's so many things that we struggle with. And I just recently read a quote that said, you know, like, so many things that we struggle with. And I just recently read a quote

that said, you know, like, the problem is that we think all of our problems are unique. And that really, like, we all have the same problems. And that, that was like, I was like, yeah, you're right. You know, so what advice would you give to somebody who is going through challenge or adversity, or just coping with something right now that feels very big in their life? So it's what I try to never do is be like, is comparing someone else's adversity to mine or vice versa, because it's, it's not going to help anyone to be like, what are you crying about? You, at least you have two feet. You know what I mean? It's explaining that we all go through adversity. That is a guarantee in life.

And we all went through some shared adversity since the pandemic began. But whether it's at work, whether it's a divorce, whether it's a work issue, whether it's a family issue, whether it's something in your life, we all go through that. And it really, it's about attitude. It doesn't matter the adversity or how big or how small. What matters is the attitude you bring to the table that will help you overcome that and overcome anything in life. All right.

And for me, a positive attitude and a sense of humor, focusing on the good. Coping, my biggest coping mechanism is humor, whether it's a room full of people I've never met and it's kind of an uncomfortable situation. I like to use humor to disarm. If it's something that just, because I've been through some stuff that sucks so bad that all you can do is just laugh about it, where you're just like, I mean, words can't even explain. So having that mindset, really choosing to focus on the good. And I work hard at this now. Because we, like I said, we all go through it. And it's been a tough year for people is we all have so many blessings in our life. But a lot of times we either take it for granted, or just don't really

focus on it and appreciate it. And I try to do that every single day is just slow down and enjoy life. Appreciate my daughter. I can't believe how fast she's growing. I feel like she was just born and she's already a year and a half old. My wife, my amazing wife, how supportive she is, how excited I am at the end of the day to be able to see her and hang out with her. Those are the things. And I don't care how bad someone's life is. They all have positive things in their life. Those are the things we need to focus on. And then when you're doing that, it becomes a mindset. It becomes a habit. And then when you have a bad day, that's all it is. It's a bad day. It doesn't become a bad week, bad month, bad year. It's just a small bump in the road. Yeah. I think that's a great perspective, John. And I think, you know, from the brain's perspective, our brain is here to look for things that are wrong, right? Like when you were a soldier, and you still are a soldier, but like I'm thinking about when you were in war, like you had to look for things that were wrong to keep you safe, you know? And so our mind is

constantly looking for the danger. Yeah yeah and sometimes you don't notice the danger and then this happens but but yeah yeah but that's an excellent point it is that our mind is is i think we're kind of tailored to to like you said kind of focus on what's wrong what needs to change and let's face it our social media addiction that our society has and our addiction to getting news right now, it fuels that. It fuels that negativity is that that's what gets clicks. You know, I've noticed, for example, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Three, four weeks ago, there was all the news stories on Twitter. The links were that, oh no, it's only 85% and and and people are like oh my god this is devastating this is terrible news but if you read the article it said that after 28 days

it's 100 effective at preventing death and preventing hospitalizations that's pretty pretty darn good news to me but guess what that wouldn't have gotten clicks and so the fuels people's mind um like the news and i joke about in my speech is that you watch the news, first 10 minutes, tragedy, death, sadness, you get the other part, and because that's what gets people to tune in. And so then our minds just kind of get used to that. It's, it's, it's not good. I'm kind of the opposite. And my wife gets a little bit annoyed sometimes. I don't blame her. Like, oh, this is bad or something's bothering. And I'm like, listen, focus on the good, focus on the good. And sometimes she's like, just let me have a bad moment here. Okay. You know, I get it. Everyone greets differently, but yeah, a bad moment, but then, you know, not letting it continue to a bad day or a bad week or a bad month. And John, I was reading the stat that said, if you watch a news, the first thing in the morning, you're 24% more likely to have a bad day or report having a bad day. So, because I think you're right, like we could see, wow, it is 20 or 85% effective. You know, I mean, there's always like a different viewpoint that you could take on any situation. It's just like, are you allowing yourself to see the good? And what you said is like focusing on the good, focusing on the growth and like slowing down and just noticing

the good. I think we're in this, sometimes in this rat race that it's like, you know, we gotta be better than so-and-so and so-and-so that we don't really even take time to like appreciate the small things. And, and in psychology, we'd call this practice savoring, right? Like savor the good things in the good moments. Yes, absolutely. That's my, I, we just got back from a vacation. We went to San Diego to visit my father-in-law and, and his girlfriend went out there and I enjoy, and it's a little bit off the rails, but I'm reading this book called Golf is Not a Game of Perfect. Dr. Bob, I believe. Of course, it's one of my favorite books. And it's amazing. And it has a lot of life lessons in there too, which I love, just mindset stuff. I eat that stuff up. And my goal last year was,

I've got no legs. I'm never going to be a great golfer. I wanted to break a hundred. Well, last year I did well this year on my first round of the year, I got 93. And then the next round was 89. So I broke 90 even in looking at it. I, I was so focused when I went out there instead of like, when I golf here, a lot of times I get to the driving range and I'm like, all right, time to get perfect. Everything's got to be great and perfect. Get dialed in. Oh, there I was on vacation. Happy to see my father-in-law and his gal and be around palm trees and sunshine that I was just outside playing a game. And lo and behold, I had I tied my best round ever. And then the next round, I tied my best round ever and then the next round I broke my best round ever so I mean that shows the like you said the pressure that we yeah about whatever it is I

focused on because I knew we had just left below zero weather in Minnesota that the fact that I was outside by the ocean with palm trees golfing was a gift was it was awesome and I was outside by the ocean with palm trees. Golfing was a gift was, was awesome. And I was savoring the moment, enjoying it, not even really focusing on the game too much. And, and look what happens. Well, there we go. And I, I think to myself when I'm trying to be perfect and I really work to let go of those kinds of perfectionist tendencies, sometimes they creep in, but like, can I just be present over perfect? And I think like, that's, you know, you were just so present and in this like beautiful state of just like looking at all the,

just appreciating all that was around you instead of just like pressing or pushing so hard to play a perfect round. And then, and then you did it. Right. Yeah. You just said something like you saw it as a gift. And I heard you say this before that you think, you know, every day is a gift. How would you suggest we use that mentality? Or is there anything that specifically that you do just to continue to see the gift and even the difficult moments? Um, so for me, I've got the incident back in 2006 to really be like, I I'm on bonus time right now. That was, I shouldn't be here. Um, I'm thankful that I am, but, um, not even looking at it that way. Cause a lot of people, while we all face adversity, a lot of times it wasn't near death. Um, but just kind of looking at the fact that we live in the United States of America is

such a blessing that, of course, it's very flawed, but it's still the greatest place to live. The things that we take for granted on a day-to-day basis, the things that we complain about, people on the other side of the world would give anything to have the problems that we have. Stuff like that is just really slowing down to look at and count the blessings in our life, not waiting till Thanksgiving and the holidays to be like, you know what, I'm so thankful that I've got an awesome father-in-law. I've got an awesome friend in Tim and Todd,

the guys that helped save my life and were there for me in Iraq. Instead of waiting till the end of the year or just the time I spend with them to, to focus on that really year round being like focusing on how good is my life? How, instead of, we all have things in our life that we can say, I wish this, I wish I had this, I wish this was going on in my life, but we all have good things. And by focusing on that, like I said, it helps you really appreciate the gift it is. And, and to get even like super, super deep. I mean, how did we get here? How did I wake up with this life? You know, how did you wake up with that? And it takes a lot of work.

Of course, you had to do a lot of schooling. You had to work very hard. It didn't come without work, but if you just work, work, work, work, work, and don't really stop to be like, wow, I've come a long way, things are good. Then what was it for? You know what I mean? You're impacting lives and stuff. But also it's good. You know, the longer the climb to the top, the better the view, right? Well, what if you don't look at the view and you just keep trying to climb for something that's not there? Stop, enjoy the view and be thankful for it. That's kind of how I try to live my life. Awesome. What a great message for people, like just being grateful year around, not just when it's Christmas or Thanksgiving or when you're with a person, but look at how great your life is and all the blessings that you do have. How have you used humor in this process?

You know, you said that that was really helped you move forward. I mean, a number of ways that I think the way that I use it most often is to get other people comfortable with my situation. When I'm wearing shorts, it's very visible that I'm a little bit different than other people. And so adults try so hard not to look at my prosthetics that I'm like, it's all right. Because they're clearly uncomfortable. They don't know what to say. That's why I love kids. Kids are kids. And they'll walk by. Kids are like robot legs and their parents are like, oh my God. And I'm always like, hold on. Hey, come here,

bud. What do you have questions? I'll explain. And then the parents are like, oh my God, thank you. Well, that's, that's a way, you know, to make someone comfortable while with adults and no kids. I use humor to disarm. I use humor just because it's, if you laugh, laughing feels good. Laughing is the best medicine for, for anything. I had something earlier this week. I had an annoying day. I won't even call it a bad day. And I watched something that just made me laugh. There was some, something on Instagram. And then I watched a Netflix comedy that I stumbled across across and it made me laugh. I completely forgot about what happened that day. And again, it wasn't a big problem, but it was annoying me, you know, humor and humor making us laugh is medicine, but also I try to make other people laugh

and feel comfortable with my situation because then they're like, Oh, he is, he's just like me. He just doesn't, doesn't have legs. And that that's just kind of one coping mechanism. And, you know, from your perspective, do you, do you want people to ask you about, you know, your, the robot legs or, you know, because I think some people are hesitant, right. they don't want to make you feel uncomfortable but what uh what would you suggest that you know what would be the takeaway that you give us related to that so yeah yeah there will be people like if we're in a situation where there are even there's some there are some adults that that will ask they'll say do you mind telling me what happened and while some people might take that as rude I don't because again I enjoy sharing my story story I enjoy even if I have a tiny impact

on someone's day that maybe they'll walk away and be like life is good life is good and so just gives me a chance to kind of share quickly what happened and I don't tell the full story but I'll say yeah I got injured in Iraq and they're like oh I, I'm so sorry. And I'm like, don't be it's life is good. And I ran into someone at the golf course when I was in San Diego and they came up and asked, they're like, is this military related? And I said, yeah, briefly told them and they're like, oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you for your service. You know? And I was like, I appreciate it, but look at this beautiful weather. I'm on a golf course. Life is good, you know? And so, yeah, I feel like that because if people feel uncomfortable asking something, they act different. They're not truly themselves. And then it's not fun for anyone.

Yeah. Excellent. Well, John, I'm so grateful that you spent some time sharing your perspective. I know it's helped me like take a step back and think about all the great things in my life. I tried to practice that as well, but you know, it's like always a great reminder to take a step back. And I really appreciated just this idea of, I wrote down several notes, you know, like I liked what you said about like everyone deals with adversity, but it's about your attitude and your use of humor that really helped you when you were in the hospital, Walter Reed, you know, like this future casting where you're thinking about the future and setting goals, like helped you double down on your rehab and just this idea of being present, not perfect in golf. I'd like to, I'd

like to, I love that you're reading Bob Rotella's book and then just not taking everything, things for granted and looking for the good. Do you have any final, well, first of all, before I ask you the final advice, people can obviously go to your website. Tell us a little bit about how we can contact you for speaking or find your book? Yeah, so johncreesel.com and it's K-R-I-E-S-E-L.com is my website. On there, you can find my speaking info, my book info, a little bit more about me and ways that we can connect. I'm also on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,

all of those, Instagram. I'm most active on Twitter and Instagram. Those are some of my favorites. So yeah, I'm pretty easy to track down for people. But yeah, it's been a pleasure chatting with you. And what was it else that you wanted me to answer? Oh, here's the final question. As we wrap up, is there any final thoughts you have for us or parting thoughts?

Anything that you want to just mention, any final thoughts you have for us or parting thoughts, like anything that you want to just mention again, or anything that you would tell us to move forward within our lives? Sure, just to reiterate that I'm, I don't want people to, to look at what happened to me and go, well, at least I have legs or anything like that. No, whatever adversity you face is obviously the most important adversity in your life because it's you going through it. But a positive attitude, a sense of humor, focusing on the good things in your life that will get you through it and also make you appreciate those blessings in your life. And if you do that year round, instead of just waiting for the holidays,

when you have a bad day or a bad moment, it doesn't even become a full bad day. It doesn't become a bad week or a bad month or a bad year. You're focused on the good and it becomes nothing but a little bump in the road. And that's a mindset that we can train ourselves to get in. And then when we do have a little bit of adversity, we can shrug it off and move on and grow from it. Awesome. Thank you, John, for being here today on the podcast. I'm grateful for you. You got it. Thanks for having me. Enjoy the rest of your week. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to

subscribe and you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and to join my exclusive community for high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.