High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 454: Vision, Mindset and Grit with Scott Burrows, Keynote Speaker

Episode Date: September 12, 2021

Today on the podcast we hear from Scott Burrows who has an unforgettable, life-changing story that proves that Limits Can Be Exceeded, Barriers Broken and that No Circumstances Can Ever Destroy the Power of the Human Spirit. By the age of 19, Scott was playing football at Florida State University and was a Top-Ranked kick-boxing Black Belt champion, having his last fight broadcast by ESPN. That same year, however, his life changed dramatically. He was involved in a horrendous automobile accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down and diagnosed a quadriplegic. Despite his grim diagnosis, he refused to be sidelined. Today, as an Author, Motivational Speaker, Wheelchair Athlete and Successful Business Entrepreneur, he travels the world inspiring organizations to Stand Up to Any Challenge. He also wrote a book, Vision-Mindset-Grit, which details his journey. In this episode, Scott and Cindra discuss: The life-changing advice he got from his dad in the hospital The power of forgiveness Why “letting is happen” is important Why we all need impossible goals to pursue How to improve our vision, mindset and grit HIGH PERFORMANCE MINDSET SHOWNOTES FOR THIS EPISODE: https://www.cindrakamphoff.com/429-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2/ 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 IRIS AND HER WORK: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iriszimmermann 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 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 Miss Pac-Man. Yes, the 1980s game Miss 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. Roy T. Bennett said, your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end. And Scott Burroughs, who I highlight on the podcast today, said, I never stopped believing in what I could do. I visualized the end result. Today on the podcast, we hear from

Scott Burroughs, who has an unbelievable, unforgettable, life-changing story that proves that limits can be exceeded, barriers broken, and that no circumstance can ever destroy the power of the human spirit. By the age of 19, Scott was playing football at Florida State University and was a top-ranked kickboxing black belt champion, having his last fight broadcasted by ESPN. That same year, however, his life changed dramatically. He was involved in a horrendous automobile accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down and diagnosed as a paraplegic. Despite his grim diagnosis, he refused to be sidelined. And today, as an author, motivational speaker, wheelchair athlete, and successful business entrepreneur,

he travels the world inspiring organizations to stand up to any challenge. He wrote a book, Vision, Mindset, and Grit, which details his journey. And in this episode, Scott and I talk about the life-changing advice he got from his dad in the hospital after the accident, the power of forgiveness even if it's several years later, why letting it happen is important for all of us, why we all need impossible goals to pursue, and how we can each improve our vision, mindset, and grit. I know you're going to enjoy this one. I can't wait to hear from you. You can reach out to me by sending me an email at cindra at cindracampoff.com.

Would love to hear what you think about the podcast. And if you have any guests you'd like me to interview. And if you'd like to see the full show notes, along with a transcript of this interview, you can head over to cindracampoff.com slash 454 for episode 454. And if you haven't already, we'd love for you to join us on Facebook. We have a Facebook community over there called the High Performance Mindset Community, where we go live with these interviews on the podcast. So we'd love for you to check that out and join us over on Facebook at the High Performance Mindset Community.

All right, this is a good one. Without further ado, let's bring on Scott. Thank you so much for joining me, Scott. I'm so excited to talk to you here on the High Performance Mindset. How's your day going? It's going great this morning. Thank you so much. How about you? It's going great this morning. Thank you so much. How about you?

It's going great. It's the beginning of September here, and we spoke last month in Fargo, and I got to see you live, which was incredible. And I've seen you a few times speak, and I'm just really excited to have you on the podcast today. Thank you so much. So let's get started and tell us a little bit about what you're passionate about, Scott. These days, my passion is speaking. It's been that way for the last 15 plus years. I was a late bloomer in the speaking industry, so to speak. One of those personal interest story guys that corporate America seems to enjoy my messaging. And, and, but I, I, when I dove into it back in 2002 and really went and I went deep into it, it was, it's been a wild ride.

It's taken me all over the world. Spoken to Fortune 500 companies all the way down to associations. But it's just great. I mean, I focus on the keynoting. I open and close conferences. I try to do my best to create a nice personalized experience. So it's unique to that one particular client. But that's what my passion is, getting my messaging out. Yeah, that's what I saw when I saw you speak live last month.

I thought it was really personalized. And I thought all eyes were on you, locked on you. It was incredible. So just to kind of the cold weather when I was eight years old. He uprooted the family down to Stewart, Florida, which is just north of West Palm Beach. And I was an athlete back in the day. I played football as in kickboxing and golf and track. And then I went to college. I went to Florida State University as a walk-on wide receiver. No scholarship was offered. I was there under Bobby Bowden, you know, God rest his soul. He just recently passed away. We're the legend. But I, I played for about a year and a half, and then I was involved in a really bad car accident as a passenger. And my friend ran off the road one night and hit a mountain of sand. He survived. I broke my neck, cervical six and seven vertebrates, and was diagnosed a quadriplegic with a very serious

spinal cord injury. So my life basically changed as I knew it at 19. I was kind of forced right into change. And from that point forward, I did the rehab thing and fought really hard for about six months after I was being told that I would never stand again, more or less take a step, I turned an impossible goal into a reality. And so I can, I'm one of a few of those walkers that are out there these days, but I was told told I would never that would never happen in my situation so I did that and then I got in the insurance and financial industry once I graduated college and specialized in disability income insurance planning and which I really had a lot of passion for a buddy of mine turned me on and he goes if you want to make a difference in people's lives, turn lemons into lemonade, use your story as a backdrop to talk to people about why they should consider insuring

their income. You know, usually that's one of our most prized assets, but everybody insures everything else, but their income. So I did that and became real proficient at it and had a great ride. Oh, wow. There's so many things I could ask you as a follow-up, Scott. So I guess the first question is, tell me what it took when you were in rehab to learn to walk again. And what do you think it took from a mindset perspective, especially? Great questions. I guess I have to go back first and foremost, when you look at your upbringing, I was pulling, I was looking back in my own life to pull anything out of experiences, what I learned, what coaches taught me to apply it to a situation that

no one that I knew had ever been through. And, you know, my dad had a phrase when I was first injured, he said, let it happen. And what that meant to me was this, by not resisting the experience of change, being paralyzed and letting it happen, that you'll find a way to navigate through it. And that, interesting enough, became a really big piece of my mindset to let go, accept what is, and move on. Now that's easier said than done. Don't get me wrong. But that's kind of what I did. So mentally, I forged forward and believe that if I don't give up on my training, don't give up on what I believe that I can accomplish and try to, you know, not be distracted by doctors. I did have one doctor

tell me that basically I won't progress no matter if I'm getting some movement back in my arms. And I get that because what most people don't know is that when you're diagnosed with quadriplegic, you don't have to necessarily be injured as severe as Christopher Reeve. He couldn't move from his shoulders down, but if you damage your spinal cord, of which he didn't, he severed his. So I damaged mine. And most people who are quads damage their spinal cord. But it's so sensitive that once you just make it a little bit, it can put you in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. And that's just how complex a piece of flesh is back there. So that tendon, spinal cord. Anyways, I, so I just

kept, I kept focusing really really hard I had therapists that were pushing me day in and day out and I just never stopped believing what I could achieve and from a visual perspective I kept visualizing myself accomplishing the end goal daily yeah wake up with that I wanted a sense I wanted to feel it on the inside what it would be like to turn the impossible dream into reality, to stand, to step. I mean, that was a driving force that really kept me going. Yeah. So I was coachable and I was very, very coachable on the way with my therapists. I didn't resist what they shared. I wasn't, I didn't know. I just, I took what they gave me. I took what I

had from my, my, my prior experiences in sports and coaching. And I applied all of that into this toolbox and kept pulling it from it. So. Well, I'm hearing like two high performance mindset practices there, like let it go. I think you said, let it happen, not being resistant to change. And I think we can kind of hold the outcome so tightly. And then I heard just like believing and visualizing the outcome. How did you at that point not listen to the doctor who said, you know, you won't make any progress? How did you kind of,

you did? Well, I, you're, you're, you're ill So what, Sandra saw me speak, as she mentioned, and there was a doctor at one point when I started moving my wrist and, you know, my fingers were paralyzed. I could move my wrist and it allowed me to pick up things with my index finger and thumb, which are paralyzed. And so I was getting movement back. So I was getting excited about the idea that, Hey, you know what, the prospect of me fighting and not giving up, maybe I can turn a dream, a new dream into reality. And, uh, my one doctor said, Hey, look, you know, I understand your mindset where you are. I understand your upbringing, college football,

et cetera, but you need to understand as serious of your spinal cord injury and come to realize that the movement you're getting back in your arms is not uncommon for quads but it is as good as it will ever get for whatever reason and i can't explain it i found myself buying into his words i went into a deep depression it was real severe it was four days a nosedive i didn't reach out to my parents. I was, I checked out and it took my dad four days later to get on an airplane from Florida to fly to Denver, Colorado, of which we didn't have a whole lot of money. So he's borrowing money to make this. He shows up the next day after he got ahold of me to have a word with that doctor. And that was a turning point for me. I mean, that really got me back on track. And I was blessed to have a dad and a mom, but to do something like that, because if they didn't show up, I'd like to think I would have plowed through it on my own. But that's just, you know, we're guessing. Yeah, yeah.

I was in a really bad place. Yeah. And I appreciate, I just got goosebumps as you were talking about that because I think a lot of people can relate and maybe it's not, you know, our ability to walk, you know, but we can, we can all maybe listen to what other people say and put limits on us because we all have that in some way. And I think it's powerful that you had the social support to help you get out of that. And it sounds like it wasn't easy, right, to be able to walk again. And I'm also curious about how did you heal yourself during that time? I mean, I could imagine that you could get into victim mode pretty easily and, you know, blame, blame your, your buddy and your friend and, um, feel like, you know, why me? So how did you not get stuck

in that place? And did you ever feel like you were in that for a while? I was definitely in that for a while. I wasn't the victim. I, uh, first and foremost, um, so your audience members can know is that, uh, the accident I was involved in, we were 19 years old as a sophomore in college. It was a getaway weekend at St. George's Island, south of Tallahassee, Florida, on those beautiful white sand beaches. And when we got there, we started to underage drink, which we were all doing it. And it was one thereafter, a friend of ours said, Hey, do the two of you mind taking a ride down the beach, find some more firewood to keep our bonfire burning all night long. As a team player, we said, sure, why not? Jumped in,

didn't think anything of it. We got our firewood on the way back. My friend, Ed lost control of the wheel of his car, hit him on onto sand, everything changed. So two things. One, I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. And seatbelts were not mandatory in Florida back in 1983, 84. So I wasn't really, you know what I mean? That wasn't, you were encouraged to wear them, but it wasn't mandatory. But I was underage drinking and no seatbelt. So I immediately took 50% of the responsibility.

So I never played the victim mode. Now my friend Ed had a really tough time and he distanced himself from the accident from me for a really, really long time, decades, literally decades. And it wasn't until I know I'm jumping ahead here, but it wasn't until I started speaking that I wrote my book, Vision, Mindset, Grit, subtitle, How to Stand Up When Life Paralyzes You. I reached out to Ed, I found him on Facebook and we actually connected. And I mentioned, I'm going to put his first name in the book. And it's about the power of forgiveness story where I actually forgave him decades later verbally in terms of what happened. It changed not only me and my perspective on things, but it really helped him as well.

So I know I jumped there, but the victim thing was big. On the why questions, I did indeed say why in that world did this happen? Why did this happen to me? Being paralyzed, why is life so difficult? I had a great thing going prior. And what really got me out of that was what I learned in karate. I was a first degree black belt in Pai Lam Kung Fu and the martial arts, they teach you a lot of different life lessons, life lessons. But one for me was, they get you talking to these, these what questions they want you to go, what, what don't I know? What am I missing? And what can I practice next? And you begin to realize as these what questions open your mind to seeing the world,

life, as well as your challenges from a different perspective. And I share that with you because when I was sharing the why questions, and if you ever ask why during the tough times in life, maybe right now you're unemployed because of COVID-19 for whatever reason, you know, the why questions don't offer you a solution to the, so through the study of martial arts, I realized that the questions we need to be asking ourselves during the tough times, times of change, times of adversity are the what questions as in what can I learn and what can I gain by embracing adversity as opposed to resisting it. And on stage, in my book, I talk about when you are in that mode of asking that why question

and you catch yourself doing it, in that moment, roll the why question into a what question. And the beautiful thing about the what question, they trigger action. It's an action-driven question and the what questions tap in the right side of your brain, the creative side. And when you're being a little more creative, it can help you problem solve and innovate. And it can help you find the silver lining, the win in any experience, as difficult as it may be, as opposed to you dwelling and obsessing and all the overwhelming and negative things that can come out of it. So I had to switch my mindset to go more positive than focus on the whys. And that was a big help for me. Yeah. And I'm thinking the why question is so judgment, right? Like judgment oriented

judgment of ourself or our circumstance when many times our circumstance we can't control. And the what I like what you said about it's action oriented. So I'm curious about that, that meeting with your friend, you know, decades later, before you're writing a book, I could imagine that was a really powerful meeting. Maybe you're a little nervous about it. And maybe give us a little insight on the power of forgiveness and what that what that's done for you. So I want to I got to back into this. It was two years after I saw after the accident that Ed, we bumped into each other. But first and foremost, he never called when I was first hurt. He never visited the hospital. So that was a really tough thing

for me to also cope with. So when I saw him at a college football game, two years later, I was with a really good friend of mine, Brendan McCarthy, and Ed passed us with three or four friends. And we happened to notice each other. We were 20 yards away. We made eye contact. We nodded. Then he turned around and he walked into the direction. And it was then that I felt anger running through my veins at a level I've never experienced before.

And that night as a young kid trying to struggle with his emotions and what he'd been through, I found myself drinking way in excess, hoping to forget. Now, my buddy, Brendan, who was not drinking that night, he was a great wingman. He got me home. And when he did, I said, look, if I can't get through this, let my mom know that I love her. I was going there. When I woke up the next morning, I recall what I said. I usually ask people, has anything ever happened to you in your own life professionally as well that you believe

has been unfair or unjust? And most people have. And then I'll say, this is when I made a decision yet again to let it happen, to let go of the anger and let it move through me as opposed to defining me for the rest of my life. So that's how I got through the Ed, the anger created separation. I knew that he wasn't going to become my friend again. I just, it wasn't in the cards, easier to stay away, absent-minded, fine. So decades later through Facebook, I went looking for him when I was writing the book. When I found him, I friended him a few months later he sends it uh he sends the um he accepts a friendship request plus a text note and the note said something like this scott it is so good to hear from you there's not a day that goes by that i don't think of what happened in saint george's

island all i wish i could do is change what happened but because i cannot i've literally been riddled with remorse and guilt. Now, when I heard those words in the back of my mind, I heard the words eases pain. Same words Kevin Costner heard in the field of dreams. And when I texted Ed back, I said, look, if I could wave a magic wand and change what happened November 3rd, 1984 at 10 o'clock at night, I'm not quite sure that I would change it. Wow. And now I don't expect anybody to understand that, but how the choices and decisions that I made in my life at that point, in spite of being a walking quadriplegic, and yes, I still, I can walk with a cane. I still use a wheelchair for distances and things of that nature.

I've had a really enriching and rewarding life. Differently, I might add, but I embraced it and I welcomed it. Never blamed God for it. I'm a Christian. I'm just mentioning, but I have faith that things happen for a reason. And perhaps this was the reason for me to share my story, write a book, and maybe influence other people's lives, to challenge them both personally and professionally. And then, so I, in a text back, I thought Ed was also hoping I would forgive him for never being there. And that's when I made a

decision to forgive him. And in doing so, I felt a weight come off of me that was actually inside of me, I suppose. And I know that he got it, he read it. And then he posted a note on his Facebook about the experience. And that was his way to verbally communicate it to people. And yeah. And so that was, so the power, I always tell people that, so I just said, I just did a conference for the health, the California healthcare services. Now I did a conference for the California Healthcare Services. Now, I did a keynote for them virtually about three weeks ago, and it was broadcast to 1,200 people, and they

deal in the substance abuse disorders. These are doctors and counselors, and they're working with people who are addicted to opioids. You know, pregnant children, they're teens that are, you know, eight months pregnant, and they're, they're, they're on heroin. I mean, it's, it's, it's wild. We did a live q&a afterwards. And the power of forgiveness was real big on some of the q&a questions that came back. And someone goes, would you forgive someone who's already dead? And I go, I've never heard that before. I've never experienced it before. However, I think, yes, I would. Because one, what you feel, you can only assume the person who's no longer with us in some crazy way in our lives work or that they would understand that

and know that so to speak. Goodness is powerful. It is strong. I think be the bigger person and go there. And the benefit of what comes out of it, it's just,, it's, it's, it's, it can change you. Yeah. And I also heard you say that this weight lifted off you. So I think that's the benefit of forgiveness, right? Is, is what the work inside, um, Scott, I don't know if you've

ever heard of this quote, it's by, uh, Byron Katie and it's go something like, everything in life happens for you, not to you. And that's the quote that I thought of when I heard you say that you wouldn't change anything. Yeah. And I think, I think you're right, you, you blew my mind. When you said that, right? That, you know, maybe in some way, these difficulties have happened for you. Tell us a little bit about, I guess, at what point you kind of felt like, okay, I wouldn't change anything and, and why tell us a bit more about that. Well, as a result of speaking, as a result of the injury, my dad made sure that I went back to complete college. I could not go back to Florida State University where I was playing college.

I was a walk-on wide receiver. I was Mr. September. I was the only freshman on this calendar. I was in a fraternity. I had a girlfriend from high school who went with me to college. And I just felt if I went back in a very different shaped body, I was 140 pounds. I was skin and I was skin and bones. And I just knew that the life I had prior, it would have been just in front of me. I don't know if I could have gotten through that. So I think I needed time to heal. And then some of my

friends from the university of Florida, they took me in. So I transferred there. And help me again, real quick. I don't want to lose my train of thought on the question you just simply asked. You were talking about how power forgiveness and why I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change anything because of these new decisions and choices that I made. I went back to college. I was hurt. I got my finance degree. I moved to Tampa. I joined Northwestern Mutual Life. I became a top insurance and financial producer specializing in disability income, insurance planning. I set huge goals for myself, impossible ones. One was to qualify for the million dollar round table, which is a 100% commission driven award that less than 8% of my peers achieve on an annual basis.

Worldwide peers representing 500 companies in 70 countries it took me five years to get that number and I influenced a lot I impacted lives going forward with their insurance and their finances and things of that nature so I was able to use my story what happened to me to turn a negative into a positive right so that was a rewarding experience for me that's why I wouldn't change that. And then I was involved in another accident in my fifth year, a fender bender, but it forced me out of the business. But two things happened. One, there was a gentleman in my general agency where I was working who was suggesting that I go to a wheelchair to basically be in outside sales. And I was very proud of the fact that I could walk with a cane, turtle pace.

The second accident, there was more harm, some things I had to contend with, and they just felt that going to a wheelchair would be the best bet. And I knew in the back of my mind it would be, but I couldn't do it at 28 years old. I thought that would be, I'd be going backwards and forward. So I left the insurance and financial industry at that time after coming off this incredible experience, growth being recognized by my peers around the world to start over. But when I was doing it, there was a guy by the name of Charlie Plum. Charlie Plum's a speaker. He was a Navy pilot shot down behind enemy lines, prisoner of war for six years in the same camp as John McCain. I heard Charlie speak at Northwestern Mutualized Annual Conference.

He wasn't an insurance and financial guy. He just moved 4,000 people to tears. But it was about his perspective on challenges and putting them in perspective for you. And I thought to myself, man, I could see doing that for the rest of my life. I didn't know how to do it though, but I morphed into that industry and that business and traveling the world and speaking and who you get to meet.

And I don't know if I'd ever speak if I wasn't hurt. So that's another reason why I wouldn't change certain things. So don't get me wrong. Is my life easy today? Nope. Do I wake up with aches and pains? Yep.

Do I wish I could shoot basketball? Yep. Because I still have a 28 year old mind that is still active, active. The body isn't following through. However, I did play full contact wheelchair rugby, aka murder ball, which is a documentary. And it's a Paralympic sport. Actually, thes just came in second place in uh japan i think japan yeah tokyo in tokyo and uh but i i i did that and i just do different things to live a different life but i was so blessed that i was able to kickbox my last fight was on espn before i got hurt i got to play college football as a walk-on receiver not even even a scholarship guy. So I did some cool things as an able-bodied and I did some cool things as a disabled guy. And, you know, life, excuse me, is different.

It's interesting. But those are reasons I wouldn't change it because of I believe this was God's plan. This is the way. And I've just embraced that. If that's kind of answering your question. Yeah, that absolutely answers my question. And I appreciate you going into more detail there. And so you had a second accident that, you know,

no longer working with North Western Mutual. And okay, you decided to start the speaking adventure. Tell us a bit about what that was like just to restart one more time and your perspective on that. I can back into another way to get you there. Speaking was the first thing. And, and I thought about that. I didn't know how to put it into action. I was stumped. I was reading some books at Barnes and Noble speaking, go rich.

I didn't have a mentor. I didn't have guidance to do it. At the same time, I'm trying to figure this out. During the second accident, my little brother, Mark calls me out of nowhere. He wants to expand his golf course fertilizer business from Florida into Southeast Asia. And I said, why there, Mark? He goes, I got a customer out of Chicago to the golf course superintendent's job for Laguna National Country Club in Singapore. A 36-hole golf course. He's got about 1.1 million to spend each year on fertilizer, but he was a kicker. He wants custom blended fertilizers designed specifically to meet the needs of his golf course based on soil testing, something the Asian suppliers on that side of the world could not figure out how to do. He goes, if you guys can, the business is yours.

I did my due diligence. I realized my brother was on to something really special. And I spent about two months making a decision. So I pulled the trigger and we did it. We built a multimillion dollar company over 20 years and we disrupted an industry in Southeast Asia. And about 10 years into that is when I decided to figure out the speaking thing. So it wasn't speaking right away. Speaking was there. I was

doing it a little bit, Rotary Clubs. I just couldn't figure it out. But my energy was building a new business with my brother, Mark. And I didn't have to travel. I was out of the home. He was the one traveling to Asia. So it was kind of a perfect fit because I didn't have to be an outside sales, so to speak. But then about five or 10 years later, the business is going great. I was like, man, I really want to speak. And I found someone by the name of Art Berg, who's no longer with us. Art Berg was a quadriplegic. I reached out to him in Utah. He sent me his marketing material. He gave me so much insight. And then I started to focus my energy and building that business as well. And then, so we actually sold the company, the fertilizer business, and then I started morphing into the speaking business.

So I've had multiple careers here. Yeah, that's what I'm hearing. Yeah. So it's been an interesting ride along the way. I'll let you ask or let you catch up first. I can continue. I was going to say multiple successful different careers. And I guess tell us a little bit about why you chose vision, mindset, and grit. I could imagine given your story, but why those three in particular? So I'm going to give credit where credit's due because I don't take all the credit. So Jane Atkinson happens to be a consultant, if you will, for speakers in Canada, you're shaking your head. You might know. Yes. Yes. We've had her on the podcast.

There you go. So Jane Scott, and I worked with her for several years too. So she's very good. Yeah. So what was, what was interesting was this was there was a, I was referred to her. They said, look, if you really want to, you need to look at your website to find your messaging, et cetera. So I, Jane, I sent her a DVD. She saw my presentation about 20 years ago and made a couple of things. She was like, how I can help you. And, and, and she goes, well, I watched your video and she's like, what,

what were your three or four or five key points again I go you just watched it yeah but I forgot well it's determined risk-taking is why it's this and that and she goes yeah yeah and then she told me about a uh it was a um it was like a p it was a pow who spoke at a conference and she goes he spoke five years ago and there were five amazing keynote speakers I remember him because he kept pounding on the podium in terms of being able to communicate via Morse code to other prisoners. But that stuck in her mind. And she goes, when I think of you, she goes, you also mentioned vision. It's an overly used word in the industry, but it's fitting for you because your background mindset

same thing but she goes when I think of you you know you had to get just knee deep in the therapy and it's like you were just scraping everything I think of grit I'm like grits like grit you eat and she goes no grit I'm like I never heard it as expressed this way before she goes vision mindset grit I think grit would be the encompassing piece to you. And I was like, really? So I had an event four days later in Denver, actually at the Hyatt in Beaver Creek, Colorado. And I go, I'm using it.

No, don't do it, Scott. I go, no, no, no. I want to fail. I fail on stage the best. So I'm really good at just trying new things live. So Jane helped me help create the vision mindset grit formula then she said um if you want to take your speaking business to the next level I would consider investing into a uh um Lou Heckler he's a uh presentation and and skills

coach for speakers so we're reaching out to Lou and he's like, yeah, for $5,000, I'll drive in for the week. I'm like, $5,000, that's a lot of money, man. And so what Lou did, I sent him my DVD and he came back and goes, here's how I can help. And he asked me, do yourself a favor, add up all the I's that you haven't transcribed, add up all the I's.

He goes, I did, but I want you to do it. So I took the time. I did it. I go 80% of my, it was huge. It was an I speech. It was all about I, and he goes, here's the most difficult thing for speakers. How do you tell your story in a you and we language? It's the most difficult thing you could possibly do. And here's a, here's a real quick example. In some of my speeches, I'll take the audience on a ride with me. I do every time a journey, but what I'll say is this is my last run. So I'll say me and Ed, we got the beach and he challenged me to a foot race. And I'll look at the audience and I'll say, imagine you being there on that beach and hearing

the word go. And the first thing you can feel is that cool night air blowing through your hair. And with each step, you can feel sand gritting its way between your toes. And as you lean across an imaginary finish line, you can even taste salt in the ocean air. That was one of my best runs. But I didn't realize it turned out to be my last. And the reason the you language there is important is because whether you realize it or not, your subconscious mind begins to live my story as it's happening now,

even though it happened 36 years ago. My mom was in the back of an audience at a MetLife conference, had about 80% women at the Grand Ole Opry up there in Nashville. My mom was in the back. And as I was telling that story, she was looking down and afterwards, she goes, women were moving their toes.

Wow. They were moving their toes in the sand, as you could see. So that's just to give you the power of the U language. So I give a lot of credit. I still do to Lou and Jane for being my, I'm a very coachable guy. I learned that from, you know, back in the day. And if you are not coachable, not shame on you, but I would open up the idea of being coachable because your idea is not always the best idea. It's taking a risk, running a pilot program and

seeing if a new idea that you heard and infusing it into your business, if it works, if it doesn't, it's okay. You gave it an opportunity. You thought it actually might work or whatever. So Scott, what I love about that is that you're willing to ask for help, right? To help you get to the next level. And I think that's so important for everybody who's listening is, you know, how, who can you hire? Who can you invest in to help you get to the next level? The really weird thing is that Scott, we have a lot of people in common because when I got back from

influence in July, guess who I hired to help me step up my stories. So here we go. Remarkable because there's a story and you heard the story when you saw me speak a few weeks ago. And I always use it because Lou's like, how do you take your speech, your story, and you're going in this direction? And now you want to go in that direction. You've got to have buffer stories in between. And one buffer story that I absolutely love and have been sharing it out for so many years is my Helen Hunt story. And the Helen Hunt story, I talk about, I'm with the audience, I talk about, you know, once you know what you're fighting for, your vision,

you're, you know, don't be afraid to stretch yourself a little further. And I'll say to them this, I say, the actress Helen Hunt was in a movie with Jack Nicholson. It was called As Good As It Gets. And she won an Oscar. And afterwards she was in an interview and the gentleman goes, Helen, how did you win the Oscar? We hear you being offered different types of movie scripts.

My question is, is how will you go about choosing which one best suits you and she said i'll go with what scares me wow wow if you think about that one for a moment professionally what are you willing to do today to go with what scares you to take you to the next level and that was just a transition story that i learned from lou to take my story going from one direction and going to a completely different direction and going to a completely different direction. And with any great coach, if you're a good student, then you start building your own stories and learning new things and wrapping it in. But I learned a lot from Lou, you know, he's, anytime I'm writing, I'm always writing and thinking of the principles that he

taught me. So congratulations and good luck with that. He's amazing. So thank you, Scott. So when you think about vision and mindset and grit, I think you've given us a lot to think about today. And thank you for sharing your story. I'm curious about how would you say, you know, what would be your advice on how do we keep growing our vision? Maybe we take one, one at a time, but how do you keep growing your, your vision, your mindset and your grit? Well, I think from vision perspective, you got to be willing to articulate a compelling vision, articulate a compelling vision that actually entices you to take action. You know, I'm getting ready to speak to a provincial Singapore to their financial consultants. And it's their last quarter. It's a final run to qualify for the million dollar

round table. Some of those folks are 50% behind the eight ball, you know? So maybe I can answer it this way with that particular audience. And if you, depending where you are in your life is that one, you've got to have that. You got to create that compelling vision that entices you. You got to believe in the next three months that you're going to turn an impossible dream into reality, even though you're 50% behind the eight ball. Mentally, you've got to simply prepare things and be open to making adjustments and reinventing and not being able to try new

things to get you there. Evaluating your processes, what's working, what's not working. And the grit, my friend, I know we both talk about it, but it's how bad do you really want it? Are you showing up before work, before your employees get there or your coworkers get there? Are you living afterwards? How committed are you? How much sacrifice are you willing to put forth? Because it's hard work.

Grit is nothing but hard work. It's your willingness to persevere, to be resilient in the pursuit of reaching your goals this day, this week, this quarter, this month. When all else beckons you to give in, quit, or even worse, maintain the status quo. And so I think if you think of some of those things and apply them to, if you want to finish a book, if you want to go back to school and take a computer class and change your career, if you want to hit new numbers, overcome challenges, I just find the principles of vision, mindset, grit laid out that way, so to speak, it's a great foundation

to help you achieve. But it's, you know, it's a commitment you make to yourself. You got to hold yourself accountable, can't be the victim, you can't say the stock market to this, a competition to this, it's it's you got to be willing to make adjustments along the way, reinvent, focus on your strengths, and try to improve your strengths to overcompensate for some of the, I lost my train of thought there, but focus more on your strengths than your weaknesses is what I like to say. Wonderful, Scott. having that vision that you can articulate that a compelling vision that you're really going after and grit and pushing towards that despite the obstacles. But you know, the vision, I don't want to interrupt with the vision thing. It's, it's not just articulating it. It's living it in your mind. It's actually tasting the end result in your mind, feeling it emotionally, what that would be like,

how would your life change as a result, or just something that says, could you imagine at the end of the day, what it would be like to turn an impossible dream into a reality. And when you actually do that or come darn near close and that you put forth the effort, things change inside of you. And then you believe you can accomplish even more. Your next goal is going to be different than what it would have been prior. Yeah. I can see that in your life. You know, it's like the impossible might be learning to walk again. And then, you know, you've built all these really incredibly successful careers. Scott, is there anything that we haven't covered that you'd like to share with the audience? Oh, I don't know. I, um, be coachable, invest in yourself, find humor within we're all going through this whole COVID thing. That's

never ending. It seems. And, uh, if you can find a way to laugh from time to time, watch a comedy, read a book, hang out with people, make you laugh. You know, I think we all know that it releases an endorphin in your mind, you feel good about it. But sometimes you got to be able to laugh in the toughest of times just to put things in perspective to keep you going. And that's one thing that's helped me along the way too. You talked today about going after impossible goals. I'm curious if you have an impossible goal you're going after right now? Wow, the right now, that's a great question because it's like, I want to tail end of my career. So I think a possible goal would be is how I want to spend

my retirement and then bring in speaking when I want to speak. It's kind of that blend going forward. So kind of create a balance where you're not marketing 24 seven and still bring enough business where you want to do that, but enjoy retirement and travel and do some cool things that I want to do with my life. That sounds wonderful. Well, Scott, tell us how we can follow along with your journey. Where can we get more information about you and your speaking? Yeah, my website, scottburrows.com, S-C-O-T-T-B-U-R-R-O-W-S.com. A lot of information there. There's videos we drop and we have, we do blogs weekly. I got a book out there. It's titled Vision Mindset Grit. It's downloadable to your device and we sell it in hardback and you can find that on Amazon or other, you just Google Vision Mindset Grit, you'll find that. Thank you so much, Scott. Thank you for having me.

Yeah, such a powerful conversation and a really powerful story. I think for me, the parts that I'm really taking from today is when you said like, let it happen. And the advice that you got from your dad was really powerful. And just that you wouldn't change anything. And just, you know, how you have this unbelievable focus and you've built several careers. It's really inspiring. So thank you so much for being on the High Performance Mindset.

You're welcome. We're all grateful for you. Thank you. 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.