Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - What Wrestling Taught Me About Pain, Purpose & Pushing Through | #Success - Ep. 21

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

In this episode of The Russell Brunson Show, I take you behind the scenes of my annual return to the wrestling mat… A ritual that’s become one of the most important parts of my life! You’ll hear the entire journey leading up to this year’s tournament: the late-night practices, the 25-pound weight cut, the broken sauna, the two dislocated arms, and yes… the back-to-back bicep tears (both arms!). It’s crazy. It’s painful. And I’d do it all over again. Because this isn’t just about wrestling, it’s about doing the thing that makes you feel alive. Whether that’s building funnels, writing books, or chasing down a long-lost passion from your youth… This episode is a reminder to stop waiting, stop playing it safe, and start living. Key Highlights: Why I wrestle every year (and how it impacts every part of my life) The brutal (and hilarious) reality of cutting 25 pounds in 5 days What two torn biceps taught me about pain, purpose, and joy How I used mindset to show up in Hawaii as a better husband and dad — even while suffering in silence Why the risk of getting hurt shouldn’t stop you from doing the thing you love This one’s not about marketing. It’s about meaning! If you’ve ever felt stuck, bored, or burned out, this episode might just be the wake-up call you didn’t know you needed. https://sellingonline.com/podcast https://clickfunnels.com/podcast Special thanks to our sponsors: NordVPN: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal https://nordvpn.com/secrets Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Northwest Registered Agent: Go to northwestregisteredagent.com/marketingsecrets to start your business with Northwest Registered Agent. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: Get a $100 credit on your next campaign at LinkedIn.com/CLICKS Rocket Money: Cancel unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster at RocketMoney.com/RUSSELL Indeed: Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/clicks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome back to the show. Excited to be hanging out with you guys today. And this is like an old school show for those who are newer to the podcast, you probably don't know this, but the podcast has taken a couple of different changes over the years. When I first launched, it was called the marketing in your car podcast. And then it shifted to marketing secrets podcast. Now it's just a Russell Brunson show because I'm talking about all sorts of stuff, not just marketing, all the fun things.

But when I first started podcast, I literally would, I had a four minute commute from my house to the office every day. And I would hold my phone up to my mouth like I'm doing right now. And I would talk while I was driving. Anyway, today, I have a 30 minute commute to the doctor. And so I thought I would jump on and record an episode to you guys right now while we're hanging out in traffic like a good old days. So, um, and just to give you context. So, um, the, the time I'm recording this right now, um,

last, last 30 days, my life's a little crazy, but it's always a little crazy as you, as you know, but, uh, twice a year or sorry, once a year, I basically, I try to get back in shape and relive my glory days by going out and wrestling. And there's a tournament every single year for basically all age groups, all the way up to veterans, which are like the really old like 70, 80 year old guys who wrestle in this tournament. And it's funny, because I remember when I was wrestling in college, I remember going to an open tournament and there were these guys that were like in their 70s wrestling and

I was like, that's so cool. And I forgot about it and for almost 20 years I didn't wrestle. I was just doing my thing, doing my business. And then when I moved into our house I'm in now about 10 years ago, I built a wrestling room and so I just built it to be able to wrestle. It's like by much my friends over we started wrestling. And it was kind of fun. Like we get together three or four times a year and beat each other up. And it was just like, ah, reliving the glory days was so great. And then after one time, one of my one of the wrestling guys

was wrestling became one day he's like, Yeah, I competed in trim this weekend. I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, there's a tournament every year. I went wrestled in. I'm like, why didn't you tell me? And so the next year I was like, I'm going to go wrestle in this tournament. So I remember we start, I was going to, I was going to try and get in shape, but we're ran out of time. And so the week before the tournament, we started working out and then my very first practice, it was like Monday morning, we got to, you know, had a practice to get prepared for the tournament that weekend. And the very first practice, I tore my neck and like could barely walk and had a chiropractor

coming over like every single day. I tried putting back together, but I couldn't. It hurt so bad. And so I literally had half of a practice before we went to the tournament show the tournament. I'm on source can be in this two styles. There's two Olympic styles. It's a freestyle and a Greco.

And so I went and anyway, did the did or sorry, it was Greco first. I can't remember. I think I took third place in that tournament with a stiff neck and then I did freestyle and I think I took second, or something like that. But anyway, I placed in both the tournaments and had so much fun. But there's a moment that was really cool. I remember what happened is we were warming up before and there's this old guy came over to me. It was Tony, I think from London. And he's probably 70 to 80 years old, somewhere

in that window, right? Older guy. He came up and we were warming up. He walked over and he's wearing like a wrestling singlet knee pads. He's an old guy. And like, you know, we're nowadays, like we don't want to walk around in our singles. We're all wearing shorts and t-shirts and there's singlet underneath. But like, we're not just walking around in our singles. We're all wearing shorts and t-shirts. There's singlet underneath But like we're not just walking around this guy's walking around it. It was his knee pads on he walks over He's like hey you want to wrestle? It's like Like I guess it says like cool. He's like I've had two knees and two hips replaced So just don't shoot on me. I was like what like wrestling is all about shooting on people so anyway, so we warmed up and we drilled together and

It was just so funny and then I remember watching him and he went out there and he won one or two matches. I was like, okay, if this dude who's in his 70s has got double knee replacements, double hip replacements is still competing at this age, I'm like, I'm making a commitment to myself right now. I'm going to do this every single year till I die. And so that was kind of the that was the the promise myself, right? And so I did that year to the next year and then COVID year hit and so we during that year we went and actually down to Florida, which was usually there in Vegas. This was in Florida. There's a beach wrestling tournament we got to do, which was like insanely cool. So wrestling on the beach and then they had the regular tournament and this tournament there was this old guy and and he was terminal. In fact,

if you watch my YouTube channel from back then we did a whole vlog about it. But he's a he was a judge. And he'd never wrestled his whole life. But for some reason, like 10 years earlier, he decided he wanted to become a wrestler. And he told anyway, I pulled him aside, I wanted to interview him a little bit. He said that, you know, he's like, he's like, when I was a judge, he's like, it's tough, because he's like, there's people that love me or they hate me. And there's always this, this politics, these things that when I show up there as a wrestler, he's like, I'm a wrestler. He's like, there's like, there's no judging.

He's like, I'm part of a community and like, that's why I'm here. And he was not good. Like he walked out on crutches and then he put the crutches down, he'd hobble out in the middle, he started wrestling. And so we watched these matches. It was just like crazy watching this old guy do it. And I remember at the end of it, over the speaker, they made an announcement and basically and somebody hasn't heard me tell the story before, but in wrestling when you retire,

if you're good, I mean, not for most people, but you know, you retire, you take your shoes off and you leave them on the side of that. So Funnel Hockey Live this year, by the way, that's something that I did is that when the event ended, me and Todd took off our shoes, Dave Woodward's shoes, and we left them on the stage and we walked off stage to kind of symbolize like the ending of an era. But this wrestling tournament, they announced sort of a speaker that this judge said he has a terminal illness. And this was his last time having a chance to wrestle.

And I remember he took his shoes off and let it on the side of the mat and everyone clapped for him. And I was like, Oh, man, I'm looking at this guy who had never wrestled till 10 years prior. He's in his 70s and he just wanted to wrestle. You know, like it wasn't something he was doing his whole life. He just wanted to be a wrestler and he was dying all the way till, you know, till the end. Anyway, so for me, it's like kind of recommitted, like this is something I do every

single year till I die. It's been fun. Like, since I've been doing this, I've had a lot of people message me who were like, oh, like I used to karate when I was a kid. Now I do karate again. I used to do this when I was a kid. Now because I've you're doing you're chasing these dreams of yours. I'm doing it as well. So it one of my main goals of sharing any of this is just to hopefully for most of you guys to think back like when you were a kid, what was the thing that brought you the most happiness? For me, 100% it was wrestling, right? And then we get done wrestling, our career ends and we stop doing it. And I think other sports are probably better, you know, like, I have friends who played basketball and they still go find pick up games here or there and stuff, you know, but

in wrestling, it's hard. There's not really stuff happening. I've been in Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu is like the, that drug for, you know, for wrestlers to get to do something similar. So jujitsu is a big one out there. But anyway, hoping that by sharing some of these stories and get you guys to figure out what was the thing that you loved when you were a kid that it was like the meant the most in the world. And like, go start doing that thing again. Go go into a wrestling tournament, go play soccer, go go act in a play, whatever your thing is because man, I can't tell you how much life and excitement it brings.

For me, it's like once a year, I have this thing and it's like for me to compete, I have to get back in shape, I got to wrestle, I get my cardio up, I get my strength training back up. But it means the world to me. It's the best, right? This year was interesting because there's freestyle and graphic or Olympic styles, but there's a third style, which is, you know, call it collegiate style or folk style, which is the only style that we wrestle here in America.

And so I was so excited because I wanted to, there's, there's every single year they have it, but it's like during spring break. So every year I'm with my family on a cruise ships, like I, I can't do it right. Because the cruise ship leaves at a certain time and you just can't make it. And so this year, our family decided for spring break not to go on a cruise, but just to go on a vacation. And so I was like, wait, based on that, I don't have to be the vacation spot like right what happened. So I told Clout, I'm like, hey, you're gonna take the kids to Hawaii. And then I'm gonna go wrestle and I'll fly there a day late.

At least she was a little annoyed with me because you know, yeah, especially this year's first spring break where our twins Down and Bowen weren't with us. Down was home working, Bowen's on a mission. So it's already like a smaller family anyway. But I told Clay I want to do this. I need to wrestle in this tournament. It's a collegiate style, which I better adapt to the other ones. I'm so excited to go. And so anyway, long story short, I'm prepared for this tournament. I start wrestling and things went well. I'm doing well. I'm getting back in shape. And then this and things are going well. I'm like, I'm doing well. I'm getting back in shape.

And then this Sunday, it was March 2nd, I believe. So it's like two weeks before I was out cleaning up the restroom, getting ready to like turn on what we're going to be doing. Like, you know, at least one, maybe two practices a day getting ready for the tournament. And I had this big tire, like the big tire that you can flip and you can hit. And it's, it's a, it's a really big tire. Like it's hard for me to lift. In fact, it usually takes two people to actually be able to lift a tire and flip

it. I was cleaning the restroom and I was like, I want to move the tire. I went to the lift to try to pick it up. I'm like, I can't pick it up. I'm gonna hurt my back. And so I didn't. And then if you missed there, I'm like, I just want to move it. So I walked over and I started lifting it again. What's crazy is I had my noise canceling headphones on so that I could listen to music and stuff. I couldn't hear anything in the room. I started lifting it as I'm lifting the tire. I get underneath it.

I had both my hands underneath it. All of a sudden, I hear a pop in my left forearm. I could hear it through the noise canceling. It's like, pop. I'm like, what the crap? I'm like, what was that? I'm like, oh well. It's like you got to readjust.

I start lifting it and it pops again. I was like, oh no. I dropped the tire. I he got kind of readjust start lifting in and it pops again. And I was like, oh, no. So I dropped the tire. I looked down on my arm and my arm looks like it's broken. Like it's, it does not look good. And I try like, I'm like, like, what's wrong with that? I try to pick something up. I couldn't pick anything up. I'm like, oh, no. So I called one of my friends, Tilegata, who lives in the neighbor next to me. He's like, he's a chiropractor. He's awesome. And he raced over and he's like, dude, your ulna popped out of your elbow or whatever or something like that.

And so he goes, he snaps it back in. Oh, and it was hurt. But then like the muscles with my arm look deformed. I was like, what's happening? It's like, he's like, your muscles are all freaking out because you know, the bone moved. And so he spent like an hour like massaging my form to get it back to like, so it looked like a normal arm. And then I started doing some basic pressure.

I pressure my hand over up and then as soon as I put some pressure up, my ulna popped out again. And I'm like, oh no, so I reset it back in there. And I was like, dang it. And so Chloe was so happy. She's like, all right, you know, cancel wrestling, you're going to come and I'm like, like, we don't cancel yet. Like, maybe there's a way we can heal. And so then in true Russell Brunson fashion, I was like, all right, how do we solve this problem? There's got to be a way. So I'm calling everyone I know, trying to figure out the right things, right? So the guy who does my Doug Grant, who does my blood work and does my supplements, I tell him, so he's like, okay, there's this, these peptides

is called the Wolverine protocol. So he ships me out, overnights me these peptides. They're supposed to make you heal super fast. So twice a day, I'm giving myself peptide shots directly into my arm, right? I'm doing all sorts of stuff, try to get this thing healed as fast as I can. And it just hurts every time I try to do anything that hurts. And so I was about to spot where I was going to give up and then Ty, my chiropractor came over and he's like, I have an idea. So when he taped my wrist really tight on that side, he taped about three inches deep on my wrist. And by taping it, it kept the two bones together closer. It's like actually my wrist, I'm like, oh my gosh, like it still hurts, but not like I think I could actually

wrestle this way. And so I was like, I'm gonna test tomorrow morning. I called Mike Vanbril, who's my one of my wrestling partners. I was like, hey, come out tomorrow, let's wrestle. I want to see if I can do it. So we came out the next morning and it wrestled and yeah, it hurts a lot, but I was able to, I was able to do a whole wrestling practice. I'm like, okay, I'm back in. Told my wife, I was like, sorry, Colette, I'm gonna go wrestle. She's like, what? You literally dislocated your arm like two days ago. I'm like, I know, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

And so I committed to doing it again, right? At this point, some of you guys are like, Russell's insane. And I remember I posted on social something because everyone's like, oh, sorry, you're gonna miss your wrestling. I was like, how do you guys understand? I was like, if I was missing a leg, I would still go to wrestling. This has nothing to do with like, Oh, I'm healthy. Am I healthy?

Like, like this is something I committed to that I'm going to do every year until I die. Like I'm going to this tournament. And so that was kind of planned. So then fast forward now a couple of days. Now it's like, okay, now as I get close to the tournament, there's two weight classes and in old guy wrestling, the weight classes are bigger gap, right? When you're competing as a younger guy, every 8 to 10 pounds are different weight class. You're kind of in there.

With my age group, there's like a 20 pound gap. There's one, I think kilos, but if you're put into like pounds, there's like a 194 pound weight class, which is what I know I've known normally way about. And then there's one down below, which is 172, which is a huge gap, right? That's like a 22 pound gap. But the problem is everyone's cutting weight. So if I wrestle 194, I'm going to be wrestling people are cutting down from 220. For us 172, I'm wrestling people my same size. And so I'm like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to cut down weight for this. And so I decided and committed to actually cutting weight. And so that was kind of the game plan. And so I got to lose, you know, I was coming down from, I was actually

195 pounds on Sunday and I'd weigh ins that Friday, which I weigh 171.9 technically. So yeah, that's a lot of weight, 20, what 23 pounds. And so I started the weight cut. Hey, funnel hackers, let me paint you a picture. You're running a business, your funnel's finally converting like crazy and suddenly it hits you. You need to hire someone like yesterday. Maybe it's a copywriter to help you crank out more sales pages or a designer to refresh

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Support the show, save time and find your next hire faster. Remember, when it comes to hiring, indeed, it's all that you need. Hey, it's Russell Brunson and I have a confession to make. When I first started in B2B marketing, I thought I needed to be everywhere at once. Every platform, every ad type. But guess what? That's not where the magic happens. The magic happens where the decision makers are and that is LinkedIn. LinkedIn ads let you target who you want. CEOs, C-suite executives, and 130 million professionals ready to take action. These aren't random clicks.

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quality leads today. And here's the cherry on top. LinkedIn is giving you a hundred dollar First we got my house before we left, we were cutting weight. Putting on plastics, cranking the heat of the rest, going up to 90 whatever degrees and I'm wrestling like crazy. That was the first pass at it. We lost 5 or 6 pounds from there and then I did the next thing and then we flew out to Iowa the tournament sat and then the night before, we put on our plastics, went out there and started wrestling again to lose some weight. In that wrestling practice, I'm wrestling and my arm's hurting a little bit but in

one of our scrambles, Mike is spinning around to get behind me to get points and I went and lifted my right arm, the other arm to kind of block him. And as I do that, it like he's spinning behind it pops my other, my right forearm. I was like, what the heck? So now I've got my left elbow thing jacked up. My right form is hurting so bad, but I'm still cutting weight. Right? So we get done that night and go in and Mike 13 pounds over my 13 pounds,

wanes are tomorrow. Um, and normally one of the ways we cut weight is we fill the bathtub up with like scolding hot water and you sit in it and it makes you lose a lot of weight. You can lose like two or three pounds every 15 minutes. So I'm like, okay, here's the plan. So we go that we got an Airbnb, we fill the hot, fill up the bathtub with water. And two things happen. Number one, the hot water heater does not have enough hot water to fill the bathtub.

So it's like halfway filled. I get in, I'm like, it's not covering my whole body. And number two is the bathtub is draining. So then like two minutes me getting in the bathtub is half empty and I'm not covered in water. I'm like, oh no, this is my, this was my catchall to lose weight and now I can't do it. And so yeah, so that and he gets some years like Russell, I thought this was a podcast about marketing or sales like yeah, some days but today is about about you doing what it takes for you to go live

the life you want to live. So there's the theme for today is we're gonna go because this is all I want to do. I want to go wrestle. I want to go compete. Anyway, so so we go to bed that night. I'm still 13. I wake up in the morning. I'm 12 over.

And I'm like, okay, where am I gonna do at least 12 pounds next like 12 hours. And so we went and we started looking for sauna. So we go to this first place, we find sauna, they let us go in there. And you know, I'm like, hey, I'm like, we have like two hours in here. They're like, no, you're capped at one session today. And each session is 40 minutes. So like, okay, so we go in there for first session, we do 40 minutes, come back out, go check our weight, I lost three pounds like now I'm nine over. Okay'm like, okay, that's not enough. So we find a different sauna place. This place had like saunas with bikes in the saunas. So we go there, throwing plastics, red bikes for an hour straight, come out, lost four pounds,

now I'm within five pounds, right? So then we go back and we need another sauna. So we went to another place as a sauna, But they also have a cryotherapy chamber. So we went there, got cryotherapy, froze it off just because not to lose weight, just because it felt good. We were so beat up at this time. Hadn't been drinking anything in like two or three days. Completely dehydrated. So we go do cryo sauna, go back home, check our weight.

It's still, I can't remember, four or five pounds over. So we go back, do another sauna session, get down to like right on weight, go back, check my weight at the hotel I'm right on. So we race over to the place to go do our weigh ins. I get the weigh ins and the way weigh ins work is there's an hour for weigh ins, right? But as soon as you step on the scale, like, like, like that's your time, you can't go and like leave afterwards. So I go get in line, get on the scale again at the hotel I checked I was right, right

on weight. I get on scale and every at the hotel I checked I was right right on weight and get on scale and every scale is a little different so I get on the scale and they're like you're point two pounds over and I'm like what he's like yeah sorry and he's like you have two challenges if you want you can challenge but like you can't leave they can't go lose any more weight like you're done and so I'm like yes let's do the other check scales we got this other check scale check on that one I'm still at point one over on that one. I'm like, if I don't do this, I trust the 194.

I just lost 25 pounds in the last five days. It was all for nothing. I'm like almost in tears, which would have been nice if I could cry. I could lose some weight, but unfortunately I had completely dehydrated my body so I had no tears left. I'm kind of freaking out. You know, on the last scale, I jump on and sure enough, I'm at 78 kilos exactly. I jump off and he's like, they count. I'm like, oh my gosh. We do that. We

go back and then again, this is not like weight cutting, like smart weight cutting where you're losing calories. This is just purely you're dehydrating your body. A gallon of water weighs eight pounds. Basically, it was three gallons of water I had to suck out of my body to lose the weight. You're so dehydrated. It's funny. My abs looked awesome. I had a six pack and I had no love handles. It was amazing.

But my face is sunken and my eyes are sunken. It's just dehydrating your body. You get done and you start drinking like crazy. It actually hurts to drink because you haven't drinking or eaten anything. So I'm drinking as much as I can as fast as I can. And then the place we've gone into the cryotherapy, they also do IV drips. And so when it went over back, back to there and we did an IV drip, rehydrated through IVs and then water. And what's crazy that night we got back and I already gained 14 pounds of water weight by the time we got back to our hotels that night.

All the water we'd sucked out in the previous 24 hours was back just by drinking and doing an IV drip. Anyway, that's what got me to this spot. I'm like, a lot of you guys are like, Russell, why would you say this seems insane? This is like torture. And the answer and the reality is yes, it is torture. It is insane. But also, I don't know, for me as a wrestler who used to do this every single week for a decade of my life, like, it was

so much fun. It was like making me feel alive again to like, go through the pressure and the pain and the sweating and the cutting weight and the deprivation and all the stuff all to like, to be able to have the opportunity to compete was just, anyway, yeah, it was horrible and amazing at the same time. So then we fast forward next day. We go to the tournament to wrestle. I strap up my arm and I'm so excited because we're doing collegiate style which means I can do my favorite moves like a cheap tilt and leg rides which you can't do in freestyle

and Greco. The first match I go out there we're wrestling. I get the guy to cheap tilt. My favorite move. I turn him and he starts spazzing out and as soon as he does, he's like jumping, he's kicking back and forth and I feel my arm pop. The ulna pops out again. I was like, oh crap, I heard it, felt it and literally I can't even move my left arm.

That's how bad it was. And so I finished that match, I lose the match. I'm trying to like reset the arm myself and it just, it hurts so bad. They call me for my second match. I go out there wrestling. I'm doing really, reset the arm myself and it just it hurts so bad. They call me for my second match. I go out there wrestling. I'm doing really well against him. I get on top same day I'm trying to cheap tilt him and it just hurts so bad. And then we get back on our feet and he locks in this weird throw and throws me right on

that arm again. And so my left arm is just destroyed. I can't flex. There's no bicep. It's all like bruised. It just it looked horrible And so I lost two matches means you usually are to and out and I was just like man that sucks Oh, I think I lost both matches and my left arm now is completely jagged. I can't flex my bicep

It's swollen. It looks bad and so we're getting ready like You know, I'm about to leave the tournament also night here and call my name again. I'm like, what? I run over like, yeah, you're up again. I'm like, okay, it's already like I already like, like, undone my my wrist wrap everything. So I go back, I read my wrap my wrist while I'm running out there to wrestle. I saved you guys have to start wrestling. And and I shoot a shot on this guy with my right hand. So it's now the other arm, the one that I had kind of hurt a little bit during the practice when we're cutting weight. I shoot on that leg, he sprawls back and I hear my right bicep go pop. And I was like, oh my gosh, I leg over his leg. And also I'm like, I have no arms, both my arms,

the biceps are torn now. I don't even know what's happening. So I start resting this guy and luckily I'm able to flip them over and pin him, get the match over with. I come off, I look down and both my arms look deformed. I was like, oh no, this is not good. And so anyway, tournament's done. I go over, I have the trainers like wrap them in ice so that we're ice in these these are my biceps. I go back to our Airbnb afterwards, I unwrap them and I look at my arms and like they both look deformed. Like my bicep does not look normal. It doesn't go to like where it normally hooks like it looks. It looks really, really bad. And so I'm calling some of my doctors and friends. I'm like, what do I do? And they're like, if you have a torn bicep, like you need to get in surgery and stuff. I'm like, well, I'd love to do stuff. I'm flying in like five hours to Hawaii for my family spring break.

I cannot miss that. My wife would literally destroy me. I don't have an opportunity to do that. And so yeah, they basically my arms swell up. I take a bunch of ibuprofen and stuff and then I don't go to bed that night because my flight's like at three in the morning. I jump on the plane and I fly to Hawaii and both my arms like I can't move them. I can't I get hurts to lift it. I can't lift my backpack up like excruciating pain. And as I'm flying to Hawaii, I had this realization. I'm like, my wife did not want me to wrestle. Number one, she wanted me to spend time with with her the

kids. You know, she's got the she definitely got like I told you so attitude, you know, which rightfully so. But I was like, I don't want to ruin this trip for her or for my family. I was like, I'm going to go to this trip and I'm going to have extreme, annoying happiness and optimism to the point where, yeah, just to, just because I don't want to ruin this trip for my kids. And I don't care about myself. This is not about me. This is about them.

And so I go to Hawaii and first off, we're in Hawaii and I'm like, it's beautiful. And I was like so happy to be there and even though I couldn't lift my own back up, I couldn't move. Both my arms at this point are swollen. They are huge. It looks like Popeye arms. It's kind of cool other than it's just swollen with fluid on both. It's like from my wrist to my armpit, both arms are just completely swollen.

I can't even bend them. And it was crazy because I was there in Hawaii and I was like, again, extreme happiness and optimism and like everything is positive and try to have no, no thought for my pain or for any of these things because this was about them. And anyway, the Hawaii trip was insane. It's so much fun. It was such a good time. So I'm almost the doctors, which leads me to why I do this podcast. I'm actually now we're back from Hawaii. And I'm going to the doctors to have them check my arms and do MRIs. I'm going to find out here a little bit if I tore both my biceps, which I have weird

inkling that I have. It's been over a week now and again, from my wrist to my armpit is completely my arms are completely yellow and purple just of pretty bad bruising. My both my biceps don't look normal, which sucks. I'm like, these don't look normal, which sucks. I'm like, these don't look like my arms. So we're about to find out. But I share this for a couple reasons.

Number one, you guys probably think I'm crazy. Now you know I really am. Number two is I want to kind of go back like, like a lot of people don't they don't want to do things they don't want to get hurt. Right? Like, what else do I have to do? Right? Like I have a desk job and see all day making funnels and talking with my like, I don't want to do things they don't want to get hurt. Right? Like, what else do I have to do? Right? Like I have a desk job. I'm sitting all day making funnels and talking with my like, I don't need my body, my arms, you know, like, anyway, I think a lot of people are so scared of

getting hurt or they're so scared of something happening. They don't do anything. Whereas for me, it's like, I don't care if I get hurt. Like that's the point of it. Like I want the soreness. I want that. Like I want to relive my glory as I wanted to have have that fun experience again. It wasn't about like, I don't want to get hurt. It's like, I'm probably hurt. Every year I've done these tournaments, I've gotten hurt. Consistently. There's not been a year that I haven't. I always get hurt in them. But it's okay because I have a year to heal. But it makes me feel alive and that's the key. The lessons I hope you get from this, number one is do things that make you feel alive. Don't be scared of getting hurt.

Like worst case scenario, like, like, like what else am I doing my life? Right? Like, like, this is such a fun, exciting thing. It made me feel alive. Like all the pain, the suffering, the torture, all those good things all made me feel alive. That's number one. Number two is looking through the pain I was in and like, by just mentally shifting, like I'm gonna have a positive attitude.

I'm not going to let my wife or kids know how bad this is hurting me. I'm just going to be extremely optimistic and positive. And we made this Hawaii trip so much fun for everybody. And nobody, I mean, I'm sure they kind of knew I was being a wuss because I heard I couldn't do zip lining with them a couple things like that. But I brought my happiest,, you know, happiest, most optimistic attitude to it. And we made the trip amazing. And now I have a chance to heal and figure it out. I'll probably have to get some surgery. Who knows what's gonna happen.

But I don't regret it. I would do it again in a heartbeat because just that, that, that reason to exist, that reason to work out, the reason to cut weight, the reason to like be excited was worth everything. I get added energy and excitement on every other piece of my life, my business, my writing, my everything. And so I didn't want to lose that. And it's worth the pain and the suffering. So there you go.

Hope it helps you guys. Again, some of you guys will write this episode off like Russell's crazy and some of you guys are like, I'm gonna go and do the thing I want to do now. And hopefully you give yourself permission. And then don't be afraid of being hurt because the worst case scenario, you get a surgery and you're back at it. I got a year to heal before next year's tournament. So thanks guys. I appreciate you all and I'll talk to you all soon. Do you have a funnel but it's not converting? The problem 99.9% of the time is that your funnel is good, but you suck at selling.

If you want to learn how to sell so your funnels will actually convert, then get a ticket to my next Selling Online event by going to sellingonline.com slash podcast. That's sellingonline.com slash podcast.