On Purpose with Jay Shetty - Bob Parsons ON: How to Be Present & Not Fear the Future

Episode Date: April 3, 2023

Today, I sit down with Bob Parsons to talk about overcoming adversities. Bob shares how his war veteran trauma affected his personal life and what he did to overcome it, his journey into starting his ...business and finding success, and finally having found his purpose in life to always make a difference whenever he can.  Bob Parsons is best known for being the founder of GoDaddy. Bob sold a majority stake in 2011 in a deal that valued the company at $2.3 billion. Currently, Bob is the CEO and founder of YAM Worldwide, which is home to his entrepreneurial ventures in the fields of motorcycles, golf, real estate, finance, marketing, innovation, and philanthropy. YAM Worldwide includes companies such as PXG and Scottsdale National Golf Club. Bob is also a US Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, and is widely recognized for his entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts.  You can order my new book 8 RULES OF LOVE at 8rulesoflove.com or at a retail store near you. You can also get the chance to see me live on my first ever world tour. This is a 90 minute interactive show where I will take you on a journey of finding, keeping and even letting go of love. Head to jayshettytour.com and find out if I'll be in a city near you. Thank you so much for all your support - I hope to see you soon. What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 03:18 How can we learn to quantify the worst things in our life? 06:45 Dealing with PTSD alone and the symptoms that come with it 11:14 Having the remarkable ability to disassociate and using it your advantage 12:25 The trick to becoming a successful businessman and what history can teach us 15:56 Top 3 things to focus on when you want to start your own business 18:25 The GoDaddy story - how it started, success, and making a difference 25:42 What have been the biggest failures in your life? 26:38 Tapping into psychedelics to help deal with self reform 32:29 Believe in yourself and always have fun 38:39 Bob on Final Five    Episode Resources Bob Parsons | Website Bob Parsons | Instagram Bob Parsons | LinkedIn Bob Parsons | Twitter YAM Worldwide Want to be a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach? Get the Digital Guide and Workbook from Jay Shetty https://jayshettypurpose.com/fb-getting-started-as-a-life-coach-podcast/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:03:12 with us their guidance, their insight, their wisdom that they've gained along that path. And today's guest is Bob Parsons, best known for being the founder of GoDaddy, Bob sold a majority stake in 2011 in a deal that valued the company at $2.3 billion. Currently, Bob is the CEO and founder of Yamworldwide, which is home to his entrepreneurial ventures in the fields of motorcycles, golf, real estate, finance, marketing, innovation and philanthropy. Yamworldwide includes companies such as PXG and Scottsdale National Golf Club. Bob is also a US Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, which we'll dive into his story today. And Bob is also widely recognized for his entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts.
Starting point is 00:04:00 Please welcome to the show, Bob Parsons. Bob, it is great to have you here. Real pleasure to be here Jay I kind of tell you yeah, and I remember meeting you and it was at your beautiful facility at PxG in Scottsdale And it was a really fine evening. It was myself you were there having dinner I was traveling with Will Smith at a time Nick Jonas was there We all kind of just bumped into each other over dinner. And I remember just how gracious you were, how kind you were, what a beautiful interaction we all had that evening. It's a really special place.
Starting point is 00:04:33 I remember meeting you guys and, you know, and, and Will and Nick are two of my absolute favorite people. And I knew a little bit about you. And, you know, just to meet you is just a, you're an easy guy to be around Jay. Well, thank you. That's very kind of you. And I was just saying to your team outside that, uh, that was the first time I'd ever actually played golf. So I don't play, but that was the first time I'd ever played golf.
Starting point is 00:04:57 I had one of your coaches that was working with me for a couple of days. I came back to LA and I started looking for a coach because I got really into it that weekend. Will got me a really nice set of clubs from the from the course too that were fitted for me and made for me. And I couldn't find a coach as good as the ones you had at PXT. So now I need to come back more often to get some lessons. Well, we're there. Thank you. Well, Bob, I want to dive straight in to your journey and to really dive into your work that you're doing today. And I think I was really blown away to hear about your time as a Marine, and I'd like to start there. Well, you know, when I enlisted in the Marine Corps, I did so mostly because I had two friends of mine.
Starting point is 00:05:42 I asked me to join them. They were in our senior year of high school, and they were going to visit with the Marine Corps recruiter, and asked me if I'd go along with them. And I did. As we spent time with the Marine Corps recruiter, he eventually had us in a palm of his hands. I mean, this was during the height of the Vietnam War in 1968. I lasted one month. And walking through a village at night,
Starting point is 00:06:09 I was on the point team and the point man he stepped over a trip wire missed it and I hit it and that thing blew and I got shrapneled both my legs and my left elbow and I was a little bit more at normal, both my legs and my left elbow. And I was a matter of fact out. I left on a stretcher. So, you know, the thought that I took back from that is, I think I learned to think one day at a time. And I looked to quantify the worst thing that could possibly happen. That's got me through a number of businesses. I've built three businesses now.
Starting point is 00:06:47 I'm working on the third all from scratch. And when you do a startup, a startup, you have a lot of good days and a lot of bad days. And sometimes the good days are euphoric. And the bad days look like Armageddon. So how you think really matters. And I learned during the war how to think. I learned to quantify the worst thing and quite often the worst thing when you sit down and you quantify, it's not so bad. But if you, you know, if you look at the worst thing, it's this
Starting point is 00:07:20 big dark room full of bad things that could happen, then it looks like far worse than it actually is, and then it becomes debilitating. Yeah, I mean, that's such a powerful reflection hearing that from you, based on the experiences that you went through. Often we hear that idea, but sitting with you here today, listening to in person,
Starting point is 00:07:43 I can feel just how real that idea is for you. I love what you said about facing one day at a time. I think a lot of our anxiety, a lot of our pain, a lot of our stress is based on what could happen in 12 months. Or exactly. Yeah, all what happened 12 months ago. And what you're saying is well, actually, when you take one day at a time, that feels manageable and solvable even in such extreme situation.
Starting point is 00:08:12 Well, you know, one day at a time is something you can do something about, right? Because it's there, you know, to be worried about a year from now, there's not much you can do until it's a year from now. And then it becomes one day at a time. Yeah. Often thought that worry belongs to tomorrow, regret belongs to yesterday. Happiness is here and now. That's so powerful. Wow. And then when you came back and you come back and you're experiencing depression, you're experiencing, of course, all the stress, the trauma that comes from living in that way for a month. I mean, how did your parents react to that before we get on to how you reacted to it?
Starting point is 00:08:52 I mean, what, how did your parents feel? I grew up in a, in a different kind of house. So I grew up in a, in a, in a, a blue collar neighborhood in East Baltimore. And mom and dad were both compulsive gamblers. And they weren't very good at it. Now, I wouldn't trade my mom and dad for any two on the planet.
Starting point is 00:09:12 I loved them to pieces. But they didn't pay a lot of attention to me. And I wasn't actually home that much. So they never noticed. They never noticed. And a lot of it, which a lot of veterans, I just kept to myself You know my my symptoms were and as I was home
Starting point is 00:09:29 They got worse and they got worse and they got worse and when I say that I mean over 49 years this the symptoms with me was I didn't want to go places I didn't want to be with groups, you know, no matter who the group was, I never felt like I belonged because I'd be there and I'd have this, this is just this picture of the stuff that we did. I mean, and it just never leaves you. And of course, nobody else is dealing with that kind of stuff. So you definitely are different, right? So, so that's the, you know, one of the things, a quick temper is is is another thing People would describe me as being one of the most intense people they've ever met now
Starting point is 00:10:12 The crying when I got into that it was always by myself Nobody being around But there was good things too And the good things were when I went to college I when I came back, I worked as a laborer and a steel mill, a potholeum steel, and I did that for a year. And then the University of Baltimore had a special deal for veterans where my high school grades didn't matter, thank goodness. I didn't have to take the entrance
Starting point is 00:10:38 exams, right? And I could go on the GI bill, I did. I went study to counting. Literally, I mean, as fate would have it, it was the first major in the book. What is this? They said, you go with math. I said, yeah, good as anything. You're interested in business. Yeah, you should try accounting. And I did. And I wound up congratulating what a bachelor's science and accountancy, Magna Cum Laude. Wow, congratulations. I'd have never done that without the Marine Corps. Never, ever, ever took the CPA exam, passed it the first time, got a job where I would travel.
Starting point is 00:11:16 I mean, my life is full of just the coincidences, you know, where I was working for a commercial credit leasing corp, and this is back in 1975. They sent me to Redwood City to schedule the assets to this leasing company they want to buy. I finish, I have 12 hours until the flight. I wind up on Stanford campus at the bookstore because I always like to read and so forth.
Starting point is 00:11:45 And I buy a book on programming in the basic language. And I read enough of that during the layover and on the flight, wrote my first programs and then got good at it. And the company that I worked for had a dumb terminal that happened to run the basic computer language. And then I taught myself Pascal and then C and then C++. And I started my first business which was parts of technology. And I wrote all the code for that.
Starting point is 00:12:19 And when I was working there, I worked 40 hours, no, 60 hours, 60 hours at a time. I come to work Monday morning, worked through Tuesday morning, worked through Wednesday morning, and at about eight o'clock at night, I'd start to hallucinate. After about 60 hours, I'd hear stuff through one there, maybe see something move that I know didn't. And I'd go back, go to sleep, come back, you know, after eight hours in a shower and a little, actually, a little workout, do it again. And that's how that company got off the ground. I put $40,000 into that company and I sold it to into it for 64 million. That was my first business. Wow.
Starting point is 00:13:06 Yeah. You know, most people, like just reintegrating into society, like just kind of surviving seems to be a natural challenge because of the extreme events that people go through. How did you navigate that when you were talking about some of the challenges you had when you came back? Like how did you even just start finding your way again? Because it can be so disassociating, it can be so disconnected. Well, you know, using that term, disassociating, there was a time when I had seen a psychiatrist
Starting point is 00:13:40 for a good while and she said, told me one of the things that that has helped me get through the war and also helped me in business. She says, you have a remarkable ability to disassociate and where I developed that. I don't know. One of the the blessings that I have is I don't worry about anything at all. I just don't worry. And that has been one of the things that to me is just to help bring out the joy of my life, you know, the joy that was. I mean, that's beautiful.
Starting point is 00:14:16 Here, that's what an incredible gift to have to not worry. That's very special. When you started learning and teaching yourself these coding languages and you started building this company, what was your level of business experience at the time or technology experience at the time? And how did you even figure out what you wanted to build? I think there's so many people today.
Starting point is 00:14:40 I literally was just at the tech university in Monterey, Mexico. 50% of the people from that university go on to become entrepreneurs. And so it's a really phenomenal institution. But one of the biggest questions I saw that young people have is, Jay, how do I know if I'm doing the right thing or I don't know what I'm building or what should I focus on? I feel like now there's so much choice that people feel paralyzed by
Starting point is 00:15:05 the amount of options they have. Hi, I'm David Eagleman. I have a new podcast called Inner Cosmos on I Heart. I'm a neuroscientist and an author at Stanford University, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. On my new podcast, I'm going to explore the relationship between our brains and our experiences by tackling unusual questions so we can better understand our lives and our realities. Like, does time really run in slow motion when you're in a car accident? Or can we create new senses for humans? Or what does dreaming have to do
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Starting point is 00:18:13 I started a little business which was more of a bookkeeping business than anything where I'd work with these small businesses, some were taverns, one was a flower shop, one of my favorites was Pest Control, Pest Control. The guy's name was Fat Willie, I learned a lot from him, keep track of the way, would keep track of things. And I got to the point where over, you know, a few years, I could, you know, start doing the records of a business and I could tell you if they'd succeed or not. And anyhow, using those little
Starting point is 00:18:51 things that I learned there, you know, that's what I did when I launched my business. And then plus I learned, you know, I learned, like, for example, I read during the Civil War, right? During the Civil War in the Union there was General McClellan who really trained and organized the Union Army, but he could not move them into battle. Just couldn't do it. Right? And then so Lincoln fired him and put Grant there. Grant didn't care how they were organized. The enemy's over there. Go there. Right? That's what he did. And actually, the right way is a mixture of the two. Right? So I learned that from them.
Starting point is 00:19:30 I learned from John D. Rockefeller that the guy who knows the most about his business, he kept exceptional records. They were all manual, but he knew everything about his business at a time when very few people did. The guy who knows the most about his business quite often is the guy that wins because as you know, knowledge truly is power and especially specific and pertinent knowledge. So I mean, I learned from people in history, right? And then beyond that, I just powered through. Yeah, I love those examples.
Starting point is 00:20:08 I think what I love about them is I often say to people that you can be mentored by people you've never met. When we study history, when we look at patterns, when we look at connections and start connecting the dots between events that have happened before us, you can actually go on a so much wisdom and so much insight. Even if you never asked rock a fellow the question yourself exactly I mean you know and somebody get the Julius Caesar's another one. You know what he was able to do and go and how he was able to. You know lead his armies and and one time he was attacked by a vastly larger force and the
Starting point is 00:20:47 battlements that he built was just brilliant. Right? Nobody showed him how to do that. He figured it out. So, I mean, we have that ability as long as you believe in yourself and you give yourself a chance. If there's someone right now who's listening who's thinking about starting a business, what would be the top three things you think they should think about if they're starting,
Starting point is 00:21:08 if they're thinking about starting something? Well, the first thing is they should do something that they love. That is fun. That is something that they're really interested in. And the reason for that, my father used to tell me, he used to say, Robert, when you love something, it tells you, oh, it's secrets. And that's beautiful. And basically, if you love what you're doing, it's going to, well, you're going to work harder. And that, that all translates to success. And then let's see here what would be the second you have to not be doing it for the money. If you start a business and you're doing it just to turn a buck, I don't think you'll be successful. You got to start it to be special. And the businesses that I started
Starting point is 00:22:02 and none of them even go daddy he did I do it to make money I did it to make a difference. You know when you work to make a difference you know you do things that on the surface from a business standpoint it doesn't make sense but when it comes to really doing something special and getting your idea across and taking care of your customers and so forth. That's what you need to do and you will never do that if you're just doing it for a dollar. The third thing is there's two groups of people that you have to you have to energize. The first group is your employees.
Starting point is 00:22:45 And your employees, they need to believe in what you're doing. And you need to structure it so they can believe in what you're doing that it's special. And again, if you're doing it for money, it's not gonna have difficult time doing that. But if you have a higher purpose, people always do wanna aspire to a higher purpose, right, people always do want to aspire to a higher purpose, I believe. So what happens is when you do that with them, it creates enthusiasm.
Starting point is 00:23:13 And what do we know about enthusiasm? It's contagious. And those the employees then fire up the customers and then the customers fire up each other. So it'd be those three things. Yeah, those are great answers. I love those three things. There's such great points. What was something that you were passionate about with GoDaddy? Like when you said that, I fully agree with you that we should never start business to make money.
Starting point is 00:23:35 There has to be a greater goal with it. What was that goal with GoDaddy when it started out? Like the part we don't see. Well, when I started GoDaddy, I had it had been after I sold Parsons technology, which was a name of my first business and I signed a non-compete with Into it not that I couldn't compete with them. I couldn't work for money Yeah, right for a few years and and they they held back a few a few million dollars and when was up, I just wanted to be back in action again, but I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Starting point is 00:24:13 This was back when the internet was just getting going like 97. So I named this business, Joe Max Technologies, I had like 36 million dollars. I had gotten divorced. I mean, I don't blame her. The PTSD. She's not lucky. She kept me around that long. So I wanted to do something in the internet. So what I did was I thought I would hire some pretty sharp people and we would start trying things on the internet and when we and when we did you know if it worked we would continue and if it didn't we'd move on and so my name is a Joe Max technology is after a dirt road that I drove by I
Starting point is 00:24:57 wonder where to work I mean it didn't matter I mean we didn't do anything so our employees would go to Chamber of Commerce meetings and people would ask him what are you doing or what we don't know. You know, he says, I've never had a business tell me that. And then eventually as time went on, we decided to start doing websites for people. And these are way early, really fundamental websites. And we noticed that the websites business would generate cash, but it couldn't scale because you know, it was just your efforts there that you were tied to.
Starting point is 00:25:37 I have a rule that if you got the right business, you can make money while you're sleeping. Your business can be successful while you're sleeping. Your business can be successful while you're sleeping. So we then wrote software that would build a website for people they could do it theirself. We had so many requirements. And then eventually in 99 or 99 in 2000, we became a domain name registrar, renamed the company GoDaddy, just as, and I did that at first as a joke, but it stuck. And never did we dream that we'd make our bread on domain names. And then there's a further story going back. Okay, I would keep track of how much money I had. And then as entie that to how successful the business is doing. Now, remember that was the days of cash burn, right? And so I would start it. And when I first started,
Starting point is 00:26:40 I said, I'm not going to worry about this business until I get down to 30 million. And then 25 and then 20, 20 and then 18, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6. You know, we get down to six million dollars. And this is about. So you never raised, it was all your own money you put into it. Exactly. Exactly. It was always all your own money you put into it. Yeah exactly exactly it was always only my own money I've never really borrowed much from the first business nine wow and go daddy
Starting point is 00:27:11 none and no partners. Oh incredible wow. Yeah so I get that out to six million and one of the things I learned it's from Rita by Journal of Grandi kept his ownity, kept his own counsel. I kept my own counsel. So I decided to shut, go daddy down while I still had some money. And the reason I had to is the dot-com boom was so loud that you couldn't buy advertising. I mean, people were paying $100 for a customer and the customer might generate two bucks. Well, you're gonna burn up a lot of cash. And I don't care how big your truck is,
Starting point is 00:27:50 you're not gonna be able to make wages. That's what I did. So I go to Hawaii and I went there to first pay my bills, pay my employees and sell the assets, figured out how I'm going to do that. And then, so I'm there by myself for a week. And I started thinking about, I don't want to shut it down.
Starting point is 00:28:14 I just had this feeling. I just didn't want to shut it down. The epiphany for me happened with this guy, his parking car, and he comes up to me and he goes, hey, don't miss the Parsons. This guy's a little older than me, throwing his keys up in the air. Happy is a lark, right?
Starting point is 00:28:30 I'm thinking, what's wrong with his picture? This guy has probably got nothing. He's parking cars for living, look how happy and free he is. I got $6 million that I'm miserable, right? And so I decided then that I would go back and not shut the company down. And I just would write it out and if the company sunk, I'd go down with the ship. So that was probably in February, March. And later that, later then, the dot com crash happened.
Starting point is 00:29:03 And the dot com crash, go daddy was born out of that because I was one of the few guys that was paying my bills and all these companies just went away. I mean, I would we would have checks returned every week from different companies that just weren't there anymore, right? And so so we would take and you know, we go ahead and I went from not being able to buy advertising at any price to having people stand in line to give it to me. I had more friends than I thought I had and then all the sudden things turned around for us and that October we became profitable for the very first time and never missed a month since.
Starting point is 00:29:45 Wow. That's unbelievable. I mean, it sounds like you've been guided so much by your intuition as well as data. Like you talked about the numbers, you talked about knowing your business, you talked about knowing your numbers, but it sounds like you're also guided intuitively.
Starting point is 00:30:00 Would you agree with that? Is that true? Is that fair or not really? You know, sometimes you hear this saying, better lucky than good. And things just happen. And you know, you'd like to believe they happen for a reason. I believe the universe is guiding you. And I believe there's an intelligence to it. You know, however, you define that intelligence, whether it's, you know, a particular form of God or just the way of the universe.
Starting point is 00:30:31 But I believe it, sir. Yeah, that's incredible. What an unbelievable story. I mean, as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking, you know, you have this really positive mindset. You have this really incredible ability to find the good even in challenging times. What's been one of the biggest failures in your life or something that's gone wrong that maybe in business or in another field that you learned a lot from or you took a lot of insight from?
Starting point is 00:30:59 I would say one of the regrets I have is you know when I came back and I got married and I had kids as I missed their childhood because I was working, working so hard. Back then I had PTSD, so bad I had a flash temper. So probably some ways, the hard thing is it was a good thing that I wasn't around. But I have a great relationship with all three of them now. I love them dearly. And I look forward to treasure our times together. That's incredible. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I can, it's interesting to hear about your experience that you weren't there, but you're saying it was actually good I wasn't there because I had PTSD and I was dealing with that. And I've,
Starting point is 00:31:41 I've heard in your journey, you talk about how psychedelics were like a huge part of your coming home. A 100% yeah. Could you walk us through how you got introduced to that and how you were open to that? In 2018, I read Michael Powell's book, How to Change Remind. I went through it like a bag of peanuts. And I just told my wife, Renee, who is the love of my life.
Starting point is 00:32:05 I never did psychedelics love of my life. I never did psychedelics before in my life, never did anything like that. But I said to her, if this can do it for me, I mean, I want to try them. And I mean, I got to the point, Jay, where somebody could come up to me and say, like, I'm at the golf course and say, you weren't Vietnam, weren't you? I started crying. Yeah, I mean, it just, it just, it gets worse, you know. So she had me hooked up in two weeks with two individuals
Starting point is 00:32:36 that again would see me in Hawaii. And on the first day, I did ayahuasca. And it's, it's guided, you know, you know, you're mean mean a lot of talk and the therapy that does the healing psychedelics make it possible because it makes you receptive and it makes you willing to change. So on the first day it was ayahuasca. On the second day it was magic mushrooms, so siphon, and you know, a little interesting aside, when the guy made the, he made a teapot, and he said, and he says, I made, this teapot holds three cups, and I made them strong, so you'll only need one. I drank all three cups, and I ate the tea bags worked with me were like, what happened to him?
Starting point is 00:33:49 He's so nice. He doesn't have a temper. He's not that intense. I'm scared he'd do it anymore. You know, my son said, told his wife, he said, man, I'm worried my dad's gonna die soon. And she goes, why? And he goes, well, I'm worried my dad's going to die soon. And she goes, why
Starting point is 00:34:05 and he goes, well, I think he fell that is going to die soon because he keeps calling and he's so nice and so forth. But I mean, and it was that type of thing. And of course, Renee, my wife noticed it instantly. And the best way I can describe it is, have to be treated with psychedelics. It had been 49 years since the war. I finally came home. This is what it sounds like inside the box car. I'm journalist and I'm Wharton in my podcast, City of the Rails. I plunged into the dark world of America's railroads,
Starting point is 00:34:39 searching for my daughter Ruby, who ran off to hop train. I'm just like stuck on this train, not where I'm gonna end up. And I jump. Following my daughter, I found a secret city of unforgettable characters living outside society, off the grid, and on the edge. I was in love with a lifestyle and the freedom, this community.
Starting point is 00:35:00 No one understands who we truly are. The Rails made me question everything I knew about motherhood, history, and the thing we call the American Dream. It's the last vestige of American freedom. Everything about it is extreme. You're either going to die, or you can have this incredible rebirth, and really understand who you are. Come with me to find out what waits for us and the city of the rails.
Starting point is 00:35:27 Listen to city of the rails on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Or cityoftherails.com. I'm Mungesha Tickler and to be honest, I don't believe in astrology, but from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it.
Starting point is 00:35:59 So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, major league baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop! But just what I thought I had to handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology, my whole world can crash down. Situation doesn't look good, there is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology, it changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your
Starting point is 00:36:38 podcasts. Hey, it's Debbie Brown, and my podcast deeply well is a soft place to land on your wellness journey. I hold conscious conversations with leaders and radical healers and wellness and mental health around topics that are meant to expand and support you on your journey. From guided meditations to deep conversations with some of the world's most gifted experts in self-care, trauma, psychology, spirituality, astrology, and even intimacy.
Starting point is 00:37:07 Here is where you'll pick up the tools to live as your highest self. Make better choices. Heal and have more joy. My work is rooted in advanced meditation, metaphysics, spiritual psychology, energy healing, and trauma-informed practices. I believe that the more we heal and grow within ourselves,
Starting point is 00:37:24 the more we are able to bring our creativity to life and live our purpose, which leads to community impact and higher consciousness for all beings. Deeply well with Debbie Brown is your soft place to land to work on yourself without judgment, to heal, to learn, to grow, to become who you deserve to be.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Deeply well is available now on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Big love. Namaste. It's unbelievable. Do you feel that you went back to being who you were before the war? Exactly. You know, enriched by everything I learned since.
Starting point is 00:38:04 And, you know, I still had the memories of the war. There's times when, you know, when I talk about it, I choke up and so forth, but I'm not debilitated by it anymore, but it's still very much there. Of course, it's course. Yeah. It sounds like it sounds like that you've kept the parts that have made you who you are and left the parts that defined who it forced you to be. Is that feels right? Yeah, for sure. To be honest, just sitting with you today, like, you have such a joyful spirit. You have such a positive outlook on life. You're fun to be around. Like, that's all I'm experiencing. That's how I experienced you at PXG when I was there
Starting point is 00:38:47 a couple of years ago. And for me to know, it feels like this is who you are. This is who you always were. But naturally the challenge is just clouded over and the experience is clouded over that. Yeah. When the windows have been opened. Yeah, it's unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:39:05 And is that a practice that you have to keep up? Do you go back to Hawaii or to the centers to continue that practice? Or no, it was once and it's kind of, you know, I've went through the process twice. Right. I've went through the process once myself and then once with two of the guys I served with and they both came home. Wow. They both came home.
Starting point is 00:39:28 That's unbelievable. That must be beautiful for you to see that for other people to. Oh, 100%. Now one of the things that I spend time and money and help out is best I can is to get psychedelics made legal for therapeutic use. We're very close with MDMA. is to get psychedelics made legal for therapeutic use.
Starting point is 00:39:48 We're very close with MDMA, thank God to Rick Doblin and MAPS. And the rest, I think it's not too far behind. I tell you, when we do, it's gonna be a renaissance. And we deserve that as a people. And our veterans deserve it. Every veteran should be treated with it when they come back. Because the Veterans Administration says 30% of the combat veterans have PTSD. I'd be willing to say 100% to, but 30% are really good at pushing it down.
Starting point is 00:40:22 That's what I think. Yeah, yeah, no. I mean, and it's, it's not surprising. I mean, like you said, like, no one else can relate to what that experience is like. No one else can understand it. And I mean, that's, that's a lot to carry for the human mind, the human brain. Oh, absolutely. For sure. When those, those two were treated and the maybe you should have seen the tears, I mean the tears, I mean, and it's like, oh, they were carrying some, they were, you know, they were there much longer than I was, but you know, they carry a lot of crosses.
Starting point is 00:40:58 Yeah. What are some of the, you know, from all your experiences in life, you've lived so many different lives it seems as well. What are some of the mindsets or approaches you think, lessons that you think people should carry with them? What are some of the mistakes people make or what are some of the shifts in our mindset we could make to live happier and healthy lives? You need to believe in yourself. Definitely you need to believe in yourself because while there's many books there's no manual. You know what we talked about looking too far into the future day at a time and also when you're doing stuff the best you can have fun. Have fun. You know we're more productive when we have fun. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:45 A lot of people today have a lot of self-doubt when you said believe in yourself. When I'm traveling and speaking and coaching people and meeting people, I notice self-doubt to be just such a big challenge when you said believe in yourself. And I think so many people, even if they act confident and they execute inside, there's such a low self-esteem situation that we have in the country right now and in the world right now. Like if someone has self-doubt or they're feeling like they don't have potential
Starting point is 00:42:16 or they don't believe in themselves, what would you say to them? I would say there's a couple of things they need to do that usually they have self-doubt for reason. Usually they were not encouraged, they were discouraged when they were raised, I would think. And that being the case, I would say this therapy with psychedelics, what it's available would be perfect because it would free them from a lot of those shackles. And there's something that works just as good and it is legal. It's called an SGB block.
Starting point is 00:42:53 Do you know about it? No, I don't. Okay. What an SGB block is, it's a, and G stands for stale ganglion and then B stale for block. And what it is is PTSD and all that stuff is caused from the amygdala in the front of the mind. Okay. And the amygdala manages fighter flight and emotions. Well, what happens is as we go through all these unpleasant events and so forth, it gets out of tilt. And the individual stays in a close to a fighter flight type situation, which is what PTSD is, and it's debilitating. But the problem is, with the human mind, the mind hieses flaws from the person in which it resides. They don't know it. They feel like they're just perfect except they have self-doubt or
Starting point is 00:43:52 they have anxiety or they're on edge or that sort of thing. It's the amygdala, all right and but so the amygdala communicates with the rest of the body through to stomach ganglion nerves in the neck. And when there's a fight or flight response necessary or it'd be a real or emotional, it releases adrenaline and up and effort. It speeds the heart up. It dilates the lungs. It tightens the arteries and extremities to move blood to the core, all those
Starting point is 00:44:26 things to get us to survive that have been developed over millennia, right? It does, it does all that. Well, what, what has happened and is the people that are suffering from this, they're in that state very close and any trigger just pushes them right into it and they have no control over it. They have no physical control over it. Even though they say, you hear people say, I don't know what's wrong with me, right? Okay, this is what the SGB block does,
Starting point is 00:44:56 is using, it's a medical doctor, using ultrasound, takes about five minutes, they take and shoot the big brother, a ly lydocane in the neck right next to the stomach galley and nerves. It numbs them and when it does the amygdala goes offline. It just shuts down. And then the individual will get a little droopy eye, talk like a sailor, right? And that sort of thing. And then when it, the numbing agent wears off, and the eye returns the normal and the voice normal, the amygdala reconnects, and it reboots. It resets, and it goes back to the way the individual should be, and the difference is profound.
Starting point is 00:45:43 and the difference is profound. All right, now this is done all over the country. It's, you can find a website called Stulla Centers, which will tell you about it. I'm not involved in it at all. I just know about it and I help people get it done. The people, it changes their lives. I've helped NFL players do it. I've helped veterans. I've helped NFL players do it. I've helped veterans. I've helped, you know,
Starting point is 00:46:06 people that little kids that are just having trouble in school and I mean, stuff like that. It's amazing. And there's only one downside. And the downside is when it's not permanent. In many cases, it'll, it'll be six months or a year or two years, but here's what you do. When you start sliding back, get it done again. I've had it done four times. I have probably helped 150 people get it done, never had one negative result, and everybody is just... And there were veterans too, or just anyone. Anyone. Yeah, and they're just... too or just anyone anyone yeah and they just thank you
Starting point is 00:46:47 thank you thank you you know it is it is it is just amazing Bob it's it's wonderful to hear your spirit of you know healing yourself wanting to help heal others I can see how much joy you get in helping other people and seeing them break through their challenges and what's holding them back. We end every episode here with what's called the final five. And these five questions have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum. Okay. Bob Parsons, these are your final five. Question number one, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received? Do what you love. Great answer. Second question, what is the worst advice you've ever heard or received? Oh my God, this works, can't lose. Question number three, what something you used to value, but you don't value anymore?
Starting point is 00:47:47 You know, I'd say two at degree money. Question number four, what's something you're trying to learn right now, or what's something that you're working on right now that you're excited about? Well, I'm trying to learn what I can do to get psychedelics legal. You know, in a medical capacity, you know, healing class. Exactly, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:13 A fifth and final question, if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? It sounds straight, but it's, and I don't know how you'd make it a law, but I'd just say, you know, if you love your neighbor. Yeah. That would be beautiful.
Starting point is 00:48:28 No, wouldn't it? Yeah, it would make the world a much better place. We wouldn't have to have so many people who have to go to war and come back with PTSD and have to deal with the repercussions of that. So sure. Yeah. Bob, it has been such a joy, such a pleasure to spend this time with you today. Honestly, I meant everything I said, your spirit, your energy, the way you communicate,
Starting point is 00:48:49 just your smile. It's truly just, it's infectious. It's very infectious being around you. And I can't begin to imagine the journey you've had to go on to rediscover yourself, to refine yourself, to allow yourself to be yourself from before. And it's unbelievable to experience it. So thank you so much for this honor and for this opportunity to sit with you and have
Starting point is 00:49:14 this conversation. Well, I got to tell you it's been absolutely my pleasure. So thank you. No, you're very kind, Bob. And for everyone who's been listening or watching, make sure that you share the insights that Bob gave, things that are gonna stay with you, messages that you're gonna pass on to a friend, I hope that you'll pass this episode on to others as well,
Starting point is 00:49:33 make sure you check out everything that Bob's working on as well. Bob, congratulations, I know tonight you have a party to celebrate your new partnership with PXG and Nick Jonas as well. Yeah, sweet of you, very excited about that. I hope that goes extremely, extremely well. And for everyone who's been watching, I hope you come back and listen to more episodes of on purpose, dedicated to helping you
Starting point is 00:49:53 be happier, healthier, and more healed. Thank you so much. If you love this episode, you will enjoy my interview with Dr. Daniel Aiman on how to change your life by changing your brain. The world of chocolate has been turned upside down. A very unusual situation. You saw this tax-appassion in our office. Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, and recently, Varieta's cacao, thought to have been lost centuries ago, were
Starting point is 00:50:16 rediscovered in the Amazon. There is no chocolate on earth like this. Now some chocolate makers are racing deep into the jungle to find the next game-changing chocolate, and I'm coming along. Okay, that was a very large crack it up. Listen to the obsessions while chocolate on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. Getting better with money is a great goal for 2023, but how are you going to make it happen? Ordering a book that lingers on your nightstand
Starting point is 00:50:46 isn't going to do the trick. Instead, check out our podcast, How To Money. That's right, we're two best buds offering all the helpful personal finance information you need without putting you to sleep. We offer guidance three times a week, and we talk about debt payoff, saving more, intelligent investing, and increasing your earnings.
Starting point is 00:51:03 Millions of listeners have trusted us to help them make progress with their financial goals. You can listen to How to Money on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets. It's hard to believe we're entering our eighth season, and yet we're constantly discovering new secrets. The variety of them continues to be astonishing. I can't wait to share 10
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