Start With A Win - Building a Life of Consistency with Mike O’Hearn

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

Mike O’Hearn is a bodybuilder, personal trainer, actor, model and community ambassador. He holds four Mr. Universe titles and was voted one of the twelve greatest physiques of all time by the fitness industry. Mike is a true champion and well-rounded athlete who has graced over 500 fitness covers.Main TopicsHow Mike got the title “The Titan” and what it means to him (01:24)The importance of living with intentionality and being all in on what you’re doing in order to achieve your goals (02:38) Mike’s community called The Titan Crew—a group of people around the world who want to get healthier and understand how the body functions (07:50)Setting goals and living life as a slow journey and not a race to a quick result and how Mike viewed competitions as something for himself and not to gain the approval of others (11:19)Avoiding distractions while you’re on your journey (14:13)Planning a weekly schedule and how it will set you up for success (18:35) Connect with Mike:https://mikeohearn.comhttps://twitter.com/mikeohearnhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mikeohearnhttps://www.youtube.com/mikeohearntitanConnect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/https://www.facebook.com/AdamContosCEOhttps://twitter.com/AdamContosCEOhttps://www.instagram.com/adamcontosceo/Listen, rate, and subscribe!Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts

Welcome to Start With A Win, where we give you the tools and lessons you need to create business and personal success. Are you ready? Let's do this. And coming to you from Brand Viva Media headquarters in Denver, Colorado, it's Adam Kantos with Start With A Win. Producer Mark, how you doing, buddy? Hey, I am pumped up. What? Oh, yeah. I love it. I am pumped. We got an awesome guest on the show today. Your friend, Mike O'Hearn, a bodybuilder, professional trainer,

actor, model, and community ambassador. Mike holds four Mr. Universe titles and was voted one of the 12 greatest physiques of all time by the fitness industry. Mike is a true champion, well-rounded athlete who has graced over 500 fitness covers. Mike, welcome to Start With The Wind. I'm going to dance or sing and smile. Hey, it's good to see you, my friend. Thanks for being on the show today. Absolutely, man.

I love the opportunity. Awesome. Hey, let's get right into this. You got your Titan crew shirt on today, and you are the Titan. I mean, you've had that title for many different aspects of your life. Let's just jump into that. Being known as a Titan, what does that mean to you, and how did you get that title? Wow, what does it mean to me?

For me, it actually just means to try to continue to get better through life. It really is. And how the name came about was fun. I mean, I got American Gladiators as a young 20-year-old and got to continue to do shows like American Gladiators from my 20s to 30s to 40s. And the name was just uh appointed to me but i i it continued to not just be a character's name but a representation of who i am and what i believe in and uh it's

like you or like all of our acquaintances is these kind of individuals that continue to push and fight regardless of your peak or when you peaked in college or high school or whatever. We continue to try to just really take it to the next level every single day. Awesome. Taking it to the next level. I mean, it's interesting. I had the honor of visiting you pre-COVID. And it was funny because everybody's getting together and the word goes around. All right. I think it was like 4 a.m. We were hitting Gold's Gym or 4.30 or something like that. It was early. And I came from, I think, the East Coast to go do this. So we're hanging out and I'm like, this is hardcore. And I get introduced to your team, the group that you run with, and I was impressed from the get-go. It wasn't just, okay, let's go to the gym and have a really good workout. And everybody, you know, there weren't people running around yelling and screaming and getting sweaty and things like that. It was super intentional, super intentional. And that's what I noticed about you from the get-go is you're very intentional in everything you do. Why and when did you pick that part of your life

of that intentionality in order to maximize every aspect of you? Wow, great, great question, man. I come from a family that my dad was a school teacher. And so it was ask the right question. And even if it's not asked the right question, pay attention. Pay attention to what's going on. And I think I learned early on that the life I wanted to live,

I got lucky enough to understand as a kid what I wanted to do for a lifetime. And that's never changed. But it was also understanding that, okay, how has others not been able to to do for a lifetime and that's never changed but it was also understanding that okay how has others not been able to do it for a lifetime so what mistakes are they making and then the tunnel vision was just what their mistakes were don't do those stay on point and try to enhance the good things that they did And by paying attention to that precise vision, it has allowed me to live the life I have. And it really comes down to, I think that's also what's helped me bring the people around me. Like you said, everybody around me, it wasn't,

we're not in the gym, like meatheads screaming and yelling and saying, who's the strongest guy? It wasn't that it was it was what was the best thing for us to do at that point exercise wise what was the proper food before that what was the proper food after that what's our mindset when we're in the workout get the stuff done train smarter not harder so all those aspects kind of go into the process of how i live and it's just became a what do It's, uh, it's not what you do once in a while. It's what you do day in and day out is who you are. And it's transitioned into that. And it's so true. I mean, just, I'm an observer of people who, who explore the intentionality

in life and the successes that they create. And there's reasons why people get to be the very top in their game. You are the very top in your game. I mean, it's, you know, other than what Arnold Schwarzenegger, you and he are at the top there as far as the champions in the world of professional bodybuilding. And I mean, and you've done so much more. I mean, you know, I think you're what in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame or something like

that as well. You've got an incredible history of intentional daily activities resulting in success. But I want to kind of flip the coin on this because you see it every day where people, they say they want to do something, but they sort of do things. And what comes to mind when you see a lot of people that dabble in life? And what do you have to say about that? Man, you're killing it today. Man, I love this. I love this. And the reason why is because you're hitting a level that I don't think most people, most people, hey, how do you work out? How do you eat right?

But you're taking that one more notch. And it's the simple part, like this week, just to give you an example, as you're saying, I'm watching these individuals and they're putting the foot in the water, but pulling it back out and putting it in, jump in. And we saw that with what I get to see with every single day is the Titan crew on people making decisions that they think are the correct decision hey can I eat fish it's really healthy great fish is healthy it's great and I'm slicing up right now example okay what kind of eating? Well, I'm having salmon

with some sauce on it and some, you know, it's like, wait a minute, hold on, hold on, hold on. We're at this stage where we need to really go a little harder. Maybe some white fish, something lower fat, something. And that's just a metaphor for all this kind of stuff. It's like, if you're going to get in, get in. If you're going to do the workout, stay consistent. Get in there, get the work in. Don't do the one day in, one day out, one day in, one day out. Because the one thing that I think that you and I agree on is consistency beats everything. I don't care how much talent you have, how much God-gifted genetics you have. If you don't have that discipline or consistency, it's not going to happen. So true. And you mentioned the Titan crew.

Explain to us, what is the Titan crew? And I mean, I've been on a few of the Titan crew live broadcasts, things like that. And it is, you're not throwing large activities at people. You're making teeny tiny little tweaks, like the sauce on the fish, like the salmon versus the whitefish, or just these little bitty efforts with the Titan crew. And I noticed these people are laser-focused on these surgical changes in their lives. So explain to us, Titan crew, what does that mean to you? And I mean, I'm impressed by this group of people. It's people around the world, all ages,

that want to get healthy and not just get healthy to be Mr. Olympia, just get healthy, just be active, be able to play with the grandkids, play sports, do whatever it is, but it's just to get healthier and understand how the body functions with food and training. And you're right. It's incredible because we had over 10,000 members worldwide. And the coolest thing is just being able to touch or talk to people around the world. That's first off, really incredible where we are today with social media. But the second is to see the drive that the grandmother has to be healthy and continue to push forward. Where we've been around so many people that are 25 years old and they're like, eh, you know, no drive to that.

And that's why I like the Titan crew because it's a different mindset. And if you can be around those kinds of individuals, regardless of the age or nationality or anything, it's that drive that I bond with. And then you got that drive to go, I want to just try to be a little bit better today than I was yesterday. That's golden. And your great point about the small, it's the smallest little details that make the biggest changes. And people think it's like, oh, I need to completely go from never working out and not eating right to working out six days a week in extreme diet. It's not that way. It's a

moderate, slow, consistent change to being better is what works for the body and the mind. It's not these big leaps that people think it has to be. It has to be, I got to completely change my thought process. You just got to change a couple things. It's the tortoise and the hare, right? I mean, just. You're talking to the hare. You're talking to the tortoise.

I mean, you're talking to the heck you're talking to the tourist i mean you're talking to the tourist i was on stage in 1983 and i'm still here today and i love the fact that i could sit in the the journey it didn't matter that i won the universe as soon as i won it i was like okay now next let's go let's keep working I love the struggle and the journey of this. And that's why I still do it today. And I posted something today. I said, if you do this for money or anything in life, for money, solely money, you can't stay with it. Because some things are not going to be, especially the things that you really want, are not going

to be easy. And if it's solely for money or fame, you're going to give up. There's going to be bumps in the road and you're going to go forget it. It's not worth it. I'll go do something else and I'll take the money compared to being able to live the lives that we've been able to live. So to that point, a lot of people try and set a destination in their lives or in their process. You talked about universe and you see people who compete in fitness competitions, they get up on stage and then two or three months later, you see them and they're like 40 pounds overweight. It's a lifestyle of journey versus

random destinations is kind of what I've seen from you because you don't look at, all right, I'm trying to get there. You look at that's a stop along the way. What is the process? If, and I say this to everybody, when they're getting in the health and fitness world, obviously you got to compete against other people. I get that.

Right. And I get that it is who is the best that day, but you got to take the secondary stuff in. The secondary stuff is you're just appeasing what they're looking for for that moment. And if you're appeasing them for what they want, not what you want, again, you're not going to stay with it. And what I mean by that is I never went into a show going, I need to appease them. It was always the vision because it's an art piece to me. Deep down inside, it's not a sport.

It's an art piece. I'm creating an art piece. If they like it, cool. If not, at least I like it. Now, I was lucky enough to win the universe. Cool. So everybody liked it. Great.

But I tell people it wouldn't have mattered. And I had a talk with Joe Rita, who basically made health and fitness and bodybuilding and stuff. And he talked to me one day and he says, do what you're doing. Don't change what you're doing. And I was a 20-year-old kid hearing this. And I just got done shooting with Barry DeMay and Lee Haney and Dorian Yates. And I'm sitting there going, and he's telling me after everybody else left, do what you're doing.

Don't change your path. You're doing something unique that you love. This will continue forward and it's going to pay dividends. And at that moment, I realized that I didn't need to do what everybody else was doing. I had my own journey, my own beliefs, and it was staying true to that passion of creating my own art piece. And everybody's got their art piece, whatever it is, their family, their style. And what I mean by art piece is just everything about you. And you stay on your path relative to people trying to steer you in other ways,

especially if they're not ways that you really love, that's going to be a tough thing to do. I mean, it's, it's the guy that is in real estate, but he wants to be an artist. Okay. So there's a question for you. What would you recommend to him? He, he wants to be an artist, money or no money. What would you recommend? That's a tough question, but those are the things that those people out there have to answer themselves. Exactly. It's inside. And it's fascinating when I listen to you talk about this, because you talk about the dedication and the consistency and the little things every single day and the journey and the process, but you don't let the distractions pull you away. And I look at the people you surround yourself with, and I'm a big fan of Jim Rohn's statement, you're the average of the five people you spend

the most time with. And so choose wisely. And how do those things play together where you keep from, it's easy to get distracted away from going to the gym during the day. And you and I might go, no, it's not. But 99.9% of society is like, oh, it was raining today. I mean, it was raining today here, and I still got up and hauled my butt to the gym at 430. And I enjoyed it. But the reality is— You're crazy. Call it dedication, whatever.

But yeah, you got to be, I mean, I guess we're all crazy if that's what society deems us. I love that though. Yeah, totally. I'll take it. But how do you stay away from those distractions, Mike? There's got to be a million of them in your life. I mean, you're shooting movies. You're in magazines.

You've been on the cover of more books than probably anybody else in history, and you still find time for your family. You have a beautiful family. You spend time with them, your friends, the Titan crew, your podcast, all these other things. How do you keep from getting distracted and not losing track of those important aspects to you? I guess you would think that John always talks about it. Our friend, John, he came over, he got to the house. I said, Hey, stay at my house when, when you're in town, fine. Gets here, must've got here around seven o'clock or something. I said, all right, great seeing you, man. I'm off to bed. Um, cause that's my schedule. You know, I got to get to bed by seven,

eight o'clock. So I'm up at three in the morning. So I continue forward in that five people around me, that close crew knows if I can stay consistent and stay in my schedule and in the life I'm living, I can create, continue to create, continue to get better. As soon as I started falling to the, Hey, take the weekend off. Hey, have the cake, have the, it's the little stuff. Again, just both ways. It's the little stuff going away from your schedule and what you're doing and what's important relative. And so you just got to weigh everything out. I had so much fun hanging out with you and all the guys training at four in the morning. So I'm not going to stay up late having pizza and watching a movie that I can catch at a different time. So it's just those little decisions,

but it seems when we talk about this, it's pretty simple. It's not though. And I get that. And I get, it's not just to say no to your friends on the weekend partying, but the setup for the week is what's most important for me. And I think one of the biggest things that I've ever, ever discovered is when I was a kid and I couldn't read and write, and I come from this family of both educated parents. And, uh, I realized that that moment there's something different. And I just accepted it and said, this might be the greatest gift of my life. And I didn't realize until later that it was where most people would go, well, reading and writing is a fault. It's something that's going to hold you back. It just made me focus more. And I think I see that a lot

with some of the most incredible people around me. I had a friend, Angela, who is paralyzed from the neck down and she's more active than most people I know. And she's more active than most people I know. And she's more productive than most people I know. And this is a woman that was paralyzed after being a runway model in New York, top of the line. And now she goes, okay, this is what's happened. I'm accepting this and I'm going to make even better. And it's those kind of people Like was it Christopher Reeves

That got paralyzed And did more after the fact Than he did before and I wish more people would see that On themselves You got two arms and two legs That function make advantage of this Don't Just get up and go

Nah I'm good where I'm at I have that fight in me That I just got to continue to be a gladiator Don't just get up and go, eh, nah, I'm good where I'm at. I have that fight in me that I just got to continue to be a gladiator and fight every day harder and harder. Bam. I love that. It's interesting. I mean, you don't rationalize anything away. You select what you want to do, when you want to do it, where you want to go. And you mentioned this before.

You mentioned understanding your week, things like that. Do you plan your week ahead of time? I do. I do. Um, I'm always on somewhat of an understanding of the schedule. Um, because it just, if you can put the little things aside, you get the schedule set up, you got your meals set up, you got your workout set up, you got your workout setups, you got your, your life and business set up. The schedule for me is key when I'm just, uh, winging it, winging it's never good for me. And I just don't see that in, in people because, Hey, I'm just going to wing it. And then you miss your meals. And then you're, and again, when I speak about meals, it's a metaphor for everything. It's like, if the meals are there, your body's functioning well. If your body's functioning well, your mind's functioning well. If your mind's functioning well, life is functioning well.

So there's that avalanche of things that could go bad or go good. And so that's why I talk about food and prep and schedule and be on point. And for me, I love that because I continuously try to figure out, again, you will say this more than anybody, I think. There's a difference between being busy and being productive. Amen. Amen to that. And I think today, mostly with social media, everybody's like, oh, I'm a beast. I'm so busy'm so busy. No. Yeah. I mean, you weren't busy. I get that, but you're not productive. Busy's an excuse. Busy's an excuse. It's harsh, but it's reality, right? Totally, man.

I mean, it really is. It's, it's the kids today are growing up with this mentality of, I'm busy 24 seven. You haven't seen busy, right? You know, you and I are around these individuals that we go, wow. I mean, rocks and acquaintance, and there's not many people busier than the rocket up at three in the morning and continuing to four. So I always compare myself to that and go, that's, that's productive. That's busy and productive, but it's lose the excuses. Exactly. Totally. Yeah. I don't got time for the workout. I don't got time to eat the meals or prep the meals.

I don't got time to get out there and hit the pavement to sell the homes. I don't got that time. So here's the reality. I mean, it's Mike O'Hearn has the same number of hours in the day that you have, dear listener. That's it.

And you find a way to get to the gym to have the appropriate meals. And what do you eat, like six times a day? Yeah, six times a day. I mean, it takes a little bit of time to execute on that, but you do meal planning and prep. And I've been to the gym with you. It's not a 20-minute and done situation by any means. So it's incredible that you say that. And it happens for everybody. I mean, we're not just talking about building muscles here. We're talking about building a life and a business and success and a future and a legacy and a family and finances and faith and things of that nature. So ultimately it's about that being intentional.

And it's so cool. Mike, I have one last question for you that I ask everybody on here. And this was a really deep conversation. And thank you for sharing your wisdom and insight in how the Titan accomplishes daily tasks, activities, and life success. But Mike, how do you start your day with a win? And I'm excited to hear this because I've seen you at like four in the morning. So you're kicking ass by that time of day. How do you start your day with a win, my friend?

It's the most simple thing in the world. I make sure that I'm up every morning at 3 a.m. before the rest of the world. That's it. It really is that simple for me because that makes me, in myself, understand that I am up working, getting productive before the rest of the family is up, and jumping ahead of everybody. Awesome. Head start on success. It's awesome. Mike O'Hearn, four-time Mr. Universe, one of the most successful physical people on this planet in history. I mean, and you're changing lives, my friend. I mean, you're helping people find a great way forward. You've turned a lot of health issues around for so many people, and you're teaching dedication to everybody that you can reach with the Titan crew. So everybody make sure you check out Mike on social media, check out the Titan crew. It's been a pleasure and an honor to have you on the show, my friend. It's great to see you again.

I want to say thanks brother. You're somebody I look up to and this has been cool for me. And it's also outside of the fitness world. This is something that what I love is that the people around us are all walks of life and different jobs. And it's cool to be around the top echelons of society, of people that are really pushing it and making it to the next level. So, man, thanks for having me on. Thank you. And thank you for listening to start with a win if you're ready to grow as a leader and you want

to know the three keys to success just three out of a lot but top three head over to adam contos.com slash leadership and download our free pdf that will give you all that insight for more great content you can head over to adam contos.com and until next time remember start with a win you