THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Greatest Life Transformation Behind Bars w/ Damon West

Episode Date: June 28, 2022

This week's show is quite possibly the most incredible story I’ve ever heard. You are going to be riveted and you will never forget this conversation!13 years ago to the day that we recorded this interview, my guest was sentenced to life in prison! Yes, life in prison for my guest Damon West.Damon’s story will make you uncomfortable at times. But ultimately, his story is all about OVERCOMING EXTREME ADVERSITY, TRANSFORMATION, and REDEMPTION.Do you want to learn how to turn your life around? This interview Is a master class!At 20, Damon was the starting quarterback at the University of North Texas when he suffered a career-ending injury. A few years later while training to be a stockbroker, Damon got hooked on methamphetamines, and he became the mastermind of a burglary ring to support his addiction.  Eventually, he was arrested and sentenced to 65 years in a Texas maximum security prison.In prison, Damon got SOBER, went through a SPIRITUAL AWAKENING, and started down his true life’s calling which he continued to build on after his parole more than 7 years later.Today he is a much sought-after speaker and best-selling author including co-writing “The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change.” with JON GORDON.Damon pulls no punches in a series of brutally HONEST stories when sharing his life and the mistakes he’s made.You’ll hear first-hand exactly what it feels like to be found guilty of major crimes, how he fought to survive and eventually THRIVE in prison, and how Damon turned his time in prison into an OPPORTUNITY.Be sure to listen to how he used the analogy of being like a COFFEE BEAN (yes, a coffee bean) as a critical part in changing his victim mindset to one of HOPE and redemption.In one of my favorite parts of this episode, Damon reveals his thoughts about GRATITUDE, his mission to HELP OTHERS, and why RESILIENCE is essential to living your best life.This week, pay attention to a man who has lived life on the edge in many ways, good and bad.   Damon’s past and present are filled with LESSONS that will make you STOP, THINK, and help you FIGURE OUT how you can lead a better life, too. 

This is the end of my lecture. Alright everybody, my guest today, 13 years ago, 2 day, was sentenced to essentially life in prison, 13 years ago today, and then he finds himself sitting across from me 13 years later, having completely transformed his life, and has become one of the great speakers on planet earth, one of the great influencers on planet earth, and has become dear friends with many of my best friends. And it's one of the most remarkable stories

you are ever gonna hear in your damn life. So get ready. Strap in, and here is Damon West. Damon, welcome to the show, brother. Ed, man, thank you for having me. I got to tell you, brother, I'm in a long-term program recovery. And that's all I got turned on your podcast about a year and a half ago, man.

People in recovery, you're real big in the recovery circles because of that key tenant that we have of service oriented work. You know, service work is how we stay sober. And you live it, you speak it, you pass it on to your listeners, I'm one of them. Thank you. And it's that, that's what attracted me to you

and your story, then you start to talk about your dad, man, so I'm so happy to be here. I hope you'll let me hit you with questions about your father today. Yeah. So I got questions, man. Yeah, well, I got a lot for you. I mean, I've never introduced somebody and said,

13 years ago today, they got sentenced to life in prison, 65 years of basically a life sentence in Texas. And the fact that you're sitting here, man, and you've accomplished since you've been out is remarkable. I think everyone's one, you know, is one of the most riveting stories you've ever heard by, by the way,

one of the best communicators you will have ever heard from in your life. So let's go back first. And let's just go to 13 years ago today first. We can go back from there, but let's just go to that. What today first. We can go back from there, but let's just go to that. What does that feel like when you hear the words that you are guilty and going away?

What is the emotional feeling that someone like you, only you can experience? What is that moment like in someone's? I've always wondered, I've never been able to ask anybody that question before. Right, no, it's like looking down the barrel of a gun and someone pulled the trigger and that's it. I mean, they unloaded on me.

And what does it feel like? It feels like rock bottom. That was my rock bottom moment. And it feels like I felt like I got punched in the stomach really hard. When you know the wind has knocked out of you, when the judge read the sentence out 65 years and it was like, man, they just hit me with life.

And I knew it was gonna be bad because I walked back in the courtroom. First of all, the trial lasted six days. Six days is a long criminal trial for crimes that were non-agovated. No one was ever home during the burglars I committed. They're all meth-related burglars, property crimes around meth. Now, it doesn't mean I didn't do the crime. I did the crimes and I was a bad guy because when I broke into people's houses, my victims, I didn't just steal their property, man. I stole their sense of security. And so I deserved to go to prison.

But the trial lasted six days, and over those six days, the jury heard the story of Damon West. And as they heard the story more and more, they began to resent and hate Damon West. And I could see it in their eyes, I could feel it coming out of them, and they had every right to.

Because here's a guy in front of him that had everything going on life, every advantage, every privilege, every opportunity, and they had at the end of that six day trial, they went to deliberate for 10 minutes. Oh my gosh. 10 minutes, bro. 10 minutes on your life. 10 minutes on my life.

And I came back in the courtroom. What? They give you a baloney sandwich whenever you're in the breaks back there. People don't see this, but in the back they have a holding cell and they bring you lunch because you're a lunch is a baloney sandwich when you're in jail. And I'm sitting there taking a couple bites of the bony sandwich and the bay lift comes in and says, they're ready.

And I'm like, I couldn't even chew the sandwich and I'm throwing it out of the spit it out in the toilet. Are you freaking kidding me? Yeah, man, cause it's like, oh dude, that's not good. So I walked back into the courtroom and I have two paid attorneys, Ed. I'm a white middle class guy in America. I've got two paid attorneys.

I never had a felony conviction. I thought I was going to get probation that day. And I thought I'd be out getting high because I'm still an addict in my addiction, right? And so I come back into the courtroom and my second chair counselor, the woman named Karen Lambert, she said, brace yourself, it's going to be bad. And I'm like, how bad, Karen?

She said, well, you were gone for that brief 10 minutes. The jury sent a note into the judge from the jury room. They wanted to know if they could give you life without parole. Ed, life of that parole is a capital punishment. There's these are capital crowns. I'm like, Karen, that's crazy. She said, get ready. And the judge came back in. Damon Joseph West, you were here by sentence to 65 years

in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The first thing I heard, yeah, the first thing I heard was my mother gasped out loud. She's behind me in the courtroom and you know, the sound only a mother can make when she hears her son get a life sentence in prison and head that day, there's so much going on. And after the moments over, the share surrounding the bagels around me, the handcuff, me, they're dragging me out of the courtroom. And I like guys and my mom on the way out the door,

and I'll think to say to my mom, and I'm sorry, mom, and I don't even know that I fully understood it, that I've mined it, or anything like that. But it's the only thing I can think to say to my poor mother, my father's there too. But I had right after that trial was over, my mother and my dad are brought in to this,

they put in some rooms, got a bulletproof glass, and they told me to wait on the other side of the glass, my mom and my dad were escorted and they feel sorry for my parents because I just got life and so my mom has a conversation with me. It's a five minute little one-off deal and she's just on it man and she's telling me she's like, you know, Damon, debts in life demand to be paid. You just got hit with one heck of a bill from the state of Texas because she said you did the things they said you did. So you're going to have to go to prison. You're going to pay that debt. You owe Texas that debt. She said, but you owe your father and I debt too. She said, we gave you all the opportunity, love and support to be anything you want to be in life.

And she said, that's how you just repaid us, Damon. She said, that's not going to work. She's reminding me. She said, we raised you in Port Arthur, Texas, a giant multipod of a city. Gave you a great moral compass, what you chose to not use. She said, so here's the debt you're going to pay to us. Now, Ed, here it is, man, this is the direction of my life. This is those moments that you come to and you say this is where it changed. She said, when you go to prison, you will not get in one of these white hate groups, one of these Aryan brotherhood

type of gangs because you're scared because you're the minority in there. She said, that's not going to work. You were never raised to be a racist. You're not going to start now. She said, you will not get. She said, you will not minority in there. She said that's not gonna work. You were never race to be a racist. You're not gonna start now. She said you will not get, you're not gonna start now. She said you will not get any tattoos while you're inside that prison.

You don't have any? No, I don't have any tattoos. And I was in the joint for almost 10 years, man. These guys, they wanna tattoo every inch of your body and a joint, man, every time these guys would come up to me and prison, let me put a tattoo on you, man. I'd be like, man, dude, I can't do it, man. My mom said no, no, because she did,

because listen to what she said next on May 18, 2009. 13 years ago today, she says, Damon, no gangs, no tattoo. She said, you come back as the man we raised or don't come back at all. Oh my gosh, brother. I was floored, Ed. Your mom rose to the occasion, really, right? Rose, and she's a nurse, man.

She's used to traumatic situations, right? She compartmentalized all the pain and got to work. And I asked my mom since then, I said, Mom, what was it like for you? Because I'm very, like I said, I want to ask you questions, I want to ask questions. I want to understand people in the moment. Yeah.

She said, Damon, what I envisioned was my son is on a gurney dying. And I'm doing triage, just saved my son's life. Yes, I heard. And I stepped up and that was what came to me from the Holy Spirit. She said, and my mom's a very devout Christian woman. So she said, that's what came to me. But it was like, you were on a gurney dying

and I've got to stem the flow of blood and you're going to die. My gosh. So everyone, I want you to step back for a second. First thing is you're hearing this unbelievable story, right? And we're going to go deeper on it. But I want you to know as we go through this story, you're going to begin to hear some of the turnarounds and the strategies and the tactics that have produced this guy sitting in front of me, because some of the people that I admire and respect most in the world have been recommending Damon

to me for some time. And God's just so amazing, man. We've been, you know, kind of trying to put something together for a while and I send you a message on Instagram, I go, Hey, May 18th, get there. Yeah, you're like, you're like, I'll come, right? And little do I know that it'd be the 13 year to the day anniversary of you getting life and preside no idea with the date. I didn't even know what the significance meant at all. So God is just absolutely amazing that he sends you to me on that date.

I call it God, thanks man. That's what I text you, dude, you're never gonna believe this. Not only is it the 13 year anniversary, it's my three year anniversary being married. My wife and I, Kendall and I got married 10 years to the day that I got sentenced to life and prison. You came to see me on your anniversary, it's my three year anniversary being married. My wife and I, Kendall and I got married 10 years to the day that I got since the life in prison. You came to see me on your anniversary. Now I really love you.

Thank you. Oh, man. And your wife probably hates me, but thank you. No, we were in Mexico. We were in Mexico. Yeah, that's right. And so we went for our anniversary trip. Oh, we barely, couple weeks early, because I have so many speaking engagements going on.

Isn't this good to hear, by the way? Because now you guys know there's like a happily ever after at some point, but let's stay in this thing here. Let's go. So, okay, you get sentenced, but let's go back. They were a meth, it sounds pretty severe from what I understand happened. You had non-violent robberies basically in your history

and you were a meth addict. Was that accurate? Absolutely. Okay, so that's a long time. Life in prison was 65 years. For non-violent, you know, robberies, but let's just, you did the in prison was 65 years for nonviolent robberies. But you did the crime and you did time for it. It just seems excessive to me.

And I think it is excessive. But let's go back. You get raised by obviously these beautiful parents. You're an unbelievable athlete, right? What was it? One decision that altered the direction of your life is at one time you just decided to use drugs once and you just bam you were hooked or what took place?

What took you down the road that led you 13 years ago to this data sitting in that room? Yeah, you know, whenever I was younger, I got into substance abuse at a young age. The my gateway drug was alcohol. It's the first thing every day. I got into my dad's beer when I was 10. You know, and after that, I smoked pot when I was 12

and I had a lot of character issues, man. But I could throw a football. And this is Texas, man, Texas high school football. It's like a religion in my home state. This people are very serious about their football. And I was the man. I was a three year starting quarterback for a five, a school. So my behaviors never were, I never, I was never held accountable for my behaviors.

And I'm not blaming anybody else for that. It's I mean, but I, um, I didn't, I didn't get held accountable. I was a good student. I made grades, um, got a scholarship to play football at the University of Texas, but I think the one decision that I made is that I got into substance abuse of a young age. I had no idea that I was an addict.

You know, you don't, there's not a genetic test for this yet. I mean, maybe there will be one day, but I was an addict. And once I put in those chemicals for the first time, I liked the way it felt. I liked the buzz I got in drinking. Then I wanted to try something different. And it wasn't until I got to college

that I got into more hardcore drugs. I was playing football and I got injured. I had a career in an injury in 1996 against Texas A&M. I'm 20, man, I was a starting quarterback. You played sports, man. You know how big it is. When your career ends prematurely, you're not ready for this.

It's your whole dream, it's your whole world. It was my identity. That's the problem, man. I wrapped my identity up into something external. And I see people all the time in the world. We see people that wrap their identities up into something external. They're money, they're job, whatever. That's not you, man.

What she was inside you. I didn't get that back then, though, and I didn't get the memo, right? So I got into hardcore drugs in 96, cocaine, X-S-E-Pills, graduated college, went off to work in, worked in the United States Congress, worked for God running for president, worked on Wall Street, and I was a Wall Street, I was training to be a sti-broken Dallas when I was introduced to meth for the first time, but now we're back to the one decision of subsapuse, man.

Once I put the chemicals in at a young age, I light the way it felt and I chase that. Mm-hmm. You also, if you don't mind saying it, we're gonna go a little bit more personal, but I don't know if it was at the time or later, you sort of uncovered that there's probably a, not very fair incident that happened to you

when you were a young man as well, that you're maybe you're masking it a little. Oh, yeah, no, when I was nine, I was molested by a babysitter, a female babysitter. And this is, so, but I'm careful when I talk about it, I'm careful not to say that, hey, you know, this is what happened to me, and this is the road I went down because of that,

because some people are really, some people have very traumatic experiences with that. This was a female, maybe sitter, that we were doing things, I was nine years old when this happened, no nine year old should be doing the stuff I was doing, but it didn't affect me in the sense that it's like, oh my god, my world was turned upside down.

I can't believe this happened to me. What happened to me with that is I got introduced to adult behaviors at a very young age. It's like someone lets you inside that big door. And once you got on the other side of that door at nine, which you're not supposed to be on the side of that door at nine, there's all these other doors, but those doors aren't locked. Those doors are for adults.

You can just open doors with those because you make choices. But I got on the other side of but those doors aren't locked. Those doors are for adults. You can just open doors for those because you make choices. But I got on the other side of that door at nine years old. And now there's drinking, there's smoking, there's smoking dope, there's skipping school cutting classes, chasing girls, all that stuff. I got introduced to that at a very young age. So that's- You're well said.

Yeah, and I don't like- I don't want to use it as a crutch because I know that some people are very dramatically affected by that. And I'm not trying to use it as a crutch because I know that some people are very dramatically affected by that. And I'm not trying to minimize the fact that it did affect me, but what it did to me is it introduced me to adult behaviors at a very young age. And when I touched that live wire of substances,

I liked it. What about this idea that when you are someone addicted to substances, you're an alcoholic or a drug addict. You learn to manipulate people. You learn to put a presentation of yourself to people that is not real. And you do this repetitiously all of your life, right? So at some point you lose yourself. Don't you when you're sort of faking who you are to everybody else? Isn't there a point where you sort of just lose

self completely when you're in that type of behavior pattern for so long? Absolutely. You have delusional thinking. Delusions of grandeur. Eventually, I mean, which you're in to substance abuse and you get into addiction really hard, you even have delusions of adequacy. I mean, it's like, you become delusion on you live in a world where you have this fallacy, this idea of control. You think you have control over all these other things around you. You think you're a master manipulator.

You're the wizard behind the curtain. You're pulling levers and pushing buttons and people do what you want to do. But yeah, you lose yourself along the way. You get wrapped up in this external world because you don't focus on self. You're living in a world where you're selfish, self seeking, self want, self desires, self delusion. These are, this is the world of an addict right there. It's pretty amazing that you, you grew up with this unbelievable gift of your talent. Your Texas football is religion.

You're a quarterback, you're unbelievable. You're going to the best place to go play. You come from a good family, then you have even all these other upsides that happen. So that happens. It's 13 years ago today. And now you've made this commitment to your mom. Well, there's commitments and then there's commitments. So I know very little about prison, but I have had some good friends go.

And so I want you to walk us through this. Now you've made a commitment to your mom that you're not going to get involved in one of these racial groups, which is where at most 99.9% of the guys go to hide at some point. And even those groups, sometimes you have to fight your way in. So what's that like? You're in prison now. And I'm sure the, the Aryan brotherhood are trying to get you in the, get you into their good graces and everybody else is coming after you. Wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't you just start fighting or what? Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, to answer the question, I've got a,

I've got about two months here while I'm in Dallas County, jail waiting to be transported to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. They send a prison bus to get picky help with guards that are armed. But in that two month period, I'm running around Dallas County, jail and I'm asking all these guys that have been in prison before, how am I gonna survive? What am I gonna do? I'm in game mode now. I'm like, oh man, this is really happening. And every guy I talk to, man, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, they say the same thing. You got to

get into a gang. You will not survive without a gang. They told me the lie that so many people here in the streets of America, the gang will be your family. The gang is gonna love you. The gang is gonna protect you. Oh, I said, now what wasn't a lie as they said, you're going to the worst part of the prison system where everybody in the building you live on has life.

They call it the life since building. Shhh, West, get into a gang. Save your life, get into a gang. But there was this one guy that was so different in Dallas County to this old black man named Mr. Jackson. And Mr. Jackson's what you call career criminal. Dude's been in our prison all of a sudden, four or five times, right?

But it's the most positive guy ever met. This guy had a smile on his face everywhere. Went, you couldn't knock the smile off of Jackson's face. And every morning, man, every morning, this man would come up to my cell, to my bunk. And he picked me up like a ray of sunshine in that dark place with this positive energy, right? So one morning, Mr. Jackson comes up,

he's got a couple of coffins and his hands. This is awesome. And a smile on his face, he said, West, he said, I've been watching how you're dealing with those nukalhas and those dummies talk about you got to get into a gang. He said, do not list these fools. He said, you want to keep that promise

you might as your mom and your dad, then let me tell you what prison's going to be like. So he tells me, he said, the first thing you need to understand about prison, he said, prison's all about race. And he said, race is the first thing you need to understand about prison, he said prisons all about race. And he said race is the big dynamic in there because all the inmates wanted to be about race. And he was right. I mean, that's the whole override dynamic of prison. He said because it's about race when you walk in the door of the life in this building, he said, you're gonna see a TV set in that

day room in front of the TV set. They have rows of benches. He said the first row of benches, you can't sit on that row. That's for the blacks. You want your head smashed in. You said on that row, the second row, you can't sit on that row that's for the blacks you get your head smashed in you sit on that row the second row you can't sit on that one either that's for the Hispanics those match your head into he said the third row if there's a third rows where the white folks said he said there's no third row white folks that'll floor that's the way the numbers work in prison he said it's the opposite of the free world you don't have the numbers in there like you have out here so don't get into a wreck over race he said but because it's about race when you walk in the door, the white gangs get the first dip on you.

He said, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Aryan Circle, the white knights, the woods, he's naming all the white prison gangs. He said, you have to fight all of them if you want to be independent from them. He said, you don't have a choice in this. You have to fight if you want to be independent. He said, if you don't give in to their ideology,

hate out of fear. And let me tell you what I learned about fear. I learned that fear is a liar. Fear makes you see things that aren't there, makes you believe things that are not real. In fact, I would argue fear is not even real. Fears on your head. Fear is how you perceive a situation. Danger is real.

You have to respect danger. But fear is not real. And Jackson's telling me, don't give into this artificial thing called fear. But get ready because once you get done with the white gangs, the black gangs are coming next, the crypts, the bloods, the gangster disciples, Mendingo warriors, he's naming all the black people. Yeah, he said, you have to fight all of them. He said, if you survive all this west,

and he said, and you can survive all this, he said, you're gonna earn the right to walk alone. He said, the strongest man in prison always walks alone. Wow. He told me about fighting. And this is the truth that I've shared. I've spoken to hundreds of audiences the last six years since I've been out of prison

And this is something I always leave him with he said you don't have to win all your fights But you do have to fight all your fights. What a huge lesson in life right because that tells you that Some days you're gonna win and some days you're gonna lose I'm not saying the losing is a great thing you should aspire to But you're gonna lose sometimes and you're not gonna win all your fights But when you lose get up and that's what he's saying don't stay down get up But when he's telling me this't stay down, get up. But when he's telling me this back in 2009, man, 13 years ago, I'm looking back at this guy. I get deer and headlights, man.

Oh, there's violence and terror about to walk into. So he says, Wes, let me break it down for you. No, the way he said, I want you to imagine prison. That's a pot of warm water. This is the best thing I've ever heard. He said, oh, man, this is, it's wild. And this is something that everybody can grab onto this thing. This is the whole

Crux of the presentation He said imagine prison is a pot of warm water He said anything we put to this pot of warm water is gonna be changed by the heat and the pressure inside that pot He said I'm gonna put three things in this pot of warm water and watch how they change a carrot an egg And a coffee beam so he walked me through it He said so first things first He said if I put a carrot in the potable and water, we call it prison.

He said, what happens to the carrot? And I'm like, Mr. Jackson, the carrot's going to turn soft. And he said, that's right, West. But the carrot went in the water hard. But the water, the prison turned that hard carrot soft and mushy and we didn't take long. He said, the carrot got beat, he got robbed, may got raped, may got killed.

You don't want to be this carrot West. He said, what about the egg? What happened to the egg in the pot of warm water? We call prison. And I'm like, Mr. Jackson, the egg is going to turn hard, man, like a hard boiled egg. He said, that's right, West. He said the egg is a shell that protects it physically.

But inside that shell, that soft liquid core, the eggs hard, became hard. He said, if your heart becomes hardened, you're incapable of giving or receiving love. And he said, if you're incapable, given or receiving love in that place, you've become institutionalized. And you will not come back as someone your parents recognize. He said, because your eggshells can have swastika statue all over it. Then he asked me, he said, what about the coffee being

west? And I didn't have an answer for this dude. I didn't know what happened to a coffee being in a pot of warm water. And that's when this man, this man that looked nothing like me, he didn't come from the same America I came from it, didn't believe the same things I believed, fundamentally or spiritually. This is a black Muslim man from the streets of Dallas, Texas, y'all. I'm a white Catholic guy from a little bit of town

called Port Arthur. But this man's so different than me, share with me one of the ones that I want to be. So wise. And transformational mess, as I've ever received, I had to tell people all the time, man, if you ever shut yourself off to people

because of their differences, different race, different gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, but if you close yourself off to people because of their differences, you're going to miss some of the most important lessons and some of the best friendships in this life. Because this man told me that day he said, I put a coffee bean in the same pot of warm water we call prison. He said, now you have to change the name of the water to coffee because he said the coffee being head. He said the coffee being had the power to change the entire universe of that pie because the power was inside that coffee bean. And he said, just like the powers inside you. And he told me the coffee

beans is the only thing that'll change the water. The carrot is changed by the water. The eggs are changed by the water. Coffee beans are the only thing that changed the water. And the last thing he tells me, the last thing I hear from Mr. Jackson, he says, Wes, go out there and go be a coffee bean. Now, Ed, I walk into prison and it is a baptism by fire, man. Inside the first 10 minutes, man, I'm in a fight with a big huge area in Brotherhood guy, dude, beast me from one side of the day,

first 10 minutes. First 10 minutes, man. And it's all, and Jackson told me what to expect. He said, man, the first guy that comes up to you, and you walk in the door, he's not a threat. He's an information gather. He's a scout. He's going to be a white guy because you're white.

He's going to ask you this question, what gang do you want to be a part of? What family? Do you want to call gangs families? Get him out of your face as fast as you can and get ready. He said, because the second guy that comes up, he's not coming to talk to you. He's coming to fight you. He said, he's coming to hurt you. He said, when this guy gets within range, put your fist in his mouth.

Hit him as hard as you can. Don't even let him get a word in. And head when I walk in the door, man, I'm there. I got my bags and my property. I set them on the ground, put them back against the wall, stumbling up in a couple minutes, a little bit of white dude, a little bit of white dude, head up from head to toe, even his eyelids are tied up, right?

And he comes up, he gets in my face. Hey, white boy, what family you riding with? Get your face changed. Man, I might do it. I'm riding with God. Please just let me on. I'm riding with God. He'd laughed at me, Ed. He said, God isn't here. White boy, because we kicked him out. He said, but we're here and we're coming to get you. Get ready. Stumbles up the stairs. Few minutes later, biggest corn fed white dude. I've ever seen him in my life. He's coming down. He points at me from third row. Huge dude. Muscleed up. Man, he's coming down the

stairwells, balled head with a swatzka around the top. Swatzka on the dome of his head man. All I see is a swatzka to beat the eyeballs and muscles coming at me. Dude, I played sports on my life man. When that guy got up with the range, I can beat coach. Bam, I hit the dude as hard as I could,

didn't even face him. This dude beat me down. But that was what life was like in prison. For the first two months, I spent fighting there, fighting for my life But but I had the I had Mr. Jackson telling me that you don't have to win those fights Which you have to fight those fights and I lost most of my fights in their head I tell people the time and I probably got three dozen fights the whole time

I was there and lost 75% of those fights That's what I wanted to ask you physically lost Ed Imagine waking up every day knowing that you're gonna get your butt handed to you But that's your day and you have to face your day. And it was a training ground, it's a massive, if you want it to be, it's a massive training ground. It's finding an opportunity and adversity. It's what you talk about Ed.

The other side of your adversity, the other side of your fears is the best version of you, but I had to go through all that to get to where I wanted to be. I want to talk about this some more, by the way, now everyone knows what the heck I was talking about when I introduced you. First 10 men as men were rolling. We're rolling. There's a lesson in there I want to share with you that I got from my dad's sobriety.

And I know we'll talk a little bit about this as we go today too, but so about three weeks ago, man, I wrote this whole book about the one mores. And I woke up, I woke up, my wife up was really emotional. And I said, babe, wake up, wake up, wake up. And I said, hey, I said, someone helped daddy. She said, what? I said, someone helped my dad.

The most important decision of my entire life is my dad's decision to get sober. You and I probably aren't talking if he doesn't. I've reached millions of people because my dad made this decision. My kids, my dad's grandkids, our whole lives are changed. It never occurred to me man, someone helped my dad. Yeah. I didn't think about it. And she was my gosh, I said that precious soul, met my father in the darkest moment of his life. The most dark ashamed place of his life completely changed my father's life forever and changed mine in millions of other people's lives.

Yes. They didn't even know it. I said, babe, that's crazy. One human being in their humanity reached out and helped my dad in some dark room or a coffee shop or a bar somewhere. I said, that's not the most amazing part, even though that's amazing. What qualified this person to help my dad? Keep your chills, dude. Dude, what qualified them to help my dad was the things they were the most ashamed of. Yes. Was their drunkenness, was their drug addiction, was the things they did they're the most embarrassed and ashamed of that they think just qualified them from ever doing anything great in their life or maybe their average ordinary existence,

was the very thing that prepared them. God was preparing them to intervene in my dad's life and change my family forever. And then I could see it in your eyes. That's the same thing with Mr. Jackson. Yes, guys, you're talking to him at the jail because he'd been in that system and was still there. The things that he probably made the biggest mistakes

of his life or what prepared him to serve you and help you in the most scared dark moment of your life. His things he's most ashamed of and embarrassed by is what his preparation was to change your life. Absolutely. It was his knowledge. That was what he had to pass on. That was his great contribution to humanity. Was passing this on to somebody he felt was worthy of the knowledge that he had gained the hardest way possible, man. Come on, man. This is what... And that's what your dad got from his sponsor, man. And that's what millions are getting from you.

Here we go. So here's the thing. This is what people need to get about life. Yes. These things that you think disqualify you are actually the great qualifiers for you to help change other people's lives, including your own. They're not liabilities, man. They're assets. That's right. Yes. People, I don't know if there's ever been a more magic moment

in a podcast and the history of podcasts than this because it's a freaking fact that that person changed my dad's life. Jackson saves your life probably, right? Well, yeah. And now you're now telling the story of the coffee which by the way is a book that you and John Gordon wrote that people can get is about the coffee bean, which is an incredible book.

That's a story no one will ever forget the history of their life. But it's the fact that you had this drug addiction and meth addiction and committed these crimes that qualifies you to sit in the seat today, that qualified Jackson to be with you, that qualified this person to help my dad, that qualifies me to share this stuff with people. It's insane how this stuff works. It's mind boggling. It's mind boggling, man. Because it's like everything is connected. We are all connected, man.

And if we're willing to turn our mess into a message, and that's the thing, man, it's like everybody, that's one of the things I want to come into your show for, it's because I know you got a lot of listeners out there that struggle, because everybody's struggle. Yes. Everybody you meet in life, struggles in life, man.

But it's tapping into each other. That's how we're going to get through. We have to serve each other. This is my way of serving by passing on this message of Jack. Not only passing on the message of Jackson Gaming, but the share an amazing story that goes with it because you can't deny what you can see. People say, okay, well, the coffee bean, but then they see that this thing happened in this biggest part of one.

People's biggest fear ad that they tell me is going to prison. That's like everybody's biggest fear in the world. And I know I not only went in there, I didn't just survive. I thrived inside of a maximum security prison, but the real magic isn't just the coffee bean by itself. It was a spiritual awakening that had to happen to make the coffee bean into what it is today. Because inside that prison, I grew more over the next seven years of the three months

spiritually than I ever did anywhere else in my life. Imagine that man, you go into a dungeon and you become the best virgin or something like a cocoon. Like a caterpillar goes in and comes out of butterfly. This is what happened to me inside that prison. I had a spiritual awakening. And I truly believe that that,

to, for us, like you said, to meet the best version of yourself when it was outside the university, this has to be a spiritual thing. You can truly believe that that, to, for us, like you said, to meet the best version of yourself when it was outside the university, this has to be a spiritual thing. You can't do this by, it has to be a spiritual thing. That's what I believe. Now, and I'm not, and I'm not saying it's a religious thing. You can believe whenever religion you want.

I'm like you, I listen to your stuff, and you do a great job of delinating the fact that you're a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm not telling anybody they have to be a Christian to pursue this. But find whatever it is you feel like is your higher power and go after that and let that higher power surrender the higher power.

And this is the spiritual part that happened when I got into a program recovery inside that prison. I wouldn't be here without the program recovery. We're going to talk about that. I want to stay on this because what you just said is like, bro, this was just supposed to happen right now. We're supposed to happen on this day. Yeah. And I'm so grateful, it's like, bro. This was just supposed to happen right now. You're supposed to happen on this day. Yeah.

And I'm so grateful that it's happening, but I want to, I want, man, I'm so excited for everyone listening to this right now, just because I love my family, that's the audience. Could I say I love your energy level, dude? Thank you, man. And I figured, like, I'm gonna go into this thing and I try to read, prison helps you read people, man.

I can read rooms, right? I've got to do it to survive. But I've followed you and listen to you and watch I watch your stories and Instagram and all that and you see my thing kind of guy that matches the energy of the people in your room and that's exactly you didn't I mean you ripped up to it man. But it's real like you're firing me up and it inspires me right and like I'm thinking about the metaphor like ironically probably that worst day of your life 13 years ago, I think the Lord was like, I'm going to pluck you out of society, bro, because you're going to die. Exactly the term I use.

It's really, okay, I want to speak to it. And then the other thing is like, you literally physically got beaten down. And life is beating people down, metaphorically oftentimes in life. You literally went in and took physical beatings forever. Do you feel like that's part of what had to happen for you? Ed, it's crazy. And y'all listen, we didn't have it. We didn't rehearse this or anything, man.

But you said, Pluck, I used to turn them all the time when I'm speaking to people that I feel like God, what I believe is God, I'm a Christian. So that's when I talk about God, that's what I'm saying. So I believe that God sent angels down to me. They were in the form of SWAT team and Dallas. This Dallas SWAT team, those were my saviors, man. They plucked me out of this world that I wasn't gonna get out of, man, I mean,

I wasn't leaving the uptown burger, crimes, spree alive, or a version of myself that was worth living, right? I truly believe God sent his angels down in their arm. They look like they're just in the massive body arm and everything. There's guns in my face. Their scream don't move.

Don't move. And I mean, it's chaos. I didn't see it like that at the time. But Ed, July 30th, 2008, when a SWAT team can to get me, they didn't arrest me that day. They rescued me that day, brother. I got rescued by a SWAT team that got sent down and said, hey, you know what, you're not living up to what I need you

to be doing, or I've got a plan for you. I've got a plan for you, and let me put you in this path because I got to break you down first to make you that person. Because I tell people the time, and man, God doesn't say bushes on fire anymore. He says people on fire, man. You know what? I'm just like I get to be one of those people, but everybody gets to be one of those

people if they choose to be, but that's a spiritual awakening that you have to have. Brother, I think there's the the SWAT teams of life are coming all the time for people. And if they see them for what they really are, they'd be true. Sometimes that SWAT team is you just had a bankruptcy. You're just lost your job. It's the SWAT team come on rescue you. You know, you just had a relationship and you know, you're struggling as an entrepreneur. You got a bunch of adversity. Someone just quit on you.

Just lost a big account. That could literally be the SWAT team for you. When you're listening to shows like this, when you get inspired by these stories, you need to think about how it applies to your own life. That's what moves you. It's not just Damon's story. It's how it applies for you. The different, how it transcends just the story, but the principles, right? So you're in there

getting your butt whooped regularly. Why and how does it stop? And then what happens? Didn't you have an experience of like, was your first summer like a really short Latino dude? Yeah. Right? And he also imparted some wisdom on to you to some extent as well. So just go for all of that at one time. And so the way it stopped is like six weeks in the prison and I get up on a Monday morning. I'm like, you know what? I'm tired of living in fear man. There's some days I don't even leave myself because I know someone's going to say, hey West, I want to look at you in the shower. There's nothing gay about what they're saying. They don't want to look at you in the shower. Like in a homosexual sense.

They're saying, I want to look at you in the shower, they want to look at your boxing game, because that's where you go fight. You go boxing the showers, there's no cameras, there's no guards, and all the blood you spill comes out of the shower really is when you wash it off, right? So there's days I don't leave myself, but this Monday morning I'm like, you know what I'm done, and I'm fighting the black gangs at this point. I'm like, you know, the only thing I'm leaving on the table is I'm an athlete. I haven't used my athleticism. The record is very intimidating to me. The record's the most segregated place I've ever seen on that life since building.

Every sports secreted by race. So I go that Monday morning, get myself into a basketball game, and I go every day after, and it is brutal, man, it's not on one out there yet. It didn't even five on five, it's not on one when I'm playing basketball, but I keep showing up, I keep showing up.

I learn two things about adversity that week. Adversity is never as bad as I think it's gonna be and I'm always capable of waving more than I think I am. You see because I've always let over thinking getting the way of overcoming. I still do it this time with human being. But after that week on the record, six days of playing basketball these guys, they finally said, hey, the blacks are like, hey, you know what? You don't have to worry about the blacks you're risk telling your prison you're good with us. And there was one more fight that I had to have about two weeks after that when I was coming off the wreck yard and Carlos my cellmate, the guy

you refer to tells me that this guy is going to come rape me in the shower that day and he gives me a weapon, he gives me a fan motor inside of this bag to beat the guy with and that's the last fight I ever got into when I was in prison. And once everybody saw that fight go down almost killed this guy. I tried to kill him, but I didn't succeed. Thank God. I didn't succeed. But once everybody saw that, they never met. So again, because they saw that I spoke the only language that everybody speaks in prison. That's violence violence violence is violence. So they either you speak violence or someone speaks to you, but you're going to be fluent in the language of violence in prison. Did Carlos also say, David, something to you? Like,

Hey, man, this would be an opportunity to grow. Oh, yeah. I'm like, that, how did he grow that to you? That was whenever I came to Carlos, man. So after this is all over, I'm in the cell when I with Carlos, and I'm like, Carlos, and I'm telling him, I'm like, man, this dude in county told me this story about the coffee bean, and I can't figure it out,

man, I came to him, I'm like, in desperate, I was vulnerable. I was vulnerable with Carlos. I got comfortable with him. So I told him the story of the coffee bean, just like Jackson told it to me. And Carlos comes find out the top bug. He's a real anime little dude. We go to this little 10 by 12 cell and he's like oh my god. He said west. I love this coffee bean story.

He said but you know coffee bean and you're never gonna be a coffee bean. Man, I got in car was his face. I'm like what do you mean? I'm not gonna be a coffee. Who you the coffee bean man? Why can't I be a coffee bean? You know, so I never get mad. So dude, look to me starts laughing because you got stinkin thinking west He said you're thinking is all off. He said your thoughts control your actions But really yes, and that's what he's telling me about your how your thoughts are so important what we think is what we do you know and he said

You your problem right now is you look at prison as a punishment Prison's not a punishment made prison's an opportunity and I'm like what do you mean opportunity? I said Carlson started life in one of the toughest prisons intact is I don't know if I'm survived this How is this an opportunity and he told me to this year opportunity west to work on yourself 24 a day Seven days a week become the best version of yourself possible and lights out that night when the guards get done counting He peaked his head down from the top buck. He said, west What are you prepared to do tomorrow with your opportunity? Bucky says west. What are you prepared to do tomorrow with your opportunity? Just do refuse to call prison of punishment. Ed. This is my cellmate. Man, I'm twice.

I'm blessed with these people. But this is what God does in my life. God has never just reached his hand down. He said, Hey, Damon, you're healed. No, God has put people in my life. And these people when I were younger, they were they were the coaches. They were teachers. They were parents. They were people in my community, right? They helped raise me. And when I was when I got older, they were coaches, they were teachers, they were parents, they were people in my community, right? They helped raise me. And when I got older, they came in the forms of different people. One of them was a black Muslim man in Dallas, kind of, jail another one was this little Hispanic

bank robber from San Antonio. But if we're receptive to the messengers that are on the path of life, they become guides to us, man. And that's what he was, man. This guy would remind me every day, this is your opportunity, man. He was like Mickey and the trainer for Rocky, man. It's a sure opportunity. He would encourage me, man. And I got up every day and is your opportunity man. He was like Mickey and the trainer for Rocky man. It's a sure opportunity. He would encourage me man. And I got up every day and I looked at prison differently from the next day on my

feet at the cold concrete floor the prison cell the next day and I'm like all right God thanks for this opportunity and I didn't believe it. Ed I said it but I didn't believe it but I did what is so necessary in life to change the situation I was in. I took one small step of action into a new life, one small step. Like you talk to the power one more. Every day I took one small step and that's what people tell me all the time. Damn, and I just don't have the best plan to get from A to B to C to D. Don't worry about a plan.

Go, man. Go because growth takes place outside your comfort zone. Get uncomfortable and grow. And I did, man, I got so uncomfortable in that place, but I grew in there, then I did anywhere else in my life. Really, you grew more in there than anywhere else. And then you're in there 10 years, correct? It was seven years and three months, almost 10.

So, okay, seven years, three months. And at what point did you get, well, you were sober in there, right? Because there, well, you can get drugs in there, so that's not what you want in there. You get anything you want in there. So, did your sobriety begin when you got in there and did you make a decision to get sober?

It was just like, I just don't have access to the stuff yet. So I'm just not gonna do it anymore. Dude, I love it, man. You grew up with a father who was, hey, you know, the question's still there. Yeah, my sobriety day, just July 30th, 2008, the SWAT team comes in. And I'm hitting a bong of meth when the SWAT team comes in.

That's the last day I ever do a drug or drink or anything in my life. I got sober that day, but I didn't get into recovery that day. So, bridey and recovery, as your dad, I'm sure, kind of got some questions for you, Ed. As your dad told you, I'm sure, are two different things, man. So, I got into recovery, and it was in 2011

when I was in prison. Yeah, so I'm in prison. Yeah, I'm in prison for a couple of years, and I don't get into the AA group or anything like that. I'm working on myself, I'm becoming prison. Yeah, so I'm in prison. Yeah, I'm in prison for a couple of years and I don't get into the AA group or anything like that. I'm working on myself. I'm becoming that coffee bean and I'm positive. Everybody wants to be, you know, your energy attracts the other kind of thing.

So I'm putting out positive and new attracted positivity. But I had a cellmate and one night he was up, he was a cocaine dealer. And so he, one night he's jacked up on cocaine. He's bounced around this little Tim by 12. He's cleaning our cell with little toothbrush. I mean, dude, I mean, this is not the place you want to do below. I mean, this is like you're trapped in a cage.

So he's tweaking out and I look over there at the table. He's got this bowl of coke over there and I'm thinking to myself, you know, I used to love to do coke. You know, I bet I could do some coke again. And I'm like, man, where did this talk come? I'm serving life. And I've ruined my family. I've destroyed my family.

I've destroyed my life. I've destroyed my family. I've destroyed my life. And now I'm having thoughts about using again. And I'm looking at it and I'm thinking about doing it. And I knew I needed something else. I'm reading my Bible when this is going on in it. Yeah, I'm right. And I could quote you Bible scripture in verse of,

but I needed something more. And I realized that Bible wasn't going to be enough to keep me sober. So I dropped what they call in Texas prison in I 60 which is a request form And then I got a alien to go to my first a a and a meeting now And I want to give this disclaimer for all the people out there They're I don't speak for a a it's just a program recovery that I'm in it's 12 step program I am in for the rest of my life So I get my first a and to go to this meeting and it says, report to the chapel,

730 the morning for AA and A. This is July of 2011 when I go to my first meeting and I'm an addict. One of the things about being an addict is we have crazy thinking, man, we have just, so I'm looking to this lay-in and it says, be the chapel at 730. And look, I know the numbers. I know that 80% of the people that are locked up

have substance abuse issues. There's 3000 men on my unit. It's a big unit. So I'm like, man, that's 2400 people. They're gonna be at this meeting. How are we gonna fit them on the chapel? We're gonna have to go out to the rec yard. They're gonna bring guards from another unit.

It's like a Rolling Stones concert. This is the evening, right? Roll, man. I got to the chapel, ho! That Wednesday morning, there are 50 guys in there. 50 out of 2400 that need to be at that meeting. Or in there, and that's when I knew I found my home. That's when I knew are 50 guys in there. 50 out of 2,400 that need to be at that meeting. Or in there, and that's when I knew I found my home. That's when I knew I found the right room.

Do you still go to meetings now? Oh yeah, absolutely. I do. Man, I try to go to two or three meetings a week. I talked to my sponsor almost daily. I mean, we stay on the phone. I'm on the road a lot. I go to meetings to the road.

I mean, I find, you know, you get online, you Google your AA, whatever wherever you are, and they'll tell you where the meeting is. I'm trying to build W somewhere. It's a build W, you know. And so I go to my meetings I have'll tell you where the meetings are. It's about to build W somewhere. It's a build W, I mean, and so I go to my meetings I have to, and I'm gonna do it for the rest of my life, but it's not just about going to meetings, it's getting involved working the steps,

it's living those tenants of recovery. I asked you a question. Now, can I ask you a question now? Yeah, sure. So I asked you a question when I'm messaging with you about, did your dad ever go over the four spiritual principles? And you're like, yeah, you know, unselfish honest, pure and loving.

These two, that's the formula for recovery, man. Because if I play again, please say them again. Unselfish, honest, pure and loving. And I see this stuff in your messaging that you put out. It's all in there, man. That's why I had to ask. Dude, he's that tall. So you did, and you confirmed, you're that tall. So you did and you confirmed, you did.

I told you. But on the opposite side of unselfish, honest, pure and loving are things like selfish, self-seeking, self-want, self-desire, self-deil, you see, we have to die to self to become useful again instead of being useless. And that's what the power of recovery is. I get up to a decision, a life head.

I've got to ask myself, Damon, is what you're about to do? Is it unselfish? Is it honest? Is it pure? Is it loving? And if it's not, Ed, I've got to walk away. I love that. I've got to walk away, Ed.

I love that. People have asked me, what is the mindset of an addict? And I tell them, this isn't my answer for that. The mindset of an addict. An addict, when I was in, I'll use an eye statement. When I was in my addiction, I gave up my goals I'll use an eye statement. When I was in my addiction, I gave up my goals

to meet my behaviors. You know, a person that's not an addict gives up behaviors to meet their goals. Addicts, we don't do that. We can't control it. We just, we'll give up all of our goals. We'll give up our families. We'll give up our freedoms.

Just to get high, just to get drunk, just to get whatever. And you don't have to be an addict to alcohol or drugs. There's a lot of things to be addicted to that you're gonna give up your goals to meet that behavior. And that's what a programmer recovery does. Brother, you just said something genius. I'm gonna say something to you guys.

You don't have to be addicted to drugs or alcohol to be an addict. You could be addicted to stuff you shouldn't be watching on the internet. You could be addicted to, you could even literally just be addicted to negative thoughts. You could be addicted to your smartphone. You could be addicted to, you could even literally just be addicted to negative thoughts, you could be addicted to your smartphone, you could be addicted to Instagram. These addictions actually will cause you to give up your goals. They really will. And these addicted behavior steal them from you.

And this is like such a profound, freaking thing you just said. Now you're an understanding by the way, why Damon is recognized is one, I'll just be, I'll just say this up front. We're gonna talk about when you get out in a minute, okay? But, you know, people that I admire, I want a lot of, you know, that my daughter's gonna go to Clemson and Davos Sweeney,

I think is the greatest college football coach in the world. And so I meet Davo and we're talking for a few minutes and somehow your name came up. I might have brought it up or he did. Actually, he did and here's how he brought it up. He said, hey, I think I want you to maybe come talk to the football program. And I said, I would love to do that.

And he goes, well, there's a high bar to set. And one of my good friends, John Gordon's been there to speak. And John's one of his best friends. So he didn't mean this disrespectfully to John at all. Because John's absolutely incredible. And John's listening to this right now. So I want to say this the right way. But he said to me, go, let me just tell you something.

The greatest speaker we've ever come have come talk to this football team is Damon West. Whoa. Yeah. So the greatest speaker ever had. And that's John, he did. That's John Gordon aside, right? But he literally told me that. And I said, my gosh, I really need to get to know more about this dude and now I'm experiencing

exactly why he said that. So I want you all to think about something. One of the greatest coaches in the history of college football, college sports in general. By the way, let me amend that. One of the great leaders currently existing in America is coach Sweeney, regardless of whatever the business is. And he tells me you're the best guy to come in

and this is the same dude, who 13 years ago gets sentenced to life in prison and is fighting every dude in the prison for the first six weeks. He's in there however long it was, is a remarkable turnaround story. So let's because of the interest of time, because we could go three hours, but we can't.

Let's fast forward to you getting out. So I assume you got out, how did, why did you get out when you got out? And then what's the first day? Because a lot of people in a metaphorical sense have been living in some kind of mind prison or some sort of situation that they're in. And maybe you're releasing them right now, right?

Maybe you're releasing their thinking. And now they're gonna be out. Now they're like, all right, I'm open now to change you my life. I'm open, but man, I've been in this other way of thinking for a while, this other world. And now you want me to get into this success, happiness, bliss world.

So, why did you get out when you got out? And then what is it like now that you're outside of that environment again, and in one you haven't been in in seven years, right? Cause it was a seven year window. Right. So, seven years in the prison, I'm working in the chapel one day as a chapel clerk and the chaplain came in and he was really excited. He said, Hey, West, he said, security's looking for you.

They're calling your name on the radio. He said the parole boards here to see you. Now, I had to look, I mean, I know him up for parole, but I don't think I'm gonna make parole. And I don't want to even give my hopes up, my family's hopes up. But I do want to make parole, but I just don't think there's a chance you're gonna, not in seven years, man. I know want to make parole, but I just don't think there's a chance you're gonna, not in seven years, man, I know I'm up for parole,

but I'll probably do a dime, maybe 15 on this life sentence, right? But I go down the parole, I've got a smile on my face. That's what coffee beans do. We smile everywhere we go. We change energy with our smile, and the lady for parole sees me. She says, have a seat, Mr. West,

and she's flipping through my parole file. She, for about 20 seconds, and she closes the file up, she pushes it away. And she said, Mr. West, I came here today to ask you a question and she said they answered my questions not in that file of the guy I'm reading about and she's telling me you had we don't see a lot of people like Damon West come through the state prison system you had it all you had everything going for your life every advantage every privilege every opportunity but she blew through that you became a drug addict you became a criminal you become a thief a jury in Dallas gives you life in prison she said said, but instead of letting the life sentence define you, she said, you

changed yourself inside this prison. She said, you changed this prison actually around you. You said being, yeah, the coffee bean. She said, so if you, she said my question for you is this, she said, if you could be remembered for being anything in life, anything at all. She said, I want you to tell me what that would be. It just one word. Go. Man, I breathe out. And relax. That's an easy question for coffee bean. And

I told her, I said, man, I just want to be useful. And I can be useful in this prison or I can be useful out in the free world. And in November 16, 2015, I walked out of a Texas prison. Now, I'm not necessarily free yet because I'm one you still have to check in when you travel. Man, I'm on parole till 2007. You checked in when you travel. Man, I'm on parole to a 2007-23. Right, you checked in to come here? Yeah, I sent David, and by the way, your people were great, man. Dave and all of them were so good.

But I sent them a copy of my parole travel permit, because when you told me six days ago, this is your opening. First thing I did, I went and bought tickets, and I made my hotel rich, and then I called my parole, and I said, hey, I got a travel permit, I got a jam through. Please help me with this. And so she's great, said, hey, I got a travel permit, I got a jam through. Please help me with this.

And so she's great, Miss Bragg's got the travel permit approved, but I've got to get permission to leave Texas. Any time I leave Texas for the rest of my life. I've got a pee in a cup every month for the rest of my life. No, we're not pro-l, bud. The only way, this coffee being goes to prisons when I go to prisons and walk in the front door and I share this story with the men and women in there

to bring them hope on their journey. And I walk back out the front gate, you know? Yeah. But I walk out, different world, Ed. I hadn't seen the free world all the time. I mean, phones had buttons whenever I went in, you know, so I mean, and so I walked away. And I get in the car of my parents and I'm like,

my dad, I mean, he's like, hey, you ready to go eat that water burger, you know, cause I've been dreaming about water burger. You ever had a water burger? Yes, I know exactly why you're doing the body. They're so good. And so, so like, yeah, man, let's go, dad, and it's my mom's like, hang on, Damon, wait.

She said, I've got three tools that you're gonna need to get through this life. I love your mom. Oh, she's great, man. She's great. So the first tool she gives me is an iPhone. Now look, I told you, phone's had buttons, but I can't even get the thing glide up, right?

I don't even know how, I don't even know how to, it's a screen. She sees me, she's like, I'm gonna teach you how to use the phone. She said, but the phones are amazing. They can do everything. She's telling me, FaceTime, you've got a video conference in your pocket. Man, when I went to prison, where I was

a broken all this stuff, video conference happening in a big room like this, had a triangle speaker in the middle, there's a TV screen. Now it's in your pocket, right? So she's telling me about the phone. You can say, touch with the world. Next thing she gives me is my driver's license.

I found a way when I was in prison to renew my driver's license. I've been driven a golf cart, dude, but there's a little Texas is like, yeah, we'll give you a license. So she hands me a driver's license. She said, Damon, you've got a phone you can stay in touch with the world. She said, you've got a driver's license and you can use my truck until you can afford to buy your own car. She said, what are you missing? Now my mom, man. When she says, what are you missing? My mom is a very spiritual person. She's a very devout Christian woman. And I know it's gonna be something spiritual

because that's my mom. I said, mom, just relax. I said, look, this is great. I tell her about my program recovery. I said, man, I've got all the tools. I need to hold my Bible, my rosy. I said, mom, I'm great. I'm good to go, God's driving the car.

And I'm just a passenger now. I'm good, mom. And she said, Damon, you always did talk too much. And she said, stick out your wrist. So I stuck out my wrist, mom. And she said, Damon, you always did talk too much and she says stick out your wrist So I stuck out my wrist dad and she put this bracelet on my wrist It was a bunch of fishing hooks on the bracelet and it's called a Fisher of men bracelet These retreats that I went to in prison. They called them acts Adoration community theology and service bunch of Catholic guys much of Christian guys would come in and they would spend four days with us

The curse the wicked the sinners the incarcerated the drags of society these men would come in there they would spend four days with us, the curse, the wicked, the sinners, the incarcerated, the drugs of society. These men would come in there and love on us. I mean in love at us all a man that had had a hug in 22 years break down into a heap of tears and start crying when these men just reach around and start hugging on him because he had had human affection 22 years man. So I go to these retreats when I'm in prison and I get on the phone and I call my mom when I was in prison and I told my mom I said mom when I get out of prison I got to find these guys these guys are amazing I want to be one of these guys brothers. I want to be an axe brother So she's putting this bracelet on my wrist and she said Damon

Back in our community at home every axe brother and sister Where's one of these bracelets on their wrist to identify themselves in public when they see one they can spot one right and She said you said you wanted to find these guys. She said, so I'm helping you out. She said, in two months, you're going to go to your first act or treat on the outside of the free world. She said, go find your friends. And I mean, hey, that was the greatest gift in the world.

I went to this retreat. These men, it's a men's retreat. These men, I mean, they told me about their successes and life, but more importantly, they share with me their failures, man. Filled marriages, all jobs, families that had been torn apart by the decisions they made, they share with me their failures so I didn't have to fail, I'm out. You know, it gets, it's like Nick Sainte-Man told me once.

He said, the best teams, good players learn from their own mistakes, but a great player learn from mistakes of other people. They were set me up to be a great human being by sharing with me their struggles and where they failed. They were being vulnerable, vulnerability is a strength, they weren't there from Dabbo.

And so I've got these gods in life, these men that'll help me through it. And so I get out of Ed and it's hard man. And prison was difficult and I had all the advantage in life. But the very first day I get out, I go to my first, hey, meeting, I go to my first a meeting, I go to my first recovery meeting and and in there is the man that brought the meetings into the prison. I'm going to use a different name to protect his anonymity. I call him Ray in my book. So Ray,

whenever I was in prison, I used to tell Ray, Hey, Ray, you live in the same area that I'm a parole to one day, well, I'm going to get out of here one day. And when I get out, I'm coming to find your home group and you're going to be my sponsor. And he would just kind of laugh it off. He's bringing a meeting to a max security prison. He gets lied to more than the police. Yeah, right. So he's like, yeah, okay, whatever man, but I walk into that meeting and there he is. And his jaw drops the floor.

He said, you made it. I said, yeah, Ray, I made it. And I need a sponsor. I don't want to go back. And he said, he said, Damon, I'll do it. I'll be your sponsor. He said, if you'll promise me, you'll go to any lengths to say sober.

And if you ever have a thought of drinking again or doing drugs, you'll call me first. I love it. And he said, you've got to work this program to the fullest if I'm going to be your sponsor.

And I, I, I'm in. You know, when I first got out, this stuff that's happened in my life wasn't happening back then. I couldn't even go into a school without a judge or a cop with me. I mean, that's how I had to be escorted in because I just got out of prison.

I'm an unknown quantity. But, you know, the first couple of months I was out, I couldn't go into school. It's going to, and I was down and Ray comes up to me. We're meeting, having a sponsor meeting. And he said, you're about to go back to prison, Damon. I got my attention. And I'm like, man, what do you mean? He said, because you're living in self,

he said, you're not living outside yourself, you can't work this, you're not working your program recovery. And I said, what, I'm going to my meetings, I'm answering, I'm working the steps, I'm on the fourth step, you know, where we're trying to put down with our fears and our resentments, things that hold us back.

He said, no one can work a program recovery if they're living in their self. You have to be outside of self. I know your dad told you this stuff too. And I said, he said, you need to find volunteer work to do. And I'm like, right, no one will let me come in and volunteer. I'm like, X, con, no one wants me. He said, that's not true.

That's that's a fear and self pity talking. He said, you want to go somewhere? He said, go to a senior citizens home, any one of them around the area. Go to the front desk, ask them for a list of people that don't ever get visits. They're going to give you this big one long list of people that have been forgotten. He said, spend your weekends visiting with them and come back and tell me, this is like what your dad did with you. This is, I connect the first thing I heard from you that connected was your dad telling you to go work with those, those boys, those orphans, right? Race, tell me, go spend your time

with people that have been forgotten. It'll change the world worldview and it did it. I spent you did that. Yeah, I went into the senior sits and home and down in Southeast Texas And I went in there I spent time with people that hadn't had a visitor in 10 years no one did sit there and listen to them And everybody wants to feel like they've been hurt everybody wants to visitor and I know in this foot He said he said you know what it's like to be in a prison and you hit it on a walk Oh, there's a lot of different ways to be in prison You don't have to be in a physical prison to be in prison, but these people have been forgotten about with their families. That's how I got where I was. That's what you're making me emotional just because I see so much of my dad in you,

even though your personality is very different. I mean, the fact that you did that's unbelievable. The fact that you went and actually did that is incredible. I promised I would go to any lengths to say so, Brad. I had to do it. Yeah, brother, but like that's special. And I must say to you, people ask me all the time, why do you believe so much in mentors? I've had a bunch of sponsors, even though I'm not an alcoholic.

So like what I mean by that is like in the program, you have a sponsor that you can be accountable to that's kind of like a mentor, you know, but someone that you can, you know, share your deepest things with. And I learned that from watching my dad and my dad sponsored so many different people. Did he really, so that's one I want to ask you? Was you, was he a, was he a, were you sponsored a lot of people? Bro, my dad passed away. I'll share this with you. And I want to make sure we get back to your thought. But I don't know. No, no, my dad and my dad passed away. I didn't know how many sponsor. I knew that he had sponsored several.

But when my dad passed away, the day that he passed away, my mother asked me to go upstairs and just get this stuff together. She just had to emotional to go do it. And all over my dad's kitchen sink, all over where these index cards, like tons of them, bro, like a hundred. And on these index cards were initials with dates.

And what they were were the sobriety birthdays of the people that my dad helped sponsoring get sober and so he would call all of them on You know obviously regularly but on those dates friends of mine in town would say that I didn't know my dad Yeah, I pep people around town where I lived and I didn't know what they were meaning at the time would say to me Hey, dude, I heard from your dad on my birthday. I'm like you know my dad. They're like oh, yeah I know your dad and I had no idea what they meant So there's hundreds of these like, you know my dad, they're like, oh yeah, I know your dad. And I had no idea what they meant. So there's hundreds of these names on there that my dad would call and say, hey man,

one more day, one more day at a time, congratulations. And so there were all these people that my dad had helped. But when I would watch him and sometimes I was young and just knew that he was helping somebody, I'd hear him on the phone, you know. I remember thinking, that's what I need in my life. I need kind of like in the business world, I need a mentor, I need to, and that's that mentor's like a sponsor. I need kind of like in the business world. I need a mentor.

I need a, and that's that. Mentors like a sponsor. A mentor is that like, hey man, stay on the process. Here's the program. This is what we're doing. I'm further down the road than you. Here's how it works. And so in our lives, you know, when you hear these things

about recovery, there's so many lessons in it about having a strategy, having a program. I know people who are sober that aren't in AA, they have a different program and a different strategy, but that program with the sponsors and the program and the steps are things that I've used in my own life, and the more that you really understand the work that I teach, the kind of a lot of people and know where the stuff comes from.

So I was wanna acknowledge the fact that you did that. I was the first time I've ever done an interview where I was kinda like, my dad's in here really shining right now. Like he's just proud of you. You're bigger compliment brother. Yeah, brother isn't shining right now. Like he's just proud of you. You're bigger compliment brother. Yeah, brother isn't any bigger compliment. Now, let's get to that.

Dude, it's just hearing this. It was a important person. You were in trouble. Nuggets about your dad throughout the past year and a half that I followed you, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the big one, by the way, is that you are taking those steps. And I want to just, I want to make sure we have time to get this in

because so you start out, you get out. And you're going to see these precious older folks who've no one's gone to see it's just a beautiful moment of service who to thought those times where you were running around robbing people's houses that within a decade or less you're now doing that what an amazing to my belief that human beings can change because I watched my father change right I watched him live one way, my first 15 years, and then magnificently the next 35. You're doing the same thing.

You lived one way those years, college post, and then you get out, man, and you find yourself with this precious older man, somewhere that hadn't seen anybody in eight years. But that then leads to some of the most influential people in the world, people that I admire the most, trusting you with the precious resources which are these young people to which they lead. How in the world did that actually first happen? Like how do you go from, you're out, you're now in recovery, you're at the old folks home

seeing people denercing home to, okay, Nick Sabin's asked me to come in here and speak. Dabo Sweeney wants me to come here. This big arena wants me to come here and speak. I'm on my let show. Like how the what happened? Dude, I can break it down to one day. We all, yeah, this is a one more story for you. Okay, this is like your book, which by the way

is about to come out and I cannot wait in that event that you're ever to have is I mean, I've never seen by do something like they do Bravo. Thank you man. Appreciate it. So I can break this down to one day, the one more day, January 12, 2017. I'm out of prison for 14 months. I walked out of prison and I got, I got a job waiting for me in a law firm

because I did some legal work of my own in prison. The lawyers took notice of it. If you ever get out, come see us. We got a job for you. They honor that. They gave me a job. I'm working at the most prestigious law firm in Southeast Texas.

But I've got this dream of sharing the story. And first, I thought my story needed to be in the world of college football. This is way before it becomes in corporate America, in Fortune 100s and stuff. But I don't have any access to college football coaches head. I don't know any of these 20 years since I took a snap in college.

They don't know me. I don't know them. Buddy, mine calls me up. His name was Mike order. And he worked for K H O U. The big media station Houston. He said, Hey, look tonight in Houston is the Bearbrien Coach of the year award. They're going to name the best college football coach in America. He said, the best coaches in America, eight best coaches in America, maybe in this room. I've got a press pass. Do you want to go? I'm like, man, you better want to go. I told my

boss Chris Kirchman, the lawyer I worked for. Chris is maybe my shot. He's a get going. So Beaumont, where I live, is 90 miles from Houston. It's all I tend. I burn up the road between I tend between Beaumont and Houston. I get to the Toyota Center in Houston that night. He hands me a press pass and I hit the ground running. And all the best coaches in the area. I mean, USC was constant, Penn State, PGA FLEX,

they're all in the room. And I'm get to meet all these guys and shake their hand and give them my elevator pitch I've been practicing for an hour and a half like this is if this day came kind of like hey be here at this time go Yes, and my pitch is terrible and I'm there and I feel like I've got sweaty hands everything go in every coach I meet that night basically tells me no and they're not rude about it But it's just like I don't call us. We'll call you in one hour I'm done with seven coach. They're done with me. You pissed through the room. Pissed the room in one hour, man.

I came in there on fire. You're my person out, man. I'm like, in one hour, I've been told no seven times, man. Seven of the eight coaches have told me no. And I'm in the corner of the Toyota center. And I'm licking my wounds and feel sorry for myself. And the voice in my head says, go home. Go home, man. You failed. That last coach is going to tell you know, the last coach is the hardest guy to get to in the room. And his, his team just beat Alabama two nights before for the national championship. Everybody wants this guy's time. But had a long time ago, I quit listening myself. And I started talking myself

a long time ago. He then voiced in your head. We'll tell you some crazy stuff. You don't have to believe everything you think. No, man. So I'm like, you know what? I'm in the corner. I'm like, no, man, you survived prison. You saw our way worse than this. He's gonna tell you, no, and that's it. That's good. But you're gonna go home and you're gonna get told no eight times before you walk out that door. One more. I got one more coach. So I stalk dabble swinging around that room. And I look like a crazy person. I'm hiding behind fake plants. I'm hiding behind people. Every conversation dabble has. I'm there some way. I know he sees me. And I finally get dabble alone and I give him my best stuff for about a minute. And a dabble retails a story. And he'll tell you. I was speaking 90 miles an hour, man. I'm in his face.

I'm at the end of this one minute pitch. He's like, you got a card on your something, dude. So I give him a card. He says he takes it. He says, I'll check you out. And he takes off. He can't get away from me fast enough. I mean, I've occupied this guy for a long and anybody in the room. And I'm like, man, I breathed out. I'm like, okay, I went over eight. But Ed, I felt okay about that last note because I left it all on the field. And that's what we tell people when they're younger, when they're playing sports, when the stuff we forget

when we're children, that we leave it on the field. We give it our best effort. And sometimes we're gonna come up short, but it's okay if you try your hardest. You don't have to win all your fights, but you gotta fight all your fights, but you gotta fight all your fights. Fought all my fights, went home,

just like a baby. Forgot about that night. Forgot about entirely four months later, I got an email from the director of football operations at Clemson, and this is a guy named Mike Dewey. This is a story I share with sales organizations all over the place, man, because sales is so much about that one more, you know?

Mike Dewey's email says, hey, Damon, coach Swinney met you to award show in Houston. He would love to have you come talk to the team. Do you have August first open? Dude, Ed, I got people. I got people from so good man. I got nothing going on in my life.

So August 1st, 2017, I go to speak to the Clemson Tigers, a defendant, a national champs college football. And when I got done with my presentation, the night dabbo was up in my, face You know you've been around dabbo. He's a high energy guy, too He's like, damn, and I've never seen my players respond like that to us I've never heard a story like that before he said if you've been to Alabama yet, and I'm like no Dabo have been to Clemson dude. I haven't been anywhere man. So he said well He's not just text next statement from the back of the room. We'll see what happens and the dabble shot a little video for me a little

Little 46 second video that that changed my life Because when I landed in Houston the next morning I had a voicemail a text message from the director football operations that Alabama University Alabama Says August 21st 7 30 p.m. You're on and now we're going just like that now We're going now all these coaches in America are calling my phone because dabbo's given myself When I'm outside you got to bring this guy in I got to tell you dude. I made dabbo, sweetie. I've known this man like six minutes And he tells me the exact story you just told me I just want you to all know I mean exactly There's like this dude would leave me alone. He was relentless. He's following me around the room

He's hiding behind fake plans. Yes. He's just standing and staring at it fake plans. Yes. He just standing and staring at it. I did you, man. He did. He told me. And he said, then he comes in and he said, it's the greatest talk has ever been given to our team. Bam, 20 days later, you're with now Nick Sabin. Nick Sabin. And then I'm with Kirby Smart. And then it's it's Lincoln Riley. And then it's all the chip Kelly and Lincoln and Lane Kiffin, all these guys, which has led to this prolific career. But the real magic had happened. It was one year after my presentation to Clemson. I'm at my desk at work at that law firm again, which I don't work for the law firm. I'm an entrepreneur now.

I've got several companies now, you know? So I worked for myself, but back then, I was still working the law firm. And it's August 2018, I'll never forget, but I get this phone call, and on the other end, the phone is like, I name John Gordon. Now look, man, I follow John Gordon, man, I know John Gordon's the energy bus guy.

He's sold five million books. He's a huge motivation. I follow John, John, actually I follow John Gordon man. I know John Gordon's the energy bus guy. He's sold five million books. He's a huge motivation I follow John John actually follow John on Twitter every morning I get my inspiration from this guy's Tweets and he's on my phone and I'm like John man Why do you know who I am and he said dabbo swingy? He said Damon I just got done talking to the Clemson football team dabbo brump in the office and was telling me your story and He said Damon, you know, he was telling me the motto it comes in is be a coffee bean. They got these little shirts,

they'd be a coffee with a pauper on it on the head. I mean, they're really, I mean, it just like, and this is what you're talking about, the best culture that you could find in corporate America or sports or anywhere, they've got shirts that say, be a coffee bean with a little pauper on it, man. I mean, so John tells me, and John tells me, this is before the pandemic, this is 2018.

John said, Damon, the world needs the coffee bean message, Damon. Let's deliver this message to the world. Will you write a book with me? You know what I'll tell John? You're John Gordon, man. You go write the book yourself. You don't need me. But John is such an amazing man.

John and I love John Gordon. John Gordon is my biggest champion and mentor and friend in the world. Man, John told me no, Damon. He said, God, give me this vision that we're going to write this book together. So let's just go ahead and do what God wants to do. So we write the book, becomes, John told me no, Damian. He said, God, give me this vision that we're gonna write this book together. So let's just go ahead and do what God wants to do. So we write the book, becomes a best seller overnight.

That July of 2019, it comes out, it hits the world on fire. It's in every language in the world. It's got a global publishing deal. We've got the same publisher, Wiley. I know. And so, I mean, it's in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French, Italian, all of these different countries in the world have a copy of the coffee bean,

but it all goes back to January 12th, 2017, one more. I've got to get one more guy. I've got to get one more know before I can go home and say, it's up being the biggest yes in the world. And by the way, and it goes all the way back to Jackson, which goes all the way back to the, it's unreal. And I got to say this to everybody, I want you just to get the whole thing,

because this has led to this incredible speaking career. It's led to what I know about, it's probably probably a movie and it's led to stuff with professional teams and all kinds of you guys. The life that you can have change is just unbelievable. If you do that one more and just a think man like and by the way that book sold like just bazillions of copies by the way. The coffee bean. The coffee bean. And it's how I actually know John George because I wanted him to come on the show because I heard about the book and then bam, you and I are connected. So then that led to this, which led to the movie.

It's like, it's unbelievable the ripple effects of life when you make one decision, one change, one anything. And Damon West you guys is, I told you today would be like something you've never heard before from someone who can deliver it, like no, and you've heard of before. So I want to say a couple things, I'm going to ask you one last question.

Number one, if you ever need a guy to come in and speak and move your team or your organization, this is your guy, okay? If you ever want to have need inspiration and get in your life, you need to replay this episode. If you love somebody or care about somebody in any way, shape or form, share this episode with them. It will change their flipping life.

Cause I knew the story and now we've met and I'm ready to run through the frickin one plus I'm in I'm just seeing my dad in the room and I'm seeing you and I've always known about your intensity and your persistence because you've done it with me, but now I love you brother. I'm like I love this man. I'm so I'm really love this man I'm so inspired. You're such a good man. You're everything you were built up to me by these other people I respect, and a lot more than that, bro. There's something extremely powerful and special about you. So I wanna leave them with one more, if you just serve how one more person here.

Yeah. And I just a basic question, it's not an easy one, but I wanted to end with the hardest one. Someone's listening to this, they're like, hey man, I've been living in my own little prison. Maybe I'm carrying some stuff I'm ashamed of or I'm embarrassed by or I've just ever always been invisible. You know, you got me inspired right now, Damon West, Ned Mylet.

I want to do something. I want to leave this prison of my mind and I want to do something great with my life. And this may be a very basic question but I think it's an important one. Where do I begin? What would your advice be if I met you at a Starbucks right now and I said, hey, I heard you on my let's show. Oh my gosh. I wish you would have asked you at the end though. What do I do next? What would your answer be to that? I'm going to give you a story with this answer. Okay. And the answer is you have to surrender this idea of control in your life. You don't control the things you think you control.

To illustrate this, I'm going to tell you one last prison story. People love prison stories. So when I'm first got into my program recovery, I go to a meeting. Ray is in there. And we start these meetings off with this beautiful prayer called the serenity prayer. You've talked about it many times. And God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

And so Ray says to me, he says to the group, we're going to diagram the Charity Prayer today. All right, all right. So he's got a chalkboard behind him. He draws a line from one side of the chalkboard to the other. And he says to first part of the prayer, God grant me the Charity to accept the things I cannot change. He said, Damon, the things you cannot change are on God's line. He said that God's line is represented on that chalkboard

but is bigger than the chalkboard. It goes from one horizon, universal, next. That's how big God's line. He said, a God's line is represented on that chalkboard, but it's bigger than the chalkboard. It goes from one horizon to the universe to the next. That's how big God's line is. And he said, every time you try to touch something on God's line, you've hurt yourself and you've hurt other people because you are not God and God doesn't need your help to do his job. He said, stay off of God's line.

Then he goes up to the board. He erases an inch off the big line of the board. And he holds his fingers up to the room by an inch apart for everybody to see. He says the second part of the prayer, the courage to change the things I can. He said the things you can change, Damon, are on your line. You get one inch of that big line. That's it. That's a scale too. He said that one inch line is called humility because he said humility is being right-sized. And when we were right sized

Then we could be useful to other people which is the secret to life to serve other people He said and on your little one inch humble line that God gives you are the four things you control in life He said God gives you four things on your little line. These are the four things you have control over He said they are exactly what you think What you say, what you feel, and most importantly, everybody's going to see what you do, your actions, what you think, what you say, what you feel, and what you do. He said, and what I'm telling you is the world around you, you have no control over the

world around you. You control the world within you, between your ears. And he said, the last part of the line was the last part of the prayer was the most important for us, addicts. And everybody else, not you don't have to be an addict for this to be important to you is the wisdom to know the difference between the big line and the little line. And there's a chapter in my book called, Not on My Line. Do you know how many times a day I tell myself that's not on my line? And I've been sober and I've been out of prison for years, but I remind myself every day that's not on my line.

Now, that's what I would tell people. When you want, you want to have the serenity, you've got to give up this thing, you think this control of these things, you don't have control over. And then turn your life over to service and add every single morning I wake up and I say the same prayer, whatever religion you are, you can apply this to your faith. I get on the morning and I say, hey, God, I ask God for two things. I say, hey, God, put in front of two things. I say, hey, God put in front of me What you need me to do today for you and let me recognize that when I see it because I don't want to miss that

Amen, bro, that's it. I just want you to know that you met the moment today brother in a way that I'm so happy Dude, give me some I'm so happy for you like I'm just sitting here going, God is so good. Like how he's using you. Guys, like this is exactly why I started this show, is what we just did right now. Actually, what you just did right now, and what God just did through you. I've got a question for you. Before you finish, I got a question for you. I've been Don asked you man about your dad. All right, because you promised me I could ask some question about your dad. All right. When he passed away, did you find his big book? I did.

You did? Oh, that's all I bet. I bet there's so much good stuff inside that big book, Ed. There's a lot of that book, bro. Oh my God. There's a lot of that book. There's a lot of that book. Off camera, I'll tell you about that.

But yeah, I did. Please do, man. I did, man. And I'm being honest with you, brother. I'm incredibly inspired by you. And I learned a lot today. I learned a little bit more about my dad today too, so I'm really, really grateful. I just see some things in you that I saw my dad that you explained, that you explained.

And you changed millions of people's lives today. And I think it's maybe multiple millions because I think everyone's hitting the share button right now. And so, everyone, I just want to tell you that I love love you and this is why I bring people like Damon on the show because I know your life's different than when this hour began. And that's because of the great work you've done in your story.

And by the way, ironically, the things you could have been the most ashamed of, most embarrassed by the biggest mistakes of your life is what qualified you to change everybody's life today. And it's what qualifies each of you to change other people's lives. Where do they find you? How do they go get you?

Where do they get all your stuff? www.dameamanwest.org. That's where people find me for speaking. I don't have an agent. You just come straight through me. Instagram and Twitter is at DamonWest7. And Ed, I think there's one more thing we gotta talk about what's about to happen out there that has been saved

for this episode specifically because I was coming on here and the people I'm working with on this project wanted me to talk about something here today. Okay, give it to us. Are you cool with that? Yeah, do it. Let's do it. Okay, we're limited, so do it. So, I want to hear.

There's going to be a limited series made about my life, but from my book, The Change Agent. And it took getting the right partners in place, but right now we've got, Dak Press God, it's my partner in this thing, man, Dak, the quarterback from Dallas Cowboys, he's been an amazing part of this is such a good servant man. Um, Dak Prescott Lionsgate, uh, Eric Tana-Bamas, the producer on it. And next month we start taking the thing out to all the, all the, the, all the streaming services, Netflix, who HBO, we're going to take it out and try to sell to him. It's going to have two main characters.

I have Damon West and Mr. Jackson, the guy you were talking, and I would like, for like Jamie Foxx to play Mr. Jackson. And he's a main character, whoever plays Mr. Jackson is a main character next to Damon West. We don't know who that's gonna be yet, but we start taking this thing out. But the world now knows about it on your show. That's awesome man.

Yeah, that's it man. I do, but I'm glad you're watching it. Ryan Skates said, hey, you're going on Ed Muglet. Tell the world about it on his show. They watch his show. They watch your show. Yeah. They do.

And by the way, and everybody who knows Jamie, let's get this in front of him. Yeah. Because we need, we need him to play Mr. Jackson in this movie. I'm really glad you said that I was, it's in, you know, I knew, but I didn't know everybody was allowed to know. So thank you for breaking the news. Yeah, man, I think for me doing on your show, Ryan's gate was happy. Ryan's gate.

And when you read your website, you have to say WWW. Everybody knows about that. You can just say the name of the website David West I'm sure you're eight all right west on orgy you got w w

I love you brother all right hey man I had a great time today I just want to tell you all that I love you continue to max out your lives and please share today show God bless you this is the end my let show to max out your lives and please share today's show. God bless you. This is The End My Let's Show.