THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Perspective Drives Performance with Inky Johnson

Episode Date: February 5, 2020

Don’t ask, “why me?” Ask, “Why NOT me!” I’m honored to present to you this conversation with my friend, Inky. You will be inspired You will be changed You will gain an entirely new perspective on LIFE and on ADVERSITY Have you been tested in ways you felt you couldn’t understand? Have you ever been so close to your dream and felt as it if it just slipped through your fingers? I almost don’t have words. Sitting down with Inky Johnson, I actually gained a new perspective on certain aspects of life that I will never forget Inky grew up in the heart of Atlanta surrounded by drugs and violence. He slept on the floor of a two-bedroom apartment with 14 other people, only to defy the odds and receive a scholarship to play football at the University of Tennessee, where he was a projected top NFL draft pick. This was all before a routine tackle changed the course of his life forever. Inky is one of the GREATEST communicators I know. He is an incredibly talented speaker and one of the most humble people I have ever known. This interview is going to inspire you on a core level because we’ve all had what felt like missed opportunities, failed dreams, or a bad hand dealt at times. But Inky's perspective will radically shift not only the way you think about your story but the MEANING it gives you. Sometimes when we are going after a dream, our driving force is fame or fortune. Inky’s story is a testament that when your driving force is integrity, character, and your values, you will go much FARTHER, FASTER. Your CHARACTER is BUILT in times of challenge and controversy. At times during our trials, we may think we are having set-backs, but really it is the very pivot that is driving you towards your higher purpose. Inky shares his beliefs on why the PROCESS is more important than the product, and we both agreed that HINDSIGHT really gives you the ability to see that there has always been a PLAN. If you are going through something right now, going after your dream, or trying to figure out the next step...this interview is FOR YOU. His keys and insights are unique and going to affect you in ways perhaps you’ve never experienced before.

This is the Ed Marlin Show. Welcome back to Max out everybody. Today's show is going to be special because by popular demand, the gentleman to my left is here. I'm so excited about today. Thank you. Tell him this means. Good. left is here. I'm so excited about today. Thank you. That was me. Good, because this is one of the most gifted, talented,

incredible communicators on earth. But as I've gotten to know him as a man, I'm more impressed with you as a man. Thank you. Your humility and your giftedness is so extreme. It's so beautiful. So everybody, I think you know who this man is. If you're watching this, but if you're listening, you don't know yet. This is Inky Johnson.

So, thank you for being here, my friend. Pleasure. Pleasure. Thank you so much. It's my honor. And if you don't know Inky's story, everybody, be prepared to be moved and inspired. And I cannot wait for today.

I cannot tell you, I told you off camera, how many people have requested to get you and I together. So here it is. We've satisfied the masses. That's awesome. Let's go back for a minute, everybody. I want you all to know this story. Before the story most people might know about you,

I want to know a little bit about how you grew up because we've been spending time off camera talking about it. I want them to know a little bit about you. So how did you grow up? Describe it a little bit. Yeah, so born and raised in New City Atlanta. My mother had me 16 years old. She took me back to Kirkwood, South East corner of Atlanta,

drugs violence. You name it, we had it. And she took me back to 125 Warren, which was a two-better home, 14 of us living there. And I had more people in my family go to jail, in prison, in graduate high school. And there I wanted to go to the NFL, not so much of, because I felt as if I got there, you know, I can get the glitz to glamour.

I wanted to get my family a better living condition, right? Because I felt they deserved it. My mother was working a double shift at Wendy's, you know, and watching her work and do what she had to do. And me being a kid, coming up in those circumstances, I wanted to be the first one what she had to do and me being a kid coming up in no circumstances I wanted to be the first one in my family to do something great You've done that in a different way absolutely so you didn't we're just about you growing up I mean you didn't even you slept on the floor absolutely yeah on pallets

I was not and I was normal for you. Yeah, it was normal. We had a ball man We should go make our pallets put our little cover to the side of the wall and you know We really you know different. It was just life, you know, it was what it was, you know Absolutely. I think probably part of your humility comes from that upbringing. This thing has struck me the most about you Like you guys, you know, I'm telling you I told him right when I met him. I said you're anointed He's an extremely gifted communicator. Also, think you're talented. Gifted is something God gave you.

Talent is something that you've worked on too. And I think you're both gifted and talented. However, you're going to be this NFL player. You've got this NFL type of ability. You get a scholarship to go play football at University of Tennessee, correct? Which is one of the biggest, big time of all their places in the world for college football. Take everybody through getting there and then sort of what took place that

you sort of changed your life to some extent. Absolutely. So when I got my scholarship, I was at Krim High School in Krim High School at Atlanta Public School, right? Five minutes away from my house. And my freshman year there, everybody tried to stop me from going to the school because people didn't go to college from there. And so everybody that knew I wanted to go to the NFL, wanted to go to college,

everybody that came in contact with told me, Inky, don't go. Like if you want to go to college, don't go to Crem. I was like, yeah, but it's five minutes away from my house. It was like people don't go to college from Crem. And so one day I was in a car with my mother and we were a stop light in front of the school. And she looked at me and she said, son,

do you plan on going to college? I said, yes, ma'am, I'm going to college. She said, well, Enky, we need to transfer you across town to Tucker High School, which was an incredible program. Like great, they had it all, right, from education to sports. And I say, yeah, mom, but I think I can do it from crime.

And she said, well, Enke, I can't play with your future. I said, just give me a shot. I think I can do it. I went there my freshman year, after my freshman year, my mother got with my father, they transferred me to Tucker. I get to Tucker, didn't want to be there, didn't go to class, went to a couple of football practices. After the first semester, they, I't want to beat her, didn't go to class, went to a couple of football practices. After the first semester, they went back to my mother, I said, can you please transfer

me back to Creme? She was like, I can't do it, ain't I said, please. She kept going, principal came, he said, well, Inky has straight F's, the school won't take him back, right? And so I knew my school, Creme High School at the time, it was one of the lowest performing public schools in the state. right? And so I knew my school, crime high school at the time I was wanting to lowest perform in public schools in the state. Not just at Atlanta in the state and I told the

principal in the office, I said call them, they'll take me. They'll take me. You call the principal, he told me situation. Principal said yeah, inky-junk, yeah, send him back. I said, I told you. I came back to crime. Why did you want to go there so bad? What was it?

Because I felt as if if I didn't make it from crime high school, my cousins, my peers, all of them just would have had an excuse. Oh my gosh. They just would have said, well, Inc, you went to college from across town, we didn't have the same opportunity. At the time, my mother didn't know that.

The coaches didn't know that. Because I saw the cycle in my community, I saw the cycle in my own family. And I knew if I went to college from CRIM, it was going to be tied to some of my friends dreams, my family members dreams. And so when I got my scholarship, my senior year to go to Tennessee, all of my cousins, my three younger cousins that I grew up with in the street, playing football, all of them went to college. One of my best friends came behind me. He went to college. Keeping in mind, people weren't going to college.

And then they ended up shedding a school down, you know, two years, three years after I went. You're kidding, right? And so when it happened, when I got to Tennessee, you were thinking this is a 13, 14 year old little boy. That's what it looked like. That's what it looked like. That's what it was.

Absolutely. Because the expectation was so low. And so when I got to Tennessee, the honest with you, I was so grateful. Like we had steak, shrimp, spaghetti. You know, like we had it all. We had a training table. We had all the resources.

And I was like, all I got to do is buy into the process and do what I say I'm going to do. And I'll get a shot. Not just at the NFL. Great equalizerizer life I get a shot at my education and like yeah just do what you said you're gonna do I showed up I worked and I got into my junior season at the University of Tennessee and my coach just told me inking your projected draft pick he said you do what you got to do you handle your business the way you've been handling it and son you'll be automatic mota

millionaire and I went out my junior year first game we played against You handle your business the way you've been handling it, and son, you'll be an automatic Motown Millionaire. And I went out my junior year, first game we played against California Bears. I got nominated SEC defensive player of the week, had a great game, my first game. Second game of playing against Air Force, incredible program, tough discipline, group of guys, fourth quarter of the game,

a little bit over two minutes left, game is basically over. And I go the hitter guy on the sideline, quarterback through him a little nice pass, and as soon as I hit him, it seemed as if every breath in my body left. And I woke up two hours later, after I had surgery and emergency room, after fighting for my life, and my arm was paralyzed, and my career was over.

Right in that moment. In that moment. Go back to the play for a minute. Absolutely. First off, unbelievable that you were thinking of that at Crim High School as a 13, 14, already the example you were setting. I just think that's remarkable.

But so the play happens. You wake up two hours later, but was there a point when you were on the field and you went, oh, something's happened here. Did you know? No, I didn't think it was that serious. You did not, yeah. Okay. I thought it was this thing or maybe a broken arm,

you know, because in sports, especially football, things happen. Why did you end up having to fight for your life? I've never asked you that before. What was going on in your body that caused the injury to be so significant? I ruptured my subclaiming artery in my chest, and so I was bleeding internally, and I ruptured

the nerves from my brachial plexus that comes from my spine that controls my shoulder, arm, hands, fingers. I'm a freak incident. You know, it was just a free thing. And usually those two things don't happen together. You know, and so what that happened together, I was fighting for my life, but also it ended my career because of, they were restricted for surgery.

Because the artery was busted, they had to take the main vein out of my left leg and plug it into my chest. And usually when it's a break your plexus injury, they can go into the chest and do certain things, but because of the artery, they couldn't. Unbelievable. So okay, everybody, so here's,

here's where some turning points start to happen. Right, here we go. So there okay, everybody. So, here's where some turning points start to happen. Right, here we go. So, there's this dream. Most people listening to this or watching it, maybe not as dramatic as yours, have had a moment where they wake up and go, my first big dream is over. It's ended.

And so, for you, you're this young man, you've got this future plan that's all right in front of you. You wake up, you now know, what's going through you? I think your response to this is the thing, I just cannot even get over the response that you have, but someone ends up coming to you, don't they? And saying, hey, you're not gonna play anymore. What initially were you thinking?

I mean, really, Anke, not the story. Absolutely. What were you really thinking? This just ended. What went through you when you heard those, that news? I responded and said I'm good, I'm blessed. But in my mind, I wasn't thinking that it was over to be honest because in my whole life,

I had faced so much adversity in opposition. And to me, it was one of these deals to where go back to rehab, you know, who knows? Right? It was some faith in there. That man, I can't believe I got to this point. Yeah. And I just lost it. Right? I couldn't believe I was eight games away from my dream manifestant. And so it was a part of me that was like, ah, I God, it's not going to happen like this. Right. Like I haven't worked from seven to 24 to go out of the window with one tackle, right?

I'm eight games away from being able to give my family a better life, take care of my mother. But in the same sense, there's this side of me to where when opposition and adversity happens, like quitting is just not an option for me. Right, like I don't even, I don't entertain it. Right? And so when I told the coach, I'm good, I'm blessed. I meant that we bit of that.

But it was a certain element to where I was like, I'm gonna go back to rehab and who knows. Yeah, the most remarkable thing to me about this is what didn't occur to you, which was quitting, feeling sorry for yourself. I mean, most people in that situation be like, why me? That did not occur to you in these moments, correct?

No. Nor did everybody. This is the thing that I want to emphasize. Nor did quitting on your teammates. No. I've heard you say, I didn't just get us, I didn't decide to be on this team just if I could play.

Take them through that a little bit after this ends up happening. This is awesome, everybody. Absolutely. You still went to meetings. Absolutely. I still tell them about that. Yeah. You still went to meetings. You still, tell me about that. Yeah, so I'm extremely loyal, right? And I think that's part of what makes me who I am, right?

Like my driving force in my life, it hasn't just been my goals, my dreams, and my aspirations. My driving force has been my team when I played sports, my family, right? Teachers, right? Like people that helped me get into position that I was in. And so when I played sports, my family, right, teachers, right, like people that helped me get in the position that I was in. And so my injury happened. I knew I had to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible and get back into my rhythm and my flow and get back around my teammates, right. Because when I got there, I told them, man, I'm going to be a great teammate, right. I told

them, I didn't say I was going to be a great teammate unless I get injured. It wasn't conditionalized right I never said I'm gonna go to every meeting unless my right arm and hand get paralyzed I never said that right I never said I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna go to win and work out unless I can no longer play right like that'll be cheap of me right and so my injury happened they said inky what do you want I said a done joy slinging a Velco strap and said what I said I'm going back to practice with my teammates, right? And I was in the sand pit the next week.

The next week? Next week, I was in the sand pit. Yeah, with staples in my body. Staples in my body, I was in the sand pit. It meant that much to me, not so much of the game, like what I vowed to meant more than me than the game right I vowed to them that I was going to be a great teammate right and that was my driving force and I think for most people their driving force is something that's superficial or materialistic and so when they lose it

it doesn't mean that much but if my driving force every single day of my life is my son my daughter my wife my friends the people That I've helped me get into position that I'm in now you're dealing with a different monster when I've versed in opposition it Okay, so I know you can feel me. I'm like, you know I told you I knew this would be one of the best interviews I've ever done and it is just because you There seems to be this thing with you one you're flooded with gratitude The second thing is your commitments mean something to you. And it's interesting to me that God chose you to give this test to because I know he knew you could pass it, right? And that's true

for everybody. This test that God's putting you through is giving you this because he knows you can pass. He knows you can. But I want to go back just for a few minutes about something. So, you've kept these commitments. Throughout your life, there seems to be this theme where there have been people kind of show up at the right time. I know coaches have been important to you. You were telling me about, you know, your coach when you were a young person that, you know, I think, I think you learned some of these things from modeling people too. So you had coaches make commitments to you that wasn't just when you played, right? Tell them a little bit about the coach that you were telling me about off-camera a little bit who made a difference in your life.

One of them, there's many, but I think it'll explain why you had this kind of commitment yourself. Absolutely. And so, the guy that we're speaking about, his name was Tray Hurst, and me and my cousins, we started out playing football in the street because our family couldn't afford to put us in organized sports. And so we would just go play light pole to light pole every night. And when the street lights were pop on, we kind of would time it.

We were like, all right, we got around 10 minutes, but we got to go into the house. And so one night street lights pop on, it's a blue pickup truck. And so I had to boil in my hand, and my cousins were on the opposite sidewalk, and I was the oldest at the time. And so I was waving the truck by. I'm like, come on man, I got a couple moves. I wanted to, where we got to go in the house.

And this truck rides up, and it's the first white guy we'd ever saw in our neighborhood. And so drug dealers on the court, they're thinking the guys are police, right? Nice is guy in the world. Gets out of his truck. Hey man, would you all like to play football on grass? I'm like, brother, I would love it.

It's street. It's getting rough. Say, go on the house and get your parents. Let me talk to them. When in the house, my uncle was there. My mother was at work. Uncle comes out, he says, hey, I run this program. A course town, bringing the boys out.

They have great opportunity for them. My uncle says, sir, we greatly appreciate it. He said, but I hate to inform you, we just don't have the money for anything like that at this moment. He said, don't worry about it. You bring him to the park tomorrow, I'll pay for it with my own money.

I remember I tapped my cousin's leg. I said, man, he hasn't even seen my spin movie. Yeah, man. I like that you haven't even seen my movie. You don't even know what to spin. I'm like, man, I like that. I like that you haven't even seen his play. He hadn't even see my mother. You didn't even understand. I'm like, man, I didn't even see let's play. He hadn't, he hadn't even seen let's play.

And I would get to the park the next day, and he wasn't just paying for me and my three younger cousins. He's paying for kids over cross Atlanta, right? And I wanted to understand not so much of the action, even though I was grateful for it. I wanted to understand the spirit that drove the action. And so one night, he had to take me home, they wouldn't let my mother of work.

And I got out of his truck and I said, coach, can I ask you a question? He was like, sure, what's he got, ain't? And he walked around, stood directly in front of me. I said, I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I want to understand this. And he said, Inc, you can't disrespect me. He said, son, I love you.

At that point, that was the first man that ever told me, love me, right? And he said, son, what you got? I said, why do you live you. At that point, that was a first man that would tell me, love me, right? And he said, son, what you got? I said, why do you live life the way that you live it? Why do you treat people the way that you treat people? And he said, I'm gonna share something with you and I don't want you to ever forget it. And it was simple.

He said, as long as you can make sure that somebody else's life is okay, he says, son, God will always make sure that your life is okay. And through that, the vehicle of sport, he just taught me so much. that, the vehicle of sport, he just taught me so much. Like I was telling you, my family's house got broken

into Christmas Eve, right? One pair of Nike's or shoes that we did have, you know, got stolen, right? And that next morning, my mother didn't call my pastor, right? My mother didn't call anybody. My mother called my coach. And I was sitting on the curb in our neighborhood, just chilling, just sitting there with my head down

and my coach drove up. And he had two low brown little bags. He got out, said, ink, I got the call late, but this is what I can do. And I hugged him, he hugged me, and I said thank you, man, I greatly appreciate it. But it was just filled with drawers and socks, but it wasn't about the drawers and the socks.

It was about my gosh showed up, man. You know, like it wasn't just dared doing, like he showed up for me. And so it wasn't just words. Don't you see the theme though that then you show up for your teammates after you had this adversity? Do you see that?

I don't know if you've seen that. I never thought about it that way. Yeah, I know. When you're telling me the story, it's like, it's like, I think sometimes in life, we model behavior of some of our heroes, you know, and people that made a difference. And because there's this remarkable wisdom to you as a young man, right? Remarkable gratitude. To this day, you're one of the most humble people I've met off camera that is so powerful in front of people. And I just wonder if maybe some of that was just, you know, ring it in your mind that he

kept those commitments when you've kept all the years. It's just, it's, it's, I think, I think what it goes to is your perspective. And you have this thing that you talk about that guys, when you get a chance to dive into Inquis content and his message, it will move you. You will remember it. It's, I was telling Inquis, I share his messages with my son, more than I even share some of my own, because you live it. There's people who have inspiring messages. Then there's inspiring people.

You're the combination of both. I consider you to be in, your messages are unbelievably inspiring, but you're an inspiring man to me. And so talk about that for a minute. Perspective drives performance. Obviously, your perspective about this injury is what's, I think, altered the direction of your life.

A lot of people, you know, you're not naive, had this injury in a thrown them into the tank the rest of their life. A lot of people go through a divorce or a business set back, or ever, and they use that story for the next 50 years of their life to explain why they've not become somebody and done something great, right? Your perspective, so talk about perspective driving performance a little bit. I just feel as if how we view what we do,

affects how we do what we do, right? The perspective that we have about the things we encounter, the things we're connected to, the people we love. And so, put it to you like this, I came in contact with the gentleman in Seattle, right? And I'll never forget he was driving me to the event and he was crying. And I just asked him, was everything okay? And he shared with me that his wife had passed away, had died, right?

And I just asked him, after he got done, I said, could you tell me at a basic level, how when you encounter what was probably the toughest blow of your life, how did you just get up and put one foot in front of the other? You know, I know it was tough and continuing to raise your children, continuing to function in your business. And he just told me, so we went through it a period to where it was ugly, right? It's terrible.

I made excuses. I left. I came back. I told my wife, I would never leave again. No matter how bad I'll tough, how rough it gets. I'll always stay there. I'll stay in the pocket. Right? I said, I got that part. I said now answer me this. If you could change or do anything different about it, what would it be? He said, I would have shifted my perspective a lot earlier and I would have embraced it. He said, because the moment I shift in my perspective and I embraced it, it changed not only my life, it transformed my whole household, and everything I was connected to,

and I didn't even view her situation as opposition or adversity anymore, I viewed it as an opportunity. I said, Bingo, he said, why did you say that? I said, I'm just a firm believer that perspective drives performance. I said, how we view what we do will always affect how we do what we do, right? At the time when I was growing up,

I viewed my situation in my circumstance as, and it's cool, I got a roof over my head. I'm sleeping on the floor, but my perspective about it is, I'm going back to a home. I'm not on the side of the street. When my injury happened, I went to the Mayo Clinic,

at the first person I sat down in front of. I'll never forget this. I was at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, waiting on my doctor's visit. The first person I sat down in front of, I had my head down and I was looking at a contraption that they had given me for my arm. When I looked up, it was a young girl in front of me. She couldn't have been no more than 10 years old. I don't know what her medical condition was. When I looked at her, it was as if she was

trying to keep the skin up on her face. Right? And when I went into the doctor's office, it was like, how you doing? I was like, man, I just got paralyzed on. My perspective about what I'm going through, I just got paralyzed on. Like my med-eric Lagran had a situation happen in the wheelchair. We both know him, right? I just got paralyzed right on my hand, right? My perspective is going to affect my performance every day of my life. If I look down at it and just use it as an excuse or something negative, I'll be a better, blaming individual.

Beautiful message. Truthfully speaking, do you ever have that? Do you ever know? Anytime you look at it, does that ever happen now? I'll tell you what's been the hardest thing for me has been like one of my dreams as a kid, you know, and I was a four sport. I love everything about sports, but my dream as a kid, it was a swimming pool across the tracks in my neighborhood, and I would always go and walk by the pool because sometimes you had to pay, you know what I'm saying?

I didn't have my low 75, so I just walk over, hang out, and I would always see like a father, right, with kids, and throw him up, catch him, and I should be like, man, I can't wait until one day I have a family, and I could throw my kids up and catch him, right, and a pool. That was something that I always wanted to do. And so even when the doctor said to me in the hospital,

he was saying all these things, like, ink, you probably won't be able to write, what you're right hand again. You probably won't be able to carry groceries, certain things, lifting weights. None of those things hit me. But when he was like, if you have kids one day, you probably won't be able to do certain things

with your kids, right? And I thought about it. My mind reverted back to that. And so even with my eight year old son, nine year old daughter, when we're out we're playing in the pool and some water sometimes. I think about that sometimes, and like that's the only thing that kind of

knocks me off my pivot from time to time, but it's not anything, when I think about, I think about like hugging my wife. With two arms. Who you met in the fifth grade? I met in the fifth grade, like hugging my three little sisters, you know, but in terms of life and just functioning, you know, none of those things even come to mind.

That's a perspective piece. Absolutely. Y'all see what I love this man? Yeah. Y'all getting it right now, man. So, faith. Absolutely. Yeah, I made you a part of things I hear you talk about.

It is with me as well. How did it impact you during the injury? And what part does it play in your life now? Yeah. And so, I didn't realize this until after my injury happened. I just feel as if I was being prepared the whole time for it because when I got to college, like I grew up, mother, grandmother always went to church. You know, in spite of what was going on in our household, they always went to church and I was like any other kid, I

would go, you know, me and my cousins wouldn't pay attention. Yeah, mom popped you in the back of the head and you know, like grandmother, Tricia Eareight. Yeah. And when I got to college, our chaplain, he works for the Titans, you know. He's the Titans for the chaplain. I meant, he's the chaplain for the Titans, all right.

And he called me to his office. He's like, hey man, I want to disciple you spiritually. And I was like, what is that? Sounds hard. And he's like, no, I want to develop you spiritually. And I was like, what is that? Sounds hard. And he's like, no, I want to develop you spiritually. And I was like, give me a second. I want to go, and I want to ask my buddies.

And so my buddies at the time was, and it is Tillers Day, Gerard Mayo. Play for the Patriots, first round, Tim Pick. Robert Ares, he went first round, 18 pick to the Broncos. Ramon Foster, he went free agent, and starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers, past nine years, in a guy by the name of Sinclair Cannon. I went to him, I say, man, do you guys want to take this journey with me?

You know, again, disciple. It was like, what does it entail? I said, before we go to weight workouts, we go and we discuss scripture, right? We get it from our chaplain, we discuss it, we challenge each other, sacrifice. It was like, yeah challenge each other, sacrifice. It was like, yeah, let's do it. And so we started doing it our freshman year, sophomore, junior year. We were doing it consistently. We will meet with them, we will have different assignments for us. And so when the injury happened,

it was an amazing thing, man. I didn't know what this situation was about the birth, but I knew something was going to happen because when an injury happened, my guys were reminding me about what we went through in discipleship. They were. And so they were like, hey, Inc, you remember we discussed that Jeremiah 2911?

Hey, you remember we talked about Romans 8, 28 and it said, all things worked to the good of those who loved the Lord, who will call the Quantus will in this purpose. Right? And so I didn't know what the situation was about the manifest, but I knew something was about to take place, but I was extremely grateful because I can honestly say this. I don't believe that if I had been through that discipleship those few years prior to my injury, I would have been able to handle it and process it the way that I did.

Interesting. I don't think I would have been able to process it. I wouldn't have had the perspective because I had been working for my whole life. And so when it happened, luckily for me, I had been in spiritual discipleship, and so my perspective was already changing. I wasn't the individual that I am now. The injury brought that out because it forced me to live it. But prior to, I was already transforming in a mental state in terms of what I was learning, what I was processing. And so it's something that I'm extremely grateful for. And I think the creator knew the whole time.

I need to prepare. You know what's interesting about that? I've never said this before, never thought about it until you just said it. But hindsight on our life is one of the great evidences of our faith. Absolutely. You know what I mean?

Like awesome man. I never thought about it before. Like when you look, everyone's not, everyone that has any faith that's listening to this or watching this. You just look back at your life. You can see, well, there was a plan here.

Absolutely. There was preparation happening. His hand was in my life. Like clearly the way you grew up and clearly your gratitude and clearly this discipleship that prepared you for this moment. And then the most remarkable thing too is you're talking about for me on one hand, I think I know who the best speakers on the planet are. And the one through five rotates from time to time. But you're on that hand for me, as you know, right?

And what's interesting to me is, I doubt that the play before that play, you were thinking, you know what I'm gonna be doing someday? I'm gonna be standing in front of millions of people over my lifetime. Me, this kid who grew up with no bad, right? Mom's working double shifts at Wendy's, right? I'm flunking out of the second high school I go to, right?

Then I'm gonna be an NFL player. The plate, you know what I'm gonna be in many years? I'm be sitting in Edmila's living room and the good of beach is one of the top speakers in the world, right? And you'd even really wanna get into the speaking space, right? Tell them about that. Like you guys, it's almost home for you, though, right?

Like I think eventually in your life, you find your home. Like it just feels right, but you't even want to speak at first did you what happened with no idea yeah didn't didn't have any any any interest in it and people would say to me hey ink you might need to look into it right because we would go places for community service and people would just strike up dialogue hey man what happened to your arm yeah and. And before long, everybody would be sitting there just firing off questions, I would answer them.

And I wouldn't think anything of it. I would leave and it would just be like, oh man, that was cool. And I remember I was coaching, and my wife got pregnant and she was back in Atlanta and she's a teacher. And so I made the decision to move back to Atlanta, but prior to moving back, I cemented a job. And so I called the guy that was over to Atlanta, but prior to moving back, I said, man, I need a job.

And so I called the guy that was over at Atlanta Public Park and Rex. He picked up, I said, hey, man, I need a job. I need to come back. I want to work at the same rec center I grew up in. He was like, oh, no problem, ain't you can come back, lead the kids, teach curriculum. I was like, great.

He said, you could've came like yesterday. I packed up, went back, I called them, never answered, right? Email, never respond it. And I was back and I would just get up every single day, go put out my resume, cooking for jobs, getting dressed, and my buddy, Gerard Mayo, I was still doing community service, go places, people still fire off questions. And I remember he said to me, man, you really need to look into the speaking thing. And I remember he said to me, man, you really need to look into the speaking thing. And at the time, I would just be getting up every morning

when my wife would get up, and we was in my wife's grandmother's home. And it was me, her, and our daughter. And my daughter was sleeping in a wagon as somebody had purchased for a birthday. We were all in one bedroom at her grandmother's home and I remember one morning I got up and I didn't have nothing man like I wasn't planning to speak. I didn't have a thing right. I didn't have a plan and I didn't have any money and I had a family.

And I remember my wife walked out of the door and I left and I was like you know what man I'm gonna try this thing and I prayed. that was simple. I still remember till this day, my prayer was this. God, I don't know what it is you want me to do with my life. People are telling me to speak. It feels right. I'll be obedient. You said obedience is better than sacrifice. I'll be obedient.

And for most people, what do we do? If we start out on the journey or quest, we just a level of sacrifice without first being obedient. What is it going to cost me right now? What do I have to sacrifice? But the Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice. God, I'll be obedient, right? First trip I get to speak is a 15 hour round trip

to Mississippi. I drive, right? I get back home, close to three in the morning. My wife waits up for me I walk in the door he says how was it I was like oh it's great she's like what did you get I was like they gave me this cool coffee mug she's like what she's like you sure this is what you supposed to do I was like yes ma'am she's like you sure I was like yes ma'am she's like, you sure? I was like, yes, ma'am. She was like, go for it. Really? And I've been speaking.

I've been speaking every since, man, over 13 years. Right? And I've never handed out a business card to nobody and said, I word them out, I'll refer. I'll word them out. Yeah. I usually do this in the end, but it's too important. Now, you need to be following this man on Instagram, right?

And it's at Inky Johnson. At Inky Johnson. Pretty simple. There's not a lot of Inky Johnson. So go follow him there. So you did something there that's really interesting though. First of all, I'm actually this. I'm just curious, what makes you a great speaker?

Drop the humility thing for a second. What makes you a great speaker? Because people ask me all the time, how do I become a better speaker? How do I communicate better? Do you think there's something in particular that's one of your gifts or that you do well? Mm-hmm. Good. So, I would say, first preparation, who I'm serving, I want to know everything about them, I want to know what's

important to them, right, so I can better serve them, but just in terms of being a dynamic communicator, right, I've always wanted to be able to communicate on any topic, in any room, on any subject, but also learning what drive emotions, right, what stories pull on any topic, in any room, on any subject, but also learning what drive emotions. Right? What stories pull on certain emotions? In a story, whatever environment I'm in, what stories can I use that's going to resonate and sit well with the crowd to pull on certain emotions.

If they say, hey, we want the crowd to feel this, I know I got certain amount of stories that I can pull from that can connect with those emotions. And so just wanting to be dynamic in terms of my communication, but also being more concerned with what they want from me, whether than what I want to say. I totally, I surrender on that too often. So one thing about that, a huge lesson, I just don't want to pass everybody by.

Stories are huge as any kind of a communicator. I use my stories when I teach lessons to my children. Rather than just, you know, demanding things at them, I usually tell some kind of a communicator. I use my stories when I teach lessons to my children. Rather than just, you know, demanding things at them, I usually tell some kind of a story. I hope they can remember facts tell story, cell, right? So I'm a big storyteller myself. I'm always cognizant about emotion. And the thing you do that you give me

is you transfer energy super incredibly well. And you can't transfer energy that you're not really experiencing. I think you really mean the things you're saying. And so I feel them. There's an authenticity to it. You also talk about often along that line, but talk about process over product for a second. I love this, right?

Absolutely. Yeah. And so for me, the process over product deal is about eliminating the outcome, right? Not being driven by the outcome. Not being driven by the product, whatever that is. And so the way that came about was after my injury, and I got placed in a two year process. And so when it breaks your plexus of ocean,

nobody knows if fileness gonna come back really, nobody knows if movement is gonna come back because all of them are different. And so what they'll do is put you in a process and see what happens. And so they said,'ll do is put you in a process and see what happens. And so they said, Inky, we'll put you in a two-year process or do you the best pieces of equipment on a planet and you just show up five to six days a week and do it.

We don't know what's gonna happen. We're not telling you, when you get done, you'll be able to work your arm again. We don't know what's gonna happen. Go to five to 10 people, you love and respect, tell them the situation, see what they think. I went to five to 10 people, I love respect tell them the situation see what they think I went to five to ten people I love them respect I told them a situation all of them said don't do it I said why and I knew they love me I knew they cared about me they said they can't guarantee you nothing they said

they can't guarantee you that it will work I said I thought true courage was the ability to start something without any guarantee of success. Like, I thought that's what a warrior was. Like, being able to walk into a situation, being able to start a process, start a business, and they don't need you to guarantee them anything. It's not driven by the product. It's not driven by the reward. It's driven by the process.

And so, a year and a half into the process, my mentality was concrete, right? Like, I didn't need anybody to guarantee me anything, right? It was process over product, concrete commitment. The ability to start something, stay focused, stay to course, and you don't need anybody to guarantee you a thing, is driven off your integrity, is driven off your character, and is driven off of what you represent. Thank you God. Yeah. That's why you're here right there. Right there right there right there right there. There's always always pray in an interview for me. You asked me why do you do this show? He asked me this song. Why

do you do this? I said for me because every once in a while and every few interviews there's like a moment where I go oh man man, how come I never thought of that? Or that's new for me. That right there, would he just describe? Everybody, go back, rewind about two minutes and replay that. That thing you just described is the separator from the people I know that get over to the other side

of their life in some way. Change the relationship, their body, their faith, their money, is they don't need a guarantee. They'll go through a process not having to have the result guaranteed to them. It's their ability to be willing to go through a process and step into the unknown. Whereas most humans, and you know this too, you saw this even in football. You see it every day in your life. They won't, they, they, they tiptoe into the process, but they won't give everything of themselves because they're not sure about the payoff. Successful people are willing to step into these spaces of the unknown longer with more commitment than the average person does to win.

End of story, big time, combine with faith, combine with these other things we're talking about. See, that's why I do the show. Right there. That guy's trust me. That's a huge point in your life. You need to evaluate what this man just said in some area of your life. What are you? Are you in a relationship still because you're so afraid to be alone? Right? Are you're so afraid? You'll stick in this crappy thing you're in because of the unknown to where you're so afraid? You'll stick in this crappy thing you're in because of the unknown to where you are. You're going to stay in this career, but you know isn't

you're calling. You know isn't everyone knows it, but you're so afraid of this unknown space because there's no guarantee where you're going. It's some day you're going to wake up and go, man, I spent all this space and then all my time in this known space where all the love, all the joy, all the juice of life is in the unknown. So good. Okay. That's why, right there, right there, right there. Okay.

And then there's just this brilliance that comes out of you. It's fact though, right? You said it. I did, and I just reset it. I wish I said it. I'm not that smart. Okay. So, I want to ask you this a couple of things too.

Like, I know we're going a little longer when I told you, but it's too good. It's too good. Okay. You talk a lot about couple of things too. I know we're going a little longer, and I told you, but it's too good. It's too good. Okay, you talk a lot about this transaction idea too. The way you say things is different. I don't know maybe because we're both athletes. It hits me the right way when you speak. Talk a little bit about this concept of the transaction and energy and all that stuff. This is brilliant, guys.

Here's some more brilliant right here. It's just about doing things with a transactional mentality. It ties into what we're just speaking about, the interconnection of it. But just that transactional mentality of, it's like when a person does something, right? I asked the guy, my freshman year, I said, are you committed to what we're doing?

Right, are you committed to it? He's like, yeah, I like it. I was like, what are you committed to it. He's like, yeah, I'm I like it. I was like, what are you committed to it? It's like I like it. I said, no, are you committed in terms of I am going to stay true to what I said I would do long after the move that I've said it in has left. It's not transactional right like in my marriage, it's not transactional. For me to try to drive to be a better man every single day. Well, my children, it's not transactional. For me to try to drive to be a better man every single day. Well, my children, it's not transactional. They try to be a great father.

It's not predicated upon situations, circumstances. It's not driven by that. It's not transactional. I don't have transactional behavior. I tell my son all the time, I'm like, man, it's a big difference between being somebody that works hard and a hard worker. If you're somebody that works hard, if the situation plays in your favor,

if you get what you want from a transactional standpoint, you might give me everything you got. I said, but when you're a hard worker, we can take it to the bank. And my let's a monster. We can take it to the bank. He's wired that way, right? And so it talks back to that point about the transactional behavior. Oh my God.

Right? Based upon situation, circumstances, people, and things. The way you said that about long after the emotion of making the commitment of the decision is gone, then who are you? Oh my gosh. I've always, I'm, I did the show because I really wanted to learn what is it that separates happier, more successful people in their life? Like really what is it? Like not the the means, you know what I mean? And that is one of the huge things is that in the moment when you're in a relationship

it's all beautiful and awesome. Okay, once that emotions gone, who are you in the relationship? I want to change my body. Ah, I'm all motivated. I wanna look like this for. Then once that's gone and it's day 92, right? And it's raining out and you gotta go on your run, then who are you? Absolutely.

Do you think that's part of that is character? I don't know. Is that a character thing? Like when I meet you, I honestly, like there are people that I've met and I'm like, I wanna't know. Is that a character thing? Like when I meet you, I honestly, like there are people that I've met and I'm like, I wanna be better. I wanna be better. Before you utter the word, like this is a good man.

I wanna be better. You seem to have to meet Inky exceptional character. Thank you. You know what I mean? Like it seems to me when you give someone your word, just so you know everybody, you talk about 13, you're of a 13 hour round trip today to come see me.

So that first speech for the coffee cup, right? Not so different, almost a decade later, sitting here today with me, he's doing one of those trips just to be with me today. And I'm grateful for that. My audience is grateful for this man, still keeps his word. Absolutely.

I just want to know, do you think it's a character thing with you or what do you think it is? Yeah, I think so. and the beauty of it is, like, character is something, I always say, character is not something we inherit. Right? Character is something we got to wake up every single day, we got to fight and we got to build it. And so the character you possess right now, even though your son is your son, he can't inherit your character. He can inherit some of your traits, but he can't inherit your character. He's going some of your traits, but he can't inherit your character. He's gonna have to build that from the things

you've instilled at my son, right? Even though I'm his father, he can't inherit my character. He's gonna have to wake up and build it through actions, through decisions, and through choices. And so when we speak to character, if it is a character situation, I think it can play in people's advantage

if they're willing to build it, right? But most people would say, well, I think it can play in people's advantage if they're willing to build it. But most people would say, well, I don't have, I didn't inherit it. It's not who I am. Character is something you wake up every single day, you fight and you build it. Every decision you make, how you treat people, I call them destiny moments.

The moment that when you bump into somebody and it's really not convenient for you, how you treat that person. The moment when you come into somebody's it's really not convenient for you, how you treat that person. The moment when you come into somebody's home and it's something on the floor, you grab the tissue, you wipe it up, that's my man. I'm gonna treat this home like it's my home, right? Character, go with it.

I need to tell him that. So there was wear off camera. There's a little spill out, but I don't notice. This man goes into the restroom, grab his cleaning up my house for me. And so that's just, that is character. I'm that type of person too if I'm in my business partner Andy for some reason. But if I'm in the restroom, grab a few things. Just cleaning up my house for me. And so that's just, that is character. I'm that type of person too, if I'm in my business partner Andy for some reason,

but if I'm in the restroom and dudes that throw in stuff on the floor, I pick it up. Like I just can't stand that sort of thing. So I wanna ask you a couple of things as we wrap up, but I want everybody to get the most out of you today. First off, if they wanna hear it, have you come speak for them. Absolutely.

Does they go to their Instagram? Is that the best place to go? Or say, yeah, or to the website, inkeyjohnson.com. Okay. And so just email us there, inkeyatinkeyjohnson. Absolutely. Does they go to their Instagram? Is that the best place to go? Or to the website www.inkeejohnson.com. Okay. And so just email us there. Inkee at www.inkeejohnson.com. It's fire. People. It is fire. Okay. Trust me. Okay. I don't endorse a lot of speakers. It's fire. Okay. Because it comes from a real place and a real life and a real story. But okay. I want to, there's millions of people listening to this right now or watching. And they're down.

They're you on the football field that day. Everything was great. You called a play, actually went and helped out on a guy that wasn't your guy on that play that you know. Yeah. And they're down and they're going, look, I don't know which way's up. I don't know where I wanna go.

I wanna change my life. I don't know where I want to go. I want to change my life. I want to be happier. I want to have my test be my testimony at some point. Where do I begin? What would your advice be to somebody? It's just in general relationship, body, business. This is where I should begin. What would you recommend to them?

I would say tie it to something that's real. Like whatever that driving force is, tie it to something that's real, whether that be family tie it to something That's real whether that be family whether that be the life that you aspire to have and be loyal right be loyal to what you say You're gonna do like like I've heard Tony Robbins say it before when he said um like I asked her was a happiness that cheap Right like is your drive that cheap right to the point to where when you don't get What you thought you were going to get. I put it on my Instagram today. I said, man, everybody will tell you what they're going to do when things go right. But nobody addresses what they're going to do when things go wrong. And we both know,

in the words of Martin Luther King, right, character, right, is built in times of challenge and controversy. And so when you encounter the challenge and the controversy, I would say be grateful for it. You say it all the time, things don't happen to us, they happen for us. You say it all the time. Hidden blessings, right? All it is, all the tragedy and opposition in that verse, it's a hidden blessing that you don't know is a blessing yet. So consider it a blessing, grace, right? Consider it a blessing before you consider it a blessing and watch the perspective that you acquire about the situation and when you acquire

the right perspective about the situation, don't look at it and say, why me? Look at it and say, why not you? And just get up and put one foot in front of the other and use your situation to add value to the world. Fire! The quicker you shift your perspective to add value to the world, the quicker you shift your perspective to add value to the world,

the quicker you'll get your situation in your circumstance. And this is by the way, from a man who did this, within hours of waking up from his dream being over, coach former, who's a legend, many of the AD now at Tennessee, comes in and says, hey, you know, Coach, I got this, I'm good.

What exactly did you say to him? Was it something right around those lines, right? That's hey, coach, I got this. I'm good. What exactly did you say to him? Was it something right around those lines? That's right. I said coach him good. I'm blessed. I'm blessed. After his dream had just ended. So this is someone who's lived this, guys,

like legitimately lives this and tying it to something is such brilliant advice because I say often, we say a little bit different, but I always talk about, I'm blown away by how easily someone's will to win can be bought. You know what I mean? I heard that. Yeah, but they'll say, they'll sell it, right?

And so, but you know what most of you won't sell is if you do what this man just advised you to do, if you'll tie your dream to something you wouldn't sell out like your children, like your spouse, like your God, you'll question selling out your kids. But if you don't tie your kid to your dream, hey, it's easy to quit, but all of a sudden, you just sold your kids dreams, that's harder to do.

You just sold God out, because you don't have faith, something's going to happen. Maybe you'll stay in a little bit longer when you tie it. So there's brilliance to what this man is telling you, okay? I'm telling you. And so there's just very few people who just speak real truth, and the reason you your truth is so profound is because you live it. It's not speeches you give. It's a part of your story. Okay, last question. Okay, by the way,

this is just awesome today. Okay, and I can feel I just hope everybody hasn't run off the road. You know, saying that are that are in their cars because of the fuel that we're giving everybody. But I want to ask you lastly about young people. I asked you this off-camera, but I want your answer here. A lot of people here that are listening to this have children, or they'll play this part of the interview, and you speak a lot to kids. And there's something that we haven't talked about here today that I just want to finish on if we're going real. This is, you grew up poor.

Now, not poor of spirit, poor of family, but when you got 12 people in a two bedroom place, there was not a ton of money floating around that house of yours. Okay. So there's somebody listening to this who goes, you know, I'm poor so I can't win. Or, you know what, I have, I think I have a disadvantage because of the color of my skin or my religion or my sexual preference or Something like that that they're they're not in the mainstream. They're not in the majority There's a circumstance where their dreams ended. They don't have a father in their life

What advice would you give the young person who thinks? Potentially that's a negative is it are they right and can they overcome it anyway? Or should they just be grateful for the blessings that they have? I would say play the hand you dealt like it's the one you always want it, right? Because we all know like who you run with determines the direction that you run, who you hang around is who you become. And so the way that I feel as if I got through my circumstance, it wasn't all by my might and my power, even though I had a level of focus,

and I saw the collateral damage as it happened. The same way that you could be in a circumstance and you can learn from people that do things right, you can learn from people that do things wrong. But I had people that I respected enough not to disrespect. I had people that I respected enough not to disrespect, my coach, highest level of respect. I couldn't disrespect them.

Being lazy would have been disrespecting them. My mother working a double shift. Being lazy, cutting class, smoking weed ought to be disrespecting her. My teacher said, what the bad for me is that son, you got it. I would have been disrespecting them if I wouldn't have tried to do my best to accomplish what I feel I could accomplish And so the thing I would say to a man is it's somebody in life and this is across the board Not just young people It's somebody in life that situation in circumstance is a lot worse than yours

And they took their hand and they're winning with it Their hand is a lot worse than yours. They took it, they pick up the pieces every single day and they're winning with it. It's only an excuse, it's only a bad situation if you label it that. Perspective job performance every day of the week. How you view what you do will affect,

how you do what you do. Play that hand at your dealt, like it's the hand that you always win it. Oh dear, thank you. My man, I love you today. I'm so grateful that we did this today. No, I'm not, man. And I know the audience is too.

You need to go, come on, man. You need to go follow him and you all understand why, and I understand why so many of you wanted him here today. I'm so grateful. Thank you, man. And I admire you. I admire you. Anything I can never do for you.

I'm here. We're friends and I'm here to help you anyway. I can't. Everybody I'm here to help you too, as you, man. And I admire you. I admire you. Anything I can never do for you. I'm here. We're friends and I'm here to help you anyway. I can't. Everybody I'm here to help you too, as you all know. Every day I run the max out two minute drill. If you're not doing it, you need to follow me on Instagram. I make a post every day, 730 Pacific, 1030 Eastern. When I do that, I've created a situation there

so I can coach, engage, and meet you. So the winners on this two minute drill, they fly on my jet sometimes, they get max out gear, they come see me speak, they get coaching calls from my guests. All kinds of cool things. Autograph copy of my book. Here's all you got to do to win. When I make a post in the first two minutes, have your notifications on, make a comment. Just make a comment. We pick a winner every day. If you miss the first two minutes, make a comment every day on every post I make. At the end of the week, everybody who makes a comment, we, all five, we pick winners from that. And if you make comments and other people's comments,

we select winners from there as well. So there's three ways to win. I'd love to engage with you. And hopefully you'll be engaging with people like Inky through that as well. So God bless you and max out everybody. This is the end of my life, shall we?