THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Steve Weatherford - Fighting Through Adversity

Episode Date: September 20, 2018

Steve Weatherford needs no introduction! After a 10 year NFL career AND winning the super bowl in 2012, Steve Weatherford went on to be named "The Fittest Man in the National Football League!"   Not only does Wearherford shine in the areas of sports and fitness, he is also a man of service! Like I always say, People matter. Things don't.  Weatherford was named Health and Fitness Ambassador of the Boys and Girls Club in New Jersey, serving as a role model, mentor, and fitness and nutrition coach to more than 80,000 kids throughout New Jersey. He also serves as spokesperson for Second Chance Toys, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The Steve Weatherford Charity for Ghana.    Now, he sat down with me in this exclusive interview to talk about his journey to and through the NFL; overcoming weaknesses, building a life he is proud of and enjoying the journey along the way. Discover how Steve Weatherford has become the revered star athlete we all know today!   This interview will have you hanging on to every word! It's available now on Youtube, Stitcher, Itunes, and Spotify.   Please SUBSCRIBE to all platforms, by CLICKING THE LINK IN MY BIO. Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT, REPOST and TAG SOMEONE to spread  the word about the fastest growing show on earth!    

You think you got what it takes to win? I get coached by Ed Mylett at EdMylett.com. Welcome back, Max out with Ed Mylett. I gotta be honest with you. I so wish we were recording everything that we just did off camera because we've had one of the greatest interviews I've ever done and we haven't even started yet. So I'm so excited to have this gentleman to my left here. This jacked up dude right here to my left is a Super Bowl champion.

See that thing right there? He's letting me wear this for the interview. That is his Super Bowl ring, everybody. He's a pro bowl or he is a guy who dominated his position in football and by looking at him right now, you're thinking, this dude was a tight end for sure, right? Maybe it was a defensive end, but actually this is a punter in the NFL and has the all-time Super Bowl record

in a Super Bowl for punting that we're gonna talk about. He's dominated the fitness space post his career. He's a great father, five children, right? And one of the guys, one of the few people that I follow on social media to inspire me to get my day going, to get my life going, and I have a funny feeling that today will be a life-altering conversation for many of you. So I'm so excited to hear, brother. This is Steve Weatherford, everyone. Thanks for being here, man. That means a lot to me, man. I really mean that. But honestly, like, just for the people

that are watching and listening, I mean, it's from the moment that I walked in this door. We never met each other before. And we have so many mutual friends that continually recommended us to each other. And it wasn't because I could provide value to you, or you could provide value to me. So many people were like, do you need to meet Ed?

If you guys are so much alike, and you guys have to meet Ed. If you guys are like so much alike, and you guys have so much passion, and you guys are like so weird at the same time. You know what I mean? But it's like always coming from people that I love, that also that you love, and it was like this was meant to be, but I mean, to see the way that this is kind of like,

this interview is gonna go, just because of the time that we spent today. Like, dude, I've told things that I haven't shared with anybody and you really do. You have a really unique way of making people just feel really comfortable in your room, really comfortable to like share vulnerable things about themselves that haven't shared with anybody else

because I mean, you look at some of the other interviews that you've had. I think so. Like, people open up to you. Yeah. And that is like, I wanna acknowledge you for being showing up for who you really are. And you're leading with the true person that you are, not like the costume that you think you need to put on

in order to grow your Instagram account or get this many likes or get that many comments. And that's one thing that's always attracted me to you is you can tell the people that are like faking it attracted me to you is you can tell the people that are like faking it for the gram, and you can tell the people that are genuinely and authentically pouring their heart and the dark things,

you know, the great achievements, but also being relatable to people and saying like, listen, like, yeah, I've achieved this financial success and I've had this massive impact here, but dude, I still struggle with this and I still have problems, you know, setting boundaries and doing favors for people because I'm a people, please, and I really just want to make people happy and it's authentic, it's real, so I heard from so many people that

we need to connect. We do. I'm like, man, we've heard of it. We've heard what I need to do, but I feel like, regardless if it's a podcast or it's just me doing, I just sitting down and talking, whatever that is that I can do for you to continue to impact people on the level and the scale that you're doing and continue to grow that, man. That's honestly, that's why I'm here because I want to be able to share things on this

podcast that I love to listen to, that other people have shared things that they've never shared before. Honestly, do your podcast and your show and just like you as a person you're you're kind of turning yourself into like a priest and people come here for like you're professional. Like I'm looking at like an older more handsome. He starts with older. He starts with older. Well, listen, I was eventually gonna get the more handsome, and that's something I highly regard. But just so you know, this is being recorded. Everybody knows that I'm not more handsome than you,

but thank you for saying that. All right, let's talk about you for a second. So in front of me first, I wanna go back just a little, right? So your Super Bowl champion, Pro Bowl, or you know, awarded awards in the NFL, for being the most shareable guy in the league. You got five children.

Your, his social media stuff is so good, guys. I mean, if, listen, if you want to know who I really like on social media, go look at who I follow. You know, many of you are going to watch this and see my Instagram. I follow a very small select group of people that move me and you're one of those people. And so, it means a lot, man. Yeah, brother. I mean, I think your stuff, I think you your awesome and I think your stuff is awesome too.

But let's talk a little bit about little Steve. Let's go back just a little bit. So you've achieved all these things. And by the way, you can tell from looking at him. This was an athlete, a world-class athlete who played the position of Punder. But if you went through your whole life, you were a stud in multiple sports and track in all these other sports. But what was your upbringing like? What's your mom and dad like where'd you grow up with it?

I Didn't have a white friend into as 11 years old. This is something that we didn't talk about off camera But I was born in Indiana and H2 moved down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and and literally was like thrust into African-American sports, for lack of a better word. And I wasn't that special, you know, because they were just better than me.

Yeah, I think surrounding there were better than you as a kid. Oh my gosh, I remember when I moved from Louisiana at age 13 to Terahode, Indiana, which is kind of like the city that I claim. I don't know why I claim that instead of Baton Rouge, but I guess it comes with my family's from Indiana. But I remember leaving and being like the

sixth man on the basketball team and then moving to Terahode, Indiana, and being like, oh my god, he's 14 and he can touch the rim, you know, the biggest thing ever. I had teammates that were dunking the ball in a basketball game, but it was like competition and elite competition and the competitive spirit just in general was instilled at me at a very, very young age. One of the other athletes are like that, like by who? Um, just there was something honestly that I feel like God, like just truly like, like placed on my heart just ambition, similar to you, like we've, I've always, I've, I've always had a problem with motivation. It's not that I needed to find a place. I had too much of it.

Yeah. And I know it's just like, it might sound braggadocious to people listening to this, but hear me out when I talk about the fact that my competitiveness and myself worth really was almost kind of my demise as a person and as a human and as somebody that fathered five children and a husband to my wife and entrepreneur and like on paper, like my life was perfect. And it is perfect, but you know,

the entire journey of my life and the evolution of the person that I was to the person that I am today is like for the first time ever like sitting here with you, like this is the first interview that I feel like, I don't feel like I know for a fact that I'm ever really doing as like Sun Sojourn Eric to refer to myself in third person. As Steve. You know, I feel like every other interview that I've done on ESPN and blah, blah, blah, blah, good morning, America, all that stuff. Like I was always wearing a

costume and trying to be what everybody else wanted me to be versus just being who I was and feeling like that was enough. Like so much so Ed that, you know, I remember tracing it all back to a conversation I had with my mom and I remember crying in her lap five years old kindergarten and that was the first time that I really, really realized that I was different than other people and I was different than other people. And I viewed different as not good

because I was the type of different that always got in trouble in school. I mean, I went to principal's office for pulling the chair out from a girl. There was about to sit down for me. Before lunchtime, my first day of kindergarten, you know? And it was just, it was continual from there, but none of those struggles,

and I was able to overcome, because of my ADHD and I couldn't sit still, and it was back in the day when people didn't really understand ADHD. I thought that that was a cop out for somebody that was just a mischiefist kid, and now I'm 35 years old, and I literally have maybe that much more control over it

and I've finally gotten to the point where I've embraced who I am and now you know what other people had looked at as kind of like in learning disability, I've been able to kind of mold that shape that package that and utilize that as listen if I can never sit still then I might as well keep myself busy doing something constructive and so I'm 14 years old. I remember being in the dentist's office and picking up my first copy of Muscle and Fitness, and it was at that point,

well, it was after I actually stole it and took it home and looked at it. Because there's no bodybuilding.com. It wasn't like I could go to, to end my life.com. And get content to be able to apply into my life, to learn how to train, to learn how to eat, to learn how to increase human

performance, but kind of to go back to the conversation that I had with my mom and crying on her lap and realizing that I'm different, I formed an opinion of myself that different was bad. And that's kind of like what people on social media like different is not great. You know, and it's almost kind of like now people are just now starting to appreciate the diversity in life. And I'm not just talking about race. I'm just talking about

personalities. I'm talking about where people the different walks of life sexual preferences all that stuff. Yes, and I'm a strong, strong supporter of personal expression. And that's what I'm doing. And it feels, it's hard for people to be able to kind of, I don't want to say relate to that. I feel like it's incredibly relatable because everybody feels uncomfortable in their own skin. They do.

And I know, like you and I have talked about that kind of off camera of how there's always the performance anxiety of being enough for people. And so when I realized I was different, I started to hate myself for the pain that I caused my family. Even that young. Yeah. What's interesting about you to me, brother, is that your differences, the things that

are different about you, built you an externally great life. For sure. In other words, other people, their differences, sometimes, only work externally to their detriment. There's things though that worked for you, right? There's these things that are pretty damn good about you. Oh, man, it makes it so. I mean, you talk about how I started to, like, self-love

and it was way past self-love. I and maybe I created a story in my mind because my parents were amazing I don't want this interview to reflect poorly on them because they loved me more unconditionally than you could ever love a kid. I mean I'm sitting here in front of you and and I'm a you know I'm an influencer in the fitness industry. I'm an influencer in the personal development space. I'm an influencer to other fathers. And after achieving all the things that are, on my Wikipedia page, or all the other things that people look at and be like, man, this guy's life is perfect.

A lot of people don't realize, because I've never shared it before, but now that I'm really kind of like stepping into the power that I'm really, of like stepping into the power that did it, I'm really, really like authentically myself. I don't feel like I need to come on your show or come into your home and meet you and be any type of certain person that I'm not already because the persons that we both have in common, you know, whether they're the Michael Herne's or Randall Peck's or Bezier's Coulins or Lewis Houses, like those are my best buddies, which are also your best buddies, and they're like, they really see me for what I am. They love you. So I've always looked at myself through a really distorted filter slash mirror of myself, and I would always, whether that's nitpicking my physique,

or focusing on the two things that I did wrong on a launch that I did, you know, half a million dollars on instead of focusing on the 98 things that I did so well. But that's, I've been conditioned that way. And like, that's the only reason I ever made it to the varsity team because I started high school at 108 pounds. So, gosh, like, how do you go from being 108 pounds as a 14-year-old young man to 14 years later on the cover of muscle and fitness, toated as the NFL's fittest man? Unreal. I tied myself worth in the world and on this planet to my athletic achievements because when I was a little boy, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 years old, the only time anybody was ever like, hey, great job, man.

Was when I played sports. You got it. And so it was never like when I made the honor roll because I didn't have a very often to play. Right. I couldn't sit still. Yeah. I got A's and B's in school because I was smart, but I couldn't sit still.

So I always failed discipline and behavior. But I always knew, or I always thought as a kid, that if I'm playing sports, I'm more than good enough. I'm great. I could be the best ever. And I always had a crazy amount of self-confidence when it came to sports, because I never disappointed myself when I played sports. Right.

You aren't often going to get a conversation like this in the world, okay? I've never had that done hundreds of podcasts. Yeah, and honestly either it wasn't a Point in my life where I had this clarity. Yeah, or I didn't feel comfortable enough with the person to To be real and the way that you make people feel comfortable enough like is it's a benefit to you because you're actually able to hear that Story like from that person and I'm sure it changes you in certain ways Yes, but it benefits all these other people able to hear that story like from that person and I'm sure it changes you in certain ways. Yes. But it benefits all these other people. It benefits millions of people.

Yeah. And I, and I, it benefits me because I struggle with the same things. And so all of you there watching, for the most part, people who consume my type of content and yours are achievers or want to be. And so the first thing you said brother, it's so beautiful, no one ever says, where's this stuff come from where we want to achieve? Okay, the first place it comes from is that when we are little boys and little girls most of our acknowledgement where we get a dopamine hit like in our brain where we feel good is when we achieve, right?

You you hit a home run you want to track meet you you begin to confuse Love with recognition and in life you want to always be addicted to recognition But you can't confuse love with recognition because if you don't love yourself, right, if you're not perfect as you are now, you're always going to chase recognition, you're never going to be fulfilled. And so the rub is how do we achieve like you've achieved? And you've achieved in a way that is bananas.

I mean, just so you know, because he's very humble with the state, he's probably been always humble, but this is someone who is, you know, this is a guy that ends up getting into the NFL, ends up making a pro bowl, ends up winning a Super Bowl. Then in that Super Bowl, by the way, breaks the all-time punting record, 45-yard average in his career.

When we sit here right now, and I'm able to share it, like this is the beginning of a new chapter in my life where I'm the hero in my own story, finally, Ed. Amazing. You know what I mean? Like, it's always been every achievement that I've had. I've never acknowledged myself for it. I don't want this podcast to come off as like a pity party

for me, because it's not what I want to get across to people. I'm sharing this, this sensitive, tender, vulnerable part of my life, because I know there's so many freaking men out there, yourself includedluded that ties their self worth to extra, extra-extrantic things that we, we can't control. You got it. And even when we think we can control it. Yeah. It's controlling us.

Right. So people out there, men and women, they think I'm going to be happy when. So once I get this relationship, once I win this Super Bowl, once I make my first 100 grand, once I make a million dollars, they delay their bliss, I call it, until a certain achievement. The problem everybody is, and this is where Steve's at, too, and I'm there, is that you bring you with you to all these places. And so until you love you when you get to those places, until you accept your perfect as you are in those places, the reason this interview is gonna change the world

is because if a guy with your life, with my life, right, you know, super, well, champion, beautiful life, incredible kids, achievement, every room you walk into, somebody knows you. Good looking dude, stud fit, all of it. And he has all of the things you think you want that will make you happy, okay? And he's here of the things you think you want that will make you happy. Okay?

And he's here to tell you today that you can get to all of those places, but if you arrive there with someone you don't love, you're going to feel the exact same way. And so the key in life is to learn to learn to be blissfully dissatisfied, I call it, which means that you've got to learn to live and bliss now and still have dissatisfaction to achieve. People confuse satisfaction and happiness. Happiness is a completely different state than satisfaction. You can be dissatisfied, want to go to the next level, want to achieve, want to win a super bowl, want to get another ring, want to dominate the fitness space. But you can find a way to be happy in the process of it.

You won't lose your drive, you think you lose your drive, you won't. You buy it into a stake, it's delicious, it's blissful. You don't want less of a bite, you want another bite. So the more you can feed yourself love and bliss at this time, the more you're gonna achieve. So let's talk about this. Are you telling me that even that day, you make the saints, you're not feeling great about yourself?

Oh my God. So this is a good, that's actually, we didn't talk about this, just everybody listen and watch and realize this, we didn't talk about this off camera. And it's funny you said that because the day that I realized that I actually made a pro football team, I walk into the locker room and they rearranged everybody's locker because in training camp, you have 103 people

on your team and then they trim it down to 53. So there's a lot of the buddies and friendships that you made during training camp. The guys are gone. And so I walk in and I'm looking for where my locker used to be and it's moved and now they moved it to numerical. And so I walk in and I'm looking for where my locker used to be and it's moved and now they moved it to New miracle and so I'm number seven and so I Look to the right of my locker and it's number five Reggie freaking bush. Oh my gosh

I look to my left and it's drew freaking breeze number nine I'm thinking to myself Ed. I'm like I don't belong here. Oh my God. Yeah. Like literally that's the first thing I said to myself that like I don't belong here. I'm in between the greatest, one of the greatest college football players of all time.

And Drew Freakin' Breeze. Yeah, one of the greatest NFL players of all time. Right, so it's, and I'm in between them. Man, dude, this is a lot of pressure, but it wasn't, I don't belong, like, let's pack the bags and go home. I always learned, you know, it's the, imposter syndrome, like right now, I played in,

I played 10 NFL year, I played 10 years in the National Football League, and we have 16 games a year, so let's say, you know, you include some, some playoff games and they're played about 175 NFL games. And I puked 170 to five times before the game. You're not serious. 100% serious.

And I actually shared a vomit bucket with Chris Sney who's in the ring of honor for the New York Giants. We shared a puke bucket before the game. And he was one of the greatest at his position that's ever played in the NFL, and especially for the Giants., we shared a puke bucket before the game and he was one of the greatest at his position that's ever played in the NFL and especially for the Giants. And we shared a puke bucket. Yeah. Like I want to have a conversation with him now that I feel like I have a higher level of consciousness and I actually like really see myself who I am. You have no idea how much like self-tourment I've caused myself and I've been able to take that

self-tourment and turn it into achievement. But every single achievement that you get, you're 108 pounds and then you get to 200 pounds and that doesn't make you feel any better and then you make it onto the varsity and that doesn't make you feel any better and you thought it would. So you were talking about continually pushing the point of happiness,

passing the cognitive horizon because it's just like once I get here, I'll be happy. And then you get there and you're like, well, you know what? Well, then once I get here, I'll be happy. And then you get there and you're like, well, you know what? Well, then once I get here and then for people like you and me that are just like disgustingly ambitious and motivated for life and for impact and for income and for influence, you look at all those things and be like, how are you not happy? Right.

You like, you set a goal, you achieve it, you set another goal, you achieve it not to say like, I haven't had a ton of failure and a lot of bad decisions and spent a couple nights in jail during that process, but I feel like it's really, really pertinent for me to share that on this podcast because I know there's a lot of people out there that want to live the life that you're living, that want to live the life that I'm living, but I'm here to tell you right now, I mean, $15 million kicking a football for a living. I mean, another couple of million dollars

is an entrepreneur when I walked away from that, money doesn't make you happy. A marriage won't make you happy. Having kids won't make you happy. Winner in a super bowl, no pro bowl will make you happy. A 10-year career won't make you happy, until you look into the mirror and you brush your teeth and you love the person that's looking back at you, which is honestly I'm in the infancy of actually being myself.

I love that you're trying. Like 22 days that I've been able to look in the mirror while I brush my teeth. And some days are a little bit easier than others because you have to think about it. I'm fighting 30 years of instincts of eating myself. So I was just like, if I look at a new goal that I set within my business or a new fitness goal that I set for myself or a new family goal that I set for myself, my instinct is to go to a place of self-hatred in order to motivate myself to achieve that goal. And I'm almost kind of like I'm trying to like reprogram the system to to pursue those things from a place of love of myself. And like you kind of alluded to it earlier,

and this might be the only time I ever disagree with you, that we all need that affirmation from other people, but I've had so much affirmation in my life, and I'm not telling you this to, to seem any certain type of way, but I've had so much affirmation in my life. It's desensitized myself to it so much so that I don't believe any compliment that anybody ever gives, or at least I didn't

use to. Now when people give me a compliment, I have to stop my instinct of like, shlupping it off to the side or giving that acknowledgement to somebody else and actually accepting that gift from people and believing it for myself. But that's a scary place to live because you can't escape your own mind. You got it. You know, so whether it's the depression that sets in after achievement

because it didn't make you better and it didn't make you feel better or maybe it gave you a brief break from hating yourself. And as soon as you leave that ecosystem of people telling you how wonderful you are or people were in your Super Bowl ring or people, you know, you'd take in a bunch of kids shoe shopping because they can't afford it and you wanted to go back to school and Newark New Jersey with brand New Kicks because you know how much confidence that gave you and you got new kicks whatever any of that stuff it might make it might put a band-aid on the

gunshot wound for the time being and make you feel like you can cover your wound and feel a little bit better but But at the end of the day, when you go sit in your car by yourself and you're driving home, the hate machine turns back on because I'm like, now I don't feel any better about myself. So it's the difference in between,

there's two types of happiness. There's the instantaneous happiness that we get from food, we get it from sex, we get it from drugs, we get it from alcohol, and you know, or lifting weights and so My entire life up until about three weeks ago was filled with

Chasing the high chasing the high of achievement chasing the high of you know when I work out I feel better for every amount of time and then once those adorfans roll off It's just like I hate my seeing it. I mean yes, and I didn't even realize that I was fueled by hate up until, you know, going through this process called heart-court leadership that Shanda Sumter put together and she's a friend of mine and she just, she saw the pain in me, you know, but she also saw like the beauty and the love and the tenderness and the sensitivity that I have that I give to people unconditionally, but I don't ever accept it. When people love me back, I don't accept it

because I don't love myself. And so I've given my wife, I've given my five kids, I've given my friends, like new friends that I'm making like you, like I'm giving you the greatest gift ever because I'm gonna be an amazing friend to you. You know what I mean? And the reason that I can be an amazing friend to you and love you and support you

and everything that you're doing is A, because I believe in you. Thank you. But I've stepped into myself. Yes. And so I finally, can truly love people unconditionally. I couldn't fully see my friends. Yeah. Or accept any gifts from them.

Until I could see myself. It's harder work to put the other face on, bro. It's harder work to be Steve Webber for. To be Steve. You alluded to be Steve. To it, right. Because I can show up here. Yeah. And like, I I can show up here. Yeah.

And like, I've never, ever shared this with anybody ever before, but I ended up winning the Waltz Repayton Man of the Year Film Throbical Award, the most film-throbical guy in the NFL. And it wasn't like I was some, you know, Super Bowl quarterback or quarterback. I was like the least respected position in football. But I was able to earn respect because of in football, but I was able to earn respect

because of my work ethic. I was able to earn respect because of my philanthropy and the way that I genuinely and authentically showed up for people. You know, if one of my teammates got hurt, I was the first person to go to the trainer room after practice and be like, hey, can I drive you home? You know, like, hey, can I take your kids to the daycare the next day because I knew how much physical pain and emotional pain that they were in because when you're in the NFL, a man, you're only as good as like your last play. And if you can't play another play, then they will discard your doctor.

You're probably... There's no guaranteed... Yeah. There's no guaranteed contracts. There's nothing guaranteed. Yeah. And so that's why they call it the not-for-long league. You know what I mean?

And I'm just super blessed and super force and so thankful that I was able to play at the most elite level long enough to achieve every single goal that that I had set out for myself in addition to being able to not walk away from the game when I wanted to. I skipped away from the game like I was happy. I felt achieved in everything in that industry, but I wasn't happy with myself. Yeah. You know? It's amazing someone like you, because there's people watching this. There's a nurse watching this right now, right? There's a school teacher.

There's an entrepreneur watching this. And they are kind of- A lot of military people watch this, man. I know, because they always tell me, like, dude, you need to go on edge, show I love it. And he's gonna love you. Even people that don't know you and kind of don't really know me,

they're like asking me to go do your show. because they know that you're gonna crack me open. And it's not even something where you've been headed. You've been headed. No, because I love you the way you are. And what you see me, man. I do. And what's amazing about you, bro, and that you have this gift many of you, too. People, the beautiful part of being wired like you are, and I'm wired this way, too, is that we have such great empathy for others. We don't give it to ourselves.

But like you, that doesn't hit me like right in between. Right, it's like it's sick. It's like, so many of you are watching this, you're like, I always, I am the person who kind of cares for people. When someone's sick, I am the one who bring them dinner, I am the one who visit them. I'm the one who sends the text though.

And you don't either. And you don't either. We're tattooed, but I'm tattooed. You're buff dudes. And you know, I could hide on my tattoos, but I'm the one. And guys like many times everybody, when you see mega achievers, we are hiding things. And so, because what this shows really about,

isn't you maxing out your wealth, although I want you to have it maxing out, you're currently, you have it, I want you to max out your bliss. I want you to max out your faith. I want you to max out your giving. I want you to have it maxing out your current you have it I want you to max out your bliss I want you to max out your faith I want you to max out your giving I want you to max out your love for yourself and maybe Steve honestly maybe you're gonna get through to people in a way that nobody else you know maybe and there's no maybe yeah you speak it into existence I will have such a massive influence people forget that I ever touched the

football you look at every like all the different things that we keep referencing the different achievements that I make and I, like I want to make sure that people know, like we didn't come on here to talk about the different things that I achieved. We came on here to talk about different, the different things that I've achieved and the way I felt about myself despite all of those things. There's two different types of happiness. There's instantaneous happiness that comes from sex or drugs or food or buying a new watch, buying a new car. But as quickly as that happiness comes into your life, it's how quickly it will fade. But the thing that you figured

out and the thing that I'm really starting to come into is framework happiness. And that comes from being proud of yourself. And the only way that you can truly be proud of yourself is to set high lofty goals. And regardless if you achieve them or not, it's not about the prize. It's about the process and the person that you become while you're on that pursuit to get that goal. And I completely missed that part of the puzzle because I always tied my self myself worth to the result because I was conditioned that way. You go into the NFL and we have a game on Sunday night or on Monday night. You come in the next morning and then the only time that that little laser pointer

ever goes over your jersey, if you're freaking seeking down in your seat, because you know that red dot is not over your jersey number because you did something good because when you're a professional and you're the best in the world at what you did, not that you don't deserve to be acknowledged, but you're expected to be the best in the world. So when you go out there and you set a super bowl record, you don't necessarily deserve to get acknowledged. They're going to pinpoint what you didn't do perfectly because that's what coaches are supposed to do. They're not here to be like, hey, hey, and you did a really good job showing up for your work out this morning.

You did all your reps, all your sets, and you did a good job. You finished second and all the sprints. I know you're not the fastest guy, but your effort level was wonderful. No, they're gonna be like, et, why didn't you win all the sprints? You know what I mean?

And so it conditioned me to focus on what I didn't do perfectly and discard everything that I did wonderfully. And so I took that mindset that got me into the NFL and then propelled me further into the NFL of the elite. And then once I retired from the NFL, because I didn't feel like there was anything else that I could achieve that would fulfill me and turn off the heat machine, then I went into an entrepreneur and be like, you know what? I need to build something for myself and something that's mine, like my business and my achievement

because I had 52 other teammates and I love them to death, but I want the next Superbowl that I went to be mine. And then, you know, I write an ebook for a 12-week arm training program that took me from 16.75 inches when I retired from the NFL to 19 inches, 94 days later. And I took five months to learn how to do the graphics on my own, to learn how to put it into an e-book on my own, to learn how to embed videos in the text on my own, took me five months, but I went through the process

of learning it to do it for myself. I made a million dollars with an arm training e-book by myself with no business background in seven months. Amazing. Amazing. You wanted to know how good I felt about myself? Pretty freaking bad, man. You know what I mean? Because you continually think like, well, now I'm going to do it for me and then all own the success and I never did that. Yes. You know, and so you fast forward another year and a half later, I'm sitting in this chair right now and all of the other entrepreneurial successes

that I've had, I've never owned any of the wins and I've taken complete ownership of all of the losses. Why, do you think that you thought, I don't wanna understand this, because I know what was the name. I'm still trying to understand. Well, wait, what do you think that you thought, let's talk about, let's export for a minute,

because I'm learning this about me too, right a minute, do you think that you thought, let's talk about it, let's export for a minute, because I'm learning this about me too, right? So, do you think that you thought, I'm just asking, I don't know, do you think that you thought, well, if I celebrate this, I'll lose my edge and my drive? Yeah, I do. I do the only time that I ever partied or I ever had drinks after we went to Super Bowl, was when I was paid to show up at a club or when

I was paid to go to speak to a law firm and a man had it. I made a lot of money in like two weeks just doing that and all of that affirmation felt wonderful but like at a certain point you get desensitized to it and you just couldn't wait for all of it to be over. And I'm like man I waited my whole life and I made so many sacrifices and I sacrifice thousands of hours away from my family and thousands of hours away from my friends. And I missed out on a lot of partying and a lot of drugs and college. Yeah, I cheated myself out of all that. I cheated myself out of all that for this and this doesn't make me any happy.

And by the way, what it arrives to, everyone, is that eventually you will find drugs in alcohol. I mean, because what here's what happens, when you're achieving and you don't celebrate your wins, it's like a higher chasing. And so there's no dopamine that hits your brain. So then you go, it needs to be a bigger one. It needs to be a bigger one.

It needs to be a bigger one. It needs to be a bigger one. That's what I've got it. And that's the part. So you're the perfect example, because you almost can't achieve more. So this is happening for someone out there that when I made my hundred grand, I cheated myself.

When I bought my first house, I cheated myself. When I got my promotion of work, I cheated. And you keep cheating yourself from these celebrations. But you just realize that the ed, that all of these things that require so much sacrifice, I'm talking thousands of hours of sacrifice, tons of money to be able to afford all these different training modalities

and all these different specialists and I have a hyperbarrick chamber at my house. I mean, did you name it? And I have utilized it as part of my training routine, at least for a little bit. And the stakes get higher, the demands grow just as much, and the satisfaction decreases.

And so, where do you turn from that? Well, you tear your ankle up, and the doctor's put you on pain pills, and then you get addicted to oxy-contin, and I went down that road, and then getting off of that, when the season was over, was like a movie. The only thing that made me feel better, and I know a lot of people out there, this is

like a big deal. People addicted to painkillers. The only thing that would make me feel better was taking like a hot bath because my skin would stop crawling. Here's the irony. You winning a Super Bowl didn't inspire anybody. Really doesn't. They can't even relate to that.

You looking like this? People tell you and I, this inspires me. But the fact of the matter is, it's more like I'd like to be like you, but I can't even relate to that. You look in like this, people tell you and I, this inspires me. But the fact of the matter is they're like, it's more like I'd like to be like you, but I can't be like you. Okay, what's inspiring in life is not the great things you achieve. What's inspiring in life is overcoming the things

in your life that hold you back. And so for the first time, bro, in your life, you're authentically being inspiring, inspiring the root of the word, inspire us to be in spirit. So what you were doing before is motivating. That's motives. I want to touch your motive to make money. It is. It is. Motive you to get a good motive is to get a good body. Motivist to win the Super Bowl. Motivist to achieve these are motives. That's motivation. You've been extremely Motivational throughout your life. That's not inspirational. Inspirational is spirit to spirit. Inspirational is, hey man, I don't feel good about myself either.

Hey brother, I've been hurting. Hey man, I've had some substance issues. Hey man, like I got this unbelievable family. And sometimes when I'm with them, I'm not happy. I have these beautiful spirits here. What's inspiring is to hear that and then to see you turn it around. There's been so many amazing things that have come into my life in the last 21 days. And I haven't tried for any of them. Like, I didn't call you and say,

hey, you could do this podcast. Like, you called me. Yeah, that's right. And I was like, are you kidding me? You'd be honored. You know what I mean? I've been waiting for this day. And I dropped everything that I had planned today because this is something that was on my bucket list.

And it wasn't on my bucket list to build my brand to grow my business. Yeah, if we'll do that. Isn't that the irony? And that's a crazy thing. Yeah, if we'll do that, we'll do that. It's what most people do is the reverse of you. So what most people do is they're in postural you're in posture life right to some extent was an achievement life. It's like one of the great lives like if we just said okay everybody born you're 35 34 35 35 we drew line everybody

born the same year as you let's add up their life. You've been the one millionth of one percent of love, the best external lives, right? So you're kind of masking this guy thing cause achievement. Most people that are watching this, the manifestation of their mask is they're playing it safe. Someone else's life. I'm making everybody, I'm working the career my dad told me to. I'm going to the college my parents wanted me to. I'm doing what my wife thinks I should be doing. I'm doing my husband thinks I should be doing this, this, and this and every time I try to do something different, I get criticism, I get pain.

And so you always go back to your safe spot. You, your pattern's different. Your pattern is every single time I start to feel this way, I go to an aggressive, vulnerable, crazy spot. Like I'm gonna go achieve more. But a lot of people, the same feeling manifest themselves in comfort. I'm just gonna stay in this box. Everyone likes me in this box. They like me when I'm normal. They like me when I don't chase my dream.

They like me when I'm not changing. They like me when I'm not growing and so your choice to deal with the mask is to be the person everybody else expects you to be. And so what you got to decide when you're watching this, if he has the courage to have achieved all this and to to say, hey, I'm making changes, your change is to stop playing it so freaking safe. Your change is to stop playing small. At least you took this struggle and played big. And you need to give yourself credit for that brother.

Most people take the struggle and play small. Okay, but I'm here to tell you, and what you're now realizing is, you don't have to struggle. So let me ask you this, if you could go back, this is going to be interesting. You could grab that five-year-old little Steve, what are the fruit? Little Steve, who was crying to mom at that time, and you could grab him now knowing the 35-year-old man, and you could grab him, what would you say to that little boy?

To be able to kind of navigate the advice that I would give the five-year-old version of myself is, dude, you're enough. Just go have fun. Like, you are what God made you to be. Go out and be the best at whatever it is that you try to do. But don't place all yourself worth on if you win or you lose, because if you max out, you're motto, if you max out,

you're going to be the best version of yourself. You're going to be the greatest athlete of yourself. You're going to be the greatest father, the greatest friend, the greatest dad, the greatest entrepreneur. And that's why I'm so genuinely authentically excited to wake up every single day because I don't dread the changing of the costumes. You know, I mean like I like my I pack a pretty light bag. Yeah, that's really well said, bro. Because it's it it really is man. It's an exhausting existence when you feel like you have to change your hat or your mask depending on who you're in front of or or what you think that they, they,

see, the symptoms are different, but the disease is the same. So what you just said is it's exhausting. Everyone that's watching us, you're so tired, aren't you? You're tired of showing up and being the person, everybody else, now, the person, unfortunately, for you, the person that everybody expects you to be, is this stud achiever.

Great dad, businessman, football player, bodybuilder, businessman. There's a lot of pressure to show up as you. And it is exhausting. And let me tell you how else it's exhausting. There's a lot of pressure for all of you watching this. Listen everyone, it's the same disease, different symptom. Okay, the pressure for you is to conform. The pressure for you is to be average. So what's amazing what you're saying is,

the pressure on me to achieve and show up, it's the same for those of you who watch this. My husband doesn't want me to start a business. No, but I got back in shape and I started to get criticism from my girlfriends. Or, you know, hey man, I've started to make some money and my buddies think I've've sold out now and they get all this heat and chris and stop climbing out of the box, stop being you, be who we like, be the person we think you are, live the script we gave you. And what he's saying is I'm kind of tired of living the script man. Like, I'm not kind of dude, I'm like, yeah, honestly, and like, I obviously never shared this either.

Ed, dude, four weeks ago, I was never suicidal, but I was to the point with everything that I had, like all the tangible items and the relationships and devoted wife and amazing kids, amazing. I didn't care if I woke up because I knew if I didn't wake up, the pain would stop. That's heavy, man. That's heavy, bro.

That's heavy. That's heavy. I know how many people would be so sad when I'm gone. That's right. But at least I would, like, for a minute. Just have, like, that's heavy. I know how many people would be so sad when I'm gone. That's right. But at least I would like, for a minute, just have like a break. And do you feel like you're in that break now?

Oh, did I, to me, like, I'm still fighting like the instincts of like when you're introducing me, like, kind of like hiding my face, and you're like seeing all these nice things about me and how much you admire me. And you only follow 80 people on Instagram and I'm like, that means a lot to me. Yeah. But my instinct is to

Oh, man, well, I appreciate that. Thank you But honestly like I should stand up and be like dude Makes me so happy man, like I'm inspired that I inspire you Yeah, because that that tells me that what I'm doing is right Yeah, because it's resonating with somebody that's operating on a higher frequency level and I'm not on Instagram to make friends. I'm on Instagram to reach people and the fact that I'm able to reach and inspire and resonate with somebody who has the same life purpose on this planet that I do. Yeah, because you know, you and I are really similar because you came from a completely

different industry than what I did. Yeah, but you completely dominated you and I are really similar because you came from a completely different industry than what I did Yeah, but you completely dominated that every time we start to say something good about you You put it back to someone else that's my instant. So you do do that. It's your pattern, right? And so all of that what you said I'm very grateful for and I I hope and work hard that it's true You go back and look at all of this post most of what you would see on anybody's social media is perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. And so don't always believe everything you see, even in my life, I'm not showing you my bad days. I'm not showing you when I get in the car and I don't want to go to the gym.

I'm not showing you the day where I'm worried about my dad's chemotherapy and his cancer. The days when I'm not getting along with somebody and my family, we have all of those things. Those just aren't the things you normally post. And so don't start to get depressed about your own life by comparing it because now you're hearing two men who we post our lives on there, but you don't see every side of our lives until you get more than one minute.

You only get a minute of our life on social media. You're getting an hour of our life here, and we struggle with the same things that you do, the same ups and downs, the same mental issues, the same everything. What do you want in your life now going forward? Are there things that you're going to look, man, I'm on this journey, I've been three, four weeks,

kind of starting to love myself, starting to like myself, you're still an achiever, you're still wired, there's still millions of people who view your stuff over a monthly basis, right? There are people who look to you. So where do you want to go now? This is probably the first time I've ever said this as well. Like I still have goals and I know my my intention is completely different. My mechanism is completely different. My delivery is completely different. I really just want to focus on

being myself. And if I can do that, like God's going to show me the way. And I'm not like a Bible beater. Like I go to take my kids to church every Sunday, I'm a Christian, and I try to live right, dude. I took a shot at Tequila for a came in here, man, I have a good time. You know what I mean? I live like.

Right, we live. But me too. My point is, is I don't want to get caught up so much into the goal of where I'm gonna be in 12 months, where I'm gonna be in two years, five years, 10 years, because then I feel like that's gonna almost kind of reinforce the negative goal pursuit that I used to have.

So now my goal every day is to show up. Because if I know if I show up, I'm gonna show out. And if I show out, I know doors will be open to me. I mean, to the fact that like, like I'm getting phone calls from like, amazing race. And I've never panned her to them. I don't even watch their TV shows.

So if they somebody on their team listens to this, I've never watched your show, but I guarantee if I end up doing the amazing race, or the month of November this year, I guarantee you the way that, because I told him I wouldn't do it unless I was doing the show with my wife, because I know sacrificing 30 days away from my family is an opportunity cost for me to nurture that relationship, but I'm willing to exchange that for the platform that they're going to put before me, and it's not to win a million dollars, it's not to win in general, but I know if I authentically show up as myself,

it's really gonna be a race for second place. And then, in addition to, I love it. In addition to, the way that they're gonna see my wife and I interact, because like you, I'm assuming in your relationships, you're the dominator because you're an action taker because you're a winner because you're a cheever

because you see goals and you don't chase them, you assault them. You know what I mean? There's a difference. There's people that are dream chasers and use the hashtag that's cute and everything. People like you and I, and it's not always a great thing. We assault our goal.

You're so right. You know what I mean? Like, you're a lion and your goal is whatever you can do for lunch, you know what I mean? You're right, right? And I'm the same way and it's an awesome thing, but I want to be able to pursue all of those goals and not leave relationships in my wake

and not break people's trust in my wake and not continue to practice selfishness in my wake I want to be selfless. I want to serve people and I know if I serve people Karma God the universe call it what you will my path will be laid before me and all I need to do is show up as myself and be authentic and Obviously, it's always going to be a part of the formula. I got work hard because God's not going to do everything. I'm trying to do authentic self is not some magic pill. Yeah, still going to require everything that it required previously except for my

intention is love instead of hate. So it's just really powerful for me to be able to like step into that and have no fear because it does scare me a little bit to completely change the structure and the formula for achievement because it works so freaking good for me. You got it. By the way, just so you know, I'm a Christian, the Holy Spirit speaks through you in this interview to some extent. I just want you to know that because what you just said is freaking magnificent.

So much. I just want to repeat some of the back to you and the audience. Like this is an interview everyone. Like when this is done, you need to find another hour, and you need to go back and you need to play it again. You do. You need to go back and play this again. So what you just said there's a wow, like a few things.

First, I said, what's your goal in your plan? That was a little bit of a test question. Because anytime you've made a big transition in your life, everyone listening to this, you need to go one day at a time. That's why AA programs in them. It's one day at a time. You have to start programs in them. It's one day at a time. You have to start grinding,

going 12 and 24 and 36 months from either transition, you need to show up tomorrow. So that was massive. The second thing is, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. You've built an amazing life for a reason. So maintaining that, by the way, we do assault our goals. We smash things.

Everyone who sits in this seat that does these interviews, they don't pursue goals or chase them or reach you. They smash them, they attack them, they annihilate them, right? What we're doing now is we're altering the guy who shows up there. That's all we're doing, the guy who shows up Steve instead of Steve weatherferd the character, right?

So continue to smash stuff, continue. The worst thing you could do is to drop your achievement. What you want to do is go to the next level and what's crazy is this time, I'm going to enjoy myself as I go. When I get there, I'm partying when I get there and celebrating it this time. I'm going to give myself credit this time. It's not don't go achieve it. It's this time, go celebrate it. This go party this time. Let's love myself this time. Let's share it and what will happen is the results will be magnified because the for the first time won't be motivating. It'll be inspiring. That's what this is today.

So I'm going to take that with me, man. That's really powerful for me. And I don't know if that is for people listening, but maybe it is for me because I've lived that. Yeah. And I've always I've always felt like God placed it on my heart that that I have an innate ability to connect with people and inspire people and motivate people. But you're right, man. I mean, looking back on it, like self-reflecting on when you said that, that is how I was running it.

You know, it was like, I want to motivate, I want to motivate, I want to motivate. It doesn't matter how you get to the result. Just get to the result. That's all that matters because, you know, I was fortunate in that fire as a pro athlete, but now that I step out of that industry and I'm not blaming my, you know, kind of my personal issues on the NFL because that's not what this stance is about because those issues started when I was five, not when I was 25, but I'm able to identify those, but it actually having that mindset really acclimated me to pro sports in a very seamless way, because I didn't need my coaches to set expectation

levels for me because my expectation levels of myself were so insanely high, it was painful. But it reflected in my performance, it reflected in my preparation, it reflected in my sacrifices and my hard work and the priority that I placed on that particular goal in my preparation, it reflected in my sacrifices and my hard work and the priority that I placed on that particular goal in my life. But it also caused so much damage for me intrinsically and also for relationships because I would abuse the relationships that I held most dear to me because I knew that they were always going to love me, Ed. Because they could see me.

Like the way that you see me, my family could see me that way. My real friends could see me like the way that you see me my family could see me that way my real friends could see me that way So I knew that they were never gonna leave me. I was always chasing the the extrinsic kind of like the people that were on the fence about Steve Weatherford, you know now it's just like if you're sitting on the fence Give me time and eventually you're gonna hop off and come to our side because my grass might not always be greener But I'm not worried about other people's grass. I'm gonna water my own life. Oh my gosh. Come on dude.

Come on. I told you the Holy Spirit speaking through this guy. You ain't that good. I'm not just curious before we finish things up. Like, you know, I'm inspired. So when you find me in a lot of words, you don't acknowledge you for that. I don't take compliments well. That means a lot to you.

Yeah, well, because it is. And when you find me, when you get me in a loss for words, you've really done something good, brother. So if you do that to me, I'm just curious. I never asked, I didn't plan on asking this. Did you ever know or play with Steve Gleason? That was one of my best friends.

Steve was? Yeah, I mean he is, but I mean obviously it's really, I don't wanna say a sad story, but you look at how life has happened to him. You got it. Did he sit around and be like, life happened to me? No, he turned it around, he's happening to life. Did he sit around and be like, life happened to me? No. He turned it around, he's happening to life.

The amount of impact that he has had because of ALS in his life is greater than the person that the disease was named after. Lou Gehrig. You know what I mean? Yeah. Millions upon millions upon millions of people are positively impacted, not just by the inspiration,

not the motivation, but just the life that he's living. He has such a finite amount of time on this earth right now, and he's spending it in service to other people, and it is so freaking inspiring. If people haven't seen his movie, they get your tissues. You get your tissues. If you're a football fan or not, man, this guy transcends sports, he transcends competition. He's a saint in my book. Yeah. I spent a lot of time with him in Southern California and he is the most unique person. I have ever met my entire life. And I said that before he was diagnosed. I played three years

with him and I'm obviously a special team player being a punter. But he was my right hand man. Like he was the special team's ace on the team. And he really mentored me coming into the league. And I'm a different person because of his life. Dude, bro, I'm so glad that by the way, Steve's a front of mine. And so, you know, that he's up from the Spokane area. And I live in Cortalaine.

And so, I'm part of this golf tournament a couple times. And just so you all know, if you haven haven't you should take the gift and you should Google who Steve Gleason as if you don't know but this was a teammate of his and he's like like he's told he's suffered from ALF. It's interesting to me that two of the most inspirational people I've ever met are you and him and you're on the same thing. I wouldn't be who I was without meeting him though. How so? I mean he meeting him though. How so? I mean, he changed how I lived my life.

You know, he drove a Dodge Ram 2500, a veggie diesel truck, and a parking lot full of bent leaves, and rolls, roises, and Mercedes, and I was always, as a matter of fact, in addition to that, sometimes he rode a bike to work. Very. A bike sickle, not a bike, as a matter of fact, in addition to that, sometimes he wrote a bike to work. A bike sickle, not a bike like a motorbike.

He didn't mean it. And he had, did he walk in with this crazy long hair and he's flip-fops and board shorts, the opposite of what a football player looks like. He was walking in wearing Louis Vuitton and Gucci and Rolexes and you know what I mean, we're filling ourselves. And you could see a guy that was so comfortable with Todd and Lucci and Rolex and you know I mean we're filling ourselves and you

could see a guy that was so comfortable and who he was and so comfortable in his own skin. He didn't beat to anybody else's drugs and it's something that I always just really really admired about him and it's something that that made people gravitate towards him but now I didn't realize until this very moment when I say it he was himself. Yeah. Think about that. Now I'm actually able to kind of not be a replica of Steve, but the thing that I admire most about Steve, that's what I am right now when I look in the mirror. From the second we started the interview, I was waiting to the end to ask you,

because I think it's amazing that you guys shared a locker room together and that you were on the same special teams unit and you both can inspire completely differently. So he did embrace who he was and so Steve's at this stage of his life, everybody where he really has lost his capacity to speak and he's still inspiring, he's still making a difference in the world and then the juxtaposition is you. Right. You're the super stud, super fit, physically, physically, physically limitless, physically limitless person. And I think that maybe as we go that what you're doing today carries on a legacy he's had to inspire people and the two of you from that

same locker room and the same special teams and doing it completely differently. And I think as you go to, it's important to reflect on someone, like how grateful you should be to have all of these blessings in your life and to have life ahead of you because even Steve Fee, we're here today, would say that he knows that his span of time here

is gonna be limited too. And so I think it's absolutely incredible that the two of you shared a locker room. I'm so glad that you guys know each other. And I'm thankful that I know him and I'm going to accept that compliment that you give me and putting me on the same pedestals as you play Steve. But I want to acknowledge you because every single person that God places in my path that I spend time with, regardless if they're people that I don't admire or people that I do admire, like we have to be thankful for all of those relationships. Because even the bad people remind me of what you don't want to be.

So it's just kind of like the same way that you might have had an abusive father. And I didn't, but I always pursued like my dad's approval. And like for my dad to say, I'm proud of you. You know, and still it's still kind of bothers me that I didn't get that but he was every other part of being a father that I needed and and the fact that he had trouble or rating that to me and sharing that to me you know from emotional intimate standpoint I can't get mad at him because he showed me what I don't

want to do for my son. So I tell my son every single day that I wake up, I'm proud of you, boy, and I love you. You're perfect and beautiful and I want you to have a good day. You know what I mean? And so because of what was withheld for me, I'm able to give that to my son. And all the other amazing things, I always give that to my dad. Even or I always give that to my son, even before I kind of came to the realization of I can't live this way anymore. Like I don't want to live this way anymore. I don't have the time, the energy. I just don't want to live if I have to continue on like this. And so I think people should be thankful for

the relationship that they have in their life, that they view as not helping them or hurting them or dragging them down. It's all in perspective. There's a very powerful power and I'm shift that's happened in my life, that I'm just thankful in general for the crap that happens in my life. Like I might leave your house and drive back to the event that you and I are working at to inspire people and not motivate people. That's going to stick with me a better way. But I'll drive away from here in a beautiful

range Rover, red interior, and I might get a flat tire. Get a flat tire freaking sucks, dude. I don't hear any way you cut it. But when you have the paradigm shift in your life that I've had, I'm not even bummed by getting a flat tire. You know what, I'm like I'm thankful that I'm getting out of a car that I actually really enjoyed to drive. And I can change a tire. And so I have the ability to change the physical ability to change a tire. And I have the blessing in my life that I was riding in a car because there's a lot

of people that I just drove by before I got that flat tire that are waiting at the freaking bus. And you don't know that that that fly tire that pulled you over, didn't prevent you from getting in an accident. It's gonna happen in an hour. Yeah, I'm not mad too. So there's a blessing in everything. I, dude, you are literally one of the most unique

inspiring people I've met on or off camera. And I really feel strongly that there's something you're supposed to be doing that carries on Steve's legacy to of inspiring people in a completely different way. From a completely different place completely different way. I feel like I have a true purpose in my life and I feel like my purpose is to reach men. I know this is going to inspire and not motivate women as well because there's a lot of women that deal with the same issues that we're dealing with. Depression is not gender specific. Yeah, it's not gender specific and it's it's not gender specific. And it's not race related either, but depression hits. And when it hits, it's relentless, man.

It is unrelenting and it's freaking painful. And the bad thing is, is nobody can see it. So like I shared a little bit of what I've shared with you guys watching and listening, with Ed before we got on here, because I wanted to make sure that he understood why I was here. It wasn't because I wanted to make sure that he understood why I was here. It wasn't because I wanted to promote anything.

And I was like, he's like, no, I definitely, we're gonna get into all that. But like at the end, how can I help you, you know, how you can I help your business, or how can I help you? Well, like what do you need to promote? And I'm like, honestly, like I know, you know, I don't accept compliments well.

And I don't accept favors well, because I really just want to be of service. But really the reason that I'm here is not to use you and not to use your platform. But honestly, like, I need people to hear this. For my legacy. I need people to hear this for my fulfillment. And I need people to hear this

because people need to hear this. Yeah, they do. They will resonate with people and millions of people. And I will get DMs from people that will listen to this show the same way I did when I went on Lewis and How's this show. And I was myself and I was authentic, but I wasn't comfortable and confident enough to go as deep as what we've gone and share some of the things that we've shared. So reason that I feel brave enough is, and I know I won't get this, but even if I did get, you know, my

DMs blown up by people that hate me for some reason. I'm okay with that. Yeah, because I'm myself. Yeah, you are yourself. You're the thing of your life, bro, is that you're courageous, and it's just manifesting itself differently. Took courage to, you know, go to school, become an all-big-ten guy, took courage to go make an NFL team, and just sitting in that locker room between bush and breeze

and still dominate, right? It took courage to be the NFL man of the year, took courage to do what you did in Super Bowl. Those are courageous, studly things you've done. Never more courageous than today. Courage to say, hey, here's the right amount, this is what I struggle with. Courage is inspiring, right?

And so even those of you that are listening to this in your way and your world, wherever you live right now, whatever town you're in, whatever you're trying to do, what will inspire people isn't the achievement, it's the courage to try. It's the courage to make the effort, right? And so you've never been more inspirational than you were today. And I mean, in a way that, you know, this is be real. I mean, when this is over and I reflect on my day, I'm not going to stop thinking about this. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to be thinking about this because it impacts me. It takes real courage to say it in front of the camera, not behind the camera because it doesn't

help anybody if you say it behind the camera. You helped millions of people today, bro. And I want to thank you so much for being here. It's like I'm bummed it's ending. But did I? 45 minutes away and the nice thing was, and it's kind of like my, my blankie now, is that my let when we were about to have our shot at tequila, and I'm really kind of like pouring my heart out to you, you're like, you're like stopped like the giggling and the bravado and the fun that we were having. And you looked at me dead in my eyes,

and you're like, hey, if you're really struggling, I want you to know that you could call me. Yeah, you know what I mean? And like you, you can tell when somebody looks at you in your eyes and you're like, hey, if you really struggle, I want you to know that you can call me. Yeah, you can tell when somebody looks at you in your eyes and they're genuinely and authentically like they're there for you and they can really see who you are. I can feel that, man. You know what I mean?

It's special because I've met a lot of people in my hugged the last four presidents. You know what I mean? That's pretty cool. I've met some really rad stuff in my life, but reflected on all the things that I've done and the people that I've met and the things that I've achieved, the people that have come into my life in the last 21 days would blow your mind.

Wonderful. And you're at the top that list. Thank you so much. I love you brother. I really feel like thank you brother. Come on and tug it up. Don't cry. Don't cry.

I had such a good time. You know what? I'm comfortable enough with myself but I did cry on this show. I had such a good time. You know what? I'm comfortable enough with myself, but I did cry on this show. You'd be okay with that. You started to do, you started to do. You started to do, but I really feel like it's the end of the interview,

but the beginning of what I hope to be a lifelong friendship. I mean, there's no hope, man, dude. There's energies attract, and especially energies that honestly are contagious, because anytime I genuinely feel like I'm having a rough days busy as you are, I could see it in your eyes when we were standing at that bar, but I'm right here. But I'll be here for you. I am here for you.

I promise you that there's no hope that it's going to turn into something that's going to be beautiful and benefit lots of people and who knows what type of projects we're going to work on in the future. I can't wait to meet your family. Yeah, man. Because this dude just so you know, on all this, there's a cuddle bear. And so you need to see this dude with his children. Five, right? Boy and four girls, right? This is a busy dude. Ten all the way to a five-month-old. Yeah. Dude, so you don't want a busy family man here. And I want you to do, even though he

wouldn't say it earlier, as we, you know, I know this change your life, you know, change my life. And I know to some extent it even changes your life. Absolutely, change my life. I feel like I feel liberated that the people that watch this, the only people that really really know me are the people that watch this and the conversations that I've had in between 21 days ago in this moment that we're in right now. Yeah. That's a lot of people. And it's a lot of people and a lot of people that Did really really seem you know yeah, especially to me and need you and and needs you too And so even though he wouldn't admit earlier you need to follow this man on his journey You're gonna learn you know

There's all the things that he's the best at like fitness and working out and being a dad and all these things You're gonna be blown away if you don't follow Steve like I do because I get inspired by being a better dad when I follow you and being more fit, I told you. I said, what's keeping me going in my fitness right now because I'm dragging his you, right? Like watching your training. And so I want you following him and on his journey

but I also want you to watch this evolution too as more and more of you starts to come out. And so please follow him and bro, I really thank you so much for today and man like just I don't know I'm beyond words and I'm never beyond words and so everybody that's watching this I hope that you'll follow him if you're watching this on YouTube give it a like give it a comment right if you're on iTunes we're number one in the world right now well actually we're number one in the U.S. number one in the UK number one in Australia number four in Canada

so Canada we got to get it going so please give the thing a review on iTunes. And then lastly, every day on social media, I do the max out two minute drill, which is what I make a post on Instagram. If you make a comment within the first two minutes or the hashtag maxout, you win. We do a daily drawing. That drawing could be a 15 minute coaching call with me.

It might be one with Steve Weatherford. It could be max out gear. It could be whatever you want. So Steve's agreed to do that. You're going to get a 15 minute call one of you with him. And then if you miss the first two minutes, as long as you make a comment every single day at the end of the week, we add those up. We do a drawing for people to comment at any time during the day as well. So make sure you do that. And I want to continue to encourage you to have the courage to chase your dream, the courage to be the real you,

the courage to be inspiring like Steve Weatherford next to me here today. The courage to max out your life. God bless you. your dream, the courage to be the real you, the courage to be inspiring like Steve Weatherford next to me here today. The courage to max out your life. God bless you.