The Mindset Mentor - Lessons I Learned From Almost Dying

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dylann. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button since you never miss another podcast episode. Today, we're going to be talking about how I almost died and the three lessons that I learned from almost dying. But before I tell you the three lessons I've learned, let me actually tell you the story of how I almost died. So I flew home to go back home for the holidays. And before you start sending me emails and telling me how I shouldn't travel and all that stuff, I took precautions. I took two tests before I went home. Both of them are negative. Took tests after I got home. I did everything that I needed to do to keep myself, everyone around me

Starting point is 00:00:43 and my family safe as well. So spare me the emails. Thank you so much. But let me tell you the story. I was flying home and I went from Austin to Atlanta, Atlanta to Tampa. And on my connecting flight, about 10 minutes into the flight from Atlanta to Tampa, there's a really loud boom. And there was a shift that the plane had. And I was like, man, that was, that was interesting. That was not the, I do a lot of traveling. I was like, that is not the sound that the wheels make when they go up. And also the wheels should have already been up. I was like, maybe some luggage just shifted. I don't know, something, you know, those types of things happen. And, uh, you know, I could hear some commotion in the back of the plane, but wasn't

Starting point is 00:01:23 really paying much attention. I was in the very first seat. So I couldn't, I couldn't hear what was going on in the back. And then a few minutes later, the head stewardess or the head, I guess, a flight attendant gets on and he says, Hey everybody. And his exact words, which is kind of terrible phrasing is our engine. Our left engine has flamed out. Flamed was the key word that he said. And I can actually tell you after getting off the plane, because clearly you know I'm alive, the actual, the left engine caught on fire. And I saw some pictures from people who were on the plane towards the back, and they actually took pictures of the fire coming out of it. And they had to turn the actual engine off in order for us to continue going. So we're literally running off of one

Starting point is 00:02:06 engine and you could see everybody's face that worked for the plane. And I won't tell you what company it was just to spare them the PR and all of that stuff. But you could see that there was something that wasn't right. Like this wasn't any normal quote unquote emergency landing. Uh, it was a real, real emergency landing. And the way that I knew that it was real was because the guy said, if there is any, uh, any workers that work for the airline that are unidentified, please come up and identify yourself now, which means, uh, any air marshals that happened to be there. And the guy that was in the seat next to mine, so not directly next to me, but on the other side of the aisle,

Starting point is 00:02:50 popped up and he was an air marshal and he took over the flight. He was the one who took over. So he was literally like trained for emergencies and to take over. And since I was the very first seat, he came up to me directly and he said, sir, just so you know, this is a code red and we're going to have to do an emergency landing with one of the engines. And it could be okay. It could be really bad. But since you're the very first person on this flight, you're going to be the very first person to go down the slide. Once it opens up and deploys, I need you to go down first, to, to push the door open, to go down first, wait till it, you know, completely blows up. And then I want you to hold it down at the bottom because they tend to be very jumpy. Uh, but what I need you to do is I need you to stay as calm as possible.

Starting point is 00:03:40 And what was really interesting about it is I wasn't freaking out, and I was as calm as I possibly could be, and I had a lot of, I was almost surprisingly calm. I was eerily calm, and there's people crying. There's people screaming. I could hear people freaking out in the back. There's a kid that's like, let me off. He's screaming the entire time, and I was just eerily calm, and I thought to myself, you know, I don't know if it was that I was just okay if I happened to die, or if I was pretty sure I was going to live. I think it was a little bit of both that was in there. And I had the feeling of, I don't think God's done with me yet. I think I still got more to do. I feel like I still have more. But if I have done what I was

Starting point is 00:04:23 supposed to do, I think I'm okay with it. And I think I've done everything that I possibly could. So we ended up landing, ended up being a perfectly fine landing. They went through the whole protocol exactly like this is how you guys got to tuck in between your legs. I was in the first row. So they said, sir, you're going to have to come back to the second row because if there's any debris, it's probably going to hit the, you know, you're going to be the first person to get hit. All of these things, very serious. And the flight attendant goes up to the guy after who was the, the, the took over and he said, well, so, so is that your first code red? Have you done a mini code, right? He goes, no, I'm in the industry for 20 years. I've done quite a few code yellows, but that's

Starting point is 00:04:57 the first code red I've had. And I realized how severe it was at that point. And then when I saw the pictures of the engine on fire, I realized how severe it was. And luckily I am still alive and I am still safe, but I learned a lot in that 30, 45 minutes, because what happened was, um, I'll go straight into the lessons and things that I've learned. The first thing that I learned is to be the calm in the storm. If you follow me on social media, you've seen me post this before. You've seen that I post almost every single day. I'm literally in my freezing cold pool around 40, 45 degrees every single day for about 10 to 20 minutes. And as much as my mind and my body want to freak out, I'm telling it to calm, be the calm in the storm, not find the calm in the storm,

Starting point is 00:05:43 but to be the calm in the storm. And that's what I the storm, but to be the calm in the storm. And that's what I put up. And that's the reason why I put it up literally almost every single day in my stories for people to see is because I'm holding myself accountable and showing people that I'm actually doing what I tell people to do. So if you don't follow me, follow me,

Starting point is 00:05:56 Rob Dial Jr., R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R. You can see this type of stuff that I post. But the first lesson I learned is to be the calm in the storm. And for a lot of us, you don't really realize how much you've grown mentally until you're really thrown into situations like this. I've been training my mind for 14 years now. I work on myself harder than I would ever tell somebody else to work on themselves. You know, as there were people screaming,

Starting point is 00:06:22 I was eerily calm and I was like, okay, you know, if this is my time, this is my time. But I have a feeling that it's not. And, you know, it's the cold showers. It's doing the shit that I don't want to do. It's lifting the heavy weights of the mind so that when life does go crazy, because if there's one thing that we do know, life's going to happen. And things are going to happen in life that you don't want to happen. And when they do happen, you need to know how to deal with it. And that's what I think is such a

Starting point is 00:06:50 beautiful thing about personal growth is personal growth is the gym for the mind. You lift the heavy weights every single day so that when in your mind, so that therefore when life throws the heavy weights at you, you're like, yeah, I got this. Don't worry about it. I've done this before. No big deal. So the first thing that I learned is literally to be the calm in the storm, to make sure that I'm training myself to be calm anytime something goes crazy. And you start to realize that if you're an angry person, you've been working on yourself for years, you start to realize the anger starts to disappear. You've become better. You become stronger. You become more mentally stronger to take on the world and everything that was a big

Starting point is 00:07:36 deal for you years ago. It's really just not a big deal. So that's the first thing that I learned is that there really is a lot of truth into finding out how you can be the calm in the storm. And especially right now, all the things that are happening in the world, we need more people in the middle of this storm that we're in to step up and be that calm. And if you're one of the people that feels called to do that, that's why you're doing the work on yourself. Hey everyone, a question that I get asked often is where did I do my plant medicine ceremonies? And that place is actually Rhythmia in Costa Rica. Rhythmia focuses on transformation, infusing ancient wisdom, healing modalities, and of course, plant medicine. And people always ask

Starting point is 00:08:16 me places for them to go and transform and do plant medicine and shamans that they can see. And honestly, I can only recommend Rhythmia because I love it. Number one, it's the only place I've ever gone to. And I personally feel like it's heaven on earth. In the five years that they've been open, 97.55% of their guests report that the week that they spend at Rhythmia changed their lives. And I can say, honestly, it changed mine. I've actually sent over 10 friends that I'm close to and I love down there. And every one of them said it was life-changing as there. And every one of them said it was life-changing as well. And Rhythmia has also helped over 7,500 other people experience life-changing miracles. So you can awaken your miracle by calling now to book your stay and

Starting point is 00:08:54 receive an exclusive $150 discount only for Mindset Mentor listeners. You can call 866-313-7103. Or you can head to Rhythmia.link slash dial to book your stay. Now that's Rhythmia, R-Y-T-H-M-I-A.link slash D-I-A-L. So that's the first thing that I learned. The second thing that I learned, honestly, personal growth pays off. As I was saying a minute ago is you don't really realize how much you've grown until you're thrown into circumstances that are, you know, until shit hits the fan, honestly. Right. It's kind of like if you're, if you, you know, have a puppy, like we have a puppy and, uh, he's, he's growing, slowly growing. And it's like when, when he's six months old, 12 months old, I'll look at him and go, holy crap. When I see pictures of him who is smaller and go, man, he's grown so much. But when I see him grow every single day, I don't really notice the growth. It's not really a big

Starting point is 00:09:52 growth, but it's like when you were a little kid and someone would say, oh my gosh, you've grown so much since I've last seen you. It's because people grow at, if you're growing every single day, increment by increment, you're not seeing the growth in yourself. You're not seeing your own personal growth, but when stuff goes crazy, that's when you come out as your best. That's when your mental training comes out. That's when your heavy lifting pays off the most. And so what I do know is that personal growth absolutely pays off. There's going to be things in your life that are going to happen that you don't want to happen. There's going to be people that you love that could possibly die. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but it's probably going to happen.

Starting point is 00:10:30 This is what we do the training for. So that when things that could be destructive to us happen, we're able to take it and learn from it and get better from it as well. What happens whenever you don't work on yourself? Man, those things can set you off the rails, right? It could cause you stress, anxiety, worry, sadness, depression, all of those things. But when you work on yourself and you really, really work on yourself to be the best you possibly can, that is where you start to see. When you work on yourself and you're thrown into situations that are a little bit more intense than normal or a lot more intense than normal, that is when you get to see the

Starting point is 00:11:07 fruits of your labor. But you don't see it if you're just hanging out with yourself all day, every day, same way you don't see a dog grow, same way you don't see a child grow until you see the pictures of who you used to be a few years ago. I do know this. If 15 years ago, I would have been in the exact same situation. if 15 years ago I would have been in the exact same situation, I would have been flipping out, going crazy, praying, crying, contemplating what my life has been, what I haven't, haven't done everything. But it was kind of like I've been to mental training and I just happened to show back

Starting point is 00:11:37 up and this is what I've been training for. Right? So that's the second thing I learned. The third thing I learned and possibly the most important one is to leave the world better than you found it. To leave the world better than you found it. My biggest fear, if you've been following me for a while, my biggest fear is not people's judgment. My biggest fear is not failure. My biggest fear is not success. My biggest fear is not any of those things. My biggest fear is getting to the end of my life and wishing that I would have done more. And that has driven me for years and years and years. At some points, maybe an unhealthy amount, but I would say at this point, it's a very, very healthy amount. But it's driven me to be better, to do more, to try to grow more,

Starting point is 00:12:20 to try to do more for the world. That's my biggest fear. You know, I've done a lot. I've done 850, almost 900 episodes of this podcast, 45 million downloads, 1.5 billion video views on social media. I don't say that to brag, but I, as I was sitting there going, I don't think it's my time to go, but if it is, I feel like I've done enough. And I really had that feeling of, I feel like I've done a good job. And I feel like if it is my time to go, even though I don't feel like it is, I feel like if it is my time to go, there's enough of me that still exists on the internet that will still impact the world. Even if it's just a small way for the next five years, 10 years, however long podcasts exist before something else comes up,

Starting point is 00:13:05 I've done my little part in the grand scheme of this massive billion upon billion upon billion year old universe. I've done whatever I can, whatever that small amount is. If it's my time to go, it's my time to go. But I had the overwhelming feeling of, I feel like I've done a good job. I feel like I've done a good job. I feel like I've done a good job.

Starting point is 00:13:26 And for you, I'm not saying that you need to start a podcast or make videos or do any of those things, but what is your good job look like? Have you ever thought about that? If you were at the end of your life, what would you have to do in order to have the feeling at the end of your life of, is what would you have to do in order to have the feeling at the end of your life of, I've done a good job. I've done what I can and it's okay if I leave. What is that? That's something to think about. That's something to write down. That's something to journal is what is my good job? What is it? It might be for you. It might be raising beautiful children. It might be the, the way that you treat people. It might be the charity that you've done. It might, whatever it is, what is it that would make you feel proud of the way that you worked

Starting point is 00:14:10 throughout this world? And the best way of thinking about it is this. What do you want people to say about you at your funeral? If people show up and they stand up and they give that eulogy, what do you want them to say about you? Because ultimately those are the character traits that we're trying to build. And those are the actions that we're trying to take every single day. We don't want people to say, oh, Rob, you had a great business. He made money. He did things, right? I don't want people to say that. I want people to talk about my character, what I've done, who I was, how I treated people. What do you want people to say about you when they're at your funeral? Because it's going to happen one day. We can't when they're at your funeral? Because it's going

Starting point is 00:14:46 to happen one day. We can't run from this whole thing called death. It's going to happen and that's completely okay. But I want to make sure that I'm treating people in a way that I feel like I've done a good job. So my question to you is what is your good job? What would make you feel like I've done what I need to do? Is it raising the children? Is it starting that charity? Is it starting the podcast? Is it going out and just donating your time and volunteering? Is it just being nice to every single person that you meet? Is it doing one good deed every single day? What is it that would make you feel like, yeah, I've done a good job. And if I can give you a big tip around

Starting point is 00:15:27 that, whatever your biggest fear in the world is, fear of people saying that they have opinions on what you do, the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the fear of success, any of those things. Can you figure out a way to switch your biggest fear from the fear of, let's say, rejection and other people's opinions to the fear of getting from the fear of, let's say, rejection in other people's opinions to the fear of getting to the end of your life and wishing that you would have done more. Because if you have that fear, you don't care about people's opinions anymore. You don't give a damn about what people say about you. Because if you have the feeling from your heart that what you're doing is the right thing, you'll be driven harder than you've ever been driven in your entire

Starting point is 00:16:03 life. And I'm going to leave you with this. I'm going to leave you with this. Although you can't physically see yourself growing, you can't physically see the personal growth that you've been through, you're growing. Be proud of yourself, but realize that the work is never done. We're always going to continue to find something else to work on. done. We're always going to continue to find something else to work on. And if you realize that this journey of personal growth has no destination, the journey is the destination, you realize exactly like my favorite Japanese word, kaizen, constant never-ending improvement,

Starting point is 00:16:40 that this journey of life, this journey of personal growth is about constant, never-ending improvement. So be proud of what you've done so far and continue to grow yourself. And when you get to the end of your life, I really, really hope that you feel like I've done a good job. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share with someone that you know and love. Please share it on your Instagram stories and tag me in it, Rob Dowd Jr. R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R, so that more people can see it. Once again, we don't have any big companies behind us that push this podcast. Literally, it's just me and you, this microphone and me talking to you and you sharing this allows us to grow through grassroots. So I greatly, greatly appreciate you sharing it. And I'm going

Starting point is 00:17:23 to leave you the same way I leave you every single episode, making sure mission makes someone else's day better. I appreciate you. And I hope that you have an amazing day.

The Mindset Mentor - Lessons I Learned From Almost Dying

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