Achieving Success through Obstacles with author and survivor, Justin Peck

Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch or share your stories on our website at sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to the fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back.

818-572-2910. Good day, good day, good day everyone.

How are you?

Especially those of you in the US coming off of a holiday weekend. Long holiday weekend. I hope you had a blast of a time during the Thanksgiving holiday. I know I certainly did. I had a very nice surprise. I think I might have mentioned it last week. My sister— you know, you all know I have 11 siblings, so to get any of them to come visit me in Atlanta— they're all out of Philadelphia— is a joy. And my sister and her husband at the last minute said, you know what, we're going to drive down and spend some time with you. And I was in tears, I was so excited. And we had a blast of a time. So I played tourist for the weekend, which is kind of fun when you live in a hometown that is a tourist attraction. You don't necessarily go where they are. Can you relate to that? So I took full advantage of them coming and wanting to go and see the Georgia Aquarium and the Coca-Cola Museum. My brother-in-law went to the College Hall of Fame. We did the Skyview Ferris wheel and I freaked out. You can go to my Bernadette Boas Facebook page to see me actually like breaking down almost in tears from a silly Ferris wheel. But it was a lot, a lot of fun. It was gorgeous here this weekend. And I want to thank all of you around the world, not only because you participate and support and you join us each and every week on the program, but more so for all the rain dance dancing you must be doing for us here in Georgia this past— we have been, gosh, a couple months without rain. And finally last night through this morning we had a deluge of rain, which we are grateful for. It is supposed to continue, I think, through Thursday. And quite honestly, if it continued through the month of December, I would not argue because we can certainly use it. So can the fires that we have been talking about. Up in North Georgia. So I thank all of you for keeping us in your thoughts and in your rain dances. Let's see what's going on. Hey, Deborah, I'm hoping you're feeling better. Deborah Parker of Parker House Virtual Services. You sounded like you had a voice when you first came on earlier. How are you feeling?

Better, but not complete.

So I'm less croaky, but it's still there. Yeah, I have less frogs in my throat now. Yeah, I can hear it. Hey, hey, hey, watch that frog thing. I used to be told I sound like I had a frog in my throat most of my childhood, teenage years. Oh no. Yeah, yeah, but then it became sexy, then it became sexy. So I was like, yes, moldering, exactly. Anyway, well, I'm glad you're feeling better. We were doing shoutouts for you the last few weeks, you know, to make sure people understood why you were quiet and, uh, not doing much talking. But, uh, she is out there on Facebook and Twitter. And please, this is gonna be an awesome program today. And I kinda wanna preface it with kind of a different angle of just this time of year of the holidays. Any of you around the world, 'cause we have quite the global audience here in the Shedding the Bitch community, this time of year can be really difficult for people. It could be challenging emotionally, spiritually, mentally. Forget about the physical exhaustion the holidays can bring about, but if you deal with any type of just depression, even if it's just sadness or just stress during this time period, but maybe it's a little bit more serious, it's some degree of mental health, even bipolar, which is a kind of a, lends itself to our conversation today. This is a program you're gonna wanna listen to probably even more than once. 'Cause we're gonna be talking to an author of Bulletproof for Life who I, I promise you, I read the first 2 chapters and his frankness and truth and courage in discussing his life experiences to date is, is quite inspiring. And, and I used the word on Facebook and Twitter as stunning. So, I think you will be able to gain, any one of us will be able to gain and glean some things out of our, our conversation today. But for those of you who do have someone you know, or maybe it is you, definitely take note. And if you're not able to listen to this live, many of you download us and take us with you. We will make sure you have all of the information that you need in regards to the book, in regards to the— our author and guest, in case there's something that you might want to follow up on. You definitely will want to buy the book.. And we'll talk about that as we get into the conversation. But let's introduce the conversation, shall we? We're going to be really talking about how to really live and kind of push through your obstacles, how to really overcome any type of, of fear or even, you know, kind of mental health challenge that you might be having so it doesn't, it doesn't paralyze you, but you leverage it to your advantage because that's That is certainly what our guest is providing us. And I'm having a difficult time finding what I'm looking for here, so I apologize. I wanted to make sure. So we're going to be talking to Justin Peck. He's number 49. He's a diehard— and we'll explain that later. He's a diehard motorsport driver who is a whirlwind of inspiration. And from overcoming bipolar disorder and learning to use it to his advantage, he became a top motorsport motorsports player and an accomplished author, Bulletproof for Life. He's the owner of Race Pro Technologies race team and newfound— and I'm sorry, and newfound founder of Gear 49 Motorsports Nutrition. He's going to share with you tips and advice today for achieving great success despite obstacles that we all know life is going to hand us. So you're going to learn how you can go from normal to champion. Achieving Great Success in Your Career, Business, and Life. We'll talk to him about being fearless despite obstacles and how to use your instinct to get you through those trying times. So as we go into commercial, and it's gonna be for a brief one, and come back, I want you to make note of our rich question for today. And this pertains to our conversation. So the rich question I want you thinking about during our conversation, and you can always be calling us at 1-818-572- 2810. You can even chat with us if you're online at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio to make sure that we're able to take any of your questions or stories or challenges you might have. And then of course Deborah's out there on Facebook and Twitter, and any opportunity, even after the show, you can shoot a note and we will make sure that if it's, it's something that we can't answer because it has nothing to do with us, we'll pass it on to Justin for any type of follow-up. All right. So your rich question: What would you do if you had no fear of consequence or failure? Now this is very relevant to our conversation, but I want you to be thinking about this. What would you actually go out and do if you knew you could not fail? If you knew you had no fear and no consequence for what it is that you're going to do? Now that consequence piece can get tricky, so we'll discuss that as we get into our conversation. But that's your rich question: what would you do if you had no fear of failure or consequence? I want you to hashtag with us: Race to Live, hashtag Race to Live, and that Justin leverages in his whole, his whole posse, I'll call them. Hashtag Mental Health, and then of course hashtag Shed the Bitch. And we will be picking up the stream of conversations not only live right now, but also after, after the program and as, as we go forward. And we will constantly be putting out some tidbits from today's conversation. So we are going to take a quick break, but when we get back, we will formally introduce Justin and get into this conversation. So jot down 1-818-572-2910. If you want to reach out to us and have a conversation. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business. Available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors: TSR Consulting, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to TSRConsulting.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email deborahparker@parkerhouseservices.com. Deborahparker78@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone. We have quite, quite, quite the program for you today, so stay tuned because we are talking with Justin Peck. And to give you an idea of who he is, Justin Peck put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, but it didn't go off. The rush he got in that moment is probably what saved his life, and that's the day he knew he was bulletproof. Like all of us, Justin Peck was born normal, but he didn't allow himself to stay that way. He chose to become a racer, a champion, and a survivor. Justin didn't know he would be out of the ordinary, and even today he'll tell you he's just a regular guy who started from nothing. Being normal was going to be a stretch. As a child, he was the little guy, the one bullied, isolated, and left without a voice among his peers. Can any of you relate? In that world grew the resilience, focus, and the heart of a champion. By his teens, Justin found himself fearless and addicted to an adrenaline rush. He began referring to himself as Bulletproof, a nickname his mother didn't love, but he felt was innately fitting. The moment he knew he would be a race car— or I'm sorry, the moment he knew he would be a racer came when he was 17 at a track with his father. In the cacophony of the fans and the roar of the cars, he told his father, "That's going to be me one day." And he became a father at 18. He rode in his first race at 20. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 26, a condition he's had since he was 2013. The constant force was that he was unstoppable. He was bulletproof. And I can go on and on and on to discuss the accomplishments of this guest of ours. And let me, let me kind of point out to you, for any of you race car fans, because of course, you know, we are in Atlanta, and those of you around the world, his accomplishments include back-to-back series champion in off-road motorcycles. USRA Series Champion, the Challenge of America Series National Winner and 3rd Overall Winner, UKC multi-time Series Champion, and more than 200 trophies and awards for winning races in every form of motorsports. Ah, welcome to the program, Justin!

Why, thank you. That is quite the introduction, I would have to say.

Well, I was I was so in awe when I, not only, you know, when I first was introduced to you and your story, but then as I dug deeper and deeper into kind of your history and your life and your book, Bulletproof for Life, and I just was enamored by just your experiences and knew that this would be an awe-inspiring conversation. But before I ask you your first question, I just want everybody to go to justinpeck.com. That's where you can preorder his book and in the coming weeks, actually shortly, he will be having that available for actual purchase, but you can actually preorder it now at justinpeck.com. At the same time, you can always look him up on Facebook as Justin Peck and JustinPeck49 on Twitter, though unlike some of us, you know, he doesn't spend a great deal of time. He's busy. He's busy racing people, so, but definitely look up Bulletproof for Life. Definitely going to want to pick up a copy of the book. All right, Justin, where would you like to start? How about just kind of giving us a synopsis of, uh, how you got to this point? Because you mentioned to me even coming into the program you never intended to really write a book, and so it's all a new experience for you. Um, what kind of brought you to where you are today?

Well, it's so Life just has an interesting way of changing direction when you don't expect, right? So yeah, so it was, it was probably so roughly about 10, 10, 12 years ago, my youngest brother died from an overdose of opiates, right? And so he was young, he was 21 years old. And so I remember, so I remember after the funeral, I was home, just kind of laying in my bed, kind of sulking in, in a little bit of grief. I realized that because life is so short, I wanted to be able to write down a record of my life so that my children and my grandchildren, as they got older, they would know who their daddy is, right? And so this was, this was like 10 years ago. Like, this was a long time ago. And so I, I wrote down a couple chapters and, and then kind of put it away for 3 or 4 years. And then I picked it up, you know, when I had something else going on and wrote down a couple more chapters and then put it away. Well, 2 years ago, it was just like— it was that moment, it was that time where I decided that it was time, you know. I'm, I'm over 40 now, and, and it's— it, it was that, let's rock and roll, let's get this thing done. So, so for the last, for the last couple years, that's, that's what I've, what I, that was kind of the initial concept of it is write something down just for my children. And it turned, it turned into a book. It turned into something that, that people like to read. And so it makes me happy. Right.

I, yeah, I can only imagine. I can only imagine the impact that it has on other people. There was, you know, just, and the reason why I came up with that rich question that I wanted people to think about is basically something that I read in your opening of your book, because you discuss the fact that you live a life with no fear of consequence. And, you know, and you kind of pose that thought is, what would it be like if, you know, if you knew that you had no fear of consequences, what would you do? So could you help people kind of, you know, can you help us relate to that? I mean, what does that mean? You might not— what does that feel like, that you absolutely have no fear of consequence? Therefore, what does that mean to you in your life?

Oh wow, it's the— you know, it's such a fun question. So like, realistically, the only way that I can explain it is, um, It's that, it's that little voice that people seem to have in their head of when they're about ready to do something. So let's say that you're going to go jump off a cliff into some water, right? Or jump off the high dive for a swimming pool. It's that little moment where you have a little bit of doubt in yourself, or that little bit of fear, because the consequence that you think that you're going to have is you're going to get hurt, or, or something that you know, something bad's gonna happen. For me, in my entire life, I've never had that fear. So I'm the guy that you could be in a group of people and, you know, like, my buddies would be daring me to— like, daring everybody to do something, and they could always know that they would look over and say, Justin will do it, and I would do it. It was— I've never had the fear of getting hurt. I've never had the fear of breaking bones. I've never had the fear of dying. There's just— I don't assess risk like most people, I suppose.

Right. Does that also— does that also flow into more of the physio— not physiological— more of the emotional part of your life? Like, for instance, if you have no consequence, then, you know, maybe you don't have a fear of, you know, of hurting someone else when you don't really know that you're hurting them. Because there's no consequence to you for what you might say to them, what you might do to them, you know, no consequence of whether or not you show up and do what it is that you need to do, or I don't know, pay the bills. I mean, you know, so without a, without a sense of consequence, has it also, you know, kind of impacted other people, not just yourself?

You know, that's actually an interesting question. I don't think I've ever had anybody ask me that. So, um, well, I can answer. I can— yeah, that's, uh, that's actually pretty rad. Um, so, and I actually have, you know, I actually have thought about that, you know, quite often. Um, when I say that I don't have fear of consequence or I don't evaluate, evaluate risk very well, it is pretty much a selfish consequence, right? So it is based on me. I know that when it comes to, like, taking people for rides in my race car or, or driving on the freeway with my family, you know, those type of things, I do, I do have that sense of love and care and compassion for the people that are with me. And I don't want anything, I don't want anything to happen to them.

Right.

For personal consequence, I don't, I don't assess that very well. However, that means With me saying that, the bipolar disorder side of me, it's interesting. For the people who live with it, they'll understand. For the people who don't live with it, they may not. But when I'm in a manic phase, I'm very blunt. I'm, you know, I say what's on my mind. And so has the disorder affected relationships in my past? Absolutely, 100%. I mean, that's probably why I'm a single man to this day, is, is because when you're in a manic, you do things that, that is out of character for, for who you are. And so, interesting question. I'll have to, I'll have to think about that one.

Yeah, ponder that, ponder that. But it would be interesting to understand, um, just in regards to, you know, helping other people understand what— since I guess I was so taken, and if you do not mind, I am going to read parts of the pieces I was given, if you do not mind. Of course. Yeah, just to give people an idea of just what they can get from your story. So wait, wait, wait, I kind of made a note of where I wanted to start and now I cannot find it. Okay. Oh, darn. Okay. Problem is if I don't get the— and this is from, everybody, this is from Bulletproof for Life from Justin Peck. Problem is if I don't get the rush or get scared, that intense anxious feeling builds like a pressure cooker and lingers for days, a week, 2 weeks, and ultimately wears me down. I don't sleep because I start hearing shit and I have this suspense of waiting for something that never comes and I start to feel like I'm losing my mind. In those moments, I don't know I'm doing it. On one hand, I can live without it. On the other hand, it scares the hell out of me. With every yin, there's a yang, and so it is with bipolar. The thrilling pinnacles come with equally destructive rock bottoms that last double the time as the highs. Those adrenaline-fueled mood swings come with emotions both good and bad: rage, bliss, happiness, sadness, inexplicable contradictions and feelings that erupt in torrents. Whether it is the way I look at my— I lost it. Oh, I apolo— whether it is the way I look at my children with a pride that seems to seep out of my pores. I love this part. Or the way tears stream down my cheeks when my daughter hits a softball in a pickup game on a random night. The emotions that take me to the edge of crazy swing like a pendulum from joy to rage. I don't get it. What I do get, I don't know how far that pendulum might swing. Nothing in my life scares me except this pendulum. Ah, I just, I, you know, I read that and I'm sitting there trying to experience, 'cause I'm very visual and very, I'm not sure what the exact word is, And, um, oh, I just, I just had to take a deep breath. I had to take a deep breath for you. It must be exhausting.

Oh, it's, it is, you know. I mean, I, um, I don't self-pity at all because I, you know, for me, um, I feel that I'm blessed with the disorder. I don't feel like it's a curse. And But yes, it is, it is a taxing, it is a taxing mentally and physically disorder to have because I mean ultimately, you know, I've been told all my life to find balance in life. Well, what's balance? And can anybody ever explain to me what actual balance is? Where's my baseline compared to your baseline? And And so the swing that goes back and forth, you know, I don't, I don't know where the pendulum will ever stop or if it will ever stop.

Right, right, right. But you've learned to, you've learned to, um, if not control or manage it, you've learned to live with it. Is that a fair assessment?

Yes, yeah, I mean, it's one of those things, you don't have a choice. So, so, um, I, I actually have a few tattoos, and one of the very first tattoo I, um, that I put on me is two words, which is adapt and overcome. So, and I live by that every day, you know, I adapt to the circumstance and I overcome whatever obstacle that I, I see that is in front of me. So As long as I am pushing forward, that is my biggest thing.

Right.

And I do want everybody to consider this. He mentioned it already. He does introduce in his first chapter of his book is the fact, it says, "But the fact is the biggest curse in my life, this condition, is also the single biggest gift." And he goes on to explain why that is. I, you know, if any of you also feel that whatever situation or obstacle or stress that you are dealing with, or maybe it is a more longer-term challenge or issue that you, you are dealing with, then just know that it also can be a gift. And I love the fact that you learn, you know, your two words are adapt and overcome because, you know, I have learned over life that you cannot control what anybody else but you do, and all I can do is adapt. And I love that, adapt and overcome. So let me ask you something. So those two words also indicate to me that you also just really work on trying to be extremely present and extremely self-aware of your state of being. Is it— would that be fair to say?

That's 100% spot on. Like, for me, I have to be. If I step out of the moment, then it puts me in the place where triggers can trigger different parts of the disorder. I know that, like, I'm feeling that there's going to be a question that's going to be coming up that I'll be able to answer that just a little bit better, but But yeah, it's, uh, for me, I have to be present. If I'm not present, then, then the possibilities of spiraling down is, is ever-present.

But do you do— do you have any kind of, uh, tips or tricks that you use to keep yourself present? Because we talk about it a lot here, uh, because I believe that everything around what even Shedding the Bitch is about is is any of our fears, insecurities, doubts, and negativities, they only can— they can only influence our mood or our being if we allow them to. And therefore, we have to stay aware of our state of being at every moment in time. And it's hard. Sometimes it's impossible with everything that goes on around us. But do you have any type of tips or techniques that you use in order to stay present yourself?

I'm going to have to say probably no on that. And the reason— and this is the reason why— is because I don't know. I don't know what I do to be able to keep functioning every day. So what I was going to say just previous is bipolar disorder is one of those stigma type— people don't talk about this, right?

Right.

So it's not, it's not in everyday conversation. And so, and I've always wondered why, like, you know, I, I've wondered why, like Robin Williams, I mean, an amazing human.

Yes, right.

How, how he could suffer from this and not, and have people not knowing why he didn't talk about it. Well, it literally was about, about 3 weeks ago that I realized, for me personally, why people don't talk about this is because when we talk about it, when I talk about it, it, it puts me in the position of being back into the disorder, having a negative effect. So the more that I talk about it, the more chances that, that the triggers will, that will come around. And so what I've learned to do over the last year of kind of completing this book is even though I'm, I'm talking about the moments— I mean, like, think about it, we're talking about, you know, driving up the canyon and putting a gun to my head. I've told that story a thousand times over the last year, and every single time I tell it, I live it. I physically live that emotion. And so it's being, it's being able to understand that yes, it's a story and it's an experience that I've lived through. However, I'm standing here right now, I'm breathing here right now, and there's a reason that I'm here. So that's probably how I, how I keep myself in the present moment, is knowing and understanding that I have a voice and I'm realizing that people are listening.

Wow.

No, that's true. Yeah, and the people are listening because I think you're right, and it's kind of enlightening what you just said in regards to why people don't talk about it. I was thinking they don't talk about it because, you know, whether, you know, they're uncomfortable about admitting it or their family is uncomfortable about the perception that's going to have of them, or I would not have thought— well, it's not that I would not have thought, um, I just didn't give much thought to the fact that In our conversation even here today, just my asking you about, yes, the possible shooting of yourself and other things causes you to have to relive that. I guess as a speaker, I'm kind of sanitized now to my emotional stories because I share them so much. But you're right, you do go back into that frame of mind and that could just drum up whole nother set of emotions for you.

No, of course. And if you think about it, like in my, in my book and the things that I wrote down, you know, I went over addiction and I went over bullying and I went over, you know, marriage losses, but then I went over like amazing victories and amazing success. And so every single time that I tell one of those stories, I do find that whatever story I talk about is how my, how my, um, my, how my brain works. And so if it's a sad story, I kind of turn sad for a minute. And that's why I try to always flip it over to the, to the happy things. And, and that, and the, the, the big goal of, of being able to help people understand that it doesn't matter how bad things get, it doesn't matter because the sun always comes up over the same mountain every single day. You put your feet in the same pant leg every single day. Your shoes tie the same way every single day. I mean, the next day always comes. So right, as long as we, as long as we progress, and as long as we're better than we were yesterday, man, we can't be down on ourselves.

Right, right. You're absolutely right. My dad used to say, um, my dad used to say, as long as, you know, I wake up in the morning, put my two feet on the ground, it's a good day. Um, yes, exactly. And, and it's, and it's true. And I think what you're also pointing out too is you could, you could either choose to wake up, you know, and put your feet on the ground and look at the sun, or you can wake up, put your feet on the ground and look at a very depressed, cloudy, gray sky when it's actually beautiful. And so it's also your choice as to which one you really want to focus on. Would that be an accurate assessment?

Sort of. And, and, and the reason why I say sort of is, is the disorder has a way of forcing you into certain arenas, right? So, so I can be laying in my bed and knowing and wanting to put my feet on the ground and go like walk out in the sunshine. But, but my mind sometimes overrules that. And, you know, one day in bed can turn into 30 days, and you, you just, you sink into it. And so, you know, that's, that's one of the, the aspects of the disorder that, that I still don't understand. You know, I mean, medication helps and a lot of, of talking through the problems with myself, not talking to them with other people, because most of the time people don't understand, right? But be able to, to talk with it, you know, with my— within myself, and to be able to understand it within myself, I finally get to the point of like, all right, man, like, get your shit together, let's go. And then, yeah, get my feet on the ground. And then from then on, it you know, then it works.

So, all right, well, I mean, yes, uh, okay, everybody, justinpeck.com, pre-order the book now. He, he did express to me before we came on air that he'll have the book in his hands over the next, you know, week or so, but go and get it now, pre-order it, and he'll get it out to you, um, and/or, you know, um, you can wait and, and it'll be here in a matter of just days, by the end of the week, he, he said. But Justin, peck.com. When we come back, obviously with everything that he's, you know, gone through, and you're going to read his book in order to find out, but we'll talk about some of it too. But everything that he's gone through, he has found, you know, great success in his life. But it, but it, you know, it means that he just doesn't quit. And I really want to understand what that means to him, because that means different things to different people. So when we come back, we'll continue our conversation with Justin Peck, the author of Bulletproof for Life and the motorsports race car driver, and we'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, TSR Consulting, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to TSRConsulting.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium-sized businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker78@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com .com/shuttingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everybody, we are talking with Justin Peck, author of Bulletproof for Life. Go to justinpeck.com and, and definitely pre-order this. You will not be disappointed and you will glean something out of it, um, as it pertains to your life. Because it doesn't matter how big or small the obstacles are, um, our minds, our belief systems can just create total havoc on just how we, how we deal with them. And it is a matter of, you know, just either dealing with them or just giving up. And this man has certainly you know, um, has not done that. As a matter of fact, um, there's this one comment all about the fact that he just, you know, when he realizes or feels like he wants to quit, he just keeps going and keeps going, and he knows that he'll never ever ever quit. Uh, and Justin, I have to say, on justinpeck.com, if you go to buy his book, pre-order it right now, you scroll down, there's some great tats on you. That's a great picture and some really good ink work on that picture.

Thank you, thank you.

I just have to say that, that is a very cool shot, a very cool picture. One thing I loved about your story too is, and I think this would, will help a lot of people kind of understand, um, ways of, you know, kind of getting to know yourself and managing your own situation is You talk about in your book about how once you're behind the wheel, once you put on that helmet— because of course, you know, your bio discussed the fact that, you know, somebody with bipolar and they're a top-rated, you know, motor car race driver, you know, that kind of seems contradictory. But yet you talk about how once you put on that helmet and once you're sitting behind the wheel of that car, it's calm and peace for you. Can you help us kind of understand that?

Yes, I can. Like, this is one of the things that, that I think that I can convey to most people. So, so if you look at my sport, um, or any race, um, racing in general— so my sport's pretty violent, um, so, you know, I— we take trucks, um, we do, you know, 140 miles an hour, we jump these things 200 feet, along the side with, you know, a bunch of other crazy goofballs. And so from a fan— look, from a fan looking outside in, they see the chaos. They see, you know, the banging and crashing and, and just everybody fighting for position. And so they see that chaos. And how I explain it to people is driving off-road is like being in a shotgun fight in a closet.. So it's like, it's, it's nuts. However, for me, it doesn't matter what go— what's going on in my life, right? So I can be depressive, I can be a manic, I can— like, I can have all these crazy thoughts going through my mind, and the second that I flip my helmet over my face, it's like my mind just shuts off and I'm solely focused on one task and one task only. And it literally is, it's the only thing that I've ever found in my entire life that can take all the fuzz and all the radio noise out of my brain and completely shut it off. I think that's why I love the sport so much is because it does that. And for that 30 minutes that, you know, that we're doing short, short course or for the 13 hours that we're doing like the Baja 1000. It's that, that mental fuzz and that mental chaos shuts off, and I love it.

Wow. Wow. Okay, so I'm going to ask you a question that's going to sound really weird, and it's with— it's being asked in all respect. Is it, is it the helmet and the wheel, or is it the experience and the adrenaline rush of the race? Because What kept going through my head is, then why doesn't he— and this is where it sounds weird— why doesn't he live with that helmet on if that helmet kind of is an indicator to him mentally that it's calm and peaceful? Or is it the whole experience of the helmet, the car, and the race?

Well, it's like, ultimately, it is the, it is the whole experience, right? So it's, it is knowing that, that the adrenaline and and the surge of just excitement of competing, that is part of it. But what I've also learned as well is— and whether people suffer from a mental illness or anything, like, right, like if it's anything in life, everybody has a trigger of some sort, right? So they have an emotion or a smell or something that triggers a particular emotion. Well, I have, I have always tried to teach my brain to get the triggers that I like and to be able to have my body react or my mind react in a certain way. And so the helmet, to me, that's kind of, that's the thing that I push in my head every single day, that that's my trigger. That's my trigger of peace, of, of peace and serenity. And so when I do that it helps. And so with you making the comment, why don't I wear the helmet every day? To be honest, Bernadette, I do. Like, I don't, I don't physically put it on, right? But I think, but I think about it every single moment because that, that's my driving force. That's what keeps me motivated, of knowing that, okay, my helmet's on, like, clear that, clear the fuzz out, clear the Clear the chaos out. There's a reason why you're here. And that's right, that's, that's my trigger.

Nice, nice. I love that. And we all— because I'm sitting here thinking, okay, what's mine? What's mine? And there's this one situation I had at church, uh, like 5, 6 years ago after my father passed, and that was hard on me. And I go back to that, that moment in time in that church, um, that brought me such peace and calm and solitude that, um, that's my— I guess that's my helmet, is that, is that situation. Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet. All right, everybody, justinpeck.com. Pick up your— the copy of the book, and, uh, you will not be disappointed. And right now it's on pre-order, and then, you know, in a matter of days it will, uh, switch over and you'll, you'll have it in your hands for a great read. All right, so you're also, you know, you've had a lot of successes as well in your life and you started multiple businesses. You even comment that you've had a couple of failed businesses. What would you say you want your reader from your entire story and life experience that you're sharing so candidly and honestly, what would you like them to walk away with?

The biggest thing, hands down, without even like thinking twice on it, is have the never quit mentality. Never quit. Like, it's— it doesn't matter if you fail. I cannot tell you, like, if I wrote down all of my failures, people would look and go, man, like, why, why do you even keep going? Yeah, but it's the, but it's the analogy of the iceberg, right? So you have this huge iceberg that's floating in the water, okay? People, that's all the people see is the success. So that's the tip of the, it's the tip of the iceberg. So I'm standing on the tip of the iceberg. However, there's a huge mass of ice that's floating underneath the water that's all the failures. So we fail every single day. But it's how we stand up, it's how we pick ourselves up that brings us the true character, who we are. If we choose to quit, then we quit ourselves, and that just— I mean, that sets us up for more failure, right?

Well, and if you choose to quit, that is the biggest failure, right? Is, uh, you know, just because you're giving up on yourself at that point. I, I personally hate the word failure. I talk a lot about that here I try to use the word misstep because I don't think there's ever a failure. I just think that we kind of, you know, we kind of just go in a, you know, in a direction that might not be moving us toward where we want to go. Because I don't— like you, you don't quit. I don't believe in failure because I want to— I want to— if I were to use the word fail, I'd say I want to fail fast and often because those are where my greatest lessons, you know, I glean my greatest lessons from. But yes, I agree, never, never, ever, ever quit. Never. And what keeps you— what keeps you never quitting? What keeps you motivated and moving and never wanting to quit?

Well, probably the first, like, first and foremost out of everything would be my grandchildren and my children. So my family means the world to me. And so, like, I want to be able to progress in life and to be able to be— you know, probably sounds silly, but I want to be the hero in my own story. So I want, I want my children to see that their dad didn't quit, and so I can pass that down to them. And if— I mean, children do that, they, they follow kind of their parents' lead. And so, so if my, if my children, they see their dad quitting, then they're going to have probably more of a chance and more of a habit of quitting as well. So that's probably my biggest motivation.

Yeah, never quitting for the— yeah, and that's your legacy. Your legacy would be, you know, not only your book, because I think your book is going to serve you as your legacy as well, and you talked about the fact that you wanted to, you know, tell your stories and share them with your family and friends. But the idea of never quitting is also a legacy that you're able to leave for generations, not even just the ones you have right now.

Yes, I agree. It's pretty crazy because, like, I've, you know, I've always had this mindset of— I've, like, I've wanted to become a great man in a way, right? So it's, um, becoming the hero in my own story, but We're like us as humans, that's like a society, we're so down on ourselves all the time. And, and yeah, and we have a hard time becoming that hero that we need to be within ourselves. And I think over this last, last few years for me, writing the book and being involved in that, it's, it's made me realize that, that, you know, I am a good guy, man. And, and like, I can I can, I can speak and I can, you know, I can explain my position and explain my feelings to people that they can relate to. I want to be that person that brings awareness to disorder, to, to the things that people struggle with. I want to, like, I want to be that person that says, look, you can push forward. It's okay that you, that you struggle now. You can push and you can be better the next day.

Right, right. And better may not be, you know, better for me may not be the same as better for somebody else, but that's where the adapt and overcome comes in, right? You just adapt to where you're at so you can overcome and move forward.

Yes.

And it is kind of sad. You bring up a great point. It is kind of sad that, you know, we all want to succeed in life, and yet there's so many people out there that the minute we are succeeding and/or are at the top, if you want to call it that, they are doing everything in their power to knock you down and knock that success down. It is like, why can't we just want everybody to succeed as opposed to want everybody to like, you know, be less than us? And it just, it is really, it is really sad. And individuals like yourself never quitting on conveying your message I think is just key and critical. Well, that's what I'm trying to do, and you're doing a great job at it. And that— and I'm telling you, that book, uh, your book, Bulletproof for Life, everybody, uh, justinpeck.com, uh, will certainly be doing that. So I need you to explain, um, for everybody, because talk about overcoming. I need you to explain this crash that in your racing— you're racing like this crash that— you know, that completely exploded your left arm and, you know, you were told you needed emergency surgery, yet you had some races left to do. I mean, you really need to share with our listeners because talk about never quitting, this is a perfect example of it.

All right, so this is a fun story and I will make it quick. So I was back in like early 2000s, I had raced the entire desert series, so on a motorcycle, and I had raced the entire series, and we had had— we had 3 races left. And so I was at a national event, and I took off from the starting line, and within like 3 or 4 miles, um, I had another bike kind of get into me, and I crashed at over 120 miles an hour. Ended up laying on my back and my left elbow, I basically like disintegrated my, my left elbow. So it completely detached my tricep and it broken a few ribs. And, you know, so I was pretty banged up. So, so moving forward from that, I, I stayed at the races. I put, you know, a couple sticks on the side of my arm, like duct tape it on. I go back, I finish watching the races. I stay the night. I drive home the next day, which was about 8 hours. I get home, and by the time I get home, my arm is black and blue from my fingertip to the armpit, right? So it's, it's, it's pretty bad. And I, and I knew it was pretty bad. So I go into the doctor, and doctor says you need to go to an orthopedic surgeon. So I do that. The orthopedic surgeon says, "Holy cow, like I've never seen this before. Like you, like you need to get into surgery within the next 3 or 4 days, um, or you're going to have some issue." Well, it was at that time that I wanted a championship in my racing, and I was like, I was leading the championship points in that, in that series. And so I explained to him that I wasn't going to have the surgery, that what I needed him to do for me was to create a brace, a hydraulic brace that screwed into the lower part of my arm and the upper part of my arm. Ouch! Where it could give my, my arm like some stability so I could race the, the two other races that I have. And so, you know, doctors are— they look at you like you're crazy. So, but he did it. But he did it, so which was like, I have to give him props for that. So because he saw the motivation and he saw it, he saw the look in my eye that, you know, I didn't, you know, like I wanted to win. And so he did that. So 2 weeks after the, after the big crash, you know, I'm still sore, I'm still broke, um, but we had the second to the last race. I get on the bike, um, I ride as hard as I possibly could, you know. I took third in that one, So it put me second in the championship points. I was a little bummed, but you know, at least I still finished the race and I was broke. So last race of the year comes and it's 120 miles of just brutal sand. It's a super hard race. And I started that one, took off, was running, you know, 5th or 6th out of like 70 guys. And, um, with about 10 miles left, I— my arm just like— my arms pretty much gave up and I couldn't hold on to the handlebars anymore and I crashed. So when I crashed, it ripped— it ripped out the screws, um, from the brace. The brace was destroyed. And I remember laying there thinking to myself like, what are you doing? Like, you're ruining yourself. Like, this is like, this is crazy. But the sense of like not willing to give up and not willing to quit was so overwhelming to me that I went over, I picked up my bike, I rode the last 10 miles with one arm, and, and I finished the race. And I didn't, I didn't finish as well as I hoped.— and, you know, I ended up taking third overall in the championship. But, but that moment of my life, I realized that, like, there's a true thing that, that for me— and this is just me personally— that, that always happens is that your mind will always give up before your body does. Your body is an incredible thing, right? But your mind will give up before your body does. And so if you push yourself hard enough, you can accomplish amazing things, things that you don't think that you can, right?

I— yeah, I absolutely agree with you that we give up on ourselves far, far, far, far, far, far faster than our bodies are going to give up on us. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I'm surprised someone didn't come up to you and knock you out and say, what the hell?

Yeah, I had, I had several people like my family, they weren't happy with me at all. But I bet, but they, but they know me, they know who I am, so they just deal with it, I suppose.

Yeah, well, and they just know that that's, you know, who you are, what makes you happy. So yeah, yeah, maybe knocking out, you know, would be a good idea the next time you get that kind of crazy idea. No, I'm kidding. I just think it's— I think it's fascinating. And I think it's, uh, for everybody listening, it's just the—

the—

I mean, God forbid, we don't want you having this— the same type of situations and, and, you know, accidents and explosions and broken arms. But I think we all have to take away from today's conversation that, um, you know, uh, there is a degree that we all want to live without fear. We don't want our fears to prevent us from living, you know, the life that we want and achieving the goals that we want. But I love his thing, so I just want you to remember, well, I want you to remember all this, but adapt and overcome and never quit. Adapt and overcome and never quit. And that is kind of Justin Peck's top tips for you today. But I want you to go to justinpack.com. I want you to all kind of scroll down, learn more about him. He has excerpts in there from, from his book Bulletproof for Life. You can pre-order it now. It's coming out and it's going to be in his hands very shortly. But please, I'd love you to make sure that you, that you read and live his story and see how it relates to you and how you can take some tidbits from it and apply them into your life. And then at the same time, follow up with him, let him know how you love the book. Are you more so on Facebook than you are on Twitter, Justin?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, more on Facebook, but I do have the email on the website as well, and I love the emails. I just like let everybody know that I answer every single every single email. I get a lot, and, and that's just— that's one of the things that I do is I, as I always communicate back because that's important to me.

Great. And, um, only because I don't have your email address in front of me, what is your email address?

If they go to info@justinpett.com.

Yep, yep.

That's, that's, that's the best way to get a hold of me.

And don't hesitate, everybody, if you do have something that you just need to ask him about. Maybe, you know, he has a tip that he didn't talk about or has an area of, you know, of your story that, you know, he might be able to relate to, then don't hesitate to reach out to him. Justin, I want to thank you for being on the program. This has been absolutely awesome. And I definitely will be picking up your book and soaking it up.

Perfect. Thank you for the opportunity.

Oh, you're absolutely welcome. And again, everybody, justinpeck.com. Be sure to check it out and just read on it, read about him, his story, and pick up, pick up his book. Uh, next week we have Ask Bernadette, so I'll be taking your stories, questions, and challenges regarding your business, career, and life. And you can post them anytime throughout the month, but post them on Facebook or Twitter, and I will respond to them immediately. But then what we do is we bring them right here on Shedding the Bits Radio, and we will drill down into them and provide you even more information than I could put on a 140-character Twitter response. At the same time, you can always call in and discuss your question, story, or challenge personally with me, 1-818-572-2910. Deborah's out there watching your Twitters and Facebooks, and we will bring them right back here next Tuesday at noon Eastern time. And December, we talk about goal setting, we talk about time management, we talk about loving the holidays, we talk about getting ready for the new year. So, you know, be sure that you are following our Shedding the Bitch radio program on blogtalkradio.com so you get all those updates. But Justin, I want to thank you. Thanks, Deborah, for hanging out with us, and I will talk with everybody this time next week on Shedding the Bitch Radio. Thanks everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.