Booster #1: Andy Andrews From Homelessness to Best-Selling Author

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CEOs and government officials. I've seen people turn into just crazy people. As a matter of fact, my eggs are not okay today. And you know, and 50 people are gonna pay for it because my eggs are a little runny. It's like, seriously.

And welcome to the Gap. The Get Attitude Podcast. The gap bridging from who you are to who you want to become, and from where you are to where you want to be. Hi, my name is Glenn Bill, founder of the University of Attitude, keynote speaker and the author of the ABCs of Attitude. I've helped tens of thousands of people get Attitude. You know, attitude is the secret formula to success in your business and in your life. And this podcast will help you get yours. So let's get some. Welcome everybody. Today we would like to remind you to please subscribe, rate and review. And we are with the super talented, influential, somebody I've considered a mentor from afar, the one and only Andy Andrews.

Do you know that when because I told you my minister of music. Do you know that one time my dad asked me, I was like 7 years old and my dad asked me to sing Amazing Grace in front of the whole congregation and I did it and I got a spanking for it.

Oh, Andy. Welcome to the Get Attitude Podcast. We're so happy to have you. Andy is a legend and New York Times bestselling author, speaker and thought leader, a leading thought leader in America on personal development. Welcome, welcome, Andy, to the Get Attitude podcast.

Thank you, buddy. I appreciate, I'm honored to be here with you.

We're really looking forward to hearing your knowledge and your thoughts on how you bridged the gap from who you were to who you became, and from where you were to where you want to become. As I was doing a little research, your book the Traveler's Gift kind of came to my kind of came to my thoughts. And I thought as we tried to bridge the gap for our gappers is what we call them, maybe you could talk to us about where you started, where you were before you became this huge influencer and those seven decisions, those seven nuggets in the traveler's gift that you had Andy, talk to us. Talk to the people that are out there listening that may be somewhere where they don't want to be. My guess is you've been somewhere where you don't want to be, and we'd love to hear that story.

Yeah, man. We all have. You know, we're all either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis, or headed for a crisis. That's part of being with us on this planet. And so I'm not unusual in that I was in, you know, tough situations before, and. And you're very kind to say where you were and what you have become. Dude, I am in a state of becoming, you know, I mean, I'm a dad, I'm a husband and a friend, and I'm always working on this. But I did have kind of a crazy time. I know what you're referring to. When I was 19, my parents died, and I made some bad moves and ended up literally homeless before that was even worked, you know, people.

Before it was trendy.

Yeah, yeah. I mean that. I mean that literally nobody was talking about homeless people 35 years ago, but I was living on the beach and sleeping under a pier and in and out of people's garages, which is not safe or smart. But I did and met an old guy, became a mentor of mine and started reading. I had always been kind of a Sports Illustrated Field and Stream guy, but he got me started reading books, biographies, and read a ton of them. And it kind of made graphs in my mind about who these people were and where they come from and what they had done, and identified seven things. And that's what I kind of called them then. I didn't even know what to call them. I just called them things. They weren't seven characteristics or seven habits. They were just things to me. Turned out they were principals. I know them now as principals and began to apply them. And years later, those became the seven decisions in the traveler's gift. And, you know, so I'm just. I'm still. I'm still the same old bozo, just kicking along and trying to notice some things that can help some people.

So let's give, you know, number five on our card is have a mentor copy him or her. So you've already hit one of these boosters, and it's not uncommon that as we interview people, Andy's here to talk to us today about boosters. Number one, be nice. And booster number six, control your emotions. But out of the gate hits number five. How about giving a little credit to that mentor? And I'd love to know one or two of the books that you read that maybe he recommended that really changed it for you.

Yeah, you know, the first time he started me on that, I mean, this was an old man.

What was his name? Do you know his name?

His name was Jones. We didn't really know where he was from. We didn't call him Mr. Jones. We're just calling him Jones. I'll be darn. And we didn't know where he's from. We didn't know where he went. We didn't know where he stayed when he was in town. He was kind of in and out. Didn't know what was in his suitcase.

Wow.

Just kind of old, white haired dude.

Is this when you were on the street then, like when you were homeless? Is that when you met this guy?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I met him under my pier one night, which scared. But this was the guy who really kind of told me the truth about myself and started me reading. And so one day he gives me three books. And I knew right off the bat they were biographies because all they had were names on them. It was Winston Churchill, George Washington Carver, and Will Rogers.

Amazing.

And I hated biographies in school. I don't know why, but I guess because they made me read them. But when he gave them to me, I knew they were biographies. And I said, biographies. And he said, no, no, these are adventure stories. These are mysteries and romances and thrillers, and they're all true. I was like, okay. He said, yeah, they're from the library. When you get through with them, take them back. I was like, thanks. But I started reading those things and really became interested in these people. I ended up reading over 200 biographies of these happy, influential, great people. When I say that, it makes me think, do they do biographies of any other kind of people? Not like a loser section at Barnes and Noble. But I'm reading these people and thinking, how did they turn out like this? Or were they born this way? Because if they were born this way, I'm obviously out of luck. But if they did something, what did they do? And how long did it take them to do it?

Interesting. Well, you know, you would never. Here's the title of your next book. Mentorship from under the Pier.

Yeah.

Wow. I mean, and I think the message there is mentors don't have to be glossy, they don't have to be glamorous, they don't have to be educated. Sometimes we can find lessons, and sometimes we can learn more and grow more from people that are in the shadows. And how many times do we walk by the opportunity to learn? Because it doesn't matter.

Isn't that the truth? Isn't that the truth? And, you know, if you make a point, Glenn, if you make a point to learn, right? I mean, not just kind of just wander around and just hope some bird of paradise lands on your shoulder and yaks out some quote or something, but make it a point to learn, to watch, to notice. This old man called himself a noticer. And he said, when God was passing out talents, I didn't get the cool ones. I can't run fast, I can't sing great. But I notice little things that make a difference in people's lives. I bring perspective. And I wrote a book about him.

Yes, you did.

The noticer. But. But this. This old guy, you know, inspired me to kind of do the same thing. And. And we all can. I. I talk to people all the time, and I say, you know, I. I believe the quality of our answers can only be determined by the quality of our questions. And so I want to try to ask good questions. And I'll meet people all the time, and I'll say, what's the smartest thing your daddy ever did? Or, you know, what was one time in your life that you looked at something, you thought, man, this is something I'm going to carry with me. But right now, thinking about your listeners, you've got this awesome bunch of people all over the world listening to what you're doing, and a lot of them feel as if, well, you know, I have to. I have to become something else or whatever. Well, we've all heard you just need to be the best you you can be. And that's true, even though we don't believe it sometimes, right? But I want your listeners to know, you guys, you not only can make yourself into an awesome you, there is a book you need to write, right? There's a book. There's. And I can even tell you what the title of the book is. I mean, whatever it is that you do, you're meeting people every day. And Glenn, you know how we meet people and we say, well, that was interesting. I wrote a book. And they go, oh, we could write a book. Believe me. And I don't care what they're doing. You know, they work in a dime store. Oh, yeah, the people coming here, we can write a book. You know, a flight attendant. Oh, yeah, big boy deal with. Yeah, we could write a book. And drivers. Yeah. Oh, I could write a book, whoever it is. And so think about this. If you're listening, this. Here's your title to your book. If you're a. If you're a teacher. Okay. Here's the great title, what I learned sitting at the biggest desk in the room.

There you go.

Okay. Or if you're a driver, what I learned from the back seat while I was sitting in the front seat.

Awesome.

I mean, there's so many things, but you can be hugely valuable to people.

Yeah. And I think there's a story inside of everybody, isn't there? And when we look, whether you're in sales, whether you're serving food, whether you're a teacher, our job. And we. When we talk about, number one, being nice. Right. Number one being nice, it's finding the story inside of everybody. Louise Thaxton, who I know you know, I love Wheezy. I love her. Wheezy has been on our podcast. Her interview is ridiculous.

She's awesome.

And she said, glenn, you got to learn how to make the people their hero of their own story. That's my trick. And boy, is that. I mean, that just blew me away. And, I mean, these are the types of quality people that we're able to attract on the Get Attitude podcast. And so I know you love Wheezy. Tell me your experience. I know you've done a lot with Fairway. We're going to get Steve on there, too. Tell me about some of your customers or some of the stories you've heard from your customers that have really impacted you or caused you to pivot your attitude or the way you think.

You know, since you're talking Fairway, man, I have so many examples with that company. That is Steve Jacobson. I mean, I feel like I'm a broken record on this. I just was guest on another podcast recently, and they asked me kind of the same question, and my. My answer was Jake, because I worked with a ton of companies and tons of coaches and tons of CEOs, then I'm gonna tell you something. This guy is the best. I mean, I don't, you know, don't.

We're gonna get him on the podcast. He hadn't agreed to it.

I mean, he would go. He would go, no, no, no. But that's part of why he is the best. Yeah. You know, it's tough to find somebody who has rapid success that doesn't follow it up with just a lot of bad choices. But Steve Jacobson has always managed to keep his eye and his attitude on other people, on helping other people and helping other people become. And so, you know, when you have a CEO of a company who can. Can genuinely watch out for the people who work for the company by knowing that the way you watch out for the people who work for the company is making sure that the customer is served, and he watches out for the customer knowing that the way you watch out for the customer is making sure we serve this person. And. And, you know, he. He is the most effective person I've ever seen at getting his eye off himself and getting it on somebody else. It's a tough thing for anybody to pull off, but it's harder for a CEO. It's harder for a head coach, because you're in a position where people are always going, is your orange juice okay? Are your eggs done right? And, you know, when you have that. I have seen so many entertainers and speakers and CEOs and government officials. I've seen people turn into just crazy people, just monsters, where it's just kind of like, you know, as a matter of fact, my eggs are not okay today.

Right.

And, you know, and 50 people are gonna pay for it because my eggs are a little runny. It's like, seriously?

Yeah. So that. That's a great segue into attitude booster number one, which is be nice. You know, the bottom line is it's number one for a reason. Not to put you on the spot, but I sure would love you to talk to me about what has being nice meant to you? What are examples of people being nice that you've seen that have paid big dividends for the people that are listening to this? And I always tell people, you know, complimenting others is one of the biggest things about being nice. And I always challenge people. How many compliments have you given today? I don't care if they're sincere or insincere. And when I make my audiences, I said, go ahead and give insincere compliments. You should hear the room. It lights up, and people are laughing, and everybody feels better. Their attitudes rise. Talk to me about what being nice means to you. Some stories, some examples. Would love to hear your take on be nice.

Okay, well, let me just. Let me do it this way. You know, you asked me earlier, you know, when we were off the air, you said, hey, do. Do any of these 10 strike you? And I said, yeah, number one and number six. And so let me talk about number one and number six at the same time.

Cool.

Because I don't think that you can talk about number one being nice unless you understand number six controlling your emotions. Yeah, okay. Because number six, when we say Control your emotions. What we're really talking about is having a high emotional iq. You know, you want to have, you want your relationships to be with people who have high emotional IQs. And trust me, if you dig down deep into the bottom of the pool and think very carefully about this, you will find that you patronize businesses that are owned by people run by people with high emotional IQs. And you do not patronize businesses. Or you go out there with the place, I'll never go in this place again. Those are the places you leave. And if you will examine it, you'll realize the people you dealt with had a low emotional iq. Now, what am I talking about with a low emotional iq? I realized one time years ago, Glenn, my boys are 17 and 19 now, and my wife and I talked for a long time. You know, I mean, you know, when you're raising your kids, you talk about what's important. What do we, you know, what do we allow them to figure out? What do we explain now? What do we, you know, there's a lot that goes into it, as you know, but one of the things that I realized early on, that was one of the most important things that I was going to make sure before my kids ever left home, they were going to know that they had the ability to act a certain way, despite how they might feel at the moment.

Awesome. Yeah.

That is the ability to have a high emotional iq, to understand that your emotions are controlled by you. If you allow your emotions to control you, that is like somebody saying, yeah, I'm going to get this, I'm going to get a Doberman pinscher, I'm going to get a pit bull, I'm going to get some monster dog, an Irish wolfhound and everything now. And I'm going to get a leash and a collar and everything. But I'm also going to, I'm just going to tie it to my arm. I'm not going to train him or anything. You know, wherever he wants to go. I, you know, I mean, I may try to stop, but dude, you got an Irish wolfhound, you got a 220 pound dog, you got a boreville, you got it. You got a lion, you get a dog that fights lions in South Africa. This thing weighs 250 pounds. And if he doesn't want to go where you want to go, you're not going.

Right?

And if he wants to go somewhere else, you're going with him. And so, so you, you know, but you train a dog, you train a dog because, you know, this dog is not autonomous. This dog does not, this dog does not have the ability to live and think on its own and be fed on its own and to find water when it needs water. This dog does not have the ability to, to cross the street safely every time. Right. This dog has to be trained. And even after the dog is trained, the dog has to be controlled. The dog has to, has to have some re ups on this training. There's such a constant source of never ending improvement. And so the same is true with our emotions. You look at number six, controlling your emotions and you, you know, it is possible to snap your finger if you are right there and to shake a dog into submission. Yes, it is possible. It is also possible. You know how people go, well, yeah, that's just the way I am. You know, is she going to say that to me? Well, you know, I'm coming back and that's just the way I am. You know, I have red hair or, or you know, or I come from, you know, Texas or, you know, or I've lived all my life in, you know, in the water. I don't know what it is, but people go, you know, my mama was this way and that's just the way I am. And I, you know, that's the way I am. If you don't say, I'm this way, this is what I'm going to do. No, no, no, you are not this way. I don't care if you even think you're this way because if you will just stop for a second, sit back, think your way to the bottom of the pool on yourself.

Good.

You will realize that there are times in your life that you can be in your home, you can be talking with a child, talking with your spouse, and you think you can't control your emotions immediately. Oh, yes, you can, because you can be dealing with something. How many times do I have to tell you this? I cannot tell you how many. If I have to deal with this one more time and the phone rings and you go, hello.

Right, right. Yeah, we all do that.

How are you? I mean, we will change who we are immediately for somebody we don't even know who's calling.

Right.

Certainly we could change who we are for people we love.

Yeah. One of my favorite sayings is how long does it take to change your life? It's like a heartbeat can change your life. Right? You almost had that. Let's talk about finding your way to the bottom of the pool, which you just mentioned. It's your brand new book. I think it's new Right. Year.

Yeah, yeah, it is. It is.

So give us a little synopsis. Give us a little peek inside the covers of what is the bottom of the pool? Why did you come up with that? And what's the big takeaway?

Sounds kind of like a horror movie, doesn't it? The Bottom of the Pool.

Well, it's an intriguing title, which is probably why you picked it.

Well, until you read a subtitle. The subtitle is thinking beyond your boundaries to achieve extraordinary results. And. And one of the things I realized in what we laughingly refer to as my career is that I'm an ordinary guy. You know, I don't have super bowl rings. I don't have, you know, I don't have these. I was never the hero of some national disaster. You know, I never landed a plane on a river, you know, and so, you know, if a corporation is going to bring me in to speak, I mean, you know, somebody has a Super bowl ring, he's worth $75,000, you know, but somebody brings me in to speak, I mean, you'd probably get me if you say, well, you know, we'll pay for. We'll pay half of your meals, you know.

Right.

I mean, that's kind of me. I mean, because who is Andy Andrews? Right? And so I had to figure out a way, how do I make myself valuable?

How do I bridge the gap? Right?

Yeah.

I love it. I love this.

And of course, the only way. The only way I can make myself valuable because, you know, because I'm not valuable, because I don't. I don't have, you know, the rings. I don't have a radio show. I don't have a television show. I don't. I, you know, I don't have gold medals. I'm. I'm not valuable. Oh, you're valuable, Andy. You're valuable. You have. You're a dad, you're a husband, you're a friend. Yeah. Okay. And there's like, what, 320 million of those walking around? So I'm not really valuable. The only way that I can be valuable is to create value for you. If I can create value for a corporation, if I can create value for a team, and I'm not just saying. Oh, wow. Yeah, man. We gave him a standing ovation. Oh, yeah. That was the greatest speed we ever had. I mean, what value is that? You know, It's a pat on the back, right. If you go to the bottom of the pool. And I will get to that in a second.

I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I'M saying I had to figure out, how do I think my way? How do I go below the surface of what everybody else believes?

Love it.

You know, and, you know, there's industry standards for everything. There's best practices for everything. Okay, but how do I. And best practices are. You don't pay a guy like Andy Andrews $75,000 to come speak. That's the industry standard for somebody who has won three Super Bowls, for somebody who has starred on a sitcom, for somebody who has won a war.

Celebrity. Yeah. Celebrity speaker. Right, right, right.

And I'm never gonna be a celebrity. And so.

Well, you're being kind of humble.

Well, no, wait a minute.

Wait.

No, no, I'm not being humble. I've thought to the bottom of the pool about me.

Right.

Because you can point to a bunch of things, Glenn. You can say, well, you've written some New York Times bestsellers. Yeah. Okay. Can the average person out there name them? No.

Right.

Okay. You can say, well, you know, you have spoken for four different presidents. Yeah. Do you know which ones? No.

How many times do you speak in a year? How many gigs do you get a year?

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Not many. You know, I don't know.

I don't know.

But. But, but my point, and I think. Hang with me here, all right? You could. You could say, well, well, you know.

Andy.

Andy Andrews has. Has been a part of national championships for college football teams. Okay. Do you know which ones? Have the coaches gone out and told everybody?

No.

Okay. And so what I'm saying is. That I, by myself, and even what I've done, it's not valuable. The only thing that is valuable is if I manage to help you, you who have worked. You've worked for years to get to where you are, whoever you are, you have worked for years. You have. You. Your company is where you are after years. You have designed your company perfectly to produce exactly what it's producing today.

Right.

Okay. So if I can come in, somebody who doesn't know anything really about your industry or company, I don't know industry standards, which means I don't know what can't be done. All right. And if I can come in and I can help you double your results. If I could come in. I mean, you know, if I can come in and help you make. If the word gets out that Glenn Bill goes in, and every time Glenn Bill speaks, within six months, the company makes $50 million. Now, they've just made that correlation. And CEOs are talking about it and people are talking about it. You know, there's this guy. What has he done? I don't know what he's done. I don't know what he's done. What has he done? Is he like football player? No, no, he's not a football player. Is he good looking? Yeah, he's okay, you know. Well, is he like married to super, know. Has he written books? Yeah, you know. Well, what is he doing? I don't know. But I'll tell you this, there's a ton of CEOs out there that say every time Glenn Bill comes to speak, within six months the company adds $50 million to what they're doing.

Right.

Well, at that point they'll get. People would go out and borrow a million. At that point it's not are we really going to play? Are we really going to pay Glenn Beal a million dollars of speech. They're not asking that question. The question is, will Glenn take 1.5 for two speeches if we do them in the same day?

Right, right. Well, and the value is there. The value is proven and certainly in. When we look at the back of your book, they're not warm and fuzzy testimonials. The testimonials on the back of the bottom of the pool, they're finite. They are result driven testimonials.

Oh, you asked me about the bottom of the pool, didn't you?

And I did. So.

I'm sorry.

You're a wonderful southerner, that's all I can say.

I can give it you in a heartbeat. Years ago, I'm 11 years old and my buddies and I, we got dropped off of the pool like every other kid. When we were little, the pool was our babysitter and our parents, we spent the summer there. And we got so sick of Marco Polo and Atomic Water Ball and whatever we played, we started inventing our own games. And we invented a game called Dolphin because Flipper was on TV then. And Flipper would come up out of the water and stand on his tail. So we would get into this deep end, circle up and. And we would one at a time, go in the middle of the circle and try to come up out of the water and see how high out of the water we could get. And you know, you're just using your hands and your feet to push water and try to get up. And we had this kid, Aaron Perry, who was bigger than we were, older than we were. He won every single time. Every time till we were almost sick of the game. Until the day My friend Kevin Perkins destroyed him. And Kevin goes to the middle of the circle, and, you know, everybody's waiting on the same thing to happen. But this time, this kid goes down instead of up, and we're. We're all looking and going, what is he doing? He goes all the way to the bottom and then squats down. And before we can figure out what's going on, he pushes off the bottom comes rocketing out of the top way higher than anybody has ever gone, right? It's like this new is a new reality. You know, he like doubled what anybody else had ever done. But. But if you had asked us for years, if you'd come to us and said, are you guys doing the best you can do?

Right?

We would have said, absolutely. I mean, we were looking at it at Aaron. He was the industry standard.

Sure.

He had the best practices model, and we were learning. We were doing the best we could do. We just didn't understand that there was another mark out there that we weren't even aware of. We were doing the best we could do, but we weren't doing the best that could be done. And so while what we were learning how to do this, the industry standards, the best practices. This is how you cup your hands. This is how you do your feet. It was obvious how you do this. It was obvious how you come up out of the water. It was obvious. At least it was obvious until one kid went down instead of up. And then everything that had been so obvious was no longer even true.

I love the story. I love the story, and I can't wait to read the book. And I hope that all of our gappers go to andyandrews.com and get that book. But what we are going to do now is take a break. We are going to go to the bottom of the pool after break with our special feature, knowledge through the Decades. Thank you, Andy. And we'll be right back with you.

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All right, and welcome back with Andy Andrews, national influencer on personal development. Author of Bottom of the Pool and one of my favorite, the Traveler's Gift. Andy, we always like to close our podcast with this wonderful segment called Knowledge through the Decades. It's a gap original, the Get Attitude Podcast original, where we ask our guests to go back in time and give us your best lessons of your life through the decades. Now, I realize the very first one which some people have trouble with, and I always remind our guests this is an on the spot interview. And some people go, oh, I feel too pressured. I'm like, I can edit out any bad answers. So there's no pressure. But what we want you to do, Andy, is I want you to think of yourself as a new baby. And if it's too hard, think of a baby. And what, what, what is. We were all babies, right? What is the best lesson you can learn from a baby? Or what is the best lesson you can share from being a baby about life and bridging the gap?

Things slow down and get a lot easier when you cry, when you smile and coo, but they get frantic when you scream.

Awesome. That's good. Now, I want you to think about yourself in Alabama at that pool. I know you were 11, but you were also 10 a year before that. Andy, I want you to think back to when you were 10 years old. Maybe the best lesson you had. What comes out of your soul when you think about being 10 and where you were in your life and the lesson that you could give our gappers.

If you. Here's how I'll say it. At 10 years old, if you can listen. In today's world, if you can listen despite everybody's ability to put something in your hands to capture your attention so you won't talk, if you can listen, your life will go a lot better. Things will come to you a lot faster, and you will understand a lot more.

I love it. So did you have trouble listening when you were young?

You know, there weren't all the games, and I did have trouble listening when I was young, but my parents told me, you can stay up and listen to the adults. You can listen to everybody talk, but if you talk, you're going to bed.

I love it.

You stay up as long as you want to.

Yeah.

But if you don't or if we notice you, you're going to bed.

Yeah.

I learned so much, and I learned the art of conversation and I learned how to disagree agreeably. I learned so much from those conversations that I didn't realize I was learning. And I fear for our generations today, when somebody says, here you guys go in here, you watch this video. Hey, you know, you go in here because we have. We have a couple of generations of people who have grown up without watching anybody.

Yeah, yeah.

Disagree agreeably.

Great. Great advice from a 10 year old. Andy Andrews. You know, you just made me remember I'm from a huge family. I was always encouraged to stay up, watch conversations. I used to sit on top of our refrigerator in a corner in our kitchen. And my family were a lot of scotch drinkers and cigarette smokers. So I would, I would listen for hours, hours on end to my uncles and my parents.

Yeah, and you figured out quickly, if they notice I'm here, they can get me out of this room quick.

Well, the stories are so good, I would never interrupt. I'm like, oh, my God, what happened now? Yeah, the greatest storytellers of all time were back in the 60s and 70s, no doubt. When you think about being 20, talk to us about where you were, what was your mentality, and what's the knowledge of that decade for you?

You know, When I was 20, my parents had just died and I had left college and I, you know, I left. I didn't quit. I left. You know, when you quit, you sign stuff and you tell people.

Right.

I just left. I just never went back. And so if I have to say, you know, my advice from that time would be take a breath, figure out what your passion is, and understand you don't have to spend. There will be money that will come to you later in life when you really know how you want to put that money to use. And so don't make decisions now that are going to put you in a position later in your life where you're going to have to pay money for the decisions you made when you didn't know what you wanted to do. And now you ain't got any money to fund what you really want to do.

Yeah, I mean, I got three millennial sons, all in their 20s. And, boy, as I look around, I mean, what you're saying is true. Everybody's putting so much pressure. Well, because they got 80,000. Well, not my kids, but 80,000 in student loans. Hurry up, get a career. Hurry up, get a career. And when we talk about attitude, you know, it's the way you dedicate yourself to the way you think, not the way. And I always tell people, if you're not living your vision, you're living somebody else's. And, boy, you can get trapped. And, Andy, I know you see it. People that are 50, 60 years old and you say, why the hell are you still working at this company? And they go, I don't know, I have no idea why. Right. So powerful advice for our millennial 20 year old listeners. So you walk through the 20s and things start happening. I'd love to know you in your 20s. I bet that was quite an experience. What was your profession or job when you're in your 20s?

First half of my 20s, I was selling bait, catching fish, cleaning fish for people, washing boats. The last part of my 20s, I.

Was working as a comedian, a stand up comedian. You remember your best joke.

Man, they were all average, pretty average. But I want to tell you something, they're all pretty average. But number one and number six on the attitude boosters.

Yes, sir.

Stood me in. Very good stead.

Excellent.

So ask me what I would tell people at age 30 and I'll tell you why. An average comedian was able to work for two years as the only opening act for Joan Rivers, Five years with Kenny Rogers, tour with Garth Brooks, with Chaka Khan, with Cher, Randy Travis, I could name a ton of them.

And you did that in your 20s or in your 30s?

It was in my late 20s when.

You were bridging the gap into your.

30S and then in my 30s.

Well, so we're going to go ahead and ask you, what's your best life less? What's your best knowledge booster? When you were 30, what became crystal clear to you?

Smile while you talk.

Love it. Yeah. Isn't that great? Just think if we all did that.

I'm not saying smile a lot.

Yeah.

I'm saying smile while you talk. Yeah. Because if you're communicating to people and you're, you know, you're a comedian with average material, it really helps if they like you a lot. And if you're a sales professional and you really want to close the deal, it really helps if they like you a lot. And if your wife is mad at you and you know she is a 10 and you clean up to be a 6, it helps a lot if she likes you.

Yeah, yeah, I love it. I one of my real estate mentors, Steve Decatur, you know, he high end, high end real estate and his, that was his rule. Whenever I bring bad news, I'm always smiling. Right. Well, the offer is a million dollars off of where you wanted. And he smiles. So Andy, boy, it sounds like in your young 30s you're on the road, you're with some pretty powerful people, you're with that celebrity that you knew. Certainly some lessons to learn there. And now all of a sudden you hit 40. And you look back and go, holy moly, look what I've done. From cleaning bait to being with celebrities. And now you're 40. Where were you? What was in your mind? What was going on? And what was the lesson? What was the mantra?

I'll tell you the lesson. You know, I was beginning to transition because on a bus one night, Kenny Rogers and I were talking about how we grew up, and I was talking about those seven things that I learned. And he was talking about growing up in a garage in Houston. And. And. And he said, you need to start talking about those seven things. And. And I said, like, they're not funny. And he said, yeah, but they're interesting and you're a talker, so you just work them in. I said, so be funny and then be serious. He said, yeah, and then be funny again. And so. And I said, so you want me doing your show? He said, yeah, I think so. So I did. So I was transitioning. And so, you know, pretty soon after that, I wrote the Traveler's Gift. And, you know, that overtook everything to such a degree. I haven't been booked as a comedian in 20 something years. Wow. And so, you know, because I'm worth a certain amount as a comedian, but my value is greater in using the things I learned as a comedian to help other people. And so the thing that I would tell you is at 40, I'd say, hey, don't be stuck on where you are. Look at what you have done as preparation, not what you have done to get you to this destination. Look at what you've done as preparation. There is more, and it may not look just like this.

I mean, how powerful is that? Right? I mean, it's never too late to start. 40 is the new 30. And. And it's almost like a springboard. It's almost like you're on that. That diving board and 40 your weight. Everything's done, and then, boom, the trajectory hits. So you write this book called the Traveler's Gift. It goes crazy. And my guess is that's what really started. Now you're starting to churn books and you're starting to do keynote speeches. Success is becoming of you, and it is happening for you. And at this point, you may have said, I can't believe this boy from Alabama is doing all this. So now all of a sudden you turn 50, which I just turned. I'm 51. And boy, I tell you, I didn't mind turning 50, but 51 made me think about some things. I had a lot of fun turning 50. So when you were 50, what did that look like for you? And talk to our gappers out there who may be sitting there at 50 about your mindset and your experience when that number hit.

You know, I can tell you what I would tell them without even explaining where I was. And I think you'll get it. You know how you read stuff about yourself occasionally or somebody will say something about you occasionally, and it just punches you in the gut. You know, they, they didn't like your book or they, they didn't like what you said, or they didn't like how you said it. And it's just like, you know, it's like, feels like, oh my gosh, this is what I do for a living. And it's like somebody came and told me my baby was ugly or something. And you know how that feels, right?

Oh, I do, sure.

And we all do. Everybody does, you know, and so. Okay. But then the other side of it is you got people that look, look at you and go, oh my gosh, you changed my life. Oh my gosh, you're the best I have ever seen.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh, there is nobody that high. So you have, you have both of those, right?

Right.

Okay, well, what I can tell you, the 50 year old Andy would tell you, you know how that first batch, you say, whoa, they're wrong. They're just wrong. Okay, well, you got to remember the second batch, they might be wrong too.

Right, Right.

So you got to keep yourself with the emotional IQ number six on the attitude boosters.

Yeah.

You gotta keep yourself with, with a, with a clear view of yourself and understand that you ain't never as bad as some people think. And you ain't never as great as they think either.

I love it, Andy. That's great. And it's a great message for all of us. But sometimes that's tough for people to do, you know, to live in reality. What do you see as the biggest mistakes people make with their attitude and. Or the biggest mistakes people make with their reality?

The biggest mistakes I believe people make with their reality is to believe that they cannot control their attitude.

Interesting. Yeah, right. False beliefs when it's all said and done. And number two, you know, number three.

And that, that old man. Glenn, you said false beliefs. That old man told me one time, Jones in the book. Is in the book the notice or Jones told me one time, he said, boy, you need to stop listening to yourself so much and start talking to yourself again.

Oh, now that's a golden nugget right there. Wow, Love that Wonder how old Jones was. I'd love to get his knowledge through the decades.

Man, I don't know because you look at him, you think we didn't know if he was 80 or 180.

You know, he probably had a tough life. Andy, I believe that we are now going to come to the last decade. I think you, you just turned 60, if you don't mind me saying, is that correct?

I do.

So, boy, life today, you've done a lot, you've helped a lot of people. You're a genuinely great person, a good person. We thank you for being here. The messaging, you know, that you gave us about helping other people by creating value in others lives to give value. The talk about Jones. This has been an incredible interview. And I think that our people listening to this, I mean, there's so many nuggets that you just dropped for our people to help them get to where they want to become and help them get to where they want to be. And your honest feedback about life and your reflection on what's going on in your life, very, very powerful. So it'll all culminate in this. Now we got this 60 year old Andy Andrews. What are you telling yourself? What are you telling your audiences? And what do you want to tell our gappers about the best advice you can give somebody right now that's sitting in their car listening to this or on the wall?

Here's what I'm saying. You look at all your friends, all the people you call friends, he's friend, they're friends, she's friend. I mean, there's a lot of them. You know, when you get to this age, there's a lot of people you call friends. All right, here's what I want to tell you. You ain't got as many friends as you think you do, right? However, the real friends that you do have, the real friends, they are more valuable tenfold than the value of what you previously thought the value was of all those people. When you get to a point in your life and there is a point in everybody's life when you come to the end of yourself and you realize who's still standing and you understand the value of those people in your life, you will be down on your knees thanking God for those people and you will understand how blessed you really are to have those people who knew everything about you, who know everything about you, and they don't think that you're horrible and they don't think that you're the greatest thing in the world. They love you. You're valuable to them and to their family, and they would protect you with everything they have. I mean, man, when you come to that, it's.

It's a wonderful thing and what a great way to end the show. The bottom line is it's those people who love you for you that are the greatest attitude boost in the world. And when you can go out and share your appreciation and gratitude for those special inside circle people, you want to talk about boosting your attitude, being positive, being grateful, start looking around and identifying those never failing friends. Andy, it's been so great. I feel like we're friends. I haven't been around a long time.

We are.

We are friends. We've gotten to know each other for one whole hour now. And I'm grateful to you and for your thoughtfulness and your kindness and your message about emotional intelligence, controlling your emotions and being nice. You are an outstanding guest. I really hope that if this episode boosted your attitude, please share it with a friend on social media and join the attitude movement on Facebook. And check us out at The University of Attitude.com and the University of attitude. Andy, I hope to have you in the university of attitude sometime. I never graduated from college. I said, you know what? I never graduated from college. So I went ahead and invented one. That's what I did. Huh?

There you go. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't graduate from. From college either. So I'm right there with you, bro.

All right, well, I hope someday to be as successful and impactful as you. And you. You impacted our audience. I'm so grateful to you. Ladies and gentlemen, Andy Andrews. Thank you, Andy.

Thank you, buddy. Thank you so much.

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