#32: Adversity with Charlie Engle

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Each week when you join me Podcast One, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. Come on this journey with me. Hi and welcome back. I'm so grateful you're joining me again this week. So much happening. Hoping everyone had a great Thanksgiving is ready for this extended holiday season. I can tell you that the past week has been intense. As you know, my new TEDx talk is out. And to say it's been stressful, exciting, overwhelming is an understatement for sure. Because it's one of these weird milestones in life that, you know, you always thought you would achieve someday or maybe it's on your bucket list. I don't know, it's just, it's surreal. However, as you know, my goal is to get 50 million views. Go big or go home. I put myself out there and take this risk not to touch a lot of people and make sure my idea spread. So, so much has happened. Basically my strategy that people don't see that I want to share with you. And it works. It's just a grind and it's not sexy. It's not really very fun. And I've been locked up in my house for over a week now is I've leveraged LinkedIn and I tell you this all the time. LinkedIn is amazing, game changing. And let me mention this. First I got on LinkedIn because I want to give you some perspective into sometimes how things take a while and we don't see it in the beginning. I think I got into LinkedIn probably in 2009. I was a VP of Sales of that radio company I worked for for 14 years. And I was posting not every day, no, but definitely weekly. You know, I had my resume up there. I didn't start off having reviews and recommendations, but you know, it's a decade of being on LinkedIn and I really got aggressive on LinkedIn. I would say probably four or five years ago, I was still at that radio company. I was a chief revenue officer. I started sharing my accomplishments, sharing some tips and strategies and just real life things, you know. So if I walked out of a meeting and something happened and I thought it was odd, I might comment about that on LinkedIn, you know. So again, nothing. Some people get slowed down with this idea of, oh, I don't have anything to say or why would anyone listen to me? Well, your perspective is unique to you and you could bring value to others. And last week Rory Baden talked about this, that sometimes people can only hear a message if it's at a certain frequency. They're not going to hear it from other people. And you might be that one person that could connect with them. So serving others is a great way to look at it and put yourself out there. And I'm so glad I did. And if you're not on LinkedIn and you're not aggressive on LinkedIn, this is your wake up call because you get ready for this. As you all know, my TEDx talk started off the worst possible way it could coming out on a holiday on Thanksgiving, right? Nobody's watching TEDx Talks. They say the most important 24 hours of your talk is the day it comes out. Well, epic fail for me, you know, and for all the people that spoke with me, we're all in the same boat. Well, anyhow, so I had to reboot after my child talked me off the ledge and figure out a way to implement the strategy come that next Monday morning. And I kind of just shut it down over Thanksgiving and tried to ignore it. I think the video got about 1100 or 1200 views just organically on its own and which is not, you know, near my 50 million goal, as you know. So I was a little discouraged. But Kim, Monday morning I decided there's a recipe for me that works on LinkedIn and I want to share it with you. And I have shared it with you before. When I utilize multiple the max number, I believe it's eight professional images of me speaking and then sharing something vulnerable in the actual content portion of the post, though using the right hashtags, of course, using a strong headline, you know, these are all important things for LinkedIn and adding value in some unique and different way that, you know, those posts seem to do very well for me. I've had a couple go viral and get millions of views. Well, you don't know which posts there'll be. Sometimes I think, oh my gosh, this is definitely going to go viral and crickets, nothing happens. But I kind of, I've learned now so you start getting experience, right? I'm on LinkedIn every day, I'm non stop posting on LinkedIn. I'm starting to know the platform better and better. And I had a feeling if I used eight of those images of me speaking at my TEDx and shared how vulnerable and scary, you know, the whole situation was for me by taking this risk and talking about something so taboo that no one wants to talk about women bullying women in the workplace and how awful it is. However, I get into the things that you can do to empower yourself to overcome those negative people, put an end to the mean girls and choose you. And I really hope you do. Oh my gosh, I go right back into my TEDx moment. Excuse that for a moment. Okay, so anyways, so this, this is all happening. I'm creating this post and I put it out there and I think today we're at almost 800,000 views of that post. Yeah, hundreds of. I think there's 600 or 700 comments it's been shared so far this morning. 155 times. I mean, this is epic. So when you talk about getting down and thinking, okay, my TEDx talk came out literally at the worst time of the year, couldn't be any worse, came out on a holiday and then figuring out, okay, let's not get too discouraged, let's focus on solutions, let's pull a lever here. Something that could go really well. If it doesn't, we'll just pivot again and go to the next strategy. And this strategy is working really well. The TEDx talk right now on YouTube, I believe it's up to 12,000 views, 300 likes, hundreds of comments that are really positive. So I'm and a lot of shares. So if you could please go to YouTube today, comment like and share my TEDx, I would be so appreciative because this message is something that needs to break out and reach a lot of people. One of the things you'll notice if you go on my LinkedIn page and see the viral post is a lot of people are talking about how they've been bullied, and not just by women, by men, but men versus men. You know, it's just this bullying in the workplace thing is it's gotta end. And the only way things like this will end is when we start talking about it, becoming transparent about it and shining a light on it. That's how you make shame and negativity go away. Let's amp up the light on this thing and shut it down forever. Because no one deserves to dread going to work every day when you need your paycheck. It's just, it's a horrible situation for anyone to be in. I was in it way too long and it literally took a physical and mental toll on me. And I don't wish that on anyone. So I want people to know you are not alone. Yes, there are not nice people out there. However, we. There are a lot better people in the world and there's more good people than there are bad. So when the good people rise up together to shine a light on the negativity, we can squash it and put an end to that dark situation. So please, it would mean the world to me if you could go today. It's the Me Too movement. Misstep or mistake. I'm taking a look at expanding the MeToo movement. Not just from men harassing women, but including all bullies, all harassers, specifically the women that attack other women. So please check it out for me and if you could like, comment and share, I promise you this, it'll touch someone in your circle and it's. It's going to help someone know they are not alone. And for a long time I thought I was alone. But after seeing this post on LinkedIn, I'm so grateful to know I'm not alone and you're not alone and we're all in this together. So back to LinkedIn. Make sure you're using the right hashtags and you can go in on your search bar on LinkedIn and type in different hashtags and see how many people follow. I was originally just doing things like motivation, leadership, podcast, et cetera, TedX. And then I started seeing sales. Had 5 million people following it. So now I'm gonna put sales on all of my posts, right? So just figure out the audience you're trying to reach, what are the topics they would be interested in and you wanna go ahead and use that hashtag so that you can reach more people. And what ends up happening is you'll get a note from LinkedIn, hey, your post is trending in inspired or your post is trending in this. And that's when you start reaching a new audience and really growing. Another thing that I do that works very well is I put on my post if you, you know, if you're picking up what I'm putting down, hit the like button below and please comment and share this post so you can reach more people. Ask people for what you want. If you want people to share your posts, then write that. Ask them. Do a video Saying, I'd really appreciate if you'd share this. It would mean the world to me. Right? Because why wouldn't you ask for what you want? Instead of getting frustrated that you don't get what you want, be sure to bold, raise your hand, ask for help. What's the worst that happens? No one shares it onto the next one. Right? So that was my strategy with the TEDx. Okay? I found out the the video launched on a holiday. I cried, rebooted, picked myself back up and tried a different strategy. And I'm constantly trying other strategies on other platforms right now. None of them have taken off the way that LinkedIn has for me. So again, I've been on LinkedIn for a decade. I've been aggressive on it for at least four to five years and I'm beyond consistent on it now. I've tons of reviews and recommendations, I post things I'm really proud of and I really encourage you to do the same because you can get on LinkedIn today and it's in this growth phase where you can grow within one year, you'll be having amazing results. So if you're not having great results right now on LinkedIn, I really encourage you start getting aggressive, be consistent, make this one of your 2020 resolutions and watch what happens. Your business will take off and ask for what you want. 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You're going to be grateful to Scott too, after you meet Charlie. Charlie's a global ultra endurance athlete and the founder of the 5.8 Global Adventure Series. One of the most ambitious expeditions in modern history. Trekking from the lowest to the highest points on all seven continents. Are you kidding me? He's also one of the most accomplished ultramarathon runners in the world, having placed in hundreds of races in dozens of countries. His incredible athletic ability was profiled in the film Running the Sahara. Narrated by the one and only Matt Damon, the documentary highlighted his historic record setting journey with two teammates across the world's largest desert, running more than two marathons a day for 111 consecutive days. That's a total of 4,500 miles. Charlie's Transcontinental run through deep sand and politically unstable countries remains one of the premier accomplishments of the ultra endurance and adventure sport worlds. After crossing the Sahara, seeing the global water crisis firsthand, Charlie raised more than 6 million for clean water projects in Africa and helped establish an organization called H2O Africa, now known as water.org, one of the largest water nonprofits in the world. Charlie's memoir, Running man, became a bestseller shortly after it was published in 2016. And while it's a lot about his inspiring life story, it's more than just running. It's more than accomplishing goals. It's about facing demons, overcoming impossible odds, keeping your sense of humor, and discovering the redemptive power of putting one foot in front of the other. Even when you feel like you can't Keep going. Charlie is an unbelievable dynamic speaker. He's enthralled audiences all around the world, from keynotes for the Boston Marathon, Google to the National Geographic Society, the United nations, and the deck of the nuclear class US Naval aircraft carrier. Are you kidding me? He's been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic Runner's World, All Things Considered, Men's Journal, the Tonight show with Jay Leno. He lives with his wife in Durham, North Carolina. So this is mind blowing. And I can't even believe I didn't know about Charlie before. So I have a feeling you might not know about him, but to gain some insight into his life, what he has faced, what he's overcome, and now what he's committed to and building to make the world a better place, if this doesn't inspire you, nothing will. Hang tight. We'll be right back. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited that we've got Charlie joining us today. And as I had mentioned earlier, Charlie is a master in overcoming adversity, pushing limits beyond belief. I mean, Charlie, literally, your life needs to be a major movie because it's so flipping unbelievable.

I appreciate that. I'm also incredibly good at drinking coffee, so I, you know, I have other skills, too, but I appreciate that very much. It has, let's put it this way, it hasn't been boring so far.

Yeah, I mean, I get that. I definitely am cut from the same cloth, but you are just at such a different level. And I want everyone to know that not only have I researched Charlie a lot, but we actually have a great personal friend and a number of friends in common. And this is real. So I'm so excited, Charlie, to get into your story, because I know for people that don't know you yet or haven't read your book or aren't familiar with your accomplishments, your setbacks, they're going to be blown away. So I was hoping you could start us giving us your background, where you came from and what some of these crazy adversities are that you've overcome.

Yeah, well, thanks for having me, first of all. And I mean, the story is. It's complex, but it's also pretty simple. You know, I grew up in North Carolina. I divorced parents, 18 years old when I was born. Kind of grew up in a very adult world. I stayed with my mom, and she was in the theater world, and so I was surrounded by adults in early childhood, and I kind of grew up fast and. And in high school, I actually decided to move in with my dad, and he was the Exact opposite of the artsy person. And I became this driven person to try to please and get the attention of my father. So I was the captain of all the sports teams. I was top 10 in my class, student body president, dated a couple of cheerleaders. I did everything I could to be that guy. And of course that didn't do what I wanted it to do, but nevertheless, I ended up going to UNC Chapel Hill for college. And I got there after my phenomenal high school career thinking that I was going to be just as special there. And I got to college and realized there were 4,000 other freshmen that had the exact same credentials as I did. Pretty quickly I got lost. I realized I was actually pretty, pretty average. And what I have to interject there.

You are not average, but. Okay, continue.

Yeah, at the time, though, that's what it felt like, you know, as a 17 year old. And I just turned 18 in September of that year and the drinking age in North Carolina was still 18 back then. And what I figured out very quickly was that I was an amazing, like first team all American drinker and that I could just simply drink more than anybody else around me. And I mean, it was, it's not, you know, it's funny how when you're young, you find ways to sort of separate yourself from the crowd. And, you know, that became the thing. It's almost like a trick, you know, hey, look what he can do. And you know, and that's who I became. And a lot of other things happened, of course, that were positive in college, but. But ultimately there's not a great future in drinking. And cocaine became a big part of my life too, in college. And it was the 80s and cocaine was truly ubiquitous on campus. And I sort of zip past this part of my story. But in short, because anybody, well, I was going to say anybody that's ever been around addiction. But the fact of the matter is everyone listening to this has experience with addiction. Everybody, you either are an addict, you have a family member who's an addict, you have a friend, a loved one, someone that you're connected to that either is in recovery, needs to be in recovery, didn't survive because of their disease. So everyone knows what it's like. And so I was lucky to live through a lot of harrowing things. And I basically spent about 12 years from the time I was 17 until I was 29 years old as a really heavy duty drug addict and alcoholic.

But you were holding down a job during that time?

I was. And I actually wasn't just holding down a job. You know, my form of addiction and obsession actually meant that I was always the top salesperson, I was the over. I continued to be the overachiever in this part of my life to a great degree so that I could justify my behavior on this other side of my life. And you know, my joke was always that the boss won't fire the top salesperson. And that turned out not to be true, by the way. And you know, eventually everyone gets tired of your bs, you know, if you're, if you're doing that kind of behavior and that kind of life. And so, you know, it was a very long and difficult 12 year stretch where, you know, I kind of tried everything to quit, including, you know, I went to treatment once, I would go to meetings, I would quit for, you know, my job, my boss, I'd quit for my wife, I'd quit for everyone else, you know, except for me. And then When I was 29 years old, my first son was born. And I thought, finally for sure I can quit for my son because I mean, I now have this other human being on the planet that for the first time ever, I feel love, both giving and receiving. And as an addict, I just thought I was not entitled to that. So I felt like I had hope for the first time and he was going to save me, basically. And a couple of months later, there I am in the worst neighborhood in town and at the end of a six day drug binge and the police are searching my car. And you know, in that moment I realized nobody was coming to save me. You know, I had the clearest thought.

You know, hang on, I have one question because I don't think I can even wrap my head around this. You, for six days did drugs and alcohol, didn't go home, you were living on the street.

And I smoked crack and drank for six days straight. And that wasn't uncommon. And you know, that binge ended with three bullet holes in my car and I could no longer pay for the $15 a night dumpy motel I was staying in. And, and you know, and there I was sitting on the ground watching the police search my car and there's bullet holes in the car that were put there by somebody trying to shoot me. You know, it wasn't like they were shooting at my car. And you know, and it just. The clearest thought I ever had, you know, came into my head even after six days with no sleep. And that was just that nobody's coming to save you, you know, and if I don't take charge of this. If I don't do something about it for myself, then nobody else is going to and I'm not going to survive. You know, I mean, it was not. It really was like choosing between living and dying. And I chose running.

Meaning when you actually got out of there, you made the decision to change for you and you just leaned into running.

Well, I went to a meeting. I went to an AA meeting that night, that very night. And I got up the next morning and I put on my running shoes and look, I had used running in the past. I was a binger. I would go on these month or two month long binges of drinking and drugging and then I would say, that's enough, I'm done. And I would quit. And every addict knows this behavior. And I would run and I would exercise and I would go run a marathon or I would go do something athletic. Because in my mind, again, clearly drug addicts don't run marathons. And that's also not true. The fact is, for the first time, I decided that I was going to use running as a positive thing. You know what? I went to an AA meeting and I ran every single day for three straight years without missing a day. Not one day that I miss. For me, in that way, that's what it took for me to start building an actual life based on some foundation, you know, that wasn't tied into what I was doing. It was tied into who I am. Because I think a lot of people struggle with this. You know, we tie our self esteem into what we've accomplished, into what we're doing far more than how we actually feel about ourselves. And that's what I was doing. And I. So I began the journey, it's now 27 years ago. I began the journey of learning more about myself and figuring out this path I was on. And running was a big part of that. Still is.

How about, how does forgiveness play into this? Because when I'm hearing you tell this story, of course I'm thinking about your wife and your children.

Well, I mean, yeah, it's a good question. First of all, to take a tiny step back, I'm a fourth generation addict. So I come by my addiction very honestly. From a genetic standpoint. Environmentally, I grew up around it. My wife, my first wife also grew up with an alcoholic father. So it's not surprising that we met and married because she was comfortable with my kind of craziness. She didn't like it, she didn't support it, but she had grown up in that kind of atmosphere. So she was able to deal with it well. You know, by the time I finally got sober, we had one child and then we had another one that came soon, and we stayed together another six or seven years. But the fact of the matter was, the sober version of me no longer needed a caretaker, no longer needed somebody to call in to work for me or take care of me or do everything that I wasn't capable of doing. And, you know, when I got married, when we got married, you know, I needed all those things because I was pretty much incapable of taking care of myself. Like, I could do the work and I could do those things, but all the other details of life, I needed that person.

And.

And we worked together as a team and, you know, we had these kids and we had what I like to term as probably the, you know, the most amicable divorce ever. But I recognized that, you know, I didn't. I wasn't in love and I wasn't gonna stay in a relationship forever, that just because I felt guilty that she stuck with me through the hard times and she was smart enough to understand that and be understanding about it. And, you know, we've both moved on. That was a long time ago now, and I married again and married, you know, for all the right reasons. And my boys are both in their twenties now and, you know, doing amazingly well. You know, one of them has struggled with addiction but is clean and sober, and the other is, you know, trying to save the world, heading to the Peace Corps in a couple of months, and, you know, and doing adventurous, positive things out there in the world. And so as a father, especially one that came from where I came from, I feel incredibly proud of the fact that they've, you know, they survived having me as a father.

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Do you what that that part really interests me because as you mentioned, you know addiction is genetic and hereditary. So what what do you attribute that to? The success that they're having as people is that luck. Was there a strategy?

Well, it's a question I get a lot from parents who are struggling with their own children and addiction. And I'll be honest, there's no easy answer. My own, you know, my son, my first son, even though he, despite the fact he grew up in a very sober household, I mean, his mom had, you know, a glass of wine here and there, but I was, I was, you know, sober completely. And he knew from a very early age the risks because I told him, I'm like, you know, look, I know kids are going to do things, but if you choose to go down this path, you know, it may not work out well. And, you know, sure enough, I mean, at 14 or 15, he started, you know, that's when he started. And he was also a high achiever in school. But, you know, he's now 27 and got almost three years clean and sober. But I guess the point of that is as a parent, I actually reached a point where I had to like, let him go. I couldn't save him. Just like he couldn't save me all those years back. I couldn't save him. I mean, I did literally save him a couple of times. But ultimately, you know, he had to get to a place where he had to decide whether he wanted to live or die, you know, because he was doing. Unfortunately, what we've seen in recent years with young people is they're getting into heroin and fentanyl and a lot of really, really deadly drugs almost from the start. Whereas my age group, I don't know about yours, but most people started by drinking some and smoking some weed. And there was this slow ramp up of things that you tried. 16, 15 year olds now don't think anything about, you know, putting a needle in their arms. And it's, and it's really a, you know, it's a crazy thing. And then my older, my younger one rather, you know, he just never, you know, he drinks a beer here and there and he certainly smoked some weed in his life and, you know, whatever, but he had a pretty typically graduated college with honors and likes going to the Peace Corps. And he's just sort of a, you know, a normal dude. And I'd love to take credit for any of that, but every parent kind of understands that it's, it's a bit of a crapshoot. And you know, the one thing that they did get and do get today still from me is unconditional love. I mean, we hear it all the time, but, you know, I differentiate between mistakes that they make. And that somehow being tied to the love that I'm willing to give them. And I didn't get that same sort of love from my own father. You know, his, his admiration or love was always tied to baggage and to accomplishments. And it was very fleeting. And I vowed that I would never do that with my own kids.

Wow, that's amazing. So when I hear you explaining that one of the things that comes to mind for me is not only around addiction, how you mentioned people have to want to do something, but also would you agree that that's with any illness, anxiety, depression, you know, those are the things that are popping into my mind. If someone doesn't want to get help or help themselves, you can't make them do that.

No, you can try an intervention. You can. And I'm not saying that those things shouldn't be tried, but the fact of the matter is, you know, embarrassing a person into it or somehow like forcing them into it, occasionally it will work. And look, I will say this because I think it's important. When I went to treatment as a 26 year old for 30 days, three years before I finally got sober, that treatment did impact me. I didn't stay sober after that, but I did get an education and I did begin to understand that, okay, there is an answer to this if I choose to take it. So that step along the process was important, even though I wasn't able to stay sober. So I encourage people that hear this and if it's your problem, then just keep moving down the path. If it's a loved one's problem and you're trying to help them, don't stop trying to help them. But at some point understand that you can't enable them. You know, my wife, my first wife, enable and enabling is very simple. You know, she called my work and she covered for me every time I screwed up. And she like, she took care of things that made sure that I wasn't held accountable for my behavior. And there comes a point where you can't continue to do that for someone and they have to suffer if there aren't consequences. I don't care if you're a kid or an adult, if there's not consequences to your behavior, why would you stop?

So true. And it sounds so simple listening to you say it. But you know, I'll tell you, having issues in my family and in my life with so many people with addiction. I've been an Al Anon myself. You know, there is education out there, as you mentioned, there is a process to handle and manage These things, which is so important, I think, for people to experience and access that information in these communities for support, which are amazing. But when you're in it, when you're in the throes, it's very hard to get this clarity. And that's why it's so important to speak to someone who's been there before so you can understand what's actually transpiring. Because there can be, and I've been in this myself, this desperate need to want to fix somebody and to want to fix the situation and to feel like there isn't a clear solution, how to make that happen.

No. And I understand, too, that we all want to, especially if it's someone whose life is really at risk. We don't want to wake up one day having lost that person and not feel like we've done everything we can to help them or to save them. But in general, and this is a broad generalization for any addict or someone suffering from depression or PTSD or whatever it might be, the answer is, I love you. I'm here for you. You know, don't wait too long to get a handle on this. I mean, you have to let them know how you feel, that the problem is recognized. And you know what? You might risk losing that friendship or that family member, at least for a period of time. You know, it might piss them off and they might say, screw you, and whatever that happens, it's happened to me. But pretty much in every instance, it comes back around, as long as they survive. And for the people that don't ever get it and who remain a using addict or alcoholic or in their depression or whatever for the rest of their lives, I've lost a few of those people as not even as friends. I'm still their friend. But misery loves company. So ultimately, they reach a point where they don't want to be my friend, even because I make them feel guilty about their behavior. I mean, I'm very open about this idea of attraction rather than promotion also. And the simple version of that is just simply how I behave is way more important than what I say. So if I'm acting in a certain way and I'm living my life in a way visibly sober, all of these things, people are smart. They watch that if I make myself available friends around me or even online and on the Internet, they see me, they hear me talk about it. If they find something of value in it, then they're hopefully going to be attracted to that and explore the options for themselves. The moment I turn the corner and start Saying, here's what you should do. That's when I begin to change the conversation. And people tend to be repelled by being given orders like, nobody, nobody wants to be told unless they've specifically. Like, there are addicts who are at their very bottom finally, who will reach out to me and say, I'm done. What do I do then? I have very specific answers about going to treatment, about going to meetings, about getting like, look, I still go to meetings today after 27 years of being clean and sober. I go to AA meetings, but I don't, I don't go because I'm worried about drinking today. I go because I am part of a community. And it's the same with running and with sports and with all of this. And I'm a plant based eater too. So I have these three amazing and supportive communities that feed me literally sometimes and my passions. And I think that the other part about it is trying to get addicts or trying to get people suffering from depression or ptsd, they really, you cannot do it alone. And the people that do it alone, sure, there's people who every once in a while they're like, oh, you know, one day I just woke up and I quit drinking. After all these years of problems, all the people I've known that have done that, yeah, they may have finally quit drinking, but they still have all the same issues. Like they're still pretty miserable people. Because how can you take something that important and not replace it with something else? Like something has to take the place of all that time and energy. And so it's about community and fellowship, I think.

Absolutely. So for you and I really want to move into this and I'm glad you brought up the plant based, the marathons, the ultra marathons and the running community. You transitioned and filled that void in your life with this very healthy, I mean, like the complete antithesis and leaned into. And I'm understanding from what you're saying right now, where you were putting so much energy before into the addiction, alcohol and drugs, now you're putting that energy into the marathons, the running, that community and the plant based. And how did that. I mean, I'm sure it didn't happen in the drop of a hat, but how did it evolve into what it is today with the amazing adventures that you go on?

Man, it's a great question. And the underlying thing that I'll say, you almost said it and you could have people have said, didn't you just switch addictions? It seems like I stopped drinking or doing drugs and Then I all of a sudden started running like a maniac from the outside. I think people looked at that and they're like, man, all you did was just stop doing drugs and start running. And it took me a few years to understand the difference. Addiction, depression, ptsd, all these things are about hiding. They're about being invisible and maybe even having no feelings. Or if you have a feeling, you find a way to tamp it down. Running, or any athletic venture for that matter. Cycling, CrossFit. Well, I don't care what it is, there's no hiding. Like you are all there. Like you have no place to go when you reach that point of like, I can't do anymore, I can't run anymore, I can't whatever. And so it's all about shining a bright spotlight on who I am. And I crave that situation. And so now I purposely put myself into difficult situations physically because I know there's going to be an amazing reward buried in there somewhere. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's not. But you know, in those three years, the first three years when I didn't miss a day, I ran more than 30 marathons in those first three years. And people are like, yeah, you really got that whole addiction thing under control. And you know, and the thing is, though, we all face this misery, loves company. I mean, one of the weird things is there was criticism hidden in those comments because some of those people were envious of what I was accomplishing. And the only way people know how to handle that kind of thing is to criticize it. And so it took a while for people. Again, I go back to attraction rather than promotion. People had to, like, see who I was becoming. And for those who knew me as an addict and now knew me like I was this whole different, energetic, enthusiastic, full of life person. Whereas not that I was a bad person as an addict, but I was certainly an unknown person. And now here I am just trying to live a life of exploration, of service. You know, I love the saying too, to keep it, you have to give it away. And that's what you do. And that's what I hopefully do also, you know, you, if you have a passion, a gift, something you're good at, I learned very early on it's important for me to share that with other people, not force it on them. There's a difference, you know, but if someone says to me, hey, I'd really like to be a runner, you know, how do I do it? Or I'd like to try plant based eating, how do I Do it or I want to quit drinking. How do I do it? If they actually ask me that question, that gives me permission to then say, I can't necessarily tell you how to do it, but I can tell you how I did it and maybe you'll find something of value there.

So I have to tell you, this is so funny. That plant based concept, I'm very new to it. For whatever reason, I just never learned about it. I don't know anyone that did it. And my son and I watched this special on Netflix called the Game Changer. Are you familiar with that? So that completely changed my mind. My son is 12. We were both freaking out and learning that Arnold Schwarzenegger is on plant based. All these amazing, humongous athletes and we didn't understand how that was possible. And now to know you and to know what you are able to endure through these massive runs and not sleeping and how your body, at your age, you don't get injured, like how I get injured. So I start looking at all these things and it's very clear to me that plant based is the way I want to go. But Charlie, it is hard. I mean, I am really struggling as a mom trying to figure out, I have tried to make so many different things and I'm not a natural cook. So what are some of the directions you give to people who do want to be plant based and are like me saying, I don't know how to do it and it's really, it's a struggle. Maybe I should just go back to chicken again.

Yeah, it's a great question. I appreciate you asking it because the thing I remind people, and I mean you right off the bat, is it's progress, not perfection. So it doesn't mean you. And I think that's the overwhelming part for some people is they feel like, oh my God, I want to make this change. But it's such a change to do all at one time and to say, I'm never going to eat meat again. And I tell people regularly, look, if you normally eat meat seven days a week, cut it back to three. I mean, it'd be great if you cut it back to none. But allow this transition time or frankly, 20 years ago, what I did was say, you know, I'm going to go 30 days without eating meat. And after that 30 days, I felt great and I just never went back again. Like, it was just, it was this interesting transformation. The suggestions I have are, you know, first of all, there's some really well known people out there who have done you know things like cookbooks. Rich Roll is a friend of mine and you know, a well known podcaster who has. Do you know Rich or do you know who I'm talking about?

I know who he is. I don't know him.

Yeah, so Rich Roll and he has, he and his wife have a couple of amazing like plant based cookbooks. So finding actual things that you feel like and what you'll find in those cookbooks though are recipes that look very familiar. Frankly, I'm not really a recipe guy personally, but like I buy my wife and I buy and use a lot of, you know, I just simply call them fake meats because it's the easiest thing to say. Like, so beyond meat in full disclosure has been a supporter of mine through the years and me a supporter of them. And so I still make the same dishes I'll make tonight. I've got gluten free pasta, which a lot of my diet is also. Our diet is almost completely gluten free and not because we have gluten allergies, but I've learned, especially the older I get, gluten causes inflammation. It's not complicated. Every sciencei mean not just science, every you know, this isn't ait isn't a debate. And so if you're a runner or an athlete, if you eat too much gluten, you're going to have inflamed joints and you're going to be achier. So you'll note most people who eat a lot of gluten will notice a big difference if they switch. And life has changed a lot in the last few years. There's amazing gluten free everything now. Ten years ago, everything was gluten free, basically meant taste free. It just was like crap, at least in my world. Now you've got great gluten free breads, pastas, all of these things. We eat brown rice pasta with a marinara sauce and I'll take spicy Italian sausage from beyond meat and chop that up and put it in the pasta. And if I served it to you or anybody else, you would not know the difference. So you still have all this amazing. You're getting more protein. Like I get way more protein from nuts and beans than the average meat eater by far. And it's been proven over and over again that plant proteins are far more efficient and you can really count on the protein in plant proteins and in nuts and beans much more than you can animal proteins because an animal is like a, it's a thing. So you are basically getting everything that, that animal ever ingested as part of the package. Right. And so whether you care about the environmental part or not, that's another topic. I do, but I understand not everyone, that's not a big issue. But from a health perspective, it's way easier to eat a super healthy diet that doesn't include meat. I mean, it really is simple. My day starts every day with cereal or oatmeal. I cut out dairy many, many years ago. Also, we have everything in our fridge from oat milk to almond milk to cashew milk to, you name it, we've got it. We make recipes. There's a guy, Dr. Gundry, I don't know if you've ever heard of him, but Dr. Gundry is a. He makes a line of supplements and cookbooks and stuff. Anyway, so we, like for Thanksgiving this year, we made. My wife always makes vegan macaroni and cheese. And for years she made it for the whole family and no one knew. And finally kind of the secret came out and everybody was like, and this is a traditional Southern family. Like, this is not, you know, this is a, you know, a meat and dairy. Actually her parents were dairy farmers when they were kids and, and whatever. So, I mean, we come from a very traditional she does family in that way. And once. It's not that everybody's made the transition. Most of them still eat meat in the family, but they're very open to the possibility of not having it. And we eat, I mean, literally every day is green vegetables and pastas and beans. And again, we. You get hamburger patties, chicken patties, they're all pea protein or whatever it might be, but try them. They taste good.

They do.

Like for Morningstar Farm, you get chicken patties and they're like four and a half dollars for four patties. I mean, that's just price wise, it's as good as or better than actual meet.

All right, I'm sold on this. I really am. Okay, what else give me. Are you into the cryo phase? I mean, are there other things that you recommend for people because of what you're able to endure physically? Do you have other tools in your toolkit for us?

I keep it simple. Sleep and hydration are the two absolute 100% most important things in my life from, from a physical standpoint, like in how I take care of myself. And I think that that is. And I love always highlighting those because they're things that anyone can do. You know, you can make sure that you're hydrated, you can make sure that you get, I mean, I Get eight hours of sleep every day no matter what. My. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen once in a while that I don't. But in general I get my sleep and I do. I learned to meditate a long time ago and so it's kind of funny, it sort of drives my wife nuts sometimes because I am, I have a very busy mind, most of us do. But my, you know, so I look back years ago when I'd be that guy, I would put my head on the pillow and it's like, you know, like I'm thinking 20 different things and I can't go to sleep and I'm anxious and, and I learned to meditate and I mean I can be asleep. I can leave the camera on and fall asleep right here in five minutes if I set my sights on it. I think that sleep hydration. I do take a lot of supplements, but all the supplements that I take are geared towards anti inflammation. There are things like turmeric, boswellia, quercetin, ginger, these are all things cinnamon. These are all things that are proven anti inflammatory. That's where most of that's good. I do use hemp oil. Hemp's all the rage these days. Cbd, obviously not with THC in it. There's plenty of CBD products out there that, that don't have any weed byproducts in them, so to speak. I do believe in that. This company called Hemp Lux. Frankly they do give me product in full disclosure. But I think that any of those companies out there would actually give me product. But I chose the one that I think is the highest quality and it helps with anxiety because I am, I'm not an overly anxious person because I run. Running takes that anxiety away from me. But you know, it does help me sleep a little. It just allows me to be calmer. I only take a little bit at night under my tongue and there's no, there's no narcotic effect. I didn't have to change my sobriety date. I think also that exercise, when it gets cold, when it starts getting dark at 4 o' clock in the frigging afternoon and all that kind of stuff, I mean even for you in South Florida, it changes the way we approach things. And so the most important thing that I can say to people is actually I'll use a quote that somebody asked me recently. I was giving a big talk, thousand people. I took some questions afterward and, and as you know, one of the things that I did was I became the first person to run all the way across the Sahara desert. And I ran two marathons every day for 111 consecutive days. So for 111 days in a row, I ran basically two marathons a day across the world's biggest desert. And so this guy asked me, he's like, how is that even physically possible? Like, how is it possible? And it was interesting. I had never thought about this answer exactly, but what came out, I think is right. I said, it's not physically possible. It's only mentally possible. And I'm not trying to even be profound. I mean, I meant that wholeheartedly. It was only possible because that's what I was there to do. And there was never any doubt in my mind that I would keep going every single day. And some of it comes from my addiction history. And I remind myself all the time that the things that I faced for that 12 year period of time in a Dixon are so much worse than anything I've faced as a sober person in running or in obstacle course racing or in adventure racing. Those are hard physical challenges, but they're ones that I chose for myself. The far more difficult challenges that we all face on a daily basis are disease, relationship issues, job problems. Like, these are the things that, while we have a hand in making them happen, very often, they seem to come out of the blue. So I categorize things as like, things we, you know, suffering that we choose for ourselves and suffering that comes out of the blue. So self inflicted is the part that I love, because anyone I ever ask, like, what is the most formative thing that's ever happened to you in your life, you know, that has created this person that you are, like, whatever it was, you probably just thought of it for yourself. It's almost. I mean, I've never met anyone yet that it wasn't, if not trauma, it was a challenge. It was a hard situation that formed the really the best parts of who we all are. So why wouldn't I take that knowledge and go challenge myself with really hard physical things? Because when I run a hundred miler, which I've run a lot of them, it's not easy. And I know that at some point I'm going to want to quit. Like, it's 63 miles. I'm just like anybody else. And I'm like, why did I think this was a good idea? But if I can find a way to push past that. And as I like to always say, and it gets back to even addiction, Never make a big decision at a low moment. Most of us make the worst decisions in our lives when we're at a particularly low moment. Because whether it's to quit your job, quit your relationship, make some drastic decision, or just to drop out of a race. Because in a hundred Miler, I know that when I feel like quitting, it's my body telling me that it needs to be fed. So I need to eat a bunch of calories, I need to drink, I need to walk and just keep. It's good metaphor for life. Just keep moving forward and let those things that I'm now feeding myself with absorb into my body. And I will feel better. And every single time, it doesn't mean I feel good. I mean, 100 miler is hard, but I do feel better when I do the things that I know how to do. And I think that's the biggest thing. We so often, all of us ignore the things that we've already learned, the same lessons we've learned before, we know how to help ourselves. Whether it's go to a recovery meeting for trauma, whatever your trauma might be, or whether it's just to go out for a run or go hit the gym or call a friend and say, my life sucks right now. Because just saying out loud what's going on is therapy. And it and it almost always takes that pressure off.

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That's so good. Thank you for sharing that.

Wow, that was such a long run on sentence. Sorry about that.

No, I felt like I was at one of your speeches for a minute. I feel so fired up. So no one gets off this show Charlie, without sharing what the toughest moment in your life was when you struggled with your confidence. What is that time in your life when you look back?

Well, it's for me it's complicated but I will say and you know my Story. And I'll preface it with this. What happens to us in life isn't nearly as important as what we do about it, right? I mean, that's cliche in a way, but it's like, it's how we respond. I hate the saying things happen for a reason because nothing happens for a reason until you figure out what the reason is. And it isn't going to come knocking on your door. You got to figure out like, why did this thing happen and what am I going to do about it? For me, I was 19 years clean and sober. This is nine years ago, and life was good. I was given talks all over the world, I was sponsored and all of that. And I ended up getting arrested and ended up doing 21 months in federal prison as someone who was 19 years clean and sober. And it was, I mean, look, it was all over the New York Times, it's in my book, it's on my website, whatever. The details aren't really all that important. But you know, it was the biggest trial literally of my life because all of a sudden, especially in this world that we live in, and you know, one day I was a hero and the next day it's like every website, every running everything, like, whatever it was, I was also, I was like overnight I was no longer a person to be admired. And it of course made me question, you know, who I am, who I really am. Am I really the person that people are saying that I am? Because we live in a society that is all about the headlines, you know, and nobody reads past the second paragraph and all they, you know, they're going to make that judgment based on that if they don't have personal history with you. And so for me, you know, how I responded was the most important thing and I used it. What I learned is that if I can face both good and bad things that happen to me in life with, you know, an open mind and a curious heart, if I can approach everything with those with that attitude, it'll work out. So I literally approached federal prison with this like open minded attitude, you know, and I get there. And for perspective, the first guy I met was African American. And you know, he got 25 years for a tiny little amount of drugs, you know, that me as a clean cut white guy had in my hands a hundred times. And the point is there's always inequities in our society and in life and things aren't fair. So once you get past the fact that this isn't fair, whatever this is, then you have to figure out who you are, I don't know life, you don't really find out who you are until everything falls apart. And I used to always tell other people that. And then it happened to me and I got a chance to put, you know, my philosophy, you know, to the test. And as you know, I wrote a book and I'm. I'm. Look, I'm very open about the struggles, and I still struggle today with things. I don't have all the answers, certainly not for everybody else. I struggle with my own answers. But. But I do know that as long as I continue to move forward, you know, and I don't make big decisions. You know, when I'm. When I'm at a low point, when things are difficult, then I know it'll all work out.

I love that. Charlie, thank you so much for being so transparent. It is so incredibly refreshing. How does everyone find you? How? Talk to me about the book and where people can find it.

The number one simplest way is just my website and it's just Charlie Engel.com and I'll send you a couple of things that you're welcome to share with your folks as you put this out. And all the social media handles are on my website. I do write a blog. I am launching an app later this month that'll actually be for my latest set of adventures with the 5.8 Global Adventure Series where I'm going from the lowest elevation to the highest on all seven continents over the next couple of years. So, you know, final message is just, first of all, I'm 57 and I don't. It's actually baffling to me that I talk about that as if that matters even because it just doesn't. You know, I take good care of myself and I see only opportunities and not obstacles. And you just got to keep moving, man. You just got to keep moving. So I hope I get a chance to come talk to you again.

Oh, absolutely. Charlie, thank you so, so much. I really appreciate everything that you shared today. You inspired me and I know you're inspiring everyone. So thank you so much for being here.

My pleasure. Thanks, Heather.

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I swear, I'm so committed to this plant based thing and I know that it sounds crazy and, and frankly, my son thinks I'm crazy and I haven't found it to be easy. So I'm gonna go easy on myself that it's gonna be an evolution. But my goal is really to get myself there and to find a way to become better at cooking plant based, which currently I'm somewhat clueless on. So we all start as a beginner initially and I definitely am one today. So before I get to answering your questions, I want to remind you about Pluto tv. It. It's the leading free streaming television service. You can watch over 100 TV channels and thousands of movies on demand, all completely for free. Pluto TV doesn't even ask you for a credit card. That's kind of shocking, isn't it? What are you waiting for? Never pay for TV again by downloading Pluto tv. You can download Pluto TV for free on all of your favorite devices today, including your phone, roku, Amazon, Fire TV, TV, Apple TV, Smart TV, PlayStation, and anywhere else you stream. Oh, my gosh. There's a lot of options for us to stream these days. It's so. It's so crazy. Okay, so I wanted to get to some of your questions. I've gotten a lot of questions, and I've received a note last night from someone on LinkedIn saying, hey, Heather, I heard about this new opportunity. This person's looking for a new job and said, I was told to pay some person, we'll leave that name out, $600. And for that fee, they would rewrite my resume and they would pair me with the correct jobs. Do you think I should spend this money on this service? And so here's what I responded back and I want to share with you because I think it's interesting and it's a bigger picture question than just to this one incident. Number one, here's what I want to know. I want to see the reviews and recommendations, and here's why. Because the platform, LinkedIn is a social platform, meaning that there's a crowdsourcing element. You can't go and post fake reviews because someone's going to call you out, right? There's visibility. You can't post a fake job that you never had and tag the company because someone will say, take it down. You know, that's not real. So that's one of the reasons I really love LinkedIn is people leave reviews and recommendations on your wall. You can click back to that person and see where they've worked and you can, you know, connect those dots. So the first thing is, someone's coming to me out of left field and asking me to pay for something is I want to know what the ROI is. What is the return on this investment? And the easiest way and most credible way, if I don't know you and don't have prior business experience with you, is I want to look at who are the people that have benefited from your services and can I speak to them directly and. Or read their testimonials? What does that ROI look like? And can you share some different examples with me? Do you have case studies that you've built up? You know, when you start asking questions, questions like that real quick, you're gonna get to what this person has been able to materialize, create for others, and they'll be happy to share those success stories or they will go dark. And I Had another experience this week with someone that was looking to come on an intern with me. And I asked her, I said, have you ever interned with somebody else? And she said, well, actually I hired a coach this past year and this person has a massive, massive following. And I was so excited to work with this person. However, it turns out this person really doesn't know much about what they're saying. They, they do know. And I thought, how does that happen? And it's so wrong. And this is not the first time I've heard it, but a lot of people in social media that have large followings, specifically on Instagram, have leveraged those large followings to get people to pay them, you know, for coaching. And then in the end there isn't any real meat that they're getting from this relationship. They're spending a lot of money, but they're not necessarily benefiting or growing from it. So it's so important to get in writing what the expectations are upfront, but it's on you to dig in, do your due diligence and find out. Just because someone has a million Instagram followers and claims to have millions in revenue doesn't mean that they can teach you how to do that. It doesn't mean that that is even true necessarily.

Right.

Because we know you can buy followers and it's just, it's very misleading. But I would tend to steer away from websites where they create and post testimonials because anyone can write what they want on their own website and lean in more to a business platform like LinkedIn because that's going to help you flesh out who is accurate in their experiences, skills and who really has those reviews and recommendations and who just might be creating a marketing piece for social media. I don't to want, want, you know, anyone to have a bad experience hiring any type of consultant and then be deterred from that moving forward. So put the onus on you, do your due diligence, take the, the rose colored glasses off. Just because someone has a million followers doesn't mean that they're going to make you a million dollars. Right? So let's do our homework and dive into things a little bit more. Okay, Next question. Hey Heather, I watch you on GaryVee. I love that. I love Gary Vee. Okay, I know you're probably super busy. I am. But I'm always have time for you. My peeps always send me your questions. Questions. I'm finishing up my own personal development book and I am on the fence about how to publish. I know traditional publishing Takes a long time. It does, but I think I want that credibility. I really just want to get the book out into the world. Did you self publish and was it negative, or did it positively impact you with speaking gigs, being on other people's podcasts, et cetera? Okay, so here's the thing. You need to get clear on what's your goal? If speed to market is your goal, which it was for me. Remember, I got fired at August 1, 2017. I sat down and wrote my book. My book was done before January 1, 2018. Now I decided if I'm going to go traditional, I could be a year and a half out of getting this book to light. No, I needed a product to sell, a product to market, and really the epicenter of my brand to be materialized. It was crystal clear to me speed to market was the answer. I just said, I can move faster than any traditional publishing house. I'm going all in. And I hired scribe, which I've had J.T. mcCormick on my show before. If you haven't listened to that episode and you want to know more about writing a book, publishing a book, please listen to that episode with jt. It's really good. And we dive into everything about self publishing. But I'm so glad I did because I can move fast as far as speaking engagements and going on podcasts, that's all on me now. If you say, well, I don't know how to do that, Heather. I don't know how to connect with people in that space. You might want to hire a PR company. You might want to hire someone you know as a consultant to help advance you into that space, or, you know, it depends. Are you a speaker? Do you know how to speak? Right. You have to look at all these different things. I had experience for 20 years speaking in business, so that was an easy natural evolution for me. If it isn't for you, you might want to work with someone to begin your speaking. Start small, start speaking for free at schools and charities. You know, really take a look at you, your attributes, what. What your strengths are, and then put those to work for you in your own unique way, whatever that may look like. But I definitely think if speed to market is important to you, which I think it should be important to everybody, you want to at least consider self publishing. Go listen to my episode with J.T. mcCormick. I think that you'll really like it. I will say this, though. I've written my second book and I've been meeting with agents, and I'm definitely looking and considering the traditional route this year because I'm not in that rush that I was in. I have products available now. I have my book, I have my course. You know, I have things that I can sell. I have my speaking engagements. So I'm not. I don't have as many much pressure as I did back in the fourth quarter of 2017. So really assess what. What are. What's so important to you right now? Is it. Are you looking for someone to write you a check to. To publish your book? Then you need to go traditional. If that isn't important to you, and if control's important to you, you should really self publish. So listen to the JT episode. I think it will be enlightening for you. Okay, next one. Heather, I've been very curious about something. How did you find and connect with your passion? Did it simply come to you? Oh, my gosh. Were you constantly in search of it? No. Or was there an event that served as the catalyst for knowing ding, ding, ding, it would be the last one? Yeah, for sure. So here's the thing. Getting fired really thrust me into it. But before then, I had a mentor back when I was in radio. So this is going back probably six years ago. This mentor said to me one day, he said, you're always in the grind. You're always saying, I'm so busy and I'm responsible for so much, and I'm a single mom and I don't have time. He said, you've got to pick your head up at some point. So mind you, I was probably in my late 30s at this point, and on the outside, I was very successful. However, I wasn't fulfilled. I was making a lot of money. I had a great title. I loved my team that worked for me. But I. I was missing something. And my son kind of opened my eyes to this as I watched him grow and felt that love and connection with him that there's got to be more in the world, right? And when my mentor sat down that day, he challenged me to pick my head up and look for something more than what I was doing and to stop just looking at that linear advancement in corporate America. I did that. That led me to charity work. So I began working with charity, specifically City Year Miami. I ended up joining the board. I was with them for almost, almost 10 years. And during that time, I started speaking for them for free because I was a board member, and that was important to me to give back. And during that work, speaking for the charity, representing the charity, and working on the board for them to help children, I Started tapping into my passion, helping others, empowering others, elevating others and doing, doing it so in different ways, but oftentimes from a stage and those were, that was the infancy, you know, six years ago of me starting down, actually it might even be seven years ago now, starting down a new path. It did not happen overnight. I was not aware it was happening when it was actually occurring. So I wasn't, I wasn't focused on it necessarily. The question had been posed to me by a mentor and I started down a different path as a result of it. During that path and journey, I started working on my confidence and I started standing up for myself and I started making some very subtle changes in my life over those next few years which led me to get fired. And when I really stood up for myself, as you'll see in my TEDx talk, because I tell the whole story of how I got fired and what I did and how that power moment I chose myself and my entire life changed. And I want that for you too. So you know, I, I had that getting fired moment as a catalyst really for me to dive in full force into me, into creating confidence within me, into finding my superpowers and stepping into it, into shining my light and into my passion which I had been, you know, working a little bit with but not full time and getting to work. Work in your passion, in your power, full time is pure magic. However, that does not mean it's easy. As I mentioned at the beginning of this show, you know, I've been sitting in my house, locked in my house for over a week, answering every single DM, posting nonstop on LinkedIn, messaging people back, asking every place I've spoken at in the past year to share my TEDx talk, asking everyone I know to post about my TEDx talk, asking everyone I know to at look like and comment. You know, I found out this weekend that I, in order to get promoted to ted, which is a goal of mine for, because that will really be the catalyst for reach a lot of people and share this message that I need to start tagging TED in things as I go on this journey. Just even with the TEDx talk that just came out, I'm learning so much more. So it's, it's really about picking your head up, being open minded, talking to people and networking and challenging yourself to say day. Just asking the question, what is my passion and how do I get there? I had no idea six or seven years ago when I started down this road with that one question my mentor asked me and I'm still figuring it out now. It is not easy but it's definitely worth it. And I hope for every one of you that you find your passion because there is a way for you to get paid for stepping into your passion and serving others. It's just gonna, it might take a little bit of time to figure it out and I don't want anyone to give up. And that's why I mentioned I've been on LinkedIn for a decade. That's why I mentioned that before I got fired I was already working on these things. You know, it wasn't like a light switch just went on and everything came together. It was certainly a process and it's a process I hope you're entering into that you're going for because you're worth it and you can make the difference in your life and you, you can create the life that you want. It just it might take a little bit of time and a couple of bumps when you fall down just like me. So I hope you are off to a great week this week. I can't wait to hear your questions. Please feel free to DM me as always. But before we wrap up and go, I have an amazing message for you and this is so perfect with holiday time. What's in your jewelry box? Have you ever wondered what it's worth? I have, yes. Worthy is recognized as the premier online auction house for selling diamonds, fine jewelry and luxury watches. Oh my gosh. This really makes me want to dig out my old Rolex that I have not worn in forever. It's dedicated to getting you the best market value, typically two to three times more than local options for your jewelry. With its personalized full service auction, every piece is carefully handled by its jewelry and watch experts, cataloged, photographed, cleaned and graded prior to auction so that you can proceed with confidence knowing your jewelry is in good hands and that you're making the best choice in selling with Worthy. With Worthy you receive complimentary FedEx, shipping and insurance with Lloyd's of London, an independent grading report from a third party lab, high definition digital photography and video. Throughout the process, you will remain in full control of setting your reserve price for your private online auction to over 800 industry buyers. All done while you are busy preparing for the holidays and best of all, have the extra money in time for your holiday giving. I like that one. Visit worthy.com confidence for an exclusive limited time offer for creating confidence listeners. Again, that is worthy.com confidence confidence. Check it out if you're looking for some extra cash this holiday season and who isn't. This is such an easy way for you to take a look in that jewelry box and see what you might want to go ahead and turn in for cash. So, hoping this was helpful to you all. And please, please, please. If you haven't, I'd love it if you'd watch my TEDx talk. It's on YouTube. You can find it in my Instagram handle anywhere and everywhere I post and on my website. It would mean the world to me. Tell them next week. Keep creating confidence.