This Life-Changing Story Will Inspire You to Become Unstoppable

Somebody asked me, like, how I got on this path. I mentioned yesterday that I grew up with learning challenges that stemmed from a really bad accident I had when I was 5 years old. I had head trauma and learning challenges, and I struggled all through school— elementary school and middle school and junior high, high school. And when I got to college, I wanted— I told you I wanted to start fresh because Everybody has their why, and my why has always been my family. I wanted to make my family proud. I am the oldest of 3 children, and my parents, they immigrated here, and they worked really hard, and I wanted just to show the world, show them, show myself that I was worth something. When I started to struggle freshman year in college, I didn't know what to do, and I was thinking about quitting school. And I don't know if you've ever been on a path where you just don't understand why it's just not working. You do all the work, you work hard. I thought it was unfair. I was working 3 times harder than anyone I knew there. I wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping, I was just doing everything I could, and I still didn't do anywhere near as well. And I just thought that I didn't— what was wrong with me, right? And so when I was gonna quit school, a friend of mine— I was in New York— a friend of mine suggested that I go with him over the weekend to visit his family in California, just to get a little perspective. And when I was talking to Quincy yesterday, when he says that phrase, you have to go to know, I think sometimes when we're stuck, it helps to change perspective, change place, change people, because it gives you a different eye on the problem, right? We have a program called Kwik Thinking. It's all about how to solve problems and decision-making, but a big part of it has to be from— has to do with shifting perspectives, because the problem— reason why, remember that quote that I, you know, because I ended up in the hospital and that— that mug with Einstein, the same level of thinking that's created the problem won't solve the problem. You know, most people are used to looking at the problem the same way all the time. So I was like, okay, I'll go on this, I'll go on away. I'd never been to California before. And I visited his family, and his family is, they're very wealthy, financially and otherwise. And the father is walking me around his property on the water, and— What was he saying? just before dinner, right? And he asked me a very innocent question. He asked me the question, how's school? And that, which is pretty much the worst question you could ask me at the time. And I just, I break down and I start to cry because I have so much built-in, like, angst over it. And I tell him that I don't know, it's not for me, I have to figure out how to tell my family that I'm gonna quit, I'm really concerned. And then he asked me, he says, he basically gets me to stop and think, he asked me a question. And that's why when we're talking about the power of questions, I'm gonna talk about that when it has to do with reading comprehension, asking a new question gives you a new answer. And he asked me the question, well, Jim, why are you in school? You know, what do you wanna be, what do you wanna have, what do you wanna do, what do you wanna share? And I haven't really thought about it, right? So it takes me a little time, and then I start to answer him, and he says, stop. Stop. And he takes out a journal out of his back pocket, and he starts tearing— and I always thought, like, 12-year-old girls wrote in diaries and stuff, right? And so he tears out a couple sheets of paper and makes me write it down, the answers to that question. And it became like, after a little while, it became like, when I was done, it was like a bucket list. And I didn't know what a bucket list— everyone here knows what a bucket list is, right? A list of things you want to be, do, have, share before you kick the bucket. And so when I was done, I start folding up the sheets of paper to put it in my pocket, thinking the exercise is done, and he grabs it out of my hand, and I'm freaking out, 'cause I didn't think somebody else was gonna see this list. It was a very intimate, private list of things. And he starts reading them. And so, here there is a stranger who I just met, who's obviously very successful, looking at my deep dreams, desires, goals in my life. And when he's done, he looks at me, And he says, Jim, you are this close to everything on that list. And he spreads his index fingers about 10 inches apart. And I have to be— I said, I must be mishearing you because, you know, give me 10 years, I can't crack that list, right? And he takes his fingers and he goes like this to the side of my temples, meaning it's what? Right, it's my brain, right? Because your brain controls all of this, right? And he takes me into his home, into a room I've never been in before. It was spectacular. It was, at the time, it was very intimidating, but for me now, it was a library. It was wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor, covered in books. And I've never seen a library in somebody's home before. And he starts to go shelf by shelf and starts taking books and starts handing them to me. And after a little while, I started looking at the titles, and they're incredible biographies of incredible men and women in history, and some very early personal growth books, right? Like Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, Psycho-Cybernetics. How many people know these books? Right? How to Win Friends and Influence People. And when I started looking at the titles, I was like, and I've never seen these kind of books before, he says, Jim, I want you to read one of these books a week. And I'm like, have you not been listening? I have learning challenges, because I fight— like, it's so funny how when people have these challenges, we fight for our limitations, right? And what we resist, what? Persists. Persists, right? And I fight for my limitations. The challenge is when you fight for your limitations ongoing, you get to keep them, right? And that's the challenge. So I was like, I can't read all these books. I haven't read a book cover to cover, and I have learning challenges, and that's my script. And then what he does is very smart, because I tell him that, you know, I have all this schoolwork, how am I going to read all these books? I can't even keep up with my midterms. And he looks me right in the eye and he says, Jim, don't let school get in the way of your education. And I was like, wow. And at that point, this was over 20 years ago, I didn't realize it was a Mark Twain quote, but I was like, that's a good point, and still I can't read all these books. And then he takes out my bucket list, which he still has, and he starts to read every single thing on that list out loud. And I can't tell you how it rocks your soul to hear another stranger incant your dreams out into the universe, right? It messes with you something fierce. And honestly, a lot of those things on that list were things I wanted to do with and for my family. Because when we talk about why, what's your why, that's my why. Because honestly, anything that's good out of— that's ever come good out of me came from my parents. And so, they're my superheroes, right? And so, the thing is, is after I heard all that, that gave leverage or motivation, you know, because I had so many things I wanted to do for my family, that I agreed to read one book a week. Now, that's a lot, one book a week. How many people here would love to read one book a week? Right, that's 50+ books a year, right, that'll change your life. I go back to school now, now I'm at school, I'm at my desk, and there's a pile of books I have to read for school, and then there's a pile of books I want to read for me, right, that I agreed to read, one book a week. And I can't keep up, so where do I get the time? I don't sleep, I don't eat, I just start living in the library, and that's when I had my accident. Wow. where I passed out, and that was the inception of my accident that just made me pass out in the library. I fell down a flight of stairs, I hit my head again, and that's why I ended up in the hospital. And at that point, I'm down to 117 pounds, hooked up to these IVs. I thought I died, and it was a very, very dark time, and that's when I got the mug of tea, Albert Einstein on it, the saying about changing your thinking, and I started studying everything that I know now. Now, how I ended up on this vocation of teaching accelerated learning is, when I started to do this, I didn't want other people to struggle, right? And I never talk about this really publicly, but I'm gonna share just how I ended up teaching this, 'cause I think it's gonna be relevant for some of the people. Is that okay? Yeah. So, I wanted to help people, but I didn't know how to help people, right? And so, I was noticing that when I was walking by, I had this idea of helping people and teaching this, more to people, like having like a school, if you will. I saw a room that wasn't being used one Thursday night, and I take out— and I was like, okay, next Thursday night at that time, I'm just gonna put a few people in that room, maybe 5 or 6 people, and then teach them some stuff, and then maybe I'll start tutoring them long-term. And I don't know how to do that, but I go back to my dorm room and I take out a piece of paper and I write free speed reading memory tips. Get Better Grades in Less Time, Thursday, 7 o'clock, that room, right? And I make some copies the next morning, I put some— and then the next morning, I just put some on bulletin boards on the way to class, right? And fast forward to Thursday, 7 o'clock, and I could start walking to the classroom. I'm just hoping 5 people show up, right, that they're interested in learning how to learn, because I was very passionate about sharing this stuff, because I don't want people to struggle the way I did, because— Once you— because you wonder, like, why this wasn't taught back in school. And so I turned the corner, and there's a crowd of people outside the room that I'm supposed to teach at. And I honestly, this is my first thought, though, I'm like, oh, I hope whatever's going on ends soon so I could teach my speed reading thing, right? And I go to the class, and there's somebody standing in the doorway, I can't even see this tall guy, I was like, you know, what's going on inside? And he's like, there's a speed reading class. Honest to God, I say this, wow, what a coincidence. Like, what are the odds the same night, the same time, the same room that there's a speed reading class in there? And I go push my way in and there's nobody teaching, surprise, right? And I do a head count 'Cause I realize why they're there. That's how slow my brain is. It's funny how we filter beliefs, like how our beliefs filter what we see. I do a head count, and instead of 5 people or 10 people, there's 110 people. Oh. Now, I'm 18 years old. I'm wearing t-shirts and shorts. I have nothing prepared to talk about, and I'm phobic of public speaking. Phobic. Phobic. Most people have a fear of public speaking. There's a difference between being fearful and phobic, when you have a phobic response, right, where your heart's beating out of your chest and you're sweating and you can't even talk or breathe. Because remember, I was the kid that grew up with learning challenges. Back in school, I would do the work, I would do the book report, but if a teacher asked me to present it in front of a class, I would lie and say I didn't do it, And I would take a zero and I would throw the book report in the trash because I was so scared of going in front of a group of people because you're vulnerable, right? How many people could relate to this a little bit, have a fear of, like, or an angst of being on stage? It's hard. I mean, the 30-plus speakers, I don't know, even for me, it's every single time I get those butterflies. I still do because it's not my nature, right? And so, but I do it because I feel a moral obligation to do it. Right? And how many people are on that kind of path where you're kind of on the brink trying to figure out if you're going to do something? And so I'm so nervous even talking about it, I'm like getting dry here. I'm so nervous I leave because I— you say, oh my God. I'm so nervous even talking about this because I don't talk about this. I leave because I can't even talk, right? And the campus has all these water fountains, and water always brings me back center. And, 'cause I can't even go back to my dorm room because my, you know, my friends will just make fun of me. And I just meditate by the water. And water is like, it just— and when I'm meditating, I— how many people here meditate? So, when I'm meditating, I hear this voice inside my head. And it's— that's so funny, I'm doing this, like, walking meditation back, and it's my mother's. And my mom, I won't tell you exactly what she says, but basically it's like, you promised all these people that you're gonna teach them these things that's gonna help them, and you're not, and you're disappointing them, and you're disappointing me. And I'll do anything for my mom. And so I'm taking these steps back to the— you know, to my dorm room, and I stop, and I don't even realize it, but I take one step back to the classroom. And it's so funny that one step in another direction can completely change your destination. How many people feel that? Like, who are you gonna be with, or where are you gonna live, or what are you gonna do? I mean, those decisions contain a lot of power in those things. So I end up going back to the classroom, And I honestly don't remember what I talked about for the whatever time I was there, for an hour or so, and that's embarrassing being a memory expert, right? But I did, and at the end, that's how I found this group of people to be able to work with, including this young lady who read 30 books in 30 days and saved her mother's life from terminal cancer, right? But once something like that happens, It goes really deep into who you are, and it changes things, right? But that's why I do what I do, because all of us along this superhero journey, right, Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey— how many people read or are familiar with Joseph Campbell's work? That's why I am here doing What Would I Do? Thank you.