Dwyane Wade On The Power of Visualization, Developing A Strong Work Ethic & Healing From Your Past EP 1192

One of the best parts about my job as a podcast host is getting to know people on a deeper level. And I love discovering the interests my guests have that they don't always talk about. You know, the world class athlete whose favorite pastime is painting or the billionaire who still plays a weekend garage band. And the truth is everyone has layers and people are rarely as simple as they appear on the surface. For marketers, that complexity can make the job even more challenging. After all, how can you reach your customers if you don't really know them? That's where TransUnion's marketing solutions come in. TransUnion brings clarity to marketing chaos by delivering a 360-degree view of your customer, helping you deepen your insights, accelerate your decision-making, and better measure the impact of every marketing dollar. Visit transunion.com/clarity to learn more. This podcast is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual. Everyone wants to feel good about their finances. Right? Well, that's why I've had life insurance with Northwestern Mutual for years. Their financial professionals ask the right questions, truly listen, and help uncover opportunities most people miss. I've seen it firsthand. Northwestern Mutual has been a part of my journey from the very beginning, providing the security and peace of mind I need as a human and an entrepreneur. Find a better way to money@nm.com, the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, paid testimonial by a Northwestern Mutual policy owner.

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Father's Day is coming up, and for lots of dads out there, dad doesn't quite cover it. They're groundskeepers, patio whisperers, and rogue leaf vigilantes too. So this year, show dad some love with gifts from the Home Depot. They've got fast, free delivery on handy gear that helps dad do his thing. We're talking RYOBi cordless outdoor tools like the RYOBi 40 volt expanded string trimmer. Find the perfect Father's Day gift at the Home Depot. Shop in store and online at homedepot.com, free delivery subject to availability. This is episode number 1192 with Dwayne Wade. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur and each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. My friend, I am so pumped up because today's guest is Dwyane Wade and he is an NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, and 13-time NBA All-Star. He's written a new photographic memoir that we dive into called Dwayne that details his life and career over the last few decades, coming from a challenging upbringing to becoming one of the greatest athletes of all time. I left this interview feeling incredibly inspired, and I know you're going to love it as well. In this episode, we talk about how Dwayne visualized his career as a child and how he learned visualization. The biggest challenges he's had to overcome in his life and his career, the routines, he's developed in order to become successful, how to develop a strong mindset when you're facing losses, why it's so important to have coaches in your life that are great mentors, and so much more. This was so much fun and so entertaining and inspiring for me. So if you're enjoying this at any moment, make sure to spread the message to a friend, post it on social media, tag Duane as well as myself over on Instagram or anywhere that you're sharing this online. And if this is your first time here, Please click the subscribe button right now over on Apple podcast or Spotify. And make sure to leave us a review at the end to let us know what you enjoyed the most about this episode. And today's fan of the week is from Kyle who said such incredible enticing info that actually helps to give real takeaways that if applied can actually make a lasting change. So Kyle, thanks for being the fan of the week and leaving us a review over on Apple podcast. And in just a moment, I bring you the one and only Dwayne Wade. Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest, the iconic Dwayne Wade in the house. Hey, oh, I'm good to see you, man.

Ooh, I liked that.

Great to see you. We have a lot of mutual friends.

Yeah.

And I was reaching out to them this whole week. Once we finally confirmed to make sure this was happening, I said, is this guy the real deal? They're like, he's one of the greatest fathers, husbands, and human beings in the world. They didn't even mention the Olympic gold medal, NBA championships, one of the greatest basketball players of all time. They talked about your character and your heart, which I'm really excited to connect with you about.

Thank you.

Because you grew up in not the nicest of conditions in neighborhood, but what I read from your book, which I'm so excited to talk about, is that you really grew up with a mindset of visualization, dreaming about playing against the greats. And I'm curious, how did that mindset of visualizing your future come about? Did someone teach you this? Did you watch guys on TV talk about this? Like how did you learn this and then manifest it 10, 20 years later?

Well, first, give me the names of the people you reached out to so I can send them they quarterly, you know, quarterly for talking good about me. But I give the credit to my sister. Mm-. And so I grew up in the inner city of Chicago.

Yeah.

And 59th and Prairie is the street I grew up on. And it's a photo of my book and it's one of my favorite photos of the complex that I grew up in. And my sister and I shared a room. And we shared a room. At first we didn't have a bed, right? We shared a room, we didn't have a bed. Where were we sleeping? We were sleeping on the floor. Oh, wow. Yeah, we were sleeping on the floor. I mean, people see me now and they be like, you was not poor. No, we were poor. Wow. You know, like this was real. So first we were sleeping on the floor, then eventually, I remember we got a bed. We had one bed to share. And I would go to bed at night crying because I was hungry or whatever, like my, you know, when that stomach, that hunger is different.

Different.

And, you know, you know, lucky enough to eat once, you know, sometimes twice, you know, a day or whatever the case may be, but sometimes it may not happen. And so I would cry all the time. and my sister will always tell me every night to pray. She'd be like, pray, ask God for what you want, right? And so I would do that, and so she would always tell me before it was time to go to bed, because my stomach was hurting so bad, she'd be like, listen, go into your dreams, go into your visions. Picture the world that you want, right? And so every night, that was the thing I was excited about. I was excited to go to sleep so I can go into this imaginary world of like, okay.

I'm warm, I'm full, yeah, it's right.

Yeah, like everything you think about, you think about food, And, but that's where my visualization came from. And so as a kid, I will always visualize what I wanted for my family, what I wanted for my mother, what one day I wanted for my dad, what I wanted for myself, like so forth and so on, right? And I just carried that vision everywhere I went because that was the thing that made me feel the best. And so I never lost it because that, you know, that feel of like, oh, let me go into my own world. And in my own world, everything was perfect. And so I would try to go into that world all the time.

How old were you when your sister taught you this?

I had to be probably like five, like yeah. Yeah, I was young.

How long were you guys in the same room till?

Until she dropped me off over my dad's, like you gotta go.

Wow.

So until I was, my sister probably dropped me off around eight years old. I eventually moved with my dad when I was like nine and like, you know, he took custody of me. But I guess around, I don't know, between six and eight. Okay. We were, my sister eventually was like, you got, you need a man, you need your dad.

Right.

You need something more than I can give. 'Cause my sister was kind of raising me while my mom was going through her journey in life. She was going through her addictions, you know, through life with, you know, in drugs and in and out of prison and things of that nature. So my sister kind of, she was responsible for me just by being the next sister closer to age. Wow. and she eventually told my dad, like, tap you in. Yeah, you're in. But, you know, we did.

And we did.

We did share a room together. And, you know, but in that room was a lot of great things happen, too. You know, I don't want to make it seem like, yeah, you're having fun.

You're playing games. Yeah.

Like, I learned how to read in their room. Like, I learned, you know, you do all these things in that room. And so at the time, you don't know how bad it is. I can talk about it now, and it's like, what? Wow. But at the time, this is just life. You're just going from one day to the next. But she was kind of my guardian angel.

Wow. My brother, I've talked about this on my show. My brother, when I was eight, went to prison for four years for selling drugs to an undercover cop in Ohio where I was growing up. And it played a toll on the family. It was like a big weight. We would go to the prison every weekend pretty much and spend time in the visiting room. What was that like for you with a parent coming kind of in and out of jail at that time? Was it kind of normal or was it impacting you in a big way or what?

Yeah, it was normal. Really? Let me start off that. It was normal. I was that kid that anytime I seen the police, I would run and hide because I've watched them handcuff and take away in the house, in the house. I've watched them knock down our door. Boom, boom. You know, like movies when it's boom, boom, boom with the police. Like that was, that was a reoccurring theme.

Wow.

You know, in my life, you know, growing up. So I was always afraid. I was always scared of police. And I remember when my mom went to prison and my dad decided to take me to prison to talk to my mother because I really wanted to see her. I was missing her. This was when I had My dad had just got custody of me. I was like nine years old. And I remember going in and just like the movies, I'm seeing like, I'm hearing all the noises and the buzzers, this, that, you see all the people.

Security going on.

The security.

Yeah.

You see the thick glass and they on the other side. And so I sit on this glass and I'm sitting here and I'm waiting on my mother. It's like the movies. My mom come out, she's angry. I can see like the look on her face, she's mad. I later found out that she did not want my dad to bring me to prison. But I insisted on saying my mother, so my dad took me.

She didn't want you to see her in that environment.

She didn't want to see you. She wanted me to see her in that environment. But I just wanted to see my mom when we could.

Of course.

So I go in there and talking to my mom through a phone. And it tore me apart. Like, you can't grab, you can't touch, you can't do anything. And then at the end, you hang up the phone and you just leave, right? And I just remember crying so bad when I left and I told my dad, I never want to go back. Please don't ever take me back in there. But like seeing my mother on the other side of that glass is an image that I would never get out of my head. Never. And that was, I was nine years old, 30 years ago.

Wow.

30 years ago, 39. And I could never get that image out of my head.

You only went one time?

One time. It hurt too bad to see someone you love, your mother, not understanding everything, don't understand why she's on the other side of that glass. You know, it hurt to the point where I didn't wanna go back, but just that fuel, like I used so much fuel through my life, and that was one of the fuels I was like, okay, I gotta get my mom out of this. Right. You know?

What would you say was the biggest challenge that you had to heal from your childhood from growing up, the biggest pain or the obstacle that you felt stayed with you for the longest, maybe you're still facing some of it, that you've had to learn how to heal.

To let go of? That's a great question because I feel like I'm still, you know how it goes, you go through all that and then you just go through your life. And at some point, some of the things will come back. And so for me, getting into therapy is something that was important once I retired because my outlet became basketball. So I put everything into the sport.

If you don't have it anymore, what do you do?

What do you do?

That energy, those thoughts that, yeah.

Yeah, and you know what you do, you're gonna put it off on the people that's closest to you. The ones that love you, the ones that's at home, the ones you see every day, you're gonna put that rage and anger in, and so I think the thing, what I tried to do is I tried to go and I tried to rebuild my relationships with my parents. Really? Yeah, because like one thing I've never done is I've never I don't judge them for their journey. Especially as a person who's trying to live, like I gotta figure it out every day. Every day is a choice to do this, a choice not to do this. And you can make the wrong step and the wrong turn. And my parents did. They took the wrong step and it took them down a long track that affected myself and my sister and our family. But I don't judge them for it because they didn't try, that was not their goal. It's life. And so for me, it was about getting to know my parents and rebuilding the relationship, asking questions. Maybe they came out a little harsh sometime. Maybe they even came out at the wrong time. But I just really needed to like, to get to know and understand why. Understand as adult, why we do things. Understand that, okay, they had addictions. Okay, I have an addiction. Right now my addiction is basketball, but I'm addicted to some. So I have an addictive personality. They had an addictive personality. This is why they just kind of understand. And that was, that was my biggest thing to help me started getting over the hump was really communicating with my parents. Wow.

And how has that process been like? Have you been able to heal certain things or?

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I have. Maybe my wife, you can ask my wife, she would know a little bit more. 'Cause my wife has told me that I need to heal, you know, and I'm like, no, I'm good. But really, you know, she knows. And so I remember when I was 30 years old, Me and my dad relationship was kind of rocky. You know, my dad took custody of me at nine. That man, Mancho, thing started building as I got older in high school and I started feeling like I was a man. I moved out at 16 years old. I moved with Zaire and Zaire's mom and I lived with her. I lived with my girlfriend at the time. And me and my dad relationship was just kind of rocky in a sense. I loved him, but we couldn't see eye to eye and I was, I was too blinded by my, I don't know, not my hate, but I had this thing where I guess in a sense it's like weakness, right? It's like you feel, I felt like.

My dad was weak emotionally, mentally, physically.

I don't know what it was. It was just more so of like, I'm taking care of the family now.

Oh, wow. I'm stepping up. You're not doing your role, I'm gonna do it.

And I felt the way about that. And I missed all the, forget the rest of the things he did for me. You know what I'm saying? To help get me to this point, I was just so into, like, I guess I felt the way that I had to. And all the responsibilities at, you know, 19, 20, whatever, it started becoming my responsibilities. And I kind of, I was angry at my dad for it, you know, right? So I remember at 30 years old, I decided to, you know what? I think it's time. My wife kept telling me, she's like, your life is not gonna be complete. You have missing pieces. It's a missing hole in your life and your dad is one of them. You need to fix it. And I was like, all right. And I decided to go to lunch with my father. At 30. Just at 30. Just go to lunch. Four hour lunch. And at that point in life, I was older. My kids was getting older. I started to realize that, my dad.

Ain'T that crazy as I thought he was. Right, right. You're raising kids now. Don't raise your kids now. and at this point, you'd already won an Olympic gold medal. You already won a couple NBA championships.

I was at least one in.

I know.

Maybe two.

Yeah, maybe.

Maybe two in. Yeah, I think I was two in at that time. And I've accomplished so much in the sport and to the world, but, you know, I still was missing something, and it was a lot was my mom and my dad. And so I had to fix it with my dad. And, like, to this point, to this day, like, you know, nine years later, it took It's only been nine years, but me and my dad relationship has just been developing and growing. And like I feel more of a whole as a person just from that conversation, that communication, that look each other in the eye, that apologize, that say, I'm sorry for this. But also too, you understand that my dad was thinking a certain way, thought that I felt this way when I did and I thought he felt this way. And if you don't communicate, you just let it go and it fester and it becomes something.

Where do you think you'd be now if you didn't start having those conversations at 30? What do you think, what would be happening to you inside?

I'd be searching for something. I'd be trying to grab on to something, to someone, something. Because some relationships in your life are just that important. If they are that important. And a relationship with my parents is just that important to me. And if I didn't have that, that means that I would have to grab some and grab for something else to try to fill that void.

Yeah. Right.

And that's what kids do. That's what young women do when their father's not in the home and they don't have a male presence. They go look for that male presence and now a lot of times they get into relationships with men that, you know what I mean, that becomes toxic in certain ways because of what they're missing and what they're looking for, whatever the case may be. So I would have been looking for it and I have at times and too I was able to patch that hole up. And so now I'm not looking for that. I'm not looking, like me and my dad have a, I can't say we have a father-son relationship. I feel like we have more of a friendship than we have a father-son. I don't go to my dad and say, Hey, Dad, I got these financial problems and I need help. I don't have that because I was the first one in the family to go through the financial problems. And I sit down with my dad and say, Hey, you know.

-'Cause they take care of your finances.

-Yeah, it's different. I'm in a different role. And so that role brought on, you know, the challenges in our relationship. It's because I've been in that seat.

For almost 20 years now. who was the most influential adult figure in your life growing up besides your sister? And what was the biggest lesson that that adult figure taught you?

This is sad. Michael Jordan. Really? Adult?

Yeah. It's like, did you have a relationship with him, though?

No.

Wow. Okay.

Just from a role model.

Yeah.

Someone to look up to. someone to aspire to be. You know, it was such an important time. That's how it's weird how important sports or moments or things that people do are to you. And that's why I'm able to write books. So that's why I made my family speak out on issues, right? And we share private things because I was that kid that Michael Jordan didn't understand the impact he made on me just by being himself or just by speaking out on certain things or facing the media after the bad game or whatever it was. I looked at it all. And so in my life, all the adults was off in their world and their madness doing their thing. I didn't have one. I was like, man, I want to be like Uncle Richard when I grow up.

You're right, right.

Whatever.

I want to be like Uncle Mike.

I want to be like. And so, yeah, I gravitated to a person that I didn't know, that I never knew I would meet, but I just wanted to be like that guy.

So were you consuming all, were you just trying to watch everything he said on TV at that time? 'Cause there was no social media obviously.

When we were growing up.

Or were you buying all the magazines and seeing what he was reading? Did you have posters on the wall? How were you connecting to his message when it wasn't as available as it is today for people?

Yeah, I would watch Comic-Flv with me a million times over and over. I watch how he did interviews. You watch how you walk.

Everything swag.

Everything. you watch it all because for me, I didn't see anybody that was in my life that I was like, oh, I wanna be like that person. So I had to go find someone. Once again, I had to think, I had to go into this vision. I had to think outside of the box in a sense. And outside of boxes, outside of my community and my family. And I found Michael Jordan. I grew up in Chicago. WGN News, shout out to WGN News. I was able to tune in and watch the game. We got the interviews. I was at like after the game and my brothers are sitting, watching TV waiting for Jordan to interview. You know what I mean? It's like 20 minutes later, like... He just became that much of a figure in our lives. Yeah, it's crazy.

What was it like when you first met him? Were you-?

Surreal. Like, so the first time I met him, I get drafted. I get drafted to the Heat. You're 20, 21 and 22.

21 years old.

21 years old.

Fifth pick, is that right?

Fifth pick.

I mean, I got the rookie card right here.

There we go. Number five pick. A couple months before that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I get drafted and I do a draft party in Chicago, right? Like, you know, I'm from Chicago.

I do a big draft party. Don't tell me he shows up to that.

So- no, he doesn't. I'm in the party, bro. no, he doesn't. Party is crazy. My cousin come and tapped me on the shoulder in the middle of the party. I'm dancing, I'm having a great time. He's like, yo, Michael Jordan's outside, he won't let him in. And I'm like, bro, stop playing with me. They won't let him in? He said they won't let him in. So immediately I'm like, bro, stop playing. Why would you do that? This is my mom, why would you, like, why would you play with me? And he's like, I seen the look on his face. He's like, Michael Jordan is outside, he won't let him in. We take off. So we running through the club. We get to the front, I'm like.

What the, you know?

He says something to the front. He's outside. Oh my gosh. We go outside. Now this is epic. I run outside and Michael Jordan is sitting out there on a motorcycle. We're like, I'll say 50 dudes, it probably was 20. But it just looked like 50 dudes.

Swarmed.

All on motorcycles. Mike's sitting there and I'm like, no way. The closer and closer, like every step, I'm like, is this Jordan? Is this Jordan? And then I got up close and.

He was just like, hey man, I.

Just wanted to come by. Oh my gosh. I'll show you some love. Show you some love. Congratulations, you know, being drafted. Like just that whole thing. And I'm like, Mike, come in. He's like, nah, I'm good. I just really came about to show you some love. And that was the first time I met him.

He came to my draft party to show me some love. He was on a motorcycle with motorcycle gear.

That's sick. It looked so dope. Was this after you guys I got selected or before? This was after.

So you got drafted, it was like that night afterwards.

No, it was like, it was like, like maybe like a week or so later.

Okay.

Like after I got drafted, I flew to Miami, then I went back to Chicago and I was like, party.

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And Mike showed up.

He never came to a game or saw anything like that. Like later in high school, college, in the Chicago area, he never came out.

I wasn't a big time player like that from the standpoint of people coming to watch me play. Nobody come to Richards High School in Oak Lawn, Illinois to watch me play. I wasn't that good, I guess, right? So most of the world didn't hear about me until Triple Double against Kentucky, Final Four. Wow.

Yeah. That's sick. So he came out 21.

21.

When was the first time you had like a real, like proper conversation? Do you remember that?

Proper conversation?

More than just like a, Hey, thank you so much. Like, you know.

Let's see.

And what was the best piece of advice that he told you?

So the best piece, so I eventually, as I'm trying to think about it, I eventually end up being with the Jordan brand. That's pretty sick, right?

That's pretty sick.

Like Jordan ended up personally. Oh, it was crazy. It was like, what? Like this happening? And it's crazy because you think it gotta be something that's so philosophical. Like he gotta tell me something. It was something so simple. He just told me to go get it. We was the All-Star weekend, Dallas, and we was doing an all-star party. And my whole family was there. Jordan was there. My family's never, they never met Jordan. And my brothers and everybody's there and we doing a Jordan party. And Jordan is amazing with everybody. We're all family. We all with the Jordan family is what it is. And we're talking and he put his arm around me and he said, Tomorrow, go get it. That's all he said.

And I'm like, what is he talking about?

What does this mean? He was like, yo, I want you to go get it. And so when I got there, he had these sneakers for me. It was the first time I was wearing them. It was these silver Jordans that was like the 2010 Jordans. I was supposed to be the one who was leading the charge of the brand that I had just signed with them. And when I got in the locker room and I got on the court, I realized what it meant. He meant go get that MVP. Ooh. He meant go for it. Go create your history. Wow. Yeah. And it, 'cause we were in Dallas. It was about 110,000 people watching the game. We played the game at the Dallas, Cowboy Stadium.

Wow.

And he was like, go get it. And it's crazy, right? It's like, go get it. But for me, that's always in my mind while I was playing the game. Go get it. Wow. And I went and got it.

You really got it? Yeah, yeah, you really got it. Multiple times. Gosh, that's interesting. Yeah. So it wasn't like, go have a fun time and, like, just enjoy the moment and have fun. It was like, go be the best and dominate.

Yeah, go do something special. you know, don't just be here. Don't be happy to be here. And you wearing my shoes, you better go do something.

You better, yeah, you represent the brand.

Yeah. I remember when George told me when I first signed with the brand, he said, hey man, I don't want to see these shoes on the floor. I want to see these shoes in the air.

Ooh.

Cause I will always fall. Right. I always fell. And so today actually, it's all over social right now. It's the day that I dunked on Andy Verajal. is one of the best dunks. It's one of the best dunks of my career. But some say top 10 NBA history, right?

That was Jordan's first dunk. The guy with the long hair? With Cleveland.

Oh yeah, I'm from Ohio, so. Yeah, Andy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out to Andy. Jordan first game to come and see me play in person as a Jordan athlete. Oh, as a Jordan athlete. As a Jordan athlete. He was there before when I was in Chicago playing as a rookie. And that's a whole nother story. Oh, that is a story. I got that story. But anyway, That's so in my mind, all these things, I was like, yo, he gotta see these shoes in the air. And so I'm coming down the court and I see Andy and he backing up and I'm like, I'm going for it.

I'm gonna go get it.

I'm going for it, I'm going to get it.

I'm going to get it.

And if you see the highlight, if you guys play the highlight, I dunk it, right? Boom. And I'm about to go to the bench where my team, like, go that way and talk some, but I was like, nope. Jordan's over here. No way. Stepped over Andy and went that way. And I'm like, that's how you do it. But I'm really over there like, I wanted Jordan to see me, right?

You know, I wanted him to be proud of me. And so then they showed Jordan's reaction on the video. He's like, yeah, good looking shoes.

Good looking shoes.

You see the shoes though?

Yeah, see them in the air. Yeah, it's good to represent the brand. Yeah. Wow, that's amazing. Were you gonna say another story? Oh yeah. So first game back in Chicago, my rookie year, and I'm coming back home. the night before we played the Washington Wizards, right? And so leading up to it, I had like, I forget the number, but I was scoring like 20 points every game. So I was balling. And I'm like, I'm tuning up to go to Chicago, so I'm feeling good.

Get ready.

So long story short, I go up, Jared Jeffries, my guy, he ain't gonna say undercut me, but he kind of went under my, hit my leg a little bit, and I fell and I came down and I had to brace myself. ending up. And I end up later, I end up breaking my wrist in 11 places. Oh, I end up breaking 11 bones in my wrist or whatever the case may be, right? But that night we leave after the game, I'm hurting and everything, and we go to Chicago 'cause we playing the Bulls the next night. And the guys on my team, the Vets was like, yo, we about to go out, go to this little bar area, come with us. I'm like, cool. So I go, I run into Michael Jordan. Now this is the first time I'm.

Actually in his presence and like it's not on a motorcycle.

This is the next time.

Okay. five to 10 minutes with him.

I have, yeah, I have about two to three. Okay.

Which feels like two to three hours.

Yeah, yeah, like every moment, yeah. Every moment, I had like two to three. And he's, and so mind you, I'm not playing the next day in my mind because my first time back, I'm hurt. I ain't trying to come out here and embarrass myself. I'm gonna wait till we come back. And so Jordan, you know, he was talking, he's like, man, you know, you've.

Been playing so good, I cannot wait.

To see you tomorrow. I'll be there. Oh, shoot.

You can't back out now.

Now I gotta play. Now I gotta play.

How'd you do?

Not good. I had a nice dunk. But I didn't.

That was not good. We had a broken wrist.

After that game, I was like, yo, I need to see what's wrong with my wrist. And I was in the cast for a few months.

Oh man, that's crazy.

But the fact, just the power of an idol, just the power of an influence, you know what I'm saying? Like it goes a long way. And that's why I tell those stories, because Michael didn't know that this was that all these moments, whether he was talking to me, whether he was playing the game of basketball, he didn't know the influence that he was having on a little kid, you know, growing up in the city of Robbins, Illinois and Chicago. And his influence was so impactful on me. Like even to the point when I was 21 years old in the NBA, I played a game that I should not have played because Michael was like, oh, I'll be there. I can't wait to see you.

Oh man.

Broken wrists and everything. That's crazy, man.

Yeah, I don't think I ever told that's crazy.

Publicly, yeah.

You mentioned your wife a couple of times how she's really sounds like been an incredible stand for your growth personally, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. I'm curious, I've asked a few people this who are in incredible marriages and have great wives. I'm curious, what is the thing you love about your wife the most and why?

Mm-. My wife gonna see this, huh?

Mm-.

I mean, like, I mean, I gotta give a real good answer. What do I love about my wife the most and why? So, my wife asked me this the other day.

Really?

This is what's funny about it.

She's like, what do you love about me the most?

She DM'd me.

She DM'd you on Instagram?

Yeah.

And said, what do you love about me the most? Wow.

Yeah. She did. That's why I took a deep breath, 'cause I'm trying to remember what I wrote her.

Yeah. But- what's on your heart right now?

On my heart right now, what I love about my wife the most is it's kind of selfish. Because I love the way she catches me when I'm about to fall. I love the way she picks me up when I have fallen. I love the way, you know, she's, She's jumped in the lives of my kids and became a big influence on their lives, which is, it's not easy, you know, being a step parent, being a bonus mom, whatever it is. And she's a huge influence in their lives. Wow. You know, so selfishly, I just, I love the way my wife loves me.

Mm. How does she love you?

I mean, I think wholeheartedly with everything she has. I mean, I'm going through life trying to find out what love is myself. Like, this is all new. and, you know, the one thing about my wife and our relationship, and, you know, we share a lot. We have a lot of private moments that people don't get to see and don't know, and we don't share. But as I told her, I said, you know what? If we was not married, we will be best friend. We would be best friends. We would be.

We would be.

Because we're, like, best friends now. Like, we're, like, best friends. Like, you know, it's, like, one of my favorite people, you know? And even though we're married and, you know, you want your space, you need this, and everybody need this, I feel like we work. together as partners in life. You know, even when I walk in a room and she, I know she wanna be like, it's quiet and she ain't talking and I may say two things and she ain't said nothing, I'm like, okay, she needed time. I'm out.

We back. Go hit some balls.

She's the hoops or whatever. Yeah. You know what I mean? Just really knowing each other. So I think like, just like you know your best friend. You know, everything, you ask a man about their best friend, they know everything about him. Ask a woman about their best friend, know everything about them. Ask somebody about their partner, they'd be like, ah, what's their favorite color? You know what I'm saying? So if it's your best friend, you get a chance to know, you know, a lot of things about them. And so, yeah, that's what I love.

There's an amazing photo in your book of with you and LeBron and your wife on the, you know.

Oh, the Laker game, the last game.

And she's like, screaming at LeBron or you or whatever, just like screaming at you playing defense, I think, against LeBron. And you said in one of the captions, like, one of the things I love about her is how competitive she actually is in life. And she's sweet as, All can be, but she's super competitive, which was amazing to watch. She's on that photo. It's incredible. She like wants to kill someone in that. It's like, rip someone's head off or something. It's amazing, man. I love it. I'm curious, what is your most proud moment of all the incredible moments you've had? Oh, maybe that's-- that's tough. Maybe it is winning a championship or winning the gold medal or dunking over someone. That's tough. playing against Kobe or whatever it is, maybe it is something big or maybe it's something that no one even knows about behind the scenes. I'm just curious of your entire career, most proud moment for you.

Of my career, not of my life. Of my career. Okay, that's different then. Yes. Getting drafted, because that was the moment that showed me I can do anything. Like, I tell my son this all the time, I worked hard. just to get drafted. Because once I got drafted, then it really started.

But a lot of guys get drafted in the first round and don't make it.

Yeah, I mean, you know, and I know people like, get drafted. He's done this, he's done that, he's done that. All those things are amazing. Like, you know, the championships, the individual accolades, the, all that's amazing. But as a young kid from the inner city of Chicago that grew up a little bit like I told you, I mean, so much more about how I, how I told you. that didn't know at the age of 19 what was next. I had a kid at 19, you know, 20 years old, that did not get his ACT scores and was not able to play. Like all these things that kept trying to knock me down, knock me down, knock me down. To be able to pick myself up, to be able to allow the people around me to help pick me up, and to get me to that point where David Stern comes out and says, with the fifth pick, the mind he selected one of the ones where, that moment for me will forever go down in history is I can do anything. We can do anything because I don't supposed to be here. I've watched them try to, nope, get back. Here, here go a test. Can you pass this test? Nope, you ain't gonna make it. Like it's all these things, it's all, oh, you're gonna have a kid now, you really ain't gonna make it. It's all these things. I'm like, you will not stop me. I will keep going. And I did. And so that's the moment for me and my career out of all the things. That moment, man, I put my head down. I remember, I did that, I had my son on my on my lap, you know, while I was in the draft room, and I was just looking around like, man, I know all these guys here are. I know their names. I know that some of their stories. I don't know all of them. I know so many stories, but I know my story, and I know I shouldn't be here. Wow. And to be there and to get picked fifth and to go back there, you know, to grab that hat, to go in the back. I remember walking in the back, and LeBron was back there because he was the first pick. Melo was back there because he was the third pick. Chris Bosh was back there because he was the fourth pick. And we all, you know, we're young.

We know each other, and we like.

Yeah, we made it, yeah. Just in the back, just all of us, four of the top five picks in the draft was we were all cordial. And, you know, I mean, Melo and Bron had a relationship. All of us had a relationship. So me and Chris, like we all were cordial and just to be young guys back crazy.

Like, yo, Melo, yo, bro, we made.

It, we made it.

They knew they were going top. Right, right. I didn't know. you- didn't know you were going top five?

No. Really?

I had no idea. what'd you think maybe? Hopefully in first round, second round?

No, no, I knew. I knew first round. Like when I get the draft day, it was like, okay, D-Wade can go anywhere from the fourth pick to like 20. oh, wow. so it was a wide range. And in my mind, I'm like, I'm going seven.

I'm going seven to the Chicago Bulls.

Like, I worked out- the story, the dream. the dream, everything. oh, the dream, the Jordan. yeah. I worked off of them twice, all the media, all the coverage. I'm going to the Bulls. And the Heat picked me at five, so I didn't get a chance to.

Go to the Bulls. Wow. You did play with him for a season.

Yeah, one year.

I lived a dream out for a year. Yeah, I did. Then you played for my team in Ohio for, like, a half a season or something. Yeah, I like two seconds. I was like, that's cool, though.

Man, that must have been crazy with.

All you guys back there. Yeah, man, it was a moment. And then to see all of you do so well for so long. Yeah. That's kind of rare. Like the top five picks do that well for that long. Usually there's a few busts and a.

Few people that kind of figure it out. Four of the top five picks. Four of the top five. Yeah, Darko was, he didn't have the career in basketball. He has another career I heard, but.

He didn't have a career in basketball.

You guys did.

Yeah. So four of the top five.

It was pretty big, man. We did all right.

You did pretty good, man. You balled out for a long time. Couple of top five careers up in there.

It was Baller. Yeah. I mean, how many was that?

Three in the top 75. How many of them made the top 75 team?

Yeah. Melo, Bron, myself in the 2003 class.

Yeah, that's pretty. Pretty big. I'm curious about. I had Kobe on a few years ago, and I was more. I've told this story on my show before, but I was more impressed with what I witnessed before I interviewed him. than the interview. The interview for me was incredible. It was unbelievable how real and honest and open he was. But I got to his office about an hour and 40 minutes before the interview to set up because I booked the interview actually the night before. He had a podcast that he was launching called the Punies. And I remember getting there.

Early.

No one was in the lights were off in the office. His assistant like unlocks the door, lets me in, she's there and lets me in, lights come on, she's like, okay, here's where we normally film in this part of the office. And I was like, well, can I see the rest of it? I don't know if, I'm assuming you've been to his office, I'm not sure. I've never been. Never been there. No. So it's kind of a big open room and then there's like these glass windows with conference rooms on either side in a hallway that goes down. Okay. And then it opens up into another big open room. And so I walked down the hallway of these glass kind of conference room windows And the lights are off in these rooms. And I open up into the next room and I was like, ah, there's nothing here that looks good to film. Let's go back. So I go back and as I'm walking past the last window to open back up in the open room, I see a shadow in the back of the corner of the room sitting. And I take a double glance as I'm walking by and I'm like, to the assistant, I was like, is that Kobe? This is like 6:30 a.m. And I was like, is that Kobe? The lights are off. He's sitting in the back of the room. No computer on, no phone, just kind of sitting there looking up. But he didn't see me, or I don't think he did, he's kind of turned his back to the window. And I was thinking, what's he doing here? She was like, he was the first one in here. This is after he won his Oscar and all his awards and stuff and retired and everything. And I go, it's the first one in here, he doesn't have to be in here. He's like, well, he was working out with his daughter this morning and then he came here before anyone else. And he sat in there and was just meditating or visualizing. I'm not sure what he did in there for the next hour and a half before before he came out. But I was so impressed with his, with that moment.

Yeah, that's all.

Like no one else saw that.

Yeah.

And I was just like, this guy doesn't have to do this after he's retired and had all the success. He doesn't have to, but he was still doing it. And that was cool for me to witness someone of that level of greatness.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Beyond his career. Yeah, bro. I'm curious, what was one of your favorite moments that you got to witness with him? Maybe you've already talked about it. But just curious, whether it be playing or behind the scenes, was there something that you really were inspired by?

Well, I mean, everything. You know, I always talk about my favorite players, Michael Jordan, but my next two, like I say, okay, if he's one, then 1A and B or whatever, however you wanna do it, it's Kobe and Iverson, right? And so idolize the guy as well. And to be able to come into the relationship, and also too, it sucks when I got in my second year, they pinned me and Kobe versus each other 'cause Shaq came to Miami and it was, I'm like, oh no, I don't want to die. It's my guy. But I guess the moments for me, which is probably the most special moments, is the Olympic moments. Because that's the time where you get a chance to really get to know someone. You're spending, we together for a month and a half. The Olympics was like over the course of years, like we trained together in Vegas. And I talk about plenty stories and one of my favorite stories is similar to yours. I remember getting into one of the cities and, like, you know, very late, and we couldn't really sleep. You on all kind of time zones, whatever. So, you know, my crew, you know, with Brian and with, you know, Melo and CP and, you know, the crew. Yeah, we all together. And so we decide, we like, yo, tomorrow, man, first person up, wake me up. We're gonna go to breakfast. We're gonna go eat, like, you know, whatever. like the food should open up at this hour. We were hungry.

What Olympics was this?

This was 2008. 2008 Olympics. And so- this is China. Yeah, but this is on our way.

Okay, you're touring Europe or something.

We're touring our way there. Yeah, gotcha. And now, I mean, but we get in late, tired, you know, whatever, but we hungry, but we like, yo, let's go to sleep and then let's get up so we can eat. We ain't gonna sleep long, we know it, right? So anyway, long story short, we all go down there. As we get down there, Kobe's sitting at the table. Already. Already, so he's sitting at the table and he's sitting there. So imagine this, it's like this. So imagine this table and we're walking from that way and Kobe's sitting where you are and it's his security guy right here. So we walk in and I'm like, what? He got ice on his knees? So I'm like, what? In my mind, I'm like, what, ice on his knees? What are you doing? So we walk over, what's up Kobe? In Kobe Bryant fashion. He looked at us and we like, yo, what's good? He like, I just got my second workout in. He already finished.

He just finished his workout. He did not work out already that.

He already worked out.

No, come on.

I think he did a basketball workout on the court, and I think he did a weight room workout.

Before you guys got the breakfast early morning.

We were only sleep for about three hours.

Oh my goodness.

So I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, okay. okay. I had always heard about the work ethics of Kobe Bryant, but I never seen him. I'm like, I mean, how? I work hard, too.

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At that moment.

You got Tim Grover trading. Yeah, I work hard. at that moment, a different respect from all of us.

Oh my gosh.

I was like, I gotta get my together. I gotta start getting up early, you know? And so the same thing is he set himself apart in so many different ways. And it wasn't, maybe that night, maybe I'll score more points than him the next night. Who? It wasn't about that. The mental, you know, edge that he had on people, he understood that. I'm playing on a team with all these great young players who trying to come and take my, take the spot. And I'm not only gonna do what they do just as good or better, I'm gonna do more than them. That's a lot more than them. Just to separate myself, you know? That's craziness. And so that was like, and it's plenty of a legendary story, but that for me, it always sticks out of being able to see just walk. And I mean, I'm 2008, I'm good too. You know, LeBron's bad, man. We have some bad boys. It was a different level.

That's nuts.

And that level made us go to a different level.

Man, that's inspiring. Do you feel like you sustained that level in your career? I mean, do you step it up to that or are you like, okay, I'm gonna step it up, but it's still not this insanity level of like two workouts at 3:00 a.m. or something before everyone gets there.

No, I never got there.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, and I feel like you gotta find what works for you too.

Yeah, of course.

You know, like, I see people- you-'re.

Having a life, you're having fun, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, but like, I was more so of a, I was a midnight workout guy. I was, you know, I had, when I came in the NBA, I already had a kid. I was already married. So, you know, I was one of those guys who would go work out early and then go practice and then come back home, spend time with the family, everybody sleep. Now I'm driving back into the arena at 12 and come back. You know, I did that. I was that guy. So, you know, you gotta find out what works for you. What works for you. But in that moment of the Olympics, when I know we're tired, these flights are long. We're, you know, we're playing, we're traveling.

We'Re practicing this and that. He's older than us.

And to see that, that's another level. That's a different level.

You always looked like you had so much confidence on the court. Like, you know, we were talking beforehand how you were saying how you missed like five seconds left getting the ball and it's down to you. What is this moment with the stadium screaming or they're booing at you, wherever you're at? And you always look like you have so much confidence and poise and grace and you were like an artist on the court. I think of athletes as artists because I looked at myself as an artist playing football and improvising with the ball in the air and catching the ball and stuff. Did you ever doubt yourself? Did you ever have insecurities? And if so, if so, how did you learn to manage or overcome self-doubts what didn't cripple you?

Oh, my. Self-doubt creeps in all the time. Yeah, I don't. I don't know because I don't get to talk to every great human being in the world. But I'm sure all of them has have and do have self-doubt at times.

How often was it for you? Was it just in big games? Was it every game?

Was it, you know, self-doubt can be in moments. You can come into a game with all the confidence and then you miss seven shots in a row. Now you got self-doubt. You missed the open layup. Now you got self-doubt. Self-doubt comes at random times. You're not prepared for self-doubt. It just, and now you gotta get rid of it. Yeah. How would you get rid of it?

Many different ways.

Sometimes your teammates gotta help you get out of it. Sometimes your coach has gotta help you get out of it. Sometimes coach gotta write up a drop a play to give me an easy one. Right, right. Give me an easy one. You know, and you know, sometimes you got, you know, sometimes you're looking around the arena, you see a kid in your jersey. Ooh. You know, you like, all right, it's bigger than me. It's not about, you know, it's a, for me, I use a lot of things. Like I'm one of them people who can get motivated very easily. But in a sense of getting motivated very easily, you can be down on yourself and have self-doubt very easily. Not thinking you're great enough, not thinking you're enough, lacking confidence in your shot, you know, and whatever it was, I definitely had a lot of self-doubt self-doubt but I was always able to pull from things or pull from people and allow them to bring me back. I always tell my son that, Allow the people around you, God has put these people in your life for a reason. So allow your friends, allow me, allow the people you trust around you to bring you back. Because we're gonna have those moments of self-doubt when we feel, you know, you feel you ugly, you feel, you know, I wish I was tall, I wish my feet look like, like whatever. We doubt a lot. And you gotta have people around you to bring you back. You gotta allow them to bring you back. And that's why I always tell my son, allow it. So right now, you know, and I'm having moments, I'll be like, be, have your anger, have your disgust with or missing a shot, whatever, allow people around you, though, to bring you back. Don't stay in it too long.

Wow.

Because you get lost. You go down a dark road. If you stay in self-doubt too long, it's dark. Absolutely. You know? And so it's, it's, life is hard enough. Life is hard enough. It's been hard enough for me. It's been, it's hard enough for all of us every day. Right. So you don't want to add No, the next one was already hard. And so, you know, the thing with self-doubt for me is, once again, it's just allowance. It's allowing people that I put in my circle that God has put around me to bring me out of it. Yeah.

I love how you talked about your sister got you into these kind of dream visualization states when you were a kid and you started using that when you were playing the game. Did you have a specific routine right before every game or in between timeouts or anything where you put your mindset in a certain frame? Or was it more just I'm just showing up and doing my thing? Or how did your mind show up for you in those moments?

Yeah, great. So how my book is set up, I set it up by the first chapter that you would see is called pregame. And then it's first quarter, second, third, fourth, and then postgame.

Half time also.

Right, half time sorry. That's when like, you know, that's the celebrity side. Yeah, yeah. Half time. So, Look at him.

I went through the book, man.

Look at it.

I saw the digital version.

I went through everything.

That was impressive.

I saw everything, man.

That was impressive.

I got you. So, pregame. And I talk about pregame, but pregame is getting prepared for the game, right? And so I think over the course of my career, you know, I never was a person who did the same thing every time. Like, I didn't put my right sock on before I put my left. So, but you do try to find things that work. Some of them stick with you. with them. And so some of my more iconic pregame things when it came to what the fans seen was two things. One, I used to do these three pull-ups on a rim before every game.

Put your head up through it, right? Yeah, yeah.

Try to flex my muscles a little bit, you know.

What's up?

You know, it was a way to kind of get jacked and get ready for the game, you know, do a couple pull-ups the whole, all the attention go to me, everybody, and I scream. I just, you know, the microphone is in there. And one of the other things I did on CourtWise was a part of my pre, like this is all a part of my pregame 'cause I need, these things are what I've put into my pregame of what I need before I play. If I don't go do that, I feel off. Summer's off. And so I was at a dinner recently with a lot of friends, but one of them is James Gordon. And James, on record, they say I'm his favorite basketball player. And he tells me why. Okay, tell me. Right, and so the reason I'm his favorite basketball player, long story short, he didn't know anything about basketball. He comes to the stage, he goes to a game, Miami. He's sitting next to a guy, he's like, hey, who should I be cheering for? The guy say, number three, you should watch him. And so I come out, and before the game, I will always, you know, go tap all my teammates, my coaches. I go tap everybody at the scores table, all the announcers, everything.

Referees. Yeah.

Not the rest. But then I will go to each end of the floor with all four, all four sides, and I'll raise I'll go and I'll just get everybody like this, right? And I'll run to the next side and I'll be like, and I'll just get everybody lifted. And so he was just like, that was so amazing to him. Cause he was just like, this was his first game. And like when I did that, the energy in arena went up and he was like, oh my God, I love this guy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that was one of the things that like I needed to do. I needed to like show respect and show love to the people who spend their hard money. to come and watch us play. I'm letting you know, I'm about to try to give you my best tonight. I'm ready. And so that was one of my things from a pregame standpoint on the court, that I would do that I needed to do that. It's kind of like if anybody know anything about me, they were like, oh yeah, he did the 10 ups. Or yeah, he did like this. People knew that. It was like in video games and all kind of stuff, right? But in the locker room, the most important thing for me pregame, which I did every game, was I needed a moment by myself to quiet the noise. I had already prepared. I'm already dressed. I've worked out. Coaches said his thing. I've always took moments. But I will go in the back in the shower. You know, I will go in the back in the steam room. I go in the back in the bath in the toilet area. Wherever I can find quiet time. I need a quiet time. I need a quiet time to once again visualize what I wanted in this game. I visualize before every game. how I wanted the game to go. Did it always go that way? Of course not. But always the power of visualization. And so before every game, I would take five minutes and I would visualize how I wanted the game to go.

That's beautiful.

Yeah, and that was one of my pregame. I love that. In the locker room.

I love that. And what about when you were losing, which didn't happen often, how did you frame your mindset in those places, whether you're down by two or 20, which probably didn't happen that often.

Oh, I have.

But most of the times, and you're like, you know, in your championship runs and everything, it's like you guys were winning all the time. But when you were behind, where would your mind go? Would you go focus inward? Would you go focus on teammates? Would you focus on a coach? Would you focus on... Like, what would your mind think about in order to bring you guys back?

I'm sure a lot of different things. But I probably... One of my greatest strengths, I think, I don't know if anybody else thinks it, is the even killness of me, right? Like my personality and everything. I kind of stay real even kill. Not too high, not too low. Not too high, not too low. And that was one message that Coach Spole, even though it seemed like that message followed me. Like my high school coach would say it in his own way. Coach Spole would talk about in his own way. He'd talk about the ebb and flow. He'd talk about, listen, let's stay here. Even when we won 27 games in a row, it was like, yo, let's stay here. But we wanna go there. He's like, let's stay here. So I think that was one of my greatest strengths was the ability to stay even kill. And so when you know your team is talented enough to come back from 20, you can have confidence. When you on a team and you know you're not talented enough to come back from 20, you're gone. You're like, well, this one's over. Let me get my numbers, you know, whatever it is. So different teams, depending on if you're down 20 or it gives you different kind of swagger and confidence. No lie. I'm not gonna say that every team I played on, I was like, no, we good. No, there was some teams I'm like, no, guys, we in trouble. We gotta start, we can't start the game off getting down 10. We not coming back, we don't have enough firepower. But when you are part of the big three era, and you're playing with.

Ray Allen and LeBron and Chris Bosh.

And you can do anything. Listen, we could go down 40. Two minutes left, down 35. Let's pick it up, fellas. Come back and win by 20. that's how you feel, right? And so, yeah. That's cool.

I'm curious, where do you think you would be in your life if you didn't have great coaches? Where do you think you'd be as an athlete, your career, if you weren't put in the position with great coaching on your side? Do you think you'd still be able to accomplish what you want? Do you think you'd struggle more?

You'd have never heard of me. You never heard of me. I've watched so many great athletes, a lot of great athletes in my neighborhood. in my high school.

Probably more athletic than you probably.

Way more, better, more coordinated, jump higher, everything. So I've watched it and I've watched a lot of great athletes not have the, not get opportunities or not have the right Mentor or all these things. I got lucky because I had so many great mentors, and it started from a coaching standpoint, you know, and I talk about it in my documentary. I mentioned in my book, I talk about my, Gary Adams was my high school assistant coach who was the first person to take me and say, Hey, do you want to be great? Before I knew what great was, he was like, Do you want to be great? And I was like, yeah. He was like, well, I need you to show up every day. And it was like summertime. I remember that. You're like, I just want to play. I want to be my friends.

I want to hang out.

He was like, I'm gonna come and pick you up. I'm gonna hit the horn one time. You better come out. you better be ready. If you're late one day, I ain't never coming back. Wow. If you wanna be great, this is what you do. Every day in the summer, every day in the summer after my freshman year, I was in the gym with Gary Adams. And so that was the start of it. My dad was my first coach, but that was the start of all these great mentors. Jack FitzGerald, my high school coach, amazing mentor, amazing person to help me with this vision of, I think I want to go to college coach, you know what I mean? All right, well let's go to some games, you know what I mean? Like my high school coach and my sister coach, they would take me to games. College games. College games. Go watch. Yeah, yeah. Went to a Marquette game once. Didn't even know Marquette was a part of my future. I went to a Marquette game. So all these mentors, man, I would be nowhere if it wasn't for people taking, you know, a likeness to me, you know, and me respecting their time, respecting you know, what they were trying to give me and just applying it and doing it and being like, I'm open. Give me everything. Because I always just, I wanted different. I didn't want what I seen. I just knew what I would see. I'm like, I don't want this. I want something different for my family. And so every opportunity I had somebody that come in my life, I think I felt it. I was like, this person is in my life for a reason. Let me connect with this person. You know what I mean? Some people come in your life, they don't need to be in there. and some people you're like, yo, and so my mentors, my coaches, they were all in my life for a reason. I listened. You know, as hard-headed as I may have been as a kid growing up.

I listened to my coaches. What were a couple of the greatest lessons you remember from some of those coaches, whether it be the high school coach or, you know, NBA coaches, do you remember a couple lessons that really stand out?

The greatest lessons. I would say, like, I think the thing I carry in life is one of the greatest lessons probably come from Pat Riley and the Miami Heat. You know, I feel that even in business, even as a father, I use a lot of the verbiage, the language, the examples that I learned when I came into the NBA, into Miami. And, you know, I talked about this in my retirement speech is Miami has this thing called culture. Everyone is like, well, what is the Miami culture? And to me, what the Miami culture is, is it's in a discipline, right? It teaches you discipline. It's military in a way, but it teaches you ownership of the Miami Heat culture. The Miami Heat culture.

Yeah. It teaches, not the city of Miami culture.

That's why the culture of Miami has to teach you discipline. Exactly, yeah. 'Cause the city of Miami, that's why.

I was like, okay, I'm making sure.

The city of Miami is teaching you temptation at its highest. But I would say like the lessons that I learned is, you know, and it was mottos in Miami, it was, you know, we're gonna be the best condition, the mostest, the toughest. And all of those lessons to me was important coming from where I come from, not having a lot of structure, you know, not having a lot of discipline, I mean, especially getting into the world of having money, having fame, and.

Not knowing what to do with it. How did you learn to manage fame and finances when it's like you never had it and now you've got an abundance seeming of it?

Make mistakes. And I've spent a lot of it and done a lot of dumb things, not knowing about it. Once you get it, everything that you've ever wanted you can now have, right? And so what are you gonna do? You're gonna go get it. If you don't know.

Jordan told me to go get it. He said, Go get it, I'm going to get it. and then I lost it all.

Yeah, you do. And so I think for me, just really, and I just go back to Miami, in Miami, the post that Miami had, the hand that Pat Riley put on their shoulder that a lot of people don't like because you kind of feel guided, you kind of feel like a child at time. But the lessons that it taught me about what it takes to build a culture, what it takes to actually win, you know, that's the lessons that I take in my everyday life when I'm building a business, when I'm building a family atmosphere, you know, in my household, when I'm working with my wife as partners. I take so many lessons from, you know, my days in Miami and what Power Rally stands for, a building a culture that is built on discipline, is built on respect, is built on toughness, not giving up, not quitting. the next man is just as important. Like, you know, all these, these, these, these tools.

Yeah. That's inspiring, man. When someone finds a great coach or someone finds a coach that wants to support them, whether it be as an athlete or in life, what should that student do in your mind? If they see that, hey, someone's showing interest in me. I think they're a good coach. They're great. They could be a great coach, or they've got proven results in the past. how should that student show up to get the best out of it?

What would you do if it was a girl you liked or a guy that someone was interested in or a relationship that you wanted and they show interest in you? What would you do? You going towards it if you want it as well?

If you want it, yeah.

Right, so if I want it and you show interest in me, what I'm gonna do? So that's the same thing, right? It's the same mentality is if a coach is showing interest in you and you want to be great, you want to be at this level, then you do what you do when you see that person you want. You go all in. Don't miss that moment. Because you know when you're shy like I was growing up, you miss moments. You miss these opportunities. You're like, dang, next time. It may not be a next time. And so when you have a coach that's really pouring something into you, because it's hard for coaches to pour something to every player. But when they focus on you, when they cussing you out in practice, when they kicking you out of practice, they care in a weird way.

They do.

They do. And so for me, it's gravitate towards that is understand that every, certain people is putting our lives for certain reasons, right? And you can miss it. You can miss that, you can let that person go. You can let that person walk out. You can miss that moment because maybe you're not ready. Yeah. And so the saying is stay ready. So you don't have to get ready.

Yeah.

So whenever that, when that moment comes, you find a coach, stay ready, be ready, be prepared.

Right.

Because this right here can, it can change your entire trajectory in life just by this one mentorship, this one coach, you know, that one experience. Yeah. Your book is amazing though.

I did go through the digital version of it 'cause I was going through it yesterday. They sent that over. Dwayne, your kind of whole life, your story, your career. But I went through this all that, and I know everything. I know the half-time, I know everything. Even the part you missed. I saw everything here, I read through this, really inspiring. I mean, it's an amazing, showcase of kind of your life, your story. But I think what's really cool is the mindset behind the scenes. So, I want people to pick up a copy of this, get a copy for a friend or a family member. It shows like everything that you've really been through, which is really cool. And I want people to get this because it's inspiring and it'll be a good piece. You can put it on your coffee table. It's a coffee table book.

It's really cool.

-Yeah, man.

-It'S really cool.

-Thank you. and got stuff about your relationships. I'm curious, I don't know how many people ask you about relationships because you guys put it out there, your relationship. And I think the stigma is that high profile athletes, high profile actors, celebrities struggle in intimate relationships. That's the kind of stereotype. You see them get together, then they break up, right? Just curious, what would be the three things that someone who is going to build a bigger personal brand Maybe they've got an audience. Maybe they're a celebrity or they're going to be a celebrity in some industry or in the world. Maine, where life the way it should be transforms all who encounter its spectacular landscapes. Rugged coastlines, pine-scented trails, sandy beaches, sparkling lakes, and tranquil forests inspire you to reflect and make meaningful moments. They offer endless opportunities for adventure and exploration. whether peddling or paddling, hiking or biking, Maine has more than enough outdoor spaces to make the most of long summer days. Relish in exquisite flavors harvested from the ocean and the rich soils of orchards and fields. Maine's makers are rooted in its heritage while boldly branching into new ways of thinking, doing, and being. Connect with its people in warm and authentic towns, which beckon you to stroll art galleries and locally owned shops. Where generations of artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and craftspeople see, the world anew. It's tempting to do it all when you visit, but take a beat and a breath. Get a feel for the time and tempo of Maine. Simple pleasures, scenic adventures, where every route is the scenic one. Discover more at visitmaine.com the path to.

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What would you say are the three keys to sustaining a healthy, quality Long-term relationship. Committed.

As a person who's been divorced and made a lot of mistakes. That's why you know.

That's why you know, because you've made the mistakes. But now you've got this incredible, at least seems incredible, you know, relationship and marriage. And what would you say are the three keys? Knowing that it's never perfect, but what.

Would those three keys be? I don't know. I know the first one comes to mind is respect.

Respect.

It's respecting what the other person is what they, you know, what they are, what they bring to the table. Respect, you know, in a relationship, everyone needs to feel respected. And when you come home from hard day at work and you've been doing this and that, you want to come home and feel like you appreciate it. You're respected for the hard work that you put in and what you provide for the house. Right. And so in any relationship, in any partnership, everyone wants to feel, you know, respected for what they bring and what they you.

Yeah.

And so I think it's the same in any relationship with my wife. She wants to feel. My wife works. She grinds. She's working right now on a movie. She's not home with my daughter. And so I need to, I need to make sure she feels appreciated, make sure she feels seen and make sure she feel, you know, respected when she comes through that door. And it's not like, you know, and it was, and it's not easy, you know, because my life is so big, and at times I can kind of get in my own life and I kind of, you know, be like this a little bit. And they're not, not trying to be, but you know, that's showing a lack of respect for what she do and how hard she works and her position. Her position is not to always be behind me. Her position sometime is to be behind me, to be on the side of me, to be in front of me, to whatever, right? It's ever evolving. And so the first thing comes to mind is respect.

Yes.

Go with that.

Number two.

Okay. Number two, be open. Be open. You know, I feel like when me and my wife first got together, I was a closed-minded person.

Really?

Yeah. When it came to travels, when it came to eating food, when it came to conversations with people. And it's still times when my wife got to come in and be like, no, I need you to do this or you should do this or this is why you should do this. And I'm like, okay, all right. You know, so be open-minded, you know? And I feel like being open, like if you have a partner in business, be open to his or her ideas. you know, even if you are the one who started a company, they're there for a reason. Right. So, you know, be open to suggestions. Be open to another way. Understand that to lead doesn't mean you always have to lead in the front. So, you know, be open to other ideals.

Yeah. Okay.

Let's go with that. The third one.

Healthy, long-term committed, happy relationship. What is that? Third key.

Let'S see. Respect, be open. And I would say, because I do a lot of this, I think, you know, a lot of people probably see socially, like, I do a lot of things, a lot of surprises for my wife. I do a lot of, you know, take, you know, plan a lot of things. Yeah. And the reason I do that is because we know how it is. You know, listen, marriage is probably people probably gonna be mad at me, but marriage is probably one of the most unsexiest things in the world. you get to see behind the curtain of everything. You know what I mean? Like when you marry, you get to see everything about this person. And it's not the most, it's not the sexiest thing in the world, right? To see everything. And so to keep the spot, to keep the, you know, to keep your you wanting or your wife wanting or, you know, you got to do these things. You got to go on date nights. You know, you got to go, you know, change your hair up. You know what I'm saying? You got to go spend a little money you know, go out to beautiful places, you know? So for me, I'm like a. I guess I'm romantic. I think being romantic is a key. I think not just from one side, both sides need the romance. The romantic part of it.

That's cool.

If you're gonna. If you go be married. Yeah. You need to keep, you know, you got to keep some of that romance. That romantic part. So for me, I feel like it's been spontaneous. It's been adventurous. You know, it's being, for me, not scared to do things that maybe don't look so mancho or man-don't, we don't do that. It's like, no, my wife actually leaves the house a lot. If you want a successful marriage and relationship, your wife actually leaves the house a lot. You follow a lot, too. So yeah, I don't know if those are good ones.

It's good, man. It's great, I love it. I have two final questions for you. It's a question I ask called the three truths. It's a hypothetical scenario. Imagine it's your last day on earth. You get to live as long as you want to live. Okay. And you get to live all your dreams and everything comes true. Okay. But for whatever reason, you've got to take all of your body of work with you. The book, you know, this interview, any interview you've ever done, we don't have access to your information anymore. It's all to the next place. It goes with you or goes somewhere else. But you get to leave behind, you got a pen and a paper, and you get to write down three things you know to be true about life, about your existence, about life, three lessons that you would leave behind to the world. And this is all we would have to remember you by. What would you say are those three truths for you?

Now, these lessons are just lessons that, what are these lessons?

These are like things that you would leave, you would say to the world, you know what? If I could share three things to the world about the lessons on how to live a great life, What would be those three lessons or three things that you feel are true to you that you would want people to know about living a great life?

Well, okay, the first thing that comes to mind is some simple hard work. Nothing is accomplished without hard work, you know, and I know some people think, oh, this guy got to hand it to him. If you're gonna be great, and if you are great, you know, if you're good, you gotta work hard at it. You know what I mean? Like, even if you bad, it actually gotta work hard at being bad, too. So for me, my main message to my son is about the work he put in. It's about hard work.

Okay, number two.

That'd be one. Number two, lesson that I will leave behind. Patience. I believe that as people, we all need a little bit more of this. And I'm not talking about in every aspect. Some things need to hurry up. But we need more patience in traffic. We need more patience with each other. We need more patience in relationships to understand that you come from a totally different place than I. You come from a totally different background. so I need patience to learn, to listen, you know what I mean? And we don't have a lot of that. We're in a world right now where it's cancer. You out. I have some patience. All right. Teach me. Educate me. So patience.

Yeah.

Okay. Number three, hard work, patience. And the third one, if I had to leave something, would be energy.

Amen to that.

Energy. I'm a firm believer in the energy you put out is energy you receive, the way you treat others is the way you, you know, if you treat someone bad, they may not treat you bad. If you're treating people bad, you may not be treated bad, but somebody in your family may. So I treat it. You try to treat others like you want people in your family to be treated. You treat others with the respect with, you know, I look you in the eye when we talk or shake your hand, whatever it is, you know, try to treat people the way so the energy you give out to me is what you receive back.

Yeah.

So, energy.

Great truths, man. I've got one final question, but before I share the final question, make sure you guys get a copy of the book. Really inspiring book. A lot of great lessons, a lot of great images, stories. I mean, you've had an incredible career, and I feel like it's just getting started. This is like, you know, this is Period number two for you. You know, this is like you had your NBA career, now it's like you're.

Not even a halftime. I'm in pregame, I'm in pregame.

I'm in pregame. I'm in pregame. Yeah. But get a copy, get a copy for your friends, and spread the message about the book. Really inspiring book, and I'm glad I got to go through it last night. It was really cool. Before I ask the final question, Dwyane, I want to acknowledge you for a moment for being an incredible human being. All the people I reached out to and asked about you, they didn't talk about how amazing you were as a player. They talked about how incredible you are with your heart. And so I really acknowledge you for the gift that you are, how you show up with energy, how you show up and the impact you've made. I mean, you're a mentor to so many kids just the way Michael was for you. You don't even know the impact you've made on so many kids' lives who are now growing up that got to watch you play. And so I really acknowledge you for how you've shown up every single day on and off the court. Not perfect human being, obviously, we all make mistakes, but you keep showing up authentically you. And for me, that's pretty cool to watch. So I acknowledge you for that. And it's and I'm rooting for you for many, many years, man. I hope you have a lot of.

Success because you deserve it. I got a little warm. Thank you, man.

I just got a little warm. Of course, man. And my final question is, what's your definition of greatness?

Consistency.

Yeah.

To be great, you got to be consistent. You got to do it every day. You know, you think about the greatest player to ever, the greatest players or player, depending on what you want to talk about to ever play the game, it's the consistency in that player. LeBron James is one of the greatest because he hasn't missed a lot of games. He's been consistent. So for me, you know, that's, that's the thing I strive for, is to be consistent. and understanding that we are imperfect human beings. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to lack in certain areas. But I try to be a consistent presence, a consistent voice, you know, a consistent person, you know? And so I feel like if you, if you can focus in on the consistency of life, you know, that's the thing that will get you to greatness. Now, there's different times you may get there. It may take you 20 years to get there. It may take you a one year, but just stay consistent. Stay true to you. stick consistent to the work. And that's where greatness follow. And I think, and I'm gonna mess it up, but Will Smith said this recently and shout out to Will. He's on his book tour. It's weird too that his book is called Wheel, and mine is called Dwayne. But he said, and I talked to my son about it, and like I said, I may mess the quote up, but, you know, is, and I always tell my son, I say, listen, the goal is every day is to put one foot in front of the next. Right? Is no matter how hard yesterday was, it's every day get out of bed and something that you believe in and you want, then go at it every day. And if you put enough good days together, you fuck around, have a good life. And to me, that's consistency. It's putting enough consistent days together, you mess around and you have a good life. and so I use, I tell my son that all the time. And then Will said, I was like.

This is what I was saying.

Yeah. Yeah. So, because I love that. My man.

Thank you very much.

My hand sweaty.

So good. Appreciate you very much, man. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links. And also make sure to share this with and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most. And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

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