0068: How to Mentally Be a Beast In Business with Mental Performance Coach, Extreme Focus CEO, Bestseller Author, & Grammy Presidential Merit Award Winner Dave Austin

Ea interviews, episode 68, inspiration, transformation, success.

Stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's Expert Authority effect interview.

All right, Expert Authority World. I am excited to be here with Dave Austin today. Mental performance coach, Extreme Focus CEO. He's worked with Olympians, he's worked with athletes, he's a three time international best selling author. He even has the presidential award from the Grammys. And he's going to be sharing with you on how to improve your business and life. We're gonna bring him up right after I thank the sponsor. Congratulations, you got started with your cell phone and I welcome you to the live streaming game. Now you're comfortable on camera and going live regularly, but I caution you don't get stuck in startup mode. This is why I stepped up my game with Wirecast Pro and advise you do too. Get your 30 day free trial@eainterviews.com Wirecast Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Dave Austin. Dave, how are you doing today?

Doing awesome. Great to be with you, my friend, always. I like the setup here. Looks great.

Well, thank you very much. I'm excited for what you have to share because I know what it entails and it's hard hitting stuff. I'm excited to have you share with Expert Authority World. Let's just jump into it. What inspired you to start your company?

I think I got inspired with it when I was 10 years old. I don't know. Yes, I've had an interesting road, but I knew what I was going to do at a very early age. I was an athlete, I loved sports. My dad was a Navy chaplain. So we moved around and I had different coaches and one place I would perform incredibly well, I'd be the superstar. Then we move someplace and have a different coach who kind of say, hey Austin, you're slow as molasses. Gee, in California, I was fast. What happened? And I would run the ball, kind of looking over my shoulder going, oh, who's catching me up with me now? And so I just looked at things differently and so I played kind of mediocre and I'm like, wait a minute, how can the same guy be so influenced? I didn't know I was a kid right then. We moved to Hawaii. My dad got stationed at Kaneohe Marine Station. And after football overheard the coaches saying, hey, that new kid, he's kind of quick. I went, oh, thank you God. I'm quick again. I have no clue why, but I'm quick again. So I just went, you know what? I got to figure this out. Why do we listen to our outside environment and we don't find and tell the world who we are? The world tells us rather than. So I always had that. So even when I went to college, I went on a football and baseball scholarship and then I got a horrendous car accident. Very lucky to be here with you. Sorry to hear tennis because I was trying to use tennis to rehabilitate. They said I'd never walk again and I used that to rehabilitate myself. And then I transferred colleges to San Diego State and I was a walk on in tennis here. I had scholarship in baseball and football but I was able to carry that on into traveling the world and becoming a world ranked player, which I'm so amazingly grateful that I had that experience. But in college I got a degree in psychology and physical education because I was going to be a coach. I knew I was going to be a coach. But. But after I became a world ranked tennis player and I came off the circuit, had a chance, Hollywood kind of came knocking and so I was in some amazing movies and television and this is. Forgive me for what I didn't know I was the first commercial for Diet Coke. Now some of those people who love Diet Coke, forgive me for even throwing them under the bus, but Diet Coke is not the best for you. Okay, I hope you don't have Coca Cola, but it's diet, but it's. Yeah, never. I'm not even going to go there. But anyway, yeah, I was the first on camera guy for Diet Coke.

But I had a lot of great experience there. I had a record on the radio at one point, had a lot of journey along the way to come to full circle into what I Knew As a 10 year old I'd be doing. But I felt blessed with all of it. I was to be in really good movies with Gene Hackman and Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close and on and on, man, I'll always have that. But there was something in me, I'll be honest with you, that knew this wasn't my mission. Even when I had a record on the radio that Billboard had as a pick hit, first time I heard it on the radio I was driving with my son and almost had an accident. Had to pull off and go, oh my God, this is, you know, we just kind of rocked out to it. It was really fun. So I love those life experiences and I've had a lot of many life experiences. But I knew there was something in me that started way long time ago and that was to Be a coach to help lift people up. And that's what I ended up doing. My first, say, 15, 20 years was only with athletes, you know, Olympics. I've done teams like the Dodgers. And it was funny at this World Series, the coach of the Dodgers, Dave Roberts, and the coach of the Boston Red Sox, Alex Cora, I coached both of them. I thought, well, that's cool. Well, wait a minute. That either means I'm really experienced or I'm getting kind of old, because I coached them when they were major league ballplayers themselves. So, you know, I love sports, but as I wrote books, businesses started really relating to what I had to say. Because, you know, the truth is your mental state, you know, you can either get your brain to work for you or against you. And so I started doing a lot of. I worked with a lot of companies, and I feel blessed to have that opportunity. But then also going back to my roots, I started working with the military. And the Pentagon loves the Beast training. Oh, my gosh. I've done Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and I've got a big program coming out this year that we go to bases. I've done this for the last few years, but it's really gotten to where it's intensified. It's such a big thing for me to serve those who have served us, and that I actually have something of great value to them just lights me up.

Yeah, I'm very thankful for the military, and it's pretty much everyone you're working with, and I think they deserve more credit. So for you to be able to take them to the next level, that's really inspiring. What do you do for them? Because you're already talking about peak performers to begin with in the World's Eye, how do you help them get to that next level with your training?

Well, and first of all, I want to say also, I want to also let you know, I do first responders, too. I'm doing the police force of Texas, small little state. You maybe have heard of it, but, you know, they are on the front lines also. And so very much so, I wanted to just throw that out there. So what I do is, you know, you hear about, well, mental performance and performing under fire and all those things. A lot of great phrases, A lot of, you know, things you could kind of go, oh, that sounds cool, but how much do you use it? How do you really apply it? And so for me, it became about.

Coming up with a program that is so usable and so simple. So we came up with the Beast Trigger training program that Is so great because the animals, we have all these amazing instincts within us, but our minds get in the way. So how do we achieve? And each animal gives us a principle that by learning those, then it's just right action. All you have to do is think of that animal's name, which stands for the action you're to take. So the ultimate thing that happens is many and most of us, when we get to an emotional state, something that we feel, pressure. We many times get that emotion in the way of our objective on the goal that we want to achieve. We start reacting out of what's in our subconscious mind of this emotion reminds me of something way back then. We don't even know we're doing this. But now we act in a way that's not going to achieve what we're looking for. So learning how to have tools so that your emotional state doesn't get in the way of your objective. And that's a real key to the program. But we make it so practical. The tools are so usable. So less thinking, more just stepping into it. I mean, the reason I've had four players go from being stuck in AAA and becoming MVPs for their major League Baseball team. If it happens once, maybe it was just I got lucky, it happens again. Well, maybe I got even more lucky. Third or fourth, you kind of go, wait, maybe this system works. I went with the US Olympic team to the World cup and had the best results ever. So it's not that.

I'm some genius. It's just that I've worked it many, many years and I constantly learn. It's like my laboratory. And the other aspect that you know about me that you know, Mario, he said, I trust in God. I have such amazing faith that I get guided. I mean, I just get quiet. Anytime I need an answer, I ask. Ask and you shall receive. And sometimes it always doesn't come out the exact way I thought it. I wanted to control it, to be. But you know how it works, right?

We want it in our timing, but it's always in God's. And they. I don't think they ever match up.

No, they do. They do. Sometimes I don't put any limits on anything. I just know that I'm always knowing the best, even if it doesn't look like the best, because I trust in it. When I went to the World cup with the Olympic team, I actually prayed. I said, give me something, Lord. Give me something that's even going to take this to the next level. That's where I came up with What I'm known for. Now the game. Ready? You're getting the first one to maybe know this. Completely inspired. And it was just way beyond me. Einstein said, guys, I didn't have a bigger brain. I had a better connection. And I just really believe in that. And so I allow myself. And then I'm going to quote Emerson for a moment. He said that if you want true wisdom, take a walk in the woods. Well, you've seen pictures of my home and my property. I live in a national forest. It seems like it's gorgeous. So every day I can go out and collect a lot of wisdom in the whispers of the wind.

That is a great advantage. And you are wise for seeking God's help and being led in that fashion. I do that as well. And sometimes it's just like, hey, here's how it's going to go down. And that's how it happens. And there's nothing you could have done to figure it out.

Well, one thing that gives me a great deal of strength and one of the greatest gifts that was given to me were these words. God is with you when you're weak, and God is with you when you're strong. And I've had a lot of weak moments. You know, I've had a lot of things where I was challenged. I mean, you know, I. You know, I'm not. I'm like anybody else. You might look at the home I live in now. You might look at where my lifestyle is now, but it hasn't always been that way. And that strength of, hey, even if everything looks pretty bad right now, I still have a strength. And on the other side, when your things are going well, it's like, it's a lot easier to feel that strength. But it's like, not to get overboard, just be incredibly grateful, incredibly appreciative that you've been given this opportunity. And that's the way I look at things. And so it keeps my life balanced. I gotta tell you a funny story. You mentioned that I got the Presidential Merit Award for the Grammys. And I mean, there's a sad part to this, but a good part, too. Sad part is, gosh, Dave, wake up. So I was given the Presidential Merit Award for the Grammys, which is, you know, very, very special award, but it was only about, I'd say about four years ago, I'm watching the Grammys and they go, and now the Presidential Merit Award for the Grammys. I'm going, that sounds like a big deal. I should go out into the garage and go through some Boxes and find mine. That's the sad part. Like, you know why? Because until that moment I thought, you know, if I earn this, it can't be that big a deal, right? Because I just didn't see myself as being worthy enough to have something of that magnitude. So I downplayed it. But after hearing that and seeing it years apart, I go, you know what? I'm honored that I was able to achieve that. So I made it look differently. And if you come to my office now, you'll see it's displayed really pretty. Not to boast, but to appreciate.

To.

Honor what you were given and it was rightfully yours.

Right. You know, I kind of looked at it because I looked at it like, well, yeah, I got it because I started what has changed, really changed the course of the music industry. It sounds pretty significant, right? But I was looking at, yeah, but I did it all for charity. That can't be that big a deal. You know, I started the first benefit concerts. It morphed into Live Aid and all these things. And then the Grammys said, we want to start a foundation, Would you start the foundation for us? So I did those things. And now it's probably a billion dollars strong and a lot of really many lives have been changed. But I look at it like, no, my song in radio was only a one hit wonder, you know, that I don't deserve that. You know, I always looked at the things that the reason I didn't deserve it rather than honor the reason I did get it.

I think everyone does that though. No matter if you got one award, locally, nationally, internationally, whatever the case is. I think we're always our own worst critic and we need a coach. We need help. So tell me about one of the stories. What's been the biggest transformation you've been able to give or one of your clients, when they started, like they came to you, maybe it was one of the football players, baseball players, military. Who is the biggest transformational story in your experience?

Well, if you look at it just from a standpoint of financially, and I look at things more than just finances, it's about the life you live.

It doesn't need to be strictly finances, but maybe it was someone struggling with, like we're talking about our own self image. And now they see themselves as a child of God and the son of a king. And, you know, I'd say that's a success story too.

So I have lots of those, lots of those. But, well, here's one that's kind of fun and, well, if it's right. I'll even throw in two.

Please do. I'm sure you could add a dozen or so, but.

So the first one I'll throw in that one of the best testimonials I was ever been given is a player was stuck in AAA and he couldn't get up to that next, you know, just so close to the major leagues, right? And he working with me, it was so much fun. Both of us enjoyed it. He ended up having a great year. But his testimony was, I'd rather hit.185 and be who I am now than hit.325 and be who I was. And the funny part to that is he was hitting.185 when we started. He ended at.325. So I thought that was like the greatest one because it was more important to him who he had become. Now the results then just took care of himself. Another baseball story was, and I think everyone should really hear this for themselves, this might be baseball, but we've all faced these kind of things. He was a pitcher with the Texas Rangers and he finally earned at spring training, he was offered a contract to play in Major League Baseball. His dream, lifelong dream. I finally made it. He called me and he goes, I made the team. And woo hoo. He goes, but am I crazy? I want to be a starter, I don't want to be a reliever. And I said, well, you're only crazy if you let other people tell you what crazy is. If this is your true passion, don't listen to anybody else. Listen to your heart. And that's the part that I want everyone to hear. Because sometimes we judge on what we should do by everyone else. Why do we have to buy into their belief system? Why can't we go deep and trust? Now I'm not saying you don't get advice, advice is very important.

But then ultimately go to find the truth in yourself. So I said, hey, if that's what you truly want to be, you make that decision, but live off of your craziness, not someone else's. So he, the next day went into the major league, the manager and went to the gm. Now the minimum wage for Major League baseball is about $600,000 back then, right? Not bad. In minor leagues you're getting about $1,200 a month. Kind of a big difference, right? So he goes in and says, you know, I'm so grateful to have made the major league team, but I want to be a starter. And they go, well, you know, we don't have a starting role here for you. And he goes, I know. Well, you know, we don't have one at AAA either. He goes, oh, okay. You're going to have to go all the way back to aa. Can you imagine that? That's a choice. And the financial difference is dramatic. But also, even if you think about your ego or whatever, but he was willing at that point to say, no, I'm going to live the life I love rather than just live circumstances. Circumstances are that you only see me as a reliever, but what I would love would be a starter. So he went back to Double A and just kick.

Yes. You know what I mean? And we were working it, and it was so much fun, and he was happy. That was the main thing. He was not making very much money, but he was happy because he was living the life that he designed rather than let someone else design his life. Well, guess what? In May, a pitcher went down for the major league team, and instead of going to Triple A, they went all the way back to AA and said, you know that Scott is going great and he has proven that he's a starter. We had him. We already saw him as a major league pitcher. So they brought him all the way up in May. So it was only a month down. Right. He went on to win 17 games, become the runner up for the Cy Young, which is the best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball, and signed a $13.5 million contract. So sometimes, are you willing to go back to live the life you love? Because it's like a monkey. When a monkey has momentum, you it swings back, tough, power forward. But most people, you start going back, you're, oh, woe is me. Rather than seeing as the swing to my great success. So that's to me, I love that story because he was willing and I didn't talk him into it. All I did is open a pathway for him to think about. That's what I do with a lot of my clients. I try to open up and give them different perspectives. Most people are living their life looking into one window, and the truth is there's windows on all sides. And are you willing to venture and look through each side so you can see it maybe through different eyes, so that when you come to that choice, you're coming with a strong conviction behind the choice rather than a tiptoeing in.

You'Re getting them to accelerate the possibility of possibilities? It sounds like, absolutely.

And I'll go with Einstein again. Either nothing's a miracle or everything's a miracle. Well, I live a life that Everything's a miracle. I mean, I don't believe that 2,000 years ago, miracles ended. I think that they're alive today if we so choose to have that spirit in us. You know, Jesus said, hey, you'll do greater works than I. Well, what does that truly mean? I think he was passing the torch on to say, hey, I got the cross covered. You take this and do all that. And if you look at what's happened in my life, it has to be a miracle. I mean, you know, the home I live in, you know, the lifestyle, and it hasn't been. And it's not about the home or the lifestyle I live, but it's about accepting who I am and fully being engaged. Nothing will ever get in the way of my first number one passion is the mission of helping people become more in their lives. Whether it's a business, whether it's sports, whether it's transitioning soldiers that I do a lot with, because that's tough to transition into the business world. Anybody going into business, you're going to most likely have challenges. I've been through the minefield, so to speak. I know that. So keeping your mind right is one of the biggest gifts you can bring to yourself. So the fact that I can do that that way outweighs everything. But I also know that I've allowed myself to accumulate, say, wealth now because I found that I can do more good. Before, I used to kind of like, hey, money, stay away from me, stay away from me. You know, that's the root of all evil. And I wasn't even taught that. My dad was a Navy chaplain. I don't think that. I don't know where it came from, but many times, even if I did great things, I'd find a way to look like it was the outside world, but it was me. I lost every penny I had because I had 160 acres in Rancho Santa Fe, a very wealthy community, and I had 25 acres on the coast in Cardiff. Right. And, you know, I mean, it's unbelievable you think about that, but I lost it all because I signed guarantees. Because, you know, what are guarantees and. But I wasn't ready to receive in the way. It turned out to be an amazing blessing. I know that sounds funny. How can you lose every penny you have and turn into a blessing?

Well, like you were saying with the monkey swinging forward and swinging back. If you want to take a step back, I've heard that too, you would need to slow down to speed up. Well, what does that mean? You can't Have a breakthrough, unless you break down. And I've gone through stuff in my own life where it's like, oh, my gosh, what's going on? But on the other side, you're going, you know what? I'm rebuilt stronger. And it sounds like that's what you went through with that scenario. And I do remember that. It's unfortunate. I'm glad you and Kathy and the kids are safe. But.

When you lose stuff. I'm sorry, I was thinking of the fire.

Oh, that's right.

I was thinking of the fire. I remember that scenario.

Well, you know what? It's so funny because we've been. You have fires in your life. Whether it's really come out to be that. But yeah, you're thinking, that's right. You were going through our 30 day program at that time, and we were in Yosemite, you know, joining life. It's gorgeous. And then we get a call, one of my sons says, hey, your house is burning down. Like, what? Like, literally. That's what you're talking about, right?

Literally. Not just, oh, I'm having these fires I have to put out in my life. Like, no, literally.

So we go on the news and we see. We see our neighborhood totally up in flames. And we're going, oh, my, oh, my. And we had to deal with the way we deal with things. And Kathy, she just got really quiet and said, and we looked at the waterfall there at Yosemite, says just see this rushing over our house, right? And we just, we do a lot. I do a lot of visualizations, you know, but you also surrender it to it, too. But, you know, we're watching this and it does look like our house because our neighborhood is just, you know, looks like totally up in flames. But we just. Kathy was just putting the waterfall over all of it, right? Mentally. And we're going to come home from Yosemite. But, you know, it was all. We couldn't have gone back into the home anyway, right? So we waited a few days and it was gorgeous up there. We come home and all right, maybe we got to, you know, kind of started new, at least from all that. And we were. Luckily, we're out of it. We had dogs there, you know. You know, I had to be sure that our dogs were safe and. But when we got home, it was really interesting. Our little cul de sac was completely intact. Even though we watched some television, it did look like it was in flames, but it was all around us, and even trees and palm trees where we lived, you know, they had gotten Burnt, but the house was totally intact. And it's funny because I had an assistant at the time who was in. Then we had an office in our home and he was in there with headsets on, editing. I had a radio show at the time, and he was editing some of the things that we would repurpose. So he didn't hear all the commotion going on. He didn't know what was going on. He's back. He didn't know what was going on. Finally there's something. He took off and he heard this banging going on the door. He went, and it was the police says, get out of here, get out of here now. This is. He goes, oh, my gosh. And he took our dogs. And then he's thinking, what do they want? What should I take? And he's kind of. Funny story to this is that I have four boys and two of them play football at D1 level and one played professionally for eight years. And he's just deciding to retire. Great career, the whole thing. But we have these display of helmets from youth football and high school and pros in college and all that, because that's what they're going like. So he took all the helmets, loaded his car with the helmets, throw the dogs in, forget the paintings, forget all our computers. I mean, it's kind of funny, but, you know, he was acting the way he felt he needed to act with that. We just kind of joked. He said, football helmets. Really? But those football helmets do mean a lot to us, trust me. But I was thinking that, you know, we probably. Probably the computers and all that. But, you know, the truth of the matter was, you know, the dogs are safe. He was the most important part. And he was so devoted to working, he almost didn't hear. But he was able to get out of Dodge, so to speak. Save our dogs and save our football helmets.

Yeah, that's an interesting decision. I mean, what would you take? There's a lot of people going, well, I need this, I need that. And it's like, do you need it or do you want it? I mean, we could do a whole, whole training on that. And I'm just glad you, Cathy and the kids are okay. So you were talking about what you've accomplished. And let's talk about your bestsellers. How have, how have your books helped your business?

Tremendously. I mean, and you know what? I have to look up to my high school English teacher because he's rolling over up there, just belly laughing going, because I'm the last guy that he would ever say was Going to have three number one best sellers. But I never saw myself as a writer. It wasn't something that I felt I had a gift in it.

You and me both. I failed English seven times.

Yeah. You know, but what happened was actually, and I don't know if you know this how it all started. I was on my way to Germany for a business meeting, and on the plane, all of a sudden, I was just. I had this. Was compelled to just start writing on this pad of paper. Didn't even know what I was writing because normally I have to think through when I do a, say, an email, I think so much on it, I redo it. And all this, I'm just going crazy. Page after page after page. Land in Germany. And that night, I was working with all night, just start writing page after page going, I don't know what's happening. I don't even know what I'm writing. And then I met with the meetings I had. They're all very successful meetings. I'm flying home, and I was living in Southern California at the time, so that's a long flight from Germany. So I had plenty of time. I started reading what I wrote, and it was like, oh, my goodness. This is like God speaking to me. This is like, I'll be honest, beyond my intelligence. It was like the most amazing thing that I've ever read. And I'm thinking, what is this? It was such a beautiful gift. But I was freaked out by it, to be honest with you, because, like, who am I to write this? And I got home, and my wife, who's an amazing writer, she's had, you know, many bestsellers for others because she's a ghostwriter. And I'm like, do I even share this with her? And I'm thinking, she's my wife. We share everything. And so I was a little bit, you know, like, skeptical. Like, I don't know what she's going to think. But I said, something happened to me where I was in Germany and I started reading to her. And she goes, oh, my God. She goes, this is the biggest compliment she could give me. She goes, wow, well, we know you had nothing to do with that.

Meaning that I get out of the way and I let somebody, some incredibly inspired state take over. So I started writing on a regular basis. And then our fourth son.

Just shut down in Kathy's womb. And I was back in Omaha, Nebraska, doing what I normally do. You know, I had ConAgra, a big company. I was consulting with them, but it was the College World Series. I always Everywhere I get to do sports and business, you know, both worlds together. Usually wherever I travel, it's fun, but I get the call that no one ever wants to get. It was that I was losing my son and most likely my wife. It was a really challenging moment. I'll be honest with you. I got right away, I just left there, got the next flight home. And on the flight I wrote, as I wrote on that plane trip and had been writing, it says Daniel's.

Well, the last thing I got from the doctor is that to save Kathy's life, that Daniel needed to come out in the next three or four days. But on the flight home, I started doing what I do. And it says, daniel will be a true life miracle. It will give you the courage to come out and share this with the world. And I'm like, yeah, right. I don't need to have life and death to be able to whatever. It was my own little challenging time. Even though everything I wrote came to fruition. It was like I always fought it because I'm an athlete. I'm a guy out here. I'm not this spiritual guru guy. How can this be happening? That I get these messages come through that so clear. But I wrote that Daniel would be a true life miracle. And it said, but Daniel needs to come tonight. I'm thinking, when we land in la, how am I going to tell them that God spoke to me and it needs to be tonight? I didn't know how to handle that one because it made me feel kind of weird. And so when I got off, my beeper went off. Remember those days? And I went to a pay phone and it was Kathy going, hey. They decided it had to happen tonight. They're transferring an ambulance to another hospital at 7:20. We're doing an emergency C section. Well, we had flown in over in LAX. I looked at 405 and it was a parking lot. There's no way it was 5:30 that time. But I knew there's no way. So I'd never taken the coast route before. I decided that's my only chance. I was again just totally being guided. But I've learned to trust it at such a deep level. Most people aren't willing to maybe go to that level. I am. So I'm going along the coast. And it was like, weird because years later, when I had driven it, it can get just as backed up. It was clear the whole way for me. I ended up getting into. I didn't even know where Oxnard Hospital where she had been transferred to. We didn't have GPS back then. Well, how was our lives before this? Right? I'm going. When I get. I don't know. I just know it's a hospital in Oxnard. The freeway or the road I took, it travels right into the hospital. Before you go back out to the 101, it's like, crazy. Everything I get there, I'm still shook. I cried the whole way. Even though I have this message that I wrote that saying everything would be fine. Daniel is going to be a true life miracle. I'm going, yeah, but how deep is my faith? I'm not sure I buy into this stuff that comes through me anyway. I mean, it has helped us, it's changed us. But don't tell anybody about it was kind of my philosophy. And I get to the hospital, I get there, I'm really shook. And I come in and these doctors are over Kathy. And Kathy's going, hey, guys, we're going to be fine. This is all going to be good. I heard her, and that energy I just lifted into. I went, we're going to be fine. So the doctors took me into the hallway. They scrubbed me, got me all. Put me in the hallway and said, hey, your wife does not know how serious this is. She doesn't have any concept of this is life and death. She doesn't get it. I said, hey, guys, we're going to be fine. We got this. They looked and rolled their eyes and go, this couple are wackos. I'm going, you know, it is what it is. So we go in there, they take Daniel out. Now, this is my fourth child, and I've never had a C section, but I've never seen someone that small because it was about eight weeks before he was to be born. But he was all deformed in purple and didn't look like a regular baby. And so they take him out and they put him over and they try to. They've got an oxygen mask on. Can't get anywhere. I'm still with Kathy because I'm.

Making sure Kathy's going to make it through. She said, hey, Dave, I'm fine. I'm doing great. Go heal Daniel. I went, okay. As I walked to get over there, all of a sudden I started getting uptight about, well, what are they going to think? I'm going to come in and heal my son. All of a sudden, I heard my dad's voice. My dad's been gone for many, many years at this point, and. But he was a Navy chaplain that when they took the beaches at IWO Jima, the story goes like this. The first wave went in the second wave, very bloody. Finally, when they cleared the beaches on the seventh wave, the admiral goes, hey, where's Chaplain Austin? We got to go ashore. And sailor says, sir, he was on the first boat this morning. So he led the charge at Iwo Jima with a Bible and communion pack out there with no weapon, just being the charging out there. And when we heard this at his retirement, we knew he was in Iwo Jima. We knew he was. When they raised the flag, he was giving communion at that flag to those five, you know, and those weren't the original five. That's another longer story. But anyway, when they posed for the picture later on, but he just said, well, that's where I was needed most. I love God and I love my Marines. End of story. So at that moment, I heard. This is what I heard. I took on machine gun fire for what I believed in. What are you willing to do? I thought, how shallow. I felt like I was concerned what they would think of me. So I went over, put my hand on Daniel's leg, and I said, daniel, I want you to feel the power of my love. I want you to feel the power of God's healing grace. And he just, like it was electric. His shock happened. He came out of the coma, started breathing, looked right into my eyes, and it was this look of, hey, dad, we got this. And then he went back into coma. I went, okay, if you say so, even though he couldn't talk. But I know that's funny, but I could see it in his eyes. Then they whisked him off into.

Intensive care, and the doctor was trying to tell me that he wouldn't make it through the night. He was too weak and don't expect him, even though he's breathing now, he won't make it through the night. As he told me that, Daniel kind of flinched again because they had turned on a light. I said, look, I'm not a medical doctor. I don't really know medicine. But that's a sign. And we're going to build on that sign, and it's going to get better and better and better. With each step, each day, new miracles took place. He was all deformed, and all of a sudden he wasn't. I mean, God was just guiding me where to put my focus. And then after five days, we get called into a conference room, and a doctor we've never met before, never seen, wasn't part of the thing. Goes, I only come in in extreme cases. He goes, I don't think it's fair for a baby to be, you know, on a life support their whole life. Kath and I looked at each other and said, we don't either take it off. He goes, well, you know what that means, right? I said, yeah, of course I know what it means. It means another miracle. And he's looked at me like, these guys are as wacko as they told us they were. But, you know.

I went to the nurses because they loved the whole thing, the doctors. It didn't fit what they medically had been trained in because they couldn't. So it was really, believe it or not, it was really tough for them because he was beating all these odds. And I said, look, they say he won't be able to swallow. We're going after one swallow when they got a little baby thing, whatever your. What is? Eyedropper. Yeah. And he wouldn't swallow. And for a while there, it looked like, okay, the doctors were right. But then all of a sudden, he swallowed. You would have thought we won the Super Bowl. We're all cheering because, see, we had our mindset just for one. Not like, oh, my God, he's got to swallow it all. Just one. I said, ah, this is awesome. All right, so next feeding, we're going for two. We're going for two. And they were just. The energy was so powerful that the next feeding, he got two, then he got more, then he got more. All these miracle after miracles took place after 10 days. The doctors didn't know what to do and said, okay, you can take him home. It was funny. I saw one of the doctors and I said, isn't this incredible? Isn't this amazing? He was really troubled by it. He goes, I just know that with a PH level of 771, you'd be a vegetable your whole life. He was 6.8. That's not even able to sustain life. No one has ever sustained life at that. That's not even possible. I said, hey, I can live with a miracle. Can you? I grabbed Daniel and we went out and one of the nurses, the head nurse says, you know what? My 27 years, I've never witnessed anything like this in my life. I just blessed her because she was awesome. So, you know, Daniel's a true life miracle. He's coming on 21, and he's a gift. He's a total gift. And he's just a remarkable young man.

Whenever I feel doubt, and there's many times I do because I'm human, that doesn't mean I just understand the power that can be there for us. So if you look at what I've been able to accomplish in life, it hasn't come without doubt, hasn't come without fear, hasn't come without setbacks. It's come with a deep rooted faith of I'll take our machine gun fire for what I believe. And that's the strength my dad gave me and I'll always be blessed. And I come into companies that are struggling and I can shift their whole culture so that one, they enjoy each other more, they celebrate life more, but the whole bottom line just grows because they've got a whole different energy about it instead of that fear factor. One more story, then I'll let you talk. Two guys came to my grandfather. I have had a lot of personal experience that have helped me mold me. Two guys came to my grandfather and they're deep in debt. This was in the 40s and a couple million dollars in debt. You can imagine how bad that is. And one brother was an accountant, the other brother was a dreamer. We'll just take it that way. And just talked about the dreamer, just talked about the dream and how awesome this would be. The accountant brother, you're going to understand.

It was like, get back to reality, right?

Yeah. Do the best he could. And I realized that most of us have the accountant and the dreamer both in us, Right? Both brothers in one. But my grandfather is so captivated by the dreamer and the way that he approached life that my grandfather said, yes. And I looked at that and said, man, you know, all in life, sometimes all we need is that. Yes. And so now look at what we have because of my grandfather's. Yes, we have Disneyland. We have all kinds of things. That was Walt Disney.

And he was in deep debt, trying to build his dream. Can you imagine that? Entrepreneurs, I see it all the time. They're building the dream. Sometimes you go into deep debt, but it depends on where you put your energy. The funny part of that story is that they were so appreciative. We would get a Christmas present every year. No, not a present. A box higher than me. My brother and my sister, my younger sister, unfortunately, seven years behind me. Wasn't born then. It was about three or four years. We would have our Walt Disney Christmas on Christmas Eve and our Christmas on Christmas. And we'd get all this stuff from Disneyland. It was so cool. And there'd be a note. Thanks, Walt. I'm going, who is this crazy, man? I'm five, right? I'm going, this guy's crazy. He's giving me gifts and he's thanking me. That guy's Looney Tunes. But, you know, now later in life, I look back and I go, wow, that's the way to live life, you know? And I think that sometimes, you know, sometimes we're one yes away. But we quit too soon. Walt had quit.

So many people do. From what I know with the story, he was rejected by all these banks, and no one believed in his vision, but he did.

Yeah. Somehow he was able to translate that to my grandfather. My grandfather just happened to be in a position. My grandfather at the time was executive vice president of bell telephone. And AT&T, which owns Bell, was the largest company in the world at the time. So. Remember the Bell Theater, Pacific Bell Theater of the Round? That was one of the first major.

Things that they had at Disneyland. Well, now they had the number one company in the world sponsoring it. So guess what happened? All the other companies fell in line, and it was like a domino effect. So you never know where you're going to get that. Yes. And so a lot of times I feel challenged, but I believe in what I'm doing. I have to ask, and it doesn't mean you don't adapt. You have to look. You don't want to be so stoned, you know, anchored that you can't see and improve.

But there's a difference. When you just start chasing shiny objects. Oh, well, that looks easier. This one's tougher. I go deep in to go, is this the path I'm supposed to go? And if I get a yes, I'm.

A, you're committed no matter what.

I'm a rhino. I don't know if you know, rhinos, they cannot be stopped once they get started. But if the rhino is going the wrong direction, that's not good problem then. Yeah, that's why you said, you know, get there fast by going slow. Slow down to see this. So that when you commit yourself, you're the rhino.

Yeah. Slow down to speed up. But once you do speed up, don't stop, no matter what.

There you go.

So speaking of the rhino and your training, we're gonna go to the imperfect action round. But first, how about you do a game ready for us?

Love to. This is, as you know, what I'm known for. It's funny how you develop things. This is one of the ones on the plane ride, I think it was to Scotland for the World cup that I said, okay. My dad used to say, do your best. Let the good Lord do the rest. I'm like, hey, do you got any rest for me today? And this inspiration came, and then we had the best results ever. And I've used it to create a career that has been incredible. So hopefully those out there watching this, this is what's done to win Olympic championships. NFL, Major League Baseball, PGA Golf, pro tennis, you name it. It's getting. I'm just giving you a little backstory. Your subconscious mind is going to go whatever it is most familiar with. And if it's not familiar with you winning, you'll find ways to keep you from winning in whatever that winning is right in your life. So the more you see it, the more you live into your video, the more you're creating it into creation. So first of all, in the game, ready? You got to get focused. We get so distracted, right? So we have our goals. You want to set your intentions. And what's the difference between an intention and a goal? A goal is actually out of our control when we set our intentions. This is who we need to be to achieve our goals.

I'm a big believer in goal setting. I'm a big believer in achieving goals, but my focus is on the intention, because I have total control over my intentions. I don't over my goals, but that's how I achieve it. First of all, think about three, because anything beyond that will be a distraction. Get really locked in. Give you an example.

What's a goal? What's an intention?

Like, I'll do a receiver I had for the Carolina Panthers. One of the intentions he had was to win the one. Meaning it's so easy to like, oh, gosh, I just missed that one. Or I got to do this. You just. I only have one. I'm only going to win this one. And when you only focus on one, then all kinds of magic can take place. So that's like an intention. Another one is like, when I have a say, I'm going to have an important business meeting. One of my big intentions that has really helped me is be a great listener. Because otherwise I get so enthusiastic about what I'm trying to present, then I'm not hearing what they need. So just that. That's a great reminder. That's something I can control. You got that? So once you set the intention, now you want to do is I take the moment to think about all the things I'm grateful for. Because no matter what mood you're in, oh, my gosh, Gratitude is your spice of life. It's amazing. I just tap back into. I always think of my wife. You know, we just you know, we've been married now 33 years, and what a gift that is. My four boys. That just changes everything. Doesn't matter how important this meeting is. I'm in a spirit of, like, wow, voice, awesome mode.

Total awesome mode. Beast, awesome mode. And so you tap into it. And the reason that so many of my athletes have achieved so much, because they forget when they become professional to appreciate and have fun. And so this is a great reminder when you start being grateful, and then it just allows you to free all those negative thoughts and just focus on your intentions. So once you have the gratitude. Now close your eyes.

Now, as you close your eyes, I want you to see a gate, any kind of gate. Now I want you to pass through that gate. As you pass through the gate, I want you to come to a place in nature that either you've been to before might be a combination of places, or you and God can be the creators right now. And to something that you just go, wow, this is awesome. As you look around, you go, gosh, this is so amazing. How beautiful it is. And there's a strength here. There's an energy here. So breathe in this strength. Nature loves to be appreciated, so breathe in through your nose all the way to the pit of your stomach, and then breathe out.

Breathe in all this wisdom, all the strength that's here available for you, it's here.

Just take this moment and keep breathing it in the beauty. Be in awe of the beauty. It just lifts you to a higher ground. Now, see a gate at the other end and go through that gate. As you go through that gate, Mario, I want you to see yourself having people watch this video and going, oh, my gosh, this is incredible. Who is this interviewer? Wow, I'm so glad that he's doing this. And just.

See that what you're doing is creating a space for others to be more better for themselves and rejoice in that. Just see that and say, wow. Sometimes I'm sure even doing this show, it's like, why am I doing this? But in this moment, you're really getting to go, man, this is so awesome. Because you're seeing the change that are happening. You're getting some of the best achievers on the planet here that are opening people's eyes to show them that they can achieve, too. Now, those that are watching this, I want you to apply it to yourself in your own life. You might not have a podcast, but you have something you're doing. See yourself celebrated as Mario is feeling what it's like to tap into this source of power and greatness that goes way beyond his own and goes, wow, I've got a strength. Oh, my gosh, I can see it. And with every little step I take, I can see one person being changed. I see 10 people being changed. I think, oh, I see a thousand being changed. Oh, my Gosh, I see 100,000 being affected. Oh, my God. Affected in a good way. The kind of affection that we'd love to have and see that and go, wow, I'm so glad that I said yes to this inspiration that hit me. There was somebody else who could have said yes, but I said yes. And, man, I put myself in this position to absolutely enjoy this fully. Now go ahead, come back through the gate. Come back into this place of nature.

Always, always wonderful to come back into this place of beauty and be renewed. Putting it all out there. You put it all out there. Now you always. This is like where you get plugged in and you're revitalized and see a waterfall and then see a stream go up and just cup the water, just drink the water. So ice cold, so refreshing. You just feel invigorated. You feel life like this is so awesome. You feel that strength so deep within you. It's just waiting to come out in you. We sometimes put walls around us and you just let the walls fall. And as you drink this water, you're going, I feel it. And you look around, even the beauty becomes even more beautiful. Walk in that strength, walk in that knowing and walk out through the first gate and you are game ready, my friend.

I love that. I absolutely love it. And I know everyone listening to this is going to love it too. So thank you for that, Dave. I am very thankful for that. We're gonna come back to the imperfect action round right after we thank our sponsors.

That makes me nervous. I like to be nervous.

You're gonna nail it. Instead of trying to get your prospects attention, why not be so captivating they can't look away? That's a quote from my book, Video marketing for business owners that I created as a reminder for both my clients and myself for success on camera. And that's why I use Wirecast Pro for my professional productions. And I advise you do as well. Get your 30 day free trial today at eainterviews.com wirecast and start filming your show professionally the way your brand and audience deserves. Once again, that's eainterviews.com forward/wirecast. And we are back with the imperfect action round. Dave, are you ready to take imperfect.

Action Hey, I feel the pressure, man. I feel the pressure. Oh, but I also remember I love pressure. Bring it, baby. Bring it.

All right, first question. What, in your experience is the fastest path to the cash?

Surrender. You know, listen to that deeper voice and allow.

And then take action to what you're allowing. If you don't put the action, it's just a fantasy. Take the steps behind it. So it's a combination of, you know, we think of surrender as defeat. Many of us, I think of surrender as victory. I'm surrendering to my victory. Champions are champions before they're champions. I already feel and see that success. And so even when it doesn't look like it, I'm already living into it.

Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making, and what's the fastest way they can fix it?

I think the biggest thing is that.

Value, whatever value you put to something that fuels the desire, that gives you the power to achieve it. But what I see a lot of is that say, oh, I value achievement. I really value this that I'm setting myself to go to, right? And so what happens is that they start that journey and then it starts taking them a little bit out of their comfort zone. And then it's like, oh, my gosh, they jump back to their comfort zone. Even if it's miserable, even if it's, like, just mediocre. They actually value their comfort zone more than they do what they really think they value. And so how do you change that is become self aware. And then once you become self aware, have a positive attitude and learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Excellent. I can attest to that myself. And yes, get comfortable. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Because success doesn't come in your comfort zone, that's for sure.

You know what? I'd rather be extraordinary, you know, in what I do than mediocre and be comfortable. That's just the way I'd rather be. And I also know to be something like that, I've had to go through a lot of challenges. I've had to be uncomfortable, but it's so worth it now. When I get uncomfortable, it's just like, I got some premiere. I'm going, oh, good, something's happening. Something's going on here.

You know, you're on the right path. That's how I see it. You know, you're on the right path. That's how I see it.

Cool.

If. If you're not getting any resistance, you're not doing enough. Number three, what, in your experience, is the best way to Maximize customer lifetime value.

Customer value. Is that what I'm hearing? Right.

For your business, of all the years you've helped people and all the people you've helped, how have you been able to maximize that? If you get a client now, how do you know? How do you maximize it? 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, whatever the case may be.

Well, I'm constantly learning. I'm constantly growing. Every client I have, I learn. I don't ever feel like I know it all. I always have. You know, even though I'm giving a gift to clients, through my experience, they're giving me a gift. So I'm maximizing because it's always something new. I never go into routine. I have a lot in my toolkit to use, but it goes beyond that. And then I just love having clients have these aha moments. I mean, I can't tell you how excited that, yes, money makes the world go around, and I'm very appreciative that I make good money doing it. But the biggest. If it was only for money, I wouldn't do it. But to see people change their lives in front of my very eyes, nothing's better than that in my eyes.

I agree. I agree. I love giving my clients transformations, too. And we do it a little bit differently with who we're helping, but the end result is the same. We love giving, we love helping, and it's fun to do. And, yeah, you get it doesn't hurt to get paid for it now.

You know what? I'll be honest with you. For many years, I didn't allow the money to come necessarily, because this thing about money's. You know, I've seen so many broken homes because of money, but I had to come to a realization that's not me. And I can. You know, it's like, money's not going to hang around with someone who doesn't love it. And I came to a realization that if I did allow myself to become wealthy, I can serve more, I can do more. And that's why I'm so appreciative. I do. I just wrote a check to Journey's Dream, which is for mental health, and I love what they're doing. You don't think that lit me up, that I have the ability to do that? I mean, gosh, what a gift. Not only am I giving to them, but it's a gift I'm giving myself because I know they do a really good job of helping people through mental crisis, and I just helped them. But if I hadn't opened up to My own receiving. I couldn't have done that. And I couldn't be giving the lifestyle to my family that I want them to live.

I remember hearing a long time ago when I first started business and I was doing leadership training, self development, all of that. And it was, you know, all those questions that someone has, 10% of a million is a lot better than 10% of a hundred.

And I know, you know where I'm going with that. And I thought about that and I actually set a goal. I want to live on only a million dollars a month. You go, wow, that's kind of around whatever. And whoever's listening to this is going to have their own opinion about it. But here's why. Because you can give away the other 99.

Cool. Well, you know what? I'll even throw one more ad to what you, what you're doing. You want to live a million a month, right? So I would just say that or something better.

There we go.

You don't limit it. There we go. Because you know, you know, you might think, well, how in the world is that going to happen? But if you take a sheet of paper and you put a dot on it, that's how big it is in God's eyes. And the more I've allowed myself to do that, I've been able to do things that most people don't think are possible.

And I appreciate the, appreciate the reminder for that because I came up with that, let's say a few years ago when I was 18.

Wow.

I'm going to revisit it. Thank you for the reminder.

All right. Great thing to have. But just allow yourself to go beyond if it shows up, that or something.

Better, I'll stand in agreement with that. So one of the last things, what is a great book you could recommend?

Oh, this is really self serving. And I'm going to do it only because I would never have done this ever. I've never done it before. In fact, the first book I wrote was the Unfinished Cross. Listen to the Voice Within. And I did it for, you know, I was a best seller for about five years. I lived it. I went out and spoke and. And then I became self conscious that oh my God, people think I'm weird because I shared the Daniel story. I shared that that's all possible. I also shared that I believe Jesus speaks to me. Right. And that's something that's a little bit, it's even for me having a hard time trusting. But I did it. And then I remember on the way, getting on the plane to Go to the World Cup. The coach goes, hey, I've read your book, but don't let anybody else know about it. And I started feeling uptight. So, you know, and then in businesses I worked with a corporation, I'm like, oh, man, hope they don't know about my book. I actually became uptight about it. So I hid that book the best I could. And somehow recently, it's just popping out again. 20 years later. It's like, we're coming to the 20th birthday of that book coming out. And just the other night, I started reading again. I haven't read it in forever. It's the first time I read it that I didn't feel uncomfortable because 20 years ago, this was new ground. This is stuff because I was just writing inspiration through me. And that's, you know, and it was all started because of Daniel. That's a chapter in the book, the True life Miracle of Daniel. And then I expanded and wrote this book and I had such mixed feelings about having this book come out. And it was rewarding in many ways and it was scary in many others because the, the fundamental, say the Christian Foundational churches that I was brought up in kind of rejected the book. You can't be messing, you know, this all happened 2000 years ago. It really doesn't happen today. And you're trying to say it happens today and he's speaking to you, you're not even a prophet, and all this kind of stuff. And so it was really challenging. But new, say, churches that were more open, they were loving it. Lives are being changed. I was going from having book signings where I'd sign for an hour, two hours because they were so elated to, eh, so I had a hard time with it. And so I just started reading it now again. And I'm going, oh, my gosh, there's nothing here. Makes me uncomfortable. It was just new ground when it came out. And so I'm going to rebirth the book. You can still get it. I tried to hide it, but it's still on Amazon. There's so many copies sold that you can buy it like for 99 cents on Amazon because people recycle things, right?

So I couldn't hide the book if I wanted, but I don't promote the book. So I am right now because I've been reading it the last few nights. Oh my gosh. I'm going, this is amazing. And it sounds kind of funny because it came through me, but it was the first time that I looked at it with new eyes. Twenty years later, and even the fundamentalist Christian groups and that now they accept it. And it's kind of happened not because I'm pushing it, but just because it's happened, it's come out.

It's all about those results.

And so I'm open to it. So I've never promoted, like when you say, what's a good book to promote? You know, my own book and you know, Be a Beast, you know, that book is out there and it's doing well. So. But the Unfinished Cross, I've tried to hide. And I guess on your show I'm saying I ain't hiding anymore.

Good. I don't want you to.

I told you that whatever you, whatever you believe, you know, let it be, you know, and if you think I'm, you know, crazy that I think these words are coming directly through me, that's okay, you know, my hair. Sit. Here's the test. If it brings you closer to your relationship with God, love it. If it takes you further away, get rid of it.

I appreciate you for recommending that. I'll make sure there's a link so people can find it and we won't be hiding anymore. So speaking of links, where's the best way they can find you?

Alright, so I have the Extreme Focus. That's the name of my company, extreme focus. So extremefocus.com and when you go there, you'll see a lot of it is about sports because that's my background. Probably need to really update it and I will when I get around to it. I mean, gosh, my business is flourishing so much. I mean, I get to do all kinds of cool things. I don't even try to do it. I mean, I spoke at the Global Summit at the UN because someone heard me speak and said, hey, we need this there. I spoke at Harvard, I went to Ubekistan, I spoke at the Presidential Council there. I went to India and spoke at the World Wellness Congress. And these are things, this is not on boasting. I'm just saying that these are things that have come to me because.

Speak here or speak there and I haven't taken the time really to take. Where the wealth of the work I've done goes way beyond sports. So if you go and you see a lot of sports in my webpage, know there's something beyond. You can get the Be a Beast book. And now that I'm more open, I've just decided the other night that I'm going to do an audio on the Unfinished Cross and I'm going to have that available. I'm not going to run and hide from it anymore.

Excellent.

I'm going to accept it and bring it out and let it flow.

I'm really excited to hear that and congrats on all of your success. It's been a pleasure to showcase you on here. Dave, always great seeing you. Always great hearing from you.

Thank you, Mario. All the best to you. And keep living into that video you created today and keep doing it so that it just keeps expanding and more and more you build it, they will come. That's an old statement, but there's a lot of truth in it and you're building it well.

I do appreciate that. Thank you for the encouragement. All right, Expert Authority World, we have another great episode here. We'll see you on tomorrow's Every business needs a book, including yours. How would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect? Generate more leads and profit in your business? Now in 4 find out all the reasons why every business needs a book, including yours. Download the Business Book Checklist today@businessbookchecklist.com Once again, that's businessbookchecklist.com.