Freedom from Fear: The Science & Solutions with Dr. Jay Phipps | Mick Unplugged Podcast

I don't care how tough you are. We all have fear. And in this episode today, we're going to talk to Dr. Jay Phipps about the science behind fear. And at the end, we're going to give you some tips to overcome fear. This episode right here is critical for everybody. I don't care if you're an entrepreneur. I don't care if you're a politician. I don't care if you're a teacher. I don't care what your profession is. We all have fear. We're going to talk about how to overcome it, we're going to talk about the science behind it, and we're going to talk about some things that you can do right now for positivity to start overcoming the fear that you have. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the good doctor, Dr. Jay Phipps. Jay, how you doing today, brother?

I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. Great introduction. Super excited about being on the podcast podcast today, man.

I'm the honored one. You know, been a huge fan of what you do. We connected on LinkedIn and I've been following you literally ever since, man. And Jay, you know how. How I love to start my podcast with, you know, what's your because that thing that's deeper than your why, that's your true purpose and all the cool things that you're doing, especially with the Freedom from Fear tour, man, what's your because why do you continue to do what you do?

Yeah, so fear can either be a barrier or a bridge between your dreams and your destiny. So my because is trying to get people to use that as a. As a bridge so they can conquer their fears and reach their destiny.

I love that, dude. I love that. And you're like, you're the fear. The Fear doctor, right? Like, you're the. I don't want to say expert, because I don't like using that term expert, but you're the guy that literally can talk through fear, how to overcome it, where does it stem from? What are the obstacles you have with it? So when did you know that that was something that you needed to spread across the country and really ignite with people and in particular, business owners?

Great question. I'm a serial entrepreneur. I've owned businesses since I graduated pharmacy school actually in my 25th year. And. And I've seen how fear impacts people and organizations. And a few. Few years ago, I actually Woke up at 2 in the morning and said, we live in a fear pandemic. It just hit me because the statistics say that 90% of people are afraid of failure and won't chase opportunities. Fear affects you in everything you do. I think in our society now that we're afraid of people that look like us and don't look like us. We're afraid of. And social media is that echo chamber that drives that people are afraid of making suggestions at work. About 87% of people, 76 or 75%, depending on if it's professional or personally, are afraid of that they're stuck in their job or life. So I think we really live in a fear pandemic. And it hit me in the middle of night and I started researching and spending time trying to get all that right, make sure I got the facts. And then I've worked with individuals for years on how do you become the best leader that you can be. And the next step was just my Freedom for Fear tour. How do you conquer fear? How do you overcome fear? And. And that's really expanded that really. I was working in the yard a couple, maybe a year ago, year and a half ago, and it hit me, like, the reason that I am. I don't really like the term fearless because it's impossible to be fearless, but. But what you can be is someone that. That faces fear and has the courage to overcome it. I had a family history where my mom was afraid of almost everything. And so that, I think, prepared me to not be fearful and to take on fears either. You can be paralyzed by fear. You can move forward and conquer it. And so that really, that revelation of, I bet there are other people like me that grew up where we were afraid of lots of things. And so. So then I started doing the Freedom for Fear tour where I'm conquering 100 fears in a year and proving that you can conquer fear. Capital F fears and lowercase F fears. And we can talk more about that as we unpack the Freedom from Fear tour.

Yeah, and that's literally where I want to go. I want to unpack the tour. Like, why did you decide to start it? I got a little bit of it there. But let's go a little bit deeper into the mission behind it, why you decided to start it. And then let's talk about some of the fears that you're overcoming with the tour.

Yeah, it really was to prove the science that I've. That I've read that you can face your fears, that fears aren't as overwhelming as what Most people think. 85% of people do better with fears and what they think they're going to do. Most people do Better with fears. Most. Most people say that fears aren't as bad as what they think. And so I wanted to go out and prove that science behind that. And so I've got a structure. I call it the flip your fear narrative, where you face the challenge, you empower yourself, you act boldly to revolutionize your life. And with that, you have to face a challenge. You have to be, you know, you can either be like a cow or a buffalo, you probably know, but the difference in those two things is, you know, in a storm, a cow runs from it, walks away from it, a buffalo faces it. And that's exactly what you have to do. You have to face your fear. You have to empower yourself. Visualization is great, and I just proved that to myself. I've been preaching it, but I went skydiving a few weeks ago, and one of my big fears is jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. And since I was about a teenager, I've wanted to do it, but never did it. And so I jumped out of that plane about a hundred times before I got there. I visualized myself jumping out of the plane and being successful at it. And then you act boldly. I think too many people plan and never act. So action is really the key. I call it. The action is antidote for fear. And then it revolutionizes your life. You. You actually restructure your amygdala, your fear center, every time you conquer a fear. So I put that structure together, and the Freedom for Fear tour was really just testing that. Does it work? And what I'm saying is, consistently it does. So I've done things from. I tell you, one of the bigger fears was I announced that I was going to do 100 fears in a year. That's a fairly big commitment considering that I'm a CEO of three, three companies. I've got a lot of balls in the air at any given time. Speaking and leadership development is my passion, and that's where I spend a significant amount of my time. And to say, hey, I'm going to do 100 fears in a year. But announcing it. I've had colonoscopy, which cancer screenings, because I see patients every day that are afraid to actually find out if they have potentially have a cancer or health condition. I got a power of attorney on my parents, which I had put off for two years because of fear. The. And then I've done, you know, those. I've hired people I fired people. I've talked about perfectionism and how perfectionism is a sign of fear. As I Said I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, which was an amazing experience. My 21 year old went with me. Then he jumped out first and said, dad, you have to jump if I'm out of the plane. And I actually, I never, never hesitated, went right out. If you see facial expressions of me as you come out of the plane, I may not look like I was having fun, but I really was having a really good time. And I went cat surfing. On a nuclear day in Hood river, Oregon, with 40 mile an hour winds, I climbed Mount Hood, which is the third most deadly mountain in North America. So doing capital wave fears like those, and also the things like telling people thank you and I'm sorry and the fears that keep us caged many times.

Yeah, that's awesome. I want to go into something you said early on, which is the power of visualization. To me, as a serial entrepreneur, just like you, I understand the power of visualization. I'm a writer, so I like to write things down and I can't do a plan unless it's visually in front of me. But then also the practice of seeing the result happen so that I can practice and anticipate because visually, I've already been there. Talk through the power of visualization for the listeners and viewers.

Yeah. One very powerful thing that I think people don't realize is your brain can't tell the difference between you experiencing it and visualizing it. Your brain is just stored that as a memory either way. So it's just like when you visualize yourself jumping out of a plane, your brain thinks you've done that. So when you get to the edge of the cliff and you're 14,000ft in the air, your brain thinks, hey, I've already done this a bunch of times. Where does that end up? You know, from practical, because I've got lots of friends that are like, I'll never jump out of a plane. That's nuts. You know, that doesn't relate to me. It's the same thing about opening a business or having a difficult conversation. How many times do people avoid conflict, which is fear and, and if you can visualize not the, not the negative, but the great outcome that you're going to have, you and I have, have a tiff. We want to talk about it. What happens Most of the time we awful eyes it, we think about, oh, I'm going to talk to Mick about it and he's going to be mad and we'll never be friends again. But when you visualize it, it's going to go, well, it's going to have a good outcome. We're going to be closer friends because of it. Then that prepares your brain for, for those conversations so that you're already ready for them. And, and that really. You build that fear muscle, I call it, every time you conquer a fear, you build that fear muscle. Makes you, makes every other fear easier to conquer. So visualization is key. It increases your likelihood of conquering a fear by about 40%. So huge, huge difference. I talk to people all the time about how they're like, I don't visualize all the great athletes, do all the great performers visualize? Why don't business owners, why don't healthcare practitioners, you know, why are we not using that resource which is really our mind? If we can use our mind, we prepare ourselves for the future so that we can really reach who we should be.

No, totally. And I have two examples of that. You know, I work with speakers on, coaching them through their keynotes, building their keynotes. And a lot of times it's that, that fear, right, of public speaking. And I tell them literally what you just said. I go through a visualization training. We're going to envision you walking on stage, we're going to envision you turning and facing the crowd, and we're going to practice and rehearse the first three minutes of your speech. And I do that with every speaker. And then I also tell them when you get to the stage or when you get to the venue, most of the time it's going to be open for you to see. So go a little early and then go out there and before you step, visualize yourself walking on stage, whether it's a stage, whether it's a floor, whatever it is. And then visualize yourself turning and facing the audience. And then visualize those three minutes and then go practice it. And people look at me there every time. It never fails. Mick, what do you mean there's going to be no one in the room? But to your point, Dr. J, it's literally that your brain needs to see and feel yourself. You need that muscle memory in the brain. You need to physically be able to orate what you're trying to say. Because if you can win the first three minutes as a speaker, you are going to win the speech.

Absolutely.

And where people go wrong is the first 60 seconds, they're stumbling and the audience can see the fear. And again, no one's against you in the speech. Right? But. But that energy becomes awkward. And so I tell speakers that all the time. And then the second one Dr. J is I tell salespeople, envision yourself closing a cell.

Absolutely.

If you haven't practiced, if you can't see it, if you can't visualize yourself closing a cell, you're not going to know what it feels like in the moment. You always want to know what it feels like in the moment because that's your confidence, that's your clarity of going through everything. So I'd love your feedback on those two scenarios.

Yeah, I agree with you 100%. When I talk to groups, I'm a very interactive keynote speaker. I walk the room, which makes video and audio people a little nervous sometimes. But I'll be. It doesn't matter how big the room is. I'm going to be in the back of it. I'm going to be looking at people, I'm going to be, you know, talking to them. And you walk by and you talk to them about visualization and what do they do? They look at you like you have, you know, you've got three heads and you know something's wrong with you. And I agree 100%. That's really where it's at because you can get your reps in and it's all about reps. I've got a 21 year old that he was a very good competitive pistol and rifle shooter, trained at the Olympic Training center. One national championship. Very good. And oftentimes he would just shoot a few times a year physically, but mentally he would practice, you know, getting visual reps over and over and over and it just made him such a better performer. And why don't we do that as, as, you know, with our job, as you talk about with, with sales execs, you know, if you're sitting down, if you can't see that, it's so much harder to actually do it. So, yeah, you know, just getting those reps in your head, making your brain be able to see it and then I really do think that gets you closer and closer to where you can be, makes it so much easier to do. I do the same thing. Probably two, three years ago, I started using visualization. And one of the things I tell myself every morning is I'm going to be the number one motivational speaker in the world. That's it. I tell myself, and I see myself walking out on those big stages over and over and over again, talking about how people can overcome fear. And, and it just makes it easier when it is time to walk out, you know, fear. If you're not prepared for fear, it will, it will take over you know, your amygdala is in back there to protect, protect you from saber tooth tigers. And so when you get there, you know, we don't have saber tooth tigers, but when you walk out, you know, your mouth dries a little bit because you're protecting yourself. So you don't have so much saliva that you, if you're running from that tiger that you, you know, that you, you choke on it. And so what happens, you get in front of people, your brain doesn't know the difference, and so it starts to shut down. And, and getting those reps in absolutely is essential. You know, that's the empowerment side, is when you can see yourself, the action becomes so much easier. You know, you face it, you empower yourself, and then, then you're 100% ready for action.

I love it, brother. One of the things you also talk about from a mindset standpoint is shifting from a reactive mindset to a proactive mindset. Talk to the listeners and viewers about why that's important.

Yeah, because so many of us just sit around and just wait for life to happen to us, you know, and about 10 years ago now, I had a physical condition that I really thought I would be paralyzed. A physician told me that, that he expected if I didn't have surgery in the next month or so, that I would be paralyzed from the back down. So that's enough to change your life. Right. And it happened because I was on an elliptical one day and, you know, basic real, you know, light activity, exercise. And I raised my neck back, and when I did, I lost control of all four limbs. Just hit the ground, just, just fell, fell back on my head. And I was going to see a physician for something anyway, an appointment in two or three days. And I went there and I point was done and I said, hey, doc, by the way, I got this weird thing. If I move my neck back, it feels like I grabbed electric fence. And he said, well, let's, he said, you know, let's do an mri. Let's see what's going on. And long story short, there was a bone growth in my spinal column that was cutting off the spinal cord. And if you, you look at the, the mri, part of the spinal cord itself is started to, started to die. And then I ultimately lost my fifth cervical nerve. I don't have an anterior deltoid, so I can't raise my arm like most people can do. All that really made me decide, am I taking on life or is life taking me on? And I decided at that moment I was no Longer going to let life control me. I was going to control my destiny. And that really changed everything. And it's all about perspective. You know, we can find problems if we want to find problems. If we want to find solutions, we can find solutions. And I think it's all about that mindset of being proactive instead of letting life happen to you.

Totally agree, brother. Totally agree. Talk a little bit about the power of positive thinking and positive energy. I'm a huge proponent of you can find positivity in almost everything and if your outlook is positive, then the solution usually is positive as well too. But I'd love to get your insights on that.

Absolutely. I agree. 100. It's all about outlook, you know, because you know, our brains are wired. I'm going back to the amygdala again. That fear center, it's, it's made to protect us, right? It's made to find the negativity. It's a may, it's made to, to look for that predator. And for the most part we don't live in that anymore. You know, we don't. Yes, there are situations where it can be dangerous but, but for the most part we don't have the same dangers that our ancestors had. And so our brain wants to take us back and find those fears and find those challenges. And I agree 100%. It's all about looking for that positivity. You want to be the thermostat, not the thermometer in the room as they say. You want to control it. And you can find problems everywhere you look, but you can also find solutions in just as many, as many things. I got a little interesting story. We're moving my original pharmacy location today. I opened 25 years ago in June. And while my team is doing a great job today, I am here recording with you, which I'm super excited about. But we, we did the move and so I'm hands, I'm a hands on leader. I'm there, you know, with them all weekend getting everything set up. We're done at the end of the day on Saturday and we decided we're going to go get something to eat. And my facility management guy yells oh no. We're like what's going on? We had a brand new building, remodeled building had a water leak. We had about an inch of water in the back of the building on the side we're still working on. At no point did anyone on my team talk about how bad it was or how it was going to keep us from, from getting open today. We all just went to work. We were looking for the solution. And I think that that positive, positive mindset really is contagious. And you can build that culture of positivity. You know, I'm known as the pharmacy gladiator, which, which, which I wear as a badge of honor. But I, and I think that, you know, being a gladiator is really about, you know, not being enslaved by fear. You know, it's really because, you know, in the Roman Empire, gladiators were slaves. And what did they do? They had to fight to earn their freedom. And we are, we can be imprisoned by fear as well. And so then we really just need to be a gladiator. And that is part of my empowerment thing that we talk about too, is I say I'm a gladiator. Gladiator. I see it when I, when I, when I'm in a tough situation, you know, I, I will articulate that I'm a gladiator with a lot of force, probably more than your listeners want at this time of day. But, but being that gladiator and that, that positivity really does control the room and it can prepare you and your team to, to be successful.

I love it, man. I love it. Let's do a quick shift into the pharmacy. So let's talk about that a little bit. You know, you've created Phipps Pharmacy and it's, it's a community centered model. Right? Talk to us a little bit about why you decided to go that route with the, with the model of the business, which I love, by the way.

Oh, thank you very much. I appreciate that. The so interesting thing about me is since I finished pharmacy school, I've never worked for anybody else. I grew up very humble, government subsidized. Lunch. I got a job when I was 12. I worked on farms when I was 12 years old and did construction to pay my way through undergrad. I worked graveyard shift at a factory while I was taking organic chemistry and biochem and all those fun classes you do. And I think that work ethic is really what set me up to be successful as a business owner. And it really is about, I guess because I came from, from that side of the tracks, as you might say, that I decided it doesn't matter if you don't have a nickel or you're the CEO of FedEx or chick fil A or you give you the same level of care. And we have been committed to that since day one. We have multiple locations in middle and west Tennessee expanding really since that next issue. You Know, we have, we're really taking off because we're not, you know, we're not waiting for business to smack us around. We're trying to take it on. We really are a different pharmacy from that perspective. We have nurses, we have community health workers that are engaged in the community. We have been, you know, involved in events in our area and outside where we're trying to be impactful. We had a flood August 21st and four years ago now in one of our locations and unfortunately, 21 people died in the flood. And so instead of just saying, hey, we need help, we need help, we immediately my team went to work and trying to help people that lost their, their homes. And that's really that, that mentality that we have is we're a service organization and, and we think healthcare, but it's really can be more than that and taking care of people of all, all types, regardless of where they come from. We meet them where they're at.

I appreciate that so much, man. And one of the things that I want to give you kudos for is because scaling a, scaling multiple pharmacies, but while keeping that same small town community build isn't an easy feat, how do you do that? Because we got a lot of people that are listening and watching that are business owners that do want to have that local feel, but they also understand that in 2025, in order to grow, you've got to scale. So how do you do, how do you balance scaling but then keeping that same small town feel as you do it?

Yeah, that's, that's a wonderful question. I think it goes back to culture number one. You got, you got to believe it, you got to be it. You know, when we interview people, we talk to them about our culture and you know, we're a change culture for number one, we're going to make ourselves better every day. And so people that don't fit that model, it doesn't really matter if you don't really like change. We rank it from 0 to 100. If you're not at least a 50, we won't hire you because you don't fit in our culture, I think so many times people hire what they think they want or need and they don't worry about the culture. I think if I can get the right people on my team, we can be successful. So I really think that's where it's at, you know, and I've learned as we scale that, you know, not you're going to make some wrong decisions and I want to fail fast. I Want to, I want to say, hey, let's, let's fail fast. Let's have another iteration. Let's have another team member come in and then that makes you, makes you successful. So, but the number one thing I would tell people is, you know, find the right culture. We're doing, you know, we're running, or I'm running now, three corporations at the same time scaling pharmacy also run an insurance agency and then a company where pharmacists are providing primary health care in our community. So we're doing lots of different things, but it all goes back to culture. And culture is what makes us, I think, successful. And whether you're selling cars, have a loan service, or you're a motivational speaker or a CEO of a big company, it's all about culture.

Agree completely, man. Agree completely. Jay, what's for the entrepreneur that's listening or watching? What's one fearless action that they can take this week to start owning their future where fear isn't a part of it?

Oh, that's a great, that's a great question. I think everybody's going to. If they were going to be true to themselves. There's something most of time, it's simple. It may be having that difficult conversation. It might be firing that employee that's never going to meet standard. But you don't want the challenges behind you. I think you find whatever that is holding you back, what's that big fear, Identify it, you know, which is face a challenge. You've got to, you've got to identify it. And, and then secondly, you need to take that action to do that one thing. You know, it doesn't matter what it is for you. It might be, you know, having a difficult conversation. Then the next person may be wanting to scale their business. I did a talk keynote in Arkansas not long ago, and there was a company there, she was an exhibitor at the, at the conference and she was talking about how they wanted to scale their company and they needed to, to build a new manufacturing facility, you know, $100 million facility. And she was worried about it. So we went and literally I walked to the back of the room and looked at her just like I am with you now and said, so what can you do today? She says, I don't know, you know, people him haul around. What. Who do you need to call today? And so literally, while we're there, makes a phone call to attorney to start the process to purchase the land, to move forward. So whatever it is, I think you just need to take a step and you Know your brain rewires every time you conquer a fear and conquering one fear helps you overcome others as well. So whether it's having that difficult conversation, you know, perfectionism, procrastination, you know, self doubt, muzzling yourself, those are all fears, and identifying those and then taking a step towards, towards conquering those, I think is, is what I would, would tell her, tell people what to do. You can think about it all day until you take action. You'll never build that fear muscle.

Oh, amen to that. Amen to that. Jay, I appreciate you so much, man. I want to get you out of here with my quick five. So we'll do five rapid fire questions. Are you ready?

I am.

All right, when you're traveling on the tour, what's your must have road snack?

Oh, that's a great question. I do these little fruit filled gummies and that's it. I love those. We got them for our little one, which is 10, but I'm the one that eats most of them.

I love it, brother. I love it. So I know you're in Tennessee, so when you've come back from a long tour or you've had a long couple of months and it's time to recharge, are you going to the mountains?

Are you going to the lake mountains? I grew up in east Tennessee. I'm in west Tennessee now. Grew up in the mountains, the hills of Appalachia, as I, as I say. And going back to the mountains really recharges me.

Love it. What's one book that every leader should read as it relates to overcoming fear?

Oh, that's a, that's a great one. Honestly, there are so many. I think organizationally you need to work on the Jim Collins book, Good to great is good because really that Good to Great is the same thing about your life, is how you conquer that fear and move to the next level.

I love it. What's the biggest lesson you've learned while you've been on this tour with fear?

Without a doubt. Fear impacts people even more than I thought. I sit around. I talked to a guy the other day. He said that he was actually interviewing me for a podcast, that they're doing a show. And he said, you know, fear keeps me from, from praying out loud with my wife. Think about that. I mean, that was extremely vulnerable. But being honest, fear keeps people stuck inside. Talked to a young lady the other day. She said her friends won't go to the store, won't go to the grocery store or a Walmart or Target, wherever, because they don't want to be around people because they're afraid of people. I think fear impacts us in so many ways. Most people say that they think of fear like fear of heights, fear of spiders. That's not really them. That's what gets me. Social media interactions, you know, driving a Lamborghini at 178 miles an hour, that gets people excited. But really, I think fear, you know, controls us. Paralyzes much more than I ever I even dreamed.

I like it. Last question. In one word, what does freedom mean to you?

Unstoppable. When. When you're. When you have freedom, you're unstoppable. You can't be controlled.

I love it. Dr. J. I love it. I know you're busy. I appreciate the time that you spent with us here. Where can people find and follow you?

Yeah, I'm on social media, LinkedIn, tick tock and Instagram. My website is pharmacygladiator.com and so I'd love for people to. To come interact with the tour. I'm. I'm announcing there where my new fears are going to be. I'm going to Whitewater after him with Class 4 Whitewater Rapids this weekend. Going to see an estranged family member in a scorpion pepper laying it out so people can go see what's going on. That's all on the website. I'd love for people to join in the Freedom for Fear tour.

Jumping out of planes and eating scorpion peppers. This is my guy, Dr. J. Phipps. Dr. J. I appreciate you, brother. I'm going to make sure that you and I find some time to connect in person, man, because I want to dig deeper into that big brain of yours on fear.

That sounds great. And I'll see you on the other side of fear.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And to all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.