Episode 252: You’ll Be Safe Until You Live With Jim Cathcart

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit podcast. This podcast will give independent insurance agents all of the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromsol.

Jim, a very special intro. Take it away, sir.

Thank you.

I heard that there's a secret chord David played and it pleased the Lord. But you don't really care for music, do you?

Goes like this. The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift. The Bible king composing Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Awesome. Mr. Jim Cathcart, welcome to the podcast. Great job.

Thank you. And I'm going to just raise the tempo for a second.

Yeah, please.

Well, since my baby left me? I found a new place to dwell. It's down a deep into lonely street. That heartbreak hotel. You be lonely, baby. You'll be so lonely. You'll be so lonely you could die.

That is phenomenal. That is phenomenal. Ladies and gentlemen. I cannot wait. Let me just tell you a little bit about this man right here. I'm going to take the lead on that, Jim, if you don't mind, because I've been looking forward to this podcast for quite some time. Jim, at the top of the list of who Jim Cathcart is, if you've never heard of him, when we get done, you're going to be so, so glad that you invested time to be on this podcast, whether you're listening or watching it. At the top of the list, Jim is a family man. He and his wife Paula, married over 53 years. Great family. He's a musician. And you just heard he's a musician. He's a traveler. But bigger than that, from a business perspective, he's a CSP. He's a CPAE, is one of the top five most award winning speakers in the world. His top 1% TEDx video has over 2.7 million views. His 25 books are translated into multiple languages, including three international bestsellers. He's a certified virtual presenter and past national president of the National Speakers Association. I'm going to kind of cut it short because there's so much. Okay.

Yeah.

And some of the top speakers in the world who, through my research, Les Brown, Brian Tracy, Nito Quebane, Ivan Meisner, who I'm familiar with, all of them have depended on Jim. He's the executive MBA professor at California Lutheran University School of Management, and he serves as their first entrepreneur in residence. He's been inducted into the Sales and Marketing hall of Fame in London for his pioneering work with his concept of the relationship selling. And I know we're going to get into that today for all of you. Super, super excited about. Hang on to that one, Jim. And he's also in the Professional Speakers hall of Fame and has received the Cavett Award and the Golden Gavel Award. It's my honor, my privilege to welcome to the podcast Mr. Jim Cathcart. Jim, welcome, Mike.

It's great to be with you. Thank you. Boy, I say if I didn't know anything about Jim Cathcart and I just heard that intro, I would think, whoa, I better get a reinforced chair, you know, because this is going to be powerful. I don't know that I can do that, but I, I certainly have been blessed to be in the right business at the right time for me. And it's kind of like, you know, I took up surfing the day the waves got bigger. It's that sort of a effect. And so I've been able to ride the human potential movement from me being a rosy cheek kid at MassMutual in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as their sales advisor and motivational coach all the way through the things that you've just mentioned. And I just got back from yet another tour of China, my 20th lecture tour of mainland China.

Wow.

Yeah.

So 20th tour. Why do you keep going back? Do they keep inviting you back? And why? And what's the topic?

Well, the topic is how to succeed. You know, when I was first brought there in 2015, it was to do a series of big sales rallies for various business networks, kind of the Tony Robbins sort of a network, you know, here and there around the country of China. And at first I said, what do I speak on? And they said, well, speak on leadership and sales and communication and success principles. And I thought, well, okay, that's about as generic as it gets. I'll just read from the book Think and Grow Rich and then go home.

I, I went out and I did the seminars and I realized very quickly that the people were responding, although they're responding well to everything. They, they were responding most to the parts of my talk that were about how to live a meaningful and satisfying life, because nobody had ever talked with them about that. Now, these were young adults, people in their 20s through their, I'd say their early 50s at the most. And it would be a thousand to three thousand people at a time for up to eight hours. Typically, I was on the platform five and a half, six hours a day, talking through an interpreter. I did 20 separate tours, 2015 to 2019, December, and then covet hit and everything shut down completely. And then last month, January of 24, they brought me back and I spoke in Nanyang and chung Chuang Zo, two cities I'd never heard of that were merely five and a half million people each.

China is unbelievable. I've been to 25 major cities. I've got four books in Mandarin. Well, in Chinese, and I speak about 11 words of Mandarin. Yeah.

Wow, that is phenomenal. So worldwide, people are still hungry.

Yeah, and they always will be. Think about, you know, because it's like, like life insurance. For example, in the United States, from the, say, the 1930s, 40s forward until maybe the 1980s or 90s, there was an enormous field force of salespeople out there, independent agents and company agents, people in general agencies and managed agencies of all, all types. But they were going out every day contacting other people and talking about life insurance. Now, wait, they weren't just talking about life insurance. They were talking about why.

A life. Now consider this, and I've reflected on this a lot over the years. When you have a few million people going out daily to engage other people in conversations about what matters most in their life.

Millions upon tens of millions of people every single day engaging in conversations about what matters most in their life. Their family, their estate, their legacy, their responsibilities, their duties. You know, things like that, and taking action to ensure them.

You're really uplifting society. I mean, you're serving at the level churches serve people because you're talking directly to their heart and soul, and you're getting them to take action on things they wouldn't have acted on without you. So that's the thing you say, okay, life insurance is good and people ought to have it. No, no, no, no. People don't go get it.

People have to be.

Stimulated to think about and feel about those things and then take action on them. That's why agents are so vitally important not just to our economy, but to our. The fabric of our society itself. Because jerks don't ensure things.

Good people insure things. People with integrity insure things, especially lives. And insurance is an act of generosity and responsibility and duty. It's an act of faith. So when you think about how important are insurance agents to our nation, vitally important to the fabric of our country itself. So, you know, I think we ought to. The people in the financial services field ought to really, really respect what they do and consider that it is, it is a profession with a high level of dignity.

Thank you. I 100% agree. That's why I'm proud to now in my 36th year as a licensed insurance professional, still love what I do and serving people through the industry. But I would hope that everybody, if you're watching this podcast or listening to the podcast, if you're driving, don't do it right now. But when you stop, I would get out of your car, get the device out of your pocket, and I would do a video right there on the spot while you're in the moment based on what Jim just said. Thank you for that gold nugget, Jim. By, by the way, we, we also carry gold nuggets right here because they happen all the time. With that being said, shoot a quick video as to why.

Why you are obsessed about serving and protecting people. Why do, why you do what you do? You know, based on what Jim just said, that was absolute gold. And I will be going back and watching that multiple times.

See this?

Yes, sir.

That's a pewter acorn.

I've seen your TEDx video.

Talk, I should say, on the acorn. Tell us more about that.

Okay. My logo, company logo is an acorn. In 1974, May of 19, no, August of 1974, I was in a seminar in Little Rock, Arkansas, where I was born, and I had never given a speech. And I was working as a clerk at the Housing Authority Urban renewal agency for $525 a month. Newly married, baby at home, no college degree, no money in the bank, no friends who had money, no mentors. But I was encouraged by a fellow member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the jcs, I newly joined that he said, you ought to go to this seminar called Adventures in Attitude. So I went, and one of the exercises in there was writing your goal for five years from now. Well, I had heard Earl Nightingale on the radio one day, and he said, if you'll spend one hour extra every day studying your chosen field, in five years or less, you'll be a national expert in that field. Well, I wanted to do what he was doing, but I had never given a speech and I had nothing to say. So that'll kind of limit your career, you know. So I go to this seminar, Mike, and the exercise is, what do you, what's your goal five years from now? I said, five years from today. Now remember, this was August of 1974, August 28th, I will be a national expert in the field of personal growth, human development. Well, I didn't know how to do that. I didn't know whether it was possible. But I knew that's what I wanted. And I was willing to do the extra hour every day, an extra five or six or seven hours if necessary on weekends. And I did. I became an absolute textbook fanatic. Clinical insanity. A fanatic of. On the subject of personal growth, I read Think and grow rich. How to win friends and influence people. The power of positive thinking, you know, the richest man in Babylon. I read every book that was known at the time and my circle of friends changed. The people who weren't interested in growing kind of drifted away. And the new people I met, man, we stimulated each other like a booster rocket. And so my career started evolving. I got into the field of human development selling training materials and then I got a full time job as a trainer. And then the u. S. Junior chamber of commerce hired me to be in their national headquarters in charge of Leadership training for 356,000 people in 1975. Six and early 77. At the end of that I. I left and went into business for myself, which I've done ever since. And I've, as you said in that brilliant introduction, thank you so much. I've done it all. I mean, been there, done that. Check that you say okay through heck no. In fact, I've still got the notes from that seminar. And one of the question was, when do you plan to retire? I said never. Well, I'm 77 years old and that's still the answer. Retire? No. If I had something to retire from, okay maybe I would, but I'd retire to this. I love what I do.

That is fantastic. So, I mean, you're obsessed.

Yeah, so I've been self employed since 1974, more or less. And I cannot imagine changing fields.

Yeah, I, I said to one of my mechanics yesterday, the exact same thing. You know, people walk up and say, hey, when are you ever going to retire? I pause because there's power in the pause. Right, right. And I look him in the eye and I say, not as long as I breathe.

That's right. As long as I can think and speak. No reason for me to retire. I could change the nature of my involvement physically, but not the essence of my involvement. Now back to your question about the acorn. I chose an acorn because it's the universal symbol of potential. Acorn has past, present and future. Stem cap seed. The stem represents the connection to the tree which takes it back through all acorns and oaks that existed for all time in its line, it's still carrying that imprint forward. So are we carrying the imprint from ancestors going back to the beginning of time. And the cap holds onto the seed till it's ready to grow on its own. And the cap represents your coaches, your mentors, your parents, your role models, your teachers, all the people that you've learned from and that have guided and protected you. And then the seed represents the potential that still lives in you. And it represents the imprint that you're going to leave on the world that will be felt through the stem into the seed of future acorns for all time. The fact that we were created was not a biological coincidence. I believe we exist because the Creator intended for us to exist. So we've got a role to fulfill, a legacy to carry forward, and an opportunity to live abundantly 100% every single day.

And just to give a little injection of something, I was out this morning, and I have a very.

Habitual, regimented morning program every single day. Even at this point in my life, I don't have to. I get to. Right?

Yeah.

So on an early morning outing in the rain with my headset on, I was leading to, listening to and studying Lead the field by Nightingale himself. So, speaking of books, you know, if you're looking for a book suggestion off of this podcast, go out and get Lead the field by Earl Nightingale. So tell me more about that one, Jim.

Lead the field by Earl Nightingale. Tape number nine. Tape. When it was audio cassettes. Huh.

I remember those. I have a whole closet.

Full title is how much are you worth?

Ah.

This was one about financial value and about what a difference you make in the world. What are you worth as the president of your own corporation, you incorporated. Isn't that something? That is amazing, that series. And listen to those recordings for five consecutive years. Over a thousand hours, easily. I've invested over the years in listening to Earl Nightingale.

But you talked about just that one hour a day. If everybody would carve out just that one hour a day. I mean, you heard the intro. And what Jim has accomplished so far in his life, and he's far from done because of just carving out that one hour in 1974 for the first five years. Go ahead, Jim.

Yeah, it's got to be an extra hour because people, lazy people, everybody tends to be lazy because it's the easy path, Right? Right. So the lazy thinker says, well, I'm working eight hours a day.

No, this is an extra hour every day devoted only one thing. Studying the Part of your path that you've decided to become exceptional at. See, success is not normal. Let that sink to the bottom. Success is not normal. Okay? Success is.

Odd behavior. So you've got to be willing in your group of people to be the mutant in the room, to be the weird one, the one that the others roll their eyes and say, yeah, right, right. You know, okay, Boomer, here we go again. You know, all that endure, their skepticism, their cynicism, their criticism, their. Their disempowerment when they're saying, okay, so come on, you know, let's just go watch the game, you know, or let's, let's just go get a beer or something, you know, they. They want you to come along and not be successful. Be part of the group. Be ordinary. Blend with us. Be like us. Just have fun. Don't do anything that's going to last. It's not that they don't want you to. It's just that that interrupts their pattern.

Their favorite radio station.

Yeah, yeah. Wiifm. What's.

Exactly.

Yep. So you got to be willing to be the weird one to be criticized, to be situationally unpopular if you intend to succeed. But the rewards are so phenomenal. I mean, I've traveled the entire world at other people's expenses, first class, all over the world. Not always first class, but most of the time, first class travel and accommodations all over the world in all 50 US states, every province of Canada, 10 times to Australia, South America, you know, on and on. And China, as I mentioned, at someone else's expense. What do you mean someone else? Yeah, I was paid to speak in all these locations and they covered the. The round trip. Wow, what a life. Now, what if I didn't have anything worth paying to hear?

I'd still be at home in Little Rock, Arkansas, hoping to have a big career someday.

Right. Congratulations. I mean, what a phenomenal journey so far. So, Jim, let's help some people, shall we?

Fair enough.

Okay, I've got. I like to come up. One of my big mantras currently is the better the question, the better the results.

Yeah.

Okay, so my question for you is thinking about our listeners, which are all business entrepreneurs who are all looking to achieve more and become more and attract more, in the words of Jim Rohn.

Yep.

So based on your incredible success so far and achievement and my. My mind has gone to. I try not to use success too often because I think it's overused in a lot of ways. But I like achievement and I like the thought high achievement because it's what you become in the journey. Right?

Right.

So based on your incredible high achievement, what advice would you give anyone who has high aspirations that they have not reached yet? What would you say to them? What advice would you give them if they were sitting across the table from you?

If you have high aspirations, write it down. If it's not written, it's simply a fantasy. If it's written, it can become a goal. And why written? Because written makes it tangible, physical, and it involves you in the act of writing or typing it. Right. So when you write it down, a number of things happen. First, it clarifies it in your mind and. And reduces it from a. A dream or a vision into words. When you put it into words, you can look at how it's stated and maybe restate it to make it more clear and more succinct for what you really have in your mind and heart. Okay. Recognize as you look at that goal that that goal is not just a bunch of words on paper. It's an expression of the inner part of you.

Trying to clearly communicate what it wants, what it intends.

Emerson. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, desire is possibilities seeking expression. Think about that possibility, seeking to be expressed. So if you desire something, where does that desire come from? No, no.

Let'S. Let's be a little bit more respectful to who we are. We are an intentional creation capable of phenomenal possibilities. Oh, Jim, you don't know me. Yes, I do. If you're a human. Yes, I do. Right.

It means I second or I agree. Go ahead.

Yeah. You are capable of enormous, phenomenal possibilities. How does the soul of you, that's not limited by anything, express itself through desire.

Actually, desire.

It needs to be clarified because, you know, you say, well, I desire a banana split. Okay, get one and get back to goal setting. But that kind of desire is like the desire for. For sugar, not the desire for nutrition.

The desires of your soul. That's. That's where it's seeking protein. That's where it's seeking minerals, you know, that's where it's seeking genuine nutrition. That kind of desire.

Honor your desires and put them in writing and then start thinking. Don't, by the way, don't worry about whether you know how to get it. Write it down. My wife once said to me, I would set this goal, but I don't know how to achieve it. I said, it wouldn't be a goal if you knew how to achieve it. Which she said, what do you mean? I said, well, if you already know how to achieve it, it's just a To do.

A goal is something you have no idea whether you can do it or not. You know you want it, right? And then you write it down, and then you start figuring out, okay, what qualities do I need to be eligible for that? And what actions do I need to take? So mindset leads to actions. Actions, when repeated, like your morning routine, become habit. Habit hardens into character. And others observe those habits, and that's how your reputation is formed. So your reputation is a reflection of your repeated behavior.

Out. Hold on a minute. Let me make sure that everybody heard what Jim just said. Your reputation is a result of your repeated behavior or something like that.

Yeah, a reflection of your repeated behavior, because the only way the rest of the world can know you is by the actions you've taken. And if anyone says, tell me about Mike Stomso, then the, the people describing you will describe not the essence of you on the inside, but the behaviors they've seen from you over time. And the theme that shows up in that good guy, honorable guy, you know, bad guy, watch out, you know, whatever that comes from watching the patterns in your behavior. So you and I can choose right now, today, the reputation we want three years from now and, and simply cultivate the actions, the patterns, the habits that would make that reputation a reality. It would make us eligible receivers for the reputation we want. So look at it this way. Here's the causation chain. The way you think your mindset leads to the actions you take. Okay? The action, it. And those actions are either defensive or creative. Right? So it's either scarcity, protect myself from the world or its abundance. Go out and explore and contribute to the world. Right.

Options.

So, mindset, yeah. Optimist, optimism, pessimism. There's a third people say, I'm not an optimist, I'm not a pessimist, I'm a.

Realist. I have studied this and I'm. This going to sound like a joke, but it's not. A realist is a pessimist who won't admit it.

Aha.

I've never in my entire career heard of a person who self identified as a realist. Then adopt an optimistic point of view. They always say, look, I'm not pessimistic, I'm realistic. It can't be done, or it costs too much, or we're not big enough, or we don't know the right people, or there's not enough money, or it would, you know, they tried that before. All of those are pessimistic points of view. A pessimist Point of view is reality is fixed. Things aren't going to change. Give up an optimist. Point of view is reality is flexible. Who knows what's possible? Keep trying. Yeah, but there's a point where things are unrealistic and you should give up. Yeah, but that reality is visible to the pessimist and to the optimist. So as long as you're a sensible, rational human being, for heaven's sakes, approach things optimistically. Right. So it's mindset. Actions. Actions form into habit. Habit becomes your reputation. Right. Or shows your reputation. Your reputation determines who opens doors to you and who closes them. Oh, wait a minute, I've heard of you. Sorry, we're closed. Oh, wait a minute, I've heard of you. Please come in. Can I get you something? You know, make yourself comfortable and stay a long time. I've heard of you. Right. So your relationships reflect the reputation.

And your relationships, who, you know, determines how big your future could be.

So if I want to know, if I want an enormous future, I'm dreaming a big, big, big dream. Then I ask myself, what kind of people do I need to know? But more importantly, what kind of people do I need to have? Glad that they know me.

And that's a whole book. And literally, I've written books on every step of this process. I've written 26 books now, and I've got another one in the pipeline, a new version of relationship selling that I did with Victor Antonio.

Anyway, can't wait.

Oh, and by the way, you were talking about asking good questions.

Yeah.

I wrote a book with Lisa Patrick out of Canada called Intelligent Curiosity, how to Know what to Wonder About.

And that's exactly what you were saying a while ago, but in different words. So the future you see defines what kind of person you need to be, from mindset to actions, to habits, to reputation, relationships and dream. The future. So if you change the dream, it changes that chain. You change the mindset, it changes that chain. But it's in your control.

Ultimately, it boils down to mindset and, you know, back to optimism versus pessimism versus the power of three. Right. Being a realist, you know, it's subject to interpretation, your own interpretation, but what people perceive is what they believe. So if they perceive that I'm a realist or it might be pessimistic, then ultimately that's going to become who they are.

Sure. Well, see if you.

Back to the choices.

Right. Yeah. If you're pessimistic in your point of view, or let's say realistic so you don't feel bad about being a pessimist. All right? If you're one of those two, your, your tendency is to begin with defenses. Okay, look, I don't know. $2 is too much for that soda. Let's, let's go buy one at the store and share it, and we'll water it down a little bit and we'll just live just a little bit less. And we'll, we'll not spend money because who knows what's coming? And I've got a feeling it's pretty bad.

So you live defensively. Well, isn't it smart to conserve resources and to live within your means? Absolutely, absolutely. But not to the point that you don't live.

You know, you can go hide in a cave under a rock behind the bushes, and you might be temporarily safe, but you'll die from a lack of fulfillment just as quickly as you'll die from being exposed to danger.

Aha. Let me ask you a question for a friend.

You don't need this, but you have.

If you were raised in a certain, certain culture with a certain message coming from the bottom of the stairs about, you know, you need to be conservative, you got to save, know every dime, and you got to do this, you got to do that, and you can't break away from that, what would you say to that person?

Well, I've talked with that person many, many times in many places, all over the world. And what I say to that person is, look, if you stay safe, if that's a number one all the time, stay safe, then you'll be safe until you live. Wow.

They say no. You mean as long as I live? No, that's not living. That's hiding.

And safety is important, but safety is not the ultimate because, you know, they. People say nobody was. There was this horrible traumatic incident and nobody was harmed. You want to bet? Nobody was physically harmed, but emotionally harmed, spiritually harmed, intellectually harmed, Absolutely. You go through a traumatic experience like somebody is kidnapped, you know, and put in a box for three days and, and finally released. They weren't harmed. The heck they weren't. They'll never forget that experience as long as they live. It will interrupt other things in their life and, and be present all the time. And when they go to a closed space, they will, you know, immediately emotionally react. All because of that three day experience in which they, quote, weren't harmed. Life's not about staying safe. Life is about living, really living. And that means you've got to be willing to be sensibly vulnerable. Vulnerable, you know, to be rational about it, of course, but it's about growth and fulfillment and contribution and giving and doing and being and experiencing. You know What? I. I'm 77 years old. I've got more energy than a lot of 30 year olds. And it's not because of my physical makeup. It's because my spirit and my mind and my, my commitment to myself are all aligned with each other so that I'm living as fully as it's sensible to live. I ride a motorcycle. I'm a life member by tenure of the American Motorcyclists Association. I've ridden way over150,000 miles all over the world in mountain passes and on country roads and, you know, in all kinds of places like that, and snow and ice and heat and everything else. I play guitar and sing in nightclubs. If I were trying to stay safe, I would play and sing in concert halls, but it's more fun in honky tonks and, you know, I'm a rock and roll guy.

You'll be safe until you live.

Yeah. Wow. If you live protectively. Yeah.

I, I hope everybody wrote that one down and we'll take action on it. So, Jim, let's stay in the same arena if you will, but get outside of it as fast as we can. The arena might be the comfort zone. So we call, in our circles, you either win. No, first of all, nobody ever loses, right? You either win or you learn.

Okay.

And we call the lessons failure.

Those, those who don't learn lose.

Aha.

So.

So let's talk about those who are, you know, don't. Not learning and, you know, failures in their mindset. And then I got one last question for you, which has been circling my head for about 15 minutes, so talk a little bit. I mean, I'm sure you've encountered lessons in your life or failures how you overcome those.

First, I recognize them for what they were. You know, like if, if I fall down and, and injure myself, I don't say, oh my gosh, God's trying to punish me. I'm unworthy. I probably deserved it. I'll bet this will never heal. I'll just shrink my life a little bit to adapt to this new injury. No, I say, man, that's inconvenient. And I go to a doctor and I get it fixed, you know, and I go through the six week or eight week healing process or year long or whatever it takes, and then I get back. I mean, in 19.

No, in 2009, I was in California, where I lived for 37 years in the in Thousand Oaks, and I was running mountain trails three days a week. So I would do hiking and trail running with a group of friends that we called ourselves the Heartbreak Hiking Fools. And we lived up to that. And heartbreak was our signature hill, and it was a steep son of a gun. But we had 26 different trails that we did, each of which was three miles to the distant peak and then three miles back. So six miles at sunrise, three days a week, all year long. Rain, heat, snow, you know, whatever came wind, all that kind of thing. So I'm running On the Trail January 9, 2009, and I go down a long hill across a creek, start up the next hill, got two hiking poles, and I'm trudging along, and I get dizzy. So I slowed down and I stayed dizzy, so I stopped, and then I fainted. But when you faint, what happens is your blood pressure drops, and so, you know, you lose consciousness. And I fell to the ground. And of course, when you fall to the ground and lay flat, your blood pressure normalizes. So I woke up, and some fellow hikers had come around me, and I said, wow, what was that about? Well, I can still make a good time. And. And so I got up and I started to go forward on the hike, and a doctor in our group said.

Go back to the house. I'll see you at coffee. So. Okay. So I went back and saw him at coffee, and he said, you should go get checked out. So I went to the er, and they said, you're in really good shape. I said, that's not why I'm here. They said, oh, you're fainting. Well, you've got an electrical problem in your heart. I said, a blockage? They said, no, well, it's a blockage, but it's. It's a nerve blockage, not a blood blockage. And I said, well, what's the name of it? That left bundle branch block lbbb. And I said, okay, how. How do I heal it? They said, you don't. What? We don't know how to treat it. I said, well, then what do I do? Because I'm willing to endure the pain and take the time, and if it's expensive, I'll pay it. And they said, the only thing we know to do is put in a pacemaker. I said, get away from me. I am not ready to walk with a walker and put a tube up my nose to breathe and be an old man. And they said, no, no, you can run marathons with a pacemaker. Really?

So I put it off for 10 months, and during that 10 months, I had those dizzy feelings more frequently. So clearly there was something I needed to address. So finally I caved and I said, all right, put it in. So they put in a pacemaker, and I've had it since 2009. Now here we are in 2024, not a hiccup since, and I've gone back to running and, you know, lifting weights and working out and doing whatever I feel like doing, playing rock and roll on stages all over, and riding motorcycles and giving species in China. Not a problem at all. Now, what happened? Okay, I had an episode that told me, you're pushing it too hard for your body's current circumstances. You need to alter your body. How? By adding something that most people consider a weakness? Well, yeah, it is a vulnerability. So I had to accept that that would be okay and I would still be me. Instead of shrinking my life and just saying, well, I just, you know, I won't do the hiking anymore. I'll exercise with a home gym or I won't. Won't exercise with a home gym. I'll just go for walks or whatever. Just shrink my life. No, no. I got a lot of living to do. And, you know, it's like I had prostate cancer in 2016, and the doctor told me, well, you. You know, it's not a fast growing cancer, and you could live with it for the rest of your life and not die from it. And if you did this and this, this, this, I said, no, no, no. Get it out. He said, well, but I said, excuse me. A lot of living to do. Get it out. So they did a radical prostatectomy, and 18 days later, I was back on the mountain trails.

So leave time for healing and then go slowly at first and build back up to your fitness level.

Man, you appeared in my life at the right time for so many different things coming up. I mean, you know, I got my doctor's appointment, my annual doctor's appointment. I'm two months behind, coming up soon. And I was online making the appointment and trying to hit the submit button, and it wouldn't go through. And I'm going, what's going on? They said, you got to put a comment in the box. And I thought, I don't have anything to comment. I thought, thought about it for a second. I said, all right, I'm looking to live at least 30 to 40 more years or more. So at the appointment, tell me what I need to do to make that happen.

Right. Good for you. Good for you.

Anyway, now, he prepared me for the appointment, which is coming up here in eight days. So super excited about that, by the way.

So is mine. My annual physical is next week.

Fantastic. Great minds. Rare fines. Jim, let's give them one big gold nug to drive this thing into the garage for. Wrap it up today.

Wow.

So one of the things that I've been thinking about for the last number of minutes is mindset. And you've touched on it. You've touched on it, but what would you say to somebody out there who needs a shot to their mindset, the right.

Mindset, to be attractive, to have the doors open all the time to them and for them and everything else that happens in life, potentially to them.

Yep.

What do you have to say to them?

Do you know the organization Toastmasters International?

I've heard of it, yes.

Toastmasters teaches communication and leadership skills, basically public speaking, and they're done through local clubs, and there are like 16,000 of those clubs around the world, and their membership is about 360,000 members worldwide. And it's all about being confident and communicating well. Well, I was only a member of ToastMasters for, like, three months back in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the 1970s, but I built a career as a public speaker and an author. And in 1995, Toastmasters called me from their headquarters, and they said, we'd like you to be opening keynote speaker for our international convention in San Diego. Wow. Okay. So I. I came to San Diego and. And there were, you know, they had, like, I don't know, a hundred countries represented. You know, they're marching the flags and all this. And it was phenomenal, the opening ceremonies. And then they said, here's Jim Cathcart. Gave my speech. Big standing ovation, sold books and signed autographs for three and a half hours. Big win. Home run for me. And I walked away just glowing, feeling great about that. Well, in 2001, I got another call from Toastmasters International, and they said, jim.

We'Ve selected you to receive the Golden Gavel Award for the millennium year. Now, the Golden Gavel has been received by Walter Cronkite, Earl Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins. You know, people like that. I mean, it's a big, big deal. And I said, wow. Absolutely. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So that year, their convention was in Anaheim, California, and I went and I spoke and I received that wonderful award. Well, time goes by. Now, remember, that's 2001 in the year 2022. I got a call from Toastmasters. Daniel Rex, the executive in charge of Toastmasters, he Said, jim, remember me? I said, yeah, I remember you from back in 2001 when you were part of the staff. Now you're in charge. He said, yep. He said, we want you to be the opening keynote speaker for our convention again. I said, After 27 years.

I said, has anyone else ever repeated three times on your main stage? He said, not to my knowledge. And I said, whoa, because this is the big leagues, right? I mean, they. They don't bring in lightweights for that position. And so I said, yeah, I'll do it. Absolutely. He said, what's your topic? I was driving my car at the time. I said, how to be attractive. He said, what? It just popped into my head. And I said, how to be attractive? He said, well, I'm. I'm intrigued. I said, okay. So I went home with, what does how to be attractive mean? And I wrote, well, here's. Here's how it came out. I said, that day in Nashville, Tennessee, at the convention, when I stepped onto the platform in front of thousands of Toastmasters, I said, there's two ways to achieve your goal. As an arrow shooting toward it, in which case all of the accuracy, all of the initiative, and all of the effort has to come from you.

Or as a magnet attracting your goal to you. I suggest both.

So someone's thinking, you know, but I got big dreams inside. What do I do? Well, first off, articulate your dreams, write them down. And second, assume, even though you have no clue how to get there, that sooner or later, the path will reveal itself and you'll be able to do it. So just start becoming an eligible receiver. What does that mean? Means develop the qualities of the person who would receive what you're dreaming of. If you want good neighbors, be one, so that they will want to be good neighbors to you. If you want good students, be the kind of teacher they're hoping you are, one that cares about them and really knows what you're talking about and take your role as a coach and a guide seriously. If you want a good marriage, be a good mate. If you want good children, be a great parent. You know, just. If you want God to love you, love God. You know, if you want a good life, behave like a person who has one. And so you make yourself eligible while you're doing the arrow work in building up toward your goal. And the combination of those two will lead you to advancement through your arrow work and then breakthroughs from your magnet. Because my. The calls from Toastmasters, I never called them and offered to be their speaker three times over 27 years. They called me on their own initiative.

The Arrow and the Magnet.

Yeah. And one last thing. Earl Nightingale lead the field. I heard Earl Nightingale on a recording in a company meeting when I was selling insurance and mutual funds for IDS Investor Diversified Services back in 1970, when I first got married. And I was inspired by the message. Well, a few years later, the man who was selling those recordings came to me and said, you should get into this business. I said, selling Nightingale's product? He said, yeah. And so I did. And I went to work selling Earl Nightingale's recordings door to door to businesses in Little rock, Arkansas, in 1974 and 75. Then the USJCS called me and they said, hey, you're the kind of person we want on our national staff developing leadership programs for our 300,000 members. So I did that. Then I went out into business on my own. Now, years later, 1984, I was in San Diego, California, partners with Dr. Tony Alexandra, a college professor at the time. We had recorded an audio program called Relationship Strategies for how to deal with the differences in people.

My phone rang. I picked it up. It was Earl Nightingale. Not his company, him. Why? My guru, my mentor, the guy on the tapes. He said, may I speak to Jim Cathcart? And I said.

Which means this is he. How may I help you? And I was speechless.

Yeah.

He said, I. I read an article of yours that I think would be a good audio program. I said, well, sir, that is an audio program called Relationship Strategies. He said, send it to me. I did. He called me back and he said, if you'll rerecord it, we will publish it. In 1984 and 85, Nightingale Conant Corporation sold three and a half million dollars worth of my audio program. In 1972, I heard him on a radio. In 1974, I was selling his programs. In 1984, he was selling mine.

When Earl passed away in 1989, I was president of the National Speakers Association. We held a memorial service for him at our speakers convention with 2,000 professional speakers in the audience, including his son, David Nightingale.

And I was one of two speakers, his widow and me.

Unbelievable. Mike. We never know what's possible until we stay the path. And there are lots of times when you lose a fortune or someone betrays you or things don't work out. You know, lots of recessions and depressions and. And bankruptcies that people have. I didn't, luckily, but I certainly had times when I had to postpone payments. And I called the people and let them know, and I made it back to strength again, you know, and. And.

It'S been the most rewarding, fulfilling life I can. I can possibly dream of. And it's still going. Thank you, Lord.

Amen. Speaking of that, thank you, Lord, for having you on the podcast today. I mean, I hope you got great value of this. I know I will be reviewing this at least three times because I believe there's power in the power of three all around you. But you made me think of Dave Leniger. Have you heard of Dave Leniger of ReMax?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I mean, same thing you. You talked about, hey, you couldn't make the payment. You were recovering, you know, maybe enter into a tough time. Dave has that same story. Right. He. He went for it all, but encountered some tough times. But he would call the people and say, hey, I can't pay the bill, but I'm going to send you what I can send you.

Right.

And that's the thing.

I used to be a bill Collector when, at 22 years old, I was repossessing log trucks in the Ozark Mountains.

Yeah.

You know, I've lived in dangerous times. And I learned that the people that are proactive with their creditors, the creditors cooperate, most of them. Some of them are jerks, but most of them cooperate. And if you're proactive and stay in touch with people, instead of avoiding, oh, wait till I get some money and then I'll call. No, talk to them. Tell them the truth.

Oh, communication.

Say again?

Communication.

Open communication. Tell the truth.

Open communication. Thank you.

Yeah. When in doubt, tell the truth.

It's a lot less to remember, Right?

Yep.

Another gem from my wife. Thank you very much. Jim Cathcart, from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of many hearts out there across North America and beyond. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. God bless you.

And he already has. But let's continue to expand on those through the arrow and the magnet philosophy and so much more. I can't wait to start digging into some of your books. I am on fire right now. And I'm gonna go pay it forward, if that's okay with you.

By the way, anyone that wants to reach me, just go to Jim Cathcart, one word dot com. That's my digital business card.

C-A-T-C-A-R-T dot com. J I M C-A-T dash H. C-A-R dash T dot com. I've been there many, many times myself. And we'll continue to visit you, Jim, and thank you for making that available to us. And Just being such an awesome guy who wants to help people.

Thank you.

You're welcome. So let's share with something from my grandson Nath that was developed at our kitchen table around the holidays this past year. And we wrote this down because we were reading something. You can't be great if you're content being good.

O very good. Yeah.

So he's 17 years old and he's on his own path to greatness and I can't wait to walk by his side and help him in any way possible. Absolutely fantastic, everybody. Thank you. And speaking of helping everybody, if this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromso. I'm widely recognized as a leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can learn more about myself and everything that we do for independent insurance agents atunstoppable profit producer.com and if you're interested in attending a virtual event to learn more how to grow your business, create wealth and have more freedom, just Simply go to upp fast startup.com that's uppfaststart.com and our next event is right there on the site. Make sure that you get signed up, the seats disappear very, very quickly. Everything we do is designed to share with you some of our best money making strategies developed over 36 years as a true 100% of the time proud independent insurance agent. All designed to help you grow your business, create wealth so you two can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. I'm privileged to live that life, but I've got some arrows in my sliver if you will. And I'm going continue working on myself so I can be that magnet. And please make sure if you haven't yet subscribe to our podcast, just go to unstoppable profit podcast.com go up to the top, click, subscribe. And I hope you will do this because I will be doing this in a very big way when this publishes. If you got great value out of the podcast today, share it with somebody else you care about. Just send them the link unstoppablepoppidpodcast.com have them subscribe as well. And oh my gosh, my head is. You know that natural buzz in your head, Jim?

I do.

I've got that right now, buddy. Thank you so much. And, and they will be thanking you for a long, long time for sharing this podcast. So we're available on all the channels out there. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, our YouTube channel, Amazon, and so much more. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for investing time today to learn from the one, the only, shall I say, the unstoppable, Jim Cathcart. Jim, thank you.

Thank you, Mike.

All right, everybody, until next time, get out there, make a difference, be unstoppable, leave no regrets, and remember this. You got this. We believe in you. Until our next episode. We'll see you then. You love the podcast, but don't know where or how to get started. Come join our next virtual training while seats are still available. Register now@uppfaststart.com that's upfaststart.com.