Episode 93: The WHY Project with JaYson Wells!

And hello everyone.

Welcome to episode 92 of the Weekly Yes And podcast. I'm the host, Travis Thomas, the host of the Weekly Yap and the creator of Live Yes And. Today's episode is episode 92. Our guest today is Jason Wells, who is with The Why Project out of St. Louis. And I met Jason in February in St. Louis when I was giving a couple of talks, and he and I immediately hit it off. We were talking purpose, we were talking why, and we decided, all right, when are we gonna work together? And so again, this past Thanksgiving, I was back in St. Louis, our paths crossed once again, and really excited to collaborate with Jason with the wonderful work that he's doing, that he's going to talk about today. Jason was a professional basketball player. He went to Indiana State University, which is famously where Larry Bird went, and he played professionally again in Europe for many, many years, which we're going to talk about in this podcast. And just a really interesting guy, how he has moved from one career into leadership and development with young kids in areas, young kids in schools that just don't get this type of leadership development. So we're going to talk about why he got into that work and what it is about that work that inspires him, as well as the WHY Project. So really excited about that. Just a quick reminder to everyone that coming up in January is going to be the next Get Unstuck in 10 Days. We have a group going right now, but we will be doing a New Year's 2018 group. Of course, what a great way to start off 2018 than to be proactively getting unstuck by proactively working on some areas of your life that you want to thrive on. It's only 10 days. So what a great way to kickstart 2018 with some momentum. We'll probably be starting that around January 10th. I will have that information on the website. If you're interested, you can be in touch. We'll get you on the list. There you have it. Here we go. Episode 92 with Jason Wells from The WHY Project. Please welcome Jason to The Weekly Yap.

Hi, Travis.

So welcome to this week's Weekly Yap, Jason Wells in St. Louis. Jason, how we doing?

I'm awesome, how are you?

Good, Jason. Hey, great to have you on. I knew when we connected last February when I was in St. Louis that, and we talked podcast, but it took us a little bit longer to get it done. But I don't know, I think the timing is great with everything that's going on. So Jason, people know that I've already set you up. They know that you have a professional basketball career. But tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're doing now.

Yep. So thank you first for having me on. I'm super excited to be here and just kind of share my story. So born and raised in Cleveland, spent, literally spent the first 17 years of my life there and went from there to Indiana State University, which is in a small city about an hour west of Indianapolis called Terre Haute, Indiana. Spent the next 4 years of my life there. And after that, is when my life really took a drastic change from what I'd known up to that point. So as a 21-year-old that just finished his final year of college, I was afforded the opportunity to go and play basketball as a professional overseas. And so for the next 13 years of my life, from 21 to 34, basically I spent 8 to 10 months in somebody else's country playing basketball from somewhere around August until somewhere around May or June. And that's how I spent the majority of my adult life.

So tell us about that, Jason. So you grow up in Cleveland, Ohio. I grew up just north of you there in Flint, Michigan.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

It's okay. It's okay.

Hashtag TTUM, the Team Up North. I know that's not necessarily Not necessarily your Spartan job, but it's fine. It's the whole state.

Well, you're from Cleveland. I'm from Flint. Both of our towns have had water issues over the years. So what was the dream growing up in Cleveland, Jason? Tell me about your childhood. Was basketball the dream from day one?

It's funny, Travis, because honestly, I would have to say no is the answer. Basketball was something that was extremely organic to me. It's something that wasn't pushed upon me. It was something that I just fell into. And because I started to like it, my guys, my friends, we started to play it. Because we played it, we played it more often. And because we played it so often, we got good at it. And, you know, the dreams of going to the NBA and things like that, those really didn't kind of hit until Other things started to happen and, you know, started to get into high school, started to get into college. But, you know, I very vividly remember as a youngster I wanted to be an astronaut. Like, I literally wanted to be an astronaut. I was really, really drawn to science and that part of science. And yeah, like, basketball was just kind of something to do. So that wasn't the end-all be-all for me, which is probably different.

Right, and so you end up at Terre Haute, home of the hick from French Lick.

Yeah, the second best player to ever go there, by the way.

That's what I hear. That's the murmurs out there. That's the murmurs. So tell us, how did Indiana State show up on your radar?

Well, I was— there were 4 of us. So there were 4 guys that played on my high school team that all went Division I and played Division I athletics. There were 3 of us in basketball. Basketball, and one guy went to the University of Toledo and played football. And I was, I was the last one. I've always been literally the youngest. I started school when I was 4, so I've always been, you know, 8 months to a year younger than my classmates. I was the late bloomer. I was the ugly duckling. I was all of those things. And it was that way for basketball as well. So those 3 guys had their colleges lined up and knew where they were going, and I didn't get my offer from Indiana State until a postseason. So we're done with our high school season, and it was a Greater Cleveland, like, coaches all-star game for unsigned guys. And Indiana State had just gotten a new staff. Coach Dillard and those guys had just gotten hired over there at Terre Haute, and they came up, and no exaggeration, Travis, they walked into the gym, I hit a couple shots, and next thing they know, they're And they're asking, hey, who's the skinny kid over there? I have a brief conversation with them. They're like, hey, why don't you come down to campus? I get on a plane. It's my first time on a plane. It's from Cleveland to Indianapolis. It's an hour drive from Indiana. I was actually— the drive from Indianapolis to Terre Haute was longer than the flight from Cleveland to Indianapolis.

Yeah.

But I went down there, spent the weekend. Sunday morning, we go into the office. And they dropped down the letter of intent, and I don't know if the paper hit the table before I was signing it because that was my only Division 1 offer. Yeah. So everything up to that point was either going to be the junior college route, of which at that time junior college was still taboo. It was still that, you know, those are— that's where the guys that can't get it together academically or can't get it together with their attitudes, that's where they went. And so that wasn't Wasn't really an option, and then so really my legitimate options were Division Three schools: John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace, Case Western, Hiram. Those were all the schools that I was looking at. So it was it was literally the the thirteenth hour.

Well, it made the decision really easy for you.

It definitely did, and and and a load off of my parents because I don't know if you know, but Division Three institutions are not awarded scholarships, so they can. Put together financial packages, but it definitely wouldn't have been all-inclusive like it ended up being.

Right. Of course I know that. I was a mediocre Division III athlete, Jason. There was no money on the table. All right. So you play 4 years at Indiana State?

Yep.

How would you sum up that overall experience for you?

Oh my goodness. A dream come true. Drastic difference. My freshman year, uh, this is true but hilarious story. My freshman year media guide at Indiana State said 6'6, 171 pounds.

Really?

So yeah, needless to say, I was not, um, physically imposing.

You weren't the beefiest guy on the court.

No, I was not that. Uh, and it was, it was a, it was a shock. I mean, it was, it was my first time playing with guys that were, you know, older than that, 4-year block. I mean, up to that point, you're playing within a 4 or 3-year block, actually.

Yeah.

Between ages and, you know, between transfers and red shirts and things like that. Like, I was playing where I was 17 when I stepped on campus.

Yes.

And I was playing with guys that were 22 and 23 years old. And there's a lot of maturity, physical maturity, emotional maturity that makes a difference, even though we're all playing on the same team. And so my first 6 weeks were As close to tragic as they could get. Like I was questioning myself. I was why am I here? Am I good enough to be here? It was it was really a challenge for me to push through. And then you know something as simple as we at we're at preseason, you know pickup within the team and I got on a team and I had two or three of those seniors that were on that on my on my team as a freshman and I was on their little preseason. Season team. And from there, we won some games. I got some confidence. They gave me some encouragement. I then went on to sit the bench my freshman year. Like, that had nothing to do with actually getting on the court. But I learned and I got better and I got stronger and just developed over the course of that year. And I went from literally sitting the bench as a freshman to starting as a sophomore. And I started for 3 years after that.

What was the hardest part that freshman season, or should I say What did you learn most about yourself that freshman season?

It's just the difference. The difference in everything. The difference in, you know, on the court, it was the speed of the game, the intelligence of the game, the nuances of the game. Off the court, it was the first time, you know, college environment. There's no one necessarily checking up to see if you're going to class, are you doing your work. Of course, on the basketball team and on athletic teams, you have people people, uh, that, that are kind of doing that. But the freedom of knowing how to manage your time became very, very, very, uh, prevalent. Like, yeah, the importance of it. And so across the board, there were things on and off the court that were just totally new to me that were like, uh-oh, I got to do something different here or I'm not going to make it very long. So yeah, it was a, it was a plethora of things.

I, I'm curious, Jason, out of, out of Out of your group of friends all from Cleveland that went on to play Division I sports, was there a sense of consistency from a success standpoint, or are you still in contact with those guys today?

Absolutely. In contact with all 3 of them, actually. And it's funny because the guy that went to Toledo to play football, he played his 4 years and his athletic career was over. over. The guy that went to Robert Morris over in Pennsylvania for basketball, he played his 4 years and his athletic career was over. And the 2 of us that played after college, uh, were Earl Boykins, who is the—

Yes.

The last, the last of the little guys. He's an Eastern Michigan grad. Um, and so, and, and me. And so out of the 4 of us, the 2 of us that got paid to play was the, the guy that was too short and the guy That was too skinny. So, you know, it's just amazing how it all works out, but that's literally how it worked out because those other 2 guys, from a physical standpoint, especially in high school and early in college, they were the ones that physically, you know, showed signs of, hey, they got a chance, but it ended up being the skinny guy and the short guy.

I love that. It's actually— I was just listening to an interview today and I didn't know this about Ray Lewis at Miami, but he He was not highly touted coming out of high school and was one of the kind of crawled in on one of the last scholarships that freshman class. But obviously, yeah, things turned out a little bit different.

Yeah, it's funny because if I'm not mistaken, he was on that team with The Rock. And I remember The Rock was like the opposite. He was highly touted and now look where they are. One's in the Hall of Fame and one's in the Hall of Fame of the Actors Guild.

Right.

Right.

All right. So going to Cleveland— excuse me, going to Indiana State from Cleveland, obviously a huge shift, huge outside of your comfort zone. Why?

Why would you say that? You just traded in the buildings for cornfields.

That's all. Right? I mean, I know Terre Haute is called the Cleveland of Indiana, but—

Only not.

So I imagine— okay. So that's obviously a major shift for you, but then you go and now you are living and playing internationally. What was that? I mean, obviously multiple countries. So give us a sense of what that adjustment was like, at least early on.

Yeah. Oh my goodness. I don't know if words are going to do it any justice. I mean, I go from Cleveland for 17 years to Indiana for the next 4, and I find myself literally as a 21-year-old kid that pretty much hasn't then out of the Midwest, and now I find myself in Stockholm, Sweden. Sweden was my first place, and it was an awesome first place, but it was still obviously a shock and an adjustment. The reason that I say it was awesome is because I was right in Stockholm. Sweden in general is a very westernized country. It's a melting pot of a bunch. I know everybody always talks about tall blonde women Yeah. And, but it is, it is literally like New York City. It is a melting pot. You have people from the Mediterranean, you have people from Africa, you have people from all over other parts of Europe, and they all kind of land in Stockholm. And, and so the melting pot that Stockholm created was really the start of, you know, the, the foundation of kind of how I started to just fall into the appreciation of other The appreciation of other cultures, the appreciation of other people, the appreciation of diversity. That was it. That was it. And it was really awesome. And then from there, it went on for another 12 seasons after that, and it went on for another 11 countries. And when I say countries, I'm talking about me living there, being there for at least 3 months.

All right.

That's what I categorize as me living in a country.

All right. Give us a list of the countries, Jason.

Oh my goodness, I gotta go in order. Sweden, Finland, Germany, Israel, Korea, Australia, Cyprus, United Arab Emirates, which is Dubai basically, uh, Italy, Holland, Argentina, and Ukraine.

I mean, you— I mean, we're talking now, we're talking multiple continents as well.

Yeah, so I have technically been to 5 of the 7. And I'm going to Africa in the first part of 2018, and that will make 6 out of 7. Wow.

Okay. All right. So I think we could probably spend the rest of the podcast talking about country and cultural experiences. Give us the most enjoyable country that you lived in.

Most enjoyable is a tie between Israel and Australia, and they are tied for 2 drastically different reasons.

All right, let's hear why.

Uh, Israel, I call it the best-kept secret in the world. It's— it has such a— using the word taboo again— it has such a taboo, it has such a negative light because of how our Western media sheds light on the country and the conflict and the things that go on over there. And at the end of the day, Travis, it's just not like that. Like, that's the simplest way to put it.

Yeah, of course, of course they have their their issues.

Um, but, but really, in all reality, the issues that they have over there are like planes crashing. Like, that's the frequency of it. And because it happens at that frequency, it becomes a big deal because, you know, oh, like, just like when a plane crashes. When a plane crashes, it's a huge deal. But planes don't crash often.

Right.

And it's the exact same thing. Like, the way that the media portrays that country is such an injustice because it is absolutely amazing. The people are amazing, the lifestyle is amazing, and obviously the history of the country. And so one of the most awesome parts about it for me is me, my religious beliefs stemming from Christianity, you know, just, just the history. But the awesome part about it is I played— so I played there for 5 different seasons, and 2 of those seasons were in Jerusalem. And one of the most interesting statements that I heard was like nothing catastrophic would ever go down in Jerusalem because it's the holy ground for so many different people.

Mm.

So basically, for, for you to cause some type of trouble to, you know, attack another group of people, you would be potentially harming something that is extremely valuable to your own culture.

Right, right.

So, I mean, oh my God, it's absurd. I remember— really quick story— I remember going on the first time that I went on the tour of the Old City, and we were going around and they took us to the place that, you know, they supposedly had the Last Supper.

Yes.

And the awesome part about it is they don't recreate it. There's not a table in there garnished with a tablecloth of jewels and Like, it is literally a cave. It's a cave.

Yeah.

And, and I remember this is at the time where I used to wear baseball caps, and when I walked in, I just instinctively took off my hat.

Yeah.

And, and my tour guide is like, oh no, you don't have to take off your hat. I just kind of looked at him like, bro, if this is anywhere close to what you're telling me it is, yeah, I mean, you're lucky. You're lucky I just didn't drop down because it's so, it's so overwhelming. And I mean, just, just To drive from— the entire country is only as big as the state of Indiana. So you can drive as far north to as far south in 4 and a half hours.

Yeah.

But when you're driving and you're looking at the mountains and the olive trees and all the— like, you literally fall into If These Walls Could Talk. Like, it makes it like the amount of history that they've seen is crazy. So, yeah.

Interesting.

All right. You can tell I get passionate about it.

We could stay on that for a while. I'm sure we'll be doing some overlapping as we come back. So Australia, and then why Australia?

Australia is just the 51st state. The way that they structure the season down there, you're still playing pretty much August to April, September to May type deal. And obviously with them being below the equator, you're now talking about it's summertime over there. So the meat of our season with played in the summertime. And just the geographic setup of where the teams are located, almost all of the teams are located on the coast. So you literally go from the far extreme northeast, which is Cairns, which is where I played 2 seasons, and you just go— if you go down the eastern coast, every team is in a coastal city. Mix that with the summertime, mix that with the actual level and competition of basketball The energy level is unbelievable. Like, every night it's an NBA-style environment, you know. Um, the competition actually on the court is really good. It was just— it was— it was needed coming from European countries, but it also pushed me back to European countries because it's very easy to go over there and get comfortable. There are guys that— American guys that I played against 15, 16 years They found their home.

Yeah.

And they may or may not be married to an Aussie girl, whatever it is. They're just still there because it's that comfortable.

Yes. So what country, Jason, and maybe it's one of the two that you mentioned, but what country did you feel like maybe you learned most about yourself? Maybe it was something that happened or just a stint with a certain team.

Yeah, wow, great question. Uh, I feel like each stop created a new dynamic. Um, and it's funny because I just had this conversation, um, you know, and I'm sure we'll, we'll grow into this and, and get into this later in the, in the podcast. But the biggest thing is that no matter what— so when I started playing, it was only 2 Americans there. So there was myself and another American. And over the course of my playing career, that changed. It changed per country. It changed, you know, per FIBA, the governing body, to where, you know, by the time I was done playing in 2011, many of the countries had opened up their borders of, you know, you don't— you're not limited to just the 2. And the reason that that's important is because especially early in my career, depending on what your other American was or with your other teammates where you may spend a lot of time around them or not a lot of time at all. And I found myself in both situations. So no matter what, even if it's the— like, I'm thinking about who I would refer to as my favorite teammate ever. Favorite teammate ever, we lived in the same apartment building. We obviously went to practice together, spent a bunch of time together. But at the end of the day, you're not around that person 24 hours a day.

Yeah.

And so you end up spending a lot of time higher self.

Yeah.

And that for me is, is looking back, it didn't necessarily feel that way then. I didn't have that appreciation for it then. But looking back at it, that process and those nights and days of being by myself and spending time with myself allowed me to be able to learn myself and, and just understand who Jason Wells is, what makes him tick. Well, you know, what would you— what would I do if No one was telling me what to do. I had a lot of time to figure that stuff out, whether it be consciously or unconsciously. So I'm really, really, really appreciative of that time because I feel like that's where a lot of people struggle. A lot of adults struggle is they don't know themselves. And I feel like that's because they don't necessarily spend a lot of time with themselves.

So what did you find yourself gravitating towards as far as hobbies or interests? Uh, with all that free time?

Yeah, I mean, when you're, when you're early mid-20s and you're single, you find— I mean, and at that time, so we're still talking before the internet. So, you know, I remember vividly my first few trips overseas. You know, I got a duffel bag full of clothes and I got a duffel bag full of VHS tapes. So, so, you know, you, you find yourself entertaining because at that time, again, the internet, the world was still bigger than it is now as far as accessibility. So you're watching and bringing the things that are interesting to you. Um, I found myself being attracted to basically any TV show that was in English. So I watched a lot of Friends, I watched a lot of Darla and Greg, I watched a lot of Law and Order. Uh, so because those are the shows that were televised over there at the time. And so, um, You know, I look back at it now and I see that that's where my interest in learning started because I found myself reading and not necessarily the things that I would read now. You know, back then it may just have been a magazine article or something like that. But as I look back on it and even talking through it right now, I feel like that that was kind of the foundation of where I am on December 5th, 2017, which is my I'm by all means considering myself to be a lifetime learner.

So let's talk about that a little bit because, you know, all of that time as you're playing, you're having a professional career, you know that at some point that career is going to come to an end.

For sure.

You were talking about this idea of people finding themselves and having a clear sense of who they are. As you knew that your career was coming to an end, what did that transition look like for you? And did you have a clear sense of what you wanted to do?

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And to be completely honest, Travis, I can't say that I knew my career was coming to an end. You know, at the time when I called it quits, it was ironically right around this time. I was in Israel for the last of my 5 years or 5 seasons that I played. over there, and I literally came home for Christmas and never went back.

Okay.

So, but a lot in my personal life changed at that time. So going into, into 2006, my ex-wife now, at the time we got together, we found out shortly after that we were pregnant. And so literally in the, in the 9 months of 2000, to say August of 2006 to May of 2007, I had a child, got married, or conceived a child, got married, and came back as a child, as a father, all in that one season. So my personal life changed, and ultimately I basically retired because I felt like what was best for my family was not for me to be halfway across the world for 8 or 9 5 months out of the year, it was to be home and be present and a dad and all that. So I really didn't stop because of basketball. I stopped because of my family.

So it wasn't— it doesn't sound like it was a real sort of gentle transition. It was— you're there one day.

Very abrupt.

Yes, yes. So how did you handle that? What was that like?

It was a challenge. It was a challenge because— and never regret. I'm one of those people that I do not use the word regret. I find the Yeah. I always try to find the silver lining in any situation. And so I am extremely grateful for the situation because it put me in— and it showed me some resilience because from a financial standpoint, you know, you're— and I never made, you know, tons of money by any means, but I made more money than my parents made and I made more money than I ever dreamed about making. But, you know, all of a sudden you go from making this dollar amount to no dollar Right. And then, or, or a lesser dollar amount, and all of a sudden, you know, there's, there's some perseverance, there's some resilience that, that has to be shown. Um, you know, there's, there's so many different— once you get down into the rabbit hole, there's so many different tunnels as far as where my life has gone. Uh, and I've just become grateful for all of it. So as abrupt as the stop was, It opened up another tunnel to be able to pursue something totally different than I'd ever known. So it was another opportunity.

So tell us, Jason, where you are today. Let's talk about the WHY Project, and then I'm sure there'll be some connecting the dots of how we got here. So tell us what your focus is right now.

First off, I just like, this is how I know that I'm exactly in the place that I'm supposed to be, because as soon as you said Why Project, I smiled like a little kid. It is totally where I know my life's purpose is supposed to be, which is just ultimately developing people, helping people with whatever, whatever my personal story can provide, which is exactly where we're going. So the Why Project is the title that I've put to an experience. And then I'm very particular about that word experience because ultimately all it is is me sharing my experience to help people find their purpose, their, uh, their why for being here on this earth. And that may be their overall deep down purpose, or it could just be, you know, what's supposed to happen right now, or give them some direction and some guidance on, you know, here's, here's the path that I should be going down. But, um, The Why Project is, is a journey, an 8-week journey of where I've created an acronym for the word purpose, of which that is the first P is passion, and then uncommon, resilience, preparation, opportunity, service, and experience. And I just feel like those 7 things are— they're not going to say, hey, here's your purpose because I can identify those 7 things. But it will definitely It will definitely send you on the path of, like we spoke about earlier, when you— if you can answer those questions, the questions that I've attached to those words, you will have no choice but to have done some self-reflection and, and some honest soul-searching. And the way that you answer those questions will give you some guidance and, and some clarity on, you know, your kind of the direction of where you should be headed.

And, and how did you come across sort of examining and thinking about your own sense of purpose, Jason?

Oh man. So it stems from Simon Sinek. And Simon Sinek is recognizable to most people, especially in that space. But he's, you know, he's a guy that talks about purpose, talks about why specifically. And I just haphazardly ran across what has now become one of the top 3 most watched YouTube videos in the history. But it was, it was a TED Talk of him speaking about starting with why. And he talked about— he's coined this, this graphic that he calls the golden circle. And if you think about concentric circles, the outside layer is the what. That's the easiest thing to verbalize. Everybody can tell you what they do. The inside, the middle circle is the how. Fewer people can tell you how they do what they do. But really, the bullseye part of the circle is why. And I listened to Simon talk about this and it piqued my interest. And literally from that, watching that podcast, watching that TED Talk, I totally immersed myself into Simon, into his teachings, into his beliefs and philosophies. And what that did was helped me be able to reach back, which is why experience is one of the words, because you have to look back. But it allowed me to be able to look back on things in my life and put together patterns and connect the dots of, hey, here's kind of where your purpose is. Here's— or here's where your passion is. Here's what makes you different. Here's the— And now by answering those questions, it put me on the path of being able to verbalize my purpose.

And—

Along with— I know this is where you're going— along with my name is J-A-Y-S-O-N, and I've always hated to have my name misspelled. So as I started to dive into purpose, uh, that's where I came up with the tagline of spell my name correctly because it's all about the why. It's all about purpose.

I love it, I love it. And now, and again, tell, uh, tell everyone how you— why your mom decided to spell your name that way.

Well, I don't, I don't know the answer to why my mom, but, but, uh, probably about— I guess it's been about a year ago now, maybe even a year and a half ago now, um, where I'm on a phone call with my mom and I just told her, I was like, whatever inspires you— anyway, no, it's not About a year and a half, I guess, maybe, because it was leading up to my 40th birthday. So I turned 40 in 2016, and it was leading up to that. And I— because the conversation was, you know, after being on this earth for almost 40 years, I just want to thank you. This is me talking to my mom. I just want to thank you for whatever inspired you to putting that Y in my name, because it just solidified my purpose. It solidified who I am. As an individual and what I feel like my higher calling is on this earth. And that statement brought my mom to tears on the phone. So it was pretty cool.

Anytime you can—

Not that I brought my mom to tears, but the fact that it's that influential.

Well, anytime you can bring your mom to tears in a positive way, Jason, you've done good.

Yeah, there you go. It's good, yeah.

So tell me, and tell the listeners right now, Jason, why is Why is this work so important right now in your opinion?

Well, because I feel like now everything that I study about this, this new generation of young people, or really it's young people but just people in general, you know, why has now become a buzzword. It's become— purpose has now become a buzzword. And I'm glad I'm on— I still consider myself to be on the front end of it, but, but especially the younger generation, they are the why generation. They're asking why. They want to know why. They want to know their purpose. And I feel like people that are in influential places, you know, I'll use the term motivational speaker even though that's, that's not what I refer to myself as. Um, they're very often talking about it, but also very rarely Giving people guidance of how. They're saying find it, find it, find it, and once you find it, you'll be good. But I still feel like there's a large percentage of people that don't know the process of how to find it. And so that was the main reason of coming up with the acronym and coming up with the principles that, that make the acronym, is let's come up with something that's going to do more than just tell you to find it. Let's come up with something that's going to put you on And assist you to finding it. So that's the story behind it.

No, I love that. And so as you reflect back on your journey sort of to date from Cleveland to Indiana to all the countries that you have sort of— that you've lived in and the work that you're doing now, how do you look back on that and see, oh, this experience and this experience and this experience was totally preparing me Do you see some kind of hallmark moments?

Without a doubt. Without a doubt. And those hallmark moments are the connection of the dots, which is why when you're talking about finding your purpose, you have to go back into your past because we can't— you can't connect the dots moving forward. You don't know how to connect the dots moving forward. So you have to go back into your past to figure out what it is that you're supposed to do. Out how to connect the dots. The cliché saying is, you know, hindsight is 20/20. Well, yeah, because I have to go back. And so looking back at those things that were dots that I didn't necessarily realize were dots at the time— I've always had a tremendous work ethic, which, which goes into lifetime learning. I've always had a connection connection to people, which relationships are extremely important to me now. Basketball specific, I've never been the guy that was going to do a bunch of fancy things. Uh, it's— my game has always been revolved around mastering the fundamentals of the game, which now ties into the way that I learn and the way that I teach and pass on experience is revolved around Simplicity. So there are several tiebacks of who I am and the story of how I got to where I am that are completely relative to how we have gotten to this point right now.

So Jason, you work with young athletes. Obviously you work with young athletes, but you also work with young people whether they're athletes or not. You're fully immersed sort of in the world of sports, especially when it comes to basketball. When you see young people nowadays, what areas do you think they're really getting things right? And what areas do you think, maybe not just for the player, but for the parent and for the coach, are we still sort of dropping the ball, no pun intended?

Now, do you want me to go athletes or you want me to just go young people in general or people in general?

Yeah, let's just say people in general.

Yeah. So I feel like a lot of the separation now, especially when you're talking about young people in relation to Younger people, there's a desire. And part of the disconnection—if you talk to anyone probably over the age of 35—one of the first things that's going to come out of their mouth is something along the lines of this generation is different. This generation—they're so different. This generation—they're not like us. And that's absolutely correct. They're not like us. But we weren't like our parents, and our parents weren't like their parents. And so I feel like that's. And that's part of the story is generations are supposed to be different. So one thing that I feel like the generation, the younger generation now, they're doing right is they have a desire to understand their purpose at an earlier age. They ask why questions. They ask questions in general, but they ask why questions at an earlier age. Something I feel like we have to do as the adults in the situation And when I talk about adults, I very often talk about parents, teachers, and coaches, because I feel like those are the 3 biggest areas of influence of development for a young person. But what we have to do as adults in this situation is unwrap ourselves from the way that we were taught and understand that for us teaching, we have to teach— we have to embrace teaching in another way. We almost didn't ask why, because one, out of respect or fear, it's like, I'm not asking why, I'm just going to do it. But even if we did muster up enough energy to ask why, the response from our parents, coaches, and teachers was very often, because I said so.

Yeah, that ends most discussions right there.

Absolutely. And what I found is that we're still parenting and coaching and teaching with that philosophy of do this because I said so. And that's just not cutting it with this generation of young people. But also in their defense, they're not asking why in a challenging way. They're asking why because they want to know, because once they know, they can make a commitment to giving you their all because they understand the reason why they're doing it. So again, I feel like a lot of the adjustment in the way that we're exchanging information The communication nowadays really has to come from us as the adults. We have to understand we can't deliver information the same. We have to understand that we can't receive their feedback the same way that it may have been perceived if we were to ask why. If we were to ask why, it was always taken in a challenging way, and I just don't think that's the reason that they're asking nowadays.

Yeah, Jason, there's so much— it's great. There's so much empathy in your message as far as it's up to us do a better job of not only nurturing but understanding this generation.

Absolutely.

And that's, like you said, that's never been any different. But I think the opportunity is even greater because of, like you said, the willingness to look deeper into purpose. And this quality of empathy and this quality of you being able to want to understand where someone's coming from, as you look back sort of on even just your professional career, tell me I can only imagine you, from languages to cultures to beliefs, what was that like for you always kind of being in a situation where you were always outside your comfort zone? You maybe have a coach that doesn't even speak your language and you've got teammates that you have probably nothing in common outside of basketball. How did that have an impact on you?

Unbelievable question, Travis. Unbelievable question. Probably a question that unless asked directly how you just asked it, I probably wouldn't have even thought about. But, uh, I traveled a couple ways, so I still travel a lot. A lot of it is actually domestically now. And I tell people all the time, my international travels are off the charts, but my domestic travels— like, when I tell people some of the places that I have not been to, it's like, you haven't been there? It's like, no, I've never— I've never been to Miami. No, I've only been to New York. I've only been to New York once, and that was a couple weeks ago. But it was actually that trip that we're talking about. So when I got off the plane— now I'm flying direct flight from St. Louis to New York, so 2-hour flight, 2-hour 15-minute flight, not long. I'm, I'm within the continental United States, and the person that's picking me up, the coach that's picking me up, I've never met him physically. And he— you would have thought that it would have been the most traumatic experience. He's like going through all, well, if I'm not here, you can do this and you can do that. And I finally told him, I was like, Greg, like, I did this for 13 years of my life, flying to another country, not knowing who was going to be on the other end of that plane. So I'm good being in New York. If I get to New York and I can't find you, I'll be able to navigate. I'll be all right. So Um, this was one thing, Travis, and this is so honest. I, I didn't spend very much time attempting to actually learn the language. What I did was, in almost every country I went to, I found a way to be able to learn how to count from 1 to 10.

Okay, tell me more. Tell me more about that.

I mean, because, because that was a, a way— numbers, numbers Words, so to say. You know, numbers are a way to communicate. It was the way that I looked at it. And then the other thing that I did was I found a way to learn how to say hello, how are you, to some point, whether it was the slang way of saying it, whether it was the formal way of saying it. Um, and, and to this day, another, another quick story, uh, I've been talking back and forth with IKEA at the furniture store. And the guy that's my connection, he's telling me, he's like, well, you know, our leader, he's not a basketball guy, he's not an athletic guy. And I'm like looking at him like, okay, perfect, that's, that's fine. Um, but, and, and I've also never sold furniture and I've never worked in retail, but I've been on, I've been on a bad team before.

Right.

And so there's that commonality of that. But for this leader, for this, this building, uh, manager that has no interest in Athletics and and really basically have no interest in me. When I walk up to him, I can say, "Ah, you know Travis." Let's just say his name is Travis. Travis, who more do? Bro, tack. Well, all of a sudden, barriers down, and that's all I can say. And all I said was, "How are you?" Good, thank you. But now the connection is there. It doesn't matter whether it's basketball. I've shown him yes that. I have enough of an interest in his culture and his background to say, I don't care if you have a connection to mine, I have a connection to yours. So it's stories like that and experiences like that that tie into, again, the connection, the relationship, the empathy that you're asking about.

I love it. I love it, Jason. And I know you and I had a few conversations while I was in St. Louis. recently. And, and, uh, again, when I— the more I hear from you, uh, the work that you're doing, the more I hear about your story, and I just think about it probably wasn't the story that you outlined, but man, but man, is it an interesting story.

Yeah, and I appreciate that. Uh, and it's, it's funny because it's just me. So I'm— I just had this conversation Just last night, I'm getting to the point where individually I'm starting to understand. I guess it is a pretty cool story because at the end of the day, it's just me. It's what I know. I've lived every day of my life with me, so it's just it's it's the definition of normal for me. But I'm starting to embrace why it's so intriguing to other people, and. You know me well enough to know that every piece of my story, and this is what I feel like is the biggest connection to most people or to people in general, is every piece of my story is coming from the biggest place of humility that you could possibly come from. Like, nothing about my story is, look, I've been to 13 different countries and saying that as in a way like, because I've done what I've done, I'm better than you. No, and you know this, like you've heard me say I always say this, forget what you see, what you— as a 6'8, 235-pound man, I'm just a little boy from Cleveland, Ohio. Uh, and, and that's how I look at it. And the fact that I consistently remind myself that I'm just a little boy from Cleveland, Ohio, that keeps me grounded to my humility, that keeps me grounded to my empathy, that keeps me grounded to understanding the importance of connecting with other people and building Growing and developing those relationships.

Now, you may not have been to Miami, Jason, but you have been to the site of Jesus' Last Supper. So that's—

You know what I mean? Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

You know, Miami— you know, I think I'll take the trade-off there.

Yeah, like South Beach, Last Supper. South Beach, yeah, I'll go to the Last Supper.

All right. I'm looking at the clock here and I can't believe how quickly this has gone by, which says to me that this will only be part 1. So this will be part 1 of the podcast.

Let's do it.

But before we end this one, let's tell everyone how they can find you online and how they can get in touch.

Yep. So I spend a lot of time on Instagram, but all of my social networking handles are linked together. Jason dot Wells, and we know it's all about the Y. So that's J A Y S O N dot Wells. And then Twitter is the second place that I spend the most time, and it's the same. You take the dot out and there's an underscore. So my Twitter handle is Jason Wells, all spelled out J A Y S O N W E L L S, and then there's an underscore after. So IG is Jason dot Wells. Twitter is Jason Jason Wells underscore, and then I'll Well, I'll throw it out there. My email address is jason@jwpurpose.com, which is the easiest way to directly get in contact with me.

I love it. I love it, Jason. Again, like I said, man, this will be, I think, the first of many podcasts for us. And so thanks for jumping on. And hey, as a way to send things off, let's hear how many different languages you can say goodbye in.

Oh my— oh, goodbye. So you have my, which is more than just English. You have privet, which is hello and goodbye in Russian. You have hej då, which is Swedish. Adios, which is obviously Spanish from Argentina. You have ciao, which is Italian. You have, um, I'm trying to think.

What about Finnish? What about Finnish, Jason?

Finnish, Finnish, Finnish is moi.

Okay, moi.

Yep. Uh, I'm trying, I'm having a brain freeze on Israeli right now, or Hebrew right now.

And the Australian, come on, Australian accent, let's hear it.

Australian, goodbye mate. It's all about the accent in Australia.

That was about as good and terrible as mine is. I love it.

Actually, it's cheers, mate.

Cheers, mate.

All right. Cheers, mate.

All right, Jason, man, The Why Project. Hey, thanks so much for your time, brother. And I know this is the first of many.

Yeah, man. I appreciate you having me. I appreciate the opportunity. And more importantly, I appreciate you. The time that we spent conversating in St. Louis was awesome, and it went as far to— I don't know if you've told the listeners that you actually invited me to Thanksgiving dinner. So my Thanksgiving 2017 was spent with you and your very close friends and family, so I appreciate that.

Well, hey, you know what? You made our Thanksgiving much richer, and so it was It's awesome having you.

My guy, thank you so much.