The Goo is Good!

So, alright, so what we're gonna talk about today is, first idea is, when I asked for a volunteer, I had a bunch of hands go up, 2 volunteers came up, I love it. If you want to stand out, you need to stand up, right? If you wanna stand out, not literally, sit down, I love it, it's good. I'm not gonna stand up. Don't go there. Don't go there. Alright, we're starting early. If you wanna stand out, you need to stand up. Growth mindset is all about, are you getting outside of your comfort zone on a daily basis to grow? Because you do not grow when you stay in your comfort zone. So, a teacher, a coach, a manager, someone says, hey, I need a volunteer, boom, you should be the first one standing up and volunteering. That is how you get noticed, that is how you stand out. Right, if you wanna stand out, you need to be memorable. If you need to be, if you wanna be memorable, you need to get outside of your comfort zone. That's that growth mindset. Alright, so, I've got a slide in the back, there's a slide, a couple slides ahead of my son getting kicked in the face. Can we see that slide here in a second? Alright, there he is, yes! So, that's my 11-year-old son, he's a soccer player down in Florida, that's a couple weeks ago. He is literally getting kicked in the face. And, he's fine, he actually, he's like, hey, Dad, no big deal, I didn't feel it. He tries to be tough, he's a wuss, but he tries to be tough, right? So, what we're talking about today really kind of is this idea of what happens when you get kicked in the face? What? Yeah, what? Yeah, that's what we're talking about. Today's message is what happens when you get kicked in the face? It hurts. Now, you don't need to answer, you don't need to answer, you can think about that for yourself right now. Someone said it hurts, yeah. But like, so what? It hurts, so what? So, and to talk about that, we're gonna talk about one of my favorite subjects right now, we're gonna talk about, don't you yawn, don't you yawn in my presentation, how dare you? I will, what's your name? Camden, sir. Camden, hey guys, keep an eye on Camden here. One more yawn, Camden, you're outta here. You do not yawn during my presentation, alright, Camden. Camden, too much Fortnite last night? Too much Fortnite last night, be honest. Be honest, Camden. Yes, sir. Oh, don't you call me sir either. Alright, here we go. So, we're gonna talk about my favorite topic, which is butterflies. Alright, I think we got a video, we have a video of a butterfly right now, let's take a look at that video. Just watch it for a second. We all know about the caterpillar, the caterpillar, right, look how the caterpillar starts, isn't it cute? Isn't that nice? So, the caterpillar is born, and the caterpillar eats, and it eats, and it eats, and it eats. It lives literally like on one branch, on one leaf its entire life, and it just eats, and eats, and eats. And then, something crazy starts happening, right? So, we're gonna— the video's gonna pause here in a second. It's going into its cocoon, right? Look at that, it's crazy, nature. Alright, there's gonna be something that pops up. It gets into the cocoon. You see that right there, what's it say? It's goo in here. And that's what we're talking about today. So, let's just think about this for a second. I, it wasn't until a few years ago that I really thought about how amazing the caterpillar to butterfly transformation is, and that's what we're gonna talk about today. So, we all know about the caterpillar, the caterpillar eats and eats and eats and eats and eats, and what kinda keeps happening to the caterpillar as he's eating? He poops. He grows. He grows, and what keeps happening to his skin? He keeps shedding skin, right? So the caterpillar eats and eats and eats, and so he just keeps shedding skin. It's called a molt. It's called a molt. So what a caterpillar does is molt its skin, but it's not a big deal. It's like us, like we go through these gradual changes where as we grow, our body gets a little bit bigger, we change, but it's not drastic. It's kind of like a molt. So a caterpillar goes through Kind of molt after molt after molt, but it's no big deal. And then eventually, it gets to this spot where it's going through such a huge change that it literally feels like, this is probably it. I've lived a good life. This has been a good leaf. It's been a good leaf. Good view up here. But everything in my body is breaking down. In fact, my body is actually creating a tomb. For me to die in, right? That's what the cocoon— the cocoon is the caterpillar's body. How crazy is that? The cocoon is the caterpillar's body. Imagine if you're like going through life and all of a sudden your feet just attach itself to the ceiling and you just— it turns into a cocoon. You're probably thinking, I had a good run, that's it, peace out. So its body creates a tomb for it to go into. That's a pretty drastic Transformation, but here's the cool thing. What in the heck is going on inside the cocoon? And that's where the goo comes in. You know about the goo? Yeah. The goo, the entire body, check this out, the entire body of the caterpillar turns to a brownish-black goo. Its body dissolves into a brownish-black goo. Ew. Yeah. And this is what science says, I didn't make this up. Science says the goo, the goo that it turns into, this nasty brown, black, sticky goo, is rich with nutrients and potential. That's what science says. The goo is rich with nutrients and potential. Potential? And from the goo, what happens? A butterfly emerges. From the goo, the new form of the butterfly transforms. Yeah, you can applaud that. You can applaud that, caterpillar. So, we're not just talking about the caterpillar goes into the cocoon, grows some wings, drops off some things. For the caterpillar to become a butterfly, it has to literally have its entire life, its entire being, Goo-ify. Everything that it knows turns to goo, and from that goo, does it just come out a better version of a caterpillar? No, it comes out as this free idea that is no longer stuck on a leaf, right? In fact, I think we got a video, we'll see the rest of this transformation in that next video. Lucas? So, we get to see Alright, go ahead, next one. And the next one. So, from the goo, the wings form, the body forms, it breaks out. It went in as one thing, it came out another. So, it went in probably thinking it was gonna die, and it comes out a completely different idea. So, what is going on in the goo? And here's a crazy thing I just learned recently. Is that when the caterpillar is born, not the butterfly, when the caterpillar is born, it has what they call imaginal cells. Imaginal cells. And those imaginal cells carry the DNA of the butterfly wings and the different parts of the butterfly. So, the caterpillar is going through life having no idea that it's carrying these cells, which are eventually going to allow it to turn into a butterfly. So, even though that caterpillar is going through life saying, this is my life, this is it, I'm just a caterpillar stuck on a leaf, my life will never be bigger than this, what it has no idea of knowing is carried inside of it, waiting to be unleashed at some point in the future, after its life feels like it has completely broken down on it, these imaginal selves are going to kick in and transform that idea into a completely new idea. So, my question to you is, what goo are you in right now? Right? What goo in your life are you sitting in right now? And ask yourself, what are some of the toughest experiences you have gone in, gone through in your life up to this point? Because the reality is, the reason you are who you are today is because you actually went through Some of these really, really difficult situations, and they didn't make you weaker, they didn't make you softer, they actually made you stronger. They transformed you by going through them. You had to go through them in order to grow those wings. You had to go through the goo in order to get through that tough situation. So, what tough situation are you in, in your life right now That feels so horrific that you just want it to be over with. You just want it to be over with. But can we, in the moment, appreciate when we find ourselves in these horrific, tragic, difficult— I got cut from my team, I'm failing a class, I just lost a friend or family member. We're talking the worst of the worst stuff. When we are in the middle of that worst stuff— Can we embrace it and say the goo is good? This goo is good. Why is this goo good? Because I know it is transforming me to be a bigger, stronger person. And so, my company is called Live Yes, And. Yes, And is all about improvisation, it's what improvisation is based on. Yes, And, this idea of living Yes, And means no matter what is going on in your life, You're gonna say yes to it. You have to say yes to it because you cannot progress until you say yes. So you don't have to like what's happening to you, but you gotta say yes to it. Yes is acceptance. This is what's happening. I'm failing this class. My mother is sick. I got cut from the team. Yes, that is what is happening. The and is your goo response. The and is, and here's what I'm gonna do about it. I'm not gonna be a victim, I'm not gonna make excuses, I'm not gonna blame and complain, and I'm gonna take action, and I'm gonna take responsibility. And if I got cut because I can't make a free throw, I'm gonna go outside and I'm gonna shoot free throws for an hour every single day, and. So, when we accept our goo experiences with a yes, and, that sets us up to not just hurry through it as quickly as possible, we actually enjoy the struggle. We want to enjoy the struggle. I've had the opportunity the last few years of working with a few different people who have taken this to a new level. So, there should be a slide here of Teddy Bridgewater, Lucas. There's Teddy Bridgewater. Teddy Bridgewater is the backup quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. Teddy's from Miami. And so, I'm gonna explain this picture here in a second. I was at IMG Academy in Florida working with football players who were getting ready to go to the NFL. And Teddy, in the picture here, is a quarterback out of Louisville. He's from Miami Beach. That's his mom. And so, Teddy, week after week after week in our class, we were trying to help Teddy with these athletes how to talk about themselves and how to go in and do interviews with the owners of these teams. And Teddy was horrific, because Teddy was super shy, super nervous, super introverted, and we couldn't get Teddy to break out of his shell. And so, one day we asked Teddy, Teddy, when you're having a tough game, what do you do to kind of get focused again? He says, I say the word pink. We're like, what? Pink? Teddy, you say the word pink? What's that mean? He says, well, he sits up a little bit straighter now, and he says, when I was in high school, my mom, single mom raising kids, my mom got breast cancer. My mom is working a couple of jobs to put food on the table. She's battling breast cancer. She's going through chemo, but still working. He goes, I would come home at night, and I would sit with my mom in bed as she's battling cancer, and I would hold her hand, and I would just say, Mom, keep fighting. Keep fighting. And my mom beat breast cancer. He says, so when I'm having a bad game, I say to myself, pink. Pink. Pink. And he says, there's nothing on the football field that's going to be more difficult than that. And when I think about my mom and I think about that, I'm back. That was Teddy's Goo experience. The Goo experience made him a better person and made him a better football player. And then on draft night, when the Minnesota Vikings drafted Teddy, Spike Lee and Chevrolet gave Teddy's mom a pink Cadillac out in front of Madison Square Garden. Next slide, Lucas. This is Chris Singleton. I was working with the Chicago Cubs minor league players 2 years ago. I asked for a volunteer. You can't stand out unless you stand up. This young man stood up. We did a game together. After the session, I had no idea who he was until my friend said, hey, do you know who that guy was that volunteered? I was like, no, I have no idea. They're like— he's like, do you remember the Charleston church shooting a few years ago? Which most of us in this room remember the Charleston church shooting a few years ago, that hate crime. in the church in Charleston? I was like, yeah, of course I do. He said, Chris's mom was one of the ministers shot and killed in the church that night. The next day, 18-year-old Chris Singleton held a press conference for the, for the country where he stood up and said, I forgive this man. My mom taught me that love is greater than hate. And it completely changed how that community responded to that situation. Chris is still pursuing his dream of playing Major League Baseball, and he travels the world and travels the country as a motivational speaker, preaching forgiveness and kindness. Next slide. And this is my good friend, John O'Leary. John O'Leary is now a few years younger than me. You'll see the next picture. John, When he was 9 years old, started playing with fire, gasoline. The gasoline can exploded, threw him up against the wall. For 5 minutes, he was engulfed in flames, fighting for his life. His brother finally put the flames out. This is 5 months later. 100% of John's body was third-degree burns. He wasn't supposed to live through the night, and he survived and fought and fought and fought and fought. If you go to the next picture, Lucas. This is John now. You see that he lost his hand in the situation. John is 40 years old. He's one of the top motivational speakers in the world. He has a bestselling book. And John will tell you, if I could go back, if I could go back and change what happened on that day, I wouldn't do it. Because the person I am today is because of that event. I would not change Essentially, 6 months of hell, of recovery, of rehab, of the pain that he went through on a day-to-day basis just to survive, he would not change it. Why? Because the goo of that situation transformed him. We need to embrace our goo. Growth mindset is all about embracing the challenge, embracing the struggle. Why? Because it's It's actually the struggle that makes us stronger. And the last idea I want to leave you guys with today is my favorite analogy of bamboo. I think there's a slide for that, Lucas, of bamboo. One more, I think. Yes. So, bamboo, here's how bamboo works. We've all seen bamboo. Bamboo is extremely, extremely strong. If I take bamboo seeds and I plant them in the soil, and I water the soil, and I tend to the soil, After 1 year, what happens to the soil? Nothing. But I keep watering the soil, I keep taking care of the soil. After 2 years, what happens to that soil? Nothing. After 3 years, I'm watering, tending, nurturing that soil. I'm working on it though, but what happens after year 3? Nothing. Year 4, I'm kind of like an idiot 'cause I'm still playing with the soil. I'm still watering it, nurturing it, taking care of it. Year 4, what happens to the soil? Nothing. Nothing. Year 5. Finally, a bud breaks through the soil, and within 6 weeks, that bamboo shoot can grow 90 feet once it breaks the surface. So, how long did it take the bamboo to grow 90 feet? 6 weeks or 5 years and 6 weeks? 5 years and 6 weeks. 5 years and 6 weeks, because what we didn't see all that time was underneath the surface that we couldn't see, the bamboo Roots were going wide and deep so that when it broke the surface and took off, it had a foundation to hold it and let it grow. Right now, all the goo that we are going on in our life, the things that are tough, we cannot see that we have these cells inside of us that are gonna help us transform. We can't see that. We can't see that all the hard work and effort and struggle that we're going through right now, at one point, when we break through, our growth is just gonna be huge. Why? Because of the cells. Because it has been transforming us the whole time. And Gear Up to Lead, Gear Up to Lead Academy, growth mindset, it is all about embracing the struggle, embracing the toughness, the challenge in your life. So, the last thought I wanna leave you guys with, just think about whatever difficult thing you are going on in your life right now, whatever that tough challenge is, don't turn away from it, say yes, and to it, and embrace that growth. Thank you so much, guys, I appreciate it. I'll be out in the lobby, I have my book out there, I'm happy to talk to you guys. I have a bunch of stickers, if you guys like stickers, come up to me, I'll give you a sticker, and you guys are awesome, have a wonderful day. The other speakers today are gonna be fantastic, if you don't take 3 or 4 things out of this, well, that's your fault, that's not my fault, alright, guys? Have a great day, guys, appreciate it. Everybody having fun this morning?