Justin Kavanaugh: Man Up | The Business Blast Podcast #898

Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner as always. Today's sponsor is Authors Unite, and if you want to become a successful author, Authors Unite is the place to go. So head on over to authorsunite.com to check out a free case study that will teach you how to do exactly that. And now, let's jump into the episode. All right, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. Today I have Justin Kavanaugh with us, and he has worked with thousands of athletes of all ages and is a bestselling author. Of the book called Man Up. So welcome to the show, man.

Hey man, thanks for having me.

Of course, grateful to have you on. So the first one we ask on this show is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Well, I think, you know, my best story for me comes down to my— when I made this shift from being an athlete to now being a coach. And I think we could look at things, you in a lot of different ways, but, you know, I think everybody, you know, as they're young, they evolve. And normally what gets them from point A to point B isn't what's going to take them from point B to point C. So they have to change. And when you're, you know, when you're an athlete and then you go through that shift, sometimes it's not on your timing, it's on God's timing, right? Or it's on, you know, a team's timing, you know, somebody that has another decision. And I thought mine happened way too soon. So I had to change quickly because, you know, when I was probably at the peak of my athletic career, I fell through a roof 25 feet and broke my back. I went from being an All-American one day to not being able to walk the next. And that changes the lens in which you look through life and the things that you value. So for me, it was like going through this transformation where I knew I always wanted to coach, but not now. And at that point, I had to make a decision. Do I just kind of stay in bed and just bitch, moan, and complain? Or do I do something about it? And that's when it started to really evolve into a full-time role. But I think a lot of times, like, we play— we play part-time roles in our life and we don't want to go all in because it's not what we're fully, you know, invested in. And when you're able to go all in, that's when everything could start to change. So once I realized that, you know, you know, my athletic career wasn't going to happen in the schedule that I wanted, then I needed to still pursue whatever was next for me full speed. And that was coaching. And that's really what I was really able to start to see, like transformational changes, not these, not short bits. So that was like the big shift for me.

Damn, dude. So, so, and I'm sure, you know, it's kind of a negative thing, but I just like to go back to it. Like, so you literally fell like 25 feet up and, and then broke your back. And this is when— so say like All-American, like what, what sport and stuff? Like what was happening when that happened?

So I'm originally from Miami, kind of where you are now. I made a little bit of a shift in my life, but, um, so I mean, I played 5 sports when I was in high school. And I was an All-American football player coming out of Dade Christian down in South Florida, going to play college ball. And my first year there, I was actually back home. Believe it or not, I was in Boca and, you know, just working with a couple of guys. I was actually trying to learn a little bit from a couple of the other coaches that were in the area. And I was up on a ceiling and unfortunately I stepped on a beam that was a false beam and went right through. Landed like an Olympian, but unfortunately gravity took its toll coming down. And that's what, you know, changes things really quickly. And I think that when you get hurt, that's when you first realize, you know, when you first realize that like, ooh, you're not Superman anymore, it changes things. Now being a little bit older, you know, you wake up in pain and you're just glad, you know, glad that you're in pain because that means you know you're breathing. But when you're younger and you just don't feel anything, you just keep going and you're like, you're okay. You know, you run through a wall, you get hit and all of a sudden you just keep moving. And with something like that, is that traumatic? It fast-forwards your aging process and it learns— it changes your scope really quickly.

Yeah, man. And I could say, so I'm 27, but I— and maybe this— you're like, dude, you don't know anything yet. But like, I can honestly say, man, I feel a difference. Like, I can't do what I used to be able to do at like 18 to 20.

Well, it just depends on how much fun you have when you're younger. Like, if you beat your body up and had a lot of fun, then you'll pay the price a little later.

Yeah, because dude, sometimes it hurts now and I'm like, dude, I thought it all comes down to the cost of doing business, right?

If I had a lot of fun but I wasn't responsible, it starts to add up at some point physically. Yeah.

Um, so, so thanks for sharing that, man. The next one I got for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

Yeah, so like for me, you know, my background training athletes and being one You know, I look at everybody like a high performer. So there's kind of like tips and tricks that you can work with athletes to kind of get them in like their peak state associated with like their sport, right? Where, you know, if anyone that's on this, that's listening right now, they've ever played a sport or if they've ever been, you know, doing something that they're really, really good at, even if it's like an instrument, I want you guys to think about, you know, the time where let's say you're playing a sport and somebody calls a play And you don't even know what they're saying. Like at some point, you're like, I don't even remember what my job is associated with that, that, that, you know, that play. But the minute that the ball snapped or the whistle's blown or you start, you go right into what you're supposed to do. And like on a film, on the outside, nobody could tell that you weren't sure what was going on. And that's what I consider like peak state or flow state. That's what I consider you being like in your zone of focus. So as an athlete, we're trying to get into that, and it's just because we've prepped it and we've practiced so long and hard beforehand that when it comes time for the game, that we don't even think anymore. We're just doing. But in our lives, like daily, as, you know, now owning a business and now working with other people, I just teach those same strategies and tactics that I taught to high-level athletes at the college, pro level, and the Olympic level to executives now. And if you could start to treat your body like it's a business and almost like the game and the business that you're playing is a sport, then what happens is all you want to do is get into a peak state. So for me, it's like everyone's going to have whatever their peak time is. You know, your circadian rhythms, you know, are individual, but everyone generally is going to have certain zones in which they focus the best. And if you could do the most productivity work and you could protect that at all costs, so your goal is number one is find the time that you focus really well you well. Like, I'm a night owl, right? My wife is an early riser. So I try to get most of my work done at night because that's where I'm able to focus. So I want to find my peak time and then I want to protect it at all costs. So I want to make sure that nobody can interrupt me so I could do my work. Because what happens is, is we, we get in a zone and then all of a sudden we're asked to do something else, and then we become basically like firefighters where we always have to put out a problem. And we don't want to do that. We want to protect You know, what is the most important time in our life so we could become that high performer, that elite athlete, just in whatever we're trying to do that day? And then we want to try to expand it. So we want to first find it, then we want to protect it, and then expand it. Because the longer that you could stay in that zone, the longer that you could stay in that peak performance focus time, the more likely that you're able to get certain things done. And we've all been in the situation where, you know, we're hyper-focused and we're productive, we do something for a half hour, 20 minutes, And it's more work than we do the rest of the day because we're distracted. There's so many things going on, and that, that's the key. So for me, it all comes down to identify, you know, where your peak state is, protect it at all costs, and then expand it.

Yeah, totally. And I think, so, uh, just curious because, so for me, like, how I was able to find mine. So like going into like writing a book, right? What for me what worked is writing 1,000 words or an hour, uh, every morning. So I'd go for like a walk or a run come back, and I'd go like fairly early, like 5 or 6 AM, get back, start working like 7:30. And that's what worked, uh, for me. Like, I could never have finished my book if I was like writing it at nighttime. Um, so I guess I'm like, I'm more like, uh, your wife in this scenario. Um, but like, how did you discover— was it just trial and error that you were just like, you tried to do the early mornings, you're like, screw this, this just doesn't work for me?

You know, I, so frankly, I mean, I just couldn't— I'm not like one of those people, and I'm not like one of those like, you know, hustle entrepreneur type personalities that are like saying, hey, if you don't— if your feet don't hit the ground in the morning and you're like excited with passion to do your job, then you're a loser. Like, I wake up and it's slow and it's like, oh my God, like, I don't, you know, get out of bed. But once I get going, man, I mean, I got so much momentum behind me. I'm a Mack truck coming at you. It's gonna be hard to stop me. So, you just gotta figure out like, where are you strong? And then, what happens is, once you stop fighting against that, once you just understand, okay, that's who you are, then you have to like set up certain things around your day to organize around it. So, for me, I mean, I always had problems going to sleep at night and then, I realized like, well, maybe if I can get more work done. But what I do is, I'll set up myself to have a nightly routine instead of a morning routine, right? So, everyone talks about having morning routines. And so, maybe running for you, a walk or something like that is your trigger, right? That gets you going and then starts your habit of getting in that flow state. Well, I need to have a nighttime routine. So, you have a nighttime routine and you always want to build routines around that time so you can protect it. So, whatever that may be, for some people it's lunchtime, right? So, they take a gap in their day. But whatever it is, that's what I would do. I would like to think about like, where do you do, like, where do you come up with the most creative ideas and then where are you probably the most productive when you're doing your work? You know, like, I think, you know, for those people that work in an office, right, like, the open office concept is like the most criminal thing in the world because, you know, like, everyone's looking at you. They're staring at your screens. They're trying to see like where you're productive. And people have different, you know, ways that they focus, right? Sometimes they need to put headphones on. Some people like loud environments. But if that's distracting to somebody else, then unfortunately, it creates a bad environment for everybody, right? Because you walk in a room and there's one person that's in a bad mood, like, it affects everybody. So you have to create your environment to protect your peak state too. So once you find it, like, you gotta create your environment around it. So sometimes what I do with, with a lot of my athletes and entrepreneurs is I find basically environments that they work really well in, and then that's where we start to identify like, well, when do you normally go there? Because if they go to a certain room or a desk or they go for a drive and that's what helps them start to think Maybe we could start the process by having them go there first instead of it being to get away from something.

Yeah, dude, I couldn't agree more. I actually— there's, uh, I've been to a few offices, um, down here, uh, in, in Miami of like bigger corporations, and that some of them have like that open door policy. And like, that would never in a million years work for me, dude. Like, if at any second somebody could interrupt me, I would never get a damn thing done. Ever. It would be impossible. Um, so, but yeah, I appreciate you sharing that with us. Um, the next one is, and it ties in, um, but the next one is, what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily, uh, industry specific.

Yeah, I think the, you know, best piece of advice is don't work. You know, I mean, because you enjoy what you do, you shouldn't have to work. You know, they know, and learning is hard. Like, I'm not saying like learning is easy. I'm not saying work is supposed to be easy. But whatever you do, you should be enjoying the process. And I think so many people are always looking at the end goal because they have this like huge ambition. But what happens is their actions do not align with their ambitions. So when you see this, now all of a sudden like their actions are going to take them on a different course. They're going to be drifting away from that original track that they're on. But if your actions align with your ambitions, then all of a sudden you'll, you'll get little wins. So for, for everybody I work with, whether it be athlete, entrepreneur, you know, doesn't matter the sport or industry, it really just comes down to making sure that you do what you enjoy. Because if you don't, like, it's gonna be miserable. You'll spend more time at your job with your coworkers, your clients, than you are going to be with your family. And I'd hate that to be in an area that which you don't like or enjoy. So, you know, to me it all comes down to like making sure that your actions align with your ambition, because if they don't, then all of a sudden there's going to be a rift there. You know, when I, when I had the opportunity to write the book with you, I mean, you know, you helped me kind of formulate kind of like the organization of it. And for me, it was literally, it was just to come to Jesus meeting with an athlete. And I just got frustrated with kids that weren't getting the results that they wanted. And if the kid's frustrated, then I just need to say, okay, here's the map, here's the game plan, because If you, if you go off course, no shit, you're gonna be, you know, late, right? Like, if we don't follow the GPS, you're gonna get lost. And I think that's what's hard is like people have, people have kind of carved out the road for us and we just don't listen. You know, we want to do everything our own way. Now, I like innovation, don't get me wrong, but, but at the same time, like, we don't want to make the life, our world harder for us, right? We want to make it easier so that innovation can actually come.

Yeah, man, I couldn't agree more with like with what I do with podcasts and books. Like, I like really enjoy it. So it really doesn't, uh, like podcasting, like when some people look at my calendar and they're like, dude, you're doing like 10, 15 interviews in a day. Like, dude, that looks nuts. I'm like, I love it though. So, um, I think that is actually key. And I think, and I mean, this is a whole nother big conversation, but I think that's where kind of the school system kind of fails in a sense is they focus you on going to college for you to get a job to make money, and they, they, they forget the point of like finding your strengths and like going there.

But that's what I mean, like the school system came from, as far as like the structure, it came from the factory industries not having enough workers that were falling in line. Like they were starting to get out of line a little bit, so they needed to start training the behaviors, so they created those restraints and limits and boxes in order to get them to have more workers that were in line with just doing a specific task, right? Go read a book called Dumbing Us Down. And I mean, that just talks about the whole like educational system in America. But I mean, it really just comes down to, you know, if you're frustrated with the, the educational system, then be part of the pro— be part of the solution, not the problem. And I think that's what you're doing with the book side of things. That's what I'm doing, like now teaching as a coach now. So, I think sometimes, you know, we bitch, moan, and complain about the problem, but then like, well, what are we doing about the solution?

Yeah. That's true. I agree. Yeah.

My—

well, yeah, it is. It's a big conversation. I think I heard like Seth Godin, if you're— you're probably familiar with him. He did a talk or something. I think it was like a TED Talk where he talked about that where like, yeah, the whole school system was designed to create more like factory like you're saying, like factory workers. Um, and now, you know, but it's like almost 2020 now. It's like, I think we should change this, uh, shit up, don't you?

Well, I think that when you're starting to see like some of the most successful people like actually move away from the school system, right? Yeah, academics. It's not because they're not smart individuals, it's because that they're, they're not moving at the pace that in which they're ready to learn, you know. Imagine, you know, Look, we all learn at different speeds and different styles. Imagine if the school system was individually designed based on your needs, meaning, you know, when I was ready to move faster, you know, they gave it to me. But when I needed to slow down, then they explained it. And if I had a specific interest and they, you know, I wanted to do it, then instead of it being elective, it was a main course. And then all of my other courses were driven around that. But in order for that to happen, you have to go through, you know, You know, grade school, you have to go through all, you know, go through high school, then you have to go through your undergrad. And then when you start to get into your master's program, even the first part of the master's program isn't fully dialed into what you're trying to accomplish. It's still just bits and pieces of it. And nowadays it's so outdated because the professors are not even the ones that are doing the work. They're teaching you things that are completely outdated because they've never been in the workforce. So, you know, you have to go through almost 10, 15 years before you start focusing on the thing that was exciting. And what happens if that changes for you? I deal with so many people that, you know, they are excited about one thing and they're excited about another thing, and then their passion evolves. Well, you know, 10 years into it, you know, now you've just spent, you know, gosh, almost probably half a million dollars on your education, and you're nowhere closer than you were if you dropped out of college and you started, you know, working right away and got some experience. So, now I'm not gonna encourage anybody to do that because I do believe that nobody could take that piece of paper away from you. But at the same time, I think we need to do a better job of educating our youth in what they're trying to accomplish. And I think it's gonna start now with leadership. But it's also, I think, gonna happen naturally because kids are gonna start to get pretty tired because they have so much accessibility to knowledge, right? You know, when you and I grew up, you know, I'm a little older than you, but even then there wasn't, you know, Google and Facebook and, you know, Twitter weren't there as readily accessible to us to then just get information immediately. Now we have different platforms for different, you know, learning types. So if you're a visual learner, then Instagram is going to grab your attention, right? If you're, you know, written person, then you're going to be able to see things a little bit quicker, you know, on Twitter. It's not that hard. Um, but kids these days, they could find anything they want in 2 seconds, and we didn't have that luxury. We actually had to kind of hustle our way to even get the opportunity to learn so that we appreciate seeing things a little bit differently. But nowadays, I think it's going to have to evolve, because if not, then what's going to happen is the kids that we're teaching are going to become our bosses.

Yeah, no, I, I do agree. Like, I, I think it will naturally evolve, um, because if not, just like access to information, more and more kids are just going to not participate, right? Because they're going to see like the kids that don't go. And again, it's not like saying you shouldn't go to school. It really depends on what you want to do. But for me, that's what kind of happened when I decided to drop out after being there 2 years is I was like, I don't think like what I wanted to do, it was, it was, it was going too slow. Like I wasn't good at accounting in the business school. So they wanted to give me more accounting. But I was like, I don't think I'm going to be an accountant anyway. So I don't know why this matters. This It's just a waste of time for me. So, and then once I started to actually double down on my strengths, which are things like this, like podcasting and books, that's when things actually started to work out. And yeah, so I just think, like you're saying, gearing it towards what the person actually wants would be really beneficial rather than be like, you're not good at calculus, let's make you take more calculus and make you miserable. So. But that was a good riff on education. So, the next one I got for you is, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Um, I think that, you know, the older we get, the smarter our parents become, you know. I think what ends up happening is, is we start— we don't start to see that until, um, we make those mistakes, and we don't want to listen to them. So, instead of saying, hey, you know, listen to your parents more, I would just say, I would say that I would, I would take more advantage of them. You know, my parents gave me every opportunity I wanted to be used as a resource, but sometimes we didn't take advantage of them. So if I had to go back to my younger self, I would say, hey, take advantage of the resources that are available to you. You know, one of the things that I think is interesting is, you know, we all, we all evolve and we all grow, But we always look at certain people in our lives and we're always reminded of like where we met them. So sometimes they don't grow, we don't grow with them together. And I think what's gonna happen is people, you know, some of your friends, right? When you're, you know, as you go through both whether it be school or college or even, you know, early stages of work, they're gonna go on and become pretty successful. So if you treat them like an asshole, well, guess what's gonna happen that one day when you need a favor? You know, I probably, you know, wish I could go back to certain my school days and say, hey, I treat somebody a little bit differently because not because they could help me me now, but because, you know, it's the right thing to do and our paths have aligned, you know, later on in life. And yeah, I think that, you know, you want to take advantage of those opportunities in front of you. And I think that sometimes you are— you miss out on your greatest opportunities because you do not take advantage of your current resources. You do not make where you are the big time, right? So everybody has this idea that they want to go to a certain place, they want to make X number of dollars, they want to own certain, you know, they want to own this big company. They want to buy this huge house, but they don't ever appreciate the small apartment they're in. And if they learn to appreciate that, well, then they can actually live in a place that they like. And I think it's the same thing with your friends. It's the same thing with your business. It's the same thing with, you know, whatever your goals are, is wherever you are, make that the big time. Mm-hmm.

So I think it ties in. So the next one, kind of going a little bit down a different path, in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

Never be content with where you are, but be content with the path that you're on.

Mm, that's good, man. Explain a little bit of that. That's good stuff.

My mom used to get really frustrated with me because I used to say that I wanted to do this, or like once I won something, I didn't really appreciate the success of it. And I think that, you know, that comes down to a lot of different personalities. Have this where it's like they don't really enjoy the successes because it's like, you know, that's what we were supposed to do. But every time that I would, you know, win an award or have some success or something would happen, you know, my mom would look at me and be like, you know, you're not content and that, you know, I want you to be happy. And I used to say that to her because I'm not content with where I am. I always wanted it. I wanted— always wanted more, but I was content with the path that I'm on. And it's like if you're path is aligned with, you know, the things that you want to accomplish, then you're going to find success along the way. You're going to be— you're going to enjoy it. But if you're content with where you are, then you're going to settle. Like, stagnation kills everything, right? Just like in sales, like, time kills all sales. It's going to kill every deal you have, even if it's a deal with yourself. So if we know that time kills all deals, it's going to kill the deal that you have with yourself. To accomplish the goal that you want.

So, my next one is, what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?

Oh, best book. So, I'm a book junkie now because I didn't read anything growing up. Yeah. Gonna be pretty hard to like isolate one thing, but I'd say, you know, one of the most critical books that I've ever read was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I mean, still to this day, it's a reference book. It's a requirement for anyone that works for me is that they have to read it. And I think that you'll reread a book later on in your life, and because you're in a different place, it means something totally different to you. But so that's probably, you know, the best book that I've read. Most important book to me is the Bible. But I'd also say like the one that I haven't written yet. Mm.

And then, um, what is your favorite quote and why?

Uh, Pat Riley said, "Hard work never guaranteed anything, but without it you don't have a chance." Yeah, yeah, I like that. Um, so I gotta throw the Miami in there, right? Because you're down there. I gotta— it is what it is, right? You gotta play the audience a bit.

Um, so thanks for coming on. The last one I got for you: where can our listeners find you online?

Well, you could go to CoachKav.com or CoachKavanagh.com. If you're interested on the training side performance, you could go to Train SSI. I own a company called the Sport and Speed Institute. It's an athletic development company. We have a, you know, pretty large facility here in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area. But, you know, I think what's really cool is, you know, you know, you helped me publish a book, Man It Up, and it's on Amazon. I think one of the coolest stories that I probably haven't told before is So, I see you at the airport, right? We had a meeting right at the Marriott right by the airport so we could catch up before the book was all done. And I don't even think you know this story, which is kind of cool. But I told you we're gonna meet, we go through like kind of the whole game plan and everything else. We're locking out like what's gonna happen after the book launch and everything. And I was confused because I've never done it before. And I got a call from my wife and she's like, hey, you gotta come, and her water broke. And that's when I left. I remember I paid for the bill and I was like, hey, enjoy lunch, take care of it. I literally, I was like, hey, gotta go. And my first son was born, uh, so it was incredible, uh, and I remember you handled everything, you know, from, from start to finish after that because I was just like, just get it done because like focus. So it just, there's a huge testament to like kind of, uh, like working with really good people, uh, and then also I think it was kind of cool because You know, I'll never forget that, right? Um, and it was kind of cool to have that kind of come to, you know, fruition where it's like, you know, I was meeting with you and then next thing I'm in the hospital. And then when I got out of that and everything kind of settled down, you know, I had a book published and I didn't even know it. And that's a really good feeling. So I appreciate the help that you did for me. Uh, but that's also something that, you know, it gave me a lot of— it put a lot of fire underneath my, you know, my rear to probably do more of that. So it's exciting.

Yes, man. Dude, thanks for sharing that. And thanks again for coming on.

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