084: Becoming an Epic Achiever with Marcus Aurelius Anderson

Hi, I'm Natalie. Jill, fat loss expert turned high performance coach. When odds are stacked against us, how do we shift and create everything from nothing? How do we level up when we aren't feeling it yet or we've had a big setback? On this podcast, I'll be talking to some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on this planet who at their worst, learned how to achieve success greater than they ever dreamed possible. Leveling up and creating everything from nothing. Marcus Aurelius Anderson knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity. He should know. After several setbacks, including getting injured and being fully paralyzed from the neck down, he bounced back from that. How did he do that? We're gonna dive deep into that. Today on Leveling Up. Creating everything from nothing. Today on Leveling Up, I've got Marcus Aurelius Anderson, and I'm so excited to chat with him today. He is a speaker. He is an author. He talks into turning adversity into opportunity, which is the perfect topic for this podcast. Thank you so much for being here, Marcus.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be here, and thank you so much for being on my show. You brought just a ton of value to my listeners, so thank you.

Well, thank you. So let's talk about today. So you speak on turning adversity into opportunity. And what's interesting is so many people get stuck in their adversity, right? And that starts to define them, and then they don't ever see that opportunity. So I want to know, because you've got a gift for this, who were you before that, and what made this a passion of yours?

So the Marcus of younger, before I started embracing my adversity as opportunity, was a person who was kind of doing what everybody else was doing. I got out of high school, I went to college because that's what people said you should do. And my parents were always of the idea that the more education you have, the more opportunities that you have. That's not always what happens, necessarily. And as I would go through college, I was studying chiropractic school. I was a year and a half away from my doctorate, and I was really just burned out. I pushed so hard. I was trying to do so much at the time. I also was married. I was newly married, and I was also working in a bar 40 hours a week. So what I had done is I had done what many people did. I prioritized the wrong things.

What do you mean by that? You prioritized the wrong things.

So for me, my Mentality was, okay, I'm married, I'm working really, really hard, taking 25 hours of doctorate level courses and working 40 plus hours a week in a bar because I only have a year and a half left of school. I want to have that for our future. But what I should have prioritized was my relationship.

Oh, a lot of people make this mistake. Okay, they do. Did you kind of like know deep down or what was the story going in your head around this?

Deep down? There was a part of me that knew that there was something going on. But I also knew that just like all of us, when you're facing something difficult, you just kind of push through. You're going from day to day, you're just trying to get through that day. Because I was getting very little sleep. I was just trying to get from one test to another or get from one bar shift to another. But what I found was once my marriage fell apart, that was the first of a couple of wake up calls that I was going to get that was really going to get my attention.

Now, what do you think? It's so funny because I'm listening to you and this is such a common thing where people put their work or their busyness ahead of a relationship. And they almost like say, well, I'm doing this for the relationship. And that's the story that they start believing. And then it's not until a relationship falls apart that they realize, well, maybe that wasn't the best way.

That's exactly it. And unfortunately, we can't always see that lesson until after we've, you know, sort of dropped the ball and now we're picking up the pieces, trying to figure out what happened.

So was this the big adversity that happened to you?

No, the second thing that happened to me was my great uncle, who was a really big role model for me, passed away about 10 days after that. So that was a one, two punch. That really got my attention. That was the catalyst for me joining the military at 38 years old.

Okay, so wait a minute. So back up. So you're, you're plugging along, you're doing great things and you're working, you're doing, you're a doer, you lose your relationship that kind of blindsided you, even though you sort of said you knew deep down, but it blindsides you. Then you lose somebody very important to you. So this happens, and now you're going to join the military at 38.

That's it. The. I'd always wanted to join the military. My great uncle was In Vietnam, he was in Special Forces. He was a big role model for me.

Okay.

And after I was a pallbearer for him and I, you know, the regalia and the 21 gun salute and everybody that came to eulogize him, I realized that I'd always wanted to join, but I'd always had an excuse not to.

Okay. I've never heard anyone say they chose to join the military for that reason. That's an interesting. An interesting reason to decide that. Okay, so then I'm sure you had some stories coming up around that because, you know, that was kind of older to do that.

Yeah. I was older than all my drill sergeants. I was literally twice. All the guys that I was in infantry school with were literally half my age. They could have been my son. But I needed that adversity. I needed some sort of challenge because coming from the divorce and that death, it's like I was knocked down to brass tacks. And it was something that really kind of shook me up and got my attention.

Yeah. Now, what makes some people kind of quit and give up and others just, like, go and totally shift and make something new? Why? What do you think that's about?

That's. That's so hard? Because it depends on that person. It depends on their beliefs, and it depends on their experiences. Like you, like we were saying before, I totally agree with you about the idea that people allow sort of that victim mentality to be their identity, and they will just wallow in it and they will just attach to it, because even though it's not great, it's something that's familiar to them.

Now, here's the other question I have. So going into the extreme, into the military, like, that's almost like the no excuse, you know, epicenter. Like. Like, you are tough. You, you know, hide your emotions, just go be tough, do all these things. Did you, by doing that, not really have a chance to grieve kind of what you had lost, or maybe you did?

I did because I had about six months, once I signed my contract to get in. And in that six months, I did a lot of processing. I did a lot of self evaluation, and I've been doing martial arts my entire life. So this really kind of helped me rekindle that martial kind of spirit, that warrior mentality. But even then, I had no idea what was in store for me, even compared to what I thought was going to happen.

So then what happened?

So for me, I got through infantry school. I got stationed with my unit. We were preparing to deploy, and as we were preparing to deploy. I suffered a spinal injury that. A disc rupture to my neck, and it compressed my spinal cord and it paralyzed me from the neck down.

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so you thought life was bad, and now it gets really bad.

Yeah, it was a whole other. Whole other level because I was able to. My body would always push back against me like it does with all of us in some certain physical components. But I always use my mindset, my strength and my will to push me through. But this was something that was far beyond what I couldn't just imagine this was going to go away and hope it would get better. And when I woke up like that, and they sent me to the hospital and did all the evaluations and MRIs and told me I'm getting ready to get cut on, to go under the knife, it was a complete whirlwind, and my world really went sideways for me, I would imagine.

How did you rupture this disc?

There was no specific method of onset, but there was all this attrition from all the impact. And you're carrying 100 pounds on your back all the time. You're running 25 miles with 100 pounds on your back and 40 pounds of body armor and weapons. Negative 20 degrees. It's on the ice and snows, but that's what you need to do to prepare to go for those. Those extremes in Afghanistan. But what happened was I had some numbness in my hands and feet leading up to it, but then eventually one morning I woke up and I couldn't move at all.

Oh, my gosh.

That it was. Yeah, it was. Have you ever had a dream when you were a kid where you can't move or you're being chased by something?

I can't say I've had that, but. No, but, yeah, that I'd imagine that's.

How it was for me.

Did you think you were dreaming when that happened?

When I woke up, at first I thought my body was just sore, and I kind of chuckled. I was like, oh, the old man's sore. He's out of shape. And then when I kept trying to move my body, my neck would sort of articulate, but my body wouldn't. And that's where that chiropractic training came in. And I looked back and I kind of evalued myself real quick and realized, wow, this is either a serious neurological problem or I'm just sore. And it turns out it was more grave than I had anticipated.

Yeah, I mean, I've had a ruptured disc, but Mine was a lot lower. L5s1. And I know how scared I was losing the use of my right leg. Yours is a whole another game there. So how did you even call for help and then what were you being told?

So luckily for me, there was somebody that was going to be knocking on my door that morning for a report, an after action report, they call it. So luckily, when they knock on the door, I just yell through, hey, I can't move. And I wasn't really the kind of guy in the military that would joke around, so they knew I was serious. They break down the door, they send me the hospital, they go through that. Once they get me on the operating table, they're like, just try to relax. Of course that's difficult to do. And when I wake up in the er, I find out from the surgeon, when he comes in, he says, well, you had us kind of nervous there. We lost you. I didn't know what he meant by lost me. He says, no, you flatlined twice. We didn't think we were going to get you back the second time.

So you didn't have any kind of leaving your body experience? You didn't know you were out of it?

When I look back on it, I actually felt darkness and cold, but I didn't actually leave my body. You and I have. And that mutual friend, Janine shepherd, she has an incredible story about that. But for me, it was just very, very dark and very, very cold, which that was kind of eye opening in and of itself.

Wow. So what did you decide about that experience?

It's so hard because I know that there's so many different beliefs and ideals. I've had some people that are of certain beliefs that say, well, that means you need to look at your life. I've had other people say, well, because you didn't see anything, that maybe you don't need to worry about that. The thing that it did for me was it gave me a tremendous amount of urgency and all that I do today.

Wow. Yeah. Because you like dying and that would be dark and cold. Like you think of that and that's like, that would be the worst if that's just an ending. And that's all it is.

That's exactly it. That's what kind of makes me really. Even on the days when you don't feel like doing stuff or you feel overtaxed, if you go back and look at that, it's like, you know what? I think I can keep going. Compared to where I was at, I think I can keep going.

Wow, that's so crazy. So what happened? How did you recover from this?

So I went through just like everybody else does. The surgeon told me. He says, the good news is we saved your life. The bad news is this is what you're left with and you're not going to walk again. He says, don't even think about the chance of doing that. Just this is what you're left with and try to wrap your mind around it. So, of course.

So no movement from the neck down when they're telling you this?

Yeah. I was in a neck brace at the time, so even what little neck movement I had was completely arrested at that point.

So your arms, your legs, nothing was working?

Nothing. I just laid in that bed, and I kept telling myself I was going to get better. But after a week of being in the ICU and they took me back to my base, I realized this is something that I have to really deep dive into. I was suicidal. I was depressed. Anger that's directed inward is the very definition of depression. So for me, I was just mad about everything. I had plenty of regrets. I was mad at everyone around me. But the person that I was the most mad at was myself because I looked at all of the opportunities that I had been given, all the talent all the time, and I had just sort of, you know, let it go by. I didn't have any sort of urgency.

Yeah.

So every time I thought about, you know, binging on Netflix or taking naps when I was, you know, before that, I was just like, man, I wish I had that time back.

Yeah. I can't. I can only imagine what that would be like. So how did you even begin to lift yourself out of that? Because you're right. Like, that's, like, the worst that you can imagine. Almost like you get to that spot. Like, how do you even begin to shift your mindset when you're there?

It's tough. And the thing is, I had all of this knowledge and all this wisdom in my mind at the time, like, all these things from any kind of philosophy you could think of that says, this too shall pass, and all these ideals. But it's really easy to think that. But when you're lying there in. Sounds like a bunch of flowery.

Of course you want to kill anyone that's saying that stuff. It's like, I can imagine that's it.

If you'd have walked in into my room, Natalie, and told me, hey, Marcus, this is a gift, I probably would have spit on you because I couldn't punch you, because I'd Be so angry about it. And that's what it was. Yeah, I went through three months of just suicidal anger. I couldn't even act on my anger or my suicidal thoughts.

Yeah, I've heard that from people many times like that when they get to that, it's like you can't even act on it because you can't move.

Yeah, it is literally the most disempowering feeling in the world. But what it does is it forces you to really take a deep dive into everything that you've done in your life and look. Take a hard look. So for me, the thing that changed it was I knew that I had to do something to counteract all the anger. So the opposite of anger for most people is love. But I really didn't have a whole lot of that around me. So for me, the opposite of anger was I had to find this basically unconditional gratitude.

How do you do that when you're there?

And that's the thing. What you have to do is, at least for me, what I did was I took myself out of the equation. So I looked at. And again, this took months of just thinking this through in my mind. But I realized if I just suffered this injury while I was overseas, deployed in Afghanistan with the infantry, for every one man who is injured, it takes at least two men to pull into safety. So that means that my team would have been compromised. That means my squad would have been compromised. That means the Chinook helicopter that would have had to fly into a hot zone to pick me up would have been compromised. In all, there were over a dozen other people whose lives would have been put in harm's way if I just suffered that injury while I was overseas. And when I had that realization, for the first time in my entire life, I had that unconditional gratitude. And I was. I just. I literally said, wow, I'm lucky.

And did things start to shift once you were able to embrace that gratitude?

Once I had that radical gratitude and I started truly seeing my adversity as a gift instead of a curse. A week after that, I started getting a little bit of feeling back into my hands.

Gosh, that's so amazing. And was that just like. What did the doctor say about it? Was it kind of like a rare fluke? Were you doing the retraining your brain? Like, what. What was happening that made that possible, do you think?

The only thing that changed for me was the idea of, instead of resisting what was going on, I just went with it. I just leaned into it because I knew that really that's what it was. And that's because I saw that three months of fighting, it wasn't helping. And when you're in that place, you were so desperate, you were willing to think just about anything if you think that that's going to actually help you. And that's what it was. And now I actually had some arrogance, I had some hubris at first because I was like, see, if I can overcome death, I can overcome walking. But when I had that mentality, it actually slid me back to my first square one. So I had to start over again with that true radical gratitude. And I didn't think that I had anything to do with that. I just wanted to get past it.

It's so amazing, the ego. And when we get self righteous about things, how it just checks us.

I see it constantly, it really does. And again, when I first started getting movement back, I told the nurse about it. Of course, when I would try to show her it wouldn't happen. So that was a way to kind of keep me humble. And then when I actually was starting to get some movement back, people would say, well, obviously you were misdiagnosed. Whatever the case was, all I knew for sure was the only thing that had changed was the idea that being radically grateful for what was going on is what helped me. And seeing that opportunity was what changed my life. So now I do that with everything because I don't want to ever go back to that place again.

What would be your take on why that works and what happened to me?

Like you said, the mind is so powerful and it's so strong. And once I stopped fighting it and just went with it, that's what gave me a lot more power. And then even when I had a little bit of movement back in my left hand, but nothing else after that, I was grateful just for that. Because even that small improvement was better than where I was before.

So what would you say to people that are in that situation that you were in and they don't have any movement and they feel that they are being grateful? What would you think is going on there? And I know you're not a doctor and you're not a genie, but I'm just curious what your thoughts would be. Knowing being on the other side now.

It'S really hard to be completely specific with each person, but the main thing for me was understanding that even within that place, we still have choice, we still have an option, we still have control over our thoughts. And if we can do that, that's going to be what helps you Even if you're not able to overcome whatever physicality you're overcoming, if you have that mental ability to overcome your adversity, it's going to put you in a better place. It's going to make you more grateful for the people around you. It's going to make you grateful for the life you've lived up to this point. And it's going to help you see more opportunities. Because if all we see is hardship and everything, that's all we're ever going to see. But if all we look for is opportunities are our body will naturally look for that. And you and I understand the reticular activating system and all the different parts of our brains that will try to really hone in on that. And that's what I try to focus on now. And that's what I have my clients focus on as well.

Now, did you have a full recovery?

I did. I'm walking, talking. I went back to doing martial arts. When I got out, I was 230 pounds. When I got out of the military, I was 180 when I got in. So I gained about 50 pounds of. Lost a bunch of muscle, gained a bunch of fat. But getting back to that place where I could actually start looking at my life and having that second chance is when I really started to rebuild everything.

How long was the recovery from the time you were having a little bit of movement until you were actually regaining use of your legs and everything?

It took over a year of physical therapy and occupational therapy to get me back to a place where I could actually just take care of myself, where I could eat or pour myself a glass of water or do anything, where I was actually independent.

Now, did the doctors that worked with you, did they think this was a miracle? Did they see a path of why this happened? What did they say?

I really didn't get a whole lot of response from any of them. They didn't really say anything. The ones that were actually taking care of me, I was away from them. I was put into a different facility. So I never got a chance to go up and thank them or explain to them that I was able to recover. But.

It sounds like you were told by them not even to try. It was, yeah, it just gonna be a way of your life forever.

That's. That's what I was told. That's the initial belief. But like you said, if we. If we believe that everything that people tell us around us, we'll never get anything done.

Wow. So you feel, do you feel now that it was fully this Mindset shift or do you like, science wise? Like, how would you explain what happened?

I think the power of the mind is incredible. I think the belief system is powerful. And I think that what we continually believe the most is what's going to continually give us the results that we get. So even if it was a fluke or even if it was a misdiagnosis, all I know for sure is that I'm never going to change the way I think now, because I saw how powerful it was for me. Even after I recovered, I still had another five or six levels of effort I could have been giving to everything else, as opposed to just because initially when we face adversity, we want to get away from it as quickly as possible. But for me, I stayed there in it and I tried to learn from it as much as I can. And now I do the same thing here. So if somebody cuts me off in traffic or if somebody's being rude to me, I understand that maybe there's something going on with their life or maybe that they have something that they're going through, and if I can help them in some way, I will.

So are you scared at all? You had this ruptured disc, I'm assuming, when they did the surgery, what happened? They put something in there. Did they fuse it together? What was done in the surgery?

Right. They did a complete dissectomy. So they pulled all of that debris out, they fused C5 and C6, and they put a bunch of titanium in there to compress that.

So the reason for the paralysis was it that it had cut off your nerve or what was happening that caused the paralysis?

Right. So when the disc ruptured, it pushed posteriorly, it pushed backwards directly into my spinal cord.

Okay.

And the pressure was so hard that there was no cerebral spinal fluid going from C5 down.

Got it. So removing the disc matter to relieve that pressure. So if you were to look from science point, it had healed. They just thought that that would be unlikely for that to happen. Is that correct?

That's what I was thought. Because from chiropractic school, I understood that. I was like, well, if we take the pressure off of this nerve, we should be fine. And they said, well, it's fine, but remember this, the spinal cord is like delicate pieces of silk. So it's very, very delicate. So having the. The power of a disc pressing into your neck, it's like having a hockey puck slam down in there. There's a lot of neurological damage in the process. And that's why they said, yeah, if it was going to happen. It would happen right now, and it hasn't. So this is what you're left with.

Wow. You know, what's coming up for me right now is I think like, before I ruptured my desk, which mine was super minor compared to what you went through mine, because mine was so low and it was one leg that it was affected by it. But. But what came up for me after that was like, I look at people, like doing yoga, you know, headstands and stuff. I'm like, are they crazy? Like, I look like it's so simple to like, hit the wrong pressure and this could happen. Like, I will never do a headstand again after what I went through. So, yeah, I'm listening to, like, how easy. Like you're saying it wasn't even just an actual injury. It was just. This was meant. This happened to you. You had degeneration probably there, and wear and tear, and that happened.

Absolutely. All that sort of. That, all that attrition from all the impact and all the stuff that was going on with my body, and I had symptomatology leading up to it. Just like everything else, you know, I use my mind to just kind of press that down because in my mind, we were deployed in a couple of months and that was my primary objective at that point, was to make sure I could go out and make that happen, to do the best for my team that I could and serve my country.

So after this, you. So it took about a year to heal. Were you nervous this was going to happen again or come back? Do you still worry about that?

I would not be completely honest if I said that I thought that it would never come back. There's still a part of me that is very concerned about that. So that's why, much like yourself, I don't take my body for granted. I don't take my physicality, mentality for granted. I respect it. I. I'm very grateful for that. So I'm. I'm continually doing things physical, continually doing things to hone my body as best I can. And like you said, I avoid the things that may not be good for it. So doing yoga or, you know, getting. Going into the boxing ring and getting punched in the head, that's not something that's a good idea for me. So the idea is to respect my body so that I can serve others to the best of my.

And you have no residual. Like, I think about my leg. Like, my leg still has delay in it, even though it's been, you know, over. It's been 17 months for me, but I like, just even going to try to run. There's a delay in my foot from the nerve damage, so it doesn't hit when my head thinks it's hitting. Do you have any kind of residual damage like that?

Oh, yeah. I still. From the middle of my forearms to my hands and the middle of my shins to my feet. I still have neuropathy. So it feels like it's numbness. So it feels like a pins and.

Needles kind of thing.

It's either pins and needles or it feels like I have really big gloves on. So I have motor skill, but I don't have as much sensory skill as I could.

So kind of like. So you understand what I'm saying about the running? Like, if I were to run, there's a delay. Like, my foot's not matching what my brain thinks.

That's exactly it. And like you said, that's for you, though. I think that for your physicality, I think you'll be able to eventually get to a point where you can overcome that.

Yeah. I don't know. That's why I was curious about yours, because nerve grows so slow. It's like a millimeter a month or something like that. So I'm just, just. It's amazing how much yours recovered. Like, I almost. I have to believe that in a way that that rupture was what was creating the problem. And then when they removed the matter, they had to have freed it up to start healing.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

That's the only thing that makes sense.

But. And I love the. The whole gratitude. So now, like, how long ago was all this when this happened?

2012 was when I was injured, and 2014 was when I was medically retired.

Got it. Okay. So then that's. I'm assuming another small adversity is you thought your calling was military, and then now you're not doing that. So how did you reframe what you wanted in your life and what you were going to do and figure out your calling?

That's what was so hard, because like you said, I'd given everything in my life to this one thing. Put all my eggs in this one basket, and it was sort of taken from me. And because of the neurology, the problem with my hands, like we mentioned trying to go back to chiropractic school, there's no way I could palpate the spine and actually adjust somebody.

Sure.

So for me, I just went back to my first love, which was martial arts, and started going back to that. I've got Black belts in different martial arts systems. And luckily I had a friend who owns a martial arts studio named Liddell Elliot. He was very much the big brother figure for me at that point because he was like, well, he saw me, we talked, we've been friends for 20 years. And he said, well, I'll see you Tuesday. And I said, well, I don't know what I'm doing Tuesday. He said, well, you're going to teach that night, so you better hurry up and figure it out. So I needed that kind of kick in the butt to get me going. And from there I started getting private students. One of my private students was actually a person who was very well off financially. He has a lot of real estate. And after that we would go out and have lunch. And every time we would talk about lunch, he would always talk about business or his family or something that was going on. And invariably I could always put something that happened in that lesson an hour before and show him how it applied to that lesson in his life or in his business. So after about two months of that, he says, you know what? I have a business coach that I'm paying a lot of money to. And he hasn't helped me nearly as much as you have in these last two months. So sarcastically I said, well, if you want, just write me a check however you want to do it. And he actually went out to his car and wrote me a check for six months of training, of coaching at the rate that he was paying the other person. And that was my first coaching client. He referred me other people in that same tax bracket. They're the ones that gave me a recommendation to get my first speaking engagement. And eventually, after doing that and getting my TEDx talk and then writing my book, it all sort of flowed from there. But it took 40 some odd years of wandering to really figure out what I was truly supposed to be doing. I knew I should always be a teacher or a coach, but I always thought it was going to be something different. But now, because of my life, I'm sort of uniquely qualified to speak about what I speak about today.

Now, do you find because you have so many stories and so many journeys and adversities, but because of, of the paralysis and that's being so severe, do you find a lot of people coming to you for that specifically?

It's funny, I did a live event a few months ago and I just advertised it kind of for everybody, but every single person that showed up there was an entrepreneur and a business owner.

Interesting. So that's what people are People like that are gravitating towards you, not necessarily because of the medical situation.

Absolutely. I mean, some people from medical situations will be gravitated towards me, but people that own their own businesses, people that are physical, people in CrossFit, you know, people like that. This. Because if. If you. If I say adversity is a gift, you will either immediately resonate with that and understand it.

Yeah.

Or you will. Or you'll look confused. You'll say, I don't know what he's talking about.

Yeah. And I think people definitely a second it.

But.

But you have an extreme story of adversity too. And I. I'm just thinking of if somebody was listening right now and they are dealing with, you know, they don't have use of a leg or an arm or they are paralyzed from the waist down or the neck down or what, what would you tell them? Would you tell them these same steps of gratitude? What would you tell them?

I would tell them the same steps of gratitude, not in the hopes that it would change their physicality, but that it would actually change their mentality. And I would just tell them to completely accentuate the positive and whatever it is that's going on with them. So if they have the ability to have people around them that they care about or if they can speak, whatever the case may be.

So I'd be curious, how would you tell. Because I. Because I know you get it because you were there. The person that is super depressed in that situation or somebody listening, whose relative is there, you know, or family member or a friend is there when they're in that. Like what you said, like, I would want to kill myself, but I couldn't even move my body to do that, like that level. What would you tell them? Or what advice would you give the person that knows someone in that situation?

And that's the thing. There's a point where we actually have to grieve or we actually have to go through sort of that acceptance and see it for what it is and be angry. Angry. But a lot of people will just sort of stay in that place and they don't want to get beyond it because the emotion is so strong. What they have to realize, just like I did, is that being angry is not helping you. It's not helping anybody around you either. It's making the people around you that want to help you, that do love you, it makes them not want to be around you. It makes them not want to help you out as much as they can. So you have to understand that even in the place that you are right now, you should be grateful for something. Even if you're only grateful for your breath, that is something to be grateful for, because there are a lot of people throughout history who do not have that option right now. And they would give anything to have the opportunity to be alive.

Wow. So good. Okay, so this is a question I ask everybody, and I'm just. I'm curious how you'll answer this. If anyone's listening to this right now and they're in their own personal rock bottom, maybe it's not as extreme as that. Maybe it's something totally different. It's financial, it's business, it's whatever it is. I know you deal with a lot of entrepreneurs, so somebody's struggling in their business and they feel at that rock bottom. If you were to give them kind of like three tips that they can start implementing right now to start shifting their attitude and changing out of that, what would you suggest?

Well, the first one we talked about was gratitude. Having unconditional gratitude is key, though. Not just like this fake gratitude everybody talks about where they watch their world fall apart around them, and then they say, oh, but I'm grateful. It's like, no, that's a victim mindset. So. So genuine unconditional gratitude is the first one. The second one is to understand that the answer that you're looking for most of the time is in the adversity that you're trying to avoid.

Explain that.

So a lot of times we have a phone call or a conversation that we need to make, or we're trying to follow up with something, but we want to avoid it because we just don't feel like doing it or it's going to be too hard, it's going to be too laborious. So the answers that you're trying to find, whether it be in somebody's product or in a conversation with somebody else, what you're trying to find is going to be discovered within the process of trying to get through whatever that hardship is. So if you're having a hard time trying to get through something in business, don't just give up on it and try to avoid it. Look at it and go straight through it. Robert Frost says the best way out is always through. And when it comes to adversity, that is absolutely the best way to go about it. And then the third thing that I would say would be understanding that adversity is an inevitability, and it's never going to go away. So if you hope that you're going to get to a certain level of success as an entrepreneur or a certain level financially or a certain level in a relationship, and that this is as far as I need to go. I'm good now I'm going to stop. That's not going to help you. You're always going to fall back. You're always going to slide back. So go in with the understanding that there's never an end game to this. There's never a finish line. There is always something else that you can be learning because in that learning, it will give you more opportunity to help more people, to have the knowledge that you've acquired.

So good. That's so good. Okay, tell us about your book and where people can find you.

Absolutely. My book is called the Gift of Adversity. Overcoming Paralysis and Pain to Find Purpose. But if you go to Amazon and you just put in the Gift of Adversity, you'll see my name, Marcus Aurelius Anderson. And they can go there to Amazon or anywhere where they buy books. They can go to my website and get it@marcusreliusanderson.com and it's my TEDx talk is free as well, if you just want to get like a taste of it. A lot of what I wrote in my book is what I kind of talked about in my TEDx talk to kind of give people a taste of my mindset and my philosophy about that.

And tell us about your podcast.

Oh, my podcast. Well, I have incredible people on my podcast. I have somebody on in about a month whose hers will be out. Her name's Natalie Jill. She's amazing. But my podcast is called Conscious Millionaire, Epic Achiever. And thanks to people like our listeners, it became number one in the new and noteworthy category. And what I do is I do sort of like what you do, where I look at people that have reached a high level of success in their area of expertise. But everybody that I've ever met that's been really successful always go through some sort of adversity. And just like your. Just like your story is so powerful. And I want people to see that so when they're going through hardship, they can go back and say, well, look what Natalie Joel went through. If she can go through that, I can probably go through what I'm going through now.

It's. I love it. I love it. And are you on social, Marcus?

I'm all over social. You can find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, wherever you. Wherever there's social, I'll be on there.

I love it. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thanks for leveling up with us today. Please share this episode if you found it helpful so others can join in. And don't forget to hit that subscribe so you don't miss out on future shows. And if you would leave me a five star review, I I appreciate those so much. I read all of them and it's how I know that I'm giving you information that you find valuable. And come interact with me over on Instagram @nataliejofit. I read all the direct messages and comments over there. Make it a great day. Creating everything from nothing.