From Super Bowl to Setback to Success ft. Setema Gali | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby

0:00Welcome to another episode of Coffees for Closers. Today we're sitting with a very special guest, former Super Bowl champion, the founder CEO of Game Changer, Mr. Satima Gali. Welcome to another episode of Coffees. Big Joe, good to be here with you. Thank you for having me today. Thank you, thank you. I know you get this a lot. You're almost the Rock's twin. That is a compliment and I'm grateful for his success because it makes it easy to break the ice with people. Yeah, it definitely does. So, Steve, I'd like to start this show off. What's your morning routine? Morning routine, it consists of, as soon as my feet hit the ground, gratitude.

0:39I got something I call conscious self-creation. It's a visualization exercise in the mirror while I brush my teeth and groom up. And then I do something called a daily focus where I gratitude targets for the day, electrolytes, protein, food, and I'm off to the gym. So it's pretty dialed in. I mean, it's clockwork. It's easy for me. I don't know how much. I mean, that's it in a nutshell, but that's the morning routine now. Now, give the audience a 10 ,000-foot overview of what is it that Game Changers does. So game changer, you know, in 1995, I was a missionary from a church, 19 years old. And my mission president, the leader of our mission gave me a book called Seven Habits by Stephen Covey.

1:20So he's like, I think you should read this. So I opened the book and start reading it, like rocked my world. He talks about a paradigm shift. As I'm reading the book, this thing in my heart said, you are supposed to do what Covey has done for you. You're supposed to do that for others. So back then there was no programs and there's no courses like there are today. But in my mind, I'd see Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Darren Hardy, like these big speakers. And I'm like, I'm supposed to do that. I'm supposed to change lives and inspire and breathe life into people, move their heart and soul.

1:57And so Game Changer is a culmination of the last three decades of work, of coaching, mentoring, leadership, results for clients. and in a nutshell I would say if you feel called to do something significant in the domain of changing lives of sharing your talents and gifts with the world to make the world a better place Game Changer is for you that's what we do we help you become the person who breaks generational curses who shifts the trajectory and changes the entire future of course makes your ancestors proud who are watching from wherever they're at, like he's doing it or she's doing it. I love that.

2:38Now you do that in one speaking session, a series of courses. How long does it take for that transformation to occur? We have two-day seminars, three-day seminars. I wrote a book called Game Changer. We're just releasing that right now. People can get their free book. They just pay for the shipping. I have a podcast called Game Changer. and there's a number of ways just depending on where someone feels comfortable investing right time energy and money but I love just even if I can speak one time and have someone feel and see and hear right experience a shift then I've done my job now if I get an opportunity to work with people longer term like I've had clients stay with me for four or five years then that's what we do but curriculum from a keynote speech to a podcast such as this, I'm Grateful Joe, all the way to spending four days with me and or one or two, three, four, five years.

3:37Wow. Yeah. Do you do them in Vegas? You do them local here? Yeah, we do them in Vegas. We used to run everything out of here right in Southern California, right? The Cliffs Laguna, that was our spot for a long time over down in Dana Point. And then I was in Destin, Florida, and now I'm in Vegas. So we run everything out of Vegas now. Nice. Nice. Now, what was it like, you know, growing up? Are you from a football family like The Rock? Well, I'm from just a family of musicians and entertainers and dancers. And I'm the only one that played football. And so, again, coming up with a family of nine kids, grateful for my parents who came from the islands of Samoa.

4:18So grateful for them. We just kind of figured out everyone has their own path. And I, early on, wanted to play football. I loved it. I was like, I'm pretty good at this game, and I think I'm going to take it to the next level. Eight siblings? Yeah. Wow. And some Owens are all pretty there. I'm not the biggest dude in my family. I'll put it that way. Really? Yeah. I'm the most handsome. I'm kidding. I'm not kidding. But I'm not the biggest one in my family. But all my brothers are all size 15 shoe, 6 '4", 6 '5", 6 '4", 6 '3", 6 '4". Big boys, 300 pounds, give or take. Well, and your parents are big like that?

4:58My parents are tiny, man. My dad is probably like, I don't know, five, seven. My mom is maybe five, seven. They're not tall. Really? Yeah. That's crazy. Now, how do you think your roots shaped you to become who you are today? That's a great question, Joe. You know, Polynesian people, we are like warriors. And we sail the seas. And we're guided by the stars and the heavens. So family, culture, every time I talk about my parents, I'm grateful. So grateful for their sacrifices, for their work they put in, for coming to this country, for giving me a shot. So, you know, family first, hard work. There's nothing given.

5:48You got to go earn it. Putting, again, respect for your elders, respect for your parents. Even to this day, I'm almost 50 years old. And I still, one of my drivers that drives me and pushes me is to make my mom and dad proud. I mean, I want them to just be like, that's our boy. That's our son. That's amazing. That's amazing. Even to this day, are they with us still? Yeah. They live in Utah. They divorced, both remarried. So I have two sets of parents who are amazing and so much love and respect for my parents. I'm grateful. You know, as you get older, right, and you look at your parents, and a lot of people want to blame their parents.

6:29They blame their mom and dad for whatever. I'm like, you know, our parents did the best they could with what they had because I'm a parent, and I'm doing the best that I can with what I have to help my sons be the best they can be and prepare them for life. So my family, my culture, my Polynesian roots, I'm so grateful. So, so grateful for the way that I was raised. That's incredible. So all nine kids were from one mom? Yeah. And then she divorced? And then we divorced. And then I have two more from my stepmom, a younger sister and brother. So there's like 11. And then how about from your dad?

7:08My dad. Did he have more kids? Yeah. So my dad and my stepmom had two more. but my mom once she had her she was done and then she got married she's like yeah yeah because he already hit again blended family on my mom and stepdad side so yeah it's a lot of a lot of family a lot of kids a lot of food big food bill yeah what city did you grow up in i grew up in utah orm utah provo utah so you guys are mormon yeah yeah mormon i'm i'm a little i may not be your average Mormon, but I believe in God, believe in Christ. I love the Book of Mormon. I love the scriptures. I love serving people. I love making a difference for people and really trying to live my purpose on this planet.

7:53So when I go, I leave, you know, I empty the tank. I've lived my life. As the apostle Paul says, I fought a good fight. I fought a good fight. I finished my course, kept the faith. And again, I do the best that I can every single day. god bless you thank you now before football who was the team of galley you know who was satema i grew up physically weak i was never strong was never like really coordinated athletic i mean i was big but i wasn't strong i loved the dance polynesian dancing I loved singing and music and I was just a very, just, I feel like I always was blessed to have this positive mentality.

8:42Again, I, I credit, credit God to that. And then as football came in, football was that vehicle cause, you know, that allowed me to, to work hard, to set goals, to have ambition, to overcome adversity and to become just a stronger physically and mentally and spiritually persons, more spiritual person. So again, I love music. I do a lot of singing. We sing in church with my boys. I used to do a lot of luau's, entertaining guitar, music, harmonizing. But I think that my favorite thing to do is, I don't think my favorite thing is just really making a difference for people, like lifting someone's life, helping them smile, helping them see something they couldn't see, helping them solve a problem that's getting in the way.

9:28And, you know, what did the young Satema, what did you believe was possible when you were young? You know, that's a great question. Growing up, it's like I knew I had this concept of if you work hard, you can achieve. But when I became, like my freshman year of high school is when I wrote in my journal, I'm going to get a scholarship to BYU. I wrote it down. And that's, I had this conversion to the Lord at age 14, started to pray, started to read the word of God. Church meant way more to me. And I started to strive again and keep the commandments and do what's right. And I started to see blessings like crazy.

10:16My life was better. I was happier. There was more purpose. And you know, I started to walk, as they say, the straight and narrow path. So I love, I say this often, I am the man who loves his life. And I do. Absolutely do. What a blessing. Now, what was the moment you realized that football was like more, it was more than a dream. Even after you, you know, you were being under drafted and injured. Yeah. You know, from my sophomore to junior year in high school. So again, I wasn't very good. Seventh and eighth grade was horrible. Hated practice. I didn't like it. I tried to get out of practice all the time.

10:56I was like, I don't want to do this, but I never wanted to quit. We just, we started, we're going to finish it. But from my sophomore to junior year, I became addicted to the weight room. I started lifting. So I was a skinny, 170 pound kid, 6 '4", 170 pounds. And I hit the weight room, didn't play basketball, and I put on 30 pounds of muscle. So in eight months, eight, nine months, I was about 205. and you hit the gym and confidence increases. And when you work out, as you know, we were talking about jiu-jitsu earlier. When you do physical things that are hard, everything changes. And so for me, that going into my junior year, confidence to the roof, and I was like, okay, I'm going to get a scholarship.

11:41I was offered a scholarship from a few different universities and I went to BYU. And I mean, football's been such a blessing for my life. Yeah. Yeah. What are the top three things it's done for you, you think? Number one, it has taught me how to overcome adversity. I've had five shoulder surgeries, a fracture, multiple concussions. But in football, you get knocked down, you get back up. So number one, you're going to face adversity. You've been there. A lot of everyone faces adversity. A loved one passes away, a loved one gets sick, financial turmoil. That's the first one. second one it's just like sheer work hard work smart work consistent work it shows you like if you want something go put in the work and then the third thing is find your gifts like i'm not an nba basketball guy i wanted to i would have rather played basketball but i got a football body and i got athletic ability and then i put in the work i put in the time so again there's there's people who are musicians who are artists who are podcasters who are influencers to help people find your thing right and i believe there's more than one thing so find your gifts and find your vehicles and tools and then like go we only got one life so go get it right go get it now um you know selling your super bowl ring must have really eclipsed like a lot of the tough moments Yeah.

13:14What was going through your head that day you did that? Oh, man. So we did really well in the mortgage days. Back then when it was, as you know, easy to print money. State of income, state of asset, no income, no asset, refi, option norms. And in 2008, when the recession hit and that economy turned, we just got crushed. And I wasn't ready. but I was also on my way out to do what I do now so can't put food on the table we downsized from our brand new home that we've built on the hill on the benches of Provo we're in this tiny 900 square foot townhome we had built an 8 000 square foot home we had the cars we lost the cars we lost everything by the time I went to sell my ring I'm yelling at my he's like three years old I'm yelling at the top of my lungs to not waste cereal and he's crying i'm like what what am i doing couldn't pay the rent rent was like 1200 bucks it was like oh my gosh so i knew what i did i knew what i had and i was crying my eyes out on the way to new york city got on the plane i'm balling like a baby get off the plane give him the ring he gives me cash he inspects it and i told him i'm come back and get this and he's like they never do i'm like what do you mean he's like i got hundreds of rings hundreds and so i actually went back to him to go get my ring and he would i offered him a big chunk of cash he wouldn't sell it he says not yet so i text him like once a year we stay in touch because i'll go get the ring the moment he's ready to sell it to me i'll get it i'll give him the cash what how do you sell like just the collectors collect yeah just a collector brother it's one of the hardest things i've ever done i want you to imagine you work your whole life for something you get to the pinnacle and then you know maybe five six eight years later you got to give it up i cried because you know 50 60 guys a year get that what's it even like winning a super bowl like walk me through the feeling oh man so you take something you work your whole life at all year lifting weights running conditioning eating watching film injuries the surgery here surgery there winning travel and all of a sudden you get to the nfl so it's one thing to get to the nfl right it's another to win the playoffs it's another to get to the super bowl but to win it i mean we grown men we walked into the uh it was in new orleans we were playing the greatest show on turf the rams a grown man crying my heart was filled with joy like imagine like the pinnacle the thing you if you wanted to be the best-selling author or a musician who plays around the biggest stages or whatever that thing is everyone's got a super bowl everyone's got a super bowl and this was the literal super bowl and like when we won you know vinitary kicks the field goal we're hugging growing man or like we did it we're hugging we're crying one of the, one of the top experiences of my life for sure.

16:32And the reason why is because I worked for it. You know, if someone just hands you a, Hey, here's your super bowl ring. There's, there's no joy in that. That is, you know, when you work to build something, when you work hard and you put in the time and the energy, the sacrifice, the grit, the grind, determination, it's just something so gratifying and so fulfilling of like, and I'm like, thank you, God, thank you so much for this great opportunity that I have. Incredible. Now, after that low point that you went through, what sparked the turnaround? Was it faith? Was it a conversation? Was it a moment of clarity?

17:12Was it just the feeling of rock bottom? How did you really get out of that? So 2008, 2009, sold the ring. 2010, filed a bankruptcy. see 2011 four years in what i call like the pit of despair right the jaws of hell wide open depressed it's in this deep deep chasm and in my heart i always knew like i i i knew satema this is just a setback for the comeback this is just a moment like you have to overcome this you have to because you know what you want to do in my heart always desired to change lives to transforms hearts and souls to shift paradigms for people. I always wanted that. So even in the darkest moments and from between 2008, 2011, there was something that was like, said, tell me you're supposed to do this.

18:04I remember praying to God. I'm like, God, please, like I will do anything. Cause everything I did in those four years, nothing worked, nothing worked. And then, uh, I continued to pray to God. I was like, I will do anything to get out of this hole and to get back on top. And, you know, if you go to the Lord in a prayer like that and you're sincere and you're like serious about it, you better be ready when he sends you the opportunity. Now, honestly, I was like, just send me someone with like, let me win the lottery or let me just easily get back on top. Send me a suitcase of cash. I mean, my mind was playing weird games on me.

18:47And I got recruited to go knock doors as a door-to-door salesman. I'm in my mid to late 30s. And I get recruited to go knock doors. And I'm like, really? Like, this is it? I got to go live in an apartment, live in hotels, six days a week, 22 to 26 weeks a year of knocking doors? and I'll never forget I'm in Easley, South Carolina in 2011. I'm out there. I can see the clouds and the winds on my face and the sun's on me. It's my first week. And I was so, so like kind of angry. Like, this is it, huh? Like, this is where I'm at. This is what I'm doing with my life. And I remember just praying. I was like, I asked for this.

19:36Okay. And I'll never forget. I'm carrying like the clipboard. I got my lanyard on. I'm in this neighborhood in Eastland. I'm like, okay, okay, God, I did ask for this. I'm all in. Like boats are burned. I'm all in. I'm not going home to this. I'm going to hit my goal. And I just, I put my shoulder on the wheel. I put my head down. I put my blinders on and I went all in and I didn't stop. I was like, you know, the movie with Arnold, Terminator, the first one where he just doesn't stop. That was me. I kept seeing the faces of my family, the faces of my parents, my children. That was my why. And I was like, I'm going to be the best door knocker ever.

20:23And there were days where I was sick. And they're like, oh, just take a day off. I'm like, take a day off. You don't understand. These young kids were like 19, 22. I'm like 36 years old. I'm like, nah, I ain't got time to do that. Red Bull, some Dayquil, puking. They're like, put me on the doors. And I remember just knocking and hit my goal, work like a dog that summer. I mean, I never worked. I had worked so hard before. And as we're driving home from, so we went from South Carolina to Georgia in Augusta. It's the middle of September, end of September. I'm driving home and we're in Tennessee.

20:59And I'm just like, look over. My boys are in the back. I'm like we did it we did it and I think I slept for like three weeks when I got home just slept straight because I was filled with caffeine from the whole summer just potato chips caffeine McDonald's hit the doors work like a dog but I promised God I'd do whatever he sent me to the doors and I knocked and I never stopped knocking were you not gonna sound solar or were you selling Security for Vivint. And it's crazy. I was 2011, 2012, 2013. I still have people that will find me on social media. No kidding. They'll say, we always knew you were destined to be great.

21:40You were such a great salesman. I'm like, I love it. I remember I was a different salesman. I really enjoyed the doors. I embraced it. I was proud of it. That's why you crushed it. Yeah. That's why you crushed it. Now, when you finally spoke your story publicly for the first time, and I've noticed this, like, about you're super vulnerable. How did that vulnerability really change your mission? You know, I grew up very, I was a lot of emotion. So I would cry. If we lost a game when I was in elementary, I'd cry. I'm like, why am I crying? And I never understood. I hated it. I prayed to God, like, God, why'd you make me this way?

22:22I was in high school. we lost in the semifinals, I'm bald like a baby. And I'm like, no one else, I'm like, why am I so emotional? Why does my heart feel so much? And I hated it until in my late 30s when I kind of figured out like, okay, God, you gave this to me. Cool. I'm gonna use it. I'm gonna be real with people. I'm gonna tell people the truth. I'm not gonna live this fake life, this pretend life. And if I feel it, I'm gonna share it. and sometimes I go from very loving or with my clients when I'm in coach mode, I got to punch someone in the throat, punch them in the face, figuratively, of course, but it's been a blessing.

23:05It really has been an incredible blessing for me. You know, I'm in the mortgage space. Obviously, we run a big mortgage company, and it's been a tough year for a lot of guys, racing in the sevens. We're finally catching a break now after the first break we got. was today. Ironically, you're here. We have a conference coming up and a lot of people are discouraged. I feel like, you know, what would you tell people right now that are feeling discouraged, whether in real estate and mortgage and any financial sector, because many people are down. I would say this. I'm like, remember exactly what it is that you want and why that matters.

23:50and people can remember like for me again my why right what did i want x amount of dollars back in my bank account from that first summer my why my family my children my parents my duty to god and you gotta have a bat you gotta have those whys you have to have the the reason why you're going to get up and push. For some people, it's their children. I didn't want my boys to say, oh, my dad was a football player. I'm like, football? That was in the early 2000s. I want my boys to be like, my dad's my hero. I wanted that. I want my parents, my loved ones to look at me and say, man, he inspires us.

24:38and I also knew that there were there would be people that one day I could share this and they would be touched so to anyone who's going through like feeling discouraged and feeling doubt like here we are moment of truth you're gonna get up and fight and slay the dragon or will you cower and go live the safe route and give up and tuck your tail and throw the towel and I just tell people it's a moment to say it's a critical decision and you can do it if you look in the history of mankind the greatest people face the greatest adversities and it's it's hard i tell people straight up it is so hard but you can be better than like you can do hard things and you know this is something that's pretty popular today it's hard to be broke it's hard to run a business it's hard to be overweight out of shape unhealthy it's hard to work out choose your heart and i just believe that i'm like look at the end of the day you are responsible like you better figure out what you're really made of you better decide every day you wake up you look yourself in the mirror do i want the path of regret or do i want to come out victorious and conquer and let's tell people get knocked down get back up and so many people didn't quit so i tell my boys if you were to say this to my boys get knocked down they say get back up get knocked down get back up and if you were to say to them you can have anything in life and they will fill in the blank if you pay the price we have a ton of those fill in the blank phrases so that's what i would tell to someone like tough tough times don't last but the best people and the top people do so keep pushing keep moving remember your why like get mad if you have to wake up and go fight and go slay the dragon if you want the top prizes and you want the dragon blood all over you you gotta slay dragons gotta slay the dragon now what is it like that how do you define results now now when the stakes are personal and they're not just professional how do i define results whether it's professional person look at results i always tell people it's there's two things man what is it that you want why does that matter and the what you want's got to be specific measurable it's got to belong to you and i would tell people look whatever it is that you want that you think you want go get it if it's more money and i don't know there's a always the people out there that say, oh, money can't buy you happiness.

27:20I'm like, don't listen. Like if you feel like having more money is going to help you, which for most people, it does. Let's be real. Like it does. And I'm like, go get it. Go become the type of person that can produce. If you feel like being more fit and stripping fat off your body is going to help you be an example to your kids, give you more energy, more confidence, go do it. And if you You build up all this financial success and accolades, but you leave your family behind. That is not success. I don't know anybody who wants to be at the end of their life alone, even if you have all this stuff in the world, no loved ones, no wife or husband, no kids, no grandkids.

28:08Like, to me, success is what you achieve and who you become together. So if you achieve something, but you don't, you're a jerk or you're crude and you're mean, that's not success. And at the same time, if you're becoming a great person, but you can't pay your bills and provide as a man, like, hey, dude, that don't fly. That doesn't work. So success is who you, like what you achieve and who you become in the process. And it takes both. It takes both of those. That's very true. Now, what is the legacy you hope people carry forward after hearing your comeback? I love this question about legacy. A lot of people talk about generational wealth and leaving a trust fund.

28:55Yeah, I want to do those things. I want to leave behind resources, which I want to. But more than the trust fund or whatever money, God, I want to leave inside of my boys. I want to leave it in them, right? This, I heard this, it's not mine, but legacy is not about what you leave with people. It's about what you leave in people. And I want my boys to have trust in themselves, trust in God, trust in other people more than just the trust fund. I want them to not have the lottery mentality where it's like, oh, my dad left us all this stuff. Now I want them to learn how to set goals and achieve goals.

29:33I want them to have alignment before the achievement. I want them to be kind and to make a difference and to leave people and things better when they found them. So to me, that's the legacy. It's like, and I want to be, you know, whenever the time comes when I graduate to the next life and I leave this planet, I want to be surrounded by my kids and grandkids and my loved ones. And I want people to be like, my life is better because that guy took a chance. My life is better because he said something or he wrote or his book or his podcast or just being around him changed me. Legacy is in here. And what it allows, it gives people permission to go do something, not just I know something.

30:21It's like they go do it. They go build. They go create. They go change. They go make a difference. I love that. A couple last questions for you. This is about goals. what's a personal goal that you have for yourself a family goal that you have for your family and a goal that you have for Game Changer you got it personal goal for me I have a bodybuilding competition coming up my goal is to win the overall I'm a true novice this will be the first show that I ever do but I want to win that you're just a winner I want to win that I'm not going to compete I want to win so I got food in my car I pulled up here about 12.45 like 15 minutes to be on time and I'm scarfing down lean ground turkey and rice It's my third meal of the day.

31:01I had my oatmeal blueberries egg wash this morning. I got my workout in. I already got cardio planned tonight. So I want to do that. A family goal, man, I want, I got teenagers right now. And it's, anyone who's got teenagers, it's work. It's challenging because it's hard. Hard because I want so much for them to see things and to get it. and sometimes it's just i want them to work harder or to be more responsible so one family goal is that we learn i mean i'm working on this to communicate more clearly be more patient and then one goal for game changers i want my book called game changer i want that to get into a million people's hands like a million people to get the book because the book it is a game changer It changes lives.

31:57The book came from 10 years of running a program called Immersion, where people would come for four days. We'd transform their world in tense tears, like bury the old person, new person, rise, the rising of a phoenix. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of men and women who the book is on. I want this book to be in their hands and change lives. Last question for you. Yes, sir. when you're in front of the pearly gates what do you think god's going to tell you well i hope i hope he tells me uh well done thou good and faithful servant you have been a great steward over a few things now you get to have it all and he'll hug me he'll say you did it like you did what you were supposed to do so that's what that's my goal is when I meet God he's like maybe I can just I did I gave it everything I had I did what was required God bless you Satami it's been such a pleasure such an honor to have you on the show if people want to connect with you how do they find you and you know go to I have a obviously my website is my first and last name s-e-t-e-m-a-g-a-l-i i'm on instagram facebook follow me and just connect with me i love like i respond to people in my dms as much as i can i respond and leave voice messages so connect with me on social pick up my book it's free i cover the shipping and i love people and people love me and we're going to go do this thing the right way until we die man let's go god bless man thank you it's been a pleasure to have you on the show thank you so much appreciate it

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34:35Thank you.

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