Gary Forbes: Unlocking Success Strategies From the NBA to Entrepreneurship

0:00Plan B all the way to Z is to make plan A work. Always have that kind of mindset and vision and just that love. Like when you were a child, plan A was to play basketball and have fun and be the best and score a whole bunch of points. So to have that same mentality and love for the game and around the game and what you do, I think it, you know, those kind of experiences will come to you.

0:24Gary Forbes:Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth. No fluff, no filters, just hard-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go.

0:48Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today, We're talking about going from the NBA to navigating life with diabetes. He's a global hooper turned advocate, entrepreneur, and mentor. His story is one of grit, grind, and giving back. Please join me in welcoming the resilient, the driven, the unshakable, Brooklyn's finest, Mr. Gary Forbes. Gary, how you doing today, brother? I'm well, I'm well. I'm blessed and highly favored, as my grandmother would say. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Grandma always had the right words for us all the time, right? Gary, man, I've been a huge fan of yours.

1:26I remember your days at Virginia. I'm a UNC Tar Heel. So I actually got to see you play at UVA, then going on to UMass and then having a wonderful professional career, man. I always love starting out by asking my guests, what's your because? That thing that's deeper than your why, right? Like, I could ask you your why, but I could probably guess it. But there's a reason that your why is your why. And I like to call that your because. I think for me, I'm learning it as I'm in it right now. I think my because is, I think the world is missing optimism. um i'm i feel like that's one of my superpowers i just look at every opportunity or every situation as an opportunity to either you know win or learn um obviously being an athlete has taught me that you know you know you lose some games obviously i have to learn that very young you know i used to cry about every loss and that would show my passion and my dedication to it but i would also have to learn the lessons from it and how to get better and how to not make those same mistakes.

2:43And that's what I'm learning now with life after basketball, you know, managing, you know, a business and then also being a new father. So all these different kind of things are new and I'm enjoying the process of it. Obviously, just having that athlete mindset in it. Yeah, well, congratulations on new fatherhood, man. Big honor, big responsibilities. It's amazing, man. I helped create my little best friend, a digital twin of myself, or Replica, not digital. I love that, man. I love that. So talking about, you know, the optimism that you have and that being your superpower, I would say for anyone that ever saw Gary play ball, man, like you saw it in your expression.

3:33I think it was infectious with your team. Like no matter what was going on, you always were like that bright spot. When did you know that you had that superpower? I think it was around in high school. One of my coaches would say, you know, I kind of have like an energy. I'm always like smiling. I'm always, you know, thinking the best situation possible. You can ask my family. I always have the, to them, these wild imaginations of these wild dreams. And I'm a big cliche guy. So, you know, they're saying if you can, you can see it, you know, it's true and all these different things. If, you know, what's in the mind is, you know, can be a reality.

4:14So I've, I didn't know that I was practicing these things growing up as this was kind of like, man, this is what you're supposed to do. My father would always say these things. And I didn't notice till recently in the last couple of years, he would always say, man, you're a Forbes. He would never be surprised if we would do good in school. He would never, wouldn't be really surprised if we, if I scored a whole bunch of points or we did great things, He would be like, you're a Forbes, you're supposed to do these things. So I think in high school, it may have come off of this arrogance kind of thing.

4:49Like, you know, he thinks he's better than. But now that I'm learning what I was practicing during high school, it was like a form of optimism. Like, I believe that I can do anything that I put my mind to. And that goes for anybody. If my last name was Jones or if my last name was Rodriguez, whatever my last name would have been, he would have said that your last name is whatever it is um you know you're a descendant of me i'm this way so you're you know a better version of me so you know pass that on i love it man so i always like to ask this to to sons and fathers who play sports how old were you when like your dad couldn't beat you anymore my dad i think let me see i think really i want to say like eight nine years old man it was over for him man i don't think it was i don't think it was uh he didn't he didn't last too long um my my older brother is the one who taught me how to play basketball um i remember when i first moved to the united states we were in new york we went to 258 park and we watched uh nba on bc michael jordan against the knicks or something like that and i was like man this is what i want to do and i remember we went to the park i was doing the dribbling between my legs.

6:03Obviously, you know, the pavement in New York is kind of rocky, so you got to deal with that. But I remember we were at the park and, you know, we were practicing layups and all these different shots and there was something that I wasn't that good at yet. And it was something I was, you know, I wanted to do, I wanted to get better at. I was something, you know, basically addicted to it. Yeah. I love that, dude. I love that. So superstar in high school college your your choices right i'm a little upset you didn't choose my tar heels you didn't choose unc i got this that's a funny story i used to wear a unc shirt every single day to practice i remember my sophomore year in high school every single day i wear it under my my practice jersey go home and wash it that was the school i wanted to go to and i remember unc was recruiting me going into my senior year the week before i go on the visit my plan was to go and commit there.

6:57I had other schools, ACC schools, but my plan was to go and commit there while I'm there. And the week before I go there, Rayshon Terry commits a week before I go to commit. That was a hometown guy, kind of guy. I was like, oh, man, that's tough. Yeah, Rayshon's from Greensboro. You got about the same height, same build. Couldn't have two of you on the roster, huh? I mean, we don't know, man. We don't know. that's dope man but you had an illustrious career man like did some amazing things at umass i think your senior year conference player of the year right yep yep yep man so so what was that like gary forbes brooklyn's finest right you're at umass and your senior year your conference player of the year and for those that are listening and watching i don't think you understand there's a lot of players in your conferences right like so for you to win player of the year like what did that mean for you what was that moment like for you um for me I was really trying to win um and my for me what my role in winning was scoring rebounding passing kind of doing everything at a high level um and I was literally focused on winning and doing the best I was trying to get the most rebounds trying to get the most points you know steals I didn't have to do this too much because I would get past the ball.

8:24So that was my take on it. It wasn't necessarily chucking, even though I was kind of putting a lot of shots up there. But for me, I was just so driven at being the best at every single thing. And it would seem that way. And I remember I was in my apartment and coach called me and he was like, how does it feel to be player of the year? And I was just like, what are you talking about? And he was like, yeah, you're the player of the year in the conference. I was like, oh man, that's like cool. And I didn't realize, like I said, until now, it's like my father would always put these things in year four.

8:58I was just supposed to do that. And I felt like, yeah, I am the best player in a conference. I am supposed to be the player of the year. So that kind of thing always kind of messed with me a little bit, I guess, in the sense where I wouldn't necessarily appreciate these goals. Now that I look back, I was like, man, I was the player of the year in a conference. It's like, man, I did this. I did this. I was like, wow. But during it, it was almost a, yeah, I'm supposed to be this way. I'm supposed to be awarded this. yep yep yep so i want to go back to this optimism thing man because you know going into the nba your professional career you have type 1 diabetes bro and for a lot of people like even that smile you have right now right for a lot of people man like like i i know it was life-changing for you but when you when you talk to gary forage about it But when you in that moment, it was like, all right, it's just another thing I got to deal with.

9:59Right. Like it's just another thing today. I got to make sure I'm prepared for. But I'm still going to be Gary Forge, man. So when you find out the diagnosis of type one diabetes and obviously it alters, you know, how you can handle life professionally, being an athlete. Talk us through that moment a little bit. I remember when I was dying, well, the week or prior that I had the symptoms, I remember I gained a whole bunch of weight, like muscle at the University of Virginia. We were drinking these Gatorade protein shakes. I remember I had 52 grams of sugar or carbs and then another 20-something grams of added sugar.

10:39And my father would always be on me. He's like, man, you're not supposed to be eating too much of that, telling me all these different things. and my hard-headed stubbornness is like man like you don't know what you're talking about i'm in the acc i'm supposed to be i'm i go in at 190 i'm like man i i gotta play against rashad mccance and all these you know the dukes the carolinas the clemsons all these big schools so i gotta get stronger so my idea is like i gotta drink these shakes get in the weight room and my father would always tell me that it's it's too much and i guess in a way we didn't he didn't really talk about diabetes too much.

11:17He would more so show it. Like I didn't see a weakness. My father would take injections, go to work, lift, teach me how to, you know, do Olympic lifts and do everything normal. I didn't see any kind of disability in a sense. I didn't see a lack. And when I was diagnosed, I remember I got the test. The doctor said, you know, you may need to put basketball to the side, um you know to focus on your health and i understood i understand that now what he was saying but you know my stubbornness is like all right this doctor doesn't think i could do it all right watch um and you know i remember everybody in the family was sad obviously i was like nervous i was like all right what's you know what is this and it's like my my dad talked to me and i'm like all right my see my dad do it all right i could do it only thing i did have a fear of needles i've always had a fear i've had watched this movie uh saw when the lady was in the in the little pit with all the needles so ever since all these different things i had this but i remember the first day um i remember the nurse was trying to teach me how to do injections with saline and i was like nah you know maybe there's a pill or something you guys come up with some kind of way see and there goes my thinking of there has to be some kind of different way you know to figure this on it was like nah you gotta do this and i missed class that first first day because i'm just sitting there at my you know my table in my dorm looking at the syringe and looking at the vials like all right i see my dad do this all right i got i could do this i could do this and i talked myself it took me a couple of hours until i talked myself into doing it and once i did it it's like oh okay it's not that bad like and i can still do everything i went to practice i'm still playing it's like all right it's not really a big deal I just have to be more attentive to me right right nah that's good stuff dude that's really good stuff so you transition from professional sports into the business world right but there's that mentality that you had so so how did that mentality help you into the business world?

13:24I remember in 2018, when I came up with the concept of Soul Survivors, which is the platform that I created. And I was like, man, it's not that I didn't want to do coaching. It's like, I didn't feel like it would wake me up every single day. I didn't feel like that was my purpose. I knew that having a diabetic coma, six knee surgeries, you know being one of three players to ever play in the nba with type 1 diabetes it's like all right this has to mean something this has to be more than um you know just coaching basketball and that's you know for some people that's their purpose that's their you know reason i just didn't feel like that was solely mine and i looked at all the experiences and creating sole survivors i've played in different countries met different people experienced different situations and i just had a different perspective of it.

14:15And I wanted to figure out what was that way to, you know, impact or share that with the world. And I love, you know, children. I have this kind of childlike mentality anyway. Everyone says I always play around. I'm just that giggly kid. So it's like, man, I have to find a way to connect with the youth who are going to be adults someday and carry that on and pass on a legacy. And that shared optimism through difficult challenges. I didn't realize until a couple of years ago, it's like, man, you're one of three players to have ever played in the NBA with type one diabetes and the only Afro-Latino.

14:53It's like only 5 ,000 people ever played in the NBA and you're the only one just, you know, first. It's like, wow, that's kind of, you know, unique. And just, I want to share that perspective and that mindset with the youth who are, from what I've seen, what my take on it is, there's a lack of confidence, there's a lack of optimism in seeing kind of that, man, you can, you will, you must, you got to keep trying all these different cliche things that I live by and follow by. So that's what I wanted to pass on with the platform. And it's still taking some time, but I believe in the 10 ,000 hour rule.

15:37You know, if you put in 10 ,000 hours, you become a professional at it. I think I'm just about 10 ,000. I mean, I'm a published author. So, you know, now the goal is to get New York Times and just create a global impact. So let's talk about that, man. Like published author, about to be a bestseller. Again, that mentality that you have, that mindset that you have, when did you just say, all right, I'm about to write a book. it was in it was in uh towards 2017 2018 i wasn't getting the same deals and i started to understand it from a business side it's like all right this guy's getting older even though i can do the same things it's like six knee surgeries he has type 1 diabetes there's i kind of play it in a funny way to it's like a carfax report it's like all right you got two toyotas one has or two lexuses uh one has a hundred thousand miles one has 50 the other one has been in an accident you know the other one hasn't it's like all right which one do you you know you choose the same car but one is a little bit you know more damaged even though this one is still reliable it can still get you from a to b still do all the same things it's like you're going to choose the one with less mileage i guess yeah um so i started to understand that and i remember i came home from um I forgot what, maybe Argentina.

16:58And I was like, man, it's like, I got to figure something out. And I remember I sat in a room and I cried. It's like, I'm a super emotional guy. So it's like, man, I got to, there has to be a way. There has to be something else. And it took a little bit of time to figure it out. And it just clicked for me one day. It's like, I have to write a comic book. And I remember my parents was like, you can just go coach. You know, you do this, do this. Everyone had the answers. And I think, you know, it could have been there. There's a space where, you know, I do do that. But I don't know. I felt like what I what I've what I'm creating and what I've created thus far is needed, especially in the space that I'm doing it.

17:41Yeah. I've always wanted to ask you this, Gary, right? Because you're a huge, in my mind, and I know people that look up to you, we have the same circle of friends. You're a big time mentor, right? when did you know that also you could mentor others? Because I get asked that question and I'm like, I don't know. I think I just looked up one day and like people were reaching out to me. People were wanting advice from me. And it was like people were calling me mentor. And I was like, that's different. When did you know that moment for you? I kind of looked back and I was doing it the entire time without really knowing that I was being a mentor.

18:26I remember one of my diabetes awareness events, it was a softball event. And one of the parents came to me and she was like, thank you for what you do. You know, you're amazing. And it's like, I'm thinking in my head, I'm playing basketball. I'm doing something for the community. It's being, you know, a normal human being. And she said, she gave, she told me a story that her son wanted to play basketball and he got in the car with his father after school and he was with his friend he was like dad the um basketball trials are tomorrow um you know you know can you sign me up he was like oh you can't because you have type 1 diabetes and you know fortunately his friend was in the car he's like Gary Forbes has diabetes he plays in the NBA and I like that it still kind of gives me like chills like thinking about it and I remember when she told me that and I gave her a hug.

19:14I was like, wow, that's really cool. And I, I, it still, it still didn't really click with me, um, until recent years, you know, I had, um, athletes who reached out to me, you know, who are type one diabetic. How do you manage type one diabetes playing and, you know, in the NBA and college and all these different things. Um, and it's, it's been really, really cool to go through those experiences and be able to share, you know, my, you know, my path and my journey to success or, you know, to help them even be better than what I did. I love that, dude. I love that. For the listeners and viewers right now that are going through something, it could be something health related.

19:57It could be something spiritually related. It could be something at their job, right? What's some advice that Gary Forbes has to help people just push through whatever it is that you're going through in this season of life? um big cliche guy i live by it um i have it in my soul survivors um you know series uh your present situation is not your final destination um that's something that super powerful for me it's like all right you know whatever troubles you know are happening now um the goal is for tomorrow or the next day or whenever it is in my future self it's not going to be there Um, and even another one is to always doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.

20:41Uh, you know, I, it's like my grandmother enlisted. I'm, I'm not super religious, but I, uh, I am spiritual. I do, you know, have, uh, you know, conscious knowledge of a greater power. Um, you know, my grandmother always told me, you know, I'm a child of this great creator. It's like, all right, you know, these, these challenges, I never call it, you know, even having type 1 diabetes, a disease or illness, kind of change the wording to, you know, change something in my mentality. It's like, it's a challenge. It's a health challenge. And I can overcome a challenge. I can manage it, live with it, be the best, obviously be one of three to do it.

21:23So, you know, these things, you know, I know I can do it. So whatever has been put in front of me um i'm up for it i love it and last question gary for that athlete right that's like needing that push to keep going because you you know how it is especially in the nba right like free agency period we're in right now and you know you you might not get the call that you want right or you've got to play the waiting game because teams are like well i got plan a and what gary can tell you is teams have all the way down to like plan z right so you might be playing y if you don't realize it yet for that athlete it's like man like should i keep pursuing my dream what's your advice for that athlete um i even have enough i have a plan a is to be you know a new york times bestseller a successful business person um you know plan b all the way to z is to make plan a work always have that kind of mindset and vision and just that love like when you were a child plan a was to play basketball and have fun and be the best and score a whole bunch of points so to have that same mentality and love for the game and around the game and what you do i think it you know those kind of uh experiences will come to you um i've seen it done um i've done it so there we go there we go all right we're gonna do my hot five with gary forbes rapid fire all right gary so you know i have a lot of friends and mentors and buddies from from new york what's the best borough of basketball players all right so kenny kenny anderson my goat you heard that kenny smith you heard that I'm from the town man I gotta go with home I gotta go with home court Brooklyn What's the best place to get a slice in Brooklyn?

23:24Right now, Cuts and Slices in Brooklyn That's a promo That is my spot man I went to the one in Manhattan down in South the topping selection Yeah they got it That's my boy Cousin Slices is it. All right, so what's one team that you never got to play for that you always wanted to play for? New York Knicks. I wanted to be in that trade with Melo when he went to the Knicks. I thought I was, but that would have been fun to be home playing at, you know, my dad loved the Knicks. Playing at the Garden would have been cool. That's what's up. That's what's up. Who was your best teammate of all time? Still my guy today, Al Harrington One of the godfathers of his Children, my goddaughter Aleah, yeah, my boy Al Okay What's the post-NBA Post-professional sports What's the best piece of Advice you ever got?

24:31You're a Forbes I love it You're a Forbes that's very similar to my grandfather my grandfather always told me the one thing you have is a name and what you do with it is what you do with it your name precedes you and will outlive you so it's what you want to do with it so like Pop said you're a Forbes I love it so Gary man where can people follow and find you and what's something exciting you have going on find me at Gary at Gary Forbes underscore at the Soul Survivors www.thesoulsurvivors.com Right now, this week, we're going to Friends for Life in Orlando. It's a big diabetes awareness event.

25:17We're doing a campaign to sell 100 trilogies. Would love for everyone to be a part of that. The goal is to impact and empower children with chronic health conditions. There are over 200 to 300 million children globally, so this is a global impact that are affected by a chronic health challenge. So we're just not just we're going to impact and change the mindset and lifestyle of children all across the world and make them feel like heroes because they are. And that's the mission and goal with Soul Survivor. So a lot to come, lots to do. We're doing big things. The goal is to be everywhere. I love it man so I'll make sure we have links to everything in the show notes and the descriptions everyone do me a huge favor follow Gary on all those platforms go check out Soul Survivors and just appreciate the human being that Gary Forbes is man I can't thank you enough my love big love big love likewise to you everybody who's on this if you ain't subscribe to the Mick Hunt joint you know gotta click Let's do it.

26:29Let's do it. Well, Gary, I appreciate you, brother. I know how busy you are. This meant the world for me to chop it up with you. And to all the viewers and listeners, remember, your because is your superpower. Go Unleashed.

26:44Gary Forbes:Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged. If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share this with someone who needs it. And most of all, make a plan and take action because the next level is already waiting for you. Have a question or insight to share? Send us an email to hello at mickunplugged.com. Until next time, ask yourself how you can step up.

27:25Thank you.

27:55Thank you.

28:30Thank you.