Unstoppable: David Pollack's 50/40/10 Formula for Life

0:00Two big things happen in my life that I always like to share. 50-40-10 by David Pollard. You can outdo 50 % of the people in this world by showing up more, showing up with a good attitude, showing up ready to rock and roll. 40 % is the next step. In the right direction, with the right effort, I'm beating 90 % of people. But we got 10 % left, Mick. To you, white standards are important. Don't worry about how you feel every day because your feelings change every day. And what people say change and the task changes, but that doesn't change who you are and what you bring to the table every single time.

0:38Will you succeed all the time? No. I tell people leadership is a four letter word. C-A-R-E. Yeah. I think, first of all, if you have influence over one person, you're a leader. So everybody got that crazy person in your family that likes you for no reason. So everybody's a leader. dude, I've failed all along the way. I mean, I have failed so much more than I have succeeded. And I like to share those because those are real. The three H's is hard, it's hot, and it hurts.

1:09Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations. Buckle up, here's Mick. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today we're about to get personal with a really good friend of mine. We're talking about a ton of accolades. SEC player of the year, two times. We're not talking about one side of the ball. We're talking about player of the year, two times. Defensive player of the year, one time. All-American, two times. Three times. You name it, he is that guy. number one or first round draft pick.

1:52But what's more important to me, he's a man of God. He's an amazing father and he's an amazing husband. And to me, that solidifies the man of who he is. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor to bring my friend, Mr. David Pollock on to make him plug. David, how you doing, brother? Mick, wait a second. Sell me, dog. Golly, I'm not worth a million bucks, but I feel like it right now. Hey, you know that$5 you sent me? It goes a long way, bro. $5 still goes a long way in my world. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Man, I'm honored to have you here. You know, I've got a connection to Georgia.

2:26One of my uncles played football at Georgia in the early to mid eighties was the running back, like right after Herschel. So shout out to my uncle Tron, because I'm a bulldog first, right? So growing up, Tar Heel second. Absolutely. All I knew was Georgia, right? So me and my family, We're talking my Uncle Wayne and my Uncle Randy, my cousins, Torrance. I got to give everybody their shout out now because they'll kill me if I have David Pollock on and I don't talk about Torrance and Randy Jr. and Dexter. So I did my job. Now, David, it's about you. Covered. Covered. Now I guess I'll do mine now.

3:03Yes, sir. But David, man, like we can go so many places. You have an amazing journey, an amazing story. But for me, it all starts with you being that man of God first. And I would love for you to just talk about not necessarily your spiritual journey, but that moment that you knew God's my everything. Yeah, I didn't grow up with it at all in the household. And I had two great parents, Mama and Daddy, Kelly and Norm. And they they did everything for me, loved me, supported my dreams like crazy. But church just wasn't something we did. And two events happened. Two big things happened in my life that I always like to share.

3:41One, it started with an invite. And I think that's what we all have the ability to do. My neighbor across the street, he was like, hey, man, we're going to the church. And I was like, yeah, OK. And he's like, we're having this lock in. I was like, double out church and you're going to lock me in the church. I'm out, bro. No way. And then he said, this is what got me, Mick. He said, we play sports and stay up all night. In, right now. Punch that ticket. And I was like, I get to stay up all night and do that. So that's the first time I'd ever heard about God. I never heard about God really. And I'm sure there were examples of people that tried, but I wasn't ready for it.

4:19And God put this moment in front of me. So a simple invite got me in the door. And then I had a teacher named Mark Watson, who was my physics teacher. And Mark was so chill and so even, calm, cool, nice. And he had a Jesus sticker on his computer and he played praise and worship music at a public school in between classes. And I'll never forget, man, I had the good ability to annoy just about anyone. And I had so much energy and I was all over the place. And Mark was just like, oh, it's OK, chill. And just had a really different spirit about it. And then I was like, well, this dude's different, man.

4:52So I tell people all the time, it started with an invitation and then a life worth emulating. A dude that was living out the gospel that was so crazy and so different and unique that I said, that's different. I want that. And then when you spin it forward, going into the summer, so that was my junior year. That summer, we had to read 200 pages for outside reading for English. And I went to my English teacher and I said, hey, I'd like to pick the Bible. And she was like, why? And I was like, I don't know. I just, I want to read it. And she was like, well, I can't because you can't because I can't sit down with you.

5:20I don't know. And I said, Mr. Watson can. And I went to Mr. Watson. He said, absolutely. And Mr. Watson sat down with me. He volunteered his time and he literally sat down and he started to take me through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And he was laying out the gospels for me. And I was like, holy cow, wait a minute. Like, go back. What? Like Matthew did this and this is Mark, this is Luke, this is John, different accounts of Jesus and who is Jesus and started to learn, man, and just fire questions. And Mark was so patient and so kind and just started to answer my questions. And then from that point on, man, my life was absolutely never the same.

5:56Accepted Christ, started going to church and then got to go to the University of Georgia where God put more people in my life to continue my development. I love that, man. And to me, that's what it's about, right? It's how do we bring others, which you talked about it starting with the invite, but then how do we go deeper and then begin to share that knowledge, that love, that joy with others? And I commend you for that. It's one of the things that I've always loved about David Pollack. You know, again, I talked about the accolades in the opener. Amazing. You are, my Uncle Tron's going to kill me, my favorite bulldog player of all times, just like many others, right?

6:35I'm not the only one, but you are my favorite Bulldog player of all time. But before I got to know you personally, always understood your journey, always heard stories about you. And that's just who you are. And that's what I love the most, man, is that you are genuinely you, but you are passionate about your love for Christ. You're not ashamed of it. And you know where I'm going with this, because there are a lot of people that behind closed doors, they're there. but then they feel like certain opportunities they need to hold back or, you know, certain things you've got to hold back. I love the fact that you're always David Pollock.

7:09And I get that, Mick. I understand why. And I'll be honest, like I've also failed in some opportunities that I think I could have done better with sharing my faith and being more bold. But like I remember I got invited to the Playboy Mansion. You know, I was an all Playboy All-American as a junior. And I remember I turned it down because that's not like what I wanted to be known for or in alignment with. And I remember like that, that all of a sudden it got, it went crazy. And I had so many opportunities to talk about it. I was like, holy cow. And then I started to, to go and to do, but like, again, there's a process, man, that I think when we come to faith, we don't automatically know how to share, you know, our testimony and articulately put certain things.

7:46But if we go back to my last story and how I came to faith, everybody can invite somebody to church. Everybody can do that. It's the preacher's job then to deliver the word or bring them to someone that they know And everybody, the most important witness that we have is living our lives, is living out the gospel. I don't care if you know scripture inside and out, if you don't treat people with respect and you don't love others. Like if you don't do those things, nobody's going to go, man, I want to emulate that. Mark Watson, like he was so different and so unique. And so and he lived the fruit of the spirit so much that I'm like, I want more of that in my life.

8:19And so we have an awesome opportunity to turn people on. and we have an awesome or a bad opportunity a lot of times to turn people off by the way we live our lives and the way we treat them. Totally agree, brother. Totally agree. So let's go into some of these accolades, but not the accolades, but more of how you got there. Because these are the words of Mick and Mick only, and because we're not face-to-face, you can't slap me or anything. You were not supposed to be there, bro. I'm just going to be honest. You were not supposed to be there. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of consistency, because I tell people this all the time, especially in the business world.

8:59Talent's great, right? But it's going to get you so far. And, you know, people always say hard work outworks talent when talent doesn't show up. And I always say that's great. But when talent does show up and it's mixed with hard work, you have David Pollack. And to me, that's what it's about, right? Like you've got the talent and the hard work. and when you and I were face-to-face, we got to meet, you talked to me about this 50-40-10 and I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't think I've slept since because I've been so invigorated by that and I know that is your message and so I'm trying to like contain myself.

9:33I've been waiting for this moment to share the world, the 50-40-10 because I think that makes you who you are and I know that there are other people that are like you again, whether it's sports, whether it's business, whether it's entrepreneurship, that have that same thing and you've given it a label and I love it. So 50, 40, 10 by David Pollard. If you're going to be great and you have big dreams and big goals, it's going to come with sacrifice. And like I had a mindset. Now, listen, I don't know. God gave me this. Like God gave me physicality and a mindset and a work ethic. Like that was God given.

10:06And then I slowly started to learn to hone it. And I'll never forget when I was in eighth grade watching the World Cup. And And it's the one with Brandy Chastain, the famous one when they won gold. And I'll never forget the semifinal game they're talking on the broadcast. And they said the girls stopped drinking carbonation because it hurts their conditioning. I'm in eighth grade, Mick. I'm 14 years old. It's the last time I've ever touched a carbonated beverage in my life. Because I was like, dude, if I want to get here, like I got to give that up. And so I started to learn at a young age, like I got to do things that are different.

10:39I got to outwork people. And I do it with my daughter and I love it because my daughter, me and my daughter have this little thing where she loves to work and she's starting to really embrace it. And I always say, baby girl, I said, we're working the dark. We're working the dark. Like we're working the dark. Don't worry about anything else. It will come to light. Like, but you just keep working the dark and it's kind of our own, you know, little thing that we've been able to do. But 50, 40, 10, you can outdo 50 % of the people in this world by showing up more, showing up with a good attitude, showing up ready to rock and roll.

11:09Like every time you're there, be where your feet are. There is no elevators to the penthouse, bro. We've taken the steps. We are taking the steps. We are going to be here and we are going to do it every single day. I don't care about your feelings. I care about where you are. Okay, so there is a standard that we meet. It's standard over feelings. Like you're going to be here. This is who you are. This is what you are. And I compare that with football. Like when I walk in, like at practice, I'm not always going to be 100%. But there's also times that I stepped in Stanford Stadium, Stanford Stadium, where I was 70%.

11:42But that's where I'm at. So I got to find it. And I got to give what I got. And so I had to learn that on the practice field by showing up continuously. 40 % is the next step. 40 % of people, man, you can out think. You can out prepare. You can out organize. It's amazing to have a work ethic. That is a great thing. That is not a bad thing. But if we're climbing this mountain feverishly and we're getting to the top, like I'm going to get to the top no matter what. And you get to the top and you go, oh, crap, I climbed the wrong mountain. Like you did a lot of hard work and you grinded, but you're in the wrong spot.

12:19Right. Like I went the wrong direction. So getting organized and realizing like with the direction I go every single day matters. So watching tape in football was so huge because you build instincts. You build mental reps. You understand the game. You see things faster. So that was a big part of my success was I think I built more reps in my head and more success by thinking the game. And then when I got in it, it was slow. It was still. It was easy. Now I could be crazy and I could give in the right direction with the right effort. I'm beating 90 % of people. All right. I'm not a math major. I play defense and I'm not the smartest in the world, but we got 10 % left, Mick.

13:02and the 10 % left is you are left with those people that work their tail off. You are left with those people that have direction, that have guidance, that use nutrition, diet, and in my field, whatever it took to get to there. Now it's who's got this man. Like you're left with a bunch of dogs. Who's going to eat your heart with a spoon? Like who's going to stab until who's going to give in? Who's going to keep fighting? Like it's going to suck. You're going to lose a lot of battles, but you better get your butt back up and you better get ready to roll because there's another one coming and another one coming.

13:34So that's how I define 50, 40, 10. Man. So you can't see it, but just like when I was at your house, I have chills, bro. Like the leader in me connects with that so well on a business level and an entrepreneur level, because that is it. You're going to outwork 50 % of the people, right? You can outthink, you can outprepare, you can out organize 40 % of the people. It's that last 10 to me that separates who really is committed to it, who can I depend on and who can I count on, but more importantly, how can I deliver when no one else does? And bro, so the business side of me, that night when I got home, man, if you could see my wall, it is nothing but I have 50, 40, 10 everywhere and I circle 10.

14:25And when I wake up, This is no lie. When I wake up, I circle the 10 and I say, what's the dog going to do today? What's the dog going to do that no one else has committed? I can influence the great Nick. I mean, that's great. Thank you, brother. Bro, I love that, man. And I know that there is a big story behind that. There is a big message behind that. And I don't want to tease the world with that yet today. But when David starts going in on that, you're going to feel just like I feel. I'm sure there are listeners and viewers right now that just got cold chills, too, because that is literally the most powerful concept I think that I've heard.

15:06And if you haven't started it yet, that there's a book about 504010, brother. Well, in the in the works, it's definitely something that's that's swirling and we're working on. But, you know, it's amazing. Like we all have different gifts and blessings. And man, I am ADD and you can tell probably like I'm high energy all over the place. And one thing that's been a struggle for me is like, can you get still enough and can you sit down and can you do the things that need to get done? I'm really learning that challenge. Like that's a that's a challenge for me that I've done more of embracing more reading.

15:39Like that's something that doesn't come natural. Like I'd rather work and be physical and go do something and be interactive. and, you know, just with my kids, like circling them up and making intentional time to pray and intentional time to read and intentional time to talk about things and stuff. So like, that's something for me that's always a work in progress, an area of my life that I got to continue to grow and get better at. I love it, man. I love it. And I know you're going to do it because of who you are. I want to tackle, no pun intended, one of the things that you said, standards over feelings.

16:12I'm a big believer in standards, right? Like I personally am not into goals as much as I am standards, because to me, you can't set a goal until you have a standard. Right. You know, Mike Tomlin, I said this in a previous podcast. One of the things I love most about him, I'm not a Steelers fan, but he said the tradition in Pittsburgh is the standard is the standard. And I immediately connected with that. And I know you being the person that you are truly connect and not only connect, but embody that. So I'd love to talk a little bit about, to you, why standards are important. And if you have a story around that, that'll be awesome, too.

16:49Mike Tomlin, by the way, there are a few guys in professional sports that when they talk, I listen. And he's one of them. I mean, just he is liquid gold. I mean, that dude is just in the way he says things. I'm just like, yeah, like I'll run through a wall for that. I can't imagine being a player every day and being called out and being held to that standard. But, you know, I saw so much of it making in my life. And I just I see so many people and I started to like see, OK, well, this is a person that want to work. And then I would see other people that would come in and I'd be like, all right, they complain all the time, but they work.

17:24And then I saw people that came in and they always worked and they didn't talk and they didn't complain. And so you're like, what are the keys? Like, how do we bring this together and understand this? And so we started talking with our football team, man, like it's nothing that happened today. Nothing that happened yesterday changes where you are right now and where you are right now is at football. And if you're at football, I need to be my best. If I'm in school, I need to be my best. And I am going to adhere to this standard that whatever I do, I'm going to run the race and I'm going to be consistent and I'm going to do it in a manner in which to get the prize.

18:03right? Like I'm not just here to participate. I'm not here just to show up. There's such a big difference in life in showing up into something like showing up and being there, like showing up and being present, just like with the football players, being able to tell them when they started their first day this year, when you walk in, you go to your teacher, I'm here to be a leader. I'm going to sit in the front row. I'm going to pay attention to the whole class. Like I'm setting a standard. Like this is who I am. This is what I am. This is what I'm going to be. And I think that takes some thought sometimes and that takes some, I'm going to run and I'm going to go, well, oh, okay, this happens and it kind of knocks me down.

18:41Man, this stinks. I'm where I'm at. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Uh-uh. We ain't staying here though. That's not who we are. That's not what we are. When we show up, we show up with excellence. When we show up, we're going to punch that clock and we're going to make sure we fit the standard. So, you know, don't worry about how you feel every day because your feelings change every day. And what people say change and the task changes, but that doesn't change who you are and what you bring to the table every single time. Will you succeed all the time? No. But I know you're going to bring your best effort.

19:13I know you're going to compete. I know you're going to fight. I know it's going to be important to you because you have a standard that you're going to actually hold yourself to. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So when you got to Georgia, right, you were a fullback. What was the switch to defense? And then what was that initial moment like when it's like, yeah, Dave, we appreciate all this fullback stuff. We need you on the dumb side of the ball. I like that you put it that way because you're right. So when I got to Georgia, we started conditioning in the summertime. And I went in early so I could condition all through that summer.

19:46And Coach Van Gorder was my defensive coordinator. And he was always like, hey, Polak, come to the dark side. I'm like, coach, it's Polak. He was like, hey, Polak, come to the dark side. I'm like, all right, forget it. Like, he knows my name. Like, he's calling me that on purpose, obviously. But he was like, he said he watched me in conditioning in the summer. And it just, like, he said, you were looking and trying to beat everybody. And he was like, I just love the competitiveness. And so our defensive tackle room gets decimated with injuries. And I played defensive tackle in high school and running back.

20:17So I played both. So coach was like, hey, man, we need we need some defensive tackles. And so they throw me a defensive tackle and I started playing defensive tackle. And it was awesome. It was great. It was it was it was a new challenge. It was hard. There was a lot coming at you fast. And so I started at fullback, moved to defensive tackling camp and then had a pretty decent freshman year. And then before my sophomore year, like I moved the defensive end. So you're talking about three positions in less than a year on campus. And so it was a lot that came at you. But Coach Van Gorder saw me and kind of my attitude.

20:52And he was like, I think we can work with that. He was like, he always said, like, you're more of a defensive player. Like, your mindset and your mentality, you need to be over here with us. Yeah. What he was saying was you're a little crazy, right? Yeah. That's true. You try to be politically correct there. He was saying you're a little crazy. You're a little off. You can be a little crazy to play football. Like, you can be a little crazy to, like, beating people up and banging your head against other people and enjoy it. Like, yeah, 100%. Yeah. An amazing career at Georgia. All the accolades that I mentioned aren't even a tenth of all the things that you accomplished at Georgia.

21:27And being a leader, and that's, again, one of the many things I love about you is that you are a leader as well, too. And not only that, but you take pride in being a leader. You take pride in, hey, the buck stops with me or everyone's counting on me, right? Can you talk about how that shaped your career professionally outside of sport and your family as well? Because I think that's something that a lot of people don't spend enough time embodying is you're a leader and there are people that count on you. And there are moments where it's you and you've got to rise to the occasion. Again, I'm not just talking sports there.

22:07Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, I think, first of all, if you have influence over one person, you're a leader. So everybody got that crazy person in your family that likes you for no reason. So everybody's a leader, okay? And everybody has influence and opportunity to use it. And I would say this, when I was younger, I did it by example, 100%. And I didn't know how to communicate with people. It wasn't a strength of mine. and my definition of how I led was a direct reflection of how I like to be led and how I responded to how I was led. So I was firing brimstone and I was, get your butt to the ball.

22:45I didn't use those language because I wasn't a believer when I was younger a lot of times and so I used a lot worse. But it was by challenging, it was by insults. You know, that was what I thought was leadership. That's what I saw from my coaches and so that's what I kind of emulated. As I've gotten older, I've really learned the value of understanding who you are leading because not everybody's gonna respond the same way. And it took me till having kids, Mick, to figure that out. I had a son who was totally different than me. He's my wife's personality to a T. Nothing bothers Nicholas, nothing.

23:16And he's just chill and everything's fine and it's gonna be okay. And I'm like, what is this alien? Sweet baby Jesus, what am I doing? God, what did you give me? And so really like coaching kids and six-year-old kids with football and seven-year-old kids and starting to see the different personalities and really what makes people tick and then pour into them individually. And then you realize, oh man, you can get to know. And now I think more than ever, like understanding they've got to know you care about them. They have to know you care about them. When they know you care about them, you really have a position of authority with people and you can speak to them.