Life Changing Steps To Conquer Self-Doubt & Unlock Your Confidence

31:21He's hilarious. That's not why I had him on. Jeff has this thing where he says, Hey man, when I traveled for the last 30 years of my life, he goes, I know me, man. He goes, I've never cheated on my wife, but I like ladies. And the reason I've never cheated on my wife is I put myself in situations, man, where I can't. So on the road, I don't go out. I get room service because I don't want to be, he goes, I'm fine in a bar, but I have a drink. I'm all right. I have two. I don't know. Three, who knows? So I don't put myself in those situations. Jeff's in that circle for me on marriage, right? I got other ones in my financial.

31:53I got other ones, my fitness. I just had Phil Heath, seven time Mr. Olympia on my show. He's in my damn fitness circle. So I want people that live, people don't have to be perfect. They have to be great in the area you want growth in. And so John Gordon is in that faith area for me where I've traveled with John. We've gone to UFC fights. We've done different things. The conversations with my circle in John's group, when you're in Las Vegas at a UFC fight, I promise you are very different than what most men are doing in Las Vegas when they go. And that's why that's so powerful for me. So I'm interviewing for the real goods.

32:27How about the old quote, how to get a great wife, deserve one, how to get a great friend, deserve one. So what role do you, because I'm sure tons of people want you in their inner circle. What role do you think you play for those whose inner circles you're in? That's a good question. You probably would have to ask them that. I'd like to think that I show up in a lot of those circles, though. I hope I show up in the father circle, the business circle, the integrity circle, the faith one. I think that what I bring to most people is that, and I learned this from my dad. My dad would, I don't have, I've made hundreds of millions of dollars on very limited skills, brother.

33:09But the ones that I have, see, the key to success in the corporate world or in any world is truly identifying your own gifts and using them to serve others. But here's the thing that leaders don't get. But you've got to identify other people's gifts. You've got to get great at going, wow, this is what you're great at, and then link it to the task you want them to do. Because the two or three things someone's great at, they know they are. And when you can say, hey, I see this in you, and then link it to what you want them to do, now you're leading them. Hey, man, you care so much. Or, man, your math skills, or your problem solving, or your intensity, or your work ethic, they go, you know what?

33:44I do have crazy work. That's why you're going to prevail in this company. and you link it to what you want to do. Identify the gifts. My gifts are really simple, man. I got two or three. My main gift though, is my ability to read people and be present with them. Where'd that come from? When I was five, my drunk dad would come through the front door. I had three little sisters and a mom. As a five-year-old little boy, I'd have to read this man. Which dad's coming home? Is it drunk dad? And I'd read his physiology and how he would talk. Is his tie loose? Is his hair messed up? Is he slurring? How's he walking?

34:16And this little boy at five years old, I'm studying this man and I go, he's drunk, dad. My sisters need to go upstairs. Mom should go take a shower. And then I'm going to talk to dad and change his state, which is my second gift, my ability to communicate. If it was sober, dad, we'll go in the backyard and shoot some hoops. So this skill, this adversity I went through gave me this main skill in my life that in business, it's my ability to read people, identify their giftedness, and communicate with them in such a way. I'm really limited other than that. I have two or three other things I'm pretty good at.

34:47I'm an intense dude. I'm a competitive dude. I care. But I've taken my gifts that God gave me or that the world developed in me or both and leveraged them. And you've got to get good at this in leading people, their giftedness. And don't make it generic. Oh, you're a superstar. man you're a rock star no no no what exactly is my gift two or three of them link it to my career link it to what you want me to do and now you're leading me like almost no one else and last thing i'll say when you truly identify someone's gifts that work with you you're on a list of less than three or four people in their entire life who have ever told them that maybe the only one you become someone they revere forever when you point out the greatness in them yeah i have this mindset of like a talent scout and have always be looking out for it and making sure that they know it.

35:37I mean, the two people that come to mind immediately, my high school football coaches, Bob Gregg and Ron Oliver, because they made me believe before I believed. And I'll never, ever, ever forget that feeling of, and then you kind of become something and I always point back to them. And like, now I see the power that we can do that for other people. We should really be intentional about that. I think that is a really powerful way to go about it. You just worded it, brother. Most people would say it was a coach or a teacher or a parent in the power of one more. Here I am shamelessly promoting. And here's the reason that I'm promoting this.

36:13I want you to get the book. But I say about leaders, man, there's three chapters on leadership. There's four types of people in life. One, they're not motivated at all. That's the masses. Then there's motivated people or motivating leaders. They get you to do things based on motive, which is good. Do this. You get a bonus. Do this. You get the card. Do this. You get the award. Powerful way to lead people. Low level, but it works. Third is inspirational. You move people. The root of inspiration is to be in spirit, to move people with energy, to move them in a way that's higher than just motives.

36:45And that's a great way to lead. Very few leaders get there. The fourth level is rarefied air. And that's to be aspirational, where people aspire to be like you, right? Most great leadership things are caught, not taught. They watch it in you and they see it. This is true for me as a dad as well. Your coaches were to the point where you wanted to prove them right. You wanted to be more like them. You wanted to live up to the belief they had in you. They were aspirational leaders. And that's the difference between greats and the pretty good ones.

37:23This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. fiscally responsible financial geniuses monetary magicians these are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds because progressive offers discounts for paying in full owning a home and more plus you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it so your dollar goes a long way visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.

38:03Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door. Expertly cleaned and folded. So you could take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you. Like tea time you. Mmm. Or this tea time you. Or even this tea time you. So did you hear about Dave? Or even tea time, tea time, tea time you. So update on Dave. It's up to you. We'll take the laundry. Rinse. It's time to be great. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Milet Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes.

38:42Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Michael Chandler, welcome to Max Out. Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate it. It is a blessing to be here. Okay, question. him. You said something, there's so much depth to you earlier. You said, I'm not training against the dude necessarily that I'm fighting next. I'm not even training against the dude that I spar with. I think so many people that want to be high achievers compare themselves to the person in the cubicle next to them or in their current office, you know, or in the local area, as opposed to the standard, the best possible standard.

39:13So could you just speak to that a minute about training to a standard compared to just the opponent or just the sparring partner or just what's in the gym that day because that holds us back as well true true yeah and I think it's I mean for me people ask them they're always asking about my opponent my opponent he's he's this tall he's got these attributes he's got these accolades and without sounding cocky like I'm not like I'm looking past the opponent truthfully I can tell you this with a hundred percent certainty that I don't need to be, I don't need to train to beat that opponent. I just need to be the best version of myself that night inside the octagon.

39:54I need to be the Michael Chandler with zero hindrances, zero second guessing, zero fears, and only faith and excitement about becoming my best self. If I can, if I can get done with that fight, get my hand raised and have zero regrets about my performance, knowing that I performed at the highest level that I possibly could that night, then there's not a man on this planet that can beat me. And I truly believe that. So, and I, so my prayer before the fight, isn't God give me the victory or God let my opponent stumble. My prayer is God, just let me perform like I trained and let me perform in a manner that is consistent with the way that you see me, God.

40:37And that is consistent with my gifts and my abilities that you've blessed me with. Because like I said, I truly believe that in that moment, if I'm inside that octagon and that cage door closes, if I perform at my best, I'm not going to lose. And this isn't kind of the hoorah, well, you gave it your best, so you really didn't lose even if you did lose. Like they say, well, if you gave it your best, you didn't lose. That's true in a lot of senses. But also, I'm more just saying that if I can go out there and get in that flow state, there's nobody that can beat me. And I truly believe that. So how do you make sure that you perform that way?

41:12Well, you can't ever make sure with 100 % certainty we're going to have bad days, we're going to have off nights, we're going to have bad performances no matter what. But number one, never being afraid of having a bad performance. Number two, being okay with the uncertainty that's about to ensue. I mean, you can't really think of a career more volatile than mixed martial arts. Being inside of a cage, locked inside of a cage, being tied onto a tornado, you have to be okay with the uncertainty that's about to happen. And for me, I always say, you know, win, lose or draw, I'm going to be okay because my God still loves me.

41:44My family still loves me and I still love me. And the hardest thing was I always knew my God loved me. I always knew my family loved me. But that hardest part was and I still love me. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you have to be okay with the uncertainty that's about to happen. I talk about every area of life being willing to embrace uncertainty and run towards it. On the other side of uncertainty is everything you want. best relationship you've ever had there's no certainty to it right there's no certainty that at all any great victory anything you've ever done it has you have to go through the uncertainty barrier everyone's saying your comfort zone forget all that comfort zone you gotta go through complete uncertainty you the other thing too for me i don't know if you relate to this or i'm just curious that i love me third one's my issue too and i've gotten a lot better that over the years and one of the reasons i don't mean overly hokey here i am with one of the toughest men in the world.

42:31But one of the reasons that I would not give myself love or affirmation or permission to like myself, even if I'm being completely candid, like actually like myself, so everybody knows is to me, I had to be perfect. And if I wasn't perfect, I didn't, I wasn't worthy of really liking or loving myself. And perfect is a cop-out standard. Perfect is impossible. But I've kind of heard you talk about this a little bit too. This notion of the perfect fight or the perfect sparring session or the perfect husband, right? The perfect man of faith. Well, you're going to miss that one every time. So if that's your standard, you have wired yourself for misery.

43:13And then it stumbles into, at least for me, kind of this cycle of lack of confidence because I'm not hitting the promise I made myself, which was perfection. Because self-confidence is keeping the promises you make to yourself. So I'm just curious how that plays with you. 100 % and that's you know I think especially whenever you and not to get overly you know overly spiritual about it but when you when you truly believe that God you know Rick Warren's purpose-driven life that's that's what everybody wants right how do I find my purpose whenever you feel like you've found your purpose and I truly believe that mixed martial arts being put on a platform through mixed martial arts is my purpose so I found my purpose so it's God ordained so if God ordained, then, okay, I got to be perfect, right?

43:56Because this is the gift that I'm trying to give God and God deserves. We all know God deserves a perfect gift when really he's looking down at us saying, you're all flawed individuals. I made you perfect in the image of myself, but you are made perfect through the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, right? So we are striving for perfection and that's really truthfully, if I'm being honest, why my first loss happened. So I go out and yes, I win. I beat Eddie Alvarez, I've become the number three guy in the entire world. Everybody's saying Michael Chandler is the next big thing. So immediately, okay, I'm the number three guy in the world.

44:29Everybody wants me to go win the UFC title when I'm done with my Bellator contract. Media is talking about me award after award. You know, this guy's the next big thing. So what do I say in my human brain? Okay, now I got to be perfect, right? Before I was just trying to go, before I was just shooting off the cuff. I was working hard. I was doing things right. I was living the champion lifestyle. But now that I am the champion, now I got to be perfect. so what did I do instead of instead of taking my training to the next level it went down in the dumps because just as you said every sparring session was another opportunity to be imperfect you know I could win four minutes and 58 seconds of a round but it was that two seconds that I lost that told me in my mind I lost that round I could I could have hit a guy a thousand times with the best combinations in the world but I got popped once with a jab and immediately my mind said, Michael, you're not perfect yet.

45:17You know, I could lift a thousand pounds, but well, Michael, you're not perfect because that guy over there can lift a thousand and two pounds, you know? So I gave, I started, I started living in this jail cell inside my brain of perfect. And there was, it was impossibly perfect. And it wasn't until my mentor, Chris Patterson talked about, instead of trying to be perfect, why don't you just focus on success? So because success can be gained 1%, 1%, 1 % every single day. And over a long career, you know, I can joke about it now, but it took me 12 years to become an overnight success. And all of a sudden I'm Michael Chandler, UFC lightweight, number four in the world, probably going to win the UFC title here in the next calendar year.

45:57But it took me 12 years to become this success named Michael Chandler, right? So I just needed to start, just stop putting so much pressure on myself to be perfect and just put the pressure on myself and the friendly pressure on myself to be above board, to be excellent, but not be perfect. There's a lot of different things that we can strive for that are just below perfect, that allow you just enough grace, just enough leeway to still love yourself through your trials, through your bad days. Because let's be honest, man, it doesn't matter. You speak to a lot of high performers, millionaires, billionaires, the people at the highest level they have their bad days they have their ups and they have their downs and it's in those downs it's in those bad days where they can continue to motivate continue to see through the mud see through the muck towards a brighter future knowing that the sun really the sun did go down today but it will rise again tomorrow and our best day could be tomorrow even if we had a bad day today it's one of these shows brother i will listen to back several times so one of the things is really true is when i started to really work with you know what everyone would call, you know, higher elite performers or whatever it was, this is many, many years ago.

47:08I come home and think to myself, man, these are very human beings. You know, like I was struck by their humanity. I was struck by their frailties. I was struck by their, some of their weaknesses and it actually gave me hope. I think that's what you're doing right now. And we've all heard this thing, like comparison is just this deadly game to play. Compare with another person. The worst comparison is to perfection because that's a standard you're going to miss every single time. You literally wired yourself for pain. I'm just curious about fighting in general. By the way, I love Chris Patterson.

47:36I just want to make sure I stick that in there. In fact, that's how you and I met. Let me ask you this question. I'm just curious. Is there fear before a fight for you? In other words, 10 minutes out, you're going to go in there. This is the thing about fighting that I think people just forget because it almost looks like a video game when you're watching it on TV for guys, right? I've had the pleasure of being in the cage a little bit myself. And so I know what it's like, not like you do, but there's another man in there. You can't hide. They close the door, Michelle Waterson said on the show, you know, and there's you and another man.

48:10That's the ultimate form of combat. It's the ultimate form of you dealing with you. Ironically, as you said, do you have fear in those moments or is there no fear because of confidence, because of faith, because of preparation or what do you do with the fear? if you do have it? You know, I actually, there is no fear of the physical. You know, could I get injured? Of course. Could I break a bone? Could I, you know, even worse? Could I end up, could tonight be the night that my career just ends, career and the injury? Of course, those things could happen. But once again, as I was alluding to earlier, if you're afraid of that uncertainty that's about to happen, if you're afraid of that physical aspect of the fight, it's going to be tough because you're not going to be fighting in that flow state.

48:55You're not going to be fighting at your top level. Me standing across a wrestling mat or standing across a cage from another man, my size doesn't scare me. The biggest fears that I have are going out there and performing at a subpar level. And not just subpar, but a really bad level. We've all had those moments where you get back in your car after a meeting, or for me, go back to the locker room after a fight and you just take a deep breath and you take a step back and say, what just happened? That was such a bad performance. And I've had those, and that's the worst feeling in the entire world.

49:31Because for a mixed martial artist, you know, we only get two, maybe three opportunities a year to showcase our skills in a cage in front of millions of people. So there's so much riding on that one performance. But I've gotten to the point where, once again, going back to no matter what, win, lose, or draw, my God still loves me, my family still loves me, and I still love me. And because I've gotten to that point, knowing that, once again, leaning on the fact that I'm not going to be perfect, just trying to be successful. You know, if I would have hung my hat on a couple of losses that I had in my past, I never would have got here to become the overnight success who is Michael Chandler in the UFC, right?

50:10You know, it took a long time for me to get here, but I'm a battle-hardened veteran. I was galvanized by the road that I took. You know, I was a new name to a lot of people when I made my UFC debut back in January at UFC 257. But I was not a new name to the true MMA fans. I was not a new mixed martial artist, a new professional fighter. For me, all roads had led to me being backstage at that UFC 257. But it's almost a weird parallel because before, I felt like I always had something to lose. When I was fighting in Bellator, I was fighting a lot of guys who I was supposed to beat in the first round.

50:47There was almost no way to win or it be a positive outcome unless I went out there and finished somebody in the first round. And you're talking about fighting world-class. They're still world-class athletes. They still train every single day. They're still across the cage where you want to rip your head off just like you want to do the same. But I was always fighting guys who, for the most part, were ranked below me. And I had to go out there and have a dominant performance. So I could go out there, and if I beat someone in the second round, people would always say, well, you should have beaten them in the first round.

51:14You're Michael Chandler. you're supposed to be that much better than them. Whereas this was also a beautiful thing at UFC 257. I was fighting Dan Hooker, the number five, number six guy in the world. I had nothing to lose, you know? So that was a beautiful feeling, having nothing to lose, because I would venture to say that the underdog is in such more of an advantageous situation because they have nothing to lose compared to the guy who was on top, who has everything to lose every single time he steps into an arena. know and i got i got to that point ufc 257 and luckily for me i'm going to be an underdog the next fight probably an underdog the next fight so you're going to see the best version of myself for sure the next couple fights i was going to say to you i want you to remind yourself of that no matter what situation you're in because you're exactly right in every situation it's the illusion of loss that causes us to underperform so if you can always not give yourself this bogus illusion of loss even if you're the world champion and anything you do even if you're the best when i'm on a speaking ticket and there's 10 other speakers, but everyone maybe assumes in that case, potentially I should dominate that stage when I speak.

52:17I don't let myself think that there's an illusion of loss coming if someone, if I don't live up to my game, because that's when I slip. That idea of that subpar fight, I just had a subpar engagement recently. But for me, every time I've had one of those what just happened moments, if I'm really self-reflective and it's really self-reflection, there was something in my preparation that I could have done better there. It's always back to me. Like you said earlier, it's not my opponent, especially in business. It's always preparation. How much of your confidence? And when in this particular situation, there were a couple of things where I said to myself, literally what just happened?

52:54No joke. And by the time I got on the plane to come home, I'm like, I know exactly what happened. I'm BSing myself. Here's what happened. I took a little bit for granted this one area. That's my big strength. I didn't need to work on that preparing for this. turns out I did right and so is that for you usually the answer to what just happened and how much of your confidence is linked to preparation being being the small guy from the small town who had to always fight to scrap and claw his way to be being seen by the coaches or being seen by by the team um I had to be the hardest worker in the room you know I I talk about the walk-on mentality you know I walked on to the University of Missouri there were 16 guys in my in my class only two of us ended up becoming all-Americans and one of them was going to become an all-American his name was Raymond Jordan he was a state champion from New Bern North Carolina he was my my roommate he was going he was destined for big things he was full ride scholarship guy but I was the walk-on guy I was the guy who the coaches didn't look at for a whole year didn't say a word to for the whole year so you know me being the naive young guy I had to outwork everybody.

54:04I was the first one at practice. I was the last one to leave. I was putting in the extra reps. And, and although that might, might sound a little bit, um, I guess, maybe insecure to a lot of maybe people listening right now, you still have to have that walk on mentality, that mentality that says, even though I've gotten to where I am now, even though there's a couple zeros in my bank account, even though I got this name, even though I have this account, even though I have this level of, of success, I have this level of, of platform, you still have to be working every single day like you're a walk-on um so for me my preparation is the most important part i i know for a fact that if i step inside the cage and there is doubts about my preparation i'm never ever going to perform at a at the highest level now i might win the fight still i might win um the contest so to speak but there still will be that some self-reflecting of you got kind of lucky because you slacked in this area, you slacked in that area.

55:04And that's, I think what a lot of high achievers do, they, they hold themselves to a higher standard, not the, not the perfection standard. That's, that's where you fall into that, that valley of, of trying to be too perfect, but that level of excellence, am I excellent in all these areas that I need to be excellent in? And if that answer is no, then chances are you're going to get, you're going to be in a spot that you're leaving yourself open to having failures and having loss. I just think it's amazing that when you walk into an octagon, you walk into the cage. By the way, I'm going to take this from you myself.

55:37God still loves me. My family still loves me. I still love me. Everybody listen to the show. should be writing that down or watching the show. That'll be a mantra you give yourself the gift of on a very regular basis. What a beautiful reminder as you're going into combat. It's just amazing. That's what you're saying to yourself. Okay, physical. When I look at you and I, you know, I'm around a lot of athletes. I see a superior physical specimen. And even as you've gotten older, I look at you six, seven years ago. I look at a dude now. This is a superior physical specimen. And I, for a lot of my self-confidence just comes from my physicality.

56:13I'm not the same as you, obviously, but I think self-confidence can come from moving your body. It's one of the first places everybody listening or watching this can transform their self-confidence because it's something you can control. You can't control a sales call or a close or the amount of money you've got, or even how someone's treating you in a relationship. Is there something specific you've done the last two or three years? Is it, is it heavier lifting? Is it incorporating more weights? Is it, you know, like in Brady's case, it's all this plyometric stuff he's doing to be more pliable.

56:40What is it for you that's made you, I mean, to me, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you were physically better before, but you look physically better to me now. Am I right about that? And what's the difference? I think you are right about that. I think, I think I, when I got into the sport, I was already going to be more athletic or stronger physically than a lot of people because of my wrestling background. Division I wrestling, in my opinion, is the hardest, most physically demanding sport in the entire world. So when I was going to come from Division I wrestling into the sport of mixed martial arts, where these guys have just been training mixed martial arts, I knew for sure I was going to be faster than them, stronger than them.

57:19I wasn't going to have great striking. I wasn't going to have great submissions or submission defense necessarily, but I was going to be a good athlete coming from wrestling. since then I've always trained to become the best athlete I can possibly be and it was actually interesting that you say that because there is a young football player from MTSU here in Nashville I was training with my trainer and he asked my trainer he said hey Jay Holt if you've never fought before how do you train a fighter and I love that I heard it because I wanted to hear his his uh his response and his response was well we're just training to become a better athlete Because I say, if I can be the better athlete in the cage that night, it might not win me the fight for sure, but it will put me head and shoulders above my opponent when it comes to speed, quickness, changing angles, closing the distance, strength, picking a guy up, putting him down, and cardio.

58:09The only one who is undefeated is Father Time, you know? So eventually there will come a time when that clock ticks for the last time and, okay, it's time for me to be done fighting. Yeah, I just don't have it anymore. So the more I can turn back the hands of time by doing explosive, more plyometric movements, the better and taking care of my body. You know, I it'd be crazy. I've been training out for 12 years and probably only about the last five or six years have I been doing body work every single every single week. I get I get body work by a massage therapist, a highly knowledgeable physio body worker who understands the body.

58:45And I lived in back pain for a really long time. And I discovered a product called the So Right. I realized my psoas muscle from running, jumping, kicking, doing all these things was hindering me physically. And also, I just woke up in pain every single day. So I had low back pain at all times. So I started lengthening my psoas. What's the product called, Michael? The So Right. Okay. P-S-O-R-I-T-E. I'll send you a few of them. Because I believe you've heard David Goggins talk about it. I actually spoke about it on the Joe Logan podcast because everybody, you speak to anybody, what's the one thing that hurts everybody?

59:22Their back always hurts. And I think right now I'm sitting at a desk right now in this chair and my psoas is being crunched down. And God didn't design our bodies to sit for the crazy amount of hours that we do. Or if you're sitting in beautiful Southern California traffic, you're sitting in your car. It doesn't matter how nice your car is and how beautiful the leather is on the seats. You're still sitting down in a non-optimal position. I think when it's affordable, people need to investigate more of this body work stuff. I've neglected that all my life. I've done pretty good with nutrition. I've trained really hard.

59:51I've not done enough body work. And I know that there's a dollar amount, although I have sponsors on my show with little different gadgets and different things that do help you with that. And I'm not plugging the sponsors. I'm just telling you guys, the Theragun is something that's really made a difference for me. And I'm not plugging the product. I'm just saying that's a form of body work. The other thing I want to just say to everybody, too, this is one of my favorite conversations of all time, bro, which I knew it would be. but the fact that you define yourself as an athlete, as much as you do a fighter.

1:00:17And I just want all the business people or moms or dads out there. What if one of the definitions, one of the terms you gave yourself as you were an athlete, you can be an athlete at any age. I actually call myself that. Like it's one of the words I use in my affirmations is I'm an athlete. I think about that. I think that way. I think more athletes are attempting to become business people. If you look at the LeBron Jameses and the Michael Chandlers and the Tom Brady's are good examples of they're becoming business people, more business people need to become athletes that's the future that's the present of where we are so totally agree with you on that okay gotta ask you about maybe my favorite thing i wanted to talk to you about all the time that we've you know known one another and by the way we're going a little longer brother sorry this is so good i love it but the last part i want to ask you about is your faith because um you're a sinner saved by the grace of god just like i am i don't want anybody thinking either one of us are perfect people because we're not and neither one of us have all the answers.

1:01:09I don't people say all the time, you just got all the answers that I said, no, I have all the mistakes and I can save you on your life with all the mistakes I've made more than those more than I just some, you know, you know, the Yoda of answers, but my faith has been central in my life. It's given me the most comfort. I love it. The first thing you say is God still loves me. How important is that to you in your life overall pre pre and post your fight career? I'm just curious. I mean, it's the most important part because it's the wellspring by which everything else flows from, you know. I think the overarching theme of this entire talk that we've been having, even though we haven't even said the actual word too much, but the word is gratitude, you know.

1:01:54operating in gratitude um realizing the gifts that i've been given realizing that to give anything less than my best every single day is to sacrifice these amazing life that god has given me man i got every single thing i don't have a lot uh but i'm not missing a dang thing you know i'm not missing a thing in in my life that i need and all of that is by the grace of god all of that is When I think about the young Michael Chandler coming from High Ridge, Missouri, God, every single person, every single setback, every single up, every single down, every single door, door that stayed closed, every closed, every single door that opened.

1:02:31God had me in the palm of his hand all the way through it in the entire time. And if you can, and I do do, I do this often too, even just visualizing the hand of God. It looks just like my hand, right? Because we were made in the image of an almighty God. But I see myself, the young Michael Chandler, the middle school Michael Chandler, the high school Michael Chandler who had all his doubts and insecurities, and then the college and high school wrestler Michael Chandler who just wanted to win medals and wanted to put on the top of that podium. and then now the fighter Michael Chandler, the father Michael Chandler, the husband Michael Chandler, all of these things I can see, and I can see him all the way through my entire life, knowing that there's so much comfort and there's so much rest in God having me in the palm of his hand.

1:03:15And it's such a humbling feeling. And I think when you really pull yourself back from a 30 ,000-foot view of, man, there's been some tough times, and man, there's been some tears shed, And man, there's been a lot of dark, sleepless nights and there's been been some rough roadblocks. But all of those things, Romans 8, 28, everything worked out for the good of his people, you know. And it's as you said, I by no means am any better than you or anybody else listening. But we are sinners saved by the grace of God. And it's that humbling feeling of knowing that you don't get what you do deserve and you do get what you don't deserve every single day and every single season.

1:03:59And now arguably, you know, every single thing, I've accomplished so many of the things that I wanted to set out to accomplish. And I still have so many things left to accomplish. And all of them are tied to my faith. and a faith in an almighty God who is merciful enough to see me through the tough times. And he is gracious enough to continue to bless me. Even when I look and say, man, why, how the heck did this work out for me? You know, and, uh, it's just such a beautiful thing. And I'm just so grateful for the opportunity that I've been given. And I feel like I can take this thing to the top only because I live in a constant state of gratitude.

1:04:36And truthfully, if I can just help other people live with a little bit more gratitude, knowing that their best days and their blessed days are out ahead of them, because a guy like me who comes from a small town, who I was taught to do small things, but somehow I've touched every corner of the globe somehow, because God's given me some amazing gifts that hopefully a few people can be inspired by my story. And all of it ties back to my faith. I'm so grateful for you, bro. And I'm really proud of you. This has been an absolutely remarkable conversation. I knew that when you and I got together and did this in front of everybody, that it would be special.

1:05:14But I mean this. I just want you to know, I'm so proud of you. I'm so grateful for you. I'm grateful that I got to share this man with the millions of people that I love so much in my audience. I started out by saying that not only you're a special athlete, but you're a special man. And everybody saw that on full display today. Your calling is even beyond fighting. It's this, it's this platform. it's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. And then someday it's going to be all of this based on that platform. But you stepped into a state today, brother, that was a championship level state.

1:05:49When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th. And never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com. Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way. You wanna sell those wheels. You wanna get a CarMax instant offer. So fast. Wanna take a sec to think about it. Or like a month.

1:06:29Wanna keep tabs on that instant offer. With OfferWatch. Wanna have CarMax pick it up from your driveway? You wanna get it, touch it. You wanna do it all. So, wanna drive? CarMax. Pickup not available everywhere. Restrictions and fee may apply. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Milet Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. My guest today is my son from another, I don't know. You say son from another mother. Is that right? I guess so. I don't know. Michael, welcome to the show.

1:07:07What's up, dad, man. It's thank you for the kind intro. You're you are the man. Is there a part of you, though, that has imposter syndrome? If you're being candid with the audience that you do come from humble beginnings, you have had ups and downs. You are, you know, coming off of, you know, you haven't had a six fight win streak even right now if we're being candid. Right. So is there a part of you that has to overcome these mental demons, so to speak, of believing you belong, believing you can win that I think most people struggle with? Or have you passed that stage of your life? I think I definitely still have a certain degree of it.

1:07:44But I think I've gotten to the point where it's been revealed to me enough through life, the course of life, that the older you get, the more people you come into contact with, the more people you train with or you're in business with or you watch their work ethic or you watch how they live their lives, both in front of the camera, behind the camera, behind closed doors, in front of the public. and you start to really look around and take stock and think, you know what? I do think that the golden diamonds was reserved for God's people, not the devil's bunch. You know, I do think that the good among us are supposed to go out and capture those things.

1:08:26And before it used to be like, yeah, but you don't deserve it. You don't, you know, you don't deserve that. And if you do get that, well, what's going to happen? Maybe, maybe you're going to start rubbing people the wrong way. And I think I've gotten over that and realized, man, if you don't have a bunch of fruit on the back of your cart, you can't pass it out to people. If you've got nothing on your cart, you can't pass it out to people. And I do think I have a duty to be successful because I can then use it to change people's lives. Where until I got to a certain point, it was like, well, I'm a little bit afraid.

1:08:57You actually were the first person I heard talk about the thermometer, right? And I was that guy. like I'm okay with the thermometer getting to here, but I'm a little nervous if it gets too high and that, that thermometer just keeps getting higher and higher and higher. And I'm getting okay with it each time. So I do think I have a little bit of a degree of that as you know, once again, you, you keep leveling up every time you level up, now you're into a new realm. So of course there's a little bit of it, but you say, wait a second, I've been here before. Let me watch how this plays out. And at the end of the day, when I lay my head on the pillow at night, I know that I deserve it.

1:09:30I'm the one of those guys who deserves to go and capture that because of the way that I live my life. That's exactly right. You've earned this. And by the way, everyone, a little bit of everything in moderation is actually good. So a little bit of imposter syndrome keeps you what you see in this young man right here. Humble. Keeps you training hard. Reminds you, I better outwork this dude because maybe I don't have everything they have. A lot of imposter syndrome will cause your thermometer to prune the air conditioner on and you'll cool your life back down. So a little bit of it is not, you don't have to eradicate all of your imposter syndrome.

1:10:03You have to eradicate that it's your dominant thought. But to have that in the back a little bit is not all that bad. I have it, which is what causes me to prepare for a speech or a podcast. It's what's caused me to save my money because I don't believe all my press clippings. I don't believe I'm always going to win. Everything's entitled to me. And so it's a healthy thing to some extent. Let me ask you this. I was watching some fights, you know, preparing for, you know, our work. And, and my son's like, dad, these guys are so good. And, you know, I've, I've hit bags and spar and you, you know, all that part of my background.

1:10:35And I said, Max, the different thing that you don't realize, because it looks like a video game when you watch people fight is they're getting hit and still throwing punches back at the same time. That's the one thing I think when people watch any sort of combat, whether it's Mikey's sport and boxing or yours, they just underestimate how difficult it is to absorb punishment and return it. It's one thing to just dole out punishment into a bag, right? Or to, you know, to hit mitts. It's a very different thing. And that's really, I told my son, I said, Max, that's the game of life. The game of life is everything looks good at the seminar.

1:11:13When you read the book or listen to the podcast, it's sort of like these offensive of strategies. But the people that I've seen win, and I want you to talk about this and fighting it in your life, the people that I've seen win, they have this very special ability to absorb a punch and still throw back. And that's the separator in life. And it certainly is in sports as well. So just speak to that, Michael. I mean, metaphorically, you do it in there. And by the way, you may want to be the greats at all time at doing that. This is a dude who almost out on his feet can still knock people out better than anybody that's ever probably been in the sport or at least one of them.

1:11:48But what about that fact of life and actually in the sport, literally? Yeah, I mean, it's very interesting because I do think metaphorically, right, there's a lot of similarities there. But even realistically, I think from a physical standpoint, I think sometimes it's easier to take the blows inside of taking huge shots inside of a fight and keep coming forward because there's not as much of an ego involved because I'm not really worried about how everybody perceives the punch that just landed on me, whereas in life, in business, in our relationships, we have a failed account or a failed relationship, or we have a setback here, immediately everybody stops and thinks, looks in the mirror and says, what's everybody else thinking around me?

1:12:33Whereas in mixed martial arts, I don't have the time, and I call it a luxury. I think I have the luxury of not having any time. If I sit and I dwell on that one punch that just landed in it, and it rocked me and I start thinking about what the people in the nosebleeds are in the front row are thinking about that shot that just landed the second the third the fourth are going to come and the knockout is going to ensue whereas in life a lot of times we are stifled and stymied so much by we take one blow we take one shot we take one setback and we're just worried about everything else with instead of just you know the definition of persistence is continuing in a course of action with complete disregard to previous failures and future opposition, right?

1:13:13So in life, we stop and we think way too much about what's everybody else thinking or how is this going to look on social media? What are the press clippings going to say? Like you said, there's so much to it. And I've gotten really good at it. And this happened to me when I came to the UFC. Like you said, I was outside the UFC, relative obscurity. I trained hard. I was a good athlete, but I wasn't a famous athlete. Then all of a sudden you come over, you're the biggest free agent signing, maybe in UFC history, and everything doubles in five times the following and five times the interviews and five times the platform.

1:13:49And all of a sudden you're like, wait a second, I better get used to public criticism very quickly or else I'm going to, this ship's going to sink. um so i've just gotten really good at realizing man no matter what this is my race that i'm running and i love you but it's still my race and i love my wife my kids and i love my coaches but this is still my race and if i can just focus on me and know know that if i just keep moving forward and if anything we don't follow people because of their successes we follow people more even for their failures because they were able to overcome something people love us people love a comeback and that's what my story my whole story has been about i am a blueprint for how you get knocked down get back up and keep moving forward and then somehow end up in the biggest fight of the last decade by the way he's also um has a future in my space uh in the personal development motivational coaching space as you could tell because he's got this insane ability to articulate his thoughts.

1:14:50Okay, a couple more things. Separations in the preparation. I don't know if there's a more finely trained athlete on the planet than you right now. I mean, in any sport, this dude's a specimen. He trains his ass off. Do you like to train or do you do it because you know it produces a result and how important in anything someone's doing, particularly if maybe they think they lack something, is to gain their confidence from the prep, from the preparation? I think I do love to do it because you ever ask yourself, like, what's the alternative? You know, what is the alternative? I do think I use the word easy lightly because I'm sure the audience is like, dude, I watched the training.

1:15:34It looks crazy. But for me, it's easy. My hard is different than your hard and different than hard for everyone else. Me thinking about doing some of the things that you do, that sounds crazy to me. but to me maybe working out as hard as I do half the audience is like man I would die in the warm up but it's become not easy in the sense that it's not hard every time I do it but it's what I do it's not who I be but it is what I do and I'm pretty darn good at it and I do know that it produces results and I do think you know going back to the imposter syndrome or going back to the the self-sabotage and going back to the temperature gauge going back to my self-concept or my lowly self-concept that I used to have.

1:16:14If back when I was 14 years old, I didn't get into hand-to-hand combat thinking, okay, I'm not that talented, so I have to outwork everybody. And I've been able to take that now for the last 28 years and I've never, ever lost it. And then I've won world titles. I fought for the world title in the UFC. I have fought Madison Square Garden twice, fight of the year, debut of the year. I've got all of these different accolades, but still the cornerstone always is me remembering that little 14-year-old boy who walked into Northwest High School and knew that I was, I had just started wrestling and everybody else had been there for years and I need to, I need to outwork all these people or I'm never going to get to where I'm going.

1:16:51And I still have that as a 38 year old in the sport, 20, 28 years in the sport. Um, so I look at it like I am grateful that I have these two capable arms and these two capable legs to be able to do what I do, you know, and I, you know, I look at it as a blessing that I, you know, I train here in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and there's two gyms connected to each other. There's a physical therapy. There is a physical therapy clinic in our same entrance. We share one. And I see people coming in in wheelchairs. I see people coming in with cerebral palsy. And I see people coming in with really bad injuries, car accidents, paralysis, all these different things.

1:17:30And I know it sounds a little bit dark to think about, right? But I am so blessed to be able to do what I get to do. And every single one of those people would give anything to trade one week of this well-enabled body to be able to live in this well-enabled body. And I really always have looked at that blessing that most people have. They can talk about depression or they can talk about anxiety and sadness and all of these different things. but we have so many things to be thankful for that we just gloss over and overlook and just keep moving forward. And I think that's where it is knowing I can outwork everybody, taking my gratefulness and my gratitude for the abilities that I have and the opportunity that I have.

1:18:14And thinking about the alternative, the alternative is me going and getting a job somewhere. And I love what I do and I get to do it every single day. It's my producers. I guarantee you are just, their mouths are open right now because right before you got here, I recorded a podcast. It'll come out after this one. But I talked about focusing on what you possess as opposed to what you don't have. And then having perspective questions about the fact that someone's got it worse than you. And when you're actually able to do those two things and focus on what you have, as opposed to what you're missing and focus on the fact that you're blessed to have what you do have, that someone's got it worse.

1:18:46It's just amazing. Then you just go say this. How much is your two last questions? How much is your growth on you? Like most people can tell from listening to you now, but I want everyone to know this man works very hard on himself. Like Michael and his downtime. I'm not his only friend in this space. Michael will attend events. He's read the books. He listens to the podcast. He he'll speak at these events as well. He's worked very hard on the internal him. And there's two elements of that. He's a man of very strong faith, but he's also worked on his mind, worked on his thinking, worked on himself, worked on that thermostat setting.

1:19:21How much of that, aside from all the physical training do you attribute to the fact that you're going to be in the octagon on the 29th with McGregor I think it's got I mean it has everything to do with it I mean really and I made this you know I made this realization years ago when you were talking about you know if for the people that don't know I went 688 days without winning a fight and for a lot of people that's a that's a death sentence for an MMA career you know going from world champion in Bellator to losing three fights in a row thinking that at any point in time I was going to get my walking papers or going to get a phone call that I was going to get cut from the organization.

1:19:56And in that time, I realized I was doing all the physical work. If you're my coach and you tell me to run through that wall, I will run through that wall. No questions asked. And I will do it harder and faster and better than every single else behind me. But what I wasn't working on was my mind. And what I wasn't working on is this self-image. And I was letting that get away from me. All I was doing was building up a bigger, faster, stronger, subpar version of the man that I was really created to be because inside of here, inside of my mind was so, it was lacking and it was so important, but it needed to be revealed to me.

1:20:29And that was a thing too. If a bad thing happens to you, but a good thing comes from it and you become a better person, a better man, a better father, a better husband, a better, a better human being. You got to ask yourself, was it really a bad thing if a good thing comes from it? And I think I look at that point in my career and realized that was the catalyst and the springboard that was going to catapult me. That was the winding of the spring. And it was a painful winding of the spring. It was it came with tears. It came with self-doubt. It came with embarrassment, overwhelming embarrassment.

1:20:59But it was that coiling of that spring that eventually springboarded me to becoming the next version of the man that I needed to be. And yeah, I mean, I just I've always been And I've always just been curious and admired people like yourself who are trying to make the world a better place, admitting their flaws, showing and wearing their heart on their sleeve and talking about the struggles that you have gone through and how there's a lesson in every single loss. and you know i've been very blessed with so many great friends and i have a duty to them to continue to be a part of that community i have and i have a duty to my family and i have a duty to myself and most importantly i have a duty to my almighty god who created me not just to be good not just to be that little boy who was gonna play it small and and think that he doesn't deserve great things and think that i could just you know barely get enough and barely get by and live paycheck to paycheck and nobody knows my name.

1:21:57I've, I was commissioned and, and I have this conviction, this deep conviction to know that I was created to do something extraordinary. And it took years and years and years. And I just want to keep on adding to that. And when people say the sky is the limit, you know, it's, it's a, it's a term that we use, but at some point you start to believe it and you, and you believe it not because of the Bentleys and the Bugattis and the boats and the watches and the, all the material things, but it's the things that people, that you make people feel just with your presence and with your words and your voice.

1:22:25And that's what I want to be able to do. And now we've got the biggest platform we ever could have asked for. And the sky is the limit. I'm really, really excited today to discuss success and entrepreneurship with my really good friend. She's an entrepreneur. She's the co-founder of acquisition.com. So Layla Hermosi, welcome to the show. Wow. That was more than I expected. Thank you, Ed. what about um because i know the answer this a little bit what role does fear play in your life like what's your relationship with fear we were talking the night we had dinner and you're like we'll start going really bold on my social and you're like i have some trepidation about it though you know there's gonna be some criticism there's gonna be you know this or that about me and i wonder just like what's your relationship with fear i have an interesting one i'll share mine after you but like when i say fear to you what what thought do you have when i say that fear is always present when i'm doing something worth doing and i think that i've learned to look at it like fear is just the unknown right and so we catastrophize it and for me coming from where i've come from and i think just the things that i've had to do to manage myself i would say that Some people default to anger.

1:23:44Some people default to sadness. I default to fear and anxiety. And so for a really long time, I feared fear. I used to have panic attacks. And after I would have the panic attacks, I would be terrified of having another, which would perpetuate me in the cycle of having them. Even so far as five years ago, I had one, and this was a big moment for me. I was running the company. I had three events coming up. I had my leadership team quarterly the next day. And I was just like reeling on this issue that had just occurred with an employee. And I just had a full blown meltdown, like panic attack, like body, like shaking, all those things.

1:24:26And I realized afterwards, because I felt terrible, I started judging myself. I started saying, what's wrong with you? Like, this can't happen again. Don't allow this to happen again. and I wanted to run away from it. I wanted to not be in any situations that would trigger it. I wanted to get as far away from anything that I associated with it as possible. And what that did for a short period of time was show me how small my life could be. Because if you allow that fear, fear controls you whether you succumb to it or not, right? And so it's like by trying to run from it, it is controlling me. And so what I realized is I watched my life or it was a matter of weeks.

1:25:07I just felt like canceling all of my meetings, doing things just like, I can't work this much. Like it's what's like causing these panic attacks. And I did a lot of work on myself after that. I read probably every book, original book on psychology that I could. And I realized that I was running in the wrong direction. I need to run towards it. And so it's like, every time I feel scared, I just lean in. I just go right into it. And I just immerse myself in it. I'm like, we're going to be friends with fear today. Like sometimes I literally imagine it, hearing it in my purse with me. Because people say all the time, I'm sure you hear it too.

1:25:52They see the things that we're doing that are bold and they see the success and they think fear must not be present. And I'm like, no, no, no. Fear is present. I just also have courage, which is to act despite fear. And I've trained myself now over time to realize that I've been able to diffuse my behaviors, AKA separate them from my feelings, meaning I can be terrified and still speak on stage. Half the time when I get up to speak on a huge stage, I can't even like my mouth is cotton, but I've realized I can still talk. It's like, okay. You know, I was nervous to get on this podcast. I was like pitting out.

1:26:29But like at the end of the day, I think I've realized that whether it be in my marriage, whether it be in relationships I have, whether it be in the business, the more that I just go head on into it, you train yourself and you teach your brain that it's not something to be scared of. And so the irony is that the only way to rid yourself of fear is to just do the exact thing you are scared of. Oh, my gosh. I have to tell you, that's so profound. I'll share something personal with you then that acknowledges what you said. I am a very fear-based person. And I've run towards it all my life. I've had friends say, man, I had a panic attack.

1:27:12I'm like, what is a panic attack? How do you even get to that? And I had, this will be surprising to you, to my audience, but I had one about three weeks ago, like a real one. I'm like, oh my gosh, I think this is what everyone's described to me before. and I couldn't get out of it. It just, it was like, I'm like, kind of what you said. I'm like, I think I'm melting right now. What did the, I'm Superman. What is happening right now? Right. And I'm going to tell you why it happened. And it's exactly what you said. My gosh, that was so good for one of the first times in decades, I allowed some fears I had and I was hiding from it.

1:27:50I wasn't running towards it. I'm like, I'm rich now. I don't have to do this anymore. I can avoid it. And what I did that I want you to speak to, I don't know if you do this or not. When I run towards the boogeyman, it's like, I almost like end up dancing with him a little bit. I'm like, all right, we're here. Let's just go. I've done this before. I'm built for this. We'll get through it. I'll learn something, even if I'm not any good. And, uh, fear actually has created adrenaline in me. That's got me to perform at a high level. Speaking is a great example of that. I'm afraid every time I speak, but when I run towards it, I'm running into this fear, man.

1:28:24I'm loaded with like super human, Holy spirit, adrenaline pumping through me. And it's almost like this fear is somehow like a turbocharger on me when I hid from it, which I hadn't done. It was like kryptonite to Superman almost. Right. And what happened was I'm because I was hiding from it, I made the problem bigger than it was when I run towards it, it almost shrinks when I run towards it. Do you have that tendency at all? Or do you think people have that tendency to make problems bigger than they are? There's this phrase that I heard a long time ago, and it stuck with me because I feel like it resonated so deeply, which was fear is a mile wide and an inch deep.

1:29:11And I have just never encountered a situation in my life where that has not been the case, that the moment that I see this, what it looks like this very ominous lake, right? Which is my fear. And I'm going to step in, I'm going to drown. It's like, I take the first step. And then I realized it's like, it's just a puddle. Like that's what's controlled my life for the last three years. I didn't make content for four years after Alex telling me to try and make it because I was so terrified of being judged online. I hate even saying that. It's embarrassing because it's like, I literally can run a hundred million dollar company, but I don't want to make content on Instagram.

1:29:54Right. But like the moment that I made it and I posted it for the first time, I was like, that literally degraded my, my self-respect for three years, because when I avoid the things I'm scared of, I respect myself less. And so it all ties together. And the thing that I've come to realize, I'm like, every time something has started with fear, it has ended with confidence. And so when people want to know, how do I become more confident? You conquer your fears. Like it's that simple. You call, I almost look at it like I'm collecting my fears and they're fueling me to be that confident person that I want to show up as grateful to have Stephen A.

1:30:32Smith on the show today. Stephen, welcome brother. And honor to you, man. Thank you for having me. How you doing? I'm doing good. The other thing that strikes me is this notion of confidence though. and you know you've interviewed for everybody from Michael everybody Michael Jordan LeBron James you talked with everybody and I've always believed there is a direct correlation I mean between confidence and performance and I watch it with you there's a look there's an energy about you I said swagger when I started but really what it is is there's a confidence there's an air of um you know I've earned this you know I'm going to keep earning this every single day I've put the work in and when athletes lose their way I work on the mental games of a lot of different athletes when they lose it it people ask me all the time what do you work with when you're on the mental games with most of the athletes you work with you know what the truth is confidence yeah separators typically come someone goes in a slump it's their confidence level so how has that played in for you and what would you tell the world here about that topic of confidence how you actually build it what are what are some of the things to build confidence and how correlated is confidence to produce and even results for you well first of all i think it's important to know what you sign up for.

1:31:39Like, for example, before we started doing this interview, you let me know what this podcast is all about and what you strive to achieve with your interviews and what you strive to achieve overall with the podcast. It's mastering you and what you do. And in my, to use my language, knowing what you signed up for and fully embracing it. You have a lot of athletes, for example, because as you pointed out, I cover many of them where the true, true, truly great ones are the ones who've accepted a long time ago this is what i signed up for this is what's required to exceed at a very high level and this is what i'm going to do kobe bryant the late kobe bryant god rest his soul who was a friend he sat up there and pointed out he didn't negotiate with himself if he said he was getting up to 5 30 he was getting up at 5 30 it was non-negotiable because he had already made that commitment and he wasn't going to compromise He understood what he signed up for.

1:32:38And from a physical perspective, there's a window. And when that window closes, it closes and it's OK because everybody can do what they always did physically in my chosen profession. Well, I happen to be able to do this for years to come. And so my confidence comes from the fact that I have a passion for what I do. I know I'm knowledgeable about what I do. And now it comes down to my ability to convince you to see my truth more than your ability to convince others to see your truth. And I always believe I'm going to win. I never, ever, ever go into any scenario in terms of a debate format as it pertains to sports television and think that I am inferior to anyone.

1:33:28I do recognize the fact that there are those who came before me whose knowledge for the world of sports is far more extensive than mine because I can read about something, but they were there. I can talk about somebody, but they talked to them. I understand the different advantages that they may have or whatever. But when it comes to communicating with the audience, although that's relevant, it's not applicable to convincing them to see your side. it's not enough that you spoke to them it's not enough that you were there for an event in person what matters is your presentation how you articulate your thoughts why you feel the way that you feel what you want to convey to an audience the many in which you choose to convey your thoughts your perspectives your belief to that audience and what level of substantive foundation you have to back you up.

1:34:23Those things supersede your presence in somebody's face or at an event. And that's where my domain comes in because I've spoken to many people myself and I've interviewed many people myself. But the other side to it is that I have a perspective that I think is relatable to the audience out there that I've targeted, meaning I know who's the audience is. I know who's listening to me. I know who's talking about me. I know who's tuning in to watch me or to listen to me. So I'm armed and ready and dangerous as hell when it comes to that because practice favors the prepared mind. And I was ready to go before the cameras ever came on.

1:35:13That's my mentality. And as a result of it, I'm never fearful. I never look at myself a second fiddle. I literally, for better or worse, look at everyone else on a platform with me as if they're in my way because the audience is waiting to hear from me. That is the kind of mentality I have every single day that I'm in front of the camera. I love it. I watched you the other day. We don't have to get into this thing, but I just want to say this to acknowledge how true is what you just said. I watched you with Jay Williams the other day. You guys got into it. I know you a guy that played basketball at a pretty very high level.

1:35:50Had he not got hurt, would have probably been a Hall of Fame basketball player. College player of the year, national champion, number two overall player of the draft. Jay Williams is the real deal. Absolute real deal. And I watch you go toe-to-toe. This is the Ed Mylon Show.