Jay Jackson: Turn Every Setback Into a Speed Bump

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What is it that helps people to just get into
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their own zone? How do they get their head in
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the game?
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Trust the work you've put in. If it's something you enjoy,
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then you've put the work in to be there and
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understand why you're there. Practice is the hard part. The
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journey is the hard part. So if I enjoyed this journey,
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now you get to see what this journey has become ultimately.
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So if you know why you're there and you're trusting yourself,
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then you can enjoy that moment. Just take a deep
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breath and then you can go let it float, honestly,
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because you can already know what you're supposed to do.
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Everybody, welcome back. My name is Bubba Page, the host
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of The Becoming Podcast. You guys, I'm so excited today
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because I want to introduce you to Jay Jackson. I'm
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going to read some of this stuff because there's so
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much info going on here, right? So he spent 17
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years as a professional baseball player, but the story is
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so much more than just playing baseball. So Jay was
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drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2008. He went on
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to pitch professionally across the United States, Japan, Mexico, and
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even Latin America. His journey included years in the minor leagues,
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multiple injuries and comebacks, three consecutive championships, major league appearances
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with organizations including San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, the San
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Francisco Giants, which is my favorite team. That's where I
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grew up in San Francisco, right? Atlanta Braves, even the
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Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins. So, but here's the
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real deal, behind the scenes, the statistics is a story
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of perseverance. faith, family, fatherhood, and learning how to become
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through every season of his life.
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Okay.
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So today Jay is the author and he's going to
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talk about this. All right. The author, speaker, mentor, and
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founder of the Smile Zone. This one though, the book
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is Nine Innings to Living Your Best Life. And you guys,
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I want him to talk through because not only did
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he write the book to help as many people as
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he could, he also created a the workbooks for both
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an athlete and the coach. Jay, welcome to the podcast.
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You got it. So just give us a quick rundown
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on these so you can show them in the camera
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before we jump into the first question. Yeah.
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So created what we were talking about before I came on,
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wrote the book actually the last year I was actually
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playing baseball. So it's a lot of love, sweat, tears,
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rehab because I ended my career actually with an injury.
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And had to end up getting a PRP in my
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left knee and my right shoulder. So ended up writing
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the book that year. And then as we were thinking
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about it coming about, we were like, okay, we can't
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get it necessarily into public schools because they have curriculums already.
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But how can we service like the kids and, you know,
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athletes and students and just kids in general from a
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young age that we were like, how can we have
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a curriculum? And we came up with this workbook to
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go along with the book just because. Yeah. You know,
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maybe there's organizations or teachers or private schools or athletic
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academies that could have this as a part of their
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curriculum to help their students and their kids and their
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athletes be better players, you know, better people first, but
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better players ultimately and, you know, have more success. That's
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the ultimate goal. So we have the workbooks for the
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coaches and teachers for anybody. We have the student workbook,
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player workbook, and then we have the book that's for everybody.
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And then also. Bubba was so kind to say, I
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have the app as well, which is more baseball-centric as well.
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I love it.
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So he's got books and workbooks and an app. You guys,
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don't make the mistake and not follow. You got to
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follow along, all right? And go to his website, go
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to his app so you can check it out. But today,
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I wanted to talk a little bit about how this
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all happened even before the major leagues, before the stadiums. Like,
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who were you when you were dreaming of what you want?
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What did you want to become? I think that'll set
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the stage for what we're going to talk about.
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No, 100%. So I was born and raised in Greenville,
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South Carolina. Proud Greenville resident, I would say. Got inducted
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to the Greenville Baseball Hall of Fame not too long ago, too.
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So I appreciate the city for having me and being
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there for that and honor me with that. But my
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parents like to say I was born with, you know,
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the sports gene, I guess. You would say they said
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I had a baseball... you know, basketball and a football
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in my crib when I was born and all that time.
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But then also when I went to kindergarten and first grade,
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they like to tell me, and they still tell me
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to this day that when my teachers asked me what
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I wanted to be, I always said I wanted to
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be a baseball or basketball player.
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Amazing.
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Funny what manifestation can do, right?
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You manifested it, right?
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You manifested it.
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So they always.
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Like to tease me on that, but. just family support
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from there, just being a great athlete and physical and
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things like that. But my dad always told me to
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be a student of the game. So that was kind
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of how this all ended up coming apart. Honestly, it's
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because my dad, we were just talking about it on
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the way here is he always told me to be
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a student in the mental game is so strong, not
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only on the field, but in life that I think
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we have to focus on that. And we take that
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for granted a lot of times with our athletes and
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with our kids and with, you know, ourselves a lot
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of times. Right. So for me, It started with just
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being in Greenville, having my family support me and my
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dad and my mom just being at every game, taking
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me to the games, basketball, baseball. I remember just going
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from one basketball game, changing in the car, going to
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the baseball field, playing two or three games, and then
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going to another basketball game, depending on what time. I
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remember being at the Nationals for baseball and committing to
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play in the Nationals if we made it for this
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AAU basketball team I was in. So I was in
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Florida for a baseball tournament for Nationals and had to
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leave early. And I think right After the championship, right
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before the championship game for the baseball nationals or baseball
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tournament I was in, and fly to Las Vegas for
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the AAU basketball nationals.
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Oh, my God.
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Just the support, just the people I had around me,
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just the great role models. I think my father and
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my mom would like to say I got my baseball
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genetics and itch from her because she was such a
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great softball player. My dad played basketball and football and
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just was a great athlete as well. So I give credit.
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To them and just the foundation they gave me, but just,
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you know, just the family aspect and the support I
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had from just a young age to get me to
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where I'm at.
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So you had phenomenal parents who supported you. They helped
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you to get into the right programs, get the right
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teams and all that stuff. It sounds like they also
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worked with you from a mindset game, which is how
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a lot of this came to be, right? So not
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only were you raised with teaching, you being taught so
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much of this, you've now been mentoring people your entire career, right?
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And even you just told me before that we started
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that your team, most recent team you were coaching just
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won the championship.
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That is correct.
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So tell me a little bit more of like, what
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were some of the principles that you ended up putting
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in the book that that really can help the mindset
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of whether it's an athlete or even just a mom
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or a dad who's going to read the book.
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Just enjoying your life, really being happy. I think our
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lives have always been meant to be happy. And I
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think we've taken this thing lately of being really negative
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and every clickbait thing is really negative, right? And spiraling
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into negativity. I think You get to choose which path
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you go down for the snowball that you want to have,
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either negative or positive. I think if you compound the
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more positive things, the more positive happens, right? But the
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more we click on the negative and the more we
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dive into the negative and let the negative affect us,
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the more negative things happen. And then we just get
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used to be used and comfortable to be in the
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negative at that point. And I think instead of that,
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we need to change it into being positive. And I
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think that's the main principles of the book is positive.
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You know, facing adversity with smiles, turning lemons into lemonade
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type of things, right?
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I love that.
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Failing forward instead of, you know, letting things hold you back.
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I think I like to tell people as your life,
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you know, you're driving your own car. I kind of
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have a car analogy for that, right? You're driving your
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own car. You can always have people come in the car.
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But ultimately, you're driving the car. People can touch the
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radio and control all the things in the car that
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you let them control. But ultimately, you get to drive
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to your destination that you want to get to. And
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everything that happens from them or outside the car, you
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can use it either as speed bumps where you can
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go to the auto shop and get them fixed. Some
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people get it fixed by going to their faith, going
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to their therapist, going to the gym, things of that nature.
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You can fix your car. Or you can let things
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ultimately be a flat tire and run you off the
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road and cause a roadblock, and then you crash. And
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I think a lot of times we've made it fashionable
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with this thing lately of people crashing out, and that's
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such a negative connotation too, right? Oh, yeah, for sure.
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I think that we can do that. We can make
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it either a crash or a speed bump or a
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roadblock type of thing, not a roadblock, but like. You
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can get around it. You can fix it. It's a
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flat tire. It's a broken rim. It's a scratch on
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the car. It's a chipped paint job. You know what
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I mean? Okay.
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So now you're a fairly new dad, right? Your kid's
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three years old?
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Three.
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Okay. We got to hear some of the story because
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I know there's some people watching who don't know kind
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of what happened. So new dad, you know, I'm a
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dad of eight kids, right? Crazy.
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That's crazy.
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Crazy. So fun. It's my beautiful chaos, I call it, right? Six-year-old.
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twins all the way up to a 16 year old
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boy four boys four girls congratulations on all that thank
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you no i love it i absolutely love it being a.
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Dad it's like being the best thing ever right.
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It's you know it's funny this company true wear sent
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me this hat because it's established 2010 that's when my
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son was born oh awesome so they put the actual
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year of when my son was born on this hat
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which is cool for father's day right But we got
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to hear a little bit how the story of you
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having your son and some of the trials you've had
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to go through have shaped more of who you are
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now than maybe three years ago.
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Oh, man. So first, just JR being here and being
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born is just an ultimate miracle and blessing. He was
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born in 2023 when I was actually with the Toronto
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Blue Jays.
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Mm-hmm.
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And that year was just kind of a hectic year anyway. Um, Sam,
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my fiance was, um, we had had some up and down.
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We had had some miscarriages anyway. She had gone through
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some stuff and we had been to the ER a
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couple times and then she was on bed rest like
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the week before and he ended up being born at
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24 weeks oh my gosh yeah so he was born
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extremely early and the day he was born the morning
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he was born because he was born at i think
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like two twelve o'clock in the morning yeah utah in
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ogden and I was in Rochester, New York, and I
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was actually getting called up to go to the major
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leagues that night. We had had a long game and
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we had one in the extra innings. And at that time,
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I was one of the guys that pitched in high
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leverage situations and we ended up losing the game. And
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so I was pissed off and frustrated because I didn't pitch.
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And I was like, well, something's got to be up.
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But at the same time, like I want to pitch
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in this game because we just lost, you know, so
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my competitiveness in me, but. You know, I get in
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the locker room and my coach is like, hey, like, Jay, like,
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I know it's been a long day, but hey, you've
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got a flight in the morning to go to Chicago.
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The big league team's got a double header. I was like, oh,
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I was like, why am I going? Because I had
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been pitching pretty bad at that time, too. I was like,
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there's no way I'm going back. But at the same point,
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he's like, no, you got to you got to catch
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a flight in the morning. So packing up everything, trying
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to get a little bit of sleep for, I think,
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like a 6 a.m. flight.
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Oh my gosh.
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And I think our game had finished at like 11,
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almost 12 o'clock, somewhere in there. So get back and
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then get a phone call from Sam's sister at, I
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think like two o'clock in the morning, I think it was.
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And she's like, Hey, so just letting you know, baby's
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coming right now. They're going to have to like bring
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the baby right now.
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And I'm like, what? Oh my gosh, totally unexpected.
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So I'm like, I knew there was a chance, like
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I was supposed to be on like high alert for
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like the next, you know, couple of weeks anyway, but.
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The day I get caught up is kind of just,
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you know, it's one of those things that you never
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think is going to happen.
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Oh, yeah.
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And people know the story but don't really know the story.
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And so I end up talking to Nadine's Sam's sister.
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She asked the doctor because I was like, yo, so
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what should I do right now? Because I'm like, do
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you want me to fly back now and just get
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the first flight? I can tell them I can leave.
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Or the doctor's like, no, there's nothing you can really do.
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Baby's coming right now. Yeah.
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So she's like, there's nothing you can do. Go pitch
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in the game. We'll make sure everything's taken care of here.
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So thank you to the doctors in Ogden. Yeah, who
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helped take care of things. Yeah, for sure. For making
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sure Sam and JR got out of that all right.
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That's scary, though. Yeah, 100%. That's scary stuff. And then
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he got transferred, airlifted to the University of Utah like
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three days later because of that, too. But yeah, so.
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end up the, the right, you, again, it's kind of
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same thing that I wrote the book and everything too,
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is like, you take the positives out of this whole
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scenario is I get called up, go through, get the flight. Well,
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the whole time the organization is calling me every like
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20 minutes, asking me if I'm sure I want to
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pitch and all this stuff, making sure like I'm going
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to the game. I'm like, I'm on the flight. I'm
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in Chicago now. Like I'm here. Yeah. I'm going to
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play it out. Right. But they're trying to, you know,
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do their thing. Like it's a business. This is what
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they're supposed to do. And, I get there and still
298
00:13:02.059 --> 00:13:04.159
pretty much haven't slept. And I'm like, okay, well, at
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00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:06.110
least I'll pitch in the first game so I can
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possibly catch a flight home early to make sure I'm there.
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00:13:09.009 --> 00:13:11.710
Don't pitch the first game. So we ended up winning
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00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:14.299
the first game. Kevin Gosman, shout out to him. Love him,
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00:13:14.330 --> 00:13:17.029
great guy. He just got traded to the Cubs too,
304
00:13:17.049 --> 00:13:21.240
which is crazy. Oh, interesting. Ended up, Gos, I think,
305
00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:23.720
pitched the first game until I ended up pitching in
306
00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:26.279
the bullpen the second game, but I ended up getting
307
00:13:26.299 --> 00:13:29.139
a win. So the day JR was born is one
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00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:31.539
of the wins in my career that I have. And
309
00:13:32.179 --> 00:13:34.059
so it's definitely a special day and I got it
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autographed by everybody and signed and authenticated.
311
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Oh, that's awesome.
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So yeah, it's definitely a big deal for me and
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it was definitely a great day. And then I tried
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to make the trek home, which didn't end up being
315
00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:48.539
the easiest way either. I was supposed to have a
316
00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:50.820
direct flight at 6 a.m. the next day, ended up
317
00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:56.149
getting canceled somehow some way ended up having to switch
318
00:13:56.289 --> 00:13:58.509
airlines because they weren't going to be able to get
319
00:13:58.529 --> 00:14:00.269
me out to like one o'clock in the afternoon from
320
00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:02.590
a 6 a.m flight or something like that so i
321
00:14:02.590 --> 00:14:06.460
had to switch airlines and then finally got got ogged
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00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:09.000
in at like 12 p.m or somewhere in there so
323
00:14:09.860 --> 00:14:12.340
but yeah jr came out and then like i said
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00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:14.659
he was airlifted to the university of utah so thank
325
00:14:14.700 --> 00:14:18.779
you 100% to all the University of Utah nurses in
326
00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:22.070
the NICU and the doctors there and everything they did.
327
00:14:22.179 --> 00:14:23.279
How long did he stay in the NICU?
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00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:26.590
JR was there for 166 days.
329
00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:28.070
Oh my gosh.
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Yeah, he came home December 19th.
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Oh my gosh, that's a long time. How did you
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guys handle that?
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00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:40.899
Sam handled that more than anything. She literally drove the
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00:14:40.899 --> 00:14:44.039
45 minutes every day, even though they offered us to
335
00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:48.480
use the Ronald McDonald house there, that was on site.
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We wanted to make sure that the families that actually
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00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:52.830
had to travel farther than us could use it and
338
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use that space and put it to good use where
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00:14:55.210 --> 00:14:58.909
she was willing to travel the 45 minutes, almost an hour,
340
00:14:59.649 --> 00:15:01.850
literally every day. They had to kick her out. The
341
00:15:01.950 --> 00:15:04.440
only time she left is when The doctors and nurses
342
00:15:04.539 --> 00:15:06.879
kicked her out pretty much to tell her that she
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00:15:06.940 --> 00:15:08.960
needed to either come see me at the time in
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00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.620
the season I was in or either, you know, just
345
00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:13.639
take a break from being at the hospital every day.
346
00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:14.600
Wow.
347
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She was there every day. And then me, thankful for
348
00:15:18.970 --> 00:15:21.169
the team, the Blue Jays, I tell everybody is my
349
00:15:21.230 --> 00:15:23.950
favorite organization that I played with just because of how
350
00:15:23.990 --> 00:15:25.789
they treated me as a person, how they helped handle
351
00:15:25.809 --> 00:15:27.730
that whole situation because they could have handled it a
352
00:15:27.750 --> 00:15:32.429
lot differently than they did. Yeah. And I give him
353
00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:35.460
credit for a lot of it. I hate that how
354
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:37.879
it happened because I did end up losing a lot
355
00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.759
of end up like my salary that year just because
356
00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:42.840
of how they had to probably maneuver it for me
357
00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:45.299
to be able to go home. But I ended up
358
00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:47.639
being able to a lot of off days fly from
359
00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:49.850
wherever we were at and fly back to Utah for
360
00:15:49.870 --> 00:15:53.909
the day and spend the whole day that night next day.
361
00:15:54.129 --> 00:15:56.409
And the next morning was Sam and JR and come
362
00:15:56.450 --> 00:15:58.350
to the hospital and stuff and then fly back the
363
00:15:58.389 --> 00:16:01.460
day of the game. So we did that a lot
364
00:16:01.500 --> 00:16:03.370
that year. That was, that was, that was a lot
365
00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:06.230
of traveling. We definitely got a lot of points. Shout
366
00:16:06.289 --> 00:16:09.289
out Delta for sure. Jet blue for that, you know,
367
00:16:09.769 --> 00:16:12.690
but they, they definitely helped be a lot more seamless
368
00:16:12.710 --> 00:16:14.649
than some of the other airlines when they kind of
369
00:16:14.669 --> 00:16:16.049
knew the things that were going on too.
370
00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:18.720
So what were some of the things that JR struggled with?
371
00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:21.419
And now he's three years old, you said, right. And so,
372
00:16:21.580 --> 00:16:24.139
you know, having a premium, there's people watching who, who've
373
00:16:24.179 --> 00:16:26.820
had Nick, you know, babies in the NICU. So, you know,
374
00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.220
help us understand like what you guys are still dealing
375
00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:30.340
with some of the effects.
376
00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:32.700
Some of them, yeah. When he was born, they told
377
00:16:32.740 --> 00:16:34.200
us that he had kind of like a little stroke
378
00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:37.440
and brain bleed when he was there. And just the
379
00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:41.529
process that we had to go through and that he
380
00:16:41.590 --> 00:16:43.210
had to go through being so early. I mean, there's
381
00:16:43.250 --> 00:16:46.669
different phases, right? Like seeing him the first time being in,
382
00:16:47.409 --> 00:16:50.309
you know, the little tube and seeing how small he
383
00:16:50.350 --> 00:16:52.990
was when he was born. And then seeing the process
384
00:16:53.029 --> 00:16:55.730
of him being on oxygen the whole time, he still
385
00:16:55.789 --> 00:16:58.190
uses oxygen from time to time. Not as much now,
386
00:16:58.309 --> 00:17:03.509
just realistically only when he's had serious breathing problems, but we've,
387
00:17:03.850 --> 00:17:07.630
the he's really progressed through most of it. Thankfully. And
388
00:17:07.690 --> 00:17:09.289
like I said, it's a miracle and it's a blessing
389
00:17:09.309 --> 00:17:11.990
just for everything and all the prayers and all the
390
00:17:12.009 --> 00:17:15.369
support from everybody that I had throughout that whole process, me,
391
00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:18.730
Sam and the families, um, just like I said, the
392
00:17:18.769 --> 00:17:22.869
nurses and everybody that we had there just, um, You know,
393
00:17:23.349 --> 00:17:26.369
he still has his G-tube in a little bit, but
394
00:17:26.569 --> 00:17:30.150
we only use that just pretty much when he's sick, too,
395
00:17:30.190 --> 00:17:34.589
just because he doesn't like taking medicine orally sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Because,
396
00:17:34.609 --> 00:17:36.430
you know, I just want to make sure that he
397
00:17:36.470 --> 00:17:39.009
gets all everything he's supposed to get into it.
398
00:17:39.029 --> 00:17:42.589
Right. But his body is still developing, still developing everything.
399
00:17:42.630 --> 00:17:46.109
Yeah. He's having some. So, we just, like, just seeing
400
00:17:46.130 --> 00:17:48.069
the process, like, the tubes and stuff like that, right?
401
00:17:48.089 --> 00:17:50.819
The oxygen, having the oxygen and the heart rate monitors
402
00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:54.339
and stuff on while we were sleeping for, geez, he
403
00:17:54.579 --> 00:17:57.319
finally got off the heart rate monitors and the breathing
404
00:17:57.380 --> 00:18:00.140
stuff probably, I think, when he was, like, two and
405
00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:04.759
a half or so like that. That's recent. So, yeah. So,
406
00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:08.440
he decided to pull his own breathing tube out when
407
00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:12.180
he was in the hospital, though. No way. Everybody likes it.
408
00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:14.930
Sam and the doctors and everybody like to say that
409
00:18:14.950 --> 00:18:17.329
he always did everything when I was in town, which
410
00:18:17.630 --> 00:18:19.890
was kind of funny when like he would take like
411
00:18:19.930 --> 00:18:21.769
his next step to whatever he would.
412
00:18:22.549 --> 00:18:23.250
He had to show dad.
413
00:18:23.769 --> 00:18:24.349
Something like that.
414
00:18:24.369 --> 00:18:24.930
Yeah.
415
00:18:25.150 --> 00:18:26.809
So it was kind of cool to see that, but
416
00:18:26.829 --> 00:18:30.509
it was kind of also worrisome. Oh, yeah. But like
417
00:18:30.549 --> 00:18:32.269
I said, I appreciate all the support and all the
418
00:18:32.589 --> 00:18:35.130
people that were in the University of Utah system and.
419
00:18:36.220 --> 00:18:38.680
All the doctors and nurses everywhere that, you know, realized
420
00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:40.720
where he needed to be to have the best chances
421
00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:44.039
to survive and be where he's at right now. Holy cow.
422
00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:47.920
I mean, that is so scary, you know, to have
423
00:18:47.940 --> 00:18:50.759
to go through something like that. You know, I had
424
00:18:50.819 --> 00:18:52.920
eight kids and we haven't had any of those health
425
00:18:53.339 --> 00:18:55.500
issues like that, right? We've had a few scares of
426
00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:59.279
things going on, but it's fascinating to hear the story
427
00:18:59.299 --> 00:19:00.900
and how you guys have handled it. It sounds like
428
00:19:00.940 --> 00:19:04.410
Sam is an amazing mom who's helped out throughout this process, right?
429
00:19:04.549 --> 00:19:04.710
Yeah.
430
00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:07.680
And, uh, and, and so, you know, good for her
431
00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:09.519
to be able to, to be there and support you
432
00:19:09.720 --> 00:19:12.500
and her as you take care of things, man. So,
433
00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:15.819
so you've had, uh, you know, everybody has to go.
434
00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:17.380
I always say everybody has to go through some kind
435
00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:19.900
of challenges in life, right? We don't get to choose
436
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.109
what we go through, but everybody has to go through it.
437
00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:25.440
And probably more than one thing in our lives that
438
00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:29.029
we have to go through. So how did you and Sam, like,
439
00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:32.210
how did you guys grow together? How did you guys
440
00:19:32.250 --> 00:19:35.990
handle this stress? How did you get through it? Because
441
00:19:36.029 --> 00:19:38.230
people are listening and they're either going through it right now,
442
00:19:38.890 --> 00:19:40.920
they just got through it, or they're about to go
443
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:45.619
through something. Can you help people understand? I talk a
444
00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:47.950
lot about becoming. How do we become what God wants
445
00:19:48.009 --> 00:19:49.609
us to be? How do we become the best parent?
446
00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:52.400
How do we become the best spouse? The best entrepreneur?
447
00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:56.160
The best whatever. But you guys facing this type of challenge.
448
00:19:57.099 --> 00:19:59.480
What is something you can help people, you know, know.
449
00:19:59.420 --> 00:20:03.079
From your experience? I think it goes back to, honestly...
450
00:20:03.700 --> 00:20:06.119
trying to take the positives out of everything. Right. There's
451
00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.559
a reason, trying to figure out the reasons why and
452
00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:11.279
the positive reasons why not the negative reasons why this
453
00:20:11.299 --> 00:20:13.819
thing happened to me. Just being like, Hey, you know,
454
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.460
JR in the different stages that he went through, it's like, okay,
455
00:20:16.539 --> 00:20:19.329
why us? But it's like, it's a miracle that he
456
00:20:19.349 --> 00:20:22.250
keeps going through these phases. So keep thinking positive, keep
457
00:20:22.269 --> 00:20:24.069
thinking that he's going to make this next step and
458
00:20:24.130 --> 00:20:26.190
everything's going to be okay. And Sam's like, did you
459
00:20:26.230 --> 00:20:28.250
ever worry? I was like, yeah, worried, but I put
460
00:20:28.309 --> 00:20:30.529
trust in God that like, he didn't let him get
461
00:20:30.589 --> 00:20:34.779
to this point to like, Not get to the final stages. Like,
462
00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:37.369
and if so, then there's a lesson to be learned
463
00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:39.450
in all of it. So let's just find like, as
464
00:20:39.490 --> 00:20:42.009
long as we can to enjoy what we have with this.
465
00:20:42.190 --> 00:20:44.569
And I think that's the main thing, because if you
466
00:20:44.589 --> 00:20:46.150
enjoy what you're doing and you're trying to do it
467
00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:48.829
for the right reasons, I tell people then, you know,
468
00:20:49.069 --> 00:20:52.130
that shouldn't stop you from doing it ever. because once
469
00:20:52.170 --> 00:20:54.759
you stop doing that, then you're not living for what
470
00:20:54.779 --> 00:20:56.440
you're supposed to be doing and what makes you happy,
471
00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:57.859
because you're going to put your all and you're going
472
00:20:57.880 --> 00:20:59.940
to enjoy the bad days as long as, as well
473
00:20:59.980 --> 00:21:02.519
as the good days, right? If you're something you truly
474
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.059
enjoy doing, that's why, you know, I ended up creating
475
00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:06.779
the app and I ended up trying to, you know,
476
00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:09.039
manifest the baseball thing and trying to do these things
477
00:21:09.099 --> 00:21:11.829
and give back to the world in a positive way.
478
00:21:11.869 --> 00:21:14.450
I got known as Smiley J just because I tried to,
479
00:21:14.910 --> 00:21:16.630
you know, try to make the best out of situations.
480
00:21:16.670 --> 00:21:19.509
I've had some times through my life, same thing where,
481
00:21:21.569 --> 00:21:23.599
could have taken it for the worst. And I knew,
482
00:21:23.619 --> 00:21:25.970
and I've learned through my dad and other role models
483
00:21:26.059 --> 00:21:29.220
and seeing, you know, people, how other people have handled it, that,
484
00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:31.799
you know, if I take it as a negative situation
485
00:21:31.859 --> 00:21:34.220
and act negatively on it, it's only going to compound
486
00:21:34.259 --> 00:21:37.640
with the negative. And at that point, what do you do? Right.
487
00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:40.140
It's hard to come back from a true negative. If
488
00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:42.299
you're trying to be positive rather than trying to start
489
00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:45.700
with a positive and compound that. So it's just, you know,
490
00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:48.440
you try to tell people right now, whatever you're going through,
491
00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:52.259
it might be tough. It's definitely going to be tough.
492
00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:54.369
There's going to be tough moments, but try to find
493
00:21:54.390 --> 00:21:57.430
the positives out of it. Try to make sure whatever
494
00:21:57.470 --> 00:22:00.450
you're doing is something that you enjoy doing. There might
495
00:22:00.490 --> 00:22:03.200
be reasons why you don't have to enjoy doing it,
496
00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:05.119
but there should be a reason at the end that
497
00:22:05.130 --> 00:22:08.519
you're enjoying it. Because for me, if you're living your
498
00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:10.579
life to be happy and the best person you can
499
00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:13.099
be in positive, then things will end up going the
500
00:22:13.140 --> 00:22:15.750
way you want to. And if they don't, then you
501
00:22:15.769 --> 00:22:17.730
can live with the fact that like you did the
502
00:22:17.769 --> 00:22:21.569
right things, honestly, rather than you regretting something later on.
503
00:22:22.069 --> 00:22:25.160
I love that you said something about you're seeing the
504
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:29.220
positive with whatever trial or challenge you're going through. Even
505
00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:32.319
if it doesn't work out the way you wanted, you're
506
00:22:32.440 --> 00:22:34.539
still going to try and find the positive in no
507
00:22:34.579 --> 00:22:38.119
matter what the experience is. So many of us struggle
508
00:22:38.180 --> 00:22:40.529
to see that. And then we get angry at God
509
00:22:40.549 --> 00:22:43.829
and it's like, why did this have to happen? And
510
00:22:45.049 --> 00:22:49.369
like you, I like to lean on God in these circumstances, right?
511
00:22:49.410 --> 00:22:51.750
It's just, I don't know how people do it without it.
512
00:22:52.170 --> 00:22:54.859
I honestly don't know. And so when I lean on God,
513
00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:57.599
I ask the question, okay, what am I supposed to
514
00:22:57.640 --> 00:23:01.640
learn from this experience? From whatever I'm going through, like, okay,
515
00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:04.240
there must be something I need to learn from this.
516
00:23:04.779 --> 00:23:08.099
So I'm seeking and asking in prayer, like, what is it?
517
00:23:08.660 --> 00:23:11.920
that I'm supposed to learn. And it's been fascinating because
518
00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:14.920
sometimes the answers come like right away. And other times
519
00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:15.960
it takes a little bit of time, right?
520
00:23:15.980 --> 00:23:17.440
It varies.
521
00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:18.519
It varies, right?
522
00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:19.339
It varies a lot of times.
523
00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:20.599
It varies.
524
00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.299
But I do really appreciate that sentiment. And hopefully people
525
00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:26.559
that are listening, when you're going through something hard like this,
526
00:23:27.259 --> 00:23:29.599
that you can, number one, lean on God and then
527
00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:33.920
understand no matter what the outcome, even if it doesn't
528
00:23:33.980 --> 00:23:36.750
come out to be the way you want it, there's
529
00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:39.769
still a positive way to look, even if it's the
530
00:23:39.829 --> 00:23:43.329
worst case scenario. And hopefully that can change people's lives
531
00:23:43.349 --> 00:23:46.450
to have a little bit of a glass half full mentality, right?
532
00:23:46.450 --> 00:23:52.400
100%. That's the whole point, right? For me, my mom
533
00:23:52.420 --> 00:23:54.319
always used to tell me, and I give her credit
534
00:23:54.339 --> 00:23:55.819
for this a lot of times, is she would be like,
535
00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:58.900
take a nap. And I'd be like, okay. and like
536
00:23:58.940 --> 00:24:01.079
you said, with the whole trusting God thing, we have
537
00:24:01.099 --> 00:24:03.519
to go through our things to finally and truly like
538
00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:05.589
trust him. Right. We have to go through our moments
539
00:24:05.730 --> 00:24:08.309
and figure out ways. I'm a philosophy major too. So
540
00:24:09.150 --> 00:24:12.430
I had to learn my way to ultimately I went through,
541
00:24:12.450 --> 00:24:15.589
you know, being a Southern Baptist with my dad, being
542
00:24:15.650 --> 00:24:18.460
a pastor now too, and just going to church all
543
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:20.200
the time and stuff. And then being a philosophy major
544
00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:25.349
questioning and figuring out the ways I had to go. Um, but, it's,
545
00:24:25.670 --> 00:24:28.009
you know, you try to figure out like where your
546
00:24:28.049 --> 00:24:30.710
next step is. Right. Yeah. And where to go from there.
547
00:24:30.849 --> 00:24:35.759
And leaning on him is just, I've had so many
548
00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:39.000
different things that have happened. So for me, I, one
549
00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:41.740
of the biggest things that happened, which kept me in baseball, honestly,
550
00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:44.109
was at the time I had an, I had a,
551
00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:46.500
my ex wife, we were actually laying in bed one
552
00:24:46.539 --> 00:24:48.559
night and we were about to get, this was before
553
00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:53.029
we got married. And, uh, was in the midst of
554
00:24:53.069 --> 00:24:54.789
being in the minors and the minors, a lot of
555
00:24:54.829 --> 00:24:56.930
people don't know this because the CBA is coming up
556
00:24:56.970 --> 00:24:58.930
now and people think that baseball players make a ton
557
00:24:58.970 --> 00:25:00.369
of money, but in the minors at the time when
558
00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:03.730
you made such little money and barely get by money,
559
00:25:03.990 --> 00:25:06.319
you're barely in mind. So I had, I'm like, okay,
560
00:25:06.420 --> 00:25:09.380
how am I going to afford a family trying to rate,
561
00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:12.019
trying to do this thing? We had two dogs to China, like,
562
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.819
you know, have a family, a house and probably two
563
00:25:15.859 --> 00:25:19.029
places to stay and things of that nature. And, I
564
00:25:19.170 --> 00:25:21.029
asked God that night, I was like, okay, if baseball
565
00:25:21.049 --> 00:25:23.809
is what I'm supposed to do, then give me a sign. Like,
566
00:25:23.869 --> 00:25:25.809
just let me know. Cause if not, then that's cool.
567
00:25:25.849 --> 00:25:27.890
Like I'll go figure it out from here. I always do.
568
00:25:27.950 --> 00:25:30.430
I know you're with me, but just show me what,
569
00:25:30.670 --> 00:25:32.970
what we're supposed to do. And the next day, or
570
00:25:33.210 --> 00:25:34.900
it might've been, I'm pretty sure it was the next day.
571
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:36.420
It might've been two days later, but I'm pretty sure
572
00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:38.839
it was the next day. I get a call from
573
00:25:38.859 --> 00:25:40.400
my agent and be like, Hey, there's a team that's
574
00:25:40.420 --> 00:25:42.180
going to allow you that wants you to sign you
575
00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:44.740
for the winter. And you get to go home for
576
00:25:44.779 --> 00:25:46.680
your wedding and they're going to pay you for the
577
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:48.500
days that you're going to miss for your wedding. And
578
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:50.599
as long as you come back and you just can't
579
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.539
go on your honeymoon yet and blah, blah, blah. And
580
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:53.759
so I was like, okay, well, I'm going to be
581
00:25:53.779 --> 00:25:58.119
able to make enough to ultimately, you know, get through
582
00:25:58.140 --> 00:26:00.819
the off season and support the family for, you know,
583
00:26:00.900 --> 00:26:02.700
at least part of the next season. So I was like, yes,
584
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:04.269
a hundred percent. So I was like, okay, this is
585
00:26:04.309 --> 00:26:05.619
what we're supposed to do. I'm never going to take
586
00:26:05.660 --> 00:26:07.670
it for granted. I'm going to enjoy it all the time.
587
00:26:07.690 --> 00:26:09.750
And so for me, that's what I'm trying to pour
588
00:26:09.789 --> 00:26:13.460
back to, because yeah, There's so many things that could
589
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.660
have gone, like I said, haywire in my life before.
590
00:26:16.210 --> 00:26:20.390
Even after that, me just being like, okay, it could
591
00:26:20.410 --> 00:26:24.309
be worse, one. But two, am I doing something that
592
00:26:24.329 --> 00:26:26.410
still feels like the right thing to do? Am I
593
00:26:26.450 --> 00:26:29.420
doing something that makes me happy? And if so, then
594
00:26:29.579 --> 00:26:32.339
this time is just the same thing. It's a speed bump.
595
00:26:33.410 --> 00:26:33.950
Things happen.
596
00:26:34.069 --> 00:26:38.190
Totally. Things happen all the time. God throws some curveballs.
597
00:26:38.210 --> 00:26:40.849
All right. So I've got to ask. So seven years
598
00:26:40.910 --> 00:26:44.670
after being drafted, you finally made your major league debut, right?
599
00:26:45.289 --> 00:26:48.109
So tell me about receiving that call and walking onto
600
00:26:48.130 --> 00:26:50.910
a major league round for the very first time.
601
00:26:51.089 --> 00:26:55.210
Oh, man. So, yeah. It's like seven and a half,
602
00:26:55.339 --> 00:26:58.339
eight years just about because it was in September that year.
603
00:26:58.359 --> 00:27:02.269
It was technically after the season had ended because normally–
604
00:27:02.470 --> 00:27:05.329
At that time, rosters could expand. They don't do it anymore.
605
00:27:05.430 --> 00:27:08.710
But at that time, you could have your full 40-man
606
00:27:08.750 --> 00:27:11.630
roster come join your team in September. And so they normally,
607
00:27:12.269 --> 00:27:16.039
first day of September, every team would add their guys, blah, blah, blah.
608
00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:18.119
But that year, we were in the playoffs for our
609
00:27:18.220 --> 00:27:23.299
AAA team. And so they didn't send everybody. They sent
610
00:27:23.339 --> 00:27:25.480
like two or three guys. And so everybody else was like, okay,
611
00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:29.039
we're not getting sent up. And so we ended up
612
00:27:29.099 --> 00:27:32.619
losing out of the playoffs. and then nobody hears normally
613
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:34.700
you would hear that night of like after the game, like, okay,
614
00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:37.039
you lost like, Hey, like this person, this person, this
615
00:27:37.059 --> 00:27:39.299
person's coming to join the big league team because you
616
00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:43.059
guys are done. Nobody heard anything. So we were all like, okay,
617
00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:45.900
so everybody's taken off going home and stuff. Right. I
618
00:27:45.940 --> 00:27:48.019
stayed back in El Paso an extra day just to
619
00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:50.299
pack up, take my time because I was like, the
620
00:27:50.339 --> 00:27:53.660
season's over. Like let me decompress and let me take
621
00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:56.000
my time for getting home. Like it's not gonna, home's
622
00:27:56.019 --> 00:27:59.240
not going anywhere at this point. So I was like, okay.
623
00:27:59.299 --> 00:28:02.740
And then they, get a call. And I'm like, okay.
624
00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:04.660
Like I was actually on the phone with my ex
625
00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:06.819
wife at the time. I was like, hello. And he's like, Hey,
626
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:09.720
so how long has it been? I was like, how
627
00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:11.019
long has what been? He's like that you've been in
628
00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:13.400
the minors. And I was like, now technically eight years.
629
00:28:13.420 --> 00:28:16.269
And he's like, well, congratulations. Um, you're going to make
630
00:28:16.329 --> 00:28:19.130
it to meet us in Arizona if you like to
631
00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:22.869
today or tomorrow. And I was like, well, I'm actually
632
00:28:22.930 --> 00:28:25.230
on the other line right now. Let me click over
633
00:28:25.329 --> 00:28:27.150
and call you, like not call you. I was like,
634
00:28:27.210 --> 00:28:30.420
click over and like, get back to you. And he's like, okay.
635
00:28:30.539 --> 00:28:33.579
So I called over, told his wife, like, Hey, let
636
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.039
me call you back. So I talked to him, got
637
00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:38.960
the logistics and was just like, thank you. This is
638
00:28:39.029 --> 00:28:43.089
an opportunity, you know, I've been looking for like eight
639
00:28:43.130 --> 00:28:45.130
years is a long time. I had a lot of
640
00:28:45.150 --> 00:28:47.329
good years, had some ups and downs, a lot of, again,
641
00:28:47.349 --> 00:28:51.259
same thing as before, a lot of support from different coaches, players, personnel,
642
00:28:51.299 --> 00:28:53.680
and different organizations that allowed me to stay in the
643
00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:57.079
game that long. But ultimately I think it was you know,
644
00:28:57.140 --> 00:28:59.380
me enjoying it and the happiness and the gratefulness that
645
00:29:00.019 --> 00:29:03.200
the gratitude that I had for the game itself more than,
646
00:29:03.299 --> 00:29:06.319
you know, the organizations and stuff, because there's also a
647
00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:09.109
lot of politics that went on behind the scenes, obviously
648
00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:12.289
with those teams and organizations and stuff. So, you know,
649
00:29:12.589 --> 00:29:13.890
for me to be able to stay in it that
650
00:29:13.930 --> 00:29:16.789
long enough for eight years to make it to the
651
00:29:16.829 --> 00:29:19.589
big leagues at that point and have that chance and
652
00:29:19.609 --> 00:29:21.609
that opportunity, you know, I was grateful for it. And then,
653
00:29:21.650 --> 00:29:24.869
you know, after that, Called the ex-wife, called parents, told
654
00:29:24.910 --> 00:29:26.799
everybody like, hey, I'm finally getting a movie.
655
00:29:26.819 --> 00:29:27.299
You made it.
656
00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:28.000
Yeah, we did it.
657
00:29:28.019 --> 00:29:30.019
That's awesome.
658
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:31.980
Got to fly to Arizona. And then I actually made
659
00:29:32.019 --> 00:29:33.039
my debut the next day.
660
00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:35.670
The very next day.
661
00:29:35.710 --> 00:29:36.309
The next day.
662
00:29:37.089 --> 00:29:38.009
Oh, my gosh.
663
00:29:38.450 --> 00:29:38.670
Yeah.
664
00:29:38.950 --> 00:29:40.400
So what was it like when you're watching? up on
665
00:29:40.420 --> 00:29:41.420
that mound? Nervous.
666
00:29:41.779 --> 00:29:43.079
It was probably one of the most nervous times I've
667
00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:45.599
ever had in my life just because like, I think
668
00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:47.369
I just, I was so nervous because I wanted to
669
00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:49.470
be so good and prove to people so bad at
670
00:29:49.509 --> 00:29:53.450
that time that I was deserving of that opportunity instead
671
00:29:53.490 --> 00:29:56.869
of as you become who you're supposed to be, right?
672
00:29:57.009 --> 00:30:00.180
And as you that we're trying to teach people and
673
00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:02.559
have the community to teach people to be who you
674
00:30:02.619 --> 00:30:04.549
are sooner. So you don't have to worry about those
675
00:30:04.660 --> 00:30:08.589
nerves later. Right. So as I grew and as I
676
00:30:08.630 --> 00:30:11.650
became who I was supposed to be and a better
677
00:30:11.690 --> 00:30:15.289
baseball player and understood the situations, the nerves left. But
678
00:30:15.329 --> 00:30:18.470
that first time, Oh, I didn't finish the inning. I had,
679
00:30:18.710 --> 00:30:20.819
luckily we had a great bullpen and I had some
680
00:30:20.839 --> 00:30:23.200
guys behind me that got me out of the situation,
681
00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:25.779
but I gave up a few runs. So yeah, the
682
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:27.359
first one didn't go as clean as it should have.
683
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:28.920
You know what, though?
684
00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:32.059
I think any of us can relate to that. This
685
00:30:32.099 --> 00:30:36.079
is your first time doing the big shot thing, and
686
00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:40.279
you're just sweating bullets, right? So if you were to
687
00:30:40.299 --> 00:30:43.309
help somebody who's in their first big thing like that,
688
00:30:44.230 --> 00:30:46.230
how do they get their head in the game to
689
00:30:46.250 --> 00:30:49.130
where they can get those nerves to calm down? And
690
00:30:49.150 --> 00:30:52.170
maybe they haven't built that confidence yet. So is it
691
00:30:52.190 --> 00:30:54.750
just a process? Is it something that you cover here,
692
00:30:54.829 --> 00:30:57.670
like in the book? what is it that helps people
693
00:30:57.730 --> 00:31:00.849
to just get into their own zone so they can
694
00:31:00.890 --> 00:31:03.710
perform at whatever level it is. If they're an entrepreneur
695
00:31:04.019 --> 00:31:06.400
and they're leading a business, if it's going on stage
696
00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:09.779
and speaking, if it's going onto the baseball field, like
697
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:12.109
what can they do to get into that zone?
698
00:31:13.130 --> 00:31:17.380
I think it's, Enjoy the moment. Trust the work you've
699
00:31:17.420 --> 00:31:20.019
put in because, again, if it's something you enjoy, then
700
00:31:20.039 --> 00:31:22.539
you've put the work in to be there and understand
701
00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:24.660
why you're there. So if you know why you're there
702
00:31:24.789 --> 00:31:27.029
and you're trusting yourself, then you can enjoy that moment
703
00:31:27.710 --> 00:31:29.170
and just take a deep breath and then you can
704
00:31:29.190 --> 00:31:31.349
go let it float, honestly, because you can already know
705
00:31:31.369 --> 00:31:33.230
what you're supposed to do. I think a lot of
706
00:31:33.269 --> 00:31:38.119
times we get so nervous because we either, one, haven't
707
00:31:38.130 --> 00:31:41.460
prepared properly for it, or two, we want to prove
708
00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:45.650
to everybody else why our work has been been our
709
00:31:45.690 --> 00:31:49.220
worth exactly i think that's you see it i think
710
00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:51.579
kobe's talked about it and lebron and jordan all these
711
00:31:51.660 --> 00:31:54.180
greats have talked about it in other sports right brady
712
00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:56.920
like i've prepared so much for this moment like now
713
00:31:56.980 --> 00:31:58.869
you get to see the practice is the hard part
714
00:31:59.140 --> 00:32:01.109
the journey is the hard part so if i enjoyed
715
00:32:01.150 --> 00:32:04.470
this journey now you get to see what this journey
716
00:32:04.490 --> 00:32:07.369
has become ultimately and that should make me happy because
717
00:32:07.430 --> 00:32:10.170
now you get to for us as baseball players football
718
00:32:10.190 --> 00:32:12.579
players basketball players we're entertainers right so you get to
719
00:32:12.599 --> 00:32:16.460
enjoy our entertainment our hard work But as an entrepreneur,
720
00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:19.700
and like I said, what I'm doing now, and as
721
00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:22.119
a speaker, everything else, you get to be like, hey,
722
00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:23.980
you get to see and hear my story. Or hey,
723
00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:25.940
you get to see and be a part of my
724
00:32:26.099 --> 00:32:27.720
app and see the benefit that I can give to
725
00:32:27.769 --> 00:32:29.789
you because of the work I've put in for it already.
726
00:32:30.930 --> 00:32:33.490
So you have that preparation that gets you ready for
727
00:32:33.549 --> 00:32:38.089
that time. You know, I remember one of the first
728
00:32:38.109 --> 00:32:39.769
times I got up to a stage and speaking in
729
00:32:39.809 --> 00:32:44.089
front of a few hundred people. Nervous, right? Sweating bullets,
730
00:32:44.730 --> 00:32:48.130
didn't love it, you know, and, and honestly did not
731
00:32:48.170 --> 00:32:50.279
do a great job. And, and it's one of those
732
00:32:50.299 --> 00:32:52.859
pieces that if somebody is, if that's what they want
733
00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:55.980
to do, a professional speaker, I am not a professional speaker.
734
00:32:56.019 --> 00:32:58.119
I got certified, but I'm not. Oh, that's awesome.
735
00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:01.019
That's a good thing. But like just that practice and
736
00:33:01.059 --> 00:33:02.859
consistency has got to be it. And so you're talking
737
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:05.200
about that, doing that as an athlete, um, if you're
738
00:33:05.220 --> 00:33:07.119
an entrepreneur, you better get out there and start practicing.
739
00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:08.589
If you want to be a public speaker, you better
740
00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:10.289
get out in there and fail the first few times.
741
00:33:10.309 --> 00:33:12.329
If you want to do a podcast and you're too
742
00:33:12.349 --> 00:33:14.309
afraid to get on camera, you probably should just get
743
00:33:14.349 --> 00:33:15.430
on camera and start practicing.
744
00:33:15.470 --> 00:33:15.650
Right.
745
00:33:16.150 --> 00:33:18.069
And so I'm trying to teach my kids this. Um,
746
00:33:18.269 --> 00:33:21.630
so they have just this repetition and, you know, I've
747
00:33:21.650 --> 00:33:23.390
got my son who's, who made it to a national
748
00:33:23.410 --> 00:33:27.039
American tumbling team. We're going to China in November.
749
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:29.150
I just got back from Taiwan. Not too long ago.
750
00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:31.920
I went to, I actually went, went around the world
751
00:33:31.980 --> 00:33:33.400
kind of in 22 days.
752
00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:34.660
No way.
753
00:33:34.769 --> 00:33:37.789
I went from, well, I started here in Salt Lake
754
00:33:38.210 --> 00:33:41.549
and I'm counting obviously my layovers. I went from Salt Lake,
755
00:33:41.589 --> 00:33:43.690
went to Florida, which is, I split my time between
756
00:33:43.750 --> 00:33:45.529
here and Florida. Cause I have a place where I
757
00:33:45.549 --> 00:33:48.309
was training that and my place down there. Went from Florida,
758
00:33:48.589 --> 00:33:50.650
flew from Florida. I stayed there for like two or
759
00:33:50.670 --> 00:33:54.430
three days. Then went from Florida to New York for layover,
760
00:33:54.490 --> 00:33:58.980
layover to London, London layover, then landed in Egypt, spent
761
00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:03.599
a week in Egypt, And helped MLB with a play
762
00:34:03.619 --> 00:34:06.819
ball because baseball organization over there. So I spent a
763
00:34:06.839 --> 00:34:07.339
week there.
764
00:34:07.420 --> 00:34:07.839
That's awesome.
765
00:34:07.859 --> 00:34:11.000
Which was amazing. And then flew from there, laid over
766
00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:15.840
in Beijing and then went to Taiwan and spent two
767
00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:19.380
weeks in Taichung and different parts of Taiwan doing lessons
768
00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:24.389
and clinics for elementary, middle and high school and private
769
00:34:24.429 --> 00:34:26.730
lessons for prospects and stuff over there as well.
770
00:34:26.769 --> 00:34:27.409
No way.
771
00:34:27.510 --> 00:34:28.610
And then flew back to Salt Lake.
772
00:34:29.730 --> 00:34:33.369
You literally went around the world. That's amazing. That is
773
00:34:33.409 --> 00:34:35.230
so cool. What a cool opportunity. You can do that.
774
00:34:35.429 --> 00:34:36.030
Help people out.
775
00:34:36.050 --> 00:34:37.789
That's the main thing. All right.
776
00:34:37.809 --> 00:34:39.090
I got to get, I got to hit this point
777
00:34:39.130 --> 00:34:40.449
and I know we're already running out of time. There's
778
00:34:40.469 --> 00:34:42.289
just so many questions I wanted to ask you. Okay.
779
00:34:42.309 --> 00:34:46.949
Hold on. All right. How did becoming a father change
780
00:34:46.989 --> 00:34:50.230
the way you understood what success meant to you?
781
00:34:52.489 --> 00:34:55.380
I think it was one of them. like I said before,
782
00:34:55.420 --> 00:34:57.480
I think it's one of the reasons I ultimately kind
783
00:34:57.519 --> 00:34:59.619
of retired so I could spend more time being a
784
00:34:59.659 --> 00:35:03.079
father because I feel like me having that journey and
785
00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:07.079
putting my, my career necessarily, even though it was to
786
00:35:07.139 --> 00:35:09.559
provide for the family and yes, they probably would have
787
00:35:09.579 --> 00:35:11.989
came to Mexico and stuff like that. But the risk
788
00:35:12.179 --> 00:35:15.389
of me doing that. And again, me not being who
789
00:35:15.489 --> 00:35:18.349
I wanted to be through the process and knowing that
790
00:35:18.389 --> 00:35:22.050
the outcome wasn't what I truly wanted. I'd rather, you know,
791
00:35:22.289 --> 00:35:27.429
it showed me, first of all, like hard decision-making one, right.
792
00:35:27.510 --> 00:35:29.110
That I need to lead with what's going to be
793
00:35:29.150 --> 00:35:32.309
best for again, me and what I think ultimately is
794
00:35:32.329 --> 00:35:33.989
going to be best for the family. But two, it
795
00:35:34.929 --> 00:35:38.010
showed me patience too. Since I've, since JR has been
796
00:35:38.050 --> 00:35:40.119
here with, like I said, being in the hospital for
797
00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:44.659
166 days and then having to, you know, check stuff
798
00:35:44.699 --> 00:35:47.500
during the night all the time, which parents, if you
799
00:35:47.860 --> 00:35:51.150
got kids that have, you know, the, the cords and
800
00:35:51.170 --> 00:35:53.550
the tubes and having to check things all the time.
801
00:35:53.590 --> 00:35:56.250
Then you understand the, the, the patients that you have
802
00:35:56.269 --> 00:35:58.869
to have with the beeping and being able to check
803
00:35:58.909 --> 00:36:00.769
things at night, making sure you're kind of a light
804
00:36:00.809 --> 00:36:05.880
sleeper and making sure that you're patient, not only with yourself,
805
00:36:06.099 --> 00:36:08.659
but the people around you too, because little things can
806
00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:12.360
set off a whole like event of emotions and things that,
807
00:36:12.500 --> 00:36:14.079
like I said before, just spiral.
808
00:36:14.099 --> 00:36:14.300
Right.
809
00:36:14.380 --> 00:36:18.920
So, um, and is he's taught me the main thing
810
00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:22.710
is just, like I said before, to enjoy life, the
811
00:36:22.789 --> 00:36:25.150
gift of life and the miracle that he has to
812
00:36:25.230 --> 00:36:29.730
be here itself and in itself just helps me just
813
00:36:29.789 --> 00:36:31.889
enjoy each day even more. Like I wake up every
814
00:36:31.929 --> 00:36:34.789
morning and I'm just blessed that he's still here. So
815
00:36:35.329 --> 00:36:36.670
for me, it's just the enjoyment of life.
816
00:36:37.349 --> 00:36:39.909
I love that. Was there ever a moment when your
817
00:36:39.969 --> 00:36:43.369
child needed you and baseball was asking you something completely
818
00:36:43.409 --> 00:36:43.949
different from you?
819
00:36:44.829 --> 00:36:47.489
Oh, a hundred percent. Like the hundred percent that whole,
820
00:36:47.510 --> 00:36:50.219
that whole summer, right? I wanted to be there. And
821
00:36:50.260 --> 00:36:53.219
be there every day, the 166 days that.
822
00:36:53.659 --> 00:36:54.340
But you had to work.
823
00:36:54.360 --> 00:36:55.929
I had to work. I had to work every day.
824
00:36:55.969 --> 00:36:57.710
I had to work every time that I didn't have
825
00:36:57.750 --> 00:37:00.869
to be there with him. So, um, and the last
826
00:37:00.989 --> 00:37:03.389
month we were in the playoff push too. So.
827
00:37:03.550 --> 00:37:04.130
Oh my gosh.
828
00:37:04.369 --> 00:37:07.409
That last month, it wasn't, I didn't get to travel
829
00:37:07.449 --> 00:37:09.389
back as much because the team was like, Hey, like.
830
00:37:10.010 --> 00:37:12.269
It's playoff time. Yeah. We need you here. And I'm like, no,
831
00:37:12.289 --> 00:37:14.860
I completely understand that. Like, we understand that. Like, this
832
00:37:14.909 --> 00:37:17.730
is what we signed up for. Like I've, he. We
833
00:37:17.789 --> 00:37:19.949
have the team in place and I appreciate what you
834
00:37:19.989 --> 00:37:22.320
guys have done so far. So me being who I
835
00:37:22.380 --> 00:37:26.500
am too, like some guys might've, you know, said, you know,
836
00:37:26.579 --> 00:37:30.519
I'm just gonna, I'm gonna shut the season down. But
837
00:37:30.579 --> 00:37:32.530
I was like, you know what? Like I'm grateful for
838
00:37:32.550 --> 00:37:35.510
the opportunity one. And the team we had in place
839
00:37:35.570 --> 00:37:38.269
was doing such a wonderful job that I trusted what
840
00:37:38.309 --> 00:37:40.289
they were doing too. So I was like, Hey, things
841
00:37:40.349 --> 00:37:43.699
are good on the home front. So well, I can go,
842
00:37:43.719 --> 00:37:45.019
I can go to battle kind of thing. Right.
843
00:37:45.710 --> 00:37:49.550
And now you're transitioning from athlete to entrepreneur, right? So
844
00:37:50.329 --> 00:37:54.059
obviously you've been trained for your whole life to perform
845
00:37:54.119 --> 00:37:55.980
as an athlete. I mean, literally since you were a
846
00:37:55.980 --> 00:37:59.420
tiny little kid. So you've been a performance athlete your
847
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:04.119
whole life, professional athlete. Now you're coming into being an entrepreneur,
848
00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:06.679
building your own app. You've got your book. You've been
849
00:38:06.739 --> 00:38:09.690
mentoring and coaching. You've even got calls that are happening
850
00:38:10.230 --> 00:38:11.329
every month, right?
851
00:38:11.349 --> 00:38:12.829
Yeah, we do two calls a month. We do one
852
00:38:12.849 --> 00:38:15.400
for the parents, one for the players. especially if you're
853
00:38:15.420 --> 00:38:17.219
part of the community, we're going to start branching it
854
00:38:17.300 --> 00:38:20.130
out and letting other people join possibly for a fee,
855
00:38:20.309 --> 00:38:22.369
but possibly for free. We're trying to figure out how
856
00:38:22.409 --> 00:38:23.570
we want to do it, but I think we want
857
00:38:23.590 --> 00:38:25.550
to definitely just have as many people on the calls
858
00:38:25.590 --> 00:38:27.449
as possible. So I think we're going to do at
859
00:38:27.469 --> 00:38:29.650
least till, you know, for a certain amount of time
860
00:38:29.690 --> 00:38:33.260
for free, just to get it going, but also just
861
00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:36.449
to get, get people introduced to our coaches because we
862
00:38:36.489 --> 00:38:38.750
have such great coaches. Like it's not only me, but
863
00:38:38.769 --> 00:38:40.429
all the coaches I have under me that work with
864
00:38:40.469 --> 00:38:43.369
me because part of the program that I do have
865
00:38:43.409 --> 00:38:46.690
for the app is you can, guys can get one-on-one
866
00:38:46.730 --> 00:38:51.260
mentorships with former pros. So not only me as a
867
00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:53.000
major league baseball player, but I have three other guys
868
00:38:53.019 --> 00:38:55.360
that are former major league players as well that are
869
00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:57.659
willing to mentor and give their time and advice to
870
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.300
the younger generation and different kids as well. So we
871
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:02.599
just want to make sure that like, everybody understands what
872
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:05.039
we're doing. It's not just the development on the field,
873
00:39:05.059 --> 00:39:08.039
it's definitely the development off the field mainly. And just
874
00:39:08.260 --> 00:39:11.469
to give people a chance to get, especially these players
875
00:39:11.530 --> 00:39:13.530
and kids, a chance to do something that we wish
876
00:39:13.690 --> 00:39:15.289
that we all would have had before, like when we
877
00:39:15.309 --> 00:39:17.769
were growing up, right? Even now, we all have mentors
878
00:39:17.809 --> 00:39:19.889
that help us get to the next level. So this
879
00:39:19.929 --> 00:39:23.250
is a way where, a rare chance where you have
880
00:39:23.349 --> 00:39:26.789
multiple people from different backgrounds that have been through different situations,
881
00:39:26.809 --> 00:39:29.719
but all reach the same height level that some of
882
00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:32.300
your kids might be wanting to do oh yeah in
883
00:39:32.360 --> 00:39:34.960
just every area and you're all in one place and
884
00:39:34.980 --> 00:39:37.760
then you can obviously buy different hours and buy different
885
00:39:37.780 --> 00:39:42.039
packages for you know different mentorships but Yeah. I'm transferring
886
00:39:42.059 --> 00:39:45.440
over that. And I'm also, I just recently got asked
887
00:39:45.460 --> 00:39:48.840
to do private pitching lessons in Utah. So when I'm
888
00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:51.340
in Utah, I will be now doing private pitching lessons.
889
00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:54.489
That's awesome. I do pitching lessons in Greenville as well. So.
890
00:39:55.340 --> 00:39:57.599
I'm doing a little bit of everything. Just trying to
891
00:39:57.619 --> 00:39:59.789
help as many people, like I said, especially the younger generation,
892
00:39:59.829 --> 00:40:01.869
enjoy the game of baseball because we were talking before.
893
00:40:01.869 --> 00:40:05.030
70% of kids are stopping sports at 13. And I
894
00:40:05.050 --> 00:40:08.869
think 13 to that 15 to 18, like the middle
895
00:40:08.909 --> 00:40:11.050
school to high school age range, right, is when we
896
00:40:11.090 --> 00:40:12.690
learn a lot of our life lessons. And if we
897
00:40:12.730 --> 00:40:16.510
don't have the best foundation or the best support systems
898
00:40:16.550 --> 00:40:17.900
a lot of times, then I think we end up
899
00:40:17.940 --> 00:40:20.400
going off the rails. Like I said, compounding negatives instead
900
00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:23.219
of compounding the positives. And I think that's what this app,
901
00:40:23.639 --> 00:40:26.940
the book, the workbooks, but I think mainly, especially once
902
00:40:26.980 --> 00:40:28.989
I start branching this app out to different sports, but
903
00:40:29.030 --> 00:40:31.610
mainly for baseball players or just athletes and parents in
904
00:40:31.670 --> 00:40:37.090
general right now, just building a foundation and support system
905
00:40:37.110 --> 00:40:38.989
that they can be proud of and positive with that.
906
00:40:39.010 --> 00:40:41.070
You're going to get them to the next level. Wild.
907
00:40:41.090 --> 00:40:42.969
All right. Everybody needs to know what is the app called?
908
00:40:43.570 --> 00:40:46.280
It's called the smile zone. So the book's called nine
909
00:40:46.300 --> 00:40:48.559
things to living your best life, achieve success when you
910
00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:52.760
smile and smile stands for start making intentional life efforts.
911
00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:56.809
So the app, Naturally, everything is built off of Smile.
912
00:40:57.269 --> 00:40:59.929
And so, the app is called the Smile Zone. Love it. So,
913
00:41:00.130 --> 00:41:00.809
Smile Zone.
914
00:41:00.989 --> 00:41:02.690
Find it on any app store kind of a thing?
915
00:41:02.929 --> 00:41:04.750
It's on the website right now. It's on the community.
916
00:41:06.590 --> 00:41:08.789
It's on the website right now, smilezone.app.
917
00:41:09.150 --> 00:41:09.289
Okay.
918
00:41:09.510 --> 00:41:11.670
And then you can find it on my page as well,
919
00:41:11.710 --> 00:41:15.170
the Jackson 5A. You can find it on the IG
920
00:41:15.210 --> 00:41:18.289
page and the TikTok and the YouTube and all the stuff,
921
00:41:18.389 --> 00:41:21.300
pages for … all the social media pages. You can
922
00:41:21.340 --> 00:41:24.369
find the website app for that and all the stuff,
923
00:41:24.530 --> 00:41:26.829
but you can find it on also my personal page
924
00:41:26.849 --> 00:41:28.710
where you can get the book and the workbooks as well.
925
00:41:29.150 --> 00:41:29.739
I love it.
926
00:41:29.750 --> 00:41:32.489
All right, you guys, I wanted to do one last thing.
927
00:41:32.510 --> 00:41:34.150
I want to do some rapid fire questions and we
928
00:41:34.190 --> 00:41:35.190
got to close out. Is that cool?
929
00:41:35.349 --> 00:41:36.510
Fine.
930
00:41:36.570 --> 00:41:41.070
Rapid fire. You guys ready? All right. Who was the
931
00:41:41.150 --> 00:41:43.170
most intimidating hitter you ever faced?
932
00:41:43.610 --> 00:41:48.139
Intimidating? Ooh, a lot of people would like to say
933
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:51.260
Shohei just because of Everything what I faced Shohei so
934
00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:53.360
many times over the years, so I've seen him progress,
935
00:41:53.539 --> 00:41:55.500
and he has got more intimidating over the years. But
936
00:41:55.579 --> 00:41:59.079
I think the most intimidating hitter I ever faced was
937
00:41:59.139 --> 00:42:01.639
probably Adrian Gonzalez, and that was like the first season
938
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:04.650
that I got to when I got my first call-up
939
00:42:04.690 --> 00:42:08.289
in 2015 when Adrian Gonzalez played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
940
00:42:08.789 --> 00:42:09.590
Oh, my gosh.
941
00:42:09.610 --> 00:42:10.510
I think that was my most intimidating.
942
00:42:10.530 --> 00:42:12.710
That was intense. All right, favorite major league stadium?
943
00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:18.420
To sit at and see a game, I would say PNC. Okay.
944
00:42:19.070 --> 00:42:21.769
to play at and be a part of would be
945
00:42:21.929 --> 00:42:27.170
Toronto and Oracle in San Fran. Oh, that's awesome. I,
946
00:42:27.510 --> 00:42:29.409
I had a great time with the San Francisco giants
947
00:42:29.469 --> 00:42:31.210
and I love the, I love the time I had
948
00:42:31.250 --> 00:42:32.929
there with them, even though they're struggling a little bit
949
00:42:32.969 --> 00:42:33.909
right now. They are struggling.
950
00:42:33.949 --> 00:42:36.909
And I'm headed there on Thursday. I'm literally going back.
951
00:42:37.030 --> 00:42:40.010
My niece is coming home from serving an, a mission
952
00:42:40.409 --> 00:42:42.949
in Mexico from the church, Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints. I
953
00:42:42.969 --> 00:42:45.659
get to go back into my old hometown and, Go Giants.
954
00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:47.280
I know it wasn't your favorite team.
955
00:42:47.980 --> 00:42:48.840
It's in the top three.
956
00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:50.019
Okay, good.
957
00:42:50.139 --> 00:42:52.179
I think they're probably the second team for sure just
958
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:55.079
because they took care of me as well. We had
959
00:42:55.099 --> 00:42:58.260
a lot of good times. I actually talk about resilience.
960
00:42:58.320 --> 00:43:02.469
I tore my hamstring that year. Oh, my gosh. We
961
00:43:02.510 --> 00:43:05.349
have four tendons in our hamstrings, and I'm missing two
962
00:43:05.369 --> 00:43:06.469
of them now because of that.
963
00:43:07.349 --> 00:43:08.329
That's crazy.
964
00:43:08.730 --> 00:43:10.610
I ended up making it to the big leagues that year,
965
00:43:10.630 --> 00:43:12.210
so they took care of me very well as well.
966
00:43:12.289 --> 00:43:12.989
I love it, man.
967
00:43:13.030 --> 00:43:13.590
Go San Fran.
968
00:43:13.750 --> 00:43:16.699
Go San Fran. All right. Best baseball city?
969
00:43:19.239 --> 00:43:24.530
Oh, there's so many. I think Yankees fans are just
970
00:43:24.739 --> 00:43:29.949
absolutely ruthless. I'm not a huge fan of the Yankees fans.
971
00:43:30.030 --> 00:43:30.570
Okay.
972
00:43:30.590 --> 00:43:35.650
But I think best baseball city, I'm going to have
973
00:43:35.690 --> 00:43:39.110
to say Chicago with the Cubs fans.
974
00:43:39.449 --> 00:43:39.730
I love it.
975
00:43:39.730 --> 00:43:43.010
That city, like during the summer, a day game at Wrigley.
976
00:43:43.849 --> 00:43:46.670
That's special. It's crazy to see and it's crazy to
977
00:43:46.690 --> 00:43:48.969
be a part of. I got to play against them
978
00:43:49.010 --> 00:43:50.969
a few times. Didn't get caught up ever with them.
979
00:43:51.070 --> 00:43:54.190
I didn't get that lucky. But getting to see and
980
00:43:54.210 --> 00:43:56.710
be a part of those games and seeing how the
981
00:43:56.809 --> 00:43:59.449
city comes alive during that time and how Chicago kind
982
00:43:59.469 --> 00:44:01.730
of is during the summer is awesome.
983
00:44:01.789 --> 00:44:03.070
All right, Chicago it is.
984
00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:06.380
All right, let's see here. What is the hardest pitch
985
00:44:06.510 --> 00:44:07.139
to master?
986
00:44:09.119 --> 00:44:11.380
I don't think it's pitch. I think for me it's
987
00:44:11.420 --> 00:44:13.920
a fastball, a located fastball. I think everybody just wants
988
00:44:13.940 --> 00:44:16.199
to throw so hard nowadays that we take the command
989
00:44:16.239 --> 00:44:20.030
for granted. And I think we've started making baseball more
990
00:44:20.090 --> 00:44:24.139
highlight oriented instead of making it more baseball and playing
991
00:44:24.159 --> 00:44:26.210
the game the right way oriented. Because like people just
992
00:44:26.230 --> 00:44:28.369
want to see home runs and strikeouts instead of it being,
993
00:44:29.530 --> 00:44:32.429
you know, not station to station, but playing good solid
994
00:44:32.449 --> 00:44:34.670
baseball because it will create its own highlights.
995
00:44:35.190 --> 00:44:35.929
I like that.
996
00:44:35.969 --> 00:44:38.409
So I think a well-located fastball is probably the hardest
997
00:44:38.429 --> 00:44:39.730
pitch to master.
998
00:44:40.650 --> 00:44:44.650
That's awesome. All right. Who's one player who influenced your
999
00:44:44.670 --> 00:44:46.590
career the most?
1000
00:44:47.690 --> 00:44:50.530
There's three. Okay. There's three because I say the same
1001
00:44:50.570 --> 00:44:53.500
three all the time because when I played in college
1002
00:44:53.519 --> 00:44:56.219
and high school, I didn't only pitch. I played outfield
1003
00:44:56.360 --> 00:44:59.639
and infield too. So the three players are King Griffey Jr.
1004
00:45:00.300 --> 00:45:01.599
Love it. Barry Bonds.
1005
00:45:02.099 --> 00:45:02.880
Oh, giants.
1006
00:45:03.179 --> 00:45:05.489
And Pedro Martinez. Oh, my gosh. So those are the
1007
00:45:05.530 --> 00:45:07.590
three guys that I always tried. Like I said, my
1008
00:45:07.610 --> 00:45:09.690
dad told me to be. a student of the game.
1009
00:45:10.070 --> 00:45:12.409
So I would always watch those guys play and try
1010
00:45:12.429 --> 00:45:14.320
to be a student as much as I could. When
1011
00:45:14.380 --> 00:45:16.960
I played baseball, um, basketball, I had different.
1012
00:45:17.820 --> 00:45:19.059
Different role models, right?
1013
00:45:19.980 --> 00:45:20.199
All right.
1014
00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:25.239
Let's see here. If your fiance, if Sam could describe
1015
00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:27.840
you right now with just one word, what would she say?
1016
00:45:29.019 --> 00:45:37.239
Oh, one word. She probably say tiresome right now, just
1017
00:45:37.260 --> 00:45:39.460
cause I've been busy. I've been busy just trying to
1018
00:45:39.519 --> 00:45:41.719
promote this app and get everything off the ground.
1019
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:43.539
You're in hustle mode.
1020
00:45:43.699 --> 00:45:45.599
Yeah. Like I said, trying to build this community out,
1021
00:45:45.619 --> 00:45:47.460
trying to get people on it, trying to make sure
1022
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:49.840
people see the value in what we're trying to give people.
1023
00:45:50.219 --> 00:45:52.909
So trying to get in front of as many faces
1024
00:45:52.949 --> 00:45:55.239
as possible so she knows that I'm all over the place.
1025
00:45:55.280 --> 00:45:58.010
Like I said, went to Egypt, went to Taiwan, then
1026
00:45:58.090 --> 00:46:00.809
went here, then had to be back in Florida, did
1027
00:46:00.849 --> 00:46:03.969
a little camp in Greenville for a minute, came back
1028
00:46:04.010 --> 00:46:08.789
to Florida, helped my friend open up his facility just
1029
00:46:08.829 --> 00:46:11.199
to have, you know, a speaking engagement and have an
1030
00:46:11.340 --> 00:46:14.659
MLB presence there. So I've been trying to just go everywhere,
1031
00:46:14.699 --> 00:46:15.139
have talks.
1032
00:46:15.159 --> 00:46:16.219
So she would probably say tired.
1033
00:46:16.340 --> 00:46:17.059
You're in the grind.
1034
00:46:17.079 --> 00:46:18.039
Yeah. A hundred percent.
1035
00:46:18.059 --> 00:46:20.760
I get it, man. Entrepreneurship is a grind for sure.
1036
00:46:20.820 --> 00:46:21.079
Okay.
1037
00:46:21.460 --> 00:46:26.780
Last one. What currently makes Jay Jackson smile? Life.
1038
00:46:27.550 --> 00:46:30.349
Every day I wake up, I tell people every day
1039
00:46:30.409 --> 00:46:32.389
I'm blessed to wake up. I can figure the rest out.
1040
00:46:32.789 --> 00:46:34.909
So every day I wake up, that's what, you know,
1041
00:46:34.929 --> 00:46:36.630
it makes me smile. It makes me happy as every
1042
00:46:36.670 --> 00:46:38.429
day I get a chance to wake up. Cause then
1043
00:46:38.510 --> 00:46:40.670
from there, I know as long as I'm able to
1044
00:46:40.690 --> 00:46:42.650
take a breath, I can make other people happy as
1045
00:46:42.710 --> 00:46:45.190
well because I know that I'm here. Right. So for me,
1046
00:46:45.800 --> 00:46:53.659
it's just life. But then behind that is family. Um, JR, mom, dad, sisters, Sam,
1047
00:46:53.699 --> 00:46:57.400
her family, like the people around me, our families, our friends,
1048
00:46:57.420 --> 00:46:59.219
the people that care about us, you find out, you
1049
00:46:59.260 --> 00:47:02.449
find a lot during this transition period from being, you know, a,
1050
00:47:04.150 --> 00:47:06.809
you know, former big leaguer to being an entrepreneur, you
1051
00:47:06.869 --> 00:47:10.110
find out who really wants, who is there for you
1052
00:47:10.130 --> 00:47:11.829
and who really supports you kind of thing. Like I said,
1053
00:47:11.909 --> 00:47:14.829
the support system that you had before and you're grateful
1054
00:47:14.869 --> 00:47:17.880
for it because, you know, the same people that I
1055
00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:19.619
thought were going to be there that asked me for
1056
00:47:19.679 --> 00:47:21.739
things and wanted me for so much stuff to help
1057
00:47:21.780 --> 00:47:25.980
them build their things going, you know, before now in
1058
00:47:26.260 --> 00:47:28.019
the same position where I know I can be useful
1059
00:47:28.059 --> 00:47:30.559
to them and help them, you know, help their people
1060
00:47:30.679 --> 00:47:33.210
and help their friends and whatever else. It's kind of
1061
00:47:33.250 --> 00:47:34.210
funny how, you know.
1062
00:47:34.230 --> 00:47:35.090
It changes.
1063
00:47:35.329 --> 00:47:37.170
Yeah. So what makes me happy is just life and
1064
00:47:37.190 --> 00:47:39.030
me being able to pour into other people still and
1065
00:47:39.170 --> 00:47:40.449
the people around me and enjoying that.
1066
00:47:40.469 --> 00:47:42.960
That's cool. Well, you guys, thank you for coming on.
1067
00:47:42.980 --> 00:47:46.079
Jay Jackson here, you guys. It's your host, Bubba Page.
1068
00:47:46.119 --> 00:47:50.380
Thank you for coming to The Becoming Podcast. If something
1069
00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:53.099
like this that we've shared, any of the stories resonated
1070
00:47:53.119 --> 00:47:55.340
with you, please share it with others. We'll make sure
1071
00:47:55.360 --> 00:47:57.619
to get these out and all of his links all
1072
00:47:57.679 --> 00:48:02.110
here in the YouTube description and everything like that. Wherever
1073
00:48:02.130 --> 00:48:05.789
you're listening to or watching, we're grateful you're here. Let's
1074
00:48:05.809 --> 00:48:07.369
go get them. You guys, thanks for being here, man.
1075
00:48:07.550 --> 00:48:08.389
Thanks. I appreciate you.
1076
00:48:09.809 --> 00:48:11.570
Nice work, dude. Thank you so much.