Unbreakable Success Podcast, Episode 56
Michael O'Brien – There are no more “bad days” once you Shift.
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SHIFT. Creating better tomorrows: Winning at work and in life. That's the tagline mindset behind Michael O'Brien's transformational book and his work.Transcript:
Aaron: 00:00 All right everybody, welcome back to another episode of the unbreakable success. This is the first time we're doing an episode and public. Um, I'm here with Michael Brian, author of shifts creating better tomorrows, winning at work and life. And, uh, Mike, first of all, thanks for joining me for Nice disbursed out in the wild. That episode is going to be something new for both of us. I'm glad we're here. We both happen to be Jersey guys, so thanks for joining me. For everybody that doesn't know you, as I'm holding up the book here for everybody to see that are watching on video, you go grab a copy of shift at Amazon or your favorite bookstore. Mike, tell us a little bit about your deal and then what's your, what's your up to today? And we'll get into backstory a little bit, but, uh, what's your jam today besides being an author?
Michael O'Brien: 00:47 Well, so my jam today, it's what I like to tell people is that I help sales and marketing pros avoid their suv, right? So a lot of people are like, what does he mean by that? Numbers don't make sense to tell people, but like in all seriousness, I, I help sales and marketing professionals slay the doubt and the worry that inner critic stuff in their mind so they can have complete success. Right. So which we've talked about like as we're having some lunch. Yeah, like having all the external markers of success, the house, the job title and the success you had the success inside the film at that joy, that happiness. So now I'm an executive coach and I do just that. Prior to [inaudible] up, we're in Jersey. I spent my whole career in the pharmaceutical industry because that's what you do in New Jersey. Right?
Michael O'Brien: 01:35 That's it. So I was a sales and marketing pro, then individual contributor and then I worked my way up into executive leadership. But the big thing and what the book's about is what I call my last bad day. Yeah. So that was July 11th, 2001. And as we're talking like back then we were anticipating the Washer, the ipad or ipod back then. That is so crazy. There was no facebook, there was no linkedin, there was no twitter, there was no youtube, there was, there was no way to listen to music except your Sony Diskman, which I had mentioned your head one, two. I think I still got it somewhere. Yeah. So I, uh, back then I was out at a company meeting in New Mexico and I brought my bike out. I've always been an avid cyclist and I decided to bring my bike out across New Mexico, off my list of skates.
Michael O'Brien: 02:27 I wanted to ride my bike again, avoid the hotel gym, get some outside air, the whole thing. And uh, so I was doing loops around the hotel property before my meeting. I came around the bend and a Ford Explorer Suv had crossed into my lane full head on going about 40 miles an hour, smash right into me. Like I had nowhere to go. I remember, remember the sound of me hitting his grill. It sounded me flying into his windshield, the screech of his brakes. And then the thought I made as I came to the asphalt below. And of course, as you would imagine, you know, with your experiences, you know, in law enforcement, you've probably been on major accident scenes learning. I was knocked unconscious, but when the emt arrived I, uh, woke up and even the thought of moving was the most painful moments in my life, right?
Michael O'Brien: 03:22 So I was like, I couldn't move again, intense pain, but I use my sense of humor to sort of cut the tension. So I asked them a question only another cyclist can really appreciate. I asked him like, how, how's my bike? Right? Because a cyclist for a little little word little weird. Um, so I was like, well, how's my bike doing? And they're like, Huh? Like, your bike's fine. They were really trying, just really trying to save my life. And I knew things were grim, not by what they were saying, just based on the energy on the scene. They were, you could tell the story on their face. And I remember just lying there again, motionless wondering like, is this what it feels like to die? I remember willing myself not to fall asleep. I said, whatever you do, Michael, don't fall asleep, stay awake.
Michael O'Brien: 04:12 I believe that if I fell asleep I probably would never wake up again. So it was my, was my way of grasping onto a sense of control. And when the helicopter landed that take me to the trauma center. I told myself if I live life would be different. I'd stopped chasing happiness because before my last bad day, I was just like any, any dude or Dudette, uh, in their early thirties. Right. I'm juggling multiple priorities. We had two young daughters. Grady was seven months old, Elvis, three and a half years old. Wow. And I thought I had to be superman at work and I thought I had to be superman at home and I had to have all the answers and I was really good at comparing my life to everyone else's. But the whole keeping up with the Joneses, like what, what did, you know, the Jones down the street have and when I didn't have, how much money I was making versus one of my colleagues, what stuff they had in versus the stuff that I didn't have here, like, so that because of all the great work that you do, you know, that just invites judgment, personal judgment where I didn't think I was enough and I was in this like this loop of this chasing happiness or like a hamster on a wheel.
Michael O'Brien: 05:34 And I caught it from time to time, you know, like I got the promotion, I bought the new car, I was happy for a bit and then it bandaged and I left behind hope and the hope basically gave me a message like, Hey Michael, if you keep on chasing a rabbit one day for this, right. And so I just kept on chasing. I kept on standing on that wheel and then the universe has its last laugh right now. It's like, hey buddy, that's what you need your wake up call. And that's when I met my suv. So I, I'll, but I was, I was living a life that's a lot of people at that age really at any age are living. Even today, even with the pace, pace of life is faster than they'd come back then and I needed it. I needed that wake up call and you know, that's why now I tried to help people avoid their own suv
Aaron: 06:30 having gone through what I went through. Yeah. No, it's a powerful story. I'm Mike and it's, it's interesting how you're saying how many times especially doing the work we do like coaching and things like that. You constantly meet people who are doing the right stuff. Yeah, got a great job. They've got great families and, and things are all okay, but we're, we're all kind of chasing the same things. You know, wherever we are, whatever promotion we're at, whatever rank we're at, whatever income plateau that we've hit, there's always, okay, now I need to get the next best thing and then, and only then everything will be okay. And then you get there and then, okay, well next then, and only then if I get to the next thing then I'll really be happy. And like you said, it's a hamster wheel. Um, and that's not even, neither one of us are saying that out of judgment towards success and advancement, all those things because it's all part of the equation and those are all about metrics and how you're living, right? It's, it's a way to measure is, am I doing, am I working number one at all? Yeah. Am I just engaged in a hobby? But there's an event like yours, um, it, it sort of puts things into perspective. So after that happened for you, what was life like? I mean, obviously you spent, I'm sure he spent plenty of time in the hospital. How did things sort of pan out in the, in the months to come?
Michael O'Brien: 07:56 Yeah. No. So I want to underscore what you just said there because I think it's a great point, like I totally believe in like pursuing your ultimate best right and climb the corporate ladder if you want to climb the corporate ladder or the entrepreneurial ladder, what have you, but just be mindful as you do it. Yeah. You know, have that inner joy and the fulfillment like, you know, so we can have a, you know, a lot of great stuff but still desire more and, and being a fulfilled and be present. So my first surgery took about 10 hours and you're 34 units of blood product. I went to the ICU for several days there I was at a whole bunch of whole bunch of drugs. Right. And I don't remember anything. I know I interviewed my wife for a job, like she came in one morning.
Michael O'Brien: 08:46 I was like, Hey, welcome. Um, I just have a few questions so I just know that I shared in my bunk. I just have a few questions and you know, and it's like, well, what makes you think you're qualified to join my team? And they enter the interview, I was like, Hey, you know, it might take me a little bit to get back to you because, you know, I've been in a very bad accident or what was she doing? What she's cracking up. She's like, and you know, like there's not much laughter coming out of an ICU. And so she's crying, like laughing so hard. So, um, it's just, just written down stuff going. Oh, we're good man. Yeah, we're going have eliminated actually the ice please. Are you okay? I think he's still. And we still have our own thing right there. Thanks Ladies and gentlemen, that was billy billy at Top Golf in Edison. It's a great place.
Michael O'Brien: 09:47 Say thanks to him. Great People here and a great team building attention. So yeah, so she's busting, busting out laughing. And so she went through the whole thing. I interviewed her for about like 40 minutes. And then the thing is, yeah, so I'm asking her all my standard interview questions, but the other thing, Erin, it's like I told her to buy Amazon stock. So Amazon stock around July 11th, 2000. One was like $15 a share. We didn't buy it. And what's it like now? It's like $1,500. It's insane. Oh No, 2000. One, 2001. So I, I've, I've forgiven her for now buying Amazon stock when I was in the hospital and she has forgiven me for not hiring. So it was all meant to be. But I came out like when I came out of the Icu, the doctors telling me about like what happened by the driver had a revoked license.
Michael O'Brien: 10:42 He had five Duis on his life so well, um, they started telling me about like a lifetime of limitations, dependencies, more surgeries, and since we go where our eyes go, all I saw was everything that I couldn't do anymore. Everything that I didn't have. Yeah. Like I, I felt like I lost everything, including my identity as like Superman, right? If I couldn't be like the dad, the husband athlete is like, who am I? And being dependent on a whole bunch of people. I was like, oh wow. Like, so I, I got into this whole victim room, uh, so when the hospital got dark. Thanks man. I appreciate it. Yeah. So, uh, so when the hospital got dark, when visiting hours were over, I would often just cry myself to sleep, asking myself like, why me, why this happened to me? I just thought life was so unfair and I really started labeled myself as like, I'm a victim and here's the thing.
Michael O'Brien: 11:41 Everybody validated that are. They're like, wow, like something horrible happened to you. You are a victim. Woe is you. And I was like, yeah, what was me? And I skated in this funk and so I came back to New Jersey. I went to hackensack and then I went to customers institute for Rehab in West Orange. And then during my stay there I had my big shift in my big Aha where I realized if I was going to be the best husband, father, leader person, I could be, forget about comparison, like drop all the comparison for nonsense and just be the best person I could be. That I had to shift my mindset. I had to start thinking about what I had and still could do versus what I couldn't do and didn't have. And really sort of changed it as, as Hokey as it sounds, go from victim to victor and changed my really searching myself narrative and I pulled a page out of my old life and I was like, you know what, I'm resilient.
Michael O'Brien: 12:43 I'm resilient. I'm not going to be a victim. I'm going to be resilient. I'm gonna, fall down seven times, get back up eight and I'm going to start just showing up with a better attitude so I could recover and be really the goal then was this become the best husband and dad you can be and everything else. Like I chased in a corporate ladder chase, like all the material possessions. But like I didn't want any of that. I just wanted to be. I really just wanted my health again. Yeah. Because for the longest time I couldn't even do the basic things in life. Like I couldn't, I couldn't go to the bathroom by myself. I couldn't shower by myself, I couldn't get dressed by myself. Well, and if you want to feel like a loss of dignity, like get on top of a bed pan.
Michael O'Brien: 13:34 Right? So early on they were like, no, I had this big drug cocktail and it was like basically clogging up all the plumbing. So they want all the surgeons want things moving down there, right. And so on top of the bed pan. So you know, they were close the curtain around my bag, give me a bed pan, a short hop onto barely because I had a broken shoulder, right. So because, and never went would wait outside and they were like, are you ready yet? Are you ready yet? And I'm like everyone wanted to know, like when I looked and I'm like, you know what, when I do poop, you're going to look, you're going to be the first or second I'm going to, I'll be sure to let you know. But you know, as a 32 year old guy who was really healthy and now you have to like call someone in there like clean you up at that age. That's a hard pill to swallow and keep in mind like I was met, multiple things broken. And the entry that really caused it to be a life and death is that when the left femur shattered, lacerated the femoral artery, my left leg. So in essence that whole like will I live or not was a serious question because I was bleeding out in the middle of the desert and nowhere
Aaron: 14:52 New Mexico by that loss of dignity definitely stayed with me. But I just, I knew like that might be the best I can be. I got to lose all that and really show up with more of an attitude of abundance and possibility. Yeah. Now I know obviously this was a hiccup, a grind for you. I'm not just in the moment, but this went on for a while. It's interesting you mentioned how it's funny how when people actually love you and care about you, that can sometimes be a hindrance with what you were talking about where you are in that mode where you felt like a victim and you know at the moment of the accident, yeah, you were an accident victim, but it's not. It's not at the moment. It's how you able, like you mentioned, how you can get up from there, how you rebound in, what you decide to do afterwards, and you know, all of us, obviously everybody watching and listening and has had their own moments where life has slapped in the face and yet you know, kicked him and probably more times than one, but I appreciate you for, for winding up, getting that awareness that even though people were loving you and they weren't giving you that empathy because in their mind, obviously they, they love you.
Aaron: 16:12 They want you to feel connected. They don't want you to feel abandoned and they want whatever you're going through, they want to help you. Just feel validated in whatever your feelings. If you're down, they want to help you as you're feeling down. If you're feeling better, I'm sure they're there for you when you started picking yourself back up. And I think that's important thing for, especially for everybody listening to remember that you know, if you have people that are validating the things that happened to you in the wrongs that you've been suffering and how business is struggling or maybe you've gone through an injury or illness, if they're validating you when you're playing victim, just try it. Just try to flip that switch and switch that. Like you said, Mike, switch it to victor. Yeah. And I guarantee you they're saying people, they'll follow suit.
Aaron: 16:57 They're going to still love you because if they were loving units, the reason that they were there supporting you anyway, um, they'll probably be there probably tenfold when they see you start picking yourself up. So, um, I wanted to ask, how long did this go on for you, this, this recovery process in the hospital? Because I imagine it went on for quite some time. Yeah, it really did. And I think what you just sat there and it was like so spot on. So I was in the hospital for about three months and change. Yeah. But then I still had when I left the hospital, but I still had about eight more surgeries in front of me, so they kicked me out of the Rehab Hospital and then I started doing surgeries in our outplacement rehab. So I had like that big moment, that big Aha or what I call my big shift. Yeah. But it wasn't like a light switch. It wasn't like, oh, you know, like
Michael O'Brien: 17:50 there was a cloudy day and then there's rainbow skittles and Unicorns. Right. And it wasn't like this linear progression up. It was like, sure, like the entrepreneurial journey up and down, sideways into it. And I had struggled and then I had to shift out of it. And what I, you know, in the book, a lot of people read the book, tell me like, listen, the star of your book is your wife that you and I go, I know that I'm here today because of all the people around me because of her, because my daughter's friends and family too. So to your point, like, like if someone's struggling, there's, there is a need for sympathy and empathy. And then there's also a point and there's no science to this, this is more art of like trying to ask a different question, right? So instead of asking why me, which was my question, the question became why not mean like, what's the possibility?
Michael O'Brien: 18:47 And I was able to ask that question and find that question because of them because they were like, like little by little just pushing me to sort of try to turn, you know, and then so I, but I would have like days, like even the day when I realized, wow, Michael, you gotta change your attitude if you're going to change your life. The very next day I went to the doctor hoping for good news hoping to get out of my wheelchair. And he was like, nope, your bones are not strong enough. And so in that moment with another like, oh man, it was another, it was another trigger moment that could have easily put me back to being a victim again. This is so unfair. I can't believe I can't get out of my wheelchair, you know, this is not right. But then I had to really work hard to say, okay, remember, remember your commitment?
Michael O'Brien: 19:39 I remember the opportunity and all this, remember to like, keep on pedaling if you will, and try to get through that, you know, so people ask me nowadays, like a lot of my clients asked me today, they're like, do you ever get upset? I go, yeah, all the time. If I just over the years I've learned how to shift out of those moments faster. I still get triggered. We're all human, we're all gonna have challenging moments. Um, but I, but I can recognize them like that whole, you know, awareness, acceptance, and then to action to get out of them faster. Right. And so that's when I continuously work on and try to try to help myself but also help others do just that because we're all going to have things that will make us upset, you know, so. So I love him. Two thousand one was my last bad day.
Michael O'Brien: 20:33 I've had challenging days since then, but we get to choose our labels. Right. So I, you know, and we only label things once. Our events are over like a contest, a podcast a day. We get to choose how we want to label that day and I decided to leave my last bad one. I've got a challenge in one sense but never a bad one because at the end of the day there's always something I'm grateful for. Yeah. To make it, you know, a good day or an optimistic day or a day filled with possibilities. Even though it may be a challenge in gay, it's still at the end of the day, there is something still to build upon or build off of. But yeah, it lasted, you know, a long time and it's definitely like sort of the rollercoaster of life and so I still have a moment or two like, like I pulled a muscle earlier this year and it was basically a result of a seed that was planted on my last bag day.
Michael O'Brien: 21:39 Yeah. Right. And I was like, oh, this stinks. I don't like to be hurt. I don't like not having my house. But then I remembered, okay, let's think about what you're grateful for. It was trying to shift out of that because getting stuck in the mud or playing the victim or curling up and trying to like remove yourself from the world doesn't help anything. Yeah. So I, I've gotten. Luckily I've gotten really good at making that shift a little bit faster than I used to when I was younger. A Michael, what's your wife's name? Lynn. Lynn. Lynn the bless you for sticking with this band and opened 24 years of marriage on May 14th. Futile. Congratulated. So a nurse. So she's my best friend and like, yeah, when people read the book they'll learn about all of her. Awesome. Then she, she held it together.
Michael O'Brien: 22:34 She told the whole family to go to the cool, you know, we're, we're too lucky guys made and this is a, this year is year 22 for me and my wife Cathy. Definitely, you know, I've had my moments for moments for those that are going to know my story on it and read about my moments in the stuff I've been through and stuff. I, you know, like you said, we all have challenging days, uh, without, without her. There I know, you know the feeling, it's like, what the heck would I be doing right now because it takes report. Um, you touched on something a minute ago when you're talking about that we all get, we all get triggered and we all have those days where we might get into one of those funks and it's funny when one of the things that has helped me the most in you can let me know how you relate is, is learning how to transitioning, as you mentioned faster. And it certainly coincides with the title of your book, which is shift, you know, because, uh, I, I think it really in many ways that's one of the things that in my experience in my years of coaching and just working with entrepreneurs and even people outside of the entrepreneurial world, the people that are able to transition the fastest, you know,
Aaron: 23:46 from the damn, that sucked, okay, what am I going to do about it? How am I going to change and mood? Being able to master those transitions faster because you know how it is. Some people will have something bad happens at work on a Tuesday and on Sunday afternoon is still complaining about the same thing, whereas some people will have that. That thing happened on the same day and you know, they may take a break, take 30 seconds to say, you know what? I'm going to chat from this and decide what to do next and in these shorter that you close, we close those gaps between the event we didn't like to detaching ourselves from an emotionally and making a decision, like you said, taking some action or sometimes taking just deciding to not take any action because some not everything deserves our response. The faster we're able to get to that decision making process, okay, then do I need to do something about this and not because of my emotion, but because I've allowed myself to calm down and attached from that negative emotion.
Aaron: 24:46 Is there anything I really need to do about this and so what should I be doing and if not, then let's move onto the next thing. That actually matters. That, that, being able to learn how to transition or shifts in those moments has completely changed my life and I've certainly seen it over and over again. Both in people I've coached, people like you that I've met it. It's almost a difference maker because it saves so much time and it makes us so much more productive. That's why I laugh when people don't laugh. I empathize when I. Every once in a while I meet people that kind of poo poo on the idea of emotional intelligence and how important emotions are and you're like, ah, I don't need to know about emotions. But meanwhile those same people are living in these roller coasters and they're literally wasting days and ultimately wasting dollars at least in wasting quality of life because you know, they're not realizing how important emotions are.
Aaron: 25:42 And it's certainly not. I am so grateful when I get to meet people like you that have been through it and been through hell and you know, through trial and error and with supportive family and friends have gotten to the point where you know, that, that, that emotional awareness comes in and say, you know what, I can create something out of this just by sheer will and just deciding to. And that's what you've been doing. Yeah. I'm sure you've had A. I'm curious to get your take on it. That transitional, uh, how important is transitions are? So I think that's, I think transitions are everything. I'm also a big believer that conversation is everything so common because like when we think about whether work or like entrepreneurs with their clients, if we want strong, if we want a strong society or tribe or culture at work, I often ask people like, well what drives that? And there's a little bit of a puzzlement. So when I first asked that question, but I said the foundation, that is like our,
Michael O'Brien: 26:44 the quality of our relationships, right? So when our relationships are strong, our tribes at work are strong, but our society is stopped. And what drives great relationships? Well a great conversation. Yeah, right. So, but the most important conversation that we have is the one that we have with ourselves and when we're, when we're all in our headspace, it's hard to connect with each other, right? It's hard to build that one to one relationship. And so I think in today's society we have a lot of conversations with ourselves that are toxic. It's actually creating some of the loneliness that we see. It's also causing some of the tribalism that we see where we're all as her running to our corners and trying out shout each other believing that the person who shouts the loudest last wins the argument and that ain't working out too well for us.
Michael O'Brien: 27:38 And so we have to work on that conversation. So when we get in our own headspace, back to emotional intelligence, this is critical, right? So like how aware are we of what's holding us back? Like why is it triggering us now if it, if the trigger is something to do with our own personal values, like say like, like I have a value of family, like I imagine you do too, so there might be something that threatens that and we're going to get upset, but it's values based. Yep. And so we're going to get into a fight or flee mode. Fight or flight mode. Right? But there's some other stuff that we just got to let go. Let it go. It's not worth it right where we don't have to be. We don't have to accept every invitation to every debate and argument and fight that we're invited to write so we can.
Michael O'Brien: 28:29 We can choose how we want to engage in what, what you know, how we're triggered and how we want to shift and really how do we want to respond versus react. And that's the one thing I've learned through my journey is that I don't have to react to everything. Yeah. Actually can have a moment where I just pause and breathe and reflect. That caught my pbr pbr moments, which doesn't stand for pabst blue ribbon, but just as liberal things are going to get interesting. Yeah. Well, you know, we're at a time later on tonight, right? So, but yeah, my look, my little a pbr moments or just pausing, breathing and reflecting gives me enough space to say, okay, how do I want to respond as opposed to just reacting to everything that's happening and we're on this like this, like cortisol, adrenaline rush. And what it does is it just usually feeds our addiction to being right. So, and, and when we lose our ability to be empathetic and curious and build those relationships are so critical to our success. And really our health at the big word you kicked that, you hit on, there was
Aaron: 29:42 addiction. Um, you know, which is, uh, we can kind of intersperse the word habit in there if we want to know because we have these habits of, of what we're doing, right? And, and until we become aware of them and you know, the term awareness that everybody always talks about, but a lot of people don't really think about what it actually means. It's being able to look at what you're doing and how they're responding and say, wait a minute, why did I actually respond that way? That wasn't actually something important. Or was it something that just spelled right?
Michael O'Brien: 30:11 Shortening the moment. We got to win every argument and leaders do this all the time at work. Like let it go. You don't have to be right? Sure. Let the other person win the argument, you know? But that addiction to being right. I think in today's society. Yeah. Uh, is this prevalent? Yeah. And social media, we talked about all the greatness of social media earlier, but it's, it's one of the like toxic byproducts of social media where everyone sort of just screaming at each other sometimes. Yeah, some social media channels more so than others. But if we can just connect and listen to each other, if we can build much more powerful relationship.
Aaron: 30:52 If we're winning comes. I mean, we were talking earlier about masterminds and things of that nature and you know, a lot of entrepreneurs, especially early on, they hear the word mastermind and they're like, Ooh, is this thing? But really at the core of it, it's, it's the conversation. It's, it's going into it knowing that you're not right about everything and that there's all these other people in this group that have some knowledge that I don't have. Or even if they have the same knowledge, they see it from a different angle. And by having those conversations, that's why these high value mass minds are so valuable and why they can create the best results. And, and it's interesting because you meant you touched on leadership and that, you know, that was the topic of my. I went to Grad School for leadership. So it's one of my favorite things to talk about, um, who over the years when I see leadership work, it's when leaders are willing to listen.
Aaron: 31:45 Uh, in addition to being willing to make those tough decisions. There are equally or more so willing to listen, collaborate, and understand that the collective knowledge is always going to beat anybody. Singer the knowledge. Yeah. And it's really an important thing for us to remember and it just, it just make legacy to make relationships really, really work. So tell me you, I appreciate you sharing the story with everybody. Love to hear what you have to like. What's, what's on the horizon for you? Uh, usually usually go a pocket. It's not hit on, you know, what's uh, what's one of the toughest things you had to deal with recently? Failing, want to go there tonight. We're here, you know, we're in a great place and enjoying ourselves. So what's, what's been on the horizon for Michael that, that people can look forward to or something you're working on now that people can engage with and uh, and working they go to find out more about it. What's up for you? So,
Michael O'Brien: 32:40 so people can always find me through my website, which is Michael O'bryan, shift.com. But the big thing that I'm working on, it's a new membership site for sales and marketing professionals. Mainly at a manager director level, so I saw this in my career and I see it now even more so as an executive coach. There's so many people at that level that will never get an executive coach that the company will sponsor. Right. And they don't necessarily have an executive mentor or access to the executive suite, but they're either to grow, they're eager to get better, they just don't know where to go. Their manager may be interested in their development, maybe not so. So they do a lot of it on their own, like a diy type of approach. Yeah. So I'm building a new membership program just for those people. So corporate sales and marketing folks eager to grow.
Michael O'Brien: 33:31 They'll get access to executive coaching, mentorship and advisement. Um, a, a book of the month Qa, you know, other resources all started tailored to help them grow so they can have that career success that they're looking for that professional success, but also have the personal success that the external and internal success ever talked about earlier for a complete success. So the whole program's all designed for them in that capacity. And it's going to be cheaper than their starbucks habits each month, which is totally cool and a great community of other difference makers, other people that are not necessarily entrepreneurs, they love their role as corporate sales and marketing. They want to flourish and they want someone in their corner that's been there. And so that's called the baseline and it watches fully on July first and I'm gonna open up membership for people to sign up at the beginning of June.
Michael O'Brien: 34:30 So. So people can email me or get in contact with me, follow me on all the different platforms to be on the VIP waiting list and then we'll open it up and we'll uh, we'll start going on July first, which will be really cool. I love it. Nice. I appreciate you sharing a little bit model. And by the way, for everybody listening and watching, if you go to, if you go to Aaron, Keith Hawkins Dot Com, I'll link up all the links to make sure you can get access to my membership program and whatever he may be working on in the future. If you're listening to this later on down the line, go to Aaron, Keith Hawkins Dot Com. Twitter search bars should be on the top right corner and just type shift sh, ift and their search bar and it'll definitely take you to our episode here so you can link up with Mike and take advantage of that. Uh, I, I love that model of I'm a little bit reason behind why you created a program because it's one thing that a lot of times we can forget, especially as entrepreneurs we're trying to build stuff, is to keep in mind the different levels that people need because, you know, in your case, you, you're targeting more of the corporate world, but you're, you're
Aaron: 35:38 really being mindful of where people are at different times and, and who is being underserved, uh, very often because if you're not at the c suite, you may not have access to your own executive coach and your own one on one guidance and mentorship. And if you're not the new guy or gal now, you may not be getting all the support and onboarding and all that stuff. And it said, if you're stuck in that middle management spot, where do you go when you're hungry to grow in the company, in the every company's different. But to be able to have access to somebody like you and get some real training, some really targeted training on mindset and um, you know, business skills and things of that nature to help themselves, to help them grow. That's really an awesome thing to have. It's, it's, it's A. Yeah, that's really important. Same Day entrepreneurs go through the same thing,
Michael O'Brien: 36:28 right? That's why you're doing your mastermind and speaking engagements and it's like reaching people where they need to be reached. And Yeah, for me it was, I looked at all my clients, my clients, my executives, you know, heck, none of them, not all of their peers actually get an executive coach. So even at the highest level in the organization, not everyone gets a coach. Now I could argue that everyone should have occurred, sure. But the people in the middle, they get lost sometimes and they're the future of every organization. There are also future entrepreneurs one day, some of them are and I really want to be, you know, showing up for them, you know, it's still a major focus of my practice is going to be that executive because I think he or she can set the tone for the whole organization really a lot of ways does set the tone, but helping that middle manager director who is an up and coming type of professional that wants more of their professional and personal life, I also want to be able to serve them and so yeah, I'm really excited about what the peace sign has to offer and we're going to get some good content, some excellent books and someone that they can talk to.
Michael O'Brien: 37:41 It's all confidential objective, not in their movie. So a lot of times you get mentorship within your company and everyone has their own agenda because they're in the movie. Yeah. Right. So this way they can talk to someone outside of it and strategize and game plan and have an accountability partner. So I'm pretty stoked about how it will benefit the people who joined.
Aaron: 38:05 Nice for. For people listening who may be interested, trust me, it's nice to have the objectivity so you're not worried about is there an agenda being this coach was hired by the company, are they trying to steer me in a direction you're free of that. And one thing I want to definitely hit on is that a, you're actually anybody who gets involved in your, in this program, this is monthly program actually. They are getting a physical book from you. Yeah. Free as part of this program every single month.
Michael O'Brien: 38:28 Yeah. So every month like a, a book that all leads to either leadership, career management, sales and a book that I've personally read that I think is value add and you know, so, so it's sort of like curated content. Yeah. So you don't have to like go in Google everything. Like I'm going to be really specific members will get a copy of my book to have obviously have to put that in there. Right? Um, so, but yeah, they're going to get some really great books and when your book comes out they're going to get a copy of your book when it comes out. Cool, so we're gonna make, we're gonna make that happen. Awesome. I appreciate that for appropriately everybody that's listening or watching this. Like I said, trust me, I, I've heard the price point and what Mike is talking about for what you're getting is a absolute 100 percent no brainer steal.
Michael O'Brien: 39:22 It really is really is a matter of fact. I have concerns for him. I'm happy people are going to say like, they're not charging enough. I'm fine. We're gonna you know, for the people who are early adapters, they are going to get a huge. When people sign up later, there's still going to get a win, you know, but the hugeness goes to the early adopters. Same. Not laughing at you as what I'm used to being laughed at from time to time, you know, but you know, a little humor goes a long way. I appreciate it. I'm definitely excited about the senior program. Grow in, in it, seeing people more, more people join and get and get to spend more time with you at. That excites me to know, to know that that's going to be happening. Thank you brother. Good. No, no problem. Tell me what's something I love to hear.
Michael O'Brien: 40:10 What's something that you're working on the outside of the business, something that you're involved in, whether it's an APP or a habit, um, something you're doing with the family or something you're doing. It could be something you're doing in a business which we're really working for you lately that's relatively might be new that you can share people that might help them out. So I think one of the things that I as the summer comes and like the weather changes here in New Jersey, getting back out on my bike so I know I still ride my bike. I was able to get back on the bike but it's really, you know, managing my time better. And I think one of the big things is first thing in the morning, hydrate, right? We've got our ice tea and lemonade going, but I do 20 ounces of water first thing when I wake up, I spend five, 10 minutes.
Michael O'Brien: 40:59 Just really trying to set my intentions for the day and trying to really get back to that routine, that habit to no APP. You know, obviously there's apps you can use or, but I think a lot of people wake up and they just sort of go about their day and they rushed right into their circus. They wake up, they start checking email you. I've really just set our intentions and how those intentions for the day aligned with our values and so a lot of the work laid has been around making sure the values that went under are those true values that I want to honor and then being really intentional about the things I want to do to help promote those. Okay. So and that's given me a really good one. Part of the book end in the morning that the other book end to sort of complete the bookshelf, right?
Michael O'Brien: 41:47 It is gratitude at night, right? Having those two things. So really intentional as I begin my day and very grateful as I am a dance and it has a magical way of shifting our perspective on how the gay wax and it has a wonderful way of building on each other. So day after day, like tomorrow gets better than today and the next day a little bit better than the other day and you just build on that and you've got this beautiful momentum going, you know, so um, you know, I'm sort of looking forward to like really playing that out for the rest of the summer especially cause there's a lot going on with my business and I also want to be out there on my bike because being active on my break is a daily statement of what I've been through and what we can all accomplish when we have a strong Peloton and the right mindset I love posted. I appreciate that. It's funny.
Michael O'Brien: 42:42 A lot of times people will bring up a lot of people come on the show, a lot of conversations I have on and off to show, even when I'm on the other shows, people bring up their morning practices as what has set the tone for them. We're kind of changed the game for them. Um, but I've really appreciated what you just pointed out there to kind of book end your day. Um, because I, I've definitely been guilty of myself at the end of the day comes and you finished everything and you started off well and went through the day strong and get to the end of the debate and a lot of times if you don't close out the day intentionally, um, that's a blind spot that can be a blind spot. And I'd love that you said finishing out the day with gratitude because that's, that's actually one of my, one of my ex first thing in the morning is, is three pieces of gratitude.
Michael O'Brien: 43:27 So I love the idea of making sure we finished the day the same way. I love that perspective, so I'm definitely going to be adopting that more than I have been a closing out the day in a similar fashion to how I started it. Uh, so I appreciate that. That's pretty awesome Gal. Well, it's, it's like it's akin to like finishing a workout stuff, right? It's like that last wrap, whatever rap you're doing in the gym, make it a good one, right? Yeah. So you finished the, finished the day as strong as you started, which lays down a really good memory for the next morning. Yeah. So, and I, you know, for me it's an important part of my practice now. I don't do like, I don't write it out like I'm not, I'm not the guy that has like a tower journals, like I don't do any of that writing out the leather bound books, you know, that's the thing for a whole bunch of people.
Michael O'Brien: 44:21 They love to collect them all and. But I, you know, I think there are a lot of different ways to be successful. For me, it's just like as I'm brushing my snacks, brushing my teeth, I just started to think about the day, what am I grateful for? And even like if I have a struggle during the course of the day, I can be grateful for my struggle because I know my struggle. It's going to make me stronger tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's not all like sunshine stuff for that I'm grateful for. Sometimes it's sort of like the dark cloud, but I know if I can get past that dark cloud, I'm going to be better down the road. Yeah, and I and I try to spend a moment in gratitude with that as well. Another man. That's great stuff. Try. It's great stuff and I appreciate the perspective and in the lesson for me and everybody else and I definitely want to point out to people, it doesn't matter how you do it and there's so many different ways.
Michael O'Brien: 45:16 Some people meditate, some people do morning tea, some people do morning reading, some people rotate it, and then same thing at the end of the day, some people like to journal, write the things down, type things up. It doesn't matter as long as we're being intentional. Whatever feels right for you, switch it up, change it up until you find something that gets you in your group and it helps you keep crushing it and keeps you shifting into the right views. Absolutely. GotTa shift. Yeah, definitely. I appreciate the time. Uh, Mike and we're going to hang out and enjoy a little bit more of top golf here, but thanks for joining me on the show. It's an honor. I appreciate it. Once again, before we go, everybody makes you get a copy of shift a checkout my at his website again for, for everybody who is not going to bother going to my website to look for your website.
Michael O'Brien: 46:02 So it's MichaelObryanShift.com. Okay. Can I tell you what, can I tell the audience one thing about the book? Oh, it's just showing me, you know, a world bicycle relief. So all the proceeds go to charity. Nice. So when they buy a copy of the book, what it does is it helps World Bicycle Relief, uh, fulfill their mission of conquering the challenge that distance they give, the gift of mobility. So every book sold helps build bikes for girls in countries like Kenya in Malawi and Zaire in Zimbabwe. So they can stay in school, get to healthcare and get to the marketplace. So for me, I wrote the book not for a moneymaker. I wrote it from the message about mindset about a strong Peloton, and so I'm thrilled that my last bad day can turn into brighter days for people halfway around the planet.
Michael O'Brien: 46:58 I love it. So when the reader, when you guys go out and buy it, you're going to get an awesome book, but you're going to actually make a meaningful difference in someone's life. Beautiful. See, I love it. I love it. Mike. Thank you so much. Thank you. Please everyone, uh, if you were on the fence about getting shift, if you're not going to do it for yourself, please just do it for so for the people that it's going to benefit a through Mike's charity work. And um, my parting thoughts, this is unbreakable success. So if you had one layer of salt that give somebody on, on how to live and get through life and succeed, doing it a way that just feels completely unbreakable. What's your, your parting words of wisdom? My friend? So there's a, there are two, I would say practice Wabi. Sabi.
Michael O'Brien: 47:39 So, which is a Japanese proverb. Phage basically like one translation is broken but better, right? So a sort of enjoy your scars in your gray hairs and all your wisdom, but the main thing, and I write, I write this in every book I signed, is keep paddling like part of life, part of success in life is just showing up and keep on moving forward even even when it's even when we have a headwind or we feel like we have a little bit of a flat tire to play off the cycling analogy a little further, just keep paddling and we can get past a lot of our challenges and you'll see that there's a brighter spot on the other side. So that's my two bits of advice, sort of live and breathe in Wabi, Sabi and keep paddling. Nice. I love it man. Thank you everybody for listening. You Good Mike? No problem. You're good man.
Aaron: 48:34 Once you get everybody, uh, thanks for hanging out with us, and stop by AaronKeithHawkins.com. Type in the word “Shift”. Get all the links to Michael and the work he's doing and connect with him. Thank him for spending some time with us today and sharing so much with us and until next time, take care of yourselves. Definitely take care of each other and keep on creating the best life of your life. I'm Aaron Keith Hawkins, and this is Michael O'brian. Love you guys. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.