Nika hosts Matt Ode, who shares his profound journey from being diagnosed with Stage 3C Testicular Cancer at the age of 24, enduring a two-week non-induced coma at 25, to his transformative recovery. Facing multiple near-death experiences, Matt had to relearn how to live his entire life again. Through years of perseverance and hard work, he has emerged as a Keynote Inspirational Speaker and Cancer Advocate/Mentor.
Matt's story is not just about surviving cancer but about turning profound setbacks into superpowers. He now dedicates his life to inspiring others, teaching them how to transform their own adversities into strengths, and how to craft impactful stories to share with the world, marking his new life post-recovery.
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*This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business or personal success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.
Nika hosts Matt Ode, who shares his profound journey from being diagnosed with Stage 3C Testicular Cancer at the age of 24, enduring a two-week non-induced coma at 25, to his transformative recovery. Facing multiple near-death experiences, Matt had to relearn how to live his entire life again. Through years of perseverance and hard work, he has emerged as a Keynote Inspirational Speaker and Cancer Advocate/Mentor.
Matt's story is not just about surviving cancer but about turning profound setbacks into superpowers. He now dedicates his life to inspiring others, teaching them how to transform their own adversities into strengths, and how to craft impactful stories to share with the world, marking his new life post-recovery.
CONNECT WITH THE GUEST:
CONNECT WITH NIKA: https://mtr.bio/nika-lawrie
Instagram: instagram.com/biohacking4babes
TikTok: tiktok.com/@biohacking4babes
YouTube: youtube.com/@NikaLawrie
Facebook: facebook.com/biohacking4babes
SUBMIT A QUESTION OR REQUEST A TOPIC:
I would love to hear from you! Please record your question or topic request to be featured in a future episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/NikaLawrie
DISCLAIMER:
*This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business or personal success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.
Welcome to the Inspired with Nika Laurie podcast. Matt, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have you here today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. I appreciate it Excited to be on as well.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. I loved so. You actually reached out to me on Instagram and you had this incredible story and it was so cool to just connect with you there. So I was excited to actually have the opportunity to come on or have you come on the show and talk about your amazing personal health journey. So I know we'll get into that a little bit in just well, in just a little bit in quite detail actually. But before we get to that, can you just talk a little bit about yourself and who you are and what you're doing now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. I'm 30 years old, I'm from Cleveland, ohio, and now I am currently a motivational speaker. I'm also a cancer advocate and also a coach for individuals who've gone through adversity in life but feel like they have a bigger purpose and I'm here to help them find that purpose, find that next path in life. So it's very fulfilling Cancer's brought me on a new path, for sure and just very grateful for every single day that I have.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I mean, it's so powerful what you're doing. I think it's really important. There's so many people that have come through adversity or they've gone through kind of that tragic situation and then they get stuck and sometimes they just need that extra little push or somebody there to just kind of inspire them to make that next step or take that next step right, To motivate them to make the change that they need to make. I didn't say that very well, but you know.
Speaker 2:No, you're good, A hundred percent, absolutely. I couldn't agree more with that. So I think that a lot of people, when you go through adversity, at the other end of it brings a new chapter into your life. So a lot of people may be afraid of change or may be afraid of failure, or may be afraid of setbacks in their life, but really a setback is the only a setup for something bigger.
Speaker 1:So, absolutely so. I want to talk about your health journey and really kind of get into the story, because it's my understanding that's really led you to become kind of this motivational speaker and this coach to help people. I'm assuming that's correct.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, correct, so go ahead. Oh, no, you're good. Yes, yes, correct Go ahead. Oh no, you're good, You're good.
Speaker 1:So let's kind of deep dive into what happened. So you were diagnosed with cancer at really kind of an early age. You were in your early to mid 20s correct, I'm a personal trainer, extremely healthy.
Speaker 2:My whole life was predicated around health. You know, eating the right foods, counting my macros and calories, working out six to seven days a week.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, as the summer began, I started to notice like minor back pains. And you know you're 24 years old, you think you're invincible at that age. So for me, I just kept, you know, letting it go and kind of being like, okay, I'll just overcome this. You know I'm extremely healthy person. I will just, you know, beat this whatever is going on with me. And as it kept getting worse and worse and worse, one night I um, about two months later, I ended up puking up blood got rushed to the got rushed to the emergency room.
Speaker 2:They did a blood test on me, found out I had lost two thirds of the blood circulating in my body, which is equivalent to being shot with a gun.
Speaker 2:They gave me six bags of blood and the next morning I woke up to the doctor holding my hand and telling me Matt, we have found an 11 centimeter tumor in your small intestine. We know it is some type of cancer, we just don't know yet and we have to rush you to the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic immediately. So I was at a local hospital at the time and, yeah, thank goodness the clinic, which is one of the best hospitals in the country.
Speaker 2:thank God I was able to get there that day, so that's how the whole journey began.
Speaker 1:Man, that must have just been completely shocking. How did you even process something like that to go from you know, the pinnacle of health to in a hospital bed, basically literally overnight?
Speaker 2:I think for me, the hardest part I didn't process it well in the very beginning.
Speaker 2:To be honest, my way of processing it was I saw that my parents they were with me at the time and I had just started dating my now fiance, but I had just started dating Lauren, who is for two months.
Speaker 2:It was so we were only dating for two months, so I was like, how am I going to share the news to her? My parents were over here crying and the only thing I can think of at the time was how do I just stay strong, like how do I do that? And I thought by holding in my emotions and not expressing what I was going through was a way of staying strong. But it was actually quite the opposite, because all it was doing was putting on emotional baggage into my life and I think women are a lot better at this than us men is expressing your emotions. I'm not saying that women don't have tough times as well, but us men we have this. I think perception or this viewpoint of if we share our vulnerable parts in life, we are considered weak, when actually your most vulnerable parts in life is your biggest strength and that's what can truly help change your life and others as well.
Speaker 2:So for me, I had to learn to open up, and the first person I opened up to was when I started sharing the news to Lauren and that I just broke down crying when I started sharing to up. And the first person I opened up to was when I started sharing the news to Lauren, and that I just broke down crying when I started sharing to her and I was nervous because I didn't know if she still wanted to be with me, because that's a big burden to put on somebody for only dating them for two months. But she didn't even falter one bit and right then I felt like I could express what I was going through and it was like a big weight lifted off my shoulders.
Speaker 1:Then I felt like I could express what I was going through and it was like a big weight lifted off my shoulders. That's amazing. Sometimes just having that support, that, that safety net in the sense of having a partner or a loved one that can help you through that is is it allows you to open up that door and start to share those emotions that you would be holding onto. And I think you know I mean I know we talked about kind of the masculine, feminine side Masculine sides are so often asked to hold them in, but even anymore women are really asked to hold it together and manage everything and be the support to systems, to our sick loved ones, those kind of things. But it's so key, it's so powerful to be able to let out that emotion and process it in a healthy manner.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think you don't have to do what I'm doing right here. You don't have to go on podcasts, express it to the world. Start with somebody that you know, like and trust. That's it. There's either two ways you can really like let go is either from somebody that you know will listen to you, not judge you, and try to understand your situation, or I. Also.
Speaker 2:What really helped me was the clinic had what's called a fourth fourth angels mentorship program, where they bring on other testicular cancer survivors to really help you cope with whatever you're going through. So another route you can go is by asking help or asking guidance from somebody who's already been in gone through a situation you've been through, and it'll make you feel that you're not alone. So I think another reason we don't express what we're going through is because we feel like we're alone in the situation. And when you find somebody who's gone through it and can say, no, I know the exact emotional or mental or physical pain that you're feeling, you then feel like you can express what you're actually going through and not feel like you're in that own state.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I think so often seeing someone else go through the process makes you know that you can go through the process too. It's kind of like thinking about your idols If you've seen someone who is doing the thing that you want to do in the future for your career or whatever right Totally different subject, but you can see the process that they went, the steps that they took and you can follow that. And I think the same thing can go with health journeys is that you can see others have been able to move through that journey and come out on the other side Okay, and if you follow those kinds of steps, then you know you can do it too.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And for me, like a really cool thing with you know, sticking with the health aspects of things is I was the healthiest version of myself 185 pounds to eight months later and we'll talk a little bit more about my journey, but I dropped down to 110 pounds.
Speaker 2:I had to relearn to walk again, relearn to live my entire life again. And I had a massive wound, which is still here today, where they had to literally take out all of my abdominal muscles. So I like literally have this big lump on my stomach. So I had body image issues.
Speaker 2:I felt like I had just like completely lost everything I worked for for so many years and now that I've been able to rebuild my strength and rebuild, you know, my life back, I feel like there's a lot of people out there who are on their own health journey and it may not be going overcoming cancer, it could just be on their health journey of losing weight or gaining weight that I can say hey, listen, I was no different than you a few years ago and I know exactly how you're feeling and and that's another big thing that I try to help people with you know, when it comes to transforming their life, like I said as a coach, a lot of it does have to do with their um, you know, with the health aspects, what they're eating, the workouts that they're doing, the things like that, and just making them feel like they are not alone in that journey.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so, so important so. So you talked a little bit about it, but can you, can you share more about what the process was like? So my understanding is you were diagnosed with stage three cancer. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yes, so what did that?
Speaker 1:look like. How did that feel?
Speaker 2:It was really challenging because, knowing that so testicular cancer, I had technically the highest stage. So you have stage 3A, 3b and 3C and there's not really a stage four from what my oncologist said. But I mean, some people say stage four but it's the same thing as stage three, c, so it was really challenging to get that news, knowing that, for example, what they tracked was what's called your AFP, which is a tumor marker, and they do it through blood work and with a normal male you should be under five for your AFP.
Speaker 1:I was over like 85,000, like just to put it off for records yeah it was insane.
Speaker 2:So I wasn't even on their charts anymore. So immediately they put me on. Once they found out I had toxicular cancer, they immediately put me on five rounds of what's called BEP, which is very, very potent and intense chemotherapy, and immediately, within like a week, week and a half, I'm losing my hair. Going through all the symptoms you know nausea, extremely fatigued all the time, things like that and it was a mental journey for sure you know. Going through chemotherapy you know from, I ended up losing my three, three year old puppy due to cancer, directly in the middle of chemo, which me and him were like fighting it together.
Speaker 2:Yeah it was like just that right there, like destroyed me. And I have a famous saying in life is like everything in life happens for you, not to you. And it's really what it means by that saying is you are going to have so many unfair circumstances in your life, but it's not the circumstance that worries me, it's how you deal with that circumstance. Do you want to become the victim of that circumstance or do you want to become victorious of that circumstance? And really, if you start asking why is this happening to me? It's easy to make excuses, it's easy to have a why me? Mentality. But if you start asking the question of how is this happening for me, I don't understand it necessarily. But what are the lessons that can be obtained through this journey? You start to look at life differently and you can start to grow through the experience.
Speaker 2:Now there's a lot of points, like when my puppy passed away, I had no idea what was going on and I just had to grieve for a little period of time, and then I had to learn to say, hey, it's time to put one foot in front of the other. But that also comes down to asking for help with your support system and for um for me. You know I don't push this on anybody, but just being faith-based, um, I really had to know for me, being a Christian, just rely on God in that circumstance. So, um, that was the first part of my journey and unfortunately that was the easy part, is crazy, as it sounds. I, um I had many, many more complications after that. Um, if you have any questions, I can stop now.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, I'm listening. Yeah, keep sharing it. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:So what happened after that was I ended up having a 12-hour surgery to remove the rest of my tumor. So the tumor did shrink during chemotherapy, but the thing is is I still had to get it removed surgically. I ended up having to get what's called an RPL and D surgery, when they remove the rest of the cancer in your body as well, and that ended up being an 11 to 12 hour surgery, four different surgeons involved, and what had happened was my body after that surgery basically shut down and went to what's called compartment syndrome, and I ended up going into kidney and liver failure. I ended up having so much swelling in my stomach because what they did was they cut me open from my left hip to my right hip. I had so much swelling that they ended up having to drain seven liters of fluid out of my stomach. I ended up going into a two-week non-induced coma. I had a catheter in my chest and in my neck because they thought I was going to be on dialysis for the rest of my life, and I also had a cone drilled inside my head because they thought they were worried about potential brain swelling as well. So that right there was just like a whirlwind and, long story short, I ended up in the ICU for over 40 days.
Speaker 2:I was in the Cleveland Clinic Hospital for over 53 days and a week out of my coma they go to take out one of the catheters in my neck. I end up having an arrhythm heartbeat, I go into cardiac arrest and have to do eight minutes of CPR on me to bring me back to life and I fall into another one week coma. So I wake up. I'm now in the ICU for about 30, 35 days and I go to try and move and I can't even like pick up my arms or my legs and I really I had to at that point, like over a few weeks.
Speaker 2:I probably wasn't in there for 35 days at that point, probably more like 20 or 25 days, but I, for about a week to a week and a half, with four to five nurses, had to completely relearn to walk again and it took me from sitting literally laying in my bed to take my first steps over a week to just start that process. And you know, at that point I'm four surgeries in and I am making progress and I'm ready to almost get out of the hospital. They're going to take me out of the ICU into a more like of a recovery type of room. As they do that, as they're not wheeling me in a wheelchair but in my bed, my stitches burst open. I have to get rushed into a fifth major surgery and that's where in the beginning I was telling you I had basically was called an open wood surgery, where they removed all my abdominals and I had a football size wound on my stomach where it took a full year for that to heal.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and after that, you know, after 53 days in that hospital, I was finally released. But here's a really powerful story and I have a couple of stories of faith and once again, I don't push anybody, but it's just really cool stories I feel like that I'd love to share is first one is I met Lauren on March 17th, which is St Patrick's Day of 2016. Okay, I was released from that hospital on March 17th 2017. Exactly one year from when I met her and I'm not even kidding you she stayed in that hospital all 53 days with my parents. Wow, yeah.
Speaker 2:And a really cool story of how I woke up from my coma was my mom would hold prayer services. She would just hold prayer services at our local church where hundreds apparently this is what I was told hundreds of people would pray for me and they were telling me thousands around the world. They had prayer groups, like not even in just this country, but around the world praying for me, and you have my parents and Lauren in the room and Lauren would come up to me every day She'd hold my hand and just pray for healing. And on the very last prayer service, directly in the middle of the middle, while everyone was praying for me while Lauren was literally holding my hand was the moment that I woke up from my coma. She rushed over to the nurses. They didn't even believe her that I was starting to wake up, so I got my surgeon.
Speaker 2:He comes coming running in and he starts to see my eyes start to open up and that, right there was how I woke up from my coma and it was really for me like telling me that God was Matt, this isn't the end of your journey. This is the beginning of a brand new chapter that I have for you, a bigger and greater life. And I guess my last little statement here, before you have any questions, is, if you feel like you're at a rock bottom state right now, that actually may be the pivotal moment for you to changing your life, to taking that 180. Because guess what? The only place you can go from rock bottom is up. I'm going to tell you right now, when you feel like there's no other way, I promise you there is a way. You just have to take one foot in front of the other and just say what today can I start to do to start changing my life around? And for me, that was the start of a pivotal changing moment in my life.
Speaker 1:Man, what a story, Matt. I don't even know what to say after that. I just want to hold back tears. I am so happy for you in the sense that you overcame and you survived and you healed and that you had so much love and support. It really is just a phenomenal story with a happy ending, thank goodness. Yeah, so I mean, I have so many questions for you, but I don't even feel like they're appropriate to ask.
Speaker 2:No, ask anything. I love them. The more crazy they are, the better.
Speaker 1:Perfect. So. So tell me like do you, do you remember anything from the hospital journey? I know I have a loved one who spent about 35 days or so in a coma and he had a traumatic brain injury. I mean it was very, very traumatic. He doesn't remember really about four months worth of hospital visits, slash stays. Do you remember anything from your journey?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually do, surprisingly. So a lot of people will be like hey, what is it like being in a coma? Everyone has a different journey. For me, I remember. So this is exactly I will say exactly how I can remember. I remember bits and pieces of certain nurses that were coming in. So whether I was like subconsciously coming out of an in and out of my coma, I don't know, but I do remember certain nurses, things like that, and I remember that it was like an extremely long dream where I was just like constantly running. I don't understand why, but I was constantly running and eventually I get to this point I'm not even kidding Like it gets to this point and I'm in this room and it's like everyone that I love and care for friends, family, people who are there to support me and they're all just like cheering me on and they're like it's time to wake up now and that I'm not even kidding. That is the last thing I can remember before I woke up from my coma. So it was really weird, but that is literally the last part of my journey with that.
Speaker 2:Now, as for the actual hospital, I can remember a lot. I can remember coming once I was out of the coma. I can remember a couple of days before I went back into cardiac arrest and of course I don't remember that whole week period. I remember I woke up actually on Valentine's Day, so I was in the hospital mid-January and I woke back up like mid-February 14th and then I remember pretty much most of that. I remember learning to walk again. I remember like all of that kind of craziness. I even remember the day I got shipped in for my final, my fifth, like major surgery. I can remember that day vividly as well. But, yes, there are certain bits and parts that I don't remember, of course. I think because with trauma your mind likes to, of course, like eliminate certain parts of that life, and there's a good reason for that, of course, like there was things that, I will be honest, I didn't know until people told me I didn't know I went to cardiac arrest until about seven months after I was out of the hospital because the only reason here I'll tell you another crazy story.
Speaker 2:So I went to go visit. I finally was starting to recover. I was probably now about 140 ish pounds, so I gained about 30 pounds about seven months later and I'm like I need to go see my ICU nurses, showing that I'm doing well, I'm walking and I'm doing great. So I was so excited. First person I see was and I didn't know this at the time, but was his name was George and it was the person who saved my life when I went to cardiac arrest. He was the very first person who responded to me and he just started breaking down and he goes Matt, I can't even explain this, but I'm not even supposed to be working today. This is my last day here at the Cleveland Clinic and I actually got called in for an emergency shift because somebody was called off sick and we just started crying and hugging.
Speaker 2:And literally, yeah, literally that night Lauren goes. You know I remember George, but you know she goes. You know George was the first person that saved you and I went and you went to cardiac arrest and I was like I went to cardiac arrest. And I was like I went to cardiac arrest and she's like, yeah, and she's like your parents never told you this. I'm like no, probably for good reasons. And then she's like, yeah, he was the very first person. I was like no wonder he was so emotional. No-transcript. So that's a really cool story of everything.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think, you know, regardless of religious preferences, I think there's so many times that you can just look at life and see that there's some type of divine intervention right Like moments that are meant to be or connections that are meant to be, and they can be so powerful in both people's lives. You know, even though he saved your life, you probably transformed his life in a manner as well and had a positive impact for him too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hope so. I think you're absolutely correct. I think for a lot of reasons we both kind of help each other out and I think that's what a lot of ICU nurses would tell me is, like you know, you are one of the people we'll never forget and I obviously I hope that's for a good reason. But like seeing me healthy now, I think that they're very excited to see everything I had to go through. And now on the other end of it, Absolutely so.
Speaker 1:so you know, shifting forward a little bit, um, you know we've talked a lot about the, the physical ailments, that, the process of you trying to heal your wounds, healing, removing the cancer, those kinds of things. But what were some of the hurdles that you had to overcome mentally? Um, throughout that process and then even going forward, you know you're released from the hospital and you're finally home. But that's where everything really sets in, that's where you have the time to like think about what you just went through. How did you work through that mentally?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I will tell you right now, in anything in life in order to make an actionable change, it starts right here. It starts right here in order to make an actionable change. And I did not have it up in here.
Speaker 2:I had so much victim mindset coming out of the hospital of because I didn't have the accountability anymore, cause I mean, when you're in the hospital you have doctors every day coming in three times a day, nurses coming in five or six times a day. I'm going into rehab two to three times a day. Now I'm all of a sudden at home and I have maybe a nurse coming two times a week and I have one rehab guy coming like two times a week. So I was just like for the first two weeks didn't want to do anything. I think I was so exhausted, so beat up. I mean I'm 110 pounds still trying to learn to walk. I mean it was really, really challenging. And I started to have this why me, my side? And guess what happened? I ended up back into the hospital because I had a standing heart rate of 150 beats a minute, my blood pressure was through the roof, my temperature was 104 degrees, because I was sick, because I wasn't taking care of my body. So I was there for about four or five days and then I come out of it and I probably had one of the most life-changing conversations I've ever had in my life and that was with Lauren, where basically the conversation came down to Matt, if you do not take care of yourself, starting today, you probably most likely will not be here next month Period. It was a life or death experience when I tell people, live in the present and focus on what you can do today and stop constantly worrying about what's ahead of you or constantly dwelling on your past. I literally had to live in the present, because if all I did was dwell on the past and constantly worrying what was in the future, I would get nothing done and I, once again, may not be there that much. So I literally had to do what's called.
Speaker 2:I like this concept. It's called winning the day, and what it is is. You have one or two tasks that allow you to win your day, and when you can win four out of the seven days guess what that means? You've won the week when you can win three out of those four weeks. You've won the month when you can win six or seven out of those 12 months. Guess what happens?
Speaker 2:By the time that year comes around, you are such a more positive, stronger individual than you were a year ago, because all you did was say I'm not going to overcomplicate the process and I'm just going to focus on one simple task a day, and this is on the health journey. So people here who are looking to transform your body or looking to transform your mindset it's going to start right up here saying what can I do today to start building myself for tomorrow? Start building myself for a week from now. And it's almost like that famous saying Rome wasn't built in a day, it's just like life. Don't expect your entire life to just change in one day, but when you see these overnight successes, it means that these people have been working their butt off for months, if not years, to get to where they're at. You just don't see that progress. Like a lot of people now they see me as this healthy version again, but they don't know the fact that I literally had to grind my butt off after that conversation, seven days, every single day, just picking up.
Speaker 2:This is how I started my journey. I picked up a five pound dumbbell and I started to do a bicep grow. That's all I did, and then I would put this is how I started to learn to walk further. I had a lawn chair at one end of my driveway and a lawn chair at the other end and I would literally take all the effort I could walk over to that lawn chair, sit down for like five minutes, contemplate my life because I'm like, holy cow, how am I getting back up and get to this other lawn chair. But I somehow mustered the energy to do it and the next day I would put that lawn chair just a little further, just a little further. Eventually guess what? That lawn chair wasn't in my driveway anymore. That lawn chair started going out into the sidewalk. That lawn chair started to keep crawling and crawling, and crawling. Eventually I'm walking a quarter mile. Eventually I'm walking half a mile. Now, today I'll come out. It's a beautiful day. I'll go out and walk five miles and I can just do it easily.
Speaker 2:People see me doing that, but they didn't see the long chair. Just like you, if you're on your health journey, people aren't going to see the grind that you put in, the little inches that you put in every single day. Trust me, they matter, I inches that you put in every single day. Trust me, they matter, I promise you, because that is what's going to compound into the massive results that you want in life. And it all starts with your limiting beliefs. Stop getting out of your head that you're not worthy enough For me. I had all these body image issues. I'm this healthy, sculpted, 8%, 185-pound personal trainer to 110 pounds, looking like a skeleton in eight months and I had to get over the fact that, matt, I will get back to where I want to be. It's just going to take some time.
Speaker 2:So, please remember that if you're on your health journey, it takes time, but you will get to where you need to be.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think you know this is totally different from that, but it reminds me of a quote. I think I'm actually squishing together two quotes, but it's like people they underestimate what they can do in a year, but overestimate what they can do in a day. And so it's like really putting perspective on what your priorities in one day should be and then what your long-term goals for a year or two or 10 years should be, because we can do so much more if we put our mind to it, but we can't get discouraged if we don't accomplish everything in one day.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh my gosh, I love that. I think that I heard that from, I think, tony Robbins or somebody along that line, and I love that quote it's so good.
Speaker 1:Elon Musk or Robbins, it's one of the Elon, any of them.
Speaker 2:So good it's a great quote too, because, honestly, people seriously underestimate what they can do in a longer period of time and way overestimate what they, because all they want is instant gratification. I'm going to tell you exactly how to get there, too. This is exactly what you need to do, and this is by a guy named Ed Milatke. This is one of his sayings, and he says keep the promises you make to yourself.
Speaker 2:Yes, what he means by that is when you say you're going to go out and do something. Stop making the excuses that I don't have the time I have. You know I'm too tired, I have all these things going on in my life, or you know it's just not fair because you know I don't know how to do X, y and Z. I don't know how to do this workout. Stop making the excuses and just figure it out. That is how life should be, and just get it done. Yeah, it may not be perfect. It's going to be pretty ugly in the first. You know few times you do it, but guess what the practice makes perfect the more repetitions you get, the better you get at what you're trying to do. And what it's going to do is it's going, and all of that confidence that you have is going to. Instead of I have to do this, it's I get to do this. Creating a routine in your life, creating the workouts, creating the nutrition, creating the sleep habits, creating the hydration, getting in the proper fluids in your body Everything is going to start coming into you as a routine instead of I have to do this, but it takes some time and it takes keeping those promises you made to yourself. So don't make the excuses, because I see it time and time.
Speaker 2:I've been in the health field for 10 to 15 years. The number one reason why people don't get the results they want is not because they don't have the right workout plan. It's not because they don't have the right nutrition plan. It's not even because they don't have the right trainer. It's because they let one or two days turn into months of them getting off the track. They get sick for two days, then they're like I don't want to go to this workout. They skip that one workout and next thing you know it's a spiral effect. And then six months later, they're back to where they were and they wonder why oh well, I'm now going back to the gym again and they wonder why they never see the results they want. That is the exact reason.
Speaker 1:I love that. I mean, that's so much of what I try to talk to people about and teach as well is kind of twofold. Things here I want to share is one is taking kind of radical responsibility, right, like we make promises to other people that we'll stick to. We set a meeting and we show up to that meeting because we know somebody else is expecting us to, or we agree to do something for a project, and even if it's last minute, we we regularly and continuously don't stick to that because there's nobody else watching us right, it's just us.
Speaker 1:But the problem is is then we have no accountability to ourselves and so we one not only fail at whatever it is we were trying to accomplish, but two, we are then pretty hard on ourselves because we let ourselves down and we didn't stick to that commitment. And so really keeping those promises that we make to ourselves is really kind of the key to moving forward. And I think the one other thing I'll add to that is so often I look at people are like, well, I'm trying out this new diet, or I'm giving up sugar for this month or this month or this week or whatever, right, and it's always these, these things that they're doing and instead I ask people to really design who they are and and talk to themselves differently. So thinking like saying I'm, instead of saying I'm on a diet, saying I am a healthy person, as a healthy person, I do X, y, z, and so really having that mind shift, um conversation inside of our own heads with ourselves, I think is really key to feeling empowered and having that motivation.
Speaker 2:Incredible. I love that. You're absolutely correct on that part where it's like people need it's not this fad diets of sugar and all these things. Yeah, you should eliminate certain things, but you're right, figure out what works for you and it's a lifestyle. This is a lifestyle. This isn't something that's a 30 day fix and then you can just go back to what you were doing. No, it's you. Be the best version of you and start to slowly incorporate that into your lifestyle. And I'll add to this and I love how you also said accountability and having other people maybe help you through that.
Speaker 2:I truly believe in order to keep yourself accountable and keep yourself on track, you need to surround yourself with the right people. The people that you surround yourself with in life is vital to where you're going to head. If you are around people who only want to drink every weekend, who don't want to eat fast food every single day, who never will want to go out and do any type of workouts all they want to do is live this party, party lifestyle, you are going to gravitate towards that party, party lifestyle. I'm not saying you can't go out and have a couple drinks every once in a while on that, but if that's all you're doing and just gravitating towards those people, that is is who you will become. This is why, in order for me and it kind of sucks, but you lose some friends in the process, but guess what? You gain stronger ones. You gain people who are in your exact realm of where you want to go in life.
Speaker 2:You cannot be afraid to change your circle in order to fit inside of your dream. So if you're chasing a dream, if you have a certain goal, you need to start surrounding yourself with those people, whether it's finding yourself a coach that can has already done what you're trying to accomplish and can help you. That's an excellent way because, guess what it does? It saves you time. You know time, in my opinion, is the greatest currency we have in this world. You know that's why I?
Speaker 2:love to make a lot of money so that I can give a lot away, but I can also spare a lot of time and a lot of things that I want to do.
Speaker 2:So what I'm trying to tell you guys is either find yourself somebody who's already done it, or find people who are going in that direction and can hold each other accountable along that way. That's what I had to do when it came to speaking. When it came to coaching, I started to surround myself with entrepreneurs, because entrepreneurs have the mindset of I'm going to take something challenging, I'm going to use it to help others and I'm going to make an everlasting impact in this world. And that's exactly what I felt I needed to do after cancer, and I'm sure a lot of you anybody who's watching this can attest that you feel you have something deep inside of your heart that you want to do and you have a big dream. But I'm promising you you aren't going to be able to do it alone. You need to find people that are similar to you, or somebody who's already done it Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean, there was one thing that I had wished I had learned earlier in my life is being very selective about the people I surround myself with. I think it is so much more powerful than anyone really realizes and it can be make or break really. It can be completely hold you back and keep you stuck, or it can be the motivating factor to help you change the world in whatever manner you want to.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's pretty much the key to life, you know, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, Matt, you know we've talked a lot about your story and kind of some ideas around shifting our mindset. But before we get into the quickfire questions, I want to know if there's any really specific advice that you have for someone who's really trying to overcome adversity or really looking for the next step in their life, maybe quitting a career and moving forward or launching a business or whatever it is. What advice do you have in that kind of sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I would say my number one advice is stay true to yourself. Don't ever conform to what other people think of you or want you to be. You have to be yourself in the process, because at the end of the day, you will never authentically be able to express who you are if you're trying to only do it to impress somebody you meet and it's usually somebody that you care a lot about that your parents want you to do a certain thing, your friends want you to do a certain thing and you start to conform to what they think, who you are compared to who you know deep sound right in here. When you have that gut feeling, chase it. I'll give you an example.
Speaker 2:When I first started my entrepreneur journey, there was a business group that I wanted to join. It was a mastermind and it wasn't cheap. It was pretty expensive, especially for me. At the time I didn't have a ton of money, but it was expensive. And I remember talking to my parents about it and they're like this is the dumbest thing you could ever do, don't waste your money, all of these things. And I was this close to not joining that group.
Speaker 2:If I didn't join that group, I'm telling you I'm 100%, I wouldn't be on this podcast and I would not be doing motivational speaking, I wouldn't be doing any coaching. It brought me the greatest connections, the greatest things I've ever done in my life, or the greatest path I've ever had in my life, because I was able to take that scary first step and follow my heart and my intuition. So my biggest advice for somebody who is just getting started is follow your intuition, take that scary first step and don't be afraid to embrace the unknown. Take what's called imperfect action action while failing along the way Because when you're able to fail, that is where you truly get the feedback of what you need to do to really push yourself forward. Value is not something you should be afraid of. Value is something you should be proud of, because not many people are willing to do that in order to get to their goals and dreams in life. So that would be my advice for somebody just getting started.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I 100, I a hundred percent agree with you. I there's so many times in you know my, my career and education wise. So many times in starting my business and figuring out you know what is the business and what direction I'm going in. I've had people give unsolicited feedback and it could either have completely derailed me or pointed me in a direction that didn't feel right at the core, and I think had I really allowed those things to really sink in, I wouldn't be where I am today and I wouldn't be as focused as I am today. And so I think it's so powerful that you're sharing that with people and teaching that, because it's something it takes a while for us to get comfortable with and learn, but it's so, so important because otherwise we just don't find ourselves happy on the journey. We find ourselves in somebody else's shoes, kind of.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. I mean, yeah, couldn't have said it any better, honestly, I think, for the thing that I think makes us it's so challenging to do, that is our whole life. We've gone through a school system where it's if you don't do it this way, it's the wrong way. When, in my opinion, there's so many different ways of completing a certain task, and that right there, when we're like, oh, we want to do it our way, not what other people's ways or people think we should do it, that's where it comes challenging. But just stay true to yourself and it's okay to take instructive criticism sometimes it's, you know there is things out there that you can, you know, listen to and things like that. But for the most part, just be true to yourself and don't be afraid to take those risks.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I think. I think that's powerful too is really understanding that line between criticism and unsolicited information right, and then constructive criticism and really, where it's you know, thoughts or tips or guidance that can really help support you along that journey and and not letting our egos get in the way when that information's coming in too.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I'm pretty sure you'll know too. Anyone listening here you'll know when it's constructive criticism and when it's. I just need to follow my heart You'll know, so when it's constructive criticism and when it's, I just need to follow my heart. You'll know.
Speaker 1:So you know deep down inside, absolutely so, Matt, I have a couple quick fire questions for you, but before I get into that I just want to one congratulate you on your health journey and and surviving and really thriving afterwards. I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. I know I spent some time in the hospital and worked through some health issues and the trauma that came from that Nothing remotely close to what you've been through, and I know how difficult it was for me. So I just want to celebrate your win, your survival process and journey.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and yours too. Honestly. Everyone, we all have a story I'm going to tell you right now, every single one. Don't ever judge somebody because you have no idea what they've gone through. So I'm really proud of you as well. Thank you, and thank you as well.
Speaker 1:And then to add to that, I just want to also commend you for the work you're doing to be able to turn this tragedy into really kind of a hero story, being able to help others and really move forward. And I think there's so many people that are constantly struggling with different parts of their life, and so be able to turn that around and really motivate others to heal and move forward is is really important, so I commend you for that work.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so are you ready for the quick fire questions?
Speaker 2:I'm ready, let's do it Okay.
Speaker 1:First one what is your favorite or most impactful book, podcast or documentary, and why?
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, uh, people may. This is a very controversial one, but I love um. So Andy is an entrepreneur. Um, it's called really F. A lot of people would not like this podcast, but I love um. So Andy Cresseli is an entrepreneur. Um, it's called really F. A lot of people would not like this podcast, but I do, and he just basically spits out what he feels is going on in the world. And a lot of people don't like that, but I do Um. It's very um, you know, um subjective for people. So that would be a podcast that I love.
Speaker 2:But also a book that I really like is Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. So I think his book is incredible because it's just all about perseverance and just true grit and strength. I mean, that guy went through such a rough upbringing and to see where he's at today and everything he's gone through in life like every single chapter, it's very motivational and anybody who's going through a health journey right now should definitely pick up that book and take a look at it, because I think it'll give you the motivation you need to push forward.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I would put that in the top three books that changed my life, so I would totally totally agree with you on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1:What is your best toxin-free or eco-friendly living tip?
Speaker 2:is your best toxin-free or eco-friendly living tip? Ooh, okay, um, honestly, like, so, like, would walking be considered something like that? Okay, so for me, it is literally like a lifesaver. For me, like for walking outside, it has to be outside too. By the way, walking outside in nature is one of the most like de-stressing activities I could ever do. Whenever I feel any type of stress, I feel like cluttered in my mind, I will go for a one mile to two, even just like a one to two mile walk, or sometimes I go further. By the time I'm done, I feel so good because I just like released all of that negative energy into my life.
Speaker 1:So I would say walking is just it's so powerful and it's so underrated there. You know, like if you, even if you live in a, in a urban setting in a city, go to the park, sit in the park for a few minutes, just be surrounded by some trees and grass. It really is like life changing in such a simple little manner.
Speaker 2:Incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what does living consciously mean to you?
Speaker 2:So living consciously means that I kind of back to what I was just talking about being dead true to who you are and staying literally like open to any type of opportunity or things that comes your way.
Speaker 2:Because a lot of the times in life we get so narrow minded that we have to go this certain direction and when you can just open your mind and say I could literally, if I wanted to pick everything up today and move to a different state, Most people could actually do this. I'm not saying that it's like something you'd want to do or things like that there's a lot more to it but I'm just saying that it's crazy how much you can do. You could literally get on a plane tomorrow and just fly across the country Even some people fly across the world. If you just want to just go on a vacation, you could fly across the country. Even some people fly across the world. If you just want to just go on a vacation, you could literally pick that up and we're just so narrow minded that we have to do this, we have to do that and I understand their circumstances but also just be open-minded to the world. That's all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. I mean, even if your circumstances don't support the travel or whatever it's like, you know, take a road trip to the town next door, or you know, take, take a road trip to the town next door or you know, go to dinner at a different restaurant than you've never been to before, or say hello to somebody in in a line that you're standing with and start a new friendship, it's those kinds of things just being more open and available.
Speaker 2:I have a thing called. It's called mindful moment, and what it is is. You take 30 minutes to do something you never do throughout your day. Just something crazy Like get in your car and drive somewhere you never did, or literally like, if you don't read, pick up a book and start reading. Or just do something for 30 minutes that you never normally do and it will totally shift your conscious mind of like just wow, there's so much more to life, I promise you, so give it a shot.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I love that. That's such a good idea. It's something I should implement into my week for sure.
Speaker 2:It's really cool. It's wild, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, matt, my last question for you where can the listeners connect with you? How can they find you online?
Speaker 2:So best place to find me would just be my website at mattodespeakscom. You can check out all of my Instagram handles there. You can also, if you're looking for a speaker, you can look for me there and actually work with me through that website. And also, if you have been impacted in cancer in any way as a caregiver, as a patient or as a survivor, I have a Facebook group. So a year and a half ago, I finally got the courage to build a Facebook group and now we have over 6,000 members in this group.
Speaker 2:And it's all it's yeah, it's absolutely incredible. It's all love, it's all support. So all you have to do just follow me on Facebook after you go to my page and send me a direct message, and I will get you into the Facebook group.
Speaker 1:That's phenomenal, and I'll link to everything in the show notes too, just to make it as easy as possible.
Speaker 2:Cool.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, matt, this has been phenomenal. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, having the courage to do so and just joining me today. So thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, anika, I appreciate it Absolutely.