This Where I Go For Inspiration

What if inspiration isn’t something you wait for, but somewhere you go? Shawn opens up about 13 years of sobriety, the daily grind that keeps faith alive, and the surprising places where gratitude hits hardest. From a Sunday service that turned into three chances to serve, to the moment a video of women hauling water across miles reframed what “hard” really means, this conversation challenges comfort and invites action.

We walk through tangible ways to turn belief into muscle memory: a pre‑Thanksgiving day of service with the family, a half marathon to fund clean water projects in African communities, and a father–son trip to build homes in Mexico. Along the way, Shawn unpacks the mindset shift from “I have to” to “I get to,” showing how perspective can turn a stairmaster into a privilege and a busy calendar into a mission. He also addresses the noise of modern life—polarized media, cultural cynicism, and the temptation to fight everything—and explains why stepping into a room of volunteers restores hope faster than any timeline ever will.

If you’ve felt stuck, isolated, or numb, this is your nudge to rejoin a community that lifts you higher. Learn how disciplined habits, service-driven goals, and faith-filled relationships create momentum you can feel at home, at work, and with your kids. Listen, reflect, then choose one act of service you’ll commit to this month. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review telling us: what’s your next step from faith to action?

Chapters

• 0:00 Faith Needs Action
• 0:24 Mission And Call To Subscribe
• 1:49 Church As A Source Of Inspiration
• 3:37 Family, Sobriety, And Blessings
• 6:54 Community Service Opportunities
• 10:59 Water Scarcity Story From Africa
• 13:46 Half Marathon For A Cause
• 16:04 Building Homes In Mexico

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Faith without works is dead, meaning you can wish for and pray for and ask for all the good to happen in your life. But if you're not willing to do the work and make the change, it's not gonna happen. You don't know what you have until it's taken from you. You don't know how gifted and blessed you truly are until these opportunities are gone. Welcome back to another episode of the Unstoppable Mindset Podcast. I'm your host, Shawn Michael Crane. Now, you guys, if you haven't subscribed to the podcast, you can go on YouTube, you can go um on Apple, you can go on Spotify, all major platforms. Make sure to subscribe and share some of these messages, you guys. I know that something I share, uh, a memory, a testimonial from somebody that I've worked with, a client, transformation, something is going to register and connect with you or a family member or a friend, and it's gonna help them to make a positive change. That's my goal. I want to be a catalyst for positive change and for good in this world. I want to do the most good for as many people as possible. You know, one of my goals is to change the lives of one million men by the time I die in a positive way. Their mindset, their habits, their leadership potential. That's why I'm showing up every day to share these messages. That's why I'm living as an example every day, because I want to impact people for the better. And today I want to share with you something that was profound that happened to me over the weekend. In fact, I want to share with you where I go for inspiration. Because every day I get on social media and my goal is to inspire other people, to share a positive, anecdotal story, a message, like I said earlier, a testimonial, a transformation, whatever it may be, in the hopes and it registers and resonates with you so you can go out and change your life for the better. But where do I go for inspiration? Well, I'm gonna tell you. I go to church. I go to church on Sundays, and that's where I'm inspired. Now, I have a relationship with God, and for the past 13 years, I've been walking the path that God has laid before me. I made a commitment 13 years ago that I was gonna change my life for the better. I was gonna give up drugs and alcohol forever, and I was gonna live a life of excellence. And what do they say? Faith without works is dead, meaning you can wish for and pray for and ask for all the good to happen in your life. But if you're not willing to do the work and make the change, it's not gonna happen. So I've done my part for the last 13 years. I've made the commitments, I've made the sacrifices, I've followed through, and God has blessed me a million times over. I have a beautiful wife, beautiful children, we live in a beautiful home. We live in sunny Santa Barbara, California. My kids go into amazing school, they're healthy, and I get to do what I love every day, which is help people and share my message. I get to travel, I get to speak, I get to author books, I get to do all the stuff that God has put on my heart. But just like you, there's times where I lack inspiration. Or just like you, I'm constantly seeking inspiration. I want to look to other people or read stories about people who have lived before me, study history, study noble individuals, and I want to derive inspiration because we all need to be inspired at times. And collectively, we are stronger than doing things on our own. That's why getting around like-minded people, getting around brilliant people, learning from others, having good friendships, good relationships, getting around people who think differently, getting around people who are doing big things in their life is so important because it's going to rub off on you. And so I go to events often, I get mentorship from coaches and mentorship in business and all these things. But I'll tell you what, one of the places that I get the most inspiration is church on Sundays. And it happened this past weekend. I went to church with my wife Jessica and our four children. Uh, four. Wow, we have four children from 15 all the way to seven months. And we were in the service, and every so often there's kind of a special service where they're bringing in people from the community who are doing pro social uh type things, giving back, um, donating time, energy, resources to less fortunate, and just bringing a powerful message to the audience that day. And they brought three opportunities to the members of the church that we could all participate in. The first one was uh gonna be on November 22nd, the week before Thanksgiving, where we could all do community service uh and you know give back our time and our energy and go help less fortunate within our community. So we're gonna do that as a family. Jessica and I and the kids are gonna do that as a family. Now, the next presentation was really eye-opening. This woman got up and spoke, and she has a nonprofit that's about generating awareness and resources for people in Africa who are less fortunate. And she showed this clip of these three women hiking down to basically like this desolate area away from their village, and they all have these uh big jugs strapped to their backs, and they were climbing over these rocks, going through these, you know, cavernous areas and hiking for a good distance, a couple miles, and then it showed them walk to this big open dirt, almost like fuel. It was kind of like clay and mud, and they started digging in it, and then water started seeping to the surface. So if you've ever been to the ocean and the beach and you know, like if you walk away from the water, but then you dig down in the sand, water starts to come up to the surface. It looked like that, but then they took the jugs off their back and started filling up those jugs with water, and then they had to hike back with three 40-pound jugs on their back all the way to their village so they could provide water, drinking water, for their family, their friends, and for the people in the village. And I'm sure this wasn't as clean as the drinking water that you could get out of your faucet, and it just really puts things in perspective. Like, wow, these women had to hike just to get drinking water, things that we take for granted every day, you know. Um, in other parts of the world, they don't have the opportunities we have, they don't have the resources, they don't live the way we do. So seeing things like that, especially for my wife and my children, I know it puts things in perspective and resonates for them as it does for me. And I'm sitting there watching these women going, gosh, like we have it so good. You know, we have it so good. And so what they're doing is they're running to raise awareness for these villages and provide resources and funding to fix this problem so they have drinking water, so they can have wells that are in their village, so they don't and they can have running water so they don't have to hike to get it. And they're doing a half marathon in Los Angeles in March. So my wife and my son Mason signed up for it. And I thought that's so cool that they're gonna now be able to create that experience together, push themselves to do something challenging, but also for such a just and profound cause. And the last thing that they presented at church on Sunday was building homes in Mexico during spring break for people that are homeless. And they showed these clips of last year how they went down there and built homes for people. And we heard individuals talking about stories where the people in Mexico, literally right over the border from San Diego. Now, just put this in perspective. San Diego was just rated the most peaceful city in the world. Now, I don't know who does these this research and comes up with this, but we know that San Diego, California is a beautiful area, right by the ocean. Uh, it's it's it's amazing. If you've ever been there, you understand. And I don't know if it's the most peaceful city in the world, but I know it's pretty damn beautiful and it's pretty amazing. The people are laid back. Um, and if you just go over the border, you know, a couple dozen miles, if that, you're now in Mexico and in Tijuana, where people are literally burning trash to stay warm, burning trash to cook their food. It's kind of like a third-world country in some parts, you know. Uh dirt roads still in a lot of parts, cartels are are infiltrating all the major bureaucratic entities in government and they run the country, and uh it's kind of cutthroat in some areas, just right over the border of San Diego, you know, like literally you could throw a rock over there, and now like that rock lands in a place with way different rules and way different um outcomes for people, you know, and uh so my son and I we signed up to go over there in spring break for a week and build homes for people who are less fortunate. And I can't think of a better thing to do with him, honestly, at 15, growing up in America, growing up in the 2010s and 20s, when everything is just easy here and we have abundance and like we don't really want for anything, let's be honest. You know, we live now in America and dine every night and have resources at our disposal the way kings did hundreds or thousands of years ago. Like a thousand years ago, a very small percentage of the population lived the way you and I do. Every night we dine and feast like kings. We are so blessed. But oftentimes we lose sight of this and we get so caught up in our own issues. And I'm not to say that people don't have problems or we don't go through hardships, but there's something really powerful that takes place when you can shift your perspective. You know, like I used to get I get to mentality a lot. Like I was having a conversation with someone earlier, and they're like, Oh, I hate doing the stairmaster, I don't want to go to the gym and do the stairmaster. And this is what I do in my mindset when I'm being ungrateful or negative, you know, and I'm just battling with myself and negotiating with myself. I always remind myself of the fact that I get to go do the stairmaster, or I get to go to the gym, or I get to do whatever it is that you're talking negatively about. Because if you found yourself in a hospital bed tomorrow morning and you woke up and you were dazed and you realized you had been hit by a car, run over, some horrific accident happened, and you didn't have the use of your legs. In fact, the doctor said that you were now paralyzed from the waist down, and you spent the rest of your life in a wheelchair. Okay, could you imagine how badly you'd want to be able to use your legs? Can you imagine what you would do to be able to get those legs back and go on that stairmaster or go on that run or go do that thing that you were negatively talking about doing? You would give anything. You don't know what you have until it's taken from you. You don't know how gifted and blessed you truly are until these opportunities are gone. That's human nature. We don't understand how good things are until we suffer some pain or some tragedy. I wish we could learn and understand before it gets to that point. But what I've seen working with people, going through my own transformation, striving to help people make change, oftentimes humans will not change until there's some pain threshold met. You don't understand how amazing your marriage is until your wife files for a divorce. You don't understand how beautiful and incredible your children are until one of them's sick and their life's at stake. You don't understand how good you had it until you're in your financial situation or your company goes bankrupt or all your best team members quit and leave you. Now you see the value in those people. Now you see the value in those things. Now you wish you could go back and do it the right way. But it doesn't have to be that way. That's why I'm always reading books, I'm always listening and observing other people, and I'm going to places like church where I can be inspired and I can follow the path that God put on my heart. Because I went there that day and I just looked around at a room full of people raising their hands to volunteer their time, to go out and do good things in the world, to help people, to be examples, to be leaders. And honestly, looking at the state of our country recently, and if you watch social media or go on Twitter or watch the news or follow politics, you would have a perspective of our country and our world that was really negative. You know, I look around and I go, man, what happened to people? No one's trying anymore. No one's out doing good. The average man's, you know, standards are just drastically low. We have the most obese people and children in the world. What's going on with that? Why is our food so toxic? Why are we getting these shots that could actually have harmful effects and they're being pushed on us? You know, why are we always being bombarded with all this information that feels like psychological warfare? You know, why am I be told being told I'm racist? Because I'm a white man. Why is masculinity being attacked? Why are, you know, men and women's sports, all of a sudden you start getting all this negativity and you start getting all political and you start getting divisive and angry and upset and you want to pick a side and you want to fight. And that doesn't feel good to live that way. Because all you want to do is be in like a defensive attack mode. We're like, I'm right, you're wrong. I'm right, you're wrong. My views are right, yours are wrong. My beliefs are right, yours are wrong. Look at how I'm living, look at what I'm doing. And you get in this whole warp mentality. And I'll be honest with you, it doesn't feel good to live that way. It feels really unnatural, inauthentic, combative. It doesn't feel good. You're not in a harmonious state. Versus the feeling that I have when I go to church and everyone's worshiping and singing. And I get tears in my eyes when those songs come on because I remember when I was in prison, every so often, you know, people come in from outside to provide a service for the inmates. And they volunteered their time, didn't have to do it, and they're coming into such a negative and despairing environment. And we valued and appreciated them so much for that. And for about two hours, we'd sit there and worship and we'd listen to the sermon. And I remember in those moments, just hearing the voices and the melody and the music, it was so meaningful for me because in there you don't get to hear those sounds. All you hear in prison is the sound of walkie-talkies and cell doors closing and just noise, people chattering. And then sometimes you hear the sound of like footsteps squeaking on the ground, like on a basketball court. That's when you know people are fighting. And, you know, so for me, it takes me back to those moments when I was at my lowest and rebuilding myself, and I found such a tremendous source of peace within. And that was God igniting my soul to his message and to this path that I've been on ever since. So I go to church and I hear the worship songs, and then I see all the people raising their hands with smiles on their faces, saying, Yeah, I'm gonna do the half marathon. I want to go to Mexico and build the homes. I'm gonna go out and pick up trash, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do my part. Like, it just shows me that there's so many good people in this world that are leading by example. And honestly, it humbled me because at times I'm like, I'm doing so much, I'm trying so hard. Look at me. And I'm not sitting there saying, look at me, because I'm like braggadocious and egotistical, but it's easy to get side inside our own minds and just see things from one vantage point. Sometimes we got to go into a place like a church and get around a lot of good people to recognize, hey, there's a whole different perspective right there of what people are doing. It's not a bunch of negative people fighting out in the world, it's not a bunch of polarizing views. In that building, it was a bunch of people with very similar views, with very similar beliefs, with very similar morals, with very similar values, and they were carrying them out. And that's the power, man, in Christianity, and going to a church and being a part of something that's bigger than us. Uh, and it's really special. And so, if someone was to come up to me right now, and actually I shared this on my group coaching call earlier with my clients and said, Sean, where should I go to seek inspiration? Who should I get around? I'd say, go to a church, man. Go to a church and get around people who are living up those values and those morals. And not to say that every church is perfect, every pastor is a great human being. We're all flawed. This is the thing I've learned. Doesn't matter if you're a pastor, doesn't matter if you're a Christian, doesn't matter if you're an atheist, doesn't matter if you're straight, gay, black, white, into politics, not into politics, whatever it is that you label yourself or identify as. I feel stupid saying that because I don't like that term. But the truth is we all have good and evil inside of us. We all have good thoughts and positive thoughts that are leading us to make positive change in life. And we all have temptation, and we all have that thing inside of us that wants to seek pleasure or wants to do bad for some reason or wants to gossip or wants to do something negative. You know, that's what we have to combat each and every day. That's what we have to fight. It's that evil inside of you. And I found a path for the last 13 years through sobriety, so through personal development, through exercise that allows me to combat my demons, my negative self-talk, those evil tendencies inside all human beings because we are all flawed. But you know what I learned is that when you get around good people and you actively fight those demons each and every day, and then you can share with others how you've done it, that's a pretty remarkable thing to do. So, you guys, that's my message for you today. I'm not pushing anything on you. I'm just sharing my experience with you and uh how God's guiding me and using me as a conduit of thy energy, a vessel of that message that's been put on my heart to share with you. And I hope it touched someone's life. I hope someone heard this message today that needed to hear it, whether it's that, hey, you got to get back to church or hey, maybe go volunteer some of your time, or hey, despite the adversity in your life and the hardships you've gone through, we have it pretty damn good in America in 2025. Let's be grateful for that. Let's go share that gratitude with other people. Let's do positive things in their lives to show how grateful we are, and then lead by example for the younger generation. You know, I don't know what you took from this message, but I hope it was something that you took to heart that's going to positively impact your life. And if so, drop a comment below. Share this with somebody else, share it on your feed, and let's go out and change the world together.