Wake up to die again with Scott Lackey

Grit gets praised like it’s the whole answer, but what happens when grit runs out and life keeps coming? Joe Grumbine sits down with Scott Lackey, a military veteran, inventor, Ironman athlete, and author, to talk about the moments that shake you down to your DNA and the surprising way those moments can become your greatest leverage for healthy living.

Scott shares the inner wake-up call that hit during COVID: “You’re not where you’re supposed to be,” followed by two words that changed everything, “broken promises.” That led him back to the goals he quietly abandoned, including finishing a full Ironman and finally writing his book, *Wake Up to Die Again: Breaking Who You Became, So You Can Be Who You’re Meant To Be*. We dig into self-trust, why some commitments are best made in private, and how real resilience comes from facing the exact fear you keep running from.

Joe brings his own perspective from a recent cancer battle and the blunt question he asks anyone looking for a way out: “Do you want to live?” From mindset and behavior change to trauma, purpose, and discipline, we keep it practical and honest, with a powerful closing lesson: the answer isn’t always adding more goals, money, or noise. Sometimes the healthiest move is subtraction.

If this conversation hits home, subscribe to the Healthy Living Podcast, share it with someone who needs a reset, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s one promise you’re ready to keep starting today?

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Welcome And Why Grit Breaks

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Well, hello, and welcome to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, and today we've got a very special guest. His name is Scott Lackey. And Scott's got quite a story. He uh is a veteran, he's gone through combat zones, dealt with all kinds of situations as you might imagine as a combat veteran, but he's an inventor, an Ironman athlete, an author, a columnist, and you know, he his story is about when grit alone isn't enough. And Lord knows I know all about that. I just got through a cancer battle and had to go through digging deep, and grit wasn't quite enough. And we had to go there. Anyway, Scott, welcome to the show. It's so great to have you.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Likewise, Joe, and especially thankful that we could talk about healthy living today. That's important to me and you, and I know your audience. And so thank you for letting me come on board and having this conversation on this beautiful day.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, it's it's my pleasure. We had a little bit of chance to talk before, and it seems like we've got a lot in common. I'd like to hear a little bit about your story. You know, being a military veteran, you know, we were talking about my nonprofit a little bit about, and one of the things we do is everything that we do, we offer to veterans for free. And I'm not a veteran, but I enjoy the liberties provided by veterans. And so I don't take that lightly. So thank you for your service. And uh, why don't you tell us a little bit about your story?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yes, sir, and thank you for saying that. And um so my time in the military was just to replay history for a moment, I did things a little differently than most, in that I didn't know what to do during high school, and I was a terrible student, not because of capability, it was because of interest. I enjoyed playing basketball, enjoyed you know, playing on weekends and crack and all those things. I enjoyed fun too much in high school. I only mentioned about my high school days. We may have been best friends in high school. Probably would have. Yes. And that's a lightning strike, they're not all bad, but the ones we talk about are the ones that shake us to our very DNA.

Wake Up To Die Again Mindset

SPEAKER_01 3:04

But even the bad ones, I think sometimes they've got the potential to be the best ones. They're not fun or easy, but they give you that place where you can make the most positive change if you decide to.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

A billion percent. And that is littered throughout my my book, the title of my book, not to get off track here, but it's important is wake up to die again. Yes. Okay, and some of us know what that means, but for two different reasons, Joe. But on the healthy living mindset, wake up to die again is a beautiful thing because we're we're discarding things that no longer serve us so that we can break through and and and gain something more. Indeed. But you you and I also know people and we want to help them. We know people that wake up to die again every day, and they're losing a part of themselves every day, and they don't know how they got to where they are. They're stuck, they're lost. Okay. But you know, we were talking about my story in the military, and that's really honestly kind of the theme of my life. I've lived nine lives. Uh, and and much of it was to wake up and die again, but not the good kind. Yeah. To lose a little bit of myself every day. And there's a lot of stories in the book, and I won't go through all of them, but it was a lightning strike moment to find myself choosing to go into the military versus college because I wasn't ready for college out of high school, and I knew that. And the military was a wonderful gift and a course correction in my life that changed it forever. And I didn't learn until many years later that it was really prophetic in my life that I chose to go in the military and what it did for me and how it changed me as a human being. But then I went to college after the military, you know, spent four years in college, got a uh degree in finance.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

And okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

And after that, I went out into the you know, career world, moved to Dallas, Texas, and started working. But I've done so many different things. You know, I've invented a product called my second invention, actually, was funded by a private equity firm for three million dollars, a product called a childhood health passport. Wow. That didn't that didn't go well. Oh yeah, well, it went well in the beginning, you know, when we got funded. I got a great trip to Cancun out of it, but I got fired about six months later, along with the management team. Wow. But but I tell you these these brief stories, and these were earlier in my life. I tell these brief stories because when you talk about Scott, what has your life been like? Yeah, it's been wake up to die again moments my whole life. And then I want to comment on exactly what you said. You you intervened and said, you know, some of the really bad ones give us, you didn't exactly say this, but you said kind of give us the gifts that we would never expect. And I could not agree with you more. As a matter of fact, one of the chapters in my book, literally the title of that chapter is The Gifts Are in the Pain. And so, Scott, are you saying to are you saying to Joe that that because he got cancer, that something he'll get something out of that that is gonna be better for him? I'm 100% saying that 100%. I'm 100%, yeah. And I've never had that, don't want that, but I know it to be true. Yeah, and I know it to be true.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

But you can make that out of whatever adversity comes your way. I I'm a pretty thick-headed guy, and I think uh God kind of said, Well, you're not gonna listen until I give you something that you can't not pay attention to, so here you go.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

And yeah, I had to pay. But I think he does that for all of us, is that you know, I have a I have a little saying, I didn't write this in the book, but I say it all the time. If you're unwilling to pay attention, attention is going to pay you a visit.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Exactly. So true, and especially if you want, you know, if you're a good-hearted person and you want to be your best person, but you just are lost and don't know how, or you don't think to do the thing that would get you there, it seems that you get given these quote opportunities. Opportunities. And uh, you know, if you got the sense to go after and do the right thing, then you can literally turn it around. I've done over 40 episodes on this podcast talking about my journey, and each one has the ability to reach a different person at a different street, and it's working, they're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

It is yeah, that's correct. And not only reach them, you're emphasized something you're you're not directly saying it, but you're saying it is that you said a different person. Yes, and that's really, really important because we're we are all on this little blue planet together, but we are all on our independent journey going somewhere different. So just because right now, right this moment, you and I are walking the same path together. We're on this podcast, walking down the same path together, we're going different places, and knowing that your audience is the same thing, they can take something out of this conversation, apply it to their life. That's why I avoid at all costs telling people what to do. I'll share a story, I'll give you insight, I'll tell you how I did it, but you're not going to hear me say you should do this because I don't want to be responsible for that.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Exactly. It's so true. You know, I always tell people this is uh one of my little Joisms, but I say this everything you've done in your life, every choice you've made, good and bad, every decision, everything, action, inaction has brought you to this moment right now. And you and I are sharing that moment because of everything both of us did in our lives. And trying to last for a second, a week, an hour, a month, a year, or a lifetime. We don't know. But we both got directed here right now.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

1000%. And and I I believe that that is no accident, it is never an accident when paths cross like moments like this, even for the audience, right? Because I have experienced it so many times in my life, so many times where I thought it was an incident, an accident. It's not an accident. There's purpose behind everything, including and equally important, the pain that we go through. There is a purpose there. And I ask people in my book to harness that and not only to harness it, but look for it because it's pain or difficulty or loss or whatever you want to call it, that's where the gifts are. As a matter of fact, another chapter in the book, the pain is where the gifts are. Okay. And the pain means it is in the work that you're avoiding as a human being.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, it's always like if it if there's a thing that you don't feel like doing, like you're avoiding at all costs, that's the thing that's what you're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

I said that on another podcast. I was asked the question, something about Scott, how do the listeners know what to do? Yeah, so well, that's easy. Every single listener knows what to do because they're running from it. Yeah, turn around and face it and deal with it, whatever it is. Yeah, and the sooner you deal with it, I know you know this too, Joe. I can tell, the sooner you deal with it, the gift that you get from that is it no longer has power or control over you.

The Gifts Hidden In Pain

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Exactly. Exactly. Whatever your fear is, just turn around and go, okay, it might be uncomfortable, it might be painful, might be ugly, it might be whatever, but at least it's not gonna be here anymore.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

My son literally just showed me this when I got home getting ready for this podcast. If someone on Instagram had, you know, was looking at this adversity. And of course, he was all dirty and hair standing up, but he was looking at adversity and he was getting back up. And he says, Okay, second round, you hit like a, you know, I won't use the word, you hit like a so-and-so. This is a second round. I'm coming back now.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

You know exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

And it got me laughing because that that's that that was what he was talking about was life.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah, 100%. So you talk about pain a lot, and it looks like you got into the Iron Man world. What's that about?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah, during COVID, it's worth telling the story about why did I do an Iron Man. First of all, I had always wanted to do the full 140.6 mile Iron Man race, always, always, always, from the second I saw it on television okay, many, many years ago. And my my journey to doing that was again over 15, maybe 20 years ago, was doing the short races, what are called the sprints and the Olympic distant races. And I just stopped. And when I stopped, I got fat, I got out of shape and unhealthy, and among other things. Believe it or not, I was smoking a little bit. And fast forward to COVID. When is that now? Six years ago, seven years ago? Five, six years ago, seven, maybe uh everything in life was perfectly fine. Everybody's healthy, kids are doing great. I love my wife to death. I was working home for a few months. She wasn't teaching, it was in the summer, the spring, and you know, we were holding hands and taking lunch walks together. But this voice, this thought came into my head, and it was a sentence. And the sentence was, You're not where you're supposed to be. Oh boy. I'm like, what? I mean everything's fine, right? You need to shut up. Enjoy my walks and leave me alone. And the the I don't want to say intensity intensity, but the degree of frequency every single day increased. You're not where you're supposed to be. And then it started to carry a weight. I felt a weight inside me of this is something I need to address. And I didn't know what the hell is going on. It was kind of freaking me out, to be honest with you. And in my true form, as we talked about earlier, sat down one day privately, and I said, okay, what the hell is this feeling all about? What's going on? I was trying to meditate on the thought, to be honest with you. And the next word that was planted, the next thought that was planted in my brain was broken promises. Whoa. And I was like, broke any promises. You know, this is my reaction, my knee-jerk reaction to everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I won't drag the story out. I just simply have to set that, I have to set that up to understand why Iron Man. And but I went through this exercise with myself, which was no, no, no, you you you know what broken promises you broke. You you broke the promise that you were gonna do an Iron Man. And you broke the promise that you were gonna write a book, and you broke the promise that you were gonna treat your body better and be healthy and lose that weight. And you broke the promise that you were you were gonna do this, and you're just this laundry list of broken promises to myself, to myself, right? Nobody else, just myself, right? And out of all of that, I had to make a decision when I became aware of the truth. What are you going to do about it? And I made a decision. The one thing out of all of those things that really inspired me and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up was I'm finally going to do my Iron Man.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

All right.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

And I signed up to do the Iron Man in Tempe, Arizona, and it was in November of that year. And I started training, and I did not tell anybody that I was training because I didn't trust myself and I was afraid I was going to break my promises again. Oh, okay. So I didn't break my promises, and I trained for about 11 months with a coach and ultimately did the Iron Man race. But that's the genesis of why I came back to do the Iron Man race was to fulfill a broken promise to myself and to regain trust with myself. But I also want to springboard after the Iron Man was over, I continued to do half Iron Man races, 70.3 miles. And it was in that training period of doing the half Iron Man's. I said, okay, let's go back to the to-do list. What was next? On what was what big next project was on the to-do list where you broke a promise? And it was to write a book, which published this week, Joe. As a matter of fact, I have my authority.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Oh, it just was published. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yeah, just published. Well, here's even better news for your listeners. I just got an email this morning that I am number one on the new release Amazon.com list of new published books.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

I just got that email this morning, man. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

So yeah, all right, that's fantastic. Well, tell us about the book.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Sure. So I've used the title, I think, earlier in our conversation. The title of the book is Wake Up to Die Again, Breaking Who You Became, so you can be who you're meant to be. That's the title. And when I say what is the book about, you know, if I may, if I may, this won't take just a second. This has been the most requested, the most commented on chart, is that when people read the preface. Can I do that two paragraphs real quick, Jim? Please, yeah. So when people ask, I just guess I just need to memorize this, but it's what I wrote. I've learned that things we survive don't define us. What we do with them does. I've bled, fallen, failed, been betrayed, and risen more times than I can count. But I've stopped hiding the evidence. My scars aren't reminders of what broke me. They're proof of what couldn't. They're the handwriting of grace, etched across skin and soul, a quiet testimony that what tried to kill me failed. Failure isn't the ending, it's the beginning. This book is for every man and woman trying to stand, still standing, still believing there is more to their story. Don't hide your scars. They're proof you were meant to live like never before. If you're ready to turn the page, let's walk into the rest of the story together.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I love it. That was very well written.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Well, Joe, that's what you just said to yourself, which is not hiding my scars. Uh, we're gonna talk about it.

Ironman Training And Broken Promises

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Yeah, exactly. And I I think that's key, you know. You you've touched on a few points that I think are important. There's a lot of schools of thinking, you know. I I've I've interviewed over 250 guests on this show with all types of points of view. And some people say, well, you got to talk about everything you're doing, so you're holding yourself accountable and you know, surround yourself with the people that'll support you. But I think when you really, really, really mean it, you just get together with yourself and God, and you just do it. And then you show everybody what you did afterward. The most difficult things I've done in my life, I took on inside of me. And once I had at least made a milestone, then I began to share it. The cancer was different because I had a giant tumor sticking out of my neck, and there was no, you know, it was a rare, not a rare cancer, but it was a unique situation where people would look at me and know there was something up. And you know, I had an opportunity there though to share my story. So it was a that was an anomaly through that. But the notion of these difficulties, these failures, you know, there's all these people talk about failing forward and all of this and that. It's all so true. Every obstacle, every difficulty, every time you get cut, like I've got cuts and scrapes, and I work with a special needs group, and I've been trimming up a tree that's got thorns on it. So my arm, I just came out of a battle. And this one kid yesterday is like, What happened to you? And I says, uh, you know, it's just a little cut. We get through it, you know, it's not a big deal. You know, he was like, Oh no, you got blood. I'm like, Yeah, we got lots of it, and you know, it was not a big deal. And I I think that's the key to everything. I I I really would like to I'm gonna I'm gonna get your book and and read it and and and and share that story. I'm probably gonna be shaking my head through the whole thing. And that's fantastic. You just published it, it's already in the number one new release. New releases, yeah. That's I I I'm excited. That's that's that's really great.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Uh it would it would be an honor if you do get it, to be honest with you, especially from our pre-call briefly, is I think that understanding what you do, where you came from a little bit, and but what you do now. I again, not every not every book is for everybody, but this book, this book attacks and tackles what I believe is desperately needing to be discussed in today's world, but it's an introspection of ourself, right? I don't blame the world for anything. It's this book is this wake up to die again book is about looking at ourself and what do we need to do with ourself to get right.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

You know, exactly. Now you have a you have a coaching program right now.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Actually, I'm not coaching right now. I'm not coaching right now. What what I what I'm focused on right now, well, the obvious thing was the the enormous work of finishing the book, getting it edited and all that stuff and getting it launched. That that was what I was focused on. And it on the immediate moment, now that it is out there, it's continuing with these podcasts to reach out to the audience and share the book. And hopefully, you know, again, they'll download it on Kindle or purchase it and read it. And then, third, the third leg of the stool is the opportunity to be invited out to oper uh locations where I can speak to an audience. I love it, and have have QA, you know, with the audience to support them. If nothing else would make me happier, Joe, if whether it's your message or my message, this world needs people who are willing to help them.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

You know what? I said it's the same message, it's just the same message.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

That's what I'm saying is that but the world needs more of us, needs more Joes and more Scots who lean in to those who are lost and to help. We can't do it for them, but but to help. And there are people out there willing to listen, and here's the key they're willing to listen to Joe's message and Scott Lackey's message if they will be honest and transparent and vulnerable and tell the truth because they need to see that we suffered and got out of it. They don't need this crap that's out there about just do these seven things and you can you too can have a million dollars. They know it's a lie.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Yeah. Yeah, I think that there's, you know, especially, you know, with with my journey, I had so many people come and tell me, you know, this is all you need to do. And they tell me about some fruit or some herb or something. And I connected in a very difficult way through a lot of work and a lot of networking and a lot of research and a lot of effort, the right people that helped me find the right combination of tools. And it was not one thing, it was a stack of things in a particular way with a particular mindset and a particular drive that caused me to resolve the problem. But and I and I believe that at the core of it, the things I did could help anybody. That's what I would talk about is you know, well, do you want to live? You know, I that's when people come to me, the first thing I say, they say, Oh, I got this, I got that. I go, Well, do you want to live?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Like that's man, huge. You just gave me chill bumps saying that.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

And that's hard for that's hard for somebody to do to me.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

You just gave me chill bumps because what a beautiful question.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

And you'd be you know, a guy asked me, a guy asked me the other day, Joe. He said, I was telling him about you know a particular lightning strike in my life where where we lost everything, and I mean everything. And I had to go home and tell my wife, who was pregnant with my daughter, and we had our two and a half-year-old son, and the house we were in was the house we brought our babies home to. And you have to go home and and and look at her and share with her. Why do you guys I guess I guess you could say you don't have to, but you know, probably bad, yeah. But yeah, but a bad strategy to not do that. But anyway, he asked me, how do you how do you recover from that? How do you get up from that?

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:50

And and you know, there is no shocking answer to that. For me, the answer was, and it it it mirrors what you're saying is is do you want to live? Yeah, is is that I got up, not so much, it wasn't because there was anybody uh in my ear saying, Scott, get up, Scott, you can do it, Scott, Scott. No, hell no, that didn't happen. There wasn't anybody there. It was a black room with no lights, and I'm filling the wall looking for a light switch. That's where I was, right? But the reason I chose to get back up was because I looked across the room at my wife, my beautiful wife that I love, and my two and a half year old son, and she was pregnant. And I said, I'm gonna get up for them. I may not be able to do it for myself. I may be pissed off at myself, but this wasn't their fault. And I'm gonna get up for them. And that's that question. Do you want to live? If you if you do, you know, especially if you love your family and you and you do care about yourself, that is a powerful, powerful thing to dig into. Yeah. Of asking your, I love that question.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Well, that's the first thing I do when somebody comes to me and they tell me about their problems, because people are pretty quick to talk about a problem. But when it comes to a solution, it's a whole nother conversation. And and I've learned that like the things that I did to solve my problem were very difficult, and things that you wouldn't want to do. And and that's why I asked that question because most people they're like, What? You know, yeah, and I said, Well, I'm gonna tell you things I did that you're not gonna want to do, but if you really want to live, it won't matter.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Yep, yep. Joe, I can't wait. I swear I cannot wait for you to get this book. You're hand you're gonna be a bobblehead reading.

Scars Authenticity And The Book

SPEAKER_01 25:29

I love it. I love it. Well, I I'll probably get off the phone and and or get off this call and and and order it right away so I don't forget about it. But you know, it's it's interesting how you know these these questions that we've had in common, totally different life, totally different experiences, but we come to these same truths through this whole thing. I I had a I've had a few moments in my life where I got a clear message in my head as well. And one of them was when I was solving this problem, and I had this giant tumor sticking out of my neck, and I was on my way to some answers. They were not going to be fun or easy, but I had to make these decisions. And I was getting ready to work with uh an indigenous medicine, which is a whole nother chapter of my book. Yeah, and I got I was preparing, meditating, and I got uh clear as you and I are talking, what are you willing to do for this? And I was like, whoa, oh my gosh, yeah. And I was like, I thought about it for about a second, and I said, Whatever it takes, you know, I'm not gonna sell my soul, but anything other than that, I I'm gonna do it. And and through that whole process, I got shown my whole life in front of me, and my healthy body, I got I got to see it while I was still dealing with the difficulty. And I says, Oh, okay, all I gotta do is the hard work, and I've got this, and it carried me.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Unbelievable. I'm shaking my head and I'm looking down. I know I'll never find this quickly in my book. This is the phrase I used in my book.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

At the beginning of my Iron Man workouts, this was the thought that kept coming to me. You're gonna laugh when I say this. Scott, what are you willing to sacrifice? That was the thought. It's all over my book. What are you willing to sacrifice? What are you willing to sacrifice? And then and I eventually had to answer that question. And the question was, you know what? I'm willing to sacrifice myself.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Right? And the same thing was true when I wrote the book. I had to re-answer the question, Scott, what are you willing to sacrifice to write this book? And I had to answer that question, and the answer was me again. Yeah, because you can't you cannot write a book that is transparently, vulnerably honest about what the hell happened and to help other people. You cannot be authentic unless you tell the truth and you're authentic, right? So that means you have to sacrifice yourself. So when you you know, when people read this book, they're not going to read this book and go, oh my God, Scott didn't make any mistakes. He was wonderful. No, it's quite the opposite. I sacrificed Scott throughout the entire book, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

No, it's true. People don't realize that we're never the same person. Every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year. You know, your your your cells are completely new cells. You have molecules that you took in from your food, you let go things, you're literally a different person constantly. That's right. That we have these hangups based on well, I don't want to change. And it's like, what are you thinking? You're you're changing constantly, and to draw what you were is is an abomination, really.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah, and but what's you know what's beautiful about that though? If you can get someone to realize that they're in a constant state of change, yeah, right. If you can get them to realize that, and it's not that things are happening to you, okay. These are simply naturally occurring things in in yourself, okay. But here's the but, at least in in for me, is that if change is going to constantly happen, then what happens if I begin to voluntarily push myself into the change? Yeah, what happens then? Yeah, that that's where you I don't want to use the word control, but I will use the word influence. You begin to influence your life's trajectory of where you're going, never control, but you begin to influence. And that's where the real change takes place is when you become an active participant in the change versus sitting on the couch waiting for the stupid luck ball to hit you in the head.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

You know, it's like the difference between drifting and sailing, you know. You you you can't control the wind, but you can direct it and you can you can use it to get where you need to go sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Don't be the leaf in the fall just blowing to and fro because the wind is blowing. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Exactly. Well, listen, Scott, I do this almost every time. I run out of time before I run out of questions, but it's all good. I'd love to have you back to continue this conversation maybe after a few months and see how your book's doing, and maybe when you get some speaking engagements. But before we go, a couple of questions. You likely have had a major impact on people through your coaching or just through who you are. I know people like us tend to, you know, people ask us questions, and you you're able to affect people sometimes. Tell me about a story where you've something you did or said had really affected somebody that that you noticed.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Yeah, thank you for asking that very much. I'm gonna tell you a story that recently happened actually during the just before the editing process of my book was started. I selected many different types of beta readers, every socio, economic, gender, everything under the just this plurality of all these different people. And one gentleman that I selected was selected because I had not seen him in at least 15 years, had not spoken in forever. 15 years, I mean, all right. But I knew him of a of a man of character that would he would tell me the truth. He would, he would just absolutely tell me the truth. And that was what I was attracted to. So I asked him if he would be willing to be one of my beta readers under the agreement that as he read through each chapter, he would basically send me a written comment on those chapters of you know, of some specific questions. And but he had to, you know, promise me to be transparent, otherwise we just had to be agree to disagree, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Right, right.

Helping Others Through Subtraction

SPEAKER_00 32:31

He said, No problem, I'd love to do that, Scott. And I will honor your request and I will do that. And about three weeks or so went by, and I got a text from him, and it made my heart drop because the text opened up by saying, Scott, I have to apologize about where I'm at in your book or your manuscripts, what he said. And my heart sank because I thought, oh, I'm gonna get exactly what I asked for, which is maybe information I don't want. Right. And that was the first thought when I saw that. Then the text went on to say this you don't know this, but I've been going through a hard time in my life, and I think what's going to happen is that your your manuscript in its current condition is actually going to help me more than I can help you. I'm through six chapters and I have laughed and cried through six chapters, and I have to set your book down because I have to look at myself and I need to think through this before I go any further.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

I have that memorized because that's how impactful it was to me to hear that from someone I haven't spoken to in 15 years, and I did not know they were going through this place in their life. And they didn't even know what my book was about. Because when they asked me, well, sure, Scott, I'll be a beta reader and I promise to do this and that, what's the book about? I said, You'll figure it out. I didn't want to tell them what the book was about. Right. Who am I to say what it's about? I know I wrote it, but you and I both know this, Joe is that is that every audience member, everybody's on their own journey, they're going to see things that I don't see. That's why you're a beta reader. So that's that is a direct example, a recent example of something that absolutely floored me uh in the words from my book and the impact on that person's life.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Wonderful. And if you had one thought to leave our audience with, what would that look like?

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Yeah, thanks for asking that too. I'm gonna speak to myself about this. So I'm gonna beat up Scott for a second. I lived, I lived a whole lot of my life, Joe, a whole lot of my life, thinking it was all about addition. Okay. I thought it would what addition to get the house, get the car, the wife, the kids, the bank account, the investments, the the the weekend barbecues, the the shoes, just addition, addition, addition, just more, more, more, more, more. And every freaking time I arrived, Joe, every freaking time, there was nobody there and it was empty. But I didn't tell anybody because that voice kept saying, it's a little further, man, over the next hill, around the next curve, just keep going. Not realizing that that voice was leading me to my own destruction. Okay. And why am I saying this to the audience? Because I guarantee there are audience listeners right now that are chasing addition and wondering why they feel so empty inside. Here's my here's my solution for me to consider. It was always about subtraction, it was never about addition. And what subtraction looks like is doing less and discarding things that you know are not serving you. And when you start doing that, in my opinion, because it worked for me, and it's worked for tens of thousands of other people, is the act of stopping certain things that will move us away from unhealthy living and move us toward healthy living, which is the theme of your podcast, Joe.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

100%. We have a lot in common. I got whole stories I could share on that as well. Uh well, listen, Scott, it's been a pleasure to have you. Why don't you uh share your contact information and how how people can find your book or get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Easy, easy one because my name is my website, Scott Lackey, L-A-C-K-E-Y, Scott Lackey.com. And if something in this did impact you or you'd like to know more, please send me an email. Let both go and I know at the same time. Second all, second of all, is Amazon.com. I would appreciate your support with the book. It is, I believe, life-changing for some, but the name of the book on Amazon.com, Wake Up to Die Again by Scott Lackey. Thank you, Joe.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

Beautiful, Scott. Well, thank you so much for joining us. And again, let's get back in touch in a couple of months and see, you know, maybe once you got on that stage and and shared your message with a bunch of people, I'd love to hear about all that. And just want to thank you again for sharing all your wisdom with us.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

100%, Joe. Thank you for the invitation. I'm sure our paths are going to cross again, sir.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

I love it. Well, this has been another episode of the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, and I want to thank all of the listeners for making this show possible. And we will see you next time.