Prey Drive, A to B, and Screw Your Why! Run With The Cheetahs EP14

Episode 14 – Activate Your Prey Drive with Coach Micheal Burt

In this episode of Run With The Cheetahs: Your Guide to an Extraordinary Life, Russell Anderson and Jerry sit down with Coach Micheal Burt (“America’s Coach”) to talk about what it really takes to break out of complacency and perform at a championship level.

Coach Burt shares:

• How he went from a small Tennessee town to building an 8‑time state‑championship basketball program
• The “accidental arrogance of success” and why simply working harder isn’t a real growth strategy
• His definition of “prey drive” and the daily routines he uses to activate it
• Why most people gradually settle into mediocrity—and how small, consistent disciplines can pull you out
• The A‑to‑B framework for getting clear on where you are, where you want to go, and who can help you get there
• The big idea behind his new book Screw Your Why and a more practical path to purpose

If you’ve ever felt like you’re capable of more but stuck in “good enough,” this conversation will challenge you to make different decisions, build new habits, and aim your skills at bigger problems.

Connect with Coach Micheal Burt
Website & Events: https://www.coachburt.com
Books & Resources: available via his site and major booksellers

Connect with Run With The Cheetahs
This show is the companion podcast to the book Run With The Cheetahs: Your Guide to an Extraordinary Life.
Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs a coach in their corner.

Jerry Freishtat
CEO of Wealth Climber | Serial Entrepreneur | Investor | Advisory for Startup Entrepreneurs | Speaker | Author | Committed to innovation, growth, and making a positive impact on the world.

Russell Anderson
Founder, President ACS Creative; Marketing & Design (30+ years of growing brands; global and local)
Serial Entrepreneur, Forever Student of Business - and Life

Buy the Book and Audiobook!
Amazon Audiobook
https://a.co/d/jbuW7Bh

Amazon Book Purchase
https://a.co/d/7Kq3MrG


Intro/Outro Music Credit
Big Thanks to Michael Fath for the use of The Emerald Isle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hva33IEU3SY&list=RDHva33IEU3SY&start_radio=1

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There's all kinds of internal things that even top performers face. But the top performer does not listen to their feelings. Amateurs listen to their feelings. The top performer goes, boom, let's go. It's game time. I'm a pro. This is why they pay the big money, right? And so my point is most amateurs don't know how to flip the switch. And so the book really tackles how do you do that, but not just one time. So think of it this way. I say this in my morning messages. Inspiration sparks it. Motivation starts it, but discipline actually finishes it. And when you think about that, this pre-drive is really how do I do it every day, guys? How do I do it every day when I don't feel like it? How do I go into battle every day? How do I, how do I take what comes at me and go, boom, let's go. What's next? Okay, let's keep going. How do I, right? That's really what pre-drive actually is. And I think that's why the book is so important.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Hello, friends. Welcome to the show. My name is Russell Anderson, and this is Run with the Cheetahs, Your Guide to an Extraordinary Life, the podcast, which is the companion podcast to the book. Welcome to the Cheetahs. It's an amazing book. Should be on everybody's bookshelf. I s I look at this thing every week and constantly find something new in there, something fresh, something that helps me move forward. My friends, we are loaded today. We are so excited. I can hardly stand it. I'm about ready to pee my pants. Can I say that? Can I say that in a professional podcast? I don't know. But you know, I'm gonna bring I'm gonna bring the author of Run with the Cheetahs in right now so that we don't waste any more time. Jerry, come on in and say hello to everybody.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Hey, hey, welcome everybody. Uh yeah, we got a special, special treat coming up today. Uh gentleman that I met, uh actually didn't meet, but heard about about 10 years ago. And uh and the more places I went in the self-development world and masterminds. I mean, this guy's name just kept coming up, kept coming up. Finally, I said, I I gotta find out what this is all about. And uh he had a uh he had a one of his uh top-selling books is called Everyone Needs a Coach. And I've just, you know, that kind of really struck me because in in my all my career and business and personal life and everything else, you know, every everything great that ever happens to you has a name attached to it. You know, whether it's a coach, whether it's a mentor, you know, uh could just be a great relationship or a friend or something like that. Um, but the so the more I looked into it, I said, you know what, I I gotta get a hold of this guy, find out what this is all about. And uh so I reached out and uh next thing you know, I'm in uh in coach's program, uh uh one called the locker room. Absolutely fantastic. Um it was uh it was a year-long program. And uh I went down to Nashville, Tennessee several times for you know, meet with the group and discussions, and uh I'm just telling you, top-notch stuff. So when when uh when you guys hear from uh coach Michael Burt today, you're gonna be in for a really, really big treat.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Well, Jerry, you know, you and I, again, we've been doing this for a long time, and we've seen some of the best there is. I mean, listen, we we have seen Zig. I mean, we're big Zig guys. We've seen Brian Tracy, I mean, we've seen, you know, Dennis Waitley. We've seen I I mean, you and I are into this. You're you're giving away our age here, right? You're right, you're right. But I am gonna I'm gonna tell you, Coach Burt, Coach Burt is the man. He is the freaking dragon slayer. I'm gonna tell you, he is the dragon slayer. Uh and I'll tell you what, you you you took me down to the greatness factory about two years ago. First, I'd never heard of him. I'd never heard of him, had no idea what I was getting ready to do, but I I honored you, and so I went with you. It was it was phenomenal. I'm so fortunate for the experience. Listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna shut up. I'm gonna shut up because we need to get this thing going. Let's play a little. I've got a little video that I want to play of Coach Burt, and let's give everybody a little taste of who this guy is. So sit back, let's watch a minute or so of this video. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Michael Burt, man. Coach Michael Burt. Inspiration of many coach Burt, Coach Burt, Coach Michael Burt, the super coach, Coach Michael Burt.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

The conference doesn't change your life. No more than reading my books changes your life. No more than watching me on YouTube changes your life. Being coached by me to change your life.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Oh my gosh. Listen, let's not waste another minute. Let's bring in Coach Burt right now. Coach Burt, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

And excited to be with you guys. You are uh both delightful. And uh I'm enjoying, I'm enjoying listening to this banter back and forth because I grew up listening to Zig Ziggler. I grew up listening to, I was a big Covey guy, as many people know. That's who had the most impact on me from 18 to 25, somewhere around there. And I mean, I used to watch four hours of Stephen Covey videos on Sunday afternoon versus watching NFL football. Yeah. So that's that's kind of, you know, for some reason I just got bit by that bug and fell in love with it, and and it was life transforming for me, but it gave me such an advantage in the world, specifically what I was doing.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Coach Burt, you know, I I think we have to say that there's probably a lot of people watching today that that don't know you, that don't know you. And, you know, would would you would you I love your story? Your story is amazing. Would would you share with us, you know, who are you? Where'd you come from? How did this all happen?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Well, it it's it's interesting you say that because I think obscurity is such a problem for so many people. And it's they're highly talented, but they're not known in the world. And uh, with my particular story, I came from a small town in Tennessee. I was raised by a single mother. I grew up on a baseball field and in a gym. I got to see very early how coaches change people's lives. Uh, that's really where I made a decision at 15 years old that I was going to be a coach. I went on to be an elementary coach, then I went on to be a high school basketball coach at a very early age. And it took me about 13 years to build a national powerhouse that would go on to win eight state championships in a 10-year cycle at that school. But I always loved personal development. And I wanted to use sport as a vehicle. Okay. So when I fell in love with Covey at 18 years old, I go, I'm going to be teaching these things to my players. Now, a lot of people talk about motivation. You guys probably played sports, and coaches kind of yell at you and bark at you and tell you to get more motivated, but they don't go deep into psychology. They don't go deep into inner engineering, they don't go deep into having a framework of personal development. And that's because they themselves don't do it. Right? The coaches don't do it. So pretty soon people were always asking me, what are you doing with these players? Right? They're so disciplined, they have such chemistry, they play so hard, they believe in you. And I say, Well, I'm I'm inner engineering these players. I'm growing the whole person, the body, the mind, the heart, and the spirit. And I was really an outcast, to be honest with you. People laughed at me. They made fun of me. They're like, Who is it? What is he talking about? Like, what planet is he from? But I began to win. And the more I won, the more people wanted to know what I was doing, which prompted me to start writing books. And that was at 25 years old, and that was 24 books ago, that I started writing books. And pretty soon the books said people started saying, Will you come speak? And I'd go speak. And then they'd say, Will you coach our people? And the next thing you know, I was signing, you know, bigger contracts with corporate America or even small businesses to be their coach. And that's really kind of how this whole thing started.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Wow. Wow. Well, you know, in your in your basketball success, I mean, one of the stories that I'd love to hear you share is how you go from uh, you know, you kind of you were doing great. You were winning, but you weren't winning the championship. No. And there was a point where you went and actually got some, I mean, you you got some consultation yourself about what do I do next. You want to share any of that with us?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Well, I actually suffered early in my career, and and and maybe all of us do to some point in what Adam Coffey calls the accidental arrogance of success. I know Jerry knows that. Um because he's worked with uh Adam, and I just love that concept because I thought, you know, that that I'm doing good, man. I'm winning 25 games a year. Nobody has ever won 25 games at this school. Everybody told me how great I was because they had never won at the school. And uh, but I but I reached a ceiling of complexity and I could not figure out how to break through that. Now, in those days, I was stubborn, arrogant, and I just thought I'll just go back and work harder, right? I will, I'm working 80 hours a week, I'll work 84 hours a week. Oh, right, but but that wasn't the solution. And I didn't understand it at the time. You don't experience a quantum leap by trying harder, you experience a quantum leap by trying differently. So I I actually sought out six people who had won championships that actually won multiple championships, not one. They'd won four or five, six championships. I took these people to dinner and I said, please tell me what I'm not doing. And they didn't tell me to work harder. They said, change your strategy. You need to do this. And they could see it's like literally within seconds. It didn't take a year, it took like seconds because they knew how to do it. They said, change your schedule, play better teams, you do this. And I went back and literally just made a couple small shifts and then and then started winning championships. And that's really what changed everything for me is I reached that point of humility, of being humble, hungry, and teachable. And I and I did what most people will never do in their lives. I actually sought out counsel and listened to that counsel and took that counsel, and I did exactly what they told me to do. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 10:43

That's because everybody needs a coach.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 10:48

There you go. So uh let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question about that. Uh you're mentioning this whole thing, and I see you're wearing your shirt with the prey drive on it. Um, you know, in in my my book, you know, I talk a lot about you know the nature of human beings and and the you know the animal instincts that we all possess and so forth. And uh your your concept on prey drive kind of fed right into you know everything that I talked about. Um did did you did you try to instill prey drive in in the players, or is that something that came later more on the business side? And also, give let us know what what your version of prey drive is.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Yeah, prey drive is uh is uh is prevalent in an animal. You know, you wrote the book Run with the Cheetahs many years ago. I wrote the book Zebras and Cheetahs. So that's probably why you and I have so such a kindred spirit. You know, the cheetah is one of the fastest animals in the animal kingdom, and if they don't go into the jungle to kill it, they the family don't eat. Right? And so so I actually was teaching prey drive. So prey drive is an animal's instinct to stalk, capture, and kill prey. I actually used a kind of a Voujat day concept with that. When I heard it, I trademarked those two words and I said, humans have a prey drive. It's their ability to see something and to pursue it with it, with an activation and an intensity and a persistence. And so it's kind of in there, but it has to be activated, right? And for millions of people, this is deactivated. Life knocks the shout out of them. They've lost their prey drive. Uh Collins in his new book calls it their fire. They they they've lost it. So, you know, I'm in the business of activating that. Now, I was activating it in the players. The players would come in. I have three kids, uh, you know, and and they would come in with some knowledge and some skill, some desire and some confidence, but they would have their head down and be nervous, and we would create and simulate all of these things to activate that drive inside of them. And the next thing you know, they would stand up straight and make eye contact and be confident. And there was transformation that takes place. And so there was always activation. I just didn't, I didn't know to call it that back in those days.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Now, one of you, one of your first books was Flip the Switch, right? And I mean, and Flip the Switch, I mean, I challenge, I challenge anybody to read that book and not come out of that ready to slay some dragons. I mean, you know, that that that gets you going.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yep. Well, that that particular book was my 18th book. And and um it was my first Wall Street Journal bestseller. And it is really a book about the psychology of activating that drive inside of people. Okay. And and so they would not let me, the publishers would not let me call the book Pre-Drive. Okay, and I was adamant that it had to be called Pre-Drive, and they fought me for eight months. And my agent was out of New York City, and he finally said, This is a game you're not gonna win. You've already signed a contract. Contract says they get to name the book, and he said, Well, let's let's compromise with them. And he said, What happens when the pre drive is activated? And I said, It's almost as if you flip a switch. Okay. And he goes, That's the title of the book, flip the switch.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I love it. And so in the morning when I wake up, I have been coaching people now for 37 years. I mean, I literally started at 15. It's all I've ever known, it's all I've ever done in my life. That doesn't mean I wake up motivated every day. I wake up with anxiety, just like you guys do. I wake up with uh frustration, I can catastrophize, I can go to Negative Town, I can say, I'm tired of doing this. I could, I could not want to go do, I got to go to North Carolina tomorrow speak. As much as I love it, I can go, man, I don't want to go be away from my kids. Um, there's all kinds of internal things that even top performers face. But the top performer does not listen to their feelings. Amateurs listen to their feelings. The top performer goes, boom, let's go. It's game time. I'm a pro. This is why they pay the big money, right? And so my point is most amateurs don't know how to flip the switch. And so the book really tackles how do you do that, but not just one time. So think of it this way: I say this in my morning messages. Inspiration sparks it. Motivation starts it, but discipline actually finishes it. And when you think about that, this pre-drive is really how do I do it every day, guys? How do I do it every day when I don't feel like it? How do I go into battle every day? How do I, how do I take what comes at me and go, boom, let's go. What's next? Okay, let's keep going. How do I, right? That's really what pre-drive actually is. And I think that's why the book is so important. I did read it on Audible under Pre-Drive. So the interesting thing is the publisher hired a guy to read the book, Flip the Switch, who didn't have any pre-drive. So many people complained, and they're like, who picked this guy to read your book? And I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm like, I I didn't, I didn't pick him. I didn't do it. It's part of a contract. They chose it. So I just said, forget it. I'll go into the studio, I'll rent my own studio time, and I'll do the book called Pre-Drive. And so I went back on Audible and called it Pre-Drive because I do own those two words.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

And let me say to everybody who's listening right now, and I'm sure you're already hooked on this incredible man, Coach Burt. In our show notes, I will have all the appropriate links. You'll be able to visit his books. You need to you need to subscribe to his YouTube channel. I'm gonna tell you what, I spent a couple hours there this week. There's not one video on his YouTube channel that you're not gonna finish and go, Oh, can I start now? I'm ready to go. Let's let's get this thing going. I mean, it's amazing content, coach. Amazing content. We'll put all of the notes in the show notes here for people. We'll get you connected with some of our listeners.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

Thank you. Yeah, and uh, and let me just we try to we try to give people you know some some actual action steps, things they can execute on and so forth. So on the subject of flip the switch, prey drive, and so forth, you know, for for let's just say we have some listeners that just really have never had that. Like they they they they feel like something's missing in their life, they want to do more, they think about it all the time, but really have not executed that that quantum leap uh that you mentioned earlier. Um what is there like you know a two-step, three-step, or some advice that you know that you could give of today um just to get somebody started in that right direction?

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yeah, you're you're exactly right. Actually, more people are, I'm gonna use the word um unaware of their potential on planet Earth than are actually aware of their potential. That is correct. I totally agree with that. And if I asked both of you guys, what turned you on to self-development? You're both very big in self-development. It's it permeates your life. And something happened in your life where you were exposed to something where you go, there could be a better way to do this. I have potential. So I think the number one activator is actually exposure. It's like the first time a person comes to the greatness factory and they're like, I've never been around anything like this. Guys, this was my wife. My wife had never read a self-help book at 30 years old. She'd never been to a seminar. If you guys have never heard the story, her company actually paid for her to come to one of my seminars. They that they told her she had some potential and the customers liked her. And of course, she was beautiful. And and uh, and and so, you know, they sent her, they paid 47 bucks for her to come to a workshop with me. And she said in the back, now remember, she wasn't my wife at this time. She was just a person paying money. And she said in the back and just took notes and she kept looking at me. And at the end, she came up and she said, You have coached me more in two hours than anybody has coached me in 30 years. Like, I now what do I need to do? I'm like, You need to read this book. This ain't no practice life. You need to get serious about your potential. We need to talk about your talents. Like, like at 30 years old, nobody had ever said to her, right? It was the manager who said, You have potential. Go to this guy's workshop. We're gonna pay for it. Get better because you really have some potential. She didn't even know that. She didn't know what to do. So that is how most Americans live their lives, guys. Until somebody says, Hey, you got to listen to this, you got to read this book, you gotta go to this workshop, you got to be open to this. So these are things that happen. This is how a person can do it. Now, specifically, what can you do daily? I woke up this morning and the first thing I listened to was a song called It's a Great Day to Be Alive. Okay, that's how I start my days. I listen to the songs, Great Day to Be Alive. I see, I see my kids and wife for a minute. I cold plunge in the morning, which wakes me up. While I'm cold plunging, I listen to something spiritual, typically a sermon. There's certain pastors I like to listen to in the morning. Uh Jimmy Evans is one of my favorites out of Texas. Uh while I'm cold plunging, I'm listening to the sermon. I come back in, I spend time with my kids, I eat breakfast, and I and I get going. And then it's typically some type of movement, right? So this morning I'm getting out and I'm walking and I'm on the phone and I'm messaging people. And so what I do is I have a routine that activates my pre-drive, right? Something physically, something mentally, something spiritually, something uh emotionally. And I go from deactivated to activated. Okay. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

Yep. Well, that's that's real strong. You know, the uh, you know, there's that old saying, you know, in order for in order for things to change, you need to change. But the reality of it is, is the way you just described it, in order for things to change, your actions need to change. Right. And uh so, you know, uh all those things, like if if people can get some type of new regiment going, and it could be something small, you know, just you know, maybe maybe you start going to the gym, you know, or maybe it's just a walk down the street every single morning, but something that launches a change, that gives that little spark of prey drive going, uh, can can really make a huge difference. And um, and I'm gonna, you know, emphasize this, um, kind of what you said about um, you know, earlier um getting out to, you know, um having those mentors get together, you know. Uh what launched all this for me was this guy over here, Russell Anderson. I was about, I don't know, 24, 25 years old. He calls me up and he says, Hey, I want you to go with me to to this uh you know speaking engagement. And, you know, and I like, you know, I when you're that age and you have no background, no experience, I didn't want to go. But um, just because you know Russell was somebody I uh respected at that time, I went. And and the gentleman was Zig Ziegler, yeah, right? Okay, it was the most embracing entrancement two hours I could ever imagine. And it completely changed my vision, my outlook, and it and I've never gone back. I mean, it's just like it launched me to a whole new thing. So getting out to some type of events. Um, and by the way, you know, in in the modern world, we didn't have this back then, but you know, you can jump right here, you know, on this little gadget. It and you can find local events, national events. And I'm also going to recommend, you know, right now, the Greatness Factory. There's events down there all the time. Coach Burt has events constantly going. He has some of the greatest people, you know, guest speakers and people that have uh tremendous backgrounds and self-development. So, you know, uh try try some new actions, get out to a couple events, and then make some decisions as to where you want to go.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Jerry, I'll tell you what, you know, uh, first off, amen to every bit of that. Amen to every bit of that. Coach, you know, I got I got I'm gonna throw this at you. You know, this was one of your videos I saw here in the past week that I'd love for you to jump in and comment on, and it was talking about complacency.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

You know, why we why we get complacent. Why why we start just settling? You know, I think I think there's an awful lot of people that find themselves in that spot. And what's going on with that?

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Complacency is a gradual settling to a place of mediocrity. Okay, and the word mediocre, the word mediocre means um to go halfway up the mountain. So when you when you when you think about the word mediocre, I always ask people when I'm doing speaking engagements. I said, uh, you know, when I put my kids in the car in the morning, I say something to each kid, right? And I tell my three-year-old daughter, you know, energy in motion. And she looks back at me and goes, energy in motion, energy in motion. And and my and my six-year-old son now said, Eli, you're gonna, you know, do something big today, son. And my 13-year-old daughter, who's a who's a who's a gymnast and and those things like Jerry's daughter is, you know, I go, I go, amateurs are never gonna make it today. We're gonna go pro today, right? And I never tell them to get in the car and and and I never say, go gradually settle to a place of mediocrity. And and um I ask I ask adults when I'm speaking around the world, I'm like, hey man, any of you, any of you tell your kids to go gradually settle to a place of mediocrity? Now, this is very important. When you study psychology, satisfied needs never motivate people. Only unsatisfied needs. Okay, so I'm sorry, coach. I cut you off. Please say that again. I apologize. Yeah, satisfied needs never motivate, only unsatisfied needs. So the reason we become complacent, especially in America, is because we got too much of everything, right? We got a good house, good car, a good life, a good family. We're all we're all good. And because we're good, we become lazy. Because we become lazy, we quit doing things we needed to to be successful, the things that made us successful. So we gradually settle to a place of mediocrity and we go, this is it. So think about this cycle. We sit, we settle, we cement, and then we accept. And we go, this is it, man. This is as good as life's gonna get. Success is out there, but it's not for me. And I'm telling you, America is um one of the greatest countries in the world. It may be the greatest country in the world, but it's also the most complacent, one of the most complacent countries in the world. And it just has to do with a personal decision. Now, Jerry said something a minute ago that I want to go back to about forming a habit because I've been doing kettlebell workouts. I got on this kettlebell kick and it's like I've I've started doing, no matter where I'm at, I do at least a 20-minute kettlebell workout because you can do a lot with a kettlebell, right? But if you just will stick with something and just do something and go, I'm doing it every day. I'm doing even if it's 15 minutes, I'm doing it every day. You will see results if you just pick something and stick with it. Now, in atomic habits, there was a gentleman in atomic habits that got up in the morning, got dressed, and went to the gym, but he only stayed for five minutes. And most people will make fun of him and go, Well, you can't change your body in five minutes. But the truth is, he was forming a habit of getting his butt up in the morning and driving to the gym. And you sure can't change anything if you don't even get your butt up and go do something. So, so he's actually forming a habit. Then he could stay eight minutes, then he could stay ten minutes, then he could stay 15 minutes, but but even 15 minutes would be better than nothing. Yes or no? So this is kind of the reason we become complacent, guys, is where our our needs are met. And then what happens is something happens where there's a thunderbolt in your life. Something unexpected happens. Okay, and you're and because you've not prepared, either there's a big opportunity that you miss, or or or or you're not prepared for a for for a cliff that happens in life that you're unexpected, or a fog that happens, or some business deal that don't work like it's supposed to. And then you start kicking yourself in the butt going, man, I didn't prepare like I should have. I didn't stack away like I should have. I'm not ready for something. And that's really what what wakes people up.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

Yeah, the red, the regimented disciplines that you just mentioned, the you know, one of the things that so, so important about that, if you can develop really significant regimented disciplines, that's the easiest way to conquer the issue of your mind over your emotions because it's automatic. It's like if you don't do it, you're you feel like there's a loss. And, you know, and when you do it every day, you got that win. And you know, those micro wins every day. And as I said, it could be something small, but the but doing it repetitively, day after day after day, you know, gets into that principle of accumulation where eventually it's automatic. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Coach, you know, I appreciate you talking about complacency, you know, because when when I see your videos and I've read a couple of your books, there are a couple of the topics that really stand out to me, and I appreciate you commenting on complacency. I got one more, and I want to talk about screw your why in a little bit. I got big questions about screw your why, but I want to before we get there, come on, we got to hear about from A to B.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

We gotta we gotta hear A to B. I mean, talk to us a little bit about A to B.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Uh, you know, from coaching so many people, I see patterns, and these are very successful people, okay? All the way to to people who are just getting started. And the pattern I always saw was confusion. And confusion is randomness in motion, okay? So confusion is I don't know what to do, I don't know which problem I should solve, I don't know what business I should be in. I don't know which I got all these talents, I got all these options. And so one day I just drew up on a board, hey, you're at A right now, okay? And this is your current position where you are in life. Now tell me everything you don't like about your current position. And people would tell me, these are things that bother me. The business is not structured, it's too dependent on me. I don't enjoy doing this anymore. Whatever it is, everybody's got bothers. And then I would just drew a straight line over to B and I said, if you woke up tomorrow and life was as close to perfect in your mind as it could be, what would B look like? And they would say, Well, I got a business that's cash flowing, I got exit potential, I only work three days a week, I have time freedom and money freedom. And I said, okay, between A and B is two things. Who can help you do this? Yep. Okay, and action. And they're and I so I just kept taking it deeper and deeper. Then I drew a line right down the middle. And I said, on this side of the line is thinking and stalling. And what Price Pritchett calls is where all the graveyard of broken dreams, where you think and you stall and you procrastinate, and you don't you can't get into action, and there's inertia. And over on this side is action and who. And there's two types of who's there's internal who's like I need a new sales director, I need somebody to work these leads, I need uh somebody, a business development person. Like then there's external who's, which are big strategic partnerships. Like I just partnered with Dr. Benjamin Hardy, who wrote Who Not How, Science of Scaling as our scaling partner. There's big who's out there. And so this exercise became so popular that I began doing it in every single coaching session. Because what I want today may be different than what I wanted yesterday. See, what's so funny is before we started the interview, look at what I was doing. I do it every freaking day. I love it. And I'll go, what do I want? And then I'll I'll read a book and I got, I mean, I have a new revelation. Man, where I'm going. So, so the challenge is what I call opportunity confusion. And that is, what do you, where are you aiming your skills at? And what do you want to do? And what kind of business or architecture, how do you architect a business that could scale, that could exit, that could give you cash flow, that could like like how do you do these things? And and man, people just say stuck for years if they don't. So we have all of our students do this exercise literally every day. I don't care if you do it on a napkin, I don't care if you do it on a piece of paper, I don't care if you carry around a book that I got at Target, you know, you don't have to go buy some fancy planner to do this. And and then you start putting buckets. If you notice here, there's buckets, and these buckets represent big opportunities. Something has to happen. Like I took a meeting with Price Preachett last week, and and the great psychologist, and he wanted me to be involved in certain things in his business. And and but something's got to happen for me to do that. There's a follow-up, there's a loop that's got to be closed, there's a deal that's got to be put together. So, so each bucket gives me big opportunities, and I gotta go, what's gotta happen in that that deal today? There's some there's some action I need to take to move toward the B-goal. So that's what A to B is. So it's also a book you can get at coachburt.com. It's 15 questions that really forces you to get clear.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Fantastic stuff. That's great stuff. Thank you so much for that. Well, okay. Well, here's the question. Here's my question of the day that takes us into your newest book. By the way, how many books do you have? 24.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

24.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

I'm behind. I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to get in on some of them. But I have the ones I have are just fantastic, so I'll get into that. So you've got a new book called Screw Your Why. Now, you know, I I don't know anything about this book, but I I I'm guessing I know where it's gonna go because Jerry actually believes in a very similar philosophy of he doesn't care why, he cares about how. Yeah, I mean so so I'm guessing that might be part of it. But you know, here's my question. You were a Covey disciple. Yep. I should say, I mean, you for years you were a Stephen Covey guy, and Covey's huge on purpose.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

I want to hear how you bridge that gap and then tell us about your new book.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Well, the book is really a book about purpose. I just think we get to purpose in a different way. Uh-huh. I don't think we sit and think and wait and think on what is our why and what is our purpose, and it actually becomes motivational procrastination. It's like I don't know my why, so I can't do anything. I actually think your why finds you. I don't think you find it. I think I didn't know I was going to be a basketball coach until I started coaching basketball. I didn't know at 25 years old I was going to speak and write books and try until I actually did it. I didn't know if I wanted to get in this business or that business until I did it. So the book really follows a formula and it's saying, I think, I think the question is wrong. Okay. And that's what that's one number, it's an easy thing to say. Like, what's your why? What's your why, Russell? What's your why, Jerry? And you go, oh man, I don't know. I'm I'm I don't know what it is. It's like, I think it's this or I think it's this. And so the book follows a formula. How do you, instead of finding your why, how do you find your skill? Nine out of ten people, there's a difference between a birthday gift that you were given at birth, that you were hardwired with, that you open, that you then refine and convert to an ability. You then take the ability and you refine it into a skill. That skill then solves a problem, okay? And I think it is the process of using your skill to solve a problem that you go, I think this is what I'm supposed to be doing on planet Earth. I think this is my purpose. So I like because goals better than I do finding your why. A because goal is a big reason to do something when you don't feel like it. I'm doing this because of this. I'm doing this because of this. Now, some people argue, is that not your why? I can know my purpose and be broke. I could know my purpose and be unmotivated. I could know my purpose and still struggle around the world trying to figure out what to do. So I just think it was a it was a social phenomenon. I think Cynic is a brilliant person. And I actually believe uh he's trying to write about purpose in his way, and I'm trying to write about purpose in my way, but I've actually coached people for 37 years. I have thousands and thousands of sample sizes, right? And I see what motivates people and what doesn't. And so that's kind of what the book is about. I went with the bold title because I think when you go to the bookstore, there's so many titles. And I I really did want to polarize people. I want some people to go, I gotta get that book. And I want some people go, I don't want to read that book.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Right. And so it it we'll we'll see how we'll see how it goes. Coach, is the book out now? It is out now. You can get it. There's two ways you can get the book. You can get it on Amazon in both hardback or or softback. You can also get it at coachburt.com. Now, the benefit of getting it at coachburt.com is you get a second book called The Specialist Effect, which is a companion book. And on June 17th, I'm going to be doing a two-hour breakdown, whiteboard breakdown from the Greatness Factory for all the people who purchase it through my website.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

You know, this this whole thing on the know your why thing is it's old, this is something that's bothered me for 20 years, and because there's so much out there about, you know, that that's the answer to figuring out your life, right? And the but really young people have no idea what their why is. And and your why changes with the seasons of your life. Yes, there's different chapters, right? So then it changes. But the but I agree with what you just said a minute ago. The why is almost the result uh of what the action is. Yeah. And and and you and you learn to do it. I mean, one of my favorite lines is uh, you know, work without purpose so you're ready for the moment. Yeah, right. You might not know what your why is, but do the work anyways, right? Because something good is coming if you're executing in an action and building something. Um and and one more thing about this topic is uh, you know, when you talk about the skill set, you know, what another one of my favorites uh was something Mark Cuban uh said years ago was you know, people should not focus on their passion. They should focus on what they're good at. You know, what is your primary skill that is going to take you somewhere? Because when you focus on what you're good at, that immediately correlates. When something's fairly easy for you naturally, and it's in your genetic makeup, you you naturally build confidence, right? And and and things are easier for you in that skill set than other people, just like they have skills that are almost impossible for you to do. So if you go that path and and you just work on execution, and and I'm also a big fan of what do I want, right? You know, when you're young, what do you want, right? You know, I want the hot girl, I want the Lambeau, you know, right? Okay, there's nothing wrong with that. People people say, you know, as long as you're driving towards something, that pre-drive thing, it's just a phase to get to the next one, and to the next one, and to the next one. So, you know, the the the whys come later. Like, you know, uh I can tell you right now, you know, I'm 66 years old. My why now is completely different than it was five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. It just constantly changes.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Well, you know, we've talked, Jerry, you and I have talked about purpose a lot. And um I I'll just I'll restate something I'd said in a previous podcast. Uh, coach, uh at my church, we did a study on 40 days of purpose. I think that was Pastor Rick Warren's book, I believe. I hope I'm saying that right. Yep. And and we did a, I think it was like an eight-week program on this thing. And I mean, it was uh in a small group, by the way, which was fantastic. And it was a fabulous session. I mean, we uh it was great. I don't regret one minute of it, but at the end of that, I certainly did not come out with my purpose. You know, I I it was a great session. I learned a lot, I had a good time, it was good study, but I certainly didn't come out with my purpose. Now, I will tell you though, that one of my buddies came out of that program, this is true, and founded a Christian music festival that went wild for about five to ten years. And he eventually let it rest, but he came out of that program saying, This is what I gotta do. So it was very motivating. It was very motivating, and and for some more so than others. And again, it was great for me. It just didn't tell me what it didn't lead me to my purpose. So I'm loving everything you all are both saying about purpose and and want to and and and and how.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

Well, here's a point to think about. When Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Life, it was selling a million copies a month.

unknown 39:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Okay. Outside of the Bible, it is one of the all-time best-selling books ever. And it was called the Purpose-Driven Life. Okay. And so I do think people, if you the studies show that 88% of people live their entire lives and never locate their purpose. Yeah. Okay. But I actually think it's because they've never located their skills. And if they located their skills and solved problems, I think they would find uh I call them purpose tokens in the book. I don't think it's like, like, like I don't think I think if Jerry goes and does something and he goes, it has a little purpose token. Like it felt good. It doesn't, it doesn't stay with him forever. It just is a little hit of purpose. It's like that was good. That was a good thing. I feel a sense of purpose. So I call them purpose tokens when you use your skill to solve problems in the book that you get a little purpose token.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

Wow. Yep. And that also correlates financially to your saying about solving problems. When problems are solved, money changes hands. Right. That's one of my one of my favorites years.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

Yeah. And the bigger the problem, the more money people pay to solve the problem. And which is why we have to know the skills that we have. And then we can point the skills toward the right problem. And I actually think a lot of people optimize toward the wrong problem. And I think they figure this out later in life that they've spent years of their life optimizing toward the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

What does that mean? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 40:42

They've escalated commitment to the wrong goal. Okay. So psychologists call it escalation of commitment. So this is why choosing the vehicle that you go into is very important to this equation. Okay. So so because you do, if you go the wrong vehicle for 30 years, then you got a business that you can't exit or doesn't have a lot of value, or you've solved a problem that is not as big a big enough problem that you could have financially been rewarded for it. So to me, the vehicle is the is the problem and the business you choose to use. And very few people talk about this. Like how to choose the right problem. So when Benjamin Hardy was at the Greatness Factory last month and he and he's got a new program called The Science of Scaling, Scaling.com. You know, I ask him why did, of all the things he could do, why did he choose this problem?

unknown 41:32

Right?

SPEAKER_00 41:32

Why did he choose this? Well, there's 38 million small businesses in the United States. Only four to seven percent of ever make a million dollars. They don't know how to scale a company. He wants to get 5,000 people in that program paying $24,000 a year, and he's got one big promise. Um uh we want to 10x your business in three years or less. Okay, now, but when I say, why did you build a coaching program? He said, I don't want to build a coaching program. It's actually a research and strategy program. It's a research and strategy company that does case studies and then helps entrepreneurs scale their businesses 10x in three years. Okay, so the way he's he's chosen a problem, he's chosen a vehicle, a research and strategic company. And if and if at 5,000 people paying 24 grand a year, I mean, that's a hundred million of recurring revenue. You follow me? So, and it's not, see, I chose a coaching company. If I had to go back and do it again, I probably wouldn't have chosen, if if I didn't choose a coaching company at 31 years old, guys, I would have probably already had a $100 million exit. If I would have chosen insurance company, if I would have chosen another company with my skill set, I would have probably already had a huge exit if I would have chosen a different vehicle 25 years ago. Okay. Now I'm coming back at almost 50 going, okay, what do I do with this vehicle? How do I use it? How do I tweak it? How do I strategically pivot? Maybe the next 10 years I spent optimizing or architecting a different vehicle that could grow and scale and exit at a high multiple. And I and I still got time to do that, but now I'm just kind of wising up to those things at 50 that I should that nobody talked to me about at 30.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Coach, you're a very young man. You're a very young man with a lot of time and a lot of future and a lot of potential ahead of you. You just keep working on it, okay?

SPEAKER_00 43:23

I'm gonna keep working it, man. One of these days I'm gonna get it.

SPEAKER_02 43:26

Uh Jerry, you got any you got any questions for Coach? You're just dying to hear?

SPEAKER_03 43:31

No, I mean, I think I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

Well, coach, let me say, I uh do you have anything you'd like to share before we wrap things up here? Do you have anything more you'd like to share with my our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 43:43

I think where I am today, I would really think about don't optimize toward the wrong goal. Get the book, screw your why, do some deep work on your skills, choose a problem that you could be fascinated and motivated by, and put it into the right vehicle that you can grow. Scale and potentially exit at some point. To me, that advice of I had one conversation with a guy yesterday who's a college professor. He keeps wanting to sell a coaching program. And I said, No, man. What you want to do is build something. You want to build, you want to architect something. You want to sell intellectual property. You want to build a platform. You don't just want to go out there and keep trading your time and energy for money. You've been doing that for 30 years as a college professor. So that one conversation with him got him going, you know what? Nobody said that to me. Yeah. See, he was escalating commitment to the wrong thing. And I could say, don't do that. There's another, there's a better way to do this. Okay. And so sometimes people just need to think, what am I optimizing? What am I escalating commitment to? And is it the right target that I need to be moving toward? Okay. If you study a guy like Cardone, he says, I could never build a billion-dollar coaching company, but I could build a billion-dollar real estate company. So, so when he figured that out 30 years ago, to his credit, he started taking the money from the coaching and buying apartment complexes. Now that's a billion-dollar company today because something told him this vehicle over here is not going to get me to my goals. This one can, but he had enough sense to do it 30 years ago. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

That's fantastic, actually. And I know Jerry, I know you follow Grant. I I don't know that story. So that is a fabulous example.

SPEAKER_03 45:22

Yep. Yeah. And no, and we actually at my last company, this is a long time ago. We we were using um Cartoon University, his sales training program, when he was just getting launched. You know, and uh, you know, we we we I I believe when we first started, we were actually almost in direct contact with him and so forth there. That's how that's how small it was. And now he's I I'm not sure if he's he reached billionaire status, I think, right?

SPEAKER_00 45:51

I think he has. He's doing about seven million of uh in various companies, but yeah, I'm sure he's he's got more than a million. Yep. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

Ladies and gentlemen, again, everything that I can possibly link you to to Coach Burt will be in our show notes. And I will encourage you to get in there and get some of this goodness because you're not gonna spend two minutes listening to his stuff that's not gonna help you catapult up to the next level. That's how good his material is. He's an amazing individual. Coach, I can't thank you enough for your time today for joining us. Jerry and I are both huge, huge fans of yours. I look forward to getting back down to Nashville. You know, it doesn't take much to get me to Nashville. I'm a big music fan, so it's pretty easy to get me. And I've got friends down there too, so I can't wait for my next visit to the Greatness Factory. And I believe you're looking to expand that program as well. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Yeah, we've already got the second one that's in motion in Cool Springs, uh, Tennessee. So I'm excited. I designed that one a little bit differently than the first one. And uh, you know, we're gonna give it a shot, man. I think these are deal flow factories. I think they're financial ecosystems, I think they're I think they're places for an uh exchange with some of the best people in the world. I mean, just look at who's been there in the first year. I mean, you you you name it almost every major influencer I know has been through the greatness factor in the first two years. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:14

And so I mean, I I I I personally have seen Renee Rodriguez down there, uh, you know, the guy that wrote to Amplify Your Influence. I mean, super, super uh uh speaker. And um, I think Brad Lee has been there, you know, one of the biggest podcasts in the country. Yeah, there have been some big time, and of course, Price Pritchett. Yeah, one of my favorites, right?

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Well, I think you know, having that place, you it's hard to, my accountant is always asking me, you know, what do you think about this? You know, is it and I'm like, I the only thing I know to tell you is it's it gives me tremendous brand awareness. I was messaging with Rory Vane this morning. Rory's coming off launching 25 back-to-back New York Times bestsellers. He's probably going to be our guest for Whiskey and Wisdom in August that I think people would be fascinated by. How is he launching these New York Times bestsellers like he is? So, you know, those are the kind of people we attract every single month at the Greatness Factory. So you guys should come down and visit and spend some time with us.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

I can't wait to get back. Can't wait to get back down there. Coach, thank you so much for your time, your wisdom, your experience, your expertise, your message. Thank you so very, very much for every bit of it. Jerry, I tell you what, you know what? You introduced me to this man a couple years ago. I'm so thankful that you took me down to the Greatness Factory. And uh, folks, again, all the right links are going to be in our show notes. You need to connect with this man, subscribe to his YouTube channel, buy his books, and uh don't forget about this one either. This is a darn good book that should be on everybody's bookshelf. All right, listen, I want to thank you for listening. Please give us a like, please give us a share, share this with anybody that you think would benefit from this information, and that's probably just about everybody you know. So listen, until next time, we thank you so much for joining us here at the podcast of Running with the Cheetahs, your guide to an extraordinary life. Thank you, gentlemen. Really appreciate it. Goodbye now.