“It doesn't matter where we are today. What matters is the decisions we make right now to make a better tomorrow.” –Justin Schenk
We often get caught up in others successes and end up forgetting who we are and what we set out to become. Sometimes we think that because others are successful at being themselves, we should mimic that. True success comes from us being our best selves. Today’s episode is the story of a man whose definition of success may not be what you have in mind but certainly, what you want to have. Justin and Shirley talk about how important failure and being YOU, is to building success. It’s a conversation you won’t soon forget!
Highlights:
01:59 Something Fun to Do Turns Into A Big Journey
09:11 Don’t Apologize For Who You Are
13:34 You Already Have It, You Just Don’t Realize It
20:56 Self-Serving and Unconditional Giving
26:00 3 Success Creators
31:49 The Why’s in a Positive Light
35:04 How to Truly Impact Other People
36:01 You Are Where You’re Supposed to Be
Resources:
Podcast
Tweet:
If you feel conflicted between your path and your goal. @SfbaldwinOwens and @JustinSchenk talk about how to create a growth movement NOW. #growth #success #authenticself #unconditional-giving #serveyourself #NOW #happiness
Quotes:
“We have to overcome something in order to teach others to overcome something.” –Shirley Owens
“It's okay that everything is not perfect right now.” –Justin Schenk
“Everything just goes the way it's supposed to go and has nothing to do with what you thought in the beginning.” –Shirley Owens
“It's not about the big victories; it's just about enjoying right now and realizing the successes that we already had, no matter how big or small they are.” –Justin Schenk
“Happiness is … summed up in a word, which is growth.” –Justin Schenk
“Happiness is really just loving the journey, loving the moment. And if you can do that, you win every single day.” –Justin Schenk
“‘Happy’ is like a baseline; you choose that, you choose that every single day.” –Shirley Owens
“If people can look back at their life and realize those terrible moments are going to give you an opportunity to change the world, embrace it.” –Justin Schenk
“It doesn't matter where we are today. What matters is the decisions we make right now to make a better tomorrow.” –Justin Schenk
“Wherever you are right now, that is where you're supposed to be.” –Justin Schenk
Connect with justin:
Justin Schenck is on a mission to teach the world that it isn’t about where you come from, it’s about the decisions you make today to catapult yourself to who you want to become. Justin has been named a Top 8 Podcaster to watch in 2018 by INC.com and chosen as an ‘Icon of Influence’ in the new media space. What started out as a way to connect with top people and inspire others has become a way of life. Now getting played in over 100 countries every single week he is able to make a greater impact than he could ever imagine. He not only speaks to organizations on how to overcome adversity and utilize podcasting to grow your business but he helps others launch and grow their own podcasts with www.beginpodcastingnow.com. His vision? To teach the world how to live happy no matter where they are today. “It’s about the journey not the destination.”
Transcriptions
Shirley Owens: My guest today is Justin Schenck. Justin is the host of the top-rated podcast the Growth Now Movement and founder of Growth Now, LLC which is a full-service podcast production and coaching company. He has been named a Top 8 Podcaster to follow by INC Magazine and chosen as an "Icon of Influence" in the new media space. What started out as something fun to do in order to connect with top influencers and help one or two people along their journey has grown to become a podcast that is currently getting played in over 100 countries every single week and ranked in the top 15% in the world. Justin now works with some of the worlds elite entrepreneurs and business owners like Ed Mylett, Fabio Viviani, and Cindy Eckert. He is also the host and creator of one of the most exciting live events for entrepreneurs and forward thinkers: Growth Now Movement LIVE. Wow. Welcome Justin, I'm super excited to have you today.
Justin Schenck: Shirley, thank you so much. I am excited to have this conversation and my bio is a mouthful, holy crap. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm excited to chat and get to know you more and hopefully share one or two things that connects with your audience.
Shirley Owens: I love that. Thank you so much. I really want to start out with you telling us the journey of how it started from something fun to do because that sparked my interest, and I'm interested in how that went from something fun to do to who you are now, and what you do now.
Justin Schenck: Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously, I started podcasting about three and a half years ago. And when I first started it was supposed to be an entrepreneurial podcast where I could connect and learn with successful entrepreneurs so I can learn how to grow a business. And at the time I was working on medical sales and I was doing well financially, you know, with an organization. And I wasn't necessarily trying to escape that, I just wasn't fulfilled. And so I wanted, I knew I wanted to kind of get into entrepreneurship and live my own life, but I wasn't 100% sure, exactly how to execute in such a high way. So, I started out and I was like, Hey, cool. Like the end of the day I can connect with really cool people and even if it leads nowhere, at least I had a great conversation. And hopefully along the way, you know, we help one or two people. And so from there it kind of became a big journey, I mean, we can get super personal here. So five months before I launched the podcast, I was actually up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts with my then co-hosts, when I started I had a co-hosts on the show and that's a whole nother thing. And when we were recording like the intro, we were kind of brain mapping the whole entire plan out on how are we going to do this podcast? What do we have to do? How do we get the guests who do want to interview all that fun stuff that you think about as you know now as a podcaster. You know, I got that phone call that nobody ever wants to hear and it was my sister calling me and she was saying: "The doctor says, you need to come." And I had to take a 700 hour drive back down to South Jersey, which is where I'm originally from because my mom got admitted to the hospital. And when I got there, she was intubated in a coma, and that was the end of her life.
Shirley Owens: Oh, no.
Justin Schenck: And it was in that moment that I realized that it's not about business, it's not about money, it's not about things, it's about impact, it's about happiness, it's about, you know, living your best life every single day, no matter how you define that. And so if you go early on into the beginning of our podcast, you'll notice that I talk a lot about overcoming adversity, and self love, and all these things that are important to your happiness, and my co-host was talking about business. So there was really kind of that mixed signal when we first started of how, where the show was supposed to be originally, and where my personal life's journey took me because part of the story that I didn't share, because we only started at three, you know, three and a half years ago. But part of the journey that I didn't share is that my mom battled opioids for 20 years, and that's what ended up taking her life at the end of the day. And so growing up it was all signs pointed to you've got no shot kid. And where I find myself today is pretty amazing. And it was really about finding my true purpose, and then following that path and living in alignment, and making sure that everything was good with my soul. And the rest kind of followed, and I'm sure we'll break down the last three and a half year journey from there of how we got to where I am now. But that's kind of what got me to the podcast launch point. And from there it's really been a crazy ride.
Shirley Owens: Wow. Yeah. I feel like a lot of us start that way. We have to overcome something in order to teach others to overcome something, right?
“We have to overcome something in order to teach others to overcome something.” –Shirley Owens
Justin Schenck: For sure. Yeah. You know, I mean, for me it was, I mean, honestly in the beginning, part of this podcast journey was for me, about me unlocking my own journey. For me, trying to figure out how I can grow. Obviously the podcast is called the Growth Now Movement and we focus on personal and professional growth. But really for me it was like, how do I truly find happiness when things aren't always great around me? And so the beginning half of the podcast, it's really a journey of me asking questions for me. And it was about growth now for me, you know, and then obviously fast forward three years into the show when I had my first live event, that's the movement, that's the, Hey, let's get people in a room that are ready to live their best life and learn from some of the most amazing people, that's where they kind of the movement part came in. But really, I started, I originally was planning to start it for business and then it really became, I need to start this for myself, for me to learn that it's okay that everything is not perfect right now. So it's just kinda crazy.
“It's okay that everything is not perfect right now.” –Justin Schenk
Shirley Owens: Yeah, that's for sure how it starts out, right? Trying to figure out how to do this perfectly and then realizing that every show, every person, everything just goes the way it's supposed to go and not as nothing to do with what you thought in the beginning.
“Everything just goes the way it's supposed to go and has nothing to do with what you thought in the beginning.” –Shirley Owens
Justin Schenck: Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's so crazy. And like I said, I had a co-host for the, it was actually the first 62 episodes that I had a co-host, and after that I asked him to take a step back because the show was not doing much at all, maybe 150, 200 downloads episode. And I asked him to take a step back, and I kind of relaunched same name, Growth Now Movement, but just as myself. And then everything started to align, and then my audience started to grow because the messaging made sense, right?
Shirley Owens: Right.
Justin Schenck: And then after a couple of months of that Inc. Magazine listed me as a topic of podcast every entrepreneur should follow and then the life kind of really took off. And then over time of business organically grew from it and I started a podcast coaching, and consulting business, and production company and then it's kind of, it spawn from there. I now speak all over the country, I have my own live event, I'm now doing business coaching and mentorship. So it's really been a wild ride, but it was really, I mean, the biggest thing that anybody can kind of take from my story, at least this part of my life, is that you have to do what feels good. So often we look at somebody else, like a Gary Vaynerchuk, or a Lewis Howes, or a Joe Rogan, and we say, I want to be just like that. But you're not that, there's only one Gary V, there's only one Tony Robbins, there's only one Justin Schenck, there's only one Shirley Baldwin Owens. It's about being true to who you are and following whatever it feels good in that moment. And it's about that 1% growth every single day and continuously getting better. And not to worry about the outside noise of people saying you need to be this, or you need to do that, if that makes any sense.
Shirley Owens: Oh, wow, so perfect. In fact, one of my favorite things that Gary V. talks about, and you know, I've heard of so many different things they talked about so great, but he always says: "It doesn't always start from where you see people." Like you said, you know, we want to be like him, we want to be like them. And he always says: "Well, where did they start? How many failures did they have? What did they have to go through to get to this point?" And I love that. I love realizing that, you know, we all fail, and I listened to your podcasts on failure and, you know, we all fail and failure is a blessing and it really does help us to get to a point when we can learn from it. So if you can always say like, what did I need to learn from this so that I don't go through that again, or whatever, then that is such a great thing. And I think about like what would it be like if everyone could step into their own alignment, their own integrity, and do what really feels good to them. Then I love that you're talking about this and what you're going to teach all of us about this because it aligns with me, it's what I try to do every day. It's just to kind of keep in integrity with myself. It's really hard because there is a lot of noise coming from the outside.
Justin Schenck: Constant, right?
Shirley Owens: All the time.
Justin Schenck: And it was social media, and back in the day they said: "Oh, cause of the news." But now it's social media, podcasts, and Instagram, and Facebook, and all these things that are constantly telling you what your life should be, but guess what? That's a highlight reel.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. And it's someone's opinion just like mine, or yours, you know, we find people that we align with, or that we resonate with and then we just grab on to everything that they say instead of taking from this person putting in our backpack, taking from that person putting our backpack, and you know, learning as we go and then realizing that everything that we need is really inside of us.
Justin Schenck: Yeah, that's it. And a 100% being, or I think that when we can figure out how to about a 100% be ourselves, everything changes, right? So I obviously, my podcast now gets put in a hundred countries every single week, and you know, tens of thousands of downloads every episode, and it's kinda this crazy thing. And I brought on a new client recently, and it was our first call and she was like: "Oh my gosh, I'm kind of starstruck right now." Like she stopped me in the middle of the sentence and I literally went: "Give me about three phone calls. All of that will go away real quick." And it's just about, because I'm just myself, I'm 100% myself and I think no matter if you are a client of mine or you are somebody I admire, I'm always myself. And I think people have a really hard time doing that. I know I used to have a really hard time doing that, but it's the vulnerability, and you know, truly being authentically yourself, that's when the magic happens, I imagine you talk a lot about that too.
Shirley Owens: I do, I do. That's what it's all about, right? Relationship with ourselves before we can have relationships with others, and I felt a little starstruck too when you said yes to me.
Justin Schenck: Well thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Shirley Owens: So, okay, well I wanted to ask you, what was the point when you knew that you weren't in alignment with yourself, and in order to get what you want, or you know, be what you felt you wanted to be for you? What was the relationship that you had to create with yourself in order to have that?
Justin Schenck: Wow, it's a really good question. You know, I think for me, there wasn't like a moment of, Oh, I'm not being authentically myself. I think that there was a progression, right? You know, and I'll go way back actually, so part of my story as well is my dad spent some time in jail. And when I was 19 years old, my dad was in jail, and I was dating this girl like the first love, like, Oh my gosh, this is my first love, this is a girl I'm gonna marry, you know how that is when you're that young? And so I was out to dinner with her and her family and her mom goes: "You know Justin, you talk a lot about your mom, but what about your dad?" And I go, well, and I was like, this is it, like I'm going to just be 100% honest. I used to kind of hide it and cover it up. And I looked this girl's mom in the face and I said: "You know, for me to see my dad, I can only see him during visiting hours."
Shirley Owens: Wow.
Justin Schenck: And the girl that I was dating at the time grabbed my leg under the table. And in that moment I knew that that relationship was over.
Shirley Owens: Right.
Justin Schenck: But this great weight was lifted off of my shoulders. And that was when I realized I'm just going to be myself because that felt so damn good. Although it ended a relationship that was a year plus long, it felt so good to finally be like, this is my life's journey and I'm not going to apologize for it. I used to be ashamed of something I didn't even do. Like it's amazing the weight that we carry around when we don't even need to be carrying it.
Shirley Owens: Oh my gosh, yes.
Justin Schenck: And so when I was 19 and I said that out loud, I think that was the beginning of the journey. And then it took me another 10 years with therapy, and mentors, and great people to break down the walls that I had put up because of what I went through. So there was, yes, that defining moment because I caught the feeling of, wow, that feels really freaking good. But then there was a journey of 10 plus years of me trying to figure out how to now just be okay with everything, how to fully accept me no matter where I am in life and just kind of move forward from there. So yeah, I mean, an amazing question that I don't necessarily have a completely defined answer for it, but I think it started when I was 19 in that moment.
Shirley Owens: Actually, that was the answer I was looking for. I feel like a lot of our listeners, and a lot of people feel that because they haven't had just some aha moment that they hear about people having that change of life that they can't change, or they can't see the end of it. And I feel like when we can look at it as a journey, everything's a journey. You know, I wrote my book and I remember when I was some of my book thinking, Oh, I should have put that in, or now I have a different feeling about this. And I had to realize that it's okay, it's okay to continue to grow, and to continue to progress and in fact that's what we want. And so I think that it doesn't have to be one giant aha moment, but like you say, just the feeling that resonates in your soul and you're like, Whoa, wait, I like that, give me more of that.
Justin Schenck: Yeah. And you have to pay attention to it, you know? And I think too, like I think we're all on a journey no matter what. And I just recently spoke at an event in Orlando and I talked about what success kind of feels like. And I had these two photos that kind of portrayed it, but I'll break it down in a different way cause I can't show photos on your podcast. But I realize with what I'm building now, right? My nephews and nieces think I'm famous. And for me, I'm like, that's kind of crazy because I just feel like the dude that lives in Reading, Pennsylvania, still trying to figure stuff out. But obviously, when I look back at the growth, and you know, the fact that I get stopped in airports and other places, and people are like, I love your podcast, I guess there is a level of fame, but we don't realize it because we're just living in the moment. Like Tony Robbins feels different when he's on stage versus when he's just at home with his wife. Like it's about living in the moment, you don't realize the success you're feeling right now. And so anybody listening who are like, well, I haven't created the success of that, the success yet, I haven't created the life that I want yet. I want you to think about where you were a year or two years ago, and then think about where you're at now, and just enjoy where you are at now because of the end of this thing, we're all chasing the same thing and that's death.
Shirley Owens: Right.
Justin Schenck: That is the only guarantee in all of our lives. And I promise you that if you're chasing a million dollars, and you finally get it, you're gonna go, okay, how do I get 10? You're not even gonna realize the fact that you chase that million dollars for so long. Like think about what you've built now. So when I think about my life, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a businessman who wore suits and flew all over the country. And I did that and I hated it, right? And then I was like, well, now I just want to, I want to wear what I want to wear every single day. And so, I then chased that and then I did that and I was like, well, I'm not fully fulfilled yet. And so, we can set these goals out for ourselves and we reached them and we're not fulfilled. We have to figure out how we can just enjoy every single moment, it's not about the big victories, it's just about enjoying right now and realizing the successes that we've already had, no matter how big or small they are.
“It's not about the big victories; it's just about enjoying right now and realizing the successes that we already had, no matter how big or small they are.” –Justin Schenk
Shirley Owens: Yeah, I totally agree. I hear so much when I'm working with couples and individuals, but when I get this I'll be happy, and when this happens I'll be happy, and when this happens I'll be happy, and I hear that so much and I try to pull out of them like what is keeping you from being happy now? Because when you're happy now, when you feel that happy every single day, you're not looking for that, you're not looking for the next thing. So then when the next thing comes, which it comes organically because we're happy, we're able to be ourselves, and we're creating things without even, you know, forcing anything. Then when that comes, it just, it's not that it brings more happiness, but I think it brings more fulfillment and then it fuels us to continue to be happy, and to continue to build more. But I agree, I think happiness, it really does, you hear that all the time, like it comes from within. What does that even mean? Like happiness comes from within, you know? And what's your take on that?
“Happiness is really just loving the journey, loving the moment. And if you can do that, you win every single day.” –Justin Schenk
Justin Schenck: Yeah. You know, I think for me, happiness for me actually is summed up in a word, which is growth. And I think everybody has a different word, right? Mine is just happens to be growth, and I realized when I focused on that, there's happiness every morning because it's no longer that end goal. It's no longer me chasing that picture that I thought I wanted. It was about waking up every single day and just realizing I just have to be 1% better today than I was yesterday, and I'm happy with that. And yes, there are days where I don't necessarily meet those goals. There are days at the end of the day where I feel a little bit down because I didn't accomplish those things. But that's different than happiness. Me being a little bit down at the end of the day because I didn't do something, or I had an extra slice of pizza instead of trying to lose weight that I want to lose, or whatever. Happiness can happen all the time. And so for me, it's just focused on growth and that simple 1%. So one question I ask everybody on my show is like, you know, what is your one word? Like what is the thing you're chasing? So if people are listening now, think to themselves like what is the thing right now that I can fully create and have a 100% control over? And then focus on that. And if you can focus on that every single day, I feel like happiness just happens automatically, right? I just recently had a conversation with somebody about happiness and all these feelings, and this person said to me: "You know, you have every right to be angry as you do happy." And it was like this eye opening moment for me to realize that my whole entire life, I thought that happiness was joy. That jumping up and down, ecstatic for life, and like Disney world, right? Every single day. But the truth is happiness is really just loving the journey, loving the moment. And if you can do that, you win every single day.
“Happiness is … summed up in a word, which is growth.” –Justin Schenk
Shirley Owens: Yeah. It's funny, I was having this conversation with one of my younger daughters yesterday and we were talking about, you know, she was asking like how I am happy all the time, and I was telling her like: "Happy is like a baseline. You choose that, you choose that every single day." And I was having her sit in what she was feeling right then, which wasn't, didn't feel like happiness, you know, and then to create something in her mind that just seemed really happy, and like measure those feelings. Which one feels better than the other? And you know, you talk about how you had that feeling that was just felt so good, and I tried to always have a baseline. I would say I'm a happy person baseline, but yeah, you have bad days, we do get angry sometimes, we get frustrated, we get overwhelmed. You know, we have all these other emotions that are attached to maybe the day, they're like situational emotions. But when you have a baseline of happy, it helps you to deal with all of those emotions better.
“‘Happy’ is like a baseline; you choose that, you choose that every single day.” –Shirley Owens
Justin Schenck: Yeah. And I mean when you give yourself permission to feel those other emotions as well, like you said, you had your daughter sit and how she was feeling, most people try and escape that. And when you try and escape those feelings instead of just sitting in them and feeling them, they hang on a lot longer because your body, and your soul, and your energy wants you to feel that in that moment, and that's okay. So you have to be able to give yourself permission to feel that.
Shirley Owens: Yeah, I love that. I love it. So tell me about what other relationships, obviously this is a relationship show, and I love when we bring business into relationships because I was a business consultant for a lot of years and I realized that everything in business had to do with relationships. Relationships with their employer, employee, relationships with your clients, relationships at home, just relationships with yourself, so we talked a little bit that relationship with ourselves. How has that helped you to form other relationships that have worked for you that are part of this movement?
Justin Schenck: Yeah, that's a phenomenal question. You know, somebody had asked me a question one time and they said: "Out of all the people that you interview, what's the common thread?" And I had never thought about that before. And in that moment I kinda took a couple of minutes to think about it and I realized that, you know, in every single interview that I do, I ask one question, I say: "What's your definition of success? And what are three things you do every single day to ensure that success?" And obviously the first part of that, all the answers were different, everybody views success differently. But the three things they do every single day, we're all self-serving.
Shirley Owens: Interesting.
Justin Schenck: It was an eye opener for me because I've always been a giver, right? I always wanted to give, I always wanted to help, and I give to the point where I was exhausted, and depleted, and depressed. So when I started to learn these high-performers that I was interviewing, that's what they were doing, they were serving themselves first. And you know, I kind of came to the realization that whatever is in my cup is for me, whatever overflows is for everybody else. So to get back around to your question--
Shirley Owens: I like that.
Justin Schenck: Yeah, I mean it's amazing, right? It's the perfect way to look at it. But to get back to the question of how did that start serving other relationships? I realized that I have to give unconditionally without expecting anything in return to myself. So I have to do that to every single person that I come in contact with. So I ended almost every single conversation with: "Hey, let me know if I could ever help you." Or "Hey, how can I help you?" Depending on who I'm talking with. And I mean it, like I expected them to reach out and ask me for help or something. And if I can help, great. And I want to give unconditionally. And when I gave unconditionally to other people, just like I began to give unconditionally to myself, that's when relationships started to form. So when we talk about some of my friends and my clients that I have, I look at my phone sometimes and I go, this is ridiculous. Like the people that are in my phone, they have no right being in my phone, but they're there. And it's because I said: "Hey, let me help. What can I help you with?" And yeah, there are certain people like Ed Millet for example, if you're not familiar, he's amazing, I highly recommend you checking out his podcast. The guy's worth half a billion dollars. And so most people will go, I've got nothing to give him. But I thought, what do I have in my bag? What are the tools in my bag that I can give? And I was able to find some things and help them out with some things, and now he's a guy that I can literally reach out to and ask him for advice on anything, and I'd get a response. I didn't expect that in return, I gave unconditionally, but when I did that, the relationships really start to form. Now if you want to talk about love, same thing in love. With relationships, I always used to say, I love you with a girl that I was dating so I could hear it back. It was never actually about giving it, just to give unconditionally. I think so much in our love relationships, we expect what we're giving instead of just giving. And when I took that approach in a relationship now, but when I took that approach into these newer relationships that I've had, including love, it's completely flipped the script. There's no expectations from the other person, it's just about giving. And then if I'm continuously feeling fulfilled by doing that, or you know, obviously at the end of the day you feel the love back, cool. If there's no hurt or pain in the relationship and I'm giving unconditionally, I will win every single day. And that's a business partnership, that's a friendship, and that is a love relationship. And that to me is the key to success in anything, just giving unconditionally.
Shirley Owens: This is literally my most favorite subject of all things. And I think there's a few key things that you said that just like hit me and that is, I have always been a giver and a lover, and they're my favorite thing to do. And yes, there have been many times in my life where I've been taken advantage because of that. But when people like, you know, you hear people say, you know, make sure you take care of yourself, I hear you saying that, take care of yourself, you know, fill your cup first. But I think that sometimes people don't realize that part of, at least for me, and it sounds like for you is that, part of filling our cup is giving and loving.
Justin Schenck: Yes.
Shirley Owens: And for me, I really had to stop one day and say: "You know what? I'm not going to try not to do that, or be that person because that is truly who I am." And I'm just going to tell everybody that asks, or not tell them, but know for sure that is part of what fills me, that is my passion, that is what I love to do. I love giving, and serving, and loving, and I really don't care. I mean, I literally, the thought doesn't cross my mind like, what am I going to get in return from this? It just feels good to me to do that. And so yes, there have been times, and I think part of that cup filling when you're, people like us is boundaries have to be part of that cup filling so that we don't get taken advantage of. But you get a lot less taken advantage of when you don't have any expectations. And anyway, I could talk about this for hours and hours, I love, love, I love, love, I love giving, I love all of that, and I love that it can be a part of what fills us.
Justin Schenck: Yeah, I liked that you said that because I told you that I asked that question about your definition of success in three things you do every single day. I always now, because people that listen to my show and then they interviewed me, they always ask me that question. And I tell them three things, and the third thing is always, at least once a day I will reach out to somebody, tell them I appreciate them, tell them that I love them, I'll check up on something that I know they're going through, and I do that at least once a day. That's me filling my own cup because it feels good to know that I care about somebody so much that I'm willing to take time out of my busy day to do that.
Shirley Owens: Yeah, same. Now you have to tell us one and two.
Justin Schenck: So number one is, I visualize every single day, visualize my big goals, sometimes I visualize what's happening that day, it just kinda depends. So that what I'm visualizing changes everyday, but that's part of my day every single day. And then I also try and move every single day in some way, shape or form.
Shirley Owens: So, like exercise?
Justin Schenck: Exercise in some way, shape or form. I'm not necessarily always, I can't go to the gym every day, I'm not that kind of guy, but I try and stay super active. And then there's other things too, so like I try and meditate, but I'm not the best meditator. I try and read 10 pages a day, sometimes I skip some days, but there's always routines and all that stuff. But the definites are, I'm moving in some way, shape or form. I reach out to somebody every single day, and I visualize every single.
Shirley Owens: Wow, I love that. The word awareness keeps coming to my mind as we're talking because I feel like it's super important and I think it comes up in every interview that I do. But awareness is the number one thing that helps us, right? So we listened to you, we become aware of the things that you have said and what we can, you know, what are our three success creators every day? And I just feel like if we have that in the back of our minds, so you try, right? You try to read 10 pages and some days you skip it, and you don't get upset with yourself because you know that you're aware that that happened and then that creates another space on a different day that you remember to do it again. And so I think awareness is such a cool word and all of this.
Justin Schenck: Yeah. I mean, obviously, you know, Gary V. talks about this all the time of self-awareness, right? Being aware of our strengths, our weaknesses, and being okay with the things that happened kind of in between the margins. I try and control my schedule and my day as best I can, but certain times things happen and I can't necessarily complete all the things, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Just the next day I'm going to step up and try a little bit harder. But again, that even goes back to my word growth of, you know, I try and improve myself every single day by 1% which sounds easy, right? Like if I did 10 pushups yesterday, try and do 11 today, if you want to break it down, you know, that's simple. But it's one of those things where being self aware, I think I learned at a super young age because of what I went through. I had to be so aware of who I was and what I was bringing to the table because I didn't have that support system so many people have. It was just kinda, I mean, I had to grow up really, really fast. And so self-awareness for me started super young but also forgiveness and just understanding that it's okay if you mess up, it's okay if you trip, it's okay if you didn't do the things that were on your to do list that day. I mean, that's super key, yeah, for sure.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. Forgiveness, that's a whole nother show we could talk about. So tell me, you have this amazing podcast, you're a speaker, you have your Growth Now Movement Live, tell me a little bit about that.
Justin Schenck: Yeah, so this is the thing that it fills my heart, my soul, you know, actually it was a year ago yesterday and I announced the first Growth Now Movement Live, which happened back in May. And essentially what it was, look, I've done the growth now, I've improved, I've created an audience, I've grown myself, I've grown my business, I've become a better person and continuing that journey as well. But how do I truly create the movement? And for me, movements happen at events, and I go to events and they inspire me, and they empower me, and they helped me get to the next level. And so I made a conscious decision that I was going to have a massive event. And my goal, the first year was 150 people, I sold a 170 tickets even though the room only fit 150, thank goodness not everybody showed up (laughs), and had an incredible speaker lineup, and it was really a game changing day for so many people in the room. I mean, I'm still hearing from people that were there how they were impacted, and we had some of the most amazing speakers like Fabio Viviani, and Sarah Centrella, and Albie Manzo, and just an incredible lineup of speakers. And so I decided I'm doing it again and I, you know, I rented out a theater here in Reading, Pennsylvania that fits 500 people, and we're going big. And we have, I think next year I have seven speakers. I've only announced one so far, which is Nick Santonastasso, who was one of the most inspiring human beings that I met in my life, yeah. And so he's coming in as one of the speakers and even more amazing speakers to be announced soon who I already have ready to go, I just haven't announced them yet. But yeah, for me it was really about creating that movement and inspiring people to think a little bit bigger. And I think my whole thing is I want people to look at me and go, if that idiot can do it, I can do it (laughs). And so the best way to do that is to say, Hey look, I took an event that should be happening in New York City, or Philadelphia, or Miami, or San Diego, and I held it in Reading, Pennsylvania, and all the signs pointed to you can't fill that room. Well guess what? I filled the room the first year, I've already sold 10% of the tickets for next year. Now we're still 10 months out and, you know, we're just going to go bigger and better. And it's all to impact the lives of people that are in the room, for people ready to level up in all areas of their life. And I'm just excited to do it year over year.
Shirley Owens: Awesome. I'm excited. We'll talk about how people can look into it and sign up for that before we go today, so I'd love to hear more about it.
Justin Schenck: Awesome.
Shirley Owens: I wanted to ask, is there anything that you would have changed if you could go back and recreate even just the last three years?
Justin Schenck: No. I mean, everything happens for a reason, right?
Shirley Owens: Right.
Justin Schenck: Now, if I could go back to three and a half years ago and make a decision whether my mom should die or live, of course, I would change that.
Shirley Owens: Obviously, yeah.
Justin Schenck: My mom would still be here, I mean, she was my best friend. So yes, I would change that, but I'm also in the understanding of like things happen for a reason, right? Life is happening for me, not to me, and if I can focus on the why's as to why this happened in a good way, in a positive way, there's no reason to change anything because I'm realizing that the life that's happening around me is happening for a reason and I just have to figure out that WHY? Like, you know the crazy part about all of this, about what I do now, when I pinch myself some days, when I realized that I get to live this life is that, if the moment of my mom passing away didn't happen, I wouldn't be here.
Shirley Owens: Right. Oh, my gosh.
Justin Schenck: That's a fact. That's a massive speaking point for me. It allowed me to become vulnerable and loving of others. It gave me the opportunity to speak up on drug addiction, and self love, and these things that if she was still alive, I wouldn't have done it. And that's just one of many examples like that. And I think that if people can look back at their life and realize those terrible moments are going to give you an opportunity to change the world, embrace it. You know, I think it's selfish for people not to share their story. I've had a handful of people reach out to me and say: "Because of your podcast, I decided not to kill myself." And so if I didn't share my story at least five lives, that would no longer be here. And so I feel blessed every single day, even with the hard things that I went through. You know, it's an interesting kind of retrospective to look at it and say, the lowest moment of my life has created all of the success and happiness that I have now is, it's kind of crazy.
“If people can look back at their life and realize those terrible moments are going to give you an opportunity to change the world, embrace it.” –Justin Schenk
Shirley Owens: I love it. You know, I liked this question because I really, it's always the same answer. Every amazing, successful person I have talked to, it's always the same answer, "No, I wouldn't change anything because it's who I am today." And I have my own set, I have my own background, I have my own hard stories that got me to this point too including my mom also passed and, you know, I really hope that this question inspires our listeners to realize that no matter where they're at, it's perfect. No matter who they are, they're perfect. No matter what has happened in their life, it's perfect. It's all leading up to some beautiful, you know, beautiful journey and beautiful awakening. And you know, I think that it's just so important for people to know that because we do, especially with social media, we do see that now, right now this is what this person looks like, but we don't really know their background until we hear their backgrounds. I love that you talk about it being selfish to not share your story cause I think for a lot of years I too was embarrassed, you know, worried about sharing it. Am I going to lose friends? Am I going to not be able to influence the world? You know, when people know what my true story is, but more and more people are coming out and it is beautiful to know that none of us are alone, we all have our own stories, and our own journeys. So thank you for saying that, I really appreciate it.
Justin Schenck: No, thank you for sharing your journey, you know, I really do believe that it is a selfish thing, but I also believe that, you know, you ask yourself, can I truly impact people if I share my whole story? That's the only way you can impact people. That's the only way you can truly impact the people that you're put on this earth to impact is by being authentic, and being yourself, and being open. And you know, obviously I think that a whole nother, and we don't have time for this, but there's also rules and regulations under that that I follow. You know, I think people overshare. I think people share at the wrong times, but at the same time, if you're not willing and able to do that, then Hey, let's a conversation, and let's open that up, and see how we can truly impact some lives together. You know, and I think if we share that message more, I think this world will be for the better.
Shirley Owens: Yeah, I love that. So I wanted to ask one more question and that is if you have a piece of advice, just one thing to leave our listeners today that could make an impact on them today, get their mind thinking differently, create some awareness, what would that be?
“Wherever you are right now, that is where you're supposed to be.” –Justin Schenk
Justin Schenck: That they are exactly where they are supposed to be. I think that we paint the wrong picture of our lives because again, I mean it fits right into this whole conversation. You know, when we look at other people's lives, we go, we want that, we need that, we need that now, give that to me now. But you are exactly where you are supposed to be in this very moment, you are exactly where you chose to be in this very moment. And what matters is realizing that it doesn't matter where we come from, it doesn't matter where we are today. What matters are the decisions we make right now to make a better tomorrow, but just understand that wherever you are, good, bad, indifferent, wherever you are right now, that is where you're supposed to be.
“It doesn't matter where we are today. What matters is the decisions we make right now to make a better tomorrow.” –Justin Schenk
Shirley Owens: Perfect. Perfect, I love it. So tell us a little bit more about your live event and how our listeners can one, get information on it, sign up for it, and then anything else that you want us to know how we can contact you, and connect with you, and all of your amazingness.
Justin Schenck: For sure. I appreciate the opportunity to share this. I mean, obviously Growth Now Movement LIVE is a weekend long rock concert for entrepreneurs, for thinkers, and people looking to level up in all areas of their life. So if you are somebody who wants to do that, who's ready to really live the life that they truly desire, they can go to gnmlive.com to learn from some of the world's top influencers and celebrities. They can get their tickets there, it's super affordable. We already have people coming from, I think seven different States, a couple of people from Canada are coming in for this next year, so we welcome all, I want all the States there this year, we had 19 last year.
Shirley Owens: Wow.
Justin Schenck: We can get all of them this year would be amazing. But yeah, it's gnmlive.com, they can get their tickets now. Now is the time because the price will go up as we get closer and as I announced more speakers, and then obviously if they want to check out the podcast Growth Now Movements, the show. So search wherever they're listening to podcasts and follow me there. And then the last place would be Instagram, I post pretty often there, I username is G-N-M P-O-D-C-A-S-T.
Shirley Owens: Awesome. Thank you Justin, I really enjoyed spending time with you today. Thanks so much for being here.
Justin Schenck: Shirley, I love the conversations. Thank you so much for doing what you're doing and I can't wait to see where this podcast goes.
Shirley Owens: All right, thanks.