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Connect with Jerome
www.jeromemyers.co
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeromemyers/

Connect with Russ
https://russjohns.com/
https://thepiratesyndicate.com/
https://nextstepnext.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextstepnext/

Audio digitally transcribed by Descript

Introduction: [00:00:00] Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns: [00:00:10] Man. Oh man. Oh man. It's an exciting day and I just want to thank everyone for joining us and showing up and excited about this as I am. Like, comment and sharing all the shenanigans that social media requires to do to make any kind of an impact. And today we're going to be talking to Jerome. What's the best thing that's happened to you today?

Jerome Myers: [00:00:34] Today I was able to get up run six miles, hit the weighs, come back all before most people got up. That's the best thing to happen. The opportunity to do that this time of year for me, Russ,  I gave into a pretty deep reflection back in 2005. On August 13th, I was in a head on accident with a dump truck and I was trapped in the car for hour and a half until the jaws of life could cut me out and he could put a jack in between my legs and push the dashboard off of my legs and then get in the helicopter and get medavac'd for emergency surgery, where I spent about 14 hours on the operating table. And so just the thought that I'm able to still breathe and walk. Cause after that I was in a wheelchair for a little while. Yeah, it excites me to be able to get up and run and lift weights and pretend to be the young guy I used to be when I was an athlete.

Russ Johns: [00:01:27] It gives you a whole new perspective on life when you come that close to losing it, right?

Jerome Myers: [00:01:34] Oh yeah. Yeah. And it's fleeting, right? You begin to realize how. Precious life is right. And how fleeting the moment can be and how everything could change in the snap of a finger. I'm driving at 60 miles an hour and then the next thing I know, I'm on the side of the road to having people say he's dead. And it's totally different experience.

Russ Johns: [00:01:57] An entirely different experience. Yeah, it's something that gives you pause to understand that something happened that kept you alive, the gave you purpose. And I have to imagine that you... and I have had near death experiences as well. And it gives me a new thought that I must be here for a reason. Have you discovered your reason?

Jerome Myers: [00:02:28] Oh, yeah, it's very clear for me. It's to help people stop doing work they're not passionate about and create alternative sources of income so that they can focus on executing against their passion. I was a guy who climbed a ladder, realized that I was on the wrong one and decided to leave. But I didn't do it well, I didn't create a plan and there was no soft landing and all the people who I thought were going to give me business on the backside of it did not. And so it was the school of hard knocks and realizing just because you're good at something doesn't mean anything if marketing and packaging and a bunch of other things are really important and the golden handcuffs are real to the extent that you don't believe that you can create income outside of wherever you go every day in order to punch in so that they have an obligation to pay you.

Russ Johns: [00:03:23] Belief is a funny thing. Isn't it?

Jerome Myers: [00:03:25] A thousand percent man. And so many of us are programmed to constrict our belief to whatever is happening in our world. The courage to believe that there is more and that you have capacity to do something out of the ordinary. Get stamped out somewhere along the middle school, we were taught to be practical and we need to learn how we're going to take care of our families and da, da, da, da, da. If you're truly gifted and if you're truly talented, your gifts will make room for you. And you will be able to absolutely practice those gifts because you're making the world a better place through your use of them.

Russ Johns: [00:04:07] I want to ask you if you have, as it relates to beliefs, the lot of us go through life and like you said, somewhere in middle school, something, you're told to get in line and  here's the workflow and here's the journey that you can expect, go to school, you get out, you get a job, you start a family, and everything will be fine. That's not necessarily the ideal choice for everyone. And so if we're in that thought process, how can we go through this process without getting in a car accident of discovering that there is more to life than we are actually experiencing right now? What are things that you think about and you meditate on.

Jerome Myers: [00:04:55] Yeah, I love the question because I think so many folks out there are questioning it. They're asking, is there more right? And the answer is absolutely there is. You're not even beginning to touch the edge of your capability yet. And so what, how do we do it? I think there's a lot of ways. There's a school of hard knocks and I can tell you it's the most inefficient and ineffective way to do that because the only way that you learn is through your own mistakes. And then there's all the free stuff that's out there. We live in the information age and you can Google YouTube video about just anything that you want. Somebody was saying it's as granular as how the change the trash back in your trashcan. And so if we can get information, then that gets a little further along the way. The thing that I think you bring up that is super compelling for me today is that there is no organization when you go that route, right? The formality of the K through 12 system, and even the universities is they've created a body of knowledge that you need to understand that demonstrate proficiency before you can advance to the next level. When we begin to exploration that isn't the actual case, right? We are put in a position where we are trying to seek and find an understand what is the next thing. And so from my perspective, the best place to go is a guide. We usually know what we want to do. Most of us don't actually know why, but there's a small group who knows why. Because they've done some internal work, that final group, the how people. Probably less than 5% of the population actually have the strategy that's going to be successful in getting them the result that they desire. And so that's where the guide comes in. They help you with strategy. They help you execute it. And in that they're not travel agents, they are tour guides. They're going with you on the journey saying, hey, check this out, watch out for that. And participating in the process with you. I think that is really where the rubber meets the road for people who want to continue decades into days.

Russ Johns: [00:07:10] Yeah. It's interesting that you'd say it that way because that 5% that is unique and understands exactly where they want to go, the direction they want to take and the place they need to be. The other 95% I think there's an exploration that we minimize in the world. And if we had an opportunity where we could say, okay, rather than asking kids, what are you going to be when you grow up, ask them, what would you like to try? Or what would you like to learn more about? So you could understand what the outcome of that choice is. And then allow them to explore those choices because some professions may not necessarily be a great fit.

Jerome Myers: [00:07:56] Yeah. It's funny, my nine-year-old is very clear that she wants to be a doctor and a lawyer. She's very clear about that. Not because she like has had tremendous experience in the courtroom or because she's done the operation or had experience with doctors outside of her pediatric visits, but because she sees the opportunity to make a big income and she knows that she wants to live a lifestyle second to none. And so the mechanism isn't as important as the essence or the outcome, right? I think oftentimes we get caught up in how are we going to do this? And then that limits our capacity to what can be done. And instead of having the north star, that allows us to say, hey, this is what I want to do. And now I'm navigating the journey and oh, this person actually did that. Let me spend some time with them, understanding how they got there and if it makes sense to engage them on my journey so that I can actually climb my mountain.

Russ Johns: [00:08:59] Yes. Yes. I just like YouTube as well. I think the opportunity for people to ask, you're in this industry, you're in this business, you've invested time and effort into being here. What do you think about the PR profession or the vocation and what is it that you like and have those conversations? I think that's a huge benefit to so many people that they would just take a moment and talk to a few people that are doing it. I can't tell you how many doctors I've talked to that said, yeah. I might not be a doctor if I knew everything about it right now, but I love that there are doctors that I love that they're caring for people in, and there's so many dimensions to learning and exploring that a lot of us don't see it. We've already experienced it. Hindsight is 2020.

Jerome Myers: [00:09:57] It's clear as day. The thing that's probably the funniest from my perspective is the organization of things, putting the systems and the processes together, eliminate the need for discovery and exploration. We've already figured out. Don't ask questions, just do what we said. And so when you're somebody who, a challenger or a contrarian, you start pushing against that. The folks who are managing the process, see you as a headache, and they want you out of the way, because you're a glitch in their matrix.

Russ Johns: [00:10:31] Yeah, there'll be a glitch in the matrix, man.

Jerome Myers: [00:10:35] I need to exit it, but we won't go there today.

Russ Johns: [00:10:38] That was probably another conversation while it's come back. And what do you give a shout out to Elise, good morning, Russ, Jerome and pirates. Very excited to listen to Jerome today. Happy weekend. Mark O'Brien my friend,  Mark O'Brien. If I didn't hear a word of this and only saw Jerome smile, my day would be made anyway.

Jerome Myers: [00:11:01] Mark. You're awesome.

Russ Johns: [00:11:02] You've got some fans here, Jerome. Good morning pirates from Florida. Michael Baker and Wendy pirates are courageous. Welcome Jerome. We love having you on our pirate ship. Our Admiral is the bomb. Thank you. Love you. I wonder if Jerome has read Joseph Campbell.

Jerome Myers: [00:11:26] The hero stories?1000 pieces?

Russ Johns: [00:11:30] I don't know. Mark O'Brien content uploads. He has a story. Go check it out in the comments. And Michael Baker says create opportunities, give them options. Absolutely. Martin says, hey #piratenation. And Mark says, if not, the pervasiveness of Campbell's monomyth is even more compelling and powerful. He's dropping some knowledge bombs here. Ken from Malta. Hey Russ and Jerome. Martin says hi Jerome Myers. Ooh, there you go.Neena Perez from WinJect Studios. Thanks for being here. Yes, that's it? Yeah. Martin

Jerome Myers: [00:12:21] It's great. That's great.

Russ Johns: [00:12:22] Jennifer says hello and thank you. This resonates so well. So Jerome, what are some things that that people need to think about to maybe  jumpstart? If somebody is listening to this, and they're not really sure what they need to do. A lot of people are wandering. They're in the matrix. They're going through life. They're showing up for work, they're doing their due diligence and trying to be a good citizen and appear to be healthy and wealthy and wise and still they're unhappy. They're unsatisfied. And there's some things that we experience in life that may allow us to change. And there are other things that you take action on. What are some things that we could take action on that you've discovered that might change somebody's perspective?

Jerome Myers: [00:13:12] Yeah, man. So we've got a six part framework that we put together for people and we call it the red pill. And so I go around as Brian Briscoe said, pedaling red pills. And so it starts with self-image. And so we got to take the hard look inside. If we want our world to change, we need to go in. And get super clear about what it is about us, this creating the environment that we have around us, because we teach the world how to treat us. And so what are you saying, Jerome?  I'm saying that every day you need to make a promise to yourself, and I want you to do it first thing in the morning, and I don't care what it is. It doesn't have to be anything monumental. It can be as simple as brushing your teeth or washing your face or making the bed for me is getting up and running six miles. I'm not doing it for time. I don't even tell anybody how long it takes me unless they are really interested because for me, it's just the process of going through and making that commitment to my health and honoring the fact that I can actually walk because there was a point when I couldn't and so make that promise to yourself and then keep it. What that does is it sets your day up for success because you started with winning begets more winning. The more that you can do that the better off you'll be. And so personally, I spend four hours, if not five, a day on myself, not talking to anybody else, just doing the inner work and a number of different areas with the goal of just pumping myself up to the level so that when the day happens, I'm able to deal with it. I've got my battle armor on. And that way, if something happens that I didn't expect or intend to happen, or even something happens that I don't. I can deal with it because I'm pumped up. And from there, once we are making promises, promises to ourselves and staying accountable, we can expand that to the relationships in the folks around us. We are often willing to let people off the hook because we won't keep our cell phones. And so once you elevate that level of accountability, some of those folks that you spend time with may fall away because they're not absolutely connected to that level of performance and that's okay because you're trying to get something new out of life. And if you could get that new thing out of the life that you had, which includes the people that you engage with, then you would probably already have. But when you set this new level of expectation for yourself, it's going to also increase the level of expectation of those around you. Russ, the thing that I've found is the people who are playing at the top of the game are usually looking to the left and the right and they aren't seeing many people, right? Most people don't understand what they're going through and most folks who they engage with on a daily basis are coming to take something from them. Hey, you've got the energy, you are the source. So I need to come get full from you so that I can go do what I need to do. The issue is they don't have anybody bringing them anything. And so what happens, and this is a personal story, right? I'm talking about everybody, but I'm talking about me. They ended up. Cause there's nothing, or no one filling up their cup. And so what I've encouraged folks to do is get really clear about those mutually beneficial relationships. And so if you've got a one way relationship, you look at your phone you see the top five people you talk to on a regular basis, you look at your text messages and there is no mutual benefit. If there's no reciprocity. Then you need to either reframe that relationship. So the expectation is that we do for each other or you sever it so that you can replace it with someone who can pour into your life. There's something that is simple as a smile, right? The smile is contagious. It doesn't cost you anything to do it. You use less muscles to smile than you do with a frown. So you should, I think you should exercise it. But it's just a great example of something small that can make somebody else feel better and it doesn't take a whole lot from your standpoint. And then I'll talk about the third one, which is once you elevate those relationships that you have, and then you go to the work level, usually you'll be seen as a leader. And so what's that going to do is going to expand your responsibility, it's going to increase your comp. I can keep going down the list. But the whole point is you're somebody who can show up with integrity, which means you don't have to put this mask on and pretend to be somebody else, which is totally exhausting. And you're going to draw people to you because they like how you show up in the world. And that right there, my friend, are what I consider the nucleus of the rev bill, because they create all of our stress. And if you can do those three things, you will see a dramatic increase in the quality of your life. And then, health prosperity and significance will be the next three levels that you send through. You will see a dramatic change. How healthy you are. And I guess I could say how healthy you aren't, because most people don't think about their health until they don't have it. You'll see more money in the bank. You'll see more opportunities being created for you. And that's the prosperity bucket. And then significance you, making a positive impact on the lives of others is the only success. And I don't want anybody to ever confuse that. We are put here to be in service. And if you're not serving other folks and helping them get to that next level, I can tell you my friends that your life will always feel empty. There will always feel like there's something missing.

Russ Johns: [00:18:36] There will always be something missing. The point in my life right now is I want to make sure that I highlight  and shine the light on other people. Allow the opportunity for these ideas to be out there in the world, because I think it's so important for us  to all generate some value in the world. Yeah. There's so many things that are going on around us. That there's no reason why we can't create some value every day for someone, like you said, it's as simple as a smile. It's as simple as a courtesy, open a door, say, thank you, please, and have some compassion towards other people that are going through something else. You don't know what they're going through. So it's, as a matter of being a little bit compassionate, we got a lot of comments here, Jerome. Happy Friday. I would like to set up I would like to see, I would like Jerome to set up a wake-up message for my alarm. We could do that, Wendy.  I know how to do that for you. So happy weekend, Marcia says, keep it coming. Jenny Gold says Jerome and Russ Johns. Good morning. Mark O'Brien is a rockstar, wendy says.  Jennifer, this resonates so well. Yes, she said that. What else we got? Who else we got coming in the room? Neena Perez says Martin agreed. Michael Baker, definiteness of purpose. That's a lot of what you're speaking about. Jerome, you don't have a purpose, right? Intentions. Yeah. Martin. Nice promise yourself every day to do one thing that makes it better for yourself. I like that. Russ Hedge says good morning. There's so many things going on in the world that taking time for yourself and understanding who you are and what your impact is absolutely critical. And that's a journey in itself, Jerome. I know that I have struggled in my life to understand who I am, how I fit in, how I serve others and it's not always the same person I was 20 years ago. 20 years ago is not the same person as I am today.

Jerome Myers: [00:20:49] I hope not.

Russ Johns: [00:20:50] Yeah. Thank you.

Jerome Myers: [00:20:52] Because  if you are actually progressing and you're the same person, then where's the growth.  If you are the same person and nothing changed, you live the same life every day for 20 years. Like we should be excelling. We should be elevating.

Russ Johns: [00:21:10] Absolutely. Absolutely. I want to talk a little bit about managing time too, cause you're talking about hours investing in yourself and you'll coming in and being within yourself and I know that a lot of people may not necessarily have the opportunity to invest that kind of time. However, when you say that it doesn't necessarily mean you're isolated on your own, doing your own thing, or does life intertwine with those moments of meditation or, stopping and thinking of #gratitude, what's a process that a normal routine would look like for you?

Jerome Myers: [00:21:49] Yes. I think it's and, right? I don't think it's or. And what I mean, I will say is a lot of that time, I am by myself, the whole goal, unless you have small kids is to get up before everybody else in the house gets up. Because nobody's gonna bother you. Nobody calls me at 4:44 in the morning. There's just nobody who's going to call. And so that gives me the freedom to meditate for the half hour that I do and then read for the half hour and then go for my run. Takes about an hour. And if I make sense, some waste, there's another half an hour there. And by the time I get back, maybe somebody is up, but I doubt it. And then, instead of listening to music, I listened to something educational while I'm doing the physical activity. And so I get the compressed time now. And then really just coming back in and saying, okay, what can I focus on is going to move my life to the next level. But, there are so many things that we do in the 24 hour a day that aren't actually set up to propel us to the next level. It's just mindless checking out. And what I would say is just your time is your most precious resource, whether you actually practice that or not, it is because it's the only thing that you have. That's not replenish. Every day that you wake up as a day closer to you not being here anymore. Nobody knows when last day is, but just know that you got a little bit closer. And so how can you allocate the most precious resource that you have in order to make sure that however many days you have left, you're able to get the most out of it. And that's always the push, right? We often prioritize our money more so than we do our. Think about, for me, like I look for a thousand dollar tasks. That's what I want to work on thousand and $10,000 tasks. And so when I do things that are contrary to that vacuuming or washing dishes or something else, I've got to stack it with something else that's helping me get a higher return. So that, and when I say higher return putting something in my body, through my ears or through watching it, that can come back out in service of others. That's going to create tremendous value that may at some point create some value exchange. That's where I really want people to focus. We're busy and busy does not mean progress. I had a full calendar yesterday. I have four coaching calls, interview, two people on podcasts. And I talked to two people for discovery calls, just trying to figure out what's going on in the world. And what I found in that time was I was serving the entire time that was helping tell the stories of other people. I was listening to the challenges that people were trying to overcome and helping them create strategy and holding them accountable for the things they said they were going to do in the past. And that for me was absolutely. And totally fulfilling. But I remember when I used to get up at four o'clock in the morning to get in my truck, to drive an hour and a half to manage offices, doing things that weren't all that exciting. My last job in corporate America was building a $20 million division for a fortune five 50. And in that I did not enjoy the work that we were doing at times. I felt like we were. Running a daycare because people will just do the simple things that they were supposed to do. And we were all supposed to be professionals. And so now I'm in a space where people are coming to me with their fears and their dreams and saying, Hey, can you help me overcome this? Or can you help me accomplish. And I skipped through those days. I don't feel drained or tired at the end of them. And so what I'm telling people is in a roundabout way that you've got to get closer to the gift, whatever that is, and you've got to cultivate it may be a block of marble right now because you haven't spent the time shaping it and chiseling it out so that other people can see what's actually in it. But if you do the self work and does it have to be five hours or it doesn't, you know how Eros has got a great system? I think it takes an hour right in here. I think he told people they can take 10 minutes or 16 minutes or something. If you say that you don't have that time. But I'm saying when you get super serious about living the life at the highest level at the apex performer level, you're going to allocate that resource so that you're pouring or making the investment in the space is going to give you the biggest return.

Russ Johns: [00:26:32] I love that. This has been a great investment in my time. And I really appreciate you being here, Jerome. I love this conversation and I'd welcome you back anytime to share with the pirates and the community. A lot of people are excited about it. Ken says one of the biggest challenges for people is the fact that they underrate, underestimate and as a result, underutilize their mindset (inner work). I call this the triple "U" symdrome.. And it's, it is so true. We seldom think about what we're thinking about and when we really get inside and understand who we are and what we're doing makes a huge difference.

Jerome Myers: [00:27:16] Yeah, absolutely. And most of us are scared of her own thoughts and we're scared to be alone with ourselves. And this is the last thing I'll add Russ, if I can slip it in, because I know we're up against time. If you have to turn the TV on or the radio on or some other noise making device, as soon as you get into a space, there's something wrong. There's something broken. You should be able to sit in the quiet, potentially in the dark, by yourself with nothing and be able to listen to what's going on in your head. Some people have found peace and it'll be totally quiet. Other people will hear about all the things that aren't going. And you got to figure out a way to quiet those voices so that you can hear the voice that's guiding you to that destiny of yours.

Russ Johns: [00:27:58] Yeah. Martin says, please come back often.

Jerome Myers: [00:28:03] I love it. I'm grateful to be here.

Russ Johns: [00:28:07] I'm grateful to have you here, Jerome. Thank you so much for sharing these ideas and these thoughts and also,  have a phenomenal day and everyone joining in, if you found this interesting, entertaining, motivational, inspirational, anything like that, take a moment and pause and just know that life is good and we do have a choice and we do have an opportunity to grow and continue to expand our ideas and our thoughts and improve who we are every single day. So Jerome thank you so much for being here and have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend as well.

Jerome Myers: [00:28:46] You too, Russ. Thank you so much.

Russ Johns: [00:28:48] And as always everyone #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree, so you #enjoytheday.

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