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Connect with Michael
https://www.facebook.com/groups/189880752417978/?ref=share
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-baker-592b181a3/

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] And it's a great day for the #PirateBroadcast, where we're here again every week, starting up and just having a great time. So today we have a long time pirate, avid supporter and an amazing individual that is going to be sharing a few thoughts about what's going on in the world today. Michael, good morning. How are you?

Michael Baker: [00:00:30] Glad to be here. Fantastic.

Russ Johns: [00:00:33] Are you getting any feedback? It sounds like you might be getting some feedback, Michael.

Michael Baker: [00:00:37] Coming through clear.

Russ Johns: [00:00:39] Okay. All right. How are you doing?

Michael Baker: [00:00:41] Doing all right. Can't complain. As long as you're moving forward a little bit every day. just making progress.

Russ Johns: [00:00:49] Oh, fantastic. You have a pretty active Facebook group that you've been involved in and you're helping spread a lot of positive information out. So do you want to talk a little bit about that and share a little bit of information on that?

Michael Baker: [00:01:02] I started the new group about three years ago. I went through a separation with my wife and kids and stuff, and found myself alone a lot and having to deal with a lot of different things. And I joined different groups on Facebook for people that were going through different trials and tribulations and things. And I found that just through trying to help others that I got the help that I needed myself, because I couldn't advise anybody else to do anything for themselves that I wasn't willing to do for myself. had to really sit back and take a look at myself and take responsibility. It's through taking responsibility that I gained the maturity, that kind of goes hand in hand.

Russ Johns: [00:01:34] It does go hand in hand. It does go hand in hand. And so what have you learned as a result of this journey in the last few years?

Michael Baker: [00:01:45] Not giving up on yourself, having faith in yourself and believing in yourself and knowing what you're capable of, cause if you don't try,  you're never going to succeed. You gotta just keep trying and everything, it's a process, it's about learning and I learn something new every day. I'm always studying from most everybody in the field, like when I started studying the self-help industry back in the early eighties,  I grew up in a small town up in New York and a lot of alcoholism, lot of drug abuse and things of that nature and everything. And I wound up getting caught up in it, and And it wasn't until I had to take responsibility for myself and stopped blaming everybody else for everything and having resentment towards people.  Now I've learned to forgive myself, take responsibility to forgive myself so I can forgive others. point is to understanding that you're able to forgive, and we never understand why people do the things that they do. And not everybody does. And it's so true. There's a lot of people  out there still blaming everybody and everything, not taking responsibility for themselves and holding themselves accountable. Like I tell everybody, you're where you are in life because of the choices you make, nobody else has made you do those things, that was your choice, and until we take responsibility for it, life is the greatest gift I've ever received. It's up to you, what you do with it and how you use it.

Russ Johns: [00:02:55] Absolutely.

Michael Baker: [00:02:56] And so going through college and everything. Go ahead.

Russ Johns: [00:03:01] No, I was just going to say, go ahead.

Michael Baker: [00:03:05] Okay.  I had dropped out of school in ninth grade. I had just went to my first three days of ninth grade and then I just walked out one day and just never went back, and then years later went back.  I went to college and got my GED and got my college degree and everything. When I was in college, a lot of the business courses that I took and everything they taught you, any thing that you expect, you got to inspect and there's no accountability without the authority, and everything. You got to be the authority over your own life. You gotta take responsibility for it and be the authority over it. It's your story and you're writing it every day and the choices that you make and willing to take the risks, and finding your calling in life, comes with maturity. The thing that I'd never amount to anything, I'd never do anything. I had reaped what I'd sown and I learned the hard way, throughout like most of the time, I always, I learned things the hard way.  But now I learn from others. And I studied the works of other people and like I said, when I went to rehab the first time back in the early eighties, I started studying stuff, self-help theories and stuff, and setting your goal and knowing your role,setting your goal and all that stuff. The town I grew up in, Wingdale the next town over is Pawling, New York and Norman Vincent Peale did a lot there in Pawling, New York. He has a center for positive living, and he always said about the mind and man can conceive and believe it can achieve, and it was just getting to that point where I ended up belief in myself and  I wanted to write this book to help others.  I know there's a lot of people that are feeling lost out there, especially right now at COVID and everything. People are looking for direction and guidance. They don't know where to turn to, and getting involved with Chris Berryman, with the bringing humanity together group, originally here and working with them and help make a difference with others. Bringing the empathy back into the workforce. The community is our job. Show the others that you care, even in the workplace, it's about being the leader. You gotta have that mission, that goal, and you got to share your mission and your goal with others that they have the same, similar mission and goal in life, so that they'll make a commitment to it and help you.  It's not about telling somebody to get over it or anything. It's not helping others get through what they're going through today. Not just get over and get past it, but it don't, it ain't actually be helping them. People, they gotta feel connected, and they got to get away from the isolation, the desperation, that leads to the drugs and alcohol and feeling alone and being depressed and everything, I went to a lot of that too. Getting past that too. It's through fate that led me through that. And the writing the book the second time around, I wrote the book the first time around, my wife and everybody, my kids love it. I was sitting in my living room by myself one day, and it was just like I said, a prayer and it's the Lord was looking down on me and, and he gave me direction from that point. And then when I wrote the first book, it was all, it was like, as if he was speaking to me and through me and I was just writing it out and it just come out and then when I got it done, I'd finished the original version of the book. Then my house burned down three days later, I got it all done. I had to start all over again. And when I started all over again, It's like the Lord had forsaken me, he wasn't there talking to me, telling me through it, and then it be one day, he just said, Mike  how can you say you believe in me if you don't believe in you? You can't see me, you can feel that I'm there, but you can't see anything else like that, but here you are. You're there, how can you say you believe in me if you won't believe in yourself? That was like another turning point for me.  The holy spirit teaches you everything through, and that's what the book is about.  It's Within You, the holy spirit, finding your purpose, your calling in life and the Lord works through you through your own intuition, learning to follow and trusting your own intuition, and having that faith and belief in yourself,  just like you the said, all the things I have done you shall do to, and even greater things than me. You believe in yourself. And if you don't believe in it, then you got to believe in it, you know?  I can see what in your mind, believe in your heart and bring it into your life, and that's kinda like the the secret they call it,  a love manifestation like that. Faith without work is dead. You gotta put the effort into it. And a lot of times, I focus a lot on the group and I'm working with others, and I'm able to help them and I'm not there for them. I got to step back sometimes and I got to keep my priorities. You have to prioritize your priorities every day. And it's all about what matters to you. You gotta decide, what matters to you and how you're gonna handle everything.  I keep going off your emotion, reacting to the situations. I did a lot of things. I  lived off emotion for a lot of years and not taking the time to sit back and think about the consequences of my actions. It wasn't until I had to reap as I had sown before I was able to see how my actions affected others, when it affected me.

Russ Johns: [00:07:36] No kidding. Hey,  I want to give a shout out. It is all a learning process, JD's in the room. He says, Happy Monday, pirates, Marcia Reece. Hello mates. Here's to a blessed week ahead for everyone. Thank you. Mohamad is here. Thank you so much for joining us. Elise. Good morning, Russ and Michael and all the pirates. JD says he agrees with you. Totally agree. And it's so true. Somporn says good morning from San Francisco. Thank you for being here. Nancy. Nancy says, good morning. Thank you so much for being here, Nancy. I know our connection. Isn't the best in the world, Michael, but for those that are stuck in a rut right now and some of the things that are going on around them, what do you recommend people do? To start thinking about a more positive outcome or a more positive way of approaching life. What are your thoughts on that?

Michael Baker: [00:08:41] What you have to decide is what matters to you. What gives your life meaning and purpose? You have to find your purpose in life and develop a passion and a discipline to achieve it. But you gotta, everybody, that individual, you had to decide what it is you want for yourself, what do you intend to do with your life? We all have our families that we got to take care of. We had to provide for them. We're being pulled in all different directions, but we gotto decide for ourselves, what do we want to life? And not allow ourselves to be distracted by everything. A lot of times we overthink things, we gotta try and keep it simple and stick to the basics, stick to the basics, what you want in life and keep the big picture in mind and focus on the task every day, the task at hand, you perform the task. The Lord will perform the miracles, but just allowing it to happen. And we've got to change our mindset.  A lot of people see everything that's happening in the world and everything is happening to them and not seeing things that's happening for tham. When you start to see things happen for you and not everything happening to you, take responsibility for your life and stop blaming everybody else for everything. It all comes down to is responsibility. When taking action, you gotta take action. You sit there and don't do nothing. You can't blame anybody, but yourself. It's all about what we do every day and putting the effort into it.  Tony Robbins says where the focus goes the energy flows. What are you putting your energy into?  If you're focusing on what your fear, you're going to create the environment. I learned that the hard way, and I was afraid of different things going on with my wife and I accused her everything else and justthings happened and eventually it wasn't just a matter of time before she left, and then I had to look at myself and it was every environment I created.  I've changed it all around and I've gotten my family back. We're back together again, we're starting to build a new home for ourselves and I'm getting my book published. I submitted my manuscript. I just got to submit my autobiography and intro to the book and then we all said, I'll be on the shelves within the next couple of months and hopefully I'll do well. I have faith. Decide what you want to do. It's about the associations that you built, and like I've connected with you. We've spoken several times and a lot of people that have been on your show. Russ Hedge, I've spoken with him Thurston Baker,  a lot of people that been on the show. I've connected with a lot of people on LinkedIn I've connected with and I've gotten a lot of support from seeking to be in association with those who are doing, as you want to do, whoever is the best in your field and what you want to do, and that's who you want to connect with, to learn from them, learn all you can from and use your foundation to build upon, to contribute to what they've done. And try and stay away from people that are heading down the wrong road.  Like they say, bad character corrupts good morals. You've got to keep yourself on the right track and we associate with that. What you're associated with and you become known as being that. It's how you see yourself. You got to change that self-image, that's where it all begins is that self-image, you've got to change how you see yourself. How you see yourself as being, that's how you're going to become, and that's how other people are going to see you as being.

Russ Johns: [00:11:26] Howard Kaufman says, great focus, keep on keeping the positive mojo going. Absolutely. And JD says there's an echo on YouTube, so I apologize, hopefully we can get this out there. I'm not hearing it, are you hearing an echo? Okay. Sheila says the Bible says, God will give you beauty for ashes. Sheila Chamberlain. Yes. Thank you so much. Sheila, stay always positive. JD says, so tell us a little bit about the book. What's the book going to be focused on, Michael?

Michael Baker: [00:12:02] Developing a faith in yourself and believing in yourself and to finding your purpose in life. Deciding what it is that you want to do and having the passion and the discipline to achieve it. Now you got to conceive it and believe it to achieve it. And that's where the focus of the book is at, getting you to where you need to be at in life, prioritizing your priorities. And taking the next step every day, and getting over the self doubt and the fears, you gotta have faith to overcome your fear. That's the whole thing, you gotta have faith in yourself. It all starts and ends with you. It's your choice what you do every day and the choices we make there's consequences, or you can stop and think about it. And aligning your actions with your intentions, that's their biggest thing. You got to have your actions align with your intentions and evaluate and reevaluate everything every day. Be able to discern what your next step is going to be. You have responses and results, are you getting the result or what is what you're doing, bringing you to the results that you want. If not, something's got to change.  It's taking a look at yourself and your actions, your habits and once we develop these habits and everything, we develop these false beliefs around them that justify them. And then, old habits are hard to break. You gotta develop a desire for... what you want has got to overcome your comfort zone. We become comfortable with a lot of things in life and we don't want to change and we resist change and a lot of times we rebel against it. We don't wait, we don't want to, but we have to, at some point or another, we have to take responsibility and accountability and take action on it now to move forward, to keep moving ahead. Things always changing, and whether we do or not, it's gonna change.

Russ Johns: [00:13:32] Yeah. Talk a little bit...

Michael Baker: [00:13:33] The more you resist the change, the harder it's going to be.

Russ Johns: [00:13:36] Yeah. Talk a little bit about your Facebook group and what kind of a group is it? Who should join and who should connect and how should they connect with us?

Michael Baker: [00:13:45] Anybody is welcome to join the group. It's a public group on Facebook. It's within you as a spiritual guidance to achievement. Faith to prosperity is our focus now. And it's all about believing in yourself and the daily #inspiration.  I started it off as a ministry of faith and everything and I have a lot of other pastors that have joined the group, Ray Givens. There's just a lot of different people that I've gotten a lot of support from and I've done everything organically. I've grown my following here on LinkedIn and Facebook and everything. I got thousands of followers, a thousand members in the group and everything, and it's all been done organically, no click funnels, no ads and everything. For me, it's all about putting people first, people who had a profits. Attraction over promotion. I don't do no paid ads or nothing like that. If somebody wants to help, they're going to reach out to you, and that's how I look at it. It's for those who want it, not those who necessarily need it, even though there's a lot of people out there that need it, but they don't want, you can't help somebody that ain't going to help themselves. You can help them build the relationships with other that's what it's all about. Building relationships.  And I I've gotten involved with a lot of churches and stuff. I can take my kids to a lot of different churches. We go around and I've spoken at a lot of churches in the area andI explain that it's more developing a relationship. And a personal relationship with with your savior. Then it is a church organization or anything else like that because everyone's prone to error and people make mistakes. People do certain things. I had gotten involved with one church that hired me to work with them and everything. And I started working with them. They wanted to start a YouTube channel. I was gonna do that and then the next thing I know the church is kicking people out of church. No  it's about including everybody and everything, you love the person, you condemn the behavior and you love the person. You point out their fault, you don't hold them accountable for their action. You don't disclude them. You don't kick people out of a church.  Nah, I don't want no more part of that. So I removed myself from the situation, but it just cause that does isolate people even further. If a church can't help you, who can? You get kicked out of a church, what are, you going to do there? That was just beyond my comprehension. That was not something I want to be a part of. Just being here for others and showing them that you actually care. And that's what it's about for me. Now they're building the relationships with others, letting them know you care. And just being there, somebody needs you I'm there. I've taken a lot of people in, even though I don't have much of anything, if somebody needs a place to stay or they need a ride somewhere,  I'm always one of the first people they call for that. I don't have a problem reaching out and helping somebody when the time comes, because I wouldn't be where I'm at today. If it wasn't for my family and friends and my customers and everybody that support me, cause we all depend on one another to some degree. There's a difference between being dependent on somebody and taking the advantage and using people. Years ago, when I was caught in the addiction and  was all about my own selfish needs and using everybody else to get what I wanted. And it's just not today, it's a whole different mindset, a different way of being. Being dependent on everybody else for everything. And using others to get my own needs met. It's about helping others and being there for them or it's kinda like different ways that you're helping other people get what they want, you'll get what you want. And that's what I mean, it's so true, it's when you seek to help others, you get the help that you need yourself. And I appreciate you allowing me to be on the show.

Russ Johns: [00:16:55] Yeah. I'm glad that you're part of the pirate community. I know that it's so important. Hiett Ives says, hey late arrival, good morning, I sent you an email  Hiett. So we'll connect on that. JD says, healing yourself, healing yourself is absolutely important. So you're going to continue to write books. You're going to continue to write and support the community, Michael? What's your next step? What's your journey?

Michael Baker: [00:17:19] Yeah. I definitely plan on writing more books with bringing humanity together program there, we do our podcast a few days a week. I want to try and start doing more of a a show similar to yours kind of thing, bringing people in and do an interview with mostly the life coaches and people in the field of ministry that help others develop their faith and belief in themselves and live in a principle centered life.  The principles of the Bible,  studying the self and personal development program, everything, everybody offers and everything, all the principles that they teach are pretty much right out of the Bible, no matter what they're applying them to. Yeah. It's all about being authentic with yourself, being who you truly are and accepting yourself for who you are, letting go of all that, not worrying about what others think of you and everything else like that. And not having no false pretenses, no ulterior motives, just being able to be yourself and love who you are, in the life that you live, but like I said, life is the greatest gift you'll ever receive. It's up to you. , it's your choice every day, what you do.

Russ Johns: [00:18:15] Absolutely. Absolutely. I love that concept. I love the idea that, we all have an opportunity to share something that is important for others and you've been such a great supporter for the community and I just really appreciate it. Thank you so much for being here. So again, what's the name of the Facebook group that people should follow and join.

Michael Baker: [00:18:36] It's within you, spiritual pages, spiritual guidance. It's within you as the name of the group and anybody wanting to connect with me on Facebook or on LinkedIn also as well.

Russ Johns: [00:18:49] Fantastic. JD says, accepting yourself is the key. Absolutely. Yeah,  we all have flaws. We all have imperfections and I'm perfectly okay with my imperfections. You can help the helpless but you can't help the unwilling. So it's really important for us to know that we can improve our lives. We can improve our situations and connect with Michael. He's an awesome individual that's putting out a lot of positive information and love the fact that you're here. Michael, thanks so much for finally connecting with us. So I know you've been around for a long time. So any last words before we wrap up?

Michael Baker: [00:19:32] Yeah, I was just thinking you gotta remember that you don't have to do as you think others expect you to. You gotta be true to you. Be true to yourself, you don't have to do as you think others expect you to, and we, a lot of times, I am the same way. When I visit my hometown, where I grew up and stuff like that, they say, oh,you've changed. As soon as you get back, you're a different person. When you get around people you grew up with yourself like that because you go back to doing what others expect you to do it because of how you've done it in the past.  And you just gotta be yourself and you don't have to do as you think others expect you to. You can change, you can. You have to at some point. You gotta grow up and take responsibility and grow. That's what it's all about, growth. So setting your goals and developing the discipline to achieve them.

Russ Johns: [00:20:14] Absolutely. Sheila says to thine own be true. Absolutely. And Nick is in the house. Another pirate, Nick Gemmell. So how you doing Nick hope you're well, hope you're staying safe in the great white north. Actually, it's not white right now. I'm sure, but it's a great time. Michael, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate the fact that we were able to connect. I hope you have a fantastic week. Anything that we can do to help out. And everybody connect with Michael. He's an awesome individual, spreading a lot of great positive information. I love the fact that you're able to join us today live. If you're listening to this in the future, please like, comment and share, leave a review, all the social shenanigans that takes place that allows us to continue to grow. I would love to connect with you. Follow us, join us. And let's have some fun in the #PirateBroadcast also. Thank you, Michael. Appreciate you being here.

Michael Baker: [00:21:19] Have a fantastic week.

Russ Johns: [00:21:22] Thanks. And as always, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree, so you #enjoytheday. Take care, everyone.

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