welcome back to the podcast uh george wright the third here we're here with uh jason redmond uh just an insane opportunity to be able to get with this guy just uh you know a world-class speaker author expert i mean and and he's got some lessons and stuff i've been really digging into and i'm pretty excited about so welcome to the podcast man george thanks for having me on yeah i mean fate would have it. We got the opportunity to spend time with you and you're in demand and in demand is tough to get with. So I appreciate you being here with us. For people that maybe don't know you, can you just give the backdrop, the story, like who you are and then we can dig into what you're about, but just give us kind of the backstory. Man, I am the American dream story. You know, young kid, had dreams, joining the military, becoming a Navy SEAL, didn't have a whole lot of money um that the military and the SEAL teams gave me tremendous opportunities to grow and learn you know moved up and rank even got recommended for a commission you know as with many great stories the fall I got a little arrogant got it got ahead of myself and almost got myself kicked out of the SEAL teams and really had to rebuild myself it's it's a redemption story and came back and rebuilt myself as a leader uh got back on the right path earned back, trust and respect and credibility of my teammates. Everything was good. And I found myself on the receiving end of an enemy machine gun in Iraq, shot eight times between my body and body armor. You know, for many of us, I call these the end moments, thought it was the end, both figuratively and literally. But out of that hospital bed kind of grew just this new idea. Hey, you pulled yourself out of this leadership failure hole. So guess what? We're going to drive forward out of this and wrote a bright orange sign that went on my hospital door that went viral all across the country. It's been seen by millions of people at this point, earned invitation to the white house to meet president Bush. And the sign basically said, Hey, attention to all who enter here. If you come in this room, there better be no pity. I, I am going to overcome. I will overcome. And that has become the motto and the foundation of everything that I teach on, um, driving forward, New York times, bestselling author. I've got four books now. Um, literally it's funny. Um, Grant, Elena Cardone in the background. Uh, I won grants, uh, great American speak off earlier this year, beat out 26,000 other people. Um, and not something you had been doing. You just, you've evolved in a lot of different ways. I mean, yeah, but you know, overcoming up, I mean, man, there's so many things and you, you now are known for your leadership, your acumen when it comes to this area. But I'm just curious, if you go back to this situation that you were in, how do you, in your, I mean, you had, you talk about overcoming leadership and then coming back and now have overcome this. What was going through your mind? I mean, how do you, people are dealing with trials all the time, right? How did you, um, push yourself? You know, I think if you talk to any high level elite performer, all of them, I'll take Tiger Woods, take Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, take, I'm sure Grant Cardone, Donald Trump. In any aspect of life, you always go back to the basics. Hey, if things are starting to get off course, we go back to the basics. We want to make sure the basics are always rock solid. And in leadership, that was the case also. I think so many people focus on, you know, hey, when we think of leadership, we think of influencing other people around us. When the reality is it starts, the foundation of leadership starts with you. and most people mess this up. I did, man. As I grew up as a leader, I became a new Navy SEAL officer. I was doing the old thing of, hey, do as I say, not as I do. You're managing people, right? Yeah. Managing people and not setting the example in all aspects of my life. And it's kind of a big thing that I speak on now. If you tolerate, you've got to be elite. You've got to be the elite version of you in all aspects of your life. And then you need to carry this forward into your business. You know, those three categories, physical, personal, and professional. It doesn't mean you're going to be, it doesn't mean you're going to be this world-class athlete. It doesn't mean you're going to be a billionaire, but what it does mean is in those three categories, you have the ability to achieve the elite level of yourself. And if you sacrifice one of those areas, if you say, well, I'm going to be the elite version of myself here, but you're good here. You will always slide down to the lowest level you tolerate. Always. Same thing in a business. If you want to tolerate good or average in your business, the whole team will slide down to that lowest level that you tolerate. And that's what I was doing in my life. And that became the foundation. Hey, man, it's all about leading yourself. That is the number one baseline thing. And in all those areas, you're saying? All areas. You can't just put them aside, one side, and when you lead yourself, then extends into your business, right? Absolutely. The best advice I was ever given when I failed as a leader, like so many of us, we hit those the end moments or it's too late. The business failed, a marriage failed. I don't care what it is. You injure yourself and we buy into the lies. Oh, it's too late. You know, I can't recover from this. And those were things that I told probably one of the most respected SEAL leaders I'd ever worked under, a guy who just all across SEAL teams. And I remember when I failed, I got on a phone call with him and I said, hey, it's too late. I'm not able to recover from this, this crash and burn moment I'm having in my life. And he said, red, people will follow you if you give them a reason to. That's all leadership is. He said, I don't care how bad you've messed up. Humans follow success and sustained superior performance over time. Everyone will follow because we all follow success. That was the advice he was giving you at the time, even though you mentally, personally weren't really there, right? I wasn't, I wasn't, but I needed it. And I'll tell you what, It was exactly, it was the turning point for me, the start of a journey, because it wasn't like it just clicked into place. I think for anybody there takes some time. It's good to know, yeah. It was the brick laid in the foundation of leadership I started. Got it. And from that point forward, because I was in ranger school, I'd been sent to ranger school to grow up. Wow, yeah. on the verge of being kicked out of the military from failing and almost quitting ranger school and just started to read leadership books started to focus on me started to realize that the majority of the problems in my life 90 of them were from this guy right here And most of the time The level of responsibility though that people have to take, right? I mean, is that- Yes. Did you recognize that or did it take- It took time. No, man, I had the victim mindset. Okay. I talked to a lot of people about that. You know, humans, we love to be victims. Yeah, right, right. Oh, my business failed. You know, it's this person's fault. It's the market's fault. It's my competitor's fault. It's my partner's fault, whatever it is. And very rarely do we take a step back and own, well, you know what, man? There were indicators that I should have pivoted this way because the market was sending signs. Hey, there were indicators that my marriage was failing. My wife was talking to me, but I was ignoring her or my partner, whatever it is. And there's a level of ownership that has to happen in anyone. Do you need external help for that? Or I mean, like at what point, because you're in this now leadership training and you're in that area that a lot of people just aren't willing to take it or maybe they don't see it or maybe they have a hard time. And how important is it to have like you had this command leader that you that had that gave you that comment and message that helped you to recognize it? I think coaches and mentors are huge. Being around people who are successful, who are willing to give you advice and even sometimes people you may not like. Yeah. That's what happened to me. My platoon chief, we did not get along at all. He butted heads. he was half my problem, but it wasn't because of him. It was because of me. Our personalities clashed, our leadership styles were different. At the time you probably didn't think it was because of you. It was probably all him, right? Yeah. You're like, come on, man. Yeah. This guy's throwing me under the bus. Now in hindsight, you're like, all right, I threw myself under the bus and you know, so, so yes, absolutely. So your journey probably started before that happened though, right? Before like, for example, your, your, your situation in Iraq, you had already been started on that journey? Oh, 100%. Oh, long before. As a matter of fact, this is what I tell people, you know, be thankful. I speak on two things, the three rules of leadership, how we lead ourselves, how we lead others, how we lead always. Critical foundation of the leadership. There's more from there. Secondary component is how do we build a relentless elite overcome mindset? Those two things together, you can accomplish anything. Yes. an overcome mindset is built by doing hard things, by going through hard moments. Be thankful for the crisis, the adversity, the failure you find in your life, because when you navigate through it, that's what builds this overcome mindset or your overcome muscles. For me, SEAL training had started to do that. Ranger school helped. My failure as a leader and navigating through that was continuing to build it and build lessons. And all of that set me up for success when I was grievously wounded. I mean, four years, 40 surgeries. That set you up to know that you are going to view that situation as a point for you to be able to overcome. That's right. An opportunity, a hard opportunity. A lot of hard moments going through that. But I knew, and no different than anyone else, I call them life ambushes. I survived this vicious enemy ambush, but everybody in life will walk into life ambushes. The bullets and bombs of life can be more devastating than the actual bullets and bombs of battle. And in battle, we get stuck on the X, which is the point of attack, the point of crisis. But in life, people get stuck on the X. And teaching them how to overcome, how to drive forward, how to get off that X. And there's all these reasons why we'll sit there and feel sorry for ourselves, sit on the X. Some people sit on it forever. I mean, it's like you got to move. Absolutely. No different than in battle. the longer you sit on the axe and feel sorry for yourself the the the more likely you will bleed out and die when i say bleed out and die in combat obviously that's physical yeah but in life it's emotionally mentally financially yeah you know socially spiritually all these things how important was it for you to make that declaration you talk about the orange sign that went viral right how important was it for you to literally declare like was that the way you saw it it's like i'm gonna make this statement it is what it is it's not for anybody else but me but right But I'm going to set the parameters around what I'm going to be. And that statement then drove you to move forward, right? So there's four principles of building an elite mindset and becoming the elite version of you. Number one, elite performers lead always. So regardless of the good, the bad, the ugly, those three principles I talked about, lead yourself, lead others, lead always. It's critical we do that. Number one. Number two, elite performers build and overcome mindset. So no matter what adversity comes our way, we don't get in this whole thing of, oh, that's not fair. I did everything right. Guess what? Bad things happen to good people all the time. Number three, elite performers have a mission. The SEAL teams have a high-level mission. But what I've come to find in life is every human who can establish a mission, the sign on the door became my new mission. And even this day, it holds me accountable. I'm the sign on the door guy. I'm the overcome guy. You don't have time to sit here and feel sorry for yourself. People are looking up to you. I ask people, what do you want your sign on the door to say? If you've never written down a mission statement and it doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be this dissertation. Yeah. Don't overthink it. Right. That's right. One, you know, it can be a simple thing. I want to be the best, most successful mom, dad, brother, sister, entrepreneur, boss. I don't care what it is. And these are the traits that I want to exhibit at all times. Write it down, put it on the wall, look at it day in and day out. because I'll tell you what, when things get hard, we forget. And it's a reminder to us, like, that's who I am. I need to get to the gym. I need to deal with this problem in business. I need to, I need to take some time and be with my wife and kids. Cause guess what? That's important to me also. And then number four, elite performers live greatly. And, and this is kind of an interesting, it's a concept that I came up with cause I've lost so many friends. We have a tendency in this life to just think, oh, I'll get, we all procrastinate and we all think that, uh, we'll feel sorry for ourselves when we lose someone or something bad happens and we'll kick the can down the road. And I'll tell them, man, living greatly is about, you don't know, all of us are going to die. One guarantee in this life, no matter what happens. Yeah, it's happening. We're all checking out at some point and you don't know when that point is. And living greatly is trying every day to be the best version of yourself and not allowing fear and doubt and all the normal things that stop everyone else from being successful. So it's two part. Number one the people who are no longer here friends family that are no longer here I believe that they looking down on us And if you are the elite version of yourself you are honoring them Yeah represent Yeah They like oh my gosh you know I may not be here, but guess what? George is killing it, man. That guy is just leading by example. Like, I'm so proud of that guy. And then- You got to use that to help you in the moment, right? It should be a reminder. Got it. Like every day, you don't know when you, It could be tomorrow. Your day could be tomorrow. I am unique. Not many of us get a second chance to face death and then get to come back and get a second one. Yeah. On the door of death. Yeah. Right. Well, and I'll tell you, when I lay there bleeding out, I had regrets. I thought about the things that I wish I hadn't done. More so, I thought about the things I wish I had done. I wish I spent more time with my family. I wish I had done these other things. And I don't ever, this next go around, that will never happen again, man. I'm going after everything I can on the business side, on the personal side with my family. So don't be those timid souls who, if you've thought about starting a business, if you've thought about, if you've thought about whatever it is, today's the day. You should be doing it today. Because guess what? Even if you start today and tomorrow you're checking out, you will go, you know what, man, at least I went after it. You won't go to the grave wondering what if. Yeah. What if. Well, I guess if you put yourself in the mindset of knowing and thinking about that, it will push you back into the moment. Definitely push you back into the moment. I love that. I love that. And, you know, I think that, you know, you've said some things that a lot of people think about, you know, mission statement, have a mission purpose. But how important is it to have that way you do things to greatness and mission ahead of time before the obstacles come rather than trying to do it after so it will push you through, right? I tell people you can't build an overcome mindset in easy times. You can't look down the road and be like, oh, I'm going to get tough when things go wrong. It doesn't work that way. Your ability to lead yourself, all these things are frameworks and it's in the SEAL teams, we call it muscle memory. we got to build it put 50,000 rounds through a gun when we're shooting so that in combat, we don't even think about it. It just becomes a reaction. Life has to be that same way. Your ability to do the hard things when it's actually hard. If you can do the hard things when it's easy, then when the storms of life come along, you're able to do it. So all these things are frameworks to be able to deal with. We have a saying, anybody can be a frog man, a seal on a sunny day. It's when the world is burning down around you, when bulletin bombs are flying and it's 20 degrees and you're freezing to death. It's in those moments you still have to function. Life is no different. Well, I love that because I'm a big believer in personal development, personal growth, business. Obviously, that's why my Phoenix logo is all about evolving from reborn from nothing, right? And everybody through their life will go through these cycles, right? Mind, body, money, business, and everything. But at the end of the day, I think, how important is it to surround yourself with the right people? And then what do you find? You are now traveling the world and you're around a lot of people. And I'm sure they're coming up to you inspired and motivated and excited. But what are the biggest things holding people back? Because they're going to hear your message and they're going to hear these messages and say, that's great. I agree. I love it. But what's keeping them from going to the next level? And I like how you said, always force yourself into difficult situations. But what do you think are the big obstacles keep of people? Is it all their limiting beliefs? Is it all their personal story? What is it that you're finding because you have had so many people through your work, your books and things become transformational? What's holding them back? They are. They are. I fully believe it. Knowledge and awareness that they're that, or is it just everything is stacked up? You know, I think it's everything stacked up, but at the end of the day, it's a failure to take action. Action is the answer. Imperfect action over a perfect plan a thousand times over will beat someone with the perfect plan who sits here and doesn't do anything because they procrastinate, they doubt, I'll get to it tomorrow, whatever it is. It is about action, period. And from there, it's about visual. I'm a big visualization guy. I, I, I, and, and some of the questions I often ask people when I'm coaching them is, is your leadership, is your current leadership taking you where you want to go? Okay. And map that out for the next 10 years. And, and if you currently are what you're doing and, and you can say personally, physically, and professionally and all those areas, it's taking you where you want to go in 10 years. Most people, the answer is no. Yeah. They're not. Yeah. And they know that. And exactly. And they, and, but they continue to do the same things thinking that something is going to change. So what do you want to accomplish? Now it becomes the why, why do you want to do it? Because it needs to be super powerful. Is it your family? I have a reason behind it. That's right. Cause that'll drive you. Make sure you write that down. That becomes your sign on the door that you're going to drive by. And then how are you going to do it? What changes do you need to make now? What action do you need to take? Is it a pivot in your business? Is it a new business? Is it investing in something else? Is it, you know, you need to hire a trainer. Is it, you know, I need a marriage counselor because I need to fix some things in my life. Get specific. Is it saying, I'm sorry? One of the most powerful phrases you can say to build. Powerful but hard for a lot of people, right? A lot of people don't want to admit they're wrong. And you know, the most amazing thing about those words is sometimes you might not even be wrong. But you can own it and just say, I'm sorry. But if you want to move forward. That's right. Yeah. Interesting. I'm curious, a couple of last things and we'll let you get back to it, but what's your vision? Where are you looking to go over the next couple of years? Like, what do you want to accomplish in your life? Because you're making significant impact right now. You're living on purpose. You're driven by a mission. What is your goal of where you're trying to take your life? So I am two years into a 10-year plan. And the plan had already started to evolve before I fell into this new technology company that was in alignment with one of my missions I love our military I a huge military and veteran advocate. And we have served in the longest war in American history that's taken a tremendous toll on our veteran community. After World War II, our veterans came home and they were the foundation of many businesses across this country. They started farms or they came back to build farms. They started major businesses, Patagonia. Man, there's just a ton right now. I'm not walking on, but there's a lot of businesses that came out of World War II that shaped us for the future. That is not happening today at the same level. We're having a small group of veterans, but the majority are not. Why is that? I think for many of them, it's some of the dynamics that are occurring in our country, it's very divided. Many of them have a little bit of bitterness, like why did I go serve when there's so many people who take for granted the American dream? There's a narrative out there that the American dream is dead, which is unequivocally not true. So what I would like to see, this new technology company we have, it's called TurboVets, and we are utilizing high-level AI and automation integration technology to bring all veteran and service member benefits together into one ecosystem, connecting all these disparate platforms across VA, DOD, corporate, and nonprofit with my mission. How do we help every veteran identify and accomplish their American dream? Whatever that is. Love it. Maybe it's owning a farm. Maybe it's owning their own business. Maybe it's reaching a certain level in that business within their own goals and dreams. And I personally believe that can help drive our country back into the next, you know, 100 years of success. And you're using your platform and your brand and your mission to help bring that about. Absolutely. Wow. We need to make them aware. There are three components of it. We need to make the veteran aware. All the tools you learn in the military, those four components of elite performance, all things they teach in the military. Why are you not using it in the civilian war? Yeah. Like, let's go. It's connecting them to the resources There's a lot of amazing non-profits The VA has tons of resources and benefits They've just made it insanely difficult to receive them We need to cut through that red tape We need to make sure our veterans know what they're eligible for And we need to automate that process Expedite them getting it And then that third component is technology We're able to use technology and AI To be able to make all this happen Customize Say, George, here's what you did You did XYZ Here's what you're eligible for. Let's go. Let's duplicate. Oh, by the way, this is what your spouse is eligible. This is what your kids are eligible for. You sacrificed X amount of years for the American dream. Let's make sure you accomplish yours. Those ripple effects will benefit our country. Well, and with the rate and speed at which technology, AI, and things are available, look, there's never been a better time to do things quickly, effectively, and do that. So that's amazing. How can people connect with you? Where's the best way to connect with you? My main website, jasonredman.com. You can find me. I am still speaking. I won't lie. I've scaled back speaking just to focus on this because it's so critical. But from there, all my socials are on there. You can message me. My team will get it and pass it along. Yeah, and I can put some links in the stuff we're doing because at the end of the day, you've got phenomenal content, great from a level of inspiration, motivation, education, leadership, training. With the podcast we're doing with Franklin Planner, I think leadership and living on purpose and mission, very aligned. So we'll have to connect on that for sure. But I appreciate you spending time with us, man. Yeah. I know you're passionate about it. So you got a lot going on. is probably why you're scaling back some speaking too, because you're like, I got priorities too, life, purpose, and then this purpose you have around this mission of helping veterans and doing that, that's a big lift. It's big. I like that you said a 10-year plan, not a two-year, three-year plan. You're in this for the hall. I am. And I think those are realistic expectations. We need to make sure where we're at, the impact that I want to have for my family and my life, your legacy. Generational impact, a legacy. Yeah. And I want to see, man, I sacrificed 21 years of my life for our country. I sacrificed my body. I almost sacrificed my life. I have so many friends that did. Like, I want to know that our country is going to continue to be successful for my kids and grandkids and my great grandkids. That takes all of us. But I truly believe no one more so than our veterans understands these things. There are a lot of Americans that take for granted what we have here because they don't know there are people that want to spin this narrative that we're a bad place but they've never been anywhere else they've never seen yeah no perspective really they don't man well the military has such a foundation of leadership skills and training and stuff that that to what you're saying is not being utilized the vets that have like you know what i'm saying they're not using it in the civilian world they're not in the civilian world which Which benefits from this amount of leadership level that can come in. That's right. But I like what you said, but it's awareness, just like it is for individuals and civilians. It's awareness of you being able to take responsibility for your life, just like it is with veterans, right? But I think there's a layer, I guess my point is there's a layer of foundational leadership skills that can be so instrumental in country overall. And we need it. And we need it. We need it right now. There's a lot of people that are sitting back and they don't want to lead. They're just, um, we're just not getting involved or people are not stepping up, you know, more and more people are, uh, our veterans understand this and we need to encourage them. Hey man, I don't care if you were a corporal or a colonel, you understand leadership. You understand teamwork. You understand how to overcome adversity. You owe it to our country to get back out there and show them. And you don't have to do anything. All you need to do is be successful. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yeah, do what you know what to do, and then build up the confidence to make sure they understand that. Let's give you the tools to do it. I love it. Cool. Make sure you have them. Jason, appreciate you being here, man. Yeah, it's nice. Appreciate it. Thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah.
