Doug Wyatt: Breaking Chains From Poor Health to Peak Performance

What separates those who merely survive from those who truly thrive? Doug Wyatt's remarkable journey from a poor country kid to a multimillion-dollar business leader offers profound insights into sustainable success.

Doug opens up about his dramatic physical transformation, shedding 82 pounds and completely rebuilding his health after reaching a crisis point at age 32. Rather than quick fixes, he reveals how small, consistent changes—from quitting soda to establishing a morning workout routine—created compounding results that eventually transformed every area of his life.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Doug shares his time-optimization strategy that allows him to consume four hours of personal development content before most people have finished their first cup of coffee. By listening at 2x speed during his morning routine, he's able to continuously feed his mind while preparing his body for peak performance.

Perhaps most compelling is Doug's vulnerable discussion about overcoming childhood trauma and how his father's suicide became a catalyst for his passion to improve human communication. This emotional depth grounds his business philosophy in something far more meaningful than profit margins—though his methods have proven extraordinarily effective at building profitable enterprises.

Through practical frameworks like his "reticular activating system" concept, Doug demonstrates how our beliefs filter our perception of reality, affecting everything from our health choices to our sales outcomes. He challenges listeners to examine where they might be surrendering their power by blaming external circumstances rather than focusing on internal solutions.

Whether you're struggling with health challenges, business growth plateaus, or relationship difficulties, this episode delivers actionable wisdom that integrates the spiritual, physical, and practical dimensions of creating a truly successful life. As Doug powerfully states, "You cannot have results and excuses at the same time."

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Doug's Journey
• 17:40 Breaking Out of Unhealthy Patterns
• 35:52 The Power of Morning Routines
• 53:39 Overcoming Mental Limitations
• 1:09:25 Turning Personal Tragedy Into Growth
• 1:26:21 Building Success Without Compromising Values
• 1:40:26 Final Thoughts and Resources

Transcript

Corey Berrier: 1:27

Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast. I'm your host, Corey Berrier, and I'm here with my man, Doug Wyatt. What's up, brother?

Doug Wyatt: 1:35

Hey Corey, how's it going, brother? It is going incredibly well. It is what we make it right.

Corey Berrier: 1:41

It is what we make it. So I'm super excited to have this conversation with you, doug. You've done so many things that really you've come from absolutely nothing a bit of a country boy and I know you've played college basketball. You've built sales teams with door-to-door sales teams with 500 different kids during that college stint when you were playing basketball. I know you've had some partnership in about nine different restaurants. I'm just going to go down the line here. I've got a couple other things I've written down here. And then you jumped into a small HVAC and plumbing company, which is where our similarities are Growing that company in Colorado to an Inc. Is it 500 or 5,000? I believe it's Inc 5,000.

Doug Wyatt: 2:32

It was Inc 5,000 for us. There is an Inc 500 and a 100, but we were in the top 1,600.

Corey Berrier: 2:37

Yeah, fair enough, not too shabby. So I know that you are Not too shabby. You've trained and currently train every manufacturer that anybody could possibly list. Two-time Linux partner of the year, which is like ridiculous. And amongst all of that, you've trained about 7,000 different technicians and built an all natural sleep aid company. This almost sounds like a jack of all trades, and I know you it's exhausting just hearing it. Yeah, right, and you work with.

Corey Berrier: 3:10

You've got like seven different countries, some where I barely can pronounce, but those of countries that people would know of Australia, canada, us, new Zealand, israel, america, guam and probably some more that I didn't quite write down. But today though, doug, you and I have become very good friends and I value you. I really I value you as a person, as a friend, as even a mentor at times, and, interestingly, I remember the last time that we were on the podcast we, well before that you were telling me about your research with the sleep aid supplement that you had developed, and then you really scared the daylights out of me about the Ambien I was taking, and successfully. Really scared the daylights out of me about the Ambien I was taking, and successfully. I've not taken any Ambien since that day.

Doug Wyatt: 3:57

It sounds like I did successfully put the fear in your heart and your mind.

Corey Berrier: 4:00

A hundred percent, and I appreciate that. And one of the things like you, you've done a lot of things, and so today I want to talk about how you've had the energy to do all those things, because it's a lot of freaking things. You should be like 140 by now with that kind of resume, and clearly you're not boy, you're barely cracking 40, it looks like, but anyhow. So, doug, tell me let's dive into that how have you had the energy to do all these things? It's a lot of stuff to you.

Doug Wyatt: 4:36

Well, I appreciate that. Corey, let me just say thank you for having me back on. I don't remember how long exactly it seems like it was just yesterday that I was on, but I know it wasn't, because you and I have developed a true kinship, a brotherhood and a friendship over the last probably six months to a year, whatever it's been since I first met you literally daily communication, and I think it's one thing to be invited on to one of the world's most successful podcasts, it's another thing to be invited back, and so I don't take this opportunity or this responsibility lightly, corey, and I just I really appreciate you. You have become like a brother to me. I'm so excited to hear that you're not taking that prescription sleep aid. That can do a lot of damage. I also apologize, because it sounds like there's no chance of them ever getting a sponsorship. We're going to pay you after what you just said. I want to be careful, though, because I don't want either one of us to get sued.

Doug Wyatt: 5:27

But listen, there's so much going on with our health, and you mentioned a lot of things that I've done. I haven't always been a healthy guy, but I've always been driven. I've always figured out a way to motivate myself, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of really big goals, as Jim Collins would say, a BHAG, a big, hairy, audacious goal and so I just keep putting those out there, writing those things down, visualizing, and then health. I would love to talk about that today, corey, we can talk about some business things, some leadership things, some training things. I love to speak about all of that, but without our health right, we only get one body and we have to live in that body. And if we feel lethargic, if we're not sleeping well, if we're exhausted, we're not going to have the energy to achieve any of our other goals. And that could be business, it could be financial, it could be relationship, it could be spiritual and, of course, our health and fitness. And I think the crazy thing is, the more out of shape we are, the more tired we are, and the better in shape, the more we get up, maybe sacrifice some sleep, or more disciplined in our nutrition, in what we're putting into our body, what time we're waking up All of a sudden, even though we're doing more and we're awake longer, we have more energy. So I would love to talk about that, especially with a man like you, corey.

Doug Wyatt: 6:44

Congratulations on your sobriety. I know it's many years now that you've been sober. You're doing ice baths. I know just recently you and I were chatting, brother, you are down to 7.7% body fat and then you also mentioned that I look like I'm approaching 40. I'll be 50 in about 30 days. So I appreciate that, man. I'm just trying to get better, just a little bit better every single day, as I know you are. We are the average of those that we surround ourselves with, and I appreciate being in your circle, brother, because you inspire me to keep pressing and keep pushing harder.

Corey Berrier: 7:18

I appreciate that. So was there a time, doug, and if I remember I'm not sure if we talked about it on the show, but I just know from other conversations like my so I was a fat kid kid, I'll just say it, but it was. It could be. Oh well, it's not bad genes, because if it's bad genes I guess I'd still be fat. So I can't really blame it on that. But I think there was a time where you were not as trim and fit as you are today. And so what? Take us back to that time.

Doug Wyatt: 7:53

Well, yeah, you're absolutely right. So growing up I was not a fat kid. I was thin, razor thin. I couldn't put on weight. I tried to eat. I was trying to be an athlete.

Doug Wyatt: 8:04

I played all the sports and I can remember like eating all the leftovers and we didn't have a lot growing up. You mentioned that my father reminded my brother and I can remember like eating all the leftovers and we didn't have a lot growing up. You mentioned that my father reminded my brother and I every day growing up that we had it good, because he grew up in a one room shanty shack just north of the Arkansas border in Southwest Missouri around Forsyth, and he had no running water and no electricity. They had a stove, they had an outhouse 50 yards outside of the front door and the floor was dirt and that's the way he lived until the eighth grade. So as we were growing up, he reminded us that we had it good and we did. Compared to that, I wore hand-me-downs until I was in the seventh grade, got my first new pair of shoes, some Vias, which were about as heavy as bricks, but they were cool. They were my first new pair, first brand name pair of shoes, and that was when I made the seventh grade basketball team and then basketball became my ticket out of town. I bailed a lot of hay, I worked on tractors and mowers and dirt bikes all those things. I'm pretty good with a wrench but I didn't enjoy it because my dad was hard to get along with. But I was very thin and then I got a college basketball scholarship, played a couple of years of college ball and you had mentioned that. I started that door-to-door sales company and before you know it I was expanding. I was hiring college kids, we were selling pizza coupon books.

Doug Wyatt: 9:20

Once I had some crews built in Colorado, I went over to Utah and then went to California, nevada and Arizona and really got excited about building something and scaling and training. And during that time is where okay, now I'm not a college athlete and even though I was really in really good shape, fit, still rather trim but muscular, all of a sudden I'm smoking cigarettes. All of a sudden I I'm drinking a 64-ounce vat of soda, literally those big old jugs. I don't know if they still have them, but I would go into like a 7-Eleven and I would fill that thing up and I would sit there and drink 64 ounces of soda in a day and sometimes get a refill. I was on the road a lot because we were knocking on doors.

Doug Wyatt: 10:06

And then I'm traveling and I'm starting to eat fast food. And then I invested and got partnered in those restaurants. They were six Papa Murphy's and three Subways that you mentioned. And before you know it, it's like I'm going to eat a pizza today and then I'm eating another foot long sub sandwich and that stuff listen, it's tasty but it's not necessarily good for you. And then I got, we started really expanding that HVAC and plumbing company that you mentioned and before you know it, some of the world's largest heating and air conditioning manufacturers offered me and another guy the opportunity to go out and train. We trained a thousand business owners in the trades and 7,000 technicians that you mentioned.

Doug Wyatt: 10:49

And all of a sudden, it wasn't that I couldn't afford good food, it wasn't that I didn't have access to good food, it was that we were being treated to very lavish dinners out with territory managers and distributors and manufacturers, and they're just putting their cart down. And so I'm ordering big bowls of spicy pasta and all the sauces, having a whiskey on an ice ball, and, yeah, the waiter's coming over the maitre d' whatever, and they're like. Would you like another? Yeah, and all of a sudden I'm having a couple of whiskeys at dinner, I'm drinking a very heavy beer, I'm eating pastas and heavy meats and steaks, eating late, and then guess what, corey? Now I'm making justifications that I'm too tired, I'm working too hard, I deserved it, I had to relax a little bit, unwind, and then all of a sudden, I'm not getting up and going to that hotel gym. And then when I get home, I'm like I got to get back on the road in two days, so I'm going to invest some time with the family. Now, even though I have a gym at my house, I'm not working out, I'm not going to the gym. And I started to make justifications.

Doug Wyatt: 11:54

Corey, what did that result in? Over a couple of years, I went from college athlete and then I look up a decade later, I've been smoking for 10 years. I'm drinking, I'm eating fast food, I'm eating nice food in nice restaurants, very high calorie rich foods, and I gained 82 pounds. Food in nice restaurants, very high calorie rich foods, and I gained 82 pounds. And so I tipped the scales at about at six foot three. I tipped the scales right around 250, about 248 and a half, and I was literally, I'd like to say I was a shell of myself. But I started looking at myself in the mirror, like I think many of us have done. And I'm standing there, I'm getting in the shower, and it got to the point where I didn't even want to look at myself in the mirror. I was so disgusted at what I saw compared to what I had been.

Doug Wyatt: 12:38

And then I tell you when it really started to make a difference, or when I hit that tipping point, I started it and I think many of us as men can probably relate to this. I started wearing my shirt to bed to go to bed with my wife and I'm talking about to have intimacy, to be intimate, and I'm turning the lights off and I'm wearing my shirt to get into bed to be intimate with my spouse. And that was where I was like I got to make a change and so I did, and now I continue to push myself. Let's see, I stopped smoking about 15 years ago. Five years ago, I swore off soda, and I love soda, I love sugar. I didn't get that kind of stuff growing up, so I swore off soda. I'll never have another soda in my life. That was about five years ago now.

Doug Wyatt: 13:25

Two years ago I said I have to quit drinking. I've never I've been fortunate, corey. I've never been an alcoholic, I've never been through AA. But what I did realize as I got into my mid forties, I'm just not me, like I am trying to power through my days. I'm not me. When I have had a drink or two the night before, I'm a little more lethargic. I probably don't get up and work out. If I do work out, my workouts are lackluster and then all of a sudden it's like man, I'm starting to. I lost a lot of weight, I'd put some weight back on. And so I just said two years ago, corey, now two and a half, no more alcohol. So I haven't had a drink in about two and a half years.

Doug Wyatt: 14:05

And then this year, corey, I was already in pretty good shape. I was rolling in at about 190 and rather fit. And then a group of people from around the country that you and I know Josh, crouch and Brittany now Crouch, they just got married was at their wedding last weekend down in Sedona. They, along with some others, my director of product development, bryce Thomas, we started 75 hard and we started that on January 1. We're drinking a gallon of water, we're turning the pages in a book which I already do a lot of personal development. I'm doing two workouts a day 45 minutes outside, 45 minutes inside and everything else. That is with 75 hard. And, corey, I'll be honest with you, I said a year ago on my birthday, when I turned 49, by this July I'm going to be in the best shape of my life, Better than when I was in high school, better than when I was in college, and 75 hard was that final piece. And so I shed another roughly 26 pounds and just got shredded.

Doug Wyatt: 15:03

This year. My gal is incredibly fit. She looks like a fitness model and, I'll be honest with you, corey, we love the beach and I didn't want to be walking next to her on the beach holding hands, and people see us coming and go wow, that guy must be rich. You know what I mean by that. It's like those memes right, you got like the 400 pound guy and he's got the beautiful gal next to him and they're like wow, he must have a lot of money, he must have a big boat, right, or whatever. So I don't want to be that guy. So I just I push myself even more. And so now, as I wake up today, corey, I feel like I can honestly have an authentic conversation with a man like you, with the audience today, because I was fit and I was fat and I rollercoastered back and forth and finally, when I just became consistent and I got a little older, a little wiser, and I said I got one body and I got big goals and I'm never gonna even come close to achieving what I wanna achieve in this body in this lifetime if I don't get serious about my health and my fitness. So we can talk today if we have some time. I just started my next round of the next thing I'm doing to push myself even further, and I'm not quite at 7.7% body fat, but I am hovering right around 10, 10 and a half. So I'm constantly chasing your success, corey, and like you that are doing the hard things.

Doug Wyatt: 16:23

Getting up at the three or the 4am. I got a buddy named Billy Grigas down in Winter Haven, florida. He's running a company called Integrity HVAC. He hit his tipping point not too long ago, like a couple of years ago. The guy is a beast. I think he might have aspirations now of getting on a stage and competing on those little skivvies and those little speedos, because the guy is just incredible.

Doug Wyatt: 16:45

But he sends me texts at like. Of course he's East Coast time, mountain time, but the guy's sending me texts at like. Of course he's East Coast, on Mountain Time, but the guy's sending me texts at like 1.32 in the morning. He is on fire, he's at the gym, he's waiting for them to open the gym and then he's running his full day. There's no way a man like you, a man like Billy and others that are high performers could do that if they're out late, drinking smoking, filling their bodies with junk. It's just not possible not to be the best. I'm not saying you can't be successful. I do believe at this point in my life you cannot be the best version of yourself if you're doing those things. So I'd love to have a conversation a little more in depth about that today if we have some time.

Corey Berrier: 17:21

Yeah, absolutely. I got to point out a couple of things. So 75 hard, those two 45 minute workouts one of them is outside, you're in Colorado. You started this in January. That's a whole different level of commitment than being in North Carolina and doing 75 hard.

Corey Berrier: 17:36

The other thing I wanted to talk about is so I've been through some of your amazing training with Synergy, which is you do this stuff online. You also do it live. And I remember and I think I texted you about this I remember there was a picture of you at an event I don't know how long ago it was and it was talking about, I guess it was. I'm not sure what it was talking about, but it pictured you at, I think, a carrier Brian event or something. And I texted you and I'm like I don't think that was you. Like I don't believe that was you, because that guy looks entirely different than the guy that I know. Like, entirely different. Like you put the two pictures side by side, you wouldn't be able to know that you're the same person. It's like a total transformation. So one plug for Synergy, because your training is so in-depth and it gives perspectives that most people don't even think about, and what I love about it is that you've injected so much really of that personal development side into the training, which is absolutely important.

Corey Berrier: 18:51

For one of the things that I remember specifically is you talk about the reticular activating system.

Corey Berrier: 18:58

A lot of people may not know what that means, but I'll just give a quick example, or maybe you want to give the example of what it is for people listening.

Corey Berrier: 19:07

I just think stuff like that is just so unique and absolutely needed in this industry and I'm going a little bit off topic here, but I just thought it was so important to bring that up, because there's a lot of training systems out there, there's a lot of people doing training, but what you've put together is unlike anything that I've ever seen and I've been through all the trainings like I've been through. I won't name names, but I've been through all the name brand trainings and they're all the same. They're all the same stuff packaged and a lot of them came from a different program from years ago and it's just packaged a little bit different way. Yours is just not that at all. It's just so unique and so different and so specific that if people haven't had an opportunity to check it out, I'm sure you'll give me a link that I can drop in here where people can go and watch the demo and it's just so in-depth and so well put together. And shout out to Bryce Because that dude, that dude's so good with video.

Doug Wyatt: 20:14

Like he's a winner. Yeah, Bryce has been by my side now for three years and he's incredible young man. He he's bald and he's got a big beard. He's got one of those big, beautiful beards where there's no way I could ever grow anything like that. But he's only 27 and when I show people that have met Bryce they're like a different Bryce. He doesn't look old, he carries himself and I always tease Bryce a little bit. I'm like brother, you are like a 50 year old, 70 year old man of wisdom trapped in a 27 year old body. That's a good thing, right, that's a really good thing.

Doug Wyatt: 20:45

But Bryce came to me a number of years ago as like a part-time gig. He has this incredible business as a young man. He's out there building a wedding videography business filming high-end celebrity weddings in like Aspen and Vail. He's got an entire team of people working for him and so my videographer was moving to Manhattan and so he connected me with Bryce to come in and fill the gap until I found somebody full-time. And it was a slow time for Bryce because most of his business comes in the summer when wedding season is going on in Colorado, and so he comes in and he thought we were just going to be filming me like changing out some garbage disposals or hauling a water heater up the stairs and, lo and behold, he doesn't do any of that because that's not my field of expertise. I know enough to be dangerous, but I focus on the effective communication. He's got 11 video editors that report to him within Synergy Learning Systems, working 40 hours a week, which means we produce 40 hours times 11 every single week.

Doug Wyatt: 21:41

We're cranking out content and I love the fact that you said it's different. I've read over 2000 personal development books. I would love to invest a little bit of time here sharing how our audience today can catch up and do some of that. I don't know if they can catch up with me because I'm doing two to six hours of personal development a day. I'm hacking that by listening at a faster speed and I'll talk through that a little bit, but I just want to say this you had mentioned one thing and I want to address it. You said it might be a little off topic, corey, I don't think there's anything that you and I could talk about today. I guess we really went off on a tangent we could, but off topic for a program and a podcast called the Successful Life Podcast, corey, it all fits, whether it's health, it's fitness, it's finance, it's relationships, it's the words we choose to share, it's our sales training. And so I will say one of the things that I think that we've done here at Synergy is that, yeah, of course, I've been influenced by a lot of the greats like Jim Rohn, right and Stephen Covey and Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar and Wayne Dyer and Tom Hopkins and all of those, and even the guys out there doing amazing stuff today, like Brian Burton and Nate Minnick over there at Waste no Day Amazing stuff that those guys are doing. I know those are friends of both you and I. Right, there's these amazing trainers out there in the space the Tommy Mellows and just the Andy Habaykas, all these guys that you and I know and just respect.

Doug Wyatt: 23:06

But I will say this when we put synergy together, I said we have to address the entire organism. It cannot just be a sales process, it cannot just be a tech process. We have to incorporate everything, and that goes to how do we interact with our children? How do we speak and communicate with our spouse or our significant others, with our parents, with our spouse or our significant others with our parents, because the more fulfilled that we are, the more energy that we will have, and that goes to our health and fitness. But it also goes to our mindset, and so I'm picking these off.

Doug Wyatt: 23:39

As you said, maybe I'm going backwards, but the reticular activating system is like a filter in our mind and that filter filters in things that we have grown to believe and it filters out things that we don't believe, and so we don't have to make this political today, but there's a tremendous amount of consternation and strife and conflict in our country and really all over the world when it comes to politics and which side of the aisle are you on? And one of the things that I can say is when people say, here's the evidence, it doesn't matter which side here the aisle are you on, and one of the things that I can say is when people say, here's the evidence, it doesn't matter which side here's the evidence, look at this video, look at this data, and then the other person literally can look right at it and see something completely different. And if you're wondering, how is that possible? How can they be so dumb or how can they be so unenlightened, or how can they not see it? It's right here, it's the reticular activating system.

Doug Wyatt: 24:31

So, when it comes excuse me, when it comes to the reticular activating system, if we're led to believe, based on our upbringing, where we are at some point, you mentioned genetics, as we started the show and then you caught yourself and you're like well, no, I guess if it was genetics, I wouldn't be where I am today, which I'm going to remind everyone. 7.7% body fat wouldn't be where I am today, which I'm going to remind everyone. 7.7% body fat, that's a guy who used to be the fat kid. And so if we say, well, I'm just too busy, then your reticular activating system will have you thinking, thoughts, taking actions that will prove yourself right. The reticular activating system and our subconscious mind will ensure that we prove ourselves right.

Doug Wyatt: 25:55

Whether we're wrong or we're right, we will prove ourselves right If we believe that people don't care about value and they only care about a cheap price. Our reticular activating system will filter in all of those times where the person just absolutely needed a cheap price, and it will filter out the ones where they were actually willing to pay our value. And so the reticular activating system is at work in our lives, whether we're asleep or whether we're awake, whether we're with our spouse or our kids, or with our team or with our customer, it never stops. And so if we believe sorry, I'm going to clear my throat If we believe one thing about a political party, about a candidate, about a customer, about a team member, our brain is going to seek out the things that prove us right, and so the reticular activating system in our health.

Doug Wyatt: 26:38

If we say, oh, I just have bad genetics, then you're going to continue to prove yourself right. You'll make decisions to go. It doesn't matter, because whatever I do doesn't work because of my genetics. If you likewise say you't work because of my genetics, if you likewise say you know what, maybe my genetics aren't great, it means I'm going to have to be even more disciplined. It means I'm going to have to work even harder. I'm going to have to write down my goals. I'm going to have to set my schedule. I'm going to have to get to bed earlier. I'm going to have to go. Then it means I'm going to have to study my processes. I'm going to have to make more money. I'm going to have to make those decisions. I'm going to not buy that new handbag or I'm not going to buy that new boat right now. I got to get my body right so that I have the energy to do all those other things.

Corey Berrier: 27:20

That's right and it goes. Yeah, I'll take this even a layer deeper. You mentioned the politics part of it. When, let's just say, you're on one side, I'm on the other, hypothetically, and I believe everything that I believe and you believe everything you believe, there's nothing wrong with what you believe or what I believe, except for we don't believe the same thing. So therefore, I'm right, you're wrong, I'm wrong, you're right, whichever.

Corey Berrier: 27:45

So one of the things that I think is very interesting is when folks are trying to convince another person that they're wrong or right. I'll have you think for a moment. It's not only that person. If I say, doug, you're wrong because you believe this side, not only am I calling you wrong, but I'm also calling your parents wrong. Only am I calling you wrong, but I'm also calling your parents wrong. I'm calling the people on your team also wrong that are close to you. So now I've not only offended you, it's offended you and your parents and the people, maybe your loved one, and so there's a lot more tied to that accusation or you being offended than just you, and I think a lot of people don't realize that.

Corey Berrier: 28:32

Guess what Ever how you grew up between ages zero and seven? That's when all of our habits were formed, and without clear action, without making a decision to change and break those I would say wiring in our brain, you're going to keep playing that stuff out from now till the end of time. And so if you say, well, it's just my genetics or it's just this, or it's just that's because it was programmed as a young person and you're the only person that can break that, nobody can break it for you. You have to make a decision. I'm going to do something different.

Doug Wyatt: 29:15

One of the things I talk about a lot in our training, corey, is that the victim mentality right, and this goes to every area of our lives, whether it's our health and fitness, our clothes rates, our revenue, our business. We can blame it on the economy, the interest rates, we can blame it on the stock market, we can blame it on consumer confidence, who's in office, we can blame on anything right. But here's what I say no matter what the challenge is, if you hear yourself saying I can't because of this, you have allowed yourself to become the victim. What I say is, if it's out there and you say, well, I can't do it because of this, that's your genetics, that's your interest rates, that's your mayor, that's the president, whatever it is the economy, interest rate, whatever, then you're saying I have no control and I can't solve it. As soon as we say, like Jocko Willink would talk about in extreme ownership, as soon as we say it's in here, it's in here. It might be harder. But if I say the challenge is out there and there's nothing that I can do to fix it, I have relinquished my ability to make effective change in my life, in my business, in my family.

Doug Wyatt: 30:19

So what I say is when we hear those limiting beliefs, those words that come up, that we hear those thoughts in our head. All of a sudden we got to say uh-uh, uh-uh, no, not today, not today. I'm going to say okay, that is a legitimate thing. Weather's not cooperating with me. Homeowners want a cheaper price. What am I going to do to combat that? What am I going to do to get better, be better at my marketing, be better on my phone, be better on my calls, be better on my repair versus replace, better on club memberships, better on my outbound reach programs, better in my closing sequences, without being a high pressure, pushy, sleazy salesperson, how do I get to where I can ask for the order multiple times without ever feeling pushy or sleazy? Those are the things that are within our control, right? So when I hear somebody say, oh, I can't because of this or it's just listen, I'm not saying there's not some reasons, but we can only have two things in life, but never at the same time Corey results or excuses. We cannot have both, not at the same time, right? So when I think about those things, I think what are the consistent actions that we can take? And, by the way, we have this seven foundations that we've created here at Synergy, the seven foundations of effective communication.

Doug Wyatt: 31:31

And so when you were talking about, if we say you should do this and you're saying you're offending your family, you're offending your heritage, you're offending all of the beliefs, that is going into foundation five that I call generalizations and transition statements. And we've got to get out of first person and second person sentence structure. First person is where we're saying I think second person is we follow that with. You should do this, you should lose some weight, you should eat more healthy, you should be on time, you should have a higher close rate. That is what I call critical parent or mother-in-law mode. And anytime we start going into critical parent or mother-in-law mode, it is not going to be good. It's like tell somebody on Facebook you should change your political affiliation, you should change your religion, you believe the wrong things, you believe in the wrong God or the wrong system. It's not going to work. We've got to work to get better on that. How do we do it?

Doug Wyatt: 32:23

Well, we go into third-person sentence structure. And I'm not talking about talking third person like a professional athlete would say I'm the fastest of all time. I'm talking about third person sentence structure where we go into using social proof, making us and remaining with likability, and so we can say something like most of our customers in similar situations. If we were having a conversation with a technician, we might say it sounds like you're concerned about close rates and the economy and all these customers that are worried about a cheap price. And then we would say, most of the time what we've learned we, not I most of the time what we've learned in situations like these. If we bear down and focus on the things that we can control and how we communicate with those people, the energy and the passion we bring to serving those people, then the majority of the time we can start to change that narrative and customers will still choose us in spite of a cheap price. That applies to every area of our lives, corey, you know it, I know it. The challenge is, if we haven't been through some of this training, if we haven't been through something like what we've created here at Synergy or some of the other great training programs, we're not even putting those thoughts in there and we're just allowing our reticular activating system to dominate our lives in a very bad way because we're allowing that negativity to filter in.

Doug Wyatt: 33:39

I like to say this, corey I don't know everything. In fact, I have a lot to learn. And how I do that, how I absolutely know that is every day. I work on myself Every day. When I get up, I'm listening to books, I'm listening to podcasts like yours. I'm learning from others, and it's really easy for some of us to go, oh well, that guy, that gal, he or she's a narcissist, thinks they know everything. Well, you know how I guard against that. I do think I have learned a lot, but I know I'm nowhere close to knowing anything about everything, because every day I learn something new. And if we can program ourselves to say, how do I get a little bit better today, we'll look up a week, a month, a year, 10 years from now and be a completely different person. I'm going to go back to what you said about how I looked on that stage and then I'll zip it, because I tend to get on these rants. I just love this stuff.

Doug Wyatt: 34:26

Corey, you were talking about a stage that I was on in front of about a thousand business owners down in Dallas. I didn't have a beard, I was about 70 pounds heavier than I am now and I didn't look like that guy. But you know what the funny thing is? People look at that picture and they go Doug, have you had work done? Like to my face? They go, doug you like literally Corey.

Doug Wyatt: 34:49

You said I had to put him side by side and I called you that day and said that's not you. And I said, oh yeah, that's me. If you think that one's bad, let me show you some other of my fat pics, right? And so when I look at that picture, I go what was I doing at the time? I was drinking beer, I was drinking whiskey, I wasn't getting good sleep, I wasn't taking supplements, I wasn't getting up and working out consistently. I wasn't getting good sleep, I wasn't taking supplements, I wasn't getting up and working out consistently. I wasn't doing all those things right, I was driven, I was working hard, I was making great money, but all those other things I wasn't doing.

Doug Wyatt: 35:17

So, okay, I had the money and then I didn't have the health, I didn't have the fitness and literally, corey, that was 15 years ago and I looked older at around 33 to 34 than I do right now as I get ready to turn 50. That's what's possible. If we start to focus on our health. I have more energy as I get ready to turn 50 than I did at 35. I have more passion. I have more enthusiasm, I'm a better communicator. All of those things are better than I was 15 years ago. And just one benefit is of I think I probably look younger. I got a little more gray, I got some gray hair that I didn't have back then, but everything else, corey, I feel better and I think a lot of people go dude, you look younger and it's because now I take care of myself consistently.

Corey Berrier: 36:03

And it didn't cost you. I think a lot of guys think that, well, you've mentioned this, I don't have time. I'm working, I'm running this business, or I just started this business, or how could I find the time? Well, no, if it's important to you, you'll find the time. And the fact is, just saying that I don't have the time is really just an excuse, and it's your job and my job to take personal responsibility for the things that are important, and that's setting boundaries not only for yourself but people around you.

Corey Berrier: 36:38

If your business is draining you to the point where you don't have time to do anything, there are solutions for that right. There's solutions that you can hire out your CSRs. You could do that. Outsource that. You could hire people to run the day-to-day. Like. You've got to be able to look outside of this little box. And especially if you're a business owner like you, have the response because the business is if you're not healthy, the business is. If you're not healthy, the business is not going to be healthy. What do you think your guys are thinking when they see that you're 400 pounds and saying, like, as the leader, they're not, they don't, they likely don't trust you because they know other areas of your life is turned upside down. They can tell by looking at you.

Doug Wyatt: 37:24

Corey. May I share a quick story with you? Sure, so I was down training a couple of big roofing companies down around Melbourne, florida recently and I'm down there. And number one listen, the guy that owns this company, bill, and Wanda Stilwell. Bill's turning 80 this year and he's got the energy of an 18 year old. The guy is absolutely amazing. And his daughter owns another company over there at pit crew roofing and she's over there. Brittany Cherub, she's one of the best to ever do it, and so I'm there speaking. We got a couple of other companies. I mentioned Billy Grigas. He's down there with some of his team. We got Derek Cormier over there. Derek gosh if you're not following that guy, you got to follow Derek online. That guy's putting out some marketing second to none down there and, man, that guy's just amazing.

Corey Berrier: 38:09

He was there, so anyway.

Doug Wyatt: 38:10

I'm training and I get up and I kind of start talking about this part of our training where I talk about health and fitness and how I used to make excuses, justifications, and my results played out. Yeah, I was financially healthy, but everything else was going down the toilet. And so there's this guy sitting in the audience. He's the sales manager at Hippo. They are a multimillion dollar roofing company, hippo, roofing down there, and one in fact let me check my notes he told me this just this week 382 pounds, and he was a former athlete. He was a high performing athlete not too long ago, maybe 15 years ago. He's sitting in front of me as a giant of a man and, incredibly, as in his words, man, just overweight, right, 382. Well, a couple of days ago I'm chatting with Juan on another live Zoom event we were doing, and Juan says hey, doug, I just wanted to say, man, you lit a fire under me. Training was great, sales training, all the stuff you went over. But you know what, doug, when I sat and I listened to your story and you showed me some of those pictures, some of those we were talking about, my pictures I was very heavy. He said, doug, I looked at that and I said here's a man that is incredibly busy. He's also on the road. He's trying to manage his fitness through airports and hotels and Airbnbs and he's making the time when he lands to go to the grocery store and meal prep and get good food for his Airbnb. He's not eating junk. He's not going through the drive-thrus right, he's making different decisions. At dinner he stopped drinking and then Bryce came up and spoke and Bryce is doing his second round of 75 hard and Bryce is as busy as I am. He travels everywhere we go and he manages these 11 video editors around the world. And so Juan says to me earlier this week he goes, doug, I started making changes Before. I was making excuses. Now I'm making changes and he goes now. I get up at 4 am. Now I walk, I get up, he goes. I can't run yet, but I will. He goes, I'm walking and he goes. I'm meal prepping, I'm eating nutritious food.

Doug Wyatt: 40:17

Corey, that, as we film this is less than 30 days ago. Juan told me he's down to 360 pounds in less than 30 days. That's 22 pounds. Now, of course, that's going to level out as he continues to lose weight. But imagine if that last 16 or 16 days, almost 30 days, corey. Imagine if he would continue to make poor decisions. Instead of being 382, he could have been 385, 387. Instead he started making different decisions. He stopped making justifications and excuses and in less than 30 days he was down. Whatever. That is 20, some pounds, right, 22 pounds. That's what's possible.

Doug Wyatt: 40:59

Now Juan has written out his goals. He's planning for his future. He says he's already more energetic, he feels better, his personality is becoming even more positive. Because now he's like I'm doing this. I got bigger goals. Yeah, I got income goals. Yeah, I got family goals, but now I have health and fitness goals. I'm going to be around for a long time for my people. And so now he's like and let me check my notes he said now I have a plan to get to 360. Now he has the plan to get to 350. He's got a. Oh, he's at 360. He's got a plan to get to 300. He's got a plan to get to 250.

Doug Wyatt: 41:31

Here's what I can say. Here's how I did it, corey. I said we aren't going to lose 50 or 80 or 150 pounds in a day. Everybody knows that. We're not going to lose it in a week. Everybody knows that we're not going to lose it in a week. We're not going to lose it in a month. We're not going to lose 200 pounds if we do it in a healthy way in a year.

Doug Wyatt: 41:51

But for me, when I said I got to shed 50 pounds, that's where I started. I said what do I need to do to lose a pound a week? Because sometimes I'm going to fluctuate, right, sometimes I'm going to retain water, sometimes I'm going to eat too much salt, sometimes I'm going to go for the wings at the restaurant. But I know, if every week I'm down another pound, that's legitimate. And so if I focus on the little things day in, day out occasionally a cheat meal, occasionally some sugar, some dessert sure that's fine, that's okay. But if I focus on what it takes to lose a pound a week and I do those things, I'll look up one year from now and be 50 or 52 pounds lighter. And that's how it happened for me. In fact, that's exactly how it happened for me.

Doug Wyatt: 42:31

And so, as long as Juan, that's what I shared with Juan Juan, you want to get down to 250 and then you're going to keep going to 225 and whatever you want to get to, if you just say where do I want to be one year from today, from the moment you made your decision and he said 50 pounds. Well, that means he could come in on the scale at somewhere around 320, 330. And that would be great because the next year, if he remains consistent now, he's going to be down to 270 or 280. Now, if he wants to get more aggressive with that, hire a trainer and meal prep and cut out the cheap meals and all that. Okay, maybe he does a little bit more. My encouragement to everybody is do those little things consistently. You don't have to change everything about everything every single day, right, but if you start doing the consistent things, you'll start moving in the direction that you'd like.

Corey Berrier: 43:16

Yeah, no, I agree with you, but I think lots of people the old saying eat an elephant one bite at a time. That's what you're talking about here. It's not. You don't try to eat a whole elephant at once, because it's just not a successful plan at all. So it was something you said a second ago that now I'm-.

Doug Wyatt: 43:36

Can I talk about personal development for a minute, corey, while you get your thoughts? Yes, when I was 19 years old, I read a book Think and Grow Rich, napoleon Hill and it still sits on my desk, as you can see. It's here every day and I still read that book twice a year. But when I say read, I'm talking about listening. I'm talking about getting my earbuds out and listening. I'm talking about playing audio on my phone. I'm talking about podcasts. I'm talking about Audible.

Doug Wyatt: 44:05

If those of you listening don't know what Audible is, it's a division of Amazon. I highly recommend that you go in today. Don't wait. Run, go to your phone, download the app Audible A-U-D-I-B-L-E. It's division of Amazon and that's where you can load audio books. Now listen.

Doug Wyatt: 44:21

Here come the excuses. I can almost hear them coming through the screen, not from you, corey, but from our listeners, because I hear it. Everywhere I go, I have people go oh, I don't like to listen, I like to read, and then I go. Okay, I can't hardly ever find the time to read, but I can find the time to hack my life and do multiple things at once. Right Now, I'm going to give you an example of what I do and then I'm going to give you a little technique that you can start immediately. You don't have to be as crazy as I am, because if there's anything I'm addicted to, corey, it's personal development. It's personal growth, it's training. And how can I make myself better so that the people I'm training I can help them be better? Here's what I do, corey.

Doug Wyatt: 44:55

I get up early. Some days I get up at four, some days it's four, 30, some days it's five. I don't even set an alarm anymore. In order for me to do that, I also have to get to bed at a decent time. I also don't eat late in the evening. I also try to cut out my water intake, because I drink over a gallon of fresh water every single day. I've been doing that for a long time, did it in 75 hard, and I drink a lot more than a gallon on most days.

Doug Wyatt: 45:16

So if you're not sleeping well, like me, then I first. I get an aura ring right. So I got my Oura ring here that's measuring my sleep. You got one as well. These things sweep in the country. If you don't have an Oura ring, hit me or Corey up and we'll send you our personal referral link. We don't get paid, but I think we are in credit or something. I think. Last track Oura. I've had over 500 people across the country get on the Oura ring it. It measures everything, from your HRV to your sleep, to your body, just everything.

Doug Wyatt: 45:43

Anyway, I know if I eat or drink much of anything. After about 6 to 7 pm my sleep numbers are all out of whack. So I try to get in bed off the screens no television by about 9, 9.30, sometimes 10 o'clock. Sometimes it's not 10, 30, 11, but every day, like clockwork, I'm up somewhere around 4, 4.30, sometimes 10 o'clock. Sometimes it's not 10, 30, 11, but every day, like clockwork, I'm up somewhere around four, 4.30, sometimes five.

Doug Wyatt: 46:07

Okay, now my question to you is most of us feel exhausted. I gotta tell you, I feel exhausted when I wake up. But when I wake up, I know I have a lot of things to do. I have a big legacy that I wanna leave. So what do I do?

Doug Wyatt: 46:25

As soon as I'm awake, I go to my Audible app and I push play on a book. I'm also listening to that book at 2x speed. That means that if I listen for 30 minutes, I consume 60 minutes of content. If I listen for 60 minutes. I consume two hours of content. Now check this out.

Doug Wyatt: 46:42

When I get up, I start my audible book at two X. I started playing. I hit the restroom. I'm starting to wake up. I'm coming out of my grogginess right, I'm exhausted because I only slept. I usually get about five and a half six hours tops. Then I start to brush my teeth. I'm already listening. Then, you know, I'm splashing water on my face. I'm putting on my workout clothes, I'm lacing up my sneakers. I'm fortunate to have a gym in my house so I don't have to drive. But if I was driving to the gym, guess what, corey, I'd be listening at 2x.

Doug Wyatt: 47:13

Here's my routine. It's about 15 minutes to crawl out of bed, hit the restroom, splash some water on my face, brush my teeth, start taking my supplements, put on my gym clothes. I'm at about 15 minutes by the time. I'm ready to go down a couple of flights of stairs and get to my basement, to my home gym. I've already listened to 30 minutes of personal development. How? Because 15 minutes. It was playing at 2x.

Doug Wyatt: 47:37

Now I get on the stationary bike. The number one thing I can say to anybody who wants to start getting in shape go to Amazon and order yourself a stationary bike for $150 or $200. It'll be one of the best investments you ever made. I also hear excuses where people go. I hate riding the bike. It's boring Me too, but I've been doing it for years and this is how I lost all my weight, got in shape and fill my brain every day, because, no matter how exhausted I am, I can get on that bike and my legs just start to go slowly.

Doug Wyatt: 48:06

But, corey, I also set my phone right there on that stationary bike and it's playing the book that I've been listening to, and so I ride for 30 minutes. I ride for 30 minutes. I breathe through my nose. If you guys haven't read James Nestor's breath, I know. I recommended that to you, corey, and even though you had sleep and insomnia and all these challenges and taken Ambien, you did exactly what I asked you to do you read that book, you started doing the breathing and now you don't snore. You got yourself off the Ambien. You're gonna live such a longer life and that is all about not breathing through your mouth.

Doug Wyatt: 48:38

Breathe through your nose, strengthen everything, everything in the back of your nasal cavity and your throat and your esophagus, and oxygenate your system. And I do that for 30 minutes, corey. But let's not forget, I'm listening, I'm breathing. So now listen to this, corey. Not only am I up because I got on that bike, I'm listening, I'm breathing, I'm oxygenating my system, I'm starting my day off right and now, at the end of that bike ride, I've burned hundreds of calories. I'm wide awake. I've now been listening for 45 minutes, which is 90 minutes at 2x speed, and now I'm warm.

Doug Wyatt: 49:16

I get off that bike and now I've got a 30 minute weightlifting routine and because I'm in my own home gym, I don't have to wait for any equipment. And I got my days planned out and in 30 minutes I get a better workout than most people get in 90 minutes at the gym, because I don't have one second of wasted time. Soon as I get done with them. Oh and, by the way, I'm not listening to Metallica, not listening to Taylor Swift or any of that other stuff. I'm listening to my book while I'm working out. So there's another 30 minutes, and then I go through a 30 minute stretching routine where I'm stretching, working on all this stuff as I'm getting older. So there's another 30.

Doug Wyatt: 49:51

Corey, do this math with me. By the time I finish waking up, getting down to the gym riding the bike for 30, lifting weights for 30, stretching for 30, and then 15 more minutes on the back end to shower and get dressed. For my day, I am a total of how much? 90 minutes, plus another 15 on the front, 15 on the back, three and a half there, yeah. So there I'm at 120 minutes. That's two hours and, by the way, well, hang on.

Corey Berrier: 50:21

30, 30, 30, that's 90 minutes. Tell me two, that's one, 80.

Doug Wyatt: 50:26

No, oh, okay, before we go to the doubling the math on the two X, I want to talk about actual minutes. Yeah, okay, actual minutes 90 minutes. And I got cardio, I got weights and I got stretch, which is very important as we get older. Then I had 15 minutes waking up, using the restroom, brushing my teeth, getting dressed. Then I have 15 minutes getting in the shower, getting ready for my day, doing my hair right, whatever it is, maybe brushing my teeth again, whatever it is getting dressed up, lathered up, ready for my day. 15 minutes on the back end. So front end, back end, that's 30. That's a total of 120 minutes. If I got out of bed at 4 am, corey, I'm done with all that by 6 am. And I listened for 120 minutes. Double that number, corey. That's 240 minutes. That's four hours of personal development every day. And I'm done by 6 am.

Doug Wyatt: 51:21

And when I had this conversation with Juan down in Florida, he started having a conversation with himself that he said Doug's right, I am making excuses and I can't have results and excuses at the same time. That's what I'm talking about Now. Let's say that okay, I can't get up at four, I'm gonna get up at five and I can't do. 30 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes of weights and 30 minutes to stretch. Cut them all in half. Now you still got 15 minutes while you're getting ready. Right Now you got 15 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes on the weights, 15 minutes on the stretch. So you've cut that in half instead of 90 minutes of like fitness time Now. But what is that? Instead of 90, you're at 45 plus the 15. Now you got to go back and get ready. So now you're at 60 plus 15, that's 75 minutes total. That, right there, will change your life and every single day you will become more motivated, more inspired and you will be less lethargic, you will be less tired.

Doug Wyatt: 52:16

Yeah, you're going to have to go through the soreness in the beginning and let's just say okay, so you don't have 15, 15 and 15. Go 10, 10, 10. 10 on the bike, 10 on the weights, 10 on the stretch. That's 30 minutes. And let's just say it doesn't take you 15 minutes to get ready, it takes you five. And then it takes you five on the back end to get a quick shower and get your uniform on. Okay, so now you got five on the front, five on the back. You got 30 in the middle at 10, corey can tell me if it's important to them that they can't find that.

Doug Wyatt: 52:44

30 minutes of training plus five or 10 minutes on front and back, that's 40 to 50 minutes total. And that means if you got to walk out of the door at seven, that means you've got to get up at 530. And if you can't get up at 530 right now, you got to quit eating, you got to quit drinking, you got to get to bed a little bit earlier. You got to get off the screens, you got to stop scrolling on the Instagram and the socials and all those things. Anybody can do this. The reason that we don't? It's just a little bit easier. Not to Just a little bit easier. It is easy to do it, corey. It's going to be a little bit difficult in the beginning, but now when I look up and I go, look at what I've learned, look at all the speakers, the trainers, the authors, the podcasters, the things that I'm putting into my brain.

Doug Wyatt: 53:24

Corey, I listened to our podcast that you and I did last year before I got in here today to make sure that I didn't just repeat a bunch of the same stuff. I went to the podcast. I was on the YouTube and literally I just went over to the settings and I doubled the listening speed. Yeah, now the very beginning. You might go to 1.5, you might go to 1.75, but your brain will fix it.

Doug Wyatt: 53:46

I challenge everybody to do this. Go to a YouTube video, go to one of Corey's podcasts and go listen and just go over to the settings and crank that thing up to 2.0x. It's in the settings. Go over there and then do nothing else and for five minutes, just sit there, listen to me and Corey, listen to somebody else Corey Corey's had on he said so many incredible guests and listen at two X for five minutes. Focus on every word, allow yourself to say, wow, it's too fast, keep listening and then, after five minutes, go over to the settings and crank it back down to 1.0. Like it was originally, and it will. If it's me and Corey Corey, we sound like we have a learning disability.

Corey Berrier: 54:27

Yes.

Doug Wyatt: 54:27

When we're talking at normal speed, our brains process information so much faster than what we can speak it. I feel like I'm speaking really fast right now, but when I hear myself back I'm like, oh my gosh, I am so slow. So my brain has been trained. And now, corey, I listened to some podcast, some trainers, at two and a half to three X, and it's literally like I'm just sitting there having a conversation, listening to them, because some people have a slower speaking cadence. So if you will do that, if you will add that breathing routine, you can solve your sleep apnea, you can get off your CPAP machines, you can stop taking your terrible drugs that are known to cause dementia and Alzheimer's. You can do all that and you can do it, and it's within here. It's within here, it's all within your control. But if your reticular activating system tells you it's not possible, or that your genetics won't allow it, or that you don't have the time, or that you're too busy, you're right, you're going to prove yourself right. And if you tell yourself, like me and Corey, busy, you're right, you're going to prove yourself right. And if you tell yourself like me and Corey, and you tell yourself, like Juan, that you know what. I don't care what it takes. I'm going to start sacrificing some of the other stuff the screen time, the movies, the Netflix, the doom scrolling, the sleep right. You can still get your six, seven, eight hours and do everything that we just outlined. Health is the number one thing, corey, as I mentioned when we started, we only get one body, we only get one life right, and so we make all these justifications and excuses and I just want to encourage everybody listening. Today you can do this too, and I speak from experience because I allowed my life to get away from me and, by the way, my tipping point is I stopped doing all that stuff At 32 years old. I almost died. I had a bout of diverticulitis. I, at 32 years old, I almost died. I had a bout of diverticulitis. I had blood in my stool and, being a tough redneck guy, I'm just like, oh, it'll be fine, I'm filling the toilet stool with blood and over a couple of days, I almost bled to death. I was rushed to the emergency room. I spent three days in the ICU as a 32-year-old man who was a college athlete just a little over 10 years before that, who was the perfect epitome of fitness and health. 10 years later, I'm a smoker, I'm a drinker, I'm getting heavy, I'm eating bad stuff, and then I'm bleeding from the inside and almost died. And so I said you know what? I got to make some changes but, corey, I didn't do everything I do today. It still took me another 10 years to cut out the soda. It still took me another decade and a half to cut out the alcohol. I just said I got to quit smoking and I got to start eating healthier, but I didn't quit the soda, I didn't quit the candy, I didn't quit the desserts, I didn't quit the alcohol. That came a decade later.

Doug Wyatt: 56:52

So if you're in your twenties and you're listening to this a little bit, each day can make a huge difference. And if you're my age or beyond, I really encourage you don't wait another day. Start doing what Juan did and just say you know what, I'm going to make a change. And that day starts today. We can either say I'll finish with this one here on this topic, corey, unless you have some other questions. We can either look at this and say it's going to be today, today is the day, or we can say one day, one day I'll do it.

Doug Wyatt: 57:21

My challenge to you and my challenge to every audience I'm in front of is is today going to be the day, or are you going to keep telling yourself one day? Are you going to put it off until your birthday? You're going to put it off until New Year's Day? You're going to put it off until you actually have a life-threatening event? Or can today be the day that you start making the changes where one went from 382 to 360, instead of going 382 to 385 the next week or two? It's possible for all of us.

Corey Berrier: 57:48

Yeah, and you've got to look. It's not comfortable, and I've been just like you. I've become accustomed to being comfortable with the uncomfortable. And if I look at all the things that I have to do right air quotes that I have to do it drives me nuts. When I hear people say I have to do these things, I have to go to work, I have to go to the gym, you don't have to do anything. But I have the privilege of going to the gym, like I have the privilege of my body working to the point that I have. That's a gift A lot of people don't have, that gift A lot of people don't have the gift of.

Corey Berrier: 58:28

For me, recovery is a big part of my life. That takes a lot of time, but on the back end of that, it does something for me that I don't get anywhere else when I'm spending time with people on the phone all the way to work every day. Spending time with people on the phone all the way to work every day, it there's something about that process that that fills my cup, spiritually, emotionally, in the re. Here's why because all that 45 minutes I'm not thinking about me, I'm thinking about somebody else. Because if I'm thinking about me, it's going to be poor me, or why not me? I get to alleviate thinking about me for that 45 minutes. As selfish as that may sound, it really that conversation. While it's beneficial for the other person, it's also beneficial for me.

Doug Wyatt: 59:20

Corey, I just love your self-awareness there I want to share with our audience, because a lot of times we start thinking I'm the only one that has this challenge. And while I'm not going to say I understand because I train that, don't ever say you understand, because we don't understand what somebody else is going through. But what I do have is confidence in every person listening to this or watching this. I have the confidence that if it becomes important to you, that you can figure it out, even if it's a little bit at a time. Have the confidence that if it becomes important to you, that you can figure it out, even if it's a little bit at a time. Here's why I know we're all very similar in the limiting beliefs and the negativity. And you said I'm out of my own mind, right? I'm not thinking about me, I'm doing these other things. Studies show, corey, that we have roughly 80,000 thoughts a day that go through our brain and our subconscious mind, our conscious mind. 67,000 of those on average for us as a human race, are negative. Those are the negative thoughts that say I'm not good enough. I'm not good, I'm not smart enough, I'm not good looking enough, I'm not fit enough, I don't know how to close. I don't like sales. I'm not good at sales. I'm not good at talking. I'm not like you, doug, I'm not like you, corey. Whatever, it is the prettiest girl in the bar. She has 67,000 negative thoughts a day and, quite frankly, she's probably the prettiest girl she's got all that makeup on and did her hair and invested on the nails and the lips and the and all that stuff. She probably has more negative thoughts because she had to make sure she looked perfect and those of us guys just went out there in our t-shirts. So the prettiest girl in the bar has 67,000 negative thoughts a day, corey. So do you, so do I? I have 67,000 negative thoughtsa day and that is why, corey, every day when I wake up, I'm on Audible, I'm pressing play on you on podcasts, on books, and I'm learning from others. And even when I hear something and my reticular activating system says, yes, that leadership concept, yes, that sales concept, my reticular activating system is now trained to say, yes, we're onto something there, or where would that fit in our process? Wow, I just listened to some Chris Voss and never split the difference and wow, that would fit really well. I'm going to teach the down tone and the mirror and whatever else, right? Or I'm listening to Brian and Nate over on Waste no Day and I'm like, wow, that's a great thing. I can also say that and I will also say this, just like I'm talking about them right now and I'll be talking with them next week on Waste no Day, and I'll be mentioning you, corey. I believe that it makes us more intelligent. It makes us easier to listen to when we give credit where credit is due. I would never get in front of my audience and just take credit for something I heard from you or from Brian or from Tommy or from Tom Hopkins or Zig Ziglar.

Doug Wyatt: 1:01:51

I'm really big on quotes. Why? Because I feel compelled to share with people where I got that information. And then I take that leap to say here's how I've seen that work in my companies, in my life, in my business, in my health, in my spirituality, in my relationships. I'm not perfect, corey, I'll never be perfect, but every day I'm just working to get a little bit better. So when I think about those things, I go okay.

Doug Wyatt: 1:02:14

If I have 67,000 negative thoughts a day, like we all do, how do I either help to eliminate or suppress those, because they're coming for me every single day. I'm going to be told I'm tired. I heard a quote once that said the best workout that we do is our worst workout. Why? Because our ass was in the gym and we were doing it right. That's our best workout, the one where we were so tired, we were so exhausted, we were so down on ourselves. If you're suffering from depression, the number one thing that you can do is get your body moving. Tony Robbins talks about a lot of this stuff in Awaken, the Giant Within and his personal power programs.

Doug Wyatt: 1:02:49

I was very fortunate as I built that door-to-door company and I went and I saw Tony Robbins at the MGM Grand and it's like man, the man I am today. If you don't know Tony Robbins and you haven't watched I'm Not your Guru on Netflix get on there and watch that. Listen to some Tony Robbins that I'm not your guru on Netflix. Get on there and watch that. Listen to some Tony Robbins. That guy has fed. He has fed over 100 million people worldwide and his goal is to feed over a billion. He's probably at like half a billion now. I think about all the people I've fed in my life and it ain't anywhere close to a million. It ain't close to 100,000. I've fed some people and I've paid for some dinners and I've raised families and two different families and kids, but Tony Robbins is working to feed a billion people worldwide.

Doug Wyatt: 1:03:25

He's doing some things, but Tony Robbins said to me it felt like he was talking to me at the MGM Grand when I was 20 years old and he said you can't get caught up. You can't get caught up. And he was talking about all the minutia. Covey calls them the little rocks versus the big rocks. Right, there's these things that get in our way and maybe that's doom scrolling, maybe that's staring at the football screen and watching football on Thursday night and Saturday and Sunday and Monday If we're not where we want to be.

Doug Wyatt: 1:03:57

Corey, my encouragement is to you yes, have some balance in your life. Yes, go golfing. Yes, go fishing, but don't let that take the place of everything else. That's going to kill your legacy and your health. So when I start those books every morning, Corey, no matter how bad of a day or what I screwed up the day before, instead of ruminating on that, instead of thinking about all those things, I just start piling on all the great stuff. I listen to men like you and the guests that you have on. And all of a sudden, man, I'm telling you I'm 15 minutes in and I feel completely different. Now, if I would have laid awake and thought about I am exhausted, I didn't sleep well, I didn't close that sale yesterday, I didn't land that client, I didn't accomplish that. All of a sudden I'm going to be depressed. And, by the way, my father committed suicide 22 years ago.

Doug Wyatt: 1:04:43

I know about depression, I've suffered from depression. My family has depression in their heredity and I say you know what? I'm not going to be the victim, I'm not going to be a victim of my own thoughts. I'm going to suppress them, I'm going to eliminate them. I'm going to work on me, right. So I have those things and it's like, oh, sometimes people go oh, doug, we see your brand and your sport coats and it just looks like you got it all figured out. You're a six foot three white guy. You got your white privilege card out. Yeah, I talk about this stuff in my live events.

Doug Wyatt: 1:05:10

And listen, I'm not going to say that as a six foot three white male in America, that I don't have a leg up on many around this world, but I will also say my life hasn't been easy. Maybe, birdie. Maybe it's been easier than a female, maybe it's been easier than a person of color. But I'll tell you this if you allow yourself to say that's the reason why you can't, you'll prove yourself right. And if you say, well, you know what? I am not this color, I'm not this gender, I'm not this thing, but I'm still going to get in there and I'm going to get after it. And maybe it's going to be harder for me than a guy like Doug or a guy like Corey, but I can still do it. I'm going to outwork them. I'm not going to be a victim. I'm not going to make excuses. I'm going to say, yeah, it's going to be hard and I'm up for it, I'm in for it. I'm going to start surrounding myself with people that think that and you know what, if you're living in the hood and you're around a bunch of victims, all you have to do is take that phone I know you all got them and you just push play. And then you're with Corey, you're with me, you're with Brian, you're with Tony Robbins, you're with Zig Ziglar. You can bring Jim Rohn back right. Zig Ziglar and Stephen Covey both left us in 2012. But I get to bring them back because their books are here, their audio is here, their YouTubes are here. We all have those same opportunities.

Doug Wyatt: 1:06:24

I challenge everybody here today. What are you putting in your mind from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep? If I'm driving, I'm in drive time university. If I'm in the plane, I'm on fly time university. If I'm mowing the yard, I'm in mow time university. Right. If I'm washing the car, I'm in car wash university. We can find the time if it's important to us. It's amazing to me, corey. There are people in my programs investing. Business owners are investing in their technicians and their call center folks. They're investing in them.

Doug Wyatt: 1:06:55

And then the people are like I don't want to do it, I don't want to train. I'm like they're not asking you to do geometry or calculus or algebra. They're not asking you to do geometry or calculus or algebra. They're not asking you to study world history or to learn about Rome or Confucius. They're not asking you to memorize Hamlet. They're giving you product that's going to help you better your career, to be a better husband, to be a better father, to be a better spouse, to be a better wife, to be a better mother and people say I don't like school, I don't want to study and I'm like the limiting beliefs, the negativity in those statements. It just it's like you're your own worst enemy. Get out of your own way there. Every minute, corey, is more information available to us for free, for us to fix everything in our life, and it's on a product called YouTube.

Doug Wyatt: 1:07:43

That's right, fix everything in our life and it's on a product called YouTube. That's right. Yeah, it's chat GPT. Yeah it's. Do we sacrifice the other things for the things we want most? Do we build our legacy?

Corey Berrier: 1:07:57

So you mentioned your dad? I didn't know.

Doug Wyatt: 1:08:04

No-transcript great question. Let me let me clear my throat because I don't want it seem like I'm getting choked up. By the way, I for all you smokers out there, all you guys sucking down your cancer sticks I haven't had a cigarette since I was 32 years old. I don't smoke weed, I don't put anything into my lungs and I still have to clear my throat. I have have been to ear, nose and throat docs. I do not have a cold and it's like I am hoarse. I encourage you, those things will catch up to you sooner or later.

Doug Wyatt: 1:08:38

When I was 30, 32, and I'd done the door-to-door crew, building that and the restaurants, and then I was getting into the trades. I never. I am an extroverted introvert. By definition. I am an extroverted introvert by definition. I am an introvert scared to death of public speaking. I've worked on myself. I've gained confidence by the things that I've learned, the books that I've read, the audios that I've listened to, the podcasters that I've followed.

Doug Wyatt: 1:09:00

But here's the thing. I looked at that and I said, okay, you asked me about my father. I was a broke redneck country bumpkin kid growing up wearing hand-me-downs, wearing my brother's clothes and underwear until the seventh grade. I will say this. My father was not a nice man. He was not an easy man to get along with. He had two speeds. He was either giving us all the silent treatment for days or weeks at a time, or he'd go zero to 100, and he'd be yelling and screaming and doing what good country boys do to their kids. And so here's the thing when I look at that experience growing up, I got to tell you, corey, every day growing up, by the time I was old enough to start to realize, about eight or nine years old, maybe 10, I started saying to myself when I get out of here I'm never coming back. And I started being pretty stubborn, corey, and that's why I practiced basketball in my driveway for six hours a day. We'd get up and we'd work and I'd bail hay and he got us a job. He made me a fake ID when I was about 12 years old, made me 16 so that I could go work on a Christmas tree farm. And I worked all day long in the hot Missouri humidity, 98 degrees and 98% humidity. And day long in the hot Missouri humidity, 98 degrees and 98% humidity. And I was out there working with a bunch of grown men and trimming Christmas trees and wearing full garb and the only thing you could see is my eyes, long sleeves, gloves, long pants, reaching to those Christmas trees and trimming them and pretending I was 16.

Doug Wyatt: 1:10:22

Worked hard growing up, but every time I had to go hold the flashlight or hand a wrench or a socket or whatever, it was always such an ugly experience, and so I know enough to be dangerous about the mechanical side of our trades. I hate it. I hate actually picking up the tools and doing it, corey. That's why I don't do that, I don't teach that and I am proud of it. Most people that I don't talk about a lot on podcasts, I do talk about it at every live event. I talk about it in my live events because sometimes it gets pretty intense and I say every time I go to pick up a tool, I've got PTSD.

Doug Wyatt: 1:10:56

He ended up taking his own life. I had moved away. I had moved away, played some college ball, was living out here in Colorado, and the day that my mother found the courage to leave him was the day that he threatened to burn the house down with her in it, and so she called my brother and my brother showed up with a bunch of buddies in a dually pickup truck and the phone network got going and somebody offered me, my mom, their home up in Springfield, missouri, and she ran and she hid and they moved her out in the middle of the night while my dad was at his overnight job at the railroad. And I can tell you I learned about it from afar. I was living out here in Colorado and I knew my brother had her. I knew my brother was taking care of her and he got her out of there, out of that situation, and then my dad wasted away on this 10 acres out in the country down there in a place called Nixon, missouri, where I'm from, and he just got more and more depressed. He had a shoulder injury.

Doug Wyatt: 1:11:44

He was taking things like Oxycontin and Oxycodone. This was back in 2003. And this is when you could order from an online pharmacy in Canada or somewhere else without a prescription and they'd send that stuff to you. It was like the black market, right. And so he gets addicted to these prescription drugs and then he just continues to get depressed. He's trying to track down my mother, he is wanting to apologize and then he wrote out suicide notes. Each one of us got one, my mom, my brother me one page and I will tell you this, corey, there were more nice things in a one page suicide note to me and I still got it here in my safe More nice things in a one page suicide note than I think he'd said to me in the entire 26 years since I'd been born.

Doug Wyatt: 1:12:25

My brother does a great job. He had a different relationship, continued to hunt and fish with my dad and tolerate his nonsense. Growing up I just quit all that stuff. Focused on basketball, focused on my grades, got that scholarship. But I can tell you this I'm happy. I'm happy that my mom is safe. My mom is an amazing person. She's remained single. She has so much PTSD she chooses to be single still 22 years later. But she's happy. She's got her girlfriend. She goes on girls trips.

Doug Wyatt: 1:12:52

What I can say is I learned from. That is number one. Depression is real. I would never wish that upon anybody and I wish, honestly, I wish my dad hadn't have done that. But I also use that experience to say, when somebody's down and out man, we got to seek help, we got to talk to somebody. There is nothing to be embarrassed about going to seek professional help or finding somebody to talk to. We as men, corey, very rarely reach out until it's too late. Usually we reach out with the suicide note or something like that.

Doug Wyatt: 1:13:23

Every one of my live speaking events especially in the longer events when I do a three or four day event, 10 hours each day, 30 to 40 hours of content I talk about this in part of my goal setting exercise. I talk about the man or the woman that we want to become and writing those out in positive present tense and visualizing who we want to become. Tony Robbins calls it your rocking chair moment, covey calls it the funeral. We project ourselves out and we see ourselves and we think to ourselves. If I was the man or the woman that I really wanted to be, that I wanted to be for my kids, that I wanted to be for my family, that I wanted to be for my significant other, what would I do? How would I talk? How would I behave? How would I approach my days? How would I approach my mornings? What would I act like when I came home that night and so I had this experience of my mentor was my father and saying I'm going to be the opposite of that guy and he made me a great father because I treated my kids differently. He made me a great man because I treat the woman that I'm with differently.

Doug Wyatt: 1:14:23

So when I look at that, I say there's a lesson to be learned, corey, I always like to say I don't always win, but I never lose. I'm going to say that again because that can sound cocky. I don't always win, but I never lose. I'm going to say that again because that can sound cocky. I don't always win, but I never lose. Why is that? Because my mindset is when I do lose, where other people would go into depression or beat themselves up, I say how do I learn? I take the L right, literally take the loss, and I say how do I turn this into my positive? Because the loss can begin to ruminate on those 67,000 negative thoughts a day. So I take the losses in my life and I say how do I learn from this and how do I become better from it? What are the lessons? Right that I can learn from the loss and so those L's. It's a great alliteration for all of our listeners to remember. How do I learn from the loss? What do I learn from that? What is the lesson in the pain?

Doug Wyatt: 1:15:16

There's a lot of people out there. Viktor Frankl has a book called Man's Search for Meaning, and I've referred this book to so many men in the trades. Because after I share this story Corey it happens in almost every single event, as I've been speaking for the last 15 years After I share a story about my father and show some pictures and just talk about how I've transitioned and changed my life, men will come up to me and oftentimes teary-eyed, or as soon as they start trying to share with me, they get teary-eyed and sometimes tears stream down their face. And, corey, over and over again, men will say, doug, that story that you just shared, I was just there last week, last month, last year. Or they'll say I'm there right now. I didn't think I was going to make it to your training this week because I was going to do something crazy last weekend, meaning they were going to take their own life.

Doug Wyatt: 1:16:04

And so, corey, I say that and I say the mindset, the energy, our effectiveness, the things we're putting into our mind, it can happen to the best of us. It can happen to Robin Williams, right? A man that we would all, from the outside, go wow, one of the funniest people to ever live. He's successful, he's wealthy, he has mansions, he's loved worldwide and he hates himself. Those are the real things. And so I say what's different? What do we do if we're having those negative thoughts Number one self-awareness right here are those negative thoughts and say I'm not allowing these negative thoughts to win today. And then the system what do we do about that is, what are you listening to, what are you putting in your mind? What are you choosing to think about?

Doug Wyatt: 1:16:48

If you were to open up my Instagram or my Facebook right now, I've got friends and I've got motivational posts. That's it. I don't have a lot of girls in bikinis on my Instagram, right, my Instagram. I can scroll. I can open my Instagram in front of a business client, in front of a pastor, and I could scroll. And, sure enough, I'm going to see a post from Corey, right. I'm going to see a post from the Successful. Sure enough, I'm going to see a post from Corey, right. I'm going to see a post from the Successful Life Podcast. I'm going to see a post from Zig Ziglar Company and Tom Ziglar. I'm going to see Brendan Burchard. I'm going to see all these greats, right.

Doug Wyatt: 1:17:21

And then, all of a sudden, I've got a motivational quote and it's like, yes, that's what I needed. I've got relationship quotes, I've got things about how I want to show up and those things are constantly being fed in my mind. So here's the thing Even if I ever was caught doom scrolling on a social media, my social media is all positive. It's all positive. It's quotes and mindset and videos and inspirational stuff, because I can't allow if I got 67,000 negative thoughts on my own every day. I can't allow that stuff to fester. I've got to get rid of it. I got to put things in replacement of it and we can all do that. So I encourage everybody let my father's experience and let my experience with him and growing up and then that happening, let that be a lesson.

Doug Wyatt: 1:18:07

I tell you this the day that it happened, I was living in Colorado and I remember getting the call from my brother and it was, I don't know, sometime in an evening time. I can remember I was home from work that day and I got the call and my brother was crying on the other end of the line I could hear sirens in the background and I just remember my brother kept saying he's dead, he's dead, dad's dead, and he was really upset and I said what happened. Oh my God, what are you talking about? And I'm just going to paint this picture for you. And it's not gruesome, it's just sad.

Doug Wyatt: 1:18:39

My brother lived on the same road as where my dad was living in that house in the country, just a mile or two down, and as my brother was on the way home from work today, on that day the mailbox was open and the mail was falling out. And my brother was on the way home from work today, on that day the mailbox was open and the mail was falling out and my brother was like, wow, that's a lot of mail. So he gets down to the next four way, he does a U-turn, he comes back up, he pulls onto that driveway and he grabs all that mail. He can tell like mail hasn't been checked in a couple of weeks. It looks like right, just literally mail falling out onto the street and blowing around. He goes up and I can't imagine. I cannot imagine what this must be like for him to this day, but I'm sure it's just as vivid in his mind as it was that day.

Doug Wyatt: 1:19:18

He puts the coat into the garage and as the garage raises, there is our father laying on an old army blanket. He'd been there two weeks, corey rotting. He had filled up his old Chevy truck with a full tank of gas, laid down one of his army blankets he was former military, former sharpshooter in the army and he put on some headphones. He had written out all of the suicide notes. He had organized all his finances. It was all in there on the kitchen table, very organized. He'd obviously be planning it for a while and he literally just put on some headphones, started up that Chevy truck, laid down on his army blanket, and let the carbon monoxide do its work.

Doug Wyatt: 1:19:58

Here's the saddest part. For two weeks he laid there rotting and not a man, not a woman on this entire planet missed him. That's how he'd lived his life. He was off of work at the time because of his shoulder injury and taking those drugs and for two weeks he laid there in that garage rotting. My brother wasn't speaking to him at the time so he didn't feel there was any big deal about not hearing from dad. My mom was divorcing him. All of his friends he had run off because of his lack of ability to show empathy for others, his lack of ability to be an effective communicator, his unwillingness to look within and solve the challenges and work on the demons that he was facing. And so if you look at my programs now, they probably all start to make sense.

Doug Wyatt: 1:20:44

I don't like using the tools, but I love the men that do. I respect the men that do. I respect our military. I bleed red, white and blue. I'm not afraid of a day's hard work. I still. Today I'll work 12 to 14 hours. I work seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours. Every once in a while I'll take a night off or date night or something, but I don't enjoy the tools. And that goes back to my father.

Doug Wyatt: 1:21:06

But I also said I'm going to be a better communicator. So for 30 straight years now, this is what drives me. This is why you say, doug, your program's different, because it encompasses everything we need to be, to do, to work on and give systems and son, a daughter. How do we work on? Everything from our health, our fitness, our finance, our spirituality, our relationships, and so our program the seven foundations is not the seven foundations of success, it's the seven foundations of effective communication. It is how to effectively communicate without conflict.

Doug Wyatt: 1:21:52

Because I hated the way I grew up and it was either the silent treatment or it was screaming and hollering. It was physical violence. It was you're going to get your butt beat right. And so I looked at that and I said I've got to be better. But nobody's coming to save me, nobody on this planet. I'm not talking about the afterlife, corey. I like to say we only get one life and nobody is coming to rescue us. Our Lord and Savior might be there to save us at the end of the line. I'm talking about here, every step, every moment, right the relationships, the meaningful connections.

Doug Wyatt: 1:22:30

How do we communicate with the people that we care about most and how do we communicate with our customers? Show them empathy, communicate more effectively without creating that conflict and without getting upset with somebody because they're concerned about our high price, they think they can get it cheaper. They are scared of contractors, so they want to think about it, sleep on it, pray about it. Are scared of contractors, so they want to think about it, sleep on it, pray about it. I work on processes to say don't shy away from that. Let's build a rare listening sequence it's an acronym repeat, acknowledge the feeling or the emotion they must be having, relate, rephrase, and then we get to the end of the express. It's like a bridge as long as the Grand Canyon that I feel we must traverse in order to keep conflict down and effectively communicate. That goes between dispatch and those of us in the field. That goes between ownership and the rest of the team, the team and the leadership.

Doug Wyatt: 1:23:18

We've got to become more effective communicators, and so one of the biggest compliments I get from folks like you, corey, that are in the know, you say, doug, your program is so much more than sales. It is. It's so much more than sales. We're focused on the entire organism, and that comes from my experiences. And now thousands and thousands of books, hundreds and hundreds of conferences, thousands of podcasts that I've listened to. And then we've organized that. We've customized that, highly customized for the trades and perfectly customized specifically for HVAC and plumbing. Every type of plumbing service or sales call, every type of HVAC service or sales lead, every type of call that comes into our call center. That's what I've been working on. That's how I won Linux Partner of the Year twice, that's how we built an Inc 5000 company. Focus on the details. Every detail matters, and so that's what we work on, and we don't do it with any high pressure, sleazy, snake in the grass type stuff.

Doug Wyatt: 1:24:12

So my father had a huge impact on me, corey, and I appreciate you asking me about it. I never shy away from that conversation because if it can help one person, say you know what, when I first saw Doug, or I first heard Doug, I thought, oh, that guy's got it easy. I've been through divorce, corey. I've been through divorce, corey. I've been through child custody battles. I've been through ICU and health and I've broken so many bones and I got bad knees. I'm bone on bone, no cartilage in my knees from all those years of playing on concrete. And listen, I just say you know what. I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me. That's not what this is about. It's about every man and woman and you included, corey that I've been able to invest the time to get to now on a more intimate level, on a more of a brotherhood with you.

Doug Wyatt: 1:25:02

I learned that we all have our demons and we're facing so much, and so that allows me to be very empathetic. Yeah, I get passionate and yeah, I get loud and I talk fast sometimes, but I promise you that passion and that it is not narcissism, it's not egotism, it is empathy and knowing that we're capable. It might be the hardest thing that we ever do to break out of the rut that we've gotten ourselves in, but we got to start with that. We got to believe that we did this, we allowed it. We either cause, permit or allow everything in our lives.

Doug Wyatt: 1:25:32

And so the good news is you don't have to fix it all today. Rome wasn't built in a day. We're not going to lose 50 pounds in a day or a week. We're not going to master our sales process in a day or a week, but we can master a piece of it. We can master a piece of it no-transcript. Everything else the mindset, the relationship, the goal setting, the effective communication, the way we can close without conflict it's all there. But ultimately, if we work on small, manageable, bite-sized chunks every single week and we work to master, not generalize knowledge, we work to master that then we'll look up six months, 12 months, a year from now and absolutely be amazed at what we've accomplished.

Doug Wyatt: 1:26:45

But if you're in the trades today, I'll say this If you're a leader, if you're a business owner, if you're a technician, if you're in the call center, whatever it is and you're listening to this and I started hitting you with tough questions, what we would perceive to be tough questions and you don't know exactly how you're going to handle that. Down to where you would pause the cadence, the down tone, the mirror with Chris Voss, my rare listening sequence that I've developed, or the Covey's Seek, first to Understand, if you don't know exactly how you're going to handle the things that are coming into our building and infecting our lives and our success every single day. We got work to do, we got to put down the remote and we got to press play on Audible, we got to invest in a program or we got to dig into these podcasts, we got to script things out, we got to study that, and if you'll do that, then all of a sudden, one year from now, it's all a part of your repertoire that nobody can ever take from you. What I find is I meet people that have been in the trades for 10, 20, 30, 40 years and I'll say, ok, let's role play. Will you trust me with the project? And then I'll say, ask me for the order. They asked me for the order and I'll just say, yeah, it sounds good. I like you, I like your company. I'll tell you what. Let me sleep on it. We don't like to make rash decisions, but I think I'm going to go with you. I'll call you next week and it's amazing, corey, that the vast majority of the industry doesn't know exactly how to handle that.

Doug Wyatt: 1:28:07

How handle that how?

Doug Wyatt: 1:28:11

We've been focused on the wrong things.

Doug Wyatt: 1:28:12

That's how we haven't been focused on mastery. If you're getting an I got to think about it objection and you don't have five ways to overcome that, to at least keep the conversation going, if you're getting the spouse objection and you're not prepared for that and you're surprised by that and you want to blame the homeowner for wanting to talk to their spouse about a thousand or a 10,000 or a $50,000 investment, you're blaming something out there. We got to say how am I going to handle it on every call. And so that's what we work on 52 weeks on a path to mastery, so that you wake up in that 52nd week an absolute master of your domain in every area relationships, health, fitness, finance and, of course, scripts and videos and audio and voice, inflection and body language. It's going to take a year for you to work on mastery. But if you're 40 years old and you have not mastered the vast majority of that already, what do you have to lose by diving in deep for the next 12 months. I'll tell you what you have to lose Everything.

Corey Berrier: 1:29:10

Yeah, you just got to make, you just got to start right. And that goes with if you're heavy and you're trying to lose weight, if it goes with your sales ability, if it goes with running the business and you're having problems there. You just have to start. You just have to start today, Like you don't need to start tomorrow. You could just start today.

Doug Wyatt: 1:29:28

Just a little bit. Download Audible today and get your first book, and that's a start. And then tomorrow, push play as you're getting dressed and brushing your teeth and driving into work. That's enough of a start and then just make sure that you never stop. You know, it's like I didn't eat one salad and get in shape, I didn't pass one drive-through and all of a sudden I'm in shape. I didn't go one drive-through and all of a sudden I'm in shape. I didn't go to the gym one time. It's amazing to me.

Doug Wyatt: 1:29:52

We confuse the way that everything else in our life works and we just want a quick fix in our business, our career, our relationship. If your teenagers aren't talking to you, we got work to do. If you and your spouse don't have the loving, intimate relationship and you're talking down or you're just constantly at each other's throats, we got work to do and it can all be solved. We just have to make the decision that I'm going to keep at it. I'm going to be consistent. You don't bathe once and you're good. You don't eat once and you're good. You don't mow the yard once and you're good. You don't brush your teeth once. You don't comb your hair once. You don't get a haircut once. You don't. You know, it's like we understand all that, but then we go oh, I went to a three-day training. I should be good, or the training didn't work. You don't build a campfire once. You're going to have to gather the kinley again and you're going to have to build it again tomorrow night if you want to stay alive in a snowstorm. All those things are so simple. Right? You didn't get fat in a day. You're not going to get in shape in a day. You didn't get to the point where you're so frustrated by homeowners that want to cheap, price three bids and talk to their spouse. You didn't get there in a day. You got frustrated because it's been going on for weeks, months, years, decades in your career and you've started to look at homeowners like they're the enemy, when actually they're the ones signing the paycheck.

Doug Wyatt: 1:31:04

I signed the paychecks at my companies, but the revenue came from the customer. The revenue came from a. It's a reflection of servitude and if you're dropping your price, you got work to do. I don't care if your close rate's 70% and you're the number one revenue producer in your company, if I got a guy closing 70% of my company and he's my number one revenue producer, but he drops 10% on every deal. I'll tell you this, corey, I think he's my worst employee. Why? Because I was just trying to run my company at the end of the year to have a 10% net. And so if I got a guy that's closing at 70% but dropping his price 10%, he's giving away every dime of my profit. And so now I'm working this hard for free on every job that he sells. So if you're dropping your price in order to close the sale, we got work to do and that's what we teach. I don't teach discounting.

Doug Wyatt: 1:31:53

I proved and I talked about this on your first podcast a little bit. I proved after we won that first Linux partner of the year, we got into some cashflow trouble because we were growing so fast and we were incurring so many expenses, but we were also I was allowing the team to discount. And so then we just said no more discounts, we had to get better, we had to work, we had to work towards mastery on all those things of why we were walking out of the house with a deal, but only if we were able to give them a certain percentage off. And I just said we're never going to waive another diagnostic investment and we're never going to drop discount drug. All of a sudden our guys had to work on focusing on building value because they knew they didn't have that in their pocket that they could discount at the end. Changed the game. It changed the mindset.

Doug Wyatt: 1:32:39

The reticular activating system said I better be really good from start to finish. I better sleep well tonight. I better wake up and listen to my stuff. I better listen on the way over. I better get myself lathered up, dressed up. I better show up. I better listen on the way over. I better get myself lathered up, dressed up. I better show up. I better tuck my shirt in. I better have my hat on straight. I better have my beard trimmed, my breasts smelling nice.

Doug Wyatt: 1:32:55

I'm going to walk in there like I am the master of my domain, because I am, and then I'm going to serve that customer. I'm going to be empathetic, I'm going to listen to them, I'm going to seek first to understand. And I'm't mean we have 100% close, but it also means that we didn't discount when we do get the job. And all of a sudden, a year later, we paid off all that debt. We came back like a Phoenix rising from the ashes and we won Linux Partner of the Year again. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I proved that with the right system and the right servitude and the right amount of empathy and truly caring for customers and serving them rather than trying to sell them. We can sell at margin and there's about 60 to 70% of our marketplace that will invest with us, but they're all going to look the same on the outside.

Doug Wyatt: 1:33:38

I need a discount, got to get three bids. I got to talk to the spouse. I need to sleep on it, pray about it, think about it. I'm not familiar with that brand. I wanted a different brand. Those are never going away. My challenge to listening audiences are you willing to put in the work to be a master of your domain? Because if you've mastered the technical side, that was incredibly important. It was vital for you to be able to go in there and protect families. But if you don't know how to close business without dropping your price and without getting a one-star review and reducing conflict and making people happy for choosing you, you got work to do because you're not doing the business any justice. If you're dropping your price because now the business owner is just working for nothing, that's right, it's got to work.

Doug Wyatt: 1:34:18

It's got to be a win. Right, it's got to be a win for the business. It's got to be a win for the technician it's got to be or the team member, the call center, and it's got to be a win for the homeowner. And I can't have the homeowner getting the price down. They're going to win. They're going to get my company at a reduced rate. And now I'm working for free, all the work that I'm doing to put the right people the drug tested, the background check, the uniforms, the vans, the marketing, the warranties, the guarantees standing behind my work, the best technicians, the best training, the best technical minds in the industry working for me, serving them, and then I don't get paid. That's not a win, that's. The tech wins because they still get paid, the homeowner wins because they get my company at a reduced price and I lose. That's a win-win-lose. We're going to have a win-win. And the only way we can have a win is if the call center doesn't waive any fees right, I call them investments If the technician can close without dropping the price, and then if the homeowner is, has the value built for them, and then we walk out of there with the job, able to serve them, and now we protect them. That's the way it's done. That's the way you build an award, winning, nationwide business.

Doug Wyatt: 1:35:23

That's how it's done and it's not going to be easy. What else is not easy, corey? Being fat, being out of shape, not being able to do the stairs, not being able to close business and hold your margin, being in trouble, not making your commission, not hitting your numbers, not making revenue, not being able to buy that new truck, not being able to go on vacation, not being able to buy your kid, that new baseball glove or sign them up for that club team that they worked hard enough to make. But you can't pay for the travel, for the summer and the flights and the hotels. That's not a win. We all have to get better, and the way we can get better is we can start by getting to bed earlier. Don't eat late. Get a better night's rest. Get off the sleep pills. Do your breathing exercises. Five in, five out, breathe deep, breathe out. Solve the snoring. Get better deep sleep. Wake up, push play.

Corey Berrier: 1:36:10

That's it, it's all formula. That's it, doug. This has been a great conversation, as I knew it would be packed full of just from soup to nuts, everything that I was hoping it would be. Where can people find you, doug, and where would you like to send them to check out your Synergy Learning Systems?

Doug Wyatt: 1:36:30

Thanks for asking, corey. We have created something incredible that's never been created in the trades SynergyLearningSystemsnet. It is a net, not com. Find us there and if you go there, you'll see testimonials galore. You'll see videos. There's an overview. That you mentioned as we got started here, corey, but I want to do this for the listening audience that you mentioned as we got started here, corey, but I want to do this for the listening audience. We were talking about Bryce, our director of product development. We are currently revamping our entire program. We're adding an entire leadership training component. We're adding a recruitment, interviewing, hiring training. We're not raising the investment. We're still in pre-launch.

Doug Wyatt: 1:37:05

We're working on 52 weeks of what we call Synergy Sessions a path to mastery. We're working on 52 weeks of what we call Synergy Sessions a path to mastery. It's all outlined on our website in some very highly produced videos. Those 11 video editors around the world are top of their game and literally our videos even in our training program. It's not like watching something from the 70s that you'll see with some of these other trainers. It is literally like it is up to date and it is literally like watching a small movie style, fully produced. Every single one of our videos, movie production type stuff. We just revamped our entire wordsmith. There's 35 videos. There used to be 11. We just redid all those. We literally are loading those to the player today.

Doug Wyatt: 1:37:49

So if you go to our website, synergylearningsystemsnet my gift to the listening audience here at Corey Barrier's Successful Life Podcast go to the Contact Us page, fill out your information. There's a dropdown. You're going to see Successful Life Podcast, corey Barrier, and you can sign up there. We will send you virtually a 35 video set of the words we choose to share matter what I call the wordsmith. That is a place to start with how we're going to effectively communicate and eliminate what I call the dirty words of amypersuasion. So they can go on there and get that all revamped, reproduced and they're there.

Doug Wyatt: 1:38:27

By the way, corey, a lot of people don't talk about this. I am in a pre-launch right now because we're still working on those 52 weekly Synergy sessions. So if those of you who are listening to this go, wow, it sounds expensive. Well, I'll say this it should be and it's not. It's $250 a week for your entire company. 250 a week you get an entire call center training program with every audio playbook, script, 200 page workbooks that are just, we do have an investment for those that are just our cost to print them and ship them to you. But our investment for our program, for all of your technicians, all of your sales, all of your call center, all of your leadership, from the CEO to the person sweeping the floors for mindset, relationship, finance, coaching and then all the sales process, service process, call center process $250 a week and there's a four-week test drive. So, corey, I'll finish with this, I know we got to go.

Doug Wyatt: 1:39:17

There's this thing out there where a lot of those of us on the training side are being accused of some stuff. One is those that can't do teach. You sign up for my program and you go through that four-week test drive, much like Corey. I think you'll realize I'm not one of those guys that couldn't go out there and do it. I just I love doing this and being in the trades two different times. I feel like I've proven my ability and my worth and it almost killed me because I just I can't shut it off. I could never get off my phone, I could never stop working on the next marketing campaign. So now, because I won those awards, people go how'd you do it? And I'm like I'm going to put together the most comprehensive training program and solution for every person in the organization so that everybody's on the same page. That's what it is.

Doug Wyatt: 1:40:00

But the other thing is, corey, there's this thing about us as trainers you included as a podcaster we're taking a lot of heat, we're taking a lot of flack for being the gurus, right? The guys that can't do, and the guys that are podcasting and giving advice, and guys like me that are putting together training and doing live events. And there's all this talk about the gurus, right? Well, I'm sure that's the case. All I can tell you is I'll let you be the judge, and that's why our program is so economically priced, because I will never be the person accused of fleecing the contractor it's just not me and so I'm doing fine.

Doug Wyatt: 1:40:36

I've invested well over a million dollars of my own money into producing this and my video editing team and my green screen studio and all of our technology in the back end of the reporting structure. You would have to be in my program for a long time at $250 for me to recruit my million that I'm already into it, right? So it's not about that. It's about how can I add value to the marketplace and help solve serious challenges that we're up against that go far beyond just our close rates. And so, corey, I appreciate all the kind words, I appreciate you having me on Absolute honor to be on here with a man of your caliber, your character, your integrity, and a podcast like the Successful Life. I can't believe where my life's taken me from the sticks of the Ozark mountains.

Corey Berrier: 1:41:14

I appreciate you so much, Doug. All right brother Appreciate you. You got it, Thank you.