264: Do Hard Things to Get Stronger, How to Shift Your Identity and Live Into It with Anthony Trucks

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Anthony Trucks. Anthony is a former NFL player, American Ninja Warrior, Best-Selling Author, and Founder of Anthony Trucks Industries and the Shift Method. He’s been featured everywhere from NBC, FOX, Netflix, WSJ, Success and INC.

Anthony has a heck of a story from starting in the foster care system to realizing and then seeing his NFL dream collapse, to starting his own business, losing it, losing his marriage, and almost his life, but then finding his redemption through a shift. Since the shift, Anthony has become one of the most sought-after speakers, coaches, and consultants out there today.

And I’ve brought him on to further share his story, what he learned and now teaches from his shift, and to get his best wisdom and advice on how to succeed and live a great life, not just as an entrepreneur, but a person in this world.

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Anthony was and his 3 siblings were given away when he was 3 years into foster care. It was 1986 and it was not a great situation. He was starved in some homes, beaten in others, and put through a lot of very rough stuff. By 6 years old, he was a sad little kid who was angry. At 6, he was placed into the family which is now his family today. He was with them for 8 years and they adopted him. But, they were poor and he grew up poor. His adoptive mom got diagnosed with MS. He tried out for football and was terrible. He checked out and was becoming a statistic. Most people don’t know that 75% of in-mates in prison are former foster care cases. As Anthony says, “He beat the odds.” He had an adoptive mom who “loved him past his crazy.”

At 15 he made a choice that he didn’t want to be a loser. To start, he didn’t want to suck at football. He learned to do the things that he didn’t want to do or weren’t in his current character and he transformed himself into a great ballplayer in 7 months. His biggest shift came from the inside and had this ferocious drive that he had done too much in the dark to get better and transform himself that no one was going to take it. This manifested in him being a top ballplayer and ultimately getting a scholarship to play at Oregon.

He made it to the NFL and tore his shoulder out in his 3rd year. He was a dad at 21 and had a family, but no paycheck. At this point, he had a massive identity crisis. Things came tumbling down. His marriage fell apart. The businesses he started failed. Then his adoptive mom passed away from MS. This was a wake-up call. It took him another 2 years to really wake up and change his life, but his mother’s death was the seed that grew into it.

At the 11:30 mark, Anthony talks about the moment before his mom passed away and his friend put things in perspective. This also was a seed that helped him in the future. A friend told him “This is your reality.” Those 4 words unlocked everything he had been experiencing. He cried and just drove to the middle of nowhere not telling anyone and his family and friends got worried. The police found him and brought him home. The next day he went to the gym and a friend he had since childhood told him, “Never do something like that ever again. When I found what happened, I thought I lost a hero.” This made Anthony realize life is worth living and gave perspective. All of the craziness of his life had meaning.

How does someone choose their identity? And how do they develop their life’s vision and know they have it right?

• We either assume or survive into our identity.
• A lot of people set goals for other people’s dreams.
• You have set your own scale and truly answer the question of what you really want.
• Once you have decided – let know tell you it cannot be done, or it is not what you want.
• You need to then align your identity with what you want.
• Who is the person you must become to get what you want? What does that person need to do live into that? What habits must you start or develop or stop? What actions do you need to take each day?

At the 24:30 mark, we talk about Simone Biles as an example of someone who may have lost her identity or being out of alignment with it in her exit from the Olympics (It was not revealed until much later that she had a death in her family which did impact her). It’s best to just listen to our discussion.

• Do hard things to get stronger…

The Shift Method has 3 steps, what are they?

• See: This is where you find your optimal zone. Find your specific areas that you need to work on.
• Shift: Action ends suffering. Put a plan in place of the action items you need to do to improve in the areas you need to work on.
• Sustain: Discipline. When you begin to shift, it will feel out of character and thus lends itself to quitting before you get your breakthrough. You must be disciplines to do the actions. You must do what needs to be done to become the person you know you should be. You must not stop. ​

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned from your entrepreneur journey?

• It’s a journey of predictable failure.
• Fail and learn, fail and learn, etc.
• Entrepreneurship is an identity in itself.
• It is incredibly difficult and incredibly rewarding.
• Entrepreneurship helps you find what you are truly meant to do.

 

Best Quote: There are two types of people in this world: Those that work and those that watch. Make sure you bow for your audience.

 

Anthony's Misfit 3:

1. The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.
2. Fall in love with the day, not just the destination. Enjoy the journey.
3. There are two types of people in this world: Those that work and those that watch. Make sure you bow for your audience.

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